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neptune-midheaven · 4 years

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ASTRO NOTES 🪐 🧿✨🌌

*THERE !!!!!! IS !!!!!! NO !!!!!! BAD !!!!!!!PLACEMENT !!!!!!! IN !!!!!!! ASTROLOGY !!!!!!!PLEASE STOP FEAR-MONGERING THESE POOR NEWCOMERS PLEASEEE !!!!!!!! CHALLENGING never equals BAD !!!!!! If you’re a true student of astrology this would be a well know FACT to you.

*Saturn and Capricorn placements are the areas you will slowlyyy become wise in, having developed compete mastery over that area with TIME.

*You usually get compared with other people who share your rising sign.

*Most scorpios/scorpio risings have dark complexions, they even could have almost a permanent shadow cast over their faces, they may struggle to find perfect lighting.

*Virgo in 6th house are hypochondriacs and are paranoid/worry a lot about their health. They’re very nit-picky about their “symptoms”, they’re the types of people to know what they’re coming down with when they’re already at a doctor appt., they may as well even EDUCATE THE DAMN DOCTOR LIKE GO AHEAD MRS PHDD.

*Chiron conjunct midheaven is the ultimate healer placement, other chiron placements, chiron in first/aspecting the ascendant, following behind, these people are true healers whether they realize it or not, they’re born to assist and heal the general public. The midheaven, the highest point of the sky representing our reputation and career, what we’re known for. These people generate a reputation for their “healing abilities”, they’re quite literally known as the wounded healer (depending on if Chiron is positively aspected in the chart, this will affect the flavor of their reputation), they will experience pain related to work or matters related to the reputation, their status and authority could be wounded, they can later use their pain to help and heal others. Challenges will be met at work if Chiron is afflicted. This placement also means one will have their pain and wounds projected to the public, the whole world knows your pain.

*Mars in twelfth need to express their energy, their anger and will through the activities of whatever sign mars is located in the chart i.e. mars in aries in the twelfth need to express suppressed anger/anger through physical activity, sports, working out, sex, pisces mars by unleashing their massive creativity, compassion, dreams (this sign, and house combo especially, has many dreams, it’s a sleepy placement for the ideal fiery and straightforward mars to be located in). Mars in twelfth is generally a good placement that could manifest in someone being a dancer or athlete, mainly finding escape through any type of physical activity for fire signs, work for earth, socializing for air and creativity for water. This placement has very gentle, enchanting watery movements if they get into any sports or physical activity.

*Mars in eleventh can be aggressive toward their friends esp if mars is in a fire sign it becomes no joke. Don’t get me wrong, they’re the best humanitarians and what not but they have a reputation of being the “angry” or “aggressive” friend out of most of their friend groups, they’re very competitive and energetic people. However the way they stick up causes, they way they are always seen supporting any humanitarian cause with their whole hearts is AMAZINGG. They’re the types of activists to stay late to a protest, they’re the types to seemingly never leave what they’re standing up for, what they’re supporting because they are SOOO AMBITIOUS AND YEAHH !!

*This isn’t talked about a lot but uranus in eleventh have to be the most comforting and “welcoming” presence out of every eleventh house placement in astrology, with uranus in its home, the house of aquarius, it erases any filter put on what friend is attracted by their social presence as EVERYONE is attracted to them, from any possible and imaginable background or culture and homeland, anyone can trust and confide in their wide openness as their care and concern for society is completely genuine. They are truly the biggest and truest humanitarians, the universal humanitarian that will lead us to the monumental revolution of history and bring humanity to a collective whole.

*Pisces moon, people lovee you. People want to come up and talk with you just because of how interesting and intriguing you are. You OOZE this aura of compelling mystery similarly to scorpio moon. Your innocent playfulness is undeniably charming and you are definitely the life of the party, people want to pay attention to you!!

*Saturn in 11th, you are not an outcast, you are not too strange. You’re fine for just who you are, your individuality is a struggle for you, saturn is restricting you from liberating yourself and merging with society, you can selective or strict with friendships. You teach others to have boundaries and to never trust others too easily, you select social causes with caution. There is never anything wrong with this !! You choose what you support for YOU and NO ONE ELSE. You choose who you wanna become friends with it’s because they have passed the true rigorous test of friendship. When you become friends with someone, you already know you can trust them deeply, your caution is quite admirable !!

*Mercury in 12th is an extremely beautiful placement. The native grows shy of their flawless minds, little do they know they are connecting with the watery depths of the astral and psychic realms of the twelfth, the vagueness of their cloudy thoughts winds them up in wispy sheets of intellectual confusion. Your mind is communicating the brilliant and unbelievable parts of what seems like a dream. You are not too confusing or vague for others to understand your ideas, people await what emerges from this shiny and imaginable abyss of a sleepy mind.

*Mercury in 8th have an intellectual superiority complex of sorts, they analyze a piece of information or thing by tearing through the surface until they find the deepest depths of the truth, they believe this will never compare to other placements as they have dug far deeper into something. Be careful to not assume that someone doesn’t know something you don’t, while it still can’t be true. You always want to know someone, don’t be too controlling about it because you could cause conflicts which you didn’t mean to in the first place. If you know your boundaries and limits and of others’, then you should be fine. This placement is brilliant for investigators, someone who could examine, analyze and evaluate to find the answer others can’t see. They harbor a psychic mind, a plutonic one who knows the weight words can have on people. Fantastically persuasive speakers !!

*Gemini in 3rd, gem mercury have unstable minds, they’re very much prone to babbling, but can easily start up a conversation because they never run out things to say so they’re pretty social and friendly.

*Capricorn moon is an amazing moon sign placement, here the moon is in detriment as the saturn ruled cappy doesn’t get along with the soft, nurturing moon, it’s always gotta work work work, limit, restrict !! There’s never anything wrong with the moon here, just because the moon and saturn can’t get along, just because they contradict each other’s completely different functions never means it’s a terrible moon sign. It just manifests in a completely unique way outside of the traditional service and role of the moon, similarly to let’s say sag mercury as it’s also in detriment, they both manifest creatively to make something new out of the planet’s sign. Back to cappy moon, this moon has the capacity to work as they find fulfillment in getting things done, serving others, but negatively restriction and criticizing. With saturn ruling capricorn here your emotions and wellbeing become restricted and limited, you have felt as if no one understands you, you believe something is wrong with you. Like no one in the world supports you emotionally. But this is NEVERRR true, people love you for how caring, attentive and even funny you are !! You care soo much about others you forget to care for yourself, SOME of you even begin to think it’s normal to ignore what your own needs, nooo you need to STOP THISSS . You deserve to feel great about what you do, your accomplishments, how you care for others, EVERYTHING, and most importantly believe, trulyy believe that nothing’s ever wrong with you !! You’re unbelievably charismatic and overall just.... WONDERFULLL. Ily guys smm you’re amazingly stronggg souls !!!

*Moon in 12th house is an EXTREMELY sensitive placement, these people are little babies on the inside (ilyy guyss you all have my heartt <33). They often felt neglected, not nurtured as a kid which creates their extreme sensitivity to their current surroundings and environment. Their shy moon is always hiding behind the mystical and otherworldly curtains of the 12th because of their sensitive upbringing or personality, it’s takes some time for the little guy to come out. The moon here needs SPACCEEEE. A person who’s a walking sponge with fragile emotions, they’re our emotional and energetic vacuum cleaners of the world, they are helping the world without ever realizing it !!

*Pisces risings are known for being hard to characterize for their ability to naturally adapt to their environment. You can tell if someone has this if they absorb their environment like a sponge, then, react to this energy, you can easily see this energy morphing. It becomes noticeable if there’s a lot going on. Another clue is having trouble defining them based on their first impression, like they could be anything you project onto them, very mysterious and dreamy individuals when you meet them.

*Your midheaven/10th house is what you look up to be or what traits you wish to embody, ex: aries MC, confidence, passion, courageousness, being a leader, etc. Moon in 10th, being a therapist, helping the less fortunate, medical professions.

*Libra risings usually have amazing skin, just like virgo risings, to contrast, I’ve seen most of them marked with freckles. They have very symmetrical features, perfectly balanced just like a scale. But it appears as if they’re “superficial” once their faces begin to wear into your mind.

#astro notes #astrology #astrologyobservations #libra #capricorn #aries #cancer #taurus #leo #scorpio #aquarius #pisces #gemini #virgo #sagittarius

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notthatiwilleverwriteit · 4 years

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Don’t Let Go

Fandom: Given Pairing: AkiUgetsu Rating: E Tags: Smut, Fluff, Hand Jobs, Anal Fingering, Marijuana, Sexual Inexperience Summary: Ugetsu had gotten some weed. Hornyness and neediness ensue. Set in high school.

Akihiko’s warning bells jingled immediately when he came back from the bathroom and found Ugetsu smiling at him. Wiping his hands dry on his pants, Akihiko’s steps slowed down. He frowned at Ugetsu.

“What?”

Akihiko had come to bring him his homework. Ugetsu had been absent the whole day due to a violin competition. Regionals. Apparently, that also meant he was free to laze around the whole afternoon in his pajamas and ignore the pile of notes Akihiko had written for him. According to Ugetsu, it was his reward for winning by a landslide. Akihiko had pointed out it had been the first round and Ugetsu should have been able to win it with his eyes closed and left hand tied behind his back.

“I’ve got something.”

Ugetsu perked up in the middle of his messy bed. His deep brown eyes squinted and twinkled at Akihiko. His hands were cupped in his lap, but Akihiko couldn’t see what he was holding.

Wary of Ugetsu’s mysterious tone, he stepped closer to get a better look.

What was revealed deepened his frown. Nestled on Ugetsu’s cupped palms rested a metallic lighter and thick cigarette. Only it was wrapped weirdly and was too lumpy to be an ordinary cigarette.

Akihiko glared at Ugetsu who was still smirking.

“Where did you get that?”

“It’s a secret,” Ugetsu said and wiggled to sit on the edge of the bed. He reached the white lumpy joint for Akihiko. “Try it with me.”

Akihiko let out a chuckle that had a nervous edge to it even to his own ears. He slumped on the floor, effectively facing away from Ugetsu and his treasure. He grabbed his phone from the coffee table to fiddle with.

“Try yourself.”

The bed creaked behind him. Annoyed, Akihiko glared up when a shadow was cast over him and the phone screen. Effectively knocking Akihiko’s hands out of the way with his foot, Ugetsu situated his weight to straddle his hips. Awkwardly Akihiko’s hands dangled on his sides, not being able to naturally settle anywhere. He stifled his urge to shift.

“Oi,” he said. “Go sit somewhere else.”

Ugetsu wiggled his ass, trying to get comfortable.

“But I like this spot.” He conjured the joint and lighter from behind his back. “Are you sure you don’t want to try with me?”

“Yes.”

“Suit yourself, then.”

Akihiko’s eyes widened when Ugetsu’s lips closed around the wrinkly stub. The heavy, metallic flick of the lighter rang loud in the quiet basement. Akihiko’s phone dropped to the floor with a clatter when his hands came to try and nudge Ugetsu off.

“I said do that by yourself!”

But Ugetsu’s thighs pressed tighter against him as he anchored his weight deeper in his lap. The flickering flame hovered close to the small tip of the thin rolling paper until it whooshed alight. Distracted, Akihiko’s resistance died down as he watched Ugetsu’s thumb and index finger pinch around the stub. His lips tightened and brown knotted. The lit end glowed red and orange as Ugetsu dragged through it.

His body stiffened in Akihiko’s lap. It looked like he was holding his breath. Akihiko caught himself mirroring him, closely monitoring his face.

Just as he was about to ask was Ugetsu alright, thick white coughs erupted from deep inside Ugetsu. His shoulders shook as he hacked. One of his hands came to lean on Akihiko’s shoulder for support as he nearly doubled over.

Rolling his eyes, Akihiko let his body relax. He let out an angry huff. A sweet scent tickled his nostrils.

“Idiot.”

Still sputtering a little, Ugetsu smirked at him. The coughing had brought tears to his eyes, making the chocolate brown twinkle even brighter than usual.

“Congratulation,” Akihiko said, “you’ve officially broken the law now.”

Ugetsu’s mischievous smile widened and his eyes narrowed down at Akihiko.

“Shows what you know about the law,” he said. “Possession is punishable, too. I could be put in jail just for having it.”

“Don’t tempt me,” Akihiko said. “I’d finally get rid of you.”

Ugetsu’s eyebrows arched. His head tilted a little, and the dark bangs shifted.

“Is that so? I guess I’ll have to make you an accomplice then.”

The lit end glowed up between them again as Ugetsu drew another hit. Before Akihiko realized what was about to happen, Ugetsu leaned forward and sealed their lips tightly together. Taking advantage of Akihiko’s shock, Ugetsu’s tongue pushed in easily, deepening the kiss. His free hand had sneaked to cradle the back of Akihiko’s head and keep him in place.

Thick smoke filled Akihiko’s mouth. It didn’t taste as sweet as it had smelled. It had a rather earthy and dark flavor to it. Grassy. A little spicy. It made him gag.

Finally gaining his senses, Akihiko pushed Ugetsu off by his shoulders and freed his lips. He coughed which only sucked the smoke deeper into his lungs. Glaring, he wiped his mouth.

“The hell?!” he croaked.

Ugetsu leaned back on his lap. His eyes looked darker. Not the usual deep brown but almost black.

“Now we’re both criminals. Do you think they’ll let us share the cell?”

More curses tickled on Akihiko’s tongue.

“You’re such a fuc – “ he began but clenched his jaw.

“A what? I’m a what?”

Akihiko released a frustrated sigh. It wasn’t worth it wasting his breath when Ugetsu was being like this. Ugetsu would do what Ugetsu wanted to do when got that tone in his voice. Akihiko gave him another nudge, harder this time.

“Get off me.”

“But I said I liked this spot.”

“And I said get off.”

He grabbed Ugetsu by his hips and proceeded to hoist him off. But the warm weight shifted in his lap. Small arms reached to wrap around Akihiko’s shoulders like stubborn vines. Soft wisps of hair tickled his cheek when Ugetsu clung to him.

“No, I want to be like this.”

Akihiko’s hold didn’t slack, but his resolve had faced a big loss right off the bat. He was always weak to this side of Ugetsu.

“Forgive me”?

Akihiko chuckled humorlessly.

“Why?”

“Because,” Ugetsu said and rubbed against his shoulder, “when someone says sorry and means it, you have to forgive them. That’s what the teachers always said in kindergarten.”

“So, you’re saying you’re sorry from the bottom of your heart?”

Ugetsu fell silent. All Akihiko could hear were their breathings, slightly out of sync. No sound could pierce through the cocoon of the basement. It held everything in, muffling the violent soundwaves trying to disturb their way through.

“I don’t think my heart has a bottom,” he finally said quietly. “Sometimes…”

Akihiko stiffened when he perked up his ears. There had been scratches of the needle in the sound Ugetsu was emitting. Sometimes it was difficult to hear him through the scratches.

“Sometimes,” Ugetsu's voice had gained a distant tone, “I don’t think I even have a heart. It’s just…a pit. And I’m sinking into it. Or floating. And no one can reach me.”

Akihiko shifted and gently pushed him back.

“Alright,” he said, “I think this is enough crime for ya for one day.”

Carefully he took the smoldering joint from between Ugetsu’s fingers. He didn’t resist. Akihiko reached behind him to put it out against a plate left lying around on the coffee table. The cigarette’s fire died with a swirl of heavy smoke.

“What if,” Ugetsu went on in his quiet, distant voice, “one day you won’t reach me either.”

Akihiko frowned.

“What are you talking about? I’m right here.”

“I’ll be in so deep that you can’t reach. And you don’t even want to. Not anymore.”

With a sigh, Akihiko brushed some of the tousled bangs out of the way and examined Ugetsu’s face. Apart from his ever-darkening eyes that were now drooping a little, he didn’t seem much different.

“Hey, you alright?”

The heavy-looking eyelids slid close until Ugetsu’s dark, thick lashes fluttered against his cheeks. He nodded.

“A little dizzy. Like I’m floating.”

Akihiko scoffed softly.

“I bet you are, Space Boy.”

Even in the weightless state Ugetsu currently was, he still managed to muster his offended frown.

“I don’t want to talk about your stupid comics.”

“It’s Astro Boy, not Spa – “

The words died in his throat when Ugetsu rolled his hips and something hard brushed against Akihiko’s groin through the clothes.

“Aki.”

Oh, he knew that tone.

“Mm?”

“I wanna do it.”

“No.”

Ugetsu made a quiet whine and rubbed harder against him.

“Why not?”

Akihiko stilled his hips gently but firmly.

“You know why.”

A bit clumsily, Ugetsu pushed back to prop his palms on Akihiko’s shoulder. His bottom lip was jutting out slightly as he glared down at him.

“I bet if I was a girl, you would have done it with her already. You just don’t want to do it with me.”

Akihiko almost laughed out loud. Nothing could have been further from the truth. He wanted to do it with Ugetsu so badly it hurt. Had wanted to ever since he had kissed Ugetsu clumsily behind those goldfish and candied apple stands.

“It has nothing to do with that. You always say it hurts too much and we have to stop.”

Ugetsu pushed his hips against the restrictive hold. Akihiko could feel where the arch of the jutting hipbone pressed against his palm.

“I won’t say it this time!”

“You will.”

Akihiko could see the discovery of changing tactics on Ugetsu’s face. It seemed being high disarmed Ugetsu from his usual grace and veil somewhat. Akihiko was coming to realize he found it increasingly amusing.

A warm breath came to ghost over Akihiko’s neck and a pair of lips to nuzzle the little hollow. Thin, nimble fingers sank through the soft spikes of his hair and nails scraped gently the scalp. Akihiko’s hold on the hips slacked, and they rolled almost languidly now, matching the soft lips dragging against the side of his neck.

“I want to do it,” Ugetsu mumbled next to his ear. “It’s okay if I want it, right? Even if it hurts a little? I want to do it. Aki.”

And by every god in the universe, Akihiko wanted it, too. He wanted to flip them over, hold Ugetsu down, and bury himself into the tight velvet warmth till he could reach no further. Get his fill finally instead of grinding his teeth and pulling out when Ugetsu was rigid and gasping under him.

“No,” Akihiko said and grabbed Ugetsu’s hand that had been sneaking down towards his crotch.

The teasing lips puffed out a frustrated sigh. The wandering hand submitted to capture. Akihiko swallowed at the fingers that had managed to edge close enough to his own hardening front.

“I mean,” he said thickly, “that doesn’t mean we can’t…practice.”

Ugetsu’s tufts of hair twitched.

“Practice?”

“Yeah. Get you used to it more. I mean, it’s easier to hit triple stops if you loosen the bow a little.”

“You do that?” Ugetsu said, and there was a familiar teasing lilt creeping back to his voice. “I can play them just fine without loos – “

The rest died on his lips when Akihiko pulled his hand down to its desired destination. The sparkling dark eyes widened and shot up to stare at Akihiko when Ugetsu’s fingers brushed against the growing hardness between Akihiko’s legs. They wrapped tentatively around it and risked a couple of firm kneads. Akihiko’s eyes fluttered close at the contact.

“I want to do it, too,” he muttered inches away from Ugetsu’s lips, parted in silent awe. “You have no idea how much I want to, but not yet, okay? It’s still too tough on you. So – “

Ugetsu sucked in a shuddering breath when Akihiko’s hand wiggled under the loose waistband of his pants and reached for his groin.

“ – let me do this properly.”

The deepening chocolate eyes slithered open to look at Akihiko quietly.

“Okay,” Ugetsu managed in a thick, quiet voice. “Alright. Just – “ he pulled Akihiko’s free hand and pressed the cup of his palm to cup his cheek, “ – just don’t let go.”

A ghost of a smile played on Akihiko’s lips.

“I won’t.”

Worrying his bottom lip between his teeth, Akihiko’s thumb lowered to Ugetsu’s mouth and nudged its way inside. Instinctively, Ugetsu gave away to the intrusion. He blinked at Akihiko. Indeed, he looked like he was floating.

“Lick it.”

Ugetsu took a hold of Akihiko’s wrist with both hands and started to lick the palm with broad, wet strokes of his tongue. With hooded eyes, he lapped the rough skin. One by one, he also bent the fingers to suck them into his mouth as deep as he could, When he pulled them out, he gently dragged his teeth over the bumps of the joints.

Akihiko’s eyes narrowed.

“That’s enough.”

Ugetsu looked down in the lap between them and sighed when the freshly dampened palm wrapped around him inside his underwear. Akihiko gave him a couple of slow strokes from the root to the tip. Eagerly, Ugetsu began to push inside the warm, rough tunnel of his hand. His breathing becoming labored puffs as he rocked back and forth, picking up speed quickly.

“Here,” Akihiko said and now held out his other hand.

Almost greedily, Ugetsu snatched hold of it and started licking again. He drooled into the small dip of the palm and spread the wetness with his tongue. Saliva trickled down his chin and Akihiko’s wrist. He let out quiet sighs and hums as Akihiko kept massaging him inside the pants. Occasionally Akihiko pressed his thumb against the weeping tip and rubbed it gently.

Ugetsu popped one of Akihiko’s fingers out of his mouth. His puffed-up lips glistened with spit.

“I’m close,” he said, out of breath.

Silently Akihiko changed hands again. This time Ugetsu didn’t waste time but started to rock more demandingly. Akihiko tightened his grip and squeezed a little towards the tip every time he pulled back. Ugetsu’s fingers clutched almost painfully on Akihiko’s shoulders when he held onto him for balance and leverage.

Akihiko raised the released hand to his lips and sunk his index and middle finger into his mouth. He could taste Ugetsu on his tongue. Less sweet than how he smelled. Spicy. Far more intoxicating than the white, thick smoke.

Ugetsu’s eyes dropped to follow Akihiko sliding his fingers in and out between his lips, coating them with spit. Each time they came out shinier. Ugetsu’s Adam’s apple bobbed.

When Akihiko pulled his fingers out, a thread of thick saliva stretched in the air. Never taking his gaze off Ugetsu’s flushed face, Akihiko reached behind him and pushed his hand under the waistband. Almost hungrily, his fingers groped the soft bump of Ugetsu’s ass, wiggling their way deeper and searching for the valley.

A half moan, half whine released from Ugetsu’s throat when the slipper tips of Akihiko’s fingers brushed against the sensitive pucker and rubbed it in circular movements. Slowly Akihiko coaxed the tip of his middle finger inside. Ugetsu gasped and clung to him a bit tighter.

“Shh,” he said quietly. “It’s okay.”

He sped up jerking Ugetsu off as he pushed his finger into the twitching heat till the hilt dug into the soft flesh of Ugetsu’s ass. Ugetsu’s back arched and a low moan raised between his parted lips. His body quivered in Akihiko’s lap. Akihiko mouthed a couple of small kisses along his jawline.

“I won’t move,” he said, “for now. You decide the pace.”

Ugetsu’s hips began their familiar dance again. His breathing puffed sweet between them. Every time he pushed into the tunnel of Akihiko’s palm, the finger slid out. And every time he pulled back only to push back in, the finger was forced back through the tight opening.

Before long, Ugetsu was captured in a pendulum that swung between sweet pleasure and even sweeter ache.

When Akihiko lined up his index finger to cram it inside too, Ugetsu let out another cry.

“Aki…”

“It’s okay,” he said.

“Don’t let – ” Ugetsu panted. “Don’t…let go.”

“I won’t.”

Ugetsu’s whole body jerked as Akihiko’s index finger worked its way in, too. There was more resistance now. He could feel the muscles working hard to adjust to the intrusion.

When both of the fingers were finally buried as deep as they would go, Ugetsu’s hand fled down where Akihiko was gripping him between his legs. Hurried and trembling fingers stuffed inside the underwear to accompany Akihiko’s. While Ugetsu kept pushing in and out, his hand guided the speed, angle, and pressure of the warm tunnel. The dark brows were knotted in deep concentration.

“Aki, I’m almost…I’m –”

Akihiko could feel the orgasm rolling down before it actually reached Ugetsu’s consciousness. The muscles tightened around his fingers. Ugetsu’s body arched and he stopped his almost feverish back and forth. But Akihiko continued the pendulum swings for him. He sped them up in both directions and didn’t let up until Ugetsu’s mind was overwhelmed and all he could do was to throw his head back and gasp and moan. Nothing else needed to exist between right now than the dizzying sensations.

Slimy eruptions filled the inside of the underwear and spilled hot over Akihiko’s hand. The viscous liquid squished between his palm and Ugetsu’s bare dick, slickening the rubbing. Akihiko slowed down (at this point Ugetsu’s fingers have already slacked around him) and he kept milking to the last drop until Ugetsu started to jerk and flinch at the touch.

Boneless, he slumped against Akihiko’s shoulder. His heavy breathing huffed next to his ear. Little trembles and aftershocks ran through his body. When Akihiko pulled out his fingers, Ugetsu made a quiet sound in his throat and clung to him.

“Don’t let go.”

He reached to kiss the side of Ugetsu’s head. His lips pressed gently against the soft hair.

“I won’t.”

“Never?”

“Never.”

Ugetsu relaxed. Akihiko listened to his breathing calming down. His weight became heavier and heavier in his lap. When there was a little yawn next to Akihiko’s ear, he nudged Ugetsu’s hips gently. The contents coating his hand inside Ugetsu’s underwear were starting to cool off.

“Hey, Space Boy,” he said, “we better change your pants or you’re going to give yourself a rude waxing.”

#given #akiugetsu #akiuge #murata ugetsu #kaji akihiko #ntiwewi

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pdqallday · 4 years

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LA Courier Company Supports Their Community

As couriers we spend the majority of our time out in the city, picking up and dropping off to multiple locations. We get the pleasure of finding all the gems in the city and all the quiet parks. We choose to support the smaller companies by purchasing as much as we can and avoid big chains.

Our team has compiled some of our favorite restaurants and coffee shops, we hope to shed some light on these smaller shops so everyone can support them. As Covid19 has had an impact on so many people we are saddened by some of our partners having to shut their doors, we will miss you Submerge, Bad Son Tacos, Astros Doughnuts, Bodhi Bowl, Chicas Tacos(DTLA) and Goshen Cuisine. You can help support them before more small businesses close down, simply by ordering their food but using their E-Commerce website or calling them. Doing so you're allowing them to keep as much profit as possible, now to name a few of our favorites.

Our very own, Wahn Catering with his love for cooking. Juan is very passionate about cooking and creating new flavors in the kitchen. He has had a few pop-up shops at events and coffee shops making some pretty delicious breakfast burritos and Vegan Burritos. If you’ve ever had a chance to try his food you would not regret it!

K G bakery on echo park ave has a really good vegan bahn mi

Courier 412 listed Kien Giang Bakery in Echo Park, his favorite thing to get from there is the Vegan Bahn Mi. KG Bakery has been around since 1980. They specialize in birthday, weddings, quinceaneras, and other cakes, they also have cake specialist on-site to design a unique cake for any occasion. They craft fully hand-made Banh Tet and Banh Chung, and over 40 different varieties of Mooncakes. You can place an order on their website through their online e-commerce.

Courier 221 listed Sonoratown, Urban Radish Market & Weird Beers. Starting with Sonoratown, If you’ve been in DTLA long enough you know this place is amazing. Sonoratown opened in 2016, paying homage to the small border town in Mexico that Teo one of the owners is from. They are partner with doordash which in reality is such a bummer because most restaurants feel like they have to resort to using big corporate apps but just avoid ordering on there and order over the phone for pickup! That’s one way to make sure they get the most money out of the transaction. Urban Radish Market is a family-owned market with everything from cereal to hand-cut meats to local berries; they serve farm-fresh, made to order sandwiches, salads, and grill items. They try to keep their store based out of products made in LA or California. Their kitchen is fresh, organic, and carefully curated ingredients with everything made in house. Lastly on Courier 221’s list is Weird Beers, with stay home order most people have resorted to drinking more at home with the free time they’ve had.

Americans who report drinking any alcohol in the past 30 days has increased - rising from 71% to 79% compared to the same time last year.

Weird Beers is a very small shop and if you ever had a courier bag you know you’re most likely going to hit or drop something. They carry a variety of beers and very cool people. Supporting them over a giant chain store like Ralphs definitely feels 100% better.

Courier 602 listed The Donut man at central market, and Scoops ice cream in chinatown. Donut Man has been around since 1972. Their original location is located on the historic Route 66 open 24/7 and has been that donut for many traveling through. Next spot is Scoops in chinatown, they don’t have a website just social media platforms serving the best ice cream in downtown.

Share to shed light on our favorite small restaurants.

#Food delivery #Food #Delivery #Local restaurants #Local support #small businesses #same day delivery #local gems #downtown la #los angeles #burritos #tacos #donuts #beer

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nothing-but-kpop-dreams · 7 years

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A bit about us ^-^

Hello! We are Wishes In Writing! This blog has been around for about 7 months now.We all thought it was time to more or less introduce ourselves to you all that way there is a sense of a person behind the post.

Just because we are posting this, doesn’t mean we aren’t looking for new admins to join. If you would like to apply and try to be apart of this blog with us. Just go to this link and read up on how you can apply. :)

Admin Boat:

Hi! I am Admin Boat. I am the one who created this blog and I kinda worked solo on it until Satellite and Cloud joined me. Writing is a very new hobby to me. I never really wrote much until about two years ago. I decided to make this blog because with the new found love of writing. I wanted to make kpop scenarios and all that without congesting my already spam like main blog.

Now for the hard part… A bit about me: I am very much a plain Jane, vanilla flavored person . I am from Texas… I like to write (obviously) , i like watching tv and listening to music. So you know, i’m just like super basic in that sense. I love dogs. I am a pretty big nerd. A highlight of this was back in high school when a few acquaintances and I had a huge talk about different types of calculators…yeah that actually happened. ( i won’t say how long that conversation was because that will make it more embarrassing).

A more obvious thing about me is that i love kpop. I am a huge multifandom person. I have been into kpop for about 5 or 6 years now. I love groups like super junior, girls generation, f(x), big bang, bts, got7, shinee, block b, monsta x ,astro, exo, nuest, red velvet. …it would probably be easier for me to list the groups i am not a huge fan of. I just love all kpop. I try to support anyone and everyone as much as i can because all idols work so hard to do something they love. The only cool part about me is probably the concerts i have been to. I was so darn lucky to have gone to the GOT7 fan meet in Houston, to see Shinee in Dallas and to G-dragon’s concert in Houston (No i am not from that area of texas btw. I live in deep Texas at least 4 hours away from San Anotino. A more accurate description is that i am like 10-20 minutes from the Mexican border… Yes, i happen to be Latina as well.)

When it comes to my writing style I like to keep things as real as possible. I tend to include alot of foul language or try not to stray away from sensitive/more serious topics ( this being the reason as to why to I gladly took in the alopecia request and the infertility request). My favorite type of genre to writing is angst. Don’t get me wrong though i am a sucker for fluffy stuff, but i do try to hold back on the cringe. Smut is something i can’t write though. I have yet to become comfortable with writing (even reading) smut.

Admin Satellite:

Yo readers, Satellite here! I was the second admin that joined the blog. Me and Boat got to know each other through her previous work and I just kind of wanted to try writing too.

So, now over to me and my narcissistic ass; I’m kind of a weird turd from the northern parts of Sweden. If you hadn’t already noticed I’m quite weird… But hey, normal is boring! Anyways, I am mixed-race (Thai-Swedish) so I can speak both languages and English pretty fluently - I love languages and I’m currently learning more Asian languages since I find them more interesting.

When it comes to hobbies, I have a lot of them. Usually people ask me how many hours I have in a week since I do so much. I don’t think it’s that much… But it does get to me sometimes and causes stress. My main hobbies however include; travelling, dancing, everything music (singing, playing instruments etc.), learning languages, science (I go the science program at school and I’ll graduate this summer thank god), writing, painting, drawing, memes… and the list goes on.

As for writing style I love keeping it real, just like Boat. I also don’t really censor anything so swearwords and triggering content might usually occur (I do put warnings before though so don’t worry). Recently I have been quite busy though so I haven’t had the time to be active. But I’ll try my best as soon as my senior project is over and school starts to calm down.

Admin Cloud:

Hey Guys! I’m Admin Cloud and I am the third admin of this fantabulous blog. I was (still am) a big fan of Admin Boat and Satellite’s writing (I even requested some of their scenarios), so as I was going through their blog, I saw the admin wanted post and thought. Hmmm why not? So here I am!

Anyways, about me. Welllllllllllll…….I’m a military brat, and I’m currently living in Japan, sadly not in Tokyo, but close enough (only an hour train ride). Sadly I don’t speak Japanese nor do I know how to read, I know a few words and phrases but nothing that could hold a conversation. BUT I am Filipino and I could understand and somewhat speak Tagalog.

As far as hobbies go, singing is always the first thing that comes to mind. I love singing and honestly, you’d probably get tired of me singing or humming if you were around me for so long. BUTTT other than singing and obsessing over k-idols, I also enjoy a little photography, doing makeup, reading, writing, playing (and winning prizes) from claw machines, and most importantly…..collecting CD albums. I know collecting albums is “so outdated” but I love it! I have an entire box filled to the top with albums, and not just kpop albums (although the kpop industry takes CD albums to another freaking level) but also western artist’s albums. I hope that my album collections continues to grow so I could potentially have an entire room dedicated to them ^.^

Finally, a little bit about my writing style. I’ve been writing stories since I was in probably 6th or 7th grade. Ever since I stumbled upon Quizazz (now Quotev) and Wattpad, I’ve been inspired to write sappy love stories to make up for my lack of love live…JOKEEEE lol not really. Anywayssss I’m more comfortable with 1st person writing but I’m willing to challenge myself in order to grow as a writer. As for censorship, I do use curse words for dramatic purposes but if I feel that the scene could move on without any foul language, then I try my best to keep it clean. Just like Admin Boat, I also like to write angst, just because I feel like I could make it more realistic than if I were to write some fluffy stuff. But smut I’m a little uncomfortable with writing. I mean sometimes I read some smut but reading it is wayyyyy different than writing it. BUT if someone were to request it, I won’t shy away from the challenge ;)))

Again, we are still up to a new admin joining us. If you are interested, please take a look at this post

#about us

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astrofantastic · 7 years

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ASTRO AUGUST CHALLENGE 2017

Last year, we held the first year of the ASTRO AUGUST CHALLENGE. This year, we are back again!

What is the ASTRO AUGUST CHALLENGE? A month-long challenge to encourage AROHA to post more and get to know more people in the community! With the number of people who are part of the AROHA community on tumblr now, it is easy to lose track of everybody. We want people to feel more connected, and this is a great way to do so!

What do you have to do? On each day of the month of August, you should answer the question with the corresponding number. You can make a long text post or fan art. If you know how to make gifs, you’re free to do that, as well. Create anything and everything you want (or don’t want) to, and share it!

When do you post? On the day of in Korean Standard Time. We have decided to run the challenge on KST this year for the sake of everybody posting things during the same time for a certain day. Can you post outside of the time? Sure! KST will also determine which day’s posts we will be promoting on the blog here.

USE THE TAG #AAC2017 ON YOUR POSTS THIS YEAR SO THAT EVERYBODY CAN SEE THEM!

If you do not want to answer the question for a certain day, you can pick a question from the VERSUS list at the bottom of this post and write your post according to that instead.

Day 1: Who is your bias? Why are they your bias? Explain everything you love about them!

Day 2: Make 3 questions and tag 3 blogs to answer them. If you get tagged, make 3 more questions and tag 3 more blogs. Let’s make a chain of questions and answers!

Day 3: Confession! Compliment your bias wrecker. You gotta give ‘em some credit.

Day 4: What is your favorite title track? Why is it your favorite?

Day 5: Have you watched To Be Continued, OK!Ready, and/or ASTRO Project? What were your favorite parts? Which one would you watch again right now? Would you have changed anything about how they were filmed?

Day 6: What is your favorite song that they have performed in a different language? There are a lot to choose from! Link a video of it!

Day 7: Which album is your favorite? What makes it your favorite?

Day 8: Describe each member in only 3 words.

Day 9: You get to pick ASTRO’s next concept. What is it? Will you change their concept? What are their outfits going to be like? Do they all dye their hair neon green? Be detailed!

Day 10: Baby! Which is your favorite baby photo? Bonus: Post a baby photo of yourself, too!

Day 11: Which member do you think is the worst at bowling? Bonus: Write a fic about it!

Day 12: Tag a blog (or several) you’ve never talked to if they have a URL that you like! Why do you like their URL?

Day 13: Each bottle for the members is a different color. What flavors do you think they are? Bonus: Give each one a name!

Day 14: What are the best theories about ASTRO? Do you have any theories of your own to share?

Day 15: Morning Call! What ASTRO song do you (or would you) use as an alarm? Bonus: Post a screenshot of your alarm with the song set!

Day 16: Make up a list of rules that have been written for ASTRO’s dorm! Bonus: Write a fic about ASTRO breaking all of the rules.

Day 17: Which fruits are ASTRO?

Day 18: List ASTRO most to least likely to fight over the TV remote. Bonus: Write a fic about it!

Day 19: Talk about an AROHA you want to get close/closer to! Bonus: Don’t tag them, and have your followers guess who it is!

Day 20: Do you have any headcanons? List them!

Day 21: Tag your favorite gif maker.

Day 22: List ASTRO most to least likely to flip the Monopoly board in the middle of the game. Bonus: Write a fic about it!

Day 23: Do you support Dongminion? We all know about Eunwoo’s love for minions. Do you support it? Why or why not? (Note: this is just friendly discussion!!)

Day 24: Finish the sentence! An ASTRO song I can never skip is...?

Day 25: Hide and Seek! Post/link an underappreciated ASTRO video! Remember to give credit to the creator/poster of the video!

Day 26: Tag 6 blogs that remind you of each member of ASTRO. Why do they remind you of that member?

Day 27: Talk about an AROHA that you’ve gotten close to in the past year. If you haven’t been around for a year, then just talk about an AROHA you’ve gotten close to since you became an AROHA!

Day 28: Did you buy the AROHA 1st membership last year? Do you plan on getting 2nd generation? Bonus: If you did buy the AROHA 1st membership, what was your favorite item that came with it?

Day 29: AGAIN! What moment of being an AROHA would you like to experience again? Why?

Day 30: List your favorite things about being an AROHA.

Day 31: Where do you think ASTRO will be in their career a year from now?

VERSUS pairs (no picking both!)

Immortal Songs 2: Don’t Look Back vs Immortal Songs 2: With You

ASTRO Project vs OK!Ready

Dream Part.01 Day Version vs Dream Part.01 Night Version

To Be Continued vs Boyfriend Milk

Orange-haired Sanha vs Pink-haired Sanha

Hyung line vs maknae line

Music videos vs dance practices

Blonde Jinjin vs brunette Jinjin

Paper passing game vs chocolate unwrapping game

Vivid plum vs space violet

#astro #aac2017

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deadskepticfiles · 5 years

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THE DREAMING PROPHET TRANSCRIPT: Ep 6, Mission Possible

PODOMATIC LINK

Welcome to the club! You're joining at an exciting time, but you're going to need to hit the ground running. The good news is, we're all happy to help you learn the ropes, and which ropes to skip.

Talking points: A correction on Episode 5; All missions, all the time.

Featuring cohost, Be11amy. Spoiler + Content warning begins at 1:07.

Content warnings: General horror, death + injury to children.

Eric Switzer's article on The Gamer: https://www.thegamer.com/blackout-club-lore-explained/ (+ The Gamer's review of The Blackout Club: https://www.thegamer.com/the-blackout-club-review/)

The Blackout Club Lexicon, for player/game lingo & terminology [on Google Docs]: bit.ly/TBCLexicon

Credits:

- lavanya: host, transcript, video editor, asset artist, speak-as-one's #1 fan

- astriferal: host, audio editor, puncher of things

- be11amy: host, advertising, fact-checking

- xaviul: moral support

- intro & outro music, "ringing bells": a weirdly handsome individual

- transition audio clips, music, voice lines: the blackout club/question games

- spooky ambiance: KRISTIANKULTA on freesound (https://freesound.org/people/KRISTIANKULTA/sounds/326962/)

- weird ambiance: Magmi Soundtracks on freesound (https://freesound.org/people/Magmi.Soundtracks/sounds/475737/)

- creepy sounds: JOHNWALLY on freesound (https://freesound.org/people/JOHNWALLY/sounds/32805/)

- the blackout club: question games (https://www.blackoutclubgame.com)

ASTRO: Hello, dear listeners, and welcome to the Dreaming Prophet. The sky is bright. The sun is shining and the birds are singing.

ASTRO: Or are they? Those aren't birds. Oh God, those aren't birds at all. Wake up! Dear listener, wake up, before the sheep comes back.

LAVANYA: That's my line. Well! My name is Lavanya and I'm your host for tonight along with this thieving thief of a bastard.

ASTRO: Hi, I'm Astro.

BELLAMY: And I'll be joining you for the first time today. You may or may not recognize my voice, but my name is Bellamy Bell for short.

ASTRO: This is a Blackout Club show for Blackout Club players with minimal speculation, all lore, and a focus on the known facts. Our topic of the day is the missions. We'll be giving you a guide on the basics of missions, and all the things we've learned while playing them.

LAVANYA: So, our spoiler warnings for today are pretty much none. There are no spoilers unless you are deeply invested in the lore of the missions, in which case, there are a lot of spoilers. So, you have a general horror warning as always, and emphasis on the death, plus injury to children warning that we always do. Because this will be explicitly talking about the missions that do include dead children!

BELLAMY: B-b-b-breaking news, listeners, we have exciting news for you today!

LAVANYA: And that is we have received an official correction on our last episode episode 5, A Light In The Darkness, about everyone's least favorite morally grey Daimon Thee-I-Dare. So this correction came from the developers and clarified a point of slight confusion in the podcast specifically about the word in the song.

LAVANYA: This is the statement that we received:.

LAVANYA: Word and Song can exist in the same mind without turning instantly lethal. In fact, most minds in Redacre are burdened by both. But the pure expression of the Old Tongue, while *conscious* - has led to madness or death in the rare cases it has happened. Over prolonged periods, even Sleepers who have been induced to peform it have been lost to it, because under the surface, their brains were still organized by the Word, so a corrosive cognitive dissonance builds up if they try to perform a long, complex thought in it.

LAVANYA: So, to clarify that further, basically what that quote is saying is that the Word in the Song being present in an individual's head does not instantly kill you! It is not an instant game over. Instead, the Word is present in every individual's heads, and Red Acre residents are largely burdened by the song already, which can heard at any point, if you turn down your sound effects or raise your music in-game.

ASTRO: We are planning a full corrections episode later so you can watch for that. But for now that's the facts.

BELLAMY: For this episode, however, our main goal is to provide comprehensive info, and some tips and tricks about the missions that currently exist in a game. We'll be going over each mission, individually outlining what's required for the mission, and some tips that we have for you.

BELLAMY: As a general tip before we start, please remember that if you're ever confused while you're playing, you can always close your eyes, and you should actually see footsteps leading you to the next step of your mission.

ASTRO: So, in game, there are three mission types. They are search, steal, and disrupt. After a certain level, the missions are randomized. But your first few missions will mostly be the same.

BELLAMY: So, our first search type mission is the one titled INVESTIGATE: BREAK IN. Break in the purpose of this mission. As it's explained to you in game is that there's been a strange break in at one of the Red Acre houses and you've been tasked by your club members with sneaking over there and recording anything strange that you find there are actually two variants on this mission. The regular variant that you will see for most of your time playing the game and the variant that you actually get the very first time that you play any mission.

BELLAMY: This one, we'll be calling the NIGHT ONE VARIANT.

BELLAMY: So, the Night One variant takes advantage of the fact that investigating a break in is one of the simpler Missions you can receive. So, it's used as a pretty good introduction for certain game mechanics, and it will prompt to you regarding how to record evidence in the game when you're first learning.

BELLAMY: The main difference between the Night One variant, and the regular version of this mission, is just the introductory flavor text that you see when you load into the mission, rather than in the actual gameplay.

BELLAMY: The Night One break investigation is a fun one, because it provides you with a lot of inner universe fictional details as to what's going on and additional explanations as to what to do now.

BELLAMY: What you actually do for both variants of this mission is that you need to sneak into a house, and record three strange things that have happened in the house.

BELLAMY: These can range from a smashed in front door, to dirty footsteps in the living room, even to strange and unnervingly red stains splattered across the bathroom sink. Remember, like we mentioned earlier, these pieces of evidence can be scattered around the house.

BELLAMY: So, like we mentioned earlier, if you get lost or can't find one, you can always close your eyes and there should be a trail of footsteps leading you to the next piece of evidence. This may even help you identify evidence that you didn't realize was evidence in the first place.

BELLAMY: A dirt smear to your open eyes may manifest as a glowing footprints one burned into the backs of your eyelids. And when it comes to outside evidence the trail will unfortunately not lead you directly to it. But it will lead you to outside in general which should be your clue to look around the small outside area such as the backyard in which you've ended up. The evidence should be nearby.

ASTRO: The second "search" type mission that we'll be covering is find a club members phone. The purpose of this mission is to get sensitive information out of the cults hands. Three chests in the maze are locked. Only one has the phone. It's a guessing game, and it helps to have lock picks, although you can kick in chests. It creates a lot of noise and it creates a lot of sin. And in this case, unlike kicking indoors, foam canisters will not save you. There is no way to foam an item chest and kick it open at this time.

BELLAMY: Now, our next mission category is DISRUPT.

BELLAMY: The first mission in this category is the dual pick up posters, and place recruitment posters mission. There are actually two variants on this mission as well. There is the House posters variant, and The Maze posters variant. First, we'll be talking about the House posters version as it's the slightly easiest one and it comes up a little bit earlier for most players. The purpose of this mission is to recruit new club members by pasting invisible propaganda all around town.

BELLAMY: Now, the first step of this mission is "PICK UP POSTERS", of which, eponymously, involves picking up some posters from trash cans or bins around town.

BELLAMY: When you collect these posters, try to split up who has how many posters, or else you will end up with one proactive member of your team picking up all of themm advancing the mission to the next stepm and leaving no posters for the rest of your group to pick up!

BELLAMY: A recent update actually allows you to drop quest items for your teammates, so it's not the end of the world if you grab all the items yourself, but it does take a little more work to distribute the quest items that way.

BELLAMY: And step two of the mission, you place the recruitment posters! For the House posters variant of this mission, you generally put them up on houses and trees. This is pretty easy because posters are absolutely silent to put up. They just take a second, and as long as there's nobody around that can see you, you should be absolutely fine.

BELLAMY: Now the Maze posters variant of this mission is a little bit tougher. This is essentially the same mission as putting the posters up above ground, but it's more dangerous, because your mission goal is to wake up adults instead of convert children. So you'll be doing the most of your work underground in the maze.

BELLAMY: Aside from that, the mission details are about the same!

BELLAMY: You pick up posters and put them up in the maze and, you know, pray that you don't get dragged, kicking and screaming, into the bowels of the Song's terrible underground machine, never to be heard from again.

BELLAMY: And lastly, regarding both of these mission variants, when you put up those posters, you know ,they do look like regular posters if occasionally rather meme. So if you're wondering how they help recruit the club, or disrupt the adults wandering the Maze, well, just try taking a look at them with your eyes closed.

ASTRO: The next DISRUPT mission is picking up the yard signs and planting the yard signs. The purpose is to recruit for the club! No need to go into the maze this time. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, will begin when you retrieved boxes from inside two houses, which have all of the yard signs inside.

ASTRO: Like with posters, it's important to split up who has how many yard signs.

ASTRO: Hammer them into the ground without getting caught. The hammering process takes time: a couple of seconds. You should plan for this. Unlike with the posters, enemies will hear you and will come to your location to investigate, and if they can see you, it's even worse if someone interrupts you while you are placing a yard sign. You will have to start all over from the beginning of the process.

LAVANYA: The third DISRUPT type of mission is "Foam Party".

LAVANYA: Foam Party is pretty exciting because this is a pretty active mission. All things considered, if you're heading out into the streets, getting ready to strike directly back against the cult that is trying to murder, brainwash, or possibly just going by some of their call lines, *nag* you back into serving them.

LAVANYA: So, what you'll be doing in this mission is - you'll be picking up phone canisters at the Maze's entrance. You need at least 10 for it to start into the next part of the mission, but you can gather pretty much a shit ton more, if you feel like just roaming around the level.

[00:09:09] You will take these foam canisters and you will damage the cult technology. Don't be like me. I literally spent three months, until Xaviul was kind enough to tell me to read the fucking mission, thinking that I was supposed to be disabling the proximity mines. No. You want to disable the mines that electrocute you.

[00:09:27] So, this is a normal variant. You formally deactivate every speed trap aboveground. There will be 10 total!

LAVANYA: There is a second variant, which is the Maze Foam Party, which is foaming or deactivating every speed mine underground. There are still 10! The only difference is the location.

LAVANYA: The maze is more dangerous, and because the maze is fuck-huge, it will take you a great deal longer.

ASTRO: The fourth DISRUPT type mission is titled "Get the Dampeners". The purpose of this mission is to disrupt the instrument, which keeps track of the player's sins and alerts the Shape.

ASTRO: The dampers are wooden cases that have been stuffed with pieces of blankets crafted by the kids. Handmade, and each one is perfectly formed to fit onto one string. The soft material will stop the strings from vibrating quite so fiercely, and it will change the sound of the instrument.

ASTRO: To complete this mission, your first task is to pick up dampers. Collectively, you only need to pick up four, but there are 12 scattered around the map. You will need to put these dampers on four different strings in the maze. They can be anywhere in the maze, in any room, and you may need to change the way you're positioned in order to reach certain places.

ASTRO: Completing this mission wipes away your sin up to that point, and will often cause the Shape to stop targeting players. If he doesn't go away immediately, he will soon. Sometimes, he just needs to shape someone before he goes. You know, it's his job.

ASTRO: He wants to feel fulfilled.

BELLAMY: Our last disruption oriented mission involves audio bugs. The purpose of this mission is to give kids a way to listen in on the adults. After all, we do have plenty of adults trying to snoop in on what the kids of Red Acre are doing, so it's about time that we get a chance to turn the tables on parental controls, and hopefully get some warning ahead of time if there is anything particularly nefarious getting plotted.

BELLAMY: To get your equipment for this mission, you'll be nabbing one of four boxes located on a delivery bike somewhere outside and above ground in town. These will be your audio bugs. You then take these listening devices and, ironically, very very quietly sneak into the targeted houses to install them in specific locations that the mission will point out to you. The caveat here is that the installation process for the bugs makes a lot of noise, so you want to make sure you'll be safe before starting installation.

BELLAMY: There's actually a couple of different tactics you can use for this!

BELLAMY: Firstly, you can scout the house first and tag the Resident Evil resident sleepers. Well, you know what I mean. Secondly, or if you're daring, even alternatively, you can have an escape plan ready to open a window nearby and get ready to book it across the rooftops before you get bodily tackled and sent off to the world's worst overnight camp.

ASTRO: More on this after a word from our sponsors.

We interrupt your regularly scheduled commercial break with a public service announcement.

Here in Red Acre, we are a lovely and close-knit community. However, we can at times feel slightly detached from the rest of the world. As a result, it is important to keep an eye out for our most vulnerable population: Our children.

Feelings of isolation, distant behavior, and even beginning to speak to “imaginary friends” can be signs that your loved ones need help.

CHORUS provides free counseling for any children experiencing symptoms like these.

Please, don’t hesitate to make the call to help your loved ones today.

BELLAMY: Our third mission type is STEAL. Because who doesn't love a good bit of petty theft, after all? Doesn't that stuff get wiped off your juvenile record?

ASTRO: I hope so.

BELLAMY: Now. Our first mission is pickpocketing evidence bags, because, you know, who doesn't want to pretend they're in Skyrim? The purpose of this mission is damage control. A previous Blackout Club mission went awry, and some chorus agent is carrying the evidence. You're here to retrieve it.

BELLAMY: Your goal in this mission is to retrieve the bag of Blackout Club evidence that a chorus agent is carrying. It's perfectly possible, and in fact, ideal to do this without ever alerting them to your presence.

BELLAMY: If you dot get noticed, however, you can still freely complete the mission. You'll just have to run very very quickly!

BELLAMY: There are actually two variants of this mission as well. The first variant is Sleepers Elite. This is the low level version that you'll get on levels 2 and 3 or so, where the chorus agent carrying your bag of evidence is an elite sleeper.

BELLAMY: This version is on the easier side, as sleepers are blind and will be unable to see you approach. Make sure to stay totally silent!

BELLAMY: Secondly, there's the regular version of this mission that you get once you're at higher levels in this variant. The evidence bag is being carried by a lucid dreamer. Even worse, the lucid is almost always down in the underground maze. You'll have to dive down and face the nightmare underground to the best of your clandestine abilities.

BELLAMY: Do your best to snatch the key evidence of your club's doings from a fully cognizant agent that can, and unless you're a master of stealth, probably will see you.

BELLAMY: Getting the bag from a lucid dreamer without being seen is pretty difficult. So, my best advice for this mission of area is to pack a candy bar for a swift escape and have your exit route in mind ahead of time.

ASTRO: The second seal type mission you'll encounter is "Carry the Torch!" The purpose of this mission is to retrieve cult tech and bring it home to study at the boxcar. Your objective is to get into the maze, retrieve an item called the First Fire, and carry it out of the maze and to the drop point without being apprehended.

ASTRO: If you lose the fire, another one will spawn on the table - but try not to lose it. The First Fire makes you highly visible to Lucids and the Shape. There is no off switch on this thing,and it glows brightly in a large radius around you. And lucids, as we all know, have perfect 2020 vision.

ASTRO: Really, the only hot tip about this mission is to take it and fucking go. There is nothing you can do to make this mission better for yourself. You can try to weave around corners, but that's about it. The faster you get it over with, the more grateful you'll be when it's done. If you should run into trouble while carrying the fire, pass the baton to a teammate! It is Baton shaped, after all.

ASTRO: You can call it a relay race, whatever makes you happy - but ultimately, the Blackout Club is a co-op game, and your teammates are there to support you.

LAVANYA: All right. So, now that we're done talking about stealing precious religious artifacts from innocent worshippers, just trying to live their own life, we are moving on to a different kind of mission!

LAVANYA: In which we are returning what may, or may not be, a priceless religious artifact.

LAVANYA: Because we're good people.

BELLAMY: And, to be clear in my opinion, which is otherwise known as categorically, this is the absolute worst and most difficult mission in the game, especially if you have to do it solo.

LAVANYA: Yes, see, that's wrong, but that's OK, because this is not the Song, and we do accept controversial and incorrect statements.

LAVANYA: This mission is called "TO CARRY A TUNE". It's one of the most interesting missions, in my opinion, in that we do get explicit lore with it. The screaming head is essentially -.

LAVANYA: Well, I guess, you could say that is not screaming, but if you look in your heart, it really is screaming -.

LAVANYA: The screaming head is actually releasing part of what the game refers to as the "Sleepwalker Song." You can kind of reach the conclusion that it is actually transmitting part of the Song above ground, which is fascinating!

LAVANYA: Our goal with this mission is to take it back underground. You take it off with an electric stand that they've usually set up by one of the house's - sometimes in the road - and then you take it back underground to a randomized location in the maze. It screams whenever you move. It attracts attention and it accumulates a fuck ton of sin.

LAVANYA: So the best method in which to handle this mission is, If you do not have unstoppable, you can actually throw the head. In early access, there was sometimes an issue where the head would become stuck if you did this. This is less of an issue now, but if it does become stuck then you can just go ahead and get a new one.

LAVANYA: Throwing the head gives you a certain amount of leeway. For example, if you're standing an instrument supply and you throw your head through the hole that leads to String Relay -

LAVANYA: You can make that throw. You may not make that throw, and you may regret everything, but you can make it, and the only way that you can guarantee that you'll make it is to try and try again.

ASTRO: And truly yeet the thing.

ASTRO: So, now that we've gotten through all of that, you may have noticed that we left out a few key missions. This is because we've categorized these missions as multipart missions.

ASTRO: These missions require a different kind of thinking and a different approach.

LAVANYA: The first of multi multipart missions is the Cryptograms. This is a real tight mission. Basically, the point of it is that the player characters discover that CHORUS is researching something interesting down in the maze in the Cryptogram Library, one of the largest rooms. What they are researching functionally appears to either be a very fucked up type of yoga, or else incredibly tepid dance moves.

LAVANYA: So, it's up for grabs on how hateful your feeling towards the cult on what decision you make here.

BELLAMY: Spoiler: it should probably be pretty hateful.

LAVANYA: Don't insult my religious background, Bellamy!

BELLAMY: Religious background suggests that you follow some sort of moral code, and I'm not sure that Simon says "OBEY" qualifies.

LAVANYA: As was confirmed by Speak-as-One themself, who does dictate a beautiful and extensive moral code to their followers, so go fuck yourself - the cryptograms are actually written forms of the Old Tongue.

LAVANYA: As we've mentioned before briefly, the Old Tongue is the original language of the Daimons. It cannot safely be spoken or used by humans, but, for whatever reason, Speak-as-One is just - you know - collecting information on endless cryptograms for them to stare at, I suppose.

ASTRO: When you spend half your life in a place as dreary as the Maze, I suppose anything will spice it up.

LAVANYA: The way this mission goes is that you will find the cryptograms in a random room in the Maze. This can be Dream Therapy, this can be Sleepers Lockers, this can be Cryptogram Library. Basically, the range of rooms that the crypto gamescryptograms can spawn in is pretty fucking far ranging.

LAVANYA: All three of them, however, will always be in the same room. The only exception to this is the Somniloqs, because technically, those aren't the same room they're just on opposite sides just like this.

LAVANYA: Once you get those, the mission can change slightly depending on what level you are. For low level characters, grabbing the cryptograms sometimes is all that you need to do, but as you gain levels in the game, you'll discover that the mission grows with you. Once you reach a higher level, the game will spawn a projector as the second part of the cryptographic mission.

LAVANYA: The rest of the mission is functionally the same, but you will now have additional objectives. You will get to put them into the projector, and record the slides that show up, and then escape from the mob that you've probably attracted around you - because when you film their projector, it will make noise.

LAVANYA: This will attract enemies and as with anything that causes that, it will attract the Shape.

ASTRO: Our next multipart mission begins with HIDE EVIDENCE.

ASTRO: We referred to this colloquially as the bird mission. It's a search type mission, and the purpose is to protect fellow club kids who are doing weird shit while they're possessed. Your task is to go to a specific house! Inside this house is a cutting board that has been desiccated with the blood and feathers of a dove.

ASTRO: Upon finding it, though, you will realize that the dove itself is missing. You will have to follow a trail of four to five bloodstains between the cutting board and the bird's corpse in another house or another location. Cleaning these bloodstains makes a lot of noise, but each one is bonus evidence. So, if you want a top tier clear, it's a good idea to pick up some kitchen cleaner on your way.

ASTRO: Our third multipart mission is the drone retrieval mission. Like the crypotograms, this is a steal type mission and in this case your club mate, Dax, has tried to steal some of the chorus codes documents by means of a drone. He was ultimately successful, but unfortunately, it's malfunctioned and dropped all of his ill gotten gains across town.

BELLAMY: Now it's up to you to do recovery, and this mission, you will be hunting around for a few things. First, you must search for and repair the crashed drone itself. It will often be found in a place that requires some climbing to get to, like a rooftop. When you find the drone, you need to initiate a slightly time consuming and loud repair, so be ready to run, or make sure there's nobody around it before you start.

BELLAMY: After you have the drone repaired, it will begin to fly and retrace its previously malfunctioning flight path.

ASTRO: At the time of its initial malfunction, it dropped several bonus papers and the all important chorus binder and you need to follow it to find and pick up all of the missing items. This part is pretty easy though: the papers can end up just about anywhere aboveground. On outside rooftops, the middle of the street, you name it.

BELLAMY: Watch out for adults and you should be fine.

ASTRO: The next multipart mission we've decided to call: "Find the Kid." There are three variants to this mission, and they change the objectives drastically. However, overall, this is a search type mission. The purpose is to rescue fellow club members.

ASTRO: The first variant of this mission is called "Untie the Kid". You will follow the marker to your objective underground. There will be a kid tied up in the maze. You have to untie this kid, as the name of the mission suggests. But after that, they can get themselves out just fine. Everyone in the club is very capable.

BELLAMY: The second vary on this mission is pretty similar to the first, with one very jarring difference. Now, you get told in this mission to find the missing person - in this mission, you follow the marker to your objective. But unlike in the last version, when you find your friend, they're already dead. Your job in this mission is to record the evidence and leave as quickly as you can.

ASTRO: The last variant of this mission is called "Follow the Trail", and it combines elements from both previous variance. Your mission object marker will take you to the start point of a trail.

ASTRO: At this location begins a trail of blood, which eventually leads down into the maze at the head of the trail. There are usually about three to four pieces of bonus evidence. The exception to this is Old Growth, at this time of recording. You will follow the trail of blood into the maze, wherever it leads, and at the end, you will either find one of your friends alive -.

ASTRO: - or one of your friends that you will dearly miss.

LAVANYA: So, something that's interesting to note here is that the game explicitly says that the lucid do not want to hurt the player characters in the guide that serves as the access to the tutorial.

LAVANYA: However, in the first part of the mission, when you are just looking to untie your kidnapped friends, it states that they are being interrogated, which is bad.

LAVANYA: In the "Find the Missing Person" mission, it states that "you just hope that you're in time: free them if so, record the crime if not.".

LAVANYA: Then, in the final part of the mission, where you are finding a dead child - you're dealing with a dead child. What we can get from this is that the Lucids may not want to hurt the player characters, but when they're interrogating them somehow, this interrogation does involve of risk enough of death that the Blackout Club children are heavily invested in reaching their friends in time - and when they can't reach their friends in time, it's shown that their concern is not hyperbolic, because that's when they're discovering that their friends have been killed.

LAVANYA: So, our next mission is the recording mission, which is a steal type mission - not actually a Pokemon reference.

LAVANYA: To backtrack slightly towards a previous topic, what's fascinating about the recording mission is that this is the first example of the Old Tongue that we see directly in play. This mission involves the children gathering some sort of electric boxes, placing them around a circle that they draw with chalk, and activating something on the boxes. When they do so, the symbol that they've drawn lights up and when they lure the sleeper - or Lucid - inside of it, they are trapped.

LAVANYA: They begin performing a symbol endlessly.

LAVANYA: What this mission is is that you set up the devices around the symbol and you lure an enemy within it - either lucid or sleepers, it doesn't really matter.

BELLAMY: It doesn't work in the Shape, but it has no sense of dance moves anyways, so that's OK.

LAVANYA: Once you get them inside, they will begin performing the gesture "CHASE THE SUN" endlessly on repeat until they are interrupted. As the sidebar notes, if you read it during the mission, sometimes the sleepers perform these even to the point of dying. The mission insinuates that this is the Old Tongue - but a conversation with Speak-as-One actually confirmed it. If you do not tackle the enemy after recording, they will remain kneeling for the rest of the game.

ASTRO: Extended tasks can be assisted. Examples are not limited to fixing the drone, cleaning blood and untying the kid - multiple people working on one extended task will help it go faster significantly.

ASTRO: Friendship is, again, the core of the Blackout Club. Without it, you get into a lot more trouble.

BELLAMY: Some additional notes and game etiquette that I alluded to earlier include trying to leave someone objectives for your teammates, if they want them. Most people do like to help, and they got the game because they wanted to play it - not because they wanted to watch other people play it. Communication is key, and this will also mean that you can finish the game faster, like we mentioned for missions such as the posters and yard signs.

BELLAMY: It also helps spread sin out a little bit more, so no player will get shaped immediately. And, like I mentioned earlier, the latest update allows you to drop quest items if you're ever in trouble. Take advantage of this, especially for items that attract a lot of attention or might have you spread out all around the map to complete your objectives.

BELLAMY: There may be more mission types in the future. If so, we'll try to make a follow up to this guide. But for now, this has been a guide to all of the missions currently in the Blackout Club.

ASTRO: Thank you to Eric Switzer from the gamer who gave us a shout out in one of his recent articles in the description for this episode.

ASTRO: We're leaving a link to his article entitled: "OK, What the hell is going on in the Blackout Club?" It's a great read, especially if you're new to the game, and it will introduce you to the bare basics of the lore, and also tell you how you can get more of it.

ASTRO: As a reminder, if you are new to the game, we have another resource to help you - which is our Blackout Club lexicon. That's a bit dot l y forward slash. Capitalized lexicon with the first letter capitalized. That link should be in our podcast description, and in every episode description, so take a look at it. It's a guide to player and game lingo to help you get acclimated.

LAVANYA: And before we go, Astro almost forgot the most important mission of all!

LAVANYA: The newest mission, just recently released by the development team, on the public test server, which is the steal type mission called "Recover the Shape Body Pillow --".

ASTRO: Lavanya, I love you, but I was trying to forget.

LAVANYA: You can never forget in the Song. You're welcome.

ASTRO:

Blackout Club is made by Question Games.

Our advertising director and host is Bellamy.

Our transcript and video is by Lavanya.

Audio editing is by me, Astro.

Xaviul was buried in Grant's tomb.

#the blackout club #podcasts #the dreaming prophet

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okreadyscenarios · 8 years

Text

Astro Ships: literal-ktrash

Hi Hi Nessa~. I'm not good at this but here I go~ hehehe. For ship request: I would say I'm an optimistic person, but if I'm in a bad mood I'm more of a realist. I enjoy all subjects, but my favorites are astronomy, physics, and anything having to do with writing/english. I'm a perfectionist with body-image issues (regarding myself) and am a bit too judgmental/critical of myself. I cry both when I'm sad and frustrated, and I'm a ball of emotions. I love cringey humor and puns, and I laugh a lot!

I wouldn't say I have a hard time making friends when I try, I just get lost in my own head when I'm in public and don't really approach people. I can't go anywhere without music, it's my lifeline (I basically only listen to KPop nowadays, but I used to listen to Pop and Hard Rock).

I really want to be an international english teacher, because I love learning other languages and understanding other cultures, and I believe english is the language that binds people around the world since it's used for business and the like~, so I believe it's important to learn at least some. I also love writing and have a love for poetry and novels - my dream is to write a poetry book in at least 3 languages one day.

I think anything is possible (even aliens! our universe is so big! how could they not be real?) and encourage people to dreams with all their hearts, so they can give their life their all! I care deeply for my friends and constantly worry about them, and I'm usually the "mom friend". I've been through depression and have relapses every now and then.

I know it sounds weird, but I can sense ghosts (O.O) - which is why I'm nervous around hospitals, I get all freaked out, my head hurts and my chest feels heavy when I'm in one. I'm also afraid of driving (which I'm working through now!). I believe people have lived many lives, that our souls get another chance to live if our past lives have been short or have been taken away from us too soon. I'm afraid of never finding love and ending up alone in my old age.

I also think everyone has soulmates - family, friends, and lovers, the people in your life are around you for a reason~ and maybe they've known you in another life! I'm a huge LGBTQ+ supporter. I'm not very religious, but I believe the only way to find god is through all religions - having the ability to see the world through as many people's eyes as possible, and understand those around us.

I think everyone deserves respect, from your grandmother to the local drug addict in jail, we're all just humans trying to figure out how to live ^-^. I love all animals (I actually spent like 10 minutes yesterday holding a lizard and calling him "friend"😂), but my favorites are dogs, cats, and horses. I've been a horseback rider for about 7 years and never get tired of it. I tried every sport under the sun in middle school, but never got the hang of basketball (I'm too short 0w0).

I used to get hit with the ball in soccer and volleyball, so I'm a bit scared of sports balls now. I'd rather be called cute/adorable than hot/sexy any day, and I melt when people give me pet names~. I want to learn to sing, dance, kick box, and pole dance (interesting combo, right?). I couldn't tell you what my favorite color is, I don't like discriminating against other colors (kekeke).

I also can't pin a favorite ice cream flavor, but I think eating ice cream with company makes it taste better (goes for any food honestly!). I want to travel a lot when I get older, taking pictures of scenery and cultures. I ADORE nature, and would choose the mountains over the beach any day! I love winter and I'm not a huge fan of the sun/heat. I'm a huge mommy's girl, she's my best friend and I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her~.

I blush easy and have never been in a relationship/on a date (^////^) so I'm quite innocent. My spirit animal is Stitch (since my birthday is 6/26 and he is Experiment 626!!) and I also just really love Stitch! I don't think I have an ideal type, but I want someone funny, who loves me for me ^^. Sorry if this was all over the place! I tried my best *hides my face* (I would like to apologize for how long this was~ hehehe ^\\\^)

((It’s quite alright, dear! ^u^ I tried to use as much info from your request as I could, but I was worried to make it too long;; I hope this is alright! <3))

I ship you with JinJin! <3

Explanation + Fluff:

OKAY LISTEN I KNOW WHAT YOU’RE THINKING;;

BUT IT’S NOT JUST BC HE’S YOUR BIAS >o<;;

you guys are just rly good at picking compatible biases??

but honestly JinJin’s perfect for you <3

he reminds you not to be so hard on yourself

and to love yourself, you know~?

you love him unconditionally and he does the same for you~

you two are a good balance for each other

bc JinJin’s rly optimistic too

but sometimes it can blind him a lil bit?

so you help him remember to see things realistically

and he helps you remember to look on the bright side of things

idk it’s just super cute~~ <33

the way you two actually meet is adorable

JinJin really wants to improve his English

since he’s the leader and he wants to be able to communicate with Aroha better and everything

so someone at fantagio hires you

and you’re like YES now I can teach English in Korea this is so cool omg

but PLOT TWIST

you’re teaching English to the members of Astro :D

OH BOy;;

everything’s going great~

but in your sessions with them JinJin just seems to not be getting it?

so you pull him aside after the lesson and ask him if he’s having trouble with anything

and he’s like no no it’s fine

and you don’t believe him for a second bc he’s acting rly weird

and then he just kind of blurts out

“do you wanna go out sometime?”

and you’re like O///O

and he’s like >///>

he starts rambling about how he kept daydreaming in class about going out with you and if you two actually go on a date then maybe he can concentrate

and you cut him off with a small “sure”

and he’s like “... uh, great!”

so he takes you out to a cafe

and you two have coffee and talk about life

and as you talk he just slowly falls for you even more

he thinks your views on life are really beautiful

after a while he offers to walk you home

and you let him

and it’s kind of silent as you’re walking

and then once you get to your place

he says to you (in English) “can we do this again?”

and you’re so surprised

like he said it so fluently

you’re like (in English) “of course we can”

and he smiles and kisses your cheek

and he’s like (in English) “see you tomorrow~”

aaaaand from that day on he does much better in lessons...

and you two kind of have a thing~ <3

alright now time for other cute stufffffff

ok but his sense of humor is right up your alley

like he will absolutely text you puns throughout the day

and cheesy pick-up lines

but he’s actually surprised that you seem to love it?

and text them back??

like i think in that moment he realizes you’re “the one”

he’s also super duper supportive of your writing

like he always says that someday he can’t wait to tell people he knew you before you were a bestselling author <3

don’t think this man won’t buy you a Stitch onesie bc he 100% will;;

or if not a onesie, then he’ll totally get you and himself matching Stitch key chains <3

and sometimes he’ll try and do aegyo by imitating Stitch...

it usually doesn’t go well;;;;

but you find it cute regardless~

bc everything he does is cute lbrh

will oftentimes ask to share earbuds with you

bc it lowkey makes him feel like you’re sharing a part of your mind with each other, you know?

he finds that to be a rly cool thing

and he loves your taste in music

whenever you're in public together he makes sure that you’re as comfortable as possible

whether it be talking to people for you, putting an arm around your waist or your shoulders, or taking a break somewhere secluded

your comfort and happiness is his no. 1 priority

he’s like your cuddly personal bodyguard <3

speaking of cuddly...

he loves wrapping you up in his arms

and resting his head on top of yours

kissing your forehead

he loves hugging you

and being the big spoon~

playing with your hair

and just spending time with you honestly <3

he’s always there to comfort you

whenever you’re sad or frustrated

he’s there with ice cream, hugs, and comfy sweaters~

I AM A FIRM BELIEVER THAT A HUG FROM ACTUAL TEDDY BEAR PARK JINWOO CAN CURE ANY SADNESS IN THE WORLD;;

he also loves it when you “mother” him

like telling him to bundle up or eat dinner

he rly needs a nurturing person like you in his life

and loves getting those reminders that you care~

STARGAZING DATES <3

just laying down together on a blanket spread on the grass

crickets chirping and owls hooting

pointing out different constellations

and you look over

and see him staring at you

so you’re like

“what?”

and he’s like

“nothing, you’re just so much more dazzling than the stars~”

and brushes your hair behind your ear

and you smack his arm and hide your face in his chest

bc HELLO?? >///<

but he just grins and hugs you

and even though it’s cheesy, you know he means it <3

he probably likes calling you silly things~~

like honey bun, cuddle muffin, ladybug, precious, sweet pea, etc...

he’s always told you that once he’s rich and famous, he’ll take you travelling anywhere you want to go

and eventually you do~

one of your destinations is Switzerland, and JinJin books a scenic tour of the Swiss Alps for you two

you two have been together for a while now

and he feels ready

so he bought a ring a few weeks ago

he’s been carrying it around since your world trip started, waiting for the right moment (and place) to do the thing

i’m sorry;; i just love travel proposals okay??? <3

and as you two hike along the trail, he looks over only to find that you’ve gone off the path

and are taking photos of this tiny cluster of purple flowers growing behind a small boulder

tucked away from the world

he comes over and admires your look of concentration while attempting to capture the small burst of beauty on the rocky trail

he thinks it’s just like you to find the good in an otherwise mundane setting

and he just smiles

and gets down on one knee right then and there

because he knows that he’s found his soulmate~ <333

This Astro Ship has the Nessa Seal of Approval ~ ☆

Ships now CLOSED <3

#astro #astro scenarios #astro ships #literal ktrash #phew~ i'm sry this took forever;; <3 #hope you enjoy!#you two would be so cute together tho <3 #i just <333 #the softest boyfriend #jinjin

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ecoorganic · 4 years

Text

Washington State’s Dallas Hobbs Created Graphic Calling for Players’ Union in Just 20 Minutes

“20 mins to save the world,” Dallas Hobbs tweeted.

It’s really happening

Anyone who went to bed before midnight Eastern last night woke up to a big surprise: College football players from the five major conferences want to form a union.

Last week, players from the Pac-12

threatened to boycott the 2020 season unless the conference agreed to a series of demands from the athletes. Over the weekend, another group of players (including Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence and many Ohio State Buckeyes) began tweeting in concert about their desire to play. It seemed like the two groups were at odds with each other—one attempting to use its leverage against the college football power structure, the other hoping to work with the people in charge and get this season underway.

Then came the flea-flicker.

The Pac-12 players’ #WeAreUnited movement and the other players’ #WeWantToPlay effort joined forces. Lawrence and Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields (who could easily go first and second in the 2021 NFL draft) dropped identical statements at 12:01 a.m. ET calling for a set of NCAA-wide policies to address the pandemic’s effect on college football. The aims are straightforward: to create universal health and safety protocols and allow players to opt out without sacrificing eligibility. And then there’s the big one: “Use our voices to establish open communication & trust between players and officials; ultimately create a College Football Players Association.”

This is huge. Football players at Northwestern previously tried and failed to unionize but now you have a much larger group engaged in the effort. College football can function without Northwestern. It can’t function without the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC. There’s a chance that 10 years from now we look back at 12:01 am on August 10, 2020 as the moment college football changed forever.

This is a player-led movement all the way through. Though Lawrence and Fields used their status as the top players in the game to bring attention and urgency to the effort, the strength of the movement lies in its numbers and its support from athletes at different levels.

Dallas Hobbs, a largely anonymous defensive lineman from Washington State played an equally significant role in getting the message out. Hobbs was tasked with creating the graphic design of the players’ statement—and he only had 20 minutes to do it.

Hobbs is a redshirt junior for the Cougars. He played in all of the team’s 13 games last season, starting seven, and had 5.5 tackles-for-loss, good for third on the team. He was also named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District 8 First Team after earning a 3.81 GPA as a Digital Technology and Culture major. He has Twitter and Instagram accounts just for showing off his artwork, including cool timelapse stuff like this:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by DH (@h0bbs.designs)

instagram

As of this writing, Hobbs only has 241 followers on Instagram and 909 on Twitter. If nothing else, his ability to turn that graphic around on short notice and with such great results is really good for him. He should have no trouble landing a great graphic design job once he graduates.

You really can’t be doing this

MLB made it crystal clear that clearing the benches this season is strictly prohibited, to limit unnecessary contact between players. And yet, the Astros have been involved in two bench-clearing incidents already.

Houston hitting coach Alex Cintrón appears to have been the instigator here. Cintrón reportedly insulted Ramón Laureano’s mother, causing Laureano to charge the dugout.

MLB dropped the hammer on Joe Kelly for his role in the first benches-clearing incident in Houston, suspending him eight games (13% of the whole season) but no one else was suspended.

If the league wants to prevent future incidents like these, it needs to make an example out of the Houston and Oakland players at the center of the brawl.

The best of SI

The Power 5 conferences are moving toward canceling fall sports. ... Collin Morikawa won his first major at just 23 and has a chance to become the next face of the PGA Tour. ... Devin Booker is enjoying a breakout performance in the NBA bubble.

Around the sports world

On the LPGA Tour, Lydia Ko blew a five-shot lead with six holes to play. ... The Indians sent home pitcher Zach Plesac for leaving the team hotel in Chicago to go out with friends. ... Cardinals employees infected during the team’s coronavirus outbreak have had to visit the emergency room, manager Mike Shildt says.

Nearly a Canseco

Rookie mistake

There’s nothing like watching Messi with the ball on a string

MadBum stinks now

That must be the grounds crew’s taxi squad

A hole in one has a different vibe when there aren’t any fans

The best part of not having any fans

The NHL is having a lot of fun with the empty arenas

Trash talk is on a different level in the bubble

Just your average 32-yard put

I got it, I got it, I got it...

Luka Doncic is a lot of fun

He doesn’t seem to mind

Not the best broadcast debut from Phil

The Lions told him to beat it

Not sports

A brewery in Canada inadvertently named a beer after the Maori word for pubic hair. ... Pollution turned half of a lagoon in Paraguay bright purple. ... Walmart is now selling Cheeto-flavored macaroni and cheese.

Nature is reclaiming New York City

Was it worth it?

View the original article to see embedded media.

A good song

youtube

Email [email protected] with any feedback or follow me on Twitter for approximately one half-decent baseball joke per week. Bookmark this page to see previous editions of Hot Clicks and find the newest edition every day. By popular request I’ve made a Spotify playlist of the music featured here. Visit our Extra Mustard page throughout each day for more offbeat sports stories.

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rickhorrow · 6 years

Text

10 TO WATCH/5 SPORTS TECH/POWER OF SPORTS: Mayors Edition OCTOBER 1

with Tanner Simkins

As America’s political discourse marks its ugliest, most combative moments in our modern history, MLB is once again working with ESPN on its Shred Hate bullying prevention campaign. According to SportsBusiness Daily, the league has enlisted many of the sport’s biggest stars for a pair of new postseason PSAs. One spot highlights last year’s World Series MVP George Springer, a victim of childhood bullying due to his stuttering long before he joined the Astros. A second spot features stars Mike Trout, Mookie Betts, Javier Baez, Justin Verlander, Aaron Judge, Francisco Lindor, Nolan Arenado, and Sean Doolittle. The spots also coincide with October being National Bullying Prevention Month. The PSAs will run throughout the month on multiple ESPN and MLB platforms. “We’ve seen good progress with this initiative thus far, but we knew that utilizing players like this was where we could really elevate this program’s potential,” said MLB VP and Special Assistant to the Commissioner Billy Bean. “This is a really important message, something that’s very personal for me, and the players have done a great job lending their voices to it and giving power to that message.”

As baseball’s best prepare for the pennant races, the sport’s minor leagues are making fun plans. Minor League Baseball has announced an expanded roster of 72 teams that will participate in its “Copa de la Diversión,” or “Fun Cup,” a season-long event series in 2019. The cornerstone of MiLB's U.S. Hispanic/Latino fan engagement initiative, "Copa de la Diversión" established an innovative new platform connecting MiLB teams with their diverse communities, embracing the culture and values that resonate most with Hispanics and Latinos nationwide. From adopting culturally-relevant on-field personas – such as the Albuquerque Isotopes transforming into the "Mariachis de Nuevo México," – to integrating more local flavor into game day experiences, the 33 teams that dedicated 167 games as "Copa de la Diversión"-designated events reported a 12.6% attendance increase compared to similar game dates in 2017. Retail sales of “Copa”-specific licensed merchandise via MiLB ballparks’ team stores and MiLB teams’ online stores far exceeded participating teams’ preseason goals, with sales projected to be more than 500% higher than pre-campaign estimates. MiLB will report final "Copa de la Diversión" results at the Baseball Winter Meetings in Las Vegas this December.

When it comes to the booming market of corporate sponsorships for sports in North America, companies are looking past ROI to justify a potential investment. According to JohnWallStreet and the World Advertising Research Center (WARC), companies will spend a whopping $65.8 billion (+4.9% YoY, $24.2 billion spent in North America) on sponsorship deals this year — most of them coming from sports — though research revealed that merely 19% of the 500 corporate sponsorship executives surveyed indicated that they had a way to measure returns on their sponsorship investments. Of those interviewed, 73% said that brand awareness, not ROI, was the main point of a sponsorship. Apart from the 19% that calculate ROI, 37% of the executives are monitoring the sponsorship’s impact, “often with a form of digital or social media analysis.” One name that consistently remains one of the most visible brands in sports sponsorship in Anheuser-Busch, a company that has begun using “incentive-laden contracts, as opposed to signing long-term pacts with fixed fees, for its pro sports partnerships."

Houston Rockets Owner Tillman Fertitta is poised not to let high luxury taxes stop him from building a championship team. According to the Houston Chronicle, the Rockets will enter the new NBA season with the club’s highest payroll in franchise history — roughly $143 million. In buying the club back in 2017 for $2.2 billion Fertitta showed off his deeps pockets, but excessive spending on players without winning a championship is not a viable business plan due to the "punitive nature of the NBA's rules for teams repeatedly paying luxury taxes.” “We're in it a lot this year,” said Fertitta of the luxury tax. “It's a horrible hindrance. It's just brutal. You can take $5 million and look up and it cost you $20 million.” Under league rules, teams that have been in the luxury tax for three out of four years are put in the repeater tax, resulting in heavy fines to be paid. At the same time, the businessman stated that he is committed to winning above anything and that he is “not going to let five or 10 or 15 or 20 million dollars make the difference.”

Seattle continues its push to secure an NHL franchise after the city council unanimously approved of a $700 million renovation of KeyArena. According to JohnWallStreet, the iconic arena’s redevelopment is expected to begin within the next 60 days with the hope of having it completed in time for the 2020-2021 season. The David Bonderman/Jerry Bruckheimer Group still has to present the city’s formal bid to become the NHL’s 32nd franchise; approval is expected from the league’s executive committee on October 2, but a formal vote will not come before December. Despite not yet being formally announced, the city is eagerly waiting for hockey in the Pacific Northwest. The David Bonderman/Jerry Bruckheimer Group received more than 33,000 deposits (at $500 or $1,000) for season ticket packages the day they went on sale. As the largest U.S. market without a winter pro sports franchise, Seattle seems poised to finally get a hockey team.

Colin Kaepernick is the face of Nike’s new “Just Do It” advertising campaign, but he was almost dropped by the company last summer following a huge internal debate. According to the New York Times, Kaepernick’s political activism and protesting has made him a controversial topic in the professional football and for affiliated sponsors. After discussing whether or not to drop the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback, “Nike concluded that backing Kaepernick made good business sense despite the risk of angering the NFL.” Nike Executive Vice President & Chief Communications Officer Nigel Powell was in favor of keeping Kaepernick on the payroll, convincing employees that the company would receive more backlash if it was seen as “siding with the NFL rather than Kaepernick.” Not only did Nike elect to resign him, but they chose to make his face the center of its anniversary marketing campaign.

The FA has agreed to terms on a deal to sell Wembley Stadium in London to Jacksonville Jaguars Owner Shahid Khan. According to the Financial Times, the sale will go for $790 million, though it is still subject to a “critical vote” within the country’s soccer governing body. FA CEO Martin Glenn and Chair Greg Clarke "are seeking unanimity from the board to proceed." But a minority representing the amateur game "are yet to indicate their support," according to people close to the talks. The FA is trying to take emotion out of the equation and make this a true business decision, as some important figures with voting rights have “may be voting with pure emotion.” Limitations have been imposed on the transaction to help preserve Wembley’s magic, such as restricting Khan from renaming the stadium or adding a corporate title sponsor. The FA will also hold certain buy-back rights and will have the power to veto any sponsor associated with the stadium.

Twitch is banned by the Chinese government. According to John Wall Street, the San Francisco based social video game platform was exiled late last month after the August Asian Games led to a download rate 23 times higher than normal for the app. This high download count was due to the esports competition not being broadcast on either state television or domestic gaming live streaming platforms. In the weeks following the ban, the Chinese government removed the service from the Chinese Apple App store and access to the company’s website has been blocked on the mainland. Twitch still heavily underperformed other Chinese domestic social video game competitors such as Douyu, YY, and Huya, all of which have tens of millions of active monthly users. The main assumption for these restrictions on Twitch is that Chinese authorities are unable to control the chat function within the service. Foreign media companies will continue to push the boundaries in China – meanwhile, this ban eliminates a massive Chinese gaming market for Twitch.

ESPN’s new sports business show “The Boardroom” will partner with Kevin Durant’s Thirty Five Media. The show will air on ESPN+, the company's April-debuted streaming service, and will be hosted by ESPN’s Jay Williams. According to Deadline, the six-episode series features Jordan Schultz as a correspondent and will become one of the many pieces in ESPN+ lineup which has already attracted more than one million subscribers. The show’s goal is to bring fans behind the scenes of the modern business office and showcase the evolution of sports business through the minds of athletes, sports executives and tech moguls. The Golden State Warrior star and his business partner, Rich Kleiman, will also make regular appearances and serve as the show’s executive producers. Durant has established himself as someone who can play on the court, however the next step in growing his business profile off the court will start by running “The Boardroom.”

Grand Prix of Sonoma Verizon IndyCar Series weekend raises more than $76,000. According to the Argus-Courier, the fundraising at the IndyCar event-filled weekend raised money for the Sonoma Chapter of Speedway Children’s Charities which has distributed more than $6 million to its nonprofit groups since 2001. The INDYCAR Grand Prix Salute kicked off the Verizon IndyCar Series Championship weekend at Andretti Winery in Napa with the Michael Andretti Foundation partnering to host the event. The evening included a star-studded lineup with a question-and-answer session featuring Andretti Autosport drivers Ryan Hunter-Reay, 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner Alexander Rossi, Rossi’s teammates Patricio O’Ward and Zach Veach – sponsored by Group1001 – and three generations of Andrettis: Mario, Michael, and Marco. The weekend totaled more than $60,000 for SCC and the next event will be the 15th annual Classic Sports Racing Group Charity Challenge October 5-7. Over the past 14 years, CSRG has donated $910,000 to SCC through the Charity Challenge race weekend.

#10 #10towatch

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whatthekpopofficial · 6 years

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WTK REVIEW: 88rising's "Head In The Clouds" Festival Takes Music Experience To New Heights

Last weekend, the 88rising festival "Head in the Clouds" was held in Los Angeles to great success! The September 22nd festival kicked off with a bang at the Los Angeles State Historic Park where you could get everything from drinks to merchandise or just sit on the lawn listening to music. If you had a VIP ticket, there were comfortable and stylish couches to sit on and relax. The added benefit of this section was how roomy it was when more people gathered at the stage as the night went on. During the one-day event, you could hear everything from hip-hop to trap at the event. Other than English, the languages you could hear through the night included Korean, Japanese, and Chinese! Introductions and talks before a new song were where you could truly get to know the flavorful and upbeat personalities of all the artists as well. Some foreign artists like Korea's own Zion.T were quite adorable when communicating with fans in English. As expected, phones were out as fans sang along to hit songs like "No Make Up." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqcte1r3aiQ Tackling a different style of music, Dumbfoundead pumped up the audience with dynamic songs where the rap was too good to not raise your hands to. "Cochino" was a favorite particular, though really any of his songs could be a favorite with how creative the lyrics are. KOHH wowed the audience as arguably the biggest Japanese rapper right now. I became a new fan hearing how fresh his music was. Being the only female artist at the show, Niki knew how to pull out her charisma and you could hear the proof in the reactions of her fans. Their love for her would have brought a smile to your face as it did to mine. Niki's passion for performance was also something to note as well! Joji and headliner Rich Brian were some of the last performers of the night, and you could hear their names chanted all over the pit. "Head in the Clouds" was a crowd favorite and, without question, something you need to hear. It was just beautiful seeing the support Joji had from so many people. Darker songs like "Demons" were played, along with a surprise appearance by the immense, red, furry monster from the music video. What I found was a lot of the fans relate to Joji's deep concepts behind his songs as well. "Glow Like That" and "Cold" from Rich Brian brought in a party for sure, but seeing him perform "History" for the first time ever was truly life changing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPSoNx1gyQ4 The festival ended up with collaboration performances like "Midsummer Madness," giving everyone a feel-good vibe of the friendship between all the artists. There were so many incredible artists that one simple review can't begin to cover them all and explain their performances. However, some of the other artists who performed were Diablo, Don Krez, Yung Pinch, Sen Morimoto, August 08, Laff Trax, Higher Brothers, Keith Ape, and Murda Beatz. Overall, the festival was an amazing way to discover new music and artists, as well as to enjoy and dance along to the songs you already knew. Thank you 88rising for inviting us to the event! Make sure to check out a few of our photos below! You can click on an image to enlarge the photo, then scroll through the gallery for easy viewing. Sarah (sapphir3bluu) is a writer for WTK from Las Vegas and fond of cats, k-pop, and singing. She enjoys learning new languages and is manager of Super Junior fanbase, WorldwideELFs, but has also done subbing work for EXO. If you don’t find her being slowly consumed by BTS, GOT7, NCT, and ASTRO, she is aspiring to go to graduate school and work in the health care field. Read the full article

#88rising #august08 #diablo #donkrez #Dumbfoundead #HeadintheClouds #HigherBrothers #Joji #KeithApe #kohh #lafftrax #murdabeatz #musicfestival #niki #RichBrian #senmorimoto #yungpinch #zion.t

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ntrending · 6 years

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NASA is learning the best way to grow food in space

New Post has been published on https://nexcraft.co/nasa-is-learning-the-best-way-to-grow-food-in-space/

NASA is learning the best way to grow food in space

“Our plants aren’t looking too good,” astronaut Scott Kelly tweeted from the International Space Station on December 27, 2015. He was right: The attached picture showed four baby zinnias bathed in magenta light. Three of the four leafy stalks were discolored and curling in on themselves. The station’s garden was struggling to recover from a mold problem. It’s an issue familiar to terrestrial gardeners. And while on Earth, the problem means a trip to the local nursery for replacements, in space you can’t do that.

The zinnias, brightly colored flowers in the daisy family, were part of an experiment called Veggie, whose ultimate mission is to provide crews with a long-term source of food. In prior tests, astronauts had successfully harvested lettuce. The zinnias had a longer growth period—60 to 80 days—and then would bloom, producing neon-hued blossoms that look like they belong in a psychedelic corsage. They were practice for something finickier and tastier than leafy greens: tomatoes. If station crews were ever going to grow something that intricate, they needed to figure out—among other things— how to vanquish mold.

Veggie is a relatively uncomplicated way for astronauts to develop their green thumbs. “It’s a very simple system,” says Gioia Massa, one of the project’s lead scientists. “It doesn’t control much at all.” Instead, the humans do.

Space gardening will be essential someday if space travelers are to go beyond low-Earth orbit or make more than a quick trip to the moon. They can’t carry on all the food they need, and the rations they do bring will lose nutrients. So astronauts will need a replenishable stash, with extra vitamins. They’ll also require ways to make more oxygen, recycle waste, and help them not miss home so much. Space gardens can, theoretically, help accomplish all of that.

Veggie and other systems aboard the space station are helping researchers figure out how radiation and lack of gravity affect plants, how much water is Goldilocks-good, and how to deal with deplorables like mold. Just as important, scientists are learning how much work astronauts have to put in, how much work they want to put in, and how plants nourish their brains as well as their bodies.

For all its potential importance, Veggie is pretty compact. It weighs 41 pounds, just a hair less than the station’s 44-pound coffeemaker. The top—an off-white rectangular box that houses the grow lights—resembles an old VCR. From this, a curtain of clear plastic hangs to encase the 1.7-square-foot planting surface. Astronauts preset how long the lights stay on each day; how brightly they emit red light to optimize photosynthesis, and blue light to control the plants’ form and function. They can also activate a built-in fan to adjust the humidity.

The most important part of Veggie, though, is the fragile bounty it is meant to cultivate. That begins as seeds encased in little Teflon-coated Kevlar pouches. The scientists call them plant pillows. “You can think of it like a grow bag,” Massa says of these packets stuffed with seeds, water wicks, fertilizer, and soil.

People have anticipated this scenario for more than a century. In 1880, science-fiction author Percy Greg wrote Across the Zodiac, a novel about an astronaut who traveled to Mars with plants to recycle waste. Fifteen years later, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, a Russian rocket scientist, wrote Dreams of Earth and Sky, which laid out how space farers and flora could live together inside a closed system.

In the 1950s, green things burst from book covers and into the lab. NASA and the U.S. Air Force started growing algae to see if it could help with life support (turns out, it tasted bad, was full of indigestible cell walls, and had too much protein). Then, Soviet scientists experimented with nearly self-sufficient ecosystems in which humans survived on oxygen, water, and nutrition produced mostly within an enclosed habitat. In the longest run, a 180-day trial inside a facility called BIOS-3, an earthbound crew got 80 percent of its food from its own wheat and vegetables. Finally, in 1982, plants in space became a reality when Soviet cosmonauts grew Arabidopsis thaliana, a flowering species related to cabbage and mustard, to maturity aboard their Salyut 7 space station. The yield was too small to be a source of food.

Around this time, in the mid-’80s, Veggie’s Massa was in middle school, and her seventh-grade teacher returned from an astroagriculture workshop at Kennedy Space Center with reams of information on the topic. Inspired, a teenage Massa kept taking ag classes as she moved on to high school, and later teamed up with her middle-school mentor for a hydroponics project.

While Massa continued her studies and self-guided experimentation, NASA began building orbital plant-growing apparatus, most notably the Biomass Production System. Designed to be used for experiments on the space station, it was a rectangle with sides each about the length of an arm. Four cube-shaped growth chambers rested like safes inside. Designed by scientists at a Wisconsin-based company, Orbitec, the Biomass Production System joined the space station in 2001. There, Brassica rapa field mustard soon sprouted tall, illuminated by plain white fluorescent light.

When researchers compared the harvest to a control plant on the ground, though, they found that the space mustard had more bacteria and fungus. “The significance of the difference is uncertain,” states NASA’s official conclusion. By which the agency meant it didn’t know why the microbes proliferated, not that their presence wasn’t important. In fact, as Veggie’s mold would show, it was critically important.

NASA retired the Biomass Production System in 2002, but Russian cosmonauts picked up where the U.S. left off. Over the decade, they successfully grew dwarf wheat, leafy mizuna, and dwarf peas. Bonus: In four successive generations of orbiting dwarf peas, the vegetables didn’t show signs of genetic messiness.

Meanwhile Orbitec, in consultation with NASA, cultivated another plant-growing instrument. So when NASA awarded a grant in 2012 for a new space garden, the company had something to show for itself: Veggie, which, unlike its predecessor, was meant to produce food on an edible scale. Massa, by then a postdoc, tested different types of media and crops for the plant pillows. It was the kind of tinkering she’d been preparing for since she was 12. The United States’ first real space garden launched in 2014, not long after Massa advanced from her postdoc to become a Veggie project scientist at the space agency.

All went pretty well for Veggie until the flower flap. Most of its initial edible plants—a lettuce variety called Outredgeous—sprouted as they should have in 2014, and the astronauts shot them back down to Earth for testing. Massa says they’re still working on all the analyses. “But in general, the plants are pretty similar to our ground samples.” When they’re finished, they’ll know about chemical contents like antioxidants, anthocyanin (pigments), and phenolics, which protect plants against stress. Short term, the priority was mealtime: Could we have consumed the harvest? The crew, Massa, and NASA all wanted to know. Yes, it turned out, the produce was microbially safe to eat.

Still, when the astronauts planted a second set of seeds, in summer 2015, Massa ran into a new challenge: With harvest approaching, NASA had no protocol to approve the crew chowing down on the leaves of their labor. “We said, ‘We have only 28 days, and then they’re going to have to eat it,’” Massa recalls. With the clock ticking, management found a way to officially add the lettuce to the astronauts’ diet.

On August 9, Kelly snapped a picture, standing in front of the unfurling greens. His brow was furrowed, faux serious. “Tomorrow we’ll eat the anticipated veggie harvest on @space_station!” he tweeted. “But first, lettuce take a #selfie.” Soon he crunched the harvest live on NASA TV. It might seem like no big deal, but a single leaf can make a big difference to someone who’s been eating rehydrated fare for months. During a later harvest, astronaut Peggy Whitson would use them to wrap a reconstituted lobster salad. “Even with a really good diet with hundreds of items, there’s dietary fatigue,” Massa says. “People get bored. Adding a new flavor or texture—like something crisp and juicy—could spice up your regular meal.”

That’s not the only brain boost. Sure, astronauts can gaze down at Earth and see its most beautiful spots—literally all of them—every 90 minutes. But those places are always out of reach, reminders of how far away sea level is. Having something nearby that photosynthesizes might cheer the crew. “It’s the psychological aspect of something green and growing when you’re far away from home,” Massa says.

In the next growing cycle, the astronauts fostered the ill-fated zinnias. About two weeks in, Kjell Lindgren saw the first warning signs. Water leaked from the wicks that hold the seeds. Then moisture began seeping from the infant leaves, which started to curl in on themselves. Veggie staff on the ground, in charge of the operation, decided it was time to turn the airflow fan from low to high. But an impromptu spacewalk to fix a broken robotic arm delayed the change because, in space, nothing is as simple as flicking a switch on your way out of the spaceship. While reprogramming Veggie’s settings takes only about 15 minutes, NASA prefers astronauts move anything lower priority out of the way when they have a high-priority task.

And then the leaves started to die.

That’s bad enough on its own. But, worse, dying vegetation can be a breeding ground for mold, which had somehow come to space with the astronauts and cargo. Soon, menacing white fuzz began choking the plants.

By this time, Lindgren had returned to Earth, and Kelly had taken over the garden. On December 22, with instructions from ground control, Kelly snipped away the moldy parts like bad spots from a piece of cheese, and swabbed the remaining zinnias and equipment with cleaning wipes. He left the fans on high to help dehydrate the setup.

It was a good try but not without a cost: It made the plants thirsty. Kelly relayed that to ground control and asked to water them. Sergeants who were set on sticking to the drill told Kelly it wasn’t time yet. Not till December 27. “You know, I think if we’re going to Mars, and we were growing stuff, we would be responsible for deciding when the stuff needed water,” Kelly told them, according to NASA’s write-up of the event.

Eventually, they gave autonomy to the person who was actually next to the plants, along with one page of instructions called “The Zinnia Care Guide for the On-Orbit Gardener.”

Under the On-Orbit Gardener’s thumb, half of the zinnias revived, unfurling and growing green. NASA spun the whole thing as a positive: They now knew that crops could survive floods, drought, and disease, and that excising the problem plants and cleaning the remainder could keep the fungus from taking over.

Kelly loved the now-flourishing flowers and carried their container all over the space station for photo shoots, like those people who snap shots of themselves in Hard Rock T-shirts all over the world. “He asked if he could harvest them on Valentine’s Day,” Massa says. He’d been in space, away from everyone except his smelly crew mates for more than 300 days. NASA let him make the bouquet.

It was one of Massa’s favorite moments. “We had been a part of something that gave him pleasure,” she says.

In upcoming Veggie experiments, scientists will learn more about that part of gardening—the mental part. “We’ve heard a lot anecdotally,” Massa says, “but we’ve never been able to collect data.” They’ll also investigate how much farming crewmembers actually want to do, how much is fun versus how much is a chore, how their sense of taste changes in orbit, and which plants can survive human error (no offense, astronauts).

Veggie’s experiments will continue in tandem with those of a brand-new Type-A companion, the Advanced Plant Habitat, an 18-inch-square self-sufficient laboratory with more than 180 sensors and automated watering. Scientists can establish their variables and thus nail down the specific conditions that cultivate plants—and how those plants can cultivate humans. A temperature-control system keeps the air within 0.5°C of the thermostat setting. Sensors relay data about air temperature, light, moisture, and oxygen levels back to base. While the Advanced Plant Habitat will quantify the circumstances for successful gardening, Veggie will help qualify how—and why—humans can facilitate their own food supply. In other words, through the habitat’s tight controls, researchers can learn how to grow which plants best. Then, using those parameters, they can set up a system like Veggie that astronauts get to interact with.

Astronauts assembled the habitat over six hours in October 2017, after it rumbled into space in two shipments. The automated contraption looks like a microwave that could survive… being shot into space. Wires stream from here to there and there to here on a control panel. Red indicator lights blink next to toggle switches. And inside the plant chamber, LEDs beam from the ceiling, illuminating the plants below with concert-stage color combinations. It has red, green, and blue lights like Veggie—plus white, near-, and far-infrared ones.

Robert Richter, director of environmental systems at Sierra Nevada, which acquired Orbitec in 2014, monitored its progress from the earthbound Space Station Processing Facility. He’d helped design and build the new lab, as well as Veggie and Biomass. When he started in the field, almost 20 years ago, he was a bit naive. “I thought, How hard is it to grow plants?”

He’s partly joking, of course—and he knows, now, that when you’re trying to keep the humidity level within 3 percent of a given number, when you must make and measure light and moisture, and when you maintain the temperature to a fraction of a degree, there’s a long row to hoe between growing some basil in a cup and farming lettuce in space.

The team powered up the unit in November 2017. And by February this year, test crops of Arabidopsis thaliana and dwarf wheat sprouted. Soon, they’ll begin experiments like investigating plants’ DNA and physiological changes. A lot of the previous plant research has been focused on whether things would grow at all, says Robert Morrow, Sierra Nevada’s principal scientist. Will they reproduce from generation to generation? And are they as productive in space as on the ground?

Yes, he says. Scientists are beyond those basics now. They need to dig into the dirtier details and more-complicated ecosystems. Astronauts, for instance, exhale carbon dioxide that plants can inhale. The plants then exhale oxygen, which humans can inhale. Human waste can become plant fertilizer and hydration. Nothing wasted, everything gained.

Ultimately, Morrow believes, a garden on a deep-space mission will be more like Veggie than like the Advanced Space Habitat. “It’s really not practical to put all the stuff you have in APH in a system like that,” he says. With so many sensors and tubes, lots can go mechanically wrong, and it’s easier to repair a Veggie than an APH. For now, scientists need APH to home in on optimal guidelines for plant growth and understand how leaving the planet changes them so they can instruct future astronauts how to better manage Veggie-esque systems.

Looking toward the future, Massa is interested in observing astronaut interactions with the instruments. “Do you always want to pick your ripe tomatoes, but maybe you don’t want to have to water them every other day?” she wonders. She’ll have a chance to find out because Veggie will grow its first dwarf tomatoes, a variety called Red Robin, early next year.

Other nations continue to experiment too. China, for instance, intends to send silkworms and potato seeds to the moon this year aboard its Chang’e-4 spacecraft. When the silkworms hatch, they’ll create carbon dioxide, which the potato plants will suck up and turn into oxygen, which the silkworms will then take up.

All this research doesn’t just help people above the atmosphere. Creating self-contained growth systems might help farmers on Earth grow crops year-round or foster plants with extra protein and high yield. Someday, the work will lead to gardening systems substantial—and stable—enough to support space journeyers. Then, those travelers can wrap anything they want in lettuce and crunch their way through the cosmos.

Contributing editor Sarah Scoles is the author of Making Contact: Jill Tartar and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.

This article was originally published in the Summer 2018 Life/Death issue of Popular Science.

Written By Sarah Scoles

#Technology

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