#ms in computer science in us

[abroadeducation]

Top universities for Masters(MS) in Computer Science in USA 

Introduction: 

Some of the top computer science universities in the world are found in the United States. These institutions provide a range of computer science Master's programs that can train students for professions in a number of different sectors, such as software engineering, data science, and artificial intelligence. 

Here are the top 10 universities in the USA for Master's in Computer Science: 

These universities are known for their rigorous academics, cutting-edge research, and strong alumni networks. They also offer a variety of specializations in computer science, so students can find a program that best suits their interests and career goals. 

Stanford University: 

Stanford, California is home to the for-profit research university Stanford University. One of the top universities in the USA and in the world offers the Master of Science in Computer Science (MSCS) programme. The Stanford MSCS programme is one of the most selective in the world with a mere 5% acceptance rate. 

The program offers a variety of specializations, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, computer graphics, and software engineering. Students in the program have the opportunity to work with world-renowned faculty and conduct cutting-edge research. 

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT): 

An exclusive research university by the name of MIT is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Providing a Master of Science in Computer Science (MSCS) degree programmes, it is yet another prestigious university. With a mere 7% acceptance rate, MIT's MSCS course is also extremely selective. 

The program offers a variety of specializations, including computer architecture, operating systems, and theory of computation. Students in the program have the opportunity to work with world-renowned faculty and conduct cutting-edge research. 

[Know more: Universities that accept students without IELTS or TOEFL] 

University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley): 

In Berkeley, California, there is a public research institution called UC Berkeley. It has a Master of Science in Computer Science (MS) programme and is one of the country's oldest and most prestigious universities. The acceptance rate for the MS programme at UC Berkeley is only about 20%. 

The program offers a variety of specializations, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data science. Students in the program have the opportunity to work with world-renowned faculty and conduct cutting-edge research. 

Carnegie Mellon University (CMU): 

In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, there is a private research institution called CMU. It has a Master of Science in Computer Science (MSCS) programme and is renowned for its expertise in the field. The acceptance rate for the CMU MSCS programme is quite low—around 10%. 

The program offers a variety of specializations, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, and robotics. Students in the program have the opportunity to work with world-renowned faculty and conduct cutting-edge research. 

These are just a few of the top universities to Study Master's in Computer Science in the USA. If you are interested in pursuing a career in computer science, I encourage you to consider applying to one of these programs. 

Conclusion: 

Some of the top computer science universities in the world are found in the United States. These universities provide a range of computer science master's programmes that can train students for careers in a variety of industries. I strongly advise you to think about submitting an application to one of the institutions mentioned above if you want to pursue a Master's in computer science. 

[commodorez]

We've been working on this for the past 2 years...

This weekend at Vintage Computer Festival East @ms-dos5 and I will be celebrating the 30th birthday of Windows 95 with the biggest, most elaborate exhibit either of us have ever done.

18 feet of table space featuring 9 computers running various versions of Windows 95 on a mix of laptops and desktops, with awhat slew of productivity software, games, and goodies to explore.

VCF East is April 4th-6th, at the InfoAge Science Center in Wall, NJ. Exhibits will be open on Saturday and Sunday.

We hope to see you there!

[mads-hemmo]

Too Sweet - Jschlatt part 1

baseball coach Schlatt x math teacher reader

Reader is a math teacher who finds her computer science teacher coworker an asshole. Schlatt finds his algebra/geometry coworker very annoying. What happens when they are forced to be around each other and get along?

You knew you wanted to be a teacher from a very young age. At first you thought you wanted to teach at the elementary level, but you found a love for math. After graduating with a math degree, you accepted a job at a high school in New York. Although you wanted to teach AP Statistics and Calculus, you got a job as the general algebra and geometry. This means that the majority of your classes are full of athletes and kids who do not care about their education.

You watch as a group of baseball boys walk into the classroom. “Josh, Drew, Sawyer did you do your homework?” You ask the boys.

Sawyer grabs a crumpled piece of paper out of his backpack and hands it to you. The other two boys look at you in shock. “We had an away game last night. We weren’t able to complete it,” Drew finally says.

“How did Sawyer get his done, but you two did not?” You ask the boys with a look of disbelief.

“I did mine on the bus.”

“Coach Schlatt told us not to worry about it as focusing on the game is the most important,” Josh tells you.

“I guess I’ll be having a conversation with Coach Schlatt later. Go take a seat, we are learning a new concept,” you tell the boys. You turn around to take a deep breath. Of course, Coach Schlatt, the baseball coach and computer science teacher would tell his players to not do your homework. You both have had an issue with each other since you started working here. All Schlatt cares about is baseball and his players being the best. Which sometimes means that he doesn’t expect them to do your assignments or if they fall asleep in class. He claims that they probably needed the sleep.

At the end of class, you decide to pay Coach Schlatt a visit during your prep time. As you both worked in the math and computer department, you had the same prep period. You knock on his open door and he looks up from his phone. “Ms. (Y/L/N), can I help you?” He asks you.

“Yes I needed to speak with you about a few of your players,” you tell him, walking up to his desk.

“What did they do this time?”

“Well Drew and Josh did not do their homework. Sawyer completed him, but the other two didn’t. They claimed that they weren’t able to because you had a game last night and also you told them it didn’t matter.”

He sighs and looks directly at you. “I told them to focus on the game. But have you read the research that shows that homework isn’t an effective way of teaching?”

You narrow your eyes at him, slightly. “Yes, I have. The only reason they had homework is because they felt my class time was time to play around.”

He nods a bit. “I’ll talk to them. Though you may need to work on your classroom management and also I’m sure they needed your help.”

“Thank you for your time. I’ll leave you alone.” You turn around to walk back to your classroom. “What an asshole,” you mutter under your breath.

You go back to your class to get some work done, hopefully working off your stress. How could someone be so bluntly rude? Did he really insult your teaching and your classroom management? You felt that you did your job well. Your admin seems to think so, but maybe you aren’t.

At lunchtime, you walk into your best friend’s classroom in the fine arts building. Ted or Mr. Nivision is the drama teacher and the two of you quickly became kids. As you have the same lunch period, you eat together every day. You grab your premade lunch from the mini fridge in his room. After you grab it, you slam the door. “Woah what’s wrong with you?”

You put your lunch in the microwave and slam that door too. “Coach Schlatt is what’s wrong! He’s such a douchebag.”

“What did he do this time?” Ted asks, eating his salad.

“He told his players that my homework was not important. When I went to talk to him about it, he brought up research about how homework is unnecessary. Obviously I know that. They only have homework because they refused to do it in my class. I told him that and he insulted my teaching and my classroom management,” you vent to him.

“I’m so glad I don’t teach a core content class. I think I would choke a kid out.” You laugh slightly at him. “That’s stupid of him. He’s usually a pretty good guy, but that was just uncalled for.”

You grab your lunch from the microwave and take a seat beside Ted. “I know he’s your friend or whatever, but he’s an asshole. I don’t know what I did to make him hate me so much.”

Before Ted can say anything, you hear footsteps walking into his room. You look up to see Schlatt walking in. You turn to look at Ted in disbelief. “Oh yeah (Y/N), I forgot to tell you that Schlatt is going to start joining us for lunch.”

“Awesome,” you mutter with a forced smile. “Glad that you are joining us,” are the words that came out. You wanted to tell him to fuck off and choke on his lunch. However, you decide to stay civil and give him your best smile. Hopefully Coach Schlatt will do the same.

A/N: new series!! I am so excited to write some enemies to lovers and teacherxteacher ! I hope you guys enjoy it!! Let me know what you think!!

Masterlist

[are-we-really-doing-this]

Thanks to @kneepadthighhighs whose setup I'm totally jacking here, and thanks especially for all the Punk specific compilation DVDs.

I've finally ripped my current wrestling DVD/VHS/digital collection for your viewing pleasure, catalogue below cut. Collection will most likely continue to update, but there's never a guarantee it'll be up forever.

Link to Full Library

Last Update: 03/11/2025, 8:15:00 PM

I’ve linked the match cards (where applicable) so you can see if the file is worth the download. Links will take you to a folder and you may select files to download.

(If you open a folder and it includes a .MDS file, don’t worry about that as long as you’re not burning a dual layered physical disc. You don’t need it to view the .ISO file on a computer. Just download the .ISO and open with your media player of choice, it works like a DVD in a player. If it's an .MP4 or .MPG it'll play like a video.)

Come harass me if anything was mislabeled by accident or if a download link is broken or denies you access. I hope this goes to good use.

BYW

Best of Backyard Wrestling (Vol. 1, 2, and 3)

EPIC Pro Wrestling

Best of EPIC (Vol. 1)

FIP

FIP Emergence

Match Card - Day 1

Match Card - Day 2

FIP Fallout 2004

Match Card - Day 1

Match Card - Day 2

FIP Unfinished Business 2005

Match Card

FIP Dangerous Intentions 2005

Match Card

FIP With Malice

Match Card

FIP Violence is the Answer

Match Card

FIP In Full Force 2005

Match Card

FIP Unstoppable 2005

Match Card

FIP Sold Out

Match Card

FIP Payback

Match Card

FIP Heatstroke 2005

Match Card - Day 1

Match Card - Day 2

FIP The Best of CM Punk (Vol. 1 and 2)

IWA MS

IWA Mid-South From Hardcore Hell and Back (Punk's IWA debut)

Match Card

IWA Mid-South Sweet Science 16 2001

Match Card - Day 1

Match Card - Day 2

CM Punk vs. Colt Cabana (the camel toe pussy tights one)

ROH

ROH The Best of Samoa Joe

Samoa Joe Straight Shootin'

ROH The Best of the Second City Saints

ROH The Best of CM Punk (Vol. 1, 2, and 3)

ROH The Summer of Punk

Match Card

TNA

TNA The Best of Samoa Joe: Unstoppable

TNA Best of the X Division (Vol. 2)

Match Card

UPW

UPW Entertaintment Overload (Fresh Blood)

Match Card

UPW Road to Glory

UPW Future Shock

WWE

John Cena: Word Life

Match Card

John Cena: My Life

Match Card

CM Punk: Best in the World

Match Card

Zero-One (no subtitles)

Zero-One Shingeki

Match Card

Zero-One Fire Festival 2001

Match Card - Day 1

Match Card - Day 2

Match Card - Day 3

Zero-One Vast Energy 2002

Match Card

Zero-One Genesis 2002

Match Card - Day 1

Match Card - Day 2

Zero-One Truth Century Creation 2002

Match Card

[allthingsfangirl101]

My Archenemy – Tyler Owens

All anyone can talk about is Tyler Owens. My students are obsessed with his videos. They idolize him.

I, on the other hand, would love to go a day without someone bringing him up. After high school, I stayed in town and went to the nearby college. I remained here and ended up teaching science at my old high school. Tyler only reappeared when tornados came to town.

I tried not to think about him. I didn't want to. We were childhood archenemies. Tyler and I were constantly competing. From spelling tests to reading competitions to science fairs. I was better at biology. Tyler was better at environmental science. We were always going head-to-head.

Whenever one of us won something, the other jumped up and won at the next thing. It got tiresome for me, but Tyler loved the competition.

After a long day at work, I stopped at the grocery store on my way home. I roamed the aisles, grabbing things here and there. I let out a sigh of relief when I saw that there was still one box of my favorite granola bars left. I went to grab it but someone had the same idea.

"Oh. I'm sorry. . . I was just. . . Tyler Owens?"

"Well, I'll be," he chuckled, instantly smirking his famous smirk. "If it isn't little Y/F/N Y/L/N."

"I'm surprised to see you back in town," I said, resisting the urge to look him up and down.

"Did you miss me?" He smirked.

"No," I didn't hesitate. "But now I miss the peace that was here when you weren't."

I started to reach for the box of granola bars, but Tyler snatched it. "Really?" I mumbled under my breath.

"I seem to remember you always had several of these in your backpack in high school," he chuckled as he pretended to read the nutritional facts. He smirked at me before dropping it into his handbasket.

"And something tells me you're not going to give me the last box," I scoffed, grabbed my shopping cart, and started walking the other way.

"We could make an exchange," Tyler said after he jogged to catch up with me.

"You have nothing I would want," I scoffed.

"Not even in exchange for the only food I've ever seen you eat?" He chuckled.

"Nope," I said, grabbing some cereal.

"You're no fun," he pouted.

"Yep."

"You haven't changed, have you, Y/L/N?"

"You shouldn't change perfection, Owens."

* * * * *

After my weird run-in with Tyler, I went home and instantly ordered my favorite granola bars on Amazon. I then used a bottle of wine to help me forget about our town's hero.

When I went to work the next day, the students were all buzzed. I had no idea why until I heard a certain conversation.

"Can you believe he's here?" One of my female students giggled.

"Isn't he from here?" Her friend asked.

"He is!" Another one of their friends added. He did a video a few years ago, and they talked about how he grew up here and even went to this school!"

"Wait," the first girl said, "didn't Ms. Y/L/N go to this school when she was our age?"

I kept my focus on my computer, hoping they wouldn't do what I thought they were about to do.

They did.

"Ms. Y/L/N, we have a question."

"What's up, girls?" I asked.

"Is it true that you went to school here?" They started with a warm-up question. They did this all the time.

"I did," I nodded, leaning back in my chair and embracing myself for the question they really wanted to ask me.

"Is it true that Tyler Owens, the Tornado Wrangler, went to school with you?"

"He did," I sighed. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes when they squealed.

"We know he's gorgeous, but what was he like in person?"

"Is he sweet?"

"Is he funny?"

"Was he always the 'risk his life to save others' type?"

"He is basically the town's hero! Did he ever save you?"

"Girls," I cut them off, "I'll answer your questions if you answer mine."

"Sure!"

"Have you finished your assignment?" I smirked when they looked at each other. I almost laughed when they sighed and walked back to their desks. Luckily, the bell rang before they could come back and ask me those questions.

At the end of the day, I finished a few things before heading out. By then, it was raining. I pulled my jacket over my head and ran to my car. As I got in, I debated whether driving home in this weather could be unsafe, but there was no sign of it letting up.

My need for comfy clothes and a glass of wine convinced me to risk it. I carefully pulled out of the staff parking lot and headed home. I got to a red light and looked at the clouds, wondering if this would turn into a Tyler Owen's Worthy Storm. When the light turned green, I didn't hesitate to go.

I should've hesitated.

Right as I went through the intersection, another car ran the red light. I didn't have time to react before they hit my back tire. My car started spinning but there was nothing I could do to get out of it. Suddenly, I heard a large bang and my car stopped spinning.

I looked around but nothing made sense. I couldn't recognize any landmarks. I couldn't even remember what light I was at when I got hit.

"Y/N?!"

I couldn't respond. My head was spinning too much. I reached up, gasping in pain when I touched something wet.

"Y/N, are you alright?"

When I brought my hand back down, there was blood on my fingers. I leaned my head against the headrest, waiting for the spinning to stop.

"Shit, you're bleeding," the voice said. "Y/N, unlock the door."

I could feel my hand shaking as I hit the unlock button. As soon as I did, the door swung open. Someone knelt next to me, gently putting their wet hand on my knee. I could feel the rain hitting my face.

"Y/N," they said, their voice softer this time. "Look at me. Please?"

When I did, it took a second before I realized who it was. "Tyler?" I stuttered.

"Oh good," he joked. "You didn't hit your head so hard that you forgot about me."

"I wish I had," I mumbled as I looked away.

"You wanna know something, Y/L/N?" He chuckled. "I don't think you actually hate me. I think you pretend to hate me so I don't find out that you have a crush on me."

"You wanna know something, Owens?" I repeated his question, slowly lifting my head and looking at him. "I would. . ."

I closed my eyes and leaned my head back against the headrest when it got too painful to try and focus on his face.

"We can bicker later," he said lightly. "Right now, let's get you some help. He grabbed my hand as he stayed squatting down but called 911.

Tyler stayed with me the whole time. He was right by my side, getting soaked in the rain, as we waited for the ambulance. Even as they put me in the back and took me to the hospital, Tyler stayed in the rain, watching.

* * * * *

I was only in the hospital for a night. I called the school and let them know what happened. They didn't hesitate to cover my classes for me and reassure me that they could handle things until I was better.

When I got home, I instantly collapsed on the couch. I put on a show I was binging before the accident and soon fell asleep on the couch. I woke up about an hour later to someone knocking.

"Tyler," I gasped when I opened the door. I subconsciously wrapped my cardigan tighter around me. "What are you doing here?"

"I heard you were released from the hospital earlier this morning and I wanted to see how you were feeling," he said, shoving his hands into his back pockets.

"I'm fine," I sighed.

"Are you sure? It was a bad accident," he shrugged. Something in his eyes changed. "Your car spun out and you ended up hitting. . ."

"I know," I cut him off, looking away from his weirdly soft eyes. "It was just a concussion."

"But it must've been scary," he said softly. I looked back at him, my heart feeling like it was in my throat.

"I don't remember it much," I mumbled.

"You don't?" He asked, taking a small step toward me.

"I remember my car spinning out," I recalled slowly. "And trying to turn out of it. Then. . . nothing."

"Y/N," he said softly.

"What are you doing?" I snapped, breaking this weird tension.

"What do you mean?" He chuckled.

"This," I said, gesturing between him and me. "You coming and checking on me. Being sweet. Saving me."

"Y/N," he gently cut me off. "Do you really think I'm the kind of guy who'd watch you get in a car accident and not help you?"

"You did it in high school," I said, dropping my voice.

As I stared at him, I remembered the day in high school when I got rear-ended on my way home from school. I still remember being on the phone, waiting for my dad to answer, and seeing Tyler drive by in his truck.

"Y/N. . ." He stuttered.

"Thank you for checking on me," I said, clearing my throat, "but I'm fine. In fact, I should probably get some rest."

Before he could say anything else, I shut the door.

* * * * *

A few hours later, I sighed when there was a knock on the door. I stood up but had to stop because I felt dizzy. When it passed, I slowly made my way to the door.

"Tyler," I stuttered. "What are you doing here? Again?"

"I wanted to apologize," he said. "I know we had our weird back-and-forth growing up, but I want you to know that I didn't hate you when we were younger. I've never hated you, Y/N."

I smirked as I folded my arms and leaned against the doorframe. "So the time you stole my science notes and spilled soda all over them? Or the time you wrote swear words on my notecard for our biology exam? Or the time you almost tripped me at graduation?"

"Don't you notice flirting when you see it?"

"Bullshit," I scoffed a little too soon.

I saw the look on his face drop. Only for a second though. He quickly recovered his annoying smirk. My heart jumped into my throat when he took a step closer, instantly feeling like he was towering over me.

"Clearly, I need to take a more direct approach."

"Direct approach?" I repeated. "Tyler, what are you. . ."

He cut me off by grabbing my face and pressing his lips to mine. I wasn't sure what to do. My mind was racing and all I could focus on, besides Tyler's surprisingly soft hands holding my face, was the feeling of his lips on mine. Sooner than I would've liked, he broke the kiss.

"I may not have stayed," he whispered, "but I called the police."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, matching his tone.

"That day," he continued, dropping his hands from my face, "in high school. When you got into your crash, I froze. I kept driving because I didn't know what to do. When I got home, I instantly called the cops. I didn't even tell my mom until after I had gotten off the phone."

"Why are you telling me this?" My voice was now under my breath.

"Because when I saw your accident yesterday, I didn't freeze," he said gently. "I knew I had to do something. And fast. I couldn't drive away again."

"I shouldn't have brought that up," I stuttered.

"No, it's okay," he cut me off. "I was wrong not to do anything in high school. I should've stayed around. I should've helped you."

"You did tonight," I said, my voice dropping again. I couldn't help but smile when I thought about the girls in my class the other day.

"What?" He asked, his playful smirk returning.

"It's something my students said the day of the accident."

Tyler smiled as he reached up and moved some hair out of my face, his hand lingering on my face. "What did they say, Ms. Y/L/N?" He lightly teased.

"You really are this town's hero."

Tyler laughed, slightly shaking his head. "I only care about being one person's hero," he said, slowly leaning in.

"Who's?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Yours."

He leaned in and pressed his lips to mine. I ignored all the doubts that flooded my brain as our lips started moving in sync. I grabbed the front of his flannel, pulling him closer to me. He responded by wrapping his arms around my waist.

"Oh!" He broke the kiss suddenly. "I almost forgot."

Confusion flooded me as Tyler stepped slightly out my front door and grabbed something from the ground. When he turned back toward me, he was holding a box of my favorite granola bars.

"I believe I owe you these."

[matchalovertrait]

Alegría VS Caruso: Day 1, Part 3

Start from the beginning (Gen 2)

Previous | Next

Dulce’s lifelong friend, Matthew Fyres, agreed to take the stand in court to verify the digital evidence. He works in cybersecurity and is highly skilled in computer science.

Back in Italy, he lived a bit further from Dulce and Guillermo, so they didn’t get to hang out as much. However, their bond was as strong as ever. He was more than willing to help Dulce.

It was risky to use him instead of a random expert who would be undeniably neutral on the stance, but part of the strategy was to show that Dulce has a lot of support and loyal friends.

“Mr. Matthew Fyres, please explain your role and credibility,” Antonio calmly asked. He knew Matthew was quite nervous.

Matthew took a deep breath to soothe himself. “I work for the cybersecurity agency of Italy’s government. I cannot share much about what I do since I handle sensitive information, but I am a professional in this line of work.”

“And you have verified the digital evidence we presented thus far? Including Ms. Alegría’s cookbook project files and data from her channel?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

Isabela smirked. It was her turn to question him.

“Mr. Fyres. I’d also like to point out the interesting timeline of the creation of these digital records. They only date back to about a year ago, correct?”

Matthew hesitated.

Dulce’s eyes widened.

It’s true! Still, it’s her work. She transferred everything over from-

“Yes..” Matthew admitted. He was stuck! He didn’t know what else to say to that.

The courtroom began to fill with a few whispers from the jury and audience.

Dulce was thinking of something, what was it???

Isabela took a sharp turn and faced the jury. “And the social media accounts? When the evidence was being presented, I noticed a small dip in viewership and subscriptions before Mr. Caruso’s video was published. There was one, correct?”

“Yes, because Mr. Caruso posted an Instagram story announcing the breakup. However, the percentages were an insignificant amount.”

“It was still a noticeable amount. Viewers and sponsors were already losing faith in her or only liked her because of Mr. Caruso. Her videos appealed to the masses because she was good at playing the part of a chef with humble beginnings. However, many comments in Mr. Caruso’s video prove that a good portion of viewers already had suspicions about her. He inspired other people to come forward with their opinions. Ms. Alegría is not a real chef. She is a liar and a manipulator. Her downfall was destined to come sooner or later–”

“Objection! Ms. Campos is making baseless accusations against my client.”

Too many objections can make a lawyer look like there is something to hide, but Antonio felt like he had to do it.

“Overruled. Continue, Ms. Campos.”

Antonio sat down, his mind racing.

“Here is my last question: So far, we’ve gathered that Ms. Alegría is rather skilled at exploiting others. Could she have persuaded you to fabricate or alter the evidence? Just like how she let Mr. Caruso believe there was a future between them AND persuaded him to let her take credit for his recipes?”

The courtroom burst with noise as people reacted to her bold claims. Some people seemed persuaded.

Antonio glared at Isabela. I miscalculated...

Dulce looked down. It was hard to concentrate with all the chatter. Gosh, can everyone shut up for a second?

The judge was exclaiming, “Order! Order!” to no avail.

Then, it clicked. Shit. My notebook! That’s where I originally kept all my recipes. Where did I last see it? Did I leave it in Tartosa?

She smiled.

No, of course I brought it! That's how I transferred everything from my notebook to my computer a year ago.

It’s in my office. It has the dates and everything.

Maybe we can do ink dating testing or whatever it's called!

Things look bad now, but her culinary friends would come another day. Her notebook could surely help too. She has to tell Antonio.

Start from the beginning (Gen 2)

Previous | Next

[zweetpea]

Freedom or Anarchy? Part 2 of 2

Cw: cringe, swears, innuendos. Mondstadt arc has concluded. Next chapter will hopefully be out by Monday. (Expect Monday or Tuesday)

‘Where am I?’

‘What happened to me?’

‘I wanna go home!’

“Time to get up.” You hear someone call. The voice sounds familiar, deep and most likely male (you don’t want to assume). 

You open your eyes and see blue. You’re still groggy from Albedo’s tea so you can’t really stand. Someone picks you up, supporting you under your legs and you back. 

‘Hang on, if this is Mondstadt… the only man with blue here is.’ “Kae…ya?” You say groggily. 

“She speaks… or are you a he? Hard to tell.” He sets you down on a couch in an office.

“This is the terrorist Albedo gave us?” Lisa asks. You can’t quite move but you aren’t as tired as before. 

“We’ll have to tie… him? Her? …Ah up! Tie up the terrorist.” Jean says. 

“Them… I’m gender fluid. I go by them. Sometimes I’m a he, sometimes I’m a she. But my pronouns are always them.”

“Well, at least we’re getting answers.” Lisa giggles. 

You say as Kaeya binds your wrists and ankles with rope. You lean forward onto him and whisper to only him. “Tighter, daddy~” 

“Sky, where did you say that Light and Paimon ran off to?” Kaeya asks, embarrassed and blushing. 

“We’ve met Barbatos, they went off to find him.” Aether says. That’s right, the twins didn’t tell anybody their real names. 

“We’re back! And we’ve brought a friend!” Paimon cheers. 

“Obviously this goes without saying but no one can mention this man’s true identity, okay.” Jean states with a harsh tone that you’ve never heard from her before. Everyone nods, except for you. 

Venti walks towards you and you look at him. “Are you the one Celestia fears?” 

“I have no idea what that means.” 

“The descender, the honored one, the adored one. Do any of these names ring a bell?” 

“No?” 

“Do not lie to me! Albedo said-” 

“Why the F you lyin’~ why you always lyin’~” 

“…” 

“Sorry I have a tendency to reference memes and vines. I’m Gen Z, it’s a part of who we are. I’m kidding, I think that’s just me.” 

“So the Adored One has a name, Jen.”

“No that’s-” 

“And these “Me-ms” and “vines” must be your sacred texts! You’re a nature spirit aren’t you!”

“No! And for the record I don’t think you are a god!” 

“Wow, the honored one looks down upon me.” 

“Boys, Girls, and squirrels, listen up! Because I’ll only say this once. I’m not from this world. I want to go home. The world I come from none of you are real.” 

“Honored one, saying “Boys, Girls, and squirrels” doesn’t help your claim that you aren’t a nature spirit.” 

“Oh for Shucks sake. Actually can I swear in here? I don’t think so. Hell! Bullshit! Kaeya’s tight Ass! Lisa’s big boobies! Mmhmm boobies~” you start to laugh maniacally. “I need to be put in a mental hospital.” 

“Oh for the love of-” Lumine cuts herself off and goes up to you then shakes your. “Pull yourself together long enough for us to get answers.” 

“Right, right. I’m just a college kid who majored in computer science and engineering. The world I come from you all are a game and I hacked into your code which brought me here. That “Boys, Girls, and squirrels” comment comes from a YouTuber I watch semi frequently.”

(A/n: Danny Motta is his name. He’s pretty funny. Go check him out) 

“How’d you heal Stormterror then.” Aether asked. 

“The sustainer of heavenly principles gave me her powers.” 

“So… none of us are real?” Amber asks. 

“Well, I don’t know how I’d be here if you guys weren’t real but to me you’re just a game. Any of you can be killed and revived at the Statue of the Seven.” 

“I suppose that does poke holes in my credibility as an archon.” Venti twiddles his thumbs. 

“Can I please leave now? I can take Dvalin with me and we can just leave.” 

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. If Stormterror is still enraged we can’t let him destroy other nations. It could spark an all out war.” Jean says. 

“What if we let them stay at that broken down building?” Aether suggests. 

“I still think that we should keep Jen here just in case Stormterror gets any more ideas about attacking Mondstadt.” 

“So we use Jen as a bargaining chip?” Lumine chimes in. 

“Exactly.” 

“Okay if you guys are going to call me Jen can you at least make it Gen with a G? I want to be different.” 

“But Jean! Isn’t that basically asking Stormterror for a fight?” 

“Amber’s right Jean. If we’re going to keep them here we’ll need a plan to tame Stormterror.” Lisa says. 

“I’ll tame him.” Venti says assuredly. “We just have to keep them here long enough for me to calm him down.” 

“BARBATOS!” Dvalin calls from outside. “GIVE ME BACK WHATS MINE!” 

“Everyone! To your stations! Protect the city at all costs!” Jean shouts and everyone rushes from the room. 

“Shit! I have to get out of here!” 

“Master Jean! I’m scared!” Klee runs into the office. 

“Klee! Perfect timing, I’m your brother’s friend.”

“Your big brother Albedo’s friend? Why are you tied up?” 

“It’s a long story. Right now I need you to untie me so I can save everyone.” 

“You can do that? I don’t know, usually only bad people are tied up.” 

“No no! Klee it’s more complicated. You want to save Albedo and Jean and Kaeya, Lisa, Amber, Razor and everyone else right? Then you have to untie me so I can make Stormterror go away.” 

“How do I know that you aren’t lying?” 

‘If gold knows me. Chances are Alice will too.’ “Your mom knows me. I’m the adored one. You can ask her about me.” 

“Mom knows you?”

“Yeah, and you know about Albedos secret lab in the mountains right? I’ve been there. He told me about how much he cared about you.” 

“You’ve gone there?! You really do know Albedo. Okay!” She comes over and unties you. 

“Thanks.” You go over to the window, open it up and shout. “Dvalin!” He comes rushing to you at your cry and you jump out the window and grab onto his tail. 

He flies towards the woods and you land in a stone arena. “Andrius! I need a favor.” 

“What could the East Wind possibly want from me?” 

“Protect the Adored one at all costs. 

“How can this puny human be the Adored one?”

As the two bicker you quietly sneak away. As you climb out of the arena you stop when you see black boots and look up. 

“Who are you.” Diluc looks down at you. 

“I am iron man.” 

“Iron man?” Dvalin roses as he and Andrius start to brawl. 

“Can you get me out of here?” 

“Are you the one rumored to have healed Stormterror?” 

“Maybe.” 

“Come on.” He grabs your arm and hoists you up. He then picks you up and throws you over his shoulder and starts to run. 

“Hey! Am I just a sack of potatoes to you?” 

“Quiet down or they’ll hear us.” He runs and runs until you two get to a water bank. “Follow this past west and you’ll be in Liyue.” He tells you as he sets you down. 

“Oh wow. My own dark knight. How romantic. Well for saving the fair ward of the dragon you get a kiss, as a reward.” 

“No thank you.” He grimaces at you. 

“Oh come on! I was promised debauchery! You’re no fun.” 

“Just leave.” 

“Thanks for saving me! I’m coming back for that kiss though!” You say as you run off. 

‘Hot dragon archon here I come! Please be like a lizard and have two co-‘

[dfortrafalgar]

I'm Losing You... (But We're Filling the Cracks)

Having a family isn't always as easy as fairy tales make it seem. But sometimes, you just need a little bit of love... and a little bit of science.

Warnings: read chapter 1 for warnings.

Taglist: @phsycochan | @mirillua | @augustanna | @chaixsherlock | @whore-of-many-hot-men | @nerdisthenewcool | @lilypadmomentum

Chapter 26

[Prev] [Next]

Your fingers gently knocked against the firm wood of your boss’s closed office door, your opposite hand clutching a closed envelope.  It had been an incredibly slow day with very few meetings and a large project having just been finished, so you felt slightly more comfortable approaching her during the work day.  After a few minutes, her cheery voice beckoned you to enter.  You slowly pushed open the door and stepped inside with a small smile on your face.  

Your boss was ridiculously gorgeous.  You often wondered why she was busying her time working in a graphic design firm rather than modeling on international runways or selling luxury clothing, but at the same time, you were more than happy to be working under her.  She came from a long line of strong, independent women, and made sure to instill the same values in her workplace.

“Ms. Boa, thank you for your time,” you stated politely as you sat down in the plush seat in front of her desk.  Directly beside her computer monitor was a framed photo of her and her two younger sisters.  The sight made your smile widen.

“It’s never a problem, darling,” she responded, a small grin on her own lips as she finished typing an email, sending it off with a sharp click on her keyboard before turning her full attention to you.  “What can I help you with?”

You pulled out the envelope from behind your back, slipping it over the top of her desk.  Curiously, she took the parcel and peeled up the flap on the back, dipping her perfectly manicured nails inside the paper and pulling out a small stack of photographs, held together with a wire paperclip.  Her eyes widened almost instantly, making your heart skip a few beats as you watched her absorb what she was holding.

“No way,” she uttered under her breath before turning her sharp gaze towards you, her eyes sparkling with glee.  Her next sentence came out almost as a squeak.  “Twins?!”

You nodded eagerly, fidgeting with your hands in your lap.  “I’m about 13 weeks along now.”

Boa Hancock launched herself from her rolling chair, almost sprinting around the desk to envelop you in a hug.  She had been one of your biggest under-the-table supporters of your pregnancy struggles, having allowed you generous time off that most companies would strongly turn their noses towards.  She almost jumped off of the ground as she pulled you from your seat and wrapped her lean arms around your shoulders.

“I could cry right now, I really could!”  She pulled away from you, her hands still gripping your shoulders.  “13 weeks… that’s longer than the other two, right?”

“Yup,” you stated curtly.  “It’s been really weird coming to terms with it, but I’ve made it this long and everything’s been progressing normally according to my doctor, so I’ve finally started telling more people outside of our immediate friends.”

Hancock smoothed her hand over your cheek, a mothering gesture that made you smile brightly.  “You’re already glowing, look at you!”  

After a few moments, she finally retreated back to her desk and gazed lovingly at the ultrasound pictures you had handed her.  They were from your 12-week scan just a week prior, and you could already see their individual traits.  Large, alien-like heads, little nubs for hands and feet, two little bodies curled up tightly in your womb.

“This is probably the best news I’ve heard all year,” she sighed, clipping the pictures back together and handing them back to you in their original envelope.  “I take it you used IVF?”

“We did.  It was an insanely long process, but clearly,” you held up the envelope with a cheeky grin on your face.  “It worked.”

Hancock squealed again, spinning around in her chair.  “I’m so, so happy for you and your husband, I mean it!”

Her sentiment made your heart flutter in your chest.  Knowing sparing amounts of her history, you knew topics of maternal nature were very important to her, and the fact that one of her best employees was finally succeeding in something she had wanted for so long was an act of pride for the female boss.  She collected herself, still maintaining a smile as she folded her hands on her desk and looked at you.

“So what can I do to help you out?” she asked, her dark gray eyes focused.

“Well, I wanted to hopefully discuss maternity leave sooner rather than later,” you offered.  “I know I’ve taken far too much time off of work, so even if you wanted me back after four months–”

“Absolutely not,” she stated flatly, cutting you off.  “Sweetie, you’re pregnant with twins.  The least I would give you is a year and a half!”

You backpedaled, your eyes widening.  “That’s too much…!”

She shook her head, affirming her stance.  “Darling, think about it like this.”  She tapped one of her manicured fingernails on the wooden surface of her desk.  “You are easily one of my hardest working employees.  You put your all into every single project you’re given, you work amazing with the rest of the team, you’re an all-around irreplaceable person to have.  You’re also an amazing woman outside of work.  And your husband is a heart surgeon who can barely get time off.  Twins are a handful, and even if you have good support at home, you’re going to want those extra months to spend with your babies and to share those moments with your husband when he’s home.”

Hancock’s words rendered you speechless, your jaw essentially hitting the floor.  You couldn’t disagree, though, the woman was right.

She seemed to know it, too, as she leaned back in her chair and crossed her long legs.  “So?”

You quickly bowed your head.  “I wish there was a way to repay your generosity, seriously.”

“You can repay me by giving birth to two healthy, happy babies.  And the first step to doing that is taking care of yourself.”  The smile she gave you was enough to melt a glacier.

Your eyes began to well with tears.  “Can I hug you again?”

Hancock laughed, once again standing from her seat to embrace you.  “I’m saying this as more of a friend rather than your supervisor.  You are so deserving of all the happiness you can get.  I’m so proud of you for staying so strong and pushing through what you’ve gone through, and anything you need from me over the next eight months, just say the word.  I know the entire company would be more than happy to back you up.”

You wiped your eyes on the sleeve of your work blouse, your lips forming a smile through their quivering.  “Thank you so, so much, Ms. Boa.”

“Have you told the rest of the team yet?” she suddenly asked.

“No, I haven’t.  Only Ikkaku knows,” you replied.

Her eyes became sparkly as her lips curled into a cheeky grin.  “Wanna go share the news?”

—

“Law, you look like you’re glowing!”  Rebecca’s large brown eyes gazed up at her superior from her seat at the nurse’s station as Law passed by with a cup of coffee in his hands.

With a small smile, he stopped to look at her.  “Do I?”

“You do!”  She stood from her seat, gathering a few papers in her hands before circling around the counter and joining Law in his walk to the break room.  “Has something big happened?  I mean, you usually don’t radiate positivity this much, but it’s just coming off of you in waves!”

Law gazed forward down the hallway as he walked, the warmth from his styrofoam cup warming his hand.  He had to admit, his shoulders had felt significantly lighter, and his chest certainly felt fuzzy in the past few weeks.  “Rebecca, if I tell you, you have to promise not to spread it around.  I’m trying to keep it under wraps for a little longer, but I think I can trust you.”

Rebecca’s eyes were wide with curiosity as she eagerly waited for whatever news Law was holding on his tongue.

His lips curled into a pleased grin.  “My wife is pregnant with twins.”

The pink-haired nurse almost dropped her papers in shock, her feet planting her to the floor as she gasped.  It clearly took her a great deal of restraint not to burst out in excitement, so she expelled her quick burst of energy by covering her mouth with her papers and exhaling a long, pronounced sigh.  “Law, that’s incredible!”

He simply smiled, continuing to walk.  Rebecca regained her composure and scampered after him.

“You guys were trying for a long time, right?”  Now it was her turn to glow with happiness.  “That’s so exciting, I’m so happy for you both!”

“Thank you, I appreciate it,” the surgeon replied, his own voice airy and light.  He couldn’t remember the last time he felt this excited to share the details of his personal life with someone.  While he had been keeping his surgery team up-to-date with some of the details regarding your procedures, that was mostly due to the fact that his cell phone had become a returning character in the operating theater.  Rebecca wasn’t a part of his surgery team, so her interactions with him were mostly from patient rounds.  Nevertheless, it was clear that the younger girl was more than excited to be told the incredible news, if her bright, toothy smile was anything to go by.

“How far along?” she asked.

“13 weeks.”  He took a deep breath.  “It’s been a stressful three months, but so far everything’s been going smoothly.”

Rebecca sighed dreamily.  “Wow, that’s seriously incredible… Congratulations, Law!”  After a few brief moments, she turned her head to look at her superior.  “Hey, if you want any help with picking out baby clothes, I know a really good seamstress downtown!  She runs a clothing boutique but also does custom orders.  I can put in a name for you and your contact info!”

Law pondered over her offer.  Truthfully, neither of you had started planning anything regarding when the babies would actually arrive.  The thought suddenly made Law a bit nervous.  You were just about starting your second trimester and with everything going well regarding your health and the development of the babies, it seemed like now would be a good time to begin preparing actual baby gear for your apartment.

“That’d be really nice, Rebecca, thank you,” he finally responded with a cordial smile.

Their conversation quickly dissipated as Rebecca needed to depart to go on another shift of rounds, but before she departed she scribbled a name and number onto a piece of paper and slipped it into the pocket of Law’s white laboratory coat.  With a small smile remaining on his lips, he entered the break room and finally placed his now-lukewarm cup of coffee on the counter before sitting down and pulling out his phone.  He had a few new text messages from you, making his smile grow.

Mama So i might have caved and told all my coworkers today… they want to plan a baby shower now but i told them to take it easy!  But dont be surprised if we get a bunch of new baby items in the coming weeks <3

Mama Wait did you change my contact name???

Mama I didnt know my phone could do that LOL it says you changed my contact name

Law chuckled as he tapped on his screen to begin typing.

I changed it a few days ago.  I can change it back to Wifey if you want.

After a few moments, another bubble from you popped up.

Mama I think i like being mama <3

Mama Ive been addressing you as ‘daddy’ in that journal you got me so i guess its not much different!!!

Law needed to duck his head to hide his broad smile from the other colleagues on their break.  The last thing he wanted was any unnecessary attention drawn to himself thanks to his uncharacteristic grin.

You need to stop making me smile, one of my nurses already told me it looks like I’m glowing.

Mama AWWW BABYYY… YOU ARE GLOWING!!!!

Mama I have to go anyway and take bepo for a walk, i’ll see you later love!

Text me if you want something brought home for dinner.

A little heart bubble appeared next to his response for you.  With a long exhale through his nose, he placed his phone back in his pocket and took a long sip from his coffee.

—

Law arrived back to your apartment later that evening, a brown paper bag of take-out sushi in his hands as he closed the door behind him with his foot.

“Babe?” he called.  The apartment was eerily quiet, making his heart rate momentarily spike.

“I’m in here!” you yelled back, your voice coming from the living room.  “I’m in a bit of a predicament.”

Law was quick to kick off his shoes and round the corner into the main living space of your home, placing the bag with your dinners on the counter.  A smile tugged at his lips at the sight of you sprawled out on the floor.  Bepo was laying flush against your side with his head resting perfectly on top of your belly.

“He hasn’t moved in, like, fifteen minutes,” you said.  “My neck is starting to hurt.”

Your husband walked over to your spot on the floor, sitting next to you opposite the dog and reaching his hand over to card his long fingers through Bepo’s fuzzy head.  The animal slow-blinked like a cat in response, the sight making you laugh.

“Do you think he knows I’m pregnant?” you asked.  “He’s been a lot more attentive of me lately.”

“Animals have really keen instincts, it wouldn’t surprise me if he senses something different about you,” Law replied, rubbing small circles behind Bepo’s pointy ears.  “There have been a lot of reports about animals recognizing symptoms of various illnesses in humans, maybe you smell different to him.”

The thought made you smile.  “Whatever it is, he’s already showing off how good of a big brother he’ll be.”  You fidgeted slightly on the floor, making Bepo pick his head up enough for you to push yourself up on your hands.  Law supported your back with his arm, placing a kiss on your head when you sat up high enough.

“He’s our gentle giant… we’re probably going to need to get a new vacuum cleaner, though,” he offered, holding out his hands to help you to your feet.  You eagerly gripped him back, wheezing slightly as he hauled you off the floor.

“Oh, definitely.  We’re probably going to need to wrap all of our baby things in mesh to keep his fur out!”  You placed a kiss to the tip of Law’s nose before proceeding toward the kitchen.  “Hopefully neither of them have allergies.”

Law snorted.  “Bepo would find a new home with Shachi and Penguin in that case.”

You excitedly opened the brown paper bag, your mouth watering at the sight of your favorite sushi rolls packed neatly into plastic containers.  There were five rolls in total to split between the two of you.  “You know me too well, baby,” you moaned out, removing the containers from the bag and fetching two pairs of chopsticks from your utensil drawer.

Law pulled out two chairs for the both of you at the table, helping you place your food down.  He waited until you took the first bite before digging in himself.

“So I made an impulse purchase today,” you began, pulling out your phone from your back pocket.  A few taps on your screen brought you to an online shopping app which you then showed to Law.

His eyes lit up almost immediately.  “Sora pajamas?!”  He snatched your phone out of your hands, making you laugh at his excitement.  You had ordered a set of footie pajamas for all six of the main Sora characters- Sora and the five officers of Germa 66.  “I didn’t even know they made these!”

“Me neither!  Sanji told me about them today!”  You popped a piece of sushi into your mouth.  “Sanji’s always had a weird connection with that comic.  Have you noticed how much he resembles Stealth Black?”

Law finally handed your phone back to you.  “And his siblings, too.  Have you met his older sister?”

You laughed at the thought.  “It’s uncanny!”

“Well,” Law began after swallowing another bite.  “That makes me feel better.  I might have made some purchases of my own while I was on break earlier.  I was talking to one of my nurses and she gave me the name of a woman who runs a local boutique downtown, apparently she takes orders for custom apparel.  I might have placed a few orders for baby clothes.”  He had a cheeky smile on his face as he shared the information with you.

You practically beamed at him.  “I’m glad we’re both on the same page!”  After a few brief moments of silence passed, you whispered, “Sora pajamas…”

Law beamed back at you.  Maybe he really was glowing.

[miniwhisk]

Universal Distress Signal

If Peter was going to keep Rose safe, she had to forget him. He made her promise to leave him behind, to go live her life and try to heal from all of their hurt, to stop running. And she did, standing completely still and holding his watery gaze through Catherines window as he was driven away from the hotel - to where, he didn’t know. 

She promised him that she would forget him.

He never said anything about forgetting her. 

——————————————————————————————————

“Ad Verse is a company that I, along with my esteemed colleagues, have worked tirelessly to build with the highest possible level of transparency and accountability - our privacy is extremely valuable in today’s day and age, but we can work with stakeholders rather than against them to reframe the business-consumer relationship to one built on mutual trust and understanding.”

Peter’s coffee was getting cold. He told himself he liked it better that way, that since he had gotten used to the hardships of field work he was above everyday luxuries like a hot drink. The truth was, he missed the little things like that- waking up with the sunrise, long walks around the Washington Mall - or did he really just miss the person he remembered, that he dreamed, of enjoying those things with?

After glancing at the door as its bell rang, he let his eyes go back to the tv in the corner of the cafe where news coverage of SXSW was playing at a barely audible volume. Thankfully, the captions were on, so he could keep track of what was happening without appearing too interested. A recap of the Women in Tech panel was just ending, and he wasn’t going to miss a single second of her.

She looked good, he thought. More than good. She’d cut her hair into a choppy bob, framing her eyes and giving her an air of sophistication that he’d never gotten to see her with before. She wore a green blazer over dark jeans, her legs crossed and to the side as she leaned toward the interviewer. And those boots. Those stupid ankle boots.

“So, Ms. Campbell, are there any people who helped you along your road to success?”

Peter bristled at the insinuation that Rose needed anyone’s help - she was brilliant, strong, resilient. She didn’t need anyone anymore. Including him.

Rose smiled shyly. “My aunt and uncle, before they passed, made me believe that I could accomplish anything I set my mind to. My first computer science professor, Dr. Lang, encouraged me to stick with it when I felt like a total fish out of water.”

She paused for a moment.

“And my friends. They looked out for me, were there for me when things got tough. I want them to know that I wouldn’t be where I am today without them.” 

She looked away from the interviewer and into the camera then, and Peter gave himself one small luxury - the delusion that she was somehow, someway, looking at him. God, if all he ever got to do was look at her one more time…

“Thank you so much, Rose! We know you have a busy schedule and rarely get to be the face of all your hard work, and we appreciate you being here! Best of luck to you and the rest of the AdVerse team!”

Rose stood then, shaking the interviewer’s hand and looked out to the applauding audience. She waved as she walked to exit, but turned her body at the last second back towards center stage. 

Peter watched on as she zeroed in on the camera, waved once more, then held her hand still, palm outstretched, before folding her fingers down over her thumb. She waited only a moment more, then turned quickly on her heel and exited the stage, out of view.

He must be seeing things. After 48 hours with no sleep, he couldn’t trust his own senses to know whether or not that had really happened, if that meant what he thought it meant. But no, they had talked about it when they went to Sloane’s suite all those months ago, trying to get to Markus before it was too late.

The universal distress signal. 

Peter was frozen, but his mind was going a mile a minute. How could he get to her without putting her back on Monroe’s radar? He had just started to climb the ranks and build trust, if you could even call it that. Why was she in danger? Where was she now?

Then everything stopped. In a moment of clarity, all Peter could think, could feel, was that Rose needed him. He had to find her, to help her, and to get her out of whatever situation she was in. 

He had done bad things to save her before. He would do much worse if he was too late. 

The bell on the door cracked against the wall as it swung out of his way. 

[idkplzhalp]

Hi guys, here's a long nerdy ramble about my Caroline Portal 2 x Miss Pauling TF2 au/headcanons because I've had thoughts about them for years and TF2 comic 7 awakened it in me again to expand on it further. (This is huge I'm so sorry but I gotta keep my title of biggest CaroPauling shipper and I need to spread my truths). I tried to jam as many facts/reasoning as I could into it because I am Portal lore queen and canon info is so important to me to incorporate.

To start this, both are a bit queercoded (GLaDOS subtext of liking Chell + Pauling lesbian confirmation/subtext) therefore it's nice because they absolutely would get along, relate to each other, and being established as queer makes them fit like puzzle pieces together in my head.

(^ I think Valve artists should keep drawing Caroline so I can continue editing their comic versions together, lol, this is all I got)

I think Pauling after comic 7 should go to work at Aperture Science (since presumably she drops the australium down a trench and is living her life, based on the turkey she sends for the Christmas party- shes made the choice to stop Admins cycle and not be cruel like her) and now lives with Caroline as they run Aperture together being sapphics in loveeee. Also we know Pauling is still unmarried then because she keeps the Ms. term instead of Mrs. on the little card from the turkey (also it's the same last name, obviously). Therefore. Cue Caroline entering the scene, because she's not married either (at least not to Cave).

They could've met during the time of TF2 in 1968 because of the Wheatley Ap-Sap, so maybe they met and got along and then Pauling later remembered Aperture after dumping the australium and was like "Hey this is close enough to working for the Administrator". Like maybe after dumping it, she was left wandering a bit trying to find a place to live and sees a billboard for Aperture which motivates her to go there. She could work as an assistant/bodyguard to Caroline, especially in Caroline's time as CEO, or be taught by her how to work in the lab.

When Cave dies, Pauling could be sad because she knows Caroline could've had similar attachments to him that Pauling did for Admin. So she's A) trying to comfort Caroline while she mourns and B) reliving her own grief from Admin. Maybe trying to convince Caroline to break her own cycle of how Aperture is run or work with her to stop GLaDOS..

If Caroline still gets uploaded to GLaDOS, then have Pauling either A) put in stasis and then later during the co-op tests where they free the humans, GLaDOS tests her and is like "WAIT my wife,,, a woman who wont kill me,, I want her" and now Pauling gets to hang out in GLaDOS' chamber while they test other people, B) keeps the australium to protect it and uses that to live forever alongside GLaDOS, or C) is uploaded into a core, it could be the core in The Lab core calibration game that's late and ran to get to the slingshot test since Pauling and that core share a voice actress (Ashly Burch)! It could be that she has less in-depth functions because we know when a person is uploaded to a smaller computer, they don't retain all their memories or full functionality unless they are then switched to a larger mainframe like GLaDOS/CaveDOS (ex: Cave in Aperture Desk Job, unless we want Lego Dimensions Cave core or Cave cube to count too, which contradicts this). So we could make things tragic and have Pauling not remember anything from her human life/GLaDOS could be unsatisfied because we know she more often has romantic feelings for humans (Chell or if including Lego Dimensions then Batman (from the Jonathan Coulton interview on the end song)) and they're now trying to fix it so they fit together again. Maybe GLaDOS gives Pauling GLaDOS' old mainframe seen in co-op mode.

Though Pauling would have to deal with the personality shift from Caroline to GLaDOS and maybe is scared of her because it reminds her of Admin, although GLaDOS wouldn't be as abusive to her and maybe it adds something because of how almost in love/obsessed Pauling was with Admin (trying to stay with her for so long/thinking Admin isn't that bad/trailing her no matter what). It could be complex because Pauling is fighting memories of past trauma with Admin while trying to maintain her relationship with GLaDOS. Maybe Pauling could bring out Caroline's personality more? Pauling is also a bit like Chell (ex: very determined fighter) therefore I'm just gonna say that's GLaDOS' type aha.

Back to the human versions now. Because Pauling got a first name reveal, Flo, we could have Caroline take on her last name, since we don't know Caroline's last name already. Lesbian marriage solving a name crisis 💀. Caroline Pauling doesn't sound that bad!

I think these two would just work really well together since they've had similar experiences and could support eachother/understand eachother like they haven't had before. To me they're both neurodivergant so I feel they could bond over their interests/teach eachother cool stuff. Like Caroline teaches Pauling science and Pauling teaches her about weaponry. Also they could do the activities that Pauling listed doing with friends "skating, look at gun catalogs". Because of that I used to headcanon that Pauling rollerskates and Caroline ice-skates so they do those together. Also Gargoyles and Gravel! They'd dress up as a wizard and witch together when playing or something haha. Also the assistants clipboard of the year conference Pauling goes to with Bidwell, she could go with Caroline and Greg and they all fight over office supplies as they should be. Maybe Caroline teaches Pauling how to bake!

I think working at Aperture, Caroline either wasn't able to defend herself verbally or wasn't listened to, not really being considered or appreciated by the other employees. She's considered modest so I think she was likely conditioned to not appreciate what she did. She's brilliant and incredibly intelligent but being a woman in that position during that time, she was probably ignored by anyone who wasn't Cave a lot. So I'd like to think if she wasn't being listened to and Cave wasn't around, Pauling could swoop in and tell those people off since she's really blunt and will tell things how it is (like in the tough break update when the guy flirted with her and she told him to leave because she was getting people killed for money), and is now a scary guard dog privilege to Caroline, even if Pauling is still a tiny anxious woman and Caroline can probably fend for herself lol.

Uhhhhh and heck, let's send Cave's other assistant Greg to go help Bidwell and Reddy in running Mann Co. That could be really funny to see, I feel they'd all get along. They're slightly more rational than Hale so I think it would be interesting to see what they do with this insane company!

Okay I'm done now, pls tag me in any CaroPauling posts you see because I'm saving them all to my phone to look at them lovingly, I have a collection lol <3.

[coraniaid]

Anyway, here are seven episodes of Buffy which I'd have given Amy Madison a cameo in.

The goal isn't to change the plot of any of these episodes substantially or to change Amy's overall arc (such as it is). Rather the idea is to do just enough work to make Amy feel like a recurring character with the weight of, say, pre-S6 Jonathan Levinson or pre-AtS Harmony Kendall. Somebody who is stil clearly a minor character, but who feels a lot more thought out than Amy herself often does.

I think you can do that with just a few strategically chosen cameos. Here are my picks:

1) S1E12 Prophecy Girl

Prophecy Girl brings back Jenny Calendar (previously only seen in I Robot, You Jane) and the previous week Out of Sight, Out of Mind had brought back Harmony (previously only seen in The Harvest). Both Harmony and Jenny would go on to be popular recurring characters, and I think making a second appearance in the first season would do wonders for Amy as well.

While I'm at it, I'd slightly rework Cordelia's story this episode -- cutting out her doomed boyfriend Kevin, who replaces Out of Sight, Out of Mind's Mitch without explanation and will never be mentioned again; and the slightly uncharacteristic friendly way in which Willow and Cordelia treat each other this episode. In my version of the episode, it would be Amy who roped Willow in to help set up the sound system at the Bronze for the Spring Fling, and it would be some of Amy's friends that they found murdered by vampires in the Audio-Visual Club.

(I wouldn't rob Cordelia of any of her other scenes, of course: she'd still get to drive her car through the school halls and bite a vampire.)

I think adding Amy like this would serve to remind the viewer that (i) Amy exists; (ii) Amy and Willow are friends; (iii) even with her mother gone, horrible things keep happening to Amy Madison.

2) S2E01 When She Was Bad

Nothing fancy here; just a quick establishing scene at some point to remind us Amy still exists (in the same way Larry makes a cameo at the beginning of Season 3). Have her show up at the library and ask if any of the gang have seen Jenny Calendar, because she's meant to be teaching a class but nobody's seen her all day, maybe? Rather than the approach that canon takes, where nobody seems to realize Jenny has been kidnapped at all, even though we know she was captured at least a day before Buffy goes to rescue Cordelia (and the gang spend all of that day at school, where Jenny Calendar should be working...).

Again, the point of this addition is to mainly remind the audience that Amy exists, but we're also setting up the idea that Amy might eventually look to learn more than computer science from Ms. Calendar.

3) S2E06 Halloween

Just one scene here as well: Amy commiserating with Buffy and the others, and admitting that Snyder "volunteered" her to go out accompanying kids that evening as well. The point being that we see that Amy has dressed up as a witch for Halloween...

(We wouldn't see Amy again all episode, and we wouldn't know whether she got her costume from Ethan's, but down the line the idea that Amy might have gotten a bit of a head start as a witch from her experiences this episode -- in the same way Xander remembered some of his military knowledge -- could definitely be a fun fan theory.)

If anybody asks Amy if she's comfortable dressing up as a witch after what her mother did, maybe she can reference back to the attack on the AV club or Ms. Calendar being kidnapped and suggest that she knows now that there are worse things in the world than witches...

4) S3E02 Dead Man's Party

OK, if I were rewriting this episode I'd find it hard not to make bigger changes. At the very least, I'd want to have a few more scenes from the POV of characters other than Buffy (so that there's less of a sense of Buffy's friends all treating her horribly for no reason). And who better for Willow to be pouring her frustrations out to than her fellow fledgling witch Amy?

Give Amy a line about "missing Ms. Calendar too" as well, and Willow's final speech to Buffy about spending the summer "trying to communicate with the spirit world" take on an interesting subtext.

5) S3E09 The Wish

This is an interesting one because I'm half-convinced Amy was meant to be in this epsiode anyway. It's the only episode before Amy gets ratted in which she's mentioned on screen (Willow tells us that she's heard some gossip about Cordelia from Amy, which is -- in canon, anyway -- the first indication we get in the whole show that Amy and Willow have started hanging out).

I wouldn't be at all surprised if Nancy's role this episode (in the alternate Wish dimension) wasn't originally meant to go to Amy. That's how I'd play it, anyway. (Of course, if Buffy didn't come to Sunnydale she wouldn't have been around to save Amy from her mom. But I think that's easy enough to fix: just throw in a line about Amy being grateful to Giles and the other Whte Hats for "saving her" from some unspecific fate, and make sure to establish that this version of Amy can't do magic.)

Of course, this Amy would have the same fate as Nancy -- fittingly, killed by Willow -- but I don't think we'd need to have that happen off-screen the way it does in the actual episode.

6) S5E22 Grave

I really don't think Amy's abrupt descent into magical drug addict works ... well, at all. So I'd like to see a much bigger change to her arc after being de-ratted (something like @idle-flower suggests here, for example). I just don't think her villain arc this season makes any sense (and I know it robs Willow of a lot of the moral agency she should have at this point).

Failing that sort of change, though, I'd at least like Amy's mini-arc this season to .. resolve? She gets the door slammed on her face by Willow all the way back in Doublemeat Palace and then we never see her again. We don't even know if she's staying with her dad, or if her dad left town, or what. How is she surviving at all? At least throw in a scene of Amy discovering whatever's left of Rack and looking angry and vengeful about it, surely? Remind us she exists, and that things aren't going great for her.

7) S7E12 The Killer In Me

You might object to this one on the grounds that Amy is already in this episode.

The thing is though, I'm not sure that episode's writers remember that she is? Amy is outed as being responsible for Willow's predicament, Kennedy promises to stop her, Amy snaps her fingers -- teleporting Kennedy away -- and ... that's it. That's the last we hear from, or about, Amy Madison. Not just in the episode, but in the whole show. She doesn't suffer any consequences, she never gets a face to face confrontation with Willow, there's no obvious reason why she wouldn't be free to try again and again. Surely we can do better than that?

At least give us a scene of Amy fleeing Sunnydale ahead of the First's wave of destruction, or reacting to Willow getting her own body back. Something that we can pretend amounts to closure for a character who has, after all, been a part of the show since the third ever episode. Even if her continued appearance on the show, season after season, wasn't ever something the writers conciously planned.

[bardoftheshire]

Heres something I've been thinking about working on for a while now and I'm finally getting to it. Heres the pilot of it, let me know if you guys want me to make it into a full series (which I might do anyways🧍‍♂️)

Here's the link on Ao3 for the series if you prefer to read on there :)

Weird Science | Pilot Chapter

Egon Spengler x Fem Reader

Summary; honestly I don't know what I'm gonna do with this, I'll leave the summary to finish later.💀

Notes; This is a fem reader and it is mentioned quite a bit, this is to make things a little easier to write but I may consider making it a gender neutral reader if enough people want it and ask. [This is also kind of a long one for a pilot chapter.]

Warnings; Some swearing and mentions of smoking. [Also very very minor mentions of drinking.]

Part 1/? | Next Chapter>

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"Hey, can you hand me that soldering iron please?" I say, holding my hand out.

"Of course Dr. L/n," Theodore says, handing the iron carefully.

Theodore Thalmann was a freshman student majoring in Computer Engineering at Columbia University, the very University I've worked at for 7 years now.

Theodore came for an internship to work with me, wanting to learn a little more visually than just reading some book, writing down notes, and listening to some old guy talk for hours on end, and frankly you couldn't really blame him for not wanting to deal with that.

Theodore was a sharp kid, not lazy like most of these kids now, and willing to learn rather than just be here for some extra credit, that's what you liked about him so much.

"Do you need anything else Dr. L/n?" Theodore asks, writing a bit more into his notebook.

Just then, a knock at the door interrupted your thoughts.

"Yes actually, can you go get that for me?" You reply, taking the protective glasses off of your face.

You get up out of your chair, taking off your black rubber gloves and placing them in their respective area. You liked things organised in your lab, it was much easier to find exactly what you needed, and it was also that you never liked a mess where there was work.

"Is Dr. L/n in here? I need to have a word with her." A voice you were far too familiar with comes from the door where Theodore was standing.

Oh, this can't be good.

"Yes she is, come on in Mr. Yeager," Theodore says, letting the man inside the lab.

"Ms. L/n, pleasure to see you again.. as always." The man says snarkily.

You turn around and walk towards him.

"Hello, Mr. Yeager. Come to complain about the music volume again? I promise I hadn't played anything today, whatever you might've heard must've been someone else."

"No, actually, I wanted to talk to you about something more serious. Do you think you can get this student to be somewhere else so its a more private conversation?" The Dean says, smiling sarcastically.

Dean Yeager wasn't exactly fond of you, hense the use of your last name rather than Dr. L/n, regardless of how hard you had worked for that title. But to be quite fair, you weren't very fond of him either, so it was more of a mutual hate. There were probably a lot of reasons why he wasn't very big on you, but one of the most obvious had to be the fact that you played your music too loud while you worked. Far.. too loud.

"Of course sir. Um, Mr. Thalmann, would you mind stepping outside for a few moments? Me and Dean Yeager need to speak to eachother in private," You say, turning towards Theodore.

Theodore gives a nod and takes off his pair of gloves, placing them haphazardly on a nearby worktable then stepping outside of the lab, shutting the door.

"So, Ms. L/n, I wanted to inform you that you will no longer be working here at the university, I'm giving you a one month notice so that way you may pack all that you have and get out of here by then, is that understood?" Dean Yeager says, a shit eating grin on his face.

"Excuse me?" You say, after a few moments of silence.

"I said you are out of here in a month, fired, let go of, from the university, Ms. L/n," He repeats, venom laced in his voice.

"But wh-what am I supposed to do about Mr. Thalmann? I can't just tell him-" You stutter, still letting the fact you're being fired sink in.

"We will move him with Professor Dietz, someone that actually has a degree to teach, Ms. L/n". He says, cutting you off.

"But I've worked here for more than five years now, you can't just let me go. I graduated from this very University Mr. Yeager, for what reason do I deserve to be let go?" You say, anger becoming more prominent in your voice as you continue to speak.

"We are letting you go because of the constant loud music, because of the constant loss of electricity on the campus due to your failed experiments, because of your lack of necessity and funding of being here, Ms. L/n. We cannot continue to fund and pay you just for you to cause disruptions and only be useful to students if they are working under you as an intern. Even when you do have them, they only complain about how you do absolutely nothing in ways of teaching them, you are the issue, Ms. L/n."

The students don't think I teach them? But they've never complained.

The thought of the past interns you've had having bad thoughts about you and your ways of teaching them hurt far more then being fired. Sure, you got good pay from the university and your projects were funded, but the students wanting to come in and learn more about what you just so happen to love was the reason why you were still working there in the first place. And sure, you would sometimes blast music while showing and teaching them, but they never complained.

"The students never complain though, I do my absolute best to teach them Mr. Yeager, I don't underst-"

"That is the last of this conversation, Ms. L/n! You will be out of here in one month, and you will get no more students doing internships with you from right now to the day that you are completely gone from this place! Goodbye, Doctor." Dean Yeager says, walking out of the lab, shutting the door.

After a few moments Theodore comes back into the lab, slowly and gently closing the door.

"Ah, Mr. Thalmann, um there's going to be a change in plans for you with this internship unfortunately. I hope you don't mind but you'll be moved to go and work with Professor Dietz starting tomorrow, I do apologise," You say, straightening your back.

Theodore stays quiet for a minute, the air thick with awkwardness.

"What Dean Yeager said about all the other students disliking you and your teaching, I don't agree with him. I like your teaching and don't think its right of Dean Yeager to just fire you on the spot like that, Dr. L/n." Theodore says awkwardly, trying to lighten the mood of the room.

"Thank you, Mr. Thalmann, but unfortunately that still doesn't change my situation about my work here. I truly do appreciate all of your help and willingness to learn more, especially from me for these past couple of weeks. You're a great student and I'll be honest, I envy Professor Dietz for getting to teach you," You say, a slight smile on your face.

"Thank you, Dr. L/n, do you need any help cleaning up?" Theodore asks, taking the rubber gloves from the table and placing them next to yours.

"No, no, there's no need for that at all, you're free to go early today, thank you for the help Mr. Thalmann."

"Alright, thank you again for teaching me Doctor, I hope everything else goes well for you," Theodore puts the lab coat you let him borrow folded up onto a clear table, then leaves the lab.

You sit down in your rolly chair, clearly worn out as it was bought almost 8 years ago in the late 70s. Even with its rips and threads sticking out from it, as well as the black soot stains and worn cushions, it was still comfortable and somewhat soothing. It reminded you of when you first started working here, about a year after you graduated from the university. And now that you think about it it makes you a little upset that for the past 12 years now this university is all you knew.

Sure you had your own apartment and went out for groceries sometimes, but you never had friends that you still kept in touch with, so you never really went to bars or parties. And at this point having an apartment proved useless as most of the time you would fall asleep in your lab, you would eat in the university's cafeteria, and after that you would just get back to work and drown every other sound out with music from the radio or your cassette tapes.

You get up and grab your coat, leaving the lab to go outside.

You pat your pockets and pull out the cigarette tin, hoping you hadn't run out of any, and to your relief you had just two more left. Grabbing one out of the tin and placing it lightly hanging from your mouth, then lighting it and inhaling the smoke.

You make a mental note that you'll have to go to the drugstore and buy some more.

"What the hell am I gonna do now?" You mutter to yourself, taking another drag of your cigarette.

"Y/n? Is that you?"

You turn your head to see an old friend you hadn't been in touch with since you've graduated at this university.

"Ray?"

"It is you! Oh am I glad to see you. Its been, gosh, how many years now? How have you been? What are you doing here?" Ray says excitedly, asking a million questions all at once.

"Its so great to see you too, Ray. I've been okay these past years, and I work here actually." You say, giving a light chuckle.

Well, more so like you worked here.

"You work here?"

"Yeah, I've been working here since after we graduated actually, what are you doing in terms of a job?"

"I work here too actually, I'm surprised I never seen you around here. You remember Venkman and Spengler though?" He says, taking a half used cigarette out of his pocket.

"Yeah, how can I not remember Venkman, the guy constantly harassed and flirted with me until I graduated, kinda annoying. But I don't recall ever speaking to or interacting with Spengler though."

"Well I've actually been working with them two for a couple of years now, we're working on some equipment and studies to see if ghosts and entities are actually real, parapsychology you know. It would kinda make sense for you to not remember Spengler though, he was a quiet isolated sorta guy. Mind lending me your light?" Ray rambles on, gesturing for your lighter.

You hand him the lighter, taking another drag from your cigarette yourself as he lights his.

"That's neat, I honestly can't believe that I hadn't known you were here though, I would've loved to talk to you and hang out more after graduation," You say, grabbing your lighter back from Ray.

"We should go out for drinks sometime! It'd be a great way to catch up with eachother, I could bring the other guys too! Maybe all of us could ask you questions about our equipment. Given that I don't really know how to do it and all but you're the one that got a Doctoral in Computer Engineering and'll know a bit more than me, but mostly just to hang out with eachother again, like old times!" Ray says excitedly, a smile on his face.

"I'd love to go for drinks with you guys, not sure I'll be of any much use now though because I've just gotten fired by Yeager and have to move all my stuff out by a month from now, so studying and doing experiments are not something I'll get to work on for a while now," You chuckle, putting your cigarette out on the palm of your hand.

"Oh thats such a shame, Y/n I'm sorry that happened. It seems like Yeager has got a grudge on you too, huh?" Ray says sympathetically, putting a comforting hand on your shoulder.

"Yeah but honestly, I totally deserved it. Do you remember those series of blackouts throughout the campus that would happen twice a week? Those were all me and it took him 5 years to get sick of it and finally fire my ass,"

You laugh, now feeling a bit better about the loss, mostly because you get to speak with Ray again.

"I heard from some of the other professors that the cause was coming from the engineering and computer science halls, it reminded me of you in a way, and it seems I was right about it!" Ray laughs, letting out a dry cough afterwards.

God, Ray has always had such bad smoking problems. I can't say all that much though because that'd be too hypocritical but that cough is starting to get worse.

You two continue talking a while longer, forgetting how long you've been out there until hearing all the ruckus from the students getting released from their classes.

"I should get going now, Peter and Egon are probably wondering where I went by now. Oh! How can I get in touch with you by the way?" Ray says, turning back around toward you.

"I'm usually over here in my lab but it seems it won't be like that much longer, but here's the number for my home telephone, call me if you need or want to plan anything and if I don't answer leave me a message for my answer box," You say, pulling out a notepad and pen from your pocket, scribbling the number down, ripping out the page and handing it to Ray.

"Thanks Y/n, I'll remember to call you later on! Sorry about the whole getting fired thing, by the way, but I hope we see more of eachother. I'll talk to you later!" Ray says, taking the paper and waving goodbye as he runs off to a different area of the university.

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

Once you were back into the lab, you looked around to see what you should start packing. You didn't have much space at your apartment so you would either probably have to rent out a storage unit or call your parents to see if they could store some of it in their attic at home.

First I need to get boxes, and then a bunch of bubble wrap and foam so none of my equipment or computers break. I'll have to go and buy some from the post office.

You go and grab your keys and head back outside of your lab, locking the door before you leave. Walking to your car, you take your keys and unlock the door of it.

As you sit down and turn the key it stalls, taking a few more tries before it finally starts. I really gotta get a new car or at least get it checked out.

You start to drive to the nearest post office, and due to the horrible New York traffic it took you about 20 minutes to get to it even if it was only half a mile away. But that's what you got yourself into deciding to move to one of the most populated states in the US.

You park, grab your wallet, lock your car, and proceed into the post office.

You see the large amount of people in there, checking their post boxes, mailing out letters, and waiting to get their packages accepted to be sent out.

You walk to the area they have the boxes set up, grabbing a few medium sized ones and proceeding to the shortest line so you can purchase them. Once finally at the front, you place the flattened boxes onto the table.

"Hello, just these and also, do you guys have the big rolls of bubble wrap?" You say to the man at the desk, who already looked far too tired.

The man nodded and pulled out a large roll of bubble wrap, placing it on top of the boxes.

"Is that all, ma'am?"

You nod, taking your wallet out of your coat pocket so that way you have your money ready.

The man punches numbers into his machine, looking at each thing on the desk as he does so.

"That'll be $21.47, ma'am."

You take 22 dollars out of your wallet, handing them to the man as he takes it, placing the bills into the register and grabbing a few coins for your change and handing them and the receipt to you.

You thank the man and take the boxes and bubble wrap with you, struggling slightly at how awkward it was to hold the 10 flat boxes and bubble wrap in your arms.

You open the trunk of your car, putting the boxes and bubble wrap in, just barely fitting to where you can close the trunk door.

God, this is gonna suck.

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I literally wrote all of this in about 7 maybe 9 hours total because I just thought up something and was like, "oh yeah, this'll be great," and that's at least what I'm hoping now. I want this to kinda be slow burn and I know that's what I always say when I do series, and I never finish them, but I am really hoping I'll be able to do more with this then my other failed attempts at series [if I take longer than a month to get another chapter of this out I want you all to yell at me and tell me to finish it]

Word count; 2,769

[emeraldspiral]

So from what I understand, the initial pitch for Invader Zim was that the main source of comedy was Zim thinking posing as an elementary school student was the best use of his time as a spy and making leaps of logic based on his lack of cultural knowledge. And we did certainly see stuff like that happen in the show, but I think over time there was a shift to more episodes focusing on the Zim/Dib rivalry or things going on in space that didn’t feature the skool setting at all or didn’t revolve around cultural misunderstandings to drive the plot. IDK if they did more of that in the comics, but here’s some ideas I feel were missed opportunities. Not including anything obvious like “skool dance” episode, or “forced to work with Dib on a project”.

1 - An episode that’s just Zim and Dib narrating short stories they wrote for a creative writing assignment. It might be low-hanging fruit for them to both write the same story of a real incident between them from either of their perspectives, or a self-insert wish-fulfillment fantasy about defeating one another. I kinda like the idea of Dib writing the kind of story he himself would enjoy, like a noir-style detective story with a supernatural twist or gothic horror ghost story. Zim would just copy a story told to him by GIR, which itself is a mangled retelling of something that happened on TV that neither of them actually understand, but no matter how ridiculous and nonsensical the plot was he’d read it like it was Shakespeare.

2 - Similarly, an episode that’s just Zim giving an oral presentation on a historical figure or event, but he gets a ton of stuff wrong due to misinterpretation, or mixing up factual sources with like, a historical fantasy. Like if he read TF2 lore and told the class that stairs were invented by Abraham Lincoln.

3 - Zim gets an exam/report card back and finds out he’s performing poorly, which makes him question whether he’s learned anything at all from all the time he’s spent gathering intel. He decides to put his plans for conquest on hold to spend more time studying, except he’s not studying anything actually assigned by the skool and nothing he learns is on his next test or useful for conquering the humans.

4 - Alternatively, Zim is warned that because of all his absences and poor performance he’s at risk of being expelled. Dib mocks him for it at the first, but then decides he’d rather not have to worry about what Zim’s getting up to all day while he’s stuck in class, so he decides to help Zim break into the server room for the skool’s computer system so they can change his report card, but because this is Zimworld the security system is ridiculously over-the-top and the stakes are a like a Die Hard movie.

5 - The skool needs a team to represent for an academic decathlon. Zim signs up because he wants to show off his superior intellect and Dib joins the team to keep an eye on him (and prove his superior intellect). Zim and Dib are the math and science experts while their other teammates specialize in different subjects but everyone except Zim at least knows enough about the other subjects to mostly get the answers right if they’re forced to answer something outside their specialty. Unfortunately all the questions Zim and Dib know the answers to go to their less science-minded teammates and they get stuck with all the insane questions about skinning moose and other lectures from Ms. Bitters that they didn’t pay attention to.

Either that, or they keep getting quizzed about pop culture trivia they don’t know because they don’t keep up with mainstream television. Zim ends up getting a question right that wins the game however because he remembered it from some insufferable show GIR watches constantly and everyone treats him like a fucking genius for it. Dib meanwhile is treated like an idiot for getting all the stupid pop-culture questions wrong.

6 - The class has to read some classic lit out loud and Zim’s over-the-top dramatic narration leads to him being asked to audition for the skool play. Zim scores the lead role and gets way too into method acting. To the point where Dib can’t even tell if he legitimately thinks he’s the character or if he’s just doing it to mess with him.

7 - Zim joins a skool club and quickly usurps the club’s leadership and rules over the other members with an iron fist, twisting it from its original purpose into just being a club dedicated to serving his whims/messing with Dib. It all falls apart for some stupid reason like one member leaving and forcing the club to dissolve because it didn’t have enough members or some forms not being filled out correctly or budget issues forcing a bunch of clubs to shut down. Meanwhile, Dib tries to start a paranormal club but can’t get any members and gets kicked out of every other club he joins for trying to steer it away from whatever its original purpose was to make it about the paranormal.

8 - Baseball/team sports episode. Zim and Dib are both actually pretty decent so their team begrudgingly puts up with them. They let their rivalry get in the way at first and don’t pay any attention to the skool’s rival team talking trash about their skool. Even when it turns into an 80s cliche where the skool will actually be closed if they don’t win the game they don’t care because it is a shit skool and if it closes they’ll just go somewhere else. It’s only when one of the rival team members interrupts Zim and Dib in the middle of their own little pissing contest that they finally get their act together and start strategizing with the rest of their team. They win and finally get a taste of what it’s like to be appreciated momentarily for carrying the team until everyone else finds out their shitty skool is staying open because of them.

9 - Some Yu-Gi-Oh/Magic-type card game becomes really popular and Zim decides to get into it to blend in and find a way to exploit it to gain power over the humans. Dib naturally gets in on it too and they get way too serious about it. It either becomes an over-the-top parody of Yu-Gi-Oh and its hyper-realistic holograms and battle arenas that turn card games into genuine life-threatening experiences for participants and audiences alike, or it satirizes the satanic panic by having some kind of reveal that all the cards are actually possessed by real supernatural spirits and the games are part of some nefarious third party antagonist’s plot to overrun the world with demons or something.

[maccreadysbaby]

Project: Killcode

batfamily + oc insert

tw: none

wanna read more? here’s the table of contents!

want to read the first fic in the hundred days series so you understand what’s going on here? here it is!

bellamy and bentley actually make my heart hurt

part seventeen

❝ ONE AFTER ANOTHER ❞

MONDAY — JULY 23 — 10:54AM

BENTLEY MADE IT THROUGH MATH CLASS.

The whole thing was Dr… Mr. Keene giving a presentation about himself. He had two sons, instead of a daughter that he turned into a raging supervillain. He didn’t have a doctorate, he had a bachelors. He’d lived in New York City since he was in his early twenties — he didn’t live in Gotham, and he never had. In some of the pictures of his family, the Dr. Keene Bentley knew made appearances, standing alongside his brother when they were young. 

About halfway through the presentation, Bentley actually started believing it wasn’t him. But his… appearance was something he’d have to get used to.

Bentley was pretty jittery for the rest of the class, and Varian kept glancing over at him about every three seconds for the entire period, just to make sure he was okay. Which he was. He was fine. It wasn’t Dr. Keene, and all of that had happened three years ago, now. He should be over it… right? (Getting kidnapped, tortured in his own mind, shot, watching people die, seeing all of Gotham on fire, watching Asten’s heart literally flatline… he should be over it all. Right? Right?)

When the bell rang for them to go to fourth period, Bentley and Varian gathered their things and left the room in a blink, purposefully giving Mr. Keene no time to pull Bentley aside or try to speak to him.

Instead, they broke off for their next classes — and Bentley’s was beginner’s biology.

The science building was right next to the math building, so Bentley was one of the first few students to cross into the classroom. It was large, set up like the others — the blackboard at the front of the room had a huge, intricate chalk drawing of a cell and all its intricacies on it. There was a skeleton standing in the front corner with a Hawaiian skirt and lei, and a name tag labeled Bessie on its ribs.

There were only three other students in there, so Bentley pretty much got his pick of a table — he chose an unsuspecting one right in the middle of the room, not in the front, and not in the back. He just hoped no one random would sit with him.

The teacher was an older woman, with black hair cut into a bob and a very… serious aura about her. She was sitting at her desk with reading glasses perched precariously on her nose, staring at her computer screen with a strange intensity, wearing the same uniform as Ms. Heidi.

He didn’t say anything, nor did he do anything to draw attention to himself. He just pulled a green binder out of his backpack and put it on the table in front of him, silently hoping and praying he wouldn’t have to share the two-person desk with a stranger.

The bell hadn’t rang yet, so he pulled out his phone and held it sort of under the table — did they get in trouble for using them before class started? — and scrolled and tapped away mindlessly before he remembered he needed to look something up.

He typed Adora, California into his search bar, and was immediately greeted by several articles about…

Genocide?

He blinked a few times and turned his brightness down, tapping on the first article in the list.

Adora, California, was a small town right on the edge of Sacramento established just under fifteen years ago. It was inhabited largely by a very secretive cult who offered their allegiance and worship to an unnamed god of death. They lived “off the grid” as in no one born in that town has a physical birth certificate or social security, making them legally nonexistent.

Bentley cringed, skimming through the rest of the article quickly.

Three years ago, the entire town, save the children, was mass-murdered inside the temple of their worship building. No evidence of a physical killer have been found. Most are inclined to think they took part in a mass-suicide as tribute to their-

Bentley swiped the tab away, suddenly feeling kind of really weird and uncomfortable. Koa was from… he was born into… a cult? That was kind of weird. Or maybe he wasn’t because Bentley was pretty sure he was fifteen, and it said the town was established under fifteen years ago. He’d lived with a cult, then. That was super strange, because Koa acted completely, utterly normal -- not like cult people who were in the movies.

Bentley promptly remembered that Koa never talked about his parents, but about a young man who had custody of him. Obviously they’d survived the genocide, or suicide, or whatever. Maybe they-

Bentley shook his head, pushing it all far from his mind, because it was starting to make him feel weird. He… he guessed he’d just keep being friends with Koa like he didn’t know what Adora was -- after all, Bentley, too, had an insanely crazy past. It’d be kind of rude for him to judge Koa for his, especially since he wasn’t really supposed to know about it.

So he sat there and looked at the desk some more, and students began filing into the room at a more rapid pace. Bentley quickly glanced at each one that came in, pleased when they went to tables different from his own.

And then someone really little walked into the room.

Oh yeah, he suddenly remembered. He had biology with Bellamy.

He watched Bellamy’s brown eyes trail the room quickly as stepped inside, starting at the blackboard and traveling to  the skeleton, and then the desks, bouncing here and there before they finally landed on Bentley. He saw relief physically wash across his small features, and he pulled his backpack straps up tighter on his shoulders, making his way across the room toward his table. He glanced at the teachers desk; and Bentley didn’t miss the way he tensed at the sight of her and her threatening aura. (He didn’t really blame him.)

“Hey, Bellamy,” Bentley sent a smile in his direction, and Bellamy stepped up to the other side of the table, glancing down at it, then at Bentley, like he was asking for permission. 

“You can sit with me, if you want,” Bentley continued. Bellamy shrugged his bag off and sat down next to him without saying anything, sinking down into his chair with a long, shaky exhale. Bentley watched him carefully. “...You okay?”

“I’m tired,” Was the only answer he got, and he didn’t press for anything more. 

Bentley sat quiet for a few minutes, watching Bellamy glance at the teacher anxiously a few times, like she was going to come over there and personally stab him or something. She stood up from her desk and headed for the door -- Bellamy made himself smaller.

“Have you had a good day?” Bentley attempted a distraction, but it didn’t seem to help -- Bellamy just shrugged, his eyes lingering on the woman in the room. Bentley wasn’t sure what was going on, but he wasn’t a fan of the body language Bellamy was displaying. The same kind of body language Bentley used to have toward his own father.

“It's been fine,” He said softly, watching the teacher’s every move with hawk-like eyes. “I don’t like school.”

“I’m not sure many of us do,” Bentley replied, scooting his chair into the table more, keeping his gaze on Bellamy, the teacher in his peripheral. “Are you… feeling alright?”

“Mhm,” Bellamy replied. “Just tired.”

Bentley brought a hand up to rub at Bellamy’s back without thinking -- and he was sure his life flashed before his eyes at the speed the other boy jumped, so violently that it shook their entire desk and nearly knocked him out of his chair. His head snapped up and he looked over at Bentley incredulously, his brown eyes blown wide on his face, like he half-expected him to punch him or throw something at him or knock him flat out. 

“I’m sorry,” Bentley immediately blurted, drawing his hand back quickly like he’d been burned. He could feel a few eyes on them from around the room, but he didn’t pay them any mind; Instead, something inside of him twisted uncomfortably when he recognized the look in Bellamy’s eyes -- a far-off, detached kind of look, like he just knew something bad was going to happen, like he was… 

Like he was afraid of him.

“I’m sorry, Bellamy,” Bentley repeated, quieter. “I didn’t mean to scare you, I promise.”

Bellamy’s eyes fell, and he slowly began to relax, exhaling a breath that Bentley hadn’t noticed he was holding. “I’m… I’m sorry. I didn’t… mean to do that.”

“It's okay,” Bentley was quick to reply. Their teacher, who had apparently finished her duties in the hallway, came back into the classroom and closed the door with a loud wooden slam that shook the very walls. 

Bellamy flinched again, his eyes flying up to the door like he expected something terrible and murderous to come back through it, then flicking to the teacher like she was the terrible and murderous thing. He brought his hands up and around himself as a means of comfort, gripping his own blazer sleeves until his knuckles turned white. Bentley reached out to touch his arm, but stopped short when he realized that was stupid given his current state.

He gently asked: “Bellamy?” instead.

Bentley only then noticed that Bellamy’s hands were trembling, and his breathing was growing increasingly more ragged the longer they sat there. Bentley just sort of watched, unsure of what to do that wouldn’t freak him out even more -- and Bellamy dipped his head down close to the table, his shoulders shuddering. 

“Bellamy… hey, what is it?” Bentley tried, glancing up at the teacher, who was looking at them with distaste, her eyebrows raised above the metal rims of her glasses.

When Bellamy finally made a noise, it was a soft, muffled, telltale whimper in the back of his throat that sort of made Bentley want to kill someone.

He was crying.

Everything Bentley was thinking of seemed to leave his brain at the realization, and he reached for him again, only stopping when he remembered not to do that anymore. He forgot every single thing any Wayne had ever done for him when he was crying, and instead, his mind only seemed to reach back far enough to catalog what Varian had done during Bentley’s meltdown last period.

It seemed good enough.

“Hey… let's go in the hallway,” He tried, glancing around and catching a few of the pairs of eyes that were now resting on them. 

Thankfully, it wasn’t very hard to convince him. Bellamy stood without a second thought, and Bentley did, too, crossing the short distance between their table and the door. Bentley stayed to Bellamy’s right, between him and the woman, just for good measure, because he didn’t know what was going on and he didn’t like it.

As soon as they were in the hallway and away from prying eyes, Bentley closed the door. Bellamy took a few steps down the hall, closing in on himself more, his sobs becoming barely, pitifully audible.

(This kid was too much like Bentley for his own good.)

“Bellamy…” He tried again, taking a few steps to follow him. “What’s wrong? Do you know her?”

He vaguely saw Bellamy shake his head no, but he was pretty much shaking all over, so Bentley wasn’t so sure about it. What he was sure about was how painfully lost he felt, having to take over the role of the help-someone-feel-better-er, the one role that was pretty much never left to him back at home simply because he was the youngest.

He wiped his hands on his pants. “You can tell me, Bell.”

“I’m…” Bellamy started, hiccuping lightly, still facing away from Bentley. “I… don’t know. I don’t know what’s wrong.”

“That’s okay, too,” Bentley said, stepping forward again. 

Bellamy turned to look at him and Bentley frowned — his brown eyes were wide and pooling with tears that were steaming down his face, making dots on his blazer. He hiccuped suddenly, bringing his hands up toward his eyes in an attempt to hide it. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t say sorry, it’s okay,” Bentley replied quietly, glancing around the fancy hallway, glad it was empty. “What do you need?”

Without speaking a word, Bellamy stepped forward until he collided with him gently, synching his arms tightly around Bentley’s back.

Bentley fought the urge to gasp, instead, bringing his arms up and around him in return. 

“I don’t know… what’s wrong with me,” He sniffled, his voice muffled as his face was hidden away in Bentley’s blazer.

“Nothing,” Bentley was quick to reply. “All of this, Redwood, it’s… overwhelming. Even for me. It’s okay to… need a minute. I did the same thing last period, believe it or not.”

Bellamy seemed to relax a little when he said that, tightening his hold a little more, sniffling and hiccuping quietly against Bentley’s shoulder. 

(He wondered if it was a form of torture that was being bestowed upon him, rooming him with a kid who was just like him in so many ways — and not the good ones. Like he was having to deal with himself. If the nightmares weren’t reminiscent enough of Bentley’s past relationship with sleep, Bellamy’s uncanny ability to have some kind of a nervous breakdown maybe only an hour after Bentley did certainly said something about them… but Bentley wasn’t sure what.)

Bellamy sniffled deeply. “My head hurts.”

Suddenly, a door opened and closed behind them, and Bellamy went rigid.

“Is everything okay?” The teacher’s voice came, and Bentley glanced over Bellamy’s head to where she was, standing next to the door with a faintly worried expression on her face. Bentley felt Bellamy grip tightly onto the back of his blazer, and all big dig his head into his shoulder so he couldn’t see her, and for some reason, Bentley couldn’t bring himself to like the woman.

“First day nerves,” Bentley replied curtly, glancing back down at Bellamy’s head. “He’s… okay with me, we might just need a few minutes.”

She nodded once, frowning at Bellamy’s trembling figure. “Yes… take your time.” 

Then she disappeared back into the classroom.

Bellamy hiccuped lightly again, his hold not loosening. “I want to go to my room.”

Bentley but his lip, glancing around the hallway as though the wainscoted walls would give him a proper answer. He breathed in and out, smoothing down the hair on the back of Bellamy’s head.

“I…” He started, trailing off, unsure of what exactly to say. He didn’t think he needed to endorse Bellamy skipping class, but he didn’t just want to peer pressure him into something that made him uncomfortable, either. (If he was anything like Bentley, peer pressure didn’t actually take much pressure.) “I… I’ll be with you the whole time. And I’m pretty sure lunch is right after this, and we can ask the others if you have any classes with them for the rest of the day. I’m sure they won’t mind letting you sit with them.”

Bellamy sniffled, but said nothing. So Bentley just stayed in the hallway with him for a while, pondering what his reaction to the teacher could’ve meant.

His fathers voice from so many years ago told him that he had to pay just as much attention to what people didn’t say, as he did to what they did say.

So quietly (and probably reading too far into the conversation), he wondered why, when he was clearly in distress, Bellamy said he wanted to go to his room, rather than saying he wanted to go home.

--

tag list! (If you want me to remove or add you, ask in comments!)

@fleur-alise @sarcopterygiian @flyrobinflyy @gayboss-too-close-to-the-sun

@xiaonothere @skylathescholarly @beatyoutothatusernameloser

[xtruss]

Evelyn Berezin in 1976 at the Long Island office of her company Redactron. She developed one of the earliest word processors and helped usher in a technological revolution. Evelyn Berezin said her word processor would help secretaries become more efficient at their jobs. Photo By Barton Silverman/New York Times.

Evelyn Berezin, “Godmother of the Word Processor!” The Woman That Made Bill Gates and Steve Jobs Possible

Evelyn Berezin (1925-2018) was born in the Bronx to poor Russian-Jewish immigrants. Growing up, she loved reading science fiction and wished to study physics. She excelled at school and graduated two years early. Berezin had to wear make-up and fake her age to get a job at a research lab. She ended up studying economics because it was a more “fitting” subject for women at the time. During World War II, she finally received a scholarship to study physics at New York University. Berezin studied at night, while working full time at the International Printing Company during the day. She continued doing graduate work at New York University, with a fellowship from the US Atomic Energy Commission. In 1951, she joined the Electronic Computer Corporation, designing some of the world’s very first computers. At the time, computers were massive machines that could only do several specific functions.

Evelyn Berezin, “Godmother of the Word Processor.” Born: April 12, 1925, The Bronx, New York City, NY — Died: December 8, 2018, ArchCare at Mary Manning Walsh Nursing Home & Rehabilitation Center, New York, NY

Berezin headed the Logic Design Department, and came up with a computer to manage the distribution of magazines, and to calculate firing distances for US Army artillery. In 1957, Berezin transferred to work at Teleregister, where she designed the first banking computer and the first computerized airline reservation system (linking computers in 60 cities, and never failing once in the 11 years that it ran). Her most famous feat was in 1968 when she created the world’s first personal word processor to ease the plight of secretaries (then making up 6% of the workforce).

“Without Ms. Berezin There Would Be No Bill Gates, No Steve Jobs, No Internet, No Word Processors, No Spreadsheets; Nothing That Remotely Connects Business With The 21st Century.” — The Times of Israel (12 December 2018)

The following year, she founded her own company, Redactron Corporation, and built a mini-fridge-sized word processor, the “Data Secretary”, with a keyboard and printer, cassette tapes for memory storage, and no screen. With the ability to go back and edit text, cut and paste, and print multiple copies at once, Berezin’s computer freed the world “from the shackles of the typewriter”. The machine was an in instant hit, selling thousands of units around the world. Berezin’s word processor not only set the stage for future word processing software, like Microsoft Word, but for compact personal computers in general. It is credited with being the world’s first office computer. Not surprisingly, it has been said that without Evelyn Berezin “there would have been no Bill Gates, and no Steve Jobs”.

Evelyn Berezin Pioneered Word Processors and Butted Heads With Men! A ‘loud woman,’ she studied physics and found that to get to the top she had to start her own company. Evelyn Berezin later became a mentor to entrepreneurs, venture capitalist and director of companies. Photo: Berezin Family. Wall Street Journal

“Why Is This Woman Not Famous?” British Writer Gwyn Headley Wrote In A 2010 Blog Post. — The Times of Israel

Redactron grew to a public company with over 500 employees. As president, she was the only woman heading a corporation in the US at the time, and was described as the “Most Senior Businesswoman in the United States”. Redactron was eventually bought out by Burroughs Corporation, where Berezin worked for several more years. In 1980, she moved on to head a venture capital group investing in new technologies. Berezin served on the boards of a number of organizations, including Stony Brook University and the Brookhaven National Laboratory, and was a sought-after consultant for the world’s biggest tech companies.

She was a key part of the American Women’s Economic Development Corporation for 25 years, training thousands of women in how to start businesses of their own, with a success rate of over 60%. In honour of her parents, she established the Sam and Rose Berezin Endowed Scholarship, paying tuition in full for an undergraduate science student each year. Sadly, Berezin passed away earlier this month. She left her estate to fund a new professorship or research centre at Stony Brook University. Berezin won multiple awards and honourary degrees, and was inducted into the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame.

[catboybiologist]

Hey! Kinda a weird ask but I saw ur a PhD student and I was wondering if u had any tips for people who want to peruse that path. (I’m in CS so I imagine it’s a bit different, but I’m sure there’s at least some overlap: networking, applications, etc).

Also ur posts are really great and spark joy whenever I see them, so thank you for that :)

As far as computer science is concerned, I would also tell you to seriously ask yourself if you want a PhD in the subject. Is your goal to get a stable, high paying job in tech that lets you live your life otherwise? Or is your job to find satisfaction in the work itself, doing research on novel algorithms or applying CS to novel problems?

Technically, I have an MS in computer science (yay bioinformatics) but obviously my experience was far different, and my lab was a biology lab that I just did coding for. So my CS experience fell into applying simple CS stuff to novel biology applications. Others I knew were deep into AI development for specific functions. But the point is, you're not really rolling out a product- you're still doing research. If that's not your goal, then it might be wise to stop at a Master's degree. Most people I know in CS have been told that it's pretty pointless to get a PhD in it unless you're going for academia.

If you do want to go for a PhD, the absolute number one thing is to start undergraduate research as soon as possible. Less important for a CS PhD, but absolutely critical in the conventional wet lab sciences. As in, *this is more important than your gpa*, and most people can't comprehend that. I was incredible lucky (and yes, it was mostly luck) to get an undergraduate research position halfway through my freshman year. Every single career step I've made since then starts from that. This includes networking (collaborating research and getting to conferences) , applications (many applications require you to write a summary of your past research), letter of recommendation writers (LoRs from research advisors are very strong), and even just preparing you for what research is like.

If you've already done that, then graduate applications change so frequently and are so distinct at each university that I can't give any specific advice. Maybe try to seriously think about who your letter writers are in advance- who are the professors you've interacted with in ways beyond the classroom, or exceeded expectations within it?

To be fair, in pure CS, that'll be WAY less crucial. It'll still be useful bc it'll be the same kind of experience you would get in a CS PhD, so you would set your expectations better. I would still recommend it.

I hope this is at least a little helpful! Again, I'm coming from a mostly-bio with a dash of CS perspective here, so of course listen to your own professors and other mentors more.