#astronaut transmissions

[commbowman]

How’s the autism diagnosis coming along?

I don’t see how my medical records are a point of interest? It’s been years, actually it was brought up to me during general testing.

[nasa]

All-Star Moments in Space Communications and Navigation

How do we get information from missions exploring the cosmos back to humans on Earth? Our space communications and navigation networks – the Near Space Network and the Deep Space Network – bring back science and exploration data daily.

Here are a few of our favorite moments from 2024.

1. Hip-Hop to Deep Space

The stars above and on Earth aligned as lyrics from the song “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)” by hip-hop artist Missy Elliott were beamed to Venus via NASA’s Deep Space Network. Using a 34-meter (112-foot) wide Deep Space Station 13 (DSS-13) radio dish antenna, located at the network’s Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex in California, the song was sent at 10:05 a.m. PDT on Friday, July 12 and traveled about 158 million miles from Earth to Venus — the artist’s favorite planet. Coincidentally, the DSS-13 that sent the transmission is also nicknamed Venus!

NASA's PACE mission transmitting data to Earth through NASA's Near Space Network.

2. Lemme Upgrade You

Our Near Space Network, which supports communications for space-based missions within 1.2 million miles of Earth, is constantly enhancing its capabilities to support science and exploration missions. Last year, the network implemented DTN (Delay/Disruption Tolerant Networking), which provides robust protection of data traveling from extreme distances. NASA’s PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) mission is the first operational science mission to leverage the network’s DTN capabilities. Since PACE’s launch, over 17 million bundles of data have been transmitted by the satellite and received by the network’s ground station.

A collage of the pet photos sent over laser links from Earth to LCRD and finally to ILLUMA-T (Integrated LCRD Low Earth Orbit User Modem and Amplifier Terminal) on the International Space Station. Animals submitted include cats, dogs, birds, chickens, cows, snakes, and pigs.

3. Who Doesn’t Love Pets?

Last year, we transmitted hundreds of pet photos and videos to the International Space Station, showcasing how laser communications can send more data at once than traditional methods. Imagery of cherished pets gathered from NASA astronauts and agency employees flowed from the mission ops center to the optical ground stations and then to the in-space Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD), which relayed the signal to a payload on the space station. This activity demonstrated how laser communications and high-rate DTN can benefit human spaceflight missions.

4K video footage was routed from the PC-12 aircraft to an optical ground station in Cleveland. From there, it was sent over an Earth-based network to NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The signals were then sent to NASA’s Laser Communications Relay Demonstration spacecraft and relayed to the ILLUMA-T payload on the International Space Station.

4. Now Streaming

A team of engineers transmitted 4K video footage from an aircraft to the International Space Station and back using laser communication signals. Historically, we have relied on radio waves to send information to and from space. Laser communications use infrared light to transmit 10 to 100 times more data than radio frequency systems. The flight tests were part of an agency initiative to stream high-bandwidth video and other data from deep space, enabling future human missions beyond low-Earth orbit.

The Near Space Network provides missions within 1.2 million miles of Earth with communications and navigation services.

5. New Year, New Relationships

At the very end of 2024, the Near Space Network announced multiple contract awards to enhance the network’s services portfolio. The network, which uses a blend of government and commercial assets to get data to and from spacecraft, will be able to support more missions observing our Earth and exploring the cosmos. These commercial assets, alongside the existing network, will also play a critical role in our Artemis campaign, which calls for long-term exploration of the Moon.

On Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, at 12:06 p.m. EDT, a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket carrying NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

6. 3, 2, 1, Blast Off!

Together, the Near Space Network and the Deep Space Network supported the launch of Europa Clipper. The Near Space Network provided communications and navigation services to SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket, which launched this Jupiter-bound mission into space! After vehicle separation, the Deep Space Network acquired Europa Clipper’s signal and began full mission support. This is another example of how these networks work together seamlessly to ensure critical mission success.

Engineer Adam Gannon works on the development of Cognitive Engine-1 in the Cognitive Communications Lab at NASA’s Glenn Research Center.

7. Make Way for Next-Gen Tech

Our Technology Education Satellite program organizes collaborative missions that pair university students with researchers to evaluate how new technologies work on small satellites, also known as CubeSats. In 2024, cognitive communications technology, designed to enable autonomous space communications systems, was successfully tested in space on the Technology Educational Satellite 11 mission. Autonomous systems use technology reactive to their environment to implement updates during a spaceflight mission without needing human interaction post-launch.

A first: All six radio frequency antennas at the Madrid Deep Space Communication Complex, part of NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN), carried out a test to receive data from the agency’s Voyager 1 spacecraft at the same time.

8. Six Are Better Than One

On April 20, 2024, all six radio frequency antennas at the Madrid Deep Space Communication Complex, part of our Deep Space Network, carried out a test to receive data from the agency’s Voyager 1 spacecraft at the same time. Combining the antennas’ receiving power, or arraying, lets the network collect the very faint signals from faraway spacecraft.

Here’s to another year connecting Earth and space.  

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space!

[seat-safety-switch]

There's a diner near me that is really mad about all the construction. This shouldn't be a surprise to everyone, because the natural enemy of any small business owner is "literally anything." Turns out that the big wigs at City Hall callously decided that they should repair the sidewalk in front of the diner, so that little old ladies don't trip and bust their heads open on their way to buy a $19 brunch.

Now, any normal person would simply shrug and accept that it's going to be a little inconvenient to eat there for a couple of weeks. Not these folks, who immediately flew off the handle and demanded the resignation and/or ritual suicide of their city councillor. Then the councillors of the adjacent ridings. Then the mayor. By the time they were done screaming at every politician they could find up to and including on the International Space Station (which has an informal "mayor" astronaut onboard at all times, due to historical precedent) they were out of legal options. It was time for them to get dirty.

I took the contract, of course. Being a freelance shithead has become really easy since the advent of the internet. Used to be, you'd have to make a name for yourself being a sort of apprentice henchperson, before you could really do all the serious henching. Now, if your website is nice enough, you can jump right to the head of the class. I had my friend XHTML Nancy put it together for me. She's really good at making the little CSS animations of me beating a bookie half to death with a blackjack.

My job was to get revenge on the local councillor, by stealing their car. Now, I'm not one of those folks who would ordinarily mess with anyone else's vehicle. Cars are a unique expression of one's innermost personality, and have natural virtue on their own regardless of your opini– hot goddamn, a Mercedes C-class? You might as well just drive a taxi to work. Anyway, I hotwired that shit, but then quickly realized I don't know how to drive an automatic transmission. I ended up leaving it in "R," for "revenge," at which point the car made a scary noise, that in retrospect was probably a working stereo (I am also unfamiliar with this concept.) In fear, I hopped out of the car, only to watch it careen across the parking lot, jump a sidewalk, and then smash directly into the window of the diner across the street.

I still got paid – the rent-a-thug platform is very serious about either settling your bill or getting a bad rating – but things worked out in the end. I'm told that after all the commotion, the city's construction worker union refused to work at an unsafe job site and just left a giant, empty pit where the sidewalk used to be in front of the diner. Every morning, the councillor goes over and inspects it. That's some good foot traffic. I bet he can afford the $25 mimosa platter, too.

[carsthatnevermadeitetc]

Chevrolet Astrovettes, 1969. The crew of Apollo 12 - astronauts Pete Conrad, Richard Gordon, and Alan Bean - ordered custom-painted Corvette C3s. Each astronaut ordered a matching Corvette Stingray coupe, powered by 390hp, 427ci Turbo-Jet V8 engines with 4-speed wide-range transmission and PosiTraction 3.08 rear axles. Bean (the fourth person to walk on the moon who passed away in 2018) played a key role in the design of the Corvettes, choosing the black on gold color scheme. The design included distinctive black “wings” styled by Alex Tremulis, the industrial and automotive designer. The C3 Corvettes became known as the Astrovettes with the only difference between the cars being the red, white, and blue badges on each fender used to identify which car belonged to which astronaut

[bogleech]

Great end credits art from the movie "Planet 51," which I just watched, and it's as underwhelming as reviewers always said but I really really want to know what was supposed to be going on with the aliens culture??? They have a concept of "human astronauts" as horrible cyclops monsters they're all afraid of, yet they have a civilization that looks exactly like 1950's Earth, has the same popular music and things like bowling and drive-ins, and this clearly isn't just dumb cartoon logic because the human astronaut character even remarks on it as weird??? He has a line like "we didn't expect to find aliens dancing the oldies" Meanwhile their government keeps them ignorant of whether outer space even exists at all, with their equivalent of a "planetarium" having barely anything in it and their scientists claiming space is "NEARLY 500 miles long!" I feel like the writers intended a twist where this planet's leaders must have had prior contact with humanity and that a lot of their culture must have been based on Earth transmissions, but it all got covered up and hidden from them. The entire film seems to be setting up this reveal that just never comes, I wonder what kind of meddling went on. It also turns the whole movie is about McCarthyism, but maybe you already gleaned that from "1950's setting where everyone is terrified of a vague outside threat."

[inkedwithcharm]

Title: The Astronaut

Genre: Sci-Fi, Romance, Slice-of-life, Humor, Angst

Pairing: Kim Seokjin x Reader

Sypnosis:

He was The Astronaut with stars in his blood.

She was the voice he carried across the void.

They weren't meant to fall in love.

Not on a mission doomed by silence,

not under skies that promised loss.

But in the dark between Earth and the unknown,

they found something like happy-fleeting, fragile, real.

Now his voice is an echo fading into space,

and she's racing time to answer the only question that matters:

Can love survive when the stars go silent?

Chapter Nine: Finale

The Earth was beautiful.

It had never looked more still—more indifferent.

But to Jungkook, it felt like the planet was holding its breath.

The shuttle landed with an echoing roar across the tarmac. It was late evening in South Korea, the sky bathed in orange and gold. But the world was already watching—millions tuned into the live global feed, expecting victory.

The hatch hissed open.

Cheers exploded from the crowd.

Reporters surged behind barriers. Cameras flashed.

Jungkook stepped out first, face shadowed, lips drawn into a flat line. He didn't raise a hand to wave. His boots hit the ground like lead.

Jimin followed, looking ghost-like. Then Taehyung and Hoseok.

All four men had survived space.

But no one smiled.

"Where's Captain Kim Seokjin?"

The cheers died.

A beat.

Then another.

The shuttle hatch remained open—but empty.

Confused murmurs turned into frantic voices.

"Is that all?"

"Where's Captain Kim?"

"Did something happen—did he...?"

The panic spread like wildfire.

A reporter's voice rang out on the global broadcast:

"Captain Kim Seokjin is not among the returned crew."

In less than a minute, the words made it to every newsfeed on Earth.

Chaos Unleashed

Social media ignited in an instant:

#WhereIsCaptainKim

#BringHimBack

#SeokjinMissing

[BREAKING] "Captain Kim Seokjin not aboard returned shuttle. NASA refuses to comment."

News anchors fumbled over each other trying to speculate. Conspiracy theories ignited. Protesters outside the gates screamed for answers.

Mission Control was overwhelmed. Staff were trying to contain the media storm, politicians, and angry citizens demanding explanations.

Namjoon stood silently in front of a press conference podium, his face stony. To his left stood Min Yoongi, arms crossed. The officials from China were already in the room, prepared—but only barely.

Namjoon adjusted the microphone. His voice was calm, but tight, controlled.

"Captain Kim Seokjin did not return with the primary crew because he remained in orbit after a catastrophic system failure."

A sharp inhale from the crowd.

"He made a call... to stay behind and protect the mission. But we did not leave him behind."

He paused, gaze intense.

"Even before the first shuttle touched down... we launched a second one."

The crowd went silent.

"A covert joint mission with our Chinese partners. The retrieval team is already en route."

The screen behind Namjoon lit up.

Live footage of a sleek white capsule soaring into the black void played.

The room gasped.

"The commander of that shuttle," Namjoon said slowly, "is Dr. Y/N L/N."

"She volunteered."

Gasps.

Some clapped.

Others cried.

"They trained together. She's one of the finest minds we've ever had. And she promised to bring him home."

"The retrieval will now be publicly broadcast to ensure full transparency and international support."

Meanwhile, back at base, Jungkook shoved through the crowd of medical staff trying to check his vitals.

"You let her go alone?!"

His voice cracked with exhaustion and anger.

Taehyung pulled him back. Jimin whispered, "She made the choice."

Jungkook punched the wall.

"I should've been with them."

Far above, drifting in silence, Y/N stared at the coordinates Jin had sent before his transmission failed.

Her fingers hovered over the control panel.

"Jin, if you can hear this," she whispered, "we're coming. I'm coming."

The world may have been watching now.

But for her—it was never about that.

It was about a promise. A kiss under the stars. A boy who dreamed of the moon.

And she would not let him fade.

The stillness of Mission Control was shattered by a rapid, high-pitched alarm.

Yoongi's screen flashed red—sensor data, chemical signature logs, and radiation spikes from Jin's last known coordinates. He didn't need confirmation. He knew.

"Explosion," he muttered. "Object destabilized... the debris hit something—"

He leaned forward, voice sharp.

"Patch me to Y/N. Now."

Y/N floated in the cockpit, running simulation numbers. Her crewmate was quiet, respectful of her focus—until the comms lit up.

"This is Mission Control—Dr. Min Yoongi. Y/N, do you copy?"

Her breath hitched. "Copy, Control."

Yoongi's voice came in strained and fast.

"Jin's pod was in the impact zone. We've confirmed an explosion. A chemical trigger possibly from the object's surface. It disrupted his oxygen regulation. He's still transmitting, barely. But his oxygen is below survival threshold."

Her fingers curled around the panel edge.

"How long?"

"An hour, maybe two if he slows his breathing."

Silence.

Her heart was thudding.

"Give me his exact coordinates."

The moment she got the coordinates, her brain began moving faster than her pulse.

The Chinese crew turned to her as she floated to the central nav panel.

"I need manual access."

Captain Liu blinked. "Manual override? But our systems—"

"I can recalibrate the thrust angle. We do a slingshot pivot using remaining thruster fuel. I need to take us closer to the object's field debris—but at a 3-degree offset."

"That could compromise your return path."

"If we don't do this," she said quietly, "there's nothing to return with."

Yoongi turned to Namjoon and the others in the control room, broadcasting Y/N's transmission to every screen.

Namjoon exhaled. "She's gambling everything."

"She's not gambling," Yoongi said. "She's solving the impossible."

Y/N's hands moved rapidly, sketching vectors in zero-G using light pens on the console screen.

"We need a microburn thrust," she told the Chinese crew. "Just enough to give us angular momentum. Once we hit the drift corridor, I'll take the pod. Solo. The docking will be risky—it'll be blind. But if I match the pulse frequency of Jin's last signal, I can find him in the debris trail."

The crew stared at her, speechless.

One engineer murmured in Mandarin: "She's not an engineer... she's an artist."

Liu looked at her. "And if you miss?"

Y/N's voice cracked but didn't falter.

"Then I miss him forever."

Yoongi's voice came back through.

"Your window is ten minutes. That's all you have before the rotation breaks and solar interference cuts visibility."

Y/N strapped herself in. "Copy."

The Chinese crew assisted, everyone quiet but urgent. The world watched through global feeds now—NASA, CNSA, ESA. The stars felt close. Time felt tighter.

Y/N launched in the modified pod.

Everything rumbled as she entered the danger zone—debris floating like shrapnel in silence. Her pulse was erratic, but her mind stayed sharp.

She matched Jin's last frequency ping. Tuned into it. Narrowed the coordinates.

Every beep on her console was a heartbeat.

"Come on, Jin... Come on..."

The emergency pod detached with a sharp jolt.

Y/N's heart hammered in sync with the thrusters' steady pulse. Outside the tiny viewport, the void stretched endless—black, cold, and star-speckled.

She gripped the controls with white-knuckled focus, tracing Jin's last known trajectory. The world beyond the pod's hull was silent, but millions of voices echoed inside her head—prayers, hopes, fears—watching her leap through space for one man.

Her screen blinked rapidly—oxygen levels in Jin's pod steadily dropping. Her own reserves were tight. The slightest miscalculation would mean disaster.

Suddenly, a violent shudder rocked the pod.

Alarms blared.

"Solar debris field," Y/N muttered under her breath.

A flash of shattered rock and metal streaked past the viewport, grazing the pod's shield. The emergency thrusters groaned under the strain.

She swerved, narrowly avoiding a spinning shard.

Back on Earth, Namjoon, Yoongi, and the Chinese control crew held their breaths.

"Trajectory's off by two degrees," Yoongi said, urgency creeping into his calm voice. "She needs to correct or lose him."

Namjoon's hands hovered above the keyboard, ready to assist but letting Y/N take the lead.

At the clinic, Jungkook paced nervously, watching live feeds flicker.

Jimin sat frozen, Taehyung's lips pressed tight. Hoseok had his eyes shut, silently mouthing a prayer.

"Come on, hyung," Jungkook whispered, voice cracking. "Hold on."

Y/N adjusted course, her mind a whirlwind of calculations and memories—the note Jin had given her, the promise under the stars.

"I'm coming, Jin," she whispered fiercely, voice trembling with both fear and determination.

The pod shook again, a closer strike this time.

Her oxygen warning chimed, a sharp reminder of time slipping away.

She forced steady breaths, pushing the pod harder, eyes locked on the beacon signal blinking faintly through the static.

Seconds stretched like hours.

A ghostly silhouette emerged against the black—a battered pod drifting, fragile as a dream.

Y/N's pulse thundered.

Her fingers danced over the controls, stabilizing the pod for docking.

The World Watches

News anchors' voices faltered. Cameras focused on the intense concentration behind Y/N's visor.

Social media exploded with support, hope flickering in millions of hearts.

"If she makes this... it will be a miracle," a commentator whispered.

The docking clamp clicked.

Y/N exhaled, a tear tracing a silent path down her cheek.

"I've got you," she said softly, reaching for the hatch.

The crew on Earth, in the clinic, and beyond held their breath.

The rescue had begun.

Inside the cockpit of the narrow rescue pod, the only sound was the rhythmic pulse of Y/N's breathing. The kind that was forced and shallow — a survival rhythm more than calm.

The stars outside her window didn't twinkle. They pierced through blackness like tiny needles. Somewhere in that silence, one of those stars wasn't a star at all — it was Jin.

"Approaching last known coordinates," she muttered, her voice cracking over the comms to ground control.

On Earth, in the NASA-China joint operations room, you could hear a pin drop. Namjoon stood behind the lead tech, arms crossed so tightly they left marks on his sleeves. Yoongi leaned in, eyes scanning the telemetry.

"She's got one chance to dock," he said quietly. "If she misses..."

No one finished the sentence.

Y/N's eyes flickered across the data — heat signatures, oxygen trails, a broken echo from a low-frequency distress ping. Her gloved hands moved rapidly over the manual navigation. The computer had given up on auto-docking hours ago. This was all her.

"Come on, Jin," she whispered, scanning the empty void. "Where are you?"

The silence dragged. Her heartbeat pounded loud inside her suit.

Then—blip.

A weak echo. One single blinking light on the far edge of her vision.

Her breath caught. She steadied her hand.

"Visual contact," she whispered.

Drifting like a ghost, Jin's pod floated silently through the black. One side of it was scorched, paint peeled back like charred paper. The thruster was offline. There were no signals coming from inside.

She swallowed her fear.

"Initiating approach."

She inched the pod forward. A slight miscalculation and she'd send them both spiraling away forever.

Ground control held its breath. Jungkook's crew watched on a small screen at the recovery clinic, eyes wide, hands clenched.

Jimin was whispering prayers under his breath.

The metallic hiss of the docking arm sliding into place was the loudest sound Y/N had ever heard.

She secured the clamp.

"Seal is tight. Preparing to open hatch."

Her hands shook as she released the lock. The door groaned.

She pulled herself inside—and gasped.

Jin was slumped against the wall. Ice had formed along the corners of the pod. His oxygen alarm was flashing red.

"Jin," she breathed, floating to him, checking vitals. Weak — dangerously low — but still there.

She tapped the comms on his suit. "Seokjin, it's me. Can you hear me?"

A flicker. A slow blink. His mouth parted, barely moving.

"Y/N...?"

She laughed and cried all at once.

"Yes, yes, I'm here. I'm going to get you out of here. Just hold on."

He tried to smile. It broke her in half.

Inside the narrow pod, warmth had finally begun to creep into the silence.

Jin's fingers twitched under the thermal blanket. His eyes fluttered open again, this time clearer, steadier. Oxygen flowed now, and the pale blue of his lips was starting to fade.

Y/N sat beside him, tethered, breathing shallowly. Her eyes never left him.

"Still alive," he croaked, voice raspy.

She nodded with a trembling smile, trying to blink back the tears that had been threatening to spill since she opened his pod.

"You better be," she whispered. "You owe me."

He chuckled weakly, then winced.

"I thought I was dreaming. When I heard your voice... I thought I'd gone. I thought—"

"No," she cut in. "You didn't. I wouldn't let you."

Their helmets were off now. The world could wait. Right now, in the infinite silence of space, it was just them — two hearts orbiting each other.

Jin blinked at her slowly, then let his hand move to hers.

"You're actually here," he said. "You flew through space just to find me."

Y/N laughed, voice breaking with it.

"You said you'd come home."

"I thought I failed," he whispered. "I wanted to keep that promise. I really did."

"You are," she said.

He looked at her with a kind of wonder, like he didn't know whether to cry or kiss her or laugh.

"How are you even real?" he murmured.

"Just lucky," she replied. "And stubborn. And maybe a little in love with a foolish, arrogant astronaut who never listens."

His smile broke across his face like sunrise.

She leaned closer, pressed her forehead to his gently.

"You're going home, astronaut," she whispered. "I came to bring you back."

She turned toward the communication panel, fingers trembling. Static buzzed. She adjusted the frequency.

"This is Lieutenant Y/N L/N," she said, voice firm. "Mission retrieval successful."

No answer.

"Repeat. This is Y/N. I've found Captain Kim Seokjin. He's alive. We're coming home."

There was a pause. A long stretch of silence.

Then — thunder.

Not from the stars — but from Earth.

The World Erupts

In Mission Control, the feed returned. Y/N's face came into frame. Behind her, a blurred figure leaned back in the harness — eyes open. Breathing.

"—He's alive. We're on route."

The room exploded.

People clapped, cried, hugged. Namjoon collapsed into his chair and sobbed into his hands. Yoongi stood frozen for a second before turning around and punching the air with a scream.

The broadcast echoed across the globe. On every screen, every phone, every rooftop and bar and classroom:

"Captain Kim Seokjin has been found. He is alive."

At the recovery clinic, Jungkook leapt from his seat, arms thrown into the air.

"She did it!"

"She did it!" Jimin shouted.

Taehyung grabbed Hoseok in a hug, both in tears.

Jin's mother dropped to her knees in front of the TV, clutching her chest.

"My son... my son..."

Her tears were not of grief this time, but relief so raw it made her tremble.

"Thank you," she whispered toward the sky. "Thank you for bringing him back."

Back in space, Y/N checked coordinates. The rescue trajectory was green.

Jin looked at her. Even exhausted, he was glowing — his hand never letting go of hers.

"You're going to be a legend," he said.

"Only if I bring you back," she teased.

"You brought me back the second I heard your voice."

Their hands clasped. Two stars drifting closer now.

"Let's go home," she whispered.

"Together."

And the pod began its slow arc back toward the waiting arms of Earth — a planet holding its breath for the love story written among the stars.

The hum of the ship was constant — steady, comforting, like a lullaby whispered by machines. Inside, the glow of control panels bathed the crew in soft light as Earth began to swell in the viewing window, blue and brilliant.

Kim Seokjin was alive.

Strapped in for safety, a blanket over his lap, he stared out at the planet below. His fingers tapped nervously, unable to stay still. The medical monitors around him beeped gently, watching his vitals, but nothing could monitor the sheer weight of emotion pressing against his ribs.

Across the narrow cabin, Y/N was giving status updates to the Chinese commander, her voice calm and focused — but when their eyes met, she smiled.

A private smile. A knowing one. One that said, You did it. We did it.

"How's your oxygen?" she asked softly, approaching him.

"It's got nothing on yours," Jin said with a weak grin. "Yours smells like home."

She rolled her eyes, but her heart melted.

"You're really gonna start again with the dad jokes?"

"Hey, I nearly died. I earned the right to be extra cheesy."

The intercom crackled. A voice came through — tense, hopeful.

"This is Kim Namjoon. Jin? Are you there?"

Jin pressed the communicator. His voice cracked, but he managed a lopsided smile.

"Hey, cousin. Still mad at me?"

There was silence, then a long breath.

"You absolute idiot," Namjoon replied, voice thick with emotion. "You scared the whole world. We thought we—"

"But you didn't," Jin said quietly. "She didn't."

His gaze flicked to Y/N again, who had turned her face away, wiping at her cheeks in secret.

"Y/N was brilliant," Namjoon said. "Yoongi said it was the riskiest plan he's ever seen. And it worked."

"Of course it worked," Jin murmured. "She was in it."

Later, after the systems were cleared and the crew moved to rest, Jin and Y/N sat side by side near the observation window. Earth loomed closer now, like a dream they could almost touch.

Jin nudged her shoulder.

"So... what do you call an astronaut who just came back from the dead?"

She sighed dramatically. "What?"

"A re-aster-rected legend."

She groaned.

"I want to eject you out the hatch."

"Too late. I'm under strict medical monitoring. Also, pretty sure I'm your boyfriend now."

"You're a menace."

He grinned. Then, quieter:

"You saved my life, Y/N."

She looked at him, tears returning — soft, unshaken this time.

"You promised to come home," she whispered. "I just held you to it."

He reached out and took her hand, threading his fingers through hers.

"And I always will."

Mission Control counted down the re-entry sequence. The world watched. Families gathered. Jungkook's crew, now recovered, stayed huddled together in the NASA lounge.

Jin's mother sat on the edge of her seat, rosary in hand, tears flowing freely again — but this time with hope.

The retrieval ship prepared to descend.

The world would see them again.

But for now, in the sky between space and Earth, Y/N and Seokjin held hands — hearts tethered across impossible odds, laughter returning like sunlight through the clouds.

"You ready to be a hero?" she asked.

"Only if I get to be your embarrassing, pun-loving hero," he said with a grin.

She laughed, the sound echoing through the pod like music.

And they waited — together — for gravity to pull them home.

[todaysdocument]

Telegram from Foreign Minister Gabriel S. Valdes of Chile to Secretary of State William P. Rogers

Record Group 59: General Records of the Department of StateSeries: Subject-Numeric FilesFile Unit: SP 10 US

[written by hand in upper right corner "SP 10 US"]

[handwritten in left upper corner "43"]

Department of State TELEGRAM

UNCLASSIFIED 928

Page 01 2401132

85

ACTION ARA 17

INFO OCT 01, CPR 02, JPM 04, NSC 10, P 04, RSC 01, SS 20 USIA 12, SCI 05 NASA 04, RSR 01,/081 W

068484

R 2120082 JUL 69

FM GOVERNMENT OF CHILE

TO SECSTATE WASHDC

UNCLAS

OFFICIAL TRANSLATION

TO HIS EXCELLENCY WILLIAM P. ROGERS

DEEPLY IMPRESSED BY THE MARVELOUS FEAT ACCOMPLISHED BY THE BRAVE ASTRONAUTS TO WHOM WE WERE LINKED BY TELEVISION, WHICH TRANSMISSION WAS POSSIBLE THROUGH YOUR DEPARTMENT'S GOOD OFFICES, I SEND YOUR EXCELLENCY MY MOST SINCERE CONGRATULATIONS ON THE PRODIGIOUS ACHIEVEMENT OF YOUR GREAT NATION.

GABRIEL VALDES S.

MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF CHILE

UNCLASSIFIED

[scarpazone]

If you haven’t already read the paper, ‘The Hidden Suffering of Psychopaths,’ I highly recommend you do. There is this Case Vignette in it, and it’s basically my own thoughts and feelings in paper. It perfectly describes what I cannot.

“I am living in a parallel world, which has only a very thin and fallow connection to the outside world. I am watching how life is taking place, and I observe every single thing. It is like I am behind an endless and inescapable glass wall that allows me to see and be seen by others. It is as if I am superficially acknowledged by others, “the living,” while I am never really take part in their lives. I exist. Sure. But I am not quite with them, although there are very rare exceptions.”

“Even the way I explain my ideas to others is alien. It’s like I am trying to translate my ideas into a language that others will be able to understand. I need to tune in mentally in a very precise way otherwise the real meaning of the message is lost. The effort I am making to communicate is apparent, like instructing very complicated details of a mission to an astronaut on Jupiter by radio transmission.”

“I am forced to cope with all that social and sentimental madness, nonsense, and crap around me. I feel like someone who has remained deprived from influences and images from the civilized world is dropped in a ‘Disney World.’ The social games that are played by those ordinary people are experienced by me with growing amazement. Since I discovered more details and dynamics that are involved in these games it becomes even more mysterious for me what happens between them. I discovered that most normal people feign feelings and intentions and I see them laugh along spuriously when others in the group laugh and they remain stuck in several social-emotional rituals.”

“My empathy and emotions were frozen in my youth as a result of all sorts of aversive experiences: tensions between my parent and lack of safety at home, a lack of social contacts and associated social-emotional exercises and feedback. Episodically, I suffered from social seclusion and loneliness, my incapacity to fit in and the awareness that the distance between me and others, which was unbridgeable became even worse. I realized that I was and would remain a stranger no matter what my attempts would be to socialize. It was sometimes simply unbearable to keep on feeling these dark emotions that were evoked by this constant stream of negative experiences.

And at some point, perhaps as a consequence of being overcharged, my emotional fuse broke down and it turned to be cold inside. I remember that I was 8 or 9 when I became suddenly aware of the fact that I was forever changed. It was a sunny day and as I walked to school, a boy from my class crossed the street and made attempted to start a friendly conversation. I was immediately emotional blocked and unable to respond to him and the only thing I wanted was that he went away. He soon realized that I was unreachable and ran away. He never spoke to me again and he was somehow afraid of me. From that moment on I was emotional frozen.

Growing older, I use compensation techniques in order to fill up the gap that is caused by my lack of emotional, moral capacities, and other socially undesirable traits. Because I am always aware that in a world that is alien to me it is necessary for me to adapt myself to it at least at a minimum. Only in this way can I avoid major problems all the time and I can hide my real nature.

As a consequence, I must organize my life and the world around me in a very efficient manner. I must be constantly aware what the moral mores are of the majority of the people around in general and in special settings. This is difficult to explore with my prosthetic moral compass. And there is also the awareness of what is expected from me—what I should feel and the sentiments I should show in various circumstance. This is very energy consuming, indeed.”

[weirdsatellites]

Transmission #25862 from RASR-2 (UNCLASSIFIED) 1. Infinite Astronauts 2. Elvish Cellar Doors 3. Office of Instagrammable Eagles

[basicallyaturtle]

never been part of a tag game, sounds really fun! tagged by dear Lanvender, @khan-crete

Do you make your bed? A freshly decrumbed, stuffed animal arranged and dirty clothes removed bed feels great. How often do I do this? We mustn't ask (like once or twice a month) that's all making the bed entails for me, I just have a fitted then normal sheet and blankets

Favorite Number? 4 4 4 4 4! I've loved four my entire life she is like a goddess to me. 2+2 2*2 2^2, divides into halves twice. can only compete with sixteen, whose status and 2^4 and 4^2 is nice, but not as symmetric. 37 and 73 have a place in my heart as the 12th and 21st primes, but not a large place compared to 4

What's your job? What do I get paid for? undergrad lab TA, what do I do? grad research in low energy nuclear physics

If you could go back to school, would you? In school technically still. Would I rewind time to experience school again? highschool no college yes. would I go back for another college degree? I could be convinced if it would be cheap and unobtrusive to my current schooling. Was always torn between physics and linguistics. I made the right choice but I always wonder what if.

Can you Parallel Park? I have done it, on the driving test, like four or five years ago. I think I could do it again, but not too confident

Do you think Aliens are real? Eh, probably in a 'the observable universe 9.3e+9 ly across, it must have happened more than once' kinda way, but not in a 'they've been feeding us tech for thousands of years or are visiting us' kinda way.

Can you drive a manual car? Never tried, hubris tell me yes, anxiety with even normal cars tells me I'd probably fuck up the transmission while trying to leave the driveway. gonna say yeag

Guilty Pleasure? I think like cheesy childhood disney live action movies?, generally I'm pretty full chested about the things I enjoy

Favorite Type of Music? yeah, hard, a lot of vocaloid, which isn't reallly a genre, a lot of edm genres from like old school monstercat, a lot of jrock by way of anime OP's of show's I've never watched then finding other songs by those artists. some rock music though that genre is also extremely expansive and I'm not sure how I'd categorize a lot of it. Generally my music consumption consists of a group of maybe five songs completely unrelated on repeat for months at a time and genre is not a huge factor in that

Do you like puzzles? twisty puzzles like rubik's cube type puzzles are really fun working, towards doing a 3x3 blindfolded but challenging, I used to do jigsaw's with my mom but over the course of a very long time because we'd get frustrated. crosswords, but I'm no good at them

Favorite Childhood Sport? Soccerrrr. Wish I'd stayed with it, but there were only a couple more years before there wasn't a league for my age group anyway, been trying to get back into it recreationally

Do you talk to yourself? I do, but as if I'm talking to someone else. I prefer not to do it because I'm not content with my voice atm, but I find myself doing it a lot especially when getting stuck on research stuff trying to talk it out or I will say a comment to someone I disagree with outloud rather than typing it and posting it. A lot of this is to my reflection which is probably part of the reason it feels like someone else lol

Tea or Coffee? tea all the way. drank iced sweet black tea my entire childhood and started drinking it hot with milk in college. I was the kind of person that disliking coffee was a sort of pillar of my tastes, but then a few years ago made it with like half milk and a lot of sugar and like it, lotta people wouldn't call that coffee, but eh.

First thing you wanted to be when you grew up? The actual first thing was everything. I would amalgamate like all the stereotypes of things kids want to be into one so a firefighter-astronaut-whatever else. When I got a better sense of my interests, inventor, so I guess like product designer, but what that meant to me was I got to sit around and think of neat gadgets and items then figure out how to make them like freeze ray, time machine, clone gun, that kind of thing lol. the first practical idea of a job I wanted was theoretical physicist in like middle school, which I kinda am now so success I guess

What Movies do you Adore? not much of a movie person, but like to watch movies other people are interested in with them, love castle in the sky, LOTR, howl's moving castle, your name, probably others in those categories I don't know about yet or have forgotten and I have a strong soft spot for childhood halloween movies like twitches and halloweentown

I'm curious what @arc-archernar and @charyou-tree have got to say if they'd like to, and anyone else that wants to participate!

[kfkr1ze]

Reset ≠ Astronauts - Chapter 10

Characters — ✈︎ Muneuji, Ushio, Akuta, Nanaki, Yukikaze

Location: HAMA House Neigh Clan Room

Ushio: Even before we went to Tanegashima, there’s been something you’ve been keeping a secret… Isn’t there?

Muneuji: ……

In truth… Just before we left for Tanegashima, I received a “mysterious transmission”.

Ushio: Eh? …A “mysterious transmission”…?

Muneuji: It was unexpected. I was just absentmindedly touching the device, trying to tune in to various channels as I usually do.

All of a sudden, I picked up on an attempt at contact. It sounded like a person was trying to speak, but the first time I heard them, there was too much noise. I couldn’t understand what they were saying.

(Right, at the time I thought there was some sort of interference.)

However, I noticed that they were repeating the same sentence over and over, so as I listened more carefully, I was able to gradually come to understand what was being said.

Ushio: …What… were they saying?

Muneuji: Although I could hear the sentence, I still wasn’t able to understand the meaning of it. No matter how much I contemplated them, I just could not figure it out. 

It was only the other day that I was able to solve that mystery once and for all. I understood what the message saidーー……

Ushio: So? What was the message? 

Muneuji: “From the hometown which shines in silver, this is Selene.”

Ushio: …What does that mean?

Muneuji: Selene is the goddess of the moon[1]. Which would mean, Selene is from the moon. What’s more, they called the moon their hometown. 

This is a message that was sent from the moon. There is no other way to perceive it. 

Ushio: Haa… And you’re serious abouーー

Muneuji: And. And, Uu-chan, that was…

That voice was… similar to my father’s…!

Ushio: !?

Muneuji: What if… But, that isn’t possible…

However… If that was indeed my father’s voice then…

(My father is… in his “hometown” which shines in silver. Selene… is on the moon.)

(If he’s in his “hometown”…Does that mean he returned back homeーー!?)

Akuta: The theory goes that Princess Kaguya broke some laws on the Moon and got exiled to Earth, but then she got found innocent, so she returned back to her hometown!

Location: HAMA House Neigh Clan Room

Muneuji: (Then what of me, who carries his bloodーー…?)

Ushio: ーーMuu-chan!!

Muneuji: !

Ushio: Your jokes… are really… scary…

Muneuji: A joke… it’s noーー

Ushio: So today.

I’ll talk to Kamina-san, and I’ll ask him to make something a little bit healthier for dinner.

You can finish reading that book later. Muu-chan should go take a bath and get to bed earlier today.

Muneuji: But…

Ushio: I think I’ll go to the baths today too. I’ll ask Kamina-san first, and then I’ll see if anyone is there on my way back.

Ushio: …I’ll be back real quick so… In the meantime, put your books away, okay!?

Muneuji: He left…

……

(On our way back home today, the topic I chose to talk about was lunar stations.)

(And then I… got a lot of books about the moon.)

Ushio: Hey Muu-chan, are you more interested in the moon than space?

Location: HAMA House Neigh Clan Room

Muneuji: (Up until now, I have never been a person who was solely interested in the moon.)

(This was never my own wish, but something that was brought to me after that “mysterious transmission” that I encountered…?)

If that is the case.

Muneuji: …I want to go too!

I also want to go… to the skies!!

Location: HAMA House Neigh Clan Room

Muneuji: That dream too… Is that dream… not my ownーー?

…gh.

(I don’t know.)

(Uu-chan and chief… They both supported me, and with that, I truly thought that I was in love with space.)

Then what is my true will without any outside interference? 

(What is… Which path… should I be taking?)

Location: HAMA House Kitchen

Nanaki: Hm… That’s a nice smell. I always get excited when opening a fresh bag of new beans.

And now, slowly pouring the hot water in…

Ushio: Kamina-san!

Nanaki: !

That… scared the shit out of me. What? What’s wrong?

Ushio: …Oh, it’s just Panda.

Nanaki: “Just”, yet you’re the one who is rudely barging in here.

Ushio: (Kamina-san… Chief or Karigane-san would be fine too. Just hurry and find someone…)

Nanaki: …Ushio? Are you okay?

Ushio: gh, don’t touch me!

Nanaki: …What’s wrong? Your face looks pale.

Ushio: …Muu-chan is…

Yukikaze: What’s the matter, my little brothers? I was going to start preparing dinner soon, but maybe you got too hungry and had to find something to eat?

Ushio: Kamina-san…!

Yukikaze: …Ushio. What’s the matter?

Ushio: Um, do you think you could make something healthier for Muu-chan?

Yukikaze: …For Muneuji?

Ushio: He’s been pushing himself a lot to prepare for the Feature Tour, so… He hasn’t been in the best shape…

Yukikaze: If it’s for Muneuji, I just passed by him at the entrance. I just assumed he didn’t need dinner, but was I wrong?

Ushio: Eh…?

……!

Nanaki: Ah, wait, where are you going…!?

ーーUm, I’m gonna go after him! You can have this coffee if you’d like!

Yukikaze: …They left…

I don’t really get it, but… If Nananki went after him, then I’m sure they’ll be fine. I suppose I’ll just make dinner while I wait.

Location: Downtown HAMA

Ushio: Muu-chan, where the hell did you go…!?

Ughhh c’mon! He’s not answering his phone…!

Passerby A: This is the right store, isn’t it～?

Passerby B: It’s fine it’s fine. You just gotta turn right at this corner.

Ushio: …gh, watch out…!

Passerby A: Ah, I’m sorry!

Passerby B: Make sure you look in front of you while you’re walking～.

Ushio: (Haah, geez. We almost ran into each other.)

(…I also wasn’t looking in front of me though.)

Ughhh, this is all because I’m worrying about Muu-chan…!

Nanaki: Ushio!

Ushio: ! What are you doing here…

Nanaki: Your face looked pale, and you seemed to be rushing for some reason, but I wasn’t expecting you to actually run out here.

Ushio: …You knew there was someone rushing around everywhere, yet you have no problems just casually cycling next to them?

Nanaki: What, did you fight with Muneuji or something?

Ushio: Shut up. This has nothing to do with you, so just go home.

Nanaki: And I will. So… here, take it.

Ushio: …What?

Nanaki: I’m lending you this electric bike.

Ushio: ……

Nanaki: Well that’s all I wanted to do, so.

Ushio: Wai…

Ushio: ………

ーーJust so you know!

Nanaki: Hm?

Ushio: Muu-cha… Muneuji and I would never get into a fight!!

Nanaki: Got it.

Ushio: …Phew.

(If it’s by bike, I can probably get there faster than if Muu-chan is walking. First, I’ll check the Archery Dojo.)

!

Is that Muu-chan…!?

…It’s… not.

What’s up with this? The person’s name is all messed up. Spam?

Ushio: A memorable… placeーー……

Location: Kaguya Family Hill

Muneuji: ……

(Together with Uu-chan, I tried to recreate the events of “that day” at this place. Yet we failed.)

(“That day.”)

(The day my father was abducted. The day that my life was watershed[2].)

(Ever since that day, I’ve improved a lot, yet this place hasn’t changed at all.)

(The wind that carries the scent of the humid grass and earth. And the sky that holds a countless amount of starsーー)

……

Muneuji: Now to light the match…

Ushio: ーーMuu-chan!!

Muneuji: !

Previous — ✈︎ Masterlist — ✈︎ Next

Notes — ✈︎

Selene is the name for the Greek moon goddess, but the Romans referred to her as Luna.

Watershed - an event or period marking a turning point in a course of action or state of affairs

The contact who messaged Ushio’s name is all garbled up, but the kanji I Can make out of says tale and tangled

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 12/17/2024

exactly eleven months unemployed yaaaaay. this is late partly bc i went into a fugue state with a craft

listening

the genshin album with the song im obsessed with is finally officially out. this is background music in the Flower Feather Clan, who are loosely gaucho-inspired but also ride giant firebirds? sick as shit.

it reminds me a lot of aaron copland's rodeo suite and his billy the kid ballet, especially the little hoedown passage at the end.

-

reading

ripping through more stacks of awful fantasy paperbacks. none of them are bad in an interesting way.

great sex reporting as always from sam cole at 404 media. would strongly encourage people to sign up for their newsletter and make a free account to get past the anti-bot-scraping wall

“If anything, the fact that ‘tradwife’ is a trending porn search term reminds me that the entire concept of the tradwife is just influencer marketing in the first place,” Dahl said. “Most tradwife influencers are actually business owners and the primary breadwinners in their homes, so the term itself is kind of an oxymoron if you think about it. Maybe seeing a bunch of porn labeled "tradwife" will help other people to realize that whether it's an Instagram influencer or a Pornhub creator, tradwifery is just a fantasy after all.”

-

watching

Tide-Line Blue, a 2005 anime which should feel made especially for me: i love one-season post-apoc anime. it's available on tubi (which is where i found it dicking around for something to watch) but i'm not really sure why it's so difficult to find videos of it on the actual internet.

Tide-Line Blue is set after an environmental disaster later called the "Hammer of Eden" has submerged 90% of the Earth under water and taken six billion lives. The series begins fourteen years after that event with the new and remaining countries being brought together under the New United Nations. However, Gould, a renegade submarine captain wishes to use military force to create peace in the new world order, while Aoi, the secretary-general of the New UN, wishes to use diplomacy, and a boy named Keel finds himself caught up in the middle of it all.

unfortunately this was VERY bad at laying out and explaining the political drama driving the plot. we do not find out Why the rogue submarine captain went rogue until the second to last episode. and not in a teasing raising the stakes way. we spend So much time with this captain, and his decisions feel quite frankly nonsensical a lot of the times without this EXTREMELY important context we do not find out until a halfhearted flashback when he is remembering something. never is this communicated to one of our main POV characters. ever!

i also had to throw my disbelief into the next county bc an astronaut is trapped up there for seven years on a private imaging-based satellite. that man would be dead. it takes the combined powers of many nations and thousands of engineers to keep the ISS at "not currently exploding". and part of that is bc she is very old and only has a little bit of a taste for blood (unlike skylab which actively tried to kill her astronauts at every opportunity) but ONE guy for SEVEN YEARS is still able to make daily transmissions???? that man should be exploded by now. or in organ failure. the human body is not meant to be in space and does not like being in space, as a general rule.

there's a mom that's just. missing. and this is not particularly remarked upon or relevant. i guess she's off doing her own thing? or maybe dead? very unclear. not important but did annoy me.

very pretty pilot episode, and i had a fun time thinking about the ways people survive during massive sea rise, how communications networks without satellites work (i assume there's a lot of bouncing stuff off the moon but the debri cloud around earth looks fucking gnarly in the outer space segments). really do wish this one was better but it is incoherent at best a lot of the time. "eeeee big ship lots of loving shots of instrumentation" only gets me so far

-

playing

Two Full Years Of Stardew Valley. i picked the beach farm bc i wanted to spend more time fucking around in the mines and uncovering secrets and romancing someone (i have never successfully romanced someone in stardew valley) and then forgot that the farming game does actually want you to do a lot of farming to progress. kind of wish i had not picked the beach farm but i am making a fucking killing selling void and dino mayo and various cheeses. plus my eels are happy?

-

making

my back finally feels mostly very uncomfortable instead of excruciating, and i certainly overdid it today cleaning but my house was Gross. i also ripped apart my vacuum and cleaned the dust canister and filters bc that shit was Gross.

40+ christmas and new years' and some very overdue postcards are in the mail: canadian pals, my post office would not even take yours and said to hang onto them until after the strike. i am so sorry. also i have way more canadian pals than i thought!

there are two kinds of thrift stores: ones that like to bag a billion small items together and have a huge horrible wall of weird bagged shit, and thrift stores that don't do that. this was loose on a shelf, i had to get a goodwill manager to price it, and they said "i dunno. 2.99?" so i have had a very pleasant evening gluing together this extremely thin laser cut wood in the style of a papercraft. thank you goodwill.

[seat-safety-switch]

So many of my friends love to go camping. In "camping," you take your car somewhere else and then sleep there for the night. This is basically what I do anyway – but their cars run properly when they get there. Me, I just throw a tent out of the trunk and sleep through the wee hours when the thing decides it's not going to keep chooching.

Envy is the real demon, though. Just as I started getting comfortable with my humble little tent, I visited a modern camping store. I was only in there because I wanted to see if they had a little stove or something for me to reheat a frozen oil-pan with, but then they hit me with the sales job. Camping with glamour. I could buy this solar panel, and this inverter, and these television sets, and put all this expensive stuff in a van, and live off the land. No need to ever buy a house again, which is good, because I won't have any money left after purchasing an eighty thousand dollar van.

"So you'll want two of the Toto Washlets," expressed the salesperson, almost gleeful in her anticipation of my luxury-grade shitting inside my luxury pseudo-motorhome.

All of this was very tempting, for the same reason that we have fantasies of being astronauts. Getting some distance on all of our problems, having a chance to sit and think by ourselves without the constant buzzing and hissing of Civilization Itself in our ears. That's what I liked about my shitty little tent in the first place, but I could only stay there for so long before the cops started asking questions about the car whose transmission is currently on fire in the parking lot. Plus, I would miss charging my phone, which would keep me from buying more shitty cars.

Ultimately, I realized with a start, the only true freedom is not having a job. And shitty cars helped liberate me from that obligation, many years ago, when I didn't show up for work because I was sleeping next to a disused horse arena in rural Saskatchewan after my differential exploded.

Sadly, the vanlife dream came to an end. Just like in many previous sales interactions, she soon found that I had absolutely no money and made security kick my ass out in the parking lot. It's not all bad, though: when I woke up, I found that the dumpster of the camping store contained a perfectly good, if slightly stained, sleeping bag. Now I'll be resting in the lap of luxury the next time I get stranded in the middle of nowhere.

[april-is]

April 9, 2025: kami/kaze : a correspondence, Ng Yi-Sheng

kami/kaze : a correspondence Ng Yi-Sheng

An astronaut and a samurai fall in love.         They write each other                 haiku and billet-doux         via time capsule.

SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED he says THEY HAVE TAKEN PHOTOGRAPHS OF OUR FOOTPRINTS IN THE DUST         have you seen the moon she has stopped at my window         to sniff the cherry blossom WE MUST KEEP THE RUSSIANS AT BAY         the shogun would have us ride against the ronin WE MUST BEAT THEM         AT THIS MAD GAME THEY FIRST BEGAN i don't know         WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO? do you hear the taiko drums         HOLD ON LET ME RAISE THE ANTENNA what is antenna?         if you listen hard you will hear my breath LIKE AN ARECIBO TRANSMISSION like divine wind         INSIDE THERE IS OXYGEN yes beyond there are knives and chaos         and under our armor I WILL BELIEVE we have the same skin.

--

Today in:

2024: Physical Therapy, Franny Choi 2023: Come Quickly, Izumi Shikibu 2022: Heretic That I Am, Tomás Q. Morín 2021: The World Has Need of You, Ellen Bass 2020: Annus Mirabilis, R. A. Villanueva 2019: This Page Ripped Out and Rolled into a Ball, Brendan Constantine 2018: Winter Stars, Larry Levis 2017: In That Other Fantasy Where We Live Forever, Wanda Coleman 2016: The cat’s song, Marge Piercy 2015: The Embrace, Mark Doty 2014: No. 6, Charles Bukowski 2013: A Schoolroom in Haiti, Kenneth Koch 2012: Track 5: Summertime, Jericho Brown 2011: Death, Is All, Ana Božičević 2010: Heaven, William Heyen 2009: April in Maine, May Sarton 2008: Making Love to Myself, James L. White 2007: Publication Date, Franz Wright 2006: Living in the Body, Joyce Sutphen 2005: Aberration (The Hubble Space Telescope before repair), Rebecca Elson

[the-perverse-library]

(Stranded Astronaut AU, Size Difference, Monster-folk)

Stranded after an unfortunate ship crash and armed with only a pistol and combat knife, how does Jaune (Dense and Jumpy but an Optimist) often react when he runs into the ‘locals’ of the planet.

Jaune: “Log entry #1: Locals. Honestly, where do I even begin with the locals on this planet? They look similar to humans but with additional animal like appendages or greater physical capabilities. They also vary in height as well, either being slightly taller than an average human to being twice the size of them. Who knows just how far their genetics have advanced to reach such adaptations.” *He turns around after hearing a knock at the door.* “Huh, who could that be? Gonna have to end the log here, need to see who’s at the door. This is Security Specialist Jaune Arc of the UNE Research Vessel UNS Intrepid, signing off.” *He then stops the recording before grabbing his handgun and walking over to the door.*

(If you weren’t expecting a story, then that’s my bad, I just really like to put context into something before I ask it? It also helps me to set the scene of something I want to ask as well.)

The moment he opened the door, Jaune was attacked by a wall of firm muscle, scales, and soft titflesh. The lost astronaut fell onto his back, staring up at the blonde she-dragon standing in the doorway to his living quarters. He was aware of the alien; she was merely one of the many native inhabitants that Jaune had encountered. Jaune was stunned silent. It was one thing to observe the Faunus from his base, but it was another thing entirely to have one loom over him.

"H-hi Yang." Jaune stuttered out the she-dragon's name. The blonde bombshell left Jaune completely nervous, and he had every right to be. Yang was as massive as he had noted in his observations and recordings. If his readings were to scale, he was barely half her size! Jaune took a big gulp as he slowly pulled himself to his feet.

Yang just beamed down at him with a mischievous grin, sunlight forming a halo around her thick scales, tail, and wings. "Hey there, mister space man," Yang purred as she rested her hands on her hips. "I heard from a delightful kitsune and a very strong-willed Snow Faerie you were interested in understanding our cultures on a more... intimate level." Yang finished with a soft moan as she ran her tongue over her lips.

Jaune was transfixed. It had been true that he had been discussing culture with Pyrrha and Weiss the weeks prior. Both Kitsune and Fae culture are steeped in traditions that left him feeling baffled beyond belief. But... something told Jaune that that blonde giantess wearing a wispy tank top struggling to contain her jiggling bust and a thin, black thong might not be about to extol the rich oral histories of the Draconids to him. "I-I have been i-interviewing some people. T-to help further u-ummm... diplomatic relations! Yeah, to build further diplomatic relations between Earth and here!" Jaune meekly offered as he tried to keep his eyes focused on just Yang's eyes. "Learning more w-would allow me to be integral in a-any partnership between our peoples."

His words only made her smile grow as Yang inched toward him. "Oh, I plan to make sure you never forget our ~partnership~, mister space man." The she-dragon coyly remarked before pulling Jaune's face flush against her black leather thong. Jaune could feel Yang's tail coil around his leg, teasing and massaging his throbbing bulge as she ground against his face. "Oh my~! No wonder Weisscream and Pyr-Pyr loved "exchanging culture" with you. You just have so much to give!" Yang excitedly teased him before the draconid tore Jaune out of his uniform.

"Director! Director, we have a transmission from the downed vessel. Yes, the UNE Research Vessel UNS Intrepid." A scientist remarked as they caught a transmitter signal. "I-it's a lot of data, almost like someone is recording and transmitting live data." The scientist turned to director Goodwitch who gave a curt nod.

"Play the footage; if nothing else, we can locate the Intrepid and Security Specialist Jaune Arc." Goodwitch remarked with a solemn tone.

The team set to work and cleaned up the signal before synchronising their system with the transmission signal from the downed vessel. The gargantuan monitor before them crackled to life, giving the entire research and development branch of the UNS a front-row seat of Jaune Arc, nude and mewling as a blonde giantess straddled him. They watched the winged alien lock the security officer in the Amazon Pose as she slammed herself down onto his cock over and over again. "~Oooh fuck yeah~! Pump all your culture deep into my pussy! J-just like that! Oooh fuck me, fuck me, fuck me!!!" The blonde alien chanted as she thrusted down harder and faster, making her entire body jiggle and quake with every thunderous slam of her hips against his.

The UNS R&D division watched as the she-dragon ravaged and lavished Jaune with her body, forcing the security officer to cum until his seed was spilling and oozing out of her quivering slit. They watched her bury him in her tits, hammering her massive melons up and down his throbbing cock until her face was covered in a thin glaze of cum. The wild, lustful alien only stopped when Jaune finally passed out from a mix of pleasure and exhaustion. The alien took her time cleaning her face, slurping up every rogue strand of semen she could before turning and winking to the camera.

"Hehehe, I hope you enjoyed the show. We'll be sure to send you more of these "educational" and "culturally rich" videos in future." Yang teasingly remarked. "Once I tell everyone just what Jaune's packing, every Faunus on this planet is gonna want to "exchange culture" with him."

[the-most-humble-blog]

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🎭 “THE DUDE PLAYIN’ THE DUDE DISGUISED AS ANOTHER DUDE” The Kirk Lazarus File — Brought to You by Method Acting, Delusion, and Blackface on Steroids

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Let’s just rip the band-aid off: Kirk Lazarus is the only man alive who did blackface, won two NAACP Image Awards, and delivered his acceptance speech like a plantation owner who discovered TikTok.

“Y’all don’t get comfortable now… I’m gonna be winning a lot more of these.”

He said that. On a mic. To a cheering crowd. In a tuxedo. With his soul still buffering.

🎬 This wasn’t acting. This was performance taxidermy.

Kirk Lazarus didn’t “prepare” for a role— he molested it with method. He skinned the character, stitched himself inside, and called it "representation" with a straight face.

This man went through surgical pigment alteration, studied 1970s Blaxploitation slang like scripture, and came out sounding like if Shaft and Frasier Crane had a baby on ketamine.

🧠 “I don’t break character ‘til I do the DVD commentary.”

Cool, bro.

Because nothing says respectful portrayal of generational Black pain like a white Australian dude quoting Dolemite while firing blanks in a jungle he thinks is a movie set.

The only “commentary” you need is a 5-hour intervention with Malcolm X, Maya Angelou, and whoever invented common sense.

🍆 This man went full soul drag. He didn’t just blackface. He Blacklived.

He walked around calling women "babe" and "queen" in a fake Southern drawl like his Tinder bio said “Oppression Empath | Part-Time DJ.”

Kirk Lazarus was one overheard N-word away from being buried face down in the Essence Festival parking lot.

And the best part? He thought he was doing it for the culture. 🤝

📉 Method acting? Nah. This was melanin LARP with a SAG card.

The man got a trophy for it. Twice.

He colonized identity, repackaged it with bullet casings, and called it Oscar buzz.

This man didn’t “lose himself in the role.” He threw his original self in a river, pissed on it, and gave a TED Talk in character.

🚁 Let’s not forget—this man went so method he tried to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere with a refrigerator.

Not metaphorically. Like, in real life.

Imagine your boy so deep in an astronaut role he tries to break through the stratosphere from a Best Buy parking lot in Burbank.

🧨 FINAL VERDICT:

Kirk Lazarus is what happens when white guilt, acting chops, and delusional confidence get left in the microwave for too long.

He’s the Joker for film students.

He’s Tropic Thunder’s Thanos— gathering the Infinity Stones of everyone else’s trauma and using them to win a damn movie award.

Was it satire? Sure.

Was it iconic?

Yes. Unfortunately.

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