#maybe also a centrifuge

[starlightseraph]

i have so many conflicting feelings about my favourite old men. all positive feelings, mind.

do i want to be him? do i want him carnally? do i want to steal his gender? do i want to steal his wife? do i want him to be my honorary dad?

who knows, but i do definitely want to spin him around in a microwave or possibly a blender.

[draconifay]

I know I don't talk abt it at all but I'm a HUGE Fallout fan

After watching an Oxhorn video I wanted to doodle the moment the Lone wanderer meets Three Dog

Two versions w/ different filters

[avatar-state-kate]

What is it about travel anxiety that gives me new fic inspo

[reasonsforhope]

"A team of researchers at Washington University in St. Louis has developed a real-time air monitor that can detect any of the SARS-CoV-2 virus variants that are present in a room in about 5 minutes.

The proof-of-concept device was created by researchers from the McKelvey School of Engineering and the School of Medicine at Washington University...

The results are contained in a July 10 publication in Nature Communications that provides details about how the technology works.

The device holds promise as a breakthrough that - when commercially available - could be used in hospitals and health care facilities, schools, congregate living quarters, and other public places to help detect not only the SARS-CoV-2 virus, but other respiratory virus aerosol such as influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) as well.

“There is nothing at the moment that tells us how safe a room is,” Cirrito said, in the university’s news release. “If you are in a room with 100 people, you don’t want to find out five days later whether you could be sick or not. The idea with this device is that you can know essentially in real time, or every 5 minutes, if there is a live virus in the air.”

How It Works

The team combined expertise in biosensing with knowhow in designing instruments that measure the toxicity of air. The resulting device is an air sampler that operates based on what’s called “wet cyclone technology.” Air is sucked into the sampler at very high speeds and is then mixed centrifugally with a fluid containing a nanobody that recognizes the spike protein from the SARS-CoV-2 virus. That fluid, which lines the walls of the sampler, creates a surface vortex that traps the virus aerosols. The wet cyclone sampler has a pump that collects the fluid and sends it to the biosensor for detection of the virus using electrochemistry.

The success of the instrument is linked to the extremely high velocity it generates - the monitor has a flow rate of about 1,000 liters per minute - allowing it to sample a much larger volume of air over a 5-minute collection period than what is possible with currently available commercial samplers. It’s also compact - about one foot wide and 10 inches tall - and lights up when a virus is detected, alerting users to increase airflow or circulation in the room.

Testing the Monitor

To test the monitor, the team placed it in the apartments of two Covid-positive patients. The real-time air samples from the bedrooms were then compared with air samples collected from a virus-free control room. The device detected the RNA of the virus in the air samples from the bedrooms but did not detect any in the control air samples.

In laboratory experiments that aerosolized SARS-CoV-2 into a room-sized chamber, the wet cyclone and biosensor were able to detect varying levels of airborne virus concentrations after only a few minutes of sampling, according to the study.

“We are starting with SARS-CoV-2, but there are plans to also measure influenza, RSV, rhinovirus and other top pathogens that routinely infect people,” Cirrito said. “In a hospital setting, the monitor could be used to measure for staph or strep, which cause all kinds of complications for patients. This could really have a major impact on people’s health.”

The Washington University team is now working to commercialize the air quality monitor."

-via Forbes, July 11, 2023

-

Holy shit. I know it's still early in the technology and more testing will inevitably be needed but holy shit.

Literally, if it bears out, this could revolutionize medicine. And maybe let immunocompromised people fucking go places again

Also, for those who don't know, Nature Communications is a very prestigious scientific journal that focuses on Pretty Big Deal research. Their review process is incredibly rigorous. This is an absolutely HUGE credibility boost to this research and prototype

[clonerightsagenda]

May I ask what the 'no sex in space' rant is? Zero G sounds like fun :<

The space sex rant is my passion. Possibly because I have no emotional investment in the act so when it gets broken down into weird biology and mechanics by the cruel forces of physics, I find it kind of fascinating.

Sticking this below the cut because it will get long. My primary source is Packing for Mars by Mary Roach, but A City on Mars gets into the same issues. Yes, at least two books have entire chapters devoted to the space sex problem.

Note that this is all assuming microgravity. Many of the problems go away if you have artificial gravity, which we haven't cracked yet beyond building centrifuges. Your Star Trek fanfics are safe. So without further ado, and in no particular order, reasons why you probably shouldn't have sex in zero gravity and it probably wouldn't be that fun if you did:

The infamous 'no boners in space'. Since we're evolved to live in gravity, our bodies compensate for it by putting more effort into getting fluids above our heart. In microgravity, that's unnecessary, so you end up with fluid shift - more fluids, including blood, in the upper body. Your total blood volume also goes down. This would make an erection more difficult, and in fact most astronauts interviewed for whom this would be relevant claimed they didn't get any. The outlier here is Mike Mullane, but having read his memoir, he is the kind of guy who would lie about that. Now, as I touched on while despairingly liveblogging Barrayar, that does not prevent you from having a good time. However less blood flow would presumably mean less sensation in general for anyone below the belt. Or if you stimulated too much blood flow, with the lower total blood volume, perhaps that 'got dizzy because I got horny' joke will actually come true.

In microgravity, body heat and CO2 don't disperse the same way they do in regular atmosphere. Astronauts have to make sure they sleep in well-ventilated areas and are also trained on symptoms of CO2 poisoning. If multiple people are in an area exerting themselves, that buildup will happen faster and would need to be taken into account. It would be super embarrassing to suffocate crammed into a closet for some hanky panky.

The laws of motion are not your friend here. I've seen videos of astronauts pushing themselves across the room with a strand of hair. If you're trying to hold onto someone, you'd either want a relatively small space (maybe not a great idea, see point 2) or hold on really well. One astronaut Mary Roach interviewed suggested duct tape. Perhaps fuzzy handcuffs are critical here. Still you're going to need to put a lot of thought into every move you make.

Space is gross. :( Right now astronauts just wipe themselves down with clothes and dry shampoo. "Skin flakes" is a serious problem. Also we're still not entirely sure why, but astronauts develop awful body odor. According to Mary Roach again, while armpits are famous as a BO source, apparently the crotch is as well, it's just that those regions are typically further from our nose. So idk if anyone's going to want to get that close and personal with anyone else while they're up there. Then again I'm sure people have hooked up in grosser situations.

I'm probably forgetting some tidbits since I just woke up, but in summary, zero gravity sex would need to be carefully choreographed, require some equipment (fan, fasteners), and probably wouldn't even be as enjoyable as its Earthnorm counterpart. It's a good thing that's not what anyone's up there for.

[koolades-world]

Can I perhaps request satan and diavolo (plus maybe any characters that you may also wanna add) with a Gn/male mc whos similar to Levi when it comes to his interests (those being anime and not) and will even be unintelligible while talking about them at times (like talking to fast his words slur and mesh) and is just overall very excitable with his interests?

Sorry if this doesn’t make sense but yeah!!! Hope you’re well!!!

hello!! yes of course :)

this is so me!! love to word vomit about anything and everything I'm obsessed with! especially video game lore and my favorite science topics <3

did you know to genetically engineer, geneticist needs plasmids which come from bacteria in order to insert the new gene into the host, so to get them, they dissolve the cell wall of bacteria and spin them super fast in a centrifuge!!! one of my fav facts :) i can hardly contain myself when i get to share this fact eeeekk!!!! thank you for listening :3

enjoy!

Mc who loves to word vomit about their interests

Satan

sometimes he also just has the urge to rant about his favorite book series and has nobody to tell

so he knows how important it is to listen even if he doesn't say anything

if there's a manga, just let him know and he'll literally go out and buy a set for him to read

after he does, he will happily rant about it with you!

anything you like is good for him too so of course he'll get obsessed too

now you can bounce all sorts of fun ideas off each other about a mutually loved series

anytime, anywhere if you want to word vomit, he will listen even if it's during class

he understands you bestie

being part of fandoms is something he loves and he loves that he can share that with you

Diavolo

he listens to literally every word you speak to him even if he can't understand

you're his entire world so he's hanging onto every word

he makes an effort to engage! asks questions and lets you know he's listening

he always has this cute, lovestruck expression on his face when you speak

he goes out of his way to mention the things you said you like since he knows how happy it will make you

buys you all sorts of merch that he knows you'll just be obsessed with

if he can't find any, he will make some!

he puts all of his love into this gift and will present it to you proudly

he'll also accompany you to conventions and do matching cosplays with you <3

[redflagshipwriter]

Nest Swap chapter 5 progress

In which Tim flirts with the sad thoughts but is not committed to them.

masterpost

Probably the best thing to do was to make sure everyone was happy with him. If he did everything that everybody wanted, there would be no issues. 

So, Tim finished his experiment for Miss Fox and sent her his report. The groceries arrived while he was finishing up. After he put it away, he made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and ate it one-handed while he looked up the address that Jason had told him about. 

“That's pretty far away,” Tim mused. Some grape jelly dropped onto the keyboard. He swiped it up with his sleeve. He was a little less careful about the apartment now that he knew it was Big Tim’s place and not someone important or mean. 

Huh.

Tim paused mid contemplation. Speaking of important people, where was Mom? (And also Dad.) He turned his head around looking for the most recent post card. He usually kept that on the fridge.

Apparently, Big Tim had lost the habit. The dig post card tacked to the fridge was years old. Tim took it down and read it anyway, smiling at Mom’s handwriting. It was neat and precise, just like her. 

He felt better. He'd figure it out later. Tim put a pin on the thought and went back to focusing on his- on Jason's request. He squirmed in his chair while he thought it through.

The address was in a residential neighborhood, the kind with separate houses and not apartment complexes. The suspect himself lived in a duplex. The other half of the duplex was registered to a retiree who Tim didn't find any digital trail of, other than that her Social security checks were being cashed and her bills were paid on time. Oh, neat, she had been part of Gotham’s historical recreation society. She seemed kinda cool.

She had crazy huge electric bills, though. Tim frowned at that. He wasn't absolutely sure. But he thought that most people didn't have electric bills in excess of $600 monthly. How was she even affording that off of her Social security income? 

“Maybe the neighbor killed her and is using her apartment for nefarious purposes,” Tim reasoned aloud. “He's chasing her check and concealing the death. Maybe he uses her apartment to store his industrial sausage making machines.” 

It was a bit of a reach but it seemed a little more likely than his follow-up idea: her hobby was running every appliance in her house at the same time for all the hours that she was awake.

Focus, Tim! How was he going to surveil this place?

It wasn’t like there were any nice big buildings with dramatic awnings and gargoyles to creep around. It was suburbia. 

Tim spun around on his chair miserably, hands on his head to help him think.

Were there any abandoned homes in the area that he could use as a viewpoint? He checked on that. No. No, there weren’t. Dangit. He looked up everyone who lived in the neighborhood, wondering if there might be like, a family on vacation or someone whose second floor was unoccupied. He didn’t see anything useful like that. There were just a bunch of families with little kids.

He spun faster. Maybe the centrifugal force would somehow jar his brain awake.

“There’s nothing for it,” Tim decided ruefully. “I have to go undercover as a child.”

He put on the light up sneakers that he had ordered, washed his face, and made sure he had enough money for the bus. Then he set off on an adventure with a little notepad in his pocket. When he got to the apartment lobby he realized that he probably should have brought Big Tim’s phone, but oh well. It was too far now.

He took three buses and walked twenty minutes. He arrived in the right neighborhood in the early evening, around 5 pm. He looked for rogue groups of playing kids to join in. He’d do whatever game they were playing, then subtly interrogate them.

Unfortunately, it seemed like everyone was inside eating dinner. Tim frowned at one window. He could see a table being set.

Weird.

Alright, new plan. The old lady neighbor was probably dead, so he could just sneak into her half of the duplex, find a place to hide, and observe whatever sick and twisted stuff Jason’s bad guy did. Then he could tell Jason about it later, and he would like Tim.

He tried the backdoor. It was locked. Tim skulked around the house and tried windows until he found one that was open. He had to scramble a bit to climb up the siding to get into the house but he managed it. He hit the floor with a tumble.

“I have a mace!” said a female voice. “I am prepared to use it upon you!”

Tim rolled over to see the retiree. “Oh,” he said. “Hello.” He was a little disappointed that he was wrong about her being dead, though of course it’s always nice when someone isn’t murdered.

Mrs. Henderson yanked open a drawer and withdrew her mace. She pointed it at him steadily over her walker.

“Whoa,” said Tim. “That’s really cool. That’s Gothic, right?”

She looked at her mace. “...I believe so,” she said. “Get out of my home!”

“Yeah, I’m sorry,” Tim said, deliberately not agreeing. He sat up and crossed his legs. “I didn’t realize that you lived here.”

Mrs. Henderson slowly lowered her Gothic mace, which was probably a replica of one from Western Europe and weighed about 2 kilograms. “...Did you mean to go next door?” she said, sounding more confused and less hostile. 

“Yeah, I got mixed up,” Tim lied like a champion. “I accidentally locked myself out and no one is home.”

Although that really wouldn’t be true for much longer. Hm. Maybe Tim should have waited until tomorrow to come by.

[transsongtaewon]

Myeongwoo was busily chopping away at cabbage. He found it rather dull, but at least he could appreciate the craftsmanship of the knife. It was very good knife, since he was the one who made it.

"Myeongwoo oppa?" Yerim stuck her head into the kitchen.

"Yes?" His focus didn't sway from the cabbage, fully cut now. He moved the piles into the salad spinner and set it in the sink.

"You and ahjussi are friends, right?"

He paused in his cabbage cleaning endeavour. "I'd like to think so."

Privately, he thought that 'friends' was putting it a bit lightly. He wouldn't cook three meals a day for someone who was just a friend. But he also couldn't say they were more than friends, necessarily.

"Why do you ask?"

What steps beyond 'friends' were there? Lovers, maybe. He inwardly recoiled. Definitely not that. Family? He didn't really care about his biological family and he didn't feel the need to put someone else in that spot, either.

"Just because." He couldn't see what Yerim was doing behind him, focused on his cabbage. "Do we have any leftovers?"

"I'm working on dinner right now." How long was he supposed to wash cabbage for? "You can check in the fridge if you want."

The door opened and she dug through the shelves. "Are friends usually as close as you and ahjussi?"

"Maybe. I don't know." It wasn't like Myeongwoo had extensive experience in the friendship department. It was entirely possible he was overthinking a regular, boring friendship. Well, not boring. He sometimes wished Yoojin was more boring, maybe then he would almost die less often.

"I mean, how long did you know each other before you wanted to move in with him?" By the sounds of it, she had located a box of pre-cooked ramyun noodles and was now eating them completely unseasoned. Teenagers.

"How long did you know each other before you made him your legal guardian?"

Her answer was muffled by noodles, but he was reasonably certain it was "Touché."

She did have a point. Everything including Yoojin had gone very fast. Myeongwoo knew why, but that didn't make it that much less odd. He definitely didn't mind it, of course. He just acknowledged it may look weird looking in from the outside.

"Myeongwoo oppa, did that cabbage to something bad?"

He was startled out of his thoughts. He really had washed it for too long. It had turned somewhat over-shredded and more than a bit soggy.

"Ah, I just got distracted. Thank you." He spun it to dry, as gently as possible. Which wasn't very, if he wanted to actually make use of the centrifugal forces, but at least he tried. "Was there anything else you wanted?"

"Nope! Call me when dinner is done!" She dropped her chopsticks and Tupperware in the dishwasher and left the kitchen as quickly as she had entered.

In the end it didn't really matter if he and Yoojin were friends or lovers or a secret third thing. They just cared about each other, deeply, and no one else had to understand what was between them. Maybe not even they themselves.

Myeongwoo started to wipe down the countertop to prepare it before moving on to cutting meat. Dinner would take a while yet.

Written for Sctir Pride Week Day 7: Friends

[nardo-headcanons]

Writing Scientist Characters

this post is mainly an excuse to post a certain list of lab supplies I've made for a friend and infodump about lab work. but feel free to use this as a little resource when writing characters who are scientists and/or lab nerds. who knows, maybe it'll be of use.

General thoughts

Many people think it's a stereotype that scientist or nerd characters talk using complex technical jargon. While that is true to an extent, there actually is some kind of lab jargon. It varies across different labs and fields, but one thing they have in common is that it seeks to simplify, not the other way around.

gelelectrophoresis becomes elpho

microbiology becomes mibi

deioninized water becomes aqua dist

biochemistry becomes BC

sodium hydroxide becomes NaOH

They will probably not call a glass of water "silicon dioxide and h2o".

...and more. feel free to get creative. If you're writing in any other language than English, you can throw in one or two anglicisms as well. Also, most scientists will never gatekeep their work, and in an opposite fashion, will not shut up about it unless you make them. And no, most chemists do not know the entire periodic table by heart, only the most relevant elements. (main groups and a few commonly used metals of the subgroups) When it comes to characters doing the lab work, keep in mind that there are a lot more people involved than the scientist themself. Most scientists are more occupied with paperwork and data analysis, it is the laboratory technicians and assistants that do most of the practical work. They often have more lab experience than the scientists themselves.

Things you can have your lab nerd character do instead of making random chemicals explode

writing a lab report (and losing their mind over excel)

degreasing the glass bevel stoppers

removing the permanent marker from beakers (labeling is important)

complaining about the lack of funding of [their field] research

cleaning glassware

preparing specimen for examination

googling the most basic equations for their report

checking if the glassware and utensil collections are complete

steal single use plastic pipettes from their lab

pirating expensive textbooks

A list of laboratory supplies and utensils you can have them work with

Laboratory general (chem + bio)

Erlenmayer flasks, beakers, precision scales (3 digits), glass rods, metal spoons/spatulas, screw on glass flasks (autoclave compatible) test tubes, stopcock grease, dispensers with sanitizer and hand cream, gas burners, heating plates, eppendorf pipettes, pipette tips, Peleus pipetting aids, squirting bottles, liquid and powder funnels, incubator/drying chamber, round watch glasses, magnet stirring plates.

Microbiology Autoclave, petri dishes, agar plates, innoculation loops (reusable and metal), clean bench, microscope slides, microscope, drigalski-spatula, test tubes with clamping lids

Histology

Paraffin bath, water bath, scalpels, scissors, razor blades, microtomes (rotating microtome, slide microtome and freezing microtome), histocinette, tweezers (various kinds), ocular

Biochemistry

Sequencing robots, eppendorf tubes, gelelectrophoresis chambers, centrifuge

Analytical Chemistry

Photometer, kuvettes, burettes, mass spectro meters, UV bank (for chromatogrophies), pyknometers, melting point meter, porcelain mortars, pH paper, analytical scales (4 or more digits)

Prep Chemistry

Tripod/standing material, miniature lifting platforms, spiral condenser, colon condenser, round bottom flask (three necked and y- necked), filtration material, Separating funnel

Electrical engineering

Electric generators, Soldering iron, Clamp connectors, plugin connectors, ohm’s resistors, plug in lamps, condensers, transistors, PCBs, amperemeters, voltmeters, multimeters

Mechanics

Tripod/standing material, metal hooks, metal rods, mechanical stop watches, marbles, metal springs, Newton meters, laser motion detectors

Optics

Prisma (various kinds), various glass lenses (concave, convex, biconcave, biconvex), laser pointers, optical bench, mechanical iris diaphragm, looking glasses, monochrome lamps, lamp filters

Most used chemicals

Deionized water, ethanol, NaOH, HCl, H3PO4, NaCl (+ physiological NaCl solution 0.9)

Useful websites for writing science stuff

DNA sequence generator (simple): http://www.faculty.ucr.edu/~mmaduro/random.htm

DNA, RNA and protein sequence generator: https://molbiotools.com/randomsequencegenerator.php Annealing temperature calculator: https://tmcalculator.neb.com/#!/main

Medicine name generator: https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/medicine-names.php Anything chemistry related: https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=chemistry

Commonly used software:

MS Excel

Yenka

CASSY Lab

LabView

SpectraLab

LIMS

LaTex

Slack

Scientist friends, feel free to add onto this.

Have fun writing!

[rococo-crow]

I have some uncharitable feelings toward Mizrak despite being a huge fan of whatever the fuck's going on between him and Olrox-- but my god, is he a fascinating contradiction. Perhaps the *only* guilt-impervious catholic. I wanna smush him on a glass slide and study him under a microscope.

He is just *AGHAST* at the mere suggestion of his abbot potentially breaking his vows like 17 years ago. Fully getting the vapors over it... when he himself hopped off a literal vampire's dick like 20 minutes before that meeting.

Turns traitor, rightfully, against his abbot because him sacrificing his daughter is apparently the thing that's a bridge too far for some reason (at least he got there in his own time.) and fights his own comrades with the EXACT degree of self-righteousness he had doing the same infernal, peasant murdering blasphemy alongside them til just a few minutes earlier.

Calls the guy he's banging, and who saved his happy ass several times that evening, a SOULLESS ANIMAL because he'd maybe like him not to dive back in and get impaled immediately.

I hope we get more of his worldview next season because I'm frankly intrigued as to what makes him tick. (Also I hope he fucking apologizes because good god...) Idk, I think if he were real scientists should centrifuge his blood and distill out whatever's wrong with him and inject it into people who suffer catholic guilt for beating off or whatever.

[draconifay]

I love how Avalon, in development, went from being this menacing guy who literally poisoned + tried to kill Herbert, created the Negativitron in order to have all of Craftworld's creativity and recreate the world in his image due to his vanity

To, in game, being a well-intentioned guy who was just annoying as hell to half the alliance because he loves himself too much

[edutainer2022]

Part 2 of HELIOCENTRIC decided to be written, while I was waiting out a bombing. Things take place some time after Hyperspeed. Scott is rather popular with all creatures large and nerds. Parallel to Earth and Sky chatting, a rather unamused Brains has a heart-to-heart with an amused John.

Thanks, as ever, go to @janetm74 for bearing with me.

HELIOCENTRIC 2: CENTRIFUGAL CLUTCH

John leaned against a console, arms crossed, while Brains clanked a tablet on his lab table, too forcefully for it not to be deliberate. John gave their old friend room to seethe, before arching a brow.

"You think this is bad? Try being his brother in high school!"

Another piece of equipment gave a cluck it normally wasn't supposed to and John tilted his head.

"He was a Prom King, captain of every team he'd ever been on AND a valedictorian."

"Is that supposed to m-make m-me feel better?"

John didn't remember Brains ever sounding quite so bitter.

"Well, it certainly didn't add to our enjoyment of unforgettable school experience that shaped the remarkable future of next generation."

John tried to emulate the way Mr. Sanders, the Headmaster, sounded through a plastic smile in their prep school ad reels. It did little to unclasp Brains' death grip on a data disk. John was beginning to worry it was going to break. The ginger spaceman himself was, however, quite fond of the reminisce.

"We were the token uncool Nerd Entourage to the One True King - the Arts and Music Chonk and the Ginger Noodle Cybergeek."

John smiled at the inward image of the comical sight they might have made, hurrying across school grounds in the wake Mr. Longlegs and Dimples, practically greeted with rose petals and laurels on his way. Fellowship of the Ring had NOTHING on the Tracy motley crew. John tilted his head to catch Brains' gaze, which the scientist promptly averted.

"Yet he chose US."

"He chose YOU!"

John was not prepared for Brains almost shouting in his face.

"You're his b-brothers! Of c-course he'd choose you! Always!"

For the first time it occurred to John he might have misinterpreted the reasons for Brains' distress.

That stirred other memories, too. Not quite so sunny. Scott, disheveled and grey with fury, lip split in a fight, tossing a burly boy off of John by the hallway lockers. The senior from the football team being a brother of John's pal from the Robotics Club.

"You know, I had friends in the gifted program whose siblings pretended they weren't acquainted. Scott actually ENJOYED hanging out with us. He still does!"

A fact that, to that day, still managed to elicit the spaceman's genuine awe, on occasion.

"And he values your friendship. He chose you too."

He could see Brains still hesitate to be assured. John could maybe extrapolate the scientist's argument to Scott having "inherited" Brains from Jeff Tracy, rather than choosing to befriend him. John also couldn't pretend he didn't share the anguish, at least somewhat, since the Hyperloop incident introduced them to a force of nature that was Tycho Reeves. It was hard not to worry, on some level, Scott Tracy was gonna choose himself a different favorite genius.

John knew his brother well, he knew his brother better than that - Scott's loyalty, once offered, was never revoked. But insecurity was one of John's oldest acquaintances.

Brains finally put the data disc down, intact, and looked up at him. John offered a small smile. They were both too smart to be immune to doubt, but the whole world pretty much hinged on faith in Scott Tracy for the past almost eight years. They were among the exclusive and very scares circle of his favorite people. They were good.

[rallentando1011]

Somnambulant Soulmates (rise Donnie x gn reader)

Prologue, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6

Word Count: 3676

(alright, we’re getting into some good stuff now ;) hope you enjoy!)

Three weeks.

Three weeks had passed since you first encountered that purple clad turtle, give or take.

And they were a blur of fighting and parties and studies and a library and coffee and him.

Donnie, the centrifuge that had been the catalyst of the whirlwind that had become your life. Well, technically his brothers, April, and the rest of the gang were also at fault, but he was the main culprit. The superfluous amount of meetings you’d had with him in your short time knowing him, his intriguing disposition, the whole situation had made it quite easy for him to work his way up to being one of your favorite people.

It had been a few days since you’d seen him. It had also been a few days since you’d left the fortress of your home. Following the hectic event and subsequently less wild ones of last week, you deserved a few days’ break.

But it was time to get back into the fray.

You forced yourself up from where you had been lounging on your bed, prying your eyes away from the ceaseless social media scrolling you had subjected yourself to.

Blinking your sleepiness away, you thought about what you had to do: eat something, first of all, get some water and whatever prescriptions you needed, then message that confounded turtle about his progress on that invention.

Call yourself curious, but you just had to see it in its completion. Also, you were desperately bored. Why not get your social interaction and entertainment in one stop, kill two birds with one stone?

You pulled up the chat you currently had with him but paused before you typed a word.

Sure, texting got the point across, but you were looking for a quick answer, not a typical, joining-the-conversation-hours-later Donnie answer.

Would a call work better in this scenario?

Of course, calls kind of sucked to do, solely because of the whole talking aspect, but it could be quicker. And if he didn’t respond, then you could just send a text.

You clicked his contact and the button to call him, holding your breath momentarily afterward. Hopefully it wasn’t too weird. You meant, you’d never called him before, so maybe you would look like an absolute maniac for calling him now over something so trivial. Maybe it wasn’t the best idea-

“Hello?”

You startled at the sound of a voice over the phone. He’d already answered. No going back now.

“Hey, how’s it going?” you responded as smoothly as possible.

“... Fine? You called?”

“Yeah.”

The conversation fell silent until he spoke up.

“May I know what for?”

“Right! Yeah, sorry, I was just curious about that whole mystic gem-finding situation. Did you find one yet?”

“I have yet to locate and secure any that aren’t currently in use. The project’s also been on the backburner with lair repairs; segue, do you know how many microwaves Leo can break in a week?”

You snickered, though you quickly worked back out of that tangent. “Dude, isn’t your dad- er, wait, your father some kind of alchemist? He probably has something you could use.”

“He likely does.  However, we have what one might call a strained relationship.”

“Oh, you don’t have to tell me about that if you don’t want to-’

“Me and my brothers destroyed his lab and he threw Leo off of a roof.”

“Oh.”

You two went quiet once more. He also broke the silence once more.

“Never mind that, let’s focus on the task at hand: how to obtain a sought-after gem.”

“By destroyed, do you mean made a mess of or..?”

“Absolutely decimated it.”

“Right,” you nodded slowly. “So is it abandoned, and, follow up, would it still have any resources left?”

“Not likely. Scavengers, and Draxum himself, probably made certain that anything valuable was taken care of. But, we could potentially check it out.”

“Hmm, ‘we’?” you asked innocently enough, save for a teasing inflection in your hum.

“Yeah, ‘we’. Unless you’re not interested, which is totally within bounds-”

“I’m free Thursday and Friday, either before noon or at, like, ten,” you cut him off. His surprise was discernible by how quiet he went for a solid ten seconds.

“Right, yeah, Friday works,” he finally conceded. “Would Friday at 23:00 work for you?”

Seriously? Military time? What a punk. “Translate into normal time talk and then you’ll get an answer,” you quipped.

“No need to be rude. Does eleven sound better to your inconsiderate self?”

“Much. And eleven works. Where’re we meeting?”

“Fret not. I’ll send the location.”

Come Friday, following the address brought you to the shadiest place you’d been since April took you into the sewers last week.

Man, your friend group was a whole situation.

The area itself was fine. Domestic, contemporary homes and apartments in a congested neighborhood, standard New York living arrangement. Your dubiousness, however, stemmed from the particular location: a horribly lit, uninhabited, possibly abandoned construction site.

Actually, it would probably be weirder for him to ask to meet you in a normal location with street lights.

You sent a quick text to Donnie, informing him that you were there and possibly telling him to hurry his shell up before stepping into the.dirt-coated lot. As you moved deeper into the area, you noticed a silhouette propped against the side of a big metal container. You squinted at the turned away figure, trying to make out any features.

Typing vigorously, wearing an oversized purple hoodie, hunched over their phone- okay, yeah, that was Donnie.

You quickly made your way over to him, leaning next to him on the container with a loud, metallic thud.

“Hey there, pal,” you grinned, a visible puff of air exiting your lips. Boy, was it cold.

He lackadaisically lifted an eyebrow at you as he finished typing something up on his phone. “Salutations. And refrain from calling me pal; we’re not pals.”

Donnie placed his phone and hands into his hoodie pocket and started making his way further into the shadows underneath the structure of steel beams and bars. You followed suit.

“What are we then?” you prompted playfully.

“Acquaintances.”

“Really? I don’t think people who are just acquaintances travel to literal mystic cities or even the sewers with each other.”

“Well, if you are so well versed on the classifications of relationship statuses, what do you consider us to be?”

“Friends, probably,” you shrugged.

“Probably?” he asked as he started to use a pin from his pocket to draw an unfamiliar insignia on an oddly placed brick wall.

You rested your hands on your hips. “I mean, thinking statistically about it, we’re probably friends.”

“In what universe does statistics have anything to do with this situation?”

“Ion’ know. You’re supposed to know about the science-and-math-y stuff. I’m just moral support.”

“No, you’re just throwing mathematical terms around haphazardly!” he exclaimed, gesticulating with his free hand.

“I probably am.”

His eye twitched. Before he could iterate his disdain for your insolence, the design he traced on the wall began to emit an electric blue shade. A static buzz entered the air, creating a warm, fuzzy feeling around you. Not comforting, though. It was reminiscent of the portals you’d encountered just last week.

Abruptly, a swirling amalgamation of light and energy came forth before you, small bursts of lightning zapping periodically.

Huh. You were right. Portals.

“Does this lead to that lab?” you asked, peering at it curiously.

“What do you say we find out?” Donnie gave a lazy grin before coolly stepping backwards into the portal.

You gawked. The audacity of this man to invite you adventuring and then leave you high and dry was astronomical.

That left you with two options: get out of there and have a cozy night in or follow him into a suspicious portal. Which, come on, you already knew what you were going to do: tail that turtle and make him rue leaving you behind like that.

With a roll of your eyes, you stepped, or fell, more so, into the portal, and that’s when things went loopy.

Your surroundings melted into a zero gravity tunnel of blue, insides churning in a manner akin to the swarm of colors around you. Everything looked distorted, warped into only sensations, and after moments of free fall and whiplash and weightlessness you plopped rather unceremoniously onto a brick path. 

Somehow, the area you ended up in was even loopier than that.

For starters, the sky was a washy mix of apricot and slate and a golden color. Next up, and quite likely most pressingly, was the gigantic structure sitting before you. A short, rocky path trailed up to a floating cylindrical building, the size of which rivaled every building you’d ever seen in New York. The building was bathed in green light, had a balcony- and did you mention FLOATING?

“Holy-” You couldn’t help but go slack-jawed, earning a smug expression from the turtle.

“Mmhm.”

“Where are we?” You looked at the vast area behind you, the fiery orange sky littered with floating edifices and vessels and creatures of all varieties.

“Welcome to the Hidden City, my associate-”

You interjected, “-friend-”

“-entourage,” he corrected with the raise of an eyebrow.

You let it slide, not looking to lower your status any more. “Touché. Continue.”

“The Hidden City, a subterranean city-state far beneath New York City and home to the laboratory of former warrior-alchemist Barron Draxum,” Donnie introduced with a flourish of his hands.

You released an amused puff of air. “You feel good about letting out your inner theater kid?”

“I feel great, actually. But there’s no time to dwell on that. Onward, to exploration!”

He was really in full theatrics tonight, but you didn’t mind indulging. Lightly shaking your head at him, you joined him in moving up the path to the towering golden archway at the front of the building.

The door opened creakily, unsturdy on its hinges, shedding light on a decrepit, dust-ridden foyer. Large tapestries and artworks strewn about the halls were coated so thickly in dirt they almost couldn’t be made out. You shot him an uncertain look.

“Like I said, don’t keep your hopes up,” was all Donnie said in response before continuing down the dim corridor. You stalled, still weary about the condition of the building, before swiftly catching back up with him.

As you worked your way into the dark, desolate lab, Donnie lectured you on safety precautions. “Don’t touch anything unless it seems nonlethal and productive. Actually, just don’t touch anything.”

“So, I can’t open any drawers or anything?” you sassed.

He deadpanned. “You know what I mean.”

“Semantics matter, D.”

“Not really- fine, whatever. Let’s get to exploring,” Donnie conceded, excitedly flicking his goggles down with a smirk.

It was an instinct, really, that you clasped a hand over your mouth and terribly concealed a laugh upon seeing his goggle-covered eyes.

He stared at you blankly. “What?”

You waved your hand in front of you to dismiss yourself. “I’m sorry- I’ve just never seen you in the goggles.”

“I’ve worn them during every interaction of ours.”

“No, I mean like on your eyes. It makes them look all beady.”

“Wow. I appreciate that.”

You quickly defended yourself. “In a good way! It’s not bad, just different.”

“Ah yes, ‘beady in a good way’. I’ll log that one in the books.”

“Seriously, I thought they looked cute.”

He looked taken aback, lips pursed and face warm at that assertion.

“Not like that. Like an objective kind of cute.” You shook your head in disbelief at the words you were spewing. “Actually, nevermind. Forget I said any of that.”

“Agreed.” He rolled his eyes and set to work scanning shelves and drawers for any traces of the mysticism you were pursuing. For his sake, you didn’t mention how the pink tint on his face didn’t disappear until minutes into your guys’ search.

The search ended up unsuccessful. Sure, while scouring shelves and cabinets and odd cages around the spacious laboratory you found a whole lot more than you would expect in an abandoned building - elements in sealed jars, flasks of what seemed to be potions or ingredients - but nothing close to a crystal or gem.

After working your way around the room, you looked up at Donnie.

He shook his head and walked over to you. “It appears the lab’s a bust for any type of crystal. Not a total loss, though.” He held up a container labeled ‘emp.’ before one of the mechanical hands from his battle shell stored it for him. Another of the hands gave your shoulder a reassuring pat.

You shook your head. “No, we’re getting you a crystal, man.” You paused, thought of an alternative. “Are there any stores or markets nearby that might have them?”

“Ohmigosh, you are just full of great ideas.” You and Donnie began moving back toward the front.

He sounded like he might have meant that, but his voice was still startlingly monotonous. You narrowed your eyes, put your head askew. “For real?”

“Yes, this time,” the turtle nodded before excitedly gliding back down the entrance’s stairs.

You laughed, following along. “This time?”

“Surprisingly enough, yes.”

You caught up to him and landed a firm, still playful jab to his side.

“Just stop yapping and take us there.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After what felt like eons of continuous motion, you two made it onto the streets of the Hidden City.

Brightly colored banners, advertisements, decorations, adorned lampposts all up and down the streets, though you avoided certain battle-themed ones. Multitudes of languages and dialects could be heard all around. The smells of delectable foods wafted through the air, sweet, savory, spicy, but you couldn’t pay them any mind. You were on a gem-hunting mission. Even if it wasn’t going very well currently.

The merchant running a crystal stand was slumped over on their counter, boredly staring at the customers that had been occupying their business for minutes on end without making a choice i.e. you and Donnie.

You raised an index finger at a particular pretty purple gem sitting in a pile of other ones on the counter of the stand.

Donnie flicked on his goggles and shook his head. “Uh, no. Not remotely. We’re looking to avoid overcurrent; that thing has enough mystic mojo to wipe out half the city.”

You slowly placed it down. “Oookay then. Glad to be of service,” you muttered.

He pursed his lips at your interesting body language. Slumped shoulders, hints of dejection in your voice - you weren’t having fun. Maybe it was because he immediately turned down the last five of your suggestions, but who could definitively say why?

“The issue is that you keep grabbing crystals that emit cool colors, which, as you know from the electromagnetic spectrum, correlate to a higher frequency. We don’t want that. So, as much as I would enjoy a violet crystal to match my ambience, something with a less vibrant, warmer hue works best.”

You slowly digested what he just said. Cautiously, your hand crept back to the merchant’s display and selected an auburn gem. 

“That one’s frequency is too low-”

“Of course it is.”

“-but you’re on the right track! Try a little further down the electromagnetic spectrum-”

“What, something like this?” You gestured toward an amber gem that was near the bottom of the pile, exasperated.

Donnie hummed. “Actually, yeah. That’s just fine.”

“Really?”

“Shhh,” Donnie waved a hand telling you to calm down before pulling you aside. “There’s no fixed price on the signs here. If we seem too excited or gullible-”

“We get duped?” you guessed.

“We get duped. So stay cool, and let me handle this.”

Donnie cracked his knuckles and turned back to the stand, professionally ready to bargain and deal with the price.

He still ended up paying a ridiculous price for the small gem’s size, but you didn’t know if you’d ever seen him grin so proudly, so you didn’t say a word about it.

The first time you spoke up after the deal was made was after passing by a food cart and hearing your stomach rumble.

Donnie almost kept walking without you before you loosely clasped onto his wrist.

Puzzled, he turned back to you.

“Would you want to get something to eat? Like, while we’re down here,” you asked.

He pursed his lips. Just as he opened his mouth to retort or deny the requests, you were both hit with a wave of the most scrumptious food you’d smelled probably in your entire life.

“Okay, you have to admit that smell is heavenly,” you looked at him knowingly.

“I don’t have to do anything, but those do look fire.”

You gave him the best pleading look you had, and you could pinpoint the exact moment he caved in.

“Alright, we can take a quick detour from the exit.”

“Heck yeah! You rock, no correlation to geology,” you winked, adjusting your grip from his wrist to his hand so that you two wouldn’t get separated from you charging through the crowd.

And charge through that crowd you did.

Donnie in tow behind you, you bounded through the crowd excitedly, scarcely avoiding collisions all over.

However, the complaining Donatello in hand and sweating were inconsequential compared to being in line for a brand new type of culinary experience.

You were practically buzzing with joy, so excited that you momentarily forgot to relinquish Donnie’s hand. You still did though, just a moment shy of awkwardness.

You had made a good deal, had good company, and were about to have good food. What more could you want?

Still beaming, you felt your phone buzzing in your pocket and pulled it out.

The smile on your face quickly receded as you checked who was calling.

“Just a moment, I need to take this,” you muttered before slipping out of line and off through the crowd.

Donnie froze. He didn’t like the fact that whoever called seemed to ruin your mood, nor the idea of you being alone in an entirely unfamiliar city.

Reluctantly, he relinquished his spot in line - which was painfully close to the front, might he add - to find you.

It took a moment of weaving left and right, dodging up and down through a flurry of wings and tails for him to find the space between two buildings that you had moved yourself into.

Not wanting to intrude, he stood right outside the small alley, listening in by a complete coincidence. Certainly not out of nosiness in the slightest. Nope.

Anyway, he only got close enough to hear you mid-sentence.

“-you serious? Now, I don’t know if your section of New York is in a different time zone, but for me right now it is way too dark and way too late to be calling for conferences.”

A pause. Scraggly sounds faintly sounded from the other side of the call, not that he could make out an inkling of it. You, on the other hand, understood it all too well.

“Obligatory? Yes, I know what obligatory means, I just find the notion of a required meeting kinda dumb- Sorry, I mean extremely dumb.”

Another pause of you presumably getting chewed out passed before you, begrudgingly, grumbled, “Ugh, if you insist. Be there later.”

The phone call ended after that, and Donnie had no clue what to do.

Walking in normally could make it seem like he was eavesdropping, which he was but he didn’t want you to know that, but he couldn’t just stand still either.

After some careful contemplation, Donnie looked around and stumbled (definitely not purposefully) into the alley you were in. He seemed somewhat concerned; he hadn’t seen you that perturbed before.“Is everything alright?” he muttered vaguely, not wanting to overstep.

“Just yelling at my… mother’s urn- Anyway, once again, I have really got to go, this has been really fun, we should do this again sometime, am I missing anything else?” you joked lightheartedly. Thankfully the mood, along with Donnie, followed your attitude shift.

“I feel like a ‘thanks, you’re the best’ may be due,” your companion urged jokingly.

“Thanks Donnie, you’re the best.”

He huffed. “Kidding. I was kidding.”

“I wasn’t.”

For a probably too long moment, he made eye contact with you and your startlingly genuine eyes. Eventually, he tore his gaze away and cleared his throat. “... Let’s get you back to the surface.”

The trip back to the site of the portal was mostly silent, just the two of you trekking shoulder to shoulder through crowds of characters, before you entered the vertigo-inducing light once again.

The wind bit harshly at you as soon as you landed back on New Yorkian ground, an unkind reminder of the end of your adventure.

You blew a puff of warm air onto your hands and almost started walking on instinct before Donnie spoke, reminding you of his presence.

“Are you alright going back on your own?” he questioned quietly, almost coyly.

“I mean, I made it here on my own. I think I’ve got it covered.”

“Oh. Okay,” he concurred with a nod before giving you a pair of thumbs up. “In that case, make it home safely. Text you later?”

“Later,” you agreed emphatically. With one more nudge of his arm and a pivot in the other direction, you were off, out of the construction zone, on the sidewalk, down the street.

As you moved toward your destination, the skyscrapers and towering structures lining your path grew taller, more opulent, more lavish. Insignificant residentials morphed into substantial, old money commercials. Your heart rate climbed.

You paused in front of the grand doors of your location and took a deep, steadying breath. It was just some quick business you had to take care of. Brief. Inconsequential. Everything would be fine.

With some renewed confidence, or at least some semblance of it, you pulled on the handle and swiftly entered the hotel’s lobby.

The door closed thickly behind you with a thud.

Resonate. Absolute. Irrevocable.

(Artwork for part 5)

Taglist ~

@rottmntsimp

@envyjmoney

[mysticstronomy]

WHY ARE THINGS IN SPACE ROUND??

Blog#350

Saturday, November 18th, 2023

Welcome back,

Through telescopes on Earth and in space, astronomers can glimpse the far-flung reaches of the universe. And no matter how far away or how strange the planet, at least one thing seems to hold true in space: a lot of stuff is spherical.

So what makes these celestial bodies round? In short, it's gravity.

"It's pretty amazing that we know of so many things being round in space," Anjali Tripathi, an astrophysicist at NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program, located at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, told Live Science. Gravity's rounding effect is a result of self-gravity, the gravity that an object — in this instance, a celestial body — exerts on itself. Once a planet, or maybe a moon, accumulates enough mass, its self-gravity will pull it into a sphere-like shape.

The universe's bodies formed after the Big Bang exploded about 13.8 billion years ago. Tiny dust particles circulating in enormous doughnut-shaped dust clouds began to collide. If the collision was gentle enough, according to NASA, the dust particles fused. Collision after collision created a snowball effect; The more mass a budding planet accumulated, the more its gravity grew and the more matter it attracted.

That "gravity pulls all the matter toward the center of gravity," said Bruno Merín, an astronomer and head of the European Space Agency's ESAC Science Data Centre in Madrid.

It's like the kitchen sink, he said: "All water will flow through the hole in the bottom." In the case of planets, "every piece of matter is trying to get as close as possible to the center of gravity."

Planetary bodies will continue to shift matter around until they find an equilibrium, a state in which every point is as close as possible to the center. And the only shape that achieves this kind of equilibrium in space is a sphere, Merín told Live Science.

Mercury and Venus are nearly perfect spheres because they are slower-spinning rock planets. Ice planets also tend to be almost perfectly round, as the "layer of ice distributes very evenly," Merin said.

But "round" doesn't mean that every planet is a perfect sphere; the gas giants Jupiter and Saturn bulge at their equator because of how fast they spin. Instead of a perfect sphere, Saturn looks like a basketball someone is sitting on, according to NASA.

Even Earth has a tiny bulge of less than 1%, due to centrifugal force, the outward force on a spinning object. So Earth is oblate, or a slightly flattened sphere.

Although the universe teems with spheres, many bodies in space aren't even remotely spherical. Asteroids and comets can come in any shape, altered by crashes and interstellar spinning. Mars has a potato-shaped moon called Phobos; in fact, only about 20 of the nearly 300 known moons in the solar system are the familiar round shape we expect, the rest are more irregular. The reason for all these nonspherical bodies: Their lower mass means they don't have enough gravity to even out their shape, Tripathi said.

Originally published on www.livescience.com

COMING UP!!

(Wednesday, November 22nd, 2023)

"IS THE MILK WAY MOVING??"

[sistermclarens]

Did Oscar break his rib at Silverstone 2024?

Tldr: probably not but it's not impossible. The most likely place would be sliding off track in lap 19. Debatably his breathing sounds different specifically in his radios immediately after the checkered flag. If you've got more race and/or medical knowledge than me (a very low bar to clear), those are the places I'd suggest you check first to make your own judgement.

I rewatched all 3 free practices, qualifying, and the race as well as listen to his race radio to see if there were any obvious spots he might have broken a rib, but nothing really came up. Below the cut I've noted the few places where the commentators indicate that he's doing poorly and given my thoughts on what might have been causing him issues, but mostly I think these issues can be put down to the on-and-off rain across the race weekend.

To me, the 11 am time for his ultrasound (thanks to @velvetsainz for pointing out that it's an ultrasound, not an x-ray) doesn't really point to him having broken it during any time during Silverstone weekend. The race was at 3 pm BST and lasted ~2 hrs. Even with the additional time allotted for interviews and the fan stage events, the team could easily get him into an urgent care or ER that night if he needed to be checked immediately. Most of the comments on broken ribs (both here and via googling) seem to indicate that they're super painful, especially when breathing, so I'm not sure why he and the team would ignore it overnight if he was in that kind of pain. It seems more likely that he broke it sometime the morning of the ultrasound (possibly having strained/weakened it during Silverstone to make the break more likely). HOWEVER. I can't cleanly rule out that somehow he broke his rib during Silverstone weekend, was feeling only low-level pain, assumed it would go away with rest, and then Monday morning was still in enough pain (either pain not lessening or pain getting worse) to decide to get checked.

Qualifying round 2: the commentators mention that his car is "a bit twitchy" at the beginning of one of his last flying laps but there's no other indication that they see anything off. Given that it was raining at the end of Q1 (about 10 mins before the comment), it seems a lot more likely that this is because of slick tires on the wet track.

Lap 19: Oscar goes left off the track in the rain and rejoins. Lewis and George had this exact same run off ~2 secs beforehand, so it's unlikely (tho not impossible) that skidding off track here put enough force into his harness to break his rib. (Lando also has this same run off in the next lap.) Normally you're going to be pushed in the opposite direction of a turn by centrifugal force, so turning to the left should really put harness strain on the right side of his ribs. But if the car started hydroplaning at some point in the turn then in theory he could have been jolted to the left at this point. The camera shot is not really close enough for me to tell if I think he really would have been jolted left OR right tho since he kind of ends up cutting the turn into more of a diagonal by going off onto the runoff asphalt. His race engineer doesn't even mention the fact that he went off track in over the radio despite them having a long back and forth this lap about where the track is wettest so it doesn't seem like anyone on pit wall was particularly worried by his skid. File this under unlikely but not impossible I guess.

Lap 29: Oscar slip&slides all over the track and into the pit lane, but again I think this is down to driving on slick tires in the rain. His race engineer warns him over the radio that his front tires are overheating, which I think also helps account for why he loses so much time in this lap. Once he pits for inters he's fine again despite having lost 4 positions.

Lap 52: In his post-flag radio, Oscar does sound maybe out of breath compared to other radios of his I've listened to--he's kind of taking heavy deep breaths in between speaking. But it's such a minor noise that I can't even be sure I'm not imagining it or that it's not part of the car noises 😂 it's not something I heard at any earlier part of his radio so if it is his breathing I'd guess it's just part of the adrenaline comedown post-race.

[oathkeeperoxas]

TOP GUN / Icemav fic recs part 4

Hello my fellow icemav enjoyers, I bring to you more fic recs, freshly harvested from the local fields. If I list an author below, I also recommend checking out their profile for their other works as well!

Rec list 1 here

Rec list 2 here

Rec list 3 here

Where Are You Going by @adiduck

They’ve both heard all the philosophical bullshit, of course. Poems about your soul forever seeking its other half, impassioned treatises they were supposed to read in high school English about how you know where your own limbs are, quotes from long-dead guys about physical distance but hearts taking up the same space--that kind of bullshit. Maverick never put much stock in that kind of thing--he’d hated school. It probably shouldn’t have been surprising that Ice also really did not care about the science or philosophy--they were supposed to be perfect for each other, after all. (Or: There’s a handshake in the O Club the first night of Top Gun, and the very bearing of “magnetic North” shifts permanently under Ice and Mav’s feet)

Soulmate AU!!!!! This is so cleverly put together, the worldbuilding details are delicious and so very excellent, and the characterisation is on point. A very fun and enjoyable read 💖

Polaroid Picture by @betanoiz

man, we used to be brothers. superheroes and warriors. - The story of Maverick and the important relationships in his life, as told through photos.

The author plays with form through the use of pictures in this fic, using them to broaden the story and really show the character's relationships with each other. A very soft landing that hits all the right notes.

Ever Higher by @astolat

Maybe he wouldn’t have thought of it on his own, but soon as he’d heard about it—well, it was fucking obvious, wasn’t it? There was no other way to keep climbing.

I read this the first time, had to sleep on it, then come back to digest it properly. The author fits so much into every single sentence - the plot and the reveal hit you straight to the chest, no room to avoid it.

Mach 4 Mile High Club by @topgunreacts

In a civilian bar off base, Ice finds half-price drinks, trivia, and Maverick. The drinks he's expecting. The trivia he can handle. He isn't ready for Maverick.

This is just pure fun!! The back and forth between Ice and Mav builds deliciously throughout the story, the smut is top tier, and the finale lands just perfectly.

that’s what i love (about sunday) by @gracedbybattle

For the past few years, Ice has gotten used to the silence. But their house isn’t so quiet anymore.

Established icemav and the daggers can be so so good actually!! The domestic fluff here hits all the right notes.

Decent by @lambourngb

Ice was aware of the old adage, 'Don't Judge a Book By Its Cover', but he had seen Maverick fly, and now that they were teaching together, he was pretty sure he had Mav figured out. There were lots of reasons for Mav to be insanely confident; he had movie star looks, he had gifted hand-eye coordination in the sky, and he had no discernible shame trigger. Turns out, probably all of that was true, but Mav had one more reason for his swagger.

I have been converted to the Mav has a big cock agenda. Enough said.

Take the Long Way by @kerbyfullyloaded

Five times Iceman tried to get Maverick to come home and the one time he finally did.

This and it's sequel are so full of satisfying emotion - this author has such an excellent voice for the characters and it very much comes through in the prose!

Centrifugal Motion (Perpetual Bliss) by @brendaonao3

A month after the DADT repeal goes into effect, Ice finally gathers the courage to tell Mav he wants another chance.

The pining! The second chances! The yearning that threads its way through this, oh... so very soft and good 🥺

A Box of Love by @film-in-my-soul

It's black and embossed, a medium-sized thing with a careful label facing outward— Wedding, 2014. Jackpot.

Married icemav my beloved. The established relationship is written so tenderly and well, with an understanding between the two of them that I hold very close to my heart