#galactic cannibalism meaning

[foxxology]

Can you please translate the galactic (?) text in the panel where Grian is shown cannibalizing Ren?

do you mean this anon?

that's their UUIDs! like, ren and grian's irl UUID just overlayed over top of each other! no translation, just user number id :)

in comparison, heres how it would normally look like!

[rinbowaman]

S E 7 E N : L E V I A T H A N P A R T 2 W O

Warnings: oral sex (female receiving), reptilian features during oral sex, intimidation, use of force, mentions of torture, death, rape, and cannibalism, murder, insulting religion, characters going against God…I think that’s it.

You awoke in what seemed like an hour or two afterwards. You were no longer in your bath tub as you were beforehand, instead, you were dried and nicely wrapped up in your bed, still nude. 

You propped yourself up looking around. That’s when he entered, fully clothed in all black, just like his brothers before him. 

“Heeeeeey…princessssss.” He walks over as he leans in and kisses your forehead. 

Cradling your face, he looks at you lovingly, despite his snake eyes looking deadly as ever. 

“You had a good nap?” He leans in once more and kisses your cheek. He was so very affectionate, possibly a tad bit more than Jay, Jungwon, and Sunoo. 

“Y-yes….I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to fall asleep…” you responded with as he takes in the formality of your polite attitude. 

“And she’s so polite…” he smirks out teasingly. 

“You’re his through and through. So strange…it’s almost as if you were made for him.” 

You slightly raise your eyes to meet his gaze.

“You’re talking about Helel?” You asked. 

Chucking with a smirk as he bites down his bottom lip, he responds. 

“Heh…yeah…I’m talking about Helel.” 

You were just a tad bit shocked, it was the first time you heard any one of his brothers refer to him using his real name. Something in your gut feeling told you that Helel shared a close bond with all his brothers, but the bond he shared with Jake might have been just a bit closer or stronger as you noted Jake's lack of formality and causal comfortability in regards to the eldest sibling.

“You and Helel are pretty close?” you asked.

“Yeah. Heheheh. He’s a good brother to all of us, and for some reason…he always confided in me whenever he needed to…” 

His mind replays a flashback to a moment nearly seven thousands years ago as the conversation between Heeseung and himself occurred…

…………….

“Heeseung…how are you feeling?”

“………….”

Sighing, Jake walks up to his elder brother, noting how he merely stood with his arms crossed, gazing out into the wide open. Jake notes the new growth of red roses that was beginning to cover the vast lands all around Heeseung’s region, a completely different setting from the flesh and bloodstains that decorated it beforehand. 

Not a single piece of structure, mountain or stone stood to obstruct the beauty of the vivid red coating that was carpeting the entire ground. An ocean of red.

The glow of the red blooms bounced off the black sky. Afar up in the galactic view, Heeseung stares at the Earth, silently. 

Coming up, shoulder to shoulder, Jake stands as he rests a hand atop the taller sibling. 

“What was it?…that you saw?….must have been important for you to have a change of heart.” Jake inquired. 

Heeseung remained silent as his gaze never breaks from the view of the planetary sphere up in the high sky, contrasting from the pitch darkness that surrounded it, marked with a series of star systems, galaxies, and meteorite showers that coated the entire sky above his territory.

Further over to the side, glowing against the roses, was the full moon with its brightening essence, appearing at full magnitude as it looked so much closer, rising up from the horizon of the red fields. It looked as if you could walk right up to it, no where near as high up like it was from the earth. 

Dressed all in black, with a light and lengthy coat that reached his mid thighs, he resembled the fine image of his many titles, one of which he was notorious for, the Prince of Darkness. 

His hair, much like always, was at his natural state, all black. It remained rather lengthy and wispy as it slightly grazed passed the helix of his ears and narrowed in greater length towards the nape of his neck. The center of his forehead was always slightly exposed as the parting of the strands peered away from each other at the center. 

Yet, unbeknownst to his brothers, he would opt to wear it differently whenever he went to visit the mortal realms of earth, which didn’t happen frequently, but when it did, he’d adorn a silver ash color paired with a suave side combover, the length was not as grown out and it was presented a much neater, clean cut style. 

Yet, despite alternating in between hair colors, one thing remained unchanged, and that was the lace mask he had started to wear shortly after his behavior began to change. 

Noting how he wore the mask over his eyes without ever taking it off, Jake addressed the question. 

“What’s with the mask?”

“…..it helps me sleep….”

Jake looked someone confused as he smiled out. “Sleep?” He chuckles slightly. “We don’t need sleep…”

“……we do…..if we want to dream…”

Jake’s smile slowly disappears as he expresses a look of concern for the elder. What exactly happened to him, to where he had transition within seconds? 

One moment he was the raging demon that waged war against God…the next he was a tamed beast….so melancholy and pensive. 

“So that’s why you’ve been sleeping…you’ve been living in a dream…I’ve never seen you bother with it but all it seems that you do is sleep.” Jake remarks. 

It was true, even while sitting on his throne, his leg casually and loosely crossed as he rested an elbow on the arm of the seat, leaning his face against it, resting his chin as the mask remained on his face at all times, no one could tell if the King was asleep or awake. The lace mask hovering his black eyes made it hard to tell. 

Still, despite the ruthless nature of the Master of Hell, all had seemingly changed as he no longer walked around with the sadistic and sinister grin, chuckling lowly. 

He would carry out his traditional habit of dragging chopped limbs, or appearing graceful and gliding his way around, yet would slash, rip, or burn anything that breached his direction as he migrated through the plains of his region. 

But now….

He hardly roamed…when he did, he was not at all violent and eager to slaughter anyone, he was quiet, the sadistic grins and chuckles also disappeared. While on his throne, if appeared to be asleep, no one dared to grow careless when displaying their sign of respect to the fallen archangel turned Prince of Hell, given his history for brutally destroying flesh.

and yet.....

He no longer dawned a twisted expression that nightmares were made of. The twisted and killer smile, accompanied by the blood that dripped down from his lip, all from the bite of his evil grin that he permanently displayed as he ordered and watched  his army of demons take and ravish each other at his order. Taking delight as he watched them devour each other, amongst other horrid offenses such as rape and tearing each other limb from limb. It was all blood and carnage due to their instant obedience to his authority. 

The screams of their high pitch roars and begs for mercy echo out as they beseech him. 

As he sit atop his throne, his legs widely spread apart, he’d carry out the usual position of propping his chin up with his hand, looking ever sincerely bored, even as the chaos would ensue before him.

He would stroke his chin as he come up with anything to do to take him away from the stagnant state he was feeling. 

No one would have been able to tell, but the Prince was empty inside, yet at the same note, he was filled with rage, anger, and a darkness that not even God could fathom as he no longer sent his captains to try and reason with him, considering not one of his guardians would be able to return upon meeting a brutal demise at Heeseung’s hand each time they went to deliver their Lord's message.

No one graced his presence. It was widely known that unless you were one of his own brothers, it was best that you refrained from disturbing the dark king. 

The remaining six princes, fearful of the ferocity of the elder’s cruelty, would often keep to themselves in their own region and cloud their ears to cover the eternal screams of torture as each Angel sent to deliver God's endearing message to Heeseung, the very same Angels that all seven princes had previously served with, under God's holy rule... all before the younger siblings followed Heeseung to his dark kingdom of Hell, as fallen archangels.

The younger princes winced in pain as the screams of their former companions could be heard echoing throughout Hell. Heeseung murdered each one, to a high degree of chaos and carnage that he could think of, all the while his roar would be heard in the background, amongst the dying cries of each messenger before fully succumbing to his ill torment. Finishing them off, he'd burn their carcasses to dust and ash, had it collected and placed in wooden engraved boxes, and had it delivered to the gates of Heaven.

As for his younger siblings, while they did share his vision and opinion in regards to humanity, ultimately choosing to follow him with the utmost loyalty, it was safe to say that neither one of them had shared an amusement for the tearing of flesh and bone as their elder brother had displayed. Yet then again, they hadn't suffered the way he did...falling out with God as the favorited archangel, and expelled to become a lord of his own kingdom....placed second as God chose humanity over him.

Clearly, the man was hurting and angry for being expelled from the holy kingdom. The archangel who was once a faithful servant to his holy majesty, was now a king of his own world, one that was filled with blood and severed flesh. 

Who could ever believe that he, was once the proud and favorited holy Archangel of God, the first son and most devoted in spreading the will of his holy father….was sent away for his hatred of Gods most noble and upcoming creation, Man. 

Indeed, the lord and master of the grueling lands of shredded flesh and burnt bones, would find himself entirely too bored and yearned for more…he wanted revenge in the worst way possible. 

Jake would never forget the moment he witnessed Heeseung's level of violence and ferocity when he visited the elder sibling.

He watched as Heeseung's favored harem of succubus’s, all loyal and devoted to his pleasure, ignited by his chaotic nature, displayed their demonic affection.

They crawled up his lengthy legs as he sat in his throne, their hands roam and travel upwards, undoing his trousers yet keeping him fully clothed as he would refrain from moving even an inch from his seated position, and glared with an aloof expression towards the tenacious demonesses as they performed to show the capability’s of their oral fixation on his length. 

Yet the moment they were done, some of which wouldn’t even have the chance to finish, his followers stood by as they watched the Prince rip each demon maiden to pieces, beginning with their limbs, their wings, and heads last. All so he could hear the painful screams before he finished them off, carelessly tossing the bits of torn flesh to whatever direction as the hungry demons scatter and devour the remains. Even after all that, the Prince would remain unimpressed and the bored expression remained as blood coated his hands.

He wouldn’t be satisfied until the day comes forth, when God introduces his newest creation into the world. That will be the day, where the itch will be appeased as Heeseung declared war against his former master, and vowed to destroy humanity once his former master births them into Eden.

Vowing to tear their flesh, and send them back to his holy kingdom piece by piece, Heeseung promised that so long as he breathed, no creation of God would thrive. That, was the very thing he was looking forward to, the only thing that would appease him from seeking out deathly screams within his own realm. 

It wasn't until one day…so suddenly, he changed in an instant. It had all stemmed from the sudden visit of a familiar face that he’d thought he’d never see again. 

Since then, the Prince was seen with the lace mask, rarely spoke, and never displayed that sinister smile of gore as he remained a delicate and calmed expression. 

He cleared his lands of fire and gore, killed off his raging demons, no longer caring to watch them maul each other, and created the vast open landscape which was now covered with those blood red roses he grew himself, using the essence out of his own blood drops as he would sporadically roam his territory, all the while staring at the world that humanity would soon belong to as he waited for the birth of Adam and Eve, their offspring, watched as humans waged wars and made peace, expanded their advancement with knowledge, studies, and technology. He watched and waited...for all those years.

Demons that lurked in the fires of Hell no longer felt timid as the Prince would roam here and there, yet lacked any urge or sense to slaughter ruthlessly as he did merely a weeks time past. Instead, he was seen atop his high throne....asleep.

'The Prince of Darkness....he spends his time...sleeping.'

………………..

As he reflects back to his recollected thoughts, Jake, along with the rest of his brothers, never knew what turned their elder brother…for thousands of years they remained clueless…it wasn’t until four days ago…when it all came into clear sense as he elaborated and issued them the commands to assist…in his preparations.

Looking as you gazed a somewhat curious expression, you lay partially covered by the cotton sheets as your otherworldly form and silhouette is made out by the thinness of the material, you sweetly yet nervously smiled. 

“Is everything okay?” You ask. 

“Yeah…everything is….perfect.” He responds as he returns the smile. 

…….

‘It was you…y/n…a mortal woman….the one who unknowingly…yet singlehandedly saved mankind….by changing him…..you, who by the light and dark appeal of your face, your eyes, your sensuality, your heart and your soul….you captured his blackened heart…you have no idea just what you had caused him to feel within…but you did it…and he won’t rest….. until he has you all to himself.’ 

……….

P A R T T H R 3 E

Taglist: @deobitifull; @solstramaii; @vampiregirl215; @nshmrarki; @enhypen14; @iamliacamila; @lisaaannna; @nikstrange; @jaehaki; @luv-enhy-skz33; @silcry @honeysjae; @crackedcameraa; @stinkmonkey ; @baekxo07 @raishaii @@yangjungwon33

[bob-frank451]

Humans are Weird: Asthetic Differentiation

The following file has been written by order of the Galactic Council, as well as the 17 overseers in response to new sapient species 0038298-TN (Humanity).

Like almost any race, humans have aesthetic differentiation that can be used to tell them apart. The majority of a human’s body is covered in a non mucus producing skin. Due to the dangers of solar radiation humans have been designed with pigmentation in their skin, with the sole effect of this pigmentation being a varying shade of brown, ranging from undetectable, to sufficient to mask the underlying tissues absolutely. This is the first major differentiation that can be employed to recognize humans.

The most important part of a human’s body for differentiation is their head. Human’s have specialized neurology to pick up on minor structural differences in the face, but for non-Terrans the key differences are the following: colour size and shape of the eyebrows, colour size and shape of the eyes, ears, and lips.

Each human has a pair of lips. The mucus-membrane of the mouth is turned outwards and slightly swollen for most humans, presumably to remind their prey of their destiny.

However, most humans have a strong taboo against cannibalism, which has since been applied to all image races; they will not eat you. While you enjoy the safety of human pack bonding, observe the shape of their ‘lips’ as these are a useful tool for telling humans apart, with one slight caveat: Touching a human’s lips has very strong cultural meanings in the majority of Terran civilization. If your species lacks a visual input, you will need to use other means of recognizing humans, aside from touch.[1]

We keep the peace.

[1] Addendum 1: Humans moisten their lips with their biohazardous saliva. If your species has a weak immune system, it is best to avoid touching human lips if at all possible, and absolutely flee form the cultural practice of kissing. The primary purpose of a kiss is bonding and immune synchronization, and as humans have a hyperactive immune system, this may be fatal for you.

Ao3 Discord

[sparatus]

WIP Game - Desolas fucks up on purpose pretty please?

wip game

THREE PEOPLE ASKED FOR THIS ONE IM WHEEZING local menace is just so so appealing while setting shit on fire gonna tag @teamdilf and @korblez while im here

okay so for some additional comedy i mean context, there's this post, which led to this exchange:

and lo, a crackfic was born

basically! valis's family does not like des. des does not like valis's family. valis has been keeping low contact with them, no visits, for years. unfortunately, they now have two chicks, 5yo taniria and almost-1yo desivius, and valis's parents' desire to hold grandbabies finally outweighed their desire to never see desolas in person ever. so they pester valis into agreeing to a visit, and getting des to bring food.

problem: desolas is king shitbird.

he's sabotaging that shit on purpose.

valis is kept entirely in the dark, for plausible deniability (and also because sivvi still needs his food regurgitated for him and des isn't entirely confident his affront to the spirits is safe for regurgitating parents), but baby tanni is recruited to """help""", and she is SO good at helping daddy :) saren and the feral coyotes he found in the trash are on a mission but love chaos and are happy to also provide dipshit ideas.

have a snip:

--

When she made it into the kitchen, Des was carrying Taniria on his hip, bouncing to the beat as he serenaded her with… Galactic Cannibals, she was pretty sure, it sounded like one of Saren’s playlists. Tan was only four and didn’t really understand the lyrics, but her muxaup was singing and dancing with her, and she liked music that made her move as much as any turian, so she was having a blast just clinging to Des’s arm and giggling. She noticed Valis first, turning her head at the sound of the cane and squeaking an excited, “Phatzhi!” as she stretched out an arm to invite her to the little party.

Unbidden, Valis’s mandibles lifted, just a few degrees, just in time for Desolas to glance over his shoulder. “Oh, hey,” he purred, lifting his own mandibles in that easy grin of his. “I found one last package of ground cornin in the freezer, so we’re making… Iunno, it’s pasta with meat and cheese, nothing fancy. I see you survived your call with the demon.”

And just like that, her faint smile fell into a grimace as she slowly paced forward to pull out a chair at the table and slump into it. Des’s grin slowly fell, too, and he clicked his mandibles against his face and reached over to turn off the music. “Uh-oh, Phatzhi’s makin’ a face,” he told Taniria. “You better go work your magic, little bird.”

Tan chirped, and when Des set her down, she came hopping right over to Valis’s chair, eyes big and curious. While Valis shifted to let her daughter climb up into her lap, Des whirred. “Alright, what did she say? You look like you found a whole hive of something venomous under the bed.”

Valis scowled and pulled her mandibles in against her face. “Apparently, we're invited to Solstice," she huffed. “So my mother can meet the kids.”

Desolas blinked slowly, moving his mandibles in and out while he thought. “Hold on," he said finally, “they invited us last year, but you didn't tell me ‘til after Siv was born, ‘cause you said fuck off, on account of. Y’know.” He gestured vaguely to her belly. “No travel while pregnant and about to pop."

“And not likin’ my husband," she grumbled. “Tan, what's the rule about words Muxaup says?"

"Not ‘til my mubbles get long,” Tan replied promptly, tapping the backs of her stubby little mandibles.

Valis chuffed and ruffed a hand over her daughter’s scalp, trying not to get distracted by her heart fluttering over how small she was. "Smart lass,” she purred, and Tan giggled and pressed into the touch.

Des purred briefly, then puffed and went back to the meat. “And, you only let it slip last year because you were blitzed on painkillers and forgot you weren't gonna tell me. And yet now this year, you're telling me three weeks in advance." He tapped the grease off the spatula, then turned fully to fold his arms and face her. “You accepted, didn't you."

[maudiemoods]

Question for the Alien AU: What is the society like on Sun and Moon's homeworld? (Other than the cannibalism being common like you said)

Worried that I won't get to drawing a response for this so I'll just type it 😔

Their species is really big on studying, exploration, galactic politics and trading! They kinda have a huge monopoly over a lot of other species but the system was created to help so most don't mind. They carry out these jobs from their home world for the most part. The work week is only 3 days a week (they're days are 32 hours long and most sleep 7-10 hours from mid afternoon-midnight(ish) as in they're mostly nocturnal) during their free time, most do studies and work on hobbies they enjoy. In the cities and towns, they are constantly celebrating their lives. Live music is on pretty much every corner, art is shown all over, and people get together and hang out :)) there's tons of markets and everyone helps each other when they can. Their species is extremely social and pretty energetic but even so, night life is very chill. The music is soft and everyone keeps their voice at a respectable level. It's kinda shunned upon to be loud and make a scene. But! There are certain areas where there aren't any restrictions on volume and they all just go crazy ldlsksk like night clubs?? During early morning to afternoon, things go pretty quiet. Most start getting ready for sleep but the more socially anxious start to go out. They can enjoy the same stuff just during a time when less people are out.

They're just very big on accommodating for as many people as they can I guess?

By the way!! When it comes to cannibalism, those who practice it are not allowed to step foot on their home world! If they do, they'll be arrested and executed. They can only commit cannibalism in space because space is lawless for the most part. But that doesn't mean others wont seek revenge.

As long post but here you go :D!! Still working on it but I'll have it all figured out soon :D!!

[dailycharacteroption]

Races Among the Stars 5: Gnoll

And so, we end off this week with a species that also has it’s roots in the past of Golarion and fantasy rpgs, but has not had pages dedicated to them in books yet.

This is because the Starfinder version of gnolls were first published in a pack of playable ancestry/race reference cards called the Starfinder Alien Character Deck, presumably both as a way to make sure that the deck had some new content, and as a way to assure players that yes, several classic fantasy races from the past of Golarion do in fact still exist in Starfinder.

For their part, gnolls have a bloody reputation to many as raiders, scavengers, and cannibals, in part due to their racial origin as the creations of the demonic god Lamashtu. However, like anything, gnolls are much more nuanced than that.

While admittedly those that worship the Mother of Monsters and other such entities are most likely as bad as people assume, in truth, gnoll philosophy is dominated by survival and practicality. To them, honor is worthless if it gets you or your clanmates killed. One must strike hard and fast before one’s enemies can defend themselves, and use any trick to protect your people and your own survival.

As one might expect from these priorities, gnolls value family and community first, and if a gnoll considers you part of their extended family, then you have someone who will fight for you through thick and thin. However, if you betray that trust, or prove unworthy, they’ll drop you like a sack of potatoes, possibly violently if you outright betrayed them.

While gnolls in softer places can benefit from a more relaxed attitude, their reputation does mean that they tend to be pushed to the fringes of galactic society, the requirements for surviving there only further cementing that reputation.

 Just as they were in the past, gnolls are humanoid hyenas, the most common subspecies resembling spotted hyenas, though occasionally the smaller ant gnolls, which resemble aardwolves are seen.

 While there are certainly gnoll clans that work as mercenaries, many live on the fringe, existing in the slums, remote communities, or even far-flung colony worlds on the wide Starfinder setting. However, in places where gnolls are common, they can create great works just like any other species, and their communal beliefs go a long way towards protecting their communities from monsters and corporate exploitation.

Their tendency towards pragmatism does make some believe they are cowardly or craven, lacking in honor, but the simple fact is that honor doesn’t hold value to gnoll-kind. To them, any action that puts the family at risk is at best foolish, and at worst selfish and evil.

 Gnolls tend to be tough and strong, but somewhat simple.

However, they do have an excellent sense of smell, and keen night vision.

They also possess powerful jaws and claws they can use in battle.

Used to rough terrain, gnolls are adept at moving just a little bit faster in such environments.

Of course, gnolls are also quite proficient at surviving in the wilds as well.

 As a highly physical people, gnolls do well with most combat classes, though they can be quite good with any class. Their biohackers are most likely to be intuitive in nature, representing field medics and family doctors. Envoy does appeal to their improvisational nature, and some of them might even be diplomats as well, seeking to befriend others. Mechanic and technomancer might seem like weak choices, but reliable equipment is always appreciated, and having someone with the know how in the tribe is very useful. Mystics, precogs, and even witchwarpers often serve the role of spiritual advisors and leaders in the clans. Their tough bodies make nanocyte and vanguards natural choices, no matter how they acquire that power. Though they are not super agile, they can make excellent operatives as well. Melee characters with the solarian and soldier are also natural fits as well.

 That does it for this week, but it’s always nice to see what species new and familiar exist in the Starfinder universe! See you next week with more archetypes!

[thegeekcloud]

Welcome to another one of my lectures. Today we're gonna talk about

Galaxy Collisions

The dance of the universe

Featuring L.I.S.A.

As some of you might know (or might not know) pur galaxy is in a course of collision with the galaxy of Andromeda. Of course this colission is gonna happen in about 4 billion years and we're probably not gonna be alive as a species, let alone as individuals. But even if we were, the sun would not collide with anything as proven by computational simulations and observing other collisioms happening right now far far away in our universe. Like, a chance of 1 in 100000000000. You have way more chances winning the lottery when each person on the planet has bought a ticket.

So

What happens?

Let's imagine 2 galaxies. Each one is caught in the gravitational pull of the other, much like everything else in the world. As they draw closer, that pull becomes stronger.

The first thing to part each galaxy is the interstellar gas and dust. This acts like a fluid, particles moving closely together, and is very light in weight so it is easily separated by the main disk of the galaxy. This phenomenon does not require the galaxies to collide, but merely to pass close enough. It results in the creation of "tails" of gas and dust, coming out of the galaxy and stretching out to where the other galaxy passed by.

Here we have an example. This pair of interracting galaxies is called "The Mice" for obvious reasons

Preety huh?

Now. As i said the two galaxies can collide. According to the difference in mass between them we have two cases:

Galaxies significantly smaller are absorbed by the larger one. This is called "galactic cannibalism" (💀). We're currently doing this to the magellanic clouds (if you live in the southern hemisphere you have probably seen them in the sky). Thìs is also probably what andromeda is gonna do to us (Andromeda is visible in the northern hemisphere and about the only galaxy you can really see with the naked eye)

If they're about the same size they crash. Boom:

In any case, interstellar gas and dust are exchanged, the two galaxies become one, the tidal waves compress matter near the center of the galaxy and star formation is triggered. There is a whole category of galaxies called "Starburst galaxies" which are very bright in infrared light (they appear normal in the sky through your optical telescope). These galaxies we predict are the result of such colissions.

Explosive star formation however means that the "fuel" of the galaxy is spend very quickly, and so the galaxy "dies" (meaning no new stars are formed) pretty quickly (meaning a few hundred million years).

MOREOEVER

mg favourite part cause that's what I'm currently specializing in my studies

After such a collisions we end up with two centers of galaxies (meaning their supermassive black holes - enter song by MUSE-) in a common disk. These two INCREDIBLY HEAVY objects orbit each other and affect the orbits of nearby stars. Those stars are so light compared to the black holes tgat are actually SHOT OUT of the galaxy. If the combined mass of lost stars is comparable in terms of size with the mass of the black holes then those two begin to lose torque and end up getting closer. After getting close enough they start producing gravitational waves, causing them to lose even more energy and bringing them closer, until in the end they become one.

Now,

We can't yet detect those. The frequency they produce is too low for our ground detectors and so it is burried under noise and the limitations of the instrument itself.

BUT

in the 2030s a new detector will launch. And i mean that quite litterally, as they will launch it in SPACE. The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA for short. Nice lady) will be comprised of 3 ships positioned equidistantly in the angles of a triangle and will follow a specific path, following the earth around the sun but far enough from the planet. The three ships will be like 50km apart. A laser beam connects them all.

An interferometer uses a phenomenon of light called symbolometry. Depending on the wave's phase, we either see light or darkness in our screens. This is a ground detector:

Ground detectors have "arms" of length of 5km and detect frequencies like 10Hz to 1000Hz or smth like that, i don't actually remember the number. LISA tho, will bave much bigger arms (50km long) covering more space, interracting with a wave more fully and more easily. So, LISA aims to detect waves between 0.1 mHz and 1Hz. It will also be away from other earthly noise, like earthquakes.

One time they almost mistook a signal for a truck passing by and causing the mirrors reflecting the light back to tremble. Yeah. Don't worry, they noticed.

But the future is looking bright. Cause galaxy collisions are a window to the past (since the rate of stat formation is similar to the one we had in the first steps of the universe) and to the future (as i said, it'll happen to us too)

More science

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

A dark stream sheds new light on the life of galaxies An international team of scientists led by a University of Sydney astrophysicist has discovered evidence the Andromeda galaxy is a cannibal growing through colossal intermittent feasts. The research, which is available on the pre-print server arXiv and will be published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, builds, in part, on the unexpected findings of two honors students. "A few years ago, we discovered that in the far outskirts of Andromeda, there was a sign in the objects orbiting it that the galaxy hadn't been grazing, but it had eaten large quantities in two distinct epochs," said lead author Professor Geraint Lewis from the University of Sydney. "What this new result does is provide a clearer picture of how our local universe has come together—it is telling us that at least in one of the large galaxies, that there has been this sporadic feeding of small galaxies." The research findings are based on the discovery of a structure of stars, known as globular clusters, in Andromeda that originated outside the galaxy. Professor Lewis named this the Dulais Structure, drawn from the Welsh for black stream. The Dulais Structure represents the leftovers of a colossal feeding event in the "recent" past, a dark stream lit up by star clusters orbiting unlike any others in Andromeda. It provides evidence that galaxies grow by "eating" smaller systems, and the findings are at odds with a more sedate picture of galactic growth. "That then leads to the next question of, well, what was actually consumed? Because it doesn't look like it was just one thing, it looks like it's been a collection of things which are all being slowly torn apart," said Professor Lewis. "We've come to realize over the last few decades that galaxies grow by eating smaller systems—so little galaxies fall in, they get eaten—it's galactic cannibalism." Andromeda has the signatures of two major feeding events. Rough timescales indicate the "recent" feast took place sometime in the last 5 billion years, while the older feed was closer to 8–10 billion years ago. The universe itself is 13.8 billion years old, meaning the two separate events may have taken place while matter in the universe was in closer proximity and more densely concentrated. "We know that the universe was featureless at its birth in the Big Bang, and today it's full of galaxies. Were those galaxies born fully formed, or have they grown?" Professor Lewis said. Astrophysicists like Professor Lewis are studying Andromeda to better understand how our own Milky Way has evolved. The vantage point from Earth makes viewing our galaxy difficult because we're sitting inside it, obscuring observations, but the distance from Andromeda allows scientists the advantage of a "panoramic view." It is unclear how the Milky Way itself has fed, but a picture is emerging in Andromeda with a clear signature—large feasts and growth spurts. Given the Milky Way is a spiral galaxy of similar size, the research may be painting a picture of what our galaxy has done to reach its enormous size. Next steps "What we want to know is has the Milky Way done the same, or is it different? Both of those have interesting consequences for the overall picture of how galaxies form," Professor Lewis said. "We want to, at some level, come up with a more accurate clock to tell us when these events occurred because that's one thing we need to include in our models of how galaxies evolve." He and colleagues analyzed data covering the speeds and chemistry of the globular clusters forming the Dulais Structure, providing a two-dimensional view. The next step is to understand distances, which will allow researchers to construct the history in three dimensions. "That will then allow us to work out orbits, where things are going, and then we can start to run the clock backwards and see if we can get this coherent picture of when things fell in," he said. "We couldn't name it as an object like a galaxy, because we actually do not know if the signature we see is from one big object disrupting or seven smaller objects disrupting. That's why we sort of refer to it as a structure rather than it being a particular galaxy." The initial results on the Dulais Structure came about from two honors students exploring the data: Tim Adams from the University of Sydney and Yuan Li from the University of Auckland, who, to Professor Lewis' surprise, stumbled upon evidence of leftovers in the galaxy's spiral. "We got a hint that something was going on from their honors work," he said. "You almost know what's going to come out at the end of it, but when they come to you and say, 'I keep getting this signal, and it's a bit weird,'—that's when it gets very exciting. "It's opened a new door in terms of our understanding. But exactly what it's telling us I think we still have to work that one out." TOP IMAGE....Illustration depicting the movement of the Dulais Structure within the Andromeda galaxy. Credit: Geraint Lewis LOWER IMAGE....Illustration depicting Dulais Structure globular clusters strewn through Andromeda. Credit: Geraint Lewis

[galacticcannibalism]

👀👀 🌻

I love the term Galactic Cannibalism. What it is the collision of two galaxies and the subsequent absorption of parts of one into the other. Isn’t it beautiful?

[hannagoldworthy]

Renegade 11

(Translation note: "Stuka Crispo" means "Death Watch" in Huttese, and I have absolutely no idea what Jabba says in the palace scene in canon, so I tried to paraphrase what it sounded like he meant. Also, Jabba the Hutt truly does deserve the epithet 'vile'; I tried to keep him PG-13, but he's still fairly disgusting. And Maul's having an existential crisis; I think he's doing fairly well with managing it, considering his upbringing, but there's still probably some things that might be disturbing in his inner monologue.)

When the ground beneath their tails shuddered under the impact of laser-cannon fire, Jabba was almost relieved for the interruption. Gorga, his esteemed nephew, was a smart lad, but a dull conversationalist; Jabba had only managed to distract the boy from simpering over his, exuberant, lady-love by asking how Oruba’s conveniently timed death would affect the Council coffers. And that had started a long information dump about inheritance law, the various tax laws they would have to ‘waive’ by striking from the books, and mathematics; Jabba had been close to dissociating completely before the attackers made themselves known.

Gorga, however, looked a bit nervous. “Uncle, we should flee. I have a skiff ready and waiting.”

Jabba scoffed. “If they are genuinely out to kill us, they’re stupider than I thought.”

“They’re Mandalorians, Uncle!”

“Not all Mandalorians are half-wits, my boy. Sit back, relax, and watch a master at work.”

“But-”

Shots rang out in the hallway that led to the throne room, quieting Gorga’s concerns. In a few moments, the three representatives Death Watch had sent to threaten the Council had killed the Gamorrean guards. No great loss there; Gamorreans bred at an exponential rate and Jabba had to dispose of a certain quota of guards per month to prevent them from cannibalizing each other and passing prion diseases in his ranks. Still, the casual disregard for Hutt property shown by the Stuka Crispo leader and his Zabrak bodyguards grated, and Jabba was eagerly anticipating the day when it would be profitable to salt their disrespectful feet. But, for now, it paid to be polite.

“Can I help you with something, gentlemen?”

“Give up, Jabba, you’re the only ones left,” opined the head Mandalorian.

Jabba fought back the urge to roll his eyes. Marlo was the grandparent of Gorga’s beloved Anachro; if he had really died, they’d have had the news via an hour’s worth of pathetic, incomprehensible weeping by now. And Arok was safe on Falleen, helping his unfortunately disfigured son Durga try for one of the vacant spots as Vigo of the Black Sun. This little upstart had absolutely no idea just how small a town the galactic underworld really was, or that Jabba knew every little bit of trouble Stuka Crispo had caused over the course of the past three weeks. But he did know that they had only killed one member of the Hutt Council, and he had the nerve to lie to Jabba’s face, in Basic. Typical Mandalorian idiocy; Jabba would eat him whole for the offense if he wasn’t still carefully monitoring his diet to better nurse Rotta.

Dismissing the human man as a loss, he glanced over to the crimson Zabrak who’d been doing most of the talking before the Council. The lightsaber designated him as a Force-user, which explained quite a few stories that had circulated over the years; Jabba had heard tell, mostly from his associates’ whining, of underworld dispersals, destroyed assassin academies, and imploded fighting rings, all featuring the first red-skinned Zabrak to be seen in two hundred years. There was no question that this was the same person who was the central figure of those tales, though Jabba had thought he would be nearing forty by now, if he was still alive; this young man, this boy, really, didn’t even look to be on the wrong side of thirty, though of course humanoid ages could be difficult to accurately guess. It truly was a pity that he wasn’t as, impressionable, as most escaped Dathomirians tended to be…with his uncommon coloration, Jabba could have put him to very good use amongst the equally rare and equally beautiful humanoid women of his harem…

The Zabrak sneered as if he’d scented something foul. “Submit, or suffer,” he growled.

Fearlessness and invention; those were the qualities that had won Jabba the place he had now, because those were the qualities that made one the most dangerous in the Outer Rim. He would not have kept his position for this long if he never learned to recognize them in lesser beings. And this young Zabrak, who threatened the Head of the Hutt Council and the Heir Apparent of the Desilijic Kajidic to his face and who had engineered the fall of the greater part of the underworld into his lovely hands, was certainly amongst the most dangerous people who had crossed Jabba’s trail in seven centuries. Jabba found himself laughing; he could grow to like working with someone who presented this much of a challenge. And, if he played his cards right, this venture could eliminate a few more of his silent rivals in a way that would leave Jabba essentially blameless in their deaths.

“Very well. I, and by extension the Hutt Families, agree to support your cause.”

***

Always remember, I am filth.

The vow was one of several which Maul had once sworn regularly; if one freely embraced the fact that one was fear, hunter, filth, nothing, it broke the shackles of guilt and of insult, allowing the Sith Lord to operate in the grime and the crime that their role entailed. And obviously, Maul had fallen out of the habit, for his very being had recoiled from the greed and the lust in Jabba the Hutt’s mind. He’d known full well that the phenotype which made his skin red made him prized as a pleasure slave; the idea that Jabba had hoped to make him a stud in his royal harem should not have been a terrible shock. And yet, it was. Somehow, Maul, former son of Dathomir, disgraced and dismembered Sith Apprentice, eldritch horror of the refuse heaps of Lotho Minor, had got it into his head that his body deserved more respect than the highest lord of the Hutts could manage, and he wasn’t sure how…

He lay on his stomach after a long hunt, hovering pleasantly between sleep and wakefulness; gentle fingers trailed idly over his bare skin, their comparative coolness a balm against the growing heat of the mid-morning Maridun sun. “You have a big heart,” a feminine voice murmured tenderly.

“Lies and slander,” he grumbled perfunctorily. “Who told you that? They were mistaken.”

“I’m talking about the pattern on your back, silly,” Barriss chuckled. “Savage, doesn’t it look like a red, stylized heart? Like the shape on my belt?”

“Don’t involve me in this, I’m asleep,” Savage replied from the large spot on the bed he had claimed for a nap.

“The shapes do look a little similar,” Feral put in a second later. “What do you think, Merrin?”

“Aaawww! You match! That’s so cute!”

“Cute?”

“He even has little diamonds like you, right there at the bottom of the, uh, ‘heart’!” Merrin chirped. “Does that mean something on Mirial?”

“What does it mean on Dathomir?”

“I…don’t know. It was a process sacred to the gods; Ily-others, might have been able to tell you.” The girl was silent for a moment, but seemed determined to make the moment pass quickly. “What might it mean on Mirial?”

“Hmmm,” Barriss thoughtfully ran the back of her hand against his shoulder blade, her presence quietly smug when he sighed contentedly at her touch. “It’s a bit abstract for a Mirial pattern, but…the diamonds on the lower back would indicate discipline, and anything on the shoulders, strength. And a large symbol for compassion or romantic love, splayed across the back where no one but his family will see it, is the mark of someone who cares about people a very great deal more than he allows himself to show.”

Maul opened one eye to glare playfully at her. “You’re making that up.”

“Sounds apt to me, Brother.”

“I thought you were asleep?”

“I do my best thinking in my sleep.”

“Well I like it!” Merrin pouted. “We might as well make up meanings for our marks, since no one else is here to tell us about them.”

“True,” Feral replied. “And your marks mean loud, angry, and annoying. There, I’ve declared it.”

“That is a compliment coming from you…”

“Between the Hutts, Black Sun, and the Pykes we’ll have a large reserve of muscle and supplies.”

Maul nearly twitched as he was rudely pulled from his reverie. “Yes.”

“Then Mandalore and Kenobi are still our priorities?”

In a trice, Maul’s musings had gone from the memory of his siblings’ laughter to the cold hatred in a Fallen Jedi’s eyes he’d glimpsed during his defeat on Naboo; a phantom pain sliced across his abdomen, halting the reminiscent comfort of his wife’s palm. “They are vital.” No happiness could remain while Kenobi lived, if even his name triggered this sort of ache.

“I’m curious to hear the rest of your plan,” Viszla continued nonchalantly.

Fighting back the recurrent flashback, Maul took a second to examine his ally’s thoughts. “The vision has expanded,” he said, which was a delaying phrase to keep the conversation alive while he decided what foot to step on with Viszla. Had it not been for the overheard conversation concerning Barriss, Maul might have thought Viszla was warming up to the idea of a true partnership between them, and tested the waters just to be sure of the Mandalorian’s intentions. But, that sort of test was no longer necessary; he knew the betrayal was coming, and had only to pretend he did not in order to deceive Viszla. “You will rule Mandalore, as agreed; my family and I will leave once I have what I want from Kenobi.”

“And what will happen with all of these crime syndicates? I doubt they will disappear into thin air once I am Mand’alor.”

“We will safeguard your interests and supply Mandalore with more efficiency than the Duchess’s trade agreements have managed.”

“I’m reluctant to have black marketeers supply my people.”

Maul raised an eyebrow. “And yet, you have no qualms robbing black marketeers for fresh fruit and luxury items.”

Viszla blinked. “You know about that?”

Good Force this man was naïve. “Stealing from smugglers is a clever tactic, Lord Viszla; the recipients of the goods cannot report the missed deliveries to proper authorities without incurring punishment, and should armed enforcers be sent to investigate, the smugglers sustain the penalty rather than you.” It was one of the oldest tricks on record, and also a sure path to the bad graces of most organizations; Viszla was lucky that the Trade Federation, in this case, had more important people to kill. “This way, however, the robberies can be…arranged, so that there’s more oversight on the quality of goods and no tragic poisonings of children can occur.”

The Mandalorian frowned. “And what do you get out of it?”

Maul smiled. “The return of our ship, and a quiet planet in Mandalorian space where my family can stay without drawing the attention of either the Republic or the Confederacy.”

“…That’s it?”

“Well, the planet needs to have good holo-reception so I can remain in touch with our allies, but other than that…”

“You just want to retire?”

“More than anything in this life.” It was a lie; Maul knew he was meant for much more, and ruling the galactic underworld was only the start of his ambition. And yet…

“I don’t suppose I can blame you for that,” Viszla said with a wistful grin, clapping Maul on the shoulder. “Let’s get this done; then we can both live out our dreams.” He nodded in farewell, and set off to where Kryze was waiting for him.

Maul let him go, and walked toward the nearest Warbird, away from the smothering heap of refuse and vice that was Jabba’s palace. When the air was free and fresh enough that he could breathe without imagining the Hutt’s lascivious eyes over every exposed centimeter of his body, he stopped, and tried to collect the scattered remains of his thoughts.

He wanted more than the life he had been given, more than whatever riches Viszla could promise, and certainly more than the fearful life as Jabba’s decorative pet. And yet, he was fear, filth, nothing, and deserved only what he hunted and caught for himself. This was the creed that had brought him up; these were the words he’d lived by, that paradox of desiring what was above his station and dragging what he wanted down to his level if needs must.

But he was not fear to Merrin, who knew she could tease and annoy him without repercussion. He was not a hunter to Feral, who laughed at Maul’s technique and without judgment taught him Nightbrother formations to use against larger animals. He was not filth to Barriss, who touched him with respect and beheld him with a reverence he could never even begin to fathom. He was not nothing to Savage, who without even knowing him had risked his life, health, and freedom to find Maul in the garbage and painstakingly nurture him back to some semblance of health.

With his family, he was…valuable, for more than just his body or his martial prowess or his skill at handling criminal connections. He was no longer accustomed to being used, so much so that even the idea of being treated like an object was beginning to personally affront him, both with Death Watch and with Jabba.

What was happening to him?

***

“He’s setting up a crime syndicate, and wants us to give him and his family safe harbor so he can administer it from the comfort of home.”

Bo gawped at Pre. “And he just…admitted this to you?”

“Oh yeah. The man is a soft touch. Getting him out of the way should be easy.”

***

Lightsaber deflection practice was going very well, at least by what Feral could tell. The Magpies, Kast’s personal squad of commandoes, had started out going easy on him, telling him where they were going to shoot stun bolts so he could prepare. Barriss had offered him a few discreet pointers at mealtimes, and they’d worked like a charm; by day three, the Magpies had fired at will with the stun bolts, since he was responding and blocking fast enough. On day five, they used the same warning system with live fire as they had with the stun bolts; on day seven, they found him some spare armor and fired at will, and he only got hit twice. He was hoping, today, that they’d start to teach him some of the hand-to-hand combat using the armor…maybe even touch upon flamethrower techniques, since those were impressive as well.

When he got to the practice field, however, Kast was cleaning an odd-looking blaster while the others loitered casually; she glanced up from her work when informed he had arrived, and beckoned for him to come closer. “Take a look at this,” she said, handing him the blaster. “I found it while organizing my foot locker last night, and thought you might make some use of it.”

The weapon truly was strange; the barrel sounded hollow when he gently tapped it, rather than full of many tiny glass refracting lenses of a typical Mandalorian blaster. There was no slot for a charge pack, and no safety buttons to set a laser to stun or kill. “What is it?” he asked after a long moment.

Kast grinned. “It’s a slug-thrower, the predecessor to the modern blaster. It uses small amounts of explosive powder to propel solid ammunition toward a target.”

“Really?” that sounded cool! “And you think I’ll be able to deflect that?” It was heartwarming to be acknowledged as competent.

Kast blanched. “Oh hell no. Not because you aren’t good at this!” she corrected quickly, likely when she saw the disappointment in his face. “But because that ammunition actually moves faster than blaster bolts, too fast for even your reflexes, and it causes a kark-ton of damage when it hits. Even if you do manage to catch it, when it collides with a lightsaber it explodes into shrapnel. No…we’re going to have you shoot this at a target.”

“Why me?”

“Because, due to the explosive powder, there’s a fair amount of recoil when this fires; in flight, a person is blown backwards, and that can be dangerous. But, since you are going to be on the ground for now, and since your stance steadies you, I think that you could use this to far greater effect than one of us can.”

A few small clicks sounded in the stillness as several Magpies went to private comm channels; Rook glared at all of them, muttering a sentence in Mando’a so quietly that Feral only caught the word for ‘gossip.’ “Anyway,” she said, putting out a hand to reclaim the slug-thrower. “Let me show you how to load it, and then we’ll get you on the range.”

A few minutes later, Kast stood next to him as he lifted the old weapon with one hand. “All right, you’ve got fifteen rounds before you need to reload. And I’m not joking about the recoil. You might want to use two…”

BLAM! “WOO!” Feral cried with a grin. “That’s loud! And you’re right about the recoil, but it’s not so bad. I think I can get used to it.” He squinted at the target to see where the bullet landed, and took aim again.

“Isn’t that a little bit high?”

“Yeah, but the rounds are solid, like you said, so they’re affected by gravity, like our spears and arrows back home,” he said. “It’ll move in a shallow arc, so you have to aim a little bit higher than center to hit exactly where you want to hit.”

“Oh…I suppose that makes sense.”

BLAM! Feral squinted at the target again. “That was a little too high; this should bring me pretty close to a rancors-eye.”

“You can see that far? I’m still calibrating my HUD for the darkness.”

He winked mischievously, watching as the light his eyes cast on her blue armor dimmed briefly, and fired again. BLAM!

“What the hell is going on out there?” yelled one of the Falleen guards.

“Target practice, go back to your business!” replied Urraca Tidd, Kast’s lieutenant. “Objective still not sighted, ma’am,” she said in a lower tone, ignoring the litany of protests from the Falleen about the early hour.

“I…think you hit dead-center that last time,” Kast marveled. “Do you think you could hit it again?”

BLAM! “Yeah, I think so.”

“Objective sighted.”

ZZOW! Before he could ask what Tidd was talking about, Feral was kneeling on the ground, staring up at Kast in consternation as she took the slug-thrower, removed the ammunition, and checked to make sure there were no rounds still in the chamber. “Was that a stun bolt?”

“Shh…a low-level one,” she murmured, bringing out a little spray bottle and spritzing a tiny amount of strong, sweet-smelling liquid under each of his ears. “Can I get a medic?” she called. “I think Lord Feral sprained a muscle.”

“What? No I did-”

“Hush. Just go with it.” She slid her shoulders under his right arm, and Tidd did the same with his left; together, they helped him limp toward the medtent, where Barriss and Merle were holding open the entrance.

“What happened?” asked the Mandalorian medic.

“We were trying out an untraditional weapon. It recoiled and he fell pretty hard on his right ankle.” They got him into a bed, and before Merle could take a look at him, Tidd grabbed her shoulder. “Oh, uh, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about what happened on Carlac. Can you spare a moment?”

“…Sure,” Merle said, eying Barriss as she let herself be led out of the tent. “I’ll be right back.”

Kast glanced down at Feral and nodded briefly. “I’m just gonna let the doc examine you, all right? We’ll try this again tomorrow.”

“Wait, where are you-?” Kast hurried out of sight before he could finish his sentence, leaving him alone in the medtent with Barriss. He shook his head at his secret sister-in-law. “It’s a stun bolt, not a sprain. And I have no idea what’s going on.”

Barriss pulled a seat closer to him, inhaled, and went pale. Her hands scrabbled in her pockets, producing a small cloth bag which she pressed to her nose. “You’re wearing the Falleen perfume.”

Feral felt his blood pressure rise and his hands move to the damp spots under his ears. “I swear I had nothing to do with that.”

“I know,” Barriss chuckled, standing to close the curtains. “It looks like you have made a few friends, though; they’re trying to set you up.”

His blood suddenly went cold. “Why would friends want me dead?”

“Not set you up to be killed, set you up with me,” she clarified, still keeping her distance. “They think you are romantically interested with me, and used the perfume to try and help you get my attention.”

“…What?”

She shushed him, still laughing softly. “It’s rather funny, actually; they must have misinterpreted the talks we’ve been having over lunch.”

“You think that now, but when Maul gets a whiff of this on you and me, he is going to start cutting things off, of me.”

“Don’t be silly, we all platonically share a bed. I’m sure there are far more reasonable conclusions for him to jump to.”

Proximity sirens blared throughout the camp, signaling the return of the Warbird fleet. Feral pursed his lips and glared significantly at Barriss. “Would you care to test his ire, or should I?”

[legobiwan]

Darth Vader and the Lost Command is a great EU comic that I rec.

This was a good one.

First off, Anakin’s dream-world is super-disturbing:

Ummmm, ego much, Anakin? And the thing is, this is totally the confluence of Anakin’s own mental state of attachment and ideaalized (unhealthy) love and Palpatine’s egging on of Anakin’s ego. And it is creepy as hell.

The Jedi who saved Mace from Sidious. Who defeated the Sith (assumedly) single-handedly. Who is the youngest leader of the Jedi Council. 

I mean, it’s Anakin’s every daydream - untempered by reality - what Palpatine must have convinced Anakin was not only possible, but righteous. 

Like I said, creepy.

And Anakin is a disaster of contradictions. He wants this approval of the Council, of the Jedi (of Obi-wan) - wants to be known as the best of them all. The wisest, the bravest, the strongest. 

But he also yearns for their dissolution. It’s the old line - “I love you! I hate you! Never leave me! Get out of my life!”. Anakin not only has unhealthy relationships with people, but he has an unhealthy relationship with the Jedi and his own “career path,” so to speak, as a Jedi. And while, yes, Palpatine totally manipulated and massaged Anakin’s worse tendencies, eight-year-old Anakin was told he was a “Chosen One” by Qui-gon fucking Jinn and I am sorry but that kind of knowledge - that kind of expectation layered on top of a slave background was already a recipe for disaster. I don’t think Obi-wan was wrong when he said Anakin “was dangerous.” Because the knowledge of what he was (according to Qui-gon) plus that knowledge coming from the person who “saved” him (Qui-gon)...

You know, this only just occured to me now, but I can draw a terrifying parallel. Qui-gon told Anakin that he was special, that he had a role in the universe, and “saved” him from a disastrous fate. Palpatine also told Anakin he was special, that he had a role in the universe, and “safed” him from a disastrous fate. 

I would have like to have seen what Anakin would have become without the ghost of Qui-gon Jinn acting through Obi-wan Kenobi and the malevlent greed of Palptine both shaping his development. 

Jinn?Jinn? JINN? I rest my case. 

Fascinating. If Padmé becomes Chancellor, it means (to Anakin) by extension that he also has a sway in Galactic politics. Meaning he can control the Jedi and the galaxy at large. And for a young boy cast aside by the politics of Republic, nearly cast aside by the Jedi - you can see the allure, especially under the shroud of the Dark Side eminating from Palpatine. 

I love a good cannibal storyline.

Star Wars: CSI

Riiiiight. No parallels here. None whatsoever, said the rather large hammer.

So, Tarkin’s son turns against him and enlists some friends to subvert the Empire. The whole thing is a damn slaughter (and bless the EU for being willing to go to these places), but also...he was...a good soldier...who followed orders...and didn’t want to be a slave.

Yeah. I’ll let you draw your own conclusions from that.

(Also, there were probablya lot more Empire splinter groups that weren’t necessarily part of the Rebellion and it is this grey morality that really interests me during this time. It’s also why I find Thrawn to be a fascinating character - he’s not with anyone, really (well, except Eli) and his plkaying his own game against both the Empire and the Chiss aristocra and anyway, I’m getting off-point here...)

Self-pity doesn’t suit him and yet he makes an entire armor of it for years until Luke comes around. 

Highly recommend this comic.

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

Humans are Space Orcs, “On a Hill.”

Still working on my ability to write fluff. Hope I am getting better at it :) Hope you all have a great day.

Sunny marched down the hall with great purpose, the words of her brother ringing in her head, “You know Sunny, if you want to do something special for him, why not try doing something human. I mean fighting is all well and good for Drev, but I wonder if he gets tired of getting the crap kicked out of him on a normal basis.”

Her brother was right of course: Adam did sort of have a habit of catering to her needs and wants rather than his own. It did seem more than fair to give him what he wanted for a change.

So, she had done some research, going around the ship and asking the other humans about what they considered to be special. Of course she threw a lot of ideas out on principle because she knew Adam enough to know that he wasn’t going to be interested. It was, surprisingly, Maverick, dateless, lone-wolf Maverick that made the suggestion that caught Sunny’s attention.

“Come on, what better way to a man’s heart than through his stomach. Take him somewhere cool beside that and you’ve got him hook line and sinker.” Of course Sunny didn’t understand the metaphor, but she thought she understood the feeling of it.

So, with her plan all pulled together, she made her way up to the captain’s quarters and knocked lightly on the door.

There was a muffled yip from inside followed by a voice, “Oh Calm down. It’s nobody you don't know. COME IN, DOORS UNLOCKED!”

She pressed the panel to the side of the door, and it hissed open. She walked into the large room leaning down to pet waffles as she ran over tail wagging.

Adam was leaning back on his bed, UNSC issued grey shirt and grey camouflage ACU pants.

In his left hand he was holding a book, turning the pages with his right hand.

Sunny squinted at the cover slowly sounding out the words to the human alphabet.

War of the worlds 

On the opposite wall, the TV was turned low with some sort of vintage zombie movie playing in the background.

“I thought you were a sci fi geek, not a fantasy nerd.” She said walking over to stand over him.” He set down his open book on the side table, “What is more sci-fi than zombies? Some sort of strange disease turns everyone into cannibals. Besides sci fi and fantasy are the same thing, the only difference between them is that sci fi attempts to explain its magic with logic and science, while fantasy creates completely new systems for the way it does things.”

She shrugged, “HAs it ever occurred to you that you are commanding a fleet of spaceships under the command of a galactic council of planets, and you're dating an alien. Does it really get more sci-fi than your life?”

“Leave my nostalgia alone, once upon a time I didn’t think any of that was going to happen…. Especially that last one.” His eyes dropped down from her face focusing in on the object she held in one of her right hands, “That’s a big ass ammo can, what are you doing with it?”

“You’ll see.” She said wryly. Walking over to his closet, pulling out an extra blanket tossing it to him. 

He nearly fumbled it as he stood head tilted to the side with confusion, “What is all this?”

“You’ll see, now come on.”

She led him out of the room and down towards the docking bay where a shuttle had already been prepared for them.

“Do I need weapons?” He wondered nerouvly stepping into the shuttle.

“No weapons needed.”

“That is very unusual coming from you.”

“Just pilot the damn shuttle will you.” She said taking the copilot seat next to him and setting the large ammo canister down on the floor. He did as she ordered, sliding into his seat and pulling on a headset, hands flying through the preflight checklist without so much as a thought.

“So where are we going.”

“Just followed the pre programmed instructions.”

He glanced over at her, his eyebrow raised, “You make me nervous. You know that?”

She frowned and waved a hand, “Oh calm down, I promise it’s nothing big. You’ll like it.”

He shook his head, but finally followed her instructions, lifting the shuttle from the airlock bay and out through the opening airlock doors while lights blinked red over their heads. He followed the instructions to the letter, coming into low orbit with the nearby glowing planet.

They had gone and done a preliminary search of the planet only yesterday determining that it was more than habitable and rather temperate. Plants were already being put together for some kind of scientific colony in it’s northern hemisphere.

“Alright, alien planet is cool.” he said, dropping them into the atmosphere with a sudden rattling, and an eruption of flames out the front window.

That soon dissipated as he slowed the shuttle, and expertly landed them on the pinnacle of a tall spacious hill with a pretty awesome view if she did say so herself.

He shut off the shuttle and stepped outside allowing the warm air to wash over them with a hiss. Adam tilted his head back, nose raised as he took in a deep breath and sigh, “Wow.” he muttered.

Sunny didn’t have as good a sense of smell as Adam did, but even she could detect the clear crisp air and the slight tang of dewdrops on moist soil. The smell made her hungry as they walked a little further onto the top of the hill, where a strange tree waited for them.

The tree itself was not dissimilar to earth trees, maybe twenty feet tall with a narrow black trunk and spongy yellow blobs sticking to it’s branches blocking out a distant glowing sun. Together they turned to look at the view, and Sunny hummed with pleasure as the human stood open mouthed and gawking.

The ground they stood on was a light greyish blue in color with little yellow flowers poking up every now and again. The tree they stood next to was the only lone tree upon the hill which sloped down into a wide- rambling valley. Purple and blue plant matter made up much of the ground while yellow topped trees added a sharp contrast. The sky above them was a deep blue, almost too dark to be a morning sky, though the sun shone bright through its murky blue haze. And then there were the planet's rings appearing as Massive white arches in the sky which plunged down below the horizon. A crystal blue/purple lake glowed at the center of the valley, reflecting a mirror image of the sun and the rings in the sky above.

“Holy, shit, Adam muttered.”

“Nice view, huh.”

Adam rubbed his eyes and shook his head a few times as if he wasn’t believing what he was seeing, “No kidding.”

Leaving him to gawk for a few seconds, she grabbed the blanket from under his arm and then awkwardly worked to spread it out over the grass under the shade of their lone tree.

She was having trouble, but just managed to flatten the blanket out most of the way when Adam turned to look at her. He paused and raised an eyebrow again, smiling a little, “What are you doing?”

She smoothed out one last wrinkle and then took a seat on the blanket legs stretched out in front of her, “What does it look like.”

He walked over as she plopped the ammo can down between them.

He shook his head, “I’m still not entirely sure.”

Sunny reached out and flipped open the latches to the large canister popping open the lid. Adam peered inside and all at once began to laugh. The smile on his face was enough to tell that it wasn’t a mocking laugh or anything. He just seemed genuinely surprised.

He reached inside and pulled out a water bottle still laughing, “An Ammo can?”

She shrugged, “I am told a picnic basket is usually preferable, but we didn’ have one of those on the ship.”

Adam continued to laugh shaking his head in either disbelief delight or both, “What prompted all this.” He asked motion towards the  ammo can, now picnic basket.

She shrugged, “I have been made aware that we do a lot of things that are very Drev, but not a lot of things that are particularly human, so I thought maybe I should do something human for you.”

He still had a smile on his face, but this time he shook his head resting one hand over hers, “Its thoughtful of you, Sunny, but I was ok with what we were doing.”

She shrugged, “I know you are, but you often let me have my way, so I thought it would be a good way to show you that I care, to do something that I have never done before.”

He smiled and lay back against the blanket a soft breeze tugging at his shirt, “Well consider mission accomplished. This was a pretty great idea.” He cracked his one good eye to look at her, “So, who did you ask?”

Sunny shrugged a bit sheepishly, “it was Maverick’s idea, but I DID go looking for her myself.”

“Maverick? That sly dog, I would never have pegged her as the type to come up with something like this.”

“Yeah she is….. Hmmm… how shall I say.”

“She should have been born Drev. I don’t think she has ever dated anyone but I’m pretty sure she would consider kicking the snot out of someone the perfect way to spend an afternoon.”

“She does have the heart of a Drev.” Sunny said nodding, leaning back on the blanket next to him to stare up at the great rings in the sky above.

Adam chuckled again after a few minutes of silence, “Ammo can.”

“Shut up.”

He laughed again and sat up on one elbow digging through the canister until he came up with a sandwich before sitting himself cross legged on the blanket and taking a bite.

Sunny reached in after him and pulled out an apple.

She liked human fruit, though with apples she had to be careful to avoid the seeds. Humans could probably handle them without too much issue, but she had learned from experience that accidentally ingesting an apple seed made her very, very sick.

Adam was about halfway through his sandwich, when a slight movement from the corner of her eye caught Sunny’s attention. She paused eating her apple mid crunch and turned to look towards the movement.

She paused, eyes widening a little.

“Adam…. Don’t look now, but we have company.”

He paused, sandwich halfway to his mouth and turned his head pausing and staring as she had done as a troop of fuzzy foot and a half tall- bird-ish things came waddling up the hill towards them.

Again at about a foot and a half tall, the creatures walked on two legs like a bird. They had very big fluffy bodies and little heads that sat atop their ample fluff. A short thick beak sat at the front of their faces.

“Stay very still.” Sunny muttered from the corner of her mouth as the little troop of about fifteen creatures waddled up the hill.

They didn’t seem scared of the two strange looking aliens as they approached. Adam, despite Sunny’s warning leaned over to get a better look as one of them moved closer, “what are these?”

The creature was now only a foot or so away from him, and as Sunny watched, it’s small head rose up from it’s fluffy body suspended on the end of it’s long furry neck as it extended and nibbled at Adam’s sandwich.

He let off an exclamation of indignation as he pulled his sandwich away, “Ack!”

As soon as the strange noise came out from his mouth a chorus of other voices followed, “ACK.” As the entire troop parreted the sound back at him.

He was surrounded now on all sides, and from his opposite side another fo the creature’s extended his neck in an attempt to take a bit from his sandwich.

“Hey!” he shouted leaning the other way and huddling closer around his sandwich.

Sunny laughed, watching as the strange troop of birds began curiously pecking at him.

Two of them were pecking at his bootlaces, another was tugging at his pant leg. One of them had crawled into his lap in search of the sandwich, while two others were busy plucking at strands of hair atop his head. He had his hand raised high over his head in order to protect his sandwich. 

She continued to laugh as their curiosity led one to stick it’s head down the front of his shirt.

He yelped in surprise.

And the group chorused the sound.

Sunny couldn’t hold back the loud barking laugh that spilled from hier, and just like that the group of them scrambled in fear hiding behind Adam in an unruly mob.

Adam frowned, and turned to look over his shoulder, looking back at Sunny with a frown.

One of the birds poked its head out from behind Adam, and upon seeing her it parroted Adam’s yelp of alarm and hid again, “Why aren’t they all over you?” Adam protested 

Sunny snorted, “They can sense the danger.”

Adam frowned, ‘i’m dangerous.”

That made sunny laugh again, “You! You’re a marshmallow and they can sense it!”

Two more heads poked out from around Adam’s back, and the birds slowly began to wadner forward. One of them crawled back onto his lap, while the others moved to their palace at his bootlaces again.

A couple of them wandered over to sunny where they stood in a semi straight line to just stare at her. She stared back 

Adam huffed in frustration, and Sunny turned to look at him, holding his sandwich above his head again, “I could eat you for lunch if I wanted.” He pointed over at Sunny, “She’s a herbivore.”

They didn’t seem to care, and continued to peck at him.

Eventually he was forced to stand up just to eat his sandwich, while they parroted any noise he made that wasn’t speech.

Sunny stood after he was finished eating, walking a little ways down the hill with him. The troop followed in a line at Adam’s heels, keeping to his left, where Sunny was on his right.

“Leave it to you to immediately make new alien friends.”

He squeezed her hand, “You have to admit, I’m pretty good at it.” He looked up at her out of the corner of his eye, “You being exhibit A.”

“Hmmm, I think you were a bit too good when it comes to me.”

His mouth twitched slightly, “Yeah, I sort of didn’t intend to make you fall head over heels for me.” She smiled openly now, “But who could blame you. I am pretty irresistible.”

Sunny would later insist that she shoved him very lightly, and he was just off balance enough to fall over and go rolling halfway down the hill with a troop of birds squawking after him. She would also deny the fact that she laughed when a few of the birds lost their footing and went rolling down the hill after him.

Of course she could be seen awkwardly running down the hill after to see if he was ok, only to come to a stop laughing again when she found him sprawled on his back with one of the creatures sitting atop his chest and another one pecking at his ears. She carried him back up the hill when he proved unable to walk due to dizziness.

“I thought you were a fighter pilot immune to dizziness.” She said 

He crossed his arms just over the bird who had refused to get off his chest, and was not receiving a ride back up the hill courtesy of Sunny, “I AM but only when given warning. Generally I am not launched into flight without my knowledge.”

She snorted as she turfed him down back on the blanket, The bird squawking indignantly,

He frowned at it, “What is this?”

After a few minutes, the others followed, returning to their curious adventuring in his clothes and hair. One of them stuck it’s head into his sleeve without warning pradding him in the armpit and forcing him to make another yelping noise which they soon parroted back at him.

Sunny sat pointing and laughing at him as he suffered, though it could hardly count as suffering considering he was smiling so much, and seemed to be more than enjoying it. 

Her sides hurt with how much laughing she was doing as his expense and couldn’t help but take a few pictures of his predicament. 

It would have seemed strange to an outsider,, if they had come around a few hours later.

A drev and a human lying atop a blanket. The human using the Drev as a pillow, while both of them were surrounded by strange sleeping birdlike creatures, one resting on top of the human while the others hunkered down around them.

Eyes still closed Sunny asked, “So, despite our…. Uninvited guests. Did I do good.:

Adam didn’t open his eyes either, “This is probably the best time Ive had in the past week ,and that’s saying something.” he paused, “You did good.”

She smiled, “I know, I’m pretty amazing.”

[mysticstronomy]

NEARBY ANCIENT DWARF GALAXIES HAVE A SURPRISING AMOUNT OF DARK MATTER??

Blog#62                                                      Saturday, February 13th ,2021

Welcome back,

Around the milky way, there are literally dozens of dwarf galaxies that continue to be slowly absorbed into our own. These galaxies are a major source of interest for astronomers because they can teach us a great deal about cosmic evolution, like how smaller galaxies merged over time to create larger structures. Since they are thought to be relics of very first galaxies in the universe, they are also akin to “galactic fossils.” Recently, a team of astrophysicists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) observed one of the most ancient of these galaxies (Tucana II) and noticed something unexpected. At the edge of the galaxy, they observed stars in a configuration that suggest that Tucana II has an extended Dark matter halo. These findings imply that the most ancient galaxies in the universe had more dark matter than previously thought.

The research was led by physics grad student Anirudh Chiti of MIT’s Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, and Anna Frebel – the silverman Family Career Development Associate Professor of Physics at MIT. They were joined by multiple colleagues from Kavil, as well as the Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, ANU’s Research school of Astronomy and Astrophysics, and UC Berkeley. To recap, Dark matter refers to the invisible mass that astronomers began  theorizing about during the 1960s. It accounts for 85% of the matter in the universe and about one – quarter of its total mass – energy density. While all attempts to find a candidate particle for Dark Matter have not met with success (thus far), scientists are able to observe its influence on large – scale structure (like galaxies and galaxy clusters).

A perfect example of this is Dark Matter Halos, which refers to a local concentration of mass that permeates and surrounds galaxies, groups, and galaxy clusters and holds them together. The presence of these halos is determined by observing the rotation curves of galaxies and the motions of galaxies in groups and clusters, which astronomers noticed did not accord with the amount of matter they can see (aka. “luminous matter”). Tucana II is an ultra-faint dwarf galaxy located about 163,000 light – years from earth in the directions of the Tucana constellation. Based on the age of its stars (all old and very faint red stars) and its low metallicity, Tucana II is one of the most primitive dwarf galaxies known. Previously, astronomers had identified stars around its core with such low metal content that the galaxy was deemed the oldest of known ultra – faint dwarf galaxies.

For the sake of their study, chiti, Frebel, and their team observed Tucana II to see if this ancient galaxy might contain even older stars – the study of which could offer insight into the formation of the universe’s first galaxies. It is estimated that these formed roughly 13 billion years ago, just 800 million years after the big bang. To test this, they obtained data from the skyMapper Telescope, an optical ground – based telescope in Australia. We then applied an imaging filter to find stars with particularly low metal levels and identified the observations in combination with an algorithm (developed by Chiti). In addition to the previously identified stars near the core, they observed nine new stars at the edge of Tucana II. They also said they were in a composition that suggested they were involved in the gravitational pull of the galaxy. This is surprising given how far it is from the core, suggesting that Tucana II has a spread of dark matter halos that are three to five times larger than previously thought. I will. “Tucana II has much more mass than we thought it would be to bind these distant stars,” Chiti said. “This means that the first galaxies of other relics probably also have this kind of extended halo.”

Chiti and Frebel followed up on these results using data previously obtained by the Magellan Clay Telescope. Las Campanas Observatory In Chile. These observations suggested that the nine new stars are even less metal (older) than those in the core. These results are the first evidence that ultra-weak dwarf galaxies can expand halos and have a significant impact on cosmology. As Frebel explained: “This probably also means that the earliest galaxies formed in much larger dark matter halos than previously thought. We have thought that the first galaxies were the tiniest, wimpiest galaxies. But they actually may have been several times larger than we thought, and not so tiny after all. “ Furthermore, the imbalance between the old stars near the core and the old stars in the suburbs may indicate that Tucana II may have been the product of one of the first mergers in the universe. This process of “galaxy cannibalism” is constantly occurring throughout the universe today, 3.75 billion years Between Andromeda Galaxy adjacent to the Milky Way..

However, until now, it was unclear whether early galaxies merged in a similar manner. In this regard, Frebel argues that what they have observed may be another first. 

“We may be seeing the first signs of cannibalism in a galaxy. One galaxy may have eaten one of its slightly smaller, more primitive neighbors, which is all stars. Spilled into the suburbs. Tucana II is finally eaten by the Milky Way. There is no mercy. And this ancient galaxy may have its own cannibalistic history. There are probably many more, and probably all, systems with these stars flashing around“. In the near future, the team plans to use this same approach to observe other ultra-weak dwarf galaxies around the Milky Way. If you happen to find many other examples of very old stars orbiting near the edge of a dwarf galaxy, it means that dark matter played a particularly important role in the merger and subsequent evolution of ancient galaxies. indicate.

COMING UP!!

(Wednesday, February 17th ,2021)

“IS IT POSSIBLE TO SAFELY JUMP INTO A BLACK HOLE??”

[jeontaeh]

THREE³

There was an awkward silence.

The only sound in the room was, well, none because there's no goddamn sound in space. Just their breathing, little clanks from here and there, and the small woosh of the engine.

There were 7 of them, and none of them spoke. Jungkook had his head in his hands. Taehyung was looking out the big window. Jimin looked distraught and a little heartbroken. Yoongi was drinking from a flask and everyone was pretending they didn't see. Hoseok was on the chair with his legs propped up on the side of the chair. Jin was lying on the floor face first.

Namjoon was the only one doing shit. He had his tablet out, pressing quick buttons on his tablet and then on the communications table.

"Engineering, you don't know shit about Communications. Get off before you accidentally contact that planet full of cannibal aliens." Yoongi said, and Namjoon pursed his lips.

"I have a name." Namjoon snapped, and Yoongi scoffed. "Right Sorry- uh- Seokjin."

"That's me." Jin said, raising his head a bit to look at Yoongi. "Oh shit, sorry." Yoongi said.

"It's fine, Jimin." Yoongi said, and Jimin sighed. "I'm Jimin."

"I don't know which one of them is Taehyung and which is Jungkook." Hoseok admitted, looking at the ceiling of the ship.

"The one that doesn't look like a wanna be android is Jungkook." Jungkook said, and Taehyung scoffed.

"The one who doesn't look like he just dipped his head in period blood is Taehyung." Taehyung retorted.

"Yeah.. your mom's." Jungkook mumbled back, and Taehyung just ave him a pissed off look.

Namjoon yelled. "Ah!"

Everyone shut up. "Jesus Christ- what's wrong?" Jin asked, and Namjoon placed the tablet down and groaned. "No signal. No fucking signal."

"Maybe- maybe we should move? At least try and find the Galactic patrol to get through to the other galaxy-" Jimin suggested, and Namjoon sighed. "We can't. There's no patrol here. This entire place and the galaxies on either side are undiscovered territory. So we're alone."

"Ugh. Can't we go to that galaxy which has that planet which is all girls?" Jungkook asked, and Taehyung scoffed.

"We're stuck in the middle of nowhere and you;re thinking about girls? What are you, straight?" Taehyung asked, and Jungkook shot him a glare.

"I am." Jungkook snapped, and Jimin gasped. "Really? I've never met a straight person before." Jimin said, and Jin hummed. "Me either."

It took planet earth many years and year, but somehow, more than 60% of the population of Humans were bisexual. The 40% was the people who liked one gender. But it's fine. Everything's accepted, it's fucking 3418. No one was homophobic. They left that shit behind a thousand years ago.

"Y'know what, I think it's best if we don't move. Just stay in one spot, until we get some help. Mrs. Tin-"

"Yin."

"Mrs. Yin will send some help, of course she will. We just need to waist. And there doesn't seem to be any disturbance the satellites are picking up around us, so we are fine." Namjoon said, and the guys hummed in agreement.

Another awkward silence.

"Let's play a game." Hoseok said, and everyone looked at him. "A game? What are we, 4 years old?"

"Do you have anything better to do? Exactly. So let's just get to know each other because I don't know shut about anyone." Hoseok said, and then Namjoon hummed.

"Yeah, that's cool. I'll go first. I'm Kim Namjoon, I'm 21, and I spend most of my time in the library." Namjoon said, and Jin chuckled.

"Heyy- you're that guy that helped me with my homework that one time. Thanks, man." Jin said, and Namjoon gave him a look and smiled a little. "Yup. I'm that guy."

"Great. My turn. I'm Jung Hoseok, also 21, and I really like dancing and fixing shit, which is why I'm in engineering."

"Cool. I'm Jin, 23. You guys probably know me. Like, not know-know me. But know me. I'm pretty popular." Jin said, and the guys hummed. "Yeah, we know you, Jin. You're like, president of every club you join."

"True."

"Okay I'm Park Jimin. I'm 20. I just found out my girlfriend cheated on me with that guy," Jimin said, whose eyes widened. "And though I want to kill him, we'll probably get home soon, and I don't have that kind of energy in my life." Jimin said with a smile, and then sat down.

Jungkook cleared his throat, giving a small smile to Jimin, who ignored it. Yoongi stood up.

"I'm 22 and I'm tired." Yoongi said, and then sat back down.

"Is your name 22 or is it tired?"

"Shut the fuck up."

"Got it."

"Okayyy- I'm Kim Taehyung. I'm 20. My mother is one eighth jupiterian, which is why I have grey eyes-"

"Your dad fucked an alien?!" Jungkook asked, and Taehyung frowned at him. Everyone paused for a second, and then Jungkook realised what he said came out weird, and he cleared his throat.

"I mean- oh my god your dad fucked an alien.. congrats." Jungkook said quickly, looking down. Taehyung pursed his lips and then looked back at the other guys.

"....Anyways. I like reading books from time to time." Taehyung said, and Jungkook arched his eyebrow.

"What's that?"

"Huh?" Taehyung said.

"What's a book?"

"Oh my god."

"No I'm serious-"

"It's like words but written on paper and shit." Jin said, and Jungkook frowned. "Paper? Like that shit from trees? People used to skin trees?"

"Oh my god are you fucking dumb?" Taehyung snapped, and Jungkook pursed his lips at his words and then huffed and stood up.

"I'm Jungkook. I like space exploration because going out in space is fun. I'm 18." Jungkook said, and then sat back down.

"Going out in space is fun- Jesus Christ, couldn't get a dumber answer. Makes sense since you;re a child." Taehyung mumbled, rubbing his face with his hands, and Jungkook frowned.

"I'm literally 2 years younger than you,"

"You're a baby."

"Fight fight fight fight-" Yoongi started chanting, and Jimin giggled at him. Taehyung turned away from Jungkook and faced the rest of the guys, who all looked bored.

Another awkward silence.

"Hey what if that woman just left us and we're here all alone forever?" Jin said, and everyone gulped, because the fact that the statement was plausible scared the shit out of everyone.

"Guess we'll just die." Yoongi said, and Jimin giggled again, playfully nudging his foot.

"We won't die. No one's dying. Not yet, we're only 20-"

"Jungkook's 18."

"Dude shut the FUCK up-"

"Holy shit someone get silver away from cherry over here," Hoseok said quickly, and Jungkook just got up and walked away himself, feeling a little annoyed, staring daggers at Taehyung.

"Okay, good thing is. We have two engineers, two communications, one medical, and two explorers." Namjoon said, and Hoseok hummed. "Don't really need two engineers."

"I know, but the more the merrier I guess." Namjoon said.

"That's what she said," Jungkook giggled, and then looked at Namjoon, laughing with his mouth open, until Namjoon didn't laugh and Jungkook shut up, looking forward.

"Holy shit this is awkward. I'm gonna take a tour of the ship." Yoongi said, and then stood up. "I'll come with." Hoseok mumbled, and he got up with him and they walked to the other side of the ship whee the other rooms were.

"I wanna go check out the kitchen in this place." Jimin said, and Jin stood up. "I'll come." And they both walked out.

Namjoon was still looking at the communications table, pressing some stuff, muddling around files and information. Jungkook gave him a look, and then turned and saw Taehyung standing beside him.

"Wanna check out the rooms?" Taehyung asked, and Jungkook frowned. "With you?"

"Or you could just sit around here and bask in your piss. Jesus- I'm just asking." Taehyung snapped, and both heard Namjoon sigh.

"Can you kids get out of here? I'm trying to work." Namjoon said, and Jungkook and Taehyung both paused at his words and just found themselves nodding and walking out of the control room.

"So, Kim Taehyung. Funny I never noticed you on campus." Jungkook mumbled, and Taehyung smirked as the two continued walking through the halls of this ship. "Why, because I'm so attractive?"

"No, because I wouldn't notice someone cosplaying as the tin man for sure." Jungkook replied cockily, and Taehyung raised his eyebrow.

"It's my natural hair colour, unlike you.... Wannabe little mermaid headass." Taehyung retorted under his breath, and Jungkook rolled his eyes, and they kept walking.

They finally reached the plate with the rooms, and saw 8 rooms. Both grinned, thankful they were getting their own rooms, at least. They entered one, and then gasped.

"Dude it's like a hotel room in here, holy shit." Jungkook whispered, and it truly was. The floor was carpeted and the beds were big and plush and there were huge windows lining the wall, along with dim lights that turned on because, y-know, lights were activated by kinetic energy now.

There was a bare wall on the other side of the bed, and Taehyung placed his hand on the wall, and a screen showed up, and it read Welcome on it.

"Welcome indeed." Taehyung said, tracing his hand over the screen.

Jungkook snickered. "That's what she said."

"What?"

"Like- well come." Jungkook said, and Taehyung looked at him for a few seconds. "Like- it's- it's a joke on- it's a play on words on orgasming-"

"Dude, I get it. I'm just not 12 so I didn't find it funny." Taehyung mumbled, and Jungkook rolled his eyes.

"Oh my god, you're so fucking high strung I assume you're walking around with a dildo up your ass," Jungkook snapped, and Taehyung looked at him, his silver eyes darkening.

"What did you just say?" Taehyung said lowly, and Jungkook pushed past him, walking out of the room. Jungkook saw Jin and Jimin holding a whole basket in their hands.

"You guys there's so much food in here! Like, everything!" Jimin squealed, and Jin grinned happily and both of them giggled and rushed to the little dining room place with hovering chairs and what not.

Yoongi and Hoseok walked out of the lounge room, and they were both grinning. "So fucking cool."

"I know right."

"What?" Taehyung asked, and Hoseok and Yoongi looked at them. "The lounge has one of those 6d virtual headsets and it has all the video games we like." Hoseok said, and they both continued talking to each other while walking into the lounge.

Namjoon walked out of the control room, cursing under his breath and placing his tablet against the wall, it's inbuilt wall mount acting up. Namjoon looked frustrated, so Taehyung sighed.

"Namjoon, don't worry. We'll get communications somehow. Let's just go eat for now." Taehyung said, and Namjoon nodded, giving Taehyung a grateful smile.

"Thanks Taehyung. I'm just worried we'll be stuck here for longer than a day or two." Namjoon said, and then two responses came at once.

"We'll be fine!"

"We're fucked."

Namjoon and Taehyung glared at Jungkook, who scoffed. "What! Am I wrong?"

"No, but just learn to keep your mouth shut sometimes, cherry." Taehyung snapped, and Jungkook frowned as Taehyung gave Namjoon a sheepish shrug and they both snickered and walked into the dining room.

Jungkook, standing alone outside, huffed. "Cherry." Jungkook grumbled under his breath, and then walked into the dining room, seeing all the guys sitting on either sides of the table, some laughing.

"Yo this shit is so good," Hoseok said, biting into the pizza, while the other hummed in agreement, also digging into the food. Jungkook walked up to there, and grinning sarcastically.

"Great. There's six seats.2 Jungkook said, and Taehyung looked at him. "There are more dining rooms."

"I don't wanna sit alone." Jungkook snapped, and then decided to just stand and eat, because it's better than leaving. Jungkook grabbed a piece of fried chicken and bit into it, and moaned a little.

"Holy fuck, that's good." Jungkook said, and Taehyung scoffed.

"In other news, a chicken leg turns an 18 year old on." Taehyung said in a news anchor voice, and Jimin laughed.

"Isn't this kind of weird?" Namjoon asked, and the boys looked at him. "Like- there's so much food.. and they don't stock the food until one or two days before takeoff. But from what I know, the Space Nova wasn't supposed ready to launch  for at least another year. So why's there so much food here?"

Everyone stilled, but Jungkook continued biting into his fried chicken, and then gasped. "Ohh- Jin pass the mayo." Jungkook said, and everyone looked at him, and Jungkook blushed lightly and just grabbed the mayo himself.

"That is weird, Namjoon. It's weirder how no one stopped us from entering it properly. I mean, if the kitchen is stocked, technically that means this ships should've been taking off in a day or two, right? But I didn't see any cleaners or mechanics working on this ship." Yoongi said.

"Yeah. Usually before a ship, especially as big as this one, is due to venture out- there's many cleaners and people working in and out to make sure it's safe. 7 kids like us shouldn't have been allowed to just walk in with such little supervision.." Jin said, and everyone paused again, looking down at their food.

"Holy shit chocolate covered strawberries." Jungkook piped, and the guys looked at him in annoyance again as Jungkook reached forward to grab some.

"Jungkook I think you should just sit in the other dining room from now." Jimin suggested, and Jungkook frowned, and then they heard some loud beeping.

Message Alert. Message Alert. Message Alert.

Namjoon shot up in an instant and ran out, and everyone dropped their food and rushed out as well. Jungkook sighed, and then grabbed his drink and ran to the control room.

There was a big calling screen on the big window in the control room, and Namjoon pressed a button. "Mr. Disung?" Namjoon asked in relief, seeing the head of their University sitting against a chair, looking at a screen as well, probably.

Yes yes, hello. Kim Namjoon, right?" He said on the monitor, and Namjoon nodded, grinning.

"Sir, thank you so much for contacting us. We've been trying all day. We really just need some assistance from the Galactic Navy to get here, and-"

"Things aren't that easy, boys. There's no other ship like the Space Nova. None that travels that fast. Taking a normal ship and getting to where you are will take a long time." Mr. Disung said, and the boys frowned.

"W-what? Can't you- can't you do something, sir? We can't be stuck here for a long time- we'll run out of supplies!" Hoseok said, and Mr. Disung sighed.

"Here's the thing, boys," Mr. Disung said, and then smiled gravely. "Your safety is our utmost priority."

"Then act like it!" Jungkook said, and Taehyung smacked his head from behind, shutting him up.

"However, we understand how-how fatal this can be to the media. If they find out that the Navy let go of seven students aboard a mega ship, we'll get major backlash." Mr. Disung said.

"Oh no that's so sad." Yoongi said, not a hint of sadness in his tone. "But when can we come home?"

"Boys, I've talked to my superiors. And they've advised me this. We suggest you make your way back to Proioxis yourselves." Mr. Disung said.

"What?!" Jimin snapped, and Mr. Disung nodded. They couldn't help but notice how Mr. Disung kept looking off camera, almost nervously, like he was reading lines. "The Galactic Navy has decided that you seven can provide us some help. Make your way back to Proioxis, and in between, perhaps complete some missions for us and venture in some planets. You have explorers with you, right?"

Mr. Disung looked right at Jungkook and Taehyung, who huffed, both scowling.

"Wait- sir, we're like, 20. We don't know much about this- it-it could be dangerous. Are you sure the Navy said to leave us hanging out here to come back on our own?" Namjoon asked, and Mr. Disung, again looked off camera, gulped, and looked back.

"Yes. Yes you will come back on your own. We'll try to contact you and give you directions the best that we can. We have sent you a map for the way back. It should take around two weeks, but you will be fine." Mr. Disung chuckled, and before anyone could protest, the call ended. And on the screen popped up a file.

Map to Proioxis Cloud

"What the fuck?" Jin let out, looking at them. "This- this is... not okay." Jin said, and Namjoon nodded, looking torn and confused and both.

"How can they just leave us without any back up? We don't have rayguns, or-or anything." Yoongi said.

"I don't know if that food will last two weeks." Jimin piped.

"I don't know if we'll last two weeks." Yoongi mumbled.

"What if we get lost?" Hoseok said, and Jungkook gulped.

"Is-is this bad?" Jungkook asked, and the guys looked a bit sympathetic, but Taehyung groaned.

"Yes, Cherry, it's bad. We could die." Taehyung said, and Jungkook gulped, tugging on his bottom lip with his teeth.

"Hey hey, guys, let's not lose hope. We have a map, right? And it's just two weeks. It could be much worse. Plus, we can just call the Galactic Navy or Mr. Disung whenever we need help. We're fine. We- we have two explorers. Two communications. One medical. And two engineers. We're more than fine." Namjoon said, trying to lighten the mood.

"But no Captain." Jungkook pointed out, and Yoongi nodded. "Yeah. No Captain."

There was a small silence, and then suddenly all the boys looked up and looked at Namjoon, who was looking at the floor tentatively. Namjoon felt eyes on him, and looked up, and frowned when he saw the six boys looking at him with wide eyes.

"Why... are you all staring at me?"

"You can be our captain!" Jimin said, and the guys grinned, but Namjoon scowled.

"What? No, I'm only 21-"

"And?? Dude, you're proved to be good at communications and engineering. And as I said, we don't need two engineers." Hoseok said, and Taehyung hummed.

"Don't need two explorers either."

"Shut the fuck-"

"Are you guys sure?" Namjoon asked, and then Jin walked up to him.

"Namjoon, you'll be a good leader. You're perfect for this role. Plus, didn't you want to be captain?" Jin asked, and then smiled with Namjoon blushed a little. "Exactly. So get your butt on that chair and let's get moving, Mr. Captain." Jin grinned, and Namjoon did as well, and then walked over to the Captain's chair and sat down slowly.

"This is the hottest thing I've ever done." Namjoon whispered, placing his arms on the armrest of the chair.

"Chair kink.." Jungkook whispered, and Taehyung tried to elbowed him lightly. Jungkook grabbed his elbow before he could do anything though, and Taehyung turned and saw Jungkook standing kind of close.

"Nice wenis." Jungkook whispered to him, and Taehyung scowled.

"What the fuck?"

"This." Jungkook said, and then touched the skin on Taehyung's elbow. "It's called a wenis." Jungkook said, and Taehyung watched as Jungkook started laughing, and Taehyung just pulled his arm back, rolling his eyes with a small smirk on his face.

"Somehow, by being in the middle of all of this, being stuck with you might be the hardest part, Cherry." Taehyung said, and Jungkook gave him a small smile.

"You'll learn to love me." Jungkook replied, and Taehyung looked at him for a few seconds, and then they both heard coughing.

"Silver and Red are flirting, I repeat, Silver and Red-"

"Shut up, Jimin." Jungkook snapped, and Jimin giggled, getting a whack on the head by Taehyung. "Hey! I'm just practicing for when you guys go out to explore."

"The real question is- who's the Dora and who's the Boots." Yoongi said, and then winked, making all of them laugh. Taehyung snickered and rolled his eyes, but Jungkook frowned in confusion.

"How does that even make sense?"

✫  ✬  ✭  ✬  ✫

https://jeontaeh.tumblr.com/post/647226081649328128/four%E2%81%B4

[sparatus]

🎵 + Saren? 👀👀

Any Means Necessary - HammerFall [lyrics] / [spotify] / [youtube]

I am not judgemental A sinner nor a saint Cause either you're my best friend or you ain't

Come gather here around me, Feel my breath under your skin I'm deadly only when I'm getting caught

Counting down to zero, I'm a soldier without soul No mercy, have mercy, no mercy on your soul

in general i associate saren with heavy metal, the noisier and more aggressive the better. specifically, sound-wise, i think a blend of amaranthe and amon amarth is a good match for him, with splashes of powerwolf for the dramatics. i mentioned somewhere in my fic he listens to a band called galactic cannibals a lot, they’re a turian goth metal band i made up that in my head sound pretty close to that.

Send me a ♫ + a character’s name and I will respond with a song that reminds me of them. Send a ♫ + a ship and I will do the same.

[ir0n-angel]

Another Tag Game

Tagged by @crackinglamb. Thank you, dear.💖

Nickname: Angel

Zodiac: Virgo

Height: 5′10″ or 1.78m

Hogwarts house: ...nah, no thanks.

Last thing I googled: Mostly likely a definition for a word, because occasionally I forget what a random English word means.

Song(s) stuck in my head: A Phineas & Ferb song

Number of followers: 149 (I diligently cull pornbots, else I’d have a lot more.)

Hours of sleep: 3-6ish

Lucky number: 14

Dream job: Ew, capitalism. For the love of it, I would like to be a forensic geologist. For the compassion of it, I’d be a mortician.

Currently wearing: Cargos, striped tee, flannel overshirt, and fleece socks.

Favorite fanfic authors:  Crackinglamb. I’m sorry, everyone else; I haven’t been able to read anything lately.

Favorite instrument: Drums.

Aesthetic: Aging punk on the street, “I’ve been stuck indoors for 11 months wearing ratty t-shirts and no shoes” in the sheets.

Favorite song: Too many to list. Magnum Bullets by Night Runner, Dan Avidan has been on heavy rotation lately.

Favorite animal noise: Wolf howl

Random: I have a strong track record in predicting things, but struggle to get people to listen to me, so I adopted the name Kassandra.

Tagging @st0nergh0ul @madangel19 @elizabethtaylor9 @galactic-cannibalism @the-desert-dancer @hayleys-posts and anyone else wanting to play.