#if i could recommend only one iris tale it would be Below The Depths that hit Hard

[nach0]

SCP-105 - Formerly known as Iris Thompson

[lovenikkimadegeeky]

(21 June 2019 news on official LN fb, details via LN subreddit and the ever amazing Iri’s videos)

CLOUD REALM (25 June - 11 July)

HELL EVENT? HELL YEAH! Check under the read more for information about the mechanics of the hell event, as well as info on the major suits, the side suits, and their costs.

MAJOR SUIT MECHANICS

So first off--brace yourself if you haven’t heard the news yet--this is a pavilion hell event. However, it’s not as bad as it sounds; there are several things they’ve done that make it far less annoying than it would otherwise be. Firstly, there is not one pavilion for all four suits. Instead, there are four separate pavilions, one for each of the major suits: [Daymare Fairy Tale], [Glorious Chapter], [Aster Guardian], and [World in Dream] (named in the order they appear in the picture above). With the exception of [Daymare], all the pavilions are available to pull from as soon as the event starts. This means if you only want [Glorious], you can grab her and not spend a single diamond on any of the other suits. 

However, if you want [Daymare], that’s where things get a bit more complicated. [Daymare] is closed until you pull 31 times in EACH of the other three pavilions; this means that if you finish one of the suits in less than 31 pulls, you will need to keep pulling until you hit 31 to unlock [Daymare]. To the bottom right of each pavilion, there is a small heart-shaped lock; when you’ve pulled 31 times from a pavilion, a token will be unlocked. You can then click on the token to use it on [Daymare] and once you’ve used all three tokens, the pavilion will unlock and you can pull for [Daymare]. Please note that, like other pavilions, most of the posed items are items that must be drawn from the pavilion and are not completion reward. However, unlike other pavilions, this does not include the posed dress, which is a completion reward. So, you will need to pull the posed hair from the pavilion, but you will receive the posed suit (along with the suit’s background) as a reward for getting all the unposed pieces of the suit and thus completing it.

Each pull costs 100 diamonds. You are guaranteed a new item every 10 pulls that you do. You do not get free daily pulls in this event; instead, if it’s like the Chinese server, we should get 7 free pulls. 2 were sent via mailbox (1 on the first day, 1 on the third day) and 5 are purchased from a shop that comes with the hell event, purchased with event items that you collect in other aspects of the hell event. (I won’t be going into detail here, I highly recommend you check out Iri’s great video which talks about it and gives some amazing tips.)

Cost: Keeping in mind that this is a pavilion, and thus cost estimates are random, the current rough estimates (based on the Chinese server) by the awesome Squirtle Squad are: 3100 diamonds for [Glorious Chapter], 3300 for [Aster Guardian], 3800 for [World in Dream], and, along with the cost of 31 pulls from each of the other 3 pavilions to unlock it, [Daymare Fairy Tale] will cost 3600 diamonds. So, if you want all four major suits, it will probably be around 13800 diamonds. Again, this is a pavilion so these are all rough estimates.

SIDE SUIT MECHANICS

There are three minor suits, their recolors, and then the SSR interactive moving suit [Cloud Dream] that can be pulled from the side suit pavilion (see gifs and the ever amazing Iri’s video to see it in action) and, yes, it does move like that in competition. You don’t use diamonds directly to pull from the side suit pavilion, instead every 8 pulls you do in one of the major suit pavilions, you’ll receive one pull for the side suit pavilion. This seems low but you aren’t pulling minor suit pieces, rather you receive the entire minor suit in one go (you do not need to recolor the minor suits; their recolor will drop in the side suit pavilion). The only pieces that you’ll pull are for [Cloud]. The minor suits and the pieces of [Cloud] are pulled in a predetermined order and, once you get one, you will not get a repeat. (Drop order can be found in the links below.)

Cost: To finish all minor suits and their recolors, but not [Cloud Dream], will be around 11,200 diamonds. If you finish all four major suits, you will probably have all the minor suits. Now, how much to get [Cloud Dream]? This is going to hurt, guys, I’m sorry. If you want [Cloud Dream] you will need 25,600 diamonds. It may be possible to finish it for less, but it’s very unlikely. You’ll probably receive pieces throughout your pulls but, as I’m sure you’re expecting, the suit will not move without every single piece.

RETURN COSTS AND SCHEDULE

This came to the Chinese server only a few months ago so, unfortunately, we don’t know any of this info. I feel pretty safe saying that it will eventually come back (unless they’re collaboration events, they always do). However, we’ve never had a hell event like this so there’s just no way to know what it will look like when it comes back.

TIPS AND TRICKS

I did not cover all the aspects of this hell event (and there are quite a bit more) because I didn’t want to make this longer and more convoluted than it already is. I recommend checking out the Cloud Realm post, over at the LN subreddit. It has a ton of different resources. A few things worth noting: The event cost breakdown sheet by the awesome Squirtle Squad, which lists not only cost but also the chances of receiving a particular item. A much more in-depth guide to the event mechanics is also available which you should definitely check out.

I highly highly recommend checking out Iri’s Pro Tips video. It is full of a ton of useful tips that will could save you some grief; I really cannot recommend it enough. The ever amazing Iri also has her normal suit breakdown video, where she shows each of the suit pieces individually. If you’re trying to decide which, if any, suit that you want, it’s extremely helpful and it’s what I always watch when I’m unsure about a suit.

Again, there is a lot that I didn’t cover in this post and I highly recommend that you check out the sources I listed above as they will help tremendously to understanding everything.

[angryteapot]

Book One

Book One // Book Two // Book Three // Book Four // #tea reads Masterlist 

I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream: Stories (The Harlan Ellison Collection)

~ Harlan Ellison

Synopsis: This collection consists of seven “groundbreaking and inventive tales that probe the depths of mortal experience...” all packed into one relatively thin book. These short stories are unrelated, incredibly unique, and slightly disturbing. I was riveted from start to finish, and my morbid self loved every moment of reading this. 

The title in itself is fascinating. 

A/N: For those of you who missed my intro post, Here’s the gist of this thing: I’m trying to read more books this year, so I’ve taken to documenting them and writing out some of my favorite quotes from whatever I’m reading! Once I finish a book, I’ll make a post with a summary of the books and the quotes I like best!

If you’re interested in new reads or just quotes, and would like to be tagged, send me an ask or dm! If you have any reading recommendations, send them my way!

If you wanna blacklist these posts, I’ll be tagging them #tea reads 

I’m always up for a discussion on whatever I post, or life in general, so come talk to me! Have questions, theories, complaints, deep thoughts? Come talk to me! x ~ Tea <3 

*Synopsis and Quotes for each tale are below the cut!

[I HAVE NO MOUTH, AND I MUST SCREAM]

Synopsis: In an post-apocalyptic world, four men and one woman are all that is left of the human race. The cause of the apocalypse? An AI programmed to wage war on behalf of its creators. The AI (named AM) became self-aware and turned against humanity. 

The five humans are held captive and tortured in a cyber world created by the AI, doomed to an eternity of horrors invented by the hateful and sadistic machine. 

Quotes: Unless stated otherwise, quotes are taken from Ted, the Narrator.

“We couldn’t even see it, but there was the ponderous impression of bulk, heaving itself toward us. Great weight was coming at us, out o the darkness, and it was more a sense of pressure, of air forcing itself into a limited space, expanding the invisible walls of a sphere.” 

“HATE. LET ME TELL YOU HOW MUCH I’VE COME TO HATE YOU SINCE I BEGAN TO LIVE.” ~ AM

“AM could not wander, AM could not wonder, AM could not belong.”

“He withdrew, murmuring to hell with you. And added, brightly, but then you’re there, aren’t you.” 

““Give us weapons!” [Nimdok] demanded... and there were two crude sets of bows and arrows, and a water pistol, lying on the cold deckplates. I picked up a set. Useless.” 

“In that instant, I felt terribly calm. Surrounded by madness... surrounded by everything but death, I knew death was our only way out... Not total defeat, but at least peace. I would settle for that.” 

“There was an eternity beat of soundless anticipation...” 

“Outwardly: dumbly, I shamble about, a thing that could never have been known as human, a thing whose shape is so alien a travesty that humanity becomes more obscene for the vague resemblance. Inwardly: alone. Here. Living. under the land, under the sea, in the belly of AM, whom we created because our time was badly spent and we must have known unconsciously that he could do it better.” 

“I have no mouth. And I must scream.”

[BIG SAM WAS MY FRIEND]

Synopsis: Johnny Lee, the Narrator, is part of a circus composed of normies and enhanced folks. But this is no ordinary circus - the Teeper Circus travels the galaxy, performing for royalty and commoners on various settled worlds. Johnny Lee tells the story of how his friend, Big Sam, died searching for his true love. Big Sam’s lady love died on their home planet, but he says that she went to Heaven. And Heaven? Well Big Sam believes that Heaven is a planet and he’s determined to find it, and his lady love, as he travels the galaxy with Johnny Lee and the circus.

Quotes: Unless stated otherwise, quotes are taken from Johnny Lee, the Narrator. 

“So what, you can always find another friend someplace around.”

“... had left her a jangle-nerved, heaped-up body of hate and fury.”

“... brought to the edge of tragedy...”

“... there was a deep, infinite sadness about him that sometimes made me want to cry...”

[EYES OF DUST]

Synopsis: In a “perfect” world, a blind man and a woman with a mole on her cheek do  not belong. On planet Topaz, a world dedicated to beauty, imperfection cannot be endured. Broomall and Ordak, the blind man and the moley woman, married and lived on the outskirts of Topaz. They started their life together, and soon had a child - a boy named Person. The boy was defective, blind and grotesque, and was hidden away by his parents in a locked cellar. This is the tale of Person, the boy with sunken pockets for eyes... eyes of dust. 

Quotes: Unless stated otherwise, quotes are taken from the Narrator. (none of the characters are the narrator in this tale)

“Each... was a note in a great symphony of perfection.”

“I have my shadows and my colors. And there is the smell of time passing. I need nothing more.” ~ Person

“The eyes of dust... The gray of storm clouds. The gray of feelings most unhappy, and of death. The eyes that seemed to see so deeply, yet could see nothing.”

“First there was light, and then there was no-light. First there was heat, and then there was no-heat. And - First there was love, and then there was no-love. But in its place did not come the absence of love, the emptiness that the going of the light and heat had left. Another moved to take its place. In its place came hate.”

“But the night sky rang out with the stifled and fading shrieks that would never entirely pass. And as the clouds passed before two of the moons, loosing so much like the eyes of dust, it was clear that Topaz had cursed itself with ugliness.”

[WORLD OF THE MYTH]

Synopsis: On a crash-landed spaceship with his companions Iris Crosse and Wayne Rennert, Cornfeld (the Narrator) must survive the unknown planet until a rescue craft comes. But the planet is inhabited - by a colony of massive ant-like creatures that twist and reflect deep, dark thoughts and mind images. Will the three crash survivors stay alive long enough to be rescued, or will they succumb to the madness shown to them by the ants?

* Warning: rape is mentioned and quickly/vaguely depicted in a scene or two, in case anyone was planning on finding the book and reading.

if anyone is triggered by rape, please skip this part. my chosen quotes are not about the horrendous act, but a few could be mistaken for that.

Quotes: Unless stated otherwise, quotes are taken from Cornfeld, the Narrator. 

“... her face masked over with an expression of pain and torture.” - in reference to a hallucination after the crash.

“There had been death and sadness unable to be borne. A dam had burst inside her, and the world had lost all light... The misery, the aching, the loneliness and the hunger for no-sorrow.” - in reference to a creature-induced vision of a sorrowful being.

“The devils disappeared and a great death’s head was there, unmoving, with a quizzical expression on its fleshless face.”

“Ask them what you are. Ask them to show you what you are inside, the image of yourself.” ~ Cornfeld to Rennert

“The ants were all darkness and life ... and truth.”

“... They showed him the essence of himself.” ~ Cornfeld to Iris

[LONELYACHE]

Synopsis: Paul Reed, a lonely and bitter divorcee, tries to fill the angry void in his life. In a dark corner of his cold apartment, there is the beginnings of a nightmarish monster, and the monster grows with each sinful action Paul takes. This is the story of how the monster takes form. 

Quotes: Unless stated otherwise, quotes are taken from Paul Reed, the Narrator. 

“... hearing the vapors of night and time and existence passing by without purpose or validity.”

“... and timorously, fawn-like in a deep foreboding forest, it came...”

Genesis refers to sin that coucheth at the door, or croucheth at the door, and so this was no new thing, but old, so very old, as old as the senseless acts that had given it birth, and the madness that was causing it to mature, and the guilty sorrow - the lonelyache - that would inevitable cause it to devour itself and all within its sight.”

“But commercialism is the last sinkhole of love, and when it is reached, bu paths of desperation and paths of cruel, musused emotions - all hope is gone. There is no return save by miracles, and there are no more miracles for the common among common men.”

“How I wish I could forget     Those happy yesteryears,     That have left     A rosary of tears.”

“They trembled there together in a nervous symbiosis, each deriving something from the other. He was covered with a thin film of horror and despair, a terrible lonelyache that twisted like smoke, thick and black within him. The creature giving love, and he reaping heartache, loneliness.”

[DELUSIONS FOR A DRAGON SLAYER]

Synopsis: Warren Glazer Griffin, a painfully ordinary man, dies an unexpected death. And this tale is one of his peculiar journey in an unexpectedly strange afterlife. 

Quotes: Unless stated otherwise, quotes taken from Warren Glazer Griffin, the Narrator.

“Know thyself? If I knew myself, I’d run away.” ~Goethe

“... the air was alive with multi-colored whispers of delight.”

“Because it is dreams, special dreams, in which you exist. What you have to do is live up to them.”

“No, listen, please, because after this, all the magic stops, and you have to do it alone.” ~ The Wizard

“It was all the fireworks of another universe, just once hurled into an onyx sky, left to burn away whatever life was possible.”

“The colors came from the air and the island and the world itself, which hushed and hurried across the world to here, to meet when they were needed...”

[PRETTY MAGGIE MONEYEYES]

Synopsis: Kostner is a sad, lonely wash-up who’s down on his luck in Las Vegas. Maggie Moneyeyes was the woman that died at The Chief, the silver dollar slot machine at a casino. Kostner uses the last dollar to his name, on the very machine that now houses Maggie’s soul. This is a tale of love and treachery, an old game that goes way back. 

Quotes: Unless stated otherwise, quotes are taken from Kostner, the Narrator. 

“▪️ out of fog ▪️out of weightlessness ▪️ suddenly total cellular knowledge... ▪️ billows of forever ▪️ edges of the world as they splintered... ▪️ trapped and doomed alone in a mist-eaten nowhere”

“Now looking out from within, from inside the limbo that had become her own purgatory, Maggie was trapped... The prison of her final desires, where she had wanted to be, completely trapped in that last instant of life between life/death. Maggie, gone inside; all soul now; trapped for eternity in the cage soul of the soulless machine. Limbo. Trapped.”

“I’ve been waiting for you. A long time, I’ve been waiting for you...” ~ Maggie

“It’s on a cosmic scale of improbability with three dark planets crashing into our sun within the next twenty minutes.” ~ Jules Hartshorn (Casino Owner)

““Think nothing of it.” “I’m afraid that will be impossible.” “A lot of impossible things are happening lately.” ~ Kostner, Jules Hartshorn (Casino Owner)

“... blue eyes deep as the past...”

“Then it unrolled for Kostner. The past unrolled and he saw who he was. He saw himself alone... For years and months and days and hours, with no one... But no one to whom he could cleave, and cling, and belong. It was that way till Susie, and with her he had found light. He had discovered the scents and aromas of a spring that was eternally one day away. He had laughed, really laughed, and known with her it would at last be all right. So he had poured all of himself into her, giving her everything; all his hopes, his secret thoughts, his tender dreams; and she had taken them, taken him, all of him, and he had known for the first time what it was to have a place to live, to have a home in someone’s heart. It was all the silly and gentle things he laughed at in other people, but for him it was breathing deeply of wonder.” 

“The final loneliness ...”

And that concludes Book One, my lovelies! If you managed to read through even part of this and found a quote you liked, my heart will be happy. 

Thanks for stopping by my blog! x

~ Tea <3