#auditory cortex

[sheltiechicago]

[tenshunnoise]

Sequencing voltage using a Euro rack modular format suitcase in which thoughts and ideas were expressed through audio.

Features a few bonus tracks that are not featured on the digital release.

Only 13 hand numbered copies made.

Dont sleep!

[elytrafemme]

ok i have an exam in an hour and also a presentation to give immediately after but THEN... i can take a little walk \o/ and write poetry. methinks...

[ceilidho]

soap developing an unhealthy attachment to his therapist post his brush with death after being shot at point blank range. he was reluctant to see a therapist at first because he didn't like what it said about him that he was being more or less strong armed into seeing a shrink (like no one trusts him anymore; they don't think his head's on straight since being shot), but as time goes on, he grows to cherish the relationship he's cultivated with his therapist because,

well,

she understands him. she listens to him. where everyone else seems to want him to just hurry up and get better (the nightmares, the mid-sentence brain fog, the erratic mood swings, the silent brooding when he can't find the words, aphasia on the tip of his tongue, the constant, constant headaches and auditory hallucinations that he can't seem to kick), she doesn't put any pressure on him to heal right away. she works with him and his medical team; gives him the space to process what happened to him, and has a seemingly bottomless wealth of patience for him.

he can talk for hours in her presence. it's a shame their time together is limited to an hour and a half every week. the dulcet sound of her voice is such a comfort to him. it's a shame she politely but firmly rejects his advances when he finally asks her out, tells him that it wouldn't even be appropriate for them to be friends outside of his sessions. that it would in some way hinder his healing journey. which pisses him off because Soap has progressed in leaps and bounds since those early days when he used to stumble over his words sitting on the couch across from her, head in his hands when the language felt beyond his grasp, a fine tremor still running through his hands that he's since managed to contain,

and

his head is throbbing again. a sharp pain above his eye that pulsates like a drum in his head and -

he thinks about her constantly. in and out of sessions. she's a frequent topic of conversation when the brass finally lets him back out in the field, Makarov finally dealt with (resting six feet deep in an unmarked grave). he ignores the looks oscillating between concern and worry that Price gives him. ignores the way Ghost barks at him to quit bothering the bird in the tight skirt and fuck someone that won't get him discharged. ignores the way Gaz pulls him to the side to ask if maybe he needs to see another therapist, y'know, mate...get some distance.

they act like this is something new. an abberation and not his very nature. like he hasn't always been the type to lock onto a scent like a hunting dog. a sniper by training. he sits and he watches and he waits; waits for the right moment that he alone knows.

it comes to him on an inauspicious day, when he's leaving the training facilities and spots his sweet thing rummaging around in the boot of her car, her ass beckoning him forward like a siren's call. now, now, now, the little itch in his head says, the voice that knows when the time is right. it's a sense acquired through conscious and unconscious observation, letting it all filter into his frontal cortex until he knows without knowing that the parking lot is empty apart from the two of them and the men at the base gates half a mile away.

it would take nothing for him to come up behind her and push her into the boot. nothing to wrestle the purse from her hands and slam the trunk shut. nothing to drive off base with a flick of his fingers to the guards that hardly ever bother to question him before he leaves (though they know what car he actually drives), made complacent by familiarity.

and he knows that it's wrong, knows that there's a line that he shouldn't cross, that choices have consequences, but,

his mouth salivates when her hips twitch, the urge to take settling over him. surely they'd forgive him one indiscretion.

[alchemist-of-life]

I’m curious how binary cant work for admech since day 1. At first, I thought it’s just high speed alternation in frequencies of sounds to denote 0 and 1, just like how computer cable does with voltage. So I wrote a python script to convert natural language to binary code then to sound based on the idea (so that I can curse in binary in ttrpg). However, since the human auditory cortex can only distinguish sound about 20ms apart, the current commonly used binary coding method (Unicode) that requires 8 bits to encode for one letter (16 bits for one character in Mandarin) would make binary cant less efficient than natural language through the bare ear. As a result, binary cant users not only need vocal implants but also auditory implants to receive info (or perhaps cortex implants to decode). Based on these assumptions, binary cant would be able to happen in sound frequencies not perceivable by the original human cochlea so techpriests conversation can be extremely quiet. And more efficiently, just through data cables.

Or it could be the other way around, scientists might develop more efficient binary language without basing it on the symbol system of natural languages (I’m not that familiar with linguistics so I don’t know if this is possible or not).

However, the sound techpriests made in the game mechanicus doesn’t sound like my assumption. There are definitely more than 2 pitches used in the conversations (which makes it less binary...) and they seem to be faster than natural language. I still couldn’t figure out what’s happening here. Do the twisting pitches actually encode more than one bit? Is binary cant actually an analog signal encoding a digital signal? Or is the sound effect just mean to sound better for the game?

The binary curse program (turn the sound on!):

[retrievablememories]

i listened to this several times on saturday. i JUST listened to this on spotify a few minutes ago (it's sunday) and now the background vocals are BACK but only on the first instance of "picking at what's left of" and not the second instance at the end of the song. what the hell is going on!?!?

sounds like he removed the background vocals on the line "picking at what's left of" 🥲 i am sad lol

[amellialunarie]

Don't Believe Me

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈· · ─ ·𖥸· ─ · ·┈┈┈┈

There's not much time left.

It's not like we never try any means we could ever think of. I mean, sure, some of them have left me with the lowest impression of ever caring about my curse, and some of them did what they could, but their efforts have never been enough.

And to be honest, I'm too tired.

The Kyklos's curse soon will take over my body, taking my mind as its nourishment for its root, blooming who-knows-what kind of anomaly flower.

Will I become a mindless anomaly, a Kyklos?

Could I even recognize the other ghouls when the curse takes hold?

Will I launch an attack on whatever I see?

.

.

.

We'll be together soon.

Ulp—!!! I almost threw up for reminding me of the sensation in my shoulder at that moment. My limbs go weak at the mere thought that I'm going to be the same as that one creature.

The spiral under my skin pulses. Not in pain. In hunger.

Every time I close my eyes, I see the bloom. Not metaphorically; I see it. A thousand writhing petals of bone and thought twist through my spine. They feel like roots trying to change me from the inside out.

I don't tell anyone anymore. They’ve stopped asking. It’s easier for them, I guess, to pretend I’m still on the right side of the glass.

“Hey, don’t faint on us now,” came a familiar, gruff voice. The latch of a medical case clicked open as Yuri stepped into my room.

The sound of his medical case latching open brought a strange comfort. Familiar. Almost routine by now.

Jiro trailed in behind him, clipboard already out. Eyes scanning, distant as ever. But not indifferent. Never indifferent.

Yuri frowned at the monitor. “Vitals holding steady. Strange. Honestly, with your last flare, I expected to find a lot more degradation today.”

“Not disappointed, are you?” I asked in a faint voice while forcing a smile.

Yuri glanced at me with a snorting laugh. “On the contrary, you’re giving me whiplash. First you spiral, then you stabilize. If I didn’t know better, I’d call it spite-based healing.”

I laughed too—short, bitter.

Jiro came closer and held out a small patch for my arm. Cold, sterile fingers brushed my skin, more gentle than they looked.

I flinched when the patch touched my skin. My nerves have started to fray lately—literally, maybe. The last scan showed root-like black threads in my shoulder joint. Yuri called them pre-bloom filaments. Said it like it was fascinating.

“You’ve been quiet,” Yuri said, glancing at the monitor. “No new auditory episodes? No visual distortions?”

“No nightmares, no psychotic breaks, and no sleep paralysis,” I said, lying flat at that moment. “I know the list.”

“Good memory. That means the frontal cortex is still holding.”

Then Yuri muttered, “Alright, I need to log this and push the data to the upper high.”

"To Darkwick?"

"Of course," Yuri said without looking at me, flicking his holo-tablet open. "They monitor all treatment logs. They get everything. You know the protocol.”

Then Jiro spoke, without looking up, “Even the unapproved ones.”

The air in the room thickened. My skin prickled.

“…Unapproved?” I asked, voice tighter now. “What do you mean by that?”

Yuri hesitated. “Some of the more experimental treatments. They didn’t pass central review. Darkwick flagged them as too… unstable.”

“Unstable for whom?”

Neither answered.

I sat up straighter, blood pounding. “You tried something. You wanted to do more. But they stopped you.”

Jiro didn’t speak, he just adjusted his gloves. But his silence wasn’t empty — it was heavy. Full of words he wouldn’t say. Couldn’t say.

Yuri sighed and muttered, “They said the risk was too high. That it might ‘destabilize anomaly growth’.”

Anomaly growth.

I stared at them and I felt it. That shift. That cold knot in my gut uncoiling as a sudden terrifying thought formed inside my head. They weren’t stopping treatment because it might hurt me.

They were stopping it because it might prevent the curse from blooming.

Suddenly, the pieces fit—too well. The gentle stalling. The false hope. The way every single move Yuri and Jiro made had to be passed through someone else’s judgment.

Not for my sake.

But to keep me viable.

They’re not waiting to save me. They’re waiting to watch me turn.

My mouth went dry. My chest hollowed.

And yet… I didn’t feel betrayed by them. Not exactly.

It was worse than that.

I felt played and pitied.

Like they were trying to save a bird with a broken wing, knowing full well that someone else was already setting up the cage.

In that moment, all my hope — the small flickering ember that hinted at a different ending — faded away. I knew, deep down, all this time. But thought about it in raw—no sedation, no sugar-coating, no hopeful lies...

It scraped something out of me that I didn’t know could still bleed.

Because it didn’t matter how hard Yuri tried.

It didn’t matter how quiet Jiro’s care was.

They were working under a ceiling of glass, and I was the experiment pressed against it.

For Darkwick, this isn’t a tragedy.

It’s a countdown.

To the bloom, to Kyklos. To me—as something else.

“Tell me something,” I whispered as I felt some tears that I didn’t realize I still had, burning behind my eyes... “What happens after I change?”

Yuri finally stopped moving. The light from his tablet flickered against his face. His jaw clenched.

“I don’t know,” he said. “That’s… not in our clearance.”

Jiro turned away.

I looked at them both. They weren’t lying, and that made it worse. They want to help me.

But they may already be too late.

I am a countdown now.

No name. No file. No history. Just a transformation waiting for the right moment to happen, so they can write it down and call it science, a discovery that was only meant to be research but was not given a shred of sympathy.

And I throw up for real now.

⊹ ࣪ ﹏𓊝﹏𓂁﹏⊹ ࣪ ˖ .fin

Early warning : Tbh, I'm still not finished all the episode to the latest update so I actually have little information while making this (please forgive me if there's any OOC, have mercy). All I ever make mostly inspired based on what people posting so I always link their post in my credit. Word count: 1189.

#credits; seeing this post, I've been inspired.

[scariusaquarius]

rehab. 11.

Avenger! Bucky Barnes x Winter Soldier! Fem! Reader

Summary: While on a mission to find any more possible super soldiers that were a part of the Winter Soldier program, Steve and Bucky make a discovery in an abandoned HYDRA base that was cleared out a few years prior to their mission. They discover the Reader, a long-forgotten soldier that was still asleep within a functioning cryostasis pod; still awaiting orders. While Bucky isn't happy about it, he is put up to the challenge of helping to rehabilitate the soldier in Wakanda where she may be able to become a person again.

-

A/n: That last chapter was so much fun to write, I really do hope that you guys enjoyed it too! We got to see a bit of backstory, so lets get another look but from the outside ;) Also, if you enjoy my work, please consider buying me a coffee! If you would prefer to read Rehab on Archive, you may do so right HERE!

This is an au where Bucky joined the avengers but still rehabilitated in Wakanda (sometime before Infinity War [canon divergent cause NOPE]). I am NOT fluent in Russian, so I did use google translate cause I couldn't find a good translator that I trusted. If anything is wrong, PLEASE let me know!! Also, I tried to list as many warnings as possible so you know what the story will contain as chapters are posted. Stay safe!

-

Genre: Slowburn, Enemies to Lovers/Friends to Lovers, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Humor, Drama, Dark Content Rated: Explicit Warning: Angst, Dark Content: Graphic Depictions of Sexual Assault, Blood and Gore, Mentions of Manipulation, Kidnapping, Canon-Typical Violence, Body Horror, Nonconsensual Body Modification/Scarring, Emotional and Physical Abuse, Mentions of Murder, Mentions of Suicidal Thoughts/Ideation, Graphic Depictions of Human Remains, Mentions of Sexual Coercion/Manipulation, Death, Misuse of Drugs/Forced Drugging, Self-Harm (Graphic Depictions and Mentions), Nightmares

-

Author: ScariusAquarius

-

rehab masterlist. chapter 10

The Avengers had been working tirelessly since the moment they had put the soldier under general anesthesia. They had placed on a mask onto her that was delivering a constant flow of Desflurane due to the soldier's heightened metabolism posing a risk of causing the medicine to wear off too fast. Shuri and Tony had been able to locate the chip within the auditorial cortex of the temporal lobe of the soldier's brain after a bit of imaging and scanning her brain thoroughly.

Due to the significant risk that came with operating in the temporal lobe, Shuri and Tony were using Shuri's digital representation of the soldier's brain to guide the surgery. When the chip was finally extracted, both of the scientists were feeling highly accomplished.

Once the surgery was over, they stitched and stapled the soldier back up before Shuri began to work on implementing her safeguards and destroying HYDRA's programming once more, Clint watching over her shoulder with curiosity as she worked. During this time, Tony was analyzing the chip with Natasha, Bucky, T'Challa, and Steve.

"So, not only was this chip used to deliver messages and recite the trigger words in the case of an emergency, it was also the thing that was attempting to continuously reprogram her. With this thing out, I bet our soldier is gonna start remembering a lot more."

Bucky and Steve both looked happy, but Natasha and T'Challa both had apprehensive looks on their faces. Steve asked, glancing at Tony as the man bit into a pear.

"You're saying that she's gonna be able to remember everything?"

Tony looked nonchalant as he replied, shrugging his shoulders before throwing a couple grapes into his mouth.

"Well, I can't exactly say that for sure. I mean, statistically speaking, she has about a 60% recovery rate for all memories. With how many times they scrambled her eggs, I'd say that number gets lower and lower due to the neurological trauma her brain went through."

Natasha added, tilting her head slightly and shrugging.

"Not to mention all the torture that they put her through. There's probably a ton of stuff she shouldn't remember."

Shuri's voice made all of the Avengers look at her, the woman giving them a look as she continued to fiddle with the soldier's programs, the red parts of her brain disappearing bit by bit.

"That is her choice to make. We must remember that this is all dependent on her. While she was a conditioned agent of HYDRA, we need to acknowledge her progress from before her reactivation. She was eating, she remembered her career with the CIA, and she was actively communicating without permission with Sergeant Barnes and I."

Bucky nodded then, adding.

"I have to agree with Shuri. While remembering everything that HYDRA did sucked...I'm thankful that I at least had that choice. We need to let the woman decide for herself when she wakes up."

Tony shrugged before he stated.

"Listen, I did my part with this. The only thing that I can tell you is that the chip is definitely from HYDRA, but it looks to be a fairly old technology. There isn't really a signature or a serial number that I can see."

Shuri shook her head, waving her hand at Tony.

"Please, allow me to finish this and then I will show you how wrong you are."

Clint whistled low, shaking his head.

"Someone telling Stark that he's wrong? I think it might be the end of the world all over again."

Tony gave Clint an offended look before T'Challa sighed, his patience beginning to run thin.

"On other news, have we been able to locate Rollins? Seeing as he seemed to already know that we were going to be there, he must have planned for such interruptions. Is it possible that he prepared for the worst?"

Natasha nodded, bringing up a hologram of the black book pages that had been translated, saying as Steve nodded alongside her.

"The book on this winter soldier detailed how difficult she was to program and to keep programmed. With the preexisting knowledge of her history of memory lapses, it's possible that Rollins knew she was going to remember...and he might have some intel about Princess Shuri's rehabilitation program that she used on Bucky."

Steve crossed his arms, stating as Bucky sat back against a table, his gaze lingering on the soldier that was still and sleeping deeply; Shuri sparing him a quiet and worried glance before going back to work.

"Even so, we should keep running those biometric programs until we get a hit or a lead. Have we been able to get in touch with the Director of the CIA?"

Tony took out his phone, typing for a little while before he put the phone on speaker. It was ringing, and Natasha couldn't help but to smirk to herself as the phone was answered.

"Hello?"

"Hello Director, I was wondering if you could spare a few minutes of your time and resources."

The Director seemed to sputter, asking with a stern and aggressive tone of voice.

"Who the hell is this? How did you get this number?"

Tony made a noise of shock, clutching his chest with a dramatic head-nod, gesturing to wipe invisible sweat off of his brow.

"Seriously? You can't tell? I'm almost ready to cry, everyone. It's Tony Stark. You know: genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist?...ugh, Iron Man?"

"I get it! What the hell do you want, Stark?"

Steve just rolled his eyes, and Tony explained.

"Well, I've been trying to reach you for a while now, but all my calls were left unanswered. Can you imagine my sorrow? Anywho, the Avengers have a mission that requires your cooperation and clearance for us to get into some archives...unless you can share the information?"

The Director was silent for a moment, seeming to mull over his next decision. He asked after a moment.

"It depends. Some of the information that we have is classified, Mr. Stark, and sensitive enough that not even the Avengers can have clearance. What exactly is your mission, sir?"

"We just need access to a couple of records about a woman that used to work within the Directorate of Science and Technology. As you can guess, we have some classified information too, but the only thing that I can tell you is that this woman was a receiver of the Career Intelligence reward and had to be apart of the agency before the 1980's."

The Director hummed, repeating the information to himself quietly before sighing.

"Alright, Mr. Stark, what I can do is gather as many files as I can, but you understand that this will take some time? You haven't even provided me with a name."

Tony admitted, shrugging his shoulders.

"We don't know her name yet, which is why we're coming to you about this. My suggestion is to look for any woman with remarkable scientific work or went missing at least before 1980."

"Might I ask what this might be about?"

"Nope."

Tony then hung up, and Natasha snickered slightly.

"Well, that went well. Why didn't we do that earlier?"

"You...did hear me when I said they weren't returning my calls, right?"

Steve just sighed, and Bucky offered with a shrug.

"I mean, this is still progress as long as the Director is willing to actually send those documents over. I think until then, we should really focus on finding Rollins."

T'Challa nodded, urging.

"It would be in our best interest to do so. We don't know what other tricks he may have up his sleeve. While the soldier is now free of that device, there is no telling what else it can do even when outside of her body."

Shuri cut in, shaking her head as she paused her work with an exhausted sigh, hands on her hips.

"It won't be an issue once I, or Stark, take it apart. There is going to be a calling card or a signature for the device. No sensible scientist would ever leave his work to be unknown."

Tony nodded, pointing towards Shuri while glancing over at T'Challa.

"The princess has a point."

Steve then declared, nodding to every Avenger in the room respectively.

"Then you two should get started on taking that apart. Clint and I can make a house call to the CIA to help with the investigation, and Natasha and Bucky, you guys watch over the soldier."

Natasha chuckled as Clint stuck his tongue out at her with a smug look on his face.

"Don't make that face at me. The CIA would be stupid to let me walk through those doors. Information wonderland."

Tony sighed with a mock look of adoration, placing his hand against his arc reactor.

"God, don't you just love it when Cap takes control? You know how to really spangle my stars, Rogers."

"Please don't ever say that again."

Clint made a face of disgust as Steve just shook his head while closing his eyes, and Bucky couldn't help but to add, making Steve glare at him.

"Well, you are the man with a plan."

"Listen, don't do anything stupid, alright?"

Bucky snorted, winking at Steve.

"How can I when you're taking all the stupid with you?"

When everyone dispersed, Bucky walked towards a chair and sat down in it, staring at the soldier as she slept. There were a million thoughts running through his mind, and he was aware of Natasha watching him. The woman sat down on the other side of the soldier, stating as she looked over the horrific scars that littered her body.

"Looks like they really had it in for her."

"Not surprised, honestly. HYDRA didn't like it when you displayed any sense of free-will. Considering that she was pretty difficult to program, I wouldn't put it past the Handlers and Enforcer's to get angry."

Natasha nodded before she spared Bucky a glance.

"You know, you keep looking at her as if you know her."

Bucky became uncomfortable, glancing over at Natasha with a grimace before pursing his lips and looking back at her.

"She knows something about Meltzer Woods...back from where I was born. It's been bothering me for a while."

"It's deeper than that. I can see the look in your eyes."

Natasha pressed, staring down at him with a friendly yet scrutinizing gaze, and Bucky's shoulders fell slightly.

"There's something familiar about her. I can't really place it. I don't know if she's one of the Winter Soldier's that I had to train back at HYDRA or...or if maybe...maybe I'm the reason she doesn't have anybody to miss her."

Natasha was quiet, crossing her arms and sitting back in her chair a bit. Her gaze was back on the soldier, watching as the soldier's face scrunched slightly and sweat began to pearl at her temples. Grabbing a cold wash cloth, Natasha gently dabbed her face.

"Even if that's true, you're something that is familiar for her. I think you could use that to your advantage as you have been. If you are a cause of something...then I think then that you owe it to her to make sure she becomes someone that she can be proud of again."

Bucky was quiet for a moment before he mumbled.

"When did you get so damn wise, Romanov?"

"I know what it's like to not be given a choice too."

Natasha and Bucky shared a look before Natasha glanced over at Tony and Shuri, watching as they spoke as Tony carefully took the chip apart.

"You think that we could trace the main signal back to Rollins?"

"Do you think it's possible to do that?"

Natasha shrugged before taking out a stick of beef jerky and biting into it nonchalantly.

"No clue...but just let me know when you're ready to have the file."

Bucky gave the woman a confused look, and Natasha's only response was to chew her jerky loudly.

"Unbelievable. I don't even wanna know."

"Technology has really improved the last few years, Smithsonian."

Bucky just rolled his eyes.

"Whatever."

-STEVE-

Back in the United States, Steve and Clint were currently being escorted through the CIA, the Director wagging his finger with disdain and exasperation as he led the two Avengers into the archives.

"Unbelievable. He can somehow get a hold of my number and yet can't give me anymore details about why the hell he wants into the archives?"

Steve cleared his throat while Clint just rolled his eyes, making a face at the back of the Director's head.

"Sir, with all due respect, this is an information-sensitive mission. We're just needing to identify someone to get a lead on a...missing persons case."

The Director looked at Steve, who gave him an expressionless look, and the Director huffed before muttering.

"This better be no goddamn trick. That goddamn Stark..."

The Director began to grumble to himself before he granted access into the archives. Escorting the two through the shelves, the man gestured the two men to a desk that was situated in the middle of the room where a box was already sitting.

"I located as many files as I could on previous employees that were employed in the Directorate of Science and Technology that received any awards and medals for their service. It goes back all the way to when the CIA was first founded in 1947."

Steve nodded, and Clint clapped his hands together.

"Alright, let's get started."

Steve looked at the director, nodding his head in thanks.

"Thank you, Director, your help is very appreciated."

The Director pursed his lips before huffing.

"Don't thank me. Just make sure to tell Stark to delete my damn number."

Clint snorted to himself, muttering as the Director walked away.

"Good luck with that. He's like a damn mosquito we can't get rid of."

Steve rolled his eyes, and the two men began to sift through the files. As the two men read and worked, Steve watched as the Director kept a close eye on them, speaking into a phone though Steve couldn't tell what he was saying. Looking back down, Steve murmured.

"You think the Director might know something?"

"Considering that HYDRA has ears and eyes everywhere? I wouldn't be surprised if a few rats were still looking for cheese."

Clint didn't even bother to look up, reading like lightning through the files before he hummed, picking up a file and grinning.

"I found our girl."

Steve was wide-eyed, a look of accomplishment flashing through his eyes.

"Great job, Clint."

Clint slipped the photo off of the file and hummed, a sad look coming over his face as he gazed at the unmarred face of the Winter Soldier.

"Man, they were really unforgiving with her...look how excited she is."

Steve gently grabbed the photo, and a strange feeling began to fill his chest as he stared into the characteristic eyes of the woman. His chest was tight, his eyes feeling a bit wet, and though his heart hurt for the woman and what she went through with HYDRA, he was also beginning to feel angry.

"(Y/n) (L/n), daughter of Robert and Doris (L/n). She was a Princeton graduate with honors, was valedictorian in her high school, and she was hired onto the CIA when she was 24 and fresh out of college and passed their exams with flying colors."

Steve's interest was perked by the name Robert (L/n), and he asked Clint as he grabbed the file from his hand to read through it.

"Does it say anything about Robert (L/n)?"

Clint shrugged and replied.

"Not a lot. He was a very prestigious scientist, uh...that's about it. I could ask Tony to look into it though."

Steve nodded, and he began to read through (Y/n)'s file more before he whispered to himself.

"Well, that's not surprising."

"What is it?"

Steve took a deep breath before reading the file out loud to Clint.

"(Y/n) (L/n) of the Directorate of Science & Technology was announced deceased December 18th, 1979. Cause of Death: REDACTED."

Clint hummed before he held up the file.

"We should probably ask to make a copy of this."

Steve nodded, and when the two men approached the Director after being patted down to ensure no information had been stolen, the Director frowned heavily.

"Did you find what you were looking for?"

"Yes. Would you be willing to make a copy of this file for us so that we can do more research?"

The Director hummed, his eyebrows shooting up as he read the name on the file.

"(Y/n) (L/n), huh? I remember her actually."

Steve and Clint shared a look together, and Clint asked.

"Director, did you ever work with Ms. (L/n)?"

"Not like that, no. Science wasn't really my interest, but Ms. (L/n) was very talented. When she was awarded the Career Intelligence award back in 1981, she had greatly shaped the way the Directorate of Science & Technology viewed and applied the sciences. She advanced a lot of the methods, scientific and military technologies, and was damn-near a genius. Why do you want to know about her?"

Steve and Clint both wore apologetic faces, and the Director just squinted before handing them both a complete copy of the files.

"You know what, I don't even wanna know. You both have a good day. Don't forget to tell Stark to delete my damn number."

Steve nodded, saluting before he left, and the two Avengers gave a sigh of relief the second they stepped out of the agency.

"He was weird to you too, right? Like...I'm not the only one that doesn't really like that guy?"

"It's not just you. There was something weird about him...he knows something. He was nervous the whole time that we were there."

Clint made a face of annoyance before stating.

"The plot thickens. Let's just get back to Wakanda and see what Tony finds."

-

STORY NOTES: The Avengers have been working nonstop since they have put the winter soldier under strong general anesthetics. Tony and Shuri performed a successful surgery to remove the chip from the winter soldier, who is now being allowed to recover outside of cryostasis. Shuri has begun to work on removing the winter soldier programming once more while Tony, Natasha, T'Challa, Bucky, and Steve analyze the chip.

Tony discovers that the chip was able to trigger the winter soldier reprogramming sequence as well as send out messages to the soldier. It is not concrete whether the soldier will remember everything, but Shuri and Bucky both advocate for it to be the soldier's choice to do so if she wants.

T'Challa asks about Rollins, which Natasha theorizes that Rollins knew the winter soldier was going to start remembering the second she was out of cryostasis, and so he made sure to remotely retrigger the winter soldier so nobody would know his whereabouts. Steve asks if Tony was able to get in touch with the Director of the CIA, in which Tony directly calls the Director.

After a slightly heated exchange, the Director allows the Avengers limited and supervised access to the files that they need, and Clint and Steve set out to return to the USA to get into the archives. Shuri and Tony are tasked with dissecting the chip and figuring out its creator, and Natasha and Bucky are tasked with watching over the soldier.

While everyone disperses, Natasha makes a comment to Bucky that he keeps looking at the soldier as if he knew her, which Bucky comments that he is bothered that the soldier mentioned Meltzer Woods, a State Park located within Bucky's hometown of Shelbyville, Indiana. However, Natasha calls out Bucky for lying, and Bucky finally reveals that the soldier does, indeed, feel familiar. He is unsure if the Winter Soldier is one that he trained back in his HYDRA days or if she was a previous target.

Natasha tells Bucky that even if such theories are true, he is something that is familiar to the Winter Soldier, and that he owes the winter soldier to make sure she 'becomes someone she can be proud of again'. Natasha then makes a comment about if Tony could trace the main signal back to Rollins, and when Bucky asks if it's possible, Natasha gives a vague remark, revealing that she has information on Rollins.

In the USA at the CIA, Steve and Clint have gained access to the archives. After a bit of research through the files that the Director gathered for them, Clint is able to locate the Winter Soldier's file. The file reveals that the Winter Soldier's name is (Y/n) (L/n) and was officially declared deceased December 18th, 1979. They decide to ask the Director to make a copy of the file, who allows them to do so. The Director reveals that he knew (Y/n), and he comments that she helped shape the way the CIA applied their science and technologies.

Once Steve and Clint exit out of the agency, Clint makes a comment on the strange behavior that the Director had exhibited and asks if Steve had noticed as well. Steve agrees, and they decide to wait to do any research until they both arrived back into Wakanda. End scene.

TRANSLATIONS:

None

TAGLIST: @tilldeathripsusapart @vicmc624 @mgchaser @aash3 @samfunko @seventeen-x @valckenaux

[tanadrin]

I mean, renaissance does extend to the modern era but started during the middle ages. Discovery of the Americas / reformation are what are usually used as the symbolic cut-off points

no, this is actually completely wrong. modernity is a sticky but diaphanous fluid which began to seep up through a crack in the earth's crust below florence, italy, after the earthquake of september 28, 1453. it adheres vigorously to animal flesh, and minute traces are spread by person to person contact. even in trace amounts, its presence inhibits miracles, spiritual apparitions, and feudalism, and encourages the mercantile spirit, which is why its spread ended the middle ages. it also enables the visual cortex to comprehend perspective, which is why paintings looked so funny before. unfortunately it also tends to accumulate in the inner ear, dampening transcendent vibrations that otherwise are naturally picked up by the auditory nerve, making it impossible for humans to hear the voice of the divine.

that sounds bad, but most of what untainted humans in europe were perceiving as the voice of the divine was actually just the voice of a lesser divinity that pope adrian iv trapped in the roman catacombs, harvesting its body for communion. while non-sentient, the psychic defense mechanism of this creature produced aggression, zealotry, and visions of fire. since modernity is toxic to divine beings, despite the church's best efforts it began to sicken in the 17th century and by the 18th was in dire condition. its death finally enabled the first vatican council to occur.

of course if you ask about this at the vatican they won't tell you the truth. it's not on purpose: when divine beings die all memory of them vanishes from this plane of existence as well, including written records. but traces remain if you know where to look. you didn't think the eucharist was always just a little cracker and a sip of wine, did you? that wouldn't make sense. it doesn't even look like flesh.

[piratecaptaincaroline]

gf that is stored on a cartridge x gf that has to jack her in to the port on the back of her neck, briefly feeling the electric squeal as the pins align, electricity connecting them. her vision goes staticky from the neural integration, and then she’s everywhere, jumping around her vision, voice filling her auditory cortex full of data so she’s the only thing she can hear

[cripplecharacters]

Hi, I love the blog and everything you guys do. In my WIP, one of my characters experiences hearing loss in one ear thanks to a head injury. I was wondering how this might effect him going on and what are some difficulties he might face with this new situation.

Hello,

This is pretty broad, and I'm going to explain why

So, one thing you might want to consider is how small the auditory cortex is;

Most of it is actually inside of the brain- the red bit in the diagram, the secondary auditory cortex, is the only part of the auditory cortex on the surface of the brain. Here's a diagram of how deep the auditory cortex goes;

So, damaging that in the right way to cause permanent complete hearing loss would require a decently deep concussion, and that would probably also impact the surrounding temporal lobe unless the injury was sharp-force, penetrating trauma (a stab to the side of the head) rather than blunt-force and/or nonpenetrating trauma (a knock to the head that didn't cause laceration in his brain.) If the impact is deep enough to affect the red region, that's a severe traumatic brain injury and it can very easily be enough to kill him. For exactly how an injury to any part of the auditory cortex would impact hearing, I would need to refer you to the Wikipedia page, because you're getting into neuroscience.

Actually, considering where the auditory cortex is, right in the middle of the temporal, frontal, and parietal lobe, a blunt-force brain injury could lead to a complex traumatic brain injury, one that could very easily affect three of the four major lobes of the brain. Based on the surface size, depth, severity, and type of traumatic injury, there are hundreds of possible complications. I would recommend also looking into the areas that surround the auditory cortex and the symptoms caused by injuries to those areas, unless you're going to go with sharp-force penetrating trauma.

Deafness from brain injury is extremely rare due to how small the auditory cortex is and how little of it is on the surface of the brain. Unless you plan on having them stabbed in the side of the head and miraculously surviving with only damage to the auditory cortex, I'd advise going with an injury to the inner ear, such as a burst eardrum. or a bad injury to the hammer, anvil, stirrup, or cochlea.

Mod Aaron

[mariacallous]

The number of people who read for fun appears to be steadily dropping. Fifty percent of UK adults say they don’t read regularly (up from 42 percent in 2015) and almost one in four young people aged 16 to 24 say they’ve never been readers, according to research by The Reading Agency.

But what are the implications? Will people’s preference for video over text affect our brains or our evolution as a species? What kind of brain structure do good readers actually have? My new study, published in NeuroImage, has found out.

I analyzed open source data from more than 1,000 participants to discover that readers of varying abilities had distinct traits in brain anatomy.

The structure of two regions in the left hemisphere, which are crucial for language, were different in people who were good at reading.

One was the anterior part of the temporal lobe. The left temporal pole helps associate and categorize different types of meaningful information. To assemble the meaning of a word such as leg, this brain region associates the visual, sensory and motor information conveying how legs look, feel and move.

The other was Heschl’s gyrus, a fold on the upper temporal lobe which hosts the auditory cortex (the cortex is the outermost layer of the brain). Better reading ability was linked to a larger anterior part of the temporal lobe in the left hemisphere compared to the right. It makes sense that having a larger brain area dedicated to meaning makes it easier to understand words and, therefore, to read.

What might seem less intuitive is that the auditory cortex would be related to reading. Isn’t reading mainly a visual skill? Not only. To pair letters with speech sounds, we first need to be aware of the sounds of the language. This phonological awareness is a well-established precursor to children’s reading development.

A thinner left Heschl’s gyrus has previously been related to dyslexia, which involves severe reading difficulties. My research shows that this variation in cortical thickness does not draw a simple dividing line between people with or without dyslexia. Instead, it spans the larger population, in which a thicker auditory cortex correlates with more adept reading.

Why Size Matters

Is thicker always better? When it comes to cortical structure, no, not necessarily. We know the auditory cortex has more myelin in the left hemisphere of most people. Myelin is a fatty substance that acts as an insulator for nerve fibers. It increases neural communication speed and can also insulate columns of brain cells from each other. Neural columns are believed to function as small processing units.

Their increased isolation and rapid communication in the left hemisphere can be thought to enable the fast, categorical processing necessary for language. We need to know if a speaker uses the category d or t when saying dear or tear rather than detecting the exact point where the vocal folds start vibrating.

According to the “balloon model” of cortical growth, the larger amount of myelin squeezes out left-hemispheric cortical areas, making them flatter but more extended. So while the left auditory cortex may be thicker in good readers, it is still thinner (but much more extended) than the corresponding right cortex.

This hypothesis was corroborated in the recent research. The left hemisphere had generally larger but thinner cortical areas with a higher degree of myelin.

So is thinner better, then? Again, the answer is no, not necessarily. Complex abilities that require integrating information tend to benefit from a thicker cortex. The anterior temporal lobe with its complex way of integrating information is indeed the thickest structure of all cortical areas. An underlying mechanism might be the existence of more overlapping, interacting neurons which process information more holistically.

Phonology is a highly complex skill, where different sound and motor features are integrated into speech sounds. It appears to correlate with a thicker cortex in an area near the left Heschl’s gyrus. While it is unclear to what extent phonology is processed in Heschl’s gyrus, the fact that phoneticians often have multiple left Heschl’s gyri suggests it is linked to speech sounds.

Clearly, brain structure can tell us a lot about reading skills. Importantly, though, the brain is malleable—it changes when we learn a new skill or practice an already acquired one.

For instance, young adults who studied language intensively increased their cortical thickness in language areas. Similarly, reading is likely to shape the structure of the left Heschl’s gyrus and temporal pole. So, if you want to keep your Heschl’s thick and thriving, pick up a good book and start reading.

Finally, it’s worth considering what might happen to us as a species if skills like reading become less prioritized. Our capacity to interpret the world around us and understand the minds of others would surely diminish. In other words, that cozy moment with a book in your armchair isn’t just personal—it’s a service to humanity.

[ccrimsonnn]

every time I hear gojo’s name the sound waves travel to my primary auditory cortex notifying my eggs that it’s time to be fertilized

[diserbillyti]

There's a Kind Of Guy who exists in specifically very online, often political but more often cultural autistic spaces (reddit, wrongplanet, extremely specific bubbles of tumblr and tiktok) that I like to call

The Sheldon.

This post is about a literal strawman I've created based on specific patterns of dumb shit I keep seeing on autistic social media, yes.

The Sheldon is deeply concerned with his self-concept as autistic, but defines autism in a way that is removed from the concept of disability. He's not quite "autism is a superpower," that's a different Kind Of Guy, but he does not like being thought of someone who "can't do" something.

Rather, The Sheldon is the Kind Of Guy who has created an extremely specific definition of "neurodiversity" that is actually just a weird checklist cobbled together from both medical diagnostic criteria and social constructs surronding autism. He measures all other conditions, but especially scary and stigmatized conditions, against that criteria.

So:

foetal alcohol syndrome is not a neurodiversity because it's like, an environmental thing, right?

schizophrenia is not a neurodiversity because it tends to onset in adolescence or early adulthood rather than being "the way someone is born."

personality disorders (especially narcissistic personality disorder for some reason) are not a form of neurodiversity because "neurodivergence doesn't make you a bad person!"

Extreme Sheldons might even claim that ADHD isn't a neurodivergence because "it can be treated with medicine."

Because The Sheldon is never in community with non-autistic/ADHD people (the neurodivergence tags are The Sheldon's haunt), he struggles to reconcile forms of neurodivergence that might arise as a result of other disabilities. So, congenitally deaf people have seemingly universal differences in their auditory cortex and the frontal regions of their brain. There is some compelling evidence that shows hearing loss accelerates neural atrophy and that deaf people may be at more risk of conditions like early onset dementia (also not a neurodivergence due to post-birth onset btw), but this is not a neurodivergence because being deaf is more about being deaf, you see, which means that it can't also be about neurodivergence.

If medical science disagrees with The Sheldon, then the medical science is incorrect. The medical science that agrees with The Sheldon is never incorrect and is always an accurate reflection of the best information possible. If somebody exhibits all signs and symptoms of autism but is not diagnosed, The Sheldon does not consider them autistic, for the medical industry knows best; if somebody they do not agree is autistic is diagnosed, then the medical industry is incorrect but only ever in this isolated instance, and it must be because that bitch was lying, because the only way for a misdiagnosis to occur in a perfect diagnostic system is deception. .

The Sheldon will also cut off various forms of what is socially constructed as autism, denying some people for whom their disability has always been "autism" a self-concept as purely autistic. So people with what used to be considered "autism" as distinct from Asperger's Syndrome, who have been recontextualized into low functioning, who have been recontextualized into high needs, who have been recontextualized into level three, who have been recontextualized into "autism with a comorbid intellectual disability," are labelled as a deviation from 'autism' by The Sheldon, for they 1. do not reflect his manifestation of autism, and 2. kinda make people think he might be like that which is the core fear of The Sheldon.

Which is the point, that The Sheldon is motivated by constructing a safe, clean, comfortable version of autism that allows him to be autistic without being thought of as potentially embodying any "negative stereotypes" potentially associated with autism. The problem being, when it comes to disability, well, some disabled people piss their pants. Some autistic people piss their pants. To be "autistic," and to attempt to create a version of autism totally distinct from ever pissing one's pants, and to inhabit the broad umbrella concept of neurodiversity while doing this, is kind of an inherent contradiction.

The Sheldon is, imo, a cultural force that weaponizes ableist shame and fear inwardly, preventing many autistic-but-raised-able people chasing the dangled apple of conditional acceptance from building cultural connections with the broader disabled world.

[goodmorningevildoers]

Enjoy today’s episode of Good Morning Evildoers. Yes, enjoy it. Bathe in the sweet sonic soundwaves as they caress the auditory cortex deep within your temporal lobe and transport you on waves of delight. It’s fine. Totally safe. Like…so totally.

Apple Link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/good-morning-evildoers/id1777113654?i=1000683388097

Amazon Music Link:

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/756faf9c-2ed1-481b-82bb-e075497fbe91/episodes/31ed52b8-64d2-4f20-bfa0-fab253885aa2/good-morning-evildoers-s1e6-you-can't-spell-horror-without-hr 

Spotify Link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2igJZ0n7QVFG5803S9zYtm?si=3VtuQuG6TnuMrLNWNUhoOw

[stone2stars]

Started looping the marching band set list while I work…

I figured syncing my auditory and motor cortex might help lock in the formations faster.

Unexpected side effects include: typing in rhythm with the percussion line, increased output efficiency, and subconsciously tuning out anything below 4kHz unless it’s a flute run.

Bonus: I’ve developed a Pavlovian reflex where high-register trills make me sit up straighter.

10 billion percent functional.