#degrees of entropy

[lushnightjelly]

New Fear Unlocked: Career Stagnation

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[scandalousadventures]

This is the type of chart that really puts the universe into the realistically objective yet utterly unfathomable perspective that subjective human minds can only hope to comprehend.

Good god! How can you compare this to anything? How can one hope to describe this in any way other than a series of infinitely lengthening numbers? Human language can barely suffice. We can only make do with approximations; 1.9 repeating is equivalent to 2, after all. This is what cosmic horror stems from! It's indescribable!

[femmefaggot]

entropy

[redhotarsenic]

My brain’s finally letting me watch dubbed tristamp hell YEAHHHH

[nimblermortal]

AO3 Commenter: Oh wow, you did some really interesting things with mathematics in this! Nimbler: Yes - well actually I'm visiting my uncle who's a mathematician and tossing my cookies all night, so I pulled the smallest book off his shelf to keep me occupied between tangos and it turned out to be really interesting, you should try The Mathematical Theory of Communication, come to think of it I should finish the introduction Nimbler: Omg omg omg the ENTROPY of COMMUNICATION?? *fangirling*

[geekyanglophile]

Dude heard that lobsters are “biologically immortal” because they have a little bit of telomerase going for them and thought that meant death is unnatural lol. You realize many animals have shorter lifespans than humans? In fact, for many species the norm is to live only as long as it takes to reproduce.

And really the argument about whether telomerase would ever be an effective “anti-death” solution is completely irrelevant to the original post (and even if we could be immortal… imagine how quickly we would completely overrun the planet… I mean we already are). The anti-aging argument isn’t really about whether ppl are dying or not… we are literally all dying… every last one of us. Anti-aging products are about beauty standards (which is why they are primarily marketed towards women). These products aren’t actually about stopping aging (you’ll notice none of them contain telomerase). Their only purpose is to cover up, reverse, or minimize the physical signs of aging. And by all means, if those features make you sad or uncomfortable, then use whatever products work for you. But people (and women specifically) should not be expected to use these products to cater to beauty standards. Using these products will not improve your lifespan or overall health (other than sunscreen but I don’t consider that an “anti-aging” product).

scrunching my face real hard rn

[chemblrish]

So I'm taking this class called molecular driving forces and it's something like stat mech for chemistry and it blows my mind like every week. Today the professor asked us why heat flows from warm objects to cold objects and everyone was like entropy! Temperature! Equilibrium! and he was like yeah yeah but what's it really about when you get to the bottom of it? And the answer was statistics - because the number of states in which these two bodies are in a thermal equilibrium is much (like, much) greater than the number of states in which they aren't, and so thermal equilibrium is the most probable outcome. And the thing that decks me every time is that it's always statistics, it's all statistics.

So anyway, every week I'm like WHOA THIS IS WHY I CHOSE A SCIENCE DEGREE and if you're also a science student (or used to be one) please reblog and add your moments of awe at the beautiful complexity of our universe pretty please!! I want to read your stories! Science appreciation chain!!

[azurem]

Tis one was also a request from the instagram im afraid. Hm. Okay quick yapping under cut

Okay so this rq was based on the idea of nm asking ink to marry him. However I believe the idea of marriage for Ink at least is a bit more complicated specially since marrying Nightmare means rebuilding his role

Like he'd only been fooling around with nm. At this point, their relationship has been centered around usefulness. They both use each other at a degree, and that was fine for both of them. They use each other to receive affection and to give it freely. They've been well and good. They could stay like that forever and that'd be fine.

But Nightmare still asked him to marry him. So it takes another tone. The main thing that confuses Ink is... reasons. He lives in a world where entropy doesn't exist. Creators make everything happen, there's no chaos. So everything has a reason to be. They know Nightmare likes him, they know his secrets and he knows theirs as well. But why would Nightmare make a point of marrying him when they were already a solid thing.

Was it a way to send a message? Does he want to make sure their things remain private? Is it to demonstrate love, a higher love? Maybe this was his way of tying Ink to him, to make sure that time would erode all his edges?

The idea of marrying and his role after also is complex for him because Ink is the one who'd get subjected to more change. Nm already has a solid antagonistic role while Ink goes with the flow. To be known as his husband would mean that his meta role (what the creators see when they look at him) would change. He'd have a solid bias and the role to prove it. He'd be more character than a concept for once and for all.

It's scary. Nightmare scares him because he radicalizes him. He cannot remain neutral as long as their thing remains a thing. Nightmare makes them a character and grounds them to the multiverse as a solid, warm thing and not just as an ideal they must protect.

So why did they say yes?

[under0-0s]

200th Park Avenue, Midtown Manhattan, New York City. 02:43:27 A.M - Laboratory Room. ____________________ (listen to the music to improve the reading experience.)

_____________________

Tony Stark had always thrived in chaos, but this was different. This was a kind of entropy that clung to his bones, settled into his lungs, and refused to let go. Seventeen days and fifty-two hours—long enough for the world outside to twist into something unrecognizable. The weapons division was back, and so was the backlash. The media called him a war profiteer, a fallen hero, a traitor to his own ideals. The ring from a certain someone, that once held promises now lay forgotten in some drawer, and Serena’s voice still echoed in his mind, raw with anguish. Hunter was out there, bullet chambered, mark set.

It didn’t matter.

What mattered was here, now, in the icy stillness of his lab. He’d shut out the noise, ignored the ghosts that clawed at his conscience. Instead, he stared into the heart of something unknown.

A transparent, human-sized chamber stood at the center of the room, its neon-lined edges casting eerie reflections on the steel walls. Inside, a rippling void hovered—a bright streak, like lightning frozen in time, a tear between dimensions. The air buzzed with energy, a whisper of something just beyond reach. He had calibrated every parameter to the most precise degree, pushing past theoretical impossibilities.

This wasn’t about weapons, not really. It wasn’t about escape, either. It was about the spark. The one thing that had eluded him in everything else.

“Sir, I must remind you that exposure to the anomaly beyond its current containment field presents a high probability of destabilization.”

J.A.R.V.I.S.’s voice, crisp and composed, broke through the quiet hum of machinery. The AI had been monitoring the experiment with unwavering precision, cataloging every fluctuation, every surge of energy, every anomaly.

Tony exhaled sharply, rubbing a hand over his face. “Noted, J. But if I don’t push this further, I’ll never know what’s on the other side.”

“There is a fine line between discovery and destruction, sir.”

A wry smile ghosted across Tony’s lips. “Yeah, well. I’ve never been much for fine lines.”

J.A.R.V.I.S. hesitated, as if calculating the odds of Tony actually listening to reason.

“Would you like me to prepare emergency protocols in case of—”

“No.” Tony cut him off. “We’re not failing today.”

He adjusted the temperature again, a frigid cold settling into the room. His breath ghosted in front of him, cheeks pinkening from the artificial winter. He didn’t move. He barely blinked. He only stared, waiting, hoping, needing something to break through the weight of failure that had consumed him for far too long.

And then—it happened.

The spark.

Small, fleeting, yet infinite in its implications. A shimmer that pulsed through the tear in space, dancing along the edges of the anomaly, illuminating the abyss with an unearthly glow. Maybe it was just a reaction. Maybe it was nothing at all. But for the first time in days, something worked.

His fingers twitched, as if reaching for it, for the proof that something still remained. Something untouched by betrayal, by war, by loss. Maybe it was just physics. Maybe it was just a trick of the mind.

Or maybe—just maybe—it was the proof that between every rupture, every break, every tear, there was a space where something new could exist.

And so he stared, unblinking, as the dimensions split just long enough to let the spark linger.

Because maybe—just maybe—there was still something left to salvage.

The air around him hummed as the neon streak pulsed once more, sending out thin tendrils of energy that wove through the air like living things. He exhaled slowly, eyes narrowing as he adjusted the stabilization settings on the console beside him. If he could just hold the split open long enough, he might be able to measure the properties of whatever existed within. Maybe even step inside.

The thought was reckless, but he had always lived on the edge of recklessness and genius. There was no denying the pull he felt—no denying the possibility that on the other side of that tear, something awaited. Something better. Something more.

But there were risks.

The algorithms were still incomplete, the equations still not fully understood. The chamber’s integrity was holding, but for how long? And if he lost control, what would happen to the lab? To the world?

“J.A.R.V.I.S., run a full diagnostic on the containment field.”

“Processing,”

The AI responded smoothly.

“Energy stabilization at 84%. Containment holding, but fluctuations increasing by 0.7% per second.”

Tony frowned. That wasn’t great. He had minutes at best.

He should stop. He should shut it down and walk away.

But he couldn’t.

Because for all the ways he had failed, for all the people he had let down, for all the things that had slipped through his fingers—this, this, was still in his grasp.

He clenched his fists, jaw tightening as the cold seeped deeper into his skin. The glowing fissure flickered, almost as if it, too, were waiting.

He stepped closer, the hum growing louder. The streak of light stretched and curled, forming delicate arcs that shimmered against the steel walls. His pulse quickened. He reached out, fingers hovering just inches from the anomaly, the energy tingling at his skin.

“Sir, I must reiterate—”

“J, shut up.”

The lab was silent, save for the faint vibrations of the machinery. No voices. No outside distractions. Just him, standing at the precipice of discovery—or destruction.

He took another step forward, heart pounding in his chest. The anomaly pulsed, its radiance fluctuating like the heartbeat of something alive. If he crossed the threshold, if he reached into the unknown, would he find answers? Or only more questions?

The machine hummed one last time before he exhaled and stepped back. He reached for the console, fingers hesitating over the shutdown sequence.

Then, with a final glance at the spark still flickering within the anomaly, he pressed the button.

The energy curled inward, collapsing in on itself until all that remained was the cold and the silence.

J.A.R.V.I.S. spoke first.

“Experiment concluded. Data has been logged.”

Tony turned away from the empty space, running a hand down his face.

Seventeen days and fifty-two hours. That’s how long he had been waiting for something to go right.

The weight in his chest shifted, just a little.

Maybe there was still time to make something of it.

_______________

( Tags so that this just doesn't die: @oh-to-be-a-murderer @the1-and-only-peggycarter @crazyinlovewithmarvel @thatone-midgardian @over-bi-the-wayside @its-nate-the-sharpshot @multiverse-peterbparker @clintbarton-thearrowguy @spidey-sensed-ur-follow @lunamarvels @insomniac-lifestyle @playgirlgenius @the-iron-rose @little-lost-prince )

[nimblermortal]

I'd like to see an argument for "The Thief" being Gen's Ordeal because I can't figure out how it would be. He's not up against a Lone Power; he's not becoming a wizard or a champion of Life. All he does is -

ohhhhh, you're talking about him becoming a champion of higher powers. Nah, I'd still argue it's not an Ordeal, people do that all the time without becoming wizards, that's kind of the point, isn't it? The magic is a byproduct of your commitment to the bit (betterment of the universe), it's not about gaining powers or recognition and if it were you wouldn't be a wizard in the first place.

Does “The Thief” count as Gen’s Ordeal? Or was it just an ordeal? #crossingscon

[lilylovestowrite]

AN ECCENTRIC'S ENTROPY ୨♡୧

PAIRING: (Dr Ratio x Professor! Reader)

WARNINGS: Suggestive

SYNOPSIS: For people who get into each other's pants a lot, you sure do know how to piss each other off...

WORD COUNT: 1k

Divider by @/cafekitsune

Entropy: The measure of the degree of disorder within a substance

“Will you stop your incessant whining?” Dr. Veritas Ratio groans, “I’d have thought spending more time with me would have caused your IQ to surpass at least a vegetable.” You roll your eyes and slam your new research paper down on your colleague's desk. 

“If you didn’t want to be surrounded by idiots, you shouldn’t have decided to teach at a university. Even if Stellaron University is prestigious, you’re still teaching barely adults.” You sigh with faux pity. “But I guess you didn’t think that far, poor Dr. Ratio.” Mockingly, you pet his head, the silky locks of violet slipping through your fingers as he grabs your wrist and forces it back on the desk. 

“I’m not reading your paper.” He shakes his head, brows furrowed and a scoff leaves his lips. Even though he looks up at you from his desk, the way he reclines on his chair so casually makes you feel small. It has always been like this. Veritas and his obnoxious attitude driving you up the walls. A prodigy yourself, the pursuit of knowledge has never been a struggle to you. Yes, it was challenging, but that was part of the fun. The thrill of tearing apart a formula and sinking your teeth in until it churns out a set of numbers that you like.  This allowed you to be the top professor at Stellaron for almost three years straight, until Veritas. Veritas, who opposes almost everything that you do, from the way you prefer to use a whiteboard and pen and him a blackboard and chalk. The way your coffee is dark and his is sweetened with milk and sugar to the point it doesn’t even look like coffee anymore. You didn’t have a problem with this until he published a scientific paper which had quoted your own paper published a month prior, and pointed out how it was not mathematically viable. You still remember the smirk he wore on his face when he emailed you the manuscript for peer review, the audacity of this man to ask you to proofread the very paper he dedicated hours to just to prove your own wrong! 

Naturally, your response is to ask him to do the same. But not with one email, but with twenty scheduled emails every other day. Sometimes, you like to add little emojis to the subject of your emails, and other times you embed links into the email that isn’t your paper, but wikihow articles. This pettiness has caused many encounters with him, some ending rather… intimately. 

Of course, Veritas has not proofread your paper, and you don’t expect him to, so he has no idea how much you’ve referenced his paper and disproved it. But you know how much it ticks him off regardless, the urge to tear through each of your arguments, even if logically speaking, arguing with you is  a waste of time. This degree of disorder is what drives him crazy. You sew chaos into his life as he does to yours, and as the entropy of a heating substance increases the entropy of its surroundings, so too does the tension-filled competitiveness from one of you, causes the other to maniacally lust to overpower the other. 

“Come on, read it. I know you want to.” You slide the paper closer to him, your hands sliding across the epoxy finish of the oak desk. “Unless… You’re scared I’m right.” He stares up at you with eyes the same hue of gold as the award trophies that line the shelves of his classroom, and cocks a brow. He stands up, leaning over the desk and moving his face closer to yours. His cologne almost overpowers your perfume, the musky scent of pinewood and berries he reserves for winter mixing with your vanilla scented perfume, and it sends you into overdrive.

“Oh? I think someone is too overconfident.” He remarks. You’ve noticed that there’s always something up his sleeve, something that he uses at the last minute to defeat you, but you’re getting better at recognising his patterns. And the way his deep voice becomes breathier, softer, akin to a snake’s sinister hiss, you understand that you’ve gotten under his skin. 

“You don’t think enough, Veritas, that’s your writing skills are bare bones and your papers hard to understand.” 

“Shut that mouth of yours.” He grits his teeth further, finally sitting on the edge of his desk and flipping over your paper. You let out a small laugh and sit at his chair. He looks down at you disapprovingly as you do so, but you pay no mind to the fact you’ve sat yourself down on his throne, because your paper will definitely take him down a peg or two. 

“In your bibliography, you spelt ‘accessed’ on your third source wrong.” He points out, taking a red pen from his desk and removing the cap with his teeth, circling the typo as you burn with humiliation. “Oh my, your spacing for the first page and last page are different. How irritating it must be for your readers to be accustomed to one layout and then switch to another.”

“It is just spacing, Veritas.”

“It’s more than that, dear, people like some organisation in their scientific papers. And your way of writing is chaotic! I should have known just by your handwriting and layout in sums.” He tuts, petting your head in faux pity just as you did to him seconds ago.  

“Read the damn paper, Dr. Ratio.” You grit your teeth, now irritated that you’ve dedicated hours and hours bashing him in the footnotes, researching just so he can get a taste of his own medicine, for you to be corrected on your formatting. 

“Patience.” There is something downright Dionysean about his voice, if it were a colour, it would be the seductive shade of red wine, and just as addictive. Addictive like the many times where you two have come too close for comfort, like the one time you two were locked in the storage closet together, and you felt his strong arms encase your body as he helped you push the door open from behind. Or this one time at a work event where he made fun of your table manners and swiped ice cream off of your lips to prove his point. It made you feel red hot, just like the colour of his voice, and the way he acts too hot around you, too excitable. And you wanted more. To make a man who is cold and reserved morph into a competitive beast  raring to go and one up you at every turn is no small feat. The dichotomy makes your head spin, and this side of him only you know wants to make you explore him more. And you know just from the way he cocks his head and slides off the desk, that he’s switching from sub-zero aloofness to scorching hot opposition. 

He grabs the arms of the chair you sit in to push it so far it hits the wall so you are cornered against the blackboard. 

“Actually.” He muses, tilting your head up and sliding your hair to one side. “I want you to read it.” He whispers, breath hot against your ear. “Read it, and I’ll give you,” he encircles your waist with one hand, “appropriate feedback.” 

He hands you the manuscript, and kisses your neck softly. His other hand, now free, unzips your skirt and you gasp as his fingers venture between your legs. 

“Start reading. You’re good at running your mouth, aren’t you? Let’s see how long that attitude lasts…”

[lushnightjelly]

En·tro·py [ˈentrəpē]

lack of order or predictability; gradual decline into disorder

Beginning | Current

[lullabyes22-blog]

ok ok ok so if vander, nandi, sevika and mel all came back and proposed to marry silco all at the same time, who would he choose? 😈

Oh God.

He's had nightmares like this.

And they are legitimately nightmares - not sexy little fantasies. He's not sure which one he'd pick, but the one thing he is certain of is that none of them would be happy with him, and that he'd let each one of them down, in different ways.

His heart yearns to go to Vander. That man was, is, and always will be the love of his life. And Silco is by no means over him. But if Vander showed up, fully breathing, their slate wiped clean and their blood-debt squared, Silco would find himself advancing on the man, not with love, but with with a cold and predatory rage.

There are too many wounds, and they cut too deep. And even though Silco knows he'd forgive Vander eventually, he also knows the forgiveness would take a lifetime, and that in the meantime, they'd both suffer in different ways, because Silco's pain is not the kind that can soften, retract its teeth, allow another to hold him.

Vander would have to bear the full force of his cruelty, and Silco would relish it. He'd also hate himself for it, and Vander, for enduring it.

Nandi?

His soul begs to be with her. She's the only one who truly saw him for who he was, who took his rage at the world as an expression of his love, rather than a repudiation of it. She was his safe haven, and in many ways, she still is. But she's come to embody a saint in his mind, an impossible ideal. And haloed around her memory is his own guilt - at being unable to save her, at not being able to protect her from Topside, at not being able to avenge her the way she deserved to be avenged.

He also knows he's no longer the man she fell in love with, and that there's no way someone as good as her would love the monster he's become. She deserves far, far better.

He also knows that if she accepted him, his possessive streak would reach monstrous proportions. He'd lock her up to keep her safe. He'd never be able to let go of her, because he'd have lost her before, and he knows himself well enough to realize he'd be terrified of ever letting that happen again. She'd end up a prisoner, and he'd smother her by lethal degrees, until eventually he'd end up destroying her spirit in a desperate attempt to safeguard her body.

Which, in his own self-loathing over Bloody Sunday, he'd be unable to touch. And so they'd live in a stalemate of stymied desire and throttled guilt, until entropy swallowed them whole.

Mel?

Oh, Mel.

Mel would be his undoing. Mel would be his death.

Mel has the gift to strip him bare, and she knows it. She can match him, barb for barb, in a way no one else has, and in so doing, she can cut him to the bone, peel away every layer, and reveal the raw and rotted core of him. And as much as the man in him would thrill at that, and at the prospect of someone he could finally, fully, surrender to, the monster in him would never fully allow it.

She's still, whatever else, a Topsider, and his rage at Piltover is so all-consuming that he would never be able to fully let go of it.

And so he'd fight her, tooth and nail, for dominance. He'd fight her, and fight her, and fight her.

And he would win.

He would have to win, because his city is at stake, and Zaun must rise to eclipse Piltover's light if it's to have any chance of survival. And he knows that every backroom deal, every backstab, every treacherous betrayal would cut Mel on the inside, because he would be doing to her exactly what her golden city did to him. And every time he'd make her bleed, every time he'd make her cry, every time she'd kneel and submit at his feet, his victory would feel like a defeat.

Because he wants to love her: fully, completely, unreservedly. Because she deserves a kind of love that he's not capable of giving, a love that's as pure and true as her own. Because he wants to be the man she sees in him, the man he's all but forgotten how to be. And because he knows that, if he lets himself go, lets himself feel the full force of her power over him, that he'd end up betraying everything he's spent his entire life working towards.

He'd let Zaun burn if she begged him to.

And the knowledge terrifies him.

Then there's Sevika.

Beautiful, ruthless, unflinching Sevika. She's one of the few who sees him at his worst, and accepts it. She's the only one he'd trust to take everything he is, and everything he can throw at her. There are no pretenses between them. They've lived in each other's pockets, in a constant state of warfare, and yet never turned on each other. But theirs is a bond born of the trenches, not dreams, and he fears that if there truly is anything viable between them, the moment the war ends, they'd fall apart.

Sevika would be his match, and he knows it. But it's not a match that can light a spark and sustain it. They'd need duty to undergird whatever bond they'd share, because they're no longer the reckless, hotheaded idealists of old, but veterans of a battle that's long outstayed its welcome.

They've carved themselves out, body and soul, until their connection lies in what they fight for, not what they live for.

Maybe, once, they could've lived for each other. But now they're both too hardened, too fiercely committed to the cause, to let their humanity shine through. The only way he'd ever be able to surrender to her, is if she forced his hand, and the only way she'd ever be able to yield to him, is if he did the same.

And while he knows it'd be a pleasure to dominate her, and to let her own him in turn, the truth is that neither of them would find peace in it, but mere respite.

And that's not love. It's not even lust. It's two beasts, circling each other in a den, waiting to see which one makes the first move.

To last the distance, he and Sevika would need a mutual passion to sanctify their base desires, something sublime to give meaning to the brutal honesty they'd show each other in the dark. Zaun might serve in the interim. But in the long term?

Nothing purifies purpose, he's found, quite like power. But power and purpose are nothing without a home, a heart, a hearth. Jinx has taught him that. And she's taught him, too, the joys of loving and being loved.

He wonders if a child with Sevika would help him find that balance.

And help her find it, too.

~*~

Tl'dr: if all four of them came to him, and said the word, he'd turn to Sevika, because at least he can trust her to cut out his heart, and keep it under lock and key, until the dirty business of fighting for Zaun is over, and they can both, finally, lay down their arms. The others would destroy him, and he would destroy them, and Zaun would fall to pieces as he fell to pieces himself.

But Sevika would keep him in one piece, at least until the war is won, and then maybe he'd finally be able to choose her, instead of his ambitions.

And hopefully, she'd choose him, too.

<3

[auntie-browning]

@emptyxhearted liked for a starter

The popping of burning wood filled the eternal night’s air with some much-needed ambiance as the doll tried her best to peer into the darkness surrounding her. It was all for naught however, as the darkness only seemed to remain opaque even with her rapidly adjusting optical sensors. Browning figured this was just Phi messing with her in his way, knowing well how her battlefield anxiety gets heightened when she can’t perceive anything around her.

She still seemed rather surprised that he had let her keep that memory all things considered. Perhaps the underlying dread of the truth keeps her tasty to his pallet as he drip-feeds things that work to agitate her to no end. Psychological torture of the highest degree, all so she would come running back into his arms like the defeated doll he wanted.

Of course, the doll wasn’t going to play game with that. She was harder than she looked, more so since he worked to no end to…enhance certain features she was bestowed but the point remained. She had an enduring will that kept her from collapsing into despair from traveling lost between realities by a force she didn’t understand. Hell, she has been used multiple times by these beings known as Old One’s before. And through it all, she had over come it all to at least push on through, if a little scarred. She will overcome it as always…

…And just maybe…that’s what he enjoys the most about tormenting her. Never understands when to give in.

The heat of the flame seemed to lull her into a cozy reassurance, placing her arms out to absorb all that was radiating. It almost seemed pathetic to view how oblivious she was to the presence inside the darkness peering in. Eyes of a predator lurking over their prey, yet reserved to not let such bloodlust deprive them of any sense or logic. No animalist rush of life was behind those rings that peered out of the shadows…simply ice-cold entropy that threatened to extinguish the very idea of animation itself.

This doll could only press her attention to retaining some comfort in her terrible situation she found herself. Either ignorant or terrified of what loomed out of sight around her. With unknown intentions placed upon its enigmatic form. There could only be so much that could save her.

[tempusedax-rerum]

All references in TiBiBiBaP

Under the cut you'll find all the little references and allusions made in Then it Becomes, it Becomes, it Becomes a Problem because I kept track of them and hey, why not, right?

It's going to include some stuff that probably seems painfully obvious. And did I miss some? Most likely, yes.

Obviously this contains MAJOR SPOILERS lol

Chapter 1:

Bill-proof suit -> The Book of Bill (TBoB from here on out)

Post-it notes -> TBoB

Shave-and-a-haircut -> classic call-and-response

“Have you come to steal my eyes?” -> S02E12, a Tale of Two Stans

Venus de Milo -> ancient Greek marble statue

Chapter 2:

“…grisly warzone that had once been their favourite taco place.” -> TBoB burrito paradox incident

“hourglass-shaped container” -> inspired by the ‘Cosmic Sand’ from S02E08 Blendin's Game and also the oracle page in Journal 3

“Vigilantes vel somniantes vel ambo…” -> this is actually a direct reference to a poem I wrote

“…you never needed the feather, Dumbo!” -> this scene in Dumbo

“The first line of the pyramid is also a theorem; it follows directly from axiom two.” -> Gödel, Escher, Bach: an eternal golden braid by Hofstadter, Douglas R., page 224. All of Amorphous Shape's dialogue comes from GEB because I'm saying that all of reality is consciousness-based (specifically Axolotl-based). What is Amy? A mystery, at her core. Some kind of expression of the fractal structure of the multiverse.

"in the backroom" -> did I spell back room incorrectly?? No. I did this on purpose.

Chapter 3:

My take on the mindscape is loosely based on Plato’s theory of Forms with some scaffolded fractal panpsychism thrown in for good measure

“…grains of sand on every beach…” -> reference to Carl Sagan's book Cosmos

5D Chess with Multiverse Time Travel -> reference to the actual game

Chapter 4:

“It would be insane for a serial killer to press and stamp their own fake pain killers…” -> allusion to the Tylenol murders

Photocopier -> S01E07, Double Dipper

“Route 14” -> Journal 3

Chapter 5:

“…a large gourd with an unnervingly friendly face.” -> Journal 3

“ten distinct varieties of spectra” -> Journal 3

“a huge chess pawn” -> seen in the background of various Gravity Falls episodes (in the attic)

“Teen and Up” -> reference to AO3's rating system

“chamomile, cardamom, and dandelion root” -> chosen for their occult and medical properties: chamomile is associated with calm, cardamom is associated with love, dandelion root is associated with change. Basically a little spell to keep Ford thinking good thoughts about Bill.

Chapter 6:

“Chumbo’s hungry” -> TBoB

“singing the alphabet backwards and chanting Z-O-Z-O-Z-O” -> these are two common ouija board events that are attributed to demons

“Bring spiders! Sixer liked those.” -> TBoB

“The sum of the angles in a triangle is 180 degrees only in Euclidean geometry; it is greater in elliptic geometry, less in hyperbolic.” -> Gödel, Escher, Bach: an eternal golden braid by Hofstadter, Douglas R., page 100

“party like it’s 1346!” -> this is the year the bubonic plague started

Chapter 7:

“There are these cows” -> Journal 3

“The Collector” -> a real Marvel villain

“eaten by Steve” -> Journal 3

“A mop and a bucket.” -> allusion to the various Handyman Bill AUs

“STARVING BLACK HOLES HAVE EATEN ALL LIGHT” -> that's entropy, babyyyy. Specifically, I was thinking about this video: time lapse of the future

“He wants his mother to cut the crusts off his sandwiches.” -> TBoB (burrito paradox 911 call script)

Chapter 8:

“the Purple Man” -> also a Marvel villain

“nice birthday present” -> TBoB

“I don’t want to be a fish!” -> the theory that hiccups are an old fish reflex

“Or Plato?” -> allusion to the allegory of the cave which is linked to Plato's Forms

Chapter 9:

“…has caused me harm in the following ways” -> common script for intervention letters

“A potato-shaped creature with a jelly-like consistency and four eyes” -> Journal 3

“Et tu, Brute?” -> Julius Caesar of course

“this space was originally my biospec lab” -> and that’s what it is in the show according to S02E15, The Last Mablecorn. I tried to stay true to this layout but I did make a few changes.

“He gave me rats for my birthday.” -> TBoB

Chapter 10:

“For here it is true that si paullum a summo discessit, vergit ad imum. I turned back when I saw that no man can reach the bottom of this night.” -> Gödel, Escher, Bach: an eternal golden braid by Hofstadter, Douglas R., page 92

“We cannot make the loop any tighter, but we can open it wider, by choosing to insert any number of intermediate levels, such as ‘picture frame’, ‘arcade’, and ‘building…’” -> Gödel, Escher, Bach: an eternal golden braid by Hofstadter, Douglas R., page 716

“Nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.” -> direct quote from the Twilight Zone, S01E28

“The architect of my own destiny.” -> paraphrase of Jean-Paul Sartre

“Self-made man” -> paraphrase of Frederick Douglass

“portable portal device” -> allusion to the portal gun Rick and Morty... bordering on reference the further into the story we go... lol

Chapter 11:

Tachyon Queso’s Time-Loop Pizza Palazzo —> this is obviously just Chuck E. Cheez which, apparently, used to be called "Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre"

Chapter 12:

“Mens, corpus, in aethere separatum, spiritu unitum” –> I swear this is a reference to Supernatural but I can't remember which incantation I was thinking of

Chapter 13:

Multibear → S01E06, Dipper Vs. Manliness

"Just a couple tweaks" -> reference to Let's Get Weird by Longest Solo Ever

Chapter 14:

“If you wanted to go back and replace axiom one by its negation, you could not just do that by itself; you would have to delete all theorems which had involved axiom one in their derivations.” → Gödel, Escher, Bach: an eternal golden braid by Hofstadter, Douglas R., page ?? (forgot to record the page number, so sorry lol. When I reread I'll fix this)

“Querying the system about some particular idea sets up a goal in the form of a string to be derived.” → Gödel, Escher, Bach: an eternal golden braid by Hofstadter, Douglas R., page ?? (same issue as above)

“hyperdrive from crash site Omega” → Journal 3

“concentrated dark matter” → reference to Rick and Morty, S01E04, M. Night Shaym-Aliens!

“shadow realm” → reference to Yu-Gi-Oh!

“Magrathea” → planet in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Sikaris → planet in Star Trek (Voyager, S01E10, Prime Factors)

Naboo → planet in Star Wars

Arrakis → planet in Dune

Golden fiddle → reference to The Devil Went Down to Georgia

Chapter 15:

“Swayze-style” & “You had me at ‘ditto!’” → references to Ghost (1990)

Chapter 16:

Nothing here except a bunch of over-simplified neuroanatomy.

Chapter 17:

“Krombo-whoever-the-fuck” → allusion to Krombopulous Michael from Rick and Morty, S02E02, Mortynight Run

“she’d figured out how to set water on fire” → that one chemical that can do that. I forget. I think it's lithium? It also burns pink, so I think this was Alex's intention for Pyronica

Jheselbraum → Journal 3

Chapter 18:

“he had Jennifer Aniston beat in that regard” → reference to the Jennifer Aniston neuron

“what was his name… George? Henry?” → allusion to a series of comments where people kept getting Gary's name wrong. It really cracked me up. Like, yes, exactly! Gary is barely a person. Hilarious.

“‘Subsystem’ is just another name for an overgrown symbol, one which has gotten so complicated that it has–” → Gödel, Escher, Bach: an eternal golden braid by Hofstadter, Douglas R., page 384

“spiritui esto subiecto voluntati meae" -> and then Snooki appears! Reference to Supernatural, S9E16, Blade Runners

“Greek superstition” → parsley is associated with the dead in Greek mythology

“Yarrow? Frankincense?” & “absinthe?” → chosen for their occult properties. Yarrow is associated with removing blockages, frankincense with ritual amplification and consecration of ritual spaces, and absinthe is associated with spirit communication

Chapter 19:

“Anima, corpori fuerit corpus totem resurgent.” → reference to Supernatural, S8E1, We Need to Talk About Kevin. Fun fact: Amina (Anima backwards) just so happens to stand in for "amen" in Arabic in certain circumstances. Neat how that worked out.

And lots more oversimplified neuroanatomy. I like brain science. :3

Also thank you to my university's physics department and to some very helpful people on discord who checked my math on those three problems.

Chapter 20:

"Dammit, Janet" -> a song from Rocky Horror Picture Show

“fucking Nosferatu” → Nosferatu :) obviously :)

Chapter 21:

“Obtuse Society” → From this panel about the pitch document for TBoB (here's the actual document)

Chapter 22:

“cells, interlinked” → Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabakov

“Dr. Jacobi” → Laura Palmer's therapist in Twin Peaks

“Did the lambs get too loud for you, Clarice?” → Silence of the Lambs

“salt on Ford’s windowsills” → allusion to Supernatural. Just salt everywhere.

Chapter 23:

“stupid… calcium” → lack of calcium re-uptake is one of the causes of rigor mortis

Chapter 23:

I am purposefully drawing parallels between Bill's trauma-based dissociative experiences and my own experiences with dissociative disorders. This is also a nod to Disco Elysium!

"jelly doughnut" -> reference to the autopsy snack time trope

Chapter 24:

Nothing here

Chapter 25:

This chess game is just The Immortal Zugzwang

Chapter 26:

"a tattoo guy" -> it could be any of the embarrassing tattoos tbh (but it's definitely the "if lost return to Bill Cipher" one from TBoB, the "my muse and me" page)

Moloko plus → disgusting milk-based beverage in A Clockwork Orange

That ol’ Janx Spirit → alcoholic component of the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Chapter 27:

The spot in the Atlantic ocean that Ford is referencing is meant to be the Bermuda triangle

“Eyepatch?” → allusion to Theseus' Guide to Ruining a Perfectly Good Boat by @stump-not-found

The cake in this scene is an internal reference to the moment that Bill saw in chapter 7 which he was using to anchor his behaviour in subsequent chapters. In case.... anyone missed that. It was a very small moment.

"Just rebrand it as an adhesive exfoliating strip. The rash means it’s working." -> Stan's bandaid brand, "The Rip-Off," that won't give you rashes from S02E12, A Tale of Two Stans

The final scene with Bill is a reference to the one therapy session we see on thisisnotawebsitedotcom.com when you type in "even his lies are lies"

Spiders Georg -> we all know this guy, I hope

[monstrousmuse]

They released a Word Search for The Book Of Bill….and I have thoughts.

Thank you to the wonderful @trickengf for bringing this to our attention over on Twitter/X.

POTENTIAL SPOILERS BELOW THE CUT!

These keywords are…intriguing, to say the least. They seem rather broad, and give the impression of being either chapter titles, or general topics that will be covered in the book.

Right. Time for some speculation:

Global Domination - I think we were all expecting this one, since there was an overt reference to the book containing a ‘key to overthrowing the world (laid out in a handy step-by-step guide’ in its description.

Possession - will we be given insight into how possession works/the ‘mechanics’ surrounding it, and how it feels to possess a human body from the perspective of a being such as Bill? Why he finds physical sensations like pain to be ‘hilarious’, and why ‘body spasms’ are so uncomfortable for him? Maybe he’ll tell us about some of the famous historical figures he enjoyed tormenting, or how ‘itchy’ their meat suits were. 0/10, would not recommend. Will be returning to the store tomorrow. Someone forgot to cut off the tags.

Triangle - triangle anatomy…? A trigonometry lesson? Information surrounding the Second Dimension, perhaps? The book is intended for a ‘mature audience’…Show us what you look like without your exoskeleton, Bill!

Death - either this could mean that Bill will reveal what happened to him after he was ‘erased’ from Stanley’s mind and how he subsequently survived the whole ordeal (including that rather painful-looking punch to the face), or Bill joins the likes of Heidegger and Camus and philosophises for several pages straight. I would personally be happy with either, or both. Although…I still find the idea of the entire book just being some sort of postmortem soul-searching project assigned to him by The Axolotl, and Bill begrudgingly going along with it because it was in the terms of the deal he made to ensure his survival to be absolutely hilarious.

Relationships - …excuse me? Relationships? …With whom, pray tell? Platonic relationships? Romantic relationships? Filial relationships? Bill’s relationship with his family? With The Axolotl, with Time Baby? With Ford?

AXOLOTL - ah, well, there we are. So Bill is most likely going reveal more about his connection with the Big Frills and divulge some interesting bits of lore. …Or not. Does he even know about the ‘sixty degrees that come in threes’ poem?

Demons - interesting. I wonder if there will be a catalogue of the different demons that Bill is aware of/has encountered/is friends with, in a similar fashion to the section in Journal 3 on the categories of ghosts. I also hope that the whole ‘dream demon’ thing will touched upon, since this was an aspect of Bill’s nature that was never really explained in a satisfactory manner, and was arguably even retconned by the time that Weirdmageddon rolled around. Is Bill a ‘dream demon’, or is he a being from the Second Dimension who was somehow rendered both omnipotent and (nigh-)omniscient, and thus merely shares characteristics with true ‘dream demons’, but is not one himself? Neither? Both? And what about the Henchmaniacs? Bill referred to them as ‘demons and nightmares’; are they all different species of demons native to different dimensions across the multiverse, or were they born of the Nightmare Realm and its natural entropy? How is all of this connected to the Mindscape and mortal dreams? So many questions…

Codes - again, will the book include a similar set of pages to the ones that can be found in Ford’s Journal? There are most definitely going to be new ciphers and codes to crack, but for some odd reason, I highly doubt that Bill is going to make it easy for us.

Straws - Silly Straws chapter has been confirmed!!! …In all seriousness, I genuinely have no clue as to what role the illustrious Silly Straw will play in this book. Perhaps there really is going to be an entire section devoted to Bill’s apparent fascination with them, or perhaps there is simply a little throwaway comment tucked in the margins somewhere… I guess we’ll just have to wait and find out when the book is released in *checks calendar* five days.