butlerbookbinding:

half-ace:

mournjargon:

rubyvroom:

This was the crossword puzzle in the New York Times yesterday. 

Tausig’s crossword is a so-called Schrödinger puzzle, named for the physicist’s hypothetical cat that is at once both alive and dead. In a Schrödinger puzzle, select squares have more than one correct letter answer: They exist in two states at once. “Black Halloween animal,” for example, could be both BAT or CAT, yielding two different but perfectly correct puzzles. Only 10 such puzzles have now been published in Times history.

It’s the theme of Tausig’s puzzle, though, that makes it special. Four entries in Thursday’s crossword can include either an “F” or an “M.” Both are correct; neither is wrong. For example, “Part of a house” can be either ROOF or ROOM. The long “revealer” answer, tying those select entries together and spanning 11 squares smack-dab in the middle of the puzzle, is GENDER FLUID.

This puzzle, with “M”s and “F”s that aren’t fixed, is a masterful blend of subject and structure. “It potentially really evokes what gender fluidity is, which is not moving back and forth between two poles, but actually not being committed to either pole, and potentially existing in many states at different times,” Tausig said.

This is … really cool.

i never really thought of crossword puzzles as an art form, but like… this is art.

@kaiscove

saviorgoddessastrid:

fleet-admiral-red:

Kill every last member of the cults? Not a hard goal, it was already underway, but it was going to be ugly work.

There were a lot of those cults.

Aegis nodded. “I’ll be sure to…pass that on. And I’ll keep those words in mind.”

The Titan found a nearby bench to seat herself on, running communications over to the Admiralty. Her eyes suddenly widened as she held a hand to her ear. “Say again, Father?!”

Privately hearing Red repeat his latest message, Aegis held her head with a groan.

“Admiral Yellow…she’s gone and we don’t know where.”

Astrid tilted her head and crossed her arms.  “Yellow went missing?” Astrid inquired.  “Wonder where she went off to.”

“…Let’s hope that she’s coming here instead of doing anything reckless,” Bellatrix mentioned.  “Yellow’s one of the few Admirals that I like in your nation, she reminds me a lot of Astrid.”

“I hope so…” Aegis agreed.

With Yellow having gone to stars-knew-where, morale would surely plummet. Being the gentlest of the Fleet Admirals, Yellow was a living symbol, a beacon of hope to many in troubled times like these.

More information came in from the Admiralty across the void. Yellow had delegated command of Fourth Fleet to her direct subordinate, Vice Admiral Lumeri, before vanishing. Not even Yellow’s personal AI knew where. And speaking of the Admirals…

“You haven’t met any of the other Fleet Admirals in person before, have you Astrid?” Aegis asked. “Aside from Admiral Red, I mean.”

A Shining Star (Closed)

secondshipgirlsquadron:

“GDS Tempest Eternal, Thanatos-class carrier.” She corrected, a little too boastfully.

“It’s nice to meet you, doctor.” She added. “What kind of laboratory is this?”

“CIC it is, then.” Aegis announced.

Journeying there wasn’t hard, but it was slowed by the layers of security they had to pass through on the way there.

The CIC of the Starbase sat behind a separate hull and independent layers of shielding and armor. As such, the pair had to pass through specific corridors layered with defenses and other anti-infiltration measures, both magical and technological.

Finally, they entered to find a expansive chamber surrounding a holographic display of the Starbase and the gas giant it orbited, lit in a serene icy blue.

A few officers were manning their consoles, but it was a calm, focused ambience.

saviorgoddessastrid:

fleet-admiral-red:

Aegis held her stinging cheek, silent.

“You’re right…” She admitted to both goddesses with some amount of shame. Aegis was still very much one of the old guard, and her beliefs were still strong.

“But then…what can I do to help the others out? It’s going to be tough to convince them to get back to helping others and respecting that which Bellatrix guided us to.”

“Not to mention…some of those cults that sprung up around Bellatrix. They’re not all that troublesome, but they are still a nuisance.”

“It shouldn’t be that hard to help people without telling them to be just like you,” Bellatrix mentioned.  “What you need to do is help them grow on their own, not force their society to evolve along a certain path.

“It’s not hard to help people out with their problems without being overbearing.  The fact that you even have to ask that question proves that you’re very out of touch with how helping people works.”

Bellatrix’s gaze also turned into a glare at the mention of the cults, and her voice turned ice-cold.  “Also…if you want to do something that’ll go a long way to earning my favor regarding those cults: Kill them.  Hunt down every last member of those damn cults and eradicate them.

“Nothing pisses me off more than those damn cults.  I don’t stand for pointless, random acts of destruction.  Yet every me-damned time I destroy something, a bunch of idiots start up cults in my name and preach about how their lives are pointless and how I’m going to destroy everything, sometimes begging me to blow up some random planet that isn’t slated for destruction to accelerate that ‘goal’ of mine to ‘destroy everything’.

“I swear, nobody every stops and thinks about what a God of Destruction’s job even is.  It’s like how I feel people don’t recognize why Skotadi is so nice despite being the God of Darkness. If you put an evil man in charge of evil, you get very bad things.  For similar reasons, put someone who likes blowing shit up in charge of destruction, you’ll suddenly find yourself running out of planets whenever that god’s not napping.”

Kill every last member of the cults? Not a hard goal, it was already underway, but it was going to be ugly work.

There were a lot of those cults.

Aegis nodded. “I’ll be sure to…pass that on. And I’ll keep those words in mind.”

The Titan found a nearby bench to seat herself on, running communications over to the Admiralty. Her eyes suddenly widened as she held a hand to her ear. “Say again, Father?!”

Privately hearing Red repeat his latest message, Aegis held her head with a groan.

“Admiral Yellow…she’s gone and we don’t know where.”

saviorgoddessastrid:

fleet-admiral-red:

“I…see…”

Aegis could not say anything else in response. Like many, she hadn’t been left unaffected by the Event, if only mentally.

How could she not, when she and many others had been told that what they were fighting for was a misguided falsehood?

The very ideals their society had been founded upon, shattered like cheap glass. No wonder all those nihilistic cults had sprung up.

“Maybe it really would be better if we just…disappeared.” Aegis mumbled, knowing Astrid could hear her.

There had certainly been some limited discussion on that idea, from what she had been able to overhear. A massive permanent exodus away from Coalition space, to places unknown.

Though she doubted such a thing would actually be done. To abandon their duty like that forever was unforgivable.

At this, Astrid walked closer to Aegis and slapped her across the cheek.  “Don’t be stupid,” she said, her voice firm and clearly disapproving of that thought.  “What Bellatrix told you was ‘stop being a dick and saying your way is the only way’, she did not tell you ‘stop helping people period’.”

“Astrid’s right,” Bellatrix commented, her voice sounding somewhat annoyed as she approached Aegis from another angle.  “Seriously, what is it with you people and thinking I disapprove of you helping people period? Helping people is a very good thing.  What is not a good thing is forcing people to conform to your beliefs on the assumption that your beliefs are the only correct beliefs.

“If you and the rest of the GDI are so stupid as to run away forever because I told you to change your methods, you’ll have proven yourselves utterly incapable of grasping what I told you.

“Help people all you like, just don’t tell them that they have to be like you.  There is no one-size-fits-all solution for every possible nation, not everyone will agree to your way of running things, and trying to force them to be like you will only damage them in the long run.”

Bellatrix huffed in annoyance.  “But what else am I supposed to expect from people who have never once questioned if the idea of tearing down everything that another nation is and forcing them to conform to their own ideas as some self-proclaimed interdimensional police force without ever once contemplating that forcing anyone to abandon their entire way of life and embrace a new one is bad?

“The fact that your nation came from the Federation without ever once grasping its principles boggles my mind.  You were either very arrogant, very stupid, or just plain ignorant to completely disregard what made the Federation work and abandon their principles to do things your way.”

Aegis held her stinging cheek, silent.

“You’re right…” She admitted to both goddesses with some amount of shame. Aegis was still very much one of the old guard, and her beliefs were still strong.

“But then…what can I do to help the others out? It’s going to be tough to convince them to get back to helping others and respecting that which Bellatrix guided us to.”

“Not to mention…some of those cults that sprung up around Bellatrix. They’re not all that troublesome, but they are still a nuisance.”

saviorgoddessastrid:

fleet-admiral-red:

Aegis closed her eyes. “Alright, Astrid. We’ll trust you to handle this.”

Behind her visage of calm, however, Aegis was conflicted. She remembered the original aims of the Initiative, written down in the first iteration of its Charter.

End war. End the need for war. Ensure that all could live in peace and prosperity.

Bellatrix, for better or worse, had thrown all that into disarray. Even their subsequent review into studies of other universes’ societies, past and present, only brought up more conflicting questions.

The Initiative had not been the first galactic superpower in any universe, and it would not be the last. If Bellatrix’s stated reasoning for her acts, according to Serina’s accounts, was to prevent an inevitable suppression of cultural diversity, many other historical monolithic galactic empires would have fallen long before their time.

But returning to current matters, some criminal groups had returned with GDI paralyzed and its forces withdrawn. Harassing the worlds of other interstellar nations and those on their own borders.

Given this planet’s location, it was only a matter of time before any one pirate group stumbled upon it.

CONCORD had taken up the slack of Coalition-wide peacekeeping thus far, but they were just as ruthless as the Initiative at dealing with pirates. But they had nowhere near the numbers to be everywhere at once.

If she didn’t voice it out to the goddess now, Aegis felt there would be few other chances.

“Astrid, I…we…felt it was important to let you know. Some pirates and crime syndicates returned after our mass recall. They might find you and your people. Would you be able to hold them off?”

Criminals and pirates…hmmm…that would be troublesome to deal with, normally.  And yet…”I wouldn’t be too worried about that,” Astrid admitted.  “I mean, we have Bellatrix living here, and she rather likes this planet, so I doubt that she’ll just let a bunch of criminals walk in like they own the place.

“I’m sure that those pirates don’t want to get on the bad side of the Goddess of Destruction either.  Also, regarding those thoughts in your head about why those other empires didn’t fall, you forget that Bellatrix doesn’t act in every single universe.  She has only so much jurisdiction to work with, after all.  Those empires survived because Bellatrix didn’t have the authority to destroy them.

“An exception was made for you guys because you were close friends of mine and Bellatrix hated to see how you all were acting.  That’s just how it is.”

“I…see…”

Aegis could not say anything else in response. Like many, she hadn’t been left unaffected by the Event, if only mentally.

How could she not, when she and many others had been told that what they were fighting for was a misguided falsehood?

The very ideals their society had been founded upon, shattered like cheap glass. No wonder all those nihilistic cults had sprung up.

“Maybe it really would be better if we just…disappeared.” Aegis mumbled, knowing Astrid could hear her.

There had certainly been some limited discussion on that idea, from what she had been able to overhear. A massive permanent exodus away from Coalition space, to places unknown.

Though she doubted such a thing would actually be done. To abandon their duty like that forever was unforgivable.

Aegis of Hope

howlofthewolf:

Wolf’s eyes widened at the sound of the events that had occurred.

“Oh… Okay…. I’m just going to say… While what happened wasn’t undeserved… I believe you’ve suffered too much.” Wolf said, “If this had been told to me five years ago… I would’ve been a lot harsher in my judgement… But by the sounds of it, you guys sound like you’re about to implode.”

Wolf looked to her.

“Aegis… If Red sent you here to check out how things were going… I hope this isn’t overstepping any boundaries by saying this, but it almost sounds like a cry for help.” He said, “Don’t worry about the TD Gate on your end. I got one on mine, or at least, the ruins of it. If what my scientists are saying are correct, it’s still reading the frequency of your dimension, it’s just getting onto the Gate to repair that’s the issue. Seems not all the demons went back, as there’s one at the gate.”

Wolf put a hand on her shoulder.

“I need you to do something for me, Aegis…” He said, “when you get back to Altia, go straight to your father. Tell him that old war dogs never break their bonds. He’ll know what that means. I need to get in touch with Astrid.”

”Alright…”

Aegis drained the last of her flask of water, then had it recycled with her field replicator in a shimmer of light as she rose from her seat.

“I have to get going, start the process up. I will see you soon, Wolf.”

A Shining Star (Closed)

secondshipgirlsquadron:

fleet-admiral-red:

secondshipgirlsquadron:

fleet-admiral-red:

secondshipgirlsquadron:

fleet-admiral-red:

secondshipgirlsquadron:

fleet-admiral-red:

secondshipgirlsquadron:

“GDS Tempest Eternal, Thanatos-class carrier.” She corrected, a little too boastfully.

“It’s nice to meet you, doctor.” She added. “What kind of laboratory is this?”

Dr Finnegan glanced around at the surroundings, thinking quickly to try and condense an explanation into something digestible.

“Well, for starters…this lab deals with the bleeding edge of nanotechnology, tuned specifically for applications amongst you girls. So much so that we deal with the Technology Council on a regular basis.”

The good doctor held up a few fingers and began ticking them off. “ECM and ECCM nanoswarms, the repair baths, high-efficiency resource conversion modules…all of these and more, originated right here in this lab.”

Aegis spoke up then, wanting to satisfy part of her curiosity. “About the baths, Dr Finnegan…I’ve heard rumors about some kind of…rapid repair fluid? Are they…true?”

An inscrutable expression came over Dr Finnegan. “So rumors did get out…well, it’s better that I show you what the fuss has been all about.”

Aegis looked at the doctor with some surprise, then to Tempest, and back again. It wasn’t often that she got to see what was up in the labs. This would certainly be new…for the both of them.

Tempest, having only learned of the normal ‘magic bathwater’ a few moments ago, was less impressed, but still slightly intrigued. If it was worthy of a Titan’s attention, it must be important, after all.

“So whatever you were talking about, it’s real?” She questioned to her shipgirl comrade.

“Apparently. I only thought those were rumors, but to actually hear that it’s real…best we follow the doctor and see.” Aegis replied.

And follow they did. Dr Finnegan had led them through a few layers of automated security, passing rooms filled with other scientists and experiments, until they came to another room.

The door’s security let them through, and what the pair saw was fascinating. The room contained many barrels and vials, surrounded by monitoring equipment and their contents manipulated by drones and other machinery. But even amongst all those, the central tank of liquid drew the most attention.

“We’ve been working on this for years, ever since the repair baths were first created. The Admiralty foresaw the potential need for extremely quick, nigh-instant repairs. Preparation for wartime conditions or something, you can ask any of them for more details.” Dr Finnegan explained as he stood before a console and began using it to present a haptic screen containing information on the mystery liquid.

“I can say we’re close, but I must also say that it almost feels like we’re not quite there. We’ve tried almost everything we know and some we didn’t when we first started. Closest we’ve ever been is this formula right now, a biomimetic version that mimics krogan regeneration.”

Dr Finnegan frowned as he looked at the readouts. “We’re missing something. But so far, we have no clue what.”

Naturally, most of the science went straight over her head, but she still nodded with a feigned interest.

“Maybe you just need to find another set of eyes to tell you what’s missing.” She said unhelpfully. “It doesn’t need to be perfect, it just needs to work I suppose. As long as it does that, that’s all that matters.”

Dr Finnegan grunted. “Well, I suppose that’s right. It’s just that even getting it to work as we need it to is being a slow process.”

“It can work very fast if it absorbs the necessary amount of energy, which is itself huge, but only dedicated reactors can provide that much through wireless transmission at short range.”

Aegis thought for a moment on Tempest’s comment. Another pair of eyes…hm.

“Adrianna…what do you think about this conundrum?” The Titan asked Tempest’s AI companion.

{I can’t say for certain, but from my observations so far, I might actually have done suggestions.} Adrianna noted.

{The formula itself looks sound, but I believe there could be some improvements made to its deployment. If you were to increase its density slightly and store it in a heated container, would that not decrease the amount of energy you need to provide?}

“Hm…I have to admit, this was something we didn’t really try.” Dr Finnegan remarked thoughtfully as he glanced at the display, then Tempest.

“Keeping the fluid heated and making it denser…well, that would help to quite an extent.”

He noted that down in another haptic screen. Beside Tempest, Aegis gave a look of encouragement to the scientist. “With how close you seem to be, Doctor, I’m sure you and the rest of the scientists will be able to find what you need soon.”

“And thank you, Adrianna.” Both Finnegan and Aegis said simultaneously, before both smiled in mild surprise.

{Anything to be of assistance, Doctor.} The AI responded politely. {If there is anything else I can do to help you further, please get in touch. I’m sure you’ll know where to find me.}

“Wow, Adrianna, I never knew you were a scientist.” Tempest joked. “I’m sure I could have thought of that!”

“Um… good luck with your project, Doctor.” She added, then looked to her companion. “So where are we going next?”

After Dr Finnegan added Adrianna to his contact list as they said their goodbyes and left, Aegis tilted her head in thought.

“Well…there’s only a few places left to see. One of the shuttle bays, the administrative tower to meet Admiral Yoshino…oh, and the CIC.”

Aegis nodded. “Mm. After that, the tour’s done and I can take you back to your quarters. Or to wherever you like, really.”

saviorgoddessastrid:

fleet-admiral-red:

“Mmh…ha…I see.” Aegis sighed.

In more normal times, GDI would not have hesitated to aid an ally in need directly. But after Bellatrix’s stunt, they were too busy rebuilding and refocusing to send ships out for any serious long-term missions or campaigns.

And since Astrid’s people were now pushed down to a non-spacefaring, non-unified people, that meant intervention was a strict no-go.

“I wish we could help you deal with those rebels more effectively somehow.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Astrid replied.  “I can handle these rebels, you don’t need to toss yourselves into this as well.”

Aegis closed her eyes. “Alright, Astrid. We’ll trust you to handle this.”

Behind her visage of calm, however, Aegis was conflicted. She remembered the original aims of the Initiative, written down in the first iteration of its Charter.

End war. End the need for war. Ensure that all could live in peace and prosperity.

Bellatrix, for better or worse, had thrown all that into disarray. Even their subsequent review into studies of other universes’ societies, past and present, only brought up more conflicting questions.

The Initiative had not been the first galactic superpower in any universe, and it would not be the last. If Bellatrix’s stated reasoning for her acts, according to Serina’s accounts, was to prevent an inevitable suppression of cultural diversity, many other historical monolithic galactic empires would have fallen long before their time.

But returning to current matters, some criminal groups had returned with GDI paralyzed and its forces withdrawn. Harassing the worlds of other interstellar nations and those on their own borders.

Given this planet’s location, it was only a matter of time before any one pirate group stumbled upon it.

CONCORD had taken up the slack of Coalition-wide peacekeeping thus far, but they were just as ruthless as the Initiative at dealing with pirates. But they had nowhere near the numbers to be everywhere at once.

If she didn’t voice it out to the goddess now, Aegis felt there would be few other chances.

“Astrid, I…we…felt it was important to let you know. Some pirates and crime syndicates returned after our mass recall. They might find you and your people. Would you be able to hold them off?”