#tell me more about that

[shivunin]

the high priestess for elowen c:

Thank you so much for asking! For "the high priestess" (magic, dreams, knowledge):

A Storm, Reaching

(Elowen Lavellan/Cullen | 674 Words | CW: References to lyrium addiction)

“What does it feel like?” Cullen asked. 

Elowen’s hand was cupped in his. It was more pleasant, more soothing than she’d thought it would be to hold someone’s hand. Grounding, she supposed. She wouldn’t tell him so, she decided. The words would all come out wrong, like as not. 

“Hmm?” she asked, watching the mist from the lake curl around their feet. She could not say how long they’d been here, sitting on the dock outside of Honnleath. It felt like it had been hours. Not long enough, of course. It could never be long enough for the two of them. Soon, they would have to turn back to find their mounts and ride for Skyhold. There would be responsibilities and patrols and paperwork and neverending rifts to seal, and—

“Magic,” he said after a moment. Her thoughts had wandered so far that Elowen scrambled for a moment before she remembered what he was talking about. 

“I have often wondered,” he went on when she said nothing in response, “what it might feel like. For you.” 

“Oh,” she said, tilting her head back to think. “I’ve—I suppose I’ve never really thought of it before.” 

“You haven’t?” he asked. His profile was lit by the reflection of the moon on the water, a silvery line along his face. “When…I began taking lyrium, I felt the change at once. There are ways to practice how to use it before taking the first draught, of course, but afterward…”

His mouth shaped the next word before he said it, and his mouth twisted into a grimace. 

“What did it feel like?” Elowen asked, and turned her hand until their palms were pressed together. He’d taken off his gloves at some point and his hands were cool to the touch. She wrapped her other hand around his, too, and squeezed lightly until his skin began to warm. 

“I’m not one for—descriptions of…” he hesitated. “It felt strong. Sure. Like it was the answer. When I took it, everything felt clear—but it was never my own clarity. Perhaps that doesn’t make any sense, I don’t—”

“I understand,” Elowen said before he could take the words back. “The Anchor feels the same way sometimes. When I use it, it’s like speaking a language I’ve never learned. Was it like that?”

“Yes,” he said, “I suppose it was.”

They sat in relative silence for a time, accompanied only by the water lapping against the dock and the distant croaking of the frogs. When his hand warmed, Elowen loosened her grip on it and took the other.

“Magic doesn’t feel like that,” she said after a time. “When I used it the first time, it was as easy as breathing. I almost scared the life out of my poor mother. I had climbed to the top of a tree in a storm—”

“Really?” Cullen asked, and she smiled. 

“Really. And they couldn’t find me anywhere in the camp. It was truly a frightening one, winds bending trees to and fro, rain soaking me to the skin. It’s why I hadn’t tried to climb down. In my fear, I reached for the storm. I can’t say what I was trying to do or what I thought would happen. I was so young—but in any case, I reached for the storm and it reached back. I felt the lightning race across my skin, but it didn’t hurt. It felt right, natural. I don’t think I can explain it in any other way, though I wish there were better words.”

She laughed, shaking her head. Cullen’s fingers tangled with hers. 

“I’m sure that doesn’t help,” she said. “It’s all dreadfully vague.” 

“No, no,” Cullen said, squeezing her hand. “Thank you for telling me. When I’d considered it in the past, I thought it would be the same.”

After a moment, voice quieter, he added:

“I am glad to know it’s not the same.” So am I, Elowen thought. She squeezed his hand, still warming to hers, and brought the knuckles to her lips one by one.

[marlynnofmany]

If that doesn't have potential for some fairytale nonsense, I don't know what does.

[littlemut]

[pilmyeol]

fantasy high elemental cheerleaders vocal stim

[milesofstars]

dont worry about it jason...

[ilynpilled]

i think men should be locked up and incinerated

[codecicle]

Whar does rpf mean 💔💔💔

historians aren't quite sure. Albert Einstein's last words were "rpf is fine" and we've been searching ever since

[deep-space-netwerk]

So Venus is my favorite planet in the solar system - everything about it is just so weird.

It has this extraordinarily dense atmosphere that by all accounts shouldn't exist - Venus is close enough to the sun (and therefore hot enough) that the atmosphere should have literally evaporated away, just like Mercury's. We think Earth manages to keep its atmosphere by virtue of our magnetic field, but Venus doesn't even have that going for it. While Venus is probably volcanically active, it definitely doesn't have an internal magnetic dynamo, so whatever form of volcanism it has going on is very different from ours. And, it spins backwards! For some reason!!

But, for as many mysteries as Venus has, the United States really hasn't spent much time investigating it. The Soviet Union, on the other hand, sent no less than 16 probes to Venus between 1961 and 1984 as part of the Venera program - most of them looked like this!

The Soviet Union had a very different approach to space than the United States. NASA missions are typically extremely risk averse, and the spacecraft we launch are generally very expensive one-offs that have only one chance to succeed or fail.

It's lead to some really amazing science, but to put it into perspective, the Mars Opportunity rover only had to survive on Mars for 90 days for the mission to be declared a complete success. That thing lasted 15 years. I love the Opportunity rover as much as any self-respecting NASA engineer, but how much extra time and money did we spend that we didn't technically "need" to for it to last 60x longer than required?

Anyway, all to say, the Soviet Union took a more incremental approach, where failures were far less devastating. The Venera 9 through 14 probes were designed to land on the surface of Venus, and survive long enough to take a picture with two cameras - not an easy task, but a fairly straightforward goal compared to NASA standards. They had…mixed results.

Venera 9 managed to take a picture with one camera, but the other one's lens cap didn't deploy.

Venera 10 also managed to take a picture with one camera, but again the other lens cap didn't deploy.

Venera 11 took no pictures - neither lens cap deployed this time.

Venera 12 also took no pictures - because again, neither lens cap deployed.

Lotta problems with lens caps.

For Venera 13 and 14, in addition to the cameras they sent a device to sample the Venusian "soil". Upon landing, the arm was supposed to swing down and analyze the surface it touched - it was a simple mechanism that couldn't be re-deployed or adjusted after the first go.

This time, both lens caps FINALLY ejected perfectly, and we were treated to these marvelous, eerie pictures of the Venus landscape:

However, when the Venera 14 soil sampler arm deployed, instead of sampling the Venus surface, it managed to swing down and land perfectly on….an ejected lens cap.

[adriles]

when we’re done with our overwhelming grief we’ll eat i guess

[trans-androgyne]

I read too many stories of "women" throughout history who lived as men and wore men's clothing getting beaten and arrested for it, sensationalized in the press as "man-woman," painted as perverts and monsters, put in literal freakshows, and forcibly institutionalized to sit by quietly while non-transmascs loudly and confidently claim that "female masculinity" has never been targeted as much as "male femininity" has. Read some trans and queer history that isn't only about gay men and trans women before you open your mouths about butches and transmascs, or better yet just listen to us about our history and experiences in the first place.

[they-hermes]

the only way id accept jazz frequently going undercover as a decepticon in fanon is if how he does it is just by being nice and funny. like i bet any decepticon would spill massive intel if they met this guy who made funny jokes and offered to clean their guns sometimes. sure they'd like to punch the rookie around but they mellow out pretty quickly and soon enough they're telling the new guy every detail they know about high command over a few drinks and letting him through restricted areas

[xxplastic-cubexx]

something about first impressions idk

bonus:

[mythicalcoolkid]

You don't wish your disability was worse or more visible, you wish your disability was taken seriously. Please stop confusing the two, I guarantee you would not get the support you need JUST by being more severe or more visible. Please listen to visibly disabled people when we tell you it isn't better on our side

[z-1-wolfe]

happy pride :3 i offer religious trauma

[nikkisticki]

RULE

[bittsandpieces]

this pic brought to you by waterfalls coming out your mouth by glass animals