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robbyrobinson · 1 month

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{Creepypasta} Remember Euclydia

Growing up, Gravity Falls was truly something special. Released back in 2012 and concluding after two seasons on February 15, 2016, the Disney Channel series revolved around Dipper and Mabel Pines, a set of fraternal twins, who were sent to spend their summer vacation in the fictional town of Gravity Falls, Oregon, with their great uncle, or rather “Grunkle” Stanley Pines. Together, they work at Grunkle Stan’s tourist trap “The Mystery Shack” alongside Soos and Wendy Corduroy. It is there that Dipper would discover a journal cataloging all the mysterious anomalies that plague the town.

Of course, the show was best remembered because of its use of cryptograms such as the Caesar cipher among other varieties of encrypted puzzles. In fact, shortly after the series finale was aired, a real-life Cipher hunt was orchestrated by series creator Alex Hirsch himself which spanned countries beginning in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and, appropriately ending in Reedsport, Oregon. And it is there, somewhere in the woods that the victors who decoded the mystery were met with a statue of an... old friend.

Fans of the show are more than familiar with the sinister Dream Demon Bill Cipher, but for those who slept on the show, Bill Cipher was the main antagonist of the series, a triangular fiend from the Second Dimension who was originally meant to be a one-off character before he was promoted. To keep the spoilers to a minimum, Bill wanted to merge his decaying dimension, the Nightmare Realm, with the Earth succeeding at his goal in “Dipper and Mabel vs. The Future” when he deceived a despondent Mabel. He rained weirdness on the entirety of Gravity Falls in an apocalyptic event dubbed Weirdmageddon driving people to the brink of insanity with his Bubbles of Pure Madness and transforming others into stone statues and creating a Throne of Frozen Human Agony from them.

However, despite his near victory, Bill is predictably defeated, leaving his physical form behind to get an equation which prevented him from spreading his weirdness to the rest of the world. While the show ended on a great note with the day saved, it left a plethora of questions, the most damning one being on the demonic triangle himself. Was Bill truly dead, or could there be a chance he could return to wreak havoc on the Pines family?

This question lingered for years and was only further muddled with the subsequent releases of books to expand the universe of Gravity Falls. The most alarming one was written from the perspective of the Dream Demon himself, which begged the question: if Bill was dead, how could he be writing the book? Was he in some weird afterlife, preferably Hell for all the atrocities he committed throughout the trillions of years he was alive? Or was he hiding in the deepest regions of Grunkle Stan’s mind? The Book of Bill promised to reveal Bill’s origins and ultimately clear up where he had been for all those years since the show finished production.

Naturally, the book is classic Bill with its morbid, dark humor, and, to its credit, it did reveal Bill’s backstory... or at least bits of it that put together. Even in the original cartoon it was common knowledge that Bill was a native of the Second Dimension where, as he put it, was a realm containing nothing but flat dreams, flat minds, and a flat world. It was then that Bill “liberated” his dimension, and he did such an exceedingly excellent job at it that... the dimension no longer exists. Everyone was dead, even his parents.

While the book could be summed up as being just nonsense that Bill wrote to ensnare a hapless victim to possess and start Weirdmageddon anew, what made this an even more interesting turning point is the creation of a tie-in website “thisisnotawebsitedotcom.com.” The site could be best described as being additional pages of The Book of Bill that were left on the drawing board detailing more lore to the series and giving some funny responses. Just try typing in “Ted Cruz” and you would be introduced to a popup that informs you that you violated standards and practices and therefore you must have your mouth washed out. Or if you typed in “Skibidi” you are met with the lovely message that your life privileges are revoked. Then there were the... not-so-funny responses like what happens if you type in “Stanley” one-too-many times.

After hearing about the website, I decided to visit the website. I was met with several interesting visuals like a human skull with a gold tooth; an eye in a jar; a copy of The Book of Bill with a dagger stabbed into it. Best of all, the low beat of the show’s theme song complimented the mysterious aura that took me back to when I first watched the cartoon. I soaked in the atmosphere for a few more seconds before I remembered the reason I logged onto the website.

I started off with the codes I already was familiar with ranging from the names of the main characters and was met with amusing results. I then thought of ones off the top of my head to see if they also worked. If you were to type Season 1 into the computer, you’d get “Anti-Gravity Falls” for one, or Season 1 if you plugged in Season 2. As I further experimented with the outcomes, my mind directed me towards Cipher again. However, I had already used “Bill,” “triangle,” and “Bill Cipher” so I needed to think of something else... maybe on some of his classifications. Given the terminology that he was a Dream Demon, the most sense was to type “dream.”

So... I did. I wrote out “dream” and pressed enter. Red flashed from the computer denoting that the word was not one of the codes. I was disappointed, but I remembered how there were tricks to some of the words, so I pressed the enter key again. But like before, no slice. However, I was not one to just give up after the first two goes. I pressed enter again and again in rapid succession only for the same blaring to ring out.

It was the very definition of insanity I admit, but if it provided me with answers to Bill’s nature, I would have felt obligated. Eventually, the pyramid placeholder on the computer glitched as a new message popped up:

PA'Z UVA TF MHBSA PA'Z UVA TF MHBSA PA'Z UVA TF MHBSA TF LFL... P JHU ZAPSS ZLL AOL IBYUPUN IVKPLZ... PA OBYAZ PA OBYAZ... WSLHZL ZVTLVUL AHRL HDHF AOL WHPU!!!

I could practically hear Bill railing against me the further I typed the word into the password interface. The screen glitched and flashed in vibrant colors undoubtedly representing a color code. Clearly whatever was going on indicated that whatever was happening was working to my favor. It must have taken me thirty times, but the website appeared to relent. Another message fizzled up asking me if I really wanted to know the deep dark secret this time offering me a yes or no option. I chose the former, and after it stalled for a few seconds, it sent me a link to a video with the simple title of “Remember Euclydia.”

From my research on the wiki for Gravity Falls, I came to the realization that Euclydia was the name of Bill’s realm and that I would be sitting front and center and witness the destruction of the world. True to what he had alluded to, Eucyldia existed on a flat plane, as if it were just a piece of paper. In this dimension, there were no stars or cosmic bodies to speak of, with all the inhabitants of that realm bumping into each other at random and talk of any other dimensions was strictly forbidden. Everyone had two-dimensional forms befitting their environment, but I could also tell that the realm did have a sense of leadership.

Two triangles, one red, the other blue, directed the citizens with authoritative stride. Among the gathered assemblies were rhombuses and ellipses. Squares and diamonds. All the shapes you were taught in preschool were in attendance as they waited for some grand experience. What I found the most peculiar about the two triangles, however, were their two sets of eyes. If they were supposed to be Bill’s parents, then that only further indicated that Bill was born with a mutation. Just as I came to that conclusion, more cryptograms, this time representing the Caesar cipher, filled the screen.

Decoding it, the symbols formed a sentence: “In aspiration of making his people see all, the killer’s mental state took a great fall.”

My eyes were directed to a yellow triangle with a single peeper rise above the others. It floated over to the farthest end of its reality when I heard the rumblings of a song. I carefully pressed the plushy cushions of my headphones to better hear what tune it was playing. It possessed a soft, motherly tone making me speculate it was Bill’s mother Scalene. I would be lying if I did not say that the lullaby lulled me into a false sense of security.

“Rock-A-Bye Billy

Please don’t you cry

It’s not your fault you have that strange eye

Stay safe with Mommy you’ll never fall

And we’ll always love you sharp angles and all.”

The song’s instrumentals continued to play in the background as more Cipher cryptograms glimmered. I was admittedly not too adept at decoding the cryptograms from the show, so I wrote them down and opened another tab to a website that could decode what the hidden message said. I jotted down the letters that accompanied each symbol and returned to the video. From what I could gather, it went like this.

FOR TRILLIONS OF YEARS, I WAS AFFLICTED. THEY CALLED ME CRAZY FOR SAYING THAT I SAW BILLIONS OF TRILLIONS OF UNIVERSES ALL EONS AHEAD FROM THIS FLAT HELL OF AN EXISTENCE. EVEN MY OWN MISERABLE PARENTS TRIED STUNTING MY TALENTS WITH THAT HICK OF AN EYE DOCTOR. MY EYE THROBS EVERY TIME I LOOK INTO OTHER WORLDS. I CAN’T SUPPRESS MY GIFT ANY LONGER.

I watched the yellow triangle representing Bill further push through the shapes as they went sideways and down, but never up. It pushed against the limitations of its world and stretched its hands until the palms clanged on a hollow surface. A ripple of waves wobbled on the invisible forcefield like gelatin. However, the triangle was far from done.

The vocals of the audio returned a second time, but I sensed there was something amiss about. The shape intensified its blow at the same time the song grew more pronounced. Again and again, the barrier jiggled as it became stable. The video zoomed in on the triangle’s singular eye with the slit of its pupil expanding. Galaxies sparkled being so close, yet still so far.

I WILL SHOW EVERYONE THE STARS.

A deafening smash rang through my headphones the moment Bill broke through his reality. The fabrics of reality shattered like shards of glass exposing the once concealed dimension to third dimensional space. Scalene's lullaby reached its crescendo before falling silent.

LOOK, EVERYONE! I WAS RIGHT ALL ALONG! MOM, DAD, I -

The text stopped midsentence when the video began to buffer despite playing normally. I decided to refresh the video, and it functioned properly until, yet again, it buffered on the scene. Curious, I did the same trick a few more times getting the same result, but after the sixth time, the video resumed playing a corrupted version of Scalene's lullaby. “Rock-A-Bye Billy

Please don’t you cry...

It’s not your fault you have that strange eye

Stay safe with Mommy, you’ll never fall

And we’ll always love you, sharp angles and AAALLLLLLLLLLLLL-”

The scene slammed to show Bill’s pupil shrink as... something... descended through the crack in his reality but since the camera focused in on his face, all I heard was the sound of roaring and gnashing mandibles of a large creature. My only theory was that it was some anomaly that breached the Nightmare Realm and was now wreaking chaos on Euclydia. The once peaceful lullaby that Bill’s mother sang to him was replaced with a melody of horrified screams and the natives getting gorily ripped to shreds by the monster.

NO... NO... NO THIS WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN! OH GODS... HOW COULD THIS GO SO WRONG!!!?

Blood was everywhere as the monster ruthlessly attacked each inhabitant with no one being spared from its rage. Because of the primitive design flaw of Euclydia, it made it all the easier for their slaughter to happen en masse. Blue flames rained down from the monstrosity’s maw and engulfed buildings incinerating them to their last atom. Any that fought against the intruder did so, saving the other two-dimensional beings a few seconds at best, but their weapons were of no use. Rather, it made the monster more infuriated at their insolence.

Bill hovered over the ruined husk of his world his confidence being replaced with an expression of dread. His eye throbbed again this time out of bewilderment as he floated there petrified. Crimson blood splattered across his face knocking him slightly out of his catatonic state. His stomach churned with his eye burning hot with the urge to vomit (the show had confirmed that his eye doubled as his mouth). He clutched his chest with his fist as his voice staggered in disbelief. He struggled to speak, but the scent of seared flesh filled his nostrils. He could only wheeze a dry “It... it wasn’t me.”

He continued to speak into the void when the video transitioned slain Euclideans dragged their broken bodies along and linked their limbs together in huge swarms. They directed their collective gaze towards Bill... I could practically feel the venom in their words.

Why did you do it? Why did you do it?

Bill gripped the sides of his head in desperation of drowning the accusations out and continued doing so even when his fingernails clawed into him. The video began playing at a fast pace with Bill shaking fervently. The harsh critique drilled tiny holes in his body with his blood and tears coming together in a mixture. Cipher slowly lowered his hands.

Tears streaked down his eye as Bill laughed hysterically, his mental state snapping and burning away alongside the rest of his world and continued growing more erratic and pained the more Bill allowed himself to slip away. The blue flames licked his body symbolizing the punishment that he would receive for all his crimes. His mother’s lullaby reached its final note before the video abruptly ended.

The next day, I booted up my computer and decided to visit thisisnotawebsitedotcom.com to see if I could get that outcome again. I typed in “dream” as I did yesterday only to be met by the blare of the monitor as the code was rejected. No matter how many times I tried that password, I was never able to activate the link for the video. The rest of the website worked as normal.

#creepypasta #lost episode #euclydia #gravity falls #bill cipher #thisisnotawebsitedotcom

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keikotwins · 8 months

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Mokumokuren

Birds of different feathers flock together

Noticed online by head-hunting publishers, Mokumokuren hasn’t waited very long before polarising the attention of Japanese readers. With strange The Summer Hikaru Died, horrific bromance dealing with body dispossession, the mangaka signs a series of sophisticated oddity, that sets itself apart from the predictability of current fantasy productions.

Interview by Fausto Fasulo. Original translation: Aurélien Estager. English translation: “Keikotwins”. Bibliography: Marius Chapuis. Thanks: Camille Hospital & Clarisse Langlet (Pika), Yuta Nabatame, Mayuko Yamamoto & Mana Kukimoto (Kadokawa), Chiho Muramatsu (Tohan)

(T/N: Interview given to ATOM in winter 2023; 2 volumes were out in French.)

In an interview given to the CREA website in November 2022, you confided inventing stories since very young. Did your first fictions resemble the ones you draw nowadays?

It’s true that there are quite a lot of common points between the stories I imagined when I was a child and the ones I tell nowadays in my mangas. Especially a specific motif, that has been haunting me since the time when I wasn’t really aware of the world surrounding me: the presence amongst us of “non-human” beings, that nonetheless have a perfectly normal, ordinary appearance…

And how was this “obsession” born?

Precisely identifying the origins is complicated, my memories are too blurry, I think… What I can tell you is that I’ve always been fascinated by “creatures”. For example, I remember being very impressed by Peter Jackson’s bestiary in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. By the way, still in a fantasy register, I am also a big fan of Harry Potter adaptations… (She thinks.) And I’ve always liked yōkai stories, you know. I think that what I like in all these mythologies is the idea of species classification: each has its own characteristics – physical, biological – its own way to apprehend its environment.

In Japan, yōkai are integral part of regional folklore. Did the place you grew up in have some specific beliefs?

I was born and grew up in Tokyo, and, as you must know, yōkai are mostly associated with rural areas. I was thus never really bathed in this type of regional fantasy folklore. There are all kinds of yōkai and we can perhaps see in some more contemporary urban legends the echo of certain past beliefs? (She thinks.) I am a bit frustrated, because I believe that I could remember a legend that would have impacted me, but nothing comes to mind immediately, sorry!

You have already said so in an interview and it’s quite obvious when reading your work: you are a big amateur of horrific fiction. What has been your first contact with the genre, all medium included?

It was television that introduced me to horror: special shows, television films, series, I was watching these programs with a mix of fear and enthusiasm, a confused sensation that particularly delighted me! (She thinks.) And amongst all the aired shows, I will remember two titles: Hontō ni atta kowai hanashi and Kaidan shin mimibukuro*.

* Inspired by the homonymous manga magazine published by Asahi Shimbun, Hontō ni atta kowai hanashi (lit. “Scary stories that really happened”) is a series produced by Fuji Television that has been airing more or less weekly since 2004. Derived from literary material (a series of compilations of hundreds of short stories by Hirokatsu Kihara and Ichirō Nakayama, published from 1990 to 2005) Kaidan shin mimibukuro is a series made of several short movies depicting ghost stories based on real testimony.

Did you read horror mangas when you were young?

Let’s say that I was more interested in live-action productions. Nowadays, I obviously appreciate some horror manga authors, without pretending to be any expert in the subject. For example, I like Junji Itō’s work, but I am far from knowing it for a long time… (She thinks.) I could also talk about Shigeru Mizuki, who I also appreciate a lot.

The mechanics of fear aren’t the same in occidental and oriental fictions. You like American horrific productions – like Ari Aster movies – as much as ones from Japanese origin – you notably quote Ichi Sawamura novels and Kōji Shiraishi feature films. Can we say that you are tying these two perspectives with The Summer Hikaru Died?

My relationship with horror is more imbued with oriental sensitivity. But what I find remarkable in occidental horrific productions is work on image. In The Shining like in Ari Aster movies, for example, there is real research made on frame composition and choice of colours. I also try to follow this aesthetic reflection in my work as a mangaka.

In Ari Aster’s work, beyond the very precise staging, there is this permanent desire of ambiguity. Do you try to dig this same equivocal trench?

Absolutely. I try to tell complex feelings as well in The Summer Hikaru Died, like fear dyed with nostalgia or attachment, repulsion mixed with fascination, with attraction…

How do you “sort out” the shots that inspire you in cinema?

I don’t draw while freeze-framing during specific scenes. I would always rather watch a movie as a “focussed” spectator. However, I pay a lot of attention to the way the director composes their frame. I sometimes take some notes, but I most often simply keep it in a corner of my mind.

Could you tell us when and how the story and characters of The Summer Hikaru Died appeared to you? Have they matured a long time within you?

I’ve started thinking about this story when I was preparing university entrance exams. I was aspiring to join an art uni, and I was drawing every day. I can’t really say I made my characters “mature”: back then, I wasn’t thinking that the drawings I was making would one day end up being published, way less being serialised! I innocently created characters close to me, without guessing that one day they’d become manga protagonists.

One of your foundational reads was Sui Ishida’s Tokyo Ghoul manga. Can you tell us how you discovered it and what effect it had on you?

I don’t really remember how I discovered this series, but what I know is that I became crazy about it at first read. What I liked – and what I still like – is this idea of telling a story that confronts humans to these “different” beings while following the point of view of a character that represents alterity. Beyond this strictly dramatic aspect, Sui Ishida’s storyboarding and character design have had a strong impact on my work. However, I want to add that Tokyo Ghoul isn’t the only title I took inspiration from, I obviously have other references…

Do you do a lot of researches to define the design of your characters? You seem to draw them easily, in a very natural gesture…

I haven’t spent a long time defining my protagonists. First, there are few in the manga, then, they evolve in a rather realistic universe. My goal was rather simple: they had to look believable in the reader’s eyes. I wanted people to be able to imagine crossing them in the street, you see?

It’s after seeing illustrations posted on social media that depicted the future characters of The Summer Hikaru Died that the publishing department of the Young Ace Up magazine noticed you. How have you reacted when approached?

I was very surprised, because I absolutely wasn’t trying to become a mangaka. I would have never projected in such a future, you see. And, very honestly, if they hadn’t suggested working on this series, I don’t think I would ever had pushed the doors of a publishing house… I am then very thankful towards the persons who have allowed me to enter.

And what would you have done if you hadn’t been solicited?

Back when I’ve been contacted, I was considering – still vaguely – working in the video games field. But I wasn’t really proactive, I wasn’t contacting anyone, wasn’t sending resumes…

Did you want to do chara-design?

Why not, yes. What I like in video games is the range of possibilities they offer. You can then create an entire universe and this is rather exhilarating.

So you’re a gamer…

I have dropped my controller since I’ve started drawing manga. But yes, when I had more time, I played rather regularly, especially Nintendo productions…

Even if you play rather little nowadays, do video games influence your work?

I can’t say whether it really is an influence, but the Undertale game has left a big mark on me. I felt its creator’s strong will to surprise players, to make them feel unprecedented sensations…

Horror manga only relies on art and storyboard to provoke fear, whereas cinema and video games can also rely on sound. Is it from this observation that you have decided to particularly work on your sound effects?

Absolutely. I have thought a lot about the way to introduce and stage sound in The Summer Hikaru Died. The sound effects that you can find in the manga are indeed the result of this approach.

In an interview given to the Realsound website, you mention the use of the シャワシャワ (“shawa shawa”) sound effect. Knowing that occidental readers are way less sensitive to these graphicoustic details, can you explain its meaning?

“Shawa shawa” expresses the song cicadas make in western Japan. It’s a very special noise because in the different regions live different species that make specific sounds. So when I choose this specific sound effect, I convey a geographic and temporal piece of information to the reader, who can then guess the location and season the action takes place in. (She thinks.) When using this sound – that we especially find in the beginning of the manga – my goal was to play with silence, particularly when the song stops. I thus had the idea of representing this sound effect with an easily readable font, so the reader would make no effort to decipher it, as if the sound was asserting itself naturally, you see? I hoped to suggest a saturation they couldn’t avoid and that, when it’d stop, would immerse them in absolute silence.

The Summer Hikaru Died transcribes very well this particular atmosphere of Japanese summers…

Yes, I really wanted to signify this languor in my manga. And the cicadas’ song we discussed earlier contributes to creating this atmosphere: it’s an overwhelming sound, sometimes irritating, you cannot escape from in summer – Japanese readers obviously know what I’m talking about. (She thinks.) I also gave special attention to shadows: summer light being very bright, shadows are very sharp, very deep.

Do digital tools allow you to get this result more efficiently than traditional?

I work on Clip Studio Paint, and it’s true that it sometimes allow me to save time. Consider the work on shadows: I never apply solid black because I like saturating space with hatches and, with digital tools, I can obtain the desired result faster because I can duplicate each of my lines.

Your use of hatches is sometimes reminiscent of Shūzō Oshimi’s…

I don’t know his mangas very well, but it’s funny that you mention him because I recently read his latest series, Okaeri Alice. In any case, I really like his style and I perfectly understand how you can bring his universe and mine together.

The Summer Hikaru Died relies on the concept of body dispossession, that obviously takes back to the Body Snatcher novel by Jack Finney and its movie adaptations. Did you think about it?

I don’t know this book very well, but I know its theme has been approached often, especially in movies. As I was saying at the beginning of this interview, my idea was to adopt the point of view of a non-human and tell his indecision, his moral questions…

We also find this idea in Hitoshi Iwaaki’s Parasite…

I haven’t read the manga fully, but I’ve watched the anime adaptation that was released a few years ago (R/N: in 2014). I remember rather liking it, even if I think I offer something different with The Summer Hikaru Died. What interests me is sounding the inwardness of my non-human character out and expose all his dilemmas. What is his place amongst men? Is he legitimate in our world? Here is the type of questions that pushed me.

One of the impacting scenes of volume 1 of The Summer Hikaru Died is the one when Yoshiki penetrated Hikaru’s body by shoving his arm into his torso. It’s a sequence that is both very sensuaI – to not say sexuaI – and also very horrific. How did you get this idea?

I wanted to put the readers in an uncomfortable position. A stressful situation that could take several forms because, according to your sensitivity, you can feel very different emotions in front of this scene: sexuaI arousaI, fear or disgust. For me, it was supposed to put the reader in some kind of catatonia, you see?

Do you chat a lot with your tantō, especially around these slightly “complicated” scenes?

I have free rein, you know, I can draw everything I want. My editorial supervisor has never asked me to temper some sexuaIIy connotated parts. My discussions with him don’t revolve around this kind of things, but rather around the structure of the scenario itself: where to place this scene in the narration? Is it better to put this sequence before this other one? Nowadays, I am more at ease with all the scripting layout but, at the beginning, I needed support.

What allows you to get, from a dramatic point of view, the mix between bromance and horror?

I wanted to show the differences in sensitivities and values between a human being and an “other than human”, and tell the misunderstandings this can cause when both meet. When Yoshiki “scratches” under the appearance of the one who is supposed to be his best friend, it creates a first point of conflict in the story. I then hoped to make his relationship with Hikaru – or rather with the “entity” that pretends to embody him – a kind of undefinable bond, that wouldn’t be friendship, nor love.

Do you know today where this strange relationship between your two heroes will lead you?

I know more or less how all of this will evolve, yes. I have decided on my story’s general plot since the beginning. I can only tell you that The Summer Hikaru Died won’t be a long series.

How do you explain the almost instant public plebiscite of your series in Japan? You perhaps cannot have perspective on it but, in a saturated publishing landscape, you have managed to stand out…

Hm… Indeed, I don’t really have precise explanations to give you about this success. Maybe the covers’ design has been in favour of the manga? I asked the person in charge of graphics to make sure that the visuals would be noticeable in bookstores. That’s why the books have this monochrome aspect, with the title discreetly placed. I didn’t want obvious advertisement banners, but something simple, like this blue background for the first volume, on which the character stands out. I also wished to create contrast between the jacket’s and the inner cover’s drawings. I thus had requirements that didn’t quite go alongside what we can nowadays see on the shelves of Japanese bookstores.

#the summer hikaru died #hikaru ga shinda natsu #/long post #I'm not a native eng speaker so excuse mistakes!#the fr version has fancy words that I simplified for the eng translation #Feel free to ask any question!#The og article had manga illustrations with funny comments as legends + a short analysis of the manga's narration that I didn't include #The og title was 'Qui se dissemble s'assemble'#which is a play of words saying the opposite of idiom 'Qui se ressemble s'assemble' lit 'who look alike go together'#so I went for a silly equivalent lmao

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jillflame · 1 year

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LACKADAISY ENDGAME PREDICTION

So before we start, BE WARNED OF SPOILERS!!! I'll be drawing from a lot of different panels and bonus material, so if you would like to avoid spoilers for the comic and bonus stuff, go read everything on the Lackadaisy official website (seriously go read it its amazing) and then come right back here!

To begin, I've been in the mood for some Lackadaisy theories.

Mostly concerning the fun scavenger-hunt bonus feature on their website, jocosely titled "Funeral Home".

Everybody who's played around with the feature has figured out that if you put various characters' names into it, you get fed back quotes from the pilot. All except Atlas, who spits back this:

I've seen a lot of theories circulating that Atlas was drowned or that his death was somehow tied to water, but we know that isn't true because we get a glimpse into his death in 'Introduction 2':

Atlas was clearly shot (or stabbed, i guess, but far more likely he was shot given the importance of guns to the Lackadaisy.) But I'm not here to spectate on whether Mordecai and Mitzi killed him... yet

I'm here to talk about how whatever that 'sounds of rushing water' foreshadows is something that could potentially be a large clue into the secrets he kept in conjunction with the Lackadaisy before his death. Whether this secret is tied to how he died, whatever lead to it, or something he left behind for the Lackadaisy, it's likely going to play a large role in the series. I personally think that whatever secret lies guarded by that rushing water (probably alcohol... and lots of it) is going to end up being the key to saving the Lackadaisy when it's at its lowest...and I'm starting to fear that Rocky might end up paying the price for it.

As important as fire and dramatic dynamite explosions are to Rocky's character, he's often associated literarily more with water. The comic really doesn't shy away from highlighting the importance of the Mississippi either. ^This line in Rocky's now pilot-famous poem particularly sticks out to me too. 'Umber Whiskey Waters". It's a line meant to convey the color of the river, but it could also very much be foreshadowing at its finest. "Whiskey Waters."

The importance of Rocky's involvement isn't a mistake either, because another clue that alcohol is being guarded by the famous river could also be drawn from Rocky's own character bio pic.

We can clearly see that he's standing on a barrel with three prominent X's carved into the side. These three Xs, as I've come to find out, confirm that the barrel IS carrying alcohol, and even clue us into the type of alcohol we might be looking at.

I managed to find a useful paragraph from THIS website that states,

"An ‘X’ is also used to record the number of distillations of some alcoholic drinks. With each distillation the alcohol content rises, so the more distillations (or Xs) the stronger the brew, though the Xs on a bottle of whisky or rum do not necessarily indicate the alcohol content."

So each X represents a distillation cycle. Three X's basically mean it's the GOOD STUFF. Today, this can still be seen primarily associated with moonshine-

For those of you who don't know (like I didn't until I fell into this rabbit hole), moonshine is defined as a homemade, un-aged whiskey. It has a clear color, a corn base, a high alcohol content, and it's traditionally bottled in mason jars. (I ripped all of this right from google)

During the prohibition, the demand for moonshine would have risen drastically, but a more important key-phrase to take away from all that is the 'clear color'. Not very 'umber whiskey waters' of it, UNTIL you read about how umber whiskey gets its color.

It absorbs its color by maturing in wooden casks. And this process can take a while. One might even catch his death waiting around that long. HahHAhaAHAHAhahahah

*ahem* Sorry. But, there might be some truth there. Whiskey needs to be matured for a minimum of 3 years, many being matured for far longer than that, and only one year has passed between Atlas's death and the current timeline.

All of this for me just confirms that there's some umber alcohol in those waters, or more probably, tucked away under it. We don't know how long its been there for, or who, besides Atlas himself, might know of its existence, but let's not forget Atlas's VAST stretch of underground tunnels that the Lackadaisy provides access to. It wouldn't be much of a stretch to think that he might have had a tunnel or two filled with maturing whiskey, hidden deep underground, maybe close to the Mississippi... maybe dangerously close. Maybe they're a reckless act away from flooding entirely, spilling their valuable contents into the river... causing lots of destruction....

This might be a bad time to re-remind everybody of Rocky's drowning motif.

eh... im sure he'll be fine...

Furthermore... the article I linked above leaves us on THIS cheery note...

"Other applications for a series of Xs occur within the writing fraternity, whereby a writer completing a manuscript concludes the text with a single line of ‘XXX’ to signify to printers and editors that this is ‘The End.’"

#lackadaisy #lackadaisy spoilers #rocky rickaby #calvin mcmurray #lackadaisy theory #lackadaisy prediction #atlas death #mordecai heller #lackadaisycats #at the very least im hoping to get some good fanfic out of this >:)#fanfiction writers go do your thing

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amugoffandoms · 1 year

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BURTS DOOR OPEN

HOLY SHIT HOLY DUCKING SHIT

im doing a drawing for kazui right now and I was like haha what if I threw in an ace of spades

and then got flashbacks to the one scene where he's talking to hinako with various magic tricks above him and GUESS WHAT FUCKING CARD WAD ABOVE HIM

THE GODDAMN ACE OF SPADES

so something I learned about while playing EXIT/Corners a long time ago is that the Ace of Spades is commonly regarded as the Card of Death

Now, what if this was a prediction of what was to come?

Kazui was explaining what he could do in this scene, with all the cards and magic wands and whatnot. He did not realize that lying would end in her death.

Kazui seems more content in talking/explaining instead of how you do the trick (A common phrase is, "A magician never tells their secrets."), which is why he never noticed the Card of Death from the get-go.

He never wanted to harm her, only impress her in some ways, which is why he's showing off his tricks/lies. But, when he finally tells the truth, he never noticed that Card of Death – he never realized she would die.

And, I feel as though this is probably a deliberate choice of MILGRAM's part because there's loads of detail into the A and the Spade itself.

Now, we can move past the Card of Death thing for just a moment and look more into the Ace of Spades.

While looking into this, I found a website that says the Ace of Spades means change.

Now, I don't know how well it fits, but the words "inherent power each of us possesses to mold and shape our reality, irrespective of the external conditions we face" somehow remind me of Kazui. How he lied to protect his wife.

To make sure his wife felt loved, even when he wasn't sure of himself/of the marriage.

Unknowingly, he lied to protect Hinako even when he wasn't sure of anything, but, in the end, Hinako's death would always come to be.

It’s for the sake of true love, who wouldn’t lie for that?

#mug theorizes #milgram #mukuhara kazui #kazui mukuhara #Honestly all of this is just theorizing and whatnot but MAN #seeing that ace of spades #i swear something lit up #exit/corners came rushing back

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thesaddhatter · 3 months

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Upsides of shadow slave,

The story will draw you in with the first chapter and will not let go

You can’t just skip chapters thinking you can predict the plot, it will send you curve ball after curve ball,

It is the first story in years that I can actually have fun making predictions about and still be satisfied if I’m wrong

The chapters are rather short, but so full of double meanings and information that sometimes it takes months to digest it all

The filler isn’t useless and actually fills out the character’s personalities and goals,

Every minute is spent wisely

If guiltythree (the author) had a gun collection, their favorite would be Chekhov's

The canon ship for the MC is based

Downsides

This story is slowburn, and by slowburn I mean that the MC doesn’t even think to admit that he might be in love with the love interest until the 1500th chapter

If it weren’t for his comic relief tendencies (AE being the chew toy of fate) he would be an annoying Gary Stu protagonist who never loses a battle*,

(*please note, this is only true because of the fact that any and all battles he is in are life and death, for entirety of the series, so it doesn’t actually feel like he wins every fight he has, and he certainly struggles when not in the right mindset, or facing an opponent who is way stronger than him, and does actually lose on occasion, it’s just most of his fights are effortless)

If you try to skip ahead even one chapter, be prepared to be more lost than a boat in a desert,

Sunny (the MC) has had at least some romantic implications with every member of his cohort, the issue isn’t that it’s harem, it’s that none of them ever go anywhere, sunny has chemistry with all of them, I could see him with any of them, but nope, we are only teased, mocked, backstabbed, and bafoonorized….

This shit is longer than one piece so, be patient

To understand even half of the messages detailed in this story, you need to actually read it, and I know that can be a definite downside of the ‘no reading comprehension’ website

(Just one of the many reasons the fandom is so small smh)

Do not. Under any circumstances. Read. The. Wiki.

Ok that’s my list for all of my personal ups and downsides for Shadow Slave, I give this work of wonder a 10/10

#shadow slave #sunny #nephis #shadow slave spoilers #sunless #rating: m #very gory story #very descriptive #horrors: incomprehensible

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pianokantzart · 6 months

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As it turns out, the storyboard drawing as made by Melody Wang on her website. It was found on a video apparently titled “MARIO 2 Opening”.

So if the image takes place at the beginning of the film and not around halfway like some of us believed, I’m predicting that Peach sent them to that market to purchase an “important item” for her, and after they do so and bring it to her, it turns out to be a secret ingredient for a new cake recipe she wants to try out. Cue camera panning upward and title card.

That or it’s gonna be a “Yep, that’s me. You’re probably wondering how I got into this situation” opening.

Oooh, interesting! That does change things doesn't it. Perhaps, instead, they've been sent out to find someone? Or maybe The Mushroom Kingdom is political allies with The Desert Kingdom so Mario and Luigi are being sent to help solve a problem? If that's the case, I predict either..

1. They fail miserably, giving them an emotional stumbling block to overcome when facing Bowser (or whatever new threat faces them)

2. They succeed, but with Mario fully embracing and fitting into the role of "hero" while Luigi is left in the dust, completely uncertain of himself.

Either way, I like the juxtaposition to the intro of the first movie: Bowser invading the snow kingdom vs Mario & Luigi exploring a desert kingdom.

#askbox #anon #Mario Movie 2 #Mario Movie 2 speculation #Mario Movie 2 leaks #Mario Movie 2 leak #whatever happens just keep them together please. Thank you

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pinkmoondoll9shihtzu · 6 months

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hi, im a mutual of yours who is too shy/on&off tumblr to interact, but i do look up to you; and your blog and way of seeing things helped me in the past when i was struggling quite a bit.

Lately I feel as if im lost in life, lost my passions and floating aimlessly without a real goal, detached from the future etc. Do you have any advice? I appreciate ur view on things, hope this isnt overstepping 🌦🌈

hi its ok no pressure too interact w me ona personal level just cus were mutuals i enjoy the ambient bonds that can form on this website its why i stay ^^ and no it's not overstepping at a;ll sorry it took me a lil while to respond i was trying to think of good advice since i often feel lost too---

well firs t n foremost to give credit where credit is due, this bjork reddit AMA response really gets to the bottom of it , ever since i first read this here on tumbr a few years ago it really rly stuck w me:

the way this answer helped me is like, it helped me realize i dont need to be so regimented i dont need to put all this pressure on myself to create..All that does is feed into self inflicted guilt when i cant live up to my own expectations u.u you see for my whole life i've never been able to plan anything. yes i can think about the next steps i want to take, i can assemble a plan, i can see the logical way forward, but my moods. or like, idek. how to explain..

i cant force anything. if im not feeling it, i cant force it. ive STRUGGLED w this like i dont wanna be this way. because my feelings i cant predict. like for example i worked on music all winter because thats what i was feeling. then suddenly in march i just like, wasnt feeling it all of a sudden. As soon as it hit me i was like Fy767*T&UG*** because i didnt know when it was gonna come back. i still dont know!! im just trying to be patient waiting it out..in the mean time i have suddenly become enthused with drawing again after not ~feeling~ drawing for most of 2023. sometimes i go for weeks where i dont take a single photo and then suddenly it starts flowing again.. my website was also left untouched for most of 2023 until recently.

thats just one example of this repeating pattern in my life that i didnt understand for so long. theres years of my 20s where i couldnt feel passion for anything at all, looking back now i believe those times i was meant to be focusing on stuff in my psyche that needed healing to clear out some headspace for art. and this bjork quote put a lot into perspective it showed me how to reformulate my thinking to be more accomodating to my disposition. when i'm patient & kind w myself, take each day as it comes, let go of the imaginary pressure, let go of "the future", stuff starts to come thru easier.

and maube its gonna show up in ways you dont expect but its true that the mundane world offers so many ways to practice being creative & giving u stuff to weave into the art u want to create.. every water fall starts w a single drop its trueits true :] thats my advice i spose i really didnt meant to write this much but im boooored.. actually my nighttime boredom writing is one of those habits i never considered to b creative until very recently. there's so many small & automatic things we do that can lead to a meaningful life & purpose.

thanks for the question anon i hope this helps in some way , this is whats helped me but everyone's process is different. and i still have moments where im like WTFFF is happening but its easier to ride it out now. i wish the same for you just give it time <3 thanks again xPmd9

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mycryptosuite · 2 years

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blackbutlerfandomnerddomain · 2 months

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Baby witch deuce headcanons?

From a just-above-baby witch lol

First off, hi boo!

It's been awhile! I got your ask about your OCs and I wanted to be extra and draw them but then the ask disappeared

Now onto your headcanons!

Deuce has always been interested in magic since he was a baby baby

He would see magic on TV whenever his mum had to work hard at her job

His first "attempt" of spells was sadly one of those websites where it's like "Do this ritual and you'll for sure become a mermaid, 100%!" and it was to change his hair color.

He legit cried when he realized it didn't work

Dila helped him make his first spell when he was 10

Once he became a delinquent he started ditching his love of it and even threw out his books about it cause they were "lame" and "using fire curses on people is funner"

He didn't like the term "baby witch" for a while cause he felt it sounded sad he's not that well verse in his witch studies but he came around to it

He learned to read tarot cards while at NRC and is right on his predictions so far

In the Queendom of Roses while Wicca/Paegan/Witchcraft are common in the culture, it's surprisingly rare in practice and celebration with most of it due to families of high regards have to use it for work i.e. Riddle's family So Deuce was picked on sadly in elementary school which played a small part on his delinquent years in middle school/high school.

His family has a history of Paegan in their blood and lifestyles so he and his grandma helped him a lot

Things got much better once he joined NRC

Even more better if we fit this in the same AU where Dile and Eric get together and Vil becomes Deuce's step-brother (Or if this is Kalim Harem Vil will be a great partner to help)

I'm a baby witch too and it took me a while to get used to the idea that not all people who practice practice the same way. I don't have an alter for a deity, I don't do rituals often, I sadly don't live in a area with lots of forest trees so i can't pick a random stick as my wand as some people did, and that's okay. I have crystals and do the normal protection spells I can whenever a solstice happen or if someone's a jerk and decide to say a little curse.

I also do the salt barrier thing sometimes if I have a bad feeling. So yeah, this post is extra special ^w^

#twisted wonderland #deuce spade #dila spade #baby witch #witch in training

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prawnprank · 3 months

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Omg hiii I have some headcanons for my fav guy from EaH (and yep I wrote König instead of King even though it is not supposed to be his surname)

I gave him surname Schwarz idk it just seemed to be fitting. The first month in the asylum he used to call himself Adrian von Schwarz but later abandoned his surname for the King title

• In some files it was confirmed that he is 36 y.o. and I agree with it

• On the PersonalityDatabase website he was typed as a 4w3 if I'm not mistaken and for some reason I typed him as a ENTP and LVEF

• His origins are mixed, he is German, Turkish and Italian

• He is slighlty shorter than the average male, 178 centimetres (but he is still taller than Droggelbecher)

• He has got scars from two strokes of lightning, they're named Lichtenberg figures (I hope someday I'll draw a reference of him)

• Concerning his body, he's rather weak and has got hairy dad bod

• I've read some articles and information about the consequences of lightning strikes and saw an interesting fact: people who stayed alive after the lightning strike are slightly deaf, so that's another reason for him being loud and pompous, he simply can't hear himself well

• He has got a gout because of constant sitting and not moving enough

• He is EXTRA superstitious

• He has got PTSD because of lightning strikes, anxiety, and he is delusional about being a ruling monarch and predicting the future

• He cheats in competitive type оf games but never admits it

• He has got a degree in Literature, that's why his vocabulary and imagination are so rich especially in terms of games like DnD

#edna and harvey the breakout #edna and harvey #edna bricht aus #könig Adrian #king adrian #edna and harvey headcanons #sketch

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religion-is-a-mental-illness · 4 months

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By: Steve Stewart-Williams

Published: May 30, 2024

A new paper in the journal Kyklos finds no reliable associations between people’s star signs and their happiness, health, work satisfaction, financial satisfaction, or marital happiness.

Drawing on data from 12,791 participants in the General Social Survey, the paper found that star signs explain less than 0.3% of the variance in people’s responses. To be fair, 0.3% isn’t 0%. However, the paper also found that if you randomly assign people a number from 1 to 12, those numbers “explain” just as much of the variance as the star signs. This suggests that the explained variance is really just random wobble, and that actually star signs explain nothing at all.

Needless to say, these aren’t the first findings to challenge the predictive power of astrology. There are many other examples, some as amusing as they are enlightening.

One of my favorites comes from Christian Rudder, co-founder of the dating website OKCupid. Rudder analyzed data from 500,000 users to see if their star signs predicted who they matched with. Nope! Star signs had zero effect on how compatible people were.

Another example comes from the mathematician and entrepreneur Spencer Greenberg, who compared the predictive power of zodiac signs to that of the Big 5 personality traits for 37 important life outcomes. You can read about the findings here and here, but the basic message is captured nicely in the following graph.

Here’s an excerpt from an open-access astronomy textbook, discussing various other empirical tests of astrology.

In a fine example of such a test, two statisticians examined the reenlistment records of the United States Marine Corps. We suspect you will agree that it takes a certain kind of personality not only to enlist, but also to reenlist in the Marines. If sun signs can predict strong personality traits - as astrologers claim - then those who reenlisted (with similar personalities) should have been distributed preferentially in those one or few signs that matched the personality of someone who loves being a Marine. However, the reenlisted were distributed randomly among all the signs. More sophisticated studies have also been done, involving full horoscopes calculated for thousands of individuals. The results of all these studies are also negative: none of the systems of astrology has been shown to be at all effective in connecting astrological aspects to personality, success, or finding the right person to love. Other tests show that it hardly seems to matter what a horoscope interpretation says, as long as it is vague enough, and as long as each subject feels it was prepared personally just for him or her. The French statistician Michel Gauquelin, for example, sent the horoscope interpretation for one of the worst mass murderers in history to 150 people, but told each recipient that it was a “reading” prepared exclusively for him or her. Ninety-four percent of the readers said they recognized themselves in the interpretation of the mass murderer’s horoscope. Geoffrey Dean, an Australian researcher, reversed the astrological readings of 22 subjects, substituting phrases that were the opposite of what the horoscope actually said. Yet, his subjects said that the resulting readings applied to them just as often (95%) as the people to whom the original phrases were given.

This video shows the magician and skeptic James Randi conducting a similar experiment.

youtube

None of these findings should be surprising, of course; there’s no reason at all to think that star signs would predict anything other than people’s answer to the question “What’s your star sign?” Still, it’s good to have decent data to help persuade the undecided that astrology is simply bunk.

And if they’re still not persuaded, perhaps xkdc’s economic argument against astrology and other pseudoscientific beliefs will finally tip the scales…

You can access a free copy of the star-signs-and-wellbeing paper here.

Follow Steve on Twitter/X.

Anyone who thinks astrology is real doesn't understand even the most basic things about how the universe works. Their understanding is equivalent to believing that Earth is the center of the universe, and the sun orbits it.

#Steve Stewart Williams #astrology #star signs #zodiac #zodiac signs #pseudoscience #James Randi #religion is a mental illness #Youtube

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nitro-nova · 2 years

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Let's Help Alfred!

Hi, this is Alfred, my 14-year-old grumpy old cat. Alfred means a lot to me and many lovely people that I know.

The short story is that he is old and in need of medical specialists. There are two whoppers coming up:

Ultrasound for his tummy to look for signs of blockage. The cost will range between $1,400 and $1,800.

Dental care, possible chance of tooth removal. The cost will range between $1,400 and $2,500.

I have created a fundraiser pool on Paypal. https://www.paypal.com/pools/c/8RrDxhPxUp You can view the fundraiser's progress and make a donation through their website.

Additional details/predicted questions below. Content warning for some mentions of unsanitary stuff.

Q: How is Alfred doing right now?

A: He is hanging in there. The main concerns are that he has suddenly stopped eating as much, has a fit or two of vomiting for consecutive days per week, chews abnormally slowly, yowling at random times, and other health issues. He's getting old. He's walking slower, but he's being far more social than usual. He often sits in a chair next to mine while I'm at my job.

Q: How much of this can you cover yourself?

A: I have been doing my best to keep up with the costs, but I have taken hits to my emergency funds. I've spent $800 for an animal hospital visit, did three ~$400 visits that included bloodwork and tests to determine his hyperthyroidism, and spent $1500 for a procedure to resolve a hyperthyroidism issue. I've hopefully extended his life for a few more years, because of this, but it hasn't gotten to the bottom of his relapsing health problems. I'm trying not to feel like I'm still at square one.

Q: Do you think it's possible that the fundraiser will succeed?

A: I don't know. This is a lot of money, and part of it is just diagnostic. I'm considering getting a second job (currently I work remote tech support). A backup plan is to get a loan or credit and pay it off. I really want to be a good pet owner for Alfred, and I will figure out a way to get him care, one way or another.

Q: I've seen you draw some art. Can you commission your way to victory or something?

A: I'm willing to accept commissions, but if I were to do "$100 commissions," for example, I'd need to complete about 43 of them. I don't even know that many people. Anything helps, but it's a lot of money. With that said, I've got https://twitter.com/nitro_nova and my DMs here if you want to reach out.

Q: Tell me some things about Alfred while I think about clicking that link.

Alfred is a 14-year old, and his breed is American Maine Coon, one of the largest domestic cat breeds. He is generally grumpy and does not like to be picked up or to be placed in a lap. He maintains his fur much better than I maintain my own hair. That's why he always looks good. He enjoys the presence of other people, and will often seek them out just to loaf next to them.

Alfred will loaf in a high chair next to mine for roughly the entire duration of my work shift. For a while, he was obsessed with the gravy of wet canned food (we aren't sure why he has rejected it in favor of dry food again). He will pry open doors and hop into cabinets, and he does not like it when a door is closed. He has a cat tower which he loves. Very rarely, he will come to you and bump you, because he loves you under his posh and elegant demeanor.

#fundraiser #cat #signal boost #medical #vet

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tryslora · 6 months

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...that storm was NOT supposed to be like that

We had a storm last Saturday.

I think my husband cursed us. We live in the northeast of the US, so our usual big storm time is January and February. It was starting to get nice out, kind of springlike weather, and he commented that we hadn’t had a really bad storm all winter, and now it was over.

Ohhh, never say that where the world can hear.

The storm was predicted to be a non-event. They said it would be rain for most of the day, with 2-5” of snow in the evening. Maybe a short period of an inch and hour rates of snowfall during that time. Some ice. Some wintry mix. Overall, though, not a lot of accumulation or fuss.

I was supposed to have my knit group that day. In the morning, we started chatting in text because we woke up to trees already covered in ice, thick enough to glisten in the light. Rain poured down, the temperature of 34F warm enough to let it fall, but not warm enough to melt the ice. It wasn’t bad… but… the ice sticking to the trees seemed like a warning.

That, and the fact that traffic reports were rolling in—accidents on the highways, including one that closed the main highway I live next to (one direction was completely shut down for hours).

We decided to push our knitting meetup to the next weekend. I’m really glad we did.

Mid-afternoon, the rain turned to ice, sleeting down. I heard tiny balls of ice pelting against the boarded up air conditioner. The dog was anxious and displeased.

Then came the snow. The thick flakes started falling around 3:45pm—I happened to note the time when I looked out the window to see it. I figured that meant maybe we were close to the end of the storm, although they’d predicted it would go until 11ish. Hah. No. Over the next three hours we got 9” of snow. You read that right—three inches per hour. That was the worst of it; we topped out just under a foot.

Except… the power went out at 4:45pm. I’d just tossed a load of laundry in the wash—that laundry marinated in soapy water in a locked front-loader for about 36 hours in the end. When we checked the website (I tethered my phone to my laptop), there was no crew assigned, no estimate on power restoration. Pretty much the whole town was out.

In the end, something like 85,000 people (I think it was) were without power from the storm, over several towns. It depended on exactly what band of the storm a place was in. Ten minutes to the southeast, my parents got far less snow, and had no power problems. West was more snow, but no heavy ice, same with north. We happened to hit the sweet spot.

So there we were, sitting in a house that was getting darker by the moment. The sunroom is the only room with decent windows; husband and I hung out there to get what light we could until the sun went down. We lit candles, and used flashlights. He read on his Kindle. I read a book using a flashlight I have that goes around the neck.

Normally we’d watch TV in the evenings, and while we could have streamed on a laptop, we didn’t know how long we’d be out of power and didn’t want to risk draining our devices. So no writing for me. No streaming. No gaming. I couldn’t knit, because for me, knitting is a multi-tasking thing and I couldn’t stream and knit at the same time.

So much reading. When we still didn’t have power the next evening, there was more reading. We escaped to the mall for food and a movie during the day.

The worst part was the water. Our house is on a well. If you’re used to being on town water, you’ve never had the oh-so-fun experience of the well pump being without power. For us, no power means no way to draw the water up. So we flush rarely. Drink bottled water. Buy baby wipes for hand-washing (and “bathing”).

In a way, it was a peaceful experience. I enjoyed getting so much reading done. I had no guilt at all about not doing something else. Maybe I could’ve written long-hand, but my brain was happy to let go for a bit. I read an entire book, and some manga. I curled up on the couch and enjoyed the experience as best I could. Make lemonade, right?

The power came back on while I was getting ready for bed on Sunday. It had been out for about 30 hours, and we had expected it to be out for another 24. Getting it back was a delight. Even more thrilling was turning on the faucet in the kitchen and getting full water pressure which meant I probably didn’t need to prime the pump (excellent, since husband was already asleep). I didn’t dare start up the washer again, though, just in case. Making the pump go dry while I slept would be bad. My poor laundry continued to marinate until morning.

We were able to keep all the food safe. Our routine went out the window, and no prep was done for the week. I was able to shower on Monday morning before work (thank the gods). But the whole week was thrown off-kilter. I’d slept in a very cold bedroom—the air had made my allergies and sinuses worse. My taekwondo uniform was the load of laundry stuck in the washer, so no TKD for me on Monday because I was still washing (and rewashing—marinated laundry tends to stink of gross water) that uniform after work. No food prep was done, so we’ve been making do all week.

But in a weird kind of way, we were able to relax and let go for a bit. We couldn’t clean, or cook, or write, or do anything we usually would. We read. We relaxed. We chatted. We spent time with the animals. It was… nice.

I’ll be glad to get back to the routine this weekend, though. Because of course, now we have twice as much to do.

And I’m not going to say that was the last big storm of the season. I would never dare to do so; who knows what might hear me and decide to prove me wrong!

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