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honourablejester · 10 months ago

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Numenera Setting Notes: Points of Interest Part VI

Heading now to two very different and widely separated parts of the world: Vralk, a volcanic militarised nation to the northeast of the northern Beyond, and the Rayskel Cays, an island archipelago far out into the ocean west of the Steadfast.

I’m putting these together because, to be completely honest, I’m not really vibing with Vralk? There’s a couple of cool bits and bobs in there, so I wanted to include it somewhere, but it’s just not the bit of this world that’s exciting to me. If anyone else wants a survivalist expansionist military nation state that lives in a volcanic hellscape, Vralk is for you! But it’s not really my scene, so I’m gonna skim through it and then move on to the Rayskel Cays, an island chain that is very much more my speed. Most of this entry will be the Cays, to warn you. I love them a lot.

(Got a little long, because I love the Rayskels, allow me to burble about them)

Part VI: Vralk & the Rayskel Cays (Ninth World Guidebook)

Vralk:

Hellsfont, in the Firefang Mountains of Vralk. It’s a five mile radius field of living fire just hanging out. And by ‘living’, I mean fully intelligent and empathic, and therefore capable of being negotiated with to a limited extent, so you can, for example, ask it not to burn you. If you make it safely into the field, there’s lots of fire-immune lethal biomechanical monsters in there, and also the ‘cinder giants’, which are eleven 9ft tall humanoid skeletons in numenera armour just scattered randomly around the field, still standing but inert, coated in white ash, and immune to all attempts to loot them.

The Gate of Stars, in the city of Nabir Enthru, Vralk. Nabir Enthru is an industrial forge city with an ancient rivalry with Morlash Kor, the Vralkian capital, but the bit that intrigues me is the Gate of Stars, which is the main entrance to the city. The wall around the gate has been riddled with small alcoves that hold the ‘stars’, small motes of solidified light that were looted from the crystalline crown of a vast statue in the Firefangs. These lights flash under various circumstances, and several have been identified as flashing if, for example, an ultraterrestrial entity passes nearby, or an invisible creature passes nearby, or a weapon of level 7 or higher comes into range. But there’s a bunch more that flash and what they’re flashing for hasn’t been identified yet. IDK, it just feels really cool to me.

Norde, a port city on the River of Sorrows, Vralk. It’s built below the river, in a sunken depression 120ft down from the water level, with a thick wall and set of levees keeping it from being flooded. All the piers and docks are built at the top of this wall, and a single floodgate lets a cascade in from the river above to bring water into the town. The physical set-up of this place is just fantastic. There’s also three 3000ft spires in here, wide at top and bottom and narrowing in between, which makes me wonder if the depression was meant to be a foundation/base for something that the spires were meant to hold up. It’s just a cool town.

Mount Errow, in the Firefangs, Vralk. This is another of the mini-adventures scattered through this book, and it’s … It’s giving me Subnautica vibes? Despite being landlocked? Basically a nano named Demanisix Mal discovered that Mt Errow, a very active volcano, has a synth facility inside the caldera that is attached to a three mile deep shaft that deposits you into a vast magma chamber with an ancient subterranean city along one wall. Demanisix, before she vanished into the depths never to be seen again, left a journal naming this place the Errow Cascade and describing it as ‘a voluminous installation—possibly an entire hibernating city—that straddles a subterranean magma sea’. Which, you must admit, is cool as hell.

The Rayskel Cays:

The Slavering Falls, the central structure around which Rayskel culture is based. The Rayskels are a spiral archipelago that curl around the Slavering Falls at the centre of their inner sea. The Falls are what look like a circular underwater waterfall, actually cascades of silt falling over the ends of a massive circular pillar structure that, every so often, and randomly so no one knows when it’ll happen, becalms the seas around it and rises above the surface like a giant piston, causing an actual waterfall at the surface. It’ll stand up there for a week or so, and then plunge itself back down in under an hour, sucking anyone still on it down with it. All sort of things are collected on the Falls as they rise and fall, treasures and airels (spongefish used as currency and also considered living pieces of the moon), so trying predict when it’ll rise is a huge deal. And kids in the direct vicinity of the Falls are raised from birth to be ‘moonbabies’ to dive the Falls and search the tiny nooks and crannies for treasure even while it’s sunken.

As well as material gain, the Falls are the centre of Rayskel religion. While religion differs from island to island and settlement to settlement, most Rayskel religion is based around the worship of the moon, considering the sky another sea like theirs, and the moon as the mirror of the Falls in the sky. So the Falls are variously considered to be trying to mate with the moon as they rise, or perhaps a lover or sibling of the moon trying to reunite with her. And, the little detail from the Rayskel religion that I love so much, most of the islands consider that when a person dies, they need to be put under the waves for three days so that the soul can leave the body to become a bioluminescent creature in the skysea. I adore this. At the end of the three days, the body is pulled out, and can be recycled. If someone drowns and is not pulled out, or dies on land and is not able to be brought to the sea, they are considered lost forever and never mentioned again. That has so much pull for me. The stars are bioluminescent souls swimming in the skysea, and you have to spend your time beneath the waves after your death to join them. And if you can’t, you’re lost forever. There’s a lovely cultural thing to get teeth into, the tension and time limits around the care of the dead (also it’s just really beautiful).

I don’t know, this immediately feels so vibrant and real. I love this element so much, this central phenomenon of the islands, and the culture and beliefs that have grown around it. Also … when I die, I absolutely would not mind becoming a bioluminescent fish swimming the skysea. At all.

The Cays also have a bunch of cool transport options. You’ve got your normal range of small boats, of course, but there’s also things like iuskies, which are 40ft tall kite-like plants that you can use as natural sails for small craft and/or surfboards, and bubbleboats, which are hardened semi-circular top shells of duems, huge jellyfish looking creatures that shed their hydrophobic shells once or twice a year, that have been turned into quite efficient near-hover boats.

They also have very common non-human inhabitants that mingle with humans freely in the form of the Echryni, amphibious humanoids.

The Cays are known, somewhat, from the Steadfast, particular in Anculan and the Sea Kingdom of Ghan, and work is being done to confirm where the archipelago is and establish actual trade routes with it. I just. Further sight unseen, I’m already loving them as a setting. But. Some specifics:

Vonnai, on Darnali island, possibly the largest city in the archipelago, a massive, compact, walled construction that piles interlocking buildings on top of each other, docks tucked into their bases and passages and walkways running through buildings into each other. There are four lunar (tidal) powered gates that allow access in and out, two by land and two by sea, only during the day. The ruler lives in the only separate building, a four storey hovering tower, along with her husband, the architect behind most of the city, a man who specialises in harnessing tidal power. Which means this is a ninth world city, not a prior-world city, built by modern genius (with, granted, the usual understanding of prior-world numenera as a helping hand). I love it.

Kinider and the Terrible Exhale, down the southern end of Darnali island. The Terrible Exhale, or just The Hale, is a seasonal phenomenon of the southern peninsula of Darnali, where small bubbles of noxious fluid, containing small creatures, detritus and debris, are carried across the peninsula by a wind. The bubbles explode, releasing noxious gas and turning anything in them into shrapnel, laying waste to anything in their path. This happens several times a year. As a result, the village of Kinider is buried under a beach in strange structures called ‘sinkers’ to avoid it. Sinkers are strange, transparent, glasslike tubes buried in the earth, with webbed membranes across the top. There are exactly 100 of them, and no one knows what they are or how to make more, so the town is extremely pressed for space. Also, the tubes are fully transparent, and not much sticks to the inside of them, so privacy is also an issue, as well as seeing … crawling things in the earth around them. And stuff decaying in the earth around them. The views aren’t good, is the thing here. This is such a weird little town, and I love that it exists. Interestingly, because of the housing shortage, a shanty town village has sprung up on the surface a little up the beach, but it’s destroyed every Hale, and its survivors have to rebuild all over again every time. So there’s … tension. Heh.

Dyn’s Scar, on Augh-Chass island. A milky white stratified inland sea, the Scar has a cool top layer, a warm middle layer, and a lower layer that often freezes, sending sunken icebergs floating to the surface. The surface is covered in float pods, 10ft by 15ft floating plants. The shore is ringed by hyperfungi that sprout after rainstorms, shoot up to 6ft tall, and then violently fling spores everywhere, which would be fine, but each spore release includes one ‘hyperspore’, an intelligent spore that floats into a living creature’s ear and tries to steer them somewhere new to start a new colony by submerging the host in water. If you can’t resist the spore’s ‘suggestions’, you find yourself somewhere strange with no idea how you got there, and feeling the urge to go for a little swim. In the depths of Dyn’s Scar, in the warm middle layer, is a city of an extremely intelligent race of multi-eyed tentacled amphibians called gedyr, who think humans are mostly dumb animals to be hunted, and are fully capable of speaking human languages. This whole area is just fantastically weird, and I love it.

The Omaris kibics, on Omaris island. The whole island is scarred by hundreds of miles worth of open trenches called kibics, some of which are a mile wide and half a mile deep. The walls are golden cement inlaid with elaborate designs, including designs made of light, fossils of ancient or non-existent creatures, ancient languages, and inlaid technology. The floors of the kibics are made of a porous silvery substance with a consistency varying between packed earth and warm tar, and which secretes a viscous purple substance called glaili, which a group of local nanos have discovered can be compressed by certain machines, although the process is a work in progress and results vary from a pretty red stone, to a power source, to actual numenera. The walls of the kibics also contain entrances to various underground structures and complexes across the island, many still unexplored, with the potential to contain ancients know what. The whole island is just one massive weird constructed landscape full of weirdness and discovery.

Maer Outpost, on Omaris island. It’s a trading outpost built at the site of a collision between a ship and a young bellowing naek, which if I’m reading this right is basically a weird sky whale: “Bellowing nyeks are behemoth amphibian creatures with multiple finwings and a long, serpentine tail. They spend most of their lives in the air, flying and leaping above the ocean’s surface. Once they reach a certain size, however, they become waterbound, able to breach the surface only rarely. The sight of a fully grown bellowing nyek breaching is one of wonder to even the most hardened and experienced Ninth Worlders.” The Outpost is built in the midst of the wrecked ship and the naek corpse, and the survivors found that there was a lot more salvage than had been in the ship. Apparently naeks are full of numenera? Or possibly portals. Because the shipwreck camp developed into a trading outpost where anything can be got, and if you can’t find it the first time, you might be asked to come back in a couple days and it’ll miraculously be there now. Heh.

Edelmid island, as an environment. Because it’s weird. The whole island is covered in huge strange ring structures, called Grask’s Hoops, made of compressed dirt and sand that’s hard as rock and about as fertile. When dry, it runs in rivers, but hardens when wet into perfect rings, spreading outwards. They can go up as well as out, and the largest is 200 miles in diameter and a mile high. At the centre of these hoops are groups of plants called Crowns of Kavess, which gelatinous raspberry-red growths in crystalline shapes. They’ve adapted to Edelmid’s weird as hell weather, which rains sensations, including scent, sounds, and touch, which can be lethal if the sensation happens to be pain. The Crowns of Kavess ‘drink’ these sensations, and, after large storms, come together as colonies to ‘fruit’ numenera from the largest growth. Specifically artifacts, the most permanent and powerful of numenera. They defend these numenera and themselves during this vulnerable time by dusting the entire area in red dust that compels any creature it touches to defend the Crowns and their fruit to the death for 1 hour. So. This island is a fun and possibly lethal, but also possible profitable, time?

Rynach island, I’m only going to skim this, but it’s an island defended by psychic trees and housing a city-lab complex inhabited by transhumanist bioautomatons called kathons who believe firmly in self-improvement through self-modification, and have a lab complex made of light hovering above the forest. They have bioenhanced cybernetic symbiotic dolphin-like mounts/companions called guins that live in canals through their houses. It’s whole weird thing in there.

Darrad, a sprawling mining town on Angmorl island. It’s sprawling to cover the massive network of mining tunnels seeking ‘blue essence’, material found between rocks in the area that can power numenera, but is only sparsely inhabited, less than 2000 people. And possibly part of the reason for that is that, a while back, a rumour started circulating that the blue essence was the souls of creatures buried in the earth here, and the miners promptly rebelled, terrified they were messing with their own or other people’s ancestors. Blue Datasphere, the mining company running the town for a faraway investor, responded by basically massacring the town when the miners refused to cooperate, and built a second one, where miners have to agree to a temporary mutation that renders them mute to work there, in order to keep the rumour from re-spreading. But verbal communication isn’t the only communication, and keep that lid tight is still an issue.

The Rysors, between Angmorl and Augh-Chass, ten tall, towering, near identical ‘islands’ that rise hundreds of feet above sea level. And they move. They’re called the ‘Walking Islands’ or the ‘Walkers’, as if you’re watching from the shores of the nearby islands at exactly the right moment after twilight, you’ll see them get up, shake themselves off, and start weaving through each other as if interacting. Around when this happens, a high-pitched echolocation signal is emitted in their vicinity, and sometimes the Rysors glow during this event. People trying to go near the Rysors feel heavier and heavier the closer they get, and often find they’ve lost time when they return home. So like. Alien islands? Just hanging around.

The Rayskel Cays are definitely up there with Lostrei’s Glass Sea as one of my absolutely favourite parts of this world. I love them so much. Though, yes. If anyone is getting the impression that I like the maritime, watery parts of this setting a lot more than the burny bits of it, that’s probably true. But the whole thing about the dead needing to be placed under the waves in order to become a bioluminescent skyfish in the afterlife is just … I want to play someone from the Rayskels. In the Rayskels. I want to explore this place. It’s fantastic.

#numenera #ttrpgs #worldbuilding #setting #the rayskel cays #also vralk #mostly the cays though #what a fantastic setting #the religion here is amazing #what a worldbuilding thing to throw in #i want to be a bioluminescent skyfish after i die #lovely

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derkastellan · 7 months ago

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What does a setting book need to do?

So, I'm looking at this from my current experience with Dragon Age. I own pretty much everything that came out for the line plus two books supposed to "detail the world" not associated with the TTRPG. Let me just say, they do nothing of the sorts.

Or rather: They all do the same thing over and over again. They give us shorthand descriptions for all regions of Thedas, suggestive art, then leave us to color the rest in. You could almost say: They give us nothing.

I have spent significant time researching the internet on various topics about the world instead of using the books, as people have at least documented the game world from the computer games. And those Wikis are a better source than what Green Ronin gave us.

(Also, when looking for a GIF to show, tumblr directed me to a place to get help. I don't feel that badly about anything related to RPGs, thankfully!)

What I really needed

It didn't describe a single town or city in Ferelden, arguably the main focal point of the setting. The massive game book, which clocks in at 441 pages, devotes an entire paragraph to what a Ferelden city might look like. Places will usually get descriptions in the adventures published with the game - and ironically, those don't appear on the map.

So I designed my own place, Yerenburg, a walled city guarding the mountain passes that will connect the south of Ferelden to Orlais.

I simply needed a place where to locate my next adventure in the campaign, a mixture of two plots. I needed names (city, taverns, inn, streets), then some faction-related NPCs (I created an exclave of dwarven refugees which plays a role in plot B, so factions were important). Basically, a dot on the map and some basic description of the place and its role would have already sufficed to slot my idea in the game world. Dragon Age doesn't even have that.

Ideally, a setting description would provide the following:

A map with some major and minor places in a given land.

A general description of what places are like in the setting.

For each (major) place listed in the map it should give something unique that sets it apart from the general description - landmarks, the layout, local variations. These obviously should include names the GM can use to make the area come alive.

NPCs or factions that might be important to understanding the area, like a major local sect or a gang running things. At the very least who's in power and by what dynamic, and hopefully what challenges this power.

Some plot hooks. These don't need to be long or elaborate, they just get things going.

While I can certainly do with less on my own, one can safely assume, even for places features in video games, that most players know nothing. You are the world for them, their eyes and other senses. The combination of your descriptions either fills in the blanks - or overrides their misconceptions.

If you can't conjure it before your own inner mind eye, you can't describe it to others. Art can help, but the reality is that you need to fill in a lot of blanks still, and here the things above will help. You need a visual idea combined with some understanding of how the place works.

Ways of doing this right

I'll give you two examples of published products that have done this really well - the "Ninth World Guidebook" for Numenera and "Curse of Strahd" for D&D 5e.

The "Ninth World Guidebook" (NWG) is probably one of the best examples of a setting book there is - it really makes the setting of Numenera come alive - which is no small feat. A diverse world built on many previous ruined worlds of science fantasy, each unlike the other. And since it doesn't rely on some other product (movie or video game) to do its worldbuilding, it needs to get the job done so that the Ninth World in its messy and unpredictable nature comes alive to you. And it lives up to the challenge!

It gives you a feel for each region - and breaks the map down into distinct ones. The unique sites and cultures it lists are endless. It leaves you room to color in, but each region will have something that players will remember. It's a treasure trove of fantastic things.

And I don't even like Numenera! The system itself is rather flawed, but when it comes to the setting - and describing it - it wins hands down over any contender.

"The Curse of Strahd" is of course a full campaign/sandbox, not a setting book as such, but it still does marvelously well at putting together the lands of Barovia and making various places distinct. Each place has its own story, and so you can rely on a theme when setting interactions there.

Frankly, it stands apart from all other D&D campaign/adventures for 5e in this regard, as it is a marvelous balance of focused and broad, of detail and broad strokes. I ran part of a campaign in there, and it was never boring. There's plenty of detail you can miss as a player, stuff you can fail to encounter or figure out. You can dig deeper. But as a GM you also have the feeling that you have a great set of pieces that you can play with.

Now, not all locations are super-great, and the adventure only works if you don't play Strahd too smart, but I had my players on their toes. As it should be. And I never wondered how to present a place or convey the tone.

Conclusion

So, when publishing a setting of your own, or when making a setting only for yourself to use, think of these things. I have to remind myself, too. Why did I put this on the map? How does it feel to me? What's different? Is it just more of the same? I had to ask myself these things when putting down a broad strokes setting document for an upcoming sword & sorcery campaign.

A full setting book is a play aid, not something that can be done in broad strokes only. This is the meat for your adventure builders. The adventures written for Dragon Age show that the makers of the game had a good idea of how to make things for the setting, but they leave it to you to figure out details from their own written adventures. It lacks a "this is how it's done" kind of guide to put things together in the same way.

Given that often all we get is a rulebook and a setting guide, or, at best, a few adventures, I would hope that setting guides at least would live up to these standards.

#setting guide #setting book #pen & paper #roleplaying #curse of strahd #numenera #dragon age

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hcovopdf · 2 years ago

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fuckyeaharthuriana · 4 years ago

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Cursed - review (spoilers) up to episode 8 (very long post)

I am going to write a non spoilers review and a spoilers review when I finish the show as well, but for now. Here we go.

The review will be divided in:

Plot: alias, who I am supposed to root for? What the hell is that sword? Characters: alias trying to peek around Nimue to get more scenes from the secondary characters, plus... name droppings? Romance: zero chemistry?? tropey endings?

I generally enjoying the show, especially after the first episodes, which were just boringly long and could honestly be avoided.

1. PLOT

The story starts to be a bit more delineated by episode 7, I have to say. When I started it, I was extremely confused about who I was supposed to root for, what was happening, why all the arthurian names where mixed up.

First of all, let me say that the show looked very pretty. A part from the hideous transitions (animated transitions), the way the show uses colors was absolutely lovely.

a) The plot is this: Someone made a magic Sword (let’s call it Sword) which was able to give very good fighting abilities (and magic) to whoever was using it. Merlin came to use it, at some point, but the Sword ended up fusing with him, corrupting him into a need for revenge. He helps raise kings with the use of his sword, until the Sword consumes all his power and almost kills him.

He is saved by a Sky Fay woman who takes the sword out of his body and hides it, trying to save Merlin from his dark power. They fall in love and are together, until Merlin leaves, angrily, when he finds out that the woman has ��destroyed” the Sword (but she has just hidden it). She later marries a guy, and has Nimue, who is actually Merlin’s daughter.

The story starts when the Red Paladins attack Nimue’s village and Nimue’s mother asks her to bring the Sword to Merlin. During her journey he encounters Arthur, who is a thief, and Arthur’s sister, a nun called Morgana who actually works with the Fey people, trying to save them.

The plot picks up once we are around episode 6 and 7, and Nimue is finally back with the hidden Fey, alongside Arthur and Morgana, and they decide that they will keep the sword and fight against the Red Paladins.

b) This is the overall plot. The beginning of the show is extremely slow. The show is heavy handed in his need to show us how oppressed and suffering Nimue is. She is shamed by her own people for being “demonic”, she is discriminated by humans (even if she is one of the fey who has zero fey features), she is attacked by both. When the Red Paladins destroyed her village... I was confused, because we didn’t really see any positive feelings Nimue had for her home (she hated everyone, she was discriminated, she was trying to leave). Also, somehow everyone could tell she is Fey? I was confused by how badly she was able to hide, her who looks like a normal human and could have easily cut her hair or something.

Her meeting with Arthur is also... strange. He is introduced as a love interest, we get bits of his story (thrown away from his family, his father has been killed, seeking honor) with the show, he is a thief and his “attachment” to the plot could have been a bit more... consistent. He helps Nimue, bringing her to Morgana, and conveniently Morgana is working to help the Fey and working for an underground smuggling operation. I think I would have enjoyed it much more if Arthur had been more involved in Morgana’s smuggling operations.

The other side of the plot revolves around Merlin or the Vikings (Pym). He is Uther’s advisor, and Uther is a shitty king. He is just there to... give Merlin something to do? I think the show would have worked well without him.

c) Uther and Pym are the comic reliefs of this show. Uther is shown as having no spine, so I am not sure why he was there. He had no interest in the Red Paladins, or the kingdom, he just wanted the Sword because apparently that gives power to the king? At the same time, we have Pym (Nimue’s friend, thought dead in the attack), who ends up as a healer for a raider ship. Honestly, the people in this show were so horrible that I definitely rooted for Pym’s Vikings. I am not sure if the show wanted me to root for the fae or the vikings, but I definitely wished for the vikings to keep raiding.

Now, for the main plot point that confused me:

d) The Fae and the Red Paladins

I was very confused about why the fae were chased and hunted. The world has Christianity, the Pope and the Church but is basically in a fantasy land (but also it has the Ninth lost legion and the Roman Empire, but the gods are not from anything I could recognize). We are supposed to believe that there is an old ancient religion, and that the fae follow.... Hidden gods? shadows? they have power related to the land? But do they? None of them seemed to have any powers, only Nimue had magic. The show seems to imply that they do, but we only see Nimue using her powers, while the fae is powerless against the Paladins. So... I suppose the Paladins attack them just because they look different? Or because they follow another religion?

I wish there had been a bit extra information about why the Red Paladins are so anti-fae. Something maybe related to the sword, like the Sword murdered a bunch of people and it was made by people following this specific religion?

How powerful are they? Why do they have a fortress? Are they getting taxes from the kingdom, is that why they have the “money from the Beggars Land”. Furthermore, in episode 8, why don’t the Red Paladins fight Nimue? Why leave her fight one on one? There has not been enough time for the reputation to build yet, and we have not seen her reputation building (I take as example Black Sails, and the way John Silver’s reputation was built there). The conquest of the Red Paladins in episode 8 was a bit... too easy. All these religious zealots suddenly are like nope, we surrender. The politics were generally quite confusing, I was never sure where the characters were because they could fast travel to any point at any time.

e) The Sword

I have to say that I really enjoyed the idea of the Sword as something that drains (took Merlin’s power) and corrupts. I definitely want to see what happens to Nimue after using it, and how Arthur will end up with it, as king.

f) Too much gore

TOO

MUCH

GORE

There is no point in it. The Red Paladins are shown to mutilate and torture and kill more than once. It is not needed. We need to see it once, then... just cut away. The guy who is following Merlin to kill him? He is immediately shown torturing a poor person buried alive. There is no point for the majority of these gore scenes.

g) Characters just ends up at the right place at the right time

There is no map or order. We NEVER know where character are. They can instantly transport themselves to any place. They are hidden in the forest and surrounded? It’s okay, they can immediately teleport an army to the Red Paladins’ castle.

Nimue is in the caves, hidden? No worries, she can immediately reach Arthur who is in another place, when she needs to.

Gawain is wandering the forest? The Weeping Monk is right there!

h) If you’re a secondary character you die

Unless you have an important arthurian name (and unless you are Kaze), then the character is dead. Ambushes will happen, the main characters will always survive.

2. CHARACTERS

Name dropping

I want to start with something that really annoyed me because of the over use. The name dropping.

The show did this at least four times, if not more. A character would be introduced with a name (ex. here is the Green Knight!) and then the character or the narration would rectify it by giving us a new name (”He is Gawain!”), with a long pause that leaves us (the audience) the time to GASP IN SHOCK BECAUSE “I KNOW THAT NAME”.

It just seemed.... too much, after the first time.

Gawain

Alright, let me start with Gawain because he literally came out of nowhere. It almost felt like the show introduced him at the beginning (Gawain is supposed to be Nimue’s dearest friend) but then they edited out the scenes so when we meet Gawain we are supposed to be shocked by we are not.

A part from this, he really grew on me. He is the Green Knight, the hero of the hidden fae, and he hates humans (somehow all the main fae, Nimue and Gawain, look like humans). His character arc is well done, because he learns to trust Arthur and that is basically his character growth.

Morgana

HANDS ON, BEST CHARACTER EVER. Morgana’s journey was amazing, also because of what we know of her arthurian character. She starts in a convent, using the family name Igraine, and having Celia as her lover.

I wasn’t too impressed by the fact that the show seemed to use her being wlw as a way to show how progressive and different Nimue is. Still, at least we have our first tv wlw Morgana! She fights for the fae and helps them escape, which shows her sense of justice, even if it is never really explained why she would do this, or even how she started to relate to the fae.

Still, she was soon set to the path of her personal pain when she lost Celia (I’ll talk more about them down in relationships), and the show is never cruel to her pain. We see that she wants revenge (when she writes the letter! Amazing! Stunning!) AND justice most of all, but she accepts the deal with the demon when she sees Celia again, when she is offered something she really desires. Love THIS FOR HER. I am sure her journey will be more and more interesting by episode.

Nimue

I wasn’t too impressed with Nimue. She feels like a character who needs to be there to forward the plot, but I was also sad when the scene moved from other characters to return to her. I understand the need for her character, but I was not too invested in her character arc? I don’t want to sound cruel, I understand the need for her character development and how she had to discover herself and her destiny, but it was all very guidebook and very expected.

At episode 8, Nimue becomes queen of the Fae and conquers the Red Paladins and allies with the Red Spear? This... happens so fast. Nothing had really happened before this point, no plan, no showing us how the Paladins were in one place only... there is really no sense in it. It was just so fast, as if the show didn’t want to spend too much time investing in grand battles or showing us things.

Pym and the Red Spear

Pym is the comic relief of the show. She miraculously escape the massacre and ends up with the Red Spear and her raiding ship. Honestly, they were the best characters. I wish they had had more screen, more than comedic relief. They just conveniently are at the right spot at the right moment (somehow the Red Paladins don’t kill them? After normally slaughtering everyone they find, they are just captured) and thus are thrown back in Nimue’s main plot line, but I am afraid that because of this they will just disappear from the show??

Arthur

Arthur is a mixed bag for me. I really enjoyed how his character arc revolved around honor. He felt like he lost honor and had to reclaim it. But when he steals the Sword we never see him regretting it, which was disappointing, as that would have been part of his arc. Also, he somehow ends up working with the fae but he never shows any emotional investment in justice because the show is too occupied to show us how Arthur and Nimue are falling in love.

I think he shines the most in the episodes where he works with Gawain. We see how he is smart, strategic, and a good fighter, but also able to lead (he saves Gawain with a sacrifice) even when surrounded by people who distrusts him. I truly enjoyed it.

I think his character loses when he is in the same scenes with Nimue.

Kaze

KAZE WAS SUPPOSED to be Nimue’s right hand, giving her advice. And her character is shown to have both advice for Nimue but also being wiser than her. Nimue needs her counsel. Still, when Nimue actually takes the throne, Kaze is not really seen counselling her, as the show needs to immediately pass to the next plot point, and only shows us Nimue and Arthur.

Merlin

Merlin’s plot started strong and then... sort of got lost. He starts being Uther’s witty advisor. He doesn’t really care about Uther, but wants to use his need for the Sword to also get the Sword for himself (to get his magic back?). He doesn’t have magic anymore, and his character arc shows us how he goes from being selfish (he wants the Sword to get his magic back) to selfless when he finds out Nimue is his daughter.

Still, many parts of his plot were...??? He steals fire from the Beggar King (supposedly to destroy the Sword) and this leads to the Fisherman being hired to kill him? But this whole Fisherman subplot was a bit out of nowhere.

He allies with the Vikings (sorry, I forget the name of the king) because their king also wants the Sword... and against Uther... but Uther is literally doing nothing worthy and he could easily manipulate Uther, but ends up losing any upper hand against the Viking king? What was the point of all that?

3. .Romance? Relationships?

Nimue and Arthur? Nope. Their relationship just happens. I have nothing to say about it, a part from the fact that I always found Nimue and Arthur more interesting when they were interacting with other characters because those were the moments where we got characterizations. Arthur with Gawain? We see Arthur’s ability to lead, and the way he reclaims his honor. Nimue with Kaze? We see her insecurities and her hope for the fae.

DOF AND PYM? Yes please. They were just so cute, and Dof’s death was useless.

Morgana and Celia? Yes? But here we are again with the “buried gay” trope, because we cannot have a happy wlw. I understand that she is Morgana and she is not supposed to be happy, so I am not too annoyed at it, especially if Morgana’s love for Celia is used to give conflict to Morgana.

#morgana #gawain #cursed netflix #cursed #nimue #arthur #review #netflix cursed #spoilers

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illfoandillfie · 4 years ago

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going under a cut because its long lmao

tarot cards: Queen of Cups, 3 of swords, king of pentacles, knight of wands, 2 of wands, 10 of wands, king of pentacles, the world

okay, before i jump into these cards i just wanted to note that while i was shuffling i had a few cards sort of flip over or like stick out at the wrong angle and i definitely saw the 9 of swords and 8 of swords which both speak to the hopeless/stuck feelings you’ve been having. but neither card fell out or was drawn they just sort of showed themselves to me which means that these feelings aren’t likely to stick around. It’s definitely tied more to your current energy than your future energy.

While i was drawing these cards I was asking about what’s coming in your near future so I was thinking the next few months but timing can be hard to place so if things don’t happen immediately, don’t worry about it, it doesn’t mean they never will.

So, now to the actual cards. First up the queen of cups and the 2 of wands. I think this is a call for compassion and kindness, probably towards yourself. The two of wands is about a desire for the unknown. Making plans, deliberating, hesitating. And the queen of cups is calm and comforting and compassionate. Together these are a reminder to not beat yourself up for what is out of your control. Sometimes circumstances keep us from getting what we really want. Sometimes it’s our own fears or uncertainty but sometimes it’s to do with family or work or the state of the world. But, sometimes the delay can be a blessing. It’s a good time to reflect on what you want and plan for how you can bring it about. The queen of cups can be read as a visionary. She is wise and devoted and is tied to dreams becoming reality. If things don’t seem to be progressing, use this time to take care of yourself and get in touch with your own needs and desires. Figure out what you’re looking for so that you recognise it when you see it.

Next up is the 3 of swords and the 10 of wands. Admittedly, neither of these are especially happy cards. The 3 of swords in particular is tied to heartache and suffering, disruptive forces, and absence. You feel as if something is missing and its weighing on you. Similarly the 10 of wands is symbolic of burdens and suffering but it’s a hopeful card. It’s also about success, though it might come at a cost, and accomplishment. This is a promise that things will turn around for you within the near future, that they’ll get better. It won’t be easy, sometimes it will be a great struggle as if you’re carrying more than you should be, but there is success at the end of it.

Because next up we have double king of pentacles. I gasped when the second king came out because it doesn’t happen very often and I remember the king of pentacles came up in your previous readings. As I’m sure I have said before, the king of pents signifies abundance, prosperity and security but i won’t go too deep into what qualities he’s tied too since i’ve said it before. What I will talk about is why he’s appeared twice in the same column. So, if we look at your cards so far, we have a mix of hurt and hope. And i think thats why the king of pents is in there twice. Because his absence is part of the hurt right now but his potential arrival is part of the hope. He represents both what is missing and what you’re trying to find. But, hopefully his showing up here is a sign that he could approach soon. Like I said in our chat, it’s not guaranteed and you need to put in effort to meet him or, if you think you know who it is, to connect with him, but I do think his appearance here twice is a good sign.

And finally, the knight of wands and the world. The knight of wands is about action and adventure and energy. He’s on the move, he’s confident and excited and fearless. And the world is about fulfilment and harmony and completion. It’s assured success. It might come after a long journey but it will come. Interestingly the knight of wands is also linked to travel and departure and altered plans. He can represent absence as well as distance so again we have that duality of hurt and hope. This may be a sign that the king of pents was meant to come towards you sooner but circumstances changed and he’s had to change course. It could also be a message for you to try to overcome whatever limits you are placing on yourself to manifest this relationship. At a very basic level or could also just indicate that the king of pents, whoever his is, is linked to travel somehow - maybe he travels for work or he just likes taking trips or maybe you’ll meet him while commuting somewhere. Either way, stay open to the possibility of meeting him. Stay hopeful that it will work out. Because, as scary or hard as that 3 of swords may feel, there is a lot to be hopeful about in here.

a couple of other things i want to point out:

We start with the queen of cups and the last card of that row is the knight of wands. their energies are very different. the queen is soft and tender and empathetic. She’s calm and soothing and still. the knight is bold and courageous and ambitious. he’s about movement and taking chances because he feels bulletproof. this could be a message about what you can do to help manifest your king. Take action, put yourself out there, don’t be afraid to cut loose and show your passionate side. (Or, because its hard not to be afraid, fake it until you make it. act confident until confidence is second nature.)

Then, the second row. It starts with the 2 of wands which is a card that usually depicts a man holding a globe to signify his desires. And then we end with The World. If that’s not a hopeful message then i don’t know what is.

okay, onto your oracles.

I started with a crystal spirit and you got number 6 - Aqua Aura Quartz. It represents: Connecting to infinite potential, a renewed sense of purpose, wonder, and awe. I don’t always quote directly from the guidebook but theres a little second in there that i feel really fits with your situation so i’m gonna quote it. It says: There are eight billion people on this planet, yet soul mates somehow find each other, friends and lovers show up in the most unexpected places, and love makes itself known just as you are beginning to doubt that is is out there for you. Aqua Aura Quartz Spirit’s message to you today is to become childlike with wonder. Believe in magic. Believe in the power of love to find its way to you no matter how dark the house, for love is everywhere and you have not been forgotten. As an aside, if you’re into numerology the number 6 may hold significance for you - it could be related to your life path number or it could be an important date (6th of feb/march? something in june?).

After that I pulled a Moonology card and you got Full Moon in Scorpio - It’s time to release negativity. This is definitely a sign to try and shake off the hopelessness you’ve been feeling. I know that’s probably easier said than done but it would be worth it to try.

While we’re on the subject of the moon and astrology, I got 2 Arcana of Astrology cards the Waxing Crescent Moon and the Ninth House. The waxing crescent represents growth and initiative. Growth comes in two phases. firstly, the obstacles which are negative patters from the past and secondly, the actions which are changes made to move forward. This card indicates that now is a good time to focus on that second part of growth. Focus your energy towards what you want to accomplish rather than what has happened in the past. Then the ninth house which is the realm of philosophy. It’s about knowledge and truth and the desire for understanding. This card is letting you know that now is the right time to look outside your comfort zone and explore new ideas or opportunities. Interestingly the ninth house in astrology can also involve travel and exploration which definitely ties in into some of your tarot cards.

Next we have a Dragon Path card - number 8, Magic and Manifestation. These dragons are here to help you turn your dreams into reality. Because you pulled this card I also pulled you some cards from my Making Magic deck. Originally I just wanted 1 but 3 popped out at once so I took them all. These cards all depict a sigil or symbol that can be used in spellwork or that you can focus on to help manifest what you want. They are: Love Charm - Attract a lover, soul mate or life partner / Triple Spiral - Listening to divine wisdom and joyfully learning life’s lessons. / Goddess - Healing feminine energy. Obviously love charm is a good fit but I think the others are as well. A lot of these cards have related to healing and moving forward and then the triple spiral really seemed to fit in with the knowledge thing in the ninth house and potentially with the visionary aspect of the queen of cups.

Tarot: 3 of cups, 3 of swords, 3 of wands, queen of pentacles, ace of swords, 4 of pentacles, 6 of cups, 2 of cups.

Okay. so onto the second part of the reading. With these cards I was trying to focus on getting more info about you person, the king of pents, the soul mate, whatever you want to call them.

So right off the bat I have to point out the 3 different 3s. I can assure you these cards were well shuffled and it wasn’t like they all came out in a clump together, it was one and then some shuffling and then the next and then shuffling and then the third one. I was very surprised to have so many 3s come out together. The 3s represent sociability and group communications as well as coming change. The only one that isn’t there is the 3 of pentacles which is usually related to group work - people collaborating and working together.

So lets start with that 3 of cups. This card is about friendship and community and happiness. Often it depicts a group of women drinking and dancing together so it’s very much about gatherings and parties and social settings but at a deeper level its about knowing someone has your back, that you’ve got people you can trust to help you. It’s being clarified by the ace of wands (these are Friends themed playing cards and each has the name of an episode on them so i’ll include those, in case they hold significance - perhaps one of the storylines will be relevant. The ace of swords is The One Where Rachel Finds Out). The ace of swords is about breakthroughs, clarity, the truth, and having a sharp mind. It may be that someone you know will help you clarify the situation or that a breakthrough will occur at a party or other social event. This could also be saying that, when you eventually meet this person, they will become a valued friend, someone who you can trust, someone you can turn to.

Then we have that pesky 3 of swords card again, same as in the previous part of the reading. All that heartache and pain again. This time it’s with the 4 of pentacles (The One With All The Wedding Dresses) which is about holding what you have close. In worst case scenarios the 4 of pents can reference hoarding or holding onto something for fear of losing it but at it’s highest vibration it’s about protecting what is yours. Together this could be a message of “no pain no gain”. Without going through the grief of the 3 of swords you can’t appreciate the security or conservation of the 4 of pents. This could also be a sign or warning for you or your person about not letting pain of the past manifest in overly clingy or needy displays once you are together. On the other hand it could be about turning past hurts and present worries into affection and care. In relation to your person, these cards may symbolise that they’re financially stable or prone to being careful with money. Perhaps they have been through patches of having little to live off so are careful with how they spend what they now have.

Then we have the 3 of wands and 6 of cups. The 3 of wands is related to growth and expansion and looking ahead. It’s about preparation, getting ready for something. The 6 of cups (The One With The Proposal) id related to familiarity, happy memories and healing. Often this card comes up in relation to past life connections (if you’re into that) or people you’ve previously met. There’s momentum here. The 3 of wands suggests you’re getting ready for them, looking ahead to when you may meet and the 6 of cups suggests moving on from past pain or trauma that’s been holding you back. In relation to your person these cards suggest there could be an element of familiarity between you - perhaps you met once a few years ago or you’ve heard about them from a friend and feel as if you have an idea of them already. The 3 of wands also has a connection to travel so, again, it might be that they travel a lot or have travelled in the past or they’re someone who enjoys visiting new places and seeing new things. It could also be that they’re a joyful sort of person, perhaps a bit silly or jokey.

And then we have the Queen of Pentcles and the 2 of cups. I think it was in one of your previous readings that you came up as the queen of pents. Certainly, if this person is the king of pents it makes sense for the queen to be you. And especially with the 2 of cups (The One With Ross’s New Girlfriend) clarifying it. As I’ve said before the 2 of cups is about connection and partnership and unity. It’s pretty much the ideal soul mate card. So, that’s a pretty great note to end this part of the reading on.

And lastly, the oracles. I didn’t intend to pull quite so many but this is what came out so this is what we’re going with.

First up here’s what the 3 heart shaped cards have to say: When it comes to matters of the heart, there is no right or wrong. Every choice you make expands your understanding of life and love. / Time - You are trying too hard. Give it time. / Embrace - Through each other you find the missing pieces. So there’s definitely a sense of slowing down, not rushing or trying to force something that isn’t there. But there’s also reassurance that this connection is reachable and will be deep and what you’re looking for. Soul Mate, Twin Flame, that kind of thing.

Then we have 3 romance angels: Make The Effort - Great love is worth taking the steps you’re guided to take. / Let Your Friends Help You - Ask for and accept support from others. / Forgiving And Learning - As you release and heal the past, you experience more love in your present moments. Interestingly while the previous cards were saying to give things time, these ones seem to suggest making active moves to make it happen. I think there’s a balance required. One that you will intuitively be able to work out. Somewhere between sitting at home and waiting for him to magically appear, and going out with every guy in your town or city. If you meet someone or know someone you think could be the right person, take whatever steps you feel are right. I also think the Let Your Friends Help card is important considering how many 3s we got in the tarot cards. It may be that this connection is possible through a friend or family member who can set you up or will help you approach them. And the last one has that same healing energy we’ve seen a few times in this reading.

You also got 2 Spellcasting oracles. Happiness and Manifestation. Both of these make sense really. They both indicate a positive outlook and happy outcomes. Manifestation can also be about patience as it’s not an instantaneous thing which ties into that Time heart card.

And finally I got 2 Destiny cards as well - Boldness and Compassion. These could be traits that your person will show but interestingly they can be linked to the knight of wands and queen of cups from the beginning of the reading.

#card readings

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lazywitchling · 5 years ago

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hey do you have advice for when you find a magic resource that is 80% good and useful, 15% iffy, and 5% just completely weird? i don’t mean iffy and weird as in racist or TERFY i mean like. “this dragon oracle card symbolizes you will be filled with the light of christ” and “dragons from the ninth dimension will rebirth the world into a golden age just like atlantis.” like do i just redo the card correspondences??? this is the dragon oracle by diana cooper btw

Yep, I absolutely do have advice.

-gently picks up the guide book-

-tosses it in the trash-

BAM. It’s YOUR oracle deck now!

(Nah but seriously, get yourself a notebook or just some pages, go through the guide book and the deck, take note of what you like, make fun of what you don’t. Make your own meanings for cards, keep the ones from the book, combine your ideas with the book... just mix and match until that deck is totally and thoroughly YOURS. It’ll work much better for you than whatever Light Of Christ Atlantis bull the guidebook wants to feed you.)

#dubious advice #Anonymous #questions

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rpmemesorwhatever · 6 years ago

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Doctor Who: Ninth Doctor Quotes

“It won't be quiet, it won't be safe, and it won't be calm. But I'll tell you what it will be: the trip of a lifetime!”

“So I'm gonna go upstairs and blow it up.”

“You go home, go on! Go and have your lovely beans on toast.”

“Nice to meet you ___. Run for your life!”

“The assembled hordes of Genghis Khan couldn't get through that door.”

“I give you, in return, air from my lungs.”

“Yeah, I came first in jiggery pokery, what about you?”

"Everything has its time and everything dies.”

“I'm left traveling on my own, 'cos there's no one else.”

“I trusted you! I *pitied* you!”

“I'm so glad I met you.”

“I've never been slapped by someone's mother.”

“Oh, that's just what I need! Don't you dare make this place domestic!”

“You *think* you know your own name? How stupid are you?”

“Excuse me, do you mind not farting while I'm saving the world?”

“I could save the world but lose you.”

“We are *not* the same! I'm not - No, wait. Maybe we are. You're right. Yeah, okay. You've got a point.”

“What for? What's the point?! Don't you see? It's all gone. Everything you were, everything you stood for.”

“I said I'd protect her. She was only here because of me, and you're sorry?”

“You can't just read the guidebook, you've got to throw yourself in! Eat the food, use the wrong verbs, get charged double and end up kissing complete strangers!....Or is that just me?”

“Let me out of these manacles and I'll show you how much fun I am.”

“Your wish is my command. But be careful what you wish for.”

“And I wanna find a blonde in a Union Jack tee. And I mean a specific one, I didn't just wake up this morning with a craving.”

“Go to your room! Go to your room! I mean it. I'm very, very angry with you. I'm very, very cross! GO...TO...YOUR...ROOM!”

“I'm really glad that worked. Those would have been *terrible* last words."

“What, you've never been bored? Never had a long night? Never had a lot of cabinets to put up?”

“Don’t drop the banana!”

“Banana’s are good.”

“I'm making an effort not to be insulted.”

“Everyone lives. Just this once everyone *lives*!”

“Excuse me, who's in charge here?”

“She’s climbing out the window isn’t she?”

“You mind flirting outside?”

“There’s a *time* and a *place.*”

“And with that sentence, you just lost the right to even talk to me.”

“Okie doke, so where were we?”

"But I promised to look after you, and that's what I'm doing.”

“Have a *fantastic* life.”

“I was going to take you to so many places.”

“I just want to tell you you were fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. And do you know what? So was I!”

#rp meme #rp starters #rp resource #ask box meme #ask meme #rp #meme

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honourablejester · 10 months ago

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Numenera Setting Notes: Points of Interest Part V

Continuing on through the Ninth World Guidebook, we head north past the Cloudcrystal Skyfields to the land of Lostrei, where various animist tribes who believe in the spirits in all things have semi-unified to create … not a nation, exactly, but a land with a central council where its disparate peoples can talk together. And, not going to lie, I think my favourite part of the world so far is up here. I’m not sure why it snagged me so hard, but the first time I was browsing through this book, the Glass Sea area grabbed me. Hard. It’s amazing.

Part V: Lostrei, the Spiritlands (Ninth World Guidebook)

Aerathis, the Capital City. For if you want some solarpunk vibes. Aerathis is built around the Gaians’ animist beliefs, so it incorporates large elements of the environment around it, inviting trees into the buildings and building around rather than through things like natural crevasses. It’s a city of metal and glass, and you’d think that makes it a prior-world city, because those techniques are mostly lost, but it’s less than a century old, built by a secretive guild within the city called the Builders. Who may or may not have the guidance of a prior-world AI to explain things. Heh.

Iripendra, in the Indigo Forest. Because it’s a clearing where, for some hyper-specific prior-world reason, food doesn’t spoil and sex can’t get you pregnant. Because building a contraceptive clearing in the woods was a thing some past civilisation felt a need for? I have some questions.

The Kileti-fior, or Temple of the Wellspring, in the holy city of Cheloh. It’s a massive ‘vaguely egglike’ tower with a great pit in the middle where priests pull up ‘energies’, which can actually power things. Anyone can join the priesthood in here, even if passing through, and help perform some of the rituals, and you get a little glass badge to say you joined the lowest order of the priesthood in this fashion. I think I just like the little glass badges? This could be the Catholic and/or enjoyer of history via objects in me, I like the echo of medieval pilgrim badges.

Chayn, in Southern Lostrei. Because it’s a town built around a giant hovering prior-world building that ‘stands’ atop a pillar of light. It’s called the Glittering Castle, because naturally, and the mayor lives up there. But it’s not standing on a beam of light, the beam of light is just emanating from the generator keeping it afloat. The beam lands on a giant yellow crystal in the centre of town on the ground, and you can hook up to the crystal for power, so the whole town essentially has electricity and all the conveniences. So far, so good. But, um. Chayn has, for probably completely unrelated reasons, ‘a far greater incidence of mutation than anywhere else in Lostrei’. So yeah. This is not a place of honour?

Kasistromis, in Southern Lostrei. It’s a giant tower of metal and synth that’s fully organic and alive inside. Anyone going in gets basically eaten. Not hurt, just swallowed, and then unwillingly transported along the organic passages and chambers of the interior. You can’t control your movement or get out until Kasistromis basically poops you back out. Nobody’s ever been able to talk or communicate with the tower, it’s just there. Vibing. Presumably hoping for something actually digestible to wander in.

The Shifting Lands, in Southern Lostrei. It’s a savannah. That, about 50ft down, sits atop giant square metal plates that move parts of it over each other. It’s all one giant puzzle floor, moved by a single giant mechanism, for no known purpose. That’s roughly 40,000 square miles (200 miles across) of giant earthen puzzle that’s just there. For reasons.

Ashuri Isle, off the coast of Lostrei. The name means ‘Exile’, and in theory it’s an island of criminals and exiles and self-exiles who wanted no part of Lostrei society. Owing to the lethal shoals around it, though, and the lack of charts outside of certain particular captains in the area, it’s as much an island of castaways and shipwreck survivors. It’s not overly violent, though, just full of people who wanted to do their own thing. I’m vibing with it.

Arsorra, on the northern coast of Lostrei. It’s a beach town backing onto a jungle, and a little way inland is something called the Stone Hatchery. Which is a piece of land that is, slowly, and for whatever its own strange reasons, tearing off piece by piece and floating upwards in little floating ‘islands’. They ascend at a fixed rate, about 40/50ft the first year, then 400/500ft or so a year for the next few. When they hit 1500ft, they, along with anything unfortunate enough to still be on them, vanish into thin air. The town occasionally uses this to get rid of criminals, stranding them on bits of land that are clearly about to be airborne. Which is … an interesting choice? Do you jump to your death from a great height, or see what happens after a few years of exile when you hit the edge of the sky? (Or get a friend with a flying creature or numenera to get you off, obviously. But. There’s an interesting little background).

The Fluid Tower, in the Glass Sea. The Glass Sea is an inland sea that during spring and summer goes so dead calm it becomes like, well, glass. The Fluid Tower is a 400ft extrusion from the sea that is hardened water. Not ice. Just water, that is currently harder than steel. Some people have scraped some material from the tower, and it immediately turns into liquid again, but can clean anything. The ‘walls’ are translucent, and there seems to be liquid water inside, full of fish that can suddenly enjoy a lot more of a view than usual. It looks like there’s a way for those fish (or people) to swim up into the tower from the sea itself, but that might be an illusion. I just love this thing. What a fantastic inexplicable thing to just plop in your world. The tower also has three hovering androgynous faces that float in its vicinity that sometimes ward people away, sometimes not, and even occasionally speak various opaque bits and bobs to people. This area is just weird and I love it. It might be my favourite thing in Lostrei, as random as that might be.

Orcourt, where the Glass Sea meets the Tiomon River. It’s an ancient prior-world city that’s half inhabited, but in a much more fun way that usual. From the modern wooden docks attached to the lower edges of the ancient towers, you take ‘float shafts’ up to habitation level: the upper stories 300ft up that are connected by ‘an invisible field of force’ that acts sort of like water. Stuff weighing less than a ton floats on it, and you can swim through or sail along it, like invisible canals between the buildings 300ft in the air. You can also ‘wade’ through it, but balance is tricky, and if you successfully reach the ‘bottom’ of the 12ft deep canal, you will fall through it. There’s a school for nanos in this city, and it’s just … it’s really quite fantastic.

The Glass Sea as a whole area is just … probably one of my favourite parts of this world so far? I would live there. I’m gonna go to Nano school in Orcourt. Can you imagine growing up in a city like that? Playing in the ‘canals’? Everyone having that story of the one kid they knew who swam too deep and fell out the bottom to their death 300ft below? Teenagers whose whole point of pride is that they’ve successfully figured out how to ‘wade’? Sailing into the city on a fishing boat from below, looking up to see a whole city’s worth of people just swimming around in the air 300ft up? Vendor boats sailing around an invisible canal 300ft up selling tea? Out into the sea a bit, there’s a great tower of glass-like solid water where fish can take in much the same views you can. Fisherfolk here regularly fish up glass fish, live ones, that they then throw back, because if you keep them until they die you start to know stuff you shouldn’t know and don’t want to. It’s just … I love it. I love this area. What a fantastic part of the world. Genuinely, I love it so much.

I’m gonna make a fisher nano from Orcourt. What a place. Heh.

#numenera #ttrpgs #setting notes #worldbuilding #lostrei #the glass sea #this place is so exciting to me #i love it SO MUCH

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axcerws454 · 3 years ago

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EPUB|PDF|KINDLE USA by Rail: Plus Canada's Main Routes ONLINE BOOK DOWNLOAD FOR FREE by John Pitt

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USA by Rail: Plus Canada's Main Routes Free Online Books Download This ninth edition of Bradt's USA by Rail guidebook has been fully revised and expanded to take account of changes to Amtrak routes and services, plus the latest Amtrak and VIA Rail pass details, and features over 500 destinations, including Disney World, the Grand Canyon and Niagara Falls. With 25 long-distance train journeys across the United States and a further 12 in Canada, plus sightseeing highlights for 38 major cities, accommodation options from cheap to chic and everything you need to find your way around unfamiliar train stations, this book has all the practical information required to make the most of a rail pass. There are maps, route plans and photographs, up-to-date security and immigration information, plus vital tips for sightseeing, local transport and accommodation, as well as chapters on VIA Rail, the Rocky Mountaineer and other trains in Canada. The book also includes a history of North American railroads, current steam train operators, tourist railways and USA by Rail: Plus Canada's Main Routes Download Free Epub Books Online-Download Books Online USA by Rail: Plus Canada's Main Routes-Download Free USA by Rail: Plus Canada's Main Routes Books Online Pdf-Read Books USA by Rail: Plus Canada's Main Routes Online Free No Download-Free Audio Books USA by Rail: Plus Canada's Main Routes Online Download-Book Online USA by Rail: Plus Canada's Main Routes Free Pdf Download-Book Online USA by Rail: Plus Canada's Main Routes Free Download-Buy Online USA by Rail: Plus Canada's Main Routes Books Download-Online Books USA by Rail: Plus Canada's Main Routes Free Download- USA by Rail: Plus Canada's Main Routes Books Online Download-Online Book USA by Rail: Plus Canada's Main Routes Free Download-Books USA by Rail: Plus Canada's Main Routes Online Download-Online Book USA by Rail: Plus Canada's Main Routes Pdf Download-Book Online USA by Rail: Plus Canada's Main Routes Free Download-Download Book USA by Rail: Plus Canada's Main Routes From Google Books Free Online-Download Free USA by Rail: Plus Canada's Main Routes Romance Epub Books Online-Free Download USA by Rail: Plus Canada's Main Routes Read Books Online-Free Kindle USA by Rail: Plus Canada's Main Routes Books Online Download -Books Online DownloadUSA by Rail: Plus Canada's Main Routes-Free Online Inspirational Books Download USA by Rail: Plus Canada's Main Routes-How Can I Download USA by Rail: Plus Canada's Main Routes Books For Free Online-How Can I Download USA by Rail: Plus Canada's Main Routes Free Books Online-USA by Rail: Plus Canada's Main Routes Online Booking App Download-USA by Rail: Plus Canada's Main Routes Book Online Free DownloadReading Download Pdf Epub read

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thatgirlonstage · 7 years ago

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Jackdaw

Some fic for Barry J. Bluejeans because I don’t see enough of my soft chubby boy in the fandom. Although this is... a bit weird, both in style and in content. We know almost nothing about this boy’s backstory so I... went exploring. In a style I don’t think I’ve ever used before. So with that disclaimer, please enjoy.

Content Warning for implied sexual content

Spoilers for the Balance arc (although frankly it probably wouldn’t spoil you so much as you’d just have no idea what’s happening lol)

This is how the story goes: your name is Sildar Hallwinter. You’re five years old and technically head of one of the last remaining noble estates in the country, following your father’s death. You’ve already forgotten his face. In a couple more years, he’ll be nothing but the story of a stranger you never knew. Your grandmother is running the estate until you’re old enough to do it.

You like to watch the birds in the garden on a cool summer morning. You’ve learned how to sit very, very still so you don’t scare them away. You watch them pecking at the berries in the bushes and gulping them down. One morning, you pick a bunch of berries and spread them out on the ground in front of you. The birds hop and waddle their way over until they’re eating the berries withing arms’ reach, casting you the occasional inquisitive look. As the days go by, they get closer and closer, until you’ve taught them to eat out of your hand.

— — —

This is how the story goes: you wake up gasping, naked and submerged in some kind of tank, choking on something that fills your mouth, your eyes, ears, and nose. The pod splits open and spills you onto the floor and you gasp for air, coughing and spitting. There’s green, brackish fluid everywhere, it’s sticky and disgusting, and you’re bewildered and afraid. You’re in some kind of cave, but you don’t know how you got here, you don’t even know where “here” is. Those are your clothes slung over a trunk in the corner of the room, but on the chair next to them is an unfamiliar red robe with a patch that you can’t quite focus on. You stumble to your feet and reach for your shirt and jeans, trying to piece together where you are and why. For some reason, though, all of your memories are distant and hazy, like they happened a long, long time ago.

— — —

You’re six years old and your mother is enrolling you in a regular school over your grandmother’s protests. On the first day of class you stand up to introduce yourself, but even at six years old you know the Hallwinters aren’t popular. Your mother has explained that you belong to something old, a way of doing things most people don’t think works anymore. And you know that no one else in your class has a name like “Sildar.” You think of birds eating berries out of your hands, their soft, feathery heads butting against your fat fingers. “My name is Barry,” you say. “I like birds.”

Eventually, your classmate Sal finds out the truth, but by then you’re already friends and he decides it doesn’t matter. He does, however, joke that you need a fancier name than “Barry” if you’re one of those rich folk from up the hill. He christens you “Barold” and you laugh and decide you sort of like it. You go home that night and tell your mother that your name is Barold now, but you like to be called Barry. She smiles and says, “Okay, Barry.” Your grandmother is the only one who calls you Sildar anymore. She calls you that until the day she dies.

— — —

There’s a coin sitting on the table, on top of a pile of maps and notes, some of which seem strangely blurry, as if you can’t quite read them. You pick up the coin and it begins to speak; it has your voice. You throw it across the room, swearing. You stomp on it, smash it against the floor, trying to break it, because you’ve heard of cursed objects and however this thing got your voice inside of it, you’re sure it’s not good. But the coin stands up to your attack, not even a dent in the side, until you finally stop and listen to what it’s saying.

“…lot to take in, and as tempting as it is, you can’t try to remember. It won’t work and it will only confuse you. Trust me, though— if you can find—” the voice dissolved in static for a brief moment “—then she’ll help you. And I know she’s alright. Nothing could take her down. Believe me, believe yourself, Barry. You’ll find her, and she’ll help you get your memories back and set everything back to rights.”

You sit down and just try to breathe, rubbing the last of the green fluid off on your pants. You’re not afraid, but a weight sits heavy in your chest, constricting your throat. You have lost something, you just don’t know what. You feel blurry at the edges, like an incomplete drawing.

The coin claims it can help you. You clench your fist around it. Alone, in a cave you don’t recognize, with maps you don’t understand, you don’t feel like you have a lot of options other than trusting it.

— — —

The Hallwinter Estate officially goes bankrupt when you’re eight. You don’t understand all the financial niceties at the time, but you know it’s not exactly a surprise. You have to leave the grand halls and massive fireplaces of your house behind. You no longer have a garden with berry bushes where the birds come to eat in the mornings. Your grandmother can’t seem to accept it. For a little less than a year, you’re living in another house, closer to town but still outside of it. Your grandmother and your mother argue a lot when they think you’re asleep. Your grandmother seems to grow thinner and more tired every day.

She dies when you’ve just turned nine. You dress up in your last fine suit and attend a funeral populated by the rich and noble, wrapped in furs and silk, under stained glass windows that turn the entire room into a sea of fractured color. The cleric mentions that she is “survived by her daughter-in-law and her grandson, Sildar Hallwinter.” It’s the last time you ever hear that name.

Your mother takes you home, and the first thing she does is give notice for the lease on the house. You’ll be moving to an apartment in town, she says, somewhere she can actually afford to pay the rent. Then she asks you to go change into everyday clothes. She takes your suit and the dress she wore to the nearest tailor and she sells them, along with all your grandmother’s remaining finery and the last box of jewelry. The only thing she keeps is the wedding band wrapped around her finger.

She comes home and sits you down and tells you that it might be easier if the two of you change your last name. “Hallwinter” evokes nothing but bad blood around here. She doesn’t want to return to using her maiden name, and she thinks you might like to pick one out together.

You pull out a guidebook of birds your mother got you for your birthday and start combing through the pages. Your finger lands on one. Later, you won’t remember why you picked this one. You’d seen them in the garden, but they weren’t your favorites, or the most eye catching, or the most frequent. Still, you felt confident. “Jackdaw,” you say. “I want our last name to be Jackdaw.” Your mother smiles and ruffles your hair. The next day, she comes back from the courthouse with two certificates. You are now Marlena and Barold Jackdaw.

— — —

You’re climbing a rocky cliff side, and your fingers slip. You reel backward and fall away from the cliff, plunging toward the ground below. The air whistles in your ears. When you hit the ground, you hear a loud snap, and for the briefest instant, you’re looking somewhere impossible, because your neck doesn’t bend like that, and then you’re dead. Your last thought is that dying seems familiar.

— — —

Sal takes pity on you and your ripped pants, and he buys you a pair of blue denim jeans for your ninth birthday. Your grandmother, even bed bound and standing on death’s doorstep, sees you wearing them and sniffs something about peasant clothes. Just to spite her, you save up coins to buy an extra pair and start wearing them all the time. They’re more comfortable than any of the silk and wool your grandmother used to make you wear anyway. For your tenth birthday, all you ask for from your mother is another pair of jeans. Soon enough, you have so many pairs of jeans you wear almost nothing else. Sal, the only one of your friends who knows who Barold Jackdaw used to be, jokes that you should have chosen “Bluejeans” as your new last name. He stops calling you Barold and starts calling you “Bluejeans.”

— — —

You wake up naked and alone in a cave, surrounded by brackish fluid, but you don’t panic. It doesn’t seem scary, it only gives you a strange sense of déjà vu. There’s a coin sitting on the table. You pick it up and you listen. It has your voice. It knows who you are. It tells you to search. Somehow, you trust it. You start looking for the woman whose name you don’t know.

— — —

By the age of twelve, you know you want to do science for the rest of your life. Formulas – scientific, mathematic, and arcane – flow from your fingers like second nature. The only problem is picking which field. Your mother sits and listens as you pace back and forth, debating the merits of astrophysics versus the chemistry of transfiguration arcana. You’ve learned the scientific names of all the different birds who used to eat berries out of your hand, and study their migration patterns on the weekends. You like understanding how the world fits together. You want to know what makes a leaf turn yellow and die, and sprout again in spring. You want to know how the stars move across the sky. You want to know the nature of the planes the arcanists move through, and their physical relationship to the world as you know it.

As you get older, you write applications and plead for scholarships. Your mother listens patiently as you puzzle your way through homework and private studies, even if she doesn’t understand what you’re saying. She places a hand on your shoulder and reminds you it’s gotten dark outside, it’s already past second sunset, and you ought to go to bed. The work will always be there in the morning. You lean backward into a hug, sighing as your eyes slide closed and breathing in her familiar scent.

— — —

You hesitate, up to your knees in the lake, before taking a deep breath and plunging in. You don’t understand how you know how to swim. You didn’t know as a child, and you can’t remember anyone ever teaching you. But as soon as you hit the water, you’re moving, arms and legs working in unison to push you forward, your eyes closed, your hair drifting around your head.

You remember other things you shouldn’t. You know the taste of hot sauce on someone else’s lips. You can imagine, with frightening specificity, the sound of air whistling past your ears as you plummet to the ground from an impossible height. You can play the piano, even if you cannot name the notes.

The weight in your heart grows heavier for a moment whenever you have one of these impossible memories. You still feel blurry at the edges, as if you might suddenly dissolve out of existence.

— — —

When you’re thirteen you notice that you’re having trouble seeing the boards in classrooms and the birds in the trees have lost their definition. You get your vision tested and a week later thick, plastic-rimmed glasses settle on your nose. You look every inch the nerd that you are.

You lost touch with Sal when he moved away last year, but not before he got a couple of your other friends, Hugo and Izzy, to start calling you “Bluejeans” as well. From them, it spreads, to the rest of your classmates, and slowly to the entire school. It becomes so pervasive even a few teachers start doing it. You start writing your name as “Barry J. Bluejeans” on tests and papers.

With your new glasses, you spot something that’s gotten wedged down behind your desk at home. You pull it out from the wall, crawl on top of all your notes, and shove your arm down the narrow gap, just managing to catch the paper between your fingers. It’s a clumsy child’s drawing of a garden where you lived when you were someone else. You rub the paper fondly between your fingertips. On an impulse, you pull out an envelope and write down the address that Sal gave you. On the backside of the drawing, you write: Found this wedged behind my desk. Remember when I was the rich kid from up the hill? Miss you. —Barry J. Bluejeans. You get a letter back two weeks later. For your birthday that year, you get a new pair of jeans in the mail.

— — —

You’re facing down a reaper who calls himself Kravitz. Your back is quite literally against the wall, and even though the coin claims you’re supposedly a proficient necromancer and arcanist, you don’t know magic. All you wanted to do was study the stars and the planes, you didn’t ask for any of this. He calls you a lich and tells you that you’ve died no less than twenty-seven times. Your palms are sweaty and you feel cold all over.

The coin has told you that there’s a contingency plan. “If something goes wrong, I want you to know that… death is an option, and that for you, death doesn’t mean the end. I can’t explain anything else, you won’t be able to understand me, but if you die, it’s… gonna be okay, alright? In fact, if you… get captured, or get some kind of painful terminal illness, it would be better for you to go ahead and kick the bucket as fast as possible. I know that’s a hard thing to swallow, but… trust me on this, like you’ve trusted me on everything else.”

But it doesn’t seem like it will be okay. Here, with the sharp end of a scythe pressed against your throat, and the stone wall cold as ice at your back, it seems like the most terrifying thing that could ever happen. Your heart and your mind race at breakneck speed, as if trying to squeeze in as much life as possible before there’s none left.

“Barold J. Bluejeans,” Kravitz says. His face vanishes, revealing a skull with glowing red eyes. “I hereby reap your soul in the name of the Raven Queen.” He raises the scythe, and as unappealing as death sounds, eternity imprisoned in the Stockade sounds worse, so you take a chance. Before he can bring the scythe swinging down, you lift the slender, wickedly sharp blade in your hand and plunge it, with deadly precision, straight into your own heart. Your last thought is that dying seems familiar.

— — —

You’re eighteen and you’ve just been accepted into one of the most prestigious universities in the country. You can barely afford a penny of the tuition, so you’re frantically trying to secure scholarships. Half the papers are filled in with your real legal name, Barold Jackdaw, while the other half have Barold Bluejeans written on them in a fit of habit. Your friends are having a party to celebrate the end of the semester and your mother practically drags you away from your papers, shoving you out the door, insisting you go have fun. Your glasses fog over in the cold and you shove your hands in your pockets, shivering.

At the party you drink of glass of something that tastes warm and fruity and makes your head buzz pleasantly. You find yourself sitting in the corner talking to Izzy, sinking into the couch cushions. And then you find yourself outside in the back garden with Izzy, your mouths shoved clumsily together, your fingers tangling and creeping downward. Your glasses are fogged over again. You pull them off your face and drop them into the grass. Her hands pull down the zipper on your jeans, and a rush of cold air is immediately followed by exploratory fingers. You press closer to her, pushing her back into the wall, and she gasps in your ear. Your fingers slide across her collarbone and tug her shirt down over her shoulder. Her mouth is on your throat, and her thick hair is everywhere.

By the time you manage to retrieve your glasses, you’re shivering and burning all at once. It’s not the first time it’s happened, but it’s close to the last.

— — —

You’re at a tavern, because it’s been weeks since you just talked to someone. You spend ages chasing cryptic clues and you’ve forgotten what it’s like to just be. You’d talk about anything, even the flipping weather, if it could just be a normal conversation. You don’t know if you remember how to have one of those anymore. You don’t know when the last time you had one of those was.

Your memories exist in layers of déjà vu, now, bits and pieces that leak through from one cycle to the next. You keep dying and reviving, you’ve figured that much out without the coin saying it explicitly, so it hasn’t been lost to static. But none of those memories will come into focus. The ones you have are too confused to think about clearly. You see them as if they were in an aquarium: distorted by the water and hidden by smudged glass. Your only clear memories come from before — but even those are fuzzy with time and distance. They seem so very long ago.

A man sits beside you at the bar, and you turn to him, struggling for words. “Nice night out,” you finally manage. He only grunts in reply. “I really like the beer here,” you try again.

“Only place in walking distance makes it good enough for me,” the man says, not bothering to look at him. You swallow. Small talk was never your strong suit, even in the best of circumstances.

— — —

Sal comes to your graduation when you’re twenty-one, and he manages to get there and hug you before even your mother. “You’re a sight for sore eyes, Bluejeans,” he tells you. He has calluses on his fingers now. He’s an apprentice in a metal-working shop. The crinkle in his nose he gets when he smiles is the same though. “Hey, I got you something.” He places a wrapped box in your hand. When you tear it open, you find a tiny metal figurine of a jackdaw. Sal rolls his eyes. “To make up for always coming up with different names for you,” he says. You place it in the entryway of your new apartment, where no one can miss it.

— — —

You’re sitting outside, perched on a rock, watching the birds wheeling overhead. You feel like you know the sensation of flight, but it’s hardly a memory. It tickles at the edge of your consciousness, probably nothing more than a vivid imagination. It’s Midsummer, and you can’t stop scanning the sky. Whatever you’re looking for isn’t there, but the weight on your heart sits uneasy all the same.

— — —

This is how the story goes: you’re twenty-five, hugging your mother goodbye. She kisses you on the forehead, her grey hair a soft cloud around her, and wishes you well. You have a suitcase in your hand, containing only the bare essentials for a couple weeks away. She tells you to get moving, and you promise you’ll be home soon. And that’s the last thing you can remember.

— — —

This how the story goes: you drink from a flask, and you wake up gasping. Lup’s face comes back first. Taako and Merle are beside you, and you know them now, really know them, and they’re reeling, but you need to take a moment to collect your own thoughts and memories before you can help them. One hundred and ten years crash over your brain at once, and everything else seems distant and too far lost to consider. It’s a story about a stranger you never knew.

#taz #taz: balance #barry bluejeans #the adventure zone #my writing #/shrug/#take this I guess #I don't even know

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allhailthebigtalkingbird · 7 years ago

Conversation

Doctor Who Starter Sentences: Ninth Doctor Era

Starters: Replace — with a relevant name

Nice to meet you. Run for your life!

Is it possible you miscounted?

Your wish is my command. But be careful what you wish for.

Aww, I was hoping for a philosophical debate.

Rid the universe of your filth! Why don't you just DIE?!

It wasn't some big plan! I just saw it happening, and I thought... I can stop this.

Go to your room! Go to your room! I mean it. I'm very, very angry with you. I'm very, very cross! Go! To! Your! Room!

I'm in my dressing gown. There's a strange man in my bedroom. Well, anything could happen.

You'd rather be with —. It's gonna take a better wo/man than me to get between you two.

I don't know what you did to —, but you frighten the hell out of me,

—, have a drink. Think you're gonna need it.

What about you, —? What the hell are you changing into?

What the Shakespeare is going on...?

They thought — was dead, I was a murder suspect because of you!

You can't just read the guidebook, you've got to throw yourself in! Eat the food, use the wrong verbs, get charged double and end up kissing complete strangers!

And I wanna find a blonde in a Union Jack tee. And I mean a specific one, I didn't just wake up this morning with a craving.

You let one go, but that's nothing new. Every now and then, a little victim's spared.

I am alone in the universe?

Let me out of these manacles and I'll show you how much fun I am.

But you have no weapons! No defenses! No plan!

Now, —, you're not going to bring around the end of the world, are you?

What, you've never been bored?

There was a war, and we lost.

#askbox memes #Doctor Who Starters #askbox originals

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pcurrytravels · 7 years ago

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Why I Wanna Go: New Orleans

Hello all! Welcome to the first post of my “Why I Wanna Go Series.” Today, we’ll be talking about my long unfulfilled desire of visiting New Orleans.

Okay, about that long unfulfilled part: New Orleans is a place with which I’ve had a longstanding, obsessive interest that dates all the way back to when I was a child. I used to watch any and every show about it, both fictional and non-fictional. I would check out travel guidebooks and history books about the place from the library for fun. I’d stay up all night reading the innumerable ghost stories only to lose sleep anyway. I’ve attempted to make various creole and cajun dishes such as gumbo and red beans and rice only to fail miserably (though I have made some very good jambalaya before). I even celebrate Mardi Gras in my own special way, despite living in a place where it traditionally isn’t.

As you can see, yes, I am obsessed with New Orleans.

New Orleans is quite the oddball of a town. There’s not really anywhere else within the United States that’s quite like it. It’s unique culture, cuisine and architecture come as a result of it’s historical background, which has led to an end result akin to a, well, gumbo if you will (pun intended, of course):

Start with a base of French colonist roux and enslaved West African stock, strongly flavored with the essence of indigenous tribes of the Southeast Woodlands (such as Chitimacha, Choctaw and Houma Indians). Bring this mixture to a boil before adding Spanish sausage, some chicken from the farms of exiled French Canadians (i.e. Cajuns) and shrimp from the Canary Islands. Next, stir in some American file powder for thickening purposes. Toss in some Sicilian bell peppers, Irish onions and German celery. Lastly, top it all off with some Haitian okra, and just a dash of Vietnamese, Filipino, Cuban and Honduran spices and wallah! You have just successfully crafted the cultural melting pot for New Orleans.

Now, New Orleans most certainly isn’t the only American city with a culture strongly influenced by a number of different groups. There’s NYC with the Italian, Ashkenazi Jewish, Puerto Rican and West Indian flavors. The cultures of Californian cities and/or regions are profoundly inspired by longstanding communities of Mexicans, Black Americans and various Asian, Pacific Islander and Middle Eastern groups. And then you have Miami/South Florida which is essentially the U.S.A.’s mecca of any and everything Latino and Caribbean.

However, it usually comes with a limit. Regardless of the influence, at the end of the day, everyone more or less goes back to doing their own thing. It’s rare for things to meld and merge together as seamlessly as they have in New Orleans. That factor alone makes it more akin to cities in the Caribbean. In addition to it’s architecture, it’s climate, oh, and the fact that it play hosts to Carnival; which, in this context is known as Mardi Gras.

Ah yes, Fat Tuesday. Originally a Catholic celebration in which people gorged on as much rich and fatty food as possible (well, the name of it came from somewhere) before Lent; in the case of New Orleans, it has since morphed into a gathering of vice and debauchery that attracts visitors from all over the world. As everyone dons a mask, watching the elaborately wacky floats pass by as numerous women flash their, ahem, assets to get beads from the krewe, this also leads to uncontrollable crowds, quite a few fights and jacked up prices for EVERYTHING.

Don’t get me wrong, I would love to see Mardi Gras for myself one day....just not on the first trip. Nor would I want my first trip to be during the Essence Music Festival. Or the Jazz Fest. Or the Voodoo Experience. I guess I feel like if I have to spend my entire time dealing with excessive crowds and the collateral damage that comes with that (see: more traffic, higher airfare, hotel rooms being priced through the roof, etc....) it would compromise my experience. Might be a Vegas thing.

Okay, okay, enough tangents. Are we here to talk about why I wanna go to New Orleans or not?

Reason number one: All of that delicious FOOD.

You got gumbo, jambalaya, red beans and rice, beignets, etouffee, po’ boys, crawfish and just SO much more. A cultural background influenced by various sources, a zeal for spice, an abundant array of plants, seafood and wild game in the area and a populace that takes it VERY seriously can lead to quite the engaging culinary experience I would imagine.

Reason number two: The nightlife.

Ah, where to begin. I mean, there does appear to be a little bit of something for everyone there. Touristy bars on and around Bourbon Street serving up Hurricanes and Hand Grenades in souvenir cups, many of which with an interesting history all their own (see: Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop, an alleged business cover-up for the pirate Jean Lafitte, said to be haunted by his spirit to this day). Classy cocktail lounges in the Garden District where you can sip on a $14 dollar Sazerac while listening to smooth jazz. More eclectic nightspots on the fringes of the French Quarter with a mix of tourists and locals. Energetic venues playing a wide variety of music in Marigny. Oh, and the strip club circuit doesn’t look like anything to sneeze at either. The options are truly endless.

Reason number three: The history.

As already stated above, New Orleans wouldn’t be what it is today without it’s history. Between the numerous cultures and ethnic groups that have added to it’s modern-day melting pot (to the point that the city has several different accents going on, most of which sound closer to NYC/Jersey and/or Caribbean accents than they do Southern or Cajun), the French and Spanish Colonial architecture only to be accented by numerous other styles of architecture over the years, lingering signs of the Antebellum era, an uncanny connection to the afterlife involving above-ground tombs and hauntings all over the place, an unusual religious history as far as American cities go (I mean, it’s a predominantly Catholic city in a sea Southern Baptists with strong followings for Voodoo, Hoodoo and other syncretic, magical and/or pagan belief systems as well) and, lastly.........the beast known as Katrina and the city’s unwavering resilience to press on afterward. New Orleans tells a story unlike any other, and I for one am quite excited to explore the pages.

Reason number four: The music.

American popular music as we know it today would not exist without New Orleans. Period. Pop? Rock? R&B? Hip Hop? EDM? All of this can be traced back to Jazz. New Orleans is both the birthplace, and still remains as a vital source of Jazz music today. It’s also the arguable birthplace of R&B as well, which gave way to Rock and Roll. Now, while New Orleans may not have been involved in the creation of hip hop, it does have a distinct hip hop sound of its own (see: Juvenile, early Lil’ Wayne, Master P), in addition to Bounce music, a sort of hip hop/electronic hybrid genre (see: Big Freedia, or “Formation” by Beyonce). Because of this, just like with nightlife, New Orleans offers a little bit of something for everyone in regards to music. Be it Jazz, Blues, Rock, R&B, Hip Hop, the aforementioned Bounce, Latin (I mean, a lot of early Jazz and R&B did borrow from Cuban music conventions so), Funk, or even Zydeco, if you want it, New Orleans has it. They probably just put their own little spin on it, is all.

Reason number five: The surroundings.

New Orleans has a location that’s perfect for side trips. You can take a bus to historical plantations like Myrtles and Oak Alley. Explore the gator-infested bayous. Check out Cajun Country. Ride a steamboat down the Mississippi. Towns like Lafayette, New Iberia and Baton Rouge with interesting stories of their own. And several other options for those who feel adventurous and wish to venture out of the city.

My Dream Itinerary:

Sights: The French Quarter, Bourbon Street, Jackson Square, The Garden District, Congo Square, Treme, St. Louis Cemetery #1, St. Louis Cathedral and City Park.

Attractions: The Cabildo, The Presbytere, Beauregard-Keyes House, 1850 House, Backstreet Museum, Pharmacy Museum, Old Ursuline Convent, Histroic New Orleans Collection, Old U.S. Mint, Mardi Gras World, Lower Ninth Ward Museum, Civil War Museum and The Voodoo Museum

Dining: Cafe du Monde for Beignets and Cafe au Lait, ACME Oyster House for Seafood dishes, Muriel’s, Pierre Masperos, Praline Connection or the Gumbo Shop for the iconic Creole dishes, Central Grocery for the Muffuletta, Johnny’s Po’Boys for Po’Boy sandwiches and Hansen’s or Piety for Snowballs.

Nightlife: Mostly Bourbon Street and the rest of the French Quarter, although Frenchmen St. in Faubourg Marigny and the Warehouse District also catch my interest.

Shopping: The French Market, Riverwalk Marketplace and Magazine Street in Uptown/The Garden District.

Experiences: Ghost Tours, Cemetery Tours, Voodoo shops, Psychic shops and riding the streetcars and ferries.

Exploration: The French Quarter, Faubourg Marigny, Treme, The CBD, Warehouse District, Uptown and The Garden District.

Sidetrips: A bus trip to either Oak Alley, San Francisco or Myrtles plantation(s), Avery Island and Lafayette/Cajun Country. Maybe the bayou tour too if I can suck up the phobias I have of insects, gators and potentially encountering the types of people you see in movies like Deliverance.

Oh New Orleans. How I long for the day where I can walk your streets.

#new orleans #louisiana #Southern U.S.#cities #why i wanna go #U.S. Gulf Coast

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ramblings-daily · 7 years ago

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A Chained Heart // Chapter Two

Fandom: Criminal Minds Words: 6, 487 Genre: Drama / Romance Pairing: Luke Alvez & Penelope Garcia Author's Note: ahhhh, the love for the first chapter is incredible! I am so happy to hear that people are loving this AU fanfic of mine! It seriously means alot for me! Here is the second chapter, I hope you all like it (:

Chapter Two: "Unexpected Seriousness" [link to FF]

Penelope stared at the laptop screen in front of her. It has been exactly two hours since she arrived to work and she has done nothing by run copies for people around the floor. Checking the time on her watch, there's another forty minutes until Derek arrives for work. Only a week has gone by since she started working in Delicate and the one thing she is mostly curious about is why Derek Morgan always starts work two and a half hours later than everybody else in the company. Penelope hasn't exactly made friends to ask questions. What she has collected so far about the people on this floor is the fact that there isn't no funny business. Most of the employees are either running their own meetings about certain projects and the others are rushing to the bakery side of the building to run some ideas with bakers. One of the most frustrating part of this secretary job is the fact that she has yet to set foot inside the bakery side of the building. For just a second, she would love to see the behind the scenes action of the huge bakery. It would be such a big learning experience for her. Her eyes glanced away from the laptop screen once she heard the echoing sound of Lynda's high heels on the floorboard.

From what she understood from the guidebook that was given to her, Delicate Bakery & Co has exactly twenty-two floors. Each floor has one main assistant and a team leader for each department. Located in the first floor is the reception area. The second to third floor belongs solely to the bakery. The fourth to sixth floor is the Marketing Department with Team Leader Tara Lewis and her own assistant. The seventh to ninth floor is the Human Resources Department with team Leader Stephen Walker and his own assistant. It goes on and on with the same kind of pattern with the exception for the 20th floor to the 22nd floor. For those three floors, it belongs to three different team leaders that take charge of the bakery decision for the company. Spencer Reid's office is located on the 20th, Jennifer Jareau's office is located on the 21st and the 22nd's floor which is considered as the top floor - belongs to Derek Morgan and the CEO, Luke Alvez. With what she can gather from her short time here so far, the 22nd floor is the floor employees avoid the most. Unless it's really needed, no one dares to push the button for this floor in the elevator. Penelope blinked her eyes as soon as she heard the elevators open. Thinking that it was Derek, Penelope stood up to greet him but she paused once she saw Luke Alvez exiting out of the elevator. He slightly paused his steps as soon as he noticed Penelope but quickly ignored her as he walked toward his office. And the sole reason behind the fear and avoidance by people for this exact floor is due to Luke Alvez. Surprisingly, not much people like him and it's as if he knows it too and just doesn't care.

"Penelope," Jennifer Jareau walked over with a folder in her hand as she looked at her. "When Team Leader Derek Morgan comes in for work, hand this folder for him. Tell him it's the new updated details I have for our spring season project."

Penelope nodded her head. "Yes, Ma'am."

Jennifer arched an eyebrow at her. "Don't call me that. Jennifer is fine." Without another word, she turned around and headed toward the stairs. After staring at Jennifer for a week, Penelope has learned that she doesn't like using the elevator. Besides being a world champion baker with tons of gold medal, she is also a fitness maniac. If there is a way for her to input some fitness into her work hours, she'll take it.

The elevator doors opened just in time with Derek Morgan exiting with sunglasses still on. "Uh, this is from Team Leader Jennifer Jareau. She said it's about the spring season project."

Derek took the folder out of her hands and briefly smiled. "I'll be in my office. If I need anything, I'll just call you up."

"So," Penelope knit her eyebrows. "There's nothing for me to do? Again?" She doesn't get it. Does he doesn't trust her with some of his work? All she has been doing is running copies or read through the pages for the guidebook. Anything involving the actual person that she has to help, there is nothing.

Noticing the kind of tone she was using, Derek chuckled as he crossed his arms and leaned against his office door. "You're upset."

"What?" Penelope cleared her throat. "Why would I be upset toward a team leader?"

Derek lets out a small laugh before he opened the door and indicated his hand for Penelope to follow him inside. As soon as he was settled in his seat, he pointed toward the chair across from him for her to sit. "Here's the thing about me that you have to understand, Penelope. Unless there is something that I truly need help on, I don't call anyone for guidance. In the kind of situation and project I have going on that's under the watchful eyes of CEO Alvez, I am under a lot of pressure. With the kind of pressure I am facing, I like to be alone and diligent in my own work."

"You're working with Team Leader Jennifer." Penelope pointed out.

He arched an eyebrow. "She has been my partner for the last two years in this company. I feel comfortable around her when I work on things." He folded his hands onto the desk and smiled. "It has nothing to do with you or the mere fact that I don't trust you. The position you work as for this company as we speak is secretary. You're not my assistant. I know you've noticed that every team leader has one with the exception of me. The reasoning behind that is due to the fact again, I like being alone." He turned to his laptop screen, quickly typing in the password. "I read your resume."

Penelope blinked in surprise. "You did?"

"For a twenty-seven year old, your resume seems a bit lacking." Derek straightforwardly said.

"Ah," Penelope shut her eyes for a brief second. She knew it would come back and bit her in the butt for being so lacking. "The situation is that - "

Derek chuckled. "I don't need you to share your life story with me, Penelope." Opening the second drawer to his left, he took out her resume. "The one information I noticed here is that you actually attended and graduated Seamless Bakery School with high honors." She briefly smiled and nodded her head as a response. "And if I am reading this correctly, the position you actually applied for here is an intern. I'm sure Lynda already explained how the internship works in this company but why is a twenty-seven year old working as an intern when she graduated six years ago?"

"I had a late start on things after I graduated." Penelope explained. She clenched her hands together, practically feeling her nails digging into her skin. "It's better late than never, right?"

He nodded his head as he placed the resume back inside the drawer. "I was going to ignore what happened last week on your first day of work because it may be extremely uncomfortable for you. But if I want a better understand with my secretary, I have to at least know a bit." From his office windows, he watched as Lynda and Luke walked past and entering the elevators. "Luke Alvez also graduated from the same school in the same year."

"Oh." Penelope simply said.

"I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the both of you know each other," Derek stated. "And I'm going to test my luck again and say that the history that you both have aren't exactly considered as memorable or good." Penelope didn't know what to say. She doesn't want the fact that she had a relationship with the CEO of the company to affect how people look at her.

"Team Leader, if I can overstep - "

Derek smiled. "Look, like I said, it's not that I don't trust you or anything. I just really don't have work right now that could have your help. The only thing I can say is if I have clients calling me or people looking for me, I only ask for you to inform them that I am busy working on the spring season project." He shrugged his shoulders as he opened the folder that Jennifer gave him. "I can understand where you're coming from. Working in a position that you don't know about when your talent belongs elsewhere is hard. The baker inside of you is screaming out, demanding to actually work with your hands and create things that can bring joy to someone else's life. Trust me when I say, I've been there." Derek skimmed through the pages as he spoke to her. "Just have patience and your day will come." He looked at her one last time before going back to the folder. "Sometimes in a company like this, doing nothing is definitely better."

Penelope nodded her head. "Thanks."

. . .

Luke crossed his arms as he watched the bakers discuss over the specials for the new week. He extremely hate Mondays for purely this reason. It's as if no one has their mind ready for this day. Adverting his attention over to the display cases, he scanned through all the bakery goods that were there. "Where are the cream puffs?"

Jennifer tied her hair into a ponytail as she answered. "We didn't have time this morning to make them."

"I'm sorry," Luke said. "You didn't have time to make them?"

"The thing is," Grant Anderson, one of the bakers for Delicate, cleared his throat as he stepped forward. "We were busy taking in orders for one of our regular customers. They have placed an order for over 450 macaroons by tomorrow afternoon. We were busy making the batter for the order and lost track of time."

Luke looked at all of the bakers. "So basically, none of you assigned the cream puffs to one person? You just thought that maybe today we can go forward without the cream puffs on display?" He adverted his attention over to Jennifer. "I expected something as forgetful as this from basic people but you? Team Leader Jennifer, I expect more from you."

Jennifer had to keep herself from rolling her eyes as she put on her baker uniform on. "I was a bit busy focusing on the spring season project this morning. I didn't know about the cream puffs until briefly." She glanced over at the other bakers, who had sullen expressions on their faces. "I don't think keeping themselves in order to make a customer's orders that wrong. Would you rather go on a day without cream puffs or lose a valuable customers that gives us bigger profits?"

Lynda, who always stands in the back, widened her eyes by the sudden remark by Jennifer. Besides Derek, no one else in this company ever dares to speak back to Luke. Is Jennifer on drugs this morning or what? "Sir, we have a conference call with London in five minutes."

"What about the macaroons? Have you finished making them?" Luke questioned.

"No," Grant replied. "We put it on hold since today is going to be busy with the event that we're being assigned with Team Leader Jennifer."

Jennifer checked the time on the clock. "As you know, there is a wedding event that the bakers and I have to attend to." She stared at Luke and briefly smiled. "Mayor Strauss's wedding, your good friend."

Luke sighed. "Go on." Without another word, he walked out of the kitchen and halted his steps at the bakery, staring at all the customers who were waiting in line for their orders. "Tell Team Leader Tara Lewis that I want the monthly rate for this month."

Writing it on her notes, Lynda nodded her head. "Yes, Sir." She followed Luke into the elevators and leaned against the wall as the elevator continues to go up. Deciding to test his patience, she leaned over and looked at him. "The cream puffs, what do you want me to do about it?"

"What do you mean?" He furrowed his eyebrows together as he narrowed his eyes at her. "Do you bake?"

"No..."

"Then what the heck are you able to do about the cream puffs?" Luke turned his attention back toward the elevator doors as it opened. Stepping out, he lets out a scoff. "Don't ask such a useless question like that ever again."

Lynda halted her steps and let him walk into his office on his own. As soon as the coast was clear, she kicked her legs up in the air as she imagined kicking his butt in her mind. "You don't have to be a jerk about it!" Turning around, she looked at Penelope. "I hate my job."

Penelope could only show a small smile. "What was that about?"

"Let's just say that Mondays aren't exactly CEO Alvez's favorite kind of day." Lynda sighed. "You know what's funny? For the four years since the grand opening of Delicate, I haven't seen him lay a single hand in the kitchen. He keeps complaining about the bakers downstairs when they don't do their job properly but what about him? Does he even know how to bake? How is he even the CEO when I haven't seen him do anything besides scold employees for three years."

"I wouldn't know those answers since it's only been a week since I started working here." Penelope answered. "I don't even know him."

Lynda sighed. "You're lucky."

Penelope watched in silence as Lynda headed toward the break room to probably make Luke's coffee. The question from earlier is now constantly ringing in her head. Does he even know how to bake? She stared blankly at the laptop screen as a memory came rushing back.

Luke's Apartment, 8 and a half years ago.

"Add in the two eggs to the mixture and stir," Penelope instructed him. "Make sure you don't get any egg shells in it."

Luke looked at her. "You act as if I don't know how to crack an egg." He wiggled his eyebrows as he took out an egg from the fridge but halted his steps when one of the eggs dropped onto the floor. "Alright, that's my bad."

Penelope laughed. "You have to focus when you bake, Luke."

"I am!" Luke said. "Your beauty is just too dazzling that I am getting clumsy. You made me drop an egg!"

She made a disgusted face at the flattery before she slapped his arm playfully. "Stop it. How are you going to pass the baking exam if you can't bake a simple white cake." She walked over to the fridge to grab another egg. "Come on, you have to focus in order for this cake to be perfected." Penelope glared at him.

"We're not going to sleep until you make the perfect white cake."

Luke arched an eyebrow. "So, you're staying for the night?"

Penelope slapped him on the arm again. "No." She cracked one of the eggs and added it into the mixture. "I have my own exam to worry about. Unlike you, I have two written exams and an actual baking exam to do. You only have to bake a white cake and you'll pass third year in baking school. I have to bake macaroons and - "

He sighed. "You're right," Unlike his other peers, the fact that he only has to bake a white cake to pass third year is a bit weird. Maybe it's due to the fact that he was supposed to have that done by second year. Or is it a trick? What if as soon as he passes this baking exam, every single thing that he missed about other baking techniques and bakery goods will bombard him next year? Does that mean he has to work extra hard since he has more things to study up and test on? "Staying back another year really is doing damages to me."

Penelope smiled. "At least you're learning and improving now."

Luke cracked the other egg and started mixing it when he noticed an small piece of egg shell in the bowl. "Damn it."

"Here, use a spoon and - " Penelope's eyes widened when Luke started searching for the egg shell with his hand. "Luke!" She was too shock to even speak. Instead, she started laughing hysterically at how cute Luke was being. The focus and attention in his eyes that he has for the egg shell is something she has never seen from him. "Why are you being so serious about the egg shell?!"

Blinking his eyes as he successfully took out the egg shell, he turned and looked at Penelope. "You said that I won't be able to sleep until I get it perfectly done!"

"Yeah but," Penelope clenched onto her stomach once it started hurting because she is laughing too hard. "I've never seen you so serious in my life!"

“You've only known me for two months." Luke corrected her as he concentrated on mixing the bowl. "And I can be serious and mean when I want to be, Penelope"

Penelope stopped laughing and silently rolled her eyes. "Luke Alvez, you're the most happiest and positive person I know." She leaned against the kitchen counter. "As behind as you are in baking, I think everybody in the school can agree that you're the one that makes them laugh the most. You have this aura around you, Luke. People can't help but love having you around them."

Luke stopped mixing and stared at her. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Do you love having me around?" Luke carefully repeated himself. Since the day they met each other in the hallways, they were inseparable. For two months, Penelope has been teaching him everything that he missed, letting him gain confidence in his own baking. There wasn't a single day where they were apart for some reason. "Never mind, don't answer that." Luke adverted his attention over to the mixture and cleared his throat. "So, what do I do now?"

Penelope scratched the back of her neck out of awkwardness. "Uh, take out the tins and pour the mixture inside. The oven has already been preheated so once you finished pouring, just put it in the oven."

After doing what Penelope instructed, Luke backed away from the oven and leaned against the wall. "So," checking the time on his watch, he exhaled deeply. "You can leave since you have a long night ahead for you. I mean, if the cake doesn't end up being edible, I'll just redo everything until I do it right."

"Are you sure?" Luke nodded his head and handed her the car keys and her jacket. "Alright. I'll see you tomorrow then."

Luke smiled. "Of course. Let me walk you out the door."

Penelope followed behind him. As the front door opened, she stepped out and turned around. "Have confidence in yourself. I know I laughed about it but it's not a bad thing to be serious sometimes. As happy as you are, I know you'll be happier once you graduate from baking school with the rest of us. You taught me to be happy and pause to have a laugh, I'm just returning the favor with this advance."

He chuckled as he held onto the doorknob. "You're right."

"Alright," she slowly puts on her jacket and waved goodbye. "Bye."

Luke watched as she started walking away. He clenched onto the doorknob even tighter as she becomes further away from him. Taking a deep breath, he is just going to go for it. "Penelope!"

She turned around and looked at him. "Yeah?"

"I have something to say," walking out of his apartment, he slowly paced himself towards her. "There's something that I've been meaning to tell you. I've been on the edge lately because of it." Luke looked into her eyes, it was one of the first things he noticed about her from that day in the hallways - they're so beautiful. "Penelope, I - " his eyes widened from surprise when Penelope leaned forward and softly kissed him.

Present Time

"Penelope," Derek leaned against the doorway from his office as he held out the folder in his hand. "Jennifer is leaving in ten minutes. I need you to show her the new updated information I have before she goes. I need to know what she thinks so I can get started on the project."

"Okay, do you know where she is?" Penelope asked as she stood up. Derek checked the time on his watch. "Now? She should be in the kitchen downstairs where the bakery is." As soon as Penelope took the folder, he smiled. "Don't say that I never gave you work."

Penelope softly smiled at his comment. "I'll be back." Walking toward the elevator, she quickly got in and pressed the first floor button. That's when the realization hit her. She's about to actually enter the kitchen of the bakery. An even bigger smile plastered on her face as she did a little dance in the elevator. She has always imagined at how big the kitchen would be for a huge company like Delicate. Are there over 20-30 bakers in one kitchen? If the bakery is really connected to three floors, does that mean there's a kitchen on each floor? Once the elevator opened, she rushed out because the curiosity is seriously killing her. Pacing herself so she doesn't look like a crazy woman, she walked into the bakery and straight toward the kitchen. "Ma'am - " she paused and remembered what Jennifer had said earlier. "Jennifer..."

Jennifer carefully took off her baker uniform and stared at Penelope. "What are you doing in here?"

"Derek wanted you to take a look at the updated information before he starts on the project." Penelope handed over the folder and quickly scanned the kitchen. She's in complete awe. This kitchen is as huge as a garden. It's almost too ridiculous to be true. The utensils, the tables, the ingredients - they're all so clean and shiny. She was about to touch the closest thing near her when Jennifer handed back the folder. "You're done looking over it?"

"Tell him that he needs to make that cake before Luke starts asking about it." Jennifer quickly puts on her jacket. "I have a wedding to take care of. See you around, Penelope."

Penelope watched as Jennifer and two other bakers walk out of the kitchen. She counted to one minute in her head before she start running around the kitchen. "Oh my God," she couldn't believe that she's actually inside a Delicate kitchen. "State of the art oven." She muttered to herself happily. Noticing a piece of paper on the middle of the gigantic table, she knows that she shouldn't look at it but one peek wouldn't hurt.

450 macaroons orders for Lillian's Bridal Shower. Batter is all set but will start making them tonight when we come back.

"450?!" Penelope gasped in shock. "How are they only going to start tonight? An order like this takes half a day."

"What are you doing in here?" Penelope jumped in surprise as she made eye contact with Luke. "I said, what are you doing in here?"

Penelope cleared her throat. "Derek wanted Jennifer to check on some information for the spring season project and I was here because she needed to check it off before he starts - "

"I don't see team leader Jennifer Jareau in here." Luke pointed out.

"That's because she just left and - "

Luke opened the kitchen door and sighed. "If she isn't here anymore, you shouldn't either."

Penelope doesn't even want to talk to him any longer. As she walked out of the kitchen, the door swiftly closed behind her. Leaving her speechless at how rude he has become, she rolled her eyes. "Six years does change people." Taking a look at her watch, she halted her steps and glanced back toward the kitchen. "It's only the afternoon, why would he be in the kitchen?"

. . .

Derek smirked at the little note that Jennifer had written for him inside the folder. "Thanks, Penelope."

Penelope nodded her head and watched as he started walking out of his office. Taking it as he is going to go off and do the project, she settled in her seat and sighed. "Wow, Penelope. You've been here for four hours now and you managed to complete two errands." She groaned to herself as she tapped her fingers on the desk. "Only five more hours to go."

. . .

"I told you that it would work," Derek said through the phone as he cleaned up the mess he made in the break room. "Jennifer, I just spent six hours in a break room, testing out flavors. It's going to work, trust me."

Jennifer yawned as she put the keys through the hole. "It better work. Hey, the wedding was pretty cute."

"A wedding is a wedding." Derek said as he cleaned his hands in the sink. Jennifer rolled her eyes. "Why do men think like that?"

"Why do women always want to spend tons of money toward one event?"

"A life changing event," Jennifer corrected him. Collapsing onto her couch, she yawned again. "It's late. Why are you still there anyways?"

Derek walked out of the break room and looked around through the darkness of the floor. "Do you honestly believe I want to be here this late? I lost track of time." He started walking past the secretary desk when he noticed Penelope there, asleep. "JJ, I'll call you back." Hanging up the phone, he furrowed his eyebrows together in confusion as he leaned forward to get a closer look of her. With his arm propped on the desk, he carefully look at her face. A smile spread across his face when he noticed the little post it note near her hand. Taking it off, he silently chuckled at what it said.

Sleep for only thirty minutes. Wake up and ask around if anyone needs copies. And ease on the staring at Derek, you wouldn't want him to think you're crazy. Also, try and sneak back into the kitchen and gather some baking inspiration from the aura inside there.

"You're one interesting woman, Penelope Garcia." Derek said softly before placing the post it note back where it originally was. Walking into his office, he grabbed his jacket and car keys before walking back over to the secretary desk. "Penelope."

Opening her eyes to the sound of her name, Penelope sat up in her seat and blinked her eyes in confusion to find herself surrounded in darkness. "Why is it so dark?"

Derek laughed. "Maybe it's because it's past nine."

"What?!" Penelope checked her phone to see a missing call from Jensen's daycare. "Oh God!"

"Do you have to rush somewhere?"

Penelope quickly grabbed her own jacket and car keys. "I have to pick up my - " she paused and looked at him. What's the point? Someone's bound to find out sooner enough. "My son. The good thing is that I already worked out the hours with the daycare and I'm not going to be too late to pick him up."

"Son?" Derek didn't expect that. "How old is he?"

"Six." Penelope smiled as they both entered the elevator. "Does everybody usually leave work at nine?" She stared at the buttons from 1-22. "Like the whole building?"

Derek nodded his head. "Yeah. I usually leave at eight but I lost track of time."

He glanced at her and chuckled. "You obviously also lost track of time."

Penelope cleared her throat. "Sorry. My son had a nightmare last night so I barely got any sleep. I won't do it again, I promise."

"Don't worry about it. I'm not the one that signs your paycheck, I could careless."

Derek laughed as he walked out the elevator. "Unless it's when you're doing something for me like a project," he halted his steps and looked at her. "Such as the current spring season project."

She smiled. "You're saying as if you're letting me," Penelope gasped and covered her mouth in shock. "Really?! You're going to let me work on the project with you?!"

"Well, as long as you don't let Luke find out, you can work on it with me and Jennifer." Luke adverted his attention over to the bakery in confusion. There were lights coming from the kitchen but the door was closed. "That's odd. Jennifer said that her and the other bakers were too tired to come back here and work on this order they got this morning."

"The order for 450 macaroons, right?" Penelope asked.

Derek nodded his head. "I was going to come in early tomorrow to help them out since it's a big order." He smirked as he zipped up his jacket and yawned. "Well, as long as I don't have to come in for work early, I don't care." Dangling his car keys from his hands, he smiled. "I'm going to head out first. See you tomorrow."

Penelope waved goodbye. She should leave too but again, this damn curiosity. Biting her lower lip, she carefully walked through the bakery and squinted her eyes though the door window to see who is inside. "What..." She knit her eyebrows and watch as Luke, who has flour all over him, was walking back and forth between the oven and the table. From what she can see with very little light that is inside, there were rows and rows of the macaroons over at the kitchen counters. Quietly, she continued watching as Luke balanced two new huge trays of fresh macaroons with his hands and onto the counters. As soon as he puts two different trays into the oven, he walked over to the sink to wash his hands. In one swift move, he took out little cute bags with ribbons attached to them out. Luke twirled his neck around for a few seconds, he must have a strain on his neck from all the constant baking. Penelope couldn't stop her mouth from opening, what is all of this? Has he been baking the macaroons since the moment she left the kitchen earlier in the afternoon? Just by staring at the batches of the macaroons that are done, there's at least only about 200 of them. He still has so much to do in such a short time span. She took one last peek just in time to see Luke adding a couple of macaroons into the cute little bags carefully.

Stepping away from the door and the bakery, Penelope stared aimlessly at the floor. "He end up learning and improving..." A small faint smile appeared on her face, something she didn't even notice as she walked out of the building.

. . .

"Good morning," Penelope greeted Jennifer by the door of the building. "You're here early."

Jennifer smiled. "I can say the same for you," she took a sip of her coffee. "You do realize that you don't have to come in as early like us. You're technically under the same hours as Derek since he comes into work two hours and a half later than the rest of us."

"I still think it's best if - " Penelope stopped talking when one of the bakers, she recognized to be Grant Anderson charges forward toward them.

"Grant, there's no need to run." Jennifer said. "We'll get the macaroons done in time. The people aren't picking it up until 2 and it's only," checking the time on her watch. "It's only 8."

Penelope arched an eyebrow at the timing that Jennifer thinks she has for the macaroons. Does she honestly think she would've gotten the order for 450 done in six hours?

"No." Grant said. "The macaroons are done!"

Jennifer looked at him as if he was crazy. "What are you talking about?" She started rushing over to the kitchen with Grant and Penelope following behind. "What the - " In front of them were rows of baskets with bagged macaroons inside. "Who did this?" She immediately looked at her junior baker. "Grant Anderson..."

Grant shook his head. "I wish I could say I did it." He picked up one of the bags and pointed at them. "Look at how perfect they are! You know that I still lack in that area of perfecting it."

She glanced over at the other bakers, who also were shaking their heads. "Well, whoever did it. Thank goodness."

Penelope heard the familiar sounds of Lynda's high heels again. She turned her head over to the doorway just in time to see Luke and Lynda walk in. "It's nice to see my employees come into work early."

"Did you give someone else permission to do the order of macaroons?" Jennifer asked him.

Luke glanced at the macaroons and the bakers. "No but I can see that they're all finished." He crossed his arms and looked at them. "Seeing as how it's done and the four of you did work hard for last night's wedding." He paused and shrugged his shoulders. "Take four hours off and come back to work afterwards. I want cream puffs to be out on display today."

"Wait, you're giving us a half day off?" Grant questioned to make sure.

“I can take it back if you want." Luke blankly said.

"No! We'll take it!" The other bakers screamed in happiness.

Jennifer narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you sure you don't know who did this? Did you assign this order for someone?"

"No," Luke repeated. "I don't know who did this order but as long as it's done and you get a break that you haven't gotten in a while, should we really be complaining here?"

Penelope has been standing in silence, listening to their conversation, waiting for the moment that Luke would say that he was actually the one that did the whole order by himself. The fact that he didn't admit to anything has her really confused.

"I expect to see two rows of cream puffs on display by the afternoon." Luke glanced at the bakers and stared around the kitchen. He didn't say anything else before he turned around with Lynda following and walked out of the door.

Grant scoffed. "The break's not even a break. It takes an hour to make the mixture and cream for the puff and another hour for when it's in the oven." He rolled his eyes. "The one moment we expect him to be caring, it's a joke."

One of the bakers sighed as he took out a huge bowl out to start the cream for the cream puffs. "That man is nothing but someone who complains. He does nothing for this company either. The one who did this order for us should be head of the company."

Penelope almost opened her mouth to correct the baker's words but she closed it. What's even the point? She doesn't feel it's necessary to share something good of what Luke did nor does she see a point in correcting somebody else's opinion. She quietly dismissed herself from the kitchen and head toward the elevators. She came just in time to share the same one with Luke and Lynda, sadly. Clearing her throat, she leaned against the back of the wall and watched as the numbers for the floors slowly go up.

"Sir, are you tired?" Lynda asked. Penelope glanced over to see Luke is leaning his head against the wall with his eyes closed and arms crossed. "Did you stay up to look over the new upcoming projects again?"

"You can say that," Luke silently said. "What time is our phone conference with Italy?"

Lynda checked her tablet. "In an hour."

"Bring me all the detailed documents we have on their company and a cup of coffee into my office. I want to study on their foundation before the meeting starts." The sound of the elevators arriving to the 22nd floor immediately made him to stand up straight before walking out.

Penelope stepped out and silently watched as Luke entered his office. "So, that's how you look like when you're being serious...." Taking a deep breath, she settled into her seat and folded her arms as she stared at the time. Another beginning to what seems like another repetitive day for her.

. . .

Luke loudly yawned as soon as he was alone in the office. Collapsing in his seat, he placed his head onto the desk for a brief nap. This is the single moment that he wants Lynda to be late on the coffee and document. Finishing the order of macaroons around one in the morning and driving back home takes close to 45 minutes, he barely got any sleep in. This is the moment that needs, just peace and - he abruptly sat up as soon as he heard knocking on his door. "Come in."

Lynda showed up with his coffee in one hand and the stack of documents on the other. "Here is what you told me get." She stepped back and watched as he sipped the coffee and started getting into business as he opened the documents.

"You can leave now." From the corner of his eyes, he could see her nodding her head before walking out of the office. Luke stretched his arms and legs out for a few minutes and quickly returned back to work.

#criminal minds #criminal minds fic #criminal minds fanfic #criminal minds fanfiction #penelope garcia #luke alvez #luke x penelope #garcia x alvez #garvez #derek morgan #penelope x derek #garcia x morgan #spencer reid #jennifer jareau #emily prentiss #david rossi #ramblingsdailyfic

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buddhasutras-blog · 8 years ago

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Dhammapada. Introduction.

From ancient times to the present, the Dhammapada has been regarded as the most succinct expression of the Buddha's teaching found in the Pali canon and the chief spiritual testament of early Buddhism. In the countries following Theravada Buddhism, such as Sri Lanka, Burma and Thailand, the influence of the Dhammapada is ubiquitous. It is an ever-fecund source of themes for sermons and discussions, a guidebook for resolving the countless problems of everyday life, a primer for the instruction of novices in the monasteries. Even the experienced contemplative, withdrawn to forest hermitage or mountainside cave for a life of meditation, can be expected to count a copy of the book among his few material possessions. Yet the admiration the Dhammapada has elicited has not been confined to avowed followers of Buddhism. Wherever it has become known its moral earnestness, realistic understanding of human life, aphoristic wisdom and stirring message of a way to freedom from suffering have won for it the devotion and veneration of those responsive to the good and the true.

The expounder of the verses that comprise the Dhammapada is the Indian sage called the Buddha, an honorific title meaning "the Enlightened One" or "the Awakened One." The story of this venerable personage has often been overlaid with literary embellishment and the admixture of legend, but the historical essentials of his life are simple and clear. He was born in the sixth century B.C., the son of a king ruling over a small state in the Himalayan foothills, in what is now Nepal. His given name was Siddhattha and his family name Gotama (Sanskrit: Siddhartha Gautama) . Raised in luxury, groomed by his father to be the heir to the throne, in his early manhood he went through a deeply disturbing encounter with the sufferings of life, as a result of which he lost all interest in the pleasures and privileges of rulership. One night, in his twenty-ninth year, he fled the royal city and entered the forest to live as an ascetic, resolved to find a way to deliverance from suffering. For six years he experimented with different systems of meditation and subjected himself to severe austerities, but found that these practices did not bring him any closer to his goal. Finally, in his thirty-fifth year, while sitting in deep meditation beneath a tree at Gaya, he attained Supreme Enlightenment and became, in the proper sense of the title, the Buddha, the Enlightened One. Thereafter, for forty-five years, he traveled throughout northern India, proclaiming the truths he had discovered and founding an order of monks and nuns to carry on his message. At the age of eighty, after a long and fruitful life, he passed away peacefully in the small town of Kusinara, surrounded by a large number of disciples.

To his followers, the Buddha is neither a god, a divine incarnation, or a prophet bearing a message of divine revelation, but a human being who by his own striving and intelligence has reached the highest spiritual attainment of which man is capable — perfect wisdom, full enlightenment, complete purification of mind. His function in relation to humanity is that of a teacher — a world teacher who, out of compassion, points out to others the way to Nibbana (Sanskrit: Nirvana), final release from suffering. His teaching, known as the Dhamma, offers a body of instructions explaining the true nature of existence and showing the path that leads to liberation. Free from all dogmas and inscrutable claims to authority, the Dhamma is founded solidly upon the bedrock of the Buddha's own clear comprehension of reality, and it leads the one who practices it to that same understanding — the knowledge which extricates the roots of suffering.

The title "Dhammapada" which the ancient compilers of the Buddhist scriptures attached to our anthology means portions, aspects, or sections of Dhamma. The work has been given this title because, in its twenty-six chapters, it spans the multiple aspects of the Buddha's teaching, offering a variety of standpoints from which to gain a glimpse into its heart. Whereas the longer discourses of the Buddha contained in the prose sections of the Canon usually proceed methodically, unfolding according to the sequential structure of the doctrine, the Dhammapada lacks such a systematic arrangement. The work is simply a collection of inspirational or pedagogical verses on the fundamentals of the Dhamma, to be used as a basis for personal edification and instruction. In any given chapter several successive verses may have been spoken by the Buddha on a single occasion, and thus among themselves will exhibit a meaningful development or a set of variations on a theme. But by and large, the logic behind the grouping together of verses into a chapter is merely the concern with a common topic. The twenty-six chapter headings thus function as a kind of rubric for classifying the diverse poetic utterances of the Master, and the reason behind the inclusion of any given verse in a particular chapter is its mention of the subject indicated in the chapter's heading . In some cases (Chapters 4 and 23) this may be a metaphorical symbol rather than a point of doctrine. There also seems to be no intentional design in the order of the chapters themselves, though at certain points a loose thread of development can be discerned.

The teachings of the Buddha, viewed in their completeness, all link together into a single perfectly coherent system of thought and practice which gains its unity from its final goal, the attainment of deliverance from suffering. But the teachings inevitably emerge from the human condition as their matrix and starting point, and thus must be expressed in such a way as to reach human beings standing at different levels of spiritual development, with their highly diverse problems, ends, and concerns and with their very different capacities for understanding. Thence, just as water, though one in essence, assumes different shapes due to the vessels into which it is poured, so the Dhamma of liberation takes on different forms in response to the needs of the beings to be taught. This diversity, evident enough already in the prose discourses, becomes even more conspicuous in the highly condensed, spontaneous and intuitively charged medium of verse used in the Dhammapada. The intensified power of delivery can result in apparent inconsistencies which may perplex the unwary. For example, in many verses the Buddha commends certain practices on the grounds that they lead to a heavenly birth, but in others he discourages disciples from aspiring for heaven and extols the one who takes no delight in celestial pleasures (187, 417) [Unless chapter numbers are indicated, all figures enclosed in parenthesis refer to verse numbers of the Dhammapada.]

Often he enjoins works of merit, yet elsewhere he praises the one who has gone beyond both merit and demerit (39, 412). Without a grasp of the underlying structure of the Dhamma, such statements viewed side by side will appear incompatible and may even elicit the judgment that the teaching is self-contradictory.

The key to resolving these apparent discrepancies is the recognition that the Dhamma assumes its formulation from the needs of the diverse persons to whom it is addressed, as well as from the diversity of needs that may co-exist even in a single individual. To make sense of the various utterances found in the Dhammapada, we will suggest a schematism of four levels to be used for ascertaining the intention behind any particular verse found in the work, and thus for understanding its proper place in the total systematic vision of the Dhamma. This fourfold schematism develops out of an ancient interpretive maxim which holds that the Buddha's teaching is designed to meet three primary aims: human welfare here and now, a favorable rebirth in the next life, and the attainment of the ultimate good. The four levels are arrived at by distinguishing the last aim into two stages: path and fruit.

(i) The first level is the concern with establishing well-being and happiness in the immediately visible sphere of concrete human relations. The aim at this level is to show man the way to live at peace with himself and his fellow men, to fulfill his family and social responsibilities, and to restrain the bitterness, conflict and violence which infect human relationships and bring such immense suffering to the individual, society, and the world as a whole. The guidelines appropriate to this level are largely identical with the basic ethical injunctions proposed by most of the great world religions, but in the Buddhist teaching they are freed from theistic moorings and grounded upon two directly verifiable foundations: concern for one's own integrity and long-range happiness and concern for the welfare of those whom one's actions may affect (129-132). The most general counsel the Dhammapada gives is to avoid all evil, to cultivate good and to cleanse one's mind (183). But to dispel any doubts the disciple might entertain as to what he should avoid and what he should cultivate, other verses provide more specific directives. One should avoid irritability in deed, word and thought and exercise self-control (231-234). One should adhere to the five precepts, the fundamental moral code of Buddhism, which teach abstinence from destroying life, from stealing, from committing adultery, from speaking lies and from taking intoxicants; one who violates these five training rules "digs up his own root even in this very world" (246-247). The disciple should treat all beings with kindness and compassion, live honestly and righteously, control his sensual desires, speak the truth and live a sober upright life, diligently fulfilling his duties, such as service to parents, to his immediate family and to those recluses and brahmans who depend on the laity for their maintenance (332-333).

A large number of verses pertaining to this first level are concerned with the resolution of conflict and hostility. Quarrels are to be avoided by patience and forgiveness, for responding to hatred by further hatred only maintains the cycle of vengeance and retaliation. The true conquest of hatred is achieved by non-hatred, by forbearance, by love (4-6). One should not respond to bitter speech but maintain silence (134). One should not yield to anger but control it as a driver controls a chariot (222). Instead of keeping watch for the faults of others, the disciple is admonished to examine his own faults, and to make a continual effort to remove his impurities just as a silversmith purifies silver (50, 239). Even if he has committed evil in the past, there is no need for dejection or despair; for a man's ways can be radically changed, and one who abandons the evil for the good illuminates this world like the moon freed from clouds (173).

The sterling qualities distinguishing the man of virtue are generosity, truthfulness, patience, and compassion (223). By developing and mastering these qualities within himself, a man lives at harmony with his own conscience and at peace with his fellow beings. The scent of virtue, the Buddha declares, is sweeter than the scent of all flowers and perfumes (55-56). The good man, like the Himalaya mountains, shines from afar, and wherever he goes he is loved and respected (303-304).

(ii) In its second level of teaching, the Dhammapada shows that morality does not exhaust its significance in its contribution to human felicity here and now, but exercises a far more critical influence in molding personal destiny. This level begins with the recognition that, to reflective thought, the human situation demands a more satisfactory context for ethics than mere appeals to altruism can provide. On the one hand our innate sense of moral justice requires that goodness be recompensed with happiness and evil with suffering; on the other our typical experience shows us virtuous people beset with hardships and afflictions and thoroughly bad people riding the waves of fortune (119-120). Moral intuition tells us that if there is any long-range value to righteousness, the imbalance must somehow be redressed. The visible order does not yield an evident solution, but the Buddha's teaching reveals the factor needed to vindicate our cry for moral justice in an impersonal universal law which reigns over all sentient existence. This is the law of kamma (Sanskrit: karma), of action and its fruit, which ensures that morally determinate action does not disappear into nothingness but eventually meets its due retribution, the good with happiness, the bad with suffering.

In the popular understanding kamma is sometimes identified with fate, but this is a total misconception utterly inapplicable to the Buddhist doctrine. Kamma means volitional action, action springing from intention, which may manifest itself outwardly as bodily deeds or speech, or remain internally as unexpressed thoughts, desires and emotions. The Buddha distinguishes kamma into two primary ethical types: unwholesome kamma, action rooted in mental states of greed, hatred and delusion; and wholesome kamma, action rooted in mental states of generosity or detachment, goodwill and understanding. The willed actions a person performs in the course of his life may fade from memory without a trace, but once performed they leave subtle imprints on the mind, seeds with the potential to come to fruition in the future when they meet conditions conducive to their ripening.

The objective field in which the seeds of kamma ripen is the process of rebirths called samsara. In the Buddha's teaching, life is not viewed as an isolated occurrence beginning spontaneously with birth and ending in utter annihilation at death. Each single life span is seen, rather, as part of an individualized series of lives having no discoverable beginning in time and continuing on as long as the desire for existence stands intact. Rebirth can take place in various realms. There are not only the familiar realms of human beings and animals, but ranged above we meet heavenly worlds of greater happiness, beauty and power, and ranged below infernal worlds of extreme suffering.

The cause for rebirth into these various realms the Buddha locates in kamma, our own willed actions. In its primary role, kamma determines the sphere into which rebirth takes place, wholesome actions bringing rebirth in higher forms, unwholesome actions rebirth in lower forms. After yielding rebirth, kamma continues to operate, governing the endowments and circumstances of the individual within his given form of existence. Thus, within the human world, previous stores of wholesome kamma will issue in long life, health, wealth, beauty and success; stores of unwholesome kamma in short life, illness, poverty, ugliness and failure.

Prescriptively, the second level of teaching found in the Dhammapada is the practical corollary to this recognition of the law of kamma, put forth to show human beings, who naturally desire happiness and freedom from sorrow, the effective means to achieve their objectives. The content of this teaching itself does not differ from that presented at the first level; it is the same set of ethical injunctions for abstaining from evil and for cultivating the good. The difference lies in the perspective from which the injunctions are issued and the aim for the sake of which they are to be taken up. The principles of morality are shown now in their broader cosmic connections, as tied to an invisible but all-embracing law which binds together all life and holds sway over the repeated rotations of the cycle of birth and death. The observance of morality is justified, despite its difficulties and apparent failures, by the fact that it is in harmony with that law, that through the efficacy of kamma, our willed actions become the chief determinant of our destiny both in this life and in future states of becoming. To follow the ethical law leads upwards — to inner development, to higher rebirths and to richer experiences of happiness and joy. To violate the law, to act in the grip of selfishness and hate, leads downwards — to inner deterioration, to suffering and to rebirth in the worlds of misery. This theme is announced already by the pair of verses which opens the Dhammapada, and reappears in diverse formulations throughout the work (see, e.g., 15-18, 117-122, 127, 132-133, Chapter 22).

(iii) The ethical counsel based on the desire for higher rebirths and happiness in future lives is not the final teaching of the Buddha, and thus cannot provide the decisive program of personal training commended by the Dhammapada. In its own sphere of application, it is perfectly valid as a preparatory or provisional teaching for those whose spiritual faculties are not yet ripe but still require further maturation over a succession of lives. A deeper, more searching examination, however, reveals that all states of existence in samsara, even the loftiest celestial abodes, are lacking in genuine worth; for they are all inherently impermanent, without any lasting substance, and thus, for those who cling to them, potential bases for suffering. The disciple of mature faculties, sufficiently prepared by previous experience for the Buddha's distinctive exposition of the Dhamma, does not long even for rebirth among the gods. Having understood the intrinsic inadequacy of all conditioned things, his focal aspiration is only for deliverance from the ever-repeating round of births. This is the ultimate goal to which the Buddha points, as the immediate aim for those of developed faculties and also as the long-term ideal for those in need of further development: Nibbana, the Deathless, the unconditioned state where there is no more birth, aging and death, and no more suffering.

The third level of teaching found in the Dhammapada sets forth the theoretical framework and practical discipline emerging out of the aspiration for final deliverance. The theoretical framework is provided by the teaching of the Four Noble Truths (190-192, 273), which the Buddha had proclaimed already in his first sermon and upon which he placed so much stress in his many discourses that all schools of Buddhism have appropriated them as their common foundation. The four truths all center around the fact of suffering (dukkha), understood not as mere experienced pain and sorrow, but as the pervasive unsatisfactoriness of everything conditioned (202-203). The first truth details the various forms of suffering — birth, old age, sickness and death, the misery of unpleasant encounters and painful separations, the suffering of not obtaining what one wants. It culminates in the declaration that all constituent phenomena of body and mind, "the aggregates of existence" (khandha), being impermanent and substanceless, are intrinsically unsatisfactory. The second truth points out that the cause of suffering is craving (tanha), the desire for pleasure and existence which drives us through the round of rebirths, bringing in its trail sorrow, anxiety, and despair (212-216, Chapter 24). The third truth declares that the destruction of craving issues in release from suffering, and the fourth prescribes the means to gain release, the Noble Eightfold Path: right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration (Chapter 20).

If, at this third level, the doctrinal emphasis shifts from the principles of kamma and rebirth to the Four Noble Truths, a corresponding shift in emphasis takes place in the practical sphere as well. The stress now no longer falls on the observation of basic morality and the cultivation of wholesome attitudes as a means to higher rebirths. Instead it falls on the integral development of the Noble Eightfold Path as the means to uproot the craving that nurtures the process of rebirth itself. For practical purposes the eight factors of the path are arranged into three major groups which reveal more clearly the developmental structure of the training: moral discipline (including right speech, right action and right livelihood), concentration (including right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration), and wisdom (including right understanding and right thought). By the training in morality, the coarsest forms of the mental defilements, those erupting as unwholesome deeds and words, are checked and kept under control. By the training in concentration the mind is made calm, pure and unified, purged of the currents of distractive thoughts. By the training in wisdom the concentrated beam of attention is focused upon the constituent factors of mind and body to investigate and contemplate their salient characteristics. This wisdom, gradually ripened, climaxes in the understanding that brings complete purification and deliverance of mind.

In principle, the practice of the path in all three stages is feasible for people in any walk of life. The Buddha taught it to laypeople as well as to monks, and many of his lay followers reached high stages of attainment. However, application to the development of the path becomes most fruitful for those who have relinquished all other concerns in order to devote themselves wholeheartedly to spiritual training, to living the "holy life" (brahmacariya). For conduct to be completely purified, for sustained contemplation and penetrating wisdom to unfold without impediments, adoption of a different style of life becomes imperative, one which minimizes distractions and stimulants to craving and orders all activities around the aim of liberation. Thus the Buddha established the Sangha, the order of monks and nuns, as the special field for those ready to dedicate their lives to the practice of his path, and in the Dhammapada the call to the monastic life resounds throughout.

The entry-way to the monastic life is an act of radical renunciation. The thoughtful, who have seen the transience and hidden misery of worldly life, break the ties of family and social bonds, abandon their homes and mundane pleasures, and enter upon the state of homelessness (83, 87-89, 91). Withdrawn to silent and secluded places, they seek out the company of wise instructors, and guided by the rules of the monastic training, devote their energies to a life of meditation. Content with the simplest material requisites, moderate in eating, restrained in their senses, they stir up their energy, abide in constant mindfulness and still the restless waves of thoughts (185, 375). With the mind made clear and steady, they learn to contemplate the arising and falling away of all formations, and experience thereby "a delight that transcends all human delights," a joy and happiness that anticipates the bliss of the Deathless (373-374). The life of meditative contemplation reaches its peak in the development of insight (vipassana), and the Dhammapada enunciates the principles to be discerned by insight-wisdom: that all conditioned things are impermanent, that they are all unsatisfactory, that there is no self or truly existent ego entity to be found in anything whatsoever (277-279). When these truths are penetrated by direct experience, the craving, ignorance and related mental fetters maintaining bondage break asunder, and the disciple rises through successive stages of realization to the full attainment of Nibbana.

(iv) The fourth level of teaching in the Dhammapada provides no new disclosure of doctrine or practice, but an acclamation and exaltation of those who have reached the goal. In the Pali canon the stages of definite attainment along the way to Nibbana are enumerated as four. At the first, called "stream-entry" (sotapatti), the disciple gains his first glimpse of "the Deathless" and enters irreversibly upon the path to liberation, bound to reach the goal in seven lives at most. This achievement alone, the Dhammapada declares, is greater than lordship over all the worlds (178). Following stream-entry come two further stages which weaken and eradicate still more defilements and bring the goal increasingly closer to view. One is called the stage of once-returner (sakadagami), when the disciple will return to the human world at most only one more time; the other the stage of non-returner (anagami), when he will never come back to human existence but will take rebirth in a celestial plane, bound to win final deliverance there. The fourth and final stage is that of the arahant, the Perfected One, the fully accomplished sage who has completed the development of the path, eradicated all defilements and freed himself from bondage to the cycle of rebirths. This is the ideal figure of early Buddhism and the supreme hero of the Dhammapada. Extolled in Chapter 7 under his own name and in Chapter 26 (385-388, 396-423) under the name brahmana, "holy man," the arahant serves as a living demonstration of the truth of the Dhamma. Bearing his last body, perfectly at peace, he is the inspiring model who shows in his own person that it is possible to free oneself from the stains of greed, hatred and delusion, to rise above suffering, to win Nibbana in this very life.

The arahant ideal reaches its optimal exemplification in the Buddha, the promulgator and master of the entire teaching. It was the Buddha who, without any aid or guidance, rediscovered the ancient path to deliverance and taught it to countless others. His arising in the world provides the precious opportunity to hear and practice the excellent Dhamma (182, 194). He is the giver and shower of refuge (190-192), the Supreme Teacher who depends on nothing but his own self-evolved wisdom (353). Born a man, the Buddha always remains essentially human, yet his attainment of Perfect Enlightenment elevates him to a level far surpassing that of common humanity. All our familiar concepts and modes of knowing fail to circumscribe his nature: he is trackless, of limitless range, free from all worldliness, the conqueror of all, the knower of all, untainted by the world (179, 180, 353).

Always shining in the splendor of his wisdom, the Buddha by his very being, confirms the Buddhist faith in human perfectibility and consummates the Dhammapada's picture of man perfected, the arahant.

The four levels of teaching just discussed give us the key for sorting out the Dhammapada's diverse utterances on Buddhist doctrine and for discerning the intention behind its words of practical counsel. Interlaced with the verses specific to these four main levels, there runs throughout the work a large number of verses not tied to any single level but applicable to all alike. Taken together, these delineate for us the basic world view of early Buddhism. The most arresting feature of this view is its stress on process rather than persistence as the defining mark of actuality. The universe is in flux, a boundless river of incessant becoming sweeping everything along; dust motes and mountains, gods and men and animals, world system after world system without number — all are engulfed by the irrepressible current. There is no creator of this process, no providential deity behind the scenes steering all things to some great and glorious end. The cosmos is beginningless, and in its movement from phase to phase it is governed only by the impersonal, implacable law of arising, change, and passing away.

However, the focus of the Dhammapada is not on the outer cosmos, but on the human world, upon man with his yearning and his suffering, his immense complexity, his striving and movement towards transcendence. The starting point is the human condition as given, and fundamental to the picture that emerges is the inescapable duality of human life, the dichotomies which taunt and challenge man at every turn. Seeking happiness, afraid of pain, loss and death, man walks the delicate balance between good and evil, purity and defilement, progress and decline. His actions are strung out between these moral antipodes, and because he cannot evade the necessity to choose, he must bear the full responsibility for his decisions. Man's moral freedom is a reason for both dread and jubilation, for by means of his choices he determines his own individual destiny, not only through one life, but through the numerous lives to be turned up by the rolling wheel of samsara. If he chooses wrongly he can sink to the lowest depths of degradation, if he chooses rightly he can make himself worthy even of the homage of the gods. The paths to all destinations branch out from the present, from the ineluctable immediate occasion of conscious choice and action.

The recognition of duality extends beyond the limits of conditioned existence to include the antithetical poles of the conditioned and the unconditioned, samsara and Nibbana, the "near shore" and the "far shore." The Buddha appears in the world as the Great Liberator who shows man the way to break free from the one and arrive at the other, where alone true safety is to be found. But all he can do is indicate the path; the work of treading it lies in the hands of the disciple. The Dhammapada again and again sounds this challenge to human freedom: man is the maker and master of himself, the protector or destroyer of himself, the savior of himself (160, 165, 380). In the end he must choose between the way that leads back into the world, to the round of becoming, and the way that leads out of the world, to Nibbana. And though this last course is extremely difficult and demanding, the voice of the Buddha speaks words of assurance confirming that it can be done, that it lies within man's power to overcome all barriers and to triumph even over death itself.

The pivotal role in achieving progress in all spheres, the Dhammapada declares, is played by the mind. In contrast to the Bible, which opens with an account of God's creation of the world, the Dhammapada begins with an unequivocal assertion that mind is the forerunner of all that we are, the maker of our character, the creator of our destiny. The entire discipline of the Buddha, from basic morality to the highest levels of meditation, hinges upon training the mind. A wrongly directed mind brings greater harm than any enemy, a rightly directed mind brings greater good than any other relative or friend (42, 43). The mind is unruly, fickle, difficult to subdue, but by effort, mindfulness and unflagging self-discipline, one can master its vagrant tendencies, escape the torrents of the passions and find "an island which no flood can overwhelm" (25). The one who conquers himself, the victor over his own mind, achieves a conquest which can never be undone, a victory greater than that of the mightiest warriors (103-105).

What is needed most urgently to train and subdue the mind is a quality called heedfulness (appamada). Heedfulness combines critical self awareness and unremitting energy in a process of keeping the mind under constant observation to detect and expel the defiling impulses whenever they seek an opportunity to surface. In a world where man has no savior but himself, and where the means to his deliverance lies in mental purification, heedfulness becomes the crucial factor for ensuring that the aspirant keeps to the straight path of training without deviating due to the seductive allurements of sense pleasures or the stagnating influences of laziness and complacency. Heedfulness, the Buddha declares, is the path to the Deathless; heedlessness, the path to death. The wise who understand this distinction abide in heedfulness and experience Nibbana, "the incomparable freedom from bondage" (21-23).

As a great religious classic and the chief spiritual testament of early Buddhism, the Dhammapada cannot be gauged in its true value by a single reading, even if that reading is done carefully and reverentially. It yields its riches only through repeated study, sustained reflection, and most importantly, through the application of its principles to daily life. Thence it might be suggested to the reader in search of spiritual guidance that the Dhammapada be used as a manual for contemplation. After his initial reading, he would do well to read several verses or even a whole chapter every day, slowly and carefully, relishing the words. He should reflect on the meaning of each verse deeply and thoroughly, investigate its relevance to his life, and apply it as a guide to conduct. If this is done repeatedly, with patience and perseverance, it is certain that the Dhammapada will confer upon his life a new meaning and sense of purpose. Infusing him with hope and inspiration, gradually it will lead him to discover a freedom and happiness far greater than anything the world can offer.

— Bhikkhu Bodhi

Source:

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/dhp/dhp.intro.budd.html#intro

Notes

1.(v. 7) Mara: the Tempter in Buddhism, represented in the scriptures as an evil-minded deity who tries to lead people from the path to liberation. The commentaries explain Mara as the lord of evil forces, as mental defilements and as death.

2.(v. 8) The impurities (asubha): subjects of meditation which focus on the inherent repulsiveness of the body, recommended especially as powerful antidotes to lust.

3.(v. 21) The Deathless (amata): Nibbana, so called because those who attain it are free from the cycle of repeated birth and death.

4.(v. 22) The Noble Ones (ariya): those who have reached any of the four stages of supramundane attainment leading irreversibly to Nibbana.

5.(v. 30) Indra: the ruler of the gods in ancient Indian mythology.

6.(v. 39) The arahant is said to be beyond both merit and demerit because, as he has abandoned all defilements, he can no longer perform evil actions; and as he has no more attachment, his virtuous actions no longer bear kammic fruit.

7.(v. 45) The Striver-on-the-Path (sekha): one who has achieved any of the first three stages of supramundane attainment: a stream-enterer, once-returner, or non-returner.

8.(v. 49) The "sage in the village" is the Buddhist monk who receives his food by going silently from door to door with his alms bowls, accepting whatever is offered.

9.(v. 54) Tagara: a fragrant powder obtained from a particular kind of shrub.

10.(v. 89) This verse describes the arahant, dealt with more fully in the following chapter. The "cankers" (asava) are the four basic defilements of sensual desire, desire for continued existence, false views and ignorance.

11.(v. 97) In the Pali this verse presents a series of puns, and if the "underside" of each pun were to be translated, the verse would read thus: "The man who is faithless, ungrateful, a burglar, who destroys opportunities and eats vomit — he truly is the most excellent of men."

12.(v. 104) Brahma: a high divinity in ancient Indian religion.

13.(vv. 153-154) According to the commentary, these verses are the Buddha's "Song of Victory," his first utterance after his Enlightenment. The house is individualized existence in samsara, the house-builder craving, the rafters the passions and the ridge-pole ignorance.

14.(v. 164) Certain reeds of the bamboo family perish immediately after producing fruits.

15.(v. 178) Stream-entry (sotapatti): the first stage of supramundane attainment.

16.(vv. 190-191) The Order: both the monastic Order (bhikkhu sangha) and the Order of Noble Ones (ariya sangha) who have reached the four supramundane stages.

17.(v. 202) Aggregates (of existence) (khandha): the five groups of factors into which the Buddha analyzes the living being — material form, feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness.

18.(v. 218) One Bound Upstream: a non-returner (anagami).

19.(vv. 254-255) Recluse (samana): here used in the special sense of those who have reached the four supramundane stages.

20.(v. 283) The meaning of this injunction is: "Cut down the forest of lust, but do not mortify the body."

21.(v. 339) The thirty-six currents of craving: the three cravings — for sensual pleasure, for continued existence, and for annihilation — in relation to each of the twelve bases — the six sense organs, including mind, and their corresponding objects.

22.(v. 344) This verse, in the original, puns with the Pali word vana meaning both "desire" and "forest."

23.(v. 353) This was the Buddha's reply to a wandering ascetic who asked him about his teacher. The Buddha's answer shows that Supreme Enlightenment was his own unique attainment, which he had not learned from anyone else.

24.(v. 370) The five to be cut off are the five "lower fetters": self-illusion, doubt, belief in rites and rituals, lust and ill-will. The five to be abandoned are the five "higher fetters": craving for the divine realms with form, craving for the formless realms, conceit, restlessness, and ignorance. Stream-enterers and once-returners cut off the first three fetters, non-returners the next two and Arahants the last five. The five to be cultivated are the five spiritual faculties: faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom. The five bonds are: greed, hatred, delusion, false views, and conceit.

25.(v. 374) See note 17 (to v. 202).

26.(v. 383) "Holy man" is used as a makeshift rendering for brahmana, intended to reproduce the ambiguity of the Indian word. Originally men of spiritual stature, by the time of the Buddha the brahmans had turned into a privileged priesthood which defined itself by means of birth and lineage rather than by genuine inner sanctity. The Buddha attempted to restore to the word brahmana its original connotation by identifying the true "holy man" as the arahant, who merits the title through his own inward purity and holiness regardless of family lineage. The contrast between the two meanings is highlighted in verses 393 and 396. Those who led a contemplative life dedicated to gaining Arahantship could also be called brahmans, as in verses 383, 389, and 390.

27.(v. 385) This shore: the six sense organs; the other shore: their corresponding objects; both: I-ness and my-ness.

28.(v. 394) In the time of the Buddha, such ascetic practices as wearing matted hair and garments of hides were considered marks of holiness.

You may copy, reformat, reprint, republish, and redistribute this work in any medium whatsoever, provided that: (1) you only make such copies, etc. available free of charge and, in the case of reprinting, only in quantities of no more than 50 copies; (2) you clearly indicate that any derivatives of this work (including translations) are derived from this source document; and (3) you include the full text of this license in any copies or derivatives of this work. Otherwise, all rights reserved. Documents linked from this page may be subject to other restrictions. From The Dhammapada: The Buddha’s Path of Wisdom, translated from the Pali by Acharya Buddharakkhita, with an Introduction by Bhikkhu Bodhi (Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society, 1985). Transcribed from the print edition in 1996 by a volunteer under the auspices of the DharmaNet Transcription Project, with the kind permission of the BPS. Last revised for Access to Insight on 30 November 2013.

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