#they are globular as promised

[kallietell]

A Little Extra Room

Justin clearly wants Trixie fatter, and her willpower is far too weak to resist. He takes advantage of it, forcing her to eat more and more while she grows larger and larger.  

“Just two more bites,” Justin murmured, excitement leaching into the borders of his words. “You can do it baby, you're doing so good. Just open up your mouth again…good girl.”

Trixie groaned as she slowly chewed, head thrown back and eyes wrenched tightly shut as both hands rubbed her taut, overfilled gut. She forced a swallow then groaned louder, her bulging stomach rising and falling dramatically as she breathed heavily. Her moans had reached a fever pitch and she whimpered and whined, too full to even speak. “One more,” said Justin in a near whisper, eyes locked onto the groaning, bloated woman. She opened her mouth to protest but burped loudly instead. Giving her gut a couple of weak pats she burped again, only to have Justin gently grab a side roll and give it a few wobbling bounces, forcing a cacophony of burps and moans out of her food smeared lips. 

“Look at you baby, god. Just one more bite,” he repeated breathlessly. “No.” Trixie whined, still making circles on her overfed gut. “No, I can't. I can't, I'm too full.” 

“It’s ok baby,” promised Justin, reassuringly, picking up the fork with the remaining bite of cake. Crumbs were the only remnant of the grocery store sheet cake, and one glance at the scene would make it obvious where it had gone. “No,” protested Trixie weakly as he brought the fork up to her mouth. He grabbed her by the side roll again, shaking and jiggling her aggressively as she groaned again, feeling herself wobble. Justin gave her belly a hard slap and she let out a raucous burp, nearly embarrassed by how loud it was. “Good girl,” he praised gently, rubbing the spot he’d just slapped. “Now you have more room.” He brought the fork to her lips again and she opened her mouth obligingly, moaning slightly as she chewed the last of the sugary sweet confection. 

“Good girl,” said Justin, making no effort to conceal how his words dripped with lust. “That’s my big girl. You’re getting so huge, aren’t you?” Trixie groaned in response, her chubby hands planted firmly on her gut as she whined. “Aren’t you,” Justin repeated, smacking her gut again at its right, rounded top. She burped again then resumed her groaning, too full to even sit up. 

“God, look at you. You look like a beached whale, your blubber is spilling out everywhere.” He gave her fatty belly a pinch and she burped again, unexpectedly this time. “You sound like such a pig,” he teased, both hands finding their way to her overstretched gut. “You look like one too. God you’re so fat.” He gets closer, applying more pressure as he wobbles her gut harder and harder. She moans in protest, burping louder and louder as Justin shook her gut more and more roughly. 

“Look at all this,” he marveled. “Look at how much I can grab. You’ve really let yourself go haven’t you? You’ve lost control.” Trixie moans in response but Justin shakes his head, pushing her further backwards into her couch as he squeezes her plush fat. 

“I said,” he began, kneading her fat as she cried out from the pressure, “you’ve lost control. Haven’t you?” He gives her gut another firm slap. “Haven’t you?” Justin laughs as Trixie nods through her burp. “Come on, use your words piggy,” he instructs. “Have you lost control?” “Yes,” breathed Trixie desperately, both hands again rubbing her globular gut. 

“Yea,” Justin affirmed in a low voice husky with desire. “Little out of control piggy. Stuffed so fat that you can’t even move. Seriously Trixie, look at all this.” He’d begun to wobble her gut slowly again and her entire fattened body shook from the movement, her plump tits bouncing up and down as they nearly escaped the tiny crop top she wore. Her thick arms and plush chubby thighs also jiggled along, the newly swelled fat all over her body shaking as one. 

“You fucking whale,” Justin mummered, barely audibly as he gazed down at her hungrily. “You big fat pig, you bloated fucking pig.” Trixie’s eyes were closed now and she’d resumed her groaning, too full to do much else. “Stay right there, just like that.” He reached for his belt buckle with one hand, the other still glued to Trixie’s swollen gut. “Just like that. I’m gonna take care of you baby.”

The next day, Trixie awoke to the smell of bacon. She sighed. She wasn’t sure exactly how long Justin had been up, but smelling bacon was never a good sign when it came to him, especially after a night like last night. She stretched, rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, then yawned. No matter how much sleep she got after one of Justin’s ‘dinner parties’, she was always still exhausted the next day, swollen and tender from how much food she’d packed in (among other things). Justin was always energetic afterwards, in a great mood, but she would be lethargic for the next week. 

She surprised herself by letting out a burp, then she flushed. Her hand dropped to her stomach and she started, taken aback by how far her hand sunk into her own plushness. Her gut bulged out further than it ever had when she was stuffed, but instead of firm and taut her rounded belly bounced and wobbled at just a touch. Oh god, she thought, sinking her fingers into her fat as she investigated her newly plumped body. How much damage did he do last night, she wondered absentmindedly as she played with her wobbling rolls. How many calories was that cake?

She swung her feet over the side of the bed and stood up with effort, cringing as she noted how long it took her fleshy body to stop jiggling at the movement. She was completely naked, the previous evening's clothes tossed somewhere around the living room, and each step she took emphasized her weight. The swell of her belly shook and bounced as she plodded to the bathroom, and her ass wobbled cumbersomely behind her, nearly uncontrollable. She looked at herself in the mirror, pausing a beat before her hands fell to her gut for a second time. Things were really getting out of hand. She stared back at the fattened version of herself in the mirror, gripping her fat in disbelief. 

Her face had swollen to a moon shape and her chubby cheeks had exploded with fat, squeezing her eyes into a smaller shape that peered out from a face framed by double chins. Her neck had nearly disappeared in a ring of fat and wobbled when she shook her head or chewed. She was unrecognizable, a fact that had been confirmed when she ran into an old friend from college who’d struggled to believe that the bloated tub in front of her was the once thin Trixie. Her body had fared no better, and she sported thick swollen arms hanging with fat, pudgy, inflated tits that sagged and bulged out of her bras, and most prominently, a porky, tubby beer gut that refused to succumb to gravity. The more she put on the more it bulged forward, and she was beginning to have a hard time buckling her seatbelt when Justin drove her to get more fast food. 

He’d grown rock hard the first time he saw her struggle with that, speeding home to shove burgers down her throat until she was ready to pop while he moaned about how sexy she was. She couldn’t contain her gut in any of her clothes anymore, instead allowing it to hang out of the bottom in a way that drove Justin wild, enticing him to slap the exposed flesh and make it jiggle. 

She sighs again, lifting her gut with two hands before releasing it with a plop. She felt it bounce, her entire middle shaking rhythmically. She was getting huge. Everything Justin was saying was right. Just the other day she’d burst out of her shorts while he fed her, the only time he’d ever ended a feeding prematurely to fuck her right then and there. She’d still been required to finish her food afterwards though, and Justin had been so gentle as he shoved in bite after bite, feeding her well into the morning. Her capacity was increasing, and even though she wanted to try and conceal it from him for her own sake, Justin knew. He’d been pushing her to her limits more and more later, and it was beginning to show. She was exploding. Every time Justin fed her she woke up feeling, and looking, much larger. It had to be her imagination, she couldn’t put on that much weight in one night, but the bloat never disappeared, swelling more and more with each greasy session. 

She turned around, inspecting her widened, wobbling ass. This was the only reason she’d agreed to try this in the first place, she’d always wanted to be thick, and her wish had been more than granted. Her enormous, shelf ass wobbled dramatically whenever she walked, her thick thighs rubbing as she forced them past one another. Justin was obsessed, constantly smacking it sharply just to watch it ripple. Trixie took a step back. She could barely take herself in the mirror anymore, she was getting too wide. She pinched her belly, then sighed once more. Breakfast time. 

She waddled to her closet to grab a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, wondering what Justin had prepared today as she turned sideways to slide her way into the narrow closet door. It had always been a tight squeeze, even when she was a size 4, but now she could barely work her way inside. She sucked in, pushing in her belly with her hands for extra room, then forced her way through the doors narrow frame sideways. The first time Justin had seen that little maneuver he’d taken her right there in the closet, not even bothering to grab a few boxes of Oreos to stuff her with first. 

She grabbed a pair of XXL shorts that had grown one ‘X’ too small and stepped into them, her bulging round gut acting as an obstacle as always. She got the pants over her thighs after some resistance, then sucked in with all her might and yanked the waistband over her lower belly. The fabric creaked but stayed, and Trixie gently let out her belly in relief, trying not to dwell on how large its natural shape expanded as it swelled forward. Pants on, she turned to the problem of a shirt. Her belly refused to hang, instead protruding further and further outwards, which meant no shirt could be yanked down to cover its swell. She settled for T-shirt’s that wore more like crop tops nowadays, and let her plump, tubby gut round out unencumbered. She pulls down the shirt anyways, watching as it sprang back up immediately, then waddled out of the closet. Despite herself, she was hungry.

When she reached the kitchen Justin greeted her cheerily without turning, still focused on the mountain of pancakes he’d been constructing while she slept. “How’d you sleep?” he asked as she shuffled towards the kitchen chair. “Fine,” she replies lightly, dropping into the armless chair heavily as it creaked to make its protests known. 

“You were so fucking sexy last night,” Justin reminisced wistfully. “So fucking sexy, he begins, turning to her. I…” he pauses as he catches sight of her, his breath hitching in his throat. 

“What’s wrong?” Trixie asks with sincerity, alarmed by the expression in his face. 

“You…look huge,” marveled Justin in awe. 

“Justin…” Trixie started, attempting to assuage him, but Justin couldn’t be deterred. “God, you look like you put on 20 pounds just last night, I’ve never seen you look so…fat.” He dropped the spatula and took a few steps towards her, the pancake browning on the stove forgotten. 

“Stand up.” He instructed, and Trixie did as she was told, knowing it would be easier than letting him convince her. He poked her belly gently, pressing his finger deep into the swells of fat on her side rolls, then grabbed the lowest one firmly and gave her belly a series of hard wobbles. “What have you done to yourself?” he whispered, clearly growing more and more excited as he fondled her gut. “You're bursting out of those clothes,” he gloated with a grin, smacking the overtaxed shorts that her belly and ass were stretching paper thin. “I always am,” Trixie replied with an eye roll. 

“Not like this,” murmured Justin in a near whisper. “You’re getting so fat.” 

He grabbed her belly with both hands and pulled her near, Trixie feeling against her upper stomach just how excited he was by the way her shirt was fitting. “You’re getting so fucking fat,” he repeated, shaking her more aggressively now. “You’re so fucking fat. God, just look at yourself.” He smacks her gut, admiring the syncopation of its jiggles. “Look at all this. Look at yourself.”

By the time he’d started talking like this, it was already too late. He was going to feed her again, another little dinner party, except this one was at 10 in the morning. Justin usually only started his lustful, excessive sessions at night, but he had been overfeeding her during the day more and more often recently. 

“Sit down,” he says with a point, and Trixie obliges soundlessly, knowing resistance was futile. Justin brings over a platter laden with bacon, two plates stacked high with pancakes, a plate of hash browns, a plate of sausage, and a gallon of orange juice. 

“Justin,” she warned, her hands already resting on her stomach as if feeling its upcoming pangs of fullness. “Justin, I’m really not hungry.”

“Even better,” he replies casually, pouring half a bottle of syrup on the first stack of fluffy, golden brown discs. “Eat up.” 

He hands her a fork and Trixie surveys the scene miserably, feeling her empty gut press into the table despite how far back she’s scooted her chair. 

“You know you want it, fatty,” came Justin's voice floating into her ear. “You need it, don’t you?” He asked coyly, watching the expression on her face shift near imperceptibly as he pushed the plate closer to her. “Go ahead big girl. I know you can barely stop yourself.” 

The mouth watering aroma became too much and Trixie relented, first shoving two pieces of bacon into her mouth greedily before also cramming in a massive bite of pancakes, the syrup dripping from her lips. 

“Fuck Trixie,” Justin breathed. She hunkered down and began to eat with abandon, shirking her fork in favor of fingers quickly becoming sticky with syrup. She crammed bacon into her mouth by the threes, folding her pancakes so she could get the whole circle in her mouth at once. She paused, burped loudly, then dove back in, temporarily foregoing her bacon to scarf down the entire plates of hash browns and sausages in just a few moments. 

“Keep going baby,” Justin cooed, beginning to trace gentle circles across her rapidly bloating gut. “Don’t stop.”

Trixie couldn’t stop if she’d wanted to, and despite her earlier complaints in the mirror she ate like a woman possessed, greasy and sticky hands easing burps out of her overstuffed gut while her breathing got heavier and heavier. She completed the first stack of pancakes and was now working on the second, the reminder of the syrup bottle upended over them. Her face was becoming a mess and her fatty chins were slick with syrup and bacon grease. She grabbed two more syrupy pancakes, folded them, and attempted to shove both in her mouth, her cheeks bulging and rippling as she tried to chew while forcing even more into her greedy face. 

Another few handfuls of bacon and the once towering platter was beginning to run low, the remainder of the greasy meat sticky with the syrup her hands were coated in. She doubled down, alternating between massive bites of pancake and savory swallows of bacon, her gut swelling impossibly round and forcing her chair even further back from the table. Justin was watching in awe, face contorting into an lust drunk expression that bordered on the painful as his jeans grew tighter and tighter like Trixie’s gut. His hands were back on her body now, and she felt her belly being jiggled, wobbled, and shaken as she packed in bite after bite, feeling the swell and breathing deeper as her fat gut stretched tighter and tighter. 

Just as she reached for the last pancake, slowing down a bit as the calories began to catch up to her, Justin muttered “Fuck,” and jumped out of his seat, heading towards the oven. She groaned then burped at the effort of turning her head, barely able to see what the urgency was. 

Justin had taken the final, scorched pancake off of the stove and was now opening the oven to a decadent, sickeningly sweet smell to which Trixie was well accustomed. His famous cinnamon rolls, famous not only for their incredible taste, but also for the unbelievable amount Trixie can put away. She whimpers at the smell of the rolls then shoves the last pancake into her mouth anyway, syrup dripping down her chin. Justin sets them to cool then crosses the kitchen back to her, hands already extended to grip her impossibly fattened gut. 

“You’re such a good girl,” he encouraged, beginning to rub slow circles on her distended gut. “You were hungry, weren’t you?” Trixie ignores him, continuing to moan, and he slaps her gut forcefully for the infraction. Trixies groaned then let loose an enormous burp, face flushing.

“I asked you if you were hungry Trixie,”said Justin once more, a wild look dancing behind his eyes. “Yes,” Trixie panted in between heavy breaths, attempting to lean back in the too small chair to relieve some pressure from her growing gut. 

“You’re still hungry, aren’t you?” Justin informed her, no hint of a question behind his intonation. 

“Justin no, no,” Trixie begged, squirming as she attempted to shift herself forward again. “No, I can't.” 

Justin rubbed her gut lovingly, playfully kneading its rounded top. “Yes you can. You want to.”

“No!” she whined in a near yell. 

Justin smacked her gut for her outburst, forcing a series of deep burps out of her mouth. She groaned as he rubbed her expansive belly, muttering comforting words before smacking her gut again, leaving her wobbling and burping while he went to grab the icing glazed rolls. 

“Now,” He says on his return, setting the pan down on the table. “Are you hungry?” 

Trixie was the picture of gluttony, absolutely beached in the chair by her massive, spherical gut that dwarfed the rest of her tubby body. She leaned her head forward with effort, rubbing her stretched gut fruitlessly. 

“Trixie,” says Justin, taking a firmer grip on the bottom of her porky belly. “I asked you a question. Are you hungry?”

Trixie nodded listlessly and Justin began to shove the still warm rolls into her mouth with abandon, smearing cinnamon sugar and icing all over her face. Her plump lips opened again and again for more, moaning nonstop now as her belly slipped out of shorts and bulged free, her stretch mark covered love handles oozing over the back waistband. Her T-shirt was like a bra, and she noted with horror that even the sleeves were starting to cut into her chubby arms. 

Her belly surged further and further forward, and Justin couldn’t keep his left hand off her while his right hand forced the rolls into her face faster and faster. “You’re so fucking fat,” he was saying, kneading the still pliable rolls as he filled her.”You're getting so fat.” The pan was nearing its end now, and Justin fed her even faster, cramming her cheeks until they were about to pop. She swallowed the massive bites with effort, her mind completely empty as Justin forced her further and further over her limit. 

Trixie swallowed the last bite then burped loudly, gripping her gut with both hands. 

“Look at you,” Justin choked out after a moment, his voice betraying his desire. “You’re such a fucking pig. Look at what you’ve done to yourself.”

Trixie was so full she’d begun to hiccup, and the alternating hiccups and burps made her jiggle slightly as she lay back in the chair, trying to catch her breath. “I *hic* didn't,” she responded laboriously. “You did this to me.” 

Justin didn’t say a word, instead standing silently and reaching both hands toward her. 

“Justin, I can’t get up right now, I can't,” she whined, drawing out the word. “Yes you can,” said Justin calmly. “I’m gonna take you to the bedroom, come back and get the whipped cream, and then you’re gonna show me exactly how you got to be such a fat, greedy piggy.” 

She groaned again and Justin smacked her gut, eliciting her loudest, deepest burp of the day. 

“There,” he said, watching her continue to wobble. “Now you have a little extra room.”

#feedee encouragement #i want to make you grow #fatty getting fatter #gaining weight on purpose #grow for me #eat up fatty #fat belly #full belly #stuffed fatty #keep eating #eat more #eat for me #stuffed gut #weight gain story #weight gain kink #stuffing kink #fat kink #weight gain denial #weight gain fiction #tight clothes #button popping #feederism kink #get me fatter #gaining fat #stuffing #feedeeweightgain #fatteningstories #feedeestuffing #tightclothes #burping

[englishsub]

song meme

tagged by @megafaunatic because i whined ♡, and @cairoscene

shuffle your on repeat playlist and list the first 10 songs, then tag 10 people

redbone - childish gambino: i mean, it's a banger. good guitar riffs.

miquella's haligtree - tai tomisawa: i can't wait for him to kick my ass so bad in the dlc that not even three friend summons can save me. he's about to make his sister look like a godrick soldier i just know

never be lonely - jax jones, zoe wees, cascada: yay new cascada, homicide it's literally 2 minutes long. we must stop the enshittification of music at all costs. songs need to be a minimum of 3 minutes, IDEALLY between 5 and 6 minutes, or i'm going to start swinging

天河梦 - liu yuning: in ning ge we trust............

the final battle - tsukasa saitoh: jesus if the elden ring album becomes my aoty again for 2024 that would be hilarious but also on brand

love wins all - iu: i'm gonna see her perform this live this summer, during which i will undoubtedly cry massive globular ghibli tears for real

no promises to keep - loren allred: god i cannot hear the line 'i won't say that it was fate' without immediately tearing up... i cannot look at a screenshot of aerith after rebirth without tearing up..... i'm gonna miss her so much!!!!!

torch - black veil brides: god one of "i need to feel something" songs of all time actually

empty places - trent reznor and atticus ross: one of the scores ever written. more movies should do what the gone girl score did. i saw this tweet(?) once from an author where they said that one of their writer's block hacks was to put on the gone girl score and let it play all the way through, and they'd force themself to work the entire time. it's 90 minutes of pure unsettling ambience and i was like so true king!

老朋友 - liu yuning: god this song is so fucking good. he's probably gonna be my top artist again this year. deserve, i am nothing if not predictable, i guess.

many people have been tagged but i am going to tag you all anyway again. @vinelark @feyburner @dcyiyou @microcomets @yuebings @tantai-jin @cafecliche @ziusik @mammutblog

#i'm amazed this wasn't just 10 score tracks tbh

[levi-venn]

The First Toothpick

Chapter 3: A Fistful of Carrots

Gen Fic - Mentor/Protege

Characters: Cad Bane, Crosshair (the kid), Jango (flashbacks).

Summary: Cad Bane teaches Crosshair how to be a sniper. The kid picks up some other habits as a result.

Chapter Summary: The kid experiences dry land for the first time. His reaction surprises Cad...but it also gives him an idea.

Chapters: Ch 1 | Ch 2 | Ch 3 | Ch 4 | Ch 5 | Ch 6

Available on AO3 here

“It’s just grass.” 

“The hell it is,” Cad said, retreating back up the ramp of the Firespray.

“C’mon, Cad, have a little faith in me. Watch.” Jango hopped out of the ship, landing waist deep in the field of golden brown wheat…

…like a damn fool.

So much wheat…stretching for as far as his scarlet globular eyes could see.

And that much wheat meant that many more places to hide.

“There’s things in there,” Cad warned, pointing to something rustling near Jango’s leg. 

“Just critters. Predators don’t come out until nightfall and they prefer Fabools to humanoids. You’re safe, I promise.”

“Uh huh…” Cad took another step backwards. “...I’ll just stay here.”

It wasn’t that he missed his homeworld - fuck Duro - but at least he knew and accepted it for what it was: A world that had traded its soul for industry long before Cad was born.  Clouds weren’t supposed to be white and fluffy like this. They should be oily and black belched from rusty smokestacks.  Even the sky here was wrong, too blue, too bright, missing the stains of putrid orange and green.  He’d been on this planet for less than a minute and already had his fill of the buzzing insects and…where the hell was that croaking coming from anyway?

“We got work to do, Cad. Don’t make me throw you over my shoulder like a bag of meilooruns.”

Cad sighed and stood on the edge of the ramp, staring down the untamed wilderness of what was supposedly a very tame ranch. The wheat stalks swooned in the breeze, like long fingers coaxing Cad into unseen jaws.

He sank one boot into the grass.

Something shrieked and shot up into the air.

Cad stumbled backwards, drawing one blaster only to have it slip from his fingers, sliding noisily down the ramp and out of sight into the wheat field. He pulled the second blaster and fired at the monster.

The convor flew away, unscathed.

“Aaaand this is why we’re here,” Jango frowned, picking up fumbled blaster and handing it back to Cad. “You’re jumpy as hell and can’t shoot for shit. If you want to keep calling me boss, get your shit together, Cad.”

“Yeah, boss,” Cad mumbled, holstering both blasters, embarrassment warming his face.

“Alright, enough lollygagging. Let’s go check on the Fabools.”

“What the hell is a Fabool?”

Cad found the kid curled up asleep in Bossk’s chair, cheek pressed against the scope of his rifle and a half-eaten protein bar in his hand. 

Beneath the chair was the kid’s duffle bag, half-open. Cad nudged it with his boot. Jumpsuits, protein bars, packs of water purifying tablets. No toys, no music discs, no personality. Not a single candy bar.

Jango loved caramel Starsbars; always kept one on him, in a pouch next to his thermal dets. He also loved fried eggs and bacon, nerf stew with extra carrots, peach-flavored tihaar cocktails (though he always claimed he drank tihaar straight), and he bobbed his head to Figrin D'an And The Modal Nodes when he thought no one was looking. 

Did all his clones experience the same joys he did? Were they even given a chance?

He kicked Bossk’s chair. “Get up, kid. We’re here.”

The kid sat upright, eyes still closed, a long, textured red line from the scope denting his cheek. “Where are we?”

“That’s classified,” Cad smirked.

“Haha, funny,” the kid yawned and slithered out of the chair. He took another bite of the protein bar, then tucked it back into his jumpsuit’s pocket.

I told him to find somethin’ to eat, Cad thought. Does he prefer his own rations?

“This hideout was Jango’s before it was mine. He taught me all I knew here n’ I’m gonna impart some of that know-how onto you.”

“I know how to shoot."

“Yeah, slower than molasses on Vandor,” Cad sneered. “We’re gonna fix that, but for now…” Cad activated the ramp. “...let’s just start with gettin’ out of the ship.”

The kid’s expression didn’t change.

Not when the door slid open.

Not when seeing, probably for the first time, an ocean of golden brown wheat, a clear sky, and a world alive with natural wonders.

Except that wasn’t exactly true. The kid's expression did change, if you knew where to look. Cad watched the kid's glassy brown eyes dart around the narrow view of the scenery, not like a frightened kid like Cad was all those years ago, but with a curious feline studying his new territory.

The kid ventured forward, standing on the edge of the ramp scanning the wheat field.  He didn’t move for a long moment.

Cad stood beside him, studying his face. The kid didn’t look scared, but something was holding him back. 

Finally, he looked up at Cad, brow knitted slightly.

Cad tilted his head. “What?”

“...is it safe?”

“C’mon, Cad, have a little faith in me,”

“Yeah, kid,” Cad said, Jango’s exasperated sigh burned in his memory. “It’s safe.”

As the kid took that first step forward, Cad leaned against the ship and popped a toothpick between his teeth. He expected to be here a while as the kid grew accustomed to the planet. 

But the kid jumped in with two feet. Literally. And then took off like a blaster bolt, running through the fields like a wild lothcat and twice as silent, maneuvered through the grass with practiced efficiency. 

Huh…engineered for stealth…created for war…

The kid chased some unseen varmint for a while before stopping to catch a butterfly in mid-air. As he cupped it in his hands, peeking through the fingers, a frog leapt onto his leg.  The kid gasped, but even that was subdued. He eyed the frog with round, emotional eyes, then lifted his leg to show Cad. 

Created for war…but still just a kid.

The frog disappeared into the kid’s pocket only to leap back out again as soon as the kid’s attention turned to a flock of ducks flying overhead.

“Believe it or not, Cad,” Jango said, arm draped loosely over Cad’s shoulder as they walked through the grass together. “There are some planets in this galaxy that aren’t a kriffing nightmare to live on.”

“Pretty planets can be dangerous too,” Cad mumbled.

“Hey,” Jango stopped in his tracks and made the sulking duros look him in the eye. Human eyes were always too emotional for Cad's liking. Jango's eyes weren't bad to look at though. Still, he scowled stubbornly. “I promised you a quiet place to train you and I meant it. You’re safe here. You’re safe with me.”

As the kid stood transfixed over a grasshopper crawling along his arm, Cad slung the kid’s rifle over his own shoulder, grabbed a few more bags, and exited the ship. He was halfway to the house when he realized the kid was following him, silent as the grave and his arm still extended giving the grasshopper a proper runway.

“Just goin’ to the house. Go play, kid.”

“I’m not playing,” the kid denied. “I’m here to learn.”

Cad sneered. “Like a good little soldier, huh?”

“I’m not just a soldier. I’m an elite-”

“Just be a kriffin’ kid today, okay?”

The kid’s neutral expression melted into something teetering on panic. He looked around again as if searching for something or someone to explain “playing” to him.

Made for war...

“How about this,” Cad sighed. “Do some recon. Get familiar with the territory. The perimeter extends to the barbed wire fence and the border of the lake. Report back when yer done.”

Seemingly satisfied with this “mission” he nodded and bounded off, the grasshopper flying behind him. 

Fuck you, Jango, for givin’ just one special little Boba a childhood and leavin’ the rest behind.

Cad headed to the house and hoped Todo 360 had ordered the extra carrots for the nerf stew.

***

Cad remembered being disappointed when he first arrived at the hideout. 

The word “hideout” made him think of a beaten up shack filled with illegal artillery, chests full of credits, and a bunch of mean-looking mercs he’d be glad to have on his side.

But this hideout was a farmhouse. A quaint home perched on a hill overlooking the wheat fields. Over the front door was a wooden sign with hand carved, flowery aurebesh reading: “The Stars Shine on This Home”. Rocking chairs moved with the cool breeze on the porch. Cheerful tulips welcomed bees in the front garden. Inside the house, there were floral quilts on the plush couches and horseshoes over every doorway. There was a ubiquitous scent of cinnamon and aged wood. 

“Doesn’t look like much of a hideout,” Cad sulked, eyeing the pie cooling on the windowsill. 

“And you don’t look like much of a mercenary,” Jango sneered, pulling out two plates and a pie server. “Looks can be deceiving.”

Three hours later, the kid showed up. Dirt caked his cheeks, burrs stuck to his jumpsuit. There was a scrape on his hand, and a few bugs and a frog peeked out of his pockets.

From the kitchen, Cad slid a heap of carrots into the simmering nerf stew and watched the kid carefully stalk the living room, eyeing everything, but touching nothing. 

Well, almost nothing.

Cad’s wide-brimmed hat hung on the rack near the door.

The kid reached up for it. 

“Take a seat, kid,” Cad said, his tone sharp. “Food’s almost ready.”

The kid snatched his hand back and scurried to the small table in the dining area. He sniffed the daisy bouquet centerpiece and looked shocked to realize it was real.  He put one of the grasshoppers on one of the flowers.  The grasshopper immediately hopped away.

Cad set the bowl of hearty nerf stew in front of the kid and brushed the grasshopper onto the floor. “Eat up. It’s tastier than those shitty protein bars ya got stowed away.”

The kid’s spoon poked experimentally at the stew.

“I like the protein bars,” he said, watching the hearty chunks of nerf bobbing in the sienna broth.

He took a bite of just broth at first, his face remaining neutral, but his brow rose a little lighter.

The second bite was a little more adventurous with a piece of nerf added to it.

The third bite was all carrots…

…and the kid immediately spat them out in his napkin, wrinkling his nose.

Cad nearly snickered.

Under any normal circumstance he would’ve found it funny.

But the disappointment hit his gut like a cheap shot.

It was just carrots.  What would he care if the kid hated carrots and Jango ate them like candy?

Because this ain’t about carrots. If these clones ain’t like Jango, then they got free will, don’t they?

And if they got free will…

…what happens if they decide they don’t wanna be soldiers?

Questions far above his pay grade, but like Jango always said: “The day you stop asking questions is the day They win.”

Is that what you did, Jango? Cad wondered, bringing his own bowl of stew to the table. Did ya just stop askin’ questions?

Halfway through the quiet meal, Cad realized the kid was staring at him.

“Somethin’ on yer mind, kid?” He asked, not looking up.

The kid silently picked another carrot off his spoon and added it to the orange pile on his napkin. 

“I asked ya a question.”

“I didn’t find any Fabool,” the kid murmured.

“Didja know where to look?”

“No.”

Cad raised his brow ridge. “Didja ask where they were?”

The kid shook his head.

“So? Ask me.”

“Where are they?”

“Behind the house. Finish your stew and I’ll show y-”

The kid dropped his spoon, grabbed the bowl and, in record time, gulped down the rest of the stew, chewing the last bits noisily and spitting out a final piece of carrot.

“Ready.” he said, deadpan, though his eyes sparkled as bright as Jango’s whenever Cad handed him a Starsbar.

Need Todo to order more Starsbar, Cad reminded himself. Just in case.

***

Behind the house was a square, quarter acre of land, sectioned off with a two meter high fence covered in thick brown wool. From the outside, it just looked like an extra storage shed, but as Cad and the kid drew nearer, it was evident something was moving around inside the enclosure.  

The kid pressed his face against the fabric barrier trying to see through it without any luck. The Fabools snuffled inquisitively on the other side.

“Whats with the blankets?” 

Huh…first question I didn’t have to pry outta him, Cad mused. 

“Fabools are about as sensitive as they are stupid. In the wild they’re liable to get stuck on thorn bushes n' deflate, makin' 'em easy pickin's for predators. The goal is to keep ‘em safe n’ happy in here so they produce more eggs."

"Eggs?"

"These eggs ain't for eatin'. Not for us anyway. They fetch a pretty price on the black market since the egg whites got hallucinatory properties to 'em.” He unlocked the door but held it closed, his eyes narrowing at the kid. “Walk carefully n’ don’t bring anythin’ sharp in here. You deflate ‘em, I deflate you, got it?”

“Okay,” the kid said, with enough earnestness to ease Cad's mind. "Wait," he added suddenly, pulling out a small vibroblade from his boot, and stuck it in the ground outside the enclosure. "Okay, ready."

“Good kid,” Cad nodded.

The kid immediately looked away, but not before Cad noted the faintest trace of a smile in his cheeks. 

Soon as the gate opened, the kid slipped through it and was immediately overwhelmed, disappearing beneath a bouncing avalanche of furry Fabools.

Fabools were balloon-like creatures in every way imaginable, perfectly round, airy and gentle, and navigated the world through bouncing and floating with vague intent on their destination. Short gray fur covered their bodies, and their two webbed feet may have once been used for swimming eons ago, but that evolutionary branch had long since broken off. Their flippers remained as an imperfect guidance system, and Fabools tended to flap out of sheer excitement than for propulsion.

While they didn't exactly have heads, their face was located flush against the upper hemisphere of their round form, a tiny upturned mouth sandwiched between two, round black eyes which blinked adoringly at the kid.  

The kid sank into the grass in wide-eyed wonderment, opening his arms to gently hug however many Fabools he could while the rest rolled and bounced all around him.

Cad couldn’t be sure, but he thought he heard the kid hiss out a small, brief laugh.

“What the fuck, Jango?” Cad growled, backing up as the creatures bounced closer and closer. “Get ‘em away from me.”

“They’re harmless.”

“Then why’re they chasin’ me?” He climbed up the fence, the little monsters hopping in the air obviously trying to bite him.

“They don’t even have teeth. I promise you, they're not dangerous, just curious. Trust me.”

"Trust me..."

Something clicked in Cad’s mind.

…Well shit. Now I know why Jango asked me to train this kid. Snipin’ isn’t this kid’s problem. Trust is.

Not trust in other people. This kid seemed to have an abundance of blind trust for authority figures…something Cad would train out of him in a heartbeat if he wasn’t getting paid for this job. 

The thing is, the kid had trust for everyone outside of himself. 

That’s why he shoots so slow. That’s why he’s so damn hesitant to speak his mind. He’s got that spark in him, but Jango hired me for one specific reason: I got trust for no one but myself. 

“They’re so…helpless,” The kid said, watching one of the males roll by, webbed feet kicking uselessly in the air. The kid gave him a little push to help him to his feet.

So are you, kid, Cad thought, popping a toothpick in his mouth. But don’t worry. We’re gonna fix that. You may hate me afterwards…

…but either way you’ll be stronger for it, and I’ll get paid either way.

#bad batch crosshair #tbb crosshair #the bad batch #cad bane #star wars the clone wars #jango fett #tbb cad bane #The First Toothpick

[rockislandadultreads]

Nonfiction Thursday: Space Exploration

Off-Earth by Erika Nesvold

Can we do better in space than we've done here on Earth?

We've pinpointed the destination, refined the technology, designed the habitat, outfitted our space residents. Are we forgetting something? A timely reminder that it's not just rocket science, this thought-provoking book explores the all-too-human issues raised by the prospect of settling in outer space. It's worth remembering, Erika Nesvold suggests, that in making new worlds, we don't necessarily leave our earthly problems behind. Accordingly, her work highlights the complex ethical challenges that accompany any other-worldly venture—questions about the environment, labor rights, and medical ethics, among others.

Space settlement is rapidly becoming ever more likely. Will it look like the utopian vision of Star Trek? Or the dark future of Star Wars? Nesvold challenges us to decide.

Hubble Legacy by Jim Bell

Looking deep into space, by definition, means looking back in time—and the Hubble Space Telescope can look very far back, including at stars, nebulae, and galaxies that are millions, even billions, of years old. If there is a single legacy of Hubble as it turns 30 years old and nears the end of its useful life, it is this: It has done more to chronicle the origin and evolution of the known universe than any other instrument ever created. Hubble has also captured an astounding collection of ultraviolet images that include geysers of solar light, Mars’ famous dust storms, exploding stars, solar flares, globular clusters, and actual galaxies colliding. As for scientific milestones, Hubble has helped us learn that the universe is 13.8 billion years old, that just about every large galaxy features a black hole at its center, and that it's possible to create 3-D maps of dark matter. 

Hubble Legacy will not only feature the most stunning imagery captured by the telescope, but also explain how Hubble has advanced our understanding of the universe and our very creation.

Worlds Without End by Chris Impey

Planet Earth, it turns out, may not be the best of all possible worlds—and lately humanity has been carelessly depleting resources, decimating species, and degrading everything needed for life. Meanwhile, human ingenuity has opened up a vista of habitable worlds well beyond our wildest dreams of outposts on Mars. Worlds without End is an expertly guided tour of this thrilling frontier in the search for planets with the potential to host life.

With the approachable style that has made him a leading interpreter of astronomy and space science, Chris Impey conducts readers across the vast, fast-developing field of astrobiology, surveying the dizzying advances carrying us ever closer to the discovery of life beyond Earth—and the prospect of humans living on another planet. Since the first exoplanet, or planet beyond our solar system, was discovered in 1995, over 4,000 more have been pinpointed, including hundreds of Earth-like planets, many of them habitable, detected by the Kepler satellite. With a view spanning astronomy, planetary science, geology, chemistry, and biology, Impey provides a state-of-the-art account of what’s behind this accelerating progress, what’s next, and what it might mean for humanity’s future.

Alien Oceans by Kevin Peter Hand

Where is the best place to find life beyond Earth? We often look to Mars as the most promising site in our solar system, but recent scientific missions have revealed that some of the most habitable real estate may actually lie farther away. Beneath the frozen crusts of several of the small, ice-covered moons of Jupiter and Saturn lurk vast oceans that may have been in existence for as long as Earth, and together may contain more than fifty times its total volume of liquid water. Could there be organisms living in their depths? Alien Oceans reveals the science behind the thrilling quest to find out.

Kevin Peter Hand is one of today's leading NASA scientists, and his pioneering research has taken him on expeditions around the world. In this captivating account of scientific discovery, he brings together insights from planetary science, biology, and the adventures of scientists like himself to explain how we know that oceans exist within moons of the outer solar system, like Europa, Titan, and Enceladus. He shows how the exploration of Earth's oceans is informing our understanding of the potential habitability of these icy moons, and draws lessons from what we have learned about the origins of life on our own planet to consider how life could arise on these distant worlds.

#science #space #astronomy #nonfiction #nonfiction books #reading recommendations #reading recs #book recommendations #book recs #library books #tbr #tbrpile #to read #booklr #book tumblr #book blog #library blog #readers advisory

[gluttonygirls]

“Yeah, yeah, I promise to exercise and junk, don’t worry...”

Huffing as the door closed behind her, her Master’s worried expression fading in the process, Jalter cast a glance over to the dusty weights in the corner. Lifting those? Yeah right.

Scoffing as she waddled over to her computer, the gentle clapping of her knee brushing thighs echoing around her room as she lumbered towards her setup, Jalter’s hands went to her globular stomach. Was her Master serious? Lose all this weight? Shed some pounds off this gigantic gut, her pillowy dome of plushness? That’s not happening. Not when she could use it so well.

Dragging back her chair far, the springs creaked as she thumped down into it, immediately sliding down to as low as it could go as her heft bore down on the seat. She’d long since removed the armrests, letting her tush flow over the sides, blubbery hips smacking either leg of her desk as she wheeled herself closer.

Smirking as she reached up, cupping her huge, blobby breasts and perking them up just a bit in her top, Jalter reached over to her camera.

Why lose weight, when there were so many simps and geeks ready to throw her cash just for suggesting she might eat on stream? Do you know how much shit she can buy with that?

Nope, she’s not losing a pound.

#ic #Jalter

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

New paper explores four nearby fast radio burst sources

Fleeting blasts of energy from space, known as fast radio bursts (FRBs), are a cosmic enigma. A Canadian-led international team of researchers has published new findings suggesting that supernovae are the predominant contributors to forming sources that eventually produce FRBs.

"Fast radio bursts are one of astronomy's greatest mysteries," said lead author Mohit Bhardwaj, a member of the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment Fast Radio Burst (CHIME/FRB) collaboration and a McWilliams Postdoctoral Fellow at Carnegie Mellon University. "These extremely powerful radio blasts can travel cosmological distances and emit more energy than the sun does in a thousand years, despite lasting only a few thousandths of a second. Even more intriguing is that, though they hit the Earth roughly every minute from all over the sky, their origin is still unknown."

The researchers, led by scientists from Canada and including teams in the U.S., Mexico, Chile, and Australia, examined 18 nearby FRB hosts, all of which were spiral or late-type galaxies. The prevalence of late-type galaxies suggests that FRB sources predominantly occur in relatively young galaxies, with the sources possibly produced by supernovae that involve the core collapse of a massive star.

"This work identifies an intriguing trend that suggests most local FRBs likely come from core-collapse supernovae," said Bridget Andersen, a co-author on the paper and current Ph.D. student at McGill University working under the supervision of Professor Victoria Kaspi. "In future studies, it will be particularly interesting to see if this trend persists with a larger number of localized host galaxies."

The work holds particular significance because, a year ago, following the detection of an FRB source in a globular cluster of the Messier 81 galaxy—housing an extremely old stellar population—there was speculation that such sources might dominate the FRB population.

Bhardwaj said that the team's findings disfavor such a scenario and instead support the hypothesis that the majority of FRB sources originate from the demise of massive stars, often resulting in the formation of either black holes or neutron stars.

"Looking ahead, as we amass larger samples of more precisely observed FRBs, we can further scrutinize these distinctions for both nearby and distant FRBs," he said. "By conducting more in-depth analyses, we hope to refine our understanding of the diverse origins of FRBs and potentially unveil the underlying mechanisms that drive these cosmic phenomena, shedding light on the intricacies of the universe's radio signal bursts."

The CHIME/FRB team recently doubled the catalog of known repeating FRBs and has continued to make progress in the field. The collaboration's most recent paper, which is available on the arXiv preprint server and will be published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, is significant because it pinpoints the host galaxies of the new nearby FRBs, which are promising candidates for identifying the proposed prompt or afterglow counterparts beyond radio wavelengths.

Understanding the origins of FRBs is a pivotal challenge in contemporary astronomy, and so far, extragalactic FRBs have exclusively manifested as radio phenomena. By identifying their sources, cosmologists can gain new insights into the extreme astrophysical environments that give rise to these signals, and the physical mechanisms responsible for them.

"The ability to pinpoint the galaxy from which the FRB originated was key to this study. But with CHIME, we can only identify the host galaxies of the closest FRBs," said co-author Daniele Michilli, now a postdoctoral scholar at the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research. "We are building new CHIME "Outrigger" telescopes in Canada and the U.S. to enable precise sky localizations for all FRBs detected by CHIME. This will revolutionize the field and enable us to test the ideas put forth here."

One prevailing hypothesis connecting these intense bursts of radio waves to astrophysical processes involves neutron stars, Bhardwaj said. He added that the prominence of this hypothesis increased in 2020 when CHIME/FRB observed FRB-like bursts from a known highly magnetized neutron star (SGR 1935+2154) in our own galaxy, leading to the identification of magnetars—young, highly magnetized neutron stars—as a likely source.

"Regardless of their origin, these short bursts hold great promise for cosmological studies," Bhardwaj said. "For each FRB, we can estimate the amount of ionized matter the FRB signal traveled through on the way to Earth. This unequivocally positions FRBs as a very promising probe for studying the distribution of ionized gas in the cosmic web."

#science #space #astronomy #physics #news #astrophysics

[rollsoffthetongue]

SELL A BILL OF GOODS

Idiomatic Meaning: Deceive someone with false promises or lies; to cheat, swindle, or take unfair advantage of someone; something that is intentionally misrepresented or passed off in a deception or fraud.

Literal Meaning: Depending on which meaning of “bill” is intended, it can refer to a person with that name, a piece of paper currency, or the mouth of a bird.

Usage: Informal spoken or written general American English. This expression is often used in business when someone makes a promise that he or she cannot keep, or when someone intentionally misrepresents something.

Origin:  Early 20th Century – American English – This expression comes from a practice in the early 1900s, where a seller would show a buyer a list of items (a consignment or bill of goods) and ask for payment before delivering the actual goods. If the seller lied about the quality or quantity of the items, or never delivered them at all, the buyer would be cheated or scammed. The word “bill” comes from the classical Latin bulla for various globular objects such as a bubble, boss or stud. In medieval Latin it shifted to being the seal on a document; in time it came to mean the document instead. In English bulla became bill. It also became bull, as in a Papal bull and similar edicts.

Why is this funny?  In the photo we see two pelicans, one with an empty bill, the other with an apparently full bill. The latter, explaining that it has more fish than it can eat, offers to sell the other pelican some fish for a couple of frogs. But it’s a scam. It just looks like its bill is full. It’s actually empty. He’s trying to trick the other one. It is “selling a bill of goods” for a bill of goods, i.e. fish!

Sample Sentence: The producer “sold her a bill of goods” by promising to make her a star.

#idiom #english idiom #teaching english

[puneetlabs]

Puneet Labs: Our expertise

Iron Carbohydrate Chemistry

Iron Carbohydrate complexes are water-soluble and very stable. Because of the globular structure as well as the electron density of the iron core they can be visualized by electron microscopy. For preparation of carbohydrate-iron complexes only few of the hydroxyl groups of the carbohydrates are necessary for reaction with the ferric hydroxide.

Puneet has developed expertise on Iron Carbohydrate Chemistry over a period and are offering products which are very useful to reduce Iron Deficiency Anaemia worldwide.

Mineral Amino Acids Chelates

Minerals are a type of nutrient that your body needs to function properly. As your body cannot produce minerals, you must obtain them through your diet.

Chelated minerals are meant to boost absorption. They're bound to a chelating agent, which are typically organic compounds or amino acids that help prevent the minerals from interacting with other compounds.

We manufacture various combinations of Mineral & amino acids in the form of complexes and chelates in nutritional segments having rationale in various indications as under :

Haematinics

Osteoporosis

Immunity boosters

Cognitive care

Skin care

Cardiac care etc.

Peptide Chemistry

Peptides are gaining increasing popularity as therapeutics in modern times. Peptides are already being therapeutically used in diverse areas of medicine such as neurology, endocrinology and haematology.

Peptide Chemistry is a branch of biological science which lends itself useful for the discovery of ethical drugs in the treatment of human physiological problems.

Therapeutically, peptide chemistry offers a promising hope of integrating nature’s holistic way of caring with the intelligence of modern science.

Peptides play a pivotal role in the primary physiological and biochemical functions of life, thus directly supporting the much intricate biochemistry of in humans & mammals.

In comparison to small chemical entity drugs, peptide-based drugs possess definite & encouraging characteristics, including:-

Higher potency:  Peptide-based drugs generally are very active on their target receptor, which translates into a high effect at a low dose

Higher selectivity:  Peptides have a very tight fit to their receptors, which makes them much more selective than smaller molecules concluding that they bind only to their target receptor and are therefore less likely to be associated with serious adverse effects.

Better safety:  Peptides are naturally degraded in the bloodstream by circulating enzymes to their component amino acids. As these are natural biological products, peptide drugs are also associated with less accumulation in body tissue and fewer toxicity findings.

Peptides as active pharmaceutical ingredients offer a promise to revive & rejuvenate the pharmaceutical industry by developing & delivering novel techniques for present & future drug therapies. Since it is crucial to enable cost-effective & faster commercialization of peptide-based therapies, profound knowledge of peptide manufacturing methods will optimize yield & its purity for therapeutic & industrial use.

We at Puneet Labs envisioned the potential for peptide therapeutics and have now developed dipeptides under Neuro-segment. There is an ongoing research & development on products which are imported into Indian market so as to strengthen Make in India drive and support industry with local manufacturing.

#Top Pharma Third Party Manufacturer #Top Pharma Franchise Company

[delirim]

🔪 yes definitely a situation that's good for everyone involved

THERE  ARE  MANY  poets  who  have  familiarized  themselves  with  the  lady  Delirium.  Who  have  written  at  length  of  her  incoherency,  and  who  have  seen—  first  hand—  the  many  colors  of  her  WHIMSY.  Hart  Crane,  Cesare  Pavese,  Samuel  Coleridge,  and  even  the  late  Poe.  These  poets  frenzy  under  the  watchful,  multicolored  gaze  of  her  elation.  They  write  until  their  hands  slick  with  blood,  pages  all  a-mess  with  scarlet  and  smudged  ink.  Forgetting,  remembering,  babbling.  Even  the  late  Rousseau  could  not  escape  her  INEXPLICABLE  FASCINATION;  

❛  I  feel  an  indescribable  ecstasy  and  delirium  in  melting,  as  it  were,  into  the  system  of  being,  in  identifying  myself  with  the  whole  of  nature...  ❜

And  then  he  was  SHOT,  and  she  watched  as  sister  Death  took  him  away,  deep  into  the  sunless  lands.

But  poets  are  HUMAN,  and  humans  come  and  go.  Delirium  finds  no  particular  joy  in  the  often  bloody  aftermath  of  her  gifts,  but  she  certainly  doesn't  mind,  either.  In  fact,  it's  kind  of...  Exciting.  

In  the  preoccupation  of  this  particular  moment,  she  neglects  to  hear  DREAM  of  the  ENDLESS  enter  into  the  impressive,  early  20th  century  home  in  which  she  currently  resides.  A  poet,  having  drank  a  bottle  of  disinfectant,  now  lies  dead  on  the  floor.  Death  had  come  LONG  ago,  but  she  remains,  straddling  his  body  at  the  stomach  and  digging  around  for  the  HEART  that  he'd  promised  she  could  have.

Humans  are  so  sticky.  So  globular  are  their  organs,  wrapped  tight  with  c-shaped  bones  and  so  DIFFICULT  to  reach.  Then,  the  floor  creaks.  Creaks  long  and  slow—  like  the  shrieks  of  the  dead—  and  Delirium  ceases  her  humming  to  turn.

❝  Dream!  ...Oh.  You're  going  to  yell  at  me  about  the.  Rules,  aren't  you?  He  swore  I  could  have  his  heart.  He  promised  me  that  I  could  have  it,  honest.  ❞  Delirium  stands,  covered  in  blood  and  holding  a  still,  unbeating  heart  like  a  bird.  Cupped  delicately  between  her  two  hands.  

❝  I  told  him  he  should  drink  some  of  my  colors  and  the  cup  too  and.  Well.  He  drank  the  wrong  thing,  you  see.  ❞

#harvestshope #( thanks for sending in ! ) #( god she’s such a gremlin ) #cw gore #cw suicide mention

[yourjuhyunghan]

The New England Journal of Medicine NEJM IVIG (Intravenous immune globulin) in Dermatomyositis, Globulin, Hypoesthesia

The New England Journal of Medicine NEJM IVIG (Intravenous immune globulin) in Dermatomyositis, Globulin, Hypoesthesia https://blog.naver.com/artnouveau19/222903547259

https://www.facebook.com/TheNewEnglandJournalofMedicine/videos/780831523127387 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globulin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypoesthesia

The New England Journal of Medicine 

Intravenous immune globulin shows promise in the treatment of dermatomyositis but has been associated with thromboembolism. New research findings are summarized in a short video. https://nej.md/3fr7Jrd https://www.facebook.com/TheNewEnglandJournalofMedicine/videos/780831523127387

https://twitter.com/NEJM/status/1580226798289199104

IVIG in Dermatomyositis https://www.nejm.org/do/10.1056/NEJMdo006670/full/?fbclid=IwAR1_K7jxHBdF8_lmw4xtK2li2CBJ54giZLJng3lc7BpTeJIZi9VyxQhaGa8

Globulin The globulins are a family of globular proteins. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globulin

The globulins are a family of globular proteins that have higher molecular weights than albumins and are insoluble in pure water but dissolve in dilute salt solutions. Some globulins are produced in the liver, while others are made by the immune system. Globulins, albumins, and fibrinogen are the major blood proteins. The normal concentration of globulins in human blood is about 2.6-3.5 g/dL.

The term "globulin" is sometimes used synonymously with "globular protein". However, albumins are also globular proteins, but are not globulins. All other serum globular proteins are globulins.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globulin

Hypoesthesia or numbness is a common side effect of various medical conditions that manifests as a reduced sense of touch or sensation, or a partial loss of sensitivity to sensory stimuli. In everyday speech this is generally referred to as numbness.

Hypoesthesia primarily results from damage to nerves, and from blockages in blood vessels, resulting in ischemic damage to tissues supplied by the blocked blood vessels. This damage is detectable through the use of various imaging studies. Damage in this way is caused by a variety of different illnesses and diseases. A few examples of the most common illnesses and diseases that can cause hypoesthesia as a side effect are as follows:

Decompression sickness

Trigeminal schwannoma

Rhombencephalitis

Intradural extramedullary tuberculoma of the spinal cord

Cutaneous sensory disorder

• Beriberi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypoesthesia

[candyswift-ny]

A Safer CAR-T Therapy with STOP-CAR Design

A novel chimeric antigen-receptor (CAR) T cell therapy has been developed at Ludwig Cancer Research and may achieve turning on and off as needed. The study, led by Melita Irving of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research's Lausanne Branch, George Coukos, the Branch's director, and Bruno Correia of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), discusses a key problem with current CAR-T therapies of initiating aggressive immune responses against healthy cells in patients.

ON-switch CARs that activate T cells by small molecule-mediated heterodimerization in the presence of antigen have been reported to be achieved, but suffer from the short half-life of small molecules.

This study presents a computationally assisted design of a STOP-switch CAR-T cell control system in which antigen binding and T cell activation are encoded by recognition (R chain) and signaling (S chain), respectively. By inserting computationally designed protein pairs into the intracellular domains of the two CAR chains, these two chains can spontaneously form functional heterodimers, while the addition of small molecules can specifically disrupt the dimerization.

Thus, STOP-CAR has the potential to temporarily modulate T-cell function, rather than completely eliminate it as in the case of a suicide switch.

To develop a clinically promising STOP-CAR, the authors attempted to utilize a chemically disruptable heterodimer (CDH) system that requires components of human-derived proteins and a minimal number of residue substitutions to reduce the risk of transgenic immune rejection in patients. For the design of CDH, they used well-folded spherical structural domains to reduce the possibility of interfering with T-cell signaling near the synapse, as well as clinically applicable small molecules with long half-lives and good tolerability in humans.

They first identified the BH3 structural domain of human Bcl-XL and BIM proteins as the starting point for CDH design, which they planned to insert into the S and R chains, respectively. Then, they conducted an extensive structural search to identify scaffolds with similar backbone motifs that are structurally compatible with the binding partner, transposing the BH3 binding motif to the structural white domain of this globular protein and designing at the interface residues to replace BIM with a human globular protein with high binding affinity.

The research group derived three candidate proteins, and identified human apolipoprotein E4, codenamed LD3, followed by incorporating CDH into the STOP-CAR design.

In conclusion, this research developed a high-affinity CDH system where the introduction of CDH into the heterodimeric STOP-CAR could specifically activate primary human T cells in the presence of the corresponding antigen, and the efficacy of STOP-CAR-T cells targeting PSMA or CD19 observed in the experiments was greater than or equal to their respective conventional 2G-CAR-T cells.

In particular, the activity of STOP-CAR-T cells specifically decreased when subjected to CDH interference by small-molecule drugs, and this modulation was dynamic, with their activity recovered upon removal of the drugs.

With inspiring research results, Dr. Melita Irving is invited by Creative Biolabs to talk about new discovery of her research team in an upcoming webinar. The subject of this free live webinar is Engineering strategies for improving adoptive T cell therapy against cancer, and the topics will cover the use of syngeneic tumor models to evaluate the ability of co-engineered murine CAR T cells to reprogram the TME and boost T cell function, the use of low-doses of irradiation to inflame cold tumors and render them responsive to rational combinatorial immunotherapy, and the novel STOP-CAR to integrate efficacy and safety directly into CAR design.

Creative Biolabs is a biotech company providing TCR and CAR T&NK cell immune therapy development services as well as ready-to-use TCR and CAR T&NK cell construction products, and has been dedicated to creating a robust webinar platform to share the latest insights on CAR T therapy.

[geolifeseo]

Nanotechnology focuses on particles ranging in size from 1 to 100 nanometers (nm). One nanometer is equivalent to one billionth of a metre. In comparison to the diameter of the Earth, a nanoparticle is roughly the size of a football, illustrating how small objects become at the nanoscale.  Nanoparticles are also present

#Nanotechnology #Nano

[indolentjellyfish]

might be too late at night to post this but this handful of glass nudibranchs are now up in my shop here. 

the forbidden candy can be yours :o

#sea slug #nudibranch #glass #handmade #animal figurines #lampworking #flamework #art #sculpture #artists on tumblr #forbidden candy #animals #figurines #etsy #they are globular as promised #please do not actually eat

[secretpeachtea]

Onigiri Miya Tidbits Ch 6

Title: the eagle, the seagull, the crow, and the Brazilians

Genre: gen fic, reader insert

Word Count: 5.3k (whoops)

Summary: Onigiri Miya is now hiring and you just happen to be the right person for the job. The business has been gaining popularity since its grand opening, and many customers travel from different cities just to have a bite of Miya Osamu’s delicious recipes. You did expect some craziness from working in food services, but what you didn’t expect was to be bombarded with frequent tomfoolery from a bunch of attractive volleyball players during your shifts.

disclaimer: manga spoilers

A/N: this one’s a bit of a slow burn (more so than the usual hehe), but I promise it gets better near the 2nd half! There’s not much drama in this chapter, but I think y/n deserves a bit of a break ya feel? Enjoy, my dudes

Previous///Next

Tonight is a special night because it’s ‘Create Your Own Onigiri’ night! Your boss decided to hold this small event to try something new and allow his customers to have some fun in the process. There are laminated onigiri instruction sheets on each of the tables as well as a small customized menu created for this event specifically. You helped him post a couple announcements on social media about the event a week prior to inform the public, and so far, things have been going smoothly.

Osamu is mainly in the kitchen prepping any ingredients for the customers and you’ve been standing at the register as usual. You are pleasantly surprised at how much everyone was enjoying making their own onigiris, and it seems like people of all ages were having fun.

“Welcome to Onigiri Miya!” You greet automatically with a bright smile as the front entrance slides open. A group of very physically fit men walk into the shop with large sports duffel bags slung across their shoulders. Despite the slightly intimidating aura the group gave off, one of the males walked inside with a young child hugging his arm. You scan over all of them briefly and your eyes widen as you make eye contact with Ushijima whom you just met a little over a week ago when the Shiratorizawa alumni visited.

You gave the tall volleyball player a small smile. “Hey, Ushijima-san! What brings you back so soon?”

“You assured me that I should bring my team, and we all wanted to participate in the event today,” Ushijima responded back. “My teammate, Romero-san, is not from Japan, so we wanted to find a restaurant with traditional food.”

“R-right…” You didn’t expect him to actually bring his team any time soon, but you’re still amused at how seriously he took your words from before. You can assume that the only foreigner in the group is the ‘Romero-san’ that Ushijima spoke of. There are probably hundreds of other restaurants the group could’ve gone to for a more cultural experience, so you’re a little giddy that he chose to come here. “Well, it’s good to see you again! I’d be more than happy to help your team have a good time here.”

To Ushijima’s left, another tall figure stood with a resting scowl. His gaze made its way to the kitchen where Osamu was and immediately lit up in recognition. Although, there might’ve been some confusion. “Miya-san, I didn’t know you worked here. Don’t you have practice right now?”

Your boss lets out a short laugh as he looks over his shoulder to look directly at the boy who spoke to him. “Wrong twin, Kageyama-san.”

“Ah.”

Kageyama looks down and glares at the floor mildly distressed at his mistake. There’s a part of you that wants to laugh at his reaction, so you do so internally. Suddenly, you feel someone staring at you, so your eyes shift over in that direction to a male with white hair and round eyes. His stature and overall mannerisms reminded you of a certain orange haired ball of sunshine, so you couldn’t help but stare back a bit longer than you intended. There was a sudden shift in his demeanor and his eyes narrowed at you.

“Why you staring? Is it ‘cause you’ve never seen a volleyball player my height? You’re impressed by the Hoshiumi Korai, right?” The boyish male lifted up his hands as if trying to intimidate you, but in your eyes, he seemed completely harmless.

With a sweet smile, you calmly reply back to his accusations. “Sorry about that. You just remind me of a good friend of mine. He also plays volleyball, and you’re both around the same height. I haven’t seen you play before, but I’m sure you’ve worked hard to get to where you are now regardless of your height, Hoshiumi-san.”

You know you’ve startled him with your kind and composed response when he freezes in place for a couple seconds before dropping his arms back to his sides abruptly and looking away to hide a small grin.

The last two people in the group, whom you assume are father and son, seem to be in their own worlds as they converse quietly. Now seems like a good time to let everyone get settled in, so you step away from the register and gesture for them to follow you. “ My name is (Surname) (Name). You guys can follow me! There’s a table over there that can fit all five of you. Then, I can explain how things are gonna work for today.”

Once the guys all settle in, you stand at the end of the table and point at one of the instruction sheets as well as the menu. “You can pick 2-3 ingredients for your onigiri! One of the ingredients will include meat or seafood and anything else can be a vegetable, seasoning, or both. All of the prices are written down on the menu and there are written instructions on how to make your own onigiri with pictures as guides. Feel free to call me over if you need clarifications. Any questions?”

Multiple heads shake at the same time. You pull out a tiny notepad and pen from your pocket and prepare to take orders. “Great! Then, what can I get for you guys?”

Romero lifts one of his arms to get everyone’s attention and begins to speak somewhat broken Japanese, “Order whatever! I will pay!”

After that declaration, you jot down all of the ingredients that the group orders including some refreshments. “Alrighty! We’ll set up all your ingredients soon on the counter. Once everything’s ready, there’ll be trays for you to take back to your table.”

You bow your head and stroll back behind the counter to relay the order to Osamu. As you’re helping set up some ingredients that don’t require any cooking, you notice that your boss frequently steals glances at the volleyball team with starstruck eyes and curiosity pokes at your mind. “What’s got you looking excited like a kid on Christmas?”

Osamu quickly turns around to face you while holding a spatula in one hand and tongs in the other. Leaning down to keep the conversation between the two of you, he unconsciously lifts both kitchen utensils up in the air with enthusiasm and flashes a childlike grin. “That’s Nicolas Romero! He’s a really famous world class volleyball player from Brazil. My brother and I used to watch him on TV all the time when we were younger, so it’s kind of crazy to see him in person!”

There’s a slight leap in your heart as you watch Osamu’s eyes brighten in joy but choose to ignore that strange feeling for the time being. “Now that you mention it, I think I saw a couple posters and billboards with his face on them when I was in Brazil.”

“I was really surprised when ‘Tsumu told me he was coming to Japan to play for the Schweiden Adlers. I never thought he’d come to my restaurant though!” Your boss is quite awestruck at the idea that such an important figure from his childhood was about to eat food that he cooks himself and it’s enough to elicit a giggle from you.

It’s not long before all the ingredients are set up on four large trays along with a couple beverages. You face the group of males and raise a hand next to your mouth. “Order’s ready for Romero-san!”

Romero stands up from his seat and pats his son on the head to stay put before gesturing at Kageyama to follow him. “Tobio, help me bring the food?”

“Of course, Romero-san!” The setter shoots up from his spot with a zealous expression and immediately follows behind his teammate like a baby duckling. When the two arrive in front of the counter, they give you a short thanks and take their trays back to their table. Osamu subtly glimpses at his childhood idol but quickly looks back down with a flustered expression when he notices you sending him a smirk of your own.

With everyone pretty much settled in, you decide to walk around to the other tables to see if anyone needs any assistance or if they have any questions. You return back to the register after a couple of minutes ready to sit down and take a quick break, but you notice a couple drinks sitting on the counter. The volleyball team must have forgotten to take them when they took their food. Since you didn’t have much to do at the moment, you decide to take the drinks to their table yourself.

With arms full of beverages, you walk up to the Adlers. “Hello, sorry to interrupt, but you left your drinks on the counter. I just thought I’d bring them for you.”

Romero takes the drinks from you and then distributes all of them to each person after sporting a grateful smile. “Ah, thank you!”

You’re about to walk away, but the sight before is almost too ridiculous for you to look elsewhere. All of the men are in the process of creating their onigiris, but each creation looks quite...interesting.

Ushijima’s onigiri is one very large globular rice ball, which distinctively resembles a volleyball, with a few sesame seeds sprinkled at the top. Hoshiumi’s onigiri almost looks like it’s about to explode with how much meat was piled inside the rice and probably would’ve fallen apart if he didn’t have it enclosed around both of his hands. Kageyama’s onigiri is of a decent size, but he must’ve put too much pressure when shaping the rice because it just looks like mush with obvious handprints. Romero is the only person at the table who was able to make a normal onigiri, but everyone seems to be enjoying their time so you don’t think Osamu needs to come over and help.

You finally look at the young child sitting next to his father and tilt your head in confusion when you notice that he’s not participating or eating anything his father made for him. With slight concern, you turn towards Romero. “I hope you don’t mind me asking, but is your son not fond of the food? I could offer some other ingredient options?”

“Oh, that’s okay. Everything is perfect!” Romero replies with a knowing look. “Rubens is just a little grumpy since he misses his mother. She met new friends at an onsen and they invited her out to go shopping today. Thank you for asking, though.”

After living in Brazil for a couple months, you were able to pick up on some Portuguese. You’re not in any way fluent yet, so when the older man briefly speaks to his son, you can only make out Romero asking Rubens if he wanted a different onigiri and that he needed to eat to be healthy. The boy’s pout deepens and just simply states that he was bored. Romero sends you an apologetic smile, and you just wave your hand to let him know that you understood.

A sudden idea pops into your head. “Romero-san, is your son allergic to anything? I have an idea to help Rubens enjoy himself more. Would you mind if I try to make your son something?”

“Go for it! My son does not have any allergies, but he does love pork!” Romero nods his head in approval.

You quickly make your way back behind the counter and peek over Osamu’s shoulder as he stands in front of the stove. “Hey boss, do you mind if I try to make something for Romero’s son?”

“Sure. I don’t think anyone needs any help or anything at the moment, so you’re free to do whatever you’d like,” Osamu replies nonchalantly and you tap his arm gratefully.

Situating yourself in front of the counter surrounded by ingredients, you momentarily think about what you want to do. You make the final decision to create two designs for the onigiris that you think Rubens might like. After washing your hands, you gather up all the ingredients you need and even snatch some extra pork from Osamu’s pan. After a couple minutes of putting together the onigiris, you place them on a plate and examine your creations.

The first onigiri resembles a simplified stegosaurus with meat substituting the spines of the dinosaur and some sesame seeds throughout the body for texture. The second onigiri is just a regular rice ball with pork and vegetables, but a couple irregularly shaped pieces of nori are scattered across the surface to resemble a dinosaur egg. Both onigiris lie on top of a small pile of bonito flakes to act as a nest.

You take the plate of food to where Rubens is sitting, a bit nervous since you aren’t sure how he’s going to react. Everyone else at the table just watches curiously as you place the onigiris in front of the young child and his eyes widen. He’s practically mesmerized by his dinosaur themed meal and even some of the other guys are impressed.

Rubens quickly turns towards his father and whispers into his ear. Romero chuckles and pats his son’s head lovingly before facing you. “My son wants to know how you did that. He absolutely loves it.”

A sigh of relief leaves your lips at your successful attempt at making the child happy. The only problem was that you were still in the middle of work, so you didn’t know if you could spend any more time here. Coincidentally, Osamu seemed to have overheard everything for the last couple minutes from his spot in the kitchen. “Hey, (Name)-san. If you wanna take a quick break and spend some time with the kid, I don’t think there would be any problem with it.”

You’re really grateful for Osamu’s leniency, but a part of you still feels bad as you turn to look at him. “Are you sure? I don’t want to skip out on my job so suddenly.”

“Don’t worry about it. The boss said it’s all good.” Osamu gives you a reassuring smile and you take it as your cue to grab an extra chair off to the side and sit beside Rubens. You’re about to grab some rice to begin teaching the boy, but a slight tug on your sleeve makes you freeze in place. As you look to your side, you see Kageyama’s hand near your shoulder and there’s an intense look in his eyes.

“K-Kageyama-san, would you like to learn too?” You ask a bit surprised. Your bewilderment is replaced with amusement when he nods at you furiously and you almost laugh out loud at his excitement.

“Oh! Me too! Me too!” Hoshiumi intervenes enthusiastically and even Ushijima seems to be interested. These guys sure were something else.

In the end, everyone in the group was watching as you demonstrated how to make different designs with the onigiri rice. Rubens finally succumbed to his hunger and began to eat his dinosaur meal, so you were left to attend to the grown up men who listened to you eagerly like school children, aside from Romero who needed to step outside to answer a call from his wife.

“Alright! Now that you have some of the basics down, why don’t you each try to make your own? Just to keep it simple, we’ll all choose a single design. Any ideas as to what you guys want to make?” There’s a brief silence as everyone tries to think of something doable. Suddenly, Ushijima lifts up his phone and an image of what you recognize to be Japan’s adorable volleyball mascot* is shown. You sweatdrop as Hoshiumi and Kageyama clap in agreement at the volleyball player’s obvious, yet adorable selection.

Other than having to give a few pointers to Hoshiumi and Ushijima, it seems like they were doing a pretty decent job at making the character. The one who was truly struggling was Kageyama. He was still putting too much pressure when molding the rice. As he continues to squeeze the rice excessively, you gently place your hands on top of his slender fingers.

“You’re putting too much force in your hands, Kageyama-san. Here, loosen your grip a bit and I can show you.” With that said, Kageyama lets go of his vice grip and allows you to guide his hands over the rice. The two of you stay like that for a couple more seconds until you successfully make a circular rice ball. As the male opens his palms upward with your hands still wrapped around his, his eyes sparkle in amazement.

Kageyama bows his head gratefully and when he looks back up at you, you’re taken aback by the amount of admiration flooding his expression. Your body stiffens when he quickly puts down the onigiri and clasps your hands between his. “Thank you, (Surname)-san!”

“N-No problem.” You feel a bit of heat creep up your cheeks with the way Kageyama was holding your hands so delicately.

The moment doesn’t last long, however, when you suddenly feel someone’s fingers graze the side of your face and a sticky feeling is left on your skin. When you look to see who the culprit is, your eyes fall on the youngest person at the table with one of the most terrified expressions you’ve ever witnessed. Almost immediately, Rubens starts apologizing in broken Japanese similar to the way his father has been speaking, “S-sorry! Sorry! Sorry!”

While you were busy working with Kageyama, Rubens had finished eating and wanted to make his own onigiri since he was still a bit hungry. He wanted to grab more rice from the bowl next to you but misjudged his movements and accidently touched your cheek with his sauce covered fingers. The child felt absolutely horrified and was afraid that you’d hate him for this.

Using a napkin, you wipe off as much as you can from your cheek and then proceed to lower yourself onto the ground to get to the child’s eye level. Mustering up your brightest smile, you try your best to reassure Rubens who looks like he’s about to cry. “Hey, hey! It’s okay, Rubens! I’m not mad.”

You spend the next couple minutes cooing at the sniffling young boy, and once you’re sure that Rubens is no longer going to cry, you sit back down on your chair. You lift up a ball of rice to gesture that you want to help him make an onigiri and he nods his head. You make a traditional triangular onigiri but place two rolled up bonito flakes for eyes and a piece of curved rice on top of the nori to make it look like a bearded face. There’s an almost immediate shift in the child’s mood when you point at the design and then to the empty chair next to him because you had made an onigiri that resembled his father.

Both of your laughs fill the air and the whole situation resembles a heartwarming scene from an anime. You were too distracted to notice the multiple pairs of eyes watching the scene in captivation. Once Rubens starts to eat again, you look up to see some lingering stares. “Is everything alright?”

Two stoic faces avoid your eyes by looking down, while Hoshiumi snaps out of his trance. The white haired male sits up a little straighter before addressing you. “Hey, you’re pretty good with kids, (Surname)-san!”

“I’ve had a couple babysitting jobs in the past. I’m not perfect with kids, but I did pick up a few things here and there,” you respond back shyly.

At this moment, Romero walks back into the shop while pocketing his phone. “Sorry to cut our time short, but I think my wife is coming back home soon. I should start heading out with Rubens. You guys can stay longer if you’d like.”

“That’s okay, Romero-san. I think we’re all ready to leave as well.” Kageyama lifted up his tray which spurred the rest of the other guys to do the same. As everyone helps out in cleaning up their area, you head back to the register to receive the payments for the meal from Romero.

The guys were now all ready to leave, but your boss quickly grabs their attention after taking a glance at a certain framed object on the shop’s wall. “Do you guys mind signing some autographs to put up in the shop?”

“Of course!” Romero exclaims. The rest of the team complies as well and they each sign a piece of paper that will most likely be displayed by tomorrow. Once that’s done, the team stands in front of the exit with their belongings. Rubens tugs at his father’s arms to get his attention and Romero bends down to listen to what the boy wants to say.

“What’s up?....Name?....Onigiri Miya…”

You can’t make out anything other than a few words, so you’re thrown completely off guard when Rubens suddenly jumps up from his spot and waves his arms wildly at you. “Bye-bye, Mrs. Miya!”

You don’t even hear any of the other males voice their goodbyes and leave the shop as blood rushes through your ears and your face flushes into deep crimson color. It seems like Osamu wasn’t spared either as his cheeks explode with heat at the implication. Both of you stand in awkward silence for a few seconds to calm your hearts until Osamu musters up the courage to glance at you first.

His expression shifts a little as he stares at your face. Osamu then points at your cheek. “Oh, (Name)-san. You still got a little something on your face.”

Momentarily forgetting about feeling flustered, you realize that you might not have gotten rid of all the sauce from when Ruben accidentally touched your cheek. “What? I thought I got it all off. Why didn’t anyone say anything?”

You attempt to wipe off the sauce remnants, but fail to do so each time because you don’t know where it is exactly. Osamu grabs a clean towel from the top shelf and slightly dampens it under the sink before standing in front of you again. “I got you.”

Osamu lifts up the towel and starts to wipe at your cheek softly. When your head starts moving too much, he brings up his other hand and places it gently on your neck to support it. There must have been a lot more sauce left than you expected because Osamu continues to hold you in place for a couple more seconds, his eyes never leaving your face. Unconsciously, your own eyes drift around his features and you can’t help but admit how handsome he looked at the moment.

“Oh, young love~”

Both you and Osamu flinch back when you hear one of the customers that are still in the room say their thoughts. When you glance at the table where the voice came from, you see an elderly couple smiling at you while holding hands with one another in a loving manner. The previous blush you had comes back in full force as you remember that the two of you were not alone and in a somewhat intimate position together.

“T-t-thanks, Osamu-san!” You stutter and almost trip over your own feet as you start walking towards the bathroom with hurried steps. “I’m j-just gonna...um...go to the bathroom really quick!”

As you rush away from Osamu, he just watches your back disappear behind the bathroom door. He stands in place quietly as he processes what had just happened and there’s a foreign feeling in his stomach that he can’t explain. He simply turns his back to the bathroom and rubs a hand to his cheek to hide the smile that threatens to creep onto his lips.

Leftovers

You’re currently laying on your couch comfortably surrounded by pillows and blankets while watching a movie on your laptop. Today was your day off from work, so you planned to stay in for the whole day and catch up on some alone time. As much as you want to focus on your movie, your mind starts to wander off.

About two days have passed since you met the Schweiden Adlers volleyball team at Onigiri Miya, but they were still on your mind. Based on the tidbits of information you’ve gathered from Osamu, Adlers and MSBY were rival teams. It almost makes you want to laugh at how different the two teams were in terms of their dynamics and personalities, so you hope to see them play against each other one day.

Suddenly, the ringing of your doorbell interrupts your thoughts and you pause your movie. You stand up and walk towards your door in confusion. You weren’t expecting anyone to visit, so you’re a bit weary as you look through the peephole.

As if the universe knew what you were thinking about before, you’re surprised to see Sakusa standing outside your door with his usual face mask. Swiftly unlocking the door, you pull it open and greet your curly haired acquaintance.

“Hey, Sakusa-san! What’s-” You stop speaking abruptly when you notice two large bags in the volleyball players arms and they look fairly heavy too. “Oh, wow. Are those...for me?”

Sakusa just nods his head and you quickly open your door wider to let him inside to place the bags down. You’re extremely curious as to what the contents were since both bags were covered by tissue paper, even more so because Sakusa was the one to bring them to you. He places both bags onto your coffee table and you’re about to ask what they were for, but he beats you to it.

“Congrats,” Sakusa states with his usual impassive expression but there’s a hint of softness to his tone.

At this time, you’re completely perplexed. “Congrats for what?”

“For graduating.” Sakusa’s reply causes your eyebrows to shoot up. “This is from the team.”

“Oh...” You’re left speechless for a moment as you try to understand the situation and once everything finally clicks, a warm feeling encompasses your heart. “Um...thank you.”

You gaze at the gifts bags for a bit longer with various emotions swirling through your eyes before talking again. “...did the team send you because we live in the same apartment building?”

“Yeah.” Sakusa let out a sigh which made you laugh a bit, but it didn’t sound like he was necessarily bothered by the task.

The male briefly checks his phone and gestures that he needs to leave soon. As Sakusa starts to make his way back to the front door, you follow with light steps to see him out. “Let everyone know that I really appreciate this when you see them again for practice!”

He nods in acknowledgement and the two of you exchange goodbyes before you finally lock the door as he walks away. Without a moment to lose, you rush over to the large bags sitting on your coffee table with anticipation. Just from the first glance, you can tell that there are multiple things piled up, so you’ll just have to take things out one by one.

After removing the tissue paper from the bag on the left first, you pull out something large and fluffy. In your hands is a huge teddy bear that’s wearing an MSBY jersey while holding a small note card that says “Congratulations on Graduation!”. You immediately know who it’s from because the bear’s multicolored fur resembles the colors of Bokuto’s hair. You give the bear a tight hug before placing it next to you on the couch.

The next thing you take out is a miniature set of hand lotions with a small bottle of pepper spray taped onto it. There’s a small note on the bottle that says “It’s dangerous walking home alone at night”. There’s no indication of who the gift giver is, but you know that Sakusa would be the only one to pick out these specific gifts. As you move the package to the side, another small piece of paper falls to the ground. It must have been stuck to the bottom of the hand lotion set. When you pick it up, there’s another note that says “Thanks for the soup”. Your smile widens. It seems like you had guessed correctly.

The last gift from the first bag is a beautiful mug with a sunrise design printed onto it. There’s a Brazilian flag sticking out of the mug, which makes it even more obvious that the gift was from your dear friend Hinata. When you push aside the flag, there’s a limited edition Bouncing Ball keychain inside the mug as well with a cute handwritten card that says “Congratulations, (Name)-san! We should hang out one day to play some beach volleyball like we did in Brazil!”. Your cheeks were starting to ache at how much you were smiling as you reread the note several more times.

You reach out to the remaining bag and pull away the tissue paper. Your nose is immediately assaulted by a pleasing floral fragrance and when you look inside, a large bouquet of flowers comes into your vision. Once the flowers are in your arms, you notice the note sticking out between the petals. Placing the flowers on your lap, you open the small folded piece of paper which says “Hey there, sweetheart. You should’ve let me know you were having such a big moment in your life! I would’ve done so much more, but for now, enjoy these flowers. The irises mean accomplishment and admiration. The peonies mean good luck. The daffodils mean new beginnings. Congrats on your win against school!” You’re quite touched by the amount of thought that went into this gift and based on the nickname, you can safely assume that this is Atsumu’s gift. You didn’t take him as a flower type of guy, but he’s always full of surprises. Nonetheless, you mentally note that you need to buy a nice vase to place these wonderful beauties in.

You thought that would be the last gift since you’ve already opened everything from the four MSBY players, but when you glance into the bag one more time, there are still two remaining boxes. They have the same wrapping, so you assume that they are from the same person. Taking both of them out carefully, you notice that the larger of the two boxes has a note that reads “I know you said you don’t normally eat sweets, so I tried my best not to add too much sugar”. Wondering what the card meant about sweets, you slowly open the lid and see two small cakes positioned next to each other with icing that spells out ‘Tiramisu’ and ‘Dark Chocolate’ on the respective cakes. Your mouth waters at the sight of the homemade desserts, but you restrain yourself because you were even more curious as to what might be in the other mystery box.

When you finally open the last remaining gift, there’s another note inside that says “It’s never too late to celebrate. Congrats, (Name)-san”. When you look underneath the note, your jaw drops as you let out a gasp. Inside was a gorgeous silver charm bracelet that was minimalistic enough for you to wear wherever you went. If the note wasn’t a big giveaway, the tiny onigiri charm attached to the bracelet convinced you that Osamu was the one who had given you these gifts.

The next couple of hours are spent finishing your movie with all of your gifts surrounding you. The inside of your room now smells like a mix of flowers and peachy lotion. The MSBY teddy bear is secured between your arms as you drink warm tea from your new mug while taking a bite out of each cake.

You’re not sure whether or not you want to jump up in happiness or simply cry from the overwhelming emotions, but either way, you’re glad to have met such amazing people the past couple months.

You couldn’t wait to get back to work.

Japan’s volleyball mascot: y’all know that volleyball mascot right? The one Ushijima loves to draw and the one that Hinata has shirt of

A/N: oof you made it! Can we all just give a moment of silence for Rubens for being the best boi? also another moment for the nice old lady at the end ;)

taglist: @kiyoo-omi​​

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[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Nine new and exotic creatures for the pulsar zoo Researchers using MeerKAT in South Africa have discovered nine millisecond pulsars, most of them in rare and sometimes unusual binary systems, as the first result of a targeted survey. An international team with significant contributions from AEI (Hannover) und MPIfR (Bonn) selected 79 unidentified pulsar-like sources from observations of NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and observed them at radio frequencies with MeerKAT. Using this tried-and-tested method with a next-generation telescope array has significant advantages over previous surveys. The team discovered nine rapidly rotating neutron stars, most of them with unusual properties. Their research is published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. "Our TRAPUM survey used MeerKAT, a relatively new and superbly sensitive radio telescope, together with dedicated analysis software to observe a selection of very promising pulsar-like sources," says Colin Clark, group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute; AEI) in Hannover and lead author of the study. "The reward for our efforts is something we can be proud of: we discovered nine new millisecond pulsars, some of which are quite unusual." The team used a tried-and-tested approach to discover new millisecond pulsars. The Fermi Large Area Telescope catalog compiles gamma-ray sources from eight years of observations with NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. This catalog contains information about the sources' sky positions, energies of their gamma rays, and variations of their gamma-ray brightness over time. "We used machine-learning methods to determine pulsar-likeliness for all Fermi catalog sources unassociated with known celestial objects," explains Clark. "After we had identified the most pulsar-like sources in the Fermi catalog, we whittled down our target list to those sources which would most likely be detectable by our survey. We observed 79 sources with MeerKAT." MeerKAT provides unprecedented sensitivity in the southern sky MeerKAT is an array of 64 dish antennas, each with an effective diameter of 13.5 meters in the Karoo, South Africa. MeerKAT provides unprecedented sensitivity to sources in the southern celestial hemisphere, with an ability to detect sources that are around five times fainter than any that can be found with the next most powerful southern hemisphere telescope. The TRansients and Pulsars using MeerKAT (TRAPUM) Large Survey Project uses this sensitivity to search for new pulsars in the parts of the sky where they are most likely to be found: globular clusters, nearby galaxies, supernova remnants and—in this case—unidentified gamma-ray sources. Doing so required the development of dedicated computing hardware that combines the data from the MeerKAT antennas into one virtual large radio telescope that can simultaneously observe almost 500 closely spaced sky positions. This TRAPUM survey of Fermi sources exploited the extra sensitivity provided by MeerKAT to reduce observation times to just 10 minutes, much shorter than the hour-long observations previously required to find pulsars in these sources. Short observations have many advantages: More sources can be targeted in limited observing time. Sources can be observed repeatedly, which increases the chance of observing a new radio pulsar because they may not be detectable during the first survey pass. The TRAPUM pulsar survey made two observations of each source. Analyzing short observations is computationally less demanding than analyzing longer observations. Finally, orbital motion in binary systems can make radio pulsars more difficult to detect. During the short observing times, the pulsar's motion is almost constant, and therefore the detrimental effect of changing orbital motion is mitigated. In addition to sheer sensitivity, the MeerKAT array offers one extra advantage over other single-dish telescopes. Its 8-kilometer footprint allows it to pinpoint the location of new sources with very high precision, enabling rapid follow-up studies at other wavelengths. Nine new millisecond pulsars Searching for pulsars in large amount of data obtained during TRAPUM observations requires lots of computing power, and a quick turnaround to free up storage space for further observations. "We ran purpose-built data analysis pipelines on 120 graphics processing units (GPUs) in a dedicated computing cluster to sift through our MeerKAT survey observations. We quickly found nine millisecond pulsar candidates, and confirmed all of them by additional MeerKAT observations," says Ewan Barr, group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, and TRAPUM Project Scientist. "It is great that we could also use the confirmation observations to refine the sky positions with MeerKAT's capability to sample the sky in a dense grid. This is invaluable for follow-up studies at different wavelengths." A tight pulsar–white-dwarf binary One of the discoveries, called PSR J1526−2744, was closely studied afterwards. Following the detection of this radio pulsar in a binary system, the researchers also picked up the neutron star's gamma-ray pulsations. Using all available Fermi data, they could precisely study the orbital motion and determine the binary system's properties. Most likely, the neutron star orbits the common center of mass with a light-weight white dwarf in a little less than five hours. This would make it the pulsar–white-dwarf binary system with the second shortest orbital period. The team also searched for continuous gravitational waves from PSR J1526−2744. If the neutron star was deformed, it would emit gravitational waves at twice its rotational frequency. The researchers used all of the publicly available Advanced LIGO data from the O1, O2, and O3 runs. Because they exactly knew the pulsar's motion in the binary system from the gamma-ray observations, the research team achieved the maximum possible search sensitivity for gravitational waves. Gravitational waves Even though the team observed no continuous gravitational waves from PSR J1526−2744, they could measure how much the neutron star deviates from perfect axisymmetry. "We now know that PSR J1526−2744 is very symmetric indeed. We showed that the neutron star's equator cannot deviate from a perfect circle by much more than the width of a human hair," says Anjana Ashok, a Ph.D. student in the permanent independent Max Planck Research Group "Continuous Gravitational Waves" at the AEI Hannover who led the gravitational-wave search. Another two pulsars, called PSR J1036–4353 and PSR J1803−6707, are typical "redback" pulsar systems consisting of neutron stars with companion stars of at least a quarter the mass of our Sun. These pulsars evaporate and destroy their companions over time, hence the reference to their spidery namesake, Australian redback spiders whose females consume the males after mating. After rapidly and precisely pinpointing the pulsar positions with MeerKAT's unique capabilities, the astronomers identified their companions in the Gaia astrometry mission's star catalog, and studied them with dedicated optical observations using the ULTRACAM camera on ESO's New Technology Telescope. Additionally, they found X-rays from PSR J1803–6707 in data from the first eROSITA all-sky survey. The X-rays likely stem from the energetic pulsar wind slamming into material evaporated from the companion and are characteristic for redback systems. Pulsars lurking in the catalog It is difficult to reliably estimate the number of yet undetected pulsars lurking in unassociated pulsar-like Fermi sources. Nonetheless, the astronomers are certain that future observations can discover several more millisecond pulsars. In the target list, there are several candidates that are very likely pulsars. However, several surveys so far have not found radio-wave or gamma-ray pulsations. New telescopes, analysis methods and repeated observation attempts may one day reveal their pulsar nature. With more Fermi observation time the underlying source catalog will grow and additional pulsar-like sources will appear and become potential targets. "Our results, which are only the first from TRAPUM's survey of Fermi sources, already show the great potential of MeerKAT. With MeerKAT and dedicated software, we're not only able discover, but also to rapidly and precisely localize new millisecond pulsars," says Clark. "MeerKAT observations greatly help with multi-wavelength follow-ups, catalog searches, and future observations, or in other words with making millisecond pulsars gifts that keep on giving."

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