This weekend, we whipped up a Stemma QT breakout board for the TCS34303 (https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/ams-osram-usa-inc/TCS34303-OLGA8-LF-T-RDP/7428283) a 'tri-stimulus' color sensor. Most color sensors we've stocked have a red/green/blue/clear diode. This sensor can provide CIE 1931 XYZ output, useful for color correction, or photo/videography. To make it like our old TCS34725 (https://www.adafruit.com/product/1334), we added a white neutral LED. Since it has a 1.8V sensor, we had to add a lot of level shifting to make it compatible with 3 or 5V power and logic. Coming soon.
You’ll Always Be My Hero - Chapter 80 ; Apotheosis
Author: @harringtonstilinski
Characters: Stiles Stilinski x Emma Thomas (OC)
Word Count: 3,893
Warnings: angst, squint for fluff, mentions of injuries,
A/N: Hi, friends! Chapter 80 is here! I can’t believe we’re almost in the home stretch of this series! If you like this chapter, please do not hesitate to reblog and give some feedback, whether it be in the reblogs, comments, or my inbox. As always, read at your own risk and enjoy 😊
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Stiles and I took the file that Melissa had with her and took it to Deaton. Why we took it to Deaton, I wasn’t sure, but here we were; walking with him through the clinic as he looked at the file.
“Vanishing twin syndrome?” he asked.
“This is part of your expertise, right?” Stiles asked.
“Babe, the man deals with animals and supernatural creatures, not humans,” I said.
Deaton looked over at us. “She’s right.” He looked back down at the file, setting it down on the exam table.
The back door opening had all three of us looking in that direction. What I didn’t expect to see was Scott and Liam bring in the Surgeon Dread Doctor.
“He’s still alive,” Scott said. Him and Liam laid the Surgeon on the table. “Can you keep him alive?”
“I’m not sure he technically is alive,” Deaton said, going to unbutton the Surgeon’s shirt.
Stiles put his arm around my waist, pulling me against him as I stood between him and Scott.
“Screw keeping him alive,” Liam said. “How do we get him to talk?”
“Personally, I don’t think we utilize torture nearly enough,” Stiles said.
I leaned my head against his shoulder. Not getting enough sleep was exhausting.
Liam looked up in our direction. “Did you hear that?”
After a few seconds, the Surgeon jolted up from his lying position, emitting a high-pitched noise that had all of us covering our ears, bending forward. Everything in the room shook like there was an earthquake happening. I closed my eyes tight, feeling Stiles trying to cover me as best he could with his own body. I still had my eyes closed, a headache forming from the noise. I felt two pairs of hands on me, moving me out of the way of whatever’s happening.
Uncovering my ears, I turned and saw that every piece of metal equipment and table was against the door.
“Stop,” Deaton said, stopping Scott and Liam in their tracks. “It’s electrified.”
Scott’s body language told me that he was listening in on the conversation taking place outside.
Stiles wrapped his arms around me, asking quietly, “Are you okay?”
I nodded my head, staring at the back of Scott’s head.
“The cane,” Scott whispered.
“But they took it. They took the cane,” Liam added.
“Mind filling the ones who don’t have supernatural hearing in?” I asked.
“Argent took the cane,” Scott said.
“Well, that’s just peachy.”
~~~
Scott started looking through the file after we moved everything back in place once it became demagnetized… or non-electrified. “Maybe there’s something in here. Something about how he was a Genetic Chimera.”
“Mason had a vanishing twin,” I sighed.
“Now we’ve got a vanishing Mason,” Stiles said.
“What does that have to do with him turning into a 250 year old French guy?” Liam wondered. “How does that even happen?”
“Hold on, Scott might have something,” Deaton said, pointing to Scott. “Mason’s twin wasn’t entirely gone. That’s what made him a Genetic Chimera.”
We all looked at Scott, who said, “The DNA was still there.”
“Metaphorically speaking, the DNA of Mason could still be inside Sebastien as well.”
“How?” Stiles asked.
Deaton looked at me, nodding to give me the go ahead to start explaining. How he knew I knew, I’ll never know… wait.
“Life is energy. Energy doesn’t just disappear,” I said.
“The Dread Doctors may have found a way to break the rules of the supernatural world, but there are some rules that simply won’t break,” Deaton added.
“So Mason can’t just be gone?” Liam asked.
“Somewhere in Sebastien he has to still exist in some form,” I said, leaning my hands on the table in front of me. I watched Stiles pick up the mask, looking at it as I continued. “A spark of energy, a flicker of memory.”
“Hang on…” Stiles said. “Liam, you said Mason said something right before he turned.”
“He said, that’s not my name,” Liam informed.
“He finally remembered his name,” Scott said.
“Damnatio Memoriae,” Stiles and I said.
“That’s what they wanted,” Liam said. “They wanted Sebastien to remember his name.”
“Scott, you know the myth of what happens when you call a werewolf by its given name?” Deaton asked. “Emma, since you have werewolf blood in you, this applies to you as well.”
Scott and I looked at each other, knowing what it meant. He only knows because I told him after doing all that research after he was first bitten. “It turns back to human.”
“What does that mean?” Liam asked. “Someone can just walk up to the Beast, yell Mason’s name and turn him back?”
I felt three pairs of eyes on me with Scott’s next words. “Not someone…”
I looked at Scott, Stiles and Deaton, rolling my head back with my eyes closed. “Why is it always me?”
Stiles grabbed his phone from his pocket and texted our dads, letting them know about Sebastien while Mom picked me up to head to the station to meet up with Lydia. But not before giving Stiles a kiss.
~~~
Hayden and I got to the station at around the same time, walking through together. We looked around, seeing her sister, Sheriff and my dad on the floor.
I looked over at Lydia, seeing Sebastien coming at her, claws and fangs on display for the entire station to see.
Right before Sebastien got to Lydia, I pushed her out of the way and faced him, letting out a high-pitched scream that took over as he dug his claws into my neck. My scream was so powerful that it sent him crashing into the wall behind him.
Feeling the blood coming out of my neck, I put my hands over the wounds, dropping to my knees. Lydia rushed to my side just as Sheriff and Dad were getting to their feet.
Just as I was starting to fall back, Dad wrapped me up in his arms, carrying me bridal style out to his cruiser, Sheriff and Lydia following.
Dad drove as fast as he could to the hospital, Sheriff and Lydia helping me out after Dad put the car in park. He ran to my side, picking me up bridal style again and rushing into the building, my godfather and best friend following.
I still had my hands around my neck, whimpering in pain as Sheriff called out for Melissa.
~~~
A few hours after I had, yet another surgery, Sheriff and Dad left so that I could get some rest, but Lydia, as always, refused to leave my side. I had fallen asleep sometime after, tired from the last few days.
I woke up feeling someone sitting on the side of my bed, holding my hand. I grunted as I looked over at Lydia.
“Hey. You alright?” Stiles asked.
“Did-- did you find… something else?” I grunted. It hurt like a bitch to talk. “Another solution?”
I heard Lydia’s heels click on the ground as she walked to my other side, putting her hand on my arm.
Stiles sighed. “No. Well, maybe.” He looked up at Lydia then back down at me. “It’s you and Lydia.”
I looked over at her, smirking a bit. “Badass bitches on parade.”
I felt Scott and Liam somewhere in the building before Scott walked into my room.
“Hey, Em. How you feeling?” he asked.
I gave him a look, then turned my eyes over to Stiles.
“She can’t really talk. Sebastien almost got her vocal chord,” Stiles answered for me.
Scott nodded and looked down.
“Scotty,” I groaned. He looked up at me. “It’s not your fault,” I said, voice going in and out.
“Em, if I’d had just--”
“You can’t protect everyone, Scotty.”
Lydia smoothed my hair down, shushing me. “Try not to talk too much. Doctors orders.”
“You know she never listens,” Stiles said.
The four of us chuckled, me barely.
“Alright. I’m gonna update Liam. He’s worried about you,” Scott said.
I lifted the left corner of my mouth, letting Scott know that I appreciated it. He walked out of the room, giving that same small smile I’d just given him.
Lydia moved towards the door, grabbing her purse. Stiles placed a long kiss on my head before looking me in the eyes. “I’ll be back. I promise.”
I nodded and patted at his stomach, hearing it growling. He chuckled and placed a sweet kiss on my lips before pulling away and walking out the door behind Lydia.
A few minutes went by before Scott and Liam walked in my room and over to either side of me.
“We’re gonna help you sit up,” Scott said, him and Liam placing their hands on my shoulders. “Ready?”
I nodded, both werewolves helping me sit up, gently. I groaned in protest, the pain in my neck causing discomfort.
The door opened, Melissa, Stiles and Lydia walking in before Lydia closed the door.
Melissa walked to my left side, Liam moving out of the way. “Emma, this is gonna have to be just between us, since I can get fired for it.”
“It’s a cortisone shot. It’s gonna bring the inflammation down,” Scott informed.
I nodded, watching as Melissa pulled said medicine from her sweater pocket, uncapping the needle. I put my arm out, thinking she was gonna put it in my arm.
“Not there,” she confirmed.
I gave her a look that said I wasn’t happy with that answer.
“I can hear the sass laced in your voice with that look,” she said. She sighed and put her hands up on my neck, pulling the tape and gauze back, a groan coming from my lips.
“Oh, yeah, okay, babe, I love you, but I’m gonna need to leave,” Stiles said.
“You’re not going anywhere. Get over here and hold your girlfriend's hand.”
“Okay, fine. I’m not leaving, but I still might faint.”
“What are you gonna do when you two have children?” Lydia asked.
“Faint,” Stiles said, grabbing my hand and lacing our fingers together.
“Okay,” Melissa said, softly, gently taking a hold of my chin. “Here we go.”
I took a few deep breaths, not taking my eyes off Stiles. Melissa didn’t even get 6 inches to my neck before we all heard a thud, a space where Liam was standing. I rolled my eyes before Scott went to move.
“You, stay by her side, I’ll get him,” Lydia said.
Scott grabbed my hand in preparation.
“Okay, Emma, this is gonna hurt like a bitch,” Melissa said. With that little bit of a warning, she stuck the needle in my neck, whimpers coming from me, and hand breaking for my best friend and boyfriend.
As she squeezed the medicine in my neck, I took in a deep breath, wanting this to be over as fast as possible. When the medicine was out of the syringe, she removed it from my neck and replaced the tape and gauze.
Lydia walked over to my side, helping me off the bed. Stiles rushed over to my side, as well, helping Lydia dress me in my regular clothes after Melissa and the werewolves exited the room.
After getting into the elevator and going down to the first floor, Stiles, Scott, Lydia and Liam helped me walk out.
~~~
“Okay, I’ll get Malia. Text me when you find Parrish,” Stiles said, giving me a quick kiss on my temple.
“Hold on,” Scott said.
Liam and Lydia held me up as Scott let go to give Stiles something from his jacket pocket.
Stiles took it, looking back up at Scott. “What is this?”
“Something I’ve been working on for a while,” Scott said. “Just make sure Malia gets it.”
“Okay. Is it a Plan B?” Stiles asked, moving over towards me.
“It was Plan A,” Scott said.
“Plan A never works,” Stiles said, putting his hand on my upper arm.
I looked back and forth between the two best friends.
“This one will,” Scott said.
“Okay,” Stiles said, looking down at me.
I looked up at him, giving him questioning eyes.
“Be careful. Please,” he said.
I pursed my lips together, hearing a chuckle from Lydia. “She’ll be fine,” Lydia said. “She’s with me. Another badass Banshee.”
“Fair enough,” he said, kissing my temple once more before turning around to walk off.
I whined in protest, causing him to turn back to me… with a chuckle. I had my lips puckered, wanting one more kiss from him before he left me to be a hero. He placed his lips on mine, a sweet kiss following.
He pulled away, looking deep into my eyes. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” I mouthed.
He turned around again, actually making his way out of the hospital.
We piled into my Jeep that my Mom had apparently dropped off and drove to the tunnels, getting out and trying to find our way to… wherever the hell we needed.
“Scott,” Liam whispered.
We were standing by a grate as I looked around.
“Do you hear that?”
“I heard that,” Lydia said. “Em?”
I shook my head. “No.”
“Emma, save your voice,” Scott said. More like demanded.
Liam stepped forward a couple steps, water splashing a little bit at his feet.
I heard what sounded like electricity. “I hear it now.”
“Em, Lydia, get out of the water!” Liam said, pushing Lydia out of the water… who pushed me out of the water.
Just as soon as Lydia and I touched the wall and pressed ourselves against it, Liam and Scott got electrocuted by the water, both of them going down to the ground and screaming.
Lydia started guiding me away from them before we came face to face with Theo, who grabbed my arms. “Sorry, Emma,” he said. I gave him a confused look before he placed a kiss on my forehead, turned us both and pushed me over Scott and Liam and into a hole. Thankfully, Scott reached forward and grabbed my right wrist before I could fall the whole way down.
I reached up and grabbed his arm with my left hand, holding on for dear life… literally. “Don’t let go, please, don’t let go,” I whimpered.
“Save your voice. Em, save your voice,” he said.
I watched as Theo knelt by Scott, digging his claws into Scotts side. I gasped as Scott groaned at being stabbed.
“Feel that, Scott?” Theo asked.
Scott gasped as I let out a breath.
“Kanima venom,” Theo said, listening to Scott’s breathing. “Just let it happen. Let it go.”
Scott’s grip on my wrist started to loosen, so I let out a small scream, shaking my head.
“Let everything go.”
“No!” Scott groaned, both of us letting go of each other as I fell the rest of the way, screaming as best I could. I felt a pain on the left side of my chest, feeling the area. Nothing was there. I got up from my fall, feeling around the walls to watch where I was going in this dark area.
I felt a door handle and tried to slide the door open, but to no avail. I reached up and placed my hand on the gauze. I looked around the area that was dimly lit, realizing that Lydia wasn’t near me. I guess Theo didn’t do anything to her like he did me. I guess she was still with Scott and Liam.
I turned back to the door, grabbing the handle and trying my best to yank the bitch open. Still didn’t work. I strained and pulled at the door, but it still wouldn’t open.
Something coming through the side of the door caught my attention. I smiled a little at recognizing the katana. I heard her sword clanking against the door before I moved from it before it fell. I looked up at the source and smiled.
“Sorry I’m late,” Kira said.
I ran up to her, giving her a hug, Lydia coming up next to us. We engaged in a small group hug before we parted. I gave Kira questioning eyes, her nodding her head. “I’ll explain everything later.”
We started running towards where we thought Scott and Liam would be. Stopping at hearing Sebastien’s voice, I looked at Lydia who nodded at me. I looked back over at Sebastien.
“Mason,” I said, to which Sebastien looked over at me and started walking towards us.
“I think you’re gonna need to try it a little louder,” Kira said.
I sighed and looked at Lydia, who nodded her head again. Sebastien’s eyes glowed white as Lydia put her hands on my shoulders.
Sebastien transformed into the Beast, Lydia and I yelling, “MASON!”
It was weird because you could see the power of our voices together, almost like a soundwave going towards the Beast, knocking him down to the ground before essentially exploding into black smoke.
I gasped, seeing Mason running out of the smoke and right into Corey’s arms. Wait, Corey was here? He’s gotta stop doing that invisible mess. I smiled at seeing Mason again, but something else caught my eye.
What was left of the Beast, screaming as it floated through the tunnels around us, Parrish catching it, yelling out for Scott.
Said Alpha jumped forward, grabbing the pike off the ground and hurling it towards Parrish and the Beast, said pike impaling the Beast.
The Beast vanished in Parrish’s arms, his flames dying out and looking at us.
I ran up to Scott, engulfing him in a hug, which he returned.
“Is everyone okay?” Scott asked.
“Not everyone,” Theo sneered from behind us.
I looked to my right, seeing Theo standing with electricity crackling all over him. Scott growled and moved me behind him.
Kira jumped in front of us, twirling her sword around and sending the electricity that Theo tried throwing at us right back at him, her eyes glowing Orange. “The Skinwalkers have a message for you, Theo.”
Theo stopped his crackling, looking absolutely terrified.
“Your sister wants to see you.” Kira stabbed her katana in the ground, cracking the concrete all the way to Theo, a hole forming before him. A hand popped out from the hole, scaring the life out of me. I put my hand on Scott’s shoulder, seeing what I guessed to be Theo’s sister crawling out of the hole.
“Remind me to never watch The Ring with Stiles ever again,” I whispered in Scott’s ear, to which he nodded.
Theo’s sister grabbed his ankle, twisted him and started dragging him into the hole with her. “Scott, help me!” Theo screamed. “No! No! Scott, help me! Scott! No! Scott! Help me!”
His sister was relentless as she pulled him in the hole, not caring that he was crying for help. After they were both back in the hole, the concrete went back to normal; no cracks, nothing, it was like nothing even happened.
~~~
I took Scott and Liam to the clinic, feeling that Hayden was there. Since she was a new pack member because of her relationship with Liam, I could now feel her presence. Same with Mason. I knew that Hayden was at the clinic, anyway, because she texted me, letting me know that she was there.
I went to the station, surprising my parents, who were worried sick about me… as they should. They carefully wrapped me in their different hugs, careful to avoid my neck.
Dad pointed to Sheriff’s office, letting me know that Sheriff wanted to see me. I turned and locked eyes with my godfather, running into his office and giving him my own hug.
Sneakers squeaking on the floor let me know that Stiles was here… well, I already knew. I felt him coming into the building.
I turned and smiled at him, running the few feet to him. I jumped in his arms, careful not to damage my neck anymore. “We did it,” I whispered. I pulled back and looked him in the eyes. “We saved Mason.” I smiled as he let out a breath.
We both walked into the office, sitting down on the couch. We watched as Sheriff packed some stuff away in a box.
“You both saved their lives,” Sheriff said.
I wrapped my arms around Stiles’ right one, resting my chin on his shoulder, smiling.
“Mason. Malia. Half the population of Beacon Hills,” Sheriff continued. “That’s gotta feel pretty good.”
Stiles turned his head, lightly pressing his lips to my forehead. He sighed as he turned his head back to look at his dad. I rested the side of my head on his shoulder, feeling him rest his head on mine. “It did. For a while.”
“But it’s something you want to feel again,” Sheriff said.
“Yeah,” Stiles said. “Yeah, I think so.”
“Welcome to your future career in law enforcement,” Sheriff said, Dad joining in.
We lifted our heads up, me turning to look at my dad.
I turned my head back to look at Stiles, him doing the same as I said, “Deputy Stiles Stilinski. Got a nice ring to it.”
“So does Attorney Emma Thomas,” Stiles said.
I smiled at him, putting my hand on his cheek, leaning forward to press my lips on his.
~~~
Stiles and I left for school, not really wanting to be here. We just wanted to skip today, spend some time together at home.
Right before our class ended, I got a text from Scott, saying that Kira was with the Skinwalkers, and that she’d be back whenever she’d figure out how to not let the Fox take control.
“She’ll be back. She still has to graduate,” I said, lacing mine and Stiles’ fingers together as we walked down the hall.
“That’s the thing, baby, I don’t know,” he said. “When we started this school year, I was so stressed about everyone ending up in the same place after we graduate.”
“I know. I was there,” I sassed.
He sighed. “But I don’t think it matters. We always seem to find each other anyway. Even Allison.”
I stopped walking, tugging on his hand as he kept walking. He turned around, facing me.
“He didn’t tell you,” he said.
“I would know if he did, but he didn’t.”
“It was in the tunnels. When Sebastien had his hands around Scott’s throat. The guy probably didn’t even know what he was doing. His claws got into Scott’s neck. He was going to kill him, but then he stopped and he said a name… Marie-Jeanne.”
“He saw Scotty’s memories,” I said.
“He saw Allison,” Stiles whispered.
“They must’ve looked like each other. I mean, maybe exactly like each other.”
“It gave Scott a chance to break free. She saved him. Allison saved his life.”
I smiled and started walking with him towards the library, finding the table that Scott set his stuff down at.
Lydia sat down next to me as I sat across from Stiles, who was sitting next to his best friend.
I watched as Scott came down the steps, and patted Stiles on the shoulder as he sat down in front of Lydia.
I looked at my boyfriend and best friends, wondering where life would take us. We had a few more months of Senior year left, but that didn’t stop me from wondering. These next few months were going to be some of the best of our lives.
A/N 2: hi, friends! HAPPY PRIDE MONTH!!! let me know what you thought! again, please do not hesitate to reblog and give some feedback, whether it be in the reblogs, comments, or my inbox.
If you want to be added to the YABMH Taglist, just click here. If you’re tagged and didn’t want to be, please let me know. Tumblr’s trying to tag people for me, lol.
Italics wouldn’t let me tag 🥺
~~~
*Please don’t post my writing anywhere else without my consent. The author of this work will always and forever be @harringtonstilinski.
All characters, story lines, and plot aside from Emma and her storyline & plot, are all of the work of Jeff Davis. Our home slice Emma was made up all by me. As well we her parents and their storyline throughout the series.
*These works contain material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited.
No part of these works may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author / publisher.
An introduction to textual criticism, illustrated by the stemma of the manuscripts of Herodotus’ Histories
“Textual criticism
Textual criticism: the study of medieval manuscripts in order to reconstruct ancient texts.
Ancient sources have been passed down to us in medieval manuscripts, which were copied manually. Unfortunately, it is impossible for humans to copy a long text without making errors, which means that our manuscripts are imperfect. The Italian scholar Angelo Poliziano (1454-1494, “Politian”) was the first to realize that if you looked carefully at the errors in existing manuscripts, you might reconstruct a lost original. His own discovery was that all manuscripts of Valerius Flaccus’ Argonautica had been derived from the same book, which had contained several pages in the wrong sequence. All manuscripts contained the same error, proving that it had been in the original text (“archetype”).
This was the beginning of what is now called “textual criticism”. Modern editions of ancient texts always have a list of the manuscripts and a history of the way in which the text has been passed down, the “tradition”. Usually, there’s also a family tree (“stemma”) of the available and reconstructed manuscripts. If there are many texts, classicists can even recognize families that go back to different archetypes, which can be used to reconstruct an archetype behind the archetypes. Here is an example, based on the manuscripts of Herodotus' Histories. There are, in fact, forty-six manuscripts, but most of them can be eliminated, leaving only seven relevant manuscripts, called A, B, C, D, R, S, and V.
In this stemma, manuscripts A, B, and C are related to each other, because they are based on the same manuscript, which is lost but can be reconstructed. It is indicated as [a]. Something similar can be said of R, S, and V, which are derived from [r]. These are two families. Comparison of D and [r] helps us reconstruct [d], which in turn can be compared to [a]. In this way, we can make a reconstruction of the archetype, [x]. All known manuscripts are based on this archetype, which does not mean that this is the original text, as written by Herodotus himself. However, [x] comes closer to the original than any of the existing manuscripts.
A modern edition of an ancient text usually has a "critical apparatus". An example can be seen in the picture: the prologue of the Gospel of John. The main text is the best reconstruction the editors could make, and at the foot of the page, you can see variant readings. In the column to the right, you can see references to related Biblical texts.
A real scholar is, of course, satisfied only if there is independent proof that this method is correct. Fortunately, this exists. Among the papyri discovered in the Egyptian desert, texts have been discovered that were identical to reconstructions that had been made much earlier. It is, of course, only a small test, but it sufficient to prove that the principles of reconstruction are sound.
Politian was the first to realize the potential and later classicists have improved this method. His younger contemporary Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536) introduced the rule known as lectio difficicilior potior. Another improvement was the recognition of “horizontal tradition”, which takes place when a copyist uses more than one manuscript to make his own text. In its simplest form, he copied one text and inserted variants of the second text in the margin of his book. This is of course easy to recognize, but things can be quite difficult when the copyist, on every occasion, chose the variant he thought best, now preferring the first and then the second text.
Textual criticism has been increasingly refined and the results have become progressively better. In its present form, it was proposed by the Swedish jurist Carl Johan Schlyter (1795-1888). It was so enthusiastically propagated by the German classicist Karl Lachmann (1793-1851), that it often called the Lachmann Method. It was the model for the biological theory that humans and monkeys have the same ancestor; in other words, modern evolutionism is inspired by textual criticism.
This page was created in 2014; last modified on 12 October 2020.”
