#DR. ATMO

[trevlad-sounds]

For the Birds 037

24.01.2024

SHIVARASA – They Feel, They Know – 00:00 Wave Temples – Prelude to the Night Huntress – 09:57 Lovelock – Rhythm 77 – 11:03 Wave Temples – Procession of the Star People – 15:01 DR. ATMO – Dua – 15:43 Lee Hannah – valley bird – 21:33 Florigenix – Vector Shrine of Gentle Breath – 22:13 Giuliano Sorgini – Miraggio – 23:17 David Cordero – Las Albinas – 25:44 Giuliano Sorgini – Oasi Nella Giungla – 29:38 Gilroy Mere – Torver and Coppermines – 30:05 Chocolate Hills, The Orb – Ace – 33:35 Jonny Trunk – Nest We Forgot – 37:39 Ümlaut – Pour Un Moment – 39:33 Crystal Quartez – Growth – 44:02 Felix Laband – Prelude – 53:23 Tomer Baruch – Into the Pond – 57:39

[radiophd]

sad world -- shirin

[captainclickycat]

Yeah I think that was the idea

PLEASE CYBERBROS DRIVE YOUR TRUCK INTO THE NEAREST LAKE. DONT WORRY ITS A FEATURE

[lifecoachprachitikokoro]

The Voice of Pune

Unleash Your Voice at Proluxe Theatre Are you ready to showcase your vocal talents and take centre stage? Look no further than the highly anticipated Singing Competition at Proluxe Theatre! Proluxe Wellness & Production is thrilled to announce

this spectacular event that will bring together the most talented singers in the area for an unforgettable night of music and entertainment. The Proluxe Theatre Singing Contest is more than just a competition; it’s a celebration of vocal artistry and a platform for aspiring singers to shine. This Vocal Talent Show at Proluxe Theatre promises to be an electrifying experience for both participants and audience members alike. What sets the Proluxe Theatre Music Competition apart is its commitment to showcasing a diverse range of musical styles and genres. Whether you’re a pop sensation, a soulful R&B artist, or a classical virtuoso, there’s a place for you in this Proluxe Theatre Singing Event. The Live Singing Contest at Proluxe Theatre will feature a panel of esteemed judges from the music industry, ensuring that each Proluxe Theatre Vocal Performance is evaluated fairly and professionally. Participants will have the opportunity to receive valuable feedback and guidance to help them grow as artists. This Music Talent Showcase at Proluxe Theatre is not just a contest; it’s a Singing Talent Hunt at Proluxe Theatre designed to discover the next big star. The Proluxe Theatre Song Competition will put contestants through their paces, challenging them to demonstrate their range, technique, and stage presence. Aspiring Singing Stars at Proluxe Theatre will compete for  amazing prizes, including recording studio time, professional coaching sessions, and the chance to perform at future Proluxe events.  Read more

[dessarchive]

now introducing the future of music and entertainment, endless options of sound (eos)

eos is an app that i script into most of my drs. i got inspired to create it after coming across a video on youtube of someone re-designing spotifys UI. i’ve used spotify, apple music, amazon music, youtube music, and many more music streaming services and none of them ever lived up to my expectations, so i thought why not create what i’ve always wanted? i took a long hard look at all of the features i wish the current apps had and put them all into one. i posted about it before on my previous account but didn’t go into the actual details much. it started as a music streaming app when it was launched but became much more than that. it’s one of my favorite parts of my drs because i’m an avid music listener and the features are to die for. eos is the only music streaming app in my drs. i also have a ceo dr where i’m the ceo of it because this app has basically become my child!!! anyways here’s what i have after working on it for months!

eos was launched on october 31, 2001 by robyn fenty (she’s older LMAO) and aliyah haughton. the app immediately gained popularity as the first and only music streaming service. it was created as a space where everyone could enjoy music. years later it implemented audiobooks, podcasts, music videos, interviews, merch, and concert tickets. it stands out with its flawless performance that never crashes or has bugs, its exceptional algorithm for fresh experiences each playtime, and its features like eosoulmates that connects users through shared music tastes.

lyrics and subtitles are always available in any language desired by the user and the platform includes organization like no other. exclusive presale codes are able for top listeners of specific artists because the app has its own ticketing system. eos is free for all users as the founders wanted to make a space to unify people during life’s challenge. to maintain this while making sure artists are fairly paid, revenue is generated through a share of concert ticket and merchandise sales, in-app donations directly supporting artists, non-intrusive sponsorships and partnerships, and grants from philanthropic organizations. this guarantees that eos stays true to making music accessible while supporting creators and users globally.

to expand on existing sounds of music and entertainment, the service implemented dolby atmos to its highest quality with no extra price to artists for using it.

eos also features eos karaoke: sing it your way. within this are lyrics that are displayed in perfect sync with customizable highlighting options, while users can adjust the original vocals (mute, reduce, or add harmonies) for a personalized performance. advanced pitch tracking gives real-time feedback, along with timing guides and a practice mode for perfecting songs. voice effects like reverb, autotune, and fun filters are available to take things to a higher level or have fun with friends and family. dual-screen mode connects to tvs for party setups and users can enjoy duets with friends or group singing for up to 10 people. karaoke playlists are curated based on mood, listening habits, or vocal range. sessions can be recorded and shared with friends or on social media. a scoring system with feedback helps users improve their singing while earning fun badges. eos karaoke also offers live virtual karaoke rooms, offline mode for downloaded tracks, and customizable themes for lyric screens and backgrounds. a special kid-friendly mode ensures the fun for all age groups.

eos allows music and entertainment to be accessible, fun, and, immersive to everyone.

[theramblingsofadork]

⭐️ A/N: What you are about to read is a paraphrased timeline story of the first arc in my Dr. Starline Redemption AU.

This AU is my personal look at “What might have happened if Starline had some good influences in his life before meeting Eggman?”

For context: This AU still heavily follows canon, with more deviations happening the further into Starline’s journey we get. This specific arc takes place approximately 3-4 years before Starline’s introduction in the comics. It follows his misadventures with a group of ragtag inventors and chemists as they work together to win top spot in an innovator’s competition.

Enjoy. 💖

⭐ Act 1: The Starpoint Squad ⭐

🎵 Opening Theme Song: Touch the Sky - Jeff Williams

Starline has been a fan of Eggman’s for as long as he can remember. In fact, he’d say probably no one else compares when it comes to his knowledge of the man.

He’s made it his job to follow in his footsteps and follow his legacy, dreaming of one day joining Eggman himself so he can help him accomplish world domination at last.

Coming from a wealthy, prestigious family, and being a confident scientist and chemist— he’s sought this path out for many years, but has had little success garnering the man’s attention.

One day, as he’s considering if there’s something he hasn’t tried yet, he happens to discover an innovator's competition is set to start soon, run by Atmos Industries.

They’re a well-respected name in the tech world, known for their many innovations and inventions; residing on the coastal town of Aethos, known for it’s beaches and technological harmony with nature.

The top prize for said competition boasts the highly sought after position of becoming the company’s next big innovator. Considering the selective and closed off nature of the company due to political tensions around the island’s power source, this is a very rare and juicy opportunity.

Starline enters at once, deciding to secure first place and declare allegiance to Eggman during the winner’s speech. (As he KNOWS he’ll be watching.)

At first, he believes it’ll be a walk in the park. But upon clearing prelims, it’s a surprise to all when the heads running it announce that the competitors are now required to form teams.

Although notably frustrated, Starline’s not willing to be bested by this, so he decides to find people who might be easy to manipulate into following his brilliant blueprint and gameplan.

He ends up settling on Rivet, (a inventor and x-gear rider he met in prelims when they both worked together to stop a runaway rocket thruster),

Hex, (a mech-loving, robot inventing rat whose insane coding skills caught his attention during prelims),

Lug, (a dumb, but incredibly strong bulldog who cooks a mean stew and is Hex’s best friend and bodyguard),

Charge, (an oddball, plant loving bio-electrokinetic who understands a great deal about the physiological workings of living creatures, plants, and Mobians alike),

And Cello, (a very confident and stoic chemist firefly who makes her own concoctions.)

✨ Fun fact: (Starline wasn’t sure about her, but he quickly added her on lest he end up being stuck with the other option of Atlas (his idiotic and annoying rival from their academy days who he can’t stand).

Starline happily anoints himself as the leader due to his expertise in all the assorted fields, and at first the team is on board with it. But as he begins to ignore their attempts at insight and aims to control the whole show, the team begins to push back, quickly causing arguments to fly and tensions to mount, especially between him and Cello.

They quickly become the laughing stock of the competitors, gaining mockery from their soon-to-be-rivals as they can’t even decide on a team name. And after a few days of nonstop headaches, Starline’s at his wits end as to what to do.

He's frustrated and bewitched as to why they’re fighting his perfect plan for victory, and when he learns Hex and Lug are thinking of dropping out entirely, he finally realizes that he has to do something or his whole plan will go up in smoke!

He finally asks Rivet for her insight, as she’s the only one still talking to him right now. What’s going on? Why is everyone fighting him and his flawless gameplan? They DO realize it will lead them to victory, right?

And she explains where he’s going so wrong. It’s not that they don’t trust his vision or skill, since clearly he’s the most learned of all of them, but he’s not giving them room to be involved in the process at all; treating the team like they’re cogs in a machine to be used vs real people with ideas and aspirations of their own.

“I get that you’re used to working alone, but unfortunately, that’s not how being in a team works.” Rivet tells him.

She asks if he’s ever even asked any of them why they’re here, and tells him that she personally wants to push her limits and see how much she can contribute to a good cause. That they ALL want to feel as though they’ve actually earned this victory, instead of just winning because they followed Starline’s orders.

He doesn’t believe her that the others share her thoughts, so she recommends he go ask Hex and the others directly. “Who knows? They might just surprise you.”

So, Starline does, tracking down the rat first and finding him playing his favorite fighter game, Hero Mania. They talk, and he discovers that… Hex is here because he wants to prove to people that he’s just as capable as everyone else. He reveals his dreams to make mechs have been crushed time and time again by adults because of his age. That they dismissed him because he was “too young to be serious.”

So when Lug suggested he join the competition, he did, in the hopes that maybe he could find like minded people. People who might be willing to give him a chance to show what he could do, and help him where he was weak.

But considering the group’s been ignoring and excluding him from their conversations and arguments cuz ‘he’s just a kid’, he wonders what the point of being here anymore is.

And Starline.. feels a scrap of sympathy for the kid, as he himself can understand the feeling, having had difficulty garnering support from his own parents growing up.

He also realizes that if he wants the team to stick together, then he needs to ‘fan the flames’, so to speak, and get them all back on the same page.

So, he encourages Hex that he is most certainly capable. He states he’s perhaps one of the most talented coders he knows of, especially for his age group. His dream isn’t impossible— nay, it’s in fact very much obtainable!

And Hex’s eyes spark with tentative, reluctant hope. “You.. really think so?”

“But of course!” Starline smiles.

The encouragement comes from a selfish place, but he still finds his words being a bit genuine.

Cello turns out to have a similar vein of thought when Starline goes to her. She tells him that people have always told her what she should and shouldn’t do. They’re quick to judge her concoctions and ideas because they seem insane or impossible, but she knows her chemistry extensively. Her special vision also allows her to see possible combinations and stability ratings of different concoctions, which she checks her facts up against.

(Something Starline tests, and confirms. Huh.)

She tells Starline she joined this competition because her father had been telling her she needed to join the family business of mining, when she knew her calling in life was to be a chemist. “If I can prove myself by making a brand new type of eco fuel and winning first place with my team, then he’ll have no choice but to accept my path in life.”

Yet again, Starline finds himself respecting and relating to that. Especially considering his family was very opposed to him running off pursuing a career modeled after Dr. Eggman.

He begins to see that Rivet was right, and that everyone here isn’t in it for an easy win. They all have a goal or dream they want to fulfill; be it helping a friend, testing their limits, making a difference, or proving themselves capable to themselves and others.

With all this knowledge in mind, he begrudgingly decides to pull back his heavy hand a bit and give them a chance to prove themselves. To suggest new ideas and voice their thoughts and opinions.

And to his surprise… it works! At the meeting where he announces the change, Lug of all people ends up surprising him by managing to find a good team name they all actively agree on, since it suits them and their shared goals.

Thus, they formally become known as:

The Starpoint Squad.

(ROLL DRAMATIC STAR WARS LIKE CREDITS)

(… no but like— just roll the montage music.)

🎵 Montage Music: Brand New Day - Jeff Williams 

We then see a montage of everyone working in tandem, while clashing with the rivals that scorned their lack of teamwork.

(Said rival team is constructed of Skara the Skunk, Stormy the Mink, Yew the Human, Atlas the Timberwolf (Starline’s rival), and Katrina the Cougar) 

The competition is focused on building tools to help aid future fighters or the recovery of nature and civilization from Eggman or extraterrestrial attacks.

As such, Starline and the Starpoint Squad agree to a modified version of his original idea; a robot that lends environmental and structural aid and support. 

This once sleek and Eggman reminiscent robot design becomes the more colorful and hodge podged looking B.U.D.D.I (Botanical Utility Device and Damage Improver). A helper robot designed and equipped to help hose down fires, fertilize fields, lift collapsed tunnels, saw fallen logs, and weld metal back into place. 

(A lot of these features were added by Starline under the guise of good to make him a weapon suitable of showing off his elegant yet destructive design during the winner’s ceremony, but the team doesn’t need to know that, right?)

He can’t let his vision of B.U.D.D.I disappear entirely, so when they come in need of the extra robot parts, he excitedly suggests they use fallen Eggman tech, to which they express concern. 

But in typical slick Starline fashion, he argues, “Not only does Eggman know how to build quality machinery, but this would also be a great way to.. how you say.. reuse and recycle, would it not?”

They can see his logic in that, so he happily drags them to a robot graveyard of one of Eggman’s former fights where they gather up parts. (And he tries hard not to fanboy along the way) 

As the weeks progress, the team begins to find a real flow, and Starline slowly finds himself coming to enjoy being around them. 

We see Rivet being a big reason for this, breaking through Starline’s initial unwillingness to interact with the team more than necessary for the project by dragging him out of the lab to join them for team lunches and other outings. While he’s aghast and irate at first by her taking him away from his work, after a time, he begrudgingly submits to and even comes to enjoy her friendly antics.

When he starts willingly joining them for their team lunches, they’re shocked, to which he argues, “Oh don’t act so surprised! We all know she was going to drag me here anyways, so why waste time with theatrics anymore?”

“Aww, just admit you love us, Doc,” Rivet teases, and all laugh as he argues vehemently. 

Starline and Rivet end up growing quite close despite their differences, finding they enjoy conversing with each other while working together in the lab. She doesn’t mind hearing him go on his long rambles, appreciative of how passionate and dedicated he is to his work, and he finds her quite fascinating, especially considering she grew up in the wilderness and managed to teach herself mechanics without any formal training. (“It’s a miracle you didn’t blow yourself up.”) (”Oh, I did. Many times.”) (They even bond a bit over a shared appreciation of Egg Tech, since a fallen Eggman Badnik is the reason she even got interested in technology at all.)

The two have a sweet moment one night where she ends up covering him up after he falls asleep in the lab from working too hard. 

And another, when she convinces him one day to take a ride with her on her hoverboard instead of shortcutting via warp portal into town. It ends up being a special moment as she takes a detour to show him her favorite view of the valley, and the two watch the sunset before continuing their work. They get back well past dark, chatting and bantering with each other. 

⭐️ We also see a bunch of other silly and important moments with the rest of the team. 

Such as when the team gets to experience Cello and Starline explaining something to them in incredibly large, scientific words while they try to comprehend what they’re saying like dumbfounded sock puppets. 

Starline loses his cool and gives the boys a strict lecture on eating and drinking safety when he finds them doing so without care in the lab. 

Starline compliments the cafeteria’s sandwiches and soup— only to spit out said soup in shock when he discovers Lug is the one who made them. 

In an attempt to impress Starline, Hex and Lug end up going on a raid mission into Cello’s area, (HIGHLY off limits when she’s working,) to steal a piece he needs for his power of the project. They end up having to run away from her wrath.

And there are many, many more.

⭐️ Starline also becomes Hex's mentor, taking the little rat under his wing and helping critique him on his robot builds and designs. He does so to help mold him and help build up his confidence, much like Eggman’s legacy did for him once upon a time. 

Hex begins to open up to him, until he’s like a completely different person; eagerly asking questions, listening to and following Starline around like a little shadow, and taking all the notes he can.

Starline loves the attention, and Hex is just happy to have such a smart mentor helping him.

Starline unwittingly gains quite a soft spot for the kid, to the point where when the rat falls asleep in the lab while helping him, he gently carries him back to his and Lug’s room. There, he has a heart to heart with Lug, who admits he’s a bit jealous of their friendship, but knows Starline is good for his bud. 

⭐️ This conversation is the first moment that plants a seed of discomfort in Starline’s mind about how he plans to betray them at the competition’s end. But in this moment, he brushes it off.  

The next stab of discomfort comes later on when he ends up getting into a discussion with Charge in the lab.

The cat observes that he’s been getting really chummy with everyone, to which Starline admits that they’ve all quite exceeded his expectations. He’s actually quite pleased with how things are turning out, despite it not being exactly what he had envisioned. 

He even states that despite his and Cello’s intense fights, she completed the task she set out to do, and he respects that. 

Not knowing that Cello happens to be right outside listening. She smiles a bit and flutters off. 

Charge eyes him thoughtfully for a moment, before suddenly flipping the conversation on it’s head.

“Then why is your aura still so dissonant?”

“…What?”

The cat’s mask of nonchalant laziness slips, and he reveals to Starline that he’s known something’s been off with him since day one. Unknown to most of the team, Charge has an ability to sense and discern a lot about people and who they really are by observing their bio-electrical auras. 

While he normally suppresses his ability due to the information otherwise bomboarding him from all sides, he’s been in Starline’s vicinity a lot, and as such, has known that something’s off with him. 

When Starline tries to play it off, Charge tells him that the only reason he hasn’t taken action yet to expose him, is because this team is important to Rivet, and she’s convinced Starline has his reasons for keeping quiet about whatever he is. 

Charge warns him to figure out what really matters to him and where his priorities lie, and that whatever he’s planning, to leave Rivet out of it. Before reverting back to his chill, tired self, stating he’s gonna go take a nap. 

It’s quite a scary and tense moment for Starline, and it leads him to really question, fear for, and reflect on his plan. Charge is right, that despite his befriending of the Starpoint Squad, his goal for the end of the competition has not changed. He still wants to capture Eggman’s attention! To show what he is truly capable of and declare all loyalty to him!

…But… he also can’t deny that there is that small part of him that’s been starting to hesitate. 

He, for the most part, has been able to keep his admiration of Eggman a secret from the group. They know he has an inspiration he’s eagerly pursuing after; that some great robotics master made him into the man that he is today, but he’s managed to never truly share the truth of WHO it is. After all, if they knew, he’d more than likely get kicked from the competition!

So everyone is left in the dark. 

But Charge’s revelation and a strange sense of guilt begins to gnaw at him. His attachment to the squad begins to show it’s colors as he remembers Lug’s ask for him to watch out for Hex. Thinks about his friendship with Rivet and partnership with Cello. 

These nagging feelings become even more blatantly obvious to him when Lug suggests they all go out for ice cream to celebrate them completing B.U.D.D.I. Win or lose, they did their best and made something awesome!

They convince Starline to tag along—seeing as Aethos is home to some of the best ice cream on the planet—and they all cheer their team name before Lug gets the owner to snap a picture of them all together. 

…It’s looking at this photo that Starline finds himself truly questioning things. 

They’ll be the ones to take the fall when he enacts his plan. They’ll be the ones to take the hit for his actions, even though they weren’t a willing part of it. 

Can he truly be okay with that outcome? With sabotaging and ruining the dreams of the people who look up to and respect him, just to obtain his own, selfish desires? 

For the first time in a long time, he has doubt. What is he going to do?

—

> Next Act: Act 2 - The Plot

[krillbeans]

OMG YEAH I FORGOT ABT HIM

More of them ✩

[brokehorrorfan]

Twister will be released on 4K Ultra HD (with Digital) in Steelbook and standard packaging on July 9 via Warner Bros. The 1996 disaster thriller's sequel, Twisters, hist theaters on July 19.

Jan de Bont (Speed) directs from a script by Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park) and Anne-Marie Martin. Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton, Jami Gertz, Cary Elwes, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Alan Ruck, Todd Field, and Jeremy Davies star.

Twisters has been restored in 4K with HDR and Dolby Atmos audio. Special features are listed below, where you can also see the full Steelbook layout.

Special features:

Audio commentary by director Jan de Bont and visual effects supervisor Stefen Fangmeier

Interview with director Jan de Bont (new)

Chasing the Storm: Twister Revisited

Anatomy of a Twister

HBO's The Making of Twister

"Human Beings" music video by Van Halen

An estranged couple, Dr. Jo Harding (Helen Hunt) and Bill Harding (Bill Paxton), reunites to deploy "Dorothy," a cutting-edge tornado research device, in a race against nature. This high-stakes adventure blends breathtaking visuals with a tale of reunion and resilience to create a cinematic experience not to be missed.

Pre-order Twister.

[beautifullache]

🦄The Sims 4🦄

👠Shoe Career👢

💕EARLY RELEASE 7.12.2024💕

Journeys

PTO 3 days off

Journeys is a teen retail leader with an emphasis on footwear and unique specialty items including apparel, backpacks, hats and accessories. With more than 800 stores in all 50 US states, Puerto Rico and Canada, Journeys offers the most popular brands that cater to the teen lifestyle such as Converse, Vans, Dr Martens, UGG, Adidas, Timberland, Birkenstock, Crocs and Hey Dude. Through strategic artistic partnerships, event sponsorships, exclusive content, creative collaborations with musicians, and a focus on giving back to the community through charitable events and volunteer programs— Journeys has become more than just a retailer, but a universal part of teen and youth culture. The in-store Journeys experience features an energetic environment, friendly, passionate staff, and an inclusive atmosphere where self-expression is not just accepted – but encouraged and embraced. Journeys is an attitude you can wear.

Sales Associate

Sales Lead

Assistant Store Manager

Store Manager

District Manager in Training

Allow Teen

Allow Young Adult

Allow Adult

Allow Elder

Hibbett Sports

PTO 3 days off

Hibbett, headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, is a leading athletic-inspired fashion retailer with nearly 1,100 Hibbett and City Gear specialty stores, located in 35 states nationwide. Hibbett has a rich history of serving customers for more than 75 years with convenient locations, superior personalized customer service and access to coveted footwear, apparel and accessories from top brands like Nike, Jordan, and adidas. Consumers can browse styles, find new releases, shop looks and make purchases through our best-in-class omni-channel platform. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @hibbettsports and @citygear. At Hibbett I City Gear, we make it easy for you to have an edge up on the competition when it comes to your style. Whether it’s the brands we keep on our shelves or the people who work in our stores, we are here to help you reach your next level of play. You’ll get the latest products first and exclusive items that are harder to find. If you want to put your game in the right hands, you’ve come to the right place at Hibbett I City Gear. With names like Nike, Jordan, Adidas, The North Face, and Costa, we bring fashion and footwear together for you and your game. Whether you’re shopping for yourself or the whole team, at Hibbett I City Gear we have you covered from toe to head.

Sales Associate

Store Ops Projects Specialist

District Sales Manager

Manager in Training

Senior Internal Audit Analyst

Allow Teen

Allow Young Adult

Allow Adult

Allow Elder

Foot Locker

PTO 3 days off

Foot Locker, Inc. leads the celebration of sneaker and youth culture around the globe through a portfolio of brands including Foot Locker, Kids Foot Locker, Champs Sports, atmos, and WSS. With approximately 2,700 retail stores in 29 countries across North America, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, as well as websites and mobile apps, the Company's purpose is to inspire and empower youth culture around the world, by fueling a shared passion for self-expression and creating unrivaled experiences at the heart of the global sneaker community. Foot Locker, Inc. has its corporate headquarters in New York. At Foot Locker, Inc., our purpose is to inspire and empower youth culture through our family of brands by fueling a shared passion for self-expression and creating unrivaled experiences at the heart of the sport and sneaker communities.

Cashier

Sales Associate

Stock Associate

Warehouse Housekeeper

Sales Lead

Equipment Operator

Allow Teen

Allow Young Adult

Allow Adult

Allow Elder

Finish Line

PTO 3 days off

Finish Line is an American retail chain that sells athletic shoes and related apparel and accessories. The company operates 660 stores in 47 states, mostly in enclosed shopping malls, as well as Finish Line-branded athletic shoe departments in more than 450 Macy's stores.

Associate

Stock Associate

Store Management

In-Store Merchandiser

Allow Teen

Allow Young Adult

Allow Adult

Allow Elder

Champs Sports

PTO 3 days off

Champs Sports is one of the largest, athletic sports-specialty retailers in North America. We bring to the table an arsenal of the finest, freshest athletic apparel, footwear and accessories you’ll find anywhere. We believe that through our brands and our knowledgeable sales associates, we can claim the high ground as the authority on Game, and we’re here to help you up your own personal Game.

Cashier

Sales Associate

Sales Lead/Key Holder

Assistant Manager

Allow Teen

Allow Young Adult

Allow Adult

Allow Elder

DOWNLOAD NOW

[clarepreed]

Fade Part Six: Epilogue

Story Content and Summary - 6,212 words. After the Part Five cliffhanger, the fate of Deirdre and Archer must be determined. Magical and human resuscitation and hospitalization methods. Explicit sex. ♂️

Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five

--

The silence stretched on.

Atmos stared down at the scene below: Deirdre, still in her circle of death, the bag used to give her breaths on the ground and pulling her head off toward the side. The female medic who’d been performing chest compressions curled like a shrimp and wedged against the cardiac monitor. The nurse, sprawled on his back, his eyes closed and his shock of ginger hair full of dead moss. Deirdre’s ánrhen, slumped over onto her body, his unconscious brother collapsed on his side. 

Atmos’s ears rang, and then a secondary pulse emanated from Deirdre, flashing in all directions. The crowd stumbled collectively, several people collapsing. Black spots covered Atmos’s vision, and he fell, dimly aware of the guards plummeting to the ground. He hit the forest floor hard, and the air rushed out of him. Groans and coughs filled the air.

Atmos rolled onto his stomach, shaking his head to clear it. He pushed himself onto one elbow, pain pulsating through his left wing and down his spine. In front of him, he saw Dr. Eḥāyi crawl over to Deirdre’s bag, shaking out the oxygen tubing before giving the bag a squeeze. Her fingers pressed into the unconscious woman’s neck.

“She has a pulse!” Eḥāyi called out. Her attention darted to those in her immediate circle. “Imala? Sertse, oo kakee? Shavsan—”

“Sertse is unconscious. Her pulse is weak, but she’s breathing—”

“Dr. Neal! Archer!” Eḥāyi’s face grew tense as she took in the still forms of the brothers. She reached into her scrubs pocket and pulled out a phone, quickly dialing and holding it to her ear with her shoulder. She returned her hands to the bag, squeezing it. “Eḥāyi Yitabib. Nhu ka en môs vojo vés dierdők píso a namaiöý Tvaris e Liam. Ibsen a sætê vpředō respirační-sēs o ánh-sēs. Oo ɖo eŋu ë massa ánhuitgyae.”

With Eḥāyi calling for backup, Atmos watched as Deirdre’s parents rushed forward, kneeling at Deirdre’s feet. They both looked pale, with puffy, tear-streaked faces and their wings hanging limp down their backs. Liam reached out and rested a hand on his daughter’s ankle.

Atmos groaned and collapsed onto his face, the pain in his body worsening as the seconds passed. One of the fae guards, a broad-shouldered woman with close-cropped dark curls, pushed herself to her feet and strode over to him. She nudged him with her toe. “Fanliggen,” she spat, ordering him to stay down.

Atmos closed his eyes, his pain and misery making it simple to comply.

*** When Asa was younger, he lost control of his snowboard and broke through the fragile orange barrier between him and a ravine. Catching air, he arced through the cold, exhilaration and terror battling within him for several precious seconds before a large tree loomed in front of him. He turned his head to the side just before he plowed into the trunk. All the air left him at once and he dropped to the snow, nearly senseless and unable to draw breath.

He felt much like that now as his eyes wrenched open, mouth gaping as he sought to breathe. He clawed at the dead moss, his own wheezing harsh in his ears. Flopping onto his back, Asa pulled in air as though through a straw and expelled it as a ragged cough. His next breath came easier, as did the next, until he was gasping and coughing and fighting to sit upright.

“What…” Chaos around him. A crowd of unfamiliar faces. Fae medics coughing and groaning. His brother’s still form sprawled with his top half on Dierdre.

“Archer,” Asa croaked, dragging himself closer and grasping his brother’s shoulders. He heaved his brother’s limp body off of her, his arms surprisingly weak. Registering as he did so that no one was giving Deirdre chest compressions, he looked first to the monitor, half-masked by the slumped fae medic. The rhythm he saw there sent a hesitant flash of elation through him. Then he glanced at Dr. Eḥāyi, who squeezed the bag connected to Deirdre’s endotracheal tube.

“She has a pulse!” Eḥāyi told him. “How is Archer?”

“Archer! Wake up!” Asa laid him flat, briefly patting Archer’s pallid face before slipping his fingers down to his brother’s carotid. 

“Imala, are you all right?” he heard Eḥāyi ask.

“Sertse is responding,” Shavsan said from where they bent over the fae woman.

Archer’s pulse felt weak and erratic under his fingers. “Come on, Archer. Open your eyes. Deirdre is alive!” He tipped his brother’s head back, opening his airway. Archer’s skin looked gray, his lips white. Leaning close to his lips, Asa waited. Around him, the other sounds fell away; coughs, Eḥāyi speaking, shouting from the crowd, the tentative approach of Deirdre’s parents.

“Dammit!” Asa cursed, quickly pinching Archer’s nose and taking a deep breath. He covered Archer’s mouth with his own, exhaling into him. When he broke the seal, he gasped out: “He’s in respiratory arrest!”

Asa lifted his head, looking for his bag. Then he bent to give Archer another breath, watching and feeling for chest rise.

“H-here,” he heard from close by, and lifted his head again to see Deirdre’s father pick up his bag and hand it across to Deirdre’s mother, who’d come up beside him. She quickly kneeled on the dead moss and plunged her hands inside.

“What do you need?” Tvaris asked, her voice firm and her bloodshot blue eyes worried.

“I’ve sent word to our clinic,” Eḥāyi told him. “For more medical staff and equipment.”

Asa winced internally at the coolness of Archer’s skin as he gave him another breath. “Would you take over breaths?” he asked, speaking to Tvaris as he pressed his fingers again into Archer’s neck.

“Yes!” Tvaris leaned over his brother, looking so much like Deirdre that he blinked. She pinched Archer’s nose and used the thumb of her other hand to keep his mouth open. Her mouth descended to his, and she exhaled audibly, Archer’s cheeks puffing out seconds before his chest rose. 

“Exactly like that, every six seconds.” Asa worked quickly, searching out his pulse oximeter and clipping it to one of Archer’s fingers. Then he pulled out his blood pressure cuff and stethoscope, quickly wrapping the former around his brother’s upper arm. Asa plugged the stethoscope into his ears and slipped the bell partially beneath the cuff, pressed against the skin of Archer’s arm. He held it in place with his thumb as he used his other hand to pump up the cuff. The sound of the blood pulsating through Archer’s arm was too fast for his liking as he filled the cuff completely, stopping the sound. Asa stared at the pressure gauge. 

“Blood pressure of sixty over forty.” He released the pressure and reached across Archer to pick up his cold hand, peering at the pulse oximeter. “Heart rate rising, he’s at one hundred seventy-five. Oxygen at ninety.”

“There’s equipment coming for Archer,” Eḥāyi reassured him. “Any minute now.”

An alarm pinged. Asa looked past Tvaris as she gave Archer another breath. Eḥāyi turned toward Deirdre’s heart monitor, and his eyes automatically followed hers. To his surprise, Deirdre’s heart rate registered at one hundred and seventy-five beats per minute, the flashing number climbing up to one hundred and eighty as he watched.

Imala reared up from the ground with a gasp, one hand pressed to his temple as though his head pained him. Asa pushed himself to his feet and hurried over to Eḥāyi’s bags. “I’m going to—”

“Help yourself, Dr. Neal.” She squeezed Deirdre’s bag and leaned toward the nurse. “Imala, stay where you are. Just rest. We have backup coming.”

Going through Dr. Eḥāyi’s things, Asa quickly found another BVM and an oxygen canister, then snagged the IV kit and a bag of saline. On his way back to Archer, he spotted the AED he’d brought earlier and reached for it, only for Deirdre’s father, Liam, to snatch it up and hurry alongside him. Asa and Liam kneeled beside Archer, Asa immediately pressing two fingers beneath his brother’s jaw. His pulse still beat there, fast and fluttery.

“What do you need me to do?” Liam asked.

“Inside that case is an AED. I need you to get everything out. Open a set of pads, cut open his shirt, and apply the pads per the directions. Are you okay with doing that?” Asa worked to assemble the bag-valve mask, his eyes darting between the object in his hands, Liam’s face, and Tvaris covering Archer’s mouth with her own to give him a breath. 

“I’ve got it,” Liam said, unzipping the case. “She weakened him too much. We have to help him.”

“She d-doesn’t know what she’s doing!” Tvaris exclaimed quietly before she gave Archer another breath. Asa heard a soft thwock when she broke the seal. He connected the oxygen canister to the mask and opened it up. 

“Á tereciùin, ánrhen,” Liam soothed, reaching out to caress her cheek. Then he turned back to the AED, locating the enclosed trauma shears.

“I’ve got it now, Tvaris. Thank you.” Asa crawled around to the top of Archer’s head and pressed the mask over his brother’s nose and mouth. He curled his fingers around in a ‘c’ shape and then squeezed the bag once, then again, his eyes on the manometer. Liam snipped through the hem of Archer’s shirt, cutting quickly toward his neckline. “Tvaris, please get me the flat plastic case from my bag.”

The fae woman moved quickly, finding the case and opening it before setting it next to Asa’s knee. Asa gave Archer another breath with the bag and then set it to the side, reaching for an oropharyngeal airway from the case. He chose a larger size than what he’d selected for Deirdre, though he still measured it against his brother’s jaw before slipping it in between his teeth and rotating it one hundred eighty degrees. As soon as the device was resting against Archer’s teeth, Asa picked up the mask and gave Archer another breath.

“The medics are recovering,” Tvaris said, looking over her shoulder. “The nurse is b-breathing for Deirdre—”

“I will help you,” Shavsan said, stepping into Asa’s field of vision. “Would you have me establish the IV?”

“Please,” Asa said, relieved. He’d been trying to figure out how to juggle the various tasks, especially considering he did not often draw blood or insert IVs himself. 

“We may need to cardiovert her.” Eḥāyi’s voice cut through, and Asa squeezed the bag once before reaching down to take Archer’s pulse again. Liam tore open the AED pads packet, hesitating before he reached into the case and drew out a shaving razor. “Tvaris, the pulse oximeter clipped to Archer’s finger… Without dislodging it, tell me what it says.”

Another smooth squeeze and release. Archer’s chest rose and fell as Liam shaved the hair from the upper right side of his chest. Shavsan had Archer’s arm pulled straight as he applied a tourniquet and cleaned the crook of his elbow. 

“S… P… O… Oxygen! Ninety-one percent. Heart rate… is that right? Two hundred eleven.” Tvaris gently rested Archer’s hand on the moss, then turned to look at Deirdre. Liam peeled the backing off the anterior pad and smoothed it on Archer’s chest, then reached for the lateral pad. Asa squeezed the bag, watching as Shavsan pressed a gloved thumb to Archer’s skin and then inserted the cannula just below. Then he removed the tourniquet, and Asa heard a click as he moved his attention to Liam. Another squeeze of the bag as Deirdre’s father applied the lateral pad. 

“Ik’ai?” Shavsan asked, getting Tvaris’ attention. He held up a bag of saline. “Would you be able to hold this aloft?”

Tvaris stood, coming around to Archer’s right shoulder and taking the saline from him. 

“Liam, go ahead and plug in the connector and turn on the AED. I’ll tell you what to do next.” Asa watched the man reach for the yellow device with the black screen.

Alarms suddenly sounded from Deirdre’s heart monitor. Asa squeezed the bag, his eyes jerking over to the monitor screen as Eḥāyi called out: “V-fib!” and lurched over Deirdre, her hands coming together over the ugly reddish bruise in the center of her chest. His own heart sinking, Asa squeezed Archer’s bag again and then felt for a pulse.

He waited out the requisite ten seconds as his mind screamed at him and panic churned his stomach. NO! “No pulse!”

Shavsan leaned over Archer, quickly landmarking and pressing the heel of his bottom hand over the lower part of Archer’s sternum. His shoulders rolled over his hands and he bobbed, the force collapsing Archer’s sternum into his heart. His stomach popped up with each compression, bumping against the waistband of his pants. “…eight, nine, ten, eleven…”

To Asa’s left, Eḥāyi performed her own forceful chest compressions, Deirdre’s abdomen rolling in similar short waves. 

“… fourteen, fifteen, sixteen…”

“When it comes on, Liam, press the bottom button. I need to see the ECG.” Asa’s eyes dropped involuntarily to Archer’s face. His brother’s eyes were closed, the lids dark. His shoulders shrugged with each hard compression, the force of which telegraphed into his neck as Asa held his head steady.

“… twenty-nine, thirty!” 

Asa squeezed the bag twice, first watching Archer’s chest rise and then looking at the manometer. 

“Analyzing rhythm. Do not touch the patient!” the AED announced. Shavsan and Liam leaned back. Asa cocked his head to look at the simple display, staring at the rapidly quivering line. “Shock advised. Charging!”

Shavsan resumed chest compressions. Asa drew a steadying breath and said: “Liam, Tvaris. Don’t touch him. He is about to be defibrillated.”

“Charged. Press the shock button.” Shavsan lifted his hands and Asa scooted back, raising the mask. Without having to be asked, Liam reached out and pressed the flashing triangular button. Archer’s body flinched, his head tipping to the side. Asa immediately righted it and reopened his airway.

“Shock delivered. Resume CPR for two minutes.” 

Asa stared at the tiny monitor, watching the brief flatline begin to quiver again before Shavsan’s chest compressions registered. Then he reapplied the bag-valve mask, ready for the thirty count. “I need epinephrine!” he called out. 

Liam looked around, a shockwave of dismay rolling over him at the sight of Deirdre again in cardiac arrest. Sertse, having recovered enough to assist, jumped to action, gathering up what appeared to be prefilled syringes and limping around to set them beside Shavsan. She kneeled by Archer, taking one syringe and administering it through Archer’s IV port. Then she hurried back to Deirdre’s side.

Chest compressions continued for the lovers; Shavsan counted steadily until thirty, at which point Asa gave Archer two oxygenated breaths with the bag. “One, two, three…”

“Charging to three-sixty,” Eḥāyi said. 

Asa heard cartilage pop in Archer’s chest as Shavsan forced his heart to beat, recoiling professionally between each compression. 

“Everyone clear. Administering shock now.”

Asa glanced over in time to see Deirdre jerk, the endotracheal tube waving in the air and her torso coming slightly off the ground. Eḥāyi immediately resumed chest compressions, making the trim woman’s stomach seesaw up and down nearly in time with Archer’s.

“Sertse, give her a milligram epinephrine.”

“…twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty!”

Two more breaths. Asa’s hands trembled as soon as he released pressure on the bag. “Tvaris, what tell me what his oxygen is ag—”

“Ninety-three percent.” Tvaris gave Archer’s hand a squeeze and murmured something in her first language that he could t make out, even if he’d been able to understand it. In response, Liam reached over and gripped her shoulder.

“… fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen…”

Don’t do this, Archer…

“… twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three…”

“Hold strong, Dr. Neal,” Eḥāyi gasped, slightly out of breath. Asa wondered if he’d spoken out loud. 

“… twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty!” Two more squeezes of the bag. “One, two, three…”

Asa and Archer did not have any cousins. Their grandparents were long dead. Mom had been an only child, and Dad’s sole sibling died because of a childhood illness. Archer was his only family, and he was losing him, along with this new sister who’d come into his life. Anticipatory grief made his breath come short and his stomach tie into knots. 

“…twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty.” Asa squeezed and released the bag. Squeezed and released. “One, two, three…”

“I don’t understand what’s happening.” This time, he knew he’d spoken out loud. His face flushed and his eyes blurred. Asa clawed back the emotion threatening to break him down. This was why, as a doctor, Archer couldn’t be his patient. He was too close. 

“… eleven, twelve, thirteen…”

Asa swallowed hard around the lump in his throat. The words kept coming, his voice hoarse. “I cannot account for his collapse.”

*** Dr. Léilarin Eḥāyi concentrated on the task before her. Chest compressions providing circulation for her young, dead or dying patient. Her own tired hands plunged relentlessly into Deirdre’s chest, exacerbating the external bruising and insulting the integrity of her ribcage. These were minor, necessary injuries. There were fae healers, some of them trained traditionally and some not, who had tried other methods of circulating oxygenated blood, but they were significantly less reliable. Dissected arteries. Shredded hearts. Braindead patients.

And so, despite the well of magic in her own chest, Léilarin manually beat her patient’s heart as it continued to prove it could not do so properly on its own. If Deirdre had been a human patient, Léilarin would have already called time. Truthfully, she would have done so for most fae patients by now. If it weren’t for the dragging sensation pulling her ánh from her and depleting her own energies, she would stop, call time, and apologize to her parents.

Of course, now Léilarin suspected that if she were to terminate Deirdre’s resuscitation, the young human man dying beside her would be consigned to the same fate.

“I don’t understand what’s happening.” Dr. Neal’s hushed voice barely made it to her ears, covered up by Shavsan’s determined counting. “I cannot account for his collapse.”

“… fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen…”

Deirdre’s bag-valve mask made a honking sound, and Léilarin glanced quickly at Imala, watching as the nurse deftly adjusted the PEEP valve. Beneath her hands, Deirdre’s sternum and ribs creaked. Closing her eyes, she sent a pulse of ánh down into her hands, whispering her intention to support the woman’s failing cardiovascular system. The magic dragged down her arms and her compressions faltered as she swayed.

“… four, five, six…”

Her eyes flew open as Imala nudged her to the side, his hands replacing hers. “I’ve recovered. We can switch. Take care, our reserves are depleted.”

Rather than argue or deny his supposition, Léilarin crawled around to Deirdre’s head and gently wedged it between her knees. She squeezed the bag, then looked over at Archer.

Shavsan pumped the humans’s bare chest, his professional compressions sinking deep and making his abdomen bulge. Dr. Neal kept his brother’s head tipped back and his neck extended, holding it in place with the mask ready to provide ventilations with each pause in compressions. The human doctor’s face had become an ashen mask of fragile professionalism. 

“… twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty.”

Dr. Neal’s mask slipped, an agonized tenderness taking over as he gazed down at his brother. He squeezed the bag twice.

“One, two, three…”

Léilarin looked down at Dierdre. Her eyes were closed and slightly encrusted, as though she’d been asleep a long time. The lids appeared fragile and lavender in color. The blue had, in one of few positive signs, retreated from the center of her face, settling in her eyelids and kissing what was visible of her chapped lips. Her shoulders jerked and her breasts wobbled each time Imala pushed down. Bits of molted feathers clung to Deirdre’s skin, giving her chalk white body a faint opalescence shimmer.

Léilarin’s eyes skimmed over Imala’s plunging hands, his knuckles white and Deirdre’s skin varying shades of red and purple. Just below, her abdomen rippled in waves of displaced force that crashed into the blue puddle of her dress and dissipated. She could just see the shadow of nearly trimmed pubic hair. 

With the crowd, by some standards Léilarin had failed to provide privacy for her patient in her most vulnerable moment. But this was not a human resuscitation. Her patient was fae, and fae needed community to survive. The nearly-invisible rainbow of ánh trickling in from the crowd was testament to that. This, truly, was a miracle. It was not something that happened with all fae deaths. Perhaps it was the injustice of what her former lover had done to her. Perhaps her ánhren’s efforts had created the possibility for such a miracle. Perhaps—

“Analyzing rhythm. Do not touch patient.”

Léilarin’s attention shifted back to Archer and Dr. Neil. Deirdre’s parents had shifted down toward the feet of the lovers. They kneeled on the dead moss together, clutching each other for support. Dr. Neal continued squeezing Archer’s bag as the AED he’d brought analyzed. 

“Shock advised. Charging. Do not touch the patient.” Shavsan ignored the alert, snapping out a series of compressions before the device spoke up again. “Press the shock button. Do not touch the patient.”

Shavsan lifted his hands and shuffled back. Dr. Neal sat the mask aside and leaned over to press the button on the AED. Archer’s chest flinched and his head swayed, the fingers of one hand curling. Shavsan immediately resumed chest compressions.

“Check pulse.”

“Hold compressions!” Dr. Neal exclaimed, his shaking fingers pressing into Archer’s neck. His eyes on the AED screen, he choked out: “Sinus rhythm. Thank God.”

The alarm on Deirdre’s heart monitor abruptly cut off. Léilarin leaned forward to look at the screen, even as Imala announced in hushed tones: “Sinus rhythm.”

Léilarin heard both sobs and tears. Simultaneously, the crowd broke around an influx of relief medics, with gurneys and equipment. Léilarin sagged with exhaustion, even as she continued to ventilate Deirdre. To her right, she heard a man cough, then gag. Dr. Neal sat the bag-valve mask to the side, removed the OPA, and quickly rolled his brother onto his left side, holding him in place as Archer coughed, gasped, and spat.

Deirdre’s mother crawled up to him and took one of his hands, stretching his arm toward Deirdre. Then she reached for Deirdre’s hand and placed it in Archer’s before covering them both with her own.

“Life support,” Léilarin murmured.

“You’re going to be alright, Archer,” she heard Dr. Neal say. “Deirdre is alive. Just rest for me. I need to get him on a twelve-lead!”

She heard Imala echo that request for their own patient, but her eyes were on Dr. Neal’s face. Tears streaked the man’s cheeks.

“I’m Léilarin,” she said. “Léilarin Eḥāyi. And I am happy for you.”

“Thank you,” he breathed, wiping his face on the sleeve of his shirt. “Call me Asa.”

*** Archer leaned back against his pillow, rubbing at the twinge in his chest as he did so. His eyes immediately darted around, guiltily looking for Asa until he recalled his brother had finally relaxed enough to retreat to a private space to coordinate patient care with his practice staff. 

Instead, his eyes fell on Deirdre.

When he’d first awakened in this room, he’d been terribly confused. This space was nothing like any hospital room he’d seen anywhere. Well-lit with natural light, with plants and furnishings that resembled a resort rather than an ICU. He shared a bed with Deirdre, though Dr. Eḥāyi explained that the beds could be unlocked and split apart for easier access to one or both patients. 

Another difference was that once he’d recovered enough to be discharged, bed been encouraged—no, ordered—to stay. His presence, Dr. Eḥāyi explained, would help Deirdre heal.

As though he would ever leave.

Archer shifted gingerly toward her. She lay still on her side of the bed, a sheet pulled up beneath her arms. 

The first day, her wings had been retracted by some kind of magical procedure Archer couldn’t remember the name of, which had left the bed full of what looked like stardust until a crew cleaned it up. She’d laid unmoving throughout. In fact, for the first three days, her only movement was the rise and fall of her chest as the ventilator breathed for her. Archer’d gripped her hand and wept, for it no longer felt like she was in another room. She felt so far away he couldn’t be sure she existed.

Day two, they ran a tube up her nose for feeding. Her hair fell out and her skin peeled. Tvaris and Foraoise visited, cleaning her skin and the bedding when he was too weak to do so. Then, to his surprise, they’d laid her hands on her scalp and regrown her hair, a process that had taken nearly two hours. When it was finished, they’d braided it and pulled it over one shoulder.

Day three, a blue glow sparked in her chest and forehead. The light was subtle, noticeable more at night. Archer laid there in the semi-dark, watching her skin glow from in and listening to her artificial breathing. He’d refused sleeping medication.

Day four was his discharge day. He remained, holding her hand as they successfully took her off the ventilator and replaced it with an oxygen mask. That was also the day he’d called his agent and explained he and his partner had been in a severe accident and that while he had been discharged, she was still in a coma and he would need an extension. He expected to feel relief when his agent called back to say it has been granted and that everyone was praying for her, but he just wanted to be off the phone.

Day six, they removed supplemental oxygen altogether. Her bruises faded, faster even than Archer’s own.

Day nine proved even more monumental, Asa and Dr. Eḥāyi stood bedside and told Archer and Deirdre’s parents that she did not seem to have Long QT Syndrome any longer.

“I don’t know how it’s possible,” Asa declared, awed. “Unless—”

“Unless nothing,” Dr. Eḥāyi replied. “Her heart was very damaged. Too damaged for her to survive if she were a human.”

Archer jerked his head around to stare at Asa, who nodded solemnly.

“But,” Eḥāyi continued, “she is not human. Her magic is repairing her body from the great insult it received. Should things continue as they are, I have every reason to expect a full recovery.”

Archer nearly fell apart with relief, the fatigue he’d been holding back making him so lightheaded that Asa made him lay down and took his blood pressure.

And then nothing changed for a week. 

Asa spent every other day with them, driving back and forth to tend to patients. He brought Archer’s laptop, which sat untouched in its bag on the bedside table. Liam and Tvaris brought Fae, who was, at that moment, sunning herself in the window. 

Hospital staff were in and out as usual. A nurse came regularly to supplement Deirdre’s circulation, helping her to avoid pressure sores. Other staff came to bathe her, or see to her personal needs. 

At the moment, however, they were alone.

Archer reached out, tracing the shell of her ear with his fingertips. Then he traced the line of her jaw. His fingers moved to her lips, soft and smooth now. He traced their shape, then ran his fingers down her neck and rested his palm over her heart, careful not to disrupt her leads. Then he leaned in and kissed her.

Just like that, he felt her. Deirdre stepped into the room.

He pulled back, staring intently at her face as the light under her skin faded.

She made a tiny noise. A huff. He lifted his hand from her chest and grasped her hand. Deirdre? Her eyelids fluttered and her lips parted. “Mmm…” Her breathy moan brought tears to his eyes.

“You’re all right, love. I’m here.”

Her lashes lifted, and her blue eyes briefly searched the room before focusing on his face. She blinked rapidly, and he felt her fingers twitch in his hand. 

“Hi!” The greeting was inadequate, but his throat seized up and a fat, hot tear ran down his cheek and into the scruff of his facial hair.

Deirdre’s throat worked, and he heard the dry click of her mouth. She gave a hoarse cough, swallowed hard, then whispered: “A-Ar-ch-cher…”

Relief made him briefly close his eyes, erupting out of him as a laugh that sounded more like a sob. He tried to compose himself and felt his features crumple as he drew a shuddering breath. 

“Shh…” Deirdre’s hand squeezed his, more of a twitch of her fingers.

“You’re… all right!” It wasn’t a question, and it wasn’t a reassurance. He opened his eyes.

“All… right,” she agreed, his tears reflected in her own.

*** A month later, Archer woke in the middle of the night to an empty bed. 

Rather, he awoke with Fae on his chest and Deirdre’s side of the bed empty.

Archer felt a frisson of concern before he sensed her. She wasn’t in the cottage, but she wasn’t far off, either. And, more importantly, she seemed to be fine.

He could just tell these things now. He reminded himself that already, she’d remastered fine motor tasks, walking, and beginner flight maneuvers. Dr. Eḥāyi explained, again, that fae recovery differed from human recovery, and that Deirdre’s access to magic accounted for the speed at which she met milestones.

Still, Archer gently scooped Fae up from his chest and sat up, finding her a spot on the sheet warmed by his body. She meowed at him, then curled into herself, covering her nose with her paw. Archer raked his hand through his hair and climbed out of bed, his eyes slowly adjusting to the dark.

He made his way through the cottage, dragging a fleece blanket off a chair as he passed. Wrapping it around his nude shoulders, he opened the front door. The night air, surprisingly warm for the time of year, slipped in and kissed his skin. Archer closed the door behind him and, wearing nothing but the blanket and loose pants, padded barefoot down the moss path. The light reflected off the moon and stars illuminated his path until another light source caught his attention. A blue light, coming from the place in the forest where they had nearly died.

Quickening his steps, Archer made his way to that spot in the trees. When he’d last seen it, semi-conscious and still afraid that Deirdre would slip away, it had been a dead zone. Broken trees, dry soil, dry brown moss. As he walked, he kept expecting the lush forest to shift to that barren wasteland.

Instead, he found Deirdre, naked, on her hands and knees, light pulsating from her chest and running down her arms and into the ground. Her wings, whole again, hung shimmering down her back, occasionally ruffling as she rocked gently back and forth. 

The dead zone had gone. The moss under his feet felt fresh and dense. Saplings sprouted in the gaps left by fallen, dead trees. Even the air felt alive, moist and scented of ozone. A winged insect fluttered against his cheek and then buzzed away past his ear.

“Deirdre,” he murmured, announcing himself even though he knew she sensed him, too. The light pulsated for several more seconds before fading out. Archer moved close, pulling the blanket from his shoulders and draping it around hers. He extended his hand. Deirdre slipped her hand in his and tugged him down beside her. Archer sat with his legs bent and stretched out in front of him. She mirrored his posture, the side of her body pressed against his. 

“You…” he gestured, at a loss for words.

“I could not sleep. I knew it was time to fix what I wrought. I came out the past two nights, too. You slept through it before…” She leaned her head against him. “You were worried.”

“Only briefly.”

“I would have come back immediately if you’d been worried for long.”

“You are all right.”

“I am all right.”

She tipped her head up and Archer bent to kiss her. Beneath the blanket, she folded her wings until they disappeared. Then she turned toward him, her arms sliding around his neck. The blanket slipped off her shoulders as he gathered her close, her breasts pressing against his chest. He felt her nipples pebble. She spoke, her lips moving against his skin. “We should visit a human courthouse and get married.”

Archer blinked in surprise. “Did you just propose?”

“We are joined in every way that matters,” Deirdre said. “But… Archer, if something happens and you end up in a human hospital, I want the rights of a wife.”

“Yes,” he said quickly. “Of course, yes.”

“We will bring Asa. And my parents.”

“What do you think about a small outdoor wedding? As soon as we can arrange it?”

Deirdre tightened her arms. “I like that idea even better.”

Archer dipped his head to kiss her lips, then the corner of her mouth, then her forehead. “And a honeymoon. Somewhere that’s safe for you to fly.”

“There’s an entire database of places,” she said, her voice lifting in excitement. “I will show it to you tomorrow.”

“Mmm.” Archer kissed her mouth again. “Databases. Sexy.”

She laughed and closed her eyes, presenting her mouth again. He kissed her hard, both of them inhaling deeply through their nose as they parted their lips for each other. He ran his hands up and down her back, feeling her soft skin. Need for her blossomed and grew, a need he saw reflected in her eyes when he leaned back. Archer released her reluctantly and picked up the blanket, shaking it out and then unfurling it onto the moss. Deirdre crawled backward onto the blanket and lay back on her elbows, her legs spreading before him. Her eyes glinted at him in the near dark as he stripped off his pants and tossed them to the side. Then he joined her on the blanket, framing her body with his arms and settling between her thighs, letting her feel his rapidly growing erection.

“Ánrhen,” he whispered, caressing her cheek.

She turned her face into his touch. “I love you, Archer.” Her hips moved slowly beneath him as she rubbed herself against his cock.

“I love you, Deirdre.” His hips mirrored hers, thrusting gently against her. He propped himself up on one elbow and slipped a hand between them, searching out the apex of her thighs. He rubbed a circle around her nub and leaned in to kiss her deeply, their tongues seeking each other out.

Archer dipped his thumb just into her wetness, then slid back up to circle her clit. He drew smaller and smaller circles until he rubbed her directly and she moaned into his mouth. Her chest heaved, and he bent his head to capture one of her brown nipples, lashing it with his tongue and then drawing the tip into his mouth. 

Deirdre gasped and ran her nails lightly down his back. She grasped his buttocks, her pelvis rocking as she sought a deeper connection. Archer lifted his head and attended to her other nipple, chuckling as she groaned with both arousal and frustration. Then he rose over her and kissed her mouth, his hand shifting to guide himself home.

One of her legs bent and wrapped around him. He started slow, gliding his length in and out of her warmth. Deirdre shuddered. Neither of them would last long, not for this first time since he’d almost lost her. Since he’d almost followed her. Archer ran his hand up and down her smooth thigh, then reached down and slipped his hand underneath her, pulling her closer. He rocked into her faster, a quiet groan escaping him.

“Archer,” she moaned, her back arching. Bending her knee, she planted her foot on the blanket and levered herself up against him, meeting him thrust for thrust. “Yes! Don’t stop, Archer!”

He covered her mouth with his, swallowing her cries. She felt vital in his arms, healthy and strong in a way she hadn’t before. Archer found her hands and pulled them above her head, linking his fingers with hers and taking his weight onto his elbows. “Deirdre,” he gasped, uncertain how much longer he could hold on as her warmth and wetness gripped him.

His hips jerked harder against her, satisfaction filling him when she bowed up, crying out in release, her hips shuddering and her channel spasming. He lost his rhythm, thrusting erratically several more times until the gathering sensations took him and he found his own release.

After, they lay tangled together, wrapped in the blanket. Archer held her close, her hair draped across his chest. Occasionally, he pressed a kiss to her temple and ran his hand up and down her back. Deirdre drew shapes upon his skin with her fingertips, her breathing slow and deep. Neither of them spoke; no words were needed.

The End.

[trevlad-sounds]

Wednesday 4 October Mixtape 380 “Fated Particles EXCLUSIVE” Retro Space Electronic Idm Wednesdays, Fridays & Sundays. Support the artists and labels. Don't forget to tip so future shows can bloom.

Sensations' Fix-Moving Particles 00:31

James Adrian Brown-There Is Space Under Your Seat 02:47

Thomas Ragsdale & Richard Arnold-Rings Of Grain 05:46

Dr Atmo-Evaporate 11:19

Luke Sanger-Horsey Sunset 17:06

d'Voxx-Aotou 19:49

Kosmischer Läufer-Nordlicht 26:04

Albin-Forsen 31:00

Tangerine Dream-Para Guy 35:06

Lisa Bella Donna-Ecliptic 40:19

Ogle-At Night 41:16

Fontän-Meh-Teh 44:39

Hawksmoor-The City Ships of Alpha 47:52

The New Emphatic-Potlatch 51:23

Prairiewolf-Return to the Lonesome Prairie 53:06

Apta-North Star (La Vache Fantome) 55:48

In Fields-Hands 1:00:46

Golden Bug, In Fields-Lungs 1:05:22

Bird of Paradise-Tito 1:10:21

Golden Brown-Worm Charming 1:17:17

John Haughey-Supernova 1:18:50

Simon James-The Procedure 1:23:46

Metamono-Mr Smith 1:29:10

Schicke Führs Fröhling-Explorer 1:31:55

Lucas Tripaldi-Mi alma, su alma 1:36:32

Jonas Reinhardt-Quest Or Go Fanatic 1:41:45

The Metamorph-Flesh & Steel 1:43:31

Ardala-One Night in Nanjing 1:46:25

Chris Otchy-Ambient Computing, Second Movement 1:50:32

Binaural Space-Fated Ending 1:55:48

Monochrome Echo-We Are Not Alone 1:56:33

[radiophd]

silence -- santur

[ambivalentalumna]

Vito Russo’s Why We Fight Speech

Especially relevant after this morning’s supreme court ruling and all the cuts to medical research and the ending of USAID AIDS treatment and prevention programs.

The full transcript is available on ACT UP’s site here

Some highlights below the cut.

“You know, for the last three years, since I was diagnosed, my family thinks two things about my situation. One, they think I’m going to die, and two, they think that my government is doing absolutely everything in their power to stop that. And they’re wrong, on both counts.

So, if I’m dying from anything, I’m dying from homophobia. If I’m dying from anything, I’m dying from racism. If I’m dying from anything, it’s from indifference and red tape, because these are the things that are preventing an end to this crisis. If I’m dying from anything, I’m dying from Jesse Helms. If I’m dying from anything, I’m dying from the President of the United States. And, especially, if I’m dying from anything, I’m dying from the sensationalism of newspapers and magazines and television shows, which are interested in me, as a human interest story – only as long as I’m willing to be a helpless victim, but not if I’m fighting for my life.”

“Two and a half years ago, I picked up Life Magazine, and I read an editorial which said, "it’s time to pay attention, because this disease is now beginning to strike the rest of us.” It was as if I wasn’t the one holding the magazine in my hand. And since then, nothing has changed to alter the perception that AIDS is not happening to the real people in this country.

It’s not happening to us in the United States, it’s happening to them – to the disposable populations of fags and junkies who deserve what they get. The media tells them that they don’t have to care, because the people who really matter are not in danger. Twice, three times, four times – The New York Times has published editorials saying, don’t panic yet, over AIDS – it still hasn’t entered the general population, and until it does, we don’t have to give a shit.“

"And we read on the front page of The New York Times last Saturday that Anthony Fauci now says that all sorts of promising drugs for treatment haven’t even been tested in the last two years because he can’t afford to hire the people to test them. We’re supposed to be grateful that this story has appeared in the newspaper after two years. Nobody wonders why some reporter didn’t dig up that story and print it 18 months ago, before Fauci got dragged before a Congressional hearing .

How many people are dead in the last two years, who might be alive today, if those drugs had been tested more quickly? Reporters all over the country are busy printing government press releases. They don’t give a shit, it isn’t happening to them – meaning that it isn’t happening to people like them – the real people, the world-famous general public we all keep hearing about.”

[batmannotes]

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom 4K Ultra HD Review

Jason Momoa reprises his role as the King of the Seven Seas in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, which comes 5 years after the original film was released. Once again Aquaman’s most notable rogue, Black Manta, is back seeking revenge for his deceased father. This time, Manta wields the power of the mythic Black Trident to unleash an ancient and sinister force. Hoping to end his reign of terror, Aquaman makes an unlikely alliance with his brother, Orm, the former king of Atlantis. Setting aside their differences, they join forces to protect their kingdom and save the world from irreversible destruction. 

I must admit, even though I consider myself a superhero aficionado, it has been 5 years since the first solo Aquaman flick hit the theaters and remembering certain details regarding the movie were hazy for me at best. Fortunately, there are flashbacks to some of the pertinent moments from the first outing. As in the original movie, there is a healthy dose of action and adventure sprinkled with some hit and miss humor. I enjoyed the unlikely bond between the brothers, and it is hard to argue that Black Manta is one of the most iconic super villains to hit the silver screen in a comic book flick in recent memory. Unfortunately, Manta is paired with a far less interesting character named Dr. Shin (Randall Park) and a collection of henchmen and women with little to no depth in this underwater adventure.  

The visuals of this film are the real treat, and with the 4K format they really shine. The underwater computer-generated sequences are particularly aesthetically pleasing, but I really wish this movie stuck to scenes beneath the sea. There are tons of incredibly interesting creatures in the ocean that an Aquaman movie has yet to tap into. A number of times the movie gets caught trying to copy other films, particularly Star Wars, however, this movie lacks the interesting intertwining plot points and character development of the sci-fi classic. Even with the beautiful 4K eye candy most of its visuals project, there are the occasional, (Joss Whedon) Justice League-esque CGI that leaves you wondering, “where did that come from?”. I also did not care for Aquaman being out of his classic orange and green costume for most of the movie, as I felt that it robbed me of that superhero feel.

VIDEO QUALITY 📽️ :  A 

The 2160p transfer looks glorious, even with the aforementioned lackluster CGI in a few limited sequences. This liquid beauty really carry the visual end of this film. 

AUDIO QUALITY 🔈 : A 

The Dolby Atmos English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit) really is a treat for the listener at home. The dialogue is clear, and the action sequences are bombastic as you are immersed deep into the sea of this film. 

EXTRAS 📀 :  B 

Included with this single disc release is a Digital Copy and several video extras listed below: 

Finding the Lost Kingdom (21:22) - Jason Momoa, director James Wan, DC honcho Jim Lee, production design Bill Brzeski, and other key members of the cast and crew are your guides at this usually scenic behind-the-scenes featurette, which includes bits and pieces of on-set footage and others supportive clips. 

Aquaman: Worlds Above and Below (9:39) - A like-minded look at various locales on both sides of the surface that covers special effects, location shoots, and Aquaman lore by way of a few vintage comics. 

Atlantean Blood is Thicker than Water (4:17) - A short but sweet look at the history of Arthur and his half-brother Orm, again with some comics history and short interviews with Momoa and Patrick Wilson. 

It's a Manta World (10:08) - Another character-focused featurette, this short piece sits down with Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and others to speak about David Kane, Black Manta, the power suit, and more. 

Necrus, the Lost Black City (5:51) - James Wan, producer Peter Safran, Bill Brzeski, and others chat briefly about the titular lost kingdom, its visual creation, and its history in the franchise. 

Escape from the Deserter World (8:05) - Another like-minded featurette about the location -- or in this case, sequence -- featured in the film, a handful of familiar faces share about its creation and execution while being supported by behind-the-scenes footage, concept art, rehearsals, costume and set design, and more. 

Brawling at Kingfish's Lair (4:07) - A quick look at one of the film's many visually overloaded action scenes and some of the goofier details and supporting characters featured in it. 

Oh, Topo! (2:12) - And speaking of goofy supporting characters, this short and light-hearted tribute acts as an appreciation and highlight reel for everyone's favorite comedy relief cephalopod. 

FINAL GRADE: C- 

The only real emotions drawn from this bloated outing are the reconciliation between two brothers and the love for their mother. Aquaman should have submerged deeper into the sea, instead of trying to mimic the tales of old from the land above. 

Order now from Amazon.

[afrohouseking]

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Lizwi – Colours of Me (Album)

By Afro House King

Oct 25, 2024

Lizwi – Colours of Me (Album)

 Afro House, Albums

ALBUM: Lizwi – Colours of Me GENRE: Afro House FORMAT: Mp3 QUALITY: 320 Kbps LABEL: Deep In Your Soul YEAR: 2024 SIZE: 124 MB

TRACKLIST

Lizwi – Colours of Me (feat. Katlego)

Lizwi – Amaphupho (feat. Katlego & Aero Manyelo)

Lizwi – Lezonkomo (feat. Toober Soul)

Lizwi – Thonga Lam (feat. Dr Madala Kunene & Toober Soul)

Lizwi – Sihawukele (feat. Shona SA)

Lizwi – Mama (feat. Atmos Blaq)

Lizwi – Malusi (feat. Toober Soul)

Lizwi – Piti Piti (feat. Toober Soul)

Lizwi & Kryptic (UK) – Lullaby

Lizwi & Kryptic (UK) – Lullaby (Kususa Remix)