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ahandfullofreviews · 2 years ago

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Review: Outer worlds

Outer worlds is a game where you take the helm of a colonist by the name of YOU.

In outer worlds you are the captain now. Literally, you become a ship captain like 10 minutes in.

Pick a side in this war between communism and capitalism. Don't ask why those are the only 2 sides.

Overview:

After getting stolen from your colony ship and getting rudely waken out of cold storage, you immediately are jettisoned onto planet 4546B Terra 2. You crush your chaperon upon landing. He's dead now, and there's nothing you can do to prevent it. You've landed on top of a mountain. As you make your way down you run into the copy-and-paste enemies from borderlands, canids, ratatatatas, ratatatatatatatatatatatatas, and a guy who goes by the name of Icompletleyforgothisnamebutyoudon'trunintohimagain. He's injured. If you help him he'll give you his gun. He's also contractually obligated to say the slogan of his company or else he'll be killed. That is quite literally what the in-game reason is.

After making your way down the mountain, you come across Hawthornes ship and the police.

You ignore them entirely and go inside the illegally parked vessel.

It is here that you meet the first thing you can't mercilessly kill, ADA (Autonomous Digital Astrogator). She's pissed and mistakes you for a miscreant.

You decide to work together because you need to get a vat of something, and ada needs to fly. However, there is a catch. YOU you can't issue orders to ADA because you aren't captain Hawthorne (the guy you crushed) so you have to say you're Hawthorne in disguise in order for ada to accept you as the captain.

You exit the ship and the constables want to talk to you.

You can either

A: end the convo asap

B calmly explain what happened

C: threaten wanton violence

D: Bullshit your way out of a ticket

After you make a decision you're attacked by *checks notes* the unemployed

Jesus christ this game is just a fuckload of propaganda isn't it

You make your way to edgewater to get a *checks notes* power converter.

It is here you meet the guy I hate the most. I hate him SO much I forgot his name. He tells you that edgewater only has the 1 converter and it's not for sale. However if you force people out of there homes you CAN take 1 from the botanical garden.

The botanical garden tells you the same thing. And it is here that the choice is made.

My actual thoughts:

Side quests and companions are what make the game fun. And boy howdy does this game deliver on those fronts.

The side quests are amazing. They're all an easy difficulty and you never feel like you're repeating what you're doing from another quest. One of my favorite side quests is apparently a mandella effect cause I couldn't find any mention of it on the wiki.

For companions you get

A janitor

The only character in this game who never passes the Bechtel test even tho they totally could

The space pope

Drunk & disorderly

Dangerously close to copyright infringement

Medic from TF2

My favorite? If I were to say you'd all hate me

Final thoughts:

It's good. Gives me a nice space western fallout 3, with character writing where their personalities all feel natural. Even when it's lgbt. Memorable weapons, an easy to follow story, and the only game I've ever played where I didn't constantly feel like my character missed out on a far more exciting time in the lore.

Just a few questions

Why are there no children. Is it the corporations? System limitations?

I'm almost positive there were supposed to be cars at one point.

What exactly is "saltuna"

Final rating:

9.8/10!

Jokes that I couldn't fit in:

You have to go to the planet formerly known as Terra 1

And you call them fried sprats, despite the fact they are obviously grilled

Too many covid-19 jokes. To the point where it just felt wrong.

None of the safety gear works anymore. If only I could, Idk, use some of it to bypass dangerous areas

You go to jail. You go directly to jail. You do not pass Byzantium. You do not collect 200 credits.

At the bottom of the pit you find spratman

In this room you either find the chairman or the ghosts of communism past, present, and future. Depending on which side you took.

The final boss is something that can be so easily defeated I don't think it would meet the qualifications

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andthebubbles · 2 years ago

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tagged by @rainbowintheskyf1 thank you so much!

Rules: post the first lines of your last 10 fics posted to AO3. (Sort by date posted.) If you have less than 10 fics posted, post what you have.

1. Through Life and Death (and In Between)

At twenty-seven, Seb has never seen fireworks before in his life.

“I know what they are though, obviously,” he says a tad crossly when Kimi holds out his hand to help him up to the deck of their private boat. “It’s all stored up here,” he taps his head.

2. Love In All Its Forms

“It’s for you,” Rianna says proudly from her usual spot sat against her dad’s hip, holding out a paper-wrapped package to Uncle Sebastian when he greets them at the front door. In the garden behind her the flowers and bees are out, summer in full swing, and Uncle Sebastian lights up like the sun.

3. Chicken Out

Kimi knows he’s in trouble when the newborn chick he watched hatch in the incubator starts following him around Seb’s house.

“It’s your chicken,” he complains to Seb a few hours later when he finds him hiding in the study. “Why is it following me?”

4. Miss You, Love You

Kimi isn’t a writer, but when Sebastian leaves for testing in the lead-up to the new season which Kimi isn’t a part of anymore, he starts hearing the beginnings of a letter to his boyfriend in his head.

5. Six Feet From Ice

The new guy in student housing is ruining Kimi’s sleep again. He can hear his sobbing at night through the thin walls, his keening when it gets too much and he’s struggling to breathe. They’re familiar sounds to Kimi, there were plenty of other kids in the Institute’s boarding school sounding just like that on their first few days in a strange new place—and maybe Kimi had been the same way too when he first arrived here as barely a teenager. He’s pretty sure he was never that loud though.

6. Better Than Snow

“Kimi, look, it’s snowing!” Sebastian leaps out of bed like Kimi wasn’t just resting his head on his lap and runs to the window. “Look!”

Kimi rolls onto his stomach, annoyed at losing his comfy spot on Sebastian before starting to smirk. “Yeah, I’m looking.” He’s looking at Sebastian’s arse, that is.

7. Pick-Up Fines

“I wasn’t speeding,” Sebastian says immediately when he’s pulled to the side of the road and the cop just stares at him through the window. “Honest,” he adds, squirming.

“Hmm,” the cop says and starts writing his speeding ticket anyway. Sebastian’s face falls.

8. Cravings

Sebastian waddles into the kitchen at midnight, feeling fat but craving caviar. He opens the fridge to search for it but there’s nothing there, and nothing in the pantry either, and nothing on the little shelf where they keep cooking oil and sauces. Obviously.

Feeling put-out, Sebastian goes back to bed and wakes his husband up. “Kimi,” he says, whining, “I want caviar.”

9. True Love's Kiss

One day, Seb wakes up pocket-sized. Kimi stares at him under the covers in their bed and pokes him just to see if he’s real, and naked Seb tumbles backwards into his normal-sized clothes.

“Kimi!” he yelps.

10. Project 22

Dear Mr. Vettel,

I am delighted to inform you that you have successfully passed the screening process for Project 22. Congratulations! As you probably know, you are one of the 22 carefully selected applicants from a pool of over 300 to journey into outer space looking for a new colony for Earth.

tagging: @wolfsbanesbite @s-vettel @helenvader @vettesebas @lucktofate if you want to do it (no pressure!) and anyone else who wants to do it too <3

#tag game #fic talk

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carrieneuman · 3 years ago

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Independence Day

Deborah pulled on her jean skirt for the last time. Her bag was full of pants, all the rage in the outer colonies. Rumor had it they even let women wear shorts, showing their legs, but she wasn’t sure she believed that.

She brushed her long hair one more time. There was a salon on the ship that offered haircuts as soon as they were 40,000 kilometers up, outside Earth jurisdiction. She already had her appointment.

Deborah double checked her reflection. Sleeves to mid-biceps. No visible collarbones. Absolutely no midriff showing. Skirt below the knee. Legal to wear here in Texas on her way to the spaceport.

Her nerves were taut at the counter. She had heard of women’s tickets being canceled, no reason given. She waited anxiously while her mandatory cross necklace slid through the x-ray machine and security guards stared at her without it. She had never realized before how much she leaned on the state regalia to feel safe.

The wait at the gate was even worse. Hers must be another refugee flight; they were almost all young women waiting to board. Some escaped to Europe, but they kept the numbers low out of fear of the military. Her group, the ones on their way to the stars, paced with their skirts flapping softly. Ponytails and braids were made with a second band to show where to cut. Crosses and flag pins were visible on every shirt.

Now they were boarding and the whispers began. “Unescorted” and “no curfew” rippled through the crowd. “University” and even “lesbian” could be heard, though the last in the faintest breaths. So close, but not far enough to be safe.

Deborah waited eagerly for the flight to the colonies to take off. No more theocracy. No more America.

It really was Independence Day.

#flash fiction #sci fi #original fiction #writeblr #it will get worse #but it will get better

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argyle-s · 4 years ago

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Hello,

My name is Molly Bragg. I’m a bi trans gender author who has writing for almost three decades. I’m passionate about creating the kind of content I enjoy, which means stories that center around queer women, I’ve recently completed a original queer genre romance novel and I’m looking for help covering the cost of having it professionally edited.

To give you a preview of what you would be supporting, here’s Chapter 1:

***

Beth watched the buildings pass as the air cab carried her over Los Angeles taking in the changes the last ten years had wrought on the city. Most of the low-income areas had been bulldozed, and those areas were now filled with alien arcologies. Massive buildings that stretched kilometers into the sky, each one a city unto itself, and in their shadows, the skyscrapers that had once been incredible achievements of human architecture and engineering. The buildings which had been hubs of human industry and centers of financial empires were now reduced to little more than playhouses for the backwards primitives who had the misfortune to be born natives of the Galactic Hegemony’s latest colony world. If they’d had another century or two things might have been different. Humanity had been advancing quickly. They wouldn’t have been on par with the technology of the Hegemony by any stretch, but they might have been able to dictate better terms. The Gatekeepers hadn’t cared. The gate had drifted into a stable orbit in the outer system, and the Gatekeepers had announced that, like it or not, the Sol system was being added to their vast network of space fold gates. The first ships from the Hegemony had arrived just a month later, and ever since, Earth had been on the road to becoming the galactic equivalent of a banana republic. So far, her job and her savings had let her avoid the worst of what was happening, but unemployment was at a record high as alien automation systems replaced human labor in almost every sector. The company she worked for had shifted gears from research and development to reverse engineering alien tech and had seen a short windfall in profits, but that was starting to vanish as the inevitable inflation drove prices up and the people they had been selling reverse engineered tech could no longer afford it. Beth wasn’t really that worried for herself. She’d been poor before, and however much she might hate the idea she could survive being poor again. What brought her to LA today was Sam. Sam was getting close to graduation, and she had acceptance letters from every college that could afford postage. A 4.0 unweighted GPA, high SAT scores, and a couple of impressive summer internships meant that schools were falling all over themselves to offer her full rides. Ten years ago, that would have all but ensured her a bright future. These days a PhD from Harvard, Yale, or MIT wasn’t worth the cost of paper to print the degree. People still made noise about human exceptionalism and about taking humanity’s place in the larger galactic community, but Beth had spent a lot of time over the last decade studying the history of colonization on Earth, and it never once ended well for the people being colonized.Regardless of what happened to the colonized peoples as a whole, there were always individual exceptions... people who avoided the fate of their brethren. It was her determination to ensure her daughter’s future that brought her to LA today. While billionaires had started buying their kids spots in alien schools the moment they were allowed out of the Sol System, Beth didn’t have that option. She was well off enough that she and Sam weren’t feeling the effects of the colonization yet, but nowhere near rich enough to buy a ticket off-world for Sam, much less pay for an off-world education. Instead, she’d spent years looking into other options. So far, none of her work had paid off, but she hadn’t given up hope. She was headed to a meeting with a broker who helped place kids into programs that offered grants, scholarships and all expenses paid exchange programs. She was going to find a way to offer her daughter a better future than most of Earth’s children could look forward to. No matter what it took. *** “Ms. Murray, it’s so nice to meet you,” the man said as he held out his hand. Beth took it and gave it a quick shake while trying her best not to let on that he reminded her of a used car salesman. She needed his help, and it wouldn’t do to offend him. “Nice to meet you too, Mr. Cooper.” “Please, call me Owen,” he said. “Right this way.” He led her out of the small, brightly decorated waiting room and into a small, neat office. He gestured to a chair in front of his desk as he walked around behind it and took his seat. “So, I just want to make sure we’re on the same page here Ms. Murray. You are looking for an opportunity for your daughter to continue her education off-world, is that correct?” “Yes,” Beth said. “Okay. I just wanted to make sure that we’re both looking for the same outcome. Now, I’ve gone through Samantha’s records. Academically, she’s in great shape, and the extra-curriculars are good too. I’ve been able to find at least twenty different programs that will accept her.” “That’s great,” Beth said, though she didn’t believe it. She’d heard the exact same thing from more than a dozen other brokers, and she suspected she wasn’t going to hear anything new. “What are the terms?” “It varies from program to program. All of them require a period of indenture, but some are as low as eight years.” Beth tried to hide her disappointment. She wanted to give her daughter a better future, not sell her into virtual slavery for almost a decade. “Owen, I’m looking for a program without any period of indenture. I know they exist, but you’re the fifteenth broker I’ve talked to and none of them have offered even an application to an indenture free program.” “They do exist, but Ms. Murray, you must understand. There are a lot of people who want their children to receive an off-world education, and slots which don’t require a period of indentured service are in especially high demand.” “I understand that, but I haven’t gotten high demand, I’ve gotten completely unavailable. I’d like to know why no one will even consider letting her apply.” Owen looked at her for almost a minute, not saying anything, before he finally leaned back in his chair and let out a weary sigh. “Honestly, Ms. Murray?” “Please.” “Those slots go to the kids of billionaires, presidents, CEO’s, ambassadors, kings and other high level government types. Each year, a handful will go to some poor kids from the ghetto so that they can parade them around as part of a puff piece about how generous the aliens are, but that’s just window dressing. The truth is, your daughter is neither rich enough, nor poor enough to ever get one of those slots.” Beth had to bite her tongue to keep from swearing. She wasn’t surprised at all, but she was angry and frustrated. She’d half suspected something like that was going on, but hearing it spelled out so clearly was still enough to make her blood boil. “Isn’t there anything, any way that I can get her off-world without selling her into slavery?” “Ms. Murray, Indentured Service is hardly slavery.” “It’s close enough.” Owen stared at her for a moment, and then shook his head. “What?” “It’s nothing.” “It’s something,” she said. “Please.” He sighed. “It’s not something I would normally offer to someone of your background.” “What does that mean?” “It means that some aliens have cultural practices that people of Western European descent find unpalatable, while those from other cultures would find those practices perfectly normal.” “I’m not sure I follow.” “Ms. Murray, you are aware that, much to the surprise of every biologist on the planet, there are a number of species with whom humanity shares a degree of reproductive compatibility?” “I am,” she said. “Well, there is a species called the Sionnach. They’re native to a planet called Talamh in the Grian system, and they bear a rather striking resemblance to humans. There are differences of course, but the basic morphology is the same. The reason I bring this up is that about eighty years ago, Talamh suffered an environmental catastrophe that wiped out nearly ninety-five percent of their population in the span of a few weeks. Because of their reproductive practices prior to the incident, the Sionnach found themselves facing a sort of genetic bottleneck, and they decided that the best way to alleviate this was to seek an outside infusion of genetic material.” “They’re looking for breeding stock,” Beth said. “Yes.” “You can’t be serious.” “And this is why I don’t offer this option to white people,” Owen said. “Ms. Murray, I’m not suggesting you sell your daughter off as some kind of brood mare. The Sionnach take selection of their mates very, very seriously. They gather applications from a number of candidates, and the Sionnach in question reviews them, and selects the ones they like. Then, their family reviews their choices, and select a candidate. The candidate is then brought to the house of their prospective spouse, and they spend a period of time together. Roughly five hours. During that time they talk, get to know each other, and decide if they want to proceed. If both parties agree, they enter a five year engagement. During those five years, the candidate is treated as a member of the house. They are given a stipend, they’re educated, they’re housed, fed, provided with medical care, and they undergo medical procedures which allow them to survive on Talamh without special equipment.” “What sort of medical procedures?” “Talamh is a high gravity world with a higher-than-normal concentration of heavy metals in the environment. Your daughter would need procedures to be able to stand up to the local gravity, and to be able to filter out metals she would not normally be able to purge from her system. She would also undergo a type of gene therapy which would make her more resistant to radiation and give her the ability to see parts of the infrared spectrum and hear sounds normally outside of the range of human hearing.” “That sounds dangerous.” “The Sionnach are one of the founding species of the Hegemony. Their technology is thousands of years more advanced than ours, and they’ve been doing these procedures since before humans built their first cities.” Beth shook her head. “An arranged marriage… I don’t know.” “If I’m honest, it’s a long shot. You would have to take your daughter for a screening. She’d have to pass the screening for any sort of genetic issues that would eliminate her, then she would have to be selected by one of the Sionnach. If that happens, you and your family would have to travel to Talamh at the expense of the Sionnach house that selected her, and your daughter would have to get through the initial interview. But if she does, she would get the education you want for her.” “And what happens at the end of the five years if she decides she doesn’t want to marry the person who selected her.” “Then she’s free to walk away. She’d be given a small amount of money, and passage to anywhere within the Hegemony, but she’d be free to do what she wants.” “No indenture? No repayment of expenses?” Beth asked. “No,” Owen said. “But again, it’s a long shot, and I take my normal fee just to put you through the application process, whether she gets selected or not.” “How many humans get selected?” Beth asked. “She’d be the first,” Owen said. “What’s your fee?” Beth asked. “Five hundred Hegemony credits.” Beth winced. Given current exchange rates, that was almost ten thousand dollars. “How quickly would we know?” Beth asked. Owen turned and woke up his computer. She watched as he pulled up a page and scrolled through before clicking on a link. “There’s only one family looking right now. Applications are due by the end of next week. You’d know in a month, tops.” Beth thought about it for a moment. It was a longshot, and she wasn’t entirely sure it was a good idea, but it was better than an indenture, so she reached for her credit card. *** Sam looked up from her homework at the sound of a light knock on her bedroom door. The door was wide open, and her mother was standing there looking at her. Sam couldn’t quite place the expression on her face but given the appointment she had earlier, Sam didn’t have any doubt about what it meant. “No luck, huh?” she asked, trying not to let the relief she felt creep into her voice. She knew an off-world education would open a lot of doors for her and give her opportunities that she wouldn’t have otherwise, and she really did want to go off-world, travel in space and see other planets someday, but the idea of living on another planet for four or more years was both frightening and overwhelming. “Not much,” her mom said. “He did have one program you could apply for that doesn’t include an indenture period. I emailed you the link to the application. I need you to fill it out today, because I made an appointment for tomorrow for you to go for the physical and psych scan that’s required.” “Tomorrow? Mom, tomorrow’s Jenny’s birthday party.” “I know, sweetie, and I’m sorry. I know you were looking forward to the party, but you might have to miss it. I’ve already got us portal tokens, and tomorrow is the only day we can go before the deadline without you missing school. I made the appointment for as early as I could, so you should get home in time to go.” Sam wanted to argue, but she already knew it was useless. She hadn’t missed a day of school since halfway through the eighth grade, and she knew her mom wasn’t going to let her start less than a month before graduation. She also knew her mom wasn’t going to let her pass up a chance at an off-world scholarship just to go to a birthday party. Even if the birthday girl was her best friend who she’d been crushing on since Kindergarten. Of course, her mom didn’t exactly know that last part because she hadn’t told her she liked girls. She’d considered telling her a few times, but she’d always changed her mind at the last minute, because if her mom knew she liked girls, she might decide that Jenny was a distraction that Sam didn’t need in her life and that wasn’t a battle she wanted to fight. “Fine,” she said, reaching for her laptop. “I’ll do the application now.” “Thank you. And Sam, I love you.” “I love you too, mom,” she said. Her mom left and Sam opened up the email link, which took her to a form that asked her for an invite code. She checked the email and sure enough, there was a code for her. She copied it and pasted it into the form, and when she did, it took her to the next page, and a lot of the information was prepopulated, including her latest ID card photo, name and age, along with her school transcripts and medical records. The stuff that was left for her to fill out read more like a dating profile than a college application. The first section was hobbies and interests and activities. She thought about it for a minute and decided to just be honest instead of going through all the BS she usually did for the college apps. She put down soccer, swimming, surfing, electronics, robotics, reading, martial arts, camping and motocross. She attached pictures of herself in her soccer uniform, along with a couple of video clips from some of the team’s games, then she added a few videos of her swim meets, and a couple of pictures and some videos of her surfing. She pulled up her YouTube folder and attached a few build videos for some of her robotics projects, along with the parts lists, schematics, models for the 3D printed parts, and the source code for the micro-controllers she’d written. She added a picture of her holding two trophies from a local Karate tournament where she’d placed second in sparring, and third in bo staff, and added a few videos of her matches. She also added a few pictures from her camping trips and a picture of her sitting on a dirt bike, along with a video Jenny had taken of her running one of the beginner courses, then pulled up her ebook library and dumped the list of all her books, listed her favorite movies and attached all her playlists from her music library. The next section was a little weird. It asked about what sort of foods she liked, so she gave a list. Then is asked whether she enjoyed various activities. Most of them were fairly common things. Theater, music, art. A couple she had to check the cultural database link. She was surprised and excited when she found out that whoever was sponsoring this program apparently considered dragon racing important enough to put on the questionnaire. All in all, she spent about two hours filling out the application, and once she was done, she hit submit, and then pulled out her cell phone and opened up her text messages with Jenny. Sam: ‘Bad news. I might miss your party.’ Jenny: ‘What?!!!’ Sam: ‘Mom’s dragging me to New York in the morning for a physical and a psych scan for a scholarship.’ Jenny: ‘She’s still on that off-world college kick?’ Sam: ‘Yeah.’ Jenny: ‘Girl, you don’t want to go to college with ET’s’ Sam: ‘I’ve got to get accepted before I have to worry about it.’ Jenny: ‘Come by my place when you’re done. Even if you miss the party, I want to see you.’ Sam: ‘Will do. See you tomorrow.’ Jenny; ‘Night.’ Sam sat down her phone and looked at her homework. She’d wanted to finish before dinner, but there was no way that was happening now. She grabbed it anyway and went back to work, trying to get as much done as possible before her mom called her downstairs.

***

End Chapter 1

***

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#original fiction #queer fiction #lesbian characters #agender characters #non-binary characters #crowdfunding

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ao3feed-harringrove · 5 years ago

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Red Planet

https://ift.tt/2z7Opdu

by Princ3sss

FLY TO MARS!! A great place for vacations or starting a family! New opportunities await you! Get your tickets now!

---

Mr. Harrington is expanding his company to the colony on Mars. Mrs. Harrington decided this makes for the perfect family trip. Steve hates both of them for dragging him along. And Billy... well Billy's not supposed to be there.

Words: 1598, Chapters: 1/4, Language: English

Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Billy Hargrove, Steve Harrington, Steve Harrington's Parents, Maxine "Max" Mayfield

Relationships: Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Space Flight, Outer Space, Steve's kinda a spoiled brat, Billy's A Good Brother, Sharing a Bed

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2z7Opdu

#IFTTT #ao3feed #fanfic #harringrove #billy hargrove #steve harrington #billy/steve #stranger things

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charlesoberonn · 6 years ago

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My character in The Outer Worlds is a smartass jerkwad who won several tickets to The Hope on a game show and invited his smartass jerkwad friends along.

He doesn't care too much about the Halcyon colony or its people beyond getting his friends unfrozen but he's also not a bad person who would kill innocents or steal.

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mumblelard · 10 months ago

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a dryer full of damp bedding on an overcast day

yesterday i had a handful of gummi peaches, a bowlful of tater tots, and canful of knockout punch while fallie drew a map of the temple compound with little pieces of found plastic and finn described exploring a storage flat in the foothills filled with cars too far gone to move

last night i dreamt about broken taps, a suitcase full of hidden compartments, a too small room with a too small door and a ragged hole in the corner

today i'm having coffee with someone i haven't spoken to in quite a while, rereading suttree for the first time in too long a while, and cooking hamburgers on potato rolls while listening to too much townes van zandt

and i'm performing the rituals

tomorrow is our monthly lunch with my parents, where i will pretend not to notice my dad is still angry that i contradicted him weeks and weeks ago. topics of conversation will be the salaries of professional athletes, the minutia of my estranged brother's life, and the exact route of their planned drive to the panhandle.

maybe i will ask him to stop texting me bible verses every morning at four a.m. the wall of scripture uninterrupted by context or conversation that he has decided to build between us

instead, maybe i will ask him to text me a funny joke every morning at four a.m. or just a thing that made him smile. maybe i will ask him to tell me he hopes i am well every morning at four a.m. that i have a good day. that i find nourishment in this life. maybe i will ask him to tell me, every morning at four a.m., that he loves me

#a boba from the barrens #a bakers dozen dapples #a brief history of time #saturday the fourteenth #battered wooden dressers #boba #a can of numbskull and a ticket to the outer colonies #a boy whose left hand was deformed to resemble a lurking octopus #cabbies #cabbage #cabinets of curiousities #mushrooms #mellow and otherwise #cairns #and #cairn like substances #second blue moon epoch #second autumn #calling

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diygabl · 7 years ago

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How to start beekeeping for free!

Beekeeping has recently become popular again, having been in decline for more than half a century. Honeybees have been in the news for all the wrong reasons: collapsing colonies, pesticide poisoning and parasitic mites - and all this bad news seems to have triggered a desire in people to want to help and nurture this vitally-important insect that - despite all our scientific advances - we still do not fully understand.

Beekeepers have generally been regarded by the media as harmless, doddery old men (mostly), who do strange things with wooden boxes full of bees, while dressed in sartorially suspect garb. However, this image is beginning to change, with more and more women and younger people being attracted to the idea of learning this ancient craft and a new urgency in the air about preserving our bees - both 'kept' and wild - for their important role as pollinators, as well as for their own sake.

Free download - An Introduction to Balanced Beekeeping

When people first consider keeping bees, their most likely first port of call is their local Bee Keepers Association. Here they will almost always find a friendly welcome and a great deal of technical chat among the 'old hands', most of which will sound like a foreign language at first. When the jargon is translated, it turns out that one will be required to part with a not inconsiderable sum of money in order to buy one's ticket into this arcane world: the glossy catalogues full of shiny, stainless steel are beguiling, but the accompanying price lists can come as quite a shock.

Did this put you off beekeeping?

Don't let it! It is perfectly possible to become a beekeeper - a good beekeeper - without blowing a good chunk of one's hard-earned savings. In fact, as I shall show you, you can even do it virtually for free! The next hurdle to confront the would-bee keeper is the hefty weights you are expected to lift and carry. Using conventional equipment, you need to be able to lift at least 50 pounds (about 25 kilos) dead weight from ground level - not something to try if you are lightly built and not used to lifting in that class. Again, this does not have to be the case: I will show you how the least fit person can become a beekeeper. In fact, using my system, you could even work a hive from a wheelchair and never have to lift more than a kilo or two. Another obstacle that may kill off the newbee's enthusiasm is that of storage space. Using conventional hives, you cannot fail to accumulate all kinds of 'extras' - odd-shaped boxes, frames, roofs, extractors - all kinds of stuff the 'old hands' forgot to mention at that first meeting - and you will need space to store it. We are talking real garage space, folks. Once more I have good news: follow my system and you will not need any extra storage space, as everything can be stored inside the hive itself!

Free download - How To Start Beekeeping For Free!

So what does it really take to become a beekeeper?

The essentials are simple enough: some sort of hive, a hat and a veil, an old, white shirt and - to start with at least - maybe some gloves - and the agreement of the people who share your living space. It doesn't matter whether you are a town or a country dweller, so long as there is an abundant and varied supply of flowering plants from early spring onwards. In fact, bees often do better in well-gardened, urban areas than in the 'green desert' of modern, industrial farm land. Like many beekeeping novices, I began with a conventional, framed hive - the kind with sloped-sided outer boxes familiar from children's books. Soon, I acquired a couple more and began to realize that if I was to continue along this road, I would have to build myself a big shed in which to house all the spare woodwork and other paraphenalia that was rapidly accumulating - and I would have to find a way to pay for all the 'extras' I would soon be needing. Does it really need to be this way?

That innocent question led me on an exploratory mission of reading, study and experimentation that showed me conclusively that, no it does not need to be that way: beekeeping does not need to be complicated, expensive or dependent on machine-made parts and equipment. My search for an alternative approach led me to the top bar hive - one of the oldest and simplest types of beehive - that requires little skill and few tools to build. A good start on the road to sustainable simplicity, but is it a practical hive for modern beekeeping? After some years of experimenting and testing various designs, I now have a top bar hive design that is easy to build, practical and productive, while being comfortable and easy to use for both the bees and the beekeeper. It is bee-friendly, because bees are not given any nasty shocks, like having their roof ripped off - and beekeeper-friendly because you never have to lift any heavy boxes. So what are top bar hives?

The principle is simple: a box with sticks across the top, to which bees attach their comb. Mine have sloping sides and a pair of 'follower boards' to enclose the colony. There are many variations on this theme and all have the essential guiding principle of simplicity of construction and management. There are no frames, no queen excluders, no ekes, no mouse guards, no supers, no foundation and there is no need for extractors, settling tanks, filters, de-capping knives... in fact no need for any other equipment or storage space, other than that provided within the hive itself. And if you have just spent an hour leafing through suppliers' catalogues, wondering how you can possibly afford to keep bees, that will come as some relief! Building a top bar hive is no more difficult than putting up shelves and can be done using hand tools and recycled wood. Top bar beekeeping really is 'beekeeping for everyone' - including people with disabilities, bad backs, or a reluctance to lift boxes: honey is harvested one comb at a time, rather than by the box. From the bees' point of view, top bar hives offer weatherproof shelter, the opportunity to build comb to their own design - without the constraints of man-made wax foundation - and minimal disturbance, thanks to a 'leave well alone' style of management.

Download the FREE plans - How To Build a Top Bar Hive

So where do you get bees from?

You can buy them or catch them, or if you are lucky, they will adopt you! Catching or luring a swarm is by far the most fun - and much easier than you might think. Bees swarm in response to their instinct to reproduce - mostly in spring and early summer - and the sight of a swarm in flight is certainly impressive. However, contrary to popular belief, this is the time when they ar least likely to sting you: their only concern at that moment is to find a new place to live. So if you offer them the right sort of accommodation at the right time - such as a pleasant-smelling, cosy beehive - they are very likely to move in of their own accord. Many people become beekeepers by enticing a passing swarm using a few drops of citronella or lemon grass oil, or better still, rubbing the inside of the hive with pure beeswax.

Capturing a swarm is not difficult either - hold a basket or cardboard box under their football-sized cluster on a tree branch and give a good shake! It is not always as easy as that, but it is rarely as difficult as getting a cat out of a tree.

Will I get stung?

Most likely you will get stung from time to time, however careful you are. Local swelling, redness and itching is a normal reaction: faintness, breathing difficulties and collapse are true allergic symptoms and are potentially life-threatening. Most people who keep bees become less sensitive to stings over time, but sometimes it goes the other way and occasionally an experienced beekeeper may suddenly become allergic. So if you have any reason to suppose you may be sensitive to bee venom (only about one in 200 people are) be sure to carry Benadryl or an Epipen (adrenaline injection) and ensure that whoever you are with is properly equipped to deal with an emergency. Whether you approach it from the point of view of conservation, entomology, crop pollination or simply a love of honey, beekeeping is an engaging pursuit and a fascinating window on the natural world. Bees are in trouble right now - from pesticides, industrial farming, pollution, parasitic mites and viruses - and we need all the 'natural' beekeepers we can get to build up their numbers and give them a chance to solve their own problems. So, if you want to keep bees, build yourself a hive before the swarm season, and you could be tasting your own honey by the end of the summer!

Source:

#beekeeping #beehive #honey bee #rawhoney

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thegraypope · 7 years ago

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Meet the team Chapter 2

She had only been asleep for about two hours before she was woken up by a young girl, no more than twelve. ‘Mrs Korra said to wake you, she has an assignment for you’ the young girl spoke with the odd inflection children put on when they recollect and stood to a sloppy attention. Jammer put her hand on the girl’s bright ginger hair ‘At ease, I’m going’. The girl ran off and Jammer started the arduous ritual of getting out of bed. First she sat up and swung her legs over the edge, she bent forwards and pulled her boots out, sprayed them with deodorant and lent over towards her draws to pull out a clean-ish pair of socks and put them on. She swapped her shorts for jeans, loosely put her boots on and started walking to the Combat Information Centre (CIC). The CIC was centred within the room so that messages and equipment were easily available to those in charge. Inside the CIC there was an outer and inner ring of computers, creating a square around a central collage of around five tables. The centre tables were separated with enough room for two people to stand and another to squeeze between in emergency situations, three of the tables were just desks with paper maps spread across them and the other two were smart tables, one being a holographic display and the other an under projected interactive tough screen. A small cluster of school boards sat in a corner and had an ever changing list of militia members, squads, enemy units and vehicle numbers written on them.

‘Jammer, I’d like you to meet the squad of Capsule marines who disturbed the Buck you caught yesterday.’ Korra projected at Jammer, a sense of smugness and authority she normally had but elevated, like it had been legitimised by the arrival of genuine military forces. Her hair was short, slicked back aged white hair, it never moved, always looking perfectly symmetrical.

‘Hi, I’m Jammer.’ She gave a nervous half smile that she gave to everyone new that she didn’t have reason to be annoyed by.

A medium heighted man stood up, he was around forty and was built like a wrestler, all bulk. He stepped toward Jammer with a hand out, ready to shake. They embraced hands for a short, not quite nervous shake ‘Pao, Captain of Gamma-7 Here.’ He spoke with a colonial accent, not heavy but rather like it ha been worn down over years of service. This is my heavy rifleman Sev,’ Pao pointed to an equally heavy built man leaning against a table with his arms folded, he was still wearing his armour which had stripes of powder white and blood red in claw markings across it. ‘Hi.’ He said to Jammer, his right hand unfurling from the other to throw up a simple wave.

‘This is My Demo expert, Delphi.’ A short, slender woman with a jet black armour vest and tank top on saluted, her hand flicking her strawberry red fringe, she corrected her fringe by running a gloved hand through the long fringe and the rest of her cropped hair.

‘And last but not least my Sniper, Kuren.’ A young black woman glance and smiled at Jammer, she had a black hoodie on and plaid shirt, both undone to show her tank top. She had knee pads on over her jeans and shin guards above her boots, like the rest of the squad.

Jammer craned her neck upwards slightly to look at a combat robot slumped in a corner ‘What about that big guy?’

‘That’s Hammer-Head, Our Combat Bot.’ Pao told her.

‘How can I Help, Korra?’ Jammer was slightly sarcastic in her delivery but hadn’t meant to be.

‘Gamma-7 and Captain Pao would like you to lead them to the highest point in the city, that’s would be…’ Korra started by talking to Jammer as an adult and finished with a patronizing school teacher tale off of a question.

Jammer looked at Korra with a bitch please expression ‘Sky walk tower.’ She said sarcasticly.

‘When do you want to go?’ Jammer asked

‘First light, preferably, that way we can all get some Rack.’ Pao, seemed like a reasonable man, not a condescending hard ass like Korra.

‘Sounds good to me..’ Jammer checks her watch ‘six AM?’

Pao looked around his team and they nodded at him approvingly ‘That’s a yes from us.’ He smiled as he said it, thankful that he could get a decent few hours of sleep.

Jammer walked across to the Gamma-7 and shook their hands individually and walked back to her bed. As she walked she set an alarm on her watch and when she arrived at her bed she undid her jeans, kicked off her boots and lay down, falling asleep instantly.

Her alarm beeped in a quick high pitched chime and she jolted awake, smacking her wrist with her other hand. She sat up and slid her feet into her boots and laced them up, she then bent forward and rummaged under her ed and pulled out her wrist terminal and put it on her left forearm. Once she had finished playing with her terminal she grabbed her crossbow from the end of the bed and slung It over her back. As she stood she fastened the fly of her jeans and picked up her jacket, hoodie and her flack vest. She walked to the toilet area to wash her face. She placed her jackets and vest onto on a bench near to the opening of the toilet area and walked to a sink. She bent forward, made a bowl with her hands and splashed water over her face. She walked into a stall, her face dripping onto her grey vest top and sat down to pee. As she peed she traced her tongue across her bottom lip absent mindedley and found herself thinking about the capsule troopers, why had we suddenly been deemed worthy of back up, months after the invasion and the city having barely been harmed? She snapped out and wiped herself clean, cleaning her hands on the way out and drying them on the ass of her jeans. She lay her crossbow down on the bench next to her jackets and tactical vest. She began putting the jackets on, first her Dark grey hoodie, then her Green, almost black, military style jacket and placing her armoured tactical vest over that and slinging her crossbow across her back. From the toilet and shower area the armoury wasn’t far and Jammer made a B-line for it.

‘Hey, Jam, how’s it goin’ back out there already?’ Ben was younger than he looked; he was heavily scarred from a fire during the initial attacks of the invasion and had fled south afterwards, winding up here. Despite his severe scarring and the severe pain they must have inflicted he was upbeat and willing to give help where needed.

‘No rest for the wicked, Ben, you should know that.’ Jammer was flirtations but in a way to lead him on.

‘I guess that explains the bags under Korra’s eye.’ Ben let out a huge, cheeky grin and winked at Jammer.

Jammer couldn’t help but chuckle ‘Fuck, you’re too funny for this shit!’

‘One day, this’ll all be over and I can start my stand-up career.’

‘I’ll be your number one fan, as long as I get free tickets.’

Ben smiled ‘What can I get you, anyway?’

‘My Assault rifle, side arm, ammunition and that should be it.’ She grinned.

‘Ok, I’ll go grab it, just sign this.’ Ben placed a clipboard with a sheet of paper attached and Jammer signed her name and the date and time.

‘Here you go, just as ordered.’ Ben placed Jammer’s assault rifle on the desk, her sidearm and holster. While jammer put the holster on her hip and thigh and slung the rifle with her crossbow; Ben began sliding rounds into ammunition cartridges. Once She had finished preparing her weapons Jammer helped load too. After five minutes Jammer and Ben had finished loading several clips of ammunition for both her sidearm and rifle and she had placed them in her bag and pockets.

‘Ok, I’ll see you after my mission, buddy.’ She threw Ben a wave as she walked away.

‘Break a leg.’ He waved back, smiling.

Jammer arrived at the briefing area, just to the far side of the CIC from the armoury and took a seat next to Pao and Kuran on the front row. There were four rows of five chairs and three classroom boards at the front with maps and charts on the outer two and a projector covering the central one.

‘Who’s doing the briefing?’ Jammer asked Pao.

‘I’d imagine you are.’ he was slightly sarcastic and understandably so.

‘Oh, shit, right.’ Jammer stood up and pulled her sleeve up to expose her wrist terminal and tapped at it until she brought up an Image of a tower. ‘Ok, this is Sky Walk tower, it is the tallest building in this fine city of Zion, it is seventy five metres tall and home to twenty five above ground floors and two basement levels. The top four floors are living spaces, twenty two ant twenty three are single floor apartments and twenty four and five are luxury two floor penthouses. We have visibility to well past the city limits and further.’ Jammer moves over to a map of the city and points to a spot in the centre. ‘This is us now,’ she points to another spot near by ‘This is the Sky Walk building and this is our area of visibility from the top floor.’ She pantomimes a massive circle which extends off the map.

‘Sounds like a good observation point.’ Kuren spoke, her voice was more societal, posher than her squad mates. Jammer noticed her lips move with every syllable and was entranced.

‘Ok, we got our gear, you ready to head out?’ Pao asked Jammer.

Jammer snapped out of her trance ‘uh, yeah, I just need to pick up some rations. Five minutes?’

‘Be my guest.’ Pao replied.

She strode off toward the mess area and muttered to herself ‘why the fuck was I staring at her lips? They were nice, so full and moist looking. NO, stop thinking like that, it’s not professional and it isn’t fair because also that Sev dude was pretty hot so maybe they’re bumping uglys.’ She was quiet for a second ‘Who am I kidding, they don’t have uglies, they probably have textbook genitals.

Jammer approached the mess counter her mind not there ‘Can I get my rations for the day?’ she asked the less than happy cook who pulled a small box from under the counter ‘Here you go.’ Jammer lifted it and walked away, opening the box; inside was a plastic bag of jerky, a sandwich and some fruit. She placed the water canteen on a table along with the box and placed them in a small messenger bag she had rolled up in her pocket. Which she slung over her shoulder with her bow and rifle. ‘Fuck this’ she said and walked to her bed. She put the bag, bow and rifle on the bed as she removed her tactical vest and jacket which she lay on the bed. She flipped the vest and clipped the messenger bag to the bottom of it before putting the vest back on. She slung the rifle and carried the crossbow. ‘Ah fuck, I forgot my gloves.’ She whispered to herself as she pulled a pair out of a draw and pulled them onto her hands. And returned to the briefing area.

‘Everybody ready?’

‘as we’ll ever be.’ Delphi’s voice was more colonial than Jammer had expected, light enough that every word was understood but heavy enough that some didn’t quite sound right. She seemed enthusiastic, as did the rest of the squad.

‘Alright then, it’s a ten minute yomp from the main door upstairs. Lets go get in the lift.’ Jammer walked, confidently, her mind still running over those lips, perfect, plump and rosie coloured. She stepped into the lift followed by Gamma seven and they all stood around the edge when hammer head entered.

The guard said ‘all in?’

‘Goin’ up, mother fuckers.’ Hammer Head’s synthetic voice boomed. It snapped Jammer out of her daydream and back into the room. The shutters rolled down on the lift and it jerked as they went up. There was a nervous quiet toward Jammer. She was a new, impermanent member of the team and nobody knew her.

The lift arrived at the top floor and Jammer exhaled, it had seemed like an eternity. Hammer head walked out and stood to the left ‘After you, bitches.’ Everyone stepped out and waited for Jammer ‘You’re in the middle with me, kid.’ Pao said as he placed a friendly hand on her shoulder.

‘Delph, Get yourself up in front and Sev take the six.’

‘Sir, Yes sir.’ They said in chorus.

Delphi walked ahead to the front door ‘So, this is, was, a police station?’

‘Yeah, old war building, the city was originally a fortress and this was the command building.’ Jammer replied.

‘Old war, whose side?’ Sev chimed in from the back.

‘Judging from the exterior design and size I would assume our side.’ Hammer head rolled his shoulders, a seemingly un-robotic motion.

‘From what I gather you would be correct, my machine muchacho.’ Jammer was fitting right in.

They exited the station into bright sunlight ‘I love this shit, I haven’t seen sunlight in days.’ Kuren moaned as she rolled her head in a circular motion.

‘how haven’t you seen any sunlight since you landed? Jammer enquired.

‘We dropped in at night, made our way to shelter before dawn and when we got settled it was in a basement. When your guys rendezvoused with us they walked us through interiors, subway tunnels and it was laaate afternoon when we moved so it was pretty dark.’ Jammer was enthralled again by Kuren’s smooth, voice and cherry red lips.

‘You stare a lot, you know that?’ Kuren knew what Jammer was staring at and was blushing slightly, she smiled and winked at Jammer.

‘I am not subtle at all.’ Jammer thought to herself, her body feeling flush from head to toe. She waked behind Kuren, an Amazon of a woman, she was at least half a foot taller than Jammer and the athletic build of a warrior.

‘Be a bit subtler next time, kid.’ Pao put a thick, paw like hand on her shoulder and smirked.

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tree-services-la-habra · 4 years ago

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History Of History La Habra, Dominican Republic

History is important to everyone, especially to those who want to build a home for their family. For those of you who do not know much about the history of the city, this is the perfect place to start learning. In fact, even if you are planning to build your dream home, it is important to know more about the city. You can find a lot of interesting facts about the past in the historical areas in and around the city. We are going to help you by describing the best areas to research on.

First, you should visit the Historic district. The Historic district is a historically important area as it was an important port and trade center in the region. This area is located in the north of Los Angeles. It is very easy to access from the South Tower of the World.

Second, you should visit the museum. The Museum of Contemporary Art is located in downtown Los Angeles. It is a great place to learn more about the importance of art in modern society. It is also known for hosting various contemporary artists and cultural activities. There are also lectures, seminars, conferences and workshops conducted by award winning artists.

Third, you should also try the local restaurants. There are lots of Chinese, Mexican, Japanese, Arab and other culture's food restaurants in this area. These restaurants usually offer some of the most delicious dishes in town. You will never run out of great tasting foods here.

Fourth, is the Historical Society. The Historical Society is known for collecting various artifacts that tell the history of the town. It also has a display of photos, maps and other items that tell the colorful history of La Habra to know more about. The museum is open to the public at all times and you can also buy artifacts at a low price.

Fifth, there is also the Science Center. This science center houses several exhibits and videos that tell the interesting history of the place. One of its most famous displays is the "The Lost Colony of Mayan" which depicts the early people of La Habra. Another fascinating exhibit is the "Voyage to the Moon and Mars", which showcase the incredible achievements of the scientists and explorers in outer space. Other exhibits include "The Last Ice Age in Europe" and "The Viking Era." These displays are not free, so you need to purchase tickets beforehand.

Sixth, you can also visit the historic churches in the area. Each church is known for its unique architecture and story. There is "St. Ignatius Church" and "St. Diego Church." You will also find "The Roman Catholic Cathedral and Museum."

History has played a significant role in La Habra. It has been the home of many civilizations including the Aztecs. This history has shown us how different people came together to build a community and thrive together. With this in mind, you should also know that La Habra is known to be the oldest city in Chile. There are also a lot of other things that you can do in the city such as trekking, paragliding, hiking and horseback riding.

Seventh, is the amazing wildlife. You can go bird watching or elephant riding. You can also go to stingray parks or even try your hand at water skiing. You can also spend some time in the wilderness and go horseback riding through the treks. In fact, there are several treks you can go on in the area. These include the River Canyon, Chimney Tops, Tivoli Woods and the La Selva.

You should also take a moment to visit the history museum. It is here where you can see accurate depictions of the Old World and Spanish Colonial Period. You can also view some of the most important events from the Old World and New World. The museum has a collection of almost 500 paintings and sculptures of the Spanish and the Old World.

Lastly, do not forget to visit the shopping and dining place. There are several local stores here that sell unique products and good quality items. La Habra has boutiques, gift shops, coffee shops, and cafes. All these places are sure to give you a wonderful vacation.

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gcww · 4 years ago

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Here’s the latest newsletter from Excursions Unlimited. Be sure and checkout the coming events. I’ve traveled with this bus company several times, and think their trips and pricing are some of the best:

Things are starting to roll again, so don’t miss the bus for the trips we have listed. Some are the Day Trips that we are offering as well as popular Summer trips. Contact our office to make reservations on any and all of these tours.

*ST LOUIS CARDINALS VS BRAVES ... JUNE 20 ... Another summer trip against one of the better teams in baseball, the “Red Birds” of St Louis. The Braves hope to beat this

team that has a long history of success in the National League. Transportation, ticket, & one meal. Covered seating ... $149

*PEACHES, PRISON SITES, & YODERS ... JUNE 22 ...Let’s celebrate

Georgia’s most famous crop as we visit the Lane Packing Company in Fort Valley in the heart of the Peach Belt. You can bring back as many bags

and bushels as the bus will hold and see how the operation is run. Lunch is a treat at Yoder’s Mennonite Restaurant. It's only a short drive to historic Andersonville, the site of the Confederate prison during the War Between The States...too many captives and not enough food or space. Our group will tour the Drummer Boy Museum, famous for its Confederate and Union drummer boy uniforms, complete with original drums, and a local guide will narrate and point out many interesting facts of this tragic chapter in America's history. Return home late afternoon ... $109

*SUMMER MYSTERY TRIP ... JULY 13-17 ... Every Year this “MYSTERY TRIP” is our Number One Tour, a 5 Day Experience that no one wants to miss. This year, as always, is A VERY SPECIAL Mystery Tour as we will take you to unique places, with entertainment-filled days, and interesting tours. We can’t tell you where we are going, only that you will have the BEST time. 10 meals included along with all tours, top hotels, entertainment, & guaranteed great time. You will love this trip and all the fun we will have ... $839

*GRAND PARENTS & GRAND CHILDREN TRIP ... JULY 20-21 ... Bring the "Grands" along as we ride the train to South Carolina, enjoy a dinner show at the Pirate’s Voyage in Myrtle Beach, and cruise the harbor in Charleston for a Great trip for young and older... $399 / $269

*BOOTHBAY HARBOR & LOBSTER BOATS ... JULY 18-25 ... NEW DATE ... One of the TOP TRIPS of the summer as we have added another date. We motorcoach to Maine to quaint Booth Bay Harbor for a 3 night stay at the Tug Boat Inn and with a Clam Bake & Lobster Cruise to Cabbage Island, and time to stroll the village, you can eat all the lobsters you choose. Other highlights include a trip to the Statue of Liberty, & lots more. Join us to get away from

the heat of the south on this exciting trip...$1499

*BILOXI BOUND ADVENTURE TOUR ... AUGUST 10-13 ... Spend 3 nights at the Beau Rivage and during your stay enjoy a Shrimp Boat Excursion on the Gulf of Mexico and a Swamp Cruise in Louisiana. Plenty of time for great meals and gaming or just enjoying a wonderful getaway. $639

*CRUISING THE CHESAPEAKE ... AUGUST 15-22 ... This trip is full of highlights including Legends in Concert in Myrtle Beach, the Outer Banks of NC, “The Lost Colony”, Kitty Hawk, Cruise to Tangier Island, Annapolis & Naval Academy, St Michael, train ride home, and lots more. We have condensed the trip and lowered the price, so hop aboard. $1499

*THE ARK ENCOUNTER & GOSPEL MUSIC ...

AUGUST 16-19 ...

For the past few years the Ark Encounter has been one of

our most popular destinations and now a new feature has

been added. The Ark presents “40 Days & 40 Nights of

Gospel Music”, with every day noted Gospel Groups and

entertainers perform live on stage, as well as highly

reputable religious speakers. This trip is packed with

music, inspiring speeches, good food, hand-clapping

entertainment, and of course, THE ARK. Also included is

a Dinner Show in Pigeon Forge and lunch at the Dillard House, 8 Meals ... $689

*WILD WEST TRIP... AUGUST 29-SEP 5 ... NEW ... Board our motorcoach for a drive to the west. Highlights are many as we visit Graceland, the home of Elvis in Memphis, stop at the Mercantile for lunch which is home to the Pioneer Woman (Ree Drummond) in Oklahoma. We spend 2 nights in Dodge City with Boot Hill and the Long Branch Saloon, before continuing to Nebraska for a cookout and on to Colorado to fly home. So many highlights on this wonderful tour to the “Wild West”... $1599

*BLACK HILLS, YELLOWSTONE, TETONS & MORE ... SEP 5-13 / SEP 14-22 ... This wonderful trip highlights the beauty of the American West featuring the Black Hills of South Dakota, historic Deadwood, an overnight on a ranch, and the National Parks of Wyoming. See Mt Rushmore & Custer State Park, Crazy Horse Mt, Yellowstone & the Grand Tetons with 2 nights in Jackson Hole, tour Wild Bill’s Deadwood, the western town of Cody with the Buffalo

Bill Museum. There should be plenty of wildlife sightings ... 16 Meals, & the Best of the West ... $2599 MUSICAL TRIPS WITH SHOWS & ENTERTAINMENT ...

“HAMILTON” ... OCTOBER 5-6 / 6-7 / 12-13 / 14-15 ... Dates have moved again and are now finalized. The biggest Broadway show in many years is coming back to Jacksonville. It is a true landmark of American culture that centers on Alexander Hamilton, one of

our most important (and colorful) characters in American history.

In 2016, this exciting show won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and

11 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Score and many

more! We are excited to be able to offer you a travel package

that includes Orchestra Seating to this popular Broadway

Musical. Our package includes Deluxe Motorcoach

transportation, an overnight hotel in Jacksonville with breakfast,

a Pre-Theatre Dinner, St Augustine Sightseeing Train, and

reserved FIRST Orchestra Tickets at the Times Union Center (Great Seats) for “HAMILTON”. Seats are limited and going fast, so don’t delay. A $200 Deposit is required for booking. Price of trip ... $479

“THE GLORY OF GERSHWIN”... OCT 2 ... “Brad and Jennifer Moranz (producers of the long running Charleston Christmas Special) present “The Glory of Gershwin” on this entertaining one day trip. This musical revue celebrates the lives and songs of George and Ira Gershwin-from their beginnings on Tin Pan Alley to their work on Broadway and Hollywood musicals, and finally to their greatest achievement, "Porgy and Bess". Starring an all professional cast, the show features such classics as I Got Rhythm, Embraceable You, Our Love is Here to Stay, Strike Up the Band, and S’Wonderful, Rhapsody in Blue, Porgy and Bess and many, many more. Motorcoach to Charleston with Lunch included ... $139

SOUND OF MUSIC” AT ALHAMBRA ... AUGUST 21 ... The heartwarming musical based on the real life story of the Von Trapp Family singers, one of the world's best-known concert groups in the era immediately preceding World War II. With such memorable songs as “Edelweiss”, “My Favorite Things” and of course “The Sound of Music”, you don’t want to miss this show... $125

TRIPS FOR THE FALL ...

Contact our office for more information or check our Tour Book.

OLE CAPE COD ... SEP 11-19 (New Itinerary)

AMERICA’S PACIFIC COAST ... SEP 7-16

LANDFEST IN THE MOUNTAINS & ON THE LAKE ... SEP 16-18 CANYONS OF THE WEST ... SEP 19-27

THE ARK ENCOUNTER & CREATION MUSEUM ... SEP 20-23 / OCT 25-28 VEGAS, CANYONS, & MORE ... SEP 27-OCT 2

AUTUMN IN NEW ENGLAND ... SEP 30-OCT 9 / OCT 14-23

BALLOONS, BRANSON, & LOTS MORE ... OCT 3-11

AUTUMN ALONG THE CHATTAHOOCHEE ... OCT 11-13

2 NIGHTS AT THE GRAND HOTEL & LOTS MORE ... OCT 15-24

GRAND RESORTS OF THE BLUE RIDGE ... OCT 18-21

COUNTRY MUSIC HIGHWAY ... OCT 21-25

TRAIL OF TEARS & TENNESSEE TRAINS ... OCT 29-31

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bruinhilda · 7 years ago

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Happy B7 Anniversary! I’ve written some new nonsense for the occasion!

You can read it on AO3, or under the cut here.

It had been a very uneventful watch shift for Vila. Just the way he liked them. And while he'd normally have taken the opportunity to catch up on his sleep, the quiet was just too useful tonight. He was on a deadline, after all.

He'd nicked the scriber from a mid-level bureaucrat's desk a year or so back. He hadn't even wanted the thing originally, but after taking a whole five minutes breaking into all the drawers in the office to find nothing of value, he was damn well going to take something. It'd taken half that time to guess the thing's passcode. And that had been extremely lucky; the previous owner had not kept it for work notes. Vila thought of himself as completely shameless about these things, but he'd nearly combusted a mere three pages into the first story. A rare talent, the former owner had been. Quite instructive.

Vila was still honing his own skill. He'd tried his hand at a similar style, but he'd found it...stressful. There was always the chance someone would find out what he was up to. He might not live it down if they discovered him writing erotica for this. Correction: he might not live at all.

But he found he could get a little blue without too much risk. Hide it in the middle of a little high adventure, that was the ticket.

He was quite pleased with the Andevean Dancing Assassins, overall. Smart, sexy, and vicious, they had tied up Blake and Jenna, and were preparing a delightful torture while Avon had negotiated his way out of their clutches, and was now...working...his way up the ranks, determined to take over the entire organization with his immense...talents...

A hand landed on his shoulder. A strong, heavy hand that promised torture of a more ordinary nature. Vila's own hands stuttered out a paragraph of pure gibberish at high speed in response.

“We need to talk,” a very dangerous-sounding Avon drawled.

“Oh certainly, anytime, you know me, always up for a friendly chat...”

The hand tightened. Vila winced. “I have just come across a very...interesting computer archive. An illegal one, talking about us. Or rather...the fictional version of us the Federation decided to entertain the mindless masses with.”

“Really? For Liberated!? I should look into that sometime...”

“Oh, I think you've done more than 'look into it,' Arco.”

Vila wilted. “Oh. You know.”

“That the show.lib.story database is moderated, as well as possibly created by, one Arco Selman, writer of two infamous episodes of the fan-favorite vidcast Liberated!? And, apparently, author of many more stories set in the benighted setting of that damned show! Yes, I am aware of it!”

“Hey now, most of those aren't mine! That's probably the galaxy's finest collection of amateur writers posting there. I just...give some of them pointers from time to time.”

“Pointers. About writing Federation propaganda designed to defame us. For free.” The “free” part of that seemed to be outraging Avon more than anything else, Vila noted.

“Well, it's stuff they'd never actually air on the show, would they? We've got some really big fans there, and they want stories where we win instead of lose. And since the Federation won't allow it, they just write it themselves! It's really flattering, when you stop and think about it...”

“And the sub-board? The one devoted to stories of a more...personal...nature?”

Crap crap crap crap crap of course he noticed that...”You don't think I had anything to do with that, do you?”

“That you might also be 'Rill Vestal,' author of the three-hundred part and counting series 'Lonely Rebel Nights?' I must admit, the thought had crossed my mind...”

“That's not me! You don't think I'd use that transparent an alias, do you? That's someone from an outer colony, they transmit in every couple of weeks and add to the archive. Everyone lives for those updates!”

“Do you now?” That hand was going to leave a tremendous bruise, Vila just knew it. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn't have Orac scrub the system and let Dayna hang you from your toes to the underside of the ship?”

“...uh, well...Oh! I've got one!”

“Do tell.”

“'Servalan's Sugar'! You wouldn't want to destroy that, would you?”

Avon looked blank. “What?”

“You missed that one, didn't you? It's a work of art, guaranteed to get the author shot if Madam President ever figures out who it is!”

“Why should I care...?”

Vila was already calling it up on the scriber. He turned and thrust it at Avon's face. “Here! See if you don't agree with me!”

Avon glared, and opened his mouth to cut Vila to pieces. His eyes landed on the scene Vila had pulled up, and his mouth closed. Vila watched nervously as his eyebrows rose, and something approaching respect floated across his face.

“You're right about this getting the author shot. Possibly multiple times, and by all the parties involved in this...work.”

“I know, right?” Vila was grinning ear-to-ear now.

“Travis himself might come back from the dead to do it. And you have no idea who wrote this?”

“Nobody knows who anybody is in there, that's the whole point of a hidden archive! Everyone reroutes their transmissions through multiple systems so the Federation can't track them back if they ever find the archive! Nobody would dare to do this otherwise!”

“You should have known better yourself. There are a number of people on this ship and off it who would be happy to kill you for your part in this.”

“Well, I won't tell them if you won't! Come on, it's harmless enough, and anything that annoys the Federation has to be worthwhile, right?”

Avon smiled again. It was a smile that promised future torment, as soon as he thought of something appropriate to the occasion. “Well, if you feel that strongly about it, Arco.”

“You won't tell?” Vila clenched his hands nervously.

“I'll consider...discretion about the matter. However, I'm taking this.” Avon held up the scriber.

“Aw, have a heart, I'm on deadline, you know!”

“You'll just have to disappoint your fans this time. I should think you were used to doing that already.” With that same grin, Avon turned and left the flight deck.

“Oh ha-ha.” But Vila collapsed in relief. He wasn't going to die from his transgression. Well, at least not right away. If Avon didn't figure out the passcode to his more private writing attempts. Scratch that, he probably had it already. Well, maybe he wouldn't show Dayna and Cally. Avon was fond of blackmail, Vila was sure. He'd prefer to leave the threat hanging over the thief's head indefinitely.

Vila scrabbled for his nearest hidden bottle. He could definitely use a drink or three now...

Dayna watched Avon stalk by from the crack in the door of her lab. When the tech was safely down the corridor, she slipped out and headed for Cally's room.

“We're rumbled,” she said as soon as the door closed behind her. “Avon found the archive, and busted Vila. We're in for it now.”

Cally smiled. “Vila does not know that we know about it, much less what we've done. Therefore, Avon does not know.”

“He'll figure it out. He always does.”

“Perhaps. If he has enough time. We'll have to think of a way of distracting him.”

“I'll leave that to you, shall I? I don't think I quite dare.”

“Oh? You dared quite a lot when you wrote that story.”

“You helped! It's not like I ever met Travis myself, you know.” Dayna sighed. “It seemed like harmless fun when I started.”

“Well, Servalan already wants us dead. She can hardly kill us any more than she's planning to already, can she?”

“I'd really rather not find out. Maybe we shouldn't write a sequel to 'Servalan's Sugar.' Leave well enough alone.”

“It's your story, so it's your decision to make. But I must say, I thought you were much braver than this.”

Dayna grinned shamefacedly. “It's a bit embarrassing, that's all. It might damage my reputation if it got out.”

“No one will ever hear about it from me. I promise you.” If only to protect my own reputation, the Auronar thought guiltily.

Many, many spacials away, Jenna snapped her scriber shut and stashed it under the console as the door slid open. “Oh, Jenna! There you are. I was hoping to get your opinion on this new base location.”

She grinned brightly. “Of course, Blake. I'll be right with you. I was just running some calculations.”

“Ah. Ten minutes?”

“That'll be perfect, I'll be right there.”

The door slid shut again, and Jenna sighed in relief. She really was playing with fire here. Why she'd ever started on this...she pulled out the scriber, and saved her latest efforts. Not that she was incapable of rewriting the whole thing if needed, but it was getting harder and harder to find the time.

Part three-hundred and fifty. That should be a good stopping point. “Lonely Rebel Nights” had gone on long enough. What had she been thinking, even writing one part of it?

Well...Jenna blushed a little. What she'd been thinking had been obvious. But enough was enough. She had real work to do, after all. This was a silly hobby, and it was time to stop.

She hid the scriber carefully, and strolled out, story ideas still chasing around in her head.

#Blake's 7 #fanfic #mine

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