#though there is the massive issue of how long it takes nuclear waste to break down which is its own horror

[ailius-suffers-through-art]

An original story i wrote for my english class way back when. It's dark (like all of my original fiction for SOME FUCKING REASON????? i guess im an angst connoisseur......???) so please heed the tags before reading to the end!!

i find nuclear power so ungodly interesting so its a damn shame i couldn't use it here. coal power plants generally use the same system minus the radioactive fuel though so i think its worthy of a mention.

reader beware, but please enjoy

Title: 17/11/██

-----

I don’t know how I should start this. Does it even matter at this point?

I’m not sure what else I can do. The Walls scare me and I want to go home.

I guess I should start at the beginning if this is going to be my last work.

If anyone will ever read this in the first place;

This whole situation, the horror I’m trapped in right now, all of this is my brother’s fault. We had been sneaking out to meet our girlfriends at the time, Oh god marie, I’m so sorry. I hope I will be alive to see you again. and decided it might be fun to have a test of courage in the abandoned power plant just a stretch into the forest by our meeting place. Which twin had the fortitude to explore the old building, we wondered. I was certain it had to be me– though Dallas thought otherwise and was confident in his strength of mind. It was an amateur writer versus a “detective in training”, so he likes to call himself. If my brother were here, I wonder how sane he would be able to stay? Perhaps I, myself, have stumbled upon the true test of courage in his absence. Even despite our disagreement I couldn’t wish this fate on him or on anyone, really.

Unknowing of what awaited us, we threw ourselves into the dark with gusto.

We began our journey in the metal cylinder’s room. Small windows near the ceiling let in the moonlight and hinted at the size of the room, but nothing could prepare us for the sheer scale of it. Our flashlights darted around the wide open space, and we could hear the echo of our footsteps as we explored. In the middle of this expanse, our lights hit a massive enclosed structure– the sides metallic and rusted.

“You should peek inside. There may be a monster waiting for you to come give it a kiss!” I teased my brother, knocking on the loose door. He laughed alongside me and agreed, pushing it open though his hands shook. As his flashlight lit up that small room, we saw the titular device I have named the room after. Forgive me for my ignorance as to the proper names for many of these locations and devices. I’m not somewhere where I could access this information– even if I wished to. It was a grand cylinder with lines engraved down the sides, stretching across several of those enclosings. This machine, bizarre yet harmless as it was, seemed to frighten my brother and so he quickly shoved the door closed again.

“Not to worry,” he joked– trying to cover up the way his eyes shook, “I gave that monster quite the smooch. She enjoyed it well.”

The air got colder the deeper we descended. Each hallway we traversed was lined with hundreds of pipes, trailing off into the darkness as our light was swallowed by the distance. The more my brother shivered, the more confident I became about my superiority in this little contest of ours. I was so sure of myself that I ignored the warning signs; the shifting beneath the ground, the dread slithering round and round those everlasting hallways.

At last, we reached the basement. The air was silent as death, the rest of life cut away from those isolated depths like an amputated limb. It was so quiet I felt as if I could hear a breath from a mile away. My brother stopped us there, grabbing me by the shoulders with his clammy palms.

“We can’t continue. Something’s… not well with this place.” he told me earnestly, but my ignorance was boundless. I laughed, spittle flying into the damp air,

“You’re quitting already? So much for that detective work, then?” Even now I can clearly remember the expression he made; it’s burned into my mind with all the clarity of a photograph. The furrow of his brows, the disbelief that bloomed across his face as he realized my foolishness, the frustration he must have felt, I understand it all clearly now. He shook me, clenching my shoulders tighter than he ever had before.

“You must be joking! Can’t you feel it? Everything feels wrong. This entire building is poisoned!” Dallas’ voice cracked harshly as he spoke with all the fervor of a wild animal.

All my blinded eyes could comprehend at that moment, however, was a coward.

In my folly I only saw the cornered dog, not the shadow looming over it.

“If you’re so scared you can run on back to your girl. Tell her your brother’s infallible will isn’t to be trifled with.” I had taunted.

“That’s not the point! God, it’s always the smartass with you, isn’t it? Think outside of your bloated ego for one second, for heaven’s sake.” he cried.

“If you want to leave, then just leave! I won’t stop you.”

Finally, he exploded.

“You arrogant prick! Fine, see what I care if you get yourself killed. Have fun with that courage of yours when you’re dead.” He shouted, turning around and marching away.

“Fine by me!” I’d called after him, before I was alone again in the silent dark.

Harumphing, my anger fueled me to plunge deeper into the basement. It was harder to face alone than with my brother.

The pipes looked like worms burrowing into the flesh of the building. At once I came across what seemed to be a shallow pool of water, stretching endlessly into that room.

My self-righteousness drained away by the cold, I kicked at the water sullenly. The water was warm.

Warmer than anything else in that chilly, dilapidated horrorshow. My instincts, once dormant, now awakened violently to the inherent evil of that place and sent me reeling backwards. All the signs had hit me at once. I had only understood the true nature of my situation when I was already in the mouth of the beast. Something reached out from that water and grasped my leg, and then I knew nothing.

When I awoke, I was here. I will attempt to describe this hell I am stuck in, though I feel my words will lack the depth of color to make you understand.

I woke up on a warm smooth surface, the heat of the room was quite pleasant in comparison to the freezing world I had left behind. The room was pitch black, so I felt my way across the room. Wall to wall, edge to edge, the walls were filled with warmth and the surface was without a scratch. The floor pulsated with an odd familiar rhythm, and as I searched for an exit I found myself enclosed within those six walls. A glass box with no escape. Whilst I fumbled around in the dark, my foot discovered my only other company, a pen and a stack of papers. As my eyes slowly adjusted to the dark, I finally understood where I was trapped, or to be exact, what I was trapped in. The first thing I noticed were the eyes. Hundreds of eyes, all staring at me from outside that glass box. Second, it was the viscera pressed against every single wall, pulsating to the rhythm of a heartbeat. Hair was curled within that flesh, ingrown and putrid. Lastly, I noticed the teeth, barely attached to the squishy meat they were embedded in, surrounding cavernous tunnels that breathed against my enclosure.

I nearly threw up. Once my realization had passed, I tried to use the paper to cover up those horrible sights– to stop those disgusting eyes from watching me. No matter how much paper I used, though, it never seemed to run out. A boon, I suppose, from the one who trapped me in this infernal purgatory. I use that pen and paper to write to you now, if anyone will read this at all. This cage of mine, or perhaps I should call it my last line of defense as without it I don’t know what the creature outside would do to me, contains finite air. I only have so long before I will run out. I can only hope someone will rescue me before that happens. Maybe an early death will save me from going well and truly insane here.

I’m scared.

I don’t want to die.

I’m sorry, Dallas.

Please come save me soon.

----------------------------------------------

This letter was recovered next to the emaciated corpse of ████ ███, a young man who had gone missing two months prior. His brother, Dallas ███, had reported the disappearance the day of, dated 17/11/ ██. The police had searched the ████ coal power plant that night but no one was found. Recently, people complained of a foul smell coming from within the power plant and the place was excavated. This was when the body was discovered alongside the papers. These have been transcribed as accurately as possible for posterity.

[noonachronicles]

Everlong Pt. 7

Kwon Jiyong/ G Dragon X Reader

Word count: 7.2k

Warnings: mild language and some violent imagery (?)

Genre: Hades/Jiyong. Greek God AU. Fantasy.

A/N: Fingers crossed y’all think it’s good lolololol!

Update Tag: @kathrynwynterbourne , @astarlitworld, @blue-lungs , @violagoth , @un-idntfied , @optimizche , @de-gabyconamor , @134340-cm @wonderful39530

Moodboard by Bae @memoiresofaneternaldreamer

One weekend during your first summer living with Jiho, when you were still just roommates, the two of you had gotten into a massive argument. It was a Saturday towards the end of June and had been the longest day of the year, literally. Summer solstice. The sun had reached its highest point in the sky and the daylight had lasted longer than any other day of the year. Longer than anyone had wanted really. The apartment didn’t have central air so most the day had seen you two bickering over who got to stand directly in front of the open freezer door since the a/c unit in the window had broken down the summer prior and Jiho had never replaced it.

Tensions were already peaked and made worse by the fact that you’d been so hot you couldn’t even think of eating anything other than popsicles, so you were also starving. Irritation levels were bordering on nuclear. You had gone to the refrigerator to grab one of the chilled water bottles, the only thing giving you any relief, when you found that Jiho had taken the last one and hadn’t replaced it. The screaming match lasted for two full hours and the subject matter varied so many times that by the time you walked out of the apartment, slamming the door behind you, you couldn't even remember what the original issue had been.

All that afternoon and well after the sun had set, you walked around downtown. You didn’t stop anywhere, you didn’t go inside any air conditioned buildings or cool down with an iced coffee. You walked and you walked and when you thought your feet were going to pop off at the ankle, you kept walking. Finally when you were sticky all over where your sweat had bloomed and dried, and bloomed all over again until you felt like you were more layers of sweat than layers of skin, you went home. Your plan worked.

By the time you’d gotten back to the apartment Jiho had passed out in his room, which meant the argument would remain dead. It also meant you were able to take a nice long cold shower, so long that when you stepped out you were still shivering. And you did it without him complaining about how much water you used. By the time you let your body crash down on the mattress you were so exhausted that you slept well into the next afternoon. Waking up you found that Jiho had gotten up early that morning and purchased a new air conditioner and replaced the water in the refrigerator. He’d put tiny gift bows on each bottle and left a note with a cute cartoon drawing on it that said ‘I’m sorry roomie’. That was the first time you felt anything for him beyond your normal platonic relationship.

That walk, you’d thought, was much worse than this one. The sun was warm here, but the air around you was relatively cool. When you did finally feel yourself starting to perspire you simply took off your sweater, grateful to your past self for remembering to wear a shirt underneath which you didn’t normally do, and wrapped it around your waist. Jiyong seemed completely unphased by anything. Still in his heavy coat and sweater combo, not even a hint of a bead of sweat on his brow.

The only thing that made your other walk slightly better was having all the people to watch, the buildings to peek into, and other general activity often found in cities to observe. Your initial excitement had worn off sooner than you’d hoped as Jiyong led you down a dirt road towards the mountains you’d seen earlier. He’d said that he wanted to get the nasty stuff over with first and the pair of you had been walking the road to Tartarus for what felt like hours. You’d talked a lot along the way but there was a lot of silence as well. You liked both equally. You could, you’d thought to yourself several times, talk to Jiyong for hours about anything and never get tired of it. You could also just be near him silently and have that be enough as well.

“It feels like we’ve been walking forever,” you said as the two of you finally reached the mountain. You squinted up at the bright orb in the sky and then followed Jiyong towards a creek that led to an opening in the mountains, a valley. “But the sun isn’t even at its highest point yet, it’s not even noon.”

“Time works differently here.” he said simply. “It moves slowly at first and then before you know it, it moves very, very quickly.”

You hummed thoughtfully and leaped onto a large rock sticking out above the shallow water. “So what’s down here?”

“Horrible, terrible things I would have never suggested you see or experience in life or in death.” he said quite bluntly.

“Drama queen.” you teased with an eye roll before jumping to the next rock and catching your balance.  

Jiyong followed along side the small creek, watching you as you hopped from one large flat rock to the next over and over. He was finding your constant playfulness refreshing. He’d walked this world a million times both by himself and in the company of many others, but you seemed to see it differently than anyone before you. Several times already you’d pointed out things to him that he’d been taking for granted. Smells that you loved, sights you found breathtaking. You saw everything that no one else ever took notice of all while asking a million and one questions. He knew he’d answer a million more for you if you wanted to ask him.

As curious as you were, however, he still didn’t really like the idea of you going to Tartarus. He wasn’t even really fond of you having come this far. It wasn’t a pleasant experience, not any of it. And he still didn’t know enough about you to be sure you could handle it all. You could do things and see things beyond what you should be capable of, but that didn’t mean that you weren’t still mortal. That you weren’t still vulnerable to the tricks and traps of the underworld.

He scratched the back of his neck nervously as you hopped to another rock, “Will you please be careful. If you break an ankle I’m not carrying you. I might drag your body but that’s it, that’s as chivalrous as I get.”

“Listen Frodo, you may enjoy impossibly long walks through deserted wastelands, but I’m just trying to find fun where I can get it, okay?” you said taking another leap.

He scoffed, “I’d like to remind you that this extended journey was your own idea. So desperate to see it all.”

“Maybe,” you said before your next big jump, “so. In fairness to me, when you said there wouldn’t be any creepy skeletons or sad spirits, I thought you were lying. I didn’t realize that besides the people walking around near the gates, we were going to be the only two people in the entire underworld.”

“How long do you think the underworld has been around?” Jiyong asked clasping his hands behind his back as he continued to walk parallel to you.

“Like...awhile.”

“And how many people do you think die every year?” he asked.

“A bajillion.” you said sarcastically, “but doesn’t that just prove my point that there should be more people, more souls, hanging around?”

“Fifty-five million people died last year. Of course that number increases as the number of people being born each year increases, so it wasn’t always that high, but you get the point. So what would you suggest we do with millions of people in our limited space?” he finished his rant.

“What would I suggest ‘we’ do? Who is ‘we’ exactly?”  

He seemed to sputter out his response. “Just… whoever runs this place. Not us we, but the general usage of the word.”

You hopped across three large stones landed in the gravel beside Jiyong. “Well then, what do they do with everyone? Mr. I know everything ever about everything ever.”

“It’s a little bit different everywhere,” he started to explain but you grabbed his arm and he paused.

“Who is that?” you asked nervously looking down the creek.

There was a gangly man walking towards the two of you. Torn, dark denim stretched over his impossibly long legs and tucked into dark brown leather hiking boots. On top of that he wore a plain gray hoodie underneath a black coat. His black hair was quaffed to one side and even though his head was down you could see the way his ears pulled away from his head like wings, and you didn’t know why but it made you smile despite your nerves. There was a burlap satchel hanging at his hip that he was digging in, so he hadn’t even noticed the two of you yet.

“Pothos,” Jiyong muttered. The god of longing. One of the three erotes, gods of love and desire. He was a decent friend actually, he and Hades had bonded through their commonalities. Similar to Hades, Pothos had also been duped by his two brothers and was now in charge of those souls who had wasted their lives on unrequited love, in their deaths. “Stay here a minute.”

“Jiyong…” you whispered and squeezed his arm tightly. “Don’t go.”

“You’re okay here, I swear. I’ll be right back.”  

He walked away as you watched nervously. Jiyong had almost gotten all the way to the tall man before he’d even realized he wasn’t alone. As he lifted his face you were struck by his features. The soft curve of his chin emphasized the sharp angles of his jaw. His thick eyebrows were shaped with a peak that expressed a mischievousness, matching the cheshire curve of his lips. He smiled when he saw Jiyong as if he knew him, like he wasn’t some trespasser. It earned your curiosity, but you were too far to hear what they said when they spoke.

“Hades!” Pothos greeted the god cheerfully, “Friend, what are you doing here?”

“Shh,” he hissed, “Don’t. Please don’t say that name.”

“Oh..kay.” Pothos said confused, but not surprised. Hades always was a strange one. “Is it already that time of year?”

“No, I’m not here for inspections.” he said clearing his throat, “Why are you here?”

“I was just dropping off some new charges. Went by the pavillion earlier, you’ve got a heavy backlog. They were complaining that you’d disappeared. Where’ve you been?”

“Busy.” he said shortly, hoping that he wouldn’t give too much away.

“With a young woman, perhaps?” Pothos grinned, “Don’t think I didn’t notice your friend. She, who radiates life like no other creature in this realm. Who is she?”        

“Don’t worry about it.”

The other gods mouth fell in sudden realization, “You don’t want me to use your name because she doesn’t know you’re Hades. That is...curious.”

“No, she doesn’t know and if she finds out from anyone but me,” he said pointedly, “I will tear the wings off that individuals back with my own two hands.”

“Ah, you know they’ll only grow back.” Pothos grinned, “What’s your fake name?”

“You don’t need to know, since you won’t be speaking to her.”

With a charming smile Pothos raised his hand and beckoned you over to them. He turned back to his friend as you started walking towards them, and muttered  “Tick Tock.”

“Jiyong.” He groaned just before you stepped up beside him.

“Well hello, darling. Beautiful day, don’t you think?”

You looked to Jiyong who nodded and gave you a reassuring smile. “I’ve been enjoying it so far.”

“And Jiyong here, he’s been treating you kindly?” he asked.

“The kindest I’ve ever been treated.”

“Oh,” Pothos raised an eyebrow in amusement before looking between the two of you for a moment. “Seems I’ve already done my job here then.”

“Great, so you can leave.” Jiyong said with a roll of his eyes.

“Yes, of course, I’ll give you two some privacy.” he winked.

“Wait,” you said suddenly, as he started to take his leave. He turned to you expectantly and you stuttered out, “Can I... is it rude to ask?”

“The wings?” Pothos smiled. You’d noticed the cream colored feathers peeking out from beneath his jacket when you were watching the conversation earlier and had been curious about them ever since. More than anything you wanted to know what they felt like. “Of course. Anything for a friend of...Jiyong. Let me shake them out for you.”

He took his bag off his shoulder and handed it to Jiyong who scowled, and then did the same with his jacket. The hoodie he was wearing had massive slits down the back to account for the wings, which was one of your questions answered. As he stood there the wings grew from the length of his spine to the length of his entire body. He shook his shoulders, ruffling the feathers before expanding them out completely in a dramatic flourish. The power of them blowing your hair like a gust of wind in a storm. Jiyong made a noise at the back of his throat in annoyance.

“They’re all yours.” He called over his shoulder.

You ran your hand down the smooth feathers, they felt like silk against your fingertips. Pothos shivered at the feeling and you pulled your hand away quickly, “I’m sorry.”

“Oh, that was fine. It felt lovely.” He turned to face you, his smile faded into something sad. As his wings shrunk down to their previous size, he lifted his large hand to your face. He brushed a loose piece of hair from your cheek and let his palm rest on it for a moment before saying, “I’m just afraid that you’re one of mine, darling. For that I’m terribly sorry.”

“She’s not.” Jiyong snapped, tossing the bag and jacket into Pothos arms before snatching your wrist in his hand to pull you behind him, as if to protect you. “We have to go now.”

“I’ve been wrong before.” he said and looked at Jiyong with pity in his eyes, only making the other god more angry. “Have a wonderful day.”

You didn't even get a second to say goodbye before you were being dragged down the length of the creek. Jiyong didn’t stop or speak until Pothos was out of view, until you’d rounded a curve that opened to a length of the valley that was completely covered in red rose bushes. You dug your heels into the ground, effectively halting his sudden rampage. There were small pebbled paths on both sides of the creek, but beyond that it was rose bushes as far as the eye could see. Not just on the floor of the valley, but growing along the walls of it as well.

“Would you…calm down?” you asked, trying to focus on him, but getting too distracted by the sight before you.

“Do not touch them.” he said seeing the longing look in your eyes.

Your jaw clenched at the command and you immediately wanted to defy him. “Why not?”

“Roses have thorns.”

“I think I’ll live with a couple of scratches.” you said sarcastically.

“They’re poisonous.” he responded quickly.

Your nose scrunched, “Seriously?”

“It is the underworld.” he shrugged. He held out his hand for you to grab, you accepted without any more of a fuss.  “Here, you can hop on your rocks.”

He walked on the bank between you and the roses, acting like a barrier. You kept your hand in his as you continued your leaping game.

“Who was that guy?” you asked after some time had passed and you were sure that Jiyong had calmed down from his previously frazzled state. “Is he an angel?”

Jiyong scoffed beside you, amused at the thought, “He wishes.”

“He seemed very nice,” you said thoughtfully, “except...what do you think he meant? When he said you’re one of mine.”

“It doesn’t matter, it’s not true.”

“Ji…”

“Drop it.” he snapped. You stopped on the last rock you’d landed on and pulled your hand from his. He looked over at you with a sigh, “I’m sorry. Just- it doesn’t matter what he said, if it’s wrong. He’s just a glorified gardener anyway. I don’t want you needlessly worrying about things.”

“Fine.” you said and stubbornly started moving forward without reaching over for his hand again.

“Thank you.” he tucked his hands in his pockets sounding just as grumpy as you.

The feeling of an argument between the two of you didn’t sit well in your stomach. After a moment of silence you called over your shoulder, “You said he’s a gardener?”

“Yeah.”

“And all of these roses, are they his?” Jiyong hummed in confirmation, “He’s not that great at it. Most of these are sad and droopy.”

He hummed again and you sighed dramatically and turned on your heel to face him.

“Are you mad or-” your sneaker slipped on a bit of wet rock. You tried to correct yourself but failed and your eyes blew wide open as you started to fall backwards into the bushes beside the creek.

Jiyong lunged forward and reached out to catch you. His arms kept you from falling completely into the bushes, but your back and head had still dipped into the flowers. Several petals brushed against your neck and cheeks. It was one of the worst noises you’d ever heard in your entire life. A chorus of voices crying out in agony crashed around you. Endless wailing that made you feel like your own heart was breaking in your chest. He pulled you from the flowers as fast as he possibly could, and as soon as you were no longer touching them the screaming was silenced. It was too little too late as the pain from the roses rang in your ears and echoed through your veins.

Back on your own two feet you brushed your cheek with the back of your hand and brought it away with a few drops of blood smeared across it. “Am I going to die?”

“Why would you die? Where are you hurt?” he asked looking over your body in a quick inspection.

“You said they were poisonous.”

“That was a lie,” he confessed, “I just didn’t want you to touch them. I didn't want you to hear them.”

“Explain.” you demanded. Your heart was aching in your chest and you thought you might cry soon, though you weren’t sure why. The sudden strike of emotions was unsettling and you need a reason for it all.

“Each rose in this valley is a soul.” you gasped lightly at his words, “This is the valley of mourning. Every soul here wasted their lives on unrequited love or died of a broken heart.”

“Your friend… he plants these souls. He said I was one of his. What does that mean? Which one am I?” you asked sounding frantic, “Heartbroken or unrequited?”

“Neither. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. You won’t rest here.”

“No, I won’t! I won’t rest because I’ll be in agony for all of eternity.” you said brushing a tear from your cheek.

Jiyong grabbed your shoulders, forcing you to look at him, “This place is not for you.”

“He said…” you’d lost your grasp, tears streaming down your cheeks.

“Things change, people are wrong all the time.”

You gasped out a breath between sobs, “God I can’t stop crying. What’s happening to me? I’m so sad.”

“It’s this fucking place.” He muttered, angry at himself. He should have never brought you.

He pulled you into his arms and you cried into his shoulder freely. You couldn’t understand why you had gotten so upset so quickly. As if all of the souls that belonged to the petals that touched your flesh had reached inside of you and you were subsequently feeling each and every one of their hearts breaking over and over again.

“They didn’t do anything wrong.” you sniffed after a minute, stepping back.

“Who?”

“The souls,” you answered, “They didn’t do anything wrong, but they’re still stuck here in agony all alone for the rest of eternity. No one here to listen to their pain or comfort them.”

Reaching out your hand, you cupped a single rose in your palms. There was a gently weeping that rang out around you. It was a soft sound and wrapped around you like a blanket. The weeping soul seeped inside of you. You learned its story, and you cried for it, cried with it. The idea that there were countless others surrounding you, that you would be joining them, made you feel sick.

Jiyong grabbed your hands in his, “Don’t do this. It will just upset you and nothing will change. This is their fate.”

“And mine.” you muttered.

“Not yours.” he said sternly. “Come on, I’m getting you out of here.”

Sniffling the entire way, you walked with him out of the valley. You didn’t understand why you were so affected by it and he didn’t seem to be at all. There were several times on the way out that he had to push flowers out of the way so you could pass by and not even once did he flinch. It was like he couldn’t even hear what you heard. It left you with a feeling of weakness, being so sensitive to it all and you were starting to worry, imagining that it would only get worse from here. That hadn’t even been where people were purposely tortured.  

The valley opened up to a vast empty field of long grass. The wide open space before you felt like a relief, and you let out a long deep sigh. You hadn’t even realized the valley was making you feel so claustrophobic until you were actually out of it. Looking out over the emptiness, you felt fine, you felt really good. There was nothing there that looked remotely scary. No ominous movement in the grass to indicate any creatures lurking in wait. Nothing but an empty grass wasteland, and just beyond it a massive rocky hill with a large gaping hole at its base. The entrance to a cave.

“Tatarus.” you said quietly, “It’s so close.”

“I can’t lie. It’s going to be very difficult for you to make it through the field of punishment. You’re already in a weakened state by the valley of mourning.” he looked over at you and you tried to hide your still shaking hands, “I’m not comfortable taking you any further.”

“I’m stronger than you think I am.” you argued stubbornly, though you didn’t entirely feel it in your chest. “And it’s just some grass.”  

Jiyong held back a groan, “It’s not a matter of thinking you’re weak or strong. I know very well this won’t be easy for you and I’m worried. I don’t want you to feel even a miniscule amount of the pain that this place can bring. It is inexplicably worse than mourning.”  

“Why are you only worried about me and not about yourself?” you asked. Jiyong froze, unable to respond. “Because you think you’re so much stronger than me? Well, you’re not. So let’s just go.”

He sighed and followed behind you as you pushed forward, the long grass brushing against your hips. For the first time since he met you, he was angry with you. Angry that you wouldn’t just listen to him. That you had to be so persistent and curious. Two of the things he loved most about you, coming around to torture him. More than you he was angry with himself, realizing that he pushed you too much. Ever since he realized that there was something in you that was more than mortal he’d been curious too. Putting you into positions that would test you without your knowledge, wanting to know how much you could take.

It wasn’t until your reaction to the valley of mourning that he realized there was still a large part of you that was mortal, and that could be affected by the magic of this world. Now he was worried for you, scared that this would go too far. The closer a person got to the entrance of the cave to Tartarus the more powerful the energy became. Even Hades himself hated going down to the caves, they left a nasty feeling in the pit of his stomach. He felt uneasy letting you keep on ahead, knowing that soon you would feel it overcome you. He was overwhelmingly concerned that it would change you, drive you mad. It would be his fault if you didn’t come back from this. His fault for being too lenient with you. His fault for not telling you who he was, again and again and again, keeping the secret to himself out of selfishness and fear that you wouldn’t accept him for who he was. The worst part, he’d realized, was that all you had done this entire time was trust him to protect you and he was going to fail.

After you were more than halfway through the field you slowed in the grass, your hand brushing against a bush with tiny white flowers. You’d seen and passed by several of the same kind of bushes as you walked through the field. You wondered what the plant was every time you saw it but had been reluctant to ask Jiyong about it since you’d went off on him. It’s all you thought about on the walk though the grass. It left you feeling like a jerk and you genuinely believed you deserved that. He didn’t think you were weak, you were just being a brat. All he’d done was try to keep you safe, and all you did in return was make it exceedingly more difficult for him with every choice you made.

“Do you know what this is?” you asked, trying to ease the awkward tension between the two of you.

He stepped up beside you and looked over at the small flowerette and hummed thoughtfully, “That’s hemlock.”

You snapped your fingers away from the flower, “Like the poison.”

“I think it’s only deadly if you ingest it,” he said with a small smile as you rubbed your fingers against your jeans. “Just don’t, you know, lick your hands or anything.”    

“Is each tiny flower a tortured soul?” you ignored his joke, and looked over at him, thinking that just maybe you were finally understanding.

Jiyong shook his head, “No, the hemlock is planted here to poison the soil.”

Suddenly you were pushed forward from behind, your chest slamming into Jiyongs shoulder. You turned quickly to see a man walking passed you. After staring at him for a long while, wondering where he had come from, you turned back around.

“Jerk... who was that?” You asked annoyed.

“Who was who?” Jiyong asked looking over his shoulder to try and see who you were talking about.

When you looked away from Jiyong you gasped. More people were walking towards the two of you. No one said anything, no one acknowledged you were even there, they just kept pushing passed. As the two of you stood there in the long grass, more and more people seemed to be filtering passed you, all of them in the opposite direction. You felt like a fish swimming up stream.

“Who are all these people?” you asked already feeling your blood tickle with anxiety. “Where’d they even come from?”

“Stay close, don’t let me go.” he said quietly sounding more than concerned

“Let’s keep going.” you said sliding your hands down Jiyongs arm to lock your hand with his. “We should try and get out of this crowd.”

“Stay with me. Y/n? Stay with me.” He said as you walked, he already sounded far away.

“Yeah, of course.”

You kept your body tucked as close to his as you could while you pushed in the opposite direction of the oncoming hoard of people. The further you walked the more people there seemed to be. The swarm just continued to grow thicker and thicker. And every last person that walked passed you was ruthlessly inconsiderate as they jostled you around, making it more and more difficult to keep close to Jiyong. Suddenly it was just your fingernails, dug deep into the fabric of his jacket, keeping you two together. That was until one final heavy body pushed through you, your hand dropped for half a second before you were frantically reaching out, trying to find him again.

“No.” You whimpered, “No. Oh no.”

Trying as hard as you could you searched the crowd to try and find him again but it was useless. You couldn’t differentiate a single thing in front of you. It was a massive blur of movement. Your stomach cramped with anxiety as you tried to push forward. Every once in a while you would catch sight of a back of a head that looked like his, or a flash of a jacket that looked like the one he’d been wearing. Crying out his name you’d  push and push through the crowd to get to him, but could never quite reach him before he disappeared again. Half given up at one point you figured he would be pushing forward, so you should just push forward too and you could meet where the crowd broke.

It had to break, there had to be an end to this. Even if you couldn’t see it. Even if the fact that you couldn’t see it terrified you even more than the crowd itself. As you continued to push through you could feel bruises growing on your arms as you were slammed with elbows and shoulders. Every brush of another body against yours made your skin crawl. Your gut had long since twisted into a hard rock and you could feel your chest starting to tighten as well. The group of people seemed to be growing, and the crowd was tightening around you. You gasped for air, stretching your neck to the sky but you weren’t tall enough to break through to the fresh oxygen you needed. Lungs tight, you gasped for breath and you pushed forward. You couldn’t stop, you had to keep going. 

Still trudging your way through the crowd something clipped your foot and you crashed down to your knees. Several feet trampled over your hands before you were able to pull them into your chest. The crowd was moving so heavily that you were surrounded by a thick cloud of dust, making you choke as it hit your lungs.  Now you had to worry not just about suffocating but also about being trampled to death. You sat in the soft dirt, pulled your knees to your chest, and tucked your head beneath your arms.  

“Go away. Go away. Go away.” you gasped through panicked sobs.

You stayed tucked in a ball for what felt like forever, as legs brushed against you, and feet tried to walk over you. Stepping harshly on your arms and back. You could feel how raw your forearms were from where people had dug their shoes into your skin before slipping off of you. You could feel blood dripping down your arms Was this it, you’d wondered, had you died? Was this how you would be tortured for eternity? You wondered what the true punishment was. The tearing pain you felt in your gut, like everything inside of you was being ripped from you? Being trapped in this endless sea of people who were treating your body like a step stool that was just in the way? Was it how alone you felt despite being surrounded by all of these people? The helplessness of it all?

“Y/N?”

Your head shot up at the clear sound of your name. The field had cleared of people. The once long grass had been marched down into mulch. You weren’t sure when he’d arrived but before you, very unexpectedly, stood Jiho about a yard away.

“What? What are you doing here?” you asked through soft sobs.

He stepped towards you, kneeling down to cup your face in his hands, “I heard you were here. I came to find you.”

“I lost him.” as the words fell from your lips it felt like something ripped in your chest and you cried out in pain as another wave of agony passed over you.

“Baby, it’s okay. I’m right here.” Jiho said wrapping his arms around you, pressing kisses against your tearstained face, “I’ve got you now.”

“No...I lost him.” Another scream escaped you. It was as if every time you said or even thought the words you were struck with another lightning bolt of pain that rippled through your entire body.

“I’m right here, you’re not alone anymore. You’re safe.” Jiho said over and over, trying to pull you tighter against him.

“No!” you screamed shoving him away from you and into the dirt. “Not you! God, it’s hurts so bad.”

“What do you need?” Jiho asked.

“Help me find him! Or kill me!” you begged.

“Jesus, what’s wrong with you?” he asked standing up and stepping back, a look of sheer terror on his face.

“It hurts. I’m being ripped apart.” your eyes had been screwed shut with pain, but you opened them, hoping to curb some of the anxiety in your stomach. If you could just see that physically you were fine you could work on some of the other ailments. Everything was not fine.

“No, I mean...what is happening?” Jiho asked again horrified as he stared down at you.

Blinking away tears to try and see clear you saw bits of what looked like red confetti falling in front of you. For a brief moment you were so confused by why there was confetti there that you were able to distract yourself from the pain. Focusing on it for just a moment longer you realized that something wasn’t right. The confetti wasn’t falling down it was floating upwards. It wasn’t confetti at all. Your eyes followed the tiny droplets of blood back down to its source. There was a wet patch of red soaked through your shirt, beads of blood seeping through the fabric one by one and floating up into the sky above. Your breathing became more and more panicked. You tore at the cotton shirt. A muted scream tried to escape your mouth as you stared down at the gaping hole in your chest.

“Help me.” You begged looking up at Jiho, but he was useless, frozen in fear. “Help me! Help!”

You pressed your shaky palms against the wound trying to keep anything else from slipping out. With wide eyes you watched a gold cord slip from between your trembling fingers. Even though you didn’t know what it was or why it was a part of you, you could feel that this cord was important. You knew you couldn’t just let it go.

“No. No!” you cried out as you watched the cord snake its way out of your chest. Following the movement of the blood, it started to float up and away from you. It kept coming and coming, a morbid magic trick. You tried to grab the chord, to pull it back. Slick with blood your hands just slipped over it fruitlessly. “I need that. That’s mine!”

Finally the rope ended and you watched helpless as it lifted into the sky and disappeared into the clouds above. Body still aching in pain, you laid on the ground and cried. Any hope that had been left inside of you had been torn away with the gold cord.

“Let me die.” you closed your eyes and whimpered, “I want to die, let me die.”

You could feel Jiho’s fingers brush over your cheeks as he held your face in his hands and he whispered against your forehead, “Fight it.”

Opening your eyes again Jiho was there, but he was feet away from you, still frozen. However you could feel hands soft against your cheeks. Lifting your hands, you placed them where there should have been nothing, but you could distinctly feel fingers. Moving your hands down there were wrists, and then you squeezed an arm but still you saw nothing in front of you.

“Jiyong?” you choked out.

“There you go, come on.” his voice was a whisper in the back of your mind, “Fight it. Come back.”  

“Where?” you cried, “I didn’t go anywhere! You left me!”

“I thought you were so strong before, huh? What happened, you can’t cut it? Not as strong as you thought?” he was taunting you.

“I am, you asshole!” you snapped, you could hear his laugh echoed around you. “I don’t know what to do. Jiyong, I’m really scared.”

“I know you are, it’s okay. Fight it.” he repeated, his voice stronger now, “Come on, come back to me. I know you’re strong enough. I know you can do this.”

You looked back over at Jiho and then to the empty space in front of you. “This isn’t real.”

“It’s not real.” he confirmed.

“I have to go back to what’s real.” you whispered, “I have to go back to you. You’re real.”

“I’m real and you’re real. We’re right here together. Me and you.”

“Just us?”

“Just me and you.” his thumb brushed your cheek.

When you looked again Jiho was gone. The grass that had been trampled down to dirt was swaying tall around you. You let out a deep sigh, and pushed yourself up so you were sitting in the field, “Okay. I can do this...”

You tried to imagine him back in front of you, the way you had at the beach, but it wouldn’t work. You could see bits and pieces but never a clear picture. Something was missing but you didn’t know what. Lifting your face to the sky you looked at the clouds for a long while trying to figure out what to do, hoping they’d spell out some answer for you.

Then you saw it, the gold cord, and it started to float back down. It coiled into a ball in the space before you. In complete reverse of what had happened to you, you began to rebuild Jiyong with the pieces that fell from the sky. Your lips trembled once he was finally whole again in front of you, unsure if this was just another vision that would fade.

Watching your eyes closely he tilted his head and then smiled, “Hi.”

“Did I do it? Is it really you?” you asked. He nodded and your body shot forward like a bullet. Throwing your arms around him you squeezed him tighter than you’d ever held anyone or anything before and buried your face in his neck. “Don’t you ever leave me like that again!”

“I was here the whole time.” he promised, “I never left your side, I swear.”

“Really?” you asked sitting back down in front of him, “What the hell was that?”

“Your worst fear. If you can’t make it out at some point in the nightmare you die and then it starts at the beginning. It cycles like that over and over for eternity.” he said solemnly. “What was your fear? What did you see? You just kept screaming, begging me to kill you. It was fucking awful.”

“You didn’t see it? You didn’t hear anything else?” you asked feeling slightly embarrassed. That meant, if you’d deciphered it correctly, your greatest fear in the whole world was losing Jiyong. It seemed ridiculous to you to even think that could be your one true fear. How had he become so important to you? What was the chord symbolic of?

“No, why? What happened?”

“I, um, I los-” you paused remembering the last time you made an unrequited confession to him. You’d told him you loved him and he hadn’t even acknowledged it. If you told him that losing him was your worst fear and that it felt like your heart was being ripped from your chest, he’d probably run. You weren’t sure you could blame him. Instead you said, “hangnails.”

“Hangnails?”  

“Yeah, just kept going and going. Thin little strip flesh pulling and pulling until I didn’t have any skin left.” you lied, trying to make it sound like something torturous.

“That’s disgusting.” he said making a face.

“Super gross.” you agreed and looked around, “Ji, where are all the souls?”

“Each blade of grass in this field is a soul.” he said slowly as if to soften the blow. “They’re planted like seeds. The hemlock seeps into them, it’s what keeps the fear cycling.”

“That’s horrible.” you muttered looking around at the countless blades of grass, knowing what each of those souls were feeling right now, knowing that some of their fears would have left them even worse off than you had been. You felt like throwing up, but instead you started to cry again. Jiyong wrapped his arms around you and you cried onto his shoulder for a second time in as many hours.

“I know,” he whispered against your ear as his hand rubbed up and down your back, “It’s not meant to be nice. It’s not meant for souls as good and gentle as yours. These were not good souls, they’re among the worst. I promise you, they’re not worth your sympathy.”

After a moment more of crying you pulled away and wiped your face. “Sorry, I’m such a mess.”

“You’re fine.” he grinned. “Now will you please just let me take you out of this place for real?”

“No, Ji,” you said and looked across the small bit of grass that stood between you and the mouth of the cave that led to Tatarus, “I said all the way. I meant all the way.”

“Are you insane? After all of that? Are you kidding me? No. I won’t let you, not this time. You will listen to me! We are getting out of here!” he yelled, wide eyed and furious. You held it for as long as you could, which honestly wasn’t long, but you couldn’t help but crack a small smile. “You are...you’re fucking joking.”

“Yeah, this is miserable, get me out of here. Please.” you laughed.

“What a little psycho...” he smiled, shaking his head in disbelief as he stood up.

“Help me.” you whined lifting your hands up.

He grabbed your hands and pulled you upward to your feet. A little lightheaded you wobbled forward and into his chest. He looked down at you genuinely concerned, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I think so. Just a little woozy.” you smiled up at him, “You should carry me, in your arms like a baby.”

“Um, no.” He scoffed and pulled your arm over his shoulder.

“Fine, wounded soldier, just toss me over your shoulder.” he snorted with laughter as you started walking, “Piggyback? You can be Dora, I’ll be your talking backpack as we adventure through the underworld.”

“No way.” he said looking over at you sternly. “You wanted to come here so bad, you gotta walk out on your own two feet. You can do it, you’re strong. You don’t need me.”

“Just because I don’t need you doesn’t mean I don’t want you.” you muttered more to yourself, but Jiyong caught it. He looked at you with a raised eyebrow, and you choked out, “Y-Your help. Want your help.”

He sighed, “Do you really want me to carry you out of here?”

“No.” you laughed, shaking your head. “This is good, I like this.”

You moved your arm down around his waist and hooked your finger through a belt loop on his pants. He shrugged, tightening his grip around your hip. “Okay, if you’re sure.”

The only thing you were sure about was that your nightmare wasn’t the only thing making your legs weak.

[optomstudies]

Hey, so usually I'm very early and prepared for exams but this time for my Christmas exams, I've left EVERYTHING until 5 days before the exams! There's too much to memorise in such a short amount of time! And I have a busy schedule so I can't do revision 24/7! Any tips? 

Pssst! The best tip for cramming is actually to not cram!! 🙃 But if you have to, here are some tips that actually work! 💲💲

Throw out all distractions, and palm off as many commitments as possible to others.

You’re a student at the end of the day. That’s your job, so do it properly. Before you are a retail worker, a movie buddy, a chauffeur for your siblings, or a studyblr blog manager, you are a student. 

You don’t have a lot of time left, so give your phone to your parents or someone you trust to keep it away from you. Add StayFocusd to Chrome and turn on the nuclear option so that you only use the internet for study purposes. Get your friends/siblings or parents to do chores for you and make it up to them after the exams. 

Know what’s likely to be tested.

This is much more important than anything else. There are going to be important concepts that you learn that are not going to be tested. No point studying for something that won’t be asked about. Pro tip: think about the homework exercises that you got and what they tested. 

Just as a general rule, the most basic things such as definitions (skim read these), as well as the most complex cases, will not comprise the majority of the test. For complex cases, you can’t just skim read them, but you should get an idea of the skills/processes that you need to solve them. 

For example, when learning about different diseases, the point is to make you a practitioner which can deal with the most dangerous (life-threatening, sight-threatening no matter how rare), most common (>1% prevalence) and uncommon (0.1-1%) diseases, which will comprise the majority of the points. The rare conditions (<0.1%) will either be right near the end of the test or be bonus point questions. The other thing is that if even if they do ask about rare conditions, it’s going to be a distinguishing sign, or it is related to a more common condition. And the question they most likely ask is “what further tests would you do to aid diagnosis?” which relates to basic concepts of disease diagnosis. 

Also, just keep in mind that there are university exams which literally ask you minutae in the multiple choice questions. For example disease exams have asked things like “What percentage of people with diabetes mellitus have diabetic retinopathy?” and have four really similar options for percentages. You just have to had studied that, and odds are you won’t be able to remember a hundred different stats prior to your exam if you’re cramming (just don’t cram, you literally can’t cram for uni exams). 

Divide your time appropriately (not necessarily equally) between understanding the course content and doing practice exercises/ examination style questions.

If you just launch into doing practice questions without having some sort of knowledge, you’ll get stuck on a lot of questions, get the questions wrong, and need to refer back to your textbooks and do a lot of searching and flipping through pages, which wastes your time.

So start off by going through the concepts first so that you know enough not to constantly look back. You should try to allocate as much time as possible actually answering questions though, because there’s no better way to prepare for an exam than to do exam-style questions. 

Step-by-step: Count the number of chapters/lectures you need to cover, and divide it equally amongst about 40% of the time that you have left, so that you know how long to spend revising each lecture. 

Focus on one exam at a time, and study the hardest concepts which require a lot of reasoning and understanding in the morning. 

Studying in the morning allows you to be at your freshest and most switched on. If you’re strapped for time, focus on being able to explain things. Explain it to your parents, siblings, or gudetama plushie. Explaining is an exercise in summarising which tests your ability to understand causative elements and how they relate to different consequences. 

Ask questions to yourself whilst studying. 

This tests your knowledge, and is a good way for you to check what you know and what you don’t know. When you’re cramming, you likely don’t have someone to help you at such short notice, so you need to be that person for yourself. Plus, it primes you to think like an examiner/exam paper - you’ll start realising what’s likely to be tested, which helps you narrow down what to study, and it helps you for the next part: practice questions. 

For example: geometry - to give a simple example, yes, you need to know what an angle bisector is, but are they likely in the exam to ask you to “Write the definition of an angle bisector.”? No. They’re going to get you to actually get your tools and bisect one. 90% of the time, you don’t need to know a definition in maths - it’s only the foundation knowledge so that you can answer actual questions. 

For example: medical/health science. Yes, you need to know differentials for diseases, but are they going to ask you to “List the differentials for ___”? No, that’s too simple, they’re obviously going to get you to eliminate a differential by considering the similarities and differences in signs and symptoms. So it’s much better to spend your time learning which conditions have similarities and what the distinguishing signs are e.g. Fuch’s Uveitis has stellate KP that is scattered all around the corneal endothelium - all other forms of uveitis pretty much have the KP scattered in Arlt’s triangle because of the convection currents in the anterior chamber. 

Chunk information together. 

This is a much more effective way of summarising all the information you need to study. Think of your memory as a mind map or a expandable list or like a set of folders in My Documents. You should try and sort things into topics and sub-topics that you can simply expand by just thinking of the title of that sub-topic. 

Step-by-Step: Cover up the information you’ve written under the sub-topics, and then try to recall it all just by looking at the title (acts as a trigger word). 

Topic/Chapter/Lecture 1

“Sub-Topic 1″ #Try and recall all the info below by reading this#

#cover up this information#

#cover up this information#

#cover up this information#

“Sub-Topic 2″

“Sub-Topic 3″

Not only does this 1) actually test your knowledge through a smaller form of the blank paper method (previously written about here) but it also 2) allows you to chunk and remember massive amounts of information just by seeing the trigger word (the title of the topic). 

It helps to make a mental note of how many points were written for each section.

Tie everything together with a mnemonic. 

Of course, the issue now is that if you don’t have the trigger word then you won’t remember that chunk of information - so you need to counter that by using a mnemonic to remember the top level of topics and link everything together in your mind. 

Using this method is what I’ve always done to remember large chunks of information. That way, when key words turn up in the question, you will be able to remember all the information under that category and hence answer the question flawlessly. 

Practice by doing one exercise for each type of question. 

Particularly useful for studying for maths/science. You just need to know how to solve one question in the set to know how to solve the rest. Pick the hardest question at the end of the question set because it will involve the most skills to complete. 

Study in a different order. Study your concepts in reverse. 

Make sure you change things up, because you don’t want your brain to only be able to answer a question if all the topics lead on to the next. The questions in the exam are going to be covering all your topics in all different orders. Jump from Chapter 3 to Chapter 5 to Chapter 2, and do the same for the sub-topics. 

Secondly, study concepts in reverse because this is how exams test who really knows their stuff. For example: instead of learning that Disease A has Symptoms 1, 2, and 3, force your brain to think “What Disease has Symptoms 1, 2, and 3?” - because this is exactly the type of question that comes up in exams. 

Drink water, take breaks, sleep. 

Still needs to be done to maximise your productivity. Not taking breaks will make you less efficient and less effective. You also said that you have other commitments so try to get that stuff done in the short breaks between your study sessions so that you can be productive. Take a 5-10 minute break every hour and get out of your seat and stretch. Sleep is essential for our brains to consolidate information and retain information. 

Best of luck!!

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[kindabraveandlittlestupid]

Donald Trump is a fucking idiot. Not exactly breaking news but he continues to remind us how idiotic he is almost daily and beyond belief he still has people who support him. It feels good to say that and even write it on the screen. A sweet sweet catharsis of stating an established truth about the current President is a moron. That being said, with his inability to lead the country (even in the most basic of ways), we can talk about one of his ideas that has the potential to be either something very exciting or a complete and utter waste of taxpayer money depending who is steering the end result of the concept.

The concept at hand? Space Force.

I will be going over who this idea might be used for good, why it will likely be bad and why it is a stupid distraction from the next true battleground.

The Good

Now the ‘good’ elements of Space Force is circumstantial. If you know your US History, you will know when the US considers any massive spending bill for the military there are sometimes social programs linked to it and often advances in science. If you need an example of how war spending ended up creating programs, look no further then National Defense Education Act from 1958 which basically spent a huge amount of cash to help establish public schooling as a means of shoring up the United States Intelligence against the Soviet Union for the long run. I will let that sink in for a moment... the US paid for public schooling because it would make the country safer. I can hear the brain vessels popping in Conservatives heads when the account for education system being partially created by a military spending bill.

There are other examples of how spending in the Military sector ended up improving the lives of Americans across the country. Your Freeways? Military spending was involved to help move mobile missiles around the country. Power? US nuclear weapons and the eventual development of nuclear energy as a power source. The Internet? Created by ARPANET which was funded by the Department of Defense. International Travel? Radar and GPS allow thousands of flights to lift off and land across the world, also thanks to military spending. On occasion, the spending on military budgets creates social systems that enhanced the overall living in this country and around the world.

If we are able to tailor this USSF (United States Space Force) we might create some long-term benefits for space travel, colonization, mining of asteroids, and advanced satellites (to you know to add more proof to global warming because apparently some people still need MORE evidence). This military spending also may supplement NASA’s dwindling budget and expand some of their long-term projects like visiting Mars or keeping the International Space Station up in orbit. So at least we can see some potential good come from it.

The Bad

The concept of Space Force isn't a new idea. Infact the United States Space Command existed from 1985 to 2002 as one of Americas first flirtations with the idea. Do to infighting and the fact that the ARMY, NAVY, and Air Force already had their own ‘space programs’ in regards to GPS and Satellites the agency was redundant and mothballed. 

NOTE: Just keep this in mind when a Trump supporter acts like their great dictator is break barriers with his ideas, he isn't.

The real issue with Space Force is the fact this will become the next big spending project for Conservatives. They have a habit of waving their flags not because they actually are proud of the military service members (I am sure some Republicans are) but the real reason why they love military spending is that it is taxpayer money (IE socialist spending) investing into private companies and when they pass bills like this those private companies suck from the sweet breast of military spending as long and hard as they can while contributing to those candidates that helped them get the contract.

This is why we saw great mismanagement of military spending during Iraq and Afghanistan where private companies loved to bill the US for work they weren't even doing. This happens stateside as well as companies build tanks with taxpayer money and the US proceeds to sell said tanks to Saudi Arabia and so on. While I do not outright hate capitalism, when it comes to programs like this there is no doubt once you have those private contractors building the United States Space Force, their objective will be to do it cheap enough to get the contract but expensive enough to maximize their profits once they have their foot in the door. This is where programs like NASA are superior because the mission isn't about profits but making sure those astronauts don't fucking die. 

The Stupid

Trump sells Space Force like the next great battle will be in space (someone in the White House has been watching Roger Moore’s Moonraker) when in reality its more likely to be over things like fresh water, China’s rapid expansion into the Pacific with their man-made islands or most likely a ‘Cyber War’ which is kinda already taking place. No one views the armchair soldier who codes all day as someone who deserves a medal but when you protecting connected infrastructure (water/power/etc), the global stock markets, satellites and pretty much your personal data, they deserve some big credit for being a digital-front line. 

The problem with the concept of cyber warfare is that it isn't ‘sexy’. People enjoy the scenes where Neo is shooting up a lobby far more than were him doing his hacking in the beginning of the movie and that is what Trump thinks about when pitching Space Force. What can he sell this to his base? What is marketable to the populace? I imagine the idea of Space Force is easier for him to wrap his small mind around then the concept that hacking is taking place all the time and white hats are trying to keep black hats from doing destructive acts day and night.

The Wrap Up

Really the whole problem with Space Force isn't really that big. Trump won't be president forever which means whatever lucid ideas he has for this new branch of the military will likely be sculpted by men and women with at least triple his unimpressive IQ. If the USSF does end up being launched there could be unknown good that comes from it; that perhaps relieves the pains of climate change and improving lives across the planet.

What is sad about the concept (besides the con man pitching it) is the fact we are drawn to looking at the stars (which I am excited about exploring) instead of being aware of the next battleground that is very much likely to be a digital one. The shoring up of defense is a conservative value to some degree (if only for the most profitable reasons for them) but the world is not yet free from bad actors looking to cause chaos. We should be spending our money in actual branches that could actually help with our defense and space is simply not yet one of those locations.

As always thanks for reading.

Regards, Michael California

NOTE: I feel as though I left out the fact that Space Force will be incredibly expensive which could fall under the ‘bad’ or ‘stupid’ part of this post. We all know and heard this argument which is why I kinda left it out but now that I am finished writing? Yeah, it's gonna cost billions; health care, clean air & water, cybersecurity, free college, taking care of the homeless, serving our vets, or building green energy are far better ways to spend money then this concept.