NottaWriter

Thank you, thank you, thank you once again to the amazing @princington for this absolutely gorgeous commission and for letting me play around in the Bean Salad AU.

Entwined 🧡

short form writers look at people writing 100k+ fics as though this is some sort of talent given as part of a fae bargain, that the commitment required shows some sort of ungodly mental fortitude.

Take a moment and ask yourself, a project like this requires a lot of time, money and dedication of resources, why would scientists dedicate that time to something that could just be done by a tree?

The answer is they wouldn't. So that means this claim requires further investigation!

This project is called LIQUID 3, and it's not meant for cities with wide open spaces, it's meant for cities like Belgrade in Serbia. These cities are densely populated and heavily polluted, to the point where pollution actually chokes out current trees and makes creating green spaces difficult.

Liquid 3 was a PhD scientists answer to these problems. The microalgae tank is intended for spaces where you either:

Don't have enough space to plant full trees, or

Don't have enough time to plant trees and wait for them to grow up.

The tank is extremely efficient when you consider the amount of space needed compared to the amount of CO2 turned into oxygen. The tank can operate throughout the winter. And most importantly, it can be quickly set up in areas that desperately need relief from air pollution NOW not in 10 years when trees are done growing. Children currently suffocating on polluted air can't wait for trees to grow, they need to be taken care of now, and Liquid 3 is one of the ways to take care of them. Depending on the species of microalgea used, a number have shown a pretty amazing capacity to pull heavy metals out of the air which is something trees can get choked up by.

The tanks aren't just tanks either! Liquid 3 have solar panels placed on top, they have lighting and mobile phone charging, and they work as public benches. The designers of it want to encourage green spaces where there's room, but where there isn't room or time, Liquid 3 can step in. Realistically, this isn't a replacement for trees. It's replacing boring metal city benches with new, cooler benches that also clean the air (and have at least some heating during the winter).

Not only that, but the microalgea that grows is native to Serbia and all that microalgea has a ton of great uses! It makes for great fertilizer, compost, wastewater treatment, cleaner biofuels and even for helping create new tanks for further air purification. They only require a quick algae divide once a month, and the produced algae can be carted off to where ever it's needed. This makes them effective solutions for areas that can't sustain complex installations.

Don’t stop. Keep moving—harder, faster.

One tear sealed, now another.

Celine couldn’t remember the last time so many demons had broken through Honmoon. Countless hordes pressed in, a tide of bodies and claws. She knew she wouldn’t be able to save everyone. She closed one tear only for two more to appear in its place. The barrier always weakened in autumn, but never this much.

A lie.

She remembered a much larger horde all too well. Something precious had been taken from her then.

No. Don’t think about that. Not now.

Slash. Stab. Dodge.

A breath.

Another tear.

Repeat.

Exhaustion soaked into muscle and bone. Her body faltered, but she couldn’t stop. No matter how much she bled, how badly she limped, Celine cut down demon after demon.

Slash. Stab. Dodge.

Day gave way to night, but that meant nothing to the demons. The glowing installations around Cheonggyecheon meant nothing either.

Three hours ago Celine had gotten a call from Jeju—the demons had attacked the island. Mentors and a few mudang had gone to defend it.

She was alone. Just her, Seoul, and endless demon hordes.

The sun chased away the moon, thick clouds gathering overhead.

The boy—Celine refused to think about how, in another world, Rumi would be his age—dissolved before her eyes. Another soul she couldn’t save. Another she had failed.

The world wept and Celine wasn’t sure whether the drops on her face were rain or her own tears.

Slash. Stab. Dodge.

Night again. When had the sun set?

Celine leaned against a wall. Her body begged for a break, but she knew that if she sat down now, she’d never find the strength to rise again.

There. Another demon.

She clenched her teeth and, even as her body screamed for her to stop, she pushed forward.

The world swayed and blurred. Honmoon still wailed, but much quieter now. An hour had passed since the last tear.

Walls and bulletin boards were plastered with a terrifying number of posters. So many families would never see their loved ones again. All because of Celine. If only she had tried harder.

The world tilted.

No. No no no. Not now. Not now!

A pair of arms wrapped around her waist.

She closed her eyes just for a moment. And again those hands—soft and deceptively strong. They helped her into the elevator, then into the apartment, then into the bathroom.

Celine didn’t react to the sting of her wounds or the needle running through her skin. She deserved this and far more.

A soft blanket settled around her shoulders. No, she should be sitting here alone, in the cold bathroom, bleeding and paying for every failure.

When had she ended up in the bedroom?

Mi‑yeong and Hana looked at her from an old photograph. What would they think of her? She was supposed to be a fearless leader. Unbreakable. But she had failed. Failed so terribly.

She slid to the floor. The blanket slipped from her shoulders, her face buried in her hands.