#these people have no idea they are putting their hands all over a simple PLA fanfiction account

[waywardstation]

Did you know that your post about sitting cuties is making thr rounds on Twitter and Instagram? With Zoroark pasted over Emolga for some reason? I thought it was really cool to see you out in the wild!

Ha!! I was shown this recently and so surprised to see it!!

1) I’m horrified I breached containment and leaked onto twitter BUT ITS ON INSTAGRAM TOO? ;~;

2) Yes!!! The poster did replace emolga with zoroark!! This is emolga erasure!!

ALSO I was shown that this was in the comments?? I don’t know what Twitter is doing to me but it’s hilarious haha

Thanks for sharing OP, knowing a post of mine made it out of tumblr is slightly horrifying, but hey we got me talking about Lego Donkey Kong Cuties out of it haha

[extremesalsaing]

Two for the year: Games 2022

Last year on Twitter, I tweeted two favorites of 2021, across games, movies and albums. I liked that way of doing things, and decided to do it again! When I did it before, I was able to capture a pair of very different new games - one broad and expansive (Monster Hunter Rise) and one smaller and tighter (Metroid Dread). This year, I played fewer new games, and put a lot more hours into them. I promise the day will come again when I lift up something other than Switch games, but not today.

Pokemon Legends: Arceus

Talking about Pokemon in 2022 is a sticky, disgusting thing to do. We've spent years now talking about how the series has a million roadblocks keeping it from evolving - all of them coming from within. Not only is Game Freak trapped under an unfair and unlivable work pace at the hands of The Pokemon Company, but its own leadership has internally been firmly resistant to change. Sword and Shield truly got the conversation going around the ways in which the franchise refuses to move forward, from the top down. The Wild Area idea pushed at the walls of the dusty box that every game in the franchise has sat inside for over two decades.

That all changed at the start of this year. Pokemon Legends: Arceus breaks the box down, wall by wall, and reimagines what it means to be in the Pokemon world. From capturing to collecting, Pokemon feels like something new than it did, and I hope beyond hope that the series is able to really start moving forward. From moment 1, I couldn't deny the feeling that this franchise was trying something new. At god-damn last.

Completing the Pokedex no longer just means capturing every Pokemon, but completing lists of tasks unique to each one of them. They turned that task into a project that I actually enjoyed enough to finish it - the PLA Pokedex being the first I have ever finished. Finding the rare Pokemon you're looking for isn't just about running around in the grass for a rare spawn rate, but waiting for the right time of day or night, and being careful not to spook a timid Turtwig back into the forest.

Players have been playing Pokemon functionally the same way for over 25 years, and this is the first "core entry" to change that in ways that go beyond adding a new gimmick or mechanic. It changes what the player's relationship to the world is. It's the first time in Pokemon that you can scale a mountain, get to the top, see a Togekiss flying around in circles, and spend half an hour figuring out how to skillfully and tactically bonk it with custom-crafted balls until maybe, just maybe, you chance your way into catching it. It's an easy shot to say that it's adopting Breath of the Wild design sensibilities, but it's pretty undeniable that this game wants you to feel small in a big, wild world. Pokemon Legends: Arceus is the first time I have been felt really challenged to learn something new by this franchise in at least a decade, and god, I hope it's not the last.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3

Xenoblade Chronicles 1 and 3 are both about a group of central characters learning that "the way things are" is a fake idea. The world is constructed based on rules, and those rules are written by people with names and addresses - even if the name is "Zanza the Great" and the place is called "Prison Island." In XC1, this revelation comes gradually, over the course of a journey that starts out as a simple revenge mission and ends as a fight to save a world that was engineered as one living being's life source. It's the blood cells rebelling against the body. Late into the game, protagonist Shulk learns that he - and by association, all of his friends - has been a pawn in a system whose nature was too big for him to understand.

XC3 is also about this, but much faster. What I have described as happening over the whole of the first game happens to two opposing groups of soldiers in the first two hours of this one. Xenoblade Chronicles 3's six main characters are child soldiers, who don't know that there's anything else to be. They're born at some ambiguous age around 10 or so, are given decade-long natural lifespans, and then dissolve into light when their time is up. Every soldier in every colony across the world is fighting for their lives - literally. Groups of soldiers harvest the life force of their foes, absorbing them into enormous machines that power the lives of their soldiers. It's a tightly-locked system, an endless cycle of soldiers killing each other to stay alive, all for a purpose none of them are given the leeway to even ask. Every one of them is born too deep into the system to understand that there is a system at all.

So, what happens when a group of people is removed from that system? The opening of XC3 culminates with two opposing trios of soldiers coming together to investigate the presence of an unknown force on a battlefield, which leads to all of them becoming untethered from the Flame Clock - the instruments of control that keep the soldiers of both armies locked in a fight to drink each others' life away. Suddenly untethered, and given new abilities defined by their newfound unity, the six protagonists are given a direction and told to go there in search of answers for the question that those oppressed aren't often given the chance to really act on: What made the world this way?

From there, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is a story about liberating your fellows from the systems that hold you down, as the party frees colony after colony from both sides. It's also about coming to terms with mortality and tells a series of very intimate and tender stories about loss, old and new alike. Third, it's about young people learning and expressing what love is without...knowing what love is. Its plot is about teenagers and young adults learning how to be people, which is something I am an unabashed and wholehearted sucker for.

The story eventually culminates in a simpler fashion than I was hoping for, but the journey is something I will not manage to get out of my head for a long time. On top of that, it builds arguably the best version of the Xenoblade combat system, marrying ideas from the first two games with a job class system that initially felt overwhelming, but later transformed into a series of gifts, each new one opening up what I could do further and further. The gameplay is great, even if it's not the main thing I'm talking about when I write about it. I'm not sure if it's topped the original for me, but Xenoblade Chronicles 3 has a heart, soul and mind that will likely stay close to mine forever. What a beautiful and special game.

Okay, thanks! I will probably write one of these about movies and maybe music as well! I also put this on my Cohost, out of curiosity to see where more people are reading them, as we all navigate this terrible post-Elon world. Cheers!

[strigital]

Do tell about Nim, I couldn’t find much info about her through your blog and I am dying to know more about this werewolf lady

well grab a pint and sit yo booty down, cause our bard of the evening tonight is Nim and she's drunk as all hell and ready to weave some outrageous stories!! 🍻

in all seriousness, thank you for asking! 😭💗 she came about back in ye oldie days of hype over the 11th of november 2011, and since then refuses to give up the title of my fav oc!!

now, a Paarthurnax would say: lets-a go!

a quick recap of the events in Skyrim:

Naali Saryn was born sometime in 4E 130 on mainland Morrowind as a result of a quick fling between an unknown Dunmer girl and Lucien Lachance and Kassandra Saryn's (The Hero of Kvatch's) son.

Sometime in that year, the baby was found aboard a ship bound for Raven Rock and when no one came forth to claim her a couple of elderly and childless ash yam farmers decided to take her in until her family was found.

The family, of course, was never found, and so they raised her as their own for the next sixteen years. They called the girl Nim - short, sweet, meaningless, and easy to shout out into the fields where the little brat is out adventuring when the house chores are yet to be done.

Nim grew up alongside her best friend Teldryn (don't believe his tales about his past, there's a reason why he wears a helmet in his hometown). For years the kids dreamt of leaving Raven Rock behind and making it big in the big city. And idea which really annoyed Nim's ol' Nana, who believed that everything needed for a simple happy life was right here on Solstheim.

After one particularly nasty fight with Nana about the ordeal, Nim gathered a bag of things and slipped out in the dead of night to catch an early morning ship with Teldryn.

They stuck together for a while then went on their separate merry ways. He - to Blacklight, she - to Leyawiin. Once in the wild, Nim had to quickly figure out her place in the pecking order. The romantic life of crime seemed to be the most attractive for her, but getting on top could never be easy. Especially for a young, inexperienced, and naive girlie. So she ended up running with the wrong kind of crew. Ended up in some truly dark places. Barely got out alive. Learned from her mistakes. Wore the scars of abuse like armor and made sure that since that day no one in this world or any other would play her for a fool, use her or put a finger on her without her permission.

By the time she turned fifty, Nim was well known amongst certain circles as the kind of scoundrel, thief, bard, and wench one should not trifle with. But her luck had to eventually run out, and so it did on the night of the fabled Umbacano Mansion heist, which failed so badly Nim had to either leave Cyrodiil or end up in a Thalmor owned torture chamber.

Skyrim seemed like a perfect place. After all, in a kingdom torn apart by the civil war, no one would even notice yet another greyskin refugee, right? Well, the Thalmor did. And so she ended up on a cart bound for Helgen to have a date with an executioner. But then Alduin showed up to crash the party before he himself got rudely interrupted by another dragon, who swooped in to save the Last Dragonborn.

After the narrow escape, Nim concluded her duty to warn Balgruuf of the dragon threat and went on to start a new career as a merc with the Companions. She and Aela became fast friends and when the prospect of joining the Circle came up she gladly accepted a sip of her new sister's blood. To never again be helpless and weak? To rip apart any fool who'd take her for just another elf wench who can't put up a fight? Well of course it was worth giving up the ability to sleep and having to get used to all smells suddenly becoming ten times worse!

After that Mirmulnir showed up and ended up as another ornament above the throne in the Dragonsreach. And Nim got stuck with a title which she would wear with great discontent for years to come.

Eventually, she ceased trying to run away and hide from her destiny, accepted her role as the Last Dragonborn, and begrudgingly began her quest to save the world. On her journey, she met and became tight friends with Yollokmir and Alasil who taught her how to speak, fight and fly like a dragon. With their help she inherited Konahrik's legacy: his mask embued with his soul, his citadel far up in the mountains - the NebenLok Zeikangaar - and the right to revive and lead the order of dragon riders sworn to defeat Alduin - DovahDein.

As she gained power and the word of her great many deeds spread across Skyrim, she managed to get quite the following of fellow men, mer, and Dov, willing to follow her into Sovngarde and beat the hell out of Alduin. Alas, she failed. Twice.

At that point, Alasil informed her of a special someone who might be of help in their quest against Alduin and who might prove difficult to convince to join her cause. That was the first time in fifty years that Nim got to visit her home. Unfortunately, Solstheim had changed. And upon arrival, she learned that her Pa passed onto the realm of Azura soon after her departure, and her Nana... well, she wasn't young anymore and suffered greatly due to all the ash ruining her lungs... and when the islanders got called to the All-Maker stones night after night by a mysterious spell, she just worked herself to death. That was the only thing Nim wouldn't forgive Miraak for, not until he swallowed his pride and sincerely apologized for being responsible for his potential mother-in-law's death.

And with Miraak's help, they finally sent Alduin back to his Maker, enjoyed a few peaceful years until High King Ulfric became a bit drunk on his power and needed a good ass whooping as well. Then Miraak suddenly found himself as the new king and Nim... she just did her own thing. As always. The end?

Oh and all the while running about, gathering forces, growing her Dragonborn powers, hunting Dragon Priests and Alduin's henchmen, she also meddled with the Thieves Guild, put Karliah in charge and became her right hand, managed to become an advisor on all things dragon at the Mage's College, ended up teaching lute and songwriting at the Bard's College (she's taking a break since Viarmo can't seem to handle her teaching tactics), earned the title of Thane in every hold and became a good friend to the Dawnguard fellas (Isran is more than happy to teach her kids the ropes of monster hunting) after kicking Harkon's ass into Oblivion. In what little free time she has Nim also manages the Lakeview Manor and leases the ash yam farm back in Raven Rock for some extra cash. All in all, a busy woman!

and some tidbits about the dovahmom:

Although Nim is perfectly aware of her real name, she chooses to use the one given to her by Nana. Both as a sign of respect and because, frankly, she dislikes both the Sarynes and the Lachances, who are, in her humble opinion, just a bunch of pricks. Somehow, the ghost of her murdered grandad finds this opinion of hers kinda funny.

Her friends sometimes describe her as "cyrodiilic brandy in a cup of tea": she's this small elf girl with pretty blue eyes and a smile on her face and you think that she'll be very pleasant and cute and shy and then... then you realize she drinks like a sailor, swears like one too, can beat anyone into the dirt (thanks, Hircine) and doesn't take shit from nobody. She openly speaks her mind and doesn't give a shit about what someone might think of her. She does what she considers the right thing to do, never plays nice with those she dislikes, never pretends to be someone she isn't. She's feisty, sassy, brassy, and, quite honestly, just doesn't give a fuck.

Nim is in almost complete control over her inner beast, partly thanks to her draconic blood, partly - to the ring she got when she and Sinding had that little party on a moonlit night in that grotto. She only loses control over herself when both moons are full and thusly will travel deep into the wilds a few days before the magical night. This way the only people that might get hurt are bandits, necromancers, hags, and the like. She and Aela also managed to get a small werewolf pack going, named the Whitemane Pack after the old man himself and dedicated to those who wish to take control over their inner beast, hunt with honor, and cause the Silver Hand as much grief as possible.

Nim is raising Blaise and Sofie as her own since they both were just wee lil' war orphans (the babes are in their teens now). She never quite really knew why... Nim was never a wifey nor a baby momma kind of woman. In fact, she can't even have children in the first place and, honestly, always thought of this as a blessing - never having to worry about contraception like all those other girls and just having fun without a care in the world! Her friends sometimes joke around, saying that she might've finally "ripened" for the motherhood, but she doesn't care. She loves Blaise, Sofie, and Sissel (thanks, Miraak, you're so good at kidnapping children!) and is content with being their famous Dragonborn mom. Post-Alduin Miraak, however, is secretly annoyed for not being able to get her pregnant. Oh well, the man can dream...

Oh yeah! Nim plays the lute and sings too! It's a skill she picked up across taverns all over the continent when she realized that bards get free drinks and a bed, as well as ample opportunity to sniff out and seduce prey. And even though her days of hunting for good-looking rich fools are long behind her, she still performs in inns and taverns across Skyrim. Firstly, it brings in a fair amount of money, and secondly, it's good for her Voice! And also just plain and simple fun.

Also, people get terribly surprised when she, a Dunmer, doesn't act like one at all! Nim might've grown up in Raven Rock, a Dunmer settlement, but she spent the rest of her life traveling the continent and then living in Skyrim. She's more Nord-ish than some Nords! And the Nords actually really love it! It's so so easy to just get plastered with the homegirl, punch some faces and pass out on a heap of hay behind the inn, just happy to be alive on this fine snowy day. The only truly Dunmer thing about her is the occasional "n'wah!" which escapes her potty mouth. I mean, she doesn't even like sujamma all that much and would rather have a pint of mead! Whatever Ancestors she has must be spinning in their graves fast enough to generate electricity.

uuuhhh I think that's all the important stuff? i might've forgotten, in which case, I'll add it later... meanwhile, have some more Nim content:

^^^ the fanfic is slow, but it's moving... at a snail's pace. my advice: don't expect updates, so that when they do come, you'll be pleasantly surprised!

[remmushound]

Curse of the Clans part 36! @brightlotusmoon @selfindulgenz @scentedcandlecryptid

Content warning!! Physical attack, restraint, cursing

SMACK!

April woke up to a solid, heavy thud. It took her a moment to recognize her own room; it was her first night staying in her house for almost three weeks. Every time her parents would go away on their business, the house would be too quiet for her to want to stay in it very long. But now the lair was just as quiet, and with her brothers gone, she didn't want to spend much time there either. It just made her sad. Her conflict with Splinter and Cassandra served to make things worse.

SMACK!

That sound came again, and this time her head snapped immediately to the window. Another impact, and another. A steady, drumming sound. April slid out of bed and into her slippers, slowly approaching the window and pulling back the darkened blinds. Surely the brothers couldn’t be back so soon?

April gave a shout and fell away as another projectile was launched at the window and smacked against it. Was that a rock? Quickly, she scrambled back over to the window and peered outside. Then she opened the window, just barely ducking her head in time to dodge another rock. She slowly peeked back over the windowsill and threw her arms open.

“What the hell Casey?!”

“Sorry!” Cassandra called back from the streets, “You opened the window!”

“No shit, Jones!” April snarled back, and then fell to a weak laugh. “What are you doing throwing rocks at my house at…” She checked the time, “Two in the morning?”

“Come down!” Sunita called up; she was in her human form, which hadn’t changed at all in the years April knew her. Skin a shade darker than April’s own, and hair of ink pulled tight again her scalp in braids.

“Not tonight, yall.” April leaned on her window sill and gave a tired smile.

“What?” Cassandra scoffed in an exaggerated fashion, “Why not?!”

“I have a headache.” Was April’s excuse; she didn't have one, but she certainly didn't feel good. She just couldn’t exactly pin point what part of her body it was that ached.

“I have ibuprofen!” Cassandra held up her purse.

“Good night, girls.” April closed the window.

***

“Well, that stinks.” Sunita put a hand on her hip as she turned to face the shorter Cassandra. “Should we knock again?”

Cassandra considered. She gave a smile that was undetectable due to her mask and cracked her fingers and neck. “I have a better idea~”

***

April was more than happy to enjoy the warm, weighted embrace of her comforter, hugging her childhood teddy bear to beckon sleep to return to her faster. With her injuries, this was shaping up to be the most boring summer of her life! But to be fair, the promise of a simple, normal summer of relaxation definitely appealed to her, no matter how far out of her reach she knew it was. A girl could always dream, right?

April’s body shuttered. It told her to open her eyes, and when she did it was like her worst nightmares came true, though for only a moment before her mind caught up with the fear in her heart and recognized the silhouettes standing over her like villains in the night.

“Casey? Sunita? What are you—?”

Cassandra grabbed April around her waist and hoisted the teen over her shoulder.

“Casey! Put me down!” April growled and kicked her legs, but Cassandra only laughed.

“Sunita— help me! Get her legs!” Cassandra howled, and Sunita hurried to restrain April’s legs while Cassandra supported her front, both of them holding April between them like a hammock. “You’re coming to girls night April!”

They started to carry April toward the open window. April’s initially startled screams slowly turned to laughter. She still struggled, but her actions were more playful than anything. They stopped at the window, though Cassandra had already climbed out of it.

“She ain’t got no shoes, get her shoes!” Cassandra laughed.

Sunita’s arm turned from human back to its slime form and extended out to grab April’s shoes and a pair of socks. Cassandra forced April’s feet still so Sunita could put her shoes on, and then they continued out the window and into the fire escape.

“Guys— I need a mask!” April laughed.

“Got one!” Cassandra reached into her purse and pulled out a blue mask, fixing it over April’s mouth and nose while still carrying her with one arm. Down the fire escape they went, and only when their feet had touched the ground did they put April down.

“Are you proud of yourselves?” April huffed, putting her hand on her hip.

“Very.” Cassandra smirked.

“You could at least have let me get dressed!” April laughed, “I can’t go out for girls night in my PJs!”

“Why not?” Sunita asked innocently.

“Cause It's not proper for a social setting!” April scoffed.

Sunita was quiet for a time before whispering, “Humans are so weird…”

“Oh yeah. Forgot you’re a slime dude.” Cassandra turned to face April, “You’ll be fine! It’s not like we’re going drinking! You’re not old enough; believe me, I’ve checked.”

“Then what are we doing?” April asked, genuine curiosity seeping into her voice.

***

The trio got close enough to see the mutant hippo known as Hypno Ron wandering the shadows of the streets; he didn't seem to have a care in the world as to being spotted. After all, he could always just Mesmer any human to forget! April wasn’t so keen on how reckless the mutant was being, but Cassandra locked on to the hippo almost immediately from the rooftops.

“Oh! Oh! I got this one!” Cassandra cleared her throat, and when she spoke again, it was in a heavy accent; her best attempt at mocking the way Hypno spoke. “Oh oh, deary me! I simply have to find a tiny suit for my tiny worm friend for our anniversary! How am I ever going to find one in time to enjoy tiny tea cakes and orange peels with the lovely Warren Stone?”

“Orange peels?” April scrunched up her nose.

“What? Worms taste with their body.” Cassandra shrugged.

“Oh! There’s one!” Sunita spotted the next mutant, Repo Mantis, buzzing around. She dropped her voice low and raspy. “Rrrrr. I just know there’s a birthday cake to repo ‘round here somewhere. That three-year old’s hiding well, but I’ll sniff em out with my sniffer.” Sunita made exaggerated sniffle motions that made April and Cassandra almost fall over laughing.

“This one’s mine!” April claimed a few buildings down when they spotted the mutant prairie dog wandering an alleyway, her nose twitching in the search for decent morsels. April didn't know her name, so she had to improvise, clearing her throat. “Can I dig here? Noooo this isn’t a good place for digging? Here? Maaaaybe not? Here? No. Man, none of these places are good for digging!”

Sunita and Cassandra were covering their mouths trying to keep their laughter to a minimum. The prairie dog seemed to hear them anyway, looking up from her curious search to twitch her ears in search of the noises.

The girls all ducked down low to hide from her sight, all covering their mouths and their snickers until the suspicions had died down. Then, at Cassandra’s command, all three of them peeked back over the edge and down at the mutant as she continued her work.

“Ohhhh the voices are back!” April carried on, this time in a lower whisper, “Hm? However will I pass the time? I know!” she cleared her throat and started to sing in her mock accent. “Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene! I’m begging of you please don’t take my man! Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Joleeeene! I’m singing this song just because I caaaaan!”

The prairie dog looked up again. “Did someone call me?”

That made the trio of girls fall apart laughing until their sides hurt and they felt like they might be sick if they laughed any harder. Through the next hour, they found more and more people to mock from afar, both mutants and humans, but after the hour had passed, April was starting to feel completely exhausted. The constant running and laughing made the soreness of her side ache even worse, and now her head really was hurting, and her stomach too.

“Sorry gals.” She told the two of her friends when she felt her body couldn’t hold out any longer. “Really gotta turn in for the night.”

“What?” Cassandra groaned, and Sunita seemed disappointed, “Come on! We still got two hours before the sun comes up!

“And I really should be spending it sleeping.” April sighed, “But I had a really good time! I’ll see you in the morning, girls?”

“Do you want us to walk you home?” Sunita asked softly.

“No, no, don’t trouble yourselves!” April waved her hand, “I know you two are having fun, and I can handle myself.”

“Are you sure?” Cassandra asked, “It’s no trouble…”

“It’s fine! I grew up with the turtles, I can handle myself!”

“If you say so…”

“I’ll be fine. Really.” April tried to reassure.

“At least take my knife.” Cassandra said, giving the long blade over to April, “I feel bad for abducting you without your bat.”

“You don’t have to do that.” April said.

“I want to!” Cassandra beamed. “Besides, I’ll just come back and get it in the morning! No big whoop.”

“Well then… thank you.” April turned the knife over in her hands a few times. “I promise I’ll give it back.”

April found where she was by checking the nearest street signs. She wasn’t more than a few blocks from home. The streets would be far easier to traverse than the buildings; as much as she had trained with the brothers, she never did quite get the hang of building jumping. That’s why Donatello had his special seat in his armor just for her! Thinking of Donatello, April felt a sudden sadness wash over her. She missed his sarcastic voice, his dramatic flare, his simple presence!

When she was out of view of Cassandra and Sunita, the first thing April did was let herself finally release the bile that had been churning her stomach for the past ten minutes, and she felt a lot better when the vomit was outside instead of in. Then she started to cry immediately after, but she didn't know why. She missed Donatello, sure, but enough to cry? And though her head hurt it wasn’t the agonizing, ripping headaches that usually plagued her, so it wasn’t the pain. Maybe it was just a bit of everything mixed into one, and that was why she felt so… not good. She wanted to feel better, and maybe crying could help that! It wasn’t like she could stop now. Once the tears started to fall, they just got heavier.

The tears fell hard as April entered a shortcut alley. Then she stopped when she saw a man at the other end; a man that looked to be just minding his own business, leaned up against a wall drinking from something within a paper bag. She already had a hunch of what it could be, and she certainly didn't want to cross his path. Not when there was a longer, but safer, path she could take instead. Gripping the knife in her pocket, April started to back away; it was preferable to turning her back on the man. At least, that’s what she thought before she collided with a bigger, heavier weight.

April tried to turn around. Powerful arms wrapped around her, one around her chest holding her in a grip so tight she thought her ribs might break, and another holding a cloth to her mouth. She held her breath for as long as she could, kicking out and trying repeatedly to strike the mans legs and groin, but all she met was muscle and what must have been an athletic cup protecting him. Figures! Just her luck!

When April could hold her breath no longer, she squeezed her eyes shut as the acrid fumes overwhelmed her, followed quickly by darkness.

[rq-s]

Title: Perfect

Pairing: Jeon Wonwoo / F!Reader

Genre: Fluff & American College/University AU

Word Count: 2.9k+

Warnings: None.

Summary: You’re nearing your college graduation, your photography degree is practically in your hands already. But every time you look through your portfolio, something is missing. And you knew exactly what it was. 

My Masterlist 

I couldn’t help but stare. A boy with eyes that piercing and teeth that shiny was hard to come by, and he was just who I needed.

I eyed him for my entire lunch break, watching him as he sat in the grass with his back against one of the few birth trees on campus. I watched as he shoved vending machine popcorn in his mouth while reading a textbook like it was a bestseller. It was surprisingly interesting. From what I heard around campus, he was as stoic as they come, but I wondered if that was just rumor when he sucked on his slightly fingertips to get the butter off them instead of using a napkin.

“Your boyfriend knows Wonwoo, right?” I asked after getting my friend’s attention. She was directly in front of me, making it easy to look over her shoulder to the man in question without seeming too obvious.

“They’re both in music theory I think, why?” She answered just as absentmindedly as I’d asked. I shrugged and took my phone out to search my contacts for her boyfriends’ name.

“I’m gonna ask him for Wonwoo’s number.” I said, bracing for the reaction I knew I’d get.

“Oh I see~ You finally over that dry spell?” Our group of friends joked and cooed at me, teasing the fact that maybe their “frigid friend” was warming up. I resigned to let them think whatever they wanted, knowing they wouldn’t take my real reason to get close to Wonwoo seriously. He’s just the type of handsome that I needed for my portfolio.

The sun was falling, signaling that evening classes were going to start soon. For me though, the rest of the day was mine. I fell back into my bed with a thump, fingers laced over my forehead as I fought between wanting to get work done or just lazing in bed for the rest of the day.

My phone rang before I could decide.

“Hey, what did you need?” A heavy but hurried voice spoke as soon as I answered. There was no caller ID, but it could only be one man. I was taken aback at his directness; I’d just sent a text saying my name and that I wanted his help with a project. He must be an opportunist to call a stranger after so little information.

In my slow register of the situation, I heard him speed walking somewhere, mumbling “excuse me” as he went.

“If you have time, I’d like to take some pictures of you.”

“For photography? Sure, I’ll text you when I’m free, alright?” He rushed, hanging up before I could finish saying okay. How did he know it was for photography? Sure, I carried my camera with me everywhere I went, but how could he know?

“Back to back classes that are across campus from each other are the worst.” He texted me an apology a few minutes later. I assured him that it’s fine, and added a gentle pester for him to focus during class. Something about him seemed to conflict: his naturally intimidating aura clashed with his lack of formality.

I was only becoming more certain that he was who I needed.

Nearly 3 hours later he texted me that he should be free for the rest of the evening. Knowing the rules against having a guy come into the girls’ dorms, especially after sunset, I invited him to a small diner near the middle of the campus where we could talk about specifics. Luckily, he agreed.

When I arrived, he was already there with a half empty glass of soda and 2 menus laid on the worn-out table. It seemed like he’d been here a while, scrolling his phone mindlessly while he waited for me. I checked my phone just to be sure for the 5th time tonight that I wasn’t late but seeing him there alone made me feel guilty anyway.

I weaved though tables of happy couples, study groups, and families to meet him at the burgundy leather booth. He smiled once he noticed me, adjusting his beige cardigan that hung on his broad shoulders and pulling the cuffs down to cover his thin wrists - it was as if he was surprised to see me here.

“I hope you haven’t been here for too long.” I said concernedly, sitting across from him and setting my bag beside me.

“I… have. I figured it would be easier than going all the way back to my dorm for a whole 2 minutes before I had to head back down here.” He grabbed his glass with one hand but didn’t pick it up, instead he tapped his fingernails against it, making the ice hit the sides in a surprisingly rhythmic way.

“That’s smart, actually. Thanks for agreeing to meet with me.” This was a place I went often for dinner, so I didn’t need to look through the menu. This meant looking at each other awkwardly while we waited for the waiter to come by.

I tried to be discrete as I looked him over. Seeing him up close was so much different than watching him from across the park or the hallways. He was thin, but still appeared strong, that was clear even with the slightly oversized clothes he was wearing. His skin seemed silky smooth but also like it could start smoking like dry ice at any moment.

He was looking at me too, his deep brown eyes wandering my face and torso casually. The shape of his nose, his eyes, his jaw… everything was perfect. Even they way his bangs fell over his brow and how his glasses left red marks on the bridge of his nose was perfect.

“Why did you say I have ‘the look’?” He asked blatantly, but from his tone I could tell he wasn’t bothered by it.

“Oh, that… Basically, your face shape, features, stature, body type, all of that stuff is pretty much exactly what I’ve been looking to add to my portfolio.” I could already feel that awkward warmth creeping up my neck and towards my cheeks.

“You think I’m perfect?” The smirk was audible in his voice, it wasn’t the cocky smile I was used to seeing from college boys, but instead was one of delight.

“Yes.” I didn’t hesitate, and for a moment, I wish I had. His smirk fell instantly, and after his eyes darted over my face in search of something, he turned his head completely to look out the window, his slender fingers covering his mouth.

28… 29… 30… 31-

“Thanks.” He had sat still in that position before he spoke, shifting in his seat. At the same time, the waiter finally approached us. Wonwoo ordered first, and it looked as if his skin was paler than before, like his circulation suddenly dropped. I ordered my regular and the waiter left as swiftly as they’d came. He sighed as they walked away, as if he’d been holding his breath.

“So, what would I need to do?” Wonwoo asked with a hint of meekness.

“I just need you to do simple poses and let me take pictures of you. We can work together for what to have you wear and where would be best, I have some ideas already though.”

He put his arms on the table and held his hands together and fidgeted. I was truly at as loss for words with him, I know it’s impolite to stare, but it’s as if his aura was drawing me in like a magnet. He bit his cheek in thought, then took a deep breath before speaking.

“I'm not sure, I’m really busy with essays for the next few weeks.” He was hinting at something, and I picked up on it instantly.

“Oh, you wouldn’t be doing it for free, by the way. I’m not sure how long it would take so I can pay you by the hour,” His face lit up again, and his eyes caught mine. How could someone with such a chilly reputation seem so warmhearted? “Does 15 dollars an hour sound okay?”

“If you can take at least 5 hours, sure.”

After that, talking became easier and we even laughed at silly jokes as we ate, taking the time to get to know each other. It was easy to let my guard down with him, and I hoped it was the same for him. Everything I overheard people whisper about him behind his back was wrong, I knew that for sure.

“I really don’t know though, I feel like if you go to a fancy masquerade wearing a wolf mask, going around asking strange question about peoples agendas, you have to accept that everyone is going to think you’re the murderer!” Our plates had been taken back to the kitchen, we’ve gotten 3 drink refills, and we’re now both picking at a shared slice of no-bake chocolate cake while figuring own what mask each of our professors would wear to a Clue-esk masquerade.

“Maybe that was the point? Maybe someone else used that expectation against him and would frame him! Do you know how scary crows can be when they’re upset? I think it would be her.” Wonwoo seemed in his element when in a debate, even one as silly as this. I shook my head and chuckled, taking a bite of the cake with a happy hum as he finished off this ice water. We’d spend the entire evening chapping about things we both liked, and we bonded over Shakespeare. Truthfully though, I could only talk about what I had to read in high-school English.

“Excuse me? It’s getting late. We have to close soon.” A waitress I didn’t recognize came up and got our attention. We both seemed surprised, looking outside to find the sky was completely dark, the orange glow of the streetlights lining the winding sidewalks of the campus.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize the time,” Wonwoo stood up just enough to grab his wallet from his back pocket, “I’ll take the check, now.” The waiter nodded and handed it to him, clearly tired from her shift. The diner was empty save for the few members of staff and the two of u. It kind of scared me how easily I’d gotten lost in conversation.

“Let me pay for half, okay?” I fumbled with my bag trying to find my wallet.

“No, I’ve got it, if you can cover the tip though, that’d be great.” He was already standing and making his way to the front where he’d pay. He paused for a moment though, sliding the check towards me with a kind smile before he left. His appearance paired with the amazing diner we’d shared made my mind go blank. Butterflies to spawned in my tummy and they dared to fly up my throat, making it tighten as if I could cry.

I took a deep breath and stood, placing a little more cash than was necessary on the table and went to catch up with Wonwoo. I stood to the side as he paid, thanking the waitress when they were finished.

“Thank you for spending time with me tonight.” I said shyly, hugging my arms close to myself to stave off the cold.

“You’re welcome. I’ll text you the date and time that I’ll be free. I trust your judgement, so just text me with what I should try to wear and were I should be.” It took me way too long to realize what he was talking about.

“Ahh right! Of course.” I hadn’t meant to sound so disappointed, but he didn’t seem to notice.

“My dorm is this way, so I’ll see you later, okay?” He stopped abruptly at a crossroads, pointing into the opposite direction where my dorm was. I nodded and thanked him again before he began to jog off.

I stood there under the lights for a few moments, watching as his slender legs and clean dress shoes took him away and into the night.

My breath hitched in sudden realization.

“I just went on a date with Jeon Wonwoo.” I whispered to no one.

“Right there! Don’t move a muscle.” It was a week later that I got to see him again. It was the weekend, and I’d decided on going to a park nearby. We stood at a small bridge that crossed a small stream that would eventually reach the river where families were fishing and having a barbecue. The weather was perfect, with bright fluffy clouds, warm sunshine, and a soft breeze.

Somehow Wonwoo wore almost exactly what I’d envisioned: a lightweight shirt over a white t-shirt, light wash jeans and sneakers. A perfect day and a perfect boy made for a perfect picture.

“Can you look up a little bit more? Think something wistful.” He was great at following instructions, and whatever wistful thing he was thinking made the sweetest smile spread over his cheeks. I knelt at the end of the bridge and took a few pictures of his profile as he gazed at the sky.

“Now look at me.” It was as if he looked through the camera lens and directly into my soul. It nearly took my breath away how naturally be could put on the boyfriend act. Luckily, my camera was my shield, and I was able to get the shot without fumbling like a starstruck schoolgirl. Mostly.

“Alright, I think that’s good.” We’d been at it for hours, wandering around the park looking for the best places. We’d been at the river where the trees gave enough shade to emphasize his features. We’d been to the swing set where he played up the careful style that I didn’t know he had. We’ve been to the rock garden where I learned he knew a surprising amount about geology.

“You think this’ll be enough?” He came around to look at the pictures with me, putting his arm around my shoulders, the sudden contact made me jump, nearing dropping my camera. I turned to look at him only to find me wasn��t looking at the pictures at all.

“Uh... Yeah I think so.”

“I’ve always admired you, you know?” My mouth hung open in shock. Surely, I’d have remembered if we shared classes together or knew each other before this. fear bloomed in my chest. Had we known each other before??!?

“Sometimes during lunch, you’ll take pictures of the flowers or of birds, and you have a sense of focus that I don’t usually see in girls our age.” He clarified, waving off my worried thoughts with his free hand. Yet again he surprises me. 

“And I always notice when you stare.” He added as one final blow to my heart, a killing whisper. My breath caught in my lungs and I looked away from him, only to feel his throaty laugh against my ear and neck. 

“I- thank you? and also I’m sorry?” I didn’t know what to say or how to react.  He let go of my shoulders and took a step away, moving in front of me.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m flattered.” His smile was otherworldly. When I didn’t respond further, however, that beautiful smile began to fall.

“I’m sorry, was that unwarranted?” He asked, gesturing to my shoulder. I still couldn’t say anything, as much as I wanted to. I could still feel pressure where his fingers pressed onto my skin, and how his breath against my neck gave me shivers. 

“I just thought that after our date that you were interested and so I-”

“What?” I blurted out, surprising even myself. His eyes went wide, and he stumbled back as if my words had hit him physically.

“Was that wrong? I’m sorry I shouldn’t have assumed!” He bowed his head slightly in what I assumed was an apology. Before I could correct him, he began to leave.

“I’ll text you with my PayPal info, okay? See you around.” He really was the flight in fight or flight when it came to social situations.

I sent a length voice memo after I got home, explaining that I wasn’t upset and that I thought I had begun to have feelings for him, or at least that I liked him and his company. He never replied. In fact, I barely ever saw him again. It was only a little over a month until graduation, so I assumed he was busy. At least I hoped so, that way I didn’t depress myself with the idea that he was purposefully ignoring me, despite the signs.

Perhaps it was because his image was the shining star of my portfolio, but I never could forget about Jeon Wonwoo.

“Alright, thank you for introducing yourself, you can go ahead and have a seat at your desk.” My supervisor says kindly, gesturing to the only un-decorated desk in the room. The older woman next to me smiled and shook my hand, and the meeting went on in what I assumed was business as usual.

Everything was clean and new and mine. My own desk in an actual company building for an actual newspaper. I tried to focus on what was being said, but I was too giddy to even sit still. 

“Excuse me, are you busy?” A heavy voice spoke up from behind me after the supervisor left the room. My throat tightened as if I could cry.

“No, can I help you with something?” I said as I pretended I was fine.

“I just wanted to introduce myself. Jeon Wonwoo, I’m a columnist.” He smiled at me smugly, extending his hand for me to shake. I did so and he winked at me. Instantly, the entire world fell apart until it was just us.

I couldn’t help but stare. A boy with eyes that piercing and teeth that shiny was hard to come by, and he was just who I wanted.

[dyde21]

Outta Your League 1

I’ve recently been REALLY into Marvel and I actually started a long multichapter fic about Spidechelle. Been posting it over on Ao3 but thought I might share the first chapter here if anyone is interested!

It’s basically a what if they Avengers tried to figure out spiderman and Civil War never happened.

XxXxXxXxX

Peter’s life hadn’t exactly been normal in around two years. To him, his new normal day was when the crime he stopped while wearing a red and blue spandex suit, didn’t involve any kind of alien weaponry. He liked those days, they were simple. Usually didn’t involve massive wounds he had to hide from his aunt, and didn’t lead to him having to repair his suit over and over again. 

Peter had also gotten used to “Weird” days, as had most new yorkers after all the strange things that had started happening from around the time the world was introduced to Iron Man. The Alien invasion had really shattered the old definitions of “weird” pretty handidly.

Honestly though, chasing a large russian man in a massive Rhino outfit as he literally ran against traffic and swatted the cars away like they were made from cardboard was still pretty weird even for him. 

Swinging faster, he managed to get the momentum he needed as he launched off, planning a carefully aimed web onto the shoulder of the large man and pulling himself towards it, landing on his back. His added weight barely even seemed to register to the man as he continued his rampage, the two large duffle bags of cash still under one arm. 

“Hey man, this is a one way street. If you want to head this way you should take the next left  then turn at 5- WOAH” Peter barely managed to drop off him in time to avoid being scrapped against the bottom of a bridge between buildings as the man charged threw it. 

Landing on his back, he scrambled to his feet and shook his head to clear his thoughts. A blaring warning in the back of his skull had him dodging to the side just as a car was kicked right where he had been standing. He crouched on the nearby mailbox as he looked between the car and the large man looking at him. 

“All right, I get it, no one likes a backseat driver. My bad.”

“Little Spider. Stay out of my way or you’re going to get squashed.” He warned before turning around and starting to walk away.

Peter quickly got a good grip of the lamppost as he shot a web at the back of the man again, holding him in place. 

“Look. I’m just doing my duty. Animal control is on it’s way and I’m sure we can find you a good forever home, so let’s just calm down okay?” He said as he strained to hold him in place.

The man seemed surprised by the fact he was being held in place. “It seems you have some strength in you after all.” He offered in his strong accent before he leaned forward and actually put some strength into steps.

Peter groaned from the increased strain, but he continued to hold on. What he had failed to notice was the lamp was starting to give up quicker than he was. With a loud crunching of metal, the pole snapped near the base and Peter was yanked forward, tumbling across the cement as he let go over the web. 

He scrambled to all fours when again, there was a warning in his head. He looked up just in time to see another car being thrown towards him. 

Summoning plenty of strength he managed to jump off the ground, just getting enough height to clear the car as it whizzed past, mere inches from him. However what his unhelpfully sporadic internal warning failed to notify him about, was the large metal fist heading straight for his side.

It connected with him, and sent him rocketing through the front window of a nearby store. There were some gasps and concerned calls from him from nearby civilians. 

He got up, thanking God above that none of the glass had decided to give him a new piercing, as he stumbled up. “Sorry about the glass! But honestly I think this pla- woah!” Another car was sent sailing towards both him and the shop, where he noticed a few people cowering behind the counter. 

Kicking some glass away to make sure he got solid footing to stick to, he crouched down and braced himself, catching the car with a huff. Hell, these things were freaking heavy, even with his strength. 

Glad to see that the car was empty, he managed to drop it just outside the store. 

“Come on man, there’s clearly no drive thru here!” He called out, slinging himself out of the store to hopefully prevent more property damage and adding another store he’d probably be banned from. 

The large man loomed over him. “I don’t have time to play with brats like you.”

“Aw man, it’s spring break and everything for me. I have plenty of time to play with strange russian men like you. Rhino, Mr. Rhino? Is there a Mrs. Rhino in the picture?”

The man, who he felt Rhino was an appropriate name, merely responded by swinging a large fist towards him. Knowing first hand he didn’t want to get hit by it again, he ducked out of it easily enough, before launching himself upwards into an uppercut. 

His own hit seemed to surprise Rhino, who didn’t seem too concerned about it as it knocked him back, getting him a foot off the ground before he landed onto another parked car, making Peter wince. He was glad he didn’t own a car because after all the shit that happened in this city, it was like a 50/50 chance it could survive a year. As Rhino struggled to get back up, Peter started waving his hands and flexing his fingers. Punching that guy’s suit felt like punching a steel beam. What was it even made out of? He really needed to add some better padding to his knuckles. While he always had to pull his punches to avoid seriously injuring, or even killing people, that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt like hell to hit some things. Just as his mind started to analyze different possibilities as to what he could use, the large man unfortunately decided to get back up again.

Weird days were the worst. Why couldn’t he just have helped some old ladies with groceries or tracked down runaway cats. Even muggers were fine for him after this long of practice. But this? This wasn’t how he wanted to spend his spring break.

Rhino let out a yell and put his head down as he started to charge towards him. Diving to the side, Peter dodged easily enough until he realized the path Rhino was on. Thwipping another line to the Rhino’s head, he pulled hard and managed to redirect the angle of the charge, moving him in a large arc away from civilians before the web snapped as it got wrapped around a car. 

The Rhino tore off the dangling web as he let out another annoyed shout. 

While Peter liked that the street gave him plenty to work with, it also meant there were far too many things to worry about. He had to get him someone more open and less breakable if he was going to take this dude down. 

Getting an idea, he managed to shoot his hand out and snag one of the bags of money with his web, and yank it free as he grabbed it, holding it up for Rhino to see before he turned and ran. He hoped the bait would be enough, and judging by the sounds of the brutal crushing of metal rapidly approaching him from behind, it was enough.

He continued to swing just ahead of the rampage, taking the most direct path he could to the park, all the while calling out. 

“Coming through! Clear out of the way! One crazy and one slightly less crazy animal themed man coming through!”

Most people knew to clear out so he was pretty sure there weren’t any serious injuries. New Yorkers were pretty good at adapting to weird.

Once he reached the park, he shot another web but it caught onto one of the weaker branches near the top of a tree and when he tried to swing it just snapped off, leaving him tumbling into the grass. 

He hated the park. No tall buildings anywhere.

He scrambled to his feet, but it was too slow to dodge the very angry pursuer as he felt the man’s large metal foot collide with his side into a powerful kick, sending him hurtling across the park. The snapping sound he heard could only have been a rib or two and Peter knew he had to be careful to recover before he hit a tr-

With another crack, Peter’s body collided into the tree, breaking off a few more branches as he crashed onto the ground coughing violently. His vision blurred a bit and his ears were ringing. 

Okay, maybe he should have stuck with the property damage. He realized the bag had slipped from his grasp, the Rhino was standing over it, reaching down to pick it up.

Before his rationality, or survival instincts could stop him, he reached out with his good arm that only mildly felt like it was on fire to thwip and snatch the bag back towards him. 

Great, he still had the angry rhino man’s attention. Now what to do with it?

“You. Are a very hard bug to squash it seems.” He said with a laugh as he stomped towards him, cracking his knuckles. 

“Thanks.” Peter said, stumbling to his feet. “You know cockroaches get all the credit for being hard to kill but I think that’s pretty unfair. Spiders are pretty strong you know? He said, holding his side and wincing. Yup. His ribs were not happy right now. 

“A bug is still a bug. All of them can be squashed under foot.”

He said as he suddenly rushed towards him. 

Swiveling behind the tree, his spider sense only barely alerted him in time that the tree would not actually stop the man as he dove out of the way as the man barrel through the tree. However it seemed the Rhino wasn’t quite as dumb as he seemed because his arm shot out as he did and caught Peter again, sending him flying backwards and crashing into a fountain.

As he laid there, the broken fountain pouring water onto his head he just groaned. 

“I hate water spouts.” He muttered as he forced himself to his feet. He always got back up. He had to.

The way his balance seemed to not go with him though was starting to make him question that motto. 

“I was going to let you live, little bug. But now, I think I do want to squash you.”

Bracing himself, Peter raised his hands. He could tell this was going to be a long fight.

As the man started to charge, Peter’s danger sense went off again. Only this time it wasn’t directly ahead of him, but rather to the side of the Rhino. 

A second later a small explosion ripped through the air as the Rhino was launched sideways off his feet, sending him crashing through another tree.

Peter just stood there, confused. He was pretty sure he couldn’t cause explosions with his mind, but today already was weird so the possibility wasn’t 0 it was him. 

“Aren’t zoo keepers supposed to stop animals from fighting?” Came a voice he had only heard on the news before as Ironman flew in, landing a few feet in front of him. 

As the Rhino got to a knee and shook his head, Ironman raised a hand at each of them, repulsors charging up. “You, spider boy, what’s going on?”

Peter’s eyes widened as he raised his hands. “Mr. Ironman sir! I’m not looking for a fight, I was just trying to stop him from rampaging. Mr Avengers, sir.”

The metal man looked at him for a second, before he lowered his hand and Peter took a deep breath. “Then why were you running with a bag of money?” He asked, but no longer threatened him. 

“Bait. Trying to get him out of the city.” He said reaching down and tossing it near him. “It’s not mine, and I don’t want it.” He paused. “Well I mean I do, but like it’s not mine to take. I want it legally you know? Being a superhero doesn’t pay. Well maybe it does for you, but like you’re THE Iron Man. I’m just a ki- a new guy. But it’s not my money you know? Yeah, you know.” He muttered, his nerves making him ramble. 

Iron Man just brought a hand up to his helmet and Peter could hear a sigh from inside the suit with his enhanced hearing. “You talk a lot, you know that?”

“Yes sir, Iron Man, sir. It’s a habi- Look out!” Peter’s eyes widened as a tree was soaring through the air towards them. Peter dropped prone to the ground while Iron Man merely blasted it in two. 

Peter went to stand up but another wave of pain from the sudden motion had him stay on all fours. 

This didn’t go unnoticed by Iron Man as he glanced over. “Stay down, you’re hurt. I’ll take care of this then I think we should have a talk.”

Peter’s blood turned to ice at that comment. That… didn’t sound good. Sure he idolized the avengers, but they were in a different league. He was just your friendly neighborhood spiderman, he wasn’t looking to get involved with them yet. Plus were they mad? He hadn’t exactly applied for any permissions to go out. Did he need like a permission slip for this? He had just started helping people after Ben died. Plus if they found out who he was, they surely would tell May and she would kill him for lying to her then ground him.

He tried to get back to his feet, but another wave of nausea hit him as he stumbled against the tree. Okay, he could rest for a second.

As he glanced back up, he saw Iron Man fighting with the Rhino. It was clear he was holding back to avoid causing too much collateral damage but he seemed to be having an easier time. 

Rhino had ripped a drinking fountain out of the ground and hurled it at Iron Man who dodged to the side. Unfortunately, Peter was now directly in its path. Forcing himself to his feet, he knew he had to dodge or he was going to be in a world of pain when someone was suddenly in front of him. 

His eyes widened as the muscular back of someone in a leather jacket, and more importantly the large round metal shield being held in front of him as he had placed a foot against the tree for support as the damaged fountain crashed against his shield and broke apart. 

“Are you okay?” Captain America said as he turned around, glancing at him. 

If Peter wasn’t currently trying to avoid throwing up in his mask from pain, he would probably be starstruck. Ned was never going to believe this.

“Yeah, thank you Mr. Captain America.”

“Just call me Cap.” He said with a nod, before he rushed forward to help Ironman. 

Ironman fired a beam towards the Rhino, which he dodged. However Cap had gotten into place and the beam reflected off his shield and slammed into the Rhino from behind, knocking him off his feet. Iron Man landed with another blow to the Rhino’s head and the man finally stilled. 

The two said something, but then turned to him. Peter had finally had enough time for his head to stop swimming and to pretend like he wasn’t in egregious amounts of pain.

Iron Man’s mask flipped up, revealing Tony Stark’s face as he approached next to Cap, who was in civilian clothes. 

“Uh wow, it’s an honor to meet you guys.” 

Cap nodded towards him as Tony crossed his arms. “I would say the same but I have no idea who you are. You sure you aren’t with him? You two seem to have the same hobbies.” He said, gesturing to his outfit. 

Spiderman’s eyes widened. “I was totally doing this first, he stole my schtick. But I’m Spiderman.” He reached out a hand out of instinct.

While Tony just stared at it, Cap reached out and shook his head. “Steve Rogers.” 

Ned definitely wasn’t going to believe this.

Spiderman looked between them. “What are you two doing here? Not that your help wasn’t totally appreciated, because honestly it would have been a pain for me to bring him down on my own, you know. But like, this seems almost… too small for you?”

“We were out on unrelated business when we passed by and saw what was happening.” Cap offered, which explained why he wasn’t in uniform.

“Well… that explains that! I should go. I got more uh… spider things to do. Walls to climb, webs to spin. You know.” He offered lamely as he started to step away. As much as he really didn't want to leave what could be his only meeting with any avengers, he also knew that his life was already messed up enough and that he didn’t need to make it even more complicated.

“Wait.” Tony said and Peter froze in place. “I still have some more questions.”

“I’m sorry Mr. Iron Man, but I promise to stay out of your way. I really should be…”

Tony reached out a hand. “Spiderman, I’m serious we need to talk. Come with us to the tower...”

Fight or Flight instincts kicked in as Peter spun to the side, and shot a web, webbing his hand to the tree as he stepped back. Then he shot another two webs to pin his feet to the ground. “Are you serious? This better not have come out of you.” Tony said, glancing at him then his hand.

“Really, I gotta go.” He said, tensing as he looked at Captain America, waiting for any kind of motion but Cap just raised his hands in peace. “I’m sorry.” Peter continued. 

“We’re not going to force you into anything. We’re just trying to figure out whose side you’re on. You’ve been making waves.” Cap offered, still making no signs of approaching him. “You can talk to us.” He offered in a calm tone.

“Yours. I promise. But I can’t get involved.” With that, before Cap changed his mind or Iron Man seriously tried to break out of the webs, which Peter had no doubt that he could with a suit that advanced, he shot a web and left. Ignoring the protest in his side, he swung as fast as he could away, only sparing a glance behind him to see that Tony had freed himself, but neither of them made any moves to follow him. Which was good, because Peter was pretty much at his limit after that fight and knew he couldn’t take them if they seriously tried to capture him. He had only escaped because they let him, which was both a reassuring and scary thought.

Eventually he managed to get back to his apartment after a few detours to make sure he wasn’t followed, and changed and hid out in his room.

Sitting on the edge of his bed, his hands flew up to his head as he just stared ahead, his mind racing a millions miles an hour as his anxiety started to creep up. 

While he knew it wasn’t like he could be a masked vigilante without drawing attention, and he knew it was bound to reach the level of important people eventually, he had really hoped it would not be this soon. He was just trying to help the people he could, and graduate from high school. He wasn’t looking to get involved with a team that reached international news for what happened with Ultron. He could barely keep his identity a secret from his aunt and his crush, and he knew the second more people out who he was, the more they would end up being in danger. 

But this was probably all over now. The Avengers were now interested in him, and he knew he couldn’t avoid them forever. They were definitely the good guys, but he was barely 15. If he was honest with himself, it was because he was scared. Scared of his family and friends getting hurt because of him. Scared of being forced to stop being Spiderman. Scared of the fact he may end up disappointing his heroes if they actually got to know him. 

Taking a deep breath he went to go take a shower, knowing he needed the water to calm him down. His new normal felt like it just showered and all he could do right now was take a shower and hope his bad luck would leave him alone just this once.

XxXxXxXxX

Thank you for reading! If you’re interested in the full story feel free to check it out HERE

[wolfpawn]

I Hate You, I Love You, Chapter 139

Chapter Summary - Danielle goes to New York on a business trip and when she gets home, plays hostess.

Previous Chapter

Rating - Mature (some chapters contain smut)

Triggers - references to Tom Hiddleston’s work with the #MeToo Movement. That chapter will be tagged accordingly.

authors Note - I have been working on this for the last 3 years, it is currently 180+ chapters long.  This will be updated daily, so long as I can get time to do so, obviously.

Copyright for the photo is the owners, not mine. All image rights belong to their owners

tags: @sweetkingdomstarlight-blog @jessibelle-nerdy-mum @nonsensicalobsessions @damalseer @hiddlesbitch1 @winterisakiller @fairlightswiftly @salempoe @wolfsmom1@black-ninja-blade

Danielle sighed as the pilot declared they had finally made it back to London. There was an issue in New York that meant her flight was cancelled, which in the grand scheme of things was not too problematic, she was, of course, her own boss, but it did mean she had to rearrange a few things around that she had planned for the next day, and the dinner she had planned to have with Tom that night with perhaps some fun, was cancelled, but overall, it was fine, she just wanted to be home.

The few days in New York were tedious and boring. It was mostly regarding the business side of Safeguard, taxes, profits, the usual boring work, but there was also a few arguments regarding blame for the few incidences that had occurred in the work year. When the finger-pointing of said blame began, Danielle sat back and read the entirety of the documentation for her office, since none of the lawsuits were directly against her office, so the finger-pointing parties would be brave to even suggest she had a part in any of them. She read the costs of the business and noted that they needed to streamline a few issues regarding costs in the office. While the men bickered, she wrote a few suggestions on a post-it and placed it in her file. When it was suggested she move herself to the US as she was the only one without a blot in her worksheet, she scoffed and told them it was London or nothing. She would happily walk away from the job that day were they to cut the London office or insist she leave it, reminding them that she was not even a year with the company and they had not had the productions to match anything the US offices had faced, so she would not be likely to have had the issues they had had, but with their name growing in Europe also, it was only a matter of time that their business would pick up larger projects and be prone to the same issues as the US offices had. Offers of better packages and deals did nothing to sway her, she was adamant, she wanted London, it was her home, that is where she had built her life and nothing would sway that. The most she would do would be to move out of the city, but her home was with Tom in Britain with their dogs, friends and family.

She was spotted a few times in New York, a few people took photos and even a girl came up to her and asked her to tell Tom that he had inspired the girl to follow her dream and that she had been accepted to some acting school and to thank him for being an inspiration. Danielle smiled and said she would before messaging Tom to tell him. Overall, the trip was boring. New York was interesting, or she assumed it was. She saw very little in her time there due to her busy time dealing with all things Safeguard related. There were also events planned in the evenings in different restaurants which most often ended up in clubs, the latter part of which, Danielle avoided. She was not interested in such things and the last thing she wanted to do was be seen acting mad without Tom there. Even a simple stumble would be construed as being shitfaced drunk and she did not want that. Never did she think that she would have to consider such things, but Danielle found herself actively considering such and as she skyped Tom or messaged him from her hotel room and watched the terrible photos go up on Facebook pages of those she worked with, she did not regret her decision. Tom urged her to go the first night, but when he saw she wanted to stay in, he said nothing more, instead telling her what happened in her absence.

She walked through the arrivals lounge, getting her bag and walking through the airport terminal and into the drop off area. She had it planned and was just waiting to see if the timing worked well, sure enough, not five minutes later, she saw her car coming towards her, chuckling to herself at Tom smiling at her from the driver’s seat. She walked to the door to the back seat and placed her suitcase and rushed to her own door, seeing the line of traffic that was coming behind them.

Tom, seeing the same dilemma barely waiting to hear the click of her seatbelt before driving off. ‘Hello.’ He grinned almost coyly.

‘Hi, what are you driving my car?’ She smiled.

‘The dogs and I went for a spin today and your car was closest to the gate.’

‘You did that ridiculous thing where you cannot get your car out with my car in the way, haven’t you?’ Tom said nothing but looked sheepishly at the road, causing her to laugh. ‘How are you?’

‘I’m fine, I missed you, but fine. What about you, you seemed annoyed yesterday?’

‘I was forced to be away a night more than I wanted, of course I was. I just...New York is not somewhere I would go too often. I went to Central Park, which was beautiful, but…..I wanted to be home.’

‘So no move the “Big Apple” for you?’ Tom asked.

‘Not in a million years.’ She shook her head. ‘They wanted me to move over, did I tell you that?’ She turned to look at him, seeing the shock on his face. ‘I told them I would walk before I would ever consider it. This is home, I am not leaving.’

‘What did they say?’

‘What could they say? They only want me over there because of the whole no lawsuits here thus far.’

‘So they want to drag you down in your stats?’ Tom’s jaw clenched. After the comments Lucas made regarding her using Tom as a stepping stone the time he offered her a part of the business, he was not too fond of the Australian, when all of the errors by the US offices were forced onto her desk causing her to have to work double shifts, he became more unlikely to become a fan of her fellow partners. He hoped when the time came to consider her options after the five-year contract, she would consider more options than staying with Safeguard if such became more commonplace.

‘No, I think they are just hoping to spread the madness in general but I am not interested. I want to be here, with you, our dogs and all this...okay, I would like a little less rain.’

Tom chuckled before taking her hand in his and kissing her knuckles. ‘Even with the rain?’

‘There is no question for me, this is home.’

Tom smiled as she recited the words that he had said the time people were urging him to go to LA to have more of a chance with his acting career. ‘Even if it is not Ireland?’

‘I miss Ireland, I miss a lot about it, but I built my life here.’

Tom bit the inside of his cheeks at her declaration, she saw her life with him. The offer of more at work paled in comparison to what she had with him. He heard her trying to stifle a yawn beside him. ‘Did you not sleep well last night?’

‘I didn’t sleep at all, and then there was this woman on the plane, in the seat in front of me, God Tom, she was like a banshee.’

‘A what?’

‘A banshee, a sort of Irish fairy, renowned for its high pitched wails and shrieking.’

‘So no sleep there either?’

‘None.’

‘I need to ask, about tonight?’

‘Yes?’

Tom glanced at her for a moment, seeing her confusion. ‘You forget what we planned?’

Danielle thought for a moment before groaning. ‘Shite, I forgot.’

‘I will send them a text.’

‘What, no. We had this planned with ages.’

‘You’re too tired though.’

‘Doesn’t matter, I will go home, get an hour and go get ready.’

‘Elle…’ Tom interrupted. ‘Ben and Sophie won’t mind.’

‘I was supposed to be home yesterday.’ Danielle groaned. ‘I want this.’ Tom glanced at her for another moment as they wanted to join the flow of traffic. ‘I want to do this.’

‘I don’t want you to feel pressured.’

‘How tidy is the house?’

‘Good, I mean, I didn’t wash behind the couch, but…’

‘Right, stop at Waitrose on the way back, or the Co-op and we’ll grab what’s needed. I’ll jimmy the food a little so it won’t take us too long to do and we’ll be sorted.’

‘So dominant, aren’t you?’ Tom smiled.

‘You love it.’ She grinned in return.

*

‘Right, that’s everything.’ Elle smiled, putting her arms around Tom. ‘Thank you for all your help.’

Tom turned and enveloped her in his arms. ‘Any time Darling, the doing of jobs to entertain our friends is not a burden for you alone.’ He leant down and kissed her. ‘I have missed you.’

‘It’s only been a week.’

‘A long and terrible week.’

‘So what day are you heading to promote Infinity War?’

‘Too soon.’

‘Are we going to your mums for your birthday?’

‘Not this year.’ Danielle looked at him. ‘I am needed here the morning after.’

‘But she’s coming here, right?’

‘I was going to talk to you about that.’

‘What “talk about” she is your mother, of course, she has to come here.’

‘Dad wants to be part of things too.’

‘Oh.’

‘Exactly.’

‘They are adults, they know how to behave.’

‘You don’t mind?’

‘Why would I mind? Tom, they are your family. Speaking of family, guess who is coming to London?’

‘Your aunt that is less than pleasant?’

‘Close. Siobhán.’

‘Yeah?’

‘She and the poor fecker she is going out with are coming over for a few days. I said I would be available to spend time with her. If you are available, we should bring them for dinner.’

‘I think that’s a wonderful idea. Where are they staying?’

‘I got them a good deal in Premier Inn in Archway.’

‘Close enough to town.’

‘Exactly, and a healthy distance from here. Family are great but under your roof, not always. I will meet them in King’s Cross and show them where to go and see what days they want to do what and let you know.’

‘Sounds like a plan.’ He pulled her to him. ‘You’re exhausted.’

‘Is that your way of telling me I look like crap?’

‘No, I did not say “you look exhausted”, I am saying you are exhausted, I can see you are tired, but you don’t look half bad for someone as tired as you are.’

Danielle laughed as he grinned at her cheekily. ‘Hey.’ He chuckled. ‘I am tired, I won’t lie, but I want to do this. We don’t get to see Ben and Sophie as we would like. Speaking of which, I need to put the roast veggies into the oven.’

‘Good….’ Tom paused as Mac and Bobby barked, informing them that their guests had arrived. ‘I get that, you do this.’ He kissed her for a moment before walking out of the room.

Danielle did as she had planned. When she turned around again, she smiled warmly. ‘Well, hello strangers.’

Sophie hugged her tight. ‘You survived the madness of a premiere.’

‘Barely. It is so hard.’

‘So no Infinity War for you?’

‘I have not even considered it, we’ll see. How is work?’

‘Overwhelming, what time did you get back yesterday?’

‘I am home with about, six hours, I think. And I did that thing where I went for a sleep and woke more tired than I went to sleep.’

‘I hate that, you should have called and cancelled.’ Ben leant down and kissed her cheek. ‘Hello.’

‘Hi.’ Danielle smiled back. ‘Tom offered, but I wanted to see you both, we both did.’

‘Well, we are amazing.’ Ben chuckled.

‘Drinks?’

‘You know me so well.’ Ben beamed as he clapped Tom’s shoulder, the two men going to get something to drink.

Danielle rolled her eyes before getting two wine glasses and the white wine she knew Sophie liked. ‘So, how are my favourite boys?’

‘So bloody adorable, I need to show you a picture of them in a minute, but for now, you need to talk to me about how you felt at the premiere.’

‘Are you asking or is Tom asking through you?’

‘I am asking. Tom doesn’t need me to ask for him.’

‘Well, he has used Ben-ogram and Sophie-ograph before. It was fine, I just...the shouting was so loud.’

‘It can be overwhelming.’ Sophie nodded. ‘How were the fans?’

‘Great, good, I cannot fault them. If any of the nasty ones said anything, I didn’t hear it. All the ones that spoke to Tom were apparently complementary and one or two papers covered it and yeah, there were a few comparisons to any woman he stood next to for more than six seconds and indeed Swift, but overall, it was fine. The weird thing is, the Irish Independent, a paper from home, obviously, went into more detail than most about me, talking about my career and whatnot, so that felt a little odd.’

‘I know, they will get what they want, then they tend to leave you alone. But of course, that means….’

‘They’ve already snooped around and made you uncomfortable?’ Danielle finished.

‘Yes, it’s not nice, but we signed up for this, both of us.’ Sophie stated factually. ‘We knew about who Ben and Tom were, about their fans and how we would be treated. We should not have to deal with this, but we knew about it being a factor.’

Danielle nodded. The day she realised there was a chance that Tom felt as she did, she was forced to think about such things, and as their relationship progressed, after everything with their fight over the GQ article, she knew she had to work through certain things she was worried about at the time. It was true, they should not have to deal with it, but they had little choice. They could hardly ask Ben and Tom to change from the careers they loved because they had come along and did not want to deal with what they knew were their lives. ‘No, I could never do that to him, the same as I would never expect him to do it to me.’

‘If he does, don’t hide the body too well, it’s not fair on his family.’ Sophie joked.

[yes-justice-seeking]

Twitter Spaces: A Window to Better Understand the CCP

Ever since Twitter launched Twitter Space, the CCP extended its Info War tentacles to this new platform. The first Mandarin Twitter Space appeared in around October 2021. While I was curious about the host’s ambushing talking art that gives people goosebumps, I heard that he read through the book of “Criminal Investigation” and he lives a lavish pastoral life in the America. The dots are connected. Going abroad is believed as a reward to the CCP’s outstanding warriors or privileged members. The first difference between them and the ordinary immigrants is that they don’t seem to have to study or work hard for a living but have plenty time and money on chatting in their clear pro-CCP standing. Having a PLA or Police background or alike family background is another common point among most of them.    Sending them abroad to enjoy the freedom of the democratic societies with secret United Front missions to uphold the CCP’s dictatorship power fits the CCP top’s double-face on desiring the freedom for themselves but defending the dictatorship on others. 

In 2019, I witnessed and supported Hong Kong Protests on Twitter. Although China's national security police arrested on May 11, 2022 all five trustees of the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund and demanded them to hand over information about the donors, I declare hereby that I am proud of being a donor to the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund and I will never regret to do it. On the other side, I have to say, more I observed the development of Hong Kong Protests, more I felt chilly and shocked about how insidious and cruel the CCP is and how lack of knowledge of the Hong Kong protesters and the public about the CCP. To put it simple, there were at least two opposing factions of the CCP: one is upholding Beijing's power desperately with people's cost; the other is seeking to over turn Beijing's power also with people's cost. As for the latter, they participated in Hong Kong Protests as Hongkongers; they were the first one to post some bloody scenes to gain attention until became an influencer. After Beijing crushed down the protests, they managed to remain safe to which we should be happy for them, isn't it? Until I heard the voice from one of them, in a Twitter Space, unlike Hongkongers, he was actually with a strong mainland accent, chatting, singing and laughing with some people who act obviously as the CCP's proxy.

Given the CCP’s wide and deep infiltration in the West, it should be a good chance for the West to collect information to better understand the CCP. However, the language barrier and the culture gap still remain as the biggest obstacle, especially in Twitter Spaces. 

Earlier Warning Being Overlooked

Using Twitter Spaces to collect information, test the public opinion on their up-coming plans or controversial subjects may be the first thing on the CCP’s Info-War list. On Oct. 29, 2021, there was a discussion in a Twitter Space about how to attack #Taiwan. Some one talked about an idea of using civilian ships to covertly and massively invade Taiwan, attack infrastructures like water, gas, electricity supplies and hospitals first, etc. I sent out a warning on Twitter,

https://twitter.com/expose_ccp/status/1454213569935982593 

but not many people paid attention to it due to Twitter’s #Shadowban to my account until one year later, Michael Ron Bowling posted an article about the same warning:

https://twitter.com/mrbcyber/status/1573730249220694016

Features Resemble Intelligence Agents

Cheating, lying, double-face playing, undercover playing, saying one thing and doing another are the most exciting things that the long-time-chatting-in-Twitter Spaces people enjoy. “Coincidentally”, they all support the CCP. Showing-off their golden time as the privileged establishment in China is also a fun for them in Twitter Space. PLA’s General Staff Department, Intelligence Bureau, PLA’s Army Corps of Engineers, PLA’s Logistics Department, Special Forces, etc. are also key words that we hear very often in their conversation. If their cyber-activities are limited to that, they wouldn’t be entitled to ask or discuss the “appropriation/经费” （money allocated for specific purpose ）in Twitter Spaces. 

During the lock-down in Shanghai where many people died due to lack of food, one CCP-propagandist-acting person posted some luxury food supply in an upscale residential area clearly only for the top privileged people, as a defense for the CCP’s inhuman Zero COVID policy. When I questioned him how could he possible as a Shanghaie, to have no empathy towards his fellow citizens in Shanghai, his answer is very “CCP-warrior” like: “They asked for help? What does it have to do with me? Is it your business?”

One reason that China became so corrupted in the last decades is that most officials and those who have some power/privileges in their position tend to abuse their power, especially those in the intelligence business, thanks to the CCP culture. While carrying out their cyber activities, the CCP warriors often use their privileges in the intelligence/police system of China, to intimidate people with releasing their privacy. Since releasing privacy is considered as a violation by Twitter, the CCP cyber warriors usually have many accounts for attacking purpose, dare to violate the rules and risk to be suspended.

For example, the account below @saoyundi1 is an account for attacking purpose, threatened to release someone’s daughter’s private photo within 3 days, and they did so. 

https://twitter.com/saoyundi1/status/1580723675745071104

They will join any Twitter Space where many people tune in and pin the attacking post in the Space for the best attacking result. So far, to my observation, even if someone reports a serious violation taking place in a Twitter Space, Twitter wouldn’t take any effective action to deter such violation. Thanks to Twitter’s co-operation with the CCP’s MMS agent to let them better know Twitter and abuse it for the CCP’s Info-War.

https://twitter.com/TPostMillennial/status/1570407092149682178

Even More Concealed and Cunning Info-War Against the US

Every one who watched “The Good Wife” knows that releasing the family member’s privacy/scandal of the opposing candidate is not a decent campaign strategy and wouldn’t help to get votes from swing voters. The question is who started releasing Hunter Biden documents during the US’s 2020 election? Did it come in good faith?   @Coco198946 said it was him/her who asked Guo Wengui and his team to release Hunter Biden documents. Who is @Coco198946? I don’t know but the address he/she gives as home address in his/her profile is the address of the Ministry of State Security of the People's Republic of China!

As for what he/she said about Secretary Pompeo, a real fighter against the CCP, in my opinion, if you read the court documents about Guo Wengui, you will know that one strategy that the CCP used to attack the individual enemy of the CCP is to approach and provide funds as a “supporter” and then let someone come up and say that the funds come from the CCP. 

Although most people in the West have already waked up to the cunning CCP, underestimating how cunning the CCP is remains as high probability event.

https://twitter.com/Coco198946/status/1599538079798554624

Click to enlarge the image

While we are happy to see that the FBI and the Safeguard Defenders have been tackling and exposing the CCP’s bold transnational policing, illegal proxy operations in the US and other countries, please don’t miss the point that the CCP tends to use Chinese-Americans to do such dirty work with various cover-up and they believe that it is almost impossible for the American government to deport a naturalized citizen. Thanks to Twitter Space, I got a chance to listen to what they say and found out that all of the Chinese people who approached me  as “sympathetic toward dissidents” on Twitter in the last few years eventually revealed their pro-CCP standing. All of them are linked to either the PLA or China’s police. Three of them are Chinese-Americans:  @dbysjdbysjdby, @yuguotianqing68 and @USCitizencoco56.

Here are some examples of their remarks in Twitter Spaces:

https://twitter.com/expose_ccp/status/1473501624173793281

Coco Resch’s pro-CCP remarks in Twitter Spaces:

Part 1: https://twitter.com/expose_ccp/status/1572609204212609024

Part 2: https://twitter.com/expose_ccp/status/1572677612765585413

Part 3: https://twitter.com/expose_ccp/status/1573340425561280512

Analysis of Red Roulette and Desmond Shum

MSS in Action on Twitter

To my observation, among the pro-CCP people active in Twitter Spaces, there are different circles resemble different factions of the CCP: Northeast group, aka Mang group/盲圈，anti-Mang group, fifty-cent-warrior group, and pro-Republic-of-China group (prefer the status of China before 1949, founding of the PRC)， aka 民国派, etc. None of them really support the freedom and the democracy but act in different role for different purposes because they all some how accidently released their pro-CCP standing at some point. Speaking of fishing account, for example, in the tweet below @libertythe1st released a private message between him and a person called “Public self-media” in which the latter said “(they) call ‘take down the CCP’, they are in fact CCP members”, “it will be easier to infiltrate”, “say whatever the traitors like (in Twitter Spaces) but don’t post anything”.   @libertythe1st said “Public self-media” wanted to recruit him to serve the MSS.

Click to enlarge the image

On the other hand,  @libertythe1st seems also double-playing on Twitter: in the account  @libertythe1st he complained that he was detained by the police in China because of his “pro-democracy activities” on Twitter; on the other hand, he uses a fifty-cent warrior-alike account @itfeelscontent to defend the CCP:

Click to enlarge the image

It’s hard to verify because the source @a70146 deleted those tweets, however, I do notice a Twitter account who complained the “Zero COVID policy” on Twitter and disappeared for a while, when he came back, he made a U turn to strongly support the CCP.

As for the protests against the inhuman and politicized Zero-COVID policy swept China in November, 2022, while people in China and outside China all appreciate @whyyoutouzhele(Teacher Li is Not Your Teacher/李老师不是你老师）’s timely-fashion report, the CCP waged a cyber attack against Teacher Li. 

Click to enlarge the image

Source:  @fangshimin and  @JackSparrowCCP1

@JackSparrowCCP1 the woman who released Teacher Li’s photo wears the navy uniform of the PLA and called protesters “traitors/反贼”, just like those PLA/Police background warriors did to me.

Analysis of Red Roulette and Desmond Shum

Click to enlarge the image

https://twitter.com/JackSparrowCCP1/status/1597326110995644417

https://twitter.com/JackSparrowCCP1/status/1514884730747240449

During #ChinaProtests, @JackSparrowCCP1 also posted a seemingly neutral report in English, when @SolidarityWeWin, likely her co-worker, another CCP cyber warrior, replied her that “I know u are fishing”, her answer is “You are a clever”.

Click to enlarge the image

https://twitter.com/JackSparrowCCP1/status/1597348064913952768

https://twitter.com/SolidarityWeWin/status/1597429439419543553

https://twitter.com/JackSparrowCCP1/status/1597461920382324736

@JackSparrowCCP1 locked her account after I posted my discovery:

Beside  @JackSparrowCCP1, there are some other CCP warriors including but not limited to @JackSparrowCCP, @JacksparrowCCP3

https://twitter.com/JacksparrowCCP3/status/1472007018886340608

https://twitter.com/JackSparrowCCP/status/1596873694303092736

Since Elon Musk, Twitter’s new CEO, chose to remain silent about #ChinaProtests for Freedom and Democracy, my guess is that those CCP-cyber warriors accounts will remain active.

The CCP started a long time ago a study called “舆情分析/Intelligence Research on Public Opinion”, including “domestic and foreign Internet data analysis” that serves their “National Security”, which means the CCP’s ruling stability.

https://yuqing.gsdata.cn/

Combined with psychology study, the CCP developed a package of Cyber Info-War strategies that is very deceitful. For example,  @MischaEDM used to be a senior follower of Miles Kwok, aka Guo Wengui, had a very close contact with some famous American politicians like Steve Bannon,  General Spalding, Kyle Bass, etc., however, like many followers who turned to be pro-CCP, she turned to against Miles Kwok and works closely with an anti-MilesKwok team likely supported by the CCP. Dr. Lawrence Sellin openly called her “CCP agent account” last year.

Lu Jiamei @DooooouDou,Chinese-American, also gained trust from Dr. J Michael Waller @JMichaelWaller to believe she is “pro-Trump, supports the Republican and against the CCP”, however, right after the 2020 election, Lu turned to against Trump and attacked the America. Later, she went even further to defend for the CCP, just like she approached Miles Kwok, aka 郭文贵，for few months then turned to against him and led a campaign to file massive criminal complaints against him. It's a consensus that those who constantly work for anti-Miles Kwok are backed up by the CCP. Lu's U turns are not only illogical but also resemble the undercover agent's work we see in movies.

Click to enlarge the image

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p05p5OEz3t0

One strategy that I observed is that the CCP-agent-acting people tend to mix the truth with lies, telling the truth in a joking manner so that people wouldn’t take it seriously until they wake up and find it’s too late. 

Lu Jiamei ‘s husband, Dr. Lu Xiaolin, a Chinese Scientist in the America, published a paper in 2011 saying “when one or more industries make breakthroughs in resolving their particular challenges or constraints, other industries could benefit by ‘stealing’ the best” and “why not steal more of RF and DSP technology to get rid of the nasty low-frequency upstream band and open high-frequency band of an HFC network?” It makes sense a decade after when we look back the CCP’s serious espionage problem that goes wild and became now the 1st priority of the FBI.

Click to enlarge the image

Yet, what I observed in Twitter Spaces goes way beyond the above.

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(To be continued)

The CCP’s Achilles Heel

Many Western leaders feel perplexed and helpless by the CCP wolf-warriors’ presumptuous and condescending remarks. If they are able to detail some information about the top CCP leaders' and the establishment's assets in the West and about sending their family members to study or live in the West, piercing the CCP's "saying one thing and doing another" nature, they will get the Achilles heel of the CCP.

Red Aristocracy in Twitter Spaces

As many people point out, the CCP is divided into many factions, fighting each other for the top power. However, maintaining the power and privileges that the CCP establishment, aka “red aristocracy/红色贵族”，looted from the Chinese people is their common goal. 

They were showing off the ill-gotten gains that their “red aristocracy” parents plundered from the Chinese people, mocking and attacking people as "poor bitch/穷逼", calling “all anti-CCP people are liars”, propagating that "being rich or poor is determined when you are born, you have no choice but to accept whatever comes to you". Such brainwashing can never be propagated officially but carried out by the privileged 2nd generation of the red aristocracy, acting as the CCP proxy in Twitter Spaces.

:)

(To be continued)

[astronomicalegotism]

Level Two: MadPat

Revenge Is Best Served Together (Book One)

Part 16

It was instantaneous, One second he was staring wide eyed at broken animatronic in front of him holding the baseball bat that had caused it (And after all the shit Scott had put him through being able to do that was the most therapeutic and yet mentally scarring thing Matt had ever done) and the next he was blinking rapidly from a harsh white light, a stark contrast from the dark and dusty place he'd been before. It was a simplistic room, there was nothing in it which was both reassuring and a cause for panic because, yes there wasn't any noticeable threats but Oh god where was the door-

He instantly realised that A: He wasn't holding that baseball bat anymore and B: He wasn't alone. He instantly tensed up at the sight of the other three in the room before relaxing as he recognised them. Where the hell was Nate though, Nate should be here too right?! Why wasn't he here?!

Matt swallowed harshly but made no move to alert the others to his presence. He'd already known that Mark and Jack where here thanks to Nate, but when Nate had said maybe others, there been a part of him that had been hoping that that had meant more than one person, if simply just because maybe their chances of getting out of here would be higher with more people.

"Ethan!!" Matt awkwardly stood by the side lines in shock as he watched Mark basically throw himself at the poor guy, engulfing him in a tight hug. This was definitely one of those times when the ability to just fade into the wall would be just wonderful. He took note of what they all looked like, after he got over the shock of seeing them that is.

Jack was trying to subtly hug himself, nails digging into his arms. He was looking at Mark with a strange expression on his face, like he wanted to run over and join in the hug but something was stopping him. But what?

Ethan was trembling, a fresh set of tears tracking down his face from red eyes that made it clear that this wasn't the first time he'd broken down. Matt knew the least about Ethan out of all of them in the room, he knew that he used to be Mark's editor and had his own channel, but that was probably about it. That was also semi the case with Jack as well, while they weren't acquaintances and got along fine, they weren't exactly close. The one he was the closest too was Mark and even then...

Mark was staring at Matt, his head facing was from Jack and over Ethan's shoulder. His eyes were narrowed, giving away nothing about what he was feeling. He'd made no effort other than that to acknowledge Matt's existence which was...strangely out of character for someone like Markiplier.

Wait

A sinking realisation struck Matt.

Oh god he was completely alone in this.

He didn't have the same close bond like the three gamers did. He was just Matpat, the theory guy to them. They-

"Mathew!" Matt let out a squawk as Jack suddenly spotted him and ran over, giving him a brief hug. Matt could tell just by those few seconds that Jack's heart was just about ready to burst out of his chest. "Oh thank god I'm so glad someone smart is here." Matt blinked repeatedly as Jack smirked teasingly at him, letting out a small nervous chuckle. Okay, Jack was obviously trying to joke around with him and forge a connection with him, so who was Matt to get in the way of that.

"Well you know me, I'm known for my unbelievable talent of escaping unexplainable night dimensions." Out of the corner of his vision he could still see Mark and Ethan, the older man not having taken his arm off Ethan despite them having stopped hugging a while ago. They were such close friends...

Jack coughed obnoxiously and brought Matt's attention back onto him. Matt's face flushed as he realised that he totally just zoned out on him.

"Sorry I Uh-" I What?! What Mathew, what are you going to say that's not going to make you look like a lunatic?! "I have no idea what's happening." Matt finished lamely, making Jack snort a little. Jack had opened his mouth, probably to say something in response but he was cut off by the sound of a slow clap. Everyone instantly drawing their attention to the new comer in shock.

Especially Matt.

His hair was a mess, Brown tufts of hair sticking up all over and mattered.  A old and rusted looking flamethrower rested causally over his shoulder, strikingly calm and yet dangerous eyes lazily scanning over all of them before finally resting on Matt himself.  A dark smirk made its one onto the previously bored burnt face. Horrified scars caused from flames scattered his entire body, grotesque and obviously not having been treated properly. There was an unspoken agreement between all four of them as they all promptly backed the fuck up, leaving a wide distance between them and-whatever that thing was.

"Ego," His mind supplied, "He's an ego...My ego. Just like how Nate had-has Natemare."

"Well well well Mathew Patrick, we finally meet." Matt could only stare in horror at what might as well be his own reflection. Matt had never been more simultaneously terrified and yet curious in his life. His overwhelming desire to find out as much as he possible could about all of this was almost enough to make him not be on the verge of a panic attack.

...

Almost.

"What the fuck Matpat you have a psycho twin?! Also wait holy shit Matpat's here!!" Ethan's eyes darted between the two, mouth hanging open. Matt registered Mark face palming distantly, his full attention on the person in front of him.

"Who are you?" Matt asked, wincing as his voice broke a little. Brilliant, absolutely amazing. Love my life.

"I go by many names,"

“Oh my god." Matt took a small step back as it finally clicked. The Musical. God he never regretted featuring in a fanmade fictional production based on an indie horror game more in his life,

"Mainly because I was never really deemed important enough to get an offical one that is." Almost red brown eyes drifted over to Mark for a few seconds before snapping back to Matt. "Antimatter, Madpat-

"Evil dirtbag with a chainsaw."

"Suck a dick Markiplier. I suppose Mad would be the most appropriate currently." Madpat, Madpat...Yeah he's definitely read that name before somewhere.

"What the point of all this, what's going on?" Wait, when had Mark put himself in front of all of them?

Madpat tilted his head in consideration, clicking his tongue repeatedly. Matt took that opportunity to glance back over at Jack and Ethan. Jack had clenched his fists, but what Matt found strange was how the Irish man had positioned himself to still be closer to Matt, away from Mark. Something had definitely happened between those two. Ethan, the poor thing, looked beyond confused. Clearly they were both in the same boat.

“Eh, technically not supposed to tell you but where's the fun in that? Nothing wrong with a good old healthy rebellion every once in a while." Mad shrugged carelessly, the flamethrower only back clanging a little. "Basically," Mad clicked his fingers and the room around them shifted to that of a throne room, Mad sitting where the king would with his feet slung over the side and a tacky crown now resting on his head. "You're now in my own little a hell, a dimension that I can control with ease and!" Mad clicked his finger once again and Matt found himself once again in the old pizzeria, although this time it was horribly distorted and glitching. There were tiny versions of all the animatronics dancing jerkily at Mad's feet, a horrible screeching and crackling noise coming from all of them. Ethan screamed while Jack let out a disturbed "Jesus Fucking Christ!!!" next to Matt.

"Unless your good old pal Natemare," Mad spit the name with disgust, "I actually have a plan here instead of just screwing around like a toddler in a sandbox." Mad rolled his eyes.

"Why are you doing all this?!" Ethan yelled, only to stumble back as Mad's piercing glare locked onto him for the first time. Mad clicked again and they were back in the white room.

"Oh well, that's simple." Mark growled lowly and stood in front of Ethan protectively as Mad strolled over to them, leaning right into his personal space. "It's because I hate you." A shiver ran down Matt's spine as Mad hissed, his voice filled with boiling hot emotion that Matt found a bit uncomfortable hearing being said with his voice. He didn't even know he was capable of that tone...

Mad laughed and booped Mark on the nose, laughter as the man swung out to punch him, on,y to come into contact with thin air as Mad clicked his fingers again and appeared at the back of the room. Mad looked at his hands for a few seconds before cackling.

"God I love you Warfstache, this is amazing." Matt's eyes widened, as did Mark's. Warfstache?! Wilford Warfstache?! Matt resisted the urge to groan.

He was in over his head.

"So what are you going to do with us?" Jack asked, voicing what they had all been thinking. Matt tensed up, holding his breath as he waited for the response. Please don't be that bad...

“Oh, just a series of tests." Tests? Matt perked up a little. Mad waved his hand dismissively. "I'm going to put you through a mixture of testing your knowledge and fears." Okay could be worse? "And by you of course I mean Matpat, And Matpat alone. The rest of you will simply be test subjects that he has to save." Spoke too soon, shit-

"WHAT?!!" Jack and Ethan screamed, drowning out Mark's mumbled of, "We're screwed." Matt felt like his legs were about to give way. He hid his head in shaky hands, muffling a quiet groan. This was too much, he couldn't do this. He just wanted to go home and snuggle with Stephanie and never leave the house ever again.

Mad clapped his hands together. "Whelp, enough wasting time let's-"

"Wait." Matt lifted up his head slightly and Mad paused. The Ego made a go on gesture and Matt gulped before continuing. "Nate. What...what happened to Nate?" Mad inhaled sharply, a reaction Matt had definitely not expected. There was a suffocating silence for a few seconds before,

"He's in a better place now. Level Two begin, good luck or whatever." And just as Mad clicked his finger to start the game, Matt's legs gave way underneath him and he lets out a pained sob.

I can't do this.

The library is silent aside from the mutterings of The Host and the tapping of Dr Ipliers feet as he looks through one of the Hosts old medical books. The Host himself has finally removed his hand from Nate's head and is now waiting with fingers crossed in the hopes that he has been successful. Nate's eyelids flutter against the warm blanket underneath him, strong sent of coffee gracing his senses as he is brought back to consciousness.

"The Host smiles in relief and asks if Dr Iplier could come over before then looking back at Nathan. Nathan Nfeels drained and weak and The Host reassures Him that it is only normal to experience such things after what he went through. Nathan's eyes fly open and he attempts to bolt upright only to collapse almost instantly back down on the couch. The Host realises his previous error and makes an effort to mend it, telling Nathan that he means them no harm."

Nate scrunched up his face as his sharp pounding headache slowly recedes, his vision focusing uneasily on the bloodied bandage wearing Markiplier clone in front of him that's narrating everything that's happening. What- what the fuck? What's-where is he what happened?! Nate tries once again to sit up, only to pathetically fall back down harshly. Nate grits his teeth in frustration before suddenly jolting back, eyes wide in fear as a hand reached out to him. The creepy bandage guy frown deeper and moves his hand back inside of his weird trench coat, narrating a quiet apology. Nate frowned a little himself, since when was he so jumpy?

"The Host suggests quietly that it most likely has to do with whatever is left of Natemare's fear magic, The Host is regretful when he says that he didn't manage to remove his affects completely. The Host Would also Like to suggest that maybe Nathan should stop attempting to move, on the off chance that he hurts himself." Nate reluctantly forced himself to relax. It's not like he had a choice. He bite his lip, trying to remember what had happened in the room with Natemare but it was all fogging and blurred, like someone was preventing him from seeing it.

"What-" Nate instantly started coughing harshly, to the point where it physically hurt him. Bandage guy furrowed his brows.

"The Host hesitates before informing Nate that he would be better off not trying to speak for a while. The...incident that happened with Natemare badly injured his vocal cords-" Nate's heart genuinely skipped a beat, "And The Host Thinks That Maybe Nathan shouldn't test it, lest he raises the likelyhood his voice being permanently damaged." Oh god.

"Oh, I see he's awake." Nate startled, letting out an involuntary yelp as another identical man walked over to them wearing a doctors outfit, his hands stained with almost black blood that made Nate squirm a little. But there was one main thing on his mind.

"Holy Fuck how many of there are you?" Nate croaked out hoarsely, his eyebrows raised despite the new onslaught of pain that sentence brought him. Fighting back the urge to start coughing again, Nate silently remarked just how The Host (?) managed to stare at him in disappointment without having visible eyes. The doctor frowns at him and tuts a little before,

"I'm sorry. You're dying." Nate doesn't even get time to panic about that before the Host groans.

"The Hosts asks Nathan to please ignore that, Dr Iplier says that to everyone, You're fine." The Host stands up, moving over to one of the many piles of books surrounding them and picks up a cup. "Here." Nate flinches a bit before accepting what was handed to him. The Host does something that's almost close enough to be a smile before turning to Dr Iplier.

Also by the way Dr Iplier? Like Markiplier? At least Natemare sounds kind of cool.

"The Host Would Like to impress his disbelief to that," Nate's eyes widen. Did he just- "Yes. The Host leaves Nathan to freak out a little as he turns to Dr Iplier, asking for update on Natemare's condition?" Well that caught Nate's attention. Dr Iplier shifted uncomfortably at the two people's attentions on him.

"Well, I've detected no changes but..." Dr Iplier sighs. "He's stable at least, affectingly dead though. He's minutes from fading, there's not much left of him for me to try revive Host, I'm sorry." The Host just shakes his head.

"No I-The Host will not let Darkiplier win. We will need all the help we can get and Natemare is a very powerful ally." Damn It why can't I remember barely anything that happened that would really make understanding this whole thing a lot easier!

"Well... I mean, We could always use Nate." Nate's eyes snapped over to Dr Iplier. He would of moved his head too but he didn't want to risk it. The Host was already shaking his head because Dr Iplier even started speaking.

"The Host refuses, Nathan just woke up and can barely sit up he-"

“Host we don't have much time here! From what I heard, Mad has already started his level and then after that it'll be Anti's turn, we can't afford to hesitate, Darkiplier is this close to taking away everything! Nate will be fine, I'm not suggesting draining Nate's energy, god knows if he even has any left." Nate wonders absentmindedly Dr Iplier remembers that he's still in the room or not.

"The Host understand what Dr Iplier is suggesting, but he worries about the possibility of being unable to separate them-"

“Host you know it's all we've got here-" Alright that's it.

“Uh hello? This ob-Obviously involves me so..."Nate grits his teeth and forces out the rest, tears threatening to form in his eyes and his throat basically screams at him to stop. "Why didn't you assholes tell me what's-" Nope shit, that's all I'm getting out. Nate starts coughing violently and Dr Iplier is at his side in an instant, grabbing his hand and stilling it. Nate didn't even realise he was shaking life a leaf until now.

"No talking." Nate nodded weakly, tears streaming down his face without his consent. "You want to know what we're talking about right?" Nate nods again, and he can't help but feel a little humiliated for no reason. He decides to take back whatever pride he has left and snatches his hand out of Dr Iplier's grip, although his instant regrets it as his hand starts shaking again. The doctor takes a deep breath before he starts to explain.

"Basically, Natemare is dying. By all rights he should be dead, in fact he was for a short amount of time before I anything to do with it." Nate raised his eyebrows. Well Shit. "But obviously, healing needs active participation on both parts and while I may have brought him back for now, I'm afraid that won't be enough for long. And Natemare is too drained to be able to bring himself back. He's essentially a lost cause and we might as well give up-" The Host kicks him, "Ow!! Let me finish!" Dr Iplier glares at him before continuing.

"These two are definitely close then, what with acting like an old married couple..." Nate thought, before his face turns bright red when he remembered the Host could hear him. Oops. The Host coughs awkwardly but otherwise didn’t acknowledge him.

"But, as I was saying, it is possible for Natemare to be able to heal and come back if he gains energy from his host or Uh, Creator I guess to ease confusion. But, Natemare is too far gone that simply coming into contact with you or being around you will have no affect."

"Which means?" Nate lets out a muffled protest as the Doctor covered his mouth.

"Nate." He warned, "I do have means to ensure that you stop further damaging your vocal cords, don't make me use them." Nate gulped and gave him a thumbs up, his heart racing. It takes everything in him to not lick the Doctors hand.

“The Host hates to interrupt but he would like to politely ask the Doctor to get the hell on with it." Dr Iplier scowls as Nate wheezes, only to cough again. Come on even laughing hurts?! Oh fuck me.

“To put it short, the only way for Natemare to gain enough energy is for him to...fuse with you. Possess you or however you want to put it, basically you two would have to become one, in fact doing that would actually help you be able to heal quicker as well." What like Steven Universe?

"Kind of like Steven Universe." The Host says, a ghost of a smile on his face that is quickly widened away by his normal frown. "The Host knows that it will work, it's happened before but..."

Nate makes a motion for him to go on, although he's a bit worried to hear what comes next.

"There is no way of knowing that once the two of you fuse, you'll be able to separate again afterwards."

"...Well Shit."

"NATE!"

[backstorywithdanalewis]

Back Story with Dana Lewis on Wuhan and Pandemic origins

Speaker 1: (00:00) Dr. Fauci. Do you still support funding of the NIH funding of the lab and Wu Han Senator Rand with all due respect, you are entirely, entirely and completely incorrect that the NIH has not ever and does not now fund gain of function research in the Wu Han Institute. Do they fight Dr. Barrack We do not fund your barracks gain of function research. Dr. Barrett does not doing gain of function research, and if it is it's according to the guidelines and it is being conducted in North Carolina. Speaker 2: (00:46) Hi everyone. And welcome to another edition of backstory. I'm Dana Lewis, that was Dr. Anthony Fauci and Republican Senator ran poll squaring off over the origins of coronavirus. Paul accusing the national institutes of health of funding, risky Chinese research into bat coronaviruses in Wu Han. The research is called gain of function, which turbocharges viruses to spread to humans. The idea being that scientists can then anticipate the next pandemic outbreak in a laboratory it's risky science because there have been numerous lab escapes of the viruses on this backstory was COVID 19 created in the [inaudible] Dana Lewis / Host : (01:34) Lab. Did it escape? Did the Chinese cover it up? All right. Joining me now all the way from Taiwan is Dr. Stephen Quay. Hi, Steven. Dr. Steven Quay: (01:50) Hi, Dana. How are you doing great. Dana Lewis / Host : (01:51) Before we launch into the theories of the origins of COVID-19, let's just establish who you are, because it's important, right? Because we're talking about science. So you are part of the Paris group, which as I understand is a couple of dozen, just over a couple of dozen scientists with, um, some of them are mathematicians. They're not scientists, there's a lot of different disciplines in there, but that group was formed because, and what is its raise on Detra? Dr. Steven Quay: (02:21) It's mainly a curiosity around the origin. Um, everybody has, you know, pretty busy day jobs of, of one form or another, but we've committed to meeting once a month, uh, by zoom, um, for about four hours. And we usually have someone in the group where we have a group, someone outside the group present, uh, some scientific aspect of it. Uh, and then we have discussions. I mean, we've, we've put out two letters, uh, publicly to, um, support the who into, into support investigations, further investigations. And that occupies some of our time, uh, the logistics of getting those letters done on the sword. But, uh, and Dana Lewis / Host : (02:55) You are a doctor of what and what is really your specialty and your Dr. Steven Quay: (02:58) Strength. So, uh, I have an MD PhD, PhDs in chemistry, uh, taught at Stanford medical school for about 10 years. Yeah, it's a, it's pretty good school down there in the mid peninsula of California. Uh, my, uh, uh, residency was at the mass general at Harvard and I was in a Nobel prize winners laboratory at MIT. So during the day I was learning to be a doctor and at night I was doing photochemistry across the river at MIT. You're not a geologist. I know I haven't, I've invented a treatment for, uh, for a particular, uh, influenza, uh, using sir. And a, so I have 87 patents and I've invented, uh, seven drugs that are FDA approved, including the gadolinium that's used for MRI contrast. So, uh, about 80 million people have used that drug. So, uh, I'm, uh, I'm, I'm a really nerdy scientist. This is probably the core of Steve cuase. Uh, back in the day, 20, 30 years ago, I would take, take home an inch of before the internet, an inch of scientific papers that I xeroxed. And that was my sitting on the patio with a drink on Sunday afternoon. Uh, this is the way I spent my weekends. So fast-forward, I now do it on the internet. Dana Lewis / Host : (04:08) Let's talk about the origins of COVID-19 because you were also, I understand a signatory to this letter, um, from again about 26 scientists. I don't know if they're the same as the Paris group. I know some of them overlap, um, which essentially essentially says to the, who look, your investigation was flawed from the beginning, the, the membership, uh, that Chinese demanded in terms of the scientists that were on that panel essentially gave the Chinese government a veto and your findings. You tell me how you want to put it diplomatically, uh, just don't hold water. And we need to start Dr. Steven Quay: (04:48) Again. Uh, yes, that's essentially what the letter says. And, um, you know, there was a second letter that actually tried to offer a blueprint of, if you are going to start again, th these are the people you need. This is, these are the skill set of the people you involve. These are the steps you should take, et cetera, et cetera. So tried to lay it out pretty clear. Um, so with any sort of impetus, they have, they have the tools they need to do it right. A second time, Dana Lewis / Host : (05:13) The lineup on the theories, there, there is one that says maybe it was in bats and then it jumped to another host, and then it became, um, you know, it was then transmitted to humans and, and, uh, was able to replicate in humans and grow the other is a lab escape. Dr. Steven Quay: (05:32) Yeah. So, um, I've written a basing analysis of what, uh, of those two theories. Uh, I uploaded it on Zanotta. I think in the end of January, it's been viewed 140,000 times. So just for perspective, I written about 360 publications, scientific publications on various fields in that, uh, this one is one or two orders of magnitude, better than anything else I've ever written. The Bayesean Dana Lewis / Host : (05:58) Is kind of, um, of statistical math formulations on what are the odds, right. And, and I understand that you think through your Basie and calculations, um, that a lab origin was 99.8% possibility. Dr. Steven Quay: (06:18) Yes. Uh, in the legal standard is called beyond a reasonable doubt. So, um, basically it is a three-step process. You, you establish a prior probability based on whatever, you can get your hands on, you do an experiment and you see which way it leans. You drop it into base equation, which is a very simple bit of math. My eighth grade daughter does it routinely. And then you get a new unit to get a new outcome. So 26 pieces of evidence were run. My starting hypothesis was 98% probability. It came from nature. But as you said, I ended up, uh, greater than 99% from the laboratory. Okay. So let's Dana Lewis / Host : (06:53) Kind of walk through this a little bit. Um, first of all, in terms of hosts, if you go back after an outbreak of a pandemic, you generally find patient zero, and then you, uh, or patient number one or whatever it's called. And then you go back and you find the animal hosts. Um, in SARS 2003, there was an, an immediate host. So that was a, that was Dr. Steven Quay: (07:16) A cat. Yeah, it's called the civic cat. It was found four months after the first year patient. Dana Lewis / Host : (07:23) Then in 2013 with mirrors a camel, Dr. Steven Quay: (07:28) It took 10 months, but you're exactly right. It was the Campbell's SARS. We're more than a year into this 16 months, eight 80,000 samples of various animals around China. I mean, one of the biases is that you, you absolutely know China has to be motivated to find it in nature, right? I mean, I think that's an intrinsic either bias or preference, but so after testing 80,000 animals and not finding a single case of it, um, to me, that's one of the most screaming pieces of evidence that came out of the, who study that really needs to be addressed. Dana Lewis / Host : (08:02) Chinese would say they just never came from China that you need to go look in Thailand and Thailand or somewhere Dr. Steven Quay: (08:06) Else. One of the, one of the problems with any of this theory is the, the, the virus keeps a clock or a calendar or a diary. However you want to describe it, but basically you can use mutational analysis and phylogenetics to say which virus came before, which virus and therefore put them in chronologic order. Um, that is one of the important things I do in the Basie and analysis is the, the genetic patient zero. I don't believe it's patient. I don't believe it is the actual patient zero cause it's December 20th, thereabouts, but what's from a PLA hospital, every patient and every specimen from the seafood market is downstream from that. Uh, every, every Dana Lewis / Host : (08:46) Patient close to the Wuhan Institute of virology, by the Dr. Steven Quay: (08:51) Way. Yes. I mean, I, I actually did a separate investigation where, which concludes what I call the line to COVID conduit, which is, is basically looking at which hospitals where the December patients wind with the assumption that they went to the nearest hospital for where they live kind of, and then which, which of the nine subway lines they were near, all hospitals were along line too. And that is a, like a 180,000 probability, Dana Lewis / Host : (09:19) Right? Why is it important? Where does line to run to and Dr. Steven Quay: (09:21) From, I have some very unique features. So it's the closest station to the one in sort of neurology. So, uh, if, if a, if a, an asymptomatic worker came out and took the subway and they would go downstairs, it carries 1 million people a day in normal times, you know, obviously back then before that. So that's, so if you imagine it's a back and forth for people from the suburbs going to work as a half a million people, and that's probably coincidentally, but nonetheless, the number of people have infections. They said they had an in, in Ruan was 500,000. It also has the wet market as its closest, uh, is it's close to subway station. And in fact, the who said they had a map of the infections inside the wet market and they're they're asymmetric. So the west entrance has more infections than the east entrance. Dr. Steven Quay: (10:09) And it's the west end entrance that is closest to the line to subway. Now it gets really cool for amplification because the next station from the, from the, from the wet market is the station where the high-speed rail goes. So from that station, you can go to any corner in China that the high-speed rail services in a matter of hours, if you continue to the end of line to your, at the international airport. So you can literally go from the oneness neurology downstairs, never go outside again and come out doors in London or Paris or Dubai or Houston, um, being entirely indoors. So, uh, I'm, I'm really looking for someone to help me with an analysis show, how much amplification that subway connection probably had, because it's independent of whether it came from the market or the lab. It satisfies both of those, but carrying a half a million people a year and having those two major conduits inside of China and into the world, it probably is part of the reason this thing spreads so aggressively, where do you Dana Lewis / Host : (11:12) Think COVID-19 began? Some people trace it back to, uh, a bat cave, um, where several minors became sick. Uh, I think three of them died and those samples were later taken to the Wu Han lab, uh, where they were doing work on them, trying to understand the bad viruses. And if an indeed it came from a bad at all, it came from a cave. Dr. Steven Quay: (11:37) Yeah. Yeah. So, so we know that that again, after 16 months and literally thousands of animal testings looking for closest relatives, um, the closest relative is inside the came from inside. The one is a virology, a bad call, a bad virus called ROTG 13. It was collected in 2013. Uh, in those in they'll say minds with the miners were sick. Um, there were, uh, there were literally hundreds of samples collected and there, there are eight really critical ones that we would love to have the sequences for because we've seen phylogenetic tree. So Dr. She has, you know, done done presentations and she's, she's teased us with these other seven that are very, very close to our 13, but no one in the world knows outside of the one Institute knows what their sequences are. Uh, I think a lot of us suspect that probably a closer relative in the actual precursor to the gain of function research that led to SARS cov two is one of those other seven. My take is RTG is too far. Uh, you've got to come up with 1100 changes to get from RTG to deciders Coby to, I can do about 600 with kind of two quick things in the lab, but the other, the other 500 are, are too difficult. We know Dana Lewis / Host : (12:52) That that lab at one point was doing gain of function, which is essentially a scientific, uh, scientific term where you scientists and it's very controversial. It was banned in the United States at one point where scientists work with viruses and they try to strengthen them and try and determine when they may through mutations, jumped to humans and thereby head off the next pandemic. And then, you know, there's been a lot of denials by the Chinese that they were doing gain a function. And yet it, it was published at one point that the, the bat lady, the woman who ran the lab essentially was indeed doing gain a function, but did that lead to COVID-19? So you, do you want to, you want to try and string some of that together for me? Dr. Steven Quay: (13:34) Well, there's, uh, look a doctor, she, Dr. Barrack have worked together. Uh, they are either they're one and two, and you can, you can pick, which is which it depends on the day and in the year probably, but they're the number one and two coronavirus, uh, scientists in the world, uh, doing synthetic biology, which is gaining function, which is basically taking them apart, putting them back, back together, mixing, mixing pieces from different species of viruses, Dana Lewis / Host : (14:00) A backbone or element Dr. Steven Quay: (14:02) Well, well, with, with, with, they're always, they're always a bad virus backbone. So, so this Corona virus, no matter where it ends up, started at some point in time in bats and whether the intermediate host is a, is a camel or a civet or, or something else, uh, in this case, we think it's probably a humanized mice. Um, but nonetheless, and, and then, and then it jumps to humans, but what's Dana Lewis / Host : (14:24) A humanized mice mouse. Dr. Steven Quay: (14:27) Yeah. It's a little, it's a little scary, but so you take, you take a mouse embryo and you put human genes into the embryo. Um, so that when it's born, it's a, it's a mouse, but it has human lungs, respiratory system. So if you want to test what will happen precisely in humans, uh, it's, it's a great model for that. Now, Dr. Barrick developed that model and he, his mice physically went from North Carolina to, to the one Institute that's documented again and in publications where she, she thanks him for his mice. It just sounds Dana Lewis / Host : (15:00) Like dark arts, quite frankly, but I'm not a scientist, Dr. Steven Quay: (15:04) You know, it's well, it's, it's, it is. Um, and by the way, Dana Lewis / Host : (15:08) I mean, I'm not, I'm not altogether naive either because I've talked to, I, you know, I, I was based in Russia covering biological, chemical, uh, warfare, the dismantling of the former Soviet union's, um, incredible programs and, uh, an assistant secretary of defense, not a Republican or Democrat in that case under the Obama administration told me that, um, the gain of function research is highly controversial and should be banned and was banned. And, uh, it's high, high risk, you know, again, a dark art in, in, uh, in essence. Dr. Steven Quay: (15:44) Well, it absolutely is, again, in my basing analysis, I talked about the fact that it's, it's absolutely published for 30 years. There has been on average 0.9. So that rounds to one, one laboratory acquired infection per year in Asia. So, uh, these are, these are Cyrus, COVID one, uh, you know, other viruses one a year. So, um, you know, you're just playing Russian roulette with, uh, the 7 billion people on the planet. Dana Lewis / Host : (16:08) There is no good explanation. Uh, I'm reading this, this, this was written by Nicholas Wade, who I interviewed about a week ago. There is no explanation of why a natural epidemic should break out and Wu Han and nowhere else, there is no good explanation of how the virus acquired. And I'm hoping you can explain this it's furin cleavage site, which no other SARS related beta Corona virus possesses. What does that mean? Dr. Steven Quay: (16:37) Yeah. So it's one of my five facts that I, that I talk about that are not in dispute. So there, there are five facts about this event that every person, every scientist agrees to, but they, and they all lead to the conclusion that came from a laboratory. So one of them is, is this unusual fear in sight? Okay. So the spike protein is how the virus gets into cells. It's basically like a key and the lock that the cell has is called [inaudible]. So it's a protein on the surface of your lung cells and the spike protein binds to it. And then a second step has to happen where the other part of the spike protein makes a hole in your membrane and injects the RNA, and then it takes over the cell and then it makes a million of its own copies. So in order for this, so th this, this, the spike protein is one big protein. Dr. Steven Quay: (17:26) So in order to do that physical process of injecting the RNA, it has to actually physically move and, and the, and the, and the, the, the binding part, you got the binding parts of the ACE two, and you've got the other Proctor. This part has to physically move like a hundred nanometers, which is a huge distance on a molecular level to get the, to get, to let the RNA go into the cell. So the spike protein has to be clipped. So most spike, most beta coronaviruses clip it at a place called [inaudible] one, there's only a couple enzymes that will clip it there, which means there were only a couple kinds of cells that it can go into. So we've known since 1992, 11 different laboratories have done a new doctor, Dr. Barrick and doctor. She had the willingness to dos since 1992, 11 labs have put fear in, in coronaviruses and 11, 11 times it does one thing. It makes it either more, in fact, more transmissible or more lethal or all of the above. Uh, and the reason is it, it gives a new way of activating that spike protein with, uh, with an enzyme called furin, which is our enzyme. So basically the, the virus is very economical. It doesn't bother having an enzyme to activate itself. It knows with this, with this new, pure insight, uh, that we'll be able to get into a cell. Dana Lewis / Host : (18:39) You've never found fear in cleavage sites in natural occurring, uh, proteins, or what do you want to Dr. Steven Quay: (18:46) Call it? So, so look at the virus. Kingdom is very big. So influenza uses them all the time, all the time. Um, certain other viruses use them all the time, beta coronaviruses and never seem to use them. So, so we've, we have over 2000 sequences of beta Krone viruses from nature. And the number of Ference sites is zero. It was one is, so I was going to be too. So there's no natural fear on site, in any beta coronavirus. That's just, I mean, look at zero out of 2000, you asked a statistician what the incidence in the population is, and it's, it's, you know, under a 10th of a percent, Dana Lewis / Host : (19:22) It tells you, it tells you what about COVID-19 that fear in Cleveland site? Dr. Steven Quay: (19:28) So it has, it has it, but, Dana Lewis / Host : (19:31) And it tells you what about the fact that it has it Dr. Steven Quay: (19:34) Okay. So if there's, it doesn't, it tells you it was lab created well, yeah, so basically, yes, it's never been found in nature in that class of viruses and in, in, in 11 virus, in Landon laboratory, since 1992, it's purposely been put in, uh, including coronaviruses to make them more effective. So that's one layer of the, of the fear site, which makes it special. I call it the, the immaculate immaculate cleavage site, because it literally has to be if it came from nature, um, the next level is the genetic level. So the, the, the fear inside is four amino acids in a row. Now I worked with golden Cron at MIT. You've got the Nobel prize for the genetic code. So there's three basis in the code for every amino acid. So it's, it's redundant. So, so your genetic blueprint that makes proteins has three nucleotides, one amino acid, three one three one three one. Dr. Steven Quay: (20:30) So there's six different three letter words for one of the amino acids in the Ference. I call our genie there's six different words for the same amino acid. It's redundant humans, like a particular letter word CGG bad. Coronaviruses hate CGG out of the 64. So if there's four nucleotides and three letters in a coat on, you know, that's, that's, you know, that that is 64 different possible codes. So the least popular code on for Corona viruses is CGG they hate it. They absolutely hate it. And yet here it is, here are two of them together. Now I've looked at 580,000 Cotons in beta coronaviruses with the help of a computer. And there are not, there is not a single example of, of the, of the two together. CGG CGG next to each other, Dana Lewis / Host : (21:28) Back to Nicholas Wade last line, where he says the natural emergence theory battles of bristling array of implausibilities. Dr. Steven Quay: (21:38) Yeah. So, so I've been, uh, you know, I've been working with Nicholas for about six months weekly, uh, with, uh, with, uh, you know, some of the science behind, behind some of his writing. So, yes. Um, so that, that's a very that's, that's absolutely weird. Now, why, why would the flip side of that is, is there a, is there a laboratory reason why you'd put CGG CGG in, because if you think about it, if you've got six possibilities for the first Argentine six for the second that's 36 combinations, right? Dana Lewis / Host : (22:10) I mean, why would you, why, why as a scientist, would you put Dr. Steven Quay: (22:14) It in? Yes, exactly. Why is a scientist? Would you put it in? So we know that nature is never going to put it in in 580,000 code ons. It's never appeared there before. So nature hates it. Why in the heck would a scientist do it? If there's 36 possibilities, it's very simple. There's a, there, there, there is an old technique where if you, if you inserted something genetically and you want it to follow it in your experiments, you would put in what's called a restriction site. So you'd put in a set of amino acids that gets clipped by a, by an enzyme. You can buy off the shelf. And then when you run a gel, if the protein isn't, if it's still in there and intact, the protein runs very high on a gelatin. And then if it's been cut accidentally or it's been lost or something, you don't see it. So it's, it's a very common laboratory technique. The one in suits that they've been doing it for years, where you, you, you know, when you do an assertion, you purposely put in one of the restriction sites, so you can follow it in the laboratory. Uh, that's the only one of the 36 that has a restriction site like that. So a lot of motivation for putting that in there. Dana Lewis / Host : (23:23) Well, the allegations have been that, um, the us national Institute of health provided funding for gain of function, experiments, and move on. And then you had this very telling, uh, Senate intelligence committee investigation last week, where a representative, um, Republican Senator, sorry, ran poll then, you know, gets in this, w what looks almost like a court examination with Dr. Fowchee, um, who was the head of the national Institute of health, um, were you in front of this group kind of categorically say that COVID-19 could not have occurred through serial passage in a laboratory Fowchee? I do not have accounting of what the Chinese may have done. I'm fully in favor of further investigation of what went on in China. However, I'll repeat again, the NIH and the NIH aid category, categorically had not fund funded gain of function research to be conducted in the Wu Han Institute of neurology. Does that ring hollow? Dr. Steven Quay: (24:23) Um, I think it does. I mean, it may be, you know, in a really lawyerly court, like way, you know, there's a technicality. So what we have is we have the grants that EcoHealth was funded, and we have the subcontracts to, to sort of Realogy inside those grants. So we know exactly what was expected of the WIB inside the grant that EcoHealth got from NAA ID, which is funky cheese, uh, Dr. [inaudible], uh, work it's clearly, it's clearly a gain of function research. Now, the money didn't go from, from an NIH to Han and went from NIH to eco health, to Wu Han, if that really is what he's relying on, it's, it's disappointing, but, um, I don't have another explanation. Now, he actually also said during that interview that there was no gain of function research being done. And I think on the face of it, the document, the not on the face of the documents that are available to the public, uh, you don't have to even do a foil request. Dr. Steven Quay: (25:22) You can just go online in the NIH. You can see, uh, they're describing Ghana function research in the five-year grant that was funded the fund of the one Institute. They don't call it, gain a function. We don't call it, gain a function, but to describe, but what they describe is gain of function. So the gain of function is a very broad definition of just increasing the, the, the transmissibility lethality, uh, or infectivity of a, of a, of a virus in human, in human population, uh, and using humanized mice and, and improving in purposely causing testing to test for spillover potential is exactly that the, the, I mean, it's, again, I will try to pretend to be interested in what they were doing. So the idea was, can I deal with how close to SARS cov one, so we know Colby wants spilled over, and then we know that there are these virus that are 60% similar in 70% and 80% of the 9%. Literally what they were saying is what percent doesn't have to be like SARS Coby one. So we know it spills over, and then we can use that number to go out in nature and say, well, here's a virus that's 85. So it's not likely here's one that's 92. So it's likely giving them the benefit of the doubt. That's probably what they were trying to do. But, um, we know we know what the outcome is. Dana Lewis / Host : (26:36) Steven, just a couple of quick questions as well, before I let you go. The, um, the data that was online, some of it from the Wu had labs, some of it that you required a password. I understand all of this appears in September, it's taken down in September. So October, November, you know, some three months before the official outbreak, although a lot of people think that they already had cases well into November. Um, what, what do you make of that? And how important is that data Dr. Steven Quay: (27:10) Critically important? I mean, uh, 3:00 AM, September 19th, the server that was available for the world for most of it. And it also did have a password protected carbon, but, you know, Steve quake could have gotten on it the day before, but it's taken offline. Uh, now they, they slept up and they said, well, it's taken offline because of hackers around the COVID infection. And then they realized, oh my gosh, this was in September. So I'm not sure. They're still saying that's a pretty big slip up. Well, it's, it's, it's out there. I mean, that's, that's how it is with cameras anyway, but, um, it's not available to this day. So I asked Peter dash Jackie in a, in a public forum here, uh, maybe two months ago, uh, where if, uh, if he would provide access to those files, uh, and he literally said, it's, it's on the record there that, um, he knows what's in them. He's looked at them and there's nothing there of interest. Uh, and that I, then that that's the basis for not providing them Dana Lewis / Host : (28:05) And show him, show him to the world, because right now that lab is under look. I mean, I, I think you, you tell me if this is an overstatement, but it seems to me that there is a consensus amongst the scientific community. Now that at the very least there are huge gaping, uh, gaps in the China, Chinese official story on that lab. So if you want your lab, if you really want to support your, your suggestion to the world, that it didn't originate in the lab, then make all the data available. That's the best thing that they could do right now to the who or Dr. Steven Quay: (28:38) Whoever agreed, uh, whether they would do that or not as is a political question. Dana Lewis / Host : (28:45) Right. Okay. So we we've, but that, that it does still exist. We think, Dr. Steven Quay: (28:50) Oh, I hope so. I hope so. Are we ever going to get to the bottom of this? Well, see, it's an interesting question because, um, with my analysis, all of my evidence is circumstantial, but I remind people that, you know, uh, there are many sort of murder trials in which all of the evidence is circumstantial. And yet we quite routinely can determine, uh, the guilt of, of someone with a proper process and adjudication and, and, and, and getting to beyond a reasonable doubt. So despite it being circumstantial, I believe it's, it's strong enough at this point in time to conclude, uh, again, beyond a reasonable doubt that it came from the laboratory that the, the key thing to remember with, with, uh, these coronavirus pandemics is there's three components. There's the intermediate is there's the host, the animal hosts, the humans and the virus. This is the only one in which it's a singularity that is, there seems to be only one animal because we can't find any in nature. So there's, there's one animal. Um, all the, all the human cases go back through one patient at the PLA hospital in muon. So when president Trump got it, you can follow the mutations to his virus back to the PLO hospitals. So there's a single area there. Um, and, and the, and the, and the sequences inside the virus. Uh, so, and I'm sorry, the, the patient there's absolutely no patients before December who had any hint of this, of this, uh, infection. So it is a true singularity, Dana Lewis / Host : (30:17) One animal, one patient, one virus, one animal, because normally it takes a virus time to become more and more transmissible. There should be a trail of patience. Dr. Steven Quay: (30:27) Oh yeah, exactly. And again, they, so in my basing analysis, I looked at, at, at stored specimens, uh, in Taiwan, in China, I had about 2000 of them in the public record. None of which had SARS COVID two. So the, who has actually updated that. So they, there are 10,000 specimens, um, in that they reported on their, in their report with zero, uh, serial conversion before the first date. So nobody out of 10,000 in an archive specimens had had SARS COVID two, what is the MERS or SARS Coby, one history they're one to 4%. So that means a hundred to 400 samples should have seen. It should be. There should be evidence of Cyrus. Kogi two in a hundred to 400 specimens out of two, out of a 10,000, there was zero. Dana Lewis / Host : (31:10) The reason why we just spent 30 minutes talking about this and why you're spending part of your career studying this and why so many other scientists are looking at it is because in order to understand the next pandemic, you have to, you need to trace back the origins of this one. Can I ask you something that occurs to me? And you can tell me whether it's ridiculous or not, but in trying to fight this pandemic and come to terms with what COVID-19 is, is it important that we understand it was created in the lab? Does it make it a very different pandemic and a very different fight? Dr. Steven Quay: (31:45) Uh, he has one, it seems to me it has one, um, one aspect of the design of a virus that escapes that causes a pandemic, uh, that I think is, is interesting and worth talking about. So the downside is that it is clearly pre adapted for humans. So when SARS Colby one first jumped into humans, it had only 17% of all the, the, the, the ch the mutation changes that needed to cause that initial epidemic 17%, uh, this one has 99.6% at the get-go. So the downside is it was very pre adapted. So it spread very quickly, very widely. And that was the first wave of it. There actually is an upside to that, which is, it has very little genetic runway, very little movement to improve. So in the spike protein, there are only five, uh, five positions that it could mutate at to get better at, uh, from, from it's from the initial case, it turns out what we called the UK strain that the British strain that was, you know, started in the fall and spread. That was one of the five. So, and now Dana Lewis / Host : (32:55) About the very end, that's Dr. Steven Quay: (32:57) Another one. So it's, so it's used up two of the five possible improvements, uh, in the spike protein in terms of binding. So, um, that's somehow to me, encouraging that, this thing, uh, that we've seen the worst of it, and these variants are not going to be able to, um, to have much impact. Uh, I did another analysis and theirs looked like there's, there's eight, uh, epitopes. So the, the human immune system sees eight separate things on the spike protein when it sees this virus. So it makes eight different kinds of antibodies. And at this point in time, the Indian strain has only gotten rid of two of those eight. So we still have 75% of the epitopes are the same. Uh, you know, when I was teaching at Stanford, 75 was a C, but in, but in immunology, that's a pass fail, and that's a strong pass. You probably have to get well below 50% to do have an issue Dana Lewis / Host : (33:49) There, roadmap on where we will be in a year or three from now, with this virus. Dr. Steven Quay: (33:55) No, I said a year ago now, unfortunately, 7 billion people have to either get the virus and get the vaccine. Um, and I'm afraid I haven't changed that tune yet. We're years away from that. That is unfortunately, that's the analysis, Steven, Dana Lewis / Host : (34:11) Last word to you. And I thank you for your time on, on all of this, just wrapping it together. Dr. Steven Quay: (34:17) Well, you know, I think that, uh, my belief is that as a gain of function research project, uh, my belief is that there is a way forward for gain of function research to be done on a different structure. Uh, I'm going to be pro proposing that publicly in the next few months, uh, when I put together a consortium around how that should be conducted. Um, but I think absent that we're just going to do this again with another virus in, uh, in another decade or another few years, Dana Lewis / Host : (34:45) Or just ban gain a functional together. Dr. Steven Quay: (34:48) We could, that, that would be the easiest. Uh, I'm willing to, to find a middle road if that, if that is, uh, is possible, Dana Lewis / Host : (34:57) Steven CUI from Taiwan, Steven, great to talk to you, thank you so much for taking all that science and trying to make it as digestible as possible. And I appreciate Dr. Steven Quay: (35:05) Very much thank you, Dana, for focusing on this. It's an important issue. Speaker 2: (35:14) So why was there a scientific split on using the term gain of function in the [inaudible] lab? Why do we hear Dr. Fowchee say there was no gain of function? Well, I'm no scientist, but Dr. Richard E. Bright, a professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Rutgers university and a biosafety expert contested Dr. Anthony [inaudible] testimony before the committee saying that felt she's claim made during the exchange with ran poll that the national institutes of health has not ever, and does not now fund gain of function research in the Wu Han Institute of neurology is demonstrably false. According to Ebrary, at least some of the NIH funded research conducted in Wu Han equivocally qualifies as gain of function e-brake was quoted as saying he bride claims that the work being conducted at the Wu Han Institute using us funds a pit of Mises gain of function research, and is the exact kind of research that led the Obama administration to conclude that gain of function was too dangerous to continue domestically. Speaker 2: (36:28) And it was in fact banned in the U S in 2014, following a series of lab accidents. And after a petition signed by 300 scientists, demanded a moratorium on gain of function. The ban was later lifted after a review by a secret government panel in gain of function, experiments were allowed to go forward. The Obama administration's ban was lifted in 2017 under then president Trump. That's our backstory and the origins of COVID-19 subscribed to our newsletter. If you like Dana Lewis dot [inaudible] dot com, and please share this podcast so that others can listen. I'm Dana Lewis. Thanks for listening. And I'll talk to you again soon. 

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Geeetech A10M: A Low-Cost, High Effort Color Mixing 3D Printer

Geeetech A10M

7.00 / 10

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A printer which on paper gives a lot for a low price, but it is not that simple in practice. You'll spend more time fiddling with settings than using the Geeetech A10M. There's potential here, but finding it takes some patience.

Specifications

Brand: Geeetech

Build Volume: 8.66 x 8.66 x 10.2 inches (220 x 220 x 260mm)

Printing Accuracy: Up to 0.1mm

Connectivity: SD card, USB, optional Wi-Fi upgrade

Heated Build Plate: Yes

Feed Type: Bowden Tube

Dimensions: 7.4 x 9.25 x 18.31 inches (18.80 x 23.50 x 46.50 cm)

Weight: 16.7 lbs (7.6 kg)

Dual-Color Printing: As standard, color mixing

Pros

Color Mixing is impressive when it works

Easy to find replacement parts

Very cheap for a dual-extrusion printer

Completely moddable and easy to upgrade

Cons

Incredibly hard to get good prints

Flawed design on the filament spool holders

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The Geeetech A10M is a low budget dual-extrusion color mixing 3d printer costing just $239. While the initial setup and general use are easy, getting decent 3d prints from it is difficult to master.

Two Extruders, One Nozzle

At first glance, the Geeetech A10M has a very familiar design. It shares the same frame and stepper motor configuration as many other 3D printers at this price range. The build volume is8.66 x 8.66 x 10.2 inches and it has a heated bed featuring a composite sticky-backed build plate cover.

Where things differ is the dual extruders mounted to the top of the frame, feeding into a single color-mixing chamber via two Bowden tubes. The filament is then printed via a single 0.4mm diameter brass nozzle, allowing for two-color printing along with mixed colors and gradients.

It also features a 360-degree fan ventilation system at the hot end, which does a decent job of regulating temperature, but makes quite a lot of noise when in operation. A nice touch is the filament run-out sensors, which send stop signals to the printer when no more filament is available.

It has a simple LCD 2004 display, which is one color and has a backlight, controlled via a rotary encoder. It also features a hard reset tactile button for when things inevitably go wrong.

The A10M takes both regular SD cards and microSD cards and can be connected to a computer directly via a USB cable. There is an optional Wi-Fi module and 3D leveling sensor for the printer, but they weren't supplied for this review.

Build volume: 8.66 x 8.66 x 10.2 inches (220 x 220 x 260mm)

Printing accuracy: 0.1mm

Frame: Aluminum

Nozzle diameter: 0.4mm

Max. print temperature: 250C

Connectivity: SD Card, USB

File format: G-code, STL

XY-axis positioning accuracy: 0.011mm

Z-axis positioning accuracy: 0.0025mm

Voltage: 110-240V

Power: 360W

Weight: 7.6kg

Dimensions: 7.4 x 9.25 x 18.31 inches (18.80 x 23.50 x 46.50 cm)

Fully Assembled, Apart From the Bits That Aren't

Many 3d printers come assembled but in two parts, and setting them up is as simple as attaching the z-axis gantry to the base. The A10M is slightly more involved, as you need to attach both extruders to the frame, along with the LCD screen.

Putting it together is a mostly simple process, and the full-color guide with photographs gives step by step instructions. Attaching the Z-axis limit switch took some doing, however, as it's tucked down near the bottom of the frame, but those with nimble fingers might not have an issue.

The power supply for the A10M isn't in the base. It comes as a separate unit that attaches to the Z-axis frame. Geeetech provides all the tools required for assembly, along with various spare parts, screws, cleaning tools, and a metal scraper for freeing prints from the build plate.

Preparing to Print

Before printing, the quick-start guide advises leveling the build plate. Like many printers, the A10M comes with a tool for making sure your nozzle is at the correct height - a piece of card.

There is a menu option for leveling the bed, which moves the nozzle to each corner before prompting to move to the next when ready. Leveling is done by hand, using four plastic hand screws under the bed. It's an easy process, and once done, I didn't find the bed slipped at all during the rest of the review.

The extruders have spring-loaded plastic catches allowing you to push filament down into the Bowden tubes. From there, you can set the printer to pre-heat for PLA or ABS use via the menu and extrude some filament from each extruder to check there are no blockages.

A Test Print in Two Senses

You get enough filament in the package to print a test file provided by Geeetech, which is a gradient colored dog. Printing was seemingly all going to plan, but there was a power cut halfway through. This turned out to be a fortuitous way to test the automatic continue function of the Marlin 1.1.8 firmware the A10M uses, which is designed for this eventuality.

Things didn't go to plan. There was an ominous line around the dog's neck at the end of printing, and attempting to get it off the build plate did not end well.

I'm not sure what went wrong here, but given the unusual circumstances, I moved on to other prints without thinking too much of it. Unfortunately, that's when things got quite difficult.

A Forest of Failed Prints

From here, I had issues with almost every print I did. Most 3D printers need some adjustments to get things right, but after multiple attempts, tweaking setting after setting, things didn't improve all that much.

Some of my prints had evidence of significant layer shifting, despite there seeming to be nothing that would cause it.

Other prints had problems with retraction, leaving a stringy mess behind and prints with a mottled surface. Unusually, changing settings that would typically result in this getting better did not seem to do all that much. This, like all FDM printers, is never going to get prints quite as detailed as resin printers like the Nova3d Bene4 Mono we recently reviewed, but it should be capable of printing with an accuracy of up 0.1mm layer height.

Color mixing was hit and miss, with gradients generally coming out well, but block colors sometimes appearing blended and sometimes just not working at all. I could go on, but the simplest way to express how hard this printer can be to use is this: Out of perhaps 20 prints, I'd consider 3 to be fully successful.

In truth, hitting the sweet spot can be tough with all 3D printers, so this is the stuff that might improve over time, but there are some design flaws that can be game-breaking.

A Large Oversight

The filament run-out sensors are a great idea in principle. When your filament runs out the printer stops. They are attached right behind each extruder so that filament can run through them off the spool before being extruded to the hot end.

The problem is that regular-sized spools hang down into the runout sensors and even get caught on the plastic spring switch for loading filament into the extruder. Because of this, I never could test the runout sensors. During one print, the plastic switch even caught on to the spool, ruining it.

You could always point out that this printer might not have been designed for these types of spools, but I was using Geeetech's own branded PLA on spools I consider to be regularly sized for 3D printing.

While many of the other issues of this printer can be put down to requiring patience and specialist knowledge to master, this seems like a large oversight in design.

Great Customer Service and an Active Community

On the plus side, Geeetech's customer service is excellent, and it provides support via their Facebook group, forum, and email. Its official YouTube channel also has a number of videos showing how to clean, configure, and maintain the printer, including one I followed to combat layer shifting in the Y-axis.

Due to this printer's budget nature and the potential color-mixing can bring, there is also a committed community using the A10M, and a Facebook group for Geeetech Printer Owners.

If you own this printer and are having a hard time, there is a lot of help out there to work out what is wrong, which is something many beginners will appreciate.

The Software Side

Geeetech recommends using Repetier-Host for slicing models before printing, which is easy to use and similar to most other programs for producing Gcode. There are also profiles for the A10M for Cura, Simplify3d, and Slic3r, among others.

Repetier-Host uses the CuraEngine slicer and produces Gcode for printing via USB, SD card, or Wi-Fi if you've got the module. They also provide software called Color Mixer for importing Gcode to add gradients, color steps, or mix filament colors.

It's easy to use, and a simple way to visualize how colors will turn out before printing.

A Printer for Tinkerers

Despite all the issues, I don't think the Geeetech A10M is a bad printer. It's just one aimed at people who are willing to put the time in to learn it's quirks. The design is completely modular, and you can swap out hardware and software at will. The mainboard even has a bootloader and is compatible with the Arduino IDE.

One thing is certain: The A10M is not for beginners or those looking for a stress-free 3D printer that's functional out of the box. If you like tinkering for hours on end and prefer fixing broken toys to buying new ones, it might just be for you.

Who knows, at the end of the tunnel, there might just be a perfect dual-color 3D print.

Geeetech A10M: A Low-Cost, High Effort Color Mixing 3D Printer posted first on grassroutespage.blogspot.com

[droneseco]

Geeetech A10M: A Low-Cost, High Effort Color Mixing 3D Printer

Geeetech A10M

7.00 / 10

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A printer which on paper gives a lot for a low price, but it is not that simple in practice. You'll spend more time fiddling with settings than using the Geeetech A10M. There's potential here, but finding it takes some patience.

Specifications

Brand: Geeetech

Build Volume: 8.66 x 8.66 x 10.2 inches (220 x 220 x 260mm)

Printing Accuracy: Up to 0.1mm

Connectivity: SD card, USB, optional Wi-Fi upgrade

Heated Build Plate: Yes

Feed Type: Bowden Tube

Dimensions: 7.4 x 9.25 x 18.31 inches (18.80 x 23.50 x 46.50 cm)

Weight: 16.7 lbs (7.6 kg)

Dual-Color Printing: As standard, color mixing

Pros

Color Mixing is impressive when it works

Easy to find replacement parts

Very cheap for a dual-extrusion printer

Completely moddable and easy to upgrade

Cons

Incredibly hard to get good prints

Flawed design on the filament spool holders

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The Geeetech A10M is a low budget dual-extrusion color mixing 3d printer costing just $239. While the initial setup and general use are easy, getting decent 3d prints from it is difficult to master.

Two Extruders, One Nozzle

At first glance, the Geeetech A10M has a very familiar design. It shares the same frame and stepper motor configuration as many other 3D printers at this price range. The build volume is8.66 x 8.66 x 10.2 inches and it has a heated bed featuring a composite sticky-backed build plate cover.

Where things differ is the dual extruders mounted to the top of the frame, feeding into a single color-mixing chamber via two Bowden tubes. The filament is then printed via a single 0.4mm diameter brass nozzle, allowing for two-color printing along with mixed colors and gradients.

It also features a 360-degree fan ventilation system at the hot end, which does a decent job of regulating temperature, but makes quite a lot of noise when in operation. A nice touch is the filament run-out sensors, which send stop signals to the printer when no more filament is available.

It has a simple LCD 2004 display, which is one color and has a backlight, controlled via a rotary encoder. It also features a hard reset tactile button for when things inevitably go wrong.

The A10M takes both regular SD cards and microSD cards and can be connected to a computer directly via a USB cable. There is an optional Wi-Fi module and 3D leveling sensor for the printer, but they weren't supplied for this review.

Build volume: 8.66 x 8.66 x 10.2 inches (220 x 220 x 260mm)

Printing accuracy: 0.1mm

Frame: Aluminum

Nozzle diameter: 0.4mm

Max. print temperature: 250C

Connectivity: SD Card, USB

File format: G-code, STL

XY-axis positioning accuracy: 0.011mm

Z-axis positioning accuracy: 0.0025mm

Voltage: 110-240V

Power: 360W

Weight: 7.6kg

Dimensions: 7.4 x 9.25 x 18.31 inches (18.80 x 23.50 x 46.50 cm)

Fully Assembled, Apart From the Bits That Aren't

Many 3d printers come assembled but in two parts, and setting them up is as simple as attaching the z-axis gantry to the base. The A10M is slightly more involved, as you need to attach both extruders to the frame, along with the LCD screen.

Putting it together is a mostly simple process, and the full-color guide with photographs gives step by step instructions. Attaching the Z-axis limit switch took some doing, however, as it's tucked down near the bottom of the frame, but those with nimble fingers might not have an issue.

The power supply for the A10M isn't in the base. It comes as a separate unit that attaches to the Z-axis frame. Geeetech provides all the tools required for assembly, along with various spare parts, screws, cleaning tools, and a metal scraper for freeing prints from the build plate.

Preparing to Print

Before printing, the quick-start guide advises leveling the build plate. Like many printers, the A10M comes with a tool for making sure your nozzle is at the correct height - a piece of card.

There is a menu option for leveling the bed, which moves the nozzle to each corner before prompting to move to the next when ready. Leveling is done by hand, using four plastic hand screws under the bed. It's an easy process, and once done, I didn't find the bed slipped at all during the rest of the review.

The extruders have spring-loaded plastic catches allowing you to push filament down into the Bowden tubes. From there, you can set the printer to pre-heat for PLA or ABS use via the menu and extrude some filament from each extruder to check there are no blockages.

A Test Print in Two Senses

You get enough filament in the package to print a test file provided by Geeetech, which is a gradient colored dog. Printing was seemingly all going to plan, but there was a power cut halfway through. This turned out to be a fortuitous way to test the automatic continue function of the Marlin 1.1.8 firmware the A10M uses, which is designed for this eventuality.

Things didn't go to plan. There was an ominous line around the dog's neck at the end of printing, and attempting to get it off the build plate did not end well.

I'm not sure what went wrong here, but given the unusual circumstances, I moved on to other prints without thinking too much of it. Unfortunately, that's when things got quite difficult.

A Forest of Failed Prints

From here, I had issues with almost every print I did. Most 3D printers need some adjustments to get things right, but after multiple attempts, tweaking setting after setting, things didn't improve all that much.

Some of my prints had evidence of significant layer shifting, despite there seeming to be nothing that would cause it.

Other prints had problems with retraction, leaving a stringy mess behind and prints with a mottled surface. Unusually, changing settings that would typically result in this getting better did not seem to do all that much. This, like all FDM printers, is never going to get prints quite as detailed as resin printers like the Nova3d Bene4 Mono we recently reviewed, but it should be capable of printing with an accuracy of up 0.1mm layer height.

Color mixing was hit and miss, with gradients generally coming out well, but block colors sometimes appearing blended and sometimes just not working at all. I could go on, but the simplest way to express how hard this printer can be to use is this: Out of perhaps 20 prints, I'd consider 3 to be fully successful.

In truth, hitting the sweet spot can be tough with all 3D printers, so this is the stuff that might improve over time, but there are some design flaws that can be game-breaking.

A Large Oversight

The filament run-out sensors are a great idea in principle. When your filament runs out the printer stops. They are attached right behind each extruder so that filament can run through them off the spool before being extruded to the hot end.

The problem is that regular-sized spools hang down into the runout sensors and even get caught on the plastic spring switch for loading filament into the extruder. Because of this, I never could test the runout sensors. During one print, the plastic switch even caught on to the spool, ruining it.

You could always point out that this printer might not have been designed for these types of spools, but I was using Geeetech's own branded PLA on spools I consider to be regularly sized for 3D printing.

While many of the other issues of this printer can be put down to requiring patience and specialist knowledge to master, this seems like a large oversight in design.

Great Customer Service and an Active Community

On the plus side, Geeetech's customer service is excellent, and it provides support via their Facebook group, forum, and email. Its official YouTube channel also has a number of videos showing how to clean, configure, and maintain the printer, including one I followed to combat layer shifting in the Y-axis.

Due to this printer's budget nature and the potential color-mixing can bring, there is also a committed community using the A10M, and a Facebook group for Geeetech Printer Owners.

If you own this printer and are having a hard time, there is a lot of help out there to work out what is wrong, which is something many beginners will appreciate.

The Software Side

Geeetech recommends using Repetier-Host for slicing models before printing, which is easy to use and similar to most other programs for producing Gcode. There are also profiles for the A10M for Cura, Simplify3d, and Slic3r, among others.

Repetier-Host uses the CuraEngine slicer and produces Gcode for printing via USB, SD card, or Wi-Fi if you've got the module. They also provide software called Color Mixer for importing Gcode to add gradients, color steps, or mix filament colors.

It's easy to use, and a simple way to visualize how colors will turn out before printing.

A Printer for Tinkerers

Despite all the issues, I don't think the Geeetech A10M is a bad printer. It's just one aimed at people who are willing to put the time in to learn it's quirks. The design is completely modular, and you can swap out hardware and software at will. The mainboard even has a bootloader and is compatible with the Arduino IDE.

One thing is certain: The A10M is not for beginners or those looking for a stress-free 3D printer that's functional out of the box. If you like tinkering for hours on end and prefer fixing broken toys to buying new ones, it might just be for you.

Who knows, at the end of the tunnel, there might just be a perfect dual-color 3D print.

Geeetech A10M: A Low-Cost, High Effort Color Mixing 3D Printer published first on http://droneseco.tumblr.com/

[a-d-n-d-journal]

Game Session #3

Due to a scheduling conflict, we had to delay our game by a week, but that’s okay!

Thanks again to Rysiel’s player for taking notes!

Characters:

Bakunawa, dragonborn paladin; copper scales, chainmail, a longsword and shield

Zastu, dragonborn rogue; white scales almost completely covered in a hooded cape and mask, leather armor, short bow and shortsword + dagger

Rysiel, half-elf druid; simple clothing and leather armor, scimitar

Teir, tiefling warlock; vibrant gold skin and black hair w/silver highlights, horns, hooves, expensive-looking clothes and leather armor, carries a crossbow and a hand-axe but doesn’t use them

Resuming where we left off last time…

Bakunawa and Rysiel stand on top of a guard tower at the southern end of Nightstone, surveying the ruined village. Many boulders have fallen and destroyed many roofs. They discuss exploring the rest of the village, particularly the windmill on a hill to the west, and the (probably empty) trading post in the village square.

In the darkening twilight, Rysiel spots a torch appear on the roof of the fort across the water. (Teir rolls well too, but I forgot he was on the ground, and couldn’t see over the palisade) A humanoid (maybe two) figure walks in front of the light, and Rysiel calls down to Teir and Zastu.

Teir wastes no time in deploying his spectral raven. His eyes go blank as Zastu mutters about how he’s always doing that. The raven flies over the water and over the roof of the fort, and he catches sight of a human-looking guard wearing chainmail and a helmet, carrying a spear. Then his sight goes dark, as he realizes that vertical distance counts against how far he can sense through the raven (100 ft.).

The raven automatically moves back into range, and Teir spies from a slight further distance out. He recites back to his companions all that he sees and hears. The party discusses getting the guard’s attention, and Bakunawa fumbles around for a torch… Until Rysiel waves it away, casting Produce Flame. (The players briefly wonder if they have to roll any dice, but I wave the need to do so for most story-related stuff)

Rysiel waves the flame about for a moment before tossing it into the air.

Teir’s eyes roll back again to watch the guard through the raven’s eyes. The guard notices the flame, and they turn back to the stairs to the roof, shouting for their companions to join them. Within a few seconds, four guards stand on the roof, pointing and gesturing toward the tower with two people on top.

The party confer with each other on what to do, but decide to put the responsibility on Teir. The tiefling fetches some ink and parchment from his bag and writes a note:

“Hello! We are Waterdeep adventurers. Might we enter the keep for the night?”

He then gives it to his spectral raven, who holds it tightly in one semi-intangible talon. Teir gives it instructions: Drop this off on the roof where it won’t blow off, at a safe distance from the people there. Don’t allow them to attack you, but wait for a response and bring it back.

The raven drops off the rolled-up parchment, and the guards pick it up. As they deliberate what to do, the raven flies back into range of Teir’s ability to use its senses. He describes to the party what he sees: “There’s a building built around the top of the (broken) bridge, probably a barracks, though one of the them is smashed by a boulder. The walls around the fort are wide enough for people to walk along safely, and there’s a yard between them and the fort itself. They’re littered with boulders, and a few people lie crushed beneath them. The fort has a few boulder-holes in it too. Almost one entire corner is taken out. The roof has a parapet, and a small structure with stairs inside. The flag is purple with a stylized raven holding a rose.”

Something twinges in Teir’s brain. The symbol seems very familiar, and that’s not the right one for Nightstone… The other party members don’t notice.

When the guards are done arguing, they decide to write back. After a brief bit of humour while they look for something to write with (inside the fort), and something to write on, they leave the rolled parchment for the raven to bring back:

“YEE, cOm Ovar Hav ROpE? WEll kEch Et OR Ya kEn jumpb Et nO bEa pla wOOd big Enuff fEr hOl”

…the guards are literate, but only just barely.

Teir has some immediate anxiety. He can’t climb a rope at all! What if he falls?  Bakunawa and Rysiel descend the ladder in the guard tower and have an idea… The ladder is quite sturdy and appears to be long enough to cross the 15 ft. gap across the broken bridge.

They smash the fastenings keeping the ladder in place, and awkwardly take it out of the tower, carry it through the break in the palisade and over to the bridge, finally laying it across the gap. Even with the (relatively) stable ladder in place, Teir still has trouble crossing (he uses Inspiration to roll again and not fall).

Four human guards (two women and two men) wait for them on the far side. They are impressed with the ingenuity, but waste no time asking about the state of the village.

Teir takes the lead again and tells them that many goblins (and a couple worgs) lay dead, but they haven’t finished exploring the village. Everyone introduces themselves (the guards are Sydiri, Torem, Alara, and Kaelen), and lead them inside.

They see the wreckage of the barracks first-hand as they walk by. Inside the fort, the entrance hall is strewn with rubble. The right-hand side (west) is completely smashed, as is the left-hand side further in (south-east). Stairs to the second storey on the right, past the smashed-in kitchen, and past that a door sits open to the den. To their immediate left is a dining area, where (most of) a table lays with the body of Lady Velrosa Nandar. Teir never met her in person, but they had exchanged a few letters. She was his main reason for coming out this way.

The party asks the guards a series of questions, trying to ascertain what’s going on. The guards, for their part, are mostly in shock, and don’t ask many questions.

Early that day, a great shadow appeared over the village, and boulders started raining down. There was nowhere to take shelter (one of the guards waves at the demolished corner of the fort—ostensibly a reinforced structure two storeys tall), and no time besides. The shadow resolved itself into a great cloud, atop which a giant castle sat. When the boulders stopped falling, several cloud giants emerged, and took the great black stone—which gave Nightstone its name—from the center of the square, back to their castle. Then they drifted off to the east.

Presumably fearing a counter-attack, the residents of Nightstone fled north, leaving the draw bridge down. After some brief confusion regarding the elves that live to the north, they (we) find out that they probably took shelter in the bat caves about a mile away, not in elf territory. Sometime between then and when our adventurers showed up—the goblins arrived to loot the empty village.

They also find out a bit about the backstory between the Nandars, Nightstone, and the elves. Apparently, it used to be that nobles from Waterdeep and surrounding areas would come to Nightstone to hunt in the surrounding Ardeep forest, until the elves started to object to the intrusion to their lands and the forest which sustained them. They nearly wiped out the fledgling Nightstone until Lord Drezlin Nandar was able to broker a peace in exchange for ceasing all hunts. Unfortunately, Lord Nandar died a year ago, and Lady Nandar was looking for some help with negotiations, until she was crushed by a boulder.

The conversation peters off, and the adventurers ask if they can stay there for the night. The guards agree, and Zastu takes off in exploration of the fort. The remaining three consider fetching Kella from the inn to bring her to the relative safety of the fort. Teir, still shaken by his near-fall crossing the ladder over the hole in the bridge, flat-out refuses to go. Rysiel volunteers, as his darkvision gives him an advantage in the twilight, and Bakunawa goes with him for support.

Zastu discovers the library and den, and immediately calls Teir over. Four overstuffed chairs sit atop woven and bear-skin rugs, and the heads of animals line the bottom of a balcony attached to a second-floor landing. Zastu spots a dragon skull amongst the deer and goat, and shudders. A ladder securely fastened to floor and landing leads up. The dragonborn doesn’t find anything interesting, seeing only books and scribing materials, but Teir finds the books on poetry and flowers fascinating. He tells the mostly-illiterate rogue that the poetry is erotic, just to get a rise out of her. (+inspiration for RP)

Since the den’s second floor doesn’t connect to the rest of the fort, Zastu decides to find another way up, heading back into the main hall.

  Meanwhile, Rysiel and Bakunawa head straight to the inn (Bakunawa has a scare at the ladder, nearly falling into the moat [uses inspiration]), but realize they didn’t take the road straight up (north) on their first trip, so they missed the trading post. A circular blue shield, emblazoned with a stylized lion, sits above the door. Bakunawa recognizes it as the symbol for a well-known trading company but says nothing. They hear a small ruckus inside and prepare for a fight. Rysiel manages to stealthily peer inside and spots a goblin (Jilk). The sounds they hear seem to be coming from it alone. In a surprise attack, Rysiel summons a small blade made of ice, which streaks toward the unsuspecting goblin and pierces his heart. The Ice Knife explodes, spraying ice around the front entrance of the shop. The goblin dies immediately.

(I switch back to Zastu and Teir while Rysiel and Bakunawa’s players look at the adventuring gear table for loot at the trading post, but we’ll continue that part here)

Curious about giants since their conversation with the guards, the two look for books on giants, but find only a couple pamphlets about growing vegetables and skinning rabbits. They aren’t particularly interested in the mundane equipment the trading post has to offer, and only take a healer’s kit, and some rope, pitons, and boot cramps for climbing. Though, Rysiel does find a nice purple handkerchief with Nightstone’s golden fox and rose.

  Back and the fort, Zastu finds Lady Nandar’s room upstairs. Beautiful tapestries and paintings of landscapes adorn the wall, and a decorative sword sits above the doorway. A huge feather bed dominates the room, with a large chest (sans lock) sits at its foot. Luxurious wolf pelts soften the ground, and four large wardrobes sit against the wall. Zastu peaks inside and finds that each one holds a season’s worth of the latest fashions. She turns back to the chest and notices the lack of a lock, but, when she opens it, the sword handing over the door animates and swoops toward her. Her quick reflexes prevent a surprise round, and she uses her action to duck and dash out the door, slamming it shut behind her. She breathes a sigh of relief at the quick escape, just as Teir comes up the stairs. (+inspiration for RP)

“What’s going on?” He asks, just as the animated sword starts banging on the closed door.

“Nothing,” Zastu answers.

Teir, being much smarter than Zastu thought, interrogates and berates Zastu for trying to raid the recently deceased Lady Velrosa Nandar’s private room. Meanwhile, the sword continues to strike the door haphazardly. Cracks start to appear, and soon the door splits, and the sword is seen through the hole.

Teir stops trying to dress-down Zastu and bolts for the stairs—but it’s too late—the sword has made a hole large enough to fit through and is coming for them both! (roll initiative!)

The warlock searches his brain for information to help the situation (arcane roll), but while he can recall a bit (animated objects are susceptible to anti-magic fields, do not rest, and cannot be “reprogrammed” or fooled by anyone but the original owner/caster), none of it helps.

Teir fires a crackling bolt of Eldritch blast over his shoulder, but misses, and he continues down the stairs.

The sword tries to attack Zastu, but it misses.

The rogue flees down the stairs after Teir.

At the bottom of the stairs, Teir manages to get his hand-axe ready as the sword appears around the corner landing of the stairs. A second Eldritch blast hits it and causes it to wobble in midair.

As the one closest to the animated weapon, Zastu baits it forward so that Teir flanks it on one side. The sword slices at her, dealing a fair bit of damage, but Zastu retaliates with her short sword and dagger, hitting it with a quick one-two (inflicting sneak attack damage), knocking it to the ground. Teir notes the crack in it, and declares it “dead”, as an animated object’s magic is tied to its physical form.

  The guards approach from the dining area, demanding to know what’s going on. Somehow Zastu manages to convince them that nothing out of the ordinary has occurred (bluff roll for-the-win), but one of them gives her some side-eye (perception roll tied), but doesn’t say anything. She asks them for some help regarding her wound. Do they have any healing potions, or supplies? But they don’t. Zastu pulls out the kit she found at the halfling’s house, but realizes it’s an herbalism kit, not a healing kit.

  Over at the Nightstone Inn, Rysiel and Bakunawa discover that Kella is not in the room they left her in—she’s not in any of the rooms! Rysiel uses a bit of survival know-how and realizes that none of the beds have been disturbed—they conclude that Kella must have left shortly after they did, not even sticking around long enough to rest.

The two of them shrug to each-other and decide to return to the fort. They haven’t explored enough of Nightstone to be confident searching for her.

Once at the fort, the two of them relay their story about the goblin at the trading post and finding Kella missing. Rysiel also remarks on the horse, “Bobble”, which he left to graze on the other side of the ladder+bridge. The guards start at the knowledge, they’re less bothered by the fact that Rysiel’s adopted a horse, and more concerned by the fact that the villagers didn’t take the time to bring those horses with them. They must not have gone far.

“The caves?” The Bakunawa recalls.

The guards nod.

“We should get them and bring them back. If the giants have what they wanted, they shouldn’t be coming back?” Teir suggests.

“Wait, where did the goblins come from?” Zastu asks.

The guards give a blank look for a moment, then: “Oh no…” They moan in shock. “It was probably those same caves…”

  The party lays down to rest for the night in the barracks, and the guards share their food. Teir casts Unseen Servant to serve them and make things nicer.

Zastu has a dream about the chest she left back in Velrosa’s room, and the other party members each have their own dreams…

Spells cast:

Rysiel: Produce Flame, Ice Knife Teir: Eldritch Blast x2, Unseen Servant

Killcount:

Bakunawa: 0 Teir: 0 Zastu: 1 flying sword Rysiel: 1 goblin (Jilk)

Treasure looted:

Healing kit

Purple handkerchief

Half a climber’s kit

Left behind:

a goblin’s shortbow, arrows, and shortsword

almost everything in the empty trading post

[fanficwriter013]

Little Genius

Pairing: Male Reader! X Peter Parker, Reader is Tony’s adopted son

Summary/Request: Can you do a Peter Parker x male!reader where reader is Tony's (adopted?) son and has been dating Peter in secret for a while, but the reader is still in the closet (maybe Peter is out? Idk?) and then the avengers find out somehow? @graysonmalfoy

Word Count: 4820

Warnings: Adopted, slight angst (slight slight, it’s the first paragraph, you can skip that one), spans TWS through AoU. Clintasha, awkward/clumsy Peter, almost fatherly Tony

If you want a fairy tale that isn't this story. He had never had it easy. His earliest memory was of burning his hand on the stove trying to make his own dinner. The next one of screaming and blood, but the heavy footsteps walked away as soon as his dirty rotten, no good parents were dead. The next of a man in a suit and wearing sleek shades taking him in. He thought it would get better, and it started to for the next eight years. That would be when (Y/N) lost the only good parent figure he ever had. When Loki killed Phil Coulson.

Coulson had had a contingency in place, and that passed him over to the care of Agents Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff. That was cool but could also be painful when the spies were sent on missions together. He'd particularly been a miniature agent when Coulson was his guardian, and living with the spies only further sharpened his skills. They liked to sneak up on him, and he needed to be trained to take them down before they got to him.

He was also passed around a lot, sometimes the spies would be gone on long missions and (Y/N) would go to another agent. He knew of Tony Stark but had had minimal contact with the genius. That is until two years later. Natasha had disappeared with a fugitive Steve Rogers, Clint was going on a long mission. Thor couldn't be contacted, nor could Bruce. Clint didn't want to leave a then fifteen-year-old (Y/N) alone for however long his mission would take, or until the whole SHIELD, Steve conflict blew over that left Tony Stark.

“Don't get in my way, don't blow anything up. You can have parties but I need to be invited. Ask JARVIS for things you need.” Those were the instructions when (Y/N) was dumped at Tony’s Tower. It was another week before he saw the genius again.

“You look like shit. When's the last time you slept, or showered? Should I just ask JARVIS?” He snarked, from his seat at the table in the only kitchen in the tower that had food. (Y/N) had been working on his homework, the perks of Coulson was that he was heavily schooled and had graduated high school at age 13. He had been encouraged to apply to any college he wanted, but when (Y/N) had lost Coulson, he had picked one of the online schools. He was now in his second and would be final year working towards his bachelor’s degree. Which he was starting to think would be the first of many.

“Mister Stark has not slept for forty-two hours, and the last shower was fifty hours ago.” The British AI’s voice rang through the kitchen giving (Y/N) his answer. He shook his head before placing a bookmark in his textbook. “Put down the coffee, go take a shower and then sleep for at least eight hours or I’ll have JARVIS shut down so that you can’t access the lab for a week.” He knew the only way to get the genius to do anything was under threats, a tip he had heard when he was younger and Natasha was busy playing Natalie during the day.

“Whoa there tough guy, think you could actually take out JARVIS?” That was the cocky confidence that he had heard being complained about for a solid month. (Y/N) nodded his head. “All I would have to do is corrupt a couple sections of code, and then you’d have to proofread it for a month to make him operational again.” He had accidentally stumbled into the access window for the AI’s code and had been learning it for the past couple of days.

The sideways grin quickly melted off the billionaire’s face, and (Y/N) fought to keep the smirk off of his own face. He had always been underestimated, and he kind of loved to see people eat their words. It happened a lot when he had had to go to the base with Clint and Natasha, and the agents had seen him practicing on a punching bag. He had taken down his fair share of agents and had gotten some big grins from Clint.

“Don’t worry about it, lots of people underestimate me.” He said with a shrug. Tony gave him an odd side eye but swept from the room to get some rest. It seemed that that encounter changed the way Tony acted around (Y/N). He was making an effort to get to know the young boy he was currently in charge of taking care of.

Tony was not great at small talk, and he would mostly babble on about the projects he was working on down in his lab. (Y/N) was finding it easy to sit and listen, and put forward some alternative viewpoints. Tony had a tendency to only see the mechanical view, and (Y/N) could separate himself and see other angles for the genius to evaluate. He could see when he hit at a particular angle that the genius hadn’t seen and that Tony would kick himself in the ass for. Sometimes it was a simple solution, other times it was just a matter of another point of view. (Y/N) was starting to believe that Tony trusted him, and his input.

It was about two months into his stay with Tony when Steve showed up to the Tower. He’d explained after Tony insisted that if Steve wanted any kind of Stark help that (Y/N) could be trusted to be fully briefed on the situation. Steve had explained that SHIELD had fallen because SHIELD had been HYDRA all along. Steve had grand ideas to continue on the SHIELD mission with Stark’s help since it had been a Stark that had founded SHIELD, to begin with.

That had started the beginning of the Avenger’s Tower. (Y/N) was in the logistics part of the SHIELD that Tony funded but Steve was running. Tony had set him up with his own lab and had him running some research on potentially enabled candidates for recruitment purposes. It was how a one Mister Peter Parker, or as the teenager called himself Spiderman, came to be on the radar.

“Tony, did you see the file I sent you?” He asked at the weekly Wednesday night dinner. Tony always spent Wednesday night with (Y/N), and Friday nights were movie night with all the Avengers. The genius nodded.

“Mmhmm.” He started to talk with his mouth full and had received a sharp eyebrow raise from (Y/N). “Yeah, he shows some promise. I want you to conduct some field research, maybe evaluate the kid’s fighting style. You know, like that file you put together on Kamala Khan.” He said, and (Y/N) nodded.

This dictated his schedule for the next few weeks. The Spiderkid hung out at libraries and pizza shops, and (Y/N) needed to get to know the alter ego along with the hero side. It seemed that Parker was either really dedicated to being as invisible as possible, or he was just super clumsy. In the first three hours that he had been watching this tiny brunet boy, he had spilled three glasses of soda, dropped five textbooks and had tripped over his own feet a whopping total of fourteen times.

It was the fifteenth time that the kid tripped over his own feet that changed things. The boy had been on his way back to his table from the bathroom and was on a one-way trip to a concussion when (Y/N) stepped in. The spiderboy was going to collide into his table, so really it was more shifting his body weight. The boy weighed absolutely nothing, and catching him before he caught himself, by the head on (Y/N)’s table was easy.

“I’m so sorry, my brain works too fast for the feet to listen.” The poor child’s face, and yes he was only a year younger than (Y/N) but that made him a child, was beet red. He let out a nervous laugh. “It looks like I’ve fallen for you.” He ended his statement with another nervous laugh. (Y/N) smiled at him before realizing the boy back onto his own feet.

“It’s not hard to do, especially when one’s as clumsy as you are.” He said, and Peter gave him a small look of confusion. “What can I say, I’ve had my eye on you.” The thing about growing up with spies, and then living with a notorious playboy meant that he oozed charm. “I’m (Y/N),” he paused, trying to decide what last name to give. “(Y/N) Stark.” He might as well just jump off the deep end here.

The boy cocked his head to the side, obviously confused about (Y/N)’s surname. “Is that supposed to impress me?” He deadpanned, and (Y/N) had to give him some props for the nonchalant response.

“I've gotta couple of other names, you could pick your favorite. Barton, Coulson, and Romanoff are all my possible surnames.” He couldn't remember his biological last name or that one would have been in the mix too. There was a brief moment where (Y/N) could watch the wheels turning in Peter's head before the realization flashed in the boy's brown eyes. Coulson’s name wouldn't probably mean much but the other two would, and especially now that everything was public record.

“Peter, I mean my name is Peter Parker.” The attempt to not make the conversation an awkward fanboying session was admirable. (Y/N) gestured to his table, which had a slice of pizza and his engineering notes on it.

“Care to join me?” He asked a part of it was for the sake of the file. But there was a softer, quieter part of him that couldn't help but notice the soft gleam in the Spiderlings eyes, and a word, cute, floated through his mind.

For the second time in the past five minutes, Peter's face turned a tomato red. “I don't wanna bother you. And I'm doing a science project, wouldn't be good company anyway?” He phrased it like a question like he was trying to use his school work as an excuse. (Y/N) shook his head and walked over to Parker’s table and gathered the boy's books.

“I insist, and you might find that I could surprise you. In regard to my intelligence that is.” He said, spreading the boy's school stuff across half of the table.

As it turned out the project was not for school. It was for better tech for Spiderman. (Y/N) played along with the school project front, and suggested some ideas that would make the web slingers work better. Sure (Y/N) didn't get a lot of his own work done, but he had made some progress on the file and also in maybe making a friend his own age.

That day he had Peter had exchanged phone numbers. It was the first secret he was going to keep from his family, or should he say try to keep. Since he knew Clint and Natasha were sneaky, but he didn't think they, any of them, word approve of him being friendly with a target and possible agent recruit.

It had been another week before there was a text exchange, that Peter had initiated. It was another lie, of course, but the actual excitement about the success of the project and the “grade” it had gotten was somewhat real. The actuality meant that the web shooter was working and the novice crimefighter was stepping up in that world.

(Y/N) had noticed a small flutter in his stomach when he read the name on the screen. The conversation quickly turned into other areas, mostly that awkward small talk getting to know you stuff. Which had veered into talking about this obscure little coffee shop that Peter had just discovered and was obsessed with. He had slyly and in the most endearing way, had asked to see (Y/N) again. He had wanted to text back right away but didn't want to be too eager. And there was the other side, the non-spy side, that wasn't so sure meeting was the right decision. He’d argued with himself for a good thirty minutes before deciding that Coulson would have wanted him to make friends and to push his comfort zones. That Coulson had wanted him to have a normal life, and he agreed to see Peter again.

(Y/N) was dying. He didn’t know what to wear, his stomach felt like it was literally turning inside out. He had lived at SHIELD for years of his life, his father had been Phillip Coulson. His next set of guardians the deadly twin assassins, Barton and Romanoff. Why was he this nervous over something that wasn’t even a date? If any of his guardians saw him in this very moment, they would laugh at him and then make bets about the chances of (Y/N) puking or making a god awful fool of himself.

He was finally able to find some clothes that would make him look good, but without seeming like he was trying too hard. But then actually getting out of the Tower was the hard part. Today of all days, everyone was on base. Which meant everyone wanted to talk, and making a quick escape was just not going to happen. Here he had put all this effort into this not a date thing and he wouldn't even be able to get to the coffee shop on time.

“I'm just saying that that mission could have gone a lot smoother had we had a hacker on deck over the comms.” Nat and Clint had just gotten back from a mission to gather data, and it had not ended well. They both had some bumps and bruises.

“Listen, guys. I'm glad you're both back. I'll look into running some coding trainings and the next mission will be better. But right now I gotta study for my last final, so I'll talk to you later.” He said, grabbing his backpack and heading out.

“Tony, what did you do?” Natasha asked once the elevator doors had closed. “You've corrupted our son, lying to his guardians like that.” She hissed, crossing her arms over her chest. Clint gave her shoulder a rub, and Tony just shrugged.

As it turned out, even being ten minutes late, he still made it to the coffee shop before Peter did. Which was fine, he could grab a table and start his studying. Since Coulson had taught him the best way to lie was to base the lie in truth, he did have a final he needed to review his notes for.

The time got away from (Y/N), and when he finally resurfaced from his notes it was two hours later. Peter must have gotten caught up with his other personality. A check to his phone revealed nothing, and so he logged into the Stark interface to check out new reports. When he didn't find anything, he decided it was time to go back to the Tower.

(Y/N) had gone to the library the next day. He needed to take his online exam in a public place, where he couldn't be accused of cheating. It was his last final and then he'd go into working full time at the Stark version of SHIELD. He had been halfway finished his exam when he became aware of a lurking presence. He pushed that to the back of his head to finish the multiple choice exam. After another ten minutes, he had finished the exam and received his grade. He had answered one wrong and was kicking himself for it. It was when he was leaving that the presence made itself known.

“Hey, (Y/N),” Peter called too loudly and was immediately assaulted with a chorus of shushing. The boy had his arms full of his books and notebooks like he had hastily gathered his things. (Y/N) waited for the boy to catch up with him before the pair exited the library.

“Did you wanna put your stuff away?” he asked, he knew what had happened yesterday and knew the boy was going to try and offer an excuse. But (Y/N) wasn't so sure he wanted to hear it. Coulson had made sure to instill some values, and the situation from yesterday could have been considered a sign that whatever inkling of a nothing that had started wasn't a good thing.

“I do but I owe you an apology, and I don't want you to leave,” Peter said, shifting his body weight and books around. (Y/N) took his school bag and put it down on the bench the pair were standing in front of. Peter took that as his green light and dumped his stuff on the bench quickly organizing it and shoving it inside his own backpack.

“Listen, about yesterday. I got hung up on some stuff. And while I should have sent you a text or a carrier pigeon or something. I didn't, and well the text couldn't happen because my phone is trashed and I don't know any pigeons. What was I saying?” Peter asked, to which he got nothing in response. “Oh right, I'm a jerk. Is there any way I could make it up to you? Like coffee, my treat?” He asked, pulling a smashed pile of phone from his pocket. Like he knew he needed to prove that the phone was ruined for his words to mean anything.

(Y/N) pulled the phone from Peter's hand, the engineering part of him was looking to see if it was fixable. “This is really dead. Like I have a bachelor's degree and even I can't fix this.” He said it made him appreciate the indestructible Stark phone that had been tossed his way after he had threatened JARVIS’S code. The casual mention of his schooling had caused Peter's eyes to grow to a comically large size. “I'm fifteen, and I just earned my Bachelor's degree. If you wanted to know I graduated high school at thirteen. So I guess a congratulatory coffee would be good.” He explained, there really hadn't been much for him to do at SHIELD but his schoolwork. Besides the fact that Coulson was a very strict parent.

Peter nodded. “Cool, cool. Wait a second. Did you just agree to go out with me?” He asked before his mind could catch up with his mouth and he tried to shove his entire fist there to stop it. (Y/N) nodded, grabbing his bag off the bench.

“Come on, you owe me like three coffees, you dork.” He said it lightly, he was teasing. Especially since the dorkiness was so incredibly endearing.

The coffee date went surprisingly well. (Y/N) felt like Peter had started to tell him about his alter ego at least five times before the boy backed out. Lying wasn't for everyone, and genuine hero types would have a hard time with the secret and their other personality. At the end of the night, (Y/N) had offered to see if he could get a Stark phone for the spiderling. And while the boy protested, (Y/N) knew that he secretly wanted one. He had also made a joke about sending him a carrier pigeon, and Peter had responded with an invitation for dinner.

“Like a date, Parker?” he asked, just because he wanted to give the boy shit. Peter's face had flushed a deep red color, and he had started to stutter. “Relax, I'll meet you outside the library at 7, the day after tomorrow. Dress somewhat nice.” He told him with a smile before he left the boy, awestruck behind him.

“Hey, Tony?” (Y/N) called as he walked into the lab. He had learned the hard way to announce himself when he went down to the labs, otherwise, Dum-E would try to attack and there was a fire extinguisher involved, it was not pretty. A grunt from a far corner of the room told him the genius was pretty busy.

“I'll make it quick.” He promised, and the genius poked his head out. “This phone is demolished, but I was wondering if we could try and salvage some of its data to incorporate into a Stark phone. It's for a really clumsy friend.” He had stolen Peter's phone, it wasn't hard when it wasn't functional. The hard part would be either rebuilding this phone or getting the lower tech to corporate with the Stark tech.

“When did you make friends?” Tony asked it wasn't as rude as it seemed. (Y/N) had rarely left the tower and had only ever socialized within SHIELD and the Avengers. “But yeah, it shouldn't take longer than ten minutes. The biggest issue is gonna be the reading the data. Just leave it on the counter there, I'll have JARVIS remind me to do it. And I'll let you know when it's done.” he explained, going back to his work in the corner.

JARVIS had informed (Y/N) that reading the data and making the phone a Stark phone had taken four minutes and thirty-three seconds. He had taken the phone and made sure there were contacts and stuff before he headed out to the library for his actual date with Peter.

(Y/N) had gotten to the library at 6:30, as it had been an empty tower and he needed to get out without questions when he could. When he had arrived, from a different direction and hidden from view, he had noticed that Peter was already there and was pacing nervously, while muttering to himself.

He made a big show of walking up to him, and Peter had smiled warmly at him. “So, I kinda stole your wrecked phone. But for a good reason.” He said, handing over the new Stark phone to Peter. His eyes lit up, like a child seeing a tree full of presents on Christmas. He gingerly took the phone and looked it over. “It's practically indestructible, and most of your data from the old one was salvageable. So you've still got pictures and contacts and stuff.” (Y/N) finished explaining, and Peter flipped the phone over in his hands a couple of times before putting it in his pocket.

Peter lunged forward, grabbing (Y/N) by the collar of his jacket, and smashed their lips together. It was a small kiss before the spiderkid realized what he had done and quickly stepped away. “I'm so sorry. Please don't hate me. I forget sometimes that just because I'm gay doesn't mean everyone else is. I didn't mean anything.” He was rambling like something bad had happened in a starter relationship. (Y/N) waved a hand in front of him.

“Stop, Peter. You're breaking my heart here. You gotta stop and talk. But also listen. Did you ask me if I wanted this to mean something?” he asked, and the boy shook his head. “And wasn't I the one asking if this was a date?” he waited for Peter to realize and nod. “We may not all be gay. But I certainly am, even if I'm not necessarily out about it.” he finished, it had been something that he had known since he was seven. And since Coulson had been so great, he hadn't had to fight with himself to feel comfortable. When he had lost Coulson he just hadn't told anyone else, but he wasn't trying to hide it either.

“So do you wanna hold my hand and go to dinner, or do you not want this to be something?” he asked, and Peter turned a soft shade of pink but he wove his fingers together with (Y/N)’s.

As first dates go, the one with Peter went pretty well. Peter only spilled one glass of water and it was on the table and not on the floor. The conversation was easy, and (Y/N) even walked Peter home at the end of the night. Where the pair shared their second kiss.

From that point on, the two were constantly texting. (Y/N) had met Aunt May, and she was great. Peter had been to the Tower, but only when the Tower was empty. At this point, (Y/N) just wasn't sure how to approach the subject. Especially with the Avengers of all people. Steve was nice and all but he was from a whole other world, in regards to culture, and (Y/N) couldn't possibly imagine what he would think of gay people. Tony, he was sure would be cool with it, along with Bruce and probably Thor. But he wasn't sure how Nat and Clint would react.

(Y/N) had been battling with this for a year, and Peter was just the sweetest about it. He didn't try to pressure him, and he was understanding and didn't think that (Y/N) was ashamed of him or trying to hide him. He'd offered on several occasions to be there for the coming out of the closet party, just for support.

But it wasn't until Bruce and Tony had made the mistake of creating a sadistic AI that made its own body, did (Y/N) seriously start to consider it. It was partially due to Wanda, who had started to say something about what (Y/N) had been thinking which would have outed him. It had been a spur of the moment decision to text Peter to ask him over, and he'd asked FRIDAY to give him clearance when he got there.

It was a Friday night, so everyone was gathered for movie night. Tonight's pick had gone to Clint and Natasha and they had chosen some horror films and some spy films. It seemed like the perfect kind of environment to invite someone to. It was also a low-pressure meeting of the family since they couldn't talk through movies they wouldn't be able to drill Peter with questions.

Unfortunately, (Y/N) was in the kitchen getting popcorn and other junk food when Peter arrived at the common floor. “Hey, Spiderkid, right? What are you doing in my tower?” He heard Tony ask, and knew that Peter was trying to come up with some excuse or explanation.

“Stark, not just your Tower remember? Pepper’s got at least 12 percent, and I think I deserve at least 3 percent. So with that in mind, I think I have the right to invite my boyfriend over for movie night. Especially since the brand new Avenger is here, one that previously tried to kill all of you. No offense, Wanda.” he had wound up rambling and had needed to shut himself up. His stomach was doing that thing where it had moved and was trying to turn itself inside out. While he watched Natasha’s blank face and Clint’s that had slowly slipped into a frown.

“Seriously, kid. You picked now to do this? I just lost a hundred bucks. You couldn't have waited six more months.” Clint shifted and pulled out his wallet, handing over some bills to Natasha. She gave him a knowing smirk before walking over to (Y/N).

“Honey, we're spies. You don't think we couldn't tell. This is who you are and we love you.” she said, giving him a quick hug before moving over to where Peter had frozen just outside the elevator. “Now, you. We don't know you, we know of you and there's a file on you. So don't think you can get away with anything. And if you so much as split a hair on Coulson’s kids head. I can kill you 6 different ways that would make it look like an accident.” She hissed, going full momma bear mode on Peter. She turned quickly on her heel and settled into the overly large recliner with Clint.

“Are you gonna watch the movie with us or what?” This came from Tony, who raised his eyebrows in a knowing way. He moved to one end of the couch, patting the spots open next to him. (Y/N) put down all the junk he was still holding and took the spot next to Tony, and Peter took the one next to him.

Movie night went as well as expected. Peter was able to get into the swing of the snarky comments that the team would make throughout the movie and contributed a couple good one liners. It went so well that it made (Y/N) question why he had ever been afraid to come out to the Avengers in the first place. They were his family and they loved and accepted him just the way he was.

[entireoranges-creativity]

A Promise Ten Years Old

Title: A Promise Ten Years Old Fandom: Game Of Thrones Ship: Braime Disclaimer: I don’t own, don’t sue

“Don’t forgo your promise. It is time.” Brienne read the raven delivered message over and over, hoping the message would alter or she would be able to find a different meaning in the words. It did no good. Promises, oaths, and vows were all things she took very seriously, she’d give her life willingly if it meant upholding one; which made the fact she was prepared to soon break one to the man she loved dearly; her father.

Brienne knew she was fortunate to have a father who saw his daughter as what she desired to be rather then what society imagined for her. He allowed her to train, he allowed her to leave home, he allowed her freedom. Though he had attempted three occasions to find her a match he never blamed her there failures. The fact did remain Brienne was his only child and the only one who could continue on the name; to Selwyn that was the most important thing. Brienne’s memories flash back to her goodbye walk to the vessel to take her to the Stormlands, away from Tarth and her father.

“I need you to be safe.” He had said to her.

“Of course.”

“It will not be the same without you my love.”

“I know.” She had not trusted herself to say more then two words at a time.

“Brienne I need you to make me a promise.” It was then she realized he had stopped walking, she retreated a few feet to return to his side.

“Yes father?” He took that opportunity to take a deep breath before locking his eyes deeply into her own. Brienne’s heart had begun to pound.

“You may leave, you may show all of Westeros the unstoppable force you are. In fact I want you to change the world.’ He paused once again before reaching to take ahold of her hands ‘But my love at some point when you are still of age I need you to marry produce an heir. Ten years should be enough time.” She stared at him in disbelief and feeling torn. Angry he was suggesting such a thing and understanding of why he’d make such a request.

“I promise.” It had been a promise she had intended to keep even though it felt like a knife in her chest.

Ten years and three months plus had went by. That promise was dead to her. No man would love her; not enough to marry. More then that being a wife and mother was not of an interest to her. And now being in the Kingsguard no matter her feelings upon either aspect Brienne couldn’t have them even if she wanted.

Father will understand. Everything comes to an end, even families. She keeps telling herself staring at the scroll. And it’s not enough he had never had the opportunity to marry once more and sire another child.

“He can’t have any more.” Brienne jerks around, hand on Oathkeeper as a reflux at the unexpected voice in the room.

“Your Grace.” She bows slightly at Bran.

“Your father is unable to have more children.” He repeats, she doesn’t want to know how he knew this or how he knew where her thoughts had been at.

“That happens sometimes.”

“Yes it does.” The Kings voice becomes softer and sadder for a moment and Brienne recalls the revelation Sansa had made about her brother.

“I’m sorry about...” She stops short unable and unwilling to say it; no matter what though he was already aware of her intentions of comfort and sympathy.

“You need to keep your promise to him.”

“I do not your Grace. My promise to you supersedes all others.”

“He has found you a match.” Great. Brienne rolls her eyes. No doubt this one would be the worst and most desperate suitors her father presented to her.

“I won’t be so quick to judgement Ser Brienne. You shall return to Tarth and either keep that promise or forsake it. I do think either way your father misses you?” Brienne sighs and nods.

“And I him.” Over ten years was far too long and the guilt of never having an opportunity to visit home always weighed at her heart. Even though it would end in breaking her father’s heart when she’d leave undoubtedly still unmarried. Brienne looks at the young king as he stares back almost clawing into her soul; the idea he already knew what was to happen and all decisions made always left her uneasy, more so when it involved herself. She stops herself from asking details. Had her father actually found a kind decent man who would allow her to live life as she wanted? She didn’t need green sight to answer that one.

“You will begin your journey tomorrow at day break. Ser Adrian will step in as Lord Commander while you are away.” “Aye good choice.”

“Yes.” With that the maneuvers his chair and leaves Brienne alone once more with the note.

If Pod insisted on his own to occupy Brienne on her journey or if Bran assigned him the task she could not say or did she asked, but she as always was grateful for his company; though she felt as if she was being rather inconsiderate and distant towards the young knight. Her mind these last few days had become a jumble of memories of home (good and bad) and anticipation of what or rather who was waiting for her. After a simple hmm, right, sure to everything Pod asked of her on the first day during the trip he had given up and simply enjoyed the ride towards a favorable destination and not towards some battle or seeking out someone whom didn’t want to be found. And the weather had been nothing short of a blessing.

“Ser...it’s beautiful.” Brienne turns slightly and gives a half smile watching Pod’s eyes go wide as he stares across the water at slowly approaching island. Apart of her knew all these islands looked similar, but this one, Tarth; shinned brighter and more beautiful then the rest. A tinge of pride not felt in years burned in her chest.

“It certainly is.” She then takes notice of a small gathering of people on the shoreline; nothing out of the ordinary Tarth after all did have a nice fishing industry with vessels and those in charge of said vessels coming in at all hours. What was unusual was the older man (Gods had he truly aged that much?) with pure white hair and simple beard standing slightly by himself staring at the boat; as if trying to stare at Brienne. Tears, a rare expression of emotion threatens to fall.

“Father.” She whispers. A feast that evening was held in her honor, something in which made Brienne quite uncomfortable with but her insistence that it be canceled or at least the cause of celebration altered fell on deaf ears. The worse part was hearing the generosity from those of her past who still remained on the island and thought prior to her departure she to be a vile, unintelligent, and ugly woman. Now it was almost a hero worship, she wasn’t worthy nor did she appreciate it. Still she forced a smile and answered questions in fewest words as possible. Her father’s smile allowed her to know he was taking great proud in this.

“The way they speak you’d think you killed the Night King, Daenerys, and Ja...’ Pod stops suddenly his eyes wide in horror. ‘I’m so sorry Ser! Too much drink I suppose?” Brienne puts her hand atop of his, smiling, a sad weak smile, but one nonetheless.

“It’s okay. Ser Jaime will always be apart of my history. I’d like to think some of my best parts. I mean he brought me to you. For that I’m incredibly grateful. I have made peace with his death. I have.” Podrick watches her for a moment trying to determine if she spoke the truth. When it came to things like this it took Brienne a long time (if at all) to reveal how she truly felt. Burying down, avoiding at all costs of anything emotional was her mindset. A fact Podrick accepted with little question. There was a peace in her eyes though. It was about time.

“Brienne my dear may we speak?’ Selwyn Tarth approaches the table meeting his daughter's eyes. ‘I hate to pull you away but I need my sleep soon.” There is a heaviness in his tone, she suspects her father had not stayed up this late in quite some time.

“Father we can talk in the morning.” She offers. He shakes his head.

“Now would be best.” He turns and walks away. With a nod to Podrick Brienne turns and follows her father out the hall, down the corridor, into one of the studies. Memories flash back to lessons and angry tutors who never had the patience to help a little girl who struggled time to time with the material.

“I know you are angry with me.’ She goes to protest but stops when he places a finger in her face. A gesture if almost anyone else she would bend it so far back it surely would have snapped. Instead she just stares at it, then focuses on his face; she can not recall a time in which he appeared this serious. 'As I said I am not a fool Brienne. You are furious at me for making you return to this shitty pla..."

"Father. I do not find Tarth shitty. I do not regret returning to visit. I wish I had done it far sooner." She stresses every word in hopes he would believe the sincerity she is telling him; his expression does not indicate either way.

"Be that as it may; besides that you are angry I have made you withhold your promise. Perhaps you were hoping I'd pass before that day came?" Selwyn spoke the second half softer, not so soft that Brienne couldn't hear. She selects not to acknowledge it. Because in her heart the thought had past her mind time to time.

"I'm not angry father. I do understand your reasonings. But father this life of being a highborn lady, producing children just for the sake of continuing on a family is..."

"Do you think that's all you are to me? To your mother?"

"Pardon?"

"Do you think we only had our children simply to carry on our name? That we did not love you? And when your brother and sisters died we grieved not one tear?" His words felt a slap to Brienne.

"Forgive me father. That is not what I meant. Having a family is a beautiful and a blessing. I acknowledge that is. And for a time I thought it was a life for me but alas the Seven did not have that path craved out for me." Selwyn reaches over and gently caresses his daughter's cheek. She really missed his touch.

"I want you to be happy."

"I am happy." A quiet fills the room as he takes a few steps from her until he is looking out the window, only able to see his reflection in the dark. Brienne begins to surmise the conversation has come to a completion and is about to call out a farewell.

"You spoke highly of him in your letters." Her heart surprises her by starting to pound. There was only one him in which she discussed with her father; at least in any way which would be interpreted as highly. She kept certain feelings and details to herself though.

"Yes. Ser Jaime was a good man. I'm honored to have known him."

"I suspect if he were alive still your feelings on this subject would be vastly different?" Her skin grows red with angry. How dare he ask that?!

"Ser Jaime and I were friends. Nothing more." The memories of that month with him in Winterfell race through her memories, the good, the amazing, and one of the worst in her life. Her father would not know of any of this; he actually seemed to respect the deceased Lannister there was no need to alter that.

"Right..." There is a hint of something in his words that Brienne can't read, nor can she fully see his face to decipher his face.

"Father it is getting late and after that bounding of food I'm rea..."

"A few months ago. Four to be exact a solider appeared on the island. Not that uncommon as you know, they get lost, need a break from whatever assignment they are on, and we allow them that relaxation for a few days and then they are on their way again.' Brienne nods, Tarth seemed for many a perfect place to vacation, but few cared to call it home. 'This man was different though. After the usual amount of time in which others would depart he still remained. He spoke of fighting in both the battle with the Night King; I still don't fully understand all that..."

"I don't either, Father. And I was there." She tells him with a soft smile.

"And for that I'm grateful. He also shared the fact he was present for the turmoil in which took place at Kings Landing. Never giving much details on either; his scars speak enough though."

"Understandable."

"Being the Evenstar I like to know my people, make them feel at peace."

"You have always been quite at that." She suspects that would be something she'd fail at it and end up turning people away by her lack of true social graces.

"Thank you my dear. I quickly stuck up a friendship of sorts with this solider."

"That's kind of you father." Her mind is quickly beginning to suspect where this conversation is slowly leading to.

"He is a very kind and decent solider. Good looking too."

"Father..." There it was. Bran had said her father had found her match, but it wasn't until this moment the prophecy arose into reality.

"Of good standing too." Selwyn ignores his daughter's protest.

"I'm sure he is as wonderful as you say. But father I'm not..."

"I told him about you. Your grand adventures. How you were the first female to become a knight. Have you told you how immensely proud that made me?"

"Yes you have. I know this is hard for you..."

"He loved hearing those stories, holding onto my every word. At first I assumed he was being polite and listening to an old man ramble on. It was more then that Brienne. He really seems to care for you."

"I'm sure he does. You likely told him I was the most beautiful woman in all the Six Kingdoms plus the North. And not only that but if got me he'd get all this!" She gestures dramatically around her.

"So what if I did? I like him. I have a feeling about him."

"You're a fool." It was a rare occurrence in which she would speak in such a frank fashion to him.

"I am only thinking of what is best for you!"

"No, you're thinking of what is best for Tarth!" She is nearly shouting refusing to swallow down her emotions for one more second.

"Brienne I promise that is not the case. I do love you. And I only want you happy. Anything that occurs will be a bonus from the Seven. Which is why when he asked me for his bles..."

"Wait? What?!"

"What?"

"He was the one whom brought up marrying me?" Brienne tries not to laugh.

"Yes he did. He sai..."

"You really are a fool father. He is taking advantage of you. Of all of us." Selwyn has stepped away from the window and back within arm reach of his daughter. The look he is giving shudders her more then any wight ever had; for a second she is certain he is about to slap her.

"Be that has it may I agreed and made me that promise before you left. I damn well expect you to keep it!" It might as well have been slap. Before she can respond he quickly departed the study in a fit of anger.

The next morning after a fairly unsatisfactory amount of sleep Brienne finds Pod having breakfast with a group who seemed to be near his own age. Laughing and having a joyful time; it seized for the knight when he spots his dear friend and quickly departs from their table.

"You did not need to leave on my account Pod."

"I am aware, I wanted to. Is everything good?" The corners of her mouth turn up. Dear Podrick was always way too pure and kind for this world.

"I honestly can not say. The conversation I had with my father...it was a draining one that is for sure."

"Is it true? About...?" Brienne nods.

"Yes he has apparently found the ideal man. Though I'm not sure if he's ideal for myself or for him."

"I don't follow Ser..." She chuckles. Before providing to him an edited variation the previous nights events. Watching Pod's face change and alter the longer she spoke was entertaining.

"Wow."

"Yeah. You're telling me. Oh Podrick what am I supposed to do?" He shrugs, seemingly deep in thought.

"Perhaps and hear me out...perhaps your father is right and this solider is a decent man deserving of you?" Brienne rolls her eyes.

"That's not possible. Things like that don't happen for anyone. Especially not for me!" She feels a tinge of guilt for snapping at him. He doesn't seem to notice or care.

"You weren't suppose to become a knight. You weren't suppose to become a lead commander of the Kingsguard. Yet you did. So why not this too?" Tears fill her vision and rather risk him seeing them she quickly departs, nearly running from the hall. She finds herself in the gardens, near the training yard where she seemed hours with father. No one wanted to train a girl in the art and the few in which had tired of the task quickly; telling father she was far too aggressive. Even now Brienne did not comprehend how that was something to be thought as negative.

She takes a seat on a stone bench, the same one in which she had the foggiest memories of her mother braiding her hair; at times she wonders if every memory of her mom is simply a dream breaking into the real world. Her mother was a topic she hardly approached even within the silence in her heart. There was no point in holding onto the past and those of it. She had a chest of dead written on that heart that forged her until the person she is. Still despite herself times like this in this place Brienne wishes she had more time with her. Wonders how different life for all of them would be different if she hadn't caught that fever; would she side with father on this? Or would she understand her daughter to be destined for another life?

"Brienne?" Her head snaps up to her father, thrown by the fact she failed to hear him approach.

"Father?" She tries not to come across as annoyed or even pissed, she is aware it was a failure.

"I wanted to apologize for my behavior last evening. My temper at times gets the best of me."

"Of that I can sympathize with. I too took things too far. And I am sorry." The anger dispates as she smiles at him.

"I was wrong to say you had to marry. I do have your best intentions at heart though."

"I know you do. And I wish I could be that daughter who would throw herself around your neck and praise you for hours for finding her a match. But..."

"But it's not you. I always knew that to be true. Still apart of me hoped..."

"I do love you father."

"And I love you Brienne.' He takes a deep breath as he takes a seat beside her. 'Could you do me a favor though?" A hundred if not more things collect in her mind of trying to figure out what favor he possibly could be preparing to ask.

"Yes, I suppose."

"Can you at least meet him?" Her eyes clinch shut. That had been one of things she imagined he'd say.

"I don't know father. It almost seems a shame to ruin the fantasy he has of me with the actual hideous monster I am."

"Brienne! You know I absolutely hate when you speak like that!"

"You're right. I'm sorry. Really though I don't know if I should."

"You should because it's the polite and decent thing to do. I am releasing you from your promise so don't worry about that. Still he deserves the pleasure of meeting you. My beautiful and amazing daughter." For the second time that morning tears attempt to cascade down.

"Fair enough father. Let him know when he has a..."

"He is waiting in the study for you." Selwyn interrupts her.

"Oh. Well I suppose I should not leave him waiting.' She stands up pulling down at her tunic. 'Are you not coming father?" He shakes his head.

"No, I have already meet him." Brienne smirks at his playful quip. Without anything further she departs, in fear if she didn't she would never move. The thought occurs to turn the opposite direction once inside to find Podrick and race to the next vessel leaving for the mainland. She would never forgive herself though.

The door is slightly a jar as she steps in, past the part where she stood just hours ago. She surveys the surroundings, eye brows crinkled in confusion; there was no one here but herself. Had father misunderstood where this solider was to meet her? Had he spied her at some point since her arrival and ...

"Ser Brienne." The voice. That voice was a ghost straight from the deepest chest in her heart. She turns slowly almost as if a force outside of her control is doing the moving for her. A gasp escapes as her knees stumble. He rushes to her side. A ghost. Surely this was ghost.

"Jaime?" It now feels foreign on her tongue.

"Yeah. Hi." Brienne reaches out and touches his face, for being a ghost he was warm and of flesh.

"I don't understand. You're dead." That was a statement of fact in her mind and nothing else.

"I'm sure it may come as a disappointment to many but I am very much alive."

"No. Tyrion saw you. You and Cersei."

"He saw her but not me. For the fragile peace to take place and more importantly stay that way the Kingdoms needed to believe me to have died as well. Look I really don't understand it; just when Bran says something you listen." She shakes her head, scrambling to her feet, with a helping hand from him.

"Bran. Yeah..."

"Gods Brienne I've missed you! These last ten months have been torture for me!" Jaime leans in for a kiss, she jerks away.

"No. No, you don't get to do that! You think I have forgotten or forgive you?!" She pushes him away.

"I'm so sorry. That single handily was the hardest thing I ever done! Do you not think I don't play that morning in my head over and over? That I don't wish I could've told you everything?!"

"Why didn't you?" Her words are soft.

"Because I couldn't lose you.' She looks up at him 'Bran told me if you knew the truth of I was heading for Cersei to in fact not save her, but kill her you'd insist as the noble knight you are to ride along side me. And...you would not have survived. Of that I could not bear." Jaime now as tears watering his face.

"Jaime..." So many things to still question, explanations wanting to be seemed out. Instead all she wanted to do was hold him and be held by him. She steps towards and engulf her arms around him as he follows suit and what feels like hours they just hold each other and cry.

"Oh by the way.' Jaime begins as he pulls away. 'I meant what I said."

"Said about what?"

"When I told the Evenstar I was interested in marrying his daughter." She had almost forgotten about that.

"Did he know who are you?" He nods with a grin.

"I mean come on not many knights are out there missing a hand! Plus your father is a smart man. I made him promise not reveal the truth. But what do you say Brienne Of Tarth will do you me the pleasure of allowing me to be your husband?"

"I never wanted to marry, not since I was a young girl. I never wanted to have children...' His face looks crestfallen and Brienne smiles 'that's until I meet you. Well not when I first meet you..." Jaime bursts out with laughter.

"Understandable. Now though?"

"Gods of course a million times yes." At last their lips meet again and joy she thought destroyed engulfs her.

[djtrumpnetwork-blog]

Whatever Happened to 3D Printing?

Whatever Happened to 3D Printing? It Found Its Way. So where are we now? One day soon, we’ve been told over the last decade or so, we’ll all have 3D printers in our living rooms! You can make whatever you want!! But we don’t, and you can’t. “With every technology, you have the hype cycle, and right now we’re sort of at the bottom, because the hype is over,” says Joris Laarman, a Dutch designer who has engineered new types of digital-fabrication materials and whose work is the subject of an exhibition at the Smithsonian’s Cooper Hewitt Museum in New York through January. “People are kind of like, ‘Okay, so? What can we do with it? Was it real or was it just hype?’ ” (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || ).push({}); Well, for some it hasn’t been just hype. Laarman uses 3D printing to create functional, usable furniture called micro structures. SpaceX has a dedicated 3D printing zone at its plant in Hawthorne, California. GE’s Brilliant Factory aims to use 3D printing to transform large-scale manufacturing. But where is 3D printing for the rest of us? Part of the answer lies in the book. The book is 194 pages long. On each page, color photographs and diagrams illustrate clear instructions presented in large type beneath easy-to-read headlines: DESIGN. RESIZE AND DUPLICATE. BUILD THE TALLEST BUILDING. PRINT, TEST, AND ITERATE! The book is written for teachers and students, and each of the nine projects in the book begins with a Lesson Summary. Such as: “Students will be asked to create a vehicle . . . to carry 100 mL of water from the starting line, around a track and to the finish line. Students should aim to spill as little water as possible while speeding around the track.” The book is called the MakerBot Educators Guidebook. And it reflects the new direction the consumer 3D-printing industry is taking. In September, the day before its release, employees were smiling about it at the Brooklyn headquarters of MakerBot, the company that pioneered desktop 3D printing less than a decade ago—the MakerBot Thing-O-Matic, which came in kit form, was introduced in 2010. It seems simple today, when compared to their most current model, the Replicator+, on which, with a little help, a ten-year-old could open the box and be printing in less than 30 minutes. That book, that machine, and that kid are the future of 3D printing.

Emily Jackson Sanborn became the Orono Middle School and High School librarian last year. The Maine schools had a 3D printer already—somewhere. She dug the kit out and enough curious students wanted to help her figure it out that she started offering mini-classes during students’ advisory time. It was such a hit that Jackson Sanborn and her principal applied for, and won, a foundation grant to buy a FlashForge—a “super-crazy-easy out-of-the-box printer to use.” The school also hired a new IT director over the summer, who brought a MakerBot Replicator II and a bit of experience. “My goal is for the kids to work toward a project with a real-life application,” says Jackson Sanborn. “A problem that we can create a fix for.” This year, one high school student will print a gimbal camera mount to film projects for his acting class. At the World Maker Faire in New York, in September, the 3D Printing Village showcased dozens of machines meant for the educational market. Booth after booth, many of them surrounded by kids. There was a booth by a company that sells 3D printers that work off a smartphone. A high school girl sat behind a booth at the end of a row fiddling with a printer she had hacked so that two extruders could work simultaneously. Dremel, the hand-tool manufacturer, started selling its Idea Builder 3D printers in 2014. At that time, the 3D-printer-in-every-pot hype was still high. Now, Dremel president John Kavanagh says the company has recalibrated its mission. “There’s still a consumer market, it’s just that it’s a smaller market. It’s these ultra-creatives or the ultra-technical. So the needs we were actually trying to fulfill in the consumer market weren’t really there—and yet the needs were there in education,” he says. Dremel has since set out to provide schools with a premium product and easy customer service. “You don’t want to put a product in the school that is not easy to use, because the teachers aren’t experts in 3D printers. And the product really should be reliable and safe. The teachers don’t have time to try to call remote customer service.” For companies like MakerBot and Dremel, the problem on the educational front is that several companies are marketing basic, low-price printers to schools. They have lower capability (smaller, slower, fussier), but the price is alluring for school budgets. So instead of buying one Dremel Idea Builder for $2,000, a school might buy four printers by XYZ Printingfor $449 each. “We’re often shocked at how quickly it seems to be—I hate to say it—a race to the bottom on price. To get these higher volumes and unit sales, the overall value of those in the business isn’t that high,” says Kavanagh. And yet in some communities, basic works. Ron Smith teaches welding and engineering at Nestucca Junior/Senior High School in Cloverdale, Oregon. His 3D printer? An Afinia H480, a now-discontinued desktop model he’s had since 2014. At the end of the year, each student gets to design his or her own keepsake, something small that they want just for themselves. “These are some of the tools I can use to get kids interested, to go on to college and learn more about stuff like this,” he says. “Around here, if you don’t own a dairy, if you don’t work in tourism—we’re on the coast—then you work for pretty much minimum wage. There’s no industry. We have a cheese factory in Tillamook, which is 25 miles away. So I’ve done a really, really good job of trying to stay up with technology and get my kids interested in stuff like that. To show them it’s a big world out there, go out there and make your mark, that type of thing.” Which brings us back to the book. The book is about the future. “The revolution didn’t happen overnight the way commentators and the media predicted, so now a good amount of skepticism and cynicism has set in,” says Josh Snider, public relations manager at MakerBot. “There’s still a widespread understanding that the technology will mature and have its place in a number of industries, but the general public still only sees 3D printing as a curiosity and a ‘revolution pending’ status.”

But you know who’s not skeptical? Kids. The kids who learn the nine projects in the MakerBot Educators Guidebook will grow up thinking—grow up knowing—that printing works in a lot of ways and for a lot of things. And that it is their technology. In October, MakerBot announced the creation of MakerBot Labs, an initiative that includes new software, hardware, and community building designed to let creators create with fewer technological barriers. The centerpiece is the Experimental Extruder. An extruder is the device on a printer that absorbs whatever material is being used to print—usually plastic filament—then heats it so that it can be extruded onto the printer’s work surface (called the build plate), and casts it in solid form again. More advanced printers have experimented with other materials besides plastic—wood, metal, stone—but those materials tend to clog and wear out normal extruders. The new one from MakerBot promises to handle a variety of exotic and composite materials—cork, wood, copper, brass—printable within a temperature range of 100 and 255 degrees Celsius. “We know printing in non-typical materials—anything that isn’t PLA or ABS plastics—is much harder to do and requires some trial and error, something our competitors are happy to leave out when they list their ‘material compatibility,’ ” says Snider. “We’re going to leverage our community to collaborate and hone different material profiles.” The thing about 3D printing is, you’re going to mess up. Maybe mess up is the wrong phrase. Your efforts will not always succeed. Things won’t work. An object will collapse, or not fit together, or break when you try to remove the supports that hold it together as it comes into being. This will be frustrating, especially if you’re a seventh-grade teacher with a room full of kids staring at you. But that’s what happens. 3D printing is not really printing at all. It’s manufacturing. It’s making. And that’s a messy business. Today’s most-used printers make it easy without making it simple. They help get you to a place where you can fail, and that’s what makes us create. Messy is where we are now. The revolution is messy everywhere. It is messy at SpaceX and it is messy at GE. And it is messy at schools where kids are learning to use a new generation printer to make keepsakes and gimbal mounts and small water-carrying robots so that—in another ten years—they can work at SpaceX, and GE, and companies that don’t even exist yet, using materials that no one has imagined, to make breakthroughs nobody has dreamed of.

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