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mostlysignssomeportents · 21 days

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Utah’s getting some of America’s best broadband

TOMORROW (May 17), I'm at the INTERNET ARCHIVE in SAN FRANCISCO to keynote the 10th anniversary of the AUTHORS ALLIANCE.

Residents of 21 cities in Utah have access to some of the fastest, most competitively priced broadband in the country, at speeds up to 10gb/s and prices as low as $75/month. It's uncapped, and the connections are symmetrical: perfect for uploading and downloading. And it's all thanks to the government.

This broadband service is, of course, delivered via fiber optic cable. Of course it is. Fiber is vastly superior to all other forms of broadband delivery, including satellites, but also cable and DSL. Fiber caps out at 100tb/s, while cable caps out at 50gb/s – that is, fiber is 1,000 times faster:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/10/why-fiber-vastly-superior-cable-and-5g

Despite the obvious superiority of fiber, America has been very slow to adopt it. Our monopolistic carriers act as though pulling fiber to our homes is an impossible challenge. All those wires that currently go to your house, from power-lines to copper phone-lines, are relics of a mysterious, fallen civilization and its long-lost arts. Apparently we could no more get a new wire to your house than we could build the pyramids using only hand-tools.

In a sense, the people who say we can't pull wires anymore are right: these are relics of a lost civilization. Specifically, electrification and later, universal telephone service was accomplished through massive federal grants under the New Deal – grants that were typically made to either local governments or non-profit co-operatives who got everyone in town connected to these essential modern utilities.

Today – thanks to decades of neoliberalism and its dogmatic insistence that governments can't do anything and shouldn't try, lest they break the fragile equilibrium of the market – we have lost much of the public capacity that our grandparents took for granted. But in the isolated pockets where this capacity lives on, amazing things happen.

Since 2015, residents of Jackson County, KY – one of the poorest counties in America – have enjoyed some of the country's fastest, cheapest, most reliable broadband. The desperately poor Appalachian county is home to a rural telephone co-op, which grew out of its rural electrification co-op, and it used a combination of federal grants and local capacity to bring fiber to every home in the county, traversing dangerous mountain passes with a mule named "Ole Bub" to reach the most remote homes. The result was an immediately economic uplift for the community, and in the longer term, the county had reliable and effective broadband during the covid lockdowns:

https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/the-one-traffic-light-town-with-some-of-the-fastest-internet-in-the-us

Contrast this with places where the private sector has the only say over who gets broadband, at what speed, and at what price. America is full of broadband deserts – deserts that strand our poorest people. Even in the hearts of our largest densest cities, whole neighborhoods can't get any broadband. You won't be surprised to learn that these are the neighborhoods that were historically redlined, and that the people who live in them are Black and brown, and also live with some of the highest levels of pollution and its attendant sicknesses:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/10/flicc/#digital-divide

These places are not set up for success under the best of circumstances, and during the lockdowns, they suffered terribly. You think your kid found it hard to go to Zoom school? Imagine what life was like for kids who attended remote learning while sitting on the baking tarmac in a Taco Bell parking lot, using its free wifi:

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/09/02/elem-s02.html

ISPs loathe competition. They divide up the country into exclusive territories like the Pope dividing up the "new world" and do not trouble one another by trying to sell to customers outside of "their" turf. When Frontier – one of the worst of America's terrible ISPs – went bankrupt, we got to see their books, and we learned two important facts:

The company booked one million customers who had no alternative as an asset, because they would pay more for slower broadband, and Frontier could save a fortune by skipping maintenance, and charging these customers for broadband even through multi-day outages; and

Frontier knew that it could make a billion dollars in profit over a decade by investing in fiber build-out, but it chose not to, because stock analysts will downrank any carrier that made capital investments that took more than five years to mature. Because Frontier's execs were paid primarily in stock, they chose to strand their customers with aging copper connections and to leave a billion dollars sitting on the table, so that their personal net worth didn't suffer a temporary downturn:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/04/frontiers-bankruptcy-reveals-cynical-choice-deny-profitable-fiber-millions

ISPs maintain the weirdest position: that a) only the private sector can deliver broadband effectively, but b) to do so, they'll need massive, unsupervised, no-strings-attached government handouts. For years, America went along with this improbable scheme, which is why Trump's FCC chairman Ajit Pai gave the carriers $45 billion in public funds to string slow, 19th-century-style copper lines across rural America:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/27/all-broadband-politics-are-local/

Now, this is obviously untrue, and people keep figuring out that publicly provisioned broadband is the only way for America to get the same standard of broadband connectivity that our cousins in other high-income nations enjoy. In order to thwart the public's will, the cable and telco lobbyists joined ALEC, the far-right, corporatist lobbying shop, and drafted "model legislation" banning cities and counties from providing broadband, even in places the carriers chose not to serve:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/19/culture-war-bullshit-stole-your-broadband/

Red states across America adopted these rules, and legislators sold this to their base by saying that this was just "keeping the government out of their internet" (even as every carrier relied on an exclusive, government-granted territorial charter, often with massive government subsidies).

ALEC didn't target red states exclusively because they had pliable, bribable conservative lawmakers. Red states trend rural, and rural places are the most likely sites for public fiber. Partly, that's because low-density areas are harder to make a business case for, but also because these are also the places that got electricity and telephone through New Deal co-ops, which are often still in place.

Just about the only places in America where people like their internet service are the 450+ small towns where the local government provides fiber. These places vote solidly Republican, and it was their beloved conservative lawmakers whom ALEC targeted to enact laws banning their equally beloved fiber – keep voting for Christmas, turkeys, and see where it gets you:

https://communitynets.org/content/community-network-map

But spare a little sympathy for the conservative movement here. The fact that reality has a pronounced leftist bias must be really frustrating for the ideological project of insisting that anything the market can't provide is literally impossible.

Which brings me back to Utah, a red state with a Republican governor and legislature, and a national leader in passing unconstitutional, unhinged, unworkable legislation as part of an elaborate culture war kabuki:

https://www.npr.org/2023/03/24/1165975112/utah-passes-an-age-verification-law-for-anyone-using-social-media

For more than two decades, a coalition of 21 cities in Utah have been building out municipal fiber. The consortium calls itself UTOPIA: "Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency":

https://www.utopiafiber.com/faqs/

UTOPIA pursues a hybrid model: they run "open access" fiber and then let anyone offer service over it. This can deliver the best of both worlds: publicly provisioned, blazing-fast fiber to your home, but with service provided by your choice of competing carriers. That means that if Moms for Liberty captures you local government, you're not captive to their ideas about what sites your ISP should block.

As Karl Bode writes for Techdirt, Utahns in UTOPIA regions have their choice of 18 carriers, and competition has driven down prices and increased speeds. Want uncapped 1gb fiber? That's $75/month. Want 10gb fiber? That's $150:

https://www.techdirt.com/2024/05/15/utah-locals-are-getting-cheap-10-gbps-fiber-thanks-to-local-governments/

UTOPIA's path to glory wasn't an easy one. The dismal telco monopolists Qwest and Lumen sued to put them out of business, delaying the rollout by years:

https://www.deseret.com/2005/7/22/19903471/utopia-responds-to-qwest-lawsuit/

UTOPIA has been profitable and self-sustaining for over 15 years and shows no sign of slowing. But 17 states still ban any attempt at this.

Keeping up such an obviously bad policy requires a steady stream of distractions and lies. The "government broadband doesn't work" lie has worn thin, so we've gotten a string of new lies about wireless service, insisting that fiber is obviated by point-to-point microwave relays, or 5g, or satellite service.

There's plenty of places where these services make sense. You're not going to be able to use fiber in a moving car, so yeah, you're going to want 5g (and those 5g towers are going to need to be connected to each other with fiber). Microwave relay service can fill the gap until fiber can be brought in, and it's great for temporary sites (especially in places where it doesn't rain, because rain, clouds, leaves and other obstructions are deadly for microwave relays). Satellite can make sense for an RV or a boat or remote scientific station.

But wireless services are orders of magnitude slower than fiber. With satellite service, you share your bandwidth with an entire region or even a state. If there's only a couple of users in your satellite's footprint, you might get great service, but when your carrier adds a thousand more customers, your connection is sliced into a thousand pieces.

That's also true for everyone sharing your fiber trunk, but the difference is that your fiber trunk supports speeds that are tens of thousands of times faster than the maximum speeds we can put through freespace electromagnetic spectrum. If we need more fiber capacity, we can just fish a new strand of fiber through the conduit. And while you can increase the capacity of wireless by increasing your power and bandwidth, at a certain point you start pump so much EM into the air that birds start falling out of the sky.

Every wireless device in a region shares the same electromagnetic spectrum, and we are only issued one such spectrum per universe. Each strand of fiber, by contrast, has its own little pocket universe, containing a subset of that spectrum.

Despite all its disadvantages, satellite broadband has one distinct advantage, at least from an investor's perspective: it can be monopolized. Just as we only have one electromagnetic spectrum, we also only have one sky, and the satellite density needed to sustain a colorably fast broadband speed pushes the limit of that shared sky:

https://spacenews.com/starlink-vs-the-astronomers/

Private investors love monopoly telecoms providers, because, like pre-bankruptcy Frontier, they are too big to care. Back in 2021, Altice – the fourth-largest cable operator in America – announced that it was slashing its broadband speeds, to be "in line with other ISPs":

https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/27/immortan-altice/#broadband-is-a-human-right

In other words: "We've figured out that our competitors are so much worse than we are that we are deliberately degrading our service because we know you will still pay us the same for less."

This is why corporate shills and pro-monopolists prefer satellite to municipal fiber. Sure, it's orders of magnitude slower than fiber. Sure, it costs subscribers far more. Sure, it's less reliable. But boy oh boy is it profitable.

The thing is, reality has a pronounced leftist bias. No amount of market magic will conjure up new electromagnetic spectra that will allow satellite to attain parity with fiber. Physics hates Starlink.

Yeah, I'm talking about Starlink. Of course I am. Elon Musk basically claims that his business genius can triumph over physics itself.

That's not the only vast, impersonal, implacable force that Musk claims he can best with his incredible reality-distortion field. Musk also claims that he can somehow add so many cars to the road that he will end traffic – in other words, he will best geometry too:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/09/herbies-revenge/#100-billion-here-100-billion-there-pretty-soon-youre-talking-real-money

Geometry hates Tesla, and physics hates Starlink. Reality has a leftist bias. The future is fiber, and public transit. These are both vastly preferable, more efficient, safer, more reliable and more plausible than satellite and private vehicles. Their only disadvantage is that they fail to give an easily gulled, thin-skinned compulsive liar more power over billions of people. That's a disadvantage I can live with.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/16/symmetrical-10gb-for-119/#utopia

Image: 4028mdk09 (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rote_LED_Fiberglasleuchte.JPG

CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en

#pluralistic #fiber #broadband #physics #public goods #utah #utopia #red states #ole bub

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shilohta · 2 months

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You can get yourself any textile, bring any craft from the dead if you like, any fiber arts etc from any time period brand new and bespoke for you. What are you choosing and why?

Oohohoho, I'm commissioning a pair of sprang leggings.

Stretchy, warm, flashy colours and patterns!

I heard about sprang in the first couple of weeks of my fibre arts course and never found an excuse to explore it more. Obviously I'm free to do research and play around myself, but it's the sort of obscure niche fibre art that's hard to find good information. Carol James has been researching it since the 90s and I'm hunting for some of her books. (The picture above is from the advertising for an online zoom talk by Carol James)

I love the geometric patterns. The method of making sprang is fascinating. (What do you MEAN it's like weaving with only warp threads? Creating mirror-image twists that meet in the middle, and if the middle seam gives out goodbye to all your work?! And what I've read about creating patterns, especially where the two halves are different like the striped legs and patterns above, it hurts my brain. Indistinguishable from witchcraft)

I'm very aware that there's a vast multitude of cool and/ or lost fibre arts that I could have chosen, but I don't need obscenely fancy status marker fashions (thinking of goldwork embroidery) and I don't want to claim something from a culture that I have no connection to (Pacific barkcloth... I just want to know how it feels). And sprang has been in the back of my mind for so long, waiting to spring out.

Bonus if I get sprang leggings made with medieval wool that isn't itchy!

#thank u for coming to my ted talk on sprang #I don't know much about it myself but I can point the way to better resources #sprang #fibre arts

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a-story-with-no-end · 6 months

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A few tipps for crochet beginners

Start practicing with yarn in light colours. You won't see anything if you choose to start with black or a really dark brown for example

For the very first project I am suggesting coasters. You are able to practice basic stitches and get fast results. Just use natural fibers like cotton if you're drinking hot beverages like tea otherwise the coaster might stick to your cup. Avoid time consuming projects like blankets for your very first project as well.

Always count your stitches because it's not unusal that beginners lose stitches in the beginning and don't notice it at first.

Read the label of your yarn and use the recommended hooksize

If there are small holes in your project don't worry about it. It's normal that crochet has holes

For english patterns there are different words in british english and american english for the same stitch. Make sure that you're using the correct stitch when following a pattern.

AI pictures are being used for crochet patterns which means that your finished product will not look like in the picture. Make sure that the picture is actually real. Look at backgrounds and zoom in on the stitches. If there seems to be no system in which the stitches were made it's likely fake. The lack of texture is also a big red flag. When I doubt ask other people who crochet. My DMs are open as well if you're unsure whether AI was used (of course as AI is getting better it get's more difficult to recognize it so mistakes on my side might be made).

If you use more than one skein of the same yarn for the same project make sure it's the same lot number. The lot number tells you the dying batch of that exact yarn. Yarns from different batches might vary in colour even if it's technically the same shade and it's gonna be noticible

Only buy what you need at the time. I know with haul culture and social media you might get the idea that you need all the yarn you can get your hands on but that's not true! I am not perfect either but everyone should try to refrain from overconsumption and I myself at a point where I say it's too much so I am not buying anything new for a while...so yeah make sure that you don't even reach that point :D

#crochetblr #crochet #crochet beginner #fiber arts

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magiccath · 6 months

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How could you not know?

tenth doctor x GN!reader

Summary: In which an alien fortune teller lets your feelings for the Doctor slip

“5027, the outskirts of Alpha Centauri,” The Doctor explained, landing the TARDIS with a flourish. The ship retaliated with a shake making you wobble a bit in a desperate attempt to not fall over. Sometimes you wondered if the Doctor actually did know what he was doing when it came to the TARDIS. He claimed she was a finicky ship, but you had your suspicions regarding his flying abilities.

Once you had regained your footing you exchanged a childish grin with the Time Lord, both of you excited for your next adventure. Without warning, you bounded excitedly out of the ship, anxious to see what was on the other side.

The sky instantly caught your attention, its purple hue so different from anything you’d seen before. Multiple moons littered the skyline, and cars zoomed through the air above your head. The grass was soft and emitted a faintly sweet aroma. You turned your face to the sky, allowing the light rain to fall on you. With an over joyous giggle you looked back at the Doctor “It’s fantastic!”

He smiled at you lovingly from the TARDIS’ doorway, leaning on the frame slightly. He loved seeing you like this.

“Allons-y?” He asked, more a question than an exclamation. You nodded enthusiastically and held your hand out for him. He locked the door before running to your side, slipping your hand into his.

“By now you lot have spread yourselves across the galaxy,” The Doctor explained, “Mingled with aliens and traveled amongst the stars.”

You watched the Doctor as he talked, completely smitten with his knowledge and passion regarding the vast universe. He talked about it with such passion and enthusiasm, that you had no choice but to listen intently.

“Planets like this sort of turn into a melting pot,” He continued, “you can find just about any species here,” He looked down at you with a smile. “The center of the city is a big ‘ol market of sorts. You can get goods and foods from all around the galaxy,” He explained.

“Kind of like an alien farmers market?” You asked with a laugh.

“Sort of,” He shrugged, “you’ll see.”

After a short walk, you had found yourselves in the aforementioned city center. The Doctor wasn’t joking when he called it a big market. For as long as you could see there were rows and rows of vendors selling everything from oddly colored fruits to exotic fibers, and everything in between. It was almost too much, all of the sights, smells, and textures hitting you at once.

Much to the Doctor’s dismay, you asked to stop at every single booth. It was your first space market, and you wanted to see everything. After all, there was so very much to see.

“Where do we even start?” You breathed, still trying to take it all in. As much as you wanted to run wild, the Doctor was the expert here.

The Doctor scanned the area quickly before leading you to a wooden booth selling what appeared to be bread. Surely the Doctor hadn’t taken you to an alien planet for bread? You were almost certain he was aware of the numerous kinds of bread on Earth.

The Doctor paid for two small loaves and handed one to you.

“Did you really just buy bread?” You laughed, looking at the food in your hands.

“Just try it,” The Doctor grinned.

You examined the loaf, finding it to be more of a pastry than a simple loaf of bread. Deciding it was safe enough you bit into it warily. A slightly sour taste assaulted you, catching you off guard. You pulled the bread away to examine the bright pink jelly that filled it.

“What is this?” You asked the Doctor wide-eyed.

“Neo-fruit,” he smiled, taking a large bite out of his own. “Like it?” He asked, mouth half full. You nodded and took another bite, letting the combination of sweet and sour melt on your tongue. The Doctor finished his treat quickly, but you savored yours as the two of you walked along.

At some point you found yourself stuck at a small booth displaying beautiful scarves. Their silky smooth texture had initially drawn your attention, but the longer you looked at them the more interesting they became. In your hands, you held a scarf the same blue as the TARDIS, with lighter-colored swirls and small yellow dots littered throughout. You must have been holding it for a while because the Doctor noticed.

“You like it?” He asked, pulling you from your thoughts.

“Reminds me of the TARDIS,” You smiled. The Doctor nodded and pulled a few coins from his jacket pocket before handing them to the vendor.

“It’s yours,” He smiled back.

“I- um. Thank you.”

“May I?” He asked, gesturing to the scarf. You nodded quickly, handing it over to him. He ran his fingers through the fabric, unraveling the scarf, before wrapping it gently around you. The action felt so shockingly intimate you couldn’t help but turn a bright scarlet. The Doctor, per usual, had become too distracted to notice. He ran off, leaving you starstruck in his absence.

By the time that you caught back up to the Doctor, he already had two pints of steaming liquid in his hands. He shoved one into your own hands before clinking your glasses together. You stared at the drink, shocked.

“Hot chocolate,” He explained before taking a gulp of his. Foam from the top stuck to his upper lip. You smiled and sipped your own drink, getting the foam on the tip of your nose. Without a second thought, the Doctor used his thumb to wipe it off, the simple touch sending shivers down your spine.

Always in motion, the Doctor kept making his way through the market as you enjoyed your drinks.

You loved spending time with the Doctor like this, taking and laughing while you held hands. His hand always seemed to find its way into yours, almost as if he was scared he might lose you amongst the chaos that followed him.

By the time you had walked through all of the booths, both you and the Doctor were carrying small purchases and laughing comfortably. You decided to loop back through the market on the way to the TARDIS. You walked hand in hand, taking in all of the sights around you.

Your eyes caught on a small booth you hadn’t noticed before. The setup was akin to a fortune teller’s booth. You tugged on the Doctor’s sleeve, excited to see what an alien fortune teller looked like.

You slipped your way through the drapery and into the booth. Inside was a beautiful alien. Her skin was an iridescent white with large ears poking out of her long, silky hair. As your eyes settled on her face, you instantly became aware of her eyes - or lack thereof.

“Greetings!” She hummed, gesturing to the seat before her.

You looked at the Doctor, warry of the stunning creature before you. He nodded, and you took a seat before her. She grasped your hands lightly with her own, her touch feather-light.

After a few moments of silence, she spoke up.

“You love him.”

You cast a wayward glance back at the Doctor, panic coursing through you.

“Yeah,” you laughed, “he’s my best mate.”

“No,” she continued, “you truly love him.”

You stammered, not knowing how to react.

“He’s just a friend,” you smiled painfully. It was true, that’s all the Doctor was.

“But you want more,” she said plainly. You were almost certain if she had eyes they would be baring into your soul.

You looked back at the Doctor, panicked, but he was already walking out of the booth. You pulled your hands from the aliens and dashed after him.

You caught up to him quickly, but he didn’t seem to fully register your presence. The walk back to the TARDIS was silent. The Doctor didn’t seem to have anything to say, and you were too scared to speak up. Was he angry? Your greatest fears settled around you like a very uncomfortable blanket. This was it, the Doctor was finally done with you. All because of one stupid alien.

The Doctor unlocked the ship silently and made his way straight to the console, busying himself with flicking switches and pressing buttons.

You peeled your coat off slowly before draping it over the railing. Absentmindedly your hands went to the scarf around your neck, pulling at the threads anxiously.

“I don’t know what she was talking about,” You laughed, though it wasn’t very convincing.

“No?” The Doctor asked calmly, looking you in the eye. His gaze was so heavy it was almost impossible to look away.

“Really, honestly!” You said, trying to hide your voice crack. The Doctor pulled his eyes away from you and back to the console in front of him. Anxiety built within you again. When the Doctor never responded you spoke up again, “Please say something.”

The Doctor turned his attention back to you, his usually expressive eyes impossible to read.

“Please.” You whispered, pulling at your new scarf desperately.

“You really are oblivious,” He said, pulling his eyes from yours.

“W-what?” You stammered.

“After all this time you still don’t know?” He asked, shoving himself off of the console and walking over to you. “You don’t realize just how hard I’ve fallen for you?”

“Me? Are you sure? Out of the whole universe you fell for me?”

The Doctor laughed brightly, “How could I not?” He asked, his hands ghosting on the sides of your body. You looked up at him, finally seeing all of the love hidden within his honey eyes. You crushed yourself for never noticing it before.

“You’re the most magnificent person I’ve ever met,” he whispered.

Tired of waiting, the Doctor wrapped his arms around you with a newfound urgency. His lips connected with yours, sending all kinds of sparks down your body. You quickly relaxed into the kiss, allowing your arms to drape over his shoulders.

He pulled away briefly, wanting to make sure this was what you wanted. He didn’t even get to open his mouth before you cut him off, a more desperate kiss erupting from you. The Doctor was more than happy to oblige, his arms wrapping even tighter around you. One of his hands moved upwards to cup your face delicately, his thumb rubbing circles into your skin. When you finally pulled away, gasping for air, the Doctor grinned at you.

“Can we do more of that?” You asked, breathlessly.

#10th doctor x reader #10th doctor/reader #tenth doctor x reader #tenth doctor/reader #tenth doctor #10th doctor #the doctor #doctor who #fanfic #doctor who fanfiction #fanfiction #david tennant

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porcelainhrts · 4 months

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🕸️ | Prophetess! Reader x MK

• "Born" from a tree at the Wu Shi Academy, you were found by Raiden, Kung Lao, Johnny, and Kenshi after Kung Lao's hat sliced a nearby tree that revealed a human inside which is you.

Raiden huffed as he wiped away a bead of sweat from his forehead after finishing his daily training with the monks. From the corner of his eye, Kung Lao enters with a huge grin, wider than usual. It made him suspicious. What genius idea does he have in mind now?

And as if the younger could hear his thoughts, Kung Lao beams as he pulls out a razor hat. How the hell he made it, Raiden won't even ask.

"That doesn't look safe," he points out, leaning away cautiously.

"it's genius, Raiden," Kung Lao waves his hand dismissively, trailing his fingers along the hat's sharp edges. He does so carelessly and cuts his fingers, earning himself a hiss and a sigh from his friend.

"See? I told you."

Kung Lao raised a smug brow and the hat was sent flying around, faster than the wind as it cuts through everything it comes across. From the practice dolls, to the stands, and even the tall old tree on the side. The monks ducked, some jumped, few froze, but the genius man stood confidently with pride as it flew back at him, proving his point.

"That's a pretty deep cut," Johnny laughs amusely at the demonstration but as he zooms the camera on the tree's wound, his face drops and his eyes squint.

"I know I'm not much of a plant expert, but I do know plants don't bleed."

Kenshi scoffs. "Has the loss of money and fame driven you insane, Cage?"

"Hey!" Johnny yells, his expression changing from amusement to annoyance. "I have not fallen from stardom!" he claims.

"It's only a temporary setback! When this is all over, I'll eventually find my way back! Like everyone does! When they're lost," he adds as if reassuring himself, his face filled with determination and confidence.

A silent clash ensues between the two and the air tenses as they shoot daggers at each other with their eyes, Johnny's smirk taunting yet Kenshi's brow is threatening. "No, it's really bleeding," Raiden, who has been silently observing, breathes out, staring bewildered at the tree, his eyes wide in confusion.

"Look," he says, pointing to the tree's trunk, which still bleeds profusely.

And as the four men eye the said scene, it is no mistake that the tree is indeed bleeding . The scarlet liquid dirties it's clean wood and as they approach closer, little sniffles could be heard from inside.

"Call Lord Liu Kang."

• You were found nestled within the tree, unconscious and malnourished, with no memory of who you are and how you ended up there or why.

• The first few nights at the Wu Shi were filled with sleepless nights, bothering you with blurry yet bothersome enough to keep you up awake and pacing around your room. Some were concerning, some were scary, and some you would rather not speak of.

• Having enough of all the pent up feelings, you turn to the only thing you knew: weaving. Despite having no recollection of your memories, you knew how to weave— and in those carefully woven fibers tells stories yet to manifest.

• You truly wished not to bother Lord Liu Kang about your weird visions for he had already done enough to provide you a new home, but when you awake from yet another nightmare to find him before you, you knew you can no longer keep it to yourself.

• Despite how weird your story may seem, the God seemed to be unbothered. In fact, it may be small, but you can see the tug of his lips as you speak. You wonder if he knew about this.

• You wanted to ask but a part of you held you back, and so Liu Kang ends the conversation with a "you should get some rest."

---

𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿'𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲: I know her introduction isn't really canon compliant, but let's just pretend it is. Originally, this was written for an oc and is purely self indulgent, but hey, why not let others in on the fun. I apologize if there are grammar mistakes, English is not my mother tongue. I would also like to apologize for the shitty writing because I'm not really a writer. Also, if I were to continue this, I still have no one in mind to pair her up with— comment if you have any suggestions.

#mortal kombat x reader #liu kang #kung lao #mk1 raiden #johnny cage #kenshi takahashi #afab reader #kinda ooc

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mettatonsass · 1 year

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Hey guys

I have a free slot open for the crochet class. Dm me if interested. This is first come, first serve.

#crochet #crochetblr #crochet lesson #crochet lessons #crochet via zoom #zoom lesson #zoom class #crochet class #Fiber arts

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p0ssym1lker · 1 year

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Dp x dc

Internship work at the fentons suck

The duo has absolutely zero safety regulations in place

Even worse? Vlad gave em a big ole place where they can give tours only that they only want the part where they can show their weapons so interns it is

And Zoey? Well, she really wanted the easy money and she does play rock paper scissors with that technus guy everytime she sees em, so who better to do the job

Only that one of the kids just nearly ran into another interns trolley full off fuck knows stuff, and that Zoey, in all her older sister reflex way, pushed him out of the way, crashed into the trolley herself, and then into a goddamn bucket of ectoplasm

The fentons said she was fine "extremely high levels of ectoplasm but still human" they said

The youngest fenton has been weird towards her though, kinda fluttering around her

Oh well, what's the worst-

Gotham that's the worst

A few weeks after the accident she decided to visit her dad, only for her to be stuck in a burning building, great

Well, she got out, which thank god

But right now she is listening to the vigilantes zooming around the building, getting more and more worried about robin

After a few minutes the worry turned into panic

And then Zoey felt something weird, her body tensing as every fiber of her being screamed at her that there is a child in danger and to go save them

Before she knew it she was running, ducking underneath red hoods arm and running straight at a wall

And then going through it

But she didn't stop, she kept going until she found robin, passed out under some rumble with a goddamn cat in his arm- of course

She didn't know where the strength came from to pick up robin - and the cat - and start running back out but it sure was there

She just made it out when the building started exploding in some places

She also got to watch Batman scream in pain, calling out to robin, being held back by a crying red Robin and nightwing was held by red hood

"Over here! Robin is here!" She yelled, watching as their heads snapped over to her and they started running towards them

While robin was taken away and Zoey looked at her hands

What the hell was that

#danny phantom #danny fenton #dc x dp #dp x dc #dc #dp #cryptid amity park #dc x dp crossover #dc robin #red robin #nightwing #red hood #batman

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gothic-thoughts · 5 months

Text

High Baby Fever

Part 3! Dio Brando x Black Fem Reader Angst

DomesticAU

TW: Miscarriage, mentions of child endangerment, mentions of murder(Just Dio tings really), NOT PROOFREAD(im sick😷🤒)

CW: Dio comforting, kidnapping, she/her pronouns

Word Count: 1742 (give or take)

Hearing soft sniffles and whimpers from across my mansion, I zoom to (Y/n)’s personal chambers and gently knock against the wood, the light thuds echoing throughout the empty corridor.

"(Y/n), what's wrong?” I rest my head against the door, “I heard you crying, my angel.”

I hear her voice curse softly so I look through the slight crack, my eyes tracking her form slowly jogging to the door and pressing against it in an attempt to keep me out.

"(Y/n), you know you can tell me anything.”

“It’s nothing, Dio. I just...I just need some space.”

“Have I upset you?"

“No! I mean, no.”

“Do not lie to me,” my forehead presses upon the door, “I could hear those sobs a mile away"

I tried to push the door open, only for it to barely budge from the frame as the soft sniffles and gasps began again. My chest begins to tighten.

“Angel, please, this stress is not good for the baby. Tell me what’s wrong.”

“You...you’re gonna hate me....”

"Never, my sweet.” I jiggle the handle harder, trying to pry it free, just to be with her, “I could never hate you. Tell me anything, anything at all."

She doesn’t respond, only leaving me with soft whimpers from behind the door. I open my mouth to speak but stop, taking in the idea that I hadn’t considered. I peek through the slit in the door to see my beloved walk to the other side of the bedroom before kicking through the door, old wood splintering and falling all over the stone floor as I burst inside.

I dusted myself off before I laid eyes on her—my sweet (Y/n)’s eyes were slightly bloodshot with a face streaked with tears. Before she could blink another tear from her lashes, she was in my arms and pressed close to my chest. I hold her tight and place a delicate kiss atop her skull then press my chin on the area as I breathe with her.

“Did you just break my door down?”

I take her chin and force her to look at me, “Now, what has upset you so much?"

Her eyes brim with water once again as she opens her mouth. She weeps again, pressing her wet, chubby face into my bare chest.

“The...the baby...”

My brow knit together. "What about the baby?" I run my fingers through the thick coils of her hair as delicate as possible, “What’s happened? Is Rose no longer healthy?”

Her muffled, broken sob was all I needed to hear as my heart tightened, a shiver running through every nerve, bone, and fiber in my body. (Y/n) shakily grabbed my hand and place it over her stomach—it had lost it's weight.

I shook my head to deny this, refusing to believe it as my eyes started stinging. I could not believe what I was hearing.

"No, no, darling. It's just some mistake; perhaps she was asleep."

“That's what I said! B-but he said...”

She paused to choke on more sobs so I wiped them away with my thumbs, hands trembling as I tried to keep up my strong façade for her.

"Who said that?" I tightened my grip on her, eyes wide with worry, "Tell me, who you got this....‘information’ from, because it cannot be true, you’ve only been with child for a month. You cannot just believe any--"

“The doctor told me, Dio!”

My breath hitches again. I shook my head angrily.

"Then he is a fool!" I continued wiping her tears away, mine starting to slip free, "He was wrong, dear. He was....”

“...I told you you’d hate me.”

I snap free of my denial, returning to my natural calm, collected demeanor as I guide her head up so I can see those pools of coffee glistening beautifully in the moonlight from the abundance of tears.

"Hate you...? (Y/n), my sweet...how can you say such a thing?"

Tears fell freely down her face. I took her trembling hands in mine, sickened at the thought of our loss being her fault.

"It’s never your fault, you’re smart enough to know that. How could I possibly hate you? I have never loved anyone before or after you, you’re aware of that. Darling, I need you—more than I need the next breath I take."

I held my hands to hers, pressing them to my lips and giving them a gentle kiss, all while looking at her longingly and leaning down to kiss back as passionately as ever before placing my forehead against yours, closed my eyes, savoring our togetherness.

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It had been a grueling 6 months of healing since then and for the most part, I had come to terms with the loss, yet, (Y/n) could not help but beat herself up about the whole ordeal every time she so much as breathed. It infuriated me to see her in such disarray the worst being that she wouldn’t speak to me about it. My heart shattered day in and out at the thought that I was growing to accept the death while my sweet seemed to be carrying all the weight of our shared grief. So tonight, I thought I’d set out to find her something she’d love from the streets of Egypt.

Once I return, I put it in a box and wrap it up nicely with a red bow before finding (Y/n) in our room, sitting on our bed with the same frown she had for months. I carried a large box inside with a loving smile in her direction in contrast with the confusion written all over her face as I gently set her present near the edge of the bed. I walk around the bed and take her smaller hands in mine and I just couldn’t help but smile.

"(Y/n), my darling...my love...my--”

“Dio, what is it?" She forces a chuckle, "And what is that?”

“Am I not allowed to be spontaneous? It is simply a gift for my partner.”

She raises an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Yes, I know you are still lamenting from that fateful day, and I cannot bear to see you like this anymore. And so, I got you something I thought would force that beautiful smile out again.”

“Aww, that’s so sweet, baby; what is it?”

I pull her to her feet, guiding her over to the end of the bed where the box was. "Go on, open it.”

“Tell me what it is!”

“I'll tell you that it is fragile, so be delicate."

Giving her a soft smile, I watch in anticipation as she carefully opens the box, my heart skipping beats, just waiting to see her face and when the box is finally wide open. She gasps loudly upon seeing the slumbering, infant wrapped in its little purple blanket, even taking a couple of steps back as I smile—the brightest smile I had in ages. I gently lifted the sweet, frail thing from the cardboard, cradling him closely to my bare chest, and listening as faint, somnolent sighs exit the child’s mouth.

“Isn’t he the most precious thing you’ve ever seen?” My thumb caresses back and forth on the infant’s forehead, “My minions couldn’t find an available baby girl so I hope the sex won’t be a problem.”

(Y/n) stammers a bit, “You stole a baby?!”

I kissed the child’s cheek, “Steal is quite the term; I rescued the poor thing.”

“Where did you get him?”

“What does that matter? He’s safe now.”

“Who's baby is this?”

"I don't know, I didn't make conversation before I butchered them."

"You killed them?!"

"That's what you're surprised at?"

"Yes, wha--no! Look, I just want to know what possessed you to kidnap a fucking newborn.”

I sigh, placing the boy on the bed, smirking as he readjusts his tiny feet inside the blanket encasing him. I look at her, reaching to stroke her plump, brown cheek.

"You did."

"What? Uh, excuse me, how is any of thi—!"

"I could no longer bear to see you so unhappy about the miscarriage so I sent my minions to seek out any newborns who seemed to be improperly taken care of."

She was silent for a moment, jaw agape as she struggled to find her words. She looked past me to the baby sleeping on the bed, but her face was still unreadable as her eyes moved to concentrate on me with a very evident side-eye.

"The minions found him tonight, I went to his residence to find him underfed in a house full of cigarette smoke."

"Underfed? Oh god...did you feed him?"

"Yes, of course. After his parents were nothing stains, I fed him anything I could find in their home and on the way here."

She strode around me and picked up the child delicately, cradling him in her arms while his little hands clenched into fists as he slept. I step close to her, glancing over her shoulder at the baby.

"Look at him, (Y/n); he's our miracle. How was I supposed to abandon such an innocent thing in the home with such a terrible couple? We can raise him to be a better man than his biological father ever was...”

She sighed, swiping her thumb back and forth across the infant's forehead as her heart swelled with more and more affection for it.

"Do you not like him? If you really can’t bring yourself to love him, I am not attached as of yet so I could discard--”

“What, no!"

"Excellent, then from here on out, I will bring myself to be the best father possible."

"That means a lot coming from you." She giggles, the sweet sound lightening the air, "You gonna teach him to be evil?"

I laughed. "That's your first thought? No, dear. I could never make him evil like me! However... I could make him my successor. A villain must have an heir, after all."

"Well does your heir have a name?"

I gently take the baby from her hands, accidentally making its eyelids flutter open to reveal bright green irises as it awakes. I smiled in amusement, unable to take my eyes off our son. He was so...sweet and innocent, especially with the slight confusion on his features.

"Whatever name was bestowed onto him by that terrible family is a waste, therefore he does not yet." I slip my thumb into the baby's fist, shaking it slowly, "Although, I do like the sound of Giorno....it's perfect."

#x black reader #x black fem reader #black reader #black writers #jojo's bizarre adventure #jojo no kimyou na bouken #dio brando x reader #black fem reader #dio x reader #dio brando #dio jjba #dio jojo #jjba x reader #jojo part 3 #dio x black reader

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hairupintheair · 4 months

Text

Trolls Band Together Commentary Notes Part 4/4

- The scene after Branch storms out of Rhonda and Poppy goes after him was the most expensive scene for the computers to handle in the whole movie, even including Mount Rageous, because the clouds in the background are all made of individual fibers that the computers had to calculate while animating. - Commentary quote: "There's so many fibers in this movie. Don't ever commit a crime. All the fibers. They'll trace it right back to you." - They decided on a cloud backdrop because it seemed a good transition between the roads they were traveling in Rhonda and Mount Rageous, which is supposed to be a city up in the sky. The monotone colors and calm landscape of the clouds also fit the scene well, with Branch and Poppy having this serious and emotional heart-to-heart, and it allowed the audience to completely focus on Branch and Poppy without a busy background to be distracting. - Originally the finale was going to take place inside the mentioned Rage Dome. They had a plan for a huge flashy concert performance with the trolls breaking in, but it was coming off as too similar to the ending of the previous movie, so instead they came up with the idea of the vehicle chase through the streets of Mount Rageous. - There was a brief idea early on of Gristle accidentally getting sprayed with trolls' talent from one of V&V's shoulder pad things and momentarily turning into what they called "hot Gristle." Thankfully that was scrapped very quickly. - The Broppy kiss moment was big and they worked on it for a long time, knowing how important it was for the story and the fans. They were going to have effects with big flashy lights (like the pinky promise and the high five of the previous movie), but in the end they decided they wanted to keep it simple and honest. The had the crowd show such a positive reaction to let the audience know what an important moment this was. - The ending after the climax was purposely designed to be a mirror of the opening scene: behind the curtains right before a concert is about to start, but now they've all grown and are supporting each other. - The NSYNC surprise cameo had to be done completely in secret and it was very difficult to keep it under wraps, including changing the names of computer files and keeping audio and visuals separate, etc. It was stressful for the teams working on it, but it paid off spectacularly. - When they were coming up with the idea of the NSYNC reunion, everyone was so excited. Justin pitched it and got the go ahead, then they got the rest of the band members on a ZOOM call to discuss it with them. They were all chatting together and catching up and it was taking way too long, someone realized they were approaching the 45 minute mark (ZOOM calls have a 45 min limit before the program will drop the call) with ten seconds left. So they lost the call mid-sentence and then had to connect everyone again to actually finish pitching the idea to the guys.

#trolls #dreamworks trolls #trolls movie #trolls band together #trolls 3 #trolls movie commentary

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