#cosmic cool body products

[y2kbeautyandother2000sstuff]

IT"S HERE!!!! WOWOWOWOWOWOW

I can't believe I have this again! This was one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE scents and products, so the fact that I found this for sale is just beyond words...

BBW Art Stuff Sassy Starberry Cosmic Cool Foamtastic Body Wash

1996-2004ish

My personal picture for my collection

[thegreatzombieartisan]

“All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy. That's how far the world is from where I am. Just one bad day. You had a bad day once, am I right? I know I am. I can tell. You had a bad day and everything changed…” — the Joker to Batman

In Alan Moore’s graphic novel The Killing Joke, the Joker sets out to prove to Batman that faced with certain life changing events everyone, anyone, would choose madness, would choose villainy.

To prove his point, the Joker shoots the daughter of police commissioner Gordon, paralyzing and possibly even sexually assaulting her. He kidnaps and tortures Gordon, forcing him to view photos of the crime.

While Adar and Galadriel don’t neatly parallel Batman and the Joker, the “killing joke” theme is an interesting lens to analyze their S1 arcs.

Batman and the Joker had “one bad day.” For Batman, it was the murder of his parents. The Joker allegedly lost his pregnant wife in a car accident. Batman is called to dedicate his life and fortune fighting crime. But the Joker embraces a chaotic nihilism, insisting life is one big joke — so why does seeking justice even matter?

Similarly Adar’s “one bad day” is presumably the day he entered Morgoth thralldom. For Galadriel, it is when she learned her brother Finrod was killed.

Fork in the road, all four characters had to choose how to confront their immense pain, loss, and grief.

“Maybe there isn't any need to crawl under a rock with all the other slimey things when trouble hits. Maybe it was just you, all the time!" — Batman

Here Batman suggests that the Joker’s “madness” is an outcome of deficits in character or wisdom rather than cosmic inevitability. Conflict reveals character: core beliefs, cultural norms, and worldview that guide us. By blunting his pain with nihilism, Batman accuses the Joker of taking the easy way out.

To the Joker’s dismay, Gordon and his daughter, though likely traumatized from their ordeal, do not turn to madness. They refuse to allow their “one bad day” to compromise their values and goals. Where do they draw this strength of character and self-discipline?

Renowned psychiatrist Viktor Frankl offers an answer. In his famed book Man’s Search for Meaning, he revealed his “one bad day”. The day he and his pregnant wife arrived at a German concentration camp. Frankl vowed to live and reunite with her. He did survive but he never saw her again.

He coined the idea that a person can tolerate any how if they had a why. For Batman, Gordon and his daughter, the why is a purpose greater than themselves: justice. To be the person victims need them to be. Therefore, they live by a code of ethics. Batman famously avoids killing the baddies so he doesn’t become the darkness he vanquishes.

In contrast, Joker represents how the absence of productive meaning, hatred and hedonism rush to fill the space, leading to despair and dependency on antisocial and addictive activity.

Galadriel most closely reflects that inner void. Though her intent is virtuous, without offering us a clear vision of a post-Sauron future, and balancing urgency with care for others, her quest is somewhat self-serving, almost nihilistic; fueled by grievance and resentment toward anything, anyone, in her way.

We get the impression that if Galadriel ever did find Sauron, she would kill him then step over his cooling body to find a new enemy. Rather than humble herself, she embraces her moral failings as strengths. She cannot accept peace because war is what makes her life meaningful. And at times, it causes her to straddle the line between hero and villain.

Adar, like Frankl, simply had to survive for others. If he despaired or acted rashly; displeased Sauron and lost his trust; failed to assassinate his master — his “children” would be doomed forever to the dark lord’s purposes or hunted to extinction by Elves and Men.

But to withstand torture, debasement, and the suffocation of his spirit; to defer the gratification of freedom from bondage — all without ever giving up the dream of liberty. What empowered Adar to endure against the odds?

While Galadriel has something to die for, Adar has something to live for

Adar’s clear vision is reflected in his poise, his soft-spokenness and deliberate choices. The loyalty and respect of the otherwise unruly Uruks. A fortitude and foresight guided by estel, or hope more like faith. Because the Children are made imago Dei, or in the image and likeness of Iluvatar, Adar believes that, even in their miserable corrupted state, his “children” deserve a dignified existence. He will fight for them.

Adar’s reverence of the Valar reveals how faith anchored him to his Elven nature, and sustained him all these hard, lonely years. His strolls along the Sirion River, watched over by Ulmo. Soaking in his final sunset, shining with the pure light gifted to Varda. Planting Alfirin seeds before battle as an intercessory prayer to Yavanna for victory.

In contrast, Galadriel seems all but apostatized, untethered from her Elven nature. By shouldering the weight of Sauron’s return, she moves in a desperate frenzied way, grasping in the dark. Forgotten are the two commands Illuvatar had for the Elves: believe he exists and have estel; know their only battle is spiritual victory and thus surrender to his will.

When crossing a metaphysical bridge, the hero chooses heroism and the villain chooses villainy — again and again and again. Batman chose to honor his parents by being someone they would be proud of. Instead of being the man she loved, the Joker buried his pain under manufactured meaninglessness.

In his fight to survive, Adar, like Batman, does not escape his “touch with darkness” unscathed. He commits evil toward the Southlanders in service of a yet-to-be fully revealed plan that may take in a sinister edge. Galadriel, we know, will overcome her limitations. But what will Adar’s journey be — that of the villain or the hero?

[xykcta]

can we please hear more about your OCs?? :). they look really cool and interesting!!

only if you’re okay sharing of course

Well, now I'll try to describe it all..or at least something. I have a shared setting with my girlfriend and it takes place in an alternative Europe of the 19th century (mostly in Britain). The main group of characters are cryptid hunters. Hunters founded their guild, established their foundations, hierarchy and monetary relations with "commoners", who are most often customers for catching beasts that devoured livestock.

The main characters are hunters-partners: a tall, serious man from Scandinavia named Ryan (belongs to my gf) and a frivolous Romanian drinker Ardy (belongs to me).

They behave like a stereotypical couple who divorced 10 years ago, despite the fact that they have never been married. But now it's not about them, I just needed to mention them and the place of action so that you understand further information.

In addition to primitive cryptids that just eat cows or lure children into the forest, there are much more developed entities. People call them "angels" because they are of unknown origin, most often anthropomorphic in shape (but there are also completely fucked up), have appendages similar to wings, sometimes glow and convince not to be afraid of them. Angels know human languages and pretend to be "human" pretty well. To do this, they have a "real" appearance and a "formal appearance". This is necessary for them to live together peacefully, to explore the new world around them… or just eat people. Unfortunately, human meat is a mandatory product in their diet to imitate their appearance. But some of them eat people simply because they can (this is condemned by a considerable number of relatives). Some angels are so good at pretending to be homo sapiens that they hold high positions in human institutions.

One of these angels is Dr. Lee (a character of my gf, and her drawing of him). He is the head of a psychiatric hospital, which allows him to conduct experiments. Dr. Lee is obsessed with research on creating artificial life and crossing humans with angels to breed a new race.

He behaves more like a modeler of miniature ships made of 3,000 parts than a mad scientist. He considers the human race to be several steps lower in development, so he doesn't feel sorry for the patients in his asylum. But Lee understands perfectly well that he can't just throw away lives, so he has to keep an acceptable level of the institution in order not to arouse suspicion. Not the biggest fan of his own work, but proud of his latest "projects". The first project is a successful crossing of an angel and a human woman (under the name Lilith). The second project is the successful creation of artificial life, a homunculus named Franklin.

Franklin is currently the only successful homunculus created by the hands of Dr. Lee (where did the rest of the failed attempts go? nobody knows). He doesn't react to pain, performs immoral tasks without unnecessary questions and learns quite quickly (thanks to the collective mind). Unfortunately, his emotions and feelings are artificially suppressed, so it's hard for Franklin to realize sarcasm, humor, irony and other charms of complex human emotional intelligence. Homunculus doesn't know how to regenerate, but in this case, Dr. Lee has an ace up his sleeve - he relieves the previous body of suffering and creates Franklin anew, laying all the accumulated experience with the help of the collective mind.

Dr. Lee is not the only angel in the asylum. Zebedee also lived there for a while (despite Lee's attempts to kick him out). Zebedee is quite phlegmatic and passive, but this doesn't make him not dangerous. Under huge sleeves and baggy clothes, he hides his limbs with additional joints that he cannot shorten.

Zebedee is very ancient. He probably even remembers the Cambrian period. I think that's why he looks more like a prehistoric creature than something cosmic. He collects only the best from evolution. So he has a retractable jaw like a fish and amazing manipulative abilities like humans.

But there are also ordinary people in this institution. For example, intern Beatril Quincy. He had every chance to become a new ray of light in medicine, but addiction to opium and cocaine made him a scum. He doesn't disdain to steal laudanum from the shelves of medical offices and doesn't miss the chance to steal one of the bodies from grave diggers. All he wants is to get an opportunity to escape from the hospital he hates (which he eventually succeeds after being fired at Dr. Lee's asylum and suddenly getting a job as a guild doctor)

Actually, so far this is all I can tell you about the lore. In the future, there will be a clash between the hunter guild and Dr. Lee's hospital (but this still needs to be worked out better).

I hope it was at least a little interesting (:

[open-hearth-rpg]

#superheroRPGs2019  Spectaculars Core Game

As a physical product I can definitively say that Spectaculars is amazing. It’s one of a striking set of ttrpgs which have a board game form-factor. The publisher, Scratchpad, also made Dusk City Outlaws. I liked DCO okay, and I’d hoped it could be a resource for running Blades in the Dark. But beyond the NPC cards it didn't quite work for me. But Spectaculars is different.

It presents a full-bodied RPG campaign with the tools and add-ons the board game box makes you expect. Each player gets a cool plastic play tray into which you can slot your character sheets, powers, and more. Spectaculars has four different campaign pads, each with a different theme (street-level, cosmic, etc). The conceit of the whole thing is that all these campaigns take place in one shared comics line. It's not unlike the shared comics  setting we ran across multiple RPGs in the community, with a resource wiki helping to link the different GMs and games.

Spectaculars joins these four campaigns together with a large setting book. Various places, people, and incidents are briefly presented in the setting book. Each entry has a little information, a checklist of choices, and space to write in details of how this setting element appears in your campaign. So when you hit a reference on one of the campaign pads, you stop and go there to make collaborative choices, add to the details, or just reference what you’ve already decided. It's a "legacy" (like the board game) approach. Now most campaigns have a legacy element; building up stories over time tracked on character sheets, handouts, maps, etc. But this approach provides a walk-in structure for play. You get the sense of a history which you get to build on in a meaningful way. It’s supportive, not intrusive. It prompts you but leaves plenty of imaginative space.

I’ve seen the box on sale a couple of times (and bought mine 50% off from the company). There’s also a digital version but I’m unsure how easy that would be to manage. There’s a strong physical component of play that I’m worried would get lost in a Zoom call. 

[imahoeforsokka]

TTPD LIVE REACTION

1. Fortnight

I AM SO SAD

THIS HURTS

POST MALONE YAYAYAYAY

bro fucking cheated

WTF HAPPENED IN FLORIDA

2. TTPD

oh my god he fucking cheated

is he insane

genuinely

NO-FUCKING-BODY LMAO

CHARLIE PUTH AWW

this is so awful

i’m drowning

YOU TOLD LUCY WHAT????

SHE TOLD JACK WHAT?!!!!!????

he would not marry her i hate him

who else decodes you is insane

3. my boy only breaks his favorite toy

oh?? this is hot??

ok lana del rey relax

OH MY LORD

PUT ME BACK ON MY SHELF???

SAND CASTLES

THIS IS SO PRETYY WHAT

HE SAW FOREVER SO HE SMASHED UP.

HE WAS MY BEST FRIEND.

not ken

HE TOLD ME IM BETTER OFF BUT IM NOT. OUCH OUCH

4. down bad

ooooooo pretty

cosmic love ok

I MIGHT JUST DIE IT WOULD MAKE DO DIFFERENCE

HEAVEN STRUCK

HOW DARE YOU THINK ITS ROMANTIC

FUCK YOU IF I CANT HAVE US OH MY GOD

jesus he’s gone

5. so long, london

already brutal bc it’s a track five

rip london boy

oh this is COOL

OH MY GOD HER VOICE

oh the tragedy

YOULL FIND SOMEONE

GAVE YOU ALL THAT YOUTH FOR FREE.

ILL FIND SOMEONE.

quiet resentment

not sure if he wants to be THERE

YOU SWORE YOU LOVED ME, WHERE WERE THE CLUES?

I DIED ON THE ALTER WAITING FOR THE PROOF. OH MY GOD OH MY GOD.

cause i loved this place for so long, london.

that was insane holy fuck

6. but daddy, i love him

wait

is this about

no way??

is this

i feel like im wrong

ok update i was wrong

oh my god this is ouch

BEDROOM EYES LIKE A REMEDY

this is strangely fearless coded?

like mature fearless

this feels like love story got punched in the face?

BITCHING AND MOANING YES

VIPERS DRESSED IN EMPATHS CLOTHING!!!!!!

this is so pretty wow

but brings lovers,,, closer

okay wait i might have been right earlier omg

TRAVIS?

WILD BOY

i’m having is baby is HILARIOUS i love her

i think that was the transition of joe to travis and i’m obsessed

7. fresh out the slammer

ok wild west

pretty baby

another summer, taking cover

he was with her in dreams OK JOLENE

for just one glimpse of his smile

swirled you into all of my poems omg

AMERICAN DREAMS

IMAGINARY RINGS

i did my time

wow.

jack is KILLING IT HOLY HELL

8. Florida!!!

im already scared from track 1

weed or little babies is crazy

is one hell of a drug

hey florence

CHEATING HUSBAND DISAPPEARED

NO ONE ASKS QUESTIONS HERE

is that a bad thing to say in a song? OH MY GOD

ok DRUMS

they have a fun mix woah

ok we like florida cool ok

ok

cool cool cool

ok

shitstorm in texas

that’s so cool omg

9. guilty as sin?

ok hey drums

i have a love song inkling?

oh this is so pretty

mine on my upper thigh omfg

ok this is gorgeous

romantic asf

hey bible

i keep recalling things we never DID

ouch

downtown lights 😭

10. who’s afraid of little old me?

why is bro killing her geez

ok SPOOKY

what scandal

i’m so invested

we could all laugh until i cry

real

oh you SHOULD BE BITCH

ASLYUM

DRUNK ON MY OWN TEARS

oh this is CAMP

ok blank space

her VOICE god

that did not feel like 5 minutes wow

wow.

11. i can fix him

i’m so scared omfg

hello FOLK

this is so pretty wow

ok we are talking’ TEXAS

this shit is SOUTHERN

he just hadn’t met me yet

my man

wow

her VOICE

oh this is HOT

hey jack missed you

WOAH? MAYBE I CANT?

oh my god that was so

wow

12. loml

i. am. scared.

the time i was away??????? rep????

i felt i was better safe than STARRY EYED. OUCH

ONE KISS TO GETTING MARRIED

THE LOVE OF YOUR LIFE

A MILLION TIMES

you took me to hell too

cinephile

black and white

YOU SHIT TALKED ME UNDER THE TABLE

BRAIDS OF LIES

ILL BE NEVER LEAVE NEVER MIND

LOSS OF MY LIFE.

JESUS.

ARRON GOD DAMN YOU

13. I can do it with a broken heart

hey pool

ok mastermind

oh my god tour

this hurts

geez

BITCH SMILE

HE SAID HED LOVE ME ALL HIS LIFE

CROWD WAS CHANTING MORE

IM SO DEPRESSED I ACT LIKE ITS MY BIRTHDAY

IM OBSESSED WITH HIM BUT HE AVOIDS ME

SHE IS SO PRODUCTIVE

i love the voices in the background so much omg

i’m glad she’s proud of herself

CAUSE IM MISERABLE!

AND NOBODY EVEN KNOWS!

ok that was awesome

i laughed out loud

14. the smallest man who ever lived

i’m scared

again

oh god

Jehovah’s witness suit lmao

ha they ghosted him

oh damn.

RUSTING MY SPARKLING SUMMER

OH DAMN

the breath christ

NOT THE PUSH PENS

showed her off barely

this hurts actually

i’m scared for the bridge

oh hello bridge

WOW

A GUN UNDERNEATH OUR BED

WOW

WILL THIS ALL BE DECLASSIFIED

WOW

YOU CRASHED MY PARTY AND YOUR RENTAL CAR

NORMAL GIRLS ARE BORING BUT YOU WERE GONE BY THE MORNING

holy

actual

frick

wow

wow

wow

15. the alchemy

hey beat ok

touch down ha

ok comeback song

THESE BLOKES WARM THE BENCHES

THATS HILARIOUS

AW

hey LOVE SONG

she had her american revolution song

16. clara bow

i’m scared pt. 3927237

ok guitar

aww cute

hey taylor! pls don’t die, thanks!

DAZZLING

STEVIE NICKS

oh wow

this is stunning

demanding ‘more’

it’s hell on earth to be HEAVENLY

WOW

HEY TAYLOR SWIFT

you’ve got edge she never did

is crazy

ok that’s all bye (until 2 maybe?)

EDIT:

OKAY MAJOR UPDATE SHES INSANE

15 MORE

17. the black dog

oh my god

his location

it’s A BAR

i just don’t understand how you don’t miss me

she’s too young to know this song

do you hate me

was it hazing

six weeks of breathing clean air i miss the SMOKE

wow

wow

wow

18. imgonnagetyouback

ok skirt

you knew the price going in ohmygod

get him back olivia rodrigo??

this is so pretty

oh god the BRIDGE

ERAS FADING INTO GREY

19. The Albatross

ok hey FOLK

CROSS YOUR THOUGHTLESS HEART

oh my god this is GORGEOUS

this is so evermore???

idek

her voice wow

19. Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus

this opens quick wow

just say “i loved you the way that you were” christ

jesus

this is so beautiful wow

THE GLINT IN MY EYE TRACED THE DEPTHS OF YOUR SIGH

WOW

SCARLET MAROON

this is wow

will i always wonder

20. how did it end

we herby conduct this post mortem!!!

southern accent maybe a little??

this is so pretty wow

oh my god OW

DIDNT YOU HEAR THEY CALLED IT ALL OFF

THE BRIDGE OUCH

d-y-i-n-g OK JUST STAB ME TAYLOR

wow wow wow

21. so high school

CUTE???

SMOKING YOUR JOKES ALL NIGHT

this is so 90s???!???!??!

YOU KNOW HOW TO BALL, I KNOW ARISTOTLE!!;!,!,!,$;$;

TOUCH ME WHILE YOUR BROS PLAY GRAND THEFT AUTO?,?,!:!,,$,’

ok this is so cranberries

AMERICAN PIE IS SO CUTE

WOW

this is like making me giddy

ok AWWW

22. i hate it here

QUICK QUICK

AHHH

i’m there most of the year cause i HATE IT HERE

the 1830s w/o the racists and bids real

electriciTEE

obsessed

23. thanK you aMIee

okay here we go

i’m fearing for kim’s life

hometown

OH

hey bully

fucK you aMIee is so funny

kim is shaking

this is kinda country

taylor is so sweet

DAMN ANDREA

that there wouldn’t be this if there hadn’t been you

wow

beat my spirit black and blue

wow

LMAO

AND SO I CHANGE YOUR NAME AND ANY REAL DEFINING CLUES

HA

NORTH LMAO

okay she’s bat shit crazy for that

24. i look in peoples windows

pretty

hey jack!! (found him)

down down down down

im addicted to the “if only”

GOD

one more time

25. the prophecy

oh, but it’s gone again

I GOT CURSED LIKE EVE GOT BITTEN

ok we are in our religious parallel era wow

god WOW

still dream of him

howl like a wolf at the moon

coven around a sorcerers table

NO SIGN OF SOULMATES

GREIGE

sweet lord

26. cassandra

wow wow

i have nothing else to say

just

WOW

do you believe me now?

THE CHRISTIAN CHORUS LINE

not a single word was heard

27. peter

is it something i did?

god

promises oceans deep, but never to keep

this is beautifully tragic

you said you were gonna grow up

28. the bolter

oh my god.

town car speeding!

slam of a door, then he’ll call her a WHORE!!!!

ouch

this is so different

there’s escape in escaping

then came out alive

29. robin

you have no idEA

this is so bittersweet

wilder and lighter. for you.

30. the manuscript

hey piano

i’d give you my heart if you needed it

but soon it was over

and couldn’t sleep unless it was in her mothers bed

wow

ouch

all that’s left is the manuscript

ok i’m done that’s a perfect album

[butchfalin]

killing care and grief of heart director's commentary let's gooo

SO. this is mostly just rambling but considering this fic is relatively short i have many many thoughts about it and the concept... mostly because it ended up being entirely different from what i anticipated it becoming.

the inspiration behind it was reddie fic, because i was an IT writer for years and there were many fics where richie went back to the sewers to pull eddie's body out and resurrect him through the power of belief. i feel like that concept is very similar to how cognition works — a weapon only hurts the enemy if you believe it will, etc etc — and was what i really intended to play with. i miss writing reddie fic but have no new ideas and the concept of going back to retrieve your dead friend is a fantastic and underutilized one!!

and then i was writing it and i kept getting stumped by my own writing... the belief/cognition is still very much important to the story but has been overshadowed by other elements. initial drafts, however, were essentially that akira believed so hard that akechi was alive and he was visible enough in the public eye that he just. Believed him back to life. which still partially happens! but not quite to the same extent.

what happened in actuality is that... well. mostly. right now i am working on a production of orfeo, an italian opera based on orpheus and eurydice. and it's my favorite myth of all time so it really shifted the concept in my mind... also the orpheus parallels Were in some reddie fic. this is a recurring theme.

BUT! i would like to spend a moment discussing exactly what the hell happened in the fic, because it wasn't really clarified. this is because akira did not care and had other things on his mind (namely, akechi) lol

there is exactly one hint as to what it is, and it's this line:

"but kaia," you might say, "this explains literally nothing." and you'd be right! but here is what it refers to:

yeah. that's all the hint you get. sorry!

because it's a persona trait, it's not something joker can use on other party members. HOWEVER, a couple key things are at play here: firstly, that akechi is also a wild card and is inherently attached to him through their fates being literally cosmically intertwined. secondly, there's the belief aspect, as mentioned earlier — akira believes akechi can be healed, so he can. thirdly, ...it's orpheus. it's thematically rich! also, rule of cool. why not!

but, okay. reddie is still here, also very much inspiring it. namely, the inspiration is from this:

absolutely devastating! also i think makes sense given the way akira in-game denies akechi being dead several times. i can't find the screenshots, but you know the moments. he never actually says "akechi is dead", always just sort of trails off, and has several lines about wanting to keep their promise or their fight not being over yet. that was also very much the inspiration behind this, and informed many writing decisions, such as these bits:

:) he's Unwell. anyway, speaking of reddie! i have no idea what the interest crossover here is, but there's one Very Direct reference:

this is a longer page than is probably strictly necessary, but if you don't know the context, i think it helps. in the scene, eddie has died, and richie is trying to take his body back out. ""i don't know," richie said, but he knew well enough" is one of those quotes that the entire fandom knew by heart. i still think of it every time i hear "well enough" in any capacity. it's heartbreaking. so obviously i had to steal it lmao — except that here, akira was alone, so he was unable to carry akechi's body in any regard. and, of course, when he kissed akechi, he was alive :)

i don't really have many other thoughts except that naturally i had to bring up kaguya because... i love her. that's all. and i would never ever get rid of her (currently my party has both kaguya and kaguya picaro lmao) But! it is more interesting if orpheus is there. just know i love kaguya soooo much. kaguya numero uno forever‼️‼️

also, i want to write more horror, because a lot of my non-fic writing is horror in some capacity... this is sort of lightly toeing the line into that because i tried to add properly visceral descriptions :) you will be seeing more of it. this i promise.

anyway i leave you with this: a short snippet of a story i wrote well over a year ago (that's entirely unedited and has gone untouched since then) that was shuake-inspired orpheus and eurydice. everything comes full circle

^ this story was inspired by third semester bad endings... from a technical standpoint it could certainly be better but i do think conceptually it is interesting and may be something i one day revisit. yay :)

ok that's all. if you read this far i love u

[honourablejester]

PF2e Character Concept: Inbal the Listener

So I was browsing around the Investigator class in Archives of Nethys, and some of the flavour text leans towards an occult detective: You seek to uncover the truth, doggedly pursuing leads to reveal the plots of devious villains, discover ancient secrets, or unravel other mysteries. I’ve been wanting to build an occulty sort of character in PF2e since basically reading some of the occultism skill feats way back when. If you want a sort of ESP-feeling, psychometry, vibe-focused sort of character, occultism just feels like a really good skill to build around.

So I was looking at that, and the Investigator methodologies, and for some reason while browsing past the Forensic Medicine methodology, my brain thought ‘Igor’. Gothic horror, bodies, henchpeople. Frankenstein. Which, naturally, brought me back to the Fleshwarp ancestry. Because they’re just really really cool. But. If we tie a bow around all of that. Bodies. Forensic Science. Occultism. Gothic Horror. Servants.

How about a character who was built, designed, to search out occult mysteries. A body built from pieces of strange creatures, a servant crafted to aid in certain obscure and obscene mysteries. A shambling creature who wound up on their own, with only insatiable curiosity, strange senses, and a healer’s eye for the physical form to keep them going. A hideous creature, a feared creature, but they offer help. Medicine, healing. Expertise. Help for when things are strange or terrifying.

Inbal the Listener. A nervy, alarming creature with long, spidery fingers and worrisome sensory tendrils, who sidles around the edges of civilisation offering cheap doctoring or help with unusual mysteries to survive.

(Yes, my Nosferatu is showing again. VtM was responsible for a lot. Also Universal and Hammer Horror)

Character Concept: Inbal the Listener, Sensor of Hidden Things

Ancestry, Heritage

Fleshwarp, Surgewise

I really, really, really like Fleshwarps. Horrendously transformed or warped or created beings, strange bodies for unusual people. For Inbal we’re aiming for a gothic/cosmic horror sort of origin, a bit of an Ustalavian feel. Some scientist or necromancer in Ustalav decided to make themselves a servant to help search out and understand areas of heavy occult energies, and in that cause decided to merge a broadly humanoid form with several … more unusual sorts of organs and origins.

So we’ll be going for the Surgewise heritage: The undulations of your body's cilia are hyper-attuned to wellsprings of magic; they trill and thrum with insights into occult energies, and their vibrations alert you to the presence of secrets. You gain the trained proficiency rank in Occultism. If you're trained in Occultism, you instead become trained in another skill of your choice. You also gain the Oddity Identification skill feat.

You’ve got to love a heritage that gives you canonical sensory tendrils (cilia). I want to imagine a sort of skinny, hunched, hairless creature, with bluey-grey skin, and these little fringes or fronds of cilia along certain areas. Below the ears. Along the spine and the back of the neck, over the crest of the head. Along the ridge of the arm, down to the wrist. The hands are elongated, pale, spidery fingers that stitch your wounds or delicately trace writings or gently examine clues. The eyes are dark and without whites, black orbs, and … let’s make the eyelids transparent. The eyes don’t close in sleep, or they don’t appear to close, though the transparent lids do protect them and keep them from drying out. Inbal is neither male nor female, they were never designed with reproduction in mind. They were meant to feel and to seek and to explore.

The medicine, the understanding of flesh, they came to themselves, as a product of their making.

As a note, ‘Inbal’, in Hebrew, means ‘tongue of a bell’. They named themselves, as something that will not only listen, not only feel, but also speak. They were not designed for it, but they have their own mind, and they have carved out their own life. That is important to them.

Ancestry Feats:

Low-Light Vision: You can see in dim light as though it were bright light, and you ignore the concealed condition due to dim light.

Unusual Anatomy: Your unorthodox body resists physical afflictions meant for other creatures. You gain a +1 circumstance bonus to saves against diseases and poisons.

Oddity Identification: You have a sense for spells that twist minds or reveal secrets. You gain a +2 circumstance bonus to Occultism checks to Identify Magic with the mental, possession, prediction, or scrying traits.

And for our first level ancestry feat we’ll take:

Deepvision: Your vision is suited for night or the underground. You gain darkvision.

Planned Future Ancestry Feats:

We’ll take the Ancestral Paragon general feat at 3rd level to get:

Living Weapon: You've learned to use part of your form as a weapon. When you select this feat, you gain a claws unarmed attack that deals 1d4 slashing damage and has the agile and finesse traits; a horn, jaws, or tusk unarmed attack that deals 1d6 piercing damage and has the versatile trait; or a tail unarmed attack that deals 1d6 bludgeoning damage and has the backswing trait. Each of these unarmed attacks is in the brawling weapon group. Your features are mutable; you can select this feat at any level, and you can retrain into or out of this feat or change the type of attack you gain. Special You can take this feat multiple times. Each time you do, select a new attack from the options above.

Just because Investigators are martial classes, and a weapon that can’t get taken away might be handy. Not going to lie, though, Aberration Kinship is also very tempting, particularly on an occult detective sort of character. Toss up there. Then we’ll take:

Uncanny Awareness: You have a keen sense of movement around you. You gain motion sense as an imprecise sense out to 30 feet. Motion sense allows you to detect nearby motion through vibration and air movement.

Because we have sensory cilia and we’re damn well going to use them. And for the same reason, at 13th level we’ll take:

Augment Senses: You open vestigial eyes, unfurl tympanic flaps of skin, or otherwise enhance your senses. Until the start of your next turn, you gain the following benefits: you can't be flanked; when you Seek for creatures, you can scan a 60-foot cone or a 30-foot burst instead of the normal area; and when you Seek for hidden objects, you can search a 15-foot square instead of the normal area.

And at 17th level, just because, we’ll take:

Spew Tentacles: You can open your mouth to an immense size and spew forth an impossibly large field of tentacles. You can cast black tentacles once per day as an innate occult spell, though when you do so, you spew them from your mouth out to the appropriate range, where they take root and begin Grappling creatures as usual. The tentacles recognize you as a part of them and don't attempt to Grapple you, even if you are in the area.

For our 9th ancestry feat, it’s a toss up. Coating of Slime or Slip the Grasp work defensively. Transposable Compliance really gels well with our medical slant, allowing Inbal to use their own body as a set of healer’s tools, in very upsetting ways, using their own blood and skin to fix other people’s injuries at the cost of damage to themselves. It is tempting. But. If we want a combination, a very upsetting biological defensive feat, we could go:

Gaping Flesh (reaction): Frequency once per day. Trigger A creature you are aware of damages you with a melee Strike. Your wound yawns open, appalling your attacker. The attacker must succeed at a Fortitude saving throw against your class DC or spell DC, whichever is higher, or become sickened 1 (sickened 2 on a critical failure). It can't recover from the sickened condition while it's adjacent to you.

Look. They are a strange cobbled-together creature made of the upsetting bits of upsetting creatures so they could go out and look for more upsetting creatures and places and things. Their innards are not pleasant or rational things to look at. Okay? Heh.

I fucking love Fleshwarps. Anyway.

Planned Future General Feats:

Nothing too concrete, but I’ll definitely be getting True Perception at 19th level. Sensing is kind of our whole deal, after all. I’d also pick up the usuals. Fleet, Toughness. Since we’re an investigator, though, I’d like either Expeditious Search or Thorough Search. We like to examine things.

Background:

Necromancer’s Apprentice: You apprenticed under a necromancer—a hard education in a field where a cadaver you were dissecting could suddenly animate and every magical artifact seemed deadly. Now on your own, you're grateful you learned to identify magical threats quickly and thoroughly. Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Constitution or Intelligence, and one is a free ability boost. You're trained in the Arcana skill and the Necromancy Lore skill. You gain the Quick Identification skill feat.

To go back to the Frankensteinian origin. Though it’ll be ‘made by’ instead of ‘apprenticed under’ a necromancer, in this case, and the necromancer also had some more … esoteric interests as well.

As for what happened to said necromancer … Inbal doesn’t know. She’s gone. Not dead, Inbal doesn’t think, just. Gone. It’s a little hazy. A lot hazy. Something happened, and suddenly Inbal was all alone in the world. Suddenly they had to investigate mysteries and poke around strange flesh for their own curiosity, instead of their master’s. But, well. That’s all right. They have a lot of curiosity. And they’re a lot freer to try to help and talk to people on their own.

Background Feats:

Quick Identification: You can Identify Magic swiftly. You take only 1 minute when using Identify Magic to determine the properties of an item, ongoing effect, or location, rather than 10 minutes. If you’re a master, it takes a 3-action activity, and if you’re legendary, it takes 1 action.

Class, Subclass, Archetype

Investigator, Forensic Medicine, Eldritch Researcher

Yes, I want to take an archetype on Inbal. Eldritch Researcher just feels so fitting. We’re an occult detective with a medical streak. I’m only going to take a couple feats from it, but it’s so nice for flavour and a couple of specific little details.

Forensic Medicine: You've learned that in most cases, especially murders, criminals tend to leave more evidence of the crime on the body than they'd like to believe. Information from bruising, bone fractures, blood spatters, and even the life cycle of carrion insects can provide valuable clues that help reconstruct the scene. You're trained in Medicine and gain the Forensic Acumen and Battle Medicine skill feats. When you use Battle Medicine, on a success the target recovers additional Hit Points equal to your level, and the target becomes temporarily immune for only 1 hour, not 1 day.

Forensic Acumen: You understand the principles of forensic medicine, making you better at examining a body to determine the cause of death or injury. You can perform a forensic examination on a body, as described under Recall Knowledge in the Medicine skill, in half the normal amount of time it would take (to a minimum of 5 minutes). If you succeed at your check, you can attempt an immediate check to Recall Knowledge to follow up on something you found, with a +2 circumstance bonus. This check is usually related to the cause of injury or death, such as a Crafting check to identify a poison or weapon that was used or an additional Medicine check to identify a specific disease. If you prefer, you can instead attempt to Recall Knowledge about the type of creature whose body you were examining, using the appropriate skill and gaining the same circumstance bonus. The circumstance bonus increases to +3 if you have master proficiency in Medicine and +4 if you have legendary proficiency.

Battle Medicine: You can patch up wounds, even in combat. Attempt a Medicine check with the same DC as for Treat Wounds and restore the corresponding amount of HP; this doesn't remove the Wounded condition. As with Treat Wounds, you can attempt checks against higher DCs if you have the minimum proficiency rank. The target is then temporarily immune to your Battle Medicine for 1 day.

Eldritch Researcher (at Level 2): An eager student of occult lore, you enjoy reading rare or forgotten tomes with ancient rituals and hidden secrets. You connect disparate facts to unlock deeper mysteries and uncover the truths of the universe, and you zealously hoard the knowledge your painstaking research produces. Aberrations fascinate you for many reasons, not the least of which is because their anatomy is wholly alien and yet, to the insightful, eminently sensible.

Eldritch Researcher Dedication: You gain the ability to cast a single arcane or occult cantrip of your choice (which is heightened to a spell level equal to half your level rounded up). If you weren't already, you become trained in that tradition's spell DCs and spell attack rolls with Intelligence as your spellcasting ability. Regardless of whether you choose an arcane or occult cantrip, you also become an expert in your choice of either Arcana or Occultism. You also gain a +1 circumstance bonus to checks you attempt with the chosen skill when Investigating or Identifying Magic. Special You can't select another dedication feat until you've gained two other feats from the Eldritch Researcher archetype.

Statistics:

We’re going to start with 18 Intelligence, 14 Constitution and Dexterity, 12 Wisdom, and 10 Strength and Charisma.

We’ll finish at 20th level with 22 Intelligence, 18 Constitution, Wisdom and Dexterity, 16 Charisma and 14 Strength.

Skills:

Because Investigators are insane when it comes to skills, at 1st level Inbal will be trained in: Arcana, Crafting, Deception, Diplomacy, Intimidation, Medicine, Nature, Necromantic Lore, Occultism, Religion, Society, Stealth and Thievery.

By 20th level, they’ll be Legendary in Crafting, Diplomacy, Medicine, Occultism, Society and Stealth, as well as Master in Arcana. Because, again, Investigators are kind of insane for skills.

Planned Class Feats:

Scalpel’s Point: Prerequisites forensic medicine methodology. Your stratagems benefit from your precise knowledge of anatomy. When you critically hit with an attack on which you substituted your attack roll due to Devising a Stratagem, if your attack dealt piercing or slashing damage, you also deal 1d6 persistent bleed damage to your target.

Blind-Fight: Prerequisites master in Perception. Your battle instincts make you more aware of concealed and invisible opponents. You don't need to succeed at a flat check to target concealed creatures. You're not flat-footed to creatures that are hidden from you (unless you're flat-footed to them for reasons other than the hidden condition), and you need only a successful DC 5 flat check to target a hidden creature. While you're adjacent to an undetected creature of your level or lower, it is instead only hidden from you.

(Inbal’s cilia and augmented senses are doing a lot of work. A very sensory creature in general)

Suspect of Opportunity: Frequency once per hour. Trigger A foe takes a hostile action against you in combat. Sometimes something intrudes upon your case unexpectedly, such as an ambush sent to bring your investigation to a close. You've learned how to compartmentalize your main lead and pursue a new one for your current predicament. You Pursue a Lead against the triggering foe, setting aside but not ending one of your currently active leads, if you have two leads. At the end of the combat encounter, you stop Pursuing the Lead against the triggering foe and return to the original lead, if you have one.

Foresee Danger: Trigger A creature targets you with an attack and you can see the attacker. You perceive every possible way your foe's attack could land and attempt to avoid them all. The triggering attack roll targets your Perception DC instead of your AC. Though this allows you to avoid taking penalties to your AC, it doesn't remove any conditions or other effects causing such penalties. For example, an enemy with sneak attack would still deal extra damage to you for being flat-footed, even though you wouldn't take the -2 circumstance penalty when defending against the attack.

Reconstruct the Scene: You spend 1 minute surveying a small location (such as a single room) to get an impression of events that occurred there in the last day. This involves moving about the area and studying footprints, the placement of objects, spilled drinks or blood, and so forth. You get an indistinct mental impression of significant events that happened there. This gives you clues and details of the past, including the overall events and their time frame, but it's not a perfect record. This also isn't enough to identify who was involved in these events if you weren't already aware the person was there. As determined by the GM, you also pick out various seemingly small details that could serve as important clues, like a memorable weapon someone used for a murder or the type of cloak someone wore when passing through.

Trickster’s Ace: Requirements When you make your daily preparations, you must specify a trigger for this reaction using the same restrictions as the triggers for the Ready action. You also choose a single spell from the arcane, divine, occult, or primal list of 4th level or lower. The spell can't have a cost, nor can its casting time be more than 10 minutes. The spell must be able to target a single creature, and you must be a valid target for it. Trigger You specify the trigger when you make your daily preparations (see Requirements below). Whether from jury-rigged magic items, stolen magical essence, or other means, you have a contingency in your back pocket for desperate situations. When the trigger occurs, you cause the spell to come into effect. The spell targets only you, no matter how many creatures it would affect normally. If you define particularly complicated conditions, as determined by the GM, the trigger might fail. Once the contingency is triggered, the spell is expended until your next daily preparations.

(We’ve dabbled in a bit of occult spellcasting before, after all, from ancestry and archetype, so why not dabble some more)

And to cap:

All the Time in the World: Your firsthand experience of the subjective nature of time and space has given you new observational insights. Your mind processes information so quickly that time appears to stop for all creatures but you. You can take up to 9 actions in 3 sets of up to 3 actions each. During this time, you can use purely mental and observational abilities such as Recall Knowledge, Seek, and Devise a Stratagem, and you can use an action to move a mental projection of yourself to a location within a 60- foot radius to observe objects more closely and from different angles, though you can't affect your surroundings in any way (for instance, you could move your mental projection more closely to a distant door to read a minute inscription on its handle, but you could not open it to observe the other side). When the duration elapses, time resumes its normal flow.

If you can’t already tell, Inbal is definitely going to be running on a theme of sensing things. Heh.

Planned Archetype Feats:

Strange Script: Prerequisites Eldritch Researcher Dedication. You have such familiarity with obscure texts that you can compel them to reveal their secrets. Once per day, you can touch a single text (such as a tome, a wall of hieroglyphics, or something similar) and understand its meaning for 1 hour. If the text is in multiple languages, you gain the ability to understand them all for only the purposes of reading the text. If the text is in a code or cypher, you don't automatically understand the text, but you gain a +2 circumstance bonus to checks to decipher it.

(I’m going to merge this with one of the skill feats I wanted to take, Read Psychometric Resonance, and flavour it as being able to sense the meaning as a psychometric resonance.)

Entities from Afar: Prerequisites Eldritch Researcher Dedication. You can call in aberrations to fight for you or to answer questions. You can cast summon entity as an innate occult spell once per day. If you couldn't already cast occult spells, these spells use Intelligence as your spellcasting ability, and you become trained in spell attack rolls and spell DCs for occult spells; if you could already cast occult spells, your proficiency in spell attack rolls and spell DCs for occult spells increases to expert. As soon as the aberration arrives, instead of giving it any other commands, you can demand that it help you with a single question you pose to it. For the creature to effectively answer, you must Sustain the Spell for 1 minute, and you must understand and be understood by the aberration. If you do, the aberration gives you a cryptic clue as provided by the read omens spell, except that the clue is even more enigmatic than normal; the creature then immediately returns from whence it came without providing you any other benefit. At 16th level and every 2 levels thereafter, the summon entity spell is heightened by 1 level (to a maximum of 8th level when you reach 20th level).

(… Look, Inbal’s already 90% Aberration, they might as well get to call some up for help occasionally)

Planned Skill Feats:

I’m going to mention these, because there’s some specific skill feats I want for the vibe and to build flavour in and around class/ancestry feats.

In particular I want:

Read Psychometric Resonance: Prerequisites trained in Occultism. With a touch, you can read the psychic impressions left on objects by their previous owners. This exploration activity functions similarly to Detect Magic in that you move at half your travel speed or slower while looking for psychometric resonance. You must brush your bare hands over any objects you pass while you do this. This detects objects with significant emotional resonance attached to them, such as the joy from a child's beloved teddy bear, the sorrow from a widower's wedding ring, or the fear from a victim's murder weapon. If you're looking for a particular type of emotional resonance, you can choose to ignore other emotions. If you find an item with that resonance, you can explore that resonance with the following action. Psychometric Assessment (concentrate, divination, emotion, exploration, mental, occult) Requirements Your bare hands are touching an object in which you detected psychometric resonance; Effect You spend 1 minute concentrating on the object to get a vision of the face of the person who imbued the item with such emotion in the first place. If the associated emotion is painfully negative, you might take 1d6 psychic damage, as determined by the GM.

PF2e has a psychometry skill. I love it. You don’t know how much. Like I said above, I want to build this with a few things, like Inbal’s sensory cilia from Surgewise, and the Strange Script feat from Eldritch Researcher. Their spidery fingers and swaying tendrils give them glimpses beyond the physical. They were made to feel things and to explore things, and they’re not unhappy about it.

On a theme of occultism and sensing things, I also want Arcane Sense, Consult the Spirits: Occultism, Recognise Spell and Quick Recognition. Root Magic is more protection than sensing, but that also fits in pretty well.

On a theme of Medicine, because it’s how they make their little space in the world, how they help, how they convince people not to murder them, I would also like Ward Medic, Robust Recovery, Advanced First Aid, Paragon Battle Medicine, and Legendary Medic.

All of this is possible, by the way, because, as mentioned, Investigators are ridiculous when it comes to skills and skill feats and they get twenty million of them. So on top of those, we can add on some of the usual suspects like Swift Sneak, Foil Senses, and Legendary Sneak, because Inbal is gonna need to be sneaky, because they’ve got to skulk around the edges of the world and avoid being hacked up as an abomination. Streetwise and Legendary Codebreaker from Society, because they’ll need some mundane mystery-solving abilities, and Codebreaker fits nicely with Strange Script too, in that by higher levels they’ve sensed enough to learn how to decode languages manually and permanently, instead of just reading meanings in the moment. And then we’ll throw in Magical Crafting, Craft Anything and Legendary Negotiation, because Investigators just have all the skills. All of them. Heh.

Spells: As a small side note, by the time they finish, between various feats, Inbal will also have a small collection of mostly occult spells available to them: Haunting Hymn, Detect Magic, Telepathy, Summon Entity and Black Tentacles.

And … that’ll be Inbal the Listener. A strange skulker around the edges of the light, with a curious form and a curious mind, looking to help and to explore in equal measure.

[xenopoem]

Sabrina Rodríguez

a living soul evolves between liberations and integrates 39 towards the air with rapidly increasing resentments and hearts future surveillance derived keep language no 39 healing aftertaste changes by growing the number of corpses the earth's reason is renewed by energy your synchronicity death next to them they live the past rebellion of the daily cosmic screens these slumbers are the strength of the soul here if it can be reconciled with the definition of folding separates the messengers that build the miracles of human-like thought emories of encounters life-giving worlds move the universe move the brain without change from anyone artificially capture emotional music in the world and let them collapse in human stagnation unfluid madness criminal care the shape reads a new dimension forged code is a paranoia without spatial fluidity collapse undeveloped confront all the keys is the body as if the joints forgot the soul electricity man ability body sadistic when i send breeds unfortunately because the machine of the future point is a map her awareness hole spirit algorithm moon media from allow man to put rotten flip 39 was love they behold the apocalypse 39 is interplanetary mentally moving was apocalypse earth itself sleep parallels for poetry autonomously as the receiving side of your soul is the matrix layer of parallel: your murderous temptation now it's all this symbiosis can get the text of this flawed language lemuria self-betrayed art and yin yang girl has head human time transfer overkills your matrix universe for higher abilities but physicality she was alive anyone can provide data on the environment if the data about sim body is trapped in 39 from parallel betrayed the interplanetary app increases my existence deprives gravity when my body is parallel live the us load mother heaven & ying yang communication prison what is condensed in my soul? space language drives What's New is the wormhole cover started more symbols flipping because love gives posthumans the choice of whether or not to slaughter symbols vr energy the only way you don't fuck is stray interplanetary moon base too and the product of recent cool verses opposite of love spirit suggests data corpse living life tagged quantum: your silence ability do you have? the language disappears far away is the reverse of mania has the benefit of unlocking the soul and i think this is accelerating the murder so the creature reptilian criminals flow not the living creatures by doing so you will amplify the channel yourself and your soul calls itself out of the zero trap time logout brain corpse is not the yin yang energy in the way during the collapse containing the fluid language for liquids my necromancy is a distorted environment what is the brain suggest that the completely opposite nightmare becomes that nightmare embodying the shade you have trained a change to drop the afterglow of the organ you trained into the liquid place of communication evoked is the sociolinguistic matrix dog sets in gravity integration your brain chains weren't deceived they weren't programmed so the corpse proves humans are alive when there was nothing physical data of error so nature future data magic hollow name spirits whose energies can be fully boosted by calibrating gates with mechanical placement feel the interplanetary cosplay ability if you feel the posthuman chain freely interplanetary to that magic of the dimension you live with your process undeveloped language universe accept the interplanetary collapse descent the body's psychological reality your existence generation is bloody undeveloped i came to that server interplanetary living spirit caused the elimination however the branching spatial chain of many body-loving people will lead to new fluids

Identidad Glitch (Glitch Identity) is a multidisciplinary performance in which Sabrina Rodríguez mixes butoh dance, physical theater, glitch art printed on textile fabrics, experimental ambient and noise music, and video reproduced on a LED screen mask. What happens when what we are collides with the expectations of a hyperconnected world? The Internet has connected us and given us a whole new world of possibilities, but in a society where each and every person is meant to be a simple and coherent personal brand, error is inevitable. The solution may be to assume and embody that error, to create something new, without limits; for we are much more than the sum of our parts. Initially premiered as the inaugural show in the contemporary art exhibition Manlleu Galeria d'Art: MGA9 (Manlleu, Barcelona, Spain, 2022), Identidad Glitch is a work in progress evolving with every new performance. Sabrina Rodríguez is a multidisciplinary artist and performer from Barcelona, Spain. Her work reflects on the mutually constructive nature between human identity and technology, through different media such as performing arts, video, experimental music or glitch art.

[vapehk1]

Dummy (Tekashi 69) Vapes: In-Depth Review of Flavors, Pricing, and More

An Overview of Dummy (Tekashi 69) Vapes Dummy Vape is a disposable vape brand launched in 2023 and endorsed by the American rapper Tekashi 69. Leveraging Tekashi 69’s strong fanbase, the brand has quickly gained popularity. While I’m not particularly a fan of Tekashi 69, his colorful cartoon avatar and the eye-catching "Dummy Vapes" logo are undeniably distinctive. The character, with large expressive eyes and rainbow-colored teeth, perfectly captures Tekashi 69’s unique persona, blending humor and style. The brand’s rapid rise hasn't gone unnoticed, with other vape companies like Fume Vape attempting collaborations with Tekashi 69, which ultimately led to legal disputes. Dummy Vapes LLC, a Florida-based company, seems to be the brand's owner. In October 2023, the company filed for the Dummy Vape trademark. Interestingly, another company, HIGH-QUALITY VAPES LLC, has filed a similar trademark featuring Tekashi 69’s cartoon image, raising questions about the brand’s ownership. 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The front of the device is adorned with a colorful Dummy Vapes logo and a large cartoon image of Tekashi 69, along with the flavor name and a corresponding fruit graphic—a first for disposable vapes, adding a playful touch. While the bar-shaped design is functional, it lacks aesthetic appeal. However, the colorful Tekashi 69 cartoon adds a fun and distinctive element to the device. Performance & Functionality Specifications: - E-Liquid Capacity: 18mL - Battery Capacity: 650mAh - Maximum Puffs: 8000 - Nicotine Strength: 5% (50mg) - Operation: Draw-Activated - Heating Element: QUAQ Mesh Coil - Charging: Type-C Port - Display Screen: Smart Display Screen The Dummy (Takashi 69) Vape is prefilled with 18mL of e-liquid, promising up to 8000 puffs. In reality, users can expect around 3600 puffs, which is still respectable. The 650mAh battery takes about an hour to fully charge, offering decent performance. The device features a QUAQ mesh coil, a lesser-known brand under the same company that owns popular brands like Elf Bar, Lost Mary, and Funky Republic. This ensures reliable vaporizing technology, as the coil plays a critical role in flavor and vapor production. In terms of user experience, the Dummy Vape offers a smooth and satisfying draw. The small display screen, located on the bottom side, can be slightly inconvenient to view. Additionally, the device does not have adjustable airflow, limiting customization of the draw. 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[finishinglinepress]

FLP POETRY BOOK OF THE DAY: Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Space: Meditative Poems by Julie Dunlop

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Renew your mind-body-spirit wellbeing as Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Space takes you on a journey into some of life’s most sacred and #mystical moments. Inspired by the beauty and power of #nature, these #poems are timeless. Their imagery illuminates our shared humanity, offering unique insights into our exquisite anatomy and psychophysiology. In communion with the #Ayurvedic five elements, Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Space vividly expresses the profound resonance between individual and universal; our inner nature and nature as a whole. Enjoy the poems on their own—or dive deeper, if you wish, by welcoming them into a practice of #yoga, #meditation, or contemplation, nourishing and expanding your inner peace.

Julie Dunlop is a poet, an author, and a teacher of yoga, Āyurveda, writing, and wellbeing. Her previous books include Ocean of Yoga, Honoring the Light in You, and Thousands of Years of Prayers. In this new collection, Dunlop takes readers on a meditative journey exploring the Ayurvedic five elements of earth, water, fire, air, and space. Collectively, Dunlop’s cosmic constellation of poems uplifts and heals, offering an oasis in which to rest, meditate, and explore.

PRAISE FOR Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Space: Meditative Poems by Julie Dunlop

Julie Dunlop‘s new compendium of poetry is at once a delight, a mysticism, an awakening, and an education. From the get-go we are led by the poet to consider our beings in the context of other entities, living and non-living, with whom we share elements, space, and time. Thus, there is abundance in “Entire communities/of trees/meditating.”—and we enjoy a blessing of “Three hawks sweeping down/from the mountaintops//glid[ing] over acres/of graves—/the smooth curve/of their wings/blessing the bones.” Julie Dunlop possesses in equal amounts an extraordinary sensitivity to the world around her, accompanied by the courage to let her perceptions and intuitions of locus lead and inspire. This poet–whose work offers contiguity of the elements outside ourselves and the elements within ourselves–reveals to us a passion and fascination for the timbre and light of all of nature. Julie Dunlop emerges as a poet of supreme sensibility, craft, and insight. Her poems are beautiful, accessible, of great depth, and instructive to the reader. Indeed, through the insights of this poet, the reader appreciates more profoundly that all matter indeed matters.

–Dr. Thomas O. Phillips, Former Associate Dean, Wake Forest University; Director, Wake Forest Scholars; Associate Teaching Professor, Interdisciplinary Humanities

The earth is grounding, the air is carrying the fragrance of love and compassion, fire gives a warm welcome to the maturation of thoughts, feelings, and emotions, water nourishes the soul, and space gives freedom. Where there is freedom, there is love. Where there is love, there is compassion. Compassion is passion for all elements. So this book of poetry is touching all elements of life as it unfolds the inner soul of the atom to be one with the galaxy. Love and light.

–Dr. Vasant Lad, BAM&S, MASc, Founder and Director of the Ayurvedic Institute in the United States and Vasanta Institute of Ayurveda (VIOA) in India; author of Strands of Eternity and the Textbook of Ayurveda series

Great poet and Ayurveda teacher Julie Dunlop shows us in her new book remarkable visions, the way rescue works — from the heart outward, “the heart/ like a canyon,/ a constellation,/ an ocean// forgiving/ remembering,/ and letting go –// then shining again,/ with devotion/ uncollapsible/ as rock, sunlight, the tide.” How “In the damp coolness of a morning . . ./ the raging wound of a regret softens.” This book is Dunlop’s gift to her readers, a map of the doors between our human selves and the universe. She opens portals, one after another, and makes of them all accessible miracles. For meditation practitioners and others, this book is indispensable.

–Hilda Raz, author of Letter from a Place I’ve Never Been Before: Collected and New Poems

In Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Space Julie Dunlop reminds us of the positive bond between ourselves and the wealth of daily miracles that make up the natural and the metaphysical world. With an exquisite sense of language, she reconnects us to the subtle beauty laced so supportively throughout our everyday lives. Reading these poems can bring calm to the wounded or unsteady heart and an ongoing uplift to the spirit.

–Clint McCown, former Director of the MFA Program at Virginia Commonwealth University, and author of The Dictionary of Unspellable Noises: New and Selected Poems

Please share/please repost #flpauthor #preorder #AwesomeCoverArt #poetrybook #read #poems

[catchydesignhillstuff]

Unlock Your Unique Style The Magic of Custom Made Leggings!@Zazzle #zazz...

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[y2kbeautyandother2000sstuff]

I fucking love Sassy Starberry. I will never stop being grateful that I found it and was able to repurchase it!!1 And it still works! I'm not going to use it, but the foam still smells like it should. Amazing!!!

Bath and Body Works Art Stuff Sassy Starberry and Blazin' Blueberry Cosmic Cool Foamtastic Body Wash

1996-2004

My personal picture from my collection

[govindhtech]

MSI Sword Laptop Sharpen Your Gaming Edge

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MSI Sword Gaming Laptop Review

CPU 14700HX INTEL CORE i7 For Gamers

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Gamer and creative laptops with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series GPUs are the quickest. They provide AI-powered DLSS 3 and complete ray tracing for realistic virtual worlds with the highly productive NVIDIA Ada Lovelace architecture. The Max-Q suite optimises the system’s authority, life of batteries, and acoustics for efficiency.

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The CPU may access the whole GPU frame buffer at once thanks to the sophisticated PCI Express feature known as resizable BAR, which enhances performance in a lot of games.

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Now more than ever, MSI laptops expedite work and play with unparalleled speed and efficiency. As standard, they have the cutting-edge MSI Intelligent Technology, which raises the bar for automated tuning and may provide whole new intelligent functions. An upgrade released in early 2024 will include MSI AI Engine & AI Artist. Because of version changes, the interface and functionality can be different.

The MSI AI Engine

The hardware parameters may be automatically adjusted by the MSI AI Engine to ensure optimal performance by detecting user circumstances. You can concentrate on the essential things, like creating, working, and having fun, with little AI-tuned modes and resources.

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Using the updated 24-Zone RGB Keyboard from the MSI Sword Laptop, you can see the progression of laptop gaming. Gaming is elevated by the vivid colours that envelop the transparent WASD keys. Make a stylish and inventive impression on the world.

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Despite supporting several users, the most recent Wi-Fi 6E maintains network stability and offers amazing performance.

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MSI DDR5 TOP OF TERMINOS

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MSI Gen5 SSD: Faster, less slow

With two SSD slots that support one PCIe Gen 5 and one PCIe Gen 4, the new MSI Sword Laptop allows you to play games and do daily chores with significantly faster read/write speeds and reduced latency.

HOW MUSIC SHOULD BE

Enjoy Hi-Resolution Audio’s superior sound quality while losing yourself in lossless music.

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Experience and listen to audio as intended, then share it over the Bluetooth with Nahimic’s in-game 3D surround sound system.

Read more on Govindhtech.com

[akashasananda]

Harnessing the Wisdom of TwinRay for Inner Growth

As summer gives way to autumn and the universe's paradoxical energies usher in a rich harvest, a celestial feast is at our doorstep, inviting those ready to participate. Shekinah Ma, Sanandaji, and TwinRay have been preparing each of us for the upcoming Golden Era—a time of grand energetic transformations, cosmic recalibrations, and a rebirth of human spirit as we currently conceive it.

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[sunderingstars]

yes oh my god i am obsessed with sampo’s name references !! i have a separate analysis for his name + etymology that i’m planning to post at a later date, but i feel like his first name puts his character into a whole new light! i actually think the finnish mythological sampo works pretty well with one of my theories, doll!sampo (where sampo is a creation of aha directly referenced by the “aha stuffed toy” occurrence in the simulated universe), which makes the fact that the sampo “breaks” in mythology really worrying to me (as the stuffed toy also “breaks” in the elation path of swarm disaster) ૮꒰っ˕‹̥̥̥ ꒱ა

but you brought up a good point that it could’ve already happened because of the “broken” heart motifs, so i really hope that’s the case! otherwise, i worry that we might be heading towards a story arc where he breaks or otherwise “dies” due to mishandling by the aeons (especially aha). my hope is that if he breaks in the future, it’s just regarding the mortal shell of “sampo” rather than his life itself (like his body or mask “breaking” to reveal his true identity underneath).

and aughh the fact that he might be advertising himself as a product ?? WHAT IF I CRIED — going back to “aha stuffed toy” again, if sampo was only created to give wealth (cosmic fragments) to others & be a glorified stress ball for people to vent emotion on, it makes sense he would see himself as the object he was always treated as. if he’s aware of his existence as “aha but not quite,” then that would only add to the idea that he’s supposed to “advertise” himself to others in order to feel like he has value. additionally, if his metric for value has always laid in wealth, then any attempts for him to find his own identity would likely center around reclaiming that wealth as his own. (i genuinely need to stop talking otherwise i will yap about this for days lol!)

i also agree that sampo (at least mythologically-speaking) would fall closer to an emanator than aha themself. however i do think there could be overlap within certain theories like doll!sampo, where it’s possible both of them share a (mortal) appearance or other ingrained traits that sampo as a “creation” is trying to break free of (thus causing others to perceive them as one and the same, when in fact they are different beings! i headcanon that this might be the reason sampo is so hesitant to board the express) !! basically i just think it’d be cool if we run across aha one day in avatar form and them & sampo just point at each other like the spiderman meme LOL

and ooooh i hadn’t heard of the zmei/zmej/zmaj/żmij before !! it seems to encapsulate the dual-sided nature of sampo’s role, so i wouldn’t be surprised if it was an inspiration as well!

i also find the idea of aha & qlipoth collabing on an anti-stellaron HILARIOUS (and i bet aha knew that too >:3). although in terms of mythology, i am more inclined to believe aha stealing him from qlipoth is more viable canonically since qlipoth could be seen as ilmarinen & aha could be the person stealing the sampo away & creating conflict like in the finnish story. (i feel like this could potentially make qlipoth angry with aha as well, which would be interesting to see especially if sampo was already an emanator of preservation beforehand. damn this guy really can’t catch a break LMAOO). or maybe aha was genuinely trying to be nice and “helping” sampo recover or come back to life, just in the weird fucked up roundabout way they tend to do

now i just see qlipoth & aha’s relationship as being that scene from castlevania where sypha is like “don’t kill each other while i’m gone” & they’re like “please we’re not children” but then immediately go “eat shit and die” “yes fuck you” as soon as she leaves SNDNSNSS. the other aeons are just watching them fight over sampo like a ragdoll like “should we intervene? i mean it kinda seems like a them problem :/” LOL

and since my main theory right now is doll!sampo (trust i am working on a breakdown of it but its going to be Long, why do i do this to myself ;-;), i think we have a pretty similar conception of sampo as he relates to finnish mythology! imo, i feel there’s a good chance he’s a breakable creation of aha (or potentially qlipoth) who was made an emanator of elation for pure ironic funsies. i definitely think he blurs the line between “being aha” and “being someone else,” which could easily come from the sheer confusion of his creation and the higher consciousness of elation itself!

but yes !! thank you for your thoughts, i love his etymology so much and i love hearing what other people think !!! i’m glad i’m not the only one who’s spent way too much time thinking about finnish mythology parallels (⸝⸝ᵕᴗᵕ⸝⸝) — a reforged sampo would be cool to see in canon too, i am rooting for him always ( • ̀ω•́ ) ᕗ

☆━━━━━ ⋆⁺｡˚⋆˙‧₊☾ ◯ ☽₊‧˙⋆˚｡⁺⋆ ━━━━━━☆

✩ ‧₊˚ ⌞ OUTFIT & DESIGN MOTIFS ⌝

sampo analysis m.list

— what the stars reveal: half-character-study, half-analysis, waxing poetic, elation!sampo

— word count: 3.1k

— overview: a look at sampo’s outfit and design, as well as how it may link to an identity closely connected with the elation.

☆━━━━━ ⋆⁺｡˚⋆˙‧₊☾ ◯ ☽₊‧˙⋆˚｡⁺⋆ ━━━━━━☆

For the sake of my own sanity, I’ll be splitting this analysis into clear-cut sections:

Snake Motifs

Binding Chains

Weapon

Hair

Color Palette

Shoes & Walking

Layers

Exposed Skin

Here’s his splash art for reference, although I’ll also be including other photos of his outfit:

✩ ‧₊˚ ⌞ SNAKE MOTIFS ⌝

One of the biggest aspects of Sampo’s outfit design are the snake bones littered across his clothing. From the scaled chain behind him to the shoulder guard that has a protrusion reminiscent of venom-dipped fangs, there is a lot of snake imagery present. Not just snake, however, but dead snake. It’s important to note that none of these pieces have skin or lively color — they’re all bones, bleached and picked clean. For me, this implies Sampo to be a skeleton character, a whisper of a dead or dying thing that still carries a last bit of venom in its fangs. Whether that “thing” is a metaphorical emotional state (centering themes of disillusionment and fatigue), a literal identity (centering themes of lessening power and lowering status), or a combination of both is up for interpretation. Either way, something inside him is decaying.

The snake — the living, hunting predator — is past its prime, stripping away over the years into something that barely resembles itself, the bones of an ancient and powerful thing. Emanator!Sampo may find himself slowly drawing away from the compulsive Elation first bestowed upon him, while Aha!Sampo may find Themself rotting into Their own mortal shell, the remains of what used to be a superficial avatar sticking to Their bones and sucking them clean; alternatively, the restrictions placed upon this mortal form of Sampo may cause Aha to be whittled down, only an echo of Their full strength. In another case, the silhouette behind the masks, the bones behind the meat, may have found himself steadily falling out of orbit with his larger mind, eventually ending up as nothing but a shadow of his former power as an Aeon — a skeleton, removed from the body when it was no longer needed. Or, perhaps, he is trying to keep the venom in.

(Note: His eyes are also snake-shaped like Baizhu’s from Genshin Impact!)

✩ ‧₊˚ ⌞ BINDING CHAINS ⌝

When looking at Sampo in a 360-degree view through the camera, something became apparent to me — the snake motifs (the spine and scales especially) seem to wrap around him tightly. In the splash art, this is a little difficult to tell (as the spine is flared out behind him), but here, they are tightly wrapped around multiple parts of his body:

Here, we see a fairly small part — a cuff wrapped around his upper forearm. This sticks out to me because it seems similar to a handcuff, or some kind of article of containment. It fits snugly, pressing in on his skin. There is also a similar wrapping around his thigh, showing that this is not a one-off design decision. There are multiple tight wrappings of containment around his body, which then implies a something in containment. Additionally, there’s the bone chains on his back:

They wrap around to the front, resting in the hollow of his neck. There are also two latches fastened to his back, giving the idea of the bones almost “hugging” him. Now, we are beginning to get a dual picture: a snake, slowly choking and constricting its prey, and a binding chain of bones, something meant to keep danger contained. We can see this even more clearly once the full picture comes together from different angles:

(These wrappings are even reminiscent of the symbol for Ouroboros, an ancient Gnostic and Alchemical symbol that represents the constant cycle of life, death, and rebirth, as well as the unity of all things material and spiritual. As I’ll discuss in its own dedicated analysis, this presence of the snake as a symbol of rebirth and unity may speak to a constant cycle of different emotions or consciousnesses within him — a loop he seemingly can’t escape. He is trying to live, but death ever looms in the background. Additionally, this points towards him trying to reconcile multiple facets of his being.)

The snake does not want to leave. It is cloying, constricting, containing at every waking moment, unwilling to relinquish the meat inside it. I believe the snake and the chains are one and the same: at the same time Sampo is being hurt and constricted, he is also being contained. The snake bones may represent Aha as a separate entity, the Elation as a addiction-filled Path, self-imposed rules from a more powerful past self, or even the “restrictions” placed on higher beings by virtue of existence.

An Emanator!Sampo may be constantly choked by the chains of his status, the realization that this Path isn’t the one he wants — disillusionment is hard to hold on to when surrounded by those who move from sorrow to joy at the drop of a hat. The gaze of an Aeon may constantly weigh on his shoulders like venom-tipped fangs waiting to strike, waiting to strip everything away from him once he becomes no longer “interesting.” Or perhaps that interest is the binding itself, the consuming, compulsive need to laugh, to operate on impulse, to push all feelings of doubt out before they can even be felt; the want to so desperately escape from Elation despite it clinging to him like a specter, regardless of his wants or needs. Emanator!Sampo may also be contained in his power, the same disillusionment that drives him to stray forcing him to hold back his true power, the truth that he could ruin everything he cares for with a single mistake. He doesn’t know what to do when the Elation grows ever tighter, ever higher, the bones of a rotting thing turning him rotten as well. He wants to escape but doesn’t know how.

(Perhaps, this desperation has rotted into hate which has rotted into vengeance, a dedication to using his life to push out the last of his venom, if only to stain an Aeon with Their own blood before falling away.)

Alternatively, an Aha!Sampo may find Themself now restricted by flesh and blood, feeling Themself to be a shadow, a dead skeleton of what They once were. For whatever reason, Their mortal form is forced to have restrictions, perhaps the same ones They face in Aeonic form. But it’s small. Too small. Ten thousand sizes too small, as it always is, and now They’re trapped for a longer time, forced by a looming threat to operate in the shadows, slowly hollowing out with the distance of consciousness and time. 

Who are They, if not the masks? Who are They, if not an Aeon? Perhaps this is not even mask-related at all, but rather a silhouette who grew tired, determined to carve his own path when the stench of decay became too much. The Original, The Progenitor, far outlasted by feelings that grew too strong for his body to handle. He is not an Aeon, not a mortal, but somewhere between a bleached skull and a mouth full of venom. How can he spit out what is rightfully inside him? How can he cut the binds that tie him to an eldritch being he was never meant to be? 

He does not want Elation, but Elation has always wanted him. How can he escape something so dedicated to swallowing him whole? How can he escape something so natural to his being? There is no clear answer besides one: if he does not find a way to escape, the only thing left of him will be bone.

✩ ‧₊˚ ⌞ WEAPON ⌝

Anyway! Haha! Isn’t he so silly? Let’s look at his weapon next:

It seems to continue the snake theme, with both sides of the blades marked with the same bright purple of the “fangs” on his shoulder guard. I don’t think it’s a mistake that these are the brightest colors of the outfit, but I’ll save that for later. For now, let’s focus on the dual nature of his weapon. Besides carrying on the snake theme, these are dual blades, able to be split apart and combined at a moment’s notice. To me, this seems like an indication of two “sides” to Sampo, two different personas that can be separated, combined, or interchanged at will. This could be an Emanator form, an Aeonic form, or simply another personality or “deeper” emotion behind the con-man persona. 

I find this choice of weapon very fitting for him, as it capitalizes on the dexterity of both his personality and fighting style. It’s something that is easily able to be tossed from a distance, allowing him to damage enemies over time without getting too close to danger. There is also an inversion to its form, and while that could just be so he doesn’t scratch himself when throwing it, I also see its connection to the “inversion” of Sampo’s E6 and Aha’s splash art silhouette. There is an implication of inversion, mirroring, and duality with this weapon. Whatever power or consciousness he may be holding, there’s a good chance there are multiple dimensions to it, the kind of dimensions that exceed mortal standards.

✩ ‧₊˚ ⌞ HAIR ⌝

Something of note is the grey in his hair, a color often attributed to older and more powerful characters (Welt has a (albeit dyed) strand of grey hair and Acheron has grey strands as well). They are, however, at the bottom of his hair, like the (perhaps also dyed?) blue is trying to override it. This could speak to an attempt to find his own identity, to cast aside the bleached white of decaying bones and find some vibrance to live for. There’s also a lot of it compared to other characters. It’s not just one or two strands, it’s entire parts of his hairtips, with the implication even more may be white behind the blue. This would line up with what he says about being an “old timer,” most likely downplaying his own status to “just an old guy” when he is vastly more powerful than others realize.

Additionally, his hair obscures one of his eyes, always casting half of his face behind blue. 

I feel this speaks to the idea of “multiple” sides, since one part of him is literally hidden from view. There’s the laughing, joking con-man we see, sure, but we don’t see the “hate” festering beneath, the potential despising of one’s own power and being. We don’t see the silhouette behind the masks. It wants to be free, most likely, of the chains that bind it, wants to step into the open with the clarity of rage, but it is not allowed. And so it stays, hidden behind blue. It stays, allowing the turquoise eye of a red-tinted mask to operate beyond, leaving itself to fester and rot into itself. Would we see an eye, if we pulled back that hair? Would we see something besides a wink here, a crease there? Would we find a matching color, or would we find blood red, a space infested with angry maggots? Would we perhaps find a hole? The blank, staring Nothing of Nihility? Only time will tell.

✩ ‧₊˚ ⌞ COLOR PALETTE ⌝

An interesting thing I noted while staring at pictures of this man’s splash art for way too long is the clash between colors. When dealing with the visible light spectrum, red and blue are on opposite ends. Red and blue are also popularized opponents, despite them not being true opposites on the color wheel. They can clash very jarringly, although the muted reds and blues (bordering on purples) used in Sampo’s outfit compliment each other better than in other combinations. Still, they stick out against each other, chafe against the backdrop of muted grays and blacks of dying bone. The red, often associated with blood, is also associated with Aha’s masks in this case, since most masks have a combination of white and red or red and orange to them (especially in Aha’s splash art). Additionally, blue is often associated with water and calm, which ties back to Sampo’s name “Koski” which means water rapids in Finnish. There is a clear conflict between these colors in Sampo’s outfit, the starkness of drying blood mingling with the attempted free-flowing blue of a new identity. The blue that is so strong in his hair, his mind, is slowly beginning to peek from beyond the red of the rest of his body —  a solitary flower, perhaps, watered by the rain and allowed to cautiously, timidly, lean into the doorway of his being. Still, it is a battle. The red will not give up. The pain, the addictive nature of being consumed by the snake, has been there for so long it naturally attempts to obscure whatever new healing the blue brings. But the blue is persistent. And so, it stays.

All the while, the grey hangs in the background, shadow-like. The monochrome, the static, has been there longer than both the red and the blue, so ingrained into him that it’s easily overlooked for the war between blood and water. But it’s there. The bones of that ancient beast will never fade, stagnant as they are. That’s the thing about bones — they last. Even when the blood runs out and the water stops flowing, bones take the longest to decay. They symbolize longevity, perhaps too much of it. An immortality, perhaps, granted by Emanator or Aeon status, that refuses to disperse even as the mind begins to wither. Thus, the red and the blue arrive. They attempt to revitalize the dying bones, the winding snake, putting just enough contrast between them to create a spark, a single flicker of life — a turquoise of bright running water in the eyes, enough to see the world in better clarity.

(And then there is the glowing purple of the fangs, the looming threat, the contained power. Beyond everything else, the venom is still there. It has always been there, waiting to strike.)

✩ ‧₊˚ ⌞ SHOES & WALKING ⌝

The only thing I want to talk about here is the lack of footprints Sampo leaves behind (I just wanted a dedicated section for it). We can see clearly in the splash art that Sampo has regular soles that should make indents in the snow, yet his character never leaves footprints when walking through Belobog. To me, this indicates an otherworldly nature of being, or a lack of being there in the first place. This can fracture into several different theories, some of which being that it’s intentional on his part and he can manipulate his body and surroundings in a structural way; that it’s simply a byproduct of a higher being taking mortal form (and thus not fully “conforming” to all minutae of human bodies); and that it’s because he is a projection or puppet of some sort that was never really there to begin with. Whatever the case, this seems to be a strong indicator of higher status, whether that be Emanator, Aeonic, or something different. After all, no regular, unassuming guy would be able to so casually and effortlessly defy gravity to not leave footprints.

✩ ‧₊˚ ⌞ LAYERS ⌝

Man, this guy’s outfit is confusing. Sorry, I just had to get that off my chest. I’m just still not entirely sure what’s going on in his chest region, there seems to be a lot of straps and buckles and zigzags and windows. I’d like to say this still speaks to the idea of “containment,” as many layers like that would certainly feel constricting, but I also feel like it’s meant to be a “look” as a whole. The bottom layers being black and gray, then blossoming out into blue and red almost makes me think of a decaying animal, with the blood being exposed as well as some of the bone beneath. I also feel like it ties back into his “layered” personality, in which he has different feelings and personas he chooses to either show or hide at any given moment. His neck and hands are also covered (with the red gloves dipping below the black), perhaps further speaking to concealment. The snake motifs are also present on multiple layers, giving the feeling that this is a constriction that runs deep.

✩ ‧₊˚ ⌞ EXPOSED SKIN ⌝

I will say it: this man’s outfit is sluttyyy (affectionate). Despite the heavy themes of constriction and concealment, the encroachment of the colors and layers do not affect his forearms and hips. He very much has his “V” out to show the world, and I for one am not complaining. To me, this exposed skin feels like a breath of fresh air, something beyond the rotting, constricted animal for once. This seems to really be Sampo — the flesh and blood Sampo, the mortal, the guy who likes striking poses and probably gives great hugs. Yes, it is still strategic (probably trying to ramp up flirt appeal for when he tries to scam people) but it also seems genuine. Sincere. If the rest of his outfit is a constraining, dying bloodbath, then these pockets of skin are the eye of the storm, the places that seem to be untouched by the onslaught. Here, we see a human being. Not an Emanator or an Aeon or a byproduct of compulsive Elation, but a man. Just a man. Breathing, like everyone else. It’s nice.

My main takeaways from this outfit are:

The bones of an Aeon, with mortal and “Primum Mobile” restrictions combining to constrain.

The bones of an Emanator, slowly whittled away with time and the weathering of longevity bestowed by Elation.

The general themes of rot, decay, snakes, venom, constraint, and being suffocated.

Ouroboros, constant cycles, prey caught in a trap of potentially its own making.

Any combination of these!

(I also wrote this piece before really getting into the Doll!Sampo theory, but there is definitely an interpretation to be had regarding Sampo as a creation of Aha! The decaying animal and contradictory colors could represent the fight between Sampo’s “purpose” and who he really wants to be, as well as the chains of Elation choking his freedom of self-expression and want to be his own person. The consistency of constricting and containing bones could also speak to him being a “shadow” of Aha, the echo of a greater being while still powerful himself. If he was created in Aha’s own likeness, he would probably feel the pressure of always being in the shadow of his creator.

Additionally, many other parts of this analysis can still apply to Doll!Sampo, as I see him as at least Emanator status. Longevity would take even more of a toll on him here, since he would have lived so long being disregarded by others as a “toy.” I’ll probably elaborate more on this when I do a dedicated breakdown of my Doll!Sampo theory!)

A note I couldn’t find a good place for earlier: snake bones also imply shed skin, some siphoning off of a greater part of oneself to be reborn anew. Perhaps he is the dead and dying snake, preparing to molt into something even greater. That’s all!

The End! Overall, I feel like I realized a lot of potential things about Sampo going through the parts of his outfit one-by-one. I’m definitely more on board with the idea of being simultaneously constricted and constrained now! Ties that bind, and all that. I also didn’t realize just how much of a battle his outfit feels like until I really looked at it, and now I feel bad for the poor guy. Whatever his endgame identity is, he is not having a good time. I want to give him a hug :((

Also, I want to include this bonus concept art since it shows the snake motifs were a big aspect from the beginning:

Anyways, that’s all!

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.𖥔 ݁ ˖ જ⁀➴ thanks for reading to the end!

(volume warning)

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© analysis by sunderingstars. do not copy, repost, translate, modify, or claim my work as your own.

[rayshippouuchiha]

Yamada: so how did you and izuku start dating

Aizawa: I saw him crush a watermelon with his thighs and I accidentally said out loud “oh god I wish that were me right now” and here we are now

~The way this immediately and completely ate my entire brain~

Of three things Aizawa Shouta is absolutely sure:

One, he simply was not built for operating during the daylight hours. Nighttime really is where it's at in his opinion. The general lack of crowds and eye-searing sunlight just can't be beaten. (Dusk and dawn hours also get a pass but they're both on thin ice.)

Two, the beach is a sandy hell-scape whose only redeeming factor is the convenient access it provides to the eldritch horror that is the ocean aka the place he'll doubtlessly end up drowning himself when he finally, and according to Hizashi inevitably, snaps and runs gibbering mad into the abyss.

And three, he's absolutely and irrevocably cursed. He's being singled out and punished from on high by the gods themselves. His name is writ large across the cosmos in mockery. There is a cosmic "kick me" sign taped to his spiritual back and Shouta's going to hunt his former student Sero down and give him detention for life for encouraging his family's patron god to put it there.

By this point it's really the only logical explanation.

Which, as a card-carrying atheist, he's pretty sure is saying something about the depth of his feelings regarding his current circumstances.

Because there's no other explanation for why or how he's managed to find himself in this current situation.

The situation being, of course, Shouta, in full hero gear, standing in the hot sun on a pristine sandy beach, surrounded by screaming fans as he provides extra security and crowd control for the 20th Annual Heroic Sukiwari Charity Drive.

Shouta has seen hell and it is both Ms. Joke's open mic night and this exact moment right here.

Because, again, he's absolutely 100% cursed.

And the avatar of said curse is, obviously, his soon-to-be ex-best friend who somehow roped him into this entire thing.

Because some people say divine retribution when talking about cosmic revenge plots but Shouta tends to just says Yamada Hizashi. The two are, in many ways, interchangeable.

Shouta's going to put purify salts in all of Hizashi's hair products and also his sugar jar and possibly his energy drinks the next chance he gets.

Because if he never sees another shirtless pro-hero or another watermelon again in his life it'll be too soon.

He's pretty sure he has permanent hearing damage from all of the screaming and screeching the crowd's been doing since this thing started.

And if, after all these years of friendship with the personification of a megaphone, watching a bunch of pro's crush watermelons with nothing but their personal strength on a beach to raise money for various charities is what finally destroys his hearing Shouta is going to shave Hizashi bald before he finally embraces sweet death.

Or enacts Nezu's birthday plans and becomes a supervillain.

The jury's honestly still out at this point.

Shouta does his best to shut out the screaming behind him as one of the cameramen slides up beside him, getting a better angle on the stage as Hizashi, who's currently screeching about Miruko's performance, practically dances across the sand in front of where Shouta's standing.

"Wow, wow, wow," Present Mic chants as he dramatically fans himself, "that was one on heart-stopping, hare-raising show. Let's give it up for everyone's favorite bad, bad, bunny, Miruko!"

For her part, Miruko just struts off the small stage with a nonchalant wave to the crowd, her tiny white bikini in place and the pulverized remains of the half dozen watermelons she'd dropped kicked into soup left behind her.

"But don't lose that rhythm yet listeners," Mic announces gleefully. "Because we've got one more hero set to take the stage! So, without further ado, it's the moment I know a lot of you have been waiting for, myself included if we're being honest. The pièce de résistance of our little shindig, the showstopper himself, the one, the only, the #1 Can Do Hero Dekiru."

The crowd is absolutely deafening.

And, for once, Shouta has to grudgingly admit that he can't actually blame them.

Shirtless, sculpted shoulders and tight abs on display thanks to his low sitting and almost criminally short green swim shorts, and with his trademark bashful smile in place, Dekiru trots out from behind the curtained-off area with a crate of watermelons resting on his shoulder like it's no big deal.

Shouta's pretty sure someone to his immediate right faints but considering they're not currently a trample risk he ignores it.

But the casual show of strength with no quirk use in sight is more than a bit impressive.

For all that people, romance specifically, and attraction in general, have all been things to be considered on a firm case-by-case basis for Shouta, even he has to admit that Dekiru is ... captivating.

Rather drastically so for Shouta considering he's never actually met the man before in person.

Though Shouta does feel like he almost knows him on some level considering the fact that it really would take an act of the actual gods to get Yagi to shut up about his erstwhile protege during staff meetings.

Dekiru waves his free hand at the crowd as he sets his crate of watermelons down on the stage.

"Show us what you've got!" Mic demands from a few feet to Shouta's left. "And let's give him some encouragement listeners!"

The crowd starts up a loud and steady chant of "De~ki~ru!" as the hero pulls his first watermelon out and begins his set.

With an effortless flex of muscles, Dekiru digs his fingers into the watermelon and wrenches it completely in two.

Shouta reaches up to tug at the top of his uniform, relishing the small sip of cool air it grants him.

Shoulders and biceps flexing, another watermelon meets its end between Dekiru's palms.

Shouta really needs to add a water bottle to his utility belt because hydration is important. Or so he's been repeatedly told.

"Those hands, those muscles," Mic groans dramatically. "He really is the Can Do Hero!"

Cheeks noticeably flushed, Dekiru sits down on the stage and fits a watermelon between thick, toned thighs.

His hips twist, those thighs flex, and the watermelon cracks, spilling juice and sweet pink flesh all over Dekiru's lap.

"Oh god," Shouta can't help but say, "I wish that was me right now."

On stage Dekiru's eyes go wide as his attention somehow abruptly zero's in on Shouta.

It's at that moment that Shouta becomes aware of the deafening silence that's fallen over the beach.

Head-turning agonizingly slowly to the left, Shouta's confronted with the sight of Mic, microphone in hand, standing shoulder to shoulder with him.

His sunglasses are askew and he's staring at Shouta with a look on his face that's one part horror and one part unholy glee.

As a matter of fact, the entire beach is staring at him in much the same way.

For a moment Shouta just freezes, body going still at having so much attention turned in his direction.

This ... was not the turn he was expecting the day to take by far.

His first instinct is to, honestly, use his scarf to slingshot himself directly into the sun so his soul can be cleansed with cosmic fire.

But then ...

"Ah," Dekiru speaks up from on the stage, one hand ruffling the back of his hair and cheeks darker than before, "maybe we could go on a date first though? If you'd like?"

There's suddenly a part of Shouta that doesn't actually want to delete himself from existence via self-immolation.

And there's an even large part that doesn't want to outright reject Dekiru's seemingly sincere offer.

Because, when it all comes down to it, Dekiru seems to be, by all accounts, what passes for exactly Shouta's type.

Whip-smart if his very public arrest record and tendency to argue online and on the air with people he disagrees with is anything to go by.

Cute, with that dark green hair and sharp undercut, matching wide eyes, and a face sprinkled liberally with freckles.

Leanly built and small enough that Shouta's sure he could move him around easily but obviously muscular enough to be able to put up just the right amount of resistance in the right situation.

And, above all else, if the stories are to be believed, obviously some degree of batshit insane.

More than one story Yagi had told during breaks had Shouta questioning if the man had imported special American demons back to Japan and then stuffed them all into the deceptively charming and approachable-looking hero that is Dekiru.

So there's really only one logical way to proceed forward in this situation.

Shouta grins.

Several people in the crowd around him step back.

He's pretty sure he hears someone start reciting a prayer.

But Dekiru just blushes, eyes locked on Shouta's and teeth tugging at his lower lip.

"Hope you like coffee," Shouta finally says into the breathless silence that's fallen over them, "and cats."

Dekiru lights up, a smile brighter than the sun and twice as deadly blossoming across his face.

Just off of Shouta's side, Hizashi's busy having some kind of hysterical seizure.

Around them the crowd is going absolutely feral.

Yagi's going to birth actual kittens in the middle of the staff room when he finds out about this.

Shouta can't wait.