#zero-gravity hamster wheels

[marlynnofmany]

Racetracking

“The good news,” announced the gravelly voice of Mimi the tentacle alien, “Is that this model defaults to zero-g when it breaks.” He led the way down the corridor with tentacle slaps instead of footsteps, which managed to sound exasperated.

I had the brief thought that he was louder than Mur and Wio when he walked, possibly because he spent so much time in the engine room where everything was noisy. But I put that thought aside. I had a pretty good idea what the bad news was.

“The bad news,” Mimi grumbled, “Is that the carrying cage that these high-paying customers insisted on is so broken that I can’t fix it. Even with the right tools.”

“So we have animals in zero-g,” I said.

Mimi waved a tentacle in a way that I privately found hilarious. “We just took off! Just! It’s like they’re trying to frame us for damages!”

I looked at him in alarm. “Are we sure they’re not?”

He made a dismissive motion, still walking. “That’s what the cameras in the storage holds are for. There’s proof that no one dropped it or whatever. And I think Captain Sunlight is already talking to them about it, which is a conversation I do not envy her.”

I winced. “Yeah. Which animals? It’s just one of the carriers, right?”

“The little ones. I dunno what they’re called. They were alive when I left, but they looked pretty upset.”

That didn’t narrow it down. As the ship’s resident animal expert, I’d had a look at each of the half-dozen life support chambers that passed for carriers among the rich folks. Each of them held a different type of little furry whatsit in wild colors. Each was sealed with its own supply of air and gravity — or at least it was supposed to be.

I couldn’t hear any distressed noises yet, but when Mimi poked the button for the door, it slid open to a chorus of muffled squeaks.

The six chambers were lined up in a row, on display in the center of the room, with nothing close enough to so much as touch them. Five held animals calmly nosing around the bottom.

One held a whirling tornado of blue fur.

I dashed over to peer through the glass, hands dancing uncertainly. I shouldn’t touch it, shouldn’t open it. But—!

…But.

I looked closer. “They’re running.” I dropped my hands and stared.

Mimi plopped down next to me. “Is that bad?”

“No, it’s just — Look at them! They’re doing this on purpose!” I started to smile as I realized why the squeaks sounded familiar. “They’ve made their own hamster wheel.”

“A what now?” Mimi wanted to know.

I gestured vaguely. “It’s an exercise thing for animals like this where I’m from. A wheel that they run inside of, and it keeps spinning. These guys—” I pointed at the chamber. “—Have created their own.”

“Uh-HUH.” Mimi tilted his head to watch the antics, which were slowing down as they noticed us. “That is a strange reaction to zero-gravity.”

“I’ve heard of mice that did that, actually,” I said as a memory surfaced. “It took them a while to make a game of it. I wonder if this isn’t the first time the carrier’s gravity has gone screwy.”

Mimi held a curl of tentacle thoughtfully to his face. “That is an interesting data point. The captain will want to know.” He lowered it. “And if you’re sure these things aren’t about to die of organ explosion or whatever, then we should go tell her.”

The blue furry things — which did honestly look a lot like mice — had settled down to some more even-tempered bumping around in there. None were limping as far as I could tell, and none had been knocked unconscious or worse.

“I think they’re okay,” I said, looking closely. “The food dispenser is closed, thankfully, so there aren’t any pellets or globs of water floating about. They just got a bit of excitement.”

Mimi levered himself off the floor. “They’re not the only ones,” he grumbled. “Annoying little meatsticks must be in cahoots with the rich jerks, trying to make our lives harder. Why would they even do that?”

I gave the chamber one last look, then stood and followed him toward the door. “I dunno, it looks like fun. Probably a lot of animals would enjoy that if they knew it was an option.”

Mimi stared at me with one large eye. “Animals from your planet.”

“Well, yeah. Probably others too.”

He made a wet-sounding snort of skepticism and led the way into the hall.

I followed, smiling. “Come on, it looks like fun. I was just thinking it would be neat to try in a zero-g room, though flat walls wouldn’t be as good as curved ones.”

“Your planet’s full of weirdos. You know that, right?”

“Oh, it’s been said before.”

~~~

Thanks to this post for inspiration! It was too good an idea to pass up.

Anyways, this is the ongoing backstory adventures of the main character from this book. But you probably already knew that.

[juviabrainrot]

LET'S GO TO THE FAIR !

PAIRINGS ... d.kaminari, h.sero, e.kirishima x fem!reader

a/n: it's fair season! (at least where i live) and i got the idea to do this. also we're not gonna talk about my tiktok ban crashout but that shit was literally 14 hours i am so dramatic idc. this also isn't proof read (again!!! are we surprised) ALSO ignore how sero's is probably longer than the rest of them bc idk he's bae and needs that extra little ramble

requests are open!

d. kaminari

ik damn well this man is trying to do all the fair games and loses at nearly all of them

and yes, he did win one game at the very least! (it was the one where you have to squirt water into the whole)

for his prize, he got a minion plushie and was mad because when you guys had previously passed, there was a pikachu plushie but it was gone by the time you came back

he only wanted it so he could give it to you since it was "basically his twin", but it's ok because minions are TOTALLY better!! (imo, fight me idc)

you both decided to go on the zipper and halfway through the line, he started getting scared because of the plethora of screams

with lots of reassurance, you two got on there and it was... something!

he screamed like a baby and started crying for his mom at one point

"I'm too young and handsome for my death to happen like this!"

after, he acted nonchalant and like he wasn't just bawling his eyes out

for some reason, he really wanted to go on zero gravity and pretended to climb the walls to take a pic and send it to sero

"wait catch my good side I want to look mysterious"

h. sero

definitely snuck his penjamin in

his plan was to go to the fair 2 days: - day 1: get high af and eat literally every food, play games, and go to the petting zoo - day 2: ride all the rides

literally the first thing he did was go to the corn dog stand and tore up an XL corn dog

next, he attacked a turkey leg and got the juices all over his mouth

did he know? no. did you let him walk around with them decorating his mouth for a while? yes

he was starting to get a little stuffed so he got himself a fresh squeezed lemonade to share and you both walked around the fair grounds

you walked past the basketball stand and he was convinced that he could shoot the hoop with perfection, but ended up bashing the ball into the front of the hoop and it came back and hit him

he gave up and pouted a little so he decided he wanted to pet some goats in the petting zoo

was about to cry when he saw the miniature ponies because he wanted to take one home

made sure no one was around, whipped out his pen and asked the horse if he wanted a hit

before you were about to leave, he decided he wanted to split a funnel cake with you but could only eat four bites before he gave up and left the rest to you

on day two, he bought the unlimited pass for you both and wanted to go crazy on all the rides

the first ride you went on was the thunderbolt and you accidentally crushed him because of how fast it was going + literal air force

forced you to go on the pendulum ride 4 times and the fireball 3 times

went into the fun house and pretended to be a hamster on a hamster wheel in the spinning tunnel, and accidentally kicked a kid that was trying to get in

e. kirishima

like denki, he was also trying to do all the carnival games, but there's one difference - he was actually getting prizes

his favorite game was the hammer and bell one since it showed off how strong he was

started winning so many prizes for you that you had to give some to little kids because you physically couldn't hold them all

you both walked through all the crazy popup shops and got weird/cringe matching shirts ( I am so sexy that even life gets hard / I am life)

he also ate a chicken leg and held his face out with a smile for you to wipe it clean

held your hand the whole time as you walked around and you became one of those cringe couples in the lines even after you swore you wouldn't

he wanted to go on quite literally every ride, even the kiddie rides

his favorite ride was definitely the fireball and rode it 5 times

took loads of pics in the photo booth and put one of the strips in the back of his phone case

ended the night with a romantic ride on the ferris wheel and took tons of pictures to post, some of them you didn't even know he took

©juviabrainrot - please do not copy/repost any of my work on any platform <3

[laguera25]

Movie Review:  Glass--SPOILERS

Most critical reviews are decidedly meh about <i>Glass</i>, but it resonated profoundly with me because it's situated within a disabled perspective.  Oh, there's some window dressing about human evolution and the advent of a new superhero age, but at its heart, it's about exploring the world from a disabled perspective and is a fine bit of disability horror.  While Glass, with his osteogenesis imperfecta and his wheelchair, is the most obvious symbol of this worldview, Kevin and David are part of it as well, and while a lot of reviewers are pissing and moaning about the tedium of the hospital interlude, I found it mesmerizing because it perfectly encapsulated the darkest horrors and unglamorous realities of disabled life.

If you are disabled, you are robbed of the illusion of control that is so freely granted to everyone else as soon as they can walk or crawl or otherwise propel themselves through the world.  Your life is not your own.  You can say no, but there is no guarantee that it will be honored, and, in fact, a good chance it will be ignored, and if you protest or disagree, you will be punished.  The parameters of your world will be defined howsoever they choose, and there will be no escape, and the doctors and orderlies who possess the power to expand or contract your horizons as they see fit will tell themselves--and you, ad nauseam--that it is for your own good. Disagree, and they will wield your intransigence as further proof of your unfitness for society.  After all, if you were truly rational, you would see that the world isn't safe or meant for you and would be grateful for their protection, which manifests in isolation, regimentation, and a cocktail of punitive drugs.  And if you persist in trying to slip the yoke of their charity, well, they'll just have to manhaul you into surgery and laser your brains out to make you more tractable.

In this warped world, Elijah and Kevin aren't evil monsters who derail trains and eat people, but victims trying to buck the status quo that fears difference so much that it is willing to quash it by any means necessary, even if it means mindfucking superheroes and drowning them in puddles to keep the truth from getting out.

The counseling session is a masterclass in manipulation and malignant ableism.  Of course you're not special, Dr. Staple tells them again and again.  You're not something greater.  You are, in fact, broken, delusional aberrations who need to be convinced of your weakness, your need to be shut away.  Because you are incapable of seeing the truth, don't you think it would be best if you let us take care of you?  Stay in an institution.  Out of sight, out of mind, and no one will have to be burdened by knowledge of you.  For someone who meets this attitude on a subliminal level every day, this is prime nightmare fuel.

I'm not sure how aware of these implications M. Night Shyamalan was when he was filming, but two scenes make me think he had an inkling, a shadow glimpsed from the corner of his eye.  The first is the memory elicited from Elijah by the laser when Staple tries to scramble his brains.  In it, he's a young boy at a fair with a pair of enormous stuffed lions under his arms.  We watch as he gets on a ride called the [something] Tornado that looks like a bigger, more hurl-inducing version of the teacup ride.  We know there is only one way this can end as he climbs into the seat and buffers himself with his stuffed lions and wraps a scarf around his hands to insulate them from the bone-jarring g-forces of the lap bar, and my heart broke because even as the fusty, jaded adult in me was foaming at the mouth at him for doing something so cataclysmically dumb, my heart cried out in anguished sympathy because he just wanted to be a kid and go on all the whizzing, whirling rides like everybody else, to know the exhilaration of feeling like you could touch the clouds.  He just wanted to do something fun without having to hold referendums on whether he should and strategize about it like it was a goddamn military campaign, and for anyone who recognizes that yearning, what happens next is excruciating.

It doesn't work.  The lions slide to the floor and the scarf unwinds from his hands, and gravity and inevitability do their awful work.  The joyous wonder in his eyes as he whirls around and around becomes terror as realization dawns and then agony as bones shatter against gaily-colored steel.  It's not fair.  The cold reality of his disability has won over his hope and idealism.  No matter how much he wishes it, he will never be able to move through the world as easily as everyone else, without the grim, unwelcome knowledge that every movement could bring unspeakable pain and life itself is an act of endurance and howling defiance.  It's the innocence of childhood juxtaposed against the inflexible cruelty of what is, proof that magical thinking doesn't always beat the monster.

The second comes at the end of the climactic battle in the hospital yard.  Kevin/The Beast has discovered the truth about Glass' motives and shattered his sternum.  The injuries are fatal, and his distraught mother rushes to comfort him.

"I wasn't a mistake, Mama," he croaks.  It's meant to be an affirmation, but it's uncertain, fifty going on five, and he searches her face with raw need.

"No, baby, you weren't.  You were spectacular."

And that's the heart of this movie.  The maternal affirmation that every heart seeks but so few disabled hearts get.  All Elijah wants to hear as his life slips away is that he wasn't regretted by the one who should have loved him most.  It's such a low bar to clear given that mothers of rapists and kiddie fiddlers will sob and swear that their precious baby isn't bad, just misunderstood, but it might as well be hurdling Everest in a world where parents become martyrs by blogging to the whole world how much it sucks to be the mother(it's almost always the mother)of a disabled child.  Everywhere we look, we see markers of how unwanted we are in a world not made for us and that makes zero effort to make it so, and even our families often treat us as a burden assumed rather than a vital new thread in the family tapestry.

I suspect Shyamalan suspects this, too, which is why he gives us a hopeful ending that falls flat.  Despite Dr. Staple's best efforts to quash all evidence of superheroes, Elijah has outfoxed her by making sure footage of the final battle and their executions is uploaded to the web and disseminated to anyone with a connection.  

"This is our ticket to the rest of the universe," Mother Glass says hopefully as the video goes viral and people watch in disbelief.

It's a lovely sentiment, but sentiment is all it is because you can see by the news chyrons at the bottom of every screen how it will be presented.  As far as the media is concerned, these weren't superheroes murdered to suppress their existence, but three escaped lunatics under the influence  of psychosis and adverse drug interactions who were killed for the public good.  In a day or two, the hamster wheels that spin the public attention span will veer in a different direction, and the secret will remain safe.

Of course most people are whinging about the dearth of badass superhero fights in this movie because the story Shyamalan told, whether he meant to or not, wasn't calibrated to their frequency and didn't reflect their emotional landscape.  They've never had to worry about visibility and freedom because they have always assumed both, and the titanic struggle for recognition and integration happened in a language they will never speak on a level beyond flying fists and bulging pecs and artistic explosions.  If there isn't an epic fight and an epic fuck, it's not a story worth their time.

[sufficientlylargen]

I'm not sure "haptic feedback" is the right term here, since trains do definitely provide haptic feedback (you can feel them rumbling over bumps, you can feel the acceleration as they turn, you can crack open a window and feel the air rushing by). Maybe a better axis is whether or not you can control its movement while riding in/on it? That would give us:

A. Controlled/Barrier/Fast: Car, aircraft, train (but only if you're driving)

B. Controlled/Barrier/Slow: Golf cart, forklift, cruise ship (pilot), anything from A that's not working very well.

C. Uncontrolled/Barrier/Fast: Space station, spacecraft reentry capsule, house picked up by a tornado à la Wizard of Oz, falling to your death from a very great height while in a large hamster ball, anything from A if you're a passenger or the brakes don't work.

D. Uncontrolled/Barrier/Slow: Baby carriage, elevator, cruise ship (passenger), trapped in a large hamster ball floating on lazy river, house picked up by tornado à la Wizard of Oz and then deposited in a swamp where it is now very slowly sinking, space station where you redefine your frame of reference to provide yourself with constant zero speed, also anything else from C where you redefine your frame of reference to keep your velocity constant.

E. Controlled/No Barrier/Fast: Motorcycle, jetski, jetpack, speeder bike in the forests of Endor, being Superman and/or The Flash.

F. Controlled/No Barrier/Slow: Bicycle, segway, going for a walk, horse (skilled rider).

G. Uncontrolled/No Barrier/Fast: Being a passenger on anything from E, (including riding Superman and/or The Flash), fired out of a cannon, riding on top of anything from A, falling to your death from a very great height when you forgot your large hamster ball, spacecraft reentry capsule whose occupants are about to have a Bad Day™, typical planet.

H. Uncontrolled/No Barrier/Slow: Moving sidewalk in airport, parachute, passenger on any of F, horse (unskilled rider), lazy river (no hamster ball), moose, being Boromir's corpse floating down a river with the broken Horn of Gondor (no hamster ball), roomba, trying to ride a moose and ending up as a corpse floating down a river (no hamster ball, although the moose had one), freefall in extremely low gravity, Yoda's floating disc-chair from the Star Wars prequels but you don't know how to operate it and none of these button labels make any sense so it's just sort of wobbling around everywhere and it keeps bumping into things and you swear you don't even know how you turned the stupid thing on but will someone please come and turn it off before you randomly float into one of those bottomless-pit deathtrap rooms that every goddamn building around here seems to have four of, car without brakes or steering wheel or doors or roof or engine, typical planet (in no-speeding school zone).

i think probably urban highways are bad for like, human flourishing, because most people dont like them, and theyre especially a low value use of coastal areas, but *i* like them, so it irritates me when people shit on them. what if you could go FAST in a CITY?! is this not obviously great to everyone else

[jayrockin]

I don't know if you've gotten that deep into space stuff in Runaway, but is there artificial (of the Star Wars kind) gravity and who makes the best ships? If I was a rich guy and wanted a 100% custom ship, who's the best in the business?

The only artificial gravity in RttS is hamster wheel gravity, ie, centrifugal force. The smallest ships don’t bother having it because there’s no room for the giant motor system needed to spin the habitat module, or because the module would have too small a diameter and be nauseating to passengers (ie, gravity would be noticeably different at the head vs the feet). Thankfully they don’t need to worry too much about body degradation in zero G because the longest spaceflight trips an average ship will take are about 3 weeks (I still need to pick what slower-than-light propulsion method I’m using... hghsgh)

I haven’t made up any specific companies for RttS, but for a human customer avians are pretty good ship manufacturers... technically ferrets have been in the business longer (they have been space-faring for possibly thousands of years before anyone else) but their habitat designs are a tube maze.

[jayrockin]

I’m absolutely stealing FTL Atom’s hamster wheel gravity setup for the larger ships and space stations in RttS. Although, big RttS vessels tend to be very pencil-shaped, because the only FTL travel they have is artificial portals and everything has to fit through the standard 2 mile diameter slot.

I’m also probably going to give the Runaway (Bip’s vessel) hamster wheel gravity, partly because I'm just... very fond of it as a concept... and also because it's been retrofitted from a pirate ship with a crew if about 20 centaurs, so they have an excess of living and storage space. An RttS vessel even a little bit smaller would probably just be all zero G