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mostlysignssomeportents · 2 months

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Electrons, not molecules

I'm on tour with my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me in TUCSON (Mar 9-10), then SAN FRANCISCO (Mar 13), Anaheim, and more!

When hydrocarbon barons do their damndest to torch the Earth with fossil fuels, they call us dreamers. They insist that there's a hard-nosed reality – humanity needs energy – and they're the ones who live in it, while we live in the fairy land where the world can run on sunshine and virtuous thoughts. Without them making the tough decisions, we'd all be starving in the frigid dark.

Here's the thing: they're full of shit.

Mostly.

Humanity does need energy if we're going to avoid starving in the frigid dark, but that energy doesn't have to come from fossil fuels. Indeed, in the long-term, it can't. Even if you're a rootin' tootin, coal-rollin' climate denier, there's a hard-nosed reality you can't deny: if we keep using fossil fuels, they will someday run out. Remember "peak oil" panic? Fossil fuels are finite, and the future of the human race needn't be. We need more.

Thankfully, we have it. Despite what you may have heard, renewables are more than up to the task. Indeed, it's hard to overstate just how much renewable energy is available to us, here at the bottom of our gravity well. I failed to properly appreciate it until I read Deb Chachra's brilliant 2023 book, How Infrastructure Works:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/17/care-work/#charismatic-megaprojects

Chachra, an engineering prof and materials scientist, offers a mind-altering reframing of the question of energy: we have a material problem, not an energy problem. If we could capture a mere 0.4% of the sun's rays that strike the Earth, we could give every person on the planet the energy budget of a Canadian (like an American, only colder).

Energy isn't just wildly abundant, though: it's also continuously replenished. For most of human history, we've treated energy as scarce, eking out marginal gains in energy efficiency – even as we treated materials as disposable, using them once and consigning them to a midden or a landfill. That's completely backwards. We get a fresh shipment of energy every time the sun (or the moon) comes up over the horizon. By contrast, new consignments of material are almost unheard of – the few odd ounces of meteoric ore that survive entry through Earth's atmosphere.

A soi-dissant adult concerned with the very serious business of ensuring our species isn't doomed to the freezing, starving darkness of an energy-deprived future would think about nothing save for this fact and its implications. They'd be trying to figure out how to humanely and responsibly gather the materials needed for the harvest, storage and distribution of this nearly limitless and absolutely free energy.

In other words, that Very Serious, Hard-Nosed Grown-Up should be concerned with using as few molecules as possible to harvest as many electrons as possible. They'd be working on things like turning disused coal-mines into giant gravity batteries:

https://www.euronews.com/green/2024/02/06/this-disused-mine-in-finland-is-being-turned-into-a-gravity-battery-to-store-renewable-ene

Not figuring out how to dig or flush more long-dead corpses out of the Earth's mantle to feed them into a furnace. That is a profoundly unserious response to the human need for energy. It's caveman shit: "Ugh, me burn black sticky gunk, make cave warm, cough cough cough."

Enter Exxon CEO Darren Woods, whose interview with Fortune's Michal Lev-Ram and editor Alan Murray contains this telling quote: "we basically focus our technology on transforming molecules and they happen to be hydrogen and carbon molecules":

https://fortune.com/2024/02/28/leadership-next-exxonmobil-ceo-darren-woods/

As Bill McKibben writes, this is a tell. A company that's in the molecule business is not in the electron business. For all that Woods postures about being a clear-eyed realist beating back the fantasies of solarpunk-addled greenies, Woods does not want a future where we have all our energy needs met:

https://billmckibben.substack.com/p/the-most-epic-and-literal-gaslighting

That's because the only way to get that future is to shift from molecules – whose supply can be owned and therefore sold by Exxon – to electrons, which that commie bastard sun just hands out for free to every person on our planet's surface, despite the obvious moral hazard of all those free lunches. As Woods told Fortune, when it comes to renewables, "we don’t see the ability to generate above-average returns for our shareholders."

Woods dresses this up in high-minded seriousness kabuki, saying that Exxon is continuing to invest in burning rotting corpses because our feckless species "waited too long to open the aperture on the solution sets terms of what we need as a society." In other words, it's just too late for solar. Keep shoveling those corpses into the furnace, they're all that stands between you and the freezing, starving dark.

Now, this is self-serving nonsense. The problem of renewables isn't that it's too late – it's that they don't "generate above-average returns for our shareholders" (that part, however, is gospel truth).

But let's stipulate that Woods sincerely believes that it is too late. It's pretty goddamned rich of this genocidal, eminently guillotineable monster to just drop that in the conversation without mentioning the role his company played in getting us to this juncture. After all, #ExxonKnew. 40 years ago, Exxon's internal research predicted climate change, connected climate change to its own profits, and predicted how bad it would be today.

Those predictions were spookily accurate and the company took them to heart, leaping into action. For 40 years, the company has been building its offshore drilling platforms higher and higher in anticipation of rising seas and superstorms – and over that same period, Exxon has spent millions lobbying and sowing disinformation to make sure that the rest of us don't take the emergency as seriously as they are, lest we switch from molecules to electrons.

Exxon knew, and Exxon lied. McKibben quotes Woods' predecessor Lee Raymond, speaking in the runup to the Kyoto Treaty negotiations: "It is highly unlikely that the temperature in the middle of the next century will be significantly affected whether policies are enacted now or 20 years from now."

When Woods says we need to keep shoveling corpses into the furnace because we "waited too long to open the aperture on the solution sets terms of what we need as a society," he means that his company lied to us in order to convince us to wait too long.

When Woods – and his fellow enemies of humanity in the C-suites of Chevron and other corpse-torching giants – was sending the arson billions to his shareholders, he held back a healthy share to fund this deceit. He colluded with the likes of Joe Manchin ("[D-POLLUTION]" -McKibben) to fill the Inflation Reduction Act with gifts for molecules. The point of fantasies like "direct air carbon-capture" is to extend the economic life of molecule businesses, by tricking us into thinking that we can keep sending billions to Exxon without suffocating in its waste-product.

These lies aren't up for debate. Back in 2021, Greenpeace tricked Exxon's top DC lobbyist Keith McCoy into thinking that he was on a Zoom call with a corporate recruiter and asked him about his work for Exxon, and McCoy spilled the beans:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/07/01/basilisk-tamers/#exxonknew

He confessed to everything: funding fake grassroots groups and falsifying the science – he even names the senators who took his bribes. McCoy singled out Manchin for special praise, calling him "a kingmaker" and boasting about the "standing weekly calls" Exxon had with Manchin's office.

Exxon's response to this nine-minute confession was to insist that their most senior American lobbyist "wasn't involved at all in forming policy positions."

McKibben points to the forthcoming book The Price Is Wrong, by Brett Christophers, which explains how the neoclassical economics establishment's beloved "price signals" will continue to lead us into the furnace:

https://www.versobooks.com/products/3069-the-price-is-wrong

The crux of that book is:

We cannot expect markets and the private sector to solve the climate crisis while the profits that are their lifeblood remain unappetizing.

Nearly 100 years ago, Upton Sinclair wrote, "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it." Today, we can say that it's impossible to get an oil executive to understand that humanity needs electrons, not molecules, because his shareholders' obscene wealth depends on it.

Name your price for 18 of my DRM-free ebooks and support the Electronic Frontier Foundation with the Humble Cory Doctorow Bundle.

#pluralistic #bill mckibben #exxon #exxonknew #solarpunk #climate #climate emergency #climate crisis #gaslighting #guillotine watch #Darren Woods #incentives matter

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beskarandblasters · 9 months

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Idea: Cassian bringing you to Aldhani to witness the Eye (since precious lil baby didn’t get to enjoy it last time) and he fucks you during it!! Like imagine looking up at him with that beautiful sky behind him !!

Under the Eye

Cassian Andor x F!Reader

Main Masterlist | Cassian Andor Masterlist

Summary: Your boyfriend, Cassian, takes you to see a special event on the planet Aldhani known as the Eye but you find out he has other plans in mind.

Word count: 900

Warnings: reader is able-bodied, canon divergent, porn with no plot tbh, semi public sex, romantic sex, oral sex, lil bit of nipple play, vaginal sex, unprotected sex, creampie, eye contact during sex 👀, no use of y/n

“Come on, let’s go!” Cassian says, grabbing your hand and leading you off the ship practically the second he lands.

“Okay! Okay, I’m coming!” you laugh, grabbing the blanket you packed on the way out.

He leads you outside to the beautiful rolling hills of Aldhani; a place you’ve heard about in his stories but never visited. You spread out the blanket on the top of the hill and you sit down together.

“So what’s going on?” you ask, looking up at the illuminated sky, returning your hand to his.

“We landed just in time,” he says, rubbing your hand with his thumb, “Every three years Aldhani passes through a crystal belt and the meteors enter the atmosphere and burn up.”

One meteor shoots by, leaving a brilliant green trail in its wake.

“Wow,” you whisper, mouth falling open and eyes full of wonder.

“Last time I was here I didn’t really get to enjoy it.”

You squeeze his hand and look over at him.

“Hey, that was a long time ago. Things are different now. You get to enjoy it with me.”

He pulls you into him and wraps an arm around your waist. Your head rests on his shoulder as the two of you look up at the sky filled with multicolored meteors. Streaks of green, blue, orange and a little bit of pink race across the atmosphere. Cassian pulls away for a moment and looks at you; the way your eyes catch the light above you. And that’s what he finds most beautiful, not that natural phenomenon happening in the sky; you.

He pulls you in for a kiss, hands caressing each side of your face. You expect for it just to be a quick kiss but instead he keeps going, kissing you with more and more passion. His hand tugs at the waistband of your pants and that’s when you pull away and say, “Right here, Cass?! What if someone sees?”

“There’s no one around for miles, my love. They’re all in the valley.”

He points to the valley in the distance, full of the Dhani people celebrating and watching the sky.

“Okay,” you nod.

And with the confirmation he needed he pulls down your pants and you kick off your shoes. You pull your shirt off over your head and lay down while he gets undressed himself. He hovers over you and kisses you again, brushing his tongue across your lips. You part your lips and his tongue explores your mouth. His hand traces the outline of your breast before moving to your nipple, bringing it to a stiff peak between his fingertips. You moan into his mouth as he moves to your other breast. You spread your legs for him, desperate for his touch already. He pulls away and moves down between your thighs, licking one slow stripe up your cunt.

“Cass, please,” you beg.

“Love when you say my name,” he says before bringing his mouth to your clit. He hooks his arms around your thighs, bringing your cunt as close to his face as it could possibly get. You grind your hips against his face and between his tongue at your cunt and his nose at your clit you’re coming against his face. Waves of pleasure spread throughout you, starting at your core. The movement of your lips against his face turns languid before you collapse back down onto the blanket. He comes back up by your face and you can see under the glow of the Eye that the lower half of his face is slick with your release. He brings hand to your cunt and gathers your wetness before spreading it on his length. You close your eyes at the feeling of his cock entering you. You feel your walls expanding around him but you also feel his hand on your chin.

You open your eyes to see his face above yours, looking at you with pure adoration in his eye.

“Look at me, my love,” he says, drawing his hips back and thrusting into you harder.

You look up at his face with the illuminated sky behind him and his hair getting messier with each slam of his hips against you. He brings his thumb to your clit, rubbing small, fast circles around it. You arch your back and feel yourself arrive at the brink of orgasm, core tightening as the pleasure stirs in your stomach. You come undone around him and your cunt clenches him like a vice bringing him to the edge, too. You both cum looking into each other's eyes. You feel yourself become filled with ropes of his cum before he pulls out of you, laying down next to you on the blanket.

You place yourself into the crook of his neck and he wraps his arm around you. Your head rests on his chest and the two of you look up at the scenery above you. You’re both silent for a moment before he says, “Thanks for coming here with me.”

“I’d go anywhere with you, Cass,” you whisper.

He finally feels at peace in life, thanks to you. And with that, the two of you hold each other and enjoy the Eye.

End note: Another shorter one but send me some more Cassian requests 👀

#cassian andor x reader #cassian andor fanfiction #cassian andor smut #cassian andor x you #cassian andor x f!reader #cassian andor x female reader #cassian andor #andor fanfiction #star wars fanfiction #star wars #andor #banners by cafekitsune

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the-cookie-of-doom · 20 days

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Starset

Send me an ask and I'll tell you about one of these WIPs!

Ahhh, this fic is my spur of the moment little passion project that I'm working on for the next two weeks (until my concert). Every chapter is inspired by a Starset song (so far: Transmissions, Manifest, Telescope, Trials, Monster, Ricochet) with the overarching plot of Kim being a smuggler lost in space. Chay is his lover left behind in the space station where he ran his goods, waiting for him to return, desperately searching for any sign of him once he realizes Kim is gone.

Chay craves the next rushing jolt of synthetic stimulation. An escape from the station—his home, his prison—numbing his mind from the pain, the uncertainty, the grief. The awful, all-consuming grief that he refuses to feel, because to grieve is to accept what is lost can never be found, and he won’t. He can’t. Not while there is still some small chance that Kim is out there. Pleasure arches through his veins, an electric crackle up the conducting wire that is his spinal cord, following the bath from brainstem to medulla to pons to midbrain to the center of his brain, to his limbic system, that felt so wrong now feels so good. Nova. Supernova. Some people call it novocaine, but it isn’t, it’s something else entirely, but it feels like novocaine. Anesthetic and numbing and good, and Chay giggles. He brings tingling fingers to tingling lips, his own skin so unfamiliar it’s like kissing a stranger. He watches stars burn out and burst anew right before his eyes, entire galaxies created and destroyed outside his window, deep into the endless night. Artificial elation, hope and happiness soaring with the electricity that dances in his synapses, making an all-too-willing partner out of dopamine. Neurotransmitters sing with praise and jump with joy and so does Chay, a one-man show in his empty room, spinning and spinning and spinning within his own orbit, though he’s lost without his star. A wild thing hurtling through space. That’s alright, if he spins fast enough, tight enough, he’ll generate his own gravitational pull. Maybe it will be enough to bring his star back into place, at the center of Chay’s universe, where he belongs. Stars aren’t supposed to drift alone. The high is temporary, like all good things. It’s not in comparison to those first few months with Kim. It is a meteor burning away to nothing in the atmosphere, a flicker of light in the horizon, gone before you realize it was ever really there. But Kim—he’s the only drug Chay ever needed. His smile sweeter than any liquor, the warmth of his embrace a greater comfort than anything Chay could inject or snort or swallow.

#cookie writes #kimchay #i love sci fi stuff so much #ki #is sending out messages and songs in the hopes that someone some day will hear them #that eventually they'll make it to Chay #he final apology for leaving him behind

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im-poe-dameron · 2 years

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ASTERISM | METEOR SHOWERS

a/n: this is a little series i hinted at like in july of 2021 i think and i was going to wait until the andor show actually premiered to drop this. but since we have no idea when that will be, here is the beginning of something that i've been working on for a long time. i hope you enjoy cassian and his reluctant rescuer as they try and get him back to the rebel base.

summary: life on correlia had it's hardships and while you were always one to say you'd take adventure if it came your way...rescuing a rebel pilot from his burning ship wasn't how you imagined it starting.

word count: 4.9k+

pairing: cassian andor x fem!reader

warnings: not explicit, cussing, explosion of a ship, blood, some detail of injury due to burns, a harrowing rescue, tensions running high, and an unconscious pilot.

next chapter | masterist

Distance had always been a hardship no one wished to face in their life. An aggravating feat that had become difficult to overcome, and yet it still happened. To be away from something, from someone, it all came with its own challenges. And perhaps that was the true point in life. The learning process of understanding that you couldn’t remain with someone forever, because forever didn’t truly exist for mere humans.

Forever was a concept that had become a hope one wished to have, but few rarely get to keep.

It was one that you wanted to hold with him. A forever. A lifetime. More than what you got, but for whatever amount you managed to get with him, you knew that you’d hold that forever in your heart. The distance may be far away, but it didn’t stop you from loving him, and it certainly didn’t stop him from loving you.

Because one day, when you managed to snag that forever, he’d come back, falling into the atmosphere like a lost star returning home once more.

Back and forth you turned your attention from the stars to your task at hand. Getting things back to your home was a much more difficult task than you anticipated, but it seemed like a good idea at the time to walk. However you seemed to forget that you lived on the outskirts of the city Kor Vella, which meant you had to drag things back in either a cart you managed to find, or in a pack you carried.

It had become a weekly ritual, and every once in a while you managed to find someone kind enough to offer you help. Except for today it seemed. You’d been walking for hours with breaks in between, and the food supply you found was heavy enough as it is. You needed to find a working speeder before you completely lost feeling in your feet. The half finished piece of junk you dared to call a speeder would work one day…hopefully, but the pain didn’t feel too bad when you had a view like the one in front of you.

The stars were your source of entertainment on this walk. Picking out certain constellations that you could see, and naming them for fun. And while someone may have thought you were insane for doing this, you found it was better to do this than to wonder about anything else. Really you watched the stars, because you were hoping that one day you’d get to see them up close. Have a chance to experience what it would be like to live outside of this planet.

Corellia has always been your home. You were born here, raised here, and knew that one day you’d die here as well, but that all changed when the Rebellion happened. When people began to finally start fighting back, that gave you hope. That you’d one day get away from here and live your life the way it was meant to be lived. Except the how never came to you. What would you do if you could leave? If you had the opportunity to find a new home.

So, instead you watched the stars. Gazed up at them as if they were your home already, and ignored the reality around you. Because the truth was, you were alone. For years since your parents left off world and never returned, you’d been here. Waiting for something more to happen then just this. When it never did you figured it would be easier to get lost in dreams than to worry about reality.

Hiking the bag higher up on your shoulder, you could see your home in the distance. The small lights you’d manufactured to work as automatic switches when the light from the day faded, had begun to turn on, giving you a direct view of what was happening. Living on the outskirts of the city meant you didn’t have to deal with anyone, but it also meant you had to endure the crime that happened here.

While it was your home world, Corellia was definitely not the safest of places to live.

You leapt over the wall of rocks that had been built long before you found this home, and started up the pathway towards your door. Glancing at the stars once more you admired the sights of meteors streaking through the sky. The shine of each individual star, creating a myriad of lights, each seeming to flicker with their own life. It would be a sight you’d never tire of seeing.

One star in particular caught your eye, except you froze as you saw it streak through the sky. Most likely a meteor, burning through the atmosphere on it’s descent down. It happened from time to time, where they landed in the ocean harmlessly. Except this one didn’t look to be heading in the direction of the ocean, and it wasn’t burning as quickly as a hunk of rock from space would.

You narrowed your eyes, watching as the once small object grew larger with every passing second.

“Fuck!” you shouted, running towards your house as the object began to take the form of a ship, flames streaking up the sides as the sounds of crashing from parts flying off echoed in the air.

Just managing to reach the door in time you collapsed inside when another loud bang nearly shook the ground beneath you; the ship finally landed. Whatever it was from, and whoever was inside surely didn’t make it. How could they? You had every intention of locking the door; keeping yourself from even stepping a foot outside, but then you heard a sound - more like a scream. It echoed in the night air, breaking through the smoke filled air and sending chills down your spine.

With absolute horror you realized that whoever they were; they were alive.

Dropping the bag onto the ground you began to sprint towards the flaming object. It was probably the worst decision you could have made at a time like this. Not knowing if they were the enemy or if they were an ally, but all you could focus on was that the person flying this ship wasn’t dead. They needed help, and there wasn’t anyone around for miles except for you.

“Hello?” you screamed. Of course they wouldn’t hear you over the sounds of the metal beginning to break from the flames.

Getting into the ship itself wasn’t an option, but there wasn’t much for you to climb into. You began to notice things about it that told you who resided in the burning mass of metal, and relief swept through your body. A single symbol. That’s all you needed to see to know that the person you were helping, the pilot you were currently climbing into the ship for, was an ally. You supposed that the symbol was that powerful. It held so much meaning that just the sight of it began to fill your body with hope instead of dread.

“I’m coming in!” Coughing from the ashes, you climbed into the ship trying to see beyond the smoke that filled the tiny space.

Brown hair and a brown jacket to match. It’s what you focused on as the ash began to sting your eyes, the pain causing tears to drip down your cheeks. You could see that his chest rose and fell with each breath, but he unfortunately had fallen unconscious. Most likely due to the crash itself. How you were going to get him out was a quick running idea through your mind. Multiple scenarios in one to try and bypass the now dangerously close flames that licked their way up the side of the ship.

“Can you move?” you asked, pulling him towards you. When your hand met with the warm wet feeling of blood, you realized that he couldn’t do anything at this moment.

“Okay...whoever you are. I’m going to get you out of here.” You were talking more to yourself than anyone else, but maybe he could hear you. Maybe he wasn’t fully unconscious yet, and if so, then there would be hope for him to survive.

Gripping under his arms, you dragged him as best you could, out of the burning ship, landing clumsily on the ground beside it. You thought you recognized a bag inside that might hold his belongings, and you sprinted back to get to it. The strap tight around your hand as you clambered out of the way of the flames. You could hear it. The creaking of the metal as the flames managed to get to the control on the front panel. It would be a matter of seconds before the entire thing blew up, and you needed to get the both of you farther away from the blast radius.

“Shit.” Rolling to the ground to avoid a piece of metal flying out onto the grass, you felt the heat of the flames. They stung your skin, catching onto the coat you were wearing until you could see black spots in your vision.

A piercing scream broke through the cold night air, and you felt a jolt of hope go through you. He was alive. You had saved him. Except you soon realized the scream had come from you as the fire continued to burn your skin. The jacket lay on the ground, simmering while you struggled to your feet, the numbness from shock going through your body. Out of everything you’d been through so far in life, this was perhaps the most stupid and heroic of them all.

Your body couldn’t comprehend much anymore; shutting down after the amount of pain you were put through. Gripping him under the arms again, you began to continue dragging him towards your house, barely managing to get away before the ground was rocked by the ship caving in on itself. The explosion would have brought attention to where you were, and if whoever this man was had people after him, you wouldn’t be able to stay here.

Somehow through the ringing in your ears, and the pain shooting down your spine, you managed to get him into your house and onto the makeshift bed you had. His face had soot over it, ash sprinkled through his hair, and the jacket he wore was slightly singed, but other than that he looked alive. Which meant you could breathe; and you did. Coughing out the shit that had managed to practically embed itself in your lungs, making your head spin from lack of oxygen.

“We have to get out of here,” you mumbled, starting to stand up and pack a bag of your own right as your head began to throb.

You forgot for a moment that your back - your skin - had been seared from the fire and the second you moved you felt it. Pain streaked down your spine until you were crying out once more, nearly collapsing onto the floor. While spending a single night in your home seemed like a good idea, even you knew that there would be others who’d come to check on the ruckus. Neighbors were rare, but they did exist and some weren’t so kind when it came to members of the Rebellion.

Whether he was actually a pilot for them or not it wouldn’t make much difference, because he currently resided incapacitated. He’d, unfortunately, be no help when it came to getting out of there. The forest wasn’t too far and one could easily slip into it unnoticed, but how exactly were you meant to lug around a Rebellion pilot while you were still injured?

Improvising had never been your strong suit, but it would have to do. Grabbing the last bacta kit you had, you quickly treated him as best you could, choosing to spread a burn salve on your skin. It wouldn’t fully heal your wounds, that much you were aware of. Except you couldn’t complain. Not when it gave relief to some of the pain; allowing you to finish packing up what you needed to take with you. There would be no coming back to this house.

Not in the near future that is.

“I better get an award for doing this,” you muttered, swinging the pack onto your shoulder and searching for something to drape over him in order to cover the Rebellion symbol plastered on his jacket.

The entire time you were rushing to get out and get him on the half fixed speeder outside, you didn’t stop to pose the question of why you were helping him. Why did you feel like this was your responsibility to take on? You could have left him there, ignored the knot of guilt that would have sickened you to your stomach, but instead you chose to assist rather than abandon. You wondered if…this was the thing you’d been waiting for. The release in your long awaited sentence of solitude was saving this man and finding a way to help him get back to where he came from.

It was a ridiculous idea; hoping that you’d finally get to experience life off Corellia, but so was jumping into his burning ship.

“Okay,” you sighed, gripping his upper arms once more. “Now the fun part.”

You heard them before you saw them. Voices echoing in the distance as people finally caught wind of what exactly happened. To be safe you used your knife to rip out the internal wiring of the lights you’d spent so long creating. That would give some form of an idea that you weren’t home, which would buy you a few more minutes to get him on the speeder. Whether or not the piece of junk actually worked was another matter altogether.

There were still kinks you had to work out, but when the rumble of the engine started beneath you, a small amount of relief flooded your body. He was slung rather ungracefully on the back and while you would have laughed at the situation another day, you were dealing with the impending realization that the people coming closer were not your neighbors. They wore suits of white - suits you recognized instantly - and held weapons that would put your small blaster to shame.

Gripping it in your hands you waited until their backs were turned towards you; each one intent on inspecting the remnants of the crash. They were none the wiser as you watched them from a distance, pushing the speeder out and onto the side road covered by rocks. It would lead you into the depths of the forest, but from there you’d have to find your own shelter and food.

Thankfully you’d been through the forests before, knew the terrain a bit to survive the night and from there you would have to find someone else. Not necessarily a friend, but if you remembered correctly they did owe you a few favors.

Leaping onto the speeder you heard the Stormtroopers continue their conversation, completely unaware that someone had vanished into the thicket of trees. There was a small clearing about an hour away and so you dragged the hood up and over your head, fixing your cowl so it covered half your face in order to protect your identity. You weren’t sure if the Empire had gotten this far into the planet yet, but didn’t want to find out the hard way.

Quickly throwing a glance over your shoulder, you made sure that the now covered and protected pilot was still where you put him. Much to your relief and dismay, he was.

“You owe me one flyboy,” you said, the cowl muffling your words.

The forest looked vastly different at night.

Each star in the sky seemed to be brighter the further you traveled on the desolate path with no end in sight. The only times you’d actually ventured into the forest at night was when you were meeting your friend. Even then you only dared to go into the outskirts and no further. What resided in the forest you didn’t know, but tonight you would finally be finding out.

You weren’t too enthusiastic about that fact.

Slowing the speeder down slightly, you watched a few birds take flight into the night sky, heading up into the trees that looked like they would tower over every building in Coronet City. You didn’t have time to admire for much longer, because eventually you would have to find a place to rest for the night. The salve on your wound was beginning to wear off and you had no doubt that flyboy would be waking up in a few hours.

“Clearing, clearing…clearing,” you muttered, pulling the hood from your face and shifting your protective goggles to your head. The darkened area wasn’t helping in your search, yet you wouldn’t let that bother you.

Not when things were going so smoothly in your journey already. Things could have turned out for the worse, what with you doing this on your own at the same time as being seriously injured. You might not have made it out of your home alive in the end. Pulling your hood back on along with your goggles you restarted the speeder-bike and moved forward towards what looked similar to the clearing you’d been searching for.

This would have to do for the night, until the sun gave you enough light to travel by and he was awake to actually pull his own weight. You didn’t hear the shuffle of what sounded like an animal in the distance, far too busy with getting flyboy off the speeder without actually injuring him more. He would need salve on his open wounds, only that would have to come later. Building a fire to keep the both of you warm was the first priority.

“Nice and easy,” you grumbled, dragging him closer to a fallen tree and settling him there so his head didn’t fall forward. “You know - when I asked for excitement I didn’t actually expect this much of it to happen in one night.”

Great, you were talking to yourself.

“Tell me, flyboy. Do you routinely get yourself into situations where you are unconscious?” You shifted around the edge of the clearing, gathering rocks of equal size to create your pit for the fire. “Well of course you can’t answer that question. Because…you’re…in fact unconscious. That’s just fucking fantastic.”

You knew that you looked like you had finally lost your mind, but in a way you had. There you were rubbing two sticks together to create a fire to keep you warm as you hid from the Empire. Earlier that morning all you planned to do was get parts for your speeder-bike and food to keep you alive. Somehow you wound up here and still you felt relatively calm.

As if you knew what to do at a moment’s notice of danger. When in fact, you had no clue what you would do, but that was yet another situation you would handle at a different time. Instead you focused on the small sparks that were showing up in the bed of dried grass you molded together. This is what kept you sane through everything that transpired.

The fact that you could do a simple task such as this with ease and success kept you from completely falling apart. Someone - other than yourself - counted on you and so…in a moment of eerie serenity, you set to work on building a camp that would keep the both of you alive.

“When you wake up I better hear a thank you.” You knew he couldn’t hear you, let alone know that you were actually here helping him, but talking to him was better than remaining in silence with your own thoughts. The same ones that were screaming at you to get out of there.

Find some other way to have an adventure without potentially getting yourself killed while doing it. Yet how could you when your life was no longer about just you anymore. You understood that the second you made the choice to rescue him, he would be your responsibility until he wasn’t anymore. That was something you wouldn’t leave behind, getting killed be damned.

Sighing you pulled out the small bag of fruit that you had already packed in your bag from earlier in the day. It would be enough to tide you over until you could find something much larger to feed the both of you. For now - you would watch the stars as they illuminated the night sky in a way you hadn’t seen before.

“Hey when you wake up flyboy,” you said softly, taking a bite out of the fruit and chewing thoughtfully. “Will you tell me about the stars?”

Falling asleep shouldn’t have been so easy and yet somehow you found yourself unable to keep your eyes open. The fire would burn through the wood, eventually dying down, but that wouldn’t happen until the sun was up. By your guess it would be a few more hours until then so you allowed yourself to fall into a deep sleep. Barely noticing the fruit falling out of your hands and rolling to the ground.

Just a few hours. That was all you needed to continue, except the exhaustion felt too great for merely a few hours. It would take more than that to recharge and to heal. It was only when you were too close to the edge of falling asleep did you realize you never put the salve on his wounds. But before you could wake up and go through with it you were knocked out cold.

The darkness swallowed you whole as you finally got the rest you needed.

A knife pressing against your throat isn’t how you liked to be woken up on most days, but today…it still didn’t feel right. At first you believed it was nothing but a dream - just your mind playing tricks on you - but then your eyes opened and you were staring up at a man. Not just any man, the pilot you’d been lugging around for half the night. His eyes were filled with a look you couldn’t quite discern in your groggy state, but one thing was clear.

He wasn’t happy with what he woke up to.

“Who are you?” he spit out, the blade pressing even closer to your skin.

What the fuck were you supposed to say?

Coughing, you raised your hands up in surrender as he pulled the cowl away from the bottom half of your face. “Nice to make your acquaintance, too flyboy.”

Apparently that was the wrong thing to say.

“Are you with the Empire?” You flinched as a small amount of pain shot through your body when he lifted you up slightly only to slam you back down to the ground. The burns on your back still hadn’t healed, so it took you a few seconds of gasping for air in order to answer his question.

“Get the fuck off me,” you rasped, hands clutching for something - anything - that would cool the burning sensation of your back.

He apparently seemed to be a persistent man; much to your disappointment. “Not until you tell me-”

“I’m not with the Empire!” The scream came out completely involuntarily after you spoke; the burning sensation now spread up your spine until you could barely see straight. “I’m the one who saved your ass from your burning ship. So you should be - fuck - thanking me.”

You couldn’t handle the pain anymore and so you pulled your knee up quickly to slam against his lower back. Right where you knew his wound had yet to fully heal. Bacta kits only worked so fast and from the time of day it only had a few hours to actually set into his immune system. He fell to the side, scrambling for the knife that dropped from his hands, but froze at the sight of you rolling to your stomach. Groaning through the searing discomfort in the hopes that it would dampen some of the pain.

“Are you-”

“Don’t! Please don’t touch me.” Pathetically whimpering out words was not how you intended to speak to him once you woke up. “The salve in my bag.”

The sound of him shifting away from you let you know that he was at least willing to help with that. You inhaled deeply, attempting to get your mind off the agony that filled your veins. It was the feeling of him pressing the small round metal container in your hand that set your body and mind into action. Sitting up with a cry of pain, you shoved the shirt up your body and bit down on it to keep it from falling.

“Can I help?”

Glaring at him probably wasn’t the best choice, when you knew that he could actually be of some use to you. Except you couldn’t help it; not when he was technically the cause of this pain. Opening the container you handed it off to him and shifted slowly so your back was exposed to him. The showing of your skin you didn’t much care about. No, it was the fact that only mere minutes ago he had been fully intent on watching you bleed out onto the Correllian forest floor.

“Just - just be careful,” you said, voice ragged from the screams. “Please.”

It was the contrast of his earlier actions that caused you to freeze in place. A gentle hand glided across your skin, spreading the salve on the places that needed it the most before rubbing it in around the still open wounds. He wouldn’t have known the extent that you went to in order to rescue him, but there tending to your still tender wounds that would no doubt scar your skin, he understood.

“Why did you do this?” he asked, still working the salve into your skin.

He was being far more thorough than you had been last night. Slowly, with each swipe of his fingers along your back, you felt the pain lessen more and more. It felt strange how a man could go from being a ruthless killer, to offering his assistance in a delicate task such as this. What felt even more strange though was the fact that you allowed him to do it.

“Why did I do what?” You nearly sighed as he pressed the salve into your last burn.

“Why did you help me?”

Not such an easy answer to give. “You were about to die. I couldn’t just leave you there.”

“Most would.”

“Would you have left me if the situations were reversed?” you asked, turning your head awkwardly to see him over your shoulder.

He glanced down at the remaining salve on his hand. “No.”

“Then that answers your question.”

Before he could respond, a growl echoed in the air behind him; coming from the thicket of trees. You pulled your shirt down and sprinted towards the speeder-bike, searching for the blaster you had grabbed from your home. It was him yanking it out of his bag and tossing you the knife that set you into gear as you shifted to face whatever creature was heading out of the forest.

You had wondered earlier on what resided within these trees. Yet now - as you were facing off something that no doubt considered you food - you weren’t so sure you wanted to know anymore. Sure enough, the large animal that pushed its way into the clearing answered your question. You didn’t want to know what the fuck lived here.

Being oblivious was always better anyways…right?

“Shit,” you whispered, eyes wide as you watched a cat-like creature begin to stalk forward. The spines coming from its back told you everything you needed to know about what exactly you were facing.

“What is it?” he asked, following your movements as you took a step back.

“Something we do not want to piss off.”

He sighed. “Which is.”

“Ever seen a Dire-cat up close?” you asked, unable to tear your eyes away from the animal that had fixated its red-eyed stare on you. You did however catch him shaking his head from the corner of your eye. “Well - now you have.”

“How do we kill it?” You heard the blaster begin to start up, before you were clutching the barrel of it and forcing it to point at the ground.

“We don’t. We wait for it to decide if it wants to kill us or not.”

“That’s asking to die,” he spit out.

The Dire-cat shifted closer, sniffing at the salve on the ground before heading towards the fruit that lay beside your bag. “What’s your name?” you asked abruptly, realizing that if you were going to die beside the man you saved. You would know his name.

He froze, eyes regarding you with a look of complete confusion, but went along with it regardless. He must have understood what your question actually meant. “Cassian Andor.”

“It was nice meeting you Cassian Andor,” you breathed, seeing the Dire-cat head your way.

“Nice meeting you too,” he replied, smiling briefly in your direction before turning back to the animal that had chosen you as the next meal.

“What a way to end an adventure,” you muttered to yourself, keeping your heartbeat steady as you made peace with the fact that you were about to die. How fitting for your story to end here.

How heroic.

#cassian andor x fem!reader #cassian andor x reader #cassian andor x you #cassian andor x y/n #cassian andor #rogue one #my writing #diego luna #i've held onto this story for SO LONG #it feels good to have it drop

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ravenrambles6229 · 11 months

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Titanium Ninja actually kind of fucks, though

So I rewatched the last episode of season 3. A pretty mid season, right? Well that final episode fucks in all the ways that made my brain vibrate as a 12 year old. So let’s fucking go I need everyone to appreciate this episode.

First up, ninjas trapped in space. Alright. There’s already no solution to this that isn’t bullshit, so just make it cool. Well, I like that they had to use their abilities and knowledge to make the ship instead of tornado of creation-ing it. Really shows how much they’re capable of when they work together!

“How we holding up?” “Bubblegum and a wish!” As they fucking send it. What a legendary line. It burned itself into my brain for years to come and is a part of my standard lexicon.

“Hasn’t Ninjago suffered enough already?” She asks, on season 3 out of what is now 17.

Overlord’s face is kinda silly but the mech honestly kinda slaps.

“My heart has reached critical mass, it appears my unlimited energy is in fact limited!” “Critical mass? You mean it’s gonna blow up?” “Don’t worry about me!” AHJGHSJKG See kids, this is what we call foreshadowing.

Okay but seriously, now that they’re in the atmosphere, they use their elemental powers to shield themselves as they come in from from orbit like goddamn meteors. Is it bullshit? Yes. Do I care? Absolutely the fuck not.

Skales saying they can’t help the people of Ninjago then doing it anyway? Love him for that. Because he presumably sees the ninjas and is like “ugh these fuckers again. Well if they did it once-”

The city recognizing the ninja as they plummet towards the earth as multicolored meteors? There had better be folk songs about this. I’m surprised there isn’t a church. Saviors from the stars here to kill Satan.

Man, people still getting a haircut as the Overlord attacks. Frickin iconic. No wonder people handled season 9 so well.

Pixal on her lil bike.

Also the ninja being caught by their vehicles. Does it make sense? Not really. But the animation for it is cool so once again, I am fully on board.

“A few parachutes would have been nice!” “Friends and family make a good substitute!” Fuck, I love Kai so much.

City fortress. Cloaked in blacks and reds in a dusky sky. What a sick image.

The fact that they were prepared to throw hands with the Overlord even before Borg came to them with a solution. These lil heroes I love them so much.

Lloyd biking through a hole in a window while Cole just WHAM. I love them both so much.

“Go back, and our probability of making it to the temple exponentially diminishes!” “This isn’t about numbers, Zane! It’s about family!” AAAGH the fact that that line came from Kai! Also, foreshadowing!

Cole whooping even as he’s running from certain doom, what an icon.

Lol the ancient seal of the temple being helped by a convenient barrier.

“Let me get this straight, you want us to get close to a guy with armor that, with one touch, will make us toast, and you want us to give him a pill?” “Precisely!” Oh Borg, never change. Unironically my favorite side character, I love this genius idiot so much. He’s just like “well if anyone can do it, it’s you lunatics” and it still feels like pot calling kettle black.

Zane offering his armor to Pixal!!! I love him! Even though he’s so big on probability, he’s so willing to give up his own safety for others!

“I shall see you again.” AAGH

Magic armor toysets!!

The ninja ninja-ing over rooftops will never not make my brain whir.

Okay the golden spiderweb thing goes kinda hard as a villain aesthetic, though. Great way to make the normally heroic golden colors look all evil!

That shot of the ninja, these tiny lil dudes, against this giant evil robot kicks so much ass though.

“Then attack the people.” Holy SHIT Pythor! What a dick move! And the fact that its his former second-in-command that comes to offer the people refuge is so good!

“That was ALL YOU’VE GOT!?” It sure was, but these ninjas are the masters of asspulls so watch yourself.

Okay now we’re getting to the scene. The scene. One of the best scenes in the show, and I am prepared to die on this hill. Actually, I’m prepared to kill on this hill. Because this scene is just fantastic, and has stuck with me vividly for years, even after I fell off the show back around season seven. If you had come up to 16-year-old Raven and told her to quote this scene, she probably could have done so.

“Support me friends, for one last time.” Never does Zane ever think of this as anything less than a group effort. Even here, he’s asking for their support! And they do what little they can!

Then this GOAT just fuckin grabs the armor and demands “Let! My! Friends! Go!” His voice cracking, as the music swells! The way he’s writhing makes him look like he’s in genuine agony but pushing through it anyway!

“Go where, doomed ninja?”

Then they show his fucking heartbeat! It’s robotic, but also very much so a human pulse! Because Zane is as alive as anyone! Then his faceplate falls off!

And you can see the Overlord’s expression change here as he starts running calculations, getting worried!

“The golden weapons are too powerful for you to behold! Your survival chance is ZERO!” “This isn’t about numbers. It’s about family!” What can I even say about this exchange? First of all, the Overlord is appealing to Zane’s survival, rather than his chance of SUCCESS. In all likelihood, he KNOWS that Zane is a threat right now, because that robot is channeling the power of his own armor. But Zane is not swayed by his own chance of survival.

Killing the moment a bit, looks like Zane is programmed in some wacky ass C++. Wonder if Dr. Julien could help me with my Arduino homework. Never was good with stepper motors. Anyway back to drama.

Then the ninja desperately wondering why Zane isn’t letting go, but Wu realizes. “He’s protecting us!”

“I! Am! A Nindroid! And Ninja! Never quit! Go ninja, Go!” There’s so much here. It’s like when he found his true potential on an infinitely larger scale. The Overlord will not hurt his friends, because he knows who he is: A nindroid that never quits, built to protect those who cannot protect themselves.

Also, “Go ninja, go!” Amazing how the addition of one extra “go” completely changes the mood. It sounds desperate, like he’s telling himself to go, to take the plunge, to give everything up, and he DOES that.

Then he just. Fuckin. Goes. What I imagine is happening here is that he is directly powering himself with the golden armor, channeling the Overlord’s golden power THROUGH his heart to boost his own elemental power. Completely frying himself in the process, but able to literally produce the power to kill Satan.

“No Zane! No!” It being Jay, the one often considered the meek one, to be the first to run after Zane. As Wu has to force them all away, because he can’t lose all his ninja.

Then. The music change. The MUSIC CHANGE. This song. Let me tell you something. I just recently got back into Ninjago. And I was getting caught up on what I missed. Well, I was listening to a music compilation, and suddenly, this song started playing. I Ratatouilled so hard, y’all. I had a flashback to Zane having flashbacks, because this music is absolutely stunning.

His heartbeat plays over the music. The sounds of the fight fade away. As he recounts his time with his brothers. His time meeting his father again, even if it was for only a few short months.

“There’s something special about you Zane.” Cut to Pixal. Then cut to him smiling.

“I know who I am!”

“You were built to protect those who cannot protect themselves.” That’s it. That is the microcosm of Zane’s character. He protects people. He protects his family. And Zane can die happily if it means he has fulfilled that directive.

As he flatlines. Holy hell. I cannot stress enough the impact this had on me as a child.

One final (for now) NOOOOO from the Overlord, then it’s all quiet. The tower light goes out. The manhole freezes over. The robots break. It’s eerily soft compared to what was just happening. Like a single, soft exhale of breath.

Kai looks at a damaged “New Ninjago City” sign. This is symbolism.

And Cole finds a piece of Zane’s body! Is this the only surviving piece? It must be, and that’s devastating! Granted, a kids show probably can’t show what is essentially a corpse, but they don’t even have anything to bury!

Him comforting Nya as she starts to sob. Jay just looking away softly. And Borg. “I used to think technology would be the answer to all of our problems.”

Then it cuts to the memorial.

“Then I saw technology invent new problems. Devastating problems. And then, a Nindroid named Zane saved us all. He was the perfect balance between us and technology.” And nothing encapsulates that better than the heartbeat from a few seconds ago. The heartbeat of a human contained in a machine.

“Technology can improve our lives, but so can people.” The fact that they don’t fully demonize technology, which would be hypocritical seeing as Zane is technology. Instead, it’s all about balance!

“Our city will find its way again, but this time, with Zane as our compass.” Couple things here. First off. That this takes place in a park rather than an urban sprawl. Second, that the photo of Zane is of his season 1 outfit is nice! And that they’re going to look to Zane as an example of what technology should be.

And Zane gets a statue! I love this a lot. I love that it shows up in later seasons. Later on, Zane says he doesn’t need a statue. But it’s not even just about Zane, it’s for the people to remember Zane and his sacrifice by. To remember the mistakes that he fixed so that they don’t repeat them. The Titanium Ninja, a strong metal to act as a foundation for their future. It’s not complex symbolism, but it’s still extremely effective! No wonder I lost my mind at age 12.

Then his falcon sits on his shoulder, with the leitmotif playing! Agh! Just stab me in the heart already, show!

“So, what happens after this?” “I don’t know.” “And I don’t care. Today’s about Zane.” I have a lot of thoughts about this. First up, Jay completely not acknowledging the love triangle right now. He doesn’t care about that, because today IS about Zane. It’s so humanizing. And next up, we know what happens after this. In their grief, the ninja fracture. It’s tragic, but they’re all so devastated by their grief that they don’t know how to carry on together. This is a recurring thing in the show. When Nya becomes the sea, the team splits up. When Lloyd thought his friends died in Sons of Garmadon, he nearly gave up everything. For better or worse, these ninja need each other, they are a very tight-knit family. I wonder if the new series can touch on how they deal with being separated from each other on longer terms. Either way, this family loves each other so much, and I love that,

Kai being the one to give a eulogy. Literally I could type out that entire speech and point to line after line just being like Look! Look at this line! It’s amazingly eloquent, especially coming from Kai. Out of all the ninja, he’s always been the most family-oriented. He’s powered by brotherhood, and Zane continues to power him. We see this in season 4, when he visits Zane’s statue, that he still thinks about Zane every single day, still looking to him for guidance. He has so much love and respect for his family, but also can’t cope with yet another loss in his life.

Wu blinking rapidly as he ducks his head!! Dude is holding back tears big time.

.Dareth sobbing! He loves those funky ninjas too!

“Ninja never quit, and ninja will never be forgotten! Wherever you are Zane, you’ll always be one of us.” As it STARTS TO SNOW! AGH! This is so good!

All of Zane’s flashbacks before it’s revealed that he lived on in the Digiverse! At least before Ronin stole him, lol. Well either way, Pixal moving from grief to hope as she realizes he’s alive! Holy shit! I’d like to draw attention to her speech from crystallized. “Long ago, in a different battle, you gave up half your power source to save my life. Ever since that moment, I felt things I’ve never felt before. I felt love. For you.” Pairing these two moments together just... It hits so hard.

Then the fucking MUSIC. The FUCKING MUSIC! It is triumphant and glorious and a CELEBRATION.

“Are we compatible now?” Holy hell, what an ending.

No wonder this did irreparable damage to my brain chemistry. No wonder I was never normal again. This absolutely DESTROYED me as a kid, and I think it still holds up as one of the most emotionally impactful series of scenes in the show. The beginning is really awesome, the fights are fun, the characterization is stellar, and the death scene is damn near flawless. Is the episode nonsensical and a bit meandering at times? Well, yes, it is. The entire season is all over the place. But this episode still works SO well. I’d say it’s probably top five, easy.

It was something I never considered possible, as a kid. This is coming off season 2, which was pretty Lloyd-centric. I never thought we’d get such an amazing tribute to my, at the time, favorite character. I never thought he’d get such a moment in the spotlight to be as amazing as he was. Granted, he’s since had PLENTY of deaths to call his own, but this one remains the most impactful to me. This was the first death to REALLY be a death and to REALLY hit home. The only deaths that I’d say even come close are Nya’s death in Skybound (since she didn’t really die in Seabound) and Morro’s death for how brutal it is. Nya becoming the sea was also really good, though, with a beautiful funeral. But this one just...

The Titanium Ninja was a revolution for me as a kid. I had adored this show since the pilot. I had kept up religiously since the pilot. But this was the moment that the show went to a whole different level. And honestly, I think it holds up. Ninjago has a list of issues a mile long. But I just want to celebrate for a moment this episode, and everything it does so, so well.

Anyway, that’s my rant about an episode that I really love. I may do this again with episodes like Son of Lily. Because I love this stupid little show so much, guys. I grew up with it, and its always been a big part of my life. Episode 7, Tick Tock, was like, the biggest plot twist of the universe to me as a kid. It was what made Zane my favorite character, and got me so invested in him in the first place. To see Ninjago use that to make a genuinely fantastic character arc, then to use that as the foundation for the fourth season, was absolutely brilliant, and my life is genuinely better for having gotten to enjoy such a show as a kid and now as an adult. This show isn’t some life-changing revolution, but it makes me so happy, and I hope this rant helps illuminate a little bit of why.

#ninjago #ninjago masters of spinjitzu #ninjago rebooted #ninjago season 3 #zane julien #zane ninjago #titanium ninja #the titanium ninja #yall i love this show so much #even when it hurts me #looking at you season 5

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spacetimewithstuartgary · 9 months

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A banner year for the Perseid meteor shower

The Perseid meteor shower, a celestial event eagerly awaited by millions of skywatchers around the world, is about to make its annual return to the night sky. The shower is predicted to reach its peak before dawn on Sunday, August 13, but viewers should plan to start looking for meteors already at nightfall on Saturday, August 12. In a dark site away from light pollution, at the peak of the shower, observers might see one meteor per minute.

"Conditions this year couldn't be more perfect," says Diana Hannikainen, Sky & Telescope's Observing Editor. "The waning crescent moon, which is only 8% illuminated, rises in the wee hours of the morning on August 13 and won't interfere with viewing." In addition, the fact that the peak coincides with a weekend night means people can stay up late—or even all night—without worrying about being late for school or work. "The main thing that could hamper enjoyment of the spectacle would be clouds or light pollution," Hannikainen cautions.

Begin watching for meteors soon after evening twilight ends on the evening of August 12. By then the shower's radiant—its perspective point of origin in the constellation Perseus—has risen above the northeastern horizon. The few Perseids that appear this early will be spectacularly long "earthgrazers" that skim along the top of the atmosphere. The higher the radiant, the more meteors you'll see—so when Perseus climbs higher in the northeast, especially after midnight, more meteors will appear all over the sky. The Perseids are a long-lived event, and you should see meteors—though fewer in number—for several nights before and after the night of the peak.

To enjoy the Perseids, you need no equipment but your eyes; binoculars and telescopes show too small an area of sky to be useful for meteor-watching. Find a dark spot away from bright lights with a wide-open view all around if possible. You'll want to make yourself comfortable to fully enjoy the show—craning your neck for many hours can ruin your experience. Bring a reclining lawn chair or picnic blanket so you can lie back. Bundle up in blankets or a sleeping bag, both for mosquito shielding and for warmth; clear nights can grow surprisingly chilly, even in August. Next, relax, be patient, and let your eyes adapt to the darkness.

These "shooting stars" can appear anywhere and everywhere in the sky—you don't have to look toward the radiant to see them. The best direction to watch is wherever your sky is darkest, usually straight up. Faint Perseids appear as tiny, quick streaks. Occasional brighter ones might sail across the sky for several seconds and leave a brief train of glowing smoke.

When you see a meteor, trace its path back to its origin. If you eventually come to the constellation Perseus (see the accompanying sky chart), you've just witnessed a Perseid. Occasionally you might spot an interloper. The weaker Delta Aquariid and Kappa Cygnid showers are also active during Perseid season, and there are always a few random, "sporadic" meteors too. All of these come from other parts of the sky. It's a fun exercise to trace meteors back to their radiants: If the tracks don't lead you to Perseus, they aren't Perseids.

Any light pollution or cloudiness will cut down the number of meteors visible. But the brightest ones shine right through light pollution (though usually not through clouds). In fact, a NASA analysis of all-sky images taken from 2008 to 2013 shows that the Perseids deliver more bright meteors (those that outshine any star) than any other annual meteor shower.

How and why

Meteors are caused by tiny, sandgrain- to pea-size bits of dusty debris striking the top of Earth's atmosphere roughly 80 miles (130 km) up. Each Perseid zips in at 37 miles per second, glowing as it burns to soot and creating a quick, white-hot streak of superheated air. The nuggets in Grape Nuts cereal are a close match to the estimated size, color, and texture of typical meteor-shower particles.

The Perseid bits were shed long ago by Comet Swift-Tuttle and are distributed all along the comet's orbital path around the sun. Earth passes through this tenuous "river of rubble" every year in mid-August. The comet is so named because it was independently discovered by Lewis Swift and Horace Parnell Tuttle in July 1862.

IMAGE....The Perseid meteors appear to stream away from the shower's "radiant" point near the border of Perseus and Cassiopeia. Credit: Sky & Telescope

#science #space #astronomy #physics #news #astrophysics #meteor #perseids

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discrepancybot · 9 months

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As long as it's not cloudy where you are, this year will see an above average peak of the annual Perseid meteor shower.

The Perseids will peak on a Saturday night/Sunday morning. It doesn't get much more convenient than that.

And the waning crescent moon doesn't rise until close to dawn on Sunday. So moonlight won't interfere with viewing the meteors.

The annual Perseid shower will make its big splash on the night of August 12–13. Patience has its reward. Observers won't have to tangle with the full Moon as we did last year. Instead, an 8%-illuminated crescent will rise around 3 a.m. local time and make a welcome sight in the eastern sky as dawn gets underway. Additionally, two potential meteor outbursts during and after shower maximum could sweeten the pot. More about those in a moment. Perseids flare at the rate of about one a minute from a dark sky. If you're able and the weather looks ideal consider a drive to the countryside to fully appreciate the rich harvest of meteors in the offing. Invite family and friends to share the experience. Neither telescope nor binoculars are needed, just a reclining chair, snacks, and warm clothing in case you stay out late. This interactive light-pollution map will help you find the darkest skies near your home.

The cool thing about meteor showers is that you need no optical equipment to enjoy them. Lawn chairs are always a big plus; perhaps some ambient or spacey music would be appropriate. Just sit back and watch. If you are worried about bugs, thin clothing that covers arms and legs is helpful.

Don't worry about being hit my a meteorite. Typically they are the size of a grain of sand and almost all of them burn up in the atmosphere. It's the friction caused by entering Earth's atmosphere which creates the displays.

Each particle drills into the atmosphere at more than 133,000 miles per hour (59 km/s) some 100 kilometers overhead. Heat generated as the speeding debris compresses the air in its path creates a bright streak several kilometers long made of heated atoms ablated from the meteoroid, as well as a glowing trail of air molecules ionized by the impact.

The best displays take place when your location on Earth begins to turn towards the meteor stream after midnight. Meteor showers favor viewers who stay up until 2 or 3 AM.

It is necessary to be in a dark place with low light pollution. This is a great excuse to visit friends in outer suburbs, exurbs, or rural areas. If it's dark enough to see the Milky Way, even faintly, that's a good indicator of the sky being sufficiently dark.

youtube

Of course all visual astronomy from the surface of Earth depends on the weather. So check the forecast for the place where you'd be viewing the Perseids before making final plans.

One overlooked aspect of astronomy is that it's a very inexpensive date. So enjoy the company under the stars! ☄️

#perseid meteor shower #perseids #august 12-13 #astronomy #comet dust #sky & telescope

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naturepointstheway · 2 years

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Flufftober22: Day 8: Shooting Star

Cats the Musical - Tuggoffelees - University AU - Mute autistic Mistoffelees (based on Zurich production) - Rating: G. @flufftober

Ordinarily, being awoken at one in the morning by a text would annoy Tugger (who would still check anyway lest it was an emergency), but when a cursory glance at the screen told him it was from Mistoffelees, he immediately grabbed his phone to read it.

Misto:

Hey.

You’re watching the meteor shower too, right?

Meteor shower? That was the first time Tugger had ever heard anyone talk about it--he’d heard about them before but had never paid much attention. To be honest, it wasn’t as though he hung around people interested in them--he wasn’t much of a space fan like Misto clearly was.

Tugger:

There’s a meteor shower? 2nite?

Misto:

Yes - are you going to see it?

Tugger:

Not every1 is interested in watching meteor showers.

One second after he sent that, he immediately wanted to take it back, realising too late how it sounded over text.

Shit I meant I didn’t know any1 interested in meteor showers.

Until now.

He waited about half a minute to check if Misto was going to respond. A minute passed before he grew worried.

Misto?

Hey, Misto. It’s ur giant bore here.

Misto:

Sorry.

I’m always bothering people.

And it’s 1 am.

Tugger:

No ur not. I luv wen u get excited about things you love.

So, meteor shower outside now?

Also 1 am?

You KNOW I’ve pulled all nighters. 1 am is nothing.

Misto:

It’s happening right now if you go outside.

Of course you would be a chronic all-nighter ;)

Tugger:

Lol, thx. I think.

Awsum! Gonna grab a jacket first. I’ll txt u wen I’m outside.

With that, Tugger went to grab his jacket tossed over the back of his chair and pocketed the phone. As he quietly shut the bedroom door and made his way down the hall, excitement sparked inside him, surprising him. He never got this excited about space things--or perhaps he was excited by Misto’s excitement about this spectacle--his love for everything he was passionate about always remained nothing short of infectious and heartwarming.

Finally reaching the front door, he pulled it open, making sure it wouldn’t lock him out (he half hoped it would--just so he could have an excuse to ask Misto if his flat had a spare sofa for him to sleep on), and sat down on the steps, craning his head back to stare at the stars sparkling above him. He knew it would take time for his eyes to adjust enough to see more stars--and hopefully shooting stars too.

Tugger:

Hey Misto. I’m outside now. It’s actually nice out here.

Misto:

I hope you don’t have too much light pollution where you are.

Tugger:

Not 2 bad I think. Can see the Milky Way pretty well.

Misto:

Oh good. You will be able to see them.

Tugger suddenly had an idea.

Tugger:

I have the app that turns txt msgs to voice.

If u tell me all about shooting stars, I can have txt to voice read it aloud.

Misto:

You’re interested?

Tugger:

Sure! I LUV wen u tell me everything u know about ur passions! LUV. Heart Eyes.

Misto:

Ok. I will try.

Tugger:

First off: are they actually stars?

Tugger quickly turned on text to voice so he could pay more attention to the stars, looking for the elusive meteor shower Misto was talking about. Not a minute later, text to voice reported a new text from “My stow”:

“No,” the voice read aloud, “They are actually very tiny pieces of space rocks, usually asteroid fragments, or even dust that burns up in the atmosphere.”

A pause passed before it read aloud new texts.

“They can burn really hot, over 3000 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s why they’re so bright they can leave an afterimage on your eyes.”

Tugger:

Isn’t that the same temperature as the sun?

“Not quite,” the app read aloud the response, “The sun’s surface is at least 9000 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s 27 million degrees at its core.”

Damn. And we can feel it from--

“Amazing that we can still feel the power of the sun’s heat even from 93 million miles away, isn’t it?”

It sure the hell is.

Tugger:

I was *just* thinking about that!

So, seen any meteors? Shooting stars?

Uh what would you prefer me to call them?

Again, he waited for the read aloud of the response.

“Technically you should call them meteors. But shooting stars is fine. Incorrect but everyone calls them that so asterisk shrugs asterisk. I have seen a couple so far.”

Tugger:

Haha I’m lving that the app just read aloud your asterisks too.

A couple? Damn I best keep my eyes to the stars, huh?

Wen did u first see a meteor?

And hey, feel free to give me all the fun facts on meteors!

I’ll tell u if I c 1!

With that, Tugger put his phone back down and leaned back, stretching out his long legs as he locked his eyes onto the stars. This was honestly quite relaxing, being out here with nothing but the stars above him and a stillness to the world as everyone slumbered or did whatever they did at this time of night.

He rested his arms behind him as the text to voice app continued to read aloud Misto’s messages, filled with excitement at telling him when he had seen his first shooting star--he had been looking through a telescope at the Belt of Orion at the time when a meteor streaked straight through the field of vision, leaving an afterimage on his eyes for a few minutes afterward.

And then!

Even though no one was around, Tugger still gasped and pointed up at the sky when a shooting star streaked for half a second across a tiny star, burning brilliant and glorious before fading out forever.

Oh...OH. I get it! I get why Misto loves this so much! Space is still horrifying though.

Tugger swiftly grabbed his phone and began typing at breakneck speed.

Tugger:

Misto! I saw one! I SAW one!

I get y u love this so much!

Space is still horror but it’s sexy when it wants to be.

He quickly turned off the text to audio app, his curiosity now satisfied. Still, he wanted to stay out here, texting with Misto.

Misto:

:) :) :)

Space is sexy? Oh Tugger, never change ;)

Tugger:

Now I really wish I was there with you.

That would have been perfect.

Sharing this moment together.

Misto:

But we did. Just in different flats.

Texting still counts.

I don’t feel as lonely even when texting you.

Tugger:

<3 <3

I’m always here for you, Misto.

Misto:

Thanks, Tugger, for sharing this moment with me. I appreciate it. :) <3

Tugger:

U gng to bed soon? Or?

Misto:

I think I might watch a little longer. Then maybe I’ll sleep.

Tugger:

Me too.

Misto:

Goodnight, Tugger. Thank you, again, for sharing this with me.

Tugger:

Night, Misto :) Don’t let the shooting stars fall on you ;)

Misto:

Tugger vowed never to forget this magical night, ever.

#cats the musical #flufftober22 #day 8 #Tuggoffelees #Rum Tum Tugger #Mr Mistoffelees #Mistoffelees #Zurich!Misto #fun fact: the story Misto says about his first time seeing a meteor #is based on a true story! (Though that wasn't my first time seeing a meteor #but seeing one close up looking through a telescope at Orion's Belt #that was BRIGHT and DID leave an afterimage on my eyes for a few minutes)

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theygender · 2 years

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We know that the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs was about 12 km / 7.5 miles wide when it hit the earth right? But what I wanna know is how big it was BEFORE it hit the earth. Meteors that enter the earth's atmosphere burn up significantly before they reach the surface, to the point where most of them completely disentegrate before ever touching down on our planet and those that do hit the earth are usually under a few inches wide by the time they reach the surface. So in order for that meteor to still be 7.5 miles wide by the time it touched down it must have been HUGE before it entered our atmosphere. I wonder if any scientists have done the calculations. Was it bigger than an asteroid should be? Was it the size of a moon? While our own moon is over 1,000 miles across the smallest moon in our solar system is only 7 miles wide, so it's definitely possible. Astronomers have found that the moons orbiting giant exoplanets have a high likelihood of being flung away from their star, and there may be as many rogue moons drifting through space as there are stars in the universe. What if the thing that hit us wasn't an asteroid?

#rambling #astronomy #paleontology

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stxr-bxster · 1 year

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@mechahero

“In the name of the P.R.O. requisition branch-”

Nananananaaaaa-

“Cease resisting arrest-”

NaNANANANANANANANANA-

“Surrender or we will open fire!”

NANANAAAAAAAA- CAN’T HEAR YOUR BULLSHIT WHEN I’M GOING A THOUSAND MILES AN HOUUUR-

A tingle ran up from the tip of an antennae, a phantom sensation of an approaching air current transmitted through the radar clip attached at the base. Krigg pulled sharply on the split yoke of the Revenger, sending the craft in an upwards spin, deftly weaving through the asteroid belt. The faint sensation of an explosive going off through the radar clip followed a faint flash of light spreading across the belt, casting harsh shadows. Chunks of pulverized asteroid streaked against her ship’s shields, lighting up trails of blue and green.

Or, was she going downwards? No sense of either up or down in space.

Another tingle, another close aileron roll out of the way. A half-pulverized rock was sent flying out of its usual orbit, passing briefly by the edge of the cockpit’s window, causing a chain reaction of bumping and shoving among its neighbors that wasn’t too unlike what you’d see in a game of marbles. Stuck inside a storm of moving pieces. Her ability to interpret the signals of the dozens of surrounding obstacles fed to her antennae through the clip was stretched to the max, making her brain buzz with sensory inputs.

Another missed shot. This time, she aimed for a good ol’ ankle break, whirling her ship around with a little bit of dimming of the thrusters to play on the ship’s inertia, causing her ship to continue skidding forth as it spun. The bright red ship jumped forward sharply, weaseling behind and following a drifting asteroid just long enough to find itself out of what she knew was the other ship’s comfortable targeting range.

Krigg grinned to herself, and squeezed her fingers down on the accelerator. A faint, but familiar, rumble coursed through the ship’s frame, rapidly growing until her seat was vibrating. The Revenger’s thrusters roared, their scream swallowed by the emptyness of space, and in a plume of blue plasma, the bright red ship shot forwards, passing its two pursuers like a comet. The repo goons scrambled to turn their crafts around and give chase, but she already had the distance advantage.

Dancing circles around idiots was fun and all, but she wasn’t in the mood to overdo it. Plus, repo goons were like rats - you kill one, you soon discover there’s half a dozen somewhere close by. Krigg kept the gas running, tapping a finger against the command to engage in a hyperspace jump, sliding a finger over the ship’s console. She needed someplace quiet to lay low-

[Nearby spacial anomaly detected - habitat planet]

Well, that’d do just fine. Krigg quickly charted a course for the spacial anomaly. Nobody liked to go look for things in a place where space time itself had decided to be a dick about things. It wasn’t long before stars were streaking by at impossible speeds, stretched like taffy. Not much longer either that her ship was crashing through the atmosphere like a burning meteor, shields absorbing the brunt of the clash.

Or that Krigg was kind of clinging to the top of a very tall building, slowly shimmying downwards and away from her sufficiently cloaked, hidden, and electronically insulated ship stuck in hover mode. She’d come back to pick it up later.

#mechahero

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eponastory · 9 days

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Can we talk about Sozin's Comet for a minute?

I know it's fiction, but the amateur Astronomer and AstroPhotographer in me is like WTF would a ball of ice going around the sun make firebenders so powerful? Yes, comets have a lot to do with the sun, or rather, their brilliance can only be seen when it's approaching its closest point to the sun. Not only that, but if a comet got close enough to graze the outer atmosphere of a planet, we are all dead. It's called gravitational pull, and anything bigger than that ball of is is going to pull it in.

I mean... it makes no sense... to me anyway. Because I'm a science nerd.

But the reason I'm talking about Sozin's Comet is that it's a plot device in AtLA. Now, I have no real problems with it being a plot device. It gives us an important climactic event, and it's also the most built-up part of the story. Does it make sense to science nerds like me? No, but it's fiction. I'm a science nerd who is also a writer, I get it. I've seen weirder shit written into stories that have no basis in science whatsoever because there is a degree of magic system in sci-fi writing. Star Wars is a big example of this. These days, they are getting better about using science in the SWU. Is it better? Eh... it's starting to feel like Marvel with the shows popping out all the time.

So, for writers who don't like Sozin's Comet as a plot device because of the science stuff... I get you. I really do.

Speaking of comets, there is going to be a brilliant one later this year and I'm super excited about it because it's supposed to be seen with the naked eye. PANSTARS and NEOWISE were supposed to be brilliant too, but they weren't as bright as forecasted. Still great comets though.

Anyway, the reason I'm bringing this up is there are other astronomical events that could amplify a firebender's power.

So, perhaps there is a Supernova in the Galactic neighborhood of the AtLA world? These things aren't predictable, unless you have a really powerful telescope and a bunch of scientific equipment, but this would be a huge event for firebenders. The last visible supernova for us was in 1054 AD and was visible for two years. Could you imagine if firebenders were unstoppable for two years? 😳 yikes. Talk about taking over the world. But it is a significant celestial event that is a bit unpredictable. Comets are a bit more predictable since they are in a locked orbit.

The average solar cycle for our beautiful star, Sol, is eleven years. But we could easily make that happen every one hundred years or so. Every star has a cycle as it grows older. It's a process of making new elements in its core where nuclear fusion and fission happen. An eleven year cycle is pretty average for a G type main sequence star. But they can be longer or shorter. Having a solar maximum would also be crucial for firebenders.

Near Earth Passes... which is what Sozin's Comet (not a comet) really is. It's an asteroid or a stellar object that is close enough to graze the outer atmosphere and essentially burn up. Think of the Chelyabinsk Meteor back in February 2013. That was a sizable meteor that exploded up in the atmosphere and created a very bright fireball. Fireballs are pretty cool depending on the mineral and elemental composition of the meteor. We actually get Near-Earth passes all the time, and usually, it's put out on social media in a kind of Armageddon type headline. Don't worry, it's got to be really close to be an impact. But some do graze the atmosphere. Which is why I believe Sozin's Comet really isn't a Comet. It's a Near Earth Pass. Which is fine. They could call it a Comet with their technology not a big deal.

Solar Flares are iffy. They happen all the time so I'd think that Firebenders would actually have some days where their bending is better than others thanks to solar flares. It's a pretty cool concept to have a day where there is above average bending. Like 'hey, my fire is a bit brighter today' and they just roll with it. Pretty common. I may use this in a story somewhere.

Perihelion is when a planet is closest to the star in its orbit. Strangely, ours is in the middle of Northern Hemisphere winter and furthest in summer. It's just going to be slightly hotter in the Southern Hemisphere summers. But honestly, I don't see it being a huge effect on bending because there isn't a lot of difference. We don't really notice it here.

Days are longer in the summer, so that's normal too. Simply because a planets axis wobbles a bit and that's why we get seasons.

Meteor showers could be a thing to use that does have to do with comets. I don't think that would be a huge amplifier since they happen periodically through the year.

Not only that, but there are hundreds of comets that pass by us on a hundred year basis. HALLEY'S Comet (1986) has a seventy-six year orbit. The one I remember the most was HALE-BOPP in 97.

If I were going to pick something to use in place of Sozin's Comet... it would probably be the Solar Cycle or a Supernova. I mean, there are just plain old Novas like the one that we could see any day now with T-Coronae Borealis... it's a short period of time compared to supernova.

Oh gosh, I've gone on way too long about boring shit. But I'm freaking passionate about astronomy. So you'll have to forgive me.

But these are just a few celestial events that could be used in place of Sozin's Comet if you want to get a bit creative with your fanfiction. Like I could totally get behind any of these things being a plot device. A Supernova would be absolutely catastrophic for the entire world of AtLA.

Solar Maximum seems like a plausible win there.

Again, I know it's fiction, but come on... you know you want to have fun with the science.

#im just saying it would be fun to play around with these things.#its not a complete waste #i shouldve been an astrophysicist but i cant math so here we are #avatar: the last airbender #sozins comet #astronomy #comets #literary devices

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epenvs3000w24 · 2 months

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08: Lights in Our Night Sky

Of all the things I have encountered in my studies and nature explorations, shooting stars stand out as the most fascinating parts of nature. Growing up in the GTA, light pollution often covered the night sky, making starry nights rare. However, in 2018, during a visit to my aunt's cottage in late August, I finally saw a sky FULL of stars. My aunt told me it was the best time of year to witness shooting stars. Never having seen one before, I was very excited. After patiently waiting for 30 minutes, the first one caught my eye, and I was hooked. Since then, I have eagerly anticipated our annual visits, ensuring they coincide with the optimal weekend to see these stars travel across the night sky.

Though commonly misconceived as stars, shooting stars are, in fact, not stars at all, which is what I find most intriguing about them. So if not a shooting star, then what are they? Astronomers classify them as rock, dust, or ice fragments that enter the Earth's atmosphere at incredibly high speeds (The Planetary Society, n.d.). These are meteoroids and meteors! As the rock, dust or ice travels through space it is referred to as a meteoroid (U.S. Department of the Interior, n.d.). As it enters the Earth's atmosphere it becomes a meteor, which generates the short-lived trail of light across the night sky as it burns at high temperatures – coining the name shooting star (Cool Cosmos, n.d.; Whitlock, n.d.). Shooting stars can be seen on any given night in a non-light-polluted area. However, there are certain times of year when you can see several of them at a time. This predictable phenomenon is called a meteor shower. It occurs when the Earth passes through a trail of comet or asteroid debris (Whitlock, n.d.). These showers are often named after the constellation of which they appear to originate from, which is referred to as the "radiant" point (The Planetary Society, n.d.). These specific points reflect the Earth's journey around the Sun (Whitlock, n.d.).

Beyond their scientific marvel, what truly fascinates me about shooting stars is their rich cultural and spiritual significance. Across various cultures, from the Greeks and Egyptians to the Chinese, stars have been assigned specific meanings and stories. They have been seen as symbols of wish fulfillment, messengers, or spiritual guides. For some, they serve as a reminder of the universe's guiding presence. This profound connection between nature and human experience, particularly the sense of awe and wonder they inspire and how that catalyzes creativity and perspective (Beck et al., 2018). In this way, relationships can be created between individuals and the environment, whether physical or spiritual.

References

Beck, L., Cable, T. T., and Knudson, D. M. (2018). Interpreting cultural and natural heritage:

For A Better World. Sagamore Publishing.

Cool Cosmos. (n.d.). Ask an astronomer.

Henriques, M. (2023). The spiritual significance of seeing shooting stars. Medium.

ting-stars-35526b1acd02#:~:text=One%20of%20the%20most%20common,pure%20h

eart%20and%20sincere%20intent

The Planetary Society. (n.d.). What is a meteor shower?

U.S. Department of the Interior. (n.d.). I didn’t know that!: Shooting stars (U.S. National Park

Service). National Parks Service.

Whitlock, L. (n.d.). What causes a “Falling star”? NASA.

#envs3000 #nature #shootingstars

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gaoau · 4 months

Text

Let's meet where life is worth living for

Sugar Stars warnings — none. word count — 1.0k

prev.

Silence lasts in a comfortable atmosphere embracing them both. Every word to come out of Kino's mouth shatters each of her braincells at any given chance—he's better when he's quiet, she thinks. He agrees he likes [Name] better when she shuts up because he simply cannot comprehend more than twenty per cent of her scientific mumbo jumbo. Silence is always pleasant, that specific moment when they can appreciate the rustling of the leaves and the singing of the crickets. Existing and living right now; doing it for absolutely nothing at all. At the end of the day, the human world is truly beautiful in its most simple of aspects.

"Look, a shooting star!" Kino immediately springs up, his arm stretched out towards the faded light painting a streak of hope in the night sky. [Name] holds back a startled hiss. "Make a wish, Ms. Scientist." He shows off his fangs in a childlike grin.

She scoffs at his excitement, "I wouldn't recommend wishing upon a star, Kino-san. Once that meteor burns up, so will your wish."

He's reminded why he much prefers her when she's quiet. "You're no fun…" he sighs with a dramatic pout curling his lips. So childish.

"Alright, make as many wishes as you want to all the millions of shooting stars you're not seeing." With a wave of her hand and whispered foreign chants, Kino briefly catches sight of things he wouldn't normally perceive. The sky lights up with thousands of disintegrating meteors. It's only for a fleeting second and it's beautifully enchanting. "You'll surely believe me if I tell you all those tiny meteors together can sum up to one wish, correct?"

The cackle that slips from the back of his throat is far too genuine to attempt to hold back. "I will when you put it like that. You sure talk subjectively pretty for an objective scientist."

"You once told me you like stars, didn't you?" She chooses to ignore his comment.

He giggles, "I still do."

"You're just like them."

"…Here we go."

"You already know every component in your body comes from the stars." She cannot expand into the depths of her thoughts knowing Kino will only fail to understand them. Stars are the source of ashes, the root of all beauty in outer space. There's as much guidance in the stars as there is after a fire has died. Kino does not care—all he sees are lights from the bottom of a rotting land. "You're who you are because you build it and keep it together with your own ideals, just like stars are held together by their own gravity."

"You're annoying."

"I insist. It's impressive how stars are spoken about as though they were alive." Her eyes are narrowed when they stab right through his. "Well," she chuckles, "if you were to put too much thought into it, it's exactly what I've been doing all this time to refer to you, Kino-san."

[Name]'s mocking him with concepts he can't completely wrap his head around. "You dare make fun of my existence, witch?"

She rises to her feet in a successful escape from his swinging fist. He doesn't mind craning his neck to stare up at her when there are remnants of laughter on both of their tongues. "I haven't come to hand you the answers to your questions. I only know for a fact that it's okay for you to be here." As she meets his crimson gaze reflecting red supergiants, an objective smile settles on her lips.

No creature has lived without wishes. Kino hopes to leave it up to burning rocks falling into the atmosphere. He knows—with [Name] standing beside him admiring the same sky—that it's all a matter of chances and rolling the die. The stars sparkle so enchantingly to the point they seem unreal and unattainable. His face twists. [Name]'s exhausted sigh pierces into his ears. "Now what?" He notices the bags underneath her eyes for the first time in the night. She's at his every beck and call. "Is your existential crisis not over yet, Your Highness?"

He cannot retort. "Yui is a human," he states. [Name] physically fights the urge to spit a snarky remark. "Even if she's choosing to live for me now, she'll eventually die. Then I'll have to find another reason to live."

She hums, "Tragic. What about Yuuri-san?"

"He lives off of guilt for me. I allow it, but I don't want it."

"My, royalty sure is difficult to satisfy."

Kino clenches his fists to prevent himself from stabbing his arm right through her chest. "What's your reason to live, then, Ms. Scientist?"

"I wonder…" A pop echoes from her neck when she stares straight up at the brightest star. Her eyes dart around to name each dying light off the accuracy in her mind. They die but they were never alive in the first place. "…Understanding."

"In general?"

"Perhaps. But you in particular, Kino-san." She refuses to look down at him as she speaks, "What you are and what you're made of. I have yet to reach any conclusions after all these centuries."

"That means at least you'll stay with me for a while. Ah, I sure am glad."

"What's a king without his advisor?"

Their eyes meet with resolution. They wear mirroring smiles neither of them acknowledge. It's not friendship, after all. It's convenience. She's useful and he's easy to analyze. Advisor and test subject. But it is not friendship.

"Well, I'll be returning to my research now. You should go back as well; Eve must be getting worried." What does she know about human emotions? "I shall visit Rotigenberg once again to formally meet the princess."

"She'll be waiting." He won't.

"Until then."

Her body tears itself apart and deconstructs into the simplest of atoms to travel through her own magic back to her home. The same atoms existing in him and in the stars and he still doesn't care about her views on shooting stars. He used her for what he needed—wanted—to solve, because it's not friendship. So why did she leave behind an artificial star to comfort him? Worst of all is that he does find comfort in its brightness.

—あごす (agosu) • (2016) 2021

#Sugar Stars #Diabolik Lovers #Dialovers #Kino #Sakamaki Kino #Kino Sakamaki #Sakamaki Kino x Reader #Kino x Reader #Diabolik Lovers x Reader #Dialovers x Reader

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