The theme for this week is the carnies! The carnival was a major focus point in season for and had a lot of interesting characters, so let's show them some love. :)
Groups
Using random.org, we organised the groups. The number of groups and people in each group will differ each week depending on who signs up for each round.
Group 1 - ii-romana, mayline-to-westoros, kiwiisdarthdoo
Group 2 - clearivers, transportive
You and your group should talk about what you want your collaboration to be and who could do what. If you don’t like tumblr’s messaging system, then you could always talk on other social media sites and online chatrooms (which might be a lot easier for groups of three). At the end of the week your group should submit their finished post to this blog. Right now, the temporary deadline is Monday, but if you feel you need more time for your group just ask!
Other information
Again, a million apologies from both Courtney and me for dropping off the face of this blog like that. We're back now and it shouldn't happen again!
Remember to check this blog for updates! If you have any more questions, be sure to check out our faq, and if your question hasn’t been answered there, either message Courtney or me on either our personal blogs or this one. Have fun!
Sign up for round 3 is now open! If you want to join in on a collaboration, either like or reblog this, or message us! Sign ups close on Tuesday, and information and the new theme of the week will be posted Wednesday. -Courtney
Hi everybody! A little apology on my part for the delay of round 3. Din had computer problems and I got the round 3 groups all sorted and ready to post only Tumblr wouldn't let me! I had tried for a couple if days after to post the groups but it still wasn't cooperating with me. Anyway that led me to get a bit pissed off as it wasn't letting me post on my main blog either, so I took a little break. Anyway, it's back working again, so ill get the round 3 signup posted in a few. Again, sorry for the delay! -Courtney
And a vote (sort of)! We had two rounds so far, and the preliminary deadline for both have been ~5 days, with round 2 getting extended. Do you have any particular feelings on deadlines? We're not planning on ever being that strict about them, but would you prefer ~5 days or a week from the get-go? Or longer or shorter than that? Any other suggestions? Let us know!
You can reply to this post or message us your thoughts and we'll take them into account. :)
Disclaimer: I’m not a physicist or nuclear engineer. I’m just a person who enjoys researching science.
When most people hear the word ‘radiation’ they think of nuclear fallout, dead plants, and cancer; and while this is one type of radiation, it’s only a very small section of the spectrum. Radiation is caused by particles and waves traveling through space and consists of the entire electromagnetic spectrum. That little chart that you had to memorize in school that was color coded and included visible light and infrared, all of that is radiation. Most radiation is harmless and is actually necessary for life. The type of radiation that most people think of, and the type most often emitted by Ted, is ionizing radiation, which causes atoms to lose electrons, changing the way they behave.
Though Ted throughout the series mostly emits ionizing radiation, it’s implied that he could actually control the whole spectrum if he was in complete control. For example, to break Noah, Matt, and himself out of the Company Noah tells him to release light but not heat. This takes a lot of concentration, but he’s ultimately successful. Ted’s predisposition toward harmful radiation probably has more to do with his hot-headed personality, causing him to have very little control over his ability or his actions toward others. Ted could probably solve the world energy crisis if he actually put his mind to it.
The most malicious use of Ted’s ability can be seen in his treatment of the Bennet family in Company Man. He doesn’t just “pull the trigger in his mind” in reference to shooting Claire, he basically kills the entire family with radiation exposure as well. When he takes Ms. Bennet and Lyle hostage he sits there, looking threatening, creating what looks like miniature stars in his hands. Now this could just be visible light, but given Ted’s volatile mood during that scene, I find this to be unlikely. Since they look like small stars, let’s assume that’s what they are. Stars are fueled by fusing Hydrogen atoms in their core, a process known as nuclear fusion. Nuclear fusion (and nuclear fission, which is the splitting of atoms and is how an atomic bomb works) produces gamma rays which are the most dangerous type of radiation. Gamma rays cannot be stopped by a respirator and can penetrate the human skin causing damage to the entire body. The only way to stop Gamma rays is with a large layer of lead, soil, or concrete; so unless Ms. Bennet and Lyle have an invisible layer of lead between them and Ted or get an infusion of Claire blood afterwards they would probably die from radiation poisoning.
Noah would be in a similar situation when Ted melts down later in the episode. Since the cabinets of the kitchen aren’t even made of metal, Noah is completely unprotected from most forms of ionizing radiation. If Ted is just releasing infrared radiation (heat) and visible light (which is possible, since fire releases these two types of radiation and there’s fire all over the house, but unlikely given Ted’s mental state), it would still cause burns of some sort. Basically Noah realistically could not have stayed in that house as long as he did and come out completely unscathed. While distance from the center of the explosion is important for determining how injured someone will be, distance is usually measured in kilometers or miles and not mere feet.
On the other hand, what happened to Claire when she got close to Ted is far more accurate. As she was exposed to such high levels of radiation she experienced burns all over her body, something that those close to the hypocenter of the Hiroshima bomb also experienced.
So given the fact that the Bennet family experienced very high levels of potentially ionizing radiation, and that fact that Claire left Texas before the Company could get a hold of her, her family would have likely died.
On the opposite end of the spectrum is Ted’s wife, who dies of cancer shortly after he manifests. While an increased risk of cancer is a side effect of exposure to high levels of radiation, it’s a long term side effect. After Hiroshima doctors began to notice elevated levels of Leukemia two years after the bomb, all other cancers increased in frequency ten years after initial exposure. Therefore it doesn’t make sense for Ted’s wife to die of cancer only weeks or months after initial exposure, she’d be more likely to die from internal bleeding and poor wound healing due to acute radiation poisoning.
The character who experiences something that’s closest to actual radiation poisoning is Nathan in season two. He has burns across his body like Claire did. The weird yellow eye might have been an attempt to represent cataracts, since the retina is damaged by gamma rays (or they thought it looked dramatic). His don’t show any signs of healing, even though it’s been months after he was initially burned, which is also a symptom of radiation poisoning. The only symptoms that aren’t present are those that network television would have a problem with: diarrhea, vomiting, and hair loss (thank god they didn’t touch his hair). The main problem with the portrayal of radiation poisoning with Nathan is inconsistency with the severity of the dosage. When he’s admitted to the hospital his condition is described as ‘critical’, while this doesn’t tell us much on its own, combined with the fact that he doesn’t seem to get better without Adam’s blood he was probably absorbed at least 4Gy of radiation. A Gray (or Gy) is a unit to describe the amount of energy that is absorbed by living tissue, so 4Gy would have 4 Joules of radiation energy per one kilogram of tissue. 1Gy is when patients start to experience radiation sickness. 4Gy is the point where half of patients will die in 60 days. However with a 4Gy exposure symptoms such as poor wound healing don’t show up for one to four weeks. Nathan has this symptom almost immediately. For that to be possible he would have to have absorbed 8Gy of radiation, and at that point there is not effective treatment and patients die sometime between two days and two weeks after exposure. Given that Nathan survived three and a half months, it is unlikely that he was exposed to that much radiation. Just to things in perspective, even 3Gy of radiation is more than 1000 times the amount of radiation an average American is exposed to in a year, and in scientific studies of survivors of the atomic bomb at Hiroshima they list the highest amount of radiation absorbed as 2Gy+.
Therefore, while some of the ways Heroes portrays radiation is relatively accurate, such as the burns on victims and how ionizing radiation destroys living tissues, most of the characters that have come into contact with Ted should probably be dead after Company Man.
Peter fell and squinted his eyes together, expecting the dull pain of concrete hitting his temple. He held his breath until he realized that he was already lying on the floor. Carefully Peter opened one of his eyes, shortly blinded by the bright daylight. Hadn’t it been night just a second ago?
Peter could feel concrete under his hands, but he wasn’t lying on the damp stone steps in front of Union Wells High School in Odessa. Slowly he turned his head around to examine his surroundings. Nathan was gone, but Peter knew exactly where he was, he knew the gray streets and buildings. Somehow he was back in New York, but not the New York where he had grown up and lived for 30 years. This city was lifeless.
Creased flyers flew through the air and were the only things in Peter’s line of sight that actually moved. Down the street stood hundreds of motionless black and yellow cars, carelessly parked and widely opened. Everybody must have left in a hurry. But why?
The nurse ambled towards the metal shells, glancing into a few of them to check if there were any other people in the ghost town apart from himself. There was an unintelligible voice crackling through the air, but Peter couldn’t make out what it said. It sounded like a police radio, but he couldn’t see any police cars or police officers, so where was the voice coming from? Peter knitted his brows. Was this even real?
He kept making his way through the cars, looking for something that was familiar, something that was alive. He saw Nathan. Not his brother, in flesh and blood, but a star graced banner with the letters 'vote Nathan Petrelli', framed by red, white and blue rosettes. Peter stared at the banner while he continued to walk, wondering who exactly was supposed to vote in this empty city.
A sudden noise that approached from his right made Peter flinch and stumble. As he looked around for the source of the noise he saw the first real face in this cursed place. It was Mohinder Suresh, the scientist he had searched for Isaac with. He was also the man who hadn’t believed in him. As the Indian rose out of the seat of his cab he wore a cheerful smile on his face, which faded as soon as he realized who was standing in front of him. Fear and panic became apparent on his face and before Peter could ask him what the matter was, the scientist turned around and ran away.
Peter opened his mouth the shout after him, but as he turned into the direction Suresh had run to he came up against a different familiar face. It was Matt Parkman, the man who had interrogated him just hours ago. He held up one hand towards Peter and tried to shield a family Peter didn’t know with his other.
“Stay back, Stay back!” He shouted and Peter didn’t know if the police officer was talking to him or the family behind him, which was running away from Peter as fast as they could. Parkman turned away from Peter and started running, too. Where were they going, what were they running from? Peter turned around, panic building inside his chest. What were they so afraid of?
His breath almost got stuck in his throat as he saw one particular face that was framed in golden locks that whipped up and down as Claire ran towards him. He wanted to tell her to run, to run away from the unknown danger everybody but him seemed to be seeing, but Claire just stared at him with a similar expression as Mohinder. Her fear mixed with guilt and with complete bewilderment. She shook her head, slowly turning away from Peter.
“I’m sorry.” was all she whispered as she turned her back on the nurse and disappeared behind the cars.
Peter’s heart was pounding so heavily that he could hear the blood rushing through his body. His whole body throbbed every time his heart beat. A terrifying suspicion blossomed inside his mind. What if everyone was running away from him? Why would they do something like that, Peter didn’t want to hurt anybody, he wanted to save them!
He turned his head once more to see Simone running towards him. Before Peter could take a step Isaac wrapped his arms around Simone and pulled her away from him. The woman didn’t fight him for long and decided to run away with the artist instead of staying with Peter.
Peter almost fell onto his knees as he stumbled towards the only person that was still here, the only person who wouldn’t leave him alone. He felt like all his energy was leaving him, but at the same time he felt more powerful than ever before. The air around him seemed to burn like fire as Nathan stopped in front of him and looked down onto Peter’s hands. The other brother did the same thing and gasped in horror. His hands were glowing. They were producing so much heat that Peter could feel it on his face, on every inch of his skin. The glowing traveled upwards, across his arms, his shoulders, down his torso and on to his face.
He looked up to his brother again, who was staring blankly at the scene in front of him. More and more heat coated the Petrellis and filled every fiber of Peter’s body. Until it was too much to take. With a pained scream he let all the power stream out of his body, knowing that he would shred his brother and everything around him into pieces. Knowing that he wasn’t the hero, but the villain.
The deadline for round 2 has been extended. All collaborations should be in at some point today. Round 3 signup will be posted late tonight/early tomorrow!
The theme for this week is induced radioactivity! It was a big deal the first season and then promptly forgotten, so let's see if we can pay it some more attention. :)
Groups
Using random.org, we organised the groups. The number of groups and people in each group will differ each week depending on who signs up for each round.
Group 1 - cxldsnaps, therainbowbandit, natureekills
Group 2 - citydin, tersyne, transportive
Group 3 - doctorsuresh, ii-romana, kiwiisdarthdoo
Group 4 - tracy-strauss, superhiro, mayline-to-westoros
You and your group should talk about what you want your collaboration to be and who could do what. If you don’t like tumblr’s messaging system, then you could always talk on other social media sites and online chatrooms (which might be a lot easier for groups of three). At the end of the week your group should submit their finished post to this blog. Right now, the temporary deadline is Friday, but if you feel you need more time for your group just ask!
Other information
Remember to check this blog for updates! If you took part in this round and want to take part in the rest, remember you will have to sign up again at the end of each week. Same goes if you wanted to join in and missed the sign up deadline, there’s always next week! If you have anymore questions, be sure to check out our faq, and if your question hasn’t been answered there, either message Courtney or me on either our personal blogs or this one. Have fun!
Fic: Her Father
Characters: Noah Bennet, Sandra Bennet, Claire Bennet
Words: 939
Genre: Gen.
His gaze fell onto the rear view mirror so that he could see the lower floors of the Deveaux Building. He couldn't see the rooftop any longer, where he had been forced into the most demanding assignment he had ever faced. When Noah had taken the job offer five years ago, nobody had told him that he was going to have to raise… one of them.
Noah's foot left the pedal as the car in front of him slowed down. He took the opportunity to eye the little bundle of blankets that was wrapped up securely on the back seat. Claire's tiny fingers held a round, colourful toy in a clasp and swivelled it through the air. A giggle escaped her lips and Noah couldn't help himself and smiled. He had a daughter.
It felt different than the first time. When Kate had told him she was pregnant Noah had been so filled up with joy, so excited about fatherhood that he hadn't given a thought about the complications there might be. But now… now this child had been given to him together with a promise to take her away as soon as her ability showed. As soon as he started to love her.
Maybe she would get to grow up, have a wonderful childhood, fall in love, go to college, all of this could happen before her ability revealed itself. Or she would never have any of this and would spend her childhood in a glass cell, with pipes and needles boring their way through her skin. Maybe she would stand beside him one day, as his partner, as a trained and broken agent. He knew the company was capable of doing this to a child and Noah knew that he was more than capable of watching while they did.
Somewhere between worrying about the child's future and questioning his own morality, Noah maneuvered his car through the streets and parked it in front of the apartment he and Sandra had found a home in. He left the car and opened the door to the back seat, being greeted by a pair of big green eyes. Carefully he wrapped his hand around her and opened the strap of the child safety seat.
He tried to steady her head with his hand like he had seen other fathers do it. They really needed a stroller. And a crib. And diapers. And probably a hundred other things that Noah couldn't even begin to think of right now.
Noah made his way into the elevator exhaling sharply through his nostrils. Now the hard part was about to begin. Laying Claire against his shoulder he used his free hand to fumble the keys out of his pockets. As he opened the door he could hear Sandra singing along with the radio in the kitchen. Noah's arm went up to steady Claire, so he kicked the door shut with his feet and the singing stopped.
“You’re home early, honey,” he could hear Sandra say, still caught in the rhythm of the old country song. “Is everything all right?”
She stepped into the living room, playing with a small towel between her fingers. As her eyes fell onto the little miracle that lay in Noah's arms her fingers froze.
“What… Noah?” She stammered, understandably confused. Her husband didn't give her the time to continue.
“It's okay, honey.” He began, taking a step towards Sandra, “Actually everything is perfect.”
Sandra couldn't take her eyes off the baby. Noah knew that his wife had wanted to have a baby for a long time. They both had, no matter his second thoughts.
“This is Claire. Your daughter.”
Sandra lifted her eyes towards Noah's face, facing his perfectly happy and excited façade. “What do you mean, my daughter?”
“We’ve been planning to start a family for so long, why wait any longer? I know, we never talked about adoption as an alternative, but don't you think it’s time for us?” Noah knew the expression in Sandra's face. The way she leaned away from him, just so much that it was noticeable, the way she squeezed her eyes and tightened her lips. She always held that expression when she knew Noah was hiding something.
“But how? Where have you gotten her? How can she stay here, she doesn't even have a place to sleep…”
Noah cut her off. “Everything is fine, I took care of that. It's absolutely official.” Sandra's eyes fell onto the baby again. He almost had her. “Do you want to hold her?”
His wife's eyes started to water when she embraced the girl and started to rock her back and forth. “Claire, you said?” she asked and lifted one hand so she could stroke the baby's cheek. “Welcome home, sweetie.”
The sight of his wife holding Claire let Noah almost forget about the fact that she was an assignment. Almost. He still couldn't quite believe that he was going to be a father. Temporarily, of course.
“I'll go to the store to get everything we need for the first days,” he offered and Sandra nodded slowly, not taking her eyes off Claire. The corners of Noah's lips rose.
“Everything will be fine, honey. I know this is unexpected, but we can do this. Don't worry.”
It happens too quickly for Noah to even question what the hell Thompson’s doing there and what it means that he sees everything, not right then. His priority is his family. Just like it always has been, exactly like they probably counted on at the Company when they handed him his assignment all those years ago, all wrapped up like a gift and alive and sleepy-eyed in a soft blanket.
They needed his dedication. In the moment when Noah fully realizes what’s at stake, he understands exactly where his dedication lies, and it’s not where it should be. Except it is.
He figured it out earlier than he’d like to admit. He kept his own doubts and feelings secret because he was good at his job and he wanted to keep it - couldn’t afford to lose it. Besides, lies were always a bit too easy to him. Smooth; second nature. And if he was a better man, maybe he’d be worried about that.
But Noah Bennet is not a good man. He’s just a man looking out what’s worth protecting. That makes him a man playing a dangerous game with people he probably won’t win against, but it’s exactly that dedication that makes him try despite the odds.
Claire stabs Sprague with a needle and probably dies over and over just from being that close to him, but she lives and so does the rest of the neighborhood.
They see her. Everybody sees her, and Noah knows what that means even before he’s wrapped his daughter and his wife and his son up in his arms, holding them close and thinking fiercely at them that he’ll keep them safe, somehow. That’s when he knows that he’s a good liar but not so good that he can fool himself.
Thompson just looks at them but there’s an almost-smile in his expression and Noah’s already making plans and spinning lies, because he needs his next move to be faster than Thompson can anticipate. He’s stopped worrying about what it means or what it says about him, that he can hug his family this close and feel his heart break and already be thinking about the next great deception. It doesn’t matter, in the grand scheme of things, because it’s not really about him. It’s about keeping his family safe.
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