#Want to write the full extent of Apollo freaking out

[characteroulette]

Some shots from @detective-piplup's excellently sad fic which got me like woooaaahhh.

I'm sure it's fine, Apollo, you're freaking out over nothing. :3

[jonathanalumbaugh]

Weekly Digest

Dec 23, 2017, 4th issue.

A roundup of stuff I consumed this week. Published weekly. All reading is excerpted from the main article unless otherwise noted.

Read

When women are discussed on the main economics discussion forum, the conversation moves from the professional to the personal...

Even with generous subsidies, low-income people are still unlikely to buy health insurance...

Managers are biased negatively against minority workers, and this, in turn, makes the minority workers perform worse...

Living standards may be growing faster than GDP growth...

The World Bank’s $1-a-day poverty line inadequately deals with local context, and a better measure can be derived through more complicated math...

Decriminalizing sex work makes it safer and more common...

Poor kids who grow up in rich neighborhoods do a lot better than poor kids who grow up in poor ones...

Better trained doctors mean fewer opioid related deaths...

After a bad outcome, female surgeon’s referrals went down much more than male surgeons...

The average worker does not value an Uber-like ability to set their own schedule...

Foreign finance has led to more inequality...

Preschool programs targeted at the poor don’t work nearly as well as universal pre-school programs...

Shocks to the economy in certain sectors can have larger effects on the entire economy than previously thought...

— 13 economists on the research that shaped our world in 2017

Comments section: Pilote345 - NO WONDER: Recently, the pilots' pay was less than it was in the 1980's. They might be trying to improve, but for example, I just now found Allegiant Air found pays MD-80 1st Officers $34,440.00, not much more than the $15/hour crowd wants for starting burger flippers.

— Airlines battle growing pilot shortage that could reach crisis levels in a few years

— APOLLO 10 0N BOARD V0ICE TRANSCRIPTION

Under Schmidt’s leadership, Google notched its fair share of not-quite-not-evil missteps. After getting everyone hooked on Gmail and Search, the company started to erode some of its original privacy promises.

— Be Kind of Evil

“People want to cast it as a choice between policy or technology as a solution but those should exist hand-in-hand. We would have never gotten renewable energy prices where they are today without really ambitious public policy. It shows the importance of bold goals,” Brown says.

— California Poised To Hit 50% Renewable Target A Full Decade Ahead Of Schedule

“Keep your phone away from your body,” the state health department writes. “Although the science is still evolving, some laboratory experiments and human health studies have suggested the possibility” that typical long-term cell phone use could be linked to “brain cancer and tumors of the acoustic nerve,” “lower sperm counts,” and “effects on learning and memory.”

— California says the only safe way to talk on your cell phone is to text

Developer infatuation with Chrome is not good — because competition between browsers is good.

— Chrome is Not the Standard

The initial physical deployment of 5G networks alone could pack a major economic punch. A 2017 Accenture report forecasts the cellular communications industry will invest $275 billion in new networks, which will create up to 3 million jobs and add some $500 billion to the United States’ gross domestic product. Longer term, researchers expect the new 5G networks to help stimulate productivity growth to rates not seen since the 1950s.

— The Coming 5G Revolution

In early tests, the company claims the feature helped to reduce ghosting behavior on its service by 25 percent.

— Dating app Hinge rolls out a new feature to reduce ‘ghosting’

Liberated from the diamond and pointing calmly eastward, perhaps a designer’s pure intent is revealed—direction for an otherwise aimless walk in the woods.

— Decoding the Mysterious Markers on the Appalachian Trail

Trade the ginkgo biloba for a bag of spinach during your next stop at the store: Leafy greens may be your best resource for boosting memory... The study involved 960 people, all between 58 and 99 and without dementia. Everyone enrolled in the study was part of the Memory and Aging Project, which has been ongoing since 1979 at the Knight Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at Washington University.

— EATING SALAD EVERY DAY KEEPS BRAINS 11 YEARS YOUNGER AND PREVENTS DEMENTIA, STUDY SHOWS

— Edward Snowden on Twitter

Commander Persera swam out into intergalactic space last week, she says in a forum post, piloting a ship called the Jack of Flames. The reason for the trip is simply to go further from Sol than anyone else (a previous record was set by one Commander Deluvian, who travelled 65,652 lightyears from Sol along a similar route). But also, she says, to bring a canister of mugs from the infamous Hutton Orbital space station into the void and leave them there. Just because.

— Elite Dangerous pilots are scrambling to rescue an explorer stranded in the void between galaxies

[Eminem says] that he's not making his music for other artists who aren't fans to begin with.

— Eminem Responds to Vince Staples’ Criticism of Him

Reports so far claim the spec will offer support for low, mid, and high-band spectrum from below 1 GHz (like 600 and 700 MHz) all the way up to around 50 GHz while including the 3.5 GHz band. It’s been said that the first 5G networks for consumers will begin rolling out in 2019 and this will continue throughout 2020.

— First 5G Specification has been Declared Complete by the 3GPP

As Brian and his wife wandered off toward the No. 2 train afterward, it crossed my mind that he was the kind of guy who might have ended up a groomsman at my wedding if we had met in college. That was four years ago. We’ve seen each other four times since. We are “friends,” but not quite friends. We keep trying to get over the hump, but life gets in the way.

— Friends of a Certain Age

Comment section: Blaming Amazon for this is wrong. The people make a choice to work for them. This is an indictment on our society that forces these people to have to work. Amazon isn’t a charity that should have to take care of people. But it’s all of us who are to blame.

— A Glimpse Inside CamperForce, Amazon's Disposable Retiree Laborers

Effective filmmakers, no matter their genre or taste, put their fingers in the air, feel for a current, and then make art that either complements or pushes against it. They distill the world they live in, which is why there’s no such thing as an apolitical film.

— How Big Screen Sci-Fi and Horror Captured 2016’s Political Paranoia

The Legislative Analyst’s Office predicts California will eventually make more than $1 billion annually from taxing recreational marijuana.

— HOW RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA IN CALIFORNIA LEFT CHEMISTS IN THE DARK

What makes for an effective office environment? Random encounters with your coworkers. And food. Lots and lots of food.

— How to Build a Collaborative Office Space Like Pixar and Google

Fidelity suggests having your yearly income saved at 30, three times your income at 40, seven times your income at 55, and 10 times your income at 67.

— How Much Should You Have Saved at Every Age?

HCI (human-computer interaction) is the study of how people interact with computers and to what extent computers are or are not developed for successful interaction with human beings.

— Human-computer interaction, from University of Birmingham

The company says it is now focused on “on developing and investing in globally scalable blockchain technology solutions,” but, as reported by Bloomberg, it has exactly zero partnerships in the works with crypto firms

— Iced Tea Maker's Stock Price Triples After Adding 'Blockchain' to Name”

9 “Should you invite someone who assaulted you to your wedding.” No.

— It Came From The Search Terms: “I Can See The Sun In Late December”

The best way to cook a steak is medium rare. Plenty of people will disagree with this statement, for different reasons.

— Medium Rare: The Best Way to Cook a Steak

It sounds like it was made by an algorithm. It checks off so many boxes it could land in anyone’s “Because you watched” recommendations.

— Netflix’s first big movie “Bright” feels like a blockbuster built by an algorithm

State law that is rarely invoked requires tied elections to be settled by “lot.”

— Oyster shucking? A duel? No, Virginia will pull a name from a film canister to settle tied election

— Parents give teacher wine with son's face on label

— Reggie Watts: Fuck Shit Stack

— Reggie Watts: Humor in music

Self-efficacy is defined as a personal judgement of "how well one can execute courses of action required to deal with prospective situations".

— Self-efficacy (Wikipedia)

The problem Haven aims to address is known as an “evil maid” attack. Basically, many of the precautions you might take to protect your cybersecurity can go out the window if someone gains physical access to your device.

— Snowden's New App Turns Your Spare Android Phone into a Pocket-Sized Security System

After doing a lot of online research and making a terrible mess, I thought I could make a tutorial for humble people like me. If I can do it, you can do it too.

— The Ultimate Guide to DIY Screw Post Book Binding

The robot obediently appeared in the distance, floating next to Miller. Miller then walked into the same space as the robot and promptly disappeared. Well, mostly disappeared, I could still see his legs jutting out from the bottom of the robot. My first reaction was, “Of course that’s what happens.” But then I realized I was seeing a fictional thing created by Magic Leap technology completely obscure a real-world human being. My eyes were seeing two things existing in the same place and had decided that the creation, not the engineer, was the real thing and simply ignored Miller, at least that’s how Abovitz later explained it to me.

— We Need to Talk About Magic Leap's Freaking Goggles

What’s this mistake so many make? It’s using your current job title as your headline.

— What Your LinkedIn Headline Reveals About Your Self-Confidence At Work

With the Dec. 14 repeal, Comcast and others will be able to charge content companies exorbitant fees without, technically, blocking. This fundamentally changes how the internet works, argues Ryan Singel, a fellow at the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School.

— What will happen now that net neutrality is gone? We asked the experts

The story [Cat Person] stuck with me because I, too, have felt like the story’s main character, Margot. I have belittled myself to make a man in a vulnerable situation feel more comfortable. I have allowed myself to spend time with boys who I did not like that much but who I felt I owed my time to because they really liked me. And I have also taken part in the practice of ghosting- ignoring somebody who is texting me, instead of outright rejecting them. With time, I have gotten much better at being straightforward when someone is interested in me and the feeling is not reciprocated, but I still do the dance many women do: We exert energy into finding the most polite, passive way to get ourselves out of uncomfortable situations with men.

— Why Women Are Ghosting You

[hiekkis-blog1]

Sun god Prompto

This is a FF XV/Percy Jackson Au no-one asked for. I was listening to Prompto’s voice actor Robbie Daymond reading The Trials of Apollo, The Hidden Oracle, and I came up with this silly Au. Listening to that voice being vain, self centered and whiny was wayyyy too fun. 

Not betaed, all mistakes mine. Also, apparently I can’t write anything in this fandom without turning it into promnis. Rated T.

Sun god Prompto

“How is he doing?” Gladio voiced their common concern when the doctor left their shared bedroom. Ignis was unaccountably silent and Noctis was guilt ridden, leaving the shield to speak.

 “He’s had a severe electric shock, yet he has managed to escape severe burns. I suggest that you keep an eye on him for tonight. He should wake up sometime tonight or tomorrow at the latest. If he doesn't wake up by mid-day, bring him to the hospital. He'll need an IV for nourishment. However, I doubt things will progress that far." Doctor didn't mention that a recent surge of daemon and magitek attacks had filled the hospital to full capacity, and they really didn't have time or space for a patient who absolutely didn't need to be there. "I've seen a lot worse burns on the power plant workers. Your friend should be fine with some rest. Full extent of his possible neural damage is impossible to say while he hasn't regained his consciousness. We'll do a checkup in the hospital just in case."

 “Thank you, doctor." Ignis managed to say.

 "How did you say your friend got injured?" doctor queried. They had somehow avoided the specifics earlier, when they had returned to Lestallum and Leville after a hunt gone horribly wrong.

 "A hunting accident with some coeurls" Ignis replied.

 They had been fighting against a pack of vicious coeurls when the magiteck troops had joined the fray. The fight had dragged on and on until Noctis had managed to attain some godly help from the Astrals. They had been relieved when they had seen the Fulgurian's silhouette loom in the sky, but their reprieve had turned in to horror when, in addition to magiteks and monsters, the thunder god had attacked their gunner. Prompto had been sprinting though the fight when the lightning bolt hit him square in the chest and had expanded all around him, killing all their enemies. Ignis had run to his boyfriend’s side while the earth was still blackened and crackling, elixir on the ready. The fight was over, but Noctis had been too shocked to do anything. Even an elixir hadn't done more than a first aid. Prince's best friend didn't regain consciousness and Gladio had to carry him back to Regalia. Noctis had broken all speed limits while driving them back.

"He's going to be okay?" Noctis asked, hating how weak his voice sounded. He hadn't meant for the Astral to blast his friend. Usually only his spells did that and they never did this much damage. The Astrals were supposed to have a much better finesse with this kind of thing! They had never targeted his friends before.

 "I can see no physical reason why not. As I said, just give him some time. He got shocked so recently that it is a miracle if he wakes up before tomorrow anyway." The doctor left after making them promise to bring Prompto in tomorrow, when they would be better prepared to receive him at the hospital. Ignis was unhappy with the result, even though a very small voice in his head that was always on top of their monetary situation was pointing out the tiny bright side. He didn't want to think about money when his loved one needed medical attention. But his elixir had helped, right? That was why there hadn't been any physical damage and doctor could be so relaxed. She had said it. No any visual physical damage and exhaustion wasn't any news when it came to relying on healing items. Prompto was just resting.

 *  * *  *  *

 Apollo woke up feeling miserable. Everywhere hurt and he had a splitting head ached. On the positive side, he was in a soft, queen sized bed, and he had someone in the said bed with him. It was dark, so the headache wasn't aggravated by more light. He turned around to see a man, taller than he was, with a tawny hair and beautiful face, had draped his arm around his waist. Well, this certainly an improvement to the last time he had been exiled to be a mortal. Maybe his father truly loved him for allowing him such a companion from the very beginning of this punishment.

 There was a rustling noise coming from another bed he hadn't noticed earlier. In the dim light he could make out the shapes of two more young men. Bigger one had some truly spectacular inkwork in his skin. He would be more than happy to experiment and explore everywhere on that fine sculpture of a male anatomy. After all, he loved the arts. Maybe these men were muses in male form? He would have to find out later.

 Carefully he slipped out from under the arm holding him loosely. Or tried to, at least. The arm around him tightened, holding him tighter against a nicely toned chest. This was off to a good start! He turned around to give a languid kiss to a stranger in his bed.

 "Hello gorgeous," he muttered when the man answered his kisses, held him closer, then jerked back.

 "Prompto? How are you feeling?" the man asked, retreating a bit and scrutinizing him.

 "Hush, I’m feeling fine. Let me taste those lips." Apollo leaned back to kiss him. Man was certainly handsome and had his priorities in order. It had been a while since a mortal's first words had been over his welfare. Oh yes, this was certainly an improvement.

 Except the handsome stranger drew back and help him at arm’s length, his shiny green eyes suspicious. "What are you doing? Noct and Gladio are in the same room with us."

 "Doesn’t bother me" Apollo smiled lazily. "They can join us in pleasure if they so please."

 "You're not yourself." the man reached for the nightstand and took a pair of spectacles that had been resting over it. He scrambled out of bed and lit a small lamp. Soft glow filled the room and Apollo could admire his reluctant lover. They were lovers, right? But why would they be wearing pajamas if they were? The other man must be shy then, due to the other men's sleeping presence.

 "You’re up to speed fast. Are you shy? I can make them sleep undisturbed until the morning if that's the case."

 “Prompto. In the name of The Six, what the hell is wrong with you?” Now spectacled man pulled away. He sounded angry. That couldn’t be. Finding a half-naked sun god in your bed shouldn’t be upsetting, it should be joyous. Apollo stretched lazily and sat up.

 “It’s like you said. I’m not the usual habitant of this body. I’m Apollo.” His declaration made his companion dumbstruck. Naturally, now that they knew who he was, they’d be awestruck and provide him with pleasing sacrifices and offer to fulfill his every whim. Curious, the man didn’t get on his knees, but sat on the bed and put his hand very gently on his forehead.

 “The doctor never mentioned any psychological problems as a side effect.” He mumbled in a quiet voice. Apollo felt humiliated and slapped the hand away.

 “I’m the god of sun, arts and healing. I can assure you, I don’t have a psychological disorder.” He rose from the bed as gracefully as he possibly could, only trip over the cover that was laying on the floor. He could feel his cheeks burning from embarrassment. “I see my presence upsets you. Let no one say I’m not gracious or sensitive. I’ll be in the bathroom while you can collect yourself.” So saying he rose from the floor and left the room. He felt shaky and dizzy. What had this body been doing?

 Light bulb showed a pathetic small bathroom. No gold or fresh flowers anywhere. What a dump. Apollo washed his face and reached for a towel hanging from a railing over a bath tub. He peered at the foggy mirror.

 Slowly he let the towel drop and leaned over to watch closer, wiping the fog away from the mirror. This couldn’t be happening.

 *  * *  *  *

 In the other room, Noctis and Gladio woke up to a blood curdling scream. Both stumbled out of the bed battle ready, summoning weapons and looking for the threat. Had the MT’s attacked the hotel? Was Loqi on their trail? Ignis was already running to the bathroom, and yanked the door open to find shirtless Prompto covering his face and staring wide eyed at the mirror.

 “NO! DON’T LOOK AT ME!!!”

 “Prompto!” Noctis barreled inside. “Man, are you all right? What happened?”

 “DON’T LOOK AT ME, I’M HIDEOUS!”  Everyone froze, not believing their eyes. Prompto sobbed. “I have a face and body of a monster. These blemishes are everywhere!” Noctis was amused by his friends problem, mainly because he was so relieved to find his best friend had finally woken up.

 “Dude, you’ve always had freckles. Iggy loves them.” A cough from the advisor. “Why are you freaking out? It’s nothing you haven’t seen before.”

 “Then this ‘Iggy’ has a remarkably bad taste. This body is hideous! It’s short and has a flab instead of my eight pack! It still has ZITS!!!” Prompto had leaned over the sink and wailed again as he saw his visage. One of those spots was definitely a red spot. “And will you look at these arms? These are not the arms of the best archer in the universe. They are way too weak!” Gladio had joined them and looked at the blonde wailing at the glass.

 “Knock it off blondie. You know how we react to false alarms.” Gladios’s voice was harsh. “This isn’t a right time for your sudden drama.” Prompto made a rude humph sound.

 “Like expected from a son of Ares.” Gladio’s face turned in to a grimace. He never talked about his dead father and didn’t appreciate his dad being called names. Even when he didn’t understand the reference. “And these scars! Stretchmarks are just as unacceptable as flab. Despicable!”

 “Scars are just another kind of memory…” Ignis tried to quote Prompto’s own philosophy back at him, but he sounded angry. Only Noct had heard Ignis that angry. Ignis has balled his hands in to fists, trying to hold on to the last shreds of his self-control.

  “Dude, why are you talking like a videogame character?” Noctis beat Gladio for an answer.

 “He has been acting out of character ever since he woke up. I think we should take him to hospital sooner later than later. Maybe the lightning bolt triggered a schizophrenia or there must be some other reasonable explanation.” Ignis turned to Noctis, pointedly not looking at his boyfriend.

 “I’m not acting out of character and I don’t need to go to a hospital! I doubt this little backwater town has a hospital of such renown that any of my children work here.” Propmto huffed when Ignis ignored him. “Silly mortals, who do you think I am?”

 “Until this night, we thought you were our friend.” Gladio growled. “Who do you think you are?”

 “I am Apollo. The sun god. Patron of music, archery and healing.”

 “That’s a character from the Percy Jackson games.” Noctis recognized. “Knock it out, Apollo was always so annoying.”

 “What!?” Apollo squeaked, indignant. “You have a game of Olympian gods and it’s named after a demigod? No, no, no! It should be The Amazing Adventures of Apollo.”

 “Noctis, pray tell what is going on. You seem to be only one understanding his nonsense.” Ignis was pinching the bridge of his nose.

 “It’s a RPG. Main character is this dude, Percy, who finds out he is half a god and he goes to this camp Half Blood, where everyone is a demigod.” Noctis’s sleepiness evaporated when he started talking about his games.

 “That place exists. My children have been trained there.” Apollo commented but was ignored.

 “Basically, the game is about his adventures when he tries to save the world from destruction. Trying to make all the selfish and arrogant gods cooperate isn’t easy. It’s like they want to die.”

 “HEY!” Apollo protested.

 “Are these so called gods The Astrals?” Ignis inquired.

 “Nah, they’re make believe. They’re called god’s of Olympus and they are like a really big, crazy family. Their leader is Zeus, a thunder god. Kind of Like Ramuh except he likes to have kids with all weird creatures.”

 “Can we please not talk about my dad’s sex life? Or call my whole my family make believe while were at it?” Apollo whined. “This mortal thing is way too embarrassing to begin with, you don’t have to try and make it worse with your ignorance.”

 “Do you think this is because of the lightning bolt?” Gladio asked Ignis and Noctis, completely ignoring the whiney blonde.

 “Definitely, we need to get him to hospital as soon as possible. He could be danger to himself at this point.” Ignis declared. “We should take him now.”

 “But what if he is right and this actually is Apollo and not Prompto? Is it possible that the Fulgurian could have changed them?” That led to a long argument between the three of them. Ignis refused to entertain even slightest possibility, that his boyfriend’s body had just changed the hosts. Noctis pointed out that Apollo was also a god of prophesy, and he really could use some help with one. Gladio asked Apollo to prove his godhood so they could solve this. That led to Apollo punching Gladio’s shoulder and then freaking out that his super strength was gone. He had also bruised his knuckles with the punch and Ignis ended up dragging him to the Hospital in the middle of the night.

  AN: I have no idea where I’m going with this one, if this will stay as a one shot or morph into a longer fic. If you like it, let me know! I’m also open for prompts for this one.