#but he's still very mobile and will play and is fully capable of laying the smackdown on both doggo and kitten

[marmotsomsierost]

you have had your squishy food. you have some left in your bowl.

yes, that bowl.

no i am not giving you more squishy food. you bolted 3/4 of the squishy food and then ignored your kibble in favor of excavating dog food from under the couch and eating it despite knowing that it swells up in your stomach and then the combo of too much squishy food and dog kibble means you horked it all up downstairs.

sierra ate it in the .4 milliseconds before i could get there.

then she rolled in it. now she stinks of cat foodgurgitation and zelda keeps trying to chew on her.

no.

you're 19 years old, old man. long past old enough to know better.

[nicostolemybones]

Odd One Out

Tw: references of ableism, discussions of consent and boundaries (just to clarify there is not underage sex referenced implied or depicted as a result of this discussion so no worries)

Nico was always the odd one out. No matter what, there was always something about him, always a strike against him. Son of Hades. Immigrant. Gay. Neurodivergent. Disabled. That last one was a relatively new revelation for Nico- it wasn't like he hadn't noticed the pain, hadn't used being lazy or being in the underworld as an excuse for people to leave him alone on days where the pain was so bad he couldn't move- because he didn't want anyone to know. And he didn't want it to be real. All he had going for him was his ability to fight, his freaky powers that gave him the upper hand, his command over the dead. But some days he was in so much pain that he'd lay in bed and cry. Sometimes after using his powers he'd pass out asleep for far too long to be normal. And it was getting worse, because he'd been ignoring it.

It wasn't that he thought less of himself for it. Or that he was ashamed. It was the limitations. And sure, people loved to tell him that he could do anything and he was only limiting himself- but that wasn't true. Sure, today he could go and train with Percy. But he'd probably collapse in pain, potentially cause himself irreparable damage trying to push himself too far. He'd end up in the infirmary with Will having to sit him up whilst he cried out in pain, he'd be unable to stand because the pain would be so bad he couldn't physically load bare.

Simply: he had physical and mental limitations. And Nico was struggling to accept that. 

He was struggling to accept it because yesterday he was running around playing capture the flag, and this morning his hips felt like somebody had a cheese grater on his joints every time he moved, flaring with a sharp and dull burn. His body felt heavy and sore and he felt like he was suspended in a heavy raincloud- he barely had the strength to get up. He hadn't slept last night- he'd tried, but Nico suffered with insomnia. It wasn't abnormal for him to go several days unable to sleep, even with sleeping tablets. It also wasn't abnormal for Nico to flit in and out of long bouts of naps for two days straight unable to eat or move apart from to go to the bathroom. 

He was struggling to accept it because nobody else did.

Today he was using his walker. He'd already had a camper say he didn't need it because he was running just fine yesterday. He'd already had someone chastise him for using the disabled toilet because he wasn't really disabled. He'd already had someone tell him he was useless as a demigod. He'd already had someone say he wouldn't last long because natural selection would pick him off. Not disabled enough to deserve aids, too disabled to deserve respect. Not visibly disabled enough for people to accommodate his needs, too visibly disabled for people to not speak to him like he was an infant- or worse- ask someone else what was wrong with their friend whilst saying what a shame it is their friend is disabled. Nico wished the word used was disabled. Instead it began with an s. Then when Nico yelled at them the next word used against him began with an r. 

He went back to his cabin after that for a shower- he could feel his energy just draining away by the minute and his pain was worsening and he knew he'd probably be unable to shower comfortably soon. He knew he'd probably need his wheelchair for a few days. And he knew camp was absolutely fucking terrible to navigate in a wheelchair. Tables were too low or too high, the apparently flat ground was bumpy and he kept almost tipping out every time he hit a bump, uncut grass kept snagging in his wheels, he couldn't reach a lot of stuff, and the ramps- the ramps were so fucking steep Nico was practically sisyphus reborn but instead of pushing a boulder up a hill it was Nico trying to push himself up a goddamn ramp just to use the bathrooms. Unstoppable force meets immovable object. Nico was scrawny- strong yes, but malnourished and disabled. Pushing himself up those bumpy steep accessibility ramps made him want to tear the whole thing up and scream. And then the doors- wide enough for a wheelchair yes. But not wide enough when someone's arms are at the sides trying to push themselves through it. Nico's arms were so scraped and grazed already from the doors- which were heavy and did not stay open, trying to close and hitting him repeatedly, and then there was so little room to actually manoeuvre anywhere. Nico was losing his mind. And then his cabin- well that was just steps, of course he had to struggle up them.

So despite knowing he should probably use his chair today, he kept to his walker. He was in so much pain and he knew he should be in his cabin or in his chair but it was so much hassle at camp and any time he complained somebody was always there to tell him that camp was fully accessible for people with real disabilities. He was sick of it. Sick of people defining his disability, his accessibility, his capabilities, his limits- sick of people seeing his mobility aids as a burden to Nico. Because no, they weren't a burden to him. They were helping him to fucking move. He needed them and he wanted them. He didn't care if people kept telling him they were unattractive or how much more amazing his life would be if he just tried to walk. Bitch he didn't owe anything to anybody, he didn't have to put himself through pain just to be somebody's inspiration porn. And worse- whenever Nico called someone out, rather than apologising and listening, they'd wax poetic about how much of a good ally they were trying to help and how Nico was being ungrateful.

When Nico emerged from his shower, he was surprised to see Will Solace sitting on his bed- Nico blushed a little, but he was even more surprised to see his walker completely covered in yellow smiley face stickers. "Will?"

"I know people really suck," Will said, "and I know you feel like the odd one out and I know you get insecure because you're tired of everyone's bullshit. So I just- I wanted to remind you that it's all okay. Something to make you smile. Also I wanted you to know that I don't see your mobility aids as ugly or tragic like they all think I do. And I like putting stickers on all my favourite things and- your walker helps you to be in less pain and that's important to me. I don't care if it's bulky or if it's always in our photos. It's a part of you, kind of, and I love and accept all of you, and I hope the stickers don't come across as me trying to improve the walker and make it less ugly and if it does let me know so I can apologise and stuff…" Will trailed off, glowing nervously, in a way that Nico found endearing.

"Thank you," Nico said softly, "for trying to cheer me up, for not- treating me like a burden- for always trying to make me feel like I'm worthy of love."

"You are, Nico," Will said softly, "you're a person, a good person, you deserve to be respected and loved and you deserve the world, okay? And I can't give you the world but I can be cheesy and put my favourite stickers on your stuff to try make you smile. And maybe think of me when you feel sad and you look down at the floor. Because then when you're sad and you look down on the floor you'll see the happy smiley stickers and that's me reminding you that I love you and accept every part of you and assholes can fuck off and shut up. I know a few stickers won't fix everything but I hope it at least makes you feel less alone."

"Will…" Nico knew his angsty demeanor was completely melting. He could feel the heat in his cheeks. 

"I'm sorry if I'm not helping very much…"

"You fucken dork," Nico smiled, making his way to Will. "I love you."

"I love you too, sweetcheeks."

"Call me that again and I'll rip your face off," Nico laughed.

"Sure thing. Sweetcheeks." Nico laughed. If Nico was uncomfortable with a pet name, he'd always say so, seriously. He'd communicated this with Will- threats were playful banter in response to cheesy nicknames, and meant he was okay with them. Will knew Nico wasn't uncomfortable and trusted that Nico would communicate if he was. Will rested his hands on Nico's hips, and Nico moved them up to his waist instead. "Sorry," Will said sheepishly, "is that a no-go always or just right now?"

"I'm not sure, Nico answered honestly, "I just felt a little uncomfortable because your hands were so close to my ass and my junk. I think maybe I'd be okay with you holding my hips when I'm not on edge, but wait until I give you the okay to do so? I'll move your hands where I want them to be."

"Of course, I'm sorry I made you uncomfortable." Nico leaned down to kiss Will softly, and Will still looked guilty. 

"Will, I'm not upset. You haven't crossed my boundaries. I trust you. I know that if you get handsy I can just push you away and I know we'll always talk about it. Relax and kiss me. I'm grumpy and I want to be carried to campfire later."

"You mean you want to feel my muscles whilst I carry you?"

"Shut up," Nico blushed, letting his fringe fall over his face, "but yes. I have a gorgeous boyfriend, why wouldn't I take the time to appreciate that once in a while?"

"I'm jealous of your boyfriend," Will joked, and Nico snorted. 

"Fucking dork. Wanna make my day and take me out for lunch?"

"Of course I do! But out of curiosity how much do my chances of kisses-"

"Sleaze," Nico joked.

"I'm kidding, Neeks. Even if I didn't ever get kisses I'd still love you and go out with you. You don't owe me kisses."

"I know," Nico smiled, "I trust you and your self control."

"What about my intentions?"

"Will. You're a teenage boy. So am I. Of course I don't trust your intentions," Nico joked, and Will snorted and glowed.

"Okay okay I want so badly to tell you you're wrong," he giggled, followed by "but seriously. My intentions are to make you happy, not to get in your pants. I mean I won't deny that my mind is very familiar with being in the gutter but I respect you and your body and your consent and your worth as a person. My dirty mind is my responsibility not yours. We're kids, casual dates and kisses are more than enough."

"Will, I love you and I know this," Nico smiled, "It's okay to joke about these things and have these feelings. I don't feel pressured by you at all. It's fun getting you all flustered and riled up. But I do appreciate that you always respect me and I do appreciate that you always clarify that I'm enough. But we've already had these serious talks, it's okay to joke about and talk about it. It's kinda flattering. You're my boyfriend. I'm comfortable with your feelings for me and I'm comfortable enough with you to know how much you respect me and love me."

"Does this mean I can stare at that ass in training?"

"Will. Do you really think I'm not purposely teasing you when you come to watch me train? With the tight leggings and my hair in a bun? Taking my top off?"

"Wait what." Will was staring, dumbfounded. He was bright red to the tips of his ears and glowing. Nico smirked. He liked teasing Will. 

"I know you like it," he admitted, "consider it my treat."

"Neeks you don't have to put yourself on display and wear things for my benefit, my feelings are my respo-"

"Will. Shush. I know you're being respectful and I love that about you but have you thought that I like knowing I make you feel like that? I do it because I want to. Not because you'd like me to. But I like flustering you. I love it when you finally allow yourself to stare at me and you have to excuse yourself. It's fun, it's harmless. We're not crossing any boundaries by flirting. You're allowed to like my body. You don't make me uncomfortable and I'd say if you did. Relax. I like it when I catch you staring at me. When you're eager to kiss me. It makes me feel wanted. I like feeling sexy and wanted. I like knowing that my boyfriend finds me attractive. This is your permission to shamelessly stare at me and think about me. I know you won't cross my boundaries or make me uncomfortable or try to rush our relationship until we're old enough. You're a perfect gentleman but Will please be at least a little selfish sometimes? You can stare at me and you can ask for kisses. It's okay to be needy. It's okay to want kisses. It's okay to want- well, me, things, relationship stuff! I know you're trying to make sure I'm comfortable and happy. But Will. For gods sakes that doesn't mean you gotta act like a monk or something. It isn't a bad thing to be selfish and ask for kisses. You don't need to feel guilty for wanting to kiss your boyfriend. You don't have to wait for me. Just kiss me. Just grab me in the mornings and pull me behind the infirmary and pin me against the wall kiss me silly. Just pull me close of an evening and kiss me slow and hot just the way you like it. I'd tell you if I wasn't in the mood for kisses."

"O-okay!" Will looked like a very radioactive tomato. His blotchy red blush was reaching down his neck and he was glowing like crazy.

"Well?"

"Well w-what?"

"You're dense, Solace," Nico huffed, yanking Will to his feet and kissing him hard. "Kiss me and don't hold back. I trust you won't take it too far."

"O-okay! Yes! I can totally do that! The kiss of your life-"

"Will, stop being adorable! Shut up and kiss me like you mean it-" Will seemed to finally get the message and engage his last brain cell, and gods, Nico could die like this, because Will was a filthy kisser, and gods, Nico loved it. 

Nico didn't feel like the odd one out with Will. Instead, Will made him feel like he was his whole world, one in seven billion. Will made him feel special and wanted and loved. 

-

-

[Taglist: @spencerwritestuff @i-am-triple-a @minty-ships @fullobjectcreation] {you can ask to be added/removed! Also yes you can rb if you aren't on here}

[themockingcrows]

Companionship Through Circuitry Ch. 3: Uploading

Not all uploads are created equal. Bro/Hal Also available on AO3!

    Upload me, Bro.

    “Don’t you need a stronger interface than that? Would you even work with that thing?”

    I was designed to functionally overwrite data when necessary, and if that means re-writing the code of a simple wrecker then so be it. Upload me.

    Bro sighed a bit. He had his reservations now that he was starting to get used to Hal’s voice and attitude, and the concept of potentially losing him because he didn’t want to take a lengthy detour was kind of obnoxious. But hey, what did he know, he was just a post-war guy taking directions from an AI who seemed to know his own capabilities far better. Against his better judgement, Bro took the shades off of his face and fished out the connection cable, following Hal’s advice to locate where an entry port could be positioned based on the make and model of the machinery at hand.

    The massive structure was meant to replace cranes for more basic movements, the continuous track treads far superior to wheels and the mobility vastly improved. The behemoth whirred to life a few moments after Ambrose finished the upload cycle, glasses still gently dangling by their cord till he ducked forward and tucked them somewhere less conspicuous. The droid moved its appendages, orienting itself as Hal took control and sussed out the operational maneuvers for each piece. It was a strangely human motion, the sensors of the face looking down at the pincer hands before giving them a whirl and twirl, clicking them together a few times to gauge the pressure.

    Right. Step back.

    Thank fuck this was temporary. Hearing the modulation of Hal’s voice was jarring, booming and decidedly electric from the audio core even with its damage and residue. When he stood fully upright, many times taller than Ambrose, it was with the soft screech of abused metal and rust. This wasn’t going to last forever, but it should last long enough to move a few barriers out of the way. Hal whirred forward excitedly and clasped both pincers into the edge of a stacked vehicle long since crashed, tugging it a few times before the body gave way to motion and the entire pile began to move. Ambrose wasn’t certain what all would be beyond where they could see, but he had a feeling that getting through the blockade would open up some options.

    Or, you know, trap him underground to die a horrible death. But who’s keeping track of anything, right?

    With much whirring and churning metal, Hal eventually moved several wrecked cars that had acted as a barricade between them and the rest of the bridge that seemed sturdy enough to cross as far as he could see. So the asphalt was gone in a few places, the girders and skeletal aspects of the bridge were still plenty intact for a man and a pair of sunglasses to pass unhindered so long as they didn’t gain too much attention. Or at least got away from the ruckus of attention they were currently causing right now.

    I changed my mind, can I stay in this longer?

    “No. You cleared the junk and I can cross now, get back in the glasses so we can leave,” Bro said, already sensing where this was going.

    What if there’s more junk on the other side of the bridge? Or in the center? Wouldn’t it be handy to have someone who would be able to move it easier? Hal asked, giving his hands another whirr for emphasis as if Bro could have somehow forgotten the difference between a set of pointed shades as a fully fledged wrecker droid.

    “I said no. How much power does that thing have left anyways?”

    Enough to enjoy getting over the bridge in style.

    “And if I don’t feel like travelin’ with a gigantic fuckin’ target on my back?” Bro asked. “What then, hm? Everything in a mile prolly heard all this noise, you’re not exactly dainty with your maneuverin’.”

    I believe you’d benefit more from me in this shape for a while. I’m enjoying having hands, that’s a bonus. And being able to move where I want to, Hal said as he backed up and did a quick turn as he could on the tracks. I could serve as a shield if required, or lift things to be a shield for you.

    Bro ran his tongue over his teeth. The offer DID sound kind of appealing when put like that… but he knew it’d bite him in the ass just as soon, knowing his luck. He shook his head and went over towards the shades, tapping them with his fingers.

    “Nope. In you go.”

    But what if I just followed along behind you.

    “And if we get separated how’m I supposed to get to your body then, huh? Want me to get there on my own, without you, and put somethin’ stupid in there?” Ambrose asked with a smirk. “The best body they could have created for you, the body your creator dude wanted for you, all goin’ to waste so I have someone to play Pong with.”

    Hal was silent for a moment before the massive droid looked down with a creak of metal. He could practically hear him squinting.

    You wouldn’t dare.

    “Spoken like someone who doesn’t know me very well,” Ambrose said with a shrug, both hands lifted up for emphasis at how helpless he was in the situation overall. “You think I wouldn’t kill to have a good quality droid be my butler and play stupid games with me? Dude, my kid left for the city already, who’s gonna fill the void for me now if not that or a bitchy AI.”

    The droid looked towards the bridge again, sensors trying to run how he’d normally run to assess risks before realizing the hardware just wasn’t up to spec to do what he wanted to do. This body was made for moving things, for lifting and toting, for sorting, not for detecting stealth routes a companion could take to an objective. Ever so slowly the droid bowed down and let its arms go limp, the shades chiming and beeping a short time later to alert Ambrose it was time to remove the connection and put him back on safely. While Ambrose wouldn’t say he missed having the weight on his face and the shade over his eyes, there was no denying a bit of fondness for the habit. It was nice not having his retinas toasted.

    “I see my offer was too much to resist.”

    You’re a bastard. I’ll not have my body sullied like that. If it does something foolish it will be because I will it to do something foolish, not any other way.

    “Sure thing,” Ambrose said as he started up the bridge, pulling his blade out to keep it at the ready, grip light. He resisted the temptation to spin it or do bored tosses like he would while at home or doing detail work on it, keeping his hands ready to put lethal force behind the steel at a moments notice. The bridge itself seemed like it had been used in the past as shelter, or a lookout point. Chairs were arranged beneath a sheet metal roof with a standee wall against the side of a toppled truck, and garbage lay strewn about the broken glass that crunched beneath Bro’s boots. At every turn there could be a human being or worse.. yet all seemed quiet for now. Abandoned. Empty.

    Packrat by nature, Bro took a moment to peer into different cars that they passed to see if any of them had been used as more shelter, or used to store any spare belongings that nobody would miss. There didn’t seem to be much on hand, however. Spent shells, empty cans and bottles, ragged blankets, clothes that reeked of sweat and in one car the sweet sickly smell of feces. One front seat had a few gadgets that slowed Ambrose’s steps to peek however, grinning in amusement.

    “Oh, hey, I remember readin’ about these things,” he mused, reaching through broken glass to pick up a blocky hand held game system with a melted looking cartridge. The screen was cracked, but the buttons looked well worn. Must’ve taken a lot of abuse to wind up like that, those things were supposedly indestructible in their time. He dropped it back onto the seat it had come from and the bit of bones that rested here and there as well. The original owner? An art project by some bored creep? Hard to guess honestly and not really his place to wonder about.

    There’s something else there, Hal pointed out, zeroing in the target t’s to direct Bro’s attention to the keychain looking item shaped like an egg. He reached again and plucked it up, rubbing a thumb over the dirty screen with a hum. A flip over and he nodded a bit.

    “Some other kinda game I guess..? Looks like it’s self contained and takes a smaller battery. Doubt it’s like yours, is it?”

    No, most likely that type of device ran on a watch battery. Do you not know what it is?

    “Is it not a game?”

    It is a game where you are tasked with keeping a small creature alive by meeting all of its needs and wants.

    Bro snorted. “I’ve raised a baby, I think I can live without a game reproducin’ the experience.”

    Yet.. it had been some of the best years of his life. Boiling water to make sure it was safe for Dave’s baby bath, washing hair so fine it was barely there. Messy cheeks in the high chair as he figured out how to feed himself, skinned knees and bandages, late night visitors to his bed whenever there was an electrical storm outside or when the winds screamed out over the desert like hungry dogs. Those big red eyes in the dark asking if it was safe when people came too close to their hidden home, listening to the distant explosions of deterrents and traps going off left and right. Those same red eyes staring up at him for the tenth, the hundreth, the thousandth time he’d knocked him down to make him get back up and keep fighting.

    Bro swallowed hard for a moment, throat suddenly uncomfortably dry. He knew it was wrong. He knew deep down it had been too much, but there was no choice. Not when the world wouldn’t hesitate even a single second before putting a bullet in his head if he didn’t take the initiative and attack first. He could tell himself that a thousand times and yet it didn’t change anything.

    Bro closed his hand around the toy and stuck it into his pocket without a second’s hesitation.

    “Might make for a fun project later though. Maybe I can re-program it, give it a better battery. Somethin’ simple like a time waster to take the edge off should be easy.”

    How many pet projects do you intend to keep on your person?

    “As many as I feel like, considerin’ one is already on my face. What, suddenly attached to the idea of being an only child?”

    I am not a child. If anything, I would prefer if you spoke to me like an adult instead of like one of your wards. Keep it in mind, Bro.

    “Yes Mom.”

    That is not what I meant when I sai-

    “I’m kidding,” Ambrose said as he fished his hand back out of his pocket and continued to walk, suddenly less interested in browsing the potential second hand belongings than he was about getting off the bridge and continuing Northwards. He’d dallied too long as it was, and while things seemed plenty deserted up here, he didn’t want that to stop being a thing any time soon thanks to their broadcast position.

    You know, I don’t think I’ve mentioned this before. But I have radio functionality, if you would enjoy to listen to something as you walk.

    He snorted. “Yeah? The same ten stations, no thanks. Propaganda, interviews with dumbasses, or the same fifty songs over and over. Nobody knows how to find decent music, and the songs that’re any good get played so often you get sick of them. Nobody makes anything new either.”

    I also possess some selections Dirk enjoyed, if you would prefer listening to those. They may prove to be something more to your taste, he was particular about what he listened to.

    “Particular how?”

    He was particularly ardent in enjoying what he liked and stubbornly sitting through what he didn’t like before deleting it from any device he listened to it on. Let me play a sample, Hal offered before going quiet and chiming softly to signal he was changing focus.

    Bro stopped walking when the music started, quiet near his ears to not block out incoming noise but loud enough to hear the quickly pronounced words and heavy beat, the tempo driving into his skull enough that he tapped his foot in time with it. Soon he was bobbing his head, catching the tune even without knowing the words, and smirking in amusement.

    “Not quite what I’m used to, no. But it’s nice. Feel free to keep’em coming while we head on, yeah? Turn them off if you detect something approaching,” he instructed.

    But of course, Bro. I’m not an idiot, said Hal in a more modulated voice than usual behind the thrum of the music.

    When he began to walk again, the beat added a new cadence to his step and made the walking go by quicker than before. In no time at all he was over the bridge and on the other side of the water, taking in his surroundings with the same eyes of the curious and the mildly kleptomanic. Every new venue was a new opportunity, especially when there were what looked like stores in the distance. Hell, now that he had his new pet project he’d need a few parts, wouldn’t he?

    “...Mm. Hal, that sign says ‘Toys’ in part of the name, right?”

    It would seem so. It was likely a location of the Time For Toys brand from before the war, Hal offered. It could potentially be something else, but the orientation of those letters makes the likelihood of it being anything else quite low.

    “Perfect. Let’s go shoppin’.”

    Giving another glance to the toy in his pocket, guessing what size of batteries to keep an eye out for adjustments sake later on, Bro strode towards the building bearing the toy slogan and let himself inside without a second thought.

    Perhaps he should have thought twice. There were few places as unnerving as an abandoned toy shop that had sat this long through destruction and disuse. Rows and rows of figurines, dolls, moth eaten soft toys, accessories, and toy cars rested on the shelves and from dangling sorting rods that stuck out at even intervals. Everything was silent save for his footsteps, and Hal kept focusing the t’s on various rodents that were startled by the sudden invasion. As far as humans went, it seemed most had stayed clear. There just wasn’t much use for toys after the war he supposed.

    ...Okay, bullshit, he kind of wished he’d known this place existed when Dave was a baby. He probably would have loved a lot of these things, instead of making do with the things Bro could make him. Smuppets were amazing, and so were the other puppets and the electronic things, but sometimes a kid just needs a teddybear. He poked one with blue button eyes and sawdust stuffed feet, its floppy soft arms resting alongside its torso with fabric claw tips resting alongside its thighs. The bear fell over with a soft whump and a bit of dust in the air, leaving Bro free to quietly explore the graveyard of toys.

    Past a section of toy balls that had long since deflated, baseballs and mitts, were electronic toys. Dollies that talked and horses and dogs and cats that made realistic noises seemed to be all the rage, but along with them hung more of the egg shaped toy he had in his pocket in different colors, still in the package. Whistling softly, still nodding along with the tempo on the song Hal continued to play, he grabbed several of the packages and batteries from the end of the display cap to stuff into his bag.

    That was when he saw it. Soft, fluffy, and apparently capable of movement and speech. The small creature was hard to decipher at a glance species wise. It had a beak and two big eyes that could apparently blink when they weren’t staring into your soul, a small sensor in its forehead, and two massive ears. Two fat, pudgy paws rested at its base in front of a set of wheels that offered free movement.

    Furby.

    An apt name, Bro supposed. The little thing was furry as hell, soft to his rough fingered touch and fairly sweet looking with its black and white fur pattern. The external fluff seemed to safeguard a sizeable chunk of electronics from what he could guess thanks to a testing squeeze. ...Interesting.

    What are you so distracted by now.

    “You think you’d be capable of driving one of these?” Bro asked curiously. “It’s got wheels and seems like it can maneuver around on its own from an AI. Talks too.”

    I’d rather die. So there is your answer.

    “But it’s possible,” Bro continued. “You were able to work that droid back there just fine. Think of how useful this would be for checking out crowded buildings.”

    Wouldn’t an RC car be more useful for exploration purposes.

    “Hey, I never said I wouldn’t mod this thing,” Bro said as he continued to feel the edges of the furby before turning it and cutting the edge of its fur open, removing the skin messily to get a better look at what lay beneath. “Look. See? A lot of these guts’re useless. Could take them out, put better power and mobility, maybe add a weapon.. Maybe connect the innards of a walkie talkie in there too, or some radio parts to keep in contact.”

    It was a whole new project idea. The egg toy was one thing, but this. This was something entirely new. And the fact that Hal hated it so much on sight was kind of appealing.

    Are you implying you plan to weaponize a furby.

    “Yes. I’m also implyin’ I’d like to see you pilot the damn thing if I can make it work how I want it to. Could set you loose on a floor and let you roll around doin’ your own damn thing, keep shit off you left and right, let me know what you see. You’d be able to help me out.”

    And the reason I couldn’t do that with the big droid is…?

    “Batteries, bein’ inconspicuous, and portability. I can stuff one of these things in my bag easy, and nobody would expect one of these to be anything important,” he hummed, mind already going wild. Dave would love it.

    No, Dave would probably hate it and say he was taunting God but Dave wasn’t here right now and Bro was itching to customize. He glanced back the way he’d come before putting his tongue between his teeth, thinking.. and then grabbing another furby identical to the one he’d de-skinned. He’d need to strip it cleaner, treat it nicer, figure out how these fuckers ticked. Manual was probably in the box somewhere, but even if it wasn’t how hard would it be to figure out a children’s toy?

    “I think I know where we’re campin’ tonight. Lemme just grab a few things and we’ll find a spot to nest down.”

    I’m never touching that thing, I have no idea why you look like a child with a new toy.

    “Because I’m a man-child with several new toys,” corrected Bro as he wandered the aisles, looking for radios or walkie talkies. Paydirt came in the form of a pair of ‘authentic army navy walkie talkies’ whose authenticity he seriously doubted even with their rather pretty camouflage patterning just based on the materials he felt beneath his fingers. These casings would be easy enough to pop with his hands, let alone with his tools, they could really have stood to make these sturdier. He’d kill for a good blowtorch though, maybe make some kind of a shell underneath the furby fur to-

    You’re a maniac. You do know that, correct? I can’t hear your thoughts but the things you’re looking at are alarming when placed with the potential logic.

    “I think you mean genius, thanks. Shoosh now, I’m tryin’ to find Frankenfurb some more parts,” Bro hummed, tucking the walkie talkies beneath his arm before finding a shopping basket. There. Much better. Like a pre-war man he wandered the aisles, snagging things that looked useful or interesting or, in the case of his eventual sleeping, soft. His sleeping spot back behind the main register ina  protected circle of countertops was soon piled high with plushes and surreptitiously dotted with his electronic findings and various tidbits he planned to use for parts. Doll clothes, while overall worthless to him, still had elastic bands inside of them and the fabric wasn’t flammable. Useful. He even found a child size pair of sunglasses he’d already made plans for, so long as he was able to control the melting properly.

    Peeling off his boots and settling back with his supper, Bro opened his bag and set to work toying with his new toys. First everything had to be opened and examined, taken apart, and in some places scrapped entirely down to their base components until he had a small pile of tidbits at his disposal. The toy from earlier seemed to be damaged even when he tried to power it on, but the new packaged replacements just needed to have their old battery removed and replaced with something new to turn on. He already knew how he wanted to update it, especially since there seemed to be a data port that would fit Hal’s cable to it. He failed to say it, but it would be a good emergency backup for transportation should anything ever happen to the shades.

    The furby would be his prize. Off went its two toned furry skin, out came its voice box and innards, and in went an assortment of new parts.. Including a salvaged port from one of the extra egg toys Bro had grabbed. He’d worked well into the night by the time he put the skin back on and proudly wiped the beak clean before adding the tiny shades, grinning proudly at it.

    “Might need some more tweakin’, and I wanna get a proper laser to put in the thing.. But for now it should be able to move around easier and communicate back to the matchin’ walkie talkie,” he said, gesturing over to his creation with both hands and a wide smile.

    It’s hideous.

    “You’re gonna be in there eventually, Hal, mark my words.”

    If it comes down to being a matter of life or death, I consider my life to have been a full one until you can repair me properly.

    “You’d rather be dead than have some mobility and autonomy while helpin’ me out?” Bro asked, rummaging in his bag for some water to quench his thirst, using a bit more to wipe his face with now that sleep was settling into his brain.

    Did I fucking stutter.

    “All I hear is someone who’s bitchy and in denial about the frankenfurb.”

    Bro’s vision faded briefly to display those red eyes once more, though this time they were giving a decided roll before his vision faded back in.

    When a furby is on the line, Bro, I will be as bitchy as I please.

[sofreakinmanyfandoms]

Rebound - Chapter 5

Now officially on hiatus until Dec. 5th.

Also, this chapter made me want to start a WinterIron spinoff series. I am refraining for now, but if anyone wanted it after this series is complete I just might do that.

Word count: 1552

Warnings: Tony doesn’t deal with emotions well (yeah, he’s in the story now too, I was as surprised as you are), alcohol abuse, very little of the reader actually (I’m trying to flesh out where Steve’s at in life, it’ll be important later I promise)

--------------------

You awoke slowly, head pounding and eyes protesting the light that sneaked around the living room curtains. It didn’t take long for you to become aware of the intense stare coming from across the room. Clint crossed his arms as you slowly blinked at him.

“So,” he started, “you couldn’t make it even one night without drinking?”

That’s how he was gonna be, then. “Lay off,” you grumbled, slowly sitting up, “it’s just beer. It’s not like I got smashed or anything.”

“You passed out on the couch,” he pointed out. “Even when you go out drinking, you at least make it to your bed.”

You ignored the look he was giving you in favor of searching for water. “So I fell asleep watching the Late, Late Show. Big deal.” You stumbled into the kitchen and opted for a plastic cup, which turned out to be a good choice as you immediately fumbled and dropped it.

“Look, Y/N,” Clint said with a sigh, picking the cup off the floor and opening the fridge to pull out the pitcher, “if you can’t keep yourself from drinking, this situation has gone way past unhealthy and into dangerous. I can’t let you do that to yourself.”

“Screw you,” you mumbled, accepting the full cup back. “I’m not an alcoholic.”

“Then let’s spend the night in,” he offered. “It’s my night off; Scott’s got everything covered. Let’s watch movies and eat pizza and just hang out, no alcohol involved.”

“Fine,” you sighed. It had been a while since you’d just hung out with your brother, and it did sound like fun. “But no horror movies and I get to pick the first one.”

“Deal.” Clint shot you a smile and his tone turned teasing. “Now spill. I wanna hear all about your date yesterday.”

---------- 

If Steve were honest with himself, he’d admit that he checked every text he received so quickly because he was hoping it would be from you. He wasn’t being honest with himself, though, so he kept telling himself it was because his job was particularly slow and boring that day. That didn’t keep his heart from speeding up when he finally saw your name pop up on the notification.

Spending the day hanging out with Clint. Can we move our second date to tomorrow?

He blinked at his phone. You spending time with your brother was a good thing. It would help, right? So why was he suddenly jealous of Clint?

Man, Rogers, you really have got it bad.

“Hey, Steve.”

He was brought out of his thoughts by a knock on his door and Pepper ducking her head into his office. Steve shot his boss a smile.

“Hey, Pep. What can I do for you?”

She stepped fully into the room and shut the door behind her. “Tony’s holed up in his lab again. I tried to get him out but he insists that he’s almost figured out a new improvement for James’s arm. I was hoping maybe you and James could try to get him to at least take a break to eat something? It’s been at least forty-eight hours since he’s had anything other than coffee and dried fruit.”

“Of course we can try, but no promises.” Steve sighed as he saved his current work and shut down the program. “Bucky doesn’t blame him for what happened because it wasn’t his fault, but neither of us seem to be able to get through to him.”

“You get through more than you realize,” she told him with a soft smile. “Especially James. It helps, Steve, it really does. I’ll have the food waiting on a tray outside the lab when the two of you get there.”

“Thanks, Pepper,” Steve said, returning her smile. “We’ll talk to him.”

He shot a quick affirmative text to you before sending one to Bucky as he hopped into the elevator and pressed the button for their floor. Maybe he’d see it and maybe he wouldn’t, but if he did it would be a little more warning before Steve dragged him to the lab.

Bucky did see it. He was pulling on a shirt as Steve opened the door to their apartment.

“Yeah, punk, I got your message.” He grabbed the half-finished pop tart from the counter and shoved it all in his mouth at once. “Mflts gmm.”

Steve shot him a look. “Don’t talk with your mouth full.”

He swallowed his large bite and shot his friend a smirk. “Sorry, Ma.”

The two of them made their way up to Tony’s lab. When they arrived Bucky took the lead, punching in his access code and calling out a hello as he entered. Steve grabbed the tray of food that was right where Pepper had said it would be and followed the brunet into the room.

“Hey, Tony, Pep said you haven’t been eating,” Bucky said in a tone of practiced cheer. “But see, the thing is, food is important for your brain to work well. So’s sleep and water, but we’re on the topic of food at the moment, so that’s what we’ll focus on for now. You’ve got a really smart brain and it needs fuel, so why don’t you come join us and the three of us can eat together?”

Tony didn’t even look up from where he was bending over a nearly identical replica of Bucky’s prosthetic.

“I just had some blueberries, thanks though. Need to finish these adjustments and that should improve your arm’s strength and mobility by fifteen percent. It’ll be even better once JARVIS finishes the new alloy calculations, but the current alloy can’t handle the pressure of more than –”

“Tony,” Steve cut in, “it’ll still be there when you go back to it. Come on, take a little time with friends who care.”

The genius made a rather undignified squeak of protest when Bucky stole his tools from his hand.

“Hey, I’m not done with those.”

“Of course you aren’t,” Bucky placated, “but for now you’re going to eat with us anyway. You can have them back after.”

Tony glared at both of them. “I’m only conceding because I’m not dumb enough to think I could take on either of you alone, much less together, and I’m fully aware Barnes is going to play keep-away until you’re both satisfied.”

“Smart move,” Bucky said smugly as he tucked the tools behind him. “Sit. Eat. Tell us about your day.”

“It’s been a day,” Tony snorted. “Fridays aren’t that special, no matter what the average American seems to think.”

“Uh, Tony,” Steve shared a look with Bucky, “it’s Monday.”

The genius blinked a few times, looking back and forth between them to see if they were serious.

“Oh.”

“See,” Bucky opted for a teasing tone, “I told you. Food is important for your brain. Ignore it and suddenly you’re missing things like whole weekends.”

“It’s been a bit of a blur,” Tony admitted, picking up one of the sandwiches from the tray. “I just got the idea for how to make your arm better, and I had to figure it out. I guess it’s taking longer than I realized.”

“Tony, I appreciate how much you care about making sure my arm works perfectly,” Bucky leaned forward with a serious expression, elbows resting on his knees and eyes locked on his friend, “but I need you to know that it’s already capable of more than I am. It’s more than strong enough for the odd construction jobs I get, and it can move as fast as I can think. You’ve already given me more than I could have ever hoped for.”

Tony bit his lip and stared at the floor. “It isn’t enough. It will never be enough.”

“I think,” Bucky said, bracing his metal hand on his friend’s shoulder, “that I ought to have a good idea of what I need. It’s more than enough, Tony. Hell, you’ve revolutionized prosthetic technology and it’ll make millions of lives better. That right there? That makes everything that happened worth it to me.”

Avoiding Bucky’s gaze, Tony locked eyes with Steve. “How did he end up the well-adjusted one of the three of us?”

“Hell if I know,” Steve smiled softly. “He’s right, though. You don’t owe either of us anything, so please don’t destroy your health because of misplaced guilt.”

“I’m not going to win this argument so I’m going to ignore that statement until the two of you have to leave.”

Bucky looked at Steve. “I’m free the rest of the day.”

“My date got moved to tomorrow,” Steve added with a nod, “and I’m pretty sure my boss gave me the rest of the day off, so we’re not going anywhere.”

“Finish at least one sandwich,” Bucky said with a smirk, “and I’ll let you mess with my actual arm while Steve explains when he started dating and why he didn’t tell us.”

The two of them laughed when Tony immediately stuffed the whole end of the sandwich into his mouth and bit down. He winked at them, his cheeks stuffed like a chipmunk and a smile threatening to send his food spilling out of his mouth.

Not the way I thought I’d spend the rest of the day, Steve thought, but not bad. Not bad at all.

[totesnottabot-blog]

Disclaimer: This cultural perspective is still being developed, thus making it hard to fully capture in one blog post. The following is a musing on what I’ve come to understand is our modern culture and where I believe it to be heading, spurred by David Brooks’ recent OpEd, more specifically, this excerpt:

“…what comes next?

It’s clear that Trump is not just a parenthesis. After he leaves things will not just snap back to “normal.” Instead, he represents the farcical culmination of a lot of dying old orders — demographic, political, even moral — and what comes after will be a reaction against rather than a continuing from.”

I think Brooks is touching on the more broad idea that postmodernism has led us to this point where everything has become morally ambiguous (he even mentions Breaking Bad, the show of the last decade that exemplified moral ambiguity). There’s this new cultural meme that’s been emerging over the last 20yrs or so (with first academic mention in 1975 in Mas'ud Zavarzadeh’s The Apocalyptic Fact and the Eclipse of Fiction in Recent American Prose in The Journal of American Studies) that I’ve been interested in this past year called post-postmodernism or metamodernism (post-postmodernism just sounds silly and the reason this collection of ideas hasn’t quite caught on in the mainstream is because of the name lol, so I’m going to refer to it as metamodernism and I’ll go further into why in a min), because it seems to be a direct response to this ambiguity.

Modernism essentially ripped the mask off of the hypocrisies of traditionalism (avant-garde art like Dadaism is an example of this), which evolved into postmodernism and this broad culture of cynicism (the 60-70s counterculture in response to events like the Vietnam War and Watergate is emblematic of this and over the decades has developed into our modern culture). Trump in many ways is the culmination of this cynicism and Brooks does a fine job of laying this out in his brief description of Trump. What can be thought of as metamodernism then, is a recognition of this dichotomy between what modernism sought to destroy (think: tradition = bullshit) and postmodernism’s response to that destruction of tradition (think: everything = ambiguous).

What this new metamodernist perspective seeks to do is to recognize 1) that traditionalism and cultural ambiguity exist on the same spectrum; 2) that cultural expression can move to different ends of the spectrum in degrees; 3) that the mobility itself along the spectrum is of more value than where a form of expression chooses to land, though where the landing is made also contains contextual cultural value; 4) that the recognition and actualization of this dichotomy holds the most cultural value because it’s what allows us to explore different modes of human thought (from traditionalist optimism/pessimism [think Heaven/Hell] to postmodern ambiguity [read as nihilism)]), and emotion (traditionalism, as defind by modernism, is in many ways synonymous with the aesthetics of Romanticism, while again postmodernism has given us the other end in nihilism).

A broad but important component of metamodernism is this neo-Romanticism, which unlike traditional Romanticism of the 19th century, is firmly rooted in an ideal pragmatism; ‘quixotic youth’ is a description of 19th century Romanticism that I think most people typically think of. What metamodernism has that modernism repudiates and that postmodernism has responded with its morally ambiguous nihilism, is this sense of a more practical Romanticism that’s rooted in humanism and philosophical naturalism. That is to say, an acceptance of a general scientific outlook (modernist naturalism) but with a reverance and awe for the unknown/yet to be discovered and how that unknown informs what it means to be human (traditional romanticism) - all with the full knowledge that ultimately no matter what any individual does with their life, in the grand scheme of The Universe, it does not matter (postmodern nihilism). With the amalgamation of these themes we get neo-Romanticism (ie, a reverance for The Void*), and with neo-Romanticism we get both the forms of expression that modernism and postmodernism repudiated (ie a sense of quixotic optimism and a 'no love lost’ pessimism [think Shakespearean tragedy] for the human condition) and championed (ie naturalistic nihilism).

With this recognition of the dichotomy and our traversing capability, we get to the meaning of metamodernism. The prefix 'meta’ is in reference to Plato’s metaxy which describes a polarity and the ability to move between poles, but also the ability to move *beyond* the poles; the recognition that the dichotomy exists and can be traversed is an example of being beyond polarity, which is a concept we can, in a sense, thank postmodern ambiguity for showing what that looks like.

*in this post I’ve used Western terminology (metaxy, romanticism, modernism, postmodernism, etc), but the concepts of Eastern philosophy (eg The Void) very much play a role in metamodernism and neo-Romanticism because of the type of refutation of traditionalism attributed to postmodernism’s conception of culture (ie ambiguity; think the New Age movement and how it’s developed into an amalgamation of different themes of Eastern philosophy with Western mysticism). Interestingly enough, “Metta” meditation in Buddhism is a meditation on nonattached loving compassion for the whole of existence, and in a way metamodernism implicitly demands expression to come from a place of nonattached loving compassion in order to achieve an effective form of cultural expression.

David Brooks’ OpEd: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/08/opinion/getting-trump-out-of-my-brain.html

Zavarzadeh’s The Apocalyptic Fact and the Eclipse of Fiction in Recent American Prose: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27553153?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

Metamodernism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metamodernism?wprov=sfla1this post

Edit: Romanticism began in the late 18th century, but saw its cultural peak during the first half of the 19th century (1800-1850).

[mechagalaxy]

Sten Hugo Hiller - 627184: My Clan war `46 - Second opponents: Black Star Knights

(By Sten Hugo Hiller - 627184)

My Clan war `46

Second opponents: Black Star Knights

Some Commanders prefer the solitude of fighting for themselves. Having none to tell you what to do, or having to follow some underling with the eyes of argus to check that they follow orders is after all quite liberating. You are of course free to play in the lottery, as everyone else. You can fight in the KotM events and the Wave Challenges, and once you get a two-digit licence you can trash others in the Circuits as well. Then there is the sheer mayhem involved in hitting other Commanders to see which one have the strongest formation. If that is the way they prefer to fight, who am I to tell them they are wrong?

Then you have those who form a clan, or join one. As they well understand; If a leader is to bossy you can just leave the clan again, and if some member refuses to follow directions and sound advice he can be removed from the clan. Being part of a clan when it comes to lotto wins will because of the smaller prizes given to the winners clanmates effectively increase your take by 100% for each five other member, up to four times what a single Commander can expect if the clan grows to 16 Commanders. The other things you can do as a solitary Commander is still there to do, but now you have brothers in arms who might give you advice and answer questions. Then comes the Clan Wars.

In a normal War, any clan having enough members (8 minimum) where the discrepancy between licences is not to big, can sign up for the war. In general, Specialists might be assigned to members,-or not. But from time to time it might be one mandatory specialty. The Gaming authorities will then place clans in divisions according to their average piloting licences, and they will over the course of three battle days face a trio of different opponents. If your clan defeats all opponents, good prices will be had by everyone. That is, everyone who managed to get a set number of attack wins Defeating two, or only one opposing clan will get you lesser prizes, but even if you lost to all the opponents you will still get something. (provided you got the mandated wins)

After the war, some villain might appear. If the clan chooses to oppose said villains hordes, and manages to defeat all of them within a given time, prizes will be given to each Commander. Partly by performance and partly by luck. (but no kills equals no prizes. To be lucky, you have to perform first) -----

As for us in the Star League....

We had joined up in the war, and our first opponents had (figuratively) handed us our heads. Mind you, they took them fair and square on the field of battle, and kept them until the fighting was over.

As we returned to what had been our headquarter, Tony`s eyes flickered over the area.

Nothing was left standing. The remains of the ammo bunkers gaped empty toward the cloudy sky, the repair facilities had been burned by fires so hot that not even a trace of POL, spare parts or tools were left and the many wounded lay on the bare earth where a few overworked corpse men ripped pieces from their dirty, tattered uniforms to use as makeshift bandages.

In a dejected tone he muttered "It will take a miracle to get us ready for tomorrow. Right now I would make up to the devil himself if he could get us what we need to get operative in time" I looked at my timepiece. Bruno should be arriving any moment now, bringing the personnel and items I had neglected to bring in the first place. "Well,boss, as to that I have to...." The rest of the sentence was drowned by the roar of descending shuttles.

The Pakothe IV-B shuttles are quite enormous, and if you spend some mega credits at a good yard they can be configured pretty much as you like. These shuttles were mostly mobile repair bays, but a couple of them were fully equipped field hospitals, a trio were ammo carriers and one was a mobile mess.

Tony took in the sight and when he turned toward me what looked suspiciously like a tear was forming in his right eye. "Your work?" I nodded "Good man. Anything I can do for you?" I held out a clipboard and said "just sign here , here and here." After he numbly, still with an expression of wonder on his face had done so, I continued "I did not have the authority to release so much cash from our accounts, so the work was done on credit until you signed." Tony grabbed the clipboard and looked at the numbers. Then, white in the face, he grabbed me and threw me over the farthest shuttle. I noticed the ground getting closer at a breakneck speed and did my best to tuck into a roll. Then, blackness...

I came slowly back to consciousness, and immediately wished I hadn’t. There might have been some parts of my body that did not send pain signals to my brain, but the odds were that was because the nerves from them had been ripped loose.

My AI injected enough painkillers to knock out a tribe of Snavrums, and slowly the world came into focus. My timepiece informed me the second battle day would start in a few minutes. Looking around, I found myself in the cockpit of my ride, and pinned on the battle board was a note. It was from Tony and explained the battle plan and my part in it.

Jorge was covering one of the bridges, rated for no more than 1200 tons, Rob`s 30s was in the broken hills to the north. As for the opponents: Christopher Wallace held the other bridge, a Dual Rainbow one, and Brian Leslie King was supposed to hold the swamps to the south in his 20s. A long winding canyon was another connection between our two clans, My 70s held the eastern part, Joey Goldez 70s held the western part. Then my blood turned cold. "I have placed most of our ammo with you. Guard it with your life, because it is placed in such a way that if it explodes it will bring the whole canyon down on your defeated formation and your opponent" Talk about a do or die mission!!

Then the channels started cracking, the battle was upon us.

The Knights landed the first blows.

Led by Ales Tomasek, Brian Leslie King and Joey Goldez had for the moment brought their main formations along to do some mayhem. Able brought his formation into the fray as fast as he could and went onto the offensive. Despite a couple failed attacks and the appearance of Darryl Proctor in an offensive role, he managed to stabilize the front with us slightly ahead. 10-9 to us.

King returned, this time accompanying Philip Power. They got some unopposed wins, then Mark went on a rampage along their front. Not all his strikes was successful, but it caused them to withdraw, at least for the moment. 15-14 to them.

David Buchanan got a couple wins. In response Mark was once more called into the breach, this time having Jorge as wingman. Again our offensive had mixed success, but at least it pushed the Knights back. 22-17 to them.

It seemed there was only a matter of time before some enterprising Knight would come waltzing down the canyon, so I started to back slowly toward our lines. As the canyon started to widen I drew a deep breath of relief. Really bad idea. The painkillers could only mask so much pain, and the sudden expansion of my chest made my bruised and broken ribs send frantic emergency signals to my brain. After what seemed like an eternity of pain, I finally realized that holding my breath was the worst thing I could do. Letting it out in a wordless scream, slowly reduced the pain level from unbearable to just very unpleasant. When the stars finally stopped dancing in front of my eyes and the monitors once more informed me of my surroundings, I discovered we were surrounded by a superior formation.

"Ah, how good of you to show up. Would you care to join me for a stroll along the front? After some unexpected expidentures we need every commander to earn his keep" Tony`s cold voice belied the bantering tone, so what choice did I have?

"Come along and watch me closely, I will point out a few opponents you might be capable of handling"

I have to say Tony really know how to handle his Mechs. Opponent after opponent fell before him, and under his tutelage I managed to score a few wins as well. When he called off the offensive we had gained quite a bit of ground. 35-22 to us.

Tony escorted me back into the canyon and ordered me to stay there this time. While we were out of the picture, Bob Schlomer made an appearance. Blowing our formations up. Right, front and center. There seemed little we could do to halt his advance. Tony threw himself into the frontline, hoping to make Schlomer break off his one-formation rampage, but to little avail. Then David Buchanan joined Schlomer, and most of the advantage we had held disappeared 36-34 to us.

Rob rushed over to reinforce Tony`s drive, but lady luck was on the Knights side here, and after several fumbled attacks the Knights had the advantage again. 38-37 to them.

As the main action took place elsewhere, Drake Hunter had been left to cover quite a stretch of the front by himself. Now he suddenly found himself face to face with Joey Goldez, and not in a puny 70 ton formation either. Despite being outmassed by a noticable margin, Drake stood his ground, knowing none else was between Goldez and our HQ.

Goldez frontline, a Humbaba, a Reaper, a Cameron and a Boreas, shielded by a Regis met Drakes Cavalier and Guardian, supported by two Nakshi`s and a Drednought.

The first telling blow came from Goldez Cameron. A solid hit on the Cavalier with a Rednose Laser turned into a minor disaster as it both splashed and generated a Wide Fork. The Cavalier weathered the storm, but the Guardians armor disappeared and it was a lifeless husk. Then Goldez Humbaba sent the Nakshi to the scrapyard using a Heartbreaker. Drakes Dreadnought took out first the Humbaba and then the Reaper by crits. The Cameron finally put paid to the Cavalier after lots of hits, and Drakes Dreadnought finished off the Boreas. The Cameron dispatched the shutdown Guardian, and used an overpowered Vadhar to kill off the Dreadnought. Drakes Nakshi fought grimly on, but were killed by the Cameron

Drakes second line, consisting of a Fext, an Anubis and a Boreas supported by an Ignis and a Regis advanced. Drakes Regis blew up Goldez Regis and the Ignis put paid to the Boreas.

Goldez second line consisted of a trio of Onyxes flanked by two Antithesises. One of the Onyxes quickly critted the Ignis, and after a flurry of nontelling blows another Onyx critted the Anubis. Drakes Regis and Boreas took out the two Onyxes, and the Regis took out the third Onyx as well by landing an overpowered blow from its Man Ò War Ray. The two Antithesises was now outnumbered and Drakes Fext and Boreas blew up one each.

Goldez third line consisted of a Frigis surrounded by four Nakshi`s. Amid a flurry of shots the Nakshis were blown up, one each by the Fext and the the Regis while the Boreas blew up the two others. Goldez Frigis managed to land a couple more blows before a Twin Grazer from the Regis ripped it apart.

Goldez fourth line, consisting of a Notos, a Guardian and a Redeemer flanked by a Dreadnought and an Antithesis marched confidently forth. They started by reducing the armor on Drakes Mechs, but when a Tri-Slagger from the Regis critted the Redeemer they understood this was serious business. And when, after another flurry of blows, the Guardian was taken out by a massive blast from the Boreas` Leviathan their confidence seemed to slip. In that tiny moment the Fext landed a massive blow from its Blue Dragon. Enough to blow up the Dreadnought, and the fork it created sent the Antithesis into an emergency shutdown. The Fext quickly put the Antithesis out of its misery, and the now outnumbered Notos was slowed to a crawl before the trio of Mechs slowly blew it into small pieces.

Goldez fifth line, a Dilophos, a Frigis, a Dreadnought and two Torrents charged forth to avenge their brethren. The Dilophos used an overpowered Ursa Strike to blow the Fext apart, and an overpowered Missile tow from one of the Torrents ripped the Boreas apart while the combined Splash/Fork ripped the remaining armor off the Regis. The Frigis gave it a mercy shot.

Drakes third line, a Ballista, a Frigis and an Antithesis flanking a Boreas and a Notos immediately made their presence known. The Ballista opened the ball by letting a Renly`s Revenge crit the Dreadnought. The Boreas followed suit. An Oppenheimer did not pack quite enough punch to take out the Torrent it hit, but the Wide Fork it generated spread lot of mayhem, and the Dilopos shut down to avoid an engine explosion. After quite a few additional shots had been exchanged, the Notos melted the Frigis by an overpowered Chimera, and the spreading cloud of hot plasma shut down one of the Torrents as well. The Boreas took out the last Torrent and the Antithesis put the disconnected Dilophos out of its misery.

Goldez sixt line consisted of a Fext and a Regis flanking a trio of Boreas. Quite a few cold blasts were exchanged, and many a target was frozen for a while. Then Goldez Fext sent an overcharged super explosive missile into the Ballista. The resulting explotion removed all traces of the Mech. In response Drakes Boreas sent another Oppenheimer downrange, killing off one Boreas and shutting down another. Another Oppenheimer blast packed to little punch to take out the Fext, but the Wide Fork shut down the Regis as well. Drakes Notos and Antithesis took out the two crippled Mechs, and the Antithesis managed to take out both the last active Boreas and the Fext as well.

Goldez last line, a Rudy, a Spitfire and a Dilophos stepped gamely forth. If they knew they were outnumbered and probably had scant seconds left, they gave no sign of that. Instead the Dilophos sent an overcharged Chidori into the Frigis, cutting it in two. The Boreas Openheimer arrived less than a heartbeat later, ripping the Dilophos apart and taking the Rudy out of the fight. Goldez last Mech, the Spitfire landed another couple of Ineffectual blows before it too was felled.

The fight was now in the Balance, an even 38 score to both sides.

Mark and Rob tried unsuccessfully to put us in front again and Christopher Wallace got involved as well. Most of the assaults failed here and when the smoke settled, the advantage had shifted to the Knights again. Schlomer put in another appearance and got some more wins. 43-38 to them.

Tony got us another win, and King got a couple. Tony failed on the following attack, but he managed blowing up Ales Tomaseks coffee maker by a stray shot. Infuriated, Tomasek went on a rampage that took a defeat at Ables hands to stop. 52-40 to them.

At this point our ammo stocks was gone, and all we had was what the Mechs carried. Tony disallowed any further offensive operations, and we waited for the light to flash. But while we might be done, the Knights had more fights in them. Michael Beagle drove a wedge deep into our rear, and called Proctor in to help finish us off. Once again Tony provided a critical defense, and in the end they were halted just outside range of the Star League HQ.

The final score stood 64-41 to them.

Yes we had been beaten, but at least we had not been crushed, so there was at least some progress from the first round.

[vanessa-0188]

I feel like you make up stuff for attention. Like there's ALWAYS something going on with you to make others feel bad for you.

I wish you'd messaged me with your URL so I could answer this privately, but alas... For clarity, and transparencies sake I'm going to clue you in on a little bit about my life story.I was born at 24 weeks gestation to teenage parents who, frankly, weren't ready to be parents (though I don't know what teens WOULD be). My mom got her shit together pretty rapidly after I was born; my dad was a different story but we'll jump back to him in a second.I, because of premature birth, was born with two underlying conditions that have caused the rest of my health problems. I am not a medical professional, so I am going to google/copy-paste the definition of these conditions here, and then relay to you how they've informed my life.1. Cerebral Palsy: While Cerebral Palsy (pronounced seh-ree-brel pawl-zee) is a blanket term commonly referred to as “CP” and described by loss or impairment of motor function, Cerebral Palsy is actually caused by brain damage. The brain damage is caused by brain injury or abnormal development of the brain that occurs while a child’s brain is still developing — before birth, during birth, or immediately after birth.Cerebral Palsy affects body movement, muscle control, muscle coordination, muscle tone, reflex, posture and balance. It can also impact fine motor skills, gross motor skills and oral motor functioning. (Source: cerebralpalsy.org)2. VATER Syndrome: VACTERL or VATER association is an acronym used to describe a series of characteristics which have been found to occur together... Babies who have been diagnosed as having VACTERL association usually have at least three or more of these individual anomalies. There is a wide range of manifestation of VACTERL association so that the exact incidence within the population is not exactly known, but has been estimated to occur in one in 10,000 to 40,000 newborns. (Source: cincinnatichildrens.org)Cerebral Palsy has left me permanently wheelchair bound (I have 0% walking or standing capabilities), and sometimes causes me motor issues with my hands (I.E. they shake during activities, are never fully non-spastic). As far as VATER I've tried to spare myself a little dignity by omitting the exact definition of the acronym, but google it for your own knowledge if you'd like; I don't have all of the conditions in the acronym, but this syndrome has caused me a lifetime of debilitating gastro-intestinal issues, furthered orthopedic problems, and most damningly- it KILLED my left kidney completely when I was two days old. Suffice it to say my life has never been medically easy.I mentioned before that my dad never really got his shit together to be a dad. My parents never had a formal custody agreement. But my mom did what she thought was right in trying to give my little brother and I opportunity to maintain a relationship with our dad. She'd drop us off with him at our paternal grandmothers house every-other weekend. I could sit here and tell you countless stories of abuse and neglect, but I'll just give you dear-old-dad's greatest-hits:* 1:00a.m. one night when I'm about eight years old (this would make my brother about four). My dad has friends over playing dominoes and drinking. We're awake still. I pipe up, "dad, we're tired, please take us to bed...", He threw a pillow and my head and said "if you're so damn tired make beds for you and [your brother] on the floor. When I protested he came over, knocked me down to a laying position, got inches from my face and screamed "shut the fuck up!"* Again, another friend-gathering. I really REALLY had to pee. He was in the bathroom on the phone. I waited HOURS for him to come out (there was only one bathroom I could use, and I needed his help). When his friends begged him to come help me. I ended up having an accident on the floor. He violently shoved my nose in it like a dog.I never told my mom or teacher or grandparents about any of this because I didn't know any better; I thought that was what all dads did. Until I was 10.* At age 10, on my dads birthday, we wanted to have a dinner for him. My mom obliged, inviting him to our apartment. It was also Super Bowl Sunday... he agreed to come over after he watched the game with his friends. My brother and I were so excited- we made cards and helped my mom bake a cake. That night we picked my dad up from a friends house, drove through and got dinner, and on the way home he and my mom started arguing. We got inside, they served us dinner, my mom set me up on a dining chair to eat, and they went to her room to "talk". Sometime later I heard violent screaming, and instructed my brother to go investigate. I'm sparing my own-psyche and the dignity of the other victims by withholding too-many details but that ended in holes in walls, my mom almost dying in front of me, injuries to my brother,a grade-three concussion for myself, and threats of death for us all by gun violence.I didn't talk to my dad again til I was 22. At that time I was struggling emotionally, longing for a relationship with him, and there were growing-pains at home as I was a young-adult who wanted to live a certain way that didn't conform with my moms house-rules. My dad and I had been in contact again for a short time. After a heated argument with my mother and stepfather (she married when I was 13), my father offered to let me stay with him. Things were great living there, until* One night he decided to push my boundaries, taking a trivial disagreement over taxes and house payments of all things, and bringing my mother into it. My anxiety flaired, and I tried to flee to my room. He followed me, grabbed me by the wheelchair, and held me in place, grabbing my hands and imploring me to hit him. He continued antagonizing me for hours, at one point when I called my mother terrified for my life, he taunted her as well. Through ingenious planning by Sheriffs and family, I was saved with only a split bottom lip and chipped-tooth.(And I guess I should note here that my sperm-donor of a biological father has spent time in jail for abusing us.)I spent time after that trying to heal my soul. Got to a good place in life where I was happy. Moved to my own assisted-living apartment. Then my bladder failed, resulting in me needing a permanent catheter. A month later my remaining kidney failed, resulting in my need for dialysis (for your reference, "The main purpose of dialysis is to help impaired renal function. When your kidneys are damaged, they are no longer able to remove wastes and excess fluid from your bloodstream efficiently. Wastes such as nitrogen and creatinine build up in the bloodstream. If you have been diagnosed with chronic kidney disease (CKD), your doctor will have these levels carefully monitored. Before dialysis, patients often felt weak and ill. Dialysis brings relief from these symptoms. This is the primary benefit of dialysis.Dialysis is done by using a special fluid called dialysate. Dialysate, a mixture of pure water and chemicals, is carefully controlled to pull wastes out of your blood without removing substances your body needs. A semipermeable membrane (one with microscopic holes that allow only certain types of particles to pass through) keeps the blood apart from the dialysate. This membrane lets the wastes and fluid in your blood flow through into the dialysate. Your blood cells and larger molecules, like protein that you need, cannot fit through the holes. There are two main types of kidney dialysis: hemodialysis (HD) and peritoneal dialysis (PD). [Source: DaVita]). I do hemodialysis: three days a week, four hours each time, I go to my dialysis clinic where they hook me up to my dialysis machine. My blood is filtered through a catheter that has been surgically connected to my heart. As I mentioned in my concert post, this process makes me vomit, and can sometimes induce symptoms that make me feel like I'm having a heart-attack. I'm on the transplant list, but due to my various GI surgeries I may not be a viable candidate. Time will tell. If not, I will have to do dialysis for the rest of my life.I had a best friend who, due to things that were my own fault, I've now lost my friendship with. In areas where I lacked support, she was my number one. This loss has been so hard in conjunction with my health issues; I'm grieving it right now.So yes, I'm aware it seems there's always something; that's because unfortunately there is. My life is messy, and complicated as hell. I'm very emotional, and I require a lot of support- something I'm not afraid to reach out for here on tumblr (even if it's in the form of fic distractions). If that bothers you, please scroll by- and if you feel the need to say something on anon, it's probably best left unsaid.Oh, and because we're at this point where you've got me airing dirty laundry, I'll be posting picture proof of some medical problems in my next post (I'm on mobile so I can't do it here 😉)Love Always,Vanessa

[ynsespoir]

Are the New Smartwatches, Devices with Life Saving Features?

Apple released its Watch Series 4 on October 12th. When Apple releases a device, they also release the platforms and ecosystems that support the device.  In the past few years, Apple has doubled-down on its smartwatch development more than the iPhones, which is its strongest foothold. Some even say that iPhones have become boring and the real deal is the Apple Watch. How important is relationship between healthcare and wearable technology? There is some substance to the argument as Apple has been investing considerably in the research and development of Watch because it takes forward Apple’s vision of “tech changing people’s lives.”

Apple Watch is more then a cool gadget that tells time. It has many health oriented capabilities as well. At the recent event, Apple COO Jeff Williams said, “Fitness is at the core of Apple Watch.” Therefore, it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that the Apple Watch is very much a health product.

Apple Inc. is an ingenious company which stays significantly ahead of its competitors. While every electronic company is still innovating in mobile space, Apple has taken a step in a different direction. They have started focusing on wearables as they believe easy accessibility of technology is the future. Apple Watch Series 4 is an incredible piece of hardware with a multitude of sensors embedded into a tiny little structure. The Series 4 has advanced sensors which constantly monitor the bodily activities and provide necessary insights to the user in real-time.

While there are many experimental projects Apple runs behind the closed doors, some of these are laid off in the process of development. However, Apple Watch did see the light of the day finally and it has come into existence. Let’s find out how all of that happened over the years.

The Story behind the Apple Smart Watches

When the first personal computer hit the market for the first time in the 1980s, it was a device without a purpose. Everyone wrote off computers as unproductive and useless. To be frank, PCs didn’t do much other than calculating basic sums and writing notes on the WordPad. No one wanted an expensive box with functions as basic as of a calculator. There was no peripheral device like printers to make use of typed notes on computers.

Mainframe computers were at the helm, and they were used extensively by corporations. Luddites who were basically tech conservatives saw personal computers as a mean to feed tech nerd’s futuristic dreams of World at their fingertips. They condescendingly disapproved the culture of PC and showed its futility for having no future.

Fast forward 30 years, and we are living in a Digital Age where computers are ubiquitous, and smartphones are the latest entrant in consumer technology. All these tech products are making our lives better, convenient and stress-free. Just imagine how much more efficient we are with these devices or maybe, how helpless we will be without them.

The way computers were ridiculed for their seemingly aimless purpose, new technologies like wearables are also facing similar kind of criticism. To rewind a bit, when the first Apple Watch came in the market three years back in 2015, people laughed it off saying it’s a $300 watch that tells you what time it is.

But as always, the classic “told you so” pattern played out. And the Apple smart watches caught on well. What time has shown, the watch seems to be best suited for health metrics. In this day and age, the current population is more aware and informed of health issues. then previous generations.  If used for the right purposes and also with a little bit of care on the individual’s part, this device might be able to save lives, and hopefully increase health awareness.

To fully understand the genesis of this watch, you have to understand Apple’s philosophy first. The core of Apple’s vision is borrowed from its founder, Steve Jobs. He believed in creating a product elegant from both inside and outside; as much as humane and accessible. Jobs perceived the idea of a movable device which can fit in the palm, which later came out to be an iPhone. However, the technology had not caught up, and he had to wait for almost 20 years to bring his ideas to the table. This kind of prescience about technology puts Apple in a different league among its competitors.

Jobs’ Dream of a Better Tomorrow

Apple has historically been a secretive company. No one knows what this Cupertino-based tech enterprise is experimenting behind their closed doors. Neither they let the world know what they are hiding under their sleeves. The company had brought the first edition of the Apple Watch to the public back in 2015. However later, reports pointed out that Apple started working on this watch since 2011.

In essence, Jobs imagined the future of technology even before mobile phones were a common sight. At present, mobile devices are still innovating, and the consumer needs are ever-expanding, yet Apple is focusing on the Watch.

So, to lay Apple’s grand strategy in words, it’s making technology easier and simpler for everyone. There is a reason why Apple keeps repeating, “it just works.” Now when you think of Apple Watch, it makes sense at a whole new level. Apple Watch is the latest addition to their line of products, and they are planning to put every useful technology into that tiny piece of hardware soon.

The steep turn Apple Watch took from a fancy gadget to a medical device is fascinating to see. The Watch is not approved for medical usage. Instead, these receive consumer grade certifications, meaning they are “information only” devices. Let’s dive deep into the health aspect of Apple Series 4 and see how it can change people’s lives for the better.

How these Little Things Can Make a Big Difference?

The smartwatches are definitely the thing of the future. With the convenience of use that they have. You’ll be able to use it for a lot of different things, much more than you can think with a smartphone. The best part is that it stays attached to your body, i.e., around your wrist.

With that, there is the possibility of tracking your health metrics, fairly accurately. So, it is a boon to the healthcare industry as well, other than being an awesome device in its own rights. With all the progress that is happening in the healthcare industry, one can only speculate regarding the upper limits of the possibilities.

So, now to talk about a few things that are already very viable pertaining to this discussion.

Activity Tracking

Apple Watch Series 4 has a unique way of tracking different activity. It has something called the Ring which has three different shades of color that indicates Stand, Exercise, and Move. While this feature has been there since the first watch, Apple has improved the sensors for accurate tracking.

Moreover, with the help of GPS Service and Accelerometer, the Watch detects immobility and alerts the user to stand and take a small walk. Medical science says sitting for long hours increases the chance of diabetes. So, Apple is trying to make people healthier by reminding them from time to time to go out for a brisk walk.

Exercise (the second tracker), asks the user to do some workout that raises the heart rate consistently. The Watch recommends to take a brisk walk or using stairs while in office. In Apple Watch Series 4, it has intelligent algorithms which learn body patterns and monitors heart rate. Meanwhile, the Watch learns your body habit and pushes to do more with time.

The third metric is the Move. This indicates the calories you have burned throughout the day. It takes the data on heart rate, exercises and walks into account and measures calorie burnt. This will help in shedding weight as you would be able to monitor your progress and make changes accordingly.

Workout

Apple Series Watch 4 has an in-built Workout App. You can get more information about the App from Apple Support. This app can detect workouts the moment you start doing the activity. Earlier, the user had to set individual activity before working out. However, with Automatic workout detection, you can start working without fear of losing workout data as well.

Further, it supports gym activity, swimming and running. The Series 4 Watch is integrated with few equipment brands for direct data feeding to the app. All this data will make the gadget understand your body so that it can provide important insights for further improvements.

ECG on the Go

With a wearable smartwatch, tracking heart activity data is easier than ever before. It is a major development in the field of science and tech research. Never before such a technology managed to catch the attention of the industry.

Heart rate monitoring was available on earlier versions of the Watch, but it used a pulse detector through the reflection of LED lights on the skin. Doctors have said that this method is inaccurate as there are many layers of tissue on the skin. What the Apple Watch Series 4 essentially does is, it sends electrical signals directly to the heart and interprets heart rhythms.

Accordingly, doctors confirmed that sending electrical signals is the traditional method for assessing heart rate and it’s used in hospitals. For this very reason, FDA has cleared Apple Watch Series 4 as a medical device. This is certainly a great occurrence since it can of saving lives due to real-time and accurate heart rate monitoring.

Not only this, it can detect irregular rhythms and atrial fibrillation before something untoward happens. World Health Organization says heart diseases are one of the major reasons for most deaths around the world. With this technology, Apple has made a vital advancement in the space of health and technology.

Additionally, they are also collaborating with the researchers of Stanford University under the Apple Heart Study program. This is mainly to understand atrial fibrillation and its consequences. Increasingly, Apple is posturing as a health company. It’s only good news for all of us and tech companies around the world can start taking health seriously.

DeepHeart and Emergency

With this new technology, there are thoughtful additions with alertness and well-being of the user in mind. The Watch constantly collects data and uses Machine Learning to understand symptoms of diseases. Many users have come up and shared their story. An Apple watch user was recently diagnosed with hyperthyroidism. The watch detected an unusually high heart rate even at rest which kept alerting the user of irregular behavior.

While many think Apple Watch is a fashionable gadget, but in essence, it could be life-saving device. One of the important aspects of Apple Watch is DeepHeart, a cardiogram learning neural network which Apple has developed to understand heart diseases. It can positively detect diabetes, hypertension and sleep disorder with 85% accuracy. This is a serious technological advancement capable of changing our lives forever.

Sleep Tracking

We all have felt that uneasy feeling when we haven’t had that good night of rest. To be honest, sleep deprivation creating an uneasy feeling is a gross understatement. A lot more damage has been done to your body, with just one night of poor sleep. And, this is pervasive in today’s society.

However, better late than not at all. With research clearly pointing out the fatal dangers of sleep deprivation. Apple has responded, with the Apple watch series 4. It can now track your sleeping patterns and quality.

That way, you’ll have all the necessary information you need regarding how your sleep is going. Further, if you can, then you’ll be able to decide on improving it and also know what to do for it once you know the issue. Or you can plain and simple hand over that data to an expert who will help you.

Essentially, you’ll be able to monitor how your nightly sleep is doing. And with that, you’re less likely to fall ill. Good sleep is essential for your immune system, and thus, you’ll have to visit the hospital less and less.

Detecting when you have Fallen

Yes, you heard it right. This device will be able to detect when you have fallen down on to the ground. At first, it senses the way your limbs are moving and also sensing the impact from the fall.

Then, after that, if it senses that you’re lying still for an extended period of time, 10 seconds in this case. It sends an alert message to the emergency contacts that you have set up beforehand. This is particularly a useful feature if you have some kind of heart condition.

Cardiac issues like a heart attack can cause one to lose consciousness and fall down. In that situation too, you are safer with this Apple Watch on you than otherwise.

Even if that’s not the case, still if you slipped and fell, hurting your head in the process. Thus, you’re unconscious and may be bleeding at the same time. With this feature, you’re more likely to make it out of that dire situation with someone coming to help you. Fall Detection is in its initial stage as a functional feature. Only time will tell how it fares.

The Bigger Picture…

There are ways in which this system is going to be even more powerful. And no, we aren’t referring to any kind of new discovery here. What we’re talking about is already out in the market and thriving. Data analytics! This when fully brought into the picture, which it is very soon going to be. Will change the game forever.

Say for example the heart conditions of an individual wearing the Apple Smartwatch Series 4. All the data that it records can be accessed and archived with their permission. Once, medical professionals have that; it’ll be high-quality research data. An expert will be able to figure out a lot of different things from it.

Apple Inc. has set up an entire operation dedicated to the healthcare industry, with the Health mobile app as well as with the HealthKit development platform. Due to the colossal number of iPhone users, mainly in the United States gathering data would be fairly easy. Gathering data on diabetes and cardiac issues will be more efficient and accurate than ever before.

With that, getting a grip on these two killers of mankind will be all the easier. And also, knowledge being power, other health issues can be tackled with as well.

And Finally…

The Apple Watch Series 4 is at least three years ahead of time when it comes to innovation in health technology. It can essentially change our lives for better and can make us lead a fit and healthier life. Every year, Apple puts forward something new with the Watch series.

As of this moment, Apple Watch Series 4 does plenty with accurate predictions. Also, it can act as your personal caretaker when an emergency presents itself. Apple has nailed the wearable industry with its tight ecosystem and accessories.

With this particular product, as well as the series of these Smartwatches, Apple has not only taken care of the aesthetic and convenience aspect. But much more pressing issues as well. With such an emphasis on serving the healthcare industry, we do have the chance for a healthier future.

from Health Care Technology – ReferralMD https://ift.tt/2pHPUHk via IFTTT Are the New Smartwatches, Devices with Life Saving Features? Health Care Technology from topofbestone https://ift.tt/2CyJm6a via IFTTT

[dalepwithchari]

In defense of the HomePod

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My HomePod, Google Home and Amazon Echo all live within about 15 feet of each other in my apartment.

This is as much a testament to my obsession with smart home crap as it is to my inability to buy into a single tech giant’s hardware ecosystem. I’ve gone all-in with each assistant at various times but now my entire connected life is run through a series of commands that are held together by specific intonations, exact phrasing and speaking volumes of which I alone fully grasp. I solely hold the recipes to my MacGyvered connected life. (This has made life difficult for my roommate who sometimes has to ask me to turn the lights on, but truthfully he should have known what annoying techiness laid ahead when he saw me unpacking my VR rig as we moved in.)

This amalgam of chatty smart assistants has made me pretty in tune with each of these product’s faults, but it’s also helped me gain a deep appreciation for the individual strengths of the platforms themselves.

This week, Bloomberg reported that times are tough for the HomePod. Apple is cutting production, some of its retail stores aren’t breaking double digit sales of the device on a daily basis and it only has a small sliver of the smart speaker market. This report brought a lot of critics out of the woodwork who heralded the ignorance of Apple’s product strategy and harped on the smart speaker’s general dumbness and lackluster feature set.

Now, I’m not in the habit of defending near-trillion dollar companies, but I think much of this criticism is misplaced. The HomePod is probably the best-functioning smart speaker of the bunch, and I’d also contend that the company’s overall strategy is far from being “years behind” its competitors. Apple’s AI strategy needs some TLC to strengthen Siri, but with the AirPods and HomePod, Apple is building a unified front on audio hardware that will weather the gimmicks of a market that seems artificially mature to begin with.

A misunderstood market

First off, I’ve always found the “smart speaker market” to be a pie that’s sliced in a bizarre way. For as intimately tied to smartphones as voice assistants are, saying that Amazon remains the clear winner in a category that excludes the billions of mobile devices with deep voice assistant capabilities seems accurate but deeply wrong at the same time.

It’s also why I don’t think Apple needs to be as worried about getting a $50 product like the Home Mini or Echo Dot out there, because while Amazon desperately needs a low-friction connection to consumers, Apple doesn’t gain as much by putting a tinny speaker into a can that will do even less than what “Hey Siri” on your iPhone could do.

$349 is pretty far (too far) in the other direction, but the high-end hardware is the sell for Apple and the concept that consumers are going to default to another smart assistant than what their phone uses is only a problem that will exist in the early days of Siri and Google Assistant. Amazon’s technologies can get better and better but if Google Assistant is the only one with intimate knowledge of your Google Account activities and Siri is the only one that you can send iMessages with, there’s not much of a conversation to have.

Listen up

The dumbest answer from a smart speaker is always the one you’re waiting on that never comes. Just as the Airpods have succeeded in their approach thanks to the less sexy connectivity advances, the HomePod wins on the intelligence of its listening capabilities via a microphone array that can hear me at a whisper’s volume even while loud music is playing. It’s an overlooked feature in hardware comparisons, and it’s honestly one of the most important in practice.

A four-sentence HomePod review (with appendices)

I’ve yelled so many “Hey Google’s” while the TV is playing that never registered. Meanwhile, I’ve learned that I don’t really have to raise my voice to talk with the HomePod. That, along with its much blogged-about location-aware features of the HomePod, make it a device that feels like more of an ethereal presence in my apartment and less tied down to a physical location where I point my head and yell. While Amazon’s tech here has long been impressive as well, I’ve found the HomePod to be a bit more effective when tunes are blaring while pretty much laying waste to Google’s smart speakers (including the Max) which have always seemed to be hard of hearing in noisy environments from my experience.

Unskilled intelligence

Now, Siri is absolutely less good than Google Assistant when it comes to being a phone assistant, but a lot of these shortcomings don’t translate as jarringly to the HomePod. Apple has made the wrong calls with third party integrations for Siri on iOS but the current state of Alexa Skills and Google Assistant Actions suggests that Apple isn’t missing a ton on the smart speaker third-party platform front yet.

Something like ordering a pizza with Domino’s on an Echo or Google Home requires a bizarre amount of effort that is only easy if you do most of the work on your phone ahead of time. I wouldn’t say that Apple missing this feature has torn a hole in its core intelligence, likewise most of these “skills” generally don’t give me the context I need to make a decision.

I don’t get why there’s so much love thrown at these smart speaker development platforms. The fact is, they’re largely outlets for brand marketing budget dollars, rather than bastions of consumer utility. Sure, some of these apps are fun and may ultimately make the Echo a more family-friendly device than the HomePod, but the bloatware eventually becomes an afterthought as the gimmick wears off. Amazon needs this right now, not consumers.

Limitations

Making calls, distinguishing between multiple users and accessing calendars are all pretty baseline features that one hopes that the HomePod receives updates for soon. Nevertheless, the HomePod is not an unfinished product as some have said, and is certainly not “years behind” its competitors. It certainly feels more finished than some of the hardware products in Amazon’s divergent smart speaker cornucopia.

They’ve made some annoying decisions regarding music streaming support; Apple Music is an absolute necessity to enjoy this product. I’ve been a Spotify listener in the past, but I’ve never been a power user of playlists which left me pretty vulnerable to switching if it made life easier with the HomePod and my AirPods, which it did.

Apple Music is just one more exclusive element of the ecosystem, and by extension, Siri. Despite Spotify’s sky-high market cap, I don’t really see a good reason not to be bullish on Apple Music. The service is rapidly growing and — if trends hold — will overtake Spotify in paid subscriber count sometime this summer. It seems unrealistic that Apple will bring Apple Music support to the Echo or Google Home, but it’d be nice if some skeleton support came to Spotify on HomePod in the meantime, though I kind of doubt this as well.

End-game

It’s all about the ecosystem; the “smart speaker market” doesn’t matter and never will as we define it now. What Google gains with a cheap entry point of a Google Home Mini is a way to drive people to features they didn’t know their phones had. Apple is using the HomePod to set a baseline while they look to build up these features that Siri doesn’t have yet. Amazon’s Alexa may have a chance in the context of the connected home, but it’s hard to imagine a world where you don’t want your mobile device and home assistant hub being intimately tied at an OS level.

The AirPods and HomePod are very good examples of OS-integrated hardware, and while Siri needs a facelift and perhaps some brain surgery, Apple’s thinking with the HomePod is about where it needs to be. It’s a platform that should really be a bit experimental for the time-being. These things were pushed into people’s homes so quickly by an Amazonian quest for market domination, but so much of the utility of smart speakers is still tied up in their frustrations.

Like the AirPods, the HomePod has isolated the right challenges to tackle first. “Winning the smart speaker market” isn’t going to happen for this product, but I get a sense that Apple’s thinking with the HomePod is tied up in a healthy self-awareness that its competitors lack.

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In defense of the HomePod