#comprehensive travel booking

[narwhalandchill]

wuwa rambles incoming, on the negative side ish (?)

so i also ended up downloading wuwa to test it out despite being fairly confident in the assessment that it Will not be a long term thing for me (and yeah stand behind that one after day 1 and some today) and like

firstly yes the state of the game is in shambles lmao like it really wasnt finished in time for release in terms of performance and polish At All. on my side luckily the overall experience has been more or less okay on medium graphics with some glitches and a total of two crashes but its still like. this isnt an optimized game at all. ppl rly have been taking genshin being incredibly cautious with new systems and additions (so that the game actually Functions) for granted i suppose 💀 and or consistently taken the most uncharitable angle towards it . like yes we shouldve had xyz since forever but i 100% believe theres actual spaghetti code behind things taking long and that hoyo genuinely wants to be very careful w it for good reason. but yeah artifact presets where still

secondly as much as the world is like, pretty and vast with many sceneries that make for a beautiful vignette to Look at and all kinds of trinkets to run towards and engage w for that quick dopamine release, i think the fact that the story and lore of the world is just so fucking inconsequential and terribly communicated makes it just. Incredibly hard to Feel anything for it. its like a cake with stunning decorations except u take a bite and realize its all just fondant and no actual flavor. its just there. i dont have any thoughts nor feelings for it bc the worldbuilding is such a failure that i care neither for this place nor the characters whose stories are supposed to be selling me on the entire game. and that really sucks bc this place really Does look stunning in places and i Wish they would give me something to care about but its just the backdrop for the (admittedly fun) pokemon echo farm and ur exploration progress and the combat system

character-wise i also just dont mesh with vast majority of them much. they dont stand out enough from one another and no one except for like scar has actually made me very intrigued about anything at all regarding the world. designs vary from ugh to fine with some that i do like but they still arent like . the kind of Instant recognizable design that just Hits. they look fine but they lack the (jenshin) impact that makes you want to forfeit ur mortal possessions to them

now there is One (1) exception to this to be fair and thats sanhua but thats Literally just bc she is so fucking gender envy to me design wise. like its almost perfect just like that. literally if only her top wasnt open in the back . Id wear that shit SO hard for My scifi fantasy waves that wuther self insert oh my god. she looks like a middle school OC id make JSJSKSKDKUSKDK i love herrr literally the only reason i continue playing tbh . And she has ice powers too she is literally made For Me 💀

(jen forbidden lore tldr a niche finnish Banger of a fantasy book series that rewired my brain at 10 had an Excellently written girl protag who among other things gained op draconic ice powers of eternal winter and since then that simply became My main character daydream self elemental power of choice Always hsjsjsjskvkd)

the combat i think is where wuwa stands out and it definitely lets u engage more with the enemies. like ultimate evasion and counters Feel satisfying and building up ur characters unique mechanic like sanhuas ice constructs for her powered up charge atk Feels satisfying i def think theres a lot of potential there but in terms of A Future Meta in a gacha that wants money idk where things would ultimarely go in the future. but ya that stuff is solid.

enemy designs are also cool but suffer from that same lack of context to make me intrigued w the world theyre a part of. like cool eldritch creature ig but it doesnt give heebie jeebies the same way as seeing like. the husks in the chasm for the first time. where u instantly go oh fuck How. Why. Who were they. bc u know there Will be a relevant answer . etc . which is a shame. make me fear for my life smh

anyway for me my pulls have been like ridiculously bad i am genuinely not joking that getting sanhua on my first starter banner multi is the only reason i stuck w it. like. prior to this morning and getting aalto from the 20 free pulls . i have not received a Single non f2p new 4*. i have chixia c3 who i do Not like. yangyang c2. baizhi c1. Literally i kid you not the other new 4* i pulled today was . Yuanwu. so like considering the event and log in thats also c1 yuanwu c1 sanhua (latter of which i obvi have no issue w). and then my starter 5* was the worst case scenario 💀 Walmart gaming i mean. if u think hes cute cool but i am not at All enthused. id have taken Anyone over him lmao

so thats fun . i mean its fine im not gonna play long term i like sanhua and playing her w baizhi and someone like yangyang or aalto its fine for what i intend to do w it for now. & none of the future 5* rly appeal to me either

ultimately the game definitely has potential but it just. released too soon in a shoddy state and in many ways (mostly relating to its open world) i think is too reliant on just resembling genshin without actually innovating on top of that foundation or distinguishing itself from it. and the failure of its story to make players care about its world At All doesnt help. Do i think the world and lore are shit w 0 potential? well obviously no bc its so poorly communicated i cant even fucking tell you what it is About. but any possible potential there was definitely not utilized how it should so eh

now personally i have absolutely no horse in this toxic drama clownfest of a gacha game war arms race other than its not worth the time nor effort. so i truly have no particular feelings of fervent support nor some schadenfreude about kuro and for competitions sake i Do hope they manage to salvage the situation and that wuwa manages to flourish in the end but ironically enough the genshin "killer" number two more or less seems to have went the way of the other one aka ToF. so thats something i suppose lmao

Like there is something very painfully ironic about it all and it is hysterical in that sense. at least that much i can admit hsiajsks. But truly if some ppl find that wuwa offers them sth better than genshin then good for em, dont let my highly lukewarm reception ruin ur enjoyment. just end the fucking drama farm and disingenuous claims to gas up ur own cope and hype

(and to be clear. i would Not have played like 8 hours yesterday if i wasnt genuinely engaged w trying the game out and having fun lol. its just very clear to me that this early rush of ADHD dopamine oh new game new things to burn through new exploration shinies short term quick fun is very likely all wuwa is going to have on offer for me personally)

anyway thats just me so feel free to share yalls thoughts too if ud like

[acertainmoshke]

Happy WBW! Are there any givens from our world that don't apply in yours? (The laws of gravity, the water cycle, seasons, the hours in a day, day and night cycles, things like that!)

Hi, Nopal! I usually get a bit overwhelmed if I try to worldbuild to this level BUT I'm having a weird time right now and after my very exciting idea yesterday fell a bit flat, I decided to try starting my time travel series without waiting to have all the research down. Because it's been a while since I could consistently just sit down and write a story, and at least I really know those characters.

This is a pretty standard near-future story. Their lives are similar to ours. They just have space travel (surprisingly irrelevant to my plot but I get sad about a future without space), and time travel, and...NO BORDERS. Well, I'm still playing around and haven't settled on that one yet, but I had this idea. It's supposed to be a pretty realistic story, unlike TDATS, where I just added whatever I needed to make the story work. And, realistically, if we're still going to exist in a couple hundred years, the world has to get together to deal with issues like food distribution and climate change. And honestly I've been struggling a bit with this irl because I can't see the US government agreeing enough to deal with real problems, much less the world. But if they got desperate enough, maybe the whole world would come together to save themselves. Which just kind of led to...all the cultural and language variation still exist, but no political borders. One might identify as an ethnicity, but nationalities don't really matter as much. No one needs passports. There's sort of a city-state system so that governmental functions are still taken care of. Traveling is easy and relatively cheap, plus schools are much better about teaching students several languages to fluency. It couldn't be perfect--and this isn't a story about idealism or economics--so the world is still moderately capitalist, but with more socialized systems and UBI.

[pussyhoundspock]

i will say as soon as im done necessity learning (couch surfing with my vietnamese and then japanese friend for several weeks while waiting for my job to start), i am excited to get back to my fluency goals which are: high level french fluency, spanish intermediate fluency, and farsi beginner fluency. or in other words “level up” my current languages.

[alsikeclovers]

🪶

[ismailfazil1-blog]

Excavating Adventure: A Comprehensive Guide to Treasure Hunting Strategies

[the-princess-of-loki]

Loki²

Pairing: Loki x Fem!Reader x Loki

Warnings: smut, graphic descriptions of smut, if you don't like it DON'T READ IT. There's a paragraph that's MXM (LokixLoki). You could read it without reading that paragraph, but again, if you don't like it, don't read it.

I was tired. So fucking tired I could barely keep my eyes open to see the door in front of me. I jiggled the keys in my hands as I tried to remember which key was the one to open the door of Loki’s and my flat. The work week has burned me down mentally and I wasn’t able to do a simple task like opening a fucking door. At least, I had the whole weekend with Loki ahead of me to look for. Maybe Loki was in a good mood and wanted to give me one of his famous massages. I smiled at the thought. His big hands always felt so good on me…

I finally found the key so I opened the door. I left my keys on the bowl we had next to the door for them and hung my bag on the rack. Our flat was really not that big, so I was surprised when I didn’t see Loki sitting on his usual spot on our two-place sofa reading a book. As I walked towards our small kitchen, I heard laughter and flirting coming from our bedroom. I walked there slowly as if moving by an automatic response more than real will. I felt my heart throbbing against my chest and my ears started to get blocked. I could only hear the fast rhythm of my heart and a piercing whistling.

As I stood in front of the door, the doorknob on my trembling hand, I pondered for a moment if I really wanted to see what was waiting for me on the other side. Was I ready for it? Hell, no. Did I need to see it? My gut was telling me that I should. Just for the sake of not doing a scene and seeming even more pathetic, I took a few deep breaths before daring to move again. As I slowly recovered my hearing, I noticed that everything was silent. Obviously, Loki knew I was there. Why he hadn’t come out of the room to make up some kind of excuse was beyond my comprehension at that moment.

Once I was calm enough given the circumstances, I opened the door slowly. I couldn’t have prepared myself for what I saw in a thousand years. The sight in front of me left me utterly speechless. I think I forgot how to breathe at some moment. I just stood in the doorframe, not able to move or look away. It was impossible.

Loki was there on the bed, kneeling on it, in all his naked glory. But even if that was a sight to be left breathless, it wasn’t all. There were not one but two naked Lokis kneeling on our bed. Did I pass out and hit my head that hard? Was I in heaven? I didn’t know but this felt like a wild version of paradise. The two Lokis smiled at me and both of them extended one of their arms towards me. Only one of them spoke, though.

“Hello, my dear princess,” he said, his smile intact. “Come to bed, my love.” It was more of an invitation than an order but my legs moved on their own accord as if he were the owner. Once I reached the side of the bed, the two Lokis helped me get on it, kneeling right in between them. The Loki behind me started to unbutton my shirt just enough for my collarbone to be exposed. He placed both of his hands on each side of my hips as his lips started a travel from my neck to my collarbone and back. I sighed at the sensation of his warm lips on my exposed skin. “We both know how tired you are, my dear,” the Loki in front of me went on as he caressed my cheek. “So we thought about a little game to wind you down a little.”

“Wh-what kind of game?” I asked, my breathing getting heavier because of the kisses I was receiving from the Loki behind me.

“One that you’ll enjoy, of course,” the Loki in front of me answered, mischief shining in his green eyes.

“Where’s the catch?” I asked before moaning as the Loki behind me started to nibble on my skin. The Loki in front of me laughed.

“You know me so well, my dear,” he chuckled as he kept caressing one of my cheeks. “There’s a little condition or pre-game if you’d like. If you win, we’ll both take care of your pleasure.” That notion itself seemed mind-blowing but there had to be something else.

“And if I lose…?” I asked a little wary, closing my eyes as the Loki behind me tilted my head back to have full access to my throat.

“If you lose, you will take care of our pleasure. Pretty fair, isn’t it?” The Loki in front of me asked after a small chuckle. Still, I wasn’t convinced. Loki’s thinking was too complex for this game to be so simple.

“And what do I have to do?”

“Oh, that’s easy, love. You only have to tell us which one of us is the real one and which one is the magic copy. It should be easy enough for you. As I said before: you know me so well…” he smirked.

And it was easy. I could definitely tell the difference without a second of a doubt. But I was conflicted about my answer. On the one hand, I couldn’t even phantom the kind of pleasure that not one but two Lokis could bring me. After all, only one Loki always drove me crazy with pleasure. However, pleasuring Loki was as much enjoyable to me as his pleasuring me. I loved to be able to drive him completely insane with my actions. Every time he moaned my name in pleasure, he grabbed my hair tightly and lost control of himself was as blissful as when I reached my own climax. So I had to think carefully about my answer.

However, how could I think about anything at all in my current situation? I had two beautifully naked Lokis in bed with me. One of them talking sweet nothings to me; the other slowly unbuttoning my shirt, kissing my neck, throat and collarbone, nibbling them softly and caressing every bit of newly exposed skin. There was no way I could think.

“This one,” I said in a breathy whisper as I grabbed a bunch of the Loki behind me hair. “You’re the real one,” both Lokis chuckled at the same time.

“What makes you say that, my dear?” The Loki in front of me asked with a smirk. The Loki behind me stopped his ministrations on my skin so I could take a moment to at least answer coherently.

“A few things. First, the real Loki would never make it easy for me to guess it. He’d think that I’d think the one doing all the talking was the real one because we know how much he likes being in control. So he would change roles to try to confuse me. Secondly, the copy hasn’t touched me in any private area, while the real one already kissed my neck, my throat, my collarbone and caressed my whole body. But there is one thing that Loki has no control over and that thing is defining to know which one of you is real.”

“May I know which thing is that, princess?” The Loki behind me spoke for the first time since I entered the room. I smiled.

“The way your touch makes me feel, love,” both Lokis looked at me with a surprised expression. They were so cute that I couldn’t help smiling more and caressing one cheek of both of them. “When the real one touched me first, I felt this warm, fuzzy, comfortable and safe feeling that I always feel when you’re around. When the copy caressed my cheek, the same feelings aroused except for the safety. And the real Loki always makes me feel safe, even when he’s angry. It’s always like that,” I shrugged, blushing a little. Loki looked at me still surprised but after some minutes, he smiled sweetly. Although I must admit it was a little weird to see his copy do exactly the same thing as him at exactly the same time.

“You do have me figured out, don’t you, princess?” The real Loki chuckled. “Well, we made a deal and it’s time for us to deliver...”

I shivered involuntarily at the way his sultry voice left that sentence hanging in the air. I felt his smirk on my ear where his lips were and I saw his copy in front of me smirking too. The real Loki put two of his long fingers below my chin and softly moved my head to the side. He joined our lips in a sweet but passionate kiss. I didn’t doubt to return his kiss; our breaths mingled and so did our tongues. I gasped when I felt both my shirt and my bra disappear but I kept kissing Loki all the same. While the real Loki kept kissing me passionately, I felt his copy’s mouth and tongue on my collarbone. The copy’s tongue moved down my torso until he reached one of my nipples. He blew some cold air into it and then surrounded the pink bud with his mouth, lazily stroking it with his tongue. I had to break Loki’s kiss as I moaned and arched my back. The real Loki smirked again as he grabbed my work skirt and tore it to pieces. I was already heaving and this was just starting.

Loki caressed the sides of my body while his copy moved to my other nipple. Loki grabbed the sides of my panties and I could see a smirk on his lips as he tore them into pieces too. His hands caressed my belly, going lower inch by inch. Before he reached my core, he stopped, though. He was, without a doubt, enjoying this as much as I was.

“Are you wet yet, my princess?” Loki asked in a sexy whisper.

One of his hands still wandered around my core while the other caressed its way to my butt. I gasped when he grabbed tightly one of my asscheeks, squeezing it; I moaned a second later when he slapped it at the same exact moment his copy sucked harder on my nipple. My air and lungs weren’t enough to moan out my pleasure. Loki slapped my other asscheek, a little harder this time, making my hips move away from him involuntarily. Right in that instant, he massaged my external walls with two of his long digits. I heard him chuckle through my moan.

“You are always wet and ready for me, my princess,” he praised me still chuckling.

Loki teased my clit for some moments while his copy sucked my nipple and squeezed my asscheeks. The real one rubbed my clit with his thumb and I moved my hips with his movements until the copy grabbed my ass more tightly so I couldn’t move. I whimpered and they both chuckled at the same time. Then, Loki inserted one of his fingers inside me, while he kept rubbing my clit with his thumb. I moaned, tilting my head back so much that it ended up resting on his shoulder. He moved his finger inside and out of me, teasing that fantastic spot with each thrust, all the while he rubbed my clit with his thumb and his copy kept sucking on my nipples, alternating between the two of them.

When Loki felt I was used to his finger, he nodded to his copy. The copy smirked and left my breasts and one of my asscheeks as he inserted the same finger that Loki had inside me. I moaned as both of them moved their fingers at the same time, just teasing me. They kept adding fingers inside me as they felt how I was getting more and more aroused every second that passed by. I got excited as I saw them both taking his fingers out of me completely; that only meant one thing. However, when my lust-clouded mind was able to think, I got worried. They were both preparing to penetrate me. Both.

“Loki…I…both…I won’t be able…” I stuttered, looking back at the real Loki behind me who smiled at me sweetly but with mischief shining on his green eyes.

“My princes, have I ever done something to you that you didn’t enjoy? Have I ever hurt you?” Loki asked as he kissed and nibbled my neck.

“N-no, but…” It was difficult to concentrate on words at that moment. Almost impossible.

“Then, keep trusting me, my love. I will always do what’s best for you and I promised you pleasure, not pain. So relax, my love, and give yourself to me.”

I was still a little hesitant, to be honest. But what Loki had said was true so I decided to do what I always did in these situations: I trusted him and gave myself to him. He always knew, sometimes better than me, what, how and when I needed something. So I just nodded to him, giving him my express consent. I knew that he wouldn’t go on until I had fully and expressly consented. It was one of the things, of many things, that made me fall in love with him. Even for our first kiss, he’d asked for my permission.

Once I’ve consented, both Loki and his copy started to prepare to penetrate me again. They had to move on the bed so they’d be able to do it. I was excited but hesitant at the same time. Loki knew it, of course he did, so he grabbed my neck with one hand to bring me towards his chest as he was still behind me. His lips lingered on mine, his warm breath hitting my face as a hypnotic fragrance.

“Feel me,” he whispered in a low, sultry voice.

Loki crashed his lips on mine and I lost every ability to think. I was only able to feel him, just as he had told me to. After a short while, I had to break the kiss as I felt both Loki and his copy thrust inside me at the same time. I moaned high. I felt a little bit of pain, I wasn’t going to lie. Loki was big enough on his own and now he was doubled in size and completely inside me. Loki, of course, knew it, so both he and his copy stayed still inside me.

“Good girl,” Loki praised me as he breathed heavily. His chest went up and down against my back and the same went for Loki’s copy in front of me. A thought crossed my mind then; a dangerous thought without a doubt. Loki knew about it as soon as it crossed my mind and he chuckled. “Oh, my princess. Who would’ve known you had such dirty thoughts, my good girl? But I’ve promised you pleasure and I’m a god of my word, aren’t I?”

I couldn’t believe it, but was really excited and amazed to see, when Loki grabbed his copy’s neck and brought him forward to him with me still in the middle. They kissed passionately right next to my face. It was an exaggerated kiss so I could see every movement. Loki looked at me the whole time, making sure that I was looking and enjoying the show he was putting up for me. And hell, I was enjoying it more than I thought I would. When I saw their tongues playing together, I couldn’t stop myself and joined their kiss with my own tongue. I moaned as soon as they kissed me back.

Once I was lost in that passionate and wild kiss -really, not even in my wildest fantasies I’d imagined that I’d get to kiss two Lokis at the same time. Loki and his copy started to move slowly, thrusting inside me in a rhythm which made sure that one of them was all the time inside me. I broke the kiss and moaned with each thrust, as they both hit my G-spot all the time stimulating me non-stop. To make matters better in this particular situation, Loki started to rub my clit with his thumb again. I was being over-stimulated and I didn’t know how much time I was going to last. I even started to feel my walls getting tighter around both Loki’s and his copy’s hard members inside me.

“You’re so close, princes…” Loki whispered in my ear in his sensual, breathy voice. “Cum for me, my good girl…cum for both of us.”

Immediately after he finished speaking, I cum hard with a high moan of his name. I trembled as I felt my orgasm in every inch of my body. However, Loki and his copy didn’t stop or slow down his movements. If something, they moved harder and faster. My mind was in no state to think about anything but my body responded automatically to their movements, getting ready for yet another orgasm. I was still trembling from the first one but it seemed that my body wanted to please both Lokis with an orgasm for each. It didn’t take me long until another climax hit me and this time I felt both Lokis cumming too, filling me with their semen so much that it started to fall down my inner thighs before they got out of me. It was, without a doubt, the hottest experience of my life.

Once they both took out their member of me, I fell on the bed, breathing heavily and completely exhausted and satisfied. Loki laid next to me, caressing my back with the tip of his fingers as he too tried to recover his breath. I turned my face to the other side to look at him and we both smiled tiredly to each other, the look of complete satisfaction present in both our faces.

“Would you like my copy to give you that massage you were hoping for, my princess?” Loki asked with half a smirk. I laughed and nodded.

[kanerallels]

I am in search of an artist to commission for my book cover! It's a middle grade-ish fantasy fairy tale retelling, and I've posted on here about it on and off. A semi comprehensive post about it can be found here, feel free to send an ask with any other questions! I shall put a summary under the cut just to make life easier, though

There are a few qualifiers for who I'd like to choose to design the cover:

I do not under any circumstances want a cover that's literally just a person standing there like every other YA novel out there. What I'm looking for is something artistic and unique (I'll post some of my favorite book covers under the cut as well!) and very colorful!

Whoever designs the cover should be willing to read the book first, and be open to the fact that there will probably be some Christian elements and themes

This is less a qualifier and more just a warning: I'm gonna be kinda picky about this, because it's something I really, really want to get right. So if I don't go with you as an artist, it's not because of you or your skill, but just because it's not a right fit, and if I have comments or critiques, we're gonna have to do our best to work together to find something we both like

I think that covers (pun intended hehehe) everything! Thanks for y'all's time, let me know if you have any questions about this!

Book summary:

Rebecca Wood has never known who her real family was. So when a boy named Liam finds her and tells her that he knows where her real family is, it seems like it could be too good to be true

Oddly enough, that's far from the strangest part. It turns out, Rebecca is from the land of fairy tales, though it's not exactly the same as the stories—Snow White and Cinderella are notorious assassins, and the land is ruled by the Evil Empress Goldilocks, who seems to have a special interest of her own in Rebecca.

None of this makes Rebecca's journey any less fascinating as she travels through a perilous and beautiful land full of magic and mystery, looking for the one thing she's always wanted

Book covers I like:

[dirtyzucchini]

Let me tell you something about Constable Benton Fraser, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who came to Chicago on the trail of the killers of his father and, for reasons that don't need exploring at this juncture, remained, attached as liaison with the Canadian consulate.

There was never much of a chance that Benton Fraser would grow up to be what most people would casually call "a regular guy". From what little insight we get, no part of his childhood would have been standard. Looking at the anecdote Bob Fraser tells in Burning Down The House, we can assume that Benton grew up in a cabin his father built by hand, in a location remote enough and far enough North that living in an igloo during the construction of said cabin was a sensible thing for his parents to do. We see one picture of the family in Good For The Soul, and it is a puzzler:

Now, I wasn't around in the mid to late 1960's when that photo would have been taken, and I've never been to Canada's far North, but everything I could find anywhere tells me that that is not how (white!) people dressed then even up there, and no, I am not talking about trendy fashion. Everyday clothing looked pretty much like what we still wear today, but the people in that picture don't. They look like this guy - a European "explorer" whose picture was taken in 1889:

Side note: I am purposely only talking about white/western/mainstream society in this post because the Frasers are white.

I wonder what drove them to live like this, and so far away from other people? It can't have been money, Bob would have made enough to support them. I guess Fraser's parents weren't regular guys, either.

Anyway, we know that Bob wasn't around much while Fraser's mother was alive, and even less so after her death. He handed the boy off to his own parents instead, and Benton was raised by literal, real life Edwardians, people who were born before the invention of band-aids and bubblegum. Public radio broadcasts were cutting-edge technology when they were young. I'm glad they stepped up, and I'm sure they did their best, but they weren't exactly well-equipped to prepare a child for life in modern society. They were librarians who for some reason moved around a lot. When he was eight, they took Benton to a place called Alert - the northernmost continously inhabited place in the world. Unfortunately it's inhabited by soldiers and researchers who go there on six-months-tours, but it counts because the tours overlap. Fraser would have been the only child there, and, the times being what they were, his grandmother the only woman. What librarians would have done in Alert we can only speculate about, but between this and the fact that they helped build an English-speaking library in China before the revolution, we can safely assume that we are dealing with another generation of non-regular Frasers here. This idea is supported by the fact that they fed Fraser arctic tern for Christmas. Each bird weighs under 130 grams, and they would be hard to come by in northern Canada in December because they migrate to literally the other end of the world after breeding in the Arctic in the summer. I'm not entirely certain what this says about Fraser's grandparents, but it sure says something, doesn't it?

This bird may scream, but it does not scream Christmas to me.

Listen, I LOVE that Fraser's grandmother taught him how to box from a book.

Perhaps this one from 1922? In this book, the writer "not only describes the various moves of the game and traces the history of their development but deals comprehensively with all the factors of body and mind that make for success in the ring." Sounds like a good choice!

I do NOT love that she taught him that being in the hospital for three weeks after being shot in the back is "babying yourself". She also raised Bob Fraser to be the kind of man who tells his journal "The last time I saw Ben, he was barely tall enough to reach my belt. When I said good-bye he shook my hand. Never a tear or a complaint. Seven years old and he's already a stronger man than I'll ever be. Someday I'll tell him.", and friends, I DO NOT love that at all. That is NOT a healthy way to deal with emotions, and I think we can agree that growing up guided by these mindsets did Fraser no favors at all. Look at how he lives! His apartment is absolutely bare-bones, no personality, and after that he literally lives in his office - this is a man who gets REALLY uncomfortable when he's comfortable, is what I'm saying. Everything he does is quick and efficient to make sure he can devote a maximum amount of time to his work. I'd bet "Idle hands are the devil's workshop" was a very common saying in the Fraser household.

Look, our upbringing informs who we become, how we approach life, how we connect to those around us. Fraser's view of the world is completely different from how other people see it. Long before he's displaced geographically, he's displaced in time.

He grew up without TV, and while living with librarians gave him access to a large number of books, the libraries they worked at served remote communities and would not have been all too well funded. It stands to reason they would have had to make their books last as long as possible, and that new purchases would have been, shall we say, conservative? Copies of beloved classics, books with general appeal, books with educational/instructional value would have made up the bulk of purchases. Even if the librarians wanted to, there would have been little money to buy more controversial books - and it doesn't seem likely that Fraser's grandparents would have wanted to. Fraser probably grew up on adventure tales, detective stories and, as a teen and young adult, the classics from Austen to Shakespeare.

When he gets to Depot in Regina to become a Mountie he has nothing in common with the other recruits, and that continues throughout all his career. There's a reason he's still a Constable after all his years of service: he's severely lacking in social skills, and his upbringing is a big part of that problem*. He was raised by Edwardians on Victorian (and Romantic) mores and values, and bridging that gap to make connections with people from what's essentially a different world is very, very hard.

TL,DR: Fraser is both an alien and a time traveler, and we should remember that when we talk about him.

*Other parts of the problem are his queerness and neurodiversity, but those are topics for another essay. Please know that by problem I do NOT mean there's something wrong with him, I mean that there's something wrong with how society treats people like him.

Big thank you to @sammaggs and @sammeltassensammelsurium for excellent feedback!

[journeytothewestresearch]

Can you please tell me what abilities sun wukong have because am always confused about it i even hear some people says that sun wukong is omniscient and omnipresent and can control time or that he is is a boundless character

At no point in JTTW is Monkey ever depicted as a boundless character with omniscience, omnipresence, and control over time. Anyone claiming that has never read the novel. Never ever trust any online claims about Sun Wukong unless a cited quote is provided.

Having said that, I am slowly compiling a comprehensive list of all of Monkey's magical abilities and skills, complete with corresponding Chinese terms and citations. However, I am nowhere close to being done (and won't be for years), so I can only give you a general list at this time. But I will link to my past articles where applicable.

The following is based on a list I wrote a few months ago for someone looking to make their D&D campaign more authentic.

Immortality - He has six layers of immortality. But these are more like layers of invulnerability. As a "bogus immortal" (yaoxian, 妖仙) he is still susceptible to injury and death because he hasn��t yet achieved Buddha-nature and broken free of the wheel of rebirth (see note #1 here for an explanation).

Invulnerability - He has an adamantine hide that can't be pierced or hurt by earthly or heavenly weapons and elements (this doesn't count the times that he allows himself to be cut). This is thanks to all of the immortal foodstuff he had eaten in heaven being refined within his body by his samadhi fire, giving him a "diamond body" (jingang zhi qu, 金鋼之軀). Sometimes he uses this invulnerability to freak out demons by blocking a sword strike with his bald head. However, he can still be hurt. For example, he is twice wounded by special elements born from spiritual cultivation, samadhi fire and wind (the book treats cultivated and heavenly elements as two different things). Also, one villain, a scorpion demoness energized with Buddhist dharma power, is able to successfully penetrate his skin by stinging him in the face with her tail.

72 changes - He can transform into anything. The only flaw is his tail, which doesn't always change the way he wants it to. Or, a character recognizes him because of his red butt.

Cloud somersault - This allows him to fly 108,000 li (33,554 mi / 54,000 km) in a single leap. The skill is actually a metaphor for instantaneous enlightenment, for those who achieve it will immediately arrive in the Buddha's paradise.

Magic hairs - He can change any one of his 84,000 hairs into anything he wants (tools, random objects, living creatures, etc.) These include hair clones, which are autonomous copies of himself that can range into the tens, hundreds, thousands, millions, or even billions. However, he only deploys these on a small scale in the novel. He never uses the power to its full stated extent.

Super strength - His greatest feat is carrying two mountains while running "with the speed of a meteor." But there are characters physically stronger than him. For instance, Monkey cannot escape the grip of the Great Peng bird once he is caught in his powerful talons.

Martial arts - He is proficient in armed and unarmed combat, being able to go toe-to-toe with deities with centuries more combat experience than him. "Short Fist," a historical style, is listed as his preferred boxing method. But he mainly relies on his magic iron staff for fighting.

General magic - Monkey is shown capable of calling forth gods and spirits, growing or shrinking to any size, parting fire and water, creating impassable barriers, conjuring wind storms, casting illusions, freezing people in place, putting anyone to sleep, unlocking any lock, bestowing superhuman strength, bringing the dead back to life, turning invisible, changing someone's appearance, traveling to and from heaven and hell, etc.

Magic Eyes - He can see through illusions. But this isn't always portrayed consistently, for I know of several times where Guanyin fools him, and even a god of the soil, a lesser deity, is once able to do the same thing.

Medicine - He can diagnose maladies and concoct medicines to solve the issue.

You can see that omniscience, omnipresence, and control over time are not listed. I think the problem is that people are confusing Sun Wukong at two different points in his character arc. The powers listed above come from the journey itself (ch. 13 to 100). The omni-level powers would come after he achieves Buddhahood at the end of the novel (ch. 100). However, it's very, very important to know that the story ends before Sun Wukong, now the "Victorious Fighting Buddha," performs any feats (i.e. he has no feats as a Buddha). I'm sure people could assign him powers ascribed to other Buddhas in religious literature, but what happens after the story ends is beyond canon.

I hope this helps.

[p1zzaparty]

Idk if I'm just not on the right side of the fandom but i need more mike headcannons

Genuinely always loved the idea that after the events of the second movie, he becomes a full blown paranormal phenomenon researcher/investigator.

Traveling around the country investigating phenomenon's much like It, maybe even keeping a record or book of his findings.

And of course keeping up with the losers as much as he can, he's the glue that keeps them all together. Even if he's the only one writing letters, sending emails, texts, or even the occasional calls.

He's enthusiastic about these nightmarish horrors beyond our comprehension!!! Raving about aliens and ghosts and creatures that eat your skin alive!!!

[maedelin]

THIS JUST IN!!!!!

Apparently Rogue's character is "ruined" for being interested in Magneto and for not lovin' Gambit the "right" way while he also has previous love interests and an ex-wife in XTAS *blocks and side-eyes blogs like remylebeaugambit* Makes me embarrassed to be a Remy fan rn.

If so-called Rogue fans are so uncomfortable with legal adult Rogue being attracted to Magneto in various media , maybe they should read a Kitty Pryde comic instead or stick to just watching that (actually pretty good ngl) high school AU that is X-Men: Evolution.

Heck, even Sid the sloth from the Ice Age movies gets less slack for dating the much older Brooke who also got magically de-aged just like Magneto. And nobody's saying that Sid is a victim and Brooke is a groomer because the Ice Age fandom is more normal than Rogneto antis and so-called fans of Rogue and Gambit's characters.

Agreed and well met, Traveler! I loved X-Men: Evolution as well. I'm fine with characters having many ships. I'm fond of calling it an armada. :) And my own personal cry is: Monogamy? In this economy?!

I agree with you: the age discourse is just awful. It's so upsetting to me. It's the most basic, reductive, simplistic argument. You can count the years but you add no value or depth to them.

It's not about Rogue being ruined it is about Rogue being ruined for *them*. Reading literacy and comprehension as well as looking at texts dialectically (at the least) is on the wane. You couple this with a strange "purity of concept" that seems to permeate our media, and we get this issue.

If you like a character, then that character is a statement on *you*, *your integrity*, *your morals*, *your ability* to be right. Therefore Rogue doing something against the perceived norm of the story (a story with low stakes, mind. We're less comfortable living in a state of unknowing even more these days) is not only an insult to Remy, but it is also an insult to them, their viewership, their expectations of the character, and ultimately a reflection of themselves.

We see then the knee-jerk reaction to distance, define, and denigrate. Suddenly, we're as obsessed with purity of character and dictating their "best practice" motives. They have to find a way to explain away the fault. Sometimes it's pushed back on the writers (especially if the writer is female...thinking Rebecca Sugar here and the SU writing pool) but often (especially for female presenting characters) the blame is shifted on a literal thought concept. It's insane!

X-Men is a soap opera with powers. Also, the most important thing to remember in my book is the main core of it: the X-Men are people. Not gods (sorry Krakoan Magneto, still love you, baby) but human beings who wish to coexist with you.

With laser beam eyes.

[howlsofbloodhounds]

Because I had headcanon that Color is Autistic and has developed special interests in things such as photography, travel, maybe even things like social advocacy.

Maybe even philosophy and psychology. For now, in this posts, I’ll focus on the big two: photography and traveling. (I will also touch on how Color’s physical disability, chronic fatigue, his autism, and perhaps his ptsd/ separation anxiety from Killer also effect his ability to engage in his interests in another post.)

I think he’d develop some decent if not above average technical knowledge, such as camera types and functions. Detailed understanding of different types of cameras (DSLR, mirrorless, point-and-shoot, medium format, etc.) and their specific functions.

Knowledge about various lenses (prime, zoom, wide-angle, telephoto, macro) and their applications. Mastery of camera settings like ISO, aperture, shutter speed, and how to manipulate them for different lighting conditions and artistic effects.

In-depth understanding of how aperture, shutter speed, and ISO interact to create a properly exposed photograph. Proficiency in using software like Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop, or other photo editing tools for post-processing and enhancing images.

He’d learn about artistic elements such as composition techniques, lighten and color theory. Develop a familiarity with compositional rules like the rule of thirds, leading lines, framing, symmetry, and how to creatively break these rules.

Knowledge about natural and artificial lighting, how to use light to create mood and depth, and techniques like backlighting, side lighting, and using reflectors. Understanding of how colors interact, complementary colors, and how to use color to convey emotion and direct viewer attention.

Awareness of different photography styles (portrait, landscape, macro, street, documentary, astrophotography, etc.) and genres, and what makes each unique.

Knowledge about influential photographers and their work, such as Ansel Adams, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Annie Leibovitz, and contemporary photographers.

Understanding the evolution of photography, from daguerreotypes to digital photography, and significant milestones in the field. Awareness of current trends in photography, popular styles, and emerging technologies.

And, of course, he’d develop and grow practical experiences and hands on practice. Experience with on-location shoots, managing different weather conditions, and adapting to various shooting environments.

Knowledge about how to properly maintain and clean camera equipment to ensure longevity and optimal performance. Skills in troubleshooting common issues like lens flare, sensor dust, or focus problems.

He’d have a deep enthusiasm for specific techniques or subjects he enjoys photographing, whichever or whatever you all think those could be exactly.

Likely to have personal photography projects, well-organized portfolios, and possibly an online presence showcasing their work. Extensive collection of books, articles, videos, and tutorials related to photography.

A special interest in traveling, in addition to photography, would manifest in the character in several ways, showcasing their passion and extensive knowledge about various aspects of travel. Here are some specific aspects:

For his interest in travel, he’d be very well versed in the planning and research process. Color might create comprehensive travel itineraries, meticulously planning each day's activities, routes, and schedules.

He might gradually develop an extensive knowledge about various travel destinations, including historical sites, natural landmarks, cultural attractions, and lesser-known gems.

He’d display a proficiency in booking flights, accommodations, and transportation, as well as understanding visa requirements, travel insurance, and local regulations.

An expertise in packing efficiently, knowing what to bring for different climates and activities, and how to pack photography gear safely for travel. Color is likely to show a very deep and profound appreciation for different cultures, learning basic phrases or even fluency in multiple languages to better communicate while traveling.

He’d definitely show a deep interest in trying and understanding local cuisines, knowing popular dishes, and even recipes from various regions. He’d have at least some knowledge about local customs, traditions, festivals, and etiquette to respect and immerse themselves in different cultures.

He’d certainly develop some geographical and historical knowledge, with a detailed understanding of world geography, maps, and the ability to navigate using traditional maps as well as digital tools.

Knowledge about the history of the places he visits, including significant events, historical figures, and the cultural evolution of the region.

He might maintain detailed travel logs or journals documenting his experiences, including photos, notes, and personal reflections. He’d definitely collect souvenirs, postcards, or other memorabilia from his travels; often gifting them to beloved friends.

He’d probably engage with travel communities, forums, and social media groups to share experiences and gain insights.

This special interest would possibly lead to him gaining a lot of practical skills, such as in budget management. Expertise in budgeting for travel, finding deals, and managing expenses effectively.

He might display an ability to adapt to different environments, handle unexpected situations, and problem-solve while on the go.

Although it’d probably be harder for him than most, particularly if he has a harder time handling and dealing with change—especially if the change is unexpected and unplanned.

Knowledge about staying healthy while traveling, such as understanding local healthcare options, vaccinations, and travel safety tips.

He’d like combine both interests by using his photography skills to capture stunning images of the places he visits, creating travel blogs or photo albums to document his journeys.

He might create photo essays or visual stories that capture the essence of the cultures and places he explores. Share his travel experiences and recommendations with others, possibly through writing travel guides, blogs, or social media content.

All this is to say that Killer would definitely encourage Color to come with him to explore abandoned places and ghost towns, and Color’s going to be so overjoyed he starts hand flapping. He’s going to take so many pictures, he’s going to remember it forever.

[thatgirlonstage]

I am seeing a bad and annoying take about all books for adults being boring circulating again so here is my plea to 1) remember that adult fiction written by people other than Ernest Hemingway and F Scott Fitzgerald exists, 2) remember that genre fiction exists and is in fact frequently written for adults, and 3) realize it is counterproductive to the goal of encouraging people to read things they enjoy to throw a different set of books under the bus

Anyway whenever people have book takes that make me mad I’ve decided the healthy response is for me to just make a rec list so here’s some books for adults that I don’t think are boring at all.

Superluminal by Vonda McIntyre. I’m going to keep banging this drum forever. Sci-fi future setting with space travel and a lot of themes of body transformation and there’s magic whales and an overwhelming love for the beauty of the universe as it stretches beyond our comprehension.

The Perilous Courts series by Tavia Lark (first book: Prince and Assassin). Six M/M romance novels set in a high fantasy world. Do you like dragons? Magic? Themes of family and loyalty and betrayal and devotion? Just enough fantasy politics to ratchet up the stakes without bogging you down in the nitty gritty? Want some sweet sweet smut scenes as the cherry on top? Check out these books they’re fucking great.

The Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli. A family takes a road trip across the US, the father researching the Apache tribe, the mother looking into the disappearance of her friend’s two immigrant children who have gone missing in federal custody. I will not lie, this book is heavy, but it is also beautifully written and a really gutting exploration of the parallels and connections between historic and current struggles for survival and the atrocities that struggle is often met with.

We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian. 1950s M/M romance. Quieter and slower-paced than the other things on this list but if that’s your jam, this book is incredibly gentle. And I can’t speak for anyone else but my bisexual ass felt INCREDIBLY seen.

The Green Bone Saga by Fonda Lee (first book: Jade City). What if The Godfather was a wuxia novel.

The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez. A young girl escapes slavery and is rescued by vampires. The book is composed of a series of vignettes of her life as a vampire over the centuries. It’s a really different take on vampire lore than any other book or show I know about and I really can’t recommend it enough especially if you like deconstructions of classic monsters.

[stalkerofthegods]

Lord Morpheus/Somnina deep dive info

Lord Morpheus is active in lives, he is a kind and gentle god, always having his worshipers/devotees in his mind, he is amazing.

Herbs • Poppy, Poppy trees, poppy seeds, ivory, Dandelion seed, Chamomile, mugwort, lavender, jasmine, passionflower, basil

Animals• Bats, Nocturnal animals, Cats, Fireflies, Moths, Butterfly, Racoons, Wolves, Crows, Halcyon birds, sheep “counting sheep” (my personal thinking)

Zodiac • None, I couldn't find any evidence, perhaps Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, or Pisces because they were born in the winter.

Colors • Black, Blue, Gold, Purple, Silver, Red, some folks like associating neon colors and grey. I also think white.

Crystal• Amethyst, Herkimer Diamond, Scolecite, Hematite, Lapis Lazuli, and gemstones associated with dream magick

Symbols• Horns (he passes through a horn gate each night), Portals, gates, feathers, wings, skeleton keys, stars, night, ivory, tea, baths, sweet coffee

wear in their honor • sleep masks, PJs, slippers.

Diety of• of dreams, of sleep

Patron of• from/shape (his name translates to that, and shapeshifts in dreams.), messages to the unconscious, prophecies to the unconscious, influencing people unconsciously, hypnotizing, dreaming about the future, daydreaming, dream jobs, human shapes, hallucinations of humans, meditation, desire, hope, insomnia, opium-based medication, lucid dreaming, imagination, schizophrenia or schizophrenia-like disorders or illnesses, creativity, astral travel, encouragement, communication, divination

Element• Water, air

Offerings• Honey, honey cake, wine, fish and incense, Melatonin, Sleep-related gemstones and crystals, Skulls, Dream Catchers (ethnically obtained), Any type of stress reliever, and sleep indulgent tea, Ivory and/or Horn items, Sleep-related spells,

The imagery of his associated animals, Feathers, demon imagery(?), imagery of his animals, offerings of things like moths, butterflies, skulls, and feathers (ethically sourced), melatonin gummies, skeleton keys, Dream Pillows (herbal satchels filled with lavender to place under your pillow for better sleep)

Devotional• Track your dreams on a calendar, Keep a dream journal, Get enough sleep, Turn off your electronics 1 hour before bed (gets you in deeper sleep faster), Perform a night ritual, Learn about lucid dreaming and practice it, Write a letter to Morpheus before going to bed, Prayers related to Morpheus, Prophetic inducing herbs, Creating a playlist for him with songs that help you sleep, drink mugwort or chamomile tea before bed, set and try to stick to a night routine, write letters or jokes to him, write stories/a book, wear or dress your bed in his associated color, keep crystals for him on your bed or bedside table, have a bath or shower before bed, speak to him before you sleep, go to a sleepover to his honor, washing your bed sheets, cleaning up ur bed, try making your own melatonin, practice divination, try controlling ur dreams

Ephithets• Μορφευς, Morpheus, Shaper of Dreams, Sandman, Mildest of the Gods, Balm of the Soul, Oneiros, Kai’Ckul, Lord L’Zoril, Shaper of Forms, Lord Shaper, Prince of Stories (The Sandman, Neil Gaiman), Dream Giver, Sleep’s Guest, Lord Shaper, Father of Dreams, Lord of the Night, He Who Tells Mortals Stories,  Formshaper, Shadowmaker

Equivalents (alike not the same)• Niorun (Norse), Angus (Celtic), Caer (Celtic), Bes (Egypt), Tutu (Egypt), Morpheus (Greek), Somnina (Norse).

Signs their reaching out• Sudden floating in dreams, better dreams, sleeping better, seeing him in dreams.

Vows/omans• Perhaps wedding vows.

Number• 1, 6, 7

Morals• Morally lawfully neutral follows the gods' bidding.

Courting• no one, but is seen as Iris's husband in some literature,

Past lovers/crushes• I couldn't find any, I think he is Ace? But that is not anyone's business. He is ‘said’ to date Iris because of always being togetherer 

Personality• Morpheus is a very chill and comprehensive God. He’s understanding and he’s happy to help out if he can. He doesn’t ask for much when you worship him, as long as you’re making an effort he’s fine.

Home• Erebus, in the Underworld

Mortal or immortal • Immortal 

Fact• Some say they were able to “heal”, 

Curses• Insomnia, your dream of the ‘good future’ being wrong, your hopes and dreams crashing down, no dreams (If u like your dreams), feeling anger towards you in dreams and just in general. Your baby wakes up with a nightmare. The back/neck problems you wake up with.

Blessings• Good sleep, having good dreams, and your children going to sleep.

Roots• Ancient Greece, born probably in Tarturas

Friends• Iris, Zeus, Hermes, Hera, messengers in general.

Parentage• Pasithea and Hypnos, some say he came from Hypnos asexually, some say from Nyx asexually, I think Nyx.

Siblings• Oneiroi, Icelus, Phobetor, Phantasus

Pet• None.

Children • None 

Appearance in astral or gen• often depicted with wings, he changes into whatever shape is needed at a given moment, decided as a young man in art, and has one ear with wing and one to hear with. He looks like he has short hair.

Festivals • I couldn't find any, I would say hibernation month, and just celebrate being able to sleep when animals are hibernating.

Season • winter 

Day • I would say Saturday because I get the most sleep on Saturday, no school, and no worries, I couldn't find a historic one, or just make a day for him, many people do that for minor gods.

Status• Greek Minor god/personification, a part of the Oneiroi, and the leader of the Oneiroi. plays a major role in day-to-day life. He is a Cthonic deity

What angers them • Insulting them, 

Music they like• I would think Sleep Music, Sleep Asmr

What they like • sleep.

What they dislike• I would say physical touch since he disappears all the sudden when he is almost being touched, I think he only touches those he ‘is okay with’ as a sign of trust or adornment because I heard a person back then say they use to get tapped by them

Planet• Moon (phase new)

Tarot cards• The Four of Swords and the Tower, message card (based on sleep and messages, each their own.)

Reminds me of• sleep, the good resting kind of sleep 

In my opinion • they are pretty rad, and strangely I've been having shit sleep, ain't he just a sweetheart.

Scents/Inscene • Opium, Lavender, Jasmine, Chamomile, Sandalwood, and any other calming scents

Prayers• 

1.

Ever-shifting Morpheus, lord of the Oneiroi who bring us our dreams, true or false. Morpheus, swift-soaring courier, twilight messenger of the gods, kind one, dweller in the shadowed land of dreams, dark-winged god who shapes the visions of the night, who tells the tales that must be told, who strips us bare of secrets, who clothes hard truths in subtle raiment, child of the black night, child of the shrouded dark, in the realm of illusion you are king. Morpheus, harbinger of change, concealer of clues, you bury bits of truth among our wishes and fancies; with your aid can we see into the mist of the unknown, with your aid can we find the hidden pieces of the self. Morpheus, I praise and honor you.

2.

With a whisper I call you, o Morpheus,  lord of dreams, greatest amongst the Oneiroi. I call to you as Hypnos draws near.

Phantasos, ancient messenger who  crafts wonder into form who conjures in our minds a tapestry otherworldly. Greatest molder and master of lights,  many-shaped, you cross the night  and take on any face or voice any hue or sound you so desire. I ask you, my lord: shield me from pain  and fear in my dreams, let no anguish burden my heart as I sleep. This only I request: that within your great creations I may rest  and through your hand I may find safe haven. That my words may reach you, o Morpheus  whispered though they may be as Hypnos draws near.

Links/websites/sources •https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morpheus

https://www.thecollector.com/morpheus-greek-god/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Morpheus-Greek-mythology https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hypnos https://despena.gr/morpheus-the-ancient-greek-god-of-dreams/https://kreweofmorpheus.clubexpress.com/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=174762&module_id=305302 https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends-europe/morpheus-greek-god-dreams-who-delivered-messages-gods-mortal-world-002318#google_vignette How Ancient Egyptians Interpreted Dreams - UnEarthed Penn Dream Angus: The Celtic God of Dreams (The Myths) - Amazon.comAmazon.com Caer Ibormeith - Thoughts on PapyrusThoughts on Papyrus Who is Niorun? - Northern Tradition Paganismhttps://greekpagan.com/tag/morpheus/

HUGE HELP FROM

I use resources, I do not own the info, and most deep dives have UPG (that I use in my work.) And I only take some information from sources. I am 14, this is my hobby, I am learning but I spent many hours and days on this, and I am always open to criticism. I have been doing worship for 5 years. Please know you can use the info, I do not sue, but I will take action if this work is used without permission and not put as a resource if used in any work. without permisson and not put as a resource if used in any work, for the public.

[basilthesnakingthing]

I love how the book of bill turns Letting The Triangle Into Your Dimension into more of a moral dilemma than it was in the show, or even Journal 3. “To Bill this is only a game, but to us, it would mean the end of the world.” Except that actually, to Bill it’s his home, and it’s the ragtag gang of scrappy orphan rascals that he took charge of, gave purpose to, and became the protector/leader of, and all of their lives at stake. He tried to brush it off, but it seems like he genuinely feels responsible for them. They’re scared. Of course, they’re still criminals. If you did let them in, they would wreck your home and end/ruin lots of people’s lives, and that would be wrong. But just leaving them to die feels messed up.

I love that the book humanizes Bill without trying to convince you that anything he did wasn’t as bad as we thought. (Well, Bill is constantly trying to tell you that, but we’re all very well aware that he’s an unreliable narrator.) But he doesn’t know how the Edge of the Nightmare Realm came about. He gets defensive. (this was touched on in weirdmageddon, but I don’t see nearly enough people talking about how he can’t take what he dishes.) He’s not some master manipulator who knows you inside and out, better than you could ever know yourself or him, he just scans some of your memories for some stuff you might care about and runs with it. The only reason it worked so well with Ford was because they already had similar trauma and compatible personalities. I honestly think that if Bill had just told the truth about the true purpose of the portal that they would have been great friends. Ford -knowing what would happen this time- wouldn’t have ever tried to build the portal, but he would help Bill problem-solve to find a way to not be eaten by the Edge. Bill could get him all the information, and the context, and the what the living there was like without ever getting interdimensional travel involved, because you know he could, and then nothing bad would’ve happened, and how it really went was fucking tragic.

I love that we get even more psychological horror journal pages, even more intense than Journal 3 had. And I love that it shows us that Bill made a mistake and the consequences of it were so traumatic that his memories of that day are repressed. He’s just . . a guy. Who has too much power how ill adjusted he is.

But I am deeply annoyed at how Bill all but told us that his relationship to Ford was romantic in nature. I maintain that Ford never thought of Bill in a romantic way, because he is aroace. It’s very clear in the show, but especially in Journal 3. Anyone who tells you otherwise either has no reading comprehension skills or is retconning something. But I can’t deny that Bill clearly outlined how he would court someone, and that he has done those things to Ford. Can I pretend that was just him screwing with us because he knew we would come to that conclusion? *deep dramatic sigh* Probably not because of how how he acted when he was drunk. To yoose guys this is delightful, I know, but to me all the stuff above that I said I did like were enough to make this a fascinating dynamic. The romance part is just kind of there. All inconveniently. Making it feel less interesting and meaningful.

Will definitely do an essay on what the book of Bill implies about Billy’s home world at some point. Might make a comic about The Good Timeline where Bill was honest to begin with.

[jennamoran]

The Far Roofs: the Rats' Books of Names

cover art by Isip Xin

Hi!

Today I’m going to talk a little bit more about my forthcoming RPG, the Far Roofs. I’ve previously talked about

general principles,

the rats,

the campaign,

the Mysteries, and

my favorite Mystery.

Today, I want to talk about a key setting element:

The rats' "books of names."

So, the high concept here is pretty simple. The rats of this game are pretty cool, but not cool enough to deal with god-monsters on any kind of equal basis. The Mysteries aren't like Goliath to their David, at least not usually; they're more like Scylla and Charybdis to their Odysseus. Sometimes it's possible to negotiate. Sometimes it's possible to fight back. But a lot of the time, "winning" a confrontation with a Mystery is more about surviving. Making it through.

Except ...

Just like it was for human mariners, a situation where the whole environment they travel through is full of impossible horrors one just can't do anything about ... that's kind of untenable. Humans never made the sea safe, but they did learn to navigate it. They figured out how to sail, how to chart, how to not get constant scurvy, how to knot rigging, all that stuff.

In like fashion, the rats have this multi-generational project to, basically, nibble away at the "Mystery" part of the Mysteries. To not just survive their encounters, but to come away with a bit more information every time.

To learn, eventually, how to handle all of this stuff, all these monstrous divinities that haunt the Far Roofs.

The Books of Names, in short, are a sacred tradition of the rats and pretty much a defining feature of their interactions with the Mysteries. Most families of rats keep their own set. The shelves of the rats' great libraries overflow with huge and magnificently illuminated Books of Names—dozens or hundreds for any given Name. Over the generations, at a grievous cost, the rats are grinding down the impossible magic of the roofs into something comprehensible, something they can grapple with. To record truth, and insightful commentary, and eventually learn to live with even the greatest and most awful Mysteries.

What this all means to the rats is a little tangled. They worship the Mysteries, I think, and hunt them; they are hunted by the Mysteries in turn. They dream of one day defeating or destroying them, but I don’t think they’d like the world where they’d been destroyed. They are hammered into shape, both as individuals and a people, by the Mysteries, and I don’t think I can ever really fully express what these books, or the Mysteries themselves, mean to them.

They are rich, like cake, like wine, like a well-loved and annotated cookbook. They are generations of wisdom, bound in form.

To the rats, they are, I think, life itself.

Let me show you what an example is like! Like, what you might see opening up some rat family's Book on the Mystery Hoop Snake.

.

Quick Hoop Snake sketches, by Jenna

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So your typical Book of Names is going to start with a couple of introductory pages, maybe some sketches or whatever, and then move on to what the rats call a Mystery's "heralds," the ... ways you know that the Mystery is near. The things that you see when it's interested in you, when it's considering haunting you, or just passing by. The things that it emerges from, in the world.

It'll usually start with a list, with lots of room left to go, like:

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Heralds of Hoop Snake ...

* blurred vision * getting turned about * sudden light or sudden darkness * the sudden realization that something is, and has been, very wrong * * * * * ...

and then, like, a couple pages set aside to go into each of those more, with a mix of personal statements (often newsletter clippings, because the rats send these comments around) and summarized opinions or facts.

Like:

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Blurred Vision

“I saw it on the road. Down the alley, past the milk crate, in front of that old cabinet someone left out on the street. I was rubbing my eyes, and they were a little blurry, and for a moment, I wasn’t sure I’d seen it, or what I’d seen. It was just this blur of colors rushing by, all these colors. And I thought, a flag? A mural? Someone’s shopping bag, caught by the wind? It wasn’t until I’d had that happen like three more times, these half-caught glimpses of color, in the rain, when I didn’t have my glasses on, from the corner of my eye, that I actually saw Hoop Snake direct.” — Alyona Waynwright, 2018

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NOTES

Gavrilo writes that Hoop Snake lives in the confused sensorium. The world jumbles up, and Hoop Snake comes out.

Ioanna comments: “Little incongruities become bigger ones.”

Constantinope Volkov accidentally summoned Hoop Snake through an abstract in-progress painting. He could not later replicate this feat.

Elsibet Križ proposes a mechanism similar to the way that new, unknown scents temporarily seem like improbable combinations of the known—how your first encounter with a cat does not produce the sensation, “Ah, this is the smell of cat” but “oh no, my parents are being ripped apart. The world is shaking. Why is there peppermint?” You mistake the world, and Hoop Snake is there.

Meredith McCawley (human) comments that when she is very sleepy a pile of colored yarn can look like a snake to her; the passing lights of the cars, like eyes.

Kesterley Novác pushed on her eyelids to watch shapes spin. They got more and more detailed until one day she saw Hoop Snake! Trying to chase Hoop Snake into her eyes she wound up headbutting the wall.

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Getting Turned Around

You are nodding along. You are small, they say. And meek. You are but a child. I will fix that for you, they say. You think, “Wait, what?” In that “Wait, what?” there is a snake. — Iodine Petrova, 2012

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NOTES

Maria Augustine, Leverage Jordan, and Daisuke Ozlov attest this experience of Hoop Snake: “we are confused, and then, we are not confused. A snake takes its tail into its mouth, and rolls.”

Kaeda Vanagir was noted as having frequently become lost in the weeks before her June 1993 disappearance chasing after Hoop Snake. (May she one day return.)

Jezdimir Czerny likened the moment of seeing Hoop Snake to becoming turned around, to feeling like you know where you are and where you’re going, and then you look up, and you’re actually somewhere else.

Violeta Schulz was flung from a spinning ferris wheel and, before she landed, a snake burst from the bushes to, as the witnesses described it, “drink her down like wine.”

I found a Hoop Snake scale in a little store that I’ve never seen again.

Hoop Snake Scale

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“I was literally just popping out to buy the news. Only, I hadn’t had my coffee yet, and somehow I wound up … I don’t even know where. It was a garden, up on the roofs, but it wasn’t a rat garden, and I don’t know where it is, and I can't find that place now. There was a colored banner, there, tied to a tree. It fluttered like a snake in the wind.” — Presley Weekes, 2014

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Sudden light, by Jenna Moran

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Sudden Light, or Sudden Darkness “There were noises in the dark. Thumping. Crashing. I thought it was the cats. My brain was so sleepy. I couldn’t put it together, except: oh, the cats got down here. We don’t even have cats. So I stagger out there. I’m not even dressed, just a long shirt on. I didn’t have my glasses on. Everything was just a blur. And I look at the cats, the thing I thought was cats, and like, for just a moment it was. For just a moment, it was cats, moving in the dark. Then it was ‘cats,’ like, one thing, one item, one animal, with two parts, that were shaped like cats. Like a dromedary, if cats were humps. It stuck its tail in its mouth. It began to roll away. ‘Like Hell,’ I said, but I didn’t give chase. I wasn’t dressed!” — Lucy Stokes (human), 2004

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NOTES

Valery Merlin experienced frequent incidents of his electric lantern coming on unexpectedly and blinding his eyes, sometimes accompanied by a fulgurative scent. This ended when the flare of the light revealed a snake like a coiled spring; he fell over, the lantern broke, and the incident thus resolved.

Priscilla Augustine reports a summer cold that stuffed up her nose to the point of intermittent blindness, during which intervals objects would fall of their shelves, slithering or rolling noises echo through the halls, and glittering snake scales appear in unlikely places. Later, Hoop Snake appeared; when she complained that she could not chase it owing to her cold, it leapt up her sinus passages, cleared them out ... and vanished.

In 2007, Tsubasa Kysely reported such high levels of paparazzi harassment that “I can hardly see from all the flashing.” He would ultimately disappear in what is believed to be a Hoop Snake incident; may he one day return.

When our senses become unreliable, Eureka writes, the world becomes the inexplicable.

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The Sudden Realization that Something Is, or Has Been, Very Wrong

“The funny thing was, that wasn’t the first time I saw the snake. It had already been there. It was in that picture frame, hanging over my bed: this picture of a snake. Sometimes it moved. It was in the background on this show I watched. I would go outside, and sit on the edge of the roof, and there’d be a snake there, all curled up with its tail in its mouth, and I’d say to it ‘hey.’ I had to keep moving it out of the sink. One time, I think, I walked into my house, but it wasn’t my house. It was the snake. And I still didn’t realize. I still wasn’t able to really process, here is something inexplicable. It was just part of the world I thought I knew, until one day, I looked at it with fresh eyes and went ‘oh my freaking saints, that is a snake.’ It was like it was laughing at me, when it stuck its tail in its mouth. Like it was making fun of me. I took a step towards it, and it rolled away. Another step. Another. But there wasn’t roof underneath me any more, so I fell.” — Mikhael Bygones, 2015

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NOTES

Gavrilo writes that we often fail to recognize the presence of Hoop Snake in our lives until it has already been present for some time.

Meriadoc Ozoles was famous as “the Chasing Mayor” because she kept running after bits of colored string floating by in the breeze. It wasn’t until she caught one and it turned out to be Hoop Snake that people remembered that colored string doesn’t normally just float by all the time.

Maglev Brunsinick grew up in a burrow that turned out not to be real: he wandered out one day, and looked back, and there was only a snake. "I should have known," he says, "looking back, what with the way Mom and Dad were just internal organs. But, like, I was a kit?"

Torrin kept tripping over her grandmother's tail everywhere in the house. One day, she spilled hot oatmeal all over her grandmother's tail. "Oh no!" she said, and tried to clean it off, but her grandmother wasn't in the room. The tail wasn't reacting to the heat. Also, it was a snake tail. She dashed in to confront Hoop Snake; startled, it threw aside her grandmother's shawl, looked every which way in a panic, and then flung itself away down the drain.

Vasilisa writes: "What is reality but a snake we won't see?"

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“At some point I realized that I did not work at the company. I think it was the looks people were giving me. Steve. Like, there was Steve, and he had this look in his eye like, ‘why is there a rat here. Why is the rat wearing a suit. Why is the rat carrying a folder with our third quarter projections.’ I was just strolling along, on top of my game and on top of the world, but I couldn’t help shriveling a little at all the looks. At this growing disorientation, like: Why is this place? What is it for? Why was I heading to my cubicle to spin around and around and around on my swivel chair when the skies were so blue; when the roofs were so high? Who even hired me? Who decided that this was the way life would be? Why do people who don’t do any work get paid so much more than us rats down here in the trenches who do? And the more I tried to just cope and keep moving, the louder the questions got inside my heart, until I spun around and I pointed and I said, ‘because I’m damn good at this, STEVE.’ He was so gentle. I was … I wasn’t expecting that he’d be so gentle. ‘If only,’ he said. ‘If only that was why anyone found their way here.’” — Rufica du Lac, 2016

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Jenna Talking Again

It's basically that kind of thing! Plus a lot of blank room left for more.

After that section on the Heralds, it'd move on to the "weapons" of the Mystery, the way it hurts you, the way it messes around with your life; like, for Hoop Snake ...

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The Weapons of Hoop Snake ...

* ridicule * confusion * anything you don't expect them to be * * * * ...

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... but, I think I'll stop there for now.

I hope you enjoyed this glimpse at the rats' Books of Names! Don't forget to check the kickstarter out!