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nomoregoldfish · 4 years

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Imagine catching Amado building secret airport in the jungle; Enemies to friends /w benefits (2/2)

This one goes out of my hands. I don’t even know what kind of monster it is now, smh. The formatting seems screwed up. Please read it on AO3 if you want. Again, if tubmlr flag the gif below, I’LL RIOT.

"Is this a date? What's the dress code? Cargo pants don't count." Amado sounds flirty when you call him the other day. It's not really his fault because you are the one who asks him out.

Since the formidable drug trafficker hasn't sent any sicario to make you disappear, you figure you still have chances to make him reconsider the plan of building an airport. You're willing to do whatever it takes to save the jungle and the ruins.

Plus seeing Amado again is not a bad idea.

You can't justify why you ignore your go-to outfit including cargo pants. Instead, you put on your tightest jeans.

You pick up Amado at four in the morning. The tall man looks sleepy and slightly confused, which is kinda cute. You offer him black coffee in your vacuum bottle.

After the first sip, Amado turns to you with his misty down-turned eyes, "No cargo pants today?" You try not to smile, "Shut up."

You're taking him to the Palenque ruins, another Mayan site in Chiapas, just few hours drive away.

You manage to get there before the sunrise. The site hasn't opened yet but you know a secret route because you also worked on the excavation project there.

"You have a thing for sneaking in, uh, Ms. Geologist?" You shouldn't encourage him but whatever, the banter is... fun.

Walking with Amado in the dense mountain forest actually is a perfect date in your dictionary. Your shoes are wet with morning dew but nobody cares. Listen to birds chirping and fogs croaking in the dim light.

"You're really not afraid of darkness, are you?" Amado sounds genuinely curious. "Why would I be? I worked on this site for years, I've known the whole place by heart." He nods, like some acknowledgement.

It's almost dawn, you look at the tinted horizon when you reach the top of the mountain. The entire ancient city of Palenque is quiet and peaceful wrapped in the jungle, reminds you why you chose what you do with your life.

"I want to show you something." It's the Temple of the Inscriptions, one of the most iconic Mayan architecture lightened up by the morning sun. Starting from the history, you explain to Amado not only the symbolic significance of the temple and the secret tomb inside, but also the epic war Emperor Pakal waged against Yaxchilán.

Amado doesn't stop you. You keep talking, sharing your involvement in those excavation projects with him, how excited you are when a new site is discovered, how proud you felt for your team when Palenque was recognized as World Heritage Site not long ago, which meant more funds, more human resources, and better equipment for all scientists working on it for years. You want to continue to study the whole area, even several rival/ally sites in Guatemala and Belize, to find more satellite cities, battlefields, to be able to define the border of those ancient powerhouses and finally draw a map of the mysterious kingdom.

He looks at you like you're some kind of heroine. It's heartwarming but you're not sure, "So, what do you think?"

Amado's playing coy, but you're persistent. "Come on. I'm a geologist. I can't hire assassins. What else am I supposed to do to make you change your mind? Put on my most expensive dress, show off my ass, wine and dine you?"

"Though I'd love to see you in a nice dress, jeans are great, too." The northern banditote smirks, eyeing your lower body, "Plus the whole speech, I told you I love it when you talk about your job. You seem to know exactly what you're doing."

Amado doesn't promise anything. He says he'll figure something out.

You exhale deeply. At least the guy listened, you appreciate it.

Then you find out there's nothing left in your vacuum bottle, the fucker drank all your coffee, "How am I supposed to drive back without any coffee in my system?"

Amado pulls you in for a kiss, warm and tastes much better than your shitty coffee. The fresh stubble overnight of his stings and it feels so good, you can't help cupping his face and kissing back.

Then he announces he'd drive if you just say "El Señor de los Cielos, please." You tell him to fuck off but toss the car key to him anyway.

You haven't contacted each other after that for a while. You tell yourself it's nothing. It's not like you two have had something.

You send people every week to monitor the construction of the airport from a hidden spot on the mountain. Meanwhile you complete the scan of the area surrounding the soon-to-be airport and find a possible target. You have to be on the ground again to confirm it.

Unluckily you break your ankle one day in the jungle. And you don't want to put any colleague's life at risk to get near the cartel's territory. You decide to wait on Amado, you believe he's a man of his words.

Amado surprises you one night at your camp. He jokes that a geologist can sneak into a drug cartel's property, it'd be humiliating if he doesn't return the favor. His face and neck are perfectly tanned, you want to immerse yourself in that hot chocolate. You almost jump out of excitement because you haven't seen Amado for a month. Then you remember you're confined to your desk and seat due to the injury.

"You're expecting someone else? Ms. Geologist." Amado sounds a bit down. "I..." You want to ask him so many things. Has he figured it out? Who is in charge of the airport when he's away? And where has he been? Why does it take him so long to come back? Maybe minus the last question. It'd sound desperate.

He says he flies from Juaréz, "One of the longest domestic flights," he claims as looking around your tent office, sketches and maps scattered all the place. When his eyes meet yours again, it's so gentle, full of fondness.

"You only want to talk about business?" He's getting close, "I just fly almost 2,000 miles and you're not even standing up. Look who's more cold-blooded than drug traffickers."

Before you realize what happens, Amado lowers his body and carries you off the chair. He doesn't touch your ankle but it still hurts when you're suddenly moved.

Amado finds out. The man in black examines your injury carefully. You never saw him so concerned before. He quickly comes to the conclusion that your injury is worse than it looks and needs better treatment.

No, you're not gonna leave your job. You have papers to write, new budget to apply, more areas to explore. Slowly it'd recover.

"Don't you want to wade across rivers, trek through jungles, and climb mountains again? If you love your job so much, you have to get better treatment, immediately! And take some good rest. Give it a few more weeks? Oh God, you're insane." He's so mad at you.

You finally agree, and Amado insists on carrying you again to his vehicle. You know it's not your priority right now but holy fuck, he's fucking built. And you're inches away from his big nose which you've had a crush on for a while.

He's gonna fly you to the state capital Tuxtla Gutiérrez.

"You don't fly 2,000 miles just to see me, do you?" You poke him during the flight, sitting next to the sexy pilot in the cockpit is a treat.

"Dear Ms. Geologist, remember I have a job, too?"

The pain is getting worse, Amado notices it then hands you a joint from nowhere. You're about ask whether it's legal to have weed on the plane, then you realize you're with a real drug dealer. "Not to bad to have a narcos friend, huh?" OK, you gives him that as the weed kicks in.

"So now we're friends?" You're obviously high, and bold. Because you find your hand dangerously near his groin for no reason, fumbling. "I always wanted to touch it." You giggle.

Amado politely removes your hand and tells you to behave.

"You know what? You could've been the most popular guy at our camp. Someone might trade blowjobs for your weed since we're just low-paid scientists and assistants." You're high like a kite.

You also "threaten" if Amado extends any further in the jungle to build more airport facilities when you're put away, you swear to God you'll...

"You'll what? Shut up and rest, cabrón. Or I'll take you directly to DF, better physicians there anyway."

And the fucker did, a day after a Chiapas physician suggests you seek the best orthopedic treatment in DF for speedy recovery.

Then Amado disappears again. You know he's probably running a drug cartel in the north, and only checking in on their hidden project near the southern border once a month or two. It's the way it is. Your lives only collide when it's meant to be. There's no fucking way you two see each other like normal people do.

You still miss Amado, miss the banter, even his northern accent.

During the two-month therapy in DF, you receive reports that the airport is completed, and the potential target site nearby is now a giant warehouse. You also learn a big donation is made specifically to the Yaxchilán excavation project, of course, anonymously.

That's what Amado meant by "figuring something out." You're not even mad. What's the alternate outcome when you're up against the narcos? Report it? The entire cabinet is probably in their pocket. You should be relieved that no one ends up dead during the little stupid game you played.

You can't even return the drug money because, a) you can't tell anyone where it's from; b) INAH's been underfunded for decades, the project fucking needs it, so do your colleagues.

You call that number again after you get back to the ground. You don't know how to end this, or is there anything to end?

"Come over next weekend, I'll be there and I can explain." Amado sounds poised and calm, like he always does.

You tell yourself to keep it civil. This is a losing battle since day one.

Amado meets you in front of a warehouse, he looks great, all charming smile and open arms. All you can think of is the location of the warehouse, it must be the one. Most likely it's being buried.

"You bring flowers, how nice." It's the white birds of paradise, which suits him, El Señor de los Cielos. You tell him you're grateful for the injury advice he insisted.

"Can I show you something?" Amado opens the door of the warehouse. It all feels like yesterday, when you showed him the sunrise at Palenque, talking about your future plan. How naive were you.

Some jaw-dropping scene in front of you. The entire site of ruins, intact, locked inside the warehouse with minimal structure to shield from the rain and sunshine.

"What? You thought I'm gonna show you cocaine? No offense, baby, you can't afford the Colombian white magic. This is all you get, some fucking broken rocks with barely recognizable inscriptions." The bastard shrugs.

How did he find this site? "Sorry. Let's say I accidentally took a copy of your scan map last time at your camp, when you were busy with your ankle problem." You fucking knew it, it's never what it looked like when it comes to Amado Carrillo Fuentes.

Yet you can't believe what you just see. It is NOT real. It can't be.

That's when harsh reality kicks in. It always starts with a but. "You can't work on it, not now." Amado explains the situation and his plan for your ruins, which he thinks it's better to keep them under the radar for now. No tomb raider would dare to approach it, you can work on many other sites first.

"Then what?" You keep digging. Amado sighs, giving you a melancholy smile, "This line of work doesn't tend to last very long. It will be yours one day. Before that, it's completely safe. You have my word."

Amado's kind of.... correct, and practical to be honest. INAH doesn't have enough resources for thousands of projects. Even with the hard work you and your colleagues pulled, it's estimated less than 10% of the total area of Palenque was explored and partially restored.

You carefully examine the site, making notes and sketches to create a hasty profile.

Amado focuses on something else, "It seems you walk just fine. Fully recovered, no rush? Good. And has your budget been approved? Got more money? I mean, the efficiency of any bureaucratic system is questionable in this country. If it still falls short, I can...."

You can't tell if he's been an asshole or a saint, God forbid.

"For fuck's sake, I don't want your fucking money. I just, I want...." You turn around, look defeated, "Your dick, OK? Who cares about your dirty drug money? You Sinaloan monkey!"

Amado bursts into laughter, "Why don't you take both, dear Ms. Geologist?" He put your hand below his belt buckle, "I think you made it very clear last time."

"It's your fucking nose, narizón." You gently caress it, and he's getting hard beneath the fabric and it's fucking huge.

You're on your knees, trying to take Amado's full length in. Fuck, it's difficult. You're embarrassed and he's like "Shhh, it's okay, baby."

Instead, Amado's going down on you, making your knees weak af. You have to grab the stones to stand still.

Amado eating your out with patience, salt and pepper stubble rubbing against the most sensitive part of your body which gives you more trouble, and fingering you at the same fucking time. Let that sink in for a moment.

You don't stand a chance, you come so hard.

Amado's taking you from behind, big hands on your hips to keep you still against the ancient structure. Rock into you with deep, short thrusts. You're wet for him like rivers during monsoon season.

Your legs are shaking when he hits right at the spot again. "Wanna to make a good girl like you squirm and scream." Fuck, Amado always gets what he desires as he pulls you hair up, leaving hickeys on your neck while he fucks you thoroughly.

The best orgasm through your whole life. And the fucker is proud of it, "Told you. You'd better take both, baby. The green and the big D."

Does it mean you really gonna take money from narcos? This is so fucked up.

Later Amado fixes you some nice margarita, casually asking if you want to join him for a business trip to Belize the next day. "I have to buy some stuff in Belmopan. Maybe we can stop by Lamanai with my private jet after that if you'd like."

How the fuck does he know you wanted to visit the Mayan ruins in a remote foreign town for years?

The concern becomes less shocking when you see Amado buy a bunch of Boeing 727s in Belmopan like a Sunday grocery run.

#narcos mexico #narcos mexico imagine #amado carrillo fuentes #this is getting ridiculous

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applekitty · 3 years

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psmd rewritten expedition society character things

ampharos:

used to have a kid who liked to explore mystery dungeons. key word being used to

his kid isnt DEAD you guys its a pokemon game. that mf’er is lost and he cant find them

this is derived from when in chapter 12 or so partner and hero are being talked about by mawile and ampharos, and mawile says to keep a close eye on them and ampharos says something to the likes of ‘dont worry i wont let it happen again’ or whatever

was actually VERY resistant to hero and partner joining the society, unlike in the game. only when hero and partner save him from the poliwrath brothers does he reconsider this.

his clumsiness and ease of getting lost basically translates to him taking forever on dungeons. he’s a character who just does ‘whatever he wants’ in terms of ai on floors. the rest of the society tries not to resent him for wandering off so often, but it sometimes leads to tension in particularly challenging dungeons.

mawile:

has lived / second or first hand experienced all previous pmd games. she knows exactly what happened from rescue team to gti and she does not want to see it happen again. because of her trauma, she’s a bit more shut off and calculated about things. she usually uses tough love to communicate that she really, REALLY cares about people and doesnt want them to get hurt.

can you tell my mental illness is showing

mawile is an ex-dungeon mon. she was born and raised in a dungeon and was recruited into a rescue team and lived in a friend area up until the rescue team disbanded and she decided she want to go her own.

her love for archeology is inspired a lot by the fact that she just generally wants to know more about the world around her. she thinks the better she can understand natural disasters of the past, the better she can help handle the ones in the future or the present.

buizel:

ex-pirate turned guild member. quagsire (from gti) fixed him up REAL good after he was done with him. he still retains a cartoonish accent, and also likes to talk about the ‘good ol days’ out on the sea with his pals.

buizel doesn’t actually like the kids. like at ALL. he thinks they’re a chore and he’s CONSTANTLY on their case for even like, EXISTING in the society. the few times he’s not complaining about these kids is when he’s flat out ignoring them

this is resolved when they beat up entei for him. only somewhat though, then his respect is gotten but he’s still a bit rough and grumpy around the edges

bunnelby:

the most boring of the group. grew up in a underground society (like, actually underground not unknown) at a normal house with normal parents. he decided to be a geologist because like, what else are you gonna be, y’know?

probably the least chaotic and well adjusted person in the entire society, but that’s mostly because he was really sheltered. his mental health is okay.. for now

swirlix:

the same bc swirlix is just like that lol

dedenne:

MAD SCIENTIST AESTHETIC!!! WHERES THE TESLA COILS!???

has been working off the grid for most of her life, but now that she’s with the society her research on cross-world communication has EXPLODED. she is the creator of the pokemon nexus, the communication orb, and a lot of the gadgets! if something needs fixing, you either come to her or you go and find jirachi

she and jirachi get into a LOT of fights over who’s smarter of the two of them. she asserts that her engineering is pushing the boundary of modern technology, while he says that he could run circles around her in his sleep.

it’s a healthy rivalry, and it keeps the both of them preoccupied and constantly trying to one-up eachother. which means lots of progress on new inventions

jirachi:

jirachi, after being wished on by bidoof, had the idea of coming out more into public. he was moved by bidoof’s heart, and after sleeping on it, decided to move in with the society so he could do more than just grant wishes and sleep.

he has a strong connection with stars, and ever since he moved in with the society, he’s been more well in contact with legendary and mythical pokemon than ever before. he doesnt like to talk about his relationship with other legendaries very much, mostly because he’s an introvert. he just doesn’t have a lot to say

he cannot use wishes on himself. no matter how much he tries. someone else has to wish on him, and even then, it’s monkey’s paw.

his genius seems to be ‘natural’. he thinks this is because he is a mythical pokemon and has lived for dozens of years. though, he can’t remember most of his life because he was asleep for a lot of it.

#shitpost #psmd

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llama-of-pangea · 4 years

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Staying healthy & helping others in this weird time we live in

(updated March 31, 2020 for more up-to-date links and information)

I’m not normally one for serious posts, but I did want to make a post about the present situation (mostly in the US, but elsewhere too!) -- because it’s important to stay informed about COVID-19/novel coronavirus, especially when there’s so much misinformation out there:

Wash your hands. I know everyone keeps saying this, but it really is one of the most effective things you can do for reducing the spread of disease. Wash your hands with soap, often, for at least 20 seconds. Soap breaks up oil, destroys the cells of many viruses and bacteria, and gloms on to other particles on your hands, helping to get them really clean. It’s worth doing. Social distancing, not touching your face, staying home as much as possible, changing and washing clothes right away when you do come home, and disinfecting commonly-used spaces and surfaces in your home as often as possible are other things you can and should do. [source: CDC guidelines]

Be mindful of others. Many of us on tumblr here are young and so are less likely to suffer a serious case of COVID-19. But just because you’re not experiencing symptoms, or have mild symptoms, does not mean you should not be thinking of others’ wellbeing. Grandparents, older parents, the immune-comprimised (such as those with cancer or other immune-deficiencies), and those with certain health conditions are at risk more than the rest of us. So protect them as much as you can. Practice those good health tips always, but especially in spaces you may share with those who may be at greater risk. And also, be considerate of those with jobs that don’t allow them to isolate, like grocery store employees and bus drivers; this is extra hard for them, so do what you can to be kind, courteous, and considerate to them for all they’re doing for the rest of us [source: CDC at-risk statement].

Be responsible when shopping. If you can, have some food and necessities at home -- ideally enough to get through a week or two. Don’t panic-buy, and don’t hoard. A package of disinfectant wipes or spray, and some soap, will get you through; if you’re unable to find these items, you can often find soaps for refillable bottles at natural stores or online. Don’t fill your cart with toilet paper or sanitizer, which just denies others these items and stops them from protecting the community. And practice good health practices while in the store (remember, this is a common area! be considerate of hardworking employees, and other shoppers).

Help as much as you can. The elderly and people with weakened immune systems may be scared right now. You might be scared. Your parents or siblings or friends or coworkers might be scared. Stay in touch with people -- find ways to connect remotely so you and those you care about don’t feel isolated. Be supportive of those who are struggling to handle this. Donate blood through the Red Cross, or supplies like masks and gloves to hospitals, if you’re able to. And if you can, help those who need it; do a grocery run for someone who’s at risk, help them disinfect, or just call someone who may need cheering up. And don’t be afraid to ask for help if you need it.

Don’t panic. But also, don’t ignore the situation. Try to stay up to date with things, and be aware of your local situation. There’s so much misinformation out there, so be critical of what you see. Avoid falling into pitfalls of prejudice. And take care, and be kind! Everything’s going to be okay if we all look after ourselves and one another.

Check under the cut for links to helpful health & safety advice, news, and discussions about COVID-19:

Where to find updates and well-sourced information:

updates from the CDC and WHO

for those in the US and Canada, this website has done an incredible job of monitoring cases, news, school closings, and other information in real-time

Helpful discussions with reliable information:

reporting by Last Week Tonight -- part 1 || part 2 || part 3

the Sawbones podcast (hosted by Dr. Sydney McElroy & Justin McElroy) has 3 really good episodes discussing the origin of the virus, the role of quarantine in containing the spread of illnesses, and the current state of the COVID-19 pandemic as of March 22nd

tips for talking to your kids about COVID-19

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How to determine if something is bullshit (a short guide): ask the following questions:

(1) Are there sources included with the statement? (2) Are the sources credible (namely, are they from a primary source, such as a research group, recognized health agency, or other medical institution)? (3) Can I find more than one account of the information? (4) Is the statement objective (meaning ‘based on fact’, rather than subjective or ‘based on emotion or feeling’, which creates a bias)?

If the answer to any of those 4 questions is “no”, there’s a chance the information could be bullshit, OR, at the very least, it may be incomplete.

In health news, be skeptical of things involving very small test groups (a test on 12 people does not speak for the general public!) or made by for-profit laboratories. Big pharma can make great things, but it can also be unethical. Read the literature from sources that are not invested in the product (again, the CDC, WHO, and FDA are good places to start) to get a better sense of how reliable, safe, or effective a thing is.

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Speaking of misinformation...:

There is not yet a vaccine or official treatment for COVID-19, though work is in progress around the world.

No, you can’t protect yourself with a detox treatment (and shame on the influencers pushing this).

No, you cannot “self-test” for COVID-19 by holding your breath. The claim that you can self-test by attempting to hold your breath for 10 seconds is a social media hoax which gained some traction when it was perpetuated on Fox News. It has been completely debunked.

Be skeptical of home tests. Produced primarily by Everlywell, they are expensive, and the chance for a false negative is very high (they require swabbing VERY far up your own nose, which is painful and difficult to do on yourself if you’re not a medical professional or someone with experience doing so). If you’re worried that you may be sick, call your doctor; there are also lots of drive-in testing locations around the country.

Hand sanitizers made with only essential oils do not work -- essential oils do not disinfect. Beware of DIY hand sanitizer, as it is easy to make an ineffective one. Soap and water are the most effective means of disinfecting your hands.

It’s unclear if ibuprofen can worsen cases of COVID-19 -- this information was circulated by the French Health Minister, but there is no scientific data to support their claim. Ibuprofen is probably still safe to take. If you have any doubts, then you can take Tylenol, paracetamol, naproxen sodium, or aspirin instead.

COVID-19 has nothing to do with beer or eating meat.

Beware of conspiracy theories in general.

Beware of phishing scams pretending to be official press releases. Many appear from fake CDC emails.

Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites are struggling to stop misinformation campaigns. Don’t consider these sites a reliable source of information -- look for the primary source to confirm what you see online, and do what you can to report or remove false information.

Beware articles or sources that use the current situation to excuse discrimination or prejudice. It is wrong to blame Asians and Asian culture for COVID-19 -- that’s just racism. Similarly, stories blaming migrants are just as wrongly biased.

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*** Note: I’m not a doctor or any other type of medical professional. I am a geologist who knows a lot about source evaluation and is worried about people being misinformed

#covid #covid2019 #covid19 #coronavirus #misinformation #please do what you can to be informed #and take care of each other!#i'm just trying to help #health and safety #public health #CDC #WHO #fake news #updated #self reblob

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shipfishwrites · 5 years

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Survey: P.E.R.N. Summary

So, to begin: Pern is an acronym now. Of course it is. What a dumb reveal.

And, to further begin: “this pernicious system” is in the first line of the story, and that really ought to be the name of this blog.

Briefly: A team of people have been sent by the government (?) to look at interesting solar systems to see if they are habitable or useful for commercial interests. The story focuses on the exploration of this one habitable planet with weird dead patches on it. The team finds the planet is pretty much fine. They discover some plants and animals. (This is exciting if you can recognize them already.) Then they leave.

The Characters

Castor: he/him, no field given except perhaps Captain. Shavva: she/her, biologist, “latent qualities as a nexialist,” doubling as a botanist. “Now the default leader of the understaffed team.” the viewpoint character? Ben Turnien: he/him, geologist with some chemist in him. Sevvie Asturias: ?, paleontologist-medic, deceased Flora Neveshan: ?, zoologist-botanist, deceased Terbo: ?, zoologist-chemist, deceased Beldona: ?, second pilot and archaeologist, deceased Mo Tan Liu: he/him, nexialist, “[will] investigate whatever remaining aspects of the planet they had time to consider.”

The Events

The short story/ramble begins with Castor being pissy. (Get used to it, it’s his only character trait.) He and Shavva are having a conversation about the approach their vessel is on to their target, the third planet of a system. Shavva mentions that they will be entering normal to the ecliptic (sci-fi speak for at a right angle to the plane the planets orbit in) so they will only get to investigate the one planet, not the “heavy-weight planets” (super-earths? neptunian icey boys? gas giants? unclear) or the Oort cloud.

~ foreshadowing ~

Castor uses the word “fardles.” This is a future word for “fucking hell.” The two of them bicker about having to “double up” on investigatory duties during a trip to the surface. Ben pipes in with punchy comment that leads Castor to almost-mention that four people have died on this mission already. Two died (Flora, Sevvie) just on the last planet visited; this planet was acronymed D.E., dead end. Terbo was killed a while back, on a planet with Intelligent Life Found. Beldona died on a world Good Only For Large, Diversified Interests. Four people have died on this tour while previously they had been through four other missions unharmed. The system they are entering is identified as Rukbat; this is fifth of seven scheduled stops.

Castor can’t go down to the surface because his leg is broken. He appoints himself the holder-down-of-the-fort, and he’ll analyze all the samples and stuff the rest of the team sends back. Liu jumps in at this time (he didn’t get a line earlier, before “the four remaining team members each vividly recalled” some people dying, which is sloppy), saying he’s going to send some probes to look at the planet he’s nicknamed Numero Tres. He adds that “Federated Sentient Planets” needs to be sent a report about the recent deaths, which Castor does huffily.

Shavva does offer to do it, but Castor wants to gripe while he does it.

The Oort cloud is mentioned again. I should add that, unlike Kuiper belts, Oort clouds completely envelop solar systems on all sides; the ship should have been able to analyze the section of the cloud they zipped through even if it was on the normal.

Ben talks about a “space virus” theory of planetary death and/or Oort cloud existence. Two of the planets they had visited this mission had had life but was stripped: Ben acknowledges he has no idea about one, but the other he theorizes to have been sterilized by repeated asteroid impacts. Ben thinks the space virus thing is bunk; Castor teases him about a Hoyle Wickramansingh theory; Ben thinks it’s bunk; Liu says yeah but that one fits all the particulars -- “What we really need is one in the process of being stripped.”

~ foreshadowing ~

I’d like to note that these theories are never mentioned again, despite being the obvious answer to a mystery presented on the next page.

There is a bit of narration as we learn a touch more about the mission and the people. Their specialties are introduced, their organization is introduced, and there is a brief overview of what sort of life and geology they will be looking for. Shavva mourns that she joined the Exploration and Evaluation Corps for the cool discoveries but didn’t expect to see her friends die.

The specialties, by the way, are weird? Like Ben is supposedly, after a ten-day whirlwind tour, supposed to be able to tell the geologic history of the planet for the last million years, and possibly find evidence of mass extinctions. Uh..... what? Did AM not know that mass extinctions are hard to find? In fact we kind of discovered a new one like, last year? Also Shavva is supposedly going to be able to make decent guesses as to whether native pollinators will be able to handle human crops, and whether things are majorly toxic. That... is not how ecology or toxicology work.

Also, I’d like to make another note: the deaths mentioned frequently throughout the story don’t amount to anything. They add Zero meaning to the story; it would progress no differently with the team was originally composed of four members, not eight.

Anyway, the probe data comes back, and it’s all the Pern stuff -- .9 G gravity, oceans, land, vegetation. Some volcanoes in a “chain of islands extending from the southern hemisphere” (that’s a foreshadow) and... oops, some weird circles? The pictures the probe sends back show barren “groups of circular patches, like ripples overlapping each other”. Ben thinks it might be a fungus.

The narration says Castor blames himself for the deaths, earlier, and that’s why he’s mean. Boo-hoo.

We cut to Shavva landing the shuttle in a grassland that seems suspiciously like the Landing field. Shavva thinks the terrain and air and such are quite nice and unspoiled, and the team begins to take measurements. The find nothing amiss with the barren soil, and note that plants are beginning to re-take the earth. Shavva notes “Great wind systems on this planet,” as if she’s visited the whole thing and not just one field. The team begins to hop west, chasing the sun, taking samples and soil cores and venture a bit inland to take rock cores. The planet doesn’t seem to have much “easily accessible ore or mineral wealth.”

They overnight at a beautiful cove that seems suspiciously like the location of Cove Hold. They same some algae, remark upon exoskeleton-having marine life, and find a motile fungus (???). They spot larger creatures in the water, then build a fire to keep themselves warm, and also to attract bugs. Liu seems disturbed that they haven’t found any large land animals yet.

Ben says they saw fat flying creatures earlier, those count. Liu disagrees. He thinks the ecology is missing elements. (You’re right, Liu. I like you.)

The next day, they go on to the ice caps and take some cores, then they head off to the norther of the two continents. Liu is worried about not seeing large animals and Shavva avoids a “reptiloid” animal... which is 10 cm wide and 7m long. Um.... Anne? That’s more than 21 feet. That’s a Large Animal. Also Liu calls the birds “wherries” because he recalls the name of a kind of barge. There is an unclear number of species; “two identifiable types” are mentioned, but it’s unclear whether that’s two species or large wherry and then some small ones or one big and one small. They find bugs, “a thousand types”, and eggs. (Dragonet eggs.)

They go to a tar pit and find 50kya ruminant fossils. Also apparently the grass isn’t grass? It’s not silica-rich, so why would ruminants have evolved anyway. Confusing and bad. (Anyway, this 50kya number is important: it is when I estimate thread began falling.)

Also, they find a “diamond pipe” in a rift valley fault. Shavva takes a hunk of diamond the size of her fist. (What was that about no mineral wealth?? Apparently diamonds aren’t valuable anymore, the galactic economy uses different cool gems now. Probably a lowkey shout-out to the Crystal Singers series.)

Ben, Liu, and Shavva talk a little bit more about how pleasant Numero Tres is to work on; Liu isn’t fully convinced there isn’t a problem, but he grudgingly agrees that yeah, this planet at least has earned an initial P.E., Parallel Earth. The team goes north and stops on Ista island. They find a tiny horrible creature who is my baby now who has no mouth and at least two tentacles, who gets spined by a needlethorn. The team packs up the spent needlethorn for analysis.

That night, as they prepare to send the day’s samples to Castor, Liu finds some glow-fungus. It’s cute. He calls it “Some kind of luminous variety of mycelium” which is a really weird way to say “glowing fungus.” Then, interrupting Liu playing peekaboo with the glow-light, the team hears some peeping and they go see a fair of dragonets -- in all colors -- playing games in the forest. All of the characters are quick to call these creatures magnificent and beautiful and gorgeous. They agree the creatures are “marginally sentient”. Ben hopes they’ll find large, related organisms for Liu to squeal over.

~ foreshadowing ~

They go look at reef systems the next day. Then they go to the tropical eastern peninsula (Nerat) and look at more reefs, which are apparently growing so old that they have fossils going back 500 my. Whaaaaaaat the fuck. You mean the oceans haven’t moved? This one spot. Has just been growing the same coral. For half-a-billion years. AM what the fuck.

Ben notes that the rainforest isn’t “stale-mated” which he thinks reinforces his theory about a recent meteorite storm, but which is actually a fairly subtle note about threadfall. Also, dude, you’ve found no geological evidence of impacts. So.... space virus it has to be.

The narration switches abruptly to talking about the circles, letting you know What Was Just Discussed It Relevant, and it is noted that the circles aren’t descructive enough to be meteorite impacts. The circles occur everywhere except the ice caps and “one small band of the southern hemisphere” (why???).

They do some more coring and go over the central delta area of the northern continent, noting that the area of Crom and Telgar has lodes of various minerals like iron and bauxite -- but it’s not enough goods to interest a mining consortium. They even find impressive gold nuggets just laying out in a stream: Shavva takes one the size of the end of her thumb.

And then... The part I like the least about this story. Shavva finds a tree with some good-smelling bark. And then... you have to know where this is going...

She boils it and drinks it.

I’m.

Hey, Anne? That’s not how anything works. First of all, Shavva is a fucking idiot for eating some tree skin from an alien planet. Like, a fruit? A fruit I could get, fruits have been evolved for animals to eat them (not Earth animals, but still) but bark is Not Edible. There are only a very few barks on Earth that are edible and none of them are foods they are spices. Shavva what the fuck!! Also! It’s fucking obvious that you’d have to dry and cure the klahbark before you can consume it! Why would you want some bitter, sappy, wet bark boiled in a pot to drink! Fucking eww!

Also Liu’s inner narration says “he, too, found the odor stimulating to his salivary glands” which is a really weird way to say “it smelled tasty.” Ben tries the second draft, which is brewed like a coffee, and gives the standard Klah Description (coffee, chocolate, but a little spicy). I’d also like to note it took No Breeding to get the klahbark perfectly edible and delicious. I’m just really mad about this one particular thing because it is so egregious.

Aaaand then the story starts to wrap up; the three are happy to let Castor call the planet Parallel Earth, Resources Negligible, unless they discover something crazy in the soil analyses that we never heard back about. Castor goes ahead and puts that tiny little c next to the acronym, because it can be colonized.

“That is, if any colonial group wanted to settle on a pastoral planet, far off the established trade routes, and about as far from the center of the Federated Sentient headquarters as one could go in the known galaxy.”

~ foreshadowing ~

#pern #dragonriders of pern #drop #anne mccaffrey #summary #survey: pern

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wolffyluna · 5 years

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Geology Liveblogs: How To Look At Rocks

(aka, the post with the pretty pictures and videos.)

So, you're a petrologist on the go, and you've got rock that you want to know what minerals it has.

How do you find out what minerals it has in it.

The Three Main Techniques

There are three main ways you can look at a rock.

The first is by looking at a hand sample. Which is just... looking at a rock with your eyes. Maybe with a hand lens as well. It's main advantages it's that it's a very portable technique. You just need your happy self, and maybe an eensy hand lens you can fit on your lanyard, and away you go. It's great out in the field.

It's main problem is that only really works on coarse grained rocks. If it's fine grained, you are out of luck.

Also, a lot of minerals can look similar in a hand sample. Even ones that you wouldn't think looked similar at all.

Take pyroxene and quartz. Very different minerals that you really don't want to mix up when you're trying to work out what a rock is. Clinopyroxene (diopside, specifically,) photographed by Rob Lavinsky. Quartz, by JJ Harrison.

You'd think these are very different looking, right? Nope! Because in a hand sample, they often just look shiny.

Another technique is taking it to a lab. Fire lasers at it (or ion beams, those get used sometimes.) This is great, you can get very detailed measures of a mineral's chemical composition, and all sorts of other good stuff.

It's main disadvantages are that you... need a lab with fancy equipment to do it. (So you've probably had to look at some hand samples, to decide which to ship over to the lab.) And it's a teensy bit destructive. If you're looking at a common rock, it's basically non-destructive, but this whole process give meteorite geologists hives because of oh my god it's so destructive.

Then there is microscopy. If you take a section of rock, slice it thinly, glue it to a microscope slide, and then grind it down even more thinly, most of the minerals become transparent, so the light from the microscope can pass through them. So now, you can actually see those goddamned fine grained minerals that your hand lens was no help for.

Microscopy is an elegant weapon, for a more civilised age-- in other words, people don't use it much anymore. Firing lasers at things gives you more data, anyway. It gets used in a teaching context, because it let's people deal with minerals concretely, without having to deal with hand samples all the time.

The Microscope Mambo

So, microscopes.

Petrological microscopes are different from biological microscopes in a few different ways.

The light from them is always polarised. It can either be polarised once (plane polarised light, or PPL), or polarised twice (cross polarised light, or XPL.) Generally you can swap between the two on the fly by pulling the cross polarising thing in and out.

The stage rotates. Because there's a lot of useful mineralogical information that's only obvious if you can spin your slide. (Pro tip: Don't be like me, and spin too fast. You will get dizzy.)

Both PPL and XPL get used because they give you different information about a mineral. (Technically, you should always look at things under PPL first, then XPL.)

PPL gives you:

Colour: A lot of the time, when a mineral is cut thin enough to be seen though, even if a chunk of it would have a colour, it appears colourless. But some particularly strong coloured minerals do have a distinct colour in PPL. Garnet is a good example (which I unfortunately cannot find a picture of in PPL) as is glaucophane (aka the thing that makes blueschist blue.) Photograph by Ruth Siddall.

Pleochroism: Related to colour. Some minerals change colour as you change the angle you're are looking at them, ie by rotating the stage. Not all minerals have this, but it can be a useful way of distinguising otherwise similar looking minerals. Can be a pain, because it can sometimes show up in XPL and get in the way. Glaucophane is also pleochroic, it changes from blue to purple when you rotate it. Photography by Ruth Siddall.

Relief: Some minerals-- stand out more. Have thicker outlines. Look taller. Kinda hard to describe.

Cleavage: Because of their chemical structure, some minerals get crack-like things at distinctive angles to each other. In theory, this is very helpful. In practice, a lot of the time you can only see one set of cleavage if at all.

Fracture : Sometimes grains of minerals get broken. That's fracture. Distinct from cleavage.

XPL gives you:

Isotropy/Anisotropy: Isotropic things have the same properties in all crystal orientations, and look black under XPL. Glass and garnet are common examples.

Birefringence : So, under XPL things look coloured, but generally different colours to their colours under normal light. What colour they look like depends on how thick they are cut. Generally high order birefringence look like if Lisa Frank designed a mineral. Low order birefringence things look kinda grey. It's a spectrum more or less. The middle bright purple thing is olivine, which has a fairly high birefringence. Plagioclase, which is low order, and also has a feature we will talk about later called twinning.

Extinction Angle: Every mineral that isn't isotropic will, as you turn it, appear black every 90 degrees when looked at under XPL. This is called extinction, and the extinction angle is what the angle it goes extinct at compared to it's cleavage. Extinctio can also be undulose, which means it goes across the crystal in a wave as you rotate it.

Twinning : is when there is a difference in crsytal orientation within a single crystal. You can sometimes see it in PPL, but it's most obvious in XPL, because different parts of the one crystal will go extinct at different angles. Here's a video of it in plagioclase. (CW: Video is spinning, and there is also some slow flashing.)

youtube

And that's microscopy!

A Vaguely Related Rant About Quartz

Quartz is my bête jaune pâle.

People will tell you that quartz is, in and of itself, distinctive in thin section microscopy. They will tell you that nothing else is quite that some cream colour in XPL as quartz.

They are... okay, it would be unfair to say they are 'lying'. But.

Quartz's main distinguishing feature is it's lack of distinguishing features. It is colourless and incredibly low relief in PPL. In XPL, it has a very low birefringence that sometimes looks cream coloured. Sometimes Sometimes it undulose extinction, to give a small piece of excitement in your dull life.

Sometimes you spend several minutes staring at it, because it's relief is so low it can be hard to tell if something is multiple quartz grains, or some sort of feldspar with very 'chunky' twinning.

The only nice thing quartz has ever done to me is be in a thin section quartzite in an exam , which is at least easy to describe quickly.

#premium original content #wolffy liveblogs #wolffy liveblogs geology

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throughtheglassdarkly · 6 years

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Scorched Earth, part 1

“The forces that affect our lives, the influences that mold and shape us, are often like whispers in a distant room: teasingly indistinct, apprehended only with difficulty.” – Charles Dickens

It’s funny how the days where your life changes irrevocably start out just like any other. I suppose if you know something’s coming, it’s easier to prepare for. It’s less of a shock when it happens. It doesn’t feel like things are never going to be the same after.

Yeah, you probably have no idea what I’m talking about, do you? I should introduce myself first. My name’s Derek. It was before this, it’s the same now. But I’m far from the person I was before the events I’m going to tell you about. That might be a good thing. It might not. How I feel about it changes based on the day.

But I’m not the only one who I need to tell you about. There were five of us all told, a motley crew. My motley. The others who were taken with me, the ones who escaped with me. Pam, Yova, Day, Isabella, and me. People I might have never met if my life continued on the way it had been going, but some of the most important friends I’ve ever had in my life.

In fact, before I get any further, let me tell you a little about them. Who they were, before they got taken. Their stories are much more interesting than mine. You’ll be spending a lot of time with me anyway. There’s plenty of time for me to tell you about myself.

So, Pam first. Pam’s basically June Cleaver: the perfect mom and wife, three kids, one was adopted, loves cleaning and baking, spends as much time with her family as possible. Makes a mean snickerdoodle, too. Pam’s the only one of us who wasn’t from Albany. Her family was vacationing here. I’m sure now she wishes they’d gone to Maine.

Then there’s Isabella. She’s the sort of person where you know they said when she was little, she was going to be a heartbreaker. She’s a geologist, which is totally the coolest job any of us had. Worked at the local university, constantly went to digs everywhere. The sort of person you always felt drawn to. Where Bella goes, the party follows.

Day. Oh, boy. Detective Day. He’s a cop. He, um. He’s enthusiastic. About getting the bad guy. I… can’t say he always did the most honest things in getting those bad guys. He might have been a good cop once. But, yeah. I think Day might have been the one of us who most benefitted from getting turned into something else.

Next is Yova. Tsaryova, to be precise. She’s a pianist. A really talented pianist, the sort who should be a lot more famous than she is. Also she’s hella tall. And wears suits way better than I can. She’s much more of a gentleman than I could be. And it’s good to have someone else around who’s waving a flag at the pride parade.

And then there’s me. Derek. I’m not much to write about. I had a boring job, data entry at a medical billing company. Wasn’t making much use of my degree. Couldn’t keep a boyfriend. Never really made much of an impression on anybody, I guess. Except on the days where I’d bring something I baked to work. That’s sort of my secret hobby, baking stuff. And I guess that’s as good a place to start as any. All the trouble for me started because of baking.

It was the last Friday in May. That time of year in upstate New York is absolutely beautiful. Our winters are a complete misery, but when the sun finally melts the last of the snow and the leaves and flowers start to bloom, there’s no more beautiful place on Earth. And where was I on such a beautiful day? Sitting in my cubicle, putting together a bill for some lady’s hip replacement surgery.

It wasn’t all bad. The last Friday of the month was a birthday celebration potluck at work. Not my birthday, that’s not until November, but it was a chance for us to bring in food and have a nice big lunch, which beats the hell out of the greasy spoon café on the first floor of the office building I work in. So, I should probably tell you that I have a hard time talking to people. It’s not that I don’t like people, I actually really do. But they never seem to remember me. It’s just… I guess I don’t leave much of an impression. I tried bringing my lemon drip cake, which is always a crowd-pleaser, but even then, it seems like nobody ever wanted to talk to me. At least, most everybody. There was this one new guy, James, who was kind of cute in an even more awkward way than I am, and he was all about my cake. It was weird to have somebody talking to me, but nice.

So the rest of the day went pretty much as normal. Everybody wants to get out of there first thing on Friday. And I was getting ready for my usual Friday night: heading to the local gay bar, paying fifteen bucks a pop for a watered-down cocktail, and not getting lucky. Woo-hoo. But this is where things started to get weird. I was walking to the bar – nice day, remember? – and I was almost there, when I smelled… I can’t even really describe it, it was like grandma’s cookies, fancy French pastries, and warm baked bread all at the same time. The best smell I ever smelled in my life. I tried to see where it was coming from and saw what looked like a new bake shop opening up in a building that had been empty forever.

I tried to see if it was open, but the only person I saw was this stocky guy with a really unfortunate mohawk. I asked him if they were open yet and he said they were planning to open tomorrow. I told him I couldn’t wait to see what they made, because it smelled so good, and he offered me a free sample of what they were making. I couldn’t say no to that and followed him inside. The pastries they had out looked even better than they smelled, and when I took a bite – it was the best thing I’d ever eaten. I couldn’t even think about anything else. It was heaven. It took over everything, my entire existence was caught up in what I was sampling. And then I felt a sharp pain on the back of my head and everything went black.

The moral of the story: Don’t take candy from strangers, kids.

So, while this was going on, Yova was having an equally strange night. She’d been out working at a gig, accompanying a friend of hers who was a jazz singer. Yova says that she was the only thing making the girl sound decent, which was probably true, and also lets you know how modest she is. She had to make some improvisations while she was playing to keep the singer in tune. She was pretty pleased with herself.

After Yova’s gig, she was walking home by the capitol building in downtown Albany. It’s a beautiful place with a reflecting pool – if you haven’t been, you should go. She said she wasn’t planning to do anything out of the ordinary until she heard a flute playing the exact tunes she’d been playing earlier in the evening. But it wasn’t just the songs: it was the exact improvisations Yova herself had done. She found a very attractive, very pale lady playing the flute and struck up a conversation. After some healthy flirting between them, the lady, Aurora, asked Yova to take a walk with her.

Everything was going just fine until they wandered by the reflecting pool. Yova’s attention was grabbed by a particularly shiny quarter in the moonlight, and then when she looked at it, she saw her reflection glance away. She was understandably freaked out, which is also when Aurora started getting creepy, talking about how magic was real, and pointing Yova’s attention back to her reflection. As Yova watched, Aurora started pulling on her reflection, making it grow and grow. Yova was – I guess mesmerized is the best word. Because she couldn’t even react when Aurora pushed her into the reflecting pool. It’s only a few inches deep, but Yova started sinking into it, falling away from the world. And she saw on the other side herself, still standing with Aurora.

The moral of the story: Don’t go off with attractive strangers, kids.

Around this same time, Pam’s family was enjoying the sights and attractions of upstate New York. They were from Minnesota, and if any family ever summed up Minnesota Nice, it’s Pam’s. She was out with her family, her son, and her two daughters, and they were enjoying a nice picnic lunch outside of Albany. Hot dish, from what I understand.

I don’t actually understand what hot dish is.

So the kids were off playing while Pam and her husband were being adorable on the picnic blanket and then her son came back, but the two girls were still off somewhere and it was getting time for them to go. Pam decided to go off and look for the girls while her husband was packing up the picnic. She wandered through some of the paths, following the sound of her daughters laughing, but then started to hear one of them crying. She found one of her daughters on the path crying and tried to look her over and see what was going on.

And then she heard both the girls behind her. She turned and they asked her what she was looking at. And when Pam looked around, what she thought was her daughter before now looked bloated and scarred. And Pam tried to get away, but then… well, you don’t know what the Hedge is yet, but she was surrounded by it. Thorns and brambles and branches coming up out of nowhere, separating her from her kids. Separating her from everything.

The moral of the story: Don’t let your kids off the leash, kids.

A couple of days after this, Day came upon his own trouble. He’d been having a rough week, a lot of trouble with his cases, and on top of all that one of the rookie cops got fired for massively mishandling an investigation. Day’s partner had been jumping in and helping everybody out, so when she asked him for a favor, he couldn’t really refuse. She asked him to come out to a local park and help her look for a missing mom from Minnesota. Yeah, that missing mom from Minnesota.

So Day and his partner were off combing through the wilds when he decided it would be a good idea to try and unwind a bit and he lit up a joint. Shortly after this, the two of them stumbled across this really disgusting-looking goo and his partner went off to get some evidence bags. As Day followed along a trail of this goo, he kept seeing stranger and stranger things, from an apple the size of a basketball to a tree that looked like it was made of elastic. The tree also had a lot of that weird goo around it and also inside of it. Yeah, he watched as it stretched itself open, creating a path leading inside.

So Day did what every good detective should do when faced with a tree made of rubber: he pulled out his gun and walked inside. He followed it into this very strange landscape where he found someone who might sound a bit familiar: a short, stocky guy with a terrible mohawk. When he told the dude that he wanted to know what was going on, the guy yelled for someone named Rex. All Day remembered from that point was getting tackled by some writhing mass of sinew and muscle, and then everything went black.

The moral of the story: Don’t hit up a joint on the job, kids.

So that leaves just Bella. And hers is a story just like all of ours. She’d just gotten back from a dig in New Mexico, was dealing with the usual academic bullshit and really wanting a night out. She called her best friend and a cute dude she was interested in from work and they all made plans to go out to one of her favorite clubs for the evening. She and her best friend went out, they met the cute dude, he told her about all the stupid work drama, and then they hit the dance floor.

So they were out majorly cutting up the dance floor, drinking, having a great time, and nature called. Bella went to the bathroom, waited in the huge line that all ladies’ rooms inevitably have, and then after she got back on the dance floor, she saw her gentleman friend talking to another girl. As you might imagine, this wouldn’t do, so Bella made her way up to this other bitch and saw… herself. A complete, exact copy of herself.

Both of them were completely confused, with the other Bella seeming to say that she was trying to find herself. Then she stepped on Bella’s shadow, which caused the shadow to stretch out. The girl reached into her pocket and pulled out some sort of blade, then cut through Bella’s shadow and pulled it into herself. She started walking away and Bella followed her, only to see a tall, eerily pale lady. Starting to sound familiar? Yeah, once we started talking, we realized what was going on. And then, after this lady spoke to the other Bella and congratulated her on her new life, she did something that made Bella fall through the floor into nothingness.

The moral of the story: Don’t ever do anything fun, kids, because apparently life just isn’t fair.

So that’s how we were all taken. Taken by whom and where is a little harder to explain. Suffice it to say that we all woke up around the same time in the back of a cramped cart in a thick, overgrown forest. We were all tied up, our arms bound by rope. The first thing I noticed was a horrible taste in my mouth, about the polar opposite from the treat I’d sampled right before everything went black. I spat it out as fast as I could and saw it was just dead leaves and bark. The others were equally worse for the wear, and nearby, sitting by a fire, were the mohawked guy who’d given me the treat and pounced on Day, as well as the creepy pale lady who’d snatched Yova and Bella.

Obviously, none of us were too thrilled about this, and even less so when Aurora came over and started taunting us, asking if we were scared and if we knew what was going on. I was trying to hide it as best I could, but I was terrified. I didn’t know what was going on, who these other people were, where I was or why I’d been taken. Aurora was extraordinarily happy to explain that we were her and Buck’s – Mohawk Guy – prisoners. They were taking us somewhere for “their lady.” I didn’t know at the time who that was, but she didn’t sound like the sort of person I wanted to meet. As perhaps a last piece of advice, Aurora told us that if we made their lady happy, we might benefit as much as she and Buck were going to.

Yova somehow managed to get her hands free during Aurora’s speech though thankfully she was smart enough not to act like she had. None of the rest of us realized that she had done it, because she and Day were bickering back and forth like crazy: he was convinced there was a logical explanation for what was going on, possibly that we were all sharing the same bad trip. Pam was taking things surprisingly well, mentioning that she had read about human trafficking before and that she’d saved some clippings about it. I think Bella and I were both convinced at this point that we were either going to die or were bound for some fate worse than death. Day finally told us to just calm down and that we would try and get free when we could, which seemed like sensible advice.

Before anything else could happen, though, we all saw this really strange looking guy come up. I can’t really describe him, other than that he looked like he was made of plant life, mossy and shimmering (“mossimer,” Pam later dubbed him), and motioning for us to be quiet. At that point, we were willing to do just about anything if it meant we would get away from Aurora and Buck, so we obeyed while he threw something over toward the fire Aurora and Buck were sitting by. It exploded and then – well, then things really went to hell.

But this is already pretty long for an introduction. The rest of our adventures through the glass, darkly and back again can wait for a bit. I’ll pick this back up in a couple of weeks and will have a lot more to tell you then. If you think this is crazy now, boy, just wait until you hear about what happened to us next. Stay safe out there, and remember: don’t ever take the free samples.

#changeling #ctl #recap #ic

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sorayahigashikata · 5 years

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Chapter 84: "I NEVER SAW THIS COMING."

#Paula reads SBR #Chapter 84 #CALLED IT #all Gyro had to do was go into the light #why must he make everything so hard?#Steel Ball Run spoilers #Part 7 spoilers

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presta-hero · 5 years

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Climate Alterations Essay

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The post Climate Alterations Essay appeared first on Presta Hero.

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miniature-research · 5 years

Text

Isobel Geologist

Hello

Hi there, is that Isobel

Yes, is that Lily?

Yes

I'm covered in cat food

What exactly do you want to know?

So I'm kind of doing a site based project, I've been going to Salisbury on Site visits, looking at the novichok event, but also Salisbury in its wider history and things. And I've been interested in the earth side of the event and what does the earth know of the event. I'm interested in finding out a more geological kind of perspective because I don't really know much about geology.

So the geology of Salisbury is quite simple, not very complicated really. It's a bit ... load of the upper levels of the chalk and into that you've got carved, you know all these river valleys ... and then during the ice age they got filled up with gravel, you know washed in when all the ice was melting and things like that, and because the sea level kept changing up and down, you get these river terraces, you got gravel, and you probably know about Salisbury cathedral being on a load of gravel and that's why its still standing. *laughs* so that's kind of the geology. So i mean, I've wrote a book, in 2000 actually, 19 years ago, haha, i don't know if you've seen that.

Whats the book called?

Its called hidden depths, you can get it on Amazon or probably still get it in the Library. Or I can just cut out a bit of the text that's relevant, and I've just been looking at it again this morning before you called me to remind me what I used to know. *laughs*

That sounds interesting yeah.

So I can do that for you, but im not sure... So during the ice age you had ancient man living by the rivers as you probably know as well and they found various bits and bobs in these valley gravels . So it has a long long history . and then you get to you know since the ice age you get things startin of with palaeolithic peopel and then you get the stone age bronze age and then the iron age and the romans , all that, and it just goes on, we're in a tiny fraction of that.

Yeah, cos in geology , um , cos obviousy there's been a lot of stuff about the Anthropocene at the moment...

Well I think thats a load of rubbish actually, thats my opinion

Really?

Yeah. Well its cos people cant kind of conceive, of the timescales involved. You know what i mean hundreds of millions of years and I realise that whats going on now is in a greater scheme of things.

Yeah such a tiny...

...Such a tiny blip.

And you can't really define these periods until afterwards. I mean that's what's so stupid about the Anthropocene I think. Until afterwards, i mean when we're all dead, when we're not here any more, then you can start looking at the consequences of it. But looking over 150 years of it or whatever it is they're on about , its so stupid. Um. so thats my view on the Anthropocene, I've no time for it. But people love to get on the latest bandwagon. And as it happens, Ive just - i've almost finished a book on cosmology, dont even ask why. Well its because my husband got it, its to do with climate change and this ... the problem is, you can't really see the wood through the trees with all the political angles. And the media, and politicians, they've had a hugely successful campaign over the last 10 or more years, convincing everybody that carbon dioxide is the main driver of climate change, and I'm sorry but that's simply not true.

What would you say it is?

It's um, cosmic rays. Because i've just read this book i can tell you this otherwise id have forgotten. *laughs*. Umm its called the chilling stars. It's really good actually ,I got it on amazon. Its by a man caled nigel calder who i think is now dead , he is one of the founding memebers of new scientist. and somebody called Svensmark who is a dane, nd he is a sort of cosmic ray expert if there is such a thing *laughs*. and hes dealing in hundreds of millions of years. And with the sun, you're probably too young for the monty python song, we're travelling around the planet which is revolving 2000 miles around the sun. And we are travelling through the milky way, the sun, the planets, everything. And he has managed to sort of link ice ages and hot times, cos you're probably aware that sometimes there's no ice at the poles at all to the number of cosmic rays. so the bottom line is the more cosmic rays the colder it gets. But I think that's really interesting. God knows how they do it but um, I think it kind of puts everything into perspective. but the general kind of aim is to link the geological variations in climate and stuff, to where we were in the planet ring at that time. He says carbon dioxide may have an effect, but it's tiny. I know they keep rabbiting on about there being too much but you're talking about a tiny tiny thing yet we've been bombarded by these particles through space all the time. And it can just come from teh sum but the sun he thinks is quite minor but these cosmic rays they come from exploding galaxies in the milky way. its mind boggling, but anyway i've been quite inspired by this book an dit just puts the whole thing into perspective.

Yeah thats interesting i hadnt heard that kind of angle on it before.

Yeah because you know its the media!

You know all these ... the media they decide whtas news worthy. so basically they said what tey think you want to know.

Yeah well i guess in terms of salisbury the media has had a very negative impact

Its sad.. You wonder if these two men, we assume its those two in the pictures, knew just how awful this stuff was tey were told by their bosses. Put on the door handle of this evil whats his name - skripal.

And then they just chucked it somewhere

And they just chucked it in a rubbish bin! I mean you'd think theyd at least bury it somewhere!

It had enough to affect two thousand people! It's crazy...

So - in geology is there ever any sense of prediction and the future or is it always based in the past?

If you can do any prediction, its to do with cycles, in the sun you probably know about these sunspot cycles. And there are loads of cycles. I cant-- oh dear. Um. I mean one is to do with the rotation of the earth on its axis - it wobbles, like a spinning top. Um, and thats called the malankovitch cycle. And that means that the earth gets warmer and colder depending on how it goes round the sun, because its like wobbling, i can't even remember now. all these cycles superimposed upon each other which affects our climate. We're just in a -- so you can predict according to where we are on these cycles, and this is all done by mathematicians, cosmologist, physicsts... But there are cycles, yes. But because we are dealing in hundreds of thousands of milions of years and things.. predicting the future,,... I mean you probably wont remember... but i remember in 1970...you probably weren't alive... in 1970 the media was going on about whether there was going to be the next ice age, is coming. this is partly why i'm so cynical, i mean i'm 70 years old, i remember this when everybody was fretting about the ice age, and now they're fretting about it getting hot. I mean if you ask me bring it on! I just don't like being cold. And i don't think , well we'll see, time will tell, but I'll probably be dead. but i dont believe any of it really. i think maybe we are getting half a degree hotter, but you've got to remember with computers. all this hype is based on computer models, and nothing has changed with that, if you dont put all the facts in you dont get all the stuff out. And its worth remembering that, and climate science is hugely complicated, and according to the people like this chilling stars book, they're just not putting the right - theyre not putting the right stuff in cos half of it is barely known. so youre basing all this hype on computer models, and weve only got climate records from the past 150 years which is like nothing! and so i could go on for ages about hte fact climate change is just like normal! and we shouldn't worry about it,. And we dont need to plant loads of geranium plants

Do you mean we shouldnt worry about it in the kind of grand scheme about the earth existing?

In the grand scheme of things, my view on this has always been, since it started, is that if it makes us more environmentally friendly that is good. so maybe you need al the hype maybe you need to make people change their ways. I mean we're awful, people on the whole. They just don't care. So - yes - while i might be cynical about the whole thing, if it does make people more, and i think it has, people are recycling stuff and people arent throwing plastic in the sea.

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eggheadsguidetorunning · 5 years

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The Journal

While I was purging my computer, I found these old documents that I had written in what feels like a lifetime ago. At first the discovery of the continued existence of these documents horrified me and I considered deleting them. After some consideration I decided to finally do what I had originally meant to do with them before I had decided to forget about them, putting them online for the public. Despite the danger this story could impose on others I considered that many who read this will think the story fabricated which should help alleviate some of the danger in reveling this information. More importantly though I convinced myself that is was better to present the danger posed in the unknow than to leave it shadowed in its own mystery. To those who read this whether you believe it to be fake or based in truth this should be taken as a chance to arm yourself against a great danger that approaches us all.

I like digging through the trash. Which isn’t to say I dig with my hands and fingers through the trash. I just kind of look and see if there is anything of interest in the trash and if I see something cool I grab it I don’t normally have to dig. Honestly, everyone should do it you would be amazed at all the cool shit to be found in the trash like the occasional book, some fresh batteries, at one point I even found a new figurine although I think that was in there by accident. Mainly though I find some pens, pencils or unused/slightly used journals that I can scrap for school supplies. I haven’t yet stooped to taking food from the garbage yet and I hope I won’t have too, but that is unrelated to what I need to tell you. You see one day I took a glance into a trash can on my way to class not expecting to find anything because nobody had passed by yet and the trash had just been taken out that morning. That’s why I was surprised when I found a strange yellow military grade weatherproof journal. I couldn’t believe someone just threw away a twenty-dollar journal (I looked up the estimated cost later) into the trash, so I took it and hurried off to class. When I got back to my dorm I was able to take a better look at the journal and to my dismay found it full of notes. I couldn’t use it for school, but I decided to read the notes just to put off studying a little longer and to wait for my show to buffer. I will continue to put some of the entries up here, so others can figure out what some of these entries mean for themselves, because frankly I can’t, and I don’t want to be bother with doing so I’m busy with other things.

Just skimming through the journal though made it seem kind of disturbing, like a mad man’s notebook, but upon reading it I think it is just some creative writing students attempt at a story. I say attempt because it seems to be paced poorly with long entries seeming to be about nothing at all. The weirdest parts are the images of a strange box poorly sketched through the book. The Sketch is hard to explain it looks like a kind of Cube or something except its all gray and some of the pieces are sticking out. I will start putting up some of the entries the first ones are boring, but I think the author was trying to build up the characters or something like that. I will occasionally add input on the story to help give some context, so I will keep the journal entries in italics to keep it separate from my entries.

Date 05/15/2013

They brought us into a living quarter with six rooms: four bedrooms, a kitchen, and a lounge. This is just supposed to be a time for us to meet up and get to know each other. They told us to get the guards to bring us anything if we need it like they were room service or some shit like that. I think they are trying to make it seem like we all don’t know their true purpose here.

They drove us out to this military base in the middle of nowhere with a location we are not allowed to know and say we were just recruited for our expertise, and its all okay because the guards will give you fuckin room service. Its just fucking typical of the fuckin system to notice my expertise when it is convenient for them but to not give me any recognition for it beforehand. I’M A GODDAM HERO YET THEY TREAT ME LIKE SHIT!!! But I muscle on anyway because I’m a hero and that’s what heroes do.

They brought me in due to my experiences in programing, and they were right to because I’m the best. They also have a geologist, Humbert, who is a fucking asshole. Just because he went to school he thinks he is so fuckin smart. Zed said that if we stuck a rock up his ass we would get a diamond in a month could be worth trying so that we might get some profit out of this endeavor. Zed is the architect they brought in he is probably as smart as Humbert but not a dick. Had a few beers with him in the lounge he is a fun guy. Then there is Burkeman, oh I’m sorry Dr. Burkeman, the psychologist, he is the one who gave us all the journals and told us to write in them. As the commanders said Burkeman is our life line he is going in there to help keep us alive. He seems alright, but he also has the authority to force us to let him read our journals, at least for the first week before the mission. He has this power for our own safety, but if he is reading the journals then why would I write anything bad about him or anything I didn’t want him to know. In honesty though I have always felt having journal to be useful with both my work and with keeping myself organized, so I will probably continue to use this anyway. Just thought you should know Dr. Burkeman, but I still dislike the idea of you reading it.

05/16/2019

I try to recall the gathering we had this evening it was a peaceful moment and might be the last we have.

I was sitting on the couch with Zed having a good talk with some beers and listening to a baseball game. Even though I never liked baseball the beer is good and I have learned to at least talk like I enjoy baseball. Humbert comes in and snorts at us like he is a fuckin pig, I would guess he is half.

“Shouldn’t you be prepping,” he says.

“Chill Humpy” Zed responds (Sorry that is a says in the Journal, but this guy uses that word for every single dialog and I’m sick of seeing that word so I’m changing it from here on. Also, there are countless spelling errors I’m just fixing because I can’t stand them.). “Besides..” Zed continues “we are prepping getting to know each other like we are a team. Bonding is an important part of the downtime ain’t that right Dr. Burkeman!”

Burkeman steps out of the kitchen and pops open the beer he grabbed as he goes to sit in the recliner to the right of the couch “That’s right Zed,” says Burkeman.

“Well then” Humbert says and goes into the kitchen to later come out holding a glass of wine, he continues to stand though “if we are doing team building then how about you tell us your name Zed, your actual name?”

“Zed is my actual name. It’s what I go by now anyway.”

“No parent names their child Zed.”

“What does it matter anyway. We are only teammates for this mission we will probably never see each other after this op, so who cares?”

“It’s a matter of trust you know my name, you know Henry’s name, and you know Burkeman’s name I would like to know yours,” whines Humpy.

“I only know your first name,” Zed counters “besides I’m not sure Burkeman is Burkeman’s first name.”

“Its my last name actually,” Dr. Burkeman responds then continues with a sigh “So when it comes to keeping score for names as it is we have Humbert’s first name, Henry’s first name, an alias for Zed, and my last name. So, if it is any comfort to you Humbert that just means you are one of the more trustful people here.”

“If it helps Humbert I wasn’t going to give my first name either,” I point out.

“Nobody was going to call you Sup3r_H, man” says Zed. Everybody laughed at that, I was glad to help bring some peace to the scenario although I’m not sure if Humbert was satisfied. We then continued to listen to the game while making stupid bets like what the next commercial was going to be advertising.

I liked this whole story for some reason I can’t quiet put my finger on why I liked this story enough to try to memorize it. Maybe I liked the back and forth we all had there or the conversation. It was peaceful in an odd sort of way like a calm before the storm. The field is always hectic, and it was nice to have some rest before then. I will kind of always picture the guys as they were in that exchange no matter what happens in the field. I think I will tell this story to my girl when I get back home too.

Okay I’m skipping the next few days since a lot of nothing happens the next two days and the entries are uninteresting. At one point, Thomas decides to write a whole entry on the quality of his shit, I think he was trying to mess with Dr. Burkeman though. So, like my friend Mikey always says “On with the show.”

05/18/2019

They herd us into the general debriefing room like cattle. In there they would give us all a general idea of what we were going doing for them. Then they would individually brief us on our own assignments and what was done before us by the previous teams.

We were the sixth team to be sent to discover the identity of an unknow object and as of today we were now part of Operation Gordian (Ha, did the author really think he could slip an Alexander reference through so easily!). As far as they would describe the object was cube like and appeared to expand upon the completion of a scenario of its choice being solved like a sick sort of puzzle box. At current point it was 5 meters tall and 4 meters wide and a length of 3 meters leading to a volume of 60 cubic meters, and they estimate it is still growing.

They told Humbert something about it being a regenerative mineral that they would only now be able to get him a sample to work with and the tools to get more if needed. They said that it was discovered that the mineral was perhaps an 8.5 on the talc scale but behaved like a 4.0 on the talc scale when removed from its host. They at first thought it was made of perhaps a metallic basalt but recently have come to think that it may made up of some sort weird combination metallics or metallic by-product. Some of the experts believed it to be containing lots of iron and nickel like substances.

Zed they wanted to find out what could be the inside design of the structure or how it could be made and what could make it open. They said they wished they could give him more information, but so far, he was only their second architect on the scene and the first one was only able to discover that while it appeared to the eye to be a perfect hexahedron its measurement betrayed it to truly be a prism. The object seems to have some weird optical illusion the measurements being just close enough to each other in length to give off such an illusion. However, the object was much smaller when this observation was made though and they are unsure if such an illusion still exists.

To me they said that they had been able to connect all sorts of wires and devices to the cube. They are unsure of how, but they have two theories. One being that the material seems to form an appropriate outlet for any type of device. The other theory is that the material simply absorbs the end of the wire. While they have been able to seemingly connect devices, they have yet to be able to get a charge from the object to power said devices, but it has yet to destroy any devices even with its apparent magnetism. More importantly they have found a signal within the object and what they would like me to do is try to get a response and communicate with it.

They had no instructions for Dr. Cord.

They would give us the rest of the day to prepare and tomorrow they would send us in for three weeks with three weeks’ worth of food and after which they would let us out. After that we would be free to choose to stay and study the device or simply be free to go.

Zed asked the first question and only question “How come you think all these things have you not observed the object yourself?”

Their answer was that only field experts recruited to study the object were allowed contact with it. Comforting.

#original story #horror stories #creepy

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seewattsididthere · 6 years

Text

Your mood can weather the storm. The easiest way to make more good days for yourself.

How many times have you said “the weather is miserable” or “this rain is so depressing” or “I’d be a lot happier if it was warmer” or anything else to that effect? Can you count on one hand the number of times you’ve ever said something like this? I know I can’t, and I’d bet money on that you can’t either.

Where did the idea that bad weather creates a bad mood come from?

My guess would have to be that way, way, way back in the day, when the majority of the human population was hunting and gathering, a stormy, or cold, or dreary day meant a higher chance of getting sick. This probably limited our ability to hunt, or leave the cave (or hut, or wherever we lived), which likely wouldn’t have catered well to a population that was made to move.

Imagine that this creates the belief that rain, clouds, or generally not bright, sunny days are “bad” weather days. Let us imagine that this belief is passed down a long line of generations. Imagine that eventually, a majority of the population is now involved in and dependent on agriculture, which requires rain, (but not too much), and doesn’t respond well to too many freezes. Thus, this population becomes dependent on the “right” weather for food. Now let’s imagine that this confirms the belief that there are “good” and “bad” weather days, and maybe even “miserable” days.

Enter Stage Left - Science

Imagine this belief is passed down to today, where many people work indoors, away from the weather, but a specifically bad rain or dreary day affects their moods. There studies that identify the presence of something called seasonal depression, and there are light therapy treatments to help alleviate this depression. So, people assume that it’s normal to allow weather to impact their moods, because studies have been done.

I consider myself a scientist. The point of this is not to discredit the people that do those studies, nor is it to discredit the studies themselves. But, as a scientist, I understand the limits of data, and you should too. The way we reach conclusions is to change a variable and see what happens. Now if you survey people about their mood on a sunny, breezy, warm (but not hot) day, I don’t doubt that you’re going to get more people in a happy mood. I also believe that if you surveyed the same people on a drizzling, almost freezing day, with overcast skies, you would interview most of the people in a worse mood.

But then – from out of nowhere – comes the outlier.

I also bet, that depending on your sample size, you are going to find one, two, or a handful of people that don’t correlate with this pattern. In my time as a geologist, I have interacted with many other scientists and engineers, and I found that most of the time you can split them into two categories:

Those who will find an outlier, and find any reason possible to disqualify it from their data set.

Those who will find an outlier, and try to find the actual cause of it being an outlier, to see if they can learn something new from it.

Much more often than not, you will find people that fall into the first category. Why? Because much more often than not, the nature of our work requires us to provide an answer in a meeting, or get a paper published in the timeline our grant money requires. In our society, often a quick answer is preferred to providing the response “More questions came up, and I’m trying to figure them out.” While the latter response isn’t wrong, it may not be what your manager, professor, or team wants to hear.

How is this all relevant?

Because I think we can learn a whole lot from studying what may cause the outlier in my theoretical experiment of interviewing the same people about their mood on days with different weather.

Let’s start by listing the top reasons that come to your head for why someone may be in a bad mood on a sunny day:

Maybe they’re upset because they’re sick

Or they could have been fired from their job

Or they could be going through a break up

Etc. etc.

Now let’s think why someone could be in a good mood on a cold, overcast, drizzling day:

They just landed their dream job

Or they could have finally been able to bench more weight at the gym

Or they could have just aced a test

Etc. etc.

Now in all of these cases, can you find something in common? Something that they had a part in happened, and they reacted to how that event made them feel. In other words, they didn’t look up at the sky and decide that they were going to let it tell them what they felt like on that day, and instead allowed their present experiences to dictate that emotion.

We’re talking about perspective here.

Shocker that I’m talking about perspective again, right? Well that’s only because it is one of the single best tools in your toolbox for fixing most situations, so I’m going to keep saying it until it’s as ingrained in you as the alphabet. As the phrase goes… Sorry, not sorry.

I used to be one of those people that let something as out of control as the weather change my mood. Admittedly, making the conscious effort to stop doing that, didn’t happen easily at first.

Then I had a flight.

No, the humor is not lost on me that I was in the sky when I had the revelation about how I shouldn’t let weather dictate my mood. I was on a flight from London to Chicago. The sky in London was the way I pictured it being in late September, overcast and drizzling. But, I was about to return from my first ever trip to Europe, and I was so happy to have had the opportunity to be there.

As the plane rose higher and higher, into, and then above the clouds, the realization finally hit me: It’s always sunny, if you’re up high enough.

It was so simple, and in-your-face obvious that I was dumbstruck by it.

Do this exercise on just about any plane (that goes a far enough distance to warrant it getting high enough to breach the clouds), and tell me if I’m wrong. When boarding and taxiing on the plane, look at people’s countenance; observe it especially on days where it’s not sunny. Pay special attention to those who chose to sit at a window seat. Now, after the plane has gotten up above the clouds, try to identify the same people and see if they look happier. Do they? My guess, is most of them do. You may even see a person or two staring out the window in awe.

Now the weather didn’t actually change, but their perspective and the way they saw it did.

The secret to having more good days.

By this point, you probably get that the whole idea of this post is to not judge the day by the weather. Just in case, I’m going to say it again:

DON’T JUDGE THE DAY BY THE WEATHER.

You may be thinking, “Okay, I get it! But how?! Sometimes it rains and my backyard floods. Or it makes me late to work, or this, or that.” Don’t worry, I’m going to give you some strategies to use if you’re finding it exceptionally difficult to stay in a good mood.

1. Change your responses to questions.

When someone asks you how your day is going, make a conscious effort to not mention the weather in your response. This sounds really easy, but in practice it’s a lot more difficult. Whether or not you realize it, the way you respond to questions is usually your brain working on autopilot. Your most likely response, is one you probably have been saying, or have heard other people say in their responses your entire life.

It’s like learning to tie your shoes differently when you’re an adult. You’ve been doing this the same way your entire life. Then, someone points out that by tying them differently, they’re way less likely to come undone. It may be hard to remind yourself every time you tie them to do it the new way, but, if you keep working at it, eventually you may not have to be worried about tripping on them again.

2. Visualize a different perspective.

As humans, we think in images. If you look outside and have a real hard time seeing anything good about today, then this is an exercise for you:

Close your eyes and imagine that you are in an airplane going over the exact same place you are standing right now. Imagine that the airplane is above the clouds. What do you see? What do you think about? Keep your eyes closed and ask yourself where the plane is going. Imagine yourself sitting next to your best friend, laughing at a great joke they just made. How do you feel? Open your eyes once the answer is “good”.

It’s funny sometimes how when you literally look past an obstacle, you see that your mood isn’t the obstacle’s fault. You have no control over the obstacle. So why let it dictate something you do have control over, like your mood? That’s like saying, “I have a kingdom, but if it rains I lose my land.” It makes no sense.

So if you’re always late to work when it rains, then make a conscious effort to leave earlier, or find a different route that doesn’t flood, or find a way to work from home that day. Get creative. If your backyard floods, then think about how you can fix that problem. Is it possible that you need to find a better drainage solution? Did you choose to live somewhere in a floodplain? Did you think about this when purchasing your house? Again, it’s not your fault that there’s a storm outside, but it is your choice if you let it create one within.

3. Ask people about the best day of their lives.

I’m serious. Go call your mother, sister, friend, father, brother, grandma, or anyone else and ask him/her what the best day of their life was. Listen to their response. I bet that on the best day of their life, they weren’t the least bit concerned by what the weather was doing. Go ahead and ask them what the weather was like that day, do they remember? They may, or they may not. But, I bet that wasn’t the most pivotal factor in their happiness.

When I worked as an assistant to a wedding coordinator, I worked in what may have been the rainiest spring in Austin’s history. It seemed that every Friday and Saturday that season, the sky would open and there would be flooding. I’ll never forget one bride. We had to tell her that it looked like there would be a lot of rain during her ceremony, which was supposed to be outside, and that we needed to move the ceremony inside. She said, “It’s a beautiful day, because I’m getting married. I don’t care if I’m getting married 50 feet away from where I wanted. I’m getting married and that’s what matters.”

You can’t control the weather, but you can always weather the storm.

It’s as if the weather wanted me to truly illustrate this point. As I’m writing this, it’s 40 degrees, drizzling, and gray outside. It’s April in Austin, Texas. Which generally means that it’s 85 degrees with a nice breeze and partly cloudy skies. Would I prefer that it was otherwise? No, because I woke up inspired to write this post for you.

Sincerely,

Taylor

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adapted-batteries · 7 years

Text

You Sultry Land Pirates Ruined My Dig! Chapter 2

Fandom: The Librarians

Rating: General Audiences/sfw

Ships: a little bit Jazekiel, little bit Jassandra, and some Cassekiel in a bit

In a world where Cassandra and Ezekiel are top tier land pirates, and Stone is an expert in archeology and history but new to being out in the field, there is a weird, impenetrable tomb in some Sumerian ruins, with things that don’t quite make sense.

Inspired by the lovely story line (and outfits) in episode 3x09 “And the Fatal Separation” where Cassandra and Ezekiel smuggle Stone, Baird, and Flynn in while they pose as land pirates.

Posted on my Ao3 here.

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3 , Chapter 4

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The desert was not Cassandra’s favorite place they had been so far. It was only 8am but the sun beat down, making her sweat under her thankfully lighter colored “explorer’s outfit.” They used these clothes anytime they needed to blend in with scientists in the field; various colored tan shirts and pants, some sturdy boots and today, a light blue shawl to cover her head almost like a very loose hijab. Ezekiel was similarly dressed, minus the shawl, but he did have a white cloth over his head like many of the workers at the site, to protect his head and neck from the sun, which he held in place with his leather headband.

Dr. Stone, dressed similarly to Ezekiel but without dangling feathers from his headband, saw them approaching. He seemed to be looking at a map on a makeshift table of crates, talking to two workers in their language.

“Miss Adamantine and Mr. Zet, welcome,” he greeted after giving the workers some instructions. He walked towards them, gesturing in the direction of the expansive ruins that lay just north of the camp. “Some of the good artifacts have already been shipped back for analysis, but the ruins themselves are still a wonder.”

“Oh, that’s alright. We still get a personal tour of the ruins,” Ezekiel chirped, getting a smile from Dr. Stone.

“So, a little history of these ruins,” Dr. Stone started as he led them to the entrance. “Around 3,200 B.C. a shift in weather triggered a spread in population for better farmland. Uruk was the main city at the time, it’s about 30 miles east from here, which is most likely where the people came from. Based on the structure of this settlement, they diverted a portion of a larger canal from the Euphrates for water.”

He led them down into one of the finished excavations; a large square plot of earth that had several remnants of buildings. They were mostly stone, a sandy tan color, but there were clumps of dark materials against some of the walls, both inside the building walls and outside them. Dr. Stone pointed to one of the clumps. “Now it was common to use wooden beams to support the walls and ceiling, something we find in Uruk, but these carbon deposits weren’t just in the homes. In this portion in particular, it looks like these people had a garden or courtyard with trees and other plants, not a common thing to find in a drying climate.”

After about thirty minutes of listening to Dr. Stone get excited about the people creating an oasis in the desert and how they did it, they finally arrived at the promising burial chamber. “An expensive courtyard, which was constantly watered by slaves, mansions, and things normally found in the richer houses in Ur and Uruk, makes it seem that this settlement comprised of a few noble families and enough commoners to support them. It made sense that we would eventually find burial chambers, but these people didn’t make burial chambers like underground basements,” Dr. Stone said as they stood in front of the entrance. He had taken them into the remnants of one of the big homes and down the sloping dirt to the oddly placed stone door at the bottom of the excavated pit. “We know where the floor was based on the deposits on the stone bricks up there,” he continued, pointing to a faint line visible around two of the walls. “So this was definitely underground. Basement-like storage pits were common, but never with such a sturdy stone door. Whatever is behind here, they didn’t want people finding. They fortified the earth for it, as you can see, bricking only this wall in and fixing a door to it.”

“Did they normally use doors like this for other tombs?” Cassandra asked, much more interested in this dig than before.

“Some of the large temples had similar doors, but they didn't lock, rather they were placed as heavy covers that sealed the room until a new body went in. This door we can’t get open, but it’s not sealed like the bricks. It seems to have some sort of locking mechanism, based on the characters on the door, almost like an ancient keypad, for lack of a better analogy,” Dr. Stone responded, looking at the door. There were thirty symbols on raised stones, arranged in a five by six grid.

Cassandra stared at the door, absorbing the information to analyze later. “What language are the symbols?” she asked, not recognizing some of the characters.

“From my own research, I've determined it's some offshoot of Archaic Sumerian, but only some symbols look like it. These others,” he pointed to several odd looking shapes, “look more like ancient Hebrew if anything. But that doesn't make timeline sense because Hebrew doesn't exist for another 2,000 years.”

“Interesting,” Cassandra responded, still processing the pattern of the letters. She needed to brush up on her ancient Hebrew to make sense of the symbols.

“What type of lock would they have used to make this door?” Ezekiel asked, doing his part of the problem solving.

“That we know of, they didn't have very complicated trap systems, or if they did, they've decomposed to where we can't study them.” Dr. Stone walked up to the brick wall and tapped it. “We also can't see through this wall either. No sonar, ultrasound, or x-ray will penetrate this brick. But there's nothing unusual about the brick that we can tell.”

“How come you don't just blow a hole through the wall?” Ezekiel suggested. Cassandra rolled her eyes, and Dr. Stone looked like he thought Ezekiel was out of his mind.

“How many archeological digs have you heard of using explosives to excavate, hmm? If we did that, not only would I lose funding for any future projects because I ruined my own dig, but I'd for sure destroy anything inside, and probably collapse the building remnants above it,” Dr. Stone scolded. He then restrained himself, taking a deep breath. “If we were in a different environment, where not everything was basically sand, maybe we could punch through some bricks, but with the weight of sand above and around, plus the precarious stability we already have from excavating, it's a bad idea.”

“Yeah, you're right, I didn't think of that,” Ezekiel backtracked, knowing he needed to stay on Dr. Stone's good side for now, even throwing in a little grin too, trying to sell it. Based off Dr. Stone’s smile back, he presumed he had succeeded.

“Well you've seen the dig now, but we've got the artifacts in a sorting tent back at camp,” he started, moving back towards the dirt ramp. It wasn't a horribly steep incline, but he gave both an unnecessary helping hand up it. “We sent off some really nice pottery a couple days ago. Mostly fragments, but there was one almost completely intact and barely faded. Love it when we find those, it's like a kid on an Easter egg hunt that finds the egg with the $20 bill in it.”

“How long will you be excavating here?” Cassandra asked after they cleared the threshold of the mansion door.

“Oh, we're only about halfway done excavating. We know where all the buildings are now, so we just gotta dig them out a bit, especially after finding that door. It'll probably be a couple weeks or so,” he replied, nodding to some workers on their way back.

The artifact tent looked like all of the others; simple tanish canvas and rope. It was one of the biggest, about the size of a metal shipping container, which made sense when they stepped inside. Two foldable tables stood in the center with a variety of tools and cloths on it. Crates, boxes, and cases of all sizes lined the walls except for a bare spot near the entrance. Based off the markings and impressions in the sand, those were probably the boxes that he sent off a few days ago.

A non-local, easy to tell by the sunburned skin, stood at one of the tables, brushing something. “How's cleaning going, Sydney?” He asked. She looked up from her work, a hint of confusion on her face when she saw Cassandra and Ezekiel.

“Oh, fine enough. I'd rather be out in the dig though,” she sighed.

“You can go back out when you don't look so much like a lobster,” he chuckled to her. “This is Sydney Denton, she's my on site geologist, and currently artifact cleaner,” he clarified to the strangers. “Sydney, this is Miss Adamantine and Mr. Zet...uh-”

“Antiquities dealers,” Cassandra cut in. “We were in town for business and ran into Dr. Stone last night.”

“What a coincidence! Well ya’ll missed the good stuff, but I just put up some nice bowls and a little ceramic figurine,” Sydney said, turning behind her to a partially open crate. She pulled out some fragments, a cracked whole bowl, and the hand-sized figurine, and brought them back to the table. “It’s amazing how many things we found intact like this. Most items this old get crushed or broken.”

The little figurine caught Cassandra’s attention. It was a fairly intricate sculpture; a person held a rectangular tablet in one hand at its side, and its other held a cup. She didn’t know much about Sumerian culture, but the pose had to mean something, and there was an easy way to find out right in front of her. “Does the pose signify anything?”

“Generally a tablet would mean the figure either was a noble or a priest, as they were the only social classes that knew how to read and write,” Dr. Stone answered, gently picking up the figure. “The cup can have a variety of meanings depending on the age of the figure. Problem is, sculptures of this detail don’t show up for another 500 years or more. Yet another reason this settlement is...well...weird.”

Sydney snickered at the last statement before adding her own response. “If a thing is ‘weird’ it’s just not understood fully. Just like magic is science we don’t understand yet.”

“Well, I don’t understand it, so it’s weird,” Ezekiel commented. Cassandra narrowed her eyes at him, but Dr. Stone just chuckled under his breath.

They got to see a few more artifacts before Dr. Stone got called for by some workers. “I’d love to stay and chat, but I do have work to do,” he said, starting to leave the tent. He turned back before he let the canvas flap close. “If you wanna get a drink sometime, before you leave, you know where to find me,” he practically purred to Ezekiel, suddenly sounding like he did the night before.

Instead of getting flustered, Ezekiel ate it up. “I’ll definitely take you up on that.” Now Dr. Stone got flustered, not quite the jaw drop, but enough he couldn’t respond and instead left the tent with a smirk. “We must be getting back to the city, but it was lovely meeting you,” Ezekiel said to Sydney who had gone back to cleaning.

“Best of luck to your excavations!” Cassandra chimed in as they started backing up towards the entrance.

“Thank you, it was lovely having visitors in my jail,” she chuckled. “I guess I’ve learned my lesson for forgetting to reapply sunscreen.”

“That is a lesson you tend to only learn once,” Cassandra added.

“That it is. Have a lovely day!” Sydney said, waving. The two waved back, then left the tent.

They didn’t talk until they were back in their hotel. “Ok, did you see anything in those symbols? A code, pattern, anything?” Ezekiel asked, flopping down on the king-sized bed with his phone in hand.

“I need to know what the symbols translate into before I can think of possible patterns. Dr. Stone was right though, it did look kind of like neo-Hebrew,” Cassandra explained, sitting at the desk to start her research. “Did you see anything? Mechanisms you know?”

“Sort of. He did get right the whole ancient keypad. Each of the buttons moves something on the other side, but there’s a good chance it’s a string of those symbols. Without getting through that wall, I can’t do much,” he confessed. “It’s sort of like that box we found in India a couple years ago, except stone and bigger.”

Cassandra was already typing away. “If I can find the translation, or something remotely close, I can limit down the number of tries we’ll have to take. While I work on that, can you look for things the people of Uruk would find important, names of nobles, events, anything they could make into a password.”

“Sure, ‘cos I’m definitely a historian,” Ezekiel scoffed.

Cassandra turned back to him, intense stare on her face. “We don’t have much time, considering we’re competing against a world-class expert who’s got a few days head start. If you can find me things to start with-”

“I know, I know, brain grape will do the rest,” Ezekiel sighed, already typing away on his phone.

“Hey, this is one of the biggest jobs we’ve had. After this we can go to a beach somewhere for months on that money. If we get to work, we could have whatever’s in that tomb tonight,” she continued.

“Then you better get to work, I can’t do all the research can I,” Ezekiel toyed. Cassandra, used to him doing this, just sighed heavily and turned back to her laptop.

The pros of having a world-class thief in the 21st century meant that Cassandra had access to ALL academic databases and library catalogs, even the ones not in access to most academia. This made research on all the artifacts much easier; a world-class mega library at her fingertips. In four hours, with a break for food as well, Cassandra had figured out what the Hebrew-ish symbols probably were and Ezekiel had compiled everything he could find about Sumeria around 3,200 B.C..

“Ok, time to let the magic happen,” Ezekiel said as he sent her his list.

Cassandra took a deep breath, standing up from her chair. “Alright…” She spread her hands in front of her like she was trying to manipulate a hologram. To Ezekiel, he just saw her moving her hands and eyes, focusing on some spaces before swiping it away or enlarging it, but to Cassandra it was like an interactive whiteboard, letters and numbers and symbols and pictures appearing in her field of vision. “Ok so if there’s 30 letters, and those give an alphabet mostly in Sumerian. It won’t be those long phrases, passcodes are normally 5-15 characters, unless it’s a sentence.” She swiped around and zoomed again. “Hmm, the specific Hebrew line up with holy symbols...Oh! Together they could spell YHWH, but the whole Hebrew faith didn’t exist yet, unless this is something undocumented.”

At this realization, data poured into her field of view, too much at one time. Cassandra became dizzy, unsteady and wavering on her feet. Ezekiel quickly caught her, setting her down on the foot of the bed. “Hey, you alright? We’ve got time, you can take a break if it’s too much,” he soothed, watching her intently almost like a parent making sure their kid was alright.

“I can, I’m fine, ow, ok I’ll take a break,” she strained, holding the left side of her head for a few moments before swiping a finger under her nose. “Hey, no nosebleed this time.”

“That’s good. You know, we don’t have to go on vacation again, we could get that out-” he started, but she lifted a hand to cut him off.

“If I do that there’s a chance I lose everything. If I lose that, I’m no use to you or anyone.”

“You don’t know that,” he countered, defensive. Knowing she didn’t need more stress, he sat down next to her and grabbed her hand. He didn’t look at her, he never did when he said this (which was more often than either would like to admit), and instead studied their intertwined fingers. “I don’t care if you can’t ever do math in your head again, I don’t want you to leave me. You’re more than just some walking computer.”

“I know. It’s just, well, irrational fear. Doesn’t have a good reason to be there but it is.” She sighed, looking out the window. “I’ll think about it. But for now, I’m stuck with my brain grape.” She turned to him, a sad look in her eyes, something he hated seeing. Not wanting to lose his composure in front of her like last time, he looked at the wall in front of them. She leaned her head on his shoulder; they sat in silence for some time before she spoke again. “I don’t want to leave you either. And if doctors can help, then I should do that.”

“You shouldn’t do it for me,” Ezekiel whispered, strained, definitely close to losing it.

“I know. It’s my choice,” she answered, just as softly as him. He didn’t respond with words. Instead he turned his head, kissing the top of hers.

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Ch 2 post notes

For the most part, all the archeology stuff is accurate (thanks to google and my anthropology class last semester). It’s weird to write stuff like that but it wouldn’t be the Librarians to me if someone wasn’t nerding out about something.

Also writing Cassekiel was fun, in a heart wrenching kind of way. Definitely fueled from Cassandra processing in ep 3x08 for sure. I don’t really know how involved they are in this universe, but they definitely care for each other immensely.

#Cassandra and Ezekiel are mercenaries/land pirates #You Sultry Land Pirates Ruined My Dig!#cassandra cillian #ezekiel jones #jacob stone #jake stone #land pirate au #stone's an archaeologist #the librarians fic #flynn writes #casekiel

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