Ma'am aren't you tired? I am so overwhelmed.

⌚ Planet Omega Exhibition ⌚

Watch enthusiasts or Time Keepers were invited for a rare chance to see some of the most prized OMEGA watches outside of Switzerland.

The Space Section celebrates OMEGA'S critical role in some of history's greatest explorations including the first lunar launching in 1969.

OMEGA SLIME LINE time piece worn by John F. Kennedy at his Presidential Inauguration Ceremony in 1961.

The James Bond section is dedicated to the world's favorite-spy who has worn an OMEGA in every film since 1995.

New York,New York

On display included the genuine Seamaster Diver 300M,worn by Daniel Craig in No Time To Die as well as many other films and tribute models.

Driver 300M | Co-Axial Master | Chronometer 42mm 007 Edition is priced for $8,900 and $10,000 respectfully.

Monday

11.13.2023

L.George

I haven’t written/ posted Fanfiction in years. I’ve never done so on Tumblr and have no idea how to even post Fanfiction on tumblr. How do tags and master lists and the keep reading thing work?

But I have an idea. Oh Boy do I have an idea for a story; like three novel lengths of a story. With a female reader!

Alpha!Paul x Omega!Reader x Alpha Feyd!

Now I Haven’t read the books, but have researched details in them. Some of the aspects of the books are too weird strange like a half worm tyrant! And I would take a lot of creative liberties but here’s the gist:

There’s a cluster of planets outside of the Imperium with a Goverment and heirarchy of their own. They despise the Bene Gesserit as they have “gifts” of their own.

They are powerful with many resources, though are aware they have made an enemy of the emperor.

The Change is the prophecy they have for the Bene Gesserit’s Messiah. Two warring houses will unite the Imperium with these cluster of planets through a bond with a shared omega. An Omega the emperor and Bene Gesserit want dead. An omega the Fremen are wary of and Baron Harkonnen wants only for his house.

There’s baby Feyd and Paul and their childhoods as they grow up. A bloody Feyd who just killed his mother gets a quick hug from Omega!reader who tells him she’s always available to be a friend before scampering off and leaving him prettified!

Feyd sets up his Uncle and brother. He secretly divides his people into two opposing sides. One for an imperium lead by the Harkonnen Atreides Triad, and the other for his Uncles barbaric rule. Feyd is still barbaric in his own right but not to the point that it leads to his death. His Omega makes it clear he has to exhibit control of his instincts or he’s out.

Paul and Feyd have a love/hate relationship, trying to kill the other all while working together to take control of the Imperium. So much sexual tension that is released on the “poor” reader!

Super slow burn, way more strategical overtaking by Paul and Feyd. Reader is kind, soft but not self sacrificing. She has her own role to play in bringing togther her people with the imperium. And she sure as hell isn’t going to just bend over for Paul and Feyd.

Thoughts??

Hannah Waddingham and her Legs at the Planet Omega Exhibition in New York City

NICOLE KIDMAN attends the opening party for the Planet Omega Exhibition in New York City (November 09, 2023)

Victoria Justice – Planet Omega Exhibition Celebration in New York 11/09/2023

*dies* 💙🫠

Michiel at the Planet Omega Exhibition party in New York

Time for our breather episode, Common Ground

The scenery in this show is so damned good, the way I am instantly in love with Raxus and the gold tones.

Honestly this episode fits much better given what we see in Spoils of War/Ruins of War, emphasizing the humanity of the people in every system. TCW triedddd to do this with the 'heroes on both sides' but they really just kind of said it and then showed us like one lady that didn't suck in the entire show. She died immediately. So I appreciate these episodes.

Also I just love the Senator's droid she's hilarious to me.

Avi Singh is voiced by Alexander Siddig and it made me trust him immediately like all those people in the crowd cheering that is me hearing Julian Bashir's voice come out of this little animated man.

HOW can the scene of them just walking contain so many of my favorite character moments? Omega feeding Wrecker a piece of Mantell Mix, Tech steadying Omega when Hunter helps her off Wrecker's shoulder to make sure she doesn't fall over, her smiling up at him, this expression of UTTER DUBIOUSNESS and SUSPICIOUS SNIFFING from Echo

I headcanon that Echo has hella digestive problems after a large portion of them was replaced by technology so every food must pass this sniff test and 90% of them do NOT but especially not whatever sugary concoction goes on this space popcorn.

I do NOT get why people thought for so long that we don't see Tech caring for Omega because every time she stumbles Tech is right there to steady her, he takes such good care of Omega oh my god. Sometimes love is making sure your baby sister never ever falls over!

Which he also does when she gets on a chair and he is right there like JUST IN CASE.

Adolescents often exhibit lack of balance as they grow best to be within two inches of her at all times in case she wobbles.

GRANDMA CRIMES WILL BABYSIT DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT. DON'T TRUST HER BUT SHE'LL TOTALLY DO IT.

I do think it's very funny that the one time Hunter successfully keeps her out of a mission by leaving her on another planet, she immediately becomes central to a gambling ring.

I want a count of how many times Echo complained about this job while Tech is just YOU KNOW WHAT'S GREAT, EARNING MONEY TO EAT WITHOUT PUTTING IT ON CID'S TAB. And Wrecker is just excited to mark off a new system on his Visited Locations list.

"Now are you convinced?" "No >:[" Echo has very valid reasons to not be thrilled about this job but unfortunately separatist doesn't mean much anymore and also they're so cute when they're Grumby.

When you clean SO sadly that Cid comes over like STOP BEING A MOPE. Omega's really leaning into her early teens attitude with SOR-RY.

ANGY.

Bolo and Ketch's DISAPPOINTED HEAD SHAKING is so fucking funny. You UPSET the CHILD Cid. Go fix it. Like they weren't taking bets on her fucking up her bow training earlier.

I know Hunter's mentioning Omega is supposed to be Feelsy a little but I do admit it misses a little bit because it's not like she's missing or anything. I do wish they had done something like this with Crosshair early on, like in Rampage when he orders Echo to be eyes in the sky, switch it to him saying Crosshair's name instead and then correcting.

THIS ANTIQUE VASE IS PRICELESS, BE CAREFUL :C I love herrrrrr

You know the senator is in real trouble because they took his hat.

AND BEHOLD! I HAVE SAVED YOUR MOST PRIZED VASE :D

Quite a bit of time is spent on Grand Theft Walker in this episode. Also I'm glad they're using stun bolts but oh boy is it concerning to stun a bunch of clone troopers in the same area where walkers are fighting, this is such a way to get squished.

As always I'm a big fan of Tech getting Punchy I love that he's not at all a docile nerd.

Echo stepping forward to encourage Avi to leave because he can't help his people in custody is sweet but would have been slightly better if we got a little more one on one interaction between the two of them. Even just one solid scene would be good.

I'll give the batch one thing, their success/failure rate is slightly better than I remembered, they are up to 3 successes and only 1 major failure

Frankly they should stop doing merc work though and just let Omega gamble her way through the galaxy.

SHOW A LITTLE GRATITUDE TO MY FRIEND. Cid is officially Affectionate towards this small child.

Another good character moment is Wrecker giving Hunter an EXTREMELY SERIOUS *TALK TO THE CHILD* LOOK

Really the main plot of this episode is a good breather but it really shines in tiny moments that make me Squeal a little. Just those little character interactions that I ADORE.

Combining my special interests: omegaverse but in space travel setting.

Zero-G enviroment nests: nesting traditionally would be impossible, so omegas would probably utilize something like the sleeping bags on the ISS- nests that they can zip themselves inside of and be surrounded by plush, soft textures. The fun part is that there are no rules for direction in space, so omegas could choose to attach their nests on any surface of a space station/spaceship. Ceiling nests? They feel the same as any other zero-g nest. This is great for satisfying the more playful/whimsical side of omegas.

Interstellar travel tropes: large generation ships that slowly drift through space looking for new horizons on unknown planets. These huge ships have a large population of different ages all there knowing they will live their entire lives on these ships, among the stars. Alphas tasked with ship defence systems teaching young alphas how to operate them and telling tales of earth, preparing children and grandchildren to help estabilish a well-protected community when they reach the planet they were aiming for. How to build, how to provide shelter and safety. Omegas tasked with educating the children to make sure they do not forget where they came from (earth), and preparing them for being the generation that operates the ship and possibly lands it on their destination planet. Omegas teaching their children how to reaolve conflicts and how to take care of a civilization's needs, whether on a spaceship or on a new, alien planet. Betas teaching invaluable life skills to the new generations, how to operate the ship, navigate through space, how to estabilish communications and infrastructure on a new planet, how to create an equal and democratic society, teaching history lessons from earth to make sure the space-born generations don't make humanity's greatest mistakes again. How to estabilish contact and potential friendly relations with extraterrestrials if their spaceship is spotted one day. How to estabilish trade, decisionmaking and how to create a society that takes care of everyone when they land.

Heats/Ruts in space: for short-term missions to space (for example, lunar missions) these aren't as much of an issue since they could simply pick a time window where none of the crew's cycles interrupt the mission (the trip from earth to the moon is only about 3 days) and most likely the crew would be taking medication on top of that just in case, to make sure their cycle is regular and won't trigger early.

However, on longer missions, such as a trip to Mars (7 months each way) this wouldn't be possible. The goal would be to try to rotate the crew so that someone who is not on their cycle is in control of the ship at all times. The crew would probably all be taking medication to time their cycles according to these crew rotations, and separate areas/habitats would be prepared for anyone who is on their cycle, both to keep them comfortable and allow privacy, but also to keep anyone overly curious (or driven by pheromones) out.

Aliens: okay, imagine humans have spread out across the galaxy and evolved somewhat to adapt to their new enviroments. Some humans no longer exhibit a/o/b traits at all while some still do. Not only would meetings between these humans be interesting, but how about the aliens, who would be used to one "type" of human species, suddenly encountering a different kind of human? How do aliens react to heat/rut cycles? Are certain alien species similar with similar reproductive cycles? Maybe some aliens don't even have a concept of biological reproduction at all (i.e. species who have essentially become sentient machines, or maybe species that use bioengineering, cloning, etc to reproduce? Or species that are so long-lived that reproduction is not necessary?) So how do they view these things? Just. A lot to consider.

Chapter 5: Tug'yc (Second Chances - Hunter x reader)

Tug'yc. adv. again.

Summary: Even as you start to feel like part of the squad, your past still haunts you.

Chapter warnings: nightmare; some angst but to be expected with reader's past; Tech being Tech; if I missed any, let me know!

WC: 3,286

Read it here on AO3!

< Previous chapter | Next chapter >

The mission on Rintonne blends into the missions on other planets like it in the ensuing weeks. After a string of failed or only partially successful errands for Cid, all of you are starting to feel the strain. Only Omega seems to remain in high spirits, positive that this time, things will be better, you’ll get a better payout, you’ll find enough wealth to settle the squad’s debts with Cid. You wish you had her optimism.

Unfortunately, optimism has never been one of your strong suits, anyhow. Your mind plays over the string of karked operations, trying to find the places where it could have—should have gone better. Sitting in one of the cockpit chairs with your legs pulled to your chest, staring with unfocused eyes at the swirling vortex of hyperspace, you can’t help the heavy sigh that deflates your lungs. 

“Might I suggest finding something to do?” Tech says with barely a glance over his shoulder at you. 

You loll your head in his direction. Sparks illuminate his face as he solders the circuit board of some gadget or another; you can’t keep up with his many projects, despite your best efforts. “Got anything in mind?” 

“I have noticed that some of the coolant tubes have become misaligned,” he says, “likely during our encounter with those pirates in the Thaereian system.” 

With a hum, you slide onto the durasteel floor and scoot toward the panels under the Maruader’s navicomputer. You feel for the seams of the panel with your fingernails, and flinch when the plastoid pops out of place with little resistance. Underneath, a tidy array of wires, tubes, and pipes run left to right; color coded, clearly labeled, and orderly, you’re able to figure out almost immediately what each of them does. 

“Kark, Tech, might have you work on cleaning up my ship like this,” you mutter. 

“That would be satisfactory,” he says. 

You study the way his brow scrunches as he focuses on a delicate part of his project, the tip of his tongue protruding between his lips. Amused, you shake your head. “Only satisfactory?” 

“Yes.” He adjusts his goggles farther up his nose. “I have never worked on a Redthorn before, and would appreciate the opportunity.” 

You blink. “Oh. Well, in that case, you’re welcome to work on her whenever you want.”

“And whenever we have the time,” he adds. 

“That, too.” You locate the transparent coolant tubes you’re supposed to be working on, and have to agree with Tech’s assessment of their misalignment. Craning your neck, you peer beneath the panels to either side to figure out where the source of the problem is. “Tech, where else do these tubes run?” 

“Their other primary output is the data centers,” he says. “But those have not yet exhibited symptoms of overheating.”

“Noted.” You shimmy to the right and, more wary this time, release the panel there. To your relief, you spot right away where the problem is. “The tubes twisted over each other and one of them is kinked up. I can try to untwist them.” 

“Please do.” 

You get to work. With something productive to do, you find that your mind cannot stray too far from your current task. The knot of anxious tension that’s been squeezing your stomach for the last several days finally begins to loosen. And with a little bit of surprise, you realize that some of that tension came from Tech himself. He’s been cordial with you, but you’ve felt the most awkward in his presence of all the squad, and you discern now that it’s your own insecurities rather than his actions. 

“Tech,” you venture once you feel the tubes are situated properly. 

“Yes, Nav?” 

You swallow, a nervous habit. “Listen, I, uh, thanks. For the suggestion. It really helped. Is there anything else I can do?” 

He takes a moment to respond, finishing up his own project, delicately twisting the hydrospanner to close up the case of the gadget. When he sets it to the side, he faces you, his gaze settling somewhere to the left of your own. “I have a number of things I could use assistance with. Normally, Echo is the person I ask for help with, but sometimes, well...sometimes I need two extra hands, not just one.” 

You nod. “Right. Okay. Anything that needs done right now?” 

“What do you know of encrypting comm channels?” 

“Nothing, honestly,” you say. 

“No matter,” he says with the barest hint of a smile. “I can instruct you. We need some new encryptions, and as we will be in hyperspace for a while longer, exterior modifications to the ship must wait.” 

Some hours later, several disassembled comlinks are spread on the floor around you. Your back aches from hunching over the tiny circuit boards, trying to emulate Tech’s expert touch to nudge the built-in encryption panel a few numbers in either direction. Equal measures frustration and pride heat your insides. Where Tech is a good teacher, you are a less than patient student, but a stubborn one nonetheless. 

“That’s the last of them,” Tech says. “Hello, Hunter.” 

You blink in surprise as you meet the sergeant’s gaze from where he lingers in the doorway. “I didn’t hear you come in.” 

“That focused, huh?” he says. “Catch.” 

A shrink-wrapped ration bar bounces off your face, your hand just a second too late in coming up to snatch it. “Ow.” 

Hunter doesn’t even have the decency to hide his amusement, chuckling. “Sorry. I did warn you.”

“Yeah, yeah,” you grumble. “Any updates on where we’re heading?” 

“Nothing new,” he says, handing a second ration bar down to Tech, who accepts it wordlessly. “Even if her intel is bad, again, we could use the break from being on the ship.”

“I like the sound of that!” Wrecker booms, peeking his head in the open doorway. 

You have to agree. Despite the wild goose chases Cid’s been sending you all on, you’ve spent more time cooped up in this ship, breathing recycled air, and sharing far too little space with your five companions. Aphran IV will be a welcome change of pace, even if you find nothing of value. And, now that you think about it as you unwrap the tasteless ration bar, you’re starting to wonder if you even want to bring valuable goods back for Cid. Why keep using a middleman? But the thought is quickly pushed out of your mind as Tech hands you the hydrospanner to close up the comlinks. 

Aphran IV is, in a word, gorgeous. Blanketed in a thick carpet of trees, curving hills and mirror-like lakes decorate the landscape in every direction; puffy, picturesque clouds scud lazily across the sky, painted in hues of purple and pink in the late afternoon sun. Peering through the front viewports with the rest of the squad, you can only nod in agreement with Omega’s stunned gasp. 

“It’s so colorful!” she exclaims. 

“It is merely the atmosphere scattering the light of the star,” Tech says in his usual matter-of-fact tone. But you catch a soft smile on his features, bathed in the same pastel as the clouds.

“Come on, Tech, even you have to admit, it’s a beautiful sight,” you tease, leaning an arm on the back of his chair. 

“I did not say it isn’t.” He flips a few switches and initiates the landing sequence. “Merely stating the cause of the phenomenon.” 

Echo catches your gaze and gives an exaggerated roll of his eyes. You stifle a laugh. 

By the time you reach the surface, the Marauder’s landing gear sinking into the soft ground, the sun has lowered in the sky even farther, shifting the pinks into purples, the purples into navies. You’re the first one down the ramp after Wrecker. You inhale a deep breath, tasting the fresh air, the lingering scent of warm earth, the wetness of the nearby lake. A light breeze puffs over the lake’s surface, marring the otherwise perfect reflection of the sky. Tech couldn’t have chosen a more secluded, or more quaintly beautiful, place to land the ship. You almost feel bad for teasing him. 

Hills roll around you, but the clearing you’ve landed in is mostly plush grasses. Towering hardwood trees block most of your view, though in the nearby treeline, a woodpecker builds his new home. 

“Can we just stay here?” Omega asks, voice hushed in awe. She scampers through the grass toward a cluster of wildflowers. 

“Not for very long,” Hunter says. Like the others, his helmet rests under one arm, his blaster holstered. But he tips his head back and breathes deep, his eyes sliding shut. Despite yourself, you smile softly at him. 

Echo nudges you with his shoulder. You raise an eyebrow at him, but he just holds out his datapad for you to read: you’re staring. 

You deadpan at him. Snatching the datapad from his grasp, you type out a staccato message: am not.

He lifts one eyebrow as if to say, yeah, right. Childishly, you stick your tongue out at his back as he moves toward where Omega picks flowers. 

“Alright, team, let’s figure out what’s going on here.” 

You form up in a circle as Tech pulls up a map of the planet on his gauntlet, zooms into the region you’ve landed in, and pings the ship’s location. He says, “Very little about this planet is available on the ’Net. Several renowned woodworking artists were born here, but beyond that, I could not ascertain what Cid meant in sending us here.” 

“Maybe the wood is valuable?” Omega offers.

The trees are certainly impressive, you think, casting your gaze at them again. Most of them appear thick enough that even the six of you together wouldn’t be able to reach all the way around their trunks. But there are trees like that all across the galaxy. 

“Perhaps,” Tech says. “But we will not be able to determine that until sunrise. The nearest settlement is several hours away if we decide to ask around.” 

“I’m good at that,” you say. “Talking to people, I mean.” 

Hunter shakes his head. “I’d like to avoid any Imperial run-ins.” 

You shrug. “Fine by me.” 

“Aw, so what are we gonna do then?” Wrecker says, a whine in his voice. 

“For tonight, build camp,” Hunter says. “Tomorrow, we’ll look around, but I’m okay with cutting our losses and just heading back to Ord Mantell.” 

Wrecker clearly stopped listening at the words ‘build camp,’ as he and Omega high-five and retreat to the ship to grab supplies. And honestly, you’re excited to sleep outside, in the fresh air, spread out away from the group. Leaving Hunter, Echo, and Tech to their conversation about next steps, you amble in the direction of the woodpecker. It’s too dark by now to make out much detail, let alone spot the bird, but the presence of another living creature that isn’t humanoid brings you comfort. 

And besides, you can’t build camp without a fire. You’ll need kindling and sticks to feed to the campfire, and no better place to start than the forest. 

“Nav?” Hunter calls. 

Your entire body flushes at his use of your new nickname, and then your ears burn hotter as you realize he can probably sense the physiological change even several dozen feet away. Swallowing against the agitation, you call back, “Just looking for some firewood.” 

“Don’t go far,” he says. 

You raise a hand in acknowledgement and click your flashlight on. A few small pairs of eyes reflect the light before vanishing, leaving only the sound of scurrying limbs across tree bark. Gathering several different sizes of sticks, you have to tuck the flashlight between your face and shoulder to balance everything. By the time you return to the ship, a sheen of sweat coats your forehead. 

Wrecker beams as you deposit the firewood at his feet. “Aw, yeah! Thanks, Nav!” 

“Need more?” you ask. 

“Why not?” he says with a toothy smile. 

Echo jogs behind you to join as you return to the treeline. “Want a hand?” 

You squint at him, glancing between his outstretched hand and his entirely too composed expression. “That a joke?” 

“My favorite one,” he says, a broad grin splitting his face. 

You snort. “Wasn’t sure if I was allowed to laugh.” You press the flashlight into his hand, and he sweeps the beam of light around the ground. 

“Question for you,” he asks as you cast your gaze around, looking for some larger sticks or pieces of wood to build the fire with. 

You hum in acknowledgement. 

“What are your intentions with my brother?” 

You stiffen, gaping at him, nonplussed. “W-What?” 

“You heard me,” he says. 

“I- I don’t—” You mouth works, but you can’t find the words. Is he serious?

You stare at each other for a long, tense moment. You’d be lying—more than you already are—if you denied the mysterious sense of gravity drawing you to Hunter, but was Echo really going to make you say it aloud? But you realize Echo’s shoulders begin to shake with quiet laughter. 

Frowning, you shove him and return to searching for wood. “Not funny, Echo.”

“Oh, you shoulda seen your face.” He wipes tears from his eyes. “I couldn’t resist. Fives used to ask everyone that, including General Skywalker.” 

“I remember hearing about Skywalker on the ’Net, during the war,” you say. “The Hero with No Fear.”

“He hated that name,” Echo says. “But it was probably the most accurate the HoloNet reporters ever were about the war effort.” 

Your arms full once again with several thick broken branches, you lead the way back to camp. Wrecker and Omega have a small fire already starting. Orange light casts dancing shadows, and a heady, sweet smoke fills the air. Dropping the fresh wood by the ship ramp, you crouch next to the kid and ruffle her hair. 

“Can you give me new braids tomorrow, Nav?” she asks, ducking away from your touch with a grin. 

“Whatever you want, kiddo.” You tuck your feet beneath you and sit. “Maybe soon we can pick up some hair dye and—”

“Absolutely not,” Hunter says, frown evident on his face. 

“Aw, c’mon, Hunter,” Omega says, turning her pleading brown eyes on him. “It’ll wash out eventually, right, Nav?” 

“Now look what you’ve done,” Echo says as he lowers himself to the ground between Hunter and Tech. “You may as well give up now, Sarge.” 

Hunter looks affronted. “Why do I have to give up?” 

Echo gestures in your and Omega’s direction. Omega bats her eyes at Hunter, and for your part, you’re fighting the shit-eating grin that wants to split your face. Hunter glares at you, but you know he’s not really angry—not if that smile he’s suppressing means anything. 

“You’re a bad influence,” Hunter finally sighs. 

You can’t help the urge to push his buttons just a little bit more. “I could braid your hair, too, Sarge.”

Wrecker’s laugh echoes around the clearing as Hunter drops his face into his hands, shaking his head. Echo flashes you a quick wink. That helium balloon inflates once more between your heart and breastbone, and you finally allow yourself to feel like you’re becoming part of this squad. 

The ground isn’t the most comfortable—you have to shift a few times to avoid a rock digging into your back—but eventually, the warm breeze sighing between the tree branches, the comforting red glow of the embers, and the even breathing of your squadmates is enough to lull you to dozing. Despite your tiredness, part of your brain remains aware of where you are, while the rest of you attempts to rest. 

Though Omega’s near-incessant questions have abated over the last few days, she’s still got you thinking about your past. The orphanage, all the children whose names you learned and forgot within days, the kind, elderly woman who practically raised you. The pack that was handed to you the day you aged out—the very pack you rest your head on tonight. 

But as always, your brain returns to thoughts of Arien. You’ve still not shared her story, even her name, with any of the others, but you know the time is coming. A squad has to trust itself. 

Your heartbeat rushed in your ears, nearly loud enough to drown out the screams of blaster fire. So far, none of the shots had found their mark, but all it would take was one well-placed shot to bring down this entire escape plan. Arien never should have come back for you. There was too much risk. 

But you were still grateful, if terrified. Arien’s feet pounded the ground behind you as she fired blindly over her shoulder.

Foolishly, you succumbed to the impulse to glance back. A jolt of fear nearly made you stumble. The Imps were gaining. You had to think of them as ‘the Imps.’ It hurt too much to think of their names right now. Arien’s red blaster bolts illuminated the white plastoid armor as it just missed, but the soldiers pursuing you did not falter. 

“Keep running! Don’t look back! We’re gonna make it,” Arien urged you. 

The ship was in sight, the Redthorn-class scout’s ramp already descended to receive you. 

And then Arien cried out in pain. Her body thudded to the ground, rolling with her momentum. You skidded to a halt, heart in your throat.

Arien’s purple eyes filled with panic. She pressed against the blaster wound in the center of her chest with her free hand, her blaster still pointed behind her. You took a step toward her, tears blurring your vision, but she shouted at you. 

“No, go! Leave me!” 

“I can’t!” you shouted back. 

“You can,” she promised. “Now—” She coughed, and blood coated her lips. “Run, (y/n). Please run.” 

You finally raised your own blaster as you opened fire at the approaching soldiers. Two of them went down—you struggled not to think of who they might have been—and you rushed to Arien in the lull in fighting. Cradling her under her arms, you dug your heels into the ground as you dragged her as fast as you could to the ship. You sobbed the whole way there. None of the blaster bolts seemed to come near you. The soldiers slowed their pursuit. 

By the time you got into the ship and slammed the button to close the ramp, Arien was gone. 

You wake with a strangled yell, sitting bolt upright, hand numbly reaching for your blaster. Not again! Not again, not again not again not againnotagainnotagain. Tears run hot down your cheeks. It’s still dark out; the embers have cooled and darkened, but in the soft light of the stars, you find Hunter crouching in front of you. His hands are raised, palms facing you. 

“Easy,” he says in a low voice. “Just me. You were having a bad dream.” 

You shakily wipe a hand across your face, willing the tears to stop. “I’m okay. I’m sorry.”

His eyes flick down to the blaster, then re-focus on your own. “Is this an ‘on your own time’ thing?” 

You can only nod. 

“Okay.” He visibly hesitates, then pats your leg. “Try to get some more sleep. We’re all here. You’re safe.” 

You continue nodding and lie back down, curling onto your side. Tears slip down your nose and stain your bag, but you can’t find it in you to close your eyes to return to sleep. Arien’s dead and blank stare swims in the darkness every time you blink. And when morning comes, Omega hugs you, squeezing you tight.

“I get nightmares, too,” she whispers. “But they’re not real.” 

Oh, how you wish your nightmares were just creations of your imagination.

Tag List: @the-hexfiles

Planet Omega exhibition celebration in New York - November 9, 2023

Nicole Kidman at Planet OMEGA Exhibition Opening.

Nicole Kidman in Balenciaga at the Planet OMEGA Exhibition Opening (2023)

Log 23.06.1991

The Blue Blur

An unexpected inconvenience has just occurred in the midst of our search for the 7 high energy readings we detected coming from this planet while passing through this solar sector

One of our scout teams has run into what appeared to be one of the natives of this planet while searching for one of the energy readings which was located on a small landmass in the southern hemisphere-. The landmass mysteriously appeared to be in a constant state of motion, most likely as a consequence of the presence of whatever object is emenating those high energy readings, as theorised by our science team.

The native was unlike anything our previous research on this planet’s hinabitants had anticipated

Covered in a blue fur and standing less than a meter tall, the creature exhibited the ability to move at astonishing speeds: it managed to quickly dispose of our troops, moving so quickly that, to our men’s eyes, it appeared to be little more than a blur. The troops have thus started to call the creature “The Blue Blur”.

We have been unable to determine the creature’s motives for interfering with our operations due to our linguistic analysts being unable to fully translate this planet’s many languages, however it appears that it may be trying to prevent us from obtaining the sources of the 7 high energy readings we are seeking

Command was both frustrated and fascinated by this development: the creature is to be dealt with at once to further our operations on this planet but we are also to capture it alive if possible in order to study it closely and perhaps uncover the secret behind its great speed. Granting such speed to our next generation of Space Pirate militia would be a great asset

From now on all units are to approach the Blue Blur with extreme caution: Omega level weaponry is authorised as is the use of heat seeking missiles. Ice based weaponry is also highly adviced as a way to capture the creature alive

what's meow wolf? :0

thank you for indulging me, and I'm sorry for the dash stretcher. I simply cannot be asked to be normal anymore ❤️.

my answer to you and the other curious anon:

Meow Wolf is an art collective that operates a handful of immersive exhibits across the western US--House of Eternal Returns in Santa Fe, Omega Mart in Las Vegas, and my closest installation being Convergence Station in Denver. these places are all connected at the core through humor, surreality, psychadelia, and sensation, but can be thoroughly enjoyed as standalone walk-through stories. here's the lore for the place I'm headed to for the 3rd time:

Convergence Station is the result of several universes colliding with ours in an event known as Convergence (wow, shocking title choice). typically, convergences happen an infinite amount of times every day, but only for fractions of time. here in Convergence, memories are currency. when their homeworlds converged, people lost entire lifetimes worth of memories, and began to realize they were still out there in other people's heads. these memories (or mems) could be transferred between individuals via technology utilizing a special crystal known as Oss or via randomly occuring "memory storms." a single, stable convergence appears to have occurred in Denver, mounting the worlds of...

Eemia, a once-thriving world suffering the loss of one of its two suns under threat of eternal ice age

Ossuary, a sparsely populated planet of individuals living underground to escape catastrophic magma flows to preserve and amass hoards of knowledge

Immensity (specifically, C-Street), the concrete shell of urban sprawl constructed over an ocean planet's waves to suppress violent fauna

and Numina, an anomalous 5th-dimensional being that inhabits this alien swamp-like ecosystem where time forgot to clock in

...all within its reach.

lore aside, I swear this place is a fucking pocket universe. It looks like about the size of a small concert venue from the streets, but it's delightfully easy to get lost in here. almost every door works. maybe you open a door in Numina and end up in Eemia. maybe you walk through a curtain of snakes and end up in a room full of Mongolian masks. maybe you pull a little too hard on the detergent vending machine at the C-Street laundromat and open the wall to a satanic laundry shrine.

the artists behind all of their installations, way down to even individually sculpted creatures living in the swampy walls of Numina, are listed on their website.

Convergence Station is their biggest permanent installation yet, and two more are planned for Dallas and Grapevine, TX.

I am happily evangelizing this place at every chance I can get, because honest to Gods my therapist said it appeared to have set off trip integration in my brain like I had actually taken drugs. if you're like me and have been starved for inspiration for a while and feeling creatively stagnant, consider following the artists in the credits, checking out their YouTube (seriously high quality worldbuilding for Omega Mart in particular), or even making a trip to one of these spots.

New water map of Mars will prove invaluable for future exploration A new map of Mars is changing the way we think about the planet's watery past, and showing where we should land in the future. The map shows mineral deposits across the planet and has been painstakingly created over the last decade using data from ESA's Mars Express Observatoire pour la Mineralogie, l'Eau, les Glaces et l'Activité (OMEGA) instrument and NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) instrument. Specifically, the map shows the locations and abundances of aqueous minerals. These are from rocks that have been chemically altered by the action of water in the past, and have typically been transformed into clays and salts. On Earth, clays form when water interacts with rocks, with different conditions giving rise to different types of clays. For example, clay minerals such as smectite and vermiculite form when relatively small amounts of water interact with the rock and so retain mostly the same chemical elements as the original volcanic rocks. In the case of smectite and vermiculite those elements are iron and magnesium. When the amount of water is relatively high, the rocks can be altered more. Soluble elements tend to be carried away leaving behind aluminum-rich clays such as kaolin. The big surprise is the prevalence of these minerals. Ten years ago, planetary scientists knew of about 1,000 outcrops on Mars. This made them interesting as geological oddities. However, the new map has reversed the situation, revealing hundreds of thousands of such areas in the oldest parts of the planet. "This work has now established that when you are studying the ancient terrains in detail, not seeing these minerals is actually the oddity," says John Carter, Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale (IAS) and Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille (LAM), Université Paris-Saclay and Aix Marseille Université, France. This is a paradigm shift for our understanding of the red planet's history. From the smaller number of aqueous minerals that we previously knew were present, it was possible that water was limited in its extent and duration. Now, there can be no doubt that water played a huge role in shaping the geology all around the planet. Now, the big question is whether the water was persistent or confined to shorter, more intense episodes. While not yet providing a definitive answer, the new results certainly give researchers a better tool for pursuing the answer. "I think we have collectively oversimplified Mars," says John. He explains that planetary scientists have tended to think that only a few types of clays minerals on Mars were created during its wet period, then as the water gradually dried up, salts were produced across the planet. This new map shows that it's more complicated than previously thought. While many of the Martian salts probably did form later than the clays, the map shows many exceptions where there is intimate mixing of salts and clays, and some salts that are presumed to be older than some clays. "The evolution from lots of water to no water is not as clear cut as we thought, the water didn't just stop overnight. We see a huge diversity of geological contexts, so that no one process or simple timeline can explain the evolution of the mineralogy of Mars. That's the first result of our study. The second is that if you exclude life processes on Earth, Mars exhibits a diversity of mineralogy in geological settings just as Earth does," he says. In other words, the closer we look, the more complex Mars's past becomes. The OMEGA and CRISM instruments are ideally suited to this survey. Their datasets are highly complementary, working over the same wavelength range, and sensitive to the same minerals. CRISM uniquely provides high resolution spectral imaging of the surface (down to 15m/pixel) for highly localized patches of Mars, and makes it the most suitable for mapping small regions of interests, such as rover landing sites. For example, the mapping shows that Jezero crater where NASA's 2020 Perseverance rover is currently exploring, displays a rich variety of hydrated minerals. OMEGA, on the other hand, provides global coverage of Mars at higher spectral resolution and with a better signal-to-noise ratio. This makes it better suited for global and regional mapping, and discriminating between the different alteration minerals. The results are presented in a pair of papers published in Icarus and written by John, Lucie Riu and colleagues. Lucie was at the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), Japanese Aerospace eXploration Agency (JAXA), Sagamihara, Japan, when part of the work was performed but is now an ESA Research Fellow at ESA's European Space Astronomy Center (ESAC) in Madrid. With the basic detections in hand, Lucie decided to take the next step and quantify the amounts of the minerals that were present. "If we know where, and in which percentage each mineral is present, it gives us a better idea of how those minerals could have been formed," she says. This work also gives mission planners some great candidates for future landing sites—for two reasons. First, the aqueous minerals still contain water molecules. Together with known locations of buried water-ice, this provides possible locations for extracting water for In-situ Resource Utilization, key to the establishment of human bases on Mars. Clays and salts are also common building material on Earth. Second, even before humans go to Mars, the aqueous minerals provide fantastic locations in which to perform science. As part of this mineral mapping campaign, the clay-rich site of Oxia Planum was discovered. These ancient clays include the iron and magnesium rich minerals of smectite and vermiculite. Not only can they help unlock the planet's past climate, but they are perfect sites to investigate whether life once began on Mars. As such, Oxia Planum was proposed and finally selected as the landing site for ESA's Rosalind Franklin rover. "This is what I am interested in, and I think this kind of mapping work will help open up those studies going forward," says Lucie. As ever when dealing with the Mars, the more we learn about the planet, the more fascinating it becomes. TOP IMAGE....Data from ESA's Mars Express and NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have been used to create the first detailed global map of hydrated mineral deposits on Mars. Click here for an annotated version with mineral types and abundances. Credit: ESA/Mars Express (OMEGA) and NASA/Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (CRISM) CENTRE IMAGE....Global map of hydrated minerals on Mars. Credit: ESA/Mars Express (OMEGA) and NASA/Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (CRISM) LOWER IMAGE....Jezero crater and its surroundings on Mars display a rich array of minerals that have been altered by water in the planet’s past. These minerals are predominately clays and carbonate salts. Of the minerals identified in this particular region, carbonate is a salt, Fe/Mg phyllosilicates are iron- and magnesium-rich clays, and hydrated silica is a form of silicon dioxide that forms the gemstone opal on Earth. The close-up data were obtained from a global map of minerals produced by ESA’s Mars Express and NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. NASA’s Perseverance rover, which landed on Mars in 2020, is currently exploring Jezero crater and its surroundings. Credit: ESA/Mars Express (OMEGA and HRSC) and NASA/Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (CRISM and HiRISE) BOTTOM IMAGE....As part of constructing a new global map of Mars minerals, the Oxia Planum region was discovered to be rich in clays. These clays included the iron- and magnesium-rich minerals of smectite and vermiculite, and locally kaolin, which is known on Earth as china clay. Hydrated silica is also mapped over an ancient delta in Oxia. The close-up data were obtained from a global map of minerals produced by ESA’s Mars Express and NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Because clays are formed in water-rich environments it makes these site excellent locations to study for clues as to whether life once began on Mars. Oxia Planum was selected as the landing site for ESA’s Rosalind Franklin rover. Credit: ESA/Mars Express (OMEGA and HRSC) and NASA/Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (CRISM)