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powered-universe-official · 1 year

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Draft 2, Part 1: Virtue; Love Is All I Bring

Virtue learns two important things

Virtue peeks over the top of their laptop as Airael finishes packing up their stuff. He salutes with two fingers and walks out into the snow covered driveway where Gemini is waiting in the car. Michael had left earlier to go out with his moms to see some family, so just they and Bug are left to clean everything up.

Bug stretches a little, and Virtue can hear its spine pop from how quiet the cold garage is. “Hey Virtue, have you heard-” It starts until a light trill comes from its phone. It looks at whatever notification had just come in, smiles, and softly hums part of some song Virtue doesn’t recognize.

There’s a strong flutter of emotion in their chest, and for a moment as they look at Bug, they don’t see the 20 something band leader and friend that stands in front of them, but instead someone who could be their sibling. A sibling who they’re so happy for and proud of. As soon as it appears, as soon as Virtue can taste the feeling, it’s gone.

“Who was that?” They ask, and Bug’s head snaps up to them in mild surprise.

“Uh, that was Malcolm. He’s having a good day today.” It says with a slight grin as it puts its phone back into its pocket.

Virtue tries to reach for someone named Malcolm, but the best that they can come up with is an annoying student from when they were in college. They look at Bug, who looks like it’s trying to hold in laughter, and failing horribly.

“Is he really more of a wallflower than you? Oh my God that’s so- holy shit you don’t know who I’m talking about!” They cackle and double over in giggles. “Oh boy, give me a minute, I can’t- you don’t remember him holy shit.”

“This isn’t as funny as you think. Who’s Malcolm?”

Bug takes a few deep breaths, stands up, and takes another stabilizing breath. “Sorry, uh, Malcolm has been coming to practices since we started playing almost four years ago. He’s come to a lot since you’ve joined and started watching us play. I think it’s funny that you haven’t noticed him since you both do the same thing.”

Virtue raises an eyebrow. “The same thing.” They deadpan, and they can feel their face put on a very disinterested look.

Bug still nods enthusiastically. “Yeah. Don’t talk, and sit not in the corner but near it on a wall and just watch from where the most backs are pointed. Wallflowers, but he’s probably had more practice than you.”

“I still don’t know who he is, you know.” Virtue reminds it. “How do you know him?”

“One moment.” Bug pulls out its phone again, and scrolls for a few seconds before turning it to show a picture of a young teenager.

He has the same pale face and round eyes that Bug has, but no burn scar and his eyes are black instead of green. His hair is curlier than Bug’s, but still inky black with bright orange dying the tips so they frame his face.

“That’s Malcolm. He’s my little brother.”

At those words, something inside of Virtue’s head clicks, and they turn to stare at Bug. “What’s your favorite song right now?”

“Um, I’m not sure?” Bug’s eyebrows furrow slightly as they lean closer.

Virtue sighs and pinches the bridge of their nose as they try and figure out how to be absolutely sure that they’re wrong. “Hum a song that makes you think of Malcolm.”

Bug’s brow goes from being furrowed, to one arching up as they shrug. “If you say so.” They start to hum and ‘bapada’ a tune, and the same strong feelings of familial love rise up from deep in Virtue’s sternum, quickly followed by an intense and concentrated emotion that they haven’t felt in a long time. Panic.

They hit the garage door button, drag Bug into the house by the wrist, and lock the door behind them. They quickly check the hallway, and look at Bug. Its face is confused and concerned for Virtue, and they take as much oxygen into their lungs as they possibly can.

“Bug, what I’m about to tell you, I tell you for your safety.” Virtue whispers. “You have a Power. I’m not one hundred percent sure what it is, but it’s very subtle, and that’s why you haven’t realized it yet.”

The shift in its emotions is fast, and a very real look of terror fills its eyes. “You mean . . . you mean I-I’m a . . .” It trails off as Bug’s eyes focus on the wall behind Virtue.

“You’re an unregistered Power Holder, yes.” Virtue nods. “I’m sorry.”

Bug’s hand grabs at their chest as they slide down the wall onto the floor. “I can’t be, What- what would I even be? You said it was subtle, you could have made it up.” They look at Virtue with pure desperation as their voice starts to break. “You could have.”

Virtue crouches down in front of Bug. “You sang two songs that made you think about your little brother, who you love and are so, so proud of. I know you are, because I felt it. You showed me what you were feeling through singing. I want to be wrong, I do. I’d rather you have killed people than be unregistered, but that’s not the case. I’m sorry.”

Bug falls into Virtue’s shoulder, and starts to sob. “I can’t be, I can’t- it’s not fair. It’s not fucking fair.” It repeats over and over again as its grip on Virtue’s jacket becomes tight and unmoving. It cries until it has no more tears, and shakes until it has no more energy to move.

Virtue rubs its back in small circles. “Are you ready to go home?”

Bug barely nods, and lets Virtue drag them up and lead them out to the car. Snow starts to fall down around them as they turn the engine, and drive off to deal with it elsewhere.

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#the powered universe #tpu #tpu draft two #the powered story #the powered universe the second draft #virtue #bug #bug character #bug bardic inspiration #original writing #original work

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etichete · 1 year

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TPU Care Labels

TPU Clear plastic custom printed care labels, mainly used for swimwear label, bikini label, clothing label, outwear label, transparent label, wash label, printed label, cotton label, care label

#tpu #carelabels #care labels #washlabels #wash labels #garment #apparel #brandlabels #brand label #clear #transparent #Romania #Europe #Europa #tag

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oct2pus · 1 year

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All of this to store socks

#3dprinting #3d printing #tpu #its a vase mode tpu model because its super robust #im redesigning the model rn

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elzerei-likes-girl-genius · 2 years

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A poster for my Girl Genius GURPS campaign! I still haven’t made like 90% of everything else to actually make the campaign playable but I made this first because I am silly and like pretty pictures.

This is an entrance to the TPU campus ft. Professor Moxylotyl helping move Mr. Tock out of the way.

#girl genius #tpu #Transylvania Polygnostic University #Professor Moxylotyl

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kellyplayz · 2 years

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part 4 is here

#ultraman decker #Asumi Kanata #Ryumon Souma #Ryumon Soma #Yuichiro Asakage #Taiji Murahoshi #GUTS-Select #TPU #Kengo Manaka #ultraman trigger

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3dsiliconeheattransferlabel · 4 days

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Day 139: 3D Silicone Heat-transfer Labels for Garments

All the necessary stuffs for making 3D Silicone Heat-transfer Labels for Garments: Equipment, Molds, Raw Materials, Skills, etc. You can find them from us!

What are you still waiting for? Consult the details with @3dsiliconeheattransferlabel

#HeattransferSticker #HeattransferLabel #MoldLabel #MoldSticker #SiliconeSticker #SiliconeLabel #3DSticker #3DLabel #Label #Sticker #MouldSticker #MouldLabel #TPULabel #TPU #LaborDay #LaborDayHoliday

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govindhtech · 16 days

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Benefits of PyTorch XLA: Training Deep Learning Models

PyTorch XLA

Due of its flexibility, deep learning practitioners and researchers use PyTorch. Google produced XLA, a compiler to optimise linear algebra computations, which underpin deep learning models. Combining the advantages of XLA’s compiler performance with PyTorch’s user interface and environment makes PyTorch/XLA the best of both worlds.

This week, they are thrilled to release PyTorch/XLA 2.3. Even more enhancements to productivity, efficiency, and usability are included in the 2.3 release.

Why XLA/PyTorch?

Here’s a quick summary of the benefits of PyTorch XLA for model training, fine-tuning, and serving before they go into the release revisions. Key benefits of PyTorch and XLA together are as follows:

Simple Performance: With the XLA compiler, you may achieve notable and simple performance gains without sacrificing PyTorch’s user-friendly, pythonic flow. For instance, PyTorch XLA lowers the cost of serving to $0.25 per million tokens while optimising the Gemma and Llama 2 7B models, generating a throughput of 5000 tokens/second.

Benefits of the ecosystem: Easily utilise PyTorch’s vast resources, such as its enormous community, tools, and pretrained models.

These advantages highlight PyTorch/XLA’s worth. Lightricks provides the following comments regarding their use of PyTorch/XLA 2.2.

Google TPU v4

“In comparison to TPU v4, Lightricks has achieved an amazing 2.5X speedup in training Google text-to-image and text-to-video models by utilising Google Cloud’s TPU v5p. We’ve successfully solved memory bottlenecks with the integration of PyTorch XLA’s gradient checkpointing, which has enhanced memory performance and speed. Furthermore, autocasting to bf16 has offered vital flexibility, enabling specific regions of Google’s graph to function on fp32 and enhancing the performance of their model.

PyTorch XLA 2.2’s XLA cache function is without a doubt its best feature; it has eliminated compilation waits, which has allowed us to save a tonne of development time. These developments have greatly improved video uniformity in addition to streamlining their development process and speeding up iterations. With LTX Studio demonstrating these technological advancements, this progress is essential to maintaining Lightricks’ leadership position in the generative AI industry.

The 2.3 release includes GPUs, distributed training, and developer experience

PyTorch XLA 2.3 offers significant improvements over PyTorchXLA 2.2 and brings us up to date with the PyTorch Foundation’s 2.3 release from earlier this week. This is what to anticipat

Improvements in distributed training

Scaling huge models is made possible using SPMD’s support for Fully Sharded Data Parallel (FSDP). Compiler optimisations are integrated into the new Single Programme, Multiple Data (SPMD) implementation in 2.3 to enable faster, more effective FSDP.

Pallas integration: PyTorch XLA + Pallas allows you to develop custom kernels tuned for TPUs, giving you the most control.

More fluid growth

Auto-sharding using SPMD: SPMD distributes models automatically among devices. This procedure is made much simpler by auto-sharding, which does away with the necessity for manual tensor distribution. This functionality, which supports XLA:TPU and single-host training, is experimental as of this release.

With distributed checkpointing, lengthy training sessions are less dangerous. Asynchronous checkpointing safeguards against any hardware failures by saving your work in the background.

Hi there, graphics processing units

With the addition of GPU support for SPMD XLA, they have expanded the advantages of SPMD parallelization to GPUs, facilitating scaling, particularly with respect to big models or datasets.

Get your upgrade planned now

PyTorch XLA is still developing, making it easier to create and implement strong deep learning models. The 2.3 version has a strong emphasis on expanded GPU support, enhanced distributed training, and a more seamless development environment. PyTorch XLA 2.3 is a worthwhile exploration if you’re looking for performance optimisation within the PyTorch ecosystem!

The AI Hyper computer architecture, which maximises AI training, fine-tuning, and serving performance end-to-end at every tier of the stack, also incorporates PyTorch/XLA nicely.

Future work for PyTorch/XLA could focus on the following areas

Enhanced support for GPUs

Better GPU support is anticipated in the future, even if PyTorch XLA currently gives TPUs priority. A formal, multi-purpose build, better alignment between PyTorch XLA and the main PyTorch API, and possibly combining XLA support into the official PyTorch package are some examples of this. Improved GPU usability and documentation would also be beneficial.

Managing dynamic graphs

When dealing with very dynamic graphs, where the computational pattern is constantly changing, PyTorch XLA may not be able to keep up. Prospective developments could encompass methods for diminishing the graph’s space of variation or devising strategies for more effectively optimising these dynamic situations.

Gains in performance

It is anticipated that XLA:GPU will see optimisations to get its performance closer to that of XLA:TPU. This would increase PyTorch XLA’s appeal as a deep learning solution for a larger variety of jobs.

Integration with cloud platforms

Docker images and other tools that facilitate the usage of PyTorch XLA on cloud service providers’ platforms are probably going to be produced in the future. Developers will find it easier to utilise PyTorchXLA’s cloud capabilities as a result.

FAQS

What is PyTorch XLA

PyTorch XLA fills the void between the robust compiler built for deep learning workloads, XLA, and the user-friendly PyTorch deep learning framework. With this combination, you can take use of the user-friendly syntax of PyTorch and achieve notable performance gains by utilising XLA optimisations.

What are some of the benefits of PyTorch XLA?

Faster Training and Inference:Training and inference times can be greatly shortened by XLA optimisations.

cheaper Training expenses: On platforms like Google Cloud TPUs, faster training times equate to cheaper expenses.

Memory Efficiency: During training, memory bottlenecks can be addressed with the use of techniques such as gradient checkpointing.

Read more on govindhtech.com

#GPU #gpusuport #pytorchxla #generativeai #TPU #GoogleCloud #news #technews #technology #technologynews #govindhtech

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jpmellojr · 1 month

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Google Cloud Unveils New Arm-based Data Center Chip, Axion

Google unveils new Arm-based Axion CPUs and TPU for its data centers, boosting performance and energy efficiency for cloud workloads. https://jpmellojr.blogspot.com/2024/04/google-cloud-unveils-new-arm-based-data.html

#Google #Axion #ArmCPU #DataCenter #CloudComputing #TPU #MachineLearning #AI #Sustainability

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makermakeswriting · 5 months

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TPU Chapter One: The Warehouse (D1)

Zephyr remembers when she was first picked up by an agency.

She was one of the 5% of the human population to have the Powered gene, giving her powers. She also was one of the even fewer Powered to be picked up by one of the Superhero Agencies. They helped her train how to be a more precise flier and helped her learn basic martial arts.

Of course, with her rise in prominence, there came someone else. Electrode. She has been told that in terms of power, Electrode was nowhere near the most dangerous, and yet she never seemed to be able to catch them. Hell, they didn’t even have a power. They just built things, and yet she has never been able to even touch them.

So Zephyr has been doing her own research on the few hours she got off, and eventually followed the sparse crumb trail to one of the warehouses. And today, on her first day off in a year, she was going to investigate.

Donning simple black clothes, she sneaks onto the premises and goes to one of the many side doors. Checking the handle, it surprisingly opens with ease. She goes inside and closes the door behind her.

The warehouse is unerringly clean and organized. On every wall are clear and large instructions on what to do in case of a fire, chemical spill, or technical failure, and the meanings of each symbol. She also finds a map and sees exactly where the office is, which is only accessible from a place listed as Work Room.

She quickly looks at the map, memorizing the way to the Work Room, and turns to see a henchman. He’s tall, wearing a simple blue shirt and large black pants. Around his neck is a lanyard with Electrode’s symbol on is: a circle with lightning bolts surrounding the outside. On the lanyard are a few pins, one with the trans flag, one that says “stay sexy and dont die”, and one with the Milky Way.

“Uh…” He looks her up and down before a spark of recognition appears, and Zephyr steps back, preparing for a fight. “Oh! You’re Leto Marcella!” He smiles at her before realizing something. “Wait, why are you here?”

Zephyr is … very confused. Aren’t henchmen supposed to work for the villain? Why aren’t they trying to attack her? “Why does that matter to you?” She responds, not wanting to give away why she’s here.

“Uh, because it’s your day off?” He asks like she hadn’t realized.

But … “How do you know that?” She asks defensively, getting ready to attack if she needs to.

“Oh! Because Elecrode doesn’t want to fight you on your days off! Or hours, I guess. At least, that’s what they told me during initiation.” He shrugs before looking at the clock above the map. “Oh shit! Sorry, I have to go. Feel free to explore so long as you don’t commit arson or assault!” He runs off behind Zephyr, and she stands there in a fog.

She walks to the Work Room, vaguely aware of what was happening. She accidentally bumps into someone when she opens the door, their coffee mug falling to the floor.

“Ah shit not again.” They mutter, looking for a broom.

“I’m sorry!” Zephyr apologizes, running towards the one nearby and coming back as quick as she could. “I wasn’t paying attention!” She starts to sweep it up before looking up and seeing the person staring at them.

“What the fuck are you doing working on your day off?!” They cry out, pushing Zephyr out of the way, and her hands drop the broom and dust pan immediately. They grab the cleaning supplies and quickly sweep up the mess. They start to mumble under their breath as they go to throw it away, turning sharply to Zephyr once they’re done.

“Explain yourself!” They demand.

Zephyr crosses her arms. “I wanted to check out the warehouse, make sure my months of hard work weren’t for nothing.” She huffs. “Why are you guys so nice? You’re supposed to be-”

“Evil? Yeah, that’s part of the job description.” The person goes to a coffee machine next to the trash can. “But the pay’s not bad. And there’s a clause that’s like, about ethical sourcing of all materials and food. I heard that Jeremy got a specific one about only stealing from people who get over a certain amount every year. Electrode is surprisingly good at writing contracts.” They take a now full cup of coffee and sips it with a hum.

Zephyr relaxes slightly and steps forwards. “Pay?”

They turn to her with a smile. “Oh yeah, minimum here is like, $20 an hour. We also get consistent hours. Most people work eight hours a day, five days a work. A few of our more experienced employees, like me, work almost 24/7, except we get one day off a week, which we choose once we get that contract.” They take another sip of coffee. “But then again, we’re usually the ones who have less to lose.”

Zephyr almost chokes at the minimum wage. She doesn’t even get paid. She has a separate job outside of being a hero, two in fact. It’s why she rarely gets any time to rest.

The person giggles at Zephyr, handing her a coffee mug. “Cappuccino, right?”

Zephyr takes the mug in shock. “How did you know?” She asks.

They grin. “Do you know this person named Virtue?” They say cryptically, and Zephyr gasps.

“Iced caramel latte?!” She squeaks, and Virtue laughs.

“Bitch I thought you knew my face!” They take another drink of their coffee. “I was your regular for five months, and we worked together for two!”

“Is this why you left?”

“It was the pockets- wait let me show you.” Virtue takes out three alarm clocks out of one pocket, and then goes back in to pull out a box of honeycomb.

Zephyr just watches in surprise. “This is the uniform?” Virtue nods. “Uniform at the Agency is spandex.” Virtue gags.

That’s when someone clears their throat. Zephyr turns to see Electrode’s mask staring at them. She almost screamed, but for some reason she couldn’t.

“Zephyr.” Their distorted voice filters through. “How’s the coffee?”

Zephyr splutters. “We’re arch rivals and you want me to give you a coffee review?” She demands. Electrode tilts their head.

“Yes? Look I know you don’t know but we don’t fight in the warehouses. Conflict kept to a minimum.” They explain. “Especially after we built the underground library.”

Virtue shudders, so Zephyr can guess that whatever happened was pretty bad. “Okay.” She starts carefully. “I just, I don’t understand. You’re in a band shirt! I’m not allowed to listen to music anymore!” She cries out, and Virtue and Electrode gasp in horror.

“Babe, you need to quit now.” Virtue says, placing a hand on Zephyr’s shoulder. “Let us enlighten you to the wonders of music.” Electrode nods.

“I can’t, it’s a lifetime contract.” Zephyr laments, and Electrode gasps again. “I was ten, you can’t blame me.”

Electrode starts to spark, literally. “Those fucking assholes!” they yell. “Ugh, fighting you was so cathartic! What the fuck government?!”

Virtue takes out an eraser and throws it at Electrode, who calms down at that. “Sorry, uh, enjoy the coffee. I have a conference with those guys from Europe. If I don’t come out in thirty, you know what to do.” They turn and leave.

Zephyr is escorted home soon after by Virtue, who happens to live next door.

“Sorry about stalking you, by the way.” They apologize. “Electrode is very adamant that you two fight on your terms without you actually … saying anything verbally.”

“So you memorized my work schedule.”

“Exactly!” Virtue smiles. “Well, gotta get back. See you whenever. And you can always talk to me if you want to know more about initiation!”

Leto blinks, goes into her apartment, and goes right to sleep.

#original writing #original character #superpowers #superhero #superheroes #zephyr #virtue #electrode #draft one #the powered universe #tpu #creative writing #writing #heroes vs villains

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transmogrified-in-the-void · 2 months

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Chapter 3

Cato gets to join in on a practice sesh of Bardic Inspiration! It goes great!

Virtue sips at their coffee as the TV broadcast plays. “Notorious villain The Disparaged Baron has finally been apprehended by A-Class hero Brass Dagger. While their fight left many without a place to sleep, many more will no longer have to fear for their lives. The Hero Agency of America has offered to help rebuild those who had their homes destroyed. My name is Daven Blockett, and this is the morning news.”

The TV then shows a short video of the end of the fight. Disparaged Baron, dressed as a Musketeer, runs at Bronze Dagger with a thin sword. Bronze Dagger sidesteps the charge, and throws Baron up 20 feet into the air. There’s a glimmer as Dagger throws something, and the footage cuts to the main news desk.

“I can’t imagine doing that.” Airael walks into the living room and sits next to Virtue on the couch.

“Doing what, Hero work?” Virtue asks as they take another sip.

“I guess. I mostly mean getting involved with Powered fights.” He clarifies. “I know my Power would technically be classified as Consumption, but it still gives me an exponential boost to my physical limits. Which means that if I got involved with a fight, no matter which side I was on, both villain and Hero would try and get me out of the picture first.”

Virtue nods along as he explains. “I couldn’t even imagine what they’d do to Gemini if she got into a Power fight, or Absinthe if they-” Virtue cuts themselves off, not wanting to finish the sentiment. Airael understands, though, and sighs.

“This shit sucks.”

“More than I could imagine.”

Gemini wanders in with a piece of toast, and she raises an eyebrow at the now glum mood of the living room. “Did the kid get into a car accident? What’s with the mood?”

“Powers.” Airael says. Gemini takes a big bite of her toast, and takes her time chewing it as she thinks over the implications of that word.

Gemini swallows, and stomps over in front of the TV. She faces the pair on the couch with a sharp glare. “We can get back to the doom and gloom of our life later. Absinthe has everything set up, so all we need is Kid Strings to get his ass over here. So get your asses in there right now.”

Virtue stands up and drains the rest of their coffee. “You’re bad at pep talks.” They note, and Gemini whacks them.

“Yeah, but I got you going so I win.”

Airael gets to his feet, and wraps Gemini up in his arms. “You’re right, we gotta go make some kick ass music.”

Virtue turns off the TV and moves to the emptied out master bedroom that has become the practice space of Bardic Inspiration. Absinthe is taking out her old beat up electric guitar and leaning it up on the wall. Everything else has been set up, there’s sheets of music that Michael left behind on the one and only table in the room.

Absinthe turns around and lights up. “Oh! Hey V, didn’t see you there.”

“Most people don’t.” Virtue shrugs as they make their way to the chair put up just for them. “It’s a gift.”

“Man, what I’d do for that.” Absinthe groans.

“For being unnoticed?”

“For having a gift.”

The familiar heavy click of the front door opening cuts through the conversation before Virtue can make a response, and they hear Gemini welcome whoevers at the door with a saccharine voice. Airael mutters something, and the voice of Cato responds monotonously.

Three sets of footsteps start to make way to the practice room, and Absinthe starts to move around.

“V, he’s here, oh my god he’s here, we get to play together, I can’t believe it, can you believe it? I’m so excited, you have no-” She cuts herself off as Gemini, Airael, and Cato show up in the doorframe. “Hi!”

Gemini slides into the room as Absinthe rushes forwards to greet Cato. She shakes his hand and drags him inside, making a wide gesture to the humble setup. “Welcome to where the magic happens!”

“Uh, cool.” Cato mutters as he steps out of Absinthe’s grip. His eyes flick around, first to Virtue, then to the drum set, then to the electric guitar harmlessly sitting against the wall. “You guys, uh, already have a guitar.”

“Told ya.” Gemini elbows Cato’s ribs, making him flinch. “We didn’t know if you only had an acoustic or not. There’s also some music for the songs we’re gonna practice today on the table, if you wanna look through them.” She gestures to the handwritten sheet music, and walks behind her drum set and drops down in the seat. She grabs her drumsticks and starts to idly rap them on the rim of the snare.

Airael makes his entrance quietly, and struts to the purple and gold bass on the stand next to the drums. As he slides it on, he glances at Cato. “Last chance to jump ship, kid.”

Cato’s hand twitches, and he storms to the guitar and slings it over his shoulder. “I’m not a kid. You guys aren’t that much older than me.”

Virtue raises an eyebrow. Airael turns around and shrugs, looking bored. “We’re all out of college, and by the looks of it you’d barely’ve started if you went. Kid.”

The pair lock into a staredown, with Airael betraying no emotion in his eyes, while Cato’s are laser focused in to catch anything. Gemini stifles a snicker, and her green eyes light up with amusement as she catches Absinthe’s eye.

Her eyes dart between Cato and Airael, and wiggles her eyebrows with a large grin. Absinthe almost chokes as the laugh tries to escape her mouth, but she holds it back. Gemini and Absinthe try to hold it in, but it’s too much, and they burst into a fit of giggles and laughter, causing Airael and Cato to stop whatever they were doing.

“What’s so funny?” Cato asks, hands gripping the neck of the guitar.

Airael whips his head around to Virtue. “What did she do?” He asks with wide eyes. “What the fuck did she do?”

Virtue looks at Gemini, who tilts her head forwards and does an overexaggerated wink, causing Absinthe to break down with laughter. Virtue sighs, and pats Cato’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. They’re like this sometimes.”

They look back to see Airael now leaning over the drums and talking to Gemini, who’s grin has gotten larger as she shakes her head. Absinthe is leaning on a wall, trying to catch her breath, but sometimes still releasing a few giggles. They sigh again, bring their thumb and pointer finger to their mouth, and whistle. The band jump at the sudden noise. Airael clutches his bass, Gemini holds her drumsticks in an ‘X’ in front of her, and Absinthe takes an absurd looking fighting stance. Cato takes a step back.

“Get to practicing. We don’t have all day.” Virtue says, and they make direct eye contact with each band member. “And we certainly don’t have our guest here all day either.”

With that, Absinthe jumps into action. She double checks that Airael and Gemini are all good to go, and makes sure that the guitar Cato’s borrowing is in tune and works fine. Once everyone is set to go, she connects the microphone and takes out the piece of paper that has the practice “schedule” on it.

“Uh, it says we’re practicing ‘Truth or Dare’, ‘No Regrets’, and ‘Sandcastles’ today. Why does it say ‘Sandcastles’ in there, that’s a piano solo.” She looks back at Airael. “Rae, you wrote the list.”

Airael shrugs. “I thought that having your best song for our guitarist would be a good idea.”

Cato mutters something about not being a guitarist while Absinthe looks at the scribbles with narrowed eyes. Then she crumples up the paper and throws it at the table. “Okay, we can do that. But let’s start with a quick runthrough of ‘No Regrets’. We didn’t play that at the last venue, so I want to see what needs some work.”

Cato flips through the stack of papers, and his eyes flick over each page with the same sort of focus he gave Airael. Then he runs forwards, drops them on the table, and runs back into place.

Gemini raps the beat with her drumsticks, and then she and Airael jump into a hard and fast rhythm. She leans forwards into the microphone set up over her drums, and screams.

“OH MY GOD THIS REALLY FUCKING SUCKS! I STILL LOVE YOUR STUPID FUCKING MUG! GOT HIT BY A FUCKING TRUCK! AND YOU’RE HERE STILL GIVING FUCKING FUCKS!” Her voice is guttural and animalistic as her hands move wildly across the drumset. She holds the last vowel as the bass and drums stop and the sound drops away.

She closes the word harshly, and restarts her playing; albeit, more restrained. Airael joins in at the same time, playing the low and slow baseline as Cato takes a deep breath, and starts playing with everyone for the first time.

He plays incredibly well, and although the melody he plays on the guitar is different from what Michael played, it still fits well with everything else. But Virtue already knew that Cato was good, they knew that he would fit in with the band sonically. They’re waiting for Absinthe to sing.

Absinthe looks at Virtue, and nods. She rolls her shoulders back, stands tall, and opens her mouth.

“I cried alone again today.” Her voice is the winter sun cutting through the abyssal surrounding darkness. “It’s hard to heal this heartbreak. I’d rather have loved you here, but you decided to disappear.”

The weight of grieving a love and friendship suddenly lost shoves its way into Virtue’s chest as the words lilt off Absinthe’s tongue. Cato jolts, but doesn’t stop playing as he moves his eyes to look at the singer.

“Hey, it’s me, it’s about us. You said we’re still in love. And I cry curled in my bed, about the last text you sent. Who could have guessed that this is how our story ends?” Even through the waves of heartbreak and sadness, Absinthe smiles as she lowers the microphone. Gemini and Airael play their parts with the anger they’ve always infused them with, and Cato moves his fingers across the frets. He plays a dissonant melody, counteracting the smooth major that Absinthe had been singing. Absinthe’s grin gets larger.

As they continue through the song, it’s a constant fight of three emotions. Anger, from Gemini and Airael, grief, from Absinthe, and desperate confusion from Cato. The sound gets louder and louder, everyone fighting more and more, until Cato suddenly strikes a power chord, and the drums and bass stop. Airael and Gemini are looking at Cato with curiosity as Absinthe brings the mic to her lips one last time.

“I hold no regrets.” She sings lightly. “You were my best friend. But this is the end.”

There’s a still, anticipating moment. The air holds its breath as the last of the grief fades into acceptance, and fades into nothing. Absinthe breaks the silence with a ragged gasp, and she rubs at her eyes for a moment before looking at Cato.

“Are you sure you don’t want to be our guitarist?” Her voice is no longer crystalline, but instead thick and heavy. Her fingers pick at the edge of her skirt and the jeans beneath it.

Cato takes a moment. He looks at Gemini, then Airael, then to his own hands holding a guitar that isn’t his own. “I- uh.” He stammers, and clutches the guitar tightly. “I, I think so.”

A shuddering weight is released from Absinthe. She grins, nods, and turns to the rest of her bandmates. “Cool! So I think we did really good at the first few verses, but at the second chorus we accidentally got a little lost in the middle of everything and it took some time to get back, so let’s start around there.”

Virtue huffs a laugh and shakes their head. They knew, of course, that Cato would say yes. Absinthe is the golden apple just out of reach, the clear water you’ll never drink, but just knowing it exists is enough to sate an appetite.

#p bangs the keys #original writing #my writing #tpu #the powered universe #gemini #airael #absinthe #virtue #cato #bardic inspiration #bardic inspiration band

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