#solar system disruption

[indianexpalert]

'50 Jupiter-mass mystery': A massive rogue object is threatening to rewrite solar system’s history

'50 Jupiter-mass mystery': A massive rogue object is threatening to rewrite solar system’s history

[fuefanny]

HELLOOOOOO SOLARBALLS SHIPPING NATION hope this is a safe space for Xearth cause ive sorta got a storyline goinh

[the-witchhunter]

Hi! I really love hopepunk battle jackets with environmental messages, but I've heard some people say that hopepunk isn't really punk? What do you think?

Okay, to preface this, I’m mostly talking out of my ass on this, so anything I say take with a grain of salt

But my understanding is hopepunk is a subgenre of speculative fiction. The term was coined on tumblr and was a reaction to grimdark fiction. The focus on radical kindness, fighting for radical change, and collective action is all pretty punk. That’s why it has the suffix punk, using hope to disrupt the system

So it’s punk in the sense steampunk, solar punk, cyberpunk are punk. It’s speculative and has a focus on disrupting the system. It’s an intellectual movement, and rebellion starts in the mind, so that’s pretty punk

But it’s not punk in the same way hardcore punk, queercore, riot grrrl, or folk punk are punk, as in offshoots of the punk subculture. Punk is a music based subculture, it’s a big part of the culture, it’s a way we connect with others. Punk is the community, it’s every person in the pit with you and it’s sitting in a Denny’s at 3 am with your friends after a show. Punk is rebellion, a fight against the oppressive system and the boot on our neck

So to summarize: kinda? In a lot of ways we’re talking about two different things. Punk as an intellectual movement and punk as a subculture. They aren’t something that contradict each other so something can be both, but it’s a lot like asking if cyberpunk is punk

That being said it’s your jacket so do what you want with it. It’s not like trying to save the planet contradicts punk. Radical kindness meshes well with punk beliefs, so it’s really whatever. Hopepunk is an intellectual movement but that doesn’t mean it can’t also be punk

[reasonsforhope]

Scientists have developed a new solar-powered system to convert saltwater into fresh drinking water which they say could help reduce dangerous the risk of waterborne diseases like cholera.

Via tests in rural communities, they showed that the process is more than 20% cheaper than traditional methods and can be deployed in rural locations around the globe.

Building on existing processes that convert saline groundwater to freshwater, the researchers from King’s College London, in collaboration with MIT and the Helmholtz Institute for Renewable Energy Systems, created a new system that produced consistent levels of water using solar power, and reported it in a paper published recently in Nature Water.

It works through a process called electrodialysis which separates the salt using a set of specialized membranes that channel salt ions into a stream of brine, leaving the water fresh and drinkable. By flexibly adjusting the voltage and the rate at which salt water flowed through the system, the researchers developed a system that adjusts to variable sunshine while not compromising on the amount of fresh drinking water produced.

Using data first gathered in the village of Chelleru near Hyderabad in India, and then recreating these conditions of the village in New Mexico, the team successfully converted up to 10 cubic meters, or several bathtubs worth of fresh drinking water. This was enough for 3,000 people a day with the process continuing to run regardless of variable solar power caused by cloud coverage and rain.

[Note: Not sure what metric they're using to calculate daily water needs here. Presumably this is drinking water only.]

Dr. Wei He from the Department of Engineering at King’s College London believes the new technology could bring massive benefits to rural communities, not only increasing the supply of drinking water but also bringing health benefits.

“By offering a cheap, eco-friendly alternative that can be operated off the grid, our technology enables communities to tap into alternative water sources (such as deep aquifers or saline water) to address water scarcity and contamination in traditional water supplies,” said He.

“This technology can expand water sources available to communities beyond traditional ones and by providing water from uncontaminated saline sources, may help combat water scarcity or unexpected emergencies when conventional water supplies are disrupted, for example like the recent cholera outbreaks in Zambia.”

In the global rural population, 1.6 billion people face water scarcity, many of whom are reliant on stressed reserves of groundwater lying beneath the Earth’s surface.

However, worldwide 56% of groundwater is saline and unsuitable for consumption. This issue is particularly prevalent in India, where 60% of the land harbors undrinkable saline water. Consequently, there is a pressing need for efficient desalination methods to create fresh drinking water cheaply, and at scale.

Traditional desalination technology has relied either on costly batteries in off-grid systems or a grid system to supply the energy necessary to remove salt from the water. In developing countries’ rural areas, however, grid infrastructure can be unreliable and is largely reliant on fossil fuels...

“By removing the need for a grid system entirely and cutting reliance on battery tech by 92%, our system can provide reliable access to safe drinking water, entirely emission-free, onsite, and at a discount of roughly 22% to the people who need it compared to traditional methods,” He said.

The system also has the potential to be used outside of developing areas, particularly in agriculture where climate change is leading to unstable reserves of fresh water for irrigation.

The team plans to scale up the availability of the technology across India through collaboration with local partners. Beyond this, a team from MIT also plans to create a start-up to commercialize and fund the technology.

“While the US and UK have more stable, diversified grids than most countries, they still rely on fossil fuels. By removing fossil fuels from the equation for energy-hungry sectors like agriculture, we can help accelerate the transition to Net Zero,” He said.

-via Good News Network, April 2, 2024

[dandelionsresilience]

Dandelion News - September 8-14

Like these weekly compilations? Tip me at $kaybarr1735 or check out my new(ly repurposed) Patreon!

1. Pair of rare Amur tiger cubs debuting at Minnesota Zoo are raising hopes for the endangered species

“[The Minnesota Zoo’s] Amur tigers have produced 57 cubs, [… 21 of which] have gone on to produce litters of their own, amounting to another 86 cubs. […] “They’re showing a lot of resiliency, which is something that we work hard for in human care. We want these animals to have a lot of confidence and be able to adapt to new environments just as they’re doing today.””

2. Powered by renewable energy, microbes turn CO₂ into protein and vitamins

“The team designed a two-stage bioreactor system that produces yeast rich in protein and vitamin B9. [… The protein] levels in their yeast exceed those of beef, pork, fish, and lentils. […] Running on clean energy and CO2, the system reduces carbon emissions in food production. It uncouples land use from farming, freeing up space for conservation[… and] will help farmers concentrate on producing vegetables and crops sustainably.”

3. JCPenney Launches Apparel Collection Aimed At Wheelchair Users

“A major department store is rolling out a new line of clothing specifically tailored to meet the needs of women who use wheelchairs featuring options for both everyday wear and special occasions. [… The clothing have] modifications like zippers located for easy access, pocket positioning and extended back rises optimized for the seated position and shorter sleeves to limit interference with wheels.”

4. Snails bred in Edinburgh Zoo sent to re-populate species in French Polynesia

“Thousands of rare partula snails bred at Edinburgh Zoo are to be released in French Polynesia to restore the wild population of the species.The last surviving few of the species were rescued in the early 1990s[….] 15 species and sub-species [are being bred in zoos for repopulation], the majority of which are classed as extinct in the wild.”

5. [NH Joins 19 Other States] to Provide Essential Behavioral Health Services Through Mobile Crisis Intervention Teams

“[CMS] approved New Hampshire’s Medicaid State Plan Amendment for community-based mobile crisis intervention teams to provide services for people experiencing a mental health or substance use disorder crisis. […] The multidisciplinary team provides screening and assessment; stabilization and de-escalation; and coordination with and referrals to health, social, and other services, as needed.”

6. Recovery plan for Missouri population of eastern hellbender

“It is expected that recovery efforts for the Missouri DPS of the eastern hellbender will reduce sedimentation and improve water quality in the aforementioned watersheds, which will also improve drinking water, as well as benefit multiple federally listed mussels, sport fish and other aquatic species.”

7. How $7.3B will help rural co-ops build clean power—and close coal plants

“[The funds are] serving about 5 million households across 23 states [… to] build wind and solar power, which is now cheaper than coal-fired power across most of the country. […] Some of it will be used to pay down the cost of closing coal plants[….] federal funding could help co-ops secure enough wind, solar, and battery resources to retire their entire coal capacity by 2032, cutting carbon emissions by 80 to 90 percent and reducing wholesale electricity costs by 10 to 20 percent[….]”

8. Native-led suicide prevention program focuses on building community strengths

“[Indigenous researchers have] designed programs that aim to build up a community’s endemic strengths, rather than solely treating the risks facing individuals within that community. By providing support and resources that enable access to Alaska Native cultural activities, they hope to strengthen social bonds that build resilience. […] “In a Yup’ik worldview, suicide is not a mental health disorder, and it’s not an individual affliction, it’s a disruption of the collective.””

9. Another rare Javan rhino calf spotted at Indonesia park

“A new Javan rhino calf has been spotted in an Indonesian national park, the facility's head said Friday, further boosting hopes for one of the world's most endangered mammals after two other […] calves were spotted earlier this year at the park, which is the only habitat left for the critically endangered animal.”

10. Transparent solar cells can directly supply energy from glass surfaces

“[Researchers have] unveiled a method of supplying energy directly from glass of buildings, cars, and mobile devices through transparent solar cells. […] It has also succeeded in charging a smartphone using natural sunlight. It also proved the possibility that a screen of a small mobile device can be used as an energy source.”

September 1-7 news here | (all credit for images and written material can be found at the source linked; I don’t claim credit for anything but curating.)

[cleolinda]

On Thursday, the US government issued its first severe geomagnetic storm watch in nearly 20 years, advising the public of “at least five earth-directed coronal mass ejections” as well as sunspots covering an area 16 times wider than the earth itself. A severe geomagnetic storm, or G4, is the second-highest grade in the US government’s classification system.

Radiation from this activity will begin to hit Earth’s magnetic field on Friday and last through the weekend, said the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

This is the migraine storm I was talking about. I think it was last month that we had a previous geomagnetic storm, and I had a two-day hangover afterwards. And I don’t usually have migraines; I have weather (air pressure) headaches. And now they’re like, oh lawd he comin’. Get out your ice packs and your OTC painkillers and your magnesium supplements and your caffeine (or not, if that makes it worse). I am not looking forward to this.

[medlilove]

(Edited to add headshots because tumblr hates detail) I've etched away at this is a lovely few weeks, so click for full res and all the little details, okay? It's my love letter to the journey I've found myself on

This is long-ish, so its under the cut (but worth reading...)

I had been thinking a lot recently about that double feature episode, you know the one? I half remembered it then, when they chased a bunch of alien spies so fast through the solar system they all got thrown back in time. Half the crew went on a little undercover adventure in Toronto in 2024. It was great because they got completely cut off from the Enterprise, so half of them, well mostly Uhura and Spock if I recall correctly, spent their time collecting as many radios as possible and worked on building their own communications. Uhura and Spock were basically taking turns constantly tweaking radios by the window with wires everywhere. Oh yeah, their base of operations was the whole top floor of a worn out old building looking over a big square. They ended up in the really arty/queer part of town full of art galleries and thrift stores.....??

Chapel and Chekov were sent out to those shops to find disguises for everyone. I loved the joke that Chekov was puzzled and slightly alarmed that Christine just knew everyone's clothes sizes and measurements with no explanation. Later on, they ended up getting separated from the rest of the group and getting held up by B story shenanigans, mostly getting lost and running into culture shocks. It was fun to see them having their own adventures and made for a pretty interesting combo. Spock and Uhura spent most of their time with the tech, accidentally listening to the times most popular music while changing frequencies. Jim and Sulu paired off to search for clues, and getting supplies and spent a lot of time talking to the locals setting up for a Pride parade. McCoy, feeling paranoid and irritable that he had practically no equipment, wandered around with Dr Alfred Nahdi, the Botanist, who kept picking random weeds and talking about how extraordinary the little dandelions were. Oh and together they stole a whole medical bag out of an ambulance?? It was pretty funny.  Anyway, the main issue was they couldn’t risk leaving the area because all these alien spies had assimilated into the population and they had to track them all down and bring them back with them so as not to disrupt the timeline or something. They had to track down the aliens while making sure the aliens didn't pick up on who they were or that they were also out of place. They ended up being there for around two whole ass months, I think. The spies were spread out all over and there were about 30 of them, but it ended up being the Botanist, Alfred (Alfie) Nahdi who found the enemy base of operations by complete accident. Alfred, who had spent most of the time studying all the common flowers and weeds that were so ordinary at that time but were extinct in their time, figured out where the aliens' base of operations was because the big plant shop at the end of the square had a few succulents that could not have existed in 2024. It was a big "woah" moment. And there was this whole thing where he had to act like he hadn’t just figured it out because the florist, who was almost certainly a spy, was watching him and McCoy. But soon after, it all went to hell anyway when a fight broke out and Sulu was straight up shot with the aliens' weapon that had bullets made from alien metal. So then Bones had to perform old school surgery on him in their HQ, with only 2024 equipment. Jim, Spock, and Uhura were out fighting and ran into Chapel and Chekov and were able to finish them off, but it got really crazy because there was a Pride parade in the square at the same time so they had to make sure no one noticed them. While Bones was pulling bullets out of Sulu, with the botanist assisting him until Chapel (who had been sent by Jim) appeared and took over. McCoy said something like, “Christine, I’ve never been so glad to see you in my life,” and they sewed him up all old school. And it worked out! But Bones was a mess because he had to do messy surgery with none of his kit, and so much pressure, and more blood than he was used to... Chapel stayed with Sulu, and Bones and Nahdi went to sit on the fire escape stairwell and had a sweet scene of Bones just full of adrenaline, his hands couldn't stop shaking. They sat hand in hand for a while listening to all the people on the streets below. Then Spock, Jim, Uhura, and Chekov appeared at the stairwell and they all had a happy, albeit exhausted reunion. After a day of everyone recovering from all the excitement, Uhura and Spock used some extra tech they got from the aliens and finally made contact with poor Scotty who was up on the Enterprise losing the will to live. Anyway, their outfits were iconic tbh.

I invented this whole thing to draw Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy in a sweater. I lost control of the situation. I spent a lovely two weeks etching away at this with the support of my lovely ST server, I love you guys. This ones for you.

[mindblowingscience]

If microscopic black holes born a fraction of a second after the Big Bang exist, as some researchers suspect, then at least one may fly through the solar system per decade, generating tiny gravitational distortions that scientists can detect, a new study finds. These findings suggest that if astronomers can discover and confirm the existence of such gravitational disruptions, they may be able to solve the mystery behind the nature of dark matter, the unseen material that many researchers suspect makes up about five-sixths of all matter in the cosmos.

Continue Reading.

[nasa]

5 Years, 8 Discoveries: NASA Exoplanet Explorer Sees Dancing Stars & a Star-Shredding Black Hole

This all-sky mosaic was constructed from 912 Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) images. Prominent features include the Milky Way, a glowing arc that represents the bright central plane of our galaxy, and the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds – satellite galaxies of our own located, respectively, 160,000 and 200,000 light-years away. In the northern sky, look for the small, oblong shape of the Andromeda galaxy (M 31), the closest big spiral galaxy, located 2.5 million light-years away. The black regions are areas of sky that TESS didn’t image. Credit: NASA/MIT/TESS and Ethan Kruse (University of Maryland College Park)

On April 18, 2018, we launched the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, better known as TESS. It was designed to search for planets beyond our solar system – exoplanets – and to discover worlds for our James Webb Space Telescope, which launched three years later, to further explore. TESS images sections of sky, one hemisphere at a time. When we put all the images together, we get a great look at Earth’s sky!

In its five years in space, TESS has discovered 326 planets and more than 4,300 planet candidates. Along the way, the spacecraft has observed a plethora of other objects in space, including watching as a black hole devoured a star and seeing six stars dancing in space. Here are some notable results from TESS so far:

During its first five years in space, our Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite has discovered exoplanets and identified worlds that can be further explored by the James Webb Space Telescope. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

1. TESS’ first discovery was a world called Pi Mensae c. It orbits the star Pi Mensae, about 60 light-years away from Earth and visible to the unaided eye in the Southern Hemisphere. This discovery kicked off NASA's new era of planet hunting.

2. Studying planets often helps us learn about stars too! Data from TESS & Spitzer helped scientists detect a planet around the young, flaring star AU Mic, providing a unique way to study how planets form, evolve, and interact with active stars.

Located less than 32 light-years from Earth, AU Microscopii is among the youngest planetary systems ever observed by astronomers, and its star throws vicious temper tantrums. This devilish young system holds planet AU Mic b captive inside a looming disk of ghostly dust and ceaselessly torments it with deadly blasts of X-rays and other radiation, thwarting any chance of life… as we know it! Beware! There is no escaping the stellar fury of this system. The monstrous flares of AU Mic will have you begging for eternal darkness. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

3. In addition to finding exoplanets on its own, TESS serves as a pathfinder for the James Webb Space Telescope. TESS discovered the rocky world LHS 3844 b, but Webb will tell us more about its composition. Our telescopes, much like our scientists, work together.

4. Though TESS may be a planet-hunter, it also helps us study black holes! In 2019, TESS saw a ‘‘tidal disruption event,’’ otherwise known as a black hole shredding a star.

When a star strays too close to a black hole, intense tides break it apart into a stream of gas. The tail of the stream escapes the system, while the rest of it swings back around, surrounding the black hole with a disk of debris. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

5. In 2020, TESS discovered its first Earth-size world in the habitable zone of its star – the distance from a star at which liquid water could exist on a planet’s surface. Earlier this year, a second rocky planet was discovered in the system.

You can see the exoplanets that orbit the star TOI 700 moving within two marked habitable zones, a conservative habitable zone, and an optimistic habitable zone. Planet d orbits within the conservative habitable zone, while planet e moves within an optimistic habitable zone, the range of distances from a star where liquid surface water could be present at some point in a planet’s history. Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

6. Astronomers used TESS to find a six-star system where all stars undergo eclipses. Three binary pairs orbit each other, and, in turn, the pairs are engaged in an elaborate gravitational dance in a cosmic ballroom 1,900 light-years away in the constellation Eridanus.

7. Thanks to TESS, we learned that Delta Scuti stars pulse to the beat of their own drummer. Most seem to oscillate randomly, but we now know HD 31901 taps out a beat that merges 55 pulsation patterns.

Sound waves bouncing around inside a star cause it to expand and contract, which results in detectable brightness changes. This animation depicts one type of Delta Scuti pulsation — called a radial mode — that is driven by waves (blue arrows) traveling between the star's core and surface. In reality, a star may pulsate in many different modes, creating complicated patterns that enable scientists to learn about its interior. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

8. Last is a galaxy that flares like clockwork! With TESS and Swift, astronomers identified the most predictably and frequently flaring active galaxy yet. ASASSN-14ko, which is 570 million light-years away, brightens every 114 days!

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

[canmom]

I've been watching Star Trek, and also been learning about boats. Like, a big boat is more stable in the water, so you don't get tossed and turned so much when it's rocked by waves or turning.

Now, on Star Trek, they do the dramatic tilt-y cam and actors flinging themselves around. This makes sense when the ship is hit by weapons, but sometimes they do it when they are navigating asteroid fields and such. The original Enterprise (from the 60s) is 288m long, similar to a modern cruise liner, 127m wide, 73m wide, and 190,000 tonnes. Surely even a high-speed jaunt through an asteroid field would be barely felt on the bridge (which is the tiny raised part in the centre of the saucer)?

Hello anon! You're not wrong that like, there is a lot of artistic license in Star Trek's treatment of astrophysics.

The 'asteroid fields' seen in Wars and Trek are presumably inspired by the asteroid belt in our solar system between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. It is true that there are a lot more big space rocks in the asteroid belt than there are in much of the rest of the solar system. However, space is really very big so there's a lot of room for big rocks. Spacecraft are routinely able to pass through the asteroid belt without coming anywhere near an asteroid (which is good, because at space velocities, collisions are really catastrophic).

The largest asteroids such as Ceres are nowadays classified as 'dwarf planets'; they might be as big as around 1000 kilometres in diameter, which is about 1/12 the diameter of the Earth. Many other asteroids are also hundreds of kilometres big. With the dimensions you've given me, if the Enterprise collided with such an asteroid, it would be a 'bug on a windscreen' kind of situation and the Enterprise would certainly not come off better for the experience.

However, most asteroids aren't quite so big. Here's a log-linear graph of the size distribution of asteroids:

There's about a million asteroids a kilometre big, and about ten million a hundred metres across; at some point the asteroids become too small for us to track, but I assume this approximately power-law distribution holds down to some small size.

Now, that sounds like a lot of asteroids, but the thing is they're spread across an absolutely enormous region of space. They cover a range of orbital radii of about 1 AU, which is to say the distance between the Earth and the sun, and a range of orbital inclinations about 20 degrees:

So, assuming we had about 10 million asteroids of 100m or bigger, that turns out to be about 1E-27 asteroids of that size per cubic metre of space. Which is to say you'd need to explore a cube of about 900,000km on a side to find even one asteroid that big. Space is really, truly, extremely very big. So, far from this kind of scene (src)...

...you'd be lucky to see even one rock outside the window. As Wikipedia puts it:

Contrary to popular imagery, the asteroid belt is mostly empty. The asteroids are spread over such a large volume that reaching an asteroid without aiming carefully would be improbable.

Now, OK, that's our solar system's asteroid belt. What about in deeper space? The thing is, big space rocks don't tend to just hang out. Our solar system's asteroid belt is presently thought to be a result of Jupiter disrupting the coalescence of planetesimals into a planet during the formation of the solar system. So in general, without a Jupiter, either your big bundle of space rocks has enough kinetic energy to spread out into space like a gas, or it doesn't and their mutual gravity causes them to collapse into a big clump, forming something planetish.

The Star Trek/Wars picture of a bunch of space rocks just kind of floating around doesn't make any sense on astrophysical timescales; about the only way you might see that is if some kind of much bigger rock has very recently exploded, and especially if you're in orbit around something or other which can keep the particles reasonably close together. The rings of Saturn are a great example, consisting mainly of bits of ice smaller than 10m. Saturn's rings are probably the closest place we know to a scifi asteroid field, but they are also incredibly thin, in many parts only tens of metres across.

So in short 'asteroid fields' in the depths of space are kind of not a thing. But what if they were?

On a boat, you are held against the water by gravity; you have various restoring forces, e.g. if the boat dips under water, it gets pushed back out by buoyancy. This causes, in physics-speak, oscillations on various timescales. The dynamics of ships are very complicated, but it has a lot to do with the buoyancy of water rather than collisions with solid objects. Here's Casual Navigation, pretty much my go-to source for any questions about how boats work, explaining the physics of ships rolling, and ways we mitigate that:

Water buoyancy applies a kind of 'soft' force spread relatively evenly across the surface of a ship, so the ship responds mostly rigidly by rolling around, maybe flexing a bit. But when ships actually hit something hard, even something like a sandbank, it tends to go very poorly for them.

In general, a spaceship is not very much like a boat. Space is, notably, a place where there aren't any fluids. Most of the ways that vehicles move on Earth don't really apply in space.

On the ocean, land or even air, objects in motion tend to stop (or at least fall downwards) due to friction and drag, and you need a constant supply of energy to stay moving in a straight line. In space, the opposite is true - you keep moving along your orbit unless you provide energy to change direction. Rocket acceleration is very limited and you try to do as little as possible. With real spacecraft, you mostly move along a ballistic trajectory, applying 'burns' with your rocket at just the right moment to push you onto a new trajectory - or you have a very weak but efficient engine like an ion drive which very gradually nudges you onto the trajectory you want.

In hardish scifi, we can handwave a lot of this complexity away by imagining amazing futuristic technologies like fusion torches and antimatter drives, which allow us to follow 'brachistochrone' trajectories, where you accelerate at something like 1g all the way up to the midpoint of your trajectory and then flip around and slow down. These have their own worldbuilding implications (which is to say the difference between a really fast spaceship and a weapon of mass destruction is basically which way you point it), but it allows you to get on with your plot without having your characters spending years in transit.

Star Trek is not hard scifi, although it sometimes likes to cosplay as it, so trying to apply this kind of standard is a fool's errand. Still, let's consider it. In Star Trek, spaceships move around in two ways. They have something called a warp drive, which allows FTL by distorting spacetime - it is presumably inspired by the Alcubierre metric (edit: no it isn't, it actually predates Alcubierre and he took inspiration from star trek in naming his solution a 'warp drive'), a solution to the field equations of general relativity that allows you to move a 'bubble' of spacetime at FTL speeds. There are many reasons to think the Alcubierre metric wouldn't actually work, or be survivable inside the bubble if it did; how it would interact with matter in the path of the bubble is unclear, but it seems quite likely it would scrape it all up at the front of the bubble and then perhaps release it at the destination in a blast of ultra-high-energy radiation. At least getting hit by asteroids is not a concern...

For slower-than-light travel, Star Trek ships apparently move around with something called an 'impulse drive', which is just a fusion rocket. (We shouldn't ask questions like 'where do you keep the reaction mass' or 'why doesn't the spaceship spin when the force vector is off-axis').

So, as far as space rocks, the big concern is that at high velocities, collisions with any tiny meteorites on your path have more and more energy, much like being shot with a bullet. It's less about shaking the ship around and more about damaging it, because at this kind of scale and energy, rigid things don't tend to stay rigid when they collide. Real solutions to this problem include things like layers of thin 'whipple shields' which break up the meteorite into small fragments before they hit the spacecraft. There's some crazier ideas out there, like spraying hot droplets from your engine's cooling system ahead of the ship to intercept dust grains and catching them with magnetic fields as you accelerate forwards.

I don't know that much Trek lore, but my understanding is they have some kind of magic 'shield' that prevents damage when they git hit by weapons. This presumably stops any space rocks from smashing right through the decks. But as you observe, the rapid camera shaking doesn't make a lot of sense either: it suggests some kind of shock going through the structure of the vessel. The ship is somehow getting hit by something with enough momentum to shake it violently but not throw it off course or severely damage it. That's not really how structures on this kind of scale work.

Of course, the main purpose of the screen shake is dramatic: you need to convey the characters are in a dangerous situation, and if they're all just sitting calmly in the set watching things play out on the screen, that doesn't really 'sell' it. Just like a wrestler pretending to be injured, you need your actors to convey the stakes of the space battle, and throwing themselves around the set is a very cheap way to do it. The asteroid field serves as a scifi version of a choppy sea or ice floe, adding an extra element of constant tension; it doesn't really matter that it doesn't make sense.

Much the same dramatic techniques are still used in more recent scifi, even relatively hard scifi such as The Expanse - observe the use of camera shake (though milder than in Star Trek), reaction shots, characters helpfully providing commentary ('they were expecting that', 'I'm putting us into a spin'). Or this scene; we link the action 'outside' (the full 3DCG space scenes) to the action 'inside' by changes of lighting (there's no real reason for turning the lights blue during combat except that it looks cool), bullets punching through the ship (so scary), and characters getting pushed around by g-forces. The plot contrives for the ships to do a close flyby while strafing each other with machine guns. This is a thrilling scene, and it relies on much later iterations of the 'shake the camera' concept - to link what is happening 'outside' to the characters we care about 'inside'.

Here is a breakdown of what is apparently the first, iconic Star Trek battle scene from which everything else follows:

This sequence is essentially taking most of its cues from submarine movies such as The Enemy Below: the two ships are attempting to figure out where the other is and get in an advantageous position. It is mostly a prediction battle between the two captains, both presented as honourable gentlemen types in what is essentially a duel. The mechanics of the ships is largely based on thin scifi skins over boat stuff.

In general, Star Trek takes various measures to make the captain and bridge crew the main people who 'matter' to a story, which keeps the cast and sets to a manageable size. The thing is, of course, that modern ships are much bigger than the sort of historical ships that could be imagined to be led by a charismatic captain having heroic exploits. There are thousands of people supposedly on board the Enterprise, but you wouldn't know it from the way the characters act.

It's notable that the inspiration here is a WWII movie, pretty much the last time big ships fought big ships. (Star Wars also takes most of its cues from WWII). The principle activity of modern warships seems mostly to be making a political gesture by floating around somewhere, maybe launching some missiles or planes. It's been a long time since we've seen ships having battles with other ships, and ships were a lot smaller then. A military officer is, as I understand it, someone who's a lot more like a politician or company manager, whose job is to keep a large and complex organisation running smoothly. (No doubt you remember the old saying about logistics and tactics.)

So more than the dubious engineering of having the bridge rattle around, I think 'the bridge crew are all charismatic geniuses from whom all the action flows' is the really big liberty that Star Trek takes with its storytelling, from which a lot of other things follow.

Everything in the sequence from Balance of Terror is designed to ratchet up tension for the bridge officers as much as possible - and we see the screen shake and actors getting thrown about here too. In a naval battle, this makes sense: a big explosion near your ship will cause a wave in the water which will rock the ship. In space... not so much. For example, a big shake happens when a nuclear weapon goes off near the Enterprise. A nuclear weapon deployed in space is mainly there to cause heating, not to push things around. But the big moves of the battle are punctuated by everyone getting thrown about: it's a way of saying 'something important just happened'. If the nuke went off and we didn't hear anything, but Kirk was just like 'ok cool, that missed us, good job' it would feel less significant.

Over time I'm sure this device got diluted down until nearly anything would result in people flopping about! But yeah, tl;dr: it is purely a dramatic convention leaning hard on WWII movies, not something that makes a lot of within-the-fiction sense if you think about it at all.

What would space battles look like in real life? We can only speculate, of course, it may never come to pass at all. But if it does, probably it's going to be more a story of shooting expensive missiles at extremely long range to hit things that are too far away to see without a telescope, rather than thrilling close-range dogfights or tense naval mind games. And with humans being very squishy and not taking well to extreme acceleration, you probably want to avoid having them on your ships if you can help it. Which is a bit of an obstacle for a dramatic presentation, unless you want to focus on the disconnect between the comfy air-conditioned drone control room and the horrible destruction being wrought on the ground - and honestly that is a very relevant thing to want to do in the present era.

Plenty of people would still presumably be in harm's way in the space war. But the problem is that in general, the story that people want to tell with military fiction is about heroic characters whose individual efforts make a difference to the course of The War. Not just someone having a bunch of meetings full of incomprehensible acronyms and then randomly dying to a missile that was launched from the other side of the solar system that their side's interceptor system failed to catch.

[love-note-musings]

🕰️ with Satan please?

──★ ˙🍋 ̟ !! Satan x Reader | Obey Me! oneshot

from this emoji prompt list: 🕰 | 3 a.m. philosophical discussions

finally cleaned out all my drafts oops ⁺˚⋆｡°✩₊

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:･ﾟ .:

You had the avatar of Wrath wrapped around your finger. It was one of those rare nights when Satan was able to have your company to himself, nestled in your bed while you twirled his hair absentmindedly. The novel he had been reading was discarded somewhere amongst the covers, and you had placed a sticky note in it before it had been lost for good.

From the moment he had first introduced himself to you, he realized that he’d be in trouble around you and your natural magnetism. You made him feel like he could tell you anything, your verbose challenged even the most comforting of novels he frequented, it was like you had already understood him. After having to explain himself for his entire life, being able to exist with you was the highlight of his days. You’re the only person who could even dream about having the avatar of wrath cocooned in your blankets while twirling his hair between your fingers. He never had to fight for you to understand him.

Like the sun, you were a beacon of light amongst the shadows casted around him. Satan gravitated towards you no matter how unfamiliar the warmth felt. He wanted to orbit you even if he was one planet out of many.

“Have you ever thought how funny affection is?” He questioned, tilting his head up slightly to catch how your expression changed as he disrupted the calm silence.

His words hung in the air as you thought it over. “A bit, I mean, feelings are fickle and they fleet just as easily,”

“Is that your way of saying that your feelings for me are fleeting?”

You chuckled a bit while ruffling his hair, “No, that wasn’t my intentions, do you think they are?” Your eyebrows raised as you also peered down at him.

“No,” Satan responded confidently while he finally met your gaze.

There was no doubt about it that he was a fighting spirit. He was strong as a habitual trait and traits are hard to ignore. Satan did have fleeting thoughts in these moments of weakness, knowing that broken down barriers only lead to more heartache. Luckily enough, you’ve studied long enough to look past those barriers.

“What I meant to say,” you continued, “is that I don’t think feelings are funny at all. Affection, yes. Feelings, no. It’s up to us whether we act on them or not.”

A spark settled into his chest, twisting and turning like a blanket wound too tight. “What do you mean?” is all he could muster to ask.

You paused, lulling for the words. “I mean that my overall disposition for you is affection, regardless of what I feel. I could be as mad to the moon over you, but I can still choose to defy my feelings to remain kind.”

“To the moon? Oh dear, let’s hope it doesn’t reach Saturn.”

A soft laugh rattled between the two of you, settling the slight apprehension that had experienced. Seems as though butterflies can still fly at night, underneath blankets and books, and between lovers.

“You shouldn’t worry about those things - the whole solar system wouldn’t be enough to overturn my affection for you, that's what makes it funny."

"That's a strange way of saying you're smitten with me, you know." Satan chided, although he couldn't deny that he was secretly pleased with your answer.

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:･ﾟ .:

[modormouth]

evangelion oc. ever-growing, disruptive mass that inches toward the edge of our solar system. has seen the death of countless stars.

[vershl]

In the CG Au do Shadow's inhibitor rings actually do anything or are they just for show or both? Like maybe the diamonds dressed him up like some twisted form of a pet.

This ask activated my braincells--

Okay so, I'm not FULLY settled on whether they do or not. But at this point in time... He NEEDS them.

As for what happens if they're removed for too long? Haha..haha...

Shadow basically becomes a nuclear weapon. His gem starts to crack, and if he doesn't put on the inhibitors quickly enough and repair himself.. well-

The combustion of his gem would eradicate the planet to nothing more than space dust. And the force of the explosion would likely disrupt the entire gravitational planet-sun alignment within that solar system. I like to think the diamonds, or at least White, know this. :]

[itmeansiris]

The Solar System Legacy Challenge: Waiting Gen 1 pt.91

20 excruciating minutes later the ambulance slowed to a stop. Kason heard muffled voices outside. The doors on both sides slammed and shook the truck before the backdoors were flung open. EMTs and doctors flooded the cramped space. They shifted Mercury quickly, careful not to disrupt her oxygen mask as they extracted her.

Kason stumbled from the back trying to keep up, the parking lot was overrun with reporters and police. The blinding flash from the dozen or more cameras disoriented him for a moment leaving bright colored spots in his vision when he blinked. He turned his back to the chaos using his frame to block Mercury from the camera as best he could. His temper flared again, but he didn't latch onto the newly familiar emotion, instead, he took a calming breath, keeping pace with the doctors.

Kason: [Fucking vultures] I’m right here M.

She hadn’t stirred once the entire ride. Finally, they got through the hospital doors. The white walls were blinding, the air was too cold, and it smelled sterile with a faint hint of copper. As they hurried down a short corridor Kason answered questions he couldn’t remember being asked. The only phrases that bounced around his mind were "O.R" and "How much blood lost?"

When they reached the end of the hall it veered off in two directions. Ahead was a set of double doors, to the left was another corridor that led to the pediatrics ward. The doctors continued through the double doors that appeared to lead into a longer hallway, but this one had rooms off to each side.

As a doctor intercepted his path, Kason spotted Spirit and the kids turning down the left corridor. A sliver of relief flowed through him as he watched Venus walk. It appeared the limp had been merely a superficial wound. The relief was short-lived when he noticed the doctor’s sympathetic demeanor. She schooled her expression to soften the news.

Doctor: Mr.Gratz you’ll have to wait here. You aren’t allowed back there. We will do everything we can for your wife. She's in good hands.

Kason relented, knowing arguing would get him nowhere, aside from being thrown out. He watched until Mercury's stretcher was out of sight, and then he went to find an empty bench in the waiting room.

An hour passed as he sat restlessly waiting for news. Spirit had called him when the pediatrician arrived to keep him updated on the kids and he’d contacted everyone he thought needed to be informed of the situation. There was nothing left to do but wait.

Another half hour without a doctor update had him on edge. He’d bitten his nails down to the numb when a pair of white tennis shoes appeared in this vision.

Peyton: Kason.

Peyton's voice captured his attention and Kason raised his head slowly rendering Peyton speechless. He hadn't seen Kason cry since the day their father passed away when they were merely teens. His brother's swollen eyes and tear-streaked face pulled him back to that dreadful day in the hospital where their father, Patrick Gratz, had taken his last breath.

Kason looked exhausted. His face was bright red and somehow he looked older. His green irises were drowning in unshed tears. Peyton dragged his brother to his feet without a word pulling him into a sheath-like embrace. Peyton felt Kason's heart pounding against his own chest and held him a little tighter.

Peyton winced, Kason's fingers burrowed deep into his back, clutching Peyton's shirt like a life raft to a sim with aqua-phobia. They stood like that for a while. Peyton wasn't concerned about the onlookers as Kason's shoulders shook violently. He felt Kason's knees give out a few times as he wept, but Peyton held his brother securely.

Peyton: I got you bro, It's okay. It's okay.

When Kason's cries calmed, Peyton stepped back. His phone chimed notifying him he had a text. He checked the message as he asked.

Peyton: Better?

Kason nodded unsure his voice would work.

Peyton: That was Winter she's almost here. She and Beckett dropped Zohreh off with Rufus's parents. I came straight here.

Kason swallowed to moisten his cotton mouth, it felt like barbed wire scraping sandpaper, before attempting to speak.

Kason: Peyton.. I messed up. I couldn't stop her. I didn't protect them...

Peyton pushed Kason back down onto the bench.

Peyton: Calm down. We all know this isn't your fault. The bitch is a psycho. No one could have known she wou-

Ishtar: Hi Uncle Peyton. Dad, Nana said the doctor is finished.

Peyton glanced at Kason, then turned his attention to Ishtar.

Peyton: Come on Ish, I'll go with you, while Dad stays here and waits for Auntie Winter and Uncle Beckett okay?

He pulled his nephew in for a hug.

Peyton: Lead the way.

As they walked passed Peyton whispered.

Peyton: I'll handle this. Wait for news about M. And Kason, it's not your fault.

They'd gotten a small distance away when Kason overheard Ishtar ask Peyton.

Ishtar: Is my dad going to be okay? He looks really sad. Maybe we should stay with him so he's not all by himself.

Peyton: You're such a good guy Ish. Your Dad is sad, he's sad that you guys were hurt and he just needs a couple minutes to himself. Don't worry your dad...

But soon they were out of earshot and he couldn't catch the end of the statement.

Kason sat statue-like in the same place Peyton had left him 20 minutes earlier, still, no one had come out to update him about Mercury's condition. Winter and Beckett had shown up not long after Peyton had gone to check in with Spirit, they sat with him, but he couldn't handle their questions and when they'd finally realized he was in no position to converse with them they resorted to concerned glances and hushed whispers before he eventually sent them to search for the triplets. His nerves were worn thin when he decided to find a doctor and demand answers.

???: Kason Gratz?

Kason flinched at the sound of his name. He glanced at the newcomer, taking in his loafers, the suspenders over his shoulders, and most importantly the badge he wore, displayed proudly on his waist.

Kason: Yeah.

Det. Hana: Detective Kane Hana. I was hoping we could chat for a moment.

Kason: I need to be here in case the doctors come out.

Kason dismissed him. He knew he had a duty to speak to the police but the stress of waiting had made him irritable.

Det. Hana: We don't need to go far. Just an area more private. I can grab us coffee and we can talk.

Kason didn't bother making eye contact, he couldn't muster the energy to use proper conversation etiquette and for the moment he didn’t care.

Det. Hana: We can talk here or down at the station, but it's your choice.

Detective Hana had his full attention after that quip.

Kason: For what? I haven't done anything.

Detective Hana lazily tucked his hand back in his pocket as if he didn't have a care in the world.

Det. Hana: Not yet you haven't, but refusing to speak with the police actively hinders the investigation, and THAT is obstruction of justice, Mr.Gratz. I was told, you requested that we take your statement at the hospital, or was I misinformed by the responding officer?

Detective Hana had a cocky disposition, like the kind of guy who would arrest someone for looking at him funny. Kason desperately wanted to tell Hana to fuck off but he didn't want to give him a reason to through around his authority which, he seemed desperate to do.

Kason: [Sigh] Yes, but I'd hoped it would take you guys a bit longer. We can sit in the corner by the windows, but the minute a doctor comes out with news-

Det. Hana: Were on the same page here. If a doctor comes out we can finish another day. We just need to wait for my partner. Here he comes now. Alder over here!

Kason turned to see Officer Alder ambling over. Surprisingly seeing the familiar face calmed him a little. Officer Adler was a decent man who had proven he understood the sensitive nature of the situation.

OCF Adler: Yeah, yeah Kane, I'm coming. Mr.Gratz.

He nodded in Kason's direction with a sad smile. Kason nodded back in acknowledgment.

Kason: Can we get on with it, and I believe you offered to get coffee.

Hana’s mouth quirked at the corners.

Det. Hana: Black or cream and sugar princess?

Kason: Black one sugar.

Det. Hana: Good. I'll grab the coffee, and you grab a seat.

Previous Next

Beginning

Detective Kane Hana can be found on the Gallery (no cc). created by Witching_Mermaid

[fantasticsandwich]

yandere influencer x fem! reader (pt 6)

You sat alone in the spacious lecture hall, a sea of empty seats around you echoing the void left by Cillian's absence. Your fingers drummed on the wooden desktop, an aimless rhythm. The hum of the air conditioning filled the silent gaps between the professor's words, words that seemed to float just out of reach.

You glanced at the door again, the muscles in your neck tightening each time you craned your head, seeking the familiar silhouette that did not appear even as the clock continued to tick. Why did the campus feel so barren without him? It was as if his presence had become the sun in your collegiate solar system, and now, without his light, you were condemned to orbit in abyss.

"Can anyone explain the significance of this theory?" the professor's voice punctured your bubble of concern.

Your hand twitched, a conditioned reaction to participate, to help, to please. But your mouth remained closed, your vocal cords paralyzed by the gnawing thoughts of Cillian. Where was he? Was he all right? Did he need you?

On your laptop screen, the slides advanced, but the words might as well have been written in hieroglyphs for all the sense they made. You typed a note, then deleted it. Typed another. Deleted that too. Your document remained as blank as your mind felt.

You should be focusing. This was important; this was your future. But the image of Cillian’s high cheekbones and sharp jawline dotted by crystalline tears invaded your thoughts relentlessly. How could someone so impeccably put together, who spoke in riddles and charm, make you feel so fragmented?

And man, why did the world seem less saturated?

A sigh escaped your lips, drawing a few curious glances from students nearby.  Frightful of the attention, you shrunk into your seat. Your leg bounced under the desk.

“Miss L/N, do you have something to add?” the professor asked, peering over the rims of his glasses with a mix of curiosity and impatience.

“Ah, no, sorry,” you stammered. “Just thinking.”

"Then I suggest you think about the material," the professor chided gently, turning back to his lecture.

Your cheeks flushed a deeper shade than your cherry red top. You nodded, pretending to scribble down notes while your thoughts continued to dance around Cillian. He was like an earworm, an annoying melody you couldn't get out of your head, one that played on loop and disrupted the harmony of your life.

As you struggled to anchor your attention to the present,  you couldn't shake the feeling that something was utterly amiss with him. You weren't entirely dense; you noticed his behaviour had become... more needy. That he had been acting odd reccently, sticking to your side, demanding the same attention in return. Sometimes, you wishes all those photoshoots counted as something.

The allure of such a man was undeniable, but beneath the gloss and filtered perfection, there was a shadow—a possessiveness that clung just as tightly to you as you did to the idea of their friendship.

"Concentrate, Y/N," you whispered to yourself, a mantra to ward off the distracting thoughts. Yet, even as you tried to latch onto the professor's words, Cillian's voice echoed in your mind. You wondered how he would chide your lack of attention.

The clock's hands seemed to mock you with their sluggish crawl around its face. Your pen tapped an impatient rhythm against the edge of the desk. The professor droned on about sociological theories, but the words floated through  your consciousness like leaves on a breeze, uncaught and unexamined.

"Cillian would find this fascinating," you thought, gaze drifting to the empty seat beside you. The void it represented filled you with an inexplicable sense of loss. You bit your lip.

“Enough,” you muttered under your breath, the word barely audible amid the hum of academic discourse. With a sudden burst of defiance, you snapped your notebook shut. The sound cut through the lecture hall like a starting pistol, and you winced at the volume of your own rebellion.

“Are you okay?” whispered a concerned voice.

Much to your surprise, it was a girl who sat in the row behind you. You’d worked together on a group project, but Cillian had done most of the talking. You turned slightly to offer a quick, reassuring smile to the inquirer before you gathered your belongings into your bag.

In your mind, a scale tipped precariously, teetering between the weight of your academic responsibilities and the need for a distraction. The decision made itself; you craved human connection more than the dry absorption of knowledge.

You slipped out of the room, your steps carrying you toward a classroom located further into the hall’s depths. Reaching several doors down, you peered inside. You saw him sitting in the back row, his eyes fixed on the projector screen.

You entered the room quietly, not wanting to disturb the class, and took the seat beside him. He glanced at you, surprise softening into a warm smile.

‘Wut ru doing here???’ he typed on his phone, passing it to you discreetly under the table.

‘Needed a distraction,’ you replied in kind, thumbs dancing over the screen before handing the phone back.

Rian read the message and nodded. He opened a new tab on his laptop, the glow of online shopping sites illuminating their faces. You delved into a silent conversation of shared screens and hushed giggles, browsing through pages of items neither of you needed nor could afford.

He sent you a link to a quirky, cat-shaped lamp. You snorted softly, imagining it perched on your desk, casting a cozy glow over late-night study sessions.

‘Too cute,’ you typed back. ‘So glad ur professor is sick today.’

‘I know right?! Love love love group studies like these.’

You continued their quiet exchange, swapping and commenting about useless articles.

The classroom door swung open with a decisive creak, and the hushed buzz of student murmurings fell to an uneasy silence.  your spine stiffened as you sensed the shift in atmosphere before you even looked up. Cillian strode into the room, his presence slicing through the air like a cold draft. His sharp jaw was set, brows drawn together above eyes that scanned the room until they landed on her. He wore his usual impeccable attire; bangs swept back with a clip he’d stole from you long ago, a new white blouse, so glossy and transparent that it looked like polished silver. Today it seemed more like armor than a fashion statement.

Rian, sensing the change, followed your gaze. His warm smile faltered as he caught sight of Cillian, who approached with measured steps, the tap of his designer shoes echoing ominously in the quiet space.

“Y/N,” Cillian said, his voice smooth yet carrying an edge that could slice through the thick tension it created. “I see you’ve found a new best friend.”

You felt the phone slip slightly from your grasp, your fingers tensing around it. You glanced at Rian, whose confusion was plain upon his delicate features. A soft crease formed between his brows, the corners of his mouth pulling down ever so slightly.

“Hey, man,” Rian began, his voice a gentle attempt at peace. “Wanna join? We were just—”

“Stealing her attention, as usual,” Cillian cut in, his words sharp as he loomed over you. He leaned back against a nearby desk, arms folded across his chest in a show of casual dominance. The light from the projector cast shadows across his face, deepening the hollows of his high cheekbones, lending him an almost sinister look.

“Cillian, it’s not like that,” you said, your earnest voice tinged with a tremble.

“Isn’t it?” Cillian challenged, tilting his head with a calculated smirk. “You ignore me to meet him. You skipped class to be here with him. You’re neglecting your studies for someone who clearly doesn’t respect our relationship.”

Rian’s hurt was palpable. “Your relationship? But we’re all friends here, aren’t we?” His voice was soft, the hurt seeping through the kindness he tried to maintain. The confusion in his eyes gave way to a dawning realization that the bond he thought they shared might have been a facade.

“Friends don’t undermine each other,” Cillian replied coldly, a dark glint in his eye as he focused on you. “And they certainly don’t lead each other astray. I thought you had more ambition than this, Y/N.”

“Lee, stop,”  you pleaded, your hands gripping the edges of your desk. “It isn’t what you think. You’re reading too much into a meaningless moment.”

“Am I?” Cillian's tone was sardonic, laced with mockery. “Or perhaps you’re just not seeing things clearly. You’re not looking at me.”

Rian shifted uncomfortably in his seat, looking down at his hands, the air thick with his unspoken emotions. His previous warmth seemed to fade, retreating behind a wall of defense against barbed words.

Your voice broke through, a mixture of defiance and desperation. “Stop accusing him. This isn’t fair to any of us.”

But Cillian only raised an eyebrow, staring down at  you with a chilling calmness that belied the storm of jealousy raging within him.

Your gaze flickered between the two young men, your mouth dry and hands clammy as you tried to bridge the growing chasm with words that refused to come.

The lecture hall seemed to contract, the walls inching closer with every sharp word that sliced through the air. Students shifted in their seats, textbooks forgotten on laps, as they stole glances at the trio. Their whispered murmurs were a low hum, like static from an untuned radio, adding to the cacophony of your distress.

Cillian’s lips curved into a tight smile. His eyes, which held no mirth, remained fixed on you with an intensity that sent shivers down your spine. Rian, meanwhile, resembled a cornered animal, his eyes wide and searching for an escape.

“Look, if it’s really that important,” you reluctantly began, “we can talk about… Whatever you’re feeling later, okay? I don’t want to invalidate it, but now isn’t the best time.”

“Later, you say?” Cillian echoed, his tone laced with sarcasm. “Why? So you can decide whose side you’re on? So you can forsake me and go with the guy who’s fucked you over countless times?"

Your heart sank. You could feel the weight of every stare, the collective breath of your classmates held captive by the drama before them. You tasted the metallic tang of anxiety on your tongue, and your fingertips tingled with the need to do something—anything—to mend the fractures forming in your friendships.

Rian’s chair scraped against the floor, a jarring sound as he jumped to his feet. Facing Cillian, his demure frame looked like David before Goliath.

“I don’t understand why it’s always about sides with you,” he said, his voice steadier than his trembling hands suggested.

“Because that’s how it works, Rian.” Cillian replied coldly. “You make mistakes, and you decide whether you amend or fall further into it.”

“Cillian,” you tried again. “Let’s not do this here.”

“Why not? Scared of letting everyone know where your loyalties lie?”

You looked at Cillian, then at Rian, feeling herself being torn in two. The confrontation unfolded like a slow-motion nightmare, every second drawn out, every blink an eternity. The digital clock on the wall ticked away moments of friendship that might never be reclaimed.

Cillian’s expression hardened further, a fortress of anger and paranoia. And your resolve began to crumble under the pressure, your determination to hold onto both friends cracking like thin ice beneath your feet. You reached out, hand hovering near his arm, yet not daring to touch.

“Look, we’ve always been there for each other, haven’t we? And you know I value our friendship more than anything.”

Cillian's eyes narrowed, and with a dramatic flair of his hand, he swiped your concern away as if it were a bothersome fly. His lips curled into a cold, unforgiving smile.

“Is that what you call leaving me alone while you play house with him? Value?” He tipped his head towards Rian, who sat frozen.

“Cillian, please.”

“Please?” Cillian echoed mockingly, his voice dripping with venom. “You’ve never had to beg before. Never with me. What's changed, Y/N? Or should I say, who changed the girl I love?”

“No one. You’re both important to me, and I don’t want us to be fighting.”

“Important?” The word exploded from Cillian, his body language shifting like a predator cornering its prey. “You have an odd way of showing it. Choosing that… That fuck up over your loyal friend who’s been by your side through everything!”

“It's not like that,"  you protested.

“Stop taking his side. You’ll make me angry. Just face it, Y/N. You don’t care about me. Your actions speak louder than your empty words.”

Rian's chair scraped against the floor as he stood, his movements hesitant but determined. “She’s only trying to—”

“Stay out of this!” Cillian snapped, silencing Rian with a look that could shatter glass.

You watched the exchange, mind racing. Were you wrong to seek Rian’s company? Had you unwittingly betrayed Cillian?

“Y/N,” Cillian’s voice softened as he turned back to her. “You know I only want what’s best for you. Haven’t I shown you that? I always pay for our outings. I give you everything you want. He can’t give you anything. He can’t compare to me.”

Your mouth opened, then closed, no words forthcoming. The room felt impossibly small, the walls closing in as dozens of eyes darted between them, the weight of collective stares pressing down on you. You wanted to scream, to run, to do anything but stand there, dissected by Cillian’s words and condemned by your own silence.

Your breath hitched, a sudden coldness washing over you as you regarded Cillian with clarity. Your fingers dug into the stiff fabric of your jeans, nails pressing crescent moons into your skin. The air in the classroom felt thick, charged with an electricity that made your skin prickle and your heart race.

“I think…” you began, voice wavering but growing in conviction, “I think I’ve been blind.”

His eyebrows knit together, confusion etching across his princely features for a fleeting moment before his mask of control slid back into place. “To what, Y/N? Do you need an updated prescription for your glasses?”

“No, Lee. I’ve already made my opinion about handouts clear. I’ve been blind to how much I’ve let your needs dictate my life, to the point where I can't even recognize myself.”

There was a rustling of jackets and backpacks as other students shifted uncomfortably in their seats, their gaze flitting between the unfolding drama and the screens of their phones, eager for distraction. But your focus was razor-sharp, honed in on the man who had once seemed like you anchor but now felt like a shackle.

“You don’t mean that,” Cillian countered, his voice smooth as silk yet with an undercurrent of urgency. He stepped closer, trying to reclaim the space you had just put between you. “Rian’s been talking bad about me.”

“He hasn’t and I do, Cillian. I really do,” you insisted, standing your ground. “Our friendship... it’s become something I don’t find comfort in. Something that hurts rather than heals, and I just can’t keep this up. You’re eating me up from the inside out. It feels like I’m a moth-eaten doll rotting at your side.”

With the final word, you felt the exhaustion creep into your bones, your mind numb from the emotional onslaught. You were a ship caught in a storm, sails torn and compass spinning wildly. Wordless, Cillian’s mouth was agape, perfect pink lips puckered in despair. His face twisted in a mixture of anger and disbelief, haunted you as you pondered the future of your friendship.

With your hands trembling slightly, you gathered your belongings, your movements slow and deliberate, taunting. You glanced around the room, the faces of your classmates blurred behind the sheen of unshed tears.

“Y/N, wait—” Cillian's voice trailed after you, but you didn't turn back. Not this time.

[astrologged]

Eris in the signs and houses

Eris (10) is a recently discovered dwarf planet in our solar system, its about one's approach to conflict and disruption. 

Eris in Aries/1st house: The energy of Eris is amplified in Aries, emphasizing the need to stand up for oneself and to fight for what one believes in. There's a tendency towards impulsive actions and a need to assert oneself, sometimes at the expense of others.

Eris in Taurus/2nd house: Can manifest as a deep resistance to change, a stubbornness that can lead to conflict with others. There may also be a strong desire for material security and a fear of scarcity that can lead to hoarding.

Eris in Gemini/3rd house: Creates a highly curious and communicative personality, but there's also be a tendency to provoke others or to create chaos through verbal manipulation. There may also be a deep skepticism of authority.

Eris in Cancer/4th house: Has a strong need for emotional security, which can sometimes lead to overprotectiveness and defensiveness. There's also be a strong attachment to family and tradition.

Eris in Leo/5th house: Can create a highly individualistic and creative personality, but there's also be a tendency towards self-centeredness and a need for attention and validation. There may also be a strong desire to challenge authority figures.

Eris in Virgo/6th house: Can indicate a strong need for perfectionism and control, which can lead to conflict with others who don’t meet the same standards. There’s also be a tendency towards critical thinking and analysis.

Eris in Libra/7th house: Manifests as a desire for fairness and justice, but there may also be a tendency towards conflict avoidance or a need to keep the peace at all costs. There may also be a strong attachment to relationships and partnerships.

Eris in Scorpio/8th house: Can indicate a deep passion and intensity, but there's also a tendency towards vindictiveness and a desire for revenge and there can be a strong interest in taboo subjects and a desire to uncover hidden truths.

Eris in Sagittarius/9th house: Can create a highly adventurous and optimistic personality, but there may also be a tendency towards recklessness and a disregard for consequences and they have a strong interest in philosophy and spirituality.

Eris in Capricorn/10th house: Indicates a strong desire for power and success, but there’s also be a tendency towards authoritarianism and a disregard for others, and a strong attachment to tradition and a resistance to change.

Eris in Aquarius/11th house: Can create a highly rebellious and unconventional personality, but there's also a tendency towards isolationism and a disregard for social norms, and a strong interest in science and technology.

Eris in Pisces/12th house: Indicates a highly intuitive and sensitive personality, but there may also be a tendency towards escapism and avoidance of reality, and they may have a strong interest in spirituality and mysticism.