Thread by @mikamckinnon

You stumble across a piece of ancient magma slowly cooled underground as crystals grew and grew.

#YouFindARock. You focus on the black shiny bits.

“Ooooh, shiny!” you exclaim, grasping any glimmer of distraction you can while wallowing in the horror of daily news.

>

> Lick

The biotite mica tastes of nothing, although you appreciate the smooth texture.

Your sensitive tongue picks up the microscopic cliff when it bumps over the tip of one layer to another.

>

> Peel

You pick at the mica book, careful to catch your nail along an edge to not scratch the soft mineral.

You carefully peel off a single layer, marvelling are the near-transparent thin flexible sheet.

You set aside the rest of the book to focus on the sheet.

>

> Play

You goof around with the mica sheet, bouncing and flexing it between your fingers.

You shine a beam of light through the mica and delight in its polarizing effects.

“You really are the best,” you inform the mineral.

>

> Zap zap zap

You layer sheets so its birefringent properties create quarter- & half-waveplates, then zap them with linearly polarized light.

You use the quarter-wave plate to shift linear vs circular polarization. With the half-wave plate, you rotate direction.

You grin.
>

> Industrialize

You look around and realize you have a significant biotite deposit appropriate for mining.

You set up camp. “But whatever shall I do with you?” you muse, turning the original mica book over in your hands.

>

> buzz zap zap

While strongly tempted to make the world a shinier place, you restrain yourself.

“Let there be light!” you cackle, then hunker down to develop the deposit’s natural bifringence and insulating properties into a source for optics & electronics.

You pocket your original book of mica, and checking one more to ensure industrial operations are running smoothly, set out again.

As for your next destination?

That remains, as always, TBD.