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matan4il · 11 days

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hi quick question: what do u know about the lavender ai post that's circulating? i saw it on this fact checking blog i follow and they made it seem legit but im not convinced

Hi Nonnie!

Before I get into this specific subject, I just wanna tell you that for me personally, this war has been an eye opener about how little some "fact checking" sites are worth. I've read several articles on that type of site, which could have used some fact checking themselves. In some cases, they had author names attached to them, and when checking the authors out, it was easy to find that they were not free of bias themselves. So... yeah. Take "fact checking sites" with a grain of salt. Even journalists sometimes get it wrong, and they're held to higher standards, and have more personal accountability, than most "fact checking sites," not to mention that the latter often simply rely on a selection of journalistic sources, but sometimes without really taking into account which are reliable, and which aren't.

As for the lavender AI issue specifically, I heard it briefly referenced on the news, during a discussion panel, and it was brought up in the context of recent conspiracy theories about Israel. The panelists were so clear on how obviously false these all were, they didn't even really get into refuting any of them.

A bit like how, in the past, when watching panelists discussing antisemitic tropes reincarnated as anti-Israel lies, I saw them bring up the one claiming Israel set up a field hospital in Haiti after the earthquake in order to harvest organs, which is obviously a new version of "the Jews are bloodthirsty" without bothering to refute it, because to Israelis, it's evident that it's bullshit. Not only because we're aware that we're not actually those evil creatures, lusting for death and destruction, that the anti-Israel crowd likes to portray us as, but also because we know that the constant terrorist attacks here have made Israel a world leader in the field of emergency medicine (here's an example: even the antisemitic UN had to admit an IDF unit was the best medical emergency team in the world), so that's the actual reason we set up that field hospital, much like we use our experience to help others in basically every disaster around the world that's willing to accept aid from Israel (and sometimes we operate even in places like Syria, where technically, we're defined as an enemy state, so all of the aid had to be provided directly to private people, and while keeping their identity a secret, so their own government can't presecute them for receiving it).

Anyway, since the TV discussion didn't get into refuting what they clearly saw as an absurd, hateful lie, I went online in search of more info, and found that this news venturing into mainstream media happened in The Guardian, a British news source known for its anti-Israel bias, to the point where a female black, non-Jewish journalist of theirs felt the need to point it out all the way back in 2003, and in Nov 2023, a Jewish employee of theirs had published a personal piece about feeling unsafe there, and looking for another place of employment. But the source that The Guardian is quoting, is actually not a proper journalistic publication, it's an anti-Israel propaganda blog based magazine, which includes Israeli anti-Zionists and Palestinians, publishing in English since its audience is very much not Israelis despite claiming that they want to inspire change in Israel, and responsible for systematically vilifying the country and spreading lies about it.

If I, as an Israeli, thought that something was wrong with a system the IDF is using, and wanted to see real change in my army, I wouldn't go to a publication that isn't journalistic in nature, that doesn't publish in a local language, that most Israelis have never heard about, and that those who did, don't trust, because of its known anti-Israel reputation. That in itself makes me suspicious.

The IDF gave a statement in response to questions presented by The Guardian, based on the aforementioned piece. It's a bit long, but here are the main references to the claimed AI system Lavender (emphasis added by me):

Some of the claims portrayed in your questions are baseless in fact, while others reflect a flawed understanding of IDF directives and international law.

The process of identifying military targets in the IDF consists of various types of tools and methods, including information management tools, which are used in order to help the intelligence analysts to gather and optimally analyze the intelligence, obtained from a variety of sources. Contrary to claims, the IDF does not use an artificial intelligence system that identifies terrorist operatives or tries to predict whether a person is a terrorist. Information systems are merely tools for analysts in the target identification process. According to IDF directives, analysts must conduct independent examinations, in which they verify that the identified targets meet the relevant definitions in accordance with international law and additional restrictions stipulated in the IDF directives.

The “system” your questions refer to is not a system, but simply a database whose purpose is to cross-reference intelligence sources, in order to produce up-to-date layers of information on the military operatives of terrorist organizations. This is not a list of confirmed military operatives eligible to attack.

For each target, IDF procedures require conducting an individual assessment of the anticipated military advantage and collateral damage expected. Such assessments are not made categorically in relation to the approval of individual strikes. The assessment of the collateral damage expected from a strike is based on a variety of assessment methods and intelligence-gathering measures, in order to achieve the most accurate assessment possible, considering the relevant operational circumstances. The IDF does not carry out strikes when the expected collateral damage from the strike is excessive in relation to the military advantage. In accordance with the rules of international law, the assessment of the proportionality of a strike is conducted by the commanders on the basis of all the information available to them before the strike, and naturally not on the basis of its results in hindsight.

The IDF outright rejects the claim regarding any policy to kill tens of thousands of people in their homes.

Some things about the claims in that piece don't work out IMO. Like, the number of fatalities if indeed there's an AI system, which produced a list of 37,000 Hamas and PIJ terrorists, with an automatic green light to kill between 15 to 100 civilians per each, especially in the first months of the war, and even assuming they couldn't target them all during that period of time (we do know most Hamas units have been destroyed). There are about 1,500 terrorists in a Hamas battalion (source in Hebrew), and 4 are left in Rafah, so only about 6,000 Hamas terrorists are in the last area the IDF has not operated in yet. That would mean roughly 31,000 terrorists were accessible targets. Just for the sake of erring on the side of caution, let's assume 10 killed civilians per Hamas terrorist, instead of that piece's claimed 15-100 approved per target. This would produce somewhere around 341,000 people killed in the first months alone. Let's go even lower, let's say 5 civilians killed per terrorist instead of 15-100. That would mean 186,000 killed during those months. We are exactly 6 months into the war, and even Hamas' numbers (likely inflated) don't claim more than 33,000 as the total number of fatalities. The given numbers and directives in that so-called "article" just don't match the reality on the ground, but claim to explain it, and to prove that Israel is being callous with civilians' lives in Gaza.

I'll also add that the AI-based decision making described doesn't take into account the possible presence and harm to the lives of Israeli hostages held captive in Gaza. That's another thing that makes me doubt that piece, because the IDF commanders have repeatedly stated their commitment to bringing back all the hostages, and as many alive as possible, and Israeli soldiers more than once risked their own lives to get them out, whether it was living people, or the bodies of Israelis who deserve to get to be buried back home, with their loved ones there, as in tact as possible. This scenario only works if we assume the Israeli commanders and soldiers have no sentiment for the lives of their own kidnapped civilians.

I guess that's what the piece's aim is. To play on people's fears of AI determining whether people will live or die, and to paint Israel as an evil, unfeeling, bloodthirsty entity, capable of anything, including of the inhumanity of letting computers decide the fate of human beings. The ease and speed with which people believe this, and spread this notion, before anyone has verified that Lavender is anything other than a database, just like the IDF says, feels like a demonstration of how all antisemitic blood libels are spread.

I hope this helped!

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

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cowboymaterials · 6 months

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The U.S. military’s recent $35 million contract to do construction at its secret base in Israel went to a joint venture that includes an American firm and an Israeli one. The Israeli company, Y.D. Ashush Infrastructure, has been involved in many large-scale infrastructure and public works projects — including building an illegal settlement in occupied Palestinian territory.

In a section on its website touting its projects, Ashush mentions construction work in the settlement of Leshem. Originally planned to include nearly 700 homes, Leshem was constructed in the 2010s as a satellite of Alei Zahav, a settlement established in 1982.

“I estimate that Leshem has tripled the number of settlers in Alei Zahav.”

“Leshem is an Israeli settlement that was established in 2010, officially as a ‘neighborhood’ of an older settlement called Alei Zahav,” Dror Etkes — founder of Kerem Navot, an Israeli organization that monitors Israeli land policy in the West Bank — told The Intercept. Etkes said describing new communities as “neighborhoods” was a “trick” used by settlers to make it look like no new settlement was being constructed, since such moves have often drawn international condemnation. [...]

Leshem has been in the news in recent years for hostility to its neighboring Palestinian villages. In 2020, the settlement was accused of deliberately dumping its sewage into the farmlands of nearby Deir Ballut, preventing its olive harvest and destroying trees, some of which date back to Roman times. [...]

Considered illegal under international law and by nearly every country in the world apart from the U.S. and Israel, settlements have continued to grow even as international opinion tilts strongly against them. An occupying military force like Israel transferring civilian populations into occupied territory such as the West Bank is a war crime under the Fourth Geneva Convention. [...]

The company was referenced in the Pentagon’s August 2 contract announcement for the construction of a “life-support area” in Israel. Other documents revealed this to be a euphemism for the construction of barracks-like facilities to house U.S. military personnel on its unacknowledged base deep in the Negev desert, code-named “Site 512,” as The Intercept reported. Four other bids were considered, according to the Defense Department’s contract announcement.

It is not clear how much of the $35 million joint venture contract, shared with the Colorado construction company Bryan Construction, went to Ashush. Bryan Construction did not respond to requests for comment. Ashush does not appear in public databases that track U.S. government contracts, meaning there is no transparency around how much public money is flowing to the company. [...]

In 2015, when U.S. diplomats investigated allegations of vandalism, including the uprooting of thousands of Palestinian-owned olive trees in the West Bank by settlers from an Israeli “outpost,” the settlers assaulted them with stones. Though the State Department confirmed the incident and provided a video to Israeli authorities, the controversial head of the Samaria Regional Council Yossi Dagan, an ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, called for the diplomats’ expulsion, accusing them of being spies.

“The land which the settlement is sitting on was looted by the Israeli government from two Palestinian communities.”

A report from January 2022 described settlers from Alei Zahav destroying a Palestinian farmer’s olive trees with assistance from the Israeli military. The military, at the behest of the settlers, ordered the farmer off the land and seized a tractor, claiming that the land was owned by the Israeli state.

“The land which the settlement is sitting on was looted by the Israeli government from two Palestinian communities … in the 1980s by declaring it as ‘state land,’ which was allocated to Alei Zahav later,” said Etkes, the Israeli expert on settlements.

Months later, in July, another report described settlers destroying another nearby farm.

November 3, 2023

#free palestine #palestine #gaza #free gaza #israel #us imperialism #colonialism #genocide #us politics

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lazybutsmexy · 1 year

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Rotten Apple

Ghost x fem!Reader (Canary) x Soap

A/N: This is set after the events in Bird Hunting, but is mostly centered around Canary (here [Name] due to her being in a civilian setting) and her parents. Just a lil' bit of lore for BH fans :)

Warnings: hurt/comfort, referenced past child neglect, narcissistic/abusive parents.

Summary: Sweetened apples turn sour when rotten apples are around.

Word count: 2100~

“...Yae think we should’ve brought a leash?” Johnny pondered, and Simon had no choice but to consider his opinion for the next time they went to the farmers’ market with [Name]. Only ten minutes had passed from the moment they arrived, and it only took her catching a whiff of sweetened apples for her to zoom away into the crowd.

And it was crowded today, with a congregation of people, alone, in couples, or entire families that had decided to brave the unusually sunny weather to stock up on organically harvested seasonal fruits and vegetables, animal products, and other produce made by the same people that sold them in cute little stands.

[Name] absolutely loved the farmers’ market - Simon wasn’t that keen on crowds, but both him and Johnny were easily swayed by her excitement. The initial plan was for them to stock up on groceries before spending a long-awaited long weekend at Johnny’s cabin in the north. But now she had disappeared to who-knows-where.

Her stealth had been an important skill during missions, but now it was a problem. Is this how their enemies felt, knowing that she was around there but being unable to find her?, Simon thought, his eyes scanning the crowd from above - luckily, there weren't many people even close to his size.

“There!” Johnny exclaimed, and took off in a random direction. Simon was hot behind his heels, refusing to lose another one of his partners today. Both men had to struggle to part the crows around them without shoving them aside, and not tripping into distracted kids that wandered around their parents.

Finally, Simon saw her, but there was something off about her. He couldn’t quite place it before Johnny got to her, his hand brushing her arm.

“[Na-]! Oh, sorry,” Johnny quickly retracted his hand with a sheepish grin, “I thought you were my girlfriend, you look a lot like her.”

The girl eyed him up and down and quirked an eyebrow, clearly unimpressed, “That’s the most awful pick-up line I’ve heard,” she sneered at him, and Johnny couldn’t help but notice that she really looked eerily similar to [Name], from the color of her hair, the shape of her lips, to the scrunch on her nose when she looked at him in displeasure. “And by the way,” she continued dismissively, crossing her arms over her chest, “I already have a fiance, and you can’t afford me anyway.”

Both Simon and Johnny blinked at the woman, who was looking at both of them up and down. Johnny was getting rightfully annoyed at her choice of tone, and was about to turn around when she saw the woman’s face shift into surprise as her eye caught something behind them. “...[Name]?”

[Name] had been about to grab Simon’s shoulder, excited to show him her newly purchased jars of jams while munching away at a caramel apple, but the moment she noticed who was speaking to them, she turned around and shifted through the crowds again.

Her heart was pounding in her ears and she felt her lungs constrict against her ribs for oxygen. The soles of her feet stung - although her burns were healed, the new skin was still sensitive. She had lost her treat somewhere, but she paid it no mind, eager to find the exit, and wait for Johnny and Simon by the truck.

However, and she should already know this by heart, Lady luck sometimes is a bitch.

“...[Name]? Is that you?” The voice made her freeze on the spot, right outside the parking lot, and she felt like a child all over again as she slowly turned around, her eyes meeting her mother’s.

“...Hi, mom,” she sighed dejectedly, resigning herself to her fate as she saw her father turn around to face her, regarding her with an unimpressed stare, “Hi, dad.”

“Haven’t seen you in years, darling,” the woman spoke sweetly and smiled politely, but it didn’t reach her eyes. It never does when it’s for me, [Name] thought bitterly. It was no different than when she spoke to a stranger at the grocery store, definitely not how one would speak to a daughter.

“Have you finally come to your senses?” her father was less subtle, crossing his arms over his chest, “Are you finally coming back home?”

“Ah, no, I’m actually on medical leave,” she cleared her throat and straightened her back, finally remembering she was not a teenager anymore, “I have my own place, had it for a while now, actually.”

“Really now?” her mother cooed, “When are you going to get the rest of your stuff from home, then?”

[Name] blinked at her, tilting her head a little in confusion, “you told me you were getting rid of my things years ago, you said you were going to use my bedroom for an office for Trish or something.”

“Oh, we did repurpose your old bedroom, silly girl,” the woman laughed, then shrugged condescendingly, “what we couldn’t give away is in a couple of small boxes in the attic, mostly your childhood photos.” [Name] said nothing - she had already expected her parents to get rid of all traces of her the moment she joined the military, she was only mildly puzzled about them keeping anything. “I'm sure you’ll want those, at least.”

“...You don’t want them?” she asked, although she already had an inkling of what the answer would be.

“Well, it would be embarrassing to have people asking about you, you know?” her mother sighed, shaking her head, “What would we tell them? It was easier to pretend your sister was an only child.”

“You could tell them the truth,” [Name] retorted, and her father seemed to tense up at her answer.

“Tell people that we have a daughter who whores herself out for a living?” He grumbled, while her mother looked around to see if anyone heard, “what do they call them, barrack bunnies?”

[Name] bit her lip, her mind unhelpfully replaying the disastrous argument that resulted from her enlisting years prior. “I thought you didn’t care if I died, anyway.”

“But you’re alive, and you owe us,” her mother chastised, her pitch dropping a few tones, “we raised you-”

“Grandma and Grandpa raised me, you were too busy raising Trish.”

“We kept you fed and clothed even though you always rebelled against us,” her mother hissed, stepping closer, “you turned our family against us!”

“You did that yourself,” [Name] kept her voice down, calm, knowing from experience that getting herself fired up would only give them more power, “you’re the one who started pretending I didn’t exist when I turned ten, saying you wished Trish was your only daughter.”

Her mother huffed and turned her face away indignantly, “and I stand by that.”

“...I know, you find it easier to pretend I don’t exist than to check whether I’m alive or not.”

“We should’ve left you at the hospital when we had the chance.”

[Name] rolled her eyes at that. After so many years living away from her parents, the usual quips and threats from her mother hurt less than when she was a teenager. It was a small comfort, to know that she’d grown out of her parents' shadow. “Yeah, that wasn’t very smart of you-” she was stopped by a sound slap, her face turning from the impact. She slowly raised her hand to cup her stinging cheek, and eyed her father, whose hand was still raised.

“You will not speak to your mother in that manner, young lady,” he growled, and [Name] just blinked at him, unsure of how to react without getting herself arrested.

“And you will not raise your hand against my corporal again, unless you’re ready to lose it,” Simon’s voice was low, dangerously low, and it sent shivers down both [Name]’s and her parents’ spines, although for entirely different reasons. She glanced over her shoulder, finding herself eye-level with Simon’s chest. Johnny stood by his side with a severe expression in his face, one she had seldom seen before.

Her parents warily stepped back, taking in the two large men who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. “W-who are you?” Her father stammered - although he would later deny he did.

“Lieutenant Riley, and this is your last warning,” he grumbled, although he didn’t need to do anything else to intimidate them. They already looked as if they were trying to find somewhere to hide.

Knowing that her parents were - for once - the ones cowering in fear stirred a newfound sense of power in [Name]’s heart - what was it that Gaz called it? Ah, yeah, scary dog privilege. She found it easier to look at the people in front of them and realize that nothing had tied her to them for a long time.

The branches of the genealogy tree can also be snipped to one’s content, her Grandma had told her on her twelfth birthday, when she couldn’t grasp the concept of her parents choosing to celebrate one kid’s birthday and not the other’s.

She had found herself being dropped off at her Grandparents’ early in the morning, while her parents boasted about taking Trish to an amusement park for the day. Little [Name] was heartbroken, and had begged her mom to forgive her for whatever she had done to not deserve a birthday party. But alas, they were relentless, and a lot of screaming from her mom and a backhanded slap from her dad had broken her pleas and made her silent, just like many other times.

At that time, [Name] couldn’t grasp the meaning of her Grandma’s words, but now that she had grown up, and disappointment had settled in a long time ago, those words rang truer than ever in her mind.

Even when she was on the brink of death in the forest, seeing them again never crossed her mind, for she knew they wouldn’t care even to visit her grave.

Keep up with that attitude, and you will die alone, because no one will ever love you, her mother had told her at thirteen, when she started openly questioning the difference in treatment with her twin.

How wrong she was, she thought. She was far from alone, and she was very well loved. Although her Grandparents were long gone, she had Simon and Johnny right here with her, and Gaz was her chosen brother, and Price was a better father figure than the man in front of her had ever been.

“Burn those photos, for all I care,” she smiled at her mother. It was a calm, detached smile - a polite smile you give to a stranger at the grocery store, not to a parent. “Make it real, that I do not exist for you.”

And with that she turned around, tugging on Simon's long sleeve as discreetly as she could. Johnny did notice, however, and smirked to himself as he followed after them - Simon would’ve gladly squared up to those two for hours if needed, but he easily relented to her touch.

Simon opened the truck’s passenger door for [Name] and she sat in silence, still mulling over her thoughts. A warm hand rested on her knee and she looked up to see her favorite pair of blue eyes staring back at her. They looked at each other in silence - there was an unsaid question in his lips, but she could almost taste it.

“...Let’s go home, okay?” She whispered, her hand stroking his knuckles. He simply nodded and shut the door before climbing in himself. Johnny was already sitting behind her, his lips pressed in a pout as he caught her reflection on the side view mirror, staring out of the window at the pair of strangers that once held her heart in their hands.

After a few silent moments as they pulled out of the parking lot, Johnny reached over, presenting [Name] with a fresh candy apple with sprinkles on top. She took it from his fingers, chuckling to herself at how easy it was for them to draw a smile from here, even though her heart still stung a little.

"Thanks, love," she hummed, pressing a kiss to his wrist and knowing that Johnny was grinning proudly to himself. Simon's hand was warm on her thigh, a welcome weight that grounded her in the present.

She could grow her own tree, if she so wanted, with the people she loved the most.

A/N: poor bby Canary deserved better parents :(

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96percentdone · 4 months

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It is deeply frustrating to me that it is a relatively common opinion that Amame murdering Uru was a moral good because it was "justice", and she "stopped Uru." To be clear, they're right that he needed to be stopped. His plan was evil, whether he has the sanity to parse that or not (and he demonstrably does not), but I think that's entirely beyond the point of the claims about the morality of Amame's actions. Whether or not Uru was in the wrong (he was by every possible metric) is not a worthwhile question to ask when it comes to evaluating what justice is.

First, and I cannot emphasize this enough, Amame literally didn't stop him. She just objectively didn't! Yes, he died, but the present day half of the plot plays out fucking anyway because it turns out the genocidal maniac had contingency plans to carry out his scheme! His guys do it for him! He says in his own tapes he planned for this just in case! Is that stopping him? The Nirvana Initiative gets as far as the genocide missile launching before his plan is actually ended. I cannot stress this enough; ya boi straight up almost won at KILLING EVERYONE posthumously. Sorry, but the in universe team "Amame did nothing wrong" is like suffering terminal hindsight bias, which is hilarious, because all of them were literally there when Uru almost killed everyone on the earth from beyond the grave.

Moreover, because Amame (and Gen who is helping her) spend that entire period of time trying to keep the murder a secret, she ends up actively getting in the way of stopping his plan until on the day of the initiative she finally steps forward because she can't take the pressure and the guilt any longer. She keeps critical information about the exact problem they are dealing with--like the fact that the guy they're looking for is fucking dead--a secret on purpose! Whether or not the police would have gotten anywhere faster if he lived is irrelevant; her actions for what actually happened made things worse. And there's a good reason for this! It's the same reason she is utterly ravaged by guilt for her own actions, despite how hard she tries to convince herself and the world she has no regrets: murder is always wrong, and Amame wanted revenge.

Revenge murder really isn't this incredible healing force people can hype it up to be in their heads. Amame says she went because she wanted to hear what he had to say. She wanted closure. Now of course he's severely out of his mind and everything he said in that moment pissed her off, understandable, and she'd have to wait like 100 years for him to maybe parse he was wrong, so okay, but did the revenge work? "I'm going to make you suffer the same pain..." She waits for him to be conscious when she kills him, she is explicitly out to make him hurt, but like...was it actually effective? No, lmao. The funny thing is, that first line we see of that flashback where she kills him is Uru referencing his own torture: "Yes, this world is an imperfect one. I was put through much hardship." At this point, even if he didn't tell her the details, we the players know he was held prisoner in a cell for over two decades and had his organs harvested so frequently anesthetics stopped working on him. We are being deliberately reminded of this fact so that when Amame says her classic one-liner, we'll know it was for nothing.

Revenge isn't justice. You can convince yourself that it will be satisfying, it's what he deserves, it's what you deserve to do, but what's left when it's over? What did you really gain? Amame didn't gain anything. This didn't heal her at all. She still mourns her father the same, only now she has to deal with new, worse problems of her own making. She spends the last of her free days catatonic from fear and guilt, she hates that she betrayed Shouma and Gen and her actions will force her to leave them, because she lost sight of what matters most in the name of punishment. It will never matter that Uru was wrong. Amame killed Uru for the same reasons he killed her father, and Horadori, and Jin; how could she ever be right? The fallout of her actions on her own psyche and on the world at large is the greatest proof of that.

If your definition of justice is just "we destroyed the bad guy most responsible for the problem" your definition of justice is worthless. The world is not meaningfully made better by punishing wrongdoers, but by healing the social and political ills that lead to their creation and that ravage to the victims they left behind.

#hope.txt #doi amame #amame doi #aini #nirvana initiative #aitsf #my meta #truly the most frustrating part of this is this is a common opinion with amame likers #and its like #do you guys actually like the character that was written or what #do you respect her story at all #do you respect the immaculate tragedy to her writing at all or just the idea of sad killer girl uwu #i forgot to tag uru #to be fair to me tho im the only bitch who posts in there #uru somezuki #somezuki uru

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cactus-cactus-cactus · 3 months

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Ok as a little cap on my riverdale journey here’s my favorite little things in no particular order

Jughead gets rabies

Anything chic and/or Charles do

Every time someone brings up the organ harvesting cult in casual conversation

Julian turning Archie and Reggie bisexual

Veronica placing a hit on her dad and murdering her husband

The entire next to normal episode

The entire Carrie episode (Ethel was ROBBED)

The ride the cyclone interlude

The way the sisters of quiet mercy uniforms are the same as Alice Spencer’s fit in Alice by heart (this one is just a me thing)

Every single main character having straight up tortured someone (Betty and Veronica boiling a man alive, jughead cutting of that tattoo, Archie re-breaking Nick the rapist’s broken legs)

Alice cooper I love you Alice cooper

Actually just the entire cooper family. The whole bloodline. And I do include Ethel and also chic they’re everything to me

The gravity with which maple syrup is treated it’s like fucking drugs to this town

Dark Betty.

Archie getting compared to Biff Loman (I made a comment about him being biff coded and then like four episodes later. Hell yeah)

The three jugheads. God I wish I could watch them all interact at once.

Puppet Reggie

Cheryl tricking her family into cannibalism

Nana rose

The Hiram origin episode. Actually all the backstory episodes are works of art

Sabrina being both an in universe character and also one of jugheads ocs

The bunker. It’s genuinely more iconic than pops to me I love the bunker

That time Kevin referenced succession

#riverdale #riverdale spoilers #cactus watches riverdale

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be-side-my-self · 10 months

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Happy first birthday to The Quarry Game!

Time to post the next part of my series. Updated once a week.

@hackearneyarchive

A few years after what happened at Hacketts Quarry, Laura is working at the veterinarian clinic in North Kill, creating something like a future for herself. Laura is now in North Kill for more than a year, her relationship with Travis has become a lot better and it's time for the Harvest festival again, this time even with a fair attached, the first time after the fire of Harum Scarum.

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply Category: F/M Fandom: The Quarry (Video Game) Relationship: Travis Hackett/Laura Kearney Characters: Travis Hackett; Laura Kearney; Original Characters Additional Tags: Slow Burn; slow slow burn; Pre-Relationship; idk if this even still pre-relationship? They are pretty much in a relationship; Implied/Referenced Abuse; Implied/Referenced Child Abuse; Mutual Attraction; They are attracted to each other and not ready to admit it; Older Man/Younger Woman; Lots of Original Characters - Freeform; they are basically on a date; fair grounds; Laura has anger issues; Bad Puns; more tags will be added; ACAB; Not Beta Read; Cooking; Food; conversation driven; Language: English

#hackearney #The Quarry #The Quarry Fanfiction #Fanfiction

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indoraptorgirlwind · 3 months

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Wesen Moodboards

Geier (German: Vulture)

Geiers are a communal race, living and working with groups of their own kind. These creatures are harvesters who take pleasure in the pain of others. Geiers gut humans for their organs and blood to use as homeopathic medicines and aphrodisiacs within the Wesen creature community, and they are responsible for procuring such agents for the benefit of Wesen kind. This gruesome practice may be referenced to an actual vulture's role as a scavenger, feeding on the carcasses of people and animals who died in desert areas.

Notables: Levine, Stankavitch, Tom Daniels

#Grimm #nbc grimm #Wesen #Geier #Wesen daily moodboards

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notwiselybuttoowell · 1 year

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Wildtype’s co-founder and CEO, Justin Kolbeck, a former diplomat who has worked on food insecurity abroad, worries about how current practices would feed a growing population’s demand for seafood.

“The scope of what we’re facing is so massive that if we don’t all succeed, we as a species will collectively fail,” he said. “We can’t fix this when we’re at that point – we need to fix it now when there’s still time for oceans to recover.”

In many cases, seafood products travel multiple times around the world before reaching the end consumer.

"We’re one environmental disaster away from extraordinary disruption to the supply chain and the global consumption of seafood is at an all-time high,” said Lou Cooperhouse, founder and CEO of BlueNalu, which is initially focused on growing bluefin tuna toro. In the next decade, he envisions factories being built around the world that can meet consumption demands and says they are ready to scale quickly.

Sustainable sources of seafood are needed to meet the demand from a growing global population that is on pace to reach 10 billion by 2050. While plant-based alternatives that look and taste like fish are gaining traction, cruelty-free cultivated seafood products could be on dinner plates in the next year or two, pending regulatory approval from the US food and drug administration.

But critics say in order for cell-cultivated seafood to be a better bet for the planet than fishing or farming, the industry would have to make their expensive products cost-competitive and get consumers to willingly substitute it for wild-caught fish.

It also needs to be eaten in numbers high enough to replace wild-caught fish. Researchers say this is unlikely, given the fact that aquaculture, the farming of aquatic organisms, hasn’t succeeded in replacing global wild-caught fisheries but is simply adding to seafood production.

“I’m really skeptical of claims that cell-based seafood companies will make a difference for fisheries and ocean conservation,” said Benjamin Halpern, a marine biologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who has researched cultivated seafood’s ability to reduce fishing pressure.

The state of California recently made the largest single investment in alternative protein research of any US state. The $5m (£4.4m) in funding is being split between three University of California schools: UC Berkeley, UC Davis and UCLA. And the Biden administration is backing lab-grown meat as referenced in a recent executive order.

When grown indoors, cell-cultured seafood like salmon and tuna can be optimized for taste, texture and nutritional content, and cooked like traditional fish or eaten like sushi. But it remains unknown if consumers will embrace lab-grown fish.

“We talk a lot about price, taste and convenience as the three core aspects the alt-protein industry needs to focus on,” said Marika Azoff, a corporate engagement specialist at the Good Food Institute, a non-profit advocacy group that promotes alternative proteins. “They need to taste the same or better, they need to be priced the same or cheaper, and they need to be widely available.”

“I see a role for alternative seafood production in the sustainable seafood equation, just as I do for sustainably harvested wild fisheries and sustainable aquaculture,” said Rob Jones, global head of aquaculture at the Nature Conservancy. “Both cell-based and plant-based seafood can be a part of that future.”

Jones said alternative seafood products could achieve a similar 1% to 2% of the overall market, similar to plant-based meats, but that the full environmental and social effects of the production methods, such as carbon emissions and ingredient sourcing policies, must be considered.

Most alt-seafood companies won’t share their intellectual property and it’s unknown just how energy-intensive cell culturing is at this stage. BlueNalu’s Cooperhouse likens it to beer or beverage production and says it’s important to remember that the current seafood industry is incredibly resource-intensive.

“Your resources are labor on ships, oil, massive transportation and the many animal lives lost for a very inefficient 50% to 70% yield depending on species,” he said. “Let’s address the global supply chain issues and solve them one species at a time.”

BlueNalu and Wildtype say there’s no single solution to meeting the world’s demand for seafood, but believe their presence can lead to greater sustainability in the industry.

“Fish farms recognize that their current practices need to change and commercial fishing operations know something needs to change,” said Wildtype’s co-founder Aryé Elfenbein, who is also a cardiologist. “Our role is to assist with that transition – that’s really what we’re there for.”

#fish #seafood #overfishing #sustainability #food security #lab grown food #cell culture #science #conservation #excerpts

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cultivatingyourfuture · 6 months

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k now i’ve gotta ask about neil and why you tagged my post about rabies with him. i’m so intrigued you don’t even know

ok. ok. I was working on the paige ask you sent but oooog my God neil. I've gotta talk about neil

so neil (best image I've got of the little guy is this one, which is from 2 years ago, is part of a palate challenge, and contains some injury/self harm content because that was plot relevant at the time so watch out for that) is one of my favorite characters in my entire project. he started out as an elaborate neil cicierega/lemon demon joke and then i thought about him Too Much and now I'm here. oopsie

the tldr of him is that he's got a cool dad and he likes power rangers and trains and aliens and video games but also he's an odd little guy who really likes horror and taxidermy and gore blood etc etc. he's got a sister who loves him to death and gives him the time of day when no one else does and then his entire family is slaughtered, he's kidnapped and organ harvested, and then he gets turned into a killing machine and murders multiple people by command of someone else. ^_^ And he's 12 when this happens to him (10 when his family dies) (14 when it all ends but uhhh they ocarina of time'd his ass because they went ok! we got all the data we need we don't need u anymore!! and shut him down and put him in storage for five more years. he's not physically changed or anything but that's just. six years where he was effectively dead that he's never going to get back. im so nice to my characters ^_^)

the long version:

so side note. the thing about ivywood is that the story is kind of split three ways-- you've got the marshall family and what happened to them in 1999, you've got paige and pierre jensen who are siblings who start a highly successful tech company and what happens within that, and you have cherry, an escaped, unfinished experiment who is found by a trying-her-best scientist lady named francesca (or frankie (or fizzle)) and fixed up, who then gets fixated on finding out who he was before she became a cyborg because they believe it's what will make them 'truly human.' there's a singular factor connecting these three stories together-- however, neil is present in all three narratives by nature of being connected to this factor. id go into it more but im talking about neil and if i talk about eveline more than i have to to understand neil we will be here all fucking day so jus. stick a pin in that

so!! neil marshall. he's born in 1988 on February 29th to a man named scott marshall (named after. scott the woz. i have no explanation) and a mother who died when he was two. a few years pass, scott reconnects with an old college friend named amy dolores, who's working as a nurse (she's a reference to the song amnesia was her name) and is raising 3 kids on her own-- mason, the oldest, who she had when she was still in high school, and her twins william and benjamin (songs referenced are modify, bill waterson, and ben bernake respectively. all by lemon demon. musics a big theme in this thing). Scott and Amy get married when neil is four, and while scott and amy are terribly overworked they're great parents all around. Scott never once makes a difference between Mason, Ben, Bill, and Neil-- to him, they're all his and that's all that matters. Scott didn't exactly have the best upbringing (relevant for later if i ever dive into who eveline was [is? was?] on this blog) and he swore to never do that to his kids, and he's just. God I love scott marshall. ok sorry

so neils weird and autistic and i adore him. he likes programming (like his dad does!) and video games and music and general popular media of the time like star wars and power rangers and what have you but he's also got a lot of stranger interests for a kid. he loves conspiracy theories, he's fascinated by death and disease and taxidermy, he thinks morbidity is cool but not in like. an edgy way? more like "hi did you know they used to put people in boats of honey out in swamps so the wildlife would consume them and its thought to be one of the most painful ways to die in the world !!!! isn't that so interesting !!!!!!!!!" and he's overall very very earnest. he means well. and his family loves him, but they dont quite understand him, but they still dont really put him down for it. hell, scott encourages a lot of his interests!!! but. other people are not as kind. and as much as his parents try, there's only so much they can do to make their kid feel welcome, accepted, normal. neil stops talking quite as much after a while, especially about the things that make him happy, innocuous or otherwise. it's... not something to talk about. he doesn't like being seen as weird. it doesn't feel good.

when he's eight, the marshalls get this new family friend named eveline woode. eveline talks funny and walks weird and wears clothes that look too out of date for a teenager to be wearing because masons the same age as her and she doesnt dress like evie does and eveline has no idea what basic things are, like computers or consoles or even how to use the telephone. eveline is quiet and soft spoken and apologetic and melancholic but by god is she kind and understanding. and she is so, so endlessly interested in the things neil has to say. it's like she's seeing the games he likes and the movies he watches for the first time in her entire life, and when he says something off kilter it doesn't put her off. she engages, she asks questions, she knits him dolls of his favorite video game characters and gives him books about ancient burial practices because she knows that's what he enjoys and he helps her bake and garden and eveline is one of the few people in his life that make him feel accepted, normal, loved. and eveline adores him. and they're just as much of siblings as they could be.

three years later, neil watches someone kill his family in cold blood. first ben, then bill, and then scott. they say they want eveline, that they just want eveline, that if his brothers or father hadnt tried to attack them they wouldve been fine. and then before he knows it evelines got him and they're running and running and running and he doesn't know if his mother and sister are going to be okay, he just knows they were told to go.

but eveline has a bad leg. eveline is slowing them down. eveline is the first to stop, to tell him its either both of them or one of them, and he's just a kid. he doesn't want to leave her, but she promises she'll find him again soon. he trusts her. he runs away, and he never sees eveline again. he never sees anyone in his family again.

he's placed with his aunt. a year or so later, someone who looks a hell of a lot like the person who ruined his life but not exactly comes and tells him he's been sent to finish the job, to kill neil too, but... he doesn't want to do that. it's not his fault he got wrapped up in this mess, anyway. and neils just a kid.

this man asks neil to come willingly. that, if he does so, he might be able to make sure he at least lives. neil is eleven years old and he is terrified and yet he can find no reason to keep going. he goes with the man. he is forever changed. his hair turns yellow and there is something wrong with his arms. he can't remember his name anymore.

he is put through testing. they make him into a weapon. they make him primed to kill. they take his memories of his family, of eveline, of himself, and these people tell him when he's done a good job, when he's done right. when they throw people into his enclosure with him and tell him to go for the throat, or the heart, or whatevers available and vital, he does so hoping only that they'll be proud of him for how strong he is. it feels nice to be accepted.

but they get everything they need out of him, and someone higher up makes an order, and suddenly he's not needed anymore. he's put into an eternal sleep, dangling between conscious and unconscious. he's forgotten, left to rust. other cyborgs take his place; other people come and go. no one remembers him.

the next time this boy will wake up, the facility will be ruined. he will have a singular, simple objective; find the intruder, and kill them. he will succeed in doing this.

he will not recognize the slope of their nose, the way they do not run from him. he will not notice the funny way they walk. he will not remember who he was or why it matters that they say the name neil like he's supposed to recognize it.

he just does what he was made to do.

#welcome to hell buddy hope u enjoy the ride!!!#cws for All of that bullshit under the cut here ->#blood cw #death cw #kidnapping cw #familial death cw #i think i made it sound like eveline was on the run from like. the law or something.#and oh buddy i wish that was the case. she woulda gotten out so much better if itd been something like that.#murder cw #also neils got a plant in him. for reasons. the plant is a lemon tree. i might call him lemon smtimes but its the same guy #fratricide #<- ? lol #neil #eveline #lore #asks #merriclo #also the finer details of this sre gettin hammered out but the tldr is completely accurate at least

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kemptburg-news · 9 months

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Murder or accident - the Guard's thoughts on the murder

Hladika Milan, a high ranking officer, and prominent face in the military, shared his thoughts on the incident at the Kemptburg Public Elementary School in the evening News tonight, bringing a new perspective on the case.

The man has been with the military his entire life, as the Hladika family is very well known for their involvement in the creation of the Crystal Guard. Therefore he describes himself as a "person of authority" to speak on the case.

Hladika argues, that the death of Jack Pott must have been a "work related accident". "Slippery roads are a common cause of death, and soldiers like to drink", he explains, referencing the alcohol found in Pott's system during the autopsy. "It's very likely he died during patrol and someone tempered with the body as a sick joke"

When asked about how the perpetrator could have put the body up so high, Hladika denied to comment. However, he offered his perspective on why the body may have been cut open that way. "Organ harvesting may be a reason. Someone might try to sell the organs. We will definitely have to look into it"

Whether what Hladika says is true or not is a question to answer later. And as always, our readers are the first to be updated on any developments in the case.

#kemptburg news.txt

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the-clockwork-three · 1 year

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My entry to Flannán Fest 2022:

Flannán, Maeve, Robin, and Tadhg go celebrate one of the most important days of the year for the unseelie court.

Random things that could make reading make a bit more sense below the cut

Harvest knot: traditionally woven from the last few strands of straw cut in the harvest, with the heads of grain attached. They are often made by men and given to women at harvest festivals to signify romantic interest.

There's a couple ways to make them, but this is the one my dad makes:

The dance referenced is a faster version of the Seige of Ennis, a quintessential céilí dance

youtube

#na daoine maithe #ndm flannan #flannan fest 2022 #egg skreev #my boyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy #Youtube #writing this was a speedrun #only a week between fics instead of months!!! a miracle

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wildechild17 · 1 year

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[MF Bingo] [Magnificent Seven] Hitman AU

https://archiveofourown.org/works/43353246/chapters/108979512

Title: Cause I’m the Type You Know is Dangerous

Summary: Most teams in their world might take any job that comes their way. Not the O'Connell Organization. You'd think that would make them the bottom feeders, but in truth... it makes them even more dangerous.

Consisted mostly of those who've been reborn from an era long gone, Joshua Faraday and his team are known for taking the jobs that ends in the deaths of the rich and powerful who hurt the innocent. The ones the justice system works against. The ones that are overlooked, because they too, at one point in their lives, have all been overlooked.

Well, it's time the world knew they aren't to be overlooked or underestimated.

Prompt: G2 @mfbingo “Hitman AU”

Warnings: Character Deaths (minor/OCs), Canon-Typical Violence, Eventual Smut

Fandom: Magnificent Seven (2016)

Pairing(s): Joshua Faraday/Vasquez (eventual), McCann/Original Female Characters (established), Teddy Q/Red Harvest (eventual)

Additional Tags: Assassins and Hitman - AU, Thieves - AU, Hackers - AU, Con Artists, Implied/Referenced Alcoholism/Alcohol Abuse, Reincarnation - AU, Past Character Death, Past Relationships, Eventual Smut

Word Count: 5443

#mfbingo #multifandombingo #the magnificent seven #joshua faraday #vasquez #varaday #teddy q #original characters #hitman au

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decalinethespacecat · 2 years

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TF-The Femme Files-Ariel Pt.1

Ariel is a simple dock worker, a femme just trying to get by. But she wasn't born like the others. And she had to be careful, lest someone gets hurt.

Yet after surviving a Decepticon attack, she comes into contact with a young cop, Orion Pax, as well as a wise sage by the name of Alpha Trion. She begins to delve into her past and tries to uncover the mysteries of Cybertron's past, and to her own.

Yet not everything is as it seems, as there's talk of war coming, and how sides must be chosen. But for Ariel, there is a purpose that lies outside of the conflict. A purpose that could bring another threat to Cybertron.

The first entry into the Transformers-Rewind Verse!

This is something I’ve been wanting to do for a long, LOOOONG time. Like, back when I was still in grade school. When I first got into Transformers, I found myself, despite their limited appearance, the femmbots to be some of my favorite characters. True, they didn’t do much, and Elita One basically was little more than Optimus’ girlfriend (who was never heard of until that episode), yet Search for Alpha Trion is still one of my favorites out of the G1 cartoon. And it seems that I’m not alone, as there are several other fans of the femmebots as well. Notable figures being that of Ty-Chou of Deviantart (known as Ghost of the Dawn on FF.Net) and Lecidre, also of Deviant, have inspired me long ago to make my own stories for the femmes and how they got to be where they are when you see them all.

Granted, these stories take place in a universe of my own with my own headcanons and whatnot, as it also connects to a Transformers project I’m also working on. And there will be characters from the original toys, to the cartoon, to the comics, future and past generations, and vice-versa. I’m so excited to be doing this!!!

Anyhow, given we have a lot of ground to cover, I’d suggest we get started! First up is, of course, Elita One, or rather, Ariel, as to how she becomes Elita herself is a part of this. Also, while I like her and all, her ‘special power’ in the episode was lame, so I switched it out to where it’s a condition that actually IS dangerous to both herself and others. Also, as this series goes out, even if it’s about the Autobot femmes at first, there will DEFINITELY be some Decepticon action in these, and in more ways than one. I’ll also show off some ship teases, both more popular ones, yet also personal favorites of mine. And some that are more or less plot convenient, but rest assured, everyone is free to interpret as they choose. It’s free for all.

Locations of Cybertron and certain events referenced from the Transformers Universe MUX and TFWiki. For future clarification, measures of time, currency, and various other tidbits of information vary in between versions of the franchise, yet I believe I’ve made it work in the context of this universe.

Ariel 1-After Hours Sightseeing

Protihex, one of Cybertron's many city-states, was the largest area in Sector Six-Zero and one of the three that made up the Tri-Torus Loop. It was far from large or magnificent, nowhere near close to Iacon. Its neighbors varied between the ever increasingly dangerous Polyhex to the calmer, more quaint city-state of Uraya. It had a little bit of all three in its buildings and layout. However, while it bore no grand monuments or had many attractions that provided entertainment, much of what those other, more notable city-states had come from Protihex.

For what Protihex says lacked in splendor, it made up for its contribution to those around it. Mills to produce metal, mines to harvest and farm precious materials, blacksmiths to craft fine weapons and armor, and perhaps most importantly of all, the shipyards, notably Shipyard Twenty-Six. From that yard came deliveries from all over the galaxy and beyond, from shipments containing minerals and oils from Darhos to samples of various organic materials from inhabited organic planets such as Delta Pavonis IV and Feminia for study by the scientific communities. Indeed, it seemed anything, and everything came to Shipyard Twenty-Six.

Which only fueled her lust for knowledge more.

"Hey, Ariel!" she heard a voice cry out. "Get your head out of the clouds and get the rest of Ghennix's shipments!" a rather bulky, burly mech of grey and blue armor chastised her, his arms folded over his broad chest. "Dion! Go with her to make sure she doesn't screw anything up!"

"Yes, sir!" another mech approached her, his armor yellow and blue while his facial region, forearms, and thighs were pale grey. "C'mon. Let's get down there," he said, though it was mainly urging her to go before their oh-so-kind boss could find another thing to complain about.

"Yeah, sure." with that, both mech and femme made their way to the other sections of the massive shipyard, shifting into vehicle mode to make travel faster.

Ariel was smaller in shape and frame than Dion and, frankly, most of the other workers here, many broad-chested and built with the capacity for physical labor. Her vehicle mode also demonstrated this, taking the shape of a standard, four-wheeled model of pink, smaller and more circularly shaped than that of any of her co-workers. Her root mode was standard for a femme her size, her outer shell not overly built or heavy in armor, and it was pink in color with varying shades and grey areas on her waist, arms, and thighs. On her head rested what, had she been an organic creature with hair, would've been referenced as a ponytail, the piece coming to a curve above where her head connected to her neck. Her optics were bright green, contrasting with her pink outer body. She had always been told that she had something of a 'femme's' charm to her appearance, not too underdeveloped yet proportioned decently enough. Though she felt that her being made her stick out like a sore thumb servo, she was sure that everyone looked at her the same way, whether they said it or not.

"Sorry about that." Dion apologized. "It looks like Hardiron's had it out for you today."

Ariel let out an exasperated sigh. "So what else is new? That mech will find ANY reason to complain about my work."

Indeed, it seemed that ever since she had taken this job, her supervisor always had some sort of comment or had to point out some kind of error on her part that would, and quote, "cost them a Pit of a lot of shanix," so she had to get corrected, lest they lose money. But frankly, she just believed it was because she was the only femme here working in the shipyard. Ever since she had arrived here, Hardiron had found every excuse he could to tell her that she was doing something wrong. "Ariel! Be careful with those Energon Cubes!" she mocked in her processor. "Ariel! You clumsy clod! You nearly dropped those containment units! Primus, what am I going to do with you?!" and the subsequent threats of firing that she received over and over again had begun to wear down on her patience and general mood.

After stacking and loading in units for transport and taking those coming in, the day went by, and eventually, it was time to clock out and return home. The trek to the small apartment complexes nestled on the outskirts of the Sector Six-Zero area was at least not too long of a drive for both Ariel and Dion, yet their living quarters could use a lot of work. While it was still stable for now, neither of them would've been surprised if the entire complex fell apart in a few more stellar cycles, or heck, even a few orbital cycles! Nevertheless, for now, it was what they called home, and they had no other choice but to make the most of it.

Entering the small room labeled 'B-52', Ariel and Dion switched on the light and looked at the small space the two Cybertronians occupied together. It was a single room with one refreshment counter, one chilled containment unit, and two berths. Dion was on the bottom by the window while Ariel's was on the smaller, upper section of the room, a balcony beside it. The two bots wasted no time sitting on the couch, Dion going over and getting two cubes of chilled Energon for them to ingest.

"You know, I don't think that Hardiron hates you as much as you think he does," Dion told her as he handed her the cube with violet fluid inside.

She rolled her optics (or rather, the internal units hidden behind the glass barrier). "Yeah, and him pointing out me not even standing up straight is grounds for potentially firing me." she began to chug down the Energon, the slightly acidic, tingly sensation in her mouth just what she needed.

"He just wants the shipyard to be the best it can be." the mech told her. "After all, Protihex isn't exactly known as a prestigious area." he then took a swing from his cube.

Well, that was true. All this city-state was known for was it provided for its other, more luxurious neighbors, all the while having little to nothing for itself. "Still," she said. "It's not like he has to make me feel like I'm even MORE out of place."

Dion couldn't help but sympathize. True, he didn't think Hardiron hated Ariel, yet their supervisor made it clear that the pink femme was the only femme working in the yard, and thus, may need a little extra 'help' in some of her tasks. "Well…he WAS a former instructor in the Academy. Maybe he's trying to bring out the best in you. He wants you to prove him wrong."

"You're too nice for your good." Ariel sighed. True, while Dion was a good company to have, his optimism and feel-good attitude about everything could get grating when she needed to vent and NOT have to hear some sort of 'silver-lining speech attached to it. It was then that what Dion had just said jogged her memory. "Speaking of, what IS this talk of some 'gang' or something forming?"

"Huh? Oh, you mean," Dion thought for a bit. "What were they calling themselves? Decepticons? Yeah, Decepticons!" he confirmed. "Not too much. I heard that there'd been some activity in places like Tarn, but overall, reports have been somewhat quiet." he then leaned back. "I guess there's nothing wrong with peaceful protests. Though some of them have been getting a little out of hand from what I've heard."

"Out of hand?" Ariel questioned.

"Some bots think that they're going to be doing more extreme 'demonstrations' which probably include making a physical mark on where they visit. Like sending a message of some kind." Ariel couldn't help but feel a chill in her spark upon hearing that. "But I wouldn't worry," Dion assured her. "After all, it's not like any of those demonstrations have been anywhere near here."

...

"Anywhere near here…" Ariel mused upon her berth while Dion recharged soundly down below. Recharge never really came to her easy, and now that her roommate had to bring THAT particular fact up, it only made getting rest harder.

True, it dealt with matters that she had no part in, yet she couldn't deny that she and everyone else was beginning to feel the political unrest going on all across Cybertron. While Dion had heard more, his and her coworkers having the opportunity to travel with shipments all over the planet, everyone had the same general mindset that it was none of their business and that it wouldn't affect them in the slightest. Ariel wished she could believe that, yet still, a nagging feeling in her spark told her that it was unwise to ignore all these signals and signs. Opinions regarding the Decepticons varied in between the works as well. Some felt that they were well within their rights to question and demand change, while others thought they wasted their time. True, no one cared for how the strict codes of the system only allowed them to scrape by due to their status and past mistakes barely, but many had come to accept it for what it was. Not like it, but accept it nonetheless.

Ariel herself was stuck in the same position; she could only find work here in Protihex because Dion convinced Hardiron that she could prove to be an asset to the team. Not much of one (Hardiron just HAD to keep reminding everyone that she was a femme, and by definition, 'weaker'), but still, she could be a good worker. Thus, she went through training (of which her oh-so-lovely supervisor worked her to the skeletal structure), and soon after, despite some MORE protests from Hardiron, she was hired and went right to work. Work in the shipyard wasn't bad. While monotonous, it was simple enough to figure out, and she DID meet some nice mechs around the yard. They were an all right bunch, some clearly from rough backgrounds, yet she was quite fine with them all.

All of that was secondary compared to her not being able to enter recharge, though. Seeing as she wasn't going to be able to for some time, Ariel lifted herself up and quietly made her way down the stairs and out the door, trying her best not to rouse Dion. Once she was out of the complex, she transformed into vehicle mode and began driving. By Primus, she adored driving. Trailing down the roads and highways of Cybertron, the lights illuminate the area beneath her. It was somewhat childish, yet she always felt as if she were traveling the star ways, past the confines of the planet and to other worlds, the worlds where the goods she received and stocked came from. A distant dream, yet still, one that she indulged in from time to time.

She traveled a good distance, exiting Protihex driving up further, heading south from the city and towards a far more compelling sight. Finally, at long last, she reached her destination, the city's high walls before her. This was only a short setback for her, having used the cubic spaces in between the squares that made up the structure as stepping stones before. Climbing the border wall was far from anything new to her, and as long as she wasn't caught, she wasn't planning on stopping any time soon, for the reward was worth it.

Hoisting herself up, Ariel's green optics were greeted with the sight of towering structures and buildings bathed in pure, pristine light, her sights centered directly on a massive, golden dome that lay in the center of the grand city.

Iacon. Capital of Cybertron.

A short distance away from Protihex, her home paled in comparison to the majesty that was this place. Iacon was located at the northern pole of the planet and nestled in the heart of a cluster of other city-states such as Nova Cronum and Vos, all of them having their distinguishing features and landmarks that separated them greatly from the more humble place she called home. Yet Iacon was her favorite, a place that she could go to again and again and have no problem returning the next solar cycle. Despite that, she was only familiar with the area where she was now, having never entered before. Yes, she had tried to go past the wall, yet she had heard stories of how strict the border patrol was, as well as how expensive it was to get another passport simply. Slag, she had up and nearly spent ALL she had to get to Protihex!

And the less time she thought about WHY she had to go anywhere else at all, the better. If anyone at the border patrol found out why she was working such a low-end job, let alone why she even took it, they wouldn't let her in within five hundred mechanometers of the polity! As far as she moved from where she was forced to go, it seemed that it would be right up on her again.

But she couldn't dwell on such things now. She had come here to see the majesty of this place instead of allowing her processor to dwell to those she had since left behind. So Ariel positioned herself to rest her head on her right knee while the other leg was dangling over the wall, green optics taking in all she could see from her current position. While she had never officially BEEN in Iacon before, she held some knowledge of what lay behind the towering barrier separating it from the rest of Cybertron. A short distance away from the large, glowing dome stood three tall structures that surrounded it, as if standing guard over it, protecting the heart of the entire polity. What lay in those towers, let alone in that dome, she had no idea. Yet, her processor conjured up a billion or so theories, ranging from it being an important meeting place to a religious temple. Yet, whatever it was, it must've held some sort of significance. And if not on the surface, then perhaps somewhere deep within. Beneath the streets, deep down in the chasms and chambers that were hidden away from the naked optic.

Or she was simply getting ahead of herself. Still, her curiosity skyrocketed when she had first seen the dome and towers, and only seeing them again did little to discredit the wild possibilities that filled her processor.

She began to adjust herself to perhaps get a closer view of it, yet as she turned around, she saw, to her horror, she was no longer alone. A mech had apparently climbed up onto the wall with her, and judging from his expression, he was not pleased in the slightest. He bore ivory armor and blue optics, an Autobot insignia on the center of his chest. His helmet was a simple dome shape, yet two angularly shaped, red extensions on his forehead. And on each of his shoulders rested sizable cannons, seemingly ready to fire whenever needed.

"Oh! Um…hello?" Ariel greeted, giving a small smile. The mech was not amused.

"Would you care to explain yourself?" he said, folding his arms.

Ariel inwardly groaned. She was in trouble. "What seems to be the problem…officer?" she asked.

"Officer Prowl, if you must address me," he said, clearly not in any mood for idle chit-chat. He then approached her, cuffs in hand. "And I suggest you stay still while I read you your rights."

...

A detention center. A late cruise and some sightseeing had landed her in a detention center. A slagging detention center! Ariel rose from the interrogation room she was currently locked in and angrily pace around. Of all things that could've happened…gah! It made her want to scream!

Apparently, according to Officer Prowl (who was her LEAST favorite bot at that moment), she had violated border laws by attempting to enter without presenting her passport. She, of course, told him she didn't have one, yet also that she wasn't going to go into Iacon, she was just observing it from afar. He thought it was something she pulled right out of her afterburner (he didn't say it, but his face said it all), and promptly dragged her to the station situated right outside the wall.

A million questions filled her processor on what issues her incarceration would bring up: how long would she be here for? Would she be able to get back before Dion noticed she was gone? And if not, would she even be able to get to work? Primus, if Hardiron ever heard about this, she was going to be working for another job by the end of this cycle!

Better yet…if this gets on her record, then it'd only make it harder to earn a living. As if her previous 'incident' didn't make it difficult enough.

Suddenly, she heard a door open, another mech coming up to her room with Officer Prowl. This one was quite a stark contrast to Prowl, his helmet was black and his armor bore markings of red and blue, though it mostly remained ivory. In addition, he sported a thick, shining visor, and while it was perhaps too early to judge, he appeared to be far friendlier than the other mech she had come across.

"Well, hello there." he greeted.

The fact his voice was so amiable threw Ariel off entirely, her optics shifting. "Um, hi?"

"Jazz." Prowl introduced matter-of-factly, the other mech holding out his hand for the femme to shake.

Still surprised by the sheer contrast between the two, Ariel nonetheless took Jazz's hand. She was gently led back to the table, Jazz presenting her with a smile while Prowl's expression remained neutral, albeit with a good degree of apprehension. It seemed that he still believed that Ariel was right where she belonged.

"Now, Ariel, was it?" he asked, Ariel, in turn, nodding her head. "I don't think I need to remind you of why you're currently in custody."

The pink femme shook her head. "No, officer. You don't."

"Then I don't need to remind you that this offense could get you some time in the penitentiary, yes?"

"What?!" Ariel rose from her seat. "That's ridiculous! I've done nothing wrong!"

"You violated border regulations, which is something we take very seriously in times like this," Prowl responded cooly.

"I never went past the wall!" Ariel argued.

But you DID know that you had to have a passport for confirmation, right?"

Ariel went silent. "Look," Jazz interjected. "You look like a pretty ok bot to me." He told her, quite a degree friendlier than his fellow officer. "You're not that bad of a looker either."

The pink femme chuckled. "Well…you've got a nice physique yourself."

Jazz laughed in response. "A nice femme like you is a far cry from the other folks we have to deal with. Somebody like you doesn't belong in some dingy old cell. All we want is for you to answer a few questions."

Ariel looked at Jazz, then to Prowl. "Fine." She relented. "What do you want to know?"

Prowl crossed his arms, surprised she wasn't immediately asking to call for an attorney. "You'll tell us just like that?"

"I've got nothing to hide." The pink femme answered.

Well then, if she was equally as anxious to start, Prowl figured that he might as well get on with it. "Then we start from the beginning," he said, bringing out a datapad.

From then, he sent question after question her way, such as her serial code, current residence, place of employment, any sort of detail that allowed Prowl to construct an image of the femme before him. Or rather, her true image, one other may not see. As valued as Jazz was to the force, the white officer couldn't fathom how he could be so optimistic about these things. This femme was not what she seemed, he knew it. Still, everything she had said had checked out. He then came upon a small section that gave him pause.

"What?" Ariel asked. Despite appearing to not be concerned, she was nervous.

"It says here that you have a reported incident that occurred not too long ago."

Frag. She thought. "Yes, there was something that…happened," she admitted. "Yet it was settled between me and those involved."

Prowl seemed unfazed. "It also says here that your previous residence was in Tagan Heights."

"Yes, it was," Ariel answered. "And that's relevant; why?"

Prowl narrowed his gaze.

"There's been several reports of peculiar activity in that area as of late."

"What kind of activity?"

Prowl didn't answer her question, continuing with his own. "And it also says that you've only relocated to Protihex little more than a deca-cycle ago. Any particular reason as to why you left?" He narrowed his gaze.

Ariel felt his optics on her. Who knew that blue could be so intimidating? "What does that matter? Why are you so interested?"

"That's classified," Prowl told her plainly.

"Well then, I'm not answering," Ariel said back.

Prowl was unmoved, still and studying the femme. Jazz hung around observing the both of them, waiting to see which one would talk first.

"You do understand that all you've said just now can be used against you, right?" The white mech questioned. "I'm not a fool, so don't make me think that you are."

Ariel's optics widened. "And all I'm asking for is a simple answer as to why you're so interested in my previous residency, let alone place of employment."

"So why can you not answer something that should be so simple?" Prowl was having none of her games, whatever they were. "You are the one that said you have nothing to hide after all. Or was that a lie?" He then crossed his arms. "I don't think I need to tell you that any mistruths aren't going to put you in the most flattering light."

Ariel was torn between seething and wanting to give this bot a piece of her mind to swearing her cables had been infused with cooling fluid, spinal cortex feeling chilled. Anger and fear fought over her, for she knew the officer had her trapped. There was no getting out of this. But what would she say? "I…" she began. "I…was let go from my work." She finally admitted.

"Why?" Prowl asked.

"I was searching for other opportunities." She answered.

"It had nothing to do with what occurred?"

"No, it did not. I was looking to move out of Tagan Heights for some time. I wasn't satisfied with the living conditions there." Before Prowl could speak, she interrupted. "And no, it had nothing to do with what occurred." She read his face. "But you clearly don't believe me." It was then that something Dion had said earlier came to her processor. It was out of the blue, but all the same, given the questions she was being asked, she found her own question rather appropriate. "This wouldn't happen to have anything to do with these so-called Decepticons, would it?"

Prowl stared her down, Jazz still keeping an eye on both of them. Then, after a short bout of silence, the officer rose from his seat. Jazz ultimately followed, the door secured and prevented Ariel from leaving herself. She folded her arms and sighed. How was she going to explain this to her boss? Better yet, how long were they planning on keeping her here? She cursed herself for getting in this situation. And that white mech too for his overall attitude.

Just then, the door opened, an unfamiliar mech entering the room. He bore red and blue armor and had the standard, blocky form for a mech, his optics were a natural blue color, yet what drew Ariel's attention was the angular facial covering that concealed his mouth and half of his nose. The pink femme watched as he sat opposite of her, already pondering on where this was going.

"Hello, Ariel."

Ariel nodded. "Yes, I'm she. And you are…?"

"Right, yes." He remembered he hadn't even introduced himself. Prowl had told him that it wasn't exactly professional, but it got the job done. "We can just drop the Officer part. My name is Orion Pax." He said. "And while you've already given your statement, I would like to ask you a few questions."

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