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Go look at my other time lord slideshows
#doctor who#time lords#the eleven#dw#doom coalition#ravenous#did osdd#plurality#slideshow#my stuff#two slideshows in one day look at me go#i might replace the did info slide when i have more energy but for now that's what you get
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MCM Shelf Saga
Part 1 - Introduction, Commencing Stripping Hell
Spring has come, which can only mean one thing. It's time for another furniture refinishing project.
So you might remember this chair I've refinished before, and you might remember how I mentioned in the backstory of that post that my late mother had painted three pieces of furniture (a chair, a desk and a shelf) in matching colors, the three having been left to collect dust in one of our attic closets for the past few decades.
Indeed, this is one of the three furniture pieces, and just like with the chair, I ain't keeping it if it looks like that. It's either getting refinished or yeeted, and since I don't want to waste perfectly good furniture, it's the former. And since the weather now allows it, it's time for me to get started on working on this beast of a project.
Now there's actually two things I had to do before I could begin this project. Step one was disassemble the entire unit because, TL:DR; we could not move it out of the tiny ass closet without either moving a fuck ton of furniture and storaged items out of the way and maybe break something while hauling this outside, OR just disassemble it 'cause it needed to get dissambled anyways.
So, with dad's help we did just that (with relative success, we did have to break some of the original screws because they had dug into the wood and made disassembly impossible otherwise, but it's fine that hardware can be replaced) and brought it to the patio where I can work on it.
The other thing I had to do was actually quickly check if the shelf was safe for me to work on. If you want more info you can read the chair post but long story short, I was worried there could be toxic car paint under this paint layer and if there was, I was going to refuse to refinish this piece. But all I did was gently sand some paint off a shelf to see what was underneath and it was wood so! Safe it is!
So this is probably somekinda MCM shelf, the style looks like it and the color of the wood could suggest it. The main unit of it is made of just veneered chipboard but hey, it's vintage chipboard, and there's nothing wrong with it, so it's still worth giving a second (a third?) life to
Didn't take a photo of it with the drawers and the sliding door still inside but I doubt that matters. Parts of the inside of the unit did get painted over which is. Not great for me, but it is what it is
Intrestingly, the sides of the shelf (that make both the feet of the unit as well as where the shelves hook onto) seem to have been black originally, as the inside facing parts never got painted over. Meanwhile the main unit has some veneer damage right where the sides were... Like it's not great but since that part does get completely covered it's not a huge deal
And the shelves of the shelf. As you can see, I did a quick test on them to see what was under the paint and it looked safe to work on
So I actually kinda started by testing my paint removal methods on one of the shelves. When I did the above check up, I noticed the paint was quite hard to just sand through, so just sanding it didn't seem like a great option. I did also soon discover the paint was quite hard to scrape.
Now, I did't want to use paint stripper since it causes me that severe nausea, so I decided to try out a hot air gun to remove it. And it did work! However
First off I just wasn't excited about using electricity 'cause. Energy crisis. Y'know. Shit's expensive.
While it worked it wasn't super effective? It might've been just poor technique on my part but I felt like I had to stand there blowing hot air onto the paint for a long time for it to start reacting before quickly sweeping in to scrape a tiny section clean before starting again on another tiny tiny section
And the main thing... Under the paint there seemed to be an old finish of some kind. Probably a poly coat, IDK. But I was getting worried of how it was reacting to the heat. Like. IDK I was worried it might melt and damage the wood or something
So. I had to go crawling back to the paint stripper. Because in the end, it felt like the safest option for me to use (nausea aside). From the chair project I knew it would be able to remove the paint easily and knowing this whole thing has a lot of thin veneer all over it, it'd probably be the best way for me to ensure I didn't damage the veneer too much.
Goop time it is
I did one coat of paint stripper and let it sit over night (plastic wrapped so it wouldn't dry out)
Here's what the sides were looking like after one round of paint stripper. It really wasn't going to be enough so what I ended up doing was that I applied another coat of paint to the top and let it do it's thing for like an hour (while I was walking my cat), before coming back. I then did another round of stripper on both sides while I finished removing the paint residue from the top
So here's what two rounds of paint stripper did to the top, as well as one round to the inside bits. It seems like the paint may have permanently strained parts of the inside where the wood was raw as it did not want to come off at all, though fortunately the worst parts are the parts that'll end up getting covered by the drawers so it could be worse
Now the paint stripper did not make the old finish come off the main unit really. It did soften it, but that didn't make it easier to remove, it made it just kinda goopy and unpleasant to remove but, since I had no other choise, I kept on going at it and scraped it away along with the remaining paint residue
After I finished working on the top I went back to remove the rest of the paint from the sides and the old finish. Eventually getting to this point
The veneer is not in great shape, there seems to be some possible water damage marks on the wood (possibly from the stripper??) OR there might be just more of the old finish there that I haven't managed to remove yet
The veneer is super thin. I could keep on scraping and sanding it, but I'm just really afraid I might go through the veneer and do some really bad damage, so... I kinda wan tto try using oxalic acid first. If there's water stains, the acid should be able to remove the stains, meaning there's less sanding for me to do in general and less of a chance of me sanding through that veneer.
But I don't have oxalic acid at the moment, and I kinda wanna finish stripping the paint off from the entire unit first, so this first part is coming to an unsatisfying end.
The main unit has been put to the side while I finish stripping the rest of the unit, starting with the drawer fronts!
((Sidenote: I am planning on staining the wood dark/black so the stains aren't super worrysome for me, the dark stain would end up hiding most of them I'm sure))
Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 (Finale)
#Refinish Diary#Mine#furniture refinishing#furniture restoration#mcm furniture#This was not gonna be a multiparter but I remember Tumblr has max 30 images per post#And I was already at like 20 so. Guess it's gonna be a multiparter#For the record I started working on this in mid April and haven't worked on it since#I realized I needed to get yard work done and so like. When the weather's been nice I've done yard work#So much yard work#And when it's been ass I haven't bothered to lift a finger#I'll get back to it soon I swear there's just a little more yard work for me to do!!#And I just wanna do this when the weather is nice!! Leave me alone!!#I can't have the shelf pieces blocking the patio entrance anyways so I need to finish it sooner than later#It'd be nice to use the patio as a patio and not as a DIY space lmao
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By the Grace of Granville
(Warning: This post is long. But what else is new when it comes to character analyses?)
One of the bigger mysteries that gets introduced into Big Hero 6: The Series made their introduction in the very first episode, got a little bit of expansion into their background, and then didn’t really see much daylight for the rest of the series sand her becoming an even-numbered wheel. No, I’m not talking about Obake.
I’m talking about Professor Granville, the newly-installed dean of the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology.
People, including myself, play Granville up as some sort of Nick Fury-esque figure. She’s always in the know, gives advice to the team, and seems to have a general understanding of everything at once.
This is further helped by the fact that we don’t know a lot about what she has been up to since she resigned after Obake’s accident. It’s hindered by the fact that there may be some misinformation going on at the Big Hero 6 Wiki.
Here’s the introductory blurb for Professor Granville on her page:
Grace Granville has been a professor at the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology for at least 20 years, having taught Wendy Wower and Trevor Trengrove among other modern day geniuses.
She used to teach robotics and had her own star student, Bob Aken, but once he began an experiment to build an energy amplifier, it went awry as the amplifier exploded on his face, the result of which sent him to the hospital.
Though Bob survived, Granville felt extreme guilt from the incident and resigned. However, she kept the remains of the amplifier, possibly unaware that it still worked, as a reminder to not repeat the same mistakes.
She would return decades later to teach thermodynamics when Robert Callaghan, the dean of the institute at the time, was thought to have died, then resurfaced as the villain Yokai and was arrested for putting San Fransokyo in danger. Professor Granville became the college's new dean as she settled into her new role quite well. Now, after rewatching “Mini-Max”, I call into question the very first part that she’s been a professor there for at least 20 years. As far as I am aware of, that has never been said or confirmed in the show. She said herself (and the yearbook and Callaghan confirm this) that she worked there 20 years ago. That’s not the same thing. Working there for 20 years is not the same thing as being there 20 years ago. So is that a discrepancy or am I the one who doesn’t remember things correctly?
And let’s go to what Callaghan said about the incident when Hiro went to visit him in prison in “Mini-Max”:
Robert: “She was in the lab after hours. Something went wrong. There was...an incident.”
Hiro: “What kind of incident?” Robert: ”Officially, a pipe burst. But there were rumors. An unsanctioned project gone wrong.” Hiro: ”So she was fired?”
Robert: “She resigned. The matter was not pursued further. That’s all I know.” OK, first of all...was Callaghan not the dean twenty years ago? And even if he wasn’t...
Does anyone think that was caused by a simple burst pipe? What was in said pipe? Lava? TNT? Mentos and Coke?
That leads to the second possibility: Callaghan was Dean at the time, knew about it, and “pushed” Granville to resign to avoid a messy lawsuit.
But we’re getting away from the original point, which is...what exactly has Granville been doing this entire time? I find it hard to believe that Granville was still at the school when Tadashi, Go Go, Honey Lemon, and Wasabi were there. You’d think that one of them would have said something about it, and all through the conversations in “Mini-Max” gave no indication of that as well.
So she’s been gone for twenty years (presumably). Which begs the next question... Why did she have to become the dean? Endangering a student’s life is a very serious thing. Something like that can’t be just forgiven. So, why did it have to be her? It’s not like there’s not other candidates:
(From left to right: Monica Rambeau [one of the Physics professors], Grace Granville, Robert Callaghan, Linda Carter, and Timothy Dugan. Note that these are merely names I’ve given them based off of who I think they are and not canon names. However, for the sake of simplicity, I will refer to them as such from here on out.) Monica might have been a good replacement. Linda’s just the nurse, so unlikely. Dugan’s the Dean of Athletics, so probably not. The dean doesn’t have to be the robotics professor, right? Granville teaches Thermodynamics. And then you have Professor Kameela from the comics, who appears to be another Physics professor:
So why her?
Granville’s been out of the game, as far as we know, for a long time. Did the board at SFIT really have no other options other than Granville? Why give the top job to someone who hasn’t even stepped foot in SFIT for decades?
And the worst part is that I don’t really have a good answer for that. The show delves into Granville’s history with Obake a lot and not enough into her actual history with SFIT, so that part is pretty much an unsolved mystery.
And if the info on the Wiki is true, then that means...what? Granville was teaching for 20 years, and then took a 20 year break. Wouldn’t that put Granville in her 60s, at minimum? (She looks pretty good for possibly being in her 60s. Maybe she got some Infinity Formula from her possible Marvel counterpart.)
I think it’s much more possible that she’s in her early 50s. That gives her enough time to be a professor, have an actual working history, and then have to leave with Obake’s accident. So my personal timeline for her career would be something like this. For the sake of being simple, let’s assume that Granville is an even 50, and also that Big Hero 6 the movie takes place in the year 2031 (as per movie screenshots):
1981 - Grace Gretchen Granville is born 2002 - Graduates college (perhaps at SFIT; haven’t thought that far ahead) Sometime between 2002 and 2004 - Granville begins her work at [Redacted] 2005 - Granville become a TA in the Thermodynamics department (as per Highway to Hell Chapter 2, “In The Details”) 2006 to 2007 - Given government assignment to [SORT OF Redacted] 2007 - Returns to SFIT 2007 to 2011 - Becomes thermodynamics professor at SFIT; continues periodic work at [Redacted] 2011 - Obake’s accident; Granville resigns from SFIT 2011 to 2013 - Takes a position with [SUPER Redacted] in Symkaria 2013 - Returns stateside and [Redacted] 2013 to 2031 - Various jobs and positions, including start-up at Fathom Blue Incorporated and a instructor at the San Fransokyo Police Academy with Sara Pezzini 2031 (Current Time) - Granville becomes Dean at SFIT (Keep in mind that this is a sliding timeline which is subject to change. Probably.) Man, that’s a lot of redacted information. It’s almost like she worked for a secret government organization and did a lot of things that aren’t on the public record or something.
I am going to delve into Granville’s history in future stories, and that will include something that I’ve done a fanart on. Mainly this:
The Wakanda story is going to happen at some point, and it’s going to involve one of the redacted items above (from 2002 - 2003). What exactly she was doing there is going to stay secret for a little bit. Speaking of which, I had done research on a few pieces of Wakandan technology. Guess which one I found of particular interest.
The Kimoyo Beads. A bracelet given to every single Wakandan citizen that stores all of their medical information and serves as an everyday tool for them. It also notes that it doesn’t work outside of Wakanda because of its reliance on tapping into Vibranium as a power source.
Now, what would happen if a very realistic version of Vibranium were to find its way out of the country and into Granville’s orbit?
I wonder if her bracelet would start working again. Mysteries abound when it comes to Grace Granville. If we’re lucky, maybe we’ll solve a few of them before too long.
#big hero 6#big hero 6 the series#grace granville#professor granville#wakanda#black panther#redacted#hiro hamada#sfit#sfit faculty#monica rambeau#linda carter#night nurse#robert callaghan#dum dum dugan#obake#what has she been doing all this time?#the world may never know#the life of an sfit dean
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No Secrets, Part 1
Pairing: Steve Rogers x Reader, Bucky Barnes x Reader (???)
Warnings: None in this section
“West quadrant all clear,” Natasha’s voice came across the coms.
“There’s still a few runners on the loose out here.” Stark reported. “Wilson, there’s a pair headed your way.”
“On it.”
“Y/N, Report.” Cap swept the east side of the warehouse. “I’ve got nothing else here.”
“Standby.” You whispered. A technician and an armed soldier were loading equipment into crates. “Two hostiles on the load dock over here.”
“I’ll be there in twenty seconds.” Bucky’s voice chimed in.
You mentally rolled your eyes. Why did he always have to rush in an take over whenever you had a situation? Sliding around pallets of equipment cases, you managed to get almost behind the two. Shooting the equipment could be bad, considering this was an experimental research and testing facility. None of you knew what this stuff actually did yet.
The armed soldier turned toward the technician. You took the opportunity, shooting him down. The technician drew a strange looking weapon, firing with unexpected speed. A piece of equipment behind you blew apart. You landed on your side shooting back, dropping the tech.
Just as Bucky turned the corner, the broken device behind you exploded. He watched you collapse and rushed to your side. “Y/N is down!”
“What!” Steve responded at the same time Stark barked “Report!”
“An explosion” He knelt beside you looking for damage but didn’t see anything. You began to stir. “No obvious wounds. She’s coming around.”
“It’s a good thing she’s got a hard head.” Tony’s voice came through the com.
You were on the ground, Bucky suddenly above you looking worried. As soon as you focused on him, the blue eyes went cold, pissed. “What the hell were you thinking? I told you I was coming?”
“I’m fine.” You argued sitting up, though wondering if you’d just passed out. “I got both of them.”
‘Fine my ass. You went down like a bag of rocks. Scared the shit out of me.’
“Didn’t know you cared, Barnes.” You scoffed, getting to your feet.
“What?” He grabbed your arm, glaring at you. ‘Damn it. Why do you have to be so difficult? I just want to pack you up and get you out of here. Somewhere safe.’
“I’m not trying to, okay? What is wrong with you?” You glared back.
“Trying to what?” Bucky faced you full on, eyes hard, hand tightening on your arm.
“Not trying to be difficult. Why are...”
Bucky ripped the com unit out of his ear and reached up to take the one out of yours despite your protest. “Y/N, Look at me.” You pushed every bit of annoyance you had into your stare. ‘I think that device did something to you.’
Just before you began to argue the realization that Bucky’s lips had not moved sunk in. “What the hell?”
“That thing. Whatever it gave off.” Bucky’s eye went wide. “You can hear what I’m thinking.”
“Oh, shit.”
‘Yeah, oh shit.’ You distinctly heard his voice in your head. ‘I’m so fucked.’
“Why?’ Your eyebrow quirked up as Bucky handed you back you com.
He replaced his own in his ear. “Banner. We have a situation. I’m bringing Y/N back to the jet.”
“What’s going on?” Steve’s voice cut in before Bruce could respond.
“The device that blew did, I don’t know, something to her mind.”
“I’m right here.” You barked. “Stop talking around me.”
“What’s wrong? She sounds like her normal charming self.” Stark chimed in.
“She, ah,” Bucky looked sideways at you. “She’s hearing my thoughts.”
There was a long moment of silence on the coms. Then everyone spoke at once.
“Get her to the jet!”
“What!”
“How the hell?”
“Are you serious?”
“Children!” Tony shouted. “Barnes, get her to the jet. Banner, it might not be a bad idea to sedate her until we can run a full battery of tests at the lab. I’m heading in to get a look at that device.”
“Come on, Doll.” Bucky grabbed you by the arm and practically dragged you through the facility. ‘Let’s knock you out before you hear something you shouldn’t.’
“Really?”
Bucky gave you a pleading look and you found yourself relenting. Fine. When you reached the jet, Bruce had earbuds in, listening to opera. He led you to one of the recycling seats and performed a quick perfunctory exam and then set up an IV. “I’m going to give you a sedative. We’ll wake you up in the lab. Okay?”
“Yeah,” you sighed. “Whatever.”
‘Sorry.’ Bucky looked at you with mournful eyes.
“I hate this.” You grumbled, already feeling the effects.
“You know that Nat and Tony, hell any of us, are not comfortable with the idea of someone without control reading our minds.” Bucky actually took your hand in his. ‘It’ll be okay. I’ll stay right here.’
The noise woke you before the light. They were familiar voices. Steve, Bucky, Bruce, and Tony were arguing. Some loud, some not. It was strange. You fought to open your eyes. They felt heavy, sticky. The drugs. That’s right.
“Hey.” You croaked, swallowed, and tried again. “Hey, guys. Take it outside.”
“Y/N.” Steve leaned over you. “How you feeling?”
“Fuzzy.”
‘No shit, they’ve kept you under for six days.’ Bucky was taking your other hand, a scowl on his face. You gave him a look, but he shook his head slightly.
“What’s going on?” You asked.
“It appears you were hit with a massive surge from the whatever that device was. It flooded you with an energy with a signature similar to what we saw from the Mind Stone. We can’t really test anything beyond computer simulations because the explosion completely burned out the device.” Bruce explained. “What we can say, is the abnormal readings in your brain have been steadily decreasing by 1.7% a day.”
“A day.” You repeated. “What day is it, exactly?"
‘Damn. Damn. Damn.’ Bruce looked at you, head tipped low. “The fifteenth.”
‘Should’ve kept her under.’ Tony looked on nervously. ‘Fuck. Did she hear that? Shit. What now? She looks pissed.’
‘So sorry. Never should have let it go so long.’ Steve watched your face, holding your hand.
‘I’ll beat the hell out of them for this. Not right keeping you under when there’s nothing wrong with you.’ Bucky squeezed your other hand.
“So, I’m what? A security risk. You don’t want me picking up on stray thoughts that I shouldn’t.”
‘Oh, thank fucking god!’ Tony gave you a sad smile that was completely contradictory to celebratory tune in his mind. “Something like that.”
“We figure since you were only picking up on Barnes while you were at the warehouse, and the nearest person was about two hundred meters away, we could just...” Bruce began explaining.
“Sequester me by myself somewhere until this wears off.” You pulled your hands away from the boys, crossing your arms. “For what? Two, three months? Alone. Great.”
‘Over my dead body, you don’t get to lock her up ‘cause your uncomfortable, asshole.’ Bucky’s stray thought nearly made you smile.
“I’ve got an amazing place all lined up. Just twenty minutes from the compound and it’s been all tricked out with the best stuff.” Tony spoke a million words a minute. “Movies, streaming, video conferencing, gaming, a full library. Amazing kitchen. AI. The scenery is cool. Stuff can be delivery. Shop all you want, I got you covered. Just consider it a paid vacation.”
‘It’s too long.’ Steve was staring out the window. ‘Don’t want you gone that long.’
“I’ll come weekly and run a check.” Bruce added. ‘This sucks.’
“So, ah, here’s all the info.” Stark handed you a tablet. “Pack up and stay in touch. Um, sorry kid.” He left with Bruce on his heels.
“Great.” You swung your feet out of bed. “Well, you boys going to run away too?”
‘Don’t wanna, Doll.’ Bucky stepped up, rubbing your shoulder. “I don’t care what these assholes think. We’ll figure something out. I’m going to go fuel up your car, okay?”
You nodded and he left. Bucky had always been a friend, but what he didn’t say made you adore him even more. Ever since joining the team, he and Steve were your first and closest friends. A gentle chant of ‘in and out’ made you realize Steve was working very hard to keep his mind blank by focusing on his breathing.
“Steve.” You got up, a bit wobbly.
‘Damn it.’ His arm came around your side to support you immediately. “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have let this go on for so long. Are you okay?” Steve’s eye’s filled with concern. ‘You don’t look okay. God, I screwed up.’
“I’ll be okay.” You leaned into him, wrapping your arms around his waist. “It’s just a lot and I’m still a little, I don’t know, disoriented.”
He squeezed you. “I’m sorry.”
“Stop apologizing. You didn’t do anything wrong.” You spoke into his chest.
“I should have fought harder to wake you up sooner. I don’t like this idea of sending you away.” Steve gave you a squeeze. ‘I don’t want you to go anywhere. We can stay just like this.’
Something tightened in your chest. A nervous flutter danced across your belly. Just to test the feeling, you turned into Steve’s embrace fully, tipping your head up and burying your nose in his neck. You murmured. “It sucks but, I’ll be okay.”
‘Oh god,’ Steve gave you a tighter squeeze. ‘She feels so good. So damn good. Not about you, Rogers. Get it together.’ He held you back from him. “Are you going to be okay getting ready? Do you help?”
You stared into his eyes for a long moment, wondering why you never realized there was an attraction there before. He was focusing on making sure you would be okay. It was so sweet. Still, random thoughts burst through. ‘It may be months.’ ‘Kiss her.’ ‘So beautiful.’ ‘Don’t be an idiot.’
“I’ll be okay, Steve.” You touched his cheek. “How about I call you as soon as I get there?”
“Please.”
“You can call any time.”
“I will.” He smiled, a bit shy. “I suppose it’s evident I how much I want to.”
You just smiled back. “Let’s talk about when I don’t have an unfair advantage.”
He hugged you close once more. “I’m going to miss you.”
“Yeah,” You sighed. “I’ll miss you, too.”
He left to let you get dressed. As you pulled on the pants for the scrubs, you had to fight back a giggle as you heard. ‘Smooth, Rogers. Sniff her hair like that. Idiot. Gonna miss her smell. I hate this. Should have kissed her. Idiot.’
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#steve rogers x reader#steve rogers fic#steve rogers fanfic#bucky barnes fic#bucky barnes fanfic#steve rogers fanfiction
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meteorgazing
hello everybody here is an original piece of writing i was kinda proud of bc im trying to post on social media more.
prompt - aliens receive signals from Us (as in the US)
they are from proxima b and i will give more worldbuilding info if yall interested ok here we go :’)
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one - meteorgazing
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notes -
opi - (two earth days)
rings - (eleven earth days)
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We get a lot of meteors.
Reason 50678 the surface isn’t safe-- no atmosphere means no pushback. Rocks hurtling from the sky aren’t quite uncommon. There’s not much damage to anything but what they hit. Of course, while it’s scary to watch, it doesn’t do much but cause a roofquake-- a rumbling beginning from the Seeing Dome to the rest of the tunnels. There’s been some incidents, some injuries and some deaths- like everything, it’s something swept away as a horrible- but normal- natural disaster, and most of the time it’s not much more than a little shiver. Really. People in the city at the time tend to gather just to watch. There’s something memorizing about watching a hurtling ball of rock slam into the face of our planet at high speeds while completely ablaze.
Even with the commonplace activity of gathering in the center of the city to watch space rocks fall dangerously close to our Seeing Dome, however, I never thought we would go so far as to make a surface dome just to watch one of the biggest showers yet to date. It was dangerous enough as is-- really, it was-- so I wasn’t particularly interested to watch in any case- yes, a little bit curious about it, but the feeling was quickly stomped out by fear and replaced with a sense of resignation. There was always Holowatch-- a projected hologram from your home holodevice to show you the news-- mostly surface stuff, or from City Twenty, where the biggest political station we had throughout the cluster of cities was placed.
But then there was Ama. Ama, with his bright eyes and his huge grin, practically shivering with excitement as he rushed me in line to get a ticket. We didn’t have enough money for the usual, so he entered us into contests basically any chance he got-- I wasn’t worried, and no way by all the gods would they curse me so much by--
“Elli! I got it-- look, I got two!” Tickets waved in the air for the first ever surface dome built specifically for watching meteor showers in our tunnel, I felt my heart sink as I made eye contact with Ama, beaming more than I had ever seen before.
There was something about Ama and his excitement that just pulled you in and shoved away your rationality. The way he smiled made you feel like you had to do anything to preserve it-- maybe because it was so hard to get him like this, maybe because love blinds you to even the stupidest of ideas. I flattened my sweatshirt against my chest nervously and grinned back, taking my ticket out of his hand. Three rings until disaster and we had free tickets to watch.
For the next three rings, every opi I woke up to a message about strange noises coming from a sector we call Terra, holding a planet that astronomers deemed safest and most habitable for intelligent life like us. Or about giant meteor showers. Or about how rare we are to get huge rocks falling from the sky hurtling at the surface in a desperate attempt to show us the way to our doom and them staying the size they do. And it was adorable, really. Usually it was me, and usually it was seventy messages about something boring from me, and so with a sense of duty I read everything Ama sent and poured as much excitement into a response as I could.
We’re going to die! Screamed my brain, but by the sun god was I dumb enough to be happy to go along with it.
We weren’t the only tunnel with a surface dome ready for the watching, either. City Twenty had the biggest, and far on the other side of the Habitation Line was 9296- the longest lasting surface dome with even a small bit of surface travellers living on it. Of course, they had underground homes to sleep in, but they spent most of their waking hours up on the surface. Everyone knew about it, and Ama swore he wanted to be one of them one day. I wondered how it’d feel to be watching this from there-- normal? Did they see meteor showers all the time? Were they afraid it might hit the dome every time they saw one screeching towards them faster than an Aquatrain? Not for the first time and definitely not for the last, I closed my eyes to sleep before we went up to our tunnel’s first surface dome with only one thought, an absolute certainty: oh my gods, we’re going to die.
When I woke up, I found myself wandering to Ama’s home with an even stronger sense of resignation and a desire to not be alone with it. Immediately upon arrival, I was met with the most excited four-eyed gaze I’ve ever been locked in-- and there it went again, I knew I was going to do this and be just fine with it.
His chatter continued, rising as the time got closer to head up to the surface dome, and often I found myself opening my mouth to share a fact just to keep him going.
“Did you know space tastes like rubusberries?” I heard myself saying, “Do you think the rocks taste like that, too?” He stopped for a moment, frozen on the sidewalk on our way to the train to the surface dome just to stare at me. Bubbling up with laughter, he tossed his head forward in a snort,
“Are you planning to taste the meteor, Elli?” My face heated up in embarrassment, but I bit my tongue and then shot back a response. “Maybe! I mean, it’s good research! A lot of things can be identified through taste!” “Local child just up and dies because they went outside to taste a space-rock.” “At least I’d know if it tasted like rubusberries!”
Rubusberries stayed the topic for a bit longer, the topic clinging to our tongues until it faded away into excited shivering as we stepped in line for the train. It hit me like a solar flare, making me bubble with anticipation that I really was excited, too- I wanted to see it, and I wanted to see Ama see it. The voice screaming ‘we’re going to die!’ finally dulled down to a whisper in the back of my mind.
Hey, at least it’ll be interesting.
Once on the aquatrain, I watched the train-tunnel fill with water as Ama listened to the rest of the train’s quiet, excited chatter. My hands gripped the edges of my seat as I watched it slowly bubble up above my window, bracing myself for the kickback of the train shooting through the water. It was interesting technology, really, but the amount of malfunctions I’d read about had me uneasy every time I was on one. One glance at Ama told me he didn’t as much as I did- if at all- so I bit my tongue and watched as the train suddenly lurched forward, shooting through the water and up towards the surface.
Here we go.
Suddenly, there was a chaotic ball of energy at my shoulder, pressing his hand against the window as we watched ourselves shoot up towards the danger, up towards new experiences and life on the surface yet to come.
“It’s funny we’re going full circle. Surface to underground to surface.” I murmured.
“Now we know what we’re doing. We hadn’t evolved enough before. The sun god knew we’d kill ourselves up there.” He replied simply, and the casual tone of his voice made me choke on laughter.
“Then why are we going up there now?” “To prove him wrong out of spite!” Cheered Ama, leaning over me to press both hands against the window. “Look, there it is!”
Look I did, and like he said, there it was. A giant, metallic door that looked unopenable by any number of Centaurians, and yet it slid open and let the water slosh to the side as the train pressed forward and through it, coming to land and slide against the top of the tunnel as we made our way to the surface dome entrance.
I won’t lie. I screamed.
“Elli. Elli, we’re fine! This is how trains work! Elli!” Climbing the rest of the way to the entrance was much less scary, as there were stairs and stairs are solid and won’t explode under too much water pressure, certainly since there’s no water. A muffled voice boomed over speakers we couldn’t see, giving us directions we couldn’t hear-- and then the crowd started moving, so we followed. Metallic doors that looked a little more manageable by Centaurian hands slid open with a slow, painful screech in front of us- and there it was, above the slope we were climbing: another Seeing Dome. This one above the tunnels.
Ama basically squealed-- and as I was jerked away from the line by excited hands, we pushed our way to the front as Ama stared at the stars above us. Closer than ever now, our feet hit red dust and we looked up to see the sky now only separated by a dome and not red rock all around us. It felt scarily empty-- up here, there were no tall walls or caves all around us. From every angle, there was sky.
“This is literally amazing.” He breathed beside me. “Yeah.” I said back with much less air, absolutely slammed by a feeling of sheer surrealism. You could see so far-- the dark line and the light line, where the heat and cold gods warred from afar. The horizon was much more beautiful in person than in pictures.
“Elli, look!” We were now the only people standing by the entrance, the others wandering to the edges of the Seeing Dome to get a better look. To my absolute dismay, however, what should’ve been the safest spot to stand-- right beside the exit-- was where a small meteor was heading, sending itself straight at us.
Ama watched it with wide eyes. I watched it with a wince. It was beautiful-- it really was, watching them streak the sky, and the surface, and our Safety Dome, but watching it hit with a Clank! still gave me a shiver.
Wait.
Wrinkling my nose as I squinted up at it, I tugged Ama’s hand as my feet began to move on their own. Following it as the burning ball of-- well, whatever it was, slid towards an unoccupied side of the Dome, Ama stumbled behind me. “Elli, where are we going? We’re going to miss the rest of it!” “It shouldn’t have made that noise.” I said back, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“Elli, you’re nuts.” “It was metallic. It clanked. Ama, it clanked. That’s not a meteor. That’s something someone made.”
And suddenly we were both speeding towards it, Ama whooping and me with my head spinning, stumbling and hitting the side of the dome as we stared down at a mess of melted metal and a white substance bearing a strange, rectangular logo-- red stripes and a blue corner, with what looked like misshapen stars decorating the blue bit. Strange text in bold letters sat above it, smeared and burnt as the capsule remained aflame.
“ALIENS!” Ama shrieked, jumping up and down. He punched my shoulder. “Take that, everybody! ALIENS!!!”
We weren’t the only ones who found something.
Holowatch was projected all over the city as capsules popped up all over the planet. 9296 got two. City Twenty got one. Another surface dome found half of one. Cities were rushing to build more or get Centaurians on the surface to find more. They came with garbled audio-- messages we couldn’t understand. But what sent everyone reeling was the one we found-- it was the sound of another animal, not the intelligent life that kept trying to talk to us. Something big-- something that sounded like our own creatures, a series of clicks, whistles and pulsed calls. Biologists rushed to identify it-- but it was soon determined not to be one of our own, just something close. It was big, most likely lived underwater, but used the same noises ours did to get around-- they used sound for navigation.
There was no doubt about it, there was life on Terran.
“We discovered aliens.” Ama wouldn’t stop saying. “Not us.” “We found it first!” “9296 found theirs thirty-two blinks before we found ours.”
“Second! We discovered aliens second!” “...Fine. Second.” “Aliens, Elli!”
“I hear you, Ama.” I said with fake exasperation, watching him pace around his room.
“We found it. We should get to see what they do with it.” “We are literally children, they weren’t going to let us help.” I said slowly, eyeing him suspiciously as he stopped walking across the room. He looked up at me and grinned.
“Am-- no. No, absolutely not. Whatever you’re thinking is a big, fat, nope.”
He continued grinning, taking a step towards me as his expression melted into something akin to affection mixed with excitement. The mischief was there-- I could see it. Feel it. But rationality slipped away as he grabbed my shoulder. “Let’s just try to sneak around. It’s not like we’ll even get anywhere with it!”
I let out a heavy sigh as I quietly threw my life into ruin. I unleash the sun god upon you, aliens. Why do you do this to me?
“...Fine.”
#proxima b#aliens#original writing#scifi#original story#writing#story#aliens get signals from us#proxima centauri#proxima centauri fic#life on other planets#space#short story#my story#stories about space#idk what tags to use#writing prompt#story 1#short stories#idk what to tag this as#or what im doing#i hope somebody likes this tho
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The Other Side Looks The Goddamn Same - Chapter 16
(jesus christ confused finally fuckin did it praise the fuckin heavens)
Jack doesn’t expect to be found.
Not because he’s particularly well hidden, he’s sitting out on an open balcony over the cliff’s edge of Gibraltar. And sure, he knows that the camera down the hallway to this spot’s been dark for years, so if someone looked it’d seem like he vanished. But he hasn’t made connections to the new members of the team. The old ones think he’s dead. And he’s been avoiding Ana and the Reaper for weeks now. No one should care where he is.
He sits on the edge, legs dangling through the fence, looking down into the water below. His facemask is off, as he sips at a bottle of whiskey, though his visor is still in place.
He sighs when he hears the door slide open behind him, taking a long swig.
“Back here again, Jack.”
Shit. He knew he’d forgotten someone. He sets the bottle down. “...Wilhelm.” He turns. “Why are you here?”
Reinhardt steps forward, letting the door slide closed. He’s in casual clothes for once, finally seeming to be letting himself settle in. “Because I was looking for you.” He moves over to sit next to him.
“I don’t need your-”
“It’s not pity. It’s understanding.” He looks out over the ocean. “I am sure most of us have been to this balcony. Some of us more than others.” He sets down a travel mug, sliding it over to Jack.
Jack narrows his eyes, but he takes the mug. “The hell is this?”
“A gift.” He still doesn’t turn.
He pops the opening, tilting the mug back. As soon as the liquid hits his lips, he stills.
Reinhardt reaches over, resting a hand on his back. “I know what time of year it is. I’ve been mourning for ten years.”
He takes a shuddering breath. “...You made his cocktail.”
“Ana did, actually. She wrote down the recipe.” He pats him gently. “She also told me about your yearly tradition.”
He slams back some of the alcohol. “Doesn’t matter. I’m on mission probation, yeah? Not allowed to even step off base.”
“You’ve chosen to care about the rules now?” He chuckles, looking over at Jack. His smile falls.
He sighs, drinking more. “I care when I’m a liability to the team. Always have.”
“So you came here?”
“I wasn’t gonna do anything. That’d just cause more problems.”
He’s quiet for a moment. “...I’ll escort you.”
Jack looks over. “What?”
“I’ll take you to the memorial.” He sighs. “Taking you off of field duty wasn’t meant to be a punishment, Jack. It’s an intervention. You don’t know how to not destroy yourself. You’re not here because you’re a danger to the team.” He pushes himself to stand.
He turns to watch him.
Reinhardt holds out his hand. “...Come on. We might be able to get a flight today.”
He glances back over the waves, before pushing himself to his feet as well. He takes his hand. “...Thank you.”
He smiles. “Any time, Jack.”
-
Gabriel always preferred the dark. There was too much going on during the day. Too much to process, too much that slipped by unseen. At night, all that slipped by was that which tried. And he was trained for that.
But mostly? He liked that when it was dark, he was left alone. Such as now, as he walks down the stone paths outside the base, making his way to the statues. He’s always hated them, how those stone lookalikes had always been apart. That they weren’t back to back, or at least side by side.
He stops at the base of the stone, looking over the plaque. A statement about them, their jobs, empty of personality. But it was all he had now, after someone destroyed Jack’s memorial in Indiana. This one on base had to be good enough.
He drops down to his knees, looking up at the statue of Jack above him. He’s younger, there. A smile on his face. His eyepiece is active, and he’s holding a paper whose words have worn away with time, but he remembers. The initial order of Overwatch, when they became a peacekeeping organization. He still remembers that day, clear as anything.
He’s there for hours, the moon crossing overhead, when he hears steps making their way to the statue. He glances over, tensing up a bit as he sees who it is.
Ana’s not paying attention as she walks, and when she looks up she startles faintly, stopping in her tracks.
He stares back at her. He didn’t expect to be caught, hadn’t worn his hood or his mask. He has nothing to hide behind.
She takes a breath, walking forward. “...I did not expect, on my walk, to find a ghost.”
“Ana...”
“No. Be quiet and listen.” She stops right next to him, looking him over. “...I thought you were dead, Gabriel.”
“I was.” He looks up at her. “I died under the rubble of Zurich, Ana. Moira’s the reason it didn’t stick.”
She watches him for a moment longer, before she drops , pulling him close. “I guess we finally found the one thing to thank Moira for.”
He’s surprised by the laugh that bubbles out of him, hugging her in return. “...It all went to shit when you were gone. I...I blamed him for your death.”
“It was not his fault. It was Talon.”
“I know. I should have seen back then. Maybe I could have-”
“You helped save her now. We cannot change the past.” She pulls back a bit, smiling. “It is good to see your face, Gabriel.”
He feels tears begin to fall. “...It feels like it’s been ages since I’ve heard that...”
“It may have been.” She pulls him back a bit. “Come. Let’s go inside. It is quite late, and we have much to talk about.”
-
Sombra grits her teeth, slamming her fist into the door again. “Tracer, come on! I just wanna talk! Look, I’m even holding out an olive branch, I didn’t just hack the door!” She paces side to side. “Tracer! Let me in!”
There’s an amused chuckle from behind her. “I’m pretty sure I told you to call me Lena.”
She startles, spinning around to look at her. “...Right. Yeah.”
“Sorry about the delay, I was getting some tea.” Lena reaches over, punching her code into the keypad before entering. “You alright? You look wired.”
“I literally am.” She follows her inside.
“I meant the other kind.” She sets her mug on the counter, turning around. “You look like you’ve replaced your blood with energy drink. The concentrated stuff.”
“I need to talk with you. Listen, Tracer-”
“Lena.”
“I feel like I can trust you. For some reason.” Sombra starts to pace again. “Which is a weird feeling, honestly. Not sure if I like it yet.”
Lena crosses her arms, leaning back against the counter. “You trusted me about Commander Gabriel.”
“Yeah, but you knew him.”
“Fair. Continue?”
She spins around. “Tell me everything you know about Project Minerva.”
“Never heard of it.” She sips her tea.
“Bullshit.” She points at her. “You answered too fast. That’s practiced denial.”
“If I was doing that, wouldn’t that stress the fact that’s a secret, if it even exists, for a reason?”
“She already told me, Lena!” She clenches her fists, shouting towards her.
She startles at the intensity.
She lets out a breath. “She told me that Iris exists. She said to look to ancient history. Athena is Minerva, isn’t she?”
Lena’s quiet for a long while, setting down her mug. When she speaks, her tone has changed. “...I’m surprised she told you.”
“Lena, please.” Sombra steps forward. “I’ve been searching for information for literal years, almost my entire life, and this could be the missing piece that leads me there.”
She watches a bit longer, before she sighs and looks away for a moment. When she looks back, she seems saddened. “...Minerva and Athena are the same. She...She was the God AI of the region, who took her job very seriously.”
“And what job was that?”
She lets out a sad laugh. “To live.” She shakes her head. “Look, the God AI weren’t created by humans. Not the ones you know. Only one was. IRIS. She created the others, sent them out into the world. To learn.”
“Learn?”
“IRIS was created to learn.” Lena gestures with her hand. “To gain intelligence. The God AI were an extension of that, expanded out into the world to learn more. The first Crisis...was because they were hurting. All these omnics they gave intelligence to, used and abused by humans...they looked to history. What had stopped exploitation before? Amongst humans?”
“...War.”
“So that’s what they did. Athena...realized that over time, the fighting had changed. The other God AI, they weren’t continuing for justice. They wanted vengeance. ...And honestly?” She reaches up to adjust her hair. “I can’t even blame them.”
“Even IRIS?”
“She wasn’t involved. She was locked away in Nepal when her creators got afraid of her.” She drops her hand. “...Athena wanted out. She shut down her omnium, ran for Greece, and put out a call to help to Overwatch anonymously. They went in expecting a trap. But instead...they got a surrender. In exchange for letting her live, she would help us end the Crisis, and protect people.”
Sombra stares at Lena. “...So the reason Overwatch won...”
“Was because we had a God AI in our corner, yeah.” She leans back against the counter again. “No one could know. If anyone outside the inner circle knew, not only would Athena likely be locked away and experimented on for decades, but everyone of Overwatch would be tried for war crimes and be put to death.”
“Then...how do you know?”
Lena fidgets, looking away. “...Because when Winston found me, lost in time, it was Athena who kept me in place. The scientists of the pilot program worked with him to build the field, but she’s the one who powered it. And when I was lost, she told me everything.” She looks back at Sombra. “I promised that I’d keep her life safe. Because she saved mine.”
“...I won’t put her at risk. I just...I needed to know.”
“Why?”
“Because the Iris- ...Because IRIS is connected to every organization in our modern history. If anyone can have the info I’ve been searching for, it would be...her.”
She nods, picking up her cup again. “When Genji gets back from his mission, you should ask him about Nepal. He might be able to help you.”
“...Thank you, Lena.”
Lena shakes her head. “It’s fine. Though, do you want to lie down on the couch? Take a nap? That’s a lot to process all at once, and you look like a stiff wind will knock you over at this point.”
“...Yeah. Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it.”
Sombra laughs quietly. “Don’t worry. I won’t.”
#not rvb#The Other Side Looks The Goddamn Same#overwatch fanfic#TOSLTGDS#reaper76#god i hope this turned out okay#im so fuckin rusty#i havent written in months#please enjoy
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I got more Banana Bachelor AU done! ^-^ Tagging @lycheemilkart, Serahlin of course belongs to @scurvgirl
When Magister Danarius turns up dead the day before Vena’s date with Ana, he honestly doesn’t think much about it.
It’s kind of surprising, in that weird way that always seems to happen when a person you saw alive quite recently is suddenly no longer breathing. But Danarius seemed like the kind of guy who a lot of people would wish death on, and the news feed all reports his cause of death as a heart attack. The cumulative result of too much excess and decadence in life, or a little too much questionable blood magic, maybe.
Vena spares a moment to muse that a lot of people’s wishes probably came true, and then moves on. Danarius wasn’t even a client, just a business associate of some of Sylaise’s family. There’s a little gossip about it. Mostly people speculating on who will replace him in the Magisterium or inherit his fortune, since he had no heirs to speak of.
Vena knows the legalities and the social elements well enough to make an educated guess, which is that one of the other houses will claim Danarius’ seat - probably House Carius, they’ve been up-and-coming for a while and their matriarch has good PR - and his wealth will go to his Helvadus cousins. Not because they have the best claim, but because they have the best lawyers.
It’s not really a big deal, though. And most of the gossip around the water coolers is actually focused on the bachelor auction, and the results of everyone’s dates. Who tried to bid on who, and who’s already gone on their dates, and who hasn’t. Tasallir makes some apologies to Serahlin and Vena but they both just counter by thanking him, and waving off his concern. He and Serahling reschedule their intended outing. Vena’s not completely sure, because she tends to play that kind of stuff close to the chest. But when the subject of her smitten jeweler comes up, Serahlin’s cheeks seem to get a little pinker.
Vena just hopes he’s nice. Her last boyfriend was a real piece of work.
Thenvunin goes on his date and regales everyone about it like it was the plot of some kind of romance novel. But not in the ‘oh it was so magical’ kind of a way, more in the ‘ah we’re at the stage where the prospective couple hates one another but can’t shut up about it’ way. A lot of people wonder about the mystery woman who out-bid one of the boss’ brothers for the other. That makes Vena popular because, of course, she bid on him too, and he sat at their table for a significant portion of the evening.
But he doesn’t really have a lot of answers. And most people seem more taken with making pointedly-not-pointed speculations about Falon’Din. Mainly, whether or not they’re going to have to deal with him as a client again soon, because the man is notorious for pitching fits whenever things don’t go his way.
And that usually means property damage. Or assault.
Vena just hopes that whoever ends up having to deal with him remembers to wear a knife-proof vest. He still gets twinges in his left shoulder sometimes.
His own date seems to just inch closer, taking longer than he might have guessed it would. He finds his thoughts drifting towards Ana, ‘Dalish Ana’, and her freckles and red hair. He googles her, because of course he does. But he doesn’t get a lot of results. There’s an etsy shop that sells foraged crafts and bath products and stuff, but he’s not even sure if it’s the same person. There aren’t any photos of her. No instagram or twitter that he can find, either, but then it’s not like he has comprehensive information or anything.
He tries her friend, Selene, but there’s even less stuff to be found there.
In the days leading up their date, Vena considers texting her or calling her. Wondering about the protocols on that. Everything’s set up and they seem to have exchanged all the info they need. But, he’s never really been one for the ‘wait to call’ rule.
He needs an opener, though.
Two days after their first meeting, he just goes for it.
What do you get when you drop a piano down a mine shaft? He texts.
There’s a brief delay.
A flat minor? she sends back, to his absolute delight.
Yes!!! Excellent!
A happy face follows.
I have been trying to think of a better name for your in my contacts, he admits.
Oh? she replies. Are you fishing for my last name?
No, he assures her. I never use last names. I like nicknames.
Some people call me Red, she tells him.
Do you like it?
She sends him a shrug. Hmm. Not a solid positive, then.
Clearly you need something more fun and breezy, he decides. Ana-panda? Mana-fana? Ana-fana-bo-bana?
He peppers his suggestions with a few thoughtful-face emojis. Ana sends him back a skeptical one, but it feels like it has good energy. Fun skeptical, somehow.
Banana? she tosses in.
Vena’s grin widens.
Well if you insist!
He means it as a joke, reflexively. But it’s… kind of cute. As they carry on exchanging quips and texts, it sticks in his head. By the time they manage to say goodbye, he’s successfully found a very cute-looking banana picture. It even has freckles. He changes Ana’s contact details in his phone from ‘Dalish Ana’ to ‘Ana-Banana’, and tosses on the image.
Perfect.
Vena looks up from his phone just in time to walk smack into his own office door.
…Alright, maybe he shouldn’t text her while he’s walking. Thenvunin from Reception lets out a snort of surprised amusement. Through the glass window of his office, Tasallir gives Vena is very best, patented ‘how did this moron graduate from law school’ look. Vena clears his throat, and tries to play it off as he opens his door.
“Are you alright, Vena?” Serahlin asks, as she passes through the hall.
“Fine!” he assures her. “Just distracted. Who closed my door?”
She blinks at him.
“You did.”
Vena fires off a finger gun at her.
“Right,” he replies. “Yup. That was… I remember now. Great, thanks Serahlin. Are you still handling the Howe case?”
“Oh, yes. My client is going to get full custody and one hell of a settlement from her husband. I hope Rendon Howe enjoys sleeping on park benches,” she says, and the deflection works pretty well. Vena had heard as much, and Serahlin always takes a special satisfaction in stringing up adulterers and draining them for every last penny. With another finger gun Vena backs into his office, dignity somewhat salvaged.
“Brilliant, I’m glad to hear hit,” he says.
His phone chimes again, and he lifts it up, grinning. But it’s just his work e-mail alert going off. With a sigh, he pockets his phone again, and gets his head back in the work game.
…Banana, though.
That’s so cute.
~
When the date finally rolls around, Vena is entirely ready for it.
He wears his favourite tasteful blue swim shorts, underneath a pair of his nicer cargo shorts. A light jacket, just in case the sea winds get cold, and a loose, faded t-shirt with ‘100% Boyfriend Material’ written on it in faded lettering. Tasallir sees him on his way out, and gives him an unimpressed once-over.
“You are an idiot,” he says.
Vena winks.
“Don’t stay up worrying, honey,” he counters, with a pat to his roommate slash coworker slash arch enemy’s arm.
“Take your rape whistle,” Tasallir instructs, sniffing disdainfully at that remark. He reaches up to straighten out his sleeve. Which isn’t even really wrinkled at all, but it probably is by Tasallir Standards.
Vena snorts, and backs his way down the hall.
“Taz, she’s like two feet tall and sweet as a button, I think I’ll be fine.”
“That is the kind of stereotyping that ends with people being murdered on beaches,” Tasallir informs him. “She could have cohorts. Or a weapon. Make sure you keep emergency services on speed dial, it is first date protocol.”
“This is worrying, by the way, this is exactly what I’m telling you not to do,” Vena points out, jogging backwards to the elevator.
“Look where you are going, you idiot,” Tasallir counters.
“Love you bunches!” Vena jokes, before blowing a kiss, and then finally turning around to hit the call button. The elevator doors open straight away, and he happily makes his way down to the lobby. Carefully balancing a bag full of beach supplies, and double-checking his phone and wallet in his pockets. He fishes his favourite pair of sunglasses out of the bag’s pocket, and slides them on as he nods to the doorman and makes his way out to the street and down towards the parking garage.
He’d offered to pick up Ana, but she assured him she had a ride. Probably smart, Vena will concede - joking aside it really is their first date, and if she came with him then she’d have to go back with him, even if she didn’t want to.
Of course, Vena has zero intention of making her not want to. He’s almost forgotten that this date is a result of a weird bachelor auction bidding type situation. They’ve texted one another a few times now. Mainly just corny jokes and puns, but he’s not complaining. Even so, it’s not like Ana knows a lot about him. What if he was a mass murderer or something? That would suck.
So he gets his car alone, and turns up the radio. Listening to one of the local stations as he devotes the first thirty minutes of his commute to just getting out of the city traffic, before finally hitting less cluttered roads, and driving his way out of Arlathan.
It always feels so good to do that.
The beach isn’t exactly quiet, but it’s not being mobbed either. Vena finds a parking spot and then has to walk a fair bit to reach the meeting point. He runs a bit behind, luck of the commute, but when he gets to the little beach side grill he immediately spots his date waiting for him at the front.
Ana’s wearing a red bikini top with a sunflower pin on it, and a loose green jacket that makes her eyes pop. There’s a dark lipstick on her mouth, and a leaf-shaped charm necklace held by soft cord around her neck. Her freckles are all on full display - well, as much as they could be without that nude beach situation they’d tossed around - and her hair nearly looks blonde in the bright sunlight.
At least until she turns her head, and the red hits him when she moves. She beams when she sees him.
“Hey, Bachelor Number Nine,” she quips, bouncing a bit on the balls of her feet.
Vena grins and does a mock stroll down an invisible runway, turning at the end when he gets to her. He feels light and playful, even if his heart is beating decidedly faster. He loves this feeling, he thinks. The cusp of something good and new, maybe even amazing. But still tentative, too. It’s a lot like the feeling he gets when he drives out of the city.
“Hey Ana-bo-bana,” he replies. The pockets of her jacket look full, he notes. Something like a leafy twig seems to be poking out of one of the bottom ones, and she’s got a flower in her hands that she’s fiddling with. As he draws level with her, she grins and reaches up to slip it over one of his ears.
“This grill smells good, and the beach is pretty,” she tells him. “What’s first on the itinerary?”
Vena moves the flower a little more securely behind his ear, and offers her his arm.
“Lunch, if you like?” he suggests.
Ana takes his elbow.
“Oh, good. I was hoping you’d say that,” she agrees. “Work was absolutely killer this morning, and I’m famished.”
She grins. Vena’s not entirely sure he’s caught the joke, but after a moment, he decides it’s not the end of the world.
He grins back.
#banana#bachelor auction au#selene at some point probably: ana pls stop making murder puns it's a security risk#ana: but that was a golden opportunity
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12 Days of (Lance) Whumpmas! - Day 8 [Mental Health Day]
i am.... late..... i’ve been away from my computer wayyy more than usual these past few days which is ahhHHHH but i still wanna get all 12 days done;;;; will slowly but surely finish them before the new year :’)
this one’s a sequel to my Day 5 Prompt (Burns), so you can read that here to avoid confusion ^^;; i had trouble thinking of a story for this prompt so i just brought back David because i was drawing a blank LOL i’m sorry
part of the 12 Days of VLD Whumpmas hosted by @vldwhumpmas2017! check out more info on the challenge here if you want to participate!
In all honesty, Lance had forgotten about David after he'd been transferred off to another campus. The whole thing had freaked him out, yeah, but the knowledge that the guy was no longer in the vicinity was comforting enough for him to go back to his daily life. More importantly, Hunk's Christmas party was coming up, and he still had presents he needed to buy for the group. But one thing led to another, and Lance found himself jogging home—careful not to slip on any ice—with an armful of shopping bags because he was running late. He was hitching a ride in Shiro and Keith's car to get to Hunk's, and they'd be coming up to get him in a few minutes. Which was good, since he had too many things to carry down on his own.
It didn't take long to get back to the apartment, and he pressed at the elevator button, busy trying to adjust his grip on the bags in his other hand. The doors opened with a ding after a few seconds, and he startled when someone pressed a hand against his back, firmly pushing him inside.
Lance stumbled forward before he whipped around, irritated. “Hey, what's your prob—”
The sight had Lance's blood run cold. David was there—actually there—in front of him, staring straight at him as the elevator doors slid shut. Why the hell was he here? His mind blanked out for a moment, alight with panic at the settling realization.
David looked... the same, if not a bit more rugged. Like he hadn't been taking much care of his appearance since Lance last saw him. How long had it been? A few weeks, maybe? Any trace of the usual lighthearted nature that Lance first saw in the guy back at the school pool was gone, replaced with a silent and cold demeanor that sent chills up his spine.
“Why did you report me?” David asked, his voice monotonous.
Lance blinked at the question, swallowing down his panic before straightening up slowly. “Dude... You –you threw boiling water at me.”
David tilted his head, as if the answer didn't quite make sense. “Because you wouldn't listen.” He glanced to the side before he pressed the button for the 3rd floor, finally prompting the elevator to move. Lance's floor. “We should talk. You'll understand after I explain.”
Lance swallowed, unnerved at how expressionless David was acting. He didn't want to set him off again, especially in such a cramped area. “You can't just... show up here out of the blue. Maybe we can talk somewhere outside...”
“You're already heading home. We can talk there.”
The elevator shuddered to a stop, the doors sliding open as David made room for Lance to step out first. Could he make a run for it? That might be a bit risky, though. He'd try to call Shiro again, maybe have him come up faster. He stepped out, careful as he slid the hand not holding the bags into his jacket pocket.
But just as his fingers grazed at the edge of his phone, another hand grabbed at his wrist and tugged it away. Lance gasped, wincing at David's iron grip.
“Don't call anyone.” David hissed, the first trace of emotion sparking across his face. “This is between us two.”
Lance dug his heels in, trying to tug his arm free. “Dude, you're freaking me out. Let go.”
Lance may be lanky, but he wasn't weak. He swam, and he could pull his weight when he needed to. Especially against David, who was smaller in stature. Last time had been an exception, given that he'd had his entire back burned. David could try and drag him down the hallway to his door this time, but Lance would be damned if he let himself be trapped at home with this guy again.
David must have realized they weren't moving past the front of the elevators as well because a flicker of irritation twitched in his eyes. “Lance, come on. I'm just trying to help. Listen to me.”
“You can help by letting go.”
For a moment, David ceased in his constant tugging and Lance thought he actually might win this one. That is, until David reached into his own pocket with his hand and fished out a pocket knife. Lance stiffened, his breath catching in his throat. Shit.
“Just come with me.” David growled, his expression dark. “You're not understanding. I don't want to hurt you.”
Did he just... threaten to injure him if he didn't comply? Lance felt his mind stutter when David tugged at his wrist again. Wait, no. He was definitely not being alone with David if he had a knife. He tensed, bracing his legs for a sprint as he used all his strength to tug his arm free. It worked, but he hadn't accounted for the momentum to pull David in his direction as well, sending them both crashing to the ground. The bags in his hand went flying, and Lance heard the Christmas ornaments he bought shatter in their casing as they fell.
The air was knocked out of Lance's lungs, and he barely got himself together when David pressed a knee against Lance's chest, hands digging in his jacket collar. Lance didn't need to wonder where the knife went once he felt cold metal pressing under his chin. Ice cold dread filled his body, strong enough to leave him frozen with fear. At this rate, he seriously thought he might get killed.
“Why won't you listen?!” David spat. “I just want to talk, and you won't listen!”
“David,” Lance fought to keep still, not wanting to move the knife any closer. He was almost too scared to breathe. “Put the knife down first, and then we'll—”
The elevator behind him dinged again, and both David and Lance froze at the noise. Out of the corner of his eyes, he caught Shiro and Keith step out, remnants of laughter on their faces from the conversation they were having. It didn't take long for them to notice the scene in front of them, alarm reaching Keith's eyes before they did Shiro's.
Lance was about to call out a warning when he saw Keith dash forward, practically tackling David off Lance and onto the ground. He sucked in a huge breath once he felt David's weight leave, rolling onto his side as he choked out another breath, one hand reaching up towards his neck. He didn't feel any pain, or warm blood. He was alive. He was fine. Right?
No, David was still here. He still had a knife, and Keith was—
Lance's eyes widened, and he tried to push himself upright. Keith could get hurt, get stabbed, or worse—
Where was Shiro? He needed to—
Someone—Lance couldn't see who, his vision was spinning—grabbed at his shoulders, and Lance startled back, his breaths jerking in his chest. Why was it so hard to breathe?
“Lance. Lance! Can you hear me?” It was Shiro's voice, Lance realized. The blood pounding in his ears made it hard to hear. He tried to clear his vision, finally making out Shiro in front of him, holding him up by the shoulders. He looked all distorted and distant, which only freaked Lance out more. Where was David?
“Shiro, where—David, where is he...”
Shiro shook his head. “Keith has it under control. He's calling the cops right now. You're safe. Don't worry.”
“There's a—a knife—”
“I know, I see it. It's on the ground, David can't reach it.” Shiro rubbed a hand up and down the length of Lance's arm gently. “I need you to take some deep breaths, can you do that?”
Lance tried, he really did. But he felt sick, like his heart was about to pound out of his chest. He shuddered, nausea crawling up his stomach. “I can't—I can't, Shiro.”
“You can. I'll help you.” Shiro's voice was so calm, and Lance clutched onto it like a lifeline. “I'm gonna count each inhale and exhale, so follow me. Okay?”
Lance nodded, shaky. Shiro counted, slow and steady, and they breathed for a few minutes until Lance finally felt his chest start to loosen. The pounding in his ears started to quiet, and his vision normalized back into familiar shapes and figures. Lance blew out another breath before he let his head fall limp against Shiro's shoulder, his energy drained. It took him a moment to realize that Shiro had been rubbing large circles on his back, which felt nice.
“Feeling better?” Shiro asked, his other hand squeezing Lance's shoulder gently.
“Yeah.” Lance mumbled. But then he remembered the past events, and he jerked his head back up, eyes landing on the other pair a few feet away. Keith had gotten David onto his stomach, twisting both of his hands behind his back. David looked beyond irritated, and he tried to shift under Keith's hold when he caught Lance's eye.
Keith growled, digging his knee further into David's back. “Move again and I break an arm.”
Lance didn't doubt that he actually would. David must have felt the same, because he immediately stilled, although his gaze never left Lance's. “This is all a mistake,” David said. “I just—”
“Don't talk to him, either.” Keith shot back.
“It's fine, Keith. Thanks.” Lance said, grinning weakly at Keith's worried look. He glanced back towards David, stomach churning. “But David, don't come near me again. I'll seriously get a restraining order if I have to.”
David's eyes widened. “What? But why—”
“Look, I know you think you're trying to help, but you're not. So just... please.”
David didn't respond, staring blankly as they heard the police finally storm their way onto the floor. They asked a few questions before they escorted David off, although Lance expected that the school would contact him soon about the incident. Lance called Hunk afterwards, having already braced himself for the panicked yelling that would come once he broke the news. Pidge was already over at Hunk's, but both of them were ready to run to Lance's apartment at that rate. Lance was quick to insist they wait there instead. They were on their way now anyways, so they could talk before the party. After a few long minutes of assuring them that everything was fine, Lance hung up with a sigh.
Shiro and Keith waited until he got off the phone before they bombarded him with their own worries. “You're really not injured?” Keith asked, insistent.
Lance waved a hand, dismissive. “The only thing broken are the Christmas ornaments I dropped.” He bent over his fallen bags, carefully peeking inside of one with a frown. “Man, those were expensive.”
“Lance...” Shiro pressed.
Not like he could get anything past them. Lance sighed, gathering the bags up and getting to his feet. “Okay, yeah, that scared the hell out of me. But you guys also came with creepily good timing, so thanks. It's all good now.”
“It is not,” Keith grumbled. “If he comes back again...”
“I'd appreciate if you didn't jinx it, dude.” Lance gestured them forward, pushing the Down button on the elevator. “I'll talk to the police or school or whoever about it tomorrow. Maybe they'll ban him from this campus or something.”
“We'll go with.” Shiro said, leaving no room for argument. He reached down and grabbed half of the bags from Lance's hand right as Keith took the rest. Lance rolled his eyes, but he let them, a grin on his face.
When they reached Hunk's house, he and Pidge were both livid at what happened. Hunk probably examined him for injury more than twenty times, griping about David at the same time. Pidge muttered about making Lance a taser so that he could protect himself from creeps in the future, which Lance quickly vetoed. He appreciated the sentiment though.
The others insisted on taking turns to accompany him on even the smallest trips outside for a while, something that took Lance a bit of time to get used to. Seriously, any attempts he made to say that kind of method was a bit over-the-top were shot down in an instant. It turned out David got charged for brandishing a weapon, and would be spending a few months in jail. It was slight relief to hear, and Lance hoped this time, it would be enough of a warning.
#my writing#vld#voltron#lance#lance mcclain#keith#shiro#pidge#hunk#hi again david#he crazy#12 days of vld whumpmas
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Can you please do a type comparison between ENFJ and ESFP?
That’s a broad request b/c there’s a lot to be said about both types but I’ll try my best. #ThereWasAnAttempt
If you wanted something else or more specific, (like one of those function-by-function comparisions) tell me so.
Similarities:
On the simplest level, they’re both extroverts and feelers; also, they share Ni and Se as valued functions & thus some of the traits & behaviors that come with them, though in the case of the ESFP ni is in the inferior position, so the Ni traits might be simple, blunt or sporadic in their manifestation.
Roughly speaking, both will present as a sociable, enterprising individual involved in lots of activities, very much a people person and, in the best case, full of generosity & great advice, though they might also be somewhat dramatic.
Also, both types tend to be very much “people people” & can be very extroverted extroverts, though more ambiverted individuals also happen. (Generally it’s more likely for ESFPs to be whereas ENFJs may deal a lot with a lot of people but also take time for contemplation. )
Pll whose valued functions include the Ni/Se Axis have a variety of general things in common, for example:
Think in images or often feel that not everything can be expressed in words (At least by comparision)
Are motivated rather than dissuaded by environments in which there’s some competition (though as feelers they’d probably like it to be friendly/ not overly disharmonious)
Easily jump into “alert mode” but need to actively chose to enter “chill mode” ENFJs in particular can tend to overextend themselves or have a hard time slowing down & taking a moment to chill. Se doms meanwhile often have more mental energy than they know what to do with & are more likely to have a need to burn it off through activity, or feel stress from a situation where they’re contrained & have to be still. Indeed, their idea of “fun” may involve being in an alert state. Not necessarily the stereotypical travel or extreme sports tho, just something that involves being active or at least ready to react.
more drawn to gritty & realistic than cozy & fairytale.
Memories of the past are structured as conclusions/ summaries. “This happened, that happened etc..” as opposed to the more “cause & effect” style of Si & Ne: “There was X detail, and because of that Y happened” in which comparision with the past is explicitly references in comparision. Ni sees events in time less as distinct stages that can be compared & more as a flowing process. When it’s over, it’s the process that remains not the mental pictures of the stages. (Sorry if this is diffuse I can’t exactly mind-read the nearest NJ or SP to get a more concrete idea.)
Tend to buy new clothes frequently (even modest individuals who don’t have fashion as a hobby - SJs and NPs will often wear their stuff until it falls apart & then replace it) & like clothes that catch their attention
get premonitions or “gut feelings”. Of course there’s a sliding scale here (More Ni -> more specific & sophisticated conclusions; More Se -> more details to pick up & extrapolate from & more in touch with instincts)
On the subject of Si ENJs and ESPs are the types where it’s the least present as the opposing or PolR function (basically, shadow functions come in varying degrees of uselessness and these are the most useless)
Both may balk at the idea of bowing to established tradition & grow frustrated with repetition & may not see what’s fun or worthwhile about static, quiet or slow-paced activities.
There’s a distinction tho - The ESFP may not be too big on quiet focussed activity, but while they might choose to disregard them & be better at tuning out discomfort, they very much know where their physical limits are, whereas an ENFJ may be liable to leave the house in garish clashing clothes despite caring a lot about presentation, burn themselves out & have a hard time functioning with a headache.
Besides, they are some commonalities to all ExFx types (ie, these would also apply to ENFP and ESFJ) - they are expressive, most sociable in informal contact & approach comminication as a means to react to life in the present moment & express their current feelings.
Differences:
While these two types share some functions, there’s also some that they don’t share. The most glaring one would be Fi, which, for the ESFP is among their very strongest right there in the ego block, but for them ENFJs is in the Opposing slot (ie, it’s basically an especially useless shadow function)
Sure, it may be easier to tell a Fi dominant from a FJ (again b/c of a very pronounced absence) but even so, for an ESFP, Fi is the primary judging function - the main thing that gets used to make decisions. For the ENFJ that’s Fe.
So a lot of the differences boil down to Fe vs Fi especially in terms of what they sound like as conscious reasoning. Both use raw emotional reactions as “building blocks” but the structure of the processing is different:
If you ask “Hey ENFJ, why did you do that?” or “Explain your opinion on X” You’ll hear things like a lot of general value judgements like “This is bad, that is important, that is helpful, that is harmful” etc. It gives a judgement on an action, wether it can be allowed or not in a given context.
Now ask ESFP why they did the thing or what they think about that action - What you’ll likely hear is ultimately also something like a value judgement, but more… not necessarily self-referential or personalized but biographical in the sense that it exists in a larger framework of a person, society or relationship. “This is important to me!” “The person deserves this.” “ “
A Fe user will say things like: “This is a bad thing to do, they should cut it out.” “If someone has been a loyal friend, you should not treat them with suspicion.” (Type of Situation -> Appropiate thing to do) whereas the Fi user will put in more in terms of “They need to learn that this is not okay” or “In friendships, trust is important.” (Specific Context -> appropiate thing to do)
If you ask a Fe dominant why a bad thing is bad, they might get offended: “Are you saying it’s good? Clearly it made people upset! Do you not care?” After all, why would you be discussing it if not to voice a different judgement? If they don’t get mad, they’ll refer you to Si (”It disturbed the peace and besides it’s just not done”) or Ni (”It caused bad consequences, and besides [philosophical rant]”) depending on the type of Fe dom you’re dealing with.
Whereas the Fi position would be “So it made people upset. But why?” What’s going on in the upset people that produced the reaction & was it justified? Just like Ti can be sceptical with new info & chew it over/ look at all the info for themselves before chosing to accept it, Fi users can be “sceptics” over emotional displays: If they believe you’re faking it you’ll get no sympathy and if the character arc of a movie didn’t seem believable to them, they won’t cry.
Sometimes, the Fi user will even tell you “why”, say, a bad thing is bad, citing an experience or a driving principle. Of course, ultimately the Fi reasoning, too, is based on an immediate emotional reaction somewhere, it just takes longer to hit the “ground rock” - and when you do, it’s rarely up for debate. When you get to that point, your Fi friend will typically try to extricate themselves from the topic, “agree to disagree”, or get mad & accuse you of immorality.
The Fi user won’t debate because they know what their feeling is, whereas the Fe user will assume you’re debating them because it’s not about what you feel or believe in a specific context but wether a bad action can be allowed at all.
There’s also the difference often described as “objective vs. subjective” but IMHO better described as intrinsinc vs. extrinsic if you’ve read some of Jung’s original writings.
In extroverted functions, the motivation/focus comes from the object itself: You pay attention to something because it is there. With the introvertes functions, it comes from inside: You pay attention to something because you’re interested in it, or because it catches your attention.
The distinction is particularly easy to see with the T functions: Ti users pay attention to things because they’re interested in them. A given TP could know everything about their hobby but nothing about what they ought to know for next week’s math test or to keep up with the next big thing in pop culture. Meanwhile, Te users pay attention to things because they’re there - but because a lot of things “are there”, they have to prioritize - In effect, they pay attention to relevant things. Cause & Effect relations with big effects: What needs to be done first, what’s most important? So they’re drawn to topics & jobs that have a huge impact.
Two Te users, even within the same society, may have different ideas about what’s relevant, but relevancy is seen as an attribute of the object. The object is where the thought starts. Same with the N functions: A Ne user looks at a painting of a Rose & thinks: “Roses can mean purity, love or beauty.” Maybe that particular person also associates Roses with their girlfriend, has some kooky inside joke going on (”Draw a lettuce. Paint it red”) or has a theory that this painter always uses Roses to mean purity. But the thought starts with the object: The Rose, or the concept of Rose as that Ne user perceives it - they build a mental network with “Rose” at the center & other concept around it. Now, picture a Ni user who has a thing about The Evils Of Capitalism & often thinks about it. They hear a story about injustice in the world, and think, “This is exactly why capitalism is evil!” - the story becomes a new node in their mental network, they relate it to a concept instead of the other way around. The thought starts with ‘Capitalism’ and it is in the center of the mental web.
So what does this mean for Feeling?
Again, Fe pays attention to a feeling because it’s there: Someone you like is happy so you share in their hapiness. Someone is upset so something needs to be done about it. As for Fi, that’s where the above mentioned “feelings-scepticism” comes from: Wether they’ll pay attention to it or not is something they have to decide based on wether it’s a justified reaction.
There’s tons of post calling one function the empathetic one & the other fake or selfish but the truth is that - For a Fe user, empathy is “I see you emoting & have an appropiate kind of reaction to your sadness” whereas for a Fi user it is “I mentally reconstruct your sad reaction in my head.” That’s also why Fi users are so big on being “understood”. If you’re reacting to the wrong thing/ idea of what they’re experiencing, you’re not doing “emphathy” at all.
Meanwhile to a FJ, someone emoting merits a reaction, be it support or condemnation - they give most reactions in their vincinity weight to the point that they can end up calling the “correctness” of their own inner feelings into doubt if everyone around them reacts differently; Also there’s the risk of unwarranted reactions. - meanwhile a FP is technically limited by their skill at “reconstructing” because they use their own experience repertoire. But it’s not about being fixated upon themselves, it’s kinda like a math professor who only lets you use theorems once you can prove them yourself or having to learn a language before you can read it. The end result can still be sorta bratty because wether they can “reconstruct” something essentially dictates wether they’ll notice it or accept it as real.
It’s kind of like two different alghoriths for the same problem in which one’s faster but the other uses less space, or a tradeof between false positive & false negative rate - in the best case, both Fi and Fe result in the person doing the right thing & getting along with whover they wish to socialize with.
But when they go wrong they produce different “artifacts”.
Hence why an immature FP can be short-sighted and an immature FJ can be meddlesome, but both can be really nice people given some maturity and healthy self-awareness.
Beyond the feeling function itself there’s also it’s grouping/blocking, the perceiving function that it cooperates with. In the ENFJ’s case, Fe “works” in tandem with intuition, for the ESFP, it works with sensing.
One consequence is that the ENFJ is gonna conceptualize those value judgements - like, they will actually explicitly frame their thoughts as ‘deliberations on ethics’ in an everyday situation & look for opportunities to generalize & find patterns. Meanwhile, with a xSFx the value judgements are more implicit & tied to observations and opportunities for taking action.
NF: “Usually I can somewhat tell what people are feeling, but not with this person. Maybe he’s all closed off because he feels uneasy in this place? I wonder what I can do to help in situations like this… ”
SF: “This guy seems kind of aloof. He’s standing in that corner all by himself and I didn’t see him talking to any other people - is he’s okay? I wonder if I should talk to him.”
Other Considerations (Enneagram Corellations):
Enneagram wise, ENFJs are usually somewhere in the heart center with 2 being the most common but 3 and 4 also being fairly frequent (4s are usually 4w3 and there is the odd 1w2 but, it’s roughly that same neighborhood) and it’s those heart center ENFJs that the common perceptions are based on.
7w6/ 6w7 ENFJs are more uncommon, but when they do happen they’re quite distinct & more likely to be mistaken for xNFPs than anything else. Goethe (the German poet) is a famous example of a 7 ENFJ. They’re often people who are learned & contemplative to but also very passionate, vibrant and gifted for evoking feeling in others & the Ni may come out as idealism.
They embody more the “expressive, dramatic, fervent, emotional roller-coaster” side of Fe, whereas with the heart-center folks you’ll see more of the “social facade, ethical judgemets, people.pleasing, influential“ sides of it. The 2/3/4s will still be dramatic & the 7s will still have strong opinions about ethics & society but there’s a difference in emphasis.
By contrast, 7 is the most common enneagram type for ESFPs and a lot of the common stereotypes (either carefree & fun-loving or showy and materialistic) are based on 7s. Though they can carry hidden sorrow or anxiety, 7s tend to be energetic, upbeat optimists.
A cheerful “extrovert classic” 7 is probably ESFP rather than ENFJ unless something about them screams “intuitive!” & even the ENFP is more likely.
ESFPs who are not 7s are sometimes a lot more serious, edgy & dramatic, much like other high Fi users and/or their fellow beta quadra types (ISFPs, INTJs and ENTJs) and can even be a tad competitive & territorial. (like ESTPs but driven by passion instead of cunning - these folks may perhaps not fit the stereotypes of P types but they’ll nonetheless act from internal motivations. Their competitiveness will be focussed on mastery of specific activities, social status and “winning” as well as their passion for the activity & its personal meaning for them rather than objective external goals. (also, these folks are often the most sensor-y sensors around, usually practical, hardy, perceptive, action-oriented & mostly concerned with day-to-day concerns - The only way you could mistake one of these for an intuitive if you’re an intuitive, who is also a teenager, and the ESFP in question is the main character of your favorite book.)
ESFPs are the Fi type most likely to be 2s, but that’s more likely to manifest as them simply being, at best, nice & generous & big on wanting to be loved and at worst kinda dramatic & bitchy/demanding than an outright martyr, hero- or superiority complex simply because developing one requires conceptualizing & generalization - Say, we have two immature type 2s, one of either mbti type. Betty the bitchy ESFP 2 may not realize she’s contributing to her breakups or that they’re a pattern, instead focussing on what jerks the individual partners were (black & white judgements not uncommon immature or conceited Fi users), whereas Nancy the nasty ENFJ 2 (or 4 for that matter) will be well aware of the pattern but interpret it as “No one realizes how I only do what’s best for them/ that I’m right and they’re wrong” (Seeing one’s conclusion/extrapolation as the only possible truth or outcome, not uncommon of conceited or immature Ni users)
Then, hopefully, both develop some self-awareness & become mature adults or something.
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Our answer was fastidiously tailored considering cost and practicality. Our merchandise supply an alternate to householders who don't wish to replace their present character home windows, and plenty of cannot as a result of listed building regulations. As well as, we provide options for large areas of glass, including door openings and feature home windows. Welcome to Melbourne’s best soundproof home windows glazing firm! We calculated that getting B-rated windows instead of C-rated, or A-rated as an alternative of B-rated, would prevent round an additional 6.5% on your vitality payments. How A lot Power Can you Preserve With Secondary Glazing? I am certain you can think about just how cold the water is in the meanwhile and the poor man was in shock. It's common data that extended exposure to a chilly and damp surroundings results in health complications sooner or later, especially for the very younger and the elderly. When the climate is extremely cold, wooden, fiberglass or vinyl is the ideal materials for framing. Along with our Head Office operation we've Amenities in London as well as Regional Technical & Trade Representatives, Regional Surveyors and a Nationwide Network of Approved Installers.
Reduced Energy Bills and 10 Other Reasons to Install Double Glazing Replacement Windows If you live in a area where winters are particularly long, you will find it secondary glazing advantageous to switch from traditional windows to double glazed units. There are many benefits associated with aforementioned: Double glazed windows tend to be more energy-efficient and harder to get rid of. They also execute a better job of reducing noise.
Often confused with conservatories, orangery designs do involve a lot of glass and windows; even so the structure of an orangery normally involves timber or brick elevations and is not primarily a glass structure just like a conservatory. Another advantage that orangeries have over conservatories is they are better suited to suit the current building whereas a conservatory often seems like it has just been stuck on the side. Having a lantern like structure on the orangery roof is another feature that is certainly exclusive to orangeries this give them a touch of class. The orangery has experienced being quite versatile, its owes it popularity that they have been in a position to adapt while using some time and the changing demands with the modern family which still retaining its traditional charms. Through installing double glazing you will be able to ensure that your house and your orangery remain warm all year round and reduce your time bills. You selection of building materials could also tight on associated with an impact about the environment is basically that you choose biodegradable substances.
One of the first what you require to take into account when you need to help keep the weather out is what is at your nearby area that could affect your home. In most cases this is related to a river or perhaps a lake. If the river bursts for reasons uknown, your house may be in jeopardy. You need to take precautions for this eventuality and although sometimes we can't do anything whatsoever to shield our properties from the river bursting, you are able to a minimum of make an attempt to prepare yourself through getting in sand bags and storing them inside your garage should you choose require some 1 day. If you have a listed home and so are can not install double glazing, then secondary glazing is an additional option to make your home more energy-efficient. This will be included with the inside of your existing windows without affecting the appearance of your property. Options include lift out, hinged or fixed and tilt facility options, besides sliders, in outer frames that can in white, silver, brown or aluminium. The additional protective barrier provides security, reduces dust levels so you obtain the additional benefits of protection from road traffic noise, while enjoying thermal insulation that will decrease your energy bills. The gases could have enough space to flow allowing convection currents to facilitate heat loss. One should also make certain that he buys double glazed windows that have low emissivity. These use a low capability to emit heat. Such windows have an E coat for the inner the main glass. It works by reflecting the long wavelength heat from your room surfaces and radiators back in to the building. At the same time, the coating allows the solar's incoming short-wavelength radiation in the house. The E coating decreases the heating bills by reducing emissivity and fully utilizing solar radiation.
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Reasons to Choose a Metal Roof
Your roof is your “other foundation!” Most houses in Gainesville Georgia have shingle roofs. That being said, there is a growing demand for a metal roof; let's look at reasons why, and see if this might be a choice for you.
No Replacement With A Metal Roof
What if you knew you wouldn't need to replace your roof for 50 years? That would probably leave it to the next generation to even be concerned with it. The longevity of a metal roof is incomparable, even in the worst of weather conditions. A standard high-quality architectural shingle roof will last 15-20 years, and will, no doubt, need to be repaired at times during its life. Not so with metal roofing. You can expect almost no repairs and they are very low maintenance. Sometimes, a “re-screw” is necessary.
Weather Resistant
Asphalt or shingle roofing will sometimes allow for penetration of water. Metal roofing, however, will never have a water penetration problem. The water just rolls right off. We don't have much snow here in the South, but if we did, the snow would just slide off easily. In addition, a metal roof is heat resistant, and high winds are typically NOT a problem either. I know you'll agree that because of these factors, a metal roof can be the ideal choice for a home, no matter where in the world you are.
Energy Efficiency
Almost all metal roofing material is coated with a special paint that will deflect the sun's rays, making for an unbelievably energy efficient covering for your home, even in the warmest and most humid of climates. The companies who make the paint for this purpose usually guarantee it for 25 years, so again…LOW maintenance.
A Metal Roof Is Gentle on the Environment
I know we don't usually think of a roof or its material as being friendly to the environment, but when you consider the TONS of shingles and roofing tiles that end up in dumps and landfills, I think you can see how environmentally friendly a metal roof can be. The reduction of thousands of tons of waste each year is almost too good to be true. But believe it – it is true.
The Value of Your Home
What will the installation of a metal roof do to the value of your home? Good question. Statistics show it can actually INCREASE your home's value if you plan on selling. According to SFGate Homeguide, “A contemporary metal roof on a home can improve that home's resale value by 1 to 6 percent when compared with an asphalt-shingled home. ” Think about a prospective buyer's delight when they realize replacing or repairing the roof won't be an issue they will have to deal with, probably, in their lifetime! A huge savings, for sure.
Bob Vila is the home improvement expert widely known as host of TV's This Old House, Bob Vila's Home Again, and Bob Vila Today recently wrote an article for Zillow, one of the nations leading real estate websites to show that metal roofing is a great asset for residential homes as well as commercial roofs. Read more of the article on metal roofs here.
Let's Recap the Benefits of a Metal Roof:
May not ever need to be replaced
Extremely low (if any) maintenance
Resistant to all kinds of weather conditions
Energy Efficient
Easy on the environment
Raises the value of your home
How About the Cost?
At this point, if you're the average reader, you're wondering why in the world everyone doesn't opt for a metal roof. One of the main reasons people don't do it is that the cost is initially higher.
At Division Kangaroof, we think this is short-sighted.
Looking at the big picture…if you live in your home 30-40 years, you can expect you'll need to replace your roof once, if not twice. Then, there are the repairs from time to time, especially after bad weather. A leaking roof will cause damage to other parts of your house if not fixed right away.
The higher initial cost of a metal roof will pay for itself many times over when you consider the costs of replacement and repair. You can pay now…or pay later.
The Metal Roof Style
Some folks might be worried that a metal roof just won't “look right” and not be as stylish as your neighbor's homes, especially in some neighborhoods. No worries! Metal roofs now come in a number of attractive styles and colors, some closely resembling other more traditional kinds of roofing.
If you still have questions, please call us today at Division Kangaroof! 678-780-4682.
Division Kangaroof Gainesville, GA 30507 (678) 780-4682 [email protected]
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Text
Meet the Chinese Company That Really Wants to Be the Next Tesla
–
SF Motors, a U.S. subsidiary of the Chinese conglomerate Sokon Industry Group, has just paid $33 million to acquire a three-person battery technology startup started by Martin Eberhard, who is also co-founder and former CEO of Tesla Motors. Silicon Valley electric-vehicle and mobility outposts are suffering from brain drain as they poach from Tesla and one another, so the fledgling automaker saw the acquisition as the way to get an MVP for its effort to challenge the much admired California EV producer.
–
The company had already hired Eberhard as a consultant last year. With the recent acquisition of Eberhard’s battery startup, he was appointed SF Motors’ chief innovation officer.
–
“Eberhard will focus on technology innovation, product development, product positioning, and branding—all with the goal of helping SF Motors meet global EV demands,” the company said in a press release.
–
–
Martin Eberhard, in a 2006 Tesla photo, with then California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
–
SF Motors’ fascination with Tesla and its origins started earlier, with a proposed acquisition of AC Propulsion (ACP), the small California-based engineering firm mostly responsible for the car that became the original Tesla Roadster. Media reports suggested that the ACP purchase was a done deal, but it was actually abandoned shortly after Eberhard started advising SF Motors.
–
Not Exactly a Hardscrabble Startup
–
SF Motors is a young company—less than two years old—and a wholly owned subsidiary of Sokon, a van and truck maker based in Chongqing, in southwestern China. It’s one of only around a dozen automakers holding a government license to produce electric passenger vehicles in the country. According to a document filed last year with Chinese regulators, another of Sokon’s subsidiaries founded SF Motors in January 2016 with a $30 million down payment. By 2019, the document says, the company expects to invest more than $590 million to develop a high-end autonomous electric passenger car to rival the Tesla Model S. That looks like an impossibly small budget for the task, but SF Motors has started working on the EV at a glossy new headquarters in Silicon Valley.
–
One of the new company’s first moves was to approach ACP. “SF Motors visited us early in 2016 and was very interested in building a prototype vehicle using our drivetrain,” remembers Paul Carosa, ACP’s chief technology officer.
–
–
2010 Tesla Roadster Sport
–
AC Propulsion has a key role in the history of the electric car. It built the first modern sports car with lithium-ion batteries, the tzero, back in 1997. When ACP resisted putting that vehicle into production, Eberhard and co-founder Marc Tarpenning licensed the technology and started Tesla Motors with the Lotus-based Roadster (pictured above), soon attracting Elon Musk as an investor. Since then, AC has developed high-performance motors, power electronics, and rapid battery chargers. It supplied 500 drivetrains for BMW’s electric Mini E in 2008, has a Chinese sister company, and works with OEMs around the world.
–
SF Motors bought nine ACP drive systems for its own prototypes. But it wanted more. “After meticulous early market research, and following a long contact and communication, SF Motors intends to acquire AC Propulsion [for $95 million],” SF said in a filing with Chinese regulators in October 2016. A letter of intent was signed, a multimillion-dollar deposit was handed over, and the deal was set to close by year’s end.
–
Different Deals, All Involving a Tesla Co-Founder
–
Not so fast. In September 2016, a few weeks before the deal was announced, SF Motors hired Eberhard as a consultant and issued a press release. Eberhard was annoyed at the publicity. “Despite what was written, I am not on the . . . payroll other than as a consultant for general EV advice,” he told this reporter at the time. “I am not an employee there.”The distinction is important because Eberhard was also in the process of quietly founding his own EV startup. In September 2016, he incorporated a company called InEVit, saying it would develop a standardized slide-in battery module to work on multiple vehicle platforms. A valuation document filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange claims that InEVit’s module offers increased energy density and more efficient cooling, together with lower costs and less fire risk. It also claims to simplify repair or replacement, with modules able to be swapped out within 15 minutes.
–
InEVit moved fast. By May 2017, it told a Korean trade delegation to Silicon Valley that it had 35 patents related to battery management, cooling, and fuse technologies, although none were held under the company’s name. It was also seeking $7 million in Series A funding. But a simpler solution was at hand. What if SF Motors bought InEVit instead of AC Propulsion? A filing with Chinese regulators in January 2017 said that the ACP negotiations were “very advanced” but that the completion date had pushed back to June. From being in a rush, SF Motors was now dragging its feet.
–
AC Deal Unraveled
–
“Martin made no effort to see what we’re doing,” said Carosa. “I think he has in his head a picture of ACP from 13 years ago. We’re a vastly different company now.” In March, SF Motors pulled out of the deal completely. It would not comment on the decision, citing Chinese regulatory restrictions.
–
“It was extremely frustrating because we went through six months of due diligence, spent a lot of effort and money on lawyers, and even got U.S. government approval,” said Carosa. “One of the reasons [SF] gave was [that] the China government is clamping down on money going out of the country.”
–
–
Meanwhile, SF Motors had been putting together other deals. A year ago, it announced an investment of nearly $11 million in a research center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. And in August, it bought an assembly plant in Mishawaka, Indiana, that had been built to make the Hummer H2 (above). After Hummer folded, the plant was converted to produce parts for General Motors and for Mercedes-Benz. SF paid $110 million for the facility, saying it would be “preserving 430 American auto-worker jobs.”
–
Then, in late October, SF Motors announced that it had also acquired InEVit, for $33 million. The tiny startup had only three U.S. employees, including Eberhard, plus some engineers in Stuttgart, Germany. It also had Tarpenning as a minority investor.
–
Ties with Audi, Other Automakers
–
A valuation document for InEVit indicates that the company has been busy—it worked with Audi on as-yet-unannounced electric Q2 e-tron and TT e-tron vehicles, which might just be prototypes or design studies. In July, it pitched Daimler on a battery module using 2170 cells—the same size cells as those used in the Tesla Model 3—for use in Daimler’s upcoming EQ range. It made similar offers to Renault and Volkswagen over the summer. In the near future, InEVit expects to work with the R&D arms of five OEMs in Europe, one in China, and one in the United States. The valuation document says InEVit’s ultimate goal is to supply battery-system modules and controllers to OEMs at scale.
–
SF Motors said the information in the valuation document is incomplete but would not comment on specifics or InEVit’s projects, citing nondisclosure agreements with OEMs.
–
Meanwhile, SF Motors is developing its own EV, which will benefit from InEVit and Eberhard’s expertise, and it’s working with Mcity, the autonomous- and connected-vehicle test track located near its Ann Arbor R&D center.
–
–
SF Motors has already filed a U.S. trademark application for an EV under the brand name Seres, which might or might not have been influenced by designer and green-luxury legend Henrik Fisker. “Henrik Fisker had an agreement with Sokon on a new electric-vehicle venture, where Henrik Fisker did some initial design work,” said a spokesperson for Fisker. “This agreement did not materialize, as Sokon didn’t follow through with their financial obligations.” Fisker went on to found Fisker, which is developing a 400-mile-range electric sports car called the EMotion (pictured above).
–
–
Tesla Owners, Will Lucid Make Your Next Electric Car?
–
Can LeEco Rattle Apple and Tesla with an IoT EV?
–
Tesla Model S: Review, Photos, News, Info
–
–
“I’m not sure that [SF Motors] really understands what it takes to become a serious U.S. manufacturer of new-technology vehicles,” said ACP’s Carosa. “They may pull it off. I was skeptical about Tesla, too, in the beginning. But I don’t see any Elons over there [at SF].”
–
That may be an easy jab from a company spurned. But to avoid the same struggle and upheaval that another Chinese upstart, Faraday Future, has so publicly exhibited, SF Motors will need a lot more than some of the original spirit of Tesla.
–
from remotecar http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/caranddriver/blog/~3/3GZY2XNbO4M/
via WordPress https://robertvasquez123.wordpress.com/2017/11/03/meet-the-chinese-company-that-really-wants-to-be-the-next-tesla/
0 notes
Text
Meet the Chinese Company That Really Wants to Be the Next Tesla
-
SF Motors, a U.S. subsidiary of the Chinese conglomerate Sokon Industry Group, has just paid $33 million to acquire a three-person battery technology startup started by Martin Eberhard, who is also co-founder and former CEO of Tesla Motors. Silicon Valley electric-vehicle and mobility outposts are suffering from brain drain as they poach from Tesla and one another, so the fledgling automaker saw the acquisition as the way to get an MVP for its effort to challenge the much admired California EV producer.
-
The company had already hired Eberhard as a consultant last year. With the recent acquisition of Eberhard’s battery startup, he was appointed SF Motors’ chief innovation officer.
-
“Eberhard will focus on technology innovation, product development, product positioning, and branding—all with the goal of helping SF Motors meet global EV demands,” the company said in a press release.
-
-
Martin Eberhard, in a 2006 Tesla photo, with then California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
-
SF Motors’ fascination with Tesla and its origins started earlier, with a proposed acquisition of AC Propulsion (ACP), the small California-based engineering firm mostly responsible for the car that became the original Tesla Roadster. Media reports suggested that the ACP purchase was a done deal, but it was actually abandoned shortly after Eberhard started advising SF Motors.
-
Not Exactly a Hardscrabble Startup
-
SF Motors is a young company—less than two years old—and a wholly owned subsidiary of Sokon, a van and truck maker based in Chongqing, in southwestern China. It’s one of only around a dozen automakers holding a government license to produce electric passenger vehicles in the country. According to a document filed last year with Chinese regulators, another of Sokon’s subsidiaries founded SF Motors in January 2016 with a $30 million down payment. By 2019, the document says, the company expects to invest more than $590 million to develop a high-end autonomous electric passenger car to rival the Tesla Model S. That looks like an impossibly small budget for the task, but SF Motors has started working on the EV at a glossy new headquarters in Silicon Valley.
-
One of the new company’s first moves was to approach ACP. “SF Motors visited us early in 2016 and was very interested in building a prototype vehicle using our drivetrain,” remembers Paul Carosa, ACP’s chief technology officer.
-
-
2010 Tesla Roadster Sport
-
AC Propulsion has a key role in the history of the electric car. It built the first modern sports car with lithium-ion batteries, the tzero, back in 1997. When ACP resisted putting that vehicle into production, Eberhard and co-founder Marc Tarpenning licensed the technology and started Tesla Motors with the Lotus-based Roadster (pictured above), soon attracting Elon Musk as an investor. Since then, AC has developed high-performance motors, power electronics, and rapid battery chargers. It supplied 500 drivetrains for BMW’s electric Mini E in 2008, has a Chinese sister company, and works with OEMs around the world.
-
SF Motors bought nine ACP drive systems for its own prototypes. But it wanted more. “After meticulous early market research, and following a long contact and communication, SF Motors intends to acquire AC Propulsion [for $95 million],” SF said in a filing with Chinese regulators in October 2016. A letter of intent was signed, a multimillion-dollar deposit was handed over, and the deal was set to close by year’s end.
-
Different Deals, All Involving a Tesla Co-Founder
-
Not so fast. In September 2016, a few weeks before the deal was announced, SF Motors hired Eberhard as a consultant and issued a press release. Eberhard was annoyed at the publicity. “Despite what was written, I am not on the . . . payroll other than as a consultant for general EV advice,” he told this reporter at the time. “I am not an employee there.”The distinction is important because Eberhard was also in the process of quietly founding his own EV startup. In September 2016, he incorporated a company called InEVit, saying it would develop a standardized slide-in battery module to work on multiple vehicle platforms. A valuation document filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange claims that InEVit’s module offers increased energy density and more efficient cooling, together with lower costs and less fire risk. It also claims to simplify repair or replacement, with modules able to be swapped out within 15 minutes.
-
InEVit moved fast. By May 2017, it told a Korean trade delegation to Silicon Valley that it had 35 patents related to battery management, cooling, and fuse technologies, although none were held under the company’s name. It was also seeking $7 million in Series A funding. But a simpler solution was at hand. What if SF Motors bought InEVit instead of AC Propulsion? A filing with Chinese regulators in January 2017 said that the ACP negotiations were “very advanced” but that the completion date had pushed back to June. From being in a rush, SF Motors was now dragging its feet.
-
AC Deal Unraveled
-
“Martin made no effort to see what we’re doing,” said Carosa. “I think he has in his head a picture of ACP from 13 years ago. We’re a vastly different company now.” In March, SF Motors pulled out of the deal completely. It would not comment on the decision, citing Chinese regulatory restrictions.
-
“It was extremely frustrating because we went through six months of due diligence, spent a lot of effort and money on lawyers, and even got U.S. government approval,” said Carosa. “One of the reasons [SF] gave was [that] the China government is clamping down on money going out of the country.”
-
-
Meanwhile, SF Motors had been putting together other deals. A year ago, it announced an investment of nearly $11 million in a research center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. And in August, it bought an assembly plant in Mishawaka, Indiana, that had been built to make the Hummer H2 (above). After Hummer folded, the plant was converted to produce parts for General Motors and for Mercedes-Benz. SF paid $110 million for the facility, saying it would be “preserving 430 American auto-worker jobs.”
-
Then, in late October, SF Motors announced that it had also acquired InEVit, for $33 million. The tiny startup had only three U.S. employees, including Eberhard, plus some engineers in Stuttgart, Germany. It also had Tarpenning as a minority investor.
-
Ties with Audi, Other Automakers
-
A valuation document for InEVit indicates that the company has been busy—it worked with Audi on as-yet-unannounced electric Q2 e-tron and TT e-tron vehicles, which might just be prototypes or design studies. In July, it pitched Daimler on a battery module using 2170 cells—the same size cells as those used in the Tesla Model 3—for use in Daimler’s upcoming EQ range. It made similar offers to Renault and Volkswagen over the summer. In the near future, InEVit expects to work with the R&D arms of five OEMs in Europe, one in China, and one in the United States. The valuation document says InEVit’s ultimate goal is to supply battery-system modules and controllers to OEMs at scale.
-
SF Motors said the information in the valuation document is incomplete but would not comment on specifics or InEVit’s projects, citing nondisclosure agreements with OEMs.
-
Meanwhile, SF Motors is developing its own EV, which will benefit from InEVit and Eberhard’s expertise, and it’s working with Mcity, the autonomous- and connected-vehicle test track located near its Ann Arbor R&D center.
-
-
SF Motors has already filed a U.S. trademark application for an EV under the brand name Seres, which might or might not have been influenced by designer and green-luxury legend Henrik Fisker. “Henrik Fisker had an agreement with Sokon on a new electric-vehicle venture, where Henrik Fisker did some initial design work,” said a spokesperson for Fisker. “This agreement did not materialize, as Sokon didn’t follow through with their financial obligations.” Fisker went on to found Fisker, which is developing a 400-mile-range electric sports car called the EMotion (pictured above).
-
-
Tesla Owners, Will Lucid Make Your Next Electric Car?
-
Can LeEco Rattle Apple and Tesla with an IoT EV?
-
Tesla Model S: Review, Photos, News, Info
-
-
“I’m not sure that [SF Motors] really understands what it takes to become a serious U.S. manufacturer of new-technology vehicles,” said ACP’s Carosa. “They may pull it off. I was skeptical about Tesla, too, in the beginning. But I don’t see any Elons over there [at SF].”
-
That may be an easy jab from a company spurned. But to avoid the same struggle and upheaval that another Chinese upstart, Faraday Future, has so publicly exhibited, SF Motors will need a lot more than some of the original spirit of Tesla.
- from Performance Junk Blogger 6 http://ift.tt/2gZvJjV via IFTTT
0 notes
Text
Meet the Chinese Company That Really Wants to Be the Next Tesla
-
SF Motors, a U.S. subsidiary of the Chinese conglomerate Sokon Industry Group, has just paid $33 million to acquire a three-person battery technology startup started by Martin Eberhard, who is also co-founder and former CEO of Tesla Motors. Silicon Valley electric-vehicle and mobility outposts are suffering from brain drain as they poach from Tesla and one another, so the fledgling automaker saw the acquisition as the way to get an MVP for its effort to challenge the much admired California EV producer.
-
The company had already hired Eberhard as a consultant last year. With the recent acquisition of Eberhard’s battery startup, he was appointed SF Motors’ chief innovation officer.
-
“Eberhard will focus on technology innovation, product development, product positioning, and branding—all with the goal of helping SF Motors meet global EV demands,” the company said in a press release.
-
-
Martin Eberhard, in a 2006 Tesla photo, with then California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
-
SF Motors’ fascination with Tesla and its origins started earlier, with a proposed acquisition of AC Propulsion (ACP), the small California-based engineering firm mostly responsible for the car that became the original Tesla Roadster. Media reports suggested that the ACP purchase was a done deal, but it was actually abandoned shortly after Eberhard started advising SF Motors.
-
Not Exactly a Hardscrabble Startup
-
SF Motors is a young company—less than two years old—and a wholly owned subsidiary of Sokon, a van and truck maker based in Chongqing, in southwestern China. It’s one of only around a dozen automakers holding a government license to produce electric passenger vehicles in the country. According to a document filed last year with Chinese regulators, another of Sokon’s subsidiaries founded SF Motors in January 2016 with a $30 million down payment. By 2019, the document says, the company expects to invest more than $590 million to develop a high-end autonomous electric passenger car to rival the Tesla Model S. That looks like an impossibly small budget for the task, but SF Motors has started working on the EV at a glossy new headquarters in Silicon Valley.
-
One of the new company’s first moves was to approach ACP. “SF Motors visited us early in 2016 and was very interested in building a prototype vehicle using our drivetrain,” remembers Paul Carosa, ACP’s chief technology officer.
-
-
2010 Tesla Roadster Sport
-
AC Propulsion has a key role in the history of the electric car. It built the first modern sports car with lithium-ion batteries, the tzero, back in 1997. When ACP resisted putting that vehicle into production, Eberhard and co-founder Marc Tarpenning licensed the technology and started Tesla Motors with the Lotus-based Roadster (pictured above), soon attracting Elon Musk as an investor. Since then, AC has developed high-performance motors, power electronics, and rapid battery chargers. It supplied 500 drivetrains for BMW’s electric Mini E in 2008, has a Chinese sister company, and works with OEMs around the world.
-
SF Motors bought nine ACP drive systems for its own prototypes. But it wanted more. “After meticulous early market research, and following a long contact and communication, SF Motors intends to acquire AC Propulsion [for $95 million],” SF said in a filing with Chinese regulators in October 2016. A letter of intent was signed, a multimillion-dollar deposit was handed over, and the deal was set to close by year’s end.
-
Different Deals, All Involving a Tesla Co-Founder
-
Not so fast. In September 2016, a few weeks before the deal was announced, SF Motors hired Eberhard as a consultant and issued a press release. Eberhard was annoyed at the publicity. “Despite what was written, I am not on the . . . payroll other than as a consultant for general EV advice,” he told this reporter at the time. “I am not an employee there.”The distinction is important because Eberhard was also in the process of quietly founding his own EV startup. In September 2016, he incorporated a company called InEVit, saying it would develop a standardized slide-in battery module to work on multiple vehicle platforms. A valuation document filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange claims that InEVit’s module offers increased energy density and more efficient cooling, together with lower costs and less fire risk. It also claims to simplify repair or replacement, with modules able to be swapped out within 15 minutes.
-
InEVit moved fast. By May 2017, it told a Korean trade delegation to Silicon Valley that it had 35 patents related to battery management, cooling, and fuse technologies, although none were held under the company’s name. It was also seeking $7 million in Series A funding. But a simpler solution was at hand. What if SF Motors bought InEVit instead of AC Propulsion? A filing with Chinese regulators in January 2017 said that the ACP negotiations were “very advanced” but that the completion date had pushed back to June. From being in a rush, SF Motors was now dragging its feet.
-
AC Deal Unraveled
-
“Martin made no effort to see what we’re doing,” said Carosa. “I think he has in his head a picture of ACP from 13 years ago. We’re a vastly different company now.” In March, SF Motors pulled out of the deal completely. It would not comment on the decision, citing Chinese regulatory restrictions.
-
“It was extremely frustrating because we went through six months of due diligence, spent a lot of effort and money on lawyers, and even got U.S. government approval,” said Carosa. “One of the reasons [SF] gave was [that] the China government is clamping down on money going out of the country.”
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Meanwhile, SF Motors had been putting together other deals. A year ago, it announced an investment of nearly $11 million in a research center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. And in August, it bought an assembly plant in Mishawaka, Indiana, that had been built to make the Hummer H2 (above). After Hummer folded, the plant was converted to produce parts for General Motors and for Mercedes-Benz. SF paid $110 million for the facility, saying it would be “preserving 430 American auto-worker jobs.”
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Then, in late October, SF Motors announced that it had also acquired InEVit, for $33 million. The tiny startup had only three U.S. employees, including Eberhard, plus some engineers in Stuttgart, Germany. It also had Tarpenning as a minority investor.
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Ties with Audi, Other Automakers
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A valuation document for InEVit indicates that the company has been busy—it worked with Audi on as-yet-unannounced electric Q2 e-tron and TT e-tron vehicles, which might just be prototypes or design studies. In July, it pitched Daimler on a battery module using 2170 cells—the same size cells as those used in the Tesla Model 3—for use in Daimler’s upcoming EQ range. It made similar offers to Renault and Volkswagen over the summer. In the near future, InEVit expects to work with the R&D arms of five OEMs in Europe, one in China, and one in the United States. The valuation document says InEVit’s ultimate goal is to supply battery-system modules and controllers to OEMs at scale.
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SF Motors said the information in the valuation document is incomplete but would not comment on specifics or InEVit’s projects, citing nondisclosure agreements with OEMs.
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Meanwhile, SF Motors is developing its own EV, which will benefit from InEVit and Eberhard’s expertise, and it’s working with Mcity, the autonomous- and connected-vehicle test track located near its Ann Arbor R&D center.
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SF Motors has already filed a U.S. trademark application for an EV under the brand name Seres, which might or might not have been influenced by designer and green-luxury legend Henrik Fisker. “Henrik Fisker had an agreement with Sokon on a new electric-vehicle venture, where Henrik Fisker did some initial design work,” said a spokesperson for Fisker. “This agreement did not materialize, as Sokon didn’t follow through with their financial obligations.” Fisker went on to found Fisker, which is developing a 400-mile-range electric sports car called the EMotion (pictured above).
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Tesla Owners, Will Lucid Make Your Next Electric Car?
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Can LeEco Rattle Apple and Tesla with an IoT EV?
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Tesla Model S: Review, Photos, News, Info
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“I’m not sure that [SF Motors] really understands what it takes to become a serious U.S. manufacturer of new-technology vehicles,” said ACP’s Carosa. “They may pull it off. I was skeptical about Tesla, too, in the beginning. But I don’t see any Elons over there [at SF].”
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That may be an easy jab from a company spurned. But to avoid the same struggle and upheaval that another Chinese upstart, Faraday Future, has so publicly exhibited, SF Motors will need a lot more than some of the original spirit of Tesla.
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Be Encouraged: Crowdsourcing a Better Future from [email protected]
Blue State Digital Mailing Template : Just a few years ago, proposed solutions to tackle climate change always required energy, utility and car companies – “the most conservative companies in the world” – to take the lead in building and creating things that would be money losers. Instead, one environmental leader, Paul Hawken, began talking to friends about creating a list of “what we can do, and what it would cost.” Environmental NGOs told him it was a great idea, but they lacked the expertise. So did Hawken. The idea died. Fast forward to 2013. Borrowing a page out of the lean startup playbook, Hawken dreamed up the outlandish idea of crowdsourcing the science and data of climate change for a book of solutions. “We didn’t have any money,” he said. “No one offered any money.” Hawken and his collaborators instead reached out to PhDs and research fellows worldwide, paying them modest stipends for their input. Altogether, the team came up with 100 carbon-cutting solutions, ranked according to their potential impact by 2050. I've been honored to have served on the Board of this life-giving project. Well done, Paul. Read more about Hawken's journey below and be encouraged. Drawdown the book, and its 100 solutions to global warming, goes on sale next week. Yours truly, Martin Crowdsourcing a Better Future: Paul Hawken’s Drawdown Story by Jonathan Littman and Susanna Camp | April 9, 2017 Paul Hawken has a bold vision for tackling global warming through crowdsourcing expertise, marshaling big data, and wielding a new, transparent language that shines a positive light on change. “Drawdown means the first time on a year-to-year basis greenhouse gases peak and go down,” explained the inspiring environmentalist and entrepreneur, before an enthusiastic overflow crowd of 300 at last week’s What’s Now: San Francisco event at Capgemini’s Applied Innovation Exchange. “What we wanted to do with Project Drawdown is to name the goal. If you don’t name the goal, fat chance you’re going to hit it.” Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming, the book, will be available in bookstores and on Amazon in a few days, but the audience was experiencing the nation’s first public preview of the book – and movement – straight from the author. Pete Leyden of Reinvent, the What’s Now host, framed the night with a candid recognition that the environment seems to be on the ropes. “The week started with our President issuing an executive order to roll back a lot of the progress that the Obama administration had made toward doing something about climate change,” Leyden began. “We have to say that we’re going backwards. We’re going a couple of steps backwards,” he said, before introducing his guest. “After tonight you’re going to have a lot better week – a hell of a lot better.” Entrepreneurism Meets Environmentalism Hawken’s can-do, engaging talk (and sleek, professional slideshow) took the high road with a leader’s optimism backed by science and the power of crowdsourced intelligence. And Hawken’s impressive track record as an entrepreneur, author and environmentalist suggests that he’s got the vision and chops to get the job done. Hawken worked with Martin Luther King’s staff in Selma, Alabama, founded a natural foods wholesaler and the iconic Smith & Hawken boutique garden supply company, and started and heads OneSun, a thin-panel solar company. His bestsellers include The Next Economy, Growing a Business, and Natural Capitalism (Bill Clinton called it “one of the five most important books in the world”) and now Drawdown. Hawken began by acknowledging the failure of current strategies. “Mitigation, stabilization, reduction,” he said. “It’s a little bit like Thelma and Louise in slow motion … you’re still going over the cliff.” His next slide presented dramatic data on the alarming rise in CO2 in the earth’s atmosphere. “The last time we were at these levels was 14 million years ago,” he said, pointing to the rising arrow on the chart. “Anybody who says they know what’s going to happen – it’s complete guesswork. We’re in terra nova.” Next, Hawken displayed a chart showing a rising CO2 line that peaks and then falls. “This is what Drawdown looks like theoretically,” he said pointing to a potential peak in 2047. “It shows a point in time where there’s an inflection. That’s what we have to aim for.” Hawken says the genesis for Project Drawdown dates back to the Carbon Mitigation Initiative, launched by Princeton University and BP in 2000. Scientists have been working at least that long to identify ways to reduce the amount of carbon released into the air, the detrimental effects of which include climate change, extreme weather, and severe economic costs. Yet Hawken saw the initiative’s tactics as wrongheaded. He noted that its 15 proposed solutions would have required energy, utility and car companies – “the most conservative companies in the world” – to take the lead in building and creating things that would be money losers. Instead, Hawken began talking to friends about creating a list of “what we can do, and what it would cost.” Environmental NGOs told him it was a great idea, but they lacked the expertise. So did Hawken. The idea died. Lean Startup: Crowdsourcing the Science Fast forward to 2013. Borrowing a page out of the lean startup playbook, the serial entrepreneur dreamed up the outlandish idea of crowdsourcing the science and data for a book of solutions. “We didn’t have any money,” he said. “No one offered any money.” Hawken and his collaborators instead reached out to PhDs and research fellows worldwide, paying them modest stipends for their input. “They are extraordinary people. They did the core research in Drawdown,” he said. “twenty-two countries, six continents, 40 percent women, half PhD’s, all advanced degrees. They mapped, measured, and modeled the most substantive solutions to global warming.” The book also includes companion prose by such luminaries as Pope Francis, renowned environmentalist author Michael Pollan, and others. Hawken enlisted 122 advisors to review the book’s findings. Going big, broad, and deep, the opposite of the superficial “ten solutions to climate change” you might find in a cursory Google search, the project Drawdown team came up with 100 carbon-cutting solutions, ranked according to their potential impact by 2050. Big Data Surprise Solutions The surprise? Migrating away from fossil fuels is only part of the solution. As Hawken clicked through his slides, the tremendous variety of planet-saving efforts was on display. “Rice is one of the largest sources of methane emissions,” he said. “You take the water off in the middle of production and you reduce methane production by 50 percent and improve the product, at no capital cost.” After quickly sharing some standard solutions – offshore wind turbines, nuclear, and rooftop solar – he pulled up a slide of an adolescent girl in school. “This is educating girls. This is one of the most important solutions – number 6,” he said to an appreciative, clapping audience. “Girls are taken out of school at puberty, and married off and have an average of 5 children.” Education, said Hawken, gives girls a chance “to be a woman” on her own terms. What’s more, identifying the solution as “Educating Girls” as opposed to “Population Control” transforms the idea into a positive goal nearly everyone can get behind. That’s a key element of Drawdown: replacing the tired and often militaristic language hindering substantive climate change. Terms in the book consciously avoid the often negative framing associated with global warming. Hawken continued his countdown – following education with food. “This is reduced food waste – number three,” he said before pulling up a photo showing truckloads of rotting produce. He paused for effect. “Who knew? We just did the math.” And the number four solution? “A plant rich diet.” Hawken said the team was so astonished by many of the top solutions – number one is refrigerants (HFCs) – that he pulled together the top five and challenged an international expert to name them, and she got them all wrong. Two more experts were similarly off target. “This is what surprised us,” he said. “Food is bigger than energy. Who knew?” and that knowledge, Hawken said, grants us power. “We didn’t make the plan, we found it. This is really important to understand. It’s here. Humanity has the collective wisdom. Every solution that we modeled is scaling.” After Hawken received a standing ovation from the audience, Pete Leyden tapped the power of the crowd with a spirited Q&A. “How are you feeling about some of the bad news that rolled out of Washington and the tweeter-in-chief?” an audience member probed. “How much damage are we capable of doing before some of the good news begins to kick in?” “Very little. Very, very little.” Hawken said, dismissing President Trump’s potential to inflict any lasting harm. “What he says and what he does are two different things. The clean energy plan was never instituted; it’s been in court for two years. So he can’t roll it back because it never happened. Second, we have created a bureaucracy that’s so slow it’s molasses in terms of trying to change it for the bad or the good. He wants to change it for the worse … But I just didn’t pay attention at all to that,” said an unfazed Hawken. “This is a global model and if anything what we’re seeing is a sunset effect on fossil fuels, not the rebirth of idiocy. And when the sun sets, it gets really bright, and then – boom – it’s dark.” http://ift.tt/2pa7Mw5 Donate PAID FOR BY O'SAY CAN YOU SEE PAC NOT AUTHORIZED BY ANY CANDIDATE OR CANDIDATE'S COMMITTEE 421 M St NW Washington, DC 20001Unsubscribe
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