#the thinner lines towards the light are a bit of a departure

[team-frightfur]

Boy.

I like how his knife sharp and ruler straight hair both fits dgrp (ibuki mioda vibes) and adds to his punky vibes (especially the dramatic spikes at the back). Finally, the soft pink sunset lighting and hint of a dgrp school setting (with the school desk) sets the scene/mood rly well.

TLDR: Good work. Honestly im kinda curious about the rp at this point bc I want to know his story. This design says a lot but Im probs horribly off base. I want to know what it means. Is he even human? What is his ultimate? Is this the kind of Au where you try to translate his whole character arc or are you doing new, funky things with him? Its so intriguing to me.

Anyway, hope you enjoy the rp! And highkey that the RP is with a person 😐.

Love it when RPs lead to my best artwork

[tamakiamajikistentacles]

Disappearance 6: The Rescue {Katsuki Bakugo}

A/N: Please be sure to reblog, comment, review, and like if you enjoy! Feedback is what keeps me motivated! Chiasa has been THROUGH it and writing this rescue felt like the least I could do for her.

Disappearance Masterlist

None of them slept that night except the boy. Jiro’s lullabies had worked wonders on him and it was nice to see him so peaceful. He was curled into the corner of the sofa with his face smushed against the backrest, the fabric’s pink imprint visible on his nose when he shifted.

Katsuki spent more time in his office than necessary just watching over him. He didn’t want him to be alone if he woke and he had of course come to care about the boy in the few hours since he’d been brought back to the agency. Any extension of Chiasa had a piece of his heart.

He could only hope that their plan would allow for a reunion of the two, though he wouldn’t be surprised if it was more of an introduction on both accounts.

His shoulders had been tensed for hours as he watched the clock tick closer to their departure time and they felt even tighter when Jiro came into his office to stay with the boy when it was time for the rest of them to move out. She offered him an encouraging smile.

“We’ll be waiting for you and Chiasa to get back. Been too long since we’ve all been together.”

That burned the fire in his eyes even brighter—he wasn’t just bringing her back for himself or for the boy, but also for the friends they both shared for so many years. The friends who missed her too, who helped him search for her when she first disappeared, and who apologized for giving up on her even when he never did. The friends who were stepping up when it mattered most.

He adjusted his grenade belt as he wordlessly left the room. She knew she had his thanks whether he verbalized it or not.

Passing one of the smaller offices he saw Mina and Sero sharing a box of Pocky and he rolled his eyes. Leave it to those two to be eating snacks so early in the morning.

He finally met the rest of the raid team in the lobby where Hikari was handing out the known layout of the antiques shop. They’d already gone over it extensively in their planning session earlier in the night but he knew damn well who he was teaming up with. Deku was already muttering the plan under his breath as he traced his hand over the small map.

They all looked up as he cleared his throat loudly. With their attention caught, he looked each of them in the eye before declaring, “It’s time to move.”

It was still early when they arrived in Nagoya and met with the officers who would be assisting them for their raid and serving the warrant to the shop owners. They also had to be questioned about their involvement with the League, though that wasn’t the highest priority for the morning.

The police chief was in attendance and happily shook Katsuki’s hand with a slightly starstruck look in his eye as he glanced around at the other heroes behind him. He chattered about their plan to evacuate the owners as soon as the shop opened before the hero team could move in.

Everyone was alert and ready as they watched the shop from their vantage point within an empty pffice building directly across from Niwata Antiques.

“T minus five minutes,” the chief called out.

A chill ran up his spine as he considered how close he was to seeing Chiasa. Even though he was afraid to know what state she was in from her time as a captive he was eager to see her alive and in front of him.

“Kacchan.”

He turned to see Deku behind him, chin pointed defiantly.

“You’re going to leave Shigaraki to me?” he asked.

“I said I would, didn’t I?” Katsuki sneered.

Deku didn’t back down at his bite. “For what he’s done to Chiasa I understand if you want your chance at him, but you have to leave him to me. I can’t face him if anyone else is around to get hurt. I need to be able to go 100%.”

“I said he was yours you fucking nerd!” he hissed. “I’ll take down anyone in my way of finding her but you dance with that musty asshole all you want.”

“One minute!” the chief called, and the two heroes turned their attention back to the front of the building, understanding passing between them as time ran out.

The next few moments went very quickly as the officers crossed the street and entered the shop to serve the search warrant to the owners and escorting the elderly couple out.

Immediately, Todoroki realized their problem. “The son is still inside.”

“Move!” Katsuki ordered, the six heroes rushing out of the office door without the chief’s signal.

Kaminari and Kirishima led the charge into the shop and headed straight for the basement with all but Uraraka, who stayed to canvas the upstairs apartment, following them down. As soon as they found the control panel Kaminari cut the power to the entire building in hopes of preventing any additional alarms or signals to the villains that they were there. He stayed at the panel to divert as much energy as he could to prepare for a largescale discharge should they need it.

They broke through the small door beneath the stairs that lead into a small hallway before opening up to a dingy kitchen that narrowed into another longer hallway.

Even more chaos erupted then as they were met with Spinner and Toga advancing towards them with swords and needle ready to attack. They launched themselves forward to keep them back in the kitchen area, a flash of white hair over their shoulders just barely visible.

Kirishima crossed his hardened arms in defense of Toga’s needle, the metal chipping against his skin, and Todoroki blocked the oncoming sword attack with his ice, small shards flying off to the side.

“You two go!” Kirishima shouted towards Katsuki and Deku, holding off the small blonde as she continued to attack.

They didn’t need told twice, both of them darting through the two fights to follow the long hallway with several doors lining each side. Ahead of them they could see Shigaraki dart into a room on the right and a faint white glow began to emanate from the room.

“He has an escape!” Deku snarled as he sped into the room.

Katsuki was half a step behind him and entered the room just in time to see a bald man glowing brighter by the second as he touched Shigaraki’s forearm, their silhouettes beginning to fade out. Before he could register what was happening he saw Deku lunge towards them and fade with them until all three were gone.

As angry as he was that he couldn’t reach them as fast as Deku had, he realized this was likely for the better. After all, Deku wanted Shigaraki without any of them in the way, so what better way for the confrontation to play out?

“We’re clear!” he heard shouted through his comm, the words staticky and slightly muffled.

“Shigaraki and Deku were taken via transport quirk to an unknown secondary location,” he radioed back. “Shoto, Uravity, you two see if you can find his location and secure the scene. But let them fight.”

With an affirmative sent back he turned his attention to the most important part of his mission and recalled the information he had been given at Tartarus.

In a concrete room on the far end of the villain’s safehouse is where he found her, no windows to let in any sun just like Dabi had described. The light from the hallway illuminated the shadowed room with an eerie glow as he saw her for the first time in over four years.

She was sitting upright on a thin futon and leaning against the wall with her arms wrapped around herself. Her skin was pale in the low light and she seemed to be asleep, not giving any indication that she knew he was there. He could see how much thinner she looked and her hair looked greasy and matted just like the little boy.

His heart ached in his chest as he took his first hesitant step into the room, kneeling down once he reached the futon.

“Chiasa,” he called softly, not wanting to startle her awake. “C’mon baby, I need you to wake up.”

She let out a sigh, still asleep, and curled herself closer to the wall.

“You have to wake up,” he said again, this time a bit louder. “Chiasa, its Katsuki. I found you, you’re safe now.”

Stirring slightly, her eyelids fluttered before blinking open lazily. Pulling away from the wall just a bit her head lolled to the side as if it were a great effort to hold it up. He wouldn’t be surprised if it was. She was only half-conscious and he didn’t know if it was because of just waking up or a number of other far more sinister reasons.

She hummed when she saw him. “Not again, Toga.”

Bakugo’s brows furrowed. She thought he was Toga? Had that little freak been using her quirk to fuck with her? But where the hell would she even get his blood?

“Won’t fall for it,” Chiasa murmured, closing her eyes. “Not again.”

“It’s not a trick, baby. I’m not Toga trying to mess with you. It’s really me.”

Her eyes blinked open again to get a better look at him. He held still to give her time to recognize him as himself.

“Yeah, you’re Katsuki,” she finally said with a chuckle.

He let out the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding and smiled.

“Wish you were real.”

His heart sank.

“If you were real…” she started quietly, “I’d probably cry. Savin’ me because you’re a hero is enough.”

Enough?

“Chiasa—”

“Know it’s too late,” she interrupted. “Been too long and I’m... I’m not the same. Not like I was. Dunno if I ever could be again y’know?”

Every putdown she listed made him angrier. Why the hell would he ever give her up now that he’d gotten her back?

“Not worth it now, I don’t think,” she whispered sadly.

That was what made him snap, ripping his gloves off and tossing them aside. With a quick swipe of his palms against his costume, he reached out and lightly tugged her arms from where they were still wrapped around her. When they were free he grabbed her hands in his.

“I’m real. I’m right here, in front of you in this shitty League safehouse. I’m here to take you home, back to our apartment. You and your boy—he’s okay, sittin’ at my agency with Jiro—I’m takin’ you home where you belong, okay? I’ve spent too long without you and I ain’t letting you go again. You’re too damn important to me.”

Her eyes widened and dropped down to where his hands held hers. She freed her hands from his hold and he watched as she hesitantly ran her fingers over his palm. A hitch in her breathing startled him and he realized that she had started to cry, but a smile was forming on her lips nonetheless.

“Katsuki,” she whispered. “You really came for me?”

“’Course I came,” he chuckled. “Now let’s get you out. Can you stand?”

She nodded, her legs wobbling slightly as he helped her to her feet. His hand went to the small of her back once he had retrieved his gloves and he led her out of the room, frowning when she grimaced at the lighting and her fingers dug into his bicep weakly. He tucked her under his arm to keep her close and somewhat shielded from the light as they moved through the safehouse.

Her legs were shaky and it made her stumble every few steps, but they were soon in the main room of the house where Kirishima and Kaminari were waiting for them. Both of them smiled when they saw her, their mission completed.

“It’s so good to see you,” Kirishima said with a relieved sigh. “We missed you.”

Trembling next to Katsuki, exhausted, she grinned. “I missed you guys too.”

Her eyes fluttered closed as she leaned more into the blonde at her side, silent darkness engulfing her as she passed out on her feet.

A/N: Please be sure to reblog, comment, review, and like if you enjoy! Feedback is what keeps me motivated!

Disappearance Masterlist

[dipulb3]

2021 Ford Ranger Tremor is ready for your overlanding expedition

New Post has been published on https://appradab.com/2021-ford-ranger-tremor-is-ready-for-your-overlanding-expedition/

2021 Ford Ranger Tremor is ready for your overlanding expedition

In recent years, not only have sales of pickup trucks increased, interest in overlanding — the phenomenon of off-grid adventure travel to remote destinations in specially prepared vehicles — has skyrocketed. This off-road pastime’s dramatic rise in popularity predates COVID-19, but today’s pandemic somehow makes the idea of zombie-apocalypse-ready 4×4 ownership suddenly seem like a sensible investment.

Like

Beefier suspension and tires add capability

Torquey engine = good tow/payload ratings

Class-leading ground-clearance

Visual tweaks look sharp

Don’t Like

Dated interior

No front locking differential

Significant fuel economy penalty

MSRP is competitive but costs as much as an F-150

In any case, the Blue Oval’s product planners didn’t necessarily have Armageddon in mind when they came up with the 2021 Ford Ranger Tremor, but that doesn’t mean this pickup wouldn’t make for a good truck upon which to build out an end times overlanding rig. Even if you’re not a prepper, as far as social-distancing machines go, Ford’s go-farther 4×4 is better suited than most.

After a long hiatus, the Ranger reentered the North American market in 2019 and its popularity has been gaining steadily. Last year, despite the coronavirus hamstringing new-car sales, Ranger sales actually increased, with the model claiming the midsize pickup segment’s second-place sales slot behind Toyota’s Tacoma. There’s still a lot of daylight between the Ranger and Tacoma on the sales charts, however, and Ford figures much of the hill it has to climb is with the type of buyers who gravitate toward the Taco’s many TRD off-road models.

2021 Ford Ranger Tremor is ready for your overlanding gear

See all photos

Now, the Tremor isn’t a standalone model, it’s actually a $4,290 package that can be added atop the truck’s mid-grade XLT and range-topping Lariat trims. The Tremor starts by incorporating most of the performance and aesthetic hardware from today’s existing FX4 off-road package and adding Ranger’s Sport Appearance trimmings. Combined, those two option groups normally total about $2,000, so after spending a couple of weeks with this model both on and off-road, the nearly $2,300 cost premium for all of the Tremor’s additional gear feels like a pretty solid value.

Like other Rangers, the Tremor uses the same 2.3-liter EcoBoost turbo I4 mated to a 10-speed automatic transmission. Good for 270 horsepower and 310 pound-feet of torque, this is still one of the torquiest and most modern drivetrains available in a midsize truck. The engine has more than enough oomph to tote this 4,571-pound pickup around and the stop/start tech is well behaved to boot.

The Tremor package is available exclusively on four-wheel-drive SuperCrew models with a five-foot bed.

Nick Miotke/Roadshow

Foxy suspension and a geometry lesson

The Tremor’s main upgrades are centered around the Ranger’s suspension, with the headliner being a set of expensive Fox 2.0 shocks, including more sophisticated remote-reservoir units on the rear axle which pair with Tremor-specific leaf springs. The front end gets new springs, too, along with different control arms and a thinner anti-roll bar for better off-road articulation. The steering system is tweaked, too, with unique knuckles to help accommodate the demands of the Tremor’s larger 32-inch General Grabber off-road tires which wrap a set of Magnetic-painted 17-inch wheels.

All of this new hardware yields a modest 0.8 inches of additional ground clearance for a total of 9.7 — slightly better than a Tacoma TRD Pro. Most of that increase is due to the larger tires, which also lend this truck a slightly more planted, 1-inch-wider stance. So equipped, the Tremor’s approach angle is 30.9 degrees, departure is set at 27.1 degrees and breakover angle is 24.2. Those are improvements of 2.2 degrees, 1.7 degrees and 2.7 degrees, respectively.

Spendy Fox 2.0 monotube dampers feature remote reservoirs for better thermal management on the rear axle.

Ford

On-road manners and visual tweaks

While these modifications are designed for off-road use, most of these trucks will still live on pavement for the vast majority of their days, so it’s good to know that this isn’t such an extreme setup that the Ranger’s on-road demeanor has been ruined. The ride is a skosh softer, and there’s a bit more body roll when attacking corners on dry pavement, but the difference is neither alarming nor offputting. If anything, the ride quality is actually more agreeable than the last Ranger I remember driving. Better still, the truck’s all-terrain rubber doesn’t drone on the freeway the way a lot of big-lug off-road tires can. The Tremor may be an off-road-focused package, but over the course of several weeks, I found it more than livable as a daily driver. 

I even dig the subtle Tremor-specific visual tweaks. There’s a unique grille with red-outlined nostrils and the blacked-out bumpers and wider wheel lips give a bit more stance and presence. Look a little closer, and you’ll probably note the front steel skid plate, the pair of rear tow hooks and the running boards. The latter sit higher and tighter than the optional side steps you can get on other Rangers, but don’t worry, you can still unbolt ’em for better off-road clearance. There’s also a splashy, retro-look graphics package available, if that’s your jam.

The Ford Ranger’s interior is no great shakes, even with some Tremor-specific touches.

Ford

Dated cabin with a few extras

Inside, the Ranger’s cabin is largely the same as ever, which is to say, not very impressive. Yes, there are modest Tremor-specific touches like the script logos and suede-like panels in the seatbacks, plus a useful set of rubber floor liners and black dashboard trim. I also appreciate the six-pack of auxiliary power switches designed to easily accommodate extra lights, an air compressor or myriad other useful accessories. But otherwise, the interior feels pretty dated. Believe it or not, this XLT actually still has a switchblade ignition key (fortunately, Lariat trims get pushbutton start).

Even though Ford invested a bunch of money in Ranger when it returned to the US in 2019, it wasn’t a brand-new truck upon arrival, as the same basic generation had been selling overseas for years. Despite a bunch of upgrades meant to bring the truck in-line with the heightened refinement expectations of US consumers, the Ranger’s interior is the easiest way to date this truck. Its plastics are almost universally hard, its infotainment lives on a small-ish touchscreen that isn’t flush mounted and isn’t running the latest version of Sync. Even the last-generation F-150 feels far, far more advanced and substantial, let alone the freshly redesigned 2021 blockbuster now wheeling out of dealers.

To be fair, the cabins of midsize pickups are all quite disappointing these days, whether you’re talking Ford, Toyota or General Motors. Jeep’s Gladiator is somewhat better in terms of tech, but it’s very expensive. In fact, only the Honda Ridgeline really feels up to snuff all the way around, but because it’s a unibody, many buyers won’t even look at one. This Ranger’s cabin remains in the hunt, but interior niceness is a prime reason for potential buyers to consider stretching to even a lower-end F-150.

Lackluster fuel economy

If you’re thinking fuel efficiency is a good reason to go with this smaller truck, you’re going to want to think again. Partly because of its larger tires and blockier profile, the Ranger Tremor only manages a straight 19 miles per gallon across the board (city, highway and combined) according to EPA estimates. That’s a surprisingly stiff comedown from the standard Ranger 4×4 XLT’s 20 mpg city, 24 mpg highway and 22 mpg combined.

Incidentally, that’s also the same combined-cycle rating as a 5.0-liter V8-powered F-150 4×4, which gets 16 mpg city and 22 highway (let alone more efficient F-150 options like the 2.7-liter EcoBoost, diesel or PowerBoost hybrid). Again, these numbers are competitive within this segment, but not unlike the interior accommodations mentioned earlier, the Tremor’s efficiency comes across as disappointingly yester-tech.

The 2.3-liter EcoBoost isn’t much to look at, but with 270 horses and 310 pound-feet of torque, it doesn’t need to be.

Nick Miotke/Josh Krzywonos/Roadshow

Off-road performance and towing/payload

I spent a wintry day at Holly Oaks, a newly opened quarry-turned-off-road playland in metro Detroit to test the Tremor’s mettle. With a mix of hard-packed frozen ground and mud-and-snow slurry, this ORV park was a suitably tough test for this pickup. Better still, I enjoyed practically free run of the place, as it was closed to the public, enabling me to go back and try the same trails and obstacles in different drive modes while taking different lines to assess the truck’s full capabilities.

Like the FX4, the Tremor features Ford’s Terrain Management System, so you can poke a button and optimize the vehicle’s various drive and brake systems for whatever surface you’re about to roll over (it’s kind of like the dial-a-nap controller on your vacuum). Ford says it recalibrated the Tremor’s traction control for this model’s larger, knobbier tires for better traction on gravel and I found the system worked equally well in the slushy stuff as it did on the hardpack.

One thing that’s nice is you can cycle through TMS’ modes on the fly. I primarily relied on Grass/Gravel/Snow for hills, but when I was just having fun intentionally sliding around at speed on the flat stuff, I chose Sand mode (and occasionally Mud and Ruts) to allow for more wheelspin to indulge my adolescent need for rooster tails.

Like the FX4, the Tremor also features Trail Control, which is Ford’s low-speed, off-road cruise control for both ascending and descending hills at preset speeds from 1 to 20 mph. It’s really, really useful and confidence-inspiring tech, as it allows you to focus on steering the vehicle without having to worry about modulating the pedals. Combined with the Ranger’s other electronic aids and the Tremor’s upgraded hardware, the entire package is so capable that these assists ultimately remove some of the sense of challenge and accomplishment of off-roading. It’s nice to know it’s there, but sometimes, it’s just more fun to go manual and do it yourself.

At moments like this, a forward-facing spotter’s camera would’ve been really convenient.

Nick Miotke/Josh Krzywonos/Roadshow

That said, there are a couple of hardware tricks that I wouldn’t mind seeing on the Tremor’s spec sheet, including a front locking differential. A rear e-locker comes standard, but there’s no front-axle equivalent like a Chevy Colorado ZR2 or a Jeep Gladiator Rubicon, so you’re ultimately going to give up some ability when rock climbing. Fortunately, the vast majority of the time, you’ll never know it’s missing.

On the other hand, there’s one thing you will definitely miss while off-roading: a forward-facing camera. I didn’t have a pal to stand outside in the blustery cold to help guide me over and around obstacles, and when on steep ascents and descents, you can’t see over the hood to know what you’re about to crawl over. While it’s understandable that an older and more-affordable midsizer like the Tremor might not yet be offered with 360-degree camera coverage, a low-mounted front-facing camera would be mighty welcome and would provide a further point of differentiation from lesser Ranger models.

As it is, the Ranger’s tidier dimensions are inherently easier to manage off-road than a full-size truck. There’s less chance of scraping your fancy Cactus Gray paint in narrow forest passages and tight turns are easier to negotiate than they’d be in an F-Series, as well.

Off-road, you really appreciate that this turbo four has so much low-end torque and it’s great that the transmission has so many gears to choose from; you never feel like the EcoBoost is straining to get you through, even if it does sound flaccid compared to competitors’ V6 engines. All that torque helps on-road, too, delivering a best-in-class 7,500-pound tow rating or 1,430 pounds of payload in its 5-foot bed. Those numbers are right at the head of the class, and they’re important metrics when building an overlanding rig laden with lots of heavy gear.

Pricing and final judgment

So, the Ranger Tremor isn’t a high-speed off-roader like a Ford F-150 Raptor (or even the overseas-only Ranger Raptor), nor is it a hardcore rock crawler. This truck feels like it’s been designed to sit right in the middle capability-wise, which could have resulted in a vehicle that feels muddled and indecisive, like one that can’t figure out what it’s designed for. Instead, the Tremor seems like it’s found a capability sweet spot. It’s quite good at a variety of off-road disciplines and that makes it a better baseline platform for customizing if you haven’t decided what kind of off-roading you really want to commit to, be it desert bombing, overlanding or forested mountain ascents.

If you’re someone who off-roads a lot, the 2021 Ranger Tremor is big fun, but it isn’t cheap. Whereas a non-Tremor XLT SuperCrew 4×4 starts at $35,940 (including $1,195 destination), an XLT Tremor will run you $41,900 delivered — without extras. An option-free, top-trim Lariat runs $46,275 in your driveway, but it includes niceties like a B&O audio system, leather seats, navigation, remote start and adaptive cruise control. With options including the Technology Package ($995 for adaptive cruise, navigation, etc.), spray-in bed liner ($495), remote start ($195) and SecuriCode keyless-entry pad ($95), my XLT tester rings up at $43,680 delivered.

Overall, the Tremor is competitively priced within its segment (a Tacoma TRD Pro starts at over $45,000), but this Ford’s base MSRP is also really close to that of the new F-150 XLT 4×4 with a 5.0-liter V8. The F-Series is a much, much more advanced machine with similar efficiency.

Of course, not everyone wants or needs a full-size pickup and the number of buyers splurging on smaller, costlier, factory-backed hardcore off-road specials like this 2021 Ranger Tremor appears to be growing every day. In order to stay competitive, it’s important that Ford play in this space. And you know what? Despite this truck’s shortcomings, I still kinda dig it.

[imagine-nation20]

Home

Summary: Life is tough, and you find out just how tough it is when you’re forced to leave Central City. They think it's because of the Iris, but it is so much more than that.

Requested By: @disneygirl2202

Request: Request for Barry Allen? You’re dating Barry Allen shortly after you left the League of Assassins. Well they start threatening you and such around the same time Iris realizes she’s in love with Barry. So you use that as a cover up for you leaving despite Barry’s protests. Well a few years later, him and Iris are still figuring things out but Cisco and Caitlin let it slip that you’re back and Barry runs off to find you. If possible can I get an fluffy/angsty ending? Sorry if too specific.

A/N: Um… I have not written for tv barry ever, and I haven't watched they show in a while, so this probably gonna be so inaccurate. Sorry. but no, actually it isn't too specific. This actual really helps for getting back into writing for barry.

~~~

You were having a really shitty day already. Not only had your boss yelled at you for a mistake that your coworker made, but you had received yet another note. This one came exactly like the rest. An old, worn envelope on your front doorstep, the same wax seal keeping it closed. You had only recently left the League of Assassins, with the help of Oliver of course, and he had sent you on your way to Central City. Yet they were still as persistent as ever.

That was also, of course, how you met your wonderful boyfriend Barry Allen. The adorable speedster had somehow wormed his way through the walls that years of League drilling had built up and nestled into your everyday life. You, in turn, thought you had taken the place of his significant other as well.

That is, until the topic of Iris came up. You weren't jealous of her, or intimidated. No, you knew Barry wouldn't cheat on you.

Leave you, however, was another story. You knew what he felt for Iris was more than what he felt for you. You knew his feelings for her were much more deep-rooted than his feelings for you. They had the time to burrow further into his heart after years of growing up together, and you were only a placeholder. A circle in the square-shaped hole he had made for her and her alone.

So, the letter in your hands was the final blow. The last fearful word that ended up being the straw that broke your tired camel's back. The only question now was, how far did you have to run, and how would you tell Barry.

The answer was, you wouldn't. Barry didn't need one more problem put in his shoulder, and you didn't want him to feel obligated to help you. No, you were an assassin trained under Ra's al Ghul himself. You would handle this. 

It was the whole reason you hadn't told him about the letters in the first place. 

And, if you were correct, he would soon be over it and crawling into Iris’ waiting arms. No one would miss you after a while, and things could be better for team flash. They would go back to how they were before you came to them.

This was the right choice. You were so sure.

So, to not make everyone worry, you packed your bags while Barry and the others were out, not taking much since you were on the run, and left a note.

----

Barry got home late. Iris had wanted to meet him at Jitters, and he humored her. She was confused, he was too, and this conversation went like all of them did.

She told him she was blind, and he told her she was too late. 

For years and years, Barry had waited for her, he had wanted to hear what she was telling him now. However, she was just a few months too late. It had taken him years to realize how much he loved Iris, but in a matter of weeks, he realized he had loved you more. Somehow, you had done the impossible and reshaped the hole in his heart for yourself. You weren’t trying to be Iris, you weren’t there to fill her space. No, you had healed it, made your own space. One that, if left unfilled, would leave his heart more broken than anything else ever could have.

He opened the door to their apartment, seeing the darkened living room. He was confused, since normally you waited up for him no matter what. He flicked the light switch, shaking the odd feeling off and looking around. Something was off, he could feel it. It wasn’t until he moved to their bedroom and noticed the open closet and drawers with your missing clothes that it finally clicked.

You were gone.

He panicked, rushing back out into the living room and spotting the note you had left. He had never moved so fast, reading through the letter with tears building in his eyes. His head shook with every line he read, realizing the mistake he had made.

He was so stupid, how could he not realize what was going on. If only he had been more observant and not so focused on Iris. He looked back to the table, seeing a conveniently placed receipt. 

Central City Metro.

He sped out of the apartment, not caring to lock the door behind him.

You stood silently, waiting for your train to arrive. You hoped it would be here soon, as you were sure Barry would be done with whatever he was doing right now. Your mind wandered to picturing him with Iris, not caring you were home alone, planning on leaving.

Your train arrived, cutting off the depressing thought. Getting your duffel bag over your shoulder, you clambered onto the car and remained standing, as all of the seats were taken. You could see straight out of the car, the way you came from.

The doors began to close, just as a flash of red and yellow zipped into the station. As the doors closed the last few inches, with wide eyes, you watched as Barry called out to you in tears. You didn't have time to reply or even react before the doors shut and the train took off.

--Two years later--

It was the same old routine. Barry would save Central City, be congratulated by his team. Turn down a drink or meal with Iris, and go home to an empty apartment. 

The pillows on your side of the bed no longer smelled of your shampoo, and they hadn't for a while. Your coffee cup had been pulled from the cabinet and packed into the small box of stuff you had left, which was tucked into the back of the closet. A picture of you and Barry was still resting on the nightstand, but as he stumbled into the room after a long day, only to see it and be reminded of the pain, Barry picked it up and chucked it across the room. It hit the wall and shattered, tumbling to the ground as Barry climbed into bed.

If he was honest with himself, he didn’t even know what he got out of bed for anymore. The city seemed safe for the time being, and any other reason he would have to get up had left on that train two years ago. He could still picture the look of shock on your face as he stared at you through the closing doors. It hurt him to think that you were shocked because you thought he didn’t care enough to run after you.

He saw the looks of pity from Caitlin and Cisco. They had both been devastated at your departure, but had also moved on recently, realizing that you weren’t coming back. Barry, sadly, had not. When you had first left, he had kept track of every train that came in or out from Star City. Sometimes he would wait at the station.

Cisco was the one that let it slip.

“She’s back, in Central City. Here on a mission from Oliver.” Cisco explained, catching Barry’s arm as the speedster tried to turn and leave. Caitlin piped up.

“Are you sure she wants to see you now? After everything?” Her voice was soft, and she bit her bottom lip.

“I have to tell her. It might not fix things, but she has to know.” Barry stressed. He took his arm out of Cisco’s grip, leaving his friends in the lab to share worried glances.

You were in the motel when you heard the knock. It was frantic, quick, like the person was nervous or in a hurry. Grabbing you sword next to the door, you unsheathed it, ready to attack whoever was on the other side. The chain slid from the lock with ease, and you yanked the door open, sword hidden behind the door. 

You faltered.

“Barry?” His name came out in a whisper, shock wrinkling your brow. He looked halfway dead. His eyes were heavy with lack of sleep, the dark purple bags visible even in the shade of the motel. He looked thin, thinner than you had ever seen him, his shirt hanging off his body.

“I know you don’t want to see me, and I know your upset, but please, just hear me out,” He pleaded. You straightened, a mask of indifference slipping over your face. You moved aside, letting him through the door and shutting it behind him.

“Make it quick, I don’t have all day,” Your voice was cold, and Barry watched as you sheathed the sword.

“I know you left because of everything going on with Iris, but you have to know, it wasn’t what you thought it was,”

“Wasnt? Is it now? Why are you even here, Barry?” You asked, placing the sword on the dresser. He sighed, rubbing is forehead.

“No, it isn’t. I…” He paused. “There hasn’t been anyone since.”

You paused, turning to look at him. He continued.

“I used to love Iris, I won’t lie to you, but that pretty much ended when you came to Central City. I never once, not even for a second, thought of leaving you,” There was another sigh. “(Y/N), I loved you. I still love you, and I’m sorry that I made you feel like I didn’t.” 

He stood up, not meeting your eyes.

“I’ll let you get back to your life now,” He said, moving towards the door. In a desperate attempt to not let him walk out of your life, you tugged on his shirt, pulling him back into a hug.

“It may have been partially about Iris, Barry, but I always trusted you. I didn’t want to put you in danger, so I omitted the other reason,” You admitted, tears welling. Barry pushed back slightly to look at you.

“What do you mean?” His question came out soft; understanding.

“I was receiving death threats from the League of Assassins. It was only a couple at first, but they began to be more frequent, and more violent,” A pause for breath. “I left to protect you Barry, all of you. I thought if I left, you would be happier. You would go to Iris, and you wouldn’t have to face the League. I thought I was doing the right thing. I’m so sorry, Barry.”

He pulled you into a hug, so tight you almost couldn’t breathe. Tears dripped from his face to your head, wetting your hair.

“I don’t think it is possible for me to be mad at you. Upset and worried, yes, but not mad,” He took a shaky breath. “Can we go home now?”

You nodded, moving to grab your stuff.

“Only if you help me take out these guys Oliver sent me to get,” You said, a smile stretching onto your face.

“I’d be stupid to turn down an offer like that.” He took your hand, leading you from the room.

You were back home.

~~~

This request has been in my inbox for forever, and I’m finally posting it. I hope it was good, since haven’t seen the show in years. Probably will end up taking it off my list, actually, but idk.

[mnemememory]

better to scream

yasha is too tired for this shit. 

critical role pacific rim fusion au (part 1 of 2)

.

Over the years, Yasha has heard of ghost drifting.

Of course she has. In this profession, rumours are almost always more reliable than whatever new strange thing the scientists have cooked up to try. With such experimental technology, it was a safe bet to trust the instincts of those who had gone before rather than simply hoping for the best.

Beau complains about it all the time. How she always has Jester’s voice in her head telling her about her latest prank, or how cute Fjord looks. Fjord always rolls his eyes. Jester just laughs because “of course I have their voices in my head, where else would I keep them?”

When Molly dies, there is nothing but silence.

.

The man is a stranger.

It’s fitting, almost. Yasha tells herself that she wasn’t expecting anything different when she walked off that helicopter, but she’s always been a bad liar. It’s probably for the best. She doesn’t know if a familiar face would have broken her or not.

“Good evening,” the man says with a placid smile. He is taller than her, which is unusual enough to warrant attention, with pastel pink hair and cow-soft eyes. “My name is Caduceus Clay. My sister is the one in charge of fixing Necrotic Shroud.”

Yasha clenches her jaw and says nothing.

Caduceus Clay doesn’t seem too put off by her standoffish presence. He simply gives her another vacant look and gestures her towards the door.

It’s raining. Yasha walks over wet asphalt, boots heavy in the puddles. It hadn’t been so obvious from above, but from ground level everything has a distinctly rough edge to it. Yasha may not have been here for the first building blocks, but the whole building complex had been new and in good condition upon her abrupt departure. A lot appears to have happened in two years.

They wait a good ten minutes for the elevator which never comes, so Caduceus Clay ushers her towards the fire escape just a few feet down the hall. Their footsteps echo in the hollow metal chamber, the light casting a sepia tone over the surroundings. Caduceus Clay’s skin is painted in orange heughs, his eyes gleaming yellow.

Yasha looks away.

They eventually make it down to the correct level – number seven, Yasha notices with detachment – and step out of the stiflingly warm confines of the staircase to something far colder – and familiar. Yasha feels an unpleasant chill run across her skin as she walks out into the hanger room. There are ghosts here, in Yasha’s head, but they’re not the right ones.

“This way,” Caduceus Clay says. Yasha doesn’t move.

The first time she ever came to the Shutterdome, the sky was bleached white-blue and the ocean sparkled green. Molly was next to her, talking. He was always talking. Yasha followed him through the throngs of people who were gathering around the stairwell. They were all looking up at the overhanging railing with clear expectation.

“This place is amazing,” Molly said.

Yasha shrugged. It was certainly big.

“There are so many people here,” he said. “This is so much bigger than the circus. There are – what, a thousand people? Two thousand? I can’t imagine what it would be like to perform for so many people.”

That cracked a smile across Yasha’s face. “You weren’t a performer,” she said.

Molly’s grin was sly as he flared out his uniform-noncompliant multi-coloured cloak. A few people dodged out of the way of the flowing fabric.

“They don’t know that.”

“Miss Yasha?” Caduceus Clay says. He patiently waits for Yasha to blink her way out of the memory before urging her to the side so as to not disrupt the trickling flow of traffic.

A thousand people? Two thousand?

Try twenty.

Yasha eyes the skeleton staff with no little wariness. They all look a shade short of exhausted, with hair pulled up and bruises around their eyes. As she watches, one of the engineers stumbles off to the side and collapses against the wall, the palms of his hands pressed tight to his temples. Another engineer breaks off to check on him, but quickly gets back to work when he waves her off.

Caduceus Clay follows her eyes. “We’re a bit short-staffed at the moment,” he says easily. “But Clarabelle’s people are good people. They’ll get things up and running in time.”

“Clarabelle,” Yasha says. “Your sister.”

“I’ll introduce you two later,” Caduceus Clay says. “She probably won’t thank us for interrupting. I’ll show you where you can put your things and then we can get something to eat.”

Yasha gives the hanger one last casual glance before turning around and looking at what she’s been avoiding ever since she entered.

Necrotic Shroud is a tomb of a thing, black and grey and matte. It towers above the other Jaegers lined up. Yasha’s eyes run over the armour plating, the deceptively delicate lines of its hydraulic musculature, the thickened gauntlets. Her lady is in mourning; the paint no longer bares Molly’s distinctive paintwork. He would sit on Necrotic Shroud’s shoulders for hours at a time and drive the engineers to tears with the paint fumes.

Seeing her like this, naked, is a punch to the gut.

“Hey, beautiful,” she whispers. Her voice manages to come out steady, which is a pleasant surprise. Everything else about Yasha is shaking.

“She’s the last Mark II in existence,” Caduceus Clay says. “She’s one of a kind.”

Yasha thinks of Molly’s paintings, the way feathers and vines flowed their way messily along Necrotic Shroud’s ribcage and spiralled out from the shoulders. She always was, she wants to say, but she’s so tired.

“Who else is here?”

Even with the Jaegers filling up the open space, there’s something hollow about the Shatterdome. Maybe it’s because this place was built for so many more. Yasha can see empty bays that have been repurposed into scrapheaps, where busy engineers scavenged and discarded pieces.

Caduceus starts walking. After a few seconds of hesitation, Yasha decides to follow him.

“Here, we have Converging Fury,” he says, waving to the Jaeger set up in the bay next to Necrotic Shroud. It is compactly built – a Mark IV, if Yasha can read the specs right – with a massive metal staff with a circular knob at one end secured alongside it.  The sleekness of the design makes Yasha absurdly uncomfortable – compared to Necrotic Shroud, the plating looks flimsy and useless, sacrificing armour for manoeuvrability.

How many hits will this take before crumbling? Yasha wonders. It’s a design strategy, she knows, and yet. And yet.

“She’s piloted by Keg and Nila, who should be around here somewhere,” Caduceus Clay says. “Well, Nila should be here somewhere. Keg is very good at showing up in unexpected places.”

Yasha nods.

“They’re from around Shadycreek Run way,” he says. “Northeast of Zadash. Twelve drops, twelve kills. Nine of those were solo. They’re a good team.”

“Sounds like it,” Yasha says.

Caduceus Clay moves on.

“This is Dragon Slayer,” he says, gesturing to a frankly haphazard Jaeger. Half of its torso is covered in uniform black scaled armour, while the rest of a patchwork of whatever had been made available at the time. Yasha can see the corpses of at least three Jaeger’s that she’s served with stitched into its skeleton, and her stomach squirms uncomfortably.

Caduceus Clay glances at her, reading the hesitation in her body.

“We had to get creative when things started to get decommissioned,” he says. “Some of these are spare parts, but some were ripped wholesale off whatever we could save. Well” – here, he ducks his head – “I say we. My sister is the engineer in the family. I’m just an administrator.”

Some administrator, Yasha thinks, eyeing the whipcord muscles underneath his skinny frame.

“In any case, this beautiful creature is piloted by Twiggy and Calianna. They were originally stationed out by Nicodranis, but they moved basically anywhere they were needed. Towards the end, that was basically everywhere. Now they’re here.”

Yasha can read between the lines. They’re needed here, because this is it. We’re being shut down. It’s now or never.

“And here, we have –”

“YASHA!’

Yasha braces herself just in time. She stills rocks a little on her feet as Jester’s body rams into hers, arms flung around Yasha’s torso.

“Jester,” Yasha says, looking down at the smaller woman with a smile. She still looks so young.

“Yasha! I can’t believe you’re back – I mean, I absolutely can believe it, but also I didn’t think you were going to come? It’s been a very long two years. Caleb didn’t think you were going to come, but I told him that you would.”

“It is very nice to see you, Jester,” Yasha says, giving her an awkward squeeze. Jester just beams harder, snuggling into Yasha’s soaked hoodie.

“You’re back.”

It almost hurts worse than seeing Necrotic Shroud, the way Beau’s voice comes out so flat. Yasha stiffens before she means to, head jerking up and heart in her throat.

She looks the same. Well, the same, but more tired. Thinner. The softness has been filed away. Beau’s cheekbones stand out like knives across her face, hair pulled up in an exhausted mess. She’s half-in and half-out of her black under-armour, the shirt peeled back and tied around her waist. Yasha’s eyes linger a touch too long on her bare arms, the dusty contours of her muscles.

“Beau,” Yasha says, cautious.

“About time,” Beau says, and walks away.

.

Yasha can’t sleep.

That in itself isn’t unusual. Yasha has never been very good at beating off the darkness of the night, now more so than ever. The spacious quarters are a painful reminder of just how cramped it would have been with another person present. Yasha’s eyes keep lingering on the bare walls, on the empty bedside table, on the unmade upper bunk.

It’s cruel to put her here. It isn’t the same room as the one she had previously shared with Molly, but it’s close enough to itch.

The third time that Yasha looks over to see that barely ten minutes has passed, she gives up. Rolling out of bed, she shoves her bare feet into her sneakers and pulls on a sweatshirt over her leggings. Phone stuffed into her bra, she slips out of the room and into the silent hallway.

There aren’t many people in this area of the Shatterdome. Caduceus Clay had been kind enough to complete the tour by informing her of their greatly reduced numbers, and – consequently – the gradual spread of living space. Yasha’s area is running on rechargeable batteries. They aren’t connected to the main power grid anymore.

Her breath mists in front of her as she moves deeper downwards. If she closes her eyes, she could trace out her path by route. Forward, left, forward, forward –

The kitchens open up in front of her. At this time of night – well, morning – there aren’t many people around, save for those unlucky enough to have been rostered on for preparing breakfast. There’s a pot of something foul-looking but decent-smelling bubbling away on the stove, but Yasha bypasses it completely for the refrigerator.

As she inches the door open, one of the people cooking turns to glare at her. “Excuse me,” she says, hands planted firmly on his hips. “I’m afraid that you can’t –”

“It’s okay, Adeline,” a familiar voice says. “She’s with me.”

Adelina falters. “Mister Fjord –”

Fjord steps out of the shadows like the creepy overdramatic bastard that he is. Yasha glares at him and then goes back to rummaging around the refrigerator for anything unopened. Fjord can explain, if he wants to stand up for her. Yasha is too tired to deal with anyone today.

Adelina eventually leaves to go and check on something on the other side of the kitchen, though she doesn’t look especially happy about it. Fjord sidles over to where Yasha has gathered some cheese and a few leftover eggs. She’s already mixing them together when he comes to sit next to her.

“Long time no see,” he says.

Yasha ignores him.

“Mind if I had a taste of that when you’re done?” he says. “I was feeling a little bit peckish myself, which is why I came down here.”

“This feels like an ambush,” Yasha says, looking around for a microwave. Fjord handily points it out to her.

“Not an ambush,” Fjord says. “I don’t like eating in the cafeteria either. Getting it straight from here is – safer.”

Yasha grimaces, stabbing at the buttons with more force than it probably warranted.

“How was the Wall?”

“Cold,” Yasha says. “And wet.”

“So no different from here, then.”

“It was a little different,” Yasha says, and then hesitates. “How have things been here?”

“Cold,” Fjord says with a smile. “And wet.”

“Fjord.”

“It varies from day to do,” he says with a shrug. “We’re all working to get things done. Did you see the massive clock in the hanger? They’re counting down the days between each attack.”

“Fourteen,” Yasha says.

“Our brainiacs in the science department don’t think it’ll be much longer,” Fjord says. “Have you met them? Caleb and Nott.”

“Nott?”

“Don’t ask, she doesn’t like talking about it,” Fjord says. “But yes, that’s her name.”

The microwave beeps. Yasha opens it up to look inside, and then scrambles the goopy mixture up with her fork and puts it in for another forty seconds.

“How much longer, then?”

“A week,” Fjord says. “If we’re lucky. Three days if we’re not. That’s why everyone’s on high alert at the moment.”

“I noticed.”

Fjord flashes a bright, tired grin her way. “I’m glad you’re back.”

“I’m not sure if I’m back,” Yasha says. “I don’t have anyone to Drift with.”

“There are a lot of good kids training here,” Fjord says. “Not as many as in our classes, but a decent selection. You’ll find someone.”

“I might not,” Yasha says. Three seconds before the timer runs out, Yasha stops the microwave and tests the eggs. She’s managed to overcook them, so they’re a little rubbery, but edible compared to what she’s used to eating these days. “I might not want to.”

Fjord regards her steadily from where he’s sitting at the table. “If you didn’t want to, you wouldn’t be here.”

Yasha shakes her head and deposits the plastic bowl on the table in front of Fjord, offering him her spoon. “This place is dying,” she says. “The Wall won’t work.”

“The Marshall has a plan,” Fjord says. “We need all the Jaegers we can get. That includes Necrotic Shroud. Beau and Jester and I, we can only do so much.”

“And those other pilots,” Yasha says, stealing the fork back and taking a bite.

“They’re good,” Fjord says. “But we haven’t been on a run with any of them. I know you. I trust you.”

Yasha’s fingers clench around the cool metal of the fork. “You shouldn’t.”

Fjord sighs. “Is this about what happened? Because Jester and I –”

“It’s not only about that,” Yasha says. She isn’t hungry anymore. She hands the fork back to Fjord. “Not fully. Molly had to pilot the Shroud for almost an hour before anyone came to help. I was useless.”

“That wasn’t your fault,” Fjord says.

“It doesn’t matter,” Yasha says. She doesn’t say, but it is, because that would be counterproductive. “It’s going to affect anything I do in the Drift. My new partner might not even be able to connect.”

“Molly –”

“Molly was a blank slate,” Yasha says. “He was silence in the storm. I’m never going to get anything like that ever again.”

Fjord closes his eyes and takes a bite of overcooked eggs. “I can’t imagine it,” he finally says. “If I lost Jester or Beau.”

“That won’t happen,” Yasha says.

“Big words,” Fjord says. “You gonna back those up?”

No. Yes. Maybe. “I guess we’ll see tomorrow, won’t we?”

.

Caduceus Clay says, “I was opposed to reinstating you as a Ranger.”

“That’s fair,” Yasha says. She’s just been given an empty room with no internal heating. The blankets that are folded on the end of the mattress look worn but serviceable.

“I don’t mean to be personal,” Caduceus Clay says. A brief look of discomfort flashes across his serene face, but it’s gone too quickly for Yasha to be sure. “But I advised that you were too unpredictable to be brought back into a combat situation. Considering what happened last time – and how you reacted to it –”

Yasha bares her teeth into a smile. “I understand,” she says. “I wouldn’t have reinstated me either.”

.

“One, four.”

Yasha rolls to her feet and offers her opponent a hand up. She’s sweaty, but not sweaty in the right sort of way – this sweat is from the monotonous repetition of tasks, rather than an actual workout. There’s no challenge to this. Block, deflect, attack.

Yasha can feel her moves going stale with every blow she doesn’t bother to dodge. The flashy man in front of her smacks his staff against the ground in what appears to be an intimidation tactic, but Yasha just gives a small sigh.

“Begin!”

The man moves, and Yasha waits for him. What else can she do? There are only so many matches she can follow through with before things start to get old. When the man reaches the limits of her patience, she puts him on the ground. Rinse, repeat.

On the other side of the room, at the door of the Combat Room, Caduceus Clay stands with a clipboard in hand next to Marshall Shakaste, the Duchess an ever-present distraction at his side. After a few more matches, Yasha can’t hold back her frustration and rounds on them.

“Alright, what is it?” she says.

“What is what?” Shakaste says, but it’s Caduceus that she’s looking at.

“You,” Yasha says. “Every time I beat someone, you have this look” – she tries to imitate it, but probably only ends up looking constipated – “like I’m doing something wrong.”

Caduceus blinks slowly. “Well, you are doing something wrong.”

Yasha’s voice is flat. “Really.”

“You took hits you shouldn’t have,” Caduceus says. “It’s obvious that you could have finished the fight quite a bit more easily than you managed. You’re not taking this seriously. Since my sister was the one who spent most of the past year of her life fixing the machine that you’re going to be piloting, I’d prefer if you didn’t screw that up.”

Yasha bares her teeth. “You think you could do better?”

“Probably,” Caduceus says. “It’s not like you’re trying very hard.”

Shakaste lets out a low chuckle and takes the clipboard away from Caduceus. Yasha obligingly steps back onto the mats and sweeps her staff low and inviting.

“I’m afraid you’ll have to give me a few minutes to warm up,” Caduceus says. “I wasn’t exactly expecting to be fighting today.”

“You’re certainly dressed for it,” Yasha says. Caduceus’ clothing is tastefully green and loose, the shade going well with his hair.

Caduceus just smiles. Yasha is really starting to hate that look on his face.

There are too many people in the Combat Room for Yasha to really feel comfortable. She’s better at fighting behind closed doors, where no one can see how ugly it can get. Jester is in the corner, next to Fjord. Yasha can’t see Beau anywhere, but she’s got to be here somewhere. No matter how much has changed over the past few years, there are few things that Beau likes more than a good fight. And regardless of what Caduceus thinks, Yasha is very good at fighting.

“Okay, I’m ready,” Caduceus says after a few stretches. He’s remarkably bendy for someone who looks like he should snap in half at the first stiff breeze. Yasha tightens her grip on her staff.

“Okay,” she says, and attacks.

.

The first time Yasha crossed staves with Molly, they were already exhausted from playing second fiddle to thirty or so of their classmates.

Yasha was very good at knocking people down. Molly was very good at making a fool out of people. Neither of these things made them very popular.

“I don’t think I’ve sparred with you before,” Molly says.

Yasha shrugs.

“Well, in any case, it’s been a pleasure,” Molly says, giving her a mocking kind of salute. Yasha responds more automatically than she would have liked, but there were certain courtesies beaten into trainees before they were even allowed to set foot into the Combat Room, and respect was one of them.

Molly’s blows come in short, sharp bursts; he’s never where Yasha expects him to be. If they were going for points, he would be the winner, because he was getting more.

From the way they kept on fighting, though, Yasha knew that this wasn’t going to end until one of them was on the ground.

Half an hour later, most of the class had already packed up and were trying to leave. Yasha weathered the blows without faltering. There were going to be bruises all along her arms and across her shins for weeks to come, but she barely felt the pain. Molly was slowing down rather significantly. Whereas his initial attacks had come in rapid succession, he was being more cautious about them now, more incredulous.

“How the hell are you still standing,” he says.

Yasha shrugs, and then sends him sprawling with a single blow to the ribs.

.

Someone told Yasha, once, “You fight angry.”

(A lot of people have told Yasha that).

It’s an easy statement to make. Yasha fights like she’s going to die. Molly laughed at her for it.

Caduceus just waits.

Yasha can’t quite get the timing right. Every time she goes in for a strike, there’s something about Caduceus’ stance that makes her hesitate. She stops an inch from his throat and jumps back, fingers clenching hard around the practice staff.

“I’m not really trained for this sort of thing,” Caduceus says. He hasn’t stopped smiling.

Yasha’s staff dips. “You’re not so bad,” she says. “You just need more practice.”

Caduceus blocks her next strike. There’s an opening, but Yasha doesn’t take it. She backs off and starts circling.

“There’s not much of a chance for that around here,” Caduceus says. He’s not even sweating. Yasha’s drenched, though that could be because of her earlier bouts. It’s a little unnerving facing down someone who doesn’t waste energy on excess movement – Caduceus stands still and waits for her.

Yasha attacks. Caduceus parries but doesn’t go in for a blow to the neck, despite Yasha telegraphing the opening for a good five seconds. She narrows her eyes.

“You’re messing with me,” she decides.

“I told you I’m not very good at this,” Caduceus says. “Now you’re taking me seriously.”

Then he starts fighting back.

.

“You,” Yasha says.

Caduceus is on the ground in front of her, arms spread wide with a contented expression settling over his face. His staff is on the opposite side of the room. Yasha’s ribs ache from laughing so hard.

“Me what?”

“You’re my partner. I won’t Drift with anyone else.”

Reading the smug lines of Caduceus’ mouth, Yasha can already tell he had planned this.

.

The cafeteria food looks as unappetising as ever.

Yasha takes the offered plate automatically and then looks around for a table to sit at. Jester is very obviously bouncing up and down in the far-right corner, waving her arm enthusiastically in the air, but Yasha takes her time before ambling over there.

As per usual, Fjord is settled alongside Jester. Beau is sitting opposite to them, moodily chewing on something that might resemble lettuce if it wasn’t so – stringy. Her expression darkens when she sees Yasha coming towards them, and she hurriedly begins to scarf down what remains of her food. She’s almost made it by the time Yasha reaches them, which is impressive, considering how disgusting it looks.

“Yasha!” Jester says. She ushers Yasha to sit down next to Beau, who pointedly scoots further down the bench. “It is good to see you. Again.”

She won’t stop smiling. Yasha smiles back.

“How have you been?”

“Fine,” Beau snaps, and then goes back to picking at her food.

Fjord clears his throat. “Ignore Miss Grumpy over there. We’ve been doing as well as can be expected, really. We were just transferred out from over Nicodranis with Dragon Slayer. Have you met Twiggy and Calianna yet?”

“Not yet,” Yasha says. She scrapes some mashed potatoes around disinterestedly across her plate. “Are they nice?”

“They’re so cool,” Jester says, waving her fork around in the air. “Twiggy is always giving me her chocolate, which is awesome, and Calianna writes the best poetry –”

Fjord smiles. “I think you’ll like them.”

Yasha pushes her tray away from her. “And the other team?”

Beau bares her teeth in a smile. “Reliable.”

“Ouch,” Yasha says.

“Beau,” Jester says in a tone of profound disappointment. “We talked about this.”

“No, you talked about this,” Beau says, crossing her arms across her chest. She looks tired. They all look tired. “You’ve been gone for a long time, Yasha. We didn’t think you were going to come back.”

“Beau…”

Beau shakes her head and gets to her feet. Yasha tilts her head to one side and considers following her, but a quick glance at Fjord tells her that probably isn’t the best idea. She watches Beau leave through the door towards the hanger bay.

There’s a long, awkward silence.

“Don’t take it personally,” Jester says. Her fork is back alongside her still-untouched plate of food, and she’s twisting her fingers into anxious knots. “She was so sad when you left. She thought you were going to come back – a long time ago. Before this.”

Yasha sighs. “I couldn’t.”

“I know,” Jester nods. “If something happened to Fjord or Beau – I don’t know what I would do. Molly –”

“I don’t think this is the place for that kind of talk,” Fjord says. “We’re very. Out in the open, if you know what I mean.”

Yasha glances up. Caduceus is walking over, gait unhurried, a heaped tray of food in his hand.

“It doesn’t matter,” she says. “He’ll know everything soon enough.”

“Soon doesn’t have to be now,” Fjord says firmly.

Yasha shrugs. Caduceus sits in the empty seat next to her, beaming across the table. Jester smiles back with the same kind of open reassurance, though Fjord seems largely immune.

“Heard you’re going to be a Jaeger pilot,” he says.

“That’s the rumour,” Caduceus says, shovelling something that didn’t look especially edible into his mouth. Yasha looks over her plate, and then dumps it onto Caduceus’ tray. He gives her a nod of thanks and keeps eating.

“And how’s your sister taking that?”

“She wouldn’t stop laughing for twenty minutes straight,” Caduceus says. “Says I deserved everything that happens to me.”

“That certainly sounds like Clarabelle,” Fjord says.

Yasha glances between them. “When am I going to meet your sister?”

“You’ll see her eventually,” Caduceus says. “She’s around here somewhere.”

There’s a low buzzing sound. Fjord glances down, and then takes his phone out of his pocket. He reads the message, closes his eyes, and then glares at both Yasha and Caduceus.

“That was Beau,” he says. “Shakaste wants you two in the hanger ten minutes ago for a trial Drift.”

.

Yasha has so many scars from her uniform – there are clamps and drills and hooks that dig into her skin and down to her bone. The biggest scar she has is along her spinal column, where the suit connects directly into her nervous system.

It had required surgery. Molly had been there when she closed her eyes, holding tight onto her hand in a way that was both reassuring and terrifying. Yasha remembers breathing in and out, in and out, and waiting for everything to go dark.

Her skin aches as she puts back on the suit. Her shoulders pinch along the scars, the metal digging into her throat and along her collarbones. Yasha breathes in and out, in and out, and doesn’t jolt when they connect her spine.

Walking into the cockpit of Necrotic Shroud is a nightmare of reality. There are exposed bundles of wiring that have been taped down, cracked glass screens that are just good enough to justify their continued presence. No longer does a sleek, minimalistic aesthetic dominate the area – that has all been thrown out in favour of cheap practicality. Here’s how to save the world, a dollar at a time.

Yasha hooks herself into the harness. The tech’s try to help, but she’s done this hundreds of times before, and she’s done before they can really make much of a difference.

Molly is next to her, grinning.

No.

Caduceus is next to her, looking almost ridiculous in his dive suit. Yasha blinks away the memory of Molly’s sharp grin and tries to smile back.

Shakaste’s voice echoes through the cockpit: “Prepare for neural handshake.”

Yasha’s smile turns bloodless.

“My head isn’t a very nice place to be,” she says. “I’m either very unlucky, or cursed. And I don’t believe in luck.”

“Let me be the judge of that,” Caduceus says.

Four.

Yasha closes her eyes. Molly is there, just out of reach.

Three.

“Don’t latch onto anything,” she says. “The Drift is silent.”

Two.

“See you on the other side.”

One.

.

“Hey, sleepy,” Zuala says.

Yasha shakes her head and presses further back into the pillow. It’s still dark out, but she can see the faint light coming in through the window from the streetlamp outside. She’s been meaning to install curtains above it, but it never really seems to come up.

“G’way,” Yasha says, burrowing down.

Zuala laughs. Zuala has the most wonderful laugh in the world.

“Hey, sleepy,” she says. “Get –”

“ – up. Yasha, get up.”

There’s an alarm. Yasha’s eyes snap open and she scrambles around for some kind of purchase. Everything hurts. The buildings around them are in ruins, blown apart to dust and rubble, and a storm is whipping wind and hail and dust around them.

Yasha is on her knees. Zuala is in front of her, and she’s on the ground, and she’s not getting up. Her hands scrabble weakly at Yasha’s. In the distance, as a kind of horrific background noise, a siren wails in futile warning. There’s a monster out there in the mist, somewhere, but Yasha can’t think.

“You need to go,” Zuala says. She’s shaking Yasha frantically. Yasha clambers slowly to her knees and shakes her head like a wounded dog, trying to think. The rain isn’t letting up. “Yasha, get up, you need to –”

“ – go, go, go!” Molly laughs, pushing Yasha forward. “C’mon, wake up, we’ve got a monster to kill!”

Yasha shakes her head and stifles a yawn. Even the minor pain of getting into the dive suit doesn’t wake her up as it usually would. She cracks her neck and gets into the harness, tightening the straps automatically.

“Initiating neural handshake.”

“You ready for this?”

Yasha dredges up a smile from somewhere. “Always.”

Four.

“– wake up – wake up –”

Three.

“ – wrong – Jester and Fjord –”

Two.

“– Lorenzo –”

One.

.

[thegloober]

Review: Apple Watch Series 4

Roughly two-and-half minutes into my run, the watch kicks in. There’s a haptic buzz on my wrist.

“It looks like you’re working out,” the watch face reads. That’s followed by a big, yellow button, suggesting I start an indoor run. I tap the neon button and the clock starts, comping me a reasonable approximation of the time it took for the Watch to be sure what sort of activity it was detecting.

I wasn’t actually planning to test the feature on this particular run. In all the stretching/music picking/treadmill setting pre-run ritual, I’d just forgotten to set the damn thing. It feels like a small thing, but, then, most of the updates are relatively small in the grand scheme of things. In the case of the Apple Watch, radically departure would almost certainly be a bad thing.

[embedded content]

You see, there are smartwatches and then there’s the Apple Watch. That’s not so much a tacit endorsement of the product, so much as an objective analysis of the numbers. Numbers from IDC earlier this year show Apple leading all wearables on the strength of its single smartwatch.

In fact, the company accounted for more than half of smartwatch shipments last year. Simply put, the Apple Watch has long represented a rare bright spot in a flagging wearables category. The device has been successful enough for long enough that analysts are once again bullish on the category going forward. That’s an impressive feat by any measure.

So what’s a market-dominating smartwatch maker to do? For Apple, the answer is two-fold. First, improve upon the overall experience without altering anything too much. With the Apple Watch Series 4, that means subtle hardware improvements like a larger screen while maintaining a similar form factor, as well as tweaks like the addition of haptic feedback to the Watch’s crown.

After all, Apple’s success doesn’t lie in any single standout feature. Rather, as with the iPhone, the company has excelled in providing an overall hardware and software experience that makes it possible to use the product mostly without thinking — as evidenced by the above workout feature.

Second, show the world precisely how committed you are to health. Even with the existence of cheaper fitness trackers, health and fitness have long been understood to be the primary drivers in smartwatch sales. For Fitbit, that means pivoting much of the company toward health care.

For Apple, it’s finding ways to have the Watch taken more seriously as a health-monitoring device. While it’s true that the product won’t be replacing medical products any time soon, the wearable has the decided advantage of constant monitoring.

That means, unlike hospital equipment and other pricier technology, it can be worn as a kind of safeguard. New features like the ECG (electrocardiogram) monitor on the rear of the device and automatic fall detection aren’t aimed at replacing doctor checkups. They’re safeguards for those times when users aren’t in a doctor’s care.

Analysts have bet much of the category’s future growth on Apple’s ability to identify and target new markets. Having cornered techies and a younger demographic, older users and those with health problems present a clear way to expand the Watch’s existing base.

Day to day

I wear a lot of smartwatches. It’s a byproduct/perk of the job. Between reviews, however, I always come back to the Apple Watch. For one thing, while I switch back and forth between Android and iOS handsets, my primary phone is an iPhone. One of Apple’s biggest appeals has been its ecosystem. The products just work well with one another to a fault — and once you’re locked in, it’s hard to get out.

That’s not the sole reason, of course. Google, Samsung and Fitbit all have iOS apps now. And while integration isn’t perfect, it’s certainly usable. The fact is that the Apple Watch is an elegant solution from both a hardware and software standpoint. It walks the key wearable line of being engaging when necessary and fading into the background the rest of the time.

Contrary to early reports (and speculation over that event invite), Apple stuck with the squircle (it’s a real geometry term, look it up) this time out. The design was a bit polarizing early on, but I suspect most users have since come to appreciate the things it affords, including the ability to fit more text on the screen.

The face of it

Of course, that’s doubly the case here. The clearest difference on the hardware side of the increased display size, which, like the iPhone X, Apple managed to increase the screen without making much of a dent in the overall footprint.

The Series 4’s case is slightly larger and wider than its predecessor, but it’s not really noticeable unless you happen to have two side-by-side. Even with the slightly larger surface area, the Apple Watch remains one of the more wearable wearables.

If you’ve used an earlier version with any regularity, on the other other hand, the increase in surface area is pretty readily apparent, especially when an email notification comes through. It also means app developers can jam in more detail and the Watch’s faces can feature additional complications (a descriptor I suspect makes Apple designers die inside a bit every time they have to utter it).

With the 30 percent larger display, you can add things like the Breathe app to the face for easy access. It’s a rare instance of the company pushing to bring more detail to a surface, but with the limited real estate afforded by a smartwatch screen, you take every precious millimeter you can get. The fact that the bezels are smaller also means app designers don’t have to lean as heavily on black backgrounds to help mask the unused space.

On the case

Apple also managed to make the new watch thinner than its predecessors. The benefit there is obvious when it comes to making a product designed to be worn on the body. And the slightly larger case size means Apple was able to accomplish this without having an impact on battery life.

It’s an interesting choice, given that much of the competition has zeroed in on battery life with recent upgrades, including, notably, the new Galaxy Watch, which Samsung rates at “several days.” With good reason — battery has long been one of the biggest issues with smartwatches.

As with earlier versions, Apple rates the Series 4’s battery at “all day,” which certainly lines up with my own testing. Even so, I would happily trade a millimeter or two of thickness for some additional mAhs. As it stands, you should be able to get through a day’s use without worrying about finding a charger, but the peace of mind of more battery life is always welcome.

I admit I didn’t think much of the digital crown when Apple mentioned it on stage. If anything, it sounded like a sort of parlor trick. When I finally had a chance to try the device on at the event the other week, however, I was surprised at how much I dug it.

Spinning the circle really feels like turning a mechanical dial. And when there’s nothing on screen to move by spinning it, the feedback simply shuts off. Again, it’s a small touch, but a nice one, nonetheless. This is still probably the one spot where Samsung really has a leg up on Apple. The Galaxy (nee Gear)’s spinning bezel is still my favorite method for interacting with smartwatch menus (and the top reason to consider a Samsung model). Though the new digital crown is a fairly close second place.

For your health

Apple devoted a good amount of the Apple Watch’s stage time to health and wellness. And understandably so. The company firmly believes that the product’s capabilities as a health monitor are the way forward for the Apple Watch. Added sophisticated tools like the ECG also go a long way toward the company continuing to position the wearable as a premium product.

After all, budget devices from companies like Xiaomi represent the other key growth area in the fitness space. Apple has also seen a surprisingly successful competitor in the form of the $200 Fitbit Versa. Sure, the company got off to a rocky start, but its latest Pebble-esque smartwatch looks to be a bonafide hit. And it’s a pretty solid solution for those looking for a low-cost or Android-friendly solution.

ECG is an interesting addition, because for most users, it’s not an everyday feature. It’s a great addition for older users and those with existing conditions. Information collected day to day can be shared with doctors via the Apple Health app. For the rest of us, the product has the potential to flag irregularities and things like atrial fibrillation.

No one is suggesting an FDA-approved feature can or should replace a doctor, but if it helps shed some light on heart issues, that’s certainly a net positive. And that’s really where the Apple Watch thrives as a health care device — it offers potential insight into larger issues. That includes the addition of things like low heart rate notifications in watchOS 5 (which joins the high heart rate notifications from its predecessor) and the irregular rhythm notifications that arrive via the ECG.

The feature won’t be available until later this year, so I wasn’t able to test the thing. And when it does arrive, it will only be available in the U.S., likely due to the intricacies of different health regulatory bodies from country to country. When it does arrive, it will work as follows, per Apple: “Simply touch the Digital Crown to generate an ECG waveform in just 30 seconds. This data can indicate whether your heart rhythm shows signs of atrial fibrillation — a serious form of irregular heart rhythm — or sinus rhythm, which means your heart is beating in a normal pattern.”

That means the crown is essentially doing double duty, serving as one of two electrodes (the other is on the rear of the watch) for measuring heart rhythms. It’s a pretty novel addition to an existing feature.

Fall detection is the other feature I’ll readily admit I wasn’t able to properly test this time out. The feature is automatically enabled for users aged 65 and over. Everyone else will have to manually enable it via the iPhone app under the Emergency SOS setting. When it detects a fall, an Emergency SOS screen will pop up — not dissimilar to those Life Alert devices from the 80s. If the wearer is unresponsive for a minute, it will send out the alert.

I can, however, attest to the fact that I didn’t register any false alerts while wearing the device. Slamming your hands on the desk or collapsing into your bed won’t set it off. Apparently stunt people and others trained at falling won’t be able to set it off, either. I tried taking a few controlled spills into my rabbit’s floor pads, with no results beyond sore hands and a confused bunny. Don’t try this at home, kids.

Watch this space

There are other fun features scattered throughout. Walkie Talkie is a cool one. It’s more of a fun novelty than an indispensable addition. It’s a quick and easy way to communicate with fellow Apple Watch owners over Wi-Fi or cellular, sending through transmissions with the push of a button. It’s also a good way to take advantage of 50 percent louder speakers.

The Series 4 isn’t the kind of refresh that justifies upgrading from the last generation, especially given the $399 and $499 starting prices for the standard and LTE models, respectively. But there’s certainly enough here to keep the Apple Watch at the top of the smartwatch heap. The addition of serious health features like ECG and fall detection further lay the groundwork for a what the device — and category — will become, going forward.

The post Review: Apple Watch Series 4 was shared from BlogHyped.com.

Source: https://bloghyped.com/review-apple-watch-series-4/

[theinvinciblenoob]

Roughly two-and-half minutes into my run, the watch kicks in. There’s a haptic buzz on my wrist.

“It looks like you’re working out,” the watch face reads. That’s followed by a big, yellow button, suggesting I start an indoor run. I tap the neon button and the clock starts, comping me a reasonable approximation of the time it took for the Watch to be sure what sort of activity it was detecting.

I wasn’t actually planning to test the feature on this particular run. In all the stretching/music picking/treadmill setting pre-run ritual, I’d just forgotten to set the damn thing. It feels like a small thing, but, then, most of the updates are relatively small in the grand scheme of things. In the case of the Apple Watch, radically departure would almost certainly be a bad thing.

You see, there are smartwatches and then there’s the Apple Watch. That’s not so much a tacit endorsement of the product, so much as an objective analysis of the numbers. Numbers from IDC earlier this year show Apple leading all wearables on the strength of its single smartwatch.

In fact, the company accounted for more than half of smartwatch shipments last year. Simply put, the Apple Watch has long represented a rare bright spot in a flagging wearables category. The device has been successful enough for long enough that analysts are once again bullish on the category going forward. That’s an impressive feat by any measure.

So what’s a market-dominating smartwatch maker to do? For Apple, the answer is two-fold. First, improve upon the overall experience without altering anything too much. With the Apple Watch Series 4, that means subtle hardware improvements like a larger screen while maintaining a similar form factor, as well as tweaks like the addition of haptic feedback to the Watch’s crown.

After all, Apple’s success doesn’t lie in any single standout feature. Rather, as with the iPhone, the company has excelled in providing an overall hardware and software experience that makes it possible to use the product mostly without thinking — as evidenced by the above workout feature.

Second, show the world precisely how committed you are to health. Even with the existence of cheaper fitness trackers, health and fitness have long been understood to be the primary drivers in smartwatch sales. For Fitbit, that means pivoting much of the company toward health care.

For Apple, it’s finding ways to have the Watch taken more seriously as a health-monitoring device. While it’s true that the product won’t be replacing medical products any time soon, the wearable has the decided advantage of constant monitoring.

That means, unlike hospital equipment and other pricier technology, it can be worn as a kind of safeguard. New features like the ECG (electrocardiogram) monitor on the rear of the device and automatic fall detection aren’t aimed at replacing doctor checkups. They’re safeguards for those times when users aren’t in a doctor’s care.

Analysts have bet much of the category’s future growth on Apple’s ability to identify and target new markets. Having cornered techies and a younger demographic, older users and those with health problems present a clear way to expand the Watch’s existing base.

Day to day

I wear a lot of smartwatches. It’s a byproduct/perk of the job. Between reviews, however, I always come back to the Apple Watch. For one thing, while I switch back and forth between Android and iOS handsets, my primary phone is an iPhone. One of Apple’s biggest appeals has been its ecosystem. The products just work well with one another to a fault — and once you’re locked in, it’s hard to get out.

That’s not the sole reason, of course. Google, Samsung and Fitbit all have iOS apps now. And while integration isn’t perfect, it’s certainly usable. The fact is that the Apple Watch is an elegant solution from both a hardware and software standpoint. It walks the key wearable line of being engaging when necessary and fading into the background the rest of the time.

Contrary to early reports (and speculation over that event invite), Apple stuck with the squircle (it’s a real geometry term, look it up) this time out. The design was a bit polarizing early on, but I suspect most users have since come to appreciate the things it affords, including the ability to fit more text on the screen.

The face of it

Of course, that’s doubly the case here. The clearest difference on the hardware side of the increased display size, which, like the iPhone X, Apple managed to increase the screen without making much of a dent in the overall footprint.

The Series 4’s case is slightly larger and wider than its predecessor, but it’s not really noticeable unless you happen to have two side-by-side. Even with the slightly larger surface area, the Apple Watch remains one of the more wearable wearables.

If you’ve used an earlier version with any regularity, on the other other hand, the increase in surface area is pretty readily apparent, especially when an email notification comes through. It also means app developers can jam in more detail and the Watch’s faces can feature additional complications (a descriptor I suspect makes Apple designers die inside a bit every time they have to utter it).

With the 30 percent larger display, you can add things like the Breathe app to the face for easy access. It’s a rare instance of the company pushing to bring more detail to a surface, but with the limited real estate afforded by a smartwatch screen, you take every precious millimeter you can get. The fact that the bezels are smaller also means app designers don’t have to lean as heavily on black backgrounds to help mask the unused space.

On the case

Apple also managed to make the new watch thinner than its predecessors. The benefit there is obvious when it comes to making a product designed to be worn on the body. And the slightly larger case size means Apple was able to accomplish this without having an impact on battery life.

It’s an interesting choice, given that much of the competition has zeroed in on battery life with recent upgrades, including, notably, the new Galaxy Watch, which Samsung rates at “several days.” With good reason — battery has long been one of the biggest issues with smartwatches.

As with earlier versions, Apple rates the Series 4’s battery at “all day,” which certainly lines up with my own testing. Even so, I would happily trade a millimeter or two of thickness for some additional mAhs. As it stands, you should be able to get through a day’s use without worrying about finding a charger, but the peace of mind of more battery life is always welcome.

I admit I didn’t think much of the digital crown when Apple mentioned it on stage. If anything, it sounded like a sort of parlor trick. When I finally had a chance to try the device on at the event the other week, however, I was surprised at how much I dug it.

Spinning the circle really feels like turning a mechanical dial. And when there’s nothing on screen to move by spinning it, the feedback simply shuts off. Again, it’s a small touch, but a nice one, nonetheless. This is still probably the one spot where Samsung really has a leg up on Apple. The Galaxy (nee Gear)’s spinning bezel is still my favorite method for interacting with smartwatch menus (and the top reason to consider a Samsung model). Though the new digital crown is a fairly close second place.

For your health

Apple devoted a good amount of the Apple Watch’s stage time to health and wellness. And understandably so. The company firmly believes that the product’s capabilities as a health monitor are the way forward for the Apple Watch. Added sophisticated tools like the ECG also go a long way toward the company continuing to position the wearable as a premium product.

After all, budget devices from companies like Xiaomi represent the other key growth area in the fitness space. Apple has also seen a surprisingly successful competitor in the form of the $200 Fitbit Versa. Sure, the company got off to a rocky start, but its latest Pebble-esque smartwatch looks to be a bonafide hit. And it’s a pretty solid solution for those looking for a low-cost or Android-friendly solution.

ECG is an interesting addition, because for most users, it’s not an everyday feature. It’s a great addition for older users and those with existing conditions. Information collected day to day can be shared with doctors via the Apple Health app. For the rest of us, the product has the potential to flag irregularities and things like atrial fibrillation.

No one is suggesting an FDA-approved feature can or should replace a doctor, but if it helps shed some light on heart issues, that’s certainly a net positive. And that’s really where the Apple Watch thrives as a health care device — it offers potential insight into larger issues. That includes the addition of things like low heart rate notifications in watchOS 5 (which joins the high heart rate notifications from its predecessor) and the irregular rhythm notifications that arrive via the ECG.

The feature won’t be available until later this year, so I wasn’t able to test the thing. And when it does arrive, it will only be available in the U.S., likely due to the intricacies of different health regulatory bodies from country to country. When it does arrive, it will work as follows, per Apple: “Simply touch the Digital Crown to generate an ECG waveform in just 30 seconds. This data can indicate whether your heart rhythm shows signs of atrial fibrillation — a serious form of irregular heart rhythm — or sinus rhythm, which means your heart is beating in a normal pattern.”

That means the crown is essentially doing double duty, serving as one of two electrodes (the other is on the rear of the watch) for measuring heart rhythms. It’s a pretty novel addition to an existing feature.

Fall detection is the other feature I’ll readily admit I wasn’t able to properly test this time out. The feature is automatically enabled for users aged 65 and over. Everyone else will have to manually enable it via the iPhone app under the Emergency SOS setting. When it detects a fall, an Emergency SOS screen will pop up — not dissimilar to those Life Alert devices from the 80s. If the wearer is unresponsive for a minute, it will send out the alert.

I can, however, attest to the fact that I didn’t register any false alerts while wearing the device. Slamming your hands on the desk or collapsing into your bed won’t set it off. Apparently stunt people and others trained at falling won’t be able to set it off, either. I tried taking a few controlled spills into my rabbit’s floor pads, with no results beyond sore hands and a confused bunny. Don’t try this at home, kids.

Watch this space

There are other fun features scattered throughout. Walkie Talkie is a cool one. It’s more of a fun novelty than an indispensable addition. It’s a quick and easy way to communicate with fellow Apple Watch owners over Wi-Fi or cellular, sending through transmissions with the push of a button. It’s also a good way to take advantage of 50 percent louder speakers.

The Series 4 isn’t the kind of refresh that justifies upgrading from the last generation, especially given the $399 and $499 starting prices for the standard and LTE models, respectively. But there’s certainly enough here to keep the Apple Watch at the top of the smartwatch heap. The addition of serious health features like ECG and fall detection further lay the groundwork for a what the device — and category — will become, going forward.

via TechCrunch

[dipulb3]

2021 Buick Envision is better in all the right ways

New Post has been published on https://appradab.com/2021-buick-envision-is-better-in-all-the-right-ways/

2021 Buick Envision is better in all the right ways

The new Envision is 200% more attractive than before.

Steven Ewing/Roadshow

The first-generation Buick Envision was… fine, like how you might describe a movie you didn’t really want to see. The 2021 Buick Envision changes that up, however. Through some careful nips and tucks, this midsize premium crossover is far more worthy of your time.

Like

Attractive exterior design

Great infotainment tech

Smooth and quiet ride quality

Don’t Like

Lots of cheap interior bits

Middling fuel economy

Style takes a big step forward in the 2021 Envision. The outgoing crossover had the wide eyes of a cat you snuck up on and a mishmash of forms on the side. The new generation is, by comparison, far fancier looking, with thinner headlights and taillights above more expressive bumpers, as well as a front grille that looks like it was designed in this decade and side lines that no longer compete with one another. A longer wheelbase and a lower, wider body give the Envision more adult proportions, too. That comes with a tradeoff, though — the 25.2 cubic feet of cargo space behind the second row is less than what came on the last generation, which beats the Volvo XC60 (17.8) but lags behind the Acura RDX (29.5) and the Lincoln Corsair (27.6).

The 2021 Envision’s interior is vastly improved, and Old GM’s myriad buttons are gone. The infotainment screen is nicely integrated into the dashboard, although it’s tilted oddly skyward. The climate control buttons live in a swath of piano-black trim which, on my Avenir tester, continues rearward to the center console armrest. There are some decently fancy cues around, from the dimpled wood on the door panels to the diamond ventilation pattern on the leather seats. There’s a little more vinyl-soft plastic than I’d prefer to see in a top-tier trim with an out-the-door price north of $45,000, but that’s GM for you. On the whole, it’s a spacious, attractive interior that’s a quantum leap ahead of what came before.

Even though cargo space is a little dear, storage on the whole isn’t bad at all. There’s a convenient purse-sized tray hidden underneath the transmission controls, and the clamshell armrest is deep enough to hold a couple of clutches. If so equipped, there’s also a wireless charging tray ahead of the cup holders that can double as more junk storage. The door-panel cubbies are deep, but the opening is surprisingly small, so little tchotchkes can wander rearward, requiring some complicated wrist acrobatics to retrieve.

Under the hood lies a compromise. The 2021 Envision lineup utilizes just one engine, a 2.0-liter turbocharged I4 good for 228 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque, which splits the difference between the two engines offered on pre-2021 Envisions, a 197-hp 2.5-liter I4 and a 252-hp 2.0-liter I4. Front-wheel drive variants are EPA-rated at 24 miles per gallon city and 31 mpg highway, with optional AWD reducing each figure by 2 mpg. My experience doesn’t quite match the EPA’s; even with my AWD Envision Avenir locked in FWD mode, 27 mpg is the best I can muster on Michigan highways, while city mileage hovers closer to 20.

The interior is good, but not great.

Steven Ewing/Roadshow

The remainder of the 2021 Envision’s driving experience is quite pleasant. The engine note, uh, exists, but its mediocre muted growl fades into the background once anything starts playing on the speakers. Acceleration is adequate, losing a lot of the perkiness that the outgoing model’s optional turbo four packed, but it’s more than enough for on-ramps and such, and its nine-speed automatic swaps cogs so smoothly you’ll barely even notice. The steering is a little overboosted, but it’s nothing most buyers will notice or care about, and the pedals are dead simple to modulate smoothly. My tester wears Buick’s adaptive dampers, which can change damping strength while driving to soak up nasty bits in the road. While the ride is definitely on the smoother side for compact crossovers, it’s almost too much so, leading to a bit of a floaty feeling. Wind and road noise are pretty well muted, too.

Oh, and the turn signal is no longer loud enough to be mistaken for a cherry bomb. That’s nice.

GM has never been shy about loading its latest vehicles with all manner of tech, both standard and optional, and that’s still the story with the 2021 Envision. As the top trim on offer, the Avenir sports a sufficiently large 10.2-inch infotainment touchscreen running the latest Buick-skinned version of GM’s corporate software. Like every other car it’s in, this getup is lovely, with menus that are quick to load and easy to navigate. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard across the board, which is a nice touch. The infotainment also packs a number of built-in apps that work with the 4G LTE antenna, so you can use Alexa integration to control your house’s lights or listen to the latest podcast or recommendation from Reese Witherspoon’s book club. If your phone doesn’t accept wireless charging, there are both USB-A and USB-C ports on offer to juice up.

The Envision is one of Buick’s better offerings.

Steven Ewing/Roadshow

Buick and its family of adjacent brands have sometimes scrimped on standard safety features, but the 2021 Envision has plenty of ’em. All Envision trims include automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, lane-keeping assist, lane-departure warning, automatic high beams and rear parking sensors. My tester’s $1,670 Technology Package II upgrades that kit with a rear-camera mirror, adaptive cruise control, improved automatic emergency braking and automatic parking assist, so you’ll still have to shell out extra coin for some stuff that comes standard on other vehicles at this price point.

Now, you don’t have to push toward $50,000 to rock a 2021 Buick Envision. The base Preferred trim starts at $32,995 including destination for a front-wheel-drive model with an 8-inch touchscreen and surfaces covered in a mix of cloth and leatherette. The middle-child Essence raises the price to $36,995, with the Avenir starting at $41,395. All-wheel drive is a $1,800 option no matter the trim, and unlike previous iterations, all three trims can be had with or without it.

The outgoing Buick Envision, which was built with the Chinese market in mind from the get-go, never really felt fully tuned to the US customers, but that changes with the 2021 model. It’s better looking, it’s still nice to drive and it’s appointed with the features that buyers in this segment are after.