#;sentiments

[b1ackbaccara]

to peel back the edges of the universe

Bombardier. Mercury. It wasn't a glamorous, sprawling metroswathe like much of the rest of Cradle's fulcrum worlds, but instead something more reminiscent of a weed pushing itself up between faults in asphalt, stubbornly growing out of necessity than careful cultivation.

There was something to be said for it, for humanity's proclivity to scrabble and grasp for survival, to flourish in the face of challenge and adversity--and while her younger mind couldn't grapple with all the complex particulars, that driving necessity took root early in the wake of their purpose here; the anchor for humanity's very first Dyson web. Without access to the sort of energy it provided, the crises across the galaxy would be catastrophic. Catastrophic.

It should have scared her, young as she was, but with how often her parents repeated their responsibility to their station, to Cradle, to humanity spoken with such reverence every time she lamented their absence without fail (until she stopped asking altogether)--how could it?

She'd say she understood, but she didn't, not until she saw the web. Really saw it.

While the only residential hub on Mercury, Bombardier's passages and facilities were still largely industrial, perfunctory spaces. There weren't windows and atriums and greenery--save for the hubs through which Union's officials would pass most often--as most of Bombardier was below ground, given Mercury's climate on the surface.

There was a passage, though, near her family's apartments. A long corridor that opened up like the elbow joint of a drain pipe, branching down into other residential passages. She remembers a few scattered tables, once-plush, curved leather benches lining the walls with grooves where people had sat on and off for decades, vidscreens with the latest station news alternating with programming beamed across the Omninet from Cradle.

She remembers the concrete flooring was shinier down the main thoroughfare, that she'd spend her limited amount of free time occasionally tracking up and down, playing at filling the shoes of her parents or their colleagues on some important mission or another for the Anchor (like defending it from invading mutant astronaut dinosaurs who she'd inevitably convince of the error of their ways and she'd get to ride up and down the hallways).

On one of those days, though, something had possessed her to lay out in the center of the little concrete plaza, staring up at a ceiling that vaulted far higher than she'd ever really noticed. Reinforced steel beams were criss-crossed by thick ropes of tied up cabling, recycled air hissed through slats in the massive, squared rows of ducts that spliced down the junction of each hallway. Electricity buzzed in the artificial lights, flickering almost imperceptibly, while the TV blathered on at a low drone.

She didn't notice any of it, though, peering up into what she'd always thought was a shadowy ceiling that terminated not in darkness, but light. It was high up enough that it didn't really cast light down, not below the artificial industrial lighting lining the hallways and the edges of the room in a harsher, off-white glow, but it was a massive porthole to what must have been the surface.

She could see the outline of thick bolts the size of her six-or-seven year-old head lining the edges, and whatever glass was up there was so thick that it cast a foggy haze over the sights beyond, blowing out the flickering strands of the Dyson web so each lit section looked more like a glowing bulb on a strand of holiday lights.

Like she was seeing cracks in the black expanse, fingers of gold trying to peel back the edges of the universe.

It was that moment, that spark of wonder and of terror that spurred her along the path her life would eventually take. Her parents might have planned to have her take up engineering, but while she internalized the responsibility and importance of caring for the Anchor on behalf of all humanity, she would eventually fly straight past it.

[v0idwraith]

quite frankly idgaf what Luigi Mangione’s politics are, he actually did something to make a change and that’s more than most people can say

[sugar-salt-sea]

this specific expression Wilson makes whenever House is talking and accidentally admits to something deeply distressing is so funny. psychiatrist stare

[heart-in-pieces-95]

[captainkirkk]

Concept: Peter actually got bitten by a totally normal spider. It's just a coincidence that his mutant powers were awakened around the same time

[yuutaguro]

in anticipation for his birthday, here’s the one i made 3 years ago 🎂

[vivitalks]

best types of brennan NPC

autism haver

stoner

frat bro who has unlearned hypermasculinity so hard that he's gone 100% the opposite direction about it

anticapitalist proletarian

the most insane person you've ever met

[pangur-and-grim]

Belphie looks so handsome today

[cobbbvanth]

#please don't take him just because you can :(

[b1ackbaccara]

the lives we left are gone forever; a callsign: Daughter playlist

tracklist (lyrics under the cut) (x)

01. 100 years - florence & the machine 02. a hole in the sun - two steps from hell 03. blossoms - the amazing devil 04. dawn - daniel cavanaugh 05. wayward daughter - brown bird 06. bloodmoon - white sea 07. river from the sky - the weepies, deb talan, steve tannen 08. bleeding - nightcall, keppmann 09. wild rose - matthew and the atlas

10. i just want to feel something - magic sword 11. crosswinds - j. tillman 12. badlands - magic sword 13. constellations - the oh hellos 14. line in the sand - berend salverda 15. sister death - look homeward 16. the ending - magic sword

17. the calling - the amazing devil 18. ode to a dying storm - black hill 19. welly boots - the amazing devil 20. river oblivion - phoria 21. breath of life - florence & the machine 22. cosmic love - florence & the machine 23. there is still good in you - magic sword 24. echoes in the distance - masayoshi soken 25. new constellations - ryn weaver

100 years - florence & the machine And lord, don't let me break this, let me hold it lightly Give me arms to pray with instead of ones that hold too tightly

blossoms - the amazing devil As I make myself acquainted with the saint of never getting it right

wayward daughter - brown bird For every height there comes a fall For every saint, a wild marauder And a beast in wait for heroes tall

bloodmoon - white sea The day you were born There was blood in the water

river from the sky - the weepies, deb talan, steve tannen Every night I say goodbye to you again, to you again Heavy storm about to cry like a river from the sky

wild rose - matthew and the atlas There was hope in your heart but soon it would depart And I witnessed the dying of a wild rose

crosswinds - j.tillman I put aside the yearning of my voice when I was young

constellations - the oh hellos 'Cause like constellations a million years away Every good intention, every good intention Is interpolation, a line we drew in the array Clinging to the faces, clinging to the shapes in the silence

sister death - look homeward So lay me down before my time On the hard and dusty air So I can feel where I come from And to where I will return

the calling - the amazing devil Oh I look into the waters Long ago that current caught us and we tried I tried I really fucking tried But the rain kept coming down I watch that woman drown Shoulder the sky Open those eyes There's a kind of calling Calling

welly boots - the amazing devil Left you behind just standing there Pretending not to see your ghost If only you could hear my voice But you are screaming far too loud to hear me swear Just because I left doesn't mean that I'm not still there

breath of life - florence & the machine And I started to hear it again But this time it wasn't the end And the room is so quiet

cosmic love - florence & the machine I took the stars from my eyes, and then I made a map And knew that somehow I could find my way back Then I heard your heart beating, you were in the darkness too So I stayed in the darkness with you The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out You left me in the dark No dawn, no day, I'm always in this twilight In the shadow of your heart

new constellations - ryn weaver Now it feels like I'm living some sick déjà vu Like the answers were there when I stared into you Child of Neptune, I'm the daughter of the Sun Keep showing me new constellations, new constellations

[wuntrum]

dinner in america posting

[soymajitomv]

[hinamie]

in spite of everything, I had fun <3

[heart-in-pieces-95]

[enderscribbles]

drinking buddies (ft. textpost from @demilypyro)

(edit: Added ID made by @princess-of-purple-prose! embedded in alt text.)