Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Alright... Let me explain this to you."

"Think of a cat... in a box. Inside of the box is... some kind of a device that has a... 50/50 chance of killing the cat... within a certain amount of time."

"The box is closed, so you can't see the inside..."

"After that time has passed... until you open the box, there is no way to know if the cat is alive or dead..."

"Now, according to the Copenhagen interpretation, the cat is neither dead or... alive... immortal in a way... It's in a superposition of being both at the same time."

"Ok look, I know that it sounds... ridiculous, but listen,"

"The whole cat... thing is just a way to dumb the true concept at play- Quantum superposition."

"The whole cat experiment thing is usually more... detailed. More specifically, the device mechanism has to do with... a radioactive atom."

"The atom has a 50% chance of decaying and setting off a mechanism that will kill the cat."

"You see, its the atom that is important in this whole... thing."

"Until the results are observed visually, the atom... is in a theoretical state of superposition."

"Quantum superposition is exactly that concept... a photon or electron- a quantum system... can exist in multiple states simultaneously."

"I hope that makes sense... or not, I don't really care." 

Chapter Text

“Alright… let’s talk about infinity.”

“There are a lot of… good ways to explain infinity… but let’s start with a simple one.”

“Imagine… a disk. It has a… circumference of… let’s say, 10 inches.”

“Now, on top of that disk, let’s put a… another disk that is… one millimeter smaller than the first disk.”

“Next, on top of the smaller disk, put another disk… that is one millimeter smaller than the last one…”

“See where I’m going? Continue this process… for infinity.”

“Now, I know what… you’re thinking; ‘But how is that possible?’ And the answer is… it isn’t.”

“Try not to think about the… logic of the whole thing… it doesn’t really matter in this concept.”

“Ok, so about this… figure. Let’s imagine that this figure is hollow- like a horn.”

“It has an infinite surface area… but a finite volume… or something like that…”

“The whole thing gets really… paradoxical really quickly…”

Chapter Text

“Ok so… about the whole Gabriel’s Horn thing… it’s surrounded in paradox.”

“As a general concept, Gabriel’s Horn is fine… but when you start applying logic to it, it becomes very… hard.”

“The main problem- paradox can be explain by something called Painter’s Paradox.”

“I always imagined Painter’s Paradox as… 2 separate ideas.”

“The first being… because the figure is hollow and gets smaller as it gets… larger, it should be able to hold a finite volume of liquid- Paint, in this case…”

“But, at the same time, its surface area is infinite, meaning that it doesn’t have a definitive volume… it’s really confusing.”

“And, Painter’s Paradox collapses in on itself when you apply logic as well- considering… that liquid- especially paint- eventually stops being able to pass through a hole when it gets too small… the whole gist of the concept is… it’s hard to explain.”

“The other… part of Painter’s Paradox, in my opinion, is a bit easier to understand…”

“Now, imagine that somehow… this figure existed physically. Imagine that a person- a painter… is tasked with painting the horn.”

“The painter has a finite end goal… but the task at hand is not finite- it’s infinite. This is something called a Supertask.”

“Supertasks are concepts of… tasks involving a countably infinite number of actions that are done… in a finite amount of time… it’s hard to explain simply.”

Chapter Text

"Look... I get they look very similar... but I can promise you they are not the same thing."

"Where do I start? Well, firstly... The Guzheng has around... 21 to 25 strings... while the Koto has typically only has 13."

"Also... The Koto has silk strings... and the Guzheng has metal strings- Traditionally... of course."

"The reason why they look so... similar is because the Koto was derived from the Guzheng being... brought to Japan by China during ancient times."

"Actually... a majority of half-tube zithers originated from the Guzheng, and spread to Korea... and Vietnam... and Indonesia... and Kazakhstan... And Mongolia."

"Get it?"

Chapter Text

“Alright… I got a few… little questions about minerals so… let me answer them.”

Why do phosphates occur in Chert found in Girard, Georgia? What makes Girard so special?

“The answer is… Girard- and that general Savannah River region was once a hotspot for… sea life with phosphate bearing shells. When they died out, their shells… led to this prehistoric water being rich in phosphatic material, and along with nearby deposits of Iron and other metals, it eventually lead to the formation of vuggy Chert and Chalcedony- often called Savannah River Agate- which contains large amounts of uncommon phosphatic iron/aluminum minerals such as Cacoxenite and Kidwellite, along with some rarer earth element phosphates like Churchite-Y and, confusingly enough, uranium phosphates? We aren’t necessarily sure why or how there are uranium phosphates in there yet.”

How come Galena becomes little cubes when broken?

“It’s because it has a cubic fracture. Its…structure is made up of little cubes, and when broken, it retains a cubic shape.”

Why is Cummingtonite named that?

“Very… mature of you… but,  to answer your question, it was named after its type locality- that means the spot where it was first discovered- of Cummington, Massachusetts…”

Chapter Text

“Really? You want to know… 2+2?”

“Well… it’s 4… you should know this.”

“Are you not satisfied with that… answer?”

“Do you want me to into detail about… why?”

“Alright… since you wanna be stupid about it…”

“Say you have 2… marbles. How many do you have?”

“2.”

“Now, add 2 more marbles. How many do you have now?”

“4. Get it?”

“What the… what do you mean you ‘don’t get it’?”

“It’s an axiomatic process! How do you not get it?”

“It’s standard addition law- they teach you it in kindergarten!”

Chapter Text

“…”

“That’s what you… really want to learn about? Mangoes?”

“Y’know, you could be asking for… anything… but ok, sure…”

“Well firstly… Mango is a fruit- a stone fruit.”

“It comes from a species of… tropical evergreen called Mangifera Indica.”

“The Mango you… know is likely one of 2 cultivated types: The ‘Indian type’ which originated in India… and the ‘Southeast Asian type’ which is… you know where...”

“But, other members of the Mangifera genus produce fruits referred to as Mangoes… but they aren’t very relevant.”

“It’s usually orange and green, but can… really vary when it comes to the specific… cultivar.”

“The little thing on the inside of the Mango is called a pyrena… but people call it a ‘Pit’ or a ‘Stone’ for… some reason.”

“They’ve been grown for 100s… and 100s of years.”

Chapter Text

“As a shark… a big, bad, black shark… I have to eat… a lot.”

“For me… eating is an instinct- it’s a mechanism that goes off in my brain whenever I need food…”

“But for some… lower life forms… eating is not considered a requirement… I find that dumb… and stupid.”

“No matter what any person tells you, you need food. You need food… to survive.”

“It provides the body with nutrients and power to… survive… to keep you alive,”

“So… when you purposefully eat nothing… it kills your body. It… destroys you.”

“Some people don’t eat because they think it makes them look… better… that’s dumb.”

“If you don’t eat… and starve yourself… you aren’t getting fitter or skinnier… you’re just making yourself weak.”

“If you want to be skinny… your body requires food to healthily burn fat.”

“So please… eat food. Even if it doesn’t seem right or… necessary.”

Chapter Text

“Alright… today I’m going to be answering some… questions.”

What’s the square root of pi?

“It’s… 1.772… 45… I’m not gonna say the rest…”

What’s the densest element?

“Well… under stable conditions, it’s the… metal Osmium… but, under Iridium can get even denser under… certain extreme pressures.”

Why can’t we have black LED lights?

“Are you serious? Black is… the result of an absence of light… so why the hell would there be a light that… has no light? It’s impossible…”

What is baby powder made of? Babies?

“Talcum. It’s talc powder… or cornstarch depending on the… brand.”

Why are you so hot?

“I… Shut up… don’t say that to… me.”

Why is diamond so expensive?

“Because it’s rare and pretty… that’s about it.”

Chapter Text

"You... can't be serious."

"You really... expect ME to tell you about my..."

"Y'know what... fine. I'll tell you."

"Claspers are... the shark equivalent of a... penis."

"We have 2... located around the inner side of the... pelvis fins."

"Most of us just use... one, however."

"The male inserts the... claspers... or just, a clasper... into the females cloaca."

"'Why am I blushing?' Why do you... think I am... I'm talking about sex.

"But... the claspers have little... groves that help deposit the... sperm into the cloaca."

"That's all I'm telling you... you perv."

Chapter Text

“Well… Sure… I’ll explain kinetic and potential energy to you.”

“Kinetic energy is the… energy an object has when it’s… actively moving…”

“and potential is… the energy and object has when it’s not moving.”

Ok, but what is energy

“Energy is… a things ability to do… stuff- like work… or move…”

“Let’s say a ball is rolling down a hill… when it’s just sitting at the top, it has all potential… but when you begin to roll it down, it rapidly loses its potential until… it’s rolling down the hill, and it has all kinetic.”

“Now, once it hits… let’s say… the flat surface at the bottom of… the hill. The ball… retains the same amount of kinetic, because it has nothing to obstruct it.”

“But, let’s say we put… another hill in front of it.”

“As it starts to roll up the hill, it begins to lose its kinetic and take on more and more potential until… it reaches the top of the hill, at which it has… think of it like… 80% potential, and 20% kinetic.”

“But, as the ball begins to roll down… it regains its kinetic energy… albeit, with less than it previously had.”

“Why? Because… it transfers some of its kinetic into thermal… it’s hard to explain.”