#home lab setups

[virtualizationhowto]

Mini PC Server: Things to know before you buy

Mini PC Server: Things to know before you buy #homelab #MiniPCadvantages #smallformfactorcomputing #energyefficientservers #homelabsetups #IntelCorepowereddevices #compactserversolutions #runningvirtualmachinesonMiniPCs #minipcserver

I have been testing quite a few Mini PCs over the past several days in the home lab and really have enjoyed working with many of these little devices, like an Intel NUC or other Mini PCs. They are powerful, and the amount of technology and hardware manufacturers have fit into such a tiny package is amazing. Nonetheless, are there reasons not to use a mini PC server? This post will take a “devil’s…

[cf-12]

[piano-hoarder]

Please tell me the people haven't forgotten the keyboard shortcuts.

this can't be true can it

[dhanrajcompletehealthcare]

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[bee-calm]

tbhk but they're lab-based phd students- because sometimes you just need to make the most self-indulgent au you can think of

nene

marine microbiology

talks to her culture plates, swears it makes them grow faster

tries to put cute labels on her samples then can’t remember what ANY of her shorthand means the next day

forgets her pass and gets locked out at least once a day 

algae clip-art in all of her presentations

sings in the microscope room, thinks nobody can hear her singing in the microscope room

once thought she’d re-written scientific dogma then realised she’d put a decimal point in the wrong place

thinks transcriptomics is witchcraft. is currently doing transcriptomics.

brings chocolates for the rest of the lab, is everyone’s favourite because of it

became best friends with aoi when they somehow managed to double-book the flow cytometer

could read those papers she’s been saving for weeks, OR she could spend two hours changing the colour scheme on her figures 

amane

materials chemistry, probably something space-exploration-aligned

pure synthesis, if it’s bigger than a kilodalton then he doesn’t want it anywhere near him

if there is an unlabelled round-bottom flask in the lab freezer then there’s a 90% chance it belongs to him. claims he can tell the chemicals apart by Vibes alone (amane voice: nmr is for Weaklings)

worlds messiest fume hood, yet somehow the worlds most immaculate desk-space. (currently the biggest scientific mystery the rest of the lab is working towards) 

will tell people (read: kou) that biochem isn’t real chemistry just to cause problems 

really good at teaching project students

also really good at scaring the project students by pretending to drink the toxic chemicals

extensive lanyard pin collection 

nobody has ever actually seen him go home

has a set of glassware-themed coffee mugs. much debate as to whether or not he just stole them from the lab.

kou

structural biology

just a guy and his 10 litre E.coli grow-up

once spilled an vat of LB all over the bacteria room. legend has it the stains are still there to this day

banned teru from the cryoEM room after he walked in and the entire setup almost crashed 

likes modelling structures, wonders why his computer is always running so slowly, fails to consider that the 5 pymol projects he has open at all times may have something to do with it

serial offender for walking home still wearing his goggles

thinks mammalian cell work is witchcraft 

incredibly chaotic labwork processes, still somehow gets the results anyway. most common saying: ‘this is not going in the methods section’

once dropped his earring into the liquid nitrogen tank, has still not lived it down 

has a framed photo of his first crystal on his desk

ongoing war with mitsuba over whether electron microscopy is real microscopy or not

keeps taking on side projects for other people, has yet to realise that this may be the reason he never gets to go home on time

teru

molecular biology

theory x1000, ask him a question after his presentation and there’s a 90% chance he’s got a bonus slide already prepared to answer it

benchwork also x1000, that person who asks ‘oh can i try?’ and gets amazing results first time on the experiment you’ve been trying to get right for weeks.

cell culture x0, banned from the tissue culture room, WILL contaminate any flask put within 5 feet of him

the machines hate him. the centrifuge keeps trying to eat his samples. the plate reader breaks on him at least once a week.

serial weekender

stickler for lab safety, can and will send out threatening emails reminding people to wear their gloves and lab coats

once drew the entire signalling cascade for his target molecule from memory on the whiteboard in a lab meeting and it was impressive enough that nobody has wiped it off yet 

keeps doing horrendous timecourses, can be found taking plate readings at stupid o clock in the morning 

aoi

immunology 

the flow panels she manages to pull off are a constant subject of awe and horror 

likes working weekends because it means nobody can hear her verbally threatening her cell cultures when they’re not behaving

can fit a scary amount of information onto the lid of an eppendorf tube

when stressed can be found hiding out in the plant biology greenhouses. has made friends with some genetically modified tomatoes

rocks up to the lab meeting with publication-ready figures for an experiment she did yesterday

the source of 90% of the passive aggressive post-it notes around the lab

everyone dreads her post-presentation questions. will dissect your experiments and do it with a smile.

started off working normal hours but has gradually become borderline nocturnal over time

teru contaminated her cells once, has been using it as leverage to make him collect things from stores for her ever since

keeps giving akane’s email to sales reps instead of her own so she can get free stuff without ever being contacted by them again

akane

biophysics 

scary single molecule data, deliberately puts huge equations on his presentations so nobody will ask him questions

might as well get paid lab tech wages too, chronically stuck on stock solution duty

crashed the lab computer trying to run one of his datasets on it

the only reason the lab has a booking system for the equipment. anarchy would prevail if he wasn’t around.

will go off to do photobleaching experiments and emerge hours later looking like a cave creature

keeps having to fix the equipment that teru breaks

perpetually receiving emails meant for aoi by people who got their names mixed up

also perpetually receiving emails from the company sales reps who aoi told his email to so she wouldn’t have to deal with them

says he needs to stop working weekends, then suddenly it’s saturday and he’s stuck in the microscope room with teru again

has somehow acquired a small army of project students (none of them are studying the same thing as him)

incubation time= coffee time

mitsuba

cell biology

made a cell line, treats it like it’s his baby

trust issues, won’t let ANYONE share his reagents. serial pipette hoarder.

neat lab book, can still somehow never find where he put his protocols or what concentrations he used his antibodies at

could probably win an award for his immunofluorescence images, someone automatically turns the lights off when it’s his turn to present in lab meetings bc he’s guaranteed to have cool microscopy to show

thinks bacteria work is disgusting. ensures kou knows this.

[emerging from a 5-hour session in the microscope room] what day is it?????

loves his work, doesn’t act like it (the reagents smell bad. the lab benches are dirty. people keep using the milk he brought to put in the fridge. nobody cleans the water bath. if there’s nothing to complain about, he’ll make something.)

threatens to move to industry at least once a day 

outright refuses to do weekends

found the perfect colour scheme for his graphs, considers this the highlight of his entire degree

any minor inconvenience is an excuse to go to the cafe on campus

natsuhiko

innate immunity, infection

zebrafish models

nobody is sure if he bought a tie-dye lab coat or if it’s just that badly stained

has absolutely named his fish (doesn’t actually remember which is which, but the sentiment is there)

forever followed by a gaggle of project students. is constantly reminding them to do as he says, not as he does 

incubation times are a suggestion, not a rule (read: keeps getting distracted and leaving his experiments way longer than necessary)

convinced he’s going to be patient zero of the zombie apocalypse when he accidentally creates super-salmonella and infects himself 

serial distractor, WILL chat to people while they’re in the middle of a 96-well plate

isn’t going to eat the LB agar, but the temptation is always there

someone bought him the ‘women want me, fish fear me’ hat for his birthday, keeps it on his desk

the confocal microscope hates to see him coming (5 hours is a short session when you’re trying to take z-stacks of an entire fish)

sakura 

drug discovery 

probably dabbles in synthesis, plays orchestral music while running columns bc apparently it gives them better separation 

tea drawer in the office, WILL pull out an entire teapot during their incubation times 

best dressed person in the lab, at all times

eternal struggle of dangly earrings versus the samples they’re leaning over

neat handwriting, still terrible at labelling eppendorfs (what are the lids so small for)

incubation times to the second

runs BIG experiments, has mastered the art of the plate plan. made a template which has somehow ended up distributed around the entire department 

ceo of not replying to sales rep emails 

mildly allergic to the nitrile gloves, the drawer below the tea drawer is the hand cream drawer

earphones + cell culture is the ideal de-stress activity

over-prepares for presentations, will spend 2 weeks rehearsing an informal flash talk

probably the only person who actually sends their lab coat to get washed

mei

tissue engineering 

has designed all of her labmates a mug with terrible research-relevant science puns on them 

invented side-projects, has probably got a collaboration ongoing with every other lab in the department 

bought a label printer for her reagents, has way too much fun with it

thought a week-long experiment was bad? try two months

life goal is to get to try making DNA origami just to say she did it

keeps starting doodle chains on the lab whiteboard

experiment worked= sweet treat to celebrate

experiment failed= sweet treat to commiserate 

probably did a masters in the microbiology department, they keep trying to convince her to switch projects back to them bc her streak plating was gallery-worthy

picks up her lab coat and 10 pens fall out of the pockets

sold her soul to parafilm

tsukasa

RNA therapeutics

goes in cell culture with no gloves, still somehow doesn’t get contamination 

that one insane person who actually enjoys the stress of working with RNA

doesn’t even do SDS-PAGE but still has coomassie stain all over his lab coat 

keeps launching dry ice rockets 

homebrewed a microfluidics system in the lab, it makes weird noises at night and everyone is slightly terrified of it

keeps materialising in the corner of the microscope room when mitsuba is in the middle of taking images. the cause of many a dropped slide.

plots his data in excel

worlds worst file names. no system, no dates, just a keyboard smash and a prayer

who needs desk space when you can just move your laptop into the lab

gave into temptation and tasted the cell culture media once. it was disappointing 

either the most incoherent presentation you’ve ever seen, or a major scientific breakthrough, no inbetween 

[bookworrm1999]

How Far Away? Part 11

Caleb x Mc

Tags: unplanned pregnancy, presumed death, depression, miscommunication

Summary: Mc and Caleb fight right before he goes on a long mission into space. Caleb ends up MIA while Mc finds out she's pregnant. She struggles to deal with the grief while Caleb is fighting for his life to make it back home to her.

AO3

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12

Epilogue

Stepping into the Professor’s house, he started clocking his surroundings.

He was aware of the office upstairs and the seperate drive semi-hidden in the corner that was only hooked up to the computer when needed.

The Professor was usually quite vigilant when it came to keeping that information safe and keeping it unconnected to an internet connection except when needed, it was a deterrent.

But Caleb wasn’t a hacker from some far off place, he was a wolf in sheep’s clothing sneaking in to do the deed himself.

The Professor came ambling around the corner from the kitchen, holding a steaming mug of coffee.

“Ah you’re here!”

“Yes.”

“I’m surprised that you set up the appointment yourself. Usually I have to drag you to check you myself.” The professor takes an unworried sip of his coffee, unaware of Caleb’s murderous thoughts.

“I’m glad though, I was honestly worried that we’d have to replace our prime weapon so soon after accomplishing greatness.”

Caleb was used to this, being referred to as an object, not even human in their eyes. An experimental weapon to be controlled and pointed at their enemies.

So he didn’t say a word.

The Professor gestured him up the floating glass stairs to the upstairs lab, coffee spilling past his chin uncaringly.

He followed his designated keeper up the stairs, all the while his mind whirring with possibilities for a natural looking assassination attempt.

The Professor was in good health, in good shape, and was generally cautious.

Planning this could take a bit of time but Caleb’s first priority was the files on his arm and the chip in his head.

He was gestured towards a chair, in the middle of the lab, a mirror of his setup at his own home.

Taking a seat after removing his jacket and shirt, plugs were connected to ports in his arm and his face grimaced the slightest bit.

Painful as always but they had done nothing to change this for him.

The professor took another big gulp of his coffee, setting it down and sitting at the monitor to check on the results.

“Good, I’m not seeing any issues from repeated use of the Evol or any degradation from time in space. Assimilation looks to be on schedule too.”

Caleb could feel the slow crawl of the machinery under his skin, transforming him slowly into their perfect weapon.

The Professor grimaced slightly and Caleb picks up a slight grumble from his stomach.

“Pardon me, I’ll be back.”

Leaving him to finish the diagnostic, he leaves the room presumably for the bathroom. Ah, the coffee. Well, this provides him a non-suspicious opportunity to head for the office.

Disconnecting himself, Caleb quickly made his way down the hall.

There was the drive in the corner, disconnected as usual. Oh well, it didn’t need to be connected to power because his own drive had a portable power supply.

Plugging it in, it loaded everything from the drive within a minute before turning red to indicate it was wiping the original drive.

Well, that’s one good thing about Sylus, he doesn’t skimp on quality products.

Sticking the small drive back into his pocket, he quickly makes his way back to the lab and connects himself once again. Pain shoots through his arm and his face shows the full extent this time.

Showing this in front of the Professor would only encourage him, taking pleasure in his pain.

It took another five minutes for the Professor to return from the bathroom.

“Ah good, we’re finished. Looks like nothing needs to be done. How is your chip?”

“Fine.”

“Mmm, we should do a diagnostic soon but not today, we’d need to open you and I don’t have the time.”

Ah his favorite, where the professor opens a port in his brain and messes with the chip embedded in the limbic system of his brain.

Usually, pressing on certain areas to see how Caleb responds, with no pain medication either.

Requiring him to fall into his brainwashed state to hide the fact that his chip was at a low integrity now.

Caleb didn’t respond to this and instead stands up to put his shirt and jacket back on.

As he buttons his shirt, the Professor looks at him a bit sadistically and Caleb gets a feeling in the pit of his stomach.

“A little bird told me that she has been spotted with a belly that appears to indicate pregnancy. Any idea how that could have happened?”

He knew.

The professor was taunting him with the knowledge, showing him that struggle was pointless as she was back in their sights.

His fingers trembled a bit but that was the only thing he allowed himself before Caleb just gave the other man a blank stare.

The uncaring man just laughed meanly

“Well, it makes no difference what you say. It’ll be ours in the end.”

The hairs raised on the back of his neck, his daughter, an it? That’s all their baby was worth to them?

“I’ll be heading out.”

The professor waves a dismissive hand at him as he turns back to the monitor.

As Caleb leaves, he clocks the floating stairs as he heads out.

Maybe that’s all he needs to do.

Waving a hand, he sets his trap.

Caleb makes his way out and gets in his car to drive a few streets away. Stopping at a bakery, he picks out a small tart for her to bring home.

All the while keeping a mental eye on his trap laid.

As he pays for the tart, he feels it.

A firm bump.

With a smile, he lets go of his mental hold.

The invisible but firm concentration of gravity that he had left in place at the top of those convenient floating stairs.

Caleb had left it there to catch his unsuspecting keeper off guard and send him careening down through the stairs to his death.

A simple fall shown by the camera’s view and an unfortunate accident.

Caleb had been there but there was nothing to implicate him as he was shown driving away and at another location at the time.

His trap invisible to anyone’s scrutinizing eye.

Satisfied, he takes the tart home to his love like a hunter returning from a successful hunt with prey.

**

The news, over the next few days, reports on the sad tragedy of the poor man falling to his death in his own home. No foul play was suspected as he had been home alone and no substance was found on the stairs.

The fleet had questioned him about the incident but there was nothing to hold him with even if they wanted to.

His love sat there on the couch, watching with a mix of relief and anxiety.

“When you went over there, I thought you were only going for the files and that you were waiting to find a good opportunity to kill him.”

“I was initially but-“ he paused, it was still a bad habit of his not to tell her things. “I didn’t tell you this but, he knew. He knew you were pregnant and that it was my baby. He threatened you and our little girl.”

“Oh, so you acted that fast because you were scared of what they might do.”

“I was terrified, I don’t know if he had discussed it with anybody else and I didn’t want to take the risk. It worked out fine, thankfully.”

“This time, but next time your target is an even higher profile. Please promise me you’ll be careful, all this work for you to end up in prison or worse killed, it would devastate me.”

“I’d let myself die if it kept you safe.”

She points a stern finger towards him

“Get that crap out of your head, we need you.”

Her hand rests on her ever growing belly.

Hearing that she needed him always made him happy, he smiled.

“Yes dear.”

Narrowing her eyes at the joke, she moves on.

“What will happen to Kevi?”

“I went through the Fleet to secure an unaffiliated foster family for him, I secretly deactivated his chip, it hadn’t been that long since he was first outfitted with it so they still had a kill switch for safety concerns. Young children often have issues with it due to their developing brains.”

“I hope he’ll be okay.”

“I worked with the foster family to secure a therapist for him, it’s up to Kevi if he opens up and accepts help. But I did my best to set him up for success.”

“Thank you.” She sighed a breath of relief, “I’ve been so worried about Kevi.”

Turning to him, she smiles in thanks.

Reaching out with his hand, he cups her cheek and she leans into him, closing in her eyes in contentment.

A quiet moment before Sylus and Zayne showed up.

After much bargaining, she had convinced him to let them into his home and secret room.

Following the instructions sent by Zayne, they had set it up to be a sterile room as much as possible while their resident doctor would be taking over when he made his appearance.

Zayne and Sylus would be sharing their findings after they had spent the past few days reviewing the new information they had sent to them.

Making paper copies and sending it via courier, one of the twins under Sylus’s care she had informed him.

Sylus had already conferred with Phillip and gotten his expertise so that there was no need to further compromise their home.

It was time, a knock came from the door, the two men had surprisingly showed up at the same time.

Coming in awkwardly, they stood there with large cases of luggage like they were moving in too.

Caleb cleared his throat to break the awkward silence and asked

“Well? What’s first?”

Sylus stepped forward

“My turn then. I’ll get straight to the point, they’re using a specialized nano probe that slowly transforms your body to be more machine-like from what we’ve seen with your arm.”

She sits forward and clasps Caleb’s hand, grounding them as a team.

“What can we do?”

“First, I need a blood sample because that’s where you’ll find the nano probes. We can’t fight against them but we can work with them. The original programming was in the files you sent but I need a live sample to do anything. My plan is to get a few nano probes, change their coding so that they act like a virus. Implanting the new programming all around your body to the other nano probes so that you won’t be at risk anymore.”

Caleb looks at her with excitement, it was possible! He didn’t have to become a machine.

It was Zayne’s turn then and from his face, they could tell it wasn’t pretty.

“It seems like you’re one of the few that Ever implanted the Toring chip directly into the brain itself. It keeps a bigger hold on you since it’s directly affecting your limbic system. There is a port that they left in the back of your skull for access, which does make it easier on me since I don’t have much experience with brain surgery.”

He seems to sigh and rub the bridge of his nose.

“What I’m about to say will seem crazy but it seems to be our best course of action. From the way they did things, they never intended to remove the chip. It is directly powered by your body’s low magnetic field and the chip has anchors that latch directly into your brain tissue. Taking it out by force would at best leave you with severe brain damage and at worst, kill you.”

“Is there anything we can do?” She asks this as she seems to place her body unconsciously in front of his, as if she could protect him from his own brain.

“I was getting to that, my theory is that if we can stop Caleb’s heart and make the chip think he’s medically dead, that the anchors will let his brain go and we can retrieve it then. The risk is that we may not be able to get him back, there’s no guarantee that we can start his heart up again.”

They look at each other, another dive into death and danger. Caleb was willing to take the risk, taking it out by force would mean that he might not even be Caleb anymore or that he’d die anyway.

She would hate this but it was their best course for success.

“Let’s do it then.”

Before going to the back room to set up, Zayne draws a vial of blood for Sylus.

Who then retrieves a computer with a specialized receiver for the blood they had just drawn. The centrifuge whirrs as it separates the blood from the nano probes.

Bringing up the new program on the monitor, he begins to overwrite the nano probes. Sylus makes idle conversation as they wait anxiously.

“That arm of yours is quite interesting, the possibilities, I’d be interested in taking a look at it if you’re amenable. I recall seeing that you can’t feel sensations besides pain, I think that we could work on that too if this all works out.”

She looks excited at the prospect of them being friends, Caleb can see it in the way she pulls herself to attention. Well, it wouldn’t be the worst thing to keep him close, Sylus has many useful contacts.

Zayne comes out, presumably having finished setting up.

Sylus asks

“Do you have a suspension fluid that we could inject into him safely?”

He does.

They prepare the reprogrammed nano probes, using the centrifuge to combine them into the fluid. Zayne is the one who injects it back into Caleb, into his other arm this time.

It’s a risk but he’ll have to trust his love’s judgment when it comes to these people, they’re his best chances for coming out of this safe and human.”

**

The three of them are in the backroom now, Sylus waited outside. Everyone of them had used the washing station and then suited up to be sterile.

She was just there for moral support as Caleb would be awake for part of this.

They’d be putting him to sleep when they shocked his heart into stopping.

Caleb lays face forward in a chair that looks like it’s meant for massages but has a scary looking rack to keep his head still attached.

“I’m trusting you to do this Dr. Zayne.”

“If you can’t trust me, trust me as a doctor who’s taken an oath.”

Grunting in acknowledgment as she sits next to him. Zayne secures his head in the rack before opening the port to his head to confirm the position of the chip.

He was given some pain medication before but there was still the odd sensation like a door being peeled open in his head.

The doctors voice coming through the mask muffled

“Confirming the chip’s location, it’s still where it was reported to be when inserted. Confirming visual on the anchors. I’ll now start the procedure if you two are ready.”

Caleb had already been hooked up to a heart monitor and a machine to shock his heart. To stop his heart and to bring him back.

They squeeze each other's hands, ready to do this to have a normal life together.

“Ready.”

“I’ll push this sedative then.”

Caleb feels his eyes go heavy.

**

You watch as Caleb is sedated and his eyes close, a minute passes before Zayne starts the machine to stop his heart.

“Beginning process.”

You can see Caleb’s muscles tighten and spasm before going loose, the heart monitor letting out a flat tone.

“Heart stopped, we have 5 minutes to succeed, confirming removal of anchors.”

You wait an agonizing 30 seconds, looking at Caleb’s slack face knowing that he’s technically dead right now. It sends your stomach rolling, it’s ok, Zayne will take care of him.

“Anchors removing themselves! I’m now reaching in with forceps for removal.”

He drops the small chip with long metallic strands hanging off into a dish on the side table.

“Closing port, beginning procedure to restart his heart.”

You help Zayne lay him back onto the table, the risk of infection low now that his brain was closed back up.

“Starting at 50, clear!”

Caleb’s body jerks a bit, but no heartbeat. Zayne starts CPR, keeping a steady rhythm.

No heartbeat except for the jumps being made from the CPR.

“Charging to 100, clear!”

Zayne steps back as you watch a bit helplessly. Watching Caleb’s slack face and the flat tone of the monitor.

Jerking again, but there’s nothing.

All you can hear as you collapse into the chair is Zayne’s voice calm but firm. The room spins, was this really a good idea?

The word “Clear!” would haunt your dreams.

Tags: @moonberry69 @supermyeon22 @tinnyrabbit @gavin3469 @marina27826 @crowleysthings @tabi-callico @midiplier

@his-ocean-emissary @rosalyne08

@xaviers-pookie-bear @tsunamethyst @thejujvtsupost @cherrybeomgyu

@gojosballsack69 @apple-lov3r @dinochocochip @violetpurplez @raiyuxa @nickibunny23 @sh3sa1dwhat @playboygeniusphilanthropist @flwerie @lynnlovesthestars @twilightsmissingfur

@kasuumi @i-messed-up-big-time @mcdepressed290 @mc-cos-charm @needsleep3000

[ur-sick-and-married]

MY VALENTINE • CAITVI

CONTAINS: mentions of past trauma, mentions of the war, fluff

SUMMARY: Cait and Vi chat on Valentine’s Day.

A/N: I’m trying a new setup for this because it is honestly so annoying to find photos that match and everything lol. Anyways, Happy Valentine’s Day! Here’s a fluffy little blurb of Caitvi (not x reader).

Valentine’s Day isn’t a huge thing in the undercity, so Violet was surprised to see flowers and a small box of treats (cupcakes, of course) waiting for her when she got home. It almost brought tears to her eyes. Caitlyn’s acts of love always made her emotional, and giddy.

So now the two of them were cuddled up on the couch, each eating a cupcake, and talking about life, even though they already knew everything about each other. Caitlyn was talking about how scary it was seeing Jayce Talis almost get hurt when Powder had accidently exploded his lab, yet how amusing it was that Cait and Vi were so close to each other without knowing until years later.

“I think the scariest moment in my life…” Vi said when there was a lull in the conversation. “Was seeing you after the war. When you lost your eye…”

Vi gently touched one of the strings holding the eyepatch to Cait’s face. Cait forced herself to not pull away. She was still working on getting used to only having one eye.

“That doesn’t seem as scary as other things you’ve experienced.” Caitlyn commented.

“Like what?” Vi said.

“You’ve watched a lot of family members perish.” Caitlyn pointed out quietly.

“Yeah, but…” Vi sighed. “After the war, you were pretty beat up, cupcake. It looked almost impossible for you to recover. That’s what scared me…the thought of losing you. Because if I had lost you, I would have really lost everything. I wouldn’t have anything left.”

Cait listened intently, her eye wide and burning with unshed tears. “Violet…”

“What?” Vi said, as if she hadn’t just said the most heartbreaking thing ever.

Caitlyn simply moved closer to Vi, causing Vi to wrap her arm around the taller girl.

“I’m just telling the truth.” Vi shrugged.

“Sometimes I worry that we won’t last, or this isn’t…real.” Caitlyn whispered. “But, I swear, every day you prove that you truly love and care for me.”

“Of course this will last, cupcake.” Vi smiled a little. “Dirt under your nails, remember?”

“Yes, I remember.” Caitlyn also smiled.

“Hey, thank you for the…Valentine’s stuff.” Vi said after a few minutes. “I’ve never celebrated today before.”

“I’m glad you liked it.” Cait responded. “And I’m glad that you’re my valentine.”

[antiquatedsimmer]

Modern Foxbury Dorms

30x20 Lot: Tidal Tower

GalleryID: Pathesis

Pack heavy & CC Required (Linked undercut)

Welcome to Foxbury!

As you enter you'll find the café, bookstore, Councilor/student services, and art displays on the 1st floor while your dorms are upstairs.

Use the stairwells on the north or east side while the 2nd elevator is out of service, and Please silence phones in the computer lab. There is absolutely No Phones allowed in testing rooms during exams. Our students are provided with a pristine lounge, feel free to stop by your RA's Desk with any concerns!

🦞LETS GO LOBSTERS LETS GO!🦞

Download Tray Files On Patreon or SFS

Required CC:

Yes its a lot lmao sorry I didn't plan on sharing it until I finished it and was quite proud off. Thank you creators for the lovely cc!

Rise&Grind by Little Dica

RVSN High Petrol Gas Station

RVSN Supplies Party

Simdulgence Condom Dispenser - Early Access

Nostalgia Living by AWingdLlama

RVSN Shop Chef Consumables

RVSN Family Bulletin Board

Greatist Hits CD Collection by Brainstrip & Draufilm

Simpost CC Kit by MylittleponyOH

Cozy Setup Collection by Caio

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[virtualizationhowto]

How to Enable GPU Passthrough to LXC Containers in Proxmox #proxmox #gpupassthrough #lxccontainer #docker #ollama #openwebui

[lavender-vixen]

ok but hear me out… if JD from Heathers, Billy Hargrove from Stranger Things, and Patrick Hockstetter from IT all went to Derry High at the same time… how would that even go?? like would they get along?? would they hate each other?? and what would Henry Bowers think of JD and Billy?? Derry’s small right?? so they totally could’ve known each other?? 👀✨ pls i need thoughts on this chaos group

yes! this whole setup works surprisingly well when you think about the setting, personalities, and small-town logistics. this is about to get very LONG.

the timeline & realistic overlap:

billy hargrove: 18 in 1985, born march 29, 1967 → graduated derry high that year (if he wasn't killed by pennywise). in 1989, he's 21, still in town—either attending a local community college, working a dead-end job, or just drifting and partying. his senior year, he was untouchable. one of the hottest, scariest guys in school. he ruled by sheer charisma, brute strength, and presence. he was loud, violent, magnetic. thrill-seeking behavior at its peak. shirtless in a leather jacket, burnout at the edge of the football field, lighting fireworks in the woods just because. party king, fights everyone. teachers hate him but couldn't really stop him. girls adored him, guys wanted to be him. no one says no to billy and lives unbruised. then he graduated in '85. but the ghosts of his reputation still hung in the derry locker room, and the boys who were once watching are now playing. billy's still in town in '89, still hot, still angry, but the throne is somewhat gone. he shows up to high school parties, flirts with teachers, his friends' moms, sneaks henry and patrick into bars. he's the "cool older guy" but also a warning sign. he works at a garage, maybe takes community college classes he never finishes. sleeps with people he shouldn't. flirts with mrs. hockstetter. screams at neil at 3 a.m. he's circling the drain but still glowing with that heat.

jd (jason dean): 18 in fall of 1989, born likely fall 1971 → senior at Derry High. smart-mouthed freshman when billy was a senior. had a dangerous glint in his eye. curious about everything, including billy. maybe even obsessed in a quiet, observant way. he's the kid who stalks billy home one time. he's starting to realize people are manipulatable. his brain is years ahead of his mouth, but his mouth is catching up fast. billy didn't notice freshman jd, but jd noticed everything about senior billy. by '89, jd is charismatic, sharp, terrfying in a quiet way. he debates teachers to their faces and wins. lures henry and patrick into games of "truth or dare." he's refined his persona. he talks like a cult leader. derry high is his lab. he gives out answers, fireworks, old chemistry notes, for a price. he controls the energy in every room he walks into. he's everything billy wasn't: controlled, quiet, smart, but just as dangerous. jd isn't intimidated by billy, but he is fascinated. jd plays nice when they hang out. he wants to see how far billy will fall.

henry bowers: 16 in 1989, born may 4, 1973 → should be a junior but got held back, making him a sophomore. was already fighting older boys, already pulling knives in the middle school lunchroom. trying so hard to get billy's attention. watched billy from afar, talked about him like a myth. when billy finally shoved him against a locker for being annoying, henry felt both scared and noticed. by '89, he's angry, dangerous, insecure. still trying to be billy. he gets loyalty through fear. still a pack leader in his own group, but increasingly unstable. leans on jd now for direction. fights, drinks, loses control. but he keeps coming back to billy because billy understands him better than anyone. billy gives henry what his dad doesn't: genuine attention.

patrick hockstetter: 15 in 1989, born february 4, 1974 → sophomore. silent. observing. dangerous as a middle schooler. not social. not friendly. but very interested in billy and not in a way he fully understood yet. patrick was the weird kid who knew too much about the missing cat and didn't flinch when billy screamed at someone. he was already desensitized. by '89, he's a muted menace. introspective, cold, magnetic in his stillness. uses selective attachment. only opens up to jd. obsessed with him. watches him constantly. worships his intelligence and control. stays close to henry. smokes quietly while jd monologues about entropy and destruction. kills small animals. feels seen for the first time. he still sees billy on occasion, probably even has a hand-me-down shirt billy once let him borrow. but jd? jd is his role model now.

derry's a small town. there's only one high school, one middle school, maybe two elementary schools. these boys would've crossed paths. billy would've been in high school while henry and patrick were still in middle school. jd and patrick 100% would've had overlapping classes at some point. henry and jd probably shared classes freshman/sophomore year.

billy + henry: brothers bonded in violence. billy is the guy henry bowers looks up to, the one he imitates, brags about knowing, and secretly wants to be. henry remembers being shoved into lockers by billy when he was in 8th grade. now? he wants billy's approval more than anything.

they connect over:

their dads: butch bowers (cop) and neil hargrove (bank security guard), both abusive, both deeply invested in enforcing their version of masculinity.

rage: billy sees that fire in henry's eyes and respects it. henry's down for anything: lighting stuff on fire, beating the shit out of someone for looking at them wrong, dropping acid at a bonfire. billy lives for that reckless loyalty.

parties: billy picks henry up in that loud-ass car, takes him to college parties where nobody questions their age because billy knows the right people, gets him laid. henry gets blackout drunk, tries to fight someone, and billy laughs it off, like "he's my kid. let him scrap." henry would break a guy's nose at a party for calling him a psycho. billy drags him outside, laughing, gives him a cigarette, and says, "you're gonna do great things, bowers. fucked-up things, but great."

jd + patrick: intellectual darkness. patrick finally finds someone who doesn't treat him like a freak. jd's not afraid of him. in fact, jd gets him. jd sees in patrick that raw, chaotic potential that hasn't found a shape yet. where henry pushes patrick around, jd plays chess with him, figuratively and maybe literally.

stoner philosophy sessions: they get high, walk through the woods behind the school, talk about whether evil is inherent or learned, whether a god exists, if souls are real.

music & style: patrick starts mimicking jd's taste by osmosis, industrial music, beat-up combat boots, old band tees. jd notices and lets it happen.

experiments: jd lets patrick help him build mini pipe bombs or pressure bottle bombs behind the school. patrick loves it. jd calls it science. patrick calls it punk rock. jd says something like, "everyone thinks you're a freak. they're not wrong. but maybe that's what makes you more evolved." patrick stares at him like he's god. jd smirks and offers him a clove cigarette.

jd + henry: frenemies with benefits (of convenience). henry doesn't get jd, but he knows better than to piss him off. jd has connections, brains, and that scary calm that makes henry feel uneasy. but jd gets him out of trouble, gives him answers for tests, and occasionally helps him rig pranks.

jd calls him "bowers" like he's a character in a comic book.

henry grumbles but takes his advice, especially when it benefits him.

they occasionally fight. jd once bloodied henry's nose for real. but they always go back to being "cool."

billy + jd: respect at a distance. they don't hang out often, but they know of each other. billy thinks jd's a freak, but a smart one. jd thinks billy is a narcissist but kind of pathetic, a guy who peaked in high school. but they understand each other's rage. there's this unspoken thing between them. they don't mess with each other's territory, they tolerate each other. jd would walk into a party with patrick and henry in tow. billy would be there, and they'd exchange a glance across the room, nod slightly. that's it. but it's loaded.

billy + patrick: history of bullying, new weird tension. billy used to shove patrick into lockers and flick lighters near his hair when patrick was in middle school. now? patrick still occasionally flinches around him, like a defense mechanism, but there's...something else. respect? fear? attraction? billy probably still calls him "freak," but less mean now. patrick would bring weed to a party. billy would smirk, sling an arm over his shoulder, and say, "guess you finally figured out how to be useful." patrick would smirk, and henry would watch from a distance, fuming.

one thing they'd bond over: daddy issues.

butch bowers is a man who wraps his rage in a badge. he likely has alcohol use disorder (severe), intermittent explosive disorder, narcissistic personality disorder (grandiose subtype), and possibly paranoid personality traits. he's a domestic violence perpetrator, too. butch is a classic authoritarian abuser. he thrives on control, respect, and fear. he views his family as extensions of himself, property. his masculinity is fragile as hell, so he overcompensates with brute force and physical abuse. as a cop, he abuses power both at home and on the street. he probably cheats, lies, takes bribes, and gaslights with impunity. he has sudden, disproportionate outbursts of violence, an inability to tolerate perceived "disrespect," a disdain for vulnerability, softness, or anything he deems "weak" (especially in boys). he also sees love as control. you obey, or you suffer. henry internalized that rage, misogyny, and obsessed with dominance. he learned love as terror, carries immense shame he masks with brutality, and may secretly hate his father, but mimics him out of fear and conditioning.

neil hargrove is the man who broke his son and blamed him for it. he, too, has narcissistic personality disorder (malignant subtype) and is a domestic abuse perpetrator. i'd also argue he demonstrates obsessive-compulsive personality disorder traits, possibly intergenerational trauma (untreated), and mild sadistic tendencies. neil is a control freak in every aspect of life. he cares deeply about appearances, obedience, structure, but not about love. he uses verbal and physical abuse to enforce his worldview. he presents himself as a stable family man, but his rage is precise, surgical. he's not impulsive like butch, he's calculated. he likely believes children exist to reflect their fathers, punishes perceived softness with humiliation, and never apologizes, ever. he claims to act out of love ("it's for your own good, billy.") billy self-loathes, a deep, corrosive self-loathing. he learned to equate love with violence and control, to fear his own emotions, and to create a performance-based identity: if he's not the best, the strongest, the hottest, he's nothing. billy learned to fake it to survive.

bud dean is a man who laughs when he should be listening. i'd diagnose him with dependent personality disorder, avoidant tendencies (emotionally conflict-avoidant, passively enabling), and possibly cyclothymic traits (mood instability without clear bipolar pattern). he also displays a permissive parenting style. bud tries to be "the cool dad" while jd is literally imploding. he avoids serious conversations with humor, often at his son's expense. bud lacks any real boundaries: lets jd drink, skip class, blow things up, as long as the neighbors don't complain. he weaponizes self-pity when jd expresses frustration: "i'm doing my best here, son. you think this is easy for me?" his grief over his wife's death gets sublimated into this weird forced cheerfulness, because he can't handle darkness. he calls jd "dad" as a joke, but also maybe kind of means it. because jd's the one with clarity. jd's the one who holds the pieces together. the reversal of roles? jd hates it. resents it. but also clings to the power it gives him. jd's never challenged, he's just left to rot in his own brilliance and nihilism, so he creates chaos to feel something real. he craves structure but sabotages anyone who offers it. bud never gave him a stable "no," so jd doesn't know how to cope with resistance from others. jd learned early on that adults are clowns in costumes, so he tests everyone: girlfriends, teachers, cops, to see who's pretending. he has a deep, gnawing hatred of his father's passivity. jd would rather be a monster than a wind bag. if someone asked jd how his dad is, he'd probably say: "he's like a beige couch. there, soft, sometimes smells like cigarettes. but you'd never cry on it."

patrick's dad is emotionally distant, unable to properly grieve the loss of avery. he pretends everything's fine. he hosts dinner parties, ignores the missing neighborhood pets, and tells the school patrick is "just going through a phase." mr. hockstetter is a firm handshake, a pressed shirt, and a severed conscience. i see him as being a high-functioning subtype of antisocial personality disorder, narcissistic personality disorder (covert type), and possibly alexithymia (inability to recognize or describe emotions). he's polished, professional, well-established traveling paint salesman, and emotionally hollow. the kind of man who smiles wide for the hoa potluck and then ignores his wife crying in the bathroom. he views fatherhood as an obligation, not a connection. he taught patrick not with affection, but with silence, pressure, and subtle cruetly. he never needed to raise a hand, his coldness did the job. he likely dismisses emotions as "overreactions," sees himself as a provider and nothing more, and believes weakness is moral failure. he has a collection of vintage autographed baseballs and no actual interest in his son's life. patrick's sociopathy isn't just nature, it was modeled. he learned to mirror emotions from watching his dad manipulate people. his detachment, his game of masks, started at home.

would the dads get along in derry?

butch + neil: yes, for a while...until someone steps out of line and the testosterone boils over. fire meets steel, burns hot and fast. they both value control dominance, and fear as forms of respect. they'd get drunk together at a derry townie bar, talk about how "kids these days need a good smack." they'd smoke cheap cigars in the garage while complaining about their "useless" sons. they'd hate "pansy-ass teachers" at the school and make racist jokes and laugh like brothers. but butch is impulsive and paranoid, and neil is calculating and image-obsessed. neil might not want to be seen with "white trash" like butch once he starts getting sloppy. butch would suspect neil was cheating at poker or mocking him behind his back. neil would mock him behind his back. eventually, someone would throw a punch. neil's too cold to start it, but butch would. but their shared enemy is feelings.

butch + bud: absolutely not. butch would call him a "disgrace" and threaten to beat him with a wrench. rage meets the recliner. butch sees bud as a goddamn coward. bud doesn't beat his kid, doesn't set rules, probably lets the boy wear eyeliner and blow up mailboxes. butch would despise bud's permissiveness and emotional avoidance. bud views butch as intense, scary, and probably needs to see a shrink. bud would choose his battles around butch, try to joke to break tension, and butch would threaten to kill hi in the parking lot of a grocery store. bud would later tell jd, "that guy? total psycho." butch yells, bud plays it off, jd watches and files it away as another example of adults being stupid. butch and bud would have no common ground.

butch + mr. hockstetter: superficially, yes. they'd bond over conservative values and "discipline." but butch would be creeped out by his yuppie smarminess over time. the badge and the briefcase. on the surface, they might nod in agreement at pta meetings about "kids needing discipline." butch appreciates a man who keeps his lawn trimmed and his son quiet. but underneath, butch is loud, crass, emotionally volatile. mr. hockstetter is silent, evasive, surgically cruel. mr. hockstetter finds butch repulsive and emotionally messy. butch thinks mr. hockstetter is "one of those quiet sickos." they'd have a shared interest in public image maintenance, belief in control. but they're different breeds of predator. butch is a junkyard dog, mr. hockstetter is a wolf.

neil + mr. hockstetter: yes, and dangerously well. they'd see themselves in each other and be highly competitive. the mirror image, without reflection. these two are the ones you HAVE to watch. both are narcissistic, emotionally repressive, and deeply concerned with appearances. they'd exchange stock tips, make dry jokes about their wives, and judge everyone else in the room. they like hosting cookouts where no one talks about feelings and everything tastes like control. they believe weakness is a sin and boys must become men on their own. neil and mr. hockstetter could become allies or rivals. they might swap stories about "disciplining their sons" in that horrifying clinical way: no emotion, just strategy. they respect each other because they lack warmth.

neil + bud: no. neil would loathe bud's immaturity. precision meets tequila. neil views bud as unfit to be a parent. that bud's the kind of dad who creates degenerates. neil probably blames bud's parenting style for "all the commies and anarchists." bud views neil as "strict but probably means well..." bud might try to befriend neil once. it would end with neil saying something cruel and bud turning it into a chaotic, absurd moment. neil would never speak to bud again unless forced. bud tells jd, "he's just a little intense." jd rolls his eyes so hard they might detach.

bud + mr. hockstetter: weirdly, maybe. as neighbors, yes. as dads, no. mr. hockstetter thinks bud is a joke, and bud thinks mr. hockstetter is vapid. the manipulator and the man-child. they're both emotionally disengaged, prefer not to rock the boat. they might talk about lawn care, weather, school board drama, superficial things. mr. hockstetter might even tolerate bud, because bud poses no real threat. privately, mr. hockstetter thinks bud is a walking embarrassment, acting younger than his age, partying with high school kids, wearing flashy clothes. bud finds mr. hockstetter "a little stiff," but respects how he "keeps a clean house." they share space at hoa meetings and bbqs. they wave from across the street but don't know each other's birthdays. their unspoken dynamic is politeness masking total apathy.

what about max? if maxine is in derry in 1989:

she's probably 18, in jd's grade.

patrick and henry might tease her, but she's tough and mouths off. jd lowkey respects that.

billy is extremely overprotective of her, but he'll never admit it. if he catches henry looking at her sideways? all hell breaks loose.

she becomes kind of like a sister to henry and patrick by proximity. jd might let her hang around when she's bored and give her weird music tapes to borrow. patrick sneaks her cigarettes. henry reluctantly gets rides with her from school.

the other thing they'd bond over: mommy issues.

patrick's mom is barely a person in his world. i'd say she has a mix of persistent complex bereavement disorder, major depressive disorder, substance use disorder, unspecified trauma and stressor related disorder, and possibly some traits of ocd (rigid, avoidant, fear of confronting truth). patrick's detachment from human empathy is partly rooted in that emotional void. he doesn't trust women, but he desperately wants their validation. girls are puzzles, games, prey, but deep down, he's starving for someone to choose him. patrick's mom lost avery, her baby, her sweet, perfect second son. and she knows, somewhere in her bones, that patrick had something to do with it. no proof. no confession. just a mother's instinct, the cold pit of the stomach knowing that won't go away. she lives with it. sleeps next to it. wakes up and makes breakfast for it. it torments her, haunts her. she doesn't confront patrick because...then it becomes real. and if it's real, then she failed in the most absolute way a mother can. "avery was just a baby. babies get tangled up in blankets, can't roll themselves over. it was an accident. just an accident." she says it over and over. pills and vodka help her believe it. but she avoids being alone with patrick. she flinches when he walks into a room too quietly. she doesn't hug him anymore. she doesn't touch him much. she's stopped calling him "sweetheart." and patrick knows, of course he knows. he watches her take pills, watches her hands shake when she's slicing vegetables, watches her talk to the priest after mass. she's a little afraid of him. she avoids looking him in the eyes for too long, keeps the knives put away now, doesn't invite his friends over. there are screaming matches sometimes. late at night, not over anything specific. she says things like, "why can't you just be normal?" sometimes she cries, sometimes she laughs. patrick doesn't hate her, not exactly. she's locked in a grief spiral that has festered into dysfunction. her son avery's death, traumatic and ambiguous, has bred unresolved guilt, repression, and quiet terror. she uses pills, alcohol, and religion to survive the emotional noise in her head. she shows classic features of trauma-avoidant behavior: emotional numbing, selective denial, avoidant attachment to patrick, compulsive need to control her surroundings. she likely swings between dissociation and barely-contained panic. she's aware, on some level, that patrick did something unspeakable—but she cannot name it, because if she does, she loses everything. the child she has. the belief that she was ever a good mother. her grip on reality. she's a walking phantom, slowly decomposing in her suburban kitchen.

jd's mom is dead, and that changes everything. i'd tentatively diagnose her with bipolar 1 disorder (with psychotic features, untreated), or schizophrenia disorder, bipolar type. she took her own life, likely intentional via explosion (means of exit suggests impulsivity and emotional chaos). he doesn't hate her. he idealizes the memory of her. she becomes this angelic, tragic figure in his head, the one person who would've understood him, maybe even stopped him from turning out like his dad. her absence becomes his origin story. it fuels his whole philosophy: the world is corrupt, people are fake, everything dies...and she's the only pure thing that ever existed. his mother was probably mentally unstable, likely depressed or dealing with bipolar disorder, maybe even schizophrenic traits, and he was just old enough to remember everything, including her death. he remembers the good parts, the soft parts, the music, the way she hugged him. but he also remembers the manic energy, the paranoia, the way her hands shook. and the way she died, blown up in the same house where he lived, where he probably still sleeps. whether it was intentional or an accident, it scarred him permanently. "she didn't leave, she exploded." that's what he tells people. but there's this core wound: why didn't she take me with her? jd's view of women is bifurcated: they're either innocent angels (like his mom, like veronica, until they disappoint him), or they're part of the problem. he puts girls on pedestals until they challenge his control. then he flips. hard. he sees emotional intimacy as dangerous. a threat to autonomy. but he craves it. he romanticizes instability, finds beauty in broken women, feels safest around people who are just unstable as he is, idealizes lost love, chases intensity over consistency, views emotional chaos as proof of something real, hates his dad deeply but fears becoming him, so he keeps everyone at arm's length. jd's mom was likely intelligent, creative, unstable, deep in manic or psychotic cycles. she probably experienced grandiose delusions, paranoia, and mood swings that left jd confused but enthralled by her intensity. he saw her mania as magic and her despair as sacred. she may have played piano, painted, danced, read to him, only to fall apart for weeks at a time. she was the kind of woman people say "was just too much for the world." jd idolizes her because she represents freedom and authenticity—the opposite of his cruel, mechanical father. but he also inherited her instability, and he knows it. Her death becomes a creation myth: “i’m like this because she died.” his fixation on chaos, self-destruction, and existential philosophy are all rooted in her unraveling. she’s saint joan to him. a tragic heroine. a goddess of madness.

we barely see henry's mom (henrietta bowers), but canon and fanon often lean toward her being mentally unstable, possibly abused herself, maybe institutionalized or dead. i'd say she likely suffered from ptsd (chronic, complex), depersonalization/derealization disorder (secondary dissociation), major depressive disorder (severe, possibly psychotic). either way? she was a domestic abuse victim, and she's not there anymore. henry grows up in a house where the only mother is a broken mirror of what love should be. she couldn't protect him from butch. she couldn't protect herself. she tried to nurture henry, but it came too late, and it wasn't enough. henry's rage toward his dad tuned inward and sideways. he lashed out at women, especially those who showed any softness. he didn't know how to process care or gentleness. it makes him feel weak, and he cannot be weak. he doesn't hate his mom, but her absence taught him that women are unreliable. he needs control, power, and fear to feel safe. henry's mom was likely battered into silence. a woman who started out bright and full of hope, only to be worn down by butch's rage, cheating, and control. she was probably cheated on with someone like rena davenport, some trashy mistress in town. eventually, she cracked, or maybe she just vanished one day. she packed a bag and left henry behind, which might be the greatest betrayal of his life. he doesn't know where she is, never heard from her again, doesn't even know if she's alive anymore. she didn't fight for him, didn't stay for him. she knew what butch was and left her son with that man anyway. it gave henry a deep-seated misogyny masked as bravado. he reacts violently to softness, because softness was never safe in his house. he internalizes guilt: "she left because of me." he's obsessed with control and fear, because love has always proven unreliable. henry doesn't talk about her. but if someone mentions her name, you'd see that flicker in his eyes. jd probably notices. patrick probably probs. billy gets it. henrietta is a textbook case of battered woman syndrome. she likely experienced prolonged emotional, physical, and possibly sexual abuse by butch. she may have stayed for years out of fear, shame, or learned helplessness, retreating further into herself until she ceased to function as a parent. her "cracking" was likely a psychotic break or full emotional withdrawal. her eventual disappearance may have been a desperate escape, or a complete abandonment. to henry, her absence is betrayal, but also something darker: proof that love cannot be trusted. she might still be alive, but henry doesn't want to find her. because if he does, she might confirm his greatest fear: that she chose to leave him behind. she’s not a saint or a demon in his mind. she’s just gone. and it hurts.

billy's mom left. she abandoned him. she's alive, she just chose to be somewhere else. and that cuts deeper than anything. i'd say she likely had dependent personality disorder (with elements of learned helplessness), generalized anxiety disorder (moderate), adjustment disorder (with depressed mood, chronic), and ptsd (domestic abuse survivor). he remembers her as this beautiful, warm, glowing creature. she brushed his hair as a little boy, told him he was special. and then she left him with neil. billy's mommy issues are abandonment and over-idealization, similar to jd but still different. he's furious at her and still loves her. every girl he touches is a proxy, he wants to be loved by her, but he also wants to punish her. he sexualizes women to reclaim power but never feels safe with them. even when they want him, he pushes them away or uses them. under all that bravado, he's just a little boy waiting for his mom to come back and apologize. billy's mom is a holy wound. she didn't die, she didn't vanish, she just left. she's alive somewhere. that's worse. because that means billy wakes up every day wondering why he wasn't good enough, that she had to go off and start another family. why she didn't fight harder. he remembers her putting sunscreen on his shoulders at the beach, holding his face and calling him her "sweet boy." she was everything good, and she left him in hell. billy doesn't hate her, but he hates what she did to him. and he makes sure no one sees that pain, not even max. his deep abandonment issues are masked by sex and aggression. he seduces women for power, not connection. he's attracted to motherly figures but punishes them. he hates vulnerability in himself but craves comfort so badly it hurts. he worships her memory while resenting every piece of it. if he ever saw her again, he wouldn't know whether to hug her or scream in her face. bottom line, billy's mom is still alive, which makes her one of the most wounding maternal figures. she likely suffered years of abuse and emotional trauma from neil. she finally left—but didn’t take billy. whether that was out of fear, powerlessness, or manipulation by neil, billy doesn’t know. all he knows is she could have, and she didn’t. she probably remarried. had another child. started over. but there's a piece of her that never talks about billy. she loves him, from a distance, but has told herself a story where leaving him was the best option. that he was safer there. that she had no choice.

how the four boys view the disappearances in derry (pennywise's work):

jd - the one who's not surprised. "if evil is systemic, then derry is just doing what it was built to do."

jd already believes the world is cruel, corrupt, and rotting underneath a pretty facade. so when kids start vanishing? he doesn't panic. he doesn't mourn. he observes. he starts keeping a tally of names.

he visits spots where kids were last seen, not to help, but to see.

he talks about it like it's inevitable. "it's entropy, bowers. everything breaks down eventually, even kids."

he jokes about it dryly. "maybe it's a government experiment. maybe it's your mom, patrick. that'd explain the smell in your basement."

to him, derry is like a festering wound with no bandage. the disappearances just confirm what he already thinks: that people are either blind or complicit. he'd suspect something bigger is going on, not supernatural, necessarily, but systemic. a big conspiracy.

he tells patrick to "keep an eye out," but not in a protective way, in a testing way. "you might be next. let's see how you handle it."

he tells henry, "if someone took belch or vic, would you even care? or would you just miss the echo?"

jd turns it into a game of who's paying attention. he watches them for fear. he wants to see what they'll do.

billy - the one who's angry. "this town's always been poison. now it's just eating itself and dying."

billy would take it personally. not because he's scared, but because the disappearances represent a loss of control. he might act like he doesn't care, but underneath, it bothers him. he can smell the fear in the air, and it pisses him off. plus, he has max to worry about.

he blames derry. the people. the system. the adults. "these assholes just let their kids walk into the dark. what the hell did they think would happen?"

he starts acting more aggressive. picking more fights. showing up to parties already drunk.

he might even suspect patrick at some point. not seriously, but in that way where you say it just to watch someone squirm.

to henry: "you see anything weird, you tell me. got it?" it's protective, almost like an older brother. billy's on edge, and he trusts henry enough to want him close, but he also knows henry will snap if pushed.

to patrick: "you better not have anything to do with this. i swear to god, freak." it's not a real accusation. it's a threat. billy can't handle the idea that his circle might be part of the rot.

to jd: "you think it's funny? this shit? kids are dying."

jd: "everyone's dying, billy. some just do it louder."

patrick - the one hungry for meaning.

patrick isn’t involved in the disappearances, but he’s obsessed with them. he might not feel scared.

he sketches things in notebooks: missing kids, bloody teeth, the word "float," though he's not sure why.

he hangs around places where kids were last seen. not to help. just to feel something.

he asks jd weird questions: "do you think the thing taking them...likes watching them cry?"

jd just raises a brow and lights a cigarette. "you're killing me, hockstetter."

henry - the one who's terrified but won't admit it.

henry might act like he's not scared, but he is. deep down, he knows something's not right in derry, and the disappearances are waking up old fears. stuff about his mom. about the voices. about the shadows that move when he's alone.

he lashes out harder. beats kids up for looking at him. lights things on fire.

he knows people suspect him. he likes it. it makes him feel powerful. but it also isolates him.

he clings to billy, jd, and patrick more than ever. not obviously, just always being near them, always showing up.

if someone goes missing after he talks to them, he starts to wonder if he did it, in some indirect, cosmic way. he stops sleeping. he starts carrying a knife just in case.

[queen-honeybee-stories]

Hydra Baby

James Buchanan 'Bucky' Barnes X Female Reader When Bucky, Steve, and Natasha are raiding a Hydra base, Bucky finds a baby and decides to take her home with him 2.7K words A/N- Hello, everyone! Here's my first Bucky Barnes fic! I really hope you enjoy it and take a look at my masterlist to read my other fics TRIGGER WARNING- guns, hydra messing with things they shouldn't be messing with, medical environment, needles, blood, unethical medical experiments

Request are open

Bucky held his gun against his shoulder, his finger resting just above the trigger, ready to move at a moment's notice. He swiveled to the left and right, then walked out of the room and into the next hallway. Clearing the next room, he tapped the button on his comm unit just as he walked into the room at the end of the hall. 

"I'm not finding anything over here, guys. It looks like this wing has been abandoned for some time," Bucky told Steve and Natasha, the only two with him on the mission. At the end of the hall, he saw a door, slightly ajar. He pushed the door open with the barrel of his rifle, sweeping the room before venturing into the lab further. "I've just entered the lab. There's a room at the back; I'm clearing it now." Bucky tells the other two, padding into the attached room.

The first thing Bucky sees when he enters the room is an incubator. The light above it is on, set on a low setting. A heart monitor is set to the right of the incubator, beeping quietly. The heart rate displayed is slow, too slow for a human. Bucky quickly walks to the medical setup, looks down into the incubator, and sees a small baby sleeping peacefully. It's only wearing a diaper, with tons of leads and sticky pads covering its small body, trailing to the monitors crowded around the small area. He scans the incubator, looking for any paperwork; he finds a sticker stuck to the container's plastic, reading what it says. 

Test Subject Baby-girl 4296 Blood type A+ 4 months

 "Shit, what do they do to you, little one?" Bucky questions quietly. Slinging his rifle around his back, the supersoldier slowly starts to unhook the wires from the baby, carefully pulling the stickers from her skin. He silences the frantically beeping monitors as he pulls them off. Searching the room, he finds a blanket, draping it over his shoulders as he walks back to the baby. He carefully picks her up, wrapping the blanket around her small body, and then he pulls the IV out of the back of her tiny hands. Bucky carefully presses her to his chest, stepping away from the incubator and closer to the door. 

"Steve? Where are you right now?" Bucky asks his best friend through the comm. 

"I'm not far from you. Why? Is everything okay?" Steve asks quickly, grunting as he swings the shield at a Hydra agent. "My section is secured." 

"Everything is not okay! They've been experimenting with babies, Steve. I've got a baby right now; I need both of you with me so I can get her out of here safely," Bucky says, resting his flesh hand on the baby's head as she begins to fuss slightly in his arms. "If you guys could hurry, I had to take the IV out of her hand, and she's coming off of whatever they had her on, and she's not happy." Bucky urges, bouncing the baby softly in his arms, shushing her the best he can.

"We're on our way, be there in two minutes," Natasha says. Bucky can hear gunshots echoing down the hall. He rushes to hide behind the door, listening intently for the sound of Steve and Natasha running towards the room. The sound of a skull hitting Steve's shield is the last sound Bucky hears before everything falls quiet; the only sounds come from the fussing baby held against Bucky's chest. 

Steve and Natasha rush into the room, looking for Bucky and the baby. They find them behind the door. Natasha notices how small the bundle in Bucky's arms is. She's no bigger than a small bag of sugar. She continues to fuss; her cries become more frantic and louder, making Bucky panic. "What do I do with her? What's wrong with her?" Bucky cries, patting her back gently, bouncing her softly. Natasha searched the room faster, trying to find any reports or paperwork about what they'd done with the baby.

"We'll have to look through the flash drive later; we need to get her out of here and get her checked over by a doctor. Natasha, you take point, hand her to me, I'll keep her behind my shield, and you take up the rear." Steve said, quickly opening the top half of his uniform and holding his hands out for the baby. Bucky hesitates, debating if he should give the baby to Steve. "Don't worry, Buck, I'll keep her safe. I promise." Steve says, gently taking her from the other supersoldier arms. He carefully places her against his chest, closing his uniform top around her as best he can, then covers the rest of her with the blanket. He softly presses the shield on her back.

The trio quickly makes their way up through the building, breaking through the door and out to the quinjet. Bucky slams the door button, turning towards Steve and the baby. Steve places the shield on the seats beside him, carefully handing the baby back to Bucky. Bucky rests the little girl against his chest, sitting down on the seats. He wraps her tighter in the blanket, watching as she calms down, drifting asleep. 

~*~

Bucky swipes his hand across the little girl's brown hair. He can't help but think she looks slightly like him. She reminds him of his little sisters. Becca and Elizabeth looked just like this little girl when they were babies.

"Hey, Buck. We're almost home. Doctor Cho knows we have her and will meet you down in the med bay." Steve says, sitting down in the seat next to him. "She kinda looks like your sisters did when they were babies." Steve says quietly. Both supersoldiers are quiet for the rest of the flight. The quinjet jolts softly when they land. The baby whimpers softly but quiets down when Bucky hushes her. Both men get out of their seats and walk down the ramp. Bucky jogs across the landing pad and through the command center to the elevator. The doors close behind him and send it up to the med bay, where Doctor Cho meets him with a few other medical personnel behind her.

"James," She says with a smile. She approaches him, holding her hands out for the small child. "Steve called me and let me know everything. I will run a few tests on her to ensure she's healthy; then we'll see if we can get some DNA from her and hopefully find her family and return her to them." She says, gently taking the baby from the brunette's hands and quickly walking to the waiting bed. She sets her down, pulling her stethoscope from around her neck, and places it in her ears, resting the other end over the baby's heart. She moves it around her chest, nodding as she listens. "Her heart and lungs sound good, nice, and strong." Doctor Cho says, turning to her assistant and saying something Bucky can't understand. The assistant nods and walks off, entering another room to gather a few things. She comes back with a needle and several tubes.

Bucky steps closer, his eyes darting between the two women and the needle, his brows furrowed. "What are you doing with that?" He asks, clenching his hands so he doesn't reach out for the baby. He doesn't understand why he's so attached to the baby; he doesn't even know her, but he can't help the pull he feels towards the little girl.

"We're just going to take some blood to run a few tests and some DNA." Doctor Cho says to the nervous man, all while cleaning the spot of skin and inserting the needle. The baby doesn't even feel it. She continues to wave her other hand in the air and then sticks it into her mouth, gumming at it while her unfocused eyes roam the room.

"Holly is going to take this and run some tests on it, and she'll be back in a few minutes. In the meantime, why don't you bathe her, James?" Doctor Cho asks, handing the baby back to Bucky. He nods, tenderly taking her into his arms, and walks over to the sink. Doctor Cho comes up behind the pair and sets a bottle of baby soap, a towel, and a diaper on the counter next to the sink, then pats Bucky's back and walks away.

Bucky runs the water, turning it to lukewarm, and begins to take her diaper off. Once she's out of her diaper, he gently sets her down in the sink, running the water over her head. The baby stares up at Bucky, smiling up at him like nothing else matters to her. Bucky grins back at her, booping her nose. She laughs at him, waving her hands again.

Steve walks through the room, freshly showered, wearing a pair of sweats and a sweatshirt. Y/N, Bucky's fiance, comes in behind him, rushing over to Bucky at the sink.

"There you are! I was worried sick about you! I panicked when you didn't return to the apartment when you got home. Steve said you were down here. I came here when I heard," Y/N says, pulling Bucky into a hug. The baby chooses that moment to laugh, reaching her hands up towards Bucky. Y/N gasps, looking down at the baby, smiling as Bucky picks her up and wraps her in the towel. "Who is this little cutie?" She asks, letting the baby take her finger in her hand while Bucky puts a diaper on her.

"We found her in the lab at the Hydra compound. We couldn't leave her there, Y/N/N." Bucky says quietly, pulling the baby closer to his chest. Y/N opens her mouth to say something but is interrupted by Doctor Cho entering the room. Bucky turns to her, looking expectantly at the doctor.

"All the tests came back normal; she's a very healthy four-month-old, just a bit on the small side. But her DNA came back with a bit of a surprise. She seems to be your child, James," Doctor Cho says, watching for any signs of distress.

"What do you mean, she's Bucky's?" Steve asks, stepping closer to the others.

"Half of her DNA came from James, but I can't track it back to anyone else." She says, looking through the file.

"What does that mean you can't track the other parent?" Bucky asks, patting the little girls- his daughters- back softly.

"Her father is you, James, but no one is listed as her mother. From everything you guys have recovered and brought back from the Hydra raids, I've been reading that they had been experimenting with creating eggs. They fertilized it with your DNA, James, and made that little girl in your arms. She's fully your child, James." Doctor Cho said. Bucky stumbled back, prompting Steve to catch and lower him into a chair. He tries to take the baby, but Bucky growls and turns away from his best friend. Steve puts his hands up, placating him gently.

"Hey, pal. I don't want to hurt the baby, but you're in shock, and I don't want you to drop her." Steve told his best friend, trying again to gently take the baby. Bucky flew out of his seat, backing away from the others. He cradles the baby tighter to his chest, looking wildly at everyone.

"No, you're not taking my baby. She's mine; no one else can have her!" He says, raising his voice until he's shouting by the end of his sentence.

Y/N walks closer to Bucky, raising her hands to calm him down. "No one is going to take her from you, baby. We just want to hold her so you can calm down. Why don't I hold her? Hm?" Y/N asks, walking just slightly closer to the supersoldier and baby.

"Stella," Bucky says, tightening his hands on her again.

"What was that?" Steve asks from farther back.

"Stella. That's her name. I want to name her Stella." Bucky says again, clearer this time. "Her name is Stella, and I'm keeping her. You can't change my mind. She's my daughter, and I'm keeping her, and you can't take her." He says, adjusting Stella in his arms. He looks down at her, smiling back at her when she smiles up at him, grabbing his shirt with a tiny fist. She sighs loudly, closing her blue-grey eyes and drifting off to sleep.

"We would never ask you to give her up, Bucky. Never. She's yours; if you want her, you'll keep her. I'll even help you if you want me to. I'm with you 'til the end of the line, pal." Steve says, stepping closer to the father-daughter pair, smiling softly at them.

"She'll be ours, Bucky. Even if she's not mine, I'll raise her like I was the one that gave birth to her." Y/N says, smiling at Bucky and walking closer to him. She rests her hand on Stella's back, smiling down at her.

"She's ours, forever." Bucky says quietly, gazing down at her lovingly. He raises her up, placing a kiss on her forehead.

~*~

Steve quietly talks to the rest of the team, explaining everything about the baby before Bucky enters the room. He sits back in his seat when he sees Bucky and Y/N walk in, Stella resting in Bucky's arms.

Bucky smiles softly at everyone, walking closer to the table full of the other Avengers. He adjusts Stella in his arms so she's facing everyone. He tilts his arms down so everyone can look at her as she sleeps in her father's arms. "Everyone, I would like you to meet my daughter, Stella." He says with a smile on his face.

Pepper and Wanda cooed at Stella, gently letting her take hold of their fingers. Tony and Clint look over the women's shoulders, smiling as Stella blinks her eyes sleepily. She rubs her eyes with small fists. When she moves her fists, she looks up at the people above her, grinning at all of them, grabbing Tony's hand, surprising the genius with her strong grip.

"She's got quite the grip, there, Robocop." Tony turns towards the father, smiling softly.

"Doctor Cho said she's got the serum running through her veins. She'll be stronger than a normal baby. Cho said she wants to keep an eye on her to make sure all the experiments and serum don't have a negative effect on her as she grows, but right now, she's healthy and happy." Bucky says, smiling down at Stella and kissing her forehead.

Steve walks over to where Y/N stands farther away from the group, with a proud smile when she looks at Bucky.

"He's going to be great at this; I know he will." Steve says, turning to look at where Bucky proudly lifts Stella over his head and talks to her in a sweet voice. "He was always so good with his four younger sisters. Ma Winnie always said it was like having a third parent around when Bucky was there. He was always playing and taking care of his sisters. When Esther came around, Bucky was a pro at balancing caring for two toddlers and a baby. He always said, 'What was one more baby?'. He really stepped up when George had to go back to Shelbyville when his parents got sick to take care of the farm with his brother and sister. Isabella always said they didn't realize when George would leave 'cause Buck was always there." Steve says, smiling at the memory. "He talked about settling down after the war and having a couple of kids after he got home. Looks like he gets to have that now." Steve smiles over at Y/N, pulling her to his side, kissing her temple, leaving his arm wrapped around her shoulders as she talks

"We've been going back and forth about having a baby for a while now. Hopefully, he'll want to wait for Stella to be settled in and happy before he even thinks about wanting to add another one into the mix." Y/N laughs softly. Steve chuckles with her.

"Knowing him, he'll want one sooner now that he has one." Steve laughs at the horrified look on Y/N's face.

"We can have another one when he carries it." Y/N laughs.

Bucky looks over at his best friend and fiance when he hears her laugh, grinning at her when she looks at him. She walks back over to him, wrapping around his back, letting him press a kiss to her lips.

Yeah, life was pretty great

[dhanrajcompletehealthcare]

Home Care Services in Gurgaon: Ensuring Comfort and Quality at Home Dhanraj Complete Healthcare operates a well-equipped surgical shop in Gurgaon, providing high-quality medical supplies and equipment. Our store offers a wide range of surgical instruments, healthcare products, and medical devices, ensuring that hospitals, clinics, and home care patients have access to reliable and certified products.

[cyanide-mustard]

I Don’t Have the Words To Describe (How Much You Mean to Me) ~ Chapter 3

Also on Ao3

Summary:

James, Viktor and Jayce settle into routine and James makes a new friend.

AN: Guys I can’t for the life of me picture their stupid lab setup in my head so if there’s any discrepancies between what I write and what it actually looks like, no there isn’t lol. Also sorry if this chapter sucks, the next couple chapters will be (slightly) better.

A=𝜩, B=𝜣, C=𝝃, D=𝛴, E=𝜓, F=𝝇, G=𝝋, H=𝝺, I=𝛃, J=𝝣, K=𝝥, L=𝟄, M=𝟇, N=𝞖, O=𝝠, P=𝝮, Q=𝞈, R=𝞀, S=𝞏, T=𝞔, U=𝞒, V=𝞃, W=𝝸, X=𝞹, Y=𝞾, Z=𝞙

The next day Viktor and Jayce woke up early, before James did, so the taller man stayed to start on breakfast and clean the apartment, to be more welcoming to their guest, while the other left to buy groceries. When Viktor returned he put all the food away and worked beside Jayce, helping him make breakfast.

James emerged from her room, unaware of the two men in the kitchen who were also unaware of their own heavy staring. She was wearing a pair of light blue shorts and an even lighter blue camisole that sat high on her stomach and rose higher when she stretched her arms above her head. Thankfully the boys averted their eyes right before James jumped in shock at seeing the two of them in the kitchen. She ran back into her room and returned with a navy sweater on.

Jayce cleared his throat before speaking.

“Good morning James”

“G𝝠od 𝟇ornin𝝋 Jayce. Good morni𝝋 Viktor”

“Good morning”

When she saw the food they were making, she grabbed her notebook and wrote down the items in English and then Piltovian.

“E𝝋g, 𝜣ac𝝠n, t𝝠ast” she pointed to each, looking to the boys for confirmation. Jayce nodded and repeated each item.

James tried again “Egg, bacon, toast”

“And Coffee” Viktor

“And C𝝠ffee”

Viktor lifted the the labeled the sugar and milk container

“Sugar?” James lifted two fingers

“Two sugars?”

“Tw𝝠 sugars” she confirmed

“Milk?”

She lifted her fingers in a pinch this time

“A little bit of milk?”

“A little bit 𝝠f milk”

He passed the mug to her

“Thank you” she took her mug and sat down at the table. The boys joined her, bringing the plates with them. When they all sat down, Jayce rested his hand on top of Viktor’s which lay on his lower thigh.

“We are going to go to the lab today”

Jayce drew a picture of the lab after seeing her confused face.

“Ahh lab today” James says in understanding

After eating they made their way to the lab. Once there, James made herself comfortable on top of the large sprawling table, sitting right beside the window to take advantage of the natural light.

They all set out on doing their work. About an hour passed when Viktor felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see James holding her notebook

“What is your name?” She had the same look on her face that Jayce got when he was testing out a hypothesis.

“My name is Viktor?” His reply sent her face into a beaming smile.

“Who is he?”

“That is Jayce”

“What is this?”

“This is a book”

After about a million more questions, Viktor realized she was learning how to ask questions and verifying the subjects of each question word.

She would continue the day like this. Working in her newly claimed space before going up to Jayce or Viktor to test out a language point she learned or try and get clarity on something.

Jayce often asked her to pass him things, partly so he didn’t have to leave where he was sitting but also to help James work on her vocabulary. Although it took a little longer to get the tool, the smile on her face when she found the right one made it worthwhile.

They went on like this for the next four days. They had been making breakfast in the morning and eating more regularly; they felt bad after the first day when they got wrapped up in their work only realizing it was 5 o’clock and they had skipped lunch when they heard James’ stomach grumble from across the lab. Working throughout the day on their own projects at the lab, going home (somewhat) early, before getting a more socially acceptable level of sleep rather than their normal fuck we ball amount. James had learned some basic vocabulary but putting together full sentences was a struggle.

On the fifth day Jayce and Viktor left the lab in the afternoon to grab lunch and bring it back for them all to eat. Leaving James in the lab so as to not draw any unnecessary attention to her. This was unfortunately at the same time Caitlyn had decided to make an unannounced visit. She opened the door and was met with the sight of James looking for a purple-coloured pen in Jayce’s drawers, which to unknowing Caitlyn, the scene looked like a woman had broken into the lab of the top scientists of Piltover and was now stealing Hextech.

“HEY! STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING” Caitlyn yelled before bolting across the room.

James jumped nearly a foot in the air, scrambling back on top of the desk, reaching for the nearest tool, which so happened to be another screwdriver.

“𝝋𝜓𝞔 𝞔𝝺𝜓 𝝇𝞒𝝃𝝥 𝜩𝝸𝜩𝞾 𝝇𝞀𝝠𝟇 𝟇𝜓!!!” The woman barked out.

The teenage girl took big imposing steps forwards, which James responded to by backing away, slowly trapping herself further in the nook. Feeling the wall behind her, she lunged forward with a warning swipe of the screwdriver. The sound of Jayce yelling from the door, stopped both of them from injuring each other.

“CAIT STOP” Jayce yelled from the door.

At the sight of him and Viktor entering the room, James dropped the screwdriver, bypassing Caitlyn and sprinting towards them. She ran into Jayce’s right side, quickly seeking comfort before turning around to face the other woman. James stood behind the two, holding each of their jacket sleeves tightly in each hand, ready to pull them back at the sight of danger. When Jayce first started walking forward, she pulled him back.

“It’s okay, she’s a friend” She let go of his arm as he walked forward again.

Viktor put his arm behind her back, slowly guiding her forwards with him.

“Who is she? What was she doing in your lab?”

“I’m going to tell you only if you promise you will not tell a single soul”

“Alright”

“I’m serious, Cait, absolutely no one. Not even your mom or dad”

“I understand, absolutely no one”

He explained the best he could, given that much of the whole situation was unknown to him or Viktor, possibly known to James but she was currently unable to explain it to them. Once he finished she stood with her mouth hanging open for a couple seconds.

“Cait?”

“And this wasn’t your fault?”

Jayce rolled his eyes. Cait moved her gaze to James and looked at her with guilt. She moved forward taking her hands in hers.

“I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to chase after you or try to attack you, well actually I did mean to but that was only because I thought you were stealing something, so I’m actually sorry for thinking you were a thief and not giving you a chance to expl-”

“Caitlyn slow down. She is not going to understand half of what you have said” At Viktor’s words she looked at the woman’s face again. She understood her sentiment but she was lost at every other word.

“Oh, sorry” Caitlyn looked sheepish. Seeing the girl’s embarrassment James stepped forward.

“Hello, My name is James. What is your name?”

“I’m Caitlyn, it’s nice to meet you”

“It is nice to meet you too. Would you like to be fri𝜓nds?”

“Yes, I’d like that very much”

Cait’s eyes focused “Is that my top?”

“Oh uh yes” Jayce replied

“You gave the poor girl my old clothes” , Cait shook her head in disbelief. “Her and I are going shopping and soon. But that does makes more sense than what you really said the clothes were for”

“What did you tell her you needed them for?” Viktor questioned.

Jayce turned his face back to his work away from the other three, which Viktor recognized as what Jayce did when he was trying to hide his face when it was a deep blush red.

“Jayce?”

“I might have said you wanted to try out a new style”

“You what!”

“I didn’t know what else to say!”

Caitlyn and James looked at each other, both needed to cover the mouths to quiet the giggles they let out because of the boys bickering.

“Literally anything else! Say that we needed them to blow up, I don’t know. Caitlyn thought I was asking my boyfriend for his younger sister’s clothes, that is weird Jayce. I love you but sometimes it is so embarrassing to be dating you”

Notes:

Translations:

𝝋𝜓𝞔 𝞔𝝺𝜓 𝝇𝞒𝝃𝝥 𝜩𝝸𝜩𝞾 𝝇𝞀𝝠𝟇 𝟇𝜓 = Get the fuck away from me

Please let me know what you think! Any love or feedback is always welcomed!

Taglist: @im-just-a-simp-le-whore

[pizza-soup]

Hey! Just wanted to do an update for the new year!

Sooo, what have I been up to? A lot actually!

First off, I'd like to introduce a new member to my household, her name is Lucky, and I found her on an urbex trip last year as a tiny thing, and looked how gorgeous she is as an adult!

Those markings are pretty neat, huh? She's looks just like a Maneki Neko, all that's missing is a red ribbon and koban coin. She has such a sweet, affectionate personality, she is surprisingly very open to strangers giving her attention, and she loves water! Yeah, she plays in water! She has zero fear of it and likes playing with the sink faucet or laying on my shoulders when I soaking in the bath. I think it stems from me taking her out to the garden with me in the summer when I was watering the plants, the puddles cooled her off.

Speaking of gardening, I have two new trees. Ginkgos! My great aunt had one in her front yard, these are the babies. Since it's way too cold to plant them directly into the ground, they're currently in pots. I want them to grow just a bit larger before transplanting them.

And yes, that's Sol posing by the new trees! Look how handsome he is now! I'm glad he and his sister took in Lucky as an honorable sibling, I think she'd be very lonely otherwise. Stella has also grown up to be beautiful, and likes sharing her bed with Lucky. Orion doesn't like her though. Lol but he tolerates her so long as she doesn't get too close.

My health is better, thankfully. While I think I'll always have hypotension now, my doctor and I found a setup that works to keep it at bay. I have to watch my activity level and learn to rest properly (exercise can cause BP to drop fast), and stay hydrated with electrolytes daily. I have to set reminders though, since Im so bad at remembering. So far I haven't had any relapses for 7 months. I've also oddly lost a lot of weight, I thought it was suspicious, but my doctor said I'm actually at my BMI and the weight loss was gradual. My records show it was within a normal time range. Idk it felt so sudden to ME, but maybe I didn't notice it until recently. Eh. My sense of time isn't the best. Whatever the case, I was told to keep doing whatever I'm doing.

Work is... just as weird as always! Lol to the point it's kind of not weird for me anymore, I've gotten used to the strangeness of it. My brother however never got used to it. He actually quit working for the labs, not because it scared him off but because he finally got his major finished and he is working in an observatory down south. I'm proud of him! Space has always been a big interest for him, and the space science here in NM is growing!

As for creating, I've been busy writing two fanfics on Ao3. One is a Pokemon story, Come What May, and another is an alternate take on the classic Disney film, The Little Mermaid, called Candle on the Water. They're pretty long, my Pokemon fic is currently topping 20 chapters! I'd really appreciate if more people read them. Give em a little love. It's not the best work ever, but I'm kinda proud of them. They were written when I was struggling with a lot of self doubt and mild Imposter Syndrome. I'm working on being more gentle to myself and not letting perfectionism sabotage me or stop me from creating, and I'm kinda seeing that effort pay off bit by bit.

I've also been doing some song covers. I'm not sure if I'm confident in sharing those yet, but I've gotten a lot of encouragement from my family and my brother's friend who has been letting me borrow his music studio for recording sessions. Maybe I'll post one song if it's requested. I have three covers so far and they're all Evanescence. XD

Its been a very peaceful time for me, I got a raise last November and it's been nice. I've been treating myself to stationery and home decor. I splurged a bit and got two gaming devices from Anbernic, and have been modding my 3DSXL. Because screw gaming companies and their paywalling/microtransactions. It's time we start actually owning our games again, including media like music and movies.

I think this year is going to focus on retro media for me. CDs, DVDs, cassettes and vinyls. I've been rediscovering my collection in the garage and learning to maintain/fix my devices. Because while I do enjoy my modern media, I like the thought of having offline backups should I not have access to it later.

And my old school stuff takes me back to my summer days in school when I couldn't wait to get home to play my Gameboy while listening to my CDs, reading comics, or doodle and write short stories in my notebooks, or make zines with my friends. That might be something to revisit this summer.

I hope everything has been going well for you all, and if not, I hope it will soon. I may just return to this year, but probably gradually. I missed you all, and I miss sharing bits of my life here with you.

Take care! 💕

Edit: I'm not coming back. I'm sorry.

[despazito]

What is your favourite thing about Eurasiers? What kind of person would you and would you not recommend them for?

I think my favourite thing about eurasiers is how chill and adaptable they are WHEN (important qualifier) they're with their families. as long as i'm nearby, basil is fine with just about anything we're doing. they can live in apartments, they can handle long car rides, camping, hotels, as long as you're there your eurasier will live wherever you live. we can pull up to a hotel room or a tent and he'll just immediately accept his fate that this is where we're crashing tonight as long as it's within a few feet of us.

one day we can walk 10km, the next day i might have the flu for a week and he won't throw a fit over minimal exercise. i feel like they match your energy level. they have indoor manners and won't knock your things over or tear through the house. basil does get separation anxiety (my fault) but has never been destructive or soiled the house since he was a baby, and is pretty good with not getting into the garbage or counter surfing. they're trainable and have done well in dog sports, but do still have a bit of that chow reservation. he absolutely loves having guests over and getting attention from strangers. they're great dogs if you want a fuzzy velcro child glued to your hip.

i would say eurasiers aren't a great fit for people who:

aren't home a lot or travel constantly. this is true for all dogs but some fare better than others at being away from their people and eurasiers aren't one of them. they also shouldn't be housed outdoors or in a kennel setup, they were bred as companion dogs and will become depressed.

don't have time and/or money for grooming. pretty self explanatory, they have a lot of hair and a thick mane.

don't want to talk to or get stopped by strangers. we can get a lot of attention on walks, and honestly it can be a good thing if you're working on your social anxiety. but absolutely nobody knows what a eurasier is and it can be a lot of explaining over and over lol. if you don't want to be perceived in public, a eurasier will do the opposite

don't have time to fuss over feeding and nutrition. they are picky and peckish eaters and basil gets bored of food quickly, its recommended to keep several foods on rotation . if you're only used to labs or beagle appetites and want a dog that's minimal effort and straightforward to feed, eurasiers will be a stark difference. i feed homecooked toppers for his kibble or wet foods that i prepare almost daily and i'm constantly switching things up or offering food in novel ways. i have appetite hacks such as offering food in empty takeout boxes instead of his plate, it really is the dog equivalent of that tweet where the parent tricks their child into eating his banana by putting a paw patrol sticker on it.

(imho, this one may be controversial) if you already have several dogs or very young children that you are already dedicating most of your time to. NOT BECAUSE OF AGGRESSION- they're really good family pets and good with other dogs, but because eurasiers are such sensitive guys and crave quality time with their owners. if you can give them good one-on-one time every day i'm sure it'll be fine, but if you've already got a pack, especially with a velcro dog that lives on your lap then a eurasier may not be the best addition. i also wouldn't get a eurasier purely to keep another dog entertained, they desire human companionship.

[overwhelmed-transpolymath]

RWBY - Rimworld AAR Day Two

This is part two of my ongoing RWBY - Rimworld playthrough. We are finally out of the early game setup and are well into the foundational phase of the colony. This time around we've got construction, more relationships, raids, and Lovin, so much Lovin.

Last we had left off the colony had fended off its first raid, slaughtering a bunch of Viking clansman without much trouble. Everyone quickly got back to work, or sleep as the raid did happen in the night.

As they worked before sleep, Yang's flirting finally came through and got her a new lover. Its Blake, Bees for the win. Though I do have to wonder, just what about your hands were you talking about Yang? It better not be a vibrating function.

And so soon after the first raid, we've got a group of Saurids, lizard like humans who lay eggs instead of live births.

Needless to say, for the main group it did not go well, they grouped up nice and tight for Yang's shotgun, and suffered for it. And for the one guy who tried to flank well... he met Ruby's dane axe and got disemboweled. I ended up choosing a dane axe for Ruby's weapon because its the closest thing my mods have to a scythe, big heavy bladed weapon that can rock someone flat. Now before I contunie with the day, I figured I'd give a quick colony tour.

To the left is the RWBY house. Nice big bed, bathroom, the research bench, the initial table and dartboard. Its cozy and does the job well enough for the first building of the colony. To the right you've got the workshop and warehouse, and also Olitite's bedroom because I can't waste time building a house for the dirtmole while I'm building out the mountain base.

Then we've got the kitchen, proper dining room and cold storage, as well as the entrance to the mountain base. Good times all round.

And last but not least, the planned out mountain base, the four smaller rooms on the bottom will be bedrooms, a garage near the kitchen, a church/ideology room right off the entrance and some type of storage behind it. Research lab and hospital will be deeper in. That nice little open space between the mountains will probably be for shuttle landing and solar panels. Nice and safe from the horrors of the outside.

And just after taking the screenshots for a base tour, the Hustler Crew, a group of pirates, wants me to pay protection money. I think not, needless to say they sent three, under equipped pirates who met a very quick fate at the hands of our girls. These early game raids before the wealth tics up are really nothing to speak home about.

And Ruby, after defeating yet another batch of pirates, has decided to woo Blake next, making her, officially, the first to be dating all her teammates minus Yang. Round of applause to her.

Funny moment, Yang sealed up her girlfriend cask of amontillado style, by building a wall and sealing her into the cave. Thankfully Olitite the dirtmole miner was able to quickly unseal her before anything truly bad happened. Lucky Blake.

Go Weiss not letting Ruby have all the fun. The girls are well and truly on their way to a Pollination polycule and I can't fault them for it (afterall I did the setup and practically guaranteed this outcome)

Despite starting a new fresh romance, Blake isn't one to leave Yang behind, and we have our first marriage proposal, though spoiler alert they won't be the first ones actually married.

And that is largely because Weiss is stealing Yang's thunder proposing to Ruby right after. I do wonder if the two planned this out though.

Before the marriages could occur however, a Deserter from the empire came to us with an offer of psylinks, and we want those because our girls need their semblances (Or at least psycasting as close to them as possible.) And the empire are a bunch of slaving, hierarchical noble bastards, and I don't believe team RWBY would tolerate that. it was only a matter of accepting in the deserter Geere, who is, unfortunately a pyromaniac, and then defeating the empire troops who arrived. Only three of them, and two of them got in a social fight as we approached, which made it very very easy to dispatch them.

So the colony was humming along nicely, easy raids dispatched two of them infact. A group of cannibal tribespeople, and a group of pig hybrids. Now earlier I mentioned that raid and threat strength scales with colony wealth, and we've been pretty low on that. The game decided however, that that was not enough and gave me two jade meteors and a gold one. Oh boy, our wealth just skyrocketed on the map. This however, is a problem for future RWBY.

Perhaps because of the raids, and the newfound wealth, Weiss finally got around to asking Blake to marry her. I absolutely love where this is going for them.

And it was time for a quick leadership speech from Ruby as the mountain base is well on its way to completion. With the church of the brothers being nearly finished. I did a neat little thing with the carpet, having both of them represented in deep purple and a pastel yellow respectively.

And, speeding ahead of Blake and Yang, perhaps just to steal Yang's thunder, Weiss and Ruby are now married. I used some console fuckery to change their last names to Rose-Schnee because it fits better than Ruby Schnee.

And what is a wedding without an unexpected guest, and psychic phenomena. An archon from beyond showed up, perhaps attracted by all the gold we mined, thankfully it was just the one, so hitting him with all the gunfire in the world drove him back to whence he came. Though he didn't die, so he may be back. Joy.

Blake and Yang, not to be outdone had their wedding in the now completed church, good for them.

Though it seems they couldn't wait for the party to be over before consummating the marriage. Slipping off into the storage closet for a quickie, before the party was even done. I love when pawns actually get into their characters because this is totally a thing they would both do at their wedding.

And a day or two after that, Blake and Weiss finally tied the knot. Our pollination married polycule is nearly complete. With that, the session ended as I had to go to work. However before I go, I'm going to show you all the places these girls decided to get it on that wasn't their bed. I'm trying out the new Intimacy Expanded Mod, its great so far, though it seems they prefer everywhere but their bed.

Oh my indeed. Everywhere but the bed it seems with them. I'm a particular fan of that first image because Weiss is researching, Yang is playing dart while Ruby and Blake go at it, just near the bed not on it of course, because who needs comfort.

Thats all from session two, heres to the next day and whatever it may bring!