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sjsmith56 · 1 year ago

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Lord Buchanan, Chapter 29 - The Danger

Summary: An approaching asteroid sends everyone into frantic preparations. Bruce leaves for a missile silo to program the missile to intercept, while Ileana prepares to defend the castle against extremists.

Length: 4.2 K

Characters: Lady Buchanan, Bruce, Wallis, Tom.

Warnings: ignorant people putting others in jeopardy

<<Chapter 28

☄️ 🏰

After Rhodes and Quin left, Ileana returned to the castle where she was summoned by Bruce. He was almost frantic and asked where Buchanan was. When she explained he swore vehemently.

"There is a good chance we will be hit by another asteroid," he said. "I just received notice on the radio from Sam. There is another one headed for us. We have until tomorrow noon but this one is coming directly at us, not at an angle like the other one. We need to get people prepared to take cover."

"Is there time to program a missile to hit it above the atmosphere?" she asked.

"Possibly," he said. "I'm going on the ham radio right away and contacting the Western Plains scientists for the latest data. In the meantime, I would urge you to sound the alarm."

Ileana ran back out to Wallis and told him what had been learned. He promised to send out the word and encourage people to stock food and strengthen their homes. There had been a groundswell of offers from tenant farmers and the like to send labourers on to warn others after the last encounter. She told him that she would try to get a better idea of the time frame as soon as she could. Another warning system that was suggested after the previous event was the unfurling of a bright red flag on top of the castle. She gave orders that it be flown then summoned the castle staff to the reception room.

"Dr. Banner has advised me of a warning of another asteroid approaching the planet," she announced. "The red flag has been put up, and Acting Commander Wallis is sending out what soldiers he can to warn the tenants. Board up the windows and begin setting up beds and bedding in the lower levels of the castle for people to sleep on. We can probably expect some people to come here for shelter so we must have food and water ready for them."

"Where is Lord Buchanan and Commander Rhodes?" asked one of them. "Shouldn't they be here?"

"They left on an emergency this afternoon before the warning was given," she replied. "I can only hope they are able to return soon. Now please prepare yourselves."

She was satisfied to see everyone take her warning seriously and went to the room where the ham radio had been set up. Bruce was already there, talking to the Western Plains scientists who were running the latest figures into the computer. What they came back with was alarming but also provided some hope. He would have time to program one of the missiles. They suggested the one that was furthest from the castle, in Baroness Romanoff's lands, was in the best position to intercept. If he left immediately, moving as quickly as possible, he would have time to input the changes. If the numbers were accurate it would break the space rock into several significantly smaller pieces, that would likely explode high enough in the atmosphere that the effect of the blasts would barely reach the ground. Bruce signed off and looked at her.

"I have to go," he said. "Do me a favour. Contact Silas Brenson. I'll need his help at their missile. If I run I can get there in an hour and program the missile to intercept it. Wish me luck."

He ran out of the room as Ileana went to the window. When he appeared in the courtyard, she watched with disbelief as he jumped over the courtyard wall and began running in great leaps and bounds through the countryside. She watched until he was out of sight. Returning to the radio room she contacted the Land of the Ancient Mountains on their frequency. To her relief, Silas answered and she relayed Bruce's message. They had also received the warning and were preparing their tenants for the blast. Silas promised to go to the missile and wait for Bruce, signing off with promising words.

"It will be alright, Lady Buchanan. We will send the missile and hope the ancient's handiwork has withstood the test of time."

The day turned into evening, followed by the night. Bruce had not returned, nor had he contacted them by radio. Ileana stayed in the radio room and directed that a bed be brought in for her so the station could be manned. Mary brought her food and coffee, asking if there were any word.

"None," replied Ileana. "The preparations ... are they complete?"

"Yes M'Lady," replied Mary. "We are as ready as we can be. Even though I wish Lord Buchanan were here you have handled the situation as well as he would have. Your calm directions were exactly what everyone needed."

"I don't feel calm," admitted Ileana. "I'm afraid of the asteroid and worried about James. It was unlike him to ride off without a word. I fear whatever force affected Sky has affected the wolf within him."

"He told me the Sorceress impressed upon him the desire to always return to you," said Mary. "If he has become the wolf again he will return to his mate, of that I am sure."

The older woman took Ileana's hand while she said the words to her and Ileana returned the sentiments with a smile. She said nothing to the older woman that her smile felt false due to the fears that lay within her. Still, she appreciated Mary's attempt to comfort her. At least, now that they had Livia, there was an heir to the Buchanan estate, and the Barnes' line would continue. It was late when radio crackled with a call, and Bruce's voice came over the speaker. She responded with relief.

"Bruce, did you get there in time? Over," said Ileana.

"Yes, I did," he replied. "I've programmed the missile with the numbers. Silas is going to stay with me as it takes two of us to launch with the fail safes that they built in. We will launch tomorrow morning at 10:32. It should hit the asteroid several hundred miles up minutes later. Make sure everyone is under cover. The flash alone can blind people even though it will happen far over the northern ocean. I'm sending this message out to everyone and it will be relayed further along but I need you to contact the other ham radio and let them know. Over."

"Okay, I'll contact them now," said Ileana. "Stay safe, Bruce. Over and out."

Ileana sat in front of the ham radio and followed the instructions for contacting the other radio. They responded and she gave them Bruce's message. It was acknowledged and they signed off, leaving her to consider whether she had done everything possible to prepare. Feeling constrained, Ileana loosened her corset, then took it off entirely. Taking the battery light with her she checked on Livia, thankful to have Mary to make sure her daughter was tucked in, while she handled all the emergency preparations. The older woman seemed to have made sure everything was locked down already, filling Ileana with a sense of gratitude. What would she do without the housekeeper? A wave of emotion come over Ileana as she recalled how she had agonized about staying in this world with James, wondering if she could ever get used to the strangeness and the old fashioned ways. But even with the discovery of modern machinery and the inventions that had followed it was the people who made her feel at home. This place was home; this castle, this estate and its people were her world. With that knowledge warming her Ileana returned to the radio room and laid on the bed that Mary had arranged for her. She turned off the battery light and eventually slept.

"Ileana, my love," said James, his blue eyes boring into her. "Speak to me, my beauty."

"James," whispered Ileana. "Where are you?"

"I'm safe," he answered. "They know. The wolves know the land is in danger. They've been rounding up the animals and taking them to safety. I'm with them now. Sky is such an incredible creature. He knew me right away. I sense his thoughts. He chose us, Ileana, that night in the mountain hut. My wolf appeared to him in a vision and invited him to be in our pack. It is why he sought us out in the forest and followed us."

"James, they're looking for you, in the forest," said Ileana. "Rhodes and Quin. They search for you."

"No ... it's not safe," said James, fear in his voice. "I'll have to search them out and bring them here. I'll make the others accept them, even though they are human. Have you prepared the people for it?"

"Yes, we're prepared. They're going to send a missile at it," she whispered in her sleep. "Bruce and Silas have programmed a missile to intercept it high above the atmosphere over the northern ocean. Tomorrow, at 10:32."

"Once the danger is over I will come back to you," he said, his blue eyes still intent on her. "Sky and I will return, I promise."

"James...," whispered Ileana. "Don't leave me again."

"Never," he replied, then he showed his face, his white fur striking against his blue eyes. "Even if I am forever a wolf, I will never leave you."

She saw him completely now, a large white wolf, the colour of snow, his blue eyes burning into hers. He was in the forest, in the mist, then he turned and ran back into the trees, his body blending in with the foggy background.

"James," she whispered once more, but he was gone.

Ileana woke up with a start, the dream fresh in her mind. There was no doubt that James had spoken to her across the distance. She got out of the bed and looked out the window at where the dawn was already sending its orange ribbon across the horizon. The memory of the morning after their wedding night came to her when she saw the ribbon across the far sky, signalling that James would leave her for war in a short time. This time, maybe it signalled his return to her once more. Feeling the need to change into her leathers she looked out the door to see if there was anyone who could stay with the radio. Buchanan's dresser, Tom, was coming up the stairs and she beckoned to him.

"Are you familiar with the operation of the radio, Tom?" she asked.

"I have seen it in operation but have not used it," he admitted.

She showed him how to respond, to send and receive, and to end each sent transmission with the word "Over" to signal to the other party that it was their turn to talk. He took it all in and she left him there with the promise she would return as quickly as she could. Then taking off at a run she returned to her quarters, quickly stripped her clothes off and left them draped on the chaise lounge chair. After putting her undergarments on she pulled on her breeches, then her tunic, vest and jacket. She fastened her scabbard and pulled her sword partially out of its sheath, then quickly inserted it back in and fastened it to the belt. Quickly she braided her hair in a single French braid then ran back to the radio room. Tom was still at the station but said there had been no calls.

"Can you go and awaken Wallis, and Mary, and see if Cook can send some food up to me," she requested. "They will send a missile up this morning to intercept the asteroid. I want everyone indoors because when it hits the target the light it generates will blind a person's eyes. Now go, please."

After he left, she waited some more, before receiving a call from the palace. "Palace to Buchanan," said the voice. "Respond please."

"Lady Buchanan here, over," she responded.

"I need to speak with Buck," said King Steven. "There is word of a pending attack by the extremists and he needs to get Rhodes to prepare, over."

"He's not here," replied Ileana. "He was drawn to the forest by his inner wolf and has transformed. The wolves know about the danger and have been pulling all the animals to a place of safety. He sent me a dream message. Rhodes and Quin are searching for him and now he has to go out and find them before the missile destroys the asteroid, over."

"Damn!" replied the King. "I would send you a unit of Guards but they would be out in the open when it happens. Barricade the silo and yourselves. I believe they plan to destroy what they can. With any luck they will see the Ancient Mountains silo launch and understand the danger. I'll see if the Sorceress can create a spell that confounds the extremists but I don't know if her powers extend that far, over."

"We'll manage somehow," said Ileana. "Thanks for the warning. You received Bruce's instructions? Over."

"Yes, he called us last night," replied the King. "As soon as it is safe I will send help, I promise. Over and out."

Within minutes Mary had arrived and Ileana instructed her to gather in as many people as possible into the castle, while passing on the time of the launch. Just as Mary left Wallis arrived and Ileana shared the warning from the King. He swore, then begged her forgiveness for his crude language.

"We will set up the barricades at the entrance to the courtyard and again blocking access to the castle," he said. "Can you radio the silo? If they can get Farmer Patrick and his sons to help they are big enough men to scare off many. Do you think we should close the silo doors and lock them?”

"Yes, I will order it," said Ileana. "We need that missile and the computers that can launch it to remain intact. Wallis, they plan to launch the missile at mid-morning, 10:32. It is important that everyone be indoors before it reaches its target or they could be blinded by the blast. Even the extremists. If they don't take cover they may pay the price of their ignorance."

He bowed quickly and ran from the castle shouting instructions to the soldiers still left. They conscripted the stable and grounds staff to secure all the animals indoors and begin building barricades to the castle. Several rows were constructed starting out on the paths that would force the intruders into the bogs. Then Wallis mounted his horse and began riding for the nearest farm to start the warnings. Ileana got on the radio and called the silo, instructing the soldiers there to get Farmer Patrick and his family into the silo with them and secure his son's help to defend the installation. When she signed off, an apprentice from the kitchen arrived with her breakfast, placing it on the table next to the radio. She didn't leave right away which made Ileana look at her with concern.

"Lady Buchanan," she said, then burst into tears.

Ileana stood up and hugged her, soothing her. "You're afraid aren't you?" she said. "So am I. I was in the King's palace when Prince Loke sent a force against us and I feel as afraid now as I was then. All you can do is accept that you're afraid but to continue to do your best. That's all any of us can do. Now go back to the kitchen. Cook will look after you."

The young woman nodded and returned to the kitchen. Ileana checked the time piece for what seemed like the hundredth time, watching its pendulum swing. As it got closer to the time of launch she wondered if the missile would be enough and with a grim laugh thought of how she viewed nuclear missiles in her home world. There were the sounds of yelling coming from outside, drawing her attention to the window. A small but significant crowd of men were attempting to break through the barriers at the entrance to the courtyard. The grounds and stable staff were trying to keep them back, but several managed to break through. Ileana barricaded the door and drew her sword, determined to be the last line of defence if they reached the radio room. There were sounds of yelling and fighting coming from within the castle then there was quiet. A knocking on her door filled her with both adrenaline and exhilaration.

"Stay back!" she yelled. "I am armed and I will use force to defend this room."

"M'Lady, it's me, Tom!" said the voice, that she recognized. "We have repelled them. The few who survive have run away, like the cowards they are."

Trusting in Tom's voice, Ileana removed the barricade and opened the door. Tom entered, accompanied by Cook with a frying pan in her hand. Both had rips in their clothes and seemed agitated but were unharmed.

"My word that was exhilarating," exclaimed Cook. "I hit several in the face with my pan and they were like little children, running off to find their mams, and weep at her knees. Tom, here, led the house staff against those villains. The Battle at Buchanan Castle is how we'll tell this story to our bairns, eh Tom?"

Ileana grasped both of them, hugging the pair with all of her emotion. "You fought them off?" she asked.

Just at that moment the radio crackled, with a broadcast to all from the missile silo in the Ancient Mountains. Silas' voice came over the broadcast.

"The missile has been launched. Take cover immediately."

Tom and Cook both looked at her and ran back out to announce that everyone must take cover. Ileana leaned out of the window and yelled down to the stable staff to take cover as the missile was launched. She could see its fire far in the west rising up into the sky and arcing towards its target. Running out of the radio room she called for her daughter then heard Mary's voice calling to her from a closet. Opening the door she saw Mary cradling Livia. Slipping inside with both of them, she held Livia close to her chest while Mary held them both. A great flash of light lit up the inside of the closet as if it were day then the light dimmed.

"Stay here," ordered Ileana, after kissing Livia, and touching Mary's hand.

She opened the closet door then went up the stairs that led to the top battlements. Far to the north she saw a glowing ball like another sun that slowly dissipated but left a glow of yellow orange that resembled aurora. She had expected the tell tale mushroom cloud, but it wasn't visible, and she wondered if it worked, if the missile had hit its target. Tom appeared by her side to say there was a broadcast coming from the radio. He looked at the glowing in the north then pointed out what looked like a meteor shower as trails of meteors began hitting the atmosphere. All of them burned up well before they hit the ground. Ileana returned to the radio room and listened to the broadcast.

"We have confirmed with the telescope that the asteroid has been destroyed," said Silas' voice. "The missile has destroyed the asteroid. It is safe to come out. Repeat, the asteroid has been destroyed. Any meteor trails you see in the sky are but small remnants."

Both Ileana and Tom ran through the castle telling people it was safe. Mary came out of hiding with Livia and both women embraced. Ileana took her daughter, hurrying down the grand staircase out into the courtyard spreading the news. The stable staff came out and began cheering, lifting their raised fists to the sky. Several of the men who had been knocked out trying to storm the castle looked up from the ground, demanding to know what had happened. Ileana ordered them held and grouped together.

"You foolish men," she said scornfully. "So proud of your ignorance that you wear it like a badge of honour. What has happened is a missile hit the incoming asteroid before it hit our world. It has destroyed it, rendered it harmless, no thanks to you and your kind. Begone now and never show your face here in these lands again. You are banished."

"You are not the Lord," said one with a sneer. "I will not take orders from a mere woman."

Wallis stepped forward and slapped the man with his glove. "You insult M'Lady in our presence. Begone or accept the challenge I have just issued you with a slap. If I or any of my garrison see you in these lands or those adjoining, William Banes, the order will be given to run you through with a rapier. M'Lady, do you concur?"

"I do Wallis," she said. "Take your lives and go. It is your only opportunity."

Some turned tail and ran immediately. Some like William Banes grumbled and slowly walked away. Wallis assigned two guardsmen to follow closely on horseback and make sure the men left. Then he turned to Ileana.

"I know all their names, M'Lady," he said. "I will give them to the historian to be written up and posted around the estate and those lands adjoining that they are to be given no shelter or work. Fools indeed."

Ileana gave the order to change the red flag to the green flag and several men went up to send the signal that all was well. As the stable and grounds staff began dismantling the barricades she returned to the radio room where she contacted the Palace, advising them that all the attackers had been repelled. The King still insisted on sending a complement of King's Guard knowing that Buchanan's garrison had been stretched with guarding the silo, estimating their arrival by late afternoon. He also told her of a travelling celebration being planned kingdom wide for the successful defence against the asteroid. After they signed off there were more cheers from outside the courtyard. Ileana looked out the window to see that Bruce had arrived. She ran down to see him surrounded by smiling faces and being hailed as a hero.

"You might as well take the accolades," she called out to him, as he seemed reluctant to accept their hails.

"All I did was input some numbers and push a button," he said bashfully. "Hardly hero material. I should have been here giving those extremists a taste of their own medicine."

"Wallis, Tom and the staff had it in hand," she replied. "Have you eaten yet? I'm sure Cook can make up something for you."

"Aye," he said, then stopped himself with a smile. "I sounded like one of the locals just then. This place is finally growing on me, I guess. I can wait until lunch. Any word from Rhodes?"

She shook her head, unwilling to discuss it in front of the staff. Turning back to the door she went inside and Bruce followed her to the radio room. Mary had already removed the cot and a chair for Bruce was placed in the room.

"I dreamed of James," she said. "He spoke to me to say the wolves knew of the asteroid and had taken it upon themselves to get all the creatures of the forest to safety. Then he showed himself as the white wolf. He said he would always return to me even if he remained as the wolf forever."

"There have always been theories that animals sense a natural disaster well before humans do," mused Bruce. "We would do well to heed their warnings in the future. They didn't do it for the one that went overhead but this one was extinction level event and they knew."

Bruce told Ileana to see to the castle as he was going to contact everyone and give a brief summary of the event. Then he was going to contact the Western Plains kingdom and advise them of the accuracy of their plotting of the asteroid's path. The correct trajectory of the missile had made all the difference. First Ileana returned to her room and let Beth draw her a shallow bath. As Beth hung her leathers up and laid fresh clothes out for her, Ileana began to consider what it would mean if James returned in wolf form, unable to be restored to a human. She would have to run the estate as regent for Livia until she was eighteen. All the doubts and fears she had when she first landed here began returning to her mind. Was she strong enough to do it? In a world dominated by men could she hold her own? Then she heard James' voice in her head.

"We are returning, my love," was all he said.

Chapter 30>>

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#bucky barnes #bucky barnes fanfiction #buckybarnes original female character #medieval bucky #bucky barnes au #james buchanan barnes au #white wolf #extinction level event #asteroid #civil unrest

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knick-nudiex · 4 months ago

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The cycle of abuse is a social cycle theory developed in 1979 by Lenore E. Walker to explain patterns of behavior in an abusive relationship. The phrase is also used more generally to describe any set of conditions which perpetuate abusive and dysfunctional relationships, such as abusive child rearing practices which tend to get passed down. Walker used the term more narrowly, to describe the cycling patterns of calm, violence, and reconciliation within an abusive relationship. Critics suggest the theory was based on inadequate research criteria, and cannot therefore be generalized upon.

Overview

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Lenore E. Walker interviewed 1,500 women who had been subject to domestic violence and found that there was a similar pattern of abuse, called the "cycle of abuse".[1] Initially, Walker proposed that the cycle of abuse described the controlling patriarchal behavior of men who felt entitled to abuse their wives to maintain control over them. She used the terms "the battering cycle" and "battered woman syndrome". Terms like "cycle of abuse" have been used instead for different reasons: to maintain objectivity; because the cycle of abuse doesn't always lead to physical abuse; because symptoms of the syndrome have been observed in men and women, and are not confined to marriage and dating. Similarly, Dutton (1994) writes, "The prevalence of violence in homosexual relationships, which also appear to go through abuse cycles is hard to explain in terms of men dominating women."[2]

The cycle of abuse concept is widely used in domestic violence programs, particularly in the United States. Critics have argued the theory is flawed as it does not apply as universally as Walker suggested, does not accurately or completely describe all abusive relationships, and may emphasize ideological presumptions rather than empirical data.[3]

Phases

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The cycle usually goes in the following order, and will repeat until the conflict is stopped, usually by the survivor entirely abandoning the relationship[citation needed] or some form of intervention.[4] The cycle can occur hundreds of times in an abusive relationship, the total cycle taking anywhere from a few hours to a year or more to complete. However, the length of the cycle usually diminishes over time so that the "reconciliation" and "calm" stages may disappear,[citation needed] violence becomes more intense and the cycles become more frequent.[4]

1: Tension building

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Stress builds from the pressures of daily life, like conflict over children, marital issues, misunderstandings, or other family conflicts. It also builds as the result of illness, legal or financial problems, unemployment, or catastrophic events, like floods, rape or war.[4] During this period, the abuser feels ignored, threatened, annoyed or wronged. The feeling lasts on average several minutes to hours, although it may last as long as several months.[5]

To prevent violence, the victim may try to reduce the tension by becoming compliant and nurturing. Alternatively, the victim may provoke the abuser to get the abuse over with, prepare for the violence or lessen the degree of injury. However, the abuser is never justified in engaging in violent or abusive behavior.[5]

2: Incident

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During this stage, the abuser attempts to dominate their victim. Outbursts of violence and abuse occur which may include verbal abuse[4] and psychological abuse.[5]

In intimate partner violence, children are negatively affected by having witnessed the violence, and the partner's relationship degrades as well. The release of energy reduces the tension, and the abuser may feel or express that the victim "had it coming" to them.[4]

3: Reconciliation

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The perpetrator may begin to feel remorse, guilty feelings, or fear that their partner will leave or call the police. The victim feels pain, fear, humiliation, disrespect, confusion, and may mistakenly feel responsible.[4]

Characterized by affection, apology, or, alternatively, ignoring the incident, this phase marks an apparent end of violence, with assurances that it will never happen again, or that the abuser will do their best to change. During this stage the abuser may feel or claim to feel overwhelming remorse and sadness. Some abusers walk away from the situation with little comment, but most will eventually shower the survivor with love and affection. The abuser may use self-harm or threats of suicide to gain sympathy and/or prevent the survivor from leaving the relationship. Abusers are frequently so convincing, and survivors so eager for the relationship to improve, that survivors (who are often worn down and confused by longstanding abuse) stay in the relationship.[6][7]

4: Calm

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During this phase (which is often considered an element of the honeymoon/reconciliation phase), the relationship is relatively calm and peaceful. During this period the abuser may agree to engage in counselling, ask for forgiveness, and create a normal atmosphere. In intimate partner relationships, the perpetrator may buy presents or the couple may engage in passionate sex.[4] Over time, the abuser's apologies and requests for forgiveness become less sincere and are generally stated to prevent separation or intervention.[5] However, interpersonal difficulties will inevitably arise, leading again to the tension building phase.[4] The effect of the continual cycle may include loss of love, contempt, distress, and/or physical disability. Intimate partners may separate, divorce or, at the extreme, someone may be killed.[4]

Critiques

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Walker's cycle of abuse theory was regarded as a revolutionary and important concept in the study of abuse and interpersonal violence,[3] which is a useful model, but may be simplistic. For instance, Scott Allen Johnson developed a 14-stage cycle that broke down the tension-building, acting-out and calm stages further. For instance, there are six stages in the "escalation" or tension building stage. These lead up to the assault by acting out the revenge plan, self-destructive behavior, victim grooming and the actual physical and/or sexual assault. This is followed by a sense of relief, fear of consequences, distraction, and rationalization of abuse.[8]

Donald Dutton and Susan Golant agree that Walker's cycle of abuse accurately describes all cyclically abusive relationships they studied. Nonetheless, they also note that her initial research was based almost entirely on anecdotal data from a rather small set of women who were in violent relationships.[3] Walker herself wrote, "These women were not randomly selected and they cannot be considered a legitimate data base from which to make specific generalizations."[6]

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tomkail · 9 months ago

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Understanding Unity's audio sample system

TL;DR

When Unity refers to "samples", it pretends that the audio clip is mono. The documentation on this is sparse and what exists is misleading. The result is that when using audio buffers, the number of channels must be taken into account.

The following will break this down further, and is confusing but still less confusing than trying to read the Unity docs. Enjoy.

Sample Count Basics

audioClip.samples and audioSource.timeSamples count the number of samples in a single channel. This means that a sample in this range can be calculated by multiplying time and audioClip.frequency; note that we do not need to multiply by the number of channels.

Issues with Multiple Channels

The issues begin when we have more than one channel. Unity's documentation claims audioSource.timeSamples is "Playback position in PCM samples." However, this appears not to be accurate.

According to this documentation on PCM (https://larsimmisch.github.io/pyalsaaudio/terminology.html), it actually describes what PCM would call a "frame"; a single sample in each channel.

Increasing the number of channels does not increase the number of frames, but it does increase the number of samples.

Going forward, I'm going to use the PCM terminology.

Real Sample Count in Multichannel Audio

When more than one channel exists in an audio clip, the real number of samples in the clip is the number of samples for a single channel multiplied by the number of channels.

Unity doesn't make this distinction particularly clear, which can be confusing when using functions that deal with sample data arrays, such as audioClip.GetData or OnAudioFilterRead. These functions deal with float arrays with a length equal to audioClip.samples multiplied by the number of channels.

Practical Example: Using Get/SetData

Let's look at how this works in practice, using the audioClip.Get/SetData functions, which take two arguments:

The first is data, described as "an array with sample data from the clip".

The second is offsetSamples, which isn't described at all. (sigh)

The key is that data always refers to PCM samples, and the term samples as seen in offsetSamples always refers to PCM frames.

Why Unity's Approach is Misleading (But Helpful)

Unity's documentation is unclear and misleading, but their approach has an advantage – when describing samples we can typically ignore channel count.

Interleaved Sample Buffers

Unity's sample buffer uses interleaved channels. This means that a buffer of 16 frames of 2 channels, left (L) and right (R), will look like this: LRLRLRLRLRLRLRLRLRLRLRLRLRLRLRLR Clips with more than 2 channels would be interleaved in the same manner. For those interested, the other method of handling channels is a planar buffer, which would look like this: LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Floating-Point Values

Sample buffers store floating-point values between -1.0 and 1.0.

Microphone Functions in Unity

Unity's Microphone functions all record in mono. Microphone.Start will return a clip with a single channel, and Microphone.GetPosition will return the number of samples for a single channel.

Bonus: Direct Audio Output to Speakers

A neat trick I stumbled upon on the way was how to send audio to a specific speaker in a (for example) 7.1 setup: https://thomasmountainborn.com/2016/06/10/sending-audio-directly-to-a-speaker-in-unity/

#unity #programming

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hemihr12005 · 1 year ago

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W1D1 fundies: 1 (software/pūmanawa)

We started to learn more about the differences in-between vector and raster. Vector is drawn lines that form a illustration (usually on PS), these type of illustrations don't lose quality if you zoom in. Raster are pixelated illustrations (usually on Ai) and if you zoom in loses its clean lines and is obviously pixelated, so it is not the best way of making a logo or illustration for a large image. Raster is better suited for images with lots of colours that aren't going to be enlarged (better suited for photos).

We then set up our tumblr accounts, which we will be using to post what we learn every class.

folder stytem:

Hannah Hemi:

project name:

PRJ= project files

IMG= image files (image files: photos, sketches, reference pics etc.)

DOC= documents (any format: cleint brief. vcleint feeback, docment data files, asset lists etc.)

OUT= output folder (pdfs for projects drafts and final pdf go in this folder)

command N for folders = new finder window

save first file in project file with 00 before hand (in renaming), then next one can be 01 and it will make ur files be in chronological order.

illustrator commands

z = zoom (or command+) (drag right or left on z to zoom in or out)

space = pan

/ = clear fill/stroke (stroke is the border, fill is the inside)

x = toggle (swap) fill/stroke

p = pen (get out of pen without closin shape is COMMAND click)

v = selection tool (full arrow = full shape - select all)

A = direct selection tool (hollow arrow = one part - a peice of the shape) (or hold command click)

move, rotate and scale are known as transform

using skills learnt in session:

the illustrator version.

for the first shape i just used pen tool and tried to make sure all the lines stayed all in a line and that the triangle were symmetrical to each other. since the shape wasn't a closed shape i used A tool to click out of using pen tool.

for he diamond i tire to use the guides illustrator has when using the pen tool to make it symmetrical.

for the third shape i drew the shape without the gap first and then used a tool to add anchors in the path allowed me to remove part of the line.

for the fourth shape i used pen tool (P) and then shift to make sure my lines stayed straight and then i tried to make the spacing accurate to the drawings we were given.

for the fifth shape i drew a symmetrical triangle and again used A to make anchors so i could remove part of the path and then i drew the inside spiral part of the triangle, trying to stay symmetrical to the outer triangle shape.

the last shape i created one line with the pen tool and then copied the line so all the lines wee the same length and then i used object - transform - rotate and rotated the lines so they were all on the right angle.

It was fun to try make the shapes and pretty easy to do with all the tools we learnt today

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unproductive-software-blog · 2 years ago

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every game I played in 2023 in chronological order:

1. Persons 5 Strikers: see post

2. Octopath Traveler: played for 1hr11mins after trading my copy of Pokémon Scarlet for it with a friend. The dialogue is too unrealistic, long-winded, and expository. 1/10

3. Alundra: great writing, but not enough to stand out from 2D Zelda. I also don't care for how sepiatone the visuals look. 7/10

4. Wide Ocean Big Jacket: nice game. Could be a blueprint for something really special in the future. 8/10

5. 20 Minutes 'Til Dawn: wow, a run-based game that's actually skill-based. Super addictive, looks awesome, doesn't waste your time, works great on phone. 7/10

6. Vampire Survivors: boring game with uncomfortable controls and bad graphics. Someone was bound to come up with this idea, so I think this game gets too much credit because it was almost immediately bested by its copycats. 5/10

7. Into the Breach: a puzzle game skinned as a tactics game. Too restrictive for my tastes. nothing to it. weirdly good ost. 2/10

8. Oneshot: see post

9. Pokémon Unbound: ROM hack that delivers on everything we want but don't get from Pokémon, but the heart is missing. 4/10

10. Mega Man X: fun game, great ending, worst guitar samples on SNES (sounds like a car commercial), and plays more like an NES game than Mega Man 6 on the NES. 4/10

11. The Dark Spire: one of the best soundtracks on DS, great aesthetic all around, interesting turn-based battle system with many different ways to execute a normal attack (fast, accurate, strong, etc.) and it leaves a lot up to you to discover through play. drops off after not to long when it becomes clear the story wasn't really going anywhere, and the dark aesthetic is just an aesthetic. 4/10

12. Pokémon Sapphire as Nuzlocked: pretty tough!

13. Final Fantasy III (NES): excellent pace that never requires grinding until the very end, which pits you against a dungeon the length of nearly a third of the game length to complete normally. i save-stated the hell out of it, and it still wasn't worth it. maybe play the pixel remaster and just up the speed or lower the difficulty or something at that part, because there are actually some very beautiful moments, and it's definitely, up until that point, the best RPG on the NES that I've played. 3/10

14. Elden Ring: this game makes me feel like the sane man in an insane world. everyone says it's the best game ever, BUT NONE OF THOSE PEOPLE HAVE BEATEN THE GAME. what a padded and directionless game. also does not provide anything of value in the story/themes department that hasn't already been beaten to death by the developer in their previous titles. Dark Souls 2 does everything this game tries to much much better. 2/10

15. The Legend of Zelda: I played this to see if open world fantasy action adventure games were ever even any good. this is honestly, basically just Elden Ring on the NES. 2/10

16. Sonic Advance: hits hard and fast. gotta save those animals. my dad says sonic runs fast and goes through unnecessary loops and stuff to build kids' confidence. 6/10

17. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link: ok so TOLZ isn't as good as I remembered, was its sequel any good? no! this is still an interesting game with absolutely garbage soulslike combat. 1/10

18. Dragon Warrior II: I keep trying to play through this and either dropping it for a different version or losing my save data. it's another early open-world game. i like the way the world is like one big puzzle for you to solve, but they SERIOUSLY don't provide enough hints, like hiding a necessary item on an unmarked tile of the overworld, surrounded by identical tiles. gets points for good npcs. Yuji Hori is clearly a man who gives a shit about stuff that matters. 3/10

19. Master Chu & the Drunkard Hu: another NES game for my commute. They give you infinite continues unless you lose to the final series of bosses, which they don't tell you. feels like a little life lesson to get used to it, then have it suddenly taken away. kind of a nonsense game otherwise. 1/10

20. Sonic Advance 2: even as a kid with the manual i didn't know how to do the aerial moves, and i didn't know about them this time until I finally looked it up because i kept dying on the parts where you need them. actually made it kind of far by being a little creative. the game really doesn't teach you about them. once you learn them though, oh man. i played through the whole game again because it's so much fun to use them. this is basically strictly better than the first sonic advance. AND IT HAS CREAM THE RABBIT, who is my favorite of the sonic crew. BRING BACK CREAM! 7/10

21. Omori: see video, 10/10

22. Pokémon Scarlet: see video and post, 4/10

23. Etrian Odyssey III HD: see post, EO3 has some kind of sloppy political metaphors dealing with racism and colonialism, but as someone who knows the other games in the series, which are more straightforward, I do think their head was in the right place here. excellent class system and world. the two benefit eachother a LOT. the rpg classes actually reflect class in a really unique and interesting way (examples: sovereign, farmer, knight, privateer, academic, indigenous person [these are not all the exact names used in-game]). I sat down irl and did lots of math on paper trying to come up with a fun yet powerful party. so addictive and enthralling. a massive adventure that I immediately started on NG+ to see the secret ending. 7/10

24. Pokémon White 2: tbh, still a game that didn't really need to exist. I think plasma in this game is a metaphor for old fans still clinging to the Pokémon series' past. Colress goes on Smogon. IRIS is the hero because she's just a kid who loves pokemon. 5/10

25. Sin and Punishment: crazy ambitious for its time. its influence can be felt today in games like Final Fantasy 7 Remake, which flow seemlessly between action and cutscene. what relentless pace. kind of awkward controls and an outright outdated continue system. would be strictly outclassed by Star Successor were it not for the love story and cutscenes in general, which have a really cool evangelion kind of feel to them. 7/10

26. A Short Hike: recommended to everyone. so easy to pick up and enjoy. real nice ending. 8/10

27. Drx Mario 64: actually very underrated: has a cute fun little story mode with really unique pop-up book presentation. 7/10

28. Puyo Puyo Tetris 2: excellent writing that utterly kicks Drx Mario's ass. WOW. kept playing all the way through the horrible ending just to see the story. this game was a portal into a whole world of compile that i never knew about before, and man, this is like their smash bros. there is so much crazy lore going on in this game, and they are so flippant about ALL OF IT, it's hilarious and cool. Satan is a character in this game. HE JOINS YOUR PARTY. CW, there is a chapter in which you play as one member of the party as they sexually harass another member of the party!! So yeah, I don't love the big themes in this game, but it's just so surprising and very modern. also gets way too hard towards the end. 5/10

29. Celeste: stressful game with stupid frustrating characters. I related more to Badeline than Madeline. seriously Madeline would be so dead were it not for infinite lives. also the way characters squish when they move is nauseating. Absolutely loved the ending when you make peace with your darkside and can practically fly around the game. I wish the whole game played that way instead. 5/10

30. Etrian Odyssey II HD: EO2 is honestly just not that great. it's way too basic. it's strictly outclassed by EO2 Untold, which is fun for the sheer amount of customization options, and the cozy vibes. 4/10

31. Pokémon Leafgreen: this game introduced me to the concept of a remake. as a remake it's pretty good. it plays it very safe, but adds a whole new area to the postgame which is the best content in the game by far. they really did improve after gen 1, and it shows, especially in the writing department. I experimented with a new nuzlocke technique in which I don't count deaths as a result of crossing the street and not looking at the game, allow myself to fight bosses underleveled without counting it as a game over if i lose, and sacrifice a new pokemon of the same family to revive an older one. it cut down on grinding significantly, while still pushing me to stragize and try new monsters. 4/10

32. Final Fantasy VII REMAKE: the most AAA game ever. so glad a developer made a AAA game that focuses on quality over quantity. it made me feel the way i always hope a AAA game will, like I'm actually happy people worked so hard to create this human achievement. even if the game is still padded, it's always got a great flow and almost never gets boring or aimless. also, the team clearly really loves FF7, and for every major scene they didn't quite nail, there is tons of interstitial dialogue, and new scenes that expand on the characters, world, story, and themes in a way that almost always feels right. I do think the ghosts are stupid. please do not add random ghosts into the background of cloud and aerith's first meeting, it kind of kills the vibe. 8/10

33. Fire Emblem (GBA): Wow. Talk about a game that has earned its reputation. The game is very high in the kind of last-minute surprise reinforcement/ critical hit bullshit that I hate about this series most, but the story is so incredibly wholesome and pairs excellently with the crazy violent animations. They clash so severely in a way that really emphasizes how ahead of their time the heroes are. They want to be perfect, peacemongering leaders in a world filled with hate and oppression on every level. Deals with race, class and sexism in a way later games have probably done better, but was very surprising and very E-rated in a way that was extremely direct, which is how I prefer games to tackle those themes (basically succeeding where EO3 fails, even if it is overly-simplistic in comparison). Might be my favorite of the series if not for the cheap way they ramp up difficulty. Also, the music is totally forgettable. The scene in which you recruit Nino pairs excellently with Yuzo Koshiro's The Poets I from Streets of Rage 3. 7/10

youtube

^ 0:11 - 0:52

#goty 2023

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underlockv · 2 years ago

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apparently this is a hottake but I think everyone's writing process is different and reading a lot, making analytic breakdowns, spreadsheets and even researching the average length of a book before you start is pretty normal for some people, and not for others. Just because something isn't your process doesn't mean it's bad, unnatural, or something to sneer at. Yes, even making breakdowns of positive to negative word usages rather than just going by the feelings a work gives you.

I used 750words to try and get myself writing more regularly, it has a page that gives you an analytical breakdown of what you wrote based on certain metrics. You don't have to look at it, because 750 is a site that's sole purpose is just to encourage consistent everyday writing, but the breakdowns look like this:

(it isn't always super accurate either, but I assume the way these breakdowns are determined is they have a dataset to compare to. Especially the 'feelings' pie charts, which mimic a lot of what I see people mocking about /recent situation/. I've been using 750 for years, it much predates LLMs and modern machine learning)

All I really wanted to say about current writing world tools related events is the things to be focused on are the ethical acquiring of data, and how it is used.

Someone making analytical writing spreadsheets and datasets for their personal writing doesn't make them detached, robotic, or lesser of a writer if it's for study and analysis, even if they use tools like the above to analyze it, as that has nothing to do with feeding stuff into an LLM to spit out machine made writing. Someone being more analytical in their writing approach before they start just means their brain works differently than yours does.

Analytical writing approaches are just different than your own. It should not be something you mock people for. Getting a lot of "autistic people are so robotic and unfeeling" vibes from these types of comments when it comes to crit of that situation recently.

#creative writing #writing #writing meta #750words #mentions of possible ableism #I don't really use these tools #they don't benefit my own writing approach #I don't understand why that means I should mock anyone who does find analytical breakdowns useful #its not the same thing as using LLMs to write for you at all

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welcome-to-green-hills · 2 years ago

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I forgot you like the science stuff ooooooooh okay and you mentioned mind uploading and I have a THOUGHT.

A HEADCANNON (kinda) because I like ti take pieces of canon and try to fit them all together.

And I'd love your thoughts.

In Sonic Brawl, Rouge says Shadow has Maria's soul. That is super vague, but we do know that Gerald was willing to go to any lengths to save Maria.

... Do you think a backup of her brain was created and 'downloaded' into Shadow?

(I have other thoughts in tandem with this but they're all mildly sad so I just want to ask the fun one💜)

Hello, my dear!❤️✨

I’m terribly sorry for taking so long on your ask. I wanted to make sure that my answer was reasonable, as well as supplied some knowledge to the character’s purpose of creation. Essentially, I wanted to make sure that I was thorough enough to share my thoughts. I’ve even shared this question with a couple of my colleagues at the lab to hear their thoughts too. This will be a pretty lengthy, but well-educated answer.

I absolutely agree, the journal entries from Sonic Battle are vague. I feel that they are purposefully meant to be vague so that the audience could make their own conclusions on what it means. Short answer: possibly, but I lean more towards “no.” Long and complicated answer can be found under the “read more�� tab (because why not😅).

We just don’t know the extent of how extreme Gerald’s plans were with discovering immortality. We’ve seen in SA2, Sonic Battles, Sonic Rivals 2 and ShTH 2005 that Gerald has been known to tamper with very questionable forces in order to achieve immortality at the cost of risking everyone and everything around him. It’s desperation, yes. He care more about Maria than anything else. I think it’s just… really up for debate.

We have a couple of ideas that need to be addressed first in order for me to share my thoughts:

1). Brain uploading requirements, zettabytes

2). Psychology/Ethics and Moral Teachings

BRAIN UPLOADING REQUIREMENTS (ZETTABYTES):

The assumption that Gerald was crafty with uploading a consciousness into a computer is a process called “Whole Brain Emulation (WBE).” This is also referred to as a “mind transfer.” This is a process in which, presumably, has the ability to scan the state of our minds and transfer into a database whether it’s postmortem (deceased) or antemortem (living).

As of now, the process of uploading one’s consciousness into an artificial body or database is a pseudoscience. This means that it’s more of a fantasy sci-fi scenario other than supplying factual results. Whole Brain Emulation would have to take into consideration of scanning layers upon layers of one’s mind and convert them into various strands of code. The human brain is made up of neurons; the human mind has about 86 billion neurons (PNAS, 2012).

In order to even begin scanning the mind, we’d need an exorbitant amount of storage space that could store not even a handful of neurons. We’d need to take into consideration of zettabytes. The human mind itself can store about 1.1950 petabytes of data in a lifetime if it was used at its fullest capacity (Houzel, 2009). That’s roughly two zettabytes. That’s like finding the Pacific Ocean with water twice! Thankfully, we live in a world where we have access to zettabytes. Zettabytes are used to store large sums of data in servers for social media sites, like Tumblr and Twitter. Being able to store all of the data into a database seem plausible, but we still run into a couple of problems.

We would not be able to get a 100% accurate reflection of Maria. If anything, we’d only be able to replicate it via artificial intelligence. We would have to take into consideration of Maria’s mannerisms and wide variety of responses to the world around her.

PSYCHOLOGY/ETHICS AND MORAL TEACHINGS:

With all of the technological advancements made in human history, the capability of transferring organic consciousness into a mechanical device is nonexistent. We might be able to replicate states of consciousness, but we would have to teach AI and code human ethics and morals. In this case, we could make an attempt in replicating Maria’s consciousness to a certain extent. We don’t know a whole lot of Maria’s characteristics other than the fact that she mattered tremendously to both Shadow and Gerald.

The problem here would be that we’d lack a ration and irrational response of decision making of the individual. What we think that we might know of a person might be different from them being right then and there as they respond to the phenomenon. If anything, we wouldn’t have Maria’s internal thinking and logic. Everything that would be coded would not be Maria’s true thoughts, it would be an assumed thought of the AI and/or programmer.

There is no guarantee that the AI will possess every thought and feeling that Maria might have had when transferring her consciousness. In order to get that, we’d have to do extensive psychological research of Maria’s response to every situation in a controlled environment. This would have to be monitored 24/7. The Maria program would have to relearn everything about herself on top of learning culturally acceptable ethics and morals depending on the environment she was raised in.

If this is the case, then Shadow would have to be habilitated into having the same—or nearly the same—mannerisms that Maria would have had if having her consciousness uploaded into his mind. And if she were still a child, then that would take longer. A child is still in the process of knowing themselves and their identity. Because we would only have a secondary source of Maria’s characteristics, we would lack internal feelings of her growing up.

CLOSING STATEMENT:

It’s safer to assume that everything that Shadow has done in his life are his own thoughts and feelings. Shadow is meant to be perceived as his own person. I’m positive that his actions are influenced by Maria and his interactions with the world around him. Most, if not all, of his actions after learning the truth from SA2 are his own. I do not believe that Maria had her consciousness uploaded into Shadow’s mind, but it is a possibility that Gerald thought about it. The problem here is that we might never know. All that we know is that Gerald would have done nearly anything, even using government funding, to save Maria (Windii, 2018).

Most of my thoughts and feelings are told through the perspective of human interactions. We don’t know enough of Shadow’s physiology in order to make a true comparison. Until we learn more about Gerald and Maria’s characteristics, I think that it’s safe to say that this is more of a hypothetical scenario that needs more information.

I hope this answers your question, my dear!❤️✨

SOURCES:

PNAS, 2012: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1201895109

Houzel, 2009: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2776484/

Ted-ED, 2023: https://youtu.be/2DWnvx1NYUA

Windii, 2018: http://info.sonicretro.org/Sonic_Adventure_2_-_The_Truth_of_50_Years_Ago...

Here’s a great text from the National Institute of Health made that talks about neurogenics: https://www.ninds.nih.gov/health-information/public-education/brain-basics/brain-basics-life-and-death-neuron

#Also… I wrote this with three hours of sleep in mind #If you need clarification on anything please let me know #Also keep in mind that I’m an anthropologist/archaeologist… I might be missing a thing or two if a physicist would know #mystery anon #off topic #shadow the hedgehog #Maria Robotnik #Gerald Robotnik #Sonic Adventure 2

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transmasc-wizard · 3 years ago

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an opinion on scrivener (by a normally very picky individual)

I've seen a lot of people talk about scrivener, mostly in a mix of positive and negative; it's too expensive! It's great for organizing! It's too complicated! It's XYZ!

It's only natural for I, someone who has had scrivener for about a year now, to want to add my opinion, so... here I am! This is somewhere between a review and a basic how-to? Idk. When have I ever made sense.

Note: this is not in any way sponsored. Literature & Latte/Scrivener does not even know I exist.

Another note: I believe the iOS/Mac version of scrivener is, in fact, more complicated than this, but the same stuff probably applies. I wouldn't know, because I'll burn in hell before I have an Apple product.

Onwards!

So, once you open a scrivener document (specifically the "novel with parts" template, but they're all very very similar), this is what you see. The corkboard-looking thing is, in fact, called the corkboard. The teal band off to the side (which iirc I changed the colour of, I think it defaults to grey) is the binder. If you look above the corkboard, you'll notice there are three little icons; the middle one is selected (and yellow), and sets it to the corkboard. On the right is the editor (actual page with words) and on the left is the outliner (more on that in a second).

You can write in the little notecards; this creates a synopsis that can be viewed in the inspector (more on that in a second, again), in the outliner, and in the corkboard, like this. There's also labels and statuses and stuff, but that's more than just The Basic Basics, so... moving on.

Now I've both gone over to the outliner, which lets me see the synopsis, label, status, word count, target, progress, and target type of each document, and have also opened the inspector (that column on the right) by clicking the blue i in the top right corner.

All these features are fine and dandy, but this is the love of my life:

The binder, my beloved. It lets you have individual documents for ANYTHING you want, plus folders to keep them separated & grouped. I have not had to worry about keeping track of 48763847 word docs for one story since getting scrivener; it's all!! right there!! In little folders!! I like organizing things, ok? This is my happy place.

So, above we have the actual scrivener editor! It's pretty similar to word's page, all things considered, with the exception that there's no page breaks. If you go up to "project" in the top of the screen and click "project statistics" you can see page count, but scrivener focuses on word count. WC is more accurate toward story length, anyway, as page count can vary vastly depending on font, font size, and spacing. (Also, I have the page colour changed to a light pink, but it defaults to white.)

Those are all the main screens you'd use if you had scrivener; there's also focus mode/full screen, but that doesn't usually get as much use.

The actual review-ish part of this post:

Scrivener, if you couldn't tell, is my favourite program I've ever used. (I've used word and google docs, btw). It has the most functions, is AMAZING for organization (which is great as a fantasy writer with a lot of Stuff), is great for progress tracking and project goals (something I didn't really touch upon hear; short version, each individual document can have a goal, plus each chapter/part/etc, plus the manuscript as a whole), and is much easier to use than it's reputation says it is.

I didn't even go into detail on keywords, labels, custom icons, the auto-save and auto-backup (every two seconds without writing), document notes, snapshots, custom meta-data you can track, the name generator, the trash function (you cannot accidentally delete a doc), or the thesaurus!

Overall, if you're interested in scrivener, I strongly suggest trying out the trial. It's 30 free days of use. To be clear, that means if you don't open it that day, it doesn't count as a day in your trial. You only write 2 days a week? You'll have that scrivener trial for 15 weeks.

Scrivener doesn't work for everybody! I most strongly suggest it for my fellow organization lovers, but really, if you're interested, I encourage you to give it a try.

#scrivener #writblr #writeblr #writerblr #long post #this was. something. can you tell i am enthusiastic about scrivener

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sttngfashion · 5 years ago

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5.26 and 6.1 - Time’s Arrow

Oh my god. Y’all. It’s a new Fashion It So post. In the year of our Picard 2020. Yes.

For literal years, Charlie and I have been like UGH WE NEED TO DO TIME’S ARROW PARTS 1 AND 2 BUT IT’S JUST SUCH A MONSTER.

Well, I’m doing a complete rewatch of the series with my partner and we just got to these two, so IT IS TIME.

We open in a cave in San Francisco, where Data and Picard are checking something out:

Rent for the cave is $6,000 per month

Showing them around is this guy in a Science Outfit:

He’s ready to go night biking

We’ve seen this look before in both Silicon Avatar and Devil’s Due, and it’s functional, yet cute. Basically a windbreaker in jumpsuit form.

They find a couple of items in the cave, including a pocket watch from 1889 and also:

I left my head in San Francisco

IT’S DATA’S HEAD!!! And it’s been there for FIVE HUNDRED YEARS. What could have caused this? And why is Data’s head so absolutely terrifying?

Is that fondant

This head is, in a word, haunting. The 2020 of heads.

Data and Geordi chat in Ten-Forward about what the presence of Data’s head in the cave means. Data says it means he’s mortal; that someday he will die, and that’s comforting. Spoiler alert: that’s not what it means. But it’s a nice conversation.

Also, Guinan is here!!!

Merlot My God!!

Or maybe: Burgundy-lightful!! Or perhaps: De-Crimson-alize Sex Work!! Okay that last one was a stretch but I really think I missed my calling as a nail polish shade namer.

Anyway, she’s here in her classic look of a pizza-sized hat and a flowing gown/coat/top/robe. The collar here is a little too close to a mock turtleneck for my liking and honestly - this is a little staid for our friend Guinan. I want a TEXTURE or a SWEEP or some WIDE RIBBING or some PLEATS. Don’t worry, though...she will get plenty more later.

Then there’s some plot which frankly we DO NOT HAVE TIME to get into but let’s just say: the away team goes to a planet, there’s a temporal disturbance, and Data ends up here:

Huge mood

Where are we? Or should I say WHEN are we??

Well that old-timey font is a good clue...also the horse

Are we in the Old West land of an off-brand Disneyworld? Are we going to ride something called Large Lightning Mesa Train Tracks? What colorful characters will we meet here?

Winner of 1893’s Mustache Medal

This type of ‘stache is called a Fu Manchu, after the character Dr. Fu Manchu. It’s not...a great look? But it is memorable, which is sometimes enough. He’s also wearing a simple black cap, probably made of silk. He’s keeping it cazh.

So where are we?

SAN FRANCISCO, OPEN YOUR GOLDEN GATE / YOU’LL LET NOBODY WAIT / OUTSIDE YOUR DOOR

Yes, it’s San Francisco. And it’s *eyes popping out of head like a cartoon wolf seeing a busty babe* 1893!!!! That temporal disturbance was...disturbing.

So who else do we have hanging out?

Please check out our Vaudeville act, Knit Cap ‘n’ Bowly

These dudes understand those famous Bay Area MICROCLIMATES, amirite? We’ve got a Henley. We’ve got a buttondown. We’ve got a vest. We’ve got a coat. No matter which way the thermometer decides to go, THEY ARE READY. Also loving the pop of forest green on Knit Cap’s knit cap.

We also have a 49er:

No, it’s not Steve Young. I googled “famous 49ers” to complete this joke so if there is a more famous 49er please let me know

It’s a literal 49er. Since it’s 1893, this guy’s been hanging around in town for a while, and he’s also familiar with the layering techniques one must master if one is to conquer the Bay Area’s climate. He also has a kicky Colonel Sanders-type tie. He asks Data for money and gives him a few panhandling tips. He’s chill. We like him. But don’t get too attached if you know what I mean!!!!

Data decides he needs somewhere to stay, so he finds a hotel:

Brian.

Why is this so funny to me. Brian. Why would you name your hotel Brian. Brian!!!! I know it’s a last name but like...Brian. HOTEL BRIAN.

This bellhop’s name is not Brian:

Where’s your hat, bro

He’s giving us a classic bellhop look, complete with too many buttons. He gives Data the very important information that there’s a poker game happening in the back of the hotel, which means: Data is about to be RICH rich.

The poker game includes a few good looks:

Louie Anderson IS Wolverine IN a Lands’ End barn coat

Two plaids? Sir...I salute you

Colonel Sanders Goes to Carnaval

Data, of course, wipes the floor with them so hard that he wins their clothes:

Didn’t get that barn coat tho

Yes, that’s the actual vest and the actual hat of those guys from the previous scene. Oh, I love it. I love Data in a vest over his uniform and I love Data with a feather in his cap. Let’s call it macaroni.

Meanwhile, out on the street, the plot is happening:

Beige: inescapable

This is our first taste of the decadent 1890’s sleeves that appear in this episode, and these aren’t even the best sleeves!! These are an amuse-bouche of sleeves. An armuse-bouche, if you will.

Anyway, these two are aliens disguised as humans who are here to steal the 49er’s life energy.

Pew pew pew

I told you not to get attached!!!

Back on the Enterprise, Guinan is doing mixology:

She would never call it something as stupid as mixology though

She tells Picard that he needs to go check out the temporal disturbance, too, even though captains don’t normally go on away missions, and then she gives him this look:

It’s that serious

When Guinan looks at you like this, you do what she says.

Now this outfit is much better than the earlier one. We have some pleated sleeves, which I didn’t even think was a thing you could DO. We have some sort of functional(?) strap(??) across the front. We even have matching fingerless gloves which always make a look A LOOK. And if Picard wasn’t sure whether he needed to go on this away mission, she then gives him THIS look:

Okay now it’s REALLY serious

Back in 1893, Data is making something:

It’s actually just a really complicated and large music box that plays “I Left My Head in San Francisco”

He’s gotten his hands on some more period-appropriate clothing, including a bow tie and a vest. Since he’s not wearing arm garters and his sleeves appear to be the correct length for his arms, we can conclude that the shirt was custom-made, not ready-made, because Data is now a baller due to his poker earnings.

Then, Data sees this in the paper:

I know her!! From work!!!!

Yes, it’s Guinan. In 1893. In a hat!!!!

We cut to the literary reception, which is honestly not as well-attended as I thought it would be, considering it got a GIANT photo of Guinan on page THREE of the paper, but okay. And who should we spy there but:

You’ll love my secret blend of 11 herbs and spices

No, it’s not Colonel Sanders. (Sorry, I really have Colonel Sanders on the brain because of that Lifetime movie.) It’s Samuel Clements, AKA Mark Twain. I had an English teacher in high school who explained the origin of his pseudonym (it indicates a mark of two fathoms, aka twelve feet, on a steamboat) and for some reason she shouted MAAAARK TWAAAAAIN when she told us that story so now her delivery of that line is in my head until I die I guess.

Anyway, it’s Mark Twain.

He’s wearing his iconic white linen suit with a black bow tie, and he’s also wearing a lot of prosthetics, because the actor playing him (Jerry Hardin, AKA Deep Throat from The X-Files AKA Melora Hardin AKA Jan Levinson-Gould’s dad) (was that too many AKAs) (you get it, right?) didn’t look enough like Mark Twain, I guess? In conclusion: what if eyebrow wigs were a thing?

Twain is having a chit chat with “Madame Guinan,” who is wearing what can only be called a sumptuous gown:

It’s 11:30 and the gown is sumptin’ sumptin’

There are so many ELEMENTS to this look! First of all: the color. Royal purple. Fit for a queen. Appropriate.

Then: those sleeves! These sleeves are known as “leg of mutton sleeves” because they KIND OF look like a leg of mutton. Have you ever seen a leg of mutton? I haven’t. I’ve only seen these sleeves. Plus they have a stripe?? No, I don’t know why, but I LOVE IT.

The cuffs and the cravat bring this from “dress” to “lewk.” Top it all off with this hat and you have a true 1893 mood.

What bird is that feather even from

We get a few good extra looks in this scene as well:

Pink Lady is NOT wearing a corset

Look, sometimes you don’t have enough period-appropriate undergarments for all the background people and that’s fine. But I WILL notice.

Is that Loretta Lynn

I am loving all of this! That purple dress is fantastic, those stripes? I die. Military man has some fun flair on his shoulder, and there is a dude in a beautiful turban back there. Plus, another Black lady in addition to Guinan and That One Ensign Who Is On The Bridge Sometimes.

Data rolls in to the literary event in a different suit with a CRAVAT:

Craving a cravat

Data is like “we serve together on the same starship in the 24th century” and Guinan is like “huh” but then she’s like “okay” which...I’m not sure if I would believe that? But let’s just say it’s fine.

Over in the 24th century, the literal entire bridge crew is checking out the temporal disturbance and I DON’T LIKE THIS AT ALL:

Blue Man Group...on ACID

These beings are like ghosts but also like Dr. Manhattan but also like pure energy.

Then everyone goes through the temporal disturbance AND THE SEASON ENDS.

Fortunately for you, this post will continue...right now.

Okay, so we’re back in San Francisco in 1893. You can tell by the horses:

Also the fruit carts

Samuel Clemens is strolling around with a reporter, telling him that he has a great story for him that involves time travelers and, like, protecting the nation.

Here’s the thing about this episode’s version of Mark Twain: he’s kind of a dick. Was the real Mark Twain kind of a dick? I just feel like Mark Twain should be JAZZED about meeting time travelers and not acting like a fuckin’ time cop* and trying to put the Enterprise crew on blast.

Anyway I love his double-breasted vest.

See my vest

The reporter’s hat is technically period-accurate, but that style is SO associated with the 1930s-1950s that I would have gone with something else. He looks cute though.

Meanwhile, Data is wearing a three-piece suit:

My positronic olfactory synapses are interpreting something as...a fart

I hate brown, but this is fine.

Additionally, the beige baddies from before are back and this time, they’ve got a SNAKE CANE:

Love the snake cane, hate how they suck the life out of people

But we are not here for them, we are here to see our faves in period clothing. Our first look is at Riker, who is dressed as an actual cop, not a time cop like Mark Twain:

The past just had...so many buttons

I guess if you’re a time-traveling white man there are worse disguises than a cop. But WHERE DID HE GET THIS UNIFORM? I choose to believe that he found a cop with a similar large handsome body to his own and beat the shit out of him and stole his clothes. Now we can all enjoy imagining a cop being beat up.

The badge that Riker is wearing is a great historical detail; the SFPD started wearing them in 1886 and are reportedly the first law enforcement agency to have worn the seven-pointed star, which is now a common shape among sheriff’s departments across the United States.

But let’s move on to a better look: Dr. Beverly Crusher:

Curlz MT

Okay, now I have more questions. Beverly obviously wouldn’t beat someone up for their clothes, so where did SHE get HER outfit? And who did her hair? Did she do her OWN hair? Where did she get a curling iron? Does she know how to use a curling iron? Was it one of those ones that’s actually made of iron that you have to heat up in a fireplace?

We will get answers to zero (0) of these questions.

We actually get a much better look at her dress later, so let’s focus on that cloak!!! I love it and I also love her hat. Okay, I guess I had less to say about those than I thought.

Bev and Will, along with the rest of the officers, have somehow procured a room/apartment in some lady’s lodging house. It’s cute!

They gave it 5 stars on AirBnB

This also raises questions. How did they get this room? How many bedrooms does it have? Are they sharing one large bed? If so, who has to sleep crossways at the foot of the bed and why is it Geordi? We will get zero answers to these questions as well, so let’s move on to arguably the hottest costume in this two-parter:

I’ll be in Holodeck 4

Whewwwwwww. He’s giving us a rolled sleeve. He’s giving us a casual tweed vest. The pants? They’re perfect. And he KNOWS how that slouch is working. It’s working VERY well. But the Irish landlady? She’s having NONE OF IT.

Absolutely NO nonsense

She needs the rent, but Picard charms her and she leaves. So I guess that’s how they got the room. Her look is knitwear-forward:

Eileen Fisher does sound like an Irish name

She’s got a shawl AND a cardigan! The cozy factor is OFF THE CHARTS. She also has a brooch, because a touch of fancy is always welcome. I will say that her hair is a little more fashion-forward than I’d expect for a woman of her age and station. This is straight up 1890s hair, and she would probably still be rocking an 1860s look, which isn’t as sweepy and would likely involve more braids. Still, she looks lovely.

Geordi is also here looking dapper:

Make the collar as high as you can. I want to be sliced open by my own collar

You CAN go wrong with a three-piece suit, but it’s difficult to. He can’t wear his visor, so he has some kicky shades which we’ll get a better look at in a sec.

Back at the Hotel Brian (lol), the bellboy (who we learn in this scene is Jack London, inspired to be a writer by Mark Twain [citation needed]) lets Mark Twain into Data’s room and allows him to look around unsupervised. This is very bad hotel management.

Great Scott

Then Data and Guinan show back up, and Mark Twain hides in an armoire.

One short day in the emerald brocade

I think one reason I love Guinan’s looks so much, both in the 24th and the 19th century, is that our color palette is very similar. We’re both winters. Bold jewel tones are the vibe. This one is in a beautiful deep green fabric with what looks like a velvet flocking pattern on it. The collar is also velvet, and I love that sleeve with a flounce on top like there wasn’t already enough fucking fabric on the sleeve so they just added a random piece to be like “yes, bitch. I’m a sleeve.”

Naturally, the hat is also jaunty af:

San Francisco’s hottest milliner is: Madame Guinan

This hat has everything: feathers, netting, a brim, an angle that makes you think it’s going to fall off but it doesn’t. We stan.

Meanwhile, Picard is setting up a sensor in a hospital while wearing a hat:

I’m bowled over

We haven’t even asked where Picard got these clothes, but I would like to point out that he’s dressed as a lower-class guy, while Riker is a cop, and Geordi looks like a gentleman. Was there even a discussion they all had about how they would disguise themselves? Was Picard like “I just really want to wear a beat-up bowler hat” and since he’s the captain, they extrapolated from there? This episode is NOT CONCERNED about any of this. They all have clothes, end of story.

Bev even has TWO outfits!!

Hello nurse!!!!

I love this look. She still has her unlikely hairstyle happening, which means her nurse’s cap is sitting atop her voluminous hairstyle. (Not very practical, but realistic!) She’s sporting a simple striped dress and a button-on apron. (Look closely and you can see the two buttons holding the apron to the dress.) The fabric underneath might be cotton seersucker, but it’s likely a lightweight cotton or linen twill. You can see how closely her look matches these nurses from a similar time period:

Hello nurses!!!!

Deanna is also in this scene and this episode, but you wouldn’t know it from what she’s given to do. HUGE SHOCKER: TROI NOT GIVEN ENOUGH TO DO IN AN EPISODE. 🙃

She still looks beautiful:

Why aren’t capelets more popular

We never get a really GREAT look at her whole outfit, but I can tell you that it has a capelet, it’s in the red family, and the hat has a lot of business going on. For those reasons: approved. It has a flounce in the back too:

More fabric = more wealth

Sometimes I think about just how much fabric it took to make these old-timey dresses and I’m like...how did anyone get anything done?? It takes me like 4 weeks to finish a pair of leggings and those have like 5 seams and I own a serger. These historical bitches were sewing whole ass dresses in no time at all.

Okay, so Bev is in this hospital and here come some more energy-stealing aliens, disguised as healthcare professionals this time:

I cannot take a medical professional wearing a LIGHT BROWN TOP HAT seriously, sorry

Bev AND this energy-stealing alien have BOTH managed to get their hands on the SAME nurse’s uniform?? I guess in the case of the alien, she is a shape-shifter, so she got her clothes from...that. And her hair.

I hate this light brown top hat. If you’re going to wear a top hat, don’t DISRESPECT IT by making it BROWN, but if you’re going to make it brown, make it a good brown, like chocolate. Stupid energy-stealing aliens.

There’s a skirmish, the energy-stealing aliens disappear, and the real cops show up:

MOUSTACHE

Of course, the cops showing up is bad, because when has a cop showing up ever made a bad situation better? Never. Defund the police, but don’t defund handlebar mustaches. Those can stay.

Fortunately, Data has gotten a ping on that machine he was building before and shows up on a motherfucking HORSE:

Brent just wanted to show off

He’s back in his brown striped suit and red tie. Okay.

Everyone returns to the boarding house to suss out the situation, and we get a look at what Riker is rocking underneath his cop jacket:

Suspend me daddy

You can see very clearly here how the collar is not actually attached to the shirt. This was a thing people in the olden days did so they could wear their shirt for multiple days in a row and just switch out the collar and cuffs so they looked clean. As someone who is wearing the same sweatshirt for the third day in a row, I support this method. (If you’re interested on more info about collars, here is a very enjoyable article about them.)

We are also blessed with a better look at Deanna’s sleeves and bodice:

Black lace cuffs? Decadent!!!

You can also see Geordi’s shades, which suit him really nicely. One thing I’ve been enjoying on this rewatch is just how well LeVar Burton can act without having his eyes visible. He’s great. Let’s just all think about how great LeVar Burton is for a second

And also Bev’s dress:

I legitimately want this dress

I don’t think those buttons are functional. Can you imagine how annoying THAT would be? But I am absolutely in love with this dress. Two paisleys, Beverly???? A goddess. I’m also dying for that brooch with the chain. A+ look all around, great work.

Finally, FINALLY, Guinan meets the rest of the crew:

When you meet someone you won’t actually know for 500 years

She is wearing a hat that looks like a toilet paper cozy. Did your grandma have one of these? They’re so stupid and I love them so much.

Picard and Guinan meet for what is the first time for her, but not the first time for him, and honestly it is...sensual?????

If I got a m’lady from P. Stew I wouldn’t even mind

Patrick and Whoopi truly do some nice work in this ep. But we are here to yell about clothes, so: LOOK AT THIS DRESS ON AN EXTRA:

Gimme dat dress

I just want that dress to wear around my house. I legitimately bought an 18th century costume dress to do just that, so don’t think I won’t literally do this.

OKAY, WE ARE ALMOST TO THE END.

The crew, plus Guinan, go back to the cave where this all started:

Cave Club, the only club that meets in a cave

We get a nice look at the bodice of Guinan’s dress here and guess what: MORE BUTTONS. Buttons on the lapels, and also buttons on the front panel with the pointy top. I wonder if she has multiple front panels for that dress in different colors, like a Swatch watch.

Unbeknownst to them, Mark Twain followed them!! Then there’s a scuffle with the energy-stealing aliens during which a few things happen:

Data’s head flies off

Mark Twain gets sucked into the temporal disturbance

Guinan gets hurt

Picard stays behind to make sure Guinan is okay

So we end up with Mark Twain on the Enterprise, where he sees Worf, and he’s like:

Buh-WHAT

Worf is also confused:

This is...extremely perplexing

We have a few more looks back on the Enterprise, including Regular Guinan:

ShoulderSpreads™: The Bed Spread for Your Shoulders

I love love LOVE this outfit. The color is perfect, the shoulderspreads are perfect, the front draping is perfect. It looks like a velvet housedress from the 1960s except FANCY which is kind of my ideal aesthetic. And it’s red (my fave).

We get a quick glimpse at the barber uniform:

Bitch let me pass, idc if you wrote Huck Finn

This barber does. not. give. a. fuck!!!!

Geordi reattaches Data’s head, the one they already had, which means this whole thing was a ding dang closed loop. The reattachment also kind of diminishes the whole conversation they had earlier about how Data’s head in the cave meant that Data could die someday, because...he didn’t. He still might, but his head is back and he’s fine now.

Meanwhile, Picard is still back in 1893 and they have to go get him, but only one person can come back through the temporal disturbance, so Mark Twain is like “duh I’ll go get him.”

And finally Guinan and Picard can talk about how their friendship spans 500 years!!!!

Hey girl

Hey

YOU’RE WELCOME

*abolish the police

#SEASON 5 #SEASON 6 #TNG #TNG FASHION #STAR TREK #STAR TREK FASHION

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tadashi-builds-stuff · 5 years ago

Text

A Few Words On Grant Imahara

As a Chinese Japanese American growing up in the late 90s to early 2000s there were really only three influential asian american male role models on television and film: John Cho, Jackie Chan and Grant Imahara. But if you were also a shy awkward kid that felt out of place except the science of making and building robots, Grant Imahara was your role model.

Watching Grant on the original Mythbusters figure out a physics or engineering problem was like watching a pro-athlete play their best competitive game. As the "Geek" and smartest member of the build team, he would explain how much fulminated mercury it took to destroy an office, or describe how a robotic surfer to catch waves from an explosion. The man was in his element when he was behind a workshop and the joy he had building was infectious. Being a nerd, I couldn't relate to others excitement discussing talks about high school dating, prom dances or getting driver's licenses. But seeing a guy construct insanely dangerous machines and laugh maniacally at others reactions to him- that I understood.

It wasn't until I got older that I realized how far reaching Grant's involvement was with the Maker Community even outside the show. The man absolutely loved animatronics and robotics outside his day job and I would sometimes find him on the pages of the R2 Builders group, BB-8 Builders group and Project 842. The sheer amount of builders that are also showing off photos with him demonstrate not only that Grant was a television icon but also went lengths to get involved with the community, be excited and openly collaborate with them. He was a Maker's Maker.

I only met Grant once during a shoot for Singularity University. They were doing a promo piece on Human Robot Interaction and wanted our lab's Pepper to "interview" Grant during the shoot. I had the enviable task of scripting out the robot's conversational dialogue, accurately programming the triggers and then getting it to work on command. After a week of strenuous tweaking (and an excessive amount of coffee), I got it so Pepper could respond to phrases on command. Day of the shoot, Pepper was literally carted from SJ to SF using Uber Max, and the entire team is ready to go. Grant is on set (much like the image below) and I'm on standby with my coworker Elle. Cameras are rolling, everything is starting, director indicates to Grant to start:

Grant: "Hi I'm Grant Imahara! Many of us have wondered what the future of robotics might be like. Will the be the scary AI oppressors from the Terminator movies? Or will they be friendly and sociable, like my friend Pepper. Hello, Pepper!"

Pepper:"........"

Grant:"......Hello, Pepper!"

Pepper:"........."

Grant:"....mm, You see, Pepper is a four foot humanoid ro-"

Pepper:"HELLO GRANT, IT IS NICE TO MEET YOU!"

Grant and Pepper (before realizing what he stepped into)

See what had happened was, Pepper's conversational dialogue relies on a Nuance, a cloud based API, to trigger all voice recognition and in order to sift through so many dialects the program had to pull a lot of data. This worked fine in the lab where internet speed was fast, but On Set during the shoot, the robot had around 7 seconds of delay from listening and responding. Grant would try to talk to Pepper, Pepper kept missing it's cues, and Grant would keep his cool and keep going.

This shit went on. For twenty agonizing minutes.

After the shoot was done, I was horribly embarrassed went up to Grant and apologized profusely. "Don't worry about!" Grant laughs "These things happen all the time. I've had so many problems with Geoff before we started filming!" We start riffing more and droid presentations, he talks about his experience with R2 building and I discuss BB8 building and within seconds my embarrassment is gone and I'm just talking to a regular maker fair visitor.

From Right to Left: Elle, Myself, Pepper and Grant

When I think back on that day now several years later, I don't think of the embarrassment or frustration at myself but instead of the friendliness and professionalism that was Grant. Before the shoot I had mentioned to him he was my favorite Mythbuster and I always looked up to him as a kid. He grinned and said he did miss it but had moved onto other exciting projects (White Rabbit). He then said the world needs more Asian representation on media and arts- and he was right.

Grant Imahara's young passing isn't just another celebrity death. He was the redefinition of the Hollywood Asian Nerd stereotype and seeing him on screen helped inspire many others to pursue careers in engineering, special effects or acting. He loved his work and was passionate about sharing it with others and his absence has left a void that won't soon be filled.

BB-8 Panel signed by Grant Imahara, 2016

#grant imahara #robotics #robots #mythbusters #star wars #r2 builders #bb8 builders #maker faire

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cheri-translates · 5 years ago

Text

Headcanon - when you specially celebrate his friend’s birthday

This work, 当你特意帮他身边的人庆生, was originally written by 君兮耶君兮 on Weibo, and she has given me permission to translate it 🌸

[ VICTOR ]

After finding out when Goldman’s birthday is, you decide to rope Wei Wei into the celebration to create an opportunity for the two of them. You give yourself a round of applause for your ingenuity. After all, there aren’t that many bosses out there who go to such lengths for their employees, right?

[Note] Wei Wei is an intern from MC’s company who appears in Victor’s Chinese Wedding date, which has not yet been released in EN!

“I heard that it’s Assistant Goldman’s birthday tomorrow,” you hint during an idle conversation with Wei Wei. “He mentioned wanting a new tie. Hmm, I wonder if he’s bought one already.”

The innocent-minded girl immediately rises to the bait, and she bites her lip. “Boss, could you accompany me in picking out a tie for Assistant Goldman after work? As a... ‘thank you’ gift for how he usually takes care of me.”

“Sure,” you respond eagerly, wanting Wei Wei to just tie the knot with Goldman already.

After work, you and Wei Wei pick out a dark blue tie from New Light Mall. After making payment, you speak up just as she’s about to hand the tie to you.

“Come with me to LFG tomorrow, and give it to him personally.”

Blushing, Wei Wei nods.

The next day, the both of you reach LFG early.

“Good morning. The meeting hasn’t started.” Goldman tidies up documents on the table. “Lady Boss, the CEO is in his office.”

You hurriedly wave your hands. “No no no, we came specially to find you. Happy birthday Goldman~” You hand him the gift, and use your other hand to prod Wei Wei forward.

Wei Wei walks to Goldman timidly. “Assistant Goldman, happy birthday.”

“It’s your birthday?” The sudden voice takes all of you by surprise.

“CEO.” Goldman instantly sets the gift down.

Seeing this, you grab Victor’s arm. Pushing him towards the office, you turn back to Goldman. “I have something to discuss with your boss, so help me take care of Wei Wei~”

In the office, Victor watches as you press yourself against the door in an attempt to eavesdrop.

“You specially came here for Goldman?”

Your back is facing him, and you wish your ears could travel outside the door. “My main goal is to be a matchmaker for the two of them.”

“You know when his birthday is.” It’s not a question, but a comment.

“I flipped through his materials.”

The office has quality soundproofing, so the sounds outside are quite hazy.

“And even gave him a gift?” His pitch elevates slightly at the end.

“It was along the way.”

Hearing some anxiousness in Wei Wei’s voice, you feel the strong urge to rush out and confess to Goldman on her behalf.

“...”

Hearing no further sounds from behind you, you finally turn to look at him. “Victor, what’s wrong?”

He lifts his wrist and peers at his watch. “In the three minutes and seventeen seconds since you came in here, you haven’t looked at me once.”

...that’s very accurate.

“You even specially prepared a gift for Goldman.” He pauses, adding on in a softer voice. “And have nothing for me.”

It’s rare to see him like this, and it tickles you. “Are you jealous of your own assistant?”

“Idiot.” He lets out a soft ‘hmph’, and picks up a report at the side.

Laughing on the inside, you pull out a wine-red tie from your bag, encircling it around his neck.

Stunned, Victor runs his fingers across the tie.

“How could I possibly give Goldman a present and not you?” Your eyes crinkle, looking at him mischievously. “Little Vic, don’t get jealous for no reason~”

He takes off the loosely strapped tie on his neck, then removes the tie he was originally wearing. “Childish. How could I possibly be jealous?”

“Yes yes yes, I’m childish. Want to return the tie to me then?” You reach out, as though you’re going to take the tie away.

“There’s no such thing as returning a gift.” Victor shifts in his chair, avoiding your hand.

“Yes yes yes, you’re always right.” You continue perfunctorily.

“Dummy.” With this familiar address, he puts some distance between himself and the office desk.

“Aren’t you going to put it on for me properly?”

[ GAVIN ] - Important context: they haven’t started dating yet

As Minor’s high school classmate, you naturally know when his birthday is. Since he’s Gavin’s number one fan, you decide to invite Gavin to the celebration.

“...you know... what he likes?” Gavin watches as you pick out a gift for Minor, his expression a little difficult to read.

“He mentioned wanting to change his gaming keyboard in the office,” you hold up a keyboard, giving it a look-over. “How’s this?”

“Any one will do.” He reaches out to pinch a leaf of an ornamental plant.

“Oh yes, Willow and I plan to organise a small birthday party on the day of Minor’s birthday. You’ll be there, right?” You ask while making payment.

Since a long time ago, you could already sense that Willow and Minor were somewhat interested in each other, but neither have broached the topic.

You plan to seize this opportunity to make something happen between the two.

He takes the bag from you. “Will you be there?”

“Of course! I’m one of the two people in charge.”

Gavin is silent for a while, but eventually comes to a decision.

“...I’ll go.”

The gathering takes place in a karaoke lounge not far from the office. That day, you dismiss everyone from work early, then head for dinner before going to the karaoke lounge together. Gavin doesn’t join in for the dinner gathering, but goes straight to the karaoke lounge first.

The moment Minor sees Gavin seated on the sofa, he rushes over excitedly.

“Bro Gavin, you really came! That’s amazing! Even in my dreams, I wouldn’t have thought my beloved Bro Gavin would help celebrate my birthday!”

“’Beloved’, huh?” You nudge Willow, who rolls her eyes.

“Officer Gavin is a male. It’s fine.”

Gavin lifts a cup of chrysanthemum tea from the table. “Your boss invited me.”

Minor immediately rushes to you. “Boss, you’re the best. You know me so well!”

His grip around the cup tightens.

Embarrassed, you step behind Willow. “If anyone is deserving of praise, it’s Willow. She suggested it.”

With a reddened face, Minor thanks Willow.

Watching them look abashed and not speaking, you lean towards Minor. “In order to plan for this birthday, someone lost several nights of sleep. She wasn’t even that tired when working together with you in the same team.”

Gavin balls the hand resting on his leg into a tight fist.

“There are many things I’m not in a position to say, so I’ll have to trouble you to say it yourself.” You pat Willow’s shoulder.

Oh, so she was referring to Willow, Gavin releases a shaky breath, setting down the tea cup he almost shattered in his hand.

He even planned to drag Minor out to give him a beating if you were to confess your feelings to him.

The last thing he wants to do is give you up - the person he’s been protecting for such a long time.

Seeing that the two of them are finally becoming a thing, you select a love song. With a motherly gaze, you plop yourself next to Gavin.

“What’s wrong? You look terrible.” Even the dim lights aren’t enough to conceal his pale face.

“I thought you...” Gavin speaks, but pauses halfway and doesn’t continue.

You lean back against the sofa. “You thought I liked Minor? And that I was going to confess to him?”

“Mm...”

You burst into laughter. “How could that be possible!” Turning to face him, you add. “But I do have someone I like.”

“Who.” His voice is stern.

Supporting your chin on your palm, you blink while looking at him. “He’s very tall, very handsome, likes basketball and growing succulents even though he usually fails. But he treats me really, really well.”

“...” His amber eyes dull. Gavin doesn’t speak, staring at the lyrics appearing on the screen.

Now that your feelings are off your chest, you feel relieved. But you put on a deliberately troubled expression and sigh. “I just don’t know if he likes me, and whether he’s wiling to be my boyfriend.”

“You’re such a good catch. Of course he’d be willing.” Gavin lowers his eyes, fingers rubbing the rim of the cup.

“Really? Gavin, you’re really wiling to be my boyfriend?” Your eyes sparkle, hearing your voice grow louder involuntarily.

Gavin turns to you, dumfounded, eyes filled with disbelief.

...

...he thought you were talking about somebody else?

The dim lights become warm, and a rare tenderness flashes across his eyes.

Because of the person next to you, all your emotions soften by a hundredfold.

“I’ll leave myself in your care then, my girlfriend.”

[ LUCIEN ]

Recently, Lucien has gone on a business trip, and Loveland TV has been rushing to produce a documentary episode involving biology. As such, you didn’t see a need to inform Lucien about it, and have been communicating directly with his assistant, Ah Ming, to obtain his input for the shoot.

To thank him for his help, and because his birthday is coming up, you decide to make a few cream puffs as both a ‘thank you’ and birthday gift.

Today, you didn’t notify Lucien that you’d be heading to Loveland University to give the present to Ah Ming.

Carrying the nicely packaged cream puffs, you push open the doors to Ah Ming’s office.

“Happy birthday, Ah Ming! Thanks for all your help in the programme. I made some cream puffs to express my gratitude.” You hand the gift box to him.

Ah Ming accepts the gift box, then scratches his head a little abashedly. “Thank you, Teacher’s wife. It was really a small matter.”

[Note] Ah Ming addresses MC as 师母 (”shi mu”), which refers to the wife of one’s teacher. It sounds a little weird in English, but I couldn’t think of a better substitute T^T

He opens the cover. “Looks delicious. You must have taken a lot of trouble to make these.”

“Ah Ming, the data for the experiment...” Lucien suddenly appears at the door, and is visibly shocked by your presence. “...Wife?”

Lucien’s line of sight flits to the cream puffs on the table. With a flash in his eyes, he asks, “Is this a dessert you bought? Could I have a try?”

You purse your lips, a bad feeling surfacing in your gut.

Although Ah Ming is a little confused as to why Professor Lucien, who doesn’t usually eat sweet foods, would suddenly want to try the cream puffs, he obediently hands the box to him. “Professor Lucien, please.”

Lucien takes a cream puff and plops it into his mouth. He closes his eyes, carefully giving it a taste. “Mm, it’s delicious. Could I have all of them?”

You can’t help but pipe up. “Lucien...”

“Would my wife like to try one too?” He asks, holding up a cream puff.

When I meet his meaningful gaze, the words I had prepared are lodged in my throat.

“If Professor is the one who wants it, of course.” Ah Ming closes the box and passes it to Lucien.

“Thank you very much,” Lucien takes the box, then holds your hand as the two of you walk towards his office. Before that, he turns his head and smiles. “Oh yes, happy birthday. I’ll give you your present later. I hope you’ll like it.”

Along the way, you notice that Lucien’s gripping you tightly, as though he’s afraid you’d run away. Only after reaching the office and locking the door does he loosen his grip.

You grumble. “Lucien, how could you snatch the ‘thank you’ gift I gave to Ah Ming?”

He sets the box on the table before taking a seat, propping his chin on his palm as he looks at you. “You made him cream puffs just because he helped you once. As the programme’s consultant who has helped you on so many more occasions, how should my wife show her gratitude?”

From his tone, you can tell that the Great Professor Lucien is suffering from a bout of jealousy.

“Isn’t devoting the rest of my life to you enough?”

Hearing your response, Lucien nods in agreement. “I hope you’ll only do such things for me.”

“Not even as a birthday gift?”

“No.” Lucien’s eyes narrow. “Especially if it’s for a male.”

Every time he has this expression on his face, you know that he’s being calculative. You compromise. “All right. Since you’ve snatched Ah Ming’s gift, your present better be more thoughtful to make up for my guilt.”

“My wife is very thoughtful.” Lucien retrieves Ah Ming’s thesis out of a thick stack of documents. “I will definitely. Mark. His. Final. Year. Thesis. Properly.”

“...”

What’s with this sudden shiver running down your spine?

As though something occurs to him, Lucien pulls out a notice from his drawer. “I’ll be responsible for the gift.” With a pen, he writes Ah Ming’s name on it. “I’ll give him the opportunity to work in a Tibetan-inhabited area. That way, he wouldn’t have to compete with others.”

...Professor Lucien, Ah Ming will cry after receiving such a gift. Deepest condolences to him.

“Also,” he lifts his head to look at you. “We’ll account for how you have been giving presents to other males in the school behind my back tonight when we’re at home.”

You purse your lips, asking a question. “But how did you know I made them myself?”

He pats your head. “As long as it’s made by my wife, I’ll remember how it tastes after trying it once.”

Oh, okay then. Next time, you’ll just give them something he’s never eaten before.

He encircles your waist and draws you into his arms. Tilting your chin up slightly, he sounds mildly threatening. “I hope you’re not thinking of giving them something I've never eaten before. I’ll be able to tell.”

[ KIRO ]

Savin’s birthday is approaching, and the both of you have been counting down the days, planning to spend an unforgettable birthday with him.

“I think our well-wishes will be better expressed if we bake the cake ourselves.” You’re in the kitchen with a hand on your hip, staring at Kiro, who looks like he’d rather perish than let you touch the bag of flour.

“No way. Miss Chips can only bake cakes for me! Even if it’s Savin, I won’t allow it!” Kiro hugs the bag of flour to himself using a death grip.

“Kiro!” You exclaim fiercely.

Kiro looks wronged. “All right, but Miss Chips can’t lift a single finger. Give me instructions, and I’ll bake it.” He places the bag on the counter, and prepares a bowl to knead the flour.

“Hold on, you have to separate the egg whites from the egg yolks first. ”You stop him before he can pour flour into the bowl. “Be more careful - the egg shells will get in!”

Kiro trembles and falters as he removes the egg shell from the bowl. “Don’t be so fierce... it’s the first time I’m using the kitchen...”

“...” Who was the one brimming with confidence earlier, and asked you not to lift a finger?

After sending the kitchen into disarray, Kiro manages to bake an edible cake.

“The cream is ready too. I just need the pastry bag...” Kiro fills the pastry bag with cream. “I paint really well, so it’d definitely be a beautiful cake~”

You recall the time the both of you did painting together, and toss him a mischievous glance. “Of course, you’re Picasso’s apprentice after all.”

“...Miss Chips!” Kiro’s flushed face expresses his unhappiness at your comment. “Forget it, I should leave such artistic endeavours to you.” Reluctantly, he hands you the pastry bag.

Since you learnt how to do it from a dessert shop in preparation for Kiro’s birthday, you draw an adorable shape on the cake with a skilled hand.

“Miss Chips, leave some space for me! I want to make a snowman for Savin.” He comments, leaning over.

Kiro holds the pastry bag slightly unsteadily, resulting in an oddly shaped snowman which looks... not that great...

Since there isn’t much time left, you store the cake in a box, grab the gift, and rush over to Savin’s place together.

The moment he opens the door, the both of you express your well-wishes in tandem: “Savin! Happy birthday!”

“Thank you. This cake looks pretty good, just that that lump of cream in the middle looks a little strange.”

Kiro is silent for a while before he says, “It’s you.”

“...”

You stifle your laughter while sticking candles onto the cake. “Savin, make a wish.”

Kiro pulls a sheet of paper from his pocket. “I’ve prepared your birthday wish for you. Just listen and repeat it: Number one, that Kiro will not put on weight. Number two, that Kiro will have an unlimited supply of snacks. Number three, that Kiro will suddenly get rich quickly. Number four, that Savin will not be fierce towards Kiro. Number five, mmhfffm-”

You cup a hand over Kiro’s mouth before Savin can shove the cake knife into Kiro’s throat. “Hahaha I’ll keep him quiet for you, Savin. Please think of your own wish, hahaha...”

Savin wordlessly sets down the knife in his hand, closing his eyes to make a wish.

Kiro grumbles softly at your ear, “You’re actually siding with Savin? Your Kiro is unhappy.”

You roll your eyes. “I was saving your life!”

Savin’s eyes snap open. “Let’s dig in. Kiro, you’re only allowed to eat the base!” He slices the cake, carefully avoiding the snowman in the middle, trying his best to retain its shape.

Kiro whips out his phone and snaps several photos. “Wishing Savin a happy birthday every year~”

Kiro’s Weibo Caption: Happy birthday Savin! I was the one who baked the cake - definitely not Miss Chips. I’m the only one who gets to eat what she makes, hmph~

After getting home, Kiro has his arm wrapped around your waist as he speaks to you in a low voice.

“Miss Chips sided with Savin today. When Kiro is angry, punishment awaits.”

[ SHAW ]

As a frequent visitor of Live House, you’re pretty familiar with the members of the band. Hence, it was no surprise that Adam would invite you to his birthday party. Not wanting to go empty-handed, yet not knowing what would be a good gift, you decide to be responsible for the cake that day.

When Shaw discovers that you’re going to specially get a cake for Adam, his brows are knitted so tightly that they could squish a mosquito.

“Don’t be late,” he grunts.

“Got it, I’ll go immediately after work, okay?” You pack your bag and prepare to head out.

“Lower your volume, I’m not deaf.”

“...”

If domestic violence wasn’t a crime, you would have beaten him into a pulp.

The birthday gathering is held in a karaoke lounge. After singing a few songs, the group decides to play “Truth or Dare”.

When the tip of the bottle points towards you, you click your tongue.

“Dare.”

One of the band members reads out the words on a “Dare” card.

“’State three positive traits of someone from the opposite gender.’ Since it’s Adam’s birthday, you could talk about his positive traits.”

Initially planning to compliment Shaw, you’re momentarily stunned. Lowering your head, you think about Adam’s merits.

You begin with a superficial trait. “Mm... he looks pretty handsome.”

Shaw crosses his legs, expressing his scorn. “Tch, someone gets a huge stack of love letters in his drawer every day.”

Pursing your lips, you suppress the urge to whack him. “I heard that Adam received good grades in university.”

Adam scratches the back of his head. “They were all right.”

Shaw takes a gulp of his mixed cola. “Someone’s twenty this year and is already a graduate student in Loveland University’s Archaeology Department.”

The band member lifts a finger. “One more.”

You think for a while. “I think you’re very skilled at the keyboard.”

“Tch, it’s just a keyboard. Someone not only knows how to play the keyboard, but also the bass and skateboard.”

“...”

Even the summer insects are silent.

Looking at each other wordlessly, you decide to break the silence. “Shaw, why do you keep bickering with me today?”

Shaw turns away from you while Adam shrugs as though he isn’t bothered by it at all. “He’s always like that. We’re all used to it.”

The other band members nod in agreement.

“Come, let’s have cake.” Adam opens the box you brought. After sticking the candles on and lighting them up, the guitarist standing closest to the switch flicks the lights off. Everyone sings the birthday song while Adam makes a wish.

Suddenly, a sharp streak of lightning flashes across the sky. Dull thunder resounds, shattering the joyous atmosphere. The sound recording of the birthday song pauses abruptly, and Adam trembles. “Let’s turn the lights back on.”

The guitarist clicks the switch, but nothing happens.

“I can’t. Maybe there’s a power outage? The lightning struck the circuit box, so the staff are trying to fix it now.”

Adam shakes his head in resignation. “All right, let’s just use candles for now. After finishing the cake, we’ll head back.”

Along the way home, you glance at Shaw, who has been silent. Poking his arm, you ask, “The lightning just now - it was you, wasn't it?”

“So what if it was? If the karaoke lounge didn’t install a lightning rod, I’d have struck them all. Why would I strike the circuit box?”

You laugh softly, tousling his lavender hair. “Such animosity - do you have to be so vicious towards your own band members?”

With a cold ‘hmph’, he turns away. “They made my girlfriend compliment another man - of course I'm angry!”

He faces you. “Also, your boyfriend has so many merits. How could you compliment someone else in front of him?”

You burst into laughter. “It’s just a game! I was originally going to pick you, but they told me to compliment Adam instead.”

Shaw grabs your hand and quickens his pace. “You can’t do it even if it’s a game. You can only compliment me. Let’s get home quickly.”

“Walk a little slower please!” You stumble, struggling to keep up with him.

“Let’s go home! Give me compliments!”

–

More translated and original works: here

–

[ Permission to translate ]

君兮耶君兮: You can - just note the source of the author

#mlqc #mlqc victor #mlqc gavin #mlqc lucien #mlqc kiro #mlqc shaw #cheri shortcake

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flowerfan2 · 5 years ago

Text

The One That Remains

Johnlock, 2k, A03

Summary: Sherlock wakes up in hospital confused... but it all turns out even better than he could have dreamed.

Sherlock’s head feels heavy, and is throbbing dreadfully. There are voices nearby – he can tell they are trying to speak softly, but each sound crashes into him like storm-churned waves against a cliff. His mind is filled with fog and he can’t make sense of what he hears. Regretfully, he lets himself slip back into unconsciousness.

When he wakes again, the pain has faded to a manageable ache. He holds still, not wanting to aggravate his head again, and tries to take stock. In hospital, obviously, but with a minimum of support. He carefully shifts his toes and fingers, and, reassured that nothing catastrophic seems to have taken place, opens his eyes.

“Ah, there you are.” He hears John’s voice as his face comes blearily into focus. “Gave me quite a scare this time, love.” There’s a hand grasping tightly to his, and Sherlock quickly closes his eyes again.

Clearly he has underestimated his condition. John is stubbornly loyal, and surprisingly forgiving, but he doesn’t call Sherlock love, and they don’t hold hands. Not even in hospital, not even when their world seems to be ending. He can count the times they’ve hugged on one hand (and could do so even with the loss of a few fingers). John may be getting over the grief of Mary’s betrayal, and has tentatively agreed to move back in to Baker Street, but things between them are decidedly not at the hand-holding stage, and never will be. John has made that abundantly clear on multiple occasions.

“That’s all right, then,” John says, in apparent reaction to Sherlock’s refusal to open his eyes. “Sleep as long as you want. You’re going to be fine, don’t worry.” Sherlock feels John’s fingers gently push his hair off his forehead, and it’s all he can do not to fling that taunting appendage away. “I’m here, it’s okay. You’re safe. You can rest.”

He flees into his mind palace, searching for an explanation for John’s behavior. He quickly eliminates injury to himself – that’s happened dozens of times, and never resulted in physical affection along these lines, in fact it’s much more likely to elicit a reprimand. He’s considering whether John could also have been injured in whatever case resulted in Sherlock’s own hospitalization, but he can’t imagine what would cause John to act in this manner other than some type of love potion and he’s not so far gone that he’s willing to acknowledge the possibility of such nonsense.

No, the only explanation that seems even remotely fitting is that Sherlock is caught in a dream, a dream where his deepest, most secret desires are permitted to see the light of day. A dream where John loves Sherlock.

Sherlock is considering whether he can convince his brain to stay in this dream for at least a short time, enough to measure the length of each of John’s fingers against his own, and possibly hear a few more endearments uttered in John’s quiet just-for-Sherlock voice, when his musings are interrupted by a much less welcome visitor.

“Brother mine, I know you’re not asleep.”

Sherlock hears John chuckle, and then withdraw his fingers from Sherlock’s. Sherlock tenses, forces himself not to grab at John’s hand, but he tells himself he has only dreamed it anyway and tames his unacceptable response. It can’t hurt to lose something you never really had.

John and Mycroft exchange meaningless words, something inane about poor quality coffee, and then Sherlock is alone with Mycroft.

He revises his conclusion. This isn’t a dream, it’s a nightmare, and not even a very interesting one.

“Come now, brother. Open your eyes.”

Sherlock huffs and looks up at Mycroft. Pristine suit, clean shaven, eyes no more tired than usual. Sherlock is clearly not in any unusual danger, nor is the rest of the world.

“When will I wake?” he asks, realizing as he does that his dream Mycroft isn’t likely to know the answer any more accurately than Sherlock himself does.

Mycroft smirks. “You’re wide awake now, Sherlock.”

“I’m not.” Sherlock petulantly flops over on his side, facing away from Mycroft. If dream Mycroft isn’t going to help, he might as well go away and let dream John return. Dream John is lovely. Dream John should stay forever.

“You’ve been drugged. It’s altered you a bit but it will wear off completely soon. Shouldn’t have any lasting effects.”

“Go away.”

“I told John I’d stay until he returned, and I will do so.”

Sherlock twists and looks at Mycroft over his shoulder. “He’s coming back?”

A fond look washes over Mycroft’s face, and that more than anything convinces Sherlock that he’s dreaming. Mycroft’s face is not designed to look fond. It’s not in his programming. “Of course he’s coming back.”

Sherlock presses his face into his pillow and pouts. Mycroft is keeping something from him, but Sherlock can’t weasel it out of him in his present condition. Sherlock needs more data, wants to spring from the bed and examine the situation from every angle, but he’s bone crushingly tired and can’t seem to summon the necessary energy to do it. Maybe John will return, and Sherlock can rest with dream John holding his hand until he has recovered enough to break out of this confusion and return to reality.

John does return, bringing the aroma of coffee into the room. As Mycroft is still present, John comes around to Sherlock’s other side and draws a chair close. Sherlock squints an eye open, and sees John gazing right back at him. He quickly shuts his misbehaving eye. It won’t do to reveal too much, not without more information.

“It’s all right,” John says, his breath fluttering close against Sherlock’s face. A stale almond croissant, apparently, was consumed along with the coffee. Sherlock tosses away this unhelpful deduction and focuses on the much, much more interesting feeling of John’s hand stroking along his forehead and carding through his hair. “You’re okay. It’s just me, love.”

There it is again, that word, it doesn’t make any sense. It’s not for him, it can’t be, it never has been before. Sherlock doesn’t argue, though, he’ll take it, gratefully. John strokes his hand along Sherlock’s forehead again, and despite himself, Sherlock pushes ever so sneakily into John’s soothing touch. He’s rewarded with a soft sound and the feel of damp lips against his cheek, and he wonders if he can dream this dream forever, because it’s the best dream he’s ever had.

But John sits up, saying goodbye to Mycroft as his brother (finally) takes his leave. Now John’s hand is threading through Sherlock’s again, which is acceptable as it is John’s other hand this time, and it gives Sherlock the opportunity to gather further data, to compare this hand with the one previously examined, to shift each of his fingers carefully against the skin of John’s fingers: shorter than his own, nails neatly trimmed, callouses where expected…

Sherlock’s breath catches in his chest, and he freezes. If John notices he doesn’t say anything, just continues to hold Sherlock’s hand as a nurse engages him in vacuous small talk about the weather. But Sherlock has encountered something which sends his dream crashing down around him, which shatters his fantasy so completely that he might as well send John back to Mary and go home to Baker Street, alone and miserable as always. But wait- that’s wrong, John isn’t with Mary any more, Mary is dead, Sherlock knows this, he was just thinking about how John was putting the entire Mary debacle behind him… it occurs to him, like a beam through the fog of his mind, that whatever happened to him must have affected his memory.

Sherlock must have allowed his confusion to show on his face, because John has noticed this time (he does observe, occasionally), and is speaking in his worried doctor voice. But it’s not the same as it used to be, there’s something else going on, sentiment coloring his words. Sherlock can’t stand this, he isn’t able to deduce anything correctly in this state, it’s unacceptable and intolerable and it’s scaring him.

“Sherlock? You okay?”

Sherlock squeezes his eyes shut, and a tear slides down his cheek. Well done, he thinks to himself. Now he’ll definitely believe you’re asleep.

“Hey, it’s okay.” John wipes the tear away with a fingertip. “Don’t cry, love. It’s really okay. Trust me. Whatever you’re thinking, it’s okay.”

Still an idiot, Sherlock thinks. That statement makes no sense. There are any number of things he can be thinking that are decidedly not okay.

“The drugs will wear off soon, Sherlock. You got a low dose, you’ll make a full recovery. Molly went over your results from the last victims, and she’s sure of it.”

Sherlock doesn’t know what Molly Hooper has to do with any of this.

“Come on, relax. Take some deep breaths for me.” John is running his hand over Sherlock’s head again, and Sherlock can feel the offending item hard against his skin. Deep breaths aren’t going to help this situation.

“Tell me what’s wrong, love. Just tell me, let me help.”

That word cuts through him, and Sherlock can no longer control himself. “You’re married,” he spits out, anger and confusion coloring his voice. “Go home to her. Stop torturing me.” He knows it doesn’t make any sense, he knows Mary is gone. But then why is John wearing a ring?

John’s hand pauses in its journey across Sherlock’s forehead, and cups his cheek. “Sherlock, open your eyes.”

Sherlock shakes his head.

“Please,” John says softly, without even a hint of his Captain Watson voice, and Sherlock, helpless against this, complies.

John’s face is so dear, even with a few extra lines he doesn’t quite remember, and his eyes are shining bright as they meet Sherlock’s own.

“I am married,” he says quietly, a smile tugging at his lips. “Very happily married.” John shifts and pulls something out of his pants pocket and takes Sherlock’s hand in his own. “And so are you.”

Sherlock gasps as John holds up a ring for him to see, and then slips it on to Sherlock’s finger.

“This isn’t happening. I’m dreaming,” Sherlock insists, but John just gazes at him sweetly and presses a coffee-scented kiss to his cheek.

“Wait – stop it – John – this isn’t-”

“It’s okay, love. Just rest easy. You’ll remember soon.”

“What are you talking about?” Sherlock wonders if he is having a panic attack – can you have a panic attack in your dream? If you stop breathing in a dream, what happens then? Do you snap out of the dream when you die? He realizes he’s basing this particular concern on that infernal dreamsharing movie John made him watch, and drags his focus back to John. John, who is shuffling his chair even closer to Sherlock’s bed and leaning down until he’s practically embracing Sherlock.

“I wasn’t supposed to say anything until the drugs wore off, it just agitates the victims to realize that their memory is impaired. I should have realized you’d figure it out, though. My brilliant madman.” John is snuggling against Sherlock, and Sherlock can feel the rise and fall of John’s chest against his own.

“Breath with me. Come on. Humor me.”

Sherlock does, his nose practically touching John’s cheek, warm air exchanged between them as Sherlock matches his exhalations to John’s. When the room stops spinning, he pulls his left hand out of John’s grasp, and looks at the ring John placed on his finger. He slides it off, blinking at the familiarity of the sensation, and sees the inscription. The one which remains.

“You had a hard time believing this the first time around, too,” John says. “We each inscribed the other’s rings. Want to see mine?” John tugs his own ring off and shows it to Sherlock. Inside is written conductor of light.

“This is a very detailed dream,” Sherlock says, returning John’s ring to him, and letting John put his own back on his finger again. It settles easily, as if Sherlock’s hand adjusted to its shape long ago.

“A good one?” John asks, his eyes searching Sherlock’s face.

“The very best,” Sherlock says seriously. He doesn’t know what to think as John snuggles – snuggles – back down against him, one arm going around his shoulders as Sherlock lies there dumbfounded. Could John be right? Could they be married? How had Sherlock possibly pulled that off, how had he convinced John Watson to trust him with his heart? It is both too incredible to believe, and at the same time… eliminate all other factors, and the one which remains must be the truth.

“All right then,” John says, tracing a finger along Sherlock’s collarbone. “Rest a bit. It’ll all come back to you soon, I promise.”

Sherlock lets himself drift off, safe and warm in a way that is perplexingly familiar. When he wakes a few hours later, his husband curled up against him, Sherlock knows this isn’t a dream. It’s his life, his treasured, improbable life, and it’s better than any dream he possibly could have imagined.

#johnlock #sherlock #john watson #sherlock holmes #johnlock fic

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libermachinae · 4 years ago

Text

Fault Lines Under the Living Room

Part I: Listen - Chapter 1: A Commotion, Eager and Anxious (Previous)

Also available on AO3! Summary: Arcee arrives on the Lost Light just as someone else is getting ready to leave. Chapter Word Count: 3010

---

“Hey, you’ve reached Captain Rodimus’ personal hailing frequency. If you’re calling to complain again about mandatory hab sweeps, please refer to recent events involving briefcases and the hereafter outlawed opening of. If you have news involving foolish, ridiculous, or nonsensical obstacles in our quest, input 1 to be transferred directly to Megatron’s personal comm line. If you have a complaint regarding sign placement, grammatically incorrect maintenance manuals, or that weird temperature difference between floors 7 and 8, input 2 for Ultra Magnus. If you’re lonely and want someone to talk to, input 3 for automatic directions to Swerve’s. Input 4 to be connected with me, provided I’m—”

Beep.

“Rodimus?”

“Blaster! Great timing, we just got back from Fortuna. Don’t talk too long, though, Magnus just handed me my prep for the hearing and these datapads are engraved with his personal insignia.”

“Sure, Rodimus. I’ve got incoming transmission from an unknown caller, not laying down any codes I’m familiar with. Tried pressing for details, but all they’re letting slip is they want to talk to you. Want me to patch them through?”

“Hm. On the one hand, unknown caller with mysterious intentions almost always means trouble, right?”

“We’ve ended up in some axel grease for it in the past, yeah.”

“And the reason we set down on Scarvix was to avoid creating more problems while we deal with the fallout from the last batch.”

“I thought it was to give the crew a day off?”

“And that’s why you’re our morale guy. Ratchet would probably tell me to ignore it, right?”

“I guess.”

“You don’t think he would?”

“Not really sure how the CMO’s opinion is relevant.”

Because Ratchet’s vote was the only one he knew.

“Yeah, never mind,” Rodimus said with a shrug, almost losing his balance in the process. “Ultra Magnus would say the same thing, anyway, and he’s counting on me to get to the hearing on time. He cares so much , he ‘summarized’ Brainstorm’s alleged code infringements himself.” He shifted the armload of datapads. The topmost pad was hanging off the edge, preparing for freefall, but trying to tilt it back to safety risked upsetting the rest of the pile.

“Nice of him,” Blaster said.

“Yep, super nice. He went to so much trouble. Really dug into the details, researched historical precedents, looked at the case from every angle. He probably buried his essay on the origins of Decepticon as an adjective somewhere in here.” The datapad tilted and dropped. Rodimus shifted his weight to one leg and kicked with the other, bouncing the pad off his knee and catching it with his teeth. “You know ‘at? Hure, ‘ut the comm hrough. ‘robably just a co’arketer, anyay.”

“Yes, sir.”

The familiar click and beat of a line being transferred. Rodimus deposited the datapad on top of his stack and started walking again, forgoing his office in favor of a detour to the middle decks. The view there was more impressive, the angle revealing the organic landscape that stretched between the Lost Light and Fortuna, a popular interstellar rest stop with enough mechanical business to make it worth the daytrip. Chomskians were their patrons of choice, but a hand over the faction insignia and most folks would let it slide. Walking the length of the Lost Light revealed a subtly changing view as the gleam of the mechanoid hub altered the silhouette of the city, and Rodimus busied himself tracking the shuttles, jets, and personal aircraft traveling in and out, letting it distract him until his comm came back.

“Am I speaking to Captain Rodimus?” an unfamiliar voice asked. Cybertronian, definitely, but otherwise unknown.

Cool .

“Yep, captain of the Lost Light and quester for the Knights of Cybertron,” he said. “What’s up?”

“This is Autobot Arcee, requesting permission to dock in the Lost Light’s shuttle bay.”

“Arcee?” Rodimus went through the list of all the Autobots he knew, ignoring the space where Arcee’s origin should have been. Some folks, MTOs especially, didn’t like to broadcast that information, and it wasn’t strictly necessary for a personal database search. Regardless, “Sorry, Arcee, I’m not remembering you. Who did you serve under?”

“New recruit. Was working with Prowl for a bit, now Optimus Prime. We’ve met.”

He had to hold himself back from shutting down the call. The datapads wobbled and he quickly righted himself.

“We have?” People who worked for Prowl were strategic about when they released that information. If she really was a new recruit, it was possible no one had explained to her yet that, ultimately, everything led back to him. It was the only justification he could find for staying on the line and not telling Ultra Magnus to initiate an immediate sweep for unauthorized listening devices.

“Well, no. But I crashed a shuttle for you. Into Galvatron.”

“You did?” And just like that he had forgotten Prowl entirely.

“I did. Me and a few others. It didn’t do much, but you and Optimus managed to take care of Vector Sigma anyway, so, bygones.”

Why couldn’t he remember this? It sounded awesome .

“Totally,” Rodimus said, feeling a swell of pride as he remembered the moment Optimus had set aside his doubts and trusted Rodimus’ word on the Matrix. Up until that point, his chosen name had felt ill-fitting, like the myriad of function tests that preceded a new harvest’s official classification. Or, in his darker moments, like the Primes of old, who claimed the Matrix’s blessing despite no legitimate connection to it. Optimus had put his faith in Rodimus, though, in his connection to the Matrix, and that faith had been rewarded , not punished . For once, his destiny hadn’t been priced in spilled energon.

Not that they hadn’t seen any.

“So you decided to get the brand and make it permanent?” he asked, pulling himself back to the present.

“Yes.”

“Then yeah, come aboard. ‘The more the merrier,’ as Megatron would never say. When do you estimate your arrival?”

“I’ve just breached atmosphere, should be there in an hour.”

“Perfect. I’ll send instructions along to open the shuttle bay doors and will be there to meet you.” He passed the news to Megatron and Ultra Magnus and was unsurprised when only the latter acknowledged the alert, as well as a bunch of forms that seemed incredibly tedious and not worth the bandwidth. Maybe once the hearing was over, he could sit down with his co-captain and remind him of the responsibilities he had agreed to as part of his deal. That would be a proper, leader-like thing to do.

Or he could let Megatron continue to wallow in whatever new misery he had concocted for himself. It certainly made his shifts easier.

He and Arcee exchanged farewells and his comm powered down, leaving Rodimus to strategize. Arcee’s arrival meant he did not have enough time to get back to his office, read through all of Magnus’ files, and make it to the shuttle bay, especially with all the effort it would take to even work himself up to unlocking the datapads. Better to make a good impression on their new guest and bump out the least pressing task. He could do his reading once Arcee was settled.

Walking around weighed down by the burden of knowledge was a drag, though, so he stuck to the part of the plan that involved getting rid of the datapads. He spent the remaining walk to his office (longer now after he had inadvertently walked in the opposite direction while on the comm) thinking about what he could do with the surprise free time. Maybe take a quick lap around the lower decks or make his first official visit to “Visages”. Something fun, carefree, and just barely skirting regulations; something normal , to start the work of convincing everyone, again, that things were going to be fine.

~*~

Ratchet was not stalling.

There was a chance he was overpreparing, but better that than the opposite. The galaxy was a big place, and if he was even slightly accurate in his guess of how far Drift would wander in his search for redemption, he would be touching corners of it even the war had never brought him to. So, an abundance of fuel was necessary, at least enough to last two bots a month plus about half that for the journey outward. Then medical supplies: wiremesh bandages, nanite gel, intravenous lines, sparkstarters, sorted boxes of nuts and screws, antiviral uploads, rust repellant, strut stabilizers, soldering wires… The shuttle was turning out better equipped than some of the mobile surgeries he had worked from during the war; even some hospitals had been dangerously low on materials he now found in abundance. For the first time, he had the resources to make sure nothing and no one would be lost to shortage, and he intended to take advantage of that new luxury.

Following that, the next logical step had been to make the rest of the shuttle comfortable as well. Two Morphy berths with recharge docks. A media library of music and movies to pass the time (the former Cyclonus’ recommendations, the latter, Swerve’s). A few selections from his private engex stash. A box of data blockers he had buried deep among the medical supplies and would claim were standard for any med kit if interrogated.

He nudged the box of Hex pieces against the wall with his foot. Was it alright there was nowhere to sit beside the naviconsole and the berths? He had though Drift would appreciate the economy of a smaller shuttle, but with the cargo loaded the atmosphere was shifting from cozy to cramped. Would Drift feel claustrophobic, reminded of squatters’ dens and Decepticon outposts? Drift was also a high-energy bot, who would probably itch for a chance to spin his wheels from time to time. Were the fuel reserves large enough to accommodate multiple planet stops?

Ratchet’s knuckle had worked its way between his teeth before he realized what he was doing. Dropping his hand, he forced himself to turn around and exit the small spacecraft. He was committed. Out of anyone on board, Drift had done the most to earn this home. If no one else was going to step up and do the right thing by returning it to him, Ratchet would resign to do it himself.

He heard a commotion, eager and anxious, as he stepped out into the shuttle bay. The hangar doors were opening, sunlight slipping through the growing crack, and several parked crafts were being taxied out of the way. Not wanting to get cut off by wandering shuttles, he hurried to the pedestrian entrance, where most of the voices were coming from: a small crowd, loiterers looking for the new source of intrigue. Whirl and Tailgate were among them, providing running commentary as the unwieldly ships skirted just shy of scraping each other’s paint off, so it was no surprise to find Cyclonus standing further off.

Perfect. Though Ratchet and Cyclonus were not on bad terms, neither had ever tried to expand their relationship past the occasional long-suffering glance. If it had been one of the bots who had his spark twisting every time he bumped into them in the hallways, Ratchet would have worried about giving his plan away, but he doubted Cyclonus cared whether the something-like-guilt was visible.

“Cyclonus,” he greeted.

“Ratchet.” The older of the two offered a polite nod, though his gaze returned to the door.

“What’s going on? Somebody forget something in Fortuna?” Ratchet kept his voice light, curiosity without investment. A change in routine could mean nothing, but by now everyone knew it could also be the start of something weird, dangerous, or a combination of the two. Either way, it would end up among Swerve’s stand-up material.

“New arrival,” Cyclonus said. “Arcee of the Darklands: a tested warrior with a spark that rivaled Galvatron’s.”

Might as well have called herself Foreboding of Doom and saved his declarative archives the search. Ratchet wondered if he should move his departure up.

“Is she here? Did I miss it?”

Rodimus’ panicked shouts preceded his stumble into the hangar. Ratchet greeted him with a pointed look, which he shouldered by simply not noticing it while his gaze darted around the room.

“Not yet, Rodimus,” Hoist announced over the loudspeaker. “We’re just getting the last shuttles cleared for landing.”

“Oh, thank Primus,” Rodimus said, tilting his head back as his fans released a cloud of warm air. “Fantastic.”

“You look like you gunned it to get here,” Ratchet said, waving away the smell of an overheated engine.

“No, that would be speeding, which is definitely against spacetime law,” Rodimus said, straightening to flash Ratchet a deeply unappreciated grin. “I ran. I told Arcee I would be here to meet her, and it would make for a pretty bad impression of the ship if the captain failed to live up to his promise.”

“Don’t you have a hearing to be getting ready for?” Ratchet asked, the question slipping past his censors. Slag. That was not the note he wanted to leave on. The stress of his impending departure was getting to him more than he had realized.

Rodimus shrugged, unaffected.

“Magnus gave me all the materials, just need to read them. Won’t take long.”

That stirred something in Ratchet’s spark.

“Good to know our justice system is under such attentive care.”

“Perhaps this is a conversation that would be better saved for when we are not moments from new introductions,” Cyclonus interjected, his deep bass distracting enough to halt those emotional processes of Ratchet’s that started to loop out of control whenever Rodimus opened his mouth. He set his vocalizer to standby, not trusting it to wait for his command, and wondered whether it would be better to get out sooner. Before his own smart mouth made his worries a reality.

The appearance of the approaching shuttle did not ease his concerns. Starting as a speck above the horizon, all optics were on it as it approached, a little blob of a spacecraft dangling over the city of Fortuna. Big, for a single occupant. Ratchet hoped he was wrong, but he noticed something further odd as it came nearer.

Whirl took care of that loose thread of optimism.

“It’s purple,” he said, with a coy look at Cyclonus, who ignored it with enviable steadiness.

“It’s a Decepticon vessel.” Ratchet had seen enough in his time. After the fall of Tyger Pax, Autobot regulations had outlawed all colors between navy and magenta for ships, and he could think of no other species brazen enough to steer a spacecraft directly into civilian airspace. “Rodimus?”

“Blaster confirmed Arcee’s ident after our call,” Rodimus said. “Bit of a garish choice for a ride, but it’s her.” He had maneuvered himself to the front of the group, standing at the front like he was putting himself on display for an honored guest.

“That is rich, coming from you.”

“Thanks, Ratch,” Rodimus said, casting over his shoulder a wink and a grin before he turned back to face the oncoming ship. Ratchet’s frown deepened and he ignored the way the gesture reminded him of Drift.

He never knew what the bot had seen in Rodimus. Short-sighted, selfish, and with an ego that could have powered the ship if he could have been bothered to contribute that much, Rodimus’ ability to perform feats no one else would attempt meant he was also prone to making mistakes they neither could have imagined. For all the time Ratchet had spent on the Lost Light , he still had no idea the limits of chaos Rodimus was capable of summoning to it, so he let triage and combat protocols idle in the background while they waited.

It was not a nice landing. The thrusters were still burning several hundred feet out, so they all heard the roar of wind buffeting ailerons as the shuttle struggled to slow itself down. It was only by the combined effects of the Lost Light ’s buffeting shield and the shuttle’s reverse engines that they did not suffer a catastrophic collision, and even then, the shuttle bounced as it finally touched down, coming within feet of kissing Huffer’s personal speeder. Ratchet still did not remember to vent as it struggled through taxiing, twice having to reattempt a maneuver as the combined efforts of Hoist, Rodimus, and a group of volunteers guided it to its designated space. Only when the engines finally shut down did Ratchet hear the collective sigh of multiple hydraulics systems releasing their tension.

“Guess Darkland warriors don’t need to know how to drive,” Ratchet muttered. He thought he heard Cyclonus huff, which was enough to get a chuckle out of him.

That was it, though, because in the next moment Rodimus was rushing to the lowering hatch, his spoiler flicking behind him like an insect wing. Ratchet caught a glimpse of a labyrinthine cargo hold before Arcee stepped forward, filling the space, and descended rapidly. He tensed, ready for something else to come charging out from behind her, but besides a look passed between her and Cyclonus nothing immediately hostile revealed itself.

“Welcome to the Lost Light,” Rodimus said, standing aside to let Arcee descend. The hatch raised as soon as she was standing on the Lost Light’s floor, blocking Ratchet’s view again.

“Yes, thank you.” Her tone was clipped, not the melodic veil of sophistication Ratchet had come to associate with Cyclonus, and she scanned the assembled bots with a look of blatant suspicion. Ratchet could relate to that, if nothing else.

He glanced at the purple ship once more while Rodimus led Arcee in the direction of the rec rooms while the rest of the crowd dispersed. Ratchet himself would never believe in anything as a sign or omen, but the sight of the purple plating made old welds ache, and he found his resolve. He would go get a drink. He would attend the hearing. And then, goodbyes or no, he was leaving that night.

#maccadam #transformers #rodimus #ratchet #my writing #longfic #fault lines #im posting this so late 😂#life happens yknow

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