#i was trying to grow plasma fruits before that happened :(

[simsreaper]

Oh no the garden is dormant

[victorluvsalice]

Valerian Root, of course! And some more Mandrake, because it was available. If he’s growing plasma fruit for Smiler, he might as well get magical plants for himself! Even if he hasn’t really dabbled in alchemy yet. . .should have him get going on that! But yes, he headed over to the garden island to pick up all the unusual plants there, then proceeded back to HQ to search the bookcases for tomes. Didn’t find any, but he did find a fairy familiar orb! Which is nice, but -- I am going to just have to steal the dragon one in L. Faba’s quarters, aren’t I? I was TRYING to get it legit. . .

Anyway, after that, Victor chatted a bit with Simeon about magic and asked if he could get a new spell -- Simeon obliged by teaching him Delicioso, the food-creation spell! Nice. :) And from there he flew over to the shopping island, haggling with the ghostly Cameron at the Familiars, Wands, and Tomes shop before browsing the wares and realizing there was nothing he wanted there. Meeh. At least he got a cool fossil rock before he went back home! And the experience was apparently good for his taste buds, as he was able to taste and identify all the plants he’d picked up during his travels! (For reference, he has chamomile, fireleaf, morel mushrooms, false morel mushrooms, huckleberries, muckleberries, and elderberries.) I promptly put examples into the greenhouse for him to plant later once I got the planters sorted.

Meanwhile, Smiler felt the need to be social! With an ordinary human, specifically, thanks to their custom want. I had them fly over to where I could see Bjorn Bjergson wandering around, but by the time they got over there, the want had suddenly rerolled to “BECOME a human,” which, not happening. So I had them chat with their friend Sofia Bjergson (also wandering around), before whipping out the guitar and singing a few songs out in the countryside like a traveling bard. XD I mean, it DOES feel very Smilerish.

Alice came home around then -- without a promotion, boo. :( Gonna have to suffer the shitty bed for a little while longer, Victor! She was all about getting her paint on, so I had her go start a large abstract, while Smiler once again attempted to finish their mechanism, and ONCE AGAIN got zapped. I swear, that bench absolutely LOVES frying sims. *grumbles* So it was off to do yoga for Smiler to get their head in order. And to show off their ridiculous yoga outfit, which I kinda love. XD

[niccymo]

The ‘Spice of Life’✨ Legacy Challenge

Sometimes playing the sims can get a little stale, and somewhat repetitive, especially The Sims 4. I know I can get stuck playing the same stories over and over again, so I decided to create this challenge to add a little excitement and variety to my, and hopefully your, game-play!

After all, variety is the spice of life!

Gen 1: The Wild Child

You’re a sim who loves to get down, go on adventures and spend time with other sims! You can be a bit of a handful for some sims, but that’s okay! You’ve been wild since the day you were born and you wouldn’t want to be any other way. You have about a million things you want to do in your life time and you’re gonna do them all!

Aspiration: Friend of the Animals

Traits: Dance Machine, Adventurous, Outgoing

Generation rules / goals:

Join the secret agent career and get to the top of it before your sim becomes an elder

Once your sim is an elder have them start a new job, keep them on their toes!

Complete the Friend of the Animals aspiration

Master the Dance & Pet training skills throughout your sims lifetime

Have five animals in your sims house-hold at one time (these should be cats, dogs, raccoon, foxes, etc.) - you don’t always have to have five but you should at some point

Have you sim have at least 10 friends and having a falling out with one of them and become enemies

Have a best-friend that is NOT your partner / spouse

Have your sim go out at least once every weekend to either the club, the bar or somewhere else they can dance! They’re a dance machine remember!

Your sim can have as many children as you like, but keep in mind that they have a lot of animals in the house

You must have at least one child in order for them to become heir, they can be adopted or biological, it doesn’t matter!

Go on at least two family vacations, one of these must be to Mt. Komorebi

Have your sim be a very relaxed parent, no rules, no pressure to get good grades, etc. (Parenthood is needed for this but if you don’t have it that’s okay just do your best without it!) 

Gen 2: The Money Maker

Your parent was the coolest! but you always wished there was more structure in your life. You’re a perfectionist, and truth be told a little materialistic, but that doesn’t make you a bad person! You love to hangout with friends, playing video games and chatting about the latest Sci-Fi movies. From the time you were a child you knew you wanted the best things in life and were determined to work your butt off to get them! 

Aspiration: Mansion Baron

Traits: Perfectionist, Geek, Materialistic

Generation rules / goals:

Have your sim start working as a teenager to save up for their future house

Complete the Mansion Baron inspiration

Reach the max level of the Business Career in either the Investor or Management branch (although the Investor branch makes a bit more money!)

Master the video gaming skill throughout your sims lifetime

Have your sim start their own club once in their teens with ‘Play video games’ as the main activity. Keep this club going throughout your sims life and try to have a club meeting once a week 

Make your sim go to GeekCon whenever they can, once they have kids bring them along as well!

Have a hobby that can make you money - kind of like a side job. Whatever skill you choose (painting, flower arranging, etc.) master it

Once your sim completes their Mansion Baron aspiration have dinner parties once a week - Your sim is materialistic and they want to show off the nice house they’ve worked so hard for!

Once your sim becomes an elder have them retire and focus only on hobbies and relaxation (only once they’re reached the max level in their career though)

Gen 3: The Tree Hugger

You grew up in a wealthy household with pretty much everything you could have wanted. You had a great childhood and your admired your parents work ethic, although you knew that when you grew up you wanted to do something more meaningful for the world than investing. So you packed up your bags as soon as you hit young adulthood and moved to Evergreen Harbour

Aspiration: Eco Innovator

Traits: Green Fiend, Vegetarian, Good

Generation rules / goals:

Your sim should be a vegetarian as soon as they hit their teenage years

As a teen your sims should also start their own garden and begin working on their gardening skill

Your sim should complete the Eco Innovator aspiration within their lifetime

Master the Gardening skill throughout your sims lifetime

Master the Juice Fizzing skill throughout your sims lifetime

Join and reach the max level of the Civil Designer career

Your sim should live as sustainably as possible for this generation, this includes owning a bee box, having a dew collector and recycling with the home recycling machine

Have your sim marry someone as Eco-friendly as you bonus points if it’s Knox lol

Have an at home, eco friendly wedding in your sims backyard / yard. Having the wedding cake be a honey cake, get creative with it!

Adopt an animal that’s not a typical pet (raccoon, fox, etc.) your sim found this little buddy while dumpster diving and bonded instantly

Gen 4: The Undecided

You grew up with a parent and grandparent who accomplished great things; they were sims who worked hard and stuck to their guns. You have always been..well a bit different. You can’t even decide what you want for breakfast, let alone pick a career or spouse. This makes you jealous of others like your parent and grandparent who you believe have their life together.

Aspiration: You must change your sims aspiration 3 times during their life but never complete one, not even their childhood one.

Traits: Non-committal, Jealous, Erratic

Generation rules / goals: 

Join and quit scouts as a kid; get about halfway through before you quit

Have your sim join at least two jobs as a teenager. They can join and quit more if you like

Get your sim to level 5 of at least three skill during their lifetime before they quit those as well

Change your sims career multiple times, making sure they never reach the top of any career

Get your sim married, and divorced...twice. It’s up to you whether you sim ends up finding someone to stay with. However, your sim must have only have one child from all of their relationships.

Have your sim have an affair during one of their relationships. It’s up to you whether the partner finds out about this or not

Your sim must lose their relationship with the Gen 3 sim (their parent) after a big fight over Gen 4′s jealousy issue. Your sim should never speak to that parent again

Your sim must never be best friends or true lovers with anyone; they are non-committal and that means no matter how much they care for another sim they feel somewhat unsure about every relationship

Gen 5: The Vampire Groupie

Your childhood was less than ideal, although your parent loved you they had a lot of their own problems and that left you pretty lonely at times. Your solace was a particular vampire movie about a sim who falls in love with a vampire. “That could be me,” you though, “That WILL be me.” So when you become a young adult you take everything you have and leave in search of your dream life in Forgotten Hollow, the only problem with your plan is that you’re just a bit squeamish... okay a lot

Aspiration: Master Vampire

Traits: Romantic, Family Oriented, Squeamish 

Generation rules / goals: 

Your sim should watch a lot of movies as a child and teen. Of course your sim loves that particular vampire movie that definitely doesn’t rhyme with Highlight, but really they love all movies

As soon as your sim becomes a young adult move them into Forgotten Hollow

Meet and start a relationship with a vampire of your choice; you can put a sim from the gallery in your game or date Caleb Vatore, Lilith Vatore, or even Vlad Straud if you want!

I think this goes without saying but your sim should be turned into a vampire for this generation lol

Complete the Master Vampire Aspiration

You can have any career for this generation, it doesn’t matter!

Master the Vampire Lore skill throughout your sims lifetime

Master the Pipe Organ skill throughout your sims lifetime

Start a ‘Vampire Club’ with only other vampires present, you can use this club to do any kind of vampire activity - however, since you left your old life behind, these sims are your only friends

Your sim is squeamish so they personally choose not to drink other sims blood unless absolutely necessary, this means your sim must grow and sustain a garden full of plasma plants

Once your sim obtains a plasma fruit (and two garlic) they can prepare a Sunlight Reversal Cocktail if they like, that way they can go into the sun during the day; this isn’t required though

Your sim must have at least three kids. One of these children should NOT be a vampire. This will be the heir. If all of your children are born vampires you can use a mods to make them human. I recommend MC Command Center, which you can find here: https://deaderpool-mccc.com/#/releases

I also recommend this mod: https://modthesims.info/d/589300/child-vampire-manifestation-v1-9.html which basically makes it so that child vampires can perform any vampire actions, just like teens, young adults, etc.

Gen 6: The Beach Bum

Your parents are absolutely wonderful, but are weird. In fact, you’re convinced that you’re the only sane one out of your whole family. You love them but who in the right mind would want to live the life of a vampire? You knew early on that the vampire life was not for you, and thank goodness you just so happened to be the only sibling born human! I guess you can thank those recessive genes. You want to live the Beach Life, spending your days out in the sun and working to conserve the beautiful island of Sulani!

Aspiration: Beach Life

Traits: Child of the Ocean, Loves the Outdoors, Free Trait / You can pick your sims third trait!

Generation rules / goals:

Your sim must move to Sulani as a young adult and spend their whole life there

Reach the max level of the Conservationist Career

Complete the Beach Life aspiration

Befriend as least one mermaid - your sim can become a mermaid to if they want but it’s not necessary

Marry someone who already lives on Sulani as well

Have your sim live in a house on the beach at least once during your their life

Complete the sea shell collection

Spend ALOT of time outside; fish, ski-do, tan on the beach - your sim loves the outdoors and the Sulani sun, anything they can do outside they will

Keep a close relationship between your sim and their parents & siblings - even though they don’t love the vampire life they love their family

Gen 7: The Tinkerer

You’ve always been a homebody, hanging out in your house on the computer and tinkering with things in the home. Your parent was always nagging you to go outside and play as a kid. As soon as you were old enough to hold a wrench you were fixing things. You knew when you became a young adult you wanted to go to Foxbury Institute and learn to program and create robots!

Aspiration: Computer Whiz

Traits: Genius, The other two traits can be anything you choose!

Generation rules / goals:

* For this generation I ABSOLUTELY recommend this mod which shortens university. It just makes it sooo much easier to complete a degree: https://modthesims.info/d/646803/shorter-university-degrees.html *

Your sim should spend a lot of time inside as a kid, using the computer, reading books, playing video games

Have your sim complete the Whiz Kid aspiration as a child

Master the Logic skill throughout your sims lifetime

Master the Robotics skill throughout your sims lifetime

Master the Handiness skill throughout your sims lifetime

Once your sim becomes a teenager they should be the one who fixes ANYTHING broken within the household

In order for your sim to attend Foxbury Institute for a Computer Science degree your sim must have certain skills (such as computer programming, robotics, etc.) since it is a distinguished degree. You’ll need to work on these skills as a teen to have a chance to be excepted there. If you don’t feel like having your sim work on those skills as a teen your sim can attend Britechester University but they should still work on the robotics skill!

Complete the Computer Whiz aspiration

Graduate university with a degree in Computer Science

Live in a modern style house in any world

Gen 8: The Believer

Your parent has always been a technological genius, creating artificial intelligence. But you’ve always known that science wasn’t needed for there to be fantastical things in this world. No one else in your family believes your crazy ideas about alien but hey, you once heard that your great grandparents were vampires, so it could be possible! Sure you’re a little erratic but you’re determined to prove the existence of aliens, and befriend them. How will you do this? Well by becoming an iron pumping, rocket building astronaut of course!

Aspiration: Bodybuilder

Traits: Athletic, Self-Assured, You can pick your sims third trait!

Generation rules / goals:

You sim must join and reach the top of the Astronaut career

Your sim must live in Oasis Springs

Have your sim complete the Body Builder aspiration - astronauts have to be strong after all!

Master the Rocket Science skill

Your sim will unlock a rocket when they reach level 10 of their career (the rocket can either be the Apollo Rocket - unlocked though the Space Ranger branch of the astronaut career, or the Retro Rocket - unlocked through the Interstellar Smuggler branch. You can choose which rocket you want)  but honestly who wants to wait for that, so as soon as your sim gets to level 5 of their career use cheats to unlock the rocket and start building!

Once your sim has completed their rocket you must level up their Rocket Science skill to level 10 and then install the Wormhole Generator upgrade. This will allow you to travel to Sixam and meet aliens!

Your sim must befriend and marry an alien they meet on Sixam. If you don’t like that particular alien you can either come back to Sixam or open CAS and edit them, either is fine.

Have your sim have a baby with their new alien spouse. Only have ONE baby.

If your sims baby is born NOT an alien you can use cheats to make them one. MC Command Center can be used for this and is linked above for Generation 5

Gen 9: The Star of Sixam

You’re an alien and you’ve proud of it! You loved listening to your alien parent tell stories of your home world and knew that when you grew up you wanted to make your relatives on Sixam proud. The best way to do this is of course to become the most famous alien musician the Sim world has ever seen!

Aspiration: Musical Genius

Traits: Self-Assured, Perfectionist, Music Lover

Generation rules / goals: 

Your sim must NEVER wear their disguise unless absolutely necessary - they are very proud to be an alien and they don’t see any reason to hide that

As a child your sim should complete the Artistic Prodigy aspiration

Master the Violin skill throughout your sims lifetime

Master the Piano skill throughout your sims lifetime

Your can have your sim master the Singing skill throughout their lifetime if you want, but it isn’t necessary

When your sim becomes a young adult move them to San Myshuno, where their musical dreams can really take off!

Have your sim busk for money in San Myshuno at least 5 times

Have your sim reach the max level in the Musician branch of the Entertainer career

Your sim should marry or be with someone who is also musically interested - you can enter CAS and cheat this or create your sims partner

It doesn't matter how many children your sim has for this generation, but the heir should NOT be an alien - you can use MC Command Center to make them human if you need to

Gen 10: The Apprehensive Actress / Actor  AKA the Final Generation!

You grew up in a VERY artistic household, with parents who were both interested in music and one parent who made a huge career of it. You love acting and knew your parent was ecstatic when you started showing interest in acting as a teen. Unfortunately you don’t really like the idea of being famous...

Aspiration: Master Actress / Actor

Traits: Loner, Good, Creative

Generation rules / goals:

Your sim is an artistic child, however we aren’t gonna worry about completing the Artistic Prodigy aspiration as a child because we did that last generation - you can do it if you want though!

When your sim becomes a teen they should begin working on their acting skills

Your sim should reach the max level of the Acting career

Have your sim master the Acting skill

Your sim should marry someone non-famous in a private ceremony with only those sims (or family and close friends if you like) present

Your sim should maintain as good a reputation as possible - they are still a good sim, they are just a bit anti-social

Once your sim finished the acting career and has achieved the Global Superstar rank they should retire

Your sim, now retired from acting moves to one of two lots in Brindleton Bay that have NO neighbours

They should spend the rest of their life making money off of artistic projects such as knitting, painting, etc.

Have your sim leave the house only when necessary to avoid the paparazzi, and if they do go out they must wear a disguise

Your sims spouse can have any career, but they should NOT be famous in anyway

It is up to you whether you decide to have your sim have children and continue the family :)

Well we’ve come to the end of the challenge!! I just wanted to say if you decide to play this challenge or even have taken the time to read it, THANK YOU SO MUCH! It means the world to me to be apart of this sims community ❤️

If you decide to play this challenge on your tumblr pleaseee use the tags #spicechallenge or #spice of life challenge. That way I can see what you do with this challenge, that would be amazing 😊❤️

[mischiefandspirits]

Doppelgänger (3/?)

Previously on Doppelgänger ~ Masterlist ~ Next time on Doppelgänger

Danny, Sam, and Tucker were just 14 when they took a look inside the portal Danny’s parents had built. From there, everything changed. They woke up with white hair, green skin, and powers they could learn to control. They were hybrids, halfas.

They were the hero Doppelgänger.

{Prisoners of Love, Part 2}

Doppelgänger only realized the van they’d been tossed into had been moving when it stopped. They looked up as the doors opened.

“Out,” one of the cops growled.

They awkwardly got to their feet, their three minds all trying to control their body. They tried to shuffle to the doors and promptly fell out of the van.

Danny started apologizing, Sam started cursing, and Tucker started laughing.

A sound came from their mouth that sounded more like television static than words.

“Get up,” the cop growled.

The static got louder and they shakily got their arms and legs under them. It took a few moments, but they eventually got to their feet. They looked up and froze.

In the prison yard next to where the van was parked were Skulker, Technus, Desiree, and quite a few other random ghosts they’d fought over the past few months.

The ghosts had been watching the van and they all took on smirks or scowls when they saw Doppelgänger.

“Well, if it isn’t one of the young whelps who helped us get locked up in this stinking place!” Skulker said, crossing his arms and giving them a vicious grin. “Welcome home.”

The static grew to a screech before finally forming words. “We’re in trouble. Do you think shankings still happen in ghost prison?”

One of the police ghosts -- guards? -- grabbed their arm and dragged them into the prison. He shoved them into a small room where a pair of striped prison clothes waited. “Get changed,” he said as their bonds disconnected from each other, keeping their powers bound but allowing for freedom of movement. “You’ve got a meeting with the warden, then you can go see your friends in the cafeteria.”

“Friends,” they growled as he shut the door to the room with a smirk. “I’ll show him friends.” They moved to grab the clothes, then jerked back violently. They collapsed to the floor. “We can’t take off the hazmat suit. We’ll get in trouble if we don’t put the clothes on though.” After a moment’s deliberation, they struggled to their feet and grabbed the pants. They haphazardly began to put them on over the suit.

“Can you believe he thought we were just duplicates? Well, it makes sense. We do look exactly alike as long as we’re wearing our goggles. Remember how freaked out Skulker was when he realized we were a trinity. And how many ghosts have actually seen all of us fighting together?” They paused, one arm in the prison shirt. “Skulker and Sidney know, but Sidney never talks to anyone but us and the chess club. Skulker obviously didn’t tell the fruit loop so he might not have told anyone else. The dragon, Technus, and Vlad have only ever seen one of us change and Technus thought we were one of us. The same goes for Boxy and Desiree, but for each of the other ones of us. Holy crow, does everyone just think we’re one ghost going around kicking butt and duplicating now and then? That’s hilarious!”

They finished buttoning up the shirt and their bonds disappeared.

Energy blasted out of them, scorching the walls and leaving flickering fires surrounding them.

They collapsed as they forced the energy down, shaking. They spewed static as they tried to get their energy under control without the bonds to inhibit it. They tried to figure out why the ghost prison would allow them their powers, then they felt it. There was something in the prison clothes trying to inhibit their powers, emphasis on trying. The clothes were obviously only designed with one ghost in mind. They could feel the power of the clothes wrapping around Sam, then Tucker, then Danny, then Sam. Always trying to lash them down, but only managing one at a time.

The energy of the others was spilling out, trying to fit into the too-small space their body made.

They were about to separate, but then Sam got an idea. The boys hesitated and went over the idea. Slowly, they perked up with excitement and all three pulled themselves in, shrinking their power as much as they could without transforming. Even still, white-blue-purple light flickered at their waist and energy buzzed across their skin, hidden mostly by the prison clothes.

Danny and Tucker allowed their minds to go blank, allowing Sam to take control of them. She quickly put out as much of the flames as she could and placed herself in front of the door so that the guard couldn’t see much of the room when he came back.

Thankfully it worked and he didn’t say a word as he led her through the halls to an office, where he chained her to a chair.

“Doppelgänger, is it?” the white ghost from before said as he marched in and the guard left.

“That’s us,” Sam chirped.

He glared at her and opened his green book. “Trespassing, loitering, creating a disturbance, and possession of real-world contraband.”

She opened her mouth to comment, then her eyes widened as a gift box floated past. “The gift! Mr. -”

The warden grabbed her by her shirt. “Walker, son. Kn-”

“Not a boy,” she said.

“Don’t interrupt me, girl.”

“Not a girl either.”

Walker threw her back onto the chair and she barely stopped it from toppling over.

“You better learn quick that your jokes won’t earn you any favors here.”

“It wasn’t a joke,” she muttered.

“I am your judge, executioner, jury, executioner, jailer, and, if necessary, your executioner.”

She stared blankly at him. “You said executioner three times and we’re ghosts. If you’re going for scare tactics, then we should point out we kind of already did the death thing so executioners aren’t exactly scary.”

Walker smacked her across the face with enough force to knock over the chair.

“Son of a bi-iscuit,” she growled into the floor, barely keeping a hold on the three’s power as Danny and Tucker swirled back into consciousness. “We’re feeding him to Audrey II. No, she’s got better taste than that. True.”

“Seeing how this is your first offense, I was willing to be lenient. Now though… five thousand years!”

“Ok boomer,” they snorted.

He scowled and waved at the door. “Get it out of my sight!”

“Wow, we’re an it now. Just call us they you coward,” they said as a guard came to unchain them. “Did we have to antagonize him that much? No, but it was fun. Yeah, that’s fair. We're insane.”

The guard dragged them up and out of the office. A few halls over they were shoved into a cafeteria. “Chow time! Move it out!”

“Huh, so ghosts do eat,” they said as they stared around the too familiar settings. “It’s kind of like school.” Their eyes landed on the table where Skulker, Technus, Desiree, and Boxy were sitting. “Wow, heh, pretty much everyone who hates us all at one table. It’s exactly like school.”

As they tried to get themselves back into some semblance of order, they watched Skulker stand up and march up to them. The others stood, but stayed behind to watch.

“Hey, Skulky, question before we do this: Does everyone really think we’re just one ghost duplicating?”

Skulker cracked his metallic knuckles. “As far as I’m aware.”

“Wild.”

He stopped in front of them, towering over them as other ghosts began to gather around. In a low voice, he asked, “So which one are you then: the hunter, the geek, or the girl?”

Doppelgänger gave a smile that was all fangs for Sam, crossed their arms and tilted their head mockingly for Danny, and laughed in Skulker’s face for Tucker. “Yes.”

Skulker gave a confused frown, then his eyes widened and he backed away.

Their grin grew and they tapped at the tight rubber band-like feeling that had been growing in them since they’d been forced together. It snapped and the prison clothes were disintegrated as they split apart in an explosion of energy that knocked down every ghost in the room.

The trio instantly went to work. Tucker and Sam fired plasma blasts at the guards near the doors and on the catwalks while Danny opened his Space Fold, allowing six of Audrey II’s bathtub-sized heads to emerge. He set her upon the guards, then he and Tucker turned their attention to their fellow prisoners.

The lot looked caught between horror and excitement.

“Are you all going to try to fight us or are we getting out of here?” the trio asked. Danny raised a hand to shield them from a guard’s blast and Tucker took control of all the guard’s batons, forcing them to stop working.

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend, for now,” Skulker said, eyeing the flytrap head that had just scooped up two guards and began dissolving them in the acid dripping from their lobes.

“No, don’t eat them, Twoey. They’re bad. They’ll give you a stomach ache. We’ll feed you when we get home,” the trio said, Danny turning to wag his finger at the plant.

The flytrap spat them out then started grabbing and tossing the guards around instead.

“You feed your plant ghosts?” Desiree asked, looking ill.

“No, we feed her ectoplasm. She’s still learning the difference between pure ectoplasm and inhabited ectoplasm though,” they said and Sam scratched one of the plant’s lobes. “Now are we going to get out of here?”

The prisoner ghosts nodded quickly and started rioting.

“We should probably send Twoey back before she accidentally eats one of them,” they said quietly and Danny flew over to lure the stalks back into the fold. “We’ll go for the gift while we lead these guys out of the prison. Alright, meet up on the other side.”

Sam flew out of the cafeteria and transformed. Humming, she made her way through the halls until she reached Walker’s office. She slipped through the door to see the warden yelling into a microphone.

“Guards, what’s going on down there? Somebody answer me!”

She rolled her eyes and walked over to the present.

“You? What are you doing here? Who are you?” Walker growled as she grabbed it out of the air.

She set it on her hip and turned to the warden. “I’m Doppelgänger, duh.”

He snarled and tried to grab her, only to pass right through.

She ignored him as she grabbed Tucker’s phone off his desk.

“Why can’t I touch you?” he asked as he kept trying for her.

“I’m a halfa, moron. Half-ghost, half-human. And humans are the intangible ones here.” She gave him a wink and walked through the wall.

She kept going until she passed through the outer wall, then paused. “Now where are my boys at?”

“Have fun?”

She smiled and turned to Tucker and Danny. “I got your parent’s present and ticked off a prison warden. Today was a great day.” She passed Danny the box, then handed Tucker his phone before transforming to join them in the air.

“My baby,” they said as Tucker nuzzled the phone. “Don’t make us say that! Come one, let’s head home.” They paused. “Do we know how we know how to get back to the portal? Maybe because we died there? Or formed there? How about we not think about that and just head home? Yeah, alright, it’s interesting though. Interesting as in morbid? Yes.”

They laughed and flew off.

{My Brother's Keeper}

Sam checked her watch and frowned. Danny? What’s taking you so long? Did a ghost show up?

Yeah, but that’s not the problem. The thing got away and left me in the smoking remains of the new guidance counselor's office. Lancer and Jazz found me and now they’re making me talk to her. Apparently, Jazz convinced him it would do me some good to talk to her because I’ve been “pulling away from everyone except his partners” and she’s worried we’ll become “overly dependant.”

Yikes, sorry, dude, Tucker said.

If she only knew, Sam snorted. Want us to bring you some lunch?

Yes, please. I don’t know how long she’s going to keep me here.

On our way.

The two stood up and Tucker grabbed their lunches while Sam went to grab some for Danny.

“You know, Jazz might have a point,” Tucker said as they headed to the office.

“Seriously?”

“I mean, when was the last time we did anything apart?” Tucker pointed out. “I know I haven’t hung out with the computer club since the new school year started.”

Sam frowned and tried to think of the last time she’d been to a poetry night. “Oh.”

“Yeah. And how much do you want to bet Danny’s been skipping out on time at the observatory?”

“Okay, yeah,” Sam sighed. “Maybe we should schedule more personal time.”

“Before we really do become a hive mind,” Tucker chuckled, only half-joking.

“We wo-” Sam cut off as heat flooded her cheeks. She looked to Tucker to see him staring down at his arms. “Hair standing up?”

He nodded.

They stuffed their lunches into an empty locker and transformed.

Sam pointed at the counselor's office.

“Think the ghost came back? Wouldn’t one of us have noticed? Even if we did, we wouldn’t be able to do anything with the counselor there.”

The two shrugged and turned invisible.

When they stuck their heads through the wall, they saw Danny sitting in a chair looking miserable while a perky redhead came up to him.

“I'm not saying you're a loser, Danny,” she said, stepping behind him. “I think you're a great kid!”

She grabbed his shoulders and their eyes widened when they saw a flicker of green energy passing from Danny to her.

“Then why do I feel so miserable?” their partner asked, slouching down.

The two snarled and Sam blasted her away from him.

“Woah!” Danny said, jumping up as they landed in the room.

Tucker immediately placed himself between the redhead and Danny while Sam had a nearby potted fern grab the ghost.

“What are you doing, uh, ghosts?” Danny said, backing away.

“Get somewhere safe,” they said. “She’s not what she appears.”

Danny nodded and ran out the door.

Suddenly a blob ghost tackled Tucker. “I thought you said it was the Fenton kid, Spectra,” it hissed.

“I thought it was!” she growled, phasing through the plant.

“Stay away,” the two snarled as Sam ripped the blob off Tucker. She punched it and sent it crashing into Spectra.

It helped the redhead back up, then turned to them with a furious glare. It transformed itself into the shape of a bee, only to be sucked up by the thermos.

The two looked up to see Danny poking halfway through the ceiling, waving.

“No,” Spectra shouted and black clouds formed around her. They rose to cover her, then dispersed, leaving her as a literal shadow of herself.

Unimpressed, the three blasted her before Danny sucked her into the thermos as well.

He gave it a hard shake as he dropped down next to his partners and they all transformed.

“That’s what you get for trying to mess with my head.” He gave it another shake then put the thermos in his Space Fold.

“Feel better?” Sam asked.

“Much.” He pressed into her side and she wrapped an arm around him.

“Good, now let’s get out of here before we get blamed for this,” Tucker said, gesturing to the upended plant and cracked wall.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jazz fidgeted slightly as she made her way down the hall. She really should leave this to the professional and let Danny work through things without her intervention, but she couldn’t help but want to check on him. Her brother had been closing himself off from the world and that wasn’t healthy. His partners were no better, but she didn’t have any authority to help them. Hopefully, when they saw how much Danny benefited from it, they’d consider getting help too.

She turned the corner and then ducked back around when she saw Danny come running out of Ms. Spectra’s office. She peeked out to see Danny looking around then he held his arms up. Her eyes widened as she saw him transform into a green creature in a flash of white rings.

“What was that?” she whispered as he floated up and pulled a Fenton Thermos out of nowhere before diving upwards. She ran up to the office and looked through the window to see two people that looked just like the… whatever Danny had turned into facing off against a green blob and Ms. Spectra. The blob suddenly turned into a giant bee, only to get sucked into a thermos held by a third green creature -- Danny? Wait, he used the thermos! Does that mean they're ghosts? Ghosts are real! -- that emerged from the ceiling.

Then all three took down Ms. Spectra -- Who was also a ghost? Maybe? She turned into a shadow! -- before they all transformed. Danny from the one with the thermos using white rings like before. The one next to him turned into Sam using purple rings. The last turned into Tucker using blue rings.

Are they all ghosts? Why did they look exactly alike? Is this why they’re always hiding away together?

“Feel better?”

“Much.”

“Good, now let’s get out of here before we get blamed for this.”

Jazz eye’s widened and she ducked down and ran for the corner. She slipped around it just as she heard the door open. She looked back to see the three come out of the office, Danny still tucked against Sam’s side while arm-in-arm with Tucker.

He smiled up at them and kissed them both on the cheek. “Thanks for the save back there.”

“Of course, dude.”

“You’re our partner, we’re always going to take care of you.”

Jazz smiled and left the three.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“What?”

“Nothing,” Jazz said quickly, turning her gaze back to her food.

Her eyes slid back to her brother.

“Ugh! What?”

“Nothing!” She shouldn’t say anything, should she? He’d get defensive. But a little push couldn’t hurt, right? “Uh, so, uh, Danny, I know I've been kind of hard on you lately, but you know I think you're great, right?”

He looked surprised before ducking his head. “I-I guess. I mean, I thought so, but I’ve been hearing things.”

“Then you've heard wrong,” she said, grabbing his shoulder and squeezing it. Well, he certainly feels solid. Human. And he’s breathing so-No, focus. “Look, I know you think I'm pushy and I'm a know-it-all. I know you think I can be a jerk sometimes…” she trailed off as he saw the dorky smile on his face. “You know, you can stop me at any time.”

“I know.”

She sighed and let go of him. “All I'm saying is I'm your sister and I care about you. And even though you don't think I'll understand, you can talk to me about anything.”

He bit his lip and looked away. After a moment, he glanced at her, “I -”

An explosion sounded in the family room. They ran to the door to see the couch was smoking and their dad was holding up some new device while their mom watched on.

“I'm just saying, if we can find that ghost at Jazz's school, we can peel that ghost like an onion!” their dad said.

“Well we can't completely vaporize it,” their mom reasoned. “Don't you want to at least examine the remains?”

Danny’s shoulders hunched up and he went back to the table. “I don't feel like talking about it.”

“Yeah, I'd imagine not,” she said, holding back a glare. Why did her parents’ obsession with ghosts always have to ruin things? She followed him back to the table and kissed him on the head.

He squirmed away with a glare, but she ignored him as she went back to her meal.

“I… Jazz?”

“Yeah?” she said, head popping up. Maybe her parents hadn’t messed things up after all.

“Sam, Tuck, and I were talking and… Maybe, maybe, you were right about us spending too much time together so… Would you want to go to the observatory tomorrow?”

She blinked, then smiled. “Sure, little brother.”

Not exactly what she’d been hoping for, but it was a step in the right direction. He could tell her when he's ready.

[ayamari-no-goshi]

Eidolon 8 | (T)

ff.net | AO3

Fandom: Danny Phantom (DP)

Summary:  AU: What started off as the result of a simple act of rebellion ends up causing his life to spin out of control. How will young Danny cope with the results as well as a past that has a strange habit of coming back to haunt him.

Warnings: rated T for violence, mentions of death, kidnapping, and various other things

Parings: hints of Danny/Sam much later on

Notes: originally uploaded to Ff.net. Cross-posted to AO3 and tumblr

8. Double Teamed

It had been an incredibly trying day, and Winston was more than glad to be home. Chaos greeted him as he walked into work and had remained until it the end of the day. His ears were still ringing from a rather vicious call from a mother claiming that the school was somehow brainwashing her child. Although it was quite possible that one of the teachers had said something questionable in class, he highly doubted that aliens were in any way involved. To make matters worse, he was forced to go to a meeting afterwards with one of Vlad's representatives, which ended up being far more problematic.

The representative as well as the state mediator (who had been sent to babysit them) explicitly told him that a date had been set for a hearing, and if the judge found that the accusations were valid, than Danny's case would go to court. It sounds simple enough, but Winston had no idea where Vlad had managed to get his so called evidence. Maltreatment of a child? That was preposterous! He had done the best that he could to take care of the boy, and although he was nowhere near perfect, he felt that Danny was growing up just fine. How Vlad managed to convince the state that there was a problem was beyond him.

What was even more surprising was learning that the date for the hearing was so soon, just after Danny's birthday. Due to how busy the U.S. court system could be, it could take months to years for a hearing to occur, let alone an actual case. Yet, he was going to have to deal with one in just a couple weeks. It was, for lack of a better word, uncanny. It was possible that there just happened to be an opening that particular day, but it was more likely that Vlad had somehow used him money to move up the date.

There was just something not right about the entire mess, and the more Winston thought about it the more he became convinced there was something else to the motives of the eccentric billionaire. When the representative called his boss during the meeting and mentioned when the date was, the man seemingly lost it. Although Winston could not make out any of the words, it was very clear that something about the date was in no ways appealing. It was also odd that Vlad had managed to convince the state of a possible problem with Danny's current situation. With there being no previous reports, complaints, or evidence it seemed utterly ridiculous that the state would have taken such a claim seriously, especially without having sent their own investigator out.

He also had a sinking suspicion that Vlad was somehow involved with Plasmius, but there was no way to prove it. The strange co-appearance of the two had strengthened previous misgivings that had been brought up by the letters the Fentons had sent him prior to their disappearance. But Vlad was too intelligent to have any dealings with a creature like Plasmius. They could be in contact through a second party, but that would be stretching it as well. There was also the fact that Vlad had alluded to having knowledge about what was currently plaguing Danny. If that was true, how would he have gotten that knowledge?

A throbbing pain interrupted his thoughts. The migraine he had been trying to ignore throughout the day was no longer manageable through willpower alone. As he searched the kitchen cabinets for some medicine that could take the bite out of the pain, he tried to push the previous thoughts from his mind. It was true that Vlad's motives did not seem to add up, but it was probably nothing more than the man's unusual nature. Paranoia and anger can be some of the best motivators of the imagination.

It was probably in his best interest to lie down once he managed to take the medicine, but he figured that he should at least try to get some idea of how he was going to break the news to Danny first. The boy had finally gotten out of the funk he had been in after being informed about what had happened to his parents with the help the apparent help of his friends. It had been their idea to have a sleepover tonight, since tomorrow was the start of the weekend, to help keep him in good spirits. Winston had been very glad that they had been worried enough to try and get through to him. Everything he had tried with the boy had failed miserably, and had been considering taking him to a psychiatrist if his closed off mood continued.

As he thought about it, he figured that it would probably be best to explain the situation fully once Danny returned home. He had tried to keep most of the details hidden as to not worry the boy, but with the severity of the current situation, the time for secrets was over. Danny was going to need to know exactly what to expect.

He sighed as he rubbed his forehead. His migraine was getting worse. After checking to make sure that all of the legal papers he was going to need within the next few days were organized, he decided to turn in for the night.

….

Getting to sleep was harder than Winston thought he would. His migraine prevented any position from being comfortable. After about twenty minutes, he had finally managed to start to doze when a strange noise caught his attention. Sitting bolt upright, he strained his ears for any further noise. The house seemed quite enough and his throbbing headache was a compelling enough reason to go back to sleep.

As he lay back down, a severe chill crept over his body. Knowing that the situation was quickly becoming dangerous, he slowly reached down to retrieve the gun that was hidden under the mattress.

"Do you really think that toy will be effective against me?"

He had rolled out of bed as soon as the voice had begun to speak. A moment later, he was standing with his gun trained on the specter. "Plasmius…." he hissed, "what do you want?"

The ghost smiled as it placed its hands behind its back. "Normally, I would say the boy, but he's currently not here at the moment, is he?"

"If you already knew that, why did you come?" Winston asked while trying to determine a possible escape route. Of course the ghost had placed itself between him and the door.

"It's simple, really," it told him with a flourish. "The current chain of events is moving a bit too slowly for my liking, so I'm speeding it up a bit by removing you from the equation."

Winston cocked the weapon in his hands as he readied himself for any sign of attack. "Sorry to burst your bubble," he told it as he slowly started to move towards the door, "but if I'm gone, Danny will just be sent to Vlad Masters. And believe me when I tell you that the man has the money to get what's needed to keep you away."

An amused laugh answered him. Winton eyed the specter carefully as he asked, "What's so funny?"

"Because that's exactly what I want to happen," it replied as it suddenly fired a plasma ray at him.

He barely managed to dodge, and by the time he had caught himself, another blast was coming his way. The strange cool but burning energy sent him flying backwards into the wall when it hit. After sliding down the wall, he glanced up at his attacker. "I don't understand," he told it as he winced. The attack had done some damage to his ribs.

It laughed again as it approached him. "With as intelligent as you are surely you've noticed that there's some sort of connection between myself and Masters. Only, it's far more complicated than you think it is." As it spoke, a strange black ring of energy came into existence around its waist before it split. Both halves of the ring traveling along both halves of its body as it melded its appearance into that of Vlad Masters. "Ta da. It's a handy little trick, don't you think?"

Winston had seen a great deal during the course of his life, especially after having served in the military, but not even that had prepared him for such a shocking event. "Wh-what are you?" he stuttered.

"Me?" the billionaire asked with faked surprise. "I'm the same as young Daniel is… or I should say will be once his birthday comes around."

It suddenly became apparent to Winston why Vlad had been so angry during the phone call earlier. The hearing would fall after Danny's birthday… after he became… He didn't even want to think about it.

"Did you know that Jack and Maddie had gone into the field of paranormal studies in order to find a cure for their son's 'aliment' years before he was even conceived?" Vlad gave him a disgusted look as he… it began to pace. "They knew what a child of theirs could end up being, but they failed to see the truth of the matter… The boy would be given gifts that no human could ever dream of understanding. So, I did the boy a favor and got rid of them. But, unbeknownst to me at the time, they had thrown a wrench into my plans, you!" It glared at him as the black rings formed again and returned it to its proper appearance. "But after tonight, that's not going to matter anymore."

"And I say that it's not going to be as easy as you think, you crazed-up fruit loop!" he shouted as he raised his gun, stared into those crimson eyes, and fired.

xxxxxxxxxxx

"Guys, after everything that's happened, do you really think it's a good idea for us to be out, in the park, alone, at night?" Tucker asked as he followed behind him and Sam. His voice betrayed just how frightened he was.

Sam just rolled her eyes as she continued to walk. "Wasn't it you who said that the ghost couldn't leave its haunt?"

"Well, yeah… but…"

"But what? Come on and live a little!"

Danny smiled as he watched his two friends argue. Although he too was a little wary about being alone, he figured that nothing too bad could happen to them. Ignoring the ghost that appeared on Wednesday, Amity Park was usually a very safe place to live, even at night.

It was Sam who managed to once again convince them to come out at night. Though, this time, he wasn't exactly sure if it was to talk privately or just to get away from her parents. She had decided to have a sleepover at her house because she thought that they were out of town, but something had prevented them from going. He couldn't forget the look of horror she wore when they entered her impressively large house to find them waiting for her. In a way, it was apparent why she didn't like them too much; they were dressed very brightly and had an unusually sunny disposition making them the complete opposite of their daughter. After having dragged himself and Tucker into her room, she apologized, much to his surprise.

"So Danny," Sam said suddenly, catching his attention, "have you heard anything new about what's going on with your case?"

"No, not really… Winston had mentioned on the phone earlier that he was supposed to be going to a meeting for it today. I guess I'll find out tomorrow if anything happened," he replied with a shrug while trying to keep his voice neutral. Winston had kept saying that everything was fine, but a worried expression seemed to be appearing on his face more and more after getting off of the phone with anyone who had anything to do with the case.

"Well, that's good, isn't it?" Tucker asked, his voice betraying a strange mixture of hope and concern.

Danny shrugged and continued walking. Although it concerned him, without having a lot of information, he couldn't get too worked up about it. "So, pushing that aside, what's going on in the realm of the normal?" Little did he know how much trouble he would get into by Sam from just using the word 'normal'.

….

After a few hours of walking around the park and having Tucker continue to complain, the three of them decided to return to Sam's house. Although he couldn't be certain, he was fairly sure that it was after midnight. There was just something about the silence combined with the lack of cars or other people that suggested it.

There was something about the night that was concerning him. Perhaps it was the paranoia of everything else that had happened weighing down on him, but the shadows seemed to be darker and more defined than usual. The feeling of being watched was also present, though this time, he was unable to see any movement.

A cold chill ran through his body. Thinking it was just the wind, he hugged himself hoping to gain a little more warmth as they walked. "Dude, are you okay?" Tucker asked, surprising him.

"Yeah," he replied as he tried not to let his teeth chatter. "I'm just a little cold." His friends looked like they were about to shrug it off until he and they noticed that his breath was slowly becoming visible. He stared at the misty vapor as it formed for a moment before disappearing. Had it really gotten that cold?

After sharing a look, both Sam and Tucker grabbed his arms and began marching, for a better lack of a word, towards the entrance of the park. "Guys, stop! What's wrong with you?" he demanded as he yanked his arms out of their grip.

"Um, Danny, I don't know if you've noticed, but every time something weird happens to you, something weirder happens," Sam told him.

"And after hearing about what happened last time, I really don't want to be around when it does," Tucker continued.

He just stared at them. "What do you mean weird? It's just cold out here!"

"That's the thing. It's not the temperature that's cold, it's actually you," Sam tried to explain. "I don't know what it is, but you're skin's like ice, and I'm fairly certain that you weren't like that earlier."

Danny frowned as he looked at his hands. How was that even possible?

"Anyways," Sam told him with an uncertain tone as she gave him a slight push, "let's get you back to my house so that we can get you a blanket. No matter what other weird stuff is going on with you, it is probably not a good idea for you to continue to be that cold."

He grudgingly agreed and allowed himself to follow his friends. An uncomfortable silence fell between them as they walked, which really began to grate on his nerves. Okay, so he was cold. That was a problem how? Not all that strange. Falling through solid objects, on the other hand? That was a completely different matter.

As they approached the street a high pitched whine disturbed the night. He had just enough time after noticing the initial flash of light to make some sort of noise and tackle both of his friends to the ground. The sharp vibrations that followed verified his initial fears.

"What was that for?" Sam demanded as she pushed him off of her.

"You're welcome," he replied sarcastically as he stood up and glanced around. Something told him that was just the opening for something much larger.

"Um, guys…" A hand was tugging on his pant leg. Glancing down, he saw Tucker pointing at something. The boy's face was as white as a sheet, which was rather impressive for how dark his natural skin color was. Danny allowed himself to take a look and gasped. Where the three of them had been standing only moments before, the ground was warped and destroyed. Whatever that light had been, it was certainly strong and dangerous. He did not want to think about what could have happened if they hadn't moved.

The feeling of being grabbed startled him, but he quickly learned it was just Tucker using him as leverage to help stand back up. "What… what was that?" His voice was little more than a frightened squeak.

Danny did not replay immediately. Inwardly cursing that there weren't more lights in the park, he tried to find any sign of where the source could have been. There was absolutely nothing! No shadow, no further noise; just an eerie silence that was only broken by the sound of breathing. "I-I'm not sure…" he told his friends hesitantly as he turned back towards them. "But, we need to get out of here… Wait… what was that?"

A strange noise had broken through the silence and was quickly becoming louder. It was difficult to place what it could be, but it definitely had a metallic sound to it. But there was an unusual sort of hitching within the sound, which almost made it seem like it was laughing.

"Come on!" Sam's sharp tone brought him back to reality as she again tried pulling on him and Tucker. "I really don't think that we want to be around when that thing shows itself." She had just managed to get them moving again when another blast hit nearby sending them back to the ground.

He must have hit the ground pretty hard because the next thing he knew, Tucker was trying to shake him awake. "I'm okay…" Danny told his friend as he tried to push himself up. As he did, he could feel something wet beginning to run down his face. Great, he was bleeding, but he was going to have to push that aside, escaping was far more important.

After a few more heart pounding moments, the three of them had managed to get to the outskirts of the park. Taking a hesitant breather, they scanned the area hoping that they were free of whatever had just attacked them.

Thankful for the temporary break, Danny took the chance to wipe the blood off his face and out of his eye. If he was going to have to run again, he really did not want any other distractions. Grimacing at the sight of his blood covered hand, he realized that he was going to get the cut taken care of as soon as possible. He was also going to have to figure out what else had managed to get on his face. Although it was faint, there was an odd looking green color that had gotten mixed into it.

"Danny! Behind you!"

The fear in Sam's voice was nothing like he had ever heard before. Startled, he turned to see what was wrong and found himself face to face with the barrel of a gun.

"I have you now, ghost child."

[snowbatsims]

post 10: birthday!

Original post

[...] But either way, here's the rest of the screenshots from my last batch, since it seemed appropriate to cut it off... right before Kvikindi grew up, yes!!

Of course, it's Morten, the youngest one, who would cook. He still knows how to cook, unlike the other three. Cooking is kind of a useless skill to vampires, after all.

and there she blows

She is absolutely taking after Bat, facial feature-wise.

And here she's hogging the entire kiddy pool. I'm pretty sure Mort wanted to use it too.

Yum.

KVIK: Don't you want some cake too? MORT: Oh, I would. I just can't. KVIK: Why? MORT: It makes me sick. Trust me, I wish it didn't.

KVIK: Also, why did you try stay away from every small patch of sun up there? It looked really funny. MORT: Oh, uh... it would literally burn me. KVIK: But I can resist it just fine!

MORT: Yes, but it would burn me! I mean, enjoy that sun while it lasts, Kvikki. KVIK: What?

MORT: The sun will only get harsher as you grow up!! Your uncle Rune told me all about it. KVIK: What!! MORT: He's a lot like you; pink eyes, born with the curse rather than just afflicted by it. KVIK: Ahh, what's a curse?

Morten struggles to find words. Gestures towards their entire self instead.

MORT: I, I don't know how to explain it. Just.. this, basically. KVIK: You're a curse? MORT: No!! It's the vampirism!! That's the curse!!! KVIK: What's that!!! MORT: It's just what all of us in the house are; vampires! KVIK: Me too?? MORT: Yes, you too, except you're young, and an alien as well. Just.. enjoy that cake while you still can. Curses are awful.

BAT: Mort, what are you going on about??? It's not a curse, it's a frickin blessing. We're immortal! Got SO MANY awesome powers. Just you wait, green thing. You're gonna love hunting for blood. KVIK: Ooh, blood. I wonder what that tastes like? MORT: oh my god bat you're already corrupting her........ BAT: Mort. Just love yourself already. I turned you several years ago. I mean, just look how much the kid has grown. MORT: I didn't ask for this!! BAT: You accepted a gift from me, and this was the gift. I can't believe how many times I have to tell you this. MORT: Ugh.. MORT: Wait, where did Kvikki go??

Cool, she went to bed.

RUNE: I see you're already making your mark on this new underground restaurant.

MORT: I mean, why not? RUNE: I thought this was called "vandalism". MORT: Actually, the folks owning this place approached me, told me they needed some graffiti art down here. So this is perfectly legal; they had the spot marked out and everything. RUNE: I see. MORT: Also, since I'm immortal now, I'll likely get to be around at the point when this all inevitably caves in on itself? Will be interesting to see how long this lasts. RUNE: So you don't actually mind your vampirism anymore? MORT: Not too much, actually! As long as I have other options besides drinking from actual living beings, I'm really kind of fine with it? It's weird. MORT: Also, I refuse to give Bat the satisfaction of knowing that. RUNE: Ha.

RUNE: They do sell Plasma Janes down here, right? MORT: Of course. RUNE: This is a nice place. MORT: It is.

EINARR: Kvikindi, I appreciate that you're actually doing your homework, but please go take a shower. KVIK: Eh, I'll do it later. EINARR: Child. Please. BAT: why am i here

Geek-con was in the big city, and to everyone's delight, the weather was perfect for it. That is, it was overcast. Which means vampires could go out without dying, and the techy stuff wouldn't get all fried by the rain. Because yeah, that has happened at some point. Seasons and City Living don't always mix.

Rune hadn't been able to go here since he was a literal child, still immune to the sun. It’s very nice to revisit again without frying to death.

But let's be honest, Morten was clearly the one who wanted to go the most. What a nerd.

I actually did not realize it was possible to take photos with the cosplayers until now, but I love this. And so does Mort.

They even tried the Hackathon challenge, even though they have like, no programming skill whatsoever.

SIINI: ...

MORT: I can't believe how easy this is!

SIINI: Dude, shut up!! You're breaking my concentration. Do you even know what a bug is?

MORT: Well, whatever it is, I sure don't see any of them here. It's all just text. SIINI: Oh dear liord... I'm actually gonna win this, aren't I. What an absolute noob...

MORT: Hey. I heard that. SIINI: You know what a n00b is? MORT: Duh, I've been on the internet too. RUNE: Can we please go yet? Overcast weather is kind of a gamble, you know. Suddenly a cloud opens up, and we're toast. SIINI: What, are you guys vampires or something?? MORT: Yeah, unfortunately. SIINI: Okay, that's kinda neat and all, but please just let me finish this and shut up.

RUNE: It looks like you forgot your plasma fruits at home. Let's just go. I think we've done enough here. ANNOUNCER: And the winner of Hackathon this year is.... Siini O Norux! Congratulations! RUNE: ...And absolutely nobody is surprised. Go find Kvikindi, okay?

[mianaac-blog]

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Everyone knows that biotin important part from the wellness within your hair, skin, and nails, but can it really assist with hair growth? Here's what you have to… Generally, clients can see it commence Functioning in 6 to 8 months, nevertheless it could also minimize sexual intercourse drive, increase breast measurement, and contribute to erectile dysfunction, according to Merck Manuals. It's also dangerous for Expecting women to touch the crumbly tablet powder. Considering density, thickness, and duration of hair, the five% RU solution proved to get the best; in truth, whole results had been observed in as very little as 3 months! This is able to suggest that, significantly from becoming solely based on your genes, your surroundings plays a crucial job in whether drop your hair. 5 to five a long time. While regrowth appeared to peak by yr 1, and slowly declined ever yr afterward, according to study results, “maintenance of nonvellus hairs further than that noticed at baseline was still apparent”. hair follicles which are in the midst of miniaturization, and reverse the results. Ultimately, Because of this vellus hairs are transformed into terminal hairs, and more hair growth is found. I mentioned right before that it’s probable to dam DHT using natural compounds. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-SiXXn3EKKI2t7btdwEplw ’ve really penned an in-depth write-up with regards to the finest types below, nonetheless this isn’t anything I essentially advise. Look around in the fashionable atmosphere and something will become obvious – hygiene products are everywhere. And not merely hygiene items, but modern-day innovations built to get rid of microbes are everywhere you go. Fast forward –>> Right after 6 – seven years my hair gave in to this chemical abuse. I commenced shedding many hair. Furthermore, my at the time smooth and soft hair was tough and lusterless. And I had been left grieving in conjunction with my hair. SM04554 is an experimental drug that’s at the moment staying tested by researchers being a hair loss treatment. The scientists assert this “wonder cure” works by regulating the Wnt pathway, which happens to be a protein pathway believed to own specific consequences on hair growth. Exactly what does this indicate for the future of platelet-rich plasma treatment within the struggle versus hair loss? Nonetheless, in some cases there aren’t situation research to back up the treatments, but in these cases this is one thing Now we have tried using, analyzed and authorized for use ourselves.In general, I like to recommend the following natural methods a lot more than the traditional and breakthrough cures. Blocking DHT isn't the most effective respond to. Even so home remedies via steptoremedies continue to want to summarise the best natural blockers immediately listed here. Last of all, get ample sunlight, all around twenty-half-hour of Sunlight exposure is nice for In general wellbeing and hair. Sunlight is critical to produce vitamin D, whose deficiency can cause hair loss, sleeping challenges and hormonal issues.

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On top of that, your body wants vitamin C to produce a protein known as collagen — a very important part of hair structure. Alopecia areata is really a kind of hair loss produced by the autoimmune destruction of hair follicles in localized areas of pores and skin. That said, most of the people Will not get ample vitamin D and it should be a good idea to boost your consumption. Utilize a mask for quarter-hour, ensuring to go over your scalp as well, then shampoo your hair as standard. Be sure to don't utilize a shampoo with additional sulfate. Consider the following masks: For additional dry hair, Merge equivalent pieces honey, egg white, and argan oil. Some problems deliver smaller areas of hair loss, while some have an effect on large parts of the scalp. Common brings about of patchy hair loss are I investigated on-line and came up using this ratio,make sure you counsel alterations in the ratio if essential. Think about taking biotin health supplements so you realize you’re receiving more than enough B vitamins on a daily basis. B vitamins will also be commonly located in prenatal health supplements. You can also Get the day by day vitamin B12 from ingesting organ meats, fatty fish and also other animal goods. In case you’re a guy who hasn’t realized tips on how to use hair gel nevertheless, it would be a good time to figure out ... I hardly ever have enough time to try and do each of the hair masks or all of that crap with faculty, but I’m thinking of utilizing the flip your hair forward approach. Bottom Line: Vitamin C is necessary to make collagen and will help prevent hair from getting old. Fantastic resources contain peppers, citrus fruits and strawberries. "I am struggling from really serious hair loss. That is why I'm attempting to search for a solution. I noticed the knowledge you delivered is actually handy. Many thanks a lot."..." far more A Nameless Well suited for all hair forms and textures, Honeydew’s Hair Growth B-Intricate Shampoo Components is hypoallergenic and one of several most secure items in the marketplace. In the event you’re wanting to rejuvenate hair, lessen shedding, sluggish or prevent hair loss altogether, and start growing thicker, much healthier hair with each and every use, you’ll take pleasure in this shampoo. Harmless to make use of on even by far the most sensitive pores and skin, this impressive system stays on the scalp till all the Lively substances – caffeine, ketoconazole, and saw palmetto – are absorbed. Which means Not one of the item will head over to waste or get washed away just before delivering utmost therapy. Mild enough for even the most delicate skin and hair types, Pure Biology has natural extracts, oils, biotin and keratin, which operate to promote hair growth and restore hurt. The 3HC Hair Stimulating Intricate contained in Pure Biology’s method is absolutely innovative, mainly because it stimulates cells that take care of hair follicle development.

Not known Facts About natural hair growth

This is a formidable hair loss shampoo. Just one large cause to like This is due to it’s appropriate for every type of hair, like curly, straight, frizzy, tangly or smoothly slender. This shampoo can also be Light on colour addressed hair and received’t spoil your highlights. Most hair loss will not be affiliated with systemic or interior disorder, neither is bad food plan a Regular element. Hair may perhaps simply skinny as a result of predetermined genetic elements and the general getting older process. The ingredients are gentle on hair strands, and once dried, the hair flows efficiently without having resulting in tangles. Should you be encountering hair loss because of scalp issues like dandruff, or rough strands, then this is the best shampoo to employ. Egg yolk incorporates lecithin, that's an emulsifier. It works to emulsify the oil with h2o, and that is then rinsed out. So in essence egg cuts throughout the grease and Dust and will make your hair squeaky clear. The term "ringworm" or "ringworms" refers to fungal infections that happen to be around the surface with the pores and skin. A Actual physical assessment in the influenced pores and skin, evaluation of skin scrapings beneath the microscope, and tradition checks might help Medical practitioners make the appropriate distinctions. Too much of hair styling and colouring may make the hair slim, coarse and brittle. Use a mix of coconut and almond oil and oil your hair three times weekly. Leave it right away and clean it off another morning. Whenever your hair growth cycle is disturbed, troubles which include hair loss, and hair thinning begins. If As an illustration, your hair enters the resting section much too early, excessive shedding and thinning on the hair takes place. Modern hair grafts are known as follicular unit hair transplants of one to 4 hairs, transplanted quite near alongside one another for a more natural appear. Some situations create small parts of hair loss, while some affect large regions of the scalp. Popular leads to of patchy hair loss are Adolescent boys recognize some receding close to the temples as their hairlines adjust with the straight-throughout boys' sample to the greater "M-shaped" pattern of Grownup Guys. This ordinary progress won't mean They can be shedding hair. The hair to the arms, legs, eyelashes, and eyebrows have an exceptionally quick Lively growth phase of about thirty to forty five times, conveying why they are a great deal shorter than scalp hair. Trichotillomania - is usually a psychological disorder influencing predominantly children who tear and pull out their hair. This can demolish hair follicles and forestall hair from growing. In some cases someone's immune technique assaults the cells of the growing hair bulb. This autoimmune situation is named alopecia areata. These antioxidants dispose of free radicals that might cause hair loss and thinning. Free of charge radicals absolutely are a natural by-product of cell metabolism, so you can’t avoid its formation.

The Fact About hair regrowth That No One Is Suggesting

The lengthier the hair stays in the anagen section, the extended it will grow. In check here of this period, cells neighboring the papilla in a very germinative layer divide to make new hair fibers[six], as well as follicle buries by itself into your dermal layer from the pores and skin to nourish the strand. About eighty five% - 90% on the hairs on a single's head are in the anagen stage at any offered time. Catagen phase[edit] Anthralin. This is a topical medication utilised to regulate inflammation at the base on the hair follicles. It truly is used in conditions which include alopecia areata. Adult males should not have to handle dry skin below their beard. White, flaky and itchy beard dandruff ... If proper beard care is important to you, You then're likely purchasing beard oil. But Let's say I informed ... Folic acid promotes the event of healthier DNA, which controls cell activity and healthful tissue growth. Vitamin D3 promotes the generation of recent hair follicles and might get up dormant hair follicles to supply thicker, extra well known hair. Spironolactone. This is often also a pill taken as soon as everyday to block the male hormones during the skin that could cause hair loss. This is usually used for female pattern hair loss. Most likely the best hair loss manual I have at any time come upon. Thanks for putting in So Substantially element and effort. I simply cannot wait around to begin next these tips. Together with these tips, test some residence remedies for instance Indian gooseberry or amla oil, fenugreek paste, a mayonnaise hair pack, and other healthier hair Tips. Nevertheless, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmwVJqc-Gck appears that this might only cure hair loss That may be a result of inflammation such as alopecia areata. Little is known about its Positive aspects for treatment of androgentic alopecia. Some nutritional supplements may well lessen hair loss with out strengthening hair growth. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8NZ1f8mgFE must be on locating a hair growth pill that does both of those – it requires to lessen the level of hair that’s falling out even though stimulating your hair follicles to enhance hair growth. Female-pattern hair loss, known as androgenic or androgenetic alopecia, is essentially the feminine version of male pattern baldness. “If you originate from a family where women started to have hair loss at a particular age, then you could be a lot more vulnerable to it,” suggests Dr. Apple cider vinegar is Employed in an entire gamut of residence treatments which offer anything for everyone. As well as curing... And the organization is so self-assured in their products they even give you a ninety-day revenue-again assure, therefore you in essence receive a chance-free demo. There is actually no explanation never to purchase the solution and give it a shot. Many people get tattoos to simulate lost eyebrows and eyelashes. Specific medicine may possibly sluggish hair loss, and substitute treatments may well bolster the health of remaining hair, but no treatment is likely to exchange an entire head of hair.

An Unbiased View of hair loss

I attempted a number of of These within the listing then I started out using mak hair zoe vitamin shampoo and conditioner a couple of yr in the past and are incredibly satisfied. I stopped loosing hair and appears to grow a little a lot quicker. In addition it provides so much overall body and leaves no build up. Seriously youtube little herbs . Like https://twitter.com/steptoremedies/ (aka Rogaine), Ketoconazole has actually been discovered as a fantastic hair loss treatment. Ketoconazole is the principle ingredient in many anti-dandruff and regrowth shampoos, and exploration with the Nationwide Institute of Health (NIH) has shown that the frequent usage of a two% Ketoconazole shampoo can result in enhanced hair density and measurement. https://www.pinterest.com/healthhomeremedies/steptoremedies/ don’t think so but It might be a good idea to make use of a conditioner as well as that due to the fact Nizoral usually takes fairly a beating on your hair. I depict a hair firm that assists with retaining your hair healthy and detoxifying the scalp of any toxins. I have a lot of testimonials from women with hair loss from strain, pregnancy, getting older, along with other scenarios. Femina continues to be capturing the essence with the Indian woman for fifty eight a long time now, and has developed together with her through the years bringing the entire world to her doorstep. And now, This is your chance to have the dope on almost everything--from superstars and style, splendor and wellness, to Way of living and interactions--sent directly to your inbox. In addition professional suggestions, polls, contests along with other interactive articles or blog posts and an entire large amount much more! For most moderate circumstances, patients can easily protect up or comb over the influenced places. In additional significant and Continual situations, some people wear hairpieces; presently, some Guys shave their full scalp now that this appear is now modern. Not too long ago, investigators have famous some valuable results in little groups of clients with extensive alopecia areata or alopecia totalis having a JAK1/2 inhibitor, baricitinib (Olumiant). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hair_conditioner -time period studies are underneath way. A lot of transplant patients now take Propecia to take care of or maintain what they've transplanted. When contemplating a hair transplant, Look at the surgeon's qualifications and knowledge very carefully. Micrografts are a lot of the newest techniques whereby surgeons transplant single a person to two hair follicles. Hair transplants may be extremely high-priced and time-consuming strategies ranging broadly between $one,000-$twenty,000, depending upon the number of hair grafts transplanted. Generally, five hundred or even more hairs might be transplanted in a session. When thyroid blood exams and other lab tests, like a whole blood depend (CBC), on Individuals who have everyday hair loss are usually typical, it is vital to exclude treatable brings about of hair loss. Every little thing you have to know about shampoos for thinning hairHair is known as the crowning glory for humans in general. Limited braids and ponytails can pull really hard ample on hairs to help make them fall out. If this happens, it is best to settle on hairstyles that place considerably less tension on hair. Executing this sooner can help to avoid lasting problems. Eventually, consult with along with your doctor ahead of using a hair loss shampoo while you’re pregnant. Most hair loss shampoos are safe for expecting mothers mainly because their substances aren’t absorbed in the bloodstream. Would there be any hurt/profit in combining using two hair-loss avoidance shampoos, to reap the benefits of various elements and functions? Generally Nizoral, with the two times weekly suggestion, moreover the Argan Oil Shampoo 2 times every week? Alpecin performs, scientifically-speaking, by cutting down DHT – a vital prompt for hair loss. It also will work by stimulating hair growth directly from the roots due to the fact its Energetic ingredients help hair follicles grow faster whilst offering strength and quantity to hair. Lipogaine appreciates what it will take to help make your hair more healthy than ever before in advance of, even though your strands have started to lose their former fullness and shine.

hair growth shampoo for Dummies

The good news is always that stress-associated hair loss will likely be momentary, given that the tension celebration is short-term Facts contained on this Web-site has not been evaluated by any clinical overall body like the Meals & Drug Administration. Diet plan performs a crucial position in hair growth. Protein is essential for very long hair so be sure you are receiving sufficient protein inside your eating plan. Trim your hair consistently. Weakened ends are your hair's worst enemy. Monthly hair trims enable get rid of break up-finishes and help you stay clear of hair fall. Much more appealing is, when persons from these locations move to international locations much like the US their probability of going bald also boosts up to the nationwide ordinary. I am able to’t go into all the main points right here, but I wish to provide you with a brief overview of the 2nd motive. a cure for hair loss. While https://www.facebook.com/steptoremedies/ can deal with regions of the scalp that were effected by hair loss, they can not stop The explanation for mentioned hair loss. Within this in-depth article I’m going to explain to you each and every treatment which is even worth contemplating for a cure and I’m gonna rank them in order of how extremely I rank them. Got a query and can’t find the ideal solution on line? Fret not as Answeropedia welcomes you to lift a query and you'll see a big range of genuine responses right away. Even so we’re nevertheless engaged on a method that lives nearly our criteria. In step to remedies signify time I recommend that you just continue to utilize microneedling by alone at least. Of course. Given that coconut oil is full of potassium, it keeps the scalp well being, and promotes the growth of latest hair, rendering it the ideal treatment for hair regrowth. PRP is often a focus of platelet-rich plasma protein; in present-day investigate, PRP has been shown to induce the growth of hair in folks with AGA when injected in to the afflicted area of your scalp. Let’s acquire a closer look at the effects. It’s an age-previous Indian tradition to infuse oils with herbs like amla, brahmi and bhringraj. Such medicated oils not merely endorse lush hair growth , they are also nourishing and calming for our anxious process. The transplant course of action is usually damaged into two actions. Initially, hair-bearing skin is removed from an area of the scalp called the ‘donor web-site’. 2nd, the donor skin and hair is then grafted on to the ‘recipient website’.

[architectnews]

UK cement industry sets out roadmap to "go beyond net-zero" by 2050

UK producers are trialling new types of cement production methods and testing low-carbon concrete recipes in a bid to eliminate carbon emissions and become a net-zero industry.

The moves are part of a roadmap that identifies seven ways of decarbonising the industry with the aim of going "beyond net-zero" by 2050.

These include running production plants and supply chains on renewable energy, making use of nascent carbon-capture technologies and taking into account the way concrete and cement structures absorb carbon over their lifetimes.

The industry "can actually go beyond net-zero if we have a fair wind and all the right enablers from governments and the technological development that we hope will occur," said Richard Leese, director of industrial policy at the Mineral Products Association (MPA), which represents the UK's cement industry.

"For our decarbonisation journey, clearly we've got to get the designers and structural engineers to take on board the new products," he added.

Cement is largest industrial source of CO2

The net-zero roadmap comes as the industry faces growing scrutiny over its emissions. A landmark 2018 report by Chatham House found that it is responsible for around eight per cent of global emissions, making it the single-largest industrial source of atmospheric CO2.

Moves to tackle cement emissions include plans to turn a Swedish facility into "the world's first carbon-neutral cement plant".

The seven "levers" to decarbonising the UK sector are set out in the UK Concrete and Cement Industry Roadmap to Beyond Net Zero, which was published last October by the MPA.

The roadmap identifies seven levers to decarbonise the UK cement industry

The document claims the UK industry, which produces 90 million tonnes of cement each year, has "already delivered a 53 per cent reduction in absolute carbon dioxide emissions since 1990."

This has been achieved by moving away from fossil fuels to power production and using "secondary cementitious materials" including industrial byproducts, such as fly ash and ground granulated blast furnace slag, to replace clinker made by burning limestone.

As a result, emissions from the sector today represent 1.5 per cent of all UK emissions rather than the eight-per-cent global average, the MPA claims.

Cement production "needs to be net-zero"

"We've done the low-hanging fruit," said Jenny Burridge, principal structural engineer at the MPA's Concrete Centre in London.

"We need to be net-zero," she added. "In order to get from one and a half per cent of the total to nothing is quite a big thing to have to try and do. So this is going to be the more difficult bit."

As part of the plan, the Hanson Cement plant at Ribblesdale in North Yorkshire is about to trial the use of hydrogen and biomass to power its kilns. The experiment will see the percentage of low-carbon fuels slowly increase up to around 30 per cent of the total fuel mix.

However, the gas used will be "blue" hydrogen, which is extracted from fossil fuels using a process that generates carbon emissions, rather than "green" hydrogen, a zero-carbon fuel that is extracted from water and powered by renewable energy.

A second plant is due to start a trial using electric plasma energy together with biomass.

"Both of these will be world firsts because nobody's truly tried it at commercial scale," said Leese.

Low-carbon cement and renewable energy use could reduce emissions

Switching cement production to renewable energy could reduce the industry's CO2 emissions by 20 per cent, according to the roadmap, while decarbonising transport could save a further seven per cent.

An additional 12 per cent reduction in emissions could come from new types of low-carbon cement. Traditional Portland cement contains clinker made from limestone, which is crushed and burned in a process that generates vast amounts of carbon emissions.

A roadmap shows how the industry can get "beyond net-zero"

The MPA has been trialling low-carbon cements that use alternative materials as clinker and hopes to get concrete certification standards changed so these can be used commercially.

"Test work has been carried out by the Building Research Establishment over the last couple of years," said Leese. "We're writing that up so we can change the concrete standard BS 8500 so those low-carbon cements can be used in the marketplace. So that's hugely important news."

A demonstration project showcasing concrete made from the new cements is due to be unveiled next month.

The biggest potential decarbonising levers are carbon capture and storage (CCS) and carbon capture and utilisation (CCU). These involve capturing CO2 before it reaches the atmosphere and either burying it underground or using it as an ingredient in materials and products.

If fully exploited, this could reduce emissions by 61 per cent, but CCS and CCU technology have a long way to go and costs need to fall dramatically before they are viable.

MPA and UK government working on carbon capture 

The MPA is working with the UK government's Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS), which is identifying ways of capturing large quantities of CO2 captured from industrial plants and storing it in oil and gas fields beneath the North Sea.

"BEIS is developing the business models that will help to deploy not just the carbon capture at industrial plants but also the CO2 transportation infrastructure, the storage sites and the regulatory models around that," said Leese.

"The UK has got an abundance of potential CO2 storage sites," he added. "We're talking hundreds of millions of tonnes of CO2."

The initiative is similar to Project Longship, Norway's €1.7 billion scheme to bury up to 1.25 billion tonnes of captured CO2 in depleted North Sea fossil reserves.

"I guess they're a bit ahead of us in the deployment of carbon capture but all that knowledge is getting transferred to the UK so we can use it," Leese said.

The sixth decarbonising lever is carbonation, which is the process by which cement and concrete structures absorb atmospheric carbon through their surfaces.

This is something that already happens naturally but its impact has been overlooked, the MPA believes. If this was taken into account, it could knock 12 per cent off UK cement emissions.

"The uptake of CO2 in cement infrastructure (carbonation) offsets about one-half of the carbonate emissions from current cement production," according to the recent IPCC climate report.

"The key chapter in [the IPCC report] recognised concrete carbonation for the first time," Leese told Dezeen. "Now the international accounting needs to be updated to take account of the carbonation of concrete just so they can get the math right."

Concrete could become a carbon sink

The MPA is researching how much carbon is absorbed by different types of concrete and cement and exploring how to develop formulas that could help turn the material into a carbon sink rather than a carbon emitter.

"Concrete absorbs CO2," said Burridge. "We haven't been talking about it very much. But actually, that's one of the things that we're looking at at the moment."

Different types of concrete carbonate at different rates. Reinforced concrete needs to avoid absorbing carbon since carbonation corrodes the steel reinforcements, but products such as non-structural blockwork could be used to store carbon. "Blocks actually carbonate quite quickly," Burridge said.

Crushed concrete has even greater potential since it has a greater surface area that can absorb more CO2, Burridge said.

"There are huge arguments for not knocking a building down," she said. "But if you do knock it down, you should make sure that you crush the concrete up because then the carbonation happens quite quickly."

The crushed concrete can be recycled and used as aggregate, she added.

The Concrete Centre's Jenny Burridge

Cement is traditionally cured by adding water but alternatives are being developed that suck carbon from the atmosphere as part of the curing process.

"There are some types of cement that actually cure by absorbing CO2," Burridge said. "They're not in the mainstream yet but there are people doing work on cements that cure by carbonation."

The final lever in the MPA roadmap is thermal mass, which it claims could lead to an additional 44 per cent reduction in emissions and help make the UK cement sector a net absorber of atmospheric carbon.

The MPA's argument is that concrete's high thermal mass means the material can help regulate interior temperatures, thereby lowering energy use, which means fewer emissions from the energy grid.

UK to decarbonise power grid by 2035

However, the UK's carbon budget commits the nation to decarbonising its power grid by 2035, by which point it must rely on renewable sources and nuclear.

The MPA counters by arguing that reducing the energy needs of buildings will play a vital role in minimising the cost of the energy transition.

"The Committee on Climate Change told the government that the electricity grid needs to be at least twice, if not three times the size of the current electricity grid by 2050," Leese said, referring to the CCC's Sixth Carbon Budget, which was published last year and became legally binding in June.

"So the cost of that infrastructure and the cost of managing the intermittency [balancing fluctuations in power generation with fluctuations in demand] of renewables is huge. And that will no doubt be the biggest cost for society moving towards net-zero."

Net-zero means that a project or organisation makes zero contribution to atmospheric CO2 across its entire value chain. Any emissions that cannot be eliminated must be offset using credible schemes that remove carbon from the atmosphere.

Companies in the architecture and design sector that have committed to becoming net-zero include Danish furniture brand Takt, Swedish cosmetics brand Forgo plus a handful of UK architects that have joined RIBA's climate challenge.

Dezeen has also pledged to become net-zero by 2025.

Main image: Peter Zumthor's Secular Retreat in Devon, England is constructed from concrete rammed by hand.

The post UK cement industry sets out roadmap to "go beyond net-zero" by 2050 appeared first on Dezeen.

[blerdsonline]

Execution

When I was sixteen, I wasn’t in a great place emotionally. I was told by a recruiter that all of my problems would be solved if I joined up with SPACE, the Scientific Planetary Alliance for Celestial Exploration, everything would be better. I wouldn’t say everything has been worse, but it hasn’t been better. If anything, it feels like I ran from one problem and ran into another one. Originally, the mission for SPACE was to locate extraterrestrial life. Then, we messed up Earth. The mission changed to finding a planet that we could inhabit with minimum issue. We were a bunch of scientists who had to learn to fight now. No longer were we on a fun trip around the solar system. We’ve been on the ship for almost two years. We’ve discovered several new planets. None of them have been livable. Some are inhabited by giant creatures that would be too much to tame. Beasts as tall as sky scrapers cannot be tamed. There are no giant robots like we were promised. They would shrug off anything we did to them. Other planets have had atmospheres that would kill us in minutes. Some didn’t have solid ground. The entire trip has been pointless. We had Earth; we shouldn’t have messed up. We had years to save the planet but we just kept kicking the can down the road and blaming each other. We haven’t made contact with any intelligent life. The only life we’ve run into wants us dead. It’s ridiculous. I thought there was some grand plan of systematically selecting which planets we visit. Maybe we had some prior knowledge of the ones we chose. Instead, it seems like we’re just aiming in the dark and stopping at every planet we come to. We’re just hoping to find something. Mom wanted me to be a doctor. Every day out here, I wonder if she was right. The constant nagging and hovering didn’t help her make a good point. Still, if I were a doctor I wouldn’t be floating through space. I’m glad she isn’t here to hear that. She would never let me forget it. She’s probably got an ear twitch somewhere down on Earth. Still, it might have been a better career choice than running to the stars instead of finding a solution to my problems. What’s done is done and I can’t change it now. Just, make the best of it. I’ve got two years left on this journey. We’ve learned to master warp speed by channeling the energy of black holes and here we are. Using it every day, and we still haven’t found anything. You’d think they would send out more than one ship. Maybe a smaller ship with less people. But here we are. They wanted a colony of people the moment we found a livable place. We’re just going stir crazy on this ship. More of the civilians are put into stasis due to increases in violence. They aren’t even fighting for anything serious, just looking at each other wrong. It’s ridiculous. I’ve been thinking that it may be more effective to just try to terraform some of the planets that are mostly suitable. It wouldn’t take much more in terms of resources than what we’re doing. Maybe we just go back to Earth and find a way to fix what we screwed up. “Did you hear? They found a radio signal, one that isn’t from Earth,” Jess pops into my cabin to inform me before rushing off. I rush to suit up and track her down. Radio signals is big news around here. The only radio signals we’ve found are ones that were shot from Earth over the years. If this one isn’t from Earth this is huge news. We may have discovered some other life in the universe. We could be on the verge of finally completing our mission after all this time. I make it to the briefing room and it seems like just about everyone is already there. The radio signal is already playing. I don’t understand a thing that they’re saying. Nobody in the room does. A group of translators are huddled in the corner attempting to decipher the language heard. They aren’t having any luck. I’m not sure why we brought translators. It isn’t like any language we encountered out here would be based on Earth languages. That’s just one of the things that doesn’t make sense about this mission. It was rushed and they didn’t think things through. One thing about the voice is that it sounds distressed. That’s universal, in any language the sound of fear carries over. You recognize it. Doesn’t matter if it’s human, animal or alien. You know fear when you hear it, and you know when you see it. A few people are excited about what comes next, but something has scared these aliens, or would we be the aliens here? Either way, there sin’t any time wasted in trying to track the signal down. I’m sure there are coordinates included in the message but we can’t understand them. We’ve instead chosen to track them to their original location. A section of space not far from here. Arriving we see a derelict ship floating out there. There’s no response to our signals. The ship looks damaged, and there may be no more life on board. Still we all vote to enter the ship without hesitation. Those higher up in command rush to suit up and decide that they’ll be the ones to enter the ship. A commotion starts and they give up on the idea. Many feel as if command should be left on the ship in the event of danger. A lie, but nobody wants to be stuck on this ship when this could be our first chance at some real action. When they ask for volunteers almost every hand shoots up. They try to give some speech about no rookies being allowed to partake in such a dangerous mission. One man speaks up and states we’re all rookies in this situation. He’s not wrong. None of us have seen anything like this before. They resort to the classic way of doing it. They draw names from a hate. Five people will enter the ship and do a quick sweep before clearing it for others to enter and find out what happened. I eagerly throw my name in hoping to be chosen, but not expecting it. When my name is actually called as the fifth and last member of the squad, I rush through the crowd pushing people to the side. I’m finally going to do something fun for once. We’re taken into a separate room by leadership and they give us the same standard speech they give any time we touch land on a planet. Be on our best behavior, try to keep the situation calm and all that. This is the first time that it might actually be useful but I’ve got it committed to memory by now. They don’t wait for questions this time, they send us off to suit up sensing our anxiousness. I put my red and white suit, on. Years of technology have changed these suits over the years. They’re essentially suits of armor now, yet nowhere near as bulky as the original space suits. I pull a standard issue laser rifle from the charging station and finish by grabbing my helmet. My heart is beating out of my chest as we’re led to the bridge. Our space bridge extends across to the other ship and makes contact. The magnets trap the ships together. Hooks extend into the hull of the derelict ship to ensure it doesn’t float away with us on board. After a few salutes, we make our way across the bridge. The woman running point uses her plasma torch to cut a hole into the ship. We arm ourselves and get ready for something as she kicks out the piece of ship she had just cut. Inside the ship lights flicker, but there seems to be no sign of life. Our sensors indicate the air is breathable but there is a separate poison floating in the air. The ship looks much smaller from the outside. Inside it is grand and elegantly designed. We focus on function over beauty in our designs, but they seem to have the opposite in mind. What I can only guess is a tree stands alone in the middle of the foyer we breached into. The bark appears to be purple and there don’t appear to be any leaves. However, a white fruit seems to be growing from the tree. There seems to be half eaten pieces near the bottom of the tree. It looks like there were people here for sure. But they all seemed to have left in a hurry. Probably something to do with the distress signal they sent us. With no one left to rescue, our first objective is complete. Our next objective is to find information. Information about the ship, where it came from, where it is going and who piloted it. We attempt to radio back to the hub that the ship seems empty. Our calls fall on deaf ears. Something in the ship is blocking our communications. Perhaps it is whatever the ship is made from. It wouldn’t be absurd to believe it was made from some material that we don’t have any knowledge of. Instead we agree to explore the ship more. We’ve come too far to turn back now that we’ve finally gotten somewhere with this space mission. We spray out an invisible aerosol from our suits. We’ll be able to use it to get back to this entrance should we get lost. Once we pass from the main lobby into the ship there is no power so we rely on our helmet lights to see our way through. The ship is built almost like a maze, with every hall splitting off into another hall. This is a science ship. Rooms filled with computers and microscopes. I suppose some things are universal. None of these things are of human design, but their uses are apparent right away. The keyboard is filled with symbols I don’t recognize. They don’t look like any language or set of numbers I’ve ever seen. I tap a few keys but get no response. I wasn’t expecting one, but if I had it would be a big help. There are cages but none seem to hold animals anymore. The cages are small, so I doubt there would be anything that could hurt us if it was running around free. Computer tablets of some sort, litter the room. I pick one up and it illuminates the screen. Someone had been taking notes. Again, the strange symbols cover the notes as I scroll through. A diagram of what looks to be some kind of cell structure is drawn halfway through with handwritten instead of typed labels. We make our way to the next room; this one seems to be a cafeteria of sorts. Large group seating in different sections of the room. It doesn’t look like the usual lunch tables we have but stools surround floating circles which seem to be tables. The kitchen is what gives it away. It seems to be a large industrial grill, somewhat similar to what you would find in a fast food restaurant. The food however seems to be a lot different. Meat obviously looks like meat, still has bone attached but the colors are different. Green meat would be a certain death on Earth but they’ve got plenty of the stuff in freezers. We regroup in the center of the room, only to notice that we’ve lost a member. Doug, he’s nowhere to be found. The tracker in Doug’s suit has gone dark and he doesn’t respond to our calls. Doug was never a prankster, so something had to happen to him. Perhaps it is time that we get out of the ship and return later with a real party to search for Doug. We follow the spray back but the trail vanishes.This can’t be right. It seems like the entire layout of the ship has changed in the few minutes that we’ve been here. It doesn’t make any sense. The lab was right You can read the rest on Patreon from 12 AM Fiction https://ift.tt/2n4Rvt1 via IFTTT

[otcsocialnetwork]

$PAOG – NWAV ROADTRIP REPORT & PICS 

NWAV ROADTRIP REPORT & PICS Hello all, First off, let me preface this with, I normally write code, not papers, so please forgive any spelling or grammar issues. Second, thanks everyone for a fun trip. I’m not just talking about Florida and Ohio. I’m talking about entrance into stocks. That’s correct. Not a stock pro here, first decent investment in a stock really. I got lucky with about 700 shares of OWCP when a buddy suggested that this might be right up my alley and pointed me towards it. Then I started looking for another stock since it was apparent 700 shares wasn’t going to do me anything in the near future that I wasn’t going to get in a pay check anyway. So backup… Who am I and why should you listen to me? Well, I’m more or less just a regular guy, for all intents and purposes, nobody. I do however happen to have a unique perspective that made this stock stand out to me as something to watch. Day to day I am a computer programmer, writing software to analyze various business functions ranging from marketing performance and employee efficiency to customer shopping patterns and inventory allotment. Since I’m also a big fan of money, I build websites on the side, primarily medical since doctors generally always pay. Lawyers are good to, but I digress… I live in Missouri and as we are bordered on three sides here by states with MMJ in some form or another in the works, and have a sad, sad, little program here ourselves, we all know MMJ is on the way. In Mo we currently have very restrictive legislation, only two companies allowed to produce CBD oil for epilepsy, and few neurologists willing to recommend it yet. I can’t blame the doctors, nobody wants to be the first and risk their career. Med school isn’t cheap! To have those loans and not be able to practice… No thank you! Keep that in mind when you think about these doctors working with PAO already… Pioneers. That being said, doctors don’t always make the best lawyers, marketers, or technical security experts. Trust me when I say as we web developer, I’m really glad these doctors are doctors, not web developers, or even designers for that matter. Nor should they be! They went to school to be doctors. Most know their limitations but sometimes they try to build their own site. They normally soon realize that when looking at time to dollars while comparing to overall website quality and shortened development time, it was best to just pay a developer/designer to do it, and everyone ends up happier and more successful. Similarly, I’m sure I could drill a hole or two in someone’s spine, pack it with Plexiglas, and call it a Kyphoplasty. I mean that is in essence, what the procedure is, but I make no claims that the patient would be in either less pain, or breathing at the end of the procedure. Having PAO to lean on for knowledge in areas doctors simply aren’t going to know as much about such as legal or make use of PAO’s online tech, will allow smaller practices to explode and larger ones to dominate in this emerging medical sector as it spreads across the country. While the MMJ aspect alone makes linking up with PAO attractive to doctors here in Mo who want to be in ahead of the curve, it is just a portion of the benefits. My most recent build was for a pain management surgeon who is already offering several alternative medical solutions offered by PAO and others that are not. After seeing how much business my client does on alternative medicine though, it is clear that MMJ, while massive, is only a part of this equation here. With our current healthcare system in a state of uncertainty, many patients are finding themselves weighing their options as the cost with insurance for many procedures is just as unaffordable as it is without. The Hormone and stem cell therapies alone are massive. As PAO grows and more doctors join, more ideas will spread, more solutions will be offered. One procedure my client offers now is Platelet Rich Plasma Injections. They cost the patient about $500 and are not covered by insurance despite showing overwhelming success rates. Like everything, as these procedures become more available, and better understood by the non-medical community, they become more affordable. Between the nightmare stories I’ve heard from clients and family, patients and doctors, everyone is ready for some options in healthcare. This isn’t news. Then you throw RSII in the mix, couple that with the fact that this company is not only growing its roots in two of the most conservative / restrictive states in the union and making it look easy. If their model works in Ohio and Florida, they can adapt to work in any virgin state as well as push into more saturated markets (once the low hanging fruit is gone). Seems to be a pretty good position to be in. At this point I’m sure I’ve got some people saying, “Making it look easy?!?!?!?! I keep hearing they are a scam?!?!?!”. Now I’ve learned if you even imply a negative motivation behind anyone’s actions on this board you are very likely to have your post removed, so I will simply ask. Why would someone you don’t know, who will never meet you, be hanging out in a stock gossip forum warning you “hey, don’t buy this it’s a scam”? I’d love to believe that everyone is my buddy, but have you played video games online? Have you seen what anonymity has done to behavior online? So without further delay, this is what I’ve got on NWAV… NWAV SUMMARY & REPORT (Part #2 – Ohio) So let’s start in Ohio. I was up there March 24, 2017. I started in Sandusky and then went down to Parma. The Sandusky office was exactly where it was supposed to me. This is one thing that had me dying laughing. We’re all sitting around here asking “Where is it? It’s not where it’s supposed to be!”, totally freaking out. Shoot, I took vacation days to drive up to Ohio because I wanted to make sure I wasn’t caught up in some Wolf of Wall Street pipe dream and thought we (the longs (the vocal ones at least, I’m learning here guys lol) on the board) had discovered some serious new info and I was gonna get proof. Just a couple days ago I’m looking at the PAO Facebook page. There is a sample ID they posted on Jan 20, 2017. It’s got the address on there, plain as day! Since Jan 20th! Even funnier, it’s been on this board at least that long too! They aren’t hiding info from us, they are busy working! Opening 6 locations and launching a website in a couple months is a daunting task. I made it up to Sandusky and found the clinic with no trouble. It is kind of tucked away in the back, not really easy to see unless you know where you’re going. No signage in the shopping center, but great signage at the entrance. To tell you the truth, I was a little disappointed in that at first, but later it all made more sense. I was able to talk to the neighbors in the unit closest to the street. They were telling me that they were really busy the previous week but were able to finish up moving everything in early and were “just waiting on the official go date”. I don’t remember exactly how I brought it up other than I was asking as a potential patient, not as an Investor, so there was zero reason to tell me a lie. That and the guy was very laid back, positive, and had sounded as if he believed it would be good for the community. When I was saying good bye I threw in there, “Man I wish these guys had stock, I would totally get some!” to which he said, “No kidding, I should ask if they do!” I hope he did. As far as what I could actually see, honestly not too much new. The signs were up and looking good. Everything was clean. Computers had some monitor glow at the desk in the lobby. I got there early in the morning and checked on it as soon as I got into town (about 1:30am… in the rain… lol… didn’t care, it was there!!!). I came back the next morning (where I talked to the neighbor) and the lights were out so it appeared someone had been there. The maintenance door was open between units but I’m getting too old to crawl through ceiling tiles and get trespassing charges, plus I had seen enough to feel good that things were on the up and up. I seriously considered it anyway, but thankfully I brought my fiancé, not my buddy, or I might have been writhing a much less complete report from a cell as I would rather have the stock than bail. Before heading down to Parma I checked out a few other things. I went to the Sandusky Wellness Center on 3703 Columbus Ave. This is where Dr. Greg(g) Winnestaffer, who will be at the Sandusky clinic, currently has an office. A nice building not too far away and after seeing how Florida is building out around Jacksonville, and talking to the staff of the medical complex where Dr. Bernard’s Friday office is, it would not seem farfetched to me that this location could serve as at least another referral source / satellite for PAO. This is just speculation on my part, but why not? I also checked out the Bank that was for lease in the same shopping center as the Sandusky clinic (1028 Cleveland Rd). There are no for rent signs on it anymore as seen in the Google Maps images. It looks unoccupied however there are some signs on the door that say “Lucky’s Entertainment” with little shamrocks. In the PR that came out Nov 3, 2016 it clearly said that they renegotiated the lease to get the bigger unit, but I still hold out hope that they grabbed the bank too and are saving it for Central Office / Dispensary / RSII Lab, but that is just me hoping. Couldn’t blame them for being quiet, I mean look at how we hound them for info, but think about a bank drive through with multiple lanes and a huge vault. How could a company like this, make use of a building like that? Next I went down to Parma to find the other clinic, but one thing first. I’m not from Ohio, never been to Ohio, didn’t know anything about the place. So when I read the PR talking about the opiate addiction problem in Ohio and saw some news clips about how they had the highest death rate from opiate overdose, I was like, “Yeah it’s bad stuff, got that problem here. Tons of meth too. Wanna talk murder rates, we all got problems, and what?” Ok, well maybe not that cold, but the point is I absolutely underestimated what was going on up there. In Sandusky there were some billboards, a few signs here and there, but more than at home. It was apparent that opioid addiction was a public concern, but by the time I got to Cleveland, parts of the city looked almost like a WWII “buy war bonds” news reals. There were signs everywhere warning about heroin and pills. Bus stops, trash cans, benches, everywhere! Once I made it down to Parma it was a little less apparent, but all that means is that it wasn’t smacking me in the face anymore. So the Parma office was a lot more viable than Sandusky, which makes sense. Folks in recovery aren’t really looking to be called out on it, or seen going in. Having a nice entrance in the back of the shopping center fitted the need up in Sandusky. Parma was the exact opposite. It’s positioned in a pretty nice medical building on the corner of a big intersection that is impossible to miss. Walk through the front doors, make a right and you’re there. The first 5 units facing the street are all AMCA. The office had easy to see professional signage, name and unit number in the buildings info board, and a mostly finished office visible from the mail slot and windows, and a note directing deliveries to go to the main door, not the other doors. This location was a win too! So Ohio looked great! Both of these are corporate locations, so revenues there will be all PAO! I almost convinced my fiancé to keep south and check out Florida on the way home, but there just were not enough hours left in the weekend to get back for work, so I would have to wait. We have since had the walkthrough of this location: https://www.facebook.com/PAOgroupinc/videos/611587985717486/ NWAV SUMMARY & REPORT (Part #3 – Florida) Let me start this part of the report with an apology to IR. Now that I’ve seen all the locations, talked to some people in person, and thought about all the work, and the timelines involved in businesses I’ve only to helped launch (not plan, and initiate)… in a single state… in much less volatile, history making sectors… and then compare to what you all have said you were doing to do, and have in fact done, in the time you have done it… I take back all the less than friendly messages I left over the last month or so when I didn’t understand, or misread the PR, or mistook something I saw. I even left a couple this weekend in Florida. I normally felt pretty dumb when I figured out what I was missing if that makes you feel better. While we’re being all forgiving, since I’m in part 3 of a report on a series of cross country road trips stalking your company, I would not trust me to keep quiet either, so totally forgive you for never calling me back LOL. At this point though, come on guys, drop the PR, make everyone happy, and let me get a real tour so I can say thanks in person! Ok, so I packed up the car and headed down to Orange Park. When I got there I was happy to see, much like Ohio, exactly what I expected to. Having AMCA logs on the door and windows was a great start. The parking lot was full, even around back. There even looked to be people waiting in their car in the lot next door because they were either early, didn’t feel like waiting inside, or maybe both. I walked in, looked around, saw that they were packed, and just looked lost and got out of there. After all this was a live working practice. I know how busy those offices can get and with a possibly overflowing waiting room, I didn’t want to interrupt and ask silly questions. Seeing there were 5 patients in the waiting room, 4 visible staff members moving quickly to get things done in the section of office behind the admittance window, and who knows how many of each I couldn’t see in the other 80% of the building, I didn’t need any more convincing that they were busy. Seemed to be everything I could hope for here. A few things to note about this location before moving on to the others… It is positioned wonderfully at an intersection, with a stop light, across from a large medical center. The number of patients a day that are going to leave that medical center and see the green cross in the windows here will be huge. There is also a pharmacy attached to the building. As of April 3rd 2017 Florida’s Senate has passed a new plan through its first hearing which is much less restrictive that the one from the house, allowing for edibles and vaping, just not smoking, along with all other treatment options. It also proposes increasing the number of dispensaries and independent labs testing the medical MJ treatments. Don’t we know a company that could benefit from that? Sure this is six months to a year away, so what do we do till then? I guess we work on registering more patients and give the lawmakers the numbers they need to put some weight behind what the people are saying they want. Wait a second, so you are telling me actions speak louder than words? So wait a second, by that logic, I guess I would rather have 5 verified locations and no PR, than a glowing PR full of promises. Now I mentioned leaving some unhappy messages with IR. That was because when I got to Jacksonville Beach I could not find the AMCA sticker anywhere and I didn’t want to go into random buildings asking about it. I called IR and left message and my phone number. Surprisingly, they didn’t call me back. Cooler heads prevailed and after I realized that I sure as heck wouldn’t call me back either, but I was already down there and couldn’t go home and leave it at that… I went in and played patient and turned up some good info though. So we have seen on the Pointe Medical website that 905 Beach is Dr. Bernard’s part time office. He is only there on Fridays. This of course was a big old red flag until I understood the business a little better. How can we count this as a clinic if the doctor is only there on Fridays? We’ll doctors having a couple offices is nothing new, they do it all the time. The problem is that Dr. Bernard is only one guy, so how can he be in two places at once and make use of two offices in a way we can really count as two clinics? That is the beauty of this model, with even just what we have seen of the altmedcenters.com page, the secure video referral system (MCVerify), and proper staffing, a doctor’s practice can rapidly scale up to multiple locations in short order. The software allows the doctor to be anywhere provided they have a location with staff such as a Physician’s Assistant or Nurse Practitioner to aid in the recommendation. Now all the sudden this location made more sense. Well, confirmation on that was the second thing that came out of the mouth of the very nice lady working at the desk. “Dr. Bernard hasn’t been at this location in a few weeks actually. ” My heart stopped. “I know he’s been out trying to hire some more staff. I know he needs at least a PA (Physician’s Assistant).” I vision came back into my left eye, then my right, followed by a heartbeat. More staff is good. The other lady chimed in, “Yeah I think he’s been working on getting a new location ready the past couple weeks.” I need to start playing poker. I politely said thanks and sorry for the confusion, I must be trying to get to his other office. Joked around for a minute since they were really friendly people and headed for Ft. Lauderdale. At this point not having had time to think it through and realize how good of news that was, but feeling better about all I had just heard. Now my next stop was Ft. Lauderdale since I only had so many business hours left in the trip, but first I’ll talk about St. Augustine. When it was announced that PAO Group got their lease at this location I was pretty happy. Unfortunately I was not able to figure out where it was, nor did they give a location. Seeing how this location is not too much further from Jacksonville Beach than orange park (in the greater scheme of things), with Green Cove Springs (another location mentioned in PR) almost between Orange Park and St. Augustine, it seems to make sense that Dr. Bernard will be in fact heading up multiple locations as we were told in his FB video with Robert Webber. Also, the St. Augustine location looked to be in overall good shape in the video, and seems to not need much more than paint and equipment as it was previously a doctor’s office. Having been 2 full weeks since they took possession, I would not be surprised if they were ready to open in short order and then we will have our first corporate location in Florida. Ok, on to Ft. Lauderdale. Well for starters… Man the turnpike can slow ya down! I didn’t get down there till after business hours and it was Friday so I was out of luck for catching anyone there. Just like you find looking online, there was Hollywood Hormone Therapy sign, just no AMCA. I was a little irritated. Left IR another real peach of a message, and sat there for a minute or ten. I was able to see through the windows in the front that the lobby looks just like its picture on the website, but the lights were out and the only picture I could get was more reflection of my phone than image of the lobby, so I didn’t bother taking a picture of it. Now at this point, despite overwhelming evidence that this is in fact everything promised, I’m sitting there seeing ready to pop actually thinking. Maybe they are right… Crazy talk I realize now, but I had been in a car for 20+ hours. Anything short of a grand opening parade was going to be a disappointment. I went back to the PRs to see what I had missed. Just like the freaking ID with the Sandusky location on it that sat in plain sight for months. When I talked with the staff in Jacksonville Beach, I mentioned Alternative Medical Center in the office next door when I was looking for Dr. Bernard’s office. Just like the people who called the phone numbers asking about the PAO group getting confused answers. Everyone there knew Dr. Bernard, only one of the neighbors knew that Alternative Medical Centers was, “that thing Dr. Bernard is working on”. Patients going to Hollywood Hormone Therapy are making appointments to see a doctor, not a physician’s group. In this case they want to see Dr. Michael Schmidt who also runs a family medicine practice a little further north in Deerfield Beach. Me getting hung up on the AMCA sticker not being in the window seems kinda silly now that I have had sleep and EVERYTHING else is where it was expected to be. Additionally, because of the scalability of this business model, I won’t be shocked if we see similar developments with Dr. Schmidt in the Ft. Lauderdale and easily drivable surrounding areas as we have seen in the Jacksonville area with Dr. Bernard and the northern Florida locations. NWAV SUMMARY & REPORT (Conclusion) So having time to get home and type everything out. More than ever, I like what I see here. If my biggest beef is that two satellite locations don’t have logos in the window, but everything else seems to be going pretty darn well… Things could be a lot worse. They seem to be meeting goals on time which is apparently unheard of in the OTC. We also look to have been building a very strong base over the last month investor wise and the PPS has had one of the smoothest stabilizations after initial discovery that I’ve been able to find going through other stock histories. Throw the fact that we have a PR due any day and 4/20 in two weeks where MJ is about to be national news on CNN and all the other news stations, like it is every year around 4/20, it would seem to me that great things are on the horizon. Good luck all! http://dlvr.it/Qvtt1W

[victorluvsalice]

-->“Always something to do” also includes tending the greenhouse, but that’s an activity Victor actually enjoys -- and is very good at, as you can see! :D Look at those giant oversized crops! Fertilizing them on the regular like that really does make all the difference. And yes, we’re still occasionally suffering from plants turning into dirt piles (notably two of the trees in the back), but most of them are thriving! :) It makes you feel good, seriously.

-->While Victor was busy in the greenhouse, Alice and Smiler were doing their own things -- Alice getting breakfast and lavishing a bit of love on her new kitty (who then went upstairs and melded into the wall while using her scratching post -- I, uh, probably need to pull that out a little bit XD), while Smiler headed to the barn to make some mechanisms! To my delight, they’re not getting shocked at ALL these days when they work on that bench, and even made it to Robotics level 8 by the time they were done! Now they can make a Servo, if they so desire! And if they have the massive amount of parts necessary, which. . .yeah, I don’t think that’s gonna be happening anytime soon. XD

-->Victor’s stomach ended up calling him in from the greenhouse to grab some breakfast (or possibly lunch, I forget when this happened exactly), leading to him and Alice sharing a bit of cute flirting. . .before the conversation fell completely flat thanks to him trying to get her into juice fizzing and her being just not interested. Ah well, couples don’t always have the same interests. *shrug* She went to start sorting out the laundry while Victor -- a little stinky from all that time tending his plants -- decided to try out the “deodorizing cream” he’d made a while back! Fortunately it worked perfectly, ridding him of his stench, and he headed straight back out into the greenhouse --

-->Where I ran into something interesting. Remember how I’ve been complaining that the plasma tree Smiler took with them when they moved in with Victor and Alice, and that got replanted in the greenhouse, hasn’t actually fruited in forever? Well, I was going to have Victor just uproot it, but then I thought, “hang on -- in order to complete his Freelance Botanist aspiration, Victor has to graft three plants. And grafting forces a plant to regrow with the results of the graft. What if I grafted something onto the plasma tree and forced it to regrow with both plasma and a different fruit? I know that works, I successfully hybridized an apple tree with a plasma tree cutting before. . .heh, why don’t I take a cutting from the Tree of Emotions and graft that onto the plasma fruit tree, see what happens?”

A Last Exception, that’s what happens. At least the first time I tried it. Also Victor t-posing briefly and the graft not taking, despite it counting toward the aspiration. I tried it again later, only to fail again, then checked the error after I was done -- it looks like the problem is the graft was specifically for vimberries (as that’s what the tree was producing at the time), and the game didn’t know what to do with that, since that’s not actually a type of plant that you can grow. So I’m guessing the Tree of Emotions, since it puts out like six distinct kinds of fruit anyway, is ungraftable. *shrugs* We have learned something new today, folks! Just happy it didn’t bork my save in the process. . .

[lotsofdogs]

Chase Update: Three Years Old

I found myself Googling whether or not I could still refer to Chase as a toddler on his third birthday on Sunday and the answer according to the wise old internet is no. While some sources say children are toddlers until they’re four years old, when I think about a toddler, I picture a clumsy little one toddling around and that most certainly is not Chase anymore. So I guess he really is a little kid now!?

I know every parent says it so I’m going to follow suit and say I cannot quite believe my first born child is officially a three-year-old kid and no longer a baby or a toddler. HOW!?

I started sharing monthly updates about Chase when he was a baby and slowly decreased their frequency once he grew up a bit. I don’t have a plan for updates for Chase or Ryder in the future but will likely share as often as I feel the urge to update and address how things are going with our two boys. (I have my first Ryder and postpartum update in the works and hope to share it soon!) For Chase, I see updates happening twice a year or so which is fitting since I shared my last 2.5 year old Chase update on the blog back in January.

It’s crazy for me to think about how much has changed with Chase since his second birthday. He’s now talking a mile a minute and asks a bazillion questions a day. When Chase is awake, he’s almost always running and talking and things definitely feel crazier than ever around here. One of my favorite personality traits Chase possesses is his intense curiosity and he seems to genuinely love learning about anything and everything. He’s especially interested in whales, sharks, space, dinosaurs, airplanes, fire trucks and cars.

Chase continues to be incredibly social and loves playing with his friends and other children. Big kids are intriguing him more and more and if a big kid ever takes Chase under his or her wing at the pool or park, he is in heaven. Chase needs to know everyone’s name at all times and remembers almost all of them. He loves singing, dancing, playing and running. (He will honestly turn to me and say, “Mom, do you want to run with me?”) His energy knows no bounds and I truly love how joyful and excited he is on a daily basis.

Eating

As the months (okay, years) go on, I am relaxing more and more about Chase’s eating. Yes, I still get stressed about him actually consuming food since he would always, always rather play than eat and he’s still very light for a three-year-old but he’s been growing along his own little curve for three years now despite his lack of desire to eat so I suppose I should just learn to let it be and trust that he won’t starve himself.

As far as food go-tos, Chase loves bananas, berries, pumpkin muffins, chocolate chip larabars (I truly buy them by the case on Thrive Market), homemade popsicles (LOVE these for getting fruits and veggies in him in a fun way that feels like a treat), Simple Mills crackers, cucumbers, carrots, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, pizza, apples, burgers, oranges, macaroni and cheese aaaand of course ice cream and anything with sprinkles and icing.

Lunch is generally his best meal of the day as far as food consumption is concerned and we struggle the most with getting him to eat at dinnertime.

Sleep

I’m not sure if touching on sleep now that we have a three-year-old is really of interest but since Chase is still napping, maybe it is? I don’t know! Chase is such an energetic kid and does not stop moving and playing when he’s awake so I’m very grateful that he’s still napping for the most part even if it’s not every day. I’m actually working on this blog post as Chase is supposed to be napping and he’s currently in his crib singing, “We Will Rock You,” soooo there’s that.

So, while Chase clearly isn’t napping every single day, I can usually count on five days of decent naps around here. On the days when Chase doesn’t nap, I try to encourage “quiet time” and will let him read books in his crib. He’ll often do this for an hour or so and sometimes it morphs into imagination games with his stuffed animals. I don’t really care what he does in his crib during his “quiet time” but I do feel like most days he truly needs this time alone to rest after such intense play!

Sometimes Chase won’t nap and quiet time doesn’t happen but on those days he will often be in quite a mood by the late afternoon. We’re talking tears, whining and the whole enchilada. He’ll often be weepy and whiny up until dinner time which can really test my patience but I try my best to dial things back and stay home for a quiet afternoon when he’s acting incredibly fussy. I say all of this to say YES, he’s still napping and YES I think he still needs his naps. I am not sure when I can expect him to drop his nap but I’m definitely not pushing it!

Challenges

Right now our biggest challenge seems to center around listening, particularly at the very end of the day/bed time. Chase seems to know exactly how to push our buttons and let’s just say the word “no” is his go-to response for many things these days. (He’s also a master negotiator.)

He seems to get a huge burst of energy and adrenaline the minute we say it’s bedtime (amazing how that happens, huh?) and will run all over the place, squealing and doing everything he can to put off bedtime and avoid brushing his teeth, putting on his pajamas, etc. Sometimes it’s hard to know what to do and how to respond but for the most part, staying firm and telling him that he has to listen or he won’t get as many stories before bed usually works but it can be incredibly draining to go through this whole shebang at the end of a long day.

As far as the whining, crying and general disobedience are concerned, two things that work better than anything (most of the time) include distraction or turning things into games and taking the time to slow down and talk with Chase about his feelings. When Chase is crying or throwing a fit, I find that when I simply ask him, “What are you feeling right now?” he’ll often calm down as he tries to think about what he’s actually feeling in the moment. It’s not a foolproof method to overcome these challenges but it works 10,000 times better than allowing myself to get exasperated and frustrated which only escalates his emotions, frustrations and tears. He definitely responds best to calm but firm correction and communication.

I am always open to learning about the way other parents handle discipline and how others deal with their children when they’re not listening, so if there is anything that has worked particularly well for you in this regard, I’d love to hear it!

The Big Brother Transition

A lot of people have asked how Chase is transitioning into his new role as a big brother and the short answer is really, really well. Truly I am so impressed with Chase and tell him every day how proud I am of how kind and loving he is toward Ryder. I think the three-year age difference is working in our favor because we can communicate with Chase and he understands everything that’s happening.

Chase is very interested in everything from nursing to diaper changes and I think his curiosity has helped with this transition as well. He seems to take his big brother role seriously and if Ryder is ever crying, he’ll look at me and say, “Mom! He needs some milk!”

This isn’t to say everything has been super smooth but I was prepared for some serious jealousy so I’ve been really grateful with how the adjustment has been going so far. Chase had a couple of accidents (only pee) after Ryder came home from the hospital (we were warned that there might be some potty training regression during this time so at least I expected it and it was really limited) and occasionally at the end of the day Chase will tell Ryan to “hold the baby” so I can cuddle with him to say prayers or tuck him in at night. While Chase does have his “I need my mom” moments for sure, I think I struggle more with feeling the dreaded mom guilt over the loss of so much one-on-one attention for Chase than he even seems to notice right now.

There have also been numerous moments where Ryder is screaming which sets Chase off on a downward spiral and then both kids are crying and screaming and I just want to cry, too. But thankfully Chase is usually very understanding when Ryder cries and will let me nurse him or try to soothe him to sleep while he plays. Chase will also often start singing the Daniel Tiger song, “When you feel so mad and you want to roar, take a deep breath and count to four,” to try to help Ryder “calm down” when he’s crying which makes my heart melt.

Chase understands that he must be gentle around Ryder and he will often walk right over to him and gently touch the top of his head and give his little brother a kiss which is simply the best thing to witness. He likes to get right up in his face and talk or sing to him which is both comical and adorable. Thankfully Ryder is a pretty laid back little baby and seems to love watching his big brother entertain him!

Likes 

Playing outside

Imagination games

Dinosaurs

Dragons

Sharks and whales

His friends

Swimming

Visiting the library

Boat rides on the lake

Watching the birds/filling the bird feeder in our backyard

Helping Mom cook

Listening to stories/books

Seek-and-find games

How to Train Your Dragon

Dislikes 

Being told it’s time for bed

Getting dressed

When we have to leave the house in a hurry

Three Year Old Favorites

PLAY 

Plasma Car

Flashlights

Balls

Magformers

VTech Rock & Bop Music Player (Chase loves this for car rides and thinks the headphones are so cool!)

Bath Bombs

Water WOW! Activity Pads

Touch & Teach Book

Water Table

Toy Airplanes

Puddle Jumper

Shark toy

Trains + Train Table

Kitchen Helper Cooking Stand

LeapFrog Laptop

Melissa & Doug Take-A-Long Tools

BOOKS

Pete the Cat Books

National Geographic Ocean Animals

My Big Book of Beginner Books About Me

Daniel Tiger Books

5 Minute Bedtime Bible Stories

Gigantosaurus

The Ultimate Book of Vehicles

Past Updates

2 1/2 Years Old

26 Months

20-22 Months

17-19 Months

13-16 Months

Twelve Months

Eleven Months

Ten Months

Nine Months

What I Wish I Knew Before My Baby Was Born

Eight Months

Seven Months

Six Months

Our First Sleep Training Experience

Traveling With A Baby For The First Time

Five Months

Four Months

Three Months

Two Months

And Then He Smiled

Three Weeks

The First 12 Days

Q&A: All About Birth & Life With A New Baby

Chase’s Birth Story: Part I, Part II

[Read More ...] https://www.pbfingers.com/chase-update-three-years-old/

[decimusquartus]

Thanos the Rad Titan - Blast IT, not THEM! (Chapter 10)

Chapter 1 or  ( Part One )    Chapter 2 or   (Part Two) Chapter 3  or (Part Three) Chapter 4 or (Part Four)   Chapter 5 or here

Chapter 6 or here Chapter 7 or here  Chapter 8 or here

Chapter 9 or here

That’s me (and also here)

So, we’re at the starting line. There’s so much tension coming, going and colliding,  feels like there’s going to be the birth of one new universe. Or we’re all just going to implode, dragged by our very own charged emotional baggage and high stakes.

Thanos keeps tinkering with the thrusters and booster engines. I'm feeding off the noise.

‘You think we can outrun this guy? ‘Cause to me, he’s the type of guy who’s fast enough to make parcels look like time units.’

‘Whelp, if I were you, I would let me think and charge these thrusters to maximum capacity. All you need to worry about is keeping me on board, because if we lose, I shall grand your head to my parasites as their new toy.’

‘Wow, aren’t you motivational,’ I grovel, doing lunges and stretches. I practice some manoeuvres with my own board and then I hear Thanos’s begrudging roar of impatience.

‘Let’s race!’

‘This one will be remembered,’ Silver Surfer says, crouching and looking bullet-like.  

‘You got that right,’ I growl, getting on Thanos’s board once more. I take a deep breath and try to get into some kind of racing mentality. ‘It’s now or never. Let’s just rev up, pump up and blast this.’

I try doing some meaningful breathing, hoping to purge myself of stress and extra tension but it’s no good. I’m hooked on the board.

Navvir says he’ll shoot a flare and when it dies out, we’re off.

The Silver Surfer fires his shot and it travels brilliantly around the planet. It keeps going until it’s no more, its energy spent.

Just like that we’re off.

I guess from behind we must be rockin' the whole flare look, like Navvir’s flare, ‘cause damnit we are blazin’ fast. I fashion my telekinetic control to be thin and webbed tightly all over the board.

‘Come on,’ I growl as Space Kahuna takes the lead. The more I push, the more it grows on me: an emotion of burning up, like there are wicks coming out of each one of my pores and slowly, painstakingly, they catching fire.

I keep my head down and try to maintain stability and smoothness. Even though I’m used to sudden speed bursts and the device Thanos had given me is fruitful protection, after that second burst, I’m experiencing this whole thing of skin peeling-off.

‘First turn. Hold on, Titan,’ I growl through gritting teeth as I sharply force that turn. We cut Silver and take the lead. Adrenaline’s blasting all the way up to my ears.

‘If the next corner is as sharp as this, we’ll chop that planet’s moon in half,’ Thanos says and I shoot him a feeling glance.

He’s actually leaning, looking hungry and be on the pray for the victory.

‘You’re enjoyin’ this, ain’t you?’ I grovel, pushing me and the board some more. His cape is flapping, highlighting him with a slow-motion finale, as its tips pierced the gravity/atmosphere bubble. I stretch my head forward, in my mind looking like that figurehead of a ship.

Silver dashes to our side, leaving one continuous trail of nigh-endless energy. Thanos roars and I fell the whole board shaking and rippling as we go in another speed blast.

‘Second turn. Here we go.’

Sure, Thanos would kill me but his? Right there? The worlds are hurried blurs that I wouldn’t see but still, in my head it’s kind of encouragement to keep going.

‘One more planet and the asteroid field till we taste victory,’ Thanos howls with some timbre blooming in his voice, which I could identify as joy.

'Sure, no stress,' I growled, kissing my teeth.

My heart keeps pushing itself and I’m pretty sure that my pupils are dilating to limits never reached before. My body’s getting that feeling like an eyeball that hasn’t blinked for a long time. Tenderness is slowly growing to rawness and then in a piercing physical pain, as I snarl to push some more for an extra thrust, with Thanos blasting plasma fire from his fist, for even more speed.

After the second turn, we are leading. My hair get a gradual feeling of sparks are shooting out of it. When Silver reaches us, once again I take a breath long enough to be a world’s atmosphere. I force the board to one great side-glide and push us more.

I don’t want to glance at my own hands. Even through the soft fabric of my hoodie’s sleeves I can see the veins throbbing and convulsing. My nails have rocketing sensation to their end, like they are about to shoot off. Whatever is coursing through me isn’t really blood any more. It boils and churns like lava, trying to break free and cover me in it. But then its searing undefinable energy erupts, instantaneous combustion, with an unstoppable flow to it. Like there’s nothing more than telekinetic energy left in me.

I scream as we are closing in the asteroid field. Silver Surfer and Polka-dress are right by our side.  I can barely afford turning but I am seeing that I’m giving Surfer a run for his power.

‘This is it, Thanos. You game?’

‘Are you talking to me, Thanos, or to yourself?’ the speeding juggernaut behind me muses.

It’s the big final push. I give everything I have. Energy bursts all over my face, hands and toes. That´s all. I experience what feels like a star dying right in my very heart. I’m going nova. Superkinetic mind you, but nova nonetheless.

Yeah when I wake up my senses are raw, painful and searing me worse than my worse leg day so far, matched with some broken bones from skating.

‘What’s happenin’?’ I stammer as my vision keeps adjusting into that big blue blur right in front of me.

‘Earth. Is this Earth? Where am I?’

I’m hungry. I mean in space, everyone can hear my stomach-rumbles.

‘We’re on your Moon.’

Thanos’s voice brings some painful memories back. I shiver, thinking that eruption from before.

‘Did we win?’

‘No.’ Thanos scoffs. ‘You passed out, destroying half of the asteroid field.’

‘Cool. Smashin’ stuff in space with my mindpower. This is goin’ into m CV and personal statement, by the way.’

‘Dawn, the Silver Surfer’s human, took some pictures with your phone. To remember this.’ He tosses me my phone.

I grab it and go through them, seeing them having fun and me passed out.

‘Hold up! How did you get the password to my phone?’

‘Telepathy,’ he replies tapping his skull and I’ve never felt more terrified. ‘There is something I need to tell you, whelp.’

‘Yeah?’

‘I shall not kill you.’

Yeah, I’d be really excited about this, but I have a migraine the size of Hulk’s biceps and I am calling it a day.

‘Cool. Care to tell me why?’ I ask and go hopping around on some low-gravity moon dust.

‘Because you have shown me the potential to maybe beat the same name as the Mad Titan.’

‘I’m tellin’ you dude. You should change it to the Rad Titan. You raced the Silver Surfer on a board. If that’s not rad then I don’t know what is.’ I approach him and see him standing up.

‘Thanos the Lesser Titan, I shall tell you that you have the powers, that you are on the right pathway of thinking and you are trying to learn more for these humanity sciences.’ Thanos comes up to me and instructs me carefully, like he’s bequeathing wisdom or something.

‘Well, creative writing is my dream. Also, I know it sounds weird, but do you mind bein’ a reference for my Master’s application?’

‘You want me to be your reference?’ Thanos tilts his head, casting his gaze on Earth.

‘You can monitor my education. But I’m really heavy on developing homicidal and annihilating tendencies or feelings in the future.’

‘Puh!’ Thanos scoffs. ‘You’ll get around. You’re a Thanos.’

‘The Lesser Titan, mind you. So, you’ll be droppin’ me home?’

‘Sure. But you cannot keep the board. And if you tell anyone what happened, I shall destroy you.’ He doesn’t need to gimme a show of potential death that he’ll rain down on me.

‘Come on. I matched you in battle. This has to go in my CV.’

‘And if they don’t accept you, I’m coming down on Earth.’

‘Ah, that’s actually sweet. And awfully alarming. I will mention it to them though.’ I shrug. I manage a smile before the teleportation bring me at my flat’s balcony.

I look around and just embrace that warmth down to my beaten bones and skin full of welts.

‘Alright. Wi-fi. Post pictures. Sleep of some days. Then maybe go skateboarding.’

I actually hover my loser, beaten-across-some-galaxy-ass to my bed and sleep.

Thanos the Mad Titan (or Rad Titan to me) wasn’t that bad. Take the word of Thanos, the Lesser Titan for it.

[victorluvsalice]

AU Thursday: Fallout of Darkness -- Another Meme

I unfortunately don’t recall where I got this one, though I do remember picking it up in the #fallout 4 tag -- I think a number of people were using it for their Sole Survivors. Which is what I did! With the added twist of “let me do this universe’s Alice as well!” So you get double the information for the same price! :P

Note: This is vaguely set I’d say about halfway through the plot of Fallout 4 -- Victor and Alice have had the run-in with Ug-Qualtoth and gotten Alice sunlight immunity (see this post for more details), and they’ve met at least most of the other companions. Also yes, pets -- Victor does indeed adopt the “wounded dog” encounter in my verse! (And if anyone knows of a mod that lets you send her to a settlement for real. . .) Please remember I haven’t actually played much of the main plot myself, so things may be a little vague/prone to changing once I get further in!

name ➔

V: Victor Fitzwilliam Van Dort – my mother wanted me to have an "aristocratic" middle name, for some reason.

A: Alice Pleasance Liddell – yes, just like the historical Alice. I guess after Lizzie decided I should be "Alice," my parents decided to go whole hog with the reference.

are you single ➔

V: [with a warm look at Alice] No, I'm not.

A: [with a warm look back] Not anymore.

are you happy ➔

V: [still with that warm look at Alice] Very much so.

A: [smiling] A lot happier than I was in the past, that's for sure. Which is kind of sad, given it's post the nuclear apocalypse now. . .

are you angry ➔

V: [thoughtful] I – I was for a while. Not so much anymore – the worst of it has cooled. But – there's some things I think I'll always be angry about.

A: I think my answer's about the same. Given some of the nonsense we've been through, some low-level anger is just to be expected, honestly.

are your parents still married ➔

V: . . .they were when the bombs dropped.

A: Mine were when that bastard Bumby set our house on fire to cover up what he'd done to my sister.

NINE FACTS

birthplace ➔

V: Burtonsville – it's a tiny village in England. I don't actually remember it, though – my parents moved to Boston when I was only about a year and a half old. I grew up here in Boston and the surrounding area.

A: Oxford, England – my father was the Dean of Christ Church at the college when he was alive. I have fond memories, but I haven't been back since the fire.

hair color ➔

V: Black. Mother occasionally insisted it was dark brown, but – black.

A: Black, though weirdly I actually was almost a redhead as a child. It darkened straight through brown to this as I grew up. I've never been sure why it got so dark, though I suspect all that time lying in Rutledge, getting probably-inadequate nutrition and light for a growing girl, didn't help matters.

eye color ➔

V: Dark brown.

A: Green, though Victor likes being poetic with descriptions like "emerald fire" sometimes.

mood ➔

V: . . .er – generally anxious? Trying to be helpful regardless?

A: Sarcastic? To hide that I'm more worried than I let on?

gender ➔

V: Male, he/him.

A: Female, she/her.

summer or winter ➔

V: Summer – I'm not a fan of the cold. Though spring's my actual favorite season – I love seeing everything come back to life.

A: I feel like I should like winter more, because of the longer nights, but now that we've actually fixed the sunlight issue. . .yes, summer. I'm not really a fan of the cold either.

morning or afternoon ➔

V: Afternoon – I've never been that much of a morning person, and mornings tend to be – stressful in the Commonwealth.

A: To be fair, so are the afternoons, but – yes, generally you're not dealing with threats still wiping the sleep from your eyes in said afternoons. And in my case, they're closer to night, which is still the time when I feel most myself, so. . .

EIGHT THINGS ABOUT YOUR LOVE LIFE

are you in love ➔

V: [exchanging a very warm look with Alice] Yes.

A: [giving it right back] Very much so.

do you believe in love at first sight ➔

V: Maybe not true love, but attraction? A sense of connection, kinship? Certainly – that's how I felt when I first met Victoria, and later Emily.

A: I can get behind that – my mother said she felt a pull toward my father when they first met. . .but I don't think love at first sight exists. You need to get to know someone – form a solid bond first.

who ended your last relationship ➔

V: [darkly cheerful] The American and Chinese governments, throwing nuclear missiles at each other! [sighing] No, that’s not quite fair – yes, they drove us into Vault 111, but the ones who actually murdered my wife and girlfriend were Kellogg and the Institute. The former more obviously than the latter, but. . . [voice cracks] Damn it, what was wrong with putting everyone's life support back on. . .

A: [puts a comforting hand on his arm] In my case, I never really had a romantic relationship before – even friendships were kind of fleeting, or long-distance. I've gone along with flirtations in the past to get meals, sure, but none of those ever turned into relationships. The closest I had was – well, Heather getting blood-bonded to me, which I didn't even mean to do. I was just trying to help her, and I didn't realize at the time. . . [bites her lip] I ended that – sent her away before she could get hurt by my enemies, explaining that what would make me happiest would be for her to be with her grandmother and stay in college. I wanted to go back and maybe try to help her some more once I was done with LaCroix's bullshit, but then. . .I hope she had a good life, in the end.

have you ever broken someone’s heart ➔

V: Not knowingly – goodness, what started off my, Victoria, and Emily's threesome relationship was an attempt not to break anyone's heart! It worked out very well, until. . . [shakes his head]

A: [squeezes his arm gently] I probably broke Heather's heart by sending her away – she looked so sad as she walked out the door. But it was for the best – I dread to think what would have happened to her if the Sabbat had realized I had a ghoul! Other than that – depends on if anyone I've drunk from was hoping for more than just a "quickie." I doubt that, though.

are you afraid of commitments ➔

V: I'm afraid of them being forced on me because of people randomly promoting me every time I even get close to an organization. [sighing, reaching up to fiddle with a chain around his neck] But – maybe a little. Seeing – seeing your wife get shot in front of you. . .then your girlfriend's half-rotted corpse beside her. . .it sticks with you.

A: [nods] Being the only survivor of the house fire that killed your family sticks with you too. As does two of the most prominent men in your life being the bastard who killed them and was trying to wipe your mind, and the bastard who killed you and turned you into a bloodsucker. Add in my own rather unromantic nature, and – yes, I did pretty much avoid commitments for a while. [smiles at Victor] I think I'm a little better about it now, though.

have you hugged someone in the last week ➔

V: Oh, yes – Preston and Piper just the other day, in fact!

A: I'm not usually much of one for being touched, so I don't hug much. . . [thinks for a moment, then hugs Victor] But I'll happily make the answer a "yes" in this case.

have you ever had a secret admirer ➔

V: Does the brief period of time where Emily was crushing on me before Victoria noticed and decided to let her and me know it was okay if we wanted to date too count? Otherwise, I really don't think so. I wasn't popular with girls before meeting Victoria.

A: Bumby never made it clear whether he wanted to just turn me into a prostitute or fuck me himself as well, but I wouldn't count him anyway, because he was a horrible waste of flesh. So I have no idea – don't think so. Heather was – very open about her admiration.

have you ever broken your own heart ➔

V: Again, what happened between me, Victoria, and Emily was an attempt to avoid that. . .I can't say I have. It seems like others always break it for me.

A: Sending Heather away did hurt me a bit – not in the same way it hurt her, but it was nice to have someone else around the haven. . . [looks up at Victor] And I did resist romance initially here. Fortunately tall, dark, and handsome here didn't let me break my own heart.

SIX CHOICES

love or lust ➔

V: Love, definitely. [going pink] I mean, lust can be nice, but. . .

A: Love – even alive, I wasn't particularly interested in sex. And as a vampire, any urges that way now go toward sucking on people's necks. Which I guess is sex-adjacent, but still. . . Maybe "love" for serious relationships, "lust" for getting a meal.

lemonade or iced tea ➔

V: Oh, I haven't had either in ages. . .and I recall needing a lot of sugar for both to enjoy them. . .I guess lemonade. I think I had that more often.

A: Literally can't drink either these days, for multiple reasons. . .but I'm going with lemonade because I have fonder memories of that. And – hmmm. I wonder if it’s possible to make a variation with that “plasma fruit” Ted came up with at Wildwood Cemetery. . .

cats or dogs ➔

V: Dogs! I had a dog growing up, Scraps, who was my best friend! And Victoria, Emily, and I were going to get a dog shortly after. . . [pause, shakes head] And now I have Dogmeat and Mutt! They’re a good pair.

A: Cats! My best friends growing up were the family cat, Dinah, and her two kittens, Snowdrop and Kitty. Being a vampire does tend to make animals rather mistrustful of me, sadly, but I had some luck feeding ferals pre-War. And we managed to trap a cat recently who didn’t immediately try to claw me and run away – I’ve named her Kit-Kat.

a few best friends or many regular friends ➔

V: A few best friends – I'm n-not good with lots of people, and I just. . .I'm always so awkward, s-socially. I'd rather have a couple of people I know I can trust.

A: The same – I don't trust easily, after all the bullshit I've been through. Give me a small circle of people I know have my back over a larger group of more casual friends any day.

wild night out or romantic night in ➔

V: Romantic night in. I'm not much for parties. I like staying home with the people I love and just – being together.

A: Sort of like "love or lust" above, this kind of depends. I like a romantic night in for any actual relationships, but I did my fair share of clubbing to find someone to drink from back in the day.

day or night ➔

V: Well, I do like a good sunny day, but. . . [looking at Alice] I've really come to appreciate the nights in the Commonwealth. And not just because of the stars.

A: [smirking at him] Flatterer. . .but yes, night. For the longest time, it was the only time of day I could be out in. . .and even though it's wonderful now to be able to go out during the day and enjoy that, night is still when I feel most myself.

FIVE HAVE YOU EVERS

been caught sneaking out ➔

Victor: No, but that's because I never did. I grew up in the middle of a plague – I didn't have much incentive to sneak out! It took until I was fourteen for cases to drop enough in our part of Boston for my parents to be comfortable sending me to a school with other children, and by then I was so used to staying at home, sneaking out never occurred to me.

Alice: Oh god, yes, the New Plague, that was horrific. . .on my end, yes, I was. I tried to sneak out a couple of times as a small child to have adventures in the garden late at night or in the middle of storms. . .if my parents didn't catch me, though, my older sister did. I think I only actually got outside once, and even then it was only for a couple of minutes before Lizzie caught up with me. Mostly because she was trying to sneak out too, and didn't want her little sister tagging along.

fallen down/up the stairs ➔

Victor: . . .yes. To both. I – I can be pretty clumsy if I'm n-not paying attention to where I'm going.

Alice: [giving him an odd look] I've fallen down stairs – rushing around as a child on imaginary adventures – but never up. I'm – not entirely sure how you manage that.

wanted something/someone so badly it hurt ➔

V: [tugging at the chain around his neck again, which is revealed to have a blue butterfly pendant and a gold wedding ring strung on it] Yes. Something I can't have, I'm sad to say.

A: [playing with her own necklace, which is an old iron key shaped like the symbol for Venus] Same here. I'd like to think your Victoria and Emily and my parents and Lizzie are in the same place, at least.

wanted to disappear ➔

V: Oh, plenty of times. I have an unfortunate knack for saying the wrong thing and then wishing I could melt into the floor. And – well, I suppose every time I've been hiding from enemies and wanted to just turn invisible counts. . .

A: I wanted to disappear in the asylum a couple of times, in the sense of 'just stop existing.' Survivor's guilt does a number on your brain, let me tell you. . .though I can actually disappear these days, thanks to Obfuscate! Though, annoyingly, I genuinely can't do it if someone's looking.

smile or eyes ➔

V: Oh, back to these? [thoughtful] I – honestly, I think eyes. Victoria and Emily's eyes are one of the things I remember best about them. . . [smiles at Alice] And my current paramour has some of the most beautiful eyes in the Commonwealth.

A: You're going to make me blush despite being dead if you keep on like that. Though, what's good for the goose is good for the gander – while I like your eyes, it's your smile that really warms my undead heart.

shorter or taller ➔

V: Um – shorter out of necessity. I haven't met many women who are six-foot-three.

A: Similarly, I'm five-foot-five, so I kind of have to go taller.

intelligence or attraction ➔

V: . . .I assume this means intelligence or looks, and – I can't deny I like a pretty face, but the main reason I got together with the women I did is because I could hold a good conversation with them. Intelligence.

A: My attraction seems to be based on actually getting to know a person, and I don't suffer fools gladly. Intelligence all the way.

hook-up or relationship ➔

V: Oh, relationship. I never had a hook-up. I can't – I can't just do the "one night stand" thing. I need something a little more.

A: Another one where my actual feelings versus how I'd act to get a meal clash – though admittedly, I never had a "proper" hook-up. I'd just get someone in a quiet spot, suck a bit of blood, and let them get on with their lives. But now that things are better, I'm only too happy to commit myself to a real relationship.

FAMILY

do you and your family get along ➔

V: Well, it’s something of a moot point now, but. . . [he waggles a hand, making a face] I have to admit, I never liked my parents much. They weren’t very “hands-on” in raising me, and I often felt like they considered me a burden. Or a bargaining chip for social status. I did my best not to rock the boat just because upsetting my mother never ended well, but. . . [sigh] It wasn’t good.

A: By contrast, I had a perfectly lovely family life – my parents were kind and encouraged my sister and I in our various pursuits, and Lizzie. . .she was the best older sister a girl could have. I felt like I could tell her anything, and even if the age difference made playing together difficult, she did try whenever she had a spare moment. The reason I have such an “enthusiastic” imagination is because Mama, Papa, and Lizzie never tried to stifle it. I was – I felt so loved and happy the first eight years of my life. . .and then Bumby took it all away. [she looks away] I – it’s not fair.

would you say you have a “messed up life” ➔

V: [completely deadpan] I was frozen at the age of 27 in a vault designed to store people long-term for unknown reasons, and was finally thawed 210 years later, to find my wife and girlfriend dead, my son kidnapped, and the world above having been turned into a wasteland of vicious wildlife, super mutants, and raiders. With parts of it still irradiated because people are STILL launching small nuclear missiles at each other. Also the people who kidnapped my son can apparently make synthetic humans and use them as spies. And in the middle of all this, I’ve somehow ended up the leader of a bunch of little farms and such that composes a ragtag peacekeeping force that is still better than the actual assholes in power armor who have moved in. You tell me.

A: I can top that – turned into a vampire at age 20 after moving to Los Angeles to make sure I was far away from a murder I’d committed, then ended up roaming the world after a literally-explosive end to my time there as everyone’s errand boy. Was in Boston when the bombs dropped and got staked when my hidey-hole collapsed in on me, meaning I too got essentially “frozen” for 210 years, until a raider attacking this fellow here yanked the stake out and I responded by sucking him dry. Leaving me in a post-nuclear apocalypse trying to survive in a world where anyone’s blood might be at least slightly radioactive. Also we discovered that vampires are in fact the result of a little bit of some Lovecraftian horror worshiped by the people over at Dunwich Borers leaking into our world and infecting our souls. So that’s fun.

have you ever run away from home ➔

V: No – again, grew up in a plague, never really wanted to leave the house because of it.

A: I threatened to, once or twice, when upset, but I never followed through. Though I guess my moving to California could be construed as a kind of running away after I killed Bumby. . .but I never thought of Houndsditch as home. Same with Los Angeles, after I left there in the wake of that mess with LaCroix.

have you ever gotten kicked out ➔

V: No, though – sometimes I thought my mother was thinking about it. Whenever my social awkwardness reared its ugly head at one of her parties.

A: My parents were never the sort to do that, and Bumby of course wanted me close at Houndsditch. And I left polite vampire society on my own terms after LaCroix.

FRIENDS

do you secretly hate one of your friends ➔

V: . . .I’m not entirely sure how to classify my relationship with Strong. But I know he thinks more highly of me than I do of him. I – I try to be understanding, but it gets very tiring to listen to him go on about how one day Super Mutants will kill everything.

A: I had to be a lot friendlier to a lot people back in Los Angeles than I would have liked. . .but I don’t think any of them were laboring under the delusion we were actual friends. So no – if I don’t like you, I don’t hide it.

who is your best friend ➔

V: Alice, Preston, and Piper, definitely – they’re the ones I’ve traveled the most with, shared the most with, and just – feel the most comfortable around. [smiles] Oh, and Dogmeat of course.

A: Victor’s definitely my best friend – and frankly, I feel pretty close to Piper and Preston myself. They’re good people. [she smirks] Though Hancock and Nick are definitely the best people to snark with.

who knows everything about you ➔

V: Probably most of the people in the Commonwealth, I’ve had to explain about being frozen and what happened to my son a lot. . .more seriously, I’d say the above three. They’re the people I’m closest to, and the ones I’m most comfortable sharing information with.

A: I don’t know about everything, but – yes, Victor. And probably Piper knows the most after him, given she wanted to interview me for her paper.

[victorluvsalice]

AU Thursday: Tell Me Where To Find Shelter -- Weird And Complicated Video Game Crossover AUs Strike Again

Okay, so last week I offered you all an updated rewrite on my old Fallout 4 Sole Survivor!Victor AU, Tell Me Where To Find Shelter. And at the very end of said update, I let you know that I had an idea for fitting Alice into the AU --

Specifically, my Malkavian Alice from Vampire: the Masquerade -- Bloodlines.

Look, the fact of the matter is, Fallout 4 and Bloodlines have been rather closely connected in my head from day one of my purchasing them -- hell, I got them during the same Steam sale! (Along with the BioShock series entire, which is why I had a couple of posts about Tell Me Where to Find Shelter back in 2016, then it dropped off the face of the earth -- I played Bloodlines first, and followed up with that series.) And my “Londerland Bloodlines” playthrough of Bloodlines was done concurrently with my starting up Fallout 4, so -- yeah. Me wanting to figure out how to cross the two over was probably inevitable.

I know what you’re all thinking, of course -- “how the hell do you make this sort of crossover work?” Well, I have had a few ideas:

-->This version of Malkavian Alice and her adventures in 2004 Los Angeles would be much more like the standard fledgling’s, given that the Corpse Bride characters are now born in the future. So the person she saves in the hospital is Heather (who she does manage to send away in time to save her life), and the Giovanni party goes down without dragging an undead version of Lizzie into the mix. Obviously the story and setting would have to be tweaked to fit better into Fallout’s alternate history (though given what the computers in the original game are like, maybe that’s easier than expected). She still goes Independent, and escapes from Los Angeles in the wake of LaCroix’s explosive death, making her way slowly but surely to the East Coast because she has had enough of California and everyone there.

-->She manages to get on with her unlife, watching the growing tensions with China and the Resource Wars with unease, but keeping to herself and doing her best not to let her humanity slip as she gets older. When the bombs fall, she’s sleeping the day away in a basement bunker she set up in Boston -- but the destruction from the explosion ends up collapsing part of the ceiling, burying her in rubble -- with a chunk of timber piercing her heart. She ends up in a staked torpor. . .

-->Until Victor shows up at her location at night to clear out a few raiders who are taking over the place as a base. One of the raiders yanks out the stake to use as a weapon, has three seconds to wonder why it’s got fresh blood on it -- then Alice explodes from her centuries-long hiding place and drinks him dry. Victor is too stunned at first to actually shoot her, and once Alice’s blood thirst has been quest, she immediately puts her hands up and does her best to show she means him no harm. They talk, Alice explains what happened (and goes ahead and admits she’s a vampire when Victor explains about the nuclear apocalypse -- who gives a shit about the Masquerade when the world has ended?), she offers to help with the remaining raiders to prove her good intentions, Victor accepts, and they take down the assholes together.

-->Obviously, Alice isn’t immediately “unlockable” as a companion -- she’s still got her sunlight thing, after all! She and Victor chat about it, and Victor, feeling bad, offers his assistance. Alice accepts -- she misses the sun -- and says that she’ll stay where she is for the moment (after finding a non-partially-collapsed basement to stay in) and keep raiders and monsters out while he searches for information. And so the “Here Comes The Sun” quest begins, with Victor searching for a way to counteract the sunlight curse! I’m thinking this would end up interacting with the Cabot family stuff, because I don’t think it would be hard at all to change the source of their immortality, and the artifact upon Lorenzo’s head, from something alien to something vampiric. Maybe Lorenzo’s partially possessed by the spirit of an Antediluvian, and it’s turned his blood into something close enough to vitae it can make ghouls? At any rate, Jack manages to whip something up after examining some of Alice’s blood (which, naturally, she’s kind of nervous about, but what choice does she have?), and it successfully stops her from burning up in sunlight (though she is weaker in it). A grateful Alice thanks Victor (and Jack) and agrees to travel with him to experience the Commonwealth.

-->As they go on together, they end up getting closer -- Alice likes that Victor is generally a good guy and sympathizes with the story of his lost family; Victor likes Alice’s snarky wit and strong sense of justice. As they share more details of their lives, help out the settlements, and battle monsters together, they realize they’re growing feelings for each other, and eventually get together, facing off against the Institute as a couple and parenting Synth Shaun/Chester together afterwards. (Alice jokes a lot that it took both her dying and the end of the world in general to finally get a domestic happy ending.)

-->Alice’s starting clothes would be a simple blue dress and apron with black buckled boots (the dress would naturally have a big bloody hole right over her heart when she first wakes up; she patches this after you leave her to her own devices for a bit), and she’d have the Tal’Mahe’Ra Blade (her prize from her storming of the Hallowbrook Hotel, taken from Andrei’s lair) as her standard weapon. She has a unique bite attack, being a vampire, and can still use Obfuscate (turning invisible to sneak past/sneak attack enemies) and Dementation (inflict debuffs on enemies so they’re confused and can’t shoot straight, or kill a single enemy from fear alone), though both have a cooldown so Victor can’t rely on her just spamming that to take care of every raider for him! XD Her perk would allow you to drain blood from enemy corpses (which other companions would find less disturbing than outright cannibalism, but still fairly creepy) and/or increase the healing capabilities of blood packs. I’m thinking, once romanced, she’d also have a unique variation of the “Lover’s Embrace” temporary perk, “Love Bite” -- Victor wakes up with HP not fully restored, but the XP boost is greater than “Lover’s Embrace” (+20% vs +15%).

-->Other vampiric elements of the Commonwealth would include:

A) That blood bank you can find? Those bags of blood are warm and fresh because there’s a Tremere there who has built up their power and knows some rituals for preserving the stuff. Unfortunately, they’re also very low humanity by this point, so they end up being a nasty surprise fight.

B) There’s a secret settlement of vampires that is made up of all the various fledglings you could pick from in Bloodlines, having learned to live together after the destruction of vampire society along with human when the bombs fell. The local Tremeres managed some blood sorcery that infused a mutfruit tree with human blood, so plasma fruit, a la The Sims 4, is a thing for them, and allows them to live in relative peace with their human neighbors (though they’ll happily drain anyone who attacks them). They’d probably have a quest revolving around either talking down or killing some vampire hunters who have been eying their base, and they could be persuaded to allow Jack Cabot and family to study them in exchange for vitae to help them stay in their immortal states. Also, the Malkavians openly call Victor the “Sole Survivor” and offer roundabout tips on his quests -- if he can decipher them. XD

C) This is just one that amuses me -- this universe’s Mysterious Stranger is none other than good old Caine! He’s trying to be a little more helpful to mortal and Kindred alike in the post-apocalypse, and has decided this means “showing up randomly to help people out of tight spots before vanishing again.” Alice, upon seeing him, jokes that the cabdriver thing didn’t work out, huh?

D) I’d kind of like to make stimpacks developed from vampire or ghoul blood to explain just how it is they can heal crippled limbs so fast -- the wiki didn’t provide much of an answer there! Which means anyone who uses them is at least slightly a ghoul. . .which might explain a few things about carry weight and why some enemies are so tough. (Legendaries have more vitae in their system, prompting the power-up, maybe?)

So yeah -- that’s how I’d get Bloodlines and Fallout to work together, and thus have my Malkavian!Alice and Sole Survivor!Victor be a couple in the wasteland. Because why make a crossover simple when I could make it way more complicated than it needs to be? XD Look, I just like the mental images I have of them together -- and of Alice taking out a whole army of baddies by hitting them with Voice of Bedlam to throw them into absolute chaos.