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What does our KIPPERLILLY team have to say about the route?

We asked them to make a playlist, write a short summary, and describe a food that fit…

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devotion

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she says “hey you, do you remember me too?

we were coiling—”

— — —

perennial cradling the memory of someone old and dear… who it was, only she knows now…

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i was thinking about interstitial infinity again last night and i might have to listen to the whole thing again and i saw my fortune scrawled out up against the wall in a crowded marketplace in a town i can't recall and the teller told me that i would be young and i would fall and my new friends all assured me that it all was surely false-

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A Few Precarious Feet Of Space - Use Of Described Distances In Envesseled

Envesseled (https://archiveofourown.org/works/37929724/), by @callowyn and @thegeminisage, sets a number of unique challenges for itself, in its telling. Some aspects of this are necessitated by Envesseled being the seventh fic in the authors’ collected Cambion series, and its most recent.

While Cambion and its successive works’ basis in canon is limited to a specific span of episodes, that’s still six seasons, which means Envesseled is not only grounded on that material, it must trellis upon six prior stories as well, and avoid inconsistencies and contradictions. The story’s cumulative plot is written practically to emphasize the complexity of this, as Envesseled's point-of-view character, Claire, must give up the safety of her senses (and the third-person narrative tense) to experience another character’s memories.

(As we witness Claire witnessing this other, very distinct character’s recall of canon and Cambion history, these memories aren't even discovered in chronological order!)

These sequences are only one way the story weaves ritual and characters’ potential understanding. Claire’s being both bound to and prevented from expressing this, by forces beyond human will, creates the most consequential moment of the fic so far, at the climax of chapter one.

As these connections (and how Claire and her companions can or cannot talk about them) become the material of the story, Envesseled does possess some advantages as well. Not the least of these is the authors’ skill at balancing the pace of events and the characters’ reactions. Some of those discovered memories are sudden, or surprising. Others are links to previous works in the series. Others enter the narrative as though invited, and stay like hauntings, letting us know what Claire cannot help but keep.

The writing is aided by another factor, also, one unique to this series in particular. Where most dialogue would begin to lose meaning if its intent could always be countered, (especially reading in third-person point of view), this story belongs to Cambion, and Claire’s sense of spoken lies means dialogue she hears can offer a shape and its negative space at once.

However, none of those factors are the thing that most distinguishes the craft of this fic.

Though the story — as of this writing — is not yet complete, with six (again) of a proposed eleven chapters available, the chapters we have so far all demonstrate a remarkably realized technique. Namely: Envesseled’s arrangement of areas, and distances, and the meanings these hold for the characters that interact with them.

Being based on a canon so concerned with warding, binding, and abjuration (perimeters of salt, marked chalk or oil, areas of sacred significance) some of this should already be expected.

Claire takes a steadying breath and crosses to the wall, flipping switches until she gets the blacklight to reveal the large glowing circle that covers nearly the entire living room.

—

This is where Ben got the palo santo for his bracelet.

"Holy shit," Jesse breathes, coming up beside her. "What is this place?" He starts forward, eyes bright and curious, but it's barely a few steps before he grimaces and backs away again.

—

Jesse stays just on the edge of the clearing as Claire begrudgingly approaches. He doesn't say anything, for which she's grateful, but it's clear he doesn't like Claire entering this space that keeps him out.

In more than one way, access to space is tied to identity.

There's Enochian here too, scrawled on the eaves in her own hand, and for a second Claire wonders if she's going to be cast out by her own protective wards—but no, it seems she is not enough of an angel yet.

Claire’s surprise at Ben and Jesse’s new connection, separate from her, sits in her thoughts as a breach of proximity.

Casual hookups don't come anywhere close to actually dating someone, for an extended period of time, while there is someone else that sleeps in the same room as you.

As she tries to literally walk away from this shock, the thing she wants to regain for herself is, of course:

Maybe she'll buy a bus ticket and get herself some proper distance from those two assholes she once counted as friends.

What makes the woods of chapter one so perilous for experienced hunters isn’t the witch that wants them to play out an allegory for broken love, it’s isolation.

Claire draws in a lungful of cold air and screams. "Jesse!" He'll never hear her, not with the snow muffling the sound.

When Claire guesses as to how people might be interpreting her sexuality, a thing she's in some way detached from, the cues she considers are those of distances, before desires.

Claire thinks of this morning, of the look on Marie's face when she saw them waking up together, the knowing way Katie sipped her coffee at them. She rarely bothers to correct people's assumptions about her, and she knows there will always be certain things people think about a young woman sharing hotel rooms with a boy her own age.

Even her own assessment of herself, in this way, starts as a measurement.

She sleeps less than three feet away from Jesse every single night. What's the difference?

Chapter five (from which this writing takes its title) even makes distance a key device of the plot, as Jesse and Claire attempt to hone Jesse’s control of his abilities.

“Before you can be trusted with a passenger, you need to gain control of where your own body is in space.”

In instance after instance of this, Jesse’s agency (and Claire’s direction) is extended and exemplified as command of position.

Claire thinks, Why is it that I always land closer to you than where we started?

—

"I certainly hope so," Claire answers, stepping closer. As a rule she doesn't let people touch her unless it's absolutely necessary, but Jesse has made himself an exception in this too. It used to feel like a big deal, when she allowed him close enough to heal her or whisk her away.

The writing is almost saturated in examples of this, as varied as they are evident, in such a way that these cannot be separated from how the story must be read. Cambion's Claire, at a point between human and holy, is a being we must understand in terms of physical domain as well.

oh, the relief—to no longer be hollow

Again and again, emotional range is paralleled by range itself, closeness mirroring closeness. It is though before Envesseled was ever planned in passages or phrases, it was something rendered in stage direction, or choreography.

At some point, in the future, the the story will continue. Claire and Jesse will finalize some kind of revenge, or resurrection, or reckoning. Likely, it will be some mixture of the three. It isn’t possible to predict Envesseled’s ending, but it is almost certain that it will account for an arrangement of space.

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first night back

sequel to my 'first night without her' piece

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HOW do I GET this.

Not adding images to this, because I don't know how the artist feels about their art being shared / reposted on other sites, but:

In a different world, the Sayaka pun sideblog I registered, like, ten years ago has become my way to openly obsess over the works of MihifuHi (on twitter), whose PMMM artworks make my brain feel like poetry does. A Zahir of fanart. If an irl museum announced they were putting on an exhibition of their pieces, I'd book a flight anywhere in the world to attend.

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the natural numbers are all integers from 1 to infinity, except 19 which has a relatively short half-life of 4.21 million years and is thus not found on earth

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do you guys think anyone on ruidus was getting cognouza dreams for a minute there? like imagine being the yak farmer assigned to yussa errenis. for a while there you go to sleep and it's

A̶̶̛̟̝͍̖̟̻͖̘͔̺̳͌͌͊̋̂͑ͬ̓̄͌̋ͣ͑͛̿͊̈͋ͯ̅̾̚͢͟͢͢͜͟͝͞͡A̞͎̤̟͐̇̇ͦͩ̈́ͤ̏A̜̙̣͓̪̽̀ͩͨ̈́͂̉͟A̸̤̩̘̬ͨ̔̇̀̋̍͗̀ͩ̔̐ͅḀ̵̛̹̼̥̞̞̦̰̘͚͓̦͕̬̐̉͆͐ͣͯͪ̓̓͗͆͘͠Ã̛͖͎͌̀A̵̴̛͇̹̼̯̥͉̬̥̹ͮͬͩ̊́̀ͭ̀̎͆́ͤ͐̇͛̌̍͠A̵̵̗̦͙̖͚̰͚̩̻̥̟̼̘͈̩̻̳̬͉̮͔̰͊̿̑̓̄̑̊͘͝Ả̷̷̧̡̤̹̞͎͇̲̠̼͕̠̊̍ͧͫ̈́ͩͬ͆͛ͤ̄͒ͧ̑͛̒͘̕͝ͅA͔̮͗̌ͬ͢A̧̛̯̣͔͎̪̭̠̲̪̼̟͎̙͕͉̖̓ͨ̀͗͑ͣ̏̎̎ͪͣ͑̽ͬ͛̿̈́̽̚͜͡͝͝͡ͅ F̸̨̛͎̝̳̺̖͎͉͔͕͔̝̻̙͎̈́͂͛̎͋͂͛ͪ͊̀ͧ̒̒̈ͬ̅́ͫ̀ͦ͘̚͠͡Ļ̵̷̵̩̰̭̥̟͇͚̬ͪ̾ͭ̀͋͋́̃̈́̚͞Ę̶̵̵̶̶̤͈̖͓̟̭͓͆̓ͯ͛͂̒͌ͫ͊̃͐ͦ̍̆̏̅͐̏̑̚͢͠ͅS̛̲̥̬ͭ̉̀ͧ̍H̸̶̛͓͖̗̬̰͖̩̥͔͕͕̅ͪ̈́͆̊̃͊̋ͧ̕͜ͅ Hͬ͆ͣ̂ͤ̉͑Ọ̷̤̮̙̫̯͍̊̆̽͛ͧ̓̎̊̈́ͫ́ͭ̑̔́̂͢͜͟͠R̶̴̦͙̮̥̫̠͊̐̅ͫͦ̍͒͛͐͒ͩ̄̉͐͊R̨̦̪͖͔͍͔̠͖̍̿̐ͥ́̊ͨ̎ͮ̾́ͦ́̀ͬ̓͂ͫ̌̚͟͞Ŏ̡͎̝͍̹ͬ̅̚͘Ṟ̡̢̢̦͇̫̣̩͉̬̝͔̩͌ͯͤ̽̓͂́̄̈́͛́ͮ͂̀͆̇̕͜͜͢͠ F̠̄̇ͪL̸͔̲̞̟͙͍̻ͥ̅̇̐͞͝_̵̢͍͙̼̠̰̘ͫͩ̆͒̈ͨ̈́̈́̉͟ͅͅĘ̡̨̫̻͚̤͖͓͉̆ͫͭ̈Ș̸̟̤̦̥̩́̾ͣ̉͜͠͝H̛̛͙͕͈̱͉̦͔͍̄̂̈̾ͭͯ̂̿̔͘

but then you wake up and go to work. on the moon

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Not adding images to this, because I don't know how the artist feels about their art being shared / reposted on other sites, but:

In a different world, the Sayaka pun sideblog I registered, like, ten years ago has become my way to openly obsess over the works of MihifuHi (on twitter), whose PMMM artworks make my brain feel like poetry does. A Zahir of fanart. If an irl museum announced they were putting on an exhibition of their pieces, I'd book a flight anywhere in the world to attend.

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Shouldn't be writing / communicating, but I'd be betraying the experience of this blog if I didn't type up a quick Rest In Peace for @baapi-makwa , who apparently passed away April 27th. I'd never spoken to him, only donated to him directly once, and was only contributing, like, nothing and cents to his patreon, but I'd followed his tumblr here for... close to four, maybe five years? His art was often a genuinely intriguing look at Ojibwe visual traditions rendering present-day icons and properties, as well as matter from nature, drawn in a style that was simple, yet unmistakable. Though his blog, those past years, had been a chronicle of multiple kinds and intersections of suffering (medical, economic, familial, American-Indigenous), it was also a litany of of visual inspiration, honored a marginalized language, drew from an incredible emotional honesty, and never stopped entirely. A counterweight of perspective, and a go-to for gifs of bears wandering around.

Rest In Peace.

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An Emotion

I've been more and more in a mode of feeling like something (internal? external? something) should punish me for engaging in fandom experiences, or making others aware that I'm doing so, but in the spirit of this blog's original purpose:

I just finished reading the last chapter of a one-million*-words-long fic, a fic that -- coming back to it on and off -- took months to read,

the last chapter of which is a kind of in-fic obituary for a real person that features in it.

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*sits down to write a smut fic* The plot of this smut fic is that Character A believes himself abandoned by God.

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A fic I'm reading updated again after.... over two years.

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Save the Light - v1.02 Patch Notes

A new version of Save the Light, version 1.02, is now available on PS4 and is expected to go live on Xbox within the next few days. This update brings a very large list of improvements, fixes, and increased stability to the game. You can read about most of the changes in the below patch notes. 

We’d like to offer our sincere apologies to anyone who’s experienced technical issues with the launch version of Save the Light. We take these problems very seriously, and we’re extremely passionate about this game, Steven Universe, and the SU fan community, so we want to do everything we can to continue to support STL and make it the best it can be. Our small team will continue to be very hard at work doing just that for the foreseeable future.

If you are still experiencing issues after this update, please feel free to contact support@grumpyface.net and we’ll be happy to help you. Thanks to all our fans and players for your patience on these matters and the continued support.

SAVE THE LIGHT v1.02 PATCH NOTES

11/10/17

BUG FIXES:

Fixed issues causing possible freezes or “soft locks” that could occur in battles throughout the entire game. Most were related to an error involving collider calculations directly after either enemies or players were knocked back. Players who were experiencing these freezes should now notice drastically improved stability in battle

Fixed many instances of team attacks and fusions sometimes causing “soft locks” or freezes in battle

Fixed several achievements not triggering, especially “team building exercise” and the three achievements awarded after completing the game’s various endings

Improved prevention of party members/followers getting stuck in the world, and also improved their ability to auto-teleport themselves to catch up to the player character

Fixed “Snowballio” the snowball enemy often “peacing out” and deciding to leave the battlefield mid-battle

Fixed wackiness with party members/followers not resetting properly sometimes when falling off cliffs, especially when moveable metal blocks were involved

Fixed Amethyst’s shock whip not functioning properly in some instances/against some enemies

Fixed an issue with Sour Cream wanting 11 total glowsticks instead of 10. (Note: for players who already started this quest before this update, it will still be possible to collect and deliver 11. New save files will only need to/be able to collect 10.)

Fixed an outdated description of Garnet’s “Ironhide” perk, and adjusted the order of her defense perks

Connie’s “protect” ability has received improved stability to prevent specific circumstances that could cause it to get stuck or behave improperly

Fixed corrupted animations during the surprise ‘phone call’ in the Great North

Boss fixes: fixed various issues that could cause some of the bosses in the game to get stuck. Fixed a bug with the Forest Boss where, upon defeating it, a sound effect could get stuck looping. Fixed a bug with the Strawberry boss involving the Tablet throwing ability not properly damaging its armor. Fixed an issue with last boss where it was possible to have game get stuck in slow motion upon final blow.

Fixed various other bugs and issues across the game

CHANGES AND IMPROVEMENTS:

Some general performance improvements

Relationship meters now fill 5% faster, leading to slightly more frequent team attacks and fusions

During the “Kudos” moment, now displaying the corresponding button icon next to each relationship meter in the top right corner of the screen

Added some new environment animation and polish to the Barn scene

Quest items in the backpack that are “completed” now show a green checkmark

Added new messages for landing your star taps in battle other than just NEATO BURRITO 

When using Sugilite’s Fire Punch, it’s now easier to fill the ability meter

Connie’s “Study” ability has seen an increase in power 

Peridot’s “Repair” ability star cost decreased from 2 to 1

All “secret” stages have had their difficulty bumped up somewhat, especially for the final two chapters

Added some new polish and various improvements to the game’s ending sequences and epilogue

A new jam now plays inside the Big Donut

Fixed an oversight with in-game text referring to Smoky Quartz as female. Fixed several typos in various spots across the game

Added some new, previously missing VO and sound effects to various parts of the game

KNOWN ISSUES:

Currently investigating reports of the “CBF” achievement not always triggering

[XBOX ONLY]: We are aware of the “Believe in Steven” achievement (for collecting all other achievements) not triggering on Xbox and will be providing a fix soon

[XBOX ONLY]: We are aware that the “Hidden Grove” secret stage is often failing to load on Xbox. This is a high priority issue and we will have it fixed ASAP

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Me @ me: Why do you spend so much time on a website you'd describe as "where people go to get a break from you?"

Me: