#Real-Time Parcel Tracking

[anchor-software]

Streamline Parcel Management with Anchor Software: Efficient, Cost-Effective Solutions for Your Business

Managing parcels and packages efficiently is a critical task for businesses of all sizes. With increasing customer expectations for fast and accurate deliveries, having the right tools in place can make all the difference. Anchor Software provides an innovative and comprehensive platform to help businesses optimize their parcel and package management operations, ensuring faster deliveries, improved accuracy, and reduced costs. By leveraging key features like Address Validation, real-time tracking, and Customer Data Hub, Anchor Software enables companies to deliver superior service while staying competitive in today’s fast-paced logistics landscape.

As parcel volumes continue to grow, particularly in the e-commerce sector, businesses face increasing challenges in keeping up with customer demands. Deliveries must be made on time, addresses must be accurate, and operational efficiency must be maintained, all while keeping costs under control. Anchor Software’s Manage Parcels and Packages solution is designed to address these challenges by automating and optimizing the entire delivery process, from dispatch to the final mile, so businesses can focus on what they do best.

The Challenges of Parcel and Package Management

Effective parcel and package management is more than just getting a package from point A to point B. Businesses must also consider factors such as route optimization, address accuracy, and timely communication with customers. Traditional manual processes are often inefficient, prone to errors, and time-consuming, leading to delays, higher costs, and unsatisfied customers. As customer expectations evolve, with a growing preference for fast, trackable deliveries, the pressure to improve delivery performance is greater than ever.

One common issue is incorrect delivery addresses. Even a small mistake in a delivery address can result in returned packages, delayed shipments, or increased costs. Additionally, businesses that rely on manual entry of addresses are more likely to experience errors, which further exacerbates the problem. This is where Address Validation becomes crucial. Anchor Software’s solution helps businesses verify addresses in real-time, ensuring that every delivery is routed to the correct location.

Another challenge is managing customer data. Businesses often have large volumes of customer data spread across multiple systems, making it difficult to maintain a unified view of customer information. Without accurate, up-to-date data, deliveries can be delayed, and communication with customers can suffer. Anchor Software’s Customer Data Hub addresses this issue by providing a centralized platform for storing and managing customer information, making it easier for businesses to access accurate data and deliver a seamless customer experience.

Key Features of Anchor Software’s Manage Parcels and Packages Solution

Address Validation: Ensuring Accurate Deliveries One of the most critical aspects of successful parcel management is ensuring that deliveries are sent to the correct address. Address Validation is a key feature of Anchor Software’s solution, designed to reduce the risk of incorrect or incomplete addresses. This powerful tool verifies and corrects addresses in real-time, ensuring that packages are delivered accurately the first time, reducing the risk of returns or delays. Anchor Software uses advanced algorithms to cross-check addresses against postal databases, correcting any errors before the package is dispatched. This not only improves delivery accuracy but also enhances customer satisfaction by reducing delays caused by undeliverable packages. For businesses dealing with high volumes of deliveries, such as e-commerce companies or logistics providers, Address Validation is a game-changer that can save time, reduce costs, and improve operational efficiency.

Customer Data Hub: Centralizing Information for Better Service Managing customer data across multiple platforms can be challenging, leading to delays, miscommunication, and inefficiencies in the delivery process. The Customer Data Hub feature offered by Anchor Software provides businesses with a centralized platform to store and manage customer information. This allows companies to maintain a complete and up-to-date view of their customer data, ensuring that all deliveries are sent to the right addresses and that communication with customers is seamless. By integrating the Customer Data Hub into the parcel management process, businesses can reduce the likelihood of errors, improve delivery accuracy, and provide a more personalized customer experience. For example, the system can automatically update addresses when customers make changes, ensuring that the most current information is always being used. This not only streamlines the delivery process but also enhances the overall customer experience by reducing miscommunication and delays.

Real-Time Tracking and Notifications Customers today expect to know where their packages are at all times. Real-time tracking is a vital feature that provides businesses and customers with full visibility into the delivery process. Anchor Software’s platform allows businesses to monitor every step of a package’s journey, from warehouse dispatch to final delivery. Customers receive real-time notifications, keeping them informed about their package’s status and expected delivery time. Real-time tracking not only improves customer satisfaction but also reduces the number of inquiries related to delivery status, freeing up customer support resources. Additionally, businesses can use this feature to identify any potential delays or issues in the delivery process and address them proactively, minimizing the risk of late deliveries.

Route Optimization for Efficient Deliveries Efficient route planning is essential for reducing delivery times and lowering operational costs. Anchor Software’s route optimization feature uses advanced algorithms to generate the most efficient delivery routes, taking into account factors such as traffic conditions, delivery windows, and distance. This not only ensures that deliveries are made on time but also helps businesses reduce fuel consumption, lower vehicle wear and tear, and minimize labor costs. With optimized delivery routes, businesses can handle more deliveries in less time, increasing overall productivity and profitability. Whether managing a fleet of delivery vehicles or coordinating a few drivers, route optimization helps businesses get the most out of their resources while providing customers with timely and reliable deliveries.

Scalability for Growing Businesses As businesses grow, their delivery needs often become more complex. Anchor Software’s Manage Parcels and Packages solution is fully scalable, allowing businesses to handle increasing volumes of deliveries without sacrificing efficiency or performance. Whether you’re a small business managing local deliveries or a large logistics company coordinating international shipments, Anchor Software’s platform can scale to meet your needs. The flexibility of the platform ensures that as your business grows, you can continue to rely on the same robust features and capabilities to manage your parcel and package operations. This scalability makes Anchor Software an ideal long-term solution for businesses looking to streamline their delivery operations and reduce costs.

The Benefits of Using Anchor Software’s Manage Parcels and Packages Solution

By implementing Anchor Software’s Manage Parcels and Packages solution, businesses can enjoy numerous benefits, including:

Cost Reduction: With features like Address Validation and route optimization, businesses can reduce operational costs by minimizing returns, optimizing delivery routes, and improving delivery accuracy.

Improved Efficiency: Automating key tasks such as sorting, address verification, and tracking allows businesses to handle larger volumes of deliveries with fewer resources.

Enhanced Customer Satisfaction: Providing real-time tracking and accurate deliveries helps businesses build trust with their customers, leading to better relationships and higher customer retention rates.

Better Data Management: The Customer Data Hub provides businesses with a centralized platform for managing customer information, reducing the likelihood of errors and improving communication with customers.

Scalability: As businesses grow, Anchor Software’s platform can scale to meet their changing needs, ensuring that their delivery operations remain efficient and cost-effective.

Anchor Software’s Manage Parcels and Packages solution is an essential tool for businesses looking to streamline their delivery operations, reduce costs, and improve customer satisfaction. With powerful features like Address Validation, Customer Data Hub, real-time tracking, and route optimization, Anchor Software provides businesses with the tools they need to stay competitive in today’s fast-paced market. To learn more about how Anchor Software can help your business, visit anchorcomputersoftware.com.

[floralmusings]

Hi hello, and welcome to my little writing corner!

You can call me Flora (she/her), and I’m hoping to carve out a place for myself in the writing community here on tumblr and follow along with new writing projects, as well as hopefully garner some interest in my own!

I hate the idea of creating this thing and asking for interaction without doing so myself; I am a huge believer of the idea of community, of bettering and bolstering other content creators, and participating in something bigger than myself. So, tag games, asks, challenges, and so on and so forth, are all welcomed and encouraged - additionally, I LOVE hearing about other people’s works, with a particular weak spot for high/dark fantasy, as well as urban fantasy.

Thank you for your time in reading this, if you are a writeblr, interact with this post and I’ll check out your blog! In the meantime, if you’re interested in learning about my wips, they’re below the cut - I am a predominantly adventure fantasy writer, taking inspiration from D&D and real world mythos.

UNDECIDED : Unbound By The Light

Dark Fantasy - Found Family - Hurt/Comfort

Ashaveth, a once devout woman, finds themselves dragged back into the throes of their old beliefs when they stumble upon a creature spoken of only in aeon old hymns and textbooks lost to dust; a creature that bears the symbol of a Goddess they had abandoned so long ago.

Donning a mask that burns with a holy light, all consuming, all radiating - this, was a Faceless One.

If legend was to be believed, they were servants of Vigil, molded and shaped by Her to be the perfect protectors of peace and divine will - they had no name for they had no identity, they had no tongue for they had no voice, they had no blood for they did not bleed.

Had the Goddess she fled finally tracked her down?

UNDECIDED : Parcels & Papercuts

High Fantasy - Cosy - Found Family

The Couriers are a ragtag group who are the proud owners of the delivery service Parcels & Papercuts - a wandering delivery service who will deliver anything to anyone.

This is going to be an anthology series following the characters of this group and their various escapades - from delivering baked goods to a homesick grandaughter, to handing over a love letter to a scorned god. No job is too big and certainly never too small.

This is the type of series that you can jump in whenever, and you won't miss any major plot beats or anything like that.

[inkyvendingmachine]

T'was The Night Before Crisis... Season 4, Episode 1

💀 Call of Cthulhu: Haunted Hijinx Masterpost 💀 Call of Cthulhu Season Four Masterpost (Coming Soon)

Warning: This campaign is an edited version of  a Call of Cthulhu scenario from the Tales of the Crescent City book. While a lot has been changed, there IS spoilers for it throughout these posts.

WE'RE BACK. After over a whole heckin year of 10000 RP logs, we have returned with our final season of Cthulhu! It's been not just a year out of game, but a little over a year worth of in game time has passed too, and they boys are indulging in a chill, at home seasonal celebration... for now! Surely nothing weird will happen, nothing ever does around holidays for these boys obviously.

:)

Happy Holidays!

Art Credit: @inkdemonapologist : sketching + inking @inkyvendingmachine : concept + colouring

A week. Two weeks. A month. A season. A year.

A whole year and a couple of months go by without any crazy outside force trying to rid the boys of… anything really. The time isn't exactly calm or empty… but compared to recent events, for a while, things were… kinda normal?

Well, except for when Joey got Peter to help him meet with Y secretly to prevent the gang from continuing to mess with JDS, or when Sammy and Henry realized mid tennis match that a version of Henry had slashed him right through the center. Or how the Prophet can just pop out now without ink. And how Susie has been brought in on all this, and perhaps brought in on even more than just the supernatural content as her bonds with Sammy and Joey grow tighter. And how Peter is actually moving to New York City now and ends up visiting Jack just as Beans goes missing and now there’s many little Beans kittens. And the summoning spell to ask the spirit that helped them in Haiti what will become of Sammy and Prophet. And the other summoning spell for Prophet to get his instructions from the Masked Messenger. And Sammy still can't tell where he's going half the time after uncovering some of Prophet’s memories. And Joey is still a bit hesitant to leave the studio if not being actively distracted. But other than that! It's been normal!!

And the boys have made it all the way to Christmas. Joey's received some parcels in the mail, from the Fowlers and Nicole. The Fowlers actually sent each of the helpful boys uh… 1000$?? That's a thousand. EACH. IN THE 1930s. For helping out… which I guess if stuck eternally in soul lake hell, wouldn't have that money anyways. But still, that's quite a lot for the time.

Meanwhile, Nicole has had time to move on from her heartbreak, and is ready to start a new chapter in her life, and as thanks, leaves Joey both the keys to her old apartment (the lease being paid up for a few years already) and to her previous car, with a guarantee she's giving these things up for better, not to worry about her. And totally not because maybe all the occult scratches and bullet marks in the wall makes the apartment hard to rent, or the fact that her car is an extremely recognized Mercedes, or that both of these assets were hounded by gangs for a bit after her magical mistakes…

It probably is actually all out of good will and appreciation, and these things will come in useful, especially if they do need to deal with more mafia or what have you. Joey doesn't need them tracking Henry's car home to his family or back to Jack's house.

With those gifts out of the way, the actual holiday is spent in Jack's house, with a big potluck meal. This holiday celebration includes a small group of friends and their families, namely, all the people Jack has befriended and also would be okay with the Lurker partying with em. The event goes well, Sammy gets to play through the night, Henry’s children get to hang out with a real Bendy and also a buncha newly grown-up cats, Henry gets to eat as many cookies as he wants… 

That… slows down when Henry sees a yellow sign in a ribbon. But as soon as he tries to not lose his entire cool and freak out, it disappears… the ribbon was just a ribbon the entire time. Perhaps golden ribbons shouldn't be their normal holiday decor… 

Meanwhile, Peter feels eyes on him and decides to move away from the window maybe, especially because it feels like he suddenly knew exactly which star in the sky holds Carcosa at the same time… surely a fine coincidence to have happened at almost the same time. But nobody else is acting weirdly, sooooo.

The night wraps up, with Susie and Norman heading out first, followed by Henry and his family. Sammy also heads home after being socially exhausted and desperately needing his alone time, and Peter helps Jack clean up some before heading out too. Jack heads to bed, only to find an already asleep Joey with a Spark sprawled on top of him, probably after he “closed his eyes for a moment” a little earlier. 

The next day, there's technically work, but it's a short day because what's actually happening is a charity auction and party. A collection of “originals, signed by the creators” has been donated to help raise money for relief efforts in a few warring European countries, as well as the “entertainment” for the evening (Bendy cartoons, of course), courtesy of JDS, which means of course all the stars who signed the auctioned items were invited to the party as well.

Yes, even Sammy. 

(And also Jack, Henry, Susie, and Joey of course.)

The event is being held at a yacht club, advertised to the wealthies of the city midst the great depression, with live music playing and glittering evening wear, and uh. Denis.

Y'know, Denis?? That rich guy from NOLA who invited us to the masquerade?? That Joey casually name dropped his legal name to in order to keep him from tracing himself and Sammy back to JDS, when they didn't know who or how dangerous their initial information gathering was.

Anyways, a quick little talking him in circles by Joey corrects that past mistake, as well as gets him the information that Denis is actually related to one of the people who put the entire event together. Ha. Good to know.

Of course it's difficult to shake him afterwards, since Joey is one of the few people Denis knows all the way up in New York. At least Joey actually has a fancy car to talk about now.

Meanwhile, in the quietest, emptiest corner he could find, Sammy notices something odd about the song that's currently being played live. It sounds familiar, and while surely there's been some Bendy music played this evening…. This particular song is not that. But it WAS composed by Sammy.

In NOLA.

When he was improvising with some random music on the street while hanging out on the balcony of his and Joey's hotel room. Properly freaked out by having a song from a very scary time literally come back to haunt him, Sammy runs to find someone, (Joey is still busy with Denis), and comes across Jack first. But before he can fully explain, the entire party is interrupted.

Chatter turns into hushed confusion as some pale man up near the front starts speaking in tongues. It's hard to tell if he's trying to perform some ritual or just incoherently rambling, but it doesn't matter! Because very quickly there’s a gunshot!!

And the Prophet? He's awake. He knows what that gunshot was. He's been waiting for this.

It has begun.

Of course the entire party breaks out in panic once the gun goes off. Joey doesn't know what sort of Eldritch nonsense was happening up front, but upon scanning the crowd and noticing Jack and Sammy together, beelines for the snack table to grab Henry and search for Susie.

As everyone is being rushed out, some of the boys manage to notice that not all of the panic is simply from the mad ramblings and sudden bullet, but also we've got some people in the crowd bleeding from their eyes. How festive!

Upon getting outside, the Yacht club is of course already being surrounded by security and the police, as the sudden gun shots quickly alerted locals to the nonsense going on. Nobody is allowed to bolt until an investigation is conducted and people are questioned, but of course Joey managed to sweet talk his way over to a telephone to make a very important quick phone call.

To one Peter Sunstram! 

Turns out, between all their arguments, there are a few things they can agree on, which includes quietly spying on suspicious parties even though they should probably not be doing that if they actually wanna be safe but surely everyone will understand when they find out IT'S FINE.

Anyways Peter’s been keeping an eye on Y, and earlier in the day Y seemed to be performing some ritual before having some kind of … breakthrough? Revelation? Peter had told Joey of it, and in good faith Joey agreed to keep an eye out for WEIRDNESS, hoping that Y was upholding his promise to not be interfering with JDS anymore. But now this episode seems to have specifically happened, right at their exact event for the evening, so Joey does his best to pass along as much info as he can in that moment to Peter. As well as set up a backup plan in case anything else happens to them before they can escape the Yacht Club.

After some interviews with the police though, they’re allowed to go free. Listening to other partygoers' recollections they’re able to pick up a few more names here and there – the one who fired the gun up front by the bandstand is said to be another local gangster by the name of Johnny Nero, and the band playing on that bandstand one Red Leverett and the Jumps – but no evidence that really points the crew in any sort of serious lead. (including more commentary by Denis wHY ARE YOU STILL HERE UR NOT PART OF THE GROUP)

So having managed to collect everyone together, including Prophet returning Sammy to the front for the interview thank the lord (not that one)(not that one either)(maybe that one) the JDS crew head over to their very safe and secure hide away to talk about what just happened: that’s right, they’re going to Peter’s apartment.

And staying there through midnight! Listen, the last time weird shit started happening like this, everything popped off at midnight and there were panics all around. It’d be nice to know where people were this evening. And while they’re all sitting around waiting for that to pass, Henry and Peter can even talk about the really weird things that happened last night! Yknow, where Henry saw the yellow sign for a moment and Peter felt something watching him from space? Those very normal Christmas activities?

The group also gets informed about how Peter maybe has been keeping an eye on the Y that still hangs out in the city, and how Y was excited over some weird ritual. While he goes over that and also Joey and Peter guiltily kinda admit to their secret spying tendencies, Henry gets info from Linda when he calls to explain why he’s not home yet and how he won’t be home for a little while still. She’s remembered some research that crosses over with the prophecies they had gotten a month or so after the last big event like this. And Jack and Sammy bring up how they had been theorizing over who’s and what’s in the prophecies… for instance, that which the Phantom seeks, who bears already the scars of following the Mender’s lead….

Is it Peter? He followed Jack into the weird ghosty world. Is it Joey? He’s followed the Mender in other ways, and also literally bears scars caused from Jack’s healing. Or is it somehow Y?? Who seems… involved in this somehow, despite promising he wouldn’t be fucking around with stuff that might step on JDS’s toes again.

With no real conclusions, but midnight having come and past, people start to head home. Joey has someone drop him off at the studio, as after weirdness happened with any sort of occult stuff he’s interested in checking in on Bendy and the Stone. Since, those tend to be targets for this kinda creepy thing. Bendy is perfectly fine though, and hardly even noticed anything going on… So Joey picks up some of his notes and… finds himself unable to leave the studio. For some reason it just seems like the wrong idea… so he spends all night up researching, unsettled by how many non-leads he has into what will possibly happen next. It’s starting to feel like Haiti again, knowing that something bad is coming but really having no idea where to fortify with this information.

But he does have something new… 

He has plenty of things new now, including his dream spell. 

Peter’s not the only one who can spy, and while Joey is sure he’d hit some kind of barrier trying to peek in on Y’s dreams… just knowing whether the man was still alive, or possessed by some eldritch nonsense seemed like a good place to start. Maybe his excitement at the ritual earlier was coincidental…

The thing is, defying all reason, Joey’s able to step into Y’s dream just fine somehow.

This is probably not something he’ll regret doing later, surely.

[Next Episode] (not yet released)

[artbyblastweave]

Another loose thesis about Fallout’s overall implementation of the retrofuturistic aesthetic-

 From an environmental design perspective 4 and 76 knock the 50s retrofuturism out of the park. As a MA resident, Fallout 4′s version of Boston is extremely immediately recognizable as a retrofuturistic version of the real city, which also happens to have unrelatedly undergone an apocalypse; both components are visible and prominent, and in that order. In Fallout 3, by contrast, the salient aesthetic element is “rubble” and this much more immediate sense of oppressive environmental devastation, rather than the sense you’re specifically in a 1950s version of D.C. The fifties stuff, the art deco stuff is still there, certainly omnipresent when you remember to start actively looking for it, but in my experience it was an element concealed an inch below the grit. 

(New Vegas has the same thing going on to a lesser degree- the 50s elements are definitely present, but in a way that comes part-and-parcel with setting something in Vegas. A lot of the rest is rubble, and the western elements are mixed in as a confounding thing. Harder to describe what’s going on with New Vegas aesthetically, particularly when you throw in asset reuse due to the short turnaround time.)

But. One area where I think Fallout 3 and New Vegas actually surpass fallout 4 and 76, one area where I think the newer games back-tracked a bit in terms of 50sishness, is the mutant design. FO3/NV Mirelurks are a big example of this. The regular ones went from bipedal near-humanoid crab people of the sort you’d see in a b-movie from the fifties, to.... semi-plausible Big Crabs. The super mutants went from kinda looking like guys in yellow rubber costumes to lovingly-detailed-and-animated abhuman colossi. Ditto for the feral ghouls, who went from looking almost sculpted (and textured with pictures of raw meat!) to the twitching, crawling, lurching serkis-folk of Fallout 4. The 3/New Vegas deathclaw feels to me a bit like a Ray Harryhausen sculpted clay thing, while the Fallout 4 deathclaw is, well, the Fallout 4 deathclaw.  And fundamentally both games and films were subject to the same process here- better fidelity became possible. The monster designs of Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas were informed by the limits of what was technically possible within the engine of the time, and did a great job within those limitations, just as the cheesy rubber-suit b-movie beasts were informed by the limitations of their effects budget, and often did a great job within those limitations. The budget improves, the tech improves.... insert Brian Eno’s quote about medium emulation, you know? Fallout 4, Fallout 76, those are monsters you fight in a green-screen environment. Fallout 3, those are monsters meant to be fought in a rented quarry that’s doubling for a new planet every single week.

[bookishgalaxies]

A Little Company

summary: you just want Kaeya to feel happy on this day.

pairing: kaeya x gn!reader

type: oneshot, not proofread

warnings: mentions of death, grieving (??)

a/n: anytime I play with Kaeya I keep the volume off because his voice low-key annoys me 😭

————————★————————

Everyone knew that Dawn Winery was closed on this particular day, and no one minded. The citizens of Mondstadt knew that today was a time when Diluc went off to an unknown place and let his staff have the day off. The regular day to day person didn’t know the reason for this but those closer to the family did.

It was the day of death for Diluc and Kaeya’s father. One that Diluc always spent mourning at his father’s grave. Kaeya, however, had a different plan each year. Sometimes he would do as many commissions as his body could handle for a much grateful Katheryne. Other times he would help Jean with taxing paperwork to distract his mind. A gesture that often did not go past her head as simply a way to help out.

This time, he was told by Jean to take the day off. Insisting the Traveler and Paimon would take care of anything they needed.

“Jean, you know there’s always work to be done around here.” Kaeya commented, leaning against the wall in her office.

“And we’ve got it handled. Go take a nice stroll, maybe get a meal at Good Hunter. You could use a day off Kaeya.” Jean responded, standing up from her chair and crossing her arms.

“You’re always commenting on how lazy I am. Complaining about how I’m constantly trying to get out of work. Yet now, you want to give me the day off?” Kaeya questioned, an eyebrow raising.

“I’ve got to go help Lisa with tracking down some misplaced library books, I better not come back to you still standing in this office.” Jean answered, walking past him and trusting him to shut the door after he sees himself out.

As much as he wanted to stay there just to spite Jean, he didn’t. Deciding it would be nice to take a stroll around Starfell Valley. Possibly take care of a few Hillichurl camps if need be. Maybe even catch the sunset stop Starsnatch cliff. It was a nice idea; Kaeya decided to try it.

Evening came quicker than he anticipated. He hadn’t realized how far he had hiked until he payed attention to the more orange glow the sun started to have and the pain in his legs. His mind had been elsewhere and he wouldn’t admit it. He knew he shouldn’t have spent this day alone. Being alone only gave him time to think.

His brother always paid proper tribute to his father but Kaeya couldn’t bring himself to visit the man’s grave. It was too….it made it too real. Kaeya knew his dad was long gone, though there days he liked to pretend otherwise.

He was surprised to see you sitting atop the cliff when he arrived. A basket sat next to you which piqued his curiosity.

“A picnic hmm?” He asked, sitting down beside you and motioning to the basket. You could tell his voice lacked the buoyance that it normally possessed.

You knew what today was and you knew how Kaeya avoided it. You’d seen him for years ignore the significance of the date and hide the pain that came to his eyes.

Pulling out a parcel from the basket, you handed it to him.

“I had Sara make it for you. She told me it was your favorite and I figured you’d be hungry after climbing all this way.” You offered it to him with a small smile.

“It smells delicious…but how’d you know I was going to be here?” He responded with a bit of surprise, taking the parcel in his hands and unwrapping it.

“Because I took care of Jean’s paperwork, made sure the Traveler and Paimon would be here, and bought out all the wine in the other taverns around Mondstadt.” You confessed, watching him eat the meal you had gotten him.

You watched him raise an eyebrow in question.

“I knew you’d try to hide from it Kaeya, the significance of this day. I wasn’t going to let you. Everyone deserves the opportunity to be alone and reflect. I knew you wouldn’t chase after the opportunity to do so yourself. So, I found a way to gently push you in the right direction.”

He was a bit stunned by how you had gone out of your way to do all this for him. You forced him to take the time he knew he needed but would never give himself. For once, he was completely silent after your statement. No quick-witted remark or flirty compliment, just thoughtful silence.

“Thank you, you clearly care about me if you were willing to do all of this.” He stared, looking at you in the orange light of the setting sun.

“I do care for you and I want you to be happy. Not just temporary happiness though. You deserve the kind of happiness that comes after reflection and thought.” You replied

He desperately wanted to lighten the mood. He couldn’t possibly respond in an equally meaningful manner to you. So, he reached an arm around you to slowly open the picnic basket.

“You wouldn’t have happened to bring any of that wine you bought, would you?” A small mischievous smile danced on his lips.

You laughed lightly and gently swatted his hand away from the basket.

“Easy, easy, I was getting to that.”

Pulling out a bottle of wine from The Cat’s Tail, you handed it to him with a glass to pour it in. Getting up, you dusted your clothing off. You gave him a small wave, then turned and took a few steps in the opposite direction.

“Now wait just a moment, where are you going? Leaving me all alone with a nice meal and a bottle of wine is quite rude you know.” Kaeya stated in a gentle tone, a small chuckle coming out afterwards.

“I figured you could use a bit more time to yourself.” You turned to face him as you replied.

Looking up at you with a smirk he motioned to the spot you had been previously sitting in.

“Well since it’s you, I wouldn’t mind a little company.”

————————★————————

Hope you had a happy time reading :)

Wishing you a delightful morning / night <3

[mrhaitch]

what are your views on booktok?

because in my opinion, it has caused a great deal of overconsumption and oversaturation in the literary industry. it's harder for authors who genuinely have a story to tell publish their books out there just because they don't contain the popular tropes or smut. (just to clarify, i grew up reading fanfics and i absolutely have nothing against smut or tropes, i write them myself. but they are not an indication of well-written literature.)

not to mention the rise in the romanticization of violence against women and toxic relationships. that was always there, but booktok kind of increased it in the name of being morally gray. morally gray characters can literally exist without being literal SAers. and it genuinely confuses me because booktok is a female dominated industry.

ive been reading since i was 6 years old and i was so glad when i found there was a community for readers on tiktok. i used to love booktok back in 2021 when people actually gave book recs based on plots and characters and depth and not how much smut it has. it couldve easily been a safe space for POC authors to publish books filled with representation and diversity and instead it turned into whatever it is now.

im also bitter because the girls who used to bully me for reading percy jackson and harry potter in middle school now claim to be readers while refusing to read anything that has no smut in it and reading books with worse plots than what i used to read on wattpad when i was 13.

(im not an elitist i swear i read and love books that arent just classics)

I believe I've talked about this a bit before, but I share your concerns. In fact I think it's part and parcel of people misusing and misunderstanding what social media is good for and what it's bad for.

Novels are complex media, the discussion of which requires time, space, nuance, and reflection. Tiktok affords users none of those, as it is focused entirely on quick, attention gabbing sips of raw dopamine. As such only the most salacious of story beats can be emphasised, as they're the most attention grabbing, which creates an atmosphere where books with MORE salacious content get more exposure.

The publishing industry, while made up of a lot of very smart and very passionate people, is collectively stupid - more so now that publishing houses are falling under the ownership of venture capitalists looking for a quick buck. Any trend or gimmick that's popular can and will be wrung until it's dry and howling. You'll be able to track this in real-time:

An excellent book becomes a cultural flashpoint, and people talk about it and recommend it to damn near everyone.

People who want to be published and successful and view those things as ends within themselves will try and distill that flashpoint into tropes, which they deploy themselves.

The market floods with more of the thing people like, and everyone's happy. The trend intensifies, each new iteration of those tropes becomes more and more basic - less a story which features those tropes, more a series of tropes with some narrative in between.

Then we hit peak saturation, and the appetite comes to a dead stop. Seemingly overnight readers will collectively nope out of the trend, and then start pushing back at it, complaining they're sick of having the same tired stuff shoved down their necks.

After which it's a case of waiting for the next thing. For examples see: Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Twilight, Game of Thrones, 50 Shades of Grey, and all of their respective derivatives.

Best advice - completely ignore it. Sidestep the whole fetid quagmire and do your own thing, it'll die out on its own.

[itwasnotahamster]

- Letters from the Dead -

Kråkstad, 24 August 1990 | © The Old Nick | Source: Letters from the Dead

The brackets will indicate possible context or corrections (sometimes commentary). - 💜

“Beheld Nick! It’s Dead here. 

Hey didn’t I wrote down the titles on the tracks on that tape?! I was sure I did… As for the other bands I have no idea now of what those were so I can’t tell you… But our 2 songs are (in the order. I always tape ‘em) the Freezing Moon and Carnage. I must ask you- what is a rapido-graph pen??? The only kind of pens I have are the ones I’m writing letters with, till they runs out and I must buy some new. Or simply something I just find… Yeah it’s shit to draw with the same kind of pens one is writing with but I guess I don’t have any choise [choice] ‘cos I must write so many letters so all the money goes to buy that kinda pens… but I’d like to know what that professional drawing pen is. And are you using that one? Is it ok if I send you 5 Asphyxia 7” , 5 Disharmonic O. 7” and 10 Merciless LP’s + a free copy for you? That’ll cost you £ 155000. You can pay now or when you receive the records at your post-office or when you have sold the records, it’s up to you. The price of 155000 lires sounds really expensive but the postage is included in that price (it’s very high price here t send anything by mail), or if you want it sent by airmail it’ll cost you £167000. I don’t think you’ve heard Dish. Orchestra, they’re Austrian and not many bands are from there, the only band I can listen to from A. Is Pungent Stench but they’re too much Grind I think. Dis.Orch. sounds strange but Pungent S. is much better. But if Pungent Stench is sold in Italian shops and stores already it’ll be too hard for you to sell them. Is the split-LP Dish.Orch/Pungent Stench for sale in Italy? If not, I suggest you to order that one instead of those 7”s. The very best one of these is the Asphyxia 7” but I can’t send you more than 5… I’m sorry but they’re limited (1000 ex) and when I’ve sent you these 5 copies we have only 15 of ‘em 7’s left and we’re the only who have any copies left to sell so only some few people can get them. 

Hey man, what the hell are you using on your stamps? I need to know ‘cos the kind of glue (<—?) you have on it can’t be seen unless by someone who suspects it’s glued. We mostly put glue on our stamps before but too often they discovered it at our shitty postoffice and teared them off. It’s shit that we can’t use glued stamps on parcels with records in it. To send out records is our biggest expencies, and if we could, we would have so much lower prices on our records. But the fact is that when we send out parcels with more than 6 records it gotta be some stupid sheet on the side of the carton, that they at the post o. put all the stamps on, and tears off that part of it with the fucking stamps on so the receiver can’t find any stamps on the parcel and of course then can’t send back any stamps. We mainly send out 10 rec’s or more each time cos almost everybody can sell around 10 rec’s… Norway is very expensive in everything, take an example- Sweden is also expensive, compared with the rest of Europe (I know, ‘cos I am from Sweden) but there almost everything is the half price of compared to Norway. Especially it’s much cheaper to send out records or any mail from S. Than from N. I think only Finland and Switzerland and Japan is more expensive than Norway… 

I hate to live in Scandinavia and my dream is to come away from this hole. If I’m forced to live the rest of my life in Scandinavia I would choose Iceland or Greenland instead of this shit. I hate almost everybody here and in this local area I hate everybody. If something at all happens in this country it’s there Metalion lives (Slayer mag and some other mags and bands are there) in Sarpsborg, but it’s more than fucking 60 km to that place from here. 

Hey about those records, do you also want Malicious Intent, I must say that they aren’t so brutal and not real Death Metal… but that’s up to you of course. I don’t decide what records you shall buy nor what records we shall sell. If it was only I who ordered in vinyls I would throw a big part of what we sell (like yucky Nomed as one example!) but we’re more than only me in DSP. Except the recs I just counted up we have only one that I put value on and that’s the Schizo LP, that you surely can see in every Italian record shop, yeah? We’ll soon get a limited 7” of Carcass imported from Mexico, St. George’s Hall, Bradford 15/11/89, live of course (1000 copies). Personally I hate Carcass and I can’t stand those trendy clone bands but I thought you might be interested + some demos of Dorsal Atlantica (Brazil), limited to 250 copies. I don’t know yet what the price on ‘em’ll be but I’ll inform ya of it. 

Do you think you can give me the addresses to Paul Chain and the guy who comes from Transylvania’s Carpatii Palatul…. That made me feel like my brain is bleeding, man! If they don’t mind you give out their addresses of course. It seems to me that Transylvania has stopped in time, not in the cities of course but fuck the cities! You know there are about 1-2 million people in Transyl. who’re of German origins. I heard that they shall speak 15th century-German… And that they still have garlic everywhere to protect the houses from the vampire and rituals to avoid the “stregoica” [Strigoi] to come, and exorcism rituals on “suspected” bodies that can have been killed by a vampire… Do you know if that’s true? I’m only interested in the Carpathian areas of the Transylvanian highland ‘cos there are all the castles. Have you heard of that secret tunnel inside the mountain up to Countess Bathory’s castle? I’m not sure if her castle is “the Mandarin” in the very North (I think in Suceava) or if it’s that one a bit South of “Pandarin” called Csejthe, on the edge of the Carpathia. But however now that tunnel’s exactly destination is forgotten and people’ve been trying to find that tunnel inside the huge mountain — up to the castle- for hundreds of years… I’ve also heard or  read somewhere that not only Bathory was the “special” one who lived there but also lots of other maniacs, killers, vampires, sorcerers and vampires lived there. But only E.Bathory got known of ‘cos of her record in mass murderer. Some witch that’s supposed to be immortal- whose name is Cilorgia shall live in that castle by now. I can read that Bathory was Transylvanian and that she came from a “big” and rich Transylvanian family but the Hungarians claims that she was Hungarian (?)… If I’m not totally wrong, then it shall be turk skeletons impaled left around Vlad Țepeș castle, Hunedoara (a valley beside it with 20000 impaled Turks + some other Vallachians [Wallachians]+Moldavians and more) + a forest with craniums nailed to the trees + remains of boiled people and so on. The typical “Dracula’s” castle are both in Brașov (Bran) and in Brad, which confuses me totally. There shall be heaps of other stories/legends/history/tales (or whatever) than only those about vampyrism like in the Western Carpathians there shall be some cemetery called “Chapel of St. Eisel” (in Somesul it is) where a cranium with horns and fangs was found and it’s thought to bleed whenever a soul is lost to Lucifer. Over that place it shall be some place called “Mount Albac” where some weird oracle shall have been. In the mid-Transylvania, between ‘ the mountains there is a huge swampland that is inhabited and haunted by lots of ghouls. A mountain in Transylvania is called “Funnel of Hades” I don’t know anything more about it but what a brutal name or what! [sounds pretty metal to me] How I hated the ex-dictator Ceausescu (in Romania), he extinguished many ancient ruins and castles there!!!! I’m not concerned by policy at all but that guy wiped away 3 fucking towns to build a royal castle for himself. I’ve heard that the new prime minister there not shall be much better — Ilinescu. 

There gotta be some reason of that there are so many different names of vampires in Transylvania, each one is a different sort of vampire. Over here we only know of one name. My goal in life is to visit Transylvania and Moldavia and to learn everything of the legends there that rarely are known of in the West. Also in the Soviet Union it shall be stories told from father-to son since hundred of years ago about their Upir, that isn’t know of outside of Russia. I’ve been obsessed by horror since my fucking birth and it’s been only “worse”, the more I hear about those Eastern legends I wanna move to Transylvania more extremely much more! Do you know if they have colonies of their porphyrians in Transylvania (like with the Leper colonies)? It would be totally great to meet a porphyrian! If they have some particular hidden places for porphyrians there, I wanna live among them, maybe I could get a job as a blood bringer for them… As you probably know, they have (at least they had under Ceausescu) extreme problems in electricity and they could have a lamp lightened for 2 hours each day or so, the weird thing is that it shall be bands there though (but only Heavy Metal). I heard from a friend in Hungary that it shall be a “metal” zine in Transylvania, but I don’t have that address. Do you know some more about Lycanthropy/werewolves? I don’t know much about that anyway. I try to find flowers of that kind that are supposed to be fed by the moon light but I don’t know the name of those flowers. Only of one, but I don’t think it has anything to do with the moon- Wolvesbane, that one is thought to “infect” humans to werewolves, it’s very poisonous anyway. It grows only at very strange places and I doubt it at all exists in Scandinavia… I’d like to collect plants that are superstitions of. I guess the people in-or from Translyvania think that the views, we who’re not from there, have of that place sound strange to them. Especially those vampire movies. So much crap-movies have been produced, only a very few, are of value. Bram Stokers novel “Dracula” made probably the most of how our idea of Dracula looks like still in these years. I think it was wrong done of Stoker to mix all togeather [together] different legends in Transylvania to one “noble man” or aristocrat that he called Dracula. One legend was Vlad Țepeș, the impaler (the only one it’s prooved he really existed) the warlord and the Romanian peoples hero, but he also massacred his own people. Another legend is vampyrism. Or it’s not simply one, actually it’s one kind of a stregoica- sorcerer of the Black Arts that can manage shape-shanging into animals (but not into bats so I don’t know from where came the idea of the vampire-bat) another one is the Nosferatu (Nosferatu means “undead” or “back from the dead”), Drac, Odorofen (orig. name I think), Vrkolak, Vrykolakas (Greek), Draculae, Upir (Russian), Dupir (Turkish) Ordog, Pokol, Vampyr, Whamphyr, Vampir, Dracul (Transyl. Moldavian), Dracula (Vallachian [Wallachian]), murony, muroin and strigoin… and so on and on… I don’t know all of the names, maybe you know some more??? The weirdest thing about vampyrism is that it was so spreaden out, all over the whole world (but in the West Europe not really until about 150 years ago). The idea of that when someone loosing all his blood that also the soul follows with it is really old and someone who then sucks out someone elses blood then must take thet ones soul and keep it. So for thousands of years ago or maybe even longer back in time than that people around the world have had some kind of a vampire tale from that idea of the blood is the soul and life. I can not understand how people of that time could find out the legends of wolf-men... have you ever seen a wolf in a zoo or something like that? The only difference between a wolf and an ordinary dog is that a wolf is wild, got about some 100 times smarter brain and stronger instincs. 

We have in Norway-Sweden-Finland-and Russia (Kola half -island) in the north a place called Lappland, in case you don't know, we got some strange animals up there, also wolves (but not so many). Another animal that lives up there is the Musk Ox, it's a kind of "ancient cow" with twisted horns and long hair but they're very rare (I've seen them only once hone I was up there in the very North). I don’t think it was the idea of the wolves themselves that made people find out about werewolves — but their reaction at the full moon. Also humans reacts at the full moon but I think that is growing away more and more ‘cos it was really many generations ago since the humans lived in forests near the nature so now we’re only used to computers and disgusting technology [couldn’t agree more]. Humans adjustment to newer times and hi-tech shit has made our brains different, our instincts are almost gone etc. But I believe that for some hundreds or thousands years ago we could feel alike the animals in many manners. Have you been living alone in a forest for a longer time? Have you then felt how your mind can “turn back” to be more primitive… at least that’s how I feel it then. I’m working on that for example when I need new (old…) and different ideas for lyric material. I’ve tried that out, to sit alone in a lonely and half-broken down cabin in a dark forest, by night. The worst thing about the modern time is the modern way of thinking and too much can be explained. But I must end here. You have now the prices and you know of what records you can order so don’t forget to tell of how many you want and of what you want, ok. So I hope to hear from ya soon, pal. Oh yeah, of course you can send back the copies you eventually can’t get rid of, but if so I suggest you to wait to some time later to see if you can sell ‘em then instead— or in worst case you can send ‘em to someone else in Italy who can buy/sell (we can find one, if so). Be evil — Not openminded! Only Black is true, only Death is Real!

Gore is trend! No fun - No trends! C-ya!

Dead”

[rideboomindia]

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  At this stage, the RideBoom delivery truck service is available only in tri-city and very soon the service will be added to more cities.

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[eponadolls]

Lost in Shipping?

Be warned, a bit of a rant ahead...

About a month ago, I found a seller selling the War Story Captain Elsa head separately, and I pounced on it. I like some pieces from the fullset outfit, but buying just the head would have saved me a good bit of coin, which is appreciated since she would have been customized into one of my 1/6 action figure elf crew. Unfortunately, it's been in a... shipping limbo. It hasn't been lost as much as "effectively, probably, lost."

It went through customs and Chicago just fine, and then took a detour to Pontiac, Michigan and... went radio silent. For a long time. Can't have nothing in Detroit, I guess. I put in a missing parcel request and just... waited. Eventually I got a very unpleasant update:

"The package associated with this tracking number did not have proper postage applied and will not be delivered. You are encouraged to contact the sender/merchant to seek reshipment, refund or other available recourse."

This is... the first time I ever got that notification. I contacted my post office and they said they would let Pontiac know that, if necessary, I would be willing to pay the overdue postage at delivery at the post office, but they couldn't guarantee anything, especially if it ends up being used in a case against the shipper (in case said person was known for not paying correct postage). I quickly followed up with the seller and I was told the following:

"hello, friend, just talked with the aliexpress carrier Cainiao, they reply as following : Due to USPS system issues, the deduction was not successful. USPS is arranging for transfer and delivery. Please inform the consumer that there is no need to pay postage and wait patiently for the package to be delivered [...] and, friend, if till Oct 21th,you still haven't received the package, you can open up an haven't received case for it"

...Unfortunately, there was been NO movement on the package, so I don't think the package will show up. I guess tomorrow I can file for my refund but it really, really sucks that this head will (probably) never be arriving. There was only one other seller I found find selling her head and it's out of stock now too, well before I noticed the delivery issues, so it looks like I'm kind of shit out of luck and I'll have to probably buy the full figure anyways if I really want this sculpt. She's widely avaliable at least but this is a real kick in the teeth, I would have much rather paid $50 for a sculpt rather than $200 for the whole figure with an outfit that only a few select pieces would I utilize well. If she had the BBK Pirate outfit, I wouldn't complain since honestly, I could use a lot of those pieces really well... I should be getting my refund without any problems, and the seller has been nice so far with this issue, but this has been really disappointing.

[stephensmithuk]

The Man with the Watches

Originally written in 1898 as part of a series of short stories called Round the Fire. Doyle needed money to complete a house he was building in Surrey. Insert your own jokes about actors, bad movies and extensions here.

Rugby is a town in Warwickshire, 83 miles north of London. Yes, it is where the sport of rugby is named after - more specifically Rugby School, a famous private school.

Smoking areas in British trains were gradually abolished from the 1980s, the final ones going in 2005 (GNER and Caledonian Sleeper). I have a 2000 GB-wide timetable showing where smoking was still permitted. In some cases, the trigger for the ban was the move to air-conditioned stock that would result in the smoke circulating in the rest of the train.

A Gladstone bag was a rigid-framed small suitcase that could be opened into two equal halves, named as such due to its used by William Gladstone, four-time British Prime Minister, who would start his final ministry later in 1892.

The guard's van on passenger trains was generally a specific section of a carriage that also had a caged area for carrying luggage, parcels and caged small animals.

Willesden Junction is located in Harlesden, NW London. It no longer has any platforms on the West Coast Main Line, with Avanti and London Northwestern Railway trains going straight past it. Its passenger service today is made up of London Overground Lioness line services from Euston to Watford Junction, Overground Mildmay line services from Stratford to Richmond or Clapham Junction and the Underground's Bakerloo Line from Harrow and Wealdstone to Elephant & Castle. The first and third share the same tracks, while the second operates, on lines shared with freight trains, on separate "High Level" platforms. There is a depot for Overground trains nearby.

Non-gangwayed stock i.e. carriages with no connection between them even for emergency use, continued to be built into the British Railways, with quite a few of the "first generation" of diesel and electric multiple units being built this way. Most got gangways in later refurbishments, but the Class 205 DEMU, bar one example (205205) altered in a refurbishment trial, would carry on without them until final withdrawal in 2004. Most of the survivors then promptly ended up in the hands of heritage railways.

The Bible Society of London was founded in 1804 with the aim of providing affordable Bibles in people's own languages, after the 1800 case of a woman called Mary Jones, who saved up for six years then walked 26 miles to buy a Bible in Welsh. It is still active today.

The London to Rugby line had been widened to four tracks in the 1870s. From west to east, the tracks go: Down (Northbound) Fast - Up (Southbound) Fast - Down Slow - Up Slow. Ergo, you cannot move between two Down trains without a big leap. (https://www.opentraintimes.com/maps/signalling/lec2#LINK_1)

A bunco-steerer is a swindler.

Green goodsmen operated a scam in which people were offered purportedly counterfeit notes printed using stolen plates (so appearing genuine) at a cheap price, being shown actually genuine notes in a bag. During negotiation, the bag was switched for one containing worthless goods, like sawdust or green paper. Having been duped out of real money, the victims were reluctant to report this to police as attempting to purchase fake money was illegal.

Card-sharping is cheating at cards using various means, including cutting bits of cards to mark the ones you would want. Vegas casinos frequently deliberately cut corners off used cards being sold to tourists to prevent them being snuck into their games.

Tammany refers to Tammany Hall, the corrupt political machine that had ran New York City, for much of the 19th century, leveraging support from Irish immigrants by providing them with jobs for example. It had been temporarily ousted from power after the Lexow Commission of 1894-95 into police corruption; to wit, promotions were being sold for large sums of money and officers got that through extracting protection money from brothels etc. However, it would come back in the 1898 elections and retain control with occasional breaks until 1961, when Carmine DeSapio was ousted as its leader. It then lost power and had gone by 1967.

Travelling salespeople would carry samples or models of their products on their trips, sometimes in branded containers. This has largely become a thing of the past, but is still around.

Northumberland Avenue used to have a lot of high-class hotels, but these have mostly gone. Some were taken over for government use for a while, including by the War Office.

"Mary Jane" appears to have been a slang term for a male prostitute; Mary Jane Kelly was the final victim of Jack the Ripper.

[sabrinahawthorne]

The Forever Game, pt 2: What Gets to Be a Forever Game?

referencing this post

Let's talk about what counts as a Forever Game, shall we? Considering it's a term I saw once on a post I can no longer find and proceeded to formalize with Proper Noun Caps, it certainly can't prove to be a reductive taxonomy, can it?

As I mentioned in part 1, I think of Forever Games as being a type of game on its own - something with a certain approach to character design & progression, which is built with some assumption of long-term play. After all, I don't usually suggest Mage: The Awakening as a one-shot game.

This conception clearly isn't universal - a number of respondents brought up the fact that just about any game can be the one a table comes back to as their baseline, so long as they like it enough. And that's absolutely true - For the end user, any game can serve any purpose. Unfortunately, and with respect to the people who brought it up, this observation just isn't very useful for our purposes.

It's absolutely true that any game can be someone's forever game. But that's a feature of tabletop games as a medium - the fact is, at the end of the day all games take place inside our heads. This is why people use D&D 5th edition as a murder mystery game, or a tabletop-visual-novel; they understand that the fundamental mechanism of this art form is the limitless power of imagination, and are comfortable using the same rules framework every time to build whatever narrative they like, regardless of whether or not better-tailored alternatives exist.

If we want to get on the same page about Forever Games, we need to look at something concrete - like on-paper design of games themselves. That in mind, let me put forth some qualities that a Forever Game might have:

Almost certainly a trad game. While games like Wanderhome exist, the vast majority of titles I'd list as forever game candidates have a GM and probably use at least two denominations of dice.

A multi-faceted character framework. In other words, a race/class system is better suited for a Forever Game than simple Playbooks, generally speaking. This is for replayability's sake. Some folks play wizards all the time, every time - but if you've just spent five years as Slagnarr the Axinator, it might be nice to start over as a healer for the next go round.

A customizable progression track. The more a game allows you to make a capital-B-Build, the better. This is part & parcel with the above point, re: replayability, but it serves another purpose - embodying your character concept. Imagination is well and good, but there's something special about having a class feature that supports the way you want to play your character. It makes them feel more real.

At least one game mode that involves intricate mechanical interactions. The classic version of this is a grid combat system - but a crunchy exploration system or involved crafting mechanic are also good examples of this. The more rich and interesting a game's... well, game elements are, the better the game will hold up over time. Note that I don't say complex, but rich. There's a reason GURPS light is more popular than the full ruleset. Games tend to last longer when they give more of the table something to be doing at any given time, minimizing dead zones in play.

Little in the way of social mechanics. Hear me out on this - for a lot of tables, the ability to get together with friends, put on a mask, and goof off without fear of social repercussion is a huge draw. Having to do the same kinds of rules reference for politicking that you use for mosnter slaying doesn't facilitate the fantasy; it hinders freedom of play. You want the chance to fail your Will save because it creates interesting drama. The idea that you might be punished for shamelessly flirting with the King while his consort is Right There ruins the fun. A table's forever game is going to be something that lets them play casually. I don't think this is a controversial opinion; the idea of a "beer and pretzels" game is older than I am, and anyone who's been in a long-term game with friends knows how loosey-goosey things can get. I think that facilitating jokes has a solid correlation to facilitating coming back to the game.

This isn't really working towards anything. Really, I just wanted to take the opportunity of my own vagueness to elaborate a bit on what exactly I mean when I say "forever game," so if I decide to keep poking the hornet's nest, we can at least agree on whether I'm using a stick or a branch.

[zahri-melitor]

Christmas with the Super-Heroes #2

This is an issue of all-new stories, meaning I finally get away from TT Christmas Carol. And fascinatingly, this set are actually all quite reflective and less relentlessly cheerful and madcap than your average Christmas story. I highly recommend, even though there are no Real Santas in this set.

Superman: Ex-Machina – honestly this story was gentle as it sat with the pain inside it, and the silences, and what people don’t want to discuss. It’s more powerful in the way both Superman and the main character don’t want to spell out their situations more than necessary.

Batman: And in the Depths – another story about grief, revolving around the Cave and those who enter it. I really really like this, as the text helps, but it also works as a story of pictures. Also love a robin (bird) in front of Jason’s memorial case moment.

Wonder Woman: Gifts – Christmas at the Kapatelis', with Diana and one of Julia's good friends, Pastor Sharon Jackson. It's a very ecumenical comic, discussing the foundations of belief and service in the face of abandonment and despair, but it also has this amazingly adorable panel with Diana in an apron working out how cookie cutters work.

Enemy Ace: Silent Night – a proper no-text comic! This one is set during Christmas 1916 at an Allied hospital somewhere in Europe. They're out of supplies and a German war ace lands his plane and delivers a parcel of food for Christmas dinner. He's both thanked and threatened by various staff and patients of the hospital. It's very The 1914 Christmas Truce. (Excuse me I need to go play What's a Few Men by Hunters & Collectors a few times)

The Flash and Green Lantern: An Old-Fashioned Christmas – this is a flashback Barry and Hal comic, heads up, despite the date of the special. And yes, it's a comic where Ollie gives Hal Das Kapital (spelt Das Capital apparently in the DCU).

After Monitor Duty Barry and Hal go to visit a town that seems very depressed at the thought of Christmas as it's 'not like it used to be' and nobody believes in Santa. They run into C.B. Fenster "one of the richest men on Earth" who just wants a good Christmas and for someone to prove for him Santa exists. Hal and Barry decide to do this... by getting Fenster to dress up as Santa and setting up a sleigh to go and deliver presents to various households!

Yes. Amazing picture isn't it.

The first few deliveries don't go too well for Fenster, but then he comes across a woman struggling to put the kids bikes together on Christmas Eve. Her husband ordered them and then conveniently died 6 months ago, causing every parent's favourite holiday game "build the big present out of sight of the kids". Fenster helps and feels pretty good about it. From then on he comes across a bunch of other people who really just need someone to lend a hand and some time.

And Fenster, Barry and Hal reach the moral that often, people just want someone who cares and who cares to listen.

Deadman: Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot – Boston apparently likes to jump into the biggest rich bastard's body he can find right before Christmas and use their money to buy Christmas presents for people and do some good deeds. Honestly, that tracks.

Then he steals someone else's Christmas party by riding them the whole time (as he's feeling lonely).

Then Boston runs into pre-Crisis Kara Zor-El, looking VERY cute.

Boston discusses his feelings of loneliness with Kara, and she delivers a few home truths about being a hero:

"We do it because it needs to be done. Because if we don't, no one else will. And we do it even if no one knows what we've done. Even if no one knows we exist. Even if no one remembers we ever existed." "Yeah. I guess we do. Look, don't mind me. I'm just a putz sometimes, you know?" "No, You're only human. You are still human, Boston. Don't be ashamed of it; Rejoice in it. Because it means your spirit -- as flawed or selfish as our spirits can sometimes be -- is still alive."

And then she's like "Surprise! I'm Kara!" to make it clear for the audience. Boston of course does not recognise her, because COIE.

(You shoulda gone and talked to Psycho Pirate instead, Kara, and gotten recognised then)

[alliesdelimma]

"When will you take the big step and be one of mine, little bird? I could use a courier with your sort of passion."

Carefully Allie lowered a wooden crate to the floor, fighting the urge to pant as she straightened and set hands on hips.  It had taken the better part of the day already slaving away under the sun and the watchful eye of the Courier Office manager.  It was exhausting work to get things organized and ready for distribution through the many couriers who slipped in and out on their way to and from deliveries.  Every Courier under this group had to take a turn here.  Or at least that’s how it was supposed to work.  Newbies and those under some kind of disciplinary action were usually tasked with the work.  What better way to learn the ropes and to punish those troublemakers?

She wasn’t the former, and…well the latter might be accurate.  Such a thought had a grin cross her face earning her a scowl from the man who’d been keeping an eye on her this whole time.  He had been watching her like a hawk, she’d gotten the service quite a scolding for failing to deliver a package.  The thought only made her smile grow as crystalline blue narrowed for a brief moment.  “I’m going to take a break real quick,”  Maybe she was exactly a troublemaker as a bump of her hip was enough to send a table piled high with letters and parcels to turn into an avalanche of paper and twine to spill across the floor.

Snickering as she stepped out into the evening sun, Allie settled herself cross legged upon a crate outside the couriers office the Little Sparrow rubbed her shoulder, trying to ease a sore muscle just under the surface.  It was one thing to deliver mail, she had a deadline to meet but really it let her see the world and meet so many people, but her work of late had been extra difficult of late.  Today had been perhaps the roughest day she'd had since returning to work.

It had taken a long time to get back to form as it was.  Briefly being a prisoner of war, dealing with an irritable dwarf  help her to walk and find her feet again after the injury to her leg, and the mental barriers of getting back into the swing of things.  None of that even counted the mountain of paperwork that awaited her in the couriers office due to her absence as well as dealing with a fine on top of what she had incurred due to her injury, imprisonment, and recovery…she was tired, sore, and still felt like she had a mountain more to do just to get back on track

But Allie was nothing if not stubbornly determined.  She’d take care of her debts, she just needed to work a little harder for it.  She-.

“Oh.  This came for you…earlier…”  The manager stepped out and shoved a note into her hands. Sniffing the man stared down at her, "You...hmph. You'll be alright..." With that puzzling response the man returned inside.

Slowly the redhead looked down at the paper in her hand eyes widening as she read the words several times just to be sure she'd read it right.

"When will you take the big step and be one of mine, little bird? I could use a courier with your sort of passion."

Tired as she was, sore as she was. Nothing could contain the excitement within her, as she was on her feet in a second and hopped around with a laugh of pure joy. Recharged she dashed back inside to pen out a response. Stepping over the mess that still remained from her hip check of a table.

"Just tell me when and where Lady Courier. I'm there."

Still grinning the message was slid into a spare envelope and offered it to the grumpy man. "I need a delivery."

Frowning the man took it, looking at it and the address written. "I can-" He was cut off as a hand was extended.

"I'm still on the clock right? There isn't another courier here and that seems like an important delivery. I'll deliver it. Since no one else can do it right now." The man's scowl as the letter was passed back lingered even as she flashed him a bright grin and was running out the door.

The Little Sparrow was more than happy to be a courier under The Courier. But what kind of passionate courier wouldn't deliver a response in person?

((Thank you for the ask! You have no idea how happy Allie became in my head with this @safrona-shadowsun ))

[myhauntedsalem]

The History of Zombie Road

Zombie Road has quite a reputation as a place where shadowy figures and other non human entities have long been reported.

Gregory Myers of the Paranormal Task Force presents this piece on the history and deaths of one of the most haunted locations in the United States.

Within the urban sprawl of St. Louis lies a remote area called “Zombie Road”. Urban Legend tells a variety of eerie tales which include being host to ritualistic and occult practices which spawned inhuman and demonic entities while other tales tell of those who met their peculiar demise and still roam this desolate road in the afterlife.

“Zombie Road”, real name “Lawler Ford Road” is about 2 miles long through a valley of forest oak land hills and ends near the Meramec River in the Glencoe, MO area where it meets the newly established “Al Foster” trail.

The history of this area goes back to ancient Native American times where this was one of the few pathways cut by nature over the centuries through the bluffs to the Meramec River area just beyond them. It is believed that travelling ancient Native Americans used this pathway for foot travel and also quarried flint here for the making of various tools and weapons.

In the early 1800’s a Ferry (boat) was operated at the bottom area of this passage at times where a ford was located in the river for settlers and travellers to cross the Meramec River to the other side where the Lewis family owned much of the land. The origin of the road name is unknown to historians even today.

Ninian Hamilton a settler from Kentucky was the first settler to occupy and own land in this area in 1803. After his death in 1856, James E. Yeatman a prominent St. Louis citizen, a founder of the Mercantile Library and president of the Merchants Bank acquired the large parcel of land that Mr. Hamilton settled and owned.

The Pacific Railroad completed their railroad line from St. Louis to Pacific along the Meramec River in this area in the 1850’s. Della Hamilton the wife of Henry McCullough, who was Justice of the Peace for about thirty years and Judge of the County Court from 1849 to 1852, was struck and killed by a train in this area in 1876.

The first large scale gravel operations on the Meramec River began at what would become Yeatman junction in this area. Gravel was taken from the Meramec River and moved on rail cars into St. Louis. The first record of this operation is in the mid-1850’s. Later, steam dredges were used, to be supplanted by diesel or gasoline dredges in extracting gravel from the channel and from artificial lakes dug into the banks. This continued until the 1970’s.

From about 1900 until about 1945, Glencoe and this area was one of the resort communities of the Meramec River’s clubhouse era. Many of the homes were summer clubhouses, later converted to year round residences then lost to the great local floods of the 1990’s.

Some say this is called Zombie Road because the railroad workers who once worked here rise from their graves at times to roam about. Some insist that they have heard old time music, seen anomalous moving lights and other ghostly sightings from that forgotten era. Another tale tells of a patient nicknamed “Zombie” who escaped from a nearby mental facility never to be seen again. His blood soaked gown was later found lying upon the old road later named after him.

Other tales include one of an original settler who met their demise upon the railroad tracks. Another includes a pioneer who lost his wife in a poker game then went back to his homestead and took his own life. Many still report seeing these lonely spirits even today.

During the age of Prohibition a nearby town housed speak-easies and the summer homes of well known gangsters. Tales tell of individuals who were dealt a bad hand by such public enemies resulting in their permanent placement within the ground or bordering river to never be seen again.

The bordering river has tragically delivered many to the other side through the years. Children and adults alike have taken their last living breath within its dangerous waters before being found washed up on its shores. Even during this new millennium, several children met their demise one day within its banks.

The railroad still shows “Death hath no mercy” as many have met their final fate upon its tracks. Local lifelong residents can still remember multitudes of tragic occurrences dating back to the 1950’s. One of these occurred in the 1970’s when two teens were struck by an oncoming train. Some of the local residents were used in search parties to find the body parts scattered about the area.

During the 1990’s a mother and her five year old child were crossing a bridge when an oncoming train met them. The mother’s last action was pushing her five year old child off the bridge. The engineer was able to stop the train and save the child. Although the mother died, this is still one of the happiest endings to a story this area will provide.

More recent past has seen this area become refuge for those wanting privacy to practice the occult and other rituals. Who can really know what true doorways to the darkness or unknown were opened here.

During the 1960’s a couple in their late teens were on top of the bluffs overlooking the road below. The male somehow lost footing and during the fall caught his face in a fork of a small tree growing out from the side of the bluff. His face and scalp remained while the rest of him fell to his death upon the road below. Others have also met their demise from the high bluffs above.

The area has also seen its share of suicides and murders. In the 1970’s a hunter stumbled across a car still running at the end the road. Closer inspection revealed a hose running from the exhaust pipe to the inside of the car with the driver slumped over the steering wheel.

One can agree that there is no lack of legends or tragedies surrounding this area which can explain the bizarre and eerie encounters of those who visit. I was one who became truly intrigued and attracted by such lore and was determined to either prove or disprove the Urban Legends surrounding it.

Missouri Paranormal Research (now a division of Paranormal Task Force, Inc.), the paranormal investigative team I belong to, investigated this area on several occasions. Our visits converted many true skeptics into true believers of the paranormal. I was one of those the first time and even remarked “This was going to be like Winnie the Pooh looking for a ghost in 100 Acre Woods” prior to descending onto the old road.

Within an hour several people observed a human sized shadow figure as it descended upon them from a small bluff nearby. It then ran onto the road, stopped, then disappeared into the darkness of the night. Throughout the night others heard unexplained voices, were touched by the unseen and witnessed the unexplained. This was one night that everyone could conclude that indeed some Urban Legends actually are real!

[misspieckfinger]

Reminder you are not the Asshole if you don’t want to spend all your time listening to angry, upset, hyper emotional people fall apart all day. You do not lack empathy because of their failure to respect the fact that you have things to do, places to go, other people to which you would rather devote your time, things you’d prefer to be doing.

What does display a lack of empathy is a person who assumes you will spend your time consumed with the very negativity they complain is hurting them. There are people that get off on trying to push their problems onto other people, that is not healthy & you’re not a bad person for not liking it.

You have your own stressors, feelings, hopes, dreams, desires & everyday you get up & you be strong, you use your reason, you use your discipline & you don’t spew misery everywhere you go. The other person is just as capable of doing so. They could go educate themselves, they could independently learn techniques for managing their emotions just like you did, they can control themselves. They’re not because they find the idea of causing chaos & upset in other people’s lives more emotionally satisfying for some reason & that is not your fault. You didn’t make them that way, it’s not your job to fix then. You have your own issues that could have sent you that way if you were a different person. You’re busy fixing you. Everybody is busy with their own life’s work on themselves.

A covert narcissist will be the first person to call people unenlightened, unfeeling, unempathetic, when they aren’t being given the option to swallow up another person’s life with their upset. It’s important to look at whether they’re being empathetic to you & your time & your desires to determine if they’re telling the truth or if this is hoovering. Their whole construct is “im special because I feel so deeply, that’s why I’m so emotional like this & if that bothers you then you’re just not sensitive like me”.

That person is sensitive to their own emotions only. Show them one of yours & see if they don’t immediately try to divert the conversation back to how THEY feel & their needs. A real empath will keep track of the conversation & take the time to equitably respect & entertain your feelings without making it about themselves or getting triggered. A fake empath with a PD won’t be able to do that & if you point that out they’re going to cry about “keeping score” & try to accuse you of being the problem. You’re not.

There is no amount of gentle working out of the covert narcissist’s emotions that will make them stop being a black hole of directionless upset. If you offer understanding they get upset & you don’t understand. If you express a solution they’re triggered by it & you’re still the bad guy. They don’t feel better if you talk to them, they are prodding you for something else to get upset about so they can cry “how could you say that to me”.

This isn’t your fault & you have to understand the routine as part & parcel of their disorder. They have something wrong with them & it has nothing to do with you. Even animals out in the wild that live in groups understand that considerate & empathetic rapport is a give & take. Don’t doubt yourself don’t let them convince you, it’s like a glitch with them. If you say “I think you’re being too much” they’ll tell you that doesn’t count you’re not a therapist, if a therapist tells them the same they’ll have an issue with that particular therapist, if a better therapist also tells them their behavior is bad they’ll have an issue with therapy as a field. If god himself told them they’re being nasty to deal with they’d have a problem with religion. If Hawking rose from the dead & told them the constant upset makes them a jerk they’d have a problem with physics.

The constant game of thinking other people’s perceptions shouldn’t count is what makes them difficult & unhealthy in the first place. Don’t get upset, it’s not personal they have problems & you didn’t create those problems, they’re just proving your point by doing that. They would have you believe everybody’s feelings are wrong but theirs, they’re the ones who are wrong. It’s never we all have feelings & we can all have subjective value to ourselves, it’s they think your feelings are wrong & theirs are right-they’re not & you don’t need a dozen experts to verify you don’t feel good around someone. All you need is the feeling you don’t like them & if that upsets the covert narcissist let’s be honest, they were going to find something to get upset about anyway. If somebody can’t find positive things in life with all its beauty, all the good things in it that’s abnormal & there’s something wrong with that person.

Do some people get depressed & experience temporary lack of enjoyment? They do. But those people largely, entirely actually don’t sit around & try to make other people feel at fault for that. They remember good things, they want things to be good again, they understand the negativity to be a problem.

If you encounter somebody who thinks everything is bad, always was bad & tries to convince you that’s normal that’s a different mental disorder & run. A person with empathy doesn’t seek to convince other people life is horrible & they should see everything as horrible. That’s a bad person who wants people to suffer & that’s not permissible. No just depressed person actively tried to spread their hurts to others. Somebody that does that is wrong a different way & do not get sucked in.

[imaginedreamwrite]

I have an idea for a drabble for Curtis and snowbird:

I'd imagine before snowbird came along Curtis day was all work, necessary care to stay alive, sleep. Not much of fun downtime. Snowbird comes around and that changes. Not only do they go on trips or watch shows or cook together. No snowbird also makes him host parties/ get togethers with her. So for memorial day weekend they invite some friends and farmhands (plus family) to a BBQ and Curtis loves it

His ex-wife was a woman to get away from, a woman that he never really wanted to spend exuberant amounts of time with. Rather he’d find any excuse to avoid her and their time together when their relationship really started becoming chaotic and toxic. He had worked himself overtime to negate the way his marriage had become and the energy it took to keep his head above water with her.

That habit, it seemed, was hard to break even when he was in the best damn marriage he could have had. He had thrown himself into working the land he owned, taking care and raising the animals he bought and held in pastures, very often forgetting to care for himself.

“You’re going to burn yourself out.” Your message of concern was honest and real, it was rooted in worry that he was going to push himself beyond all limits until he completely crashed, and he welcomed your care for him.

“Let’s take a break then.”

Curtis was dragged out of the house by one of his hands’ wives, her insistence necessary to remove him from the kitchen when he tried an attempt at stealing a bacon wrapped scallop.

He was oddly nervous about taking this time off to breathe and enjoy the Montana sun, a strike of anxiety hitting him when it had sunk in that he would have a chance to be social and not have the topic of conversation rooted around ranching.

“Don’t miss an opportunity to be with your gorgeous wife on a day like today.” His hands’ wife scolded him with ease, knowing that Curtis cared about the wives just as he cared for the hands themselves.

“Look at her,” Curtis had muttered to himself more than to anyone else, self-commenting on the sight of you standing so free in the front of the house, “my wife…”

You were waiting for him in a soft little sundress with a deep V neckline, the straps of your dress overlain with lace and subtle ruffles. The skirt flounced around your lowers thighs softly, tracing the expanse of your skin that Curtis had spent hours, last night under the glow of the night sky, kissing and teasing.

“Mrs. Everett,” he stepped toward you and extended his hand for you to take, spinning you into his embrace and dipping you down, “you look beautiful.”

“So do you,” your reply was quick, your hands even quicker to yank his hat from his head and place it onto your own, “you’re a beautiful person, Curtis.”

He held you firmly and lowered his head to steal the first of many kisses, his lips grazing yours and his teeth nipping your plump lip to tease you. Your soft laugh against his kiss was endearing, it was genuinely the sound that he would wish to hear over and over again on a repeating track.

“Okay lovebirds, let’s have a toast first before we start public displays of affection.”

Curtis pulled away when prompted yet slipped an arm around you to keep close, using his free hand to accept a glass of wine. His fingers curled against the waist of your dress, feeling the seams beneath his fingertips and escaped into his head for the briefest moment as he wondered what it would be like to feel the flutter of a child.

“-thank you boss for the opportunity and help to buy a parcel of land for our family.” His oldest hire had raised a glass in cheers, thanking Curtis for the chance and the financial support to get started.

“Thank you Mrs. Everett for reminding Curtis to have fun every once in a while.” Another of the wives had jested with the truth, honestly grateful for your position here.

“This is my home, you’re my home.” You turned and whispered against his chest, speaking over his heart. “Curtis, this is everything I never knew I needed.”

“Happy summer, Mrs. Everett.”