#i've been watching interstellar

[plumblobs]

so what if i built a little doctor's office

[cougheemedicine]

Distance Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

Jing Yuan x GN!Reader

Word count: 2463

Warnings: Nudity, suggestive but nothing explicit (they bathe together), drinking (drink responsively kids), no beta we just die, the impending wrath of Fu Xuan, ooc? I've never written him before, I think that's it?

Content: Fluff, some angst right at the end but all is resolved, established relationship, Reader is a long-living species, Reader is shorter than Jing Yuan, other characters mentioned, they're whipped your honor

Summary: Due to your position in the Xianzhou Luofu's sky-faring commission, you are rarely home. Often gone for months at a time. Your dear husband never copes well with your time apart. He always makes sure to make up for lost time.

˜”*°•.•°*”˜

   The ground under your feet slipped away before you knew it. So this is how it ends, this is how you die. Not the worst death one could have, you supposed.

       “General-“ A dying wheeze escapes you, “General, I can’t breathe.”

       Met only with a huff that sounded more annoyed than agreeing, the crushing weight on your ribcage lessens. If only slightly. Not enough for your feet to touch the ground, but enough for you to wiggle your arms out from where they were pinned to your sides, wrapping them around your husband’s shoulders.

       “I’ve missed you,” Low and hoarse, the deep baritone of Jing Yuan’s voice sends a shiver down your spine. You sigh, relenting to your husband’s affections. It had been months since you’d seen each other last. As the fleet-master of the Luofu’s sky-faring commission, one of your most important duties was to craft interstellar maps for all of the Luofu to use. The only way to do that was to go on the missions yourself, which could last between six to nine months.

       For the long-living Xhianzhou natives, nine months passed in the blink of an eye. For your beloved, equally as long-living husband? Nine months was torturous. The man laid his head on your shoulder, inhaling deeply. You debated on whether you should drag him back to work to avoid the wrath of Lady Fu Xuan on your doorstep in an hour’s time, or repent and simply bask in the presence of your man. Who was real and tangible, embracing you instead of hushed words through a disembodied voice on the other side of your phone, or a pixelated figure sitting bored at a meeting you had to attend via a live hologram.

       As his hand slowly rubbed up and down your back, his other hand supporting you while you still dangled in the air. You found the decision easy to make. You craned your head, pressing your lips to his hairline, right above his ear. “I’ve missed you too, my love,”

       But, there was one thing amiss. Even as you felt Jing Yuan smile against the fabric of your shirt. You could also feel the eyes on your back. Both of your crew, and of Luofu citizens. None of the gazes malicious, just a bit invasive. You could also hear the whispers. The giggling and gossiping.

‘The general’s gone soft,’

’Aw, how sweet!’

’How adorable…’

       “People are watching, general,” You spoke up, raising a hand to run through the hair that escaped his ponytail, tightening your hold on the back of his neck to keep yourself up. Jing Yuan sighed contently, pressing a kiss to your shoulder. “Let them,”

       “General, I’d like to bathe, and get out of this armor,” You tugged lightly at his hair, pulling his head from your shoulder so you could look him in the eyes. Any normal person would’ve seen no difference in Jing Yuan’s face, but you were far from normal. After centuries of marriage, you could tell. The curve of his brow, and the pull of his frown. “Stop pouting, general,”

       He rolled his eyes, but smiled nonetheless. That tired, easy smile of his. He set you back on the ground, arms wrapped loosely around your waist. “Stop calling me general, then I’ll let you go,”

       Despite his words, he still let you go. Stepping to your right and linking his arm with yours. You shared a smile as you walked, leaving the port. “Whatever you say, Jing Yuan.”

˜”*°•.•°*”˜

        The sound that leaves your mouth as you sink into the steaming bath water would make even the most stone-faced of war veterans blush. You were never more grateful for the sheer lavishness of the general's residence than when you just return from a mission. The bath of the general's home was better described as a pool. Set in the tile floor, and large enough to fit ten people. The large window on the far wall overlooked the Luofu, saying the whole experience was lavish would be an understatement.

        The feel of tar running in your veins instead of blood finally subsiding as the salts and oils in the water sunk into your skin. You rest your arms on the edge of the bath, letting your head lull onto the tile behind you. You don't focus much on anything, eyes scanning the traditional Xianzhou architecture of the bathroom, and letting your limbs, heavy with fatigue, float weightless in the water.

        "Enjoying yourself, dear?"  Jing Yuan's voice brings you back from your trance, eyes bleary as his feet come into view. You slowly lift your gaze, shamelessly eyeing your husband in a thin robe that was far from befitting a general. He's holding a small, porcelain cup in each hand, intricately decorated, with a bottle of wine under his arm. Oh, how you've missed this. "Very much. Even more so now,"

        "I heard from your co-pilot that you had trouble with some rogue asteroids on your way back to the Luofu," He hums as he sets down the cups and bottle a small ways away from your head, settling behind you with a washcloth.

        You groan "Ugh, I don't want to talk about it. If it weren't for my navigators we wouldn't of been able to come back unscathed,"

        Jing Yuan coaxes you to lean forward, and you let out a rather undignified yelp when the cold soap on the washcloth touches your back. Jing Yuan laughs. you flick water at him.

        "I commend your navigator's skills. They seem very talented," Jing Yuan lathers the soap as he speaks, taking the washcloth across your shoulders and down your back. He then gently takes your right hand, running the washcloth down the length of your arm.

        "Of course they are, I taught them." Jest laces your tone, even as you submerge yourself to the neck to rid yourself of the suds. As you finish, you lay your head on Jing Yuan's crossed legs. Jing Yuan smiles softly, emotion swirling in the single eye you could see. He leans down, pressing his lips to yours. When he pulls back, the washcloth long forgotten, he runs his thumb across your cheekbone, then down the bridge of your nose, and over the curve of your lips. You've long since closed your eyes, a smile pulling at your lips. "Join me?"

        Jing Yuan is silent for a beat, and you lift your head once more. "Your wish is my command."

        Jing Yuan stands, and you watch him walk to the stool you had set your own robe on. You watch him fiddle with the knot at his hip, then slowly shrug off one side of the robe, then the other. Making sure to stretch his arms above his head, allowing you the pleasure of seeing the entire expanse of his back and arms. You can sense the smile playing on his lips, and you know he can sense your staring. He's teasing you. You avert your eyes the moment his robe drops to the floor. 

       You feel him slip into the water beside you, letting out a groan very much like the one you had earlier. He smiles at you, his hand creeping up to the side of your head, guiding it down to rest on his shoulder. The two of you sit in silence a while, simply enjoying each other's presence. Months ago, silence meant sitting alone, in the cramped captain's quarters of your starskiff, charting maps and scribbling reports to send back home. Silence meant nights that seemed endless, hunched over your work, and being far, far away from home. Silence that was so loud you had wished so very hard for moments like this to happen more often. 

        Jing Yuan shifts under your head, offering you one of the cups he had brought in. Wordlessly, you take it, allowing him to pour the wine into your cup, then into his own. "Tell me," You pipe up, swirling the cup under your nose. The scent was light, you watch as he takes a sip "When was the last time we've shared a bottle like this?"

        "I can't say I recall. You're very cruel you know, keeping me waiting so long to repeat moments like this," Jing Yuan downs the rest of the contents of his cup, resuming his previous position at your side. "Fleet Master." 

        "Excuse you, we were right on schedule. Even after the whole event with the asteroids," You grin, playing with the fingers on Jing Yuan's free hand. "General-"

        Jing Yuan surges forward, before you even have half a mind to process, slotting his lips against yours. You hum, his lips taste of wine, and the scent of his shampoo roles off him in waves. One arm slung lazily around your back, the other keeping his cup above the water, he parts from your lips with a gasp, dipping his head to pepper kisses down your jaw and neck. You manage to suck in a breath right as he lifts his head again, mashing your lips together clumsily. Desperately. If you didn't know your husband better, you'd think him drunk. With how careless he was being. The sound of his porcelain cup clattering onto the tile beside you ringing sharp in your ear only proving your thoughts.

        His grip on you tightens, bringing his other hand up to push you even closer together, you throw your arms around his neck to stable yourself. You can feel every dip and contour of his body against yours, the callouses on his hand sliding up your back to between your shoulder blades as he brings you oh so much closer, his loose hair tickling your face when he hunches forward. Kissing you even harder.

        You're the one to pull away. Or perhaps it was him? You don't really have it in you to care.

        The both of you are panting like dogs. You let your arms around his neck go slack, and his hands drop from your back to your hips.

        It's silent again, only your breathing filling the room. Without really thinking, you raise a hand, cupping your husband's cheek. Immediately he leans into your touch, covering your hand with his own and pressing a flurry of kisses to your palm. His face is flushed, pink from his cheeks to his ears, and his lips bruised. Truly a sight for your sore eyes.

        You peck Jing Yuan's cheek, the one you aren't holding, laughing quietly against his skin. He joins you, a deep chuckle that always brought a pleasant warmth to your chest. It was rare for Jing Yuan to laugh to heartily, even rarer for you to even be present to hear it. You don't think you'll ever tire of the sound. He presses his lips to your temple. "I think we better leave before we become prunes,"

        "Always so wise, my dear,"

˜”*°•.•°*”˜

       “Jing Yuan, I can’t walk with you both leaning on me,” You whine. Jing Yuan groans, leaning more of his weight onto you. His grip on the front of your night shirt tightens, wrinkling the light fabric as Mimi curls around your legs, head butting your thigh. A chuffing sound leaves the lion, as if she were laughing at you. Jing Yuan rests his chin on your shoulder, cheeks still pink from the heat of the bath.

        “Don’t be mean, she’s missed you,” He lightens his iron grip on you, running a hand through the fur on Mimi's back. You smell opportunity. You worm your way out of your husband's arms, as warm and comfortable as they are, you still need to walk. Narrowly dodging his hand, fully intent on tugging you right back, you stride on down the corridor. You needn't look back to see Jing Yuan huff and cross his arms, dragging his feet as he follows you.

        The moment you close the sliding door to your shared chambers, you're shoved onto the unnecessarily large bed. Jing Yuan crawls over you as you shuffle up to the pillows. He straddles you, a leg on each side of your torso, keeping you down with a hand on your shoulder. As you settle your hands on his hips, you feel the bed dip once more. From around Jing Yuan, you watch as Mimi sprawls out over the entire foot of the bed. A hand on your chin guides your eyes back to your husband's face. He leans down, kissing you gently. Your hands travel, from his hips to his waist, then up his chest and over his shoulders. You settle your hands in his hair, running your nails over his scalp. Sliding a hand down his nape to his shoulders, you gently push him down, letting him put all his weight on you.

        "This isn't uncomfortable, is it?" Jing Yuan lowly asks, barely above a whisper. He's already shifting his legs, leaving only his chest resting on yours. Always attentive, your Jing Yuan.

        "No love, it's perfectly fine," You sigh, continuing to card your fingers through his hair.

        Jing Yuan hums, pecking your forehead then the tip of your nose. He lowers himself till his head is cushioned by your chest, pressing another kiss to your collar bone before settling down right above your heart, curling his arms around your ribs.

        Mimi huffs, and you hear her breathing become slow. You've certainly missed this. You can feel Mimi's tail sway against your calf in her sleep, and Jing Yuan tightens his grip around you, you can feel his every breath against the thin fabric of your shirt. You continue scratching at his scalp. "Jing Yuan?"

        You hear him mumble something, he throws a leg over yours.

        "I'm sorry I'm away so often," It stings. Whenever you leave. The silent nights holed away in your office, or piloting your vessel. The homesickness eating at you the minute you leave port. Sometimes you can't help but think that having someone so dear be so far away takes a toll that isn't worth the pay off.

        "Distance makes the heart grow fonder, my love," Jing Yuan replies, muffled by the fabric of your shirt, and slurred by exhaustion.

        On second thought. Maybe having someone tying you to your home was a good thing. Who knows if you'd ever return from the stars if someone wasn't waiting at home. Speaking of home...

        "Jing Yuan, how did you convince Qingzu and Lady Fu to leave you be for so long?"

        The man stiffens in your hold.

        "Jing Yuan!"

˜”*°•.•°*”˜

work belongs to @cougheemedicine, all forms of plagiarism, modifying, translating, reposting are not allowed.

[feroluce]

I've only recently started having my own thoughts about Emanator!Sampo and I think my favorite version of this is that he is technically an Emanator, it's just that he doesn't talk about it because Aha is a dick who only blesses people that don't want it and Sampo hates it here dkjxkdkdck

Aha blessed the Mourning Actors! A whole faction of people who have specifically made it their life's mission to resist Elation! THEY made a literal worm THEIR Emanator just to see if it would be accepted into the Genius Society! And when it wasn't, Aha just as easily killed it and tossed it aside! So I feel like there is a good possibility that Aha looked down at Sampo, this little oddball who doesn't seem to even like Epsilon or a lot of the Masked Fools and was like.

Hey.

You know what would be really really funny.

And I feel like being an Emanator wouldn't even be a plus for Sampo, because of how he operates. Sampo excels at blending in; he managed to smuggle himself onto a planet

that had been isolated for 700 years,

with only one (1) single city on it,

and going even further, he snuck himself into the Underground,

where the population is even more sparse,

and STILL. Not a single accusation of him being an alien! Not even after the Astral Express lands and proves that interstellar space travel is possible! Sampo is so thoroughly ingrained into Belobog that yeah, some people admit they don't know his origins, but none of it ever comes with the question of whether he actually is a Belobog native or not. Sampo knows exactly how to blend himself into his surroundings in the most subtle way possible. And being an Emanator, something far more powerful than any normal human or Pathstrider could ever hope to be, would only throw in a massive extra variable for him. Sampo would have to be so so careful to keep a lid on his Emanator traits, to keep up the appearance of being totally normal and average at all times. It doesn't help him at all.

And this part is pure indulgence, but I love taking Aha's closeness with mortals, and THEIR tendency to take human form, and twisting it into a case of THEM using Sampo as a vessel.

I want Aha to look at Sampo the same way all of us look at Sampo. A chew toy. A plaything. Something to shove through the meat grinder. Aha thinks Sampo is hilarious and a funny, silly little guy, and THEY want to put him in Situations just to see what he does. Sampo is not a fan.

This though, this is what makes Sampo so wildly entertaining as a vessel. Because Aha knows that Sampo does not want to be a vessel, does not even want to be an Emanator, and THEY find it SO much fun to watch the mental gymnastics he has to pull to convince himself he's ok with it, this is fine actually, because he's not exactly about to tell off a literal god. He doesn't feel like getting a smiting today, please and thank you.

Because squeezing yourself into a human vessel is so different than merely adopting a human disguise, there's already a human soul in there, it's kind of a tight fit. If Sampo doesn't make room, doesn't all but dissociate right out of his own body, it could cause. Consequences.

And so, Aha always gives a warning, just to watch him squirm.

It begins with the sound of bells.

Just little ones, at first. Small, clinking little sounds that could even be considered nice. Something almost gentle, like a wind chime in a pleasant breeze on a warm day. This is the signal for the countdown.

Sampo breathes in, breathes out. Makes himself as small as possible within his own body.

The bells rise and multiply, tinkling wind chimes give way to sleigh bells, to shopkeepers bells, the sound of something inevitable approaching, something entering.

Sampo breathes in, breathes out. Dilutes himself, weaker and weaker concentrations.

The bells rise and rise, multiply and multiply, celebration and tragedy resonating in the sound of church bells, ringing bright and loud, the sounds of weddings and funerals both the same.

Sampo breathes in, breathes out. Becomes like smoke, like vapor. Hollows himself out.

Empty, empty, empty until he echoes, like a bell, like something with the sole purpose of being shaken and rattled around, a thing to be struck, the sounds jarring and punched out and gasping and piercing the air, the lung, the eardrum.

Sampo breathes in.

Beaten he rings, bashed in he sings.

Aha breathes out.

[deep-space-netwerk]

So I wanna tell y'all about something very near and dear to my heart.

This is the Psyche asteroid, or, at least an artist's representation - we don't know what it actually looks like yet, but this is a fair enough guess. It's a roughly 200 mile wide asteroid in the asteroid belt, and it's made almost entirely out of metal. Its composition makes it unique; it’s the only large metallic body we know of in the entire solar system.

We think it might be the core of what used to be a planet.

When solar systems form, they start out as disks made of interstellar gas and dust, called protoplanetary disks. Here's a picture of HL Tauri, one of the best images of a protoplanetary disk we have.

That dust globs together into larger and larger pieces, and eventually forms hundreds of "planetesimals", which are rocky bodies about a kilometer across. Planetesimals had very erratic orbits compared to the modern planets - the dust of the protoplanetary disk caused friction and drag, which threw them off course.

They frequently collided with each other, and either broke apart or stuck together and grew even larger. Arrokoth is actually a leftover planetesimal, a time capsule from the early solar system, and we were able to visit it wayyy out in the Kuiper belt with the New Horizons probe!

Once planetesimals get to be about the size of the moon, we call them "protoplanets". Protoplanets were fundamentally different from their planetesimal siblings - we believe they were differentiated. When an object in space gets big enough, a combination of radioactive decay, impacts, and gravitational pressure causes them to heat up and melt. Denser materials like iron and nickel sink towards their centers, while the lighter materials rise to the surface. The differentiation process is why Earth's core is made of iron, while the surface is primarily rock.

While protoplanet orbits were much more stable than those of planetesimals, they still eventually collided with each other until everything settled into the planets we see today (though gas giants had a few extra steps - that's a different post!).

We think the Psyche asteroid was a protoplanet, well on its way to becoming a bona fide planet, when an impact struck it hard enough to strip away its rocky layers, leaving behind the dense, metallic core - like in this illustration.

More and more, we think  the properties of a planet's core are fundamental to its long-term evolution. Venus, Earth, and Mars are all roughly the same size and roughly the same distance from the sun, cosmically speaking, yet they're so different! Venus has hell death clouds, Earth is home, and Mars is dry and dead - why?

The Psyche asteroid gives us the unique opportunity to actually observe a planetary core directly - it's much harder to dig to the center of a planet than it is to go to space, so that's exactly what we're going to do!

On Thursday October 12th at 10:16am Eastern, the Psyche spacecraft will launch and begin its journey to the asteroid belt! You can watch at https://www.nasa.gov/nasatv/!

I've been a part of this mission for over four years now, and I can't speak highly enough of the team that made it happen through all of the ups and downs. Good luck out there, buddy. We're all rooting for you :')

[kuwdora]

Saturday Morning Vid Recs - Space and Robots

@tafkarfanfic asked me for vid recs that are similar to the following vids:

Data’s Dream by GayleF (Gayle) and TasheryS which premiered at Escapade in 1994 - made on a VCR!! - and was remastered by morgandawn in 2004. Definitely check out the Fanlore page about Data’s Dream. Star Trek + multi-source.

Starships by bironic. Multi-source. The history of Starships on Fanlore.

These two vids are iconic. Please check them out and learn about their history from the Fanlore page, it's a great look at some vidding history and culture. Amazing vids, do love. As for some recs. I love this kind of prompt. More vids like [this vid] is so much fun. I dug deep into my vid rec archives and brain and bookmarks. I’ve also crowdsourced some recs from the vidding discord. Thank you to @rukbat3, @sandalwoodbox, @fairestcat, @monkeyswithjetpacks, @grammarwoman for the reccing help! And everyone else I might have forgotten.

From Land to Sky - and kicking ass while you're there!

Landsailor by @singlecrow/raven. Multi-source. Swades (We, The People); Master and Commander; 3 Idiots; The Dish; The West Wing; Parks and Recreation; Flight of the Phoenix; NASA archive footage; Apollo 13. ❤️ We're gonna need a bigger boat. Come O’ Eclipse by melodytree. Tenchi: The Samurai Astronomer. Calendar-making! Math puzzles! Astronomy! Politics! Eclipses! Oh my! Galaxyrise by starlady. Multi-source. Apollo 13 (1995), Interstellar (2014), Gravity (2013), Europa Report (2013), Contact (1997), The Martian (2015). This vid is full of so much wonder! The sky calls to us/If we do not destroy ourselves/We will one day venture to the stars. Going through space with the world by bironic. Space Exploration RPF. ❤️❤️❤️ From "day in the life of an astronaut" videos to international stardom; or, Chris Hadfield and his adorable mustache. Monsters of the Cosmos by CherryIce. Thor/MCU. Jane Foster/Science.Cherry’s editing is goddamn incredible. In the last century, black holes have gone from being mathematical curiosities to real objects in the cosmos. This is a vid about Jane Foster and her one true love, Science. Also, Thor is there. Toxic by JinkyO. The Planets (TV - 2019). Humanity/The Solar System. This vid is so fucking brilliant and makes me cackle in love and awe so much. It's dangerous, I'm loving it. Sci-Fi Friday in a Blender by Luminosity. Multi-source. Farscape, Battlestar Galactica and Doctor Who. So much happening in this vid. This is among one of the earliest vids I remember watching and became obsessed with back in the day. Supernova Girl by @usuallyhats. Multifandom. Doctor Who, Star Wars, Babylon 5, Steven Universe, Andromeda, Farscape, Battlestar Galactica, Firefly, Mass Effect, Stargate. So many wonderful brilliant amazing EXCELLENT supernova women and girls. Zoom, zoom, zoom. Space Girl by @aurumcalendula. Multi-source scifi. Inspired by Charmax’s Space Girl vid and Bironic’s The Greatest. This vid has a great selection of newer tv shows and films and it’s fun to play spot that character. But also this vid will grab you by the heart, too. Utterly brilliant, perfection. A must watch!! 'I've been as far in hyperspace as anybody can.' One Girl Revolution by bessyboo. Star Wars, original and prequel. Padme and Leia!! Seeing these two focused on in one Star Wars vid is an adventurous kickass ride. I'll be everything that I want to be. Space Girl by charmax. Multi-source scifi. One of the most beautiful epic space vids out there! I know I’ve recced this before and I’ll rec it again and again and again. My momma told me I should never watch Sci-fi but I did, I did, I did.

Robots! More than wires.

If a Machine by caramarie, Multi-source. Robot narrative focusing on machine origin, intelligence, and interaction with humanity. And Human fallibility. An incredibly rewarding watch and rewatch. This is the story of cables and copper wirings. Electric Avenue by @monkeyswithjetpacks. Multi-source robots! Nate’s multi-vids are always so fun, especially when it’s showcasing classic cinema and all these excellent serials. Electric Avenue has source from 1919 to 2015. His editing is always on fucking point. Don’t miss this vid. We’re gonna rock down to electric avenue. Everybody by @kuwdora. Star Trek, the Borg. This vid was actually inspired by the Backstreet Boys original music video. I still have the vivid memory of watching or rewatching the original music video in @ars-amatoria ’s kitchen. And then at some point realizing it is perfect for the Borg. Am I original, am I the only one? Fembots by Grammarwoman. Multi-source. Sexy sharp editing and fun use of all the sources. The intersection of women and technology: a spectrum of clones, AIs, gynoids, cyborgs, and other artificial creations. On by @rhoboat77. Star Trek: Picard. A Soji fanvid. Rho has the sharpest editing skills this side of the Internet and this Soji vid is so fucking badass and worth 100 rewatches. Can’t hold me down cuz you know I’m a fighter. Que Sera Sera by @ohvienna. Star Trek Voyager and Picard. Seven of Nine.Nobody vids their Seven of Nine love like @ohvienna. You gotta watch this if you love Seven. Whatever will be, will be…"

Journey through Space.

To Touch the Face of God by destina. Multi-source. The Right Stuff (1983, )The Dream Is Alive, From the Earth to the Moon (TV).This is one of the most beautiful moving vids you will EVER, and I mean EVER see. From Chuck Yeager, to the Mercury 7, and on to Apollo and the Space Shuttle Program (STS) - a very human history of the triumphs, joys, and tragedies of the USA's journey into space. Doctor Who on Holiday by sisabet. Farscape, Battlestar Galactica and Doctor Who. A mashup vid of Luminosity’s Sci-Fi Friday in a Blender. This vid inspired me so much. And I have 10 very intense ideas about how I would do my own remix of this vid if I were to make it right now. Fly Me To the Moon by thirdblindmouse. Multi-source. This vid has everything! Alien sex! Xenophilia! Zero-gravity sex! Mpreg!!! Because everyone knows this song is about space sex. Game Night in Space by garrideb. Multi-source. This vid!!!!! IS! SO! MUCH! FUN!! Game on! How are you going to spend those long nights on your starship? Play games, of course! Space poker, space chess, space Monopoly… this is a fanvid celebrating game night in space, set to Don't Stop Me Now by Queen. Starships (Monochromatic Remix) by @monkeyswithjetpacks. Multi-source. See the Fanlore page on the history of Starships (Monochromatic Remix). ALSO check out jetpack-monkey’s extensive notes and side-by-side comparison vid of the original vid and his vid!! He matched Starships shot-for-shot! Most brilliant work ever. The vid notes aren’t on the ao3 page so I HIGHLY recommend checking out the notes on his dreamwidth page! This vid is 10 million kinds of brilliant and technical prowess and perfection.

Vidshow Rec

Alien Invasion! - 30 vids curated and organized into a show by @tafadhali for VidUKon 2024. Featuring films and tv shows: Nope, Attack the Block, Pacific Rim, Venom, Doctor Who, Stargate Atlantis, Star Trek, Prey, Smallville, Rowswell, Supergirl, Arrival, Starship Troopers and more.

Follow these tags to keep up with vid recs this summer:

#saturday morning vid recs

#kuwdora recs

A helpful guide I wrote:

How to Leave Feedback on Fanvids

[headphones-lifeform]

Tumblr in the Star Trek universe: part 6

part 1 ~ part 2 ~ part 3 ~ part 4 ~ part 5 ~

@fake-post-archive

Was dissapointed by the lack of 23rd-24th century contemporary media shown in Star Trek so I made my own for these characters to get invested in.

the "crimedirective" account is my OC, Tenfold Pollux. My OC content is archived at @uss-sonder. Their post is based on a meme I drew.

🧝legolasappreciationblog-334 Follow

so weird having mutuals who are actually into contemporary media 🙃 not me listening to you all ramble about interstellar cryptid hunter or whatever while being obsessed with a 500 year old book

👽isch-tlan-forever Follow

YOU DONT UNDERSTAND interstellar cryptid hunter is so good??? its got a lot of diversity for an earth show- the mc is a vulcan (t'lan my beloved) and they actually have episodes for cryptids from a wide variety of planets (tho i am a sucker for the mothman episode)

#aaaaa #rambles #interstellar cryptid hunter #isch #everyone go watch it

14 notes

🔥hottakes-submissions Follow

having "cardassians dni" in your desc is actually really racist... just write "cardassia apologists dni" instead

🔲idkwhattocallmyblog-deactivated

isnt that basically the same thing?

🌌m1lkyw4y Follow

no. no it is not.

🌟showmethestars Follow

I've been on this site for centuries and can tell you that the reading comprehension level has not changed at all.

🍞coolest-loaf-01 Follow

🌟showmethestars

Not quite! I'm El-Aurian.

#tumblr sure is tumbling today #24th century posts

407 notes

🦔bel0vedcreatures Follow

I am so sorry for posting that tribble picture without a trigger warning! Can promise it will never happen again.

🧍someguygenderneutral Follow

why would tribbles be triggering? annoying i can understand, but they are literally harmless?

👀not-gowron Follow

*stares in klingon*

🧍someguygenderneutral

ah. sorry

#tw tribble mention #i guess??

25 notes

🦐the-danger-shrimp Follow

petition for the bel0vedcreatures blog to post moopsy

#not tagging them because im scared #what if they actually find this

8 notes

🏴‍☠️crimedirective Follow

trasnporter accident shrunk me down what do now

🏴‍☠️crimedirective

i am bonking my head at the screen to type

🏴‍☠️crimedirective

they put me back through. am ok now

🍜wet-spaghetti Follow

wasn't this the plot of a bunch of earth movies?

#spaghetti reblogs #honestly cant tell whether this is a shitpost or not #starfleet is actually just like that

253 notes

Hope you enjoyed!

[kiiwiigii]

Twilight

Alec

Series:

Heartbeat - Alec x OC - by awriterwithnostory (ff.net)

Summary: "Watch your tongue." He murmured dangerously as he trailed his nose along my collar bone. The pounding of my heart was picking up speed and his eyes grew darker with every beat. "You first."

Jasper Hale

Oneshots:

Dandelions - Jasper Hale Reader - by @junkdrawerfics

Series:

Redamancy- Jasper Hale x Reader - by @bless-my-demons

Summary: What happens when your soulmate is a vampire that struggles to maintain a diet of trying not to kill you? Common sense says run for the hills, nothing is worth your life - but my heart is whispering why not, what’s there to lose?

Collar Bones - Jasper Hale x Reader - by @ashcal99

Summary: Camila Johnson was only 16 when she was diagnosed with leukemia. By the time she had turned 17, the doctors had tried everything to save her. Her family is close to giving up hope when they hear of a doctor who may be able to help her. The only problem is, he lives on the opposite side of the country. The small family soon decides to move to the small town in Washington, in efforts to prolong her life. In doing so, her life changes forever.

The Jasper & Danielle Trilogy - Jasper Hale x OC - by Carrot Top (ff.net)

Summary: When Danielle Clark moved to Forks, Washington, she hadn't really known what to expect. But she definitely hadn't planned on falling in love with Jasper Hale, and she certainly hadn't known he would turn her life completely upside down. 

HEAVY - Jasper Hale x OC - by bluemountainbayou (ao3)

Summary: Jasper really wanted nothing to do with Abigail Finley. Until he did.

BLUE MOON pt. One - Jasper Hale x OC - by xdeserteyes (wattpad)

Summary: "The smell of her hair, the taste of her mouth, the feeling of her skin seemed to have gotten inside him, or into the air all around him. She had become a physical necessity." [George Orwell] "I've waited for you for a long time, Evelyn Masen. I don't wish to be without you again."

SUPERNOVA pt. Two - Jasper Hale x OC - by xdeserteyes (wattpad)

Summary: "They slipped briskly into an intimacy from which they never recovered." [F. Scott Fitzgerald] "Do you hate him? For what he did?" Despite wanting to say yes, she knew that she couldn't. "No, I don't hate him." "But you don't love him anymore?" Evelyn shook her head, fresh tears threatening to fall. "I don't know."

INTERSTELLAR pt. Three - Jasper Hale x OC - by xdeserteyes (wattpad)

Summary: "𝙗𝙪𝙧𝙣 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙢𝙚." Jasper could taste the salt of Evelyn's tears on her lips, feel her shaking beneath his hands, hear her heart beating wildly in her chest as he touched her. Perhaps they were moving too fast now, but neither of them seemed to care. He kissed her deeply, drinking her in as if he were a man dying of thirst and she was the only thing that could sate him. *:･ﾟ✧

Poly

Secretarial Desk Series - Demetri x Reader x Felix - by @alecvolturi

Summary: Multiple Summaries & delicious smut.

Pt. One | Two | Three 

The Lord of the Rings

Aragorn

Sweet Metamorphosis - Aragorn x OC - by WhileISleep (ff.net)

Summary: "That, miss, is the root of bravery. You worry about survival, about being a burden. Consider this: you have been thrown into a world unfamiliar to you. Even more challenging, you were left to fend for yourself in a cave with no light, resources, or knowledge of your whereabouts, and yet you live. That is a feat. You are stronger than you think." Tenth walker; Eventual Aragorn/OC

[ianthe-is-a-bitch-and-i-love-her]

I've found that when I review a book that was on the whole quite good, but the element I was most interested in didn't quite play out the way I wanted it to, I tend to spend most of my word count on what I didn't like instead of what I did, so I'm going to try for a little more parity here. The Stars Too Fondly is a thoroughly enjoyable sci-fi romance with a lot to recommend it. It begins on a near-future Earth, twenty years after what was supposed to be the first of many missions to begin evacuating humanity to a new planet using a revolutionary new technology that would make interstellar travel cheap and easy failed dramatically and inexplicably on the launch pad, resulting in the cancellation of the program. A group of four postdocs who watched the failure live on television as kids break into the now-derelict launch facility determined to find out why the launch failed and what happened to the crew, all of whom vanished without a trace during the catastrophe. However, the ship inexplicably powers up and launches with them on board, and now they not only have to solve the mystery but also figure out how to survive their multi-year interstellar journey and return, with the help of the ship's onboard AI who, for some reason, has been programmed to be a perfect copy of the missing captain of the original expedition.

I really enjoyed the tone and setting of the book, which is much more Star Trek than it is The Martian, with much more focus placed on character drama, mystery solving, and moral dilemmas than logistical puzzle-solving. The influence of Star Trek: Voyager in particular are worn proudly in both plot elements - a holographic artificial intelligence with questions about her personhood, an unplanned years-long journey that the crew is trying to shorten - and smaller elements, such as the use of food replicators and even a direct reference to the show's most famous episode, Threshold.

The characters were solid and compelling, with engaging dynamics unique voices. I also, barring one personal gripe, really liked the book's exploration of queer experiences. If I found myself on an unplanned space mission, I would also be very concerned about how I was going to get HRT meds!

The book makes use of a combination of plausible hard sci-fi theories, which stopped me from giving the concept of a dark matter engine my usual obligatory eyeroll, and bonkers off the wall pseudo magic soft sci-fi. These elements synergized better than I was afraid they would, but the introduction of the softer elements was a little jarring. Also kinda like Star Trek actually.

The plotting was perfectly solid, though not extraordinary by any means. None of the twists and turns were particularly surprising, but neither did they come across as trite or formulaic. The themes weren't anything novel either, but they were well-supported and conveyed. The writing itself was mostly pretty good, with a few of the rough edges and structural oddities that I've come to expect from debut novels.

So now that I've actually given the book its due, I'm gonna dig too deep into what I found disappointing.

I've noticed a bit of a trend between the last few books I've felt really compelled by, and that's the idea of a character falling in love with someone who, by their very nature, they are not going to be able to have an "ordinary" relationship with. It's what drew me to Flowers for Dead Girls, which is about falling in love with a ghost. It's what drew me to Someone You Can Build a Nest In, which is about a psychologically and physiologically inhuman monster falling in love with a human. And it's what initially drew me to this book, which is about a human falling in love with the hologram of a dead woman - a space ghost, if you want, or a ghost in the machine, if you'd rather. All of these books take some pains to explore the rough edges of these relationships, where the participants' desires are stymied by their physical differences. However, where the previous two books end with the characters establishing an equilibrium of sorts where their needs are met, even if their relationship doesn't look like what society or their own imaginations expected them to look like, The Stars Too Fondly just neatly resolves things such that their differences are no longer a concern and they can have exactly what they imagined. And I found that to be cheap and unsatisfying, especially because the resolution only works if you really, really want it to work. When you start digging into it, it starts falling apart.

It's a symptom of a phenomenon I'm calling, "So You Want to Have Your Tragedy and Eat it Too". It arises when an author has an idea for a very compelling and evocative tragic event or outcome that results in rich character moments and strong thematic resonance and very profound emotions that they really want to explore... but it would also make the happy ending they want for their characters impossible, either because the rules they've established for their story mean that the damage can't be reversed, or because the change is such that, even if the conflict were apparently resolved, the characters have now been changed by the event that they can never be as they were before, and the happy ending is now emotionally impossible.

When this conundrum comes up in the writing process, the author has to decide - do they want to explore the rich possibilities of this tragedy, or do they want to go a different direction that allows for their originally desired happy ending. It's a difficult choice to make, and unfortunately, it's not uncommon for authors to think they can take a third option, that they can come up with a way to have their tragedy but still make things work out in the end. And the end result is a solution that doesn't hold up to scrutiny. That's what happens here, to the point that it's hard to read the last couple chapters because the main character reads like she's deluding herself that everything is fine and she's happy. And you know, that could've been a really interesting - and tragic - direction to go on purpose and explore, but it wasn't on purpose, and it just winds up feeling like the book is trying desperately to convince the reader that everything is alright, really! I can't help but compare it unfavorably to the conclusion of Lovelace's arc in The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, which confronted the fact that nothing could ever be the same again so unflinchingly that it gave rise to A Closed and Common Orbit, one of my favorite books of all time (that I completely forgot when I was trying to list some of my favorite books in a conversation the other day and now I feel like I've betrayed it).

And while I have you here, I also really hate that they made the transfem side character super into astrology. That's a personal bugbear, and while it's one I have grudgingly tolerated the singular time that I have seen a transfem author do it, I really, really wish non-transfem authors would knock that shit off. Find a different quirky interest to give to your transfem characters.

Still, on the whole, I thought it was a really solid book with a lot of entertaining and compelling elements. Unless you are reading it primarily for the logistical and emotional challenges of a romantic relationship between a ghost and a human, I would recommend it without hesitation. If you are, check out any of the other books I referenced in this post instead (except maybe for A Closed and Common Orbit, but if you're the kind of person who would like those other recommendations, I bet you'd like it too).

[stealingpotatoes]

Have you ever played hollow knight and if so do you think that if the Knight somehow got transported into the Star Wars galaxy they would just constantly reck people left and right who attempt to attack them and ends up absolutely destroying palpatine despite being the size of a standard eraser (maybe smaller)? Also have you watched Interstellar? And if so do you like TARS? Also I REALLY REALLY like your art it is so humorous and inspired me to make a piece of fan art of a 501st prank war (it's canon and nothing can convince me otherwise that the 501st had prank wars with the 212th). Sorry this is so long these questions have been on the brain for a while now and I only got an account recently 😅. I end this with only one thing left. Loaf cat

yeets a potato into the pile of potatoes like one throws a coin in a wishing well and runs away

omg a lot!! ok 1. i have not played hollow knight! 2. yes i watched it when i was young but don't remember it! 3. probably 4. awww omg thank you so much!!! always rlly cool to hear i've inspired people!

thank you for throwing the wishing well potato i will send you art motivation using my wishing well powers <3

[slightly-nerdy-rambles]

Robstar Week Day 2: Joy and Confusion (Prompt: Power Swap/Role Reversal)

For this prompt, I decided to take the role-swap AU that @burr-ell made a while back for inspiration. Some of you may remember that I've done this once before, bouncing off of one of the AU concepts to make a sort of alternate version of a scene from the "Masks" episode. I did the same basic thing here, taking inspiration from a doodle on the original post that invokes an alternate version of "Stranded" and expanding the concept into something that I could picture happening in that situation. I deviated a little more from the canon version than I did in the Masks AU, and I think this story is better for it.

As for doing the role-swap itself, that was an interesting challenge. I feel like a lot of Starfire and Robin's interactions and differences are rooted to some degree in the fact that she's a Tamaranean and he's a human, so when switching their species I had to think of how much those species and cultures would affect their respective personalities while still making the characters recognizably themselves. I ended up toning down some of Starfire's emotional energy and especially her reaction to Robin's "she's not my girlfriend" moment (since in canon her strong reaction was mostly because she was trying to keep her powers from going on the fritz), while cranking her already significant human observation skills to maximum as part of her training from Phoenix and leadership role. For Robin, I tried making him more emotionally open while still having that grimly determined streak and awkward shyness about romance, which pretty much resulted in his bout of power failure being his own darn fault lol.

Joy and Confusion

Robin was walking ahead, mouth set in a thin line as he quietly focused on the mission, and that was the first sign that something was very wrong.

It wasn’t that focusing on the job was a remotely bad or even unusual thing, Starfire thought to herself with a small frown. Their mission on the interstellar communications relay had been an unprecedented disaster, and of course their top priority now was to get themselves off of this unfamiliar planet. And besides that, Robin was a warrior prince of a planet with its own host of dangers, whose people defended themselves fiercely from threats both on their homeworld and from beyond. He knew just as well as she did how to knuckle down and get to business.

But Robin was also enthusiastic and open, always easy to read whether he was happy or angry or grimly determined. Starfire thought it might be a Tamaranean thing – cultural or psychological, she couldn’t say, but she’d seen a lot of the same emotional energy in other Tamaraneans back when they’d visited his home planet. Now he seemed… not angry or afraid, exactly, but vaguely nervous and like focusing on finding the others was just an excuse to bottle all his emotions up. And she had a bad feeling that she might know why that was.

“Robin?” she asked, sprinting up to him. “Are you… upset with me?”

Robin’s face pinched a little, and he pulled ahead of her again. “No,” he said curtly. “I do not envision any reason to be upset with you. Do you?”

That was hardly reassuring. Starfire ran to catch up with him again. “Because I overstepped my boundaries as team leader. What I said back at the station…”

Her brow furrowed as she trailed off. Why had she said that? “If I’m not your girlfriend, then what am I?” She’d just been so annoyed in the moment, watching the combat partner she obviously had some kind of chemistry with freak out and act offended at Chimera’s light teasing, that she’d just kind of blurted it out. If she’d just been a regular member of the team it might have been fine. But as the Titans’ leader, there was a sort of force behind her words that came out even when she didn’t intend it.

“I just wanted us to be on the same page, that’s all,” she finished lamely. “I was taught that clarity with your teammates is crucial, but I think I was the one being unclear. And for that I’m sorry. You were technically correct, after all,” she added with an awkward little smile.

Robin’s face seemed to twist through a series of emotions at that – nervousness, embarrassment, hope, excitement, fear – but then it settled back into that vaguely anxious look that he’d had since they first started trekking across this planet.

“You are forgiven,” he said, his voice neutral. “Please, let us focus on finding the others.”

With that, he continued across the volcanic canyon they’d been traversing, leaving Starfire to valiantly resist the urge to scream and start pulling her hair out.

Instead, she sprinted to catch up to him yet again. “Robin, will you please talk to me? I can tell that something’s still bothering you.”

Robin stopped, staring intently at the ground, and held up one hand in a halting gesture.

Starfire grit her teeth. “We can talk while we search, you know. I just don’t want –”

She was interrupted suddenly by a red-hot geyser shooting up from the ground not two feet in front of her. Robin watched the geyser run itself out and drop back down with a disgruntled twist to his mouth.

“The ground is unstable here,” he said, his voice low to keep the geysers from getting worse as he looked about. “We should find another way around.”

Starfire sighed internally, but bit her tongue until the two of them found a sturdier part of the canyon marred only by a single long fissure that seemed to relieve volcanic pressure with bursts of steam. She thought things over to herself, mentally reviewing the day they’d had so far as they walked along either side of the crack.

Then a revelation struck her, and she hopped over to his side of the gradually widening fissure in between steam eruptions.

“Robin?” she asked gently. “Does this have anything to do with your powers failing?”

Robin froze mid-stride – she could practically see his muscles tensing up. “Why do you say that?”

Starfire frowned thoughtfully as she remembered back through their encounter thus far on this planet. Things were starting to fall into place, but she knew she was still missing a piece somewhere. “When you fought off that slug monster, you were using regular weapons. I didn’t think about it at the time, because I was too busy trying not to get eaten, but you weren’t flying and I didn’t see any starbolts. And despite the treacherous ground here, I still haven’t seen you take to the air once. Is… is something on this planet blocking your powers somehow? Is that why you’re so distracted?”

Robing seemed to be shrinking in on himself as she spoke, and when she looked expectantly to him with her question he winced. Fiddling with his fingers and looking anywhere but at her, he choked out, “It… is not… the planet, precisely.”

Starfire’s brows furrowed in concern, and she placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Then what is it?”

Robin made a distressed little groan in the back of his throat. “Tamaranean powers rely on strong emotions, and mine are… that is to say, at the moment I am feeling very confused.”

Well, that certainly explained a few things. Starfire filed the revelation about Tamaranean powers away for later and asked, “About what?”

Robin looked at her with a sheepish half-smile. “You?”

Starfire raised an eyebrow, but let him continue. Robin let his smile collapse with a deep sigh and he added, “When Chimera said, ‘the girlfriend,’ I did not know how to respond. You are correct in that it was not factually true, but still I could sense that his words meant something beyond that. And now that I am thinking about it I am nervous and uncertain, and you are upset, and I… I do not know where else to go from here.”

He was blushing and averting his eyes again by this point. Starfire blinked rapidly as she tried to process his odd confession.

“So…” she started slowly. “You are upset and emotionally confused for the same reason I was earlier? Then why didn’t you want to talk it out?”

Robin made the distressed groaning noise again. “I always expected to be matched into an arranged Tamaranean marriage,” he muttered, his blush deepening. “I am not very good at understanding Earth relationships.”

Starfire thought about it for a moment, and then suddenly let out a little laugh. At Robin’s questioning look she said, “Honestly? Neither am I, at least when it comes to this.”

After another moment’s consideration, she stepped back and offered a shy hand to him. “Perhaps we can figure it out together?”

Robin looked at her proffered hand for a few seconds, his face shifting through uncertain expressions again. Finally, gingerly, he reached out and took her hand in his own.

“I think I would like that,” he replied, not seeming to notice as he hovered an inch off the ground.

[togamest]

-> million bucks | gn!reader. 425 words. really just fluff. reader and togame share a joint (cw weed). inspired by million bucks by smallpools.

author's notes: i'll probably expand on this thought eventually...it's cute as hell and i just love him so much. sobbing violently

"How much?"

The question pops at an odd time. It's showing on Jo's face as he looks down at you in confusion, eyebrows knitting together. "What ya mean, love?" he croaks, the joint's smoke roughing up his throat as he takes another rip. You snatch it out of his hands, a tch following you as you take a rip yourself before placing it back between his fingers.

The smoke curls up into his face and across the sky. It's a soft orange lighting, matching his sunglasses as you sit up, moving away from his lap. "If I was in a fight. How much money would you bet on me?"

There's a beat of silence, and then he laughs, rolling his eyes. "You? Fightin'? If y're fightin' then that means I'm not around, which won't happen. Please." He looks at the sunset again, away from you, ignoring your pout at your scenario.

Not having the attention you need, you flop back into his lap, head landing on his thighs. He grunts at the impact, looking down at you, his face tugging gently into annoyance.

"Hypothetically, though. How much?"

He doesn't answer right away. "Who're you gonna fight?"

You think about it.

"Nirei."

The laugh that spills from Jo's lips is louder than the last, devolving into coughs as he hands you the joint. "Y'serious?" he asks, eyes tearing up from coughing as he wipes his mouth, "thas' cruel, babe. That'd be like kickin' a cat."

You roll your eyes. "Be serious. He's probably the only one I have a chance against, anyway. I'm being realistic!"

"Realistic? This would never happen, babe. Y'said it was hypothetical."

You don't refute his statement, but you also don't back down, your gaze fiercely holding his own.

He sighs. "Fine. A million."

"Yen?"

"Nah. Dollars. Bucks. Whatever ya wanna call it."

You giggle to yourself. "Knew you'd say that. I'd beat him so easily, he's such a scaredy-cat."

Jo only responds with a hum, carding his hands through your hair as you bask in the slowly diminishing orange light. "Yeah." His response is half-hearted, but you don't notice; he's simply watching you, instead, thinking about the song that's been plagueing his mind all day. It was some pop song you were swaying to in the kitchen earlier, making dinner.

I've got all my money on you And though my dollars are few I feel like a million bucks And I give no fucks when I'm with you

"Yeah," he breathes, noticing you've drifted off in his lap, "a million bucks, alright."

divider credit: @/cafekitsune networks: @interstellar-inn @themovingcastlez

disclaimer: DO NOT copy or repost my works for any reason. translations are acceptable, but please ask for permission first!

© togamest 2023-2024

[cutekittenlady]

I think I've talked about how I like to think of Knockout and Moonracer as brother and sister (and if I havent, well, here's me announcing it) and I've been watching G1 and recalled how Moonracer and Powerglide were implied to have a thang going.

And it got me thinking about Powerglide and Knockout meeting and the absolute disaster of a dinner party THAT would be.

Powerglide would be all like "you didn't tell me your bro was a CON"

And Knockout would respond bitterly with "FORMER con"

And Moonracer would keep trying to steer them to neutral subjects but knockouts just throwing jab after jab at Powerglide (because who does he think he is?! He's not GOOD enough for Moonracer. She could totes do better) and Powerglide digging right back (where does this snooty guy get off?! After everything he put Moonracer through!)

And Moonracer isn't really happy with either after finding out Knockout got conjunxed during the war and never told her (he was trying to build up to it and find the right time. Breakdowns been giving him shit about it too since finding out about his sister) and Powerglide stint with a human on earth* (it's complicated and tbf he and Moon were kinda just friends at the time and not in a committed relationship) so they both get an earful and are banished to eating their energon in the hall while Moonracer calls over the rest of the femme bots, and breakdown, to vent about the morons and meet her in-law.

((*no srsly. It was a whole ass episode where Powerglide fell in love with this human woman. Nothing ever came of it and it was kinda weird, but it introduced some very classic debates to the fandom))

((I like to think things with Astoria either never went anywhere or they're amicable exes and interstellar pen pals))

[msmcnevertweet]

Into the Blind, and Wot I Like about Space Stuff

I've been working on this for a while in between breaks updating As the Sun Forever Sets. Why is my idea of a break from writing games just writing a different game? I have dumb bitch disease. I wanted to talk about some of the inspirations for it.

Welcome to The Rim

Into the Blind is a sci fi game about a group of gig economy workers living contract to contract on the roiling, wild edge of space. It's about CRT screens, mechanical keyboards, junction boxes, pipes and wires. It's about the unknown, the stresses of capital, and horror - visceral and ephemeral. It's about working hard jobs in dangerous conditions for little pay, and the chance of a better life. 

You are a Freelancer - Salvager, Shipbreaker, Courier, Bodyguard, Assassin, First Responder, Negotiator, Investigator, Debt Collector. A Freelancer is any and all of these, depending on the contract. You'll take whatever you can get to make ends meet. 

Every job you do balances your need to pay the rent on your ship against your desire to remain alive. Grab what you can, get paid, and stay alive.

If this sounds cool to you, you can grab a free preview (with the old name) below.

Let me show you my favourite space things

Ok, time for the self indulgent ramblings.

(Potential) Spoilers for: Gravity, Interstellar, Contact, Arrival, The Expanse, the Alien series, the Thing, Annihilation, Homeworld: Cataclysm and Magnetic Rose.

Physics and Feelings at 10km/s

There are a lot of sci-fi horror TTRPGS out there. Like a lot a lot. Mothership, Death in Space, the Alien RPG, You're in Space and Everything's Fucked, the list goes on and on. Not that that matters - people should make the games they wanna make and I wanted to make a scary sci-fi game with spaceships, so eh fuck it.

Something I realised while writing stuff for Into the Blind and working on the system is that the themes and feeling of a lot of the sci-fi stuff I'm into didn't revolve around a towering monster skulking around dark spaceship. Like, sure, Into the Blind will have a nasty alien somewhere, I don't need to say that I like Alien or talk about why it's good (I do, it is, and I'm going to), but there's more to write about than monsters. Space is already intrinsically stressful and horrifying:

Neil Degrasse Tyson and Chris Hadfield can shut the fuck up, Gravity has some of the scariest, tensest scenes in a movie I've ever seen in my fucking life. After watching this you could never pay me enough to go to space. The only enemy here is inertia, the only monster are the principles of physics that cause a cloud of debris to whip through orbit at 22,000 miles an hour.

Aside from the spectacle, Gravity is a film about finding the will to go on when you have nothing to live for and everything's against you. It's heavily implied that Dr Stone went to space because she's tired of existing on earth (or at least that's my read). She wants mercy and relief from the pain of her life, and watching it you want to gift it to her so badly, but the debris field crashes into her life over and over. It's a relentless, uncaring solar tide that returns like clockwork when to fuck her up any time she gets a break.

These extreme forces also generate incredible tragedy and loss. Interstellar is kind of a dumb movie but despite the memes about this scene it always gets me. You don't know what you have until it's gone, and sometimes the distance between you knowing you've lost something and it becoming lost can (thanks to black holes and weird gravity stuff) slip by you in an age that feels like an instant.

Both Gravity and Interstellar have soft, beating hearts encased behind the layers of radiation shielding, technobabble and worn metal, and when the colossal forces that make the universe turn rip it open, they're laid bare.

That's a fucking cool thing to make a game about!

Indistinguishable from Magic

I'm not a big brain science person, when it comes to wormholes, relativity, folding space time and all that, I don't really get it. I just know that it's cool as hell and opens the door to powerful character stories about finding meaning and confronting your feelings at the edge of our understanding of reality.

Contact and Arrival are two sides of the same movie to me. Both are heavily grounded in big Theory and big Science Words, both are about powerful sciencey girlbosses who've lost something dear to them (one in the future, one in the past.) Contact leans more towards the hard science approach, but both are at their best when they're balanced on the edge of the plausible and the implausible. They're both about the incredible, incomprehensible nature of the universe. They're both about people who change the world, in ways both vast impercievable to everyone else.

They're both stories of hope and benevolence, but Contact frames this through 90's optimism and the power of nations working together towards a common goal (it's so optimistic, even the villain-coded megacorporation decides to help out, which uhhhh), Arrival frames these themes through personal tragedy - Dr Banks pays a high price to save humanity from itself.

Behind the calculations and clipboards and theories, these are stories about personal discovery, love and heartache.

These are also fucking cool things to make games about!

Magnetic Rose is probably the single biggest influence on Into the Blind - there's a full adventure heavily inspired by it in the preview. It's just so good. The visual design and animation are simultaneously grounded and real yet brilliantly beautiful and surreal. It's tragic gothic horror at the dark, gritty edge of space, and it's so good at being sad. The penultimate scenes in heart of the tomb-like space station, surrounded by rank brown water and decaying metal are heartwrenching. Heintz is tormented by visions of his past and you feel it so hard. The film doesn't care to tell you how this is all happening - are his memories ghosts? holograms? hallucinations? It only cares about the why, and it's incredible.

Breathable Air Prepayment Meters

It's been ages since I watched The Expanse, so I'm not gonna dwell on it too much, but what I remember focused heavily on how capital and government care little about those they govern and sell to.

The level that our existence is monetised and used as a cudgel against us currently can surely only expand along with our expansion into the stars. You can go there right now if you have enough money to do so, and when life beyond earth becomes feasible, the companies that financed it will need someone to clean the ducts and polish the solar arrays. The amount of things that can be sold to you can only increase out in space. You think rents are high now? Wait till you see the price of a 1 bedroom apartment in orbit around Mars. Add nice breathable mix of nitrogen and oxygen to your list of monthly outgoings. You think you'll be able to repair your C02 scrubbers without voiding the warranty? Fuck no.

The Alien movies are obviously (despite what some grognards on twitter dot com will tell you) deeply about extreme capitalism. The galaxy is ruled by companies that could not care less about you, and the bottom line is all that matters. This kinda matters less and less as the films wear on, but the first 3 are all about working class people sacrificed on the altar of the interstellar dollar.

Alien 3 in particular has a lot of problems, but the edgy teen in me is still really fond of this scene. It's doing a Big Foreshadow (Do you get it? The alien is like.. the flower he's talking about right? But the flower is bad?) But it feels like an appropriate lament for prisoners on the ass end of space. Despite what the company wants you to believe, the inmates of Fury 161 don't deserve to die, aren't expendable.

We all have flowers within us waiting to grow, out from the shadow of capital.

You might've noticed mentions of a nasty guy in those last clips.

Ok fine, also Monsters

We all love a little nasty guy, I cannot resist the pull of the weird monster that does Big Themes. Like I said, there's so much TTRPG stuff focused on them for good reason And space is ripe for the nastiest of guys.

There's really nothing more to be said about The Thing, it just fucking rules. It's a movie that cares as much about what a monster can do to peoples bodies as what it can do to their minds and relationships.

What a horrible fate for Sheppard. The idea of Annihilations mutant bear is just so sinister it makes my gut drop whenever I re-watch it. Again, not much else to be said about this movie. It rips.

Homeworld: Cataclysm is a weird game. It's a survival horror.. strategy game? Set in space? Where you never see a single person?? And somehow it's voice acting and plot is incredible???

The Beast is the nickname for the microorganism that emerges from the millenia old wreckage the mining vessel Kuun-Lan happens upon whilst scouring deep space for valuable minerals. The threat it presents is so real and visceral, it's one of those "if this hits our planet, it's so over" monsters, and it's obscenely scary and gruesome. Even the Bentusi, a race of nigh-on ageless benevolent machine beings are absolutely terrified, and try to abandon the galaxy in the face of it (they fear their biological minds will be trapped in their machine bodies if they're taken over by The Beast, locked in and forced to watch what it does to the galaxy. Damn.)

The scene where you and your fleet fight the Bentusi as they try to evacuate known space to force them to help you is intense and incredible. You're fighting gods, and all you can do is crash against their incredible technology again and again like a stiff breeze, pleading for help and humanity. You shame them into taking responsibility for helping the mortals in the galaxy against this ancient threat. That's the fear inspired by The Beast.

Thank you for coming to my Space Ted Talk

I told you it was self indulgent huh. Hopefully this goes some way to explaining what I'm going for with this game. Not only monsters, but the experiences of people trapped by incredible forces of nature, corporations and circumstance. Not only horror, but exploitation, sadness, love, longing and loss. Thanks for reading.

Again, if you want to check out Into the Blind, you can get the free preview below, and follow me on Itch to get notified for when game releases (soon? idk)

[seeingivy]

method acting asks!

first of all, you guys ate the style chapter so bad EEK im so glad you guys loved it. more where that's coming from! been having the worst week but watching people react as they read has been super fun and I thank you all for that :')

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMM2wqGJV/ oh bestie...oh you're SO RIGHT. like y/n's nickname is princess but I definitely think as time goes on historia fits more of the princess vibe and y/n as the popstar. also some part of their friendship is loosely based on olivia rodrigo and sabrina carpenter, just like solely as vibes so

https://x.com/erjgrs/status/1765732630643851685?s=46&t=Uk-oZnZapecdEA4wRzncKw real. a picture lana would post and the quote tweet would be y/n.

(this isn't a method acting ask but it's eren and legit the only eren thing i've written since july so it counts)

hi!!!! thank you so much for the love :') i'm so excited to share it with everyone!

the opening and ending songs are the same! I make a shinzo sasageyo joke in the next set of tweets....I agree with you, I do think that they would write all the music that was included in the actual show and that certain songs are for ceertain characters

table scenes twitter reactions coming...your wish is my command...

vampire by olivia rodrigo, ding ding! one of my fav songs that I get to include i'm so excited eek. I def think lana would cover the song but I think the main like song she would write about ricky would be something like would've could've should've by taylor swift/goddess by laufey/ or history of man by maisie peters

I hope you have a lovely day too!!!! thank you so much for supporting me :')

I actually considered going with heavenly bodies as the theme for this met gala in the fic (just bc that was litearlly the best met gala) but I ended up deciding against it. but I totally get what you mean,,, they would serve....

also a slight hint, but I did end up giving lana marilyn monroe kim kardashian controversy dress because that is something that lana would do. also in general, lana/clarkson's are based off of kardashians (if you couldn't tell) so....it fit

HARD AGREE. I think whatever they bond over is something that eren just...can't do. like if they're watching a reality tv show and really invested, he'd sit there being like....it's fake just to get mad glares fro zeke/carla/and i'm adding colt to the mix. eren's cool with the kiddos (falco and gabi) but y/ns cool with the big brothers (zeke and colt)

@najaemism omg I'VE ACTUALLY NEVER HEARD THSI SONG BEFORE but actually you're so right. also very mikasa during jeankasa meltdown.....also historia (more on that later)

@leave-rae-alone HI POOKIE! don't worry...I disappear off the face of my blog like every other week. I hope you're doing well and take time to rest!

am I allowed to say megan thee stallion bc I am in love with megan thee stallion? but actually though, I think her style fits the character, she likes anime and this is an anime fanfic, and her using like stuff from tokyo ghoul as references during the nicki drama is actually something that I think y/n would do. also I just love this outfit i would include it as a red carpet outfit or something

hm. there are a few that @/bsenpai and I mention bc we actually talk about method acting everyday like its an illness. I think y/n and eren would do she's the man (that's the movie they've promised ethan cole btw), eren and y/n also do pride and prejudice 2005, I also think she would act as the daughter as interstellar. those are the ones that come to mind rn!

no comment. you did ask this before I posted the chapter tho but you like manifested that one hard so.

LMFAOOOO. wait can I tell you the funniest thing....is that I actually think young gojo in method acting would be like young justin bieber. like i had this thought the other day when i was listening to somebody to love and i was like....ok chill out gojo damn. like I naturally think he would have that charisma and be one of the first people to pop off on youtube....but he would not flop like current justin bieber.

that's all for today. here are the songs + some hints for the next chapter:

see you again by tyler the creator ft. kali uchis, end game by taylor swift, and vampire by olivia rodrigo

an award wrapped in a ribbon

a red lipstick mark

smashing a crown

sukuna splashing a glass of wine in someone's face...soulmateism if you ask me

there are some of these i think you could technically figure out. but oh well, I will see you then!

[reginaldqueribundus]

okay I've already posted about the shenanigans of the S'chn T'gai / Grayson line, but can we talk about the Soongs? because

my

GOD

these men are menaces (emphasis on men, there's been like one female Soong and she immediately noped the fuck out to do Doctor Who shit and I love that for her. respect.)

in reverse chronological order we have:

Altan Soong — honestly, he's not so bad. he made way more android children and they seem to have turned out fine. sure he almost helps cause the extermination of all biological life in the galaxy, but only out of fatherly love. and he gave up his shot at immortality to give an elderly man another shot at life

Noonien Soong — mostly just a shitty dad. builds himself three android sons, makes sure their penises work before fixing their emotional dysfunction. names them Information, Myth, and "Previously on Noonien Soong tries to build an android". abandons the first one in a ditch somewhere, presumably for being too childlike, stuffs the second in a box at the back of his closet like an old pair of rollerblades for being too evil, and runs away and leaves the third one to be raised by Starfleet because of his own insistence on being a weird hermit. makes an android out of his dead ex-wife and convinces her she's human. finally comes up with a fix for his third son's emotional issues and overrides his autonomy to make him hijack a Galaxy-class starship to his front step instead of just emailing him like a normal person. can't even tell his android sons apart and accidentally installs the chip in the evil one, who then starts a Borg death cult. refuses to share his work with the scientific community, resulting in Mars exploding and Data having to constantly fight for his right to not be disassembled and studied. his evil son caused all their neighbours to get eaten by a big flying snowflake. also was a bitch to his human son (Altan) and made sure he knew he wasn't the favourite.

Arik Soong — grows a bunch of Augments in secret, gets arrested while he's out buying groceries and doesn't tell anyone he's left a bunch of child supersoldiers in a Lord of the Flies scenario, resulting in them nearly starting a war with the klingons. stands by and watches his augment son inject a guy with space ebola. tries to sell the Enterprise crew into chattel slavery. also indirectly responsible for the smooth klingon virus, which is kinda funny

Adam Soong — gaslights his clone daughter, hits a 90-year-old man with his car on purpose, hires armed mercenaries to shoot said elderly man and his friends, teams up with the Borg Queen, tries to blow up a spacecraft full of innocent astronauts and murders Talinn while trying to poison one of said astronauts. also he probably created Khan and caused the Eugenics War, and in an alternate timeline was responsible for turning Earth into a genocidal interstellar empire

... it's funny how they get more awful the further back you go, which makes me wonder if all Soong men looking the same is the result of Kore photocopying her dad until she clones the god complex out of him or something

[drippingmoon]

Get Reacquainted

Thankee both for my new song obsession (home to me) and the tag, @blind-the-winds🥰❤ been a while since I've done one of these, let's-a-gooo

Last song: Dreamcatcher, a multi-Halo medley. Not exactly the vibes I was getting from the OSTs, aka tight corridors and death chasing you down them, but I'll admit sleeping grunts are hella cute<3

Favorite color: grey, and I got on Sunday a grey sweater that makes me very happy

Currently watching: technically Aliens, which is a rewatch, so I absolutely wanna put Interstellar here because new favorite movie ever, been sleeping on it forever, and there's something about the music, the Endurance spinning, and done fucking up on the water hell planet because of gravity that made me feel as if I wasn't in the room anymore and?? Gods that movie. Tapped right into my space brainrot. How they explain wormholes. Gargantua??? I've rarely felt so seen as with this movie😭👌💞

Currently reading: about to start The Science of Interstellar and I'm super hyped about it because, hint hint, it's gotten me so soft about black holes again I have to get my hands on everything. Making research a pleasure☺🤩

Spicy, sweet, or savory: spicyyyy, rawr

Last thing I searched online: a lot of fact-checking for the thingie I'm translating, Veracruz being the focus, and a lot more info on dental works than I ever wanted to know tbh

Last thing I searched for writing purposes: organic weaponry, uhmm, uh, nothing to see here. Nothing at all:D I'm also disappointed about the general lack of answers, and I refuse to believe nobody's ever went down some particularly wacky rabbit holes

Current obsession: all of the above, these paprika chips I haven't had in ages, @sleepyowlwrites 's Mike and Harvey because hell yeah top tier hurt and comfort and giving me brainrot about some guys I've never even seen on a screen, but that's Sleepy magic; and I've also had the most exceptional time reading @sleepy-night-child 's Feather duology, whiiiich I'd been losing my mind over for years, and reading it in full? From cover to cover? Dream come true, and they're forever my soft babies with their sweetness and their constant honey mooning and making me laugh loads💙💜 and, it also meant I did not want to finish the books. Which is happening for a second time right now because😭 I'm about to finish rereading AoS. So absolutely and definitely Madigan and Spica, those guys have my whole heart😭❤ we finally also got Madigan to tell him he'll always have a home with him, and after 200k of getting maimed, standing back-to-back and Madigan defo coming to terms he's Spica's family, FUUUCK, I do not want this story to end, ever😃👍

Open tag, as always, from me! Come catch up, or gush, or anything<3