#would have looked great for the uc system

[telesilla]

Nancy’s union has a contract! And it’s a pretty good one, so give it up for unions everyone!

[sexybritishllama]

strap in folks it's time for another neopets drama update

some background reading before we begin: back when neopets wanted to introduce customisation (i.e. dressing up your pet) in 2007, they decided to 'convert' all existing pet art to align with a rigid body structure, rather than all having unique poses. it was just not feasible to create new pieces of art for hundreds of different pet poses every single time they released a new clothing them

customisation had been highly requested up until this point. however, the conversion was NOT popular. in some cases, particularly for basic colours, the change wasn't huge, but in other cases.... uh....

you get the idea. the more expensive colours like plushie, faerie, grey, royal and darigan got the worst of it because they had the more unique poses pre-conversion, and therefore it was largely agreed that the change to the stiff 'samey', frankly kinda goofy converted look did not look great

most users did not get a choice in having their neopet converted and it was done automatically, but if you had one of these colours where the change was huge, you were given the choice of converting or retaining the old pose (but not having the option to customise your pet). those pets that retained the old, pre-conversion poses are therefore referred to as 'unconverted', or UC for short

once a pet is converted, there's no returning to UC. you also couldn't create UC pets anymore, making UCs a limited resource that would only increase in value with time, particularly as people abandon their pets, leave the site, get frozen, etc.

i could write an entire dissertation on the drama that UC pets have caused for the pet trading economy, the neopet account black market, and general retention of the userbase, but to sum it up, people REALLY want UC pets. they are the single most coveted status symbol on the site

we skip forward now to 2023

the neopets team are planning to introduce UC pets back to the site, so that people will be able to create their own UC pets again for the first time post-converstion (legally at least)

they drip feed bits of information over the year about what this will look like. the main points are

changing a pet to UC will be done via some kind of item bought with neocash, the premium currency on neopets that you need to spend real money to get

putting this item on your pet will give it the UC art style appearance

so. not much really known. but expected release is set for january 2024

yesterday, they hosted an AMA focusing on the new UC pet system and how this was going to work. noticeably absent is any explanation of how much this is actually going to cost and whether it is going to involve any kind of gatcha mechanic, so that's causing our first lot of concern

second lot of drama is that the new UCs aren't actually going to be COMPLETELY the same as the old art, as they're making some small changes for style consistency, see below (old on top, new below):

the biggest drama, however, comes from how they're dealing with the 'original' UC pets. ALL pets will be getting forcibly converted on the 23rd, with anyone who has a pet that is already an original UC immediately receiving the UC neocash item. there's mention of possibly some kind of trophy or badge recognition for particularly old pets, but it's vague, and generally seems like it won't be possible to distinguish between the original UCs and these new ones

the people who already have OCs are not happy about this

people are allegedly pounding their pets, cancelling their premium, and quitting the site in protest. the boards are flooded with people complaining about the changes and laughing at the downfall of the 'neo-elite' in equal measure

it's t-minus 5 days until the second great conversion goes live. let's all pray for our souls

[scientia-rex]

Saw a patient today who had been through a series of medical visits that epitomizes what I hate about multiple different kinds of care providers. Their VA dermatologist took a scoop out of them to remove a basal cell cancer. Fine. I’m not a dermatologist, maybe it needed those wide margins. (If it didn’t, going that deep should mean it was an excisional biopsy and they put in sutures to close it.) They gave the patient and his wife confusing instructions about wound care. They didn’t provide guidance around keeping it covered or moist. It got infected. His wife took him to Urgent Care. The UC doc took a swab of the wound and started antibiotics. They came to see me for a visit we scheduled ages ago for something else.

Here’s the thing. Wounds need to be kept at what I call the Goldilocks moisture level: not too dry and not too wet. If it’s pruny/white/mushy like it’s been in a bathtub, it’s too wet. If it’s cracking, it’s too dry. This is why you can’t say “cover it for X days and then leave it out.” That would be like telling someone with heart failure and lower extremity edema “take the diuretic for a week and then stop” without any instructions around dry weight, dizziness, etc. It’s more complicated than that.

This wound was too dry. No one had talked to them about keeping it moist. No one had even mentioned Vaseline.

No, they got a wound swab. Want to guess how good a wound swab is for an open wound exposed to the world? Pretty terrible. You can improve it a little bit by making sure you’ve removed some kind of layer and then expressing fluid directly from the wound with the swab, but it’s still bad. The only time I give a shit about what grows from a wound swab is when it was a) collected in the OR (as when the podiatrist gets a sample of osteomyelitic bone in a sterile environment) or b) when it grows pseudomonas. Everything else? I can figure out by looking at it. If it’s skin it’s probably either staph or strep. If it’s staph, it’s either MRSA or MSSA. If it’s MRSA, it’s making a lot of pus, it’s red, it’s hot, it’s painful. This wasn’t. So it was either MSSA or strep. So what are we going to do for systemic antibiotics? Probably the same thing we would have done anyway—Keflex.

And what’s the utility of systemic antibiotics in a skin wound? Not a lot, most of the time. This wasn’t cellulitis proper. It wasn’t red or hot or angry enough. A red border around the wound does not a systemic infection make. And if you don’t care properly for the wound itself, there’s no point in antibiotics, because it still can’t heal. Antibiotics can get where blood goes. Blood does not go into the slough that is the bacterial biofilm covering a wound.

So I sat there with gauze and saline and gently debrided the 100% slough off the wound. It’s yucky and it takes time and attention. It doesn’t get compensated. That’s why no one else had done it yet. The derm had blown it off as “it’s healing, it’s fine.” It wasn’t healing. It was developing rolled edges, where the wound edges couldn’t heal across the slough and so they started to curl back under themselves. If taking off the slough (and keeping it gone by MAINTAINING PROPER CONDITIONS) doesn’t let it heal, I’ll need to get him back in and rough up the edges with a Buck’s curette until it can heal.

Multiple professionals who should have known better tried to make my patient just go away, rather than heal him.

I’m pissed. I’m tired. I think I have a cold. I shouldn’t be doing the work the dermatologist or the UC provider should have done. And because of everything they’d told her, his wife was pissed at me for doing what was correct. “We’ve heard a lot of different things!” Yes, and I’m right. You’ll find out when the wound actually starts healing when we care for it properly.

The value of a model is in what it can predict. Wounds are great about making it clear when your model sucks.

[mvdtu3]

Holy hell I wasn't expecting things to go this way but I am very excited about it. If you asked me last week about how I thought this episode would go based on the preview, I would've said that: Nyaan pilots GQuuuuuuX -> Shuji dies in Clan Battle -> Machu and Nyaan's relationship is fractured through grief/guilt. But instead we got the far more interesting: Nyaan pilots GQuuuuuuX -> Is so powerful that she basically outdoes all of Machu's previous performances -> Machu and Nyaan's relationship is fractured through Machu feeling not special/replaceable as the GQuuuuuuX's pilot/jealous.

The action throughout this series has been consistently great, I love how they portray the sheer speed of Zero-Gravity Combat. Also good to basically confirm that Machu is bi before doing all the internal conflict within the main trio so people hopefully don't get the wrong idea.

Things look like they will be heating up next week as the walls seem to be closing in our protagonists. I am a bit interested by the title of the next episode being about assassinating Kycilia all of a sudden. I wonder how those photos of Shuji's hideout got leaked...

The rest of this will just be me wildly speculating and rambling about Psycommu, Psycho-Frame and Newtype tech so:

It has been a consistent thought of mine throughout the series so far that the Alpha and Omega Psycommu (Interesting that their called Alpha and Omega specifically as well) installed in the Red Gundam and GQuuuuuuX respectively seem to behave far more like either the Nu Gundam's Psycho-Frame cockpit or the Unicorn Series' Full-Body Psycho-Frame design (respectively), than tech from their equivalent time period or anything called a Psycommu specifically.

This is firstly seen through the 'Zeknova' phenomenon that the GQ Timeline Psycommu are able to produce, which bear a resemblance to a more destructive version of the Psycho-Field phenomenon that Psycho-Frame systems are capable of producing in the mainline UC. In addition it is stated in one of the earlier episodes that GQ Psycommu systems may be able to 'resonate' to generate a Zeknova, in a clear parallel to how Psycho-Frame systems can resonate to generate a Psycho-Field.

Another interesting parallel is that the GQuuuuuuX's Omega Psycommu system seems to serve the primary function of allowing a Newtype pilot to directly control the Mobile Suit's body through their thoughts alone. Which is similar to the explanation for the Full-Body Psycho-Frame featured in the Unicorn Gundams. Even the cockpits of the GQuuuuuuX and the Unicorns both transform when the Omega Psycommu and NTD active to retract most of the standard controls.

Overall, while I am not saying that any of the GQ timeline mobile suits contain Psycho-Frame, it is clear that, even mere months after the timeline diverges, Zeon's Newtype tech is capable of putting out phenomenon that wouldn't be seen in the Main UC timeline for years. And they appear to have made drastically faster progress with Newtype tech than I would have expected, without any real clear explanation at this point.

I am definitely leaning more towards the GQuuuuuuX itself probably having more secrets in it. It seems to have an incredibly potent Psycommu system, with everyone who activates it being immediately sent straight to the 'having a crazy out of body experience' level of Newtype power, rather than building up to that point. That, combined with the parallels to the Unicorn definitely make me feel like it hasn't shown its real power yet.

[lilulicious]

COE-PILOT: THE SPACE BETWEEN US, A STARFIELD LOVE STORY

Chapter 7: The Great Escape

LILU, NOW:

As Lilu walked briskly away from the Lodge towards the New Atlantis Transport (the NAT, as the locals called it) Station, she thought about finding yet another transport off of this rock and never coming back. Certainly, there had to be some place she could go, where she could disappear, where Constellation and UC SysDef would never find her again. Maybe she could start yet another new life doing... what, exactly? Shit, she didn't even have a solid escape plan. She still didn't know enough about the Settled Systems to figure out who she could join up with, where she could hide, if the UC would really come looking for their precious antiquity, their Old Earth girl. She was certain no one in Constellation would miss her, that's for sure.

She cursed her own stupidity on the NAT ride to the Spaceport. How did she let herself get suckered into feeling something for that man, that Sam Coe? She had been dead set against it from the beginning, so much so she practically repeated it to herself like a mantra. She knew, she KNEW he was going to mess things up for her. His appearance in her dreams back on Earth when she, well, when the worst was happening, long before she came here... that wasn't a vision of the future, it was a portent of doom. It should have come with a warning label, like a skull and cross bones: "He's dangerous, Liluana, es un hombre muy peligroso." Yeah, dangerous to her heart. Her resistance was frail, what else was new there, and when she fell, it was quickly and hard. And now look: she had been humiliated and cut loose. She didn't ask for this. He offered it, then snatched it away, like a cruel trick.

All of these things that got her in trouble, this was her mother's doing, she thought. Her mother tied so much of her own self-worth in having a man that Lilu grew up believing that she wasn't complete without a boy to be in love with. Take a penny, leave a penny, you couldn't break up with one without immediately finding another one to ease the heartache. Her mother used to spin tales about her many suitors when she was young, how she would pick a fight with one young man as an excuse to go out with another she was eyeing. It was always games with her.

In Lilu, though, there was a little girl who believed in true romance. In high school, even though she entertained notions of defying her father and joining the Army, she couldn't get enough of Jane Austen's novels and also more contemporary cozy mysteries where the hopelessly romantic female protagonist haplessly fell in love with her dream man in the most delicious ways. She had been a young woman who dreamed the big dreams of grand love stories that were meant to be, written in the stars, told in signs and portents. The "perfect" men who showed up at just the right time to save their damsel in distress. Or in her case, a vision so brief it was only a glimpse of a man she did not know that appeared to her, amongst other images she still could not place except one, that which was similar to the lights she saw when she pulled the Artifacts from the rocks in which they were embedded. That vision the man, that split second look at him, first appeared during one of the most brutal, mind-breaking moments of her life, and continued to haunt her dreams in times of physical and mental stress thereafter. That the man turned out to be very real, just in a different time and place, was staggering to her when she saw him. But now he was also a man who she felt very much attracted to, and it seemed he felt the same for her. How could that not feel meant to be... until the bottom fell out?

And now, well now she would have to forget it even happened? That he held sway over her heart for even a moment, and that it felt right? "Psssh," she told herself, "it always feels right with you. This time a bit more than it should. This is what you do, so maybe this was for the best. It would have ended in disaster like it always does." She didn't necessarily feel convinced but still. Maybe love just wasn't for her. It isn't like she couldn't always find someone to fuck when she needed it. She was thinking this was very modern and futuristic of her, very Old Earth "Sex in the City", very independent indeed, when she heard Sam and Cora climb on board, and she took one look at him. Lilu felt the yearning in the pit of her stomach flare up like a shot of hard whiskey; she liked him, god help her, and she knew that this effort would be herculean. She closed the cockpit hatch and flipped the lock, then said over the intercom, "We'll be taking off for Vectera shortly."

A few minutes later, the comms buzzed. It was Sam. "Can I come in, I'd like to talk for a few minutes, if you're able?"

"Nope." Then the sound of the engines warming. She wasn't even going there with him right now.

Up, up, and away out of New Atlantis they went, Lilu pondering the state of her heartache, wishing that Sam Coe had turned out to be a different person. Wishing she had been a different person. That last bit was something she frequently wished, though, that she was someone else entirely. Because wherever she ran to, there she always was. Totally fuckable (clearly), completely unlovable (as evidence demonstrated repeatedly), except by one person who was dead now. Thanks to her. She decided to fully wallow in her pity party for the duration of their trip.

When they landed on Vectera and disembarked from the Frontier, Lilu this time was returning in her Constellation spacesuit instead of the rough Argos mining kit with which she departed. For a minute, she reminisced about her firefight with the Crimson Fleet, her first glimpse of the Frontier, the excitement of the mere thought of joining Constellation, and everything that came afterwards. Then she snapped out of her reverie and remembered why she and Sam were there and that time could be of the essence. She didn't see anyone at all moving about the base camp and got worried. Then she spotted what looked like her former Argos supervisor, Lin, crouched by a crate, packing things up, and she breathed a sigh of relief. She jogged towards her, ponderous in her heavily booted feet.

"Liiiiiiin!" she called out, but the other woman stood, turned, and gave her a steely glare.

"Oh no, I don't need you rolling in here like Barrett 2.0 when I've had a lifetime's worth of the original," said Lin, voice caustic with disapproval.

Lilu pulled up short, deflated. "Why, what happened?"

"Don't you 'What happened?' me! What happened is you left, and more pirates came. Most of our people died, dusty. The injured and the capable. The pirates were looking for the Frontier and looking for revenge for one of their Captains, some guy named Brogan who they say someone from Constellation murdered at one of their bases on the moon of Kreet. I take it that was your handiwork?" Lin looked furious.

"Well," started Lilu, guiltily, "Yes. But I'm sorry, Lin, I didn't know."

"How could you know, you didn't bother coming back until now."

Lilu felt the guilt wash over her. Sarah had thought that they should check on Barrett first up in the list of missions on tap, but no, she selfishly opted to do the expedition with Sam because she remembered the name "Sam" from her dreams and then once she saw his face matched up with those visions, it was game-over. And how did that whole thing go? Sure, they got the artifact, but she ended up with hurt feelings on her end and dead colleagues here on Vectera. It was a win-lose-lose, so a net loss due to her poor judgment yet again. She could almost see her father's disapproving stare and barely perceptible shake of his head, as if he were alive and standing in front of her to remind her what a fool she was. Again.

"So, what happened to Barrett?" Lilu finally ventured to ask, after she slapped and wrestled her demons back into their cages.

"We were fighting the pirates off; Barrett is a hell of a fighter, to his credit," Lin said, reminiscing, eyes unfocused. "But there were too many," she said remorsefully, turning her gaze upon Lilu again. "We started to get ready to go out with a blaze of glory, you know? Even Barrett seemed to feel like this was it. He said, 'I'm sorry, Lin, I'll take care of it'. Like a suicide mission."

"Dang. That's when you know it's time to run away," said Lilu, only half joking. It was a habit to use humor, however dark, as a defense mechanism, to deflect from the grimness of a situation, and she knew the feeling of inevitable defeat and impending death.

Suddenly Sam broke in from behind her. "Come on... you?" he scoffed, "run away? The way I've seen you fight, we've handled just as bad together." He looked almost outraged at the suggestion.

Lilu and Lin both turned to fix him with cold, hard stares for the interruption, and he subsided, looking down at the ground. Satisfied, Lilu turned back to Lin, who continued.

"He jumped out from behind cover, took out three of the pirates... THREE... and was about to go for their leader when two more of those assholes brought out Heller from inside the station, a gun pointed to his head," Lin finished, looking down at the ground with the pain of the memory. She had such a soft spot for Heller, like he was her kid or something.

"Awww, man, poor Heller," said Lilu, and she meant it. He was kind of a big baby, and he must have been terrified.

Lin said, "Last thing I saw, Barrett was talking to the pirates' leader, Matsura, I think they called him. They talked for a while, and then this Matsura called to all the pirates, and they went to their ships, and took Barrett and Heller with them. When they took off, I tried to bounce a signal off the hull to track them but I'm not sure it worked. If it did, it'll be stored on the computer inside, except an electric pulse fried the batteries, I can't get it working again. If you think you can unbrick it, you might be able to get a location. I'm no good with tech." She looked around miserably. "I lost most of my people on this job, dusty. I just want to get out of here." And she turned away to continue packing. Lilu wasn't sure, and it was hard to see through the faceplate of her spacesuit, but she thought maybe the other woman was crying a little bit. She didn't blame her one bit. These were Lin's people, her responsibility, and she felt the weight of their loss like her own family. She was a good leader. And Lilu felt like shit for letting her down.

She turned towards the airlock of the main Argos hab, the one she had exited a mere few days ago to meet their Constellation buyer for the Artifact she had pulled out of the mine. Still hard for her to wrap her head around how far she had come. For a second, she thought about Sam and how he was a part of all that and pushed him out of her mind again just as quickly. She also felt a tremendous amount of guilt. These miners were defenseless here. She couldn't be certain, of course, but judging on how the other two members of Constellation fought that she had been on expeditions with, she doubted Barrett was a master technician with weapons and combat in the field. She had impressed Barrett, Sarah, and Sam. If she had stayed a bit longer, what might have turned out differently?

It was in this dark morass of regrets that she was pulling the levers angrily on the doors' airlocks, and Sam noticed, but he took it the wrong way. "Hey, I know you're pissed off but..."

"But what?" she said sharply. "What do you think you know? Yes, I am pissed, but it turns out I can be pissed off about multiple things. What I'm pissed off about right now is that I could have helped them if I'd stayed here instead of running off to New Atlantis with the Artifact. All these people died because they didn't have effective defense. I should have stayed. Barrett should have gone back with the Artifact instead. That... that probably would have worked out best, considering how everything has gone," she finished, miserably.

"How do you figure that?" Sam asked, as he followed her into the mining habs. "Were you going to fight them off by yourself?"

"They were ridiculously easy to pick off, even with the crappy pistol I was given. I mean, look, I don't mean to be insulting but it's gonna come out that way anyways because remember, asshole here"... and here, Sam made a sarcastic face at her, catching the reference to their first ever conversation about Akila City, the Freestar Rangers, and how she didn't endear herself to him questioning him about Cora being towed into danger on the ship... "so brace yourself, but you folks here aren't exactly the sharpest tools in the shed when it comes to combat, and these Crimson Fleet dorks are really bottom of the barrel. It's like someone gave an earthworm arms and handed them a gun." Lilu was rummaging through storage shelves, looking for something, occasionally pocketing spools of wire and gauges "for later".

"'Us folks here'. I won't lie, you were pretty impressive out there on Akila, but you're a miner. I don't think you can just write us all off as some kind of amateurs. You know, I was..." But she interrupted before Sam could finish.

"Yeah, yeah, maybe you were just having an off day," Lilu finished impatiently, holding up a large metal rectangle with a blue LED at one end, and showing it to Sam. "This is a battery for the radio. I remember it from orientation because if the radio doesn't work you might not get rescued for months. See if you can find two more of these, ok?" And she returned to rummaging.

Eventually Sam found another battery, and Lilu found the third. She led the way to the communications equipment room, where they inserted the batteries and Lilu tried to bring the radio and its computer back online.

"So, besides being the miner who singlehandedly would have saved her Argos crew, how else would it have worked out best if you had stayed here?" Sam couldn't let it go, apparently, and it was his turn to be the asshole.

Lilu glared at him briefly before turning her attention back to the computer controlling the radio. "Sam, I was a miner for three days. I've been away from here now for three days. So, I've now been 'not a miner' again for as long as I was actually a miner. Not counting all the time before that. Do the math."

The radio crackled to life, but Lilu turned her attention to archives and recordings, and found what she was looking for: a recording sent by Barrett, and she also heard Heller's voice, meaning they were alive when they left the planet. The last satellite ping had them going over the moon of another planet in that solar system, and then nothing. Shit, what did that mean? She looked up at Sam, who seemed to catch her wavelength without speaking.

"Well, they seemed like they were in orbit over that small moon when the beacon disappeared. Maybe to pick someone up or drop something off," he said, his tone turning upward almost like a question.

"Or?" asked Lilu.

"Or they could have grav jumped somewhere," said Sam, looking downcast.

"Or?" demanded Lilu.

"Or... game over."

"Shit. Let's go talk to Lin and then we'd better go and find out."

Lilu briefed Lin about the situation, and the older woman's face grew more serious with every word. She knew that Lin recognized the chances of either Barrett or Heller being found or more, being found alive were slim. It was likely the ship had jumped to another system, never to be seen again, but also possible it had been blown into space dust. There was nothing else but to go find out. But Lilu wasn't about to leave Lin there any longer to wait for an uncaring megacorp like Argos to come pick her up.

"Lin, come with us," pleaded Lilu. "Don't stay here. I don't like it. Maybe the pirates are done, maybe they think they got everyone, but that won't stop more of them, or Spacers, or god knows who, from coming here to scavenge and you're all alone. There's room on the Frontier, let's go look for Heller and Barrett, and then I can take you at least back to New Atlantis."

Lin considered this for a moment, and Lilu was afraid she was going to decline, but then she said, "You know what, I think you're right, and I think I'm ready for a change of scenery from Argos. After all this, I'd settle for working at a Chunks store before I put my life on the line again for another corporation who uses me as grist for the mill."

"Atta girl," said Lilu, smiling broadly at Lin. She really liked her former supervisor, she was a ball-buster and an ass-kicker, but that's what she was used to. She understood people like Lin, no guile or guise, no double-speak or false-fronts.

The three of them walked into the Frontier's landing bay, closed the ramp, pulled off their spacesuits, and climbed aboard through the hatch. Cora was immediately curious about their new passenger, and Lilu explained that Lin had been her boss at Argos. At once, Cora set upon Lin with a thousand questions about mining. Poor Lin, Lilu thought.

As Lilu started to make her way towards the cockpit, she saw Sam hovering near the hatchway door. "Christ," she muttered under her breath, and looked in his direction, feeling awkward. She'd have to walk right past him. Sam caught her eye for a moment and looked away, either embarrassed or ashamed, Lilu could not tell, before looking back at her again, searching her face. He said, "Can we talk for a minute?", appealingly, full puppy dog eyes. Those damned blue eyes. Must... resist...

"No Sam, we can't talk right now. We need to find Heller and see what's going on with Barrett. They've already been gone too long," said Lilu in a firm but measured tone that suggested obstinacy more than urgency. She would overcome.

"Yeah, but I really want to talk about what happened back at the Lodge, to clear the air..."

"Hey! HEY! Look, you jerk," Lilu barked hotly at him now with a hostility that surprised even herself, but she had to take control of the situation, her emotional situation, to launch the first volley before he could soften her up. Both Sam and Lin were taken aback, startled. Cora grinned like the proverbial Cheshire Cat at the potential drama about to unfold before her. "What air is there to clear? You made a fool out of me, shame on me for being so naive. But what price for one's education, am I right? What did I hear it called... ah yes... asshole tax. Sounds about right. Now, if I'm not mistaken, we're supposed to be rescuing your friend, someone you actually want to be around, which clearly isn't me." This last part was unnecessary and petulant, but she felt she deserved a little self-indulgence.

"Wait," said Sam, looking confused, "what are you talking about, 'someone I actually want to be around'? What is that supposed to mean? I never said..."

"Oh, get off it, Sam," she snapped, relentless now that she had him on his back heel. "Are you pretending to be obtuse or does it just come naturally? The moment I questioned you about Cora coming with us, you glared at me like I was the devil for daring to check if me risking your kid's life was A-OK with you. When I tried to ask you who Jacob was, you were a complete dick about it even though it was pertinent to the mission since he basically held the key to where we were headed to find the Artifact. When we got to the Empty Nest, you lectured me about being kind to the smugglers that had almost killed you and blew a chunk out of my arm with a shotgun; in fact, if I hadn't ducked fast, I probably would have been dead myself. So, yeah, Sam, between all that and your cute, little, bait-and-switch kissing stunt you pulled on me and my emotions back at the Lodge, I'd say I'm not sure you're particularly fond of me at all." And she turned and stalked back to the cockpit, pulling the hatch shut after herself so loudly, even the doorway sounded angry.

Sam stood staring at the hatch, nonplussed and more than a little wounded, when he heard a low whistle come from beside him. It was Lin, in almost admiration, who had taken a couple of steps to stand beside him for a moment before speaking.

"Wow, she was only gone two, maybe three days tops. How did you both get her to fall for you AND manage to break her heart in just three days?" Shaking her head and chuckling to herself, she gave Sam a little jab with her elbow, then walked towards the rear of the Frontier and sat down at the crew table. Still smiling, she stretched out her legs, put her head back against the headrest, and closed her eyes, leaving Sam standing alone, trying to wrap his head around what Lin had just said whilst simultaneously acknowledging he had no burn salve for the flaming that Lilu had given him. He finally walked over to the navigational table and leaned on it, pretending to be fascinated with the charts while the windmills of his mind churned furiously. Meanwhile, Cora just studied the instruments, but there was no way she missed eavesdropping on all of that. She was a twelve-year-old girl, after all.

It was a short flight to the moon where the beacon dropped off the transport that had been holding Barrett and Heller, and Lilu was guiding the Frontier down at a position a little way off the pin she was using as a navigational point. In case they were right there, she didn't want to land on their heads or straight into a fight with their captors. This was a pretty barren looking little rock, so she figured they'd be noticed no matter what, but it would be nice to have a few minutes to set up before the laser bolts and bullets started flying.

She didn't even look at Sam as she came out of the cockpit and headed towards the landing bay, but she seemed to sense him hesitating so she turned her face in his general direction, gave a jerk of her chin towards the hatch, and said, civilly, "Come on, let's go see if we can find that ship." So, Sam straightened up away from the nav table and started to move in the general direction of the hatch, saying nothing to be on the safe side.

"Keep an eye out for Heller?" entreated Lin.

"You bet, that poor sap," said Lilu, worried. And she made her way into the landing bay, Sam behind her. They both got into their spacesuits because there was no atmosphere, freezing temperatures, high radiation, and low gravity. Many of the worlds in this system seemed to share these traits, wondered Lilu. She knew next to nothing about astronomy, she thought maybe it was time to start understanding more about some of these patterns, it could save her life one day.

"You know," Sam offered, tentatively, "maybe we should take the sub-orbital shuttle out to go looking. The less time we spend out in these conditions, the better.

"Oh." Lilu stopped and thought about it. She had never considered this. There was so much she didn't know. Should she really be in charge of people in these situations? It was easy to get ahead of herself because they had just left her in charge, simply because she was a good fighter who got them results, no other special talents. But she had no survival skills for space. Other than the shooting/blowing things up skills. Those were universal and evergreen.

"Tough decision?" Sam asked. Lilu looked over at him sharply and saw his mouth twisted around in his familiar half smile, the sardonic little leer it formed when he was wholly and completely jerking someone's chain. So, he was going to push his luck, eh? Ok, then.

"No," she said, deadpan, "I was trying to remember if I left the stove on at home. Let's go."

She pushed the button that said, "Vehicle Bay", heard clanging outside, and then lowered the landing bay ramp. The suborbital shuttle was waiting outside the ship, like magic. "Fuck, I don't know how to fly this thing, do I wing it and kill us both or do I admit the truth and humiliate myself?" she thought. Then, brilliance hit her like a lightning bolt.

"Sam, will you fly? I want to be ready with my rifle in case I have to take anyone out on the way down." Great plan, thought Lilu. He'll never figure it out. Although, as she glanced at him, he did seem to be looking at her a little oddly, but maybe that was her imagination and guilty conscience creeping in on the sides.

She observed him climb in, and she followed suit from the other side. She realized then her fatal flaw in her instruction: it was virtually impossible to aim out the window of the flying shuttle, the window didn't work like that, it wasn't like a chopper door. "Shit,", she thought, "he's gonna figure this one out pretty damned soon. Act natural for now." And off they went.

They only flew over one rise when they found what they were looking for: a ship, crashed, part of the hull surprisingly intact, the rest strewn across a rather linear path of about 50m long and 15m wide. They started to fly a circle around the wreckage, looking for signs of life and finding none, until Lilu exclaimed, "There, see the chair and the cot?!" Sam angled the shuttle around, then nodded and began the process of setting it down near the area they had seen. They emerged from the shuttle and jogged towards the crash, Lilu slightly in the lead, rifle slung at the ready, hopeful they'd find Heller, Barrett, one of the miners, anyone but one of those goddamned pirates.

When they got up to where Lilu had spotted the chair and cot, she could see a set of space-suited legs on the ground, peeking from behind some jumbled crates. Those were Argos Extractors legs! Moving faster in the ridiculously puffy suit, she tried to hurry to them, hoping their owner would still be alive. She was rewarded when she came around the corner of the crates and saw Heller, lounging back against the wreckage, clutching his side, blinking up at her deliriously. Oh boy, she thought, he doesn't look so hot, but he's alive.

"You're back. I never thought I'd see you again," said Heller, slurring his words slightly.

"Maybe I'm not here, Heller. Maybe I'm a fantasy come to life in front of your very eyes," said Lilu, smiling, relieved to hear him able to speak.

"Yeah, but if you were that kind of fantasy, you would be wearing a lot less than that spacesuit!" Heller said this with a laugh, but Lilu faux punched him in the shoulder on the non-injured side. "What?" he continued. "I took a lot of painkillers." His shit-eating grin seemed to back that up, he had never looked that happy in the three days she had known him.

"Painkillers make you into a pervert, duly noted, Heller. But where's Barrett? Isn't he with you? Is he... ok?""

"Well, there's good news... and there's bad news," said Heller, loving his moment in the sun. He was high as a kite.

"Heller please, concentrate, I need the short version here. What happened to Barrett?" Lilu felt a little desperate with only Heller here to help her piece together the puzzle.

"When we were taken from Vectera, Barrett was trying to figure out a way to ping our location back to the surface with a transmitter he'd jammed into his jacket, but he knew we'd have to get loose, even for a few minutes, so he said we needed to pretend to fight each other."

"Heh, oh boy, that must have been a sight to see," mused Lilu, half laughing to herself.

"You don't even know the half of it! You see..." said Heller, warming to the tale, the painkillers making him sound like a drunk who was fondly reminiscing about youthful hijinks, "Barrett grabbed me by the jumpsuit, threw himself down and pulled me on top of him, and started screaming, 'Help me, help me, the kid's gone cannibal or something, he's trying to bite my face off!' I didn't think that was going to work, but I made some fake growling noises, and they came to investigate."

"You have got to be fucking kidding me," Lilu sat back on her haunches, incredulous.

"Truth! And when they started to pull me off of Barrett, that's when he jumped into action. He grabbed the pistol off one, shot him in the head, turned and shot one more, but then one hit him, and he shot the pilot right through the back into the flight console and we dropped out of orbit like a 20-ton brick. The G's were so intense, I passed out. When I woke up, Barrett had pulled me clear from the wreckage, but then he shoved me behind some crates because another ship started to land. I thought maybe it was someone to rescue us, but it was more Crimson Fleet. Barrett went out to talk with them for a few minutes, he never even looked back at me, and they all just left. I guess... I guess he didn't want them to know I was here. But at the same time, I was left all alone to... what? Wait? Die? I don't know. So, I'm sure glad you came along. You're gonna take me with you, right?" Heller looked at her appealingly. Lilu thought about messing with him, but that would be cruel, wouldn't it? Hmmm. In that case, she definitely should do it, just a little bit, because if there was one thing she'd learned in her three days with Argos, it was this: Heller would have absolutely done it to her. In a heartbeat.

"Darn it, Heller, I'm so sorry," Lilu said, in a saccharine sweet voice, "but there's just no more room. I picked up Lin on Vectera, and we already have met our quota of one pointless man on board, you know. I can come back and give you a ride some other time, perhaps. In a week or two, three tops, maybe?" She looked at him with large brown eyes, lips slightly parted and pouty, completely guileless.

Heller's face looked horrified. Lilu's inner laughter was roaring but she didn't break her expression. Then Sam interrupted again from behind her. "What do you mean? There's plenty of room on board, you can't leave him here!"

Lilu rolled her eyes in her helmet before she turned around, and she could hear Heller slurring, "Oh-ho! You bitch, hahaha, you were trying to punk me, I'll get you for this, mark my words," as she turned to face Sam.

"Yeah, no shit, Sherlock. First when I joked with Lin, now Heller. Will you please let me harass my former coworkers in peace? Cállate la pinche boca. Ugh." She gave him a hard stare; Sam piped down, looking at the toes of his boots, but wondering quietly to himself that she had just spoken in another language.

Turning back to Heller, she said, "OK, now that the jig is up, yes, of course you can come with us. So, how's about you tell me if you happen to have gotten a transmission that pinged Barrett's location so we can find him? TOGETHER." She said this last word loudly and with exaggerated slowness as she half-looked over her shoulder towards Sam, who circumspectly remained silent.

"Yeah, I got your slate right here," Heller said in a lewd tone, but he produced a slate and nothing more. Lilu, laughing and shaking her head, took it from him and got the coordinates.

"Can you stand? It's gonna be a tight fit in the back of that shuttle with three people so.... I guess since I'm not piloting and I'm not injured, I'm afraid that'll be me who's going to be pressed like a Chunk in the back." She paused for a split second... Had she just made some sort of Settled System joke? Her very first. Awww. "Besides, I have the smallest head of the three of us." She cracked herself up, but she really was kind of an asshole, truthfully.

They got back to the Frontier a bit slower and lower than how they got to the wreckage because Heller was a big boy. Not overweight, but tall and, well, healthy. Sam was average for his height and Lilu wasn't a petite girl herself. That poor little shuttle was having to strain a bit, and Sam was a pedal-to-the-metal kind of flyer.

But got there, they did. Lin was overjoyed to see Heller; Lilu was pretty sure she saw a bead of moisture in those steely eyes of hers. And Heller was clearly a mama's boy, he allowed himself to be cared for as Lin checked on his injuries and actually made him some hot tea. Lilu couldn't believe it. She didn't get any hot tea after she passed out from pulling the Artifact out of the stone there in the Argos mine. And she said as much. Lin told her that she didn't look as pathetic as Heller did in that moment, and it was a fair point. Heller, enjoying the attention and knowing on which side his bread was buttered, smiled and didn't object.

Lilu punched the coordinates in at the nav table and went to the cockpit. She completed the takeoff procedure, and they were on their way to Hyperia, and a deserted UC munitions depot. There was no lack of abandoned or decommissioned food processing facilities, training camps, munitions manufacturing plants, staryards, etc. left over from the Colony Wars from a couple decades ago, scattered throughout the Systems, as Sarah had told her, but the cast of characters which occupied them was varied, from Crimson Fleet pirates to Va'ruun zealots to Spacers to Ecliptic to smugglers to possibly yet to be met foes. What she had seen so far had been woefully inept fighters, but she always kept note that one day she might stumble upon a real challenge that she wouldn't be able to handle on her own.

With this in mind, she set down on Hyperia, because Barrett's pursuers were not only persistent, but well equipped, with redundant teams and contingency plans. So, chances are, this place was well protected, probably rigged with booby traps. She checked with Lin on the way out, showed her the hold access panel so there was the ability to grab guns and ammo should they need to defend themselves, and told her if things went south to fly on out of there, Cora was a capable copilot. Cora looked a little scared, but she nodded. Maybe no one had talked to her like an adult prepared to take the reins, but if she was going to be coming along on adult missions, it was time. And again, Sam stayed out of it. Strange, but maybe he felt the same when it came to his little girl saving her own life.

Lilu and Sam exited the Frontier's hatch, suited up, and started down the path to the abandoned facility when Lilu spotted the other sniper in the crow's nest almost 100m away. She crouched down and dragged Sam with her before they were seen. Slowly, she pulled out her RK1M sniper rifle so as not to attract the other gunner with the motion, took swift but careful aim, and planted two slugs into their chest. On the low-gravity planet, the gunner slid down in extra-slow motion, like a puffy red rag doll in their Crimson Fleet spacesuit.

"Let me guess," Sam said, laughing, "You hypnotized him," carrying on the running joke that Lilu had started during their Empty Nest mission.

Lilu wasn't having any part of it. "No, Sam, don't be ridiculous. I killed him." There was no smile, no laughter, no recognition of the joke being a "thing". She wasn't going to let it be that easy for him to wiggle out of what he'd done by warming up to her past jokes. This was a whole new ball game.

"Is this how it's going to be now?" Sam asked, sounding defeated.

"Is this how what's going to be?" Lilu asked in return, creeping, low, towards the corner edge of where two ledges came together overlooking the facility. She realized she couldn't combat crawl in the spacesuit and was unsure how to approach at elevation without being seen, so she was trying to use the facility's rooflines and the ledges in combination as cover against any ground personnel whilst recognizing people on catwalks or the roofs themselves could possibly see her and Sam. This was not easy.

"That we can't at least be friends now," he answered, only to be met with a sound of derision over the comms from her helmet.

"Oh, friends... friends, is it? That's what we were to begin with? And you want to go back to whatever that was before you... and what was that, anyway? Usually, when a man tries to turn my head, it's not to end up breaking my fucking neck." She finished that last in an almost menacing tone.

"Maybe we'd better let it go for now?" Sam said, getting nervous he was opening a can of really angry, vengeful worms.

"Yeah, that's what I've been trying to get you to do this entire time, so maybe WE had better do that." And she found a spot to settle where she could see some of the pirates in the base below them, a pair on the ground, one on a rampart, one on a catwalk. She brought the gun up. She took out one... two...three... then suddenly, all that she could see in front of her scope was red fabric with gold embroidery. It took a second to register that it belonged to a Crimson Fleet spacesuit, and in that second, she heard the whoosh in the air of a weapon being swung down with the force of a melee strike. "OH SHIT" her brain screamed, because she realized she was caught out, defenseless. But something arrested the weapon's fall, which surely would have landed true on her helmet or back. It was Sam.

------------------------------

SAM, NOW:

Sam had zoned out for a moment while she had been acquiring targets, deep in his own head, trying to think of how he could fix things between them. He didn't want her as an enemy, and not just because she was scary. It was because he did like her, and he still couldn't stop thinking about her. It was a good, old-fashioned crush, he reckoned. It had been so long he'd forgotten what it felt like. Sometimes people called this feeling "infatuation", and he supposed it was hard to differentiate between the two. It was genuinely a fine line, but he was up to exploring the possibilities further.

The entire trip, as they left the Lodge, had been uncomfortable. She didn't want to talk to him; when she did, she hostile at times. That chewing out there in front of Lin and Cora was brutal. When he said something to her, she treated him like an idiot. Well, maybe she had good reason, he'd behaved like an idiot after Sarah had busted them. Acting like a schoolboy being caught smoking in the school bathrooms instead of a grown man who was allowed to have whatever relationships he chose to have.

But clearly something else here was at play. What was it Sarah had said about a boyfriend? Or there had been one but he was gone, maybe dead. Whatever she had said, it was something that Lilu had taken as a cruel jab. And maybe what Sam had done by throwing away their moment together added to that pain, and he hated the thought of that. He hated the look he saw her on her face when he'd said, "I guess I've got things to think about," because it was a look of incredulity and... disappointment? Or was it rather more like fading hope? That he would stand by her? And realizing that no, she was being abandoned by him to be humiliated by Sarah? Jesus, that was even worse.

He'd been struggling to get back into some semblance of her good graces since, and maybe an opportunity to sit quietly with her and talk it out. Maybe apologize to her, let her know that he was attracted to her, and confirm that she felt the same about him if she could ever find a way to forgive him. Maybe they could just take it slow so as to keep Sarah off their backs, she didn't have to know. Sure, that wasn't the most romantic of scenarios, but he had a lot to risk, and he had to be sure. Hell, what if it didn't work out? He'd lose the girl and his place with Constellation, all with his daughter watching.

So, these thoughts were ping-ponging around his head through every verbal slap she took at him, every taunt for which he had a riposte, and as she was picking off Crimson Fleet, he was still thinking about this when movement to the side caught his eye. A pirate had crept up an inner crevice of the rock face and, as Sam watched, hit their boost pack as Lilu was engrossed in her angry target practice. The pirate's axe arm was raised, and Sam realized that his dearest Captain was about to die or at least be gravely injured. Not on his watch. No, sir. So, he leapt into motion, knowing that in the low-grav environment, he'd only have one chance to get it right before caroming off into the base.

Sam launched himself horizontally like a torpedo, using his boost pack thrusters to get momentum, conscious of his body's aspect so as not to drift upward. He was coming in from the pirate's blind side, and he had taken off low enough that he was still going to hit the attacker mid-torso. The poor schmuck never saw it coming. Sam felt a satisfying thud and saw the axe go cartwheeling away, and then thought, "Oh, shit!" Because he saw that his momentum and the pirate's upward thrust were carrying them towards the upper lip of a rock shelf, an inevitable collision course, and they both hit it with a crunch before gently drifting downward into the base. Sam could hear Lilu gasp over the coms and cry out, "SAM!" But she was ok, for now. Job done. Maybe he'd even earned a little bit of approval from her, finally? Fingers crossed. Also, ouch, he thought, as he landed on his back on the ground.

----------------------------

LILU, THEN (IN THE BEGINNING):

Lilu's new unit stayed in the crude barracks in the hangar in Egypt for three days before a plane became available to take them to Camp Lemonnier. The C-130 picked them up, along with a potpourri of other troops, pallets of food, first aid supplies, and munitions. Not enough of any one thing to make any one of them a priority. This flight was for the scraps and the strays.

Camp Lemonnier was, to Lilu, a bizarre base that warehoused many of its people in refrigerated CLU-villes. Containerized Living Units, or CLU's, were stacked on top of each other like personal storage rental yards, and each one had minimal windows/doors and a thru-wall air conditioning unit. They were clustered in little villages or "-villes". She had never seen anything so odd in the military in her life, but then she had never been stationed in Africa or the Middle East, especially during active conflicts.

Lilu's unit was assigned a small cluster of barracks together in one of the CLU-villes. As she was the only woman traveling in their unit, she was lucky enough, or so she thought at the time, to have her own CLU. Delta shared several CLUs on the bottom floors, and the other Rangers inhabited the upper floors. They took up a neat little block for themselves for their current bivouac while they waited for orders. There were several hot spots to which they could be deployed from the Camp, but which was most in need was the question.

Master Sergeant (MSG) Norm Etbauer was itching to take his "girl gunner" out to test her on some real, moving, tactical targets, but there was nothing much to do around Djibouti. So, he took his new prize to the gunnery range, which was another large hangar fortified at one end with bullet stops, and had her shooting almost impossible trick shots just to see if she could. They gathered a crowd and soon service men and women were setting up Wile E. Coyote/ACME style targets to see if she could hit them and set off elaborate booby-traps. It was all in good fun, but there was someone lurking in the periphery who wasn't laughing. It was her new unit "bestie" from Egypt, Druggers. She had an eye on him, and she hoped so did Norm.

It was the focus on Drugger's obvious hostility that really screwed her over. Because there are plenty of Druggers in plain sight. It's the hidden Druggers of the world, the ones who are polite, who smile and are courteous, who seem like really nice boys, that are plotting something completely vile. And because Lilu had the luxury of having her very own CLU to herself, unknowing how poorly the doors locked, unknowing that some of the base women felt a little resentful of this show-off instead of inspired so they didn't help keep an eye on things, unknowing that several sets of covetous eyes had been following her, not just coveting her body but her skills and the attention she seemed to covet for herself... unknowing how close she was to becoming an all too common statistic on military bases around the world.

It was the small hours of the morning, Camp was as quiet as it could be considering its size and constant operations, and Lilu was in a dead sleep, when she felt a hand clamp over her mouth at the same time a knee planted painfully into the center of her chest, pinning her dead center into the mattress. She couldn't breathe, the agonizing pressure. A flashlight shone directly into her eyes, the kind someone would wear over their head. A voice hissed: "Don't make a fucking sound or I'll crush your thorax right here. Do what we want, and you'll make it through this alive. OK?" She nodded, the pain almost unbearable, the lack of oxygen making her feel woozy. Her eyes started to roll back into her skull. She heard someone else say, "Get off her chest, she's gonna pass out," and a third man say, "Who cares if she does, she doesn't need to be awake for me to fuck her." So that was it, she was going to get raped, just like Druggers said. None of the voices sounded like his, though.

"The moment I move, she's gonna fight me, so one of you better grab her arms and tie her up," said the first man, who still had his hand over her mouth and his knee dug into her chest. She drew in a deep breath and tried to scream, and he used his other hand to punch her hard in the side of her head. Lilu saw stars and decided to just go limp. She hoped they'd just do what they came for and would leave her alive. It was just pussy they were stealing; they wouldn't own it. She'd known the stats for sexual assault on a military base at that time were about 9% of women. Close to 1 in 10. That her number would come up was not surprising. But she didn't want to be a murder stat, that wasn't entirely unknown, either. She could hear a belt buckle unfastening and the sound of unzipping, and felt someone pulling at her own pants. And then the door burst open wildly, banging against the wall.

There, in the doorway, was Druggers. He was a picture of fury. Face red, straw colored hair sticking up in every direction, in just his undershirt and boxers. "What the fuck is happening in here? What are you assholes doing to her?" He started into the CLU. Lilu's assaulters let go of her and turned to face him.

"Hey, she invited us up here to party, isn't that right, you little whore?" said the man who had been on top of her with his knee. By now, she had curled up into a ball, clutching her chest with one hand, holding the battered side of her head with the other, peering out of the corner of one eye. And while her assaulter was laser-focused on Druggers, she gathered her strength and donkey kicked the man right in the nuts, dropping him like a shot.

"Mother-FUCKER," she groaned. The man whose testicles she hammered with her back heel only wheezed and gagged as he contorted his body on the floor.

"What's goin' on up there?" came Norm's voice from outside, down below.

"Call the MP's, Etbauer, I caught some wanna-be rapist clowns up here in the girl gunner's CLU," Druggers called back down.

"Holy shit," said Etbauer and then there was the sound of feet pounding up the stairs and down the catwalk to her door. Lilu was mortified. So, Druggers's threat had become a self-fulfilling prophecy, just not at Druggers's hand. How humiliating. It wasn't as if men weren't sexually assaulted on military bases, they were, albeit at a lesser extent than women. But it was constantly thrown at women as a reason they should be excluded or were a troubling distraction. Because of assailants like Rapey McRapersen and his crew.

Norm Etbauer surveyed the scene, taking in the two men cornered in the back of the CLU and the one on the ground clutching his balls. He turned on the lights to get a closer look at the men's uniforms. Navy and Marines. "What the actual fuck? Two jarheads and a squid? And as usual, the squid was doing all the work. I've always said the same thing about the Marines, y'all do excellent work, not one single Navy gate has ever been stolen. And lookie here, thank god you were so incompetent that you couldn't be decent accomplices to your squid friend. Now the MP's are gonna court martial you because you couldn't just jerk it in your bunk like normal guys and try not being criminals. Enjoy those dishonorable discharges, boys." The men looked up and saw the MPs were coming in the CLU.

Then Norm turned to Lilu. "You're going to the hospital to get checked out."

"I'm fine," said Lilu in a hoarse whisper, still struggling to draw air through her crushed chest, embarrassed and determined to just go about her night. "They didn't actually rape me; they just roughed me up a little. And look, I don't want to get involved with testifying against someone, you know how that goes, how they treat you afterwards like you're a snitch or some..."

"I don't give a shit," said Druggers, angry, "and if you want to make this a better army for you damned splittails, all bound and determined to fight wars with us, then you do your part and take guys like this out of the equation. I'm tired of seeing it happen. It happened to my sister and she ain't even a soldier."

"I'm sorry, man. You're right. I didn't mean to..." Lilu started, and she felt tears coming but she shoved them back down. "How did you know they were here?"

"I was watching them all day while Norm was playing around with his new prize." He looked disapprovingly at Norm, who met his eye but showed zero reaction. Lilu wondered what this was about, but Druggers went on. "The way these guys were watching was different than some of the others. Sure, there were guys leering and jeering, but they looked like predators. I got close enough to them to overhear them talk about looking for you tonight and 'pounding some sense' into your ass. I didn't figure they meant with their fists. So, I've been watching and waiting. I wouldn't be surprised if this isn't the first time this little crew of rapist shitheads has struck in this Camp."

"I thought you didn't like me, though," Lilu said, looking at him directly, still grimacing and clutching her chest. "You practically made it sound like me getting raped would teach me a lesson."

"I was three sheets that day, and yeah, I was mad that they put you with us because I still do think it's a stunt for political correctness. But watching you shoot, you're pretty good. I guess we'll see when the rubber hits the road, maybe now I'll have someone else worth a damn with a rifle to keep score with. And besides, I don't like seeing anyone in my unit get hurt, especially by assholes like that. Now if you're done with 20 questions, can Norm take you to the hospital?" finished Druggers, looking a little more amiable than the day they'd first met in Egypt, when he'd called her a fucking cunt.

"See there," drawled Norm, "he's just a big ol' teddy bear. Come on, let's get you over there and maybe get a chest x-ray, make sure that asshole didn't crack anything, and then we'll have to figure out where you can sleep and store your stuff."

Lilu nodded and got to her feet with Norm's assistance. She looked back one last time at Druggers, who was watching with satisfaction as the MPs cuffed the assailants and led them out, now with an air of an ambivalent observer, sort of like a child might do as he stands absently in front of a television set playing cartoons, staring blankly, stopping to scratch his ass over his boxers, his unruly hair still sticking up at odd angles. "My hero," snorted Lilu, quietly, and she caught Norm's eye. They both laughed and she proceeded slowly out of the CLU, down the catwalk, and down the steps to a waiting golf cart to go to the hospital.

-------------------------------

SAM AND LILU, NOW:

"Oh no, oh no, oh no!" Lilu's only thoughts were that somehow Sam was going to get himself killed again. Well, not again, he didn't die at the Empty Nest, but it had been damned close. And now this? She was horrified. That, first, she didn't see the pirate coming. She'd been a sniper without a spotter before, but she was careless here, and all because she was upset and arguing with Sam. She should have told him to stow any nonsense until they were someplace safer, but she had been itching for a confrontation, too. She lost focus and she almost got taken out but for Sam coming to her rescue. And now he was at the bottom of the ledge, inside the base perimeter, in a tangled heap with the pirate he had literally launched himself into at maximum velocity in order to keep her skull from being bashed in with an axe. Maybe it was time to cut him the tiniest bit of slack. There were still layers to pull back here. Like an onion.

She started to work her way down the corner of the ledge, sliding down the rock carefully, not sure how much abrasion her spacesuit would take. She was halfway down the rock face when she saw a pirate appear on a catwalk midway on the side of one of the base ramparts. The pirate saw her instantly because of the dust cloud she was creating and started firing upon her. There was no time to waste. Borrowing a page from the Sam Coe-boost pack-juggernaut playbook, she launched forward off the rockface, gun up, trying to boost forward and fire at the same time. Many of her shots went wild but three that counted hit their mark and the pirate went cartwheeling backwards off the catwalk. She could hear the sounds of commotion in the base as she drifted towards the bottom of the rocks where she'd seen Sam fall.

He was, by this time, picking himself up, steadying himself, looking a little shaken, but not too much the worse for wear. "Are you ok?!" Lilu asked, putting a hand on his shoulder and peering into his faceplate, concerned. He looked a little winded, but he met her eyes and nodded.

"I just need a second. I didn't think I was coming in that hot," Sam panted.

"Jesus, Sam, don't get yourself killed trying to save me. You've got a kid to think about here." Lilu straightened, looked around to make sure no one was coming for them, then jerked her head towards the pirate and asked, "Is he dead?" Sam shook his head.

Lilu stepped over and looked into the pirate's faceplate. The eyes were closed but the lids were fluttering, it looked as if the pupils were rolling back in their sockets. There was no Geneva Convention here, and she didn't want him waking up only to follow behind them to shoot them in the back. Oh well, she thought, war is hell. She turned her rifle perpendicularly, barrel pointing skyward, raised it in the air, and brought the polished hardwood butt down hard right in the center of the pirate's faceplate, cracking the glass. There was a whoosh of escaping air, and a brief sound of gasping as the pirate's heels drummed the ground for a couple of seconds before asphyxiation took the last of his life.

"He is now," she said, her voice different, flat, emotionless, her eyes empty, her face blank behind her faceplate. The difference was like someone had inserted a perfect imitation of Lilu, but devoid of humanity. The effect was a little bit chilling to Sam.

He shrugged, feigning casual disinterest. "One less baddie," he said, trying to sound indifferent. It wasn't murder in combat situations, right? Unbidden, Sarah's words floated through his head again ("Be careful around her, Sam, I think she's dangerous, and I'd hate for you or Cora to get hurt."). But he let it go. Leaving a pirate alive, who's aware of their presence, in a hostile base wasn't a good idea, and they had no way to secure him, nor bring him in safely for the law to handle. These pirates had sealed their fate by pursuing the Frontier and annihilating the Argos Extractors employees, then taking Barrett hostage and bringing back here, hopefully still alive. There would be no prisoners taken.

"Ok," said Lilu, all business again, "since we're down here now, we're going to stay down here. I'm going to start sweeping the area for targets, will you watch my back? I'm going to have my eye fairly glued to my scope, I'm going to look for land mines, too, so try to watch the rooflines for me?"

"I've got your six," Sam confirmed.

"Good man," Lilu said, and then was overcome with melancholy for her old life, but she shook it off. This was her life now, and at least this was something she knew: gunplay and sharpshooting. And yes, it was a hell of a lot better than mining. "Come on, let's boogie."

Returning to her crouched position, she crept through the base, going around corners, slowly, checking the ground, sweeping left to right, then elevated positions. She found and disarmed two land mines behind the buildings, then when she came around the corner towards the front, she saw two turrets keeping an eye on the front gates. She took those out, but the resulting explosions brought out what was left of the pirates, putting her and Sam on the ropes. But that RK1M rifle really shined, the accuracy, power, and velocity of its rounds, plus the speed at which she could reload it, meant that her targets went down fast, and she seldom missed. She couldn't wait to tell Reisha back at Laredo Arms what a treasure this gun is, and its effectiveness made it priceless.

Sam was clean-up for wounded targets as she kept acquiring new ones. Again, just like at the Empty Nest, in the heat of the firefight, he'd say, excitedly, "This feels like old times!" It was great that he was warming to the task, but that warning light was blinking away in the back of Lilu's mind again; she just knew she was bound to find out a terrible truth, sooner or later, and all the better that it's sooner, she thought. When it seemed like the gunfire had died down and there were no more live targets, they ducked inside the first of two main buildings, a two-story job, and started looking through lockers and containers for valuables. Yes, they wanted to find Barrett, but the facility and its personnel looked as if they could at least be storing considerable materiel that would be useful on the ship or save them credits that they wouldn't have to go begging from Constellation. A little independence went a long way. And Lilu thought this might be a good time to ask what had been playing on her mind.

"What are these 'old times' you keep talking about?" she asked Sam, casually, tone light.

"What?" Sam was perplexed.

"You keep saying, 'This feels like old times,' or something like that, whenever we're fighting enemies. You did it at the Empty Nest and you did it here, and I just wondered... what 'old times' do you mean? Since, you know, you and I don't have any 'old times.'" She cocked her head slightly, trying to look casually curious, but on the inside she was burning with dread. "Never ask a question to which you're not 100% prepared to hear the answer, Liluana," her mother had always told her.

Sam felt like a deer in the headlights. Shit, this wasn't the time or place to get into this part of his past. Not without looking like a bit of a hypocrite and maybe scaring her off while she seemed to be warming to him again, at least a little bit. He thought fast. When in doubt, play dumb.

"Oh, it's... just force of habit. Something I used to say when I was with the Rangers, and I just never lost the saying. You know how it is, when the adrenaline's pumping, you fall back on old memories." He didn't look at her when he said this, until the very end, when he chance a sidelong glance to see how his explanation was landing. He cringed inwardly when he saw her face, which was a large order of deep-fried skepticism served with a "this is bullshit" dipping sauce, but he maintained his poker face. Butter wouldn't melt in his mouth.

"Uh huh," she uttered in a voice so monotone, it could have been robotic, and she moved forward without looking at him again. He knew she didn't buy it, and he trailed behind her, chiding himself for his stupidity. Why did he try to lie? He was always a bad liar, and women were experts at sniffing out even the good ones.

They had squeezed everything of value out of that building and made their way across to the other major building on the base, this one built into the ground with a subterranean bunker where they could shed their spacesuits. As soon as they entered that one, they could hear voices from below. And one of them was Barrett's. Eureka! They had found him, and he was alive.

Lilu paused, though. She could hear Barrett laughing with the pirates now. And... could it be... what sounded like the pull tab of a can opening. Were they drinking beer? No wonder Lin was so exasperated with this guy. Half the Argos miners dead, a ship crash-landed that almost took out Heller, and Barrett here was yucking it up with the Crimson Fleet? Maybe it was out of the need for survival, but it sounded pretty goddamned cozy to Lilu.

She continued to creep down the corridor to its end, there it opened up into a storage room, and to the left, another room where she could tell the voices where congregated. A peek around the corner confirmed this was some sort of work room or assembly room considering the large table with hoist, and the various equipment scattered around. She could see Barrett, in street clothing, tilted back onto the two rear legs of his chair, his own legs extended forward insolently, holding a bottle of some amber ale, smiling with benevolent largesse. One pirate, a middle-aged Asian man, spacesuit on but helmet off, thick black hair and weathered skin, was looking at Barrett and smiling, a tall-boy can of beer in his hand. The other pirates, in full spacesuits and helmets, were leaning against various tables and machines, also listening with rapt attention. This would make Lilu's job easier, as she silently slid into the perfect spot to take them all down, the random crates strewn about plus the poor lighting giving her the perfect cover to slide closer, inexorably closer.

"What's the weirdest thing you've ever seen out there, Barrett?" said the helmetless man, looking eager and excited. He seemed to be the leader.

"Well, I'm sure you haven't heard of the time we found a strange Artifact on Bindi," started Barrett.

"From the way that cute lady supervisor told it back at Argos, that was Ka'zaal," said the pirate leader, wagging his finger at Barrett like he was scolding a naughty schoolkid being caught out for lying.

"Lin always gets that wrong," laughed Barrett, condescendingly. "It was Bindi."

"It was Ka'zaal!" said Lilu, as she popped up from behind the crate, and shot the helmetless pirate leader right where his helmet should have been. The man lurched wildly backwards but she didn't wait to see if he got back up again. From what she could tell, the scope of the RK1M had him right on the temple, with the caliber, load, and velocity of that round, he was gone. She swung around to face the other three, and for a split second, no one moved. Then, all hell broke loose.

One of the pirates was clever and boosted themselves to the mezzanine which Lilu had been unable to see until she popped into the room. That pirate used the elevation to their advantage. Finding an empty crate to get behind, they started taking shots at Lilu, Barrett, and now Sam who had just made it into the room for support. They all ducked for cover against that, and then the two live and now thoroughly pissed off pirates in the room coming for them.

Lilu grabbed Sam's shoulder and roughly pulled him behind the corner of the work table and said in his ear, "Sam, back behind us, that doorway, I think maybe there's a ramp to the mezzanine; can you take out that asshole up there, or at least distract him?" She studied his face, all of it, looking for signs he was panicky but he looked solid. And sure enough, that fast, he was nodding to her.

"Not a problem." His tone was confident, and he gave her that weird little smile, his mouth twisted a little bit, that usually meant he was being sarcastic. Maybe he was feeling like, "Duh," but she wanted nothing on her conscience right now. She was coated with Teflon, nothing was sticking to her today. She gave him a nod and then raised her gun and fired wildly at the pirates in the room and toward the mezzanine to keep them down while Sam went back through the door and disappeared. Barrett was unable to reach the dead pirate's gun, and he was neatly tucked into a corner, trying to stay alive.

Lilu listened for a few moments, and then she heard the pirate in the mezzanine shout, so she knew Sam had arrived to commence "negotiations". She sprayed bullets towards the pirates in the room with her to hold them down again, then looked up to see the upstairs pirate and Sam starting a shootout. She took careful aim and shot that pirate right through the throat while he was distracted. She crouched back down and gestured for Sam to start shooting the pirates from above, and he was more than happy to comply. She popped up and helped mop up, and it was over. Teamwork makes dreamwork.

When Sam got back to her, he seemed to have the same sentiment. "I have to say, we make a great team," he said, proudly. Lilu smiled at him, thinly, and hoped that the sadness that washed over her again didn't show at the corners of her mouth, hoping that he didn't falsely attribute any of it to him. This was an older, deeper wound, before Adam, the whole reason for Adam even becoming a thing. But Sam saw that same sad smile and wondered why his words made her unhappy, and of course came to the wrong conclusion, because how could he know better?

Barrett spoke up, breaking the awkwardness of the moment, and certainly noticing it. "Am I glad to see you two. Sam, good buddy, nice to know you wouldn't forget your old pal, Barrett. And hey there, dusty, or as Lin called you, the 'new girl', looks like I made the right call sending you on to join Constellation. What do you think so far?"

Lilu thought carefully. She wasn't sure how this was going to work with Sam going forward. She didn't want to be cruel or rub in the fact that she had been hurt. She didn't want to get into the weeds with her issues with Sarah. She couldn't explain what the real problems were. She wasn't sure she could even trust this man with the secrets she was forced to hide by UC SysDef's orders. So, she crafted the only answer that seemed to tick all the boxes without violating the divulgence of any classified material. Good little soldier girl.

"Well, it's certainly a lot more than I expected, and it's already had its shares of ups and downs. I'm sure, given enough time, I'll be able to form a more complete opinion for you, but I fully expect it to be favorable," Lilu concluded.

"How long did you spend in the military?" asked Barrett.

"Sir?" Lilu asked, then immediately thought "SHIT, wrong answer," and tried again with, "Barrett, I don't know what you mean?"

"An answer like the one you gave me isn't one I'd expect from a miner, from Argos or Deimos or anyone, so what are you hiding, dusty?" pressed Barrett. Sam was now watching intently, much like he did during the dogtag conversation with Sarah.

"I'm sure I don't know what you mean, Barrett. Now, we'd probably better get out of here."

"Come on..." Barrett started but Lilu turned around and now she was pure flames and anger.

"NOW, BARRETT!" she roared at him, leaning towards him, her face grim, her eyes intense. "I'm not fucking around, there'll be time for bullshit when we not in a goddamned pirate's lair, ok?"

"All right, all right, dusty, let me get suited up." And they waited for Barrett to get into his spacesuit so they could get back up to the entrance of the bunker, hop back into their own suits, now replenished in the oxygen rich environment, and head back to the Frontier with Barrett in tow.

Once on board, Lin and Heller reunited with Barrett, happy to see him alive, scolding him for getting them into that mess in the first place. Lilu grabbed a cheesesteak Chunks (she was gradually starting to warm to the weird franchise food of the Settled Systems, it was handy, small, individually wrapped, and in a variety of flavors, so when in Rome, baby) and her newly beloved Boom Pop! cola, and watched these reunions while she refreshed herself. Sam and Barrett started talking about sports. Apparently there was a game called "batball" which sounded very much like Old Earth baseball. Cora had a silly joke for Barrett that she had written herself.

Noel had said something about these people being like family. Obviously that didn't include Lin and Heller, but those two were family through Argos. Sam, Barrett, and Cora were family through Constellation. And Lilu? Where did she fit? Apparently nowhere. Because of the truth that she kept secret. Or that UC SysDef was making her keep secret. That secret which Sarah was holding over her head now, because she knew that Lilu couldn't talk about it. That secret which she was feeling more and more like she needed to tell someone else in Constellation, someone who she could turn to for help when she didn't understand the Settled Systems. Sam had already let her down once, maybe it was unreasonable not to give him another chance, but with something so important, she couldn't risk him folding up like that again. So, who? Who could she trust? That answer wasn't making itself plain yet.

In a funk and feeling totally deflated despite their success in rescuing Barrett, Lilu turned their ship towards Alpha Centauri, Jemison, New Atlantis, and The Lodge. She maybe didn't feel like Constellation was family yet, but at least there was some semblance of a home there at the Lodge. Something she could build upon. "Make lemonade from these lemons, Liluana," she told herself, and she kicked in the grav drive.

---------------------------------

Chapter 7 Song: Nothing But Thieves - Forever & Ever More

Down in the gutter and looking for trouble Or something to that effect And there she was, a metal cross ironically 'round her neck And then she kissed me on the lips And a fever came without a warning

Said give me a holla And then I will follow you down into the dark And I was left in the depths surrounding her feral heart Oh, there's just something about the sun That seems so very, very boring

What did you think when you made me this way? What did you think when you love me this way? Hold me so close when we get to the gates And we'll be together forever and ever and more

[universalcovers]

UC & TS Selection ▶ Sarah Cruddas

"People often ask me why I love space so much. My answer is always the same. Why would you not love space? We are just this one planet, in this one average solar system, which is one of many in a universe so large it is impossible to comprehend. Why wouldn’t you want to know what is out there? What it is that we are a part of?"

"My mission is to inspire a diverse audience about why space exploration matters, how it has shaped all of our lives and why we all need to look up a little more."

"Space exploration has the power to educate, inform and enrich. Learning about space teaches us that the sky is no longer the limit.  Space inspires. It is a topic which is as much about philosophy as it is science – a search for meaning and a quest to answer fundamental questions such as Where did we come from? Why do we exist? And what else is out there in this vast universe we belong to?"

"We are only just beginning to scratch the surface of what is out there."

"But if we are to succeed in exploring space, in venturing out into the vastness of the cosmos, in seeking answers to those questions that humans have pondered for an eternity, then we need to so for everyone on this planet. The challenges we face are too great to leave any group behind."

"Through my work in television, writing and within the space industry, I communicate to diverse and non-scientific communities about why what we are doing in space matters so much. The goal; to increase STEM literacy within communities and to inspire as many people as possible. The more who understand the benefits to come from exploring space, the more uptake and support there will be in the industry, which will in turn help humankind venture further into the cosmos. As well as perhaps most importantly gifting people with that sense of childlike wonder that comes from looking up."

"Space is for everyone."

Know more about Sarah

[yourreddancer]

MAJOR BREAKING:

Massive bombshell drops in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal as metadata analysis reveals that the footage released by the Trump administration of Epstein's prison cell was likely "modified" with software.

And it gets so much stranger...

According to analysis by WIRED and independent video forensics experts, the 11 hours of footage released by the MAGA Justice Department does not appear to be a "direct export from the prison’s surveillance system." They reached this conclusion by reviewing metadata embedded in the footage.

The video footage was likely "modified" using Adobe Premiere Pro, which is a popular professional editing tool that is often used on big budget Hollywood blockbusters.

"The file appears to have been assembled from at least two source clips, saved multiple times, exported, and then uploaded to the DOJ’s website, where it was presented as 'raw' footage," data reporter Dhruv Mehrotra wrote in WIRED.

Not only that, but the file "appears to have been assembled from at least two source clips, saved multiple times, exported, and then uploaded to the DOJ’s website, where it was presented as 'raw' footage."

While this evidence doesn't tell us what if anything was changed, it is deeply suspicious when considered alongside the erratic behavior of the Trump administration and the flustered manner in which Trump himself responded to an Epstein question earlier this week.

When Attorney General Pam Bondi was asked about a missing minute from the footage between 11:58 PM to midnight, she gave a difficult-to-believe explanation.

"The video was not conclusive, but the evidence prior to it was showing he committed suicide," she claimed.

"And what was on that, there was a minute that was off the counter and what we learned from the Bureau of Prisons is every year, uh every night, they redo that video," she continued. "It's old from like 1999. So, every night the video is reset and every night should have the same minute missing."

"So we’re looking for that video to release that as well, showing that a minute is missing every night. And that’s it on Epstein," she added.

WIRED explained that their metadata analysis could be explained by the footage having been "processed for public release using available software, with no modifications beyond stitching together two clips." At this point though, only a fool would grant the benefit of the doubt to Trump and Bondi.

Trump himself was close friends with Epstein at one point and Elon Musk has alleged that Trump is in the Epstein files.

For those interested in the specific technical details of the analysis, WIRED provided great transparency—

"Working with two independent video forensics experts, WIRED examined the 21-gigabyte files released by the DOJ. Using a metadata tool, reporters analyzed both Exchangeable Image File Format (EXIF) and Extensible Metadata Platform (XMP) data to identify signs of postprocessing," wrote Mehrotra. Adobe software embeds traces in exported files, meaning that the analysis was relatively point A to point B once the experts got under the hood.

The conclusion drawn by the analysts is that the footage is "not a continuous, unaltered export from a surveillance system" which was what the DOJ implied by calling it "raw" footage.

"If a lawyer brought me this file and asked if it was suitable for court, I’d say no. Go back to the source. Do it right. Do a direct export from the original system—no monkey business," Hany Farid, a UC Berkeley professor who researches digital forensics and misinformation, told WIRED. He also questioned why the video's aspect ratio seems to randomly change throughout the footage.

The Epstein scandal surged back into headlines this week after a Justice Department memo leaked which claimed that the Epstein client list does not exist, that there is no evidence that the billionaire pedophile blackmailed powerful people, and that there is no reason to believe that he was murdered. Previously, Attorney General Pam Bondi claimed that the Epstein client list was waiting on her desk to be reviewed.

At this point, only complete transparency will do. The Trump administration must immediately release everything it knows about Jeffrey Epstein.

===============

of COURSE he was killed!!! There were others in high places that Epstein was going to name besides the Pedophile Chump.

His MAGA morons wouldn't even care......they sure as hell don't care that he's a serial adulterer and rapist, serial conman and shyster and grifter, and TRAITOR who incited an insurrection, and who is now destroying our democracy on a daily basis!!!

BIDEN SHOULD'VE GIVEN THE ENTIRE FILE TO THE LINCOLN PROJECT AND GOTTEN IT SAFELY AWAY FROM ANY FUTURE RETHUGLIKKKON FILTHY HANDS!!! THE LINCOLN PROJECT WOULD'VE RELEASED EVERYTHING!!!!

[kiaaraagarwal]

Berkeley Living on Your Terms: From 3 Bedroom Homes to Stylish Studios and Lofts

Founded on the east shore of San Francisco Bay, Berkeley is a city full of life art, and culture and is well situated. From the busy core business district to the quiet residential area in the neighborhoods of Berkeley, the city has it for you. It could be a large 3 bedrooms house for rent Berkeley you need a small studio for rent Berkeley or even unique lofts for rent Berkeley that you are looking for, Raj Properties has you covered.

Why Berkeley?

Berkeley is a city that campuses ethnic and cultural diversity as well as loves ideas and inventions. It also houses the famed, University of California Berkeley hence it is an attraction to students, business people, and families. Modern and diversified neighborhoods, popular restaurants, diverse shopping opportunities, and a reasonably well-connected transport system make this city 1 of the most sought-after destinations for renters.

The modern renting and leasing market adapted to various life tenors proves Berkeley to be an energetic city. Whether 1 is always hunting for accommodation ideas or searching for a new rental home/office in a new studio, Raj Properties is at your service.

3 Bedroom House for Rent Berkeley: Space for Every1

This is a perfect home for families, flat-mates, or anybody who wants more space and al1 time, the price for a 3 bedroom house for rent Berkeley is very reasonable. These homes often include features like:

Sizeable living spaces for receptions or leisure.

Private gardens are suitable for families with young children or with pets.

Distance to good schools with proximity to parks as well as other amenities.

Rental prices range between $4,000 to $6,000 thus a 3 bedroom house is affordable for those living with friends or family members. Raj Properties can offer a great number of 3 bedrooms homes in Berkeley with a specific focus on South Berkeley and Berkeley Hills areas.

Studio for Rent Berkeley: Simple and Stylish

Ideally, those who do not own many possessions and do not necessarily need more than a place to sleep will find a studio for rent Berkeley to be perfect for them. Studies are small but space-maximizing and contain all the necessary facilities in 1 large room. 

These units are ideal for students, young working people, and those who are searching for a comfortable place with minimal need for repair and maintenance.

Modern kitchens, comfortable and spacious interiors with possible access to laundry and fitness studios, and more are expected in Berkeley studios. That price range ranges from 1800 to 2500 dollars based on location and additional features. Most of the studios are situated in areas that neighbors UC Berkeley and Downtown Berkeley, and this means residents are close to forms of transport, café, and other recreational and business activities.

Lofts for Rent Berkeley: Urban Chic Living

In case you are fascinated with something more urban and unconventional, available lofts for rent Berkeley would be to your taste. Lofts are characterized as having high ceilings, large apertures, and an industrial look and feel; they are highly sought after by renters.

Lofts in Berkeley often feature:

Bright, elegant, and generously sized rooms with abundant daylight at the same time.

Interior with open brick or concrete walls if the building has an industrial look.

His/her accessibility and contact with/in the city’s art and culture z1s/areas.

Standard rent for lofts is between 2800 to 4500 US dollars, which probably makes them suitable for working individuals or couples who appreciate designs and practicality. At Raj Properties, customers can find individually chosen lofts for rent in Berkeley, ideal for people who like to be experimental in interior design.

Why Raj Properties Berkeley?

Berkeley Insights for Rentals has been a go-to stop for the residents for years, aiding them in finding a perfect home at Raj Properties Berkeley. For Berkeley the following types of properties are available: 3 bedroom house for rent Berkeley, studio for rent Berkeley, and lofts for rent Berkeley.

The main competitive advantage of Raj Properties is that it offers customized services. Whether just starting and seeking your first studio apartment, or finding yourself ready to upgrade to a large house, the team guarantees a seamless rental experience. For many, finding a perfect house may take ages; however, at Raj Properties, it is just a matter of time because what they offer is more than just a house; it’s a home.

Learn about Berkeley living like never before and move a step closer to your ideal home at this very moment!

[wat3rm370n]

I have not forgotten about Dimock. (Ban fracking.)

Victoria Switzer says Coterra Energy, once Cabot Oil & Gas, is fracking again under her home in Dimock, Pennsylvania. She blames Gov. Josh Shapiro for allowing the state's Department of Environmental Protection to lift a moratorium on fracking in 2022.

My letter to reps, including VP Harris and Governor Shapiro.

Ban Fracking. I have not forgotten about Dimock.

Christmas movie propaganda, job creator myths, and “sides” in perpendicular axis Dec 25, 2023

(excerpt, references on substack)

So many politicians promised that the gas fracking boom would be an economic boon to our area, and create tons of jobs for Pennsylvanians, and anything but that happened, and worse did. It turned out to be also largely about real estate speculation which maybe makes sense why there was a bust after the subprime mortgage crisis driven financial crash.

Some people who interviewed for these jobs were asked if they had experience in the fossil fuel industry, and were told that the employer would be going with an out-of-towner who was willing to relocate and already had experience in the industry. So Pennsylvanians were left out in the cold, and we knew that people from other areas were being brought in to take these promised jobs. 

To add insult to injury, we then had to hear about all these people who when the boom went to bust, they lost their jobs, and of course would qualify for Pennsylvania Unemployment Compensation. The interesting part about it was that Pennsylvania residents with PA UC benefits had mandatory work search requirements and very punitive investigations of determining if people were active enough in “looking for work” - this was the mid 2010s when the economy certainly had not really recovered from the Great Recession in northeastern Pennsylvania. People who came in for gas fracking jobs, made their 6 figure income money, then when they lost their jobs they collected PA UC benefits (probably at the maximum), but since they went back to their own states, we heard that they were NOT subject to work search requirements, while Pennsylvania residents had to jump through hoops and were under scrutiny. 

The influx of people from other areas during that time drove up housing prices and apartment rent prices to way above what any locals could ever afford.

And people who own property were incentivized to push out their long-time tenants in order to jack up the rent and take advantage of the transplants who were willing to pay thousands for a room above a garage. This had a knock-on effect to where these rural areas pushed out disabled, elderly, and poor people, and so they came to towns like Scranton to seek subsidized or cheap housing, which then exacerbated the public housing wait lists and drove up rents in the towns. There were stories in the news about disabled people living in campers set up in the yards of their family members. 

Then came the stories of people having their well water contaminated and unusable. The companies denied it. And worse, the government went along and sided with the companies and failed to protect citizens, and we all knew it at the time, but it took more than a decade for there to be any formal recognition of that fact.

When the stories out of Dimock were put into a documentary called “Gasland” in 2010, I remember there was some effort to smear it all as made up or at least exaggerated. Meanwhile these people have been living by having tankers of water delivered in order to live in their homes, because their wells were ruined and they have no water systems in that area. A year ago a company was found responsible and now has to pay to construct a new public water system and cover 75 years of water bills for homeowners that were impacted.

Yet now the latest news is that they’re actually going to start drilling in Dimock again!

Woodbourne Forest And Wildlife Preserve in Dimock Township Pennsylvania USA - Taken on October 7, 2017

[uboat53]

So, I'm a college professor (astronomy) and I'm going to ask you the same thing I would ask one of my students if they told me something like that:

Why are you in college?

I'm being dead serious here. Not everyone needs to go to college. I know there's a lot of people out there saying that you have to, but you don't. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that most people don't need to go to college. Don't get me wrong, the average college graduate has a much higher salary and much lower unemployment rate than the average person without, but a ton of this is due to the fact that college, at its best, forces you to think about what you want to do.

Whether or not you should go to college depends entirely on what you want to do. I, for example, wanted to build spaceships and teach at the college/university level and they don't let you do either of those things without a degree, preferably an advanced one. College also works well for me, I've never felt as perfectly at home as I have on a college campus.

I have friends and family, however, who absolutely hated classroom learning and sitting still. One family member, for example, loves to work with his hands, so he went to trade school and became a welder. If what you want to do isn't something that college will help you do, then you don't need to go to college.

Now, if you sit down, think about what you want to do, and determine that you absolutely have to have a college degree to do it, then it's time to look at the college itself. Not all colleges are created equal and even, within the same college, not all programs are created equal.

I went to a university that had engineering and agriculture programs that was top 10 in the country, but that definitely wasn't true of the business or history programs. Within the California State University and community college systems (what I'm most familiar with), the quality of both schools and universities varies widely to an absurd degree.

And even when the quality of the program isn't the issue, the personality of the college can make a huge difference. Chico State and UC Santa Barbara, for example, are well-known party schools in California, and there are people who thrive in that environment. But if you're not the type of person who's going to do well at a party school, it doesn't matter how good the program is, you shouldn't go there.

Now, I don't know where you're going, what you're studying, or what, exactly, you want to do in life, but these are the kinds of questions I would encourage any college student or anyone thinking about becoming a college student to ask.

Too often people just go to college because "that's what you're supposed to do", but that kind of thinking too often leads to disappointment and unnecessary debt. (I'm being dead serious here, too, college graduates are usually fine even in poorly paid majors; it's the people who go to college and don't get the degree who overwhelmingly struggle with the debt they accrue.)

So, the three questions you need to ask are:

What do you want to do in life?

Do you need to go to college to do it?

(If "yes" to #2) Are you at the right college for you?

If you can't answer "yes" to the second two questions, it's probably time to make a change. If the answer to the second question is "no", then it's time to figure out what you do need to do what you want, and if the answer to question 2 is "yes" but the answer to question 3 is "no", then it's time to figure out where it is you do need to go.

None of this is something you have to do alone either. Most colleges/universities have counselors who can help with this. If you don't trust them, there are other people around, even online, who can help. Heck, I'm willing to do so if you or anyone else needs. Not sure I'll be great, but I'm willing to try.

Most importantly, though, don't put too much pressure on yourself. It may seem as if people your age have already figured things out and it can be frustrating that you haven't, but those people just got lucky, it's not because they're any better than anyone else and there are more people still struggling than anyone is willing to admit. Your teens and twenties are a hard enough time without adding the stress of trying to stick too hard to something that isn't working for you.

Anyways, I'm probably rambling a bit, but I hope I've at least provided something useful and good luck. I can't promise it will get better or easier, but it does tend to. Hopefully one day you'll look back on this with hindsight and see a hard time that eventually led you to where you wanted to be.

seriously considering dropping out of college...again

[escapismqueen]

Chenford + miscommunication/angst speculation for the next ep?

Hi, thank you so much for your request, I hope this is okay ❤️I’ve had a few requests for a 5x19 spec fic so hopefully you all like it 🥰

A Chenford speculation fic- 5x19- ‘I don’t know’

Incl: angst, fluff, hurt/comfort, mostly angst though.

Warnings: allusions/ representation of a panic attack, mentions of needles and drugs.

The words had been ringing in Tim and Lucys ears since they were first uttered that Morning. “Guess we’ll have to get used to seeing less of each other”. He’d been regretting saying anything about it the moment he opened his mouth; he meant it light heartedly when he said it, but Lucy’s sudden drop in expression and worry glazed eyes hammered home the reality- they would be seeing each other less.

So far, their relationship hasn’t experienced any significant bumps or obstacles, they’ve been ridiculously happy in their new relationship bliss, and nothing as of yet had gotten in the way of that. Until now; and it had sent them both in a spiral.

Tim opened the door to Lucy’s apartment with haste. It’s been a rough day at work for him today; the sounds of their morning conversation reverberating in his mind, not helped by the fact he hasn’t seen her since. The fact that they’d be seeing each other less was of course stirring an uncomfortable feeling in his stomach, but the nausea- that came from Lucy’s mention of ‘narcotics’. He hated that word; hated everything about it. Narcotics reminded him of everything that pulled his life apart; his dad and Isobel being the forefront. But when it came to work and narcotics; it came in thunderous force to Isobel.

He’d been feeling his chest tighten all day, his heart clenching so hard that he started to worry about his health- an area in which he knew from a recent checkup was all good. So what the hell was the feeling ? As he pushed the door open, a thick, stuffy warmth took over his skin- it reminded him of the night Isobel left him. That feeling- it was coming back. His chest got tighter, his vision blurring from not only a wall of tears but from a dizziness that was now whirring around his system at an alarming rate. But then he registered Lucy. The sweet melodic sound of her voice, the smell of her coconut shampoo, and her mango scented perfume delightfully greeting him as he stepped into the room.

“Tim?” The sound of her voice snapped him out of his fog, his heartbeat steadying the second he looked at her. The blurriness slowly disappearing from his vision, allowing him to see the beauty that is his girlfriend. “Hey, you okay?” Lucys brows furrow in concern, her hands following suit and cupping his cheeks in a reassuring hold. “I’m fine. But are you ? You look a little shaken.” Tim ponders for a moment on wether he should open up to her about this. They spoke about it briefly this morning, but it ended with Tim reassuring her that ‘it’ll be okay’ how was he supposed to tell her later that same day that he wasn’t?

It’s not that he didn’t want Lucy to work in the narcotics division or go undercover- he knows she’d be great at it. But he couldn’t help but have deja vu by the mere suggestion of it. This is how it started with Isobel. The excitement about the opportunity, the anxiety over the test, the smile she had when she talked about anything ‘UC’ related. But then it was late nights, weeks or months without talking that turned into no talking or coming home at all. She left him. She got hooked on the things she was so passionate to get rid of, and got rid of him instead; the one thing she swore she’d always be passionate about. But he couldn’t dangle this insecurity in front of Lucy could he ? She deserves to make the decision herself and not sacrifice anything in hopes that it’ll make him feel better. No. He’s not saying anything.

“Oh, it’s nothing. It’s just been a long day and I have a bit of a headache that’s all.” The lie flew off his tongue like an eagle chasing its prey; smooth and sharp with no hesitation. He felt guilty as soon as he spoke, but he knew he had to do it for her sake. Tim Bradford is a lot of things, but selfish isn’t one of them. Tim sighs in relief at her nodding head, glad she didn’t question him further; he could struggle through a lie to her once, but twice ? Not happening. “Okay babe, as long as you’re sure. Go lie down, I’ll bring you some Advil.” And with a quick loving kiss to his warm lips, she darted into the kitchen and left Tim’s Heart aching even more- he can not lose her.

Later in the evening, Tim and Lucy snuggled up closely to each other, legs tangling perfectly into each others. They’d both been asleep for a few hours, happy to nod off in the others arms whilst they still could. Tim’s arms were placed protectively around Lucy’s waist, his face nestled sweetly in her neck; it was their usual sleeping state, one that Lucy liked to playfully tease him for, stating that he ‘couldn’t bear’ to be without her even in his dreams. But the more he wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her neck, the more she knew that she never wanted to sleep another way again. The scruff on his chin would always tickle her and sometimes wake her up, and she often gets very hot from his own body heat being so close to hers, but the first day she had to sleep without him, she’d never been so unsatisfied with such fresh, cold sheets and an unbothered night of rest.

As per usual, Lucy woke in the middle of the night, her body anticipating the scratch of Tim’s beard scruff. But as she turns to her side to give him an affectionate kiss on the cheek, she notices his eyebrows scrunched together, and a thin layer of sweat coating his skin. “Tim?” She reaches her arm out delicately over to him, not wanting to startle him, but hoping that he’ll wake up. Her voice wobbles as she says his name again, her worry this time heightened by the small whimper that escapes his throat- he’s having a nightmare.

The images flash overwhelmingly quick in Tim’s head. The empty house he came home to when Isobel left him, the needles he found stashed away under their bed, her sunken eyes and her frail body laying in the dumpster, blood exiting her and paling her more. Then her face changed and the images got clearer, the words got louder ‘your wife has been arrested’ ‘your wife is in the hospital’ ‘your wife has overdosed’. Everything awful he’d ever heard about her was now repeating cruelly in his slumber, but her face was no longer a part of the images; now it was Lucy’s.

The images piled on top of each other like wooden blocks, each one making the tower weaker and more likely to fall. Tim’s chest began to feel tight again, his breathing now altered and shaky. He heard Lucy’s voice call him over and over again, begging, pleading, but he couldn’t get out. He was trapped there, trapped in the depiction of her close to death or abandoning him at their home. He heard her screams, he saw her being shot, he saw her placing needles in her veins with a far away look in her eyes. Why couldn’t he stop her ? “Lucy !” “Lucy, stop, Lucy !!” His chest was heaving, his hands were clenching, and all he could feel was a fire-like heat rushing through his body, but he was unable to scream.

Lucy looks at Tim in the bed with tears streaming down her face. He looks so vulnerable and afraid. The sweat on his body glistened in the moonlight, but their was nothing beautiful about it. His face was reddening by the second, his breaths were quick and scattered, his body was twisting and turning in shock, and he’d shouted her name several times in desperation; this was a Tim Bradford she’d never seen before, and the sight of it broke her heart. “Tim ! Wake up! It’s okay, it’s just a dream, you’re okay, wake up, cmon”. She pleads.

At his lack of response, she reaches her arms out and shakes his shoulders fiercely, her anxiety no longer contained. “Tim, WAKE UP”. At the sound of her raised voice, Tim’s eyes shoot open, his body following within seconds. His eyes waste no time in scrambling for Lucy; was she okay ? Was she with him ?. Her hands cupping his cheeks answered his question, and within a second, he was wrapped tightly in his girlfriends embrace. He freezes for a moment, slowly readjusting back to reality and telling himself that everything was okay. He looks at her with desperation I’m his eyes and falls into her completely, a sob racking his chest at the first touch from her. “Lucy, don’t leave. Please don’t leave me. You have to stay, please. I cant’t handle losing you. I know I’ve handled losing people before, but it’s never been you and now it is. You can’t leave. Please.”

Her head shoots up from Tim’s shoulder in shock, his words sinking her heart to her stomach. He’d just had a panic attack in his sleep and now she knew what it was about- her. She hadn’t realised until this moment just how much their conversation from the morning had worried him. He reassured her, because she was the worried one, but now he was collapsed in her arms, sobs eliciting from his throat, voice begging her not to leave him. What the hell happened ?

“What ? Tim, I’m not going to leave you. Why would you think that ? I’d never leave you, I love you.” An uncomfortable silence hovered in the air, the only sounds heard being Tim’s laboured breathing and the sound of Lucy’s hands caressing up and down his back. Before she could open her mouth to speak, Tim lifts his head and looks her deeply in the eyes, his tears resurfacing. He takes a deep breath to steady himself, and says the words that have been circling his mind the whole day “She loved me too.”

The words cut through Lucy like a knife, not having to ask to know who ‘she’ was. In this moment, she hated herself for wanting to go UC. The sight of her boyfriend vulnerable and broken; driven to nightmares because of his past, worrying that the same will also happen in his future- it was one hard pill to swallow.

“I’m sorry”

Lucy looks at him with an empathetic gaze, her eyelids blinking slowly, her arms wrapping sturdily around Tim’s chest. “Tim, you don’t have to be sorry. Your feelings are valid. I’m sorry that this is causing you so much pain. And I’m sorry I didn’t see it earlier.” She mentally curses herself for missing the signs.

Tim leans his head forward and brushes his nose lightly against Lucy’s, glad that his breathing has now calmed and he can hold on to her a little tighter. “Luce. Whatever you do, please don’t make your decision based upon what just happened. Please. I know you’ll want to, to protect me, but as a person who loves you, I can’t- I can’t be the reason that you don’t pursue something that you want to.”

An eerie silence floods the air, the possibilities of what come next knocking rapidly at their chests. “Tim?” Lucy questions, her mind already running a mile a minute. “Yeah?”

“What’re we gonna do ?” The distress in her voice pushes Tim to place his hands at her waist and under her shirt, his fingers settling comfortably on her bare skin. He looks at her for a moment and sends her a weak smile, both of them knowing that this will not be a simple situation to figure out. He lies down back onto his pillow, pulling her gently towards him, his head finding it’s home back into her neck, nose inhaling her mango scented aroma.

As their hands intertwine, they both try to think of an answer, The strengthening of their interlaced hands giving away what their voices aren’t yet willing to say.

“I don’t know sweetheart, I really don’t know.”

[fostersffff]

The Witch from Mercury PROLOGUE definitely did its job for me.

Setting established: a council of megacorporations have absolute control of the development of mobile suits, which makes them the de facto power behind any government, whether “Earthian” or “Spacian”. They fear and attempt to stomp out the Earth’s Ochs Corporation, who are developing Gundams, a new type of mobile suit that incorporates GUND medical prothetic technology they bought out. Originally conceived to help people survive more easily in space with superior prosthetics, Ochs scaled up the GUND technology to create what is, for all intents and purposes, a hybrid of the NT-D from Unicorn and the Mobile Trace System from G Gundam. The trade-off is that scaling it up so much creates an intense strain on the pilot, and at certain levels can even kill them. Despite providing a definitive edge to Gundams over standard mobile suits, the other megacorporations have already come up with methods to neutralize GUND technology, leading to the events of the prologue.

(the doctor’s phrasing here might turn out to have an alternate meaning, but I interpret it as “if we can prove the viability of GUND technology for military purposes, we’ll get the funding we need to continue developing it as medical technology as well”)

The mobile suits also all look great! Something I’ve been noting down a lot while watching Gundam Wing is that I kind of hate how the Gundams of the After Colony timeline look nothing like other mobile suits in the setting. It makes sense in UC, where you (originally) have two completely unrelated manufacturers taking a spin at designing giant combat robots. The Tallgeese, Mercurius, Vayeate, and OZ grunt suits all look like they belong to the same family tree- because they do- but then the Gundams, which are all said to be based on the Tallgeese, look nothing like it or anything else in the setting. Here, it would actually make sense if the Gundams looked like a UC design, because those differences could be chalked up to different manufacturers, but instead, all the mobile suits have a sleek sensibility to them with some distinctions between them, which also makes sense since the corporations responsible for MS development are colluding with one another to some degree.

Last but not least, the actual story is simple and very well executed. Without getting into proper content spoilers, and it sets up our protagonist, her backstory, possible motivations, and leaves off on a cliffhanger that has me very excited to see more come October.

[lunaevangeline]

Okay, this is random but on my latest fic, I mentioned about how lovers' heartbeats can turn in sync. I had known about it before but I wasn't sure whether it's scientifically accurate or not. So yesterday when I was writing that line, I did a quick search and found out that they really have a paper about it!!

It's quite an old paper by Ferrer, E. & Helm, J.L. (2012). And here's a graph that shows the heart rates of a man and woman are in sync if they're involved in a romantic relationship.

Honestly I didn't read the full paper and this graph is actually a bit complicated (using deferential equation modeling). But I found an easy explanation from nature journal :

This couple (referring the graph) was one of the 32 heterosexual couples in a study conducted by physiologies at UC Davis in the US that aimed to see if people in romantic relationships co-regulated their physiologies with their partners. By co-regulated, read change; by physiologies, read heart rates.

In one of the experiments, the couples sat facing each other but just far enough that they would not be able to touch. The researchers asked them to simply stare at one another for three minutes straight in as calm a manner as possible (ahem) while they monitored the couple's heart rates.

The graph above does not actually show the heart rates of the man and woman changing with time. Instead it shows a complex measure of heart rate which takes into consideration the observed changes in heart rate due to the individual self-regulating, that is trying to control himself or herself by keeping calm for instance, as well as the changes associated with the individual as he or she unconsciously mimics the partner, known as co-regulation. Since the extent of both self-regulation and co-regulation is different in men and women, this measure allows for comparison between the two. In the above graph, the measure is actually shown by a blue line.

But the blue line is so closely matched by a red line that you barely see it. What does the red line indicate? It indicates the changes one would expect to see if the couple's heart rates are the same. Therefore the more closely the blue and red lines match, the closer an individual's heart rate is to the partner's. It is no surprise then that when the researchers compared the measure of heart rates between people not involved in a romantic relationship, the blue and red lines did not match.

The researchers also found that it was the women who tended to adjust their heart rates to their partners. Why this actually happens on a psychological level however is still a mystery. The researchers speculate that women have a strong link to their partners may have something to do with them having more empathy.

The study does have some limitations, which the researchers readily acknowledge. For instance, the study only looked at 32 couples which is a small sample. It also only looked at heterosexual couples. But regardless, it does at least give some evidence that we match our physiologies without even knowing to that special someone's.

And inspired from this study, here's a great line which may do wonders today of all days: "I love you so much that my heart beats as fast as yours whenever I see you."

References:

Dynamical Systems Modeling of Physiological Coregulation in Dyadic Interactions

Lovers' Hearts Beat at the Same Rate Everyday

[female-malice]

One of my biggest fears is the capture of key sciences such as ecology or chemistry by postmodernism. We've seen it happening with medicine. Survival of the biosphere would be much slimmer if we can't categorize deleterious exotics from native species. By the sounds of your newer posts it seems to be happening already. Are things that bad in the US?

Yes, it's starting.

A certain degree of internal criticism is healthy in any field of science. I think the argument against the current species taxonomy system is interesting. That argument criticizes the anthropocentric worldview of Carl Linnaeus. So it does ultimately help the field. But this argument could get out of hand if postmodernists co-opt it and go "don't say species!" That would get tiring. But that hasn't happened yet. For now, the point of the argument is to examine how Linnaeus's dominionism shaped biology perspectives.

But then there's Banu Subramaniam's Aliens essay and the EEB Language Project. Both have the potential to set disastrous precedents in Earth science.

It's interesting to look at the schools involved in EEB Language Project...

UC Berkeley – post-modernism think tank Harvard – conservative neoliberal capitalism think tank Princeton – liberal neoliberal capitalism think tank UC Davis – biggest agricultural university in the country and home to the CLEAR beef and dairy greenwashing project Stanford – great at protecting campus rapists

There's other schools involved but those five stood out to me.

Earth science is interesting because geography is important. There's good Earth science programs in every public university because there's always something of local interest to study. The best program at my tiny state school was the ecology program. That seems to be a common theme at a lot of small state schools. People deride these schools by calling them "party schools." But when you look at a lot of top ecologists, they spent their entire careers at "party schools"

Big names like Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford don't actually give you extra credibility in the Earth science world.

So there's a class dynamic here. You don't need to pay an arm and a leg to access the top Earth science programs. But now, through EEBLP, "prestigious" schools are talking down to the "party" schools. They're basically saying "you working class scientists are so uncultured and problematic!"

Luckily, Earth scientists have been tangoing with corporate capture and greenwashing for decades. They know what bullshit looks and smells like.

And this is still the face of botanical popular science:

So postmodernists have their work cut out for them lmao

[milenasolis]

❝ ...it had counted after all, every evasion and every procrastination, every mistake, every word, all of it. ❞

Age: 30

Gender identification: Cis female, she/her

Residential area: Glenn Estates

Occupation: Owner of The Mayfair

Gang Affiliation: The Enterprise

Two positive traits: Venturesome & resourceful

Two negative traits: Hedonistic & dreamer

Length of time in Tonopah Valley: 25 years (arrived in Tonopah Valley around 1 year old and spent 4 years in NYC for university)

Faceclaim: Priscilla Quintana

stacks of books everywhere, empty coke cans abandoned on tables and shelves, vintage rock band t-shirts, framed movie posters decorating the walls, an ever tempting crumpled pack of marlboros on the bookshelf, 2am cups of coffee, fitted jeans, scattered meaningful fine line tattoos, paragraph texts in the middle of the night

trigger warnings: death, adoption, drugs, alcohol, depression

A life where everything came on a silver platter was far from what Milena Solis’ mother could have hoped for when it had come to her children. Life for her had been a struggle in her homeland of Mexico; poverty, dwindling family for support, and lack of options set the woman on a mission for something better. Especially when she found out she was pregnant, and with twins no less. A friend of a friend had spoken of a job opportunity in the United States, if she could get to Nevada then she’d have the means to care for her coming children. What she hadn’t expected was how grueling the journey was and how much it would take out of her. Not much is known about Milena’s mother and the family she’d come from, just that she’d passed away not long after childbirth. There were complications and in the long run she had been too weak to overcome them.

The twins were fairly young when they were adopted. So young in fact that Milena has no recollection of any life before Nevada and Diego and Dale Mejia. With origins unknown to the State of Nevada, the twins went into the system and won the lottery when the very wealthy Diego Mejia chose them.

Growing up in Glenn Estates, Tonopah Valley, Nevada she was surrounded by family. Close bonds and an acceptance of differences. Never once had Milena been made to feel like she didn’t belong, as though she wasn’t real family because she didn’t share actual DNA. In fact, Milena, often called Mila or Lena, was groomed from the time she started schooling to eventually take part in the family business. As she got into her teens she would learn and understand that Mejia Morales Homes was more corporation and industry than a simple family passion project. At times it was overwhelming; the pressure to perform well in school, to be apart of certain social circles and noteworthy clubs, and achieving wins in sports all to support the family business. An understanding had been laid on her from the very start that she was to be a piece of the pie, as with all the other siblings in the mixed family.

In youth Milena took much for granted with her older sister shouldering the expectations of their parents and leading the way. She’d set a great example and Milena had always looked up to her sister, in many ways finding that she wanted to be a lot like her. Or at least have her approval. Where she saw her sister doing what was expected and take the path set out for her, Milena began to discover that she wanted something very different for her life. Real estate and flipping houses was far from a passion for her. She was obsessed with films, everything from classics to horror to indie and foreign, and knew that she wanted some sort of life and career involved in that industry. The big dream Milena quietly cultivated was to be a filmmaker of some sort, with arthouse and indie genres being her biggest interest.

When university approached talking about film school went nowhere. Instead she was steered away from schools like UCLA and NYU and more encouraged to find a path like her sister’s. UC Berkeley was pushed on Milena, or any top university with a great business or architecture program. In the end she agreed to go to business school at NYU and left Nevada for four years to pursue her degree, yet was encouraged to come home and work for the family business and her Master’s simultaneously upon completion of her Bachelor’s. New York had been a culture shock but one she loved to the fullest. Life and the people were so different in the melting pot city. Milena found herself in creative circles, going to open mic nights and slam poetry, nightclubs and a party scene, and for the first time in her life really let loose.

Returning to Tonopah Valley had been tough after New York. Family of course always won over, she’d do anything (or just about) for them, and the call to obligation rang. She worked real estate, selling homes and brokering deals, completely dispassioned while she did so. It made the family happy though and who was she to deny that? Except when her sister nearly died during an operation to hand over a kidney to their brother and thus had an epiphany, her departure had left Milena to pick up all that she’d left behind. It became overwhelming and while she understood her sister’s need it turned her a little bitter, because that had been what she wanted and now she’d become so tied to the family business.

It spawned a rebellion. Melina found her way into partying, much heavier than anything she did in New York as this was all about escape. Drugs and excess drinking numbed the regret and longing but made her miss time. Either she was coming in late, hungover or strung out, or Milena would be passed out on her couch all day. Only to rise when it was time to go out burn off the weight of fealty and expectations. It didn’t help that Milena and her twin had begun looking into their origins around this time too, the results only further plunging her into her depression and hedonism.

Eventually an intervention righted the world, turned what had flipped upside down to something she could firmly plant her feet on once more. Only this time Milena found she had room to bargain, she would return to the family business on a more part time status and clean herself up if her father’s, Diego and Dale, signed over The Mayfair to her. If she was to be ensnared in the family business then a lot more respect had to be given. Not only did Milena possess a shiny, prestigious degree from a top university but she had the savvy to do more than broker real estate deals. The last thing she wanted was to go through each day feeling like she was living life as some robot, arguing that the business of real estate, as grand as their success had been, just wasn’t for her. Thankfully an agreement was made and it had become Milena’s saving grace.

With a powerful name and grand success in the world of real estate, The Enterprise had sought out Milena when she took over The Mayfair, and following the vetting process she found herself a board member and with more power at her fingertips than a once orphan had ever thought possible. Milena’s feelings about the divided lines in town are troubled; she can understand the need for balance and order, knows the feeling of power at her fingertips, yet feels strange intrigue to those who’s roots trace back to the same country as where she’d been brought into the world. Nevertheless, the goal is to make her family proud and to solidify their legacy. If only secrets and temptations can keep her from swaying…

Quite the film enthusiast, Milena has plans for a new theater in town. She has a dream of a place that can house both stage and screen audiences.

While Milena and her twin are seeking out who their mother was and her story, doing what they can to discover their origins, they are going to inadvertently find out who their father was and that he has loose ties to the cartel.

She has an irrational love for deep dish pizza.

Something of a car enthusiast, Milena has a small collection of vehicles with her favorite being anything classic and/or muscle variety.

Somehow she’s turned it into an art: seeing how far people will go to bribe or gain any kind of favor from her. Milena is actually friendly, fun, flirty, and easy to get along with but she has no problem saying no and walking away after stringing someone along.

[prose-for-hire]

UC Sunnyhell: Part one

Welcome to Sunnyhell! ☀

Next Part

Pairing: Spike x reader

Request: Series idea: College AU where Spike is the campus bad boy who secretly is a softie that writes poems and reader is the new transfer who just moved into Spike's apartment since it was the only available room on campus (no one wants to willingly live with Spike). Spike constantly having one night stands over, reader always trying to study. The Scoobies take reader under their wing but warn her about Spike's reputation. Slow burn enemies to friends to lovers?

Originally requested by: @sunflower-stan​

Warning: sex references. Swearing.

A/N: This is a college au !! There was a second part to this request but I didn’t have space to include it (just know I am using your ideas for the roles people would have on campus). This is part one of eight !!!!!! 🖤💜

You had been nervous for starting college. You weren’t even sure you wanted to move away from your hometown until the last second. This is why you ended up losing out on anywhere you could live on-campus. You were instead directed here.

To a little shared house just on the outskirts of the college. You had all of your stuff packed up and waiting to be moved in and you were just staring at the house. This would be your new home for the rest of the year. Your stomach flipped, a mix of nerves and excitement.

You were naturally more bookish. You enjoyed the theatre and musicals. Literature. Now, if you were honest upon looking back, a little sheltered. You were hoping this might change and that you could start fresh now that you were staring college. There were so many experiences and people that you were sure you would enjoy meeting.

You tentatively knocked on the door. You had packed up your little car and driven to UC Sunnydale the day before your course would start. You were assured that your roommate had your key and would tell you all about your new house.

You waited for a while before knocking again, a little louder. The door swung open almost immediately this time and you stepped back at the force of it.

A woman opened the door she was blonde and had rosy cheeks. Her skin was pale and she had plump, full lips. But you didn’t notice any of that. Because she had opened the door to you half naked. She stared at you as if to hurry you up. Cursing you with every breath you took.

As you managed to form words again, you began to ask.

“Oh... a-are you... Will-?”

“Do I fucking look like my name’s William?” She asked before shouting over her shoulder, “Spike one of your sluts is at the door!” her face was sullen as she grabbed up all of her stuff, slipped on some leggings and what you had thought was a bra as she pushed past you. Your eyes widened at her tone and you stepped out of her way less she body-slammed you in that direction anyway.

Your first impression of Spike was what one might call, a bad one. For one, you weren’t accustomed to meeting anyone for the first time fully naked.

He just raised an eyebrow as you stared open-mouthed “oh, right” he muttered, turning away slightly.

He wasn’t even embarrassed, his unlit cigarette hanging from his lip as he opened a draw and grabbed your key. He moved and handed it to you and you took it.

“Thanks” you squeaked, trying your best to act as if this was normal. You tried your hardest to keep your eyes trained to his face. He smirked, knowing exactly what you were trying not to look at. He sized you up for a moment, scanning his eyes over your body before shrugging and looking back up to your eyes and launching into his more formal greeting.

“Rules: don’t bloody touch any of my shit. Don’t start making me clean up, there’s a system oh, and please don’t start thinking we’re gonna braid each other’s hair and paint our nails - I didn’t want a bleeding roommate in the first place” He warned, pointing for emphasis. This gave you a flash of his already painted nails.

He rattled off a few more rules, as he lit up his cigarette. Rules such as don’t talk to him Monday through Friday, don’t speak to the people he brought back to the house ever and definitely don’t complain if you can smell alcohol and cigarettes.

“You’ve been warned. Right, your rooms the crap one on the left” he shrugged his head, before slamming the door to what was apparently his room as he spoke (to put some clothes on, you presumed). You started to walk towards the room he had pointed out, a little shell-shocked.

But you had barely stepped in when he opened his door again and popped his head out of the door, “Welcome to Sunnyhell!” He announced before slamming the door shut once more.

You moved everything into your room, you spent time making your room feel more like home. You spent a long time making it look cosy and yours.

To begin with, you and spike mostly kept out of each other’s way. You weren’t used to people being so blunt or hostile right off the bat. Still, you tried your best to be nice to him on the rare occasion that you did pass each other in the hall.

Your first day of classes had you feeling the way you always did. Lost. Both metaphorically and unfortunately you were also genuinely lost. You had taken a turn and you didn’t know where to go next. You checked your map but it didn’t make any sense.

You were just going to walk in a random direction until a kind voice spoke to you.

“Hey, you’re lost right?”

“Big time” You smiled sheepishly, noticing only now that your map was upside down. The blonde girl introduced herself as Buffy and seemed to take an instant like to you. She could tell you were a little out of your depth and it showed on your face as much as she had felt it inside on her first day.

You both started walking in the vague direction of the campus. She asked you what class you had and what room and she was determined to help you find it. You kept thanking her almost every other step for her kindness. But she just shook her head, showing that you had no reason to. She wanted to.

You got to know her and she asked about you. She explained that she and her friend Cordy were part of a sorority and that her and her friends had found it hard when they started college last year. As you rounded the corner and Buffy saw the room you had been looking for, she became slightly side-tracked. She saw one of her best friends.

You smiled at Buffy. You liked her, she seemed really friendly. She appears to be really popular too, she stops every other step to speak to someone.

“Oh, Will! Hey!” Buffy raised her hand as she did her voice to catch the redhead’s attention, “Y/n, this is the resident genius and science club president!”

The girl, Willow, was wearing  lab coat and smiling sweetly at you. Her aesthetic and Buffy’s didn’t really match so after greeting the new girl, you had to ask.

“And you two are friends?” You ask a little confused. You were still used to how cliquey high school had been so seeing lots of different people mixing and being friends was strange. But, you decided you really liked it.

“Best friends”

“Yeah! We all sit together at lunch and just hang. Why don’t you join us?”

“Oh, well-”

“Great, we meet at the canteen at one!” Buffy called, linking arms with Willow and leaving you at the door of the lecture room you needed.

You entered your class, trying your best not to feel so overwhelmed. You actually really enjoyed it and just hoped that this would continue through the rest of the year.

After class was over, you tried to familiarise yourself with the campus again. Looking at different stalls that had been set up for the new arrivals advertising clubs.

You felt a little out of place and so sort of stayed to the side lines, not really interacting with many of the students. You hung around by the noticeboard and something caught your eye. A bright pink flier. You took it down, staring at it.

It read ‘Open mic night – held by the Poetry society and the theatre club’ You folded the flier and stuffed it into your pocket with a little smile. Maybe you wouldn’t feel so left out here after all.

You looked up from your feet as you needed to try and find your next class. As you did, you managed to directly catch someone’s eye. Spike’s. You lifted your hand to awkwardly wave at him and give him a little smile at him but he just glared at your action and ignored you completely.

You watched lamely as he just stalked away. That stupid leather jacket of his whipping around his heels. Everyone moved out of his way they all scattered as he just walks wherever he likes.

You sigh, extremely embarrassed at the way he had blanked you. You shove the hand that had still been slightly raised into your pockets as you walked away towards your next class.

Eventually lunch came and you decided that you could go to the canteen. You stood awkwardly on the side looking around for a face that you recognised in the sea of bodies.

As soon as Buffy saw you, she called you over immediately and began to introduce you to her group of friends. It was quite the mix of people. You learned a lot in a short space of time.

There was Xander, he was on a basketball scholarship. Apparently he was the sole reason that the college team won so often. Although, how true that was you weren’t entirely sure. He was immediately friendly and invited you to sit. You had expected him to be unwelcoming and kind of arrogant but he was the complete opposite. He smiled and cracked a few goofy jokes upon your arrival to put you at ease.

Sitting next to him was Cordelia, but she preferred ‘Cordy’. She was Buffy’s sorority sister and head cheer coach. She was dating Xander, only in the sense that they shared sodas and the backseat of Cordy’s new car. She could have quite a biting attitude but she did this as a term of endearment you found… to the lucky few.

Then there was Willow, who you had already met. She was a proud nerd and she had more extracurriculars than you could count up to it seemed. She was incredibly sweet and good-natured treating you as if she had known you her whole life. You also learned she had a girlfriend.

Tara, who was sat braiding Willow’s hair seeing as she had finished her lunch already. It appeared like she needed to do something when she was sat in a group. She appeared nice although she didn’t speak as much as everyone else so it was

Usually, someone called Angel would show. Everyone on campus knew him apparently as he was a member of one of the frats. He was kind of hard to get hold of you discovered. Buffy was a little disappointed when she explained that he wasn’t coming to lunch today. She appeared to really like him.

After the introductions were made and everyone started to eat again, the focus turned to you briefly. Buffy said you should totally join their cheerleading group or one of the fraternities or sororities. But this wasn’t really your kind of thing. You explain that you’d rather find something else. As you said this, you felt the corner of the flier in your pocket. You hoped you would find at least someone that shared your interests. That you could bond with over the things that excited you. Form a connection with.

Not to say you weren’t already feeling a welcoming vibe from the table you were sat with. They were friendly but appeared to be holding back slightly upon your arrival. You got it, you were new. But it did make you feel like you stood out a little.

You stared into the distance as they chatted, until someone spoke to you.

“Where are you staying, y/n?” Willow’s girlfriend, Tara, asked kindly. She seemed quiet and so probably knew how you were feeling. You smiled at her, appreciating her effort.

“Oh, I applied late so I got what was left. I’m in a shared house just off campus, I’m living with this guy – Spike”

There was a collective intake of breath and some shared looks. They appeared worried for you. You looked up in confusion at their shocked faces.

“He’s bad news”

“Yeah, hot off the presses – Spike is a total no-go. Nobody else took that room for a reason, there are rumours” Buffy warned you, her voice going quiet.

“And that Billy Idol wannabe hair? I get vintage, but that guys totally stuck living in the eighties” Cordy commented, the resident expert in style you would soon discover.

“What are the rumours?” You asked, bracing yourself for the reply.

“Well, apart from the superficial stuff-”

“Yeah, Cor’s got that part covered” Xander teased which made Cordy stamp on his foot under the table. He yelped and they glared at each other before they began suddenly launching themselves at each other and making out.

“Anyway… he’s horrible to everyone. He once got into a fist fight over a half pack of cigarettes he found on the sidewalk”

“He has a new, uh, sex buddy every week and he’s on constant probation. They threaten to expel him from college all the time” Willow had whispered her warning which had made Buffy smile fondly.

But you weren’t smiling. You were starting to worry. You knew you should have checked the place out before you signed the agreement. Now you were stuck there.

“I can’t stay there if he’s gonna fight me! I can’t throw a punch” You said, not quite believing that he would try to hurt you.

“We have self-defence class on Thursdays, we can sign you up” Buffy said, patting your hand that was resting on the table. Your eyes widened, they really thought he might fight you.

“Buffy’s the teacher” Willow explained before telling you not to worry.

Since this conversation, you were even more cautious around Spike. The tension began to rise between you. His attitude was unforgiving and he had taken one look at you and immediately judged you as being ‘one of them’.

You tried to be his friend to begin with, being naturally friendly and wanting some kind of approval from him that you didn’t understand.

But it soon became apparent you were almost complete opposites.

He kept the kitchen in a mess where you liked to have some sense of cleanliness. He had become really annoyed with you when you had cleaned up. You had a spare couple of hours in the afternoon and thought you would make it look tidy. You had done it to be kind but he had snatched the bowl you had cleaned for him and stormed away.

The tension was beginning to rise between you. You spoke to your new friends about it when you sat with them at lunch and they fuelled your feelings. You were starting to realise just how much you didn’t like Spike.

You and Spike, apart from the odd hello from you and the irritated grunt from him, didn’t communicate. He had ripped up your note suggesting a rota system for keeping the house tidy. And he all-out blanked you if he ever stumbled onto some lame corner of the campus that you were hanging out in.

The tension moved from apparent indifference to an increasing distaste for the other and their opposing nature. Spike assumed you thought you were better than he was. Because you studied. And slept early and had friends that were ridiculously too clean-cut.

He had seen you hanging out with Buffy and her gang of losers. He instantly decided you were just some bland prep like them. He was waiting for the day you tried to bring one of them over so he could have the pleasure of kicking them out of his house the way they shunned him in public.

One evening, a few weeks after you had met Buffy’s friends in the canteen for the first time, you were home alone. Spike had gone out as he usually would to get drunk and you were staying in just like almost every other night since you had moved to Sunnydale.

You couldn’t sleep and so you had sat in the shared living space watching some boring late-night show for company. You hugged a cushion to your chest and just stared blankly at the screen. Feigning listening to the low buzzing of the set and hoping you could fall asleep this way.

It was at a time where you hadn’t started meeting your new group of friends outside of the canteen at lunch yet. You didn’t have people to talk to, you wouldn’t want to bother them anyway.

Suddenly the front door swung open and there was what sounded like some kind of scuffle happening through the doorway. You frowned confused. Until you saw that it was Spike shoving his tongue down someone’s throat. It was the third different person Spike had brought home that week. And it was Wednesday.

You had been sat in the dark and Spike was otherwise occupied so he dragged your houseguest to the sofa that you were sat on and tangled against them with an urgency fuelled by loneliness or alcohol – you didn’t stick around long enough to care why he did it.

You were fixed to the spot, your face contorted in horror as you had unwittingly become a part of his one night stand. But as their bodies rolled and pressed against yours, you screamed. They smelled as if they had brought the entire brewery home with them.

Spike barely even registered that you were there, he just cast an eye towards you and raised an eyebrow. As if you were the one in his way. You saw his hand lowering, groping his new friend and your eyes widened and you scrambled to remove yourself from the area and get to the solace of your room.

You scowled. He was so inconsiderate.

As the weeks went by it was apparent that you were never going to get along. You were annoyed that he wouldn’t acknowledge that the house was now shared. He treated you as if you were damp seeping into the walls. Tainting everywhere he turned. Bubbling and creating a problem in the corner. Spreading and ruining his mood with your stubborn insistence to stay in the home.

And you were starting to treat him the same way. Which, he knew you would eventually. He had guessed your friendliness had been an act.

You were just too different. You liked to study to stay on top of your work. Whereas Spike didn’t ever seem to be doing any work. You were always in his business, making comments and singing those musical songs around the house that bugged him so much.

It was as if you were living in a better way than him. You were trying to ‘improve’ him and he felt as if you were suffocating him with all of your little ideas about changing the house around. You were really starting to get on his nerves.

He kept irregular hours and this was okay by you, so long as it didn’t affect your sleep schedule. But, unfortunately it often did.

You had leaned over to turn your bedside lamp off and settled into bed. You closed your eyes, smiling at the day you had. Cordy and Buffy had taken you shopping. They insisted they would find you a new college wardrobe. You gave them a budget and your style ideas and they worked their magic.

You were so grateful they had kind of started to take you under their wing. You weren’t entirely sure if it was to get dirt on Spike at first, but they had gotten bored of the topic as the weeks went on and were more interested in getting to know you.

You began to drift into sleep as you recounted your day. Until all of a sudden you were jolted awake. Loud music had started playing. You checked the clock it was nearing midnight – you had gotten in much later than you usually would after your friends had taken you for a drink to celebrate a successful shopping trip.

The pounding of the music and the screaming vocals were so loud it was as if the band was playing a live set directly beside your bed. Your entire room appeared to be shaking because of it.

You got out of bed, your anger bubbling dangerously higher with every step you took towards the source of the noise. He was sat in the shared living area, drinking liquor from the bottle and nodding along to the music.

“I have a really important class tomorrow, can you keep it down?” You asked, trying to make your voice sound level.

“Don’t know. Can you keep your hands off my Weetabix?” He asked snidely. You had seen one of his friends or… whatever they were eat the last of it. But you were too embarrassed to bring up his promiscuity. The rumours had made you cautious of him and so you just didn’t say anything.

He quirked his eyebrow as if he had caught you out and turned to the cd player he was using. You sighed some relief but rather than turning it down he twisted the dial so that the volume was at its fullest.

This was it. You stalked towards the Cd player and turned the volume right down. He got up from his seat immediately, grabbing your upper arm to pull you away. His grip was firm and his body was extremely close to yours. His eyes were hard and unforgiving as he spoke.

“Did you forget the rules already? Don’t. touch. My. Bloody. Stuff”

You snatched your arm away and gritted your teeth. You couldn’t think of any witty comebacks. You wished you were Buffy or Willow – they would have known what to say.

Instead, you just expelled air through your nose and stormed off. The punk song now blaring out of the speakers again as you slammed your door shut.

You were so angry you were shaking. You stomped into bed, putting a pillow over your head and tried, and mostly failed, to get some sleep.

You were a zombie the next day. Completely running on caffeine. Your new friends helped you out, tried to wake you up before class and Cordy swore that when she saw Spike next she would give him a piece of her mind. You appreciated them so much.

You were worried because you didn’t seem to have as much in common with the others. Cordy and Buffy went to their cheer club and their sorority. Xander was the basketball star with a goofy, soft heart. And Willow was this complete sweetheart genius who had a love for learning and found the work here all so easy. Her girlfriend was really sweet too, although a little quiet. You had only met her once that time in the canteen but you decided you could probably call her a friend too.

You didn’t have much in common, you were more bookish and you had to work a lot harder to grasp what was being taught. Despite your love of learning, it didn’t come naturally to you. You had to work at it to maintain an average grade. This meant you would study even harder to achieve those grades that you truly desired.

But luckily, despite your suggested lack in commonality, they really liked you for some reason. You and your new friends had all just clicked. At least you had them to be accepting of you.

Either way, that still didn’t solve a problem like Spike.

He infuriated you. He made you want to scream. You wanted to move out. A dark part of you wanted to sneak into his room at night and smother him with the pillow he had forced you to cover your ears with.

You just hoped through the rest of the year that things couldn’t get any worse than it already was. That you could just ride it out.

You were sure there was no way to bridge this gap. No way you could possibly ever get over what a complete pain he was. You couldn’t stand him. He was smug and didn’t care about anything. He was selfish and he didn’t even acknowledge you in public.

You just wanted to get this college year done and get out of there. You had decided that if you ever saw Spike’s face again after this year – it would be one time too many.