#Harrison Animal Clinic

[care4dog]

Animal Hospital in Harrison, AR | 24-Hour Emergency Vet

Animal Hospital in Harrison, AR | 24-Hour Emergency Vet

Near your 24-hour emergency vet and animal hospital in Harrison, AR. Quickly Find Chip Emergency Animal Hospital. Find Chip Emergency pet vet quickly. Our team in Harrison makes it easy to find an emergency vet based on top customer ratings and reviews. Find the nearest Emergency Mobile Pet Hospital or Animal Hospital in Harrison. Harrison Animal Clinic Rating 4.8 out of 563 reviews Address:…

[faofinn]

No. 14 DIE A HERO OR LIVE LONG ENOUGH TO BECOME A VILLAIN

@whumptober

@whumptober-archive

Desperate Measures | Failed escape | “I’ll be right behind you.”

Ever since the other pack had injured Harrison, Fred’s pack had been half at war. They were hard to find, but there had been scraps, at the fringes of territory where nothing mattered. Nothing but blood and teeth and claws. They’d all scrapped, Fao covered in scratches and bruises more often than not. 

Harrison was recovering well, but the fighting continued, tensions raised whenever the two packs met. It meant the clinic was busier than ever, alongside their usual caseload, and they had to be very careful of the visitors to the sanctuary. 

Fao had just finished a clinic shift with Steve and Finn, and was stretched out on the sofa enjoying a cup of tea before he headed home. He considered shifting, instead of going back, and spending the night in the forest, but he was undecided. Fred’s cooking was also a pretty appealing thought. 

That was when a scent caught his attention, over the antiseptic smell of the clinic, and the cat fur on his top. Smoke. It wasn’t that unusual, out in the country, people often had bonfires. But this smelt different. And it smelt much closer. He sat up, putting his mug down. 

“Can you smell that?”

Steve looked up, putting his own cup down. He took a moment, his face darkening. "Smoke. Let me check. We might need to get the animals out."

“Let me help.”

"There’s no alarm yet." Finn spoke up, grabbing the response bag. "Probably just a bonfire too close."

“I don’t know, it smells different.”

"No point speculating." Steve murmured. 

“True.” Fao agreed, getting to his feet. 

"I'll take the clinic if you want to check the sanctuary?"

“Yeah, I’ll go and check the fenceline.” Fao said, heading out the back door and towards the open space that was the sanctuary.

"Make sure you've got the radio!" Steve called, heading in the opposite direction. 

“I’ve got it!” Fao shouted back, lifting his head to sniff the air.

Finn headed through to the pens while the others explored, prepping for evacuation. They were unsettled, and that worried him; they seemed to know something was up. He padded from cage to cage, fingers through the bars as he chatted away to them. 

Fao checked the fence line around the sanctuary, jogging along it to try and be as quick as he could. He couldn’t see anything, and the scent faded the further he got from the clinic. Concerned, he doubled back, grabbing his radio. 

“Steve? Finn?”

"Anything your end?"

“Nothing. Can’t even smell it.”

"Shit." Steve broke off to cough. "Get back here, get the boarders out. We've got a fire in the storage by the theatres."

“Fuck.” Fao muttered, turning to sprint back to the clinic. “Why have we not had an alarm?” It was mostly a question to himself, as he pushed back through the door and into the clinic. The smell of smoke was much stronger now, and he could feel a flash of fear from his wolf. He headed straight to the pens. “Anyone with treatment needs?”

"I've got two dogs on fluids and one cat." Finn replied. "The other three should be okay."

“Okay. We can get them out easy enough.”

"I've called for fire." Steve said over the radio. "Get who you can out, I'll be right over."

“Cheers Steve. We’ll get them out, I’ll warn Sheila what’s going on, given she’s not far.”

"This wasn't an accident." 

“Let’s just get everyone out.”

"Everything has been cut out." Steve coughed over the radio. "We've got no alarms."

“Be careful, Steve.” Fao said. “Finn, have you got these? I don’t like Steve on his own.”

"I'm fine. I'm coming back to help."

“Be careful.”

"Yeah, I'm trying to." He replied, slightly snarky.

Fao huffed, and left Finn with the animals, heading to where Steve had said he was. He didn’t want the older man getting hurt. 

"Fao, what the fuck? I told you to help Finn, to get out."

“You’re fucking around doing something stupid, I don’t want you getting hurt.”

"I'm trying to save what I can."

“Let me help?”

"Go and help Finn."

“No. Finn’s fine.”

"Get yourself out. I'm not having you get hurt."

“I’m not leaving without you.”

"Fao, please. Listen for once in your life."

“I listen plenty, when you’re not doing stupid stuff.”

"I'm not doing stupid stuff, I'm trying to make sure everything is off and not going to explode. I'll be fine, I'll be one minute and then I'll be right behind you."

It was getting hotter, and Fao’s wolf prickled as the smell of smoke got stronger. “If I help it’ll go quicker.” 

"Precisely. Help Finn." Steve said, ignoring Fao's real point. 

Fao rolled his eyes and just mucked in, checking all of the isolation switches were right. 

"You've done enough, Fao." He said from beside him. "Come on, we need to go."

“Only if you come with me.”

"I'll be right behind you."

The store room was cluttered, typical of just how busy they’d been, and Fao quickly spotted one of the empty oxygen cylinders they’d been storing in there, awaiting collection. The flames lapped at it, and a hot flash of fear ran through Fao. They were never reliably completely empty, and it was a huge risk. “Steve!” He shouted. “Get out, get out now!” He couldn’t wait anymore, he needed out, before he shifted and lost control. That wouldn’t help the situation at all. He bolted from the building, straight out to where Finn was waiting with the animals. 

[some-stories-and-junk]

Empire Arcana

Chapter 2: A Higher Calibur

The setting was an opulent room with soaring ceilings and gilded ornamentation, awash in a pale, ethereal glow. Its architecture hinted at a blend of classical and modern, demonstrating both grandeur and an undertone of techno-magical advancements. This was the virtual domain of The Aegis Consortium.

In the center, a round table of polished mahogany was surrounded by eight high-backed chairs, each occupied by the projected presence of the group's members. Each projection reflected their personal style and idiosyncrasies.

At one end of the table, Harrison Becks of Globex appeared. A holographic timepiece ticking away in the corner of his projection, mirroring his real-life obsession with time. Every movement was precise, each word measured.

Opposite him flickered into view Silas Fordham of Pomme Tech. His projection was accompanied by a spectral, ever-adjusting array of holographic items, creating a perfectly symmetrical aura around him, reflecting his preoccupation with aesthetic balance.

Next appeared Rupert Sterling of WinGate Technologies, his digital avatar adorned with a retro digital watch that somehow seemed to flicker and glitch in the high-tech environment, a curious counterpoint to his cutting-edge reputation.

Leonard Calibur of Pandora Armaments then shimmered into view. His muscular projection was actively engaged in an intense workout, even as he greeted the other members, the relentless dedication to fitness a testament to his military precision and tenacity.

Mortimer Haywood of Arcane Tobacco Company materialized next, a plume of ethereal smoke curling up from an illusionary cigar, his spectral smile made charmingly disarming by the fresh minty scent that seemed to emanate from his projection.

Dr. Celeste Prima of Elixir Pharmaceuticals followed, her surroundings clinically clean and shimmering with a sterilizing light. A virtual sanitizer floated beside her, sporadically casting a cleansing spray around her, emphasizing her obsession with purity.

Sebastian Plentiful of Mystic Foods was the next to join, his avatar jovially biting into a spectral apple that disappeared bite by bite. A spread of illusionary food surrounded him, his ever-changing palette reflecting the innovative nature of his industry.

Finally, Lorelei Starling of Illusion Media appeared, her holographic presence flanked by the virtual forms of her magical assistants and fantastical creatures, enchanting the already surreal meeting with a touch of whimsy.

As the last avatar settled, the room became more animated, their individual characteristics adding a unique color to the ethereal scene. With everyone present, the meeting of The Aegis Consortium had begun. As the meeting began, Leonard Calibur of Pandora Armaments came straight to the point, his muscular projection still engaged in a strenuous workout, "We have a problem. 13 is missing." The room immediately fell into an uneasy silence, each member digesting the revelation.

It was Rupert Sterling of WinGate Technologies who broke the silence, "How could this happen? She was your responsibility!"

Sitting opposite him, Harrison Becks of Globex interjected, "Enough, Sterling! Now is not the time for blame. It's happened. What's the plan, Calibur?"

"Already on it," Leonard responded, unfazed by the tension. "We've dispatched two trackers, both Phantasma Class—Nightmare Entities. They've got a tether on 13's fear. She won't escape."

Dr. Celeste Prima of Elixir Pharmaceuticals scoffed, her sterilizing light shimmering more violently, "Nightmare Entities? Really, Calibur? You've lost the girl, and now you risk exposing us by using such drastic means."

Unmoved, Leonard replied, "They are the most effective. And fear not, Prima, they appear as nothing more than men to those who can't see through the disguise."

The tension in the room mounted, the seriousness of the situation was clear. Finally, Sebastian Plentiful of Mystic Foods proposed a disconcerting solution, his spectral apple half-eaten, "And if we don't find her? We need a contingency."

Mortimer Haywood of Arcane Tobacco Company, blowing out a thick plume of ethereal smoke, offered, "What about the void theory? That unprecedented phenomenon of unseeable brightness?"

The mere mention of it stirred an uneasy shiver through the room. Such an idea, however feasible, was fraught with unknown dangers, but in dire times, drastic measures are considered. The Aegis Consortium continued their intense deliberation, aware that their iron grip on their world was beginning to slip. The atmosphere hummed with a palpable tension. Their virtual environment was painted in ethereal hues, its flowing data streams simulating an extravagant cosmic palace.

Leonard Calibur, the muscular representative from Pandora Armaments, sat with his digitally constructed arms crossed, a deep frown creasing his brow. "I still don't get this color business," he grumbled.

Dr. Celeste Prima, the composed delegate from Elixir Pharmaceuticals, turned to him with a sympathetic smile. Her avatar perfectly mirrored her real-world grace, a cascade of radiant pixels embodying her delicate movements. "Think of it like this, Leonard," she began, adopting the tone of a patient instructor. "It's about power potency."

Silas Fordham from Palm Tech, his avatar awash with vivid coding symbols, couldn't help but chuckle at his colleague's confusion. "Think of it like coding, Leonard," he chimed in, a mischievous sparkle in his digital eyes. "Cool colors, they're your low-level software. Useful but not exceedingly powerful. Your warm colors, now they're your high-level programming languages."

"And what about this 'golden starlight'?" Leonard asked, his frown deepening.

Lorelei Starling, the lively representative from Illusion Media, leaned forward, her avatar shimmering with cinematic glamor. "That, my dear Leonard, is the Hollywood star of magic. The Oscar winner, if you will. Rare, powerful, and highly sought after."

As the weight of their 'golden starlight' sorcerer's escape settled in, a heavy silence filled the digital chamber. Calibur disconnected from the Aegis meeting, a sigh escaping his lips as the digital projections vanished. "All right, folks. Got work to do," he muttered in his gruff, authoritative tone, his image fading out from the ethereal meeting room.

In his private quarters, an office that mirrored his personality, there was an air of strict discipline and stark practicality. The room was a blend of a military command center and a high-tech gymnasium, with screens displaying classified intelligence data juxtaposed with state-of-the-art training equipment.

The door to his office hissed open, and in slipped two figures - one thin and wiry, the other squat and round. Their forms were insubstantial, an undulating dance of shadows that flickered in and out of focus, their features vague and nightmarish.

"Slim. Squat," Calibur called out, addressing the shadowy figures. Their names, though simple, were fitting considering their appearances.

Calibur's normally stoic face was set in a hard frown as he addressed the duo, his dissatisfaction palpable. "What's taking so long? You're supposed to be nightmares incarnate, not a couple of lazy spirits. We're in a race against time here."

Their shadowy forms shivered in response, an indication of their understanding. Calibur's voice echoed in the high-tech office, the unspoken pressure building. The stakes were high, and there was no room for failure.

As he dismissed the two figures, his orders clear, Calibur was left in the solitude of his office. The weight of the situation pressed heavily on him, a silent reminder of the relentless chase for their rogue 'golden starlight'. Calibur pulled a sleek cigarette case from a drawer, selecting one and igniting it with a simple flick of a seemingly ordinary, but actually a magic-infused, lighter. He inhaled deeply, the smoke curling around him like another shadowy figure.

He activated a secure comm channel, the screen flickering to life with the stern faces of his special-ops team - a squad known for their brutal efficiency, and equipped with a combination of cutting-edge military tech and enchanted weaponry. They stood waiting in combat gear, magical symbols glowing faintly on their armor.

"Listen up, Echo Squad," Calibur began, his gruff voice laced with a commanding presence. "We're looking for a bird, a golden starlight. Slim and Squat are on her tail, but I want you ready to move in as soon as they locate her."

The screen filled with nods of understanding. The team was accustomed to dealing with unusual orders - the enchantments woven into their gear would protect them from most magical dangers.

"Stay alert and stay ready. That's all," Calibur concluded, extinguishing his cigarette and ending the call. Once more left to the silence of his office, he stared at the blank screen, steeling himself for the hunt that lay ahead. Seated back in his chair, Calibur looked at a young intern standing at attention on the other side of his desk. The young man was nervously shifting from one foot to another.

"You know, son," he began, leaning back and fixing the intern with a piercing gaze, "There's something to be said about power. People think it's all guns and grit, but they're wrong. Real power," he gestured towards the empty conference screen, "is outthinking your opponents, anticipating their moves. I'm on that Council because I can bring the fight to the enemy like no one else."

He took a long puff from his cigarette, his eyes lost in the smoke. "Aegis... I've clawed my way up there, and I'm not about to be the weak link. I've got ambitions too, you know. Those other industry heads, they think they're so smart. But they're forgetting one thing. The world needs security, order. And that," he pounded his chest, "is what I bring."

His eyes narrowed, and his voice dropped lower. "But it's frustrating when things don't go according to plan. When I can't just blast through problems. I might not be the smartest, but I've got instincts. They've gotten me this far. I have plans for Aegis. Big plans. And I'll be damned if some runaway bird will ruin them."

He finished his monologue with a heavy sigh, stubbing out his cigarette. Looking up at the wide-eyed intern, he seemed almost vulnerable. "Ah, that felt good. Getting it all off my chest, you know?"

Without warning, he swiftly drew his sidearm, a sleek gun with runes glowing on its surface, and without a flicker of emotion, shot the intern. As the young man crumpled to the ground, Calibur's stony expression returned.

"Always remember to eliminate potential leaks," he muttered to the lifeless body, putting away his gun and reaching for another cigarette.

[jcmarchi]

Evolution Wired Human Brains to Act Like Supercomputers - Technology Org

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/evolution-wired-human-brains-to-act-like-supercomputers-technology-org/

Evolution Wired Human Brains to Act Like Supercomputers - Technology Org

Now, scientists have a mathematical model that closely matches how the human brain processes visual information.

Scientists have confirmed that human brains are naturally wired to perform advanced calculations, much like a high-powered computer, to make sense of the world through a process known as Bayesian inference.

Brains – illustrative photo. Image credit: Pixabay (Free Pixabay license)

In a study published in the journal Nature Communications, researchers from the University of Sydney, University of Queensland and University of Cambridge developed a specific mathematical model that closely matches how human brains work when it comes to reading vision. The model contained everything needed to carry out Bayesian inference.

Bayesian inference is a statistical method that combines prior knowledge with new evidence to make intelligent guesswork. For example, if you know what a dog looks like and you see a furry animal with four legs, you might use your prior knowledge to guess it’s a dog.

This inherent capability enables people to interpret the environment with extraordinary precision and speed, unlike machines that can be bested by simple CAPTCHA security measures when prompted to identify fire hydrants in a panel of images.

The study’s senior investigator Dr Reuben Rideaux, from the University of Sydney’s School of Psychology, said: “Despite the conceptual appeal and explanatory power of the Bayesian approach, how the brain calculates probabilities is largely mysterious.”

“Our new study sheds light on this mystery. We discovered that the basic structure and connections within our brain’s visual system are set up in a way that allows it to perform Bayesian inference on the sensory data it receives.

“What makes this finding significant is the confirmation that our brains have an inherent design that allows this advanced form of processing, enabling us to interpret our surroundings more effectively.”

The study’s findings not only confirm existing theories about the brain’s use of Bayesian-like inference but open doors to new research and innovation, where the brain’s natural ability for Bayesian inference can be harnessed for practical applications that benefit society.

“Our research, while primarily focussed on visual perception, holds broader implications across the spectrum of neuroscience and psychology,” Dr Rideaux said.

“By understanding the fundamental mechanisms that the brain uses to process and interpret sensory data, we can pave the way for advancements in fields ranging from artificial intelligence, where mimicking such brain functions can revolutionise machine learning, to clinical neurology, potentially offering new strategies for therapeutic interventions in the future.”

The research team, led by Dr William Harrison, made the discovery by recording brain activity from volunteers while they passively viewed displays, engineered to elicit specific neural signals related to visual processing. They then devised mathematical models to compare a spectrum of competing hypotheses about how the human brain perceives vision.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-41027-w

Source: University of Sydney

You can offer your link to a page which is relevant to the topic of this post.

[multifamdomfan12]

Tom Holland Masterlist

Fic Recs

Imagines

tom holland posted a picture

 four times that tom’s friends posted a picture of you and the one time tom did.

No Body, No Crime

a few months after your breakup, you call Tom crying and needing his help

show you how it’s done

you and tom take a lie detector test with vanity fair

24hrs with y/n l/n ft tom holland

vogue has you do a twenty four hours interview which tom obviously crashes

You'll Save All Your Dirtiest Jokes For Me

you make a lot dirty jokes that leave Tom wondering how you really feel about him

Beauty Secrets

You´re doing vouge beauty secrets and Tom crashes it 

From Friends To This

Tom gives you an intimate compliment that makes you question just how platonic your friendship is

tessa’s new family

Tessa getting her pupps

Hubby

Tom makes even the simplest of days amazing

Unfazed Interruption

You and Tom have always had feelings for each other but never acted on them. The two of you share a moment and almost have your first kiss together when Harrison walks in, but that doesn’t stop Tom from getting the girl of his dreams.

Ex’s and Oh’s

Sebastian drops a bomb on Tom during a livestream

Kiss tiktok

You do the TikTok trend/prank, on the boys, were you ask if people want a kiss, but really you mean chocolate kiss

Waterproof

you meet a very cute, very hot guy when you join your friend in an spontaneous trip to a frat car wash event

Fathersday card

Dad!Mob!Tom

Romantic

You and Tom are secretly dating and go on The Late Late Show to discuss your new film and some suspicious photos.

Birthday wishes

it’s june 1st and tom and y/n are simply strangers, enjoying their skiing trips in the mountains. a series of mistakes leads to them riding the airlift together only to end up stuck up there for three long hours. they instantly connect, talk the entire ride, and share a secret or two

Better than Coast Guard

Based on Our last Summer by ABBA

Puppy Love

The first time you meet your new neighbour he nearly collapses on his kitchen floor. You take care of him and the two of you become friends quickly. When Tom finds a stray dog, he comes into the animal clinic you work at to have her checked out

Mackie

any chance he gets, Anthony teases you and Tom about your relationship

Snake Affairs

Slytherin!Tom Holland x Hufflepuff!Reader

Boys Have cooties

middle school teacher!tom holland x middle school teacher!reader

A Drunk Post

The aftermath of accidentally revealing your true identity … and the identity of your boyfriend.

Downey!Reader

The Morning After

no one knows you’re dating until the boys walk in on you and Tom after your first time

professor’s sweetheart

professor holland teaches british literature at your university. you hadn’t expected much when you signed up for the course, but the experience is everything and more than you could have hoped for.

No Fighting at Christmas

You and Tom get into a fight right before your family are due to come and stay for Christmas. But all is quickly resolved when your emotions finally topple over and lead you to make up

Sister!Reader ( holland!reader, osterfield!reader, styles!Reader, mackie!Reader)

Costumes!

You and Paddy having matching costumes for Halloween!

Holland!reader

Crush

Baby!holland or a young holland!reader having a crush on Harrison and he’s playing along with it, and Tom is jealous that his sister loves his best friend more than him

Holland!Reader

pulling the sheet over you and your lover as you're kissing in bed

Osterfield!Reader

The one where Tom finds out

Holland!Reader

The Gentlemen test

Holland!Reader

Ice cream

You interrupt tom during a zoom interview because you want ice cream

First time meeting

Styles!Reader

Suprises at the panel

Mackie!Reader

Back talking and secret boyfriends Part 2

Osterfield!Reader

Boyfriend

Holland!Reader

Series

The (Y/N) Lively-Reynolds Series

A series of little fics in various interview settings following the life of one (Y/N) Lively-Reynolds, YouTuber, actress and singer extraordinaire

Safety Net

After losing his wife, Tom is left to take care of his two small children while managing a company. Finding no other option he decided to hire a nanny for them and that's how he met Y/N who herself had lost her husband in an accident. It was as if the universe had planned on to bring these grieving souls together and give them a second chance to happiness

I Got You, Babe

a one night stand with a stranger results in an unexpected pregnancy

Blurbs

Ten years

Twitter Gossip

Call me pretty

Clingy frat!Tom

Sweet Spot

Kiss Her

Livesstream emabarrasment

That goes in you?

Going to School (dad!tom)

Married?Kids? (dad!tom)

Whatever you need

Biggest Fans

Painted Picture (dad!tom)

Small Boobs

Tattoos

Smut

(Mouth)Fucking Pushups

Red Light

Every night there are a variety of customers. But this night is different. As you’re doing your usual dance routine, you notice the hottest guy you’ve seen in a while, and he is looking back at you, his eyes are burning your skin way more than the blaring stage lights. Who is this man and why do you feel this way? It’s almost like you’re doing this dance for him and his eyes only.

Mob!Tom x Stripper!Reader

Spotlight

[mortanko-sims]

WEDDINGS AROUND THE WORLDS LOOKBOOK SERIES - EUROPEAN INSPIRED / COUNTRY WORLDS (Part 2/6)

In honor of a wedding pack coming up here is some inspo for looks you might want to recreate when packs come out!

These stories are told by the sims in these pictures and written by me, so depth and length depends on how much I was told. If you want to see other parts and hear more stories you can do it here.

Windednburg

Jae-in and Austin met while studying in Foxbury Institute and after few late night studying sessions in the library noticed that love for physics wasn't the only love they shared together. After graduating Jae-In decided to move to Austin's hometown instead of going back to Mt. Komorebi and start their life as a family there. They also just opened their coffee shop last month!

Jae-in

Hair by @qrqr19 Dress by @ridgeport Veil by @joliebean Shoes by @jius-sims Necklace by @aladdin-the-simmer Earrings by @christopher067

Austin

Hair from Outdoor Retreat GP Shirt by @plumbobteasociety Pants by @clumsyalienn Shoes by @jius-sims

Brindleton Bay

Harrison always loved volunteering for local shelters and veterinary clinics and did that since his teenage years. Animals were his biggest passion so after turning 18 he started to travel all over the worlds to save as many animals as he could and also do some lecturing in schools about how important it is to help those who can't always help for themselves. In his trips he gained so much experience, learned bunch of new things. He also brought back 2 cats, a dog and love of his life, Anastasia, who shares the same passion for animals.

Anastasia

Hair by @rustys-cc Dress by @sentate Necklace by @aladdin-the-simmer Earrings by @pralinesims

Harrison

Hair by @clumsyalienn Full outfit and socks by @ice-creamforbreakfast Shoes by @jius-sims

Henford - on - Bagley

Priscilla and Angelo became neighbours when her family moved to Henford - on - Bagley. Since he now was the only child in her neighbourhood that she knew, they quickly became friends and took care of Angelo's parents beloved llama Kuzco in their free time. When they grew up, Angelo moved to Britechester to study history but they still kept in touch through Simbook. Unfortunately, Angelo was forced to drop his studies and come back home after his father passed away and his mother needed help taking care of the farm. The only good thing is now he will be able to create his own history with his love Priscilla, who helps him run the farm and take care of his mother. Maybe Kuzco can be a ring bearer?

Pricilla

Hair by @aharris00britney Dress by @clumsyalienn Earrings by @ice-creamforbreakfast Shoes by @theslyd

Angelo

Hair by @saurusness Shirt by @solistair Pants by @trillyke Shoes by @jius-sims Earrings by @pralinesims

---

All rings by @murphy-sims

If you're interested in any male sims in the pictures, you can download them here

---

@maxismatchccworld @maxismatch4sims @maxismatch @mmoutfitters @sssvitlanz @troublefind

[sixtiesfangirl]

earlier this week i was tagged by @hofnerviolinbass & @stevielynnicks to answer these questions! thanks darling flowers!! ⚘⚘

today i felt like giving more elaborate answers, so it got a bit long! sorry & here it goes:

Nickname: môni

Gender: female

Star sign: libra sun, sag moon, aqua rising

Height: 171 cm

Time: 7:52 pm

Birthday: oct 16

Favorite bands/groups: the beatles, pink floyd, the who.

Favorite solo artists: paul mccartney, george harrison, jeff buckley, françoise hardy, john lennon, niall horan, sam smith

Song stuck in my head: darling be home soon by the lovin' spoonful

Last movie: seaspiracy (2021)

Last TV show: this is us (can i just say i loved the last episode? i adore nicky's storyline sm u guys...)

When did I created this blog: july 2012. i had another blog before but abandoned it... when i decided to get back on tumblr, i thought a fresh start would be better!

What do I post: classic rock and other music i enjoy, 60s stuff, photography & classic movies...

Last thing I googled: therapists in my city. since i ended up moving cities during this pandemic & can't do online therapy, i gotta find me a new one

Other blogs: @earlysixties, where all the colorful posts (and more multifandom gifsets) go to! my main blog ended up becoming mostly a b&w one and i'm digging it... so yeah! ~ tho i don't really talk much there. the rambling is basically exclusive to this one

Do I get asks: not that often! but sometimes i do get some lovely asks from some mutuals!

Following/followers: following: 348 ~ it should be a bit less but i just can't let go of the abandoned blogs of dear mutuals that left in like 2015 or smth! followers: 19k ~ idk how or why?? my blog is not really popular & it's been years since i actually posted some content! since most of them arrived around 2014 they're likely bots... there are tons of abandoned blogs as well so...

Average hours of sleep: 6h or 7h on weekdays, 9h+ on weekends

Lucky number: i don't have one!

Instruments: when i was 14 i used to play guitar but abandoned it. somehow i still know how to play many chords and could play simple tunes... so i know how to play it, but don't know yk???

What am I wearing: a vintage yellow polaroid tshirt, grey shorts & black socks with little hamburgers and fries in it

Dream job: i wonder that myself! idk what i'd like to do really & the story is: i graduated in psychology in 2018 & was halfway through a postgrad in clinical psychology (& already being certified to work as a therapist) when.... i finally realised that that's not what i want to do with my life 😂😭 so i was studying to get any job & earlier this month i got a job in my city's transit department (working with the driver's license documentation) to gather a bit of money in the meantime. so!! i still gotta figure out what to do next really! it's a mess

Dream trip: egypt & italy

Favorite food: hmm i'll say it's chocolate cake with coconut filling!

Favorite song: hello it's me by todd rundgren or orange skies by love. i can never go wrong with any of them!

Last book I read: i'm currently reading kitchen by banana yoshimoto ~ i'm really enjoying it, i'm basically underlining everything because it is that good!

Three fictional universes I’d like to live in:

1. it would be lovely to be a clay? figurine from pingu. maybe the seal or that bird that laughs at his face as he flies off after pingu saves him from the lobster (as you can see, i still have every episode engraved in brain)

2. the town from kiki's delivery service

3. there was a cartoon when i was a kid that was called "mike, lu and og", it would be nice to live in their island! i also really like the style of animation of it ~ tho sometimes it seems like it was a delusion of mine bc whenever i mention it to people they never seem to know what the hell i'm talking abt!

well that's it! thanks to whoever read it to the end! 😂

i won't be tagging anyone bc idk who has already answered this one, but hey, you can do this if you feel like regardless!

[justforbooks]

Marie Trintignant was born on 21 January 1962 She was a French actress.

Trintignant was born in Boulogne-Billancourt, the daughter of actor Jean-Louis Trintignant and his second wife, French film director, producer, and screenwriter Nadine Marquand. She first appeared on screen aged four in her mother's film My Love, My Love. When Marie's baby sister Pauline died when Marie was eight, she became withdrawn and virtually stopped speaking. Her parents divorced in 1976. Throughout her early life, she was afflicted by severe shyness, but by her mid-teens, she decided to become an actress. She had a strong affection for animals and considered becoming a veterinarian, but in the end pursued a career in acting.

Trintignant was the mother of four sons: Roman with drummer Richard Kolinka, Paul with actor François Cluzet, Léon with Mathias Othnin-Girard and Jules with her husband, director Samuel Benchetrit.

Marie Trintignant was severely injured in a beating on 26 July 2003 in Vilnius, Lithuania by her then-boyfriend Bertrand Cantat, lead singer with the French rock group Noir Désir. Cantat repeatedly punched Marie Trintignant in the head, leading to her death six days later in a clinic in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France by cerebral edema. She was 41. Cantat was convicted of murder ("murder with indirect intent" - dolus eventualis) and served four years in prison.

Awards

Though she never received France's most prestigious acting honor, the César Award, Trintignant was nominated for it five times for her roles in:

Comme elle respire - 1999 (best actress)

Le Cousin - 1998 (best supporting actress)

Le cri de la soie - 1997 (best actress)

Les Marmottes - 1994 (best supporting actress)

Une affaire de femmes - 1989 (best supporting actress)

Partial filmography

Mon Amour, Mon Amour (1967)

It Only Happens to Others (1971)

Défense de savoir (1973) - La petite fille Marie

Le voyage de noces (1976) - La jeune fille au marriage

Série noire (1979) - Mona

La terrazza (1980) - Isabella

Premier voyage (1980) - Marie Lambert

Un matin rouge (1982) - Marie

Les îles (1983) - Nathalie

Next Summer (1985) - Sidonie

Noyade interdite (1987) - Isabelle

La maison de Jeanne (1988) - Martine

Story of Women (1988) - Lulu / Lucie

Wings of Fame (1990) - Bianca

Nuit d'été en ville [fr] (1990) - Emilie / Woman

Alberto Express (1990) - Clara

Les Amants du Pont-Neuf (1991) - (voice)

Contre l'oubli (1991) - Herself (segment "Pour José Ramón Garciá Gómez, Mexique")

Betty (1992) - Betty Etamble

L'instinct de l'ange (1993) - La jeune veuve

Cible émouvante [fr] (1993) - Renée Dandrieux

Les marmottes (1993) - Lucie

Hoffman's honger (1993) - Irena Nova

Fugueuses (1995) - Marina

Les apprentis (1995) - Lorette

Des nouvelles du bon Dieu (1996) - Evangile

Le cri de la soie (1996) - Marie Benjamin

Ponette (1996) - La mère

Portraits chinois (1996) - Nina

Les démons de Jésus (1997) - Levrette

Le cousin (1997) - Juge Lambert

White Lies (1998) - Jeanne

Deep in the Woods (2000) - La mère

Harrison's Flowers (2000) - Cathy

Le prince du Pacifique (2000) - Moeata

Una lunga lunga lunga notte d'amore (2001) - Irene

Petites Misères (2002) - Nicole

Total Kheops (2002) - Lole

Corto Maltese, la cour secrète des arcanes (2002) - La Duchesse Marina Seminova (voice)

Corto Maltese - Sous le signe du capricorne (2002) - Bouche Dorée

Les Marins perdus (2003) - Mariette

Janis et John (2003) - Brigitte Sterni

Ce qu'ils imaginent (2004) - Juliette

Colette, une femme libre (2004, TV mini-series, also writer) - Colette (final appearance)

She also appeared in the film noir Série noire of 1979. Not long before her death she sang a duet in the song "Pièce montée des grands jours" on an album with the same title by French folksinger Thomas Fersen in 2003.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

[theinnerworkingsofoc]

Introduction: Alexandria Blossom

Name: Alexandria Rose Blossom

FC: Nora O’Neil

Fic Title: When the Blossom Leaf Blows

Nickname(s): Andie, Alex, Andria, dear sister, Blossom

Sexuality: Pansexual

Pronouns: she/her

Career: Owner of Blossom Maple and Co-Owner of Bailey and Blossom Veterinary Clinic

Birthday: August 18

Height: 5’10

Hair color: Pale Blonde

Eye color: Blue

Place of Birth: Riverdale, NY

Hobbies: photography, dance, surfing, do it yourself, reading, and thrifting

Likes: history, animals, Pennsylvania, action movies, her VW van, and her friends

Dislikes: Thornhill, her family, Cheryl flaunting her wealth, Cheryl’s mockery of the Serpents

Favorite Bands: Jessie J, Bon Jovi, Abba, Marina and the Diamonds

Physical Quirks/Scars: constantly fidgeting.

Family: Benjamin Blossom † (ancestor), Barnabas B. Blossom † (great-great-great-grandfather), Unnamed Paternal Great-Grandfather †, Unnamed Paternal Great-Granduncle †, Harrison (great-uncle), Cricket (aunt), Bedford † (uncle), Rose Blossom (paternal grandmother), Clifford Blossom † (uncle/father), Claudius Blossom † (uncle), Penelope Blossom (mother), Jason Blossom † (younger triplet brother), Cheryl Blossom (youngest triplet sister), Hal Cooper † (2nd cousin, 1× removed), Alice Cooper (2nd cousin-in-law, 1× removed), Polly Cooper (3rd cousin), Betty Cooper (3rd cousin), Dagwood Blossom-Cooper (nephew), Juniper Blossom-Cooper (niece)

Honorary family: Benjamin Bailey, Miranda Bailey, Niko Samuel Bailey

Friends: Betty Cooper, Colt Hunter Young, Fangs Fogarty, Jughead Jones, Julius Anthony King, Lilianna Reese King, Sweet Pea, Toni Topaz, Winnie Sydney Campbell

Love interest: Jughead Jones maybe Niko Bailey

Optimistic or pessimistic

Introvert or Extrovert

Occupation: dance teacher, part time volunteer at animal shelter

Extracurriculars: photographer for the Blue and Gold

Favorite Animal: Red Panda

Favorite color: Cherry Blossom Tree Pink

Favorite book: Tuck Everlasting

Favorite food: Pizza

Favorite movie/ tv show: (m) The Lord of The Rings Trilogy. (TV) Law and Order: SVU

Background: The decision to leave Pennsylvania when Cheryl called about the disappearance was an easy decision.

Returning to Riverdale at first was a shock to see that nothing had changed in the nine years since Andie left and once she got into her routine she realized Riverdale is a much darker place than it looks with secrets and lies at ever turn.

Taglist: @reggiemantleholdmyhand-tle @thecaptainsgingersnap

[whispersafterdusk]

Lost in Time - ch 13

With the amount of blueprints, lists, material invoices, books, and samples sitting on his desk Xu felt just a bit buried and overwhelmed, but in a good way -- not only had Portia and Atara agreed to pledge funds for an expansion of the clinic but Walnut Groove, Tallsky, Lucien, Meidi, and Ethea had also decided to assist.  What was going to be a single additional room had turned into two new floors with six rooms apiece to be added on to the side of the building along with a basement for Stewart's needed power and server storage.  It was going to be an ambitious project and take a bit of time but inwardly he almost felt like he was vibrating with excitement.

And what timing too; his old master in Seesai had sent HIM a student.  He hadn't seen his master in almost six years now but he could almost picture the old man jumping in excitement over the news of the facility and Stewart (his handwriting definitely portrayed his excitement well - Xu had only ever seen it this messy when he'd written about his granddaughter's wedding) and Xu himself was feeling quite flattered that his teacher had trusted him with the task of teaching. ((Continued below cut))

Of course, Xu would be learning right alongside his student but that didn't matter too much; there was still a lot Xu could teach even if Stewart and the facility hadn't been found.

He was trying to clear off his desk when the clinic door opened and in walked Eli; he caught a glimpse of darkness behind her - it seemed their appointment time was here...he'd lost all track of time and now he was unprepared.  Drat.

"Good evening, Eli.  I'll just need a moment to clear off a corner."

Eli skimmed his desk and gave him a small smile.  "Don't tell me you're changing careers to architect?"

Xu chuckled as he stacked some of the books up on the floor near his feet.  "Not at all - I have some exciting news to share, actually." With the books mostly out of the way it was easy to stack up the rest and he managed to get half the desk cleared as she came over and settled on her usual stool; there was a small notebook with a blue cover in her hand - it was good to see she'd brought it today.  "Would you like something to drink?"

"No thank you.  So what's all the clutter for?"

"Well!" he said as he dropped onto his own seat.  "What I had intended to be just one additional room for the clinic has turned into a much bigger project -- Portia, Atara, Lucien, Walnut Groove, Tallsky, Meidi, AND Ethea have all pledged to send funds to turn it into a basement as well as two additional floors - to match the height of what's already here, of course.  It seems Portia may become a center for medical knowledge here in the upcoming years!"

Eli's expression changed to one of surprise before shifting into a grin.  "That's good news, doc.  Didn't think you'd all move so quickly on those measurements I got you."

"I didn't either but once Gale had them in hand he immediately got on the telegraph to send out word.  I imagine next we'll be figuring out arrangements for other doctors to come and study under Stewart -- and, speaking of that, my master in Seesai actually has already sent a student to me.  He's at the Round Table getting dinner but I can't wait to introduce you two."

"Wow, lucky timing for this student."

"Isn't it?" Xu laughed.  "I thought that myself.  Oh, and uh - when you meet him, know that he and I already have laughed over -- well, you'll see. I don't want to spoil it."

She gave him a questioning look but he just smiled - it was such a funny happenstance, really.

"How long will it take to complete?" she asked instead.

"I'm not sure - that part is still being figured out, as well as which contracts are going to which builders."

Eli nodded, shifting so she could rest an ankle over her opposite knee; the notebook shifted along with the movement and was now balanced across her thigh.  "Well, no rush.  Stewart's server banks are UNDER his docking station, and that access door is sealed up tight.  No clue how or when we're getting in there..."

"Can he not open the door?"

Eli huffed out a sigh.  "Yes, and no.  TECHNICALLY yes, he could.  But apparently not only is that the floor where his server banks are but that area down there was connected to the secret project his programming is preventing him from telling us about. Because we aren't authorized to know about it he can't open the door for us, BUT, he did say he could turn a blind eye to any attempts to get inside due to enacting his Emergency Protocol programming.  His logic, which is apparently good enough for his code, is if I survived all this time there might be more survivors down below, and he's not allowed to willfully allow someone to come to harm inside his facility.  I'm...rather uncomfortable with even the remote chance that we'd find someone else down there but since Stewart isn't in any rush I think that's a good indicator that the chance, while not zero, is so small that we're not likely to find anything surprising lurking below."

Xu frowned as he searched across his desk for his clipboard and pen.  "That sounds like a lot of needless extra effort and stress.  I thought All Source AIs and living AIs were allowed some free will?"

"A human has free will but we all still tend to obey laws."

"Ah."  That was a good point.  He finally found his clipboard and pen, and then retrieved Eli's file from a desk drawer.  "So...how have you been feeling lately?"

She leaned forward to hold out the notebook.   "Mostly ok.  It's still hard to see the buildings around here.  I tried journaling like you suggested but I mostly ended up scribbling things.   It's not as easy as it sounds to put thought to paper when you'd rather not be thinking at all."

Xu took the journal from her and thumbed through the first couple of pages - there were a couple of dated entries but as she'd said there were a lot of sketches in here; there were skyscrapers, some boats, something that was a cross between a plane and a truck, squat buildings, some mountainous areas...  "These are nice. Were you an artist in school?"

"Not really.  I can do buildings and landscapes but don't ask me to try drawing a person or animal.  I struggle with plants a lot too."

Xu smiled and kept looking through.  "I see a lot of precise things where scale matters, and not as many things where it doesn't. Would you say you enjoy neat and orderly aspects of life?"

"That's one way to put it, I guess."

Xu opened his mouth to continue but the clinic's door opened and in came Phyllis in a rush.  She had a paper in her hand and she waved it at him as she hurried across the floor.

"It's done!  I did it!"

"That's fantastic!" he replied, standing and almost being bowled over as Phyllis collided with him in a hug.  "When will it be available for you to move in?"

"Two months from now," Phyllis answered.  She pulled away and was grinning ear to ear.

"...congratulations?" came Eli's somewhat confused response.  

Laughing, Xu turned toward her.  "Phyllis has been trying to get the owner of a building in South Block to sell for months now.  It seems they finally accepted her recent offer so now she'll have a clinic of her own to run here soon."

"Oh - definitely congratulations then," Eli said, nodding to her.  "You can never have too many doctors."

"I can't wait," Phyllis laughed - a sound somewhere between elated and relieved.  

Xu hadn't seen her so excited or happy in quite a while and it was infectious; he too was grinning as he sat back down.  "After such exciting news in such a short period of time I hope we can focus properly."

"No worries, doctor," Eli chuckled.  "Some days even just talking about the weather is a welcome interaction."

"Has there been any new troubles for you?  You're still settling in well?"

"As well as I can be."

Phyllis folded up the paper and slid it into the pocket of her skirt and then, as she tended to do when she sat in on therapy sessions, quietly took a seat on a stool that was off to the side near one of the cabinets; the movement drew Xu's attention so when the clinic door opened yet again he didn't notice it until he saw Phyllis's head turn slightly to face that way.

Framed in the doorway, looking uncertain as to whether he should venture further inside, was his new student; the young man was named Harrison.  His hair was a muddy brown that he kept clipped close to the skin and his eyes were a very dark shade of brown - they almost looked black.  He stood at the same height as Xu but was just a tad bit thicker in the stomach area, and was wearing a short sleeved button up white shirt under an open black vest, black pants, and somewhat threadbare canvas shoes.

Xu gestured for him to come in.  "Ah, there you are - Eli, I'd like you to meet Harrison."

The Dubei woman rotated around on the stool, looking Harrison up and down.  "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise. I was briefly told about you and have been looking forward to meeting you all day."

At Eli's confused look Xu began to laugh quietly.  She looked between the two and he managed to swallow down the laughter.  "See?  I told you we'd already laughed over it."

"That's not an act?  He just...sounds exactly like you?"

Harrison flushed bright red to his ears.  "I don't think it's EXACT, and it's not an act.  I personally think it's a bit embarrassing but neither of us can help what we sound like."

Eli scratched just above an ear, blowing out a short huff.  "All right then... I guess so long as I can see who's talking it ought to be fine."  After a pause she smiled.   "Maybe just add your name after every sentence."

Xu chuckled and again gestured for Harrison to come in from the doorway.  "We'll figure something out.  I wonder if my master even noticed anything."

"I don't think he did," Harrison said.  Finally the man came in to stand at the corner of the desk.  "At least, he never mentioned it.  And I'm pretty sure he wasn't...I don't know, senile or anything.  He seemed as sharp as ever."  He paused, then gave Eli an awkward smile.  "Said me, Harrison, and not Dr. Xu."

They all laughed at that, and once he'd gotten his breath back Xu looked to Eli.  "Before we begin I'd like to ask - do you mind if Harrison sits in on your sessions, Eli?  It's completely up to you and whatever you find comfortable."

She considered that for a moment, then nodded.  "He can stay.  Might as well start him off right with a heaping dose of trauma.  If he can handle me he should be able to handle anything."

Xu nodded and leaned back in his chair.  "All right.  At any point if you want privacy I'm sure neither Phyllis nor Harrison would mind leaving the room."  He looked to the two to confirm and got a pair of nods; Harrison went to sit on the floor in front of the cabinet beside Phyllis (Xu made a note to go buy at least one more stool for the clinic in the morning).  

Then he looked back to Eli, and gave her a gentle nod.  "When you're ready."

Eli was silent for a moment, then brushed the loose hair on top of her head to the left.  "Well.  Recently I've had an indirect problem with Lee."

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

"Looks like Old Bob is back in town."

It was early morning and Isaac was currently winning his fifth game of Cross Five; Eli looked up from the game board and spied a familiar looking duster coat-clad man wandering up the path.  "His name is Bob?"

"He says it is," Isaac answered.  He paused and placed his next piece before continuing. "A retired teacher from Vega 5, if he's to be believed.  Got tired of where he was and began to wander around.  He drifts into Portia every spring and autumn - harmless fellow but hard to talk to."

"What'd he teach?"  As Eli watched him the man slowed to a stop, slipped a hand into a pocket of his coat, then turned around and hurried off in the direction he'd come from.

"He's never said.  He mumbles a lot - has his better moments, some days more than others.  Those days when he's lucid he could talk your ear off."

Eli nodded and placed her next piece - she'd managed to line up four pieces eighteen times in this one game but it seemed entirely too easy for Isaac to block her from a win.  "I ran into - well, passed him - the other day.  Seemed friendly enough."

Four turns later and Isaac had again maneuvered his pieces so that he had two open ways of winning and Eli could only block one of them.  She huffed and reached out to start sweeping her black pieces off the board and into the appropriate leather pouch that held them.  "Never was all that great at board games.  If we were playing card games our roles would probably be reversed."

Isaac laughed.  "Need to learn how to strategize better, young one.  Not likely time to squeeze in another game before school starts but if you ever want to hear more of Portia's and the world's history feel free to come by for another game or two."

"I definitely will be - thank you, Isaac."

She handed him the leather pouch of game pieces and stood, moving in the direction of the schoolhouse.

So the man's name was Old Bob and he was also from Vega 5... Merlin hailed from there too and had urged her, several times, to go visit the city someday soon; it was certainly something she had put on her incredibly long To Do list, if only because Merlin had mentioned that a lot of living AIs were still functional out there.  Portia's only living - er, living living - AI was Ack and the robot was in need of repair...it baffled her that he hadn't tried to travel to Vega 5 to seek replacement parts since all AIs had self preservation coded into them as a standard.  He was missing an original leg, was dinged up, rusted in places and scratched all to hell, and he had chunks of his outer metal shell missing on the top and back of his head -- she could tell that at some point someone had tried building him a replacement leg but the servos whined on cold or rainy days, and it didn't look like there'd been any attempt to fix the holes in his head beyond him adopting a metal pot as a hat.  If Vega 5 had a large population of living AIs Eli was pretty certain there was a good chance they could clean, repair, and polish up Ack if he'd just go.

Maybe she could take the robot with her when she went...if someone was going with him it might convince him the trip was needed.  She'd bring it up if she ever seriously considered traveling; as it stood she could probably fix him up herself - it just wouldn't be all that pretty.  At the very least she should try to get those holes in his head fixed...she could only imagine how much rust might be INSIDE him at this point with such a large area where moisture could get in.

Soon enough the schoolhouse was in front of her and her train of thought regarding robot repairs was carefully set aside for later; the door was unlocked and Eli was greeted with the sight of a thin, dark haired woman sitting at the desk inside the door. She seemed a bit surprised to see Eli but stood to greet her as she walked in.

"Good morning," Eli said.  "I won't keep you long - I wanted to ask if you had any history or wildlife books you wouldn't mind letting me borrow."

The woman (Eli was pretty sure her name was Lucy - she'd only ever talked to the woman twice before) nodded to her, clasping her hands in front of her stomach and glancing toward what Eli assumed was the classroom.  "We have a few I'm not currently using during our lessons but they're fairly...elementary.  Simple, I mean.   Meant for younger children.  I can order more advanced ones from Vega 5 or Atara, if you don't mind waiting.  We'll be needing them in the upcoming years anyway."

"I wouldn't say no to any book, simple or not.  I'm not looking to cause any trouble or extra effort though."

Lucy shook her head.  "No, it's no problem at all.  There's a bookshelf just inside the door there, and it's certainly no extra trouble to order books ahead of time.  It may take several weeks though."

"No worries - it's not like I'm going anywhere," Eli replied.  

Lucy smiled faintly at that and sat back down; Eli hurried in to the bookshelf and skimmed the titles, picking up two books - one was a history book, one was a children's "survival guide" style book with cartoony, colorful pictures of plants and animals.  The information in it was written in very simple terms but it would serve as a decent starting point until she could get her hands on something more thorough.  She gave Lucy a wave as she headed out the door with the books tucked under an arm; as she was heading up the street to return to Selene's she spied Adam jogging down the hill, and once he spotted her his path altered so he was running right at her.

"What's up?"

"We've got tracks," was the man's reply.  "We didn't 'ear anything last night but there's footprints right outside the back of the tent - they go out to the east toward the river."

Eli frowned.  "Great - another unwelcome visitor."

"Right.  And with just me and Asher we can't split to go have a look.  Arlo's waiting for you out at the camp.  I'm going to find Sam and send her out too."

"I'll drop these off at home and head straight out," Eli said, waggling the books at him.

Adam nodded and quickly moved away, disappearing into town in search of Sam; Eli continued on but sped up to a jog and left the books sitting on her bedside table before heading out to the facility.  As Adam had said Arlo was standing outside the tent with Asher and he waved at her as she came into view.

"What do we have, gentlemen?" she asked as she finally reached them.

Asher jerked his head toward the tent.  "A tie came loose overnight - let in a pretty good draft.  When I got up this morning and went to fix it I found some footprints.  Can't exactly go traipsing off without some back up."

Eli nodded and headed around to the tent's backside; the tent was a big one and it was clear it was designed to be somewhat modular -- she could see where a middle section could be swapped out and the tent made shorter.  The section was attached with heavy zippers on either end that had extra flaps of canvas that could be tied down over said zippers to keep the wind from blowing straight through.

And, as he'd said, there was a mess of footprints.  The grass back here was a thick, tangled, fibrous mess - it was enough to keep the person from sinking too deeply into the mud beneath it (and thus avoid any noisy, wet, sucking sounds as they pulled their feet free) but while the grass had mostly sprung back from being trod on the grass blades were still visibly stained with mud, and it was plain to see how the tracks paced up and down the entire length of the back of the tent.  Had someone tried getting inside?

"And neither of you heard anything?" she called out.

"Nope," came Asher's reply from the front.  "Adam's sure he didn't hear a thing, and since he was out in front he didn't feel the draft.  Heck, I didn't feel the draft until I woke up and was getting ready to cook and swap out with him.  Came around and..."  

As he was talking he'd circled around and was standing at the western edge of the tent; rather than speak further he simply gestured at the tracks and Eli bent down to stick her hand next to a somewhat clear one to get a rough measurement -- the footprint was rather petite so that was likely another reason why this person hadn't sunk into the mud too much even if you took the grass cover into consideration.

"Right...I'll head out and see where these lead."  She straightened and looked back to Asher; Arlo was standing with him now too.  "You two going to stay put until Adam and Sam get here?"

"I'll come with you," Arlo replied.  "Sam can catch up."

She nodded and started to trek to the east; there was an easily followed trail heading away from the tent that skirted along the bottom of the bluffs - someone had obviously been focusing on approaching in a way that would make them especially hard to spot, but luckily for her and Arlo their muddied tracks were still plain and clear in the daylight.  

"Isn't this where Mali and Maddie were checking the last time we had someone out here?" Eli asked.

"I believe so.  They said they followed the land all the way out to the river - at that time there wasn't any sign that someone had climbed down."

"And when we found the man on the cliffs there wasn't any sign that there'd been a second person," she said after a pause.  "If we're going to keep getting snoops from the north I might have to see if I can work up some trail cameras..."

"Some what?"

"Trail cameras.  Recording devices you charge up, hide somewhere, and leave running to get candid pictures of wildlife, usually.  They're triggered by motion only, to conserve battery life.  Though I doubt I could manage anything that could transmit to a computer somewhere...will probably have to rig up a separate hard drive to store things on.  BUT, point being, if we can get enough of those up in this area we could probably catch a glimpse of our little spies sneaking around up here.  What's to the north?"

"Sandrock is to the immediate north.  From what I've been hearing the town's fallen on some hard times and a lot of people have left to go seek their fortunes elsewhere so it's probably easy to go around the town without being seen.  I'll see if Gale can send discrete word to the Mayor there and ask about any influxes of people going through the town that seem out of place.  We've been seeing a lot of tourists lately because we've completed some roads over the last couple of years so we might not get any definitive answers though."

"It's a good enough place to start.  What's further north than that?"

"Atara is to Sandrock's northwest, Lucien is to Atara's northwest, and Duvos is to Lucien's northwest.  Highwind and Barnarock are to the northeast, and Ethea is almost directly north of Sandrock."

"And from what Isaac was telling me this morning about the Free Cities and historical politics I doubt we're getting spies from anywhere except Duvos," Eli said quietly.  "Ask Gale if he can check in with Lucien and Atara, and...Highwind.  Wait, no - Ethea.  Or really, any place that's connected to any other place with established transportation.  I hope it's not just Duvos that spies on everyone else?"

Arlo shrugged.  "I've no idea.  I'd certainly hope we've got eyes inside Duvos after our last war with them."

They trudged on in silence for a time; Eli was keeping a careful watch on the bluffs moreso than on the tracks they were trailing -- so far she'd not seen any sign of where a person may have been climbing around, and the cliffs were too tall for her to believe that someone could have just jumped from there (plus, even if they HAD jumped, they'd still need to get back up to wherever their camp may be).

There was no sign beyond the tracks until they finally walked all the way out to the waterfall.

"And there's where our visitor came from," Arlo growled.

The bluffs were still just as tall but there was a narrow shelf that was closer to the ground that extended out to the east and gradually widened right where the waterfall roared over the rocks.  Pounded into the cliffside were iron...they looked like iron rods with a wide eye on the end, through which a rope was threaded.  Hanging on either end of the line of rods were lengths of knotted rope to help someone scale up the rock face, and then the rope stretched across and under where the waterfall flowed to connect the two ends. The river that the waterfall fed into below them was a good fifty feet down; the steeply sloping rock that made up the sides of this ravine was surprisingly smooth and considering how much water was pouring into its narrow riverbed Eli suspected the current below would be dangerously strong.

"Pretty risky...a tumble from here would probably drown you, assuming you didn't break your skull against the cliffs on the way down," Eli muttered, letting her gaze trace over the rope and then trail down into the river - from up here she couldn't see anything in the river but that didn't mean there weren't rocks waiting beneath the surface either.  "Not to mention how uncomfortable it'd be to get soaking wet - it's still pretty chilly."

"It's a long walk to go around to a safer place to cross," Arlo said.  "And there's a lot of places out that way where someone could hole up and hide."

She stepped back from the edge of the ravine and eyed the rope-and-rod crossing.  "I could easily sabotage that without anyone able to tell until they were using it but I'd rather not murder our spy...I want to catch and have a little chat with them."

"Should we just cut it down and take the rods with us?"

Eli considered that for a moment; it would clue in the spy that someone had definitely found their crossing point but unless they were dealing with a champion of cluelessness there's no way that this person couldn't have known that they'd leave tracks behind.  Taking it down now would force them to use another way or to rebuild this spot...but even then there was a lot of territory out here to keep an eye on and not enough eyes to go around.

"Let's leave it for now.  I think our best course of action would be to get some trail cameras made -- I can get the cameras and drives out of the computers in the dorm area, and then I'm sure Selene could whip up a case to hold all the pieces."

"Did all computers have cameras in them?"

"Yep," Eli answered.  She headed back the way they'd come and heard Arlo following along.  "How else would you call someone?"

"Why would you need a camera to call someone?"

"So you could see who you're talking to.  Pretty simple to fake someone's voice with the right tech - it's a bit harder to fake someone's face across a video call since those programs were easily detected.  Not impossible, but harder."

Arlo was quiet for a few steps.  "-and I guess it was nicer to see the person you were talking to as well."

"Yep."

They walked back to the Pig's camp in silence then; Adam and Sam were nowhere to be seen but Asher said they'd arrived and then left not too long after she and Arlo had headed off but that they had chosen to climb up the cliffs and check things out up there.

"Beginning to think we need some backup..." Asher mused after they'd filled him in on the iron rods and rope guard rail.  "We always worried that there were still Duvos agents listening in to our telegraphs... Mali got jumped once because of that," he added, looking to Eli.  "Word must've made it back to the empire pretty quick about this place.  Got a couple people out here spying, noticed that Mali and the others left, and now they're getting bolder."

"With the locking car door it shouldn't be too much of a problem," Eli said after a pause.  "There's no way they could break or cut their way in without being noticed.  My concern would be just HOW bold they get if they think there's only one of you guys out there."

Asher nodded, rubbing a finger over the scar across his nose.  "I already know what it feels like to be considered an easy target, believe me."

"Why would they be so interested to get into a medical facility though?" Arlo asked.  "That's not the sort of tech they tend to try and seize."

"Maybe they don't believe it's a medical facility and need to figure it out themselves?" Asher offered, shrugging.  "Or maybe they just want to junk it all for parts. I can't begin to imagine how those people think."  He looked between the tent and the elevator car.  "Mali said she'd come back once the prisoner was delivered, convicted, and she got Greg and Maddie home.  If we can catch her before her trip back here we can ask for a couple more hands -- but also if we don't even just having her here too would be a help."

Eli eyed the tent, then nodded to herself. "I can move out here for a bit."

"What, really?  You don't have to," Asher said after a pause.  "Adam and I've got this for now, no problem."

Arlo sighed, crossing his arms.  "Maybe you do but only for people trying to get inside - you can't split up to follow anyone.  It might be best if Eli, and maybe myself as well, come out here to help until Mali gets back."

"You sure?" Asher asked again.  "It's rough living - we don't mind it but you two-"

"Let's head into town, talk to Gale, and discuss what we'll need to bring back out with us," Eli interrupted, looking to Arlo.  

"Agreed.  We'll be back in a bit," Arlo said with a nod to Asher.  Asher sighed and threw up his hands in a sign of defeat and sat back down on a short stump of wood that was serving as a seat beside the firepit.

They had just reached the edge of the tree farm when Eli spied a figure moving toward them through the trees; she ducked around one and circled further to the west and spied Old Bob wandering toward them.  The man had his head down and was tiptoeing through the grass - clearly trying to avoid the worst of the mud.  She moved to join back up with Arlo, nodding her head toward the drifter.

"Kind of far out from town, aren't you?" she called toward him.

Bob's head jerked up and he stared around wildly until he finally caught sight of them; he visibly relaxed and offered them a half smile as they came within roughly fifteen feet of each other.  "Yeah.  Don't like towns after being cooped up in 'em.  Seen the walls out there?  Open sky.  Like being closer to the stars."

"No stars out yet - you're a bit early," she replied.

"I know.  Takes awhile to get there.  Takes time.  Taking my time, yeah?"

"Be on the lookout, Bob," Arlo said then.  "We think a thief is hiding out in the marsh somewhere."

Bob flared his nostrils at them and came to a stomping halt.  "Thieves.  Bah.  Nothing valuable on me.  Bad business still."

"If you see anyone somewhere they shouldn't be let the Civil Corps know, all right?"

The man nodded his head vigorously.  "Wouldn't know who belongs where but I'll try."

They kept walking; Eli turned around to walk backwards and watch Bob's meandering path as he headed toward the rear of the farm where she knew there were some ruins and a old stone wall that was mostly intact, if a bit segmented.

"Does that guy usually get the run of the town?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, does he just go wherever and no one stops him?"

Arlo nodded.  "More or less.  Of course, he doesn't trespass somewhere he shouldn't go.  He sticks to the public areas, or wanders around in the fields -- I see him fishing a lot and scavenging on the beach for shells but he never hangs around for very long.  And he's never tried to steal anything or hurt anyone."

"And he's been doing this for years?"

Arlo nodded again; Eli turned around and walked facing forward once she'd lost sight of the man among the trees.  Knowing they had another unwanted visitor had her suddenly suspicious of the old man but it didn't take a genius to see how the man's large booted feet were much bigger than the size of the prints up near the tent.  Rather than dwell on it she tried making a mental list of things she wanted to tote out to the camp; clothing and food supplies were easy enough but she wondered if Selene would mind if she borrowed a toolbox to keep onsite out there -- usually the builder carried it back and forth but it didn't seem logical for the woman to only have one set of tools.  

"Meet you at the city hall," she said once they'd gotten down the road to Portia's gates.  As Arlo headed up the hill toward the Civil Corps building Eli headed toward Selene's workshop; the lights were on and there was a steady plume of steam coming out of the exhaust pipe on the roof.  

Oh.  Along with asking to borrow tools she should also mention she'd eventually need some steel cases for some cobbled together trail cameras.

The roar of machines going full steam greeted her as she pushed the door to the workshop open.  Selene was up to her elbows in the guts of a...well, Eli had no idea what that particular machine was but it was disconnected from the rest of the system in here and was in five dozen pieces across the floor.

"You uh...need a hand?"

"Nope!  Just have to take the whole dang thing apart to replace a single cog..." came the irritated answer.  "Did you need something?"

"A couple somethings but it can wait."

"I'll just be a few minutes more...want to get this thing out before I stop."

"Sure."

Eli shut the door behind her and leaned against the door frame, watching and listening as Selene grunted and griped and finally twisted something loose with an "AHA!" that Eli could just barely hear over the noise of the rest of the machinery running.  She fiddled around with a few more metal pieces then chucked the aforementioned cog carelessly over a shoulder; Eli watched it as it hit the ground and bounced off into a corner, chuckling to herself.

"Ok!  What'd you need?" Selene asked as she extricated herself from the machine's inner bits.  She had oil smears from fingertips to halfway up to her elbow, and Eli could spy a scrape that was thankfully above the oil line but was oozing a bit of blood.

"-you want a second to clean yourself off and get that taken care of?" Eli asked after a moment.

Selene glanced down at the cut - by her expression Eli guessed the woman hadn't even noticed it until it had been pointed out.  "Hrm...stupid thing.  I knew I shouldn't have tried to increase the belt efficiency at the cost of making that one part that much harder to reach.  Oh well!   What were you needing?"

There was a sink (Selene called it the "slop sink" ) in the corner next to the control panels for the machinery; it was partially walled off to prevent any chances of water splashing onto anything it shouldn't.  Selene beelined for it and started scrubbing the oil and grime off with a soap that looked like sand and smelled like lemons.

"I was wondering if I could borrow some tools to keep on hand out at the facility.  I'll be staying out there at the Pig's camp for a couple days and figured I'd keep myself busy putting together a couple of projects -- and said projects will also need some containers to fit into."

"Oooh."  Selene's voice echoed oddly in the sink area.  "What're you making?"

"They're called trail cameras.  You basically have a camera, battery, and hard drive in a box hidden out in the wilds with a motion trigger.  It'll record for a set amount of time then turn itself back off.  Pretty sure I can put together a couple."

"Neat," Selene replied.  A few minutes later and she turned around, hands bright red from scrubbing but with all traces of the oil gone.  "Take your pick of what's on the shelves there and if there's something I know I'll be needing immediately I'll let you know."

Eli nodded and moved over to the nearly floor-to-ceiling shelves that took up the lion's share of the northern wall; she'd need some cutters, screwdrivers, maybe a hammer or rubber mallet, a couple wrenches... She began to pick out tools and then jumped a bit when Selene appeared at her elbow.

"Give me the dimensions you'll need and I can work up the outer casings, no problem," the builder said.  The woman reached passed Eli to grab an especially heavy metal clamp before moving back over to sit it on top of the disassembled machine.  "What's so important about trail cameras that you need to stay out there to make them?" she called over a shoulder.

"Just didn't want to have to walk back and forth a ton," Eli answered.  It wasn't technically a lie but it wasn't the full truth; until she and Arlo talked to Gale she wasn't certain she should be sharing any details of new Duvos spies being found in the area.  Once she had an armload of things she thought she'd need she carried it over to Selene to let her inspect it all.

"I...think we're good," Selene said after a moment to take inventory of everything Eli was holding.  "I don't have any spare boxes to let you borrow but I've got some sturdy bags, if that's ok?"

"Works for me.  I'll get you the plans for the camera cases once I've seen how it all needs to fit together."

"Sounds good.  Let's go get the bags."

Selene led the way out of the workshop and toward the house with Eli following in her wake.  That had been a lot quicker than she'd expected - she was probably going to beat Arlo to city hall at this rate.

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

The plan was a simple one: Arlo and Eli would stay awake overnight, sitting at the back of the tent.  The zipper had been undone but the upper ties left secured to hide that fact; it would take just one clean swipe with a sharp blade to sever the ties and allow them to come rushing out the back of the tent at any hint of someone snooping around.  Asher and Adam continued their shifts as usual, and during the day Arlo and Eli were careful to remain out of sight as much as possible (which was easy considering most of the day they were sleeping anyhow). Tonight was the third night; it wasn't THE most boring vigil Arlo had ever taken but it was definitely dull to be sitting in the silence, in the dark, listening for anything out of the ordinary.  

Eli at least had something to do; she was sketching out (in PEN and the flickering light of the campfire, no less) some sort of diagram for a case for those trail cameras she'd been working on in those few hours of the day where being silent wasn't required.  The crate of parts she had to work with was sitting at the foot of her cot -- under Stewart's guidance Selene, Petra, and Merlin had cordoned off a section of a dorm floor and had taken apart personal computers there along with some gadgets out of the ceilings and walls.  Arlo had a passing interest in Old World tech but didn't know much about it; to him it seemed like an awful lot of parts for what Eli had said would be a "few" cameras.  Watching her work was fascinating but it didn't take an Old World expert to see how she had at least twenty of some of those parts - twenty was not something he would refer to as "a few" and thus far she hadn't tossed anything out as unserviceable either.

Maybe it was just overkill for the sake of not having to go back down and take more things apart... Eli had stated she wanted to leave as much of that facility intact as possible in the hopes they could, in the future, utilize it as it had once been (sort of) -- he supposed the less they fiddled with things, the fewer chances something would break.

He moved his attention away from Eli and Old World musings and stretched his legs out; sitting still for hours at a time wasn't something he was used to (or especially liked) and with him and Eli keeping a low profile out here they'd postponed their usual morning training sessions.  There was a small concern that whoever was spying would notice the sudden change if they'd been watching the city too but there wasn't much that could be done about it; he wished something could be done for how restless he felt.

Well...he shouldn't be dwelling on THAT particular part of it.  A couple days - maybe a week - without a morning run wouldn't kill him.  

With a silent sigh Arlo leaned back and braced his hands against the floor behind him; the ground under the tent was lined with a thick, rubber-coated canvas and it squeaked quietly as he shifted and the flashlight in his back pocket rubbed against it.  The tiny noise drew Eli's attention and he mouthed 'sorry' at her -- she nodded and went back to her sketching.  

As he'd already done dozens of times tonight he closed his eyes and went through a mental tally of the "normal" noises: the sound of Eli's sketching (barely noticeable), the pop of the campfire out in front, the slight creaking of rope as the wind caused the tent to shift from time to time, the whistle of that same wind across the opening in the top of the tent that would let the smoke of any fires filter out (Asher said during winter the campfire had been INSIDE the tent for better warmth but it wasn't needed now).   There was the sound of the grass against Asher's boots whenever the man got up and paced around; if he turned his head slightly to the right Arlo could hear the soft sounds of Adam breathing as he slept.

Everything seemed both too quiet and also too loud.  It was honestly starting to drive him a bit crazy.

But then there was a...noise.  Hardly more than a whisper of something against something else.  It was so quiet Arlo couldn't identify what had caused it but it was different enough against the backdrop of sounds he'd grown so accustomed to over these last few nights that it stuck out as clearly as someone clapping their hands to get his attention.

Arlo opened his eyes and looked to Eli; she had her head tilted back, eyes toward the roof of the tent. He turned his head a bare fraction of an inch to his left and closed his eyes again -- there it was again.   Something rasping against something.  Grass on...on something.  He still couldn't tell what it was.

Again he opened his eyes and glanced over to Eli; she was moving, ever so slowly, to put her notepad and pen down.  The only thing moving were her hands - her head was still angled toward the roof.  In the campfire's dim light Arlo noted her eyes flicking over to him; when the notepad was safely deposited on the floor she used her hands to lift her backside off the floor and then gingerly turned herself over so that she was on her hands and the balls of her feet.  Arlo imitated the movement - there was no squeaking from the flashlight he had in his pocket this time.

Eli silently raised a hand and pointed a finger at him, two fingers toward her eyes, and then those same fingers at the unzipped section of the tent.

With a careful gesture he indicated the knife that was sitting within reach of both of them; she nodded to him, then pointed to herself, then to the front entrance of the tent, and then made a circle motion with her hand.

He understood all that as she wanted him to take the knife and watch the gap in the tent, and she was going to...circle around from the outside, he assumed.  

Very, very carefully he stood and crossed the few feet between where he'd been sitting and the back "wall" of the tent; the rasping noise was slightly louder now and he felt it was coming from a point somewhere below his head -- that made sense, if this were footsteps he was hearing.  He stopped a hair's breadth away from the canvas and waited, hardly daring to breathe but holding the knife at the ready; there was a tiny gap between the zippered ends of the canvas but it was so narrow he couldn't see a thing through it...but he was certain that if someone was out there and tried to mess with the ties again that he would see the fabric move and know that it was time to strike.

A very quick check showed that Eli was creeping out of the tent; he returned his attention to the zippered canvas and waited.

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

Asher had seen her out of the corner of his eye; he looked surprised for a moment, then immediately concerned but to his credit he didn't say a word nor did he get up from where he was sitting on the stump beside the fire.

Eli gestured to him - he needed to stand up (QUIETLY), and go around the tent on the western side.  He seemed to get the gist of it, much like Arlo had, from her silent hand movements.  That was good. If they circled around at the same speed, even if they were heard coming, they'd catch whoever was back there between them.  She was really hoping it wasn't a wild animal.

Thankfully around the front of the tent the grass had been trampled beyond recovery; it was too wet and too broken to make any noise as she moved across the tent's front side but once she reached the eastern corner she knew she'd be making noise as she moved.

It couldn't be helped, but it could be mitigated if she moved slowly enough.

Even at a snail's pace it didn't take long to get to the back corner of the tent; she was still out of sight, and still hadn't seen or heard any indication that whatever was behind here knew she was there.

She took a deep breath, counted to three in her head, then jumped out around the corner.

And...what--

She could see through to the other end of the tent but there was a-

Oh hell.  

As Asher came around his corner there was a vaguely human-shaped area back here that was like trying to peer through a window smeared with petroleum jelly -- indistinct, blurry, almost impossible to see the outline of in the dark.

Eli rushed forward for the middle-most area of the blurry blob; whatever it was ducked her swung fist and for a brief instant disappeared against the backdrop of the landscape now that it wasn't directly between her and Asher.  

"What in the world-"

Eli ignored Asher and hurried forward with her arms outstretched toward where she THOUGHT the cloaked figure had moved; something struck her arm hard and knocked it away, and the blur moved closer to the tent in response. In the same instant the back segment of the tent flew open and Arlo stepped out and the blur struck out at him.  It clipped his ear and shoulder and instinctively he swung the knife -- to Eli's surprise it connected solidly.

So solidly in fact that it was yanked out of Arlo's hand and now she could see the handle of the blade seemingly floating in midair in the midst of the smear-shaped person; he'd stabbed their spy in the shoulder - upper arm, at least, judging by the height.  Eli aimed a flurry of punches in the general direction of the knife's handle and the blur retreated rapidly and right into Asher who got his arms around part of them but then immediately took what Eli assumed was the back of the person's head to his nose and his grip loosened enough that the figure slipped out.  

The handle went blurry for a moment and then was moving down and to the side - the cloaked figure had yanked it free and was now wielding it -- or, was, as almost as quickly as they'd pulled it free they launched it at Asher.  Thankfully it hit him hilt-first but it was still a solid blow; Eli heard the sound of metal hitting what could only be teeth followed by Asher's grunt of pain, and the figure didn't pause before landing a solid (and nearly impossible to see coming) fist into Arlo's sternum.

As the figure then turned and rushed her Eli swung again; her knuckles grated against something plastic-feeling, ribbed and with tiny beading, and it was confirmation enough to determine that this person had somehow got their hands on an Active Camouflage Environmental Support Suit - or as they were sometimes called an "Access Suit."  It was a jumpsuit covered in sensors, wires, and tiny projectors that could render someone more or less invisible to the naked eye and also contained a small generator that scrambled camera feeds to make them harder to spot there too.  How the hell had one of these survived 300 years?

It clearly wasn't fully functioning since Eli could see the human-shaped blur but even then...just...how in the hell?

'It can't be an original.  There's just no way,' was repeating over and over in her mind as she was bowled over by the figure.

As she hit the ground and rolled she reached to the small of her back; Selene had fashioned her two holsters for that revolver she'd taken off the first spy.  One was a thigh holster that she planned to wear when warmer weather hit, and the other went at the small of her back which allowed her to hide the gun under her jacket.  She really, really didn't want to take a pot shot at this spy -- she didn't want to have to shoot anyone at all since this world lacked the medical equipment needed to assure a high survival rate.

The problem in this immediate moment though was if Duvos had the plans for those things and equipped their soldiers with them it would be disastrous for the rest of the continent, but if this spy was a one-off and she took care of this right here, right now...

She drew and aimed for what she thought was the center of mass and then fired off all three rounds in the gun.  For a moment she swore she saw the blur stagger but then it was too far out into the darkness to be visible.

They were gone.

Behind her Arlo was checking on Asher, and there was the brief sound of pounding feet as Adam care tearing around the edge of the tent barefoot and without his coat on.

"What the 'ell happened?!"

"We had a visitor," Eli sighed.  "It's not good news."

Arlo helped Asher stand up, steadying him as he swayed; Asher tilted his head forward -- blood was pouring out of his mouth and nose both.  He fumbled for a handkerchief and once he'd gotten it half out of his pocket Arlo snagged it and held it to the man's face.

"What even was that?" Arlo asked.  "It was like trying to see the wind."

"That was an Access Suit.  And it's not a good thing if Duvos has their hands on one and figures out how to make them."

Asher moved his head to the side to spit around the handkerchief - there was something small and white in it.  "Great.  So now our spies are invisible."

"Not ENTIRELY invisible.  Which is the only silver lining here -- if you can see the person in the Access Suit it means its not working correctly.  We shouldn't be able to see ANYTHING but we could see enough to sort of tell where they were."  She flipped the cylinder out on the revolver and collected the casings - they could be reused and ammo was about to become a commodity - then slotted in three more bullets and clicked it closed again before returning it to the holster at her back.  "Which also means the trail cameras are going to be useless because those suits are designed to mess with cameras too."

Adam looked at her, confused.  "Invisible suits?  Screwing with cameras?"

"Wouldn't tampering with a camera alert someone to your being there, though?" Arlo asked.  He was still holding Asher steady; the blonde finally lifted his head to look ahead at Eli and flashed Arlo a thumbs up as he took over holding the handkerchief to his face.

"It does, but you still can't physically see the person in the suit and looking through a camera feed just gives you a general idea of where they are."

"So, sort of what we just saw but weren't supposed to see," Asher said.  His voice was muffled and distorted - like a small child holding their nose to speak funny.  He also had a slight whistle to his speech now and Eli assumed he'd either broken a tooth or had it knocked out of him entirely.  "Just something blurry without much of a shape."

"Shouldn't we be chasing this spy?" Adam interrupted then.  "They're getting away!"

Eli shook her head.  "No point to chasing something we can't see."  She turned to Asher and Arlo.  "Head into town and get yourselves looked at by Dr. Xu.  I can hold the fort down with Adam - I can't guarantee the spy won't come back tonight though.  We know about their little secret now but they're still pretty hard to spot."

"I don't think I need Xu," Asher replied.  "Just a bloody nose and chipped tooth."

"Does the tooth hurt?"

"No more than my nose does."

Eli let out a long sigh, turning to look after where the spy had run.   "Well.  Even still - whether you chipped down to the nerves or not it'll probably have to come out."

There was a quiet groan from behind her.  "Damn it...gonna have to go all the way to Seesai to get a fake one, too."

As she turned around she saw Adam rolling his eyes at Asher. "You can get 'em in Ethea you uppity bucket head."

"Yeah but they aren't as real looking as the teeth that woman in Seesai makes, and they discolor a lot quicker than hers too.  I don't want a random yellow tooth front and center in my mouth."

"Boys," Eli interrupted, smiling a bit.  "Worry about your vanity later and get cleaned up."

The three headed around the western side of the tent; she heard a faint "at least this time you had your pants on" from Asher (probably - hopefully - aimed at Adam).  Before she left she went and picked up the dropped knife -- it was a 6-inch long blade that folded into a heavy metal handle that was inlaid with wood pieces.  She stuck it into her waistband and glanced out toward the marsh.

That spy, if they were smart, would lay low for a few days - especially if they had a stab wound to tend to.

Actually.

"Hey guys - I'm going to go talk to Xu," she called out as she rounded the corner of the tent.

Inside Adam was helping Arlo clean Asher's face up; they had poured a bottle of water into a bowl and were alternating between a wet cloth and a drier one as they dabbed off blood and assessed the damage to Asher's lips, nose, and teeth.  When she poked her head through the flap only Adam looked up to her.

"What for?"

"Arlo managed to stab the bastard.  If Xu has anyone coming in with a stab wound on their upper extremities anywhere..."

Now the man gave her a grin.  "Then that'd be our bastard."

"Exactly.  I'll be back in a bit."

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

It was early morning; he wasn't used to being up this early yet - his master tended to spend the morning hours catching up on correspondences over a cup of hot tea so Harrison would get to sleep in until it was time for his lessons.  Xu didn't respond to any letters that Harrison had seen yet, nor did he drink (or even like) tea, but he definitely shared the master's habit of getting up bright and early to get tasks done.  It wasn't a habit Harrison had picked up from either of the two and it wasn't one he WANTED to pick up either but it didn't seem like he'd get a choice regarding it.

The last couple of days Xu had opened the clinic to let Harrison inside, then had let him mind the place for an hour or so while Xu went on a morning walk to pick fresh herbs; the next couple of hours afterward were spent learning the different ways of preparing the herbs into different remedies.   Harrison's master (who was also Xu's master - so, their master?) had taught him a lot about teas, tinctures, salves, and other similar things but had mostly focused on the sorts of materials one would find in Seesai.  Xu knew all about that and then some -- Portia had a surprising amount of wild-growing herbs all around the city and Harrison loved learning the name, the feel, and the smell of each new one.

Xu had seemed a bit distracted this morning when he'd let Harrison inside; there was a new pile of paperwork on the doctor's desk regarding the clinic expansion -- he hoped nothing had fallen through on those plans. Xu was so excited and so was he; the thought of studying medicine under a real living AI...it was more than he could have imagined.

A little bit scary too.  Would the Church get mad at him?  Surely they wouldn't begrudge knowledge that cured the sick and helped the injured.

His thoughts were interrupted when the clinic door opened; he actually jumped a bit at the sound -- who would be here this early?  Xu had barely been gone ten minutes.

It was a slender, petite woman.  She had damp black hair pulled up into a bun on the top of her head, big blue eyes, pale skin, and had a thick scarf on along with a jacket that she was only wearing on the right side of her with the left half of the jacket flapping free.

Her left lower arm was swaddled in a pale blue towel that had a slowly spreading bloodstain on it.

"Oh, dear - you're bleeding.  Come in."

The woman nodded and scurried over to the desk; Harrison instead waved her over toward the hospital bed area where a rolling metal table sat then he quickly washed his hands before heading over himself.  He carefully guided her arm over the table and began to peel the towel back.

"Good morning.  I was on the beach and fell onto some driftwood and it uh...stuck."

Harrison gingerly pulled the towel free and winced when he revealed the stick of driftwood that had pierced cleanly through the outer edge of her arm.   The ends had some scrape marks and had been clearly broken off on each end; it had probably been a much longer piece and she'd broken it down to size to get the towel around it.  It was about as thick as his pinky finger and at first glance it looked to be just through the upper layers of fat and skin - it didn't seem deep enough to have knicked an artery or damaged muscle.  "Can you move your fingers?"

She wiggled her fingers but it was clear it hurt to do so; he nodded and hurried over to a cabinet.  

"That's good - let me get a few things to numb that so I can remove the stick."  

"Ok.  I'll be glad for some numbing - it hurts."

He came back with an armload of bottles and rolls of gauze, and the little leather-bound kit that held Xu's surgical tools.  The woman was surprisingly calm as he set to injecting an anesthetic but a few moments later it was clear it was kicking in as she visibly relaxed; she wriggled a bit to let the jacket fall off her and into the floor.

Now he set to opening up the things he'd need and cutting a few lengths of gauze to have immediately at hand for when he got that branch free; with everything ready he paused to take a final, careful, close up look at what he was about to tackle.

As he'd already noticed the stick was about the width of his pinky; it seemed incredibly bad luck that the branch had penetrated rather than just snapped as it didn't seem all that strong.  Without the ends of the stick he couldn't really tell which direction the stick had penetrated from - the best he could guess was it entered from the back of the arm and come out the top and the branch was a little lose inside its "hole" on the top of her arm - a bigger exit wound than entry.

Very carefully he tested how easily it could move; to his surprise it seemed very willing to slide out of place and soon he had the little eight inch long piece of wood in hand.

"Wow, that was easy."

He offered the woman a reassuring smile.  "It sure was - you're lucky.  Now to clean it up."

The edges of what he thought was the entry point of the injury were pretty neat and had an obvious ring of dirt around it.  The bleeding had mostly stopped, which was a good sign; he pulled out a tiny penlight from Xu's surgical kit and had a quick look around the inner part of the entry wound and didn't see any immediate debris that might be stuck in there -- no splinters or anything like that.  When he checked the bigger top hole though he could see dark slivers of polished-looking wood.

Clicking off the penlight he swapped it for a pair of tweezers and began plucking the splinters free.  Once he'd gotten all that he could see he sanitized the edges of the wound (though he couldn't quite get all the dirt off from the entry point - maybe that was the start of bruising instead) and flushed saline through the entire puncture to clean out any dirt or sand that he couldn't see.

"All right...now-"

At that moment the clinic door opened; Harrison paused mid-sentence and looked up to see Dr. Xu framed in the doorway with a bundle of something leafy and green in one hand.  At the sight of them Xu let the plants drop to the floor and hurried over.

"What happened?"

"She says she fell," Harrison answered.

The woman looked between them with clear confusion on her face.  "Am I hearing double?"

"No, sorry," Xu replied.  "We just sound alike. Funny coincidence."

The doctor came over and, to Harrison's surprise, didn't immediately take over from him; in fact he seemed more interested in gauging what Harrison had done thus far.

"Well at least you're not twins," the woman laughed.

Harrison managed a smile at that but went on with finishing cleaning out the wound.  "As I was about to say, I can't stitch this up because there's a risk that if there's anything in there that the saline didn't get out it'll cause an infection.  What you'll need to do is keep this clean, change the bandages several times a day - especially if they get wet, sweaty, or dirty - and let whatever drains out of there drain out.  If it starts bleeding again or gets infected come right back and we'll see what else needs to be done."

As he talked to looked over to Xu; the man was nodding approvingly at him, and Harrison felt a small surge of pride before he turned his attention back to the woman.

"Ok.  Can I buy some things for pain and also some bandages?"

"Of course," Xu answered before Harrison could.  He left Harrison to finish up with the injury and went over to begin gathering what the woman would need.

She looked between them again and then leaned in toward Harrison.  "So are you two...related, or something?"

Harrison shook his head and began to slather on an antibiotic cream.  "Nope.  He's my teacher."

"Oh.  Wild.  Are you both from here?"

"I'm from Lucien," Harrison replied.  "I'm not sure about the doctor."

The woman grinned at him.  "I'm from Lucien too.  Small world."

Harrison paused to smile at her, then began to wind the bandage around her arm. "Way smaller than it used to be, that's for sure."

Xu came over then with a cloth bag; the woman visibly winced when Xu put a hand on her right shoulder and he was quick to yank it back.

"I'm sorry - I didn't mean to hurt you."

"It's ok.  I think I uh, sprained my shoulder when I fell.  I tried to catch myself but managed to flip myself over and really waggle this thing around when I did."  She pointed at the length of wood taken out of her arm.  "I probably made it a lot worse."

"It's really not that bad.  I'm actually surprised."  Harrison tied off the bandage and straightened, blowing out a sigh.  "You got really lucky.  It was a really clean wound."

"I guess so."  The woman turned to Xu and eyed the bag.  "How much is that."

"This should last you four or five days and it's 460 gols."

The woman held her good hand out for the bag then seemed to think better of it and began to dig in her pockets instead.  "That's a lot less than I was expecting.  I'll take it."

Harrison started cleaning up as Xu handled the money and final instructions for the wound care.  When the woman had gone Xu then retrieved the bundle of herbs and came over to sit them on his desk.

"Quite a morning, it seems."

Harrison nodded as he swept the soiled gauze into the trash can and began to clean up blood spots.  The section of driftwood was still on the table; he picked it up and turned it over in his hands, then found it easily snapped in two between his fingers.  "What rotten luck to have fallen in just the right way to get this through your arm."

He threw it away on top of the gauze and went to wash his hands.

[honeyedblossom]

meet caroline dworsky // welcome to serotoninhq.

                                        the basics //

full name : caroline dworsky  nickname : caro birthdate & zodiac : 6 june1984 / gemini  gender & pronouns : cis woman / she & her  sexual orientation: what’s in a label?  romantic orientation: in which we call a label? cause caro sure as heck doesn’t know. occupation : wildlife biologist, currently working freelance and looking for a temp place.  ethnicity: ashkenazi jewish ( white )  hometown/birth place : chicago, illinois  family : veronica dworsky ( mother, deceased ), harrison dworsky ( father ), jake dworsy ( older brother ), wesley dworsky ( younger brother )  declan woulfe ( father of daughter, ex ), leia woulfe ( daughter ) 

TRIGGERS MENTIONED: pregnancy / c-section, alcoholism / drinking, death, neglect, addiction. 

                                  physical appearance & characteristics //

face claim: kat dennings  eye color: blue hair color: dark brown glasses/contacts?: none dominant hand: left  height: 5′3″ / 1.61m  build: curvaceous  tattoos: a butterfly tattoo on her ankle & a tattoo reminiscent of lamby that is just above where they cut for her c-section piercings: ears are pierced, and she likely tried out a tongue piercing at some point, as well as potentially others... marks/scars: caro has many scars, most faded, but they’re certainly there. one of which is from her c-section but that’s mostly faded. 

                                    personality traits //

positive: free-spirited, open-minded & exuberant negative: selfish, pushy & coarse alignment: chaotic neutral 

                                      deeper dive //

headcanons :

LOVE - though caro does still love him, deep down, there will always be apart of her that doesn’t understand love. aside from a couple people in her life, she truthfully hasn’t experienced much and when declan came into her life, initially, she was terrified as to how close and deeply she felt, still feels for him. for so long, aside from wesley, caro felt as though she was viewed as nothing more than an object to lovers. if you can even call them that. 

ASPIRATIONS - it’s a dream caro has always wanted, but it’s felt unattainable, and it still does but she dreams of opening a rehabilitation type farm/clinic for animals, specifically aimed towards wildlife. she realizes it’s a big dream, but she hopes, that with all the money she’s managed to hide / earn over the years, eventually she’ll be able to start working towards making that happen. maybe someone will or can inspire her to set up a go fund me of sorts? who knows.

DRINKING & PARTYING - was very much a big part of her young life, and though she was better, it has since worsened again, as it’s one of her coping mechanisms when life gets too hard. it’s definitely a struggle. growing up, she loved being labelled the life of the party, but as she nears forty, she realizes it’s not quite the same.

RUNNING - now, caro has sort of always had a bad habit of running away from her problems, it’s kind of what led her down the road of the lifestyle she knew in her younger years. sure, her father was neglectful, had his own addiction problems and didn’t care much for his children after the death of their mother, but he still had a roof over their head. still, she refused to let that be her....yet, here she is falling into his habits in her own terrible way by running away from not only wesley ( at first ), again, but declan and leia as well. 

favorites :

food - mexican cuisine. 

drink - anything that burns going down.

movie - the lion king 

song - the a team - ed sheeran 

color - lavender 

                                      bio coming soon //

[jlieu-2]

Literature Review

                    Religious Beliefs and Refusal of Medical Treatment

In the medical field treatment is always centered around the patient. This means that the medical staff have to create a care plan that is convenient for the patient. This includes adhering to the patient’s wishes, which can also include refusing medical treatment due to religious reasons. There are many religious groups who refuse certain medical interventions even though these treatments can save their lives. This is a very common and delicate issue that many healthcare professionals have to deal with. Which brings about several questions: who are these religious groups and which medical treatments do they refuse, are there exceptions or alternatives for treatments for these religious groups that refuse, and what are the legal and ethical problems that follow with refusing medical treatment?

          Who Are These Religious Groups And Which Medical Treatments Do                                                           They Refuse

Christian Scientists

In general Christian Scientists believe that Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist, had “...developed the ability to heal herself and others physically through prayer and her [metaphysical] interpretation of the Bible…” (Steckler) A study done by the Journal of Scientific Study of Religion defines that healing through metaphysical methods is more of a spiritual type of healing rather than physically healing the body. This study also found that Christian Scientists will use three strategies when they are trying to treat an illness. First they will try to seek guidance from God, which is a readily available source for answers for these people. It is also a good place for these people to turn to when they are lost and do not know what to do. If they are unable to obtain an answer from then it is normally viewed as a “... personal error rather than the will of God or a flaw in Christian Science treatment.” Meaning that the problem lies with the individual and not with God nor the teachings of Christian Science. When this happens Christian Scientists start to assess  their metaphysical capabilities to see if they can heal wounds, including physical ones such as broken bones. However, if an individual's metaphysical capabilities are not strong enough then they will not be able to heal certain wounds. Furthermore, physical injuries are more difficult to heal, so in order to treat these their metaphysical capabilities need to be really strong. If their capabilities are not strong enough Christian Scientists fall back to their last strategy for treatment, which is to consider professional medical intervention.

Jehovah’s Witnesses

The other religious group is the Jehovah’s Witnesses who only refuse blood transfusions. This refusal is based on certain passages in the Bible. Basically “The prohibition of transfusions is based on the premise that transfusions are similar to eating blood; the rules for handling animal blood are also applicable to human blood” (Ringes) This reasoning essentially ties into why the Jehovah’s Witnesses reject  foods that contain blood. As previously stated this group only refuses blood transfusions, meaning that they will not refuse other procedures unless they involve a transfusion. An example of this is an invasive surgery where several packs of blood are needed to make sure the patient does not bleed out during the procedure. Unfortunately, due to this belief there were many Jehovah’s Witnesses that have passed away. For example, there was a case in Ringe’s article where a “...twenty-two-year-old Jehovah’s Witness (JW) Emma Gough, from Britain, died after giving birth to twins in 2007…” because she refused to accept blood transfusions after suffering from a sudden hemorrhage.

Exceptions and Alternative Treatment

Fortunately due to religions being more open-minded as well as advancements in medical treatments there are ways for religious groups, such as the Christian Scientists and the Jehovah’s Witnesses, to get the medical attention they need. As explained previously the third strategy to seek treatment for the Christian Scientists involves them pursuing conventional medical treatment. It is explained that “... many adherents indicated that they have, or would be willing to, pursue conventional medical treatment in situations where metaphysical healing methods are impractical or have not been successful.” (Boyer)  However, it is really up to the individual if they want to pursue this third option. Fortunately, any Christian Scientist that decides to use medical science is not considered as a rejection of the religion. Instead it is “...perceived as a departure from Christian Science as a healing modality…” (Boyer)

For the Jehovah’s Witnesses there are alternative treatments that  will aid with their medical conditions that do not involve the use of blood transfusions. It is explained that “The medical community has often offered JWs alternatives to blood transfusion, such as bloodless surgery and transplantations... and blood substitutes.” (Ringes) Unfortunately, alternatives such  as these are not always available in clinical situations, which can very likely end up in the worse case scenario of an early death. (expand on article more)

Legal and Ethical Issues With Refusing Treatment

The most troublesome problems that are involved with refusing treatment are the legal and ethical issues. The most common ones are the incidents when the parents refuse treatment for their child, which can be considered religious based medical neglect and child abuse. For example, there was a case that involved a two year old boy, Harrison Johnson, getting stung 432 times by wasps. However, instead of taking their child immediately to the hospital, Harrsion’s parents decided to abide by their Christian Science doctrine and “...requested that fellow church members and neighborhood children pray for Harrison.” (Boyer) After seven hours of their child suffering Harrsion’s parents decided to call 911, but when the E.M.T arrived Harrsion was found dead. (expand more and cite another article for another case)

These legal cases are not just limited to children and patients. There are healthcare professionals that refuse to give their patients certain medications due to religious beliefs. For example, there was a pharmacist in Michigan who refused to give a female patient her medications for her miscarrange due to his Catholic beliefs.

                                           Works Cited

Boyer, Mitsy. “Death by Religious Exemption: Parents Refusing Their Child Necessary Medical Treatment Based upon Their Own Religious Beliefs - Should States Endorse a System That Denies Necessary Medical Treatment to Children.” Whittier Journal of Child and Family Advocacy, vol. 4, no. 1, 2004, pp. 147–162. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=sso&db=edshol&AN=edshol.hein.journals.wjcfad4.23&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Caron, Christina. “Michigan Pharmacist Refused to Dispense Miscarriage Medication, Citing Religious Beliefs.” The New York Times, 19 Oct. 2018. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=sso&db=edsgac&AN=edsgac.A558791903&site=eds-live&scope=site. 

Effa-Heap G. “Blood Transfusion: Implications of Treating a Jehovah’s Witness Patient.” British Journal of Nursing, vol. 18, no. 3, Feb. 2009, pp. 174–177. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=sso&db=ccm&AN=105455279&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Steckler, Rebecca A., and John P. Bartkowski. “‘God Is My First Aid Kit’: The Negotiation of Health and Illness among Christian Scientists.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, vol. 57, no. 3, Sept. 2018, pp. 585–603. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/jssr.12533.

Ringnes, Hege Kristin, and Harald Hegstad. “Refusal of Medical Blood Transfusions Among Jehovah’s Witnesses: Emotion Regulation of the Dissonance of Saving and Sacrificing Life.” Journal of Religion and Health, vol. 55, no. 5, Oct. 2016, pp. 1672–1687. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1007/s10943-016-0236-5.

“Why Don’t Jehovah’s Witnesses Accept Blood Transfusions?” JW.ORG, www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesses/faq/jehovahs-witnesses-why-no-blood-transfusions/.

[bluesakura007]

Undeniable - Chapter 1: Zin’s Dilemma - Khan Noonien Singh x OC

Summary: During the court trial of Khan after the events of Into Darkness, Enterprise security chief Zinalya begins to develop a realisation relating to him, causing her to come up against a hefty dilemma.  

"By the power vested in the body by the constitution of the United Federation of Planets, we call this trial to order."

It was a week after the USS Enterprise crew’s ordeal against the man previously known as John Harrison; a week after he had revealed his real name to be Khan Singh, successfully exacted his revenge upon Admiral Alexander Marcus for the suffering he’d been through because of the latter and been pursued through the city of San Francisco by a then-enraged Spock. 

Soft, cold white morning light gently shone through the tall glass windows around the room and into the court where the senior officers of this aforementioned ship were gathered, sitting in the seating stands at the back with dozens of other people in attendance while currently wearing their dress uniforms.

"Guards, bring forth the defendant."

In stepped the man of the moment himself from the doors at the very back of the courtroom, his forearms shackled together by a pair of metallic manacles and being accompanied on all sides by a group of security guards, clutching their rifles fiercely.

"The defendant will remain restrained and under guard for the duration of the trial." Said the judge. Khan was now the centre of everyone’s attention behind him, especially the Enterprise group, and even more especially captain Kirk, commander Spock, Dr. Marcus and lieutenant-commander Zinalya Hamilton, the ship’s security chief who was a half-and-half hybrid between a human and a Trill. 

She had long, dark burgundy hair stretching down behind her shoulders, hazel-green eyes and, due to this half Trill lineage, some of this race’s spots on either side of her body, from the top of her forehead down to her neck; in addition, her human parent was from Manitoba, making Zinalya herself a Canadian on this half. "Please state your full name for the record."

"My name is Khan Noonien Singh." He replied, as always in his baritone voice which felt to those around him as if it was reverberating through the floor itself. Some of these others sitting behind him in the audience felt themselves subconsciously shiver at the sound of it.

The Enterprise officers who had been around Khan the most during the previous week spent the following minutes of the trial, after his charges had been covered and discussed, being called on to give testimony as witnesses. Three of these included Spock, Carol and Jim, and then came Zinalya’s turn. "And you were the main officer in charge of overseeing and guarding the defendant, Miss Hamilton?"

"Yes, your honour." She nodded her head. "As the ship’s chief of security I kept watch over him myself some of the time and also arranged where and when he’d be guarded by the other security officers onboard."

"It says here in your report which you submitted to Starfleet command that you spent the two days during his detainment on the Enterprise visiting and conversing with him. Is this true?"

"It is, yes." Ignoring the slight but rising nervousness in the back of her throat, she answered the query truthfully while turning her head to the left to briefly look at the Augment, who was gazing back without any clear outward emotion but with recognition towards her after this time they'd spent talking, him in his clinically white brig cell and her on the other side of the glass. "I was talking to him about his motivations and reasons for his charges." 

She knew that she hadn't committed any actual crimes, but she knew that any indication of her getting friendly with Khan would be dangerous to her career and to some of her friendships amongst the other senior officers. Her social standing was one of the things she valued, and friendships could sometimes be a fragile thing indeed.

"Did he tell you anything that he revealed to Mr. Kirk and Mr. Spock later on?"

"Only that he was genetically engineered and that he’d come from very far away, but nothing that was any more specific than that." She subconsciously felt another growing lump in her throat at the memory of when he later revealed his true identity to Spock and their captain; when he told them about what Admiral Marcus had done to incur his wrath and started crying, right there and then. Zinalya would have been downright lying if she said that the sight of the tear on his cheek when he turned back around and the desperation in his voice at that time didn’t tug at her own heartstrings, even if it was just a little bit. "He was very brief during those moments when I was talking to him alone."

"So he didn’t make any clear indication to you individually that he had come from three centuries ago or indicate what he was planning on doing?

"No your honour." If she was being honest with herself, she actually felt like most of what Khan did after his prison cell revelation consisted of on-the-spot decisions: she wasn’t present to see it taking place, but from the way she understood it, he only attacked Kirk, Scotty and Carol on the bridge of the Vengeance after the former ordered Khan to be stunned, making himself, too, come across as untrustworthy in the latter’s eyes, and the following incident where he fought against Spock in the city was him taking out his rage and anguish due to being led to believe that his crew had all died when the seventy-two torpedoes were detonated, so she also couldn’t help but feel like Khan had been through quite the emotional rollercoaster.

"Very well then. Thank you lieutenant-commander, that will be all." The judge concluded his series of questions directed at her, to which she gave a nod and, after giving another brief look at the man with the smooth black hair and snakelike pale turquoise eyes, walked back towards where she’d been sitting, which was in between Scotty and Chekov, her two closest friends. "Dr. Leonard Herman McCoy, step forward please."

As this chief medical officer stood up and made his own way down through the seating area towards the witness stand, Scotty smiled jokingly at Zinalya and Pavel, who were on his left. "I didn’t know his middle name was Herman - obviously something we can conveniently tease the laddie about later." He whispered to them with a chuckle, to which they both nodded and the latter smiled. 

The female one of the trio, however, tried to smile along with them and join in but found it to be difficult, because her head was full of various thoughts and ponderings relating to the defendant to the point where it was now taking up a large majority of her consciousness itself. He briefly craned his head around and looked around the room, like a cornered animal surveying its surroundings, before his eyes came to rest on her.

"Zinalya?" Pavel’s voice caught her attention to her own left hand side, seeming to notice her expression of deep thought. "Are you alright?"

"What? Oh, yeah, yeah I'm okay, I was just miles away for a second there." She answered, temporarily bringing herself back to what was going on around her at that second as opposed to all the hypotheticals and questions racing through her mind. Khan had now turned his head back into the forward-facing position, occasionally looking at Bones as the latter gave his own testimony.

Generally subdued rock music played as the ambience of the club that Zinalya was sitting in later that evening. She had a glass of Scotch whisky gripped absentmindedly in her right hand, both of which currently resting on the bar whilst her other hand held her head, which was somewhat tilted to one side, and she was repeating the same thing she was in the middle of earlier in the courtroom: thinking and pondering endlessly on the mental predicament she found herself in.

She was torn between two viewpoints, not entirely certain which one to take and therefore keeping herself stressed as it was an unresolved issue. On the one hand, she knew full well as much as anyone else what Khan had done and the kind of things he'd gotten up to - causing the deaths of numerous people, including Admiral Pike and even the obviously now-revived Kirk - but on the other, she wondered whether he truly deserved the extent of Spock's aggression that he was subjected to during the city chase. 

It was as if she had split herself into two totally different people altogether, one telling her that there was more to Khan underneath his chilling exterior, and that she didn't properly know what he was like in actuality, and the other constantly reminding her of the people he had killed and the acts he had committed.

"Hey." She turned her head around upon hearing the voice of her captain himself speak out. Jim appeared to be accompanied by Carol and lieutenant Uhura, all three of them dressed in casual clothes like the burgundy-haired hybrid herself was. "D'you mind if we join you?"

"No, go ahead."

Captain Kirk and the other two female officers with him all sat down adjacent to her at the bar, him and Carol on her right and Nyota on her left. "I used to come here a few times too. I actually still remember a fight I got into in this place a few years back - admiral Pike called it an ‘epic beating’." He chuckled fondly at these memories, although behind his smile Zinalya could also tell that it was simultaneously a slightly poignant expression and she, too, was affected by it.

Great, she thought. I’m trying to make sense of all this, to decide what I really think, and Pike is getting brought up again. Just when I thought I was making some kind of progress in thinking it over...

"Mr. Chekov told us that you seemed distant earlier today. Is something wrong?" Carol asked, noticing her own small change of expression.

"Well..." The half Trill-half human was up against a case of trying to work out how exactly to word what she was going to say. "To be honest I’m kind of in the middle of a dilemma."

"What is it?" Said Nyota.

She paused, taking another of these moments where she formed the words in her head. "I’ve got a decision I need to make soon, and it might be one that takes me off the Enterprise and to someplace else."

"You mean like a transfer?" Said Jim.

The real reason for Zinalya possibly having to leave her posting in the near future wasn’t this and was instead something very, very different, but she could neither bring herself to tell the three the truth nor lie to them, so she simply nodded her head without giving a verbal response. "I don’t want to leave, because I still have friends onboard, and because my parents and brothers are here on Earth and where I’ll be going to is pretty far away. But it’s also a chance that means a lot to me and that I don’t want to pass up, so I feel like I’m being pulled in two different directions... and I basically have no idea which choice to make."

The trio around her thought for a second, before Carol enquired, "Have you weighed up the good and bad sides of them both?"

"At least somewhere around a thousand times, yeah."

"Then I think you should go with what your instincts are telling you - if accepting this chance is what you want to do, then you should do it." The woman with the chin length blonde hair nodded encouragingly.

"She’s right: do what makes you happy." Concurred lieutenant Uhura.

"So... you guys will be okay with it if I do choose to leave? Things’ll still be alright between us?"

"Of course."

"You’re a good friend to us and the others." Added Jim with a reassuring smile. "We’ll be a little sad to see you go, but you deserve to make that choice if you’re sure you wanna do it. We’ll be rooting for you the whole way, Zin."

This supportive demeanour that he, Nyota and Carol were making use of towards her made her wish even more that she could tell them what the true reason for her leaving was, and what she was really planning to do.

[espensenherskind4]

William Knight Author Involving Generation: A Article writer Speaks

William Knight is definitely a British-born correspondent and technologist at present living and functioning in Wellington, New Zealand. He's chased a varying profession starting in performing, progressing to music, enjoyed a simple flirtation with bag manufacturing and seemed to be eventually wired directly into technology. In the year 2003 he published his / her first feature within Computing magazine plus has since published about the numerous successes and failings of high-tech intended for the Guardian, Financial Times and LABELLISÉ BASSE CONSOMMATION Focus among several other publications. read more continues to write, and maintains a lively IT consultancy. If you got to give a quite brief synopsis involving your book, what might say if you only had 30 seconds to say this? Journalist Hendrix 'Aitch' Harrison links systems stolen from some sort of renowned forensic research enclosure to the influential medicine company specialising in genetic modification. Aided by Sarah Wallace, a determined and even beguiling forensic entomologist, he delves straight into a grisly globe of clinical studies plus a viral remedy beyond imagination. Although Aitch must fight over his worry of technology to be able to expose the sombre fate of the particular drugged bodies bestowed to scientific research. Here's some fun queries, at least they may fun for us. What is the most overvalued virtue? Crap, that's hard. Intelligence, probably; Only the really foolish in our midst have typically the confidence to inquire queries that chase elephants from rooms. Precisely what is the one thing other people constantly seem to find wrong about a person? I am confident. I'm not, I'm shateringly shy with a stomach-squirming ability in order to act like a new confident person. We shudder at typically the speeches and demonstrations I use made, and even in my very own exclusive hideaway am significantly embarrassed at even innocuous mistakes We've made in cultural situations. Even composing these words delivers a tingle of pain up my personal spine in situation they may be read by anyone. If you could change one thing about the world what would certainly it be? I would remove each of the fossil fuels, fossil fuel, gas and oil from typically the planet. Climate transformation would be resolved, we wouldn't have noisy polluting vehicles spoiling our fantastic cities, petro-political battles would end, and the communities would normally reform around towns and villages. We pay a wonderful cost for precious fuels and the cost is going upward at all times. What animal peeve do a person have about others? My wife constantly leaves lids un-tightened on the side bottles, cisterns, toothpaste tubes plus the like. This specific irritates to frenzymadness, desperation, hysteria, mania, insanity, delirium, derangement. I pick upward jam by typically the lid and it terme conseillé to the ground leaving me having the lid; I cannot count how numerous times I have got lost a container of gherkins to be able to the kitchen porcelain tiles. Is there any occasion if it's OKAY to lie? Not any, of course certainly not. (err.. just in cast that will not encounter in text, that's a lie). (In any case, fiction can be a lie, my personal book is a new lie, it truly is full of lies from the first page to the last. Isn't that this point of fictional? ) Now let's talk about the writing. What will be your philosophy involving writing? This issue is best dished up by my preferred writing quote: "The art of publishing is the skill of applying the seat of the particular pants to typically the seat in the chair. " Once i create, I do plenty of sitting. I mean A GREAT DEAL. You thought a bus motorist does a lot involving sitting, but that will is nothing when compared to time I expend sitting. I was a king regarding sitters, and at some point, right after sitting for a big part of my life, a book transforms up. What's typically the name and style of you publication? The book is known as Generation, it will be a corporate-crime thriller with an treatment of horror. Many have said is actually Science Fiction using a horror ornament, and I'll happily call it risky fiction. But it can meant to get real; so close up to possibility you can afraid it just might happen. Who is the audience intended for this book? It can an adult reserve, ad advertisement chiller for lovers of criminal offense, science, SF, plus did I mention there are a bit involving horror. Describe your protagonist and describe the challenges the particular protagonist needs to defeat and the motivation for overcoming these people. Hendrix Harrison is really a techno-phobic journalist. Approaching middle age, and even out of situation since a psychological discharge from the services, he could be unable to steer the career in a "worthy" direction. Due to the fact its a "bit of fun", he works for some sort of "conspiracy theorists wank mag" chasing ghosts and mythical-beasts close to the English nation side, but inside he dreams regarding breaking a big story. He must defeat his anxiety about technologies and face the particular reasons for his discharge to overcome. Above all, this individual must re-visit typically the bunker in Afghanistan that stole his confidence, but this time this individual must go back for his fellow workers. Describe your villain and talk concerning motivation. DeBonfort will be a lover regarding fine architecture, fine English shoes plus the money that permits him to find them. In the beginning they are motivated only be the wanting in order to do his career in an effective and even professional manner. By the end he or she is backed into the corner of the own vanity, powerless to fact the reality but unable both to back along. Quote a passageway through your book that will you love. Discover a quote in writing to "Kill your current darlings. " Therefore it is very likely that the pathways I personally consider are great, are usually the very passages I should have cut out throughout the edit. Yet, here's a hundred or so words I've individually chosen to reveal with you, cos I love all of them. "For fuck's sake, you have to get above this. Look across the road and you'll see a list outlet. It's referred to as a shop. Purchase a new phone. I am going to pay for that. These web-fired meedja grads think really the only thing that matters, in addition to we've made some sort of commitment to the fresh owners to modernize. I'm only asking you to send a few texts, in addition to only then any time you're out and even about. We've received kids queuing upwards to follow you on Twitter, if you're our star author, and you're absent a trick in the event that you don't give them something upon their terms. inch Elaborate on the meaning with the verse. This passage is spoken by in order to the protagonist, Hendrix Harrison, by his editor attempting in order to enthuse Hendrix along with modern tools. It can easily be taken with face value, but it also introduces a continual theme about the duality (good and even bad) of technical advances. Hendrix's dislike of technology prevents him being traced by hi-tech evil doers later in typically the novel, but the final embrace involving the technological generation not only inspires the novel's title but additionally leads in order to his final success over the villain. What surprising things did you understand while writing this book? I will be the perfectionist. I had been often aware I had the particular capability to treatment deeply about how things were carried out, from experiences using decorating and constructing my very own furniture. Although when I write -- and I take pleasure in the cutting and even editing more compared to writing the 1st draft -- I will spend days sitting and staring until I find the right set of terms, and the perfect beat of ideas. Just how has your upbringing influenced you writing? Brothers and sisters are very effective bashers of voluntad. There are six littermates. I hope I feel a realist, and I hope my work is attainable for all, even when they don't such as zombies. Where do you live and exactly how does that effect your writing? Each and every book I compose continues to be set in the last significant town I lived in. Generation is set inside the North Far east of England, exactly where I spent some sort of year living in Jesmond and where I actually met my significant other. Perform you prefer fermented or distilled? Fermented. If you have a career outside of publishing how does that go with your living as a copy writer? Honestly I don't think it does fit. I work like a computer expert, and in because much as We make enough money to spend a month writing the following manuscript every eighteen months or so, it works effectively, but I'd significantly rather be creating novels full period. Yet , I do spend six decades working being a technology journalist for different magazines and magazines including the BASSE CONSOMMATION and The Mom or dad, but , quite frankly, I found lifespan as freelance copy writer very lonely. There is really not good enough press-junkets and trips abroad, most regarding the work is in front of a desk in the office created for a single. Do you include an unique routine a person go through just before you begin composing? Wake up, squeeze a new few spots throughout the mirror plus sit at typically the chair. That's the interview Very good listening,

[brooklynislandgirl]

MUSE STATS {Main Verse Edition}

▌real name:    Elikapeka Ailine Riley-Morrians {Elizabeth Irene}

▌single or taken:   Married

▌abilities or powers:  Magick {Life/Spirit/Forces}. Immortality. Animal and Human empathy.

▌eye colour:     Green {hazel}

▌hair colour:  Dark Brown

▌family members:  Zarek Morrians {husband}, Styxx Rau Morrians {son},  The Admiral {Father}, Iwalani Stern {Mother}, Andrew Riley {brother}, Seren Riley {sister in law}, Noah Taylor Riley and Dalisay Riley {nephew and niece}, Jayden Morgan {hanai-sister} Harvey Specter and Donna Paulsen {hanai-parents}, Billy Manderly {unknown brother}, Baz Barton {hanai-brother}, Vivian Harrison {hanai-sister},  Aislinn Riley {Paternal Aunt},  Anakone Kahananui {Maternal Uncle},  Makaimakoa {Mike} Kahanaui {maternal cousin}, Ares {Father in Law}, Zeus {Grandfather in Law}, Aphrodite {Aunt in Law}, Garrett Knight {hanai-brother, Tabby Mitchell {hanai-sister}, Marion LaCroix, Vincent Dafaux {her priest}, Ron Kray and his children {hanai brother, hanai-nephews and nieces}

▌pets:   Ben and Gloria {gators}

▌something they don’t like: Ares, cruelty, people taking advantage of others

▌hobbies/activities:  knitting, reading, painting/drawing, gardening, surfing

��ever hurt anyone before:  unfortunately

▌ever killed anyone before: not that can be proved >.> 

▌animal that represents them:  her personal na aumakua are Honu {turtle} and Mano {shark}, and she loves butterflies

▌worst habits:  crippling insecurity, depression, easily manipulated

▌role models:  Donna Paulsen, Jessica Pearson, Vivian Harrison, Jayden Morgan

▌sexual orientation: demi-sexual- heteroromantic

▌thoughts on marriage/kids: She loves her husband and her son more than life itself.

▌fears: losing the people she loves, being alone, the Dark, heights, peanut butter, her father

▌style preferences:  grunge-hippie, beach casual

▌someone they love:  She would gladly die for her son

▌approach to friendships: aggressively-overly friendly, cheerful, terminal kindness

▌thoughts on pie: yes, mahalo!

▌favourite drink:  coffee, red wine

▌favourite place to spend time at: the cabin, the clinics, the beach

▌swim in the lake or in the ocean: always the ocean

▌their type: Tall, Dark, Murderous

▌camping or indoors: either/or. She can literally live anywhere comfortably.

tagged by stolen from the lovely Kiki @ashgiven​

tagging: If you are reading this... Take it. Run with it! Tag me back!

[ancientdeadlight]

Human AU Character File(4)

Name: Jolanda Harrison

Nickname: Jo

Age: 26(at the moment of death)45(if still alive)

Birthday: 25.1.

Zodiac: Aquarius

Parents: Eleonore Harrison(Mother), Elijah Harrison(Father)

Occupation: Veterinarian

Siblings: none

Family: Papa(Husband), Junior(Son), Penny Sr.(Father-in-law), Robert Gray(nephew)

Residence(Former): Neibolt House

                 (Current): Derry Cemetary

Characteristics:

-Loyal

-Compassionated

-Caring

-Headstrong

-Authentic

-Optimistic

-Kind

Negative Characteristics:

-Temperamental

-Martyr

-Forgetful in times

-Gullible

-Gossipy

-Nagging

-Reckless

Goal in Life: Building a large family

Hobbies: Horse riding, swimming, pottery and painting

Favorite Food: Calamari

History:

Jolanda Harrison was the only daughter of Elijah and Eleonora Harrison and grew up in Nashville, Tennessee. Born wealthy, Jolanda got a lot of support early in life, she visited the best schools, had the best education possible and had her own pony which she affectionately called “Sprinkles”. Growing up in a secluded and rather elite society, Jolanda often would break out to search for freedom and adventures, she never was someone who was happy sitting inside. She had to be outside, with mother nature and her creations. Jo loved animals and aside of her pony, had two cats and a dog which she cared for diligently. That is why she later became a Veterinarian and tried to build her own animal hospital. She had long, curly, copper colored hair, freckles and fair skin, a slender build and dimples that showed every time she laughed. Jolanda was the mother of Junior and died a couple months after his birth due to internal bleeding, leaving behind a devastated Papa. She and him met at the outskirts of Derry one day where Jolanda searched for a good place for her animal clinic. Both found a liking to each other and soon started dating. The young veterinarian and the same aged performer began their relationship and roughly one year later, Jolanda was pregnant, awaiting their first child. They married shortly after they found out, so that their son wouldn’t be a child of wild marriage, something Jolanda’s family was strictly against. Her parents also never really liked Papa, they thought he was beneath them. In the end she started to work for Maturin in his hospital for animals after her own was not really working out. Jolanda’s personality is best described as joyful, caring and sometimes even has streaks of martyrism in it. She also can be stubborn and kind of fixed on her opinion which sometimes gave Papa a hard time. In the end she died with her son in her arms after she had rocked him to sleep.

Her memories were kept alive by Papa with tons of pictures that are splattered all across their house.