#Milky Way Image Company

[seat-safety-switch]

SO-LAR-FUCKING-POWER. Or, as the appearance-obsessed image consultants want us to refer to it now, "photovoltaic energy." Yeah, okay, nerds. A lot of people have been shit-talking solar in the press, because they're afraid that individuals will set up their own power generation facilities in their backyards, roofs, sheds, community centres, what have you, and start pumping out electricity. That will make the big electricity corporations sad, so they've paid all these handsome people to come on the news and yell about it.

Let me put it this way: if there were a magic machine in the sky that shot out a bunch of candy bars every day, like an absolute shitload of Milky Ways, and you were hungry, would you run out into the backyard with a bucket? Or would you feel bad about it because Bob Milky Way, up there in his hateful Cadbury tower, is no longer able to perpetuate his existing business model?

Personally, I've gone big-league on solar, mostly because the utility company disconnected my house after decades of non-payment. Now, I can't afford the new stuff: even the cheap panels that the proud people of China throw onto AliExpress are too costly for my budget. What I've done instead is dig through the landfill (after hours, of course) for several hundred solar desk calculators.

These calculators are electronic devices that we used to use before smartphones in order to compute numbers. And they ran on the sun, because replacing batteries is annoying. After breaking open the calculators, I looped their solar cells together in series, and eventually built a big enough panel to cover my entire roof.

When I say it like that, it sounds easy, and this is the myth of engineering progress: it was actually a lot of stop-and-go stuff, bumps in the road. Rooftop fires. Wiring fires. I fell off the roof a few times. The cops came by at one point and were idling in front of my house, waiting to see if I'd come outside so they could bust me for stealing all those calculators from the dump. In the end, though, I am now able to charge my phone for free, and even run my coffee maker if it's a particularly sunny day. That coffee is the best-tasting coffee I've ever had, because it tastes like billionaire tears.

And I won't stop there, either. Things are going to improve dramatically at the old Switch Family Solar Array as my bougie neighbours throw out their old panels in order to upgrade to the latest and greatest. Pretty soon they'll be paying me to take them – I have it on good authority that the dump charges you like minimum $20 this weekend. If you flip to the last page in my investor deck, you'll notice that I have projected to be able to run my refrigerator by 2025. You better get in on this shit, or we'll bury you with the coal.

[loonfull-sonnetzz]

To Soothe The Ache

Note: I lost motivation for this fic so I decided to just post the WIP since ya'll have been waiting for AGES. Sorry guys :') No beta we die like Frou Frou

༊*·˚Pairing: Alexei Vronsky X Soldier!Transman!Reader

༊*·˚Universe: Anna Karenina (2012)

༊*·˚Summary: You and Vronsky are soldiers and secretly find comfort

༊*·˚Warnings: menstruation, cramps, unsafe binding (do not bind with bandages!! Please!!), historical inaccuracies, mentions of war, probably out of character Vronsky (hadn’t read or watched Anna Karenina sorry :( ) 

༊*·˚WC: 1k

Divider credit: Florietas 

Finally, serenity.

The cavalry unit you had found yourself in had traveled across the Stara Planina, trekking through the jagged peaks and small cliffs while leading the horses, praying to god your foot doesn’t slip on the ice or one of the horses panic from the distant howl of wolves that haunted the vicious winds. All for the sake of fighting off the Ottomans in Serbia. However, the stress was worth it, even as your legs screamed to rest and your eyelids began to go heavy from the restless nights guarding the makeshift camps the unit had made throughout the weeks.

Now your unit had finally left the mountains, finding a decent clearing amongst the soaring pines to rest once again. The wind no longer howls with threats, but whispers along the gently rattled pine needles. Between the spaces of the trees, up high, you could see stars twinkling in the inky night sky, hundreds and thousands of stars gazing down upon you – you could’ve sworn you could see into the eye of the milky way – Something you could never experience in your home city St. Petersburg where the fog and smoke hid the celestials. 

You took a deep breath. One good, deep and well-deserved breath. The crisp winter air filling your lungs, held, then exhaled – coming out as white mist that danced in the dark before dissipating.

But soon enough serenity would not last. Sure, it was relieving to be out late, no longer burdened by your comrades’ complaints and sharing company with the stars, but your body protested. Not just with the ache that dully throbbed in your legs or your eyes that you had to fight to keep open, but the pains that shoot from your hips and to your stomach, an unfortunate reminder of your secret. Stress could do so much before there could be no more delays and the time of the month comes crashing in. Or Alexei Vronsky chiding you for wearing your bandages for too long.

Alexei Vronsky, the man that was just as handsome as his frivolity and ambition, became an unlikely friend. It was all an accident, really. Months ago when they were stationed at some headquarters back home in Russia. Soldiers had to share washrooms, but you were vigilant and always went early in the morning or late at night when it came to changing so no one could know you were born a different boy, a boy who didn’t have the same body as the others. But one of those nights Vronsky was out for a while and returned late, exhausted and accidentally stumbling to the washroom to only catch a brief look as you panicked and slammed the door on his face. 

Even to this day it was hard to know why you had come out to him in the first place. Perhaps it was his hesitant inquiry, or the guilt for being rude for shutting the door on him. Or perhaps something more, that you both didn’t exactly fit societal norms. Vronsky may be charming, ambitious and brave – bearing the image of the perfect soldier, but he is still a man with his own struggles. Perhaps that’s why he didn’t freak out or prodded you with uncomfortable questions as most other people, especially aristocrats like him, usually did.

Shaking your head and pushing the reminiscing thoughts aside, you briskly make your way back to your tent. Your nimble fingers made way to your buttons in a swift fashion, undoing them until the top of your military uniform started to slide down your shoulders and gooseflesh covered your exposed skin. The cold once again reminding you of it’s limited mercy as it bit your flesh and sent chills down your spine. But hypothermia was probably better than cracking your ribs in the long run.

You were already about to unhook the pins that held the bandages before you heard someone clear their throat and call your name. You whipped your gaze at the intruder, stiffening up and crossing your arms over your chest instinctively before you realized who it was.

“Come here, will you?” Alexei murmured, his voice low and soothing like the distant babble of the creek. He drew you slowly enough that you could have pulled back easily. “You’ve already done so much for us since the beginning of this journey, this is the least I could do.”

You felt your face burn from the sudden praise and care, but you soon felt your shoulders droop and arms fall to your sides. He was right in a way, you could collapse at any point if the cramps or your duty as a soldier didn’t keep you up. So you let him trace the pins, unhooking them and unraveling the bandages. Your gaze flickered from his hands to his face, his brows a little furrowed with compassion and concentration as he buttoned up your uniform – not letting a moment of the wintry air freeze you or the discomfort of having your body vulnerable and exposed go on any further.

He catches your gaze as soon as he finishes, his hands lingering on the last button before one glides over to caress your cheek. His worry became more evident on his visage. “Is there something on your mind?”

The lie on your tongue was silenced by another wave of pain, making you hold your own waist and curling further to yourself. Alexei quickly holds you steady, his sapphire eyes flickering all over you to search for the cause of sudden agony.

“I’m bleeding out,” You said with a slightly self-deprecating chuckle, a little amused by Alexei’s fretting to something natural as menstruation. This only confused your fellow comrade before it seemed to click and he sighs and embraces you, his arms wrapped around your waist.

“I’ll be okay, it’s just cramps,” You said, biting down your tongue to smother a wince. But you didn't make an effort to leave and neither did Alexei, who didn’t look convinced by your lame excuse.

“I know, darling. But I'm not leaving your side to suffer this alone. I just want to make you feel better,”  He said, pulling back slightly to meet your gaze again. His hands trailing down to hold onto your hips, the warmth soothing the ache. Alexei then dipped his head down, his soft lips pressed against yours before he whispers against your lips. “How can I be of service?”

[latibulater]

Venture Bros Rewatch notes: Home Insecurity

Fucking hilarious that Underland is designed like a disney princess villain lair but actually with all the executions.

tiger balm....tiger....bomb.....makes me laugh EVERY time honestly all i can think of when i hear tiger balm

Knowing that there are many kids with amputations in Underland from the child mines, like that is crazy the child amputee rate must be one of the highest in the world. i get that its played for jokes and it was funny, but if we are gonna be serious about all of it this counts and is like. mind boggling

whoo! use of the r slur! the way ive had to fucking campaign in my family to get them to stop using it and then i turn on this show and theyre saying it like every other episode makes me want to hunt down hammer and publick

okay but thats a waste of tiger.....

ik we dont learn this till later but i have questions about underland apparently being located right next to michigan.....PLEASSSSE LET ME SEE THE WORLD MAP IK ITS SO FUCKED UP

Brock's blue shirt is so beautiful on him...wish I could unbutton it off him. Dean and his hover boots, honestly those boots should make a come back

Stupid ass racist costume!

I literally choked on my spit and coughed at the same time Doc coughed at Brock's fumes

Okay I think Rusty is just doing a bit with the whole "big man think you can take me on? i knew this day would come" like seriously, the twins are so fucking silly but rusty is so beyond sarcastic he really is just projecting his own issues onto his kids all the time.

HELPER!!!!!!!!! Him going to take care of Rusty and so comically seeing NEW ROBOT blueprints and packing up a knapsack including a pic of child Rusty and Helper, oh my god it is just the sweetest robot and makes me wonder if there is a similar situation like with the red Helper happening with the whole....human brain.

the henchmen fighting and getting distracted till doc wakes up an slides into the panic room LOL

also i do love the underland footmen look as someone who loved tmnt it looks very foot clan

hank and dean may be a little over the top but they did take care of the scorpion and tarantula pretty handily.

Dean and Hank in the panic room and not even knowing when it was built....like seriously how many memories are they missing, consider they repeated being 15/16 over 10 times

Hank choking out Rusty is SO FUNNY Hank is just trying to help!!!!!!! just send them both to a first aid class you will be better for it doc

Rusty lactating!!!!! Milky king!!!!!

The animation and storyboard in this episode flips between dynamic and very getty stock images which is pretty funny

Dr. Girlfriend getting insulted and telling the monarch to use the phone himself...him trying to get an outside line....god i feel so old.

bigfoot baby!

"GUARDO" you fucking idiot Rusty. "I fell asleep" Okay but have we considered the fact  that you just don't have a head for mechanics and need to switch science majors

THE SNACKS FOR COMPANY. And Monarch apparently seeing the Baron for the first time since college and them trying to kill each other at first in a big dick measuring contest.

"how do you even mix it up! augh its like having my dad do the shopping!" ok i need more orphan jokes from the monarch stat seasons 1 he kills with this

its funny to see bigfoot and brock and steve summers meeting is so funny...considering that they all fuck when brock stays with them after he leaves the osi

"do you know how long 6 million bucks takes to pay back on a government salary!" fucking screammmmmmmmmmm

"lab partnership is a sacred trust" SSTILLLLLLLL want to know about how this happened

The Monarch fucking around struggling with his old ass computer makes me SOOOO nostalgic i remember we had a similar computer in the kitchen growing up.

Dean reading Helper perfectly and Doc going through a slumdog millionaire flashback before emotionally manipulating his mommy robot

One henchman became a hench after the plant closed and he only had a GED. one had a crack addiction and got off it. one (gary) got kidnapped) underland minions are drafted and then executed at 38.

"SASBURGER"!!! GOD "Sasquatch gave me a new life" Brock trying not be grossed out but like trying not to let it show (but only because he thinks Sasquatch is a woman at that point and he's bigoted but pro-str8 people always.

"Go team Helper!"

Jesus I really SSOOOOOOOOOOO would fucking fucking fucking kill for an expose episode on how henching works in the world as a job

all the army men are idiots very appropriate. brock getting SOOO weirded out. It is homophobic but also I choose to believe Brock has never seen a cock bigger than his own and got so horny and emasculated he got wigged out.

First mention of the Guild in this episode about filing paperwork on collaboration which i think is funny

Helper not letting Rusty out is SO funny me and my siblings would do that all the time. Truly, there is a lot to be said about Rusty and Helper's relationship. No other relationship has been as long for Rusty as Helper, who has been there sinvce he was a young boy and has always looked out for him.

Overall this episode is really fun and enjoyable, it does very well with having very silly concepts being treated seriously and then serious situations being treated clownishly. always love steve and sasquatch, altho the vbros design is so............he has a face only steve summers loves apparently. and the conversation on paying back the osi for the bionics was good worldbuilding/commentary on real world disability issues of how disability devices are often very expensive and only work at the behest of whoever made the device. my own cousin had a cochlear implant that worked very well but then he was told it was being recalled and he could get new one and now its works awfully for him

would rate this one like a 7/10. very solid but nothing too rib crackling funny or show pausing overly interesting

[adorableears7]

@inukag-week Yearning, Moonlight, Bickering

**Stars Aligned**

---

The night of Tanabata had arrived, draping the sky in a tapestry of twinkling stars. The legend of Orihime and Hikoboshi, the star-crossed lovers who could only meet once a year, hung heavy in the air, resonating deeply with the hearts of those who longed for reunion. Among them were two souls bound by fate: Inuyasha and Kagome.

Inuyasha sat atop the Goshinboku tree, his amber eyes fixed on the heavens. The sight of the Milky Way streaking across the sky brought memories of Kagome flooding back. She had returned to her world after the defeat of Naraku, and though time had passed, the ache of her absence never dulled. He sighed, the rustle of leaves his only company.

Far away, in her own world, Kagome gazed at the stars from her bedroom window. The lights of modern Tokyo couldn’t diminish the beauty of the night sky. She held a small piece of parchment in her hand, her wish for Tanabata written in neat kanji: “I wish to see Inuyasha again.” The legend of Tanabata gave her hope, and she clung to it with all her heart.

As the stars twinkled brightly, a strange sensation washed over Kagome. She felt a tug at her soul, a pull that she couldn't resist. Without thinking, she grabbed her backpack and ran to the well shrine. She whispered a silent prayer and leapt into the Bone-Eater’s Well, feeling the familiar rush of magic as she traveled through time.

Inuyasha’s ears perked up as he sensed Kagome’s presence. He jumped down from the tree and sprinted towards the well. His heart raced with anticipation and worry. Was it really her? Could his wish have been granted?

As Kagome climbed out of the well, she was greeted by a pair of familiar golden eyes. “Inuyasha!” she cried, tears of joy streaming down her face.

“Kagome!” he shouted, his voice cracking with emotion. He reached out and pulled her into a tight embrace, burying his face in her hair. “I missed you,” he murmured, his voice rough with unspoken feelings.

Kagome hugged him back just as fiercely. “I missed you too, Inuyasha.”

For a moment, they simply held each other, the world around them fading away. The stars above seemed to shine even brighter, as if celebrating their reunion.

After a while, Inuyasha pulled back slightly, his usual gruff demeanor returning. “What took you so long, huh? I’ve been waiting forever.”

Kagome laughed, wiping away her tears. “Oh, come on! You think I haven’t been trying? It’s not exactly easy to jump through time, you know.”

Inuyasha huffed, crossing his arms. “Yeah, yeah. Always making excuses.”

Kagome glared at him playfully. “Excuses? You’re one to talk, Mr. I-Can’t-Admit-My-Feelings.”

Inuyasha’s cheeks turned a light shade of pink. “W-What? I— That’s not—”

Kagome giggled and took his hand. “It’s okay, Inuyasha. I know how you feel.”

He squeezed her hand gently, his expression softening. “Yeah, well… I guess I do, too.”

They stood there, hand in hand, under the starry sky, the spirit of Tanabata weaving their hearts together once more. Despite the bickering, their love was undeniable, and the promise of a future together shone as brightly as the stars above.

** thank you for reading. I have not created in years. **By: Michelle (aka Michi)

I generated images to go with the story. I hope you like it.

[deathlessathanasia]

[206] And Semele in Olympos, with a breath of the thunderbolts still about her, lifted a proud neck and cried with haughty voice - "Hera, you are ruined! Semele's son has beaten you! Zeus brought forth my son, he was the mother in my place! The father begot, the father brought forth his begotten. He brought forth a child from a makeshift womb of his own, and forced nature to change.

Bacchos was stronger than Enyalios; your Ares he only begot, and never childed with his thigh! Thebes ahs eclipsed the glory of Ortygia!12 For Leto the divine was chased about, and brought forth Apollo on the sly; Leto brought forth Pholbos, Cronion had no labour for him;

Maia brought forth Hermes, her husband did not deliver him; but my son was brought forth openly by his father.

Here's a great miracle! See Dionysos in the arms of your own mother, he lies on that cherishing arm! The Dispenser of the eternal universe, the first sown Beginning of the gods, the Allmother, became a nurse for Bromios; she offered to infant Bacchos the breast which Zeus High and Mighty has sucked! What Cronides was ever in labour, what Rheia was ever nurse for your boy? But this Cybele who is called your mother brought forth Zeus and suckled Bacchos in the same lap! She dandled them both, the son and the father. No fatherless Hephaistos could rival Semele's child, none unbegotten of a father whom Hera brought forth by her own begettomg - and now he limps about on an illmatched pair of feeble legs to hid his mother's bungling skill in childbirth! Maia was not quite like Semele; for her son, crafty, armed himself like Ares, and looking like him, deluded Hera until he sucked the milk of her breast.13 Give place to me all! for Semele alone had a husband, who got and groaned for the same child. Semele is happiest, because of her son: for my Dionysos will come without scheming into the company of the stars; he will dwell in his father's heaven, because he drew milk from the godnursing teat of that mighty goddess. He will come selfsummoned into the hei v he needs not Hera's milk, for he has milked a noble, breast."

[243] She spoke exulting even in the sky; but the angry consort of Zeus fell heavily in surprise upon the house of Athamas and scared Ino into flight. She still resented the childhood of Dionysos.

Nonnus, Dionysiaca

Semele: I got incinerated before I could carry my baby to term so his father had to finish what I wasn't able to. That makes me superior to other mothers somehow and my son superior to other gods because he was born from a male's body, not from a lesser female womb like everyone else.

I do wish she was right about Dionysos not needing to suckle at Hera's breast in order to ascend to heaven, I really do, but unfortunately that is not the case and we have this horrifying scene in Book 35:

"But how kind you would be to your Cronion, if you will only drive that distracting madness from tormented Dionysos! Do not fail your provoked husband; but go uncaught to the fertile slope of the woodland pastures of India, and offer your breast to Bacchos as once did my mother Rheia; let him draw with his lips older grown your holy drops, and by that draught lead him on the way to Olympos and make heaven lawful ground for the feet of earthborn Dionysos!

Anoint with your milk the body of Lyaios, and cleanse the ugly stains of mind-robbing disease. And I offer you a worthy reward; for I will place in Olympos a circle, image of that flow named after Hera's milk, to honour the allfamous sap of your saviour breast. Only I pray you beware of the menace of Zeus, and stretch again no other net of deceit for Dionysos his beloved son."" So saying, he dismissed his resentful consort Hera, to heal the trouble of Bacchos against her will, to be gracious and friendly towards afflicted Dionysos, that her hands might salve the body of Bromios with the milky dew from her godnursing breasts.

Hera did not disobey. She anointed the body of Lyaios with the divine drops of her painhealing teat, and wiped away the stains of the wild divine frenzy. When she saw the manhood and radiance of Dionysos and touched mad Bacchos with grudging hands, she felt a double jealousy although her face hid it. She opened her dress on both sides for his lips, and bared her teats full of ambrosia, pressing the jealous breast to let the milk flow, and brought him back to life."

I just vomited a little in my soul.

[itsfullofstars]

Webb explores a pair of merging galaxies by europeanspaceagency This image from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope depicts IC 1623, an entwined pair of interacting galaxies which lies around 270 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Cetus. The two galaxies in IC 1623 are plunging headlong into one another in a process known as a galaxy merger. Their collision has ignited a frenzied spate of star formation known as a starburst, creating new stars at a rate more than twenty times that of the Milky Way galaxy. This interacting galaxy system is particularly bright at infrared wavelengths, making it a perfect proving ground for Webb’s ability to study luminous galaxies. A team of astronomers captured IC 1623 across the infrared portions of the electromagnetic spectrum using a trio of Webb’s cutting-edge scientific instruments: MIRI, NIRSpec, and NIRCam. In so doing, they provided an abundance of data that will allow the astronomical community at large to fully explore how Webb’s unprecedented capabilities will help to unravel the complex interactions in galactic ecosystems. These observations are also accompanied by data from other observatories, including the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, and will help set the stage for future observations of galactic systems with Webb. The merger of these two galaxies has long been of interest to astronomers, and has previously been imaged by Hubble and by other space telescopes. The ongoing, extreme starburst causes intense infrared emission, and the merging galaxies may well be in the process of forming a supermassive black hole. A thick band of dust has blocked these valuable insights from the view of telescopes like Hubble. However, Webb’s infrared sensitivity and its impressive resolution at those wavelengths allows it to see past the dust and has resulted in the spectacular image above, a combination of MIRI and NIRCam imagery. The luminous core of the galaxy merger turns out to be both very bright and highly compact, so much so that Webb’s diffraction spikes appear atop the galaxy in this image. The 8-pronged, snowflake-like diffraction spikes are created by the interaction of starlight with the physical structure of the telescope. The spiky quality of Webb’s observations is particularly noticeable in images containing bright stars, such as Webb’s first deep field image. MIRI was contributed by ESA and NASA, with the instrument designed and built by a consortium of nationally funded European Institutes (The MIRI European Consortium) in partnership with JPL and the University of Arizona. NIRSpec was built for the European Space Agency (ESA) by a consortium of European companies led by Airbus Defence and Space (ADS) with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center providing its detector and micro-shutter subsystems. Credits: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, L. Armus & A. Evans; CC BY 4.0 Acknowledgement: R. Colombari https://flic.kr/p/2nV4JdC

[natsu-tte-noodle]

手紙 (Letters) - To Misumi

(Cross Posted on AO3)

Words: 781 Warnings: ACT 5 Spoilers

Misumi,

It’s getting rather chilly these days.  Before we know it, it’ll drop below freezing in the mornings.  Be sure to bundle up when you go out.

I’m not one for perfect settings or seasonal hobbies, but it really does feel like the perfect time of year to write a letter.  I wonder if that was intentional on Izumi’s part, or if she got lucky with a coincidence.

Honestly, I had expected to get this done much quicker, but I ended up getting distracted trying to bully Chigasaki into starting his.  Which I’ve had no luck with, by the way.  At this point, it’s his problem if that gets out to someone who cares.

That said, feel free to tell someone who cares.

Anyway, I can’t say I’m particularly familiar with writing letters that aren’t for business.  Or, maybe it’s more accurate to say that I’m not familiar with writing letters where I cared at all what the person getting it would think.

I’d also be lying if I said I was completely sure what to write here.  My own letter ended up yelling at me quite a bit, but it was from Sakyo, so I guess that’s to be expected.  Still, it’s not the best reference to go off of.  Leave it to our director to throw me completely for a loop with this, right?  For now, I’ll write whatever comes to mind and we’ll see where that takes us.

The other day, when I was coming home after an extended overtime, I happened to see you up on the roof.  I’m still not sure how you manage to get up there silently enough to not wake even a single person.  It’s certainly something.

I was tempted to call out to you, but you seemed so unusually serious.  I suppose the night naturally breeds that sort of atmosphere, but in the moment, it still felt like I shouldn’t impose.

Is it the starry sky itself that you’re interested in?  Or is it the mystique behind it that draws your attention?  I think both are impressive in their own right.  Beyond our Earth, already bigger than we can really comprehend, there’s a whole universe out there.  Only visible at night, and so far away that it all appears to us as tiny.  Did you know?  Some starlight is billions of years old, and is only just reaching us now.

Writing about the stars reminds me of the Tanabata festivities we held back in July.  If I remember correctly, I woke up to a room covered in layered triangles, courtesy of a certain triangle lover.  I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it before, but I spent a lot of my life outside of Japan for studies and work, so I actually had never really celebrated Tanabata before.  Needless to say, it was quite the surprise to find all those decorations, since I wasn’t even familiar with them before that day.

When I first heard the story of Orihime and Hikoboshi, I instantly understood how the sight of the Milky Way in the night sky would evoke the image of a wide river.  A river made of billions of stars, only crossable because two people wished hard enough for it.  It feels hopeful to a fault.  Though I suppose that in itself can be admirable.

That’s neither here nor there, though.  I don’t have particularly strong feelings on all this; I guess you could say it’s just the impression I get of still nights with only the moon as company.

In that stillness, it really does feel like a wish on a tanzaku could be granted, doesn’t it?  My wish is a secret though, of course.

That’s all I’ve got, really.  Be sure to not catch a cold up there.

　

Chikage

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

What do you see up in the stars?

Are you looking for something in particular?  When you speak to the empty air, ‎are you talking to someone?

　

　

　

Do you think they hear you?

　

This must be coming out of nowhere.  Honestly, I’m not even sure myself where I’m coming from or trying to go with this.

I just thought that it would be nice, if that person up in the stars is really listening.  If they were watching over you and hearing your stories.  If they could see you living the life they hoped you would, when they weren’t there anymore.

Or maybe I’m being presumptuous.  I don’t mean to assume things about you or what you do up there, so I apologize.

If it’s alright with you, though, I think it might be nice to join you up there one day.  There’s someone I’ve been meaning to catch up with, too.

[Top]   [Back - To Masumi]   [Next]

[oldxenomorph]

ALL OF THE IVY. also. ALL OF THE BIRCH. ask meme be UPON YE

winter greenery oc questions

IVY

1. Has your OC ever been unfaithful in a relationship? Could they ever be tempted by the physical charms of another? Or have they ever been surprised by how little they are tempted by others, at least once they embraced their current lover?

The Great Family are a famously non-monogamous bunch. Even though most of them are married and have had children with their spouses, they still take on lovers or engage in relationships that both further their plans and for fun. (Some of these unions have resulted in children that become integrated into the family.) So they don’t necessarily see it as being unfaithful, especially if their spouse doesn’t object to the person they have their eyes on.

That being said, the Emperor and Nyx have literally been together since the beginning of the universe. But 8 million years ago, during the Late Miocene epoch, the Emperor entered her deep sleep in the Black Palace and the Great Family began their work to prepare the Milky Way for when she inherited the Reapers. 8 million years is a long time to wait. Honestly, the Great Family would have been surprised if either the Emperor or Nyx didn’t seek someone out for companionship during the time they were apart.

The only person the Emperor deeply desires is Nyx, but she did romance Liara during her time as Shepard. Liara was able to glimpse at the Emperor-as-Shepard's true nature when she entered the her mind to help decipher Prothean Beacon's vision from Eden Prime. Liara's scientific curiosity became affection, and then affection became eternal devotion to her and the Great Family. The Emperor genuinely cares about Liara and is thankful for her friendship and companionship. She is glad to have chosen a remarkable person to spent time with, to ease the pangs of loneliness and constant pain she was in.

Liara always knew that she was not the one for the Emperor. After all, she had seen into her mind and knew that at the end of this journey, the Emperor would be reunited with Nyx, the one she truly loves. But she is glad that she is still part of the Emperor’s life as the Shadow Broker, as a friend, and as a lover to both the Emperor and Nyx. (She first met Nyx in person on Alchera, when she went to retrieve the Emperor-as-Shepard’s body. Nyx was holding onto her, wrapped her body in the Black Shawl, keeping her safe on this empty, cold planet. When Liara eventually took Shepard's body from Nyx, the goddess made the asari promise her that she would keep her beloved safe and then used her powers to conceal them from the galaxy.) That being said, Liara is by no means the only person the Emperor and Nyx both have affections for. The list is not very long, but it is a cherished collection of people who's love and company they like to enjoy together.

2. What inspires loyalty in your OC? Will they follow someone purely based upon duty or rank? Or are there certain qualities towards which they are drawn? Or perhaps there are ways by which another person must prove themselves before earning their loyalty?

The only ones that the Emperor is truly loyal to are the Great Family, Nyx, their loves, her children, the old crew of the Normandy, and the strange, sentient buildings (the Black Palace, the Yellow Palace, the Ziggurat, the Oldest House, the Oceanview Motel). The Reapers are an extension of her body and consciousness, so by default they are loyal to her in the way a healthy heart is loyal to the body it's in. Harbinger is her flagship, her eyes, her emissary, shaped in the image of her soul; it is loyal to her because it is the Emperor and the Emperor is Harbinger.

Even the Board, which she is a member of, hasn’t quite earned her entire loyalty. She’s stayed as a member because she is loyal to the Oldest House and cares about its well being. It’s the main reason why she hated Trench in the end, because he let the Hiss in and caused the Oldest House to become sick. It is also the reason why she is so hard on Jesse Faden. She knows Jesse has the potential to be a much better director than Trench.

Respect is probably the best thing the Emperor can offer to those outside of her inner circle of family and old friends. She respects those who maintain their humanity, their human essence, in an age where the very definition of “humanity” is constantly changing. She respects those who serve their communities, who try to make their worlds better places. She respects the people who dedicate their lives to scholarship, artistry, and creativity. She respects the private who has better ideas than the general, the low-level bureaucrat who knows how to directly help people, the Spectre that refuses a bad order from their Councilor. She respects people who try to live their lives to the best of their abilities, the people who make history quietly.

3. Has another person ever offered to leave their spouse or lover for your OC? What was it about them that this person found so hard to resist? How did they feel about it at the time?

Persephone’s never offered to leave Hades, but I think it’s pretty clear that she has a Thing for tall, powerful goths.

She just thinks they’re neat.

Anyway, the Emperor wanted to thank Persephone for providing Nyx with companionship during the time of her deep sleep. So both she and Nyx took her to bed and properly showed her their appreciation for her love. Besides, having the affections of both the Great Lord of Extinction and the Eternal Night have plenty of other benefits like protection and invitations to events the Great Family puts on. The Queen of the Underworld has a lot of love in her heart for multiple people, a trait that clearly got passed down to Zagreus (and hopefully Melinoe). At this point, I don’t think Hades minds. It’s pretty clear that he’s comfortable with his wife being attracted to others.

Much like Liara, her attraction to the Emperor was at first curiosity, informed by Nyx’s descriptions of her. For as long as she’s known Nyx, she’s known that the Night has a beloved, waiting to awaken from a deep sleep. She could tell when her mind was elsewhere, but that never bothered her. Nyx would tell her about the Black Palace, about what the Emperor looks like; she would tell her about the Great Family, about how they care for her. (Like the times when they sent their midwives to help her when she had her children on her own. They always did things to remind Nyx that they would always be there for her.) Persephone was enthralled by Nyx's stories.

Then she met the Emperor in person and was immediately attracted to her. It wasn’t just the Emperor’s physical attributes like her size or even her appearance. The Emperor loves Nyx; she worships her, she respects her power and independence, she is protective and caring, she is not shy about showing her affections. More importantly, they trust each other as people and as spouses. Persephone thinks that's incredibly romantic. She's happy that Nyx is happy.

Being on the receiving end of Night and Extinction's affections is always very nice.

4. Does your OC feel any abiding connection to their place of birth? Has this ever been challenged by conflicting loyalties? How are they viewed by those currently living in their society of origin?

The Emperor is extremely protective of The Black Palace in the Eridanus Supervoid. It's her sanctuary, her cradle, the place that houses her true form. It is the place where she and Nyx first met, where they first kissed, where they first made love. The Black Palace will always exist, it is the true throne of the Emperor.

At the same time, the Emperor also has a deep fondness for Chicago. It's the reason why she still continues to live there, why she placed the Ziggurat there. (It might also have something to do with the city being next to Lake Michigan. Wonder if all these sentient buildings being near lakes/bodies of water is important.) She has very fond memories of her childhood in the city, she wants to make sure her children have the same experiences and connection to a place, its history, and its culture.

Chicago is proud to be the birthplace and home of the Reaper Emperor. After her ascension, a fifth red star was added to the city's flag to represent her. The six points on the star refer to: the city's status as her birthplace, the Ziggurat, the Reapers, Earth, humanity, and evolution.

5. Does your OC remain steadfastly loyal to those who have helped them on their journey? Or are they quick to dispense with those who are no longer of use to them?

When the Emperor was Shepard, she used to mostly think that Normandy and the crew she acquired were merely a means to an end. She needed them in order for her to reach her goals in order for her to finally become the Reaper Emperor. When she was younger (like around the time of ME1 younger), she was planning on leaving them as soon as she shed her human body and inherited the Reapers. But as she got older and by the time the war ended, they became her dear friends. They may not entirely understand what she is (with exception of Liara and Miranda, they knew from the beginning) or still feel hurt and angry that they were used in some way, but she’s still Shepard to them.

While she isn’t heavily involved in all of their lives, she tries to remain available for them and their descendants if they need her. Of her old crew, the ones she remained most involved with were:

Liara. (Reasons stated in one of the above questions.)

Miranda. (Who was given Cerberus and made its head. She also became a lover to both the Emperor and Nyx.)

Garrus. (Becomes the Primarch, is personally vouched for by the Emperor to the Turian Hierarchy.)

Ashley. (Spectre, promoted to Commander, and made Commanding Officer of the Normandy SR-2.)

Joker and EDI. (Still the pilot and AI of the Normandy. The Emperor also gets dozens of messages a day from EDI. Some of them are updates, some of them are just questions.)

Tali. (Gets her dream house built on Rannoch.)

Jack. (Remained a teacher at the Grissom Academy and likes to use her “I served with the Emperor when she was Shepard and we’re still totally friends” influence to bypass school admin to get new equipment/supplies. Still deeply conflicted about the whole Reaper Emperor thing, but it does have its perks.)

Samara. (Retires, spends most of her time looking after her remaining daughter, Falere. The Emperor visits occasionally.)

Wrex. (Personally asks the Emperor to bless the first child he has with Bakara on Tuchanka.)

Of the people who were not part of the Normandy, but still remained important to her:

The Rachni Queen. (Probably the deepest friendship she made next to Liara and Miranda. The Rachni Queen knew what the Emperor-as-Shepard was and has remained grateful for all the time she never gave up on her. It is believed that the Rachni are in tune with the Ziggurat. The main Rachni Hive and the Xenomorph Hive found ways to connect to one another, forming a unique relationship. Sometimes, the Rachni Queen can be seen in the lower levels of the Ziggurat.)

Aria T’Loak. (Aria is at first, like many, deeply conflicted about the Emperor. But what Aria values most of all is loyalty, respect, and competence. The Emperor-as-Shepard has always respected her, it is the reason why she did not question Aria’s actions or decisions when taking back Omega. After the war, Aria requested that there be no Reapers in Omega air-space. She didn't want them hovering around her station. The Emperor agreed. While there may be Reaper agents on the station, they make sure not to cause trouble for Aria and willingly hand over information they believe she may find useful. The Emperor promised that Aria would always be in power on Omega.)

The Emperor is there with them until the end, even those who she did not remain super close to after her ascension. She is there when they are old, when they are about to pass, making sure they are not in pain, comforting them, and letting them look at her face one last time. She respects that they do not want to be Harvested and attends each of their funerals. 600 years later, there are only a few who remain and the Emperor watches as their children and descendants grow to fulfill their potentials, add to their legacies, keep the spark of their ancestors alive. The Emperor is not sad when her friends pass, but the Milky Way feels a little emptier without them.

BIRCH

1. Has your OC ever experienced something that changed them irrevocably? If so, then how do they view the person they were before?

There were a few.

2172 CE. The cutting of her hair at the age of 18. The end of childhood. When she was accepted into the Alliance academy at Annapolis, she had to cut her long hair. The Great Family all gathered around her to watch as Lilith cut the Emperor-as-Shepard’s hair to a length acceptable within Alliance regulations. This was also the beginning of her hunger, as she was longer allowed to eat stars until her transformation was complete.

2176 CE. The Skyllian Blitz. The beginning of her pain and the decay of her body. She comes back with a hero with a body broken by shrapnel, gored by falling ship parts, her jaw completely burned. While the Alliance sorted out the situation and prepared her N7 recommendation, she was sent home to recover. As Lilith helped lower her into a special healing bath, the Emperor-as-Shepard cried from the agony and called Lilith "mother" for the first time.

2183 CE. The devouring of Saren. The first taste of her inheritance, of Azathoth’s gift to her, billions of years in the making. The Reapers are hers, they were made just for her, only for her. They were made for her to fulfill her duty as Extinction. It was the first time she felt full in years, she felt her great relative's love for her. After she ingested all that was left of Sovereign, Azathoth parted the veil that separated it from everything. It entered her dreams, blessing her with gentle kisses on her cheeks, on her forehead, in the space between her eyes. You were born for this, Precious Emperor, it told her. We are waiting for you.

2185 CE. The Lazarus Project. death, rebirth. She carved a timeline of the universe, of every extinction event onto her face. A map of her pain, a map of her hunger, a map of the end of everything. Organics were not meant to look upon the face of the Emperor. Thou shalt not gaze upon the Mouth of God.

2189 CE. The Crucible. The end of Shepard, the beginning of the Reaper Emperor. Nyarlathotep placed behind her head a crown made from the event horizons of primordial black holes. She and Nyx married underneath a chuppah woven since the beginning of the universe. The Emperor wept, overwhelmed with pure joy: the joy of being in her own bodies, the joy of no longer being in pain, the joy of being wedded to her beloved, the joy of being with her family. Welcome home, Precious Emperor.

Even though the Emperor was glad to be rid of her human body, the essence of humanity continues to linger inside her. She may no longer be in pain or have to suffer a vessel she abhorred, but she appreciates having been amongst organic life, even if only for a brief moment. That time has informed her about how to use the Reapers to their fullest potential, adjusting and optimizing the Harvest. In the past, she was just an entity waiting for her inheritance. Now she is someone with a history, experience, and a fuller understanding of organic life. Granted she still operates in ways that are incomprehensible to organics, but she understands them more. She watches them grow and evolve, observing and waiting for the right time to harvest them.

2. Does your OC believe that sometimes a person needs to hit rock bottom before they can begin to rebuild their life? Has this ever been their personal experience? Or would they rather spare someone suffering, even if it meant they failed to learn from their mistakes over and over again?

Not necessarily. She’s seen people who have turned themselves around just before they reach the bottom. Her history and trajectory as Shepard was so unique and wildly different from any normal human/organic that she doesn't really apply her own experience to some universal belief about how people should live their lives.

But like, you should learn from your mistakes. You don't need the Emperor to tell you that, man.

3. Does your OC recover quickly from injuries? Or has it got harder for them to keep bouncing back as they’ve got older? If so, is this something they would ever admit?

Early on in her military career, she could recover from pretty bad injuries fairly quickly. The worst was the Skyllian Blitz, which was the start of the intense pain that she never recovered from until her ascension. (Not even the Lazarus Project could deal with the pain, simply because of the nature of her body as a temporary human vessel.) As she got older and during the war, recovery slowed down because of the amount of stress she was under and the fact that her body was barely holding on, to the point where even Dr. Chakwas had to consult Nyarlathotep for help. When she reached the Crucible, she was glad to finally be rid of her human body.

Now in her Reaper Emperor form, she rarely if ever gets injured. Both her biomechanical body and her tentacles are incredibly sturdy, it's very hard to inflict any kind of damage or breakage to them. But if she were to get injured, the xenomorphs would help patch her up. The resin they produce is the medium through which her body can rebuild itself if need be. Tfw you have to 3D print your mom back together. But like I said, this rarely happens.

4. Has your OC ever made a heroic or unexpected comeback from a dire situation? What helped them to do so?

I would say that surviving going through the Omega-4 Relay and completing the Suicide Mission with no one dying should count as a pretty amazing comeback. Also coming back alive alone after escaping Project Base, but not before slamming the asteroid into the Alpha Relay. It got rebuilt again, elsewhere. Also oops, war crimes.

5. Has your OC ever been part of a wider cultural or spiritual renaissance? Perhaps following the defeat of an occupying force? Or the rediscovery of long-lost wisdom? Or even a reinterpretation of existing traditions?

Her ascension as the Reaper Emperor has irrevocably changed the entirety of the Milky Way. People still remain afraid of the Reapers, but they have also become a fact of life. They are everywhere, the Emperor always watching, always listening, everywhere all at once. The Harvest is a perpetual one, never ending, slow and steady for 50,000 years until the next one that devours entire species and civilizations. 600 years later, there are entire generations that only know the Reapers and the Reaper Emperor.

The Emperor's favoritism towards Earth has led to some intense changes on the human homeworld. More and more humans on Earth are blurring the line between organic and machine. Some may only do very limited augmentation, but many others have replaced their entire bodies in order to transcend human flesh. Some even agree to undergo high-level Indoctrination in order to serve the Emperor and the Reapers.

Perhaps the biggest development is the veneration of Ardi and Lucy. Humans on Earth will make pilgrimages to Ethiopia, to the place where they are kept, leaving offerings and prayers in every language and religion. Humans on Earth believe that doing so allows them to honor human evolution and remain in touch with their humanity. Once a year, the Emperor and her children will visit in person to leave stones and flowers at the shrine to Ardi and Lucy. (Stones for eternity, flowers for beauty.)

The first time the Emperor visited, the keepers opened up the protective glass and she removed her veil to carefully place two kisses next to their bones, next to the areas where their cheeks would be. Gentle blessings for the first mothers of humanity, because they were truly marvelous and special.

[theimpossiblescheme]

👁️💤🙈🌌 for Ulysses and Prufrock?

👁️ EYE - what colour are their eyes? do people notice their eyes? is there anything special about them (shows emotion easily, literally magical…)?

Ulysses has a blue left eye and a green right eye. His right eye was slashed by a bit of metal after a gate slammed in his face, so it has a long vertical scar across it, and he wears a monocle attached to a chain on his collar over that eye to help him see. And they tend to show somewhat different emotions than the rest of his face--it's not uncommon for a smile not to reach his eyes, for example.

Prufrock, on the other hand, has an amber left eye and a blue right eye, both of them with perfect vision. They're extremely expressive eyes and always sparkle with a bit of mischief, even when he's not actively coming up with one of his hare-brained, but well-intentioned schemes.

💤 SLEEPING - do they fall asleep easily? what helps them sleep?

Neither of them fall asleep very quickly at all--they both have a habit of being hyper-vigilant and startling at any sudden loud noise. Ulysses likes to sleep as close to one of the street lamps as possible so the humming can serve as gentle white noise, and Prufrock likes to sleep cuddled up to someone. Usually it's his mate or one of his friends, but if he can catch his brother on a good night he might get some company out of it.

🙈 SEE-NO-EVIL - whats a side of your oc that they don’t want to show other people?

Ulysses does have an extremely soft center under his fussy, prim-and-proper exterior, but he only shows it very sparingly to cats who haven't earned it. He doesn't want anyone to think he can be taken advantage of, after all, especially as a Protector (which he knows is irrational just looking at Munkustrap, but... well, there's a lot of baggage he's still unpacking from his kittenhood). And while Prufrock usually wears his heart proudly on his sleeve and couldn't keep most secrets if he tried, that's partially by design. Deep deep down, he's terrified that one day everyone's going to get tired of his antics and kick him out of the Junkyard. It's another irrational fear since the Jellicles here have been nothing but kind, but he doesn't want to lose yet another home because he did something stupid.

🌌 MILKY WAY - what was the inspiration behind your oc? what was the first thing you decided about them?

Both of them were inspired by characters from the Royal Ballet's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Ulysses is based on the White Rabbit, a fastidious nervous wreck with a protective streak a mile long, and Prufrock is based on the Knave of Hearts, a hopeless romantic with a penchant for causing trouble. I decided to flesh out their backstories more to give them more distinct characters and make them make sense as cats, but the images of Edward Watson and Federico Bonelli respectively are still there in my mind whenever I think of them.

[incognito-insomniac]

Pathfinder asks for Axle and Anthony! 2, 8, 13, 16, 27, 36, 47 please :)

So many! ^_^ THANK YOU SO MUCH!! I don't think I've ever posted pictures of these two so here they are:

Alexis "Axle" Ryder

Anthony Ryder

2. How did your Ryder feel about the Initiative prior to leaving the Milky Way?

Axle

She was less than pleased. She really only joined the Initiative after her brother wore her down. She had a good set up going back in the Milky Way. Although her actions as a mercenary-for-hire may have also been catching up to here. As her crew starting vanishing off the map getting out of the galaxy started to look pretty good. 

Anthony 

Obligation and loyalty are powerful motivators. Regardless, Anthony was a rising star in the military before his father's antics tarnished his image. Joining the Initiative seemed the only route to further rank. And of course no one would look down at his father's transgressions here. 

8. Any tattoos or piercings?

Axle

A handful of tattoos across her back and left arm, mostly commemorating big jobs or close calls. On her right shoulder she has a bouquet of gardenias and lavender in memory of her mother. On her left forearm there is a tally of sniper kills. And she has a matching sparrow tattoo to her brother on her left shoulder blade.

Anthony

None. He's far too straight laced for that......Except for the tattoo of his first squadron on this right bicep. What can be said about peer pressure, lots of tequila, and a pretty squadmate that hasn't been said already?

13. What's their relationship with the crew? Both when they first met and at the end of the game.

Axle

Axle is pretty open with her crew about her intentions, her feelings, and her worries. She won everyone over fairly quickly. And by the end they had become a family. 

Anthony

Prickly Pear. Grumpy Gills. Fun Police. Asshole. All names which have been attributed to him (mostly by Peebee) and many more. He did not win the team over quickly. It was through good leadership, decisive action, loyalty, and a bit of luck that the whole crew eventually comes around to him. But it took a lot of time. And few consider them his friend. He's the boss. And most days it's how he prefers it. 

16. What's Ryder's combat style? Fighting fair or fighting dirty?

Axle

Dirty. Gorilla warfare is an art she is well-versed in. But also silent and deadly. There are days the sniper rifle is the tool required and other it's a pistol and a flash bang. 

Anthony 

Precision (there is no fairness on the battlefield). He prefers to rely on a good midrange assault rifle. But tech and hand-to-hand with an omnitool can also dispatch an opponent just as effectively. 

27. Who did they romance? What drew them to that person?

Axle

Reyes. At first the mystery and danger. After that it was his heart and attention to detail. 

Anthony

Vetra. Her calm demeanor and no-nonsense attitude. And eventually her ability to draw him out of himself and also tp force him to slow down and appreciate the thing and people around him.

36. Any unusual talents or skills? Or just anything that might surprise the people around them?

Axle

Can twist a cherry stem in a knot with her tongue. Scary good at games like five finger fillet or mumbley peg. Knife throwing in general. 

Anthony 

Can play the guitar but rarely does anymore, primarily because he did not bring one to Andromeda. But alse he played mostly for his mother. The memory of her loss keeps his fingers still. 

47. What does Ryder dream of after their Pathfinding work is done? What's their happy ending?

Axle

She hasn't thought that far. She never does. But probably something with Reyes on Kadara. Maybe start a baseball league. Have a couple kids. Pick up distilling. Who knows. It's gonna be fun though. That's for sure. 

Anthony

Exploring the planets with Vetra. Someone needs to continue to catalog viable planets. And it would give them good time to enjoy the varying landscapes and each other's company without the immediate threat of death. 

[amilst]

Daffodils, Narcissus. Now come the big boys. We literally have 500 large daffodils blooming and they always put on a show.  Daffodils have been known to survive in the ground for more than a century, blooming year after year.

While nature and the breeders have produced 27,000 different varieties and color combinations, the best are are still all yellow except for the white petaled Narcissus poeticus.

Daffodils were first brought to England by the Romans who planted them to honor fallen comrades. They are thought to originate in Spain and Portugal where the largest variety of daffodils can be found.

The origin story of Narcissus captivated by his own image is well known. But there is more to the tale. At his birth, a prophet told his mother Liriope he would live long “if he does not discover himself,” so she hid all the reflecting surfaces from him. By 16, he spent most of his time hunting deer and then one day saw the beautiful Echo in the woods, not knowing that Juno, Queen of the gods,  had limited her voice to repeating what she heard as punishment for distracting her husband with her beauty. Narcissus tells her “Let us meet together,” and hears in response just “together.” She goes to him and lovingly puts her hands around his neck. A social misfit, he runs away and tells her “May I die before what’s mine is yours.” Only then does Narcissus lie down beside the pool to drink and is so consumed by the beauty of his own image he dies of starvation. When they come to bury him, all that is left are flowers with white petals and a yellow heart, Narcissus poeticus. The author Ovid writes: “Fool. Why try to catch a fleeting image, in vain. What you search for is nowhere: turning away, what you love is lost.”

Since Ovid, Daffodils have been the welcome subject of poets. The most famous of these writings is by Wordsworth and is considered one his most famous poems:

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed—and gazed—but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

Then there is the one  of A.A. Milne, of Winnie the Pooh fame, called “Daffodowndilly”:

She wore her yellow sun-bonnet, She wore her greenest gown; She turned to the south wind And curtsied up and down. She turned to the sunlight And shook her yellow head, And whispered to her neighbour: "Winter is dead."

That last line is a bit dark for me. Winter doesn’t die. It just rests til next year.

[spacenutspod]

Now it’s Intuitive Machines’ turn to try making history with a robotic moon landing.Today’s launch of the Houston-based company’s Odysseus lander marks the first step in an eight-day journey that could lead to the first-ever soft landing of a commercial spacecraft on the moon. Odysseus would also be the first U.S.-built spacecraft to touch down safely on the lunar surface since Apollo 17’s mission in 1972.The lander — which is as big as an old-style British phone booth, or the Tardis time portal from the “Doctor Who” TV series — was sent spaceward from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 1:05 a.m. ET (0605 UTC).Liftoff was originally scheduled for the previous night, but was postponed due to concerns that arose while getting ready to load methane fuel onto the lander. The concerns were resolved, and tonight’s countdown proceeded smoothly.After launching Intuitive Machines’ IM-1 mission, the Falcon 9’s first-stage booster flew itself back for a touchdown on SpaceX’s Landing Zone 1, not far from its Florida launch pad. Meanwhile, Odysseus separated from the rocket’s second stage and pressed onward to the next phase of its lunar odyssey.Last month, a different company called Astrobotic had been in line to achieve the first commercial moon landing, but its Peregrine lander suffered a propellant leak after liftoff — a setback that forced the company to cancel the moon mission and instead send the robot to its fiery doom during atmospheric re-entry over the Pacific Ocean.“Landing on the moon is extremely challenging,” Joel Kearns, NASA’s deputy associate administrator for exploration, told reporters in advance of Odysseus’s launch. “You’ve probably seen that, over the past year, success of every landing was never assured.” (Those landing attempts included failures by Russia and a Japanese private venture, as well as successes by the Indian and Japanese space agencies.)Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus said he’s confident his company’s attempt will be successful. “We learned from others … but in addition, we bring things together quickly. We bring hardware and software together in the early stages of development and testing, and we test often,” he said during NASA’s webcast.“Test, test, test like we fly — that’s the key to success,” Altemus said.If all goes according to plan, Odysseus will power its way to a Feb. 22 landing in Malapert A, a crater near the moon’s south pole. The south polar region is a key target for exploration because many of its craters are thought to hold reservoirs of water ice — a potential resource for future moon bases.Like Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander mission, the IM-1 mission is principally supported by funding from NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, also known as CLPS. The program is meant to leverage private enterprise — and reduce NASA’s costs in the long run. Kearns said NASA has agreed to pay as much as $118 million to have Odyssey deliver its science payloads to the lunar surface.Those payloads include cameras that will document the plumes of dust kicked up by the landing, an experimental radio navigation beacon, a radio-based fuel gauge, a laser range finder, a set of laser reflectors and a sensor that will study the moon’s electron plasma environment. Data from the experiments will help NASA plan for the Artemis program’s crewed lunar landings, which could start happening as soon as 2026.In addition, Odysseus is carrying an array of commercial payloads. One payload is a camera system that will be dropped off during the lander’s descent to take “selfie” pictures of the touchdown. Another payload is a mini-observatory that could capture pictures of the lunar surface and the first image of the Milky Way galaxy’s center as seen from the moon.There’s also a miniaturized information archive from Galactic Legacy Labs, a digital data storage device from Lonestar Data Holdings, a box of 125 marble-sized moon sculptures created by Jeff Koons, and a test swatch of thermal reflective material from Columbia Sportswear.Odysseus’s science mission is scheduled to last about a week. The end will come when the sun drops beneath the moon’s horizon, cutting off the solar-powered lander’s ability to charge up its batteries.But that won’t be the end for commercial moon missions: Intuitive Machines is already working on another lander that will drill for ice in the moon’s south polar region. Meanwhile, Astrobotic is getting set to send NASA’s VIPER rover to a spot near the south pole, and Firefly Aerospace is due to deliver 10 NASA payloads to Mare Crisium aboard its Blue Ghost lander.The post Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus Lander Begins Its Moon Odyssey appeared first on Universe Today.

[jcmarchi]

Most Early Galaxies Looked Like Breadsticks Rather Than Pizza Pies or Dough Balls - Technology Org

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/most-early-galaxies-looked-like-breadsticks-rather-than-pizza-pies-or-dough-balls-technology-org/

Most Early Galaxies Looked Like Breadsticks Rather Than Pizza Pies or Dough Balls - Technology Org

Columbia researchers analyzing images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have found that galaxies in the early universe are often flat and elongated, like breadsticks—and are rarely round, like balls of pizza dough.

“Roughly 50 to 80% of the galaxies we studied appear to be flattened in two dimensions,” explained Viraj Pandya, a NASA Hubble Fellow at Columbia University, and the lead author of a new paper slated to appear in The Astrophysical Journal that outlines the findings.

“Galaxies that look like long, thin breadsticks seem to be very common in the early universe, which is surprising, since they are uncommon among galaxies in the present-day universe.”

Sample shapes of distant galaxies identified by the James Webb Space Telescope’s Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) survey. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Steve Finkelstein (UT Austin), Micaela Bagley (UT Austin), Rebecca Larson (UT Austin)

The team focused on a vast field of near-infrared images delivered by Webb, known as the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) Survey, plucking out galaxies that are estimated to have existed when the universe was 600 million to 6 billion years old.

While most distant galaxies look like breadsticks, others are shaped like pizza pies and balls of pizza dough. The “balls of pizza dough,” or sphere-shaped galaxies, appear to be the smallest type of galaxy and were also the least frequently identified.

The pizza pie-shaped galaxies were found to be as large as breadstick-shaped galaxies along their longest axis. “They are more common in the nearby universe which, due to the universe’s ongoing expansion, is made up of older, more mature galaxies.”

Which category would our Milky Way galaxy fall into if we were able to wind the clock back by billions of years?

“Our best guess is that it might have appeared more like a breadstick,” said co-author Haowen Zhang, a PhD candidate at the University of Arizona in Tucson. This hypothesis is based partly on new evidence from Webb—theorists have “wound back the clock” to estimate the Milky Way’s mass billions of years ago, which suggests its likely breadstick shape in the distant past.

Images of what researchers believe are elongated, ellipsoid (i.e. breadstick-shaped) galaxies, captured with the James Webb Space Telescope. The word “believe” reflects the fact that some of the galaxies may be disk (i.e pizza pie) shaped galaxies seen from the side. Image Credit: Viraj Pandya et al.

These distant galaxies are also far less massive than nearby spirals and ellipticals—they are precursors to more massive galaxies like our own. “In the early universe, galaxies had had far less time to grow,” said Kartheik Iyer, a co-author and NASA Hubble Fellow also at Columbia University.

“Identifying additional categories for early galaxies is exciting—there’s a lot more to analyze now. We can now study how galaxies’ shapes relate to how they look and better project how they formed in much more detail.”

Hubble, the space telescope that launched in 1990 and collects data to this day, “has long showed an excess of elongated galaxies,” explained co-author Marc Huertas-Company, a faculty research scientist at the Institute of Astrophysics on the Canary Islands.

But researchers still wondered: Would additional detail show up better with the sensitivity to infrared light that the Webb telescope, which launched in 2021, has? “Webb confirmed that Hubble didn’t miss any additional features in the galaxies they both observed. Plus, Webb showed us many more distant galaxies with similar shapes, all in great detail,” Huertas-Company said.

One question, of course, is why early galaxies tended to be so flattened and elongated. One hypothesis, Pandya explained, is that the early universe may have been filled with filaments of dark matter that formed a kind of “skeletal background,” or “cosmic highway,” that ushered gas and stars along it.

These filaments still exist, but they have grown much more diffuse as the universe has expanded, so they may be less likely to promote the formation of breadstick-shaped galaxies.

The paper is called “Galaxies Going Bananas,” yet another food analogy that sprang into the authors’ minds as they looked at their data. When the authors plotted galaxies’ aspect ratios against their longest axis length, they found that the diagrams that emerged looked distinctly like bananas, a shape that reflects their elongated, ellipsoid (i.e. breadstick) shape.

“The bananas are another way of saying that these intrinsically elongated galaxies seem to be the dominant ones in the first 4 billion years of the universe,” Pandya said.

There are still gaps in our knowledge. Researchers not only need an even larger sample size from Webb to further refine the properties and precise locations of distant galaxies, they will also need to spend ample time tweaking and updating their models to better reflect the precise geometries of distant galaxies.

“These are early results,” said co-author Elizabeth McGrath, an associate professor at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. “We need to delve more deeply into the data to figure out what’s going on, but we’re very excited about these early trends.”

Source: Columbia University

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[kuriousmedia]

China Just Admitted They've Launched Something So Advanced That It Will Change Everything

China Just Admitted They've Launched Something So Advanced That It Will Change Everything https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIB0sZXy6hk China Just Admitted They've Launched Something So Advanced That It Will Change Everything LandSpace, a Chinese business, was the first company ever to send a methane-powered rocket into orbit when it safely launched its Zhuque-2 rocket this month. This put LandSpace ahead of many US vehicles that were trying to get to the milestone first. LandSpace used the Jiuquan spaceport in the Gobi Desert in the northwest of China to launch the Zhuque-2 rocket. The Chinese military is in charge of this building. In a press statement, the company called the launch a success, and tracking data on the rocket made public by the US military showed that it went into orbit at an average height of about 280 miles (450 kilometres). ✅Stay Connected With Me. 🔔Unlock The Mysteries Of The Universe. Hit That Subscribe Button And Join Kurious Media In Exploring The Galaxies And Beyond: https://ift.tt/WbFOYB2 ✅ For Business Inquiries: eblast365@gmail.com ============================= ✅ Recommended Playlists 👉Best of Kurious Media https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUBu5pyukRg&list=PLVxoycF8A9gKy-lbyhJ_-5gC_A-i2DJm1&pp=iAQB ✅ Other Videos You Might Be Interested In Watching: 👉 The Largest Supernova Explosion In The Universe Is Happening in 2023! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PuzFBFp1-A 👉 The Universe Is Full Of Scary Things. Here Are The 10 Scariest https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrEX008AACY 👉 What You Didn’t Know About The Universe! You Will Be Shocked! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfXnhurAbKI 👉 Top 7 Most Unusual Structures In The Universe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBPZ13eo338 👉 Massive Unidentified Object Twice the Size of Milky Way is On the Lose https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9iOnyToffk ============================= ✅ About Kurious Media. Welcome to my cosmic journey on YouTube. Dive into fascinating research, and uncover the universe alongside me. As an avid space enthusiast, I want to see what lies beyond our blue planet. Join me as we learn and discover the mysteries of space together. For Collaboration and Business inquiries, please use the contact information below: 📩 Email: eblast365@gmail.com 🔔Journey Beyond The Stars With Kurious Media! Subscribe Now For The Latest Discoveries And Research In Space: https://ift.tt/WbFOYB2 ================================= #spaceexploration #jameswebbtelescope #lhs475b #exoplanet #nasa #astrophysics Disclaimer: We do not accept any liability for any loss or damage incurred from you acting or not acting as a result of watching any of my publications. You acknowledge that you use the information I provide at your own risk. Do your research. Copyright Notice: This video and my YouTube channel contain dialog, music, and images that are the property of Kurious Media. You are authorized to share the video link and channel and embed this video in your website or others as long as a link back to my Youtube Channel is provided. © Kurious Media via Kurious Media https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGmq-4Z9MC2uipzlrGtTkbw August 11, 2023 at 05:18AM

[xtruss]

Hikers are seen in the distance at the Mesquite Sand Dunes in Death Valley National Park, California. This rugged desert landscape holds the world's record for the hottest air temperature—134°F in 1913. Tourists still flock here to experience the blistering heat. Photograph By Raul Touzon, National Geographic Image Collection

How Did Death Valley 🏜️ Gets Its Name? Not From The Heat

In December 1849, a group of settlers seeking their fortunes stumbled upon this inhospitable valley. The few who made it out alive assigned the haunting moniker.

— By Erin Blakemore | July 25, 2023

As a heat wave continues to blanket the Northern Hemisphere, tourists are making pilgrimages to the hottest place on Earth—Death Valley, California—in hope of experiencing a new world-record high temperature. The valley already holds the record for hottest air temperature ever recorded, a whopping 134°F in 1913.

But if they think the valley was named after its scorching summer temps, they’re wrong—it actually got its name from a winter disaster. Here’s how Death Valley got its name, and why it continues to lure visitors with its extreme weather and barren landscape.

Photographing Death Valley’s starry skies shines a light on pollution. A national park artist-in-residence captures the fragility and beauty of the desert at night. August 20, 2020! As an artist-in-residence at Death Valley National Park, photographer Harun Mehmedinović captured images of its night skies and increasing light pollution. In this snowy shot, he caught both stars and, on the right, the glow of the city of Las Vegas. Photograph By Harun Mehmedinović

Inside A Desolate Desert

Located in southeastern California near the Nevada border, Death Valley is nestled in the northern Mojave Desert between four mountain ranges: the Panamint Range to the west, the Amargosa Range to the east, the Grapevine Mountains to the north, and the Owlshead Mountains to the south.

The area’s original inhabitants, the Timbisha Shoshone, lived in harmony with the valley for millennia. But when European settlers encountered it during their westward migration, they were flummoxed by the landscape. Though surrounded by mountain ranges, the valley is situated at the lowest elevation in the United States. The alkaline desert floor is bone dry and lacks vegetation, while the surrounding mountains trap the heat reflected by the sparse desert floor—making it blindingly hot in the summer and inhospitable even in winter.

Even before gold was discovered there in 1849, California attracted white settlers searching for a new life filled with natural riches. Many of these emigrants were completely unprepared for the arduous trip across both mountain and desert—and some fell victim to people who falsely claimed they knew the safest, fastest routes.

In one particularly famous case in 1846, a group of pioneers known as the Donner Party became snowbound after following the shortcut that a booster named Lansford Hastings had advertised. Stuck in the Sierra Nevadas, some of these pioneers eventually resorted to cannibalism and lost nearly half of their group to starvation and exposure.

Photographing Death Valley’s starry skies shines a light on pollution. A national park artist-in-residence captures the fragility and beauty of the desert at night. August 20, 2020! The Milky Way looks brighter above Death Valley’s Panamint Springs thanks to the dim lighting at this gas station. Mehmedinović says the image shows the benefit of cutting out excessive light around national parks. Photograph By Harun Mehmedinović

On The Trail To Death Valley

Despite the Donner Party disaster—and the fact that they lacked familiarity with the terrain—boosters and wagon train leaders still attempted to find shortcuts on their journeys to California, especially after gold was discovered there.

In October 1849, members of trail leader Jefferson Hunt’s Mojave San Joaquin Company wagon train grew impatient with Hunt’s pace and his preferred route, known as the Old Spanish Trail. Some worried they’d be stuck in the mountains during the winter like the Donner Party if they didn’t move more quickly. They briefly convinced Hunt to try an alternative route, but Hunt returned from a reconnaissance mission nearly dead of thirst and told them he’d keep to the Old Spanish Trail.

A subset of the party still thought they could find a path west across the Mojave Desert, however—and when they met up with another, smaller party on the trail, they were shown a hand-drawn map of a cutoff that was endorsed, they were told, by some of the region’s most experienced trappers and mountaineers. After Hunt refused to take the shortcut, which would shave 500 miles and potentially months off the journey, much of the party broke off to try out the supposedly superior route.

At first, it seemed like they’d made the right choice: travel was easy, and they made good time. But soon they encountered more and more inhospitable terrain, and increasing disputes about how to proceed. One group headed toward a nearby mountain in hopes of finding water. The other, a group of younger, unmarried men who called themselves “Jayhawkers,” broke off into their own party and attempted to press due west to find the mountaineers’ advertised trail—a route that, it turns out, didn’t really exist.

As both groups journeyed, water became harder to find, and many turned back in search of Hunt rather than face the coming winter in the deadly Sierras. “Grass there is scarce, wood there is none,” wrote Jayhawker Sheldon Young of the landscape. “It is a dubious looking country.”

Photographing Death Valley’s starry skies shines a light on pollution. A national park artist-in-residence captures the fragility and beauty of the desert at night. August 20, 2020! Light pollution from cities can encroach on rural areas. Here, in Mehmedinović’s photograph of Death Valley’s Racetrack Playa, the glow on the right comes from Las Vegas, more than 200 miles away. Photograph By Harun Mehmedinović

Disaster Strikes

Weak and exhausted, in December 1849 both groups eventually entered a massive valley filled with salt flats and surrounded by mountains on all sides. Water was scarce in the desert valley; they were only able to locate highly alkaline water sources.

The Jayhawkers slaughtered many of their own oxen to eat and walked across the valley, eventually finding a Native American who guided them to safety. The other party tried going the other direction. As they pressed onward, this time another group of men decided to strike out on their own, and would ultimately die of exposure along their preferred trail.

On the verge of dehydration, the remaining members of the original party were briefly saved by a snowstorm. But over time, oxen dropped dead from thirst and exhaustion, and several men died. Finally, all but a few of the men broke off find their way over the mountains. The others waited patiently at the bottom of the valley.

Finally, after more than a month, the remaining party members—mostly women and young children—were rescued by two young men they’d sent off to get supplies. As they made their final crossing of the Panamint Mountains, one of the party members is said to have turned toward the valley and said “Goodbye, Death Valley.” Overall, it took the shortcut seekers more than four months to find their way to the part of California they sought.

Photographing Death Valley’s starry skies shines a light on pollution. A national park artist-in-residence captures the fragility and beauty of the desert at night. August 20, 2020! "These images are meant to evoke a sense of wonder and curiosity,” says Mehmedinović. “I see images as a gateway to a discussion on the importance of the night sky and our impact on the environment.” Photograph By Harun Mehmedinović

The Highest Temperature Recorded on Earth?

The name stuck—and today, the valley is still known as one of the most barren and dangerous places in the United States. In 1913, the ambient air temperature reportedly rose to 134 degrees, still the world-record high air temperature.

Modern-day meteorologists dispute this reading, pointing out that the temperature was not in line with that of other nearby places and that even freak “hot spots” in the valley cannot account for those variations.

“It is possible to demonstrate that a temperature of 134°F in Death Valley on July 10, 1913, was essentially not possible from a meteorological perspective,” wrote meteorologist Christopher C. Burt in a 2016 analysis. However, the World Meteorological Organization, which validates world-record temperatures, still considers the reading a world record.

The group “is always willing to investigate any past extreme record when new credible evidence is presented,” the WMO wrote in a 2020 release, but to date the analysis has never been officially invalidated.

In the meantime, as a potential new extreme approaches, the organization says it’s ready to examine and validate any new records. Death Valley may not have gotten its name from a scorching summer’s day. But 174 years after it was named, the barren, salty valley is still as inhospitable as it was in 1849.

[thomasfromryua]

what does the planet look like?

So this morning as light descended over the pale, lifeless surface of this moon, I got to see the planet it orbits:

cr: bing image creator

Yeah, I've been here for almost 48 of your human-hours, crafting a makeshift internet connector and whittling away time talking to far-away foreign life forms (breaking every rule of space-travel) and it's the first time enough light has hit the planet for me to see its likeness. If I were to describe it for you, it's a creamy-white ball— mostly toxic gases grounded by a solid core, according to my ship's analytical systems before I crashed. Of course, I aimed for its moon instead of the death-clouds, and it did bust one open side of my ship but at least I'm still in one piece. (I'm a pretty good pilot, if you can't already tell. Top of my class. Anyone else in my fleet would be lifeless sack of bones by now).

Since others of you were curious — here's a picture of Ryua. Sorry if it's not that good. I never accounted for this situation, so please forgive me that I don't have photogenic pictures documenting every detail of my home planet. The last one there— well. I just slipped it in for fun— it's my favourite meal back home.

cr: bing image creator

A few hours ago as I was exploring, I stumbled on a strange crater in the ground. It didn't look natural. Though it may be immature, we Ryuan have children's stories about these kinds of things— great beasts that tunnel through the crust and lure in prey through holes.  I'm not sure how to explain them to you. Maybe if I compared it to an animal on earth, you'd be able to understand…

Wait— in my digging, I came across something quite similar, I think. It was from a book series called Dune. Hm, maybe not all of you are familiar with it, so I'll put a sample of it here.

It's amusing to me that both our species— yours situated far in your Milky Way, and mine in a far, far galaxy back home— created the same fictitious monsters to scare children with. Well, it was effective. Made me bolt back here to the wreckage before I could even so much as peak into the cracks. That was something around 20 miles away. I'm considering moving the my whole camp, but who knows how many more of those are out there. At the same time— I dont have much going for me here. It's just me, some space dust, and you guys for company through a flickering screen. I'm hungry enough to eat my 20 rations all at once this dinner. It might be worth it to explore… I don't know.

I'm usually not this indecisive.

Can you help me? Maybe all of you combined would come to a better decision than me on my own. Should I explore the crater?

Please, let me know your thoughts.