#China Shipping Container Tracking

[bonesvoid]

Sugar, Spice, & Everything Nice

I. COFFEE BEANS & UNSATSIFED DREAMS

word count: 5k

pairing: sugar daddy!jayce x sugar baby!reader

contains: the brutality of working in the food/beverage industry, karenism, alludes to depression, social and physical isolation

summary: life as a barista is fine when the customers are, but a terrible exchange between you and a demanding customer leaves you upset and angry. billionaire jayce talis emerge from his solitude to get his life back on track. your hard days lead to an unlikely meetup.

author's note: chapter one is here!!! many thanks to my beta reader @bb-enablefreebuild for her help <3 i hope y'all enjoy this, i know a few folks in @madschiavelique's discord server were craving some sugar daddy jayce ;D

The aroma of coffee beans and freshly warmed pastries wafts through The Last Drop, a local café in the heart of Piltover City. Chattering customers of all sorts fill up the shop, some awaiting for their drinks while others partake in their sweet treats. It’s a busy day, the third busy day in a row for the week. Busy days mean more tips, but–

You run through the backside of the café, sweat sticking to your forehead from the heat emitting from the various equipment. The morning shift is down by two workers, leaving you and your remaining coworkers Gertude and Mylo to man the ship, a rapidly sinking ship.

“We need a medium flat white! Oat milk and medium roast!” Gertude yells to you from behind the cash register. The amount of customers waiting to order barely fits inside the queue belts, some grumbling about the long wait. Remember, busy days mean more time.

“I’m on it!” you shout back in confirmation and make a mad dash into the back of the shop. 

With the grace of a bull in a china shop, you throw yourself at the espresso machine and dump some coffee beans inside the chute, turning the machine on and adjusting the setting until you pull out an adequate espresso shot. You hastily steam the oak milk and with the ingredients ready, you pour a flat white as best as your trembling hands could.

“Flat white with oat milk and medium roast!” you pop out to the front with the coffee in hand. An older woman with a quilted jacket appears before you, “Thank you, dear,” she takes the coffee from your hands. She pulls out a five dollar bill from her pocket and hands it to you, “Good luck to you and your friends!”

“Thank you so so so much,” you thank the customer profusely. She tips her head and walks off; you turn around to get back to the coffee machines when an annoyed voice calls out to you, “Excuse, ma’am.”

You spin back around to the front and come face-to-face with a middle-aged man in business attire. His face is so red, you fear that he’s having a stroke. Unfortunately, Mr. Not-Having-A-Stroke thrusts his to-go coffee cup towards your face, “This coffee is the worst thing I’ve ever tasted! I want a refund!”

You attempt to placate the businessman with a well-trained smile, “I’m sorry, sir, but we have a no refund policy because all of our items are perishable.”

“What?!” he screams. The businessman snatches the cup from your hands, “That’s ridiculous! I demand to speak to your manager!” 

Fucking Karen. You let out a small sigh from under your breath and slip into your default customer service voice, “Yes, sir. One moment, please.” 

Mr. Karen gives a grunt of approval, “Good, I don’t have all day.”

You piece of shit. “If you’d just give me a moment,” you shout for your boss from the back of the shop before turning towards the customer, “He should be here momentarily.”

Less than a minute goes by when Mr. Tomato-Face starts tapping his foot.

Two minutes pass, still no sign of your boss. The businessman glares daggers into your soul, “Shout for him again.”

“Sir, he’ll be here in a few. Please be patient,” you grit your teeth.

Another minute goes by.

“Shout for him. Again,” Mr. Karen demands.

“Sir, like I said, he’s—”

Splash!

You fail to shield yourself from the splash of coffee chucked at you from the angry customer. Lukewarm coffee hits your chest and your face, drenching your apron and shirt in muddy brown. A hush falls upon the café patrons, most witnessing the volatile exchange.

“Sir.”

The deep but calm voice of the café owner—Vander Gallagher—breaks the silence of the room. He towers over Mr. Tomato, his muscular biceps on display with his fitted shirt. The businessman cowers pathetically under the massive figure of your boss, “Oh— I—”

“I’m asking you to leave the premises,” your boss states. He shoots you a glance and asks, “Would you like to press charges for assault?”

“No need,” you wipe off some coffee droplets from your face, “I’m not gonna waste my time on a lowlife like him.”

“Very well,” Vander looks down at the businessman and places a large hand on his shoulder, “How about you pay my kind barista over here so she can replace her uniform, alright? A fifty dollar bill should do, then you can be on your way.”

“O– O– Okay,” the businessman stammers, opening his leather wallet and pulls out the requested bill. Vander smiles at the coward’s cooperation and pockets the money, “Say smile!”

In a flash, Vander snaps a photo of your assaulter with his phone. The businessman winces at the sudden flash and retreats from the café once released from Vander’s hold. A few café patrons trade concerned frowns while others mumble among themselves. 

“Apologies, folks!” Vander puts on a cheery smile, “Please continue with your meals and drinks! All is well.”

Chitchat resumes in the café, whispers about the earlier scene reaching your ears. Vander enters the back with you and pulls you into a side hug. Defeated, you accept his touch and crumble.

“Take the rest of the day off,” he informs you. Shaking your head, you reply back, “I can’t, we’re already low as is– Don’t worry about it,” Vander cuts in, “I’ll take over for you and don’t worry about the pay, I’m still paying you for your whole shift.”

Tears prick in the corners of your eyes and you sniffle, “You sure?”

“I’m positive,” your boss confirms. He passes you the fifty dollar bill, “Here’s your compensation for that asshole. I’ll give you a new apron.”

“Thanks,” you offer Vander a weak smile and shove the bill in your pocket.

“Of course,” he chuckles, “

You strip yourself of your ruined apron and pass it off to Vander. He waves you goodbye and you leave for the small break room in the far back of the café. Wiping away any escaped tears, you approach your locker and crack the combination lock to open it. You toss your visor and name tag inside before removing your satchel and jacket from the locker, slamming it shut with an annoyed huff. 

Fucking asshole, you steam your anger out in your thoughts, as you exit the café, This was one of my favorite shirts, the stained shirt is of your favorite cover album of your favorite band, The Firelights. You plop down outside the café and hug your knees to your chest, I hate it here. I hate working here. I hate, I hate, I—

“Hi.”

A husky voice greets you. Peering up from your ball of sadness, you see the owner of the voice. It’s a bearded man dressed in a baseball hat and dark sunglasses, paired with a plain white T-shirt and blue jeans. His bomber jacket appears weathered from use; you narrow your eyes to get a closer look and notice a familiar symbol on the breast pocket, a tilted hourglass. 

“Can I sit here?” the man inquires, his broad stature blocking the blinding light of the sun.

“Sure, be my guest,” you mumble indifferently. 

The man takes a seat beside you and rests his head against the concrete wall, “Bad day?”

“Very bad day,” you reaffirm, pulling out of your sadness ball and stretching out your legs. 

The man beside you raises his eyebrows and points at your shirt, “You’re a fan of the Firelights?”

“Oh,” you nod and cast another look at his bomber jacket, “Yeah, I am. You are, too, yeah?” you gesture at the Firelights’ symbol on his jacket, “Judging from the jacket.”

“For sure,” he smiles at you, a pearly white and toothy grin. Despite his Goliath form, the strange man radiates oddly comforting energy, “What happened to your shirt, though?”

Your expression darkens at his question, “Some asshole threw coffee at me ‘cuz I wouldn’t give him a refund,” your words are sour like a lemon, “I doubt I’m gonna be able to get this stain out...”

“Want a new one?” the man asks.

“Want?” you furrow your brow, “Of course, I want a new one, but I don’t have room in my—” you cut yourself short. Why am I telling this man my life story?

“Let me get you one,” his voice is firm, “No ifs or buts.”

You run your hands through your hair, already exhausted enough from the day’s events, and relent to the stranger, “Fine. Deliver it to me the next time you come to The Last Drop.”

“Will do,” the strange man extends a large hand to you, “By the way, it’s nice to meet you, even though it was under not so great circumstances.”

You take his hand and it engulfs your own, as you two shake hands, “Nice to meet you, too, stranger,” you answer back.

The man before you removes his sunglasses and reveals his bright, hazel eyes. His eyes stare into yours and for a moment, all is silent. Pretty, you think to yourself.

“Jayce, actually.”

“Mm?”

“My name’s Jayce. What’s yours?”

You tell your name to Jayce and he grins.

“What a beautiful name.”

Your face warms up at his compliment, a contrast to the autumn chill. 

Noticing your flustered expression, Jayce simply smiles back.

“I’ll see you soon.”

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

The Man of Progress. Golden Boy. The One Who Revolutionized the World.

Jayce Talis has many names in reference to his extraordinary work with Hextech and other inventions powered by  new, once unknown sources of energy. He’d been dreaming of changing the world ever since he was a child.. In his heart, Jayce knew he could and that the Universe would guide him to achieving it. 

In elementary school, Jayce discovered such a strange crystal, abandoned in the fields outside his house. It was unlike anything he had ever seen before, with its unnaturally vibrant blue color and rigid texture. That crystal would become the key to Jayce’s quest of bettering the world.

Years went by, as Jayce grew up from a chubby cheeked boy to a handsome, grown man. He sped through high school, college, and graduate school with the help of a lacrosse scholarship, but Jayce felt no fulfillment with his fancy degrees. His free time was dedicated to toying with the crystal. Hours were consumed by his non-stop research in his university’s lab, but no answers would come about.

Then Viktor Novak entered the picture, the second key to revolutionizing the world. 

A scrawny, vampirically pale man, Jayce would encounter him infrequently during his time at graduate school. As assistant to the Dean, Viktor had to be everywhere and juggle everything. The two would have the occasional conversation, but nothing bloomed beyond that; not until a chance meeting in the engineering lab that exposed Viktor to the allure of solving the mysterious crystal. 

Viktor shared the same dream as Jayce, to make the world a better place. With his cane in tow, Viktor climbed from the pits of the small subsector of St. Zaun to the skyscrapers of Piltover City; a brilliant man who wanted more in life than to be an assistant and to give power to his community. A dream that would come to fruition with the help of that little blue crystal. 

The night that changed the world involved the pair running through more equations and analyses than a stockbroker with cocaine. They were running on fumes and an empty coffee pot. In the midst of their sleepless delirium, Viktor suggested the impossible, “What if it’s from space?”

Jayce laughed his head off at the mere idea, his head throbbing from caffeine withdrawal and the desperate need to sleep. Yet, the steely glint of seriousness in Viktor’s eyes made the scientist quiet down. He never considered the possibility of the crystal’s origin being from space…the crystal’s structure was more similar to quartz than anything else. 

While Jayce pondered the possibilities, Viktor set down a streak test plate and filed the crystal against it. It sparked. At the same time, the lights in the lab flickered for a brief moment. 

Curious, Viktor rubbed the crystal against the plate again, inciting the same reaction from the lab lights. No material on Earth has ever done that. 

A crazy idea exploded inside Jayce’s head. 

He grabbed the crystal off the streak plate and secured it inside the lone centrifuge in the corner of the lab, much to Viktor’s horror. He scolded Jayce for such a reckless act, but Jayce fired back with the notion that if the crystal was an unknown material from space, they couldn’t operate under Earth rules. 

Unable to argue with his logic, Viktor handed his fellow scientist some eye protection and stepped far away from the centrifuge. Jayce strapped goggles firmly around his eyes and steadied himself with a deep breath. He d turned  on the centrifuge and history unfolded before their very eyes. 

The crystal spun like a gymnast on steroids. It spun and vibrated and spun some more until– 

The centrifuge exploded in a flash of blue light, energy rippling through the lab. Lights in the lab intensified for a moment before blinking out, engulfing the room in darkness. Jayce and Viktor ran to the windows and stared outside in a mix of awe and concern. The power grid for the entire campus was fried, shrouding the university in pitch black. Viktor hobbled back to the damaged centrifuge and brushed off some debris, picking something up. In his hand, the crystal laid unharmed.  

Jayce Talis and Viktor Novak, a pair of terribly exhausted and somewhat deranged scientists, discovered renewable energy unlike anything the world had ever seen.

They secured the funding of sponsors like Medara Industries, the potential of getting their grubby hands on potent energy was too powerful to resist. Jayce and Viktor developed a wide variety of inventions powered by the energy of the crystal, which they dubbed as the Hex Crystal. From engines for cars to prosthetics, the two’s inventions soared them into the stratosphere of fame and glory. While Viktor preferred to be in the shadows and tinker away in the lab, Jayce was made for the spotlight; he enchanted the nation with his charm and smarts, cementing his place as America’s Sweetheart and The Man of Progress.

Jayce Talis achieved his dream of changing the world… but the cost of such victory would catch up with him eventually. 

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

Seven years had passed since the discovery of Hextech and the founding of Hex Energy Incorporated. A board of directors and investors was established and managed a bulk of the corporation, such as marketing and finances. Viktor Novak, one of the two founders, became the CTO—chief technology officer—but still dedicated his time to hiding in his personal lab and creating schematics for new inventions. As for Jayce Talis, the other founder, he maintained the position as chief executive officer, the CEO and smiling face of Hex Energy.

Jayce had everything, billions to his name. When the money from Hex Energy started rolling in, his first “purchase” was spent on his mother, Ximena. He ensured that her retirement would last for decades; she deserved it, after all, as she spent a good decade or so raising Jayce by her lonesome after his father’s passing. 

After setting up his mother for a life of comfort and security, Jayce’s later financial decisions were much more impulsive. He indulged himself in a playboy lifestyle with yachts, international trips, and mansions galore, brimming with the smooth and the sexy. Jayce lived it up like Bruce Wayne without a care, drowning himself in the thrills of fame and fortune. 

The appeal of such a life wore off eventually by the time Jayce entered his late twenties. There weren't enough fancy suits or round trips to Rome in the world that could compensate for his desire to do better for humanity. 

So, Jayce lit his playboy persona on fire and sold off his frivolous purchases for charity, turning a new leaf as a philanthropist. Like his co-founder and partner Viktor, who vowed not to be a millionaire, Jayce channeled his money into a variety of charities to lighten the load of his bank account, even creating a few of his own to invest funds in. With his new image, Jayce became America’s Favorite, a man who could do no wrong. In the eyes of the public, he was a hero.  

Truth to be told, Jayce Talis was a loser.

Or at least that was how he felt. Viktor was his only friend and his last—as well as  only—romantic relationship fizzled out after a year of courting. Of course, so many people wanted to be friends with the Jayce Talis, but no one wanted to be friends with Jayce Talis. Vultures, these fake friends Jayce had the misfortune of making during his stupidity in his mid twenties. Those stabs from those he trusted most took its toll on Jayce and little by little, he withdrew. In the blink of an eye, he vanished, hidden away in the comfort and safety of his penthouse. 

With Jayce out of the public eye, rumors sparked about his health and wellbeing. Gossip magazines ran article after article on the reclusive billionaire while paparazzi were on the hunt for a photograph of him in the hopes of a lucky break, to get the golden ticket from capturing the Jayce Talis. 

By the third month of “living up” as a hermit, Jayce received a wake-up call from none other than Viktor Novak. 

“Jayce,” his friend’s accented voice crackled from the speakerphone. Jayce’s phone rested on the glass coffee table, its owner preoccupied with scrolling through cable TV, “Jayce, you need to go outside.”

“I’m fine here.” Tombstone? No. Jumanji? No. God, there’s nothing but shit on cable.

“No, you’re not,” Jayce could hear his partner pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration, “You haven’t left your penthouse in months. It’s unhealthy,” Viktor sighs, “and that’s especially bad when the man with the terminal lung disease says so.”

“No matches yet?” Jayce powered off the TV and picked up the phone, taking it off speaker and holding it against his ear. 

“No, not yet, but I’m still top on the list,” answers Viktor, “But this isn’t about me, Jayce. I’m calling you as a warning.”

“A warning?”

“Yes, a warning. The board has been talking. There have been… discussions of your absence and your role with the company.”

Jayce’s grip on the phone tightened, “What have they been saying?”

“That they want you to resign.”

Within Jayce’s hand, the phone screen threatened to crack from the pressure.

“I’ll be in the office tomorrow morning. Bye, V.”

“Wait, Ja–” the CEO hung up the call with a huff. Jayce collapsed back down against the plush sofa and stared at the ceiling fan. His eyes followed the spinning, Resign? Are they insane?! They wouldn’t have jobs if it wasn’t for me and Viktor! 

Jayce pushed himself off the sofa and dragged himself to the bathroom, What assholes. When I get back tomorrow– Jayce’s train of thought vanished, as he took sight of his reflection in the bathroom mirror. No longer did a clean cut and shaved Golden Boy appear in the mirror, but rather a dishevelled beast of a man. His hair reached just above his shoulders, paired with an unkept beard. Depression beard, huh?

Jayce made a quick call to his stylist Margot, who was surprised to hear from him—I thought you died! was how she put it—and scheduled an appointment for later that day to address his beauty emergency. With the appointment confirmed, Jayce entered his Spotify app and turned on whatever ‘motivational’ playlist he could find.

Pumped up music played throughout the bathroom, as Jayce showered for the first time in weeks. Lathering him with bourbon-scented wash products, Jayce relished in the relief that the hot water provided him. He exited the shower back into the steamy bathroom and dried his body and hair, finally clean after weeks of bed rotting. Jayce hated to admit it, but showering did help his mood. 

Once dried, he left the bathroom and threw on a makeshift disguise. Jayce knew that the public wouldn’t recognize him with such long hair and a beard, but he couldn’t take the risk. He dressed as generic as possible and topped it off with his bomber jacket from his college days, the tilted hourglass symbol from his favorite band The Firelights stitched on the breast pocket.

Sunlight greeted him when he vacated his penthouse and outside the apartment complex. He winced at the brightness and covered his eyes with a pair of sunglasses. Jayce wedged his way into the foot traffic, making his way to Margot’s studio. 

A sudden pang of hunger hit Jayce’s stomach, accompanied by a loud growl. Guess I could go for a bagel and some coffee. He continued walking until he caught sight of a café, one surprisingly close to Margot’s. Exiting the bustling sidewalk, Jayce made a beeline for the café, with the words The Last Drop written on its sign.

He reached out for the door, ready to go inside–

Jayce hears a sniffle. 

Close to the entrance of the café, he sees a young woman hugging her knees to her chest. Jayce takes a step closer and the pleasant scent of coffee hits his nose, unsure if it’s from the café or the woman. He hears more sniffling and frowns. Poor thing.

“Hi,” the greeting stumbles from Jayce’s lips without thinking.

At the sound of his voice, the woman lifts her head from her knees and looks around the area, her eyes landing on Jayce. His chest constricts like a boa had wrapped itself around it. The hunger in his stomach is replaced by the sensation of nervous butterflies. The woman before him couldn’t have been more than 25 or 26, but the dark circles under her eyes age her. Poor thing, she looks overworked.

“Can I sit here?” Jayce asks in a gentle manner, not wanting to frighten or come off as creepy. 

“Sure, be my guest,” the woman mumbles. 

Jayce plops down beside the woman and rests his head against the concrete wall. Eyes hidden behind polarized sunglasses, Jayce casts a sympathetic look and smiles at the poor lady, “Bad day?” he inquires.

“Very bad day,” she answers, exhaustion and sadness evident in her tone. The young woman stretches out her legs and lets out a defeated sigh. Jayce opens his mouth to offer reassurance when he notices her shirt, it features the album cover of Misfit Toys, one of the earlier albums from The Firelights. Near the neckline of the shirt, there’s a prominent brown stain splattered on it. 

“You’re a fan of the Firelights?” Jayce points to your shirt. It’s a rare sight to see someone wearing such early The Firelights merchandise unless they had been a fan since the beginning. 

They complimented their merchandise and the familiar feeling of awkward silence begins to sneak its way in. Jayce, desperate to keep it going, blurts out a question about the prominent coffee stain on her shirt. And there goes your opportunity to be a normal guy, ‘Golden Boy’.

The woman’s expression soured at his question and Jayce bit the inside of his cheek. Shit, did I piss– “Some asshole threw coffee at me ‘cuz I wouldn’t give him a refund,” she spits out to Jayce, “I doubt I’m gonna be able to get this stain out,” her eyes glisten with tears. 

Jayce’s instinct is to embrace the woman and comfort her, but he restrains himself from being overly affectionate with the stranger. Don’t come off as a creep, don’t come off as a–

“Want a new one?” Don’t be a creep, Jayce! Damn it!

“Want?” the woman perks up at his offer and furrows her brow, “Of course, I want a new one, but I don’t have room in my–” she shuts herself up and lowers her gaze. Don’t have room in your what? Jayce ponders, In your budget? What has the world come to that someone can’t buy a shirt without worrying about their finances?

“Let me get you one,” Jayce reasserts, unrelenting, “No ifs or buts.” You deserve it after the horrible day you had.

The woman runs her hands frustratedly through her messy hair and concedes, “Fine. Deliver it to me the next time you come to The Last Drop, I work the rest of this week until Friday,” Jayce does an internal fist bump of victory.

“Will do,” he takes a mental note of the T-shirt design. To Jayce’s surprise, he extends his hand out to the woman, a gesture of good faith, “It’s nice to meet you,” he smiles, “Even though it wasn’t under not so great circumstances.”

The woman takes his hand and intertwines it with hers, so small and dainty in comparison. She shakes his hand and returns the good regards, “Nice to meet you, too, stranger.”

Jayce relinquishes his hand from the handshake and takes off his sunglasses, no longer bothered by the sunlight. He locks eyes with the woman, the world around them suddenly silent. Why do I feel so nervous? Jayce questions himself, God, guess I really have been a hermit that I’m getting all flustered just from looking at a woman. The woman bats her eyelashes and slightly parts her lips, likely a subconscious response. Nonetheless, it sends arrows straight into Jayce’s heart, his pupils engulfing his hazel irises. 

“Jayce, actually,” he breaks the silence.

“Mm?” the woman tilts her head at Jayce.

“My name’s Jayce. What’s yours?”

And she, you evidently, answer his question. Jayce grins. A beautiful name for a beautiful woman, “What a beautiful name.”

Your eyes widen a bit and you avert your gaze to conceal your flustered face. Jayce can’t help but smile. Adorable. His phone buzzes with an alarm notification, alerting him that his appointment with Margot is in five minutes. Jayce springs up from the ground and bids his farewell, “I’ll see you soon.”

He walks away from the café, purposefully slow. Jayce takes a few sneak peeks from behind to see if you’re still outside the café. There’s no sight of you, you probably left to take care of your soiled shirt. 

The bell above the door jingles, announcing Jayce’s arrival to Madame M’s, Margot’s studio. It’s uncomfortably empty, no sounds of blow dryers or chitchat between stylists and customers. Why is it so empty?

High heels clicking against hardwood floor signals the arrival of a blonde woman with green makeup, “Jayce, baby!” the blonde–Margot–embraces Jayce and gives him a smooch on each cheek, “I’ve missed you so much!” she leads him to a salon chair and drapes a cover over his front, “Where have you been, darling? You vanished off the face of the Earth!”

“It’s a long story,” the CEO awkwardly chuckles.

“Wanna get into it?” the stylist hums, as she rummages through her styling tools. 

“I rather not,” he answers. 

Margot sets down a range of hair clippers and scissors on the table under the mirror, “No worries, just curious. Are we doing your usual today?”

“No, just a clean-up,” Jayce interjects. 

“Very well!” Margot claps her hands together, “This shouldn’t take too long then,” a small smile graces her lips, “Something’s different about you, Jayce.”

“Besides the long hair and beard?” Jayce snorts. 

“Besides that,” Margot grabs some hair clips and scissors, “You look like you went through Hell and I take it that this is your first day in public since your…” she sections off parts of Jayce with the hair clips, “...Your disappearance from the public eye a few months ago. You sort of look like a sad lump of shit..”

“Geez, thanks,” the CEO huffs. 

Margot runs a section of black hair through her comb and snips off the dead ends, “You ran into something,” snip snip snip, “Or someone.”

Jayce’s blood turns cold at her deduction and masks his shock with a cough, “Ah! Well, uhm… I did encounter someone, yes. You’re not wrong about that.”

A boisterous laugh rings in Jayce’s ears, as Margot continues to cut his hair, “Oh, darling! It’s written all over your face. That someone left a mark on you.”

“I was heading to get some coffee when I saw her outside the coffee shop, crying. She was having a bad day and I was trying to cheer her up, that’s all.”

“Mhm… I doubt that. She lit a spark in you. I can tell, of course. I’m French, after all.”

Jayce goes quiet and the earlier events play back in his mind; a toothy grin forms on his face when he remembers your honeyed voice and your beautiful eyes, “She was– is pretty, but that doesn’t constitute ‘lighting a spark’ in me.”

“Think about it deeper, baby. After months of your absence from the public eye, what did the one person you encounter today do?”

It clicks.

“She… didn’t recognize me?”

“Bingo!” Margot cheers, snipping off the last necessary strands from Jayce’s hair, “And isn’t that such a relief? To be unknown?”

Jayce mulls over Margot’s words while she touches up his beard. It is a relief to be unknown, Jayce had not been so since his college days. Talking to you had been the first normal conversation he had with someone in months—no, years—beyond Viktor, his mother, or his de facto sister Caitlyn Kiarmann. I have a chance to be normal. Glee and excitement bubble up in his stomach. 

“Look at your face, darling,” Margot whispers, “You look happy.”

Jayce focuses his gaze onto the salon mirror. He’s now cleanly groomed with a stylish haircut and beard, no longer a Sasquatch. The expression on his face is one of simple content, not too strong and not too weak. 

For the first time in months, billionaire CEO Jayce Talis looks happy.

All because of you, a disgruntled barista whose ruined day led to your paths crossing. 

[lordadmiralfarsight]

Boat touching : shipping edition

"Rule for thee, but not for me ! Grab ‘em by the boaty !" - Trump, apparently

As you may or may not have heard, President Trump, the world’s most economically illiterate dorito (no, he is not a tangerine, he is far too salty for that) has decided that China is being bad on the waters of the 7 seas too, and has decided that the perfect retaliation to such dishonor would be a tax on Chinese ships. Yes, yes, not products, ships. That come into US ports. With stuff on board. Those ships. One might expect a nation that so passionately tells the world ‘don’t touch our boats’ to understand that molesting other peoples’ fleet may not be conductive to a better situation, but alas, here we apparently are going. So, since this is a rather niche topic, but with wide reaching consequences, I have decided to continue in my glorious efforts to become the Economy Side of Tumblr (what has my life come to) and explain just how deeply and passionately boned we are if this goes from proposal to law.

The facts

First off, let us set this stage with the letter of the (proposed) law.

The text (called USTR) has 3 tax triggers :

- The ship is operated by a Chinese company, 500K to 1 million dollars of entry fee

- The ship is chinese-made or its owner company has chinese-made ships, 500K to 1,5 million dollars of entry fee

- The company ordered a ship in China, 500K to 1 million dollars of entry fee

It is currently unclear to me if those fees are cumulative, despite looking it up, I could not find an answer at this time, the only thing clear is that the fee, whatever it ends up being, will be paid at each entry into a US port. I suspect the cumulativity of the fees will be left to interpretation and later deliberation, which creates deep economic uncertainty, easily one of the most hateful kinds of uncertainty.

I mean, not knowing if you’re ordering oatmeal or chocolate cookies is already bad enough, but not knowing if the ship carrying them to your shores is going to pay 500k to 1,5 million dollars or 500K to 3,5 million dollars PER STOP is just … that ruins the cookies regardless of what you get. No amount of milk can salvage that. In large parts because, at this point, each cookie may end up costing as much as the entire bottle of milk.

“Oh hoho, oh Admiral, you jokester, you jester, you funny person you”, you say desperately hoping that I am joking. But you are desperate for a reason. There is no humor here, there is no mirth or hope or joy, only suffering and taxes. And barnacles. Those get everywhere on topics related to the sea. But mostly taxes.

Second, container ships tend to make 3 to 4 stops in US ports for a single trip (as explained in this lovely article from the Cato Institute), which results in a total potential sum of 1,5 to 14 million dollars. Per ship. For a single trip. You can scream now.

Third, how many companies could be affected by this issue ? I do not have a precise number, in large parts because “who has Chinese ships” wasn’t exactly a metric that got tracked before, but the answer to that question is in an order of magnitude scientifically called “a metric fuckton”. You see, the chinese fleet of cargo ships represents 19% of the global total of cargo ships. And I mean ocean-going cargo ships. So that’s a good 5th of worldwide maritime trade having to scrape off even their barnacles to try and make payments. But that’s just Chinese companies. You also have to take into account that China has 50% of all shipbuilding market shares, meaning it builds half the commercial ships in the world. Among which are 95% of container ships. The big chunky bois, those that can get to lengths greater than the Nimitz class super-carriers operated by the US Navy and do a respectable 2/3rd of their width. Oh, and China also does 86% of intermediate sized cargo ships.

Fourth, fun fact : big container ship dockyards stopped operating in the US in 1980. You know, just in case you thought you could revive that industry quickly, or on the cheap, or on the costly. Or at all, really. Building those big ships is VERY costly, and takes very long, and also there’s no adapted infrastructure in the US for ships of that size outside of military dockyards (which are already being used, thank you). So between the cost to build the new dockyards, train employees, build the ship itself and recruit and train a crew … Oh, and the end result would likely not even be competitive price-wise. You know, just in case you had any hope left for that.

Five, SALVATION ! One can have their entry fees waved, if only they have a USA made ship enter into a US port with stuff on board, huzzah, Trump 5D chess confirmed !!!! All you have to do is have a US-made ship enter a US port for each Chinese-made ship that does the same ! Surely, the overbooked, chronically late, undersized ship-building industry of the US will be up to the challenge !!!! Yeah, no, I can’t keep this up any longer. That’s not going to work. It’s not even being spoken about in most of the articles I’ve seen, that’s how insignificant in reality that measure is.

Boat touching, and why it is a bad idea

Now, let’s talk about the funny part : the consequences ! Aaaah, FO, what a wonderful acronym. Am I telling people to fuck off or to find out ? What suspense !

First off, the obvious : if the fee is on entry into US ports, why not go elsewhere ? Good question ! And honestly, it’s likely that it will happen, to some degree. The obvious answer would be Mexico or Canada, but it’s unlikely they could absorb all that transit, which would results in slow-downs (and thus, lost money) in a lot of logistic chains. As you may have guessed, disrupted logistic chains aren’t exactly economically tasty.

Mexico in particular doesn’t have that many ports adapted to such large ships and large numbers of containers, meaning there’d be even more slow-downs. And then there’s the issue of getting the goods across the border, and Trump can definitely decide to slap on even more tariffs, he’s like that. So more slow-downs for even more costs ! Yay ! But meanwhile, US ports would still see lower numbers of ships coming through, meaning less activity and less cash-flow, meaning job losses.

Second, you have to consider the impact on US exports. Because you see, Chinese-made or owned ships don’t just come in, drop stuff off and disappear over the horizon with a vaguely oriental soundtrack, we’re in reality, with serious people, they drop containers off in 3 or 4 ports, all while picking up containers of US exports at each stop. So the fees to sail into port will be spread on both the foreign imports and on US exports. Meaning US exports will cost more, compounded by retaliatory tariffs. Meaning competitors will be cheaper, or even than US products will leave reasonable price ranges. Either way, loss of sales and income for US companies, and thus loss of jobs.

Third, this will increase prices inside the US, once again compounded by tariffs, but this time Trump’s tariffs. Either way, this will increase prices of products, likely pricing out entire communities, or making entire companies economically non-viable. As you guesses, that means job losses, but also loss of comfort.

Fourth, some degree of economic chaos as worldwide shipping reorganizes to face this new and unpleasant situation. And that will likely hit everyone to some degree, so expect some grudges to spawn from that, too.

In conclusion, while there is reasonable concern to be had about China’s dominance of shipbuilding, Trump’s measures will do a grand total of fuck all to solve that issue. All they will really do is make the situation worse and costlier for the US. The measure aims for an impossibility (speedy resurrection of a US shipbuilding sector for large scale cargo ships) without doing anything to support that or to make such an activity economically viable in the US. It is, in effect, an economic scarification ritual, based entirely on the idea that by hurting others and themselves and incantating enough, the US will be able to magic viable dockyards into existence and produce ships quickly.

I hope I don’t have to explain why that’s not realistic. And honestly, I am almost impressed, it’s incredible to come up with a policy that harms that many different economic agents in your own country. Honestly, at this point, I don’t know if Trump’s economic policies are dictated by The Most Incompetent failed student, or by a squad of drunk chimps going ham on a typewriter and somehow randoming their way into only the worst possible economic policies. If Trump suddenly subsidizes banana plantations, we’ll know, and likely be in better hands, even with how psychotic chimps are.

[tessasinclair]

𖧷 𖧷 𖧷 　　 𖧷 𖧷 𖧷

𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗜𝗦𝗟𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗥𝗢𝗢𝗠 ₍ obx fandom, 𝗂𝗇𝗍𝖾𝗋𝖾𝗌𝗍𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖿𝖺𝖼𝗍𝗌 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝖻𝗒 𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘳 ₎

𝒯𝒽ℯ 𝒯𝒶𝓃𝓃𝓎𝒽𝒾𝓁𝓁'𝓈 𝓂𝒾𝓈𝓉ℯ𝓇𝓎

┃ 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙄𝙨𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙧𝙤𝙤𝙢 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙩 𝙡𝙤𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙?

› The mysteries in Outer Banks are closely connected to each other, and John, Pope, and their friends must solve one mystery to move on to the next. They first learn about the key when Pope visits Carla Limbrey, who offers to give him the proof of John’s innocence in Sheriff Peterkin’s murder if Pope gives her the key. However, Pope has no idea what she is talking about and barely escapes when Limbrey instructs her half-brother Renfield to capture him. Pope later finds out that he is a descendant of Denmark Tanny, the sole survivor of the Royal Merchant shipwreck. Tanny not only retrieved the 400 million dollars worth of British gold that was the cargo of the Royal Merchant but also the giant and golden Cross of Santo Domingo, which the crew of the Merchant stole from a burning Spanish ship.

› After Pope finds the key, he discovers the following words are inscribed on it, “Path to the tomb begins in the island room.” This riddle confuses him and his friends and stops their search for the Cross on its track. Meanwhile, Limbrey has spent a lifetime looking for the Cross. She seems to be suffering from some terminal illness, and the Cross is said to contain the Garment of the Savior, a holy relic that can cure several diseases. She figures out that the Island Room must be somewhere in the house currently owned by the Cameron family. After all, it was Tanny who built the house. She subsequently shows up there with Renfield.

ּ ֶָ֢ .

› Rafe likely knows who Limbrey is, considering her family supposedly owns half of Charleston and has little choice but to let her in. With his help, Limbrey finds the Island Room at Tannyhill's dining room. When Sarah comes home the following day, she discovers all the wallpapers of a room have been ripped out, revealing an intricate drawing of the entire island. Realizing what she has found, she rushes to inform her friends. In the 1800s, Tanny himself drew all the paintings on the wall, leaving clues for not just the Cross and the gold but the burial site of his wife as well.

› Steeped in history and Southern tradition, the Island Room at Tannyhill is more than just a formal dining space — it is a testament to generations of Camerons who have gathered beneath its vaulted ceilings. The walls, once adorned with intricate gray wallpaper featuring classic damask patterns, evoke the genteel elegance of a bygone era, reflecting the refined tastes of the Lowcountry aristocracy.

A massive mahogany table, hand-crafted and polished by skilled artisans long before modern times, commands the room’s center. Its surface bears the faint scars of countless family meals, celebrations, and whispered conversations, where the weight of legacy was often felt as keenly as the clink of fine china.

Tall sash windows framed by simple linen drapes let in the soft coastal light, casting a muted glow on the room’s crown moldings and aged hardwood floors. This light reveals subtle imperfections — the marks left by time and the occasional rebellious hand — reminding all who enter that history is a living, breathing force, both fragile and enduring.

Within these walls, the Island Room holds stories of fortune and loss, of love and sacrifice, woven deep into the fabric of the Cameron lineage. It is a sacred space where the past lingers quietly, urging those who gather here to honor their roots even as they chart the uncertain course of their future.

ּ ֶָ֢ .

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 !

₍ 𝗉𝗁��𝗍𝗈 resources : pinterest.com ₎

𝗆𝖺𝖽𝖾 𝖻𝗒: 𝗍𝖾𝗌𝗌𝖺𝗌𝗂𝗇𝖼𝗅𝖺𝗋, 𝗉𝗅𝖾𝖺𝗌𝖾 𝖽𝗈𝗇𝗍 𝖼𝗈𝗉𝗒

[posttexasstressdisorder]

What we can VERIFY about Port of Seattle 'ghost town' rumors

As the Trump administration continues to impose up to 145% tariffs on most Chinese imports and as smaller tariffs on additional countries, a post is circulating online claiming the Port of Seattle is a “ghost town” because of it.

The post, shared Sunday, reads in part, “Not a single international cargo ship at the Port of Seattle. The port is effectively dead.”

We decided to verify.

Our sources are The Northwest Seaport Alliance, which manages all marine cargo operations for the Port of Seattle and Port of Tacoma, and Vessel Finder, which tracks vessel positions in real time.

According to both sources, three international cargo ships were docked Monday in the Port of Seattle. One is registered in Portugal, one in Singapore, and the third in Hong Kong.

The Northwest Seaport Alliance told KING 5 that 15 more cargo ships are expected to pass between the Port of Seattle (nine for Seattle) and the Port of Tacoma over the next week. Twelve of those ships are expected to contain goods from China.

The Seaport Alliance said port traffic in Seattle is up 7.3% in the last 30 days. The port saw an 18.4% increase in volumes in March, partially driven by shippers moving cargo before anticipated tariffs.

Northwest Seaport Alliance Port of Seattle Commissioner, Ryan Calkins, said the future does not look as good. 

"The last forecast I saw was forecasting out over the next three months, and each month was forecasted to be down around 25% per month,” Calkins said.

The Seaport Alliance said some ships are coming in with less cargo than anticipated. In some cases, it is 30% lower.

“Unfortunately, we are beginning to see a reduction in the total number of containers coming off any particular vessel when they come in," Calkins said. 

The organization said its imports and exports have been impacted. It told KING 5 it is hearing reports of canceled U.S. export orders, which are leaving some businesses scrambling to find other markets to send their goods to. 

“Unfortunately hearing stories right now of our agricultural exporters having to come back to the terminal and pick up containers full of agricultural exports to return back and store them as they wait for a customer because the sale that they had made to an overseas customer was canceled as a result of the tariff war,” Calkin said.

The Northwest Seaport Alliance said two of its commissioners will be in Vietnam and South Korea this week, working to build business back from those countries. 

“Those are growth markets for us, and we want to strengthen those relationships," Calkin said. 

He said he hopes there is a resolution in the trade dispute between the U.S. and China soon. 

“If we don't get a resolution quickly, I think we're all going to feel a lot of pain in the pocketbook,” Calkin said.

The Northwest Seaport Alliance said the Port of Seattle is not a “ghost town,” but it will be closely watching what happens in the next couple of weeks.

-----

Story Link from @misfitwashere

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from Truthout:

In March 2022, the United Nations Environment Assembly agreed to begin negotiating a legally binding treaty between 175 countries that will determine how the world deals with such plastic pollution. The fifth and final negotiating session is now set to start in late November this year. Recognizing the scope and severity of the crisis, delegates for the 14 Pacific Island countries have been at the forefront of the international plastic treaty talks, advocating for strict limits on plastic production and the need to set tangible goals for waste management.

Other countries, including Rwanda, Peru and European Union nations, have also pushed for ambitious goals and plastic production caps. But the United States, alongside oil-producing countries like Saudi Arabia, Russia and China, has historically opposed these proposals. The oil and gas industry wants delegates to carve out a treaty that focuses on things like plastic tracking and recycling rather than decreasing production — even though, for decades, plastics companies knew that recycling was an overwhelming failure.

But in August, in what could be a major breakthrough for the future of the planet, President Joe Biden’s administration indicated it would support plastic production limits and increased controls on the toxic chemicals that are used in the plastic production process.

Environmental groups praised the announcement, while industry groups like the American Chemistry Council — which has spent nearly $10 million in lobbying efforts so far this year — lambasted the administration for “caving” to environmentalists’ wishes and “betray[ing] U.S. manufacturing.”

While the Biden administration’s announcement gained little attention in a crowded news cycle, this shift in approach carries urgent importance. Less than 10 percent of plastic waste is currently recycled globally; the rest winds up dumped or incinerated, harming communities and polluting the Earth. If the years of negotiations yield a treaty that focuses on recycling — not production caps — as a solution to the crisis, then the world will be digging itself into an even deeper plastic pollution hole. And it would take a huge amount of additional international coordination to climb back out.

Plastic, which is derived from fossil fuels, is toxic throughout every stage of its life cycle, from production to disposal. The extraction and refinement of fossil fuels for plastic production emits hundreds of millions of metric tons of greenhouse gases each year, heating up the atmosphere and fueling the climate crisis. Research from the Center for International Environmental Law emphasized that the global plastics treaty needs “to incorporate ambitious obligations that specifically target global plastic production” if we are going to keep global warming below the 1.5 degree Celsius threshold.

Plastics also contain a slew of toxic and carcinogenic chemicals, which are released during production at facilities that, in the United States, are often placed in low-income communities and communities of color. In January, a report by Amnesty International found that the Houston Ship Channel — a major hub for fossil fuels in the United States — is a racial “sacrifice zone,” where an immense and disproportionate burden of pollution is placed on people of color by fossil fuel companies. The report noted that the scale of harmful pollution amounts to a human rights violation.

At the end of plastics’ life cycle, wealthy nations, including the United States and the United Kingdom, frequently export their waste to poorer nations in a phenomenon that has been dubbed “waste colonialism.” Often, these countries have fewer resources to manage and tame the vast amounts of trash than the rich countries that are sending it. The term was coined as far back as 1989, when several African nations expressed concerns at the United Nations Environmental Program Basel Convention that wealthy countries were using countries in Africa as dumping grounds for hazardous waste.

[beardedmrbean]

SEATTLE (AP) — The world's largest hornet, an invasive breed dubbed the “murder hornet” for its dangerous sting and ability to slaughter a honey bee hive in a matter of hours, has been declared eradicated in the U.S., five years after being spotted for the first time in Washington state near the Canadian border.

The Washington and U.S. Departments of Agriculture announced the eradication Wednesday, saying there had been no detections of the northern giant hornet in Washington since 2021.

The news represented an enormous success that included residents agreeing to place traps on their properties and reporting sightings, as well as researchers capturing a live hornet, attaching a tiny radio tracking tag to it with dental floss, and following it through a forest to a nest in an alder tree. Scientists destroyed the nest just as a number of queens were just beginning to emerge, officials said.

“I’ve gotta tell you, as an entomologist — I’ve been doing this for over 25 years now, and it is a rare day when the humans actually get to win one against the insects," Sven Spichiger, pest program manager of the Washington State Department of Agriculture, told a virtual news conference.

The hornets, which can be 2 inches (5 cm) long and were formerly called Asian giant hornets, gained attention in 2013, when they killed 42 people in China and seriously injured 1,675. In the U.S., around 72 people a year die from bee and hornet stings each year, according to data from the National Institutes of Health.

The hornets were first detected in North America in British Columbia, Canada, in August 2019 and confirmed in Washington state in December 2019, when a Whatcom County resident reported a specimen. A beekeeper also reported hives being attacked and turned over specimens in the summer of 2020. The hornets could have traveled to North America in plant pots or shipping containers, experts said.

DNA evidence suggested the populations found in British Columbia and Washington were not related and appeared to originate from different countries. There also have been no confirmed reports in British Columbia since 2021, and the nonprofit Invasive Species Centre in Canada has said the hornet is also considered eradicated there.

Northern giant hornets pose significant threats to pollinators and native insects. They can wipe out a honey bee hive in as little as 90 minutes, decapitating the bees and then defending the hive as their own, taking the brood to feed their own young.

The hornet can sting through most beekeeper suits, deliver nearly seven times the amount of venom as a honey bee, and sting multiple times. At one point the Washington agriculture department ordered special reinforced suits from China.

Washington is the only state that has had confirmed reports of northern giant hornets. Trappers found four nests in 2020 and 2021.

Spichiger said Washington will remain on the lookout, despite reporting the eradication. He noted that entomologists will continue to monitor traps in Kitsap County, where a resident reported an unconfirmed sighting in October but where trapping efforts and public outreach have come up empty.

He noted that other invasive hornets can also pose problems: Officials in Georgia and South Carolina are fighting yellow-legged hornets, and southern giant hornets were recently detected in Spain.

“We will continue to be vigilant,” Spichiger said.

[gacha-incels]

The "if there's men I don't play" situation in CN is actually funnier than it sounds.

So, the thing about CN is that a lot of players like to track their favorite game's revenue, and playing a game with high monthly revenue can somehow make them feel better about themselves.

And these dudes' ideal game is kinda like those bullshit isekai clones where the player character is the only man living in a world full of conventionally attractive women whose lives centered around them and them only.

There fellas were loud so a lot of gaming companies chose to pander them. One of the more well-known game, the literal gospel for these dudes, was Snowbreak: Contaminant Zone (Imma call it SCZ for short). It's one of those softcore porn game targeting dudes who are too repulsive for real women.

And SCZ's revenue got steam rolled by Arknights, another CN game knows to have lots of women players and an active fandom composed of mostly women, every single month. Like Ak isn't some saint game made by saint company, but they do have record of firing male employee for engaging in hate speech against women using one of the company's social media account, so they had a relatively decent reputation among gaming women in China comparing to other companies.

So the SCZ dudes gets salty for not being the "silenced majority". They launched an attack on the game, spamming discussion forums when Arknights released a male character (Ulpianus), who debuted like a year ago and was presented in multiple story updates, this May, attempt to stir up community problem by pairing him up with a popular female character(Skadi) who was released at launch.

Now here's the problem. There are some dudes who want male characters out of Arknights completely, but they're like, 1% or something. Most people who played doesn't give half a rat ass about SCZ dude's big problem with fictional men existing.

Furthermore, the two character they attempted to pair together already had plenty of build-up to their relationship, and both the story's narrative and the fandom treat their relationship as teacher-apprentice/father-daughter. So their attack was largely viewed as "out of nowhere" and "ridiculous". They were also ridiculed by the community, people just kinda take their words and made a bunch of copypasta about popular ships in the fandom out of it.

And Arknights's playerbase was huge. It launched at the best time for mobile games in CN and it's the few weeb game that people who aren't into anime or gaming heard about or played. Heck it was even viewed as some sort of cultural phenomenon that influenced the UI, art style, story etc. of mobile games that comes after it. So the playerbase was huge, and the majority of it wasn't even aware that there was an attack at all.

So yeah the attack was as big as an ant bite on an elephant at best. Then these dudes go back to their little echo chamber enjoy their self-declared victory on Arknights. Then life continuous on as usual.

Also these dudes seems to have found a few more new CN exclusive gachas and called praised them too nabraska and back for not containing male characters in promotional trailers, only to be supersized by like one or two playable dudes at launch. Those lads were seething in the comments.

Also the Japanese Himedanshi/Himejoshi(people who enjoys yuri) community mistakenly interpreted their goal to be "only lesbian relationships allowed, no hetero bullshit". Funniest shit.

the snowbreak game is crazy lol truly the future of incel gacha. I feel bad for the women who just wanted to see lesbian relationships.

I’m glad they could be totally ridiculed humbled even though AK pulled this shit on their KR server which was never addressed by Hypergryph. This is at least really funny though. These guys seem to always try this “cuckolding” bait with the characters to make people riled up specifically within these Chinese incel gacha communities. I’ve seen the craziest shit recently looking into the newest clusterfuck going on with them and that Genshin Impact character “Wanderer” they seem to hate to an insane degree. after this I looked up their upcoming white pharaoh ™️ banners, it’s so many female characters and they still lose their shit like this about existing male characters… I think there was also a huge blowup with “Girls Frontline 2” with some assumed cuckolding issue, and the CN Blue Archive server literally had to issue an apology for doing a collab with the game Mahjong Soul because the BA players thought they were being cuckolded by the MA players

I don’t want to get too deeply into the more niche aspects of it because it’s not the main focus of this blog and I feel like I’m falling down a rabbit hole of info lol. but when I have a little more time maybe, just so I know I won’t be rushing and using a place like reddit to double check things. But thank you to everyone who has sent info, it’s been interesting to read about and see how it compares to the other movements chronicled here. It’s been hard to find some of this information in English so thank you to everyone who has ever sent a message for writing to me in English as well. Thank you for your patience. I’m trying to learn Korean on my own now so I can actually speak with Korean feminists in their own language and read their works without machine translation….

[forgotten-retrouvaille]

PLOT WISHLIST.

A general list of plots and/or interactions I'd love to explore as starting off points. If you're interested, shoot me a message! Will be expanded upon/subject to change in the future.

CANON:

PRE-RE1:

Reserved mostly for S.T.A.R.S. members. Anything to do with their times in office, investigating higher-priority crimes, and developing out their general relationships/attitudes towards one another. She's very much in her shell during this time, but is by no means shy. Go invite her out to drinks or something, that's one way to draw her out.

RE1:

My canon of RE1 will be a mix between the novelization, games, and an eventual TTRPG. However, I consider Jill to be far more competent than she is ingame, and would love to explore this environment. High stakes killhouse, unsure of who you can trust given the sheer uniqueness of the scenario, the act of putting the pieces together and the final confrontation, Tyrant and escape.

Post this, the investigation into Umbrella, friends leaving Raccoon City, their recovery and subsequently planning to do the exact same.

RE3:

tba.

MERCENARY:

Jill's working as a private anti-bioterror operative from the years 2000-2004, or more aptly, a mercenary. She takes contracts mostly alongside Chris Redfield, and your muse can either be involved as the subject of a contract or the contractor themselves, or some other party that becomes involved. I would love to explore this period of time as I have had barely any chance to properly flesh out anything that happened within this timeframe.

The formation of the B.S.A.A. in 2004, among ten others and the subsequent setting up of the organization and the early days managing the growth of the soon-to-be-UN-affiliated organization.

REV1:

Jill confronting Jessica upon finding out what really happened upon the ship, and potentially taking her resources to track down a resurfaced Jessica and Raymond as they attempt to pawn off their sample of T-Abyss.

RE5:

I'm yet to properly flesh out the time period between 2006-2009, but as it stands, I have some interest in exploring this time period. It's a point in time where she's at her absolute lowest, and I'd love to explore her relations with Chris and Sheva directly after, as well as those involved with her recovery as it's a time I'd love to explore and continue developing out how everything has affected her.

On the same line, I'd be interested in exploring her psychological upon working against Sheva and Chris, before they meet and subsequently fight at the temple. This also works for anyone else she's close to who may have been sent in.

RE6:

Jill Valentine's no longer on the frontlines, at least for the time being, and instead serves as Chris and Piers' comms operator, and another one of the B.S.A.A's strategists and advisors as they conduct their operation in China. She's flown out to the B.S.A.A. camp in the mentioned country. This is a tumultuous point in time for her, especially working a high stakes environment where she cannot directly apply her skills.

I'd love to explore this sense of stress/her work as she manages these aforementioned teams, whether interactions be from the standpoint of your muses being the ones out on the field, or working with Jill back at the B.S.A.A's base of operations, or even interfering indirectly/directly.

VENDETTA:

Much like the above, Jill's not on the frontlines, but again managing communications for Chris Redfield and the B.S.A.A. to rescue Rebecca and manage the dispersal of units to contain and cure the situation in New York. I'd love to explore her time closer to the time she becomes a field agent, and would love to explore the stress of the situation, reuniting with B.S.A.A. friends, and assisting the organization with their strategics.

DEATH ISLAND:

Jill's time before the events of the series. She's just reinstated back into the field, and with that, comes a whole host of scenarios and time as she readjusts herself back to field operations and intensifying her own training so that she feels as if she's ready. Events of the film also fall under this.

CHARACTER:

CHRIS REDFIELD:

See above with mercenary timeline.

Various reflections alongside each other re: fallen comrades, Jill's recovery post RE5, and her time recovering and being stubborn enough that she wants to re-enter the field.

Jill joins the Hound Wolf squad and works as an informant against the B.S.A.A, keeping tabs on the organization for Chris as he manages his own operations away from base and home. She maintains her undercover presence and regularly talks to him to keep him up to date.

Jill joins the Hound Wolf squad and accompanies Chris to Romania, working alongside him as a sniper and explosives expert. She manages reconnaissance and manages the distribution of her own findings to the rest of the team via Chris and the squad themselves.

Jill stays with the B.S.A.A., and upon being fed false information, takes a strike team into Romania and has the permission to detain or terminate a new party titled the Hound Wolf Squad. She takes them into Romania to investigate the village and confronts Chris by chance during the operation, and subsequently takes her own leave from the B.S.A.A. and helps him through the rest of his operation.

CARLOS OLIVEIRA:

Jill keeps in contact with him post Resident Evil 3, and they continue to talk and maintain communication after they're both in a position to. They meet up every once in a while as follows, and develop their relations.

Jill vouches for him to join her at the B.S.A.A, and the two subsequently team up for occasional missions when able to be put together. Bulk of this would likely take place in between 2004-2006, the search for her in Kijuju, and afterwards.

RE6 AU. With B.S.A.A. teams dropping like flies and Chris having trouble finding elusive spy Ada Wong, Jill Valentine and Carlos team up as a joint reconnaissance unit tasked to track down "Ada" and gather intelligence for the rest of the B.S.A.A. teams in the area. Jill serves as the duo's long-range specialist, and the two journey through Lanshiang in an attempt to find what they can and do what they have to.

NIKOLAI ZINOVIEV:

Nikolai survives the blast and though keeping under the radar, kicks up enough of a storm that Jill takes it upon herself to investigate whatever occurrences begin happening. She finds out it's by result of him, and she's pissed enough to try and take him out in a similar way that she did the first time.

They meet again by chance, and Jill's tasked with taking him into B.S.A.A. custody. This can go either way, but ultimately she's not happy with the situation.

JAKE MULLER:

They meet by chance or on purpose at some point, and upon fighting with each other, his moves seem eerily familiar.

RE6 AU where Jill is part of the B.S.A.A teams sent into China, and they encounter each other at some point in the city whilst Jill and Carlos are tracking down Carla Radames and gathering intelligence for those involved.

LEON S. KENNEDY:

Their initial meeting / dual operation in which they met each other for the first time and first developed their friendship.

Office warfare. They're both stubborn and willing to continue one-upping each other with each thing they pull.

ADA WONG:

Ada and Jill encounter each other during some odd operation or another, and meet for the first time. Valentine's trust issues lack the ability to place full stock in the idea of Ada potentially helping her, and so tension remains as they're led deeper into whatever facility or situation that they find themselves in.

ALBERT WESKER:

Jill discovers that he survived the volcano + missiles from 5, and decides to take it upon herself to hunt him down and kill him entirely. She tracks him through various continents and countries, tracing whatever he leaves behind, before they finally confront each other at the end.

Developing out S.T.A.R.S. time period, especially with the rest of the S.T.A.R.S. team and fleshing out their relationships with each other.

VILLAGE LORDS:

In threads where Jill is either part of the B.S.A.A. or HWS, having them meet in their various locations through whatever methods. In her HWS, she could be there either to take them out or simply investigate the happenings around the village, as well as recover Rose and Ethan. Most of these likely have the potential to be hostile, but I'd love to have her meet Dimitrescu, Heisenberg and Miranda specifically. Dimitrescu's castle would invoke a lot of thoughts on the Spencer Estate, and Heisenberg's factory would be difficult to explore, but she's both determined and curious enough, especially if she's accompanying Chris Redfield to build and lay the explosives underneath.

Beneviento could also be a hell of an interesting meet too, as there's plenty in Jill's psychological that can be messed with and distorted.

Jill accompanies Chris Redfield as his main mission partner among the rest of HWS, and works as their sniper and explosives expert. She lays explosives with him in the factory, engineered the explosive to destroy the Black God, and got the rest of HWS to extraction while he worked to recover Ethan Winters. She's rarely found without being in his area, providing backup support, a voice of reason, and covering fire.

Jill goes undercover two months before the rest of HWS join the party. She doesn't engage with the village, but instead remains a loner on the outskirts, doing little else but carry her sniper rifle and conduct research/scouting information for the rest of her team, and has the potential to be discovered by anyone if they're lucky enough.

Jill goes in with the B.S.A.A. teams instead of HWS, unaware of the reasons behind Chris' AWOL status. She joins with a strike team of her own, intent on detaining the Hound Wolf Squad or at least figuring out what's going on after being fed false information, and encounters some of the Lords during this time. Whether or not they know who she is or who she represents can be tilted either way, but she's not working with the other group that's been interfering. This can make for some interesting confrontations, discoveries, or interactions as a whole.

JACK KRAUSER:

Most of this is very headcanon based, but threads where they get to be in the army together/develop out their initial friendship! Same with Jill passing Delta Force, developing out aforementioned friendship, and meeting again post RE4 (in the case of survival) once Jill hears about what happened.

ROSEMARY WINTERS:

Jill helps Chris out with raising her, and while isn't an active participant, still takes it upon herself to help him where he needs it and teach her qualities that she can do better than Chris can. They share the quality that they're both not entirely human in different ways, and Valentine is a strong advocate for her medical-wise as she knows exactly what it's like herself.

ETHAN WINTERS:

Jill helps out with Ethan's military training post Dulvey, utilizing her position in the B.S.A.A. as a combat instructor and possessing a significant amount of Chris' trust to do exactly so. She teaches him how to pick locks, manage himself in a combat scenario, and various other disciplines and techniques that then serve him well later on in Romania.

Jill joins the HWS, and the two meet by chance at some point during the Romania trip. The most likely scenario is meeting like Chris in the factory after helping Redfield lay explosives that she helped engineer, and Jill either decides to help him through the next couple of stages/however much she can, or they have a strong discussion / interaction before Valentine parts ways and makes her way back to the rest of the team.

Jill comes in with the B.S.A.A, and encounters him along the way to investigating the rest of the situation. He's detained by the strike team and interrogated, though Valentine steps in soon enough and wants to gather her own intelligence whilst searching for the real truth of the situation.

[dertaglichedan]

Navy Just Reloaded A Vertical Launch System For The First Time While Underway At Sea

Having the ability to replenish surface combatants' vertical launch system cells while underway is seen as critical to sustaining a fight in the Pacific.

One of the largest concerns regarding the U.S. Navy’s ability to persist in a peer conflict in the vast Pacific is the ability to keep its prized major surface combatants — destroyers, cruisers and soon frigates — stocked with weapons. The conflict with the Houthis in and around the Red Sea has only underscored the need to figure out how to reload vertical launch systems (VLS) without coming into port. If an Iranian-backed rebel group can make a big dent in American warships’ weapons stocks, China would be exponentially worse. You can read all about this glaring issue in our previous feature here. But now, the Navy has just demonstrated its fast-tracked possible solution to this pressing issue.

USS Chosin (CG-65), a Ticonderoga class cruiser, came alongside Military Sealift Command’s dry cargo ship USNS Washington Chambers (T-AKE 11) and transferred an empty VLS weapon container to the cruiser while sailing off the southern California coast on October 11th.

...

Ports capable of VLS resupply could be thousands of miles away from patrol areas and they too could be at risk of attack. On top of this, the U.S. Navy is finding it very challenging to meet its surface combatant hull goals of the future. Each ship that is operational at the time of the conflict will be very valuable and keeping them on scene longer will be critical to achieving overall military objectives. TRAM is supposed to go a long way in helping with these issues, although having enough ships to execute underway replenishment in such a huge theater, even with potential combat losses, is another issue entirely.

[engicrafts]

This striking Kokuyū Bunrin Chaire, named Mochizuki (望月, “Full Moon”), was produced during the Edo period (17th century) by the Satsuma kilns. The name alludes to the lustrous, moonlit glow of its rich black glaze, reminiscent of a full moon in a dark night sky. The Bunrin shape is characterized by its round, full-bodied form with a relatively short neck, which contributes to its sense of stability and compact elegance.

Satsuma ware, traditionally associated with Kagoshima Prefecture, is celebrated for its diverse range of glazes and refined craftsmanship. This tea container showcases a glossy black glaze that partially flows down, revealing a subtle transition to a darker, unglazed lower body. The glaze has an iridescent quality, with white speckling near the mouth, adding a sense of depth and texture to the surface. The contrast between the glossy upper half and the subdued lower half evokes the feeling of a moon emerging from shadow, encapsulating the poetic sentiment often found in Japanese tea culture.

The lid, made from ivory, serves as a refined contrast to the darker body, highlighting the harmonious balance between darkness and light. This duality mirrors the aesthetic principles of wabi-sabi, where imperfection and transience are valued. The natural glaze effects and modest form exemplify the humble beauty cherished in the Way of Tea (茶道).

As a tea caddy (chaire), it would have been used to store koicha (thick tea), particularly prized for its ability to preserve the tea’s freshness while also being visually impactful within the dimly lit tea room. The moonlit sheen of this piece harmonizes with the tranquil ambiance of a tea gathering, reminding participants of the fleeting beauty of nature and the passage of time.

Satsuma ware from the Edo period, particularly pieces like this, reflects the cultural synthesis of local pottery techniques with the aesthetic ideals of the tea ceremony, making Mochizuki not just a practical vessel but a metaphor for the serene beauty of the night sky.

[almadesarrollo]

MLB SEASON 6 FELINETTE'S BIG TRACK IN JEREMY ZAG'S VIDEO (new Miraculous scenarios via Instagram) ANALYSIS AND FELINETTE CLUES FOR S6 PART 6 marinette's balcony :TRAY part1

PART 5: SHELVING:

5 TRAY WITH TEA CUP: Tea cups are something that is always present on Marinette's balcony. Let's first talk about what type they are and their uses, then about their design.

These types of teapots are known as cast iron teapots and are typical of China and Japan, the latter in the tea ceremony.

Iron teapots had their origin in China, in the Ming dynasty when a closed container was needed to infuse the tea, it was made with different materials, iron and Chinese porcelain, then it expanded to Japan, where it was used in the tea ceremony. te as symbolism of strength and unity, currently they are best known for being used in this region in these types of events, it is known by the name of Tetsubin.

So if we think about this, 2 countries come to mind, Kagami and Marinette, therefore this represents, on Marinette's side, that she is going to learn to "live in the present moment and not worry about anything" we know what it is like. Marinette when she has a problem that is turning things around, and we remember that the tea ceremony in Zen Buddhism represents that, it is a moment of peace and tranquility, of meditation, of living in the present moment.

Now how will he learn this lesson? Well, it can be in 3 ways:

-Thanks to Kagami's friendship, she is very calm, this will logically be when they are good friends and before he betrays her, surely the series will give us a moment of "best friends as sisters"

-She will learn this lesson in the Japan special, (we know that there is one preparing) it may be that they will travel together to Japan and there Marinette will attend these types of ceremonies.

-Thanks to Kagami's betrayal, yes or yes she will learn this lesson by force, we know that thanks to her actions, she will hit rock bottom and then be reborn, so one of the things she will learn is to find peace and live in the present.

Whatever it may be, Kagami is involved, which justifies why in S3 and S5 it was established that they would be friends and she would know his identity.

They prepare the ground for us, to strengthen that friendship and confidence in S6 and then in the end break it.

USES SEASON 1-5

} Mime S1:

a chapter where precisely the friendship between Marinette and Alya.

is the focus of attention, this does not speak a little about the relationship between Kagami and Marinette, she will occasionally fear how cold she is, but she will learn to know her better, which is reflected in the chapter Perfection S5.

So this doesn't talk about their strong friendship and breakup because we know how Alya behaves afterwards, right?

____________________________________

WHO USE IT? ALYA AND MYLEN, this could confirm that Marinette will learn the lesson the 3rd way, due to Kagami's betrayal, this because it is Alya who drinks from her, but at her side is Mylen, who represents Marinette's own self-acceptance, Mylen is the carrier of the mouse, as is she, her colors are black and pink, Marinette's colors, a symbol of her dreams for fashion and self-love.

} Sapotis S2, 2 times, 1 at FU's house and another as a lucky charm.

In this chapter again the focus is Alya,

This chapter does not talk about that for S6 we will see how Kagami will enjoy being Ryuko,

but she will also be a great support for Marinette, since she knows the truth, however this excess of confidence, trusting her and calling her more than other superheroes, because they will be a team of 3, as we have seen in this chapter with Rena , it will make chat noir much more and that ship, little by little, there will be some flirting between them,

This trust will generate problems in the ladynoir, for example the secrets between them that the chatnoir will observe.

____________________________________

WHO USE IT? MARINETTE AND FU, the fact that the teapot appears as a lucky charm is a sign that the solution to the problem with Kagami is Felix, why? because immediately afterwards it is FU who uses it, (THINKING THAT ALYA'S SISTERS HAVE THE CROWN SYMBOL, THEY ARE QUEENS, REFERRING TO KAGAMI) it is FU who she turns to for help, FU is Félix, she asks Félix for help, THE SOLUTION IS TO TRUST FELIX, NOT KAGAMI!!!!

} siren, S2

Although this chapter Alya is not the focus, she is an important part of the conflict with chatnoir.

This chapter confirms that the relationship with Ryuko and Ladybug is going to be conflictive for the ladynoir, (what we said above) because of the secrets, but not only that, there will also be Felix/Argos in this equation, of course both one as you know Ladybug's identity, this will make the 3 secretly more united, they may make plans to better protect Adrien now that it is known that he is senti etc..., but this will gradually make Chatnoir feel sidelined, no For nothing we have seen in the current show (in rocketear) that thanks to RENA LITERAL chat WAS LEFT SIDELINED.

so Felix will be forced by Ladybug's request to tell him part of the truth, which is senti, or that his father died as a villain as a lepidopterist, and so there is not so much distance between them, at least between Felix and Adrien, and This will lead to him also being told that he is a chatnoir (a fact that Félix probably already knows, since he can feel the amoks) we could see something like this in S6 ONWARDS:

Now, he won't tell him Ladybug's identity, which in some way won't solve the whole problem... but it will calm the waters.

____________________________________

WHO USE IT? FU AND MARINETTE, Félix will be a great help to Marinette when it comes to taking care of Adrien as a sentiser and GENERALLY HELPFUL, they will talk about this issue or about her father's secret and the burden that this means FOR HER, and the will make the decision to tell him the truth with his permission, being his cousin and knowing him better, and thus know how he will react to this news, BECAUSE THEY ARE STRONG ISSUES AND HE MAY NOT REACT VERY WELL IF A BAD TIME IS CHOSEN, we see this in which IT IS FU WHO SERVES TEA TO MARINETTE and he says "there is always a time for everything" implying that these types of things are delicate and that you have to choose an appropriate moment to tell him, (probably Marinette is going to visit Félix to ask for advice and tell him everything that this is overwhelming him, keep secrets from Adrien and LITERALLY SERVE HER AND CALM HER AND TAKE A WEIGHT OFF OF HER)

} Robostus S2

In robostus the focus is on MAX AND MAKOB, THEIR ROBOT, which refers to the sentis, that is, FELIX.

This chapter could give us a clue as to how Adrien might react to the revelation that he is sentiser, I'll explain, through Max we are told a little about how Félix and Marinette are going to take care of Adrien, this can be seen in his initials, We know that Max is pure intelligence which includes both of them, Marinette and Felix, so who would be Markov, aha Adrien, so this is reaffirmed when the car in which Robostus drives is neon green and has the initials BB,

Let's remember that these elements are Adrien's reference, so can Adrien make a wish to be human? This leads to the next chilling point, Marko also represents Marinette and Kagami (MARKOV'S NAME HAS A "K" IN THE MIDDLE) which confirms that on the one hand, both Kagami and Marinette love Felix,

BUT ALSO THAT MARINETTE WILL BE A SENTI, THAT IS, SHE WILL LOSE HER HUMANITY, WHICH JUSTIFIES WHY, ARGOS WOULD TAKE HER PROTECTION VERY SERIOUSLY, I MEAN, A SENTI IS FRAGILE, IF YOU DETRIDE THE OBJECT WHERE THE AMOK IS FOUND BYE LIFE. In short, Marinette could lose her humanity because of Adrien. (BECAUSE WITH THIS FIGHT, I DON'T SEE NEITHER KAGAMI OR FELIX SUFFERING FOR BEING SORRY OR FOR NOT ACCEPTING THAT)

____________________________________

WHO USE IT? WAYSS AND TIKKI, This confirms that THE main mission of Argos will be to protect and take care of MARINETTE, BECAUSE SHE WILL BE A SENTISER, HER LIFE WILL BE IN DANGER, IF HER AMOK IS NOT PROTECTED WELL, THIS IS CONFIRMED BECAUSE IT IS WAYSS WHO serves tikki tea, wayss represents protection, wayss is fu's kwami, fu is Felix, so Felix protects Marinette, and this he does both towards her and Ladybug, since the one who receives the drink is tikki, Ladybug's kwami, and the glasses are thimbles, sewing objects, elements that connect with marinette. but above all, THAT IS CONFIRMED WITH THIS:

Guys, I'm going to leave the post here since it's a lot to analyze, so this section, the section of THE TRAY WITH TEA CUP, I'm going to divide it into parts.

In the future, when I finish everything in the analysis of Jeremy Zag's video, I will upload a post with all the links and their parts, so that there are no problems.

Like, reblog and follow me if you like it and to see more content of this type.

See you in future posts.

[aeria-arc]

[LoveAndDeepSpace Translation Review] | Main Story | Under Deepspace CH 01 To Begin: 00 Singularity Echo

It's the next day here but I want to wish all the LADS girlies a happy valentines! Hope those banner pulls are kind to y'all~

Started re-reading parts of the main story again. It's always nice to revisit early chapters once in a while and maybe discover new things along the way. Reviewing xavier related chapters for now unless I have time for others. ♡🐰

*contains spo!lers up to Main Story: Voyage of The Outcast & Xavier's Silver Polyphony Memory

Disclaimer: I'm southeast asian chinese (english/chinese speaking). Not from China. Not a language expert. Just a lore and Xavier girlie who's way too invested. My reviews are opinions, not facts. - More Details: HERE

Key: (i keep changing the colors but this is the last time i swear!) Purple = official EN version Pink = official CN version « » = my version (based on CN's script) Blue = external links [Scene] = context [EDIT] = notes added after initial draft ★ = bullet points ◤/◢ = start/end of my thoughts

★ [Scene] Traceback II Message

Day 1326 Attention: 第1326个航行日记播报 «1326th voyage journal entry broadcast»

--Target anchor lost. No response from base. Traceback II is about to pass the event horizon and enter the black hole.--

We are stuck in this loop... This never-ending journey... 我们将停滞在这尚未结束 也永远不会结束的旅程当中 «We have come to a standstill on this journey that's yet to end and will never end.»

◤ This "message" from Traceback II is a journal/diary report. This is the 1326th entry so it is presumed that 1326 days have passed since the start of the voyage. This is confirmed in EN where it clearly states "Day 1326".

After Voyage of the Outcast (Main Story) we now know Traceback II is Xavier's spaceship. What we are seeing here is the ship preparing to enter the blackhole and passing through some kind of time warp/closed timeloop curve* (deepspace tunnel) which would send them back in time to the past Earth where the game takes place.

The current year in-game is 2048 and from his promo video we know Xavier has been here for 213 years (214th year is where he meets adult mc). This means Traceback II arrived in the year ~1834.

Fun Trivia: In real life, the year 1834 on Earth is during the Victorian era (1820-1914), or Qing Dynasty in China (1644-1912). I dun think the game follows the same eras tho it makes you wonder what the backtrackers had to do to blend in during those times 🫠. ◢

*Regarding space science terminologies and concepts, check out these links for some bite-sized info:

➜ Black Hole Anatomy ➜ Are Black Holes Time Machines?

★ [Scene] Radio Message

EN: | And...that's all for today. But before we go, please enjoy this gift we received from Deepspace 14 years ago: Love and Deepspace. These electromagnetic signals have traversed time and space. A miracle of the ages. | CN: 好了，今天概况就介绍到这里。最后， 请继续欣赏14年前来自深空的礼物，这首 《深空传说》。 这些电磁信号历经万年抵达我们的世界。 被视为奇迹 «All right, that's all for today's overview. Lastly, please continue on to enjoy this gift from 14 years ago that came from Deepspace, this song, "Legend of Deepspace". These electromagnetic signals have taken thousands of years to reach our world. It's regarded as a miracle.»

◤ I've always wondered what exactly this "Love and Deepspace" is, and why the radio presenter says it's a "gift". Well I found out and now I feel like an idiot coz the clues were there all along.

In EN, we are not specifically told what "Love and Deepspace" is, but they did give us the info that it's some electromagnetic signals from Deepspace. My initial thoughts were, since the signals have waveforms and this is some kind of radio broadcast, "Love and Deepspace" is a track that's just filled with a static-like sound.

In CN, the presenter says he is leaving us with "这首 《深空传说》". Just based on the brackets 《 》 and measuring word (首) used, and without any other context, this can mean it's either a song or poetry. The next line let's us know it's referring to electromagnetic signals, and similar to my line of thought for the EN ver, this is more likely to be a song rather than poetry. In CN the title of this song is "Legend of Deepspace", not "Love and Deepspace" as written in EN ver.

So we figured out it's some kind of track/song. With the release of Xavier's "Silver Polyphony" Memory, we can now confirm it is most definitely a song/instrumental. In that Memory we got to hear how the raw signals from outer space sound like (an unsettling hum). Xavier also says there are ways to convert the signals, which we later learn it can be converted into a piece of music. ⬇️

But what does this song, "Love and Deepspace" or "Legend of Deepspace" sound like? ...Take a closer look at this screenshot in Xavier's promo vid. ⬇️

On the CD is the title "Deep Space Legend". I didn't translate it exactly the same way but this has to be the song the radio presenter was referring to in CN ver! In smaller print it's written: beyond the universe.

Xavier plays the CD and we get to listen to it. ⬇️

Yeaaa.. so this "song" is an instrumental version of the game's first theme song. A slightly muffled version of the song sung by Sarah Brightman was literally playing in the background of this chapter's cutscene and it completely flew over my head. I thought the EN title misled me, until I went back to check... ⬇️

"Love and Deepspace". It's not just the title of the game, but also the song title in the official EN ver... 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

As for who transcribed this music in the game's universe, I'm not sure and I doubt it's Xavier tho I have a feeling it's a former backtracker. Or it could be EVER. We are more accustomed to labeling them as the "evil" group, but some of their tech actually benefits Linkon. Just like how they also made the cute OTTO robots 😣. ◢

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Space station trajectory data now available

Space Station trajectory data is now available to the public! This data, called an ephemeris, is generated by the ISS Trajectory Operations and Planning Officer (TOPO) flight controllers in the Mission Control Center at NASA's Johnson Space Center. TOPO keeps track of where the ISS is, where it is going to be, and most importantly makes sure it isn't at risk of colliding with other objects in space.

At ISS's altitude, a very thin atmosphere is still present. This thin atmosphere creates drag and over time can cause TOPO's predicted ISS trajectory to accumulate errors. Because of this, TOPO updates the predicted trajectory approximately three times a week, so the ISS Flight Control Team has the best trajectory estimate possible. An accurate trajectory is essential for maintaining communications links, planning visiting vehicle rendezvous, and ensuring ISS's path is clear of any potential collisions.

The links are to the most current posted ephemeris. The ephemeris is in the CCSDS Orbital Ephemeris Message (OEM) standard and is available in .txt and .xml file formats. Each file contains header lines with the ISS mass in kg, drag area in m2, and drag coefficient used in generating the ephemeris.

The header also contains lines with details for the first and last ascending nodes within the ephemeris span. Following this is a listing of upcoming ISS translation maneuvers, called "reboosts," and visiting vehicle launches, arrivals, and departures.

After the header, ISS state vectors in the Mean of J2000 (J2K) reference frame are listed at four-minute intervals spanning a total length of 15 days. During reboosts (translation maneuvers), the state vectors are reported in two-second intervals. Each state vector lists the time in UTC; position X, Y, and Z in km; and velocity X, Y, and Z in km/s.

IMAGE: The long exposure photograph taken by NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick shows star trails, streaks of city lights, and two Roscosmos crew ships, the Soyuz MS-26 docked to the Rassvet module (foreground) and the Soyuz MS-25 (background) docked to the Prichal docking module, as the International Space Station orbited 265 miles above central China. Credit: NASA

[internationaltransportcompany]

INNOVATIVE WAYS INTERNATIONAL MOVING COMPANY MOVE FRAGILE GOODS

Moving to some other country involves huge planning and care while sending all your stuff to the destination, much more so with breakables. International moving company have devised various methods of efficiently transferring all your fragile items over long distances. This article talks about some advanced techniques and practices used by international movers to help avoid damage to fragile items during transit.

1. Custom Crating Solutions

The most outstanding innovations in the movement of fragile goods are custom crating solutions. Moving companies design and build custom crates for the dimensions and requirements of each type of fragile item. Crates of this nature are developed with robust materials, such as wood or heavy-duty cardboard, and lined by foams or other cushioning materials in order to absorb shocks and restrict movements. Custom crates are very useful in moving large, highly valued, or oddly shaped items like artwork, antiques, and sculptures.

2. Advanced Packing Materials

The quality and grade of the packing materials used constitute another highly critical aspect for safeguarding fragile items. Various specialized materials that international movers use to protect fragile belongings include:

Bubble Wrap: Very good at cushioning and absorbing shocks, suitable for glassware, ceramics, and electronics.

Packing Paper: This is used to wrap each item individually. This will avoid scratches or minor impacts.

Foam Sheets and Peanuts: These fill up empty spaces in the boxes and avoid the shifting of objects within them. They provide extra padding, too.

Edge Protectors: Reinforce corners and edges of items; they are easily susceptible to damage.

These materials withstand the rigors of international transportation, ensuring your fragile items remain intact.

3. Double Boxing Technique

Probably the best measure to protect fragile goods in international moving is going to be the double boxing technique. The process consists of placing the fragile entity in a well-padded smaller box and subsequently in a larger box with more padding material. This double layering for protection of the items will help in absorbing the shocks or vibrations that may occur during transit, thereby providing extra protection from damage. This method applies very well to extremely fragile items, like fine china, sensitive electronics, and small antiques.

4. Climate-Controlled Shipping

These include items that are sensitive to temperature and humidity changes, such as fine arts, musical instruments, and antique furniture. International moving companies provide climate-controlled shipping for these kinds of items to help guard against environmental fluctuations. The use of climate-controlled containers or trucks helps to avoid damage by extreme temperatures, moisture, or dryness; hence, it is very important for the integrity and value maintenance of sensitive fragile items over a long-distance move.

5. Real-Time Tracking and Monitoring

The traditional way of handling fragile items by international moving companies has undergone a sea change with the introduction of technology. Real-time tracking and monitoring systems enable movers and clients to trace, at all times during the journey, the location and condition of their shipment. The progress of the shipment continues to be updated through GPS tracking devices, while temperature, humidity, and even vibration can be constantly monitored by sensors inside the containers. This level of control is very important in ensuring that any problem is addressed on the spot, thereby giving clients peace of mind and greater safety for items of a fragile nature.

6. Expert Handling and Training

The human factor is at work just as much in the safe transport of fragile items. A professional international moving company is serious about investing in the training and expertise of its employees so that fragile items are treated with the care that they need. Moving people have received special training in careful packing, appropriate lifting techniques, and how to handle delicate things best. Such expertise minimizes the risk of accidents and ensures that packing, loading, and unloading of fragile items are done safely.

7. Comprehensive Insurance Coverage

After all the precautions, there can be an accident. Reputable international moving companies provide comprehensive insurance coverage on your fragile items. This could provide clients with financial protection against damage or loss while in transit. Many insurance options will ensure that the values and fragile goods of clients are well protected.

Conclusion Innovative techniques and sophisticated technologies have dramatically changed the way in which international moving companies handle fragile items. This will ensure that treasured possessions are moved safely and securely through advances in custom crating, advanced packing materials, climate-controlled shipping, and real-time monitoring. Such methods, allied with investment in expert handling, help international movers provide clients peace of mind regarding the safety of their fragile items. Knowing the following new techniques can ensure that your fragile goods reach their destination safely when you have another international move lined up.

[bread-tab]

i bought a cheap squishy toy and it smells like something i should definitely not be inhaling at all (kind of like gas/petrol but more factory-plasticky? i'm a retail drone not a chemist) and, of course, it was made in china.

("of course" not so much because of the price or quality but because everything is. at every price range and standard, tbh. i'm not trying to say everything made in china sucks. for the tumblr-pedantic record. rip to the workers in the stinky plastic factory though. :/)

so i was like "if this was made in america i could figure out where. we put the company address on everything here. but can i do that with an overseas company?" and the answer is yes maybe (i found the import/middleman companies and there are "trading" websites that track this stuff) but also no because i can't read mandarin. (sorry ancestors)

anyway that's how i find out about this place

yiwu "market" aka "international trade city." alleged "world's largest wholesale market." the mall to end all malls. this place sells stuff to the entire world by the shipping container. didn't even slightly exist in 1980; now does billions of dollars in trade annually which supports a city of 2 million people. which previously was just. like. a farming village.

(btw take this info with a grain of salt *please* i got it from youtube, google and wikipedia and i'm existing in an incredulous sleep-deprived haze)

literally miles of showrooms of every random manufactured item you can imagine. toys, clothes, electronics, household goods, christmas decorations...

i cannot stress enough that we do not have this kind of thing here. (... do we?) but. we have the stuff. this is where all the stuff is from. all roads lead to yiwu, apparently

sometimes you just get reminded... world big. but also. world interconnected. not so small after all. but so connected.

[beardedmrbean]

A Chinese navy aircraft carrier has breached a second Pacific island defense line that is intended to keep the East Asian power's forces at a distance.

Newsweek has emailed the Pentagon and the Chinese Defense Ministry for comment.

Why It Matters

The United States has established three island chains across the Pacific Ocean. The first, closest to China, is formed by three U.S. allies and partners—Japan, Taiwan, and the Philippines. The second, centered on Guam—America's westernmost territory—stretches from Japan to New Guinea, just north of Australia. The last one links Alaska's Aleutian Islands with New Zealand via Hawaii.

While the U.S. maritime containment strategy aims to restrict China's naval access to the broader Pacific Ocean during wartime, the Chinese navy—the largest in the world by hull count—has repeatedly breached the First Island Chain as it expands its reach and presence, including a high-profile, long-range mission that circumnavigated Australia earlier this year.

What To Know

The Chinese aircraft carrier CNS Liaoning has been underway since late May, when it was first spotted in the East China Sea, west of the First Island Chain. It then passed through the Miyako Strait in Japan's southwestern waters and entered the Philippine Sea. It was previously tracked on May 30 while sailing southward in waters east of the Philippines.

A Chinese naval task group—consisting of the Liaoning and three other vessels—was tracked operating about 186 miles southwest of Minamitorishima (with shima meaning "island" in Japanese) on Saturday, the Japanese Defense Ministry said in a press release.

Minamitorishima is Japan's easternmost territory, located over 1,200 miles southeast of the country's capital, Tokyo. It has valuable mineral resources, including rare earth elements, according to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, which administers the remote island.

Japanese media reported that, for the first time ever, Japan's Defense Ministry had confirmed and announced the presence of a Chinese aircraft carrier in waters near Minamitorishima and on the eastern side of the Second Island Chain. The Liaoning has been operational since 2012.

A map provided by the Defense Ministry shows that the Chinese naval task group was sailing outside Tokyo's territorial waters—which extend up to 13.8 miles from the coastline—but within its 230-mile-wide exclusive economic zone around the island.

According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, all countries enjoy freedom of navigation within an exclusive economic zone, while the coastal state—Japan in this case—holds sovereign rights to explore and exploit natural resources in the area.

The Liaoning was tracked moving southwest on Sunday, away from Minamitorishima, while its fighter jets and helicopters conducted takeoffs and landings, the Japanese Defense Ministry said, adding that the naval task group has expanded to a total of eight vessels.

The Liaoning task group was last detected 600 miles northeast of Guam, a Newsweek map shows.

According to hull numbers provided by Japan's military, the Liaoning was sailing alongside two Type 055 destroyers, two Type 052D destroyers, one Type 054A frigate, one Type 901 fast combat support ship, and one Type 903A replenishment ship.

What People Are Saying

The Joint Staff of the Japanese Defense Ministry said on Monday, according to the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun: "China appears to be trying to improve the operational capabilities of its aircraft carriers and its ability to conduct operations in distant seas and airspace."

Senior Colonel Zhang Xiaogang, spokesperson for the Chinese Defense Ministry, said on May 29: "[T]he task fleet led by [People's Liberation Army Navy Ship] Liaoning conducted training in relevant waters, which does not target any specific country or entity and is in line with international law and practice. I think the Japanese side overreacted."

Mao Ning, spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said on May 28: "What I can tell you is that China's military vessels' activities in relevant waters are fully consistent with international law and international practice. We hope Japan will view this from an objective and reasonable perspective."

What Happens Next

It was not clear whether the Liaoning-led naval task group is on its way back to China. The Chinese Defense Ministry may disclose mission details after the deployment concludes.