#the original didn't have much value range on the greens

[shamedumpster]

Grantaire in 31 or Cosette in 11? (for the color palettes)

I haven't done one of these in a while, so thank you for the ask! I've been wanting to try out this George Blagden pose with some of my own R styling for a while, so this was a perfect opportunity.

Palettes from this list if you'd like to send one in ^^

[aswegoalong72]

Reyal At A Glance - Therikine

Map by @nexelart (twit)

Therikine - Where Land Meets Sea

Therikine is one of the latest settled regions of Southern Reyal during their early history, but it was the most important prior to the discovery of the Yuniv-Semat Trail.

As a temperate island, deep in Alkanite territory, it was exploited for its remoteness and abundance of natural resources at first. As those who fled from South-Eastern Reyal during the Exodus didn't have many resources or much of value in terms of trade goods, Therikine was essentially a holy grail for them.

Following the first religious wars, The Alkanites had a very hard time regaining trust of the rest of the world. Those in Tyrateol and other cities refused to do business with them for almost thirty years, before one day a ship set sail from Therikine to Heryeg-Ta, a major Tenavite shipping center. There, they unloaded several tons of gifts, ranging from dried ajjen mix from Therikine, to a few major works of art from Gallak. This marked one of the first attempts of intercontinental unity and goodwill, even if it didn't last.

In the following centuries, Therikine became a massive hub for traders and civilians alike, drawing in traders all across Reyal. As things cooled down thanks to communication and treaties, Therikine became a symbol of unity; a place where anybody, regardless of their religion, could feel safe together.

Nowadays, Therikine's use in terms of ajjen production has fallen; it's still produced and exported, but in much smaller amounts. Most familial communes, no matter where they're located, have their own greenhouse dedicated to growing the plants needed for it. Instead, Therikine focuses more on its mineral wealth, and has built a few small factories with the GRC's aid to help produce and distribute household robotics.

LV-72

LV-72, or “Laren Vuuhet”, which stands for “Mining Site 72” in the local tongue, was one of the Global Resource Committee’s many prospecting regions in the area. Located in a canyon, the area was originally marked for exploitation due to its high levels of yttrium and iron. However, many were shocked to find the presence of some very well preserved fossils in the canyon walls, coming from just before the Second Reset.

The entire mining operation switched gears, focusing on locating more. As time passed, two junior specialists (Sav and Uutarb, who grew to be very respected in their fields) proposed using ground penetrating radar to see if there was anything else in the area.

They were proven right, and on one fateful cave dive, Uutarb and one of her compatriots discovered two incredibly well preserved fossils. Not from before the Second Reset, but the First. Due to the nature of the extinction events & Reyal’s resurfacing in the periods that followed, they only had a hazy idea of what life was like before these catastrophic events. These caves helped to change their understanding of not only their world, but of themselves.

As this discovery took place well over two hundred years ago, LV-72 has more or less become a tourist attraction. Most of the fossils in the area have already been uncovered, being sent to museums and universities across the globe.

Yuurat

Yuurat is the capital of the United Therikine Communes. Originally, Yuurat had just been a small farming community, forming shortly after the third Exodus wave. Settlers were those who disagreed with mainstream Alkanite beliefs back in Gallak, and set out to find a new land that had been untouched by anyone. After scouring the seas, they found Therikine; a beautiful green gem among the dark blue seas.

Initially, growth was slow. The only things they knew how to work with were the super abundant algae and seaweed that grew in the area, which they used to supplement their diet. After a little more exploration of the region, they discovered a few new fruit species, as well as some miscellaneous vegetables and herbs.

On one fateful day, a local doctor began experimenting with some of the herbs, and discovered that quite a few had some very stimulating properties. After drying some and blending them together, he made Reyal’s very first cup of ajjen; a beverage that would change the world.

Word quickly spread, and ajjen became a very important trade good for Therikine. It began to command trade deals with Gallak and other Alkanite cities, with ajjen being almost as expensive as gold as word of its properties and taste spread. However, as dry ajjen is nowhere near as potent as fresh, things began to die down as some got their hands on seeds to grow their own.

Yuurat’s population slowly declined for a few hundred years, before it had a second wave of exponential growth, thanks to the discovery of rare earth minerals.

Today, however, most mining and production has been moved off world, and Yuurat has become more of a general food producer and vacation town. With a population only a fraction of what it used to be, Yuurat barely holds the power it once did, but is still a bustling and thriving town.

GRC Therikine Outpost

The Global Resource Committee (GRC) can be very closely tied to Therikine, in more ways than one. Therikine has always been a major producer of rare and important minerals, and the GRC was a big player in the development of Therikine’s mining industry.

The GRC’s Therikine outpost was established a little over 250 years ago, initially to help scout for new deposits on one of the relatively uninhabited sections of the island. Mining was already a very important sector for Therikine, but with the aid of the GRC, production tripled. Before the push of mining into space, Therikine would be one of the GRC’s top donors of resources, and played an important role in helping to fund new projects, such as the Rev-Legaken Launch Facility.

The outpost also was a major training facility for the GRC; new recruits of various physical sciences would typically be sent here to get their bearings, before being sent out to other locations across Reyal. Calculating environmental impacts from mining and finding new deposits were fairly easy, so it was a very simple and easy first post for greenhorns.

With the discovery of numerous fossils in the region, mining was slowly toned down in the area, with its new focus becoming paleontology. This marked the slow end of the outpost, as new discoveries are eventually dried up. Choosing for the area to become a center of learning, it was converted to a museum and hotel just a few decades ago.

That’s it for this entry; thanks for your patience in waiting for this! It means a lot to me. Until next week, when we’ll be discussing the Great Central Desert Mountains! Take care!

Directory: Intro | Climate | the Land of Tenav's Dawn | the Desert Rings | Therikine | the Great Central Desert Mountains | the North Glacial Plains | the Yuniv-Semat Basin | Juleg Marrdev Technocracy | Yuniv-Semat Trail | Ro | Velgae

[chronotsr]

No. 7 - S1, Tomb of Horrors (October 1978)

Author(s): Gary Gygax Artist(s): David C. Sutherland III (Cover), David Trampier Level range: 10-14 Theme: Meatgrinder Dungeoncrawl Major re-releases: So, so many. S1-4 Realms of Horror, Return to the Tomb of Horrors, Tomb of Horrors (2005), Tomb of Horrors (2010), S1-4 Dungeons of Dread, Dungeon #213, Tales from the Yawning Portal, Tomb of Annihilation (sort-of)

I said earlier that S1 is probably the only adventure more ported than G1, and I was right. You have so many options for S1. The original monochrome, the green cover, the compilation version, the silver anniversary version re-erlease-and-sequel, a 3.5e port, a 4e port, a DND Next port w/ 4e porting instructions, and then finally the 5e port in Tales from the Yawning Portal. The only people being left out here are the 2e people, and making 1e adventures go into 2e is as natural as breathing.

As the cover points out, this was originally run at Origins I, and there is so much community lore surrounding this module that I will spare you the rigamarole. If you know where I stand on the "meatgrinder vs fair challenge" argument, go read the Theme header again.

These illustrations are iconic. In basically every re-release they are kept as is, one of the few things that makes the 5e release stand out is not including the original 31 illustrations. And while the new art is OK, I, it can't hold a candle to the sheer charisma of the originals. And -- why no green devil head? That's the single most memorable thing from the scenario? We get one, actually, but it's on the map and I think it's an image from the archives because it looks an awful lot like an old cover of Dragon. If you do run this in 5e, you really owe it to your players to hunt down and use the original illustrations.

I am now morally obliged to tell you that, when I went through Tomb of Horrors (5e version, that's what I can find GMs for), I died to the Juggernaut. Which is actually extremely funny, because earlier when I was in Tomb of Annihilation I died the exact same way! So I guess Juggernauts are my personal arch nemesis. I personally didn't like my time there, but there is value in a module that everyone has played. I wouldn't've picked S1 for the task but I'm glad we have one at least. In general, this will be a a sparse entry in the series. The Tomb of Horrors is Tomb of Horrors. It is both extremely notable and also weirdly bland -- there's just not much to say about a lot of these trollish traps. They're highly specific and only really work in the moment, for very specific tables, at a very specific cultural moment. It's actually kind of boring to read in 2024? How much can one really say about a 20-colored mural with a variety of "it does nothing" effects?

Alright, enough stalling. The module starts with now-traditional Gary intro of "hey, your players are going to try and get extra information in [obvious way], defeat that." Today's edition is that Legend Lore is rendered useless by a combination of obscurity and….too much information? Ok… And then the also very Gary "If your players are dumb stupid idiots they will hate this module", which he also did in G1-3.

Eventually, your party finds this stupid looking thing, which is (I know this is repetitive) iconicly so-bad-its-good. And everything about this intro is trolling. So There are three routes into the tomb, two of which are trapped and fake. 2024 DND players would never think to try any of these things, but I do get the sense that in 1978 it would've occurred to most veteran players to try things like "poking the wall with sticks" and "extensive excavations". Anyone who tries to be clever and bypass shit by phasing into a parallel plane gets got by Demons, and I like the theory that Seth Skorkowsky aired a while ago that the Demons are the ones maintaining the Tomb so you should steal that.

You know what? Let's just go into keyed mode.

I do not respect this "only these express options work" mindset. It's very anti-ttrpg to have pre-programmed solutions Naturally, the second door cannot be removed by strength, only by one of 5 spells and thinking to wedge the door with iron in a specific day works. IDK bro I know the idea is Acererak is an asshole and has bewitched this complex to high hell but cmon, even the fake doors are borderline invulnerable?

There's a riddle-poem that hints at the solutions to the dungeon's puzzles. I actually really like this poem, and for all this module's sins I disagree with commenters who think the poem is too vague. At least when I was playing, it was just right.

That is the most off brand Ancient Egyptian tomb hallway I ever did see, and I do kind of love it. As for how confusing the wall-door-chest trap is, it's trollish but it makes sense to me. The chest is a red herring to distract you from the actual secret door, which is a literal door, and honestly that's a hint I consider fairly on the nose.

The misty arch sucks. The short version is that if you press the glowing stones in the right order, you progress, otherwise you get teleported to one of three random rooms. The solution is inscrutable to me (why that order? you could brute force it but that'd be suicide) and I really wish that the book spelled out what the puzzle logic was -- a lot of newer adventures will explain the operating logic in parentheticals next to the solution. If the answer is "you're supposed to brute force it", I have no respect for that mindset.

The devilhead is obviously iconic as hell and we love it. As many commenters have noted, the often-cited "our whole party climbed in and died" story is incompatible with a RAW or RAI interpretation -- your GM was just an asshole, your character died as soon as their head got annihilated and the party would see their body go limp suddenly. There is no way all 5 of you piled in without removing a body and discovering they're Very Dead.

The lever room also sucks. You could only guess the solution, and the act of testing will get you killed. And don't give me "well your hirelings" your hirelings are not going to test any traps after they see the 2rd guy get turned into meatpaste, and while ADND lacks the hard cap on people hireable that Basic had, you're still going to run out of guys who are willing to commit suicide in here in short order.

"Yet there are also depicted various religious symbols of goad alignment, and a faint aura of good can be magically detected. What a puzzle! Could the demi-lich actually have been of good alignment" This will fool no-one Gary. It's the Tomb of Horrors, not the Tomb of Hope. He clearly bewitched the chapel to appear as good, which literally anyone would think of. Heartbreaking: worst lich you know has access to revolutionary SRS magic.

It's at about this point where I realized how little there really is to comment on in this dungeon. It really is just a sequence of obtuse murder traps that are faintly hinted at. The things that are iconic about it (the devilhead, the acerack fakeout) are actually exceptions to the rule -- both of those are super clear traps that are designed to tease particularly foolish players. The majority of the dungeon is, tap random objects and get gassed by poison or dropped into spikes. In a lot of ways ToH feels like the bad timeline version of White Plume Mountain, which is trollish in a more memorable way? What I mean here is, when people complain that ToH is unfair they're burying the lede. A hard dungeon can be fun. An unfair dungeon can be fun! The issue is that Tomb of Horrors is boring. Every room being a puzzle tied to a deathtrap with almost no combat or negotiation is tedious.

Basically every tomb of horrors room has this setup:

You walk into a room with an illustration that looks cool, and there is some vague image, object, or feature in the room that is conspicuous

There is either no obvious exit (strongly implying a secret), or an extremely obvious exit that is currently impassable

You have to try fiddling with any object in the room that can be fiddled with, or grope around for an illusion

There is a roughly 25% chance there is a vague hint from 3 gameplay hours ago that will help you if you interpret it correctly, and a 75% chance that this is intended as attrition

You fuck around for a while, and maybe you work out the puzzle and maybe you don't. Almost certainly, someone takes 50% damage or has some vital asset removed or changed about them.

You eventually pass into the next room

Really the variety of traps in this dungeon is surprisingly narrow -- something like half of these traps are "activate these objects in a specific order or orientation". The other half are some variety of mist or gas or cloud or other fluid that kills you if you do not avoid or interact with it in the specific way. Occasionally when you're lucky, you simply turn a lever and get skewered -- what a treat!

The final encounter with Acereak, you will be unsurprised to learn, also sucks. If you touch his jeweled skull, he instantly steals your soul and ruins your body (no save, no appeal). If you guess one of the, again, explicit list of options to destroy the skull (which you have already established will instantly kill one ally per touch) which is of course very specific (essentially, holy attacks, the most powerful magical swords, and inexplicably gem-slinging), you can kill him in 50 hp. Weirdly, the soul gems that you get trapped into do offer some escape from death, but it's a terrible one -- IF you pass your save, IF they crush the gem, IF there is an eligible body for their soul to go into (yours was ruined), then you may come back to life in a very different form. Completing the Tomb gives you, of course, 100k exp. And in ADND that'ssss…. actually not very much. At level 10, 100k exp is not even a full level for most classes to get a level (thieves are the exception) and your actual treasure haul I think is going to be fairly meager -- I think the average character will get maybe one level of experience after distributing the loot. For going through one of the most dangerous dungeons ever.

I remain a bit of a ToH hater.

In blog news, we are looking at post 7.5 coming up, in which I will do another retrospective on the year's developments, and as a special treat we will be briefly discussing the first Dragon Magazine dungeon!

[3ofpents]

100 Palette Challenge // Palette #10 // Lady Dahlia

I know I'm late again this week. I'm in the midst of a lot of school stuff. I've mentioned, I think, but I've gone back to school to get a graphic design certification. I started last Fall and it was my hope to be done by this summer because the certification programs are designed for adults with careers who want to expand their skill sets and so are pared down to only the classes that are directly relevant to the subject matter. In my case that's only 9 classes, so 3 per semester. But unfortunately I had to withdraw in the Spring because of some health issues. So now I'm trying to pick up where I left off after the school went and changed a bunch of their online systems. So now I get to try and recover my old accounts on their new system and deal with class requirements that don't exist for my program, but apparently exist now for individual classes that are required.

And on top of that we're prepping our toddler to go to daycare, which comes with A LOT of paperwork and supplies lists and doctor signatures and also EMOTIONS.

Anyway.

Today's palette comes from a poster that appears to have been an activist piece of art. I've tried not to go into too much detail here about the posters since the bulk of this book is the palettes and the pieces they were picked from. I'm already posting every single palette in the book, so I'd rather not include the posters also. But I just love this one so much, I have to at least share the information so you can look it up yourselves. It's called "Dig" by Sadie Wendell Mitchell, it's part of a series she did called "Girls Will Be Girls". It depicts a young woman perched on a chair engrossed in a book, and also surrounded by stacks of books. Only a few of the books have visible titles, "The Study of Bugology", "The Psychology of the Male Human", and "Economy" (the one she's reading). And on the wall you can see part of a poster that says "DO IT NOW".

It feels like a very pointed protestation as a poster designed in 1909.

I struggled with this palette a lot. It's not only very similar to a lot of the previous palettes, the values are just so similar, particular with the green and teal. It works fine in the original poster because Mitchell used a heavy black outline, but the author of the book chose not to include that in the palette.

I actually started a completely different piece that going to be a face study, but I just didn't like the way the colors were playing together. So I ended up scrapping it.

So I pulled back a bit. Our dahlias have started blooming and the first ones to pop were these gorgeous red and yellow blooms, and I've wanted to draw a fairy for one of these for several palettes so far, so I did it.

The dahlias were SO much easier and more fun to draw than the peony was. They're so geometric, I really just enjoyed layering the petals and the colors.

I attempted to give the fairy some petal clothes, but it just wasn't doing what I wanted it to do. And I think the form is distinct enough to make her out. I do really like the effect of the teal on the green; the heavy similarities of them both make the fairy and flowers pop more. I do wish I'd filled in some more greenery in the background, but honestly I'd spent so much time on this palette already I didn't have it in me.

I'm really pleased with the final result, though, and I doubt this will be the last fairy piece in this series.

I want to shout out Fat Photo Ref again. I used them for the pose and the hair for the fairy and I remain exceptionally pleased with the range of references available and the easy navigation.

[httpwwwbollywoodchaiwalacom]

10 Tea Facts That I Bet You Didn't Know!

So sit back, relax and see what new things you learn about tea.

All tea comes from the Camellia Sinensis plant - that includes black tea, green teas, oolong, puerh and white teas. They all come from the same plant but there are variations in the plant. For example, Oolong comes from the broad leaf version and each leaf has a serrated edge whereas the leaves for greens or whites are smooth.

Up until around the 1950's most tea was drunk as loose-leaf tea and not in the form of teabags. These were introduced to the market by PG Tips as a hassle saving device and quickly became popular. Before that though around 95% of tea was loose tea.

There are two legends about how the first cup of tea came about. One originating in China is about an Emperor who, while sat under a tea bush, was boiling some water and didn't notice the leaves fall in. When the water was ready he drank the brew and so tea was born. Another legend hailing from India speaks of a prince who after discovered Buddhism travels to China and chewed on tea leaves to keep himself awake. In one version of the story he is so upset when he falls asleep that when he wakes he cuts off his eyelashes and throws them in the ground where the first Camellia Sinensis plant then grows.

Tea is said to be the second most consumed beverage in the world. Second of course only to water. Now to me that says a lot! No mention of coffee in that statistic!

Prices for Chinese tea can range from a few pounds per kilo to thousands of pounds per kilo. And it can change year on year. If a certain loose leaf is trendy or popular, prices can sky-rocket from year to another.

Catherine Braganza was a Portuguese Princess and she is attributed with bringing tea into England. Apparently upon departing her ship from Portugal she asked for a cuppa and was presented with English Ale instead. Needless to say, she fainted and the same mistake wasn't made again. She became so popular that women would copy what she liked and this included drinking tea.

Afternoon tea originated in England when Anna, the 7th Duchess of Bedford began taking a drink and a snack in her chambers between breakfast and the evening meal. The craze soon took off with women of the time using it as a chance to catch up with each other much like today!

Puerh is a special Chinese tea that is post fermented. It is only grown and processed in Yunnan, China and is the only tea that improves and gains value as it gets older!

Matcha is a special type of Japanese Green tea that include the stem as well as the leaves and is ground up into a fine powder. It is said to have 137x the amount of antioxidants as other green teas.

In the 1600's the tax on tea in Britain was too high for the poorer classes and so they took to smuggling it into the country. Demand was so high that sometimes tea lovers were fooled into buying leaves that had been mixed with sheep dung!

BollywoodChaiWala - 100% Natural Masala Chai - Freshly Ground Spices, Fresh Ginger, Blended with Certified Organic Honey

[worldsneverfilled]

Arclek

Species inspiration:

Spiders. Spiders everywhere.

I didn't make this one into a playable race because there are already so many damn spider-based/like races in homebrew and canon. So this isn't a PC breakdown, just cultural stuff.

Planet of Origin:

Iferous

Creature Type:

Humanoid

Size:

Medium - Large

Lifespan:

20-100 cycles, and they reach maturity at 30 cycles

Appearance:

Arachnid-like race, however, they're the closest to what we might think of as "humanoid" on Iferous.

Diet:

Carnivorous. They'll eat anything and everything, alive or dead.

Meats are usually fermented in vinegar before cooking, and they roast them slowly and at lower temperatures. However, when it's time to eat, they prefer it cooled, rather than warm or hot.

Because they tend to live in warmer regions, they prefer salt water for water retention. Higher salt content in their diets is also necessary for keeping their blood pressure up; theirs is higher than the other three races. Without a high enough pressure, they're immobilized. Immobilized means death.

They'll eat green things only if they absolutely have to and have no other choice. They will not eat it out of politeness if they're visiting a non-arclek friend.

Culture:

Culture varies between nation of origin and the local influence, but overall:

It's widely known that their social hierarchy can be deadly. The Game to them is life and death, and only the strongest and most intelligent of them will survive into adulthood.

One reason for the wide age range is because most die before they reach their majority.

In their own nations, this practice isn't technically, publicly encouraged, but it's an open secret and part of their daily life. They're warriors who are raised as top tacticians.

Someone who can fight but not think is useless.

They're raised from birth being taught how to fight with sword and word alike, and schooling is mandatory for everyone, regardless of social class. They'd claim it's to make things even and equal, but the ones who've fought their way to the top get the pick of the schools for their children.

In nations where they're not the majority, they're far less physical, but no less competitive. You're just as likely to find them in the military as you are to find them as dockworkers, or earning positions as advisors—if not the high ranking public officials themselves. Those who struggle in Arclek societies will make their way to other nations where their lives are not on the line every single day.

That's if they survive the trip.

They have a close relationship with the Cicadohops, and regularly help defend their borders against the Formiciods, for those settlements that neighbor the ant-like race.

Romantic and sexual relationships with the other races isn't discouraged, but as they're a culture dedicated to personal and familial advancement, selective "breeding" is important to them. Mating contracts are taken seriously, and rarely result in marriage; they're more of a temporary, civil partnership. It's understood by both parties that they're replaceable where it concerns their bloodlines.

In nations where they're the minority, this isn't practiced as much and they seem to have a fondness for the Crepuscas.

Classes:

Fighters, battle mages, and rangers are abundant among their people. They're a culture that value both cunning and physical prowess. Dedication to their desire to come out on top makes them competitive.

[metalheddie]

In Full Bloom

summary: Spencer goes to the flower shop 1 (one) time and falls in love somehow.

tw: mention of medication, Diana's care facility, Diana lashing out mention

word count: 3.9k

a/n: Alright y'all!!! It's finally here! My first ever fic :) I apologize if some of it is a bit clunky or awkward... this is my first time writing and posting anything like this. I hope y'all like this as much as I liked writing it! and this is a Spencer x POC!reader :)

It was early Saturday morning when y/n opened her shop. Unlocking the doors and stepping inside. It was raining pretty heavily, too. She closed her pastel pink umbrella and put it in the basket next to the door. She stopped to take a deep breath, she loved the smell of fresh flowers in the morning. She walked towards the back to turn on her fairy lights and low lighting for her plants and put on her pastel apron with embroidery on the trim. She turned the radio on to the oldies station and Etta James’ Stormy Weather was playing,

Don't know why

There's no sun up in the sky

Stormy weather

Since my man and I ain't together

Keeps raining all of the time...

A perfect song for this morning. Singing to herself, she twirled as she moved towards her supplies, she got to work caring for her flowers and miscellaneous plants around her space.

⋆┈┈｡ﾟ❃ུ۪ ❀ུ۪ ❁ུ۪ ❃ུ۪ ❀ུ۪ ﾟ｡┈┈⋆

A few hours later, a light ting of the bell above the door of the flower shop sounded. Y/n hadn’t looked up from the bonsai she was trimming, as she was too immersed in her work to realize someone had walked in. When she finally looked up, she was surprised to see a tall and handsome stranger staring back at her. In that instant, she felt her heart stop for an eternity. He stood there a bit awkwardly as he waited to be helped. Snapping out of the trance she had previously been in, she walked over to the counter where he was standing.

“Hey there! How can I help you today?”

Her face slightly flushed but it wasn’t so noticeable on her tawny brown skin.

“Hi, um, can you help me find some flowers for- for my mom?”

Y/n noticed that he says this a bit sheepishly, almost as if he’s embarrassed to be getting flowers for his mom. Or maybe he’s just awkward, who’s to say?

“Sure! Is there anything specific you’d like to say with this bouquet?”

“Um, yes...well I just wanted to let her know that I appreciate her and I love her very much. She hasn't been feeling well recently, so I wanted to do this small thing for her just to let her know I’ll always be here…”

Y/n smiled at that. It was always so nice to see a man value his mom so much. It warms her heart.

“Aww, well I'm so sorry that she hasn’t been feeling well. I think that's so sweet of you to do this for her. I get my mom flowers when she’s not feeling well too” y/n says with a smile.

“So,” she says, clapping her hands together softly, “I think the best flowers to get her would be Carnations, pink of course, and daisies!”

Y/n excitedly moves around the counter and beckons him to follow her. He does this with a small smile, admiring how animated she had become.

“Why those specific flowers?” he asks.

“Well,” Y/n started, “Did you know that Carnations symbolize the love for a mother as well as the phrase 'I will never forget you’ ” The daisies mean innocence, motherhood, and purity. That meaning stems from the old Celtic legend. In Norse mythology, it’s known as Freya’s sacred flower. Freya is the goddess of love, beauty, and fertility, so it only makes sense that this would be her flower!” y/n continued excitedly.

The man nodded along in interest, all the while y/n was collecting and arranging the flowers in a lovely bouquet, putting them in a small and tasteful vase. She brought them over to the counter to ring him up, fixing the flowers as she went.

⋆┈┈｡ﾟ❃ུ۪ ❀ུ۪ ❁ུ۪ ❃ུ۪ ❀ུ۪ ﾟ｡┈┈⋆

Spencer’s POV

While on my way to my mom’s care facility, I saw a quaint little flower shop at the corner of the intersection. I decided to stop in and get some flowers for her. She hasn’t been doing well recently… She’s been lashing out at the nurses and is almost always agitated. Hopefully, this small act will remind her of all the love there is in life.

As I pull into the parking lot of the shop I notice the sign, hand-painted with a unique border that reads Fantasy Flower Shoppe. The side of the building is covered with several winding paths of ivy, truly giving it a fairytale cottage feel. The railing up the steps to the entrance has the ivy as well, acting as a guide to the sage green door.

I stepped through the door, mesmerized at the inside of the shop. There were plants and flowers hanging from the ceiling, on wooden tables, in large pots on the ground, and even in a large misty cabinet on the east wall. A small record player radio hybrid was nestled in between a budding avocado tree and a pot of budding bluebells softly playing what I believe to be I’ve Got a Crush on You by Ella Fitzgerald…

I've got a crush on you, sweetie pie

All the day and nighttime, hear me sigh

I’ve never had the least notion

That I could fall with so much emotion…

I looked around the room, searching for someone who could help me, that's when I laid eyes on the most beautiful girl in the world. She had dark, curly hair that fell to her shoulders wrapped in a cream-colored silk bandanna. She wore a cocoa brown dress with a beige long sleeve shirt underneath and an apron with what looks to be hand-embroidered flowers on the hem. I felt as though I was put under her spell as I gazed at her. She hadn’t looked up from her work, being so focused on trimming her bonsai, she hadn’t realized I had walked in.

I let my eyes linger on her a bit longer as I appreciated her focus. She must have felt my eyes on her, for she looked up and met my eyes. I quickly turned away, as to not make her feel uncomfortable, but also to hide the redness rising high on my cheeks. I suddenly realized what I came into the shop for in the first place.

“Hi, um, can you help me find some flowers for- for my mom?” I stuttered out, cursing myself internally for it.

She smiled sweetly and agreed to help me pick out the best flowers for her. She suggested I get Pink Carnations and daisies. I already knew that those would be the best choice, but I loved the sound of her voice. So as an excuse to continue to listen to her, I asked

“Why those specific flowers?”

I watched her eyes light up with a passion I never knew existed and proceeded to tell me the meanings and origins of both flowers.

“-so it only makes sense that this would be her flower!” she said

I nodded along in interest as if I didn’t already know the answer. She became so animated when she talked about the things she cares about. It was refreshing after being in the BAU for this long and witnessing so much hate and sorrow that came with the job. Seeing someone filled with passion and liveliness when it comes to making a career out of their hobbies was a wonderful thing. All this was not to say that I didn’t like being in the BAU. I wouldn’t be able to leave my family there, not now anyway.

Speaking of family, I need to go to the care facility before visiting hours are over.

⋆┈┈｡ﾟ❃ུ۪ ❀ུ۪ ❁ུ۪ ❃ུ۪ ❀ུ۪ ﾟ｡┈┈⋆

Y/n POV

I set the flowers on the counter, tying a silk ribbon around the vase just to add a little flair.

“Alright! That’ll be $10.50.” I said with a smile.

I look up from the register to see him staring at me with a crooked smile. God, he was cute. I wish I was confident enough to ask for his number… Hopefully, I’ll see him again someday. After admiring his features for what seemed like a lifetime, I realized we’ve just been staring at each other since I looked up at him. I start to get a bit insecure. Why has he been staring so long? Is there something on my face? Oh my god is that pesky pimple back?

As y/n was internally freaking out, Spencer on the other hand was basking in her beauty. He couldn’t believe he was standing in the presence of such an ethereal being like her. Her… Oh god. He doesn’t even know her name.

“Um,” y/n stuttered, “Hello? Are you alright?” She lifted her hand to wave it in front of his face to get his attention.

“Oh! I- I- uhh, Sorry about that. I got a bit distracted…” Spencer stumbled over his words like a teenager in love. “What was the total again?” he asked embarrassedly, a blush rising from the bottom of his chest to the tip tops of his ears.

“Oh, um it was $10.50,” she repeated with a newfound shyness, tucking a stray curl behind her ear.

Spencer tried not to fumble with his wallet too severely in an effort to save himself any further embarrassment in front of the pretty florist. That plan failed miserably because as soon as he pulled out his cash, several coins flew out of his wallet. He muttered a quick ‘I’m so sorry as he bent down to get them.

What he didn’t notice was y/n bending down to help him. As she collected the few that fell over by the counter and he collected the ones on his side, they both stood up slightly too close together and headbutted each other. It wasn’t hard enough to leave a bruise or bump, but enough to send a shock through both of them.

Y/n stumbled hard enough from the collision and surprise that she almost toppled over. At the last second, the handsome stranger reached out and grabbed her hand, effectively steadying her.

Rubbing her forehead y/n said “I'm so sorry! Are you alright?”

Letting go of her hand, Spencer replied “Oh, no I’m sorry, I didn't even realize you were right there. Is your head ok?” He was genuinely worried if she was ok.

“Oh, I’m fine, no need to worry!” y/n giggled.

Spencer set the money on the counter and put his wallet away. Y/n rang him up and gave him his receipt.

“Oh, wait! Before you go, I wanted to ask if you wanted to add a small card or note…free of charge” y/n said, the last bit a little sheepishly because of what (she hoped) she was implying. Unfortunately for her, Spencer was very dense when it came to flirting, so he didn’t pick up what she meant.

“Really? Thank you…”

y/n grabbed a card with a pretty border and one of her fountain pens. She looked up at him and nodded, waiting for him to start speaking.

“Live the wonderful life that is in you. Let nothing be lost upon you. Be always searching for new sensations. Be afraid of nothing. I love you, mom. Love, Spencer.”

y/n smiled at that. This was one of the sweetest bouquets she’s ever had the pleasure of putting together, too bad he’ll be gone before she knows it.

“Well Spencer, you're all set! Thank you for stopping in today, I hope to see you again soon,” she says with a smile. Although this encounter was fleeting, she was enamored with him.

“Thank you for all your help. I wouldn't have been able to do this,” he gestured to the vase full of flowers, “without you, um, I’m so sorry I never got your name...”

“Y/n,” she supplied. “and it's no problem! Stop in whenever you'd like!”

With that, he walked out with a small wave and a smile. Y/n sighed happily, knowing that the rest of her day was going to go very well.

⋆┈┈｡ﾟ❃ུ۪ ❀ུ۪ ❁ུ۪ ❃ུ۪ ❀ུ۪ ﾟ｡┈┈⋆

Spencer’s POV

Once I left the shop and was on my way to the care facility, I realized I couldn't stop thinking about her. Like she put me under her spell as soon as I laid my eyes upon her. I want to see her again but it’s not like I get flowers all the time for people… Maybe I should do that, for the sake of the economy and helping out a small business. Also, it makes people feel appreciated, so what's not to like about getting and giving flowers?

By the time I decided that buying flowers for people would be my new gift-giving method, I had arrived at the care facility. I took a deep breath and exited the car. I was nervous to see what kind of day my mom was having. The last time I talked to her nurses, they said she wasn’t doing as well as they had hoped once they put her on new medication. I, of course, still wanted to visit her. She’s my mom, the person that has been there for me always.

After checking in and locating her I greeted her with a smile and a warm hug.

“Oh, Spencer! I’ve missed you so much! I have to tell you about this poem by Jane Austen I read the other day…”

“I can’t wait to hear it, mom.” He said. He was so glad she was having a good day. He wanted to tell her about y/n after she said her piece.

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“ ...and that's why I can never read it again without thinking about Stevie Nicks!” exclaimed Diana.

Spencer was having such a nice time with his mom and he must have lost track of time because when he looked at his watch it was almost the end of visiting hours. It completely slipped his mind to tell his mom about the beautiful girl who runs the flower shop.

“Mom… Do you believe in love at first sight?” he asks, a little out of the blue considering the conversation they were having before.

“Well Spencer, that’s a pretty hard question to answer. I think it all depends on the other person's first impression that they may have had on you before even opening their mouth to speak. Though I’m not sure if I’ve ever experienced that feeling firsthand…” she answered honestly.

Spencer sat there contemplating the advice he was given and said

“I met this girl today… She owns the flower shop just a few minutes away from here. She helped me pick out the flowers I gave you. She was kind and so smart. She knew the meanings of the flowers off the top of her head like it was nothing. Her smile could light up any room and I could tell she was so passionate about her job. I would like to think she would be my first experience of love at first sight…” he rambled hoping he didn’t sound foolish.

Diana looked at him and shook her head lovingly.

“She sounds wonderful, Spencer. Please tell her thank you from me the next time you see her.”

And with that, visiting hours were over and it was time for him to head home.

⋆┈┈｡ﾟ❃ུ۪ ❀ུ۪ ❁ུ۪ ❃ུ۪ ❀ུ۪ ﾟ｡┈┈⋆

The Next Day

The next day Spencer Reid walked into the bullpen with a smile on his face and a pep in his step. He was still a bit giddy from the encounter he had yesterday, playing it over and over in his mind. The perks of having an eidetic memory. Since he works with a bunch of profilers, they were able to analyze his cheerfulness and boil it down to-

“So who’s the special lady?” Derek asked as he walked up to Spencer’s desk with two mugs in his hand, one labeled ‘Spencer Reid’.

Spencer froze, trying to make up a lie to explain his cheerful mood. “I- uh, I was j-just visiting my mom yesterday and she was having a really good day. No other ‘ladies’ in my life, thank you” he said as he snatched his mug from Derek. Tasting it and mentally noting that it needed more sugar.

Derek looked at him and obviously wasn’t convinced, but he dropped it, for now, settling for “Alright pretty boy, if you say so…” he chuckled and walked away, leaving spencer glowing red at his desk.

He folded his arms on his desk and put his head between them to hide his blush. If the day kept going on like this, he might turn into a permanent tomato.

~

A few hours later, after finishing his paperwork for the case they had finished a few days ago, he headed to Penelope’s office just to visit. In all honesty, she was just as much his best friend as Derek, just in a different way. She always gave him some much-needed positivity in his everyday life, and he will always be forever grateful to her for that.

As she walked into her lair she turned in her swivel chair and greeted him with a happy smile.

“What's Cookin good-lookin?” she teased, hearing from Morgan that something was up with him.

“Ha ha very funny Garcia.” he joked with her internally cursing Morgan for spilling the non-existent beans.

“Sooo…. Who’s the lucky lady that has caught the eye of the wonderful Junior G-Man?” Garcia teased, yet genuinely curious.

“There’s no girl I swear!” he lied through his teeth, and pretty badly at that.

Penelope shot him a look that said “Do not lie to the omnipotent being that is moi, I know all”

Spencer sighed and sat in the other spinny chair in her office and said,

“Yesterday I went to the little flower shop near my moms care facility just to do something nice for her because she hasn't been doing well recently,”

Garcia frowned a little at that and put her hand on his knee, comforting touches are just her thing and he knows that, so he doesn’t push her away, he places his hand on top of hers. He knows how much he cares.

“It was beautiful n there, but what really caught my eye was the girl working there… She was beautiful. She was so kind and she was incredibly smart. Her eyes were like honey in the sun and I’m sure she’s artistic because the sign out front was hand-painted… but all that aside, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about her.” he continued.

Garcia was practically vibrating in her seat with excitement as he finished. She was just so excited to see him happy.

“Spencer oh my god! She sounds perfect! You need to ask her out like today.” she said while turning to her computer. Spencer has a feeling of what her next question is so he says,

“No, Garcia, I will not tell you her name so you can do a deep dive on her life.” as he side-eyes her. Her face contorted into a pout at his words.

“But Spencer please~, “ she begs. “I can find out all her favorite places so you can take her there for your date!”

“No Garcia… I want to get to know her properly. No FBI intervention. Plus, I want her to take me to her favorite spots because she wants me to, not because I already know what she likes…” he states as he imagines what going on a coffee date with y/n would look like.

“Alright alright fine, but pinky promise that you’ll fill me in on all the details when you eventually take her on a date.” She said while holding her pinky out for him to accept.

“Deal.” he said as he locked pinkies with her.

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As y/n went to start cleaning up for the evening, the light ting of the bell above the shop sounded once more. As tired as she is, she turns and slaps a happy smile on her face

“Hi welcome in! How can I help you today?”

As she turns she sees the handsome man from yesterday, Spencer, if she remembers correctly. He looks even more adorable than before with his sweater vest and all-star chucks. She smiles genuinely now, tucking her curls behind her ears in an attempt to seem more casual.

“Hi again… I um I needed to get some flowers for my friend. She just announced that she’s having another baby and I wanted to congratulate her with something other than future baby items because unfortunately, I have no idea what I would get for her if I went down that route…” he trailed off, stuffing his hands in his pockets and making the Awkward White Person smile, obviously nervous and giving himself away with the rambling.

Y/n was so excited at the news of a baby she immediately got to work.

“Oh my goodness how exciting! Does she know the gender yet?” she asked just so she can accurately style the bouquet.

“Yeah! She’s having a little boy.” He smiles at that and he visibly relaxes. Y/n takes that as a sign that he’s warming up to her a little.

~

After half an hour of picking out the perfect flowers and placing them into a large vase, y/n finally tied a blue silk ribbon around the neck of it. She added a few finishing touches and voila! Her masterpiece was complete.

All the while Spencer was standing on the other side of the counter watching her work with such adoration in his eyes. He enjoyed watching her work. Adding flair and certain specializations to every bouquet to make them each unique.

After finishing y/n peers to the side of the large vase of flowers to look at Spencer in the eyes. To her surprise, he’s already leaned over and looking at her too. They share a brief moment of admiration of each other before getting embarrassed and looking away like a couple of high school kids.

“So, since this is a gift for a friend, It’ll be on the house…” she says desperately hoping he’ll pick up on the hint this time.

“Oh my god...I - I can’t let you do that. Here,” he takes out his wallet and tries to pull out 35$ in cash.

y/n reaches over and puts her hands over his. “That’s not necessary, really. I don’t mind…” she says this with a warm smile. Just being able to spend these few fleeting moments with him in her shop has brought her so much joy.

“Thank you… That’s so generous of you, but I can’t just let you give me a whole flower arrangement without something in return…” he stalls. “Would you let me take you out for coffee? I know a great spot near the farmers market, and it has a flower booth too…” His hands are trembling a bit but she doesn’t notice because she’s smiling so hard her cheeks are beginning to feel sore.

She nods enthusiastically and says “Yes. Of course, I’ll go out with you.”

She slides him a piece of paper with her number on it and leans over to kiss him on the cheek. He accepts it and flushes so brightly, it rivals that of the sun. They wave goodbye after scheduling their date for Saturday, and y/n could tell that soon this relationship would be in full bloom.

Fin~

tag list:

pls message me if you’d like to be added or removed <3 !!

@ssavanessa22 @boldlyvoid @shemarmooresfedora @spencers-dria @meganskane @ilovespencerreidmarryme @g0lden-cth

[maryellencarter]

It's not quite done, but the last big scene that needs written is gonna be @camshaft22 's work, which means I can shift gears and turn into my original form: a beta reader.

With a fic this long (over 20k words and counting), one big part of the editing process for us is breaking the story up into chapters. It helps us get more focused on any pacing and story structure problems that might have shown up while we were hammering out the first draft.

(We write ridiculously clean first drafts these days. That's mostly experience after almost four years together, and partly because we're still neck-deep in rewrites on our first two novels, from when we hadn't built this process up yet, so now I make damn sure we do any minor edits as they come along. We write almost everything as RP, so we work in Gdocs both for maximum fluidity -- writing OT4 when only two of the characters are strictly "assigned" is great practice -- and so that I can ride herd on POV changes as they happen. Also so we don't have to strip out formatting from Discord or wherever when turning an RP into a fic, that's a pain in the ass.)

(I have the skill, apparently rare, of writing RP from the "external" POV, of the opposite character to the one I'm actually playing. Didn't really realize that was so unusual until I joined a fandom that's not just half a dozen people and a bag of chips. Don't know *why* I didn't realize, because I had to work hard to get the sense of POVs that I have, including a whole lot of cussing at the exercises in Ursula K. LeGuin's incomparable book on writing, "Steering the Craft". Probably something to do with not valuing the skillset you have.)

Aaaanyway. I think I was trying to say something.

Right: chapters! In past longfics, our chapters have landed in the 3k-5k range. These are pretty much 1500-2500 words each, which seems like it should feel really short, and maybe it will, but it also feels like the right fit for the way the pacing flows. I don't know if it's just that Jigen is *that* fucking much more laconic than Wes Janson or what. O_O

(Hell, my Jigen isn't even that laconic! Every Thursday, which is when the new episodes of the Green Jacket dub have been dropping, I find my Jigen voice changing drastically, because the rest of the week I've been marathoning the last of subtitled Red Jacket, so it's all Kobayashi-san and the wildly varying quality of the subtitles on VRV/Crunchyroll. Which apparently means that my default Jigen voice uses *way* more fifty-cent words, and way more words in general, than Epcar Jigen. I'm definitely gonna have to do an extra editing pass just to make sure I have a consistent character voice, which is *not* a problem I've had as Wes since the D&D campaign followed by the 50k novel.)

Granted, this is also the fic where I wrote maybe half of it so far by my lonesome (on request), so the usual reason our partnered fics run long, aka bantering endlessly, is mostly not present. Even the Jigen&Zenigata scenes got a solo rewrite afterwards to tighten them up and keep us from repeating information. This thing is a *lot* more plotty than most of the fics we've managed to publish so far. Well, plotty, actiony, somewhere in that range. Not consisting mainly of banter and porn or banter and angst, is my point.

Fuck. Anyway. I was just trying to post a brief update on this monster and it turned into an essay on our writing/editing process. Maybe I should write one of those on purpose someday. It's evolved.

[ey8508]

Rumors & Secrets LZ

Totally more contents about LZ : )

[Finally, we meet again]

Note:

R&S for this card (CG above)

Chapter SPOILERS up to chapter 37 (read with your own risk)

Contains 5 chapters

Translation isn’t 100% accurate (or grammar errors)

This is mostly in Li Zeyan’s POV before he meets MC (in the past original timeline) and ends with the iconic “Evolver?” question (where it all begins in chapter 1)

Do not repost to any other site (reblog is fine)

Chapter 1

Page 1

The sun is slowly setting...

At the horizon, a large rose color slowly fainted from the golden sunlight, soaking the low-hanging cloud curtain, allowing the color of the stratus clouds to burst out, reflecting the blue sea surface that meets the sky.

The extended Bentley drove away from the bustling part of the town and moved slowly along the winding road. It rained at noon, and the air was full of the smell of wet soil and raindrops soaking leaves. Li Zeyan lowered half of the car window and turned his gaze to the red-brick and white-walled building under his feet, unconsciously a little surprised.

Eze, one of the most beautiful towns on the Mediterranean coast, is also the former residence of Li Zeyan's grandfather and grandmother.

Page 2

Since he can remember, he has often come to Eze with his mother to stay for a while. The leisurely and beautiful memories of his youth are composed of the humid sea breeze here, the touch of the ankle being drawn by the low bushes, and the moment when the eyes are filled with bright and full bouquets.

Mother always likes to go to the market in the early morning to buy a few bunches of flowers, before he gets up. He then will put the flower branches in various containers or clay pots or glasses as the way he likes.

When grandpa and grandma were still alive, they would have a richer breakfast. Although they had settled in Eze early in the morning, they still had a Chinese stomach. They wanted to eat porridge and noodles. When they passed away, breakfast becomes a little simpler, only bread, omelette, or instant cereal...

Page 3

Of course, his mother is also studying cooking seriously and wants to cook some complicated dishes for him, but progress is slow.

Although these memories became more and more blurred with his busy life, as soon as he returned here, the images of sunlight, green trees, ocean, and flowers in his mind became particularly clear.

The corners of Li Zeyan's lips showed a faint smile.

The video conference is already being connected, and Li Zeyan withdraws his gaze and sets his sights on the laptop in front of him. Soon, several young people in suits and leather shoes appeared in the meeting room. Although their hair colors were different, their pupils were different, the confident and relaxed look on his face was particularly noticeable.

Page 4

They are several industry stars recently discovered by Li Zeyan. They have been successively arranged in several venture capital companies established by Huarui overseas. In Li Zeyan's view, the times have changed. It is no longer the person in the investment department holding a bunch of industry data. In financial statements, you can easily figure out whether a company really has the stage of commercial value. They need to work hard in a field, understand every link that a student can accomplish, understand the most innovative business models, and look at all new things with suspicion and surprise.

They can contact any field they are interested in on the platform of Huarui, accumulate experience, and become Li Zeyan's eyes for exploring new tracks.

Page 5

The car drove halfway through the mountain, and the cascading sunset cast a golden glow on Li Zeyan's face, covering his smiling eyes in a warm color.

[They're talking in EN]

"Li, looks like you've got a brilliant sunset."

"It sure is."

[Back to CN]

"Isn't it Eze? It's a place worth sitting on the balcony all day."

" Indeed. "

Page 6

[Now they're talking in French]

"Better to drink good wine and appreciate the scenery."

"D'accord."

Chapter 2

Page 1

The relaxed video conference ends when the vehicle reaches the top of the mountain.

Li Zeyan got out of the car, strode forward, and a gentle breeze came towards him, messing with the strands of hair on his forehead. He fastened the suit that was blown up by the wind, took the rose bouquet from the entourage, and walked to the corner he knew.

Only a little golden light remained in the setting sun, hooked in the dark blue of the starry sky, quietly spilling on the white marble tombstone.

"mother."

Page 2

Li Zeyan put down the flowers, took out a brown handkerchief from his pocket, and knelt down to wipe the floating dust on the monument. Although there are people taking care of it every day, the tombstone is never slender. Every few days someone will come to replace a bunch of flowers, they are all taken care of and was cleaned with moisturizing liquid in the crystal vase that was placed in front of the tomb.

"Father was originally going to come over, but something happened temporarily. He asked me to bring you this bouquet of roses to make amends."

Li Zeyan slowly stood up as he spoke, looking at the sun that had completely sunk at sea level, inadvertently folded his fingers slightly, and clenched into a fist.

Page 3

On this day of the year, he will definitely take time to return to Eze. Although the schedule is tight, sometimes he can only stand in front of the grave for a short while, and has to rush to the next meeting. However, he still insists on coming in person...

His mother's death day is of extraordinary significance to him.

Li Zeyan breathed the cool air at the top of the mountain and talked about trivial matters for no reason.

"The charity project I talked to you last time is fully operational. I have found a lot of professional teachers who are willing to teach music to disabled children. Many of them have experience in caring for disabled children. Some also have a background in music schools. It should not be an issue to send gifted children to regular schools in the future-"

Page 4

"By the way, I saw the Moments two days ago. Aunt Gu said that she wants Wenwen to accept the wedding, as she has a very good boyfriend. Given her previous battles with Wenwen to urge her to marry, I think they will be urged to get the certificate soon."

" Do you remember Ronan? He went to Italy two days ago and sent me a two-meter sculpture, the sculptured piece was me.

...It is really difficult for him to spend such a large cost to let the world's best sculptor accompany him to do such boring things."

After a moment of silence, he remembered another thing.

Page 5

"Father’s favorite program "Discovering Miracles", the ratings and profitability of the last year are not good, Huarui is preparing to divest. Although it is a pity to say that, in the process of fast-forwarding, many people have been left behind, and "Discovering Miracles" is just one of them."

The hands on the dial had reached the time when Li Zeyan planned to leave, but he was standing in the dark, looking deeply at his mother's silent gravestone.

A breath of wind was quickly blown away by the night wind, and his voice became lighter while he was talking.

"All leads are broken..."

"I still didn't find her."

Page 6

After that, Li Zeyan sighed slightly emotional. He retracted his gaze from the tombstone, raised his hand to shake off a leaf hanging on the neck of his suit, and then strode away.

As if responding to his lonely back when he left, a quiet meteor suddenly struck across the endless night.

Chapter 3

Page 1

On the tarmac, Li Zeyan's private jet had been waiting for a long time. The weather tonight was good and the field of vision was wide. When boarding the plane, the captain rarely suggested that he could take a look at the sea covered with white moonlight from the porthole.

As soon as he sat down, Wei Qian walked over with his tablet computer.

"President. Regarding today's schedule, there are some parts that need your confirmation."

"First of all, the equity investment plan of the SE network video platform has been formally established. The relevant meeting is scheduled at 2 pm, and the representatives of SE will land at 12 noon, and the airport pick-up personnel have been arranged."

Page 2

"But you have promised Mr. Chen to attend his cocktail reception at 7pm on time, so the dinner after the meeting with the SE representatives..."

"Just say that we understand their hard journey, postpone the meal for one day, let them rest for the night."

"Understood. Also, Yaoxing Circus has accepted our invitation and is willing to come to Lianyu City for performances. However, they still have some doubts about the performance venue and performance permits, and they want to determine the original schedule. Is it possible to successfully obtain the performance license? Regarding this point, I have asked the relevant person in charge to prepare the materials required to apply for the license. I apply in the name of Hua Rui. I believe that it is not a big problem to get this license. So please ask the president, can you give them a positive answer directly?"

Page 3

Li Zeyan nodded faintly, and turned his sight out towards one of the porthole. The plane was flying over the city, and the star lights were gathered in his eyes. In the darker glass, a pair of eyes were also as deep as night.

"President Mr. Bao's payment for this month has passed, but he replied to this email and asked me to convey it to you."

"He said that he has only found some useful clues in the first few years before. In the last year, almost nothing was collected. He loves money very much, but he does not want to take your money for nothing. None of these investigations have yielded much. He is willing to help you do some commercial work. Business. No additional fees will be charged to you. He has a wide range of knowledge and resources. If you can find some news, you can help your friends... "

Page 4

Lao Bao's original words were "commercial espionage," and Wei Qian thought about it repeatedly before coming up with this rhetoric.

Li Zeyan couldn't help but smile faintly when thinking of Lao Bao's joking expression.

"Tell him, we don't need it for now. Hua Rui's information channels may not be less than his. Let him take money at ease and do things seriously."

Wei Qian replied in a low voice and stopped talking. The silence in the cabin was comparable to that of the night. The plane traveled steadily in the quiet, clear night, repeating the journey it had traveled countless times without moving.

Chapter 4

Page 1

Half an hour later, Li Zeyan finished shower, changed into a white bathrobe and sat on the bedroom sofa.

The red wine in the decanter has reached its best taste. Li Zeyan poured himself a half glass and tasted it, his expression was neither salty nor light. He vaguely remember that this 85-year-old Romanee-Conti seems to be a gift specially given to him by a director of Yuelai Entertainment at the auction.

At Yuelai Entertainment, Li Zeyan was tasting the wine, and a few projects that could work with them flashed in his mind, but when then changed his mind, as he puts it down.

Can wait, they are not qualified now.

Page 2

Li Zeyan leaned on the sofa, turned on the computer, and casually browsed the letters in the mailbox and the approval process.

An e-mail with the subject "Facial Structure and Profit Prospect Analysis Report" was lying on the first line of his mailbox. He clicked it in and glanced at the conclusion part 1 hastily.

According to the final data analysis, the film company’s only variety show "Discovering Miracles" lost about 80% of its audience in the last year, and its ratings ranked thirteenth (that is, third from the bottom) among the programs at the same time. At the same time, the film and television company has changed the person in charge a few months ago. The investigation showed that the person in charge had no experience in program production, company management, business negotiation, etc. before officially taking over the company. Accordingly, the venture capital department requested the president and the board of directors to suspend the continued capital injection of the company.

Page 3

Li Zeyan replied to the email with one hand with little thought: Approval of the withdrawal.

It never takes him too much time to make such a decision.

In the last two weeks, Li Zeyan has divested five companies, and this film and television company is the sixth. At the same time, he also made a lot of investment transactions, such as SE.

Huarui's capital chain is operating at a high speed, quickly responding to the market.

Page 4

Many people think that there is a gamble in this. Li Zeyan never denies that Huarui's style of offensive and never procrastinating seems too "aggressive" in the entire industry. But it doesn't matter. He knows better than anyone that the steady fight of the so-called industry giants is just a strategy that has to be adopted without an efficient business promotion mechanism and redundant management structure.

In a few years, perhaps Huarui will do the same.

But it doesn't matter, before that, he will lay the best foundation for Huarui, so that Huarui can still maintain active and vigorous vitality in the continuous expansion.

Page 5

After drinking the red wine in the glass in one sip, Li Zeyan pressed the sleep mode on the remote control, the light-shielding plate slowly fell, and the surrounding lights dimmed a little bit. He walked into the bathroom again to brush his teeth and wash to end the busy day.

This night, Li Zeyan had a deep dream.

In the time of emptiness, countless spots of light flowed slowly between his fingers. He tried to hold one or two in the house, but every time he made a fist and opened it, his palm was empty. Someone was smiling in front of him, her long light brown hair was slightly curly, and the corners of her lips were slightly raised with a smile, that was his mother. She smiled at him, her eyes calm and gentle, as if looking at a unique treasure in the world. She seemed to be asking something, but she also seemed to be just smile quietly.

He couldn't keep up with her.

Page 6

He knew that he had been waiting for a long time in a strange vortex, but who was he waiting for?

The indicator light on the wing is not clear in the thick night, the whole continent under the clouds is sleeping, and the time is as quiet as stopping, freezing the whole world at this moment.

In the sky, the stars are shining, and the whole Milky Way witnesses him breathing while in a dream.

Page 7

In the same deep dream, a girl was holding a mobile phone with a flashing light in her arms, and she was talking indifferently in a drowsy sleep.

As the two ends of the world are finally connected, the trajectory that continues to move forward is quietly changed.

The smoothly moving plane passed the sunrise scenery on the horizon.

The light-shielding board was slowly raised in accordance with the program instructions, and the first ray of sunlight in the morning shone into the porthole, covering Li Zeyan's bed.

Chapter 5

Page 1

Li Zeyan originally planned to go directly to Hua Rui, but halfway through, he received a message that Mr. Cai said that he had committed rheumatism and wanted to ask him for two days off.

He was a little worried, and after hesitating a little, he decided to visit.

Coincidentally, it was close to the meal time when he went to visit. The elderly eat early, and the house is full of plants when he enters the door. Mrs. Cai said that it would keep her down for a casual meal. He couldn't refuse the meal, so she took over the dishes.

Li Zeyan held a bowl straight at his waist, eating, and asking about Mr. Cai's condition. He had already arranged for a doctor to follow up for Mr. Cai before he finished the meal.

Page 2

Mr. Cai was grateful, and remembered some gossip he had seen on the Internet before, "I saw a lot of people commenting about the restaurants on the Internet. You must have seen it, manager, don’t keep it to your heart."

Li Zeyan smiled, he did not expect Mr. Cai to comfort him in return, "Mr. Cai, I never care what they think, how the restaurant wants to operate, I have always been aware of this, please rest assured. You can rest in peace in these two days. According to what I just said, Souvenir will be out of business for a week. Firstly, see what the doctor says."

Mr. Cai pounded his long-painful knee with a smile on his face, "I am old and useless. You don't have to do it for me"

Li Zeyan remarks "It's nothing"

Page 3

Then Mrs. Cai silently took a thin blanket from the living room to cover her husband. The two couples looked at each other for a short time, and said nothing. They still followed the topic just now and started talking cheerfully. The restaurant diners praised the manager’s craftsmanship.

Li Zeyan took the scene in his eyes, and a faint smile flicked across his lips.

After finishing light meal with a cup of tea, Li Zeyan did not want to disturb the couple too much, and left after that.

When he came, the weather was fine, the sun was fragile, and there was a leisurely sunny day scenery. Unexpectedly, when Li Zeyan walked to the intersection across the street from Huarui, there was both the sun and rain.

Page 4

He thought of the evening reception, thinking about whether to let Wei Qian bring him a clean suit. At this moment, a petite girl suddenly stood in front of him.

The green light on the crosswalk turned red just after the countdown, the vehicles coming from a distance did not slow down at all, and the girl was still standing in the middle of the road slowly, not aware of the coming danger!

It happened too suddenly, and two rapid bangs rang out.

Page 5

Li Zeyan's expression between his eyebrows changed slightly, and all the noise around him stopped in the moment.

He took a step forward and held her in his arms.

The girl stared at him with stunned eyes.

"Evolver?"

When time stands still, raindrops hover in the air, he also stopped his gaze.

[multiverseforger]

Chris Powell was the teenage son of Mike Powell, a cop, and Grace Powell, a District Attorney. Following his younger twin brothers, Jon and Jason, to the abandoned amusement park across from his home, Chris discovered his father taking a bribe from mob boss Phillipe Bazin.[5][6]

While trying to escape with his brothers from Bazin's henchmen, Chris discovered an amulet that transposed him into the Darkhawk armor. When his father disappeared after Chris saw him, he swore to use the Darkhawk armor as an "edge against crime". Darkhawk's powers included a force blast which emanated from the amulet on his chest, a force shield from the same amulet, a claw cable which could serve as both a Wolverine-like claw, and a grapple cable, glider wings and later flight capability, enhanced vision and strength, and an image underneath the Darkhawk helmet which served to frighten and distract his enemies.[citation needed]

He often teamed up with Spider-Man. As a sometime member of the New Warriors, he befriended Speedball, Nova, and later, Turbo.[citation needed] During his tenure as a crime fighter, he was often trying to rescue his father, mother, or other family members.[citation needed]

He developed quite a roster of enemies: he would fight villains such as Hobgoblin and Tombstone, who were seeking to take his amulet, with the latter succeeding. He was extremely weakened and even dying from having the amulet removed, but still able to use all of his powers except for turning back into human form to heal. Once he retrieved the amulet he was able to put it back in his chest and fully heal. Darkhawk had 2 separate encounters with Venom, who felt that Chris was good natured and held back whereas Darkhawk was greatly opposed to Venom's ideals and way of handling crime, and swore to bring him to justice, despite Venom offering to be his ally. Lodestone: a magnetically-powered villain developed by Bazin, was often pitted against Darkhawk. He also fought against some who would later ally with him, such as Portal, a teleporting mutant who killed another Darkhawk and stole parts of his armor, Savage Steel, which had been created by the secret police cabal that Chris' dad had been a member of, and Damek, a mercenary sent from the future to kill Darkhawk.[citation needed]

Chris learned that his armor was actually an autonomously existing android armor, one of five commissioned by an alien mob lord named Dargin Bokk, being held in a sentient spaceship, Ocsh, in Null Space. When Chris grasped the amulet, it actually caused his body to switch places with that of the Darkhawk body, although his mind remained in control of the 'replacement' body.[citation needed]

After helping them several times, Darkhawk was brought aboard the Avengers West Coast as a reserve member, but saw little action with them after becoming a member, because they were dissolved shortly thereafter. Nonetheless, he did at least start a lasting friendship with Spider-Woman.[citation needed]

Darkhawk 2.0

Later, Chris and Darkhawk actually split into two separate entities, with the armor being updated into the "2.0" form, as it was informally known. This advanced form of armor gave Darkhawk new powers, such as the ability to form a force shield encasing his body, an actual "Hawk" construct (a gigantic force-field shaped like a hawk), and the ability to summon weapons from Osch. Darkhawk 2.0 and Chris re-merged, with the prospect of no longer needing to use the amulet in order to switch bodies.[citation needed]

Loners

Chris joined a self-help group of ex-teenage-super-heroes, the Loners, who admitted to being addicted to their powers. Members included: Turbo, Green Goblin IV (Phil Urich), Ricochet, Lightspeed and later Spider-Woman III (Mattie Franklin). The group was hired by a mysterious benefactor, later revealed to be Rick Jones, to track down the Runaways in Los Angeles.

Powell displayed trouble controlling his anger in his Darkhawk persona, leading to a short skirmish with Turbo. Dismayed with himself, Powell admitted to his teammates that he suffered a nervous breakdown.[7] Powell decided to never turn into Darkhawk again, but this decision did not last long, as shortly thereafter the group battled the notorious Avengers villain, Ultron. Darkhawk delivered the final blow, using a darkforce blast at point blank range to blow Ultron to pieces.[8]

The Loners continued their meetings and Chris was drawn back into heroics by Spider-Woman and made an enemy of MGH manufacturers who had abused Mattie Franklin and the woman running them as well as Nekra, a woman who was getting rich by selling her bodily fluids to them. Chris then got his Darkhawk amulet stolen from him temporarily by an unbalanced Phil Urich but was able to regain it with help from the group.[9]

Secret Invasion

Having registered with the government, Darkhawk was assigned to the position of security chief at Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S.. During the Skrull invasion, he worked alongside his old teammate Nova against the Deviant Skrulls.[10]

Fraternity of Raptors

The being known as Talon came to Earth, and offered to teach Chris how to control his amulet. They went to the Negative Zone to fight Annihilus. There, Chris bonded fully with his amulet. This allowed him to learn that the Fraternity of Raptors that Talon represented was evil and that the Fraternity had created the amulets. Evilhawk had been a hallucination caused by his mind, which had been unable to process all the information the Amulet gave him. The Raptor, known as Razor, took over Chris' body and assassinated Lilandra.[citation needed]

Later he fought Gyre another member of the Fraternity of Raptors that had been recruited as a pawn of the Sphinx. Darkhawk, Nova, Black Bolt, Mr. Fantastic and Namorita defeated the Sphinx and his pawns. Darkhawk was able to separate Gyre from his Kree host by using the same technique Talon used to separate Chris from Darkhawk and bring back Razor.[citation needed]

Avengers Arena

Arcade kidnapped Chris and fifteen teenage heroes and brought them to Murderworld, a secluded island where no one could find them, and forced them to fight each other to the death, and only the last man standing within thirty days would be allowed to leave.[11] One night, he was attacked and had his amulet removed, leaving his fate unknown.[12] His amulet would get passed around by others locked in Murderworld.[13]

Chris was later shown in a coma-like state in a strange tank along with the deceased heroes, where Arcade appeared to be healing him. Waking up, he located Arcade and knocked him out. He later reclaimed his amulet and was among the survivors of the battle.[14]

Marvel Legacy

Powell eventually resurfaced back in New York, set to marry a new fiancée by the name of Miranda Cruz. With whom he'd shared all of his exploits while piloting the sentient automaton known Darkhawk. Nowadays his Amulet has become inert, not so much as even changing when he focuses his thoughts on becoming his alter ego again; but lately has been suffering from nightmares of the Tree of Shadows every time he slept. Following in his father's footsteps, he eventually became an officer of the law at the NYPD. Taking to the same beat Micheal Powell used to back when he was one of the police, he reminisced about how his father would listen to people and remember their names while trying to keep the peace on the streets.

Trying to be the every bit as big a man and a better cop than he was by holding the values he once thought Mike stood for before, Chris found out his father was a corrupt cop. All the while ruminating on whether the world needed him as Christopher Powell, police officer or as the cybernetic hero he once was. While on patrol, dispatch sent out notice of a disturbance at Wonderland Amusement Park, where he first found the Raptor Amulet.

While investigating the derelict establishment, Powell was approached by two shady cops right near the area where he first became Darkhawk. Officer Hal Fingeroth and Sergeant Harold Conrad came to Powell offering certain opportunities while on the force which Chris quickly denied, when the latter opted to be a bit more forceful in his persuasion; Conrad was quickly eviscerated by members of the Fraternity of Raptors who were after the young officer's depowered amulet. Canorus and Aceptar created the odd circumstances which led to Christopher retracing his origin as a superhero in order to kill him and take what they believed was theirs by right, but the former raptor didn't go without a fight; discovering that these new raptors were in actuality just armored Shi'ar thugs given how easily Aceptar was stunned by a shock baton.

Though Christopher was eventually subdued by Canorus and his gem taken from him. Canorus was able to activate it again with a damaged Razor taking his place, whom nearly beat Powell's other would be assassin to death until Chris got his attention. The badly broken android grabbed hold of Powell and ported him to a portion of the Datasong he called the "Perch," where memories of previous host pilots were stored within a Raptor's own motherboard.

Razor, now calling itself Darkhawk after the recombinant persona imprinted on itself due to their shared escapades as a hero. Chris learned from his other half that a whole new Fraternity has sprung up in the wake of Novas' decimation, eager to bring the universe to heel under their thrall and had been searching for a means of acquiring the Raptor androids from the Null Space void to cement their dominance. Horrified by this development the now empathetic Razor sought to defy this mandate by said cabal of zealot pretenders by escaping his pod and severing his link to the Tree of Shadows, which was the reason why Powell couldn't become Darkhawk anymore. Severing his brethren's connection to their amulets earned Raptor their ire, however. They nearly hunted it down and executed until he was summoned to Earth by Canorus. Seeing the opportunity to heal itself, and hoping to enlist aid in stopping the renegade Raptor sect, Darkhawk sought union with Chris Powell once again in order to recover and grow in power.

Seeing as the whole of the universe was at stake, including his own homeworld in the long run. Chris knew in spite of his misgivings about space travel and the new life he has on Earth, that since his android had grown a conscience since the War of Kings. That he could not just sit by and pretend what effects the galaxy has no consequences for everybody involved, himself included. Donning the name Darkhawk once more, he took to the skies after blasting the other raptor back to his enclave in space before taking off, wondering how Miranda will react to the change of pace.[15]

Infinity Countdown

After learning from Richard Rider that the Fraternity of Raptors were after the Infinity Stones, Chris wanted to find a way to stop them, but he was stuck on Earth. He was later attacked by the bounty hunter Death's Head who was hired by the Raptors to capture Chris and bring him back to them alive. After learning that Death's Head had a spaceship, Chris was able to convince Death's Head to take him to the Raptors. After saying goodbye to Miranda, Chris and Death's Head traveled to where Death's Head was to meet the Raptors, the planet Arcturus IV; however, the Raptors betrayed Death's Head and destroyed his ship. Chris survived the ship's destruction and confronted the Raptors, but he was quickly overwhelmed by their numbers.

Chris' Darkhawk Amulet was removed from his body by the Raptors' leader Gyre and used in a ceremony to transform Richard Rider's brother Robbie Rider into the being called Dark Darkhawk by fusing him with Ratha'kon, a being supposedly more powerful than the Phoenix Force. The Raptors then left a dying Chris where he was set off to destroy Earth. As Chris dragged himself across the ground, he encountered his other half Razor who revealed to him the origins of the Tree of Shadows and of the first Raptor. After some coaxing from Razor, Chris tapped into his hidden strength and emerged with a new Darkhawk body after fully fusing his mind with the armor. Chris then flew after the Raptors to stop them.[16]

Chris battled the Raptors with help from Death's Head and Nova Prime. Nova made it difficult to fight Dark Darkhawk as he preferred to reason with his brother Robbie than fight him. Dark Darkhawk then shockingly turned on Gyre and destroyed him while stating that he would bring order to the universe, not Gyre. The Raptors were eventually stopped when Death's Head rigged the power core of the Kree ship the Raptors stole to explode. Only Dark Starhawk survived the explosion, though stunned, allowing Chris to reclaim his Darkhawk Amulet. Dark Starhawk then disappeared in a flash of light after striking his Nega-Bands together. Grieving over the loss of Robbie, Nova angrily told Chris to stay on Earth or he would have him locked up. After Chris returned to Earth, he decided stay out of space for a while. Later that night, he was met by Sleepwalker while he dreamed, telling him that the influence of the Infinity Stones threatened the Mindscape and that the only way he could protect it was to become a Sleepwalker.[17]

Young Again

Darkhawk attended Thanos' funeral along with prominent cosmic figures where it was revealed that Thanos had transferred his mind into a new body. However, the Black Order came and stole Thanos' corpse, while opening a rip in space in order to trap them.[18] While trapped there, Darkhawk's atoms began to break apart, affecting his link to the suit. After being captured by the Universal Church of Truth from a possible future, Chris found out that his body was merged with the armor and that he had become younger than when he first found the amulet.[19] Under the control of the Church, Darkhawk and the other prisoners attacked the Guardians of the Galaxy, but Rocket Raccoon was able to free them from the Church's control and sent the church back to their timeline.[20]

After the Void was leading the forces of the Cancerverse into invading the Negative Zone, Darkhawk was among the heroes summoned by Mister Fantastic using his Dimensional Anchor in order to defeat the Scourge. Once the Silver Surfer managed to merge Bob Reynolds with Void back, Nova sacrificed himself in order to defeat the Scourge, ending the threat.[21]

Powers and Abilities

Power Grid [24]Intelligence 2Strength4 Speed*5  3Durability4 Energy Projection*6  3Fighting Skills 2* Armor Transformations

Abilities

Skilled Combatant: Chris is skilled in Kendo and an unidentified branch of Karate.[citation needed]

Strength level

25+ Tons.[15]

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Darkhawk Amulet:

Consciousness Transfer: Chris can transfer his consciousness into the Darkhawk's alien android while at the same time, switch the robotic body's place with that of his own body wherever he is at any time.[citation needed]

Darkhawk Android: The Darkhawk Armor is advanced Shi'ar technology meshed with magic, allowing the host numerous superhuman capabilities:

Superhuman Strength: The Armor allows Chris to lift in the excess of 25+ tons. Able to knock out Venom.[citation needed]

Superhuman Speed

Superhuman Durability: Darkhawk is superhumanly durable; he is capable of shrugging off physical impacts, energy blasts, and most artillery fire.

Superhuman Agility

Superhuman Reflexes

Armament Conjuration: The Android can summon weapons from the extra-dimensional expanse from whence they came, or manifest desired munitions from its own body at will.[citation needed]

Flight: The retractable glider wings under his arms allow him to glide on air currents. Darkhawk can also fly at speeds that let him fly from New York to California in only a matter of hours. After the Darkhawk armor attained a new form, Chris is able to fly interstellar distances.[22]

Self Repair: Even major injuries to his Darkhawk body can be repaired by switching back to his human form.[citation needed]

Superhuman Vision: Darkhawk has telescopic and infra-red vision. He can see through most camouflage.[citation needed]

Force Field: Chris can utilize a circular wafer-thin force field.[citation needed]

Concussion Blasts: He can fire blasts of destructive dark energy from the amulet on his chest.[citation needed]

Mode Shifting: Talons can morph their bodies into a host of augmentative forms. Becoming transparent, doubling body armor, projecting greater weaponry, etc.[citation needed]

Formerly *Avengers Identicard

Transportation

Formerly Avengers Quinjet

Trivia

Darkhawk's armor and appearance has been a continued source of debate amongst Marvel "True-Believers." After his series was canceled, his new appearances often reverted back to the original Darkhawk armor. As of his Loners appearances, he is in "DH 1.0" form, although he had appeared a few times as DH 2.0 prior to this.[citation needed]

It has been a misunderstanding amongst many readers and fans of Darkhawk that he was aware of his status as a hero within the Marvel 2099 universe, in which he is known as "The Powell," one of the "most powerful, and feared, heroes in the universe." This wasn't Earth-928 (or Marvel 2099), it was a similar cyberpunk dystopia world within Chronopolis. This was resolved by DeFalco himself within the letter columns in one of the final issues of the ongoing series.[citation needed]

Links and References

185 Appearances of Christopher Powell (Earth-616)

15 Minor Appearances of Christopher Powell (Earth-616)

Media Christopher Powell (Earth-616) was Mentioned in

123 Images featuring Christopher Powell (Earth-616)

13 Quotations by or about Christopher Powell (Earth-616)

Character Gallery: Christopher Powell (Earth-616) 

Christopher Powell (Earth-616) on Wikipedia.org 

Darkhawk Zone: The Ultimate Darkhawk Fansite

Darkhawk @ New Warriors Continuity Conundrum

New Warriors Message Board

Recommended Readings

Darkhawk #1-50 (March 1991, April 1995)

Darkhawk Annual #1-3 (1992, 1994)

New Warriors #14, 22-25, 47-51

New Warriors Annual #3

Avengers West Coast #93-95

Runaways Vol 2 #1-6

Marvel Team-Up #15-18, 25 (2005)

Loners #1-6 (2007)

Nova (vol. 4) #17-#19 (November 2008, January 2009)

War of Kings: Darkhawk #1 and #2 (February 2009 and March 2009)

War of Kings: Ascension #1-4 (April 2009, July 2009)

Discover and Discuss

Search this site for: Christopher Powell (Earth-616)

Footnotes

↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #3

↑ 2.02.1 The Loners #1

↑ Avengers Vol 3 #2

↑ Darkhawk Annual #3

↑ Darkhawk #1

↑ Amazing Spider-Man #353

↑ Runaways Vol 2 #1-3

↑ Runaways Vol 2 #6

↑ The Loners Vol 1-6

↑ Nova #17-18

↑ Avengers Arena #1

↑ Avengers Arena #3

↑ Avengers Arena #4

↑ Avengers Arena #18

↑ 15.015.1 Darkhawk #51

↑ Infinity Countdown: Darkhawk #1-3

↑ Infinity Countdown: Darkhawk #4

↑ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 5 #1

↑ Guardians of the Galaxy Annual Vol 3 #1

↑ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 5 #11-12

↑ Annihilation - Scourge Omega #1

↑ Infinity Countdown: Darkhawk #3

↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #3

↑ Darkhawk #51, Trading Card Variant

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[insatiablecognitohazard]

Almost immediately after Calami spoke weapons were drawn. A team of trolls kitted out with what would most certainly top of the range tactical gear. All of them bearing a patch in their shoulders with an odd symbol on it and the letters A, R and C beneath. They definitely didn't look like scientists. Somewhat twitchy escorts for a high value individual was more like it.

Thankfully none of them actually do shoot. As a few tense seconds later Vesper turns her attention to the newcomer. Someone she recognised. Which was probably what lead her to calling the other trolls off.

"/* L0wer Y0ur Weap0ns 1d10ts. She's Just A C1v1l1an. */"

One by one rifles are lowered and the tension gradually relaxes. Most of them return to doing what they were originally doing.

The clearing they had found themselves in was... strange to say the least. In addition to the troll Vesper killed, there were six other bodies. All decked in loose fitting and rough brown robes. Into which various coloured twigs, grasses and flowers had been sewn into somewhat haphazardly. Only one of them had any skin showing, and it barely looked troll like. Emaciated and covered in hardened skin that could have been mistaken for tree bark.

At the centre of the clearing. In a circle of bare earth sat a polished sphere. It's shell transparent allowing an incredibly dark green almost black liquid inside to be seen. And dotted on its surface were sticks, leaves and flowers. Much like the troll's robes but partially fused to the surface.

"/* N0 Exper1ments T0n1ght. Just C0llect1ng S0me... */"

She pauses to look at the scene behind her. The trolls dousing bodies in some kind of propellant and readying flames to dispose of whatever this was.

"/* Samples. L1ttle B1t 0f C0nservat10n W0rk T00. */"

That was clearly not the actual truth but was likely the most Vesper could say. Given any actual truth would be highly confidential.

☠

It was a long and drawn out sigh. Followed by a look to the heavens, as if they might inexplicably provide answers. But unfortunately the heavens didn’t seem to want to cooperate tonight and thus left her wanting.

“/* S0 The New Guy T0uched The Th1ng, Am 1 Gett1ng That R1ght. */”

Her gaze shifts to the containment team leader. A somewhat well built olive blood. One who looks like he would have given anything to not be in this position right now.

“Er yes. I looked away for a second and he was holding the damn thing. What’s our action plan Dr Phyria?”

Vesper pauses, considering the situation as she drums her fingers on the side of her chin. 

“/* We St1ck T0 Pr0t0c0l.”

She looks away from the team leader towards the rookie who was sitting about a dozen or so feet away from them. Staring at his own hand as if it were the first time he’d seen it.

Without a moment of hesitation Vesper draws her sidearm and fires.The unfortunate troll didn’t even see it coming. The side of his skull blowing out as the bullet tears through it.

“/* Burn The B0dy. And Make Sure N0 0ne Else T0uches 1t T1ll 0ur L1ft Arr1ves. */

Stowing her weapon away, the feeling she and the team were being watch was palpable. This was a rural area, so the chances were some troll might happen on them. Possibly even Calami, this wasn’t too far from her hive after all.

[nyastuding]

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Tri Tech picket rails can be designed to accommodate 4 inch or 6 inch picket spacings. Bull Metal Products, Inc. styles and produces custom-made tool cases & boxes for original equipment tool producers, and distributors that repackage and offer tools and devices. From specialized tool boxes and cabinets to customized drill indexes and large tool chests, we make quality boxes that can be developed to meet your particular requirements. Take a look at more tool cases and boxes in our Photo Gallery. When you require metal tool boxes that are manufactured to your specific requirements and constructed to last, the custom tool cases manufactured by Bull Metal Products, Inc. are the response. So to prevent this fabrication illustration is become the most crucial term in construction market. The method is likewise utilized to show important and needed building documents. To suggest steel member information illustrations, connection information, anchor plans, column connections and store bolt summary fabrication illustration is crucial factor. Professional steel detailers are also using it widely for maximum output in the term of precise building construction. In the building market specialize work must be valued. To satisfy this function reputed organizations have made worldwide requirements and codes must be used for steel fabrication drawings. All the steel fabricators and drawing specialists are using these standards and codes for precise drawing purpose. For the outsourcing function it is likewise ended up being popular term to save time and expense. After development of CAD it is now ended up being simple to transform handcrafted sketches into appropriate design format. Hermans is also able to meet individual HVAC needs every action of the procedure from design to fabrication and setup. Together DSMW & HMF has the devices, resources and experience to satisfies your custom-made sheet metal requirements. The knowledgeable staff members of Dericks Sheet Metal and Herman Metal Fabricators include skilled hands-on strategy with the current in market technology, consisting of a plasma cutting table and a new water jet system. Whether the customer supplies blueprints or CAD designs, or requests the illustrations be created internal from field measurement, DSMW-HMF has the resources to fulfill almost any custom-made sheet metal requirement. Innovative Metal Designs makes elements that are both standard and personalized. Whether you need just one part or an entire turnkey item, we will work directly with your business to bring your products to the clients. Our sophisticated CAD/CAM shows software application and sheet metal fabrication equipment work together to offer quality part production at competitive costs. Punch press marking and sheet metal welding is utilized for a world of industrial markets including medical, aerospace, and electronic markets. For example, we produce brackets, weldments, skid plates, front bumpers and sheet metal enclosures for the different industries. Bonderized, Vintage, Galvanized and a treated Weathering Steel are among the most frequently requested panels. When creating interior areas is whether to use a wainscoting or not, a common concern we get. Exactly what we can safely state is that interior wainscoting works well in some scenarios, and not so well in others. In a rustic ranch-style house we’ve seen it used frequently as a galvanized compliment to warmer wood interiors. For bigger areas the general interior decoration consensus is to utilize a complete wall accent, instead of separating sightlines in a room. Using interior metal as an accent wall can help create wonderful shifts between the different elements of a house. Today capability levels in the industry are from the low 70 percent range to more than 80 percent, according to a recent survey from FMA. In general, the larger the business, the tighter the capacity, which hints at the peak capability situation in some locations of the automobile supply chain. Hence the requirement for constant improvement and clever investments, both in people and technology, and the requirement to be all set for any changes that may lie ahead. It’s common practice for custom producers to keep capacity at a workable level so they can react to unexpected variations in need, a reality of life in most metal fabrication. Those shops that can react are most likely to grow; those who cannot might suffer. Provided the years of stable, sluggish growth we have actually had– and thinking about the big unknowns that lie ahead– that declaration is most likely truer now than ever. We are forward thinkers. We do the job. Not concealed away in a workplace, our Director is on the floor guaranteeing your project is completed in the fastest time possible. We are forward thinkers. We recently obtained a CNC Plasma Cutter, which can assist you conserve time and loan. Our main place is a sure benefit to you! ATG Sheetmetal can help you with all your metal requires, consisting of plasma cutting, guillotining, flexing and folding, welding (stick, tig and mig), drilling and punching. Please visit our services page for additional information and examples of our work. With a gift for visualization and imaginative problem solving combined to approximately 24 years of experience, our Press Brake Operators supply ability and talent no maker alone might replicate. And they deal with the finest devices in the market, Cincinnati 6-axis CNC hydraulic press brakes with accuracy tooling and a full variety of forming capability as much as 230 lots. Experts at putting everything together. When it pertains to putting projects together, our Welding and Assembly Departments are first rate. We are continuously including brand-new tools and production strategies in order to fulfill our clients’ needs for progressively advanced assembly. At inMetal, we’re prepared to deal with a complete variety of lot sizes, physical sizes, and intricacies.

While security devices may feel like a cumbersome, unimportant waste of time, safety gear is designed to limit and avoid injury must a mishap occur. Mishaps can take place in a matter of seconds. Throughout an accident, safety devices must already remain in location in order to be efficient. Construction hats, gloves and shatterproof glass left in a truck or tool box are useless throughout a mishap. Sheet metal employees can be based on flying debris and small fragments of metal shavings, cuts from sharp metal edges, crushing injuries from presses and other sheet metal forming devices, and burns from metal heated throughout installation, repair or production. A lot of these injuries have the prospective to be harmful unless safety equipment is used when working around sheet metal. Back and neck injuries are one the most typical causes of Worker’s Compensation claims. A serious muscle injury can keep a sheet metal worker from the task for months while muscles, tendons, tissue and bones recover. If you loved this short article and you would like to acquire additional information relating to powder coating kindly stop by our own site.

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5 Facts You Didn't Know About Welding And Metal Fabrication

Many students don't realize the rapid expansion of the welding market, positioning metal fabricators (likewise called sheet metal employees) in high demand. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, at a rate of 15-22%. This indicates a greater possibility that your effort and education will settle quickly after school is total. Exactly what's more, welding is considered a green collar job due to the fact that of the direction the energy industry is taking. Inning accordance with the Union of Concerned Scientists 4, renewable and diverse energies are required to provide solutions for eco-friendly energy for our society's future. The website will permit the associates to have real-time access to any issue the customer may have, and will likewise put the info they need in the palm of their hands to upsell particular clients. Prices: In an industry where prices can be somewhat complex and complicated, Infor's rates approach is extremely strong and detailed, and has no limitations for what sort of pricing it can manage. Our client simply concluded the supplier evaluation phase with Epicor and Infor, and will next have to decide between the two products. We will talk about implementation approach with both vendors and identify which will be the finest fit from a relationship and both innovation viewpoints. This client exceeds and beyond to ensure their customers succeed, and they are trying to find a partner that will do the very same for them. When that choice has been made, we will assist them through the settlement procedure and begin application planning. Second, damp paint can produce a wider series of colors than powder finish so more customized color work could require spray painting and plating. Third, damp paint and plating can produce a much thinner surface than powder covering. Products with demand a thin surface can benefit considerably from damp paint. Lastly, wet paint is a much more financial finishing process, especially for smaller tasks. There are 2 significant drawbacks to damp paint and plating. First, wet painting is not as durable as powder finish. Wet paint can need maintenance and re-finishing later. Second, damp painting can require several coats to obtain an even, unmarred surface. Tri Tech prides itself on maintaining quality with all orders. Little to medium volumes are possible on lead times of four to eight weeks. Extra services, such as assembly, style, etching, painting, and refinishing might be provided. To find out more about Tri Tech's railing fabrication services, see the table listed below and contact them straight. Picket rails are an useful solution where public safety and included defense are a concern, With varying designs, barriers and rails can still stay gorgeous while still practical. Tri Tech picket rails can be designed to accommodate 4 inch or 6 inch picket spacings. Bull Metal Products, Inc. styles and produces custom-made tool cases & boxes for original equipment tool producers, and distributors that repackage and offer tools and devices. From specialized tool boxes and cabinets to customized drill indexes and large tool chests, we make quality boxes that can be developed to meet your particular requirements. Take a look at more tool cases and boxes in our Photo Gallery. When you require metal tool boxes that are manufactured to your specific requirements and constructed to last, the custom tool cases manufactured by Bull Metal Products, Inc. are the response. So to prevent this fabrication illustration is become the most crucial term in construction market. The method is likewise utilized to show important and needed building documents. To suggest steel member information illustrations, connection information, anchor plans, column connections and store bolt summary fabrication illustration is crucial factor. Professional steel detailers are also using it widely for maximum output in the term of precise building construction. In the building market specialize work must be valued. To satisfy this function reputed organizations have made worldwide requirements and codes must be used for steel fabrication drawings. All the steel fabricators and drawing specialists are using these standards and codes for precise drawing purpose. For the outsourcing function it is likewise ended up being popular term to save time and expense. After development of CAD it is now ended up being simple to transform handcrafted sketches into appropriate design format. Hermans is also able to meet individual HVAC needs every action of the procedure from design to fabrication and setup. Together DSMW & HMF has the devices, resources and experience to satisfies your custom-made sheet metal requirements. The knowledgeable staff members of Dericks Sheet Metal and Herman Metal Fabricators include skilled hands-on strategy with the current in market technology, consisting of a plasma cutting table and a new water jet system. Whether the customer supplies blueprints or CAD designs, or requests the illustrations be created internal from field measurement, DSMW-HMF has the resources to fulfill almost any custom-made sheet metal requirement. Innovative Metal Designs makes elements that are both standard and personalized. Whether you need just one part or an entire turnkey item, we will work directly with your business to bring your products to the clients. Our sophisticated CAD/CAM shows software application and sheet metal fabrication equipment work together to offer quality part production at competitive costs. Punch press marking and sheet metal welding is utilized for a world of industrial markets including medical, aerospace, and electronic markets. For example, we produce brackets, weldments, skid plates, front bumpers and sheet metal enclosures for the different industries. Bonderized, Vintage, Galvanized and a treated Weathering Steel are among the most frequently requested panels. When creating interior areas is whether to use a wainscoting or not, a common concern we get. Exactly what we can safely state is that interior wainscoting works well in some scenarios, and not so well in others. In a rustic ranch-style house we've seen it used frequently as a galvanized compliment to warmer wood interiors. For bigger areas the general interior decoration consensus is to utilize a complete wall accent, instead of separating sightlines in a room. Using interior metal as an accent wall can help create wonderful shifts between the different elements of a house. Today capability levels in the industry are from the low 70 percent range to more than 80 percent, according to a recent survey from FMA. In general, the larger the business, the tighter the capacity, which hints at the peak capability situation in some locations of the automobile supply chain. Hence the requirement for constant improvement and clever investments, both in people and technology, and the requirement to be all set for any changes that may lie ahead. It's common practice for custom producers to keep capacity at a workable level so they can react to unexpected variations in need, a reality of life in most metal fabrication. Those shops that can react are most likely to grow; those who cannot might suffer. Provided the years of stable, sluggish growth we have actually had-- and thinking about the big unknowns that lie ahead-- that declaration is most likely truer now than ever. We are forward thinkers. We do the job. Not concealed away in a workplace, our Director is on the floor guaranteeing your project is completed in the fastest time possible. We are forward thinkers. We recently obtained a CNC Plasma Cutter, which can assist you conserve time and loan. Our main place is a sure benefit to you! ATG Sheetmetal can help you with all your metal requires, consisting of plasma cutting, guillotining, flexing and folding, welding (stick, tig and mig), drilling and punching. Please visit our services page for additional information and examples of our work. With a gift for visualization and imaginative problem solving combined to approximately 24 years of experience, our Press Brake Operators supply ability and talent no maker alone might replicate. And they deal with the finest devices in the market, Cincinnati 6-axis CNC hydraulic press brakes with accuracy tooling and a full variety of forming capability as much as 230 lots. Experts at putting everything together. When it pertains to putting projects together, our Welding and Assembly Departments are first rate. We are continuously including brand-new tools and production strategies in order to fulfill our clients' needs for progressively advanced assembly. At inMetal, we're prepared to deal with a complete variety of lot sizes, physical sizes, and intricacies.

While security devices may feel like a cumbersome, unimportant waste of time, safety gear is designed to limit and avoid injury must a mishap occur. Mishaps can take place in a matter of seconds. Throughout an accident, safety devices must already remain in location in order to be efficient. Construction hats, gloves and shatterproof glass left in a truck or tool box are useless throughout a mishap. Sheet metal employees can be based on flying debris and small fragments of metal shavings, cuts from sharp metal edges, crushing injuries from presses and other sheet metal forming devices, and burns from metal heated throughout installation, repair or production. A lot of these injuries have the prospective to be harmful unless safety equipment is used when working around sheet metal. Back and neck injuries are one the most typical causes of Worker's Compensation claims. A serious muscle injury can keep a sheet metal worker from the task for months while muscles, tendons, tissue and bones recover. If you loved this short article and you would like to acquire additional information relating to powder coating kindly stop by our own site.