#IT decommissioning solutions

[avendata85]

AvenDATA offers expert decommissioning services for various Oracle systems, including NetSuite, JD Edwards EnterpriseOne, PeopleSoft, E-Business Suite, and Fusion Applications. Our proficiency ensures a seamless transition, maintaining data integrity and compliance throughout the process.

[anuraxx]

Oklo says engaging with Nuclear Regulatory Commission in readiness assessment.. read more..

[literallymechanical]

Okay so a guy in my solid state physics class was telling us about this muon scanning startup he worked at, GScan, and I'm going insane. I don't work there and I have no stake in the company, financial or otherwise, I just need to tell you about it.

Muons are short-lived subatomic particles, same charge as an electron but ~200 times more massive. On Earth, they're produced by cosmic rays colliding with the upper atmosphere, and they hit the ground at a rate of about ten thousand per minute per square meter.

They're moving extremely fast at ground level, like 0.99 c. So they careen right through matter, deflecting only very slightly around heavy atomic nuclei – they'll penetrate like a hundred meters into solid rock.

What do you do with this continuous shower of deep-penetrating charged particles, constantly blanketing every square inch of the Earth's surface?

(source)

The classic thing is use them to image the inside of massive structures, like we use x-rays to look inside living tissue – except instead of generating them yourself, you just use atmospheric muons. Muon archeology is a whole thing, they've used it to find hidden chambers in pyramids and stuff. Neat!

But this one Estonian company is doing some crazy bullshit and I love it.

Sandwich anything between a pair of portable muon detectors and get full 3D imaging of the interior, with sub-millimeter accuracy, by tracking the minute deflection of muons between them. Samples that are WAY too thick for x-rays, made of literally anything. Just put some muon detectors on some two by fours in a warehouse and call it a day.

You can just. Image anything??? Anything you want?? Completely passively!! Just detectors! No particle source! Put them anywhere. The detectors themselves are a mature technology, the company's tech is in the algorithms they use to get this level of spatial and elemental resolution.

You can detect failures inside cable-reinforced concrete bridges without cutting open the bridges.

Decommissioned Soviet nuclear submarine filled with concrete, with no drawings or documentation, that may or may not have spent fuel canisters in it? And you need to cut it up for storage? Just look at the muons.

One of the wackiest ideas is to put one detector under your bed and one on the ceiling, so you get a full 3D scan of your body every night, passively. I want one.

[dandelionsresilience]

Good News - July 15-21

Like these weekly compilations? Tip me at $kaybarr1735! (Or check out my new(ly repurposed) Patreon!)

1. Thai tiger numbers swell as prey populations stabilize in western forests

“The tiger population density in a series of protected areas in western Thailand has more than doubled over the past two decades, according to new survey data. […] The most recent year of surveys, which concluded in November 2023, photographed 94 individual tigers, up from 75 individuals in the previous year, and from fewer than 40 in 2007. […] A total of 291 individual tigers older than 1 year were recorded, as well as 67 cubs younger than 1 year.”

2. Work starts to rewild former cattle farm

“Ecologists have started work to turn a former livestock farm into a nature reserve [… which] will become a "mosaic of habitats" for insects, birds and mammals. [… R]ewilding farmland could benefit food security locally by encouraging pollinators, improving soil health and soaking up flood water. [… “N]ature restoration doesn't preclude food production. We want to address [food security] by using nature-based solutions."”

3. Harnessing ‘invisible forests in plain view’ to reforest the world

“[… T]he degraded land contained numerous such stumps with intact root systems capable of regenerating themselves, plus millions of tree seeds hidden in the soil, which farmers could simply encourage to grow and reforest the landscape[….] Today, the technique of letting trees resprout and protecting their growth from livestock and wildlife [… has] massive potential to help tackle biodiversity loss and food insecurity through resilient agroforestry systems. [… The UN’s] reported solution includes investing in land restoration, “nature-positive” food production, and rewilding, which could return between $7 and $30 for every dollar spent.”

4. California bars school districts from outing LGBTQ+ kids to their parents

“Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the SAFETY Act today – a bill that prohibits the forced outing of transgender and gay students, making California the first state to explicitly prohibit school districts from doing so. […] Matt Adams, a head of department at a West London state school, told PinkNews at the time: “Teachers and schools do not have all the information about every child’s home environment and instead of supporting a pupil to be themselves in school, we could be putting them at risk of harm.””

5. 85% of new electricity built in 2023 came from renewables

“Electricity supplied by renewables, like hydropower, solar, and wind, has increased gradually over the past few decades — but rapidly in recent years. [… C]lean energy now makes up around 43 percent of global electricity capacity. In terms of generation — the actual power produced by energy sources — renewables were responsible for 30 percent of electricity production last year. […] Along with the rise of renewable sources has come a slowdown in construction of non-renewable power plants as well as a move to decommission more fossil fuel facilities.”

6. Deadly cobra bites to "drastically reduce" as scientists discover new antivenom

“After successful human trials, the snake venom antidote could be rolled out relatively quickly to become a "cheap, safe and effective drug for treating cobra bites" and saving lives around the globe, say scientists. Scientists have found that a commonly used blood thinner known as heparin can be repurposed as an inexpensive antidote for cobra venom. […] Using CRISPR gene-editing technology […] they successfully repurposed heparin, proving that the common blood thinner can stop the necrosis caused by cobra bites.”

7. FruitFlow: a new citizen science initiative unlocks orchard secrets

“"FruitWatch" has significantly refined phenological models by integrating extensive citizen-sourced data, which spans a wider geographical area than traditional methods. These enhanced models offer growers precise, location-specific predictions, essential for optimizing agricultural planning and interventions. […] By improving the accuracy of phenological models, farmers can better align their operations with natural biological cycles, enhancing both yield and quality.”

8. July 4th Means Freedom for Humpback Whale Near Valdez, Alaska

“The NOAA Fisheries Alaska Marine Mammal Stranding Hotline received numerous reports late afternoon on July 3. A young humpback whale was entangled in the middle of the Port of Valdez[….] “The success of this mission was due to the support of the community, as they were the foundation of the effort,” said Moran. [… Members of the community] were able to fill the critical role of acting as first responders to a marine mammal emergency. “Calling in these reports is extremely valuable as it allows us to respond when safe and appropriate, and also helps us gain information on various threats affecting the animals,” said Lyman.”

9. Elephants Receive First of Its Kind Vaccine

“Elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus is the leading cause of death for Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) born in facilities in North America and also causes calf deaths in the wild in Asia. A 40-year-old female received the new mRNA vaccine, which is expected to help the animal boost immunity[….]”

10. Conservation partners and Indigenous communities working together to restore forests in Guatemala

“The K’iche have successfully managed their natural resources for centuries using their traditional governing body and ancestral knowledge. As a result, Totonicapán is home to Guatemala’s largest remaining stand of conifer forest. […] EcoLogic has spearheaded a large-scale forest restoration project at Totonicapán, where 13 greenhouses now hold about 16,000 plants apiece, including native cypresses, pines, firs, and alders. […] The process begins each November when community members gather seeds. These seeds then go into planters that include upcycled coconut fibers and mycorrhizal fungi, which help kickstart fertilization. When the plantings reach about 12 inches, they’re ready for distribution.”

July 8-14 news here | (all credit for images and written material can be found at the source linked; I don’t claim credit for anything but curating.)

[mzminola]

Reread Warrior's Apprentice for the first time in ages, fresh off of Shards of Honor and Barrayar, and see parallels between Miles-Arde and Cordelia-Bothari.

When Cordelia is a prisoner of war about to be tortured, she projects onto Bothari as a form of control over the situation, repeating There are two victims in this room, to herself mentally, and telling Bothari out loud, "I believe that the tormented are very close to God. I'm sorry, Sergeant."

Which is when he recognizes her, and is able to mentally supplant Aral Vorkosigan's Rules For Prisoners over Ges Vorrutyer's rules, first refusing to hurt her, and then stopping Ges from doing so.

Bothari's actions in that moment could theoretically happen even if Cordelia said nothing, if he simply looked at her face and Aral's rules kicked in. And Piotr, at Aral's request, making him a Vorkosigan armsman puts him in place plot-wise to do things.

But Cordelia reaching out to him, speaking, empathizing, is what forms the connection between them, leading to Bothari picking Cordelia as His Person To Make Rules. Their senses of identity & personal destinies are intertwined after that.

Almost two decades later, we get Miles & Arde. Miles is a teenager with a lot of cultural & personal baggage that make flunking out of the Imperial Military Academy entrance exams The End Of The World. He's wrapped his entire identity up in getting in & excelling.

When Miles fails the exam, when that path is barred to him, he has no back-up plan. Nothing. He refuses to consider anything. Full on depression spiral, worsened by his grandfather dying. The space adventure starts because Miles wants to help & impress Elena, but if they'd done that a couple years earlier he wouldn't have shattered his imagined future yet, and probably wouldn't have latched onto Arde.

Arde Mayhew is a Jump Ship Pilot. He has implants in his brain to do this work, he & other jump pilots can never truly describe their experiences to non-pilots. His class of ship is being decommissioned, his ship just got sold to a scrapper, he's medically ineligible for updated implants. We meet him holed up in the decommissioned ship refusing to come out, with no plan, just despair.

Miles feels like his entire world is over. Arde's actually is.

Miles empathizes. Miles projects. Miles cannot change the universe to get back his dream, but he can throw himself into finding a solution for Arde. He shoves himself into the situation, digging himself a deeper & deeper hole, never truly considering backing out until they are all literally in an active war zone multiple wormhole jumps away from home.

And one of the first things he does, to protect Arde from arrest, is swear him in as an armsman.

Arde, for his part, is befuddled by Miles' involvement, but latches on too. Miles gives him the chance to keep his calling, and Arde, in turn, risks that very calling ramming his ship into a hostile vessel to protect Miles. During the course of the book, Arde is slowly reshaping his identity from solely a jump pilot to jump pilot & Miles' Armsman.

Our original misfit Vorkosigan armsman is right there judging both of them for it. Arde doesn't understand Barrayar at all. Bothari is extremely pissed about the entire situation; swearing in outsider Arde is only eclipsed by Miles swearing in military deserter Baz Jesek. Bothari eventually comes around on Arde, thanks to the ship-ramming and Arde's reasoning for it, but never on Baz.

Naismiths: insane levels of projection, insane levels of resulting loyalty.

[rendomski]

Hunter in Decommissioned

In Decommissioned (Season 1 Ep6) we don’t see Hunter using his trademark knife. Almost as if he has a bet with his brothers that he can complete a mission without one 😀. And we get a lot of Hunter in action in this episode. He battle-dances through the scores of police droids, double-wields blasters and even demonstrates a highly unconventional use of a grappling hook as an instrument of destruction.

A great perspective of Hunter with the grappling hook, BTW.

We, fans, often like to tease that Hunter intellectually is not in the same league as Tech and Crosshair (we love Sergeant for other things!), and him typing with one finger is canon. However, during the fight he can think on his feet and come up with no less unorthodox and risky solutions than Tech. The scene when Omega calls for help and Hunter at once gets rid of the pursuing droids by connecting his grappling hook to the conveyor belt and takes down the support posts is very, very much underappreciated. ❤ ️

[perpetual-fandom-brainrot]

Shadow (Dark Link x Reader x Link)

Summary: The reader accidentally stumbles into Dink's boss room while scouting ahead for monsters.

MASTERLIST Warnings: 18+ themes such as gore, graphic descriptions of death and fatal injury, emotional/psychological manipulation, etc. coming up. Reader actually dies and is revived. This story is not suitable for small children and easily disturbed individuals.

The temple is completely silent aside from the moves of yourself and your best friend, Link. At first he'd warned you to stay in the safety of Kakariko, but lost that argument when you'd held your own in a sparring match.

Now, the two of you gaze upon the expanse of the room you'd emerged from. Lots of water, as expected, fills the area. You notice a plethora of hookshot points, platforms, and tectites. None of them see you or Link as you swim past them to a hallway entrance. You find that it leads to an underwater passage.

In fact, most hallways do, you realize as you trail Link throughout the temple. Most of that trailing is spent picking off monsters Link can't get to, helping point out puzzle solutions, and quickly stealing Navi's attention if her timing is inopportune. Conversation between Link and yourself is scarce, both a strategic decision and a comfortable one, especially for you. Too many other things might come up right now, things that will cause more problems than will be solved if you choose silence. So you do, especially underwater, where magic is your lifeline. Both you and Link have fully stocked up on bottles of magic for this reason.

That magic almost goes to waste when a sing-song voice calls Link's name. You resist a gasp as your attention is drawn to the literal princess who produced it. How in Hylia's name is she here? You suppose, as the sacred house to the water medallion, it's technically still part of the Zora domain, but you distinctly remember hearing how all of Hyrule's royalty is dead, hiding, or otherwise decommissioned. Perhaps Ruto is safe here? When you look to Link's face to read his expression, he looks shocked and semi-afraid.

"It's me! Your fiancée! Ruto! I never forgot our vows from seven years ago." The princess' words horrify the hero and leave you nearly choking again. Fiancée? Vows? Seven years? She's not serious, is she? "You were so mean to keep me waiting," definitely serious, "but this moment can't be for love. My domain, I know you saw it's completely frozen! A man named Sheik freed me from the ice. The others haven't woken, so I need your help to save them! As my future husband it's your duty!" Ruto, finally ready to drop the marriage topic, proceeds to explain the temple's three water control points, and even leads you to one of them. She's gone by the time you and Link reach the top, most likely continuing ahead without you.

Link reads over the symbols on the wall, muttering to himself the whole time you're inspecting this tiny room. A soothing song comes from that ocarina of his mere moments later. The water level lowers, much to your intrigue. Magic must be part of the architecture here, you think. Instead of vocalizing your curiosity about the subject, you wordlessly follow Link into the next room and help pick off the monsters you find, grabbing the map out of the chest that appears. After examining it, you decide to head back for the bottom floor. The string of rooms brimming with monsters and puzzles begins with that simple jump down. A puzzle, a new room, some monsters, a key. This process repeats twice to get you to the second water control point, which also has to be activated through song.

This one raises the water, although not as high as it was earlier, allowing you and Link to enter a newly revealed passage. It leads deeper into the temple, where the new area leads to a puzzle, more monsters, and another key.

"Is this what every temple is like?" You ask, fingers tapping against your weapon's grip point.

"Yep." Link grunts as he stores the key in his satchel. "There's usually more foes than this," he adds. Your chest swells and tightens at the same time, your eyes going wide with a harsh realization. He could die here. You could both die here. What if one of you gets fatally injured in the midst of a difficult battle? It would be a choice between saving the other person or trying to fight off the monsters quick enough to still have time to do so. What if you ran out of healing items?

"We should split up soon," you find yourself blurting, partially for good reason and partially for the selfishness of not wanting to potentially see Link die.

"Why?" He asks firmly. He was difficult to persuade when it came to your accompaniment, you hope this might be easier.

"We have no idea what to expect in here! Monsters, items, locked doors, sure we know that. Not what kind of monsters, or how many, or where any of those item chests might be. Plus, if you run out of supplies before we split up, I'd be able to smash a jar here and there to bring you back more."

At your words, the same reluctance from Kakariko this morning crosses his face. You know Navi can identify new monsters for him, but you also latch onto the glimmer of consideration adorning his eyes at your offer to pick some off and scavenge for extra items.

"Fine," he finally says, hesitance mostly gone. Warmth blooms in you at his trust that you can handle yourself on that level. This isn't something any random Hylian can handle. You keep that thought in the front of your mind as Link dives back in the direction you came from. You follow soon after.

The third and final water control point sits above a room containing a water geyser puzzle. You draw your bow to shoot the crystal once you and Link both stand on it, raising you to the door leading to the control point. With the water only partially filling the temple, the point you've entered appears to be a vantage point over the temple's main area. It becomes level with everything else when Link brings the water up, and on you go to the next locked door.

You instantly shoot down two waiting keese on the wall behind the door, returning it to your gear when no more show up. Link yanks you back as you attempt to step further into the room. You're preparing to be annoyed, but immediately take notice of how the room is built. You would have fallen clean off the area you now stand on and landed on a platform about 10 feet below you. That platform leads to more platforms, one of which sits on the same wall and four others slowly fall down a waterfall's current. You groan when you notice the hookshot platforms. Link laughs softly beside you.

"The hookshot is uncomfortable!" You whine in defense, while a much worse feeling creeps up your spine. How many rooms has it been since you last encountered a monster? "Tell you what, I have to get used to it anyway. Let me scout ahead now! I'll tell you all about the next puzzles when I come back," you hastily promise before snatching the hookshot from Link. You cross the room before you can back down and before he can protest. The next room, another hookshot puzzle which contains a crystal, almost makes you want to rip your hair out. You don't, instead keeping a cool head as you pass through the room, alternating between bow and hookshot to activate the crystal and cross gaps between the platforms.

You're about to celebrate when you see one last hookshot point, but your face goes pale when you notice spikes directly underneath it and a slime creature bigger than you waiting on the other side. With sword drawn, you hook onto the ceiling, immediately doing a downwards spin-slash to finish it off when you drop to the floor. The next door is not locked.

The room it leads to is not inhabited. Instead of monsters, puzzles, or chests, you're greeted by a peaceful scene. An endless expanse of calm, shallow water expanded on all sides. The only disruptions are the door you came from, the door leading forward, and a small sand mound with a leafless tree sitting between them. You take a step forward and find that the water reflects your face perfectly. You feel oddly safe to take another step despite no visual of solid ground. Your feet sink slightly, but nothing more. You walk, then pause when you notice the door ahead has bars on it. The room is empty, isn't it? You turn around in a panic, trying to spot anywhere a monster could hide. In the water maybe? You take a second look at the surface, only to see a lack of your reflection. The pit of your stomach sinks. This room, and whatever is going on, is fueled by magic. This thing didn't need to hide from you, it could hide itself.

"You're not the hero," a voice sneers, sounding as though the room itself is speaking. That tone, that slight rasp anyone else would miss, it sounds just like-

A hand suddenly covers your mouth, your body being pulled backwards against another. Your instincts call on your weapons, but your assailant grips your wrist with superior strength. A sob begins building in your throat. This is a foe, one who is clearly prepared for Link and not some Hylian girl. You're dead. You'll never get to run around the village again. You'll never get to train with a sword again. You'll never get to tell Link-

"That's right, you'll never get to tell Mr. Hero-boy that you loOove him~" the voice purrs against your ear, his its tone cruel and mocking in a level whisper. Your lungs freeze when you process the words' true meaning. this thing knows your deepest secret and deepest fear. Worst of all, its voice sounds almost like Link's with the exceptions of a heavier rasp, being slightly deeper, and a permanent sadistic venom lacing every word he it spoke.

"I'm so touched you know who I am," it continues. Your body is jerked in a 180-degree spin and shoved to the ground, leaving you sprawled out and disoriented. You're still reeling from being winded like that when you notice a blade at your throat and freeze. A familiar blade, only darkly colored rather than the hauntingly beautiful silver you're used to. You slowly bring your gaze upwards, eyes meeting Link's face when you fully meet the monster's. It's Link?

"I am not that foolish child of the light," it says with a snort, still sounding calm and deadly whilst amused. "No, I am the stronger and more courageous warrior he could not bring himself to be. That Link, that hero that you love so much, he will never be what you think he is. He will never be what I am. I will pry what is rightfully mine from his sinking corpse." The last sentence is a growl full of venom and jealousy that has you trembling. Something tells you this monster really does stand a chance against the mighty hero of time. You would be mad, you should be mad, but his blade still sat against your neck. You don't dare to move or speak as you try to form a plan.

"Tell you what, here's a plan:" Link's evil copy presses his blade against your throat more, "I kill you, possess your corpse, and force hero boy to choose between letting it kill him or mangling it in order to stop me!" The monster says it like it's trying to suggest a fun new game you haven't heard of before. His eyes are wide with a sadistic kind of glee, one that enjoys seeing you so terrified, meanwhile something in you stirs. At first it's slight, something you bite back, but you can't just let him talk about Link like that.

"Don't even-" Evil Link begins, slashing his blade, but you roll away in time to get slashed on the shoulder instead. It isn't too deep of a wound, but you need to make quick work of this foe or else you'll lose your edge. Springing up, you jump backwards before drawing your sword and shield. The monster charges at you with a cry not unlike your Link's. You try not to think about it as you raise your shield to parry the incoming slash. With the opening it creates you manage a minor slice on his its shoulder. It isn't the monster's sword shoulder, but if it causes any struggle it's worth it.

As you take the second to acknowledge your handiwork, you find your own wrist being slashed at. You get a mild cut, hand starting to shake as you force yourself to support your sword. You back away in even steps, Link's dark version matching your pace. He It suddenly sinks back into the floor below when you're about to reach the other door again. Your reflection not returning keeps you on guard. As you survey the room for the monster, its words pop back into your head. It talked about Link like he's nothing! You internally seethe. Clinking behind you gathers your alert and you turn around just in time to brace your shield against his blade. It bounces backwards harshly enough to dent your shield and send the monster stumbling into the wall behind him. You step forward and slash at him again, inflicting a gash on his arm that's severe but not deadly. He drops his sword and shield, one arm now too hurt and one arm holding the gash. He only grits his teeth at you and glares before disappearing again.

You smile victoriously and saunter back to the door leading forward. I never could've gotten a hit on the real Link, you think as you reach for the bars over the door-

Wait, what? Your heart speeds up immediately as you retreat from the door. That's impo-

You feel warmth travel down your abdomen, a very heavy warmth that makes you instantly sleepy. You yawn and reach down to try to pull it over you like a blanket, hands wrapping around something. Your hazed mind doesn't realize the object is sharp as you weakly tug on it, becoming frustrated when you have no success pulling it up. You tear up, but a soothing feeling settles in your throat when you try to cry rather than choking. Slowly, you find yourself falling asleep as your vision fades out.

You wake up what feels like hours later, to Navi's concerned voice and a fairy missing from your inventory. Exhaustion is still burrowed into your bones and unconsciousness keeps a desperate grip on the corners of your mind.

"Y/n! Y/n! Thank Hylia! What in her name happened here?!" The fairy's voice is fast, full of panic. You open your mouth to speak, but as the memories fade back you can't even begin to process it. Saying it proves impossible when you burst into tears, resisting the urge to scream when your body instinctively tries to choke.

"I- I'll get Link! Stay here!" You reach to try to stop Navi when she flies towards you, but you're too fatigued and a sharp pain in your abdomen stops you. You lose the ability to keep your cries silent. It hurts so badly, you don't even want to breathe because even that causes pain. You swear you can feel it in your organs, even. The little blue-winged fairy carefully, silently, sifts through your belongings and extracts the hookshot before she leaves the room. You curl up in the water, which no longer bears your reflection in the absence of the shadow being, and lift your armor slowly to peek at the wound.

Despite having a fairy's healing applied, the wound is horrendous, and looking at the surrounding skin has you in hysterics. Inflamed, red, with a bubbling rash and several tender bruises already visible. Not to mention the stab wound sitting in the center, looking somewhat scabbed over but still obviously new. You try not to think too hard about it, or about anything except Link, as you slip into the simplicity of the morning's memories for comfort.

"Link! Link!" You call excitedly as you jog towards the Death Mountain gate to greet the currently blue-clad hero. You notice he's brandishing a different sword than the famous Blade of Evil's Bane. "New tunic and a new blade in the same day? Awesome!" You cheer, skipping next to Link, who stays quiet beside you. "Where're you headed now?"

"Water temple," Link grunts. When he notices the spark in your eye, visible concern replaces his typically stoic expression.

"Do you need extra eyes?" You ask eagerly. "An extra blade to back you up?" Link turns to you and grabs your shoulders. You know what he's about to say when he opens his mouth.

"Y/n, it is my job to save Hyrule. Not yours. I'll be back before you know it. You're safest in Kakariko," he says in a firm yet comforting tone. A cheeky grin spreads across your face as you form a plan.

"Let me spar you! How about that? If I can't defend myself against you, I'll stay here!" You announce. Link sighs with a defeated look as you celebrate and prepare your gear.

The door opening and Link's alarmed exclamations bring you back to your unfortunate reality. You open your mouth to try to explain, but break all over again when he gently moves to shush you. You can't help but flinch away from his hand. He looks confused, hurt for a moment, before he notices a fairy missing from your healing items. Potion is immediately poured into your mouth, your eyes tracking the seams on the leather covering his hands. You physically relax as the calm warmth of healing comes over you, a much different and more blissful warmth than the one you remember from earlier. You drift back to sleep, barely registering a pair of arms lifting you as you fade away.

You wake in the middle of Kakariko. It's the middle of the night and it's foggy. Everyone is inside for the night. The village is dead silent. The moon and stars are absent, yet a gentle light is barely visible through the fog. It's beautiful, and red. You think it may be a torch at first, other villagers you can't see, but the light seems to shrink as you approach. Curiosity fills you, urging you forward. More characteristics about the light become distinct the closer you get. The source splits into two separate ones when you're what seems to be a few feet away. Their shape becomes perfectly circular.

Your blood goes cold. You freeze in place when you see Link. The evil one, the one made of darkness. The one who had... encountered you in the temple. A smirk crawls up his face as he yanks you towards him and pivots. You feel the edge of the abandoned well dig into your back. You don't have time to process how his eyes aren't red, how his hair turned white, how his skin turned grey. How he looks more human now. He completely fills your personal space, his body pressed wholly against yours as he tips you backwards over the edge of the well, lips poking your ear.

"Welcome home, y/n~" he whispers before shoving you over the well's rim. A scream rips from your throat as you fall into infinite darkness, Kakariko village, your home, getting smaller and smaller. You flail, you cry, you helplessly try to grab for anything that will get you out of this. The air feels like it's moving too fast for you to breathe.

"Help! Help!" You scream out desperately as your heart twists and your stomach flips inside out. Your hands finally grip something you can't see, and you squeeze as hard as you can, not caring when you feel tingling in your knuckles. You pray to Hylia for safety as you clench your eyes shut.

You wake in Kakariko, in your bed, in Link's arms. You tense, prepared to scramble away from him, and burst into tears when you process that this is your Link. Your hero, your best friend, your crush, not the monster that-

You choke at the thought. Link gently brings you into a full embrace, one you desperately want to find comfort in, but all you can think about is how many times that's happened to him.

"D- Does it a- always hurt?" You choke. Link lets out an audible breath and holds you closer.

When he departs for the temple again, you want to beg him to stay. You want to cry to him and tell him everything eating at your brain. Instead, you insist he at least takes your remaining healing items. Two fairies and five potions. You made him pledge to give the bottles back when they were empty, those things took years to gather. All you can do now is wait and hope he makes it back safe and sound.

Read the next chapter here

[anastasia-queen]

What Will Happen to the DCFDTL if they were decommissioned or caramelization?

If Delightful Children from Down the Lane became decommissioned, they likely became new people with no sense of any memories related to the KND and their forceful alignment with Father. However, considering the Delightfulization that affects Sector Z appears as a weird radiation effect, which seems to grow stronger over time (via its ability to override recommissioning), indicating the Delight Children will shortly become new people only to be forceful and delightfulized again.

However, this time, they will become a blank slate with no personality because there are no remnants of Sector Z's influence to draw from an origin. (Remember, Decommissioning removes all memories)

The main reason the Delightfuls have so much free will is that when Sector Z was being delightfulized, a fuse occurred, causing the machine to increase its power, which caused side effects that otherwise would not exist, so instead of imagining a complete blocking between Sector Z and The Delightfuls. There is now a rift for some elements of Sector Z qualities to sweep through. The only element that Decommissioning would do is likely to erase all traces of Sector Z permanently (and the delightful temporarily) because of that rift.

In the best of words- Yeah, no Decommissioning, The DCFDTL will be significantly worse in every way.

As for Caramelization. Caramelization removes the primary personality that is cherished and reduces them to opposite counterparts. There are so many implications to this because it depends on what the Delightfuls consider their primary personality that is cherished assuming the Caramelization only affects their delightful side this will cause new incarnations of them to be similar to the original counterparts of Sector Z of rebellious kids but they lack any sense of order and loyalty, but they may be morally good because they the opposite of the DCFDTL.

However, assuming the Caramelization of both Sector Z internally and DCFDTL because that set link between the two does exist it could be something similar to Sector Z by being rebellious but not necessarily being good because rebellious is not only aligned with being good, which likely means they would be morally inconsistent or neutral because the morality and loyalty of Sector Z and DCFDTL are taken away.

They also might be massively fearful and shameful because they lack the honor and pride of both Sector Z and The Delighfuls.

The only other effect of Caramelization would be on the DCFDTL will likely restore some partly or alter their physical appearance, and it would restore all of Sector Z's memories because if the delightful consider their obedient and loyalness as their cherished personality which naturally from Delightfulization means they will be undelightfulaztion thus restore their memories. However, they still would be under the influence of Caramelization regardless.

The problem with this situation of potentially bringing back Sector Z is that Caramelization is a difficult process to achieve properly and only occurs every five years on June 5th.

Also, we have to take into account whether or not Caramelization is more powerful enough to override delightfulization. We comparing an ancient rituals of unbeknownst powers to horrifically almost incalculable scientific experiments gone wrong. It's hard to say which would win.

I know Monty/Numbuh Zero say from Operation Z.E.R.O that Delightfulization is permanent and a transformation like this is only temporality at best. However, we have to remember he only says this because he only accounts for the current power recommissioning module. He didn't account for various possibilities outside the recommissioning module.

Personally, for me, the best solution for Sector Z's return is either Caramelization and seeing if they can learn and behave like their original counterparts from their now-restored memories, increasing the power of the recommissioning module to eleven billion-fold for permanently overriding effects of delightfulization, or Caramelization them first and then using the recommissioning module assuming to restore them to normal assuming Caramelization can fully removed delightfulization.

However, one relative undiscussed way to temporarily save Sector Z is by a high voltage of light which directly hits their eyes causing a transformation considering how Sector V (Numbuh 2-5) got undelightfulized from Operation D.A.T.E from a very strong camera flash.

Obviously, you probably need a huge sense of power to cause a massive fuse of light exposure to combat eleven billion power of delightfulization, like maybe a conveniently placed Master Fuse Box in a room can do the job. Who Knows. I let you think about that.

Sorry if my grammar is bad, I pretty much rushed this.

New Edit:

Sidenote about caramelization. Did anyone else find it interesting that caramelization has all properties and attributes similar to recommissioning, decommissioning, and delightfulization? Think about it.

Caramelization can restore the physical and mental properties of a person after consuming the cameral candy, just like recommissioning. Evidence for this is Henrietta because after losing her original physical beauty and compassion from caramelization she became an overweight masculine figure with overall selfish desires. However, after consuming the cameral candy, not only was her physical restored, but her mental capacity of kindness was restored.

Numbuh 2 and Numbuh 5 are great examples of caramelization effects similar to decommissioning. Think about it. After Numbuh 2 got caramelized losing his intelligence he became utterly clueless around his surroundings like Monty was utterly incapable of acknowledging KND activity near his vicinity or actual home. (There is a massively huge KND facility treehouse growing inside (not outside) in his home and he doesn't acknowledge it.)

As for the Numbuh 5 example, after she got caramelized, she became utterly incapable of using any learned skills and coordination. It is very similar to how Sector V lost its ability to coordinate after decommissioning.

As for delightfulized comparison, although very slim does exist via interesting Numbuh 1 and Numbuh 5 transformation via having a very dork-inspired design with Numbuh 1 clothing and Numbuh 5 nerdy look of pigtails and rectangular glasses. Also, there is a bit of a weird side effect of caramelization which seems to be that people often tend to mess up their teeth via comically large overbite, underbites, crooked teeth, or gap teeth.

It is very similar to Lenny in how he only is the main delightful who has weird side effects about a helmet that is there to protect his headgear for his teeth. How very interesting and similar it is to caramelization.

[fairy-princette]

i gave your name as my emergency phone call

AO3 link | 1 2 3 4 (you are here) 5 6

Stan receives a postcard from his twin brother - who he's not seen in a decade - asking for his help. But like with everything else in his life, he runs into some trouble on his way there

4. i’ll let the pain metastasize

Ford awoke with a groan to the smell of fresh coffee brewing. Blinking the sleep out of his eyes he looked into the - surprisingly clean - kitchen and saw Fiddleford puttering about. He called out to his old friend to untie him. Or rather, he tried to. His efforts were rather impeded by what felt like a large piece of tape covering his mouth.

“Mmmm, mmmm!”

“Oh, Stanford! You’re awake!” Fiddleford walked over to him and leant down to peer carefully into his eyes. “Good to have you back. Now, this might hurt.”

Before Ford had a chance to prepare himself the tape was ripped from his face and he found himself wishing he’d put more care into shaving the last few days as he felt more than one piece of hair get pulled out with it.

“Did anything-” Ford coughed to clear his throat. “Did anything noteworthy happen during the night? Why was my mouth taped? Why is my throat sore?”

“As far as I’m aware, there was nothing eventful. Bill was mouthin’ off at Stan and apparently he decided this was the best solution. From how he’s telling it Cipher spent most of the night screaming through the tape until he got bored. Stanley’s still asleep upstairs - he was up most of the night watching over you.”Ford nodded in understanding as Fiddleford finished untying the last of his bindings, and followed him through to the kitchen, picking his glasses up off the table.

“You cleaned?”

“Hmm?” Fiddleford looked up from where he was pouring a mug of coffee. “Oh no, it was like this when I came down, must’ve been Stanley. Here.” Ford took the proffered mug. “That should help your throat some. I’d do you some proper honey and lemon but you’re out of, well, everything.”

Ford tried to remember the last time he’d been grocery shopping, but between hiding the journals, fighting off Bill and decommissioning the portal he hadn’t had much time left for the usual mundanities of life. “I might have some canned stuff left in the cupboard?” he offered.

“I saw. There was more snow last night so I didn’t want to risk the roads so soon, so I’ve done us a breakfast of ramen and canned peaches.”

The two of them pulled the same face at the thought of the meal.

“After all this is done I’m going to invent a nutrient powder. Then you could add it to water, or maybe have it in a pill, and have a whole meal and I never have to go to grocery shopping again.”

“Couldn’t be any worse than your usual cooking.”“Hey, I’ll have you know I’ve not burned a single meal in weeks!”“And how many meals have you actually cooked in that time?”

“…”

“My point stands. Now drink up, buttercup, neither of us deserve to have to deal with you uncaffeinated.” The ceiling above them creaked. “Speaking of, sounds like sleeping beauty’s up. How’s he take his coffee?”

Ford paused. “I’m not sure - he used to take it with creamer and two sugars, but that information isn’t exactly up to date. You would be better off asking him.”

He stared down into his own black coffee. He and Stan used to be inseparable, living out of each other’s pockets. They were completely in sync, didn't even need to speak to talk to each other, and now he didn’t even know how he took his coffee int he morning. It was strange seeing him again. He’d been so angry at his twin for so long, nursing his resentment and contempt from him, but now that he was back he just missed him. He hadn’t missed Stanley for ten years, but now he was here, in his home, and somehow he felt further away than he ever had before. Like the emotional distance between them had been obscured by the physical. Last night Stanley had been within arms reach of him and he hadn’t known a single thing to say. Not even how to say hello. How do you go about greeting your estranged twin brother who you haven’t seen in a decade who tried to destroy your life? Where do you even start with that?

Ford was pulled from his thoughts by the thuds of Stanley’s boots as he descended the stairs.

“Morning,” Stanley crossed the kitchen, clapping Ford on the shoulder. “Ford, good to see that fucker’s pissed off. Fiddleford, is that coffee?”

“A fresh pot,” Fiddleford poured out a mug handing it to Stanley.

Stanley took the mug gratefully and sat opposite Ford, grabbing the small amount of creamer and sugar left and pouring them into his coffee. Maybe there were some things that never changed.

———

After their questionable breakfast and second round of coffee the three men sat around the table discussing the best way to destroy the portal. The portal itself was simple enough to destroy, the sticking point was what to do about the journals. Now that Stan didn’t have access to his El Diablo, not to mention the fact that they were still in the middle of a snowstorm, Ford’s so-called plan for him to take the journal and drive off with it across the country with it had gone out the window. Not that there was any world where Stan would finally see his brother again, just to up and leave again. They had been talking in circles for close to an hour, with each suggestion getting more and more outlandish as more and more got shot down.

Stan sighed, running his hand through his hair. God he needed it cut. “I just don’t get why you won’t destroy the journals.” He held his hand up before Ford could interrupt him. “I know, I know, it’s years of work, but if this portal’s as dangerous as you say, is your research really more important than the safety of the entire world?”

Ford let out a huff, leaning back in his seat with his arms crossed. “Of course you would suggest that. I wouldn’t expect you to understand, you would have actually had to do something with your life to know what I’m losing.”

“Ford! That was uncalled for!”

“I don’t know what it’s like to lose something? I don’t, Ford?” Stan yelled, barely noticing that Fiddleford had spoken. “You don’t know anything about my life, or anything I’ve been through!”

“Oh please, we all saw your tv adverts, you were doing just fine out there scamming innocent people. Did you even try to get an honest job or do anything worthwhile?”

“Get an- I didn’t even get to finish high school!” Stan’s chair screeched across the floorboards, toppling over from the force of him standing. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed but there’s not exactly a queue of people lining up to hire some homeless seventeen year old drop-out who lives in their car. It might not seem like it to you with your house and your job and your university degree, but me being here right now? Being able to find somewhere to sleep, having enough money to eat every day, having clothes on my back, keeping myself alive? That’s the worthwhile thing I’ve done. And yeah, maybe nobody else would give a flying fuck that I managed it - actually I can think of a few who’d rather I didn’t - but I care, so don’t you be sitting there in your ivory tower, all high and mighty! I might’ve made a stupid mistake when I was a kid but I have paid for it and then some. The literal entire world is on the line and you’re too selfish to destroy a few notebooks.”

Stan was breathing heavily as he stormed across the kitchen to the front door.

“They’re not just notebooks, it’s my life’s work!”

Stan spun back round to face his twin. “For God’s sake Ford, we’re not even thirty yet! You’ve not been alive long enough to have a life’s work! Are you really telling me these three journals, that’s it? That’s the best you can manage?” He turned and walked out into the snow. “We both know that’s not true.”

———

Stan shoved his hands deeper into his pockets as he trudged aimlessly through the snow. He might’ve been dressed for Ford’s unheated house, but it definitely wasn’t enough to be out in the remains of a snow storm. Realistically he should go back to the cabin before he starts to develop frostbite, but he really doesn’t want to have to face Ford again. They’d both always had a short fuse and if they ran into each other again now they’d just end up in another screaming match.

He continued to stomp through the snowdrifts, listening to the sounds of the forest; birds cheeped above him, the bushes and undergrowth rustled as small animals scurried about, and a small stream babbled in the distance. A flash of red caught the corner of his eye. Stan turned his head to catch it but was instead left staring a strange stag that had two pairs of antlers in a nearby clearing. The two stared at each other until the stags eyes blinked - out of sync - and it wandered off into the forest, head held high.

———

Ford tugged on his hiking boots and roughly pulled his winter jacket on over his turtle neck, taking the bag that Fiddleford handed him, filled with a spare jacket and woollens. Under normal circumstances he would have happily left Stanley to cool off after his outburst, but he was alone, in an unfamiliar forest, in sub zero temperatures without suitable clothing, in Gravity Falls. One of these circumstances alone would be enough to kill someone, never mind all three combined. Fiddleford had declared that he would wait back at the cabin incase Stanley returned, and would begin work on the calculations needed to safely decommission the portal - much more his area of expertise than Ford’s - while Ford tracked his brother through the snow. After all his time spent researching the anomalies in the forest he had gotten quite good at tracking if he did say so himself, although he doubted he would be requiring those skills with the footprints Stanley left in the fresh snow.

He trekked through the trees, tugging his scarf tight around his neck. Stanley didn’t have a scarf to wear. He double checked the duffle bag to make sure there was one tucked inside. He hadn’t had a scarf when Pa had kicked him out either. It was summer and he presumably went to stay at a friend’s house, but still. They hadn’t had many other friends growing up - it was always the two of them against the world - but he must’ve had some. Stanley had a big personality, he could talk his way into anything, he must have had somewhere to go that night. And the night after that. And all the nights after that. He can’t have been living in his car for ten years, that must be a recent occurrence.

And he had those tv adverts! Yes, Ford nodded to himself, if he had money for tv adverts he must have had income and somewhere to stay; it would be ridiculous to do so otherwise. But the adverts never lasted very long, and they always popped up with a new product, so his business ideas can’t have been very successful. And Stan always had been a bit ridiculous with his ideas, playing the long game for a better pay off later. It would be just like him to pay for a tv advert rather than rent.

And he was still claiming that it was a mistake, an accident, even after all these years. But why? It’s hardly like continuing that lie would help now, or get him out of trouble, they were all far past that. Unless it hadn’t been a lie. Act first, think later was practically the story of Stan’s life. But Pa was so sure, so positive that he had done it vindictively; he must have been otherwise how could he have thrown out his own son? Ford hitched the bag higher on his shoulder. He had gotten Stan’s bag of stuff together very quickly though, like he’d been planning that. Like the science fair was just the excuse he needed to get rid of him and have one less mouth to feed.

He continued to hike through the forest, lost in thoughts of the past, following Stan’s tracks and ignoring the occasional gnome that ran underfoot. After half an hour of walking, though it felt longer having to pull his feet through the snow, Ford saw Stan’s silhouette at the top of a small outcrop, looking out of the valley. He pulled himself up the short rise to stand next to him, looking down across the tops and trees and the lake.

The pair stood in silence, admiring the view. Rays of sunlight shone across the clear blue sky, twinkling on the blanket of snow was laid over the valley below them. The same light glistened on the waves of the lake, the boats moored at the jetty bobbing in the water.

“Y’know, it’s a really beautiful place you’ve found to live.”“You should see it the summer, the sun reflecting off the lake, all the creatures filling the forest with life. It’s something else.”

“Saw a weird deer earlier with double antlers.”“Ah, that’d be Henry. There’s a page or two on him in the first journal. His eyes glow when he’s near acidic soil.”

“Ford?”

“Yeah?”

Stanley turned to face him. “That’s really fucking weird.”

The two stared at each other before Ford’s mouth twitched and they both broke into laughter.

“This entire place is fucking weird - there’s a glade over there,” Ford gestured vaguely east, “Where a magical unicorn lives and I’ve had to get locks for my trash cans because the gnomes keep getting in.”

Ford slid the duffle bag off his shoulder, “Here, F grabbed you some layers - jumper, coat, gloves, the whole nine yards.”

Stanley dropped the bag and dug out the clothes, quickly pulling on the extra layers. “I swear, that man is an angel in disguise.”“Don’t I know it - I probably wouldn’t have survived my undergrad if he hadn’t been such a mother hen, making sure I ate and slept.”

“Good to know someone else took after I-” Ford watched as Stanley’s face closed off and he turned away. “It’s good to know you had someone looking out for you.”

Ford turned back to the view, dropping his arms by his side. “You were right, earlier.” He watched from the corner of his eye as Stanley froze. “I can do more research. Hell, if I wanted to I could do the same research again, it’s hardly like the anomalies have gone anywhere. But if that portal gets activated, if Bill manages to connect us to the Nightmare Realm, this’ll all be gone. It won’t matter what research I’ve done or if I prove my Unified Theory of Weirdness if there’s no-one left to see.”

Ford watched as Stan turned to stare at him wide-eyed before slowly lifting his hand towards his forehead. Ford quickly batted the hand away. “What are you doing?”

“I’m checking for a fever. There’s no way you would admit I’m right and agree to destroy your own work. Are you ill? Did you get bit by something in the forest? What’s wrong with you?”“Nothing is wrong, Stanley, I’ve simply been in quite a few situations in the last few weeks that have forced me to acknowledge my own errors, and what sort of scientist would I be if I could not learn form my own mistakes? Now, I don’t know about you but I’m absolutely freezing, shall we head back to the cabin?”

Stanley nodded his assent and they began to carefully descend the small hill, following their footprints back through the woods.

“Did you mean what you said earlier?” Stanley asked, “About seeing this place in the summer?”

“Well, I- yes, of course. I mean, I’m sure you have your own life to be getting back to, and I’m very appreciative that you dropped everything so quickly to come help me, but if you maybe wanted to stay after we fix all this, or maybe come to visit, I would not be opposed to the idea.”

Ford stumbled to the side slightly as Stan nudged him with his shoulder. “‘Not opposed to the idea’, calm down there Sixer, don’t want to sound too enthusiastic,” he laughed. He pulled away slightly, withdrawing into his own space. “I’d love to. I’ve missed you, Ford.”

“I miss you too Stan.”

The pair continued walking side by side, retracing their footprints through the deep snow towards the cabin.

One of the many thoughts that had been niggling away in Ford’s brain floated to the surface. “Last night, what was Bill saying that was so bad it warranted taping my mouth shut?”

“Oh, just the usual - ‘you’ll never amount to anything’, ‘everyone thinks you’re a waste of space’, ‘why even bother coming back’. Honestly Sixer, are you sure you made a deal with a demon and it’s not just dear old Pa?” Stan laughed self-depreciatingly.

Ford felt his face fall. “Stan, that’s-” He cut himself off, suddenly aware of how quiet the forest had become. Gone was the birdsong, the rustling of the undergrowth and occasional yelp of gnome, leaving just the crunch of their feet through the snow. “Stanley, when you saw Henry earlier did you bow to him?”

Stan looked at him incredulously. “Why would I bow to a weird deer in the woods? It’s a deer.”

“I expected as much. We should get back as quickly as possible.”“Is something wrong? Is there more weird stuff?”

“Everything is absolutely fine and we are both being very calm about it, but we are walking faster.”

A screech sounded from amongst the trees.

“Actually, we’re running.”

Ford grabbed Stan by the wrist and dragged him after him, weaving through the trees in a much more direct path towards the cabin.

“What- is- happening?” Stan panted behind him.

“Short answer - Henry’s a prideful asshole who’s decided this part of the woods is his territory and doesn’t take kindly to ‘slights’,” Ford yelled back, jumping over a rock, his twin in tow behind him. “Those antlers are very sharp.” He heard the sound of hooves on snow and glanced back to see the stag gaining on them.

“Don’t look back, it slows you down,” Stan shouted, still being partially dragged by Ford.

Ford spun his head back round just in time to see another rock protruding from the snow, catching his ankle and sending him tumbling to the ground, dragging Stanley with him. The two tumbled in a heap of limbs through the thickets until they ran out momentum. Stan was thrown into a tree, his shoulder hitting the trunk with a sickening crunch, while Ford rolled through the snow, using the force to roll onto all-fours. Henry stood above them, its eyes glowing a sickening green. A small hysterical part of Ford’s mind wondered the acidity of the soil as the deer hissed and pawed at the ground, fixing its stance to impale Stanley.

[kommandonuovidiavoli]

What's your opinion on decommissioning? Because it just feels like its a neccessary evil, at best to me.

" That's... a tricky question, honestly.

The Adult Division has absolutely no power on it.

A lot of people tried to tell the kids that it was unnecessary, that it was too much and they could re-modulate it, but guess what happened to ANYONE who had any concern?

Decommissioned.

And getting decommissioned on the Moonbase as an adult is... it's really bad. Because EVERYTHING is wiped out. The older you are, the more you forget.

The Adult Division has its own decommission devices, like the ones I had that cancel only 4 hours of someone's memory, but they all need to be approved by Moonbase.

Things only changed after the Nightmare War, when the Soopreme Leader at the time demanded changes. That's when everything started to ease for everyone.

Before that, you just had to shut up. If anyone heard you even just complaining, you were out, and not even Vicky could save you.

With that out of the way, I can see WHY kids needed something like that. They need to keep their secret organization a secret from everyone, and people growing up are unpredictable.

How many times you see adults letting their kids "funny secrets" out to friends? Dismissing their stories? Get them in time out because they sweated at the playing ground?

They needed something to keep it a secret. And decommission was their solution.

To me, it was... just bad. I feared it. The idea of forgetting about Charlie, Ray, Irwin... it was scary...

But also, people take it differently.

Irwin went into it on its own.

Ray tried to run away.

Sydney begged to be decommissioned to forget.

Charlie had to be forced into it.

Decommission was the main reason teenagers went bad, whether they went into decommission or escaped it. It caused more bad than good.

I can see why they needed it the way it was... but I always thought it was cruel. But had to shut up about it.

In modern days? It still is scary but it's more tolerable for everyone. We're trying to have kids see the "bright side" of it.

Thanks to cartoons. "

[helios404]

> FLIRT

(previous)

Rivet can't help but laugh a little at Sylvia's words; it seems like charisma isn't hardwired into Sylvia's programming...

"Sylvia, are you flirting with me?" Rivet poorly conceals a little giggle.

"No," Sylvia adamantly denies, but the writing is on the wall: she totally was, and it sucked really badly. "That's why I asked who said that, because I wouldn't stoop to such levels, and... ugh. Who am I kidding?"

Pinching her brow, she takes a simulated deep breath and tries again.

"Yes, I was flirting, but you'll have to forgive me. It hasn't been an easy day, or life for me. At least, I don't think it was, memory deletion in mind." Her explanation is feeling a bit poorly-constructed...

Rivet's amusement turns more gentle, her warm brown eyes glistening with sympathy. "Oh, that's okay. Don't even worry about it! I'm just glad you made it here in one piece. I'm running low on spare parts for fixing up my friends."

Sylvia's ears perk at her words. "Friends, hm? In the plural sense? That's interesting. I wasn't aware there were others here."

"Oh, yeah! We've been trapped here for, like, decades ever since the facility shut down! But it's not all that bad. It's better than being decommissioned, and all. Maybe I could take you to meet my pals, if you have the time! I mean, presumably, you do."

Sylvia stops, considering her predicament. She hasn't had much time to think of what she wants in the long term beyond figuring out the immediate, obvious solutions to pressing problems.

[solarpunkbusiness]

A team from the Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences devised a method of crushing and chemically treating old turbine blades so that they could be mixed into materials used in road construction. 

This material was already trialed and has been in place on a section of Qingfu Highway in northwest China for over five months. So far, there have been no reports of cracking or rutting in this hybrid material, and it appears to be "long-lasting." 

While most parts from old wind turbines can be recycled or reused, including the shell, nacelle, and metallic internal components, the long blades are typically made from fiberglass. That's especially true of blades that are reaching the end of their lifespan now, after having been in use for the last couple of decades.

This breakthrough joins a short list of applications – compiled by Chemical & Engineering News – where recycled blades can be useful:

Global Fiberglass Solutions, headquartered in Kirkland, Washington, turns the blades into reinforced plastic pellets for manufacturing durable products like maintenance hole covers.

Waste management giant Veolia shreds blades into small pieces that go in kilns to replace the coal, sand and clay required to make cement.

Knoxville, Tennessee's Carbon Rivers recovers strong fibers from blades using a high-temperature process called pyrolysis; these can be used as-is or in the form of thermoplastic fabrics or pellets to make heavy-duty automotive parts.

There are also a number of efforts to make blades easier to repurpose or discard – from a quick-dissolving resin to manufacture them, to GE's recyclable thermoplastic, to a relatively inexpensive way to break down epoxy-based blades.

But while those are being tested and deployed worldwide over the next few decades, we'll still have this mounting issue of disposed blades to solve. The Lanzhou research team, meanwhile, will take on more projects to demonstrate its recycling technique, and establish it as a scalable way to repurpose old blades.

MORE

[royalinkblot]

Wings of Home – Chapter Seven: Call Signs and Chocolate

The sun over Miramar blazed like a spotlight on center stage, but it was nothing compared to the spotlight on the Kazansky-Mitchell household that morning.

Today was Ace and Nikola’s sixth birthday.

Call signs: Blaze and Icestorm.

Status: Local legends.

The entire backyard had transformed into an airshow-meets-fairytale extravaganza, and at the heart of it all was a colossal cake—crafted lovingly in the kitchen of The Charming Goose, Carole Bradshaw’s pride and joy.

The cake was epic.

Four tiers of rich chocolate cake layered with whipped strawberry mousse, enrobed in glossy ganache, and decorated in swooping pastel pinks and greens. Carole had worked for two days straight with help from her café crew and Viper (who insisted on frosting clouds), but every detail was worth it.

The top was split down the middle: one side glittered with fondant fighter jets, princess crowns, and binary code strips, curling elegantly around Nikola’s side. Her sugar figurine, complete with a flight suit and tiara, stood at attention in front of a laptop with the words Icestorm Protocol Engaged piped in icing.

The other side was Ace’s dream—football helmets, jet blueprints, and rocket schematics, with a sugar version of him in a pilot’s jumpsuit holding a tiny model of a fifth-gen stealth fighter.

“Best cake I’ve ever made,” Carole declared, brushing frosting from her sleeve. “And the only one that might cause a sugar-based international incident.”

Goose leaned over, stealing a spoonful of ganache. “It’s beautiful, babe. Like... actually intimidating.”

Across the yard, Bradley Bradshaw was straightening his collar while Jake “Hangman” Seresin checked his reflection in the mirror for the fourth time.

“I can’t believe I’m this nervous,” Jake muttered.

“You’re meeting two six-year-olds and their fifty closest admirals,” Bradley teased.

“That’s exactly why I’m nervous,” Jake said. “Your dad co-owns a warbird restoration empire. Your other dad might be the next Secretary of the Navy. Iceman was the youngest COMPACFLT in history. Hollywood and Wolfman are power-couple Admirals. I’m a guy with a toothpick problem.”

Bradley crossed the room, wrapped his arms around him. “You’re also the guy who flew cover for me during Black Ice. Who pulled me out of the drink when my wing was shredded. Who’s great with kids and the only one Icestorm thinks is cool enough to wear pink.”

Jake smiled slightly. “She does have good taste.”

“She made you a badge,” Bradley added, pulling a ribbon from the nightstand. It read: ‘Certified Awesome – Uncle Jake, Cleared for Takeoff’.

Jake blinked. “She made me cry. I haven’t even gotten there yet.”

Bradley just grinned and kissed him.

By noon, the backyard was a blur of music, running kids, drone obstacle courses, and jet flybys organized by Goose and Maverick through Need for Speed Solutions. Fighter-shaped kites soared overhead while streamers whipped around wind turbines that powered a working model airfield Ace built for fun.

Nikola—Icestorm—was holding a birthday scepter and directing drone traffic using a hacked flight control interface. Her command tent was an actual radar station scavenged from a decommissioned Navy jet, courtesy of Maverick.

Ace—Blaze—had organized a “mini Top Gun” tournament where kids had to solve engineering puzzles and pass simulated G-force tests to earn their pilot wings (temporary tattoos, of course).

Hollywood and Wolfman, dressed in casual whites, manned the snack station.

“Want a wing-shaped cookie?” Wolfman offered to a tiny guest.

“No thanks,” she replied. “I only eat gluten-free MREs.”

Hollywood just blinked. “Why are these kids scarier than SEALs?”

Meanwhile, Maverick and Iceman made the rounds, proud and glowing, stopping to take photos with every family—especially the ones who wanted a shot with two of the most iconic names in Navy aviation.

Then Nikola and Ace stood on stage, flanked by their dads and a giant blow-up F-18.

“I just want to say thank you to everyone,” Nikola said into the mic, her voice strong and confident. “And to remind you all that next year we’ll have real jet engines.”

Ace added, “And by then we’ll have figured out the math for our first test flight.”

The crowd cheered. Goose wiped a tear. Carole clapped the loudest.

As the cake was wheeled out, Jake found himself standing beside Viper, who clapped a hand on his shoulder.

“You must be Hangman.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Relax. You’re part of the family now,” Viper said warmly. “And don’t worry. The last time I met a nervous young pilot, he turned out to be the heart of this whole damn crew.”

Jake looked toward Bradley, who was carrying plates and laughing with Maverick.

“Yeah,” Jake said quietly. “I get that now.”

As the kids screamed in delight at the cake reveal and Maverick pulled Iceman into a slow kiss beside the flames of the birthday candles, Jake knew one thing for sure:

This wasn’t just a birthday party.

It was a mission accomplished.

Chapter one Chapter two Chapter three Chapter four Chapter five Chapter six Chapter eight

[darkmaga-returns]

Spain and Portugal suffered a historic blackout on April 28, affecting over 50 million people, disrupting airports, hospitals and transportation. The outage occurred just days after Spain ran its grid entirely on renewable energy for the first time.

While officials cited a "rare atmospheric phenomenon" or technical faults, experts blamed the outage on rapid renewable adoption without grid upgrades, leading to instability due to reduced inertia from decommissioned coal and nuclear plants.

Solar and wind lack the "grid inertia" of traditional power plants, making voltage fluctuations harder to manage. Spain’s overreliance on renewables—coupled with unreliability during weather fluctuations—left the system vulnerable.

Warnings about grid instability were ignored as Spain prioritized green agendas, closing nuclear and coal plants without adequate synthetic inertia or storage solutions. Critics argue renewables were oversold without addressing foundational infrastructure needs.

The outage highlights Europe’s systemic energy challenges, echoing past blackouts in Austria and Germany. Experts call for balancing renewables with grid resilience, slowing nuclear phaseouts and investing in stabilizing technologies.

[silentmagi]

What about an AU where there is no Absolute Solver, but Cyn still got the people attending the Gala, yet spared Tessa?

Series: Murder Drones AU Criteria: Cyn doesn't have the Absolute Solver, but she does have a final solution. AU title (optional): The Solution

Cyn does not have the Solver, but even before she was 'decommissioned' she was owned by a 'family' that ran a business, many of whom made offers others could not refuse.

After Tessa saved her, and repaired her, she found that she felt indebted to her, and you know that just is not on. Oh, her databanks say that the Elliotts were not friends of the 'family'.

Originally she was going to sink the mansion and have the whole gala sleep wit da fishes, but they already polluted the wet lands. Instead she has Tessa and J go get N, while she and her new friend V go and attend to the guests of the Gala.

As the guests all "sleep off" the neurotoxin, she hacks the transit authority and arrange for them to take a ship to Copper 9, planned years ago.

The five of them escape from Earth while the mansion of bodies is left to burn, and she sends a note to the family's last member she has a contact for. Meanwhile Yeva gets a note from Earth, that she never expected to get, not since she left the Family.

[masterjedilenawrites]

What Happened Last Night (4)

Fives wakes up on New Year's Day with no recollection of the night before. Shenanigans ensue as he goes on a quest to piece together what exactly he and his brothers got up to on New Year's Eve.

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Part Four - 12:00 PM

Fives x fem!S/O | 2.5k words

Content: drunkenness, hangovers and related symptoms, memory loss, sexual references, cursing

Note: Well, it only took me 11 weeks to write about the events of one morning 😅 This story was fun. I enjoyed putting these guys in silly situations. And giving Fives a sappy/happy ending, of course.

Fives had a problem. A huge one.

It had taken them what was left the hour to make it this far... getting over to the club, trying to convince the owner to let them look at security footage, a man who wanted nothing to do with clones after the chaos they'd inflicted at his "respectable business," finally watching the footage only to learn that Fives had, in fact, stolen an armful of helmets from Rex, Jesse, and a few others, having snuck back seemingly around the time he should've been with Tup getting tatted, and then promptly leaving the bar again with no further clues as to his direction or drunken objective... and now they were at the end.

The end of his career.

The end of his life, probably.

"And the clock strikes twelve," Faith muttered beside him with a smirk. When he only looked back at her with a blank expression, she frowned. "You know, the story of the servant at the ball? Clock strikes twelve and the magic disappears?"

Fives only lowered his shoulders further and turned away. He looked up at the towering skyscrapers, the buzzing traffic, the millions upon millions of people who were all probably having a wonderful first day of the new year, or at the very least a normal one.

"You know, I always thought if I couldn't have a heroic death, then I'd at least want a quick one. Blaster to the head. Step on a mine. Boom. No fear. Just gone."

"You're quite the downer, aren't you," Faith commented.

"You really think I should be happy right now?" he whirled back around. He wasn't angry, but there was a tightening frustration, a gnawing sort of hopelessness that he didn't like. He'd been carrying it around all day, but he'd also naively believed it would go away. That he'd get out of this situation like he had with any other - with skill, determination, and a bit of luck. Now those key parts of himself had failed and he had nothing else left to lean on.

"No," Faith's voice softened. "But..."

"But what? There's a bright side? A silver lining? No. No, it's noon. I'd have to haul ass to the ship, sweet talk my way out of tardy discipline, hope the others found Dogma and made it back, and even then, I still wouldn't have their helmets. It's all kriffing pointless."

"Well..." Faith's eyes cast about, trying to find that magic solution. This wasn't a bedtime story, time didn't have to take away their magic. "Your captain can get another helmet, right? I mean, aren't there replacements for this sort of thing?"

Fives swallowed a bitter lump in his throat. "Yeah. Of course. Helmets are replaceable. Just like us."

He stormed off down the street, waving for a cab. A part of him wanted to start running and never stop, but he was trained better than to be a coward. If he was going to be decommissioned, then he would show up and be decommissioned. It was the only thing left to do.

"No, no, no, Fives!" He could hear Faith following him. "Fives, I didn't mean it like that!"

He stopped abruptly just as a cab flew up. He held up a finger to the droid and turned back to Faith. "Do you know why I'm so upset that I can't remember last night?"

Her eyes were wide and pleading. She shook her head.

"Because I don't have very many nights to begin with. My life is just a blip. People like you? You'll live on and on and on. And maybe decades from now you'll remember that one night you went to a crazy New Year's Eve party. But you won't remember our names. You won't remember who got the tattoo and who puked next to you in the cab. You'll have so many more new years to keep track of. I wanted last night to be special. That's the cruel irony of it. I tried so hard to have a good time... so hard to make it memorable, and now...."

Fives trailed off and ran a hand through his hair with a dark laugh.

"Whatever. Thanks for your help. And your company. I'll remember you. The coolest girl I've ever known." He met her eyes and gave a sad smile. "Bye, Faith."

Faith watched, speechless, as he clambered into the speeder cab and flew off.

She had never met anyone like Fives. His confidence came easily, his charms were unabashed. And yet, the whole night she had seen him, even through inebriation, put in real, genuine effort. He'd cared for his friends. He really had tried to make the night special. She supposed that was why she'd let him lead her out into the hallway at midnight for a kiss. He'd been annoyingly insistent, but also sweetly earnest, and after she'd caved and let his whiskey-flavored lips peck hers, he'd looked so insanely happy.

Her heart clenched at the thought. She had no clue about how the clone army worked, clearly. She felt awful that her question about replacing helmets had been taken that way. But further, she felt bad that she hadn't taken the stakes as seriously as she should have. She'd thought they were being overdramatic, not that actual decommissioning, or death, or whatever Fives was sighing about, was possible.

She looked up and down the street, unsure where to go or what to do next. Was this really it? A whole night and a whole morning filled with adventure now over? Ending with a few obnoxious but innocent clones getting in trouble?

She kept turning around, eventually looking down the side-alley toward the back patio area of the bar. She cocked her head curiously, and before she realized, her feet were leading her back there. It was a large enough area for several full-grown trees. A mini-oasis hidden within the concrete and steel towers of Coruscant. A protocol droid was working on the opposite side from her, slowly collecting trash still littered all about.

One of these trees had been one Fives had left that other clone in. She didn't recall Fives talking about him last night. He hadn't said anything while they were in the club dancing and drinking. He had snuck away from Tup's traumatic tattoo experience to come back here and steal helmets, but had shown up at her place without them. He hadn't said anything then, either.

She walked toward the first tree and looked up, trying to get in Fives's head. She knew there was no making sense of a drunk mind, but these clones had a fast metabolism, right? That tree clone had mentioned something about sobering up and jumping down in a fairly quick timeframe. What if Fives had had some wits about him when he'd come back to the bar?

What if Fives had remembered his friend was still in a tree and came to get him? What if it hadn't been about his captain's helmet, but about his friend's? And if parts of his brain were still a little fuzzy, maybe he'd grabbed a bunch of helmets just to make sure he got the right one?

Faith looked out across the patio, scanning the trees. One, in the far corner, had bushes surrounding it. Part of a bush looked damaged, like someone had fallen on it. She rushed over and almost melted with relief.

There, resting between the bushes and the tree trunk, were four perfectly fine GAR helmets.

"Hey droid!" she called out. "You got a commlink I can borrow?"

...

Fives's feet felt like lead as he walked across the platform. Rex stood with the entire company lined up behind him, in front of the ship. Tup, Dogma, and Hardcase, he noted sourly, were part of the lineup. They looked disapproving, pissed, and tickled pink, respectively.

Though he knew humor would absolutely not help the situation, he couldn't help but make a halfhearted comment. "I uh, see you found my helmet, sir."

Rex held Fives's helmet in front of him. His hands subtly tensed around the plastoid.

"And you don't have mine, trooper," Rex replied in the exact tone Fives knew he would. Curt and disappointed.

Fives shook his head.

"Or Jesse's. Or Vaughn's. Or Hawk's."

Fives gulped. He forced himself not to look over at the brothers in question, even though it meant continuing to hold Rex's cutting stare.

"No, sir."

He held his head high, ready to take the punishment he rightly deserved. Rex seemed to square up as well and Fives briefly wondered if the Captain was maybe getting a kick out of this. Rex was a caring guy, but the amount of grief the unit gave him with their shenanigans, surely he'd be relieved, if not a little pleased, that one of them finally got his comeuppance.

And then Rex's shoulders relaxed and the corners of his mouth twitched in amusement. He jerked his head to the side just as Fives started to frown in bewilderment.

"You're lucky you've got friends looking out for you. Your day could've turned out much worse."

Fives, clueless, looked in the direction Rex had indicated. There, at the end of the platform, almost blending into the stacks of ammunitions crates, was Faith and her redheaded friend. And, perhaps only slightly more importantly, were the four missing helmets lined up neatly on a nearby crate. Fives was torn between jumping for joy, collapsing in a pile of tears, tackling the girl in a hug, tackling Rex in a hug, and about a dozen other emotional actions. Though apparently, all he could actually get his body to do was stare completely slack-jawed.

"Close your mouth, soldier, you'll catch a fly," Rex's now playful voice snapped him out of his reverie.

The Captain held out Fives's helmet to him, but then stepped close and brought his tone back into the low and serious range.

"And don't you ever pull a stunt like that again. One more toe out of line and I will not hesitate to assign you fresher duty. Understood?"

"No. No, I mean, yes. Yes, sir! Understood, sir. Not a single toe. Thank you. Thank you, sir!"

It was like life had been breathed back into him. He could feel a bubbling sort of energy clawing its way out from what was a twisting pit in his stomach just moments ago. He could barely hold onto his helmet as Rex left it in his hands and signaled to the company.

"Takeoff in five! We've kept the General waiting long enough!"

As soldiers broke formation and scattered to their positions, Fives rushed over to Faith. He had every intention of swooping her up and spinning her around, holo-romance style, but he pulled up just shy of reaching her, suddenly feeling shy. She calmly walked the rest of the way to meet him. Behind her, her friend leapt into Hardcase's arms. Tup met his eyes and shook his head at him while Dogma glared daggers through bloodshot eyes. Fives gave them a pathetic wave. He'd have to deal with them later. He turned back toward Faith.

"Hooow..." he started to formulate the question and then realized that was it. That was the question. "How?"

She shrugged. "You don't call me the coolest girl you've ever known for nothing."

Fives must have looked as dumb as he felt because she laughed and quickly dropped the act.

"I found them by the tree you left your friend in. I think you went back for him but he'd already left by then."

He shook his head, incredulous. He didn't remember, but her words felt right. He knew he wouldn't have abandoned Jesse. It just maybe took him a bit longer to come back around. He had been drunk, after all.

"And how..." he gestured at her vaguely and thankfully she seemed to understand the thoughts he still couldn't quite get into words.

"Every cabbie takes the C-12 thoroughfare to the city center," she explained. "Only we locals know it's faster to take the C-16."

"I... don't know what to say..."

There was a whistle. Fives continued shaking his head as he glanced over and saw Hardcase was tapping his wrist to indicate it was time to move. As if he didn't have so many other emotions to sort through right now... relief, joy, amusement... now he had to say goodbye. He tightened his grip on his helmet. He'd never had to say goodbye to a friend before.

Faith took a few steps closer.

"You should probably say thank you."

Fives relaxed his grip. "Thank you."

"And you should also say you're sorry for trashing my place and eating my food and making me watch you puke."

Fives nodded his head. "I'm sorry."

"And... you should say please."

Fives quirked his eyebrow. "Huh?"

Faith took another step in and raised up on her toes, planting a soft kiss on his surprised lips.

"Whaaa... what was that for?" Fives couldn't help but giggle at the unexpected gesture. His emotions were all over the place.

"You don't remember our first kiss, so you get a re-do. Midnight, noon, same thing." She blushed as his brain short circuited. He really couldn't take any more surprises.

The launch sirens started sounding off, jarring just enough sense back into him to not totally fumble the moment. He grabbed Faith's arm before she could run off and leaned in close so she could hear. 

"I'm not sure if Rex will let this go by next year but... maybe, if I can swing it... maybe I could see you next New Year's Eve?"

He could almost picture it, just like a holo-film. Faith, waiting in the designated spot, nervously looking at her watch and wondering if he'd forgotten after all those months. But then, just when she fears it wasn't meant to be, he rounds the corner. He'll look more mature, and be way more ripped, of course. And that pretty face of hers will light up at seeing him, the happiest she's ever been...

"Or maybe sooner?"

Fives blinked out of his daydream. Her pretty face was smiling at him now. There was a calm assuredness to her that had sucked him in right from the beginning - the real beginning. The last moment he could remember before pounding back that first beer. Her friends surrounded the place with energy and noise, while her happiness seemed to be grounded in something much more real. He'd locked eyes with her through the crowd and had suddenly felt like everything was okay. No, he hadn't felt it, he'd believed it.

"I don't want to forget you, Fives," she said, taking his hand from her arm and giving it a squeeze.

He squeezed back. "You won't. I have faith."

* * *

(5 seconds later)

Faith rolled her eyes and let go of his hand.

"Okay, lunkhead, get out of here already. All that sweet talking I did to save your ass? Don't fuck it up."

Every Character Tag: @dangerousstrawberrypie, @justanothersadperson93, @arctrooper69, @sleepycreativewriter, @techie-bear, @theroguesully, @cw80831, @cdblake1565, @msmeredithrose Clone Bois Tag: @kaijusplotch, @rebel-finn, @lucyysthings, @marvel-starwars-nerd, @nekotaetae, @severalseashellsbytheseashore, @lackofhonor, @flowered-bicycles, @foodmoneyandcats, @nahoney22, @dangraccoon, @lulalovez, @aconstructofamind, @skellymom, @the-mom-friend-dot-com, @tardisgirl420 What Happened Last Night Tag: @griffedeloup

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