#venus lander

[pothosgrowing]

There actually is a sequel mission planned! The Russian space program has said the Venera-D mission (D standing for dolgozhivuschaya meaning long lasting) will launch in 2029!

It will include another lander that will be built to last over 3 hours!!! It plans to investigate stuff like the chemical composition of Venusian soil and even whether there’s lightning on Venus. There was even going to be NASA involvement! (See the mission patch here)

but then Russia invaded Ukraine the US placed sanctions on Russia as a result and any possible collaboration ended.

It’s also just a lot harder to be excited about it which is a shame because it’s gonna do a lot of cool science

The Soviets kicked our ass in the space race its so dope "Oh you went to the Moon, yeah thats cool I guess, we got pictures of fucking Venus, you ever been to Venus? No the fuck you did not."

[amanitacz]

Model of the Set of Venera landers (Venera-9 / Venera-10 and Venera-13 / Venera-14) space probe.

Link to see more about this model on Turbosquid.com:

https://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/venera-landers-1865618?referral=amanitacz

Link to the whole gallery:

https://www.turbosquid.com/Search/Artists/AmanitaCZ?referral=amanitacz

Link to the software:

http://www.cazaba.cz/

[pupmusebox]

Tag dump 10/?

{ Magus of Flowers - Merlin } { King of Unification - Claude von Riegan } { The Savior King - Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd } { Emperor's Confidant - Hubert von Vestra } { Goofball of an Officer and Soldier - Maes Hughes } { Flame Alchemist and Colonel - Roy Mustang } { Royal Bee Demon of a King - Aristaeus } { Leader and Wildcard of the Investigation Team - Yu Narukami } { Second Detective Prince - Goro Akechi/Crow } { Swordsman and Stellaron Hunter - Blade } { First Member of the Fatui and Masked Captain - Il Capitano } { Born from the Union of an Angel and a Demon - Damien Blanc } { King of Atlantis - Dartz } { The Space Floof - Takashi Shirogane } { Crazy and Dark Clone - Dark!Shiro/Kuro } { Big Hearted Caring Young Angel - Luke } { Noble Demon and Former Newspaper Club Leader - Mephistopheles } { Angelic Wings of Retribution - Ash Landers } { Young President of the Shinra Electric Power Company - Rufus Shinra } { Undercover Agent - Twilight/Loid Forger } { Inventor of Duel Monsters - Maximillion Pegasus } { Exiled Galra Prince - Lotor } { Reincarnated Human Bearing A Morningstar's Soul - Venus } { Head of the Asakura Family and Current Shaman King - Hao Asakura } { Supreme Angel and Apostate of Hate - Gabriel } { Prideful Bird of Demonic and Divine Blood - Hugin } { Reincarnated Human Who Bears Greedy Crow’s Soul - Jasper }

{ Quick Witted Man and Crafty Sorcerer - Alistair }

[mysticstronomy]

DID MARS EVER CONTAIN WATER??

Blog#428

Saturday, August 17th, 2024.

Welcome back,

While the icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn contain water, Mars remains dry. Despite dozens of space missions, the Red Planet has yet to provide convincing proof that it conceals significant water reserves beneath its surface.

Yet Earth's little cousin hasn't always been so secretive. Various studies have shown that a little over 4 billion years ago, it experienced a "watery" era when lakes, rivers and perhaps even oceans could maintain themselves on its soil. Branching valleys and ancient terrains rich in hydrated clays are evidence of this blissful period of abundance.

Subsequently, the loss of part of the Martian atmosphere led to a reduction in the greenhouse effect followed by a gradual disappearance of water. The question is how long this process lasted and under what conditions. This is what the American Space Agency's (NASA) Curiosity and Perseverance spacecraft have been trying to establish since their arrival in 2012 and 2021 in the Gale and Jezero craters.

"Lakes occupied these depressions 3.5 or 3.6 billion years ago," explained Nicolas Mangold, a director of research at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) Laboratory of Planetology and Geosciences in Nantes.

By studying the sedimentary and clay deposits left by the former and exploring the ancient river delta that fed the latter, the aim is to determine whether the climate at the time was wet and cold, or dry and hot. The Perseverance rover is also collecting samples, to be brought back to Earth as part of the MSR mission [Mars Sample Return, NASA-European Space Agency (ESA)]. They should provide precise information."

For the moment, things are hazy. If water has flowed on Mars, where has it gone? Was it sucked up into space with the Martian atmosphere or did some of it remain on site, buried underground? Many teams around the world are working to find answers by searching for clues to its presence other than those offered by polar ice caps and glaciers.

As water cannot remain in a liquid state for long on the surface of Mars, these investigations often consist of spotting recent traces of its passage using instruments placed in orbit. This opens the way to all kinds of controversy about how to interpret observations of this world, whose morphology is radically different from that of Earth. "Some of these controversies, such as those concerning gullies – ravines 1 or 2 kilometers long, discovered by the hundreds along certain landforms in the early 2000s – have finally been settled," said Susan Conway, a CNRS researcher at the Laboratory of Planetology and Geosciences in Nantes.

Her team recently demonstrated in the journal Nature Communications that seasonal deposits of dry ice explain the phenomenon, and not water flows.

Other clues continue to fuel debate and even controversy among scientists. The nature of "equatorial dark flows," the background noise of radar signals suggesting the existence of an underground sea beneath the North Cap, the presence of possible channels in the ejecta of impact craters and the hypothetical formation of "rides" in areas of glacial retreat. If water exists on Mars, it is well camouflaged.

Why not deep underground, frozen in the cryosphere? Or preserved in liquid form in aquifers, or inside the thin film of perchlorate brine that supposedly exists at the base of the permafrost that covers Mars at high latitudes? The Marsis and Sharad radars of the Mars Express (ESA) and MRO (NASA) probes have pinpointed promising regions. And when NASA's Phoenix lander dug a few centimeters into the frozen ground just after it arrived in 2008, it immediately uncovered blocks of water ice – a further reason for hypothesis and speculation.

Originally published on https://www.lemonde.fr

COMING UP!!

(Wednesday, August 21st, 2024)

"DID LIFE EXIST ON VENUS??"

[livingforstars]

A View from Venus: Rift Valley - June 24th, 1996.

"Colour information from the Soviet Venera landers and radar data from the Magellan spacecraft were used to construct this striking perspective view of the Venusian landscape. In this computer generated image, the vertical scale has been exagerated. In the foreground is the edge of a rift valley created by faulting in the crust of Venus. The valley runs all the way to the base of Gula Mons, a 2 mile high volcano seen here on the right, some 450 miles in the distance. On the left is another volcano, Sif Mons. Using radar to pierce the dense clouds continuously shrouding the face of Venus, Magellan was able to explore over 98% of the Venusian surface, revealing a diverse and tantalising topography."

[scifigeneration]

Carl Sagan’s scientific legacy extends far beyond ‘Cosmos’

by Jean-Luc Margot, Professor of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles

On Nov. 9, 2024, the world will mark Carl Sagan’s 90th birthday – but sadly without Sagan, who died in 1996 at the age of 62.

Most people remember him as the co-creator and host of the 1980 “Cosmos” television series, watched worldwide by hundreds of millions of people. Others read “Contact,” his best-selling science fiction novel, or “The Dragons of Eden,” his Pulitzer Prize-winning nonfiction book. Millions more saw him popularize astronomy on “The Tonight Show.”

What most people don’t know about Sagan, and what has been somewhat obscured by his fame, is the far-reaching impact of his science, which resonates to this day. Sagan was an unequaled science communicator, astute advocate and prolific writer. But he was also an outstanding scientist.

Sagan propelled science forward in at least three important ways. He produced notable results and insights described in over 600 scientific papers. He enabled new scientific disciplines to flourish. And he inspired multiple generations of scientists. As a planetary astronomer, I believe such a combination of talents and accomplishments is rare and may occur only once in my lifetime.

Scientific accomplishments

Very little was known in the 1960s about Venus. Sagan investigated how the greenhouse effect in its carbon dioxide atmosphere might explain the unbearably high temperature on Venus – approximately 870 degrees Fahrenheit (465 degrees Celsius). His research remains a cautionary tale about the dangers of fossil fuel emissions here on Earth.

Sagan proposed a compelling explanation for seasonal changes in the brightness of Mars, which had been incorrectly attributed to vegetation or volcanic activity. Wind-blown dust was responsible for the mysterious variations, he explained.

Sagan and his students studied how changes to the reflectivity of Earth’s surface and atmosphere affect our climate. They considered how the detonation of nuclear bombs could inject so much soot into the atmosphere that it would lead to a yearslong period of substantial cooling, a phenomenon known as nuclear winter.

With unusual breadth in astronomy, physics, chemistry and biology, Sagan pushed forward the nascent discipline of astrobiology – the study of life in the universe. Together with the research scientist Bishun Khare at Cornell University, Sagan conducted pioneering laboratory experiments and showed that certain ingredients of prebiotic chemistry, called tholins, and certain building blocks of life, known as amino acids, form naturally in laboratory environments that mimic planetary settings.

He also modeled the delivery of prebiotic molecules to the early Earth by asteroids and comets, and he was deeply engaged in the biological experiments onboard the Mars Viking landers. Sagan also speculated about the possibility of balloon-shaped organisms floating in the atmospheres of Venus and Jupiter.

His passion for finding life elsewhere extended far beyond the solar system. He was a champion of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, also known as SETI. He helped fund and participated in a systematic search for extraterrestrial radio beacons by scanning 70% of the sky with the physicist and electrical engineer Paul Horowitz.

He proposed and co-designed the plaques and the “Golden Records” now affixed to humanity’s most distant ambassadors, the Pioneer and Voyager spacecrafts. It is unlikely that extraterrestrials will ever find these artifacts, but Sagan wanted people to contemplate the possibility of communication with other civilizations.

Carl Sagan, offering his unique commentary in a scene from ‘Cosmos.’

Advocacy

Sagan’s scientific output repeatedly led him to become an eloquent advocate on issues of societal and scientific significance. He testified before Congress about the dangers of climate change. He was an antinuclear activist and spoke out against the Strategic Defense Initiative, also known as “Star Wars.” He urged collaborations and a joint space mission with the Soviet Union, in an attempt to improve U.S.-Soviet relations. He spoke directly with members of Congress about the search for extraterrestrial intelligence and organized a petition signed by dozens of prominent scientists urging support for the search.

Carl Sagan, speaking out against the use of nuclear weapons, at the Great Peace March in 1986. Visions of America LLC/Corbis via Getty Images

But perhaps his most important gift to society was his promotion of truth-seeking and critical thinking. He encouraged people to muster the humility and discipline to confront their most cherished beliefs – and to rely on evidence to obtain a more accurate view of the world. His most cited book, “The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark,” is a precious resource for anyone trying to navigate this age of disinformation.

Impact

A scientist’s impact can sometimes be gauged by the number of times their scholarly work is cited by other scientists. According to Sagan’s Google Scholar page, his work continues to accumulate more than 1,000 citations per year.

Indeed, his current citation rate exceeds that of many members of the National Academy of Sciences, who are “elected by their peers for outstanding contributions to research,” according to the academy’s website, and is “one of the highest honors a scientist can receive.”

Sagan was nominated for election into the academy during the 1991-1992 cycle, but his nomination was challenged at the annual meeting; more than one-third of the members voted to keep him out, which doomed his admission. An observer at that meeting wrote to Sagan, “It is the worst of human frailties that keeps you out: jealousy.” This belief was affirmed by others in attendance. In my opinion, the academy’s failure to admit Sagan remains an enduring stain on the organization.

No amount of jealousy can diminish Sagan’s profound and wide-ranging legacy. In addition to his scientific accomplishments, Sagan has inspired generations of scientists and brought an appreciation of science to countless nonscientists. He has demonstrated what is possible in the realms of science, communication and advocacy. Those accomplishments required truth-seeking, hard work and self-improvement. On the 90th anniversary of Sagan’s birth, a renewed commitment to these values would honor his memory.

[yesterdays-xkcd]

Interestingly, on a true vertical log plot, I think the Eiffel Tower's sides would really be straight lines.

Height [Explained]

Transcript

Caption: Top of observable universe.

[Black Hat is standing on top, throwing a black kitty down.] Black Cat: Mrowl!

[Map of the universe from observable universe to Earth. Each area of item is labeled. Labels left to right, up to down:]

(46 billion light years up) Hubble Deep Field Objects One billion light years: Great Attractor. Antennae Galaxies (colliding). Andromeda.

Holy crap lots of space.

One million light years: Magellanic Clouds. Edge of galaxy. Galactic center. Crab Nebula. Orion Nebula. Horsehead Nebula. Romulan neutral zone. The Pleiades, duh!. Rigel. Betelgeuse. Ford Prefect.

[Three arrows are pointing up above three lines labelled “expanding shell of radio transmissions”.] Edge of federation sector 0-0-1.

Pollux. Arcturus. Missing WMDs. Sirius. Barnard's Star. Alpha Centauri.

One parsec:

One light year: Oort Cloud (?). Bupkis. Comet which will destroy Earth in late 2063. Pioneer 10. Voyager I. Eris (All hail Discordia!). Pluto. (Not a planet. Neener neener.) Neptune. Uranus. Saturn. [Two arrows labelled “life” point to two moons, one next to Saturn and the other Jupiter.] Jupiter. Asteroids. Mars. Venus. Sun. Mercury. Spaceship Planet Express: Hey, a heaping bowl of salt! Spaceship Discovery One: Open the fridge door, Hal. Moon. Human altitude record (Apollo 13). 2nd place: Snoop Dogg. Space elevator - One of these days, promise! Geosynchronous Orbit. GPS satellites. Lunar lander: In retrospect, they shouldn't have sent a poet. I have no idea how to land. International Space Station. Space junk.

Official edge of space (100 km): Meteors.

1/10 ATM: High altitude balloons. Airliners. Shuttle Columbia lost.

1/2 ATM: Cory Doctrow [In an hot air balloon]. Everest. Helicopters (6000 m). Cueball: Woo Python!

[A vertical scale is drawn along the right side of the picture, starting at 1 km and getting progressively smaller and smaller.]

1 km. 800 m: Burj Dubai (~800 m). 500. 400. Eiffel Tower (325 m). 200. Kites. Great Pyramid (140 m). Pop fly. Redwood (115 m).

100m. Oak (20 m). A person in the oak: Hey squirrels! Tallest stilts. Brachiosaur (13 m). Giraffe (8 m).

[Megan and Cueball holding the kite are labeled:] Folks.

Title: The observable universe, from top to bottom: on a log scale.

Caption: Sizes are not to scale, but heights above the Earth's surface are accurate on a log scale. (That is, each step up is double the height.)

[erijuice]

Bugtober - Day 8 - Lore:

For the Lore prompt, I will be doing something differently today. Instead of posting artwork, this is a collection of written lore books specifically for my Tales of Bugaria canon.

The Gift

Whether we're dealing with Leafbugs, Roaches, or Giants, we face many hurdles with the language barrier, and thus it can be difficult to decipher their languages.

Fortunately, the Gods have granted a special ability unto a lucky few that gives them the ability to speak and understand both languages. It is what we simply call “The Gift.”

Some acquire it at birth, others acquire it by touching one of the ancient crystals that carry the data and language, and maybe even the souls, of those who have touched it in the past.

I remember there was one bug who could read and decipher the ancient Roach texts. Even so, there are still very few bugs who acquired the Gift, which - to me - is quite a shame!

Just imagine all the amazing things we could learn about our mysterious neighbors if we were to find these blessed bugs living amongst us!

The Flower Gods

Soon after the Day of Awakening, a family of Flower Gods was created. Many bugs have believed that they were the creation of Roaches.

Mars was the first to be "born," ruling over the Eastern Lands beyond the Giant's Lair, followed shortly after by Bugaria's very own Venus. The two were joined by their younger siblings Mercury, Juno, Jupiter, and many others, who ruled over distant bug kingdoms far beyond Bugaria. The youngest of them all is Pluto, who rules over the Northern Lands.

Their different personalities granted them unique abilities. Some of their buds can only speak and hear the outside world, while some of their buds can only see beyond their home, but never be able to speak for themselves.

The question is how did the Roaches - out of all forms of life - create omnipotent beings that control the weather? I have no clue, but this raises even more questions about the ancient Roaches.

Margaret Dolittle

For centuries, we have always believed that the Giants were a long-gone myth. That was until the unexpected arrival of Margaret Dolittle.

This young Giantess, a teenage scavenger from the ashes of a Giant kingdom, had possessed the magic of the ancient crystals inside her bloodstream, thus granting her the Gift to speak and understand Bugnish.

Margaret had famously slain the dreaded Dead Lander Omega, and brought upon a prosperous industrial revolution for the Ant Kingdom. Given her gargantuan size and overwhelming power, Margaret would often ingest a magical potion to shrink herself down and live amongst bugkind.

We know nothing about the kingdom where the Giantess came from, but we are grateful that we got to know more about Maggie's species, we even learned that the Giants refer to themselves as "Humans".

She is still living at the time I'm writing this, and I have to say, all of Bugaria has been a paradise under her protection. She's such a great help to us, probably the greatest help we've ever gotten.

The Wishing Stone

Many children's tales tell of a magical rock that could grant wishes. It was said to have fallen from the sky during the Day of Awakening, or maybe even later.

Legends speak of the Wishing Stone and its omnipotent ability to alter reality unless the wishes are renounced for good.

Some bugs believe that it had a connection with the Roaches, hence why it was hidden in Snakemouth Den. Maybe it was for the best to hide it away, because any bug who would misuse its power would face grave consequences.

It remains somewhere hidden in Snakemouth Den, though it would be very difficult to retrieve it when the caverns of Snakemouth Den are already filled with life-threatening dangers.

[mechahero]

There's a whoooole bunch of undead guys in Motor City! And while I can't go over every single one of them, here's a small selection of zombies you'll see here! You don't have to use the nicknames for them though, we are all aware of how dumb they sound.

YOU try coming up with a way to tell different zombies apart without sounding like a complete dumbass though. >:/

ROMEROS- Your classic zombie. Slow, shambling and trouble in large crowds. These guys outnumber most of the zombie types here 2 to 1. Compared the zombies they're named after, they're far more smarter than them. While you won't catch them using a rock to bash open a window, you'll at the very least be able to hold normal conversations with them as they're well... normal people still more or less!

You could always ask one what brought them back and sometimes they'll tell that it was due to a satellite that came back from Venus. Don't take it to heart though, it's mostly a joke.

LANDERS- Said to be the victims of a disease (probably rabies or mad cow disease or something, we don't fricking know), these zombies are bit uh... complicated. These guys take the longest to get back on track and get them acting like the humans they used to be. It's no fault of their own obviously, but man is their particular strain of zombification a complete BITCH to work with. It makes them bitey, spew-y and all around JERKS the first few months of unlife.

They're alright once you get them back down to normal but you really gotta stick it out through those months to do it. And the kicker? They can only make more of themselves via biting. Or if they've got a cold and are inconsiderate enough to not cover their mouths when they sneeze. Not that you'll catch any of the ones here biting people though. That's rude and they're more likely to be chowing down on junk food than people. They looove stuff like Ding Dongs and stuff like that.

Not every Lander is the same though, since some of them seem to act completely differently to the regular Landers. One of them snuck up on me the other day, it wasn't fun.

TRAINRUNNERS- Okay, forget what I said about the Landers. THESE guys are complicated. Kind of, I mean. They're fast, super durable for the most part and their strain is also spread through bite and boy, does it spread FAST. It's probably for the best that there's so few of them living here. That's nothing against them, of course but uh... it's not fun to deal with?

And if takes a while to get a Lander back on track, then it takes even longer for a Trainrunner. Which is not as pleasant as you can imagine when they get out of control but hey, we push through. Some of them are kind of prickly people to deal with though. We're not sure if that's because of the way their strain affects their brains or if some of them are natural born jerks. But either way, if you see some literally rotten looking people with varicose like veins and wearing sunglasses (their eyes ARE kind of gross looking), then you're seeing a Trainrunner. Just be cool around them and you'll be okay.

I dunno who originally coined their nickname though. We don't even have trains here?

NEWDEADS- A sort of catchall term for zombies that don't fit in the standard definition of zombie but are similar enough to their regular counterparts to qualify as one. It's not too uncommon to see a Newdead with a pulse (That's me!) but as long as they have a couple of traits seen in either Romeros, Landers, or Trainrunners, they can count as a Newdead. The one difference between a Newdead and the other zombie types though is that Newdeads don't have to worry about losing control and going on a complete rampage just to eat some dang flesh. Newdeads are kind of like humans the most? But also kind of not? They're stuck in a weird in between of being both and neither.

Don't ask how a zombie can have a pulse though. Yeah, I know it doesn't make sense but we're all made and sometimes rot and decompose in different ways and you'll break your brain trying to understand it so don't fricking question it. We're all kind of dead and that's just it! :>

Anyways, that should be just about every type of zombie seen here mostly! Might have missed a few but I can always edit this thing. Or just make new pamphlets. Either one. Next one's going to be about vampires and let me tell you that one's gonna be wayyyy easier! Well bye! ^_^b <- (me giving you a thumbs up)

[thefiresontheheight]

Wait this is important

[sepdet]

Venus Is Not Nekkid

aka what does Venus really look like?

Ok so you've probably seen pics of Venus like:

which is amazing 1990s radar data from NASA's Magellan spacecraft that discovered its surprisingly young, almost crater-free surface and fissures and lava flows and shield volcanoes:

Which was a vast improvement, because apart from 6 photos of the surface by Russian landers asking "why me?", all we had before were grainy Mariner & Pioneer images from the 1970s showing Venus wrapped in featureless clouds in visible light or striped in ultraviolet:

Magellan's radar peered through the clouds to reveal a surface less than 500,000 years old. Without plate tectonics to release heat, hotspots ooze continually, resurfacing the planet in a way that may resemble primitive Earth before plate tectonics.

More terrifyingly, Venus may have been habitable for billions of years until it had a massive flood lava catastrophe like the Earth at the end of the Permian, when 95% of life on our planet died. Except on Venus it was even worse, setting off a runaway greenhouse effect that boiled away the oceans.

Most solar system "family portraits" show Venus with Magellan's false-color radar data, naked, stripped of her thick blanket of clouds:

US "Views of Our Planets" stamps (Mercury also false color, Jupiter & Uranus UV I think)

But that's not how Venus looks through a backyard telescope. She's a shining white pearl, which was why the Greeks & Romans recognized her as Aphrodite/Venus.

In 2020, JPL engineer Kevin M Gill reconstructed a visible-spectrum portrait of Venus from old 1974 Mariner 10 probe data using UV and other odd wavelengths:

See this writeup on the image with a discussion of Venus' crazy clouds racing around the planet like a toxic hurricane.

A whole community of astronomers and image wizards has grown up hunting through old missions for data they can crunch and de-noise with data processing tools to create new, better images. Space agencies have taken note and now post data for them to play with.

So when 2015 Japan's dogged Akatsuki spacecraft finally made it to Venus after several mishaps, we got its first [UV images]:

Then they started posting raw data from all their instruments (UV and near-IR, because a white pearl is pretty but not as useful for science) and the image wizards went to work.

[two UV images combined by Damia Bouic]

Citizen scientist Damia Bouic has a whole blog post of gorgeous Venus images she's processed from Akatsuki data: Here's just a few. They're false color to bring out details, but I think (?) she's using the visible-spectrum colors of Venus for the color and the UV and/or IR data for saturation and brightness.

Venus' night side in infrared (detects heat). Check out that funky wave. clouds at the equator move the fastest, but I'm not sure what's causing that.

Another UV image processed by Damia Bouic

TL;DR: Venus is Beauty in visible light, the Beast on the surface, and I guess you'd call UV/IR views "I have a bad feeling about this."

[inkwolvesandcoffee]

GRAND! NOW I CAN’T STOP THINKING ABOUT WEREWOLF!THORIN😤

RA Masterlist

Thorin is moody and bad-tempered, which doesn’t make him particularly popular with the villagers. Hence is why he’s the outsider.

Not that he minds. He keeps himself occupied with woodworking and carpeting, perfectly content to be left alone and only conduct business when necessary.

Tends to wear his hair in a messy though charming man bun.

Also, lots of flannel shirts.

You two get off on the wrong foot, meeting a few days after your arrival in the village.

''So, this is the city dweller.” Arms crossed, he appeared at your side when you went to check out the venue for your business. “Tell me, miss, what's a woman like you doing in Scotland?''

“I could ask the same of you,” you said, triggered by the condescending tone in his voice. “What’s a Mid-lander doing up north?”

“Answer the question.”

''I'm here to fix up this building.''

''Why?''

''My grandmother left it to me.''

''Doesn't mean you have to do anything with it. Might as well demolish it or sell it. Look at the place. It's in shambles.''

''But it's what my Nan left me.''

''Wow, what an inheritance.''

''Well, if you must know, I have some people willing to help fix this place. All of who told me they'd appreciate a bakery in town.''

''Any experience running a business?''

''N- No...'' you admitted, avoiding his icy blue eyes.

''Thought as much. You look more like an office worker than a baker.'' He snorted. ''Good luck. It's as dilapidated as the castle ruins.''

Nevertheless, he ended up helping with the renovation after seeing you struggle carrying furniture assembly kits, covered in paint.

Thorin didn’t know how to respond when you told him to take a break and have a cup of coffee.

Neither did he know why he followed your movements and felt awkward when your eyes met for a second. Feigning nonchalance, he averted his gaze to something in the distance, feeling rather hot under the collar.

He’s more wolf than man, so he’s not one for conversation and can be rather rough around the edges.

But he also leaves you flowers or berries he finds in the woods when he makes his usual rounds around his territory.

At first they showed up on your doorstep in a rattan basket without a trace of who sent them. However, when he walked by and saw the happiness on your face when you put the flowers in a vase, he added a note.

His handwriting isn’t the best, but that didn’t matter.

What did is that you finally knew his name.

Yes, only then did you learn it because he didn’t introduce himself while helping you set up the bakery and the villagers only refer to him as “sassenach” or worse.

Lycanthropy has already fully erased the memory of his cousins, who live nearby and keep an eye on him.

Appreciates how you make him breakfast ever since he first showed up on your doorstep after the full moon.

And how could you have turned him away when he's naked, panting, and looking awfully pale?

Thinks it’s adorable how you’re so concerned for him.

But you are because you believe he isn’t the monster the others make him out to be. Deep down, he’s a good man.

It takes some bloody work to help clear his atrocious reputation, though.

Let me clarify what makes it incredibly hard:

He frequently hunts in wolf form and returns all bloody dragging a carcass.

Fights tend to break out in the pub whenever he goes there for a bevvy.

He growls and snarls.

People have seen him skulking around the castle ruins naked early in the morning, sometimes covered in blood and grime.

Thorin gives you apologetic puppy eyes whenever you tell him to be a little nicer.

Recently, he went through a drastic change. It left you gobsmacked to the point you had to consciously make an effort to put down the hot tray with freshly baked bread and properly inspect the man standing at the counter.

“Who are you and what have you done to Thorin?”

“Very funny,” he grumbled, self-consciously rubbing the back of his neck.

“Seriously, though. What’s the reason for this?”

“You told me to be a little more human, so I cut my hair.”

“I meant in demeanour, not appearance! Also, why listen to what I say? I thought you were too bloody stubborn for that.”

“Be a bit clearer next time. Just because I don’t respond doesn’t mean I’m not listening.” He averted his gaze to the ground. “All that effort for nothing.”

“You look good, though.”

“I do?”

“Yeah.” You crossed your arms and smiled at him to ease his discomfort. “It’s weird to see you with short hair, but I’m sure we’ll both get used to it. Anyway, what do you want for breakfast?”

“The usual.”

“The rough night one?”

“Mhm.”

“Got it. By the way, thank you for the flowers.” You turned back to him for a moment and bounced on your heels. “I really like them.”

“My pleasure.”

He briefly watched you set off to make your famous deluxe breakfast club sandwich as he sat down on one of the stools and leaned on the counter.

There’s a lot he still doesn’t understand when it comes to you.

However, what he knows for sure is that he doesn’t want to forget you. Moreover, the Wolf and him both are strangely fond of you.

And you’re prettier than any flower in the world.

[khlegacynexus]

who's a Elizabeth???

from one of your storys that i'm reading.

A while back, there was a slight misconception by Ron. Who made a simple mistake that the two missing siblings were two sisters. Rather than a brother and sister. Which Andy low-key corrected in the anniversary compilation rise, comic farewell.

SPOILERS!!!! For those who haven’t read to others chapter 2 and Armageddon prologue

(From left to right my version of Rise!Slash my design of Frida and Elizabeth.)

I’m assuming that you have read the first two books and are now on book 3. In Mystic prodigy Draxum started with seven turtles rather than six (assuming it is actually six like we’re guessing) one of those turtles Slash went on to be adopted and lived in a Yokai city in Japan Oaishu. He and Raph are actually from the same brood of alligator snapping turtle eggs. But neither of them are aware of this fact.

Back to Elizabeth she is my take on what the missing sister (or rather brother) might have been like if Rise was allowed to continue specifically, the sibling trapped in another dimension. And thus a little cookie as a result, so I tried to characterize her as a cloud cuckoo Lander as much as I can, but she’s still a sweet girl and quite observant a bit passive aggressive with just a shot of pettiness.

Despite coming in later, I have her follow a similar route to her siblings where she starts out with a weapon from Draxum’s lab the makabishi

Mystic, pike steps that slowed down and caused pain to the opponent except with her powers these spikes can cause an RPG terms status inflictions. Basically based on her thoughts and emotions.

Her Mystic powers allow her to read minds and intentions but not memories like another character with powers like hers can.

Her whipping goes on to be the tessen or war fan like Venus Demilo and 2012 April before her. In this case, she can whip out blades of light from the fans in the shape of crescents to cause Addison inflictions like her old Makibishi did. Or the inflictions can be caused when she cuts someone with them.

Not that I think about it, she could probably disarm someone this way too by having her thoughts destroy the weapons. Thanks for that.

Due to some unfortunate events, I have yet to reveal in the bad future of mystic prodigy she becomes the Mystic Power master. Well, something happened to Mikey that forced his powers to be sealed away. (Again I’m assuming you’ve read the first two books to understand what could’ve set up this path.)

Something I noticed about a lot of OC sisters even in offical media like Rise’s plans and Next mutation which had Venus De Milo and Frida respectively (the Frida’s name might’ve come from Frida Khal) their names aren’t based off Renaissance artists like the boys are which is what I wanted hers to do

As a result, she is named for Elizabetta Siriani the English translation of that name being Elizabeth

Well, not a household name for famous artists. She did a lot of gender barriers at the time and became the main breadwinner in her family when her father fell ill She also was famous for her canvases. ( Slash would’ve been named for her father Giovanni if he had managed to stay with splinter by the way.)

This is on the suggestion of my version of Alopex Krysta as she herself is Italian and likes to learn about history from time to time

[longwindedbore]

Adds “more evidence”.

Proof is sufficient and verifiable evidence.

In this case scientists are attempting to verify the existence of gases which - on Earth - are byproducts of living organisms.

Once there is proof the gases exist then they’ll start looking for non-living conditions on Venus which might produce also the gases. At the same time figuring where on Venus there might be life.

Venturing to Venus to find Life? The Soviet Union landed increasing armored unmanned landers on Venus.. Their 12th - and all time champion improvement - lasted a whopping 110 minutes before succumbing to the Venusian surface hellscape.

[pluralquotebook]

[ CW: NSFW ]

💘, reading the caption of a photo to the fronters: "...there are photos on the surface of Venus, taken by Russians two hours before the lander melted."

🦚 (her name is Venus): "yeah, it's just what happens when i'm so hot. they took a photo of my anus."

( everyone in front, wheezing )

💘: "i hate you. i fucking hate you."

[ the collectives ]

.

[livingforstars]

A Venusian Landscape - September 28th, 1995.

"This computer generated view of a Venusian volcano was created using data from NASA's Magellan spacecraft. Magellan used its onboard radar to map the surface of Venus, which is hidden from telescopic observations by a perpetual cloud cover. Using this radar data to provide three-dimensional information, a computer was then able to produce this view of Maat Mons, a 5 mile high volcano, from a dramatic perspective. The colours used to render the surface are based on earlier colour images transmitted by TV cameras on the Soviet Venera 13 and 14 Venus landers."