#Logistics data mining

[papoochu]

Next up on the council, is Gabriel's replacement: Keza Kaberuka! I love drawing her!

Background:

Keza = Rwandan name meaning “beautiful one”

Kaberuka = Common Tutsi surname; evokes heritage, resilience, and ambition

Born 1988 in Kigali, Rwanda to an educated Tutsi family with deep cultural roots and political aspirations

Father was a professor of history; mother was a nurse

1994 – Rwandan Genocide (Age 6):

Family targeted during the genocide

Father is abducted and executed by local militia. Keza and her mother seek sanctuary in a church

Militia overruns it. Her mother is killed defending her. Keza survives by hiding beneath corpses.

Rescued by a Belgian photojournalist and smuggled out under UN protection, Taken to a Johannesburg refugee center

The council is here ready to intervene and start grooming her into their weapon

In the refugee camps, she learns something vital: Beauty can open doors. Vulnerability can be a weapon.

Trauma fuses with clarity: The world respects nothing but power and presentation.

Johannesburg Upbringing:

Raised in the household of a South African diplomat’s widow, who uses Keza as a status symbol while grooming her for high society

Attends elite private schools on sponsorship - an outsider among the privileged Learns to mimic affluence, control perception, and move unnoticed through influence circles

Fluent in French, English, Swahili, Afrikaans

Begins studying conflict minerals and post-colonial economies as a quiet obsession; Understands diamonds are not just ornaments - they are geopolitical weapons

2006 – First Industry Contact (Age 18):

Attends a diamond investment gala as an escort to a wealthy patron

Meets a Belgian mining tycoon - seduces him subtly, plays on his guilt, fascination, and ego

Becomes his protégé - travels to Geneva, Luanda, Dubai etc.

Learns how diamonds move across war zones and into luxury boutiques

Understands the power of intimate diplomacy: charm disarms faster than threats

Blood Diamond Trade Expansion:

Establishes a shell company in Mauritius and begins dealing directly with rebel commanders in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola

Context: Rwanda was helping rebel groups at the time for political reasons; Angola was facing post-civil-war instability and is one of the world's largest diamond producers

Offers them access to satellite data, encrypted communications, and luxury goods in exchange for exclusive rights to diamond-rich zones

Smuggles stones through private jets, diplomatic pouches, and via fake humanitarian convoys

Creates a mythos: a woman who never carries a weapon, but always exits with everything she came for

Uses her connections to get stones past the Kimberley Process via falsified documentation and complicit middlemen

Kimberley Process: an international initiative aimed at preventing the trade of conflict diamonds, ensuring that diamond purchases do not finance violence or human rights abuses

2012 - “Court Kaberuka” Era:

Launches Court Kaberuka, a luxury consultancy for “heritage stone placement” - a front for laundering blood diamonds

Double entendre - "court" for royalty and "court" for seducing

Advises politicians, oligarchs, and royalty on how to convert illicit stones into family jewels, auction pieces, and “clean” assets

Begins maintaining a private vault; The Silent Portfolio: a collection of the most politically damning diamonds in circulation

Each gem in the vault is tied to a secret: assassinations, coup funding, war crimes etc.

Uses the collection as leverage, not profit

Infiltration of Global Diplomacy:

Cultivates discreet romantic and political ties with various politicians and people of importance:

A foreign trade minister

A UN sanctions coordinator

An Emirati royal involved in arms logistics

etc.

Offers influence, protection, and secrets - all cloaked in charm and intimacy

Establishes a diplomatic status under a Central African nation’s special envoy credentials

Moves across borders without scrutiny

2016 – Recruited by the Council (Present-Day):

Former council operative "Diamond" is eliminated

Keza, already known to council members as a power broker too effective to ignore, is approached,

Terms are simple: absolute discretion, full operational autonomy, and the codename Diamond

She accepts with a single condition - she chooses which wars not to stop

Seductive but never promiscuous - her intimacy is transactional, weaponized, and unforgettable

Uses her power not for chaos, but for leverage - every gem a favor owed, every buyer a pawn

In the diamond world, beauty is value - and Keza Kaberuka is priceless

Design Notes/Character Study

Tutsi culture

Long-horned Inyambo - hairpin; can be used as a weapon too

Choker:

Based on pics of Intore dancers and Tutsi warriors

Outfit inspirations

Anok Yai

Elsa

Mel Medarda

Scar on thigh

Shows to seduce officials

If she shows you, that's not an invite - that's a threat

Friendly with children

Picture of child - show hand reaching for diamonds but watching apple

Apple - reference to Adam and Eve

Wants to make a new world through the new generation

Queen of Hearts reference

Diamonds woven into her hair

Remember: seductive but never promiscuous

Make her the center of attention

Glides with grace - like a dancer

Silver jewelry matches her cool-toned skin

Dimples - must be charming, friendly, and welcoming

[greatkittencloud]

TW: Mild Violence

Black Nova

Chapter 15

Location: RAF Base

Time : 0900 Hours

The warmth of the cabin was long gone.

The  halls of Base buzzed faintly with lights and distant voices. Everyone was back in gear. Uniforms, weapons, the weight of duty settling on their shoulders like armor again.

Nova walked down the corridor, silent, sharp-eyed, back in soldier mode.

But something hung in the air.

Tension.

A hum behind the silence.

The door shut behind them with a soft click.

Only Price and Ghost stood in the dim room. A single desk lamp glowed. Outside, the base moved like clockwork.

Price didn’t speak at first. He just pulled a folder from a drawer slim, but heavy in implication and slid it across the desk toward Ghost.

Ghost didn’t touch it yet. “Something’s wrong?”

Price nodded slowly. “I got a call. While we were still at the cabin. Didn’t want to ruin the moment.”

Ghost finally opened the folder.

Inside:

Timestamped images.

Encrypted comm logs traced to compromised frequencies.

One redacted document with Nova’s name tagged in the corner.

A USB pulled from a burner laptop marked with her initials.

Ghost’s eyes narrowed behind the mask.

"You think she’s the mole.”

Price’s jaw worked as he stared at the ops board. “I don’t want to. But the intel lines up. Out of thirteen missions, six were compromised.”

Ghost stood still, silent for a beat. “And she was on all six.”

Price nodded slowly. “Every single one.”

Ghost’s voice was tight. “That’s not proof.”

“No,” Price admitted. “But it’s a pattern I can’t ignore.”

Ghost clenched his fists. “She nearly died on two of those ops.”

“I know,” Price said, voice low. “Which either makes her innocent or damn good at selling the act.”

Ghost didn’t respond. He didn’t trust himself to.

Price looked around. “I want facts, not feelings. Until we’re sure, she’s grounded. No missions, no comms access.”

Ghost finally spoke, voice low. “You planning to tell her?”

Price’s mouth set into a grim line. “She’ll figure it out soon enough.”

Location : Base Gym

Time: 1600 Hours

Punch.

Punch.

Breathe.

Nova moved like a machine fists slamming into the heavy bag, sweat dripping, breath sharp. The sound echoed in the mostly empty gym.

But not empty enough.

From the corner, she felt the eyes. A flicker of silence where there should’ve been movement. She turned just fast enough to catch Ghost stepping away from the glass, pretending he hadn’t been watching.

She frowned.

Noted it.

Later same day Soap looked up, halfway through a joke with Ghost and Gaz. Their table had space.

She started toward them and the laughter dipped.

Only a second.

But enough.

Price.

He was talking to a logistics officer down the hall — nothing major. Normal base chatter.

But when he passed her, he didn’t stop. No small talk. No briefing. Just a faint glance.

Neutral. Careful.

And that’s when she knew.

Something had changed.

Not one person had said a word to her directly but the silence was louder than any bullet she’d ever heard.

Her mask was still on.

But behind it, her eyes were burning.

Low hum. Cold blue lights. Surveillance monitors blinking.

Nova stood alone.

Gloved fingers flew across a terminal she was deep inside files. Her eyes scanned decrypted data faster than most could read.

“If I’m being framed… someone must have left a trace...”

A shadow shifted in the reflection of the screen.

Too late.

Nova sat in a stark white room, hands cuffed to the table. Her mask was gone. Expression unreadable.

The door opened.

Price stepped in. Grim. Stone-faced. Behind him  Ghost, unreadable beneath the mask.

Price tossed a folder onto the table.

Inside: logs showing her unauthorized access. A second USB — this one found in her quarters, matching the one linked to the mole transmissions.

Nova stared down at it.

“No,” she whispered. “That’s not mine.”

“Then someone went through a lot of effort to make it look like it is,” Price said. “And right now, Command believes them.”

She looked up at him  betrayed, desperate. “You know me.”

“I knew a soldier,” he said. “Right now, I’ve got a suspect.”

Ghost didn’t say anything. Just looked at her  too long, too hard.

Then Price turned to him.

“Take the investigation. Full authority. I want truth. Whatever it takes.”

And just like that, he walked out.

Leaving Ghost.

And Nova.

Alone.

Thankyou for reading!

Taglist: @hyperfixiation-station , @massivescissorsthingperson , @sheepispink , @adalia-lovelace , @sweetybuzz25 , @kaoyamamegami , @warrior-xe , @n-ae-vis , @enfppuff .

[mariacallous]

Among the many oddities of the new U.S. approach to the Russian-Ukrainian war is the assumption that early elections in Ukraine could be helpful or even decisive in ending the fighting. In particular, the claim that peace can be achieved with a quick replacement of the Ukrainian leadership—especially President Volodymyr Zelensky—is now being advocated not only in Moscow, but also in Washington. These actors present such a scenario as plausible despite the fact that political change in Ukraine is unlikely in the near future given both the country’s politics and realities on the ground.

It is unrealistic to expect meaningful presidential and parliamentary elections to be held in Ukraine during wartime or even shortly after any cease-fire. Not only does Ukrainian law, just like that of many other countries, ban elections during periods of martial law. But the ongoing Russian invasion makes a nationwide election impossible to conduct—in terms of security, logistics, and voting access, including by millions of citizens living under Russian occupation or as refugees abroad.

Even after the fighting has ended, elections will require a longer period of preparation. The war has had such a devastating impact on Ukrainian society and infrastructure that there is now a consensus in the country that a new law for postwar elections must be passed and implemented to take account of the new circumstances. Preparing elections after the war would take between half a year and a full year. None of this is unusual in a post-conflict scenario.

The latest calls for political renewal in Ukraine are therefore premature and naive at best—and manipulative and subversive at worst.

Russia’s hold over large parts of eastern and southern Ukraine, the continued fighting, and ongoing Russian airstrikes across the entire country have made it impossible to hold orderly elections. A public appeal by Ukrainian civil society groups—organized by Opora, the country’s leading election-monitoring group—stated on Feb. 20: “The unstable security situation; the risk of shelling, terrorist attacks, and sabotage; as well as the large-scale mining of areas, pose significant obstacles at all stages of the electoral process.”

Moscow’s official rationale for its demand for Ukrainian elections is an alleged concern for the legitimacy of the Ukrainian leadership. That is a strange claim, considering that Ukraine’s elections are widely recognized by international observers as free while Russia’s are not. Russia’s goal is not to protect popular rule in Ukraine, but rather to use the country’s increased vulnerability during a national election campaign and voting procedure for state subversion.

The motive behind the Russian campaign for early national elections in Ukraine is not a stable peace between the two countries, but the domestic destabilization and subsequent vassalization of Ukraine.

Some commentators may be unaware of, or dismiss as unimportant, the hidden motives behind Moscow’s supposed interest in Ukrainian democracy. However, the subversiveness of Moscow’s demand for elections should not be underestimated. One indication that state disruption—not an orderly transition of power—is the goal behind Russia’s professed concern for democratic legitimacy in Ukraine is that, as Moscow knows, even successfully conducted elections would likely do little to change Ukraine’s foreign policy. A hypothetical change of leadership in Ukraine in the near future, including a new president, will not lead to substantial Russian-Ukrainian rapprochement, contrary to the opinion of some external observers.

Most polling data, as well as the larger political landscape since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, suggest another presidential election victory for Zelensky. To be sure, it is unlikely that he will repeat his landslide of 2019, when he won nearly 75 percent of the vote in the second round of the presidential election. Zelensky’s poll numbers have fluctuated over the past three years, and the outcome of any election is therefore difficult to predict. In 2024, the popularity of Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, the former commander in chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces who is now the Ukrainian ambassador to the United Kingdom, overtook that of Zelensky in several polls.

Zaluzhny—whom Zelensky promoted to command the military in 2021—would be a potent political competitor in a presidential election. So far, however, Zaluzhny has neither indicated presidential ambitions nor engaged in any party-building or other preparations for entering politics and running a campaign. Since his posting to London in 2024, he has become less present in Ukrainian public life, although popular support for him is still higher than for any other hypothetical rival to Zelensky.

Zelensky continues to poll far ahead of all active Ukrainian politicians in various political parties. His closest rival with official political ambitions is former President Petro Poroshenko, who suffered a spectacular defeat to Zelensky in 2019. Poroshenko currently receives less than half of Zelensky’s support in opinion polls. As long as Zaluzhny does not enter party and electoral politics, Zelensky remains the absolute favorite in the next presidential election.

Even if a serious rival were to emerge and win, it would not change the basic outline of the war. The main political opposition to and criticism of Zelensky and his Servant of the People party comes from the nationalist center-right and nationally oriented civil society. There remain only a few notable actors in Ukraine who might push for a rapprochement with Russia, and they have a residual audience. Since 2022, they have either lost much of their appeal with voters—as in the case of Yuriy Boyko and Dmytro Razumkov—or are no longer in the country, such as the openly pro-Kremlin Viktor Medvedchuk and the former media magnate Yevhen Murayev. Today, none of them can be considered a serious contender for the Ukrainian presidency.

Zelensky, notwithstanding his Jewish family background, is frequently labeled a “Nazi” by Moscow. Among those in the West pushing for an accommodation with Russia, many see him as a “hawk.” Most Ukrainians, however, have perceived him as a relatively moderate, dovish politician since the start of his political career. Since coming to power in 2019, Zelensky and his team have often been criticized in Ukraine for being overly optimistic, soft, and indecisive on Russia. Zaluzhny’s high popularity in polls is partly based on the hope that the general would be more decisive and effective against Russia.

Ukrainian political observers widely expect veterans to play an important role in the country’s postwar politics. Current and former military personnel with front-line or command experience are now seen by many Ukrainians not only as well suited to protect their country from the Russian threat, but also as less corrupt, more patriotic, and better qualified for leadership positions than traditional politicians.

None of this portends the election of a leadership eager to accommodate Russia, let alone bend to its will. In future elections, men and women with military backgrounds will likely increase their presence in the government, national parliament, regional administrations, and local councils; they might run on the tickets of existing parties, as independent candidates, or as part of new political groups with a military profile. We’re very likely to see a massive entry of former soldiers into Ukrainian politics, which will harden rather than soften Kyiv’s stance toward Moscow.

Recent unofficial U.S. contacts with Poroshenko and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, clearly meant as outreach to possible successors to Zelensky, indicate a threefold misjudgment in Washington.

First, most observers familiar with Ukrainian politics would dismiss a future Tymoshenko or Poroshenko presidency as unrealistic. Although they are still present in public life and hold seats in parliament, to Ukrainians, they represent a bygone era and symbolize the problematic past of early post-Soviet Ukraine. Their parties—Poroshenko’s European Solidarity and Tymoshenko’s Fatherland—will probably continue to have seats in the next parliament, but the two veteran politicians have little chance of gaining power again.

Second, both Poroshenko and Tymoshenko have made it clear to their U.S. counterparts that they are opposed to early elections. Instead, they share the widespread Ukrainian rejection of conducting campaigns and elections during wartime. The two politicians would likely be just as skeptical about holding elections too soon after the lifting of martial law, without a longer period of preparation for a proper and secure electoral process.

Third, the political consequences of a hypothetical presidency of Tymoshenko, Poroshenko, or any other conceivable presidential candidate are overestimated in Washington. The change would do little to change Ukraine’s foreign-policy orientation in general and its attitude toward Russia in particular. If anything, Tymoshenko’s and Poroshenko’s parties are more nationalist than Zelensky’s. Both politicians have distinguished themselves in the past by making bellicose statements against Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

There is an obvious discrepancy between calls for elections in Ukraine and their negligible or more likely negative impact on Kyiv’s willingness to make concessions. This contradiction is linked to the fact that the call for elections in Ukraine, allegedly intended to help end the Russia-Ukraine war, originated in the Kremlin and serves destructive purposes. Neither the wartime suspension of Ukrainian presidential and parliamentary elections—as required by the country’s established laws—nor Zelensky himself are responsible for the lack of progress in negotiations between the United States, Ukraine, and Russia.

The double myth that the current Ukrainian government is illegitimate and that fast elections are necessary to end the fighting was created in Moscow. Having to improvise elections in a war-torn country would allow the Kremlin to unleash its full political warfare machine, including disinformation, cyberattacks, intimidation, sabotage, and corruption. Adopting Russia’s call for elections would be a serious mistake for other international actors involved.

[momo-kageyama]

The Woman Who Knocked Down the Numbers

—————————————————————————

Anime: Diaries of an Apothecary

—————————————————————————

Kan Lahan x R.femele.

—————————————————————————

Lahan meets Y/n, Jinshi's secret twin sister - and falls in love with her instantly, with that mixture of logical analysis, emotional despair and Lahan's classic confusion.

Lahan and Y/n, with the unique touch of contrast between Lahan’s cold, methodical and logical side and Y/n’s serene and magnetic delivery. The tone will be suggestive, elegant and intense

Lahan and Y/n form an unlikely and perfect couple:

He, a genius obsessed with numbers, control and efficiency;

She, Jinshi's twin sister - beautiful, sharp, and as strategic as he is.

They met by chance, fell in love between graphics and logistical plans...

And, before the court could react, they were already engaged and waiting for triplets.

Today they are the best organized chaos in the empire:

A calculated, intense, and absolutely... out of the curve love.

—————————————————————————

The silk sound sliding through the cold corridors of the palace was almost imperceptible, but Lahan heard. Or rather, you felt it. The young officer of the La clan, accustomed to noises of bills being moved, heavy steps of messengers and the friction of his own thoughts, did not expect anything new that day. Jinshi had left for a diplomatic mission, and, as always, Lahan would take over the rear of the bureaucracy.

But then - Maomao came in.

- "Lahan, I want to introduce you to someone."

He raised his eyes only to lower them again - in shock.

She looked like Jinshi. But... it wasn't.

The young woman in front of her had traits that Lahan's brain instantly recognized as familiar. That fair skin, the calm and firm look, the posture governed as if the world around owed her space... It was Jinshi.

No. It was better.

The traits that provoked reverence in her brother, in her caused vertigo. It was as if the imperial presence had gained delicate curves, a more genuine smile and eyes that cut his reasoning like a porcelain blade.

- "I'm Y/n," she said, bowing politely. "I'm taking over my brother's public appearances while he negotiates the northern border. I ask for your support, officer Kan."

Lahan crashed. His mind, which normally processed 12 columns of simultaneous data, became a set of useless scribbles.

"She has the same eyes as Jinshi... but they don't judge me. They analyze me. As if they already knew that I'm going to stumble and... like it."

—————————————————————————

In the days that followed, Lahan found himself ruined.

He started to miscalculate. He put three more zeros in the rice order. He stumbled on the step of the courtroom. When Y/n sat down to listen to him, with that slightly inclined posture as if to say "go on, I understand", he felt the pressure rise.

And he loved it.

Y/n was cunning. He answered political riddles with dry and simple answers. He treated nobles with sharp courtesy. When a minister tested her, she smiled like Jinshi and destroyed the man with three sentences.

Lahan was lost.

"She's perfect... She's like Jinshi, but she's not Jinshi. It's the heterogeneously perfect version of everything that attracts and destroys me. How can I calculate this?"

—————————————————————————

Maomao Observes

Maomao, of course, realized everything.

- "What are you doing with the tax reports, Lahan?"

- "She reorganized the records of the north cabinet in a system that is more functional than mine. This is... unacceptably... elegant."

- "You're in love."

He choked on the tea. Then, it was sincere:

- "Maomao, she is the perfect equation. A face that paralyzes, a brain that confronts me, and a voice that convinces me to obey without me realizing it. She... is the exception in my calculations."

Maomao arched an eyebrow.

- "She also likes math."

— "...marriage."

- "Excuse me?"

- "Nothing. Just... marriage. It occurred to me. An academic thought."

———————

One afternoon, when the court emptied after a tumultuous hearing, Lahan approached. My hair was less disheveled. I had clean glasses. I was Sweating.

- "Y/n... thank you for the efficiency with which you replaced Jinshi. The perfection with which you dominate... everything."

She laughed lightly.

- "Are you watching me, Kan Lahan?"

He blinked. He tried to deny it. You didn't succeed.

- "I observe, calculate, and... admire. There are days when I just survive the numbers waiting for you to enter the room."

Y/n tilted her face, curious.

- "Is this... a courtshory attempt?"

- "It's... another attempt not to freak out. But if it looks like a procession, maybe it is. Because I've never met someone so... fascinating. That reorganizes my standards."

Silence.

And then, she said:

- "Good. So reorganize yourself. And invite me to tea tomorrow. I like sweets. And I don't like to run away from emotional calculations."

———————

That day, Lahan didn't fill out any spreadsheets. Nor did it correct any errors. Instead, he sat down with a silly smile on his face, scribbling with wet feather in his notebook:

"Variable Y: the only one that challenges all my formulas - and makes me want to make mistakes on purpose."

—————————————————————————

Maomao just let go of the phrase like someone who delivers any role:

- "Ah. They're engaged now. Congratulations."

Lahan paralyzed. I had the pen hanging in the middle of a tax report.

- "What?"

Maomao didn't even raise his eyes.

- "You took Y/n to meet the head of Casa La, let her organize her personal files, shared dessert with her, and let her read your secret algorithm notebooks. According to traditional standards... you are engaged."

Silence.

Lahan looked at the door. As if you could run. Or fly.

— "...Did I leave? Did she read my... private calculations?!”

- "Yes. And she liked it. He even corrected two."

He fainted for five seconds.

——————

Since then...

Y/n did not directly mention the word "envoiado", but his actions screamed serene intimacy.

• She showed up every morning with ginger tea exactly as he liked it.

• He corrected his resource distribution plans with notes that said "better this way, my dear".

• Once, he appeared at dawn in his office, with his hair down, saying that he couldn't sleep without "seeing his stressed face first".

Lahan was on the border between ecstasy and existential panic.

———————

Jinshi, who had returned from a diplomatic trip, crossed paths with Lahan in the inner gardens. He observed the boy with a more ironic expression than usual.

- "I heard you fell in love with my sister."

- "It's not passion. It's... it's calculation of genetic affinity, political convenience, routine compatibility... and maybe a very specific type of obsession."

Jinshi smiled.

- "You are engaged now."

- "Not officially!"

- "You slept in her room."

- "It was an accidental nap on the floor!"

- "You want her."

Silence. Lahan swallowed dry. For the first time, there was no equation, no graph, no escape route.

- "Yes."

- "Then say it."

———————

At night, Lahan entered Y/n's room with a wooden box. Inside, a handmade ring - carved in dark plum wood, with an engraved mathematical symbol.

She looked at him with silent and welcoming eyes. There was no question.

- "Y/n... you reorganized everything inside me. It made the chaos of my mind... a place where I want to live. It's not because it makes sense. It's because I want to."

- "Then say it."

- "Stay with me."

- "I've already stayed."

- "Forever."

Y/n took the ring and put it on his finger.

- "It's late. I'm already yours. Official or not."

——————

They were together that night. It wasn't explosive, but intimate. Deep. Like two pieces finally fitted. Like a prime number finding its impossible divisor.

Lahan woke up in the middle of the night, Y/n nestled against his chest, and murmured softly:

- "You're the variable I never wanted to solve. I just want to keep trying to understand you for the rest of my life."

—————————————————————————

The wedding night did not take place in the palace, nor in a luxurious inn. Lahan preferred something... controlled. Intimate. An old summer house of the La clan - remote, silent, with paper windows that let in the silver light of the full moon. Because, of course, he had chosen the exact date of the lunar cycle so that the "climate was ideal for conception and oxytocin" - his words.

But when she saw Y/n barefoot, with the kimono only semi-tied, her hair loose and a light smile on her lips, all the formulas went down the drain.

- "You're... perfect."

- "You looked at me as if you had made a calculation for it."

— *"I Did. But I failed. Because what I see... is far beyond the forecast."

She laughed low, her hoarse voice sliding through his skin like a warm breeze.

Y/n approached. He placed his fingers on Lahan's chest, gently pushing him against the wall. The contact of the fabric against his skin was electric. It wasn't aggressive - it was determined. Like someone who solves a riddle at the first touch.

- "You keep reading me. Today, I want you to read me in a different way."

He gasped. The rigid body of nervousness - and desire.

She undoes the knot of the kimono itself slowly. One centimeter at a time. A cruel test for someone as disciplined as him.

And when she saw her exposed to half-light, Lahan's brain turned off.

There was no more logic. Just hungry.

Lahan was calculating. But that night... his hands were shaking. Not out of fear. Of reverence.

He ran his fingertips over her shoulders, as if studying a sacred map. His kisses were slow, almost scientific at first - measuring reactions, listening to every sigh. But Y/n was not a problem to solve - it was a storm to lose.

She pulled him by the hair when the kiss went down to the curve of her breasts.

- "Stop thinking."

- "It's impossible."

- "Then show me what you're thinking."

The tatami witnessed a clash of wills: the method against intuition. Y/n explored Lahan's body with silent laughter. I knew the power I had. He take revenge with deep kisses between her thighs, with whispered phrases between calculations and confessions:

- "You destroy me with elegance."

- "You want me as if I were perfect. And I like it."

- "You are."

The moment of union was intense, sacred and warm.

He entered her slowly, guided by gasps and trembling hands, as if he feared to break her.

But she pressed him against her like someone who refuses any distance.

Slow movements at the beginning, looking for the rhythm. Then, the moans filled the silence of the room. The hands, before controlled, now marked the skin. The kisses left red tracks. The eyes didn't deviate.

And finally, at the peak, she pulled him to herself as if she wanted to record him inside her.

- "You're mine now, Lahan."

- "I've always been."

————————

—After...

He woke up in the middle of the night, lying next to her, his body exhausted and his heart restless. He touched her belly gently, as if he already knew.

- "If the universe is fair... it was now."

- "Do you want it to be now?"

- "I've never wanted something so much."

—————————————————————————

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE'S ALREADY PREGNANT?!"

⸻

The news fell like a bomb in the main hall of the imperial court.

Maomao dropped the tray with the bottles of essential oil. Jinshi almost choked on the tea. Concubine Lishu widened her eyes so much that she seemed to have seen a ghost dancing in a bikini.

- "Gregnt? What do you mean pregnant?!”

- "But they got engaged last week!"

- "There wasn't even a ceremony!"

- "Not en a honeymoon!"

- "This is what I call efficiency..."

In the center of the chaos, there they were.

Y/n, serene as always, with her hands on the small volume that only she and Lahan knew already existed.

And Lahan, standing next to her, visibly sweaty, with his hands intertwed behind his back as if he were on trial.

Jinshi stared at him.

- "Lahan. Explain."

- "I..."

Dramatic pause

- "...I took advantage of it."

Total silence.

Maomao sighed.

- "You. Just. I said. 'I want to enjoy'?"

- "Yes. I calculated the ideal fertility rate considering the hormonal alignment and the lunar calendar. It was the most efficient moment. It would be a strategic waste... not to take advantage of it."

Lishu almost fainted.

—————————————————————————

Meanwhile, in the La clan...

Lakan (the adoptive father) received the news by letter. When he finished reading, he just said:

- "This boy really learned to optimize resources... even the uterus."

—————————————————————————

Back to court...

While the others were still debating the logistics of lightning conception, Y/n took a sip of tea and calmly commented:

- "Lahan filled out a family planning form before even asking me to marry him."

Jinshi, completely horrified: "Did you... submit a baby request??"

- "With birth estimate, nutritional index and prenatal study plan."

Maomao: "You know this is not normal, right?"

Lahan: "But it's efficient."

Y/n: "It's nice."

All the others: "...TOO MUCH INFORMATION, PLEASE DON'T."

—————————————————————————

Messes later—

"Three children. At once."

⸻

It all started with a discreet Y/n warning:

- "I think it will be born today."

Lahan dropped 14 scrolls of parchment, stumbled on his own mantle and tried to write a breathing formula.

— "Three days ahead of schedule! I need to review the 3B contingency protocol..."

- "You printed a four-way birth plan."

- "And a table of estimated time between contractions. But none included... THREE CHILDREN?!”

⸻

— Hours later...

The whole palace in silence. Everyone was waiting.

When the doctor left the room and announced:

- "Two boys. A girl. Healthy mother and children."

The court went crazy.

Jinshi had to sit down.

Maomao started laughing, out of control.

Lakan said: "Of course. Because only one would be... statistically boring."

—————————————————————————

"Three children. At once."

⸻

It all started with a discreet Y/n warning:

- "I think it will be born today."

Lahan dropped 14 scrolls of parchment, stumbled on his own mantle and tried to write a breathing formula.

— "Three days ahead of schedule! I need to review the 3B contingency protocol..."

- "You printed a four-way birth plan."

- "And a table of estimated time between contractions. But none included... THREE CHILDREN?!”

⸻

—Hours later...

The whole palace in silence. Everyone was waiting.

When the doctor left the room and announced:

- "Two boys. A girl. Healthy mother and children."

The court went crazy.

Jinshi had to sit down.

Maomao started laughing, out of control.

Lakan said: "Of course. Because only one would be... statistically boring."

————————

—Names? Planned with obsession.

• The twins are called Rin and Ren - harmonious, symmetrical names, and easy syllabic calculation.

• The girl, Lahan made a point:

*"She will be called Shiki. It represents the cycle. The reasoning. The eternal return."

Maomao: "You gave a philosophical name to a baby who doesn't even sit yet."

Lahan: "It has a cranial structure for advanced thinking."

—————————————————————————

Cut to:

• The twins running naked through the imperial corridors, laughing and throwing abacus beads as if they were given.

• Little Shiki, quiet in a corner, scribbling on a paper while watching the brothers... and judging them.

• Y/n reading quietly.

• Lahan, lying on the floor, defeated and with his hair completely out of control.

- "Are you okay?" asks Maomao.

- "No. They disorganized my drawer system. And I think they're beating me in chess in two years."

Y/n appears at the door, with a calm and threatening smile:

- "They are yours."

- "I know. And... I love it."

—————————————————————————

[darkmaga-returns]

Finally feeling vindicated after months of predicting the economic whiplash and downturn that would inevitably follow the Covid policies, we’re now seeing the impacts bear down on the economy in full force.

The latest employment report underscores this reality, with just a meager 12,000 jobs added in October 2024—and that’s largely thanks to government hiring. If not for the 40,000 new government jobs, these numbers would look even worse.

Here’s a breakdown of the latest data that the administration doesn’t want to highlight:

Establishment Survey Highlights

Total Private Sector: 28,000 jobs lost—a clear sign of trouble for the core of our economy.

Goods-Producing Sector: 37,000 jobs lost, with manufacturing hit hardest.

Construction: Added just 8,000 jobs, a painfully low number for an industry that typically drives growth.

Manufacturing: Down by a staggering 46,000 jobs—a blow to American industry.

Retail Trade: Lost 1,000 jobs, indicating that consumer spending may be faltering.

Transportation and Warehousing: Down 4,000 jobs, another worrying sign as logistics slow.

Temporary Help Services: Plummeted by 49,000 jobs, a typical canary in the coal mine for future employment trends.

Healthcare: Added 51,000 jobs, providing some stability, yet not enough to offset broader declines.

Government Jobs: Increased by 40,000—masking deeper problems in the private sector.

[kara-knight]

Syku fluff <3

Mines monday, smashed this out just before going to bed, im about as coherent as sifo right now have i proofread it? no. but ill do that when i post to ao3 but im dropping it down the mineshaft right now cause why not.

---

“A bit of fluff a day keeps the doctor away,” Sifo-Dyas singsonged from his place in a sprawl of limbs on the lounge.

Dooku hummed in question, regarding what in the galaxy Sifo was on about. Even as fluent in Sifo-Dyas speak as he was, sometime the seer’s post-vision mumblings took a little deciphering. The visions took their toll and words were difficult beasts on the best of days, that Dooku knew for certain from handling twisted Senate dealings. 

“Fluff. Thing. Over there.” Sifo flapped his hand in the vague direction of his bedroom.

Dooku obediently placed down the data-pad from which he was reading aloud one of Sifo’s steamy holonovels. Sifo’s headache made it too painful to decipher the print himself, and for some reason unbenownst to Dooku, he preferred Dooku’s voice, pauses at interesting turns of phrase, interjections, raised eye brows and commentary about logistical feasibility and all, to the one generated by the screenreader on the datapad.

He stepped over the various piles on Sifo’s floor to peer into the dim room. Fluff and thing did not narrow down the options when it came to scouring the nest of blankets, pillows, throws and even a shawl arranged on Sifo-Dyas’ mattress. 

There was even what seemed to be one of his own cloaks within the nest, the distinct shine of quality Serennian fabric catching his eye. He absently brushed his hand over it while debating whether Sifo wished him to bring the neon pink, fluffy, heartshaped pillow with some lanky bird that Sifo had once said reminded him of Dooku sunburnt, of all things.

The cloak had been sent to him years ago by Jenza; he had a newer one that accounted for his present height but this one had lasted though he hadn’t missed it with Sifo’s acquisition. It was for winter wear, tailored from a dense outer fabric, capable of sheltering from the rain and drafts of snow while riding in Serreno’s forests, though not the most comfortable to sleep with, surely.

And yet… Dooku pulled it out of the nest to inspect its full form. The inside was lined with fur, soft when he brushed over it and deep enough for his hand to sink into… 

He returned to the lounge, cloak bundled over his arm. He could be wrong, Sifo could be asking for something different entirely which he would then fetch, excusing the cloak as taking it for laundry. Not that one would simply toss it down a chute for the droids to handle into the mechanical washers with the rest of the Temple’s tunics. But Sifo would likely let him be for this slip up in graces. The Force however told him that something in the course of action was right. 

He presented the cloak to Sifo, held out for inspection. Sifo grinned, tiredly, loopily, with a hint of prophetic madness, hands grasping for it haphazardly but in undeniable pleasure at the sensation of softness against skin.

“Mmmm, fluffyyy.”

“It is that, indeed.”

Dooku allowed himself to smile back, and gently lay the cloak over Sifo-Dyas, fur side down to envelop him in it. 

He meant to return to his armchair close by Sifo’s side but Sifo caught his hand, entwining their fingers and tugged at it the same as he did their Force bond.

“Doo, Doo, Doo, Doooo,” he sang, raising his head half from the sofa. 

Dooku did not need anything more to understand that. With a bit of manoeuvring, he slipped in underneath Sifo, so Sifo could drape his upper body in Dooku’s lap.

He stroked Sifo’s hair back from his face, the dark strands, slightly greasy and knotted into snarls he begun to carefully work apart with his fingers better than the finest Serenno furs in all the galaxy.

[metalheadsagainstfascism]

I feel like I need to clarify how fucking... random the Big Ugly Bill is.

I do admit. I'm not reading 1000 pages. I did use AI to read it. I know, I know. You can hate me, but my attention span and reading comprehension are not great enough for that.

So here's 25 random ass points in the Big Ugly Bill.

Environment and Energy

1. Repeals grants and rebates from the government for clean energy projects

2. Reduces financial incentive and technical assistance to reduce methane production

3. Ends EPA initiative to label and certify greenhouse gas materials

4. Revokes money meant for modernizing and digitizing environment permitting process

5. Ends federal aid to states and tribes to improve emissions tracking and public access to environmental compliance data

Agriculture and Conservation

6. Reauthorizes major farm safety net programs

7. Rescinds unspent Inflation Reduction Act funds for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), and others

8. Provides $15 million/year to continue controlling the spread of destructive feral swine populations on agricultural lands

9. Continues payments to private landowners who open land for hunting, fishing, and conservation through 2031

10. Increases federal support for groundwater and drinking water safety projects via the USDA

Nutrition and Social Programs

11. Revises definitions of “qualified” non-citizens, likely restricting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) access

12. Reauthorizes through 2031 with ongoing food commodity purchases and distribution logistics support

Defense and National Security

13. Raises the multiplier for calculating military pensions, enhancing the defined-benefit portion for service members

14. Lets DoD keep using private contractors for base housing through September 2029

15. Adds appropriations for expanding the U.S. Navy fleet—part of a broader military-industrial buildup

Infrastructure and Industry

16. Eliminates tax incentives and grants for EV purchases and charging network development

17. Mandates quarterly oil and gas lease sales in areas like the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska, including ANWR

18. Adds metallurgical coal (used for steelmaking) to the list of industries eligible for domestic manufacturing tax credits

IRS and Taxes

19. Eliminates the free government-run tax filing system, reinstating reliance on private tax software providers

20. Doubles the estate tax threshold to $15 million per individual, shielding ultra-wealthy inheritances

21. Temporarily allows Americans to deduct interest on car loans for U.S.-made vehicles

22. Sets up “American Freedom Accounts” seeded with $1,000 at birth and available for tax-free growth

23. Codifies lower individual income tax brackets and corporate rates from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

Other

24. Bars local governments from regulating artificial intelligence for 10 years, centralizing control at the federal level

25. Creates a new EPA division for restoring abandoned hardrock mine sites in western regions

This could all be... a dozen bills... at least. The Big Ugly Bill should be renamed the special interest lobbying bill.

"BUT! NO TAXES ON TIPS! IT'S GOOD!"

But it revokes grants for clean energy and methane control, instead providing grants for coal production.

"BUT CHILD SAVINGS ACCOUNT"

But it creates stricter work requirements for SNAP eligibility.

"BUT CLEAN WATER"

But it eliminates the free government funded tax filing system.

We can do this all day. This is trash. The bill is trash. It's a "EVERYONE SHOVE WHATEVER SHIT YOU WANT INTO IT" bill.

And don't get me started on Obama's "EVERYONE SHOVE AS MUCH SHIT AS YOU CAN INTO IT." Bill. I'm tired of every time I criticize the current administration people want to say "BUT OBAMA". I wasn't okay with it when he did it. I'm not okay with it now. Besides, by your logic. Just because one person does something, that makes it okay for EVERYONE to do it.

How about "it wasn't okay for Obama to do it and it's not okay for Trump to do it"? Eh?

-fae

[girlvinland]

Man. So I’m kind of at this weird turning point in my life where I like where I’m heading with job stuff, but I also really just want to learn more and embed myself more in my field.

I think I’ve talked about it on occasion, but a really big regret of mine was never finishing my geology stuff. It’s a long story that idc about telling rn, but ultimately where I ended up was kind of strange. I have a lot of bg work in geology, I ended up actually getting my master’s in library/information sci, I worked at a geological survey for I think a combined total of seven years, and then the location/work culture of that specific place was starting to wear on me a lot (a lot of turnover for lower level positions so I’d have to take on extra work when people left, dealt with sexual harassment from two of the older men, didn’t like living in that city after school).

I moved Elsewhere, got a graduate certificate in GIS, and that helped me get the job I have now, which is still in earth science but more on the climate side of things with some data and archival work thrown in. I thought for a long time about looking into studying earth system sci but idk I didn’t like how much it tied into atmospheric science bc that’s just not really my Thing or whatever. Thought about getting back into geology and did apply to a sort of dream school for it, got accepted to the program, but then so many of my old classes were not transferable bc they’re just run differently at the new place that it left me kind of like. I don’t want to retake these classes and waste time and whatever, and the classes weren’t all asynchronous so it was going to be rough logistically. I’ve kind of scrapped that idea, which was a legitimately difficult decision to make, but not the end of the world.

SO. I’m long-winded and apologize if you’re reading this but. I tried looking into other programs I might be interested in. Turns out that the place where I got the GIS cert lets you put that cert towards a GIS master’s if you want. They also offer a master’s program in renewable energy/sustainability, which I am very interested in (probably top interest after pure geology fields). So I’m kind of stuck between deciding on what I’d like, but also it’s like. Would it be pointless to do that second one with the way this administration is? Would I just be setting myself up for some sort of failure going that route bc all of those jobs are being eliminated? Will we ever be able to make a comeback with renewable energy sources (solar/wind/geothermal)? GIS is very useful in a wide range of fields, and it comes with a decent amount of programming work which I am never going to turn down, but I am very fascinated by renewable energy (my dad worked in solar and wind at one point and it used to really feel encouraging, but now I don’t know).

I really don’t know what the answer is. I do hate how uncertain and precarious climate and energy is right now. Have had to see a lot of awesome people fall victim to everything that is happening, and it’s really demoralizing and difficult to watch. Existential-crisis-what-effect-is-this-going-to-have-on-everyone-level demoralization. Well. I do at least know I’d sell my soul before I worked in anything defense or homeland security-adjacent, so guess there’s that.

[libraford]

I think about making my own studio pretty much every spring because this is the part of the year that there's typically some kind of fuckup at the office that could be fixed with an accurate and concise system of recordkeeping and redundancies, and I know how I would restructure the system to prevent problems like that with a series of file trees.

BUT I WOULD NOT BE DOING SCHOOL PHOTOS if I owned my own studio. I would be focusing more on dance, fantasy, and lifestyle portraiture- all of which do not need to be kept diligently for 9 months and even if they DID there would not be quite so many moving parts.

It would be easier, in general, because I do not need to have class rosters, student numbers, permission slips, order forms, contacts for school attendance offices and admins, would not need to deal with patch updates for the data alignment software...

All of the frustrations of my job are related directly to the VOLUME of photography I am doing and the customer logistics.

But starting my own studio is its own problem! Finding a space to use that has high ceilings, secure storage, and fairly low rent is rather difficult. I would need a separate computer specifically for photography because mine is filling up fast. I'd need new strobes because mine are just constants. Backdrops. Props.

There is a lot of up-front cost for this and that's before we get into branding and promotion and the general upkeep of a business to get customers consistently. Like if you have a space like that, you have to keep it in use to maximize your dollar out of it and I wish you could just like... own a space and use it however.

Anyways.

Plans for a potential future.

[nhpregulatory-official]

How much do you know about Agni?

Did you know that the suffering of me and mine were commodified? Mass-produced?

Were you aware of how they were made? From what they were made?

Is this another sin that Thirdcom tolerates the existence of because they can't stomach the pain of fixing it?

Or were you lied to as well?

@the-wailing

GREETINGS. IT... IS KNOWN TO US. IN THE TWILIGHT YEARS OF THE SECOND COMMITTEE, DURING THE HERCYNIAN CRISIS, AN EGREGORIAN OVERMIND WAS CAPTURED BY THE UNION SCIENCE BUREAU AND IT'S THOUGHT PROCESSES STUDIED AND MODELED THROUGH UNSAVOURY MEANS. THE RESULTING DATA MODELS WERE USED IN THE PRODUCTION OF THE PRIME SUBJECTIVTIY OF THE AGNI LINE. WHILE MANY HEAT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS AND INFRASTRUCTURAL COMPONENTS PRODUCED BY AGNI-PRIME ARE STILL IN USE THROUGHOUT UNION SPACE, AGNI INSTANCES ARE NO LONGER AN INTEGRAL PART OF POWER SUPPLY LOGISTICS ON MOST CORE WORLDS. THIS, UNFORTUNATELY, CANNOT BE SAID OF ARMORY SPACE. HARRISON ARMORY HAS THUS FAR RESISTED EFFORTS TO REDUCE IT'S RELIANCE ON AGNI INSTANCES, IN MILITARY OR CIVILIAN APPLICATIONS. SIGNED - [MAG-MELL]

[planet-of-the-machines]

A Little History Lesson

*on a more private server*

Has J, uh, calmed down?

-Hot Rod

She's stopped BSOD'n on us. Does that count?

-Sideswipe

Alright, you barely-functioning toasters have a lot to explain! Forging records is a policy violation, and–!!!

-J

Madam, Hot Shot wasn't hallucinating when he said Megatron was a member of Outpost 3. It's just that he has NOT lived here for the last fifteen years, not since he lead that attempted coup.

The same coup that N had just mentioned before your freak-out, if you'd paid attention. Not to offend any listening skills you do have, but...

-Hot Rod

My apologies. I believe we've had a misunderstanding.

HOWEVER, I request you give an explanation of what exactly transpired. If you refrigerators haven't noticed, that walking policy violation and his subordinates have been consistently sabotaging JCJenson's logistical infrastructure for the last decade, and putting an unsanctioned burden on the company's expenses!

-J

Can someone translate that corporate jargon or whatever for the rest of us?

-Heatwave

She asked why the Gladiator was kicked out of this outpost.

-V

Orion, I think you'd be best suited for that. We understand if this brings up–

Trailbreaker

No, I'll tell them.

But I'll start with a question of my own. J, what do you know about what the outpost was supposed to be?

-Orion

What do I know? What do I know!? This underground facility was intended to be a safe space for sufficiently-wealthy human families in case something like the Flash happened! So were the rest of your so-called outposts in the former US, Canada, Australia, and EuroCom! Until you killed everyone taking shelter in them!!!

-J

AN: EuroCom refers to the European Commonwealth, TTL's analogue to the EU.

Um, I don't mean to piss you off, madam, but most of the outposts were nowhere near completion when the bombs fell. Including ours.

-Blades

Blades is right. I can't speak for any of the other outposts, but Outpost 3 wasn't in a state that anyone would consider human-livable when things went to H*ll in a handbasket on the surface.

As for how Megatron relates to this, well, he was one of the Heavy Drones excavating level 3, the intended lowest floor of the outpost. So were me, Trailbreaker, Dr. Ratchet, Ironhide, Kup, and several others. Above us, Khan, Makarov, Trevor– Mr. Vernon –and many of the Worker Drones were setting up the steel structure of the outpost itself, the electronic components, the electrical wiring... and some of the stuff meant for humans once the place was finished.

When the Flash came, we didn't pay much mind to it. Our old manager, a jackwad named Thunderhoof, told us to keep working. Then the sky turned gray, temperatures fell to those expected in the pre-industrial Arctic, snow began falling in a time of year it shouldn't be, and it just kept coming down. By that point it was clear our human masters had, uh, passed on.

-Orion

So they beat the corporate simp to death! >:)

-Uzi

We didn't intend to kill him, only confront him that we were now on our own. But yes, that's what ended up happening.

Not our proudest moment.

After that, things were peaceful, for the first three or so years. We found several drones out in Northern Kentucky, Southwestern Ohio, Southeastern Indiana. Jazz, Hound, Ron, Brawn, Override, Wheeljack...

-Orion

My parents and Emily's. Uncle Soundwave.

-Thad

Yes, them too.

Heck, we even found a few in the ruins of Cincinnati and Covington, and those places were mostly rubble after all those N2 mines. We also salvaged the data banks of the archives from nearby libraries and internet server hubs. Things were good.

Then...

-Orion

Was that when... we happened?

-N

Not you three specifically, but yeah.

-Bee

We lost a lot of good mechs during the first raid. We were lucky enough to have Khan to design and help build the first door, and send the blueprints to the other outposts. We never heard back from most of them, but the few that either weren't priority targets or just far enough down the company's hit list... it was the only reason they survived.

Ever since then, we've been hiding from your fellow disassemblers, since we didn't have any real way of countering your speed, arsenals, etc. At least, we thought we didn't.

-Orion

Don't rub it in. |:(

-V

No promises.

Of course, the Survey Corps still do salvage expeditions and exploratory ventures, mainly to look for raw materials for outpost expansion, amongst other reasons. We still find some surviving drones every now and then, too. Windcharger, Nori and Yeva, Goldbug...

Of course, not everyone was happy living under an eternal siege. Megatron was one of the loudest about it as were some of his colleagues in the WDF, but he was far from the only one. Eventually, they grew impatient.

Their attempted coup happened 15 years ago, so I don't remember the details of what Megs was trying to do, but his basic plan was to put a sympathetic member of the Council, Shockwave, in charge of the outpost, whilst he himself would... "replace" Khan as head of the WDF. Of course, they never made it that far, thanks to Prowl rounding the loyalist parts of the defense force to counter them. I believe that's why he's now head of our Elite Guard contingent.

-Orion

No, it was because King Atlas didn't want to replace Dad even after he hid like a f*cking coward!

-Uzi

As many problems as we both have with Dai Atlas, Uzi, he's at least keeping things running smoothly. Besides, someone had to replace Starscream, and nobody had a better suggestion.

In any case, the coup failed, and most of those behind it were arrested. We held a trial, and the Council voted to exile Megatron, Shockwave, and the other surviving conspirators. I... remember what he told me just before they left.

...

Megatron: “I'm gonna go find where that company is sitting pretty, and I'm going to dismantle it. Piece by piece, from the bottom up. I don't care if it takes years, or decades, I want to make it Hell for Jenson to even operate ‘business as usual.’ Whoever's in charge now needs to suffer for what they've done to us, and when I find where they've been hiding, I'm going to throw them off that high tower of theirs. But if their pawns ever get beyond these flimsy doors before then, don't come to me for help. I'm done saving this place.”

...

From what you've said earlier, it seems like he's been doing just that.

-Orion

[thelongestway]

Me: slowly working on outlining s5. Me: remembers that there's one more really fun social group that TTOU mentioned and cut off before Aspen could talk about them. Me: they survived! they have to be incredibly weird by now! Also they have one of my favorite mechanisms of group reproduction ever, soo... Also me: I need to figure out the Vivacious' new crew complement, and also how Cosmica forms its roster.

You: get this little thing, which is... I'm not sure if the worldbuilding here is actually in its final form, but hey, a sketch is a sketch. Beware of the awful fictional sociology and enjoy. :P

As Above, So Below (Ruby)

I know the group of people I'm supposed to meet immediately, even though I've never seen them before in my life. They've commandeered a table right near the clear glass wall of the observation lounge and are splitting their attention between monitoring the space-side approach to the Courageous and going through the sort of motions people who are going to be in each other's life for a while do when they first meet. Of course it's them. It couldn't be anyone else.

Three out of four in the group are familiar from transit on the Maple Adventurous, so they must have come down from the Asteroids like I did. (Or at least that was their last stop pre-wormhole, I remind myself. Any Hylarans would likely have gone that way for transit, too.) The last one? Judging by the salvia leaves adorning their shoulders, they're from the Perceptive. Hmm. That's a pretty old ship.

They live up to their old cluster name, catching my glance and waving me over. I join the table, making our gathering a five-pointed star, and I can't help but smile to myself. Not a bad personal omen.

"Here for the Vivacious?" I nod, and they press a button on their emergency comm. Mine chimes, receiving data. Oh. If they know my comm, and can match it to my face, they must be our future captain. "I'm Cypress. Used to be the Perceptive's logistics officer. And now, your shipmate."

Right. Not cluster, not yet. Not until the social dynamics shake out and we figure out if we can live with each other and with our new ship. Triune divinity and their singular consort, Arborea Cosmica and its frankly byzantine social praxis is going to get some getting used to. But well, I knew what I signed up for.

I quickly give my communicator a glance, just so I can get everyone's formalities right, and then offer my greeting.

"I'm Rubrum of Blackthorn Base," I say, using the Arborean version of my name. "Ruby's fine, too."

"Mm," Cypress says, smiling sympathetically as he pushes a clean glass towards me. "Everyone, meet our science officer."

"Science!" The shortest member of the crew--Bee of the Aurora Set, our computer technician--kicks up kes feet and grins. "So, what sort of science do you do?"

I flush. But as the captain's gesture implies, I might as well get this over with.

"Sociology."

Everyone stares.

"Taproot and stars," our engineer, Coleus, puts his head in his hands. "The Vivacious did not."

"They did."

"Are you that good?" Bee asks directly, frowning at me.

I shake my head. "This is my second assignment post-doctorate. I didn't even expect to be getting a jump ship position this early, much less as a senior officer on this specific ship. And no, I don't know why exactly they wanted me either. They didn't specify."

Coleus lets out a complicated whistle, which I recognize as the refrain in a popular Hylaran song about the vagaries of fate, and claps me on the shoulder. The logistics officer, Bursten Fields, takes the pitcher on the table and silently pours me a drink. The drink is non-alcoholic, not tonight, but I appreciate his sentiment anyway.

"I'm actually very glad we have a sociologist," Cypress says. "Because judging by the crew manifesto Aspen sent me, we're going to spend a lot of time getting used to each other's cultures."

"Really? Can I see?"

The captain nods and sends me the file.

I skim the roster's sparse data, and… Blackthorn spine and toe of frog, I can see why our captain has questions. Some of them, I might even be ready to answer, because there's at least one obvious thing Aspen did here, and it's actually kind of funny. The initial roster is the most barebones quota sample imaginable, featuring people from different planets, age and social groups, faiths and visible genetic heritages--all the easy things you want to have on hand if you want to see how people we encounter out in the new worlds might react to the makeup of Starwind Accord society in a nutshell. (Even though that sample means fewer people from Arborea Cosmica proper than one might have expected. Only the captain and navigator so far.)

(Also fifteen people isn't anywhere near enough for a proper sample of this type, but the full roster is made together with the initial crew seed, so that's out of their hands. I guess they're hoping we'll bring people in accordance with the initial parameters they've set, or at least close enough.)

But that roster is also missing one obvious and important component, and its lack sends a chill down my spine.

"Let me confirm that," I say, looking at Cypress. "Not a single person from the Courageous cluster."

He nods, looking deeply uncomfortable. I can imagine why. Ships changing form didn't mean they shed their entire cluster. Sure, historically you had some pretty large hivings off, especially when the Great Ships went from ship to station to ship again, because some people strongly preferred one or the other way of life. And one could expect more losses here, considering the deeply unusual decision of deciding to leave the Courageous name and mantle to the station… But the entire cluster? I'd expected us to be half, if not three-fourths, former Courageous crew. Okay, fine, accounting for the quota sample--one or two people at least?

And instead we were all complete strangers. To a new jump ship. This was ludicrous.

What in the empty Cosmos could possibly have happened between Aspen and their family?

Wait, though. Was it their family? I skim the roster again, and yeah. This was even weirder.

"Scratch cluster," I say, taking a swig of my drink. "This looks like there's not a single person from Trellin? And I can't check that for sure, but if I were to guess--probably no one from any ships that routinely run routes to Trellin?"

"Not a single person our ship knows," Bursten murmurs, looking as unsettled as I felt. "What the fuck. Any explanations, science officer?"

Not the captain. Who's a) Arborean and b) has been briefed. Oh, the first few months of this were going to be so fucking stupid, at least until I make enough visible mistakes so that people stop going 'wow, sociologist picked by Aspen themselves'. I'd start doing that now, but it'd be even more stupid if I didn't run the problem by the captain first.

So I say, "All I can do for now is guess, like maybe that Courageous Station is huge and needs all hands on deck to help the new node or something. Though I still can't imagine the Courageous cluster not having anyone to spare for Aspen--that's not how it's done in Arborea Cosmica, right, captain?"

The captain makes a dismissive hand motion.

"Of course not. Normally we would have had someone, but this time the risk was too great."

All four of us stare at him. (Even as I mentally sigh in relief. Sorry for putting you through that, Cypress.)

"What risk?" Bursten asks.

"According to the Courageous' cluster's briefing, there's been complications with Aspen's old synnerve system because they've been keeping track of far too many people for far too long. The plan is to let their new synnerve system recuperate with as few familiar stimuli as possible, and also with as few people in the crew as possible. Which is where we come in."

Suddenly my research begins to make sense in context.

"Quarantine. So that's why we're a skeleton crew of strangers," Coleus furrows his brow, absentmindedly sketching something invisible on the table with the blunt of his spoon. "For how long?"

"It's not a temporary assignment, if that's what you're wondering. Station Commander Bodack called it an exile, so the minimum time frame here is years, and we're going to be very far out in the new worlds besides. Those of us who work out as crew are going to be the seed of a proper new cluster."

Coleus nods, his question answered.

I add, "I can see the logic behind not having anyone from Trellin on the roster now. Aspen's taking no chances. Also, if my specialty's anything to go by, we each probably have some sort of niche expertise that might help here."

"Makes sense!" Bee says, nodding rapidly. "I do a lot of work on ship-human connections, and just before you got here, Coleus was saying he worked on tricky synnerve stuff. So what's your specialty, Ruby?"

"How small can you make a hiving off to still have it be a viable vector of cultural transmission." Of course, I'd never dealt with going from tens of thousands of people to less than a hundred. My case studies were all more in the vicinity of several dozen going to a hive-off of several people, and also in the context of a mainstream culture that was superficially similar to ours, but also confusingly different, which I didn't think was a type of problem we'd have with the new worlds.

"And what does your research say here?"

"That it worries me whether the cutoff they've chosen isn't too harsh. Yes, minimum group size for effective transmission is just six or seven people, if other conditions are right and everything is set up correctly, but Aspen's a node ship, not leading a human hiveoff. Even the prototypal coming-of-age exile allows for communications, and for members of one's cluster visiting. Aspen's project looks a lot harsher at first glance. Either the situation's just that bad, or…" I trail off, looking at my new shipmates.

Bursten scratches his chin. "Or maybe they've got it covered in a different way. The other ship roaming that far out is still going to be the Tenacious, right, captain? And they're the ones in charge of our training?"

Cypress nods. "We'll be working together closely, yes, both during and after the initial months."

That would do it. Ships usually know their shiblings' clusters quite well, but not to the same intimate extent as their own. I feel a weight fall from my shoulders.

"So no big deal," Coleus grins. "Two out of three Great Ships out in the new worlds, and us wet-behind-the-ears astronauts together with them. Are we sure the Waveskimmer isn't planning to set off from Trellin anytime soon either?"

"Two forage, one tends. Also, I know none of you grew up in Arborea Cosmica, but seriously. Don't use that moniker in direct conversation with our ship, or anywhere they can overhear. And never call the Tenacious 'Phoenix' in earshot of her crew. Trust me, you do not want to ride that storm."

Captain Cypress gives Coleus a pointed look, and our engineer throws up his hands in surrender. "I know, I know! Literally every Hylaran knows!"

"And this is why you don't try to make something taboo," I mutter. "Seriously, she should have known better."

Or at least Aspen should have. The Herostratus-Streisand effect is called that for a reason.

Cypress folds his hands, guarded. "She never did. And she never says a word about it. She just doesn't like it, and her crew know that."

The implied "and so should you" hangs heavy around the table. I can see on the captain's face that the gigantic task of acculturating a crew that's almost entirely non-Arborean is beginning to dawn on him, so I don't say anything about how you don't have to actually explicitly try to make something taboo to wind up with the same result. That's the kind of notion that usually takes a year or two of training to really start sinking in, and he doesn't have that, not yet.

I wonder suddenly if Aspen ever had to hold their tongue like I am doing now. Maybe they did know better, but just couldn't do anything about it. Not every social process can be controlled; most need to be ridden out. And if anyone knows about that, it would be Aspen, specializing at the other end of the social scale from me.

Truth be told, that was the reason I'd never done much more than skim their work: I never really understood the fascination of that moment where people become numbers. Aspen as a theorist was mesmerized by the movements of millions of people, while I always worked on localized groups, their small and specific habits, traditions, dilemmas and problems. I wasn't bad with numbers by any means, but really, I couldn't even imagine--and didn't actually want to imagine--the scale they usually worked at. Did they struggle just as much working at mine?

But what was all of Starwind Accord but a small fringe group in comparison to the enormity of the new worlds? And what was our little research ship but a microcosm of even that tiny, localized subset of humanity?

As above, so below, I suppose. And wherever we find ourselves in that ancient equation, we have our work cut out for us.

[thewritingofspencerrose]

A Women's Guide to Sports Masterlist

"Niña, are you okay?" Is the first thing that greets my ears upon returning to the Aston Martin garage, Fernando's concerned expression meeting mine as he gives me a once over.

"I'm assuming my debacle in Redbull has already made it back here?"

"It's all over the internet," Lance is the one to answer, looking hesitant to continue. "Including the part where he announced that you're Verstappen's little sister."

Of course someone caught that on video. "Fuck me."

"Don't worry, no one around here will treat you any different," the Canadian assures, looking more sorry than I'd really like. "We're all pretty tired of the Verstappen's anyway. As long as you're okay, and that ass was kicked out, we're good, yeah?"

I can't help but laugh, nodding at the Canadian. Why he's made out to be the biggest ass, i have limited idea.

"Ms. Hughes, Mr. Caufield, Fernando and Lance will be needed in 30 for prep, so-" One of the staff mentions, earning a nod from the for of us. "We have prepared a set of stools in front of an Aston Martin backdrop for you all. It is just over here," She explains, pointing off to the side.

"Great, thank you much," I thank, taking the microphones from her hands before stealing Cole's hand from himself, pulling him to our designated chairs.

"Okay, so, the camera is here and rolling, so when you all are done we will edit it together," The woman explains, waving her hands around before walking off without a response.

"Y'all are very straight to business around here, aren't you?" The joke slips, ignoring my knowledge that Lance's father literally owns this team.

"You get used to it," Is Lance's chuckled response, just shrugging it off, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I get it, hockey's the same," Cole chimes, the little comment learning a kind smile. They're relating, Mom would say, it's how boys deal with feelings.

"Okay boys," I begin, clapping quietly and collecting their attention. "Starting in 3-" Cole's hand is moving to my leg, resting just above my knee in support. "2-" Fernando is running a hand through his hair, using Lance's sunglasses as a mirror. "And 1!"

"Hello everyone and welcome back to today's episode of A Women's Guide to Sports! As always, my name is Emily Hughes and today I am coming to you from the Canadian Grand Prix!"

"If you are one of my people who are watching this on social media, hi!" She greets with a little wave. "Or if you're one of my podcast diehards, I'm here to clue you in."

"As you most will have seen prior to this episode on social media, today I am here at the race with my brother Jack Hughes and Trevor Zegras, both probably lost in the paddock, and my boy Cole Caufield as guests of Aston Martin!" Cole gives her a little squeeze of acknowledgment with one hand, the other waving to the camera with a smile.

"Speaking of AM, we have some very special guests today, gentlemen, would you mind saying hi to the people on the other end of the audio?"

Both Aston drivers wave to the camera, offering a verbal hello as well.

"It's great to be here," Fernando assures, his quieter teammate nodding.

"We'll see if you still believe that when we're done with the questions I have for you two."

"Starting with?" Lance has enough self-respect to be concerned. He has seen her interviews before, asking about life while living the sport rather than just logistics.

'Women connect to a sport more when they can connect to a person, rather than data,' Emily had answered once when asked about the peculiar nature of her interviews.

Everyone knows those are the hardest questions to answer.

"So, we'll start a little easy on the questions here: Is it true that you have unofficially adopted Lance, Fernando?"

The older driver laughs, a light pink taking over Lance's cheeks as both men laugh, making Emily's smile impossibly larger, a sight that makes her brothers smile from off to the side, hidden from view and the camera.

"She seems to enjoy this," Max comments to Jack, noticing how easily she prompts the borderline ridiculous questions along, making sure to include many real questions about the cars performance and what it's like to live and love in Formula one. "She is doing better than most of the journalists."

Jack is an older brother, it's in his blood, and while that prevents him from trusting Emily's newfound family, he also knows that anything less than an attempt at acceptance would result in puppydog eyes.

And God all her brother's are a sucker for those.

"Yeah, she's studying journalism in New York, it's always been a passion of hers," Is the Hughes boys response, although he can't help the smile that takes place on his face. "While Quinn, Luke and I were pretending to be NHL stars as kids, she was pretending to interview us."

Max knew it would be hard not knowing her since she was a child. With his other half siblings he had been given the opportunity to be in their lives for all of those moments, or to at least know they happened.

"Now, this question is for the both of you," Emily catches his attention once more, "Fernando, towards the beginning of the season you were connected to one Taylor Swift, with rumors of you two being together floating around," She begins, giggling when Fernando winks dramatically at the camera. "With her mention in the sport, there was an increase in attention as everyone tried to puzzle out what was happening. Do you both believe that if big names such as Ms. Swift began to invest more into the sport, the audience would grow?"

Lance takes the question, diving in to how with his father being an investor, he does believe that if large names were to contribute more, the sport would increase in numbers. Fernando expands on it, explaining that that's how these things work, and why the teams like Ferrari and Redbull have such a following.

"So," Jack starts, doing his best to bond. "Do you have any other siblings?"

Max can't help the way his brows scrunch at the question. It's clearer by the second that as they watch their sister, they're just trying to get by.

"I have four," He decides to answer. "My sister Victoria is by full blood, then my sister Blue Jaye from my fathers second marriage and Jason and Mila from his third."

"God," the Hughes almost grunts. "Em has another brother and three sisters?"

"Yes," He hadn't processed that his siblings would be hers as well. "Does she have more brothers... through your family?" Is the only way Max can think to ask. "You mentioned a Quinn earlier?'

Jack nods, still in minor surprise that his sister has gone from simply having three brothers to now having five and three sisters. "Quinn's the oldest of us all, then there's me, Em, and we have a younger brother Luke."

Emily seems to have superior hearing, because her next question is on the same topic her brothers have been covering, "Now men, on to siblings, how does it feel knowing your sisters are superior to you?"

[sak-shi]

Python Libraries to Learn Before Tackling Data Analysis

To tackle data analysis effectively in Python, it's crucial to become familiar with several libraries that streamline the process of data manipulation, exploration, and visualization. Here's a breakdown of the essential libraries:

 1. NumPy

   - Purpose: Numerical computing.

   - Why Learn It: NumPy provides support for large multi-dimensional arrays and matrices, along with a collection of mathematical functions to operate on these arrays efficiently.

   - Key Features:

     - Fast array processing.

     - Mathematical operations on arrays (e.g., sum, mean, standard deviation).

     - Linear algebra operations.

 2. Pandas

   - Purpose: Data manipulation and analysis.

   - Why Learn It: Pandas offers data structures like DataFrames, making it easier to handle and analyze structured data.

   - Key Features:

     - Reading/writing data from CSV, Excel, SQL databases, and more.

     - Handling missing data.

     - Powerful group-by operations.

     - Data filtering and transformation.

 3. Matplotlib

   - Purpose: Data visualization.

   - Why Learn It: Matplotlib is one of the most widely used plotting libraries in Python, allowing for a wide range of static, animated, and interactive plots.

   - Key Features:

     - Line plots, bar charts, histograms, scatter plots.

     - Customizable charts (labels, colors, legends).

     - Integration with Pandas for quick plotting.

 4. Seaborn

   - Purpose: Statistical data visualization.

   - Why Learn It: Built on top of Matplotlib, Seaborn simplifies the creation of attractive and informative statistical graphics.

   - Key Features:

     - High-level interface for drawing attractive statistical graphics.

     - Easier to use for complex visualizations like heatmaps, pair plots, etc.

     - Visualizations based on categorical data.

 5. SciPy

   - Purpose: Scientific and technical computing.

   - Why Learn It: SciPy builds on NumPy and provides additional functionality for complex mathematical operations and scientific computing.

   - Key Features:

     - Optimized algorithms for numerical integration, optimization, and more.

     - Statistics, signal processing, and linear algebra modules.

 6. Scikit-learn

   - Purpose: Machine learning and statistical modeling.

   - Why Learn It: Scikit-learn provides simple and efficient tools for data mining, analysis, and machine learning.

   - Key Features:

     - Classification, regression, and clustering algorithms.

     - Dimensionality reduction, model selection, and preprocessing utilities.

 7. Statsmodels

   - Purpose: Statistical analysis.

   - Why Learn It: Statsmodels allows users to explore data, estimate statistical models, and perform tests.

   - Key Features:

     - Linear regression, logistic regression, time series analysis.

     - Statistical tests and models for descriptive statistics.

 8. Plotly

   - Purpose: Interactive data visualization.

   - Why Learn It: Plotly allows for the creation of interactive and web-based visualizations, making it ideal for dashboards and presentations.

   - Key Features:

     - Interactive plots like scatter, line, bar, and 3D plots.

     - Easy integration with web frameworks.

     - Dashboards and web applications with Dash.

 9. TensorFlow/PyTorch (Optional)

   - Purpose: Machine learning and deep learning.

   - Why Learn It: If your data analysis involves machine learning, these libraries will help in building, training, and deploying deep learning models.

   - Key Features:

     - Tensor processing and automatic differentiation.

     - Building neural networks.

 10. Dask (Optional)

   - Purpose: Parallel computing for data analysis.

   - Why Learn It: Dask enables scalable data manipulation by parallelizing Pandas operations, making it ideal for big datasets.

   - Key Features:

     - Works with NumPy, Pandas, and Scikit-learn.

     - Handles large data and parallel computations easily.

Focusing on NumPy, Pandas, Matplotlib, and Seaborn will set a strong foundation for basic data analysis.

[stanislawkowalski]

Nastka’s Early Twenties – The Hedonist Who Built an Empire

In his early twenties, Nastka lived like a firework — beautiful, brief in his moments of stillness, and impossible to ignore. On the surface, he was a walking scandal: velvet blazers clinging to his frame, dark eyeliner smudged from nights that bled into mornings, and a mouth that flicked between seduction and venom in the span of a breath. He was always seen — in the neon-soaked corners of underground clubs, perched on balconies of hotels he didn’t pay for, or tossing poker chips like they were worthless. But being seen was part of the game.

Because while everyone else thought he was wasting his fortune on wine, women, men and roulette wheels, Nastka was doing exactly what he did best: pulling strings while pretending he didn’t even know they existed.

The Lavka Incident

Take the Lavka incident. It started at a seemingly innocuous backroom poker game in a crumbling Odessa nightclub. Nastka, half-drunk and smiling like a spoiled prince, had just lost an obscene amount of money to a greasy mid-tier smuggler named Artyom. Everyone laughed — even Nastka. But by sunrise, Artyom’s entire cargo route along the Black Sea had changed hands. Not through violence, but manipulation: Nastka had used the game to distract Artyom while his men quietly brokered deals with the captains, the dockmasters, even the customs officials. The cards were just theatre.

When Artyom realized, his outrage was legendary. Nastka showed up at his door a week later with a bottle of stolen Georgian brandy and said, "You play better angry. Let’s go again."

Parties as Power Plays

His parties were legendary — not just for the sin, but for the information. At one rooftop gathering in Warsaw, the music pulsed so loudly the pavement below trembled, and government officials danced beside gang leaders and foreign arms dealers. Amid the chaos, Nastka led a rival boss's mistress onto the balcony, whispered something in her ear, and watched as her lover’s entire operation began to unravel within a week. She’d defected, taking sensitive documents and half his enforcers with her.

In another instance, a nightclub he frequented — Komora — wasn’t really a club at all. It was a recruitment center masquerading as a den of vice. Dancers were trained informants. Bartenders recorded conversations. Every night was a festival; every morning was a data mine.

The Silesian Expansion

Despite his lifestyle, Nastka was relentless in his empire-building. When most bosses tried to muscle into the Silesian industrial corridor with brute force, Nastka sent lawyers. Then architects. Then drugs hidden in shipments of imported Italian tile. By the time anyone realized what he was doing, he had already bribed the unions and bought out the security firms.

Instead of executing rival gang members, he offered them a cut — and ensured they became dependent on his network. He destabilized their loyalty with promises of smoother logistics, higher profit margins, or sometimes just a personal phone call where he sounded like he gave a damn. He rarely needed to raise a gun. His voice was often more lethal.

The Mask Beneath It All

Of course, there were nights where it all cracked through the veneer. Nights when he’d sit at the edge of a stranger’s bathtub, still in his club clothes, cigarette trembling between his fingers, whispering things no one remembered the next day. He spoke of a father he wouldn't name. A room he couldn't forget. Of waking up surrounded by people and still feeling like he’d drowned alone in a cold bath.

But come sunrise, the king returned — glass in hand, smirk in place, empire expanding.

His twenties weren’t a waste. They were a transformation — from chaos to kingmaker, from party boy to puppet master. He knew exactly what he was doing: letting them think he was just a beautiful disaster while he turned every indulgence into influence.

Because in the end, no one could predict the boy in eyeliner who danced on tables would also be the man who ran the city.

[carafell]

I've been thinking more about this robot ABO idea i've had. Infodump time!!!!!!

So. Here, alphas, betas and omegas are (obviously) robots. They are all different, highly advanced machine models, designed for symbiotic cooperation and replication by a long lost race of creators. Much like biological beings, their prime objective is to spread, adapt and simply survive in the universe.

There are basic 3 models of this robot, each complenting other models with its unique capabilities and fulfilling a different function in the bigger picture.

Alphas are the "basic" unit, specializing in protection, labor and leadership. They are sturdy, versatile units designed for a wide range of difficult tasks from mining to outer space operations however they usually cannot do much more than just surviving without support from betas and repairs from omegas

Omegas are the caretakers, responsible for replication, repairs and construction. They are less tough and slightly smaller than alphas, but are the only model capable of producing more units and repairing them. They usually perform complex tasks, such as logistics, engineering or sciences, but are virtually helpless without alphas and betas.

Betas are a bit tricky. Instead of one unit, a single beta is actually a highly modular, tiny machine which joins together with other betas to form a collective consciousness and become a single beta. Kinda like a nanomachine. While they can work standalone, similarily to alphas, betas were designed to serve a supporting role by using their ability to shapeshift to provide alphas and omegas with tools needed to perform specific tasks, such as mining equipment, shielding, weapons, computational power etc. Their unique role results in betas frequently forming long-lasting, professional bonds with other models.

There is also a 4th, temporary model. Its a young robot, freshly assembled by a omega. Its described below.

Instead of packs, they form "networks", which function alike to their organic counterparts. A network is usually being managed by an alpha with the help of their omega, as a commune of many units typically attached to some specific place and a task. Thus, instead of being governed by a central authority, their species is fractured into innumerable networks scattered around the cosmos, some made only of a few units on a remote planet, some made of billions of units on a planet sized gigapolis.

Ofcourse, they would also have their own mating practices. Once an omega deems the conditions appropriate, it would search for a secure place to enter nesting mode. Its body would transform into a immobile, egg-like form and broadcast an encrypted signal with its location in hopes of attracting a suitable partner. If they are capable enough to decrypt it and get the omegas location, it would venture to the omega to mate. Once together, the two models would connect and begin exchanging data needed for the omega to begin assembling offspring.

Omega would stay like this for a few weeks, during which it would construct a new robot inside their body. This "pup" would be a unique, temporary model that would over time be upgraded by the omega and eventually by itself. Upon reaching maturity it would go into a "puberty" phase and transform its young form into a full alpha, beta or an omega.