#Materials Sciences Division

[mspopstar]

...Susie, are you trying to clone Meta Knight? (If so, why?)

"Ahahaha! How silly! I would never do such a thing! Yes, Haltmann Works Company bio-sciences division does indeed experiment, streamline, and utilize its highly advanced cloning through nano-genetic technology but I would never do such a thing without providing informed consent to any and all sentient individuals or organisms whom can consent."

"In the case that we do use samples that have been collected past and or subsequent to the statue of limitations in place for genetic collection for nano-genetic experimental usage we do not inform the individual or organisms of the who, what, how and why regarding the use of their genetic materials. However, please know that Haltmann Works Company promises and continues to uphold a value that while no clone has any forms of rights or humanity, all clones are treated with the utmost care and consideration both when performing orderly upkeep and possible termination. For any questions or concerns, please contact Haltmann Works Company Ethics Morals, and Responsibility support line Thank you."

-Executive Secretary Susie P. Haltmann.

[Arc Controller | "Clone Wars" | Previous <--> Next ]

[bitter69uk]

Hagsploitation truly is the horror sub-genre that keeps on giving. Sparked by the unexpected success of 1962’s What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? in the 1960s and 70s, maturing female stars of golden age Hollywood extended their careers by swallowing their pride, embracing their inner scream queen and plunging into exploitation shockers: think of Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Tallulah Bankhead, Olivia de Havilland, Agnes Moorehead and Shelley Winters starring in the likes of Strait-Jacket, Hush … Hush … Sweet Charlotte, Berserk, Lady in a Cage, Die Die My Darling, Dear Dead Delilah and especially the “question movies” Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?, What’s the Matter with Helen? and What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? Roaring back from career doldrums (I last remember her playing Miley Cyrus’ mother), 61-year-old Demi Moore finds herself in a similar position in director Coralie Fargeat’s grisly and stylish satire The Substance. In a gutsy, exposed (in every sense) performance, Moore plays Elisabeth Sparkle, a middle-aged television celebrity abruptly fired by ageist and sexist network executive Dennis Quaid (really chomping the scenery). Despondent, Elisabeth takes desperate measures to rejuvenate her “best self” with a mysterious unregulated black market scientific procedure called The Substance … and things swiftly unravel. Characterized by stunning art direction and a visceral sound design that emphasizes every repulsive squelching noise, The Substance ratchets up maximum dread and offers a goldmine of knowing movie references: Basket Case. Carrie. Death Becomes Her. Every single David Cronenberg “body horror” flick but particularly The Fly. Thematically, it reminded me of two specific b-movies from the late 1950s: The Wasp Woman and The Leech Woman, in which the anti-heroine experiments with science (or voodoo) to restore youth and beauty with monstrous consequences (and – it must be noted - these films make their point with a fraction of The Substance’s budget and two hour-and 40-minute running time). The Substance is bound to be divisive. There was multiple “walk outs” when I saw it. And has Fargeat lost control of the material by the ultra-gory splatter fest finale? However you cut it, it’s a wild ride and destined for cult status.

[usnatarchives]

Beyond the Stars: Mae Jemison’s Odyssey ✨

Happy Black History Month!

This Black History Month, we spotlight the extraordinary life of Dr. Mae Jemison, the first African American woman to travel in space. Born on October 17, 1956, in Decatur, Alabama, and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Jemison’s journey into the stars is a testament to the power of dreams and determination.

From an early age, Jemison showed a keen interest in science and space, but noticed the absence of women astronauts. She pursued her passion relentlessly, earning a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University and an M.D. from Cornell Medical College. Before joining NASA, Jemison was a general practitioner and served in the Peace Corps in Sierra Leone and Liberia, where she managed health care for other volunteers. In 1987, Jemison’s dream became reality when she was selected for NASA’s astronaut program. On September 12, 1992, aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavor on mission STS-47, Jemison became the first African American woman to travel in space, serving as a mission specialist. During her eight-day mission, she conducted experiments on weightlessness and motion sickness, contributing valuable data to the field.

Jemison’s honors include induction into the National Women’s Hall of Fame, the National Medical Association Hall of Fame, and the Texas Science Hall of Fame, among others. Her story is not just one of breaking barriers in space exploration, but also of inspiring generations to pursue their dreams, regardless of birth and obstacles.

For more information on Mae Jemison’s groundbreaking journey and contributions to science and humanity, the National Archives holds numerous resources that illuminate the lives and achievements of African American pioneers:

[fatehbaz]

Chicago, Illinois is often considered to be on the periphery of the plantation. William Cronon's famous narrative of Chicago's relationships with the "Great West" positions the burgeoning city at the edge of American expansion into plantation agriculture in the Midwest and industrial farming on a national scale. [...] [W]e could also characterize the city as an anticipatory hub between the twin plantation figures of the pre-war American South and America's 20th century colonies [in Central America, the Philippines, and beyond]. During the Reconstruction years, Chicago emerged as a logistical center, channeling America's railroads and telegraph lines into itself. As parts of this communications node, Chicago newspapers and military police served to convert white anxieties about Black migration from the plantation South into new techniques and technologies of prediction that became transportable across a newly imaginable informational plane of US imperialism. [...] [I]n Chicago between 1875 and 1890, [...] white anticipations of African American migration from plantations in the South were translated into new information sciences and policing techniques that made their way to plantations in places like the Philippines. [...]

[S]uch feelings were fundamental to linking plantations which at first seem so spatially and temporally distant. [...]

---

On May 3, 1879 the Chicago Tribune published a greatly anticipated investigatory series entitled, “The Negro Exodus: Causes of the Migration from the Negro’s Point of View” [...] the latest in a long sequence of deeply uneasy reports dating from 1860. From its location at the communicative center of all major US rail and telegraph lines, the Chicago Tribune undertook an imagined responsibility to inform its Midwestern audience of Black peoples’ movements and behaviors. [...] At the climax of the “Negro’s Point of View” series, [...] May 3, the Chicago Tribune presented its showstopping report from its correspondent in Vicksburg, Mississippi entitled “Letters Written by Negroes in Kansas to their Friends South”. In this report, the writer discusses his skepticism of earlier methods of [...] interviews with Black migrants. [...] [The newspaper] conducted its fact-gathering through the mass surveillance of Black peoples' letters [...] [to assess] inner motivations [...] about Black peoples’ “perceptions, enjoyments, and reasons” [...]. Such informational appetites became the anticipatory basis for 20th century enumerative practices. As Colin Koopman argues, informational fastening, or the atomization and separation of facts from Black peoples’ bodies, became commonplace during the Great Migration in the practice of racial statistics, criminology, and health policy directed at Black migrants [...].

---

White Chicagoans’ prolonged concern over predicting Black behaviors and intentions materialized in 1877, when the city became a central hub of militarized response to a nation-wide railroad strike. Adjutant General Richard C. Drum, who commanded the Military Division of the Missouri (Western Frontier) in Chicago from 1873 to 1878, took control of Chicago’s military response to the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. In 1879, after his final year in the city, Drum moved to Washington, DC and proposed the establishment of the Military Information Division (MID) [...]. The MID, which formally established in 1885, maintained close ties to Chicago's local information collection system, adopting a Bertillon identification system of collecting and storing intelligence cards at the time that the National Association of Chiefs of Police established their central bureau of identification in Chicago in 1896 [...]. By the tun of the 20th century, Chicago's police force had expanded tenfold [...], and Drum's MID had amassed over 300,000 intelligence cards [...].

---

The affective atmosphere into which the MID intensified its own predictive techniques later traversed the Pacific Ocean into the Philippines. Alfred McCoy argues that the American introduction of communication technologies and surveillance techniques in governing the Philippines constituted the United States’ first information revolution (McCoy 2009: 18). Colonial police trained in the anxious habits of the MID, rendered the Philippines a laboratory for securitized speculation. McCoy further contends that these informational “capillaries of empire” embedded themselves into the Philippines’ plantocratic-security state as well as US domestic surveillance practices. I add to McCoy’s argument by suggesting that trained feelings of white apprehension translated into imperial mechanisms for governing the Philippines through systems of intelligence cards, telecommunications infrastructure, policing units, and management sciences. Reminiscent of the psychological investigatory projects that saturated Chicago’s public life, the MID and its successors developed techniques for psychological examination and personality typing led by another Chicagoan, Harry Hill Bandholtz. [...] Bandholtz sharpened the MID's informational sciences by training Philippines police forces in the neurotic art of collecting every imaginable fact about Filipino behaviors [...].

---

Ultimately, the US colonial plantocracy in the Philippines built its authority around information infrastructures which had been trained on apprehensive practices and feelings emanating from Chicago’s racialized geography. [...] [T]he informational networks that extended from the image of the American South, through the anticipation of Chicago's public, [...] animated the governance of colonial plantations in the Philippines [...].

---

All text above by: Jolen Martinez. "Plantation Anticipation: Apprehension in Chicago from Reconstruction America to the Plantocratic Philippines" (2024). An essay from an Intervention Symposium titled Plantation Methodologies: Questioning Scale, Space, and Subjecthood. The symposium was introduced and edited by Alyssa Paredes, Sophie Chao, and Andrés León Araya. The symposium was hosted and published by Antipode Online, part of Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography. Published online 4 January 2024, at: antipodeonline.org/2024/01/04/plantation-methodologies/ [In this post, bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me. Presented here for commentary, teaching, criticism purposes.]

[gatheringbones]

[“Women have outnumbered men as psychiatric patients since the mid-nineteenth century and, as Ussher (2011: 1) states, they have been, “more likely to receive psychiatric ‘treatment,’ ranging from hospitalisation in asylum, accompanied by restraint, electro-convulsive therapy (ECT) and psychosurgery, to psychological therapy and psychotropic drug treatments today.” The history of the psy-professions’ pathologisation and abuse of women for being women is deeply disturbing and should shame even the most ardent supporters of the mental health experts. In the name of science and progress, the mental health system has sought to control almost all aspects of women’s experiences, emotions, and behaviour through physical and moral interventions. Chesler (2005: 218) notes, for example, that many women were incarcerated in asylums for making claims of sexual abuse against their family, mothering “illegitimate” children, or for “suspected lesbianism.” Further, Masson (1986) compiled a collection of highly authoritative psychiatric articles on women from the nineteenth century to vividly demonstrate that acts of physical constraint, rape, torture, and female castration by the profession were all justified as appropriate (if not mandatory) treatment for women who questioned or defied their place in Victorian society. The discussion in this chapter, however, is concerned specifically with explaining the central reasons for previous female oppression by the psy-professions as well as the continuation and expansion in neoliberal society of what Ehrenreich and English (2011) have called the “sexist ideology” of medical professionals. As none of the mental disorders in the DSM with which women have been labelled have validity (Chap. 1), psychiatric interventions cannot be argued to be concerned with the care and treatment of any real distress that women may experience. Instead, we need to understand such institutional interventions within the broader context of structural gender inequalities in capitalist society. As Penfold and Walker (1983: vi) have summated, “[p]sychiatry is an institution in a society in which women are oppressed [and it] plays a specific role in that oppression.” A critical understanding of psychiatry’s focus on women, gender roles, and deviance can only be fully understood through a thorough assessment of the structural determinants of the division of labour in capitalist society which has devalued female roles and confined women to the status of second-class citizens. This analysis necessitates an investigation of patriarchal forms of domination and the intersectionality with the relations of production—something that has concerned a host of critical feminist scholars since the advent of second wave feminism in the late 1960s.

My argument here is that while an examination of the psychiatric profession clearly demonstrates that it continues to be an institution of patriarchal power, the distinctive form that structures this oppression is determined by the needs of capital (such as the requirement for paid and unpaid labour, the reproduction of the labour force, the necessity to suppress working-class resistance, and the normalisation of gender roles in industrial society as “natural,” equitable, and common sense). Thus, the critical analysis outlined here follows in the spirit of Donna Haraway (1978: 25) who has succinctly argued that “[t]he biosocial sciences have not simply been sexist mirrors of our own social world. They have also been tools in the reproduction of that world, both in supplying legitimating ideologies and in enhancing material power.”]

bruce m.z. cohen, from psychiatric hegemony: a marxist theory of mental illness, 2016

[lexosaurus]

I worked as a substitute teacher for a few years and one day I helped sub in an 8th grade science class. They were doing math like speed=distance/time. But they had a...really odd method for it. That I commented on because I'd never heard of it before.

And the teacher was straight up like "Oh yeah, this makes it really easy for them to do it for the tests. But its going to really fuck them up next year when they are in high school because they won't understand how to reverse the division. But that's not my problem."

And that comment has lived in my head so much. Like, she just did NOT care that the method was bad in the long run. She just needed them to pass the state test that year.

Also, it's literally a very basic formula, what do you MEAN?

Ohhhhh yeah. That's not exactly the issue in my district, as funding for us isn't directly tied to our state exam scores (thank god). Mine is dealing with both grade inflation and no grades below high school. So kids don't want to learn things if they're not graded on the material. Which is fair, honestly, as I also would not have wanted to learn things I didn't like if I wasn't given a grade or any consequences for not knowing it either. Mine's also dealing with a lot of the "memorization bad" thing that's going around, hence why the kids are entering high school not knowing any of their times tables. They just used a calculator their entire lives. They have NO concept of what numbers mean.

Like, at the start of the year, I asked one of my classes what 2 + 0 was and I got about thirty seconds of 15 kids shouting every number except 2. Which was sort of wild to witness.

At the start of the year, we did a week of review and then we had all the freshmen take a quiz of 7th and 8th grade level easy math problems as a sort of wake up call for them. No quiz corrections either, which they've never not been allowed to retake a test before...

The class average was a C-. Unsurprisingly.

Content Teacher warned me right before she posted the grades, and I spent a LOT of time that afternoon talking the kids down from a metaphorical ledge.

Lots of angry parent phone calls, too, but the math department held firm. The students HAVE to know how to solve this stuff. They NEED to know their basic times tables, they NEED to know how basic fractions work, they NEED to know how to rearrange one-step equations.

After that, we had our Very Frank Class Discussion about how they felt about their education. They felt very frustrated and unprepared, which we validated as we're also frustrated that they're so unprepared. But we were honest about other things. We told them that they couldn't get by just sitting there on their phone and copying the answers off the key anymore. We aren't going to reward an A for minimal effort. Yes, you have to take notes, and yes, you have to follow along with classroom example of problems or you won't pass the class. The students are responsible for their education, we all offer extra help, all our emails are open, all they need to do is ask and we'll never turn them away. But they do need to start taking advantage of all the learning opportunities/supports they have now.

Honestly, I'm so glad we had that convo with them. Felt like they got to vent a lot of their frustrations, and they realized that we were here to push them, but we're NOT their enemy. All our students have a study hall block, and if they come to one of our rooms for even 10 minutes out of the entire hour, we will help them however they need.

A lot of my Freshmen have been really really good about coming for extra help, or emailing and asking if they can stop by for a few minutes to do a few homework problems 1-1 with me.

(And yes, for those worried, while we didn't let them retake that first quiz, two weeks later we did give them another assessment after on the same material, but with slightly harder problems and worth more points. Class average was a B!)

I tried to keep this short, but I guess I had a lot to say aksjnfksjdnkajn

[prplepeony]

Biscuits!

Kate Stewart x Reader

Summary: You bring Kate biscuits! (just a cute fic cause I felt like it)

Words: 1552

The bustling corridors of UNIT were a whirlwind of activity as scientists and soldiers brushed past each other with purpose. You worked in the science division, your days filled with analyzing extraterrestrial materials and trying to decipher the mysteries of the universe. It was fascinating work, but as with all things, it came with its challenges — and your heart had recently added one more.

Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, your boss, had a knack for commanding attention and respect. Her sharp intellect and calm authority were magnetic. But it wasn’t just her leadership skills that had captivated you. Over time, stolen glances and subtle moments had fanned a spark you couldn’t ignore. You’d done your best to keep your feelings professional, but that was easier said than done.

Today was no different. You were hunched over a microscope, trying to analyze the molecular structure of a strange crystal UNIT had recovered during an off-world excursion. A shadow fell over your workstation, and you glanced up to see Kate standing there with her usual composed expression.

“Any progress?” she asked, her voice smooth and commanding.

You straightened up, nodding. “Some. It’s fascinating, but the crystal’s structure keeps shifting, almost like it’s reacting to being observed.”

Kate’s lips quirked into a small smile. “An elusive puzzle, then. Just the sort of thing you excel at.”

Her compliment made your cheeks warm, and you focused on the crystal to hide your reaction. “It’s definitely keeping me on my toes.”

Kate lingered for a moment longer than necessary, her gaze steady on you. It was moments like these that made your heart race. Was there something in the way she looked at you, or were you just imagining it?

“I’ll leave you to it, then,” she said finally, turning to leave.

“Kate,” you called after her, surprising yourself. She paused, glancing back. “Uh, would you like a coffee? I was just about to grab one.”

Her smile softened. “That sounds lovely. Thank you.”

You nodded and hurried off to the break room, cursing yourself for how flustered you felt. The break room was mercifully empty, and you took a moment to compose yourself while the coffee brewed.

As you poured the drinks, your mind wandered back to a conversation you’d had with Kate a few weeks ago. You’d been discussing UNIT’s extensive archives, and she’d mentioned, almost offhandedly, that she loved a particular brand of biscuits she used to have as a child. It was such a small detail, but it had stuck with you.

The memory sparked an idea, and you made a mental note to follow through on it.

The next few days passed in a blur of work and quiet interactions with Kate. You couldn’t shake the way her presence made you feel — a strange mix of exhilaration and longing. It didn’t help that she seemed to seek you out more often, whether to discuss a project or simply check in.

Finally, the moment came. You’d spent the evening tracking down the specific biscuits she’d mentioned, and now they sat neatly wrapped in a small package on your desk.

Kate stopped by your workstation later that morning, her usual air of calm curiosity intact.

“Good morning,” she greeted. “How’s the crystal behaving today?”

“Still stubborn,” you replied with a smile. “But I think I’m making progress.”

She nodded approvingly, her gaze flicking to the package on your desk.

“Is that for the crystal?” she asked, her tone lightly teasing.

You chuckled, shaking your head. “No, actually. It’s for you.”

Her eyebrows lifted in surprise. “For me?”

You hesitated, suddenly self-conscious. “You mentioned these biscuits a while ago, and I, uh, found them. Thought you might like them.”

Kate reached for the package, her expression softening as she read the label. She looked back at you, her eyes warm.

“You remembered,” she said softly.

“You said you liked them,” you replied, feeling the weight of her gaze. “So I brought them for you.”

For a moment, neither of you spoke. The air between you felt charged, as if something unspoken was hovering just out of reach.

“Thank you,” Kate said finally, her voice tinged with something you couldn’t quite place. “That’s very thoughtful of you.”

“It’s nothing,” you said quickly, though your heart was pounding.

Kate smiled, a rare, genuine smile that seemed to light up her entire face. “It’s not nothing,” she said. “It’s lovely.”

The rest of the day passed in a haze of work, but you couldn’t stop thinking about the way she’d looked at you. There was something different in her demeanor, a quiet intensity that hadn’t been there before.

That evening, as you packed up your things, you were startled to see Kate standing in the doorway of your lab.

“Heading out?” she asked casually.

“Yeah,” you said, slinging your bag over your shoulder. “Long day.”

Kate stepped inside, her gaze steady. “I wanted to thank you again for the biscuits. It was... unexpected.”

“I’m glad you liked them,” you said, your voice a little uncertain.

“I did,” she said, taking a step closer. “But I think what I liked even more was the thought behind them.”

Your breath caught as her words sank in. Was she saying what you thought she was?

“Kate,” you began, but she held up a hand.

“Let me finish,” she said gently. “I’ve noticed the way you look at me, and if I’m being honest, I’ve been doing the same.”

Your heart felt like it might burst out of your chest. “You have?”

She nodded, a small smile playing on her lips. “I wasn’t sure if I should say anything. But today... well, you made it clear that you care. And I care too.”

You didn’t know what to say, so you didn’t say anything. Instead, you stepped closer, your eyes searching hers for any sign of hesitation.

When you reached for her hand, she didn’t pull away.

“I’ve been trying so hard to keep this professional,” you admitted.

“So have I,” she said, her voice soft. “But maybe we’ve been trying too hard.”

The distance between you disappeared as she leaned in, her lips brushing against yours in a tentative kiss. It was soft and slow, and it felt like everything you’d been waiting for.

When you finally pulled back, she was smiling, her cheeks faintly flushed.

“Shall we get out of here?” she asked, her tone light but her eyes warm.

You nodded, a smile spreading across your face. “I’d like that.”

As you walked out of the lab together, the weight of unspoken feelings lifted, leaving only the promise of what could be. And for the first time in a long time, the mysteries of the universe felt a little less daunting — because you weren’t facing them alone.

[materialsscienceandengineering]

Materials scientist describes new world order for glasses, liquids

In 1543, Copernicus pitched the heliocentric idea that the Earth orbited the sun. His theory took 150 years to catch on and more than 400 years for the Vatican to officially accept it. Likewise, distinguished materials scientist Takeshi Egami has spent his career revealing the complex atomic structure of metallic glass and other liquids—sometimes sharing theories with initially resistant minds in the scientific community. However, he is willing to go the distance to bring his colleagues on board to his latest discoveries. The noncrystalline, amorphous atomic structure of liquids and glasses is, quite literally, all over the place. The landscape is chaotic: disorderly atoms are scattered about like tapioca pearls in a freshly shaken boba tea. Egami studies these materials at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, or UTK. He directed the UT-ORNL Joint Institute for Neutron Sciences from 2008 to 2015. Egami and his colleagues in ORNL's Materials Science and Technology Division use neutron scattering and synchrotron X-ray to see, with increasing clarity, the structure, dynamics, transition and deformation of noncrystalline materials.

Read more.

[deepspacedukat]

The Lifeline - Part Two: The Armstrong

To be completely honest, I haven't exactly planned this fic out, so I have no idea how many chapters this will be. It'll be a surprise for everyone, myself included! 😇 And yep, i have a lot of asks and tagged posts to get around to, but I wanted to put this out first. Enjoy!

If you want to be added to or removed from my taglist, please let me know.

Part One is here.

Cross-posted to AO3 here.

~*~

Vreenak (ST:DS9) x Reader

[A/N: Future chapters will contain smut, so 18+ ONLY, MINORS DNI!!!]

Warnings: Spoilers for ST:VOY S1E7 "Eye of the Needle," references to Romulan politics, espionage, stalking, references to an interspecies relationship, pre-Romulan/Human relationship, interspecies romance, threats, angst, time travel bs, references to marriage/a mating bond, skeptical Vreenak, Romulan undercover as a Vulcan, mentions of a previous Vulcan/Human failed relationship.

~*~

After a few months aboard the USS Armstrong, we were finally going to see the Epsilon Pulsar Cluster up close! We took on new crew members at the Epsilon IX Station; four of which were engineers intended to ease the burden of repairs mid-mission, two were specially-qualified science officers, and one was simply a late addition.

It was the latter of the group that fascinated me. With keen, icy blue eyes, sharp facial features, and neatly-groomed hair, the new Vulcan Lieutenant had drawn my attention from the moment he materialized on the transporter pad in his science division blue uniform. The others were escorted to their stations and quarters by the Chief Engineer and the Science officer assigned to the Bridge, and I was assigned to Lieutenant Velek.

Tall and mildly intimidating, the stoic Vulcan stepped down from the transporter pad, and I offered him the traditional Vulcan ta'al in greeting as I introduced myself.

His eyes roamed the length of my body, seemingly sizing me up, but he did return my greeting after a pause. Undoubtedly, I was not who he expected to see when he beamed aboard.

"It is...agreeable to meet you, Lieutenant," he muttered after a moment, and assuming that was about all I was going to get out of him for the moment, I plastered on what I hoped was a welcoming smile.

"If you'll come with me, I'll show you to your quarters." Velek did so without protest. Giving him a short overview of our ship's upcoming mission to update Starfleet's data regarding the pulsar cluster, I tried to be as concise as possible. Though I kept my gaze firmly forward, I couldn't help but feel as though he was observing me.

Keying in the entry code for his quarters, I gave him a quick glance through the layout. Our ship was a little different than the standard science vessel in terms of accommodations. Starfleet meant for us to be a prototype for longer-term science missions into deep space, so there were a few more amenities than were standard.

If his expression was anything to go by - he'd lifted a single eyebrow all of twice - Velek was either impressed or turning his nose up in the most Vulcan way possible.

"If there's anything else you need, please don't hesitate to let me know. My quarters are actually just to the right of yours, so if the comms go down and you need a book or some tea or something, I won't be hard to find," I said clasping my hands behind my back as he turned to face me.

Velek's icy blue eyes gave me an appraising once over.

"Thank you, Lieutenant. I will keep that in mind." Now that we were alone, I was struck by how deep and velvety his voice was.

Fuck. No way. I couldn't do this again. I was just asking to get hurt if I developed feelings for another Vulcan, so I simply wouldn't be interested in this one. Velek was a colleague, nothing more. That was all he'd ever be.

"I'll leave you in peace," I murmured with a polite smile. "Your first duty shift begins at oh-nine-hundred tomorrow morning, so take some time to rest or explore the ship, as you see fit. I'll see you in Science Lab Three."

He gave a polite nod, and I left his quarters. Taking a deep, steadying breath once I was back in the hallway, I forcibly shook my thoughts back into neutral territory. Velek was not for me.

--

Vreenak's first step aboard the Armstrong was to determine the Lieutenant's schedule - a task made easier by the proximity of her quarters to his. Next, he slipped inside and placed a few listening devices. Audio and visual in her living space, and audio-only in her bedroom.

He was careful to disturb nothing during his time in her space, but he couldn't stop himself from glancing through the few books she'd accumulated. A pair of poetry books, a copy of Surak's teachings, three assorted fictional texts, and what appeared to be a romance novel. Tucking the title away in the recesses of his brain for further research, he placed secondary sets of bugs in extremely innocuous places, pausing only when he leaned over the head of her bed.

A soft, sweet scent clung to fabric that Vreenak simply couldn't resist inhaling deep into his lungs. Something primal and dark stirred in his chest, and he just barely managed to suppress a small groan of hunger.

Horror washed over him when he realized what he'd done, and with a scowl, he left as quietly as he'd come. As he sat in his quarters testing the equipment one last time while he had the chance, he scoffed at his own behavior.

Fool of a man. If he didn't control himself, he'd end up with a Human wife whether he wanted one or not. And he most certainly did not.

Especially not one like her. She was too–

Somewhere in the midst of his thoughts, the sound of voices reached Vreenak's ears. She was back, and she had a guest. Accessing his new cameras, he watched as the Lieutenant and a Trill Ensign sat, kicking off their shoes and tucking their legs beneath them as they chatted. Raising the volume slightly, the Vice-Chairman listened in.

"–eyes like that? I mean, if someone like him looked in my direction, I'd be half-way to requesting Vulcan citizenship already," the Trill woman said with a gleeful smile. "Oh, come on. You have eyes in your head! The new guy's hot!"

The Lieutenant merely shrugged her shoulders.

"I mean...yeah, he's good-looking, but I got the feeling he's not easily impressed. He barely said two words to me. And he seems...irritable," she muttered, and her friend nudged her arm playfully.

"So he's just your type, then?" The Lieutenant looked up at her sharply, but the Trill just laughed. "You know I'm right. Every guy you've dated since the Academy has been some variation of a smart, handsome asshole. What makes Velek so different?"

Vreenak blinked. They were talking about him? The silence stretched between the women, and eventually the Ensign sighed, but less from frustration than concern.

"This is about Torek, isn't it?"

That was a new name. One that Vreenak instantly disliked, though he couldn't put his finger on the reason.

"Of course it is. When someone uses you like that, you don't forget it in a hurry," the Lieutenant wilted somewhat.

"I know, but this one's older," Vreenak bristled at that, "I bet he's got at least a modicum of tact when it comes to letting people down gently. And anyone would be more honest than Torek," the Trill said patting her friend's shoulder before moving to the replicator. "Now, I think ice cream is in order."

The rest of the evening's conversation was irrelevant, and once the Ensign headed back to her own quarters, Vreenak stretched and made to walk back to his own bedroom. Humans needed more rest than Romulans, so he fully expected that to be the end of her evening.

To his surprise, he glanced at the monitor once more, but instead of finding her heading toward her bed, he saw that she had curled up with a book - the romance novel he'd found on her shelf earlier.

After a long moment of debate, he switched his view to the camera situated behind her so he could note what page she was on.

How strange for her to be reading a romance, especially if what she'd said to her Trill friend was true. She'd been used by a Vulcan, yet she willingly sought romance? Did that not simply emphasize her loneliness to her? Was she addicted to the pain?

Vreenak's brow furrowed, and he pushed down memories of his own failed romantic endeavors. No, if he was in her position, he could never indulge in something like a romance novel. Elements, he didn't want to even in his current position.

Unfortunately, though, he would need to if he wanted a full understanding of her psychological state. He told himself it was all part of building a profile of the woman who'd claimed to be his wife.

Downloading the novel onto his personal terminal, he let his gaze linger on her for a time. She seemed so small and unassuming when she was all bunched up amongst the cushions.

But, he'd learned decades ago never to underestimate an opponent. The moment you did, that was usually when you got a knife in the back. He would not be such a fool. Not with her.

Thus, he opened the first page of the book file and began to read with a scoff, alternating his attention between her and the text of the drab little story with the childish pink hearts on the cover.

~*~

Taglist: @akamitrani @android-boyfriends @attention-bajoranworkers @bigblissandlove1 @darkmattervibes

@emilie786 @groovyqueer @horta-in-charge @live-logs-and-proper @rookietrek

@slutty-slutty-vulcans @starrynightgardens @toebeans-mcgee

[zaimta]

I saw your post about requests being open and when I saw that you write for Niji I knew I had to slide in here with a request!

Could you write something using the prompt:

"I knew you'd be trouble, I didn't think you'd be this much trouble"

Either just Niji or if the prompt inspires ideas for any other characters of your choice, consider it Niji + dealer's choice

Happy writing 🩵

zai says- i lowkey love all the vinsmokes (not judge ofc.) it’s a bummer how underrated they are outside of sanji (they shitty people ik😭) also forgive me if everyone seems a tad ooc i haven’t watched wci in 2 years

ˏˋ«────── « 𓆩♡𓆪 » ──────»

you were a war tactician hired by judge vinsmoke himself. your intelligence was feared as well as admired, and your tenacious rule with an iron fist made you a formidable foe. as the only army who came close to defeating germa 66 in war he made you chief of germa’s war division so he could devote himself fully to his science research.

he stood in front of his warriors with you at his right hand “from this day forth y/n l/n will be leading you lot into battle. any problems or concerns goes straight to them from now on and i expect you won’t have any problems. am i clear.”

“yes sir!!” echos among the loyal soldiers as they all stand in stance to salute you.

“dismissed.” your roaring voice echoes among the soldiers.

adjusting to the germa kingdom was something that came smoothly for you, however keeping track of all the various technologies and weapons they had at their disposal felt more like a chore rather than an aspect of your job you opted to leave that type of thing to the vinsmokes. you were only here to come up with plans and lead them into battle whatever tools they used to execute said plans seemed like it was beyond you, despite it being your job.

as a tactician you spent most of your time holed up in your office coming up with various plans to take down your foes swiftly and quickly. usually any meetings would be held with the vinsmoke children themselves because judge was busy with other matters you couldn’t be bothered enough to care about. but that’s when you met him. something about his laid back demeanor as a solider threw you off.

any comment you made about it was met with insubordination. you were his boss as well as him being yours, the work place dynamic was quite confusing.

your back was turned as you scribbled defensive positions on the whiteboard explaining them to the siblings as you went through them “i say you blow those bastards to kingdom come then allow them to stay operational for their materials.” you heard your voice say. your rolled your eyes and turned around pointing your marker at him “no powers in the briefing room solider.” niji only snickered at his reprimanding.

ichji chimed in from his spot beside his brother, you liked ichji as a solider he was obedient and more than often pulled his own weight in war “that wouldn’t be a bad idea to consider l/n.”

you nodded in agreement “while yes i do agree. the people of piku are resilient fighters on top of that they have world class weapons smiths. it would be best to let them believe they’ve gained a victory while pulling the strings in the background from the background.”

yonji, the youngest of the four, slammed his fist on the table “no way! the germa kingdom fights head on we’re not some cowards.”

you sent him a sharp side glare for his outburst “it’s also how you have so many casualties. just because your shoulders are genetically modified doesn’t mean you should be careless. your army could have had ten times the man power you lot have now. having no plan gets you nowhere solider.”

he huffed like a child who was just told no the first time, which you swiftly ignored.

you peer up at the clock you’ve all been in this meeting for a couple hours it would be best to wrap it up “that is all for now. i’ll be briefing you all individually next time as i understand you all have separate missions you need to get to. dismissed.”

as usual niji lingered after his siblings, to annoy you, you assumed “lovely plan as always tactician.” you only raised a brow which causes him to raise his hands in mock defense “now now what’s with all the hostility? keep frowning like that and your face will get stuck sweets.”

you rolled your eyes and crossed your arms “i knew you’d be trouble, i didn’t think you’d be this much trouble.” he never failed to get on your nerves. you make a point to remain neutral with all your soldiers but he was the exception.

he rested his cheek on his face with a grin “what do you like it? cause i can keep going.” to say you’ve caught his eye was an understatement. he’s had his eye on you since he cornered you and your soldiers. the pure look of hate and destain in your eyes was hot to him he’d be lying if he said it didn’t turn him on just a bit.

you shot him a glare “ah yes!” he said pointing at you, he then stood up and walked over to you trapping your chin between his index finger and his thumb “that’s exactly the look i wanted to see” god he loved annoying you.

“vinsmoke.” you said flatly clearly irritated with his antics.

“yes?” he responded smirking at you still, oh what you wouldn’t give to wipe that stupid smirk off his face. you pointed towards the door which caused him to sigh “fine fine. but for the record you’re no fun” he reluctantly released your chin and walked out the door backwards to keep his eyes on you.

oh yeah you were totally gonna be his partner he was sure of it.

[pompadourpink]

Les prépositions

A

À - to (je vais à la plage - I’m going to the beach), at (le chat est à la maison - the cat is at the house), indirect object/complément d’attribution (c’est au chat - it’s the cat's), adverbial phrase of way (une peinture à l’huile - an oil painting), adverbial locution introducer (à l’instant - just now), price indicator (le kilo de pommes est à deux euros), infinitive form introducer (c’est à prendre ou à laisser - take it or leave it), approximation introducer (c’est à dix minutes d’ici - it’s about ten min. away), against (dos à dos), after (pas à pas), until (aimer à la folie)

Après - after (je te rejoins après le travail - I’ll join you after work)

Avant - before (je me suis levée avant toi - I got up before you did)

Avec - with (je vis avec mes deux chats - I live with my two cats)

C

Chez - at X’s > person or brand of a shop (je suis chez mon père - I'm at dad's)

Concernant - regarding, about (concernant ton offre, je la refuse - about your offer, I'm refusing it)

Contre - against (je suis contre ta décision - I stand against your decision, le chat est assis contre le mur - the cat is sitting against the wall)

D

Dans - in (le chat est dans mon sac - the cat is in my bag)

D’après - according to (d’après Victor Hugo, Fantine est blonde)

De - of (au bout de la rue - at the end of the street)

Dedans - inside of it (le chat est dedans - the cat is inside of it)

Dehors - outside (le chat est dehors - the cat is outside)

Depuis - since (j'ai mon chat depuis que j'ai dix ans - I've had my cat since I was 10), from (tout était beau, depuis la décoration jusqu’aux couleurs - everything was lovely, from the decoration to the colours)

Derrière - behind (le chat est derrière toi - the cat is behind you)

Dès - as soon as (je te préviens dès que j’arrive - I’ll let you know as soon as I get there), immediately (si je pouvais, je partirais dès maintenant)

Dessous - under (la clé était dessous le lit - the key was under the bed)

Dessus - on (le chat est assis dessus - the cat is sitting on it),

Devant - in front of (j’attends devant la maison - I’m waiting in front of the house)

Durant - during (il est mort durant la famine - he died during the famine), for (elle a vécu là-bas durant des années - she lived there for years)

E

En - at (je suis nul en Français - I’m bad at French), material indicator (une table en bois - a wooden table), change indicator (il s’est transformé en papillon - it turned into a butterfly), division mood (couper en deux - cut in two pieces), during (en hiver, j’ai toujours un rhume - during the winter season, I always get a cold), gerundive element (elle tomba en criant - she fell, screaming), shape/appearance indicator (un arbre en fleurs - a blossoming tree)

Entre - between/out of (entre tous les garçons, Louis est le plus grand - out of all of the boys, Louis is the tallest)

Envers - towards/to (il est méchant envers elle - he’s mean to her)

Ès - in (licencié-e ès sciences - bachelor of sciences) - rare, uni titles

Excepté(e/s) - except (exceptée Louise, elles sont toutes arrivées)

H

Hormis - except (hormis Pierre, nous avons tous le permis - except from Pierre, we all have a driving license)

Hors - out of (il est hors de lui - he’s beside himself)

J

Jusque/jusqu’à (+ subjunctive) - until (il a miaulé jusqu'à ce que je le nourrisse - he meowed until I fed him)

M

Malgré - despite (il est venu malgré sa grippe - he came despite his flu)

Moyennant - in exchange for (moyennant un changement de ton, tu pourras rester - If you change your tone, you’ll be allowed to stay) - rare

N

Nonobstant - in spite of (”Charles Myriel, nonobstant ce mariage, avait, disait-on, beaucoup fait parler de lui” Les Misérables) - rare/old

O

Ôté - taken of from (6 ôté de 10 égale 4)

Outre - besides (outre mes deux cats, il n'y a personne chez moi - outside of my cats, there's no one at my house)

P

Par - by (la Joconde a été painte par Léonard de Vinci), direction indicator (il est parti par là - he went that way), with (je commence par une entrée - I start with an entree), per (j’en prends trois par jour - I take three per days)

Parmi - amongst (parmi mes chats, c'est le plus petit - he’s my smallest cat)

Passé - after/past (passé 2h, tout est fermé - past 2AM, everything is closed)

Pendant - during (je t’appellerai pendant ma pause - I’ll call you during my break)

Pour - for (je suis là pour toi - I’m here for you), to (je pars pour Paris - I’m heading to Paris), according to (pour moi, c'est une erreur - I think it's a mistake)

Près (de) - near (je suis près de Paris - I’m near Paris)

S

Sans - without (je suis sans voix - I am speechless)

Sauf - except (j’aime tout sauf la pluie - I like everything but rain)

Selon - according to (selon moi, tu as tort - in my opinion, you’re wrong)

Sous - under (le chat est sous la table - the cat is under the table)

Suivant - according to (suivant ce que j’ai entendu, il ne reviendra pas - according to what I’ve heard, he won’t come back)

Sur - on (le chat est sur la table - the cat is on the table), about (c’est un film sur la guerre - it’s a movie about the war), towards (regarde sur ta droite - look on your right), out of (deux fois sur trois il est en retard - two out of three times he's late)

V

Vers - towards (elle avance vers moi - she’s coming towards me), somewhere around (elle habite vers l’église - she lives near the church), about (Elle est rentrée vers minuit - she got home around midnight)

Voici - here is/are (voici mon chat - here’s my cat)

Voilà - there is/are (et voilà les miens - and there are mine), it’s been (voilà deux ans que je ne les avais pas vues - it had been two years since I last saw them)

Vu - given (vu la situation, c’est mieux comme ça - given the circumstances, that’s better that way) - casual

Movie: La Chinoise - Jean-Paul Godard, 1967

Fanmail - masterlist (2016-) - archives - hire me - reviews (2020-) - Drive

[poisonlove]

Miss Ortega | j.o

part 7

—The cell is made up of the nucleus and the cytoplasm and is enclosed by the cell membrane, which regulates passage in and out. The nucleus contains chromosomes, the cell's genetic material, and the nucleolus, which produces ribosomes. My eyes shift to Olivia, who was jotting down my words in her notebook.

In the late afternoon, I was at Olivia's house to help her study science, primarily about what a cell is and its functions. Olivia nods, giving me a nervous smile.

—One last question... what's cell division?— She puts the tip of her pen between her teeth, thoughtful.

—Cell division is the process by which a cell multiplies, splitting into two. In prokaryotes, it happens through binary fission (DNA filament duplication and subsequent division into two identical new individuals). In eukaryotes, it occurs through mitosis and, in reproductive cells, meiosis.— I say, shrugging casually.

Olivia writes it all down and then closes her notebook with a soft thud, sighing with satisfaction and tiredness.

—We're done,— she murmurs weakly, looking at me with a smile on her lips.

—We're done,— I repeat, and she stretches, slightly tense from maintaining an uncomfortable position for a long time.

—I'm not surprised you never get a failing grade, you're a book,— she says as she gets up from her desk, flopping onto her bed's mattress.

—Don't exaggerate...— I chuckle and give her a playful look. —Now... will you let me hear something you've written?— I nervously bite my lip, accepting the invitation to sit beside her on the bed.

Olivia sighs and reluctantly agrees to my request, blushing as she looks at me. —Wait,— she murmurs softly, leaning towards the edge of the bed, picking up a guitar case from the floor. Olivia glances at me sideways, holding the guitar in her hands.

—I'll sing you a little snippet of the song, okay? Also... I haven't finished it yet,— she says, toying with the guitar strings, likely tuning it.

I gaze in awe at her profile. Olivia had her head tilted down, holding the guitar in her lap. Her eyes briefly meet mine for a split second before she looks away with flushed cheeks.

Taking a breath, she closes her eyes, focusing.

—And I won't fight for love if you won't meet me halfway...— she begins to sing. And I say that I'm through but this song's still for you–

Her voice sounds angelic, surprising me with her talent. Olivia glances at me briefly, giving me a small smile.

—All I want is love that lasts— her eyes glisten, still looking at me.

—Is all I want too much to ask?— her fingers pause, interrupting the sweet melody. Olivia sets the guitar aside and looks at me with embarrassment, accepting my applause.

—Oh my god... you have an amazing voice,— I admit, and she tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, staring at a fixed point on her lap. —Thank you,— she offers a shy smile, and I reciprocate.

A knock on the door draws our attention to the entrance of her room. Olivia's mother, Emma, is standing there with a smile on her lips.

—T/N, dear, why don't you stay for dinner with us?— Mrs. Rodrigo suggests.

With a smile, I look at Olivia's reaction. She's looking at me with bright eyes and a smile, nodding enthusiastically.

—That would be fantastic,— I reply, and immediately, two arms wrap around my neck, hugging me. The force makes me lie back on the bed, and amid laughter, I return the hug, smiling shyly at Emma, who watches us with tenderness as I hold Olivia in my arms.

(...) —So... how's it going with the girl you like?— Enid asks, hugging a pillow in her arms.

After helping Olivia study, I received an invitation from Enid to have a pajama party at her house, inviting Olivia as well since she was with me. The blonde only knew that I liked someone, but she didn't know who, and for obvious reasons, she was really mad at me. I know she's my best friend, but I still couldn't tell her that I was in love with Professor Ortega.

—Actually, it's all going wrong... she said it's better if I forget what happened,— I lower my head towards my lap, sadly biting my lower lip. —Well, what a jerk...— Enid makes a face. —If only I knew who she was, I would have given her a piece of my mind,— she says absentmindedly, pulling at the corners of the pillow in her hands.

—You tried your best,— I smile sideways, and Enid throws the pillow at my face, messing up my hair. I chuckle slightly and wink at her.

—What do you think about Olivia, though?— she suddenly asks, lying down on the bed. I turn toward the door, relieved when I see that the subject of conversation is still downstairs preparing popcorn for the movie.

—Are you crazy? She's here...— I whisper, and she rolls her eyes at my comment.

—I don't see her,— Enid turns toward me, focusing her attention on me.

I sigh and shake my head. —She's nice...— I shrug indifferently, smiling at the blonde. Enid raises an eyebrow and gives me a smile, silently asking me to tell her more.

—She's beautiful... there's no doubt... but you know I'm in love with someone else,— I play with my fingers, embarrassed by the situation.

—She'd be perfect for you, you know? Plus... she really likes you,— Enid confesses. She adjusts her pajamas and gets under the covers, getting ready to watch the movie on her room's TV.

—I know... but for now... I only see her as a friend,— I tuck a strand of hair behind my ear and look confused at Enid's reaction, who is looking with panic over my shoulder.

I turn to her line of sight and pale when I see Olivia near the door. The brunette awkwardly leaves the popcorn bowl on the shelf and, with tears in her eyes, looks at me, shaking her head with regret. I stand up and bite my lips, mentally scolding myself for being so stupid.

I close the door behind me.

—Liv, wait,— I quickly descend the stairs, trying to catch up with Olivia. The brunette ignores me and walks toward the couches, searching for her jacket. I quicken my pace and grab her wrist. Olivia turns around and looks at me with tear-streaked cheeks, making me feel guilty.

—What do you want? You've said enough,— she says with venom, clenching her jaw.

—Liv...— I whisper, and her eyes glisten. Her shoulders relax, and she tentatively shuffles in place, wanting to hear what I have to say.

—Tell me...— her voice tone is clearly broken, showing that my confession has hurt her. I step closer, placing my hands around her face, wiping away some tears. Her eyes look at me sweetly despite the pain she's feeling. She places a hand against mine, giving me a comforting squeeze.

—Right now... I'm in love with someone else,— she nods, with bitterness in her mouth. —But it doesn't mean that in the future, I can't be with you... if you heard the whole conversation... and I'm pretty sure you did... I said that for now, I see you as a friend,— I smile sidelong, stroking her cheek. Olivia tilts her chin up and licks her lips, looking at me seriously. Suddenly, we're at the same height level since she's on tiptoes. My breath catches in my throat, and I timidly observe what the brunette wants to do.

—Kiss me...— she whispers, closing her eyes and clenching her jaw. —I just want to kiss you... at least once,— she confesses, making my chest tighten. I remove one hand from her face and trail it down her back, stopping at her waist, pulling Olivia closer to me.

—This...— I swallow, nervous due to the proximity. —This I can do— I lean toward her face and close the minimal distance between our lips. The kiss is sweet and at the same time salty from her tears. Olivia wraps her arms around my neck, sighing against my lips, receiving the long-desired kiss. The rhythm of the kiss is slow; we're simply enjoying the contact between our mouths. Olivia taps her tongue against my lower lip, asking for permission to enter. I part my lips, and our tongues meet, tentatively exploring each other's mouths.

I press my forehead against hers after ending the kiss. The brunette has a smile on her lips, looking at me with shining eyes of happiness. She leans in and briefly connects our lips for a split second before pulling away.

—That was... wow,— I admit, and she nods, completely agreeing.

I have to admit that the kiss was beautiful, I really enjoyed it. Her lips were sweet, inviting in a different way from Jenna's. Just mentioning the brunette makes me grimace, and I try to erase the image of her eyes from my mind so as not to ruin the moment. Olivia looks at me smiling, happy about what just happened.

—So... shall we go upstairs to watch the movie?— I suggest, and she nods slowly, starting to climb the stairs, our hands still intertwined.

—So... can you wait? I know it sounds horrible to ask, but I want to know, I want to find out if it's truly over with... the other person. I swear, if she's convinced that our... relationship? I don't know what to call it... is completely over... I'll give myself a chance to be with you,— I timidly ask, nervous about making this proposition. Olivia sighs and nods her head with both sadness and excitement at having a chance with me.

—Yes... you're... you're right, you know? I understand... it's not easy to choose between two girls you like... I'll wait... and if you choose me... I promise I'll never leave, T/N,— she admits, making me shiver slightly at the intensity of her gaze. I blush.

—Alright... because I was already getting ready to chase after you to talk,— I joke, and she chuckles softly, tilting her head back.

Her fingers tighten around my hand, stroking the back of my hand with her thumb.

—I wouldn't have gone anywhere... not in pajamas, obviously,— she raises her head with pride, and I burst out laughing at the expression on her face.

—Well... now let's go watch the movie? Enid's waiting for us,— I suggest, and she nods, starting to climb the stairs while still holding my hand, our fingers entwined.

It was late, but I was still awake, studying for the English literature exam I had the next day. The words on the pages were blurry, and I was unsure if I'd remember half of what I was reading due to how tired I was. But I had to keep going to be able to say that I had at least tried.

The vibration of the phone on the desk pulled my attention away from the book. With a sigh of relief, I picked up the device, thanking my lucky stars for the break. I looked at the screen, puzzled, when I saw that both Olivia and Jenna had messaged me.

I decided to read Olivia's message first.

Liv: heyyy (1:13 AM)

Damn, was it already one in the morning?

                                                        Yo: Hey Liv!

Liv: Are you done studying?

I furrowed my brows and nervously bit my lower lip.

                                           Yo: Not really.

                Yo: But if you need help, I'm here.

Liv: Great! Actually, you'd do me a huge favor if you could open the window.

I closed the chat and walked over to a corner of my room, spotting Olivia in front of my house, holding her phone. I opened the window and leaned out, smiling at the girl standing on the street.

—What are you doing here?— I whispered, not wanting to wake up the rest of my family.

Olivia looked up from her phone and smiled at me.

As a response, she moved closer to stand right beneath my window, gazing up at the tree near my house. With a swift but careful movement, she started climbing its branches, eventually reaching out to touch the edge of my window with her fingertips.

—Are you crazy or something?— I looked at my friend with concern.

—If you help me, you'd be doing me a favor,— she panted, not being able to hold on much longer.

I extended my hand and grabbed hers, helping her into my room. With a little jump, she made it all the way in, looking at me with a nervous smile.

—So, spill it,— I absentmindedly stared at the lamp light that was focused on the book on my desk. I sighed in frustration.

—In a few days, there's the end-of-semester dance... you know, the start of the Christmas break...— she put her hands in her pockets, blushing as she looked at me.

Oh... I knew where this was going.

—T/N... would you like to come to the dance with me?— she asked, sounding hopeful.

I opened my mouth in surprise and remained silent for a few seconds, wanting to think about her proposal. In reality... I wasn't even sure if I wanted to go, as I didn't want to be a third wheel between Enid and Ajax... but if I had to choose someone to go with... besides Jenna, of course... it would definitely be Olivia Rodrigo.

—Yes...— I whispered, and she leaned slightly forward, not having heard my response. I widened my eyes when I saw the living room light shining through my slightly open door. Quickly, I grabbed Olivia by the shoulders and motioned for her to move towards the window, needing to get out of here immediately. Olivia placed a foot on a tree branch before turning back in my direction.

—So? — my eyes darted towards the door as I used my hands to urge Olivia. I looked at her with wide eyes before nodding repeatedly. —Yes?— she asked, with a smile on her lips.

—Yes! Now go before you get caught— I muttered under my breath, looking at Olivia. She nodded and leaned towards my face, briefly connecting our lips for a split second. I looked at her in surprise but didn't say anything, watching closely as she jumped down from the tree, landing on her feet.

—Goodnight— she smiled at me, waving her hand, and ran down the sidewalk towards her house on the other side of the neighborhood.

With a yawn, I returned to my desk, picked up my phone, turned off the lamp, and collapsed onto my bed. A sigh of relief escaped my mouth as I heard the sound of the toilet flushing.

Well, it was just a bathroom break.

I turned on my phone and went on WhatsApp, reading Jenna's message. I couldn't deny that I was quite nervous; I didn't expect her to message me after days... maybe a week or two without hearing from her.

Ortega: Are you awake?

                                                            Yo: Yes.

Jenna's smile appeared on my screen, and I responded to her call with confusion.

—Hello?— I asked, hearing a breath on the other end. Jenna remained silent for a few seconds before speaking.

—Is it true?— she asked, leaving me completely stunned. I got under the covers, trying to figure out what to say.

—What?— I inquired, not exactly sure what she was talking about. She sighed in frustration before gritting her teeth.

—There are rumors at school that you and Rodrigo are together... is it true?— she muttered, sounding both annoyed and curious.

—Excuse me?— I was rather incredulous, not being able to believe what I was hearing. Jenna Ortega had called me in the middle of the night to ask me something like this.

—Is it true or not? ANSWER— she raised her voice, noticeably angry. I could hear her heavy breathing, making me feel uncomfortable and slightly afraid.

—No... We're not together... we're just getting to know each other... that's it,— I confessed, nervously biting my lower lip. —But anyway, isn't it none of your business who I'm dating? After all, you were the one who wanted distance a few days ago,— I retorted, annoyed by her attitude.

Jenna sighed loudly and ended the call, leaving me feeling both triumphant and confused. Whatever had gotten into her, I didn't know, but in any case, she had no right to treat me like this, especially after she wanted to pull away.

I placed the phone on the bedside shelf and closed my eyes, trying to fall asleep. The ghost of Olivia's kiss lingered on my lips, while Jenna's voice echoed in my head.

To say that I'm confused is an understatement.

[high-fantasy-sw]

I need to know EVERYTHING about Kaminoan magic.

If I kill the entire race, will their undersea city sink and the barrier give way? And is their magic like the Force, i.e. a muscle that they can't constantly use or they tire out and they have to put conscious effort to use? Or are they set apart from their magic in some way?

You mention a lot about their lamps being lit by their magic. Are there particular Kaminoan personnel for such jobs? Or is this something any Kaminoan can do?

Basically, how does their magic work?

Also, I'd love it if you could go further into Artificial Magic and True Magic. Which one are the Kammies more heavily reliant on?

OHOHO KAMINOAN MAGIC LET'S GO

Kaminoans are masters of alchemy- they've perfected false magic to the degree that to the undiscerning person it would look almost like True Magic. Their entire civilization is reliant on it- it keeps their barrier erected, powers their life-sustaining faculties (food, fresh water, heat and light, oxygen cycle, et cetera), and provides for them in quite literally every way. They physically could not survive without their alchemy.

The Undersea Barrier is kept sturdy by an enchantment placed upon a pendant worn by the current Prime Minister and passed down through the ages. Every so often, the enchantment does have to be renewed, but other than that, as long as this pendant (and thus, the enchantment it carries) is kept intact, Kamino Fortress is safe- and, even were it to be destroyed, the enchantment is cast so that the barrier would crumble slowly enough for any survivors to escape. (This is how Clone Force 99 is able to escape with their lives when the destruction of Kamino does eventually occur.) So, no, you wouldn't have to kill the entire race. You'd only have to capture the Prime Minister, and destroy the pendant, and wait.

Since Kaminoan magic is all alchemy, and none of it is innate (and, by the by, this is partially what separates True Magic from Artifical Magic), all that is required for life in Kamino to continue is that they are constantly supplied with enough supplies to continue spellcasting. They need enough ingredients to create their elixirs, they need enough physical objects to enchant, they need enough of Jango Fett's genetic material to continue producing Clones, et cetera.

Every Kaminoan is taught the basics of alchemy from a young age, though an individual's aptitude for it does vary. The most powerful alchemist of a generation serves as Prime Minister, and serves for life. However, there are many subdivisions of Kaminoan alchemists, including but not limited to: Herbalists, Fortress Maintenance (though the barrier protects from the waters around the fortress, the structure itself does need to be maintained to prevent it from falling into disrepair), Elixir-Chemists, designated Minders (for young Clones), Physicians, and others. To answer your questions specifically, I'd say that lantern-keepers would fall under the Fortress Maintenance branch. Nala Se (die) would be Head Alchemist of the Medical Division, so, yeah, still Chief Medical Scientist, just with a more fantasy-esque title.

(On a side note: Kaminoan medicine, because of their knowledge of the human body and alchemy in general, is far more advanced than the general science of the world above. It's much closer to what we'd consider modern medicine, while many in the Archipelago are still talking about phrenology and the four humors. The only group that could be truly said to rival their science is, in fact, the Jedi; however, much of their medicine is facilitated by the True Magic of the Force, and therefore many of the common people of the Archipelago don't understand it, and the Kaminoans themselves hold it almost in contempt, passing it off merely as miracle cures and not true medicine.)

You are NEVER pestering me, feel free to send in as many questions as you want, and if you want me to go into more detail about anything, PLEASE let me know and I will GLADLY answer!!

[communist-manifesto-daily]

Socialism: Utopian and Scientific - Part 6

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As soon, however, as our agnostic has made these formal mental reservations, he talks and acts as the rank materialist he at bottom is. He may say that, as far as we know, matter and motion, or as it is now called, energy, can neither be created nor destroyed, but that we have no proof of their not having been created at some time or other. But if you try to use this admission against him in any particular case, he will quickly put you out of court. If he admits the possibility of spiritualism in abstracto, he will have none of it in concreto. As far as we know and can know, he will tell you there is no creator and no Ruler of the universe; as far as we are concerned, matter and energy can neither be created nor annihilated; for us, mind is a mode of energy, a function of the brain; all we know is that the material world is governed by immutable laws, and so forth. Thus, as far as he is a scientific man, as far as he knows anything, he is a materialist; outside his science, in spheres about which he knows nothing, he translates his ignorance into Greek and calls it agnosticism.

At all events, one thing seems clear: even if I was an agnostic, it is evident that I could not describe the conception of history sketched out in this little book as "historical agnosticism". Religious people would laugh at me, agnostics would indignantly ask, was I making fun of them? And, thus, I hope even British respectability will not be overshocked if I use, in English as well as in so many other languages, the term "historical materialism", to designate that view of the course of history which seeks the ultimate cause and the great moving power of all important historic events in the economic development of society, in the changes in the modes of production and exchange, in the consequent division of society into distinct classes, and in the struggles of these classes against one another.

This indulgence will, perhaps, be accorded to me all the sooner if I show that historical materialism may be of advantage even to British respectability. I have mentioned the fact that, about 40 or 50 years ago, any cultivated foreigner settling in England was struck by what he was then bound to consider the religious bigotry and stupidity of the English respectable middle-class. I am now going to prove that the respectable English middle-class of that time was not quite as stupid as it looked to the intelligent foreigner. Its religious leanings can be explained.

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[hms-no-fun]

a little late asking you a question but do you have some favourite books to share? and why they are your favourite? like such as how did they influence your way of thinking, your relationship with art, your way of writing, &c.

i've gotten a few asks about books/writing that influenced me and this is the most open-ended one, so, congratulations on winning that lottery anon.

the book that most recently affected me is The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin. it's about a representative from an intergalactic alliance of worlds embedding within and learning about the culture of a previously uncontacted civilization, to try to get them to join. but really, it's about observing the sociological particulars of a human culture where everyone is functionally intersex, and sort of swap male/female gender roles during the time period when they're (for lack of the term actually used in the book that i can't remember) "in heat". it's an astonishing work of science fiction that is every bit as good as its reputation suggests. i had a hard time getting into the first 20-30 pages, but once it really digs into the particulars of "shifgrethor" (this culture's all-important sense of decorum and near-invisible communication that the protagonist struggles to understand til the end) i was hooked. i love fictional social systems. i'm a homestuck, i can't help it. there's a profound materialism in how Le Guin observes this culture into being that unlocked something in me. i'll be thinking about the journey across the ice for the rest of my life.

i was also very inspired by This Is How You Lose The Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, perhaps the most pure distillation of the feminine desire to hatefuck your rival into an ascendant beacon of cosmic revolution yet put to the page. much of how they write about time travel has made it into godfeels, not to mention the wildly extravagant and brief but numerous visions of absolutely batshit speculative alt-history tableau. i mean, the way they talk about Atlantis as this sort of annoying constant of the timeline, sometimes real and sometimes fake depending on the strand, definitely casts a shadow over the metaphysics explored in Chapter 8.

the other book i always recommend alongside Time War, because i read them at the same time while i was in the middle of production on Chapter 8 in 2021, is There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm. anyone who's read it or knows about it can immediately spot the gargantuan influences it's had on Silverbark's narrative in Chapter 8 and especially in Double Album. if you're not aware, Antimemetics Division is a standalone SCP novel about a branch of the Foundation dedicated to studying & intercepting the phenomenon of antimemes, ideas & entities that defy our ability to remember them in various ways. think The Silence in Matt Smith's second season of Doctor Who, or the Void Fish in the Balance arc of The Adventure Zone. i'm not an SCP person at all, i think i've read maybe half a dozen other SCP entries, so i'm not totally full of it when i say this book stands very tall on its own two legs. i very much intend to take a closer look at it in detail down the road because i think, whether intentional or not, the main "villain" of Antimemetics Division operates as a very handy analogue for the socio/psycho-logical effects of the profit motive on individuals & on society at large. also: Marion Wheeler is so fucking good. i did not know she existed when i came up with Silverbark but you bet your ass it's an influence now.

a non-fiction book that's had an outsized influence on me is Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig. i always feel self conscious about bringing this one up because it sounds like a self-help book or some kind of Chicken Soup for the Soul ass grifter textbook. that absolutely could not be farther from reality. ZAMM was written in the 60s and it's a semi-autobiographical philosophy of metaphysics text by a professor of rhetoric who some years ago underwent electroshock therapy after a destructive manic phase. it follows Pirsig on a motorcycle trip across the American west with his son and some college friends, as he tries to uncover the ideas that drove his past self (who he characterizes as a different person that he calls Phaedrus) off the wall. those ideas concern the nature of "quality" and how we perceive it. as in, why should we Know that a good painting is "good" within seconds of examining it, in the same manner that we know a stove is hot almost before we've even touched it? he digs deep into how we conceptualize the split between objectivity and subjectivity, and posits that understanding Quality requires a substantial re-evaluation of our base assumptions about human perception. of course there's SO much more to it than that, it's a beautiful and strange book that succeeds in part because its philosophy is deeply couched within the metaphor of a road trip, making it a lot more accessible than an otherwise straightforward metaphysics text. i read it in an honor's philosophy class full of incurious Christians at age 22, and that was absolutely the perfect time for it.

another non-fiction entry would be Acceptable Men by communist labor agitator Noel Ignatiev. it's a memoir about his time working at Gary Steel Works in the 70s, at the time the largest steel works factory in the world. it relates in very simple terms how racism sabotaged the USAmerican labor movement through anecdotes from his workplace. it's important, i think, for those of us dreaming of & pushing for a more equitable world to stare long and hard at struggles past and not lose their most valuable lessons in our desire to simply have it be true that unions are good. they are good but they're not everything, and in fact they're just as capable of systemic dysfunction and capitulation to capitalist white supremacy as any other organization of human beings.

what else? i started reading The Traitor Baru Cormorant and much enjoyed its early pages, but holy shit that's one long book in a series of long books. people are telling me to read Exordia so i might give that a shot. i've got Gretchen Felker-Martin's Manhunt as well as May Leitz's Girlflesh on my desk, just waiting for the day i'm psychologically prepared to be ravaged by transfem body horror. i keep picking away at China Mieville's October, i'm sure one of these days i'll just sit down and power through it. of course i recommend everyone check out Lenin's State and Revolution, great book from the original poster, absolutely still relevant more than a hundred years later. and much easier to read than you might expect! no one ever talks about how entertaining he is as a writer, unless you hang out with communists in which case you're probably sick of us never shutting up about it.

i hope there's some good stuff in there, and not too much that i've written about before. i really need to make myself read more, but then again who doesn't?

[spacenutspod]

2 min read Hubble Glimpses a Bright Galaxy Group This new NASA Hubble Space Telescope image shows a tangled group of interacting galaxies called LEDA 60847. NASA/ESA/A. Barth (University of California – Irvine)/M. Koss (Eureka Scientific Inc.)/A. Robinson (Rochester Institute of Technology)/Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America) This new NASA Hubble Space Telescope image shows a group of interacting galaxies known as LEDA 60847. LEDA 60847 is classified as an active galactic nuclei, or AGN. An AGN has a supermassive black hole in the galaxy’s central region that is accreting material. The AGN emits radiation across the entire electromagnetic spectrum and shines extremely brightly. By studying powerful AGNs that are relatively nearby, astronomers can better understand how supermassive black holes grow and affect galaxies. Galaxy mergers are relatively common occurrences. Most larger galaxies are the result of smaller galaxies merging. The Milky Way itself contains traces of other galaxies, indicating it is the product of past mergers. Astronomers believe somewhere between 5% and 25% of all galaxies are currently merging.  This image of LEDA 60847 combines ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared data from Hubble. The ability to see across all those wavelengths is one of the things that makes Hubble unique. Different types of light across the electromagnetic spectrum tell astronomers different things about our universe. Ultraviolet light traces the glow of stellar nurseries and is used to identify the hottest stars. Visible light shows us moderate-temperature stars and material, and also how the view would appear to our own eyes. Last but not least, near-infrared light can penetrate cold dust, allowing us to study warm gas and dust, and relatively cool stars. LEARN MORE: Hubble’s Cosmic Collisions Hubble Science: Galaxy Details and Mergers Hubble Science: Tracing the Growth of Galaxies Download this image Media Contact: Claire AndreoliNASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MDclaire.andreoli@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Jan 23, 2024 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms Active Galaxies Astrophysics Division Galaxies Goddard Space Flight Center Hubble Space Telescope Missions The Universe Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Hubble Space Telescope Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe. Galaxies Stories Stars Stories James Webb Space Telescope Webb is the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It studies every phase in the…