#Unstructured Play

[fastlane-freedom]

A Balanced Approach: Nurturing Children Without Overscheduling

In the fast-paced world we live in, parents often find themselves caught in the struggle to provide their children with enriching experiences while avoiding the pitfalls of overscheduling. The pressure to enrol children in numerous extracurricular activities can be overwhelming, yet purposeful parents are increasingly recognizing the importance of a balanced approach to child development. This…

[tenth-sentence]

If kids can handle greater freedom outdoors, what about indoors?

"Humankind: A Hopeful History" - Rutger Bregman

[lilleluv]

Why play is important

Why play is important

Your child’s learning and development are greatly influenced by play. Your child can learn in a variety of ways and at different times when they are playing. Your child will benefit from play in the following ways: Create confidence Affection, joy, and safety Learn more about how the world functions Develop your communication, language, and social abilities. Learn about protecting the…

[temenosjournal]

Let's Pretend Is Actually What Matters?

Let’s Pretend Is Actually What Matters?

A few years back, I was listening to CBC Radio, and the guest on was speaking about unstructured play. His point was on how today we have children who don’t necessarily have the tools that equip them for today’s world. Unstructured play? What is that? Unstructured play*,†  happens when children follow their instincts, ideas, and interests without an imposed outcome. It may include challenging…

[mygym123stuff]

How To Strike A Balance Between Structured Vs Unstructured Play

In earlier times, play-based learning was often a child-initiated, open-ended activity. But for many young children of today, play has become an adult-directed and highly structured activity. This shift could well inhibit and risk the growth of a child’s abilities to cope with the ground reality of the digital age.

Research clearly indicates that unstructured play activities during the early growing years impacts and shapes the neural network of the child’s brain. The American Academy of Pediatrics says that unstructured playtime is one of the healthiest activities for young children: “The challenge for society, schools, and parents is to strike the balance that allows all children to reach their potential, without pushing them beyond their personal comfort limits and while allowing them personal free time.”

It is mostly through unstructured play activities that young children learn how to work together, adapt to different situations, experiment, explore, construct meaning, and begin to learn what they like, discover what they are good at and how to express their individuality.

On the other hand, structured play activities for preschoolers expose children to situations where some of these skills may be nurtured, but the nature of these programmed activities limits the opportunity for individual expression and the experience of unexpected outcomes necessary for creative discovery.

Peter Gray, the author of the book “Free to learn” insists that unleashing the instinct to play freely will make our children happier, more self-reliant, and better students for life. As well as overcome boredom, have the time to daydream and immerse themselves in hobbies, and the time to read comics.

In fact, he went on to even suggest “What I learned through my play has been far more valuable to my adult life than what I learnt in school. Children should experience twice as much unstructured time as structured play experiences.”

What exactly is unstructured play?

These are activities that children dream up on their own without adult intervention. These types of unstructured play activities rarely have predetermined goals or objectives but instead, allow children to create their own rules and establish their own limits.

Unstructured play is how children develop creative thinking and behaviour skills and realize the importance of these for their future well-being. Creativity is vital for improving the economy and quality of life under the accelerating rapid change we continue to experience.

A perception still lingers that the ability to think creatively is a gift that is difficult to teach and define and is relevant only to the arts. However, facts indicate something entirely different. Imaginative and creative thought, as well as the skills needed to access and use this ability, exist in everyone and their development is teachable.

If such wrongly held perceptions continue to persist, you will not be wrong to conclude that if children are not provided with the opportunity for participating in unstructured play activities they may not only lose the opportunity to learn vital skills linked to social interaction and individuality but also limit their creative development!

Benefits of unstructured play

Unstructured play activities are an ideal vehicle for supporting a child’s creativity and imagination as it offers an environment for risk-free exploration. It also ensures ‘whole child development:

Create opportunities for your child to master elements of the world on her own terms.

Develop self-determination, self-esteem, and the ability to self-regulate — all vital elements necessary for all-around emotional development.

Foster social competence, respect for rules, self-discipline, aggression control, problem-solving skills, leadership development, conflict resolution, and playing by the rules.

Stimulate the senses and enhance cognitive understanding.

Builds strength, coordination and cardiovascular fitness and moderate childhood obesity and eliminates other associated health complications.

Enable your child to create her own happiness, promote inventiveness, and develop self-reliance.

What is structured play?

Every day, parents make important decisions that impact their child’s health, growth and development. Some of these decisions are big while others may be small ones. But doubts always arise when it comes to structured play activities and recreation.

The choices available in structured play activities are wide and sometimes seem overwhelming — especially when so many of us have no help and are unable to reach out to our extended family to clear our doubts. Don’t worry, here are a few tips that will clarify many of your doubts and will help you take the right decision.

In a nutshell, structured play activities support children in learning and developing fundamental movement skills through adult instruction. These are usually called the ABCs of movement skills. Where ‘A’ stands for (moving quickly & easily). The letter ‘B’ refers to balance (staying steady while moving). ‘C’ denotes coordination (being able to use different parts of the body together). And finally ‘S’ symbolises speed (the ability to move quickly).

A range of structured play activities is designed to help children develop these movement skills. For example, gymnastics promotes agility, while basketball builds speed. Both also develop balance and coordination. By acquiring these movement skills, your child will gain confidence, and competence, and will feel comfortable when trying out new activities in different settings, such as participating in sports she may not have been exposed to before.

Striking a balance is vital

For well-being and proper growth, your child would need to be involved in both types of play — structured as well as unstructured. Here are a few ways by which you can strike a good balance between the two:

Set aside some time for your child to spend in unstructured play.  If she doesn’t have the time to play or doesn’t seem interested in it, find a creative solution for it.

Ask your child what she wants to do. Ask her to imagine and tell what she is thinking and respond accordingly.

Look out for opportunities for your child to play outdoors.

Let your child engage in structured activities. Your child must have a few choices as her basic movement skills need to be transferable from activity to activity.

As the seasons change, bring out the relevant sports equipment so that she plays in all seasons, without complaining about the rain or heat. 

Strike a balance between unstructured and structured play. On the one hand, set aside some time for your child to just play and be actively engaged with her, then leave her alone to play by herself. All the while ensuring that your child is having a great time. It’s only through fun play activities that your child will learn as she grows.  

As a parent, you know the challenges your child may face if she reacts to structured or unstructured play activities not so enthusiastically. Motivating her can be a difficult task, but as you understand the mindset of your child best, you can meet her halfway, so that she develops a fully rounded personality.  

Most importantly, have fun spending your time constructively playing! Avoid focusing on the learning first and trying to sugarcoat it with playfulness — start with prioritizing play-based learning and watch it evolve, inevitably and naturally. Good luck and happy parenting!

About My Gym

My Gym involves children in dynamic games, physical activity and movement that help in building neural networks in the brain. Making it easier for children to acquire intellectual skills, navigate complex social situations, and nurture emotional development.

To find out more about how My Gym plays a key role in supporting “whole-child development,” please visit any of our centres. Choose a day when you will be relatively free and come over with your child in tow. Your child could be an infant (as young as 6 months), a toddler or a preschooler, age is not a bar for enrolling.

My Gym has specially designed whole-child development programs that lay a firm foundation for personal, academic and future growth by involving your child in age-appropriate structured and unstructured physical activities, as well as developing thinking and problem-solving skills.

Please note: My Gym classrooms are thoroughly sanitized every day — the tables, the chairs, the children’s activity stations and everything else the child might touch is made safe and clean. Please wear a mask, wash hands frequently, and practice social distancing.

This post originally published at My Gym Blog.

[spitblaze]

you guys GOTTA stop making incredible fandom art that captures my attention so well with its themes and color and composition and implications it makes me go 'woah, that's cool, I wonder what show/book/game this is for?' and then I go to check the source tags and it's for a minecraft youtuber

[technically-a-principality]

I just want to make an observation that I have as a kindergarten teacher.

I do tutoring for some kinder kids after school in my classroom and because that's a long day for them (they have an hour of club before that) I typically let them pick anything they want to do in my class.

90% of the time to pick to play pretend in my kitchen. The other 10% they will pick maybe the iPad, the Chromebook, or maybe blocks.

I will say the option of just watching YouTube videos and T.V. is taken away from them so who knows what they would pick if that was an option, but seeing kids play makes me so happy. I wish they could play more in school.

[why-bless-your-heart]

“How come in The Nightmare Before Christmas Jack hates Oogie Boogie,” well you see, Jack is a skelliton and Oogie Boogie is bugs and I can see there being a grudge there.

[brendathedoodler]

Lol once May 12 comes, Champ won't know what hit him

DKSNDKSNKDSNDK YEAH

I’m so excited! I digitally preordered the game and now I see the icon for it whenever I go to play Hyrule Warriors and I get hyped for it all over again!

Tbh I’ve been avoiding any stuff for it after I realized there was an official release date and haven’t seen anything past the second trailer. I’m goin’ in blind!

Botw was my first proper Zelda game and really what got me into the Zelda series as a whole. Granted, my family are all gamers so we owned a few Zelda games before this (OoT 3D, Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks, Twilight Princess) but I never actually played any of them past the beginning. At least not until recently, where I’ve played (and finished) like 6 Zelda games, which is impressive because I leave games unfinished 90% of the time lmao

Anyway, I started rambling a bit but yeah, I’m def gonna make some adventure swap stuff for it!

[7ndipity]

Thinking about Jealous Yoongi

Yoongi x Reader

Warnings: none

A/N: Thanks to the lovely anon who requested this! We got into a mood with this one I'm not gonna lie. I really like working on little blurbs like this, they're a little more unstructured and fun to play around with, I definitely wanna do more of these.

Masterlist

Requests are open

°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•

Yoongi likes to believe that he's above jealousy, that he's mature and confident enough in his relationship with you to not feel bothered or threatened by someone else being the focus of your attention.

But sometimes, there's just something about seeing your smile directed at someone that isn't him, or hearing someone else earn one of your laughs, that causes a twisted, sinking feeling deep in his gut that he can't quite control.

Like now, as you sit talking excitedly with the maknae of the group. He knows it's irrational and petty, but he can't help feeling the vines of insecurity threaten to wind themselves around him. Because, deep down, he's still as terrified of losing you as when you first met, when he feared this was just a passing fling and you would grow tired of him and move on.

He can't help becoming just a bit clingy and possessive, needing to be closer to you. Shifting over next to you, not necessarily saying anything, but making himself known by proximity, and placing a hand on your waist or thigh or wherever, in an attempt to ground himself.

You always respond though, as soon as you feel his touch, turning to him and meeting his gaze with a look that makes him suddenly feel like he can breathe a little easier, vines unwinding and shrinking away as if burned by sunlight, knowing you save that look for only him.

He doesn't mind if you go back to your conversation or whatever it was you were doing, so long as he can feel you and know you're there, and you're his, he's content.

[tenth-sentence]

When kids engage in this kind of play, they think for themselves.

"Humankind: A Hopeful History" - Rutger Bregman

[comicaurora]

Hello! I wanted to send my appreciation to you as a longtime fan of OSP and Auroura! I am an English Major with ADHD and your content always makes me inspired and my English Lit. Brain very happy with how good your storytelling is.

My question is what stories inspire you to write or make you want to sit down and tell a story? Your content makes me want to work on my projects, but my Adhd only last as long as I am not disturbed (i.e. need to eat or get up and move). You have always been upfront about your Adhd so my second question is how do you keep focused on your story and not burn out? (Talking as someone who is writing a novel as their thesis)

You have been a great inspiration over the years and someone I look up to as a storyteller! I wish you focus and luck! => 💝

Woo! Interesting questions!

When it comes to inspiration, I haven't really found a pattern for what works and what doesn't. The majority of the time, only new experiences/stories I haven't seen or read before work for me - rewatches and re-reads, while much more comfortable for my brain, don't tend to translate into creative inspiration for me - but it's not like a specific genre, or even a specific kind of relaxation, consistently work for me.

The way my brain works is a bit "no take only throw", as it were. I want to just sit down and make solid, steady progress in a predictable environment with a routine, but what I need is to try new things, go outside, take risks - because all those things give me new material to work with and refill the creative gas tank. When I'm stuck, I can't just hit the gas and punch through the block - I need to back up and try a new angle.

The good part of all this is that whatever engine that's running my subconscious is actually pretty good at signaling what it needs. The ADHD brain will be repelled by activities that aren't working for it and drawn to the things it needs at the time, whether that's creative energy or exercise or cleaning or doodling or listening to music or suddenly binge-watching a show that's not even all that great, and once it's got what it needs out of it - whatever that is - it'll be repelled again, either spitting out a sudden burst of creative energy or retreating to its den to chew on whatever it got out of the experience for a more slow-building reward. Little bursts of motivation and creativity pop up all throughout the day, and if you can pivot to the activity in question - or at least note down the idea you just had - you'll be able to harness that pretty nicely.

This "system" really only works for me because I have an extremely unstructured schedule and nobody relying on me to be consistent moment-to-moment. If I'm following the creative needs of my inscrutable Better Writer In The Back Of My Head, I can't be worrying about things like a consistent lunchtime or classes or a 9-to-5. All of my observations are caveat'd by the fact that I am ridiculously lucky to have the kind of freedom of movement and schedule that I can focus entirely on getting to know my brain better.

When it comes to staying focused on any one project, I've reluctantly concluded that the only way to win is not to play. Creativity needs time and diversity to recharge, and when you stall out in any given work session, it's usually because you're out of gas. This is why I maintain several projects in varying stages of "for my eyes only"-ness - a sketchbook, private writing projects, patreon doodles, music practice; even in the large-scale projects like the channel and the comic I have multiple angles of attack at any given time, where I can as needed switch between scripting, research, drawing frames, storyboarding more plot onto the end of the comic's current draft and lining/coloring/background-ing the finalized pages of the comic chapters earlier. This lets me maintain semi-steady progress on average, even if any one facet of the process is left by the wayside for potentially even weeks at a time.

If you're working on one writing project, one novel, I'd recommend giving yourself some time to do small-scale side-hobbies. It won't feel like they're helping, but they are.

I've started to think of inspiration rather similarly to the way I think about nutrition and digestion. It's a somewhat arcane process that, despite being a part of me, I don't exactly understand what's going on under the hood. If you eat only one thing, no matter what that one thing is, you're going to end up sick because you're lacking all sorts of niche micronutrients. If you parcel out a specific space of the only things you're allowed to eat, you might not get sick (as quickly) but you're likely going to become increasingly miserable as you think of the things you're not allowing yourself to try, or slowly build up highly specific forms of malnourishment by avoiding certain things entirely. But if you start listening to your body and try eating what it says it needs at any given time - oh, I could go for a rice bowl right now, oh I don't think I'm feeling something sugary today, man I could really go for some grapes - you're likely to hit a broadly good balance of health because you're hitting a broad range of things your body needs, even if you don't know all of their names or calorie counts, and your body is putting those resources to good use without your conscious input. Between my brain and my stomach, I only trust one of those to actually understand what a stomach needs to do its thing - and between me and my creative brain, most of the time it feels like I just work here.

I hope there was something helpful in all this!

[umbralstars]

Kemetic Influences on Fire Emblem Three Houses (Part 1)

I know I have made a more unstructured post regarding this before; however, I am certain in my assessments that the influence of Ancient Egyptian mythology had on 3H is vast and more varied then I, personally, have seen people discuss. Yes, we know of the etymology behind Sothis and Seiros' names, but I believe these connections go much deeper than the surface level. This will be structured with me discussing what I am most sure in to what is more interpolation on my part. This part about Sothis is so long that it needs to be it's own post entirely. Sothis is based on Hellenistic/Roman period worship of Lady Isis

As we know, Sothis' name can be traced to one of the names of Sirius, specifically the Hellenized name of Sopdet the goddess of said star. However, this is surface level. Sopdet was often syncretized with Isis during the Hellenistic period and in Lady Isis, I believe, there are more clear allusions to Sothis and how she acts as a deity within 3H's world. Lady Isis is an Egyptian deity who was worshiped across the Mediterranean during the Hellenistic and Roman period. Sothis in her mythology, actions, and how she is depicted in-game shares remarkable similarities to Isis. The images and sources I will be using as a reference come from Dr. Andrew M. Henry's (ReligionForBreakfast) video on the topic and FEDatamine for everything regarding 3H.

Sothis and Isis are both "great mother" deities who act as supreme goddesses to their followers.

Even before coming to supreme status in the Mediterranean, Isis was an incredibly important goddess within Egypt. She was the bringer of magic, a guardian of women, a compassionate goddess who wished to relieve all human suffering, and much much more. All of these traits are extremely close if not direct parallels to Sothis. We know that magic within Fodlan is directly connected to Sothis through the visual of all the magic circles (save for Agarthan dark magic) and it can be postulated that, like Isis, Sothis magic was beyond the capabilities of other humans or other deities. Faith magic in particular is directly correlated with the ability to heal and protect, which is one of the main domains of Lady Isis in antiquity and modern day. She was the healer of the sick and injured, so much so that she often traveled in human form so that she could aid those who called out to her. I don't believe it is a coincidence that healing magic was reskinned as faith in this game given that context. And the connections continue beyond that. Consider this text from a temple to Isis in Cyrene:

During the Hellenistic period, Isis' power and prominence grew to wear she became a supreme goddess within these polytheistic societies. She was believed to be the ruler of time and fate itself, and, as stated here, one of the creators of the cosmos who first set time to course. She was often depicted holding a steering rudder or with the planet beneath her very feet as the goddess through which all fate flows.

Next, take this quote from Lucius Apuleius: The Golden Ass a text from a satirist, but nonetheless believed to hold elements of truth to Isis' worship during the Roman period.

Once again, we see the language that would describe a supreme, cosmic deity. Compare to similar wording in The Book of Seiros Part 1: "The goddess is all things. She is heaven above and the land below. She is eternity incarnate. She is the present, the past, and the future. Her eyes see all. Her ears hear all. Her hands receive all."

Due to this language, it is believed by some religious scholars, and presented within the video, that within the mysteries of Isis there was an element of henotheism at play. A philosophy within religious practices where one god is worshiped a supreme deity whilst not denying the existence of other gods, and such a system of worship is what I believe to be happening within Fodlan's religious context. Other gods are known to exist, they are spoken of in the Book of Seiros; however, Sothis is supreme goddess of Fodlan.

Now, I ask, what is Sothis' primary characteristics within the Church of Seiros and as depicted in game? She is the supreme Goddess of Fodlan, who's depicted with having control over time and fate itself (literally divine pulse), spoken of as a savior not only in the past but also through the actions of her vessel Byleth, who created all life (or at least the Nabateans) as "The Beginning", and the arbiter of souls as an explicitly afterlife related deity.

All of these traits are direct parallels to Lady Isis, and I am not even finished listing all the similarities. First take this quote from The Book of Seiros Part 2: "In the beginning, amid the great cloudless ocean, Fódlan came to be. At the end of a long journey, the goddess glimpsed that land and there alighted. Upon that sacred ground, she breathed life into the world and created all of the creatures upon it.

By the goddess's hand, plants took root, birds took to the sky, and animals roamed the land. Last of all, she created humanity." Within multiple Egyptian creation myths one of the prevalent and constant features is the primordial ocean of Nun. It was place of nothingness and chaos all at once, a "cloudless ocean" if you will. And from that ocean came the first land, the benben, and from there any number of gods created all life. This includes Isis, who within the inscriptions at Philae, is described to have created all life and the cosmos itself (Žabkar 1988, pp. 134.): "Indeed, she is the Lady of Heaven, Earth, and the Nether World, having brought them into existence through what her heart conceived and her hands created..." Both of them are related to the afterlife and are explicitly called out as deities of fate. Once again from the story of Apuleius:

Lady Isis' connection to the afterlife as she who guides the soul to it's fate goes back even further in Egyptian texts and she has been a funerary deity all the way back in Old Kingdom Pyramid Texts. Take that in context with Rhea's line of Sothis being the "arbiter of souls" and much of her cosmology in-universe revolving around the afterlife you have another link between them. Isis was said to be able to prolong a person's life if they were to follow her mysteries as she knew the lifespan of all people and could manipulate it with her magics. She also typically interacted with her followers via dreams. This is something Sothis is shown to do constantly with her appearing in Byleth's near death moments, within their dreams (at the beginning of the game and later during her speech regarding Fodlan's plight. And can I say, Sothis being aware of the blood being split and awakening Byleth to explicitly put it to an end is a very much like a savior goddess). Then, in Rhea's backstory, she said that she heard Sothis' voice within the Holy Tomb (or within Enbarr) and that is what lead her to take up the name of Seiros and begin to fight against Nemesis. Sothis inspiring the creation of the Adrestian Empire through Seiros, and Byleth's place to chose the fate of Fodlan, directly correlates to Lady Isis' role as a goddess of kingship. Her protection was explicitly called upon both during the defense of Egypt and during campaigns of military conquest, and that she alone was comparable of armies of soldiers. Isis and Sothis both are also transparently related to nature. They are callers of the rains (cited in the Philae Hymns for elsewhere and in-game for Sothis) and related to bounties of the harvest. In this way, Sothis may also cross into the sphere of Osiris who was more explicitly a fertility god and the ruler of the dead/judge of souls. An interesting similarity can be called to the myth of Osiris' death and dismemberment at the betrayal of his brother Set, Isis' incomplete resurrection of her husband, and Horus' becoming king of Egypt after contending with his uncle where he avenged his father; with how Sothis herself was killed and dismembered for her power, then Seiros' creation of Adrestia (where he also chose the first king) to avenge her mother, and her inability to resurrect her due to Sothis' body being scattered and incomplete (at least, until her ib/Creststone was placed within the intact khet of Byleth). But that is an aside for now. I want to finish this off with a look of the physical similarities between depictions of Isis and Sothis. Once again from Apuleius:

"Firstly her long thick hair in tapering ringlets was loosely spread over her divine neck and shoulders, and her head was crowned with a complex garland of interwoven flowers of every kind. At the centre, over her brow, a flat disc like a mirror or rather a moon-symbol shone with brilliant light. Coiled vipers reared from the right and left of her coronet which was bristling with erect ears of corn. Her multi-coloured robe was of finest linen, gleaming here pure white, here a saffron yellow, there flaming rose-red, with a woven border flowing with flowers and fruit, and what dazzled me most of all was her jet-black cloak with its full sheen, wrapped gleaming about her, slung from the left shoulder, knotted at the breast, and sweeping over her right hip. It hung in sweetly undulating complex folds down to a tasselled fringe, and along its borders and over its surface fell a scatter of glittering stars, round a full moon at the centre breathing fiery rays. And she bore a host of emblems." To me, there are some similarities between this and the depiction of Sothis plus how Rhea dressed and Byleth's Immaculate One outfit. The floral motifs of lotus flowers, the crisp white of Sothis' mural appearance and those of Rhea and Byleth, the crowns of flowers and star motfis, the way Isis bears many emblems around her, much of it bears some similarities to Sothis. But this is not the only depiction of Isis, let me show you some visual representations. Let us compare this mural of Sothis to some depictions of Isis:

Here are two of Isis from Pompeii with one being a mural and another a famous reconstruction of a statue:

Again, while not 1:1 there are some visual similarities in design. The white linen of her dress and the cut of it are fair similar, as are the wings that are associated with nearly every depiction of Isis. To show and example from Egypt:

The fact that Sothis is shown with feathered wings in particular feels important given her other similarities with Lady Isis. Plus the throne hieroglyph that represents Isis and often often seen above her head looks exactly like the throne of Sothis as seen in the Holy Tomb. Lady Isis is also known as the "Lady of the Throne" just like how Sothis is called the "Girl on the Throne." The amount of connections between them does not feel like coincidence to me. If you want to take the Romance into account as well, both Sothis and Isis are associated with floods in that case, especially with floods that are said to be caused by their sorrow. Sothis is a savoir deity who protected and saved from Fodlan from the destruction of the Agarthans; she is said to have caused a flood in the one, possible, Agarthan account we have. Her name is Sothis, transcribed from Sopdet, lady of the blue star, who was syncretized with Isis who also became manifest within Sirius. I think I will make one more note: the Rite of the Goddess' Rebirth is transparently related to Wep Ronpet, the cosmological new year in Kemetic religious practice. Both take palace in late July (or into early August for some dates of Wep Ronpet), both are related to the rising of a particular star (the Blue Sea Star is based on Sirius, this fact), both are related to the rebirth of the world and the gods, and both are a day of celebration with family and friends. As one final aside: in Kemetic practice, worship of the gods has always been an intimate and close affair, both in antiquity and in modern practice. Gods are active and immediate presences within the world, and they are presently felt within physical parts of the world. Ra, Aten, and other solar deities are all the sun, Nut the sky, Shu the air and wind. Various "truths" about natural phenomenon could all be true at once and created a multi-facted view of existence. So Sothis having the Blue Sea Star as her "home" are acting as her spiritual double entirely makes sense within this framework. Sothis' laws are also fairly similar to the Laws and philosophical underpinnings of Ma'at; however, delving into that is outside the scope of this post. So I will need to leave things off here.

[joelhappyhil]

0.9.9.2 Out!

I've just released DAWN 0.9.9.2 for playtesting! (Ignore the homestuck ass version numbers.)

Due to many missing rules, art, and generally experimental changes I've made this exclusive to my Discord, and I'll be leaving the Itch version as the version from before.

Here are some images to show some of what I've got.

(Sorry for the poor image quality)

Basic stuff.

Unstructured Play stuff.

Some Structured Combat stuff.

New Enemies! (with new art for the final version!)

Here's a secret link to my Discord where you can test this stuff.

[local-critter]

I have a couple ideas for you! Obviously you don't have to do them but here are the ideas

- how m6 react to MC giving them a very expensive gift

- m6 when MC accidentally gets hurt (minor injuries)

- m6 when MC is cute and tired/sleepy or if MC gets very hyper before bed

- insomniac mc

- m6 reaction to MC ranting abt their hyperfixations

-m6 after MC worked themselves to exhaustion/overworked,

Just a couple ideas off the top of my head, would love to give more though :]

MC who rants about their hyperfixations

(I will get to the rest eventually I swear)

Asra

He encourages it 100%

They love hearing you talk, it’s one of their favorite sounds

He may fall asleep tho

If you’re already cuddling, they’re gonna clonk out in minutes

They never mean too but your voice is so soothing to them (after going so long without it)

They look at you with the most adoring gaze the whole time, hanging off your every word (they’re daydreaming your wedding)

They find passion super attractive, they love that you have things that excite you so much

They try to prompt you into a rant often, either when you're both doing things together in the same room or at night as basically a lullaby for them 

Faust lays on your shoulders and lays on you as you rant, she squeezes you a little tighter if you're very animated and talk with your hands too

She doesn't mind, she just doesn't want to fall

Julian

You are his type of person 

He is the exact same way

You two basically share hyperfixations, like if one rants about one thing for too long then the other gets into it too and you just bounce ideas off each other 

Whenever you're both free, at almost all hours can your neighbors hear you ranting 

He's a pacer, he's loud, he's dramatic; hell be throwing his arms around everywhere and running his hands through his hair until he's just a ginger blur of motion 

You take turns typically, but sometimes you two rant together and feed off each other

Malak gets startled if voices get raised 

Sometimes he gets home too tired and he just wants to hear your voice, so you'll take a seat on the couch and he'll rest his head on your lap so you can rant all you want

If you play with his hair absentmindedly, he melts into a puddle

He loves letting your voice wash over him and wash away the day’s exhaustion 

Nadia

Loves it

She finds intelligence attractive, and especially if it's something she doesn't know much about

She gets a little flustered 

Sometimes if she's in a rush she shuts you up with a kiss and tells you that you'll continue later before going off to her next meeting or event 

She doesn't really care what you're ranting about typically, just that you're talking 

As in, she'll listen regardless and she'll ask questions to prompt you to keep going 

But sometimes she'll just be looking at you with hearts in her eyes after a long day

She rants to you too, occasionally

If you listen to her with the same attentiveness, she practically swoons 

Be still her beating heart 

If you give her the same treatment, like hanging off her every word and asking questions to prove you were paying attention, she falls in love all over again

Originally, she saw rants as…not very polite I guess

Unstructured, and she wasn’t the biggest fan of them

She felt like they were really emotional, and if she was too emotional she feared she wouldn't be taken seriously

But you take her so seriously no matter what she's doing and she loves you all the more for it

Muriel

Loves them so long as you're not yelling 

It takes pressure off of him to talk, so he's content to let your voice fill in the silence as you both go about your days 

It takes him a while to feel comfortable enough to ask questions but he gets there eventually

He's very attentive

He doesn't rant very often, but rarely, you can get him talking about something like a rare flower or his favorite type of tree 

And if you tell him you just like his voice, his face is on fire 

He may have to take a few minutes to reboot 

Inanna finds it funny 

He loves learning new things, while he preferred his life of isolation compared to living in the city, he didn't always like it

And you ranting to him is an easy way for him to learn too

Portia

She's a lot like Julian 

You both take turns 

Typically you share a hyperfixation and the Palace library barely survives as you two tear it apart in search for more content

Nadia finds it greatly amusing, not that she’d ever say so

More than once has she gotten up in the middle of the night because she had a new point to rant about 

She gets cranky in the morning when that happens tho, she needs her full eight hours so you’ll have to gently judge her back into bed and hope she actually falls asleep

She, like her brother, is also a big blur of movement, pacing and throwing her arms around and hair flying everywhere as if it'll get her point across better 

She's just as passionate as you are if not more so; as a servant she feels her words are worth less than others, so it means the world to her that you’re willing to listen to her and she’ll give you the same treatment

She probably hangs off your every word

Lucio

He found it a little weird at first but he got used to it eventually 

He tries to listen but finds it hard sometimes

He does prompt you to keep talking though, it’s good practice for him to get used to hearing what others have to say

He mostly just rants when he’s annoyed, but he likes that you do it when you’re excited

After a while together he finds himself actually listening to you and remembering what you say

Like he’d be out and see something that reminds him of our current hyperfixation and he’d buy it for you without a thought

Just because he listens to you doenst mean he always knows what your’re talking about but he does try

[freetobeeyouandme]

Chapter 9: The Party at the End of the World

It's an early update today because I'm on a train (and might not have time later)! In this one Mike makes some bad decisions, the party goes to a party, and- oh! Someone gets murdered.

Tags: M, Graphic Descriptions of Violence, Fantasy AU, Canon Typical Violence, Canon Typical Horror, Friends to Lovers, Slow Burn

Summary:

Mike Wheeler hates High School, so when he almost dies and falls through a portal to another world, he’s not going to complain. Especially not when that world does not only have swords and magic but seems to work exactly according to the rules of his favorite tabletop role-playing game. But his euphoria might be short lived because the party of adventurers he falls in with turns out to be the target of an evil god and the fate of the world might rest on their shoulders. So, exactly like his games of D&D. Except the wanna-be Paladin soon realizes that being a hero is much harder in real life than it is in-game. - Or, Mike gets isekai’d into a world where D&D is real.

An excerpt and taglist below the cut:

Excerpt:

The morning of the carnival feels chaotic and unstructured compared to the week and then some they’d spent on the road. Hop forgoes their training, and instead he and Mrs. Byers head into town bright and early to find whatever empty rooms might be still available to rent for the night – the one and only time they will do so on this journey because they need somewhere safe to store their things while they attend the festivities. Will and Dustin head out with them to get everyone costumes; it’s a masquerade after all.

They plan to rendezvous at the southern gate at lunch time, which gives the rest of them plenty of time to take down camp and do whatever else they please. Now that he has free time Mike isn’t sure what to do with it, though. He tries going back to sleep after the others leave for town, but finds the day too light already and his internal clock disturbed enough that he can’t. Lucas practices with his own sword after breakfast, so for a moment Mike joins in. But he’s not in the mood for sparing, and without Hop there he doesn’t feel compelled to, so when they’re done going through fighting stances and Mike’s arms begin to feel heavy he calls it a day. Lucas doesn’t protest, just quietly continues on his own.

Mike does what he can to help Max and Jonathan take down the tents, then wanders around aimlessly. He ends up slipping between the trees and away from camp, searching for the small creek they had passed on their way there yesterday. After three days of non-stop running through the woods trying to make it in time the clear water is a welcome sight: Mike has reached the point where he is turning into his mother in regards to his personal hygiene. Dry sweat clings to his shirt and his skin, his hair hangs heavy with grease, and there’s no way the sharp, unpleasant smell that had begun to hang over their camp isn’t what his sister had called teen boy stink. Sure, the rest of them had slacked as much as him, but since they have some time off Mike might as well try to get rid of some of the discomfort – the old fashioned way, since Prestidigitation is not a Paladin spell.

The creek isn’t particularly deep, which makes washing his hair difficult, but Mike kneels at the edge of the water, tries not to flinch at how cold it is, and gives it his best. Lathering up his skin is easy, even though the water makes him shiver, but trying to get the soap to foam in his hair is more difficult. Mike gives up when some of the suds run into his eyes, quickly washing off and drying himself with his undershirt. Then he soaks the shirt and tries to scrub out the worst of the sweat. He doubts he’s really successful, but the soap they’d bought in Loch Nora has a fresh, lemon-y tang to it that at least makes his nose feel better.

He only realizes his mistake when he sits, with a bare chest and a wet shirt, in the chilly early spring air. The day is clear and the sun shines onto his little spot in the woods, warming him, but the goosebumps that had broken out while he washed up don’t retreat. He hangs the undershirt over a low bough to dry and pulls on his tunic for some warmth, then sits down against a tree to wait. He hopes the shirt will be at least mostly dry by the time he has to head back to his friends, but he fears it won’t be.

For a long moment the woods, now no longer interrupted by his splashing, settle into a quiet hum around him. Mike feels himself nod off, then jerks awake when the bushes on the other side of the creek part to reveal a deer. It looks like the proverbial deer in the headlights when it spots him sitting a few feet away from the water. For a second the two of them look at each other and when Mike remains still and seated, the animal carefully approaches the creek. Mike hopes the water has washed away his dirt and soap so that drinking from the creek wont make the deer sick, but the animal seems to be happy enough to lap at the small stream, so he guesses it can’t taste too off.

He and the animal share a peaceful moment – and then the underbrush rustles, again, and it shoots off, startled.

A thin, red cloaked figure steps into the little clearing with Mike, one hand raised as if she wants to plead with the deer to stay. But the animal is already gone.

El pulls down her hood. “Sorry.”

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