#outer planets ∆v map

[i-iii-iii-vii]

[hugsandchaos]

Okay these two are just suggestions, but could we get a sequel to that Uzi, V, and J tickle fight? Like the three wreck the goofball, but the tables turn on them due to his strength?

And can we get a sequel to the tickle vines fic w/ Uzi and Doll? (We already have the prequel thanks to ✨moi✨, this could turn into a trilogy! >:D)

Again, just suggestions, you don’t have to do them :)

Of course! I’m finally done with the first one, and I’m so sorry it took me this long! I hope you still like it!

N glided around a building and gave his wings another flap to push himself higher and faster through the air. He scanned the mapped out buildings from higher and searched ahead for the long abandoned and wrecked hotel that indicated that he was near the park. Once he found it, he’d fly past it and turn slightly to the right, then continue looking for his old pod. As he continued his easy, smooth glide, N couldn’t help but mentally scold himself for his own thought process earlier before he took off. The first thought he had when he woke up a few minutes after sunset was basically him being happy that he had gotten some uninterrupted sleep for the first time in a while.

He felt a little guilty after realizing that the reason he had gotten that sleep was because he had set up a “playtime session”, as some call it, between his best friend and his friends-slash-coworkers in hopes of them getting along and left them at his old pod. N scolded himself in his mind, telling himself that he should have never thought of the fact that his friends weren’t there as a good thing. Especially when something could’ve gone wrong while he was sleeping and they might’ve actually fought the whole time. As he weaved through the city, he soon spotted the old hotel through the other tall buildings, which had a couple floors crumbled and walls slanted against the other, threatening at any minute to break and topple over. N gave his wings another flap and propelled himself over the wreckage of the building, then tucked his wings in ever so slightly to dip down towards the planet.

N gained speed quickly, but not as quickly as he would if he folded his wings in completely. He continued his descent for a few seconds before stretching them out again and flapping to transition from a head-first fall to a fast glide. He tilted his body to lean a little to the right and briefly pulled the outer edge of his right wing in to position himself to face the far right corner of the park, where his old pod had crashed. Freshly fallen snow from earlier was knocked off of long dead trees and signs as N flew over them. Given his speed, it didn’t take long to cross over the park and find his old pod. When he decided he was close enough, he turned his body to put his legs under him and tucked his wings into their hatches. N allowed gravity to do its job and landed on his feet with no problem. The impact hardly fazed him, it just let him know he had landed correctly. Looking up at the old pod that he landed in, he immediately noticed that something was off.

His friends had the light on when he brought them there and then left. Looking at the windows, he could see pretty clearly that they were off. N glanced down at the entrance a few meters away from him. There were footprints running around the pod, but they easily circled back inside, as if they had run around it for some reason. Did something bad happen? N opened his mouth, letting that creepy smile take hold of his face, and inhaled. He couldn’t smell any oil coming from inside, so that meant no injuries or anything. Nothing seemed to actually be wrong, but why were the lights off? He closed his mouth and decided to head inside to investigate, moving slowly and quietly just incase.

N moved across the snow silently. No crunch of ice or snow under his feet were heard, thanks to his training making silent movement almost a habit of his. He slowly climbed the slanted platform up to the entrance and grabbed onto the cold door handle. The ice that had formed from the lack of warm contact was already beginning to melt against his hand, but he didn’t care about his hand getting a little wet. He waited a few more seconds, listening for anything coming from inside, but he couldn’t hear much aside from the heaters obviously working. N quickly swung the door open and stepped inside. He couldn’t see V, J, or Uzi, which added to his growing fear that they had been attacked by something. Or rather, someone. His eyes scanned over the room in front of him again as he stepped further inside. Once N passed through the door completely, it suddenly slammed shut behind him. He swiftly turned around and was about to change his hands to claws, expecting the worst, but someone he didn’t notice before tackled him from behind and pinned him down before he could fully turn around. The lights were turned on as he fell down.

“I got him!” V said triumphantly. N looked up to see Uzi standing by the light switch and grinning. It was that grin she had whenever she was about to do something she probably shouldn’t, something mischievous, and it was aimed at him. N pulled his arms in front of him and was about to get up and question what was happening, but Uzi quickly knelt down and grabbed both his arms. The pressure and grip she had on his wrists were no doubt pointing to the increasing chance that something was about to happen.”I got his arms!” Uzi declared. He noticed J behind and above Uzi, using her arms and legs to keep herself suspended above the door. She let go and landed with a light thud.”Good. He’s pretty strong, so be careful while you keep him down.” She instructed as she walked past them. N wasn’t as anxious anymore, but he was definitely still a little nervous and confused. V was still on his back, probably to try to weigh him down, and her arms were stuck underneath him since Uzi kept his arm outstretched and was trying to prevent him from getting up. The burning question was finally answered when he felt V’s fingers scrunch up against his sides.

N’s eyes widened and he instinctively bit his lip from the inside to keep himself from making a sound and also focused on not letting his tail wag. V relaxed and scrunched up her fingers again and N couldn’t help but smile as she slowly continued. He lightly tugged on his arms, but Uzi kept him there and refused to let go. He lowered his head and began snickering as the tickling continued.”Aw, you’re not going to laugh?” V asked, faking disappointment. N shook his head and kept trying to keep his mouth shut, lightly kicking his legs. He heard J from behind him, back where his legs were.”I’ll help.” She said. N quickly tried to pull his legs closer to himself so she hopefully couldn’t grab them, but he already felt her tail wrap around his legs and hold them together. She began scratching underneath his knees, which combined with his other friend already going at his sides, finally got him to start laughing.”Pfft- hehehehehe... hahahahahahaha!”

“Now we’re getting somewhere!” Uzi said. N didn’t really put up much of a fight, half because he was worried about accidentally hitting them if he yanked out of their grip, and half because he was enjoying himself a little. He probably wouldn’t admit it out loud, though, since he was a little embarrassed about it. V began to work one of her hands towards his belly, but couldn’t reach it.”Can we roll him over? I can’t reach his belly.” V asked. Almost in unison, they moved. Uzi moved to the left of N while keeping her grip on his arms, adjusting her hands to keep it. V got off his back and knelt next to him. She placed her hands against his left side and began to gently push him. J followed their lead and kept her tail wrapped around his legs, loosening her grip until he was pushed onto his back and then tightening her grip back to before. This time, she forced his legs closer to himself so he’d have to move his legs to an upside down V position.”Wahahait, I don’t know what’s going on, but— Wahahahahait!!” N fell back into laughter when V and J both continued tickle him. V was now using one hand to scribble over his belly and the other to lightly squeeze and poke at one of his sides.”Hahahahahaha!! Hahahahahahahahaha!! Whahahat’s gohoing ohohohon?! Hahahaha!!” N asked through his laughter.

J continued scratching under his knees, which made him lightly tug on his legs out of reflex. J’s tail kept him in place. Uzi moved a little closer and hooked one of her arms so she could hold both of his arms with one of her own. She then used her free hand to reach down and lightly scratch at one of his underarms. N’s laughter grew louder, and if they asked, he’d probably deny his tail beginning to wag.”We had a little “fight” while you were gone and decided we’d wreck you when you get back.” Uzi explained with a mischievous grin.

Only a short while later, the three of them seemed to be getting a little bored while N cackled and laughed on the floor.“You know, I’m getting a little hungry. I want some ribs” V said. N wanted to whisper “oh no” hearing that. She’s done this before and he knew what was coming. V changed her hands to claws and began to gently pressed them against his ribcage, making his laughter grow a bit in volume.”Wahahait, not thehehehehe clahahahaws! Hehehey! IhIhI’m nohot food!” N cackled. He couldn’t help but try again to lightly tug at his arms and legs, but Uzi and J still kept him in place.”No talking, I’m trying to enjoy my meal.” V said. N shook his head at her response, still denying him being a meal.”Hahahahahaha!! Hahahahahahahaha!! Hahahaha!! Thihihis isn’t fahahahair!! IhIt’s three ahagainst one!! Hahahahaha!!” He said. J turned to him and V.

“Hey, should we let Uzi have a turn?” She asked. Uzi perked up a bit and her smile grew instantly.”Yes!” She agreed quickly. She was pretty eager to have a turn. V soon nodded in agreement.”Sure, but we should probably be quick to switch.” She said. Even though it wasn’t directed at her, J stopped scratching under N’s knees and tightened her grip just a little bit more with both of her arms. As fast as they could, V and Uzi switched places and V grabbed onto his arms. Uzi was a bit slower to get to her spot and lifted her hands and wiggled her fingers. N smiled from nervousness and anticipation as she moved closer. V and J both silently approved of her approach and waited. N let out a small laugh purely out of anticipation and his tail flicked.”Why are you laughing? I haven’t even touched you yet.” Uzi teased. N didn’t give her much of a reaction. Uzi moved ever so slowly closer, then suddenly began digging into his underarms. N burst out laughing again and his tail began wagging again.”Ahahahahahaha!! Hahahahahahaha!! Hahahahaha!! Hahahahahaha!!” N tugged on his arms out of reflex, but V kept his arms up and prevented him from protecting himself. The fact that he couldn’t always made it tickle a bit more. He tried leaning to one side, but Uzi focused on that side of him and he leaned the opposite way to move away.

As he cackled and occasionally tried to roll away, but kept failing, Uzi realized that they were missing something. Something from earlier. Slowly, she stopped tickling his underarms, but her grin didn’t fade. That made N nervous again.“I know what we need.” Uzi said. Before anyone asked, she lowered herself to place her face very close to his belly. J and V immediately grinned and N’s nervous smile grew wider as he realized what she was going to do. He tried to pull on his legs and arms and move away, but his friends managed to keep him from doing that.“Wait, wait, wait, wait, waAAAAAIIIIEEEHEHEHEHAHAHAHA!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! UHUHUHUZIHIHIHI, WAHAHAIT!!!” N pulled and tugged on his limbs out of reflex, yanking his friends a bit and resulting in their grip becoming looser. His tail hitting the floor lightly as it wagged. Uzi took in another breath and blew again.

This time, J and V lost their grip on him as he trashed around. He stomped and kicked his legs against the floor and he pulled his arms down to lightly push Uzi off of him. Those quick few seconds of freedom was all he needed to scramble onto his hands and feet and leap over Uzi as J and V tried and failed to grab him again. His tail wrapped around Uzi and lifted her as he rushed outside. J and V chased after him, but they were a little too slow, and he managed to run outside and use his wings to get himself off the ground.”Alright, it’s my turn now!” N said. He was safe in the air as they couldn’t fly, and now that he had one of them, his revenge could begin. Uzi’s eyes widened and she began to wiggle around to try to escape his grip, but he moved his tail to hold her in front of him and reached out to start tickling her belly. Almost immediately, she burst out into laughter and tried to push his hands off.”Hehehehey!! Knohohohohohock ihihit ohohohohoff!! Hahahahahahahaha!! Hahahahaha!!” She said.

“Hmm.... Nope! This is more fun.” N said. He continued to tickle her while his tail kept a good enough grip not to drop her, but not tight enough to make her uncomfortable. Uzi continued laughing while N switched between spidering his fingers and lightly squeezing her to make her squeak. She blushed a little from embarrassment and used one hand to try to hide the small purple blush lines while using the other to push his hands away. It didn’t work and N continued the playful assault. He glanced down below and saw that J and V were gone, but as his scanners zoomed in, their footprints revealed where they went. A mischievous grin made its way onto N’s face as an idea entered his mind. This was going to be fun.

~~~~~~~~~~~

N kept his gaze on the footprints on the ground up ahead as he glided over them. The constant howling winds made it easier for him to move silently through the air, and he was grateful for that. It just made this game of hide and seek all the more fun. As he came up to an old lamppost, he reached out for it and grabbed on. N pulled himself up with ease and was about to leap off of it to continue, but then he noticed something in the tracks that continued ahead. The ones he had been following were empty, but the ones up ahead had pieces of broken metal or were made by well-aimed snowballs. One of them had tried to throw him off.

Glancing down at the ones immediately below, he noticed a disturbance in the snow near the frozen car wreck. One that was caused by kicking. N moved slowly and used his tail to wrap around the lamppost, ready to tighten his grip and catch himself as he crawled towards the pole and began climbing down headfirst. He stopped midway down and loosened his grip on the pole while bending his legs even more like a spring. Then, he released his grip completely and leapt off the side of the pole, landing on one of the cars with enough force for some of the ice to crack. There was a quiet gasp from inside. Just as N had hoped. He jumped down and reached in the door, just barely grabbing V’s legs. He managed to grab one, and then the other when she tried to kick free from him. He hooked both of them under one of his arms as V began to panic. He turned his back to the door, preventing her from seeing when he’d start, and leaned against the car.”No, no, no! Let gohohohoho!! Nohohohohohot thehe feheheet, pleheheahase!! Hahahahaha!! Hahahahahahaha!! Hahahahahahahahaha!!” She tried to pull herself away by grabbing onto the opposite door, but N kept her in place. He lightly scratched at the bottom of her legs, which weren’t exactly the same as worker drones’, but still fairly sensitive.

He continued to tickle that spot for a good few minutes until she said something through her laughter.”Hahahaha!! Hahahahahahaha!! Hahahahahahaha!! Hahahahaha!! IhIhIhIhI’ll tehehell you whehehere J ihihihis!!” V said. N paused, but still kept her legs in his grip. He turned his head around and gave V an expectant look. Once she caught her breath enough, she pointed outside.”She went into that building.” She said. N turned to look at the building on the other side of the road. It was an old school, which meant not too many places to hide and a lot of open space. He thought about it for a few seconds, then smiled and lightly stroked one of V’s feet, making her giggle a bit.”Thank you, but I’m not done with you just yet.” He said. Without anymore hesitation, he continued tickling her.”Hahahahaha!! Wahahahahait!! Nohohohot fahahahair!! Hahahahahahahaha!! Hahahahahahahahaha!!”

~~~~~~~~~~~

J looked out into the nearly vacant, frozen gym room from under the bleachers and waited patiently for N to show up at any time. She had crawled under there because there was a vent right beside her that she could escape into if he came too close to her hiding spot. So far, for the last hour and a half, he hasn’t shown up. She wanted to go outside and search the school, see if it was finally safe to go back, but she knew better. N wouldn’t give up so easily. When it came to getting a task done, time was only relevant if there was a deadline in his eyes. In a game like this, he’d only give up if he had to, and the sun had only gone down so most three hours ago. He had another eleven to find her before sunrise. J had a few blankets she snatched from one of the many emergency supplies cabinets throughout the store, so she’d just have to stay hidden until then.

As she continued to scan left and right from her corner, she suddenly heard something that made her engines stop. A vent closing. J swiftly turned around and saw N standing there. He smiled and waisted no more time grabbing her and lifting her a few inches off the ground in what would be a rare, but normal hug if he wasn’t tickling her at the same time.”Hahahahaha! Puhuhuhuhut mehehehe dohown! Stohohohohop tihicklihihihing mehehehehe!” She said. N just smiled innocently. J tried to pry his arms off and use her legs to push against him, but he didn’t let go and kept up the assault.”Hahahahahahaha! Yohohohouhuhu’re in sohohoho muhuch trohohohouhuhuble!” She threatened. Usually, N would take it seriously, probably a little too seriously, and let go. When she first said that, he didn’t come near her for the rest of the night, but now he didn’t. He was going to get his revenge on her, and he knew that she wasn’t actually going to hurt him, so he continued as if she hadn’t said anything. Plus, none of what she said sounded like their safe word.”N! Hahahahahahahaha! Hahahahaha! Hahahahahaha!”

[legendaryhertsteam7]

Kevin Adanan, Wednesday 12th of February

For the past few days I have worked on trying to collect all the assets etc and then add into the environment. On Sunday I worked on populating the environment for the test that took place on Monday.

After the test on Monday, I felt that the scene needed to be populated more as it looked quite barren. There wasn't enough ships and events happening etc. Unfortunately, there was also the issue of having enough time to render the videos. Many other groups claimed that it took them 12-15 hours to render the final product.

I went back to library to add in more ships etc. While there, I did a test render that took in the region of 2 hours for the first part of the project, the space section and not the peaceful planet part.

The next morning on Tuesday, I recorded the first part of the project. While doing this, I tried to implement the planet part of the scene. Rahul had developed this using a program called Gaea. The scene looked amazing.

Gaea needed a plugin to be opened in Unreal. I downloaded the plugin, installed and then tried to add the environment to the Unreal Engine project file. I added in some foliage that Sidharth had developed to make the scene look more like the artstyle that we were going for. When I went to render the scene on my laptop, the scene was quite slow to render... 10 seconds of footage was marked down as needing 8-10 hours to render. The 1.30 mins of the space scene took 2 hours to render. I knew something was wrong with the plugin, after trying to research how to fix it, I decided that since Rahul developed the scene on his system, that I could send him the Unreal project file and he could render it. I sent him the scene along with a video describing how to render the video using the settings for the Panoramic Render.

After an hour or so, it became clear that the render wouldn't work on his end. Unfortunately, the render kept crashing. At this stage, I made the decision to just build the planet section using the Landscape Editor and then to record the video.

This took some time as it had been a while since I had used the editor and I hadn't had any textures to use for the grass etc. I downloaded materials from Substance 3D Assets. Basic materials like grass, rock and sand. I then exported them out as maps from Substance Painter. I needed this tutorial to remind me how to overlap materials in the Landscape Editor.

(Gorka Games, 2023)

Once I developed the environment, I wasn't happy with the results. The ground looked too basic. I remembered that Sidharth had created a concept where the spaceship would be looking up as the plants as they were so overgrown that they overlooked the spaceship. So, I decided to try and add this effect. I raised the scale of the assets and placed all around the spaceship.

Once this was done, I recorded the footage, brought it into Premier Pro and combined the videos with the music and sound that I received from the Sidharth and Rahul. Rahul had suggested we use "I'm Leaving" by Low Roar.

(Low Roar, 2014)

The song gave an interesting feel to the scene. I added this to the scene however, once I added in Sidharth's sound effects, I felt that the music and sound didn't match.

Instead, I went for a more dramatic soundtrack from the Outer Wilds. I felt that it matched the theme of having something dramatic and then for the second part of the video to be more relaxing.

(Andrew Prahlow - Topic, 2020)

Once this was done, I brought the project into Adobe After Effects and added the changes to fit the dome shape.

Andrew Prahlow - Topic. (2020). The Ash Twin Project. [song] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ddvyyyCCD4 [Accessed 12 February 2025]

Gorka Games (2023). Landscape for Beginners - Unreal Engine 5 Tutorial. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSsOS6M2u1s [Accessed 12 February 2025]

Low Roar. (2014). I’m leaving. [song] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrU4e8-w7x4 [Accessed 12 February 2025]

[vcdmajavonwilson]

I followed a tutorial on YouTube about how to turn any photo into a gold piece (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpkdC5dE1gw). I wanted to use planet Earth so I got a picture of it from Adobe's stock images

First I had the AI generate a picture of outer space, then desaturated Earth. After making a copy of the layer, I then changed the layer to be blended in "difference" and inverted the image. This was done two times.

Afterwards, a gradient map was added to get the gold coloring right, and another layer change to that of "color" to really get the gold shine effect.

I had the idea to show why the Earth was gold. So I had gold asteroids and comets being slammed into it. I also added the moon with astronauts looking as they looked on at the planet

[jreads]

Unexpected Constellations (Part 11)

Rating: V for violent?

Word Count: 3.5K

Warnings: Warnings: Angst, Mentions of blood, Canon-level violence, Dark themes, Foul language, (small emetophobia warning because I get it)

A/N: Yikes, sorry guys. This one is a bit painful, both in terms of writing calibur and plot points. I've been dragging my heels because I just can't seem to get it right but what the hell. Enjoy this slice of angst. In honour of Shadow and Bone S2, see if you can spot the six of crows reference. As usual, reblogs get a kiss (muah). Comment on this post or the masterlist to get added to the taglist! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the continued support. Love ya.

You had your elbows propped on the back of his chair, on either side of the helmet, staring over its reflective surface at the nav computer in front of you.

“There’s nothing there.” Not a planet, not an asteroid field, not even a hint of scrap metal within radius of the destination. The coordinates supplied by Karga were leading you all the way to the Outer Rim, to quite literally the middle of nowhere.

Din sighed, a tired action, his body heaving with the effort. “It could be a small moon maybe… something that hasn’t been mapped?”

“The galaxy’s been mapped, Din. All of it.”

“Sometimes planets will get deleted from records, especially if there’s something worth hiding.”

The sarcasm was laughably evident in your retort. “Fantastic! I am so excited.”

He chuckled and twisted in the pilot’s seat, relying on your loss of balance to pull you across the arm and into his lap. You didn’t even try to pretend that it was against your will. There had been more of this recently… overt touches, advances… flirting. And he was relentless with it. You were getting the feeling that he understood now, extremely well, just how much of an effect he had. And he was starting to take advantage of it.

“We’ll be fine.” The low vibration of his voice seemed to travel up your spine. And oh so easily… just like that, you believed him.

His hand played with the hem of your shirt, before dipping underneath it and up— cradling your spine with a broad palm. He was warm and calloused despite the gloves, a perfect reflection of his dichotomy. Violent and unforgiving with his enemies, soft and affectionate with his family.

“I miss Grogu.” 

Caught up in the drama and the intensity of the past couple days, you had started to crave that lighthearted, bubbly energy. It was a much-needed part of your dynamic. 

“Everything goes well… we’ll be back with him in a few hours.” You smiled inwardly at the thought. He’d coo and babble at the two of you; you might even be able to sense his displeasure at being left behind for such a long time. But—

“What happens to…” You motioned between you and him. “…this?”

The helmet cocked to the side. “This?”

“Yeah, this. Us.” You cleared your throat, fidgeting in his hold. “We have to be careful with him around, right?” He was poking at the edge of your bandage, a sign of bashfulness perhaps.

“How much does he know?” Din asked, as if he expected you to have an answer.

“What do you mean?”

“Sometimes he looks at me with these eyes, like he sees it all. Like he understands it.”

“It?” You could see all of hyperspace reflected in his visor.

“You should ask him.”

“That’s not really how it works.” His hand was tracing circles over your back. He hummed, a desire for clarification. “I can get emotions from him, and he gets them from me. Especially stronger ones. We can’t actually… talk.”

He was quiet for a moment, lost in thought. 

“So, if I were to…” The hand under your knees then crept around your thigh, up and towards the inside, so dangerously close to where you were still aching for him.

You clamped down on his hand, pushing it back. “Okay, so we really have to be careful.”

Din’s hold tightened around you, and you could practically feel the grin on his features. “You going to sneak around with me, cyare?”

Oh, you would. Kriff yes, you would. 

Hours later, the hyperspace exit was abrupt. You were both strapped into your respective seats, Din manning the controls. You noted the hand he kept firmly on the front cannon triggers, and the tension he held between his shoulder blades.

But it was quiet ahead. An expanse of brilliant stars only interrupted by a small figure in the distance. Asymmetrical. Not a planet. You fidgeted uncomfortably in your seat. In a few minutes you had gained on the stationary object.

“…It’s a ship.” Slight damage, no thrusters, no movement, not even any light visible from the exterior. Almost as if it had been abandoned.

“EF76.” Din turned his head to you. “Nebulon-B Frigate.” Your tongue was caught between your teeth. “I don’t like this.” The thing probably had long range sensors. Whoever was on board, if there even was anyone on board, already knew you were here. It was much too late to turn back now. 

“But those were old rebel cruisers, right?” Din queried.

You were stiff as a board beside him. “The rebels used them in the war… but they were originally built for the Imperial Navy.” Leaning forward a touch and surveying the several levels of the vessel, you whispered: “It’s been a while since I’ve seen one.”

The Razor Crest did a wide circle around the craft, once, Din then advancing to survey the long bridge.

“I can’t see a thing. Scanners are picking up life forms though.”

You leaned forward. “How many?”

“Not sure, I can’t get any readings on the lower sections. All I see are seven.” He turned his helmet a fraction of an inch. “What do you think?”

Again. There was that insistent desire to turn and run. Self-preservation. A habit that had stuck over the decades. But it was silly, wasn’t it?

“It’s a job.” Din nodded once in agreement. “So let’s finish it.”

He seemed to contemplate for a moment before guiding the ship forward once more, in search of a docking port. But you weren’t looking out into space anymore. You were looking at him.

You could see flashbacks in the reflection of his helmet. Rain on Sorgan, drenching the huts, soaking your clothes, running in tiny rivers down your face as you jogged to him.

“Wait!”

He’s loading the cart with weapons— knives, pistols, rifle— but he stops in his tracks. His back remains to you, but you can tell you have his attention. The child floats in his pram, eyes open, ears perked, head tilted curiously. He is adorable.

Perhaps your silence has stretched too long because the Mandalorian turns to you. The rain makes a soft pinging sound against his armour. You have to blink it out of your eyelashes.

“Yes?” It’s monotone, almost cold. Almost.

The fabric of your shirt is sticking to your skin. You are shy, hesitant even, when you speak.

“I can help you.” 

He just stands there. Unmoving. You can’t tell where he’s looking… what he’s thinking. It’s unusual. You shrink under his scrutiny. Perhaps he thinks you’re silly, small, pathetic, useless—

“Yes.” He shifts his weight. “I could use someone with your… talents.”

You try not to let the relief show in your posture. You had expected him to deny you outright.

“…But a life here is peaceful… safe. With me, it won’t be.” 

“I know.” You blurt, before considering your words. He cocks his head to one side. “I mean, I understand.” One step closer. “I want to help.”

Some time later, when you arrive on the ship, and the engines ignite in a purr, he asks you—

“Are you sure?”

The haze broke, and you were staring once again at the looming ship, an open loading dock.

“Yes.” The word was unconvincing on your lips. “Let’s get this over with.”

The ship creaked, a hollow banging echoing through the hull as she docked. You were sweating.

Din relinquished the controls, and you straightened as he stood, turned, and stopped before you.

“Hey,” He had tilted your chin up with a finger. “You can stay. I won’t be long.”

“Don’t be stupid.” Your bones protested as you rose from the jump seat. You felt weary. “Like hell I’m letting you go in there alone.”

He looked at you like he was about to insist… then seemed to think better of it. Instead, he slid his hands over your shoulders and down your arms. 

“You stay behind me, got it.” You nodded, throat suddenly heavy with something. “And if I tell you to run, you kriffing do it.” 

You wouldn’t be running. Not unless he was alongside you. “We’ll be fine.” It was the only response you gave, a mirror of his own words. You weren’t sure who you were trying to convince.

It was dark. There had been no greeting party as the two of you had scaled the ladder into the Frigate, so you were left to wander down the dimly lit halls, lined only along the edges of the floor with cold white light.

Din kept you behind him, as promised. The blaster had left his hip holster before you had even disembarked from the Crest. The passageway was a labyrinth, and after several minutes of walking, you briefly voiced your concern to Din.

“Will we be able to find our way back to the ship?”

He faced forward as he answered. “My footprints leave residue; I can track them back.” Both of your voices were hushed, and you weren’t entirely sure why.

You passed another four-way intersection, and Din scanned each branch before letting you continue. But something stopped you dead centre, a feeling, a nostalgia. A familiar presence. Your head snapped to the left. Din was still walking forward, unaware of your halt.

Curiosity, purpose, and perhaps even fear led you down the new path. You were only alerted to Din’s proximity when he called your name.

“What is it?”

Your heart pounded in your chest, and you could feel the beat everywhere. “I don’t know, just…”

When a cantina band plays, often their music will crescendo at its climax, a rumbling, near deafening hum that seems to permeate both eardrums and settle somewhere in the middle of the brain. You felt that then, though no song was audible.

You crept forward, slowly now, into another intersection… past it. Din guarded you from behind, three possible angles of attack. He scanned them all, shifting back and forth on the balls of his feet, his back squarely to you. He hadn’t noticed how much distance had opened between the two of you.

A blast door sealed with a deafening bang, followed by a low hydraulic hiss. 

You both turned, neither of you in time. A small square window was set in the middle of the door, and you pounded on it with your fist. You yelled. Could he hear you? Was he saying something? You couldn’t hear him.

But he spun away sharply, and you looked past him, over his shoulder, to the line of soldiers that had appeared at the end of the hall. They knelt, blasters raised. Stormtroopers.

A mistake. It was a mistake.

“Din!” You threw your body against the glass… once… twice. More appeared from each side. He was surrounded. You couldn’t think, couldn’t feel, couldn’t even remember that you shouldn’t be yelling his name.

Each of the troopers held Imperial standard-issue blasters… 13 red sights pointed at the chest of the person you loved most in the galaxy. 

You ran. Sprinted. Taking three rights in an effort to double back on yourself, to ambush the troopers from behind. You were met only with another closed door. Panic. 

Anguish, despair, desperation, hopelessness, confusion, frustration. Again… fear.

Because all of sudden, Din wasn’t the only one in trouble.

“You’ve grown.”

The hairs on the back of your neck stood on end. You knew that voice. You heard it often enough in your nightmares— laughing, taunting.

You wouldn’t turn, perhaps out of a desire to hold onto ignorance, to not be able to confirm with your eyes what you already knew to be true.

“Look at me.” The words were mockingly soft, sweet. “I want to see your face.”

Your body seemed to obey on its own.

He stood a few paces down the hall, in an immaculately tailored Imperial uniform, hands clasped behind his back, flanked by troopers. He sighed, as if in contentment.

You could have dispatched him in any number of ways. Force choke, snapped neck, vibroblade to the gut. But that was the funny thing about trauma.

An assault of memories came flooding back, fresh as ever. Torture, blood, cruelty, promises. A crashing ship, a brutal kill. Palpatine’s loyalists.

Impossible.

“You died.” You were shaking. “I killed you.”

He smiled, as if it were all a practical joke. “I’m afraid you simply didn’t cut deep enough, my dear.”

Your brain didn’t have enough time to catch up. By the time you had processed that he was alive, by the time you decided you would just have to try again, just have to kill him better this time, troopers had already seized you by the shoulders, slapping a thick pair of cuffs on your wrists.

No. No. Not this. Not again. You might have been screaming, thrashing like a wild animal, as the Stormtroopers dragged you down the hall, further away from Din. 

Din, who might already be dead.

When you reached the control room, you were strung up in a forcefield of glowing blue magnets, an extra set of cuffs fastened around your ankles. Soldiers lined the room, and he stood at the front, directly ahead of you.

“Let the Mandalorian go.” It came out breathless, desperate, despite your efforts to project some sense of authority.

He took a step toward you, reaching out to cradle your face. You couldn’t even rear back, the magnets having rendered you entirely immobile. “He’ll be alright. I give you my word.”

You spat. “Why would I ever trust anything you say?”

He circled you predatorily, the pale pink scar across his throat stark in the ship’s cool light. You had done that.

“Because… he brought us our bounty.” His smile was lecherous. “The Mandalorian will be well rewarded.”

Our bounty.

No.

It was never about the crystal.

It was about you. You were spinning. And still, he was talking as if it were a conversation between old friends.

“You’ll forgive me if I monologue a touch? It’s been quite a while since we caught up.”

“You haven’t given me much of a choice.” The containment field was making you feel scrambled, the room going in and out of focus. You could feel your eyelids drooping, muscles going limp.

A sharp electric jolt seared through your wrists, eliciting a gasp from you. 

“Painful, isn’t it?” He was smiling. “A Geonosian invention actually… and quite effective, especially on force wielders.” You were still trying to recover. “Forgive me, the extra shocks aren’t necessary, but I want you awake for this.”

“So, the crystal.” He motioned with his hands, almost exuberantly. “The Emperor had sourced it for you prior to his… disappearance.” The wording was careful, deliberate. “He knew it would call to you. It was almost too easy.”

Din.

Where was Din?

“All I had to do was plant it. Put some rumors out about its value… the whereabouts. I knew it would cause quite an upheaval. And I suspected you would find it in the process.” His grin was pure malice. “Or rather… It would find you.”

He paused, a curious look in his eyes. “It does call to you, doesn’t it?” He found his answer in your silence, a nod and wistful smile before he continued.

“The Mandalorian was an interesting addition to the equation. I never expected you would have kept such peculiar company.”

You were fading out again, his voice getting farther and farther away. Another jolt pulled a hoarse scream from you.

“Sorry, dear. As I was saying… Can you believe we came so close only a few years back? When Moff Gideon ran into your… travel companion.” Again, another particular choice of words. “Yes, I was close by. Gideon and I were well acquainted. I couldn’t believe you were alive. That you had survived the crash.” There was happiness in his voice, excitement even. It made you nauseous.

You didn’t want to hear this. You didn’t want to know how you’d been played… walked Din right into a trap because you couldn’t see it coming. Too blinded by—

“I wondered if it might cause issues for us. I had heard about the… many talents of Din Djarin.”

He knew his name.

“But I never expected him to be so reasonable! Triple the value of the crystal… that’s what he wrestled out of me, but it was worth it. You are worth it.” His smile was so broad it might have ripped a hole through his cheeks. “You will be. How many times have I told you. You’re the future.”

Triple the value.

He had bought you.

Din had sold you.

It felt as if the blood had stopped flowing to your brain. Like your lungs could no longer draw breath. As if your heart had been unceremoniously gutted from your chest. It couldn’t be true. 

“You don’t believe me.” His voice sounded almost sympathetic. “You will. It may take some time… but you’ll understand. When he doesn’t come for you, you’ll understand. We are all you have. I am all you have.”

You couldn’t yell. Couldn’t let a tear fall in his presence. You wouldn’t. Instead, you let the magnetic field pull you under… further and further… until you could no longer feel the zaps of electricity that he sent to revive you. Until you could no longer feel anything at all.

You knew this game. Knew how to numb yourself just enough, physically and mentally, to be less aware of the pain you knew he was so capable of inflicting. Perhaps that had been your problem all along. You had softened, thawed… let someone in. And look what good had come of it.

You were right back where you started. 

Din stood still in a hall of bodies. 

Thirteen men he had killed, and then he had thrown himself against the blast doors, again and again, the thick thudding sound of his body against metal seeming almost like a mockery. He had then tried the darksaber, igniting it and attempting to melt his way through. But they were solid, airtight, probably a few inches longer than the blade itself, meant to withstand the outside pressure of space.

It had been a trap, of course it had been a kriffing trap, and he had lost you.

Lost you.

He had lost you.

He might be panicking. Hyperventilating. He needed to pull himself together. And he needed a plan.

If whoever was in charge could spare that many men just to deal with him, there must be many more aboard the vessel. A hidden crew. They had known he would try to read heat signatures. Stormtroopers. Empire. Fuck. He had been so stupid to lead you here, put you in harm’s way. He should have thrown the bounty back in Karga’s face, told him to find someone else, flown you and the kid to Naboo.

He should’ve…

He couldn’t take them all himself. He couldn’t even get through this damned door. And he was no good to you dead. He needed backup. Fast. Someone he could trust. More than someone. He turned.

The Mandalorian had to wrestle with every fibre of his being, every protective instinct, every thought commanding him to go back as he scaled the ladder of the loading dock, and re-entered the Razor Crest, alone. He fought with himself as he engaged the thrusters and disconnected from the frigate. He cursed each choice he had made, setting events slowly in motion, as he steered the old ship away and typed in the hyperspace calculations. 

By the time he made the jump, and tore the helmet off, tears were tracking over his cheekbones, dripping off the edge of his chin. He stood and spun, punching a dent into the cockpit doors. 

Din screamed, and the hoarse sound echoed through the empty ship.

Sorgan’s natural sounds are like a strange sort of melody. Almost a lullaby.

You are lying on a grassy knoll, staring up at the stars, folded into a warm body that you know the feel of. Intimately.

Grogu’s cry of delight comes floating on a phantom wind and all of a sudden you can see him, cradled in Din’s arms, fixing you with a confused stare. Like he doesn’t recognize you at all.

“I told you I would do anything to protect him.” The Mandalorian’s words are matter of fact. Barely apologetic. “He is my family.”

There is warmth on your hands. Then pain… searing pain. Blood everywhere. Thick magnetic cuffs around your wrists. And your ankles. You don’t have the energy to put up a fight. 

“I thought I was too.”

He doesn’t reply. Just fixes you with that unreadable stare of his.

You awoke and vomited over the polished floor of your holding cell.

The suns were casting a sickeningly warm glow across the table, laid with fat fruits, cured meats, goblets of rich liquid.

He stood at the head, fists curled at his side, trying to calm the deafening silence in his head enough to speak stably.

“You owe me.” He was shaking. “I’m here to call in that favour.”

Fennec Shand stood slowly from her seat, dinner long forgotten.

“Djarin.” Her voice had an uncertain timbre to it. “Where is your girl?”

Boba Fett had pushed back from the table as soon as Din had entered the room. The Daimyo was already reaching for his weapons. 

A promise of blood to be spilled.

Taglist: @that-girl-named-alex @aavengingbucky @prismaticpizza @blub-senpai @a-phan-of-youtube @jaguarthecat @lizajane3 @come-hell-or-eldren-fire @graciexmarvel @soobinsrose @simply-maggie @alwaysdjarin @minky77 @tinytinturtle @tae27 @groguspicklejar @slightlyuglierbeyonce-blog @willow-t @abbyhaslongshorts @andrewshotspot @racetrackheart @leithatnight @messageinadaisy @lostinsideourminds @wren-2-d @goth-cowgir1 @aphterthoughtt @sleeplessskeleton

I had trouble tagging some, so just shoot me a message if your tag isn't working :)

[thethrillof]

hollow knight + space/scifi AU?

sort of continued from here :V!

since the pale king didn’t want anything known about sun/stars/space/etc. for the general public, there wasn’t actually much communication or travel between them all even during hallownest’s golden age. only his closest knew how to relay information or open the sky enough to allow travel.

hornet is. very stressed out. she considers herself the guardian of the solar system, but with the aforementioned limited travel/communication and the fact most of those who could do so are long dead, she doesn’t know what’s going on off the specific planet she’s on half the time. 

she can travel but only during very specific windows of time. sometimes this takes years.

opening the stagways is massively important for everyone, not just the the knight themselves. hornet and the very rare survivors that aren’t half-mad from disease and radiation poisoning. some people just head out once things are open and never come back.

cornifer and iselda are very tech-savvy and update your map remotely. both of ‘em are a rare non-vessel that can travel through space with minimum equipment without dying immedately.

most travelling is on the surface, but the white lady lives deep within a small moon orbiting main hallownest. lots of layers to traverse.

the mantis traitors live on the moon’s surface and have their own little ships that patrol the outer atmosphere. unfortunately for them and fortunately for the rest of the universe, they’re trashed enough they can’t get to actual space.

there’s an asteroid belt on the edge of the system. nothing lives there, no evidence of anything ever having been there ever. it’s mostly just somewhere to hang out if the knight overshoots their trajectory...

...except after that happens about six times, a red glow appears and then there’s the lantern to summon the grimm troupe on top of a particularly jagged asteroid.

they don’t stay in one place. grimm gives the knight a little communicator, and only by pinging him can they visit. the troupe usually travels to them rather than the other way around. usually.

[ao3feed-yoonjin]

You hate me ... because?

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2Jh7Q4V

by Shining_Sunshine46

With a planet filled with very … odd terrains

why wouldn’t Chris and Namjoon explore it?

“You know where we are, right?”

“Wait, I thought you had the map?”

Or

A crack fic where two explorers meet way too many people for their liking.

Words: 4785, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS, Stray Kids (Band)

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Kim Namjoon | RM, Kim Seokjin | Jin, Min Yoongi | Suga, Jung Hoseok | J-Hope, Park Jimin (BTS), Kim Taehyung | V, Jeon Jungkook, Bang Chan, Kim Woojin, Lee Minho | Lee Know, Seo Changbin, Hwang Hyunjin, Han Jisung | Han, Lee Felix (Stray Kids), Kim Seungmin, Yang Jeongin | I.N

Relationships: PLATONIC Bang Chan/Kim Namjoon | RM, Kim Seokjin | Jin/Min Yoongi | Suga, Jung Hoseok | J-Hope/Park Jimin, Bang Chan/Seo Changbin, Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know

Additional Tags: Fluff and Crack, Attempt at Humor, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Mostly Crack, Alien Planet, Outer Space, Alternate Universe, Bang Chan and Kim Namjoon are best friends, I'm Bad At Tagging, Alien Creatures, I refer to Bang Chan as Chris, Jeon Jungkook is a Little Shit, All the Young Ones are Little Shits, Han Jisung | Han & Lee Felix are Best Friends, Lee Minho | Lee Know is Whipped, Jung Hoseok | J-Hope Is Whipped, Mentions of piss kinks, Kink Shaming, More as a joke, Poor Seo Changbin, Hwang Hyunjin & Seo Changbin are Best Friends, I am so messy at tagging, Jeon Jungkook & Kim Taehyung | V Are Best Friends, Mentions of Anxiety, mentions of insomnia, Dirty Jokes, lots of those, its really chaotic, I swear there is a plot, Slow Burn, Slow Build, kind of, I really don't know, This is really messy oh hell, Song references, Kim Namjoon | RM Is So Done, Hes sick of the shit Chris pulls, but they are both idiots, actually they all are, Jung Hoseok | J-Hope & Kim Seokjin | Jin Are Best Friends, Kim Namjoon | RM Has Anxiety, Insomniac Bang Chan

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2Jh7Q4V

[thiccpoe]

cont. @rouqehair

A SECRET BASE in the outer rim just at the edge of a distant solar system was a crystal planet that coveted a secret rebellion base that was once operational and active during the empire’s reign . poe had been sent there by the general to retrieve old holocron’s and data of past rebel posts and maps , as his mission . what he did not expect was to see a first order cargo ship shot down from the sky , probably from the base defense system ; leia told him it was still active to this day . jumping out of his x-wing , poe had scavenged the crash sight with bb-8 who beeped at him warily . looking around , the pilot noticed a tuff of hot red hair against the crystal sand , and immediately he ran over towards the body .

it was n o t easy to bring the body back into the base , there were sealed doors that bb-8 had to open manually , and then there was the issue of rebooting an entire medical droid from its power saving mode , before it could be fully functional . but poe didn’t say anything and neither did he complain , instead he laid the man onto the bed and watched as the medical droid began to patch up the unconscious man .

leaving bb-8 to take a scan of the base , poe sat in one of the chairs in the medical room , as the droid finally finished wrapping the strangers wounds before entering his P O W E R S A V I N G M O D E . it didn’t take long for poe to w a i t as the stranger began to awake , but he did take note of their bright red hair that contrasted agains their snow white skin . . he bets their eyes would be just as bright and pretty .when they did awake , he didn’t answer , instead he watched as the stranger quietly moved trying to sit up .

“ there was NO coat , just found you like that . please don’t move , you’re going to stress your wounds more . as for where we are . . “

poe paused . . how should he go about and answering this question ?

“you’re in a medical room .”

[tanadrin]

The  People of the Sea

The Circumpolar Languages are a major family of languages spread across the shallow seas of Sogant Raha’s southern pole. Their origin is in coastal Vinsamaren, and they spread south over a period of about 4,000 local years; due to multiple waves of migration, conquest, and back-migration, and the displacement of Circumpolar-speaking peoples from their original coastal regions, the later distribution of languages is rather different from the original division of dialects, but still reflects a rough chronological division as one moves over the pole.

The geography of the southern seas is dominated by numerous chains of hundreds or thousands of small islands, the result of vigorous volcanic and tectonic activity across the fractured small plates. rift zones, and mostly-submerged continental landmasses in the region. The Gull Islands, which divide the Great Northern Sea and the Sea of Birds at Morning, represent the southern uplands of what, during Sogant Raha’s past ice ages, was Vinsamaren’s low-lying southern plain. The Smoky Islands, the Islands of Pigs and Islands of Rats, and the Windbreak Islands all are the result of volcanic activity along large subduction zones; while the Isles of Swift Fish and the Seven Brothers are the result of hotspot activity.

The combination of open sea and Kiata’s warm climate means that polar winters are relatively mild, and the water is ice-free year-round. Warm currents from the flanking oceans makes the weather of the outer archipelagos particularly mild, though they also annually drive powerful extratropical cyclones southward, sometimes breaching the straits and remaining over the cold southern seas for weeks at a time.

(map enlarged; scale is in km)

While occasional archipelagic empires have arisen in the southern seas, these have proved transient in the face of the large distances and frequent dangers of travel in the region. Most political units are island-scale principalities and commonwealths, and while some more northerly islands have acquired wealth through facilitating transcontinental trade, for the most part these cultures can be rather inward-looking. Nonetheless, they are all possessed of a similarly intrepid spirit, being the most accomplished and daring sailors on the planet, in this or any other era. Though there are a few scattered traces of ancient human habitation in the archipelagoes, in the past even much more technologically sophisticated cultures have tended to avoid the southern isles. Not so the People of the Sea, who have proven to be dauntless even in the face of fire and storms.

Proto-Circumpolar is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Circumpolar languages. Like almost all later circumpolar languages, Proto-Circumpolar has a complex morphology centered around biliteral (mostly, but not exclusively, consonantal) roots, tripartite morphosyntactic alignment, a large set of noun classes, and strong active/stative and transitive/intransitive distinctions in verbal morphology. In line with the most archaizing of its daughter languages, Proto-Circumpolar is also reconstructed as using extensive noun incorporation, which can result in sentences comprised essentially of a single very complex verb.

The vowels of Proto-Circumpolar are [a e i o u]; realized in short, closed syllables as [æ ɛ ɪ ʌ ʊ]; however, only the vowels [a i u] can appear as components of roots. The consonant system is as follows:

Stops: p t k : [ʔ] b d g Nasals: m n ng [ŋ] Fricatives: f s sh h v z zh Semivowels: w j gh [ʁ~ʀ] Taps, trills: r l b [ɾ ɺ ʙ]

Roots are primarily biliteral; triliteral roots exist, but are treated as a special examples of the regular types of biliteral root. Roots typically have an inherently or originally nominal or verbal meaning, e.g., P-H, “dwell, inhabit, fish along the shore of,” a verb, and D-SH-G, “outrigger canoe,” a noun, but can in principle be inflected for any nominal or verbal category. Nominal roots further exhibit a three-way noun-class distinction which is generally described as “old,” “young and small,” or “young and large;” but these classes are arbitrary outside of living things (people, plants, animals), and in some noun classes (e.g., units of time and supernatural entities) inflect only for the “old” class.

(timeline map enlarged)

The nineteen noun forms are as follows: 1. people (including professions, kinship terms, etc.), 2. islands (the word “island,” words for various types of island, and proper names of islands), 3. places on islands (any natural geographical feature that isn’t part of the sea), 4. made things (boats, houses, tables, cooked food, and the flesh of domesticated animals), 5. harvested things (fruits, grain, and the flesh of wild animals), 6. natural things and unharvested fruits (rocks, rivers, trees), 7. weather terms except wind and kinds of winds, 8. units of time, 9. wild land animals, 10. domesticated land animals, 11. things pertaining to the sea and wind (including currents, tides, reefs, shoals, bays, and inlets), 12. domesticated plants, 13. inedible plants, 14. poisonous plants, 15. edible sea life, 16. inedible sea life, 17. poisonous or venomous sea life, 18. the supernatural (ghosts, spirits, gods), and 19. anything sacred or taboo (fanes, shrines, death, the plague, injury by fire, harvest sacrifices, drowned corpses). Nouns have single, plural or collective, partial (i.e., inherently possessed), and uncountable forms, and seven cases: agentive, patientive, subject, instrumental, accusative (used only for direct objects), dative (used only for indirect objects), and vocative. While this means that any given noun root can have in theory many hundreds of forms, almost no root in practice has a form for each noun form, and class and case endings tend to be similar across many or all classes. The difference in how each declension handles endings tends to arise from the phonological structure of the root itself rather than being arbitrary; for instance, all roots whose second element is -A belong to the same declension.

Verbs have seven major conjugations: stative, intransitive imperfective, transitive imperfective, ditransitive imperfective, intransitive perfective, transitive perfective, and ditransitive perfective. The distinctions between conjugations are more semantic than strictly aspectual, e.g., P-H in the 3rd conjugation means “settle, colonize,” but in the sixth “visit, camp at”, and both verbs can be conjugated in, say, a habitual or progressive tense. There are thirteen tense/aspect/mood combinations (indicative, imperative, future imperative, jussive, past, past perfect, past subjunctive, future subjunctive, present habitual, past habitual, present progressive, past progressive, and non-future conditional) and three persons; but as with the noun, save phonologically triggered differences, these affixes tend to be the same across each conjugation.

Proto-Circumpolar regularly incorporated the patient or agent into the verb as an affix; it could also sometimes incorporate the instrument or subject. Word order was probably free, with a weak tendency toward SOV.

(subfamilies enlarged)

Along with shared vocabulary around sailing, geography, methods of fishing and agriculture, and weaponry and political terminology, which all point to ancient cultural commonalities between even the most far-flung Circumpolar languages, the Circumpolar peoples all share a common vocabulary of local wights and supernatural intercessors. Different islands now emphasize different spirits in their local pantheons, but all share a concept of the “Parliament of All Seas,” at which island-guardians or kingdom-patrons decide the fate of the world, and a common ritual law which forbids under terrible penalties contact with the polluted or profane, and permits contact with the sacred only after extensive rituals of charity and purification.

[terryblount]

Here’s All The Game Announcements At The Game Awards 2018

The Game Awards 2018 promised over 10 new game announcements happening while they dole out the glamorous awards. And it certainly did not disappoint. Just like what we did last year, here’s a rundown of all the big game announcements that happened during the show.

Sayonora Wild Hearts

A Pop Album Video Game. Published by Annapurna Interactive and developed by Simogo. This team specialises in making mobile games, including Device 6.

This time, Sayonara Wild Hearts will be out on Nintendo Switch.

Journey To The Savage Planet

By 505 Games and developers Typhoon Studios. Alex Hutchison, director of Assassin’s Creed III and Far Cry 4, is part of the team. Not a battle royale. Not a survival game. But an adventure game.

Solve the mystery of the savage planet. More info will be revealed next year.

The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe, Out On Consoles

2013’s narrative-driven comedy that throws you off every moment and, will be out on consoles. Now with new content and new endings.

It is also coming to PC.

A little teaser trailer pic.twitter.com/VfC0IAN3uz

— Among Trees (@AmongTreesGame) December 7, 2018

Among Trees

By Fjrd Interactive, it is a beautiful looking first-person adventure, coming to Steam Early Access in 2019.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order

The sequel to the Diablo-style action game is coming to Nintendo Switch. Featuring many of your favourite characters from the Marvel universe, including the X-Men.

Rocket League New DLC: McLaren 570S Car Pack

A real car as DLC in Rocket League! McLaren has been flirting with gaming for some time and this is further commitment that they are seriously courting us gamers to like the Woking-based automotive company.

Far Cry New Dawn

Developed by Ubisoft Montreal, it’s post-apocalypse Far Cry 5, set in the same map of Hope County.

Featuring more crazy weapons, beaten up vehicles, a very pinkish hue and two new leading ladies. It’s coming out on February 15th and hinted that it’s following a timeline set up by events of Far Cry 5.

Hades

A new game by Supergiant Games, creator of Bastion, Transistor and Pyre. Looks like it plays more like the combat-oriented of the earlier two games married with the visual-novel artstyle in Pyre. It is also a rougelike.

Hades is available now on Early Access at the Epic Games Store.

Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey

New, actual gameplay of Patrice Désilets’ Panache Digital Games. The creative director of Assassin’s Creed Games takes you on a singleplayer open world adventure through the times. Starting as a monkey and into the early parts of civilizations somewhere in Africa.

Ancestors is set for release sometime in 2019.

Scavengers

Developed by new studio Midwinter. Powered by SpatialOS, the first tease shows a cold, frozen wilderness. Described as a multiplayer ‘co-opetition’, sign-ups are open at the official website here.

Dead By Daylight Darkness Among Us DLC

The asymmetric horror multiplayer game is getting another DLC. And boy does this game have a lot of DLC.

Also, the game is getting dedicated servers by Summer 2019.

New Anthem Trailer

A new trailer for Anthem, EA and Bioware’s upcoming looter-shooter. Here’s more plot and world-building for this new IP.

Crash Team Racing

The remaster of is introduced by the iconic man in the Crash Bandicoot suit. This is the same treatment as the previous Crash and Spyro remasters/remakes. The same game you know and love but built from the ground up with the latest tech. Beenox is handling the development.

It will be out in June 2019.

The Outer Worlds

The new game and universe by Obsidian and Private Division. It is a single-player first-person sci-fi RPG. It features an old-timey aesthetic in space played in the first person. A hint of Borderlands, but more gritty and you can make meaningful story decisions, hopefully.

This is the game the original creators of Fallout that joined Obsidian a few years ago, Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky, worked on. It will be out in 2019 for the PS4, PC and Xbox One.

Dauntless On PS4, Xbox One and Epic Games Store

First announced at the Game Awards, the Monster Hunter-style action RPG will be coming to the PS4 and Xbox One.

For PC, aside from its own launcher, it will also be available through the Epic Games Store.

The Last Campfire

Hello. From the creators of Joe Danger and No Man’s Sky, Hello Games’ next title is a very surprising one. It is described as “a story of a lost ember trapped in a puzzling place, searching for meaning and a way home”.

A calming looking adventure game.

New Winter Map for PUBG

New map Vikendi has been revealed. The map is smaller than the usual maps but larger than its small map Sanhok.

New weapons, new vehicles including a snowmobile and snow. Snow will play a part on strategy as it leaves tracks.

The map is now available on PC Test servers and are on its way to Xbox One and PS4, soon.

Atlas

New game by the developers of Ark:Survival Evolved. A world of pirates, knights and cowboys? and magic? Every fantasy trope collides in this open world survival MMO, with 40,000 concurrent players.

It will be out on PC via Steam on December 14th, with a release on Xbox One via the Preview Program coming soon.

"I suspect you have questions…" #TheDreadWolfRises pic.twitter.com/oT7L6LOFKA

— BioWare (@bioware) December 7, 2018

New Dragon Age Teased

A new Dragon Age game has been announced. While it’s an open secret one is existed, it’s good to finally have it properly revealed.

Though no name has been attached to it yet, but the tease suggests the next game will continue directly after the end of its last game, Dragon Age: Inquisition.

The Pathless

From the creators of Abzu comes a new adventure game, featuring fantastical ruins, forests, flaming mythical beasts, an eagle and archery.

It will be released on PS4 and PC via Epic Games Store.

Stranger Things 3: The Game from @BonusXP is coming to all platforms. Hold onto your quarters. #TheGameAwards pic.twitter.com/m00x1nGeFy

— NX (@NXOnNetflix) December 7, 2018

Stranger Things 3 The Game

Developed by BonusXP, the same developers that did Stranger Things The Game. Now it’s in a 16-bit style aesthetic instead of 8-bit and will follow along the adventures that will happen in Season 3 of the Netflix show.

Mortal Kombat 11

While Ed Boon was presenting an award, it cuts to the announcement of Mortal Kombat 11. It is a CG trailer but the game will feature a new graphics engine and Custom Character Variations.

A full reveal for the community is set to happen on January 17th with a full release on April 23rd for the PS4, PC, Xbox One and Switch.

Psychonauts 2

A new trailer for the long-in-development platformer Psychonauts 2.The trailer details the setup for our hero Razputin’s next mission.

It is still set for release sometime in 2019.

Demo May Cry Coming First to Xbox One

The demo for Devil May Cry 5, which we are dubbing as Demo May Cry, will be out on Xbox One December 7th. This is the Nero demo as seen playable at various events this year.

Alongside that is a new trailer, including a glimpse of how V, the third playable character.

Fortnite

The world of Fortnite literally changed with the introduction of The Block where the coolest content from the game will be featured. Goodbye Risky Reels. For now.

Rage 2

A wild new trailer for Rage 2 dropped. Featuring more of the wacky post-apocalypse open world.

There are no words! Joker from Persona 5 in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate!? Wow! #TheGameAwards pic.twitter.com/uga2qxQluT

— The Game Awards (@thegameawards) December 7, 2018

Persona 5’s Joker In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

For real?!?! It’s real! The Persona 5 protagonist is the coming to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the first of five as announced earlier. All DLC characters will be new to Smash and will be of this sort of wild pick.

Lookin’ cool, Joker!

For the list of award winners for The Game Awards can be found here.

Here’s All The Game Announcements At The Game Awards 2018 published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/

[apod]

2018 April 17

M57: The Ring Nebula Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble Legacy Archive; Composition: Giuseppe Donatiello

Explanation: Except for the rings of Saturn, the Ring Nebula (M57) is probably the most famous celestial band. Its classic appearance is understood to be due to our own perspective, though. The recent mapping of the expanding nebula's 3-D structure, based in part on this clear Hubble image,indicates that the nebula is a relatively dense, donut-like ring wrapped around the middle of a (American) football-shaped cloud of glowing gas. The view from planet Earth looks down the long axis of the football, face-on to the ring. Of course, in this well-studied example of a planetary nebula, the glowing material does not come from planets. Instead, the gaseous shroud represents outer layers expelled from the dying, once sun-like star, now a tiny pinprick of light seen at the nebula's center. Intense ultraviolet light from the hot central star ionizes atoms in the gas. The Ring Nebula is about one light-year across and 2,000 light-years away.

∞ Source: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap180417.html

[sciencespies]

Lucy spacecraft launches on ambitious mission to study the origins of the solar system

https://sciencespies.com/space/lucy-spacecraft-launches-on-ambitious-mission-to-study-the-origins-of-the-solar-system/

Lucy spacecraft launches on ambitious mission to study the origins of the solar system

NASA launched a spacecraft called Lucy on a 12-year mission to explore Jupiter‘s Trojan asteroids for the first time on Saturday, gathering new insights into the solar system’s formation.

The Atlas V rocket responsible for propelling the probe took off at 5:34 am local time (0934 GMT) from Cape Canaveral.

Named after an ancient fossil of a pre-human ancestor, Lucy will become the first solar-powered spacecraft to venture so far from the Sun and will observe more asteroids than any probe before it – eight in all.

Lucy will also make three Earth flybys for gravity assists, making it the first spacecraft to return to our planet’s vicinity from the outer solar system.

“Each one of those asteroids, each one of those pristine samples, provide a part of the story of the solar system, the story of us,” Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission, told reporters on a call.

Lucy’s first encounter will be in 2025 with asteroid Donaldjohanson in the Main Belt, between Mars and Jupiter. The asteroid is named after the discoverer of the Lucy fossil.

An Atlas V rocket launches with the Lucy spacecraft aboard. (Bill Ingalls/NASA)

Between 2027 and 2033, it will encounter seven Trojan asteroids – five in the swarm that leads Jupiter, and two in the swarm that trails the gas giant.

The largest of them is about 60 miles (95 kilometers) in diameter. 

Lucy will fly by its target objects within 250 miles (400 kilometers) of their surfaces, and use its onboard instruments and large antenna to investigate their geology, including composition, mass, density and volume.

Diamond in the sky

The Jupiter Trojan asteroids, thought to number well over 7,000, are leftover raw materials from the formation of our solar system’s giant planets – Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

Scientists believe they hold vital clues about the composition and physical conditions in the protoplanetary disk from which all the Sun’s planets, including Earth, formed.

They are broadly grouped into two swarms – the leading swarm is one-sixth a lap ahead of Jupiter while the trailing swarm is one-sixth behind.

“One of the really surprising things about the Trojans, when we started to study them from the ground, is how different they are from one another, particularly with their colors,” said Hal Levison, the mission’s key scientist.

Some are gray, while others are red – with the differences indicating how far away from the Sun they might have formed before assuming their present trajectory.

Lucy the fossil was discovered in Ethiopia in 1974 and helped shed light on human evolution. The space mission’s name was chosen with the hope that it will shed light on the solar system’s evolution. 

The paleoanthropologists who discovered the hominin remains named her after the Beatles’ song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”, which they were playing loudly at the expedition camp.

Lucy the probe is carrying a diamond beam splitter into the sky – the Lucy Thermal Emission Spectrometer, which detects far-infrared radiation, to map asteroid surface temperatures.

By measuring the temperature at different times of day, the team can deduce physical properties such as how much dust, sand, or rock is present.

© Agence France-Presse

#Space

[aion-rsa]

Xbox Game Pass: New Games for April 2021 Revealed

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Xbox Game Pass is Microsoft’s subscription service for Xbox One owners. It’s designed to be like a “Netflix for games,” where you pay a simple monthly rate and get access to loads of games for download. It’s not to be confused with the Xbox Live Gold membership, which gives users a selection of free games each month.

There has been a huge surge in popularity and profile for Xbox Game Pass since its launch, mainly due to the diverse list of games and first-party exlusives on the service. In fact, Microsoft drops new releases from its own internal studios onto the service on day one! Sea of Thieves was the first example of this, followed by State of Decay 2 and Crackdown 3. Since then, the service has seen the day one launch of several other high-profile Xbox exclusives, including Gears 5, The Outer Worlds, and Halo: Reach on the Halo: The Master Chief Collection.

Membership to Xbox Game Pass will set you back $9.99 per month. You can now also get an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription for $1 for the first month and $14.99 every month after that. The subscription includes an Xbox Live Gold membership as well as all of the games offered on Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Game Pass for PC. Plus, with cloud support, you can play a selection of Xbox Game Pass titles on your Android phone. And now you even get access to titles on EA Play, the third-party publisher’s own on-demand service.

New games are added each month to Xbox Game Pass. Here are the games coming in March and April, plus all of the new Bethesda games available on the service starting on March 12 (with descriptions courtesy of the Xbox team) :

Xbox Game Pass: Games for April 2021

Outriders (Cloud and Console) – April 1

Outriders brings intense action and deep role-playing to Xbox Game Pass! Developed by People Can Fly, veterans of the shooter genre, Outriders presents a journey of survival across a savage planet, which can be tackled in both single player and 1-3 player co-op.

Grand Theft Auto V (Cloud and Console) – April 8

When a young street hustler, a retired bank robber and a terrifying psychopath find themselves entangled with some of the most frightening and deranged elements of the criminal underworld, the U.S. government and the entertainment industry, they must pull off a series of dangerous heists to survive in a ruthless city in which they can trust nobody, least of all each other.

Zombie Army 4: Dead War (Cloud, Console, and PC) – April 8

Hitler’s zombie hordes are back for more in this spine-chilling shooter from the makers of Sniper Elite 4! Abominable occult enemies, epic weapons and a harrowing campaign for 1-4 players await in 1940s Europe, as you fight to save humankind from undead Armageddon!

Disneyland Adventures (Cloud) – April 8

Experience the magic of Disneyland! Take a journey where stories come to life and dreams come true, right in your living room! Explore Disneyland park, from Main Street U.S.A. to Critter Country, where you can join Peter Pan to battle Captain Hook, high-five Mickey Mouse, and hug Snow White.

Rush: A Disney/Pixar Adventure (Cloud) – April 8

Rush: A Disney/Pixar Adventure invites families and fans of all ages to experience the worlds of six beloved Disney/Pixar films. Team up with characters from “The Incredibles,” “Ratatouille,” “Up,” “Cars,” “Toy Story,” and “Finding Dory” to solve puzzles and uncover hidden secrets.

NHL 21 (Console) EA Play – April 12

Carve your path to superstardom in an expanded Be A Pro mode and go down as one of the league’s greatest. On the ice, change up your attack with all new moves, dekes, dangles, and evasive maneuvers, inspired by the league’s most groundbreaking innovators.

Rain on Your Parade (Cloud, Console, and PC) – April 15

Travel the world as a cute cardboard cloud and ruin everybody’s day! Unlock new methods of mischief in over 50 levels, each with unique setting and objectives. Make new friends and help them too – it’s an adorable schadenfreude game!

Pathway (PC) – April 15

Assemble a bold team of adventurers and journey through the desert-wilderness. In 1936, Nazi influence has spread, along with rumors of secret excavations, mysterious artefacts, and gruesome occult rituals… Outwit foes in strategic squad combat and locate ancient treasures before they fall into the wrong hands!

MLB The Show 21 (Cloud and Console) – April 20

MLB The Show 21 rockets the franchise onto the next generation of video game consoles with a huge range of improvements, enhancements, and optimizations that make The Show the ultimate Major League Baseball experience. Thousands of new animations, revolutionary innovation on gameplay, and an all-new Stadium Creator let you own The Show like never before.

Phogs! (PC) – April 22

In Phogs! you play as a duo of dogs on a captivating, puzzle-filled adventure. Linked by a stretchy belly, you’ll need to bark, bite, and bounce your way through obstacles set across the themed worlds of Food, Sleep, and Play. Play through your entire fun-filled adventure in co-op or single-player exploring 24 fantastical levels stuffed with exciting challenges and creatures to play with.

Second Extinction (Game Preview) (Cloud, Console, and PC) – April 28

Second Extinction tasks you and up to two friends with fighting bloodthirsty mutant dinosaurs in a bid to reclaim Earth. But be warned: These carnivores have an appetite for war. The game takes place on a large-scale map where each region has a unique threat level. As the community lowers the threat level, the dinosaur menace retreats. Fail to keep the hordes at bay, however, and you’ll face increased threats, more dangerous enemies, and the chance of emergence events that will test your limits.

Destroy All Humans! (Cloud, Console, and PC) – April 29

The cult-classic returns! Invade 1950s Earth in the role of the evil alien Crypto-137. Harvest human DNA and bring down the U.S. government in the faithful remake of the legendary alien invasion action adventure. Annihilate puny humans using an assortment of alien weaponry and psychic abilities and reduce their cities to rubble with your flying saucer!

Fable III (Cloud) – April 30

Lead a revolution to take control of Albion, fight alongside your people, and experience love and loss while preparing to defend the kingdom against a looming threat. Your choices as ruler will lead to consequences felt across the entire land.

Fable Anniversary (Cloud) – April 30

As the best-selling RPG on the original Xbox, Fable pioneered every player’s choice having a consequence. With Fable Anniversary, a spectacular HD remaster of the original Fable, players will be reminded of why the franchise is so special and unique. All new textures and 3D models, an entirely new lighting system, a slick new interface, achievements, and all the content from The Lost Chapters, make Fable Anniversary the definitive Fable experience for faithful fans and new players alike!

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

The post Xbox Game Pass: New Games for April 2021 Revealed appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3e8utqM

[kennethanliveblog]

2018 E3 with Xbox One Microsoft

Sunday has Microsoft Xbox first up.

Let’s see what I will be wow about this year.

Kennethan is wow about!

Fallout 76

Metro Exodus

Battlefield V

My live streaming notes from the press conference.

Of course the Xbox presser starts with Halo Infinite.

50 games

18 exclusives

15 premieres

Ori and the Will of the Wisps due in 2019

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice due in 2019

Fallout 4 game pass launch announcement

Fallout 76 prequel to the prior games.  Four times larger than other games and in West Virginia

Captain Spirit game in the Love is Strange world

Crackdown 3 due Feb 2019

Nier: Automata 

Metro exodus due Feb 2019

Kingdom Hearts 3 due Jan 2019

Sea of Thieves new content coming

Battlefield V

Forza Horizon 4 due Oct 2018

We Happy Few due out Aug 2018

Player Unknown Battlegrounds with a new map for summer 2018 just for Xbox?  also with a War Mode and other goodies.  For winter 2018, a snow map was teased.

Tales of Vesperia Definitive Edition - a remaster

The Division 2 due March 15, 2019

Xbox Game Pass - One low monthly price to play over 100 games.  Fast Start with 2x faster play coming end of June

Quick teasers for these games

Outer Wilds

Afterparty

Kingdom Two Crowns

The Golf Club 2019

Warhammer Vermintide

Fringe Wars

Below

Conqueror’s Blade

Waking

Raji

Super Meatboy Forever

Planet Alpha

Islands of Nyne Battle Royale

Sable

Harold Halibut A Handmade Adventure Game

Bomber Crew

Children of Morta

The Wind Road

WarGroove

Generation Zero

Dead Cells

Ashen

Lara Croft: Shadow of the Tomb Raider due Sept 14, 2018

Session - Skateboard game?

Black Desert MMORPG - I guess now on Xbox One, but this game is already on PC.

Devil May Cry 5 - Not played the others and not thinking to play this one. 

Cuphead due in 2019 - as always, the animation is very retro to early cartoon days but not sure its of interest to me.

Tunic

Jump Force due 2019

Dying Light 2 - tag line of your world, your choices

Battletoads due 2019

Just Cause 4 due Dec 4, 2018

Gears 5 due 2019

The presser all of the sudden crashed and then had someone hax into the system to show another premiere trailer.

What we got was a look at Cyberpunk 2077.

Overall, there were lots of games and lots of games to play.  Not many that I will be playing though.

[sculpture-workbook]

VENN

Venn diagram: (noun) a diagram representing mathematical or logical sets pictorially as circles or closed curves within an enclosing rectangle (the universal set), common elements of the sets being represented by intersections of the circles.

Nancy Holt:

05/04/1938 - 08/02/2014

Born in Massachusetts

Married artist Robert Smithson

Majored in Biology at Tufts University (Massachusetts);

Key to Earth, Land, & Conceptual art movements;

“How we understand our place in the world”;

Key concepts:

Vision

Memory

Perception

Time

Space;

Natural environment = medium and subject

Used drawings as a medium to articulate concerns -> careful detailing to mathematical calculations & full rendering;

Body of works encompass:

Concrete poetry

Ephemeral gestures

Audio, film, & video

Photography

Artist books

Major public sculpture commissions (US & Europe);

Some of her works:

Sun Tunnels:

Nancy Holt, Sun Tunnels, 1973-76. Earthwork & Sculpture.

> 9ft tall concrete tunnels > Following the summer & winter solstice line

Nancy Holt, Drawing for Positioning of Holes in the Perseus Constellation for "Sun Tunnels", 1975. Works on Paper.

> Constellation is exact - done in collaboration with astrologists -> cast light on the tunnel floors - like walking on the constellation/stars

Nancy Holt, Preparatory Drawing of "Sun Tunnels", 1975. Works on Paper.

> 12 photos of horizon line corresponding to 12 different angles of sight -> cardinal direction > Lines radiating for centre mimic sun’s rays > Photos frames limit views of the landscape constructing a different experience of it

Nancy Holt, Sunlight in Sun Tunnels, July 14, 1976. Photo works.

> 30 photos - suns movement inside tunnels every half hour > “Photographs of the work are memory traces, not art.”;

https://holtsmithsonfoundation.org/sun-tunnels https://ocula.com/artists/nancy-holt/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSS1tbaLfW8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6koPeWqrYho

2. Stone Enclosure: Rock Rings:

Nancy Holt, Stone Enclosure: Rock Rings, 1977-78.

> 10ft x 2ft (H x W), inner wall - 20ft (D) - outer wall 40ft (D) > 14k hours to erect > Looking out through potholes = tunnelling effect > Looking in = telescopes out/flattens depending on shifting sunlight > Gazing up at night you see the Polaris star and when the other star move through the night sky the galactic clock mechanism can be recorded a.k.a space-time > Material used - local metamorphic rocks quarried 65miles from site and dating back to the Triassic period > Iron sulphide presence in rocks used will quicken the decomposition of work rapidly (ephemeral) > Work was born out of a need to look at the night sky

Nancy Holt, Stone Enclosure: Rock Rings, 1978. > Entrances and exits located on a true North axis calculated from North Star Polaris (used for navigation purposes);

https://www.moma.org/collection/works/117286 https://holtsmithsonfoundation.org/doubling-down-nancy-holts-stone-enclosure-rock-rings

3. Up and Under:

Nancy Holt, Up and Under, 1987-98, Pinsiö, Finland.

> Sand, concrete, topsoil, grass, water > Mound: height ranges from 11 to 26 ft. (3.5 to 8 m), with a length of 630 ft. (192 m); Tunnels: length 241 ft. (74 m), with a diameter of 10 ft. (3 m) > 1 vertical tunnel & 7 horizontal tunnels align with the North Star Polaris > Surrounding tunnels is 3 reflective pools of water > Earth underfoot is collected from across Finland;

https://holtsmithsonfoundation.org/and-under

4. LOCATOR P.S.1:

Nancy Holt, Locator P.S.1, 1971, The Institute for Art and Urban Resources.

> Steel pipe, black paintOverall dimensions variable > Locator Height: 60 in. (152 cm); Width: 12 in. (31 cm) > Indicate the concept of constructing a new experience of the environment the viewer by framing a particular view changing the perspective they once had of the view -> the distorted circle becoming whole;

https://holtsmithsonfoundation.org/locator-ps1

5. Stone Ruin Tour:

Nancy Holt, Stone Ruin Tour, 1967, Little Falls, Cedar Grove, New Jersey.

> 126 format black and white photographs and typewritten text > Incomplete, sparse, and seemingly vague instruction make up the text that directs the tour. > Viewers are new sightseers filling in the blanks of the instructions with imagination and creating individual experiences -> going beyond the boundaries of the museum and art institutes walls;

https://holtsmithsonfoundation.org/stone-ruin-tour-i

6. Sky Mounds:

Nancy Holt,

Sky Mound: Sun Viewing Area with Pond and Star Viewing Mounds, 1985. Nancy Holt, Sky Mound: Moon Viewing Area, 1985. Nancy Holt, Original Site Plan for Sky Mound,1986. Graphite on paper and colour pencil on blueprint. I-A Landfill, Hackensack Meadowlands, New Jersey, USA

> Overall: 57 acres (23.1 ha); Height: 110 ft. (33.5 m) > Designed for site reclamation that would serve to mitigate environment damage and make a sculptural observatory > Design was never fully realised - only the pond at the site was finished -> but the drawings and plans look amazing > Gravel paths were designed to follow the solstices, while a large granite sphere surrounded by a moat would represent the moon. -> her fascination with our solar system and night sky has been a repeated theme yet she has brilliant ideas that she executes differently with each project.

https://holtsmithsonfoundation.org/sky-mound

Some of her concrete poem works:

Concrete Poetry: (n) poetry in which the meaning or effect is conveyed partly or wholly by visual means, using patterns of words or letters and other typographical devices.

1. 10 Billion Barrels of Crude Oil:

Nancy Holt, 10 Billion Barrels of Crude Oil, 1986. Ink on paper. 14 x 8 1/2 in. (35.6 x 21.6 cm).

> This wasn’t the kind of work she had been expected to when the Visual Arts Centre of Alaska invited her -> she chose to bring into focus the impacts of crude oil extraction on the beautiful landscape - an uncomfortable topic rather than simply focussing on the beauty of the landscape > Map-like -> makes the viewer more aware of how much our human actions both directly and indirectly impact the environment - that being our immediate environment or another part of our planet;

https://holtsmithsonfoundation.org/10-billion-barrels-crude-oil 2. Hometown:

Nancy Holt, Hometown, 1969. Ink on paper. 11 x 8 1/2 in. (27.9 x 21.6 cm).

> Key concept of the intersection between language and place > Map-like - mirrors physical location using names of places on paper -> mapped out places she lived and/or moved to;

https://holtsmithsonfoundation.org/hometown

3. Making Waves:

Nancy Holt, Making Waves, 1972. Ink on paper. 8 1/2 x 11 in. (21.6 x 27.9 cm).

> Charts 3 different ‘selves’ in her day from 4am-10pm -> feminist -> artist -> mystic > Characteristic method of thinking in systems that makes the invisible tangible;

https://holtsmithsonfoundation.org/making-waves

4. The World Through A Circle:

Nancy Holt, The World Through A Circle ca. 1970. Typewriter ink on paper. 11 x 8 1/2 in. (27.9 x 21.6 cm).

> Sun, moon, water, sky, earth, star > Alludes to the cosmos - something that comes up in a lot of her works mentioned above > Fits her most influential concepts within the confines of a circle -> again the use of the circle.

https://holtsmithsonfoundation.org/world-through-circle