WolffyLuna

“Grace says he would like half of dome to be water.”

“Oh, is necessary for humans to have large amounts of water question?”

Small Eridian equivalent of a sigh. “No. Not needed for life. In fact Grace will die if he falls in water and does not get out.”

“Tell him we give him water in containers that won't kill him. Lots lots lots of water on Erid for Grace to drink.”

“No. Grace say he want water on ground. Also want it with excess sodium chloride compound so it will be unhealthy for drink.”

“Grace want this liquid for celebration.”

“Of course.” They scan it. “You have wrong liquid. This contain compounds which are poisonous for humans.”

“Yes yes yes. Grace say humans like feeling of being slightly poisoned.”

On the one hand it makes sense because space is the place where you can get the timescales to meaningfully do this. Species that arose and went extinct long before humanity even existed - yeah you can imagine those in space. The speculative appeal is strong. On the other hand, this is not how archaeology works anywhere on Earth. There are always people there no matter where you're digging, and USUALLY they will have some connection to the stuff being dug up. The actual on-the-ground politics of that relationship are very different where you go in the world, but anywhere there used to be people there still are people. And that is almost never true in sci-fi archaeology. And obviously sci-fi allows us to speculate, but it's the pattern you see again and again. No one's interested in speculating an alien archaeological site where those aliens' descendants or anyone related to them are still around in any meaningful capacity. In sci-fi, descendant communities just do not exist. Everybody Died. This place now belongs to no one anymore, except the archaeologists.

For Day 1 of @cnc-week 's Celegorm and Curufin Week:

Celegorm & Reunions

Garth Brooks winning video of the year at the ACMs for a song about how none of us are free as long as there's racism and homophobia

Reba McEntire charting with a gothic horror song about an innocent man being executed by an incompetent judge and a corrupt sheriff

Willie Nelson being, well, his entire self tbh

Dolly Parton recording the hating capitalism banger of all time

listen. Alan Jackson, the archetypal mister big hat man sitting on a tractor singing about a pickup truck, wrote a shockingly normal song about 9/11 that was like "yeah I don't know jack shit about politics but my copy of the bible says we're supposed to love everyone" and then went on the radio and explained how he specifically wanted to write a song about that day that "wasn't vengeful". Miranda Lambert took the southern leftist slogan "y'all means all" and made it the title of a corny ass pop-country song for the Queer Eye soundtrack. Kenny Chesney stole a horse from a cop and Tim McGraw put the cop in a chokehold defending him, and I know that's not about their music but it is, and this is very important, fucking sick as hell

Luke Combs covering Fast Car and keeping the line "I work in the market as a checkout girl" and doing an interview about how he couldn't change a single word because it's not his story. king shit

Morgan Wallen doing I Had Some Help, literally the first song that spoke to me as a male survivor of domestic abuse. also shoutout to the guy for getting caught saying a racial slur and responding by specifically telling his fans not to defend him and raising a bunch of money for the Black Music Action Coalition. bro had an engraved invitation to the culture war and said "nah I'd rather be normal"

Shaboozey just absolutely obliterating the drunk roadhouse anthem glass ceiling

Maren Morris and Brothers Osborne with a song that okay, released in 2019 but I didn't hear until recently, about how good friends mind their own business and let you love whoever you want and also get high with you when you're broke

Kimberley Perry! If I Die Young Part 2!! "actually I'm glad I lived, bitch" ass song that I bet is gonna mean a LOT to kids fighting depression

And songs!!! Does he know songs? Does he try to play along to sloppily sung drinking songs that drift over Oakhurst's wall? Does he try and remember any lullabies? Does he hear travellers singing as they make their way through the woods, does he try copy a congregation singing their hymns, or does he just try make up his own? Has he ever played for anyone to hear? Does he bother to try?