#not normal weather for us

[crookshanks23]

Firstly, the intro is insane. I can't even. This episode, overall, made me he cackle throughout. This whole riff at the beginning with John and Mae Hailes is very funny. Was this always supposed to be Scam??? Or it just worked out that way?

These Scary apology moments are hilarious.

Anthony is trying so hard to keep the dads with them. He knows we need that catharsis. But the teens don't want them around, understandably. I'm glad they worked it out to keep the dads around and the teens still in character. We need the character bits!

Boss Kicks. Hoo boy. This whole bit is hilarious.

Then all the phones get broken. Everyone is insane this episode. Now the dads have to stay since they can't communicate.

I just love Dood. So much. They're so adorable. (Even though he immediately killed 2 guards to solve a problem. We'll just ignore that for now.)

I feel Taylor's excitement about finally having skills and spells that are useful. It feels good when the DND stuff actually works out. But that excitement leads to full Freddie insanity by the end of this episode.

I guess the whole bush riff goes with the cum nuggets from last episode.

Scary and Hermie fun times! We haven't gotten enough of Hermie lately. This is one of those moments when failing is hilarious and not just sad.

All the locker stuff is great. A beautiful Will and Freddie moment. Love this. Of course the locker combo is tied to the school. And thank you to the artist who's been drawing the images of Normal's Teeny the Teen calendar. All great character work here.

All this portal stuff is also crazy. This seems so overpowered. Like the amplifier. That also feels overpowered. Seems too easy to just hop realms. (Why do all the other portals go to Hell? Anthony - you setting up something with the FBI invading hell? As they have wanted to do all season? And kinda did earlier... But that didn't really go anywhere. Shmegan just likes to show up randomly, I guess).

Grant and Linc's convo. 😭 Give me more character interactions. We need it. That's where the catharsis is gonna be.

Taking notes on this episode just makes me realize how many weird riffs there are. So many things to comment on. Normal wants to help these guards so much. So many distractions.

And then we get to the Taylor and Freddie show at the end. Another hilarious and insane Freddie plan. We know we're in for an adventure when Freddie starts saying "here's what it is" over and over again. His whole plan is inciting revolution? That's his plan to get them all in the school? Anthony is so kind to roll with this in any way. Thanks for that Les Mis reference, Anthony. Much appreciated.

Love that Nicky is just the errands runner at this point.

Love that Dood can sense the spirit in the Teeny costume. 🥰

What an ending. They are totally surrounded in this school. But I guess the dads can just make portals. That does suck some of the tension away. Overpowered, I'm telling ya. But that was a fun, insane listen. Great episode with funny riffs. Excited for the next one.

[ganondoodle]

you know im unable to shut up when i have any opinion on zelda (though i try and have thus far succeeded at not commenting on any other concept from the darn book)- i find most totk ganondorf concept art worse than what we got to insulting even (of those i have seen) ..... this one though

much more the one in the background than the one up front, still at least he has the collar and the weapon we saw in the first trailer of things that never happen in the end (like so much else)

[serpentface]

Do psychotropic drugs and/or ritual play a role in any of the blightseed cultures? A pretty broad question, lol

Yeah that’s a very broad question, the answer is about as much as it tends to play roles in real history. Alcohol is pretty ubiquitous (outside of cultures that abstain from intoxicants) and used for a variety of purposes, opioids are commonly used in some parts for pain relief or recreational purposes, stimulants (usually in mild, natural forms) are used to provide extra energy, and hallucinogens are most commonly used as part of a larger religious framework (rather than for recreational purposes). Any more elaborate answer kinda has to be case by case in a certain culture or part of the setting.

I'll just take this as an opportunity to talk about the one established sect that pretty much REVOLVES around psychoactive use. This is the Scholarly Order of the Root, which is a sort of mystery religion + elite community of scholars who currently occupy the Ur-Tree and its forest in the far southern Lowlands (southeast of Imperial Wardin, on the same land mass).

The Ur-Tree is the obligatory Huge Fucking Fantasy Tree (and its surrounding forest). It’s a mass of vegetation about a mile tall and almost as old as Plant Life Itself, its upper branches are primeval plants, which become more modern the nearer they get to the ground (and each 'level' holds tiny ecosystems, some containing descendants of LONG-extinct arthropods/other small animals). Its lowest branches and the surrounding forest are contemporary plant life, and all is connected and protected by an incomparably MASSIVE fungal mycelium network (which is itself a living god).

A lot of the Scholars' more secretive practices revolve around experimentation with substance use with the goal of expanding the Mind and transcending the body to fully connect to the Dreamlands, and they have a supply chain of traders and mercenaries called Rootrunners who traffic substances into the Lowlands. Most of their psychoactive use is in a very intentional capacity and not just like, for fun, but a LOT of them are just straight up addicted to cocaine (in the form of alchemically refined bruljenum, which is used for practical purposes of its stimulant effect during long hours of work).

All known psychoactives are desirable for experimentation (particularly hallucinogens), with each having properties that either allow expansion of the Mind, transcendence of the body, or outright divine communion. Their effects are logged in great detail and interpreted to form the basis of the Scholars' understanding of the natural world and reality itself.

The most important substance is Ur-Root, which is root matter from subterranean levels of the Ur-Tree that have both their own intrinsic psychoactive substances and a very, very high concentration of living god mycelium. The tree root contains DMT and the mycelium has its own wholly unique effects (being an actual living god). They alchemically refine it into a purer, more potent form, and use it to expand beyond the body and directly commune with the Giants, a group of entities they have identified as the only true gods.

An Ur-Root trip starts off with minor visual distortion, which turns into shifting fractals that slowly obscure the vision. Eventually the senses are entirely taken over by a 'tunnel' of rapidly shifting fractals and geometries. In a complete trip, the experiencer gets a sense that they have been pushed through a membrane and entered another realm, finding themselves in a distinct experiential Space.

At this point they may encounter entities which communicate to them in a language impossible to describe but wholly understood. These beings are understood to be the Giants, or at least aspects of the Giants that mortals are capable of comprehending (they often take familiar tutelary forms of the Mantis or the Snake, or appear resembling the same type of sophont that the experiencer is, all composed of ever-shifting geometries). The experiencer often feels a sense of unconditional and endless love from these beings, though the Giants may be more hostile and may appear in the form of the Trickster (usually a cultural figure regarded as malicious, be it an animal or otherwise) in a bad trip.

(^Up until this point, this has mostly just been a DMT 'breakthrough' experience ft. 'machine elves' and the like).

They are then removed from this space and returned to something that feels like the real world, but is nearly unrecognizable. They have a sense of rapidly moving through time, and will usually see 'the spires' towards the beginning, which just so happen to look like this:

(source + some context via Implication- the spires are exactly what this art is depicting)

The experiencer continues to move across an unfathomable amount of time, occasionally 'seeing' other such flashes of unfamiliar landscapes and creatures, and yet also being devoid of all their senses, the 'seeing' is pure, unfiltered experience. There is a sense of interconnectedness with all life, and that one has become the forest (or even Life) itself. The sense of time is wildly distorted, the trip lasts only about 5 minutes but feels like an eternity and is understood as literal hundreds of millions of years.

The experiencer has usually lost any remaining sense of Self and individual consciousness during this phase (in which case this time distortion is usually a neutral or even peaceful experience), but some retain a fraction of their identity, and find themselves trapped and conscious while experiencing what feels like eternity (which can be LIFE-CHANGINGLY distressing, even after the fact).

(^This latter part of the trip is the effects of the Ur-Tree fungus).

The trip ends with a sense of rushing through the ground and back up into one's body, at which point they will abruptly return to their senses and consciousness. The details are then immediately retrieved via interview and recorded in immense detail. The whole experience is understood as having been full comprehension of the Dreamlands, communion with the Giants, and then a tour through the act of creation.

This is done as part of the initiatory practice into the inner mystery-religion of the scholars, and as needed for study by high scholar-priests. It is not taken lightly, both as it is absolute communion with the gods and reality, and in that it can be a very, very difficult experience. People who have gone through this often walk away with a permanently shifted perspective, often in a positive and/or comforting way- a sense of interconnectedness with all life, a peace with the concept of death, seeing less of a point in individual ego and the concept of Self, and comfort in the sense of divine love they (may have) experienced. This heavily influences the philosophy of the Scholars and has had effects by proxy in the religious worldviews of the region.

Details of this experience are closely guarded, and initiates are given absolutely no prior knowledge and expectations for their trip. This is seen as a necessity- their naivety will allow for a true, unfiltered experience, and can be used to gauge whether they should or should not be accepted. Those that have a distinctly bad trip upon initiation may be assumed to have been 'rejected' by the giants and thus denied full priesthood, though this largely depends on How they interpret their distressing trip- those who identify this as a test and harsh lesson in a journey to enlightenment may be accepted (as this is how fully initiated scholar-priests interpret and handle their bad trips).

This inner priesthood is only a small fraction of the Scholarly Order, and its greater function is as a hub of education and repository of knowledge, and Scholar-trained doctors can provide some of the best medical care available in the setting ('best medical care in this setting' only means so much but it's pretty solid, relatively speaking). Only a chosen few Scholars ever get to commune with the Ur-Root, and most of the divine secrets revealed in the process are kept hidden (though they indirectly influence the politics and worldview of the entire order).

[swordmaid]

i am wide awake thinking about that post canon jb au again when I should be sleeping …!!! such is the nature of the jbrainrot…

[joyfuladorable]

<Ch.14&15 | Cover | Ch.17(TBA)>

SIX pages for a >>SCENE<< that tore through my Goddamn SOUL!!!

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[bumblingbabooshka]

How many times do you think Tuvok used the Tarkalean flu excuse before Janeway started going "Hmm..." Seven years is a long time and I'm certain that the first few times Tuvok got the 'flu' Janeway didn't remember or think much of it. Especially depending on how common the Tarkalean flu is (it'd be much less notable if it was the equivalent of being out sick with 'a cold') At what point do you think Janeway went "Let me make a note of this..." and then the next time his 'flu' rolled around, seven years later, she went back to confirm that note. But a good scientist needs more consistent results than that - so it really took a third period of seven years to fully cement this knowledge as fact in her mind. Meanwhile Tuvok's making detailed psychological notes on her. They're a perfect team!

[satans-knitwear]

I went out (looking fabulous) for lunch with baby belle and the bestie yesterday!

A lovely day!! I also found an old print of a £10 note in the pocket of the red mac I got for £7 from the charity shop! Lucky!!

[andi-o-geyser]

“oh the gods are bad the gods are bad” i actually realized i dont give a fuck. crazy concept i actually realized i do not give a fuck lmaooo. people have lived not liking or worshipping the gods for so many fucking years its actually CRAZY like people honestly just go about their day to day lives. they believe or they don't! big whoop! they just care about the price of milk and if the world isn't ending!!

[lightbulb-warning]

i used to freehand comics all the time as a child and since the part i liked was the drawing part i would just draw panel after panel because i didn't want to stop drawing to think about icky icky words, plus the story TOTALLY still made perfect sense! to me! and noone else, but 'whoooo caaaaares omgggg its not like comics and sequantial art are a communicative meeediummmm lmaoooooo'. i spent my entire childhood telling myself stuff like "oh pfft I know this story by heart- ill SIMPLY remember the dialogue and write it later" ...and. I can't help but admire baby maiora's (call that a minora ba tm tsk) fucking audacity? hubris? confident wrongness? kid couldn't even remember to finish the comics in the first place? INCREDIBLE levels of unearned self assurance, wish that were me, genuinely- what an icon!!! anyway i think i have forever cursed myself

[teecupangel]

I wonder if there are times where Desmond could come off as terrifying without meaning too? Like he's just doing something he thinks is mundane, but whoevers near by is like no Desmond normally people don't climb buildings that high. Or no we all aren't professional knife throwers when we are boredly throwing knives

(I have a thing for Outside POVs so here's a pre-AC1!bartender!Desmond being weird and low-key terrifying.

Note: his fake name in this little fic is Derek Milton because he's not that imaginative)

“Hey, Ted.”

“Yeah?”

“Who was the bartender last night?”

“Oh, you mean Derek? He’s been working here longer than any of us. Pretty chill guy. What’s up?”

“Uuhh… nothing. It’s just…”

“Ooohhh. You got Derk’ed, didn’t you?”

“Got what?”

“Wait. Hey, Laura! Newbie got his first Derk’ed!”

“Congrats, man! You have your bingo card?”

“Bingo card???”

“Here. So Derek’s kind of a weirdo. If you get bingo, you get a free drink on your next shift. So… which one did you see him do?”

“The center says ‘family cult or hippies’?”

“Yeah, that’s a freebie but you gotta look out for that. Mia missed hers ‘cause he just said it and then started talking about edible grass. Oh, that’s the top-left one, by the way. We also count if he talks about edible flowers.”

“The middle right one says BnE?”

“Breaking and entering. But you gotta ask him to do it. Kinda like a consent thing to him. Anyway, if you forget the lock combination of your locker or you locked your car or you’re Jake and your ex locked you out of your apartment after she left you as a final fuck you after learning you fucked her stepmom, you call him and he’ll unlock shit for you free of charge. We usually give him a bag of chocolates as a thank you. He has a sweet tooth. If you really wanna say thank you, he really likes Banoffee pie from Starbucks.”

“Uuuhhh… this one says badass knife?”

“That one is when you see him do cool moves with a knife. You’d usually see it if he’s cutting garnish, especially when there’s like a drunk bachelorette party that he’s trying to impress. They give him extra tips when he’s being flashy.”

“And this… uuhh… kick ass?”

“That’s pretty self-explanatory, I think? Just look out when he kicks anyone out. He’s usually the one who takes out the violent ones.”

“We have a bouncer, right?”

“Yeah but he’s like… a martial artist or something? Anya once saw him kick the ass of a dude three times his size. Anyway, you get that space if you see him kick ass. And, don’t call the cops. We don’t want any cops around here.”

“Uh-huh. I can see why…”

“So, which one’s you saw last night anyway?”

“Uh… he told me not to serve some guys because they were mobsters? Said he’d take care of them?”

“Oh, that counts as ‘badguydar’.”

“Badguydar?”

“It’s like a gaydar but for really bad guys. He can spot them, like, in a flash.”

“……… Are we sure he’s not… ex-CIA or something?”

“… Would you like to join the betting pool we have on that? Highest bet we have at the moment is ‘secret child soldier government program’.”

“What???”

[wdbhgrry]

the holy irish trinity

[ellraiser]

make it rain!

[doughnut-doodles]

Sweater weather

[thatone-churro]

chat i am NOT appreciating the stares i got from walking across campus to cvs in my hoodie and sweatpants as if we didn’t just sit through ANOTHER hurricane like chill man i didn’t sleep well let me get my monster to finish my logic homework in peace 😭

[jellybat]

I’ve been asked to make a poll so

*by this I mean like sunny weather makes you feel more feral/rainy weather makes you wanna be lazy and chill about it, stuff like that

(Also elaborate in the tags no matter what u chose please)

[spaciebabie]

weather here is so fucking stupid. earlier this week it was freezing out and now its 60 degrees and i hafta dig thru my shit and pull out my sleeping shorts b/c its so fucking HOT IN MY HOUSE RIGHT NOW. WHY IS IT 60 DEGREES IN JANUARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!