#One 500 circular one very lovely

[forestlion]

ive been getting into puzzling! unfortunately puzzles are one million euros

[gallusrostromegalus]

How does trash pickup, Recycling centers, &/or Hazardous Material Disposal work for Soul Society in AEIWAM? Is there a Kido-based ritual to break things down into Reishi? Are there Tech Repair Shops?

Sewage in Soul Society works really well but very dangerously because those fucking idiots built the city directly on top of an active supervolcano.

Let me back up:

There isn't a good consensus on how big the Seireitei is (Yoruichi says it takes 10 days to walk 1/4th of the way around the circumference, but whether that's her speed, the average person's or how long a patrol group takes is unclear), Or any real maps of the place, but it's generally agreed that

the city is LARGE. Yoruichi says it would take her and the kids ten days to walk to the next gate 1/4th of the way around the city. Maybe that's 8 hours average human walking speed minus 'trying to herd a bunch of teenagers' but that's still a long trip!

Even before the Seki-Seki stone wall was put up, the city was pretty much circular.

Unlike pretty much every real city, there's no river running through it. Where are they getting their water?

There is a Small but substantial and TOTALLY ISOLATED mountain in the middle of the city made of apparently hard-to-mine rock. A Lonely Mountain, one might even say.

The only visible natural sources of water I've seen evidence of are hot springs in both the Yoruichi/Urahara Super Secret Training Ground/Love Nest and the first division grounds.

Soul Society is run by jackasses and if there's a stupid way to do things, that's the way they're doing them.

In fact, the Soul Society as a whole is almost suspiciously Amestris-shaped, but instead of nefarious alchemy, it's negligent civil engineering

...all this leads me to believe that Seireitei is built DIRECTLY ON TOP OF the caldera of an enormous supervolcano. The city gets it's water from the aquifer of rainwater that's collected in the underground cracks and fissures of the Caldera, and the seki-seki stone wall is set up around the really convenient geographic barrier made by the rim of the caldera.

"Hey!" I hear some of you nerds objecting "Aren't calderas usually concave? Seireitei is convex, if anything!"

You're right! Most Calderas are concave! But they will absolutely fill in with sand and dirt over the true floor of the caldera over time and develop Mounts like the thing at the central part of the city and start to rise WHEN THEY'RE ON THE VERGE OF A CATASTROPHIC ERUPTION.

So yeah! The Gotei-13 has an almost infinite supply of hot water, and probably less than a century to figure out what to do before The Big Kaboom.

Anyway, back at sewage:

There's been a city where the Seireitei is since time immemorial, and even though it's done the istanbul-not-constantinopple shuffle a few times, very little of the actual infrastructure has changed. Empires rise and fall but the desire paths stay the same.

This is especially true in Seireitei, because unlike very nearly every major IRL Municipality, it doesn't have a river running through it, something that usually necessitates Sewer updates By Force. But compared to a river which is constantly moving around in it's bed, a volcanic aquifer doesn't move much until it moves a whole fucking lot real fast, so the undercity of the Seireitei has really had time to... Develop isn't quite the right word.

"Ferment" is closer.

Above-ground waste management is the provenance of the actual local city government- yes, there is a Mayor of the Seireitei that the Gotei-13 has to pay property taxes to. Yamamoto maintains a lot of goodwill with the Mayor by dint of sentencing ill-behaved shinigami to shore up the municipal labor pool, and by knowing the mayor's family for the last millennium. So you'll see Shinigami doing things like trash collection and street-sweeping, but they're just there on probation.

-But nobody wanted to deal with the undercity. It's got a soul of it's own. Washington DC, which is less than 500 years old as a city and on top of a swamp, has an undercity that goes down over half a mile. Imagine how deep the sunken buildings, abandoned secret tunnels, and sewer system of a city that's millenia old, not sitting on actual mud and constantly subjected to high levels of magical background radiation might develop.

An Appetite, for one thing.

The 11th likes to talk a big game, but the reason the 4th is in charge of sewer maintenance is because the only people with the guts for it were people who got degrees rummaging in the guts of living people. Sewer maintenance really is a lot like abdominal surgery, if you were able to walk around inside the patient.

It was Retsu Unohana's idea, actually. Chigiri was a battle medic and aged rapidly for a shinigami. She was old when the court guard finally went from "Yamamoto and his gang of assholes" to "A for-real governing body". Her successor, Kirinji was more interested in traumatic injury recovery than preventative medicine, for obvious reasons- his triage was constantly full of combat casualties and early kido experiment victims Blood Loss was still his #1 Killer.

But Retsu had been reincarnated in and spent her youth in South 80, in the utterly undeveloped conditions there, and held deep, personal grudges with Dysentery and Cholera. For all his talk of healing waters, Kirinji had no sense of the importance of water sanitation, and it was a continuous point of contention between them for her apprenticeship.

"FINE!" He shouted one day after a particularly nasty row. "IF IT'S SO GODDAMN IMPORTANT TO YOU, YOU HANDLE IT! FORM NOW ON, YOU'RE IN CHARGE OF SEWAGE, SLUDGE QUEEN!"

She made her first descent the next morning.

She did not return for six weeks, and Kirinji almost thought he'd resloved that particular problem when she reappeared from the depths, a changed woman. That long in the darkness, alongside the buried secrets and skeletons of the city, with the horrors that did not dare brave the sunlight- it would change anyone, and most would come up looking at least mildly haunted.

Retsu Unohana is not most.

She looks radiant, almost like The Kenpachi again, covered in the horrors of the underground as she used to be covered in blood. She thrives on a challenge, and excels at the art of purification, and now, she has been given the single greatest challenge of purification in history. There is something beautiful and terrible in her eyes as she explains that it does down at least five miles, look at this, she thinks it's from the neolithic era, and there are incredible boneyards of thousands of skeletons, and fungi the likes of which she's never seen before- She is ecstatic- a creature kept in captivity, finally released into it's natural habitat.

It's hardly a surprise, if you consider Minazuki. Stingrays are benthic creatures, right at the bottom of the river, deep in the muck and decay.

It's been a little over eight hundred years into her tenure as a medic, and she has tamed much of the beast. The upper levels are well-mapped and have been made clean and well-lit, enough that even the civilian sanitation forces of the city can regularly enter and work in them without any particular unease. Infant and preventable disease mortality has dropped astronomically. Nobody's had cholera since the 1800's . While they have other jobs, all members of the 4th division are required to take at least one tour in the depths of the undercity.

Horrors still lurk in the depths.

They're pretty sure they lost Tokagero Kenpachi chasing one of those, shortly before Unohana became captain, and she's been reluctant to let other divisions assist since then. The Fourth Division's Fourth Seat, rumored to be the unluckiest post in the entire Gotei-13, is permanently stationed underground, and she loves it that way.

It's only recently that the 11th has been allowed to come along on descents, after Zaraki vanished for two days and then emerged victorious from a manhole in the 5th division with a tentacled horror she'd been tracking for decades that lived at least three miles down. He apologized- he had meant to come up in the 4th to present it's corpse to her directly, but well, you know what his sense of direction is like. Anyway, I saw it scuttling around in the rain aquifers and we don't need it tracking literal shit into the water supply so I went after is and d'ya think maybe I can take the lads down sometime? They' get lazy between deployments and you have a triage up here to manage.

Charmed, she agreed.

---

Hm. I just re-read that ask and it's actually about dry waste managment.

Sorry. I got very excited about the sewers.

I am now about to get worse about trash.

I don't think they have plastic in soul society- given how bug-themed the 12th division is, I'm pretty sure the casing on Rukia's soul pager is made of Chitin, and if you break it, it bleeds. Also it makes people with shellfish allergies break out in hives.

Since pretty much all the waste in Soul Society is either recyclable or organic matter, I think those trash pits Yumichika and Ganju were fooling around with are really more like Kido-enhanced composting centers. All waste goes into them and the bottom of the pit is pulled out in a tray, like with a vermiculture tower, if the worms were eighteen and a half feet long and hungry enough to swallow anything that falls in the pit, because Mayuri is incapable of making anything that is not at least slightly awful.

The compost is then shaken out for any spare glass or metal that made it into the compost and that's sent off to the 12th division forges to be recycled. it's baked to kill any dangerous pathogens and Giant Garbage Worm Eggs so they don't breach containment, and measured for nitrogen, phosphorus and other important plant nutrient content. Based on it's composition, it's then shipped out to farmers in the upper districts of the rukongai because "Free, A+ grade fertilizer if y'all don't start revolutions, pay your taxes and give us first dibs on crops" is an amazing incentive for rural farmers to not start backing the local warlords.

It was 12th division founder Uhin Zenjohji who came up wth the scheme- he remembered the lengths upper-district farmers were willing to go through to make sure their land remained fertile, what kind of demand Nitrogen was in, and the ravages of phosphorous runnoff, so he could kill two birds with one clod of shit by supplying farmers with 'free' fertilizer that kept them loyal to the court and was tailored to that area's nutritional needs and watershed capacity.

The fact that it kept a lot of swamp and waterway areas pristine so he could indulge his birdwatching hobby was a nice benefit too :).

NORMALLY, those pits are covered, clearly marked, and usually the site of a major traffic jam because that's the local collection point, but when Ichigo and friends arrived, Aizen had whipped everyone into believing they were being invaded by an elite force of super-assassins and not like. 4 high schoolers and a furry. All the street signs and markings came down, civilians shuttered themselves inside, and generally made the Seireitei as difficult to navigate as possible.

I wonder how much Zaraki's rotten sense of direction was exacerbated by that.

ANYWAY! That's my thoughts on trash! Deep undercity horrors and giant compost worms over an active volcano!

[coimbrabertone]

Le Mans vs. Daytona, Two Sides of the Endurance Racing Coin.

A bit of a belated blog on the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans, how it compares to the other major 24-hour race - the Rolex 24 at Daytona - and how IMSA and WEC differ.

First things first, sports car racing in general is at a peak right now.

The largest prototype fields in decades, interclass competition of sorts with LMDh/GTP cars on one end and Hypercars on the other, and equally diverse GT3 fields to go with it. It's not a competition between IMSA and WEC as far as I'm concerned, both series collaborated on these regulations and that has benefitted endurance racing as a whole.

That being said, I've noticed some differences between the two, and I've had some discussions with friends about it lately.

The crux is this: the Rolex 24 at Daytona is the curtain raiser for the racing season, where drivers from every discipline from Formula One to NASCAR to half the Indycar field, plus all the regular cast of characters from endurance racing come to play. It's all within the confines of a 2.5-mile oval with big grandstands and clear sightlines, and the lights are all over the track, meaning you can see all the action pretty well. It's also in Daytona Beach a few weeks ahead of the Daytona 500.

Daytona is a party, a celebration of motorsport to kick off the next season of racing.

Le Mans, meanwhile, is a beacon of history. The start-finish line is where it has always been, the Dunlop Bridge has outlasted Dunlop itself making racing tyres, and it's an old school reminder to when those types of circular bridges were all over racing. Then onto the Mulsanne, the long, dark highway, with bits of civilization interspersed with woods, a theme with continues in the back half of the track. Some corners are named after historic tracks, like Indianapolis, others are named after the marques which defined era of Le Mans history - Corvette, Porsche, and Ford in particular.

Corvette, which has dominated GT racing at Le Mans for decades now.

Porsche, which is the most successful brand at Le Mans, and

Ford, who went back-to-back-to-back-to-back in the late 60s with the GT40, and then returned with the GT1 and GTE models in more recent decades.

That dedication to history shows in the broadcast too, with the broadcast often cutting to Tom Kristensen for interviews or by harkening back to similar events in Le Mans' past. Obviously, that's something that comes up in all racing broadcasts, but it was very apparent at Le Mans this year.

For the record, I'm not saying that's bad, this blog is proof that I'm a massive nerd when it comes to racing history, and I love that, I'm just noting it's a difference.

The crowd burning a couch in celebration after the 12 Hours of Sebring? Fans celebrating the misadventures of the Sean Creech Motorsports American flag Ligier LMP2 with its many cautions at Daytona and now Watkins Glen? You don't really see that at Le Mans.

In fact, there was one very fun thing from the 2023 Le Mans that was missing this year: the Garage 56 NASCAR. Now, i understand that was a one-off thing, and I do get the impression that the hydrogen car they showed off before the race - which was numbered #24, just like the NASCAR had been - was supposed to be a G56 entry for this year but they couldn't quite get it working yet, so I know that it's a bit of an unfair criticism to levy against Le Mans.

Still, 2023 had the big Camaro memes, the V8 sound, all those Freebird on the Mulsanne edits, it made Le Mans more fun.

And of course, Le Mans is fun even without those things - ferris wheels, fireworks, and, you know, the whole twenty-four hours of motor racing thing - all make for appointment television for racing nerds like me, but it is something I've noticed coming out of the 2024 race.

So does Le Mans need to change? No, i don't think so.

I like seeing cars coming down the Mulsanne, I like seeing the Ferrari hypercar racing against Toyota in addition to all the cars that do both IMSA and WEC, I like the announcers getting increasingly delirious as it gets into the night stint, and I like the fact that Valentino Rossi is now a BMW GT3 driver who competed at Le Mans.

The Rolex 24 at Daytona is probably more fun that Le Mans and its position on the calendar probably lets it get a handful of one-off drivers that may not be able to do Le Mans, but Le Mans also attracts plenty of unique talent as well. Ferrari doesn't do IMSA, nor does Toyota, nor does Valentino Rossi.

Would I like them to? Absolutely.

Am I fine with just having two different, successful endurance racing series on either side of the Atlantic? Absolutely. It's like the modern version of CART vs. Formula One as far as I'm concerned, only this time, I'm in a position to enjoy it.

So yeah, there are some things I prefer about IMSA, but there's plenty I love about Le Mans as well.

Hell, the fact that after the sister Ferrari won last year, we got to see the #50 Ferrari of Nicklas Nielsen, Miguel Molina, and Antonio Fuoco win. Both cars have now won Le Mans, and this means that last year's Antonio Giovinazzi, and this year's Antonio Fuoco - two drivers I've followed since the mid-to-late 2010s when they were actively in the open wheel junior series - are both Le Mans winners.

That's cool. I love the fact that drivers can fulfill their dream of winning for Ferrari, not just in Formula One, but now at Le Mans too. It's a great time to see, and between this and Indycar, I'm developing a lot of hope for talented junior drivers without F1 prospects.

Hell, on that very note, Felipe Drugovich raced at Le Mans for Action Express Cadillac this year, which seems to be his first time back in a major racing series since his F2 title campaign. Glad to see him back behind the wheel, just wish it went better for him.

Anyway, this last weekend of racing was a bit of a dud for me and I find myself busy yet again, so I'll leave the blogpost here, but do let you know what you think!

[mirith]

Bet.

Apologies for the messy background, but here's my lovely knitting machine! It's a Silver Reed SK10.

While writing another post, I noticed I was writing a lot about my knitting machine. So I put the words here. And added a lot more.

This is going to be a long post. I talk a lot about things I like, and I will not apologize for it. I will add a cut here so you can scroll by this more easily if you want. But! It'll be more fun if you read on! And I put photos of stuff I made at the end!

I learned to knit by hand from a book in elementary school, and I learned wrong. I have been happily hand-knitting things ever since, and consider myself a fairly knowledgeable and experience hand-knitter. I haven't steeked anything, to be fair, but my interests tend to be geared toward lace.

Which is good, because that's my default handspinning weight. Here's an example of the stuff I like to spin and knit (4 months from start to end, oof oof):

After I graduated college, I found out about flatbed knitting machines! I found one that looked cool, and drove myself a few hours to buy it. The end. Just kidding. You're not even halfway through this post. Not sorry.

I did not know how to operate a knitting machine. I just liked how this one looked (still do) and it also had a ribber! And it was $50? Something like that? Probably paid more for gas.

Anyway. Flatbed knitting machines range from "I can only do stockinette hehe" to "I am fully electronic, I'll knit lace or colorwork for you all by myself, EZ".

Mine is firmly in the former camp. No punchcard capability at all, and the ribber carriage is not even sophisticated enough to link up with the main bed carriage. Each row of ribbing requires the main bed carriage to be moved first (laying yarn across the ribber needles), then the ribber carriage (hooking the previously laid yarn down to complete the row). So knitting in the round is, yes, one pass of the main, then the ribber, then the main again, then the ribber carriage... (I actually made a lil' youtube video about this).

I cannot tell you why I wanted it, other than "new yarn thing!". At this point in my life, I was a very comfortable hand-knitter. There was no reason to acquire a large metal object that would do what I did, but "less good" (considering this machine would only ever do stockinette and hand-manipulated stitches -- but I didn't know tuck stitches existed!).

Tuck stitches look like the honeycomb pattern in the middle here, and are kind of knitting machine exclusive:

I think I actually may have wanted a circular sock machine, but those are very, very expensive, and not really in my price range. Still aren't. Very much considering adding one to my wedding registry to see if someone bites. (Would have to plan a wedding, but it would be worth it).

I figured that a flatbed machine with a ribber could knit in circles, ie, what CSMs do; but would also knit large flat things (CSMs can do small flat things, I think). And since the price meant a CSM was unrealistic without some serious saving, it was clear I would have to find a flatbed with ribber.

But working knitting machines with working ribbers are difficult to find. And expensive! I think prices were $350-500 for the full package plus shipping (expensive shipping because these are bulky and heavy and delicate instruments), and I'm sure they've only gotten worse.

I kind of live in a domestic craft desert, so there was very little hope for finding something local anyway. So when I saw a working machine with a ribber "near" me for less than $100, I was stoked. I was aware of its non-ability to pattern, but I just wanted to knit in circles.

When I got this machine, it was functional, but dirty. Oh, so dirty.

First thing I did was remove all the needles (took forever) and soak them in isopropyl alcohol (smelled terrible), and take everything apart as much as possible to scrub every reachable surface.

It was then that I re-affirmed my love for all-metal, vintage hardware. My sewing machine is a 1950s Singer and oh boy is that thing an absolute unit. This knitting machine is also an absolute unit in the best way. It was dirty, but in excellent knitting condition.

It was then that I also found this machine does not have a sponge bar. Which is really weird for a knitting machine. But also why I'll never get rid of it, I think.

It's got a metal U-shaped thing instead, to tension the needles. Sponge bars serve the same purpose, but the foam decays terribly over time. I don't think this metal thing ever needs to be replaced. I've knit quite a lot (will get to that!) on this machine and it knits beautifully still.

I think this machine predates sponge bars (??? pure speculation), because everything I've seen online about buying used machines says that you must consider the sponge bar and how to measure the sponge to buy the correct size and must immediately buy a new one and maybe even have a spare for when yours starts to get old etc etc. Never seen anything that says there's a metal tension rod like mine.

Ravelry did not believe this was the sponge bar equivalent, and asked me to please look elsewhere on the machine for the real sponge bar. They also told me this machine was not worth $50, which I kind of disagree with. Yes, it's super limited, but I love it. It will also, like my sewing machine, probably outlive me.

It's a standard gauge machine, and not a very common one (?). I think it's an earlier machine (4th oldest on this list), in terms of domestic machines, and likely was passed up in later years for models that had punchcards. There is another internet presence who has an SK10! KinoKnits did a video on hers.

There is a manual for the machine and a manual for the ribber online, and the scans aren't great, but they are very readable. Not much else though.

Okay. Infodump mostly completed.

Once I got the machine home I immediately set it up and realized I didn't quite know what I was doing.

After much trial and tribulation, I created some... things...

I optimistically cast on with my newly-learned e-wrap cast on and the included cast on wire (I have still not figured out the cast on wires, I don't think they actually work, and are simply a cruel prank)

I switched yarn (to something thinner and less elastic), in case that was the issue, and also switched to trying just i-cord to see if I could get that to work. It worked!

Switched back to the original yarn. I-cord also worked!

And back to trying fabric. Progress! But a lot of dropped stitches. I think this was very similar to attempt 1, but I just persisted and more aggressively picked up droppped stitches. This took me a very long time.

No dropped stitches! I used a weird cast on, or maybe just a really loose e-wrap?

Fabrice! I was confident enough to mark that I was using tension 7 with those (intentional!) yarn-over holes near the top.

I believe that those six attempts took me a few hours, and a lot of it was me trying to gauge whether or not yanking the carriage across was the right thing to do. I wasn't sure how much force to apply, and was deathly afraid of breaking needles, because I don't think these are standard ones and I can't get replacements.

There wasn't much to learn after this.

Oh.

Except for, you know, using the ribber.

It looks pretty similar to the main needle bed. Long metal guy with lotta needles. It's flatter, and hangs off the main bed with some sturdy arms on either side (which you can't see, sorry).

Close up:

You kind of have to wiggle it so that the needles don't smash into each other.

It does function identically to the main bed otherwise. But it's so much trickier to fix dropped stitches (or even see them!) because, as you can see, the ribber kind of covers everything. And it doesn't come off till the ribbing is done.

I've found that I need lots of weight to get the ribbing to knit off properly, which sucks if I run either carriage across without yarn accidentally. The knitting will simply yeet itself onto the floor and I will have to start over.

The cast on is kind of weird, but not terrible if you understand what it's trying to do, which I do, but will not endeavour to explain on this already horrendously long post. The Singer SR10 manual explains the cast-on process if you're interested. Or just tell me and I'll make another infodump post! Love talking about my knitting machine.

Here are some first attempts at ribbing and tubular knitting:

Allllllrighty it's project time!

I made a hat! (I made it a free Ravelry pattern btw, because the decreases are optionally worked by hand).

I made some sock tubes and hand-knit the heels and toes!

I made a bunch of ribbed cowls with my handspun!

I made scarves with more handspun!

And most recently I made a bralette:

Which turned out smaller than I planned because I do not gauge swatch properly at all, but I can wear it semi-modestly anyway.

[oncethrown]

I kept seeing this skirt on Pinterest, and I loved it, so I made it. Out of curiosity, I timed how long it took me. Without counting cutting and adjusting a basic skirt block and making and adjusting a mock-up, this skirt took me 14 hours to make. I fiddled with the pleats and decided I wanted the waist band to sit differently, and took it apart and restyled and put it back together, so maybe cut it down to 11 hours of actually producing the skirt, which includes French seams, and hand stitching the waistband, buttons and hem.

I used OKEO-TEX Tencel, this two and a half yards was around 60 bucks.

Tencel is a fabric produced like rayon, from wood or bamboo fibers broken down by a chemical process and extruded into a yarn that can be woven into fabric. The process for rayon uses highly caustic and poisonous liquids, which are very often dumped in a way that destroys the environment (Rayon cannot legally he produced in the US because it can’t meet *any regulations*) The process for Tencel uses slightly less toxic chemicals, but more importantly is circular, meaning 99% of the materials used are recovered and reused, and it’s fully biodegradable making it one of the more sustainable types of fabric,even though it is a man made fiber.

I used kind of cheap buttons, and together with thread and interfacing that’s probably another 10 dollars.

So 70 in materials.

A living wage in the Twin Cites is about 23 an hour. That’s what it takes just to make rent and buy food and get by.

At 23 an hour the labor cost is $253.00.

But I have years of experience, I used some advanced techniques, and a living wage should be a base salary, so let’s call a fair, mid career wage for producing a product everyone needs, clothes, 36 an hour.

Labor cost now $396.00

Plus 70 in materials: $466.00

A little wear and tear on machinery and tools and incidentals like needles and chalk, maybe add 2 more dollars.

This one-off bespoke skirt costs $468.00 dollars. Theoretically.

Mara Hoffman sells a very similar skirt, with a Tencel/Linen blend and a catch stitch hem for $405.

Darling has a Linen/Rayon Blend without fine finishing for $135

Amazon has a polyester version for $30

Temu has a polyester one for $12

The point here is not “Only buy 500 dollar skirts” but all clothes are hand made and that labor has value.

All labor has value. We all should buy fewer clothes, but we should all be able to afford decent clothes.

A 12 dollar skirt is *nonsense* but so is only being able to afford clothes that won’t last more than a couple washes.

[fluffyprettykitty]

Hello there! I just wanna say how much I love your fics, especially the very spicy ones on my fav Bruce Banner <3 I would love to see a more soft fic (because he’s a big softy) where Bruce comforts his girlfriend after having a nightmare. Take your time ofc! Thank you very much!

Melody

Pairing: Bruce Banner x female reader (no other specifications!)

Word Count: ~500 words

Outline: Your boyfriend, Bruce helps you calm down after a nightmare.

Warnings: anxiety, nightmares.

Author's Note: Hi nonnie, your words are ever so kind to me, hoping you will enjoy this little piece and find it comforting!

PS: dividers by @firefly-graphics ​//​ banners by @maysdigitalarts

Main Masterlist ・❥・Bruce Banner Masterlist

"Y/N." Bruce's soft voice fills the room as you are gasping awake, shivering, with cold sweat running down your back. His hand is wrapping round your back trying to soothe you.

"Just breathe baby, listen to my voice and breath slowly. In and out."

He is keeping his voice low trying to make you calm as he is caressing your back, his other hand pushing your hair back to better look at your face and expressions.

It wasn't the first time you were having a nightmare, unfortunately, it happened once in a while and it was only the second time that Bruce happened to be sleeping next to you. Maybe he was a light sleeper.

"You are here, with me, safe." He continues, his voice hanging like the softest melody. You try to push the images away from your head, to keep your heart from beating so fast but all you can do is turn around to look at him.

He softly kisses your cheek in return, soothing you with his hands on your hair on your back, moving his delicate fingers in circular motions, allowing you to only listen to his heartbeat. He holds you in his arms, safe and sound, slowly rocking you back and forth repeating your name softly like a song, like a melody.

"Bruce..."

You try to say something, for him to go back to place, you can handle this, something along those lines but his arms around you get so tangled up that you could never escape. Where you push he just holds tighter. Here to comfort you and hold your heart for you because he loved you. He was concerned for you but first, he needed to soothe you enough so eventually, you'd both fall asleep.

"I'm here for you, baby, I'm never going anywhere. Never, ever."

"Baby..."

"Shhh, shhh. Listen to me, please, I'm here."

He pauses for a moment enough to hear your heart beating a little slower, in a different rhythm, and he beings to recite an old college story, something silly but mundane, that soon enough makes you laugh and that laugh doesn't ache your heart.

Another story follows the first one and soon enough you are even asking him follow-up questions. You are getting to know him a little better, he is getting to hold you a little tighter. It's a win-win situation.

His voice keeps you warm and when you fall asleep again you are buried deep within his hairy chest, his arms possessively and lovingly and protectively around you. Like a shield made just for you.

And he does this again, for however many nights you need him to.

And you knew if the opportunity arises you will do the same for him.

For updates please follow my library blog @fluffyprettykittylibrary and you could even turn on post notifications! :)

[petewentzisblack1312]

any beginners advice for flight rising?

the number one rule of flight rising is have fun and be yourself. the number two rule of flight rising is the economy is out to get you.

because of the way the loot tables work if youre low level in scavenging you seemingly have a much higher chance of getting unhatched eggs that way, just because there arent that many other things you can get at that level. they sell for a lot of either currency on the auction house so if you get one a good way to get money is to sell it. a lot of people, myself included, are quite sentimental and hatching unhatched eggs is fun bc its like a gacha but what constitutes a good pull is completely subjective. hatch or dont, do what you want.

that being said, if you hatch an unhatched egg and get a double, or if youre insanely lucky, a triple (that is a dragon with 2 or 3 of the same colours) because of how rare that is and how easy it is to make an aesthetically cohesive dragon with 2 or 3 of the colours being the same, theyre very very valuable. i once got a one off triple charcoal and sold it in an auction (different from the auction house) for 25kg. however. thats incredibly unlikely. if youre hatching unhatched eggs to make money off of what you hatch, you will make a loss. just sell the eggs. hatch eggs for the thrill of the chase.

people generally prefer unbred dragons, especially unbred g1s. however, you can breed your dragons if you want. i do! its your dragons, do what you want with them. itll tank the resale value but how sad would that be to have something that you love that you never really get to love because you might make money on it some day. breed any dragons you want if you want to. dont breed any if you dont. and i recommend not breeding anything you have as an investment.

maxing out your lucky streak in the fairgrounds every day is a solid way to make money. i used to do that when i was new, stopped, and started again when achievements were introduced. 75k treasure a day is really nothing to sneeze at. glimmer and gloom is the fastest but i know some people have trouble learning the algorithm or otherwise cant stand it. pick your poison!

the number one piece of advice i ever got in flight rising is to avoid any trades with crim worth more than 500 treasure. i would tack on 'unless its a battlestone other than one used for popular coliseum builds'. if shes offering more than 500 its probably apparel or something that you could sell on the auction house for more.

this really depends on what type of player you turn out to be, but i personally wish i thought a little harder about breeding my dragons. i take their ancestry into account in my lore but when i started i used my permas (dragons that you intend to keep) for fodder breeding and boy do i regret that. im attached to these dragons but they have a long list of offspring that are exalted. id say dragons you think are cool and dragons you want to breed should be a venn diagram that is almost two circular tangents unless youre sure you dont care. but also. lifes short. breed your progens 50gazillion times if you really want to. exalt them even. who give a fuck.

someone tricked a friend of mine this way so just so you know leveling to 25 is for dragons that you plan to grind with it is strategically not a good idea to level dragons to exalt to 25. ive already explained the value of doubles and triples so i dont think youll end up randomly exalting one of em.

if you can use the coliseum and you dont hate it i do recommend investing in a team to train fodder to exalt or to grind the coliseum and resell materials. one of the biggest flaws of fr is actually how dependent it currently is on the coliseum for gameplay. theres new gameplay in the pipeline. but its not imminent.

theres more. i cant think of it. keep asking questions if you want

[thecircularsystem]

I knew I was forgetting something important...

🔔weekly check in!🔔

(at this rate, bi monthly....)

how have you been doing lately? how's work? are you and your fiancé doing okay? tell me about it!💛

and if you're ok with it I'd love too see one of the ducks on the duck shelf......

have a good day!!! stay hydrated and eat good snacks <3

Bekcneidbsksndkwjsjdkendn I lost my draft cause tumblr is stupid sometimes.

ANYways

I love these check ins, regardless of how frequent they are. Especially after the week I’ve had. I’m actually going to make a separate post about some stuff (hopefully tonight) because it was system related.

But otherwise, this week was honestly nice. My students are so, so sweet, and I literally already got gifts and flowers from some students. They’re INCREDIBLY chatty, but they’re also very cute.

Me and @circulars-singlet are doing great! We’re actually grabbing things from auctions today to bring to their sister and to our own house. It’s been nice, getting so much new shit to furnish. I’m worried though — we’ve spent about 500 this year on furniture and things for the house just in auctions. 🥺 I’m so scared tbh but I’m doing it!

As for ducks: here’s a new one from a student!

[crimsoneater]

~Haunted Masquerade Party~ II Dom furina x fem user II after archon quest au II Slight NSFW !!

Those beautiful haunting face- covered with such delicate white, pearly mask, appears again, every twelve- o'clock, in the main hall of Palais mermonia.

In every mirror, the feigning smirk of that foul Lady- Furina De Fontaine. In every corner of the room, her laughs haunted the hall. Maybe, since she have chosen to leave the Palais, she sometimes visited the place.

But no one founded out the reason why she does this- and rumours creeped out of guards mouth, as by time, she've become a local legend. The haunting lady. The once 'hydro archon' everyone worshipped.

And here you are, standing in the middle of the center hall. Figures made of translucent water, dances around you. You know it is just a little creation of the 'archon', an illusion, to be exact.

They always wear masks, to cover the grieving expression on their faces, representing the agony, that the acting hydro archon have suffered for 500 years, while playing the part, whom is supposed to be played by the true unruly hydro archon- Focalors.

No- there's not even an inch of trembling in your body. Only a gruesome grinding pain in the chest, that you always carries, everytime you suffer to watch the people in the 'haunted' masquerade.

You knew, that Furina is always watching inside those mirrors, while creating tricks and illusions to trick those normal eye could handle. You could feel her amusement, while you play her game-

-because you could see her silhouette, covering her abnormally beautiful face, with a silver-grey mask, platted with blue and gold coloring.

You've once befriended Furina, atleast, before her downfall. Now, she's just a memory you're hoping to erase,. No, not because you hated her for deceiving you., But because you hate how a feeling and sense of loyall-ness in you is still tingling, everytime her name is mentioned.

The wind brushing against a certain mirror, in the corner of the dark, eerie, and watery room, guides you to approach that mirror, As you could not help but notices; A figure of Furina is still in there. Is this a dream,..?

"Lady furina,..?" You, nonchalantly called out her very name, as you unconsciously touches the surface of the glistening mirror. There is no reflection of you; but only Furina de fontaine, glaring softly at you.

The only person; who still got faith in her; is you. The one whom is still loyal is you. The one that will trust her in all situation is you; and it all will always been you.

And you even dare to approaches the "mystical" legend, unafraid of what might happens to you. All for her.

And it made her heart dropped, seeing someone as loveable as you.

A moment of silence is filling the room, as Furina's hand appeared from the mirror, and as she does so, she walked out of the mirror, grasping you once-touching mirror hand, as she's now in-front of you.

Well, and alive, and also as lovely as ever.

"Y/N, I..." Her words are cutted off, as you hugged her, arms wrapping around her slightly taller body. You could feel the tranquil tears of her, whom was once crying of reigning terror, now landing on your shoulder.

She awkwardly shifted her hands, as her slim fingers ran through your waist, as she looked down at you.

"Don't say anything," Your words barely makes it out of your lips- barely a whisper. But she heard it. She heard you soft, voice. As a subtle hint of affection is knotted in her tone and way of speaking, she faced you.

"I've missed you," Your hands are slightly trembling, as she took it on hers. Her gloved hands caresses your hand, comforting you, as she rubbed it in a circular manner.

"Very dearly..," Your own breath hitches as she does it. Archons, how you wished to keep her in your own pocket eternally.

Her blue, hazy, eye, looked right into yours- making you shivers narrowly, at her touch and her gaze.

"For archon's sake-, Y/N, forgive me,." She gently placed her lips on yours, affectionately. She tasted sweet, as she pulled back. Breaking the connection with you two.

"M'Lady,.." You could feel her hands trailing on your neck, fading away from the touch. "Alas, i hope we could've met under better circumstances. But, i do have prepared a gift, i sought to give out to you,"

A silvery white necklace, shaped like a water droplet is on her hands, as she slowly wrap it on your neck carefully, putting it on for you, as she cupped your face.

"I promise, we'll meet another day, but just,...Not now." Her words sounded clear, but as her fingers touches your eyes, you felt everything getting black and blurry. As shadows, and phantoms surrounded you.

"Good night, Dear."

The sound of birds chirping is heard, as the sun's ray shot up through your white curtain. You could feel hazy winds play with you hair, as the cooperative eye of yours slowly opened, awakening your beautiful, not-very fragile self.

"Huh,...Hngg?.." You could feel the warmth of your own blanket. It's already morning, and you overslept. Or did you?

What a strange dream, last night. Miss furina,... You must've missed her too much. What a realistic, and eerie dream last night,.. But it's not something you are alright with. But, however, is it truly just a dream?

you ignored those thoughts, as you stood up, going to your vanity desk, to grab your hairbrush, as you sat on the brown, oak chair in front of it. Facing the mirror.

But, that's when you noticed something; The silver droplet necklace from your dream.

Wrapped, fitting your delicate night perfectly,as you can't help but noticed a romaritime flower, on your desk.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[hazbincalifornia]

Multiples

Another ficlet for Blitzpreg week! This one is for Arrangement AU.

Wordcount: 500

“You’re kidding.”

“Why would I kid about this?” 

“Look, I know we promised your dad lots of kids just to be sure at least a few of them would pop out with magic, but triplets?”

“You always tell me to cum at least twice!” Stolas set a hand on Blitz’s middle- still a bit soft from the previous two pregnancies, but nowhere near as large as it was going to be in the next few months.

Blitz groaned, draping an arm over his face and feeling his ring poke against the side of his head in the process. “Nothing I say when I’m horny should count. I’m gonna blow up.”

“You are not going to blow up. I won’t let you.”

“I’m twenty-six and I’m going to explode because you put too many babies in me.”

“You’re the twin, this is on you!” Stolas playfully smacked at his elbow before kissing his cheek. “We have plenty of space, and we can get an extra nanny if we need. Things will be fine.”

“Hey, you have a million siblings, your dad probably put the baby-maker gene in you too so I’m splitting the difference. Besides, I’m not worried about after they’re out, I’m worried about the fact that if more than one of them ends up like Stells I’m not gonna be able to walk.”

Stolas crossed his arms with a huff, tail flicking. “I’ll carry you.”

“Even when I want midnight snacks?”

“Especially then, I can’t have my heirs going hungry, now can I?” Stolas’s beak quirked up a little. “I know you wanted to start your thing-“

“It’s a very cool thing! I need to do something other than being breeding stock or I’m going to go up the fucking wall, your Royal Pain In The Ass.”

“-But we’ll find some way to make everything work. Prince’s honor.”

“You’d better. I love the kids and I love getting to be their dad as much as you do, but I can do more too. Be more. Show them that they don’t have to just be buttoned-up little show ponies, y’know?” Blitz drummed his fingers on his thigh, thinking. “I bet Aster will be a good big brother. The kid’s got a good vibe for that, and we already know Stells is happy being a big sister.”

“They’ll both be good,” Stolas agreed, scooting closer and setting a hand on Blitz’s belly before spinning his fingers in a familiar circular pattern, hands glowing blue for a moment as the aura sank into the skin and a bubble bloomed above them.

Three small dots, each no bigger than a bean, rested at the center while the bubble gently pulsed with each beat of Blitz’s heart. Stolas pecked a kiss on the side of Blitz’s head, and Blitz leaned into the touch. “I’m sure that they’ll be wonderful, darling.”

“Mmm… they’ve got two dope-ass dads, so I’d say that the odds are in their favor.”

[rarebritney]

Hi Winnie! Have you ever thought about buying a knitting machine? For bigger projects, like the oversized hoodie you just did.

I would love one, like one of the $500 ones hehe. Idk how much I would like a more affordable one, like the sentro. I quite enjoy handknitting and I like how it looks and all the things I can do with it. I'm trying to get my bf to build me a 3d printed circular sock machine but it would be quite a bit of work... But to answer your question, yes I have thought about it and I would like one very much :) the regolith hoodie was a lot of knitting, but I was able to finish it up in less than a month so I feel pretty good about that!!

[changlingfamilies]

The Corination of Avalon

I wanted to get this out before the last chapter of Changling Families vs The Titans. It’s almost everyone in their formal wear. I left out Darci, Aja and Krel as well as Angor and Morgana. I do want to do one for Angor and Morgana later though. Closeups of everyone under the cut.

Lady Claire, apprentice and heir of Angor Rott. I had so much fun designing her dress! I got to play with all kinds of pens for it as well. I was originally going to go with something a little closer to what Barbara is wearing but when looking for references I stumbled across a bunch of Quinceanera dresses and fell absolutely in love. I probably could have done more with her hair, though.

Sir Steve of New Avalon, one of the head of the Knights of New Avalon. He brought his armor back from Ancient Avalon with him after their ‘temporal accident’.

Prince Elijah, Fairy Prince of New Avalon. Technically, he should be dressed in Ancient Greek clothes but I fudged up at the beginning of his storyline and dressed him in Roman clothes so it’s too late to change it now. I like how this turned out anyway.

Lord Tobias, Duke Heir of Akoridian V. Toby now gets to sport a full Akoridian suit, complete with a royal cape. I had to dust off my old Circular Galifrayan for the markings inside his core window.

Sir Seamus, Werewolf Alfa of New Avalon. I used the Johnston tartan as a reference for his kilt since I had stated earlier that his grandmother (his mother’s mother) is from Ireland. I also gave him a small fur cape as a part of werewolf culture in this fic. Most other werewolves would have a much larger pelt but since Seamus had to use pelts from the Arcadia Valley and Angor helped him with the legality of what animals he could use, his is much shorter.

Lady Mary, the Lady of the Lake. I put the most effort into this outfit. Since Mary’s a goddess now, I wanted her outfit to reflect that as well as have a water motif. I spent DAYS looking at references and flipping through animes that my brother-in-law recommended for this. I ended up going with a more modern and less formal hair clip to go with it. Once again I turned to Circular Galifrayan for the hair clip since it’s meant to be built around her Akoridian hair clip from Karl Uhl. But I’m not 100% satisfied with the way the colors shift.

Atlas, Leader of Heartstone Trollmarket. I’ve drawn Jim as Atlas befor but this is a more formal variation. Here he wears trollish garb, lacking his usual leggings, tunic, and vest. He also has more features of his original base form; particularly his ruff of fur that i don’t think I’ve drawn since his baby pictures. He holds his wings closed with his adoption medallion, which now is embellished with a shard of Vendal’s stone.

King Waltolomew the Wise and Queen Barbara the Brave, King and Queen of New Avalon. I’m super happy with how Barbara turned out! All the colors are so pretty on her. Walt on the other hand… The royal colors of Avalon are not flattering on him. I think I spent nearly an hour just trying to find the right color combination for him.

Lord Otto and Lady Elizabeth, Duke and Countess of New Avalon. I LOTHE how ugly Otto’s outfit is. I also lothe that it’s not entirely inaccurate. Because Otto and Liza are ~500 years old, they’re both wearing clothing from Germany the 1500s. Otto’s outfit could have been much, much worse. I should have dressed him in something similar to Walt… Liza, on the other hand, makes me very happy. Even if I don’t love the colors. However, I can’t imagine wearing that many layers in Southern California in the summer so I had a little mercy and gave her a sheer veil rather than the thick wool one she should be wearing. She spends most of the night holding up those rediculous skirts. Neither of these two are having a very good time...

Queen Lenora and Antonia, Fairy Queen of New Avalon and Daughter. Lenora got the same treatment as Eli as far as her outfit goes but she also got a new and fancier hairstyle. I think I like the headband better the gold clasps from before. Antonia’s outfit is pretty basic since she’s still a baby.

Lady Nomura and Sir Erik, Duchess of New Avalon and son. Was this an excuse to draw Nomura and Erik in Kimonos? Maybe so. I had a lot of fun doing it. Nomura’s kimono is modeled after the one I drew her wearing when I drew the original trio as babies but I almost forgot that she only has one arm now. I spent a little more time deciding what color Erik’s kimono was but, ultimately, decided he gets to match his mother.

[enkisstories]

December 1760. The French have just surrendered the frontier settlement Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit to the British. 

The give or take 500 residents can already tell that their lives won't change for the better, as new taxes get introduced and the new government doesn't display any interest in maintaining a good relationship with the local indigenous people. But they abide... for now. And that is just as well in the eyes of the military governor, seeing that no British settlers are interested in moving into town (yet), but prefer to travel westwards.

Some traders, however, smell opportunities in the changing winds.

John: "There were are! Detroit! This is where our luck will turn for the better!"

Caroline: “John… this is a godforsaken patch of mud stomped vaguely into circular shape. Fort Detroit is that faraway silhouette on the other shore of the river!”

Emma: "How are we getting across?"

John: “We don’t. Not the whole distance anyway. See that belle isle sitting smack dab in the middle of the river? I have plans for it! Imagine, girls: For the same sum other settlers have to pay for a small homestead, I can get the whole island!”

Emma: "So this isn't going to end like the time when you went a-whaling or the other time when you gave driving lessons to the indians?"

John: "Nope, not like that. I've learned my lesson. Workers are what you hire, not become yourself. From here on I’ll stick to buying and selling, no matter how tempting secondary endeavours may sound."

Caroline: "Well, if things go wrong again, at least this time I have a river nearby to drown you in... Only joking! I love you, John. I love each of your crazy ideas, because they make your eyes light up and show me a world that is incredibly richer than the mundane one. Both in the sense of making money and in being deeper, haha! Without you, life would be dull."

John proceeds to unload the contents of his wagon. Truth is, his previous schemes, although each and every of them had failed to make the man rich, have left him with some wealth. The question is now: Will it be enough or will the family have to settle for a homestead in the vicinity of the fort, after all? 

About two thousand settlers make a living from the forest and plains land surrounding the actual settlement. John and Caroline don’t want to end as the 2001st and 2002nd nameless face.

Tawit: “Monsieur Phillips… My name is Tawit Durand, citizen of New France, and this is Gyantwachia of the Seneca nation. We are authorized to negotiate the purchase of Hog Island with you.”

Gyantwachia: “Let me have a look at these pigments! If its good quality vermillion paint, we may already have a deal.”

John: “Only the best! I have six pounds I could part with.”

Gyantwachia: “Six? Mhm, in this case we might need to make this “and all the contents of your wagon””

John: “Your tribe really wants that paint, huh?”

Tawit: “It’s the most asked for trade good at the moment, but six pounds are hardly enough to pay for a whole island.”

Gyantwachia: Not even a strategic liability like Hog Island.

John: “I see. I also have… eight barrels of finest rum… three perfect quality tobacco rolls… some lesser tobacco… and as far as real money goes a wampum belt.”

Gyantwachia: “Show me that belt, will you? - Ah, now we’re talking! You know what? I like how you were honest about the tobacco quality. Very different from the reputation you British have ‘round here. And that’s why I want to propose an additional deal just between you and me: Throw in a scissor, a good tea pot and six glass jars and we’ll teach you about the local currency.”

John: “That sounds fair. I accept.”

Like all the thirteen colonies Fort Detroit, too, is suffering from a lack of actual coins and the colonial governments are forbidden from issuing paper money. Therefore a number of replacement currencies has arisen. Pelts and furs, naturally, and the infamous vermillion paint. Wampum belts made from beads of seashells or snail houses are accepted even in the Old World. But every region has its own specialty and as a newcomer John had no idea of the local goods’ current going rates.

And so a deal is made and an island changes owners.

The land doesn’t much care which nation calls itself its owners, but it sure reacts to individual humans. None of the Seneca has managed to catch its interest in the past, and neither have the Phillips. But soon, very soon, someone will arrive who is different. At the moment that someone would give not just an island, but a whole moon for those eight barrels of rum, but, alas, all he is having is polite tea with the tiniest drop of spirits together with the Captain of a sailship on the way to the New World…

[kim-poce]

4. Witches Are Meant To Burn: Sculpted

On Patreon (two weeks earlier release)

First | Previous | Next | Masterlist

The trip was the usual, train for the first part, carriage for the second, and walking for the last, the terrain was often steep. It normally would be just plain tiring. It was just plain tiring until we got close to the library, then it was tiring and so hot. I’ll need to decrease the number of coats in my wardrobe while I’m here. Everyone was really excited the whole time, I was more exhausted than anything. I didn’t have time to rest, though, soon I was seated at the big circular table in this overly bright room made yesterday just so this meeting could be held.

Oh right! I should introduce myself, it’s late I know but I’m not used to stepping out of my field, and in my field, everyone (to whom I talk) already knows me. I’m Professor Ernestine Ruos-Aliene de Patry, an etymologist as you must have guessed. Well, I study several fields but whenever I have to keep it short I boil it down to etymology.

I work mostly at Jitarin Academy, however, I don't work for Jitarin Academy, it’s more like, they help me get resources for projects and I earn them renown, this relationship had been working for several years now, and after I got into the group of people that chose who will work on what the academy began to accept any request of mine.

The meeting was going on as lively as usual,  I tried to ignore the slight nausea I was feeling for about half an hour already. Maybe I shouldn’t have joined Tina on her unhealthy meals earlier today. I hope Hector has medicine on him because the closest apothecary is over 500 kilometers on foot plus thirty minutes on horse from here and none of my students would like to go there now.

On the bright side, The Podium Library was just two kilometers away. Getting to the library will be a pain, though. One thing that I learned from studying history is how much the ancient people on this continent loved caves. They aren’t good economically speaking, it’s not every cave that has enough tourist value to attract that many people, they do not help merchants and business between different places, but caves are natural and (sometimes) habitable, many villages were built around some agglomeration of small caves, and only when these were all occupied that they would go to build buildings. There are many theories of why. I myself wrote a couple of books on how the demonization of the new and the changes caused the fear of the effect of the hands of god had on the hands of fate were related to so many caves being used as the starting point of most cities, but what is relevant now is that, as expected of someplace from the Fog Age, the Podium Library was underground.

“Is the ground really stable?” Professor Viane Ji-Dober asked, if someone had to, the library had been evacuated just an hour ago due to the risk of a cave-in, not that something had happened, not knowing if something will happen was the issue. “We are talking about dozens of academics here, so we must be sure if it’s safe or not so we can get the Acceptance Of Risk papers ready.”

“Although the entrance broke down, the ground and structure seem fine,” Markus Virtus —Portia’s representative— said while tapping his fingers on his left hand.

“We need more than seems fine,” Professor Gione Petar said, “Will you take responsibility if the centuries-old archives are damaged? Do you have any idea how important this place is?”

“I know how much-”

“Oh no, you do not.”

“Professor Gione, that’s enough,” I said. “We don’t need to talk about how important is to be sure the library is safe, we obviously needed to be sure before letting everyone in, —” I glared at him, the very one who put his students in the library before knowing it was safe “—What we need to talk about is why it has been two days and a proper team wasn’t called yet.”

“You get here late and want to complain about the decision we made in your absence? You don’t have the right to complain!” Professor Jayon Bullar snapped.

“I have if you are being an idiot!”

“Idiot? You are suggesting we send a group of brute people who know nothing about what they are putting their hand on down there because of what? Because you are scared of a possible cave-in? It survived centuries! Why would it break now?”

“I swear for the hands of god that if you truly think that’s how-”

“Can we… uh… calm down?” Markus tried, “If one of you goes with the team it’ll be fine, right? Any… volunteer?”

I glanced around at the mostly old and out-of-shape people that formed that group, none of which are fit to go with the team down the library. No one volunteered, of course, and sending a student was out of question (unless you are Gione Petar, but he doesn’t count). Well, we’ll be here for a long time, won’t we?

“Why are you so grumpy?” Lucas asked after I told them how the meeting went. “You’ll get to see the library before them! That’s luck!”

“Yeah, join our risk measuring team down to a maybe-instable-maybe-not ancient cave is the best definition of lucky!” I said, rolling my eyes. “Did I tell you they decided on the shorter stick?”

“yes you t-”

“Who makes this kind of decision on the shorter stick?!”

“Someone who spent years studying the saying ‘witches are meant to burn’ is asking why they let this important decision up to luck?” Tina asked, raising her eyebrows.

“Fair.”

“When are you going?” June asked.

“Tomorrow morning, after eating some proper food, and resting a bit,” I answered, Hector had the medicine, all I needed now was to join June for meals instead of Tina.

“Time for them to get the Acceptance Of Risk form ready and for the team to arrive,” Sandra commented.

“Yeah, if they had it ready they would try sending me down there today.”

“Why is everyone here an egg?” Tina asked.

“Why do you call people eggs?” Sandra asked. Wrong question.

“Don’t ask.” Me, June, and Luca said at the same time. “Tina, no.”

Tina obviously ignored us. “So, do you know about the primordial soup…”

I sighed. This, too, would take a while.

Soon (or kind of) it was morning, the night was hot, and no one told me this place would be so hot. But apart from this, it was a good night of sleep. We had slept in a tent about one kilometer away from the entrance of the library. The terrain was mostly rocks, steep rocks, but luckily we had found enough plain areas to camp on, the groups did have to be somewhat far away from each other, though. If the cave is safe we’ll certainly move into the library. I know I’ll.

I was nervous, but it wasn’t my first rodeo. We had all the equipment to make it as safe as possible, and I had a whole team who actually knew what they were doing with me. So I took a deep breath and started.

The cave was pretty, I'll give it that. The entrance was small and hard to go by, the first part didn’t seem to have changed much, if at all, from its natural formation. The team was really patient in helping me down on the harder and narrower parts, none of them let it out that it was annoying to have someone slowing them down.

As soon as we got deeper inside the walls changed. The dark reddish walls were more and more gray, and smother. It continued to the point the ground became totally plain and the wall formed a perfect semicircle over our head. I hadn’t arrived at the library yet, but I knew it was from the last part of the Fog Age, near the end. You can tell by the changes on the walls, you see, ancient people wouldn’t change it like this. They wouldn’t mold the place in fear of the disasters it would bring.

“It probably had an actual entrance,” I commented. “Leading out, the path we came from isn’t the same they used to take back then.”

“I hope you are not planning on breaking the walls or something,” the team leader, Maliane, said, showing how much she trusts us.

“I can’t say we don’t want to, but we won’t actually do something this stupid.”

Maliane nodded, but it was clear that she didn’t believe me.

“You’ve meet Gione, right? Short, thin, angry.” I asked.

“... yes.”

Yeah. She has a reason not to trust us.

“This is the entrance,” the young woman leading us said, gesturing to a cube hole in the walls, each side had two meters. If one didn’t look closely one would think it’s just a cube carved into the cave wall.

The entrance was hidden, we had to walk into this dark cube to access this, also dark, narrow pathway. Twenty meters in, and going right was the actual library’s entrance. We lit the place up, but our flashlights weren’t enough to show everything so the team started attaching lights on the floor.

Two bronze doors were fallen down, five meters tall and about half of it wide. Looking closely it was ten centimeters thick. It was hard to tell just yet if this was for aesthetic purposes or if they wanted this library to be out of reach this much. As the place became brighter, the carving on the doors was more visible, the details were shaped like processed jewels, just like Gione’s students had told. I would take a closer look later, but at that moment there was something more important than the drawing on a door.

I glanced at the now partially lighted-up library. It was… amazing. There were so many books, I know it’s a library, but it’s from Fog Age. We know barely a thing about that time and it’s like life handed down this much data as a gift. The bookshelves also drew my attention, they haven’t been built, they were sculpted. Everything I could see was connected, it was as if that place was never a natural cave, maybe this whole large library was sculpted.

“We’ll start,” the team leader said. I didn’t really care much about how they were going to check the library. I knew part of the team was outside and I knew everyone was carrying tools, but my only role in there was to let them know if they were damaging some ancient thing they shouldn’t touch, so I could take my time to look around without a problem.

I thought I could take my time to look around without a problem. I realized I was wrong the second I stepped into the library.

[abyssaldissonance]

Some Infinity Nikki Critiques so far:

In no particular order

Dark skin could have slightly lighter palms and soles. (Also Shining Nikki).

New tutorials should be at the top of the list to look through, not in the middle. Once they are read AND the player has exited from the screen, they should go in their intended order when reviewed again later.

HUD could have a quicker/easier way to look at Blings, Gems, Diamonds, and other currencies, such as clicking or pressing a button for them to show on screen for a couple seconds before fading away, or letting players toggle on/off permanent currency stats (and maybe choose which ones they want displayed).

Pear-Pal Apps should be rearranged how players want similar to apps on a real phone. Every new app I get makes me mis-click the ones I got used to.

When Exiting Realm with backspace, it should take you to the Realm menu. Realm menu should also exit with backspace. That way I can press backspace twice quickly and exit to the world, or I can press backspace once and enter a new Realm quickly to optimize my Vital Energy spending. It' a little annoying to backspace and be in the world only to go back into the Realms.

Combat / Purification by itself feels bland. I liked the fight with Bouldy, especially the Dark Realm, but I think there should be at least one or two more combat outfit/abilities such as:

Pushing ability (wind?) where you can push Esselings away from you in case you are surrounded. The items that we are given to "stun" them don't feel very intuitive to use, I might as well just spam the Purify button. I imagine in my mind a straight line or cone ability right in front of Nikki, and when leveled up it can become a circular whirlwind. Maybe a puffy green dress for a windy theme, or vines and leaves that whip around. Weaker, multi-targeting projectiles: Possibly shoot three projectiles that lock on to Esselings, but take 3 hits to destroy them. I imagine a rose-themed or thorn-like outfit. Possibly switch between combat outfits with middle mouse button.

I'm not a huge fan of forced limitations (daily limitation of Wish Bottles capped at 500, monthly limitation of tranquility traded for resonance crystals, etc).

Photos would be nice if I could pause real-time in addition to Nikki. There are a couple shots of flying on top of the giant pigeon that I would love to get, and I have a difficult time getting some poses with Nikki's eyes half closed beside taking 50 photos and praying. This is mostly frivolous day-dreaming though. The photography sections is really quite nice. You can "upgrade" it to get more poses, lighting, etc.

Slightly Better Early Outfits for Styling Battle would be nice. I additionally dislike that it takes up / replaces my Outfit Slot 1 after a Styling Battle. The early items you get don't match very well unless you exclusively use the ability outfits. Thankfully those are easy enough to level up. It'd just be nice to have more cohesive outfits early on, even if they're simple/plain. To be fair, this has always been a silly issue with Nikki (and other) games. Really hate it replaces my actual Outfit slot though.

Bike. Bad. It goes forward fast, which is nice. But turning kind of sucks and I feel much more inclined to either fast-travel or just hoof it so I can collect materials along the way. I don't think there's a whole lot they could do about it except maybe make turning just slightly easier/faster.

I could just be missing it but: Lore Database. There is a "folklore guide" but its a collection of minigames. I've read a bunch of the notes/books they have throughout the game, and I can't seem to find anywhere this information is stored. It'd just be nice to have. Aditionally, we could have a database of certain characters and terminologies. I know tons of games do this but I think of Star Ocean and Brave Fencer Musashi which had a sort of compendium of characters, artifacts, locations, and other lore.

Some Menus dont Exit w ESC key. I don't know if it's an oversight or not, but I would really like Every menu/screen etc to be able to close with ESC key. Evolution, Courses, Store, Wishes, Factions so far I have to manually click the arrow.

Positives For Me:

The Fish are categorized by weight rather than how many individual fish, so you're not catching "1" fish, you're catching "1.7 grams" of fish. It's a really small thing but I like that it's grams of fish instead of individual fish.

The Gacha / Resonance doesnt feel as predatory as most. I've definitely spent money on other games etc, but I really don't like feeling like I should have to throw MORE money at a game series I already have high VIP in (Love & Shining Nikki). I Get that this is their version of making money with nigh-indefinite content updates (I hope/assume by being a longer-term nikki fan and seeing how they do things), so I hope acquiring outfits will be easier in-game this way as well as I hope the amount of time between events won't be as daunting as Shining Global.

Layering Clothes feels nice. We can do this in the Nikki games already, but if you wear boots with trousers (or other clothing combinations), sometimes they clip through. So far, if you wear certain layers of clothes, they get tucked or folded in a way that makes it look good. There's still some clipping issues but they're usually a super weird and ugly combination of clothes to begin with that, aesthetically wouldn't be very likely to get paired up.

Mild Critique: Sometimes the top of the boots or some sleeves get "cut off" in order to make the look work. I think it could be done a little better, but I appreciate that they're trying very hard not to make things clip.

Material Components are really neat! They're unique in super cute and fun ways. I love the idea of having different outfits for different tasks. I love that the flora and fauna designs are based off clothing materials, such as stocking-like stripes on goats or buttons inside pinecones.

Mild Critique: I wish the material components were matched a tiny bit better to the clothing that require them. It was weird making a white dress out of red fruit, or using "knit-moths" to make leather "dad" shoes. I think a tiny bit more thought could make this make a little more sense. There ARE some good clothing vs material choices, though.

Time Skip is so helpful. I'm SO glad they implemented it. Certain animals or events happen at certain times of day and you can either time skip in the Pear-Pal menu, or if you arrive at a certain event, you can time skip on the spot. It makes things so much smoother.

Photo Mode is so good and fun. I enjoy taking photos, I like seeing other people's photos, it has lots of nice features.

The Environment is easy to navigate in a fun way. When I see a super tall building or a super low canyon, I can find viable ways to get to where I want to. Steps/natural staircases are placed strategically to help encourage exploration without hindrance besides extremely obvious edge-of-the-map boundaries.

Despite my critiques, I genuinely love the game itself so far.

I'm still hoping beautiful outfits won't be limited to Resonance, and likewise hope Resonance isn't too difficult to acquire because that's a huge turn off for me.

I'm already stretched between Nikki games and I already spend much less than I used to. Yeah, yeah, you don't have to spend money in any of the games, but it does suck that it feels like you have to wait a whole year or even two just to acquire a complete set, and that's if you budget solely around a handful of sets, let alone if you actually want to proceed with having high enough ranks to acquire more diamonds to afford more sets. So I hope Infinity Nikki won't be quite the same.

[snehagoogle]

The solar system is a wonderful circular shape

The solar system is a wonderful circular shape

The sun is a shining ball in the centre

The remaining eight planets and other particles etc. are orbiting the sun in a circular manner

Among these eight planets of the solar system, the first planet near the sun is the miraculous Mercury

Planets orbit the sun

And satellites orbit the planets

Asteroids and particles etc. orbit the sun and some orbit the planets

Recently, according to the report of NASA's Mariner 10 and Messenger and the joint report of ESA and JAXA, an asteroid PH 27 of Mercury has also been discovered

Is PH 27 an asteroid near Mercury?

All these subsequent investigations show that 2021 PH27 is following an extremely elliptical orbit, which in practice means that its path goes from between Mercury's orbit and the Sun at its closest approach to the Sun, and beyond Venus' orbit at its most distant.

Fastest-orbiting asteroid in solar system discovered

Space.com

https://www.space.com › ... › Solar System › Asteroids

23 Mar 2022

A newfound asteroid zips around the sun faster than any of its known kin.

The space rock, known as 2021 PH27, completes one lap around our star every 113 Earth days, its discoverers determined. That's the shortest orbital period of any known solar system object except the planet Mercury, which takes just 88 days to loop around the sun.

However, 2021 PH27 travels on a much more elliptical path than Mercury does and therefore gets considerably closer to the sun — about 12.4 million miles (20 million kilometers) at closest approach, compared to 29 million miles (47 million km) for the solar system's innermost planet. 

During those close solar passes, 2021 PH27's surface gets hot enough to melt lead — about 900 degrees Fahrenheit (500 degrees Celsius), the discovery team estimates. Those deep dips into the sun's gravity well also mean the asteroid experiences the largest general relativity effects of any known solar system object. Such effects manifest as a slight wobble in 2021 PH27's elliptical orbit around the sun, which the team has observed.

That orbit, by the way, is not stable over the long haul. 2021 PH27 will likely collide with the sun, Mercury or Venus a few million years from now, if it's not ejected from its current path by a gravitational interaction first, team members said.

2021 PH27 was first spotted on Aug. 13 by astronomers using the Dark Energy Camera (DEC), a powerful multipurpose instrument mounted on the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. 

The team was able to pin down the asteroid's orbit over the next few days, thanks to further observations by the DEC and the Magellan Telescopes at the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile, as well as smaller scopes in Chile and South Africa operated by the Las Cumbres Observatory. 

The 2021 PH27 push postponed some scheduled observations with those instruments, but the reshuffling was worth it, team members said.

"Though telescope time for astronomers is very precious, the international nature and love of the unknown make astronomers very willing to override their own science and observations to follow up new, interesting discoveries like this," discovery team leader Scott Sheppard, an astronomer at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C., said in a statement.

Sheppard and his colleagues estimate that 2021 PH27 is about 0.6 miles (1 km) wide. The space rock may have originated in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, then gotten kicked inward by gravitational interactions with one or more planets, the researchers say. 

However, 2021 PH27's orbital path is tilted by 32 degrees relative to the plane of the solar system. Such a high inclination suggests it might instead be an extinct comet that was born in the far outer solar system, then captured into a closer orbit after passing by Mars, Earth or another rocky planet.

Further observations could help resolve this mystery, but Sheppard and other astronomers will have to wait a few months to collect more data. 2021 PH27 is now moving behind the sun from our point of view, and it won't re-emerge until early 2022, discovery team members said.

Translate Hindi

सौरमंडल एक अद्भुत चक्राकृति है

जहां का सूरज है केंद्र का एक गेंद सा चमकिला गोलक

बाकि आट ग्रह और भी सारा पार्टिकल्स वगैरह सूरज को ऑर्बिट बनाकर चक्राकार परिक्रमा कर रहा है

सौरमंडल की इस आट ग्रहों में सबसे पहले का सूरज की निकट ग्रह है चमत्कारी बुध ग्रह

ग्रहों सूरज को परिक्रमा करता है

और उपग्रहों ग्रहों को परिक्रमा करता है

क्षुद्रग्रह और पार्टिकल्स वगैरह सूरज को कुछ परिक्रमा करता है कुछ ग्रहों को परिक्रमा करता है

हाल ही में नासा की मेरिनर 10 और मैसेंजार की रिपोर्ट और इ एस ए और जाक्सा की मिलित रिपोर्ट अनुसार बुध ग्रह की भी एक क्षुद्रग्रह पी एच 27 खोजा गया है

क्या पी एच 27 बुध ग्रह की निकट की एक क्षुद्रग्रह ही है

इन सभी बाद की जांचों से पता चलता है कि 2021 PH27 एक अत्यंत अण्डाकार कक्षा का अनुसरण कर रहा है, जिसका व्यावहारिक अर्थ है कि इसका मार्ग सूर्य के सबसे निकट बुध की कक्षा और सूर्य के बीच से होकर गुजरता है, और सबसे दूर शुक्र की कक्षा से परे है।

सौर मंडल में सबसे तेज़ परिक्रमा करने वाला क्षुद्रग्रह खोजा गया

Space.com

https://www.space.com › ... › सौर मंडल › क्षुद्रग्रह

23 मार्च 2022

एक नया पाया गया क्षुद्रग्रह अपने किसी भी ज्ञात रिश्तेदार की तुलना में सूर्य के चारों ओर तेज़ी से चक्कर लगाता है।

2021 PH27 के रूप में जाना जाने वाला अंतरिक्ष चट्टान, हमारे तारे के चारों ओर हर 113 पृथ्वी दिनों में एक चक्कर पूरा करता है, इसके खोजकर्ताओं ने निर्धारित किया है। यह किसी भी ज्ञात सौर मंडल वस्तु की सबसे छोटी परिक्रमा अवधि है, सिवाय बुध ग्रह के, जिसे सूर्य के चारों ओर चक्कर लगाने में सिर्फ़ 88 दिन लगते हैं।

हालांकि, 2021 PH27 बुध की तुलना में बहुत अधिक अण्डाकार पथ पर यात्रा करता है और इसलिए सूर्य के काफी करीब पहुंच जाता है - निकटतम पहुंच पर लगभग 12.4 मिलियन मील (20 मिलियन किलोमीटर), जबकि सौर मंडल के सबसे भीतरी ग्रह के लिए यह 29 मिलियन मील (47 मिलियन किमी) है।

उन करीबी सौर पासों के दौरान, 2021 PH27 की सतह सीसा पिघलाने के लिए पर्याप्त गर्म हो जाती है - लगभग 900 डिग्री फ़ारेनहाइट (500 डिग्री सेल्सियस), खोज दल का अनुमान है। सूर्य के गुरुत्वाकर्षण में उन गहरी डुबकी का मतलब यह भी है कि क्षुद्रग्रह किसी भी ज्ञात सौर मंडल वस्तु के सबसे बड़े सामान्य सापेक्षता प्रभावों का अनुभव करता है। इस तरह के प्रभाव सूर्य के चारों ओर 2021 PH27 की अण्डाकार कक्षा में मामूली उतार-चढ़ाव के रूप में प्रकट होते हैं, जिसे टीम ने देखा है।

वैसे, वह कक्षा लंबे समय तक स्थिर नहीं रहती है। टीम के सदस्यों ने कहा कि यदि गुरुत्वाकर्षण के कारण 2021 PH27 को पहले अपने वर्तमान पथ से बाहर नहीं निकाला गया तो यह संभवतः अब से कुछ मिलियन वर्ष बाद सूर्य, बुध या शुक्र से टकराएगा। 2021 PH27 को पहली बार 13 अगस्त को खगोलविदों ने डार्क एनर्जी कैमरा (DEC) का उपयोग करके देखा था, जो चिली में सेरो टोलोलो इंटर-अमेरिकन वेधशाला में विक्टर एम. ब्लैंको 4-मीटर टेलीस्कोप पर लगा एक शक्तिशाली बहुउद्देशीय उपकरण है। टीम अगले कुछ दिनों में क्षुद्रग्रह की कक्षा को निर्धारित करने में सक्षम थी, जिसका श्रेय चिली में लास कैम्पानास वेधशाला में DEC और मैगलन टेलीस्कोप के साथ-साथ लास कम्ब्रेस वेधशाला द्वारा संचालित चिली और दक्षिण अफ्रीका में छोटे दूरबीनों द्वारा किए गए आगे के अवलोकनों को जाता है। 2021 PH27 के कारण उन उपकरणों के साथ कुछ निर्धारित अवलोकन स्थगित हो गए, लेकिन टीम के सदस्यों ने कहा कि फेरबदल इसके लायक था। वाशिंगटन, डी.सी. में कार्नेगी इंस्टीट्यूशन फॉर साइंस के खगोलशास्त्री, डिस्कवरी टीम के नेता स्कॉट शेपर्ड ने एक बयान में कहा, "हालांकि खगोलविदों के लिए दूरबीन का समय बहुत कीमती है, लेकिन अंतरराष्ट्रीय प्रकृति और अज्ञात के प्रति प्रेम खगोलविदों को इस तरह की नई, दिलचस्प खोजों का अनुसरण करने के लिए अपने स्वयं के विज्ञान और अवलोकनों को दरकिनार करने के लिए बहुत इच्छुक बनाता है।" शेपर्ड और उनके सहयोगियों का अनुमान है कि 2021 PH27 लगभग 0.6 मील (1 किमी) चौड़ा है। शोधकर्ताओं का कहना है कि अंतरिक्ष चट्टान की उत्पत्ति मंगल और बृहस्पति के बीच मुख्य क्षुद्रग्रह बेल्ट में हुई होगी, फिर एक या अधिक ग्रहों के साथ गुरुत्वाकर्षण बातचीत द्वारा अंदर की ओर धकेल दी गई होगी। हालाँकि, 2021 PH27 का कक्षीय पथ सौर मंडल के तल के सापेक्ष 32 डिग्री झुका हुआ है। इतना अधिक झुकाव यह सुझाव देता है कि यह एक विलुप्त धूमकेतु हो सकता है जो दूर के बाहरी सौर मंडल में पैदा हुआ था, फिर मंगल, पृथ्वी या किसी अन्य चट्टानी ग्रह से गुजरने के बाद एक करीबी कक्षा में कैद हो गया। आगे के अवलोकन इस रहस्य को सुलझाने में मदद कर सकते हैं, लेकिन शेपर्ड और अन्य खगोलविदों को अधिक डेटा एकत्र करने के लिए कुछ महीने इंतजार करना होगा। खोज दल के सदस्यों ने कहा कि 2021 PH27 अब हमारे दृष्टिकोण से सूर्य के पीछे जा रहा है, और यह 2022 की शुरुआत तक फिर से नहीं उभरेगा।