#the-upperworld-if

[sharkcove]

support gay peopel? rebog and folow…! For more.

[i-bring-crack]

On a mission to keep crying about Bronya and Seele and how I desperately need a Hades/Persephone AU for them because yes they absolutely fill the bill.

Goddess bronya who the people depend on her for spring and stability? Goddess bronya falling in love with purple butterflies that come and go, wanting to follow them but being stuck to her place due to her duties towards her humans? Goddess Bronya taking a step of bravery and rebellion for the first time in her life when she sees a wounded butterfly unable to go back with the rest, and instead of leaving it behind, she carries it in her palms and goes inside the caves of the Underworld until she is met with a whole new world, a world that she finds strange and terrifying, as she had heard everyone else describe it with nothing but horror. Only for her to finally find where the rest of the butterflies are, and meet the goddess that lets them run wild, and by the rest of the gods she is just as terrifying as all death gods are, and yet so incredibly beautiful under the small lights of the cave and tiny space glows of the butterflies.

Goddess of the Underworld Seele, a guardian of all deceased and those who come across the river of death, she who fights endlessly to protect her own humans, meeting a goddess from the upper world, where they say the light is fresh and no human is pale and silent. Goddess of the Underworld Seele, feeling the touch of a warmth hand for the first time in her life and feeling alive. Understanding why the humans dread this place so much, and before she knows it, she can feel her hunger for this warmth grow the more time the goddess of spring sheds her light upon her.

[onyxandemerald]

Upper Wisdom and Lower Wisdom

I've been doing a lot more contemplating on the idea of the 6 cardinal directions; the og four (east, south, west, and north) as well as above and below. I think they're more pervasive than I thought. I reference the four directions a lot in my practice, letting them represent the four elements we each have to nurture and balance within us to life a fulfilling life. But I'm wondering where the above and below fit into this paradigm.

This is something I use a lot in my tarot readings. Reading cards, we move left to right like a sentence. If we place a card behind our focus, it symbolizes the past, and vice versa with the future. I often feel called to place cards above or below a card to uncover more upper wisdom or lower wisdom.

I found my favorite definitions not even in a "witchy," book, but from psychologist Bill Plotkin in Nature and the Human Soul. He has several passages devoted to each, but here's the highlight reel;

"Upperworld denotes transpersonal states of consciousness identified with spirit and characterized by unity, grace, bliss, transcendence, emptiness, light, enlightenment, the celestial realm, and pure awareness. During upperworld experiences, consciousness communes with or merges with spirit, in this way disidentifying from all personal and cultural beliefs, goals, desires, and attachments. Here the conscious self is transcended.

[...]

Underworld signifies transpersonal states of consciousness and identity associated with soul and character ized ny depth, darkness, demons, that daemon, the subconscious, sacred woundings, dreams, the unknown or not-yet-known,shadow, death, and visions of personal and cultural destiny. This is Hades, the domain of soul encounter, the realm in which the conscious self is deepened and matured."

We all have the four elements within us which on their own can also be polarized into yin and yang. We each have a balance of yin (the synergy of water and earth) and yang (the conjunction of fire and air) that needs maintained. Upper and lower wisdom feels like something outside of ourselves.

Upper wisdom is what calls us to connect to each other. It's our collective empathy with Palestine. It's giving a dollar to a homeless person. It's baking a birthday cake for a child you don't really know. It's that toy that reminds you of that one time with your sister. It's what drives you out of your house even after you've had a really really bad day because you promised your best buddy you'd go to the club.

Even though lower wisdom and the underworld can also be conceptualized as our innermost souls, our darkest depth of shadow, our wild human nature is something that is only bestowed upon us. We have no control over it, we have no say in what it does. Our emotions are natural. Every time I go on a vision quest I find incredible things, images and pictures I never expected my brain to be able to dream up. I'm always blown away by my own psyche. I don't understand it, but we don't need to because the beauty is in the journey. Lower wisdom is our destiny calling to us through the fog and folds of time and space.

[stillaintnolady]

Dramatic Ginger

[unknowntalesbymiles]

Im curious about your god oc. Might you be so kind as to indulge me?

Hello anon! Please know that I absolutely love yapping so of course I'l endulge you. rubs hands

Yap and death mention under the cut.

Neyron, the god oc in question, is an antagonist in one of my stories called "You are the death of me". Don't know yet if i'll post more about it.

The plot is: two mortals, Tokei and Lucky, wish to live happily ever after, death flips them off and curses one to eternity in a metal form, and then makes the other one a literal god of death. Lucky becomes Grim, too. For a few centuries or so it revolves around that, Grim protecting Tokei, and Tokei's personality slowly being reduced to ashes as she starts to think life's a game and she's in genocide mode.

In a variation of this universe, Tokei died early, leaving then her childhood friend to deal with the horrendous pain of loss, and apparently his coping method was stabbing himself in the stomach.

Worldbuilding-wise, Grim in the original story was made the God of Death because he had escaped death once, and so this one Lucky, for wanting to escape life, was redirected to a completely different afterlife, becoming Neyron, omen of life.

Now imagine this freshly baked ruler convinced thanks to all the other gods that anything and everything he'll do is right... finding out about this other him and this version of his childhood friend, trapped under a metal shell.

[kingsbridgelibraryteens]

Libraries and Librarians On Film: Upperworld (1934)

Andy Devine plays a chauffeur who has very definite ideas on the types of women that can be found at the public library!

BONUS:

[onyxandemerald]

im rbing this bc its helpful, but i want to add I think we need to remove mechanical and technological metaphors from spiritual practice. our language affects our reality and minimizing our magical existence and experience to computers and 21st century tech is so incredibly limiting. the same way they compared the mind to clockworks and the telegraph machine. it can be helpful for snap clarification but leaning on metaphors for total understand can be damaging and reductory.

to add

it feels literally like leveling up! it feels like a little exclamation point appears above my head and mentioned above i might feel inspired to try smth new.

sometimes its obvious. like why didnt i realize this sooner?

often it will be old info I've already had, but have registered and filed away knowing its missing something, or is incomplete in someway. randomly this memory might pop open and it'll be reshuffled somehow and I'll notice something new, or will be able to connect something I hadn't noticed before! and suddenly the puzzle piece will lock into place and it will look much more complete!

it will commonly be accompanied by signs from my spirit guides, or other recognizable Big signs.

Spiritual Downloads

A download is pretty much an instantaneous influx of information from spirit or source. They can come in the form of instant realizations, messages in dreams, saying exactly what someone needed to hear in an exact moment, channeling spiritual knowledge through gentle voices, art, music, or a numerous array of other mediums. In essence, you become a channel for spirit, your higher self, the divine etc. to bestow information. You can open yourself up more to this type of communication and knowledge by raising your vibration to become a compatible beacon for whatever frequency you wish to align with.

Signs of a Download:

• Chills/tingles/vibrations in your third eye and/or crown

• Ringing in your ears

• Vivid dreams with a prominent message

• Randomly waking up in the middle of the night, usually between 3am and 5am

• Instantaneous access to higher knowledge, wisdom, and information you didn't have before

• Random bursts of energy and inspiration

• A sudden/drastic shift in perspective

• High frequency communication with spirits/guides/entities

• A heightened intuition

• Accessing a dramatically different state of consciousness

• The feeling of oneness with all and a firm connection to something beyond yourself

[la-rougo]

*SFW*—

Hades x Chaotic deity ! GN reader

I could make a chaotic reader series lmaoooo

Warnings: swearing

Even though the king is often busy and doesn’t really visit the upperworld unless necessary, but he sure does know a lot of dieties out there, including you

He only heard about your title like “f/n the disaster bringer” or “f/n the god/goddess of stupidity” he lowkey wanted to know who this deity is

You often run around in valhalla messing with gods and goddesses, pranking all of them and get kicked out sometimes, even Loki is afraid of going near you but ended up being your sidekick

Now that piqued the helheim ruler’s interest, how did someone even managed to do something even worse than loki?

He decided to come out to the upperworld more often to observe you from afar. He wanted to know more about you and maybe hang out around sometimes since he haven’t seek any fun in his life for a long while after all, though he have tons of work to finish

There he sees you pulling out your shenanigans stupidly, how cute. Your chaotic behavior may seem dumb and annoying to other deities but to him? He found it adorable and fascinating on how you come up with new ways of pranking deities none stop

H/c deity was found pushing Loki lightly made him dropped whatever he’s holding “jeez f/n! You’ll never ever get tired of bullying me do you, oh well. That’s what I found cute about you~” Loki said teasingly as he bent down to reach for the object only to feel a hard smack on his ass, his body jumped up highly like those goofy cartoons, yelped loudly from the impact on his butt. He turn look back at you with an angry wojak expression, his fist clenching being one centimeter close to blow your head off with a single punch

You whistles casually and ran away “this is the sixth time of this week that you abused my cheeks you stupid as—!!! *slurs*” you saw him chasing after you, running for your dear life, you tried to find a way to escape him cause you know damn well if he finally get you then he’s gonna slap your bakery back with immense amounts of strength that could send you to the oblivion

You found a tall intimidating god, you didn’t look up to see who he is or you have any clue of it, you hid behind him, sticking your tongue out at Loki. The mischievous god sighs and asked the tall god “sir, I apologize for that gremlin and for the commotion. May I have them back?” Loki smiles sarcastically. The tall god chuckles… wait, you recognize his voice “I’m afraid you’ll have you get your revenge later” oh shit. Is that… is that Hades? You thought as you lean to his side to look up and see his face while Loki floats away in defeat

You stare at him, who’s watching Loki leave, he is Hades the king of the helheim… he’s even handsome up close, suddenly his gaze switches to your eyes as he look at you with a gentle smile

“Where’s my thank you hm?” Your soul flew back to your body and you bowed deeply, head digging down the floor “uhh thank you very much mister!” You said, not looking at him. Hades was about to say something but was cut off by you fleeing away from him as fast as you can, leaving him confused and amused

You actually have been crushing on Hades for a while now, obviously you rant about him to Loki

Every time you see him greeting gods and goddesses so formally, unlike you. Makes your toxic traits says you can do that too

Well you actually tried that but failed, miserably

You often sneaked into the underworld to see your fellow friends like hypnos and definitely not Hades

He’s like your biggest crush or smth, when you saw him training or slaying any titans so majestically or his gaze lays on you, literally those night at your house would be you giggling and kicking your feet thinking about him

You often see him in events, celebrations and parties that mostly zeus being the host(of course) and you see how nice, well mannered and perfect he is

He’s like completely opposite to you which made you believe that he couldn’t be with you, he deserves an independent, formal and smart person, a person who’s as perfect as him not a goofy comedian… at least that’s what you thought

After your first direct encounter, you’re so close to explode every time the moment he made an eye contact with you again

Hades decided, soon he’ll get to know more about you and maybe got together… wait what?

You were hanging out in Valhalla again, but this time. You’re alone, sleeping while your back leaning against a tree in the garden while shifting uncomfortably

A presence seems to be approaching your slumbering form quietly, not daring to wake you up from your beauty sleep. The presence looms over your unconscious body, whoever it is, stepped beside you and laying down next to you without making any sound.

Your uncomfortable shifting was not unnoticed by the person next to you, hands slowly caress your back and sides silently, your upper body was caressed gently, being guided by the hands, which make your body turns aside. Suddenly your head lays on a soft surface, a fabric texture. One of the person’s hand now rest on your head and stroking your hair so tenderly. With the change of position and feeling something on your head, it causes your eye lids to open up slowly, expected to meet a sunlight but instead, observing the sight in front of you made you realized your current position.

You were sleeping on Hades’ lap?! While he’s stroking your hair?!?!?!

“Wha-“

“Hush, dear. Go back to your rest”

Your slightly widened eyes stare at his gentle ones, as gentle as his smile that’s being portrayed on his face

You were about to ask more questions but quickly got shut up by Hades’ lip placing against your forehead. Saying you’re shock would be an understatement. Hades’ lift his head up slightly, moving to place another kiss on your already pink dusted cheek

After calling for your soul to come back to your body, yet you still can’t move, not that you want but you’re actually that surprised. But you collect all your courages left and leans up to his face, leaning in slowly and place a peck on his cheek, the same way that he does to you, which made him surprised, but it was quickly replaced by his silly smile

He peck you back on the forehead while his hand run up to your head and pat it dearly, you feel like you can die right there, like fr

Hades lean against the tree and lift you up by your lower parts, placing you up on his lap and he guides your head to rest on his shoulder

He didn’t expect your second encounter would be this… lovely and sweet, he loves it a lot. He felt like everything that mattered his mind vanished while there’s only you in his head, he had never seen your peaceful side before and he love it, honestly he admire everything about you to the point he didn’t realized his feelings developed more and more

The two rest together under the tree in a garden peacefully, no one dares to mind them or even see them in the first place. At least one person saw and ran away to go weeping in the corner

You and Hades eventually become closer and closer together, even if the two’s personalities are as different as day and night, rumors starts to spread about Hades being your boyfriend or smth

I kid you not, when Poseidon heard about this he’s beyond disappointment. Out of all god and goddesses, you??? While zeus actually being supportive and adamas is just, shocked

Hades didn’t mind the rumors, he actually likes it since its just fun to tease you something like “we look like couples don’t you think?”

You almost leave him a scar

He’s actually starting to get serious about his feelings, does he think of you as a friend? Of course! That’s what he at least tried, cause seeing you with Loki makes him rethink his plan about confession

One day he was about to meet you in Valhalla like usual, smiling a bit. Once he’s close to your meet up place. A frown soon took over his face when he sees you and Loki together

He was about to turn away but a few words reached his ears

“What if he didn’t like me back?”

“He’s obvious as fuck!”

“Wait really?”

Hades turn back to see your nervous form looking around, probably looking for him? Hell yea!

He sneakily approach you from behind and surprise you with a little greeting

You flinched and turn around to see Hades’ face, his handsome face… you look back to Loki and giving him the “what do I do bro” face. Loki didn’t reply and slowly leaving, giving you a last thumbs up and vanished

You were about to go chase Loki but soon realized what you have to do. You nervously turn back to Hades, smiling like always, gah dayum he’s hot.

You cleared your throat and trying to recall all the practices you did with Loki, only to stand in front of him awkwardly. Hades’ calm expression turn into confusion and lean himself in to see what’s mattering you

“Are you alright?”

You startled by Hades again and trying to form a sentence

“Okay so, I’ve been crushing on this guy lately…”

Hades’ frown slightly and straightened his back. He only stood silently, he doesn’t even have to ask who it is cause it’s probably Loki, if it’s another person then, why would you tell him and not Loki?

“He’s a very cool god, I used to watch him from afar and admire him, I never thought of approaching him or talk to him because he’s Zeus’ brother. I’m scared he wouldn’t want to date an unserious deity because he’s more than a divine being”

Hades expression changed into a shocked one as he awkwardly spoke up

“Poseidon?”

You look up at him with a “bro what?” Face and facepalm. Do you really have to confess more? You thought he’s more clever than this!

“No… it’s not Poseidon!”

“Adamas?”

“…no.”

That’s obvious enough judging from Hades’ even more shocked expression. You pray he doesn’t reject you or if he does then at least doesn’t damage your relationship, you heard a soft chuckle left Hades’ lips and a reply

“I apologize for my obliviousness… but thank you for your reassurance”

Wait what? Reassurance? Fr? Like— fr?!!

You felt your cheek heat up, so does his. Hades lean in to place a peck on your cheek and pat you

“I like you too”

Flabbergasted was just an understatement, you couldn’t process anything but the only thing you’re sure you’re feeling is happiness and love

You look at him, now slightly flustered expression, which suits him a lot. You lean up and return the peck

Holy shit, having hades’ as a partner is literally every girls dream

Since he have quite lots of work, he’s quite clingy. When he have a free time he would cuddle you and spending times with you ended up with him going back to his work late

He loves you with all of his heart and he never dares to not return the affections because you have to feel how good you make him feel!

He’s also not ashamed of giving you affection or you giving him too much in public, like when he’s having a meeting with the Olympus gang. You who weren’t even invited is sitting on his lap and calling him like “hades my pookie bear” he loves it a lot and love his relatives’ reactions (Poseidon being the most disgusted)

He cares a lot like A LOT about you, example like when you cough a little he would immediately become worried and ask if you’re ok, he’ll go get you warm water and meds

Of course you tell him to calm down, although you love that about him

He doesn’t often get jealous because he trust you and loves you! Though sometimes he’s a bit unhappy when you’re too close with some other god/goddesses. But he wouldn’t cause a scene and just look away until you’re back to him

He🗣️definitely🗣️cook🗣️so🗣️good🗣️even though most of the time you would cook for him, but when it’s his day off he would make the most delicious meal known to Olympus for you, his love of his life

He could go on days ranting about how you’re a light that lit up his dark life into a fun spontaneous one, he loves you so much even words can’t even describe how much he cherish you

[citizenscreen]

Ginger Rogers, Warren William, and Mary Astor star in Roy Del Ruth’s UPPERWORLD, which hit U.S. theaters 90 years ago today #OnThisDay

[sharkcove]

yay yaayy

yaaay

[childofthenightuwu]

The Otherworld, Different Dimensions, and Otherkinity.

The under/otherworld has been attested to in various different cultures in many different ways, most of which stemmed from the Ancient Egyptian and Ancient Mesopotamian religions through not only the blood of the people but the culture as well. This can be seen in indo-european, Greco-Roman, Indigenous North and South American, as well as various Asian cultures. Each one had their own path traveling from Africa to their home continents.

The idea of the underworld being both underneath the earth, closer to the fire core and beneath the primordial ocean, but also in a somewhat different reality than ours where time goes much quicker and things which happen in that world can affect this world is present in many of the cultures I mentioned above.

One of the best examples of this double world effect comes from pagan Irish legends of the fae realm. One would stumble upon a faerie circle and be transported to the otherworld to join in their partying. To them, it would feel as though it had only been hours, but when they escaped, it had been years.

The fae realm is depicted as under the burial mounds and beneath the earth's crust, specifically when dealing with dead humans or animals who became faeries (in the sense of spirits). The god of the dead, depicted as Dis Pater by Caesar in his accounts of the Gauls, was also associated with the faeries. He was said to be the king of the other/underworld and dwell in the dark part of the forest as well as the primordial sea where one would go when death took them. He is often seen as the Horned god in more modern depictions.

Various portals to the under/otherworld exist on the European continent with rich cultural mythology surrounding them. Most of these are caverns leading out to the ocean or into the darkness.

This underworld is where the fae realm resides and all fae creatures, including more contemporary faeries, house spirits, Demons, genii, satyrs, kelpie etc. live.

In the ancient Egyptian belief the Sekhem was the shadow of a person in a spiritual sense. The double living the same life with the same Ka though in darkness rather than the light of the sun. Now where would one live in darkness? Under the earth where the light does not penetrate.

I believe that the Sekhem is the underworld version of the animal or their double in that separate realm.

This had me thinking though, if one is otherkin could their Sekhem possibly be that form? As a dragon the idea of the fae realm feels very close to home and many believe dragons originate from there.

Giant flying lizards are definitely possible looking at dinosaurs but perhaps dragons are similar animals just in a different realm where things work differently. That would mean that each dragon living in a human form would be living half in the underworld, their soul home, and the middle world or this world.

If you compare hominids in the mid world to the smaller and different looking hominids in the underworld, being brownies and the like, you can begin to make comparisons between the two worlds. It is a difference of dimension rather than one of species.

These dimensions do overlap though. At certain times of the year when the veil between worlds is thinnest the dead travel to the underworld and depending on what you believe live out their second life. In my personal belief system when one dies in the mid world they're reborn in a different dimension, either being the underworld, the upper world (or astral plane), or perhaps a different dimension entirely. The world tree map of dimensions in religions such as the pagan norse and celtic show various dimensions on each branch.

Multiple exist on the middle plane, the underworld plane and the upperworld plane. This makes sense with our current understanding of different dimensions in science as well as it has been proposed at least five separate dimensions exist, each slightly different to our own.

Perhaps in some way, death, travel, etc. Otherkin from different dimensions came to this one. For some this is an explanation of their past lives, for others like myself it is their soul travelling to another dimension and deciding to be reborn there for a few centuries.

Regardless, this interdimensional way of viewing otherkinity may explain Bilocation and Aura shifts.

When one shifts, it is them experiencing their past or true body and connecting to their home dimension. This can explain otherkin from different planets as well who possibly have their own world trees.

[valiantstarlights]

(Sorta Kinda) Little Mermaid AU

Dream is the king of Atlantis, Orpheus is his only son who is all about that land stuff, and Hob is a (human) thief being transported with other convicts to a penal colony.

Orpheus likes to stalk all the ships that enter Dream's territory. He's always looking for new land stuff merch to add to his growing collection: human apparel, shiny trinkets, barrels of rum, sentient beings to adopt...

He really likes it when it storms because stuff falls overboard! And when the entire ship sinks? It's like the local mall just announced a 100% off sale of every item ever. Blood is to a shark as land stuff is to Orpheus. He goes fucking nuts about it.

And it just so happens that the ship carrying Hob is passing through Dream's territory.

So as Orpheus stalks this one ship, the Karmic Justice Or Something Like That, he sees Hob looking dirty and miserable on deck. But like, come on, he's still Ferdinand Kingsley so of course he's still handsome. And Orpheus is like, 'If anything falls overboard, I hope it's that one.'

His wish is granted. One night, a violent (non-magical) storm hits the ship, and Orpheus swims straight to Hob, who was one of the humans thrown overboard. Then, through some merfolk magic, he gives Hob the ability to breathe underwater and withstand oceanic pressure.

And then he cheerfully drags the very confused two-legged human back to Atlantis.

(RIP to the other humans who weren't as pretty as Hob.)

Hob is understandably going ????. Is he dead? Is this hell? Oh lord there is a kingdom under the sea, and merfolk are just like humans but instead of legs they have fish tails.

Freaky.

But! Before Orpheus could have his wicked way with him (because of course he'd want to), the TSA guards of Atlantis spot them, and they do their jobs and bring the prince and his illegal cargo to the throne room (for the 4th time this month), where Dream is of course fucking livid that Orpheus dragged not just another illegal upperworlder stuff, but an actual human back to Atlantis.

Orpheus does the whole 'But Daddy I love him!' speech while Hob is floating on the side being like, "We literally just met and you kidnapped me."

"I kidnapped you from certain death!" Orpheus says.

Dream has no time for this. He may have been lenient on Orpheus adopting drowning sentient upperworlders in the past, but after he stole Dream's symbol of power in order to turn Aristaeus the goat into a mergoat and failed (because he's not powerful or focused enough), Dream is going to have to intervene.

"You love this human?" Dream asks his son.

"Yes, Father," Orpheus answers promptly.

"You want him to be a part of this family?"

"Yes, Father."

"Then give him to me," Dream says. "I'm going to have him for a year, and if at the end you still love him, I will turn him into a merman."

"Don't I have a say in this?" Hob asks.

"Of course you have," Dream says. He even inclines his head like an asshole nobleman. "Decide whether you want to agree to this deal or die right now of drowning and oceanic pressure."

Hob looks around at all the shiny things and decides, fuck it. He's gonna live and he's gonna steal from these half-fish bastards and escape back to civilization and live a rich man's life. So he agrees to the deal.

Orpheus sulkily agrees as well. A contract is drawn. It looks less ominous than Ursula's contract with Ariel, being in bullet list form in very readable dyslexic-friendly font.

Hob has to spend an entire year with Dream and be whatever he wishes him to be (like a servant or chauffeur or whatever, which Hob is fine with as long as they shelter him and feed and clothe him well),

Orpheus has to spend an entire year away from Atlantis and vacation in the other Endless siblings' territories ("Because distance makes the heart grow fonder!" Orpheus claims), and

Dream has to spend an entire year with Hob, test his loyalty, intelligence, wine pouring skills(?), etc. (If he's joining the family, Dream needs to know what exactly he's going to be dealing with for eternity.)

...and at the end of the year, if Orpheus still 'loves' Hob, then Dream is going to turn Hob into a merman and he's gonna live the rest of his life as Orpheus's human-turned-merfolk companion.

If Orpheus doesn't 'love' him anymore, then Hob is free to go. He can return to the human world with some compensation in the form of precious jewels, or if he decides he likes it here in Atlantis, then he's free to stay as a companion-free merman.

All three of them sign. Orpheus swims away accompanied by some bodyguards to his uncle-aunt Desire's territory, determined to 'love' Hob until the year is over.

Hob is left behind with Dream, who doesn't really know what to do with him. Should the human be his cupbearer? A guard? Puffer fish juggler during feasts?

"Do you have any skills?"

"I'm good at stealing," Hob answers, because it's true and he's not ashamed of it. They better be prepared to get things stolen from them.

Dream sighs. "Anything else?"

Hob considers the huge merman before him, easily twice the size of his son(?), and decides, you know what? Yeah. Why the fuck not? If he's gonna be stuck in this guy's company for a year, he's going to be such a thorn in his side and make it so awkward that the king would be forced to send him back (with precious jewels) to the 'upper world' before the year is done.

"I'm good at sucking cock," Hob says, because it's also true. "That is, if you folk have similar appendages."

Dream has a lightbulb moment. Hob is easy on the eyes, and with only a thorough scrubbing and some meals, fine clothing for his body, elegant hair accessories, he would look very fine and presentable indeed. And moreover, it would mark him as Dream's personal concubine. In a year, (and even if Orpheus had object permanence), his son wouldn't want him.

It's actually very unlikely that Orpheus would still 'love' him by year's end, anyway, even if Dream doesn't make Hob his concubine. Orpheus is very distractable and is capable of moving on quickly. (Aristaeus the goat, for example, had only been mourned for ten whole minutes.)

Satisfied, Dream smirks at the human before him, tosses his long hair over his shoulder a bit like the slut he is, and says, "Are you offering your services to me, little human?"

And of course it's only now that Hob sees Dream's beautiful face and sexy upper body, which has previously been hidden under his curtain of long dark hair. (In Hob's eyes, he had been dealing with a male Sadako underwater. Please give him a break. It's been a very stressful day.)

Hob realizes that he has severely miscalculated. Because even now, he wants to lick whatever appendage this gorgeous creature has. A year? He's gonna want to be here for eternity because holy shit the king is gorgeous and a total DILF.

They fuck. Because of course they do. Right there on the throne room. Everyone's seaweed salad is ruined.

(But fr, Hob is having the time of his life. Dream and his cock are so huge it brought out Hob's latent size kink tendency, and he can shapeshift as well. Hob gets fucked with dozens of new and exciting appendages. There's like an entire Bad Dragon catalogue down there.)

Dream announces that he'll be working from home for an entire year and assigns Lucienne, Jessamy, and Matthew to oversee things he wouldn't be able to for that duration because he's Busy.

He says this over ye olde Atlantean seashell cellphone as he's fucking Hob into the mattress.

When Dream has to show himself to grant Atlantean citizens their weekly audience, he does so with Hob warming his dick as he sits on the throne.

Thankfully, Atlantean citizens are less prudish than upperworlders, because if they get turned on, they just masturbate right then and there, no problem at all. Really, as long as anyone doesn't touch Dream or Hob, then it's fine.

Hob, prudish upperworlder that he was, discovers that he thrives in this kind of exhibitionist play. He realizes that he loves being on display and seeing Dream's subjects pleasure themselves while looking at them. (Even Corinthian, the head of the royal guards, jerks off just a step down from the throne, eyes on the place where Hob is joined with Dream. Hob doesn't know if Corinthian wants to be Hob, be Dream, or be sandwiched in between the two of them. He doesn't ask because Dream is obviously a jealous bastard.)

And every day that passes, Hob gets increasingly addicted to Dream (not just his cock/s), and Dream is increasingly growing fonder of Hob. They realize that they actually like spending time together, even when they're not physically connected.

Dream laughs (his creepy frightening laugh) over Hob's stupid upperworld jokes, wonders at Hob's unconventional solutions to his citizens' problems, and mourns with him when he finally tells Dream about why he became a thief in the first place.

Meanwhile, Hob listens well to Dream's personal problems and never gives advice unless Dream asks him to, gives Dream new songs to sing and melodies to play, and holds him whenever he dreams of the night Orpheus's mother was taken from them and killed by upperworlders hundreds of years ago.

It's so very clear that they're meant to be together, but they're pretty stupid and don't realize that they have fallen in love with each other.

The Atlantean citizens grow to respect Hob and not just lust after him from afar. He's very kind, and the unconventional upperworlder solutions he proposes when Dream is giving an audience work out surprisingly well. Soon, he's being referred to as Consort Hob, and is given gifts of gratitude. Just small but heartfelt things like fresh produce and homemade jams.

Hob likes being given gifts. A thing that Dream notices early on so of course he immediately sets out to spoil Hob. (Especially when he found out that Hob grew up impoverished.) Does he care that he's one-upping his own citizens with his lavish gifts? No. A subject's gift is different from a lover's, and Hob likes all the gifts anyway. He doesn't even complain when Dream tears off his own gifts from his body only a minute after Hob puts them on.

As the year is slowly coming to an end, they fuck more often, and lowkey desperately.

Hob thinks Orpheus will still want him at the end of the year. Dream thinks Hob will want to go back to the human world and he'll never see him again.

As we have previously established, they're both idiots, so they only confess their true feelings to each other like, on the day before Orpheus is set to return. And then, knowing that their feelings are requited after all, they fuck again, but this time it's the slow and very gentle lovemaking (TM) kind of sex that lasts the entire night full of soft 'I love you's and new sensitive spots to discover and obsess over. It's great. We want what they have but we also love that they have it with each other.

In the morning, Dream is determined to persuade Orpheus to give Hob up (in the unlikely event that Orpheus still wants Hob), and Hob is determined to stay with Dream and willing to help Orpheus find someone else.

All their worrying is for naught because Orpheus returns with Eurydice (a mermaid) in tow, and says that they got married like...11 months ago.

Dream is a little hurt that he wasn't invited to his own son's wedding, but Orpheus tells him he could just marry her again. It's not like they're lacking funds or need to fill up 10,000 government forms.

Hob is just so relieved that he almost kisses Eurydice in gratitude. (He doesn't because Dream is a jealous bastard who will no doubt misunderstand this very upperworld gesture.)

Dream tells Orpheus that he's gonna marry Hob. Orpheus says okay and is very chill about it. Dream tells him that it would mean that Hob is going to be his stepfather. Orpheus needed a moment to process and come to terms with that, but comes out of his shock still supportive.

Eurydice is a very nice merwoman who is also supportive of Dream and Hob's union. They find out that her family's kelp farm benefitted from Hob's advice so now Orpheus is definitely pro-Hob.

And then they get married! Dream with Hob and Orpheus with Eurydice (again). There may or may not be babies that resulted from Dream and Hob's very vigorous union--that depends on the reader's personal preference, but the point is that they all lived happily ever after. ✨️

[stillaintnolady]

Sailor Ginger

[liminalsoul]

How to start with hedge riding

While there are plenty of videos and articles about what is a hedge witch or what is hedge riding there aren´t so many on how to take your first steps, so here we are going to elaborate on how to start crossing the hedge.

Trance

The first step, after finding a comfortable place and position, should be reaching a trance state. This can be achieved by various methods, from the use of meditation, dancing or drumming to the use of entheogens (natural substances that ease trance, they should be used carefully).

This trance is basically known for being an altered state of consciousness where the witch experiments reallity in a different way.

Protection

This topic will vary from witch to witch because while some would prefer to have their energy flowing in a more free way others would perceive it as a must.

One way to do this is visualizing a golden sphere of your energy around you, protecting you. Instead of this, it is also possible to just carry some kind of amulet.

Actually crossing the hedge

This also can be done in multiple ways, some of them are:

Visualizing a hedge that will be the metaphorical barrier between this world and the otherworld, between civility and the wild, and then jumping over it.

Visualizing a cave that you are going to enter in order to reach the otherworld.

Entering by the roots of a tree wich typically represents the untherworld (roots), middleworld (trunk) and upperworld (branches).

Imagining falling into a hole that opens under you feet.

I would outline that in this step it is important to leave fear behind to achieve traveling to the other side.

“Waking” inside the other side

This is the point where visualization stops and you lose control over your surroundings and the things that might happen.

It is highly likely that you encounter your familiar (a spirit that will help you and guide you in that realm).

I would recommend you to trust your guts if something feels wrong and just leave and also treat with respect the spirits that you encounter there.

Returning from the other side

Before leaving it is a good advice to try to "expand" your energy in order to recover the energy wich may have remained trapped in the other side.

The only thing you have to do to come back is doing it exactly the same way you entered, for example jumping over the hedge from wildness to civilization.

Clarification

Here there are a lot of topics that have been briefly touched because it is difficult to sum them up in just one post, especially when this is a really extensive topic.

[thechosenone-if]

The origins of the game

If you are new here, or relatively new, you might not know how The Chosen One came to be.

It was 2020 and, as many other, to escape reality I started playing VNs and then IFs. Within some months, a game of my own started to take shape in my mind and then I started writing. At the time, I had absolutely zero knowledge about Twine so learning it was a slow and painful process - but worth it.

In spring 2021 I created the Tumblr blog dedicated to it, what is now my personal blog @kal-down and what was then @/the-upperworld.

The first version of TCO was full of bugs, had a colour palette that was all over the place, and, most importantly, was only written in italian. At the time, I couldn't fantom writing a full story in english, I only did small prompts about MC and Rascia on the blog or translated previews.

Then, mainly thanks to the IF authors I came to befriend on here, I decided to translate the whole demo and publish the inglish version, which became public in September 2021.

During that year's summer, I also started planning and designing what would become my most popular and loved game: The King's Hound. As I made more and more progress on it, with so much difficulty and writing fully in english for the first time in my life, TCO started to feel off.

I guess lack of popularity and interaction, perhaps due to a story featuring a single RO or perhaps due to the unpolished nature of the writing. Still, I deleted almost everything from the blog and made it my personal one, hiding the game from Itchio.

In 2022 I decided to polish the UI a bit, thanks to it you have a now playable and hopefully more aesthetically pleasing game. I also added the Interlude 1 to the game (introducing Rascia for the first time).

And now, here we are. There isn't new content available to play, progress is still very slow, but I think this game deserves a proper blog. It deserves a place to be discussed, especially since I have a published demo and even if it won't ever be popular, I hope the game resonates at least with someone. For this reason, I decided I will leave the game up and visible on Itch from now on, and that I will keep working on it even if I remain the only one interested in the project.

It was my very first IF and I don't want to be ashamed of it. Or hide it. Despite its flaws and hiccups in developement, I am proud of it.

Thank you for reading, I wish you all a great day❤

[onyxandemerald]

The more I learn about the roots of astrology, the more I read about Hermeticism, the more difficult it becomes to distinguish Jupiter the planet and The Entity of Zeus. I mean it would make sense that the "upperworld," would be synonymous with space in idk 2nd century BCE., since we all somehow ended up with the first assumption that gods live in the sky. Someone needs to bring me down from this hill lol