#Lion Shaped Puzzle

[noisycowboyglitter]

Lion Puzzle: Discover the Majestic Beauty of the Big Cats

The Roar Cute Lion Puzzle is an engaging and educational toy designed to captivate young minds while developing essential skills. This charming puzzle typically features a friendly, cartoon-style lion with a vibrant mane and an endearing expression.

Buy now:19.95$

The puzzle pieces are often larger and more durable than standard jigsaw puzzles, making them perfect for little hands to grasp and manipulate. The number of pieces can vary, usually ranging from 12 to 24, depending on the intended age group.

As children piece together the cute lion's image, they enhance their fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and problem-solving abilities. The puzzle also provides an opportunity to learn about colors, shapes, and animal features.

Many versions of this puzzle come with added interactive elements, such as textured pieces for sensory exploration or sound effects that mimic a lion's roar when the puzzle is completed. Some may include educational facts about lions, promoting early learning about wildlife and nature.

Buy now

The Roar Cute Lion Puzzle is not only a fun activity but also a tool for cognitive development. It encourages patience, persistence, and a sense of accomplishment when the image is finally assembled. This puzzle can be an excellent gift for toddlers and preschoolers, offering both entertainment and educational value in one adorable package.

The autism puzzle piece is a widely recognized symbol associated with autism awareness and advocacy. Originating in 1963 as the logo for the UK's National Autistic Society, it has since become a global emblem for autism spectrum disorders.

The puzzle piece often appears in bright colors, particularly blue, and is used on various materials like logos, merchandise, and awareness campaigns. Its design is meant to represent the complexity of autism and the diversity of individuals on the spectrum.

Buy now

However, the symbol has become controversial in recent years. While some view it positively as a representation of autism awareness, others in the autism community criticize it for implying that autistic individuals are incomplete or need fixing. As a result, alternative symbols like the infinity loop or rainbow-colored neurodiversity logos have gained popularity among some autistic self-advocates and allies.

Selecting presents for adults with autism requires thoughtful consideration of their unique interests and needs. Sensory-friendly items like weighted blankets, noise-cancelling headphones, or textured fidget toys can provide comfort and stress relief. Tech gadgets, such as smart home devices or tablets with helpful apps, may enhance daily living.

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Gifts related to special interests are often well-received, whether books, art supplies, or collectibles. Practical items like organization tools, visual schedules, or soft, tagless clothing can be appreciated. Self-care products, including calming essential oils or spa items, might also be suitable.

Remember that autism presents differently in each individual, so personalizing the gift to the specific person's preferences and needs is crucial.

[apiswitchcraft]

altars for greek heroes

ACHILLES: hero of the Trojan war, son of nereid Thetis

Colors: gold/bronze, red for Trojan War. blue, white for his mother Thetis

Offerings: yarrow, gold/silver, shells, gull feathers, olive, laurel, gemstones

Crystals: aquamarine, sodalite, jaspers (red, yellow, ocean especially)

*to honor Achilles you must also honor Patroclus*

PATROCLUS: hero of the Trojan war, son of King Peleus

Colors: gold/bronze, red for war. purple for royal birth

Offerings: incense/fire, oil, olive, laurel, gemstones, gold/silver

Crystals: agates (moss, tree especially), amethyst, lepidolite, rose quartz, citrine

ADONIS: lover of Aphrodite, became god of rebirth and beauty

Colors: pink, purple, red for beauty and association with Aphrodite

Offerings: fast growing plants (lettuce, fennel, barley, wheat), anemone and other flowers, dead plants, cake, honey

Crystals: flower agate, rose quartz, amethyst, rutilated quartz, jaspers (specifically rainforest or other green ones)

ARIADNE: helped Theseus to defeat the Minotaur, later married Dionysus and became goddess of labyrinths

Colors: gold for noble birth. purple for association with Dionysus

Offerings: grapes, puzzle toys, spools of thread or fabric art, wine, herbal tea, saffron

Crystals: grape agate, celestite, star jasper, pyrite, amethyst, scolectite, selenite

ASCLEPIUS: god of healing, son of Apollo

Colors: yellow, white for association with Apollo. red, pink, orange for healing

Offerings: snake skin, clay/bronze humanoid figurines, cypress, pine, olive trees, medicinal herbs

Crystals: quartz, rhodonite, amethyst, fluorite, selenite, citrine

ATALANTA: one of the Argonauts, devotee of Artemis, killed the Calydonian boar

Colors: brown, green for the hunt. white, blue, grey for association with Artemis

Offerings: pork, boar hide, apples, laurel, forgeables, lion/bear imagery

Crystals: jaspers, moss/tree agate, petrified wood, amethyst, rose quartz, selenite

CASTOR AND POLLUX: Pollux was a son of Zeus who shared his immortality Castor, they were turned into the Gemini constellation, saviors of seafarers

Colors: purple for noble birth. white and grey for association with zeus. black for the night sky

Offerings: shells, laurel, olive, meat, wine, two things conjoined (like two cherries or two grapes on a vine)

Crystals: star and ocean jaspers, sodalite, aquamarine, obsidian, hematite

HERAKLES: went mad and killed his wife and kids, did 12 labors as penance, god of strength and heroes

Colors: red, gold for strength and heroes

Offerings: hellebore, olive, laurel, meat, alcohol, yarrow

Crystals: bloodstone, carnelian, garnet, red jasper, smokey quartz, pyrite

HYACINTHUS: Spartan prince and lover of Apollo, became god of vegetation

Colors: pink, yellow, green for vegetation. yellow/gold for association with apollo

Offerings: iris (they were called hyacinths by the Greeks) and other flowers, grain, yarrow, clove

Crystals: tree/moss/flower agate, jaspers (especially bumblebee), citrine, carnelian, pyrite, honey calcite, amber

ODYSSEUS: clever hero of Homer's "The Odyssey," favored by Athena

Colors: gold, purple for royal status. grey, white for wisdom

Offerings: owl feathers, shells, boat imagery, poetry/speeches, laurel, olive, cypress

Crystals: jaspers, obsidian, quartz, aquamarine, turquoise, sodalite, bloodstone

ORION: lover of Artemis, was turned into a constellation after death. Sirius is his dog and Scorpius the scorpion that slayed him

Colors: black, white for night. brown, green for the hunt

Offerings: forageables, apples, hides/leather, mugwort, cypress, moon shaped items

Crystals: star jasper, bloodstone, selenite, celestite, howlite

ORPHEUS: son of Apollo, famed musician and poet of the Argonauts, travelled to Haides to try to save his wife Eurydice

Colors: yellow, gold, white for Apollo. black for the Underworld

Offerings: music (especially lyre), poetry, hymns, honey, laurel, wine, meats

Crystals: aventurine, obsidian, black tourmaline, smokey quartz, selenite, yellow jasper, honey calcite

PERSEUS: son of Zeus, slayer of Medusa, has a constellation

Colors: gold and red for hero status. white, grey, blue for association with Zeus

Offerings: meat, laurel, snake shed, alcohol, fruit, honey, milk (to honor his mother Danae)

Crystals: jaspers (red, star especially), bloodstone, serpentine, quartz, obsidian

THESEUS: slayer of the Minotaur, united Attica, completed six trials for the entrances to the Underworld that he passed on the way to Athens

Colors: blues for ocean, being a son of Poseidon (in some stories)

Offerings: ship imagery, meat, olive, yarrow, gold

Crystals: pyrite, sodalite, lapis lazuli, coral, blue aventurine, aquamarine

[queenlucythevaliant]

harder than you think

i. When the Narnians stole Edmund away from beneath the Witch's blade, they told him he was safe. This wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the whole truth either.

ii. They brought him to the Stone Table. It was night. Edmund doubted very much that he would find safety there, for he still recoiled at the name of Aslan. He slept fitfully and woke the next morning before the sun was up.

iii. A sliver of gold just beyond the tent flap captured his attention, there in the dark. Unaccountably, Edmund felt the urge to rise and go towards it.

iv. And there was Aslan, who was supposed to be fearsome, supposed to be dangerous, supposed to be powerful, and he was he was he was. Dimly, Edmund felt himself hitting the ground.

v. But then Aslan said, “Come, Son of Adam. Let us walk a while, and reason together.”

vi. And as they walked together, in the cool dewy grass of early morning, the Lion told Edmund everything that he had ever done.

vii. They were standing in front of the Table when the conversation turned. Aslan spoke a riddle of a house blasted into rubble which he would piece back together overnight. He spoke of flesh being pierced, blood being shed, and of rejected stones being used for new foundations. He spoke about water welling up forever, washing you clean of everything you ever did wrong, all the blood that you ever thought of shedding, everything you ever tried to steal, and a river that carries you home when you can't walk anymore and spits you out brand new when it reaches the sea.

viii. Edmund's head swam. Silently, he yearned for the wisdom to understand what he was being told; or, failing that, at least to remember it for as long as it took him to puzzle it out.

ix. And then, the Witch. Then, the battle. The thrones. A year passed, and winter came. In its time, it melted back to glorious spring.

x. “Edmund,” said Lucy one day. “There's something we need to tell you.” She and Susan were cloaked in springtime gossamer, like fairy queens in poems he only half remembered. They sat on the window seat in his study, holding hands white-knuckled: his two beloved sisters.

xi. “It's about Aslan,” Susan said. “And the White Witch, and how he made her renounce her claim on your blood. The night before Beruna, he went back to the Stone Table.”

xii. “He let her kill him,” Lucy cut in. “Instead of you. And then, because he hadn't done anything wrong, the Emperor's Deeper Magic brought him back to life.”

xiii. “We've been arguing all year about how much to tell you,” said Susan wryly. Then, a little gentler, “We don't want to hurt you, but we feel you ought to be told what he did for you.”

xiv. And Edmund, who had never forgotten what Aslan told him on that cool, dewy morning before the sun came up, shut his eyes and whispered, “I know.”

xv. I know, he said. I know that he died. I know that he did it for me. I know he lived again because I saw him the next day, and the next, and the next. I think I know what it means - or at least, I know the shape of it.

xvi. “Oh,” said Lucy. “We should have realized that he would have told you himself.”

xvii. “Yes. But please, tell me the story all the same.”

[multi-lefaiye]

i could ask you to elaborate on why purple boy is slowly turning into a lion monster. and you can answer that. but what i really wanna know is what killed him the first time.

:3c oh i am so glad you asked this question

short answer: his mother. or at least, the creature that used to be her.

long answer: WELL. (cw under the cut for non-graphic descriptions of body horror, discussions of ableism and terminal illness, and also just. straight up. i'm telling you how eden died. not going into graphic gorey detail but yeah </3)

so, eden's mom died when he was 12. famously, that's an event that really helped shape his life, second only to abdiel leaving six years earlier. however..... it's important to know that those two things are related.

y'see. eden doesn't know this. but hannah had been sick for a long time, and part of why abdiel left was to go find a cure for her. that's not what she wanted him to do, of course. hannah wanted him to stay with her so they could enjoy the time she had left. but he was determined to cure her and that he'd have to leave her in order to do so. so. welp. her wishes in this situation would have to wait.

another important part of this puzzle is that abdiel is a necromancer by trade. he knows other schools of magic as well, sure, but necromancy has always been his focus. and he specifically is a major proponent of the idea of using necromancy for healing, rather than simply resurrection. that's what much of his life's work was focused on.

so, abdiel sought to find a way to use necromancy to help cure his sick wife, and he failed, and she died. and eden, who was left feeling worthless and alone after his father abandoned him (and after basically all the adults in his life failed him, one way or another ), decided that part of his revenge would be destroying that work and making it his own.

eden would become the only dr. linnaeus remembered by history, by doing what abdiel had failed to do. by not only reviving hannah, but curing her illness entirely, and then using that to cure anyone else suffering like her who wants to be saved.

of course, by the time eden knew any necromancy magic himself, hannah was long dead. and... from a purely practical perspective, eden was nowhere near skilled enough as a spellcaster to be able to use any traditional necromancy to revive her. so eden decided, instead, to try something new.

he was going to revive his mother through transmutation magic, through the alchemy and artificer infusions he was already learning and showed a great affinity for.

i'll skip ahead in this explanation, but basically eden's idea was to create a new body for his mother's soul to inhabit. he wouldn't be reviving her in her original body, no, he'd be reviving her in one free of the pain and illness she'd suffered from for much of her life.

(before i continue, i'll just go ahead and establish this now: no, eden did not consider whether or not hannah would want to be resurrected. by this point, his tunnel vision on beating abdiel, one way or another, was beginning to consume him. ethical concerns didn't matter so much at that point.)

skipping ahead again. when eden finally succeeded at the ritual he'd created, it... backfired, putting it nicely. the creature he created wasn't hannah, not really--it had her face and it spoke in her voice, but it wasn't her. it was a mass of limbs and teeth, with too many eyes and an enraged howl that shook eden to his core.

he tried to reason with it at first, to get it to recognize him and calm down as it thrashed around his lab. and it lashed out at him, slashing him across the face and throwing him to the floor. and for a moment eden just... lied there, shaking and staring at the monster he'd created. it hurt. that thing wasn't his mother, but it was her face and her voice screaming at him, cursing him for creating it.

and then he was just... angry. how fucking dare this thing attack him? how dare it be such a failure? how dare it ruin everything he was working for? how dare it act like this was his fault?

before he really knew what he was doing, he grabbed a hammer from his artificer tools and lunged at the creature, intending to put it out of its misery so he could try again. clearly, he needed to refine the ritual, but he was on the right track. he just-

(eden managed to kill his creation, but it fought back and mortally wounded him in the process. he shoved its body into the open fire at the heart of his lab, where he'd brew potions and boil water when he needed it. and by that point, he was too exhausted to keep going and try to find help. so he just... lied there, and bled out slowly.)

(as a not-so-fun aside to this. when eden's body was found a few days later, there was an investigation launched by the university. a recent graduate dying brutally in his university-funded lab? yeah that raised some eyebrows. ultimately, though, said investigation determined that eden had killed himself, as by then the creature's remains were burned until they were unrecognizable. everyone assumed it was just some... *thing* he'd been studying.)

(very few people were surprised by that news.)

[timeturner-jay]

So for a few days now, I've been trying to puzzle out what memories Monkey King was seeing in those brief blink-and-you'll-miss-it glimpses we got in the broken memory scroll. Maybe you guys have some input?

Let's start out easy - these two flashes are very straightforward. He sees the Jade Emperor bearing down on him, either in battle or in punishment. Simple enough! (Though the way he's holding his head in pain is breaking my heart a bit.)

The next one is a bit trickier (and my shoddy picture quality isn't helping, so if anyone has any higher-resolution screenshots, I'd appreciate it!) - we can make out Wukong fighting someone, staff in hand. His opponent seems quite large and bulky, and their head-shape might suggest the Demon Bull King - but I don't think we ever see DBK in such long, flowing sleeves in this show. Though maybe this is their encounter during the Journey, and those sleeves belong to the green silk dinner jacket the Bull King was then wearing in the original tale?

Then there's the next one, which just has me utterly nonplussed; it's nearly impossible to make out much of anything in it, since the memory flash is so faint. Those two darker shapes might be a pair of eyes? But if so, they'd be set in a truly massive head, so I'm not sure. Whatever it is, the shape seems to be bound with glowing ropes - so maybe we're looking at our dear Great Sage Equal to Heaven, bound with the diamond snare at his own execution? It's the only thing I can think of, but if you guys have any better ideas, I'm all ears!

And then there's the last memory flash, which is a lot more straightforward again, but very interesting in its own right. 😌 We see someone's bare, muscled torso, and judging by the overall build and those hair tassels, I'm going to assume it's probably Azure Lion, so-

...soooooo, hey Wukong! Any reason in particular why you remember seeing Azure Lion's naked tiddies? 👀 Anything you want to share with the class, o Great Sage?

[imhereformysciencefriends]

Day 7: Clear Day Fair

Tags: @loturaweek2024 Clear Day, festival/carnival/fairgrounds, background Shiro/Keith, background Hunk/Shay, background Matt/N-7, food and carnival prizes, flirting

Read on AO3

“It’s hard to believe that just four decaphoebes ago, we were all at war,” Allura said, sliding her hand into the crook of Lotor’s elbow and resting her head daintily against his shoulder. No use getting too cozy: they’d resume walking soon. But for the moment she held onto her betrothed, (the talsean chain he’d gifted her burning a hole in her pocket, not quite yet ready to tell the others, and Altean engagements started out private, anyway) and enjoyed the sight of people walking about, smiling, laughing, eating, playing carnival games and riding contraptions.

“It is,” he breathed. Harder to believe for him, than her, some small piece of him, she knew, believing that he would never quite get this far, his father’s empire an endless and unkillable thing.

They stood together in companionable silence a long, long moment. The breeze rustled at the hem of her dress, a scandalous little thing that went down only to her knees, fluffy and ruffled, and left her collarbone and shoulders bare. He’d dressed nice for today, too, still anxious about setting aside his armor, but today was a day of celebration and joy. He was wearing an old Altean tunic Coran had found somewhere in the castleship’s storage, his arms as bare as hers were, and she enjoyed the sight and feel of his unarmored biceps quite nicely.

He turned to her, gently dislodging her from his shoulder, and smiled, just a little bit of fang poking out. “Shall we join in?”

She smiled back, warm and with a little happy twitch to her ears. “I think we shall.”

What to do, what to do though? They were surrounded by so many options, it was a little hard to choose.

Shiro and Keith were at the arcade, racing against one another on a level so high they had a small gaggle of children surrounding the mock pilot chairs, their one token stretching much further than the arcademaster might like. That was well and good for them, but Allura had spent quite enough time piloting the Blue Lion these last few decaphoebes, and Lotor agreed that such activities were more work than pleasure in his mind.

Hunk and Shay were on a slow moving ride, cozied up and cuddling in the lovebird-shaped railcar while they were serenaded by wacky mascots and bright colors. They traded back and forth gentle knocks of their foreheads, Shay guiding Hunk through the motion, and embarrassingly public kisses, Hunk showing Shay how. The cuddling definitely seemed pleasant, but the loud music and very public shows of affection weren’t exactly what the two royals would count as a nice (or romantic, in terms of the mascots) time.

Matt and N-7 were wandering the displays, children’s 4-H projects and adolescents’ experiments and community members’ quilts and crochet and knit works and artistry and sculptures and technological wonders and photography and baked goods and insect collections and mushroom displays and favored livestock all out on display, discussing what looked to be some sort of mechanical puzzle or contraption. That looked fun, also, but felt a bit underwhelming when they were at a fair. Maybe later, Lotor and Allura agreed they wanted to do something a little more fun first.

They began to wander, perusing their options, when Allura stopped him with a sharp tug on his hand. “Oh Lotor, look at that!” she said, pointing at a cute plush toy with giant marble eyes and soft fuzzy fur.

“Would you like it?” Lotor asked, cocking his head at the thing like he wasn’t quite sure what it was.

“That’s a tier three prize right there,” said the carnie, leaned back on their chair, “gotta get thirty points; you a good shot?”

“I am,” Lotor said confidently, walking up to the stall and paying for the game. Allura fluttered a bit to have him so willingly indulging her, and also to see him lift the mock gun with those pretty pretty arms of his.

His first shot went wildly off-mark. “Hm. The balance is off,” he murmured to himself, and corrected. The second was just shy of the center of his target, earning him two points instead of five.

Every shot that followed hit the dead center of their marks, and the carnie whistled, impressed. Allura could feel herself grinning, and extended her hands with a giggle as the carnie handed the stuffed animal to Lotor, who then promptly turned and handed it to her.

“Thank you,” she said sweetly, hugging the toy to her chest.

“Of course,” he said, looking quite pleased with himself, and a little flushed beside. She raised her eyebrows, then ducked her chin into the soft fuzz of her gift.

“And does my paramour enjoy providing me with gifts?” she asked, sweet and cheeky and looking up at him from under her eyelashes, shoulders drawn close to her ears.

At “provide” she actually witnessed his pupils dilate, and he licked his lips briefly before returning, “Only if my dearest enjoys receiving them.”

Giggling, she took his hand in hers again, now having discovered how they would spend their time. She pulled him to the next game with a prize she liked—not far indeed, as there was an abundance of plushies, shining trinkets, cheap plastic jewelry of absolutely no value, and kitschy souvenirs that caught her eye.

The ring toss went fine from the first throw, winning her a long-limbed plush that had magnets sewn in its hands so it could hang around her neck, he had to try twice at the game where he filled a thin tube with water but successfully perched a little plastic tiara on top of her head, making her giggle at having two, he tossed balls into baskets and flicked marbles precise distances, looking more and more smugly pleased with himself each time he handed her whatever it was that she had pointed at. They were burning through their tokens rather quickly, but eh, they could always purchase more, and Allura was certainly not going to stop him from piling her high with stuffed toys and assorted knick-knacks.

He struggled the most at stalls run by Unalu, surprising Allura not at all, but although she insisted that she didn’t need the prize that had drawn her eye, he insisted on victory before they left. It was sweet, and deeply charming, and as Allura’s arms grew more and more full of the prizes he’d won her she found herself gigglier and gigglier.

“Voltron plushies, toss a ring, win a plush,” another Unalu hawked at passerby, and this time Lotor was the one to stop them.

“A… purple lion?” he asked, one eyebrow as arched as she’d ever seen it. “That does not exist.”

Allura bent to observe the lineup closer, the five colors she was used to, yes, but also a pink, white, and purple lion propped up at the end of the line, many more clustered on the wall of the back of the stand.

She looked up at him, just a motion of her eyes, face still close to the purple offender.

“I do want it though,” she said through the fluff of three different plush toys.

Lotor hesitated, then blushed, then looked away. “Well. If the lady wants.”

“Then the lady shall receive! Very good, sir, ten tokens to play!” the Unalu prompted, and tried to hand Lotor a set of rings much smaller than the ones scattered about the display.

“These are not correct,” Lotor said, derisive and with the low tone that made her shiver.

“Of course they are! They just look small in your strong, masculine—hands…”

Lotor loomed over the swindler, scowling impressively.

“You know, I think I did actually hand you the wrong set, here you are sir, enjoy!”

The carnie swapped the rings out for the actual size, and Lotor relaxed. Observed his targets. And made every single toss.

“Woo!” Allura cheered, jumping a little, her hands full.

“Ah. Well. Erm, according to the sign, which is in your line of sight so I wouldn’t ever tell you anything differently, nine successful throws is three small prizes or one large one. So if your lady here wants the purple one, you get two mor—”

“The pink one! The pink and blue ones!” Allura interjected excitedly, and the carnie handed them over.

“This one’s for you,” she said, setting the blue lion on his shoulder like a cat would perch. The pink and purple one she settled beneath her arm, almost immediately losing them in the mass of the other plush gifts.

“Ah—your—”

“My lion, the one that is real, and actually exists. Not these silly fakes,” she teased, smiling up at him.

“Ah,” he said, and oh, she did far too thoroughly enjoy her ability to render this man speechless. It was intoxicating, seeing her beautiful, eloquent Lotor reduced to a pleased smile half hidden by his hand, ears tinged with his blush.

The smell of funnel cake, made of ground tubers instead of grains, as she might have had on Altea, yet still unmistakable, wafted through the air.

“Oh! We must have one!” Allura insisted, dragging him away from the games and into the hall of food vendors, ciders and grilled skewers and breaded pockets of meat and air-puffed ground tubers that also should’ve been grains if this were Altea and sweets and cloudsugar lining them on either side, and Allura joined the first of the lines.

“It’s sweet!” Lotor remarked when they got theirs, a dusting of sugar falling on his chest as he bit into the fried delight.

“Of course!” Allura agreed joyfully.

“It’s good.”

“Do you not often enjoy sweets?”

Lotor snorted, taking another bite. “You might recall that standard Galran fare involves uniquely bland off-beige paste and little else.”

“Well, yes, and we Alteans have our exceedingly green goo, but surely you must eat regular food when you are planetside?”

Lotor gave her a look.

“Lotor. Only eat half of that. We are going to try everything in this aisle.”

He laughed at her sudden seriousness, but Allura was not anywhere even close to joking. He dutifully waited with her in every single line, trying out savory meats and spicy candies and more sweets and buttery tubers at her prompting, eating whatever they’d just purchased while they waited in the next line. They bumped into Pidge, Hunk, and Shay in one of the lines, chatting happily while Lotor gnawed on a well-sauced bone of meat, and Hunk reminded them to hydrate while they were here. When they finished with their final shop (a meat skewer place with crisped alliums and bell peppers that smelled divine) she decided to play another little ploy on her intended, and guided him away from the crowd.

“This is good, as well,” he praised, seeming to enjoy the meat dishes the most out of everything they’d tried.

“Good! Give me a bite,” she said, resettling all her many plush gifts in both hugging arms, so she could not reach out and take it. Instead, when he began to extend the skewer to her, she opened her mouth and leaned forward.

“Allura?” he choked, eyes blown so wide they were nearly all pupil.

For her part, she blinked her eyes as big as they would go and stared up at him innocently. “My hands are full,” she commented, high pitched and sweet, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Won’t you feed me a bite?”

Feeding one’s partner was not quite so scandalous as kissing them in public, but it wasn’t nothing, either. She opened her mouth again, doing her best impression of guileless but probably blushing, herself, and watched her fiance visibly struggle with his composure before feeding her a bite.

“Mm! It is good!” she agreed, smiling for an entirely different reason.

“You are a wicked, devilish woman.”

Allura giggled, grinning wide, and spun on the ball of her foot with a little flounce of her dress.

“That’s me! Now, whatever shall we do next?”

[yamayuandadu]

I have seen claims that at the Hinglaj Mata temple a spirit/deity worshiped under the name of "Bibi Nani", is supposedly a continuation of Sogdian/Bactrian Nana. I can't find any actual academic articles confirming this, just random blogspots that all plagiarize eachother, and keep repeating "Ishtar is Durga is Nana" even though we know Nana comes from Nanaya, not Ishtar directly, and afaik, there is no proven relation between Ishtar and Durga. Am I right for assuming this is just bullshit?

On De Gruyter, there are only two publications which mention Bibi Nani at all (other than 19th century reprints), both by the same author - a certain mr. David Gordon White who...... was an assistant of Mircea Eliade at some point according to his wiki page and incorporates Freudian themes into his scholarship. Off to a great start. Let's see what does he have to say under the cut.

The first book we need to look at is The Alchemical Body from 1993 (p. 205):

Well, that sure was illuminating. The use of "Chaldean" in a deeply puzzling context (nobody has ever proposed Nanaya originated as a Chaldean deity, and she predates first references to the Chaldean tribes appearing in Mesopotamia by centuries) coupled with the unawareness the Maccabees passage deals with the same deity would indicate complete unfamiliarity with Nanaya. Note that obviously Nanaya's and Anahita's names are not cognates of this title (let alone each other) judging from the etymology provided... Well, that and they're not "ancient mother goddesses" (I suppose calling the central Asian form of Nana[ya] an "early medieval civic goddess" lacks the mystique).

The only source White lists for this claim is not very promising, to put it very lightly - straight from the 1920s:

The only information here that does seem to check out is that "Bibi Nani" is a title used by Muslims. I can't find any estimates for how old the title is - it must've already been in use in the 19th century, and the Zikri community mentioned elsewhere in relation to the site dates back to the 1600s, but that doesn't help much. So far, no real case for identification with Nanaya to be made. Let's see the other passage, from Daemons Are Forever (p. 201). We are now in 2021, so perhaps mr. White had the opportunity to familiarize himself with at least some Nana(ya) publications.

Ah, nevermind. "Nana or Innana", lol, he didn't even romanize the latter name right. I haven't seen this supposed "generally accepted" idea in ANY publications about Nanaya - regardless of the discipline and language. The general consensus is that attestations of Nanaya go up to the tenth century, and that in the final centuries they are tied to Sogdians. Let's check the footnote.

He seems more sure of this than Falk himself (his article is here). Associating Nanaya with Venus is definitely a minority position though, regardless of the time period (Shenkar voiced a degree of support for Falk's proposal but that's about it, and I don't think this is taken by anyone but White as the source of the lion mount, also...). I wasn't familiar with the other paper listed here, but it's on academia edu. Unlike White, the author notes the identification of Bibi Nani as Nanaya is mostly the domain of publications from the 19th century. He also correctly highlights Nana(ya) is not Inanna (p. 42), and keeps stressing any association between her and the Hinglaj temple's history is purely speculative (pp. 43-44). While Brighhenti's methodology is MUCH more rigorous than White's, and the argument about a crescent-shaped natural rock formation is interesting, I'm personally not entirely convinced since Hinglaj is much further south than most central Asian attestations of Nana(ya); and she was popular chiefly in Sogdia, not in Bactria, especially after the Kushan period. Furthermore, Brighhenti relies on the incorrect assumption Nanaya was associated with earth and water (which is an extension of justifying her being more popular than Anahita or Armaiti by asserting they were interchangeable). He adds a claim from the 1960s that "her cult emphasized natural phenomena" - something I haven't seen anywhere else. Doesn't really seem to check out. The major cult centers of Nana(ya) through her entire history were significant because they were major cities or commercial hubs, not because of any natural phenomena, and neither in Mesopotamian nor Central Asian context I see much of a reason to suspect some deeper connection to nature. Whether in Mesopotamia, in Iran or in Central Asia, Nana(ya) was essentially a civic deity, from Uruk all the way to Panjakent. I don't know enough about the history of Hinglaj to tell if it fits that pattern. I will also note that Oxus and Mithra do appear in Bactrian sources postdating the arrival of Islam in the region but Nana does not, also; virtually all the attestations postdating the Kushans I'm aware of are from Sogdia, Khotan, Chorasmia and places where a significant number of Sogdians at least temporarily resided. Final verdict: not really seeing it but 90% of the Brighhenti paper is fine. I see no reason to challenge the consensus position that Nanaya's history ends roughly in the tenth century, considerably further north, though. I feel like if the evidence really was that strong Bibi Nani would pop up in more recent studies about the transfer of Nanaya's cult. As a side note, not even Brighenti suggests that the modern goddess of Hinglaj is Nana(ya). He proposes she was introduced from northern India in the 9th or 10th century, which lines up with historical sources he provides pretty well.

I did a quick survey of other sites and the only other Nanaya = Bibi Nani truther is Asko Parpola (who is, naturally, convinced she is ACTUALLY Inanna). I refuse to engage with the Parpolas, and Asko is supposedly even less rigorous than Simo. This is par the course for hyperdiffusionists. The final matter to address is the weird claim about Durga being Ishtar or. Whatever. I won't engage with this directly, the source is almost definitely wikipedia's questionable Inanna article which was pretty heavy on this sort of takes and probably still is - courtesy of the Parpolas. Now, the Hinglaj goddess is indeed identified with Durga apparently, but Durga as you correctly pointed outhas nothing to do with Ishtar, and even the connection to Nanaya is at best vague. Basically, it has been suggested that the iconographic type represented by Nanaya with lion on coins might have influenced early depictions of Durga from Mathura (or an unidentified deity iconographically similar to Durga; there's some discussion in Westenholz's article here, pp. 190-191; Potts brings it up in his 2001 Nanaya article too but this one has mixed reception and he assumes Nanaya's spouse in Central Asia was Oesho, not Tishtrya, which doesn't seem to be a widespread view). This doesn't seem too unlikely. However, even if we accept this, it would only constitute transfer of an iconographic type (so the connection between Nanaya and Durga would be about as close as between Nanaya and Dionysus). In a region where these moved in a basically kaleidoscopic manner at that, judging from the fabled case of Tishtrya as Artemis. Iconography can move separately from the actual deity (least we forget Taweret becoming a generic critter on Crete); and as far as I am aware, there is no evidence Nanaya herself was worshiped in Mathura.

[dojae-huh]

Unconditional

As I thought, the song is wholly in English. Explains why it was released as a separate single. Aimed at a different market.

Even if Jae participated in writing the lyrics, I doubt he is the only lyricist. "No honey on the side" is not something a foreigner not very adept at another language would come up with. Koreans don't eat pancakes in the morning in diners.

Let's check. This is from Genius

Jaehyun, Hyun, Taneisha Jackson

The latter two also worked on "Roses", hm. Does anyone know a song database with official credits? I wonder about the order of names.

For those who wonder why so much "she", it's because it's not a song solely by Jae, but with his involvement. Also, in English it is harder to be vague. "Baby" can't be used multiple times and in all grammatical constructions. Plus, I doubt Jaehyun cares. He agreed to building up his straght image in the past (circa 2019). For some not singing about the sex you are not attracted to is important, for some it isn't.

Lots of high notes, low whispers and changes in ways of singing, heh. Jaehyun really likes to play with his voice and modulations.

Lions don't hunt meerkats, but that was the symbolism in that sequence. Prey on alert and a hunter in hiding/clocking the target. This insertion of African animals is still very sus to me. Especially alongside locally appropriate roosters and bald eagles. And antelopes are more commonly used for "prey on alert". Hard to imagine the MV director coming up with it on their own. There are enough counterparts in North America to choose from (cougars, jaguars, lynxes vs ground squirrels, burrowing owls, juckrabbits, deer, mountain sheep).

Everyone pointed out Lemonade and Lemonade mate connection. Yes, another sus moment. The thing about such "references" is that they are perfectly vague. It can be both an intentional reference and just a thematic coinsidence (America and lemonade stalls, lemonade as a refreshing drink=thirst quenching love).

With the involvement of so many roses, and same songwriters, the song seems to be tied to "Roses". A prequel?

Prada ad was subtle, just one phrase. BP do it more blatantly with Celine and Dior. Heh, shippers also remembered the Prada bag Do and his mom got when Jae became a BA. But I think it is more to do with Jae participating in Prada Music festival and the brand making a video for Jae's album. An exchange of favours.

The MV is simple but fun. A bit too shaky for me, enough of nice shots though. For such MVs its important for the lead to be able to act. Shot in one day, probably. Maybe one and a half, with a trip to the desert.

Thematically Jaehyun didn't deviate from his usual topic: life long love, the one, I'll be there by my love interest's side.

Heh, if there will be a third part to this Roses series. They will get back together, lols.

P.S. "Letter" in the scrable game stands out to me as well. There was nothing about a letter in the lyrics. Yes, it could be there simply to complete the shape of the puzzle. And under its second meaning (a letter in a word). Still, Doyoung is known for his handwritten letters,

[norcumii]

SPOILERS AHEAD FOR D20′S NEVERAFTER

(This was started the weekend after the finale, then my spoons ran away for awhile. -_-; Hopefully this is coherent anyways, even if late.)

I have been...struggling with this season of Dimension 20. As we’ve gone from episode to episode, I keep coming back to the issue of foundational rules – not in the sense of mechanics of world-building, but the thematic underpinnings and models. You’re telling a story about stories. We have these elements of horror and free-will; themes of consumption and corruption; cycles and multi-verses.

And I haven’t been able to tie it all together. My metaphorical wall-chart of photos and string has been an unending tangled mess (and my brain staunchly refuses to stop fixating on Aesop’s Mouse and Lion, aka the mascots of Disney and MGM so obviously that’s been a heel-turn of Capitalism waiting to happen >_>). After the finale I just sat there blinking for a bit, feeling like that certainly was a thing that had happened, but what did it all MEAN?????

There wasn’t anything that felt wrong with what happened, but there wasn’t any narrative logic I could grasp, no themes to tie things together other than “things are better now and what people chose for themselves” which is...nice, but vague enough to be unfulfilling. I couldn’t find anything to the Adventuring Party episode to help, so in growing frustrating I went browsing through the related tags on the tumbls.

This deceptively simple post broke me because it explained matters so well. It’s trauma. The whole season, all the horror and meta themes are about trauma. Suddenly all the oddly shaped puzzle pieces I couldn’t stop pawing at fit.

This is why the dark times began in the first place. People worried so much about trauma that they managed to traumatize themselves. Look how Sleeping Beauty’s vines literally smothered her in an attempt to protect her. All these population centers withdrew from each other, borders closed between the various kingdoms, and thus people pulled away from the potential for community support – everyone was left to struggle and fall on their own.

It wasn’t what I originally thought, some nebulous fear of fear itself inevitably leading to the darkside nonsense, but instead how we isolate ourselves into our little echo chambers – each person caught up in their story and their story alone. How we become mired in those events/trauma until one’s entire life is framed around That Horrible Thing What Happened At One Point In My Life.

Which in turn addresses the Authors – as a storyteller myself, I was mighty uncomfy with the presentation of the Authors as a unified bloc of uncaring eldritch horrors from beyond that only wanted the suffering of their playthings. I couldn’t figure if I was picking up on the wrong vibe, or if this was one of those learning moments where “if you’re uncomfy that might be ‘cause it hits too close to home and you need to sit with that for a bit to chew it over” or whatever. With the trauma context, it makes sense. On the one hand, the Authors are the external force: just like the characters, they’ve been corrupted by the fear of the Dark Times, and thus spreading that to their creations, which spread it back to them, etc. On the other they are very much an internal force: when we are traumatized, we tell ourselves stories to contextualize what happened. That can be done in a healthy way – this is one of the reasons we tell stories to begin with – or one can become mired in that narrative, telling and retelling it while fixating on the worst parts (that fear of the Dark Times thing again) until all that one sees is the worst iteration.

Which is why there was the multiverse aspect, and why each one could/did get worse. For that matter, it addresses the evolution of Pib’s minis, which baffled me when they were revealed. He begins as the dapper rogue, then becomes the hardened stray, then the scared little cat. Trauma wears at people, and oftentimes the immediate reaction is to withdraw, to be emotionally distant and appear tough – Rather like Zac’s choices on how Pib changed between incarnations. From there its so easy to get ground down further, into something so tired and hurting that it’s difficult to expect anything other than to be hurt further. Or look at Rosamund, increasingly isolated by her briars, which are choking her as they “lovingly” work to protect her from the big bad scary world – until she is puppeted by them.

Honestly, a lot of character choices make a lot more sense. Ylfa’s separation, how she believed that “the girl kept holding the wolf back.” The Stepmother’s everything, exemplifying that old saying about how “hurt people hurt people,” and a classic example of how easy it is to repeat generational trauma, especially when you don’t have a model for other ways to approach matters. The princesses’ utter nihilism, the exhausted desperation to just have the suffering stop. The fairies as the well-meaning but misguided faction endorsing placating the/a source of trauma to keep things from getting worse is all too familiar of those caught up in traumatic cycles but want to exercise some, any kind of autonomy. Meanwhile look at how Rapunzel grew able to lash out at literally everyone, and how she was utterly honest without ever needing to be truthful. How so many people just needed to rest in Mother Goose’s book, to get some reprieve from the relentless cycle of trauma (and how it helped them, and in return helped the party).

This explains the horrible Worst Case ending that was mentioned in the Adventuring Party: the Stepford Wives society of terrifying seeming-perfection crystallizing everyone into a semblance of how Everything Is Fine, Nothing Is Wrong, and no lessons are learned, no changes can be made, and the core is often rotting away unseen. All too often, society pressures us to pretend trauma didn’t happen, or that it wasn’t so bad. (How many times have you heard that PTSD is only for military folks, or those who survived massive natural disasters or whathaveyou?) The lesson we internalize is to pretend that all is peachy-keen, no problems whatsoever, and when that happens the trauma is never addressed. One can’t heal if all your energies are devoted to keeping up the facade of an idyllic existence. To be stuck in that cycle is indeed pretty apt for the worst end of a horror season.

Of course, this leads to the big question: what makes the players different? HOW did they manage to break the cycle? By literally crafting a new narrative – by allowing EVERYONE to make their own, new narrative, to shed the weight and burden of generational trauma. Some of them, like Pinocchio, had already internalized their own story – in his case, that meant taking up the terrifying responsibility of autonomy, taking up his own strings and destiny. Pinocchio learned and understood his story, stepping forward to not be ruled by his past experiences – like Gerard, choosing to leave his humanity and stop chasing the old goals that everyone said he should desire. Even though they both grieved the loss of that goal, and all the ramifications of leaving those hopes behind – even as it meant accepting the scars and changes it wrought upon them – it helped them and others in their stories break out of the cycle of trauma.

Stories are doorways to other places – sometimes a temporary haven in someplace better, where no matter how bad things get, there is a ‘happily’ at the end of it. Sometimes they’re models of how things could be horrible, and we can learn how others deal with grief/tragedy/horror – so we in turn can acquire those skills and life lessons. Vicarious experiences can help mitigate/understand trauma, and somehow, without me even noticing it, this season leaned wholeheartedly into it.

I think I need to rewatch it all through that lens, and tbh? I’m looking forward to it.

[khapaleaf]

A compilation of puzzle solutions for the Relics of the Lost Age series 

Relics of the Lost Age

Chapter 1 — The Oracle of God

1. The very first puzzle

First seal: South then North

Second seal: East then West

Third seal: West then South

Fourth seal: West then East

Chapter 2 — Shambala

N/A

Chapter 3 — Devil Music

1. The Objection! achievement

What did you learn at the museum that contradicts the theory making Elliot out as the robber?

It was something related to the Satanic imagery in the gallery --> a. it was the written message “Hail Satan”

What did you learn at the precinct that contradicts this evidence?

It was something we saw at the precinct. --> b. it was the register of detainees on the front desk

2. Strange box puzzle

Open the drawer depicting the man with his finger to his lips.

Chapter 4 — The River

N/A

Chapter 5 — The Eye of Kali

1. The clock puzzle

7 : 44

Chapter 6 — Hong Kong Crazy

N/A

Chapter 7 — Endgame

1. The relics puzzle

First podium: King Manuel’s amulet from the Congo

Second podium: The Stone of Shambala from Tibet

Third podium: The Eye of Kali from London

Fourth podium: The dragon figurine from Hong Kong

Fifth podium: The high priest’s breastplate from Palestine

Sixth podium: Chantelle LaValle’s amulet from New Orleans

2. The tree puzzle

Acorn / patch of earth / sun / raindrop

Relics 2: The Crusader’s Tomb

Chapter 1 — The Quest

N/A

Chapter 2 — A Canterbury Tale

1. The organ puzzle

D - E - A - F

C - A - G - E - D

D - E - C - A - D - E

D - E - F - A - C - E - D

Chapter 3 — City of Light

1. The map puzzle

Direction from Paris: Southeast

Associated saint: St. Mark

Associated animal: Lion

Chapter 4 — La Serenissima

1. The tome puzzle

The Life of St. Esther of Bingen: the saint’s name

The Life of St. Benedict: the saint’s revival of the dead child

The Life of St. Scholastica: the saint’s relation to Benedict

The Life of St. Jerome: the story about the tame lion

The Life of St. Matthias of Westphalia: the death of the lion

Note: the sequence of Benedict / Scholastica / Esther / Jerome / Matthias also grants the achievement for solving the puzzle.

Chapter 5 — Pilgrims in an Unholy Land

1. The coat of arms

Deer / stag

A lion

Chapter 6 — Blood of Dracul

1. The altar puzzle

The tree / the scorpion / the boat / the peacock

Chapter 7 — The World’s Desire

1. The chalice puzzle 

Turn the third cylinder left.

Turn the middle cylinder left.

Turn the first cylinder left.

Turn the first cylinder left.

Turn the middle cylinder left.

Turn the third cylinder left.

Turn the middle cylinder right.

Note: a shorter solution should also be possible, but I lost it.

2. The column puzzle

4th column and 7th column

Chapter 8 — Endgame

1. Geometric shape puzzle

Circle / triangle / square / pentagon / cross

Relics 3: Ashes for Gold

Chapter 1 — Showdown at Rattlesnake Gulch

1. Geometric shape puzzle

Single line / two parallel lines / the triangle / the upper-case M / the pentagram

Chapter 2 — The Temple of the Sands

1. Safe combination

Find the concealed note in Baillard’s office (“Behind the Sphinx. The answer is in the Good Book.”). Return to the guest bedroom and consult the bible to find the safe combination (Mark 10:43).

2. First temple puzzle

Press Jamanu, meaning “Amun”.

Press hotep, meaning “satisfied”.

Press the empty cartouche name-ring.

3. Second temple puzzle

Khonsu symbols: moon, crook and bandage.

Mut symbols: mother, water and crown.

Amun symbols: farmer, ram-headed sphinx and two vertical plumes.

Chapter 3 — The Doctor’s Demons

1. The alchemy puzzle  

The scythe-bearing angel: an offering of earth.

The torch-bearing angel: an offering of fire.

The trident-bearing angel: an offering of water.

The trumpet-bearing angel: an offering of air.

Note: follow the given order otherwise it will become bugged (on dash, at least)

2. The code puzzle

Fill in a letter for the symbol ' = T

Fill in a letter for the symbol < = H

Fill in a letter for the symbol - = R

Fill in a letter for the symbol > = O

Fill in a letter for the symbol ~ = D

Fill in a letter for the symbol : = C

Fill in a letter for the symbol " = F

3. The identity of the traitor

Solution 1

What was the key piece of information about?

It was about me.

And what was it that Becker said about you that gives Winter’s identity away?

That your cover story involved working for the Smithsonian.

Solution 2

Winter’s gender: uses traditionally male pronouns

Winter’s title and position at the university: is an academic with the rank of full professor

Winter’s employment at Magdalen: has been involved with the college for a long time

Chapter 4 — Dead Man’s Chest

1. The museum puzzle

The three ships that called into Barros’s harbor (The Jocasta out of New Orleans, a French ship carrying sugar and tobacco, and an English ship bound for Portsmouth).

2. The ship voyage puzzle

1. New Orleans, Louisiana / St. John’s, Antigua / Bridgetown, Barbados

2. Veracruz, Mexico / Saint Augustine, Florida / Cartagena, Colombia / Le Havre, France.

3. Havana, Cuba / Santo Domingo, Hispaniola / Portsmouth, England

3. The bomb puzzle

The yellow wire / the blue wire / the green wire / the indigo wire / the red wire

Chapter 5 — Path of the Condor

1. The three worlds puzzle

Set the first lever to the down position.

Set the second lever to the up position.

Set the fourth lever to the down position.

2. The Inca society puzzle

The tile showing the woman with the stretched earlobes: in the second slot down.

The tile showing the man planting maize: in the bottom slot.

The tile showing the man with the silver shoes and headdress: in the top slot.

The tile showing the man holding the knotted cords: in the third slot down.

Chapter 6 — The Sapporo Archive

N/A

Chapter 7 — Endgame

N/A

[satoshi-mochida]

Where Winds Meet adds PS5 version; ‘Gameplay’ trailer and screenshots

From Gematsu

Northern Song Dynasty-set open-world action RPG Where Winds Meet will launch for PlayStation 5 alongside its previously announced PC version, developer Everstone Studio announced. A release date was not announced. Wishlisting is available now via PlayStation Store.

Here is an overview of the game, via Everstone Studio:

Let the Wind Carry Your Legend on an Epic Journey to the East

Where Winds Meet is an epic Wuxia open-world action–adventure RPG set in ancient China at the tenth century during the tumultuous era of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdom. Players will assume the role of a young sword master as they embark on a journey to uncover the mysteries of their own identity.

Let the Wind Carry Your Legend in Ancient China Beset by Conflict

Explore the breathtaking vastness of ancient China during a tumultuous era, where political intrigue, power struggles, and epic battles shape the course of history. Amidst the chaos engulfing ancient dynasties, weave your own story as you unravel the mysteries surrounding your own birth and fated destiny in a world brimming with cultural richness and prosperity, where heroes rise and legends are born. Engage in various powerful ancient combat techniques using your fists, sword, spear, bow and spirit to overcome your foes. Embrace your destiny and forge your own path in a legendary tale of your making!

An Open World of Infinite Activities in an Era of Endless Possibilities

Embark on a one-of-a-kind adventure taking you from the tranquil countryside surrounded by majestic wilderness to lively cities flanked by mysterious caves and treacherous canyons. Dive into an immersive world featuring interconnected nature and society with realistic weather conditions, real consequences from natural disasters and human conflicts. Uncover thousands of points of interests, discover over 20 distinct regions, Interact with diverse characters and engage with numerous authentic activities in a world that teems with life. Play traditional Chinese ancient instruments, solve puzzles from enigmatic cats and so much more!

Deep RPG Mechanics to Shape Your Destiny the Way You Want It

Create and customize your character and their progression using a unique eastern combat system inspired by Wuxia (Martial Arts & Chivalry tales originating in China) with multiple familiar and exotic weapons and skills to unlock and upgrade. Face your opponents directly in close-quarters combat, wielding weapons like Spear, Sword, Dual Blades, Glaive, Umbrella and Fan. Hone your skills and progress through your adventure, unlocking unique skills such as Acupuncture Hitting, Lion’s Roar and Tai Chi. Harness the lethal precision of a bow and arrow to take down enemies from afar. Even better, utilize stealth and deception tactics to disorient your foes in strategic ambushes. What’s more, you get to choose how you want to impact the world and its characters and they will in turn react to you in ways that reflect these choices. Help them rebuild their houses, heal their wounds or fight their enemies for them. In Where Winds Meet, you choose who you are, how you fight and what you do to write a tale of your own, through and through.

A Modern Approach to Your Ancient Saga: Play Solo or Multiplayer and Enjoy Ongoing Content

You can journey to the east as a lone sword master and enjoy over 100 hours of rich narrative driven exploration of a lush and exotic world filled with exciting adventures. If you’re looking for some company though, you’re in luck. Where Winds Meet lets you play with up to four friends to venture into the world and write your legend along with them. Additionally, for those who are looking for fearsome adversaries to reach an even greater glory, they can also look forward to player-versus-player battles that will go down in the history books if they so choose to wage them. What’s more, Where Winds Meet features ongoing updates which will keep bringing you more engaging content that will expand your legend as time marches on.

Watch a new trailer below. View a new set of screenshots at the gallery.

Gameplay Trailer

[morkitten]

do you have a favorite pokémon?

I have a lot of favorites... my absolute favorite I think is Braixen

I fell in love with the design of Braixen immediately when I saw it, and then playing Pokémon X and Y itself it made my love grow even more. Not only the way that she animates and emotes in Pokémon Amie really really adorable, but it also made me appreciate how well designed she is. It's really obvious in X and Y that they were very mindful of designing the new creatures in 3D, and making them look good from a variety of angles. Braixen I think bares out that ideology really well: Her design has a BUNCH of triangles, but they're laid out in different angles, instead of focusing on only one axis, so it avoids the issue that, for instance, a character like Sonic has, where he's really spiky when seen from the side, but the impression of his design changes radically when seen directly from the front or behind. Braixen however, has an appealing silhouette that keeps the triangular shapes from pretty much every angle, yet her design isn't overbearing either.

I think what made me realize and appreciate this was that minigame in Pokemon Amie where the game takes three Pokémon from your party comp and makes a slide puzzle with them where they're laid out at a random distance and angle from each other. It really feels like the game flexing that they wanted these Pokémon to be easily identifiable and appealing in 3D from a variety of angles.

also she's a furry witch like come on. I was recently out as a trans woman (maybe like a year?) and that was catnip for me who wanted to exercise femininity more. her TAIL is a BROOM and a WAND!!!!

other favorites are Clefairy, Luxio (I always thought that Kimba the White Lion was really cute, and my fursona started as a Luxio), Sylveon, Ampharos, Sneasel, Mew, Decidueye, and, of course, fat Pikachu. If anyone tells me they prefer thinner Pikachu it makes me want to gouge their eyes out. They murdered my boy.

[theroseandthebeast]

Yuletide Recs, Batch Four

18 recs for North and South, The OC, Ocean's 8, Ocean's Eleven, Only Murders in the Building, Penny Dreadful, Peter Pan, Piranesi, Point Break, and Poker Face

Keeping True, Gen, John Thornton + Hannah Thornton + Fanny Thornton + Maria Hale + Nicholas Higgins + Mill Workers

Five views of Mr Thornton.

"if you weren't real i would make you up", Ryan Atwood & Summer Roberts + Seth Cohen/Summer Roberts

Tell the truth, but tell it like it’s a lie. Ryan Atwood grows up, and his relationships grow up with him.

Magpie, Ryan Atwood & Sandy Cohen + Ryan Atwood & Kirsten Cohen + Ryan Atwood/Marissa Cooper

Going fast enough, there was motion to it, and shape. The wires dipped in-between the poles, then curved back upward, then back down again - a never ending parabolic curve, like a child's drawing of ocean waves. He would imagine different creatures running on top of the wires - tigers, pandas, lions, cheetahs, or even a little miniature version of himself - running and leaping, keeping up with the car. He'd follow the horizon this way too - holding up one of his toy army men and lining up its legs with the line where the land met the sky. On the interstate, outside of the city, driving past farms and craggy hills and suburban enclaves, bunches of houses crowded up in little clusters like fungus erupting through the cracks in a tree's bark - everything looked like a toy. Like he could roll down the window and just scoop everything up, pull the whole world inside to look at it closer.

Encountering the Nova, Lou Miller/Debbie Ocean

Galaxies of women, there doing penance for impetuousness. Debbie and Lou meet cute.

somebody else's wallet, Danny Ocean/Rusty Ryan

When you look at another man for too long, you risk giving several things away.

What Really Happened with Marco, Danny Ocean/Rusty Ryan

Rusty visits Danny's grave, and remembers. Meanwhile, everyone has a story to tell about Danny and Rusty.

in the meantime, wait and see, Oliver Putnam/Charles-Haden Savage

Mabel Mora loves her old guys dearly, but she is getting tired of them sabotaging each other’s love lives.

1/3 Of What You're Saying, Theo Dimas/Mabel Mora

She dreams of puzzle pieces again, that first night at Theo’s. (Mabel and Theo as roommates, figuring it out.)

An Ingenue Looks at Seventy, Loretta Durkin/Oliver Putnam

Maybe this time, Loretta will get everything she ever dreamed of. Or at least a bigger piece of it.

ignition, Theo Dimas/Mabel Mora

“So, do I need to be worried about you getting with a murderer too, or can I reserve that particular worry for Charles and Charles alone?” Or, everyone seems to know before they do.

Dark Days Coming, Ethan Chandler/Vanessa Ives + Ethan Chandler & Vanessa Ives + Vanessa Ives/Hecate Poole + Ethan Chandler/Hecate Poole

Hecate makes a plan.

Somebody to Watch Over Me, Wendy Darling/James Hook

The Hook she had made up would never smile at a girl as if she were the most interesting person in the world and then tell her that of course, he would patiently await her decision.

Growing Pains, Wendy Darling/James Hook

Wendy knew Hook wasn't propositioning her to join his crew out of the non-existent goodness of his heart. Enchanting his eyes might be, but the coldness in them seeped right into her bones.

The Sixth Statue, Gen, Piranesi | Matthew Rose Sorensen + The House

Matthew Rose Sorensen explores the House.

The Reality of Shadows, Gen, Sixteen | Sarah Raphael

"And when he remembered his old habitation, and the wisdom of the den and his fellow-prisoners, do you not suppose that he would felicitate himself on the change, and pity them? Certainly, he would. … Yes, he said, I think that he would rather suffer anything than entertain these false notions and live in this miserable manner." - Plato, The Republic

The Waters below the Nineteenth Eastern Hall, The House + Piranesi | Matthew Rose Sorensen

Between the Eleventh and Fifteenth days of the Sixth Month in the Year the Albatross Came to the South-western Halls, there are days for which nothing was recorded. To fit into that space: a reflection on certain surprising Elements of the House.

lay my heart down, Bodhi/Johnny Utah

“Hey,” Bodhi says, soaked right down to the bone. “Room for an old friend?” Johnny takes a step back like he’s seen a ghost. “What the fuck?”

Ways to Disappear, Charlie Cale/Original Female Character

Charlie finds a place to stay awhile.

[lastofethan]

ETHAN RHODES ✘ forty. doctor. former physical therapist.

starters ✘ bio ✘ photos ✘ answers ✘ ethancore

Moans and groans fill the night sky, blunt nails scratch along the smooth surface of a car caught amidst a horde of infected. Screams from inside barely carry, they can barely be heard in the distance. But what's that in the distance? Is that {CHARLIE HUNNAM}? No way, that's {ETHAN RHODES}. The {FORTY} year old {MALE (HE/HIM)} used to be a {PHYSICAL THERAPIST}. Since the outbreak, they've proven to be {PRAGMATIC & HOSPITABLE}, but rumor has it they're also {ALOOF & BLUNT}, which may pose a risk to the group. They appear to have taken the {DOCTOR} role within the group. Only time can tell if they succeed.

𝙱𝙰𝚂𝙸𝙲 𝙸𝙽𝙵𝙾

full name — ethan scott rhodes age — forty gender — male orientation — bisexual occupation — former physical therapist at the veteran rehab hospital role in group — doctor weapon(s) — AR15, butterfly knife, bear spray clothing style/armor — flannels, zip-up hoodies, practical, boots

𝙿𝙷𝚈𝚂𝙸𝙲𝙰𝙻 𝙸𝙽𝙵𝙾

face claim — charlie hunnam hair — sandy-blonde height — six foot two build — muscular and athletic scars — side of head & under chin, incurred when he fell of a car in a wrecking yard in his youth. left forearm when he cut himself in college putting his fist through a window. tattoos — wood cutting style lion on his upper right arm piercings — none sexual preference — versatile in every way

𝙿𝙴𝚁𝚂𝙾𝙽𝙰𝙻𝙸𝚃𝚈

alignment — chaotic neutral positive traits — pragmatic, hospitable, loyal, focused negative traits — aloof, blunt, guarded hobbies — hiking, wood carving, crossword puzzles, hacky sack

𝙼𝙴𝙳𝙸𝙲𝙰𝙻 𝙸𝙽𝙵𝙾

mental — general anxiety, bc...world ended physical — excellent physical shape phobias — drowning, heights, centipedes eyesight — 20/15 dominant hand — right drug use — weed, when he can find it alcohol use — whiskey, when he can find it diet — fuckin' loves steak, but mostly things from a can these days, coffee addict

𝙱𝙰𝙲𝙺𝙶𝚁𝙾𝚄𝙽𝙳

birthplace — boulder, colorado parents — jeffrey lawrence rhodes, abigail ruth rhodes siblings — annabeth marie rhodes (younger sister) education — BS in Kinesiology, Doctor of Physical Therapy notable skills — massage therapy, excellent stamina, wilderness training from eagle scouts, some mechanical knowledge (grew up son of a mechanic).

𝙱𝙸𝙾 before the end —

born in boulder, colorado to a mechanic father and a school teacher mother, ethan had a normal all-american up bringing with the added benefit of beautiful scenery and loose discipline.

ethan was known to be a bit of a hellion around town, getting into trouble with the local cops, always up to no good, but he had a natural boy-next-door charm to him that did him many favors.

it also helped that he was the starring quarterback on his high school's football team.

that position opened up more than just leniency for ethan, as his skills on the field got him a full ride scholarship to UT Austin, but ethan wasn't lacking in the academic sense either.

if he actually applied himself.

at first college for ethan was all parties, privilege, football, and thinking he was on top of the world.

ethan chose sports medicine as a major because it aligned with his interests and seemed the easiest thing to fall back on if football didn't work out.

ethan 100% felt he was going to go pro one day.

that was until he actually really liked his chosen major, especially considering the injuries he and his fellow teammates received on the field.

slowly but surely ethan threw himself more into his studies and school, eventually turning down an offer for a position on a team.

when ethan graduated he moved right into his grad program for his doctor of physical therapy degree, interning at a local stadium.

three years later he accepted a fulltime position as a physical therapist for several professional teams.

ethan's career would shift when a friend from his grad program offered him a position at the veteran's hospital. it was more money and longer hours, but ethan was curious.

what ethan discovered working there was a deeper passion to help people who needed him. he saw men and women who lost so much for their country, going through the roughest times of their lives, and wanted to help make things a little better.

the bro-y frat boy that ethan was melted away as he matured and devoted himself to his job, and ethan was content and happy.

until...

after the end —

ethan was at work when it happened, highways were shutdown, businesses, hospitals filling up.

ethan had to ditch his car, and opted to walk home instead, dressed in his scrubs and his bag over his shoulder.

hours later the world was completely different from what he knew, he couldn't get his parents on his phone, nor his sister.

his neighbors were holed up in their apartment, and so was ethan, for a time, and he witnessed the violence escalate.

when his neighbors eventually left, they offered him an AR15 and a small cache of ammo, which he took. ethan had gone hunting a few times in his youth, but he was not marksman.

when it became clear he couldn't stay in his apartment, ethan set out by himself.

in those days he moved through several groups, each meeting a violent end whether from biters or humans.

ethan's athleticism helped him survive, able to keep his stamina up, running from one place to the other, simply just trying to survive.

eventually he found this current group, lending his skills to their medical team.

ethan figured with how the world was now, a physical therapist able to help people heal and manage pain, to get used to lost limbs.

he has thrown himself into his work, finding it a good way to ground himself in reality, to focus on what needs to be done and not spiral.

but who knows how long that will last? every man has his limit.

[diosakuu]

⏰,😪,💤,🧸,🧶 for whichever f/os you'd like? :3

i'm so sorry for taking 400 years to finally answer this 😭

i tried to make the answers look as detailed as i could since... i think it would be the best to do after the fact you've been waiting for so many time... so here we go.

⏰ Do you and any of your f/o's sleep schedules align? do any of them prioritize getting 8hrs or going to bed at a reasonable time?

Hazamada doesn't get his 8 hours of sleep. Why, do you ask? Well, maybe because he spends half of the night reading manga or watching anime. And when Yukari is with him, he can easily convince her to spend the night reading manga 'till they doze off.

😪 What sleeping positions do you all sleep in?

Ken never admits this, but he LOVES cuddling. Cuddling with anything in his reach: his parents, plushies, pillows, Yukari (his step-sister), etc. He also enjoys sleeping curled up like a sleeping puppy. Now, for Yukari, she likes the same cuddling position (both siblings sleep cuddled up, fitting like puzzle pieces).

💤 Do any of them snore? are we talking loud, freight train snores or soft, almost inaudible snores?

Okuyasu snores a lot, and quite loudly. Even though Yukari doesn't like repetitive, annoying noises, She can't help but feel like it just makes him more adorable than he already is. It's pretty useless trying to make him stop – Okuyasu sleeps like a rock, so waking him up isn't that easy... Yukari just needs to put up with his snoring. He also cuddles her sometimes, so it's a little... nightmarish to hear his snores right on your ear.

🧸 Does any of your f/os sleep w/ stuffed animals? are they the type to name them or give them in-depth backstories?

Rukia totally does. She adores stuffed animals: especially rabbits. Her favorite is a white one called Chappy! It doesn't have a backstory, but she named it and cares for it. She also has Kon, a (sentient) lion stuffed animal which stays with Ichigo most of the time (as Kon is very much of a pervert and Rukia often kicks him out). Actually afaik she has a LOT of rabbit things, such as her soul candy dispenser, which is bunny shaped. And in a (official but non-canon episode) she said her boss, Jushiro Ukitake, bought her a giant Chappy.

🧶 How many pillows are y'all using overall? how many blankets?

Hmm... I dont think much, just one. But I have a feeling Nnoitora would. He and Spica (my Bleach S/I) live in Hueco Mundo, a dark, probably cold desert, just like the desert of Sahara at night. And probably inside Las Noches, there must be rooms for each Espada to sleep in, right? I feel Nnoitora doesn't feel much cold, his skin is as hard as metal, which can be hardly cut, so I DOUBT that fucker feels any type of cold. Now Spica? Who has calloused yet sensitive skin? She easily feels cold. Nnoitora gives all the blankets available to her and Tesla, and only a single soft pillow to not hurt her precious neck.

[writingfish]

Soo, I am apparently continuing that Doctor Strange/Cardcaptor crossover/fusion thing I had...

He found the book in a library. Bright pink with gold edging, it was definitely out of place amongst the medical journals. He reached for it. It was heavier than it looked. He put it on the stack and placed another journal on top of it. It wasn't like anyone would be looking at this reading choices, but it was still embarrassing to be carrying around a pink book at his age.

Even though he had used up all of his connections and was probably blacklisted in the medical field, he still read the journals. It hurt, but the pain was worth the continuous knowledge. He looked at them like puzzles, challenged himself to come to the conclusions before the studies did. It kept his mind off other things.

He could feel the universe around him, but every time he reached for its energy he hit the wall. The Master's had bound his magic. He hadn't protested. It was the bill coming due, as Mordo had said. The world was safe from Dormammu and that was all that mattered.

He found a table, set the stack down, and removed the journals stacked on top. Sakura stared up at him from the front cover. Cherry blossom. He actually knew what those were. Christine had mentioned wanting to go down to DC to see their cherry blossoms once. It was a thing apparently.

The front cover was a lion with wings. It was wearing some kind of headpiece, with a red gem on its forehead. There was no other text on the cover. He hadn't seen anything like it in Kamar-Taj, but the library was vast and he hadn't even gone through a fourth of it. Should he contact them or at least Wong? Wong was Master of the New York Sanctum now wasn't he? No, it was unlikely anyone would listen to him. It probably wasn't even magic, probably some a misplaced book from the children's section. He should put it on one of the carts labeled reshelving.

Instead, he reached for the wing-shaped clasp and opened it.