#albeit short..2 panel
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christmas tree farm (elijah mikaelson x f!reader)
꒰ ࿁ ˙ ˖ ໑ happy day 2 of ficmas!
prompt: you like drawing one of the workers at the local Christmas tree farm
a/n: this took so long and i'm so sorry but also this is my dream. like, yes, let me find elijah at a Christmas tree farm. i love him your honor.
↳ masterlist ↳ ship exchange ↳ join my taglist ↳ ficmas 2023
There’s never a great reason to go to a Christmas tree farm every day, yet you did it without reason.
Well, one reason.
The Mikaelson Tree Farm was only four blocks from your apartment, and initially you went to help your friend, Bonnie, pick out a tree. It was the day after Thanksgiving, but she was excited since it was her first time getting a tree alone. She convinced you with a promised cup of hot cocoa, and you found yourself at the expansive farm. What made it better than others was that an arborist owned it, so they understood the novelty of trees better than anyone.
You had brought your sketchbook along as well. As the quarter was close to ending, you were working hard on your animation final. Not that you were an art major by any means, but you liked to draw as a hobby, and when an opportunity arose to take an art class, you did so happily. Now, though, you had to do a short animation for your final, which meant lots and lots of panels.
“Do you think this one is too dense?” Bonnie asked, taking careful steps around a Douglas Fir. You peered at it, continuing to shade out its leaves in your journal.
“Depends on how many ornaments you want to shove in there,” you mumbled, adding a few people to the background of your illustration.
“I’ve got a good amount that I inherited from Grams,” Bonnie sighed.
“Then you might want some more space.”
“You’re probably right,” Bonnie looked around, hands on her hips and breath fogging before her. “Plus, this would shed a lot.”
“You’d probably want a Nordmann then,” a smooth voice said from behind you. Both you and Bonnie turned to the source of the voice, and you felt yourself freeze up as you took in the handsome man behind you. He wore a red flannel with a cargo jacket, and you wondered how he wasn’t cold. “Sorry for bothering you. My family owns the farm; I couldn’t help but overhear.”
“So, you know things about trees,” you said, holding your notebook close to your chest.
“Yes…I know about trees,” he smiled.
“Like the Lorax,” you blurted out, feeling your eyes widen. You could almost hear the look of disappointment on Bonnie’s face. The man chuckled, though, albeit with little confusion.
“I’m Elijah,” he said, shaking Bonnie’s hand and yours.
“Nordmann, why would I want that?” Bonnie inquired, pivoting to your previous conversation.
“Nordmanns don’t shed,” Elijah explained. “They have a blue tone underneath their leaves and are also pretty.”
“Very nice,” Bonnie nudged you, and you sent her a look of approval. “Show me a Nordmann.”
Bonnie ended up choosing a six-foot-tall Nordmann that she affectionately named “Norman the Nordmann.” Elijah and one of his brothers cut the tree down for her and carried it back to her car. Frankly, the level of attraction you felt watching a man carrying a tree over his shoulder was embarrassing, but you didn’t care. You just said thank you in a meek voice and left with Bonnie to decorate her tree. Still, you couldn’t get Elijah out of your mind.
Plus, as you spent time working on your animation final, you realized that one of your characters started to look more and more like Elijah.
Which is how you kept ending up at the Christmas tree farm.
You couldn’t just show up and sit around waiting to see Elijah walk by. That would be incredibly humiliating for you. So, instead, after your third time going to the farm and lurking in the trees like a creeper, you decided to buy a wreath. The farm had a tiny little hut selling wreaths, ornaments, hot cocoa, and more. They even had a photo album full of pictures of their customers from over the years. One of the sisters always sat in the hut, reading a new book each day, and finally pointed out that you always came in but never bought anything, which is how you ended up with a beautiful wreath you hung up in your apartment. Feeling guilty, you came back the next day and bought another wreath. You always bought a wreath and free hot cocoa after you finished sketching the farm (and Elijah). You realized at some point you should probably buy a tree and move on from your infatuation, but that would involve confronting your wiles, which would simply be unacceptable.
Today was week three, thirteen wreaths later. You curled up in the corner of the farm with your journal, burrowing into your scarf to fight off the chill. You already had several panels drawn of the day in and day out of the farm, but now you were debating tearing yourself away and drawing Freya (your hot cocoa provider and sister who reads inside the wreath hut) through the acts of reading. Something blocked your light though, as you were drawing, and you looked up to see Elijah hovering over you. Your eyes widened.
“You have come in every day, you realize that?” he asked, hands in his pockets and a slight smirk on his lips. You likely looked like a deer in the headlights.
“I like trees,” you answered, immediately looking down at your hands as your brain screamed WHAT ARE YOU DOING?
“Like the Lorax?” Elijah smirked, and you felt your jaw drop as he recalled your first day.
“I can go,” you said, starting to get up, but Elijah put a hand on your shoulder, stopping you. The heat from his hand spread throughout your arm like fire to a forest.
“You don’t have to leave,” he dropped his hand, fiddling with the cuffs of his flannel. “I just noticed that you have never gotten a tree.”
“I haven’t.”
“Do you want one?” He gestured towards the plethora of Christmas trees around you, and you started feeling like a mouse cornered by a cat. A very attractive cat.
“I could…get a tree,” you crossed your arms, hugging yourself. Putting your journal back in your bag, you gave Elijah your name and followed him deeper into the tree line. He showed you several different variants, explaining their pros and cons, but you stopped at a four-foot Noble that was more sparse on one side and slightly crooked. “I like him.”
Elijah looked at the tree you were pointing at and raised an eyebrow as if to ask seriously? You had a small smile as you circled your crooked, kind of terrible, tree. It was imperfect, and it’s why you liked it. Elijah sighed but agreed to give you the tree. He cut it down himself (it was small enough), and you checked out with Freya, who laughed at you finally buying a tree.
“Where’s your car?” Elijah asked, tree propped up against him.
“Oh, uh, I don’t have one,” you stammered. You realize you can’t get a tree home without a car. “I walked.”
“You walked,” Elijah said plainly. You were thinking that he probably thought you were an idiot.
“I live four blocks away.”
“Alright… let's go,” Elijah sighed, hoisting the tree over his shoulder.
“Uh, excuse me?” You held out your hands to stop him.
“To take your tree home.”
“I can take my own tree home, thank you very much.” Elijah stared at you with a blank expression. He would’ve made an excellent diplomat if he wasn’t busy cutting down trees. You stared right back, trying your best to assert dominance. His eyes stared into yours deeply, and finally you relented. “Fine, you can take my tree home,” you mumbled, feeling frustrated as a smile broke across his face.
“Lead the way,” he gestured. You stalk a guy for weeks, and now he’s coming to your apartment with a tree you didn’t intend to buy. You thought that Bonnie would’ve gotten a kick out of this. He follows you out of the lot and onto the street, keeping quiet as he carries the tree with no complaints. You wonder how much he could bench press if he lifted the tree like it was nothing. You got to your building, a little four-story brick apartment, and let him in. Immediately, his eyes were drawn to the plethora of wreaths lining the doors in the hall. “Are these all…?”
“Yes,” you answered quickly. “I’m the building manager, so I gave everyone a wreath.” Elijah still looked surprised but didn’t say anything else as he followed you to your apartment door tucked into the corner of the first floor. You wiggled your lock before slamming your shoulder into the door to open it. “It gets stuck sometimes,” you explained, opening the door further for Elijah to enter.
With Elijah peering around your place, you suddenly felt very self-conscious. It was a small place. The layout was straightforward. Your front door opened into your small kitchen, with the bathroom to the right. Your living room was just a couch, a TV you got from your aunt, and a coffee table. You didn’t have a dining room, just a tiny breakfast nook you haggled off Facebook Marketplace. Your bedroom was off the living room, just a bed and a desk. The thing that sold you on the apartment, though was the beautiful circular window behind the couch and the fact you got cheap rent in a city as long as you acted as building manager.
“Where would you like to put your tree?” Elijah inquired.
“I guess over here is fine,” you walked over to the space between the wall and your couch, currently inhabited by your basket of yarn that you use for knit projects.
“Do you have a tree stand?” He put the tree down against the wall. You kept your mouth shut as you watched realization flash across his face. “You bought a tree without a tree stand?”
“I didn’t intend to buy a tree,” you defend yourself. Elijah lets out a small sigh of exasperation, fidgeting with the tree so it can lean on its own.
“I’ll be right back,” Elijah exits before you can say anything. You glare at the tree, internally blaming it for your current predicament. Keeping busy, you started a pot of coffee in your kitchen while you hunted around for something to decorate the tree with. You came back with a basket of crochet stars and some twine. Maybe you could make a garland and then harass Bonnie for some twinkle lights. You know she had them; she covered her entire place in them like it was Tinkerbell’s house. As you were stringing stars onto your twine, you heard a knock on your door before Elijah entered, box in hand. “Alright, I got you a tree stand, and Freya sent me with ornaments.”
“She’s a good egg,” you smiled, helping him with the box as he started fitting the tree into the stand.
“That she is,” he laughed, sending you a grin that made your stomach perform cartwheels. You laid out the ornaments Freya sent on your counter, smiling at the cute little animals. She even sent along a glitter-covered mushroom. Your coffee machine dinged, and you moved to pour yourself a cup.
“Do you want coffee? I got vanilla syrup,” you offered, holding up a reindeer mug.
“That would be lovely, thank you,” Elijah smiled. You made him a small latte, as you enjoyed any chance to perfect your latte art. You went to a Korean cafe once and watched them craft a bear, and since then have forced yourself to learn how to do the same. You added a little heart, and handed the latte to Elijah who looked at it fondly. “You’re very creative.” He looked at the star garland you had discarded from earlier. “Did you make this?”
“Yeah…it’s the only decor I have,” you shrugged, taking a sip of your coffee and enjoying the warmth seeping into your bones. Elijah picked up the garland and started wrapping it around the tree, making sure each branch was evenly spaced and that the stars were visible.
“Do all customers get you decorating their tree?” you asked, the corner of your mouth lifting up in a smile.
“Just the ones I like,” Elijah responded, his back still towards you. You felt your cheeks flush at his comment. He was likely just flattering you. He stepped away from the tree when he was done, and your eyes lit up as you took in his careful work.
“Well, thank you,” you coughed, putting your coffee down on the counter and shuffling on your feet. You expected Elijah to make a move to leave, but he stayed there, staring at you with thoughtful eyes. He really had very kind eyes, the type you felt at ease under.
“Can I ask you a question?” Elijah’s brows furrowed, his fingers dancing over the buttons of his cuffs as he looked at you inquisitively. You nodded to let him continue. “Why did you come to the farm everyday?”
“Honestly?” you laughed, glancing away. “I liked to draw you.”
“Draw me?”
“Yeah…it’s silly, isn’t it?” you rubbed the back of your neck, your arms wrapping around to curl more into yourself.
“May I see?”
“See what?”
“The drawings,” Elijah dared a step closer to you. He smelled like the trees he cultivated, rich and earthy. You felt that if someone were to be personified as a rainy forest, he would be that person. You walked over to your bag, nervously pulling out your sketchbook and handing it to him. His fingers brushed yours, but you quickly pulled away. You hated people looking at your work, so you kept yourself busy by cleaning up the kitchen. You could hear the flipping of the pages, and with each turn the coil in your stomach grew tighter. You were so nervous, you felt like you could break at any moment. What if he hated the drawings? You could never recover. When you heard the thud of the book closing, you dared turning towards Elijah and felt your heart clench as you met his gaze.
“My brother would hate you,” Elijah said, putting your sketchbook carefully on the kitchen counter. “You’re a much better artist than him.”
“Oh,” you responded, some pressure alleviating in your chest.
“You captured me very kindly,” Elijah smiled, stepping around the kitchen island to get closer to you. You instinctively took a step back.
“I see you very kindly,” you whispered, your voice soft on his ears. “It was for a class animation, I…hope I didn’t offend you.”
“You couldn’t offend me,” Elijah reassured. “You make me feel appreciated.”
“Are you not?”
“A family as large as mine,” Elijah sighed, running a hand through his hair. “It’s easy to lose sight of things.”
“Well, I see you…if that matters,” you said. Your heart was running a race with how fast it was beating. Elijah grabbed your hand, his thumb running over your knuckles like you were a precious artifact.
“Y/N,” Elijah started, biting his lip in thought. “I’m glad that you kept coming back.” You noticed that his fingers were calloused and rough, likely from all the work of the farm. “I would like to take you out, if that’s alright.”
“Yes,” you answered quickly, earning a smile from the man in front of you. “I would like that a lot.” Elijah tucked a strand of hair behind your ear before glancing back at your sketchbook.
“May I see the animation, when its done?”
“Of course.”
“Can I give you something?” Elijah questioned, turning back to look at you. You nodded slowly, unsure of what he was thinking. Elijah leaned down, pressing a soft kiss against your lips. His hands came up to cup your head, his fingers brushing through the strands of your hair. He was gentle, but firm, and you found yourself tugging him closer by the front of his shirt. Kissing him felt like first snowfall, or when you learned you had a day off from school. He pulled away, pressing a kiss to the corner of your mouth and the top of your head.
“That was a good gift,” you whispered, enjoying the deep chuckle that emanated from Elijah. “Does this mean I can stop buying Christmas wreaths?” That earned an even bigger laugh.
“You really are an enigma,” Elijah smiled, kissing you again on your lips.
Oh yes, you guess there is a very good reason to go to a Christmas Tree Farm every day
#ficmas 2023#12 days of ficmas#elijah mikaelson#elijah mikaelson x reader#elijah mikaelson imagines#the vampire diaries#tvd#tvdu#the originals#my writing
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About Psychiatry stuff in SPYxFAMILY. Part 1
Part 2 here / Part 3 here / Part 4 here
I'm a dumb and I just realized that ch. 29 of the manga will be animated, since Fiona appears for the 1st time in that chapter and she's in the key visual for the 2nd cour.
I'm aware this isn't the first analysis made on this chapter but so far I haven't seen anyone from the Psy world speaking about this. I'm a Clinical Psychologist grounded on Freudian-Lacanian Psychoanalitic theory and I think I can share some knowledge over several aspects of Psychiatry that are depicted in the manga. I've worked with Psychiatrists in the past, albeit for a short amount of time, in a public healthcare institution, so I have a notion of what Psychiatrists do in a public setting like a Hospital.
If there's a Psychiatrist out there who wants to refute this analysis, PLEASE DO SO. I'm more than pleased to learn and have a nice debate.
This is one of the most hilarious chapters in the whole SxF series, so if you don't want the fun to be spoiled, please skip this post!
Let's begin.
1. Working in a Hospital
I'm not sure if this is universal, as healthcare systems around the world differ in several aspects, but the consensus is that a Hospital, which is a public healthcare institution, is specialized in the treatment of the most complex diseases.
In Psychiatry, this usually means dealing with psychosis, drug intoxication, major depressive episodes with suicide attempts and serious personality disorders. Most of these conditions require hospitalization, as the risk of giving just ambulatory care is not enough to guarantee the patient's safety or that of the others's.
There are Hospitals that provide ambulatory care though. Again, it varies from where in the world you are. In my country (Chile) you usually go to the Hospital when your life is at risk, but if you are suffering from a less serious condition (for example, dealing with panic attacks), you'll be transferred to a primary healthcare institution. Unless you live in a rural area.
Indeed, working in a healthcare institution means gaining access to any patient's clinical record. But for the objective of Operation Strix, and Loid being a Psychiatrist, I don't think that's of much use, for reasons that I'll cover in Point 3.
2. Specialty in Psychiatry
Psychiatry has several subspecialties, like any other healthcare career. You have Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Adult Psychiatry (I believe these two are mandatory to become a Psychiatrist but I can't say it for sure), Addictions, Forensics, Emergencies...
Loid said that he wants to help people affected by the war, veterans specially, so it's a polite guess to say that he's an Adult Psychiatrist. Then again, we have this panel:
The sand box is a diagnostic tool used for children. It's mostly used by Psychologists, as they have more time per session to analyze it. I'll cover the sand box in more detail in Part 4 of this series of analysis, but for now let's say that analyzing it consumes a lot of time that Psychiatrists, in a Hospital, usually don't have.
This panel suggests that Loid has worked with children before as a Psychiatrist, and we see him later in chapter 67 with a child (although it's not clear if the child is his patient), so here are another 2 polite guesses:
-Loid's a General Psychiatrist
-Berlint General Hospital's Psychiatric Ward is understaffed and they put their Psychiatrists to do whatever is needed at the moment, regardless of their specialties. It sure doesn't look that poor of a Hospital to me, but who knows...
My bet is option 1. Poor guy.
3. Donovan Desmond as a potential psychiatric patient
In the first chapter of the manga, Donovan is described as a hikikomori, meaning someone who withdraws from social interaction. This word also describes a psychopathological condition of japanese young lads that spend months, even years, holled up in their homes without interacting with anybody aside from their families (if they have). The word itself doesn't have a pathological connotation tough.
In English, the closest concept to "hikikomori" as a psychpathological meaning would be Autism, which isn't equivalent at all. And, when a person is so reclused, we tend to pair it with paranoia, as it often leads to social withdrawal as well. The important thing here is, as you probably are thinking right now, the reason fo such decision. And this reason is always given by the symptoms.
Paranoia is a type of psychosis in which a person suffers from delirium and hallucinations related to being endangered or threatened by something. Of course, a proof of reality is useless for these patients, as their perception of reality itself is disturbed. An UFO is watching over you at all times? I can't precisely prove that it's false, as I lack proof of the very existence of UFO, and even if I have it, the delirium would probably shift to attack me as I turn into a conspirator against the patient's truth.
Not that we clinicians waste time trying to do so, though. In these cases, the Psychiatrist kicks in and administers a dose of antipsychotic drugs. Psychotic paranoia often needs hospitalization and a strong compromise from the patient's family to constantly supervise him/her. After that, comes a long process of social rehab.
A very characteristic feat of paranoid people is that THEY NEVER SEEK FOR PROFESSIONAL MENTAL HEALTH CARE HELP BY THEMSELVES. Paranoids often arrive to a Psychiatric Emergency Room dragged by a third party due to bizarre behaviour, self-aggression and/or attempts to hurt others.
There are people that is not psychotic and suffer from this kind of fear of pretty much everything as well, but it's hard to determine if they really aren't psychotics, as their reasons to recluse themselves strongly resemble a delirium. The key that helps to discern if it's a psychotic paranoia or not is finding the hole in which a patient allows himself to doubt. In paranoid psychosis there's absolute certainty, while in neurosis there is room for doubt.
These "neurotic paranoids", as we'll call them for now (it doesn't exist as a nosograhical entity anywhere; please don't waste your time looking it up in the DSM xD), tend to abandon therapy pretty soon, as they fight for sticking with their motives to recluse themselves. They don't want to realize what drive them to behave like that. Patients suffering from obsessions will probably act this way, as well as some hypochondriac and anorexic patients. Bear in mind that this is not a norm; everything depends on the symptoms.
All of this begs the question: Would Donovan Desmond ever need Psychiatric help from Dr. Loid Forger?
His interaction with Loid in chapter 38 suggests that he's not reclusive for a mental condition, but he does have a certain level of "neurotic paranoia", as he can't bring himself to really trust any other person much. If nobody is truly sympathetic to each other, they could pose a threat at any moment, right?
Since he's clearly not psychotic, because he can hold an interaction with Loid in the same shared reality (not a dellirium, I mean), one can safely assume that he does trust someone, at least one single person. When a psychotic person suffers from paranoia, there's not a single hole in their life that is not filled with suspicions of others being dangerous. This isn't the case for Donovan.
We see him walking with a lot of guards, so he must trusts them. And he seems to be closer to Demetrius as he goes with him to the Imperial Scholar get-togethers, so that also counts. He even takes a detour to meet Damian. Seems like he can trust his family members, and that alone could be a measure of love, albeit in a really weird scale.
Tsundere?
That aside, given the social status of the Desmonds, if they ever need psychiatric help, they probably would consult a private clinic instead of going to a public hospital. Unless they find themselves in a reeeeaaaally desperate situation.
So, the answer is no... for the most part. Good try, though, Twilight.
I'll cover more stuff in the next part. This one turned out unexpectedly long. It's been fun ruining the fun for those who don't know about mental health though.
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin: The Lost Years #1 spoilers below the cut. Read at your own risk.
Edit: Just bought my physical copy yay me
Okay, I may or may not have ended up reading that issue in 10 minutes because I was so goddamn excited, so here are some of my initial notes from it following my first read through. I will be keeping images out of this post just because the issue was released less than half an hour after I'm writing this. Buy yourself a copy because this story is amazing!
1. "Get up, foolish child!"
So, this line came up a few times in this issue, namely from Splinter, who is saying it to Michelangelo in the midst of battle. It's interesting to see that he's calling Mikey foolish for not wanting to fight anymore.
I can't tell what I think about Master Splinter in this series. Yes, he reminds Mikey that he's not alone in this war and that he will always have his family by his side, but he also says things like, "This is what I have trained you for all your life" and "I will not leave you here to meet a coward's death". It's bittersweet, in a way. Mikey just wants to stop fighting; it was a theme throughout the initial Last Ronin storyline, as well. There's a reason why it ends with "know peace".
And then we cut to Casey, April and Casey's daughter, training the four new turtles we were teased at the end of Last Ronin #5, also yelling "get up" at them during training. I guess this line is going to be a sort of motif throughout the series, this idea of getting up no matter how many times you're knocked down. It's a good lesson, of course, but, as shown through Splinter and the entirety of the first series, it's clear that it has its consequences.
2. The New Turtles
It seems that this series is taking a page from Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in having these four new characters be different species of turtles, which is really interesting. Like I said before, I'll be keeping images out of this post for now just for the sake of having other people read the story themselves (and copyright, of course), but I'll list the names of these turtles and what I can gather of their personalities just from the few panels we have of them.
Odyn — He's the biggest of the four at the moment, and all we really know about him is that he's apparently always hungry and he's not a big fan of tai chi because it's "too hard". So, not a big fan of training in general and possibly even fighting altogether, which could prove interesting in the future.
Uno — He's the showoff out of the four of them. He seems physically gifted and enjoys training, whether that be with the others or on his own. He also seems to believe he's better than the others from what I can gather, and doesn't seem to get along well with Moja, who I will get to next.
Moja — She's looks like the short-tempered defender of the group, seeming really similar to Raphael in some ways. She is quick to defend Odyn when Uno makes fun of him, and picks a fight with Uno when he doesn't seize the teasing. Unlike Uno, however, she seems to show a lot of respect towards April and owns up to her mistakes quickly.
Yi — From what I can go off of (which isn't exactly much, considering how little we got of these four), she's the Donatello of the group. She seems pretty calm and collected for the most part, and apparently loves spending time with April in the garage "fixing" things. I just hope she isn't some carbon copy of Donnie and has her own personality, albeit similar to his.
Speaking of similarities, that brings me to my third and final thought when reading this issue.
3. Change is Constant
Did I steal that from the first IDW arc? Who's to say.
So, this theme has been in the franchise for as long as it has existed. I mean, the first episode of 2003 is literally titled "Things Change". It's the idea that life always comes with its twists and turns and that there's no predicting exactly what will happen next. We can't control the universe, we simply exist within it. Empires rise and they fall. That's just life. You can't hold on to something forever because that's how you let that thing consume you. "Know peace," as Michelangelo stated.
Then we get to these four new turtles. Casey never really knew the original four outside of stories told by her mother, which caused these ideas of heroic martyrs to be put into the kid's head all her life. Because of this, her goal with these new turtles is to probably forge them into their predecessors' images. The problem with that is, of course, that's not really how life works.
These kids have big shoes to fill. That much is obvious. I mean, look at the original turtles. They trained their entire life to fight in a war against the Foot Clan. As teenagers, they went to space, they traveled to different universes, they fought other mutants and the US government and so much more. I can bet you that this legacy will come into play in this story, and not exactly in a good way.
Odyn, Uno, Moja, and Yi are not Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo. They know this. Casey and April know this. We as an audience know this. What that means, however, is that we should not be putting them into boxes to fit the former turtles. Casey is trying to mold them into her heroes, and April no doubt is probably unconsciously doing the same just because she misses them just as much, but that could be pretty awful for these new guys. Think of it as growing up with an amazing older sibling or family member in general. All your life, you end up just trying to be like that one person, so much so you end up neglecting who you might be. I'm guessing individuality is going to be a big focus of this story, as well.
Well, that's my initial thoughts on this issue. I've been waiting a while for this, and, as a long-time fan of this franchise, I'm so excited to see what comes next in the story. I love how we're finally branching off to new characters and possibly new storylines altogether, all inspired by the original story. Now to wait a month for the next issue. I'll see you all then!
#teenage mutant ninja turtles#tmnt#tmnt idw#tmnt the last ronin#tmnt the lost years#tmnt leonardo#tmnt raphael#tmnt donatello#tmnt michelangelo
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A Bone to Pick (Chapter 3 Preview, Part 2)
This chapter wasn't supposed to be this long, what the actual heck?
“Megaopolis Power Grid?—Oh, this is the power plant on the north side of the city!” The Power Plant was one of the city’s finest achievements in green energy. Wind Turbines and Solar Panels a short ten-minute drive just north of the city, combined with the hydroelectric mills on the south side all channeled their electricity to hear. The combined efforts of humanity’s technological ingenuity and demonkind’s innate magical abilities allowed the city to run 100% on green, renewable energy. The control panel for the entire city was housed here, just to the north of the city, at its calmest, safest border. Far away from any destruction the city usually saw on the regular.
“Wait, north side?” Macaque looked at Mei. “I thought we were on the south side not even an hour ago?”
“We… we didn’t walk that far, did we?”
“We didn’t.” The certainty in Macaque’s tone did not make Mei feel better. Macaque peaked through the holes in the fence at the power plant’s main building—the building itself was a boring, beige square of forgettable post-mid 20th century architecture, but cables and wires shot upwards in a glorious web of electricity and oddly shaped telephone poles. The wires crisscrossed back and forth over each other multiple times before following separate paths that led back into the city, which seemed a distant, buzzing, glowing metropolis in the afternoon sun. How long had they been stuck in the sewers?
Finding nothing of interest to him there, Macaque trudged back towards the jello-air cave that had been Mei and his’s exit. It was small, just barely hovering over the tips of Mei’s ponytails, and skinny—if Macaque and Mei stood shoulder to shoulder, the walls of the cave’s entrance would be at their other shoulders.
“Hey, look at this.” Mei knelt down by one side of the cave’s entrance. She pointed to the floor, at some weird little carving on the corner that was the floor and wall of the cave’s entrance. The carving itself seemed semi-circular, with half carved rings and spheres and some old words Macaque thought he recognized, but couldn’t be so sure. Mei then hummed thoughtfully, tracing the ruins with her finger. “I wonder if—“ and before Macaque could advise her against it, Mei was plopping her head back through the jello barrier.
“Mei!” Macaque admonished. The girl flailed her arms momentarily and then popped right back out. The sound sent an uncomfortable shiver up both of the warriors' spines. “What was that for?”
“The same circle is on the other side of the jello too!”
“Ok and?”
“Ok, and—that means someone must have done like a weird little spell to put the barrier up.” Mei paused, then looked at the shadow monkey. “Do you think that scraping sound you heard was someone carving this weird little spell circle?”
Macaque scratched his chin thoughtfully. “Maybe, but who would put up a barrier like this? And why? It’s not even a good barrier! People can get through it.”
“Albeit uncomfortably,”
“Yeah. Very uncomfortably.”
Mei gave Macaque a nervous look. “Hey, before we fell down the tunnel, that voice we heard… did it sound familiar to you?”
#lego monkey kid#lego monkie kid au#a bone to pick (fanfic)#lmk macaque#lmk mei#god this chapter is almost 50 pages#i am trying so hard guys#aaaaah#lmk fanfiction#chapter preview#lmk six eared macaque#six eared macaque#legomonkiekid
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Rondo Hatton schemes to make life difficult for the Iron Skull in Amazing-Man Comics #16 (October, 1940).
And compared to the Iron Skull, Rondo was Adonis.
This is the Iron Skull:
He was created by Carl Burgos, who also created an obscure character named the Human Torch for Timely Comics.
The Iron Skull initially did not have an origin story when he first appeared in the very first issue of Amazing-Man Comics (which, oddly, was numbered 5; there were no issues #1-4). He just showed up at the scene of a crime and started mopping up crooks left and right.
Later it was revealed that the Skull was a soldier gravely injured during World War ll, which was interesting because America had not entered the war at the time the story was written. The soldier's damaged flesh and bones were replaced with metal by a kindly doctor, making the soldier super-strong and bullet-proof. Oddly though, the doctor gave the new cyborg animé cat eyes, and completely forgot to give him a nose.
Don't believe me? Here's the Iron Skull's full origin from Amazing-Man Comics #7 (November, 1939).
Written and drawn by Carl Burgos.
Yeah, that's all the explanation anyone every got as to who he is and how he came to be.
The series took place in the future of the 1960s, when the war - some of which had been fought in America - finally came to an end. The country was rebuilding itself, but crime became rampant, which is why the Ron Skull - so-called because of his noseless appearance - became a crime fighter.
By Amazing-Man Comics #11 the series had jumped ahead to the early 1970s. War broke out in Europe again, and an unnamed nation was instigating terrorist attacks in the States. The Iron Skull now concentrated his efforts on tackling the spies and saboteurs trying to bring America down.
The Iron Skull skipped issues #12 & 13 of Amazing-Man Comics. He was back with issue #14, but gone was Carl Burgos, replaced by Sam Gilman. Also gone was the futuristic setting and any reference to the events of the previous stories. The Iron Skull moved to New York City where, somehow, in the very next issue he could mentally communicate with the District Attorney.
From Amazing-Man Comics #16. Story and art by Sam Gilman.
The Iron Skull continued to smash crime and war saboteurs in now contemporary, pre-War New York until his strip ended in issue #22. He then moved over to Star and Stripes #2 (May, 1941), along with most of other characters from Amazing-Man Comics, which was cancelled after issue #26.
Things progressed quickly for the Skull in his new book. In issue #3 he got a costume, albeit a simple pair of swim trunks. In issue #4 he inexplicably gained the ability to fly. And in issue #5 he became completely bald. However, as compensation the Iron Skull got his true superhero costume (although he just looks like an employee at your local S&M dungeon):
Yes, that's a skull and crossbones tattooed on his chest. Because apparently he just spends his whole day dressed like that, and only dons the cape when he's going into action.
See? I told ya!
Sadly, the Iron Skull didn't get to enjoy the costume for very long. Star and Stripes #6 was the last issue because Centaur Publications went out of business the next month.
The DC hero Steel, not John Henry Irons but the World War ll superhero who later became Commander Steel, has a similar origin.
When I first read Steel #1 back in 1978 I thought he was just a WWll-version of The Six Million Dollar Man, with his body being rebuilt with the 1940s equivalent of bionics. But now that I've delved into the Iron Skull and his one panel origin, I would say Steel is much more similar to him than Steve Austin (whether or not Steel creator Gerry Conway intended that).
Steel did not, however, develop telepathy or the ability to fly. Nor did he, thankfully, decide to run around in leather boy shorts.
#The Iron Skull#Rondo Hatton#Centaur Publications#Carl Burgos#Sam Gilman#Steel the Indestructible Man#Gerry Conway#Don Heck#Joe Giella#Anthony Tollin#DC Comics
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Being left on the balcony, repeating a mantra, and getting aftercare.
This week, I was left out chained to the balcony, I wrote three tumblr posts with my index fingers, I repeated a mantra until my brain broke, I woke up to being restrained, I got a new rule, punishment, and task, and I safeworded “red” for the first time. Stay until the end!
Tuesday morning
On Tuesday morning, my Owner left to an appointment and left me chained up out in the balcony.
With me I had: some tasteless breakfast and lunch, a large blanket, my computer (to do some specific task I can’t recall right now), and the locked chain attaching my collar to the balcony handrailing.
It didn’t take me long to realize what my biggest problems were.
Comfort.
The chain attaching me to the railing didn’t leave me a lot of room to move away from that particular point, and barely allowed me to lie down.
The balcony is about a meter deep and 3 meters wide, so while I could lie down with quite a lot of room, the problem was sharing the space with my food, the large blanket, my oversized laptop with its oversized charger, a couple gardening supplies, and the tall wooden 5-panel hinged blinds.
2. Temperature and UV rays.
I have very thin skin that gets sunburnt very easily, so I’ve learned not to be under direct sunlight for more than a few minutes. This was a problem since…well…I was chained out on a north-facing balcony that received sunlight for pretty much the whole day.
The very interesting part was that I was actually very cold, like, the air itself was freezing, hence, the large blanket.
So I had to cover myself from the sun (with the blinds and the blanket), keep warm with the blanket but not so warm on the parts where the strong sun hit it, be in a position where I could use my computer, not knock over the food plate, and do all that with the limited motion that the chain allowed.
Eventually I spent most of the time sort of cross-legged with my laptop on my legs and cocooned by the blanket on all sides but the front, like a weirdly shaped tent with a chain coming out the back of it and a very white naked toy inside it both being cold and warm.
The temperature was intense enough to be uncomfortable but not as much as to make me actually suffer it. So it was perfectly bearable albeit annoying and dehumanizing.
It was amazing.
I loved being left outside, it made me feel immensely dehumanized and degraded in exactly the right ways. I loved seeing my Owner come back through the glass and knowing that I was theirs.
I spent 5 hours out there, and as of writing I still owe 10 more. I’m excited and scared, which is the best kind of excited.
Also, I saw both the blinds and the glass panels that separate the balcony from the inside of the appartment have small latches on the inside 👀
Tuesday night
Later that day, my Owner tightly locked a chain around my waist and to the back of a chair and then taped my hands into fists, leaving only both my index fingers out.
For the unaware, this has typically been the punishment for not delivering a concept on time (my posts tagged #ordered), which I must do every monday and thursday.
They then left to make dinner, and left me like that until I’d written two concepts and replied an ask I’d gotten. I quickly started writing, luckily I had a couple concepts in my back pocket ready to be written but one of them was longggg. Damn perfectionism wouldn’t let me just write a short one lol.
They gave me a time limit and told me that if I wasn’t done by then then they’d just go to bed and release me the next day.
Ah fuck. That’s hot. I got horny instantly. That’s the worst kind of threat because they are perfectly aware of how much I love that kind of fantasy, and we’re both perfectly aware that when we actually do it my excitement drops after a few hours, turning into just hopeless submissive masochistic suffering.
Luckily I did alright, within 2 hours I finished the first and second concept, and then answered the ask. All with 10 minutes left to spare! 😃
Wednesday
On Wednesday, they used me to jerk off while I resisted and tried to squirm away (or acted like it :P). At one point during it, they gave me an order, which I did not obey until they repeated a couple times.
This was not free.
A while after, I was punished for this. They chained my wrists behind my back to my ankles, and then everything pulled up to my collar, forcing me to keep that position if I didn’t want to choke. As if that didn’t get bad enough in time, they made me repeat a couple phrases over, and over, and over again non-stop.
“I’m being punished because I didn’t obey my Owner when they gave me an order. I’m also being punished because my Owner wants me to.”
After what felt like 15 or maybe 20 minutes, they pat me on the head and left to take a shower (within hearing distance). I think they lowered the flow of water every now and then to check that I was still repeating it over and over even if they weren’t there.
It was awful. I was exhausted after and so was my throat. But my mind…wow. At some point it did become more…sort of… automatic, but before that and even then, the effect it had on my brain was immense. I entered a sort of trance where I couldn’t really move my focus away from repeating those two phrases over and over and over and over without rest.
I don’t know if the phrases themselves had any effect. As in, I didn’t particularly feel like I was taking in that particular lesson as my brain melted, it just generally felt like my brain was turning to goo.
Of course, that in no way means I didn’t learn my lesson. I did. I know now that I can resist, I can try to get away, but that is a liberty I’m given very consciously by my Owner, and does in no way mean that I can disobey their orders even within those situations.
Thursday
On Thursday, I stuck my tongue out at my Owner playfully. I was immediatly pushed against the wall behind me, their hand squeezing my jaw, and was informed that I’d recieve extra spanks that night. Fuck.
That night I got 70 spanks.
Saturday morning
On Saturday, I woke up to my Owner cuddling me and attaching my wrists up directly to my collar. Hot. Aaaaaaaaaaa. Hot. They know very well that waking up confusingly more restrained than I was when I fell asleep is a huge fantasy of mine, and I love that they do this every now and then to feed that fantasy. I wanted them to also tighten the chain attaching my collar to the bedpost but failed to communicate it 🙈.
It was hot, and made me feel very loved.
Saturday afternoon
Yesterday we had our monthly negotiation day on our 5 month anniversary from when I became theirs. They want to add more and more rules every month, so that I become less and less free, and more their toy. Boiling frog. I love it, I want that too.
New rule: Toy Mode.
We established that whenever they snap their fingers, I must go in or out of Toy Mode.
When in toy mode:
I must obey every order given by my Owner or a VIP, without delay.
If I leave to fulfil an order, I must return to my Owner’s side ASAP and stay in that spot. Standing, looking down, and with hands behind my back.
I must not move or do anything without being ordered to.
I must not speak unless spoken to, and can only say: “Yes, Sir.”, “No, Sir.”, “Thank you, Sir.” and “Sorry, Sir.”
I may say “May you slap me, Sir?” if I wish to speak beyond my allowed phrases. If they slap me, I may speak freely while ending every sentence with “, Sir.” until they slap me again, signaling that I can no longer speak freely.
I only go out of toy mode if they snap their fingers again.
I’m very excited and very scared. I hope they don’t leave me like that for too long. but of course i hope they do awdiuawdiauwbd
New punishment: A punishment for my “Decisions” rule.
For the unaware, the “Decisions” rule dictates that if I’m on some social meetup without my Owner present, and I’m offered a decision (to choose what to eat, what to play, to watch, etc..), I must text my Owner and they will make the decision for me. If that’s not possible, I must use a random generator. If that’s also not possible, it’s preferable for me to simply not make decisions.
The new punishment, which I now owe, is to have a day filled with awful decisions. This means that throughout one day, I will be made to choose between awful options to make my life miserable that day.
It’s not entirely clear what this will look like but I’m already horrified. Stay tuned~
New task: Dom’s Digital Assistant.
I will now dedicate my mornings to setting up and coding a telegram bot that will keep track of my daily tasks and will notify my Owner if I’m behind and/or have earned a punishment.
This is great not only because it’s an exciting tech project for me, but also because this is something we struggle with given our combined troubles with schedules, routines and general adulting :s
New task: Think of a better daily restraint.
I think I’ve talked about it before; we’ve been trying to keep me chained up as often as possible, but it does get in the way of me helping around the house, which we still very much need me to be able to do. My Owner decided we needed to find a way to keep me restrained 24/7 when home, such that I have as little movement as possible, but I’m still able to help around particularly with washing dishes. Also, being able to hug them is something I’m glad they want me to be able to do uwu.
This is a hard task.
Saturday night
I had again gotten behind on my concepts. On Thursday, I hadn’t written anything. Having had written two concepts the day before confused me a lot and I didn’t even notice. As such, my Owner decided to change the punishment for when I missed the deadlines on my concepts.
As I finished showering, I came to the living room and found that on the dining table they had placed my computer and a large bowl of water and ice on top of a towel.
They chained me tightly to the chair by the waist, took away the keys, and explained.
“You’re going to dip your hands in the ice for one minute, which I’ll monitor myself with a timer on your phone, and then you’ll dry them and write the concept. When you feel heat coming back to your hands, you’ll dip them back in the water for a minute, and so on until you finish the concept you owe me.”
Okay. Didn’t really sound that bad.
“How’s that about feeling the heat coming back? Is it really a particular moment I’ll notice?”
“Yes. They used to do this with Geishas as a way to keep their hands numb enough to play an instrument that had painfully thin strings. Supposedly, you should feel a particular instant when the heat comes back.”
Ah. Alright. They’d done their homework and they’d thought about this a lot. I’ve learned to know that means I should be scared. Still, this really didn’t sound that bad.
“Alright, just in case, can we say maybe some time after which surely I have to dip them back?”
“Sure, I’ll keep track of time and after the minute of ice water, you’ll have two minutes to type before dipping them back.”
“When do I stop?”
“When you finish writing, you’ll dip them back and keep them there until I finish reading it.”
And so, we got the computer ready, I scooched the chair closer (which was hard…it being tightly attached to my waist and all), and started.
They signaled me and I dipped my hands in.
hOly fUCK
THAT’S SO BAD
i did NOT expect that
It might not have seemed like it before, or even when I was just starting, but damn it was really really painful. I whined and whined, trying not to overflow the bowl but keep my hands in. I felt my skin burning and freezing terribly. How??? How is it this bad??????
With great willpower I managed to finally make it through the 60 seconds of me asking the time over and over and them laughing hysterically.
I take out my hands and place them on the towel. They hurt a lot but actually…seem to be completely unharmed. My skin was totally fine.
I safeworded out, I felt like I couldn’t move my hands, I think I didn’t even make any motion towards drying them, I only kind of placed them on top of the towel.
Without taking a beat, they promptly unchained me and started caressing me and telling me nice things. They took me to the couch and tucked me in with my large blanket. My hands were already fine by now, I didn’t really feel anything and they looked as if nothing had happened, it was mostly emotional backlash and a bit of subdrop I was experiencing.
Still, I kept my hands in a warm place and enjoyed the hugs and the love I was receiving. I eventually did feel that moment of sudden heat they had told me about. Interesting.
When taking care of me, my Owner also experienced some domdrop, so we just stayed there taking care of each other, talking about what happened, and simply cuddling and resting until we were better. We decided that that was to be the punishment for a missed deadline. Every day, if I still owed a concept, I had to dip my hands in ice water for 60 seconds. It was effective, simple, easy to do, and incredible.
To finish the aftercare, they cooked and fed me while we watched a show and cuddled. It wa amazing.
Final words
I have a couple things written down for today, Sunday, but I’ll leave them for next week. I want to end on the note of that last story.
I consented to an activity, stopped it via safeword when I couldn’t continue and needed aftercare, they needed aftercare as a top specially because I safeworded (which very rarely happens), and we were both alright. We communicated our wants and needs and we both got what we wanted. We took care of each other and then agreed on how to move forwards.
This is my dynamic to me.
It’s doing what we want, trusting each other, communicating, agreeing, consenting, and then taking care of each other. Doing mutual aftercare by cuddling and watching a movie while eating delicious vegan food (ok yes this sentence is specific to us but still).
I love it.
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march 2 2023
class: dream
i dreamt i was visiting an art exhibit but i somehow had the body of an obscenely popular actor who played in some well known movie albeit it the body was known for being halfway dilapidated filled with horrendous gushing cuts as i was taking the elevator to leave the art exhibit an intercom came in the elevator telling me how it's not the actors fault i have the same body as them there were also some words written in blood above the control panel as i got out on the street i could see the fake people walk about exploring the art exhibit from the outside some girls in japanese school uniforms other boys in attire made for a school sport they all looked like teenagers the guide was short of stature wearing glasses and a yellow crewneck he was leading someone around that had an comical resemblance to sebastian from ranfren
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STAR TREK: A Master Class in Story
Here are five lessons I’ve learned from binge-watching Star Trek.
1. Story > Science
Star Trek has always been about the starships and gadgets, but what makes the show work is that the tech is both believable and supports the story.
I once attended a sci-fi writing panel that featured one of the producers or writers from the Star Trek world and he talked about how important it was to make sure the tech felt plausible, like it could reasonably exist in a not-so distant future.
For instance, the comm devices in the original series (TOS) look pretty similar to those flip phones from the early 2000s.
When the technology for something small—like a communicator—feels believable, it’s not as much of a stretch to believe in warp drives or beaming technology.
But the role of science doesn’t stop there.
The thing that makes Star Trek great is that in every installment, the tech/science/magic exists not just because it’s cool but because it moves the story forward.
The spore drive in Discovery is integral to how the story unfolds.
The fact that Deep Space Nine (DS9) is a former Cardassian space station underscores the cultural conflicts between various species living on it or passing through.
And in early episodes of Enterprise, a lot of the tech we take for granted in the Star Trek universe hasn’t yet been invented, or is still very glitchy.
These clunkier systems add layers to the storytelling because characters can’t simply jump to warp or beam out of harm’s way.
Yes, cool tech is always fun, but between science and story, the latter must take precedence.
2. Love Rules
Ah… gotta love those good old-fashioned spaceship love stories.
The mission might be “to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations,” but guys like Captain Kirk or Commander Riker (mis)interpret it as an excuse to have passionate (albeit short-lived) love affairs with beautiful alien women.
Most of these romances are doomed from the start and never evolve beyond a passing fling.
After all, it’s hard to sustain a relationship when one person flies away on a starship and the other has to stay behind on the planet.
As Star Trek evolves, though, the franchise finds its footing in terms of how it handles love stories—particularly among characters in the main cast—and the romance subplots mature and grow more diverse.
We start seeing relationships that extend past the passionate kiss and into the ups and downs of marriage and a lifetime together.
We see characters grapple with realistic obstacles, like how Miles and Keiko (DS9) must negotiate conflicting career goals or deal with the trauma of (temporarily) losing their daughter to an alternate timeline.
More recently, Discovery has raised the bar even further, by featuring even more diverse romantic relationships.
These romance subplots run the gamut, in some cases exploring the tangled, more painful aspects of love and loss—like Lt. Stamets’s grappling with his husband’s murder and then return via the mycelial network.
In another scenario, we see the cosmic emotional connection between two non-binary teens, Idira and Gray, the deep sense of peace and belonging when they finally feel seen and understood.
Just like with the science and tech, these love stories don’t exist for their own sake, but instead work best because they contribute to the main story and raise the emotional stakes.
3. Retcon: Got It Right?
At various points in the franchise timeline, Star Trek dips its toe into retcon territory… with mixed results.
Retcon stands for “retroactive continuity” and it refers to the way storytellers sometimes go back into the timeline to fill in gaps and create a sense of continuity after the fact.
Retcon is a tricky feat to pull off, and, when it works, it’s a thing of beauty.
When it flops, on the other hand, it doesn’t just fizzle into obscurity but creates a storytelling mess of nuclear proportions.
Several installments in the Star Trek universe attempt a retcon episode now and again, but two series put the retcon front and center:
Enterprise and Discovery.
While Enterprise is a hot mess of retcon ridiculousness, Discovery manages to walk the retcon tightrope for two full seasons before jumping 900+ years into the future and giving the storyline a fresh start.
In order for prequels to work, the story needs to keep the audience interested despite the reverse-engineered plot.
After all, the audience already knows the punchline.
We know who lives, who dies, and how the drama unfolds, so the point of a prequel is no longer “what happens next?” but “how will we get to that endpoint?”
Let me be clear: reverse-engineered storytelling is not new. In fact, the entire romance genre operates under the same constraints. The reader knows from page one that the couple will end up together, so the ending is not a surprise. Instead, the thing that keeps readers turning pages is wanting to figure out how that story unfolds.
When prequels flop, it’s often because the story relies too heavily on plot twists or set dressing.
Instead, writers should treat prequels like romance storylines, putting the characters (and their relationships) front and center.
This is where Discovery nails it and Enterprise misses the mark.
When I first heard the premise of Enterprise, I was excited because a show set in a pre-Federation Star Trek universe would be such a great vehicle for exploring fundamental aspects of Star Trek lore.
We would get to see the origin of the prime directive and witness those early interactions between humans and other species.
Yet the writing for this series is so heavy-handed and the plot is so forced that the result is practically unwatchable.
You would think Discovery—set in the early days of the Federation—would suffer from similar problems, but instead, it focuses on the characters and their relationships to each other.
When we do get retcon moments (like the Captain Pike storyline), the story stays focused on the characters: who they are and the motivations for their choices.
The result is a story with layers of nuance and depth of feeling.
In short, there is nothing inherently wrong with a retcon, but if you’re going to do it, you have to do it right.
4. Don’t Be a Wimp!
Perhaps one of my favorite aspects of Star Trek is how it doesn’t shy away from taking risks.
While the original series is far from perfect, this 1960s show is miles ahead of other space operas when it comes to diversity and representation.
I mean, if we take the original Star Wars trilogy at face value, we’d have to believe there are only two women and one black dude in the whole flipping galaxy.
At least in Star Trek you have Uhura and Sulu in prominent roles on the Enterprise, not to mention the character Chekov, who had to be a risky addition at the height of the Cold War.
Of course, the show has its flaws, like how the men get practical uniforms, but the women are stuck wearing mini tunic-dresses and high heels.
And some of the episodes (*ahem* the series finale) are downright sexist.
But at least Star Trek tries.
Other sci-fi franchises don’t even do that, and the times when Star Trek does miss the mark, it’s often because it’s trying too hard and it ends up sounding preachy.
Star Trek teaches us that if you’re going to go there and tackle something big in your story, then you have to GO there.
Half-hearted efforts will let down your audience (at best) or leave you with egg on your face (at worst).
Let me give a concrete example.
In season 4 of The Next Generation (TNG), Dr. Crusher falls in love with Odan, whose species (Trill) serves as a host for a symbiont.
This symbiont carries all the previous host memories with it when it transfers to a new host, effectively allowing the host to live on through that symbiont.
When Odan is mortally injured, things get complicated.
At first, the symbiont is transferred to Commander Riker, then later to a Trill woman.
While Dr. Crusher has no problem getting all cuddly with Riker when he’s the temporary host, she quickly changes her tune when the symbiont gets transferred to the female Trill.
I’ll be honest: the way this storyline dances around the tough questions is very un-Star Trek, but thankfully the franchise makes up for this massive fail in a later series.
In the DS9 episode, “Rejoined” we see a similar storyline involving Trill.
In this case, Jadzia Dax encounters Lenara Kahn (the widow of a previous Dax host) and the two share a passionate kiss.
As the fifth-ever same-sex kiss in the history of television, this episode is a game-changer on many levels and it is a prime example that it doesn’t pay to be a wimp.
If you’re going to tackle big topics and make a big impact with your story, you have to go all in.
5. More Than Human
One of the big questions at the heart of the entire Star Trek franchise is “What does it mean to be human?”
Of course, it makes sense to use stories about aliens and monsters to explore the nature of humanity.
After all, if a storyline can show the humanity of a strange reptilian creature or a blob of light, then its more humanoid antagonists (like Klingons, Romulans, and Cardassians) come across as all the more relatable and complex.
Star Trek often uses un-human characters to demonstrate humanity.
For instance, the rare moments where Spock shows joy or anguish are far more emotionally resonant than the constant over-the-top in-the-moment reactions from Captain Kirk.
Or consider the character of Data (TNG) who, in all his android-ness, is most compelling when he grapples with emotions like love and grief. (Full disclosure: that scene at the end of Generations when Data finds his cat, Spot, alive and well in the wreckage of the Enterprise D, had me sobbing like a baby.)
The point is, seeing a non-human character experience human emotion has a powerful effect on the audience.
This effect is not limited to the heroes of the story either.
With non-human antagonists, it is the relatability of their motivations that gives the characters emotional depth.
For instance, it’s easy to dislike a character like Cardassian military leader Gul Dukat (DS9).
He is calculating, manipulative, and ruthless in his pursuit of power, yet we see a different side of his character through his relationship to his half-Bajoran daughter Ziyal. (Cardassians and Bajorans are mortal enemies, by the way.)
We may not agree with everything Dukat says or does, but we can tell he truly loves his daughter—even if it’s in his own messed up way.
Because that affection is so relatable, it becomes hard to despise his character entirely, making him one of the most complicated and fascinating characters in the entire Star Trek canon.
In other scenarios, a non-human antagonist develops that sense of unexpected humanity over time.
One such example is the powerful entity: Q.
First appearing in TNG’s series premiere, Q’s primary role in the story is to wreak havoc for Picard and his crew, and he does so with the mere snap of his fingers.
It’s understandable that some viewers lost interest in the show after those first episodes.
After all, it’s hard to care about a story when the antagonist is so powerful and capricious, and the “good guys” seem to have no chance at winning.
Yet, as Q comes back again and again, both in TNG and later in Voyager (VOY), he becomes less omnipotent and more—dare I say it?—human.
Q is most compelling as a character when he is forced to grapple with very un-Q-like problems (e.g. getting expelled from the Continuum, experiencing unrequited love, or dealing with a surly teenage offspring).
This only goes to show that even an all-powerful being like Q is most believable and most himself when he taps into his own humanity.
There you have it: five storytelling lessons I got from binge-watching Star Trek.
Truth be told, I could probably have written an entire essay on each of these topics, but in the interest of time, I’ll stop here and let you take a detour down the Star Trek rabbit hole if you want to learn more.
Gabriela Pereira || DIYMFA
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Exxon Mobil Falls Short Of Analysts’ Expectations With 28% Decline In Q1 Profits
(Source-finance.yahoo)
Exxon Mobil Corp experienced a setback in its first-quarter financial performance, reporting a 28% decrease in profits compared to the same period last year. This drop was attributed to weaker refining margins and decreased natural gas prices, despite an increase in volume. The company’s earnings for the first quarter amounted to $8.22 billion, or $2.06 per share, in contrast to the $11.43 billion net profit recorded a year ago. Analysts’ projections were not met, with per-share profit falling 6% below Wall Street estimates, according to data from LSEG.
Factors Contributing to the Decline
Kathryn Mikells, the Chief Financial Officer, highlighted that while the first-quarter results ranked as the second-highest in the past decade, they were impacted by tax and inventory adjustments on the balance sheet. Mikells emphasized the presence of various one-time items, which this time leaned unfavorably. Weaker energy margins, resulting in a $2.6 billion decrease in operating profit compared to the previous year, played a significant role in the downturn. Despite global oil prices remaining relatively stable, natural gas prices experienced a notable decline, with U.S. gas futures trading 20% lower compared to the previous year.
Positive Contributions and Cost-saving Initiatives
Despite the challenges faced, Exxon saw lower costs and increased volumes from its operations in Guyana, which partially offset the overall decline. The company’s capital spending in the last quarter reached its lowest point in seven quarters, with streamlined operations leading to an expansion of structural cost savings by $400 million. Exxon Mobil concluded the quarter with an additional $1.7 billion in cash, bringing the total to $33.3 billion.
Pioneer Acquisition and Future Prospects
Exxon’s impending acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources, valued at $60 billion, is anticipated to conclude in the near future. The acquisition, conducted entirely through stocks, positions Exxon Mobil as the leading oil and gas producer in the prominent U.S. shale field. This move is expected to double output in the shale field to over 1.3 million barrels of oil equivalent per day. The company foresees reaching a production level of 2 million barrels per day by 2027, capitalizing on economies of scale and future production potential.
Hess Arbitration
However, Exxon Mobil faces challenges regarding its assets in Guyana, where it is currently engaged in a dispute with Chevron and Hess. Exxon Mobil has asserted preemptive rights over Hess’ Guyana assets amidst Chevron’s $53 billion offer for Hess. This dispute is currently under consideration by an international arbitration panel. Should the panel uphold Exxon’s preemptive rights, the company, along with partner CNOOC Ltd, will explore available options. Exxon’s first-quarter results depict a mixed performance influenced by industry dynamics and strategic decisions. The pending acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources marks a significant step toward consolidating its position in the energy sector, albeit amidst ongoing legal disputes that may impact its future trajectory.
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Exxon Mobil Misses Analysts’ Estimates with 28% Drop in Q1 Profits
Source- rte.ie
Exxon Mobil Corp faced a setback in its first-quarter earnings, reporting a 28% year-on-year decline in profits. The shortfall was attributed to weaker refining margins and lower natural gas prices despite volume gains. The company’s first-quarter earnings stood at $8.22 billion, or $2.06 per share, compared to $11.43 billion in net profit during the same period last year. Analysts had anticipated higher figures, with profit per share falling 6% short of Wall Street estimates, as per LSEG estimates.
Factors Behind the Decline
Chief Financial Officer Kathryn Mikells highlighted that while the results marked the second-highest for a first quarter in the past decade, they fell short due to tax and inventory balance sheet adjustments. Mikells noted the impact of “pluses and minuses” associated with one-off items, which this time leaned towards the unfavorable. Weaker energy margins, resulting in a $2.6 billion reduction in operating profit compared to the previous year, were primarily responsible for the downturn. Global oil prices remained relatively stagnant, while natural gas prices witnessed a significant decline, with U.S. gas futures trading 20% lower compared to the previous year.
Positive Boosts and Cost-saving Measures
Despite the challenges, Exxon Mobil experienced lower costs and higher volumes from its operations in Guyana, which partially offset the decline. The company’s capital spending in the last quarter marked a seven-quarter low, with streamlined operations contributing to an expansion of structural cost savings by $400 million. Exxon ended the quarter with $1.7 billion in additional cash, totaling $33.3 billion.
Pioneer Acquisition and Future Outlook
Exxon’s impending $60 billion acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources is expected to conclude in the coming weeks. The acquisition, conducted entirely through stocks, positions Exxon Mobil as the largest oil and gas producer in the leading U.S. shale field. This move is anticipated to double output in the shale field to over 1.3 million barrels of oil equivalent per day. The company projects that the combined entity will reach 2 million barrels per day by 2027, capitalizing on economies of scale and years of future production.
Hess Arbitration
However, Exxon Mobil faces challenges regarding its assets in Guyana, where it is embroiled in a dispute with Chevron and Hess. Exxon has asserted preemption rights over Hess’ Guyana assets amidst Chevron’s $53 billion offer for Hess. This dispute is under consideration by an international arbitration panel. Should the panel uphold Exxon’s preemption rights, the company, along with partner CNOOC Ltd, will explore available options.
Exxon’s first-quarter results reflect a mixed performance influenced by industry dynamics and strategic maneuvers. The impending acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources signifies a significant step towards solidifying its position in the energy sector, albeit amid ongoing legal disputes that may shape its future trajectory.
Curious to learn more? Explore our articles on Enterprise Wired
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PLC Automation Panels Compared: OEM vs. Custom Solutions
In the realm of industrial automation, Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) serve as the backbone, orchestrating the intricate dance of machinery, processes, and data. However, when it comes to implementing PLC systems, businesses are often faced with a crucial decision: should they opt for Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) panels or invest in custom solutions tailored to their specific needs? Let’s delve into the nuances of each option to uncover which best suits your industrial automation requirements.
OEM Panels:
Pros:
1. Standardization: OEM panels are pre-designed and manufactured to industry standards, ensuring compatibility with a wide range of applications.
2. Cost-Effectiveness: Mass production of OEM panels often translates to lower costs per unit, making them a more budget-friendly option for businesses with standardized automation needs.
3. Ease of Installation: With standardized designs and components, OEM panels typically offer straightforward installation processes, minimizing downtime during setup.
Cons:
1. Limited Customization: While OEM panels offer a plug-and-play solution, they lack the flexibility to accommodate unique requirements or specialized functionalities specific to your operations.
2. Scalability Challenges: As your automation needs evolve, OEM panels may struggle to scale alongside your business, potentially requiring costly upgrades or replacements in the future.
Custom Solutions:
Pros:
1. Tailored to Your Needs: Custom solutions are designed from the ground up to align precisely with your operational requirements, offering bespoke functionalities and features tailored to optimize efficiency and productivity.
2. Enhanced Compatibility: By integrating seamlessly with existing systems and processes, custom solutions mitigate compatibility issues and streamline data exchange across your automation ecosystem.
3. Scalability and Future-Proofing: Designed with scalability in mind, custom solutions can adapt and grow alongside your business, accommodating evolving needs and technological advancements without necessitating complete overhauls.
Cons:
1. Higher Initial Investment: Custom solutions often require a higher initial investment compared to off-the-shelf OEM panels due to the design and development processes involved.
2. Extended Lead Times: The bespoke nature of custom solutions means longer lead times for design, development, and manufacturing, potentially delaying implementation timelines.
Conclusion:
In the realm of PLC automation panels, the choice between OEM and custom solutions hinges on the unique requirements, priorities, and long-term objectives of your business. While OEM panels offer standardized functionality at a lower cost, they may fall short in accommodating specialized needs or future scalability. On the other hand, custom solutions provide unparalleled flexibility, scalability, and optimization tailored to your specific operational landscape, albeit at a higher initial investment. Ultimately, businesses must weigh the trade-offs between cost, customization, and long-term scalability to make an informed decision that aligns with their automation strategy and objectives. If you want more information on these type of topics so,
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Renewables Are Holding Again the Emissions Tide
Wind generators and photo voltaic panels in Chile’s Atacama Desert.
Picture: John Moore (Getty Pictures)
International emissions in 2022 are projected to rise only a fraction of the quantity they elevated by final 12 months, thanks largely to a surge in renewables set up and electrical car use, a serious international power group mentioned this week.
The report, issued by the Worldwide Power Company, predicts that international emissions development this 12 months will quantity to lower than 1%. That’s a hell of loads smaller than the 6% rise the world noticed final 12 months. This gradual development comes amid a world power disaster kicked off by the battle in Ukraine and skyrocketing oil and gasoline costs, when coal demand could possibly be rising consequently. However the evaluation finds that the elevated demand for non-oil and gasoline power, it appears, has been offset not by coal however by rising renewable power installations.
“The worldwide power disaster triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has prompted a scramble by many international locations to make use of different power sources to switch the pure gasoline provides that Russia has withheld from the market,” IEA Government Director Fatih Birol mentioned in an announcement. “The encouraging information is that photo voltaic and wind are filling a lot of the hole, with the uptick in coal showing to be comparatively small and short-term.”
International emissions skyrocketed in 2021, pushed partially by rebound after the pandemic restrictions of 2020. In 2021, CO2 emissions grew by a jaw-dropping 2 billion tonnes. In distinction, the IEA predicts that this 12 months will see a rise of simply 300 million tonnes of CO2. And the rise may have been loads worse if renewables weren’t round: Without new renewable power installations and electrical car deployment, the report finds that CO2 emissions may have risen by as a lot as 1 billion tonnes.
“Coverage actions by governments are driving actual structural modifications within the power financial system,” Birol mentioned. “These modifications are set to speed up due to the most important clear power coverage plans which have superior around the globe in latest months.”
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Photo voltaic and wind power are driving plenty of these saved emissions. The report finds that the worldwide capability for these types of power will improve by greater than 700 terawatt-hours this 12 months—the most important rise in a 12 months on file, representing a financial savings of 600 million tonnes of CO2. This development in photo voltaic and wind technology accounts for two-thirds of the brand new renewable capability on the grid. And whereas hydropower struggled amid record-breaking droughts around the globe, the expansion of that type of power has additionally elevated since final 12 months.
It’s not all rosy, nevertheless. The report finds that emissions from coal-fired energy did improve, albeit by a comparatively small quantity—2%—pushed by some international locations changing pure gasoline demand with coal use. And regardless of historic excessive costs, demand for oil is greater than every other fossil gasoline this 12 months, pushed primarily by the aviation sector. The rise in oil demand is predicted so as to add some 180 million tonnes of CO2 to the ambiance.
Originally published at Irvine News HQ
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Hello Sorrow [Chapter Three] Run Sweetheart Run [Karl Heisenberg]
Run and hide … run and hide …
His words stayed with her like a menacing curse.
Irina ran, but she didn’t know where to go. The room was dim; air damp, reeking of iron and musk. She ran in what seemed like circles before coming to a breathless stop, regrettably aware that she had not escaped the same hole she had plunged down. How were her thoughts so unorganized? It was because of him; it had to be, watching her from above like she was a mouse in a game of find the cheese.
Her breath came out hot and heavy as she gasped for air. Was this a panic attack? Irina looked desperately around her. She yearned for a weapon; a door out of this place. But her mind was too jumbled. She could hardly think straight.
Breathe, she begged.
She needed a moment to concentrate; a moment without Heisenberg watching her to assess the situation.
Irina took a deep and uneven breath. Her throat was tender; head beating from the tension, but she felt better.
If only for a moment.
“Time is ticking away, darling. You don’t want to die at the starting line, do you?”
Irina shot a baleful glance in his direction. “Shut up.”
His voice wasn’t helping.
Laughing at her only irritated her more.
“Best of luck,” he stated.
Before he slammed the trapdoor closed, Heisenberg grinned, staring down at her scared, yet irked expression. “And sweetheart … don’t disappoint me.”
“Go to hell!”
The door came down with a bang; dust rained down with it. Thank god he left her alone.
Shutting her sore eyes, Irina took another breath and opened them, rescanning the grimy room. There wasn’t much in terms of weapons she could use; this room was void of scrap, and she couldn’t imagine tossing a cardboard box at Heisenberg.
Skip it. What’s next?
Waiting him out was an ignorant plan. Irina had no reason to trust that he’d keep his word and let her go once the game was over. Hell no. She’d take her chances trying to escape, then worry about fleeing from the village once she returned. First, she needed to find a map and locate the exits – this was a factory; there were bound to be many. Heisenberg gave her an hour; there was plenty she could do in an hour, like secure a sturdy weapon and attempt to remove the shackles from her wrists.
“I can do this,” she uttered in assurance.
There was no way he could search every nook and cranny to find her. This factory was enormous; it certainly looked enormous from the outside.
As she was pondering her next move a low rattling noise startled her. From the left, a shutter door opened, as if to welcome her into the next room. How generous of the prick to lend her a hand.
Accepting, Irina moved into the next room. But as she passed through, a high-pitched siren went off and the shutter began to come down, sealing her within. A warning light flooded her in bright red. Irina screamed in frustration and slammed her hands against the rippled metal.
“Fuck you! This is cheating,” she snapped.
The siren hurt her ears.
“And shut that damn thing off.”
Moments later, the siren went silent, but the warning light remained on – he was a comical one.
Obviously, Heisenberg wanted her to move onward. Returning back to the previous room was not an option.
Irina turned with an irritated huff and searched the room. It looked as if it were once used as a breakroom. An herb in a small terracotta pot sat on a table top in the corner; dust covered lockers and shelves rested against the walls.
And much to her relief, she saw a door.
She stepped away from the shutter and began to rummage around in the lockers. They were bare, apart from one that possessed a long-range flashlight. The lens was horribly cracked, but the battery was still good, albeit it took her several smacks against her hand to get the light to stop flashing in and out once she tested it.
It would do.
Before she progressed on, Irina uprooted the wilted green herb and stored it in her bag. Luiza taught her that the stem, when ingested, had curative properties; it wasn’t much and she wasn’t sure she’d even need it, but having it was better than not having it.
The door led her down a set of narrow steps. Irina had to use the cold brick wall as a support, because the bright red warning lights above were on, ominously blinking. She was nervous she’d miss a step and fall on her ass. When she reached the bottom and opened the door, she stood in complete shock, having been led to the beating heart of the factory.
Her stomach twisted and churned in dread; this place was much larger than she thought.
The shrill hum of the machines vibrated in her ears as suspension conveyors moved heavy materials in sharp angles from one empty station to the next across the production floor; massive pumpjacks rotated on screeching cranks in rapid succession, hissing and shooting steam.
Tears gathered in her scared eyes. It was horrific; the worst sound Irina had ever heard, like a howling mechanical beast.
I’m going to die here.
Absolutely not. She was going to beat this game.
Irina eased towards the broken railing and looked down. There was another floor beneath the one she was on; the smell of murky stagnant water below made her pucker her nose in disgust. How far did she go down?
She decided not to dwell on it long and continued across the platform to the end where the floor branched into three areas; two were sealed by doors and the other was an open lift. Her heart hammered in excitement, and to improve her mood, she saw an extensive map of the factory on the wall near the door in front of her.
Irina hurried into the lift, finding the worn service panel. B4 was lit up; a glowing circle beside it. She wondered if B4 was the floor she was on, considering the fact B5 was written on the last button.
“Please let this work,” she uttered.
Her life depended on it.
But first, the map – in case she was wrong – then perhaps she could find a way to break the shackles around her wrists.
According to the diagram she was in Materials. To leave she had to make her way up to Storage; seemed easy enough.
Irina grinned and went through the door across from the lift cart. Her keen eyes caught sight of something against the wall. It was a model of the factory – though not exact – with rotating mechanisms. Did Heisenberg make this? It was rather crafted.
She watched in wonder as the golden trolley car moved back and forth on its automated track. Reaching out to touch it, she noticed the base on which it sat was a barred ossuary that held the crystallized remains of a human inside it. Haunting, yet beautiful, Irina wondered if it were valuable.
Perhaps she’d take it and see if the Duke might buy it from her. But how would she free it? There appeared to be no button or padlock on the ossuary; nothing but a dented space made for something round.
As she was searching for other methods to open the casket, she heard a strange noise over the whisper of the machines outside. The sound was almost familiar, yet she knew she had never heard it here before. In the village maybe; a cart.
It suddenly occurred to her what it might be. Irina darted back onto the platform just in time for the cart to disappear from the floor she was on. In horror, she watched as the buttons on the outside lit up to indicate the floor the cart was being called to. At Storage it stopped, then a second later it began to descend again, passing up floors 2 and 3.
Is it time?
No damn way had an hour passed. Heisenberg was cheating.
He led me here. The entire time he knew which floor I was on, because he fucking led me here.
He lied to her; he never intended to play fair. And she was a fool to trust him.
Irina ran. She busted through the remaining door in a panic and rushed down the steps, fleeing down a hallway bathed in red. At the end of the hall, she found herself in another room. An automated door sat in front of her, red light on the hull. But once Irina tried to wrench it open, she learned that it was locked.
Why wouldn’t it move?
“Open … please open.”
She tried all she knew to do, but the door remained shut. Tears stung her eyes as she banged weakly on the metal. The palm of her hand struck the bulbous red light and a final last idea came to her. Perhaps if she broke it the door would short circuit and open. It was worth a shot.
On a mantel piece to the right of her, she found a rusted hammer. The splintered wood dug into her tender skin as Irina yanked it from its hook. Standing back, her arm extended and she swung at the light, hitting it dead center. The lens fissured, webbing out, and with one more potent hit, the glass broke, spraying sparks and hissing in protest before the metal latch gave and the door opened.
“Could have been an easier way to do that then breaking my damn door,” a voice said.
Irina jerked in fear and glanced over her shoulder. Heisenberg stood behind her, duster and hat missing from his person. But over his arm he carried a large sledge hammer; its handle was wooden, but its massive head was made of fused helical gears and metal scrap. How was he able to carry such a thing?
“Shame,” he added. “You only held out for about ten minutes.”
She gave him a heated glare. “The hour you gave me isn’t over yet. There is still time.”
“Afraid not. Your time is up.”
His hammer smacked the floor with a deafening crack; its metal face scraped the concrete, shattering it.
Irina tossed the claw hammer at him and ran – whether it hit its mark or not wasn’t her concern.
“That’s the spirit,” he taunted.
She scurried up sets of stairs; across steel grate platforms and down dark halls with nothing but her light to lead the way, until her legs ached and her breath poured out thick and hot.
It hurts, she complained.
At last, she stopped, coming to rest in a heated workroom with an x-ray film board and a furnace used to make castings.
Was there anywhere safe to catch her breath?
Irina sighed and moved around to the other side of a workbench to a door on her right. It was bolted, but with a lock pick she opened it and wondered in, locking it from the inside.
Sitting on the floor, she took an uneasy breath.
She had to rest.
Just a moment.
But something slumped to the floor near her, moving in the dark. Irina shined her light on the area and to her horror, a monster stood. It’s arm, wired to an auger roared to life.
Irina screamed.
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• Avro Lancaster Bomber
The Avro Lancaster is a British Second World War heavy bomber. It was designed and manufactured by Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax. The Lancaster would become one of the most capable strategic bombers of the Second World War.
The Lancaster has its origins in the twin-engine Avro Manchester which had been developed during the late 1930s in response to the Air Ministry Specification P.13/36 for a capable medium bomber for "world-wide use". Originally developed as an evolution of the Manchester (which had proved troublesome in service and was retired in 1942), the Lancaster was designed by Roy Chadwick and powered by four Rolls-Royce Merlins engines. During the late 1930s, none of these were ready for production. Both the United States and the Soviet Union were pursuing the development of bombers powered by arrangements of four smaller engines; the results of these projects proved to possess favourable characteristics such as excellent range and fair lifting capacity. Accordingly, in 1936, the RAF also decided to investigate the feasibility of the four-engined bomber. Various candidates were submitted for the specification by such manufacturers as Fairey, Boulton Paul, Handley Page and Shorts; all submissions were designed around two-engine configurations, using the Rolls-Royce Vulture, Napier Sabre, Fairey P.24 or Bristol Hercules engines. The majority of these engines were under development at this point; while four-engined bomber designs were considered for specification of a heavy bomber. In response, British aviation company Avro decided to submit its own design, designated the Avro 679, to meet Specification P.13/36. In February 1937, following consideration of the designs by the Air Ministry, Avro's design submission was selected along with Handley Page's bid being chosen as "second string". Accordingly, during April 1937, a pair of prototypes of both designs were ordered.
As early as mid-1940, Avro's chief design engineer, Roy Chadwick, had been working on an improved Manchester design. This redesign was powered by four of the more reliable but less powerful Rolls-Royce Merlin engines, specifically adopting the form of the Merlin "Power Plant" installations which had been developed by Rolls-Royce for the earlier Beaufighter II, installed on a larger wing. Initially, the improved aircraft was designated as the Type 683 Manchester III; it was subsequently renamed as the Lancaster. The prototype aircraft, serial number BT308, was assembled by the Avro experimental flight department at Ringway Airport, Manchester; the prototype was constructed from a production Manchester airframe, which was combined with a new wing centre section designed to accommodate the additional engines. On January 9th, 1941, test pilot H. A. "Sam" Brown performed the prototype's maiden flight at RAF Ringway, Cheshire. Flight testing of the new aircraft quickly proved it to be a substantial improvement on its predecessor. The first prototype was initially outfitted with a three-finned tail layout, a result of the design having been adapted from the Manchester I; this was quickly revised on the second prototype. Some of the later orders for Manchesters were converted in favour of the Lancaster; both bombers shared various similarities and featured identical design features, such as the same distinctive greenhouse cockpit, turret nose and twin tail. The designs were so similar that an entire batch of partially constructed Manchesters were completed as Lancaster B I aircraft instead. Based upon its performance, a decision was taken early on to reequip twin-engine bomber squadrons with the Lancaster as quickly as possible. In October 1941, the first production Lancaster, L7527, powered by Merlin XX engines, conducted its first flight.
Avro received an initial contract for 1,070 Lancasters. The majority of Lancasters manufactured during the war years were constructed by Avro at its factory at Chadderton near Oldham, Greater Manchester and were test-flown from Woodford Aerodrome in Cheshire. As it was quickly recognised that Avro's capacity was exceeded by the wartime demand for the type, it was decided to form the Lancaster Aircraft Group, which comprised a number of companies that undertook the type's manufacture, either performing primary assembly themselves or producing various subsections and components for the other participating manufacturers. In addition to Avro, further Lancasters were constructed by Metropolitan-Vickers (1,080, also tested at Woodford) and Armstrong Whitworth. They were also produced at the Austin Motor Company works in Longbridge, Birmingham, later in the Second World War and post-war by Vickers-Armstrongs at Chester as well as at the Vickers Armstrong factory, Castle Bromwich, Birmingham. Belfast-based aircraft firm Short Brothers had also received an order for 200 Lancaster B Is, but this was cancelled before any aircraft had been completed. The Lancaster was also produced overseas. During early 1942, it was decided that the bomber should be produced in Canada, where it was manufactured by Victory Aircraft in Malton, Ontario. Of later variants, only the Canadian-built Lancaster B X was produced in significant numbers. A total of 430 of this type were built, earlier examples differing little from their British-built predecessors, except for using Packard-built Merlin engines and American-style instruments and electrics. By the time of the Lancaster's production by the end of the war and later into 1946, 7,377 aircraft were produced.
The Avro Lancaster was a British four-engined strategic bomber that was used as the RAF's principal heavy bomber during the latter half of the Second World War. The typical aircraft was powered by an arrangement of four wing-mounted Rolls-Royce Merlin piston engines, each of which drove a 13 ft (4.0 m) diameter de Havilland Hydromatic three-bladed propeller. While not optimal, the Lancaster was capable of flying the return journey home on only two operational engines, along with very limited distances on a single running engine. It possessed largely favourable flying characteristics, having been described by Goulding and Garbett as being: "a near-perfect flying machine, fast for its size and very smooth...such a delightfully easy aeroplane to fly...there are instances of Lancasters having been looped and barrel-rolled, both intentionally and otherwise". The Lancaster benefited from a structure that possessed considerable strength and durability, which had been intentionally designed to maximise structural strength-per-weight; this resulted in the Lancaster being capable of withstanding some levels of damage resulting from attacks by hostile interceptor aircraft and ground-based anti-aircraft batteries. However, during the first year of the type's career, some instances of structural failures were encountered on Lancaster B Is and a number of aircraft were lost in accidents as a result of the design limitations having been greatly exceeded. Compared with other contemporary aircraft, the Lancaster was not an easy aircraft to escape from as its escape hatch was only 22 in × 26.5 in (56 cm × 67 cm) in size; in a Halifax or Stirling (which both had an escape hatch 2 in (5.1 cm) wider), 25 per cent of downed aircrew bailed out successfully, and in American bombers (albeit in daylight raids) it was as high as a 50 per cent success rate while only 15 per cent of the Lancaster crew were able to bail out. The Lancaster uses a mid-wing cantilever monoplane configuration. The wing is constructed from five separate main sections while the fuselage is likewise composed of five sections. Aside from a few elements, such as the fabric-covered ailerons, the Lancaster's oval-shaped fuselage had an all-metal covering. All of the wing and fuselage sections were manufactured separately, during which they were outfitted with all of the required equipment in advance of final assembly being performed, as a measure intended to accelerate the rate of production. The Lancaster was equipped with a retractable main undercarriage and fixed tailwheel; the hydraulically-actuated main landing gear raised rearwards into recesses within the inner engine nacelles. The distinctive tail unit of the aircraft was outfitted with a large twin elliptical fins and rudder arrangement.
The standard crew for a Lancaster consisted of seven men, stationed in various positions in the fuselage. Starting at the nose, the bomb aimer had two positions to man. His primary location was lying prone on the floor of the nose of the aircraft, with access to the bombsight controls facing forward, with the bomb sights on his left and bomb release selectors on the right. He also used his view out of the large transparent perspex nose cupola to assist the navigator with map reading. To man the Frazer Nash FN5 nose turret, he stood up placing himself in position behind the triggers of the twin .303 in (7.7 mm) guns. Ammunition for the turret was 1,000 rounds per gun (rpg). The bomb aimer's position contained the nose emergency hatch in the floor; at 22 by 26.5 inches (560 by 670 mm) (two inches narrower than the Halifax escape hatch) it was difficult to exit through while wearing a parachute. On the roof of the bomb bay the pilot and flight engineer sat side by side under the expansive canopy, with the pilot sitting on the left on a raised portion of the floor (almost all British bombers, and most German bombers, had only a single pilot seat as opposed to American practice of carrying two pilots, or at least having controls for two pilots installed). The flight engineer sat on a collapsible seat (known as a "second dicky seat") to the pilot's right, with the fuel selectors and gauges on a panel behind him and to his right. The tail gunner escaped by rotating his turret to the rear, opening the door in the back of the turret, passing into the fuselage, and clipping on a parachute that was hung on the side wall. He could then exit through the rear entrance door. Behind the pilot and flight engineer, and behind a curtain fitted to allow him to use light to work, sat the navigator. His position faced to port with a chart table in front of him. An instrument panel showing the airspeed, altitude, and other information required for navigation was mounted on the side of the fuselage above the chart table. The wireless operator's radios were mounted on the left-hand end of the chart table, facing the rear of the aircraft. On his left was a window, and above him was the astrodome, used for visual signalling and by the navigator for celestial navigation. Behind the wireless operator were the two spars for the wing, which created a major obstacle for crew members moving down the fuselage even on the ground. On reaching the end of the bomb bay the floor dropped down to the bottom of the fuselage, and the mid-upper gunner's turret was reached. His position allowed a 360° view over the top of the aircraft, with two Browning .303 Mark IIs to protect the aircraft from above and to the side. The mid-upper gunner sat on a rectangle of canvas that was slung beneath the turret and would stay in position throughout the flight. Ammunition for the turret was 1,000 rounds per gun.
The Avro Lancaster was initially equipped with four Nash & Thompson Frazer Nash hydraulically operated turrets mounted in the nose, tail, mid-upper and underside. The original tail turret was equipped with four Browning .303 Mark II machine guns and all other turrets with two such machine guns. Late on in the war, as a result of statistical analysis, Freeman Dyson put forward a case for the removal of the majority of the Lancaster's defensive armament. He argued that this would reduce the overall loss rate as it would have the benefit of increasing the Lancaster's cruise speed by up to 50 mph (80 km/h) (assuming the bomb load was not increased at the same time), and thus make the bomber harder to shoot down. However this theory neglects the fact that the two main Luftwaffe night fighters of the time, the Me 110 and the Ju 88 in their night fighter versions were all capable of 300 mph (480 km/h), thus any 50 mph (80 km/h) increase over the Lancaster's normal cruising speed of around 180 mph (290 km/h), (giving a speed of 230 mph (370 km/h)) still left the Lancaster well within the interception speeds of these two aircraft. Only the FN-5A nose turret which was similar to the FN-5 used on the preceding Avro Manchester, the Vickers Wellington and the Short Stirling remained unchanged during the life of the design, except in instances where it was removed entirely. The ventral (underside) FN-64 turret quickly proved to be dead weight, being both difficult to sight because it relied on a periscope which limited the gunner's view to a 20-degree arc, and too slow to keep a target within its sights. Aside from early B Is and the prototype B IIs, the FN-64 was almost never used. The mid-upper (dorsal or top) turret was an FN-50 on early examples and the very similar FN-150 with improved sights and controls on later examples. On all but the earliest examples this turret was surrounded by a coaming which provided a track for a cam operated interruptor device which prevented the gunner from shooting the tail of his own aircraft. The tail turret was the most important defensive position and carried the heaviest armament. Despite this, the turrets used, starting with the FN-20, were never entirely satisfactory and numerous designs were tried. The FN-20 was replaced by the very similar FN-120 which used an improved gyroscopic gun sight (GGS). Many rear gunners insisted on having the centre section of perspex removed from the turret to improve visibility. The transparencies were difficult to see through at night, particularly when trying to keep watch for enemy night fighters that appeared without notice astern and below the aircraft when getting into position to open fire. Ultimately radar, rather than improved visibility, made the turret more effective. An important feature of the Lancaster was its unobstructed 33 ft (10 m) long bomb bay. At first, the heaviest bomb carried was the 4,000 lb (1,800 kg) high capacity HC "Cookie".[38] Bulged doors were added to 30 per cent of B Is to allow the aircraft to carry 8,000 lb (3,600 kg) and later 12,000 lb (5,400 kg) "Cookies". The Lancaster also carried a variety of smaller weapons, including the Small Bomb Container (SBC) which held 236 4 lb (1.8 kg) or 24 30 lb (14 kg) incendiary and explosive incendiary bomblets; 500 lb (230 kg) and 1,000 lb (450 kg) General Purpose High Explosive (GP/HE) bombs (these came in a variety of designs); 1,850 lb (840 kg) parachute deployed magnetic or acoustic mines, or 2,000 lb (910 kg) armour-piercing (AP) bombs; 250 lb (110 kg) Semi-Armour-Piercing (SAP) bombs, used up to 1942 against submarines; post 1942: 250 lb (110 kg) or 500 lb (230 kg) anti-submarine depth charges.
During early 1942, No. 44 Squadron, based at RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire, became the first RAF squadron to convert to the Lancaster; it was quickly followed by No. 97 Squadron, which was also based at Waddington. On March 2nd, 1942, the first operational mission of the Lancaster, deploying naval mines in the vicinity of Heligoland Bight, was performed by aircraft of No. 44 Sqn. On March 10th, 1942, the first bombing mission was conducted over the German city of Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia. While the Lancaster had been designed to conduct night-time operations, daylight raids were occasionally performed by the type as well. The existence of the Lancaster was revealed after a daytime raid upon an engine factory located in Augsburg, Swabia, Bavaria conducted by Nos. 44 and 97 Sqns on April 17th, 1942. Due to the high loss rates typically involved in such operations, daytime bombing missions were performed sparingly until the Allies had achieved a level of aerial supremacy over the Axis powers. During 1942, the Lancaster remained in relatively short supply, which meant that training and crew conversion courses typically had to be performed by the squadrons themselves; there were no aircraft furnished with dual controls at this time, and pilots would therefore have to perform their first flight without the instructor being capable of directly acting on the controls themselves. Throughout July 1943, large numbers of Lancasters participated in the devastating round-the-clock raids on the city of Hamburg during Air Chief Marshal Harris's "Operation Gomorrah". A particularly famous mission performed by the Lancaster was the mission flown May 16-17th, 1943, codenamed Operation Chastise, to destroy the dams of the Ruhr Valley. The operation was carried out by 617 Squadron in modified Mk IIIs carrying special drum-shaped bouncing bombs, which had been designed by British engineer Barnes Wallis. The story of the operation was later made into a film, The Dam Busters.
During the latter half of 1944, a series of high-profile bombing missions were performed by the Lancaster against the German battleship Tirpitz. Executed by Nos. 617 and 9 Sqns, a combination of Lancaster B I and B III bombers were armed with 12,000 lb 'Tallboy' bombs and were adapted with enlarged bomb bay doors in order to accommodate their special payloads and additional fuel tanks to provide the necessary endurance. A total of three attacks, individually codenamed Operation Paravane, Operation Obviate and Operation Catechism, were conducted against Tirpitz, which was anchored in a fjord in Occupied Norway. The first of these attacks disabled the vessel while the third mission was responsible for sinking the ship. As a result of actions such as Operation Chastise and the sinking of Tirpitz, No. 617 Sq was perhaps the most famous of all Lancaster squadrons. During early 1945, a total of 33 Lancaster B Is were modified so that they could deploy the 22,000 lb Grand Slam bomb, the heaviest conventional bomb to be used during the conflict. On March 13th, 1945, the first operational use of the Grand Slam was performed by a Lancaster of No. 617 Sqn against the Bielefeld viaduct in North Rhine-Westphalia. Amongst the final wartime operations performed by the Lancaster was the destruction of Eagle's Nest, the extensive holiday home complex used by German leader Adolf Hitler. RAF Lancasters dropped food into the Holland region of the occupied Netherlands, with the acquiescence of the occupying German forces, to feed people who were in danger of starvation. The Lancaster conducted a total of 156,000 sorties and dropped 608,612 long tons (618,378 tonnes) of bombs between 1942 and 1945. Only 35 Lancasters completed more than 100 successful operations each, and 3,249 were lost in action. The most successful survivor completed 139 operations, and was ultimately retired from service and scrapped in 1947. From 1942 onwards, the Lancaster became the mainstay of the British heavy bomber fleet; by the end of the war in Europe, there were roughly 50 squadrons equipped with the Lancaster, the majority of these being the Lancaster B I model. Adolf Galland (commander of the Luftwaffe fighters) considered the Lancaster to be "the best night bomber of the war", as did his adversary, Arthur "Bomber" Harris, who referred to it as the RAF Bomber Command's "shining sword".
Lancasters from Bomber Command were to have formed the main strength of Tiger Force, the Commonwealth bomber contingent scheduled to take part in Operation Downfall, the codename for the planned invasion of Japan in late 1945. Aircraft allocated to the Tiger Force were painted in white with black undersides and outfitted with additional radio units and navigational aids to facilitate their use in the Pacific theatre. The addition of large saddle-type external fuel tanks was considered and trialled in Australia and India, but this was discontinued due to their perceived vulnerability to attack. Prior to the decision to carry out extensive modifications under Silverplate to the Boeing B-29 Superfortress to allow it deliver atomic bombs over Japan, serious consideration was given to using the Lancaster with its cavernous bomb bay instead. Using the Lancaster would have required much less modification to the aircraft itself, but would have necessitated additional crew training for the USAAF crews. As a byproduct of its sound design and operational success, various developments and derivatives of the Lancaster were produced for both military and civilian purposes. One of these was the Avro Lincoln bomber, initially known as the Lancaster IV and Lancaster V. These two marks became the Lincoln B1 and B2 respectively. A civilian airliner was based on the Lancaster, known as the Lancastrian. In the post-war climate, the Lancaster continued to see use for several more years, during which a number of high-profile operations were conducted. Immediately following the end of hostilities, the Lancaster was used as a crude transport aircraft, being used to ferry thousands of prisoners of war (POWs) back to the British Isles from across the continent. In RAF service, the Lancaster remained at the forefront of Bomber Command; the Lancaster B I was gradually replaced by the improved Lancaster B I (F/E) models.
Of the 17 surviving and largely intact Lancasters known to exist, two are airworthy; one, PA474, based in Coningsby, the UK, is operated by The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, and the other, called Vera (coded VR-A, FM213), is in Canada, operated by the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Mount Hope, a suburb of Hamilton, Ontario. Another Lancaster, Just Jane, NX611, a B MkVII, based in East Kirkby Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre is able to taxi but is not currently airworthy, though there are plans to return her to flight in the future. The fourth Lancaster with working engines and able to taxi is Bazalgette FM159 based at the Bomber Command Museum of Canada in Nanton, Alberta. It has been carefully restored from a vandalised state and is now a main tourist attraction. For the 2018 flying season, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Operation Chastise, the Canadian Warplane Heritage Lancaster is painted in the markings of Guy Gibson's 617 Squadron aircraft (Code AJ-G, ED932) when he commanded the "Dambusters" raids.
#second world war#world war 2#world war ii#wwii#military history#history#british history#aviation#military aircraft#aircraft#bombers#royal air force#british commonwealth#avro lancaster#long post
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The story of Swamp Rat 17: Don Garlits' most misunderstood Top Fueler (part 2)
The Wynn’s Liner sits proudly in Garlits museum, parked just ahead of Petersen’s own failed attempt at aerodynamics, the Can Am-inspired Olympia Top Fuel car that lived its own all-too-short life in 1974.
Any chat with Don Garlits is always a thrill, but for history geeks like me, it’s especially thrilling because of his incredible memory. He turned 89 in January, but his memory is as clear as if he were 29. He, of course, knows his cars inside out, remembering specifically not only the number of each Swamp Rat but wheelbases, engines, and great stories associated with each. I do a lot of interviews with the stars of yesteryear and many, many of them, quite naturally as they age, have less than excellent recall. Then there's "Big Daddy." He's amazing.
So, as promised earlier in this column, I asked him to rank his Swamp Rats in order of favorites. Although I'm sure that, given time, he could have ranked them from 1 to 38, I asked only for his Top 5.
Here’s his Top 5, including portions of the descriptions I wrote for my trio of Swamp Rat Spotters Guides a few years ago (Swamp Rats I-A to X | Swamp Rats XI to 20-B | Swamp Rats 21 to 34):
No. 1, the first (1956-60): Although it wasn't his first dragster — he had made a crude, flathead-powered dragster from a '27-T roadster by moving the engine back and hanging a seat out over the rear end — it's the first car to wear the Swamp Rat name. The car was built on the framerails of a '31 Chevy passenger car that he bought at a junkyard for $35 in 1956; Garlits removed the frame from the body in the junkyard using little more than a large ax, a cold chisel, a ball-peen hammer, and a small assortment of hand tools. He transplanted most of the parts off of the flathead dragster to this car, except the driver seat, which was an old B-17 bomber seat. Initially using Ford power, Garlits switched to Chrysler Hemi power and later to high-gear-only. The carbureted version of this car is the one that beat the nay-saying Californians in Houston but got whipped by the West Coasters in Bakersfield, but as soon as "Big" added a blower, it was all over for everyone.
No. 22, the 5.63 car (1975): The car that succeeded SR 21 would go into the record books in a "big" way and stay there for years: This is the car in which Garlits brought the class to its knees with a 5.63-second clocking at the World Finals, a record that stood for more than six years. Built by Garlits, “T.C.” Lemons, and Don Cook on a 240-inch wheelbase, the car was lightweight and fast from the first go. He had hoarded oversized Goodyear slicks, built a new engine, and even lengthened the chassis by 10 inches, and it all paid off with that monstrous 5.63 that helped him win the event and the championship and was attached to the sport's first official 250-mph run. The historic car was retired at year's end and has never left Garlits' possession other than for occasional displays; it was hauled out of mothballs to run at — and win — the 1977 Gatornationals.
No. 26, the comeback car (1980-84): The follow-up to the porky “Godzilla” car, Swamp Rat 26 was "lean and light" — Garlits forsook paint for black anodized panels with stick-on lettering — and with the power that Garlits and Parks had learned to make to get the porky Godzilla car down the track, they seemed to be ahead of the game. The car was completed in time to run the Florida Winter Series events, but Parks quit that winter after the tough 1980 season, and Garlits won just two AHRA events in 1981. Garlits ran infrequently in the next three seasons, and Swamp Rat 26 might have just gone quietly into retirement as a disappointment had old pal Art Malone not called Garlits in the summer of 1984 and offered to fund a run at the 1984 Indy title. Malone got Garlits new parts, and they coaxed Parks out of retirement, and despite an aging car and a team of "dinosaurs" (Garlits' word), they won the race, completing a storybook comeback straight out of Hollywood. Garlits went on to also win a big eight-car Top Fuel show at Firebird Int'l Raceway and the NHRA World Finals — "Big Daddy" was back!
No. 30, the streamliner (1986): In the pantheon of famous Garlits cars, this cockpit-canopied streamliner may well be at the top of the pyramid. Garlits had Mike Magiera fabricate the nosepiece and constructed front "tires" out of 13-inch aluminum discs wrapped with industrial fan belts to fit beneath it. The belts would exit the wheels after almost every run, but that didn’t stop the “Rat Under Glass” from running 272.56 mph in the car's winning debut in Gainesville in 1986. Garlits later abandoned those wheels to run small-airplane tires that worked well but, ironically, took flight in his famous July 12 blowover wheelstand at the NHRA Summernationals. The car had to be backhalved in the Florida shop to complete the season, which ended with Garlits atop the points standings. Swamp Rat XXX also ran about half of the 1987 campaign and then famously became part of a display at the Smithsonian Institution the following year.
No. 34, the monowing car: Originally built in 1992 for Bruce Larson to drive after Garlits retired after experiencing eye problems caused by too many sudden parachute decelerations. At the end of the 1994 season, Garlits loaned the car to former Funny Car and fuel altered pilot Richard Langson and served as his crew chief in 1995, albeit with little success again. After years off the track, Garlits brought the car up to spec and competed at the 2002 Gatornationals and U.S. Nationals, then upped his speed mark to 323.04 at the 2003 Gatornationals. “It’s still the most modern Top Fueler in the world,” Garlits insisted to me. “It’s got the narrowed rear end and the mono wing rudder to make it go straight down the course, and the canopy.”
And, well, because Garlits was being so generous with his time and candor, I dared to ask him about his bottom five.
“Well, only a half-dozen cars that didn’t cut the mustard, but from what we’ve already talked about today," he said. "I think you know the five already: the streamliner (SR17), ‘Shorty' (SR18), the sidewinder (SR27), the turbine car (Swamp Rat 28-A), and then it would be Swamp Rat 12-A. That car [pictured above, was the first Swamp Rat to be designated with Arabic numerals instead of Roman numerals] was too short [just 137 inches], and we only ran that in the winter series in California."
My Spotters Guides from a few years ago ended at 34, but the numbers carried on after
35: 2009 DragPak stocker
36: 2011 Drag Pak stocker
37: First electric car
38: Second electric car
Swamp Rat 38 had been Garlits' hope for being the first battery-powered car to exceed 200 mph, but he was beaten to that mark last year by Steve Huff and parked the car.So, naturally, I had to ask Garlits if there would ever be a Swamp Rat 39.“Never say never,” he said, and I could detect a gleam in his eye even over a cellular connection. “Maybe I try to build a 250-mph electric car. There’s such fantastic battery technology coming, I don’t want to spend money on old technology. I still want to drive if I can by then. I still feel good, so I don't think that will be any problems.”Same ol' "Big Daddy." I can’t wait.Phil Burgess can reached at [email protected] of more articles like this can be found in the DRAGSTER INSIDER COLUMN ARCHIVE
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