hii! it's me again🌷🌷
well, this night i had a dream where supervillain broke into the heroes lair and killed everyone but hero managed to escape and went to villain's house and it was like that "i didnt know where else to go" trope y'know, could you pretty please write something about this?? only if you want ofc!!!
hope you're doing well and happy birthdayyyyyy you're amazing!! <3<3
“I’m fine, I swear,” the hero said, eyebrows knit together. Aggravated, unfocused. The villain read them like an open book.
“You have just lived through a traumatic experience. You’re anything but fine,” the villain said. They stared down at the tea they had made for their nemesis. Sweet. The hero preferred sweet drinks. Would talk about coffee as if it was poison.
Smoothly, they let their eyes wander to the hero’s hand. Steady.
Hm.
They were trained incredibly well which shouldn’t have surprised the villain — heroes could be the coldest people on earth. Methodical, intelligent, calm. Who else could be capable of such a job?
A job that forced them fight others, payed them to be perfect, demanded to be obedient. No wonder most of them were just as fucked up as the villains they were fighting against.
“I’m a hero. My life consists of trauma,” they snapped but there was more to their usually cold tone.
“Ah, that’s why you’re so unpleasant.” The hero shot them an evil glare but stayed quiet. Without any other complaints, they picked up the cup of tea and drank slowly, carefully.
It was horrifying from what the villain had heard. In the middle of the night, the supervillain had attacked the lair, killing everyone but the hero. They weren’t wounded — thank god — but the villain knew they would have to deal with several symptoms of stress very soon.
The hero hadn’t been prepared to lose all their friends, despite the cold mask they put on, they had colleagues they got along with rather well. People they cared about. People worth protecting.
The villain exhaled audibly.
As of right now, the villain was the only one left for the hero and even though they were on opposite ends, had other values and morals, the villain saw how truly hurt the hero was. For a long time, the hero had had this little part in them that dipped them in darkness every now and then. And every time the villain noticed (they couldn’t deny it at this point) they pushed them to the light again.
They knew what hatred did to a person.
“When I was young,” the villain said, “like five years old, my mentors would lock me up in a tiny room with a body.”
The hero stared at them, eyes widened, horror reflecting. They nearly choked on their tea.
“What?”
“They locked me up with a dead body. Three times a week, maybe? I’d forgotten it, actually. Until I looked through my own file a few months ago.”
“Didn’t you kill your mentors?”
“I did,” the villain said. They let themselves fall onto the lavish couch as their own eyes bored into the red carpet under their feet. “I buried that for a long time. Made my performance suck.”
The hero stared into their drink. Bait swallowed.
Manipulation was something the villain found useful. Whether it was for their own secret goals or to simply destroy each other — it was an intriguing tool in their arsenal.
The story was true but the intention behind could’ve been considered cruel. Opening themselves to the hero, being vulnerable was a very important step towards gaining someone’s trust.
They felt bad and truly despicable but if they got the hero to talk about it, if they had the chance to find someone to trust, then maybe the villain could find peace on their own.
All the damage they had done wouldn’t be forgotten by one good deed. But helping the hero could make them feel a little more…human again.
“I’m not forcing you to tell me anything,” the villain said. “But carrying around all this stuff on your own doesn’t make you a better hero.”
It was sad to the villain that ambition was most likely to be this hero’s downfall.
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Hi! Your blog is super awesome and I love scrolling through it just to look at the different kinds of seaweed! I really want to get into phycology as well, but right now i live in a state that doesn't touch the coast and I have no idea where to start.
If you don't mind answering, how did you get into phycology? What are the classes like/cost? And what would you think someone going into phycology should know before they start? Sorry for all the questions and don't feel pressured to answer any of them. Again, i'm just here mostly for the seaweed lol. Have a good day!
thank you so much!! I'm so glad you're interested in seaweed, that warms my heart !!
I got into phycology via an interest in botany - I did my BSc in general biology, but my introductory botany course in 2nd year was taught by a phycologist so it covered a decent bit about algae. At the end of the semester the prof that taught it posted a job opening for an undergraduate lab assistant for the summer (like literally posted a flyer outside the lab), and since I had really loved that course and was super interested in her research, I applied and was hired. I worked in her lab for the next 2 years, and did a directed studies and later an honours thesis under her. During that time I decided I really liked algae and wanted to stick with it, and so when I was applying for grad school I applied to phycology and marine bio labs, and that's where I am now.
I personally have only ever taken one phycology-specific course between both undergrad and grad school, which was a general diversity of seaweeds class (the only seaweed class they offered). I've since TA'd a few different seaweed courses though, and I'd say that structurally they tend to be very similar to both marine biology courses and general botany courses? At the undergraduate level, they usually tackle the broad systematics and evolution, ecology, and usually have some kind of local flora identification component (though this will vary depending on the course focus/prof/location etc). If they have field trips and/or are heavy on the ID component, you can usually expect an ID-based lab exam and/or some kind of herbarium/algae pressing project.
As for cost, my classes were part of my undergraduate degree so the cost was included in my tuition. My graduate degree is a paid (stipend) position + they pay me to TA individual courses, so I'm not really sure what a single course would cost. I imagine that it would be pretty similar to any other college level class, though if there are field trips, there may be added costs for that. But that will really depend on the course - iirc I think I paid around $50 for the weekend field trip my phycology class took in undergrad?
Equipment for fieldwork/field trips can also be an added cost upfront if you don't already have much outdoor gear, but it's also something that can be built up and slowly upgraded over time. You can find a lot of it second-hand if you're willing to be patient and look around. Most of my field stuff is either cheap or second-hand, and has served me just fine so far while I work towards buying higher quality gear that will last.
As for what to know about phycology going in, in terms of like, academic background, imo it's really nbd at all to come in with very little prior knowledge about seaweed. I know quite a few people who came to phycology in graduate school having never taken a botany course before, let alone a seaweed course. No less than 2 of my labmates didn't even do biology degrees first, but still successfully completed graduate degrees in phycology lol.
That said, if phycology courses are available I'd definitely recommend taking them, as well as some general marine biology and/or botany courses. Phycology is really just the overlap between marine bio and botany, so learning about those fields is a huge huge huge help and will get you pretty far even if seaweed-specific classes aren't available. Protistology and microbiology courses can also be handy; microbio courses with labs are particularly helpful for learning sterile culture techniques and other lab-based skills.
Outside of academic background, some things I feel are kinda nice to know about the field are that it's very small. There will basically never be more than 1 degree of separation between you and any other phycologist on the same continent. This can be nice, but it can also be tricky. I've found that most other phycologists I've personally met so far have been really kind and collaborative people, and generally very accepting. There are a lot of queer people in the field, especially among younger folks. That said, it's still a majority-white* field in academia, so it's got all the same issues as any other majority-white field in academia. I have not personally witnessed any like, really egregious/malicious instances of racism or misogyny, but I've seen like, microaggressions and heard horror stories from friends and colleagues. I don't say that to put anyone off the field, but idk I think it's unfortunately a reality of academia, and it sucks a lot and I hate it and I wish it wasn't, but I also think people should know what they're getting into. Also, unless your lab has access to that sweet sweet industry money, seaweed is not generally the kind of field that gets much funding or attention, and you will almost always be trying to work with techniques and equipment that are not designed to be used with seaweed. So be prepared for a lot of technical limitations, creative problem-solving, and/or building things yourself.
*It's very white in western academia. There's actually lot of cool seaweed research going on in the Global South, but it often gets less reach for the usual reasons. Seaweed is also huge industry with a correspondingly large research community in East Asia and Southeast Asia, but a lot of the research just doesn't get translated. Fluency in second language is something that i feel people don't consider that much re: academia, but is very helpful. The ability to read Japanese, Korean, and/or Chinese in particular is very, very useful in Phycology; Spanish, French, and/or German are also handy.
One last thing that I think is good to know (and this isn't an absolute, it really depends on location and the specific research project) is that it can sometimes be a very physically demanding field. I work in the rocky intertidal, so when I do fieldwork it involves a lot of hiking to sites in boots and raingear, climbing over large, uneven, and often very slippery rocks while carrying large and/or heavy equipment, awkwardly bracing myself in crevices, using knives/chisels/hammers while awkwardly bracing myself in said crevices, slipping and falling, accidentally cutting myself on barnacles, scrambling out of the way of large waves, getting splashed, etc. You have to be fine with getting wet and muddy and slimy. You have to be okay with getting up at 3:45 am and working in the rain for several hours. You have to be really good at not dropping your phone. But in all seriousness, it can genuinely be dangerous - the ocean is incredible but she is not your friend, and she will try to kill you given the opportunity. Safety needs to be taken super seriously, and it's a very very good idea (if not usually outright required) to have some level of first aid training if you want to do fieldwork. But it's also very fun and rewarding and my favourite part of research. so. not all bad :^)
anyways, I realize that's a very long ramble that doesn't really say that much, but I hope at least some of it will be helpful! If you ever want to chat specifics, feel free to reach out again or even DM me, and I'll do my best ^_^
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