right so when i found out JK made Dumbledore gay i was, like, so mad right? with the reason that she’s queerbaiting and desperate to maintain attention from the youth generation but also because of the homophobia in me that i hadn’t completely vanquish.
but now… pondering over how JK thought declaring a character gay and giving the aforementioned gay character a gay love interest would gain interest… i realized that wow. she’s so right. she’s so right. it does gain my interest. damn.
Description: A young climate scientist giving a talk on permafrost thaw in Alaska meets Alexander Skarsgård, who volunteers to help with her research.
Warnings: Long and possibly boring descriptions of permafrost processes; general frustrations and stress of academia; scientific inaccuracies; (eventual) smut.
Note: I really don’t know if other people are going to connect with this story, but it’s a little bit of a pet project for me because this is my shit (or at least close to it. I’m not technically a climate scientist, but hopefully I can do it justice). I tried to stay mostly true to how scientific fieldwork happens, but certain liberties have been taken for the sake of the plot.
There will probably be 3 or 4 installments total, so let me know if you want to be tagged in future chapters. Thanks for reading!
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“Last July, Dr. Herrera and I measured a ten percent loss in regional permafrost, which we modeled after initial work done by researchers at the University of Idaho about fifteen years ago. This summer, we intend to expand the scope of our preliminary work on arctic warming into new environments using different techniques, including measuring glacial retreat and land subsidence and erosion associated with melting permafrost.”
Emily gripped the sides of the podium to steady herself, her palms sweaty. She had given plenty of talks in her two years at the university, but still suffered from nerves; she was just better at hiding them now. This was her first lecture open to the public, and a sea of dim, unfamiliar faces stared back at her from the audience.
“Over two weeks this coming August, myself, two of my colleagues, and a group of students will travel north of the Brooks Range in Alaska to collect permafrost data. Our field sites range from flat, barren tundra” – she clicked through to the next slide – “to alpine glacial environments” – another slide – “to boreal forests, characterized by their relatively low species diversity. The conditions will be challenging, but we’re prepared.”
She advanced the next slide, and a polite chuckle sounded from the audience as a cartoon of a man high-fiving a polar bear appeared on the screen.
“We’re not too worried about polar bears where we’re going. Grizzly bears are more of a concern, but we have the training to deal with an encounter, if it should happen.” She paused. “With that, thank you for coming tonight. Your support of our research means so much. We’ll be continuing this series in the fall once we have preliminary results from our trip, so stay tuned for an email invitation. And with that, I’ll take any questions if you have them.”
After several inquiries from the audience, she stepped down from the stage to greet the members of her department, wiping her clammy palms on her skirt as they congratulated her. She was still uncomfortable with their compliments – as a junior faculty member, and a woman at that, she felt the constant need to prove herself, even if her colleagues did everything they could to make her feel welcome. She excused herself, stepping over to the refreshments table to pour herself a glass of wine. As she put the bottle down again, she felt someone’s presence over her right shoulder.
“I never knew any of that about subalpine vegetation. And I spent some time near the Arctic myself.”
