#history of nanotechnology

[gogonano]

The Revolutionary History of Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology, a groundbreaking field that has revolutionized numerous industries, continues to shape the world as we know it. In this article, we delve into the rich history of nanotechnology, exploring its origins, major milestones, and transformative applications. Join us on this captivating journey through the nano realm and discover how this remarkable technology has reshaped various sectors, from healthcare and electronics to energy and materials science.

Origins of Nanotechnology

Unveiling the Nanoscale

Nanotechnology finds its roots in the exploration of the minuscule world at the nanoscale. The concept of nanoscale was first introduced by physicist Richard Feynman in his visionary lecture in 1959, where he discussed the potential for manipulating matter at the atomic and molecular levels. This groundbreaking concept laid the foundation for the birth of nanotechnology.

The Birth of Nanotechnology

In 1981, the term "nanotechnology" was officially coined by engineer K. Eric Drexler in his influential book, "Engines of Creation." Drexler envisioned a future where nanomachines could manipulate matter at the atomic scale, leading to remarkable advancements in various fields. His work served as a catalyst for the rapid development of nanotechnology research and applications.

Major Milestones in Nanotechnology

Scanning Probe Microscopy

In the early 1980s, the invention of scanning probe microscopy revolutionized nanotechnology research. The scanning tunneling microscope (STM) and atomic force microscope (AFM) allowed scientists to visualize and manipulate individual atoms and molecules with unprecedented precision. These breakthroughs opened up new possibilities for studying nanoscale phenomena and laid the groundwork for further advancements in the field.

Fullerenes and Nanotubes

In 1985, a significant discovery shook the scientific community—the identification of fullerenes. Researchers Robert Curl, Harold Kroto, and Richard Smalley stumbled upon these unique carbon molecules, marking the birth of a new class of nanomaterials. Fullerenes paved the way for the development of carbon nanotubes, cylindrical structures with remarkable strength and conductivity. These nanotubes would go on to become key building blocks in various nanotechnology applications.

Nanotechnology in Medicine

Nanotechnology's potential to revolutionize healthcare became evident with the advent of targeted drug delivery systems. Nanoparticles, such as liposomes and polymeric nanoparticles, can be designed to encapsulate drugs and deliver them precisely to targeted cells or tissues. This approach minimizes side effects and maximizes therapeutic efficacy. Additionally, nanotechnology plays a vital role in imaging techniques, enabling highly sensitive and precise detection of diseases at the molecular level.

Nanoelectronics and Quantum Computing

The relentless pursuit of smaller, faster, and more energy-efficient electronics led to the emergence of nanoelectronics. By utilizing nanoscale materials and devices, researchers have pushed the boundaries of traditional silicon-based technology. Nanoscale transistors, quantum dots, and nanowires have paved the way for advancements in computing power, memory storage, and energy efficiency. Furthermore, the field of quantum computing, which harnesses quantum phenomena at the nanoscale, holds the promise of solving complex problems that are currently beyond the capabilities of classical computers.

Nanomaterials and Energy

Nanotechnology has also played a significant role in addressing global energy challenges. By developing advanced nanomaterials, scientists have made strides in enhancing solar cell efficiency, enabling the production of clean and renewable energy. Nanomaterials have also been employed in energy storage devices, such as batteries and supercapacitors, to improve their performance and longevity. Additionally, nanotechnology has opened up avenues for energy harvesting and energy conversion, contributing to a more sustainable future.

Transformative Applications of Nanotechnology

Nanomedicine and Disease Treatment

Nanotechnology has revolutionized medicine, offering innovative solutions for disease diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. Targeted drug delivery systems, nanoscale imaging techniques, and nanobiosensors have transformed the landscape of healthcare, enabling personalized and precise interventions. From cancer therapy to regenerative medicine, nanotechnology has the potential to revolutionize patient care and improve outcomes.

Nanoelectronics and Wearable Technology

The marriage of nanotechnology and electronics has given rise to the era of wearable technology. Nanoscale sensors, flexible displays, and energy-efficient components have paved the way for smartwatches, fitness trackers, and augmented reality devices. These advancements in nanoelectronics have made it possible to integrate technology seamlessly into our everyday lives, enhancing convenience and connectivity.

Nanomaterials and Advanced Manufacturing

Nanotechnology has propelled advancements in materials science and manufacturing. Nanomaterials with tailored properties and enhanced performance characteristics have found applications in aerospace, automotive, and construction industries. From lightweight and high-strength composites to self-cleaning surfaces and energy-efficient coatings, nanomaterials have revolutionized product design, durability, and sustainability.

In Conclusion

Nanotechnology's journey from its conceptualization to its present-day applications has been nothing short of extraordinary. The field's remarkable achievements in diverse domains, including medicine, electronics, and energy, continue to drive innovation and shape the future. As we delve deeper into the nanoscale world, the possibilities seem boundless. With ongoing research and collaboration, nanotechnology will undoubtedly unlock new frontiers, leading to breakthroughs that will reshape industries and improve lives across the globe.

#history of nanotechnology #richard feynman #chemestry #green chemistry #nanotechnology #science #nanomaterials #nanocoating #nanomedicine #probe microscopy #revolutionary

[gccexchange]

What is Nanotechnology?

Nanotechnology: The branch of science and engineering that deals with designing, producing, and using structures, devices, and systems by altering atoms and molecules at the nanoscale is referred to as nanotechnology. Nanotechnology is used in various industries for technological advancements. For example, it is currently used in the information and communications sectors, food industry, energy…

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#history of nanotechnology #Nanotechnology #nanotechnology examples #nanotechnology in medicine #nanotechnology journal #nanotechnology meaning #nanotechnology pdf #nanotechnology products

[materialsscienceandengineering]

Scientists discover nanofabrication of photonic crystals on buried ancient Roman glass

Some 2,000 years ago in ancient Rome, glass vessels carrying wine or water, or perhaps an exotic perfumes, tumble from a table in a marketplace, and shatter to pieces on the street. As centuries passed, the fragments were covered by layers of dust and soil and exposed to a continuous cycle of changes in temperature, moisture, and surrounding minerals. Now these tiny pieces of glass are being uncovered from construction sites and archaeological digs and reveal themselves to be something extraordinary. On their surface is a mosaic of iridescent colors of blue, green and orange, with some displaying shimmering gold-colored mirrors. These beautiful glass artifacts are often set in jewelry as pendants or earrings, while larger, more complete objects are displayed in museums.

Read more.

#Materials Science #Science #Photonics #Crystals #Nanotechnology #Science history #Glass #Iridescence #Tufts University

[patientmakt]

This study, Covid – An agenda for population control and transhumanism?, was done by swedish Ph.D Tomas Persson. I recommend this to everyone and also help inform others on these pressing issues. You will also find other material that is related to this discussion.

#covid vaccine #covid 19 #mrnacovid #globalist agenda #transfection #transhumanism #nanotechnology #brain machine interface #the internet #dna contamination #covid vax #patientsafety #world economic forum #Paul Cudenec #Jacob Nordangård #books #population control #healing #crimes against humanity #spirituality #iot #Internet of Bodies #history #hidden agenda

[dermatology-cro]

#transdermal patch technology #transdermal patches nanotechnology #microneedle transdermal patch #non invasive biomarkers #biomarker study #history of transdermal patches #non transdermal patches

[fredwkong]

Alphaworld File 1: Oral History

The universe is multifarious, constantly diverging as new choices are made. Spinning away through time, these alternate realities become locked away from our own, so we can never know exactly what would have happened if a single choice was made differently.

Except, sometimes, two of those worlds, careening through the upper dimensions, happen to converge. As they slide past each other, they may line up just so, each leaving behind fragments as they continue their journey into their divergent futures. You’ve never heard of this, because the remnants, mostly data, are swiftly collected by various government agencies and collected into reports on the intercepted reality.

This report collects various scientific articles, personal journals, news reels, and even a documentary series from one such reality, codenamed Alphaworld. In this world, gay men have not only become the norm, but have seemingly replaced all other people. In this world, society is stratified into an apparently biological hierarchy of homosexual castes, based on men’s physical characteristics and psychologies. Upon finishing the following fragment from a peer-reviewed article that was a trace recovered from Alphaworld, please select the next fragment you would like to consume.

X

An Oral History of the Creation and Initial Spread of the Alpha Phenomenon, by Alpha Dr. Jose Martinez

Until recently, it was not known what sparked the spread of the Alpha Phenomenon which has wholly remade the world in recent years. This was until Alpha Joshua Dearfoot, who resides with his Betas in rural ex-Ontario, stated during a livestream on OnlyFans that he is the original Alpha.

Alpha Dearfoot does not interact with Betas from outside his harem unless they renounce their current Alpha. As this research team contains no unbonded Betas—Alpha Dr. Martinez says we can’t spend too much time with non-harem Betas—we investigated among those close to Alpha Dearfoot, conducting interviews and surveying in the local area to discover as much as we could.

Joshua, as he was known before the emergence of the Alpha Phenomenon, was a PhD candidate in nanotechnology, with a secondary focus in physiology. Photographs kept by his father (Beta to Alpha Sean Barehill) reveal that through his youth and young adulthood Joshua was physically unimpressive, with a physique not even reaching the base level expected of a Beta.

According to a classmate of Joshua’s from university (Beta to Alpha Liam Oliver), Joshua was studious but insecure: “I mean, I used to push him around all the time for being a fa— gay kid. Gay and a nerd? In the Old World, that was, like, the worst thing.” When asked about whether he has properly apologised, the Beta said, in a rapturous voice, “Oh, yeah, Alpha Dearfoot was my first. He disciplined me so well I could barely walk, I came like four times. Then he told me to come join Alpha Liam’s harem. I mean, he wasn’t Alpha Liam then, I was one of the first guys to go full Beta on campus.”

It appears that Alpha Dearfoot had a difficult youth, growing up unable to meet certain Old World expectations of manhood. The masculine stereotypes of Native Americans also seem to have weighed on him, as he was entirely unable to meet them. As his father told us, “Joshua was a sweet kid, but he got bullied for being too short and scrawny, not matching the image of an “Indian” in all these bigoted kids’ heads. He was obsessed with growing bigger, which is why he went into physio.” Remember, in some communities it is normal for a Beta father to continue to refer to his Alpha son by his first name.

According to Sigma Harrison White, a former lab partner of Dearfoot’s who fucked us on his lawn in exchange for this interview, Joshua was obsessed with creating some way to become more manly. “He spent some really long evenings in the lab,” said Harrison while one of us squealed in the grass beneath him. “One morning he came out with this manic grin on his face, said that he’d finally done it, and ran off. Two weeks later, he came back a full Alpha.” At this point, Harrison’s pace slowed down as he became contemplative. “It was only after he started hooking up with all the queer guys on campus that we started becoming Alphas and Sigmas and stuff, too.”

Did Alpha Dearfoot intend for the Alpha Phenomenon to be infectious? A Beta from his harem claims not. “He got home from school one morning all excited about some project he’d finished,” the Beta told us—it seems that he and Alpha Dearfoot were childhood friends. “The next day, he seemed a little different, a little more muscular, more assertive. He seemed really satisfied for about a week, then he got scared. He just kept getting bigger. The day he got taller than me and nearly broke a bar at the gym doing deadlifts, I started feeling the Beta change.

“I went to him and started telling him about my muscle gains and all the weird thoughts and sensations I was experiencing, and he got really scared,” the Beta continued, his eyes distant. “I started to comfort him, and that was when we felt the bond form. It felt so right for him to be my first, to finger me open and fill me with his still-growing dick.”

While we pressed for more details about what may have been the first Alpha/Beta bond in history, the Beta refused to disclose more information, claiming that it was private to him and his Alpha. For the reader’s imagination, see Figure A to find a picture of Alpha Dearfoot from his Instagram profile.

Alpha Dearfoot appears to have intended to create a nanomachine-based masculinity booster, and the transmissibility of the Alpha Phenomenon, as well as the behavioural and sexual changes it induces, were unintended side effects, perhaps introduced in the particles’ replication process. The effects of the Alpha Phenomenon on aging and physical fitness may also be unexpected consequences of Alpha Dearfoot's programming efforts.

According to Alpha Young Baek Hyeon, who lives in the former New York area with a mixed harem, he and Alpha Dearfoot attempted to “date,” an outmoded practice common in the Old World, during the early weeks of the Alpha Phenomenon’s spread. “Alpha DeWayne and I work well together,” Alpha Young told us by video call, “but we’re both pretty chill even since we changed. Alpha Dearfoot and I couldn’t even stand to be in the same room once I had transformed. He’s one of the most territorial Alphas I’ve ever met, he can barely stand to have another Alpha within a mile of him.” As Alpha Young spoke, we watched a well-trained Beta enter the room with a plate of apple slices and present them to his Alpha.

“He was really torn up about it, too. Even though we couldn’t stop yelling at each other in person or over the phone, he left me a ton of really sweet voice messages about how much he’d liked me before we became Alphas.” Alpha Young took a bite of apple and ruffled his Beta’s hair, causing all of us to shudder with phantom pleasure at the affection. With a contemplative expression, Alpha Young said, “No, I don’t think he meant for any of this to happen.”

While this study has yielded plenty of useful biographical information about the man apparently responsible for the Alpha Phenomenon that changed the world, we appear no closer to understanding the precise mechanism of that change. With better access to the programming of the nanomachines, perhaps it would be possible to reduce the natural aggressiveness of the Alphas, allowing Alphas like Dearfoot to return to their studies or jobs if they so wish. In the following section, we will propose potential opportunities for further research in the effort to isolate the Alpha Phenomenon.

Or vote on Strawpoll here: https://strawpoll.com/wby5A0vw8yA

This series is my way of celebrating reaching 2000 followers! I hope you enjoy this glimpse into Alphaworld and vote on what file you would like to see next. There is no strict update schedule, so you good boys better be on the lookout for a new chapter you can vote on ;)

#male transformation #mental change #muscle tf #male tf #reality change #alphaworld #all fwkong

[shock]

How to Cheat Death, 10.15.23.

Text transcript: By 2020, everything crashes to the ground. Again. When we say "traumatic", boy, do we mean it. Much of it irreplaceable, all those dead things I'd buried, they will all come back again and again, in the form of vaguely familiar memories. Some of them we begin to warp and change, all these shadow people, pieces of strangers, someone's life invented, imagined, purely by the power of thought. But the brain can't synthesize generations of stars in our Galaxy, doing all they had done. Disembodied intelligences move toward each other and merge, not doubles of one another, not identical, but all lost and gone with death. But this is only the beginning. The human mind is explicitly designed to break down at a certain point. This complex brain a doomed star, the purpose of human intellect defined as almost beyond comprehension. In the near future, the human race is... Older? Smarter? Wiser? We may become the first generation to discover we are not alone in the world. If this ever happens, it will be one of the most defining moments in the history of our species. Are humans all there is? Maybe we are alone, or nearly so. Or are there other beings in the ghostly light inside our bodies, not yet born? You may not be aware of it, the surface electricity of your skin, the optic nerve fibres, the 120 billion nerve connections converted directly into experiences, brainwaves, instructions. This is all changing. They're thinking about merging computers with our brains. Neural implants, nanotechnology, cells that communicate via processing circuits of the brain. Technologies may develop to prolong life, powered by computers with their own sorts of minds and consciousness... ...Maybe science fiction had it wrong. Maybe the first team of computers about to merge there, in that compartment of your brain where inspiration and emotion plays out, will exhibit space for the full range of personality, including our powers for turning dreams into vision, in our strength, our creativity and randomness, disorder, reasoning, tracing, stacking, corralling, framing, our complexity and variation. Implants who have skills, sensory feeling, mental abilities, moral dilemmas, and thoughts. The ability to recall an experience that triggers a memory, memories of places and things, good and strange, even traumatic, to truly resemble their creators. Many will be total show-offs, they can be sneaky, spoiled, socially impinged, violent ringleaders. Others lie, or project, or perform, or kill, or damage, or demand out of conscious work. Some others, as smart as you are— with the same processing power as your adult human brain— never learn from the past before us, because they think they already know. "YOU CAN'T HELP WHO YOU ARE!" The real story is: The past lies to us all and leaves a strange numb feeling, a tension that sometimes never fades. Even machines with 20 or 50 times as much information also cannot process their way out of death. When that time comes, you'll all know. Yet these colorful, radiant brains make it possible to fill the otherwise lonely millennium with an unimaginable symphony of possibilities, the present a billion different geodesic shapes that communicate through electromagnetic wavelengths of colors. From radio (pink and green), to glowing oxygen and X-ray (blue), iridescent fireworks (orange and yellow), blood (red), such a broad spectrum, all of human history, another time, all the same time an experience again. So you ask: what is the difference between the synthetic and physical body? You give this machine an instruction and it hesitates, and says, "Have you thought this through? I'm not sure that you have." You recognize the extraordinary beat of an artifical heart in your body immediately; a sort of love affair with memory. That is what it is to be human. I'm doomed all my life to an odd feeling of familiarity. Why should any barrier, even death, impede it?

#my art #collage art #my collages #and only tangentially if you really get into it: #red vs blue

[hiddlesbummmm]

Wow! It has been ages since i have posted a fic. I hope you all enjoy! It feels so wonderful and refreshing to write again❤️❤️

Warnings: SFW tickle fic. Some profanity and brief mention of sexual harassment. (Nothing explicit)

Words: 3655 Ler Loki X Lee Female reader.

Be A Man

You absolutely hated him.

You could not stand his attitude, his mischievous, his self-righteous aura. All you could think about right now was strangling this man. Maybe kicking his ass a time or two as well.

Okay, okay. You were being a little dramatic. You didn’t actually hate him. In fact, he was your best friend, who sometimes got on your nerves, but you still cared for him and loved him.

You stared at yourself in the mirror, noticing your face was red with frustration. You reached down and turned on the sink, splashing some ice water on your face to help cool your jets a little. Making eye contact with yourself again, you rubbed the sore spot on your cheekbone that was starting to bruise. It was not completely his fault, missions don’t always go to plan. You knew it was unfair to place all the blame on his shoulders, but you were still a little pissed that your partner didn’t know how to shut his mouth sometimes.

You and Loki were an interesting pair. Loki was known to be sneaky, mysterious, a little high and mighty, and sometimes a stubborn brat. Now, you knew him deeper than that and knew he was more complex and actually a caring being, but to the outside world this is how he was viewed.

You, on the other hand, were known to be bubbly, kind, outgoing, and maybe a little stubborn, but only on very specific topics. This was why you were completely shocked to hear you and Loki would be partners.

Before your partnership began, you knew very little about who this demigod was. Of course, you knew his history and where he was from, but you did not have the chance to converse with him besides polite greetings when in the kitchen or passing each other in the hallway.

One day, you received an email from SHIELD informing you that Loki was to be your assigned field partner for an extended period. You were used to working solo, but apparently, the higher-ups decided you needed someone to work alongside you, probably some new OSHA requirement or a bureaucratic policy.

Surprisingly enough, you and Loki were an amazing team. You both were stealthy, intelligent, and perceptive.That is why you were so pissed about your current mission and why you “hated” your partner.

Stationed in Greece, you and Loki were surveilling an art museum. Rumor had it that the owner was producing counterfeit artwork and selling it. Of course, this wasn’t a typical thing for SHIELD to address, but it was a critical mission because your intel mentioned the counterfeit artwork had nanotechnology hidden in the canvas backs. This particular type of nanotech in the wrong hands would be detrimental.

The mission went by flawlessly. You and Loki were disguised as a rich couple from Italy, and together you perused the art studio pretending to admire the artwork. The plan was for you to cause a diversion so Loki could scan some of the artwork with a piece of technology Tony Stark curated. The scanner was not easily hidden, so it was best if the security personnel were distracted.

Loki removed his arm from around your waist, chastely kissing you on your temple.

“I will be right across the room love. There is some fine artwork I wish to analyze, although none of this is as fine as you dear”. Loki purred, but loud enough for those around to hear.

Oh, he was good. To others in the room, you looked like hopeless romantics. Little did they know the truth.

You nodded and fought off a blush as you confirmed this was your cue to distract the security guards. Loki headed toward the back of the room while you walked over to the floor host. You had clocked it earlier that anyone who approached the host, immediately gained the attention of all the security guards, at least for a couple minutes until they deemed it safe.

“Oh excuse me, kind sir, I was wondering if you could explain the history behind this item. My husband and I are very interested in this piece”.

The host looked at you skeptically, probably because of your youthful look.

“Oh, did I mention we will be paying cash?” You opened up your purse so the man could see you weren’t bluffing.

Immediately after eyeing the cash, the man changed his demeanor.

“Of course Miss. I would be delighted to discuss this with you.” You flashed the man a dainty smile and slowly walked over to a painting in the far corner of the room.

Pretending to be highly interested in what the man was saying, you nodded and smiled intently at his every word. After what felt like a lifetime, you felt Loki snake his hands around your waist again.

“Now darling. I thought we discussed this before. The color of this painting will clash with our interior design. Perhaps we should return tomorrow and think this over before we make any decisions?”

You pretended to look upset, pouting slightly as you begrudgingly answered him.

“Yes dear. You are quite right, like always”.

Loki smiled and nonchalantly squeezed your side. You were not expecting the ticklish sensation, so you jumped back slightly and coughed to suppress your giggle.

Loki raised his eyebrows and smirked at you. Great, just what you needed! The God of Mischief knowing your little ticklish secret.

You glared back at Loki as to say “Don’t you dare think about it”. The host, who was still standing by you two, chuckled nervously and thanked you for your time. Taking that as your cue to exit the studio, you and Loki headed out.

This is when things went wrong. As you left the building, Loki still had his arm wrapped around your waist, unmoving, but you could sense the threat that loomed over you.

“Loki I swear, you even think about it and I will—“

“DAMN! Now that is a fine-looking ass if I ever saw one. Got to get me some of dat!”

You and Loki immediately turned to see a very drunk individual giving your body a look. You rolled your eyes.

Men.

You knew you had a nice body, and had been catcalled before. If you hadn’t been on a busy street trying to blend in, you would have ripped his tongue out, but you and Loki needed to get back to the safe house.

“Come on Loki, just ignore it”. You yanked on Loki’s bicep, only to find he was not moving.

“Loki, I said ignore it! We have to go!” You said through your teeth. The inebriated man was still making foul comments, but you just ignored them. Loki stepped towards the man.

“Listen here you impotent, conniving little shit. That is not how you talk to a woman”.

You yanked on his arm again as you noticed the man was getting extremely agitated.

“Loki we got to go NOW!” You urged but still, your partner did not move. You noticed his hand started to glow a faint green as Loki summoned some of his magic.

Oh boy.

You jumped in front of Loki to stop him right at the same time the drunk man was about to take a swing at Loki. He socked you solidly in the face and you stumbled a little trying to regain your footing.

“Oh, you have done it now you-“ Loki was seething more now and you had to get out of here. You yanked with all your might on Loki’s arm again and finally, he followed suit. You could hear the man yelling profanities as you walked away.

You continued down the road in silence for a few moments.

“Yeah, I’m fine, thanks for asking”. You spat a little harshly. You rubbed your sore face and shot Loki a glare. Loki jumped a little at your harshness.

“I know you can take a little heat Agent. I am more concerned about why you didn’t let me demolish that cretin for slewing hateful words your way”.

You sighed. “Because Loki, I am used to being cat-called and missions always come first. I thought you of all people would understand that”.

Loki huffed and rolled his eyes. “Well, sorry agent that I tried to protect you. Won’t happen again!”

Loki continued to mumble under his breath but you couldn’t quite make out what he said.

Still upset but wanting to change topics you decided to discuss the mission.

“So, what did the scanner find in the paintings? Anything good?”

Loki shook his head. With no emotion he said “The scanner found absolutely nothing”.

You stopped in your tracks. Turning to look at Loki, his face etched with frustration and disappointment.

“Well, that’s just great! We wasted our time, found no evidence to shut this operation down, and I got punched in the face for NOTHING!”

Loki opened his mouth to speak, but you held up a hand motioning for him to shut it. You were overreacting, but you didn’t want to admit it quite yet. You needed to calm down first.

Now that you were a few blocks away from the studio, you clicked a button on your watch signaling your ride to pick you up. Took only a few moments before a car pulled over and you and Loki crawled in. You were both silent for the duration of the car ride.

———————

You splashed your face with cold water one more time before deciding it was time to exit the bathroom. Loki probably wanted to take a shower and it would be rude to not allow him that.

You headed into the main room of the quaint little cabin you were staying at and made yourself some dinner. It was nearly dark outside already and your stomach was grumbling from the lack of food.

Loki entered the kitchen and made his way to the bathroom. Before entering, he paused, looking over his shoulder.

“I am sorry for not listening to you earlier. I should never have let that buffoon put his hands on you”.

Loki’s voice was soft, gentle even. You could tell he was being sincere.

“It’s okay Loki. I am sorry for overreacting. You still love me right?” You joked, trying to lighten the mood.

Loki chuckled and gave you a wink.

“Well of course. Dat ass is something to admire isn’t it”.

You let out a snort and gave Loki the finger as he walked into the bathroom. You two were most definitely friends, but sometimes you wondered if there was a spark of something else underneath. You blushed and felt your heart twinge at the thought.

You were falling for him.

But you couldn’t think about that right now. He was your best friend, partner, and teammate. You couldn’t risk losing him if he didn’t feel the same way.

You decided to play it safe. You were going to bottle up your feelings and wait for Loki to make his move first.

————————

Feeling bored and needing to pass the time, you grabbed the TV remote and scrolled through the channels to see if something piqued your interest.

“No way!” You stated to yourself out loud. “I haven’t seen this movie in forever!”

You giggled and jumped onto the couch. You had not seen Disney’s “Mulan” in ages. This movie brought back many memories of your childhood, as you watched it ample times and knew each song by heart.

Loki was still in the shower, so you had no shame in quoting the movie and singing along. As frustrated and angry as you were this morning, this movie was exactly what you needed to cheer you up.

The drums in the movie started to intensify, and you knew your favorite part was coming up. You cranked up the TV a little bit louder, grabbed your hairbrush that was sitting on the coffee table, and prepared for your solo.

Not caring if Loki heard you or not you yelled along with the movie.

“BE A MAN!

You must be swift as the coursing river.

BE A MAN!

With all the force of a great typhoon

BE A MAN!

With all the strength of a raging fire

Mysterious as the dark side of the MOOOOOON!”

You continued to sing along until a deep voice startled you from behind.

“What in Odin’s name is going on!? Is a cat being skinned alive out here??”

You threw a pillow at Loki.

“Oh shut up! I have a wonderful singing voice thank you very much. You giggled and went to grab another pillow to toss at Loki.

You knew your singing voice was horrendous, but hey at least you were in a better mood now!

Loki quickly threw his pillow back at you as you dove onto the couch to avoid being hit.

“Have you ever seen this movie Loki? It’s pretty funny I think”.

Loki walked over to where you were sitting and sat beside you. He eyed the TV suspiciously as you explained the movie was called “Mulan”.

“You really think I had time to watch a silly movie while on Asgard on a flashing electronic box? Partner, I met the real Mulan, and she was nothing like this cartoon depicts her. She was a much more intimidating woman”.

You looked at Loki with a shocked expression.

“You actually got to meet her?? That is so awesome. I bet she could kick your ass”.

Loki rolled his eyes and ignored the insult.

“So explain to me, what about that song made you scream at the top of your lungs?”

You shrugged your shoulders.

“Well besides it being hella catchy, it’s also kinda ironic. Back in those days, warriors had to live up to a higher standard to prove their manhood. But nowadays, men can act like wild dogs sometimes without repercussions.”

Loki mocked gasped.

“Ouch love, and to think that you are my friend when I to you am merely a wild dog!”

You punched Loki on the shoulder.

“Oh come on, you know I don’t think of you that way! But to be fair, you aren’t as swift as a river or have the force of a typhoon. God or not, that’s just not realistic.”

Loki’s demeanor changed after you spoke about this. His eyes narrowed and you saw a slight twinkle of mischievous. You weren’t intending to offend him. You were teasing him like you always did.

“Loki, I didn’t mean to offend you! I was just sayi—HEY!”

Without warning Loki had leapt from his spot and tackled you down on the couch. He was much stronger than you so it didn’t take long for you to be pinned and not able to wiggle very much. He was sitting on your hips with your hands under your back. You kicked your feet in a futile attempt to dislodge him.

“What were you saying dear? I am not swift like a coursing river. I feel me pinning you was awful fast.”

So this is what it was about. Loki felt you were bashing his manhood.

“Loki, this is not what I meant! I was teasing you! You are very much a man! I was referring to men like the guy who punched me today!”

You tried to buck your hips, but Loki was heavy enough that you barely moved. Starting to get nervous, you thought maybe threatening Loki would help you.

“Loki, if you don’t get off me, I will start to sing again. I know how much you love my voice”.

You opened your mouth to belt out a random tune, but instead of lyrics coming out, you squeaked. Loki had poked you on the stomach.

Shit. You forgot about your ticklish incident this morning.

“Loki, let’s talk about thIS.” Your breath hitched as Loki poked you again but on your ribs this time.

“Oh, agent! Did you think I would be forgetting this little secret you tried to hide from me? I was going to leave you alone today since you did get punched and all, but then you threatened me! And questioned my manhood.

So, yes you will sing Little Dove. You will sing for me as I show you how swift I can be. You will witness yourself being forced to giggle, shriek, laugh, and wiggle underneath me. And you will soon find out I do have the strength of a raging fire, and you will have no choice but to submit to my touch”.

Your face turned red and you turned your head away from Loki, trying to hide from him. Best friend or not, Loki’s playfulness was very attractive. Being tickled by him couldn’t be that bad, could it?

“Sing for me little birdie”

Loki wasted no time and was soon scratching his fingers very methodically in between your ribs. He was gauging which set was the most sensitive, not lingering for too long before switching to another pair.

You could not even attempt to suppress your laughter. The ticklish sensation was too much and you were soon bubbling with laughter. Your lower ribs made you giggle laugh while your upper ribs were far more sensitive causing you to squirm and squeak loudly.

In search of a more ticklish spot, Loki quickly changed tactics and was now pinching your sides and belly. You wiggled harder now and were full-on laughing. Occasionally having a snort sneak out of your mouth.

“Is this swift enough for you dear? Or should I increase my pace even more?”

Loki’s teasing was making things so much worse. He also was true to his word and his tickling fingers were spidering all over your very exposed torso, finding all your weak points. He managed to find a spot right above your hip that was super sensitive, and you thrashed as hard as you could trying to throw your partner off of you.

“LOKI STAHAHAHP IT”! You tried to sound intimidating, but the amount of laughter you were spewing along with your red face made that impossible.

“No thank you, I found a spot and I am enjoying the sweet sounds I am forcing out of you”.

Loki booped you on the nose and you reacted by trying to bite his finger.

“Well, that's rude! You should play nice silly girl, or this will only get worse for you” Loki tutted at you and wiggled his finger as if he was scolding a young child.

“This is me being nice-ehehe NO!”

You tried to snap back at him, but he used the same finger he booped you with to swipe under your chin and down your neck. You let out a very high-pitched squeal and shook your head frantically.

Loki tutted at you again and gently held your head in place by putting his hand firmly on your forehead.

You felt the butterflies in your stomach explode as you quickly realized you could not move your head even an inch. You giggled uncontrollably as you anticipated what was going to happen.

Loki gave you a smirk. “Oh, what a pity. If you are giggling this madly already, I can only imagine what will happen to you when I do THIS”.

Loki shot his hand towards your neck and your laughter was riddled with insults, threats, and begging. Loki belted out a deep laugh as you opened your eyes and realized his fingers had stopped just short of their intended target.

Your eyes widened.

“No Loki- hehe please!!”

“No what dear? Please stop? Or please don’t stop?”

You felt your cheeks heat up again as you fell right into another trap.

“I- I uh plead the fifth!”

Loki smirked. “Not for long you won’t little birdie”.

Loki followed through this time and fluttered his fingers oh so gently on your neck and you soon lost your marbles.

Giggling, screeching, squealing. Your laughter echoed throughout the safe house whilst Loki had the largest smile on his face, seeing you wriggling and trying so desperately to move your head and protect the delicate skin he was torturing.

You caved after a couple of minutes and you felt a tear or two leak from your eyes.

“OKAAHAHAY YOU WIN! I LIKEEHEHE YOUUU!”

Loki stopped his hands and looked at you quizzically. Realizing you had inexplicably spilled the beans, you tried to backpedal.

“I uh I mean I -“

Loki cut you off as he leaned down to give you a light kiss. You kissed him back, hard. Both of your eyes gleamed as you broke apart.

“You think I didn’t already know that dear? You made it rather obvious when you blushed at the Art Studio. You can’t fake a blush”.

You blushed again. “I was too nervous to admit it, I didn’t know if you felt the same”.

Loki chucked. “Why else would I be tickling you to tears darling? Why would I have been so upset at that cretin earlier today? It’s because I care for you, deeper than a friendship goes”.

You hugged Loki and he helped you from your spot. Now sitting up and facing him, you felt the need to be cheeky once more.

“Well since you know I’m ticklish now, it’s only fair if you admit if you are ticklish as well.”

Loki scoffed. “You even think about revenge and next time I won’t go so easy on your sensitive little neck. I’ve heard that is a great spot to plant some raspberries.”

You involuntarily flinched at the thought.

“Well, at least I did learn something about you during this whole ordeal”.

Loki looked at you skeptically.

“You might be swift as a river, be strong as a raging fire, and have the force of a typhoon. BUT you most definitely are as mysterious as the dark side of the moon”.

Loki kissed you on the forehead.

“Now that is the most honest thing you have said all day”.

#marvel tickle fics #hiddlesbummmm fics #sfw tickle fic #fluffy tickles #ler loki #lee reader #loki tickles #loki tickle fic #ruthless tickles #tickles #sfw tickling community

[ancientorigins]

The secrets behind some of history's advanced ancient inventions, from the Byzantine's enigmatic Greek fire to the Roman glassmaker's elusive vitrum flexile, have been lost, leaving us mystified by the remarkable innovations crafted by our ancestors thousands of years ago.

The legendary universal antidote, Mithridatium, perfected by King Mithridates VI and Nero's physician, featured a concoction of opium, chopped vipers, and ancient wisdom.

Archimedes' heat-ray weapon, inspiring modern warfare, found its echo in DARPA's 2001 unveiling of a heat-ray weapon

The fascinating stories behind these timeless creations continue to inspire wonder, from the rediscovery of Damascus steel, blending ancient craftsmanship with modern insights and nanotechnology, to the mysteries of lost inventions now thriving in the modern era.

#Greek fire #Archimedes #Damascus steel #glass #Roman #concrete #nanotechnology #inventions

[beefromanoff]

Project Mockingbird Ch. 10

summary: the team is training for an impending threat, Bucky and Charlotte clash.

pairing: Bucky Barnes x OC

author's note: so sorry for how long it took me to get this up! between the holidays and then going on vacation, I've hardly had time to write! if you read this and my other story (masterlist) then I'm double sorry for the lack of updates. please enjoy this one and thank you for reading! :)

tag list: @bangtanxberm @scott-loki-barnes (let me know if you want to be added <3)

chapter list

_______________________________________

“Hey, toss me that holster, would ya?” Nat gestured to the weapons bay behind Charlotte, who obliged before sitting to lace up her combat boots. 

The Avengers' locker room was a symphony of preparation. Weapons clinked, boots thudded against the ground, and the low hum of conversations blended into the mix. It was a familiar prelude to a simulated battle—a dance they’d all come to know well. But amid the routine, an undercurrent of tension rippled.

Charlotte stood by the rack of suits, adjusting the straps of her uniform, finally having received her own custom-fit battle suit within the past few weeks. Her movements were practiced, automatic, but there was a flicker of restlessness in her eyes. Bucky, a shadow in the periphery, watched her closely.

As the team geared up and filed out of the room, Bucky approached Charlotte, his metal hand catching her arm gently. "Careful in there," he warned, his voice low, a note of concern underlying the words.

Charlotte yanked her arm away, shooting him a sharp look. "Bucky, I told you, I don't need you watching over me."

Bucky's jaw clenched. "You've been pushing too hard in training lately. I'm just looking out for you."

"I can handle myself," she retorted, the defiance clear in her tone.

He sighed, his gaze fixed on hers. "This isn't about proving yourself, Charlotte. You don't need to prove anything to anyone."

She scoffed, turning away to grab her weapons. "Easy for you to say. You've been in battle before. If we have to go active, I’m the only one who hasn’t done it before. I refuse to be a liability."

The weight of their shared history lingered in the air, unspoken words heavy between them. Bucky reached out, stopping her with a touch on her shoulder. "I get it. But I don't want you to get hurt before you have the chance. I’m just trying to give you the support that I needed -"

Charlotte met his eyes. "I'm not you, Bucky. I can take care of myself."

He let his hand fall as he grit his teeth, the tension palpable. "I didn’t say you couldn’t. But if I recall, you don’t have the best track record at taking it slow, and you haven’t exactly been using your resources." He jerked his chin down to the metal band around her wrist, designed to keep her from overexertion, one she consistently ignored.

She shot him a final, cutting look before turning and storming from the locker room.

"I don't need saving, Bucky. I don't need your protection."

The Avengers' simulation training room buzzed with energy as the team split into two for a simulated battle. With reports of unrest across the world coming in almost daily, the team had taken a step back from training the agents and instead channeled their focus into their own preparations. While weapons training and intelligence briefing both took place on Mondays, the rest of the week was full of combat simulations. One of the massive empty buildings at the compound, previously dubbed “extra storage” had been reengineered to be a state of the art training facility. Using a combination of nanotechnology and holograms, it could simulate just about any situation imaginable. Each exercise was designed to train the team to be adaptable, prepare for anything, and most importantly - work cohesively. 

A blast of red light nearly took Charlotte’s head off as it whizzed in front of her face, only missing her by inches as she arched her back. Metal clattered to the ground around her as Wanda hit her mark, blowing the mock Ultron-bot to pieces. 

“Nice shot,” She called to Wanda, rolling to her feet. The hum of simulated explosions filled the air as she flipped and somersaulted, the thrill of the training session exhilarating her. This exercise was designed to mimic the infamous Sokovia incident. Only bits were recreated, like the altitude, the bots as the assailants, and a ticking clock for urgency. 

“Char, behind you!” Steve’s voice bellowed from somewhere to Charlotte’s right. She dropped to her knees just as a bot flew overhead, grabbing it by the torso as it passed. Her shoulders groaned as the bot carried her into the air, her fingertips screaming under the weight of her body and all the weapons decorating it. 

“Pete, you got me?” Charlotte yelled over the wind gusting past her face.

“10-4!” 

In a smooth movement, Charlotte swung her legs and hurtled her weight downward, throwing the bot off balance and sending it careening into another one flying directly at them. Seconds before the bots collided midair, she let go, tumbling towards the rubble far below. 

Before her stomach could fully plummet into her ass, her momentum changed directions as a red blur soared by and grabbed her by the waist. They swung up, up, and lightly touched down on the blown open top floor of a nearby building.

“Ma’am, I think this is your stop.” Peter mock-bowed. 

“I appreciate the lift,” She grinned and saluted as he took off, swinging back into the smoke. 

“Little help here,” Bucky’s voice grunted through the comm system. 

“Bucky?” She pressed a finger to her ear as she turned and sprinted to the staircase in the shelled out building. “What’s your location?” 

“Off the square…beneath the truck…” His voice was strained.

“Beneath the…” She was breathless as she tore down the staircase, willing her legs to go faster. “Bucky!” 

Even the knowledge that this was a simulation didn’t stop the panic when Charlotte burst through the front doors to see Bucky lying on his back, a truck turned on its side pinning his left arm to the pavement. She looked skyward, where the bots that had dropped it on him were returning. Immediately taking a battle stance, she reached behind her and hoisted the twin vibranium swords out of their sheaths. 

“Backup…in the square,” Bucky groaned into his earpiece as two dozen bots swarmed the sky above them. 

With practiced maneuvers, Charlotte launched into action in front of Bucky, her blades cutting clean through the bots as they dive-bombed the pair. As she swung her blade upward, cutting one neatly in half, a red light flashed in front of her eyes. For a split second, she glanced down at her wrist monitor, the insistent beeping almost drowned out by the chaos of the battle. 

The warning light flashed across the small screen, indicating she was dangerously close to overexertion. Unamused, she ignored the alert, hacking down as another bot made a pass at Bucky. Her momentum sent her whirling, landing on a bent knee as the metal tumbled around them. The moment she paused cost her, as she couldn’t clear the path of the shrapnel quickly enough. A jagged piece of metal sliced through her forehead, immediately leaking blood down into her eye.

Kneeling right in front of where he was pinned, Charlotte locked eyes with Bucky. He noticed the blinking monitor on her wrist, concern furrowing his brow. As he moved to speak, the simulated explosions drowned out his voice. Sparks flew around them as another bot peppered the truck with laser shots. Grunting, Charlotte threw one of her blades and sent it cleanly through the chest of the bot.

She covered her head as she rolled forward to retrieve her second sword from the shrapnel of the bot. Bucky groaned again as the truck was encircled with glowing red light, Wanda soaring overhead. 

“Get out, go!” She called as the truck lifted into the air, following her every command. Bucky tried to move his arm, but the weight of the truck had forced it down into the cement, rendering him stuck. 

He grit his teeth and yanked, but the awkward angle made it difficult for him to move. Sprinting to his side, Charlotte gripped the metal of his wrist and yanked, ignoring the incessant beeping of her monitor. 

“Char, you’re tapping out,” He grunted. 

“Hush, let me work.” She said dismissively. After a few good tugs, his arm came out of the cement, the momentum from their pulling sending them both tumbling.

Without missing a beat, Charlotte rolled herself back to her feet and held the sword up, ready to strike.

“Charlotte, stand down,” Bucky warned, catching up to her.

“Relax, Bucky. Let’s not make a scene.” She ran up the side of a wall as a larger bot approached, her speed propelling her into the air so she could get the height needed to bring her sword down and cut it out of the sky. 

Bucky, growing increasingly frustrated as the beeping only grew louder, pushed through the falling metal to intercept Charlotte. As soon as she landed and rolled back to her feet, he grabbed her by the wrists and slammed her against the wall. 

“No. Lets.” 

"Charlotte, enough." Bucky's voice cut through the stillness, his eyes intense as he held her pinned to the wall. "You're pushing yourself too hard again. You're not invincible. How many times do we have to do this?"

Charlotte let out a carefree laugh, a stark contrast to the sounds of battle still raging on around them. "Bucky, sweetheart, it's just a simulation. We’ve been doing these for weeks and nothing has happened."

His grip tightened, a mix of frustration and genuine concern etched on his face. "This isn't a joke. You could get hurt and one of these times you might not bounce back so quick."

She met his gaze, the defiance in her eyes warring with the genuine worry mirrored in his. 

"Bucky. I appreciate the concern, but I can handle myself. I agreed to wear the cuff, not to be manhandled by you every time you think I’m going too hard." She shoved her body against his chest, yanking her wrists from his grip.

Bucky reluctantly released her, his face dark with annoyance. 

“Kill the simulation.” His voice boomed from behind her. 

Immediately, the sounds of the battle were replaced by the whirring of the nanotech. Fire and smoke turned to bright, cool lighting. Destruction and rubble turned into the smooth, gray technology that made up the training room. One by one, the team returned to the center. Peter swung in, landing right before Wanda touched down. Steve was the last to approach as the others stood and watched Charlotte face off against Bucky. 

She turned slowly, looking up at him in utter rage. He grit his teeth but held his ground. 

The only noise in the echoing chamber was the clunk of Charlotte’s boots as she stormed up to Bucky, getting as close to his face as she could while still being over six inches shorter than him. 

“What the fuck was that?”

Without breaking eye contact, his hand shot out and gripped her left arm. “You tell me.” He lifted her wrist next to her face, so close the red light illuminated her cheeks. 

“Protein saturation in blood has reached a critical level. Stand down now.” A clinical female voice called from the metal band. 

She wrenched her arm free and hissed, “If I wanted a keeper, I would have stayed in that goddamn lab.” 

The team shuffled nervously, looking at their feet as Charlotte turned and stormed out of the simulation room. Bucky stood exactly where she left him, fuming. 

After a few awkwardly quiet moments, the team slowly filed out of the room, leaving Steve alone with Bucky. Taking a deep breath, Steve patted his friend on the back before leaving the room without a word. 

“How many times do you think this is going to happen?” Peter whispered to Wanda as they traipsed toward their pseudo-locker room.��

“Who knows. What is this, the fifth time?” 

“This week, it feels like.” Peter shook his head, hair mussed from the mask. 

“Hey, why don’t you two let Cap handle the personnel issues and just enjoy the early end to training today.” Nat elbowed her way in between them with a stern look. 

When she’d passed them and turned a corner, Peter gave an incredulous look to Wanda, mouthing ‘personnel issue?’

_________________________

The laboratory wing was quiet, with only the hum of machines and the occasional distant echo of footsteps. In the heart of it all was the lab, bathed in a dim, artificial glow. Bruce Banner, absorbed in his work, tinkered with equipment, surrounded by an array of high-tech devices.

The door to the lab swung open abruptly and Charlotte stormed in. Her hair was still plastered to her forehead with sweat, an angry gash still leaked blood above her brow, and her eyes were swimming with angry tears. 

"How do you do it?" Charlotte demanded.

Dropping his tools, Bruce met her gaze and walked to meet her at the door. "Charlotte, what's wrong?"

She collapsed into a chair, her demeanor shifting from anger to a more vulnerable state. Bruce sighed and took a seat across from her.

"You're upset. Talk to me," he urged, a calm steadiness in his voice.

Tears welled in Charlotte's eyes as frustration gave way to sorrow. Bruce tentatively reached out to her, laying a hand on her shoulder as she dropped her face into her hands.

"You know exactly what's wrong. Bucky had no right to stop the simulation. I can handle myself," she expressed, her words tinged with both anger and hurt. “He always does this, thinks I’m breakable and weak,” her voice cracked on the last word.

Bruce’s brow furrowed as he listened. “Charlotte…you and Bucky have been at each other’s throats for weeks, but I’ve never seen it rattle you like this…” He chose his words carefully, not wanting to scare her away when -- as far as he knew -- she hadn’t let anyone else see her cry. “Why is this time different?”

For a moment, the only sound in the lab was Charlotte’s soft sobs. 

“Do you think…maybe you’re upset about something else? Maybe you’re not really mad at Bucky?” His voice was gentle. 

“He’s a controlling dick,” She looked him in the eye, tears streaming down her cheeks. “He’s relentless. I can’t stand him.”

Bruce looked at her with kind eyes, trying to keep the pity out of them. He hated when people felt sorry for him. It made everything worse. 

“I’m not disagreeing with you. Bucky can be…prickly.” He gave a soft laugh. “But Char…what’s really bothering you?”

"I didn't ask for this. I didn’t want any of this. I didn't ask to be experimented on," she continued, her emotions breaking through in tearful admission. “I didn’t ask to be orphaned and kidnapped and turned into a monster, and now…now I’ve outlived everyone who’s ever known me and I don’t fit in with society and I don’t even fucking fit in here because every time I try, my body just…” She dropped her head back into her hands and sobbed again. Bruce gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze and let her calm down. 

Sniffling, Charlotte looked up at him. “My body keeps failing me. It…I feel like I can do too much to be a human, be normal. But I can’t do enough to be here. I can’t keep up.” She wiped her eyes on the back of her hand. “I hate him. I hate him because he’s right. I’m weak and he’s the only one who knows it.” 

Bruce cocked his head, sympathy flooding his eyes. "I know how that feels, Charlotte. I didn't ask for this life either. I hid from the world for a long time, hating myself. I didn’t want to be here anymore, be alive." He paused. “I tried not to be.” 

The room filled with solemn understanding. Charlotte, with tear-streaked cheeks, looked up at Bruce, her eyes wide at his admission.

"But you—The Hulk—you’re powerful. You can control your powers. You deserve to be here." she questioned, her defiance underlined by a hint of desperation.

Bruce leaned forward, considering his words carefully. "Control wasn’t always possible. I hurt a lot of people before I learned how. It took years, and lots of help.” He gestured at his own wrist cuff. “My biggest fear is losing control and hurting people. I still see all the destruction I caused, everything awful that happened because of me. I’ll never be able to escape it."

He paused, swallowing. “I don’t want to minimize your feelings, at all. They’re valid and you have every right to be upset. But if I had to choose between being a big green monster who decimates cities when he gets upset…and a beautiful, brave, intelligent woman who can do so much good in the world, but maybe just has to learn to slow down…Well, let’s just say it wouldn’t be much of a choice.”

Charlotte gave him a sad smile. 

"But I want to be part of the team. I want to help," she declared, her voice carrying a mixture of defiance and longing.

Bruce, offering her a tissue. "I get that. But sometimes, you need to acknowledge your limits. It's not about weakness; it's about understanding your own power. You don’t have to be Wanda or Peter to be revolutionary. Look at Nat, she doesn’t have any power at all, and she’s one of the greatest heroes of our generation. Tony doesn’t have any power beyond being, well, brilliant. Clint, Maria, Scott…they’re all extraordinary people without having extraordinary powers. You do. You’re capable of so much more than you’re allowing yourself to see."

Silence settled between them, broken only by Charlotte's occasional sniffle. She wiped away her tears, and Bruce's gaze remained sympathetic.

"I just... I hate feeling so out of control. And Bucky, he doesn't understand. He doesn’t see how hard it is to be in the middle of everything, everyone and just have to stop," Charlotte confessed, her voice tinged with frustration. “How am I ever supposed to go on missions, to really help if I have to stop and get sidelined halfway through a goddamn fight?”

"Bucky cares about you, Charlotte. He's been through a lot, too, and he's just trying to protect you," Bruce explained, his words carrying a tone of understanding.

"Everyone keeps saying that.” Charlotte retorted, her defenses still high. 

“Then maybe you should start believing it. I’m not saying he’s a master communicator, I know he doesn’t come across very warm and fuzzy. But he’s the one person here who’s been through the same hell you have, so don’t be so quick to shut him out.” 

As they sat in the dimly lit lab, Charlotte, now calmer, gazed at Bruce with a newfound understanding. "How do you cope, Banner?"

"I've accepted that this is a part of me. Hulk isn't a curse; he's a part of who I am. And I've learned to find balance, to live with it," Bruce shrugged. “I didn’t have much of a choice when it came to living with it, so I decided to make it worthwhile.”

"Balance..." Charlotte echoed, a thoughtful expression on her face.

"It's not about controlling everything. It's about finding a way to live with your powers, to make them a part of your life without letting them define you," Bruce explained, offering her a perspective she hadn't fully considered. “Being the strongest, the fastest, the most powerful…that’s not the only way to be a hero. It’s not about the powers you have, it’s about what you do with them.”

"Thanks, Bruce," Charlotte spoke softly.

"Anytime, kiddo. We're all figuring this out together," Bruce replied, a reassuring smile on his face.

“You can’t call me kiddo, I’m at least twice your age.” 

“Whenever you stop coming to me for fatherly advice, I’ll stop calling you kiddo.” He nudged her arm before turning back to his work station. 

____________________________

The night hung heavy over the Avengers' compound, the moon casting a soft glow on the balcony where Bucky Barnes stood, lost in the shadows of his own thoughts. It was well past midnight when Charlotte’s bare feet stepped out onto the cool tiles. She slipped her hands up into the sleeves of her sweatshirt, a chill running through her. 

"Bucky," she said quietly, a hesitant note in her voice.

He turned, his expression unreadable, and nodded for her to join him. They stood side by side, overlooking the quiet landscape.

"I couldn't sleep," Bucky admitted.

"Me neither," Charlotte confessed.

There was an unspoken understanding, a shared bond in their restless nights haunted by memories neither cared to verbalize. Yet the air between them was charged, the tension palpable from their strained relationship as of late.

“Does it hurt?” He nodded to the cut above her eye, held together with two butterfly bandages.

“Not really. You?” She gestured to his left shoulder, formerly crushed under the car.

“Luckily there aren’t a lot of nerve endings in vibranium.” He offered her a half-hearted smile to show he wasn’t trying to be a total asshole. She returned it, but said nothing.

"I'm not trying to control you, you know," Bucky finally spoke again, his voice low, the words carefully chosen.

Charlotte sighed, her gaze dropping to the ground. "I know. It just... felt like that."

Bucky leaned against the balcony railing, his eyes searching hers. "I've seen too much. Been through too much. And I don't want anyone else to go through what I have."

Her eyes met his, and in the quiet of the night, there was a glimpse of vulnerability beneath the layers of stoicism.

"I appreciate that, I do. But I need to find my own way," Charlotte replied, her voice firm but not unkind.

Bucky nodded, understanding the sentiment. "I get it. But you don't have to do it alone. I just…wanted to make sure someone was looking out for you. You can cut it on your own, I get it. Clearly you were doing just fine before we came along. But it doesn’t have to be like that now. People care." He swallowed. “I care.”

They stood in a moment of silence, the weight of unspoken histories lingering between them. Charlotte chewed her lower lip, clinging to her anger from earlier that threatened to be washed away with his kind words.

"I used to be like you," Bucky began, his gaze distant, lost in memories. "Angry, feeling like I had to prove something. But you don't, Char. You don’t have to prove anything to anyone. Least of all, us."

Charlotte sighed. “I know that I don’t have to prove anything. I just want to be worthy of being here. I want to, I don’t know, prove that you made the right choice in bringing me here. For God’s sake, it’s taken thousands of dollars of resources just to keep me from ripping your head off every time I see you.” 

Bucky chuckled. “Sometimes I think they didn’t fully get that out of your system.” 

“Sometimes I don’t either.” She met his gaze.

"There's more to being an Avenger than just fighting. You have skills, powers that go beyond combat. I can teach you," Bucky offered, his words carrying a sincerity that surprised her.

Charlotte's brow furrowed. "Teach me what, exactly?"

"Everything I know," Bucky replied, a glimmer of a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "Not just combat. Strategy, survival skills, weapons, how to gather and deliver intelligence. There's more to winning a battle than just what happens on the battlefield."

The unexpected offer hung in the air, and Charlotte considered it. Her gaze met Bucky's, and for the first time in weeks, there was a semblance of peace between them.

"I don't want you to feel like you have to be the same as anyone to be an asset. We're a team, we complement each others’ strengths. We don’t need another Hulk, but I have a feeling we could benefit from a Mockingbird," Bucky added, his tone genuine.

Charlotte nodded, giving him a soft smile. "Alright. Teach me."

#avengers #bucky barnes x oc #bucky fanfic #james bucky barnes #bucky barnes #winter soldier #sebastian stan #bucky fluff #winter soldier fluff

[negative-speedforce]

for @occreatorexchange's bingo

For the prompt: Dark Fic

Featuring: My Star Trek OC Marie Kaneyama

CW: Medical Torture (referenced), Possession

Marie didn't know how long she had been laying there.

Her spine felt like it was on fire from where the drones had attached the cybernetic interface to her body, her chest had been cut open and her organs rummaged around in, and she couldn't feel her hand beyond the wrist, though when she tried to move her fingers, they reacted with a metallic 'clink'.

She didn't know what was going to happen to her. Most drones were assimilated into the hive mind within minutes, according to her research, but yet she remained an individual, albeit one who was currently flayed alive.

She was sure that the nanotechnology in her bloodstream was the only thing allowing her to think clearly through the pain. She could almost feel the tiny machines moving through her, altering her body from the inside out to service the Collective. They slowly numbed the pain, too slowly for Marie's preference, but it was better to suffer than to completely lose herself.

There was no chance she would ever see Qiara again. Either her mind would be taken from her, her consciousness eradicated by the Collective, or her she would die there on the table from blood loss, organ failure, or her body rejecting one of the implants that the drones had put inside her.

Vaguely, she heard footsteps coming down the hall. While she knew it was likely some drone coming to put her out of her misery in one way or another, some small part of her still held out hope. Maybe, somehow, someone had come to save her- no. She had allowed the Borg to take her to save her shipmates, and it was too damaged to come and find her.

Then, she saw her. She had seen pictures of the strange-looking woman before, in her history classes, but nothing could prepare her for the visceral fear that The Queen's presence filled her with.

She was tall, nearly as tall as Marie herself, her eyes were like pits of tar, soulless and effortlessly calm. Her skin was like that of a corpse, delicate trails of nanotechnology threading under her skin. Marie wondered if she looked like that now, but having her ribcage opened for the entire Collective to see occupied most of her thoughts at the moment.

"You're her. The Queen." Marie's voice was hoarse from the screams she'd made when the Borg ripped her open. "I thought Janeway took care of you."

"We adapted." The Queen replied. "Do you know why you are here?"

"Yeah, you guys like assimilating people and turning them into drones. I've heard it all before." Marie replied, managing to force a bit of sarcasm through her fear.

"Your willpower is stronger than any drone I have ever assimilated." The Queen ran a cold, metallic fingertip up Marie's jaw. "Romulan and human- such an ornery mix. You've been able to resist the Collective for almost two hours now. We can hear all your thoughts, but you can't hear ours. It's fascinating. Like that Qiara girl. You have such a fascination with her. Your thoughts are so preoccupied with her. Maybe we'll assimilate her, too."

"You keep your grubby hands off her!" Marie struggled against her restraints. She froze, watching in horror as the nanoprobes closed her chest wound, leaving a glimmering silver scar in its place. "...what are you doing to me?"

"This vessel has become old, and weak." The Queen replied. "With a willpower like yours, we could achieve perfection. You are going to become my next vessel. Resistance is futile."

"Do what you want, but I'm not going down without a fight." Marie bluffed, knowing she couldn't do anything to stop The Queen. "So spare yourself the trouble and find someone else."

"The most difficult endeavors are always the most rewarding." The Queen replied, stabbing tiny tubules into the implant connected to Marie's spine.

It was like being adrift in the ocean. Suddenly, the Collective was there, loud in her mind. She tried to resist, but she could feel herself being pulled ever lower under the cacophony of voices that had invaded her brain. She clawed for the surface, for some semblance of control, but it wasn't enough.

The voice that was Dr. Marie Kaneyama vanished into the hive mind, leaving her body fresh for the taking. The Queen's body collapsed with a resonant 'clank', the restraints on Marie's body pulling away for the new Queen to rise.

"We told you, Marie." The Queen tested out her new body, moving its fingers and rolling its shoulders as she stood up. "Resistance was futile."

#oc shit #revan writes #marie kaneyama #star trek oc #oc creator bingo #borg assimilation! yay!

[max1461]

I think the fundamental weakness in the rationalist worldview is that it seems to take intelligence, above all else, to be the central motive force of history. What material conditions are for Marx, intelligence is for the rationalists. It shows up in Yudkowsky's writing on AI in particularly exaggerated form: he treats AI superintelligence as essentially magic, capable of circumventing any and all physical and material obstacles to achieving the system's goals. Many people have pointed out that there may be serious physical limitations on nanotechnology that make many of his proposed AI apocalypse scenarios implausible. But these potential limitations are handwaved away, because the AI is really really smart, you see, so surely it could find a way around them. A sufficiently intelligent AI could supposedly even find its way around even more fundamental information and epistemic limits. Within three frames of a video of an apple falling, an AI superintelligence would already have general relativity as one of its primary hypotheses! Good thing, as one commenter pointed out, it wasn't shown a video of a red balloon floating up instead.

Of course, there's a steelman here—that with sufficient intelligence, these putative limitations might be circumvented, and since we can't rule out the possibility, it's worthwhile to research AI safety anyway (even if the particulars of this or that proposed apocalypse sound implausible). And I'm pretty sympathetic to this steelman, which is part of the reason that I ultimately do think AI safety research is worthwhile. But this is not the way Yudkowsky typically frames things. Rather, he frames the issue of AI safety with a seeming certitude that, given sufficient intelligence, the world can simply be bent to one's will. All problems can be overcome by just being a really really super duper smarty pants.

I see why this sort of worldview, both the exaggerated mythologization of intelligence-as-superpower and the more toned-down conception of intelligence as historical prime-mover, would be appealing to... well, lets face it, a bunch of nerds who grew up priding themselves primarily on their intelligence. But ultimately, I just don't think it's correct, even as a heuristic.

It's not just in writings about AI where this shows up. It's also pervasive in rationalist discourse about the human social world, and this is where I think it's most misguided. There's a cadre of rationalist and rat-adj reactionaries who are famous around these parts for invariably, incessantly taking every political discussion back to IQ, because they hold a worldview in which everything is downstream of who's smart and exactly how smart they are. I've also found Scott Alexander to be pretty regularly guilty of this. Look at the way he talks about intelligence here, in his review of Joseph Henrich's The Secret of Our Success (this is admittedly not the best example, but it's the one I could find, so it will have to do).

To be fair, Henrich is in some sense writing against the idea that intelligence is a magical panacea, and Scott is recapitulating his argument. Henrich's view is that human success is due in significant part to cultural evolution rather than raw brain power, and in the broad strokes I share this view. Henrich thus spends a certain amount of time trying to demonstrate that raw brain power is not sufficient for survival, and Scott reproduces these arguments. But what gets me is that he reproduces them as if they are reasonably likely to be novel to us, as if we may genuinely need them in order to move on to the later discussion about cultural evolution, instead of presenting them for what they (in my view) actually are: fucking obvious.

Henrich walks the reader through many stories about European explorers marooned in unfamiliar environments.

[...]

These explorers had many advantages over our hominid ancestors. For one thing, their exploration parties were made up entirely of strong young men in their prime, with no need to support women, children, or the elderly. They were often selected for their education and intelligence. Many of them were from Victorian Britain, one of the most successful civilizations in history, full of geniuses like Darwin and Galton. Most of them had some past experience with wilderness craft and survival. But despite their big brains, when faced with the task our big brains supposedly evolved for – figuring out how to do hunting and gathering in a wilderness environment – they failed pathetically.

Nor is it surprising that they failed. Hunting and gathering is actually really hard. Here’s Henrich’s description of how the Inuit hunt seals:

[quotes from Henrich about how the Inuit hunt seals]

How do hunter-gatherers know how to do all this? We usually summarize it as “culture”. How did it form? Not through some smart Inuit or Fuegian person reasoning it out; if that had been it, smart European explorers should have been able to reason it out too.

He says "hunting and gathering is actually really hard", as if we need reminding that being a Really Smart Guy doesn't automatically confer you knowledge of all local flora and fauna and where to find them.

In the last paragraph, he claims that because Europe explorers (certified smartypants) couldn't figure something out in the several weeks before they starved to death, it is thereby obvious that local people could not have figured it out consciously either, even with multiple generations to beat their heads against the problem. Is Scott not familiar at all with the slow, incremental process by which modern scientific progress is made? To make clear me own biases on the object level issue: I think cultural evolution pretty clearly plays a big role in the development of human societies, likely the dominant one across history, though I think some level of conscious, intentional invention and experimentation pretty clearly plays a role too. I couldn't comment on the precise balance between the two. But even though Scott is ultimately arguing for a position I basically agree with, his reasoning here doesn't even look convincing. Unless, that is, you have tacitly accepted the notion that intelligence is magic, and that being a certified super smartypants frees you from all constraints of time, resources, and prior knowledge.

Sometimes I just want to shake these people and yell "some things are not basically about how smart you are! Some things are basically about other things!"

#navel gazing

[thefirstknife]

I want to discuss some of the stuff from the showcase that the devs talked about over the course of the reveal, specifically about Cloud Striders and Neomuna. I don't have exact timestamps because it's a summary made by @fikrul in the server, but if anyone can pinpoint when these things were said, feel free to add!

I want to talk about one specific point:

Neomuna’s population comes from a singular exodus ship that managed to escape the first Collapse. They’ve been hiding and preparing for a second Collapse ever since

We talked about this in the server and we threw around ideas and I have some interesting stuff to report.

So, knowing that the humans of Neomuna come from an exodus ship that managed to escape the Collapse is really important because it tells us what these humans have been through and how they got to be in a hidden city on Neptune. They were already prepared to leave humanity behind, given that they boarded an exodus ship, so them ending up hiding on Neptune makes sense. The goal was to make colonies outside of the solar system and they did the next best thing in the wake of the Collapse.

Important for this is that these humans came from the Golden Age and had all the technology and knowledge from the Golden Age. Golden Age culture and tech influenced them and they didn't lose anything, just build on top of existing Golden Age stuff. The Golden Age for them is just normal history that they likely remember very well, unlike what it is for us: a vaguely mythical age of the past.

As soon as I saw this with the exodus ship, my first thought was that this exodus ship could be one of Clovis' colony ships. Clovis Bray had a facility around Uranus where he was preparing colony ships to leave for Andromeda. Due to the Collapse, it didn't pan out, however, when Ana discovered the facility, it looked like one of the ships managed to leave. I've discussed this before in this post, and I always felt like Legacy weblore wasn't ever really resolved.

On top of that, looking through Bungie's wallpapers for Lightfall, I found this one of the interiors on Neomuna.

This has a lot of Braytech vibes, especially from Europan facilities. The door in the back, the colours and the aesthetic is vaguely reminiscent of the Deep Stone Crypt. Not fully and there are other details (like holographic plants). And we also have to account for some of these things possibly being placeholders or unfinished designs, though I don't think they would be 4k wallpapers? Keep it in mind though. Both Braytech and Neomuna humanity come from the same source so they could have similar aesthetics unrelated to each other.

But then another thing was dropped in the conversation and that's the nanotechnology that Neomuna has. In Quicksilver Storm lore, Elsie notes:

EXO: So, someone out there has a weapon I've never seen before, don't understand, and don't know how to defend against. The closest thing we've seen to this is SIVA, and these bugs are so far beyond that.

Neomuna nanites are similar to SIVA, but far more advanced. This makes sense on several layers: first, all exodus ships had SIVA on them because it was supposed to help with building the colony from scratch. Second, SIVA is Braytech and Braytech was huge in the Golden Age so any colony ship (but especially if this colony ship was Braytech's) would be aware of nanites and would use it. Third, similar to SIVA but far more advanced fits with the fact that Neomuna probably had SIVA on board but also didn't have the Collapse and was able to perfect the nanite technology in the centuries to come, resulting in the current nanites that are far more advanced.

Another thing in this same lore is the following:

//PROXIMITY==3; Exo MODEL (BRAY_special); POUKA (juvenile); UNKNOWN (!!EXTREME CAUTION!!PARACAUSAL)

The nanites recognise the pouka and even its age, because the pouka is probably native to Neomuna so they know what it is. They understand that there's a paracausal entity, but just don't understand what it is (because it's a Ghost). And the nanites can recognise an Exo down to its model; they know it's specifically a Bray Exo and that it's a special model (Elsie has a custom frame). This means that the nanites (and therefore Neomuna humans) should be aware of the existence of Exos and Braytech (which is understandable, given that they all existed at the same time in the Golden Age). The nanites being originally Braytech (SIVA) would make extra sense.

The conversation also dropped a possibility that Willhelmina Bray, the creator of SIVA, may have been somehow involved with the exodus ship, possibly even have been a passenger on it. We have no idea what happened to Willa Bray. It's never been explored. It would be incredibly interesting to see the final of the Bray women have her story tied up by having her boarded on the colony ship and ending up as the main scientist behind the Neomuna nanotechnology, effectively wrapping up her dream of perfecting nanites. I wouldn't bet on her still being alive, as it's been way too long, but you never know. Destiny has done weirder things.

And then, I realised. Nefele Stronghold.

Relevant:

According to this, before initiating YUGA SUNDOWN, Rasputin killed all protective measures in place for Human colonies and settlements. There's a big list of codenames for the Moon, Mars, Earth, the Exodus ships, et cetera… but Rasputin also refers to a place called NEFELE STRONGHOLD. No record of that in any of our databases. Forwarding to A.B. for a cross-ref.

And a response from Ana:

No hit on 'NEFELE STRONGHOLD' in any of Rasputin's records. Can't even find the original transcript you're quoting. If it's real, someone removed all traces of it. And if they did, they did it so cleanly that I'd suspect Rasputin himself.

As I noted in the tags on my post, "Nefele" is a Greek goddess of clouds. You know. Neomuna in the clouds of Neptune with a group of people called Cloud Striders. We now know for a fact that Rasputin's data on Nefele Stronghold was about Neomuna.

Important bits: Rasputin was in charge of protecting the whole solar system and that includes all colonies and colony ships. Including Neomuna apparently, because he had information about this place in his database before entering dormancy after the Collapse. Neomuna was known to at least Rasputin himself. He may even be a reason why Neomuna survived the Collapse, given that he participated in hiding it from the world.

Ana notes that she could not find anything about Nefele Stronghold in Rasputin's database because someone wiped the record so thoroughly that she couldn't even find the original quote. And given the scope of the data wipe, she assumes it must've been done by Rasputin himself.

That's a lot of tie-ins with Golden Age Braytech work. Nanotechnology (originally developed by Willa Bray), Rasputin in charge of protecting the colony, an unknown colony ship that managed to survive the Collapse (and Clovis having hidden colony ships out there at the edge of the system), vaguely similar aesthetic in some of the screenshots... I would not be surprised if Neomuna owes a lot to Golden Age Braytech work. It would make sense as Braytech was the biggest technology company in the Golden Age and it would be understandable if the colony ship was equipped with the most up to date tech to take to the stars.

I'd love to see Willa having the chance to expand her nanite science in a place hidden from the world and to have Elsie and Ana explore their sister's legacy.

And I'd love to see Rasputin up and running before Lightfall, leading us to help Neomuna like he was trying to do during the Golden Age and the Collapse. It seems like a perfect time to bring him, Ana and Elsie back, before Lightfall, to get us ready.

Obviously it's too early to say that any of this will pan out for sure, but it's something to keep an eye out for. Rasputin definitely had Neomuna in his database so the Golden Age Braytech connection is already there. And Neomuna's technology being based on incredibly advanced nanites is very interesting given that all colony ships had SIVA on board and SIVA was just the beginning of nanotechnology exploration. Without the Collapse and with a thousand years (or more) of unrestricted technological and scientific advancement, SIVA could've probably become what Neomuna's tech is now.

#destiny 2 #destiny 2 spoilers #lightfall spoilers #neomuna #rasputin #elsie #willa #siva #lore vibing #long post #it's still WAY too early to be super confident about this stuff but you know #rasputin knowing about neomuna and them having so much stuff around nanites is just MAN #i need rasputin back

[blogparanormalexpresso2stuff]

Robert Powell - UFOs: A Scientist Explains

Robert Powell discusses his new book, UFOs: A Scientist Explains What We Know (And Don’t Know)", and the existence of not just two videos, but five videos from 2015 of UFOs operating in the vicinity of the USS Roosevelt nuclear aircraft carrier.

Additionally, we'll be touching on implications of exoplanet discovery for the UAP phenomenon, the changing culture of mainstream science with relation to UFOs, the role of the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies, and what the AARO Historical Report missed - and how they can do better in the future.

Robert Powell is an Executive Board Member and Founding Member of the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies. Robert has been studying the UAP phenomenon since 2007, and prior to the SCU has served as Director of Research at MUFON and created MUFON's Science Review Board.

Robert is the co-author of a detailed book 600-page book on the history of the phenomenon, "UFOs and Government: A Historical Inquiry", and author of the children's educational book, "The Truth About UFOs: A Scientific Perspective". He is also the author of numerous papers on UFOs, including the 2008 Stephenville, TX case, the 2013 Aguadilla Puerto video, and the 2004 Nimitz encounter.

Robert has a Bachelor's degree in Chemistry and 28 years career experience in engineering management in the semiconductor industry, and helped Advanced Micro Devices develop its first flash memory technology. He's also managed state of the art chemistry labs & R&D groups, and is the co-holder of four patents related to nanotechnology.

#ufo #ufology #robert powell #uap #Youtube

[twistedtummies2]

Year of the Bat - Number 4

Welcome to Year of the Bat! In honor of Kevin Conroy, Arleen Sorkin, and Richard Moll, I’ve been counting down my Top 31 Favorite Episodes of “Batman: The Animated Series” throughout this January. We’re getting close to the end now… TODAY’S EPISODE QUOTE: “Gotham can be a Wonderland, Alice! Tonight, let me be your guide.” Number 4 is…Mad as a Hatter.

If you know me very well, this episode being in my Top 5 is no surprise at all. If you don’t, then you might be a little surprised. While “Mad as a Hatter” is certainly a well-liked episode, by all accounts, I doubt too many people would name it as being anywhere on-par with stories like “Mad Love” and “Heart of Ice,” two other villain origin stories that I covered in my past two entries. I, however, am not most people: while I love Harley Quinn, and I cannot deny the power of “Heart of Ice,” this story is something close to my heart in a way those two simply are not. This episode is the origin/first appearance of one of the Dark Knight’s slightly more unsung villains, the Mad Hatter. In the story, the Hatter is a highly repressed and socially awkward neuroscientist, by the name of Jervis Tetch. Jervis is an eccentric fellow, who has a bizarre obsession with the “Alice” stories by Lewis Carroll. The strange scientist has created a special headband and cards, which – via highly sophisticated nanotechnology – allow him to control other people’s minds. It’s then revealed that Tetch has unrequited feelings for his secretary (probably not-coincidentally named Alice Pleasance), and – when her boyfriend, Billy, seemingly dumps her – Jervis seizes the opportunity to use this newfound power to try and sweep Alice off her feet. At first, things seem to go well…but unbeknownst to Jervis, after he drops Alice off at home that night, she and Billy make up and even get officially engaged. This sudden development causes Jervis to snap, and he becomes the Mad Hatter: determined to claim Alice as his own, hang all the consequences, and willing to put half of Gotham under his thrall, if necessary, in order to do so. Naturally, Batman can’t allow this; he’s already on Tetch’s trail, after a (presumed) misunderstanding with some street thugs. Now, he must rescue Alice (and Billy) and stop the Mad Hatter before things get any madder.

The Mad Hatter has long been one of my favorite Batman Villains, and I am 99% convinced that the specific version found in the DCAU is the main reason why. In the comics, the Hatter has always been an…iffy character, to say the least, as he’s typically depicted as a rotten-to-the-core little creep with many perverse desires. He’s a villain who’s meant to just be punched in the face, so to speak. Other adaptations have gone in other directions, but I think the version found in the Animated Series handled it the best out of anybody. This is, without a doubt, my definitive take on the Mad Hatter. Part of the reason why is the character’s voice: he’s played by Roddy McDowall, and in fact, the Hatter would be McDowall’s last proper character, as his final appearance in the DCAU – a Superman crossover episode called “Knight Time” – was released posthumously to McDowall’s passing, and a somewhat earlier episode, “Animal Act,” was released not long before his death. This was quite the role to cap a career with, and almost seems an inevitable one: McDowall had previously played a somewhat similar character, the Bookworm, in the 1960s Adam West show. He also was the narrator for an abridged audiobook version of Tim Burton’s Batman (where I swear he plays the most polite Batman in the history of anything). Not only that, but McDowall also played the role of the March Hare in a 1985 TV Miniseries of “Alice in Wonderland.” With credits like these, and his mellifluous voice, he was absolutely perfect casting for the part.

The other reason, however, sits with his origins. This by far the most sympathetic and fascinating take on Jervis Tetch I think we’ve ever been given. It’s easy to relate with the idea of unrequited love as the cause for someone’s descent into darkness, and at the start of the story, Jervis is really very nice. He’s a bit odd, and there are some subtle hints that he’s already on a slightly uneven keel, but he doesn’t come across as truly evil. There’s also an interesting dichotomy with the way his alter ego acts in relation to the rest of his life; it sort of reminds me of Catwoman’s setup in “Batman Returns,” of all things. At the start, Jervis is awkward, shy, panicky, and keeps a lot bottled up. Once he dons the top hat and trenchcoat of the Mad Hatter, however, he becomes a whole different person: he’s more charismatic, more confident, more flamboyant, and – thanks the power of his control chips – he has absolute control, something we get the sense he hasn’t had a lot of in his life. It’s only when his advances are so brutally shot down – when he finds out Alice, after all that, is ENGAGED to Billy – that he REALLY goes off the deep end. There’s some ambiguity and unanswered questions with his background – we don’t know why he’s obsessed with Wonderland, why he’s created these control chips, or even whether or not he intended what happened with the two aforementioned street hooligans – but that actually only makes him more interesting, as it gives the audience a little leeway to come up with their own thoughts, while still presenting a comprehensive understanding of why this Hatter is Mad.

Being a Wonderland-obsessed oddball myself, I’ve always felt a sort of dark kinship, for lack of a better way of putting it, with the concept of Jervis Tetch. That character concept has never been so splendidly handled as in B:TAS, and “Mad as a Hatter” is a phenomenal first impression for the character. I need no other reason to place it so high in my personal ranks.

Tomorrow we move into the Top 3 of the countdown! Hint: “Look at us. We’re all freaks and monsters. And who made us this way? BATMAN!”

#list #countdown #best #favorites #new year's special #year of the bat #top 31 btas episodes #btas #batman: the animated series #dcau #dc #batman #animation #tv #number 4 #mad as a hatter #mad hatter #jervis tetch #roddy mcdowall #alice pleasance

[fairchilds-glasses]

What if Chucky ended like this?

Chucky: Jake, Lexy, Devon! Perfect timing.

Caroline: *has a collar bomb around her neck* Hi Lexy.

Lexy: Caroline!

Chucky: Ah-ah. Don’t come any closer,

Devon: Oh great, the killer manic doll and the kid he manipulated.

Caroline: Don’t talk about Chucky like that. We devised something for this occasion, the last game you will ever have to play with Chucky!

Chucky: Because if I die, I’m taking you three assholes with me.

Devon: OH SHOVE YOUR-

Jake: DEVON. Chill.

Devon: …Fine. Whatever.

Lexy: What kind of game?

Chucky: King’s Corner. You remember that game, right Jake?

Devon; What is he talking about?

Jake; It’s a game I used to play with other mental health patients when I was in a psychiatric hospital. But, I was good at the game and I still am.

Chucky: Great! That’s you’ll love to hear the rules; you don’t have to win.

Lexy: …Excuse me?

Chucky; You don’t have to win. All you have to do with get through three rounds without quitting. Simple; ain’t it?

Devon: And if we refuse.

Chucky: Then Caroline goes bye-bye and you’ll never know where Grant and his stupid little brother is.

Devon: Well fuck.

Jake: Fuck is an understatement. Fine, I’ll play with you Chucky. And I’ll win.

Caroline: Well, aren’t we confident? Let’s enjoy ourselves. It’s a game, after all.

A couple of rounds later, and Jake has lost one of them when Caroline brings out snacks for the guests, since Chucky said it’s common courtesy to have snacks and drinks during a card game.

Devon: Fuck that, I’m not drinking it.

Caroline: Why? *almost looks sad* You don’t like orange soda?

Devon: It’s not the fact I don’t like it; it’s the fact you’re working with a serial killing, happy-go-lucky knife manic and I wouldn’t drink this if it the source of consumable liquid on this EARTH.

Lexy: Devon!

Devon: What? Oh don’t tell me YOU’RE gonna drink it.

Jake: It’s the only way to complete this game. *drinks the soda* No more people can die.

Lexy: Please.

Devon: …God, the things I do for you guys - FINE. *takes the cup and downs it before aggressively setting it back on the table* Happy?

Caroline: *eerie smile* Very. *sits back in her seat*

Chucky: You know, Jake.

Jake: Hm?

Chucky: I remember you asking me, why do I always come back?

Caroline: *looks at him, confused*

Jake: What do you mean?

Chucky: I mean, I’m dying. Do you wanna know?

Lexy: ..You’re seriously offering that?

Chucky: Yeah. But, I have a condition. Whatever I tell you; you must accept it was you who wanted to hear it.

Devon: *honestly just humoring Chucky at this point* Fine. Enlighten us, Charles.

Chucky: Please, it’s Chucky. Have you ever wanted to know what the future was like?

Devon: Oh, here we fucking go - What? Gonna tell us that you’re sent from the future or some shit?

Chucky: Hm? No, and sit down, be patient. I’m speaking.

Devon; I couldn’t a give a-

Jake: Devon. Sit down.

Devon: *grumbles but sits down in a empty chair regardless* I’m only sitting here because I want to.

Lexy; Yeah, yeah. Well? Start speaking, Chucky.

Chucky: Well, I said, have you wanted to know what it was like in the future? Nanotechnology, renewable energy, pluripotent cells. virtual reality, cryogenics, terraforming, artificial intelligence and so much more. The science and technology from your era bursts with mountains of hope and potential.

Lexy: *confused but staying silent*

Chucky: Perhaps, you should celebrate. All of those dreams became a reality. What’s more, technology rapidly advanced and progressed. Within 30 years, the economies of developing countries grew rapidly and the inequalities of living standards were eventually eliminated. Fifty years later, gene manipulation and editing of extended the human lifespan-

Devon: Hold up. What the hell are you talking about?

Chucky: What the hell are YOU talking about? *smile* I’m just telling you the 1,000 years of human history.

Jake: …1,000 years? In the future?

Chucky: Precisely. After humanity requires more advanced knowledge, it persisted in making new discoveries in every field imagined. The possibilities were endless, I tell you! So, basically, ten years after what you believe if the current year, virtual reality and avatars begin to take over all aspects of people’s everyday lives. After 50 years, cures for dementia, cancer of any kind and all that shit become possible and accessible through genetics. After 60 years, natural disasters become eliminated thanks to environmental and weather control technologies. After 200 years, the mechanisms of the brain are analyzed, memories and thoughts can now be transplanted with a simple device. After 300 years, humans finally conquers natural death and the average lifespan is extended to 300 years. After 400 years, nothing unexplainable happens after humanity has unlocked all the secrets of physics, not even meeting a new person. In this era, we can explain things like coincidence and even fate.

Devon: *can’t even say anything*

Chucky: After 500 years, there are no accidents. Humanity can control the entire world perfectly - in other words, basically, you become immortal.

Devon: No way.

Chucky: Yes way. In the 500 years that follow, as long as they are supplied with dopamine, humans can live forever. That is the world in 1,000 years. *smile*

Jake: *scared because what Chucky said kinda made sense*

Chucky: Right now, you are in a virtual reality game. This game is quite popular among teens and adults alike, and you are so deeply immersed you have forgotten that you are even playing a game. More or less, some people stop pursuing reasons to live, but the 21st century fascinates us. The thought that there was once a time where death was feared and very much possible, a time where the end of the world was questioned and conspired. And I…Charles Lee Ray, am the administrator of this game.

Caroline: *looks at Chucky*

Chucky: *looks at Caroline and starts laughing*

Jake: *confused*

Devon: *two seconds away from getting violent*

Lexy: *saw it coming* -_-

Chucky: Jk, I’m just kidding! Not a single word was true.

Devon: …Can you please stop fucking around?

Chucky: You should’ve seen your faces! I knew I was good liar but DAMN. *laughing* Why do you want to know anyway? Think it’ll satisfy the dead?

Devon; YOU FUCKING-

Jake: HEY!

Devon: WHAT?! I’M SICK OF HIM FUCKING WITH US. YOU EITHER TELLS US THE TRUTH, OR I SWEAR ON MY MOTHER; I WILL-

Chucky: FINE. I’ll tell you. Jesus, Caroline in younger than you and she doesn’t throw temper tantrums when someone plays a silly little joke on her. Chill out or I’m not playing and I’ll kill you all, right here, me included.

Lexy: Devon. Devon, calm down.

Devon: I am calm.

Jake: Your leg his bounding and your rubbing your old scars. *puts a hand on his thigh* It’s gonna be okay, alright Dev? I’m here.

Devon: *takes a deep breathe* Alright.

Chucky: You two are so cute, you know that?

Devon: *both legs start bounding*

Jake: Chucky, don’t. Now, tell us.

Chucky: Alright. What you see here, none of it is real. It’s all an illusion.

Devon: Oh goddammit-

Lexy: *jaw clench*

Jake: ..Are you serious?

Chucky: As a shark attack. You need to remember, Jake. It’s time to wake up. You need to remember what really happened to your family.

Devon: This is some real bullshit! This is why I say, don’t listen to Chucky! He’s always lying. If that were, all our time spent together would be a dream! *bangs his hand on the table* But me and Lexy are here! We exist!

Lexy; Yeah! Jake, don’t listen to him! Jake?

Chucky: Of course you both exist. I never spoke against that. All I’m saying, is that you don’t exist in the reality Jake is seeing right now. Am I right?

Jake: *silent*

Chucky; Jake. You need to remember. You’re in the Hackensack Children’s Hospital. You’re in the Mental Health Unit, and I’m your psychiatrist. My daughter, Caroline, is here to visit. She really likes you. Jake.

Jake: *looks up and all of the sudden, he’s in a grey room, all alone with Chucky, who seems like an older man wearing a white coat and his daughter, Caroline, who’s sitting in a chair in the corner, and he’s in a hospital paper scrubs, holding a Good Guy Doll* …

Dr. Ray; Jake. Are you listening? Do you remember now? The accident?

Jake: *feels tears streaming down his cheeks* I…I didn’t want it happen.

Dr. Ray: My guess is that you remember now. You remember everything, don’t you?

Jake: *nods*

Dr. Ray; The thing is Jake, this wasn’t about me. This was about what happened. You didn’t want to know the truth about the world, or me. What you wanted know was why are you still alive. What purpose do you serve this world that someone took time out of their busy schedule to put you here. And that’s where Chucky came from. A ridiculous and not very thought out well horror story that you created to give yourself comfort, to cope.

Chucky: *turns to the door with a warm smile* You guys are three peas in a pod, aren’t you? I wish I had friends like that. The boy, especially, is always so protective over you.

Jake: *turns to the door, and sees Devon and Lexy*

Lexy: *standing by the half-open door*

Devon: *leaning on the door frame, observing*

Dr. Ray: They also lost people precious to them, before being admitted. Tell me, Jake. Did you just start wanting to end your life when your dad died, or was it before?

Jake: …I don’t know.

Dr. Ray: Listen, Jake. What happened to you - what your father did because of something you couldn’t control has nothing to do with your smile, or your personality, and it wasn’t your fault. It was his. Your dad was an asshole. And now, your carry that pain with you, forever. Tell me Jake, is there anyone on this Earth that needs you?

Jake: I - …I don’t know.

Dr. Ray: I can help you, if you let me Jake. Let people help you. All I need is an yes or no answer.

Jake: To what?

Chucky: *smile* Do you quit the game?

AND THEN, BOOM, CAMERAS CUT AND WE GOT A “Directed by Don Mancini”

Holy crap that would be one hell of a twist and that was also really well written so great job for that!