#critical thinking puzzle

[essektheylyss]

Fearne had, in true Fearne fashion, wrapped herself like a personal pashmina around Dorian, which left Orym to curl into his chest.

They had slept this way dozens of times before. Fearne’s blackened fingers wrapped tightly around his forearm as she snored loudly into Dorian’s ear. Orym’s head rested on Dorian’s bicep, his arms folded together between them, and his bare feet were gingerly resting upon Dorian’s thighs just above the knees, as Dorian had coiled enough to let Fearne’s fuzzy leg stretch over his hip. They were exhausted, and this was familiar, and he should’ve been fast asleep.

But Orym’s mind buzzed.

Fearne had always been a strong source of heat, but now she was a furnace, and even without covers it was too warm. But Fearne was not the reason why Orym’s skin burned where it met Dorian’s.

He was a fucking grown man. He was fully capable of admitting that.

Admitting it didn’t change it.

Neither did it change his awareness that Dorian had been too still for the past hour, his breath too precise and measured to be natural as it fell upon Orym’s hair. Orym was not going to presume that the cause of this was the same thing afflicting him; there were plenty of other reasons Dorian would be lying awake tonight.

“My family will find your brother,” he murmured finally, and Dorian’s breath wavered for just an instant before he regained his composure and returned to his measured, singer’s breathing. It was so slight that no one else could’ve noticed it, but Orym noticed. “You said there’s a body— the Tempest can bring him back, or Fearne, honestly—“

“I know,” Dorian answered, and this too was so faint that no one but Orym could’ve heard. “I know,” he said again, as though this one was only to appease himself.

“Do you think… do you think any of Opal is still in there?”

“I don’t know. I could barely tell what was in there—“ he cut himself off. “I couldn’t even help my brother. I think Fy’ra Rai might’ve… she must’ve seen something. I hope so,” he added, inhaling, trying to capture an airy tone that he didn’t fully manage. “The Spider Queen doesn’t deserve her. She doesn’t deserve anything.”

Orym had nothing to say to this. He hadn’t cared what the gods did or didn’t deserve in weeks, but now he could see the vein of fury that sharpened Dorian’s edges. It didn’t frighten him the way it had frightened him months ago, when things had been simpler, when there was not a war to be fought. It simply saddened him. “I’m so sorry about Opal,” he said, after the silence had lingered. “But I’m,” he breathed out a single dark laugh at himself, his selfishness, “I’m real glad it wasn’t you.”

Dorian’s laugh matched his own. “I suppose that is a silver lining.”

“I’m so glad you’re here,” Orym admitted. It was easier to keep his voice from cracking at a whisper. “I’ve thought about seeing you again so many times— I wish the circumstances were better—“

“I’m here,” Dorian said, for the second time today. “The circumstances tried very hard to make even that impossible, but— I’m here.”

Orym pulled his arm gently out of Fearne’s grasp and raised his hand to Dorian’s cheek. It was too dark to see the tinge of lavender against his skin, but Orym could feel the warmth bloom beneath his fingers. He still couldn’t bring himself to attribute his friend’s insomnia to anything so self-serving as his own, but perhaps it was one factor.

He pulled his hand back. Was there a flash of disappointment in Dorian’s eyes? He couldn’t tell in the dark. But he brushed his fingers together, drawing upon the wellspring of life within the ground beneath this hastily-erected encampment. The Hellcatch looked like a barren wasteland to most, but that life was still present even here.

Perhaps not now, but after a rainy season, the valley would bloom with wildflowers. The seeds waited in the earth for their time to sprout. Life went on, even in the darkest of places.

He produced a small stalk of life from his hands, and held out the tiny bundle of forget-me-nots to Dorian.

He should’ve said that they were for Cyrus, to remember him by. He wanted to say that they were for Dorian himself, that a day hadn’t gone by that he hadn’t thought of him. He didn’t speak at all as Dorian’s hand wrapped around Orym’s, pinching the stem beneath his fingers but not letting go.

“Orym,” Dorian breathed, looking from the flowers to his face. Then a strange expression came over his face, a wrinkle of consternation as he stared into the middle distance. “Fearne, are you braiding my hair?”

Orym lifted his head an inch to peer past Dorian’s ear. He had noticed that the snoring had stopped, but he’d been too caught up in the conversation to process it. Fearne’s wide eyes stared back with perfect innocence, her hands indeed weaving Dorian’s hair into a loose braid.

“Just pretend I’m not here,” she whispered quickly. “I’m totally not here.”

When Orym dropped his head back to Dorian’s arm, he was met with a crooked smile. It was not meant to be disarming, but it disarmed him anyway.

“Just like old times, eh?” he said, but his hand was still around Orym’s.

Carefully, Orym moved to tuck the flower behind Dorian’s ear, bringing both of their hands with him, and then laced their fingers together instead. “No,” he said, and tucked his head so that his brow rested against Dorian’s chin, and pressed their entwined hands to his lips. “But I think that’s okay.”

[chibishortdeath]

I was playing Undertale a while back, but also Funger at around the same time, so uh, something happened 💀💀💀

Younger Undertale fans who may see this post! Be warned! Funger is not for kids! Don’t go looking it up!!! There’s nothing inherently adult in this post, but the game is very inherently adult and graphic horror!!!

[worddevourer]

Campaign 3 has turned into a tangled web exceptionally quickly.

Ira was working for Treshi for money.

Treshi was sowing discord in Jrusar to get the Paragon's Call inside.

The Paragon's Call is led by Otohan.

Otohan has appeared in Imogen's dreams.

Imogen's dreams are related to Ruidus.

The other people studying Ruidus, from the opposite side, are Fearne's parents.

Fearne's parents are working with Ira.

Which means this is all one big loop including people who are nominally on polar opposite sides of this conflict.

But also, though, it seems pretty likely that the assassins Orym is tracking are the same as the shadow assassins that have been stalking members of the Grim Verity, but also probably the people appearing behind Otohan in Imogen's dreams, and also probably the 'shadow assassins' that Yu was threatening them with, since Otohan is apparently working with the Unseelie Court.

And also, judging by their descriptions and the way they're not quite real, they're probably also Dunamancy clones, or alternate timeline versions of people.

And somehow, all of this links back to the the moon, which appeared at around the time two gods apparently vanished from the pantheon? Apparently?

I technically have heard many things that I rightwise should not have known about yet, and despite even my advance knowledge, I'm kind of baffled by it.

[princekirijo]

Finished up Kaneshiro's palace and overall it's really solid in terms of gameplay and design. Love the money littered all over the place, the guard designs (liked the detail of their masks looking bug like its a nice bit of foreshadowing) and ofc the music. I think the last puzzle is fun but it drags a little at the end tbh (but that could be because I did the palace in one day so)

[sappy-detective]

IM CRYING AT THIS HC BUT OKAY

when saiouma are on a date or sometimes they just like to sit in silence, shuichi always has different Rubik's cube he mixes up and hands to ouma so he can solve it

[eggman-1]

I swear i see more posts complaining about people complaining than people complaining. "People are saying EOW isn't a real zelda game-" bitch WHERE?? WHO??? I'm not asking because i want to find them, but seriously, what are you TALKING about. Where are you finding this

[meteorherd]

letterboxd is kind of insufferable and filled with assholes but i like just having a space to shove my pretentious film thoughts into without forcing everyone on tumblr to see it....it is the price i must pay

[antvnger]

10. What’s your boring hobby (that you still enjoy anyway)?

I like puzzles a lot. Sudoku is one of my favorites. It’s like lock picking. It promotes critical, creative problem solving stuff. And honestly it’s fun.

101 curious asks

[ineedabigsnorlaxplushie]

People would say that I'm obsessed over Layton, but I found some puzzles of the games in some practice for my university entrance exam which means that I was actually studying all this time

[wobinofylisse]

Realizing that I'm capable of critical thought every time I see some new popular horror walking sim and realize its actually really bad despite it having like a 90+% positive review on steam

Not gonna name names here but it's kinda impressive how little people expect from horror games now. Like you can genuinely put in less than the bare minimum effort and as long as the characters are marketable enough nobody will give a shit about how awful it is

[aftonenterprise-moved]

i want to care about the new arcs of fnaf so bad especially while being a vanessa stan but oh my goodness i cannot get into it and i want to say its because michael isn't there but honestly michael wasnt there before. but i hadn't had it broken down to me exactly HOW intertwined security breach was to the novels until very recently with the explanation of where glitchtrap came from and its sooooo ohhhh my goddddd oh my goddddddd (plugging my ears) LAAALALALALALLALA

[gothamcityneedsme]

vtm swansong is on sale for the live of godddd buy it and play it

[skullvis]

I don’t want my expectations subverted I don’t need some major crazy twist I actually do want to see character and story arcs to follow through on their initial set ups and not change dramatically and almost randomly to add drama to the narrative I don’t need there to be “shippable” characters i just want a good, engaging story told well what the hell

[nbstevonnie]

really unsure where i stand on baba is you

[theres-whump-in-that-nebula]

Uh-oh. This is bad

[wizardnuke]

hey i just want to say i appreciate your good takes about essek. essekwarriors who have the ability to think critically should form a union we are small but we are mighty. i always love it when you show up on my dash 🤝 godspeed

THANK YOU 💪🏻