#there should be unlimited likes available

[damnitiloveyou]

I understand that I have already left kudos and comments on every single chapter but that fic is a masterpiece and I will hit that kudos button as often as I like, thank you very much. Your red denial will not detour me.

[bookish-phile]

release day!!

no, it's not release day but i forgot to post this here..

I'm officially a published teen author apparently (it feels the same guys. why haven't I grown wings and horns yet?);

anyway so my book released on the 3rd and it's available on Amazon!! (should be available on other platforms too like B&N but that may take a while)

oh and if you have Kindle Unlimited you can read it there for free! :))

just gonna put the link here: amazon

and some very random pictures and the TROPES (why are there so many omg?? that just looks very messy) ANDD the annotations I did on my proof copy! I've acc never annotated a book bc hey guess what im a coward 😮‍💨🫶🏼 but i did for mine cuz?? I can get more copies? SO yeah that was very fun.

and moodboards of my MCs which btw i can never stop making it's like my go-to when i don't wanna study.. and finally, CHARACTER ART yay

🏷️ gonna tag the same people as last time IM SO SORRY FOR ANNOYING YOU xoxo ily

@never-enough-novels @reminiscentreader @thejudeduarte @jesyverse @ant-thebooknerd @his-littlefox @starlightbooklove @darlingod @thenightmareinyourcloset @catapparently @thesongofsoleil @chaiichait @tunguszka20 @x-liv25-jamieswife @cromulentreader @highladyofterrasen7 @ur-mother-is-ketterdam @dreamyreveriie @dreaming-in-daylight @mqstermindswift @arqbella @elysianwayy77 @xoxo-lenah @unch4rtedwxters @mikotosworld @catacombspooks @imsaraht @tiredpapergirl @stars-over-ice-cream @justalunaticfangirl @slarxsa @sheisntyouspam @starsandmarsbars @your-mommy-ems @hxress23 @berryzxx @house-in-the-backyard-trees @arias-archive @shattermelyhfmlblog @balladofareader @f4iry-bell @letmeliveinelfhame @lyrakanefanatic @knife-wife @123letsgobestie @hyacinth-dancing-in-rain @averyriskygamble1989

[rachaelthemes]

Ocular — Version 3

Preview // User Guide // More Info & Install

your favorite sidebar theme just got an upgrade, babeyyy

I went to update Ocular to make it NPF post-compliant and then my hand slipped and I redesigned the whole thing lmao. here's a brief update about Ocular 3; if you're looking for a full list of changes between versions 2 and 3, click the "Read More" below)

Ocular comes with the following features:

Colors: easily change the color scheme of your sidebar and posts using any colors you want

Post sizes: 400px, 500px, 540px, 600px, 700px

Sidebar: can be on the left, right, or above the posts. pick from a list of sidebar sizes, header image heights, and avatar shapes

Fonts: 20 different fonts, sizes 13px to 18px

Background: solid, gradient, full-size image or repeating image

Links: choose either regular navigation or drop-down navigation. unlimited custom links (visit the help desk FAQ for a tutorial) and ability to rename home, ask, submit, and archive links

Endless scroll, custom ask box text, Tumblr's full-width controls and search bar, optional header, avatar, and favicon images

if you already have Ocular installed, version 3 should be coming at you as soon as the update passes the theme garden. if you installed this theme with GitHub, you'll have to re-install manually.

now let's get to the fun stuff. what's new in version 3?

wow, do I have some updates for you!

1. goodbye color schemes, hello post background and text colors

you can now directly control the color of the posts rather than relying on color schemes to do it. want your posts to be a very specific shade of navy? all yours, buddy. go wild (make sure it's readable tho)

2. hello, color schemes! wait I thought we got rid of that guy

a lot of the color schemes I made became redundant now that the new post background/text color options exist. if you were married to the old color schemes, all of them can be recreated using those options. so the new color scheme options are as follows:

"My colors" — uses the colors you picked for post background/text

"Light preset" and "dark preset" — sets the posts to white with black text, or off-black with white text

"Translucent" — uses the colors you choose for post background/text, but makes the post backgrounds semi-transparent. there are NINE different translucent color schemes, ranging from 90% (only slightly see-through) to 10% (VERY see through)

3. navigation dropdown option

you can either use the sidebar links like they were before, or you can turn them into a cute little dropdown (helpful if you have lots of links or links with long titles!) you can enable this using the "use dropdown navigation" setting. you can also customize the label for the dropdown using the "dropdown menu label" setting. for instance, the dropdown on my blog currently says "oooh you wanna click me"

4. RIP google fonts I always hated your load times

decided to stop using Google Fonts and instead I'm providing the font files directly in the code. this will help speed up load times drastically when using custom fonts, plus I don't have to use Google. win-win! there's quite a bit of coverage overlap with the old fonts, but some of them that were too similar to each other got the ax. I also added all of the system fonts as options (hit classics like Arial, Georgia, and Comic Sans MS are now available TO YOU!)

5. more layout, sizing, and spacing options

the sidebar used to be either on the center-left, center-right, or above the posts; now it can go in the top-left or top-right! you can now control the border radius on the posts and sidebar. the header height, sidebar width, and post spacing all have additional options.

6. some options have been renamed for additional clarity

"background color 1" -> "background color"

"background color 2" -> "gradient background color"

"background" -> "background style"

"font override" -> "use body font everywhere"

"title" -> "sidebar title"

"description" -> "sidebar description"

"ask box text" -> "custom HTML above ask box"

7. removed some options

you win some, you lose some. I removed the uppercase sidebar links, theme credit, and inline media spacing options, mostly for redundancy reasons or because they produced unclear results.

8. as previously stated, now NPF-compliant

Ocular was ALMOST compliant with Tumblr's new post format, but had a few tweaks that needed to be ironed out. they're now ironed.

9: now user-friendly right out of the box

I updated the default color and content options, so new users installing this theme will have a much easier time using and customizing it immediately. no more ugly ass green background!

10. and finally, new JS

I had to rewrite some of the javascript for this theme, which turned into me rewriting ALL of the javascript. doing so meant that I could eliminate dependencies on third-party JS libraries and run the whole thing on plain JS. that should improve load times!!

bonus: custom CSS can do some nifty stuff now

want to change the size of your avatar? you can do that now! just do this to your Advanced > Add custom CSS section

super helpful if you're using the Avatar shape: Uncropped setting and you need your image to be a specific size (like a pixelated GIF)

for more info, check out the Ocular user guide. thanks for reading my updates!! hope you all have a fantastic start to your 2024 ❤���

[maitressebrie]

About me

Because no one actually reads a profile:

I am a 33 year-old, bisexual, dominant American woman. Generally speaking, I'm interested in women for sex and men for pain - theirs. I'm on Tumblr for casual online fun...and the porn. Love the porn.

Hobbies/Interests:

I'm a runner and enjoy the occasional 5K/10K. Trying to get into obstacle course racing (Tough Mudder/Spartan) if I ever get my butt in gear.

Reading: I love to read! I enjoy history, classic detective fiction (like Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammet), le Carre spy novels, Albert Camus, Haruki Murakami, Hemingway, and too many others to name.

Yoga/Pilates

Surfing (aspirational at this point)

I've been getting into investing recently, but just casually.

Kinks:

Femdom (duh) - I get off on control...and occasionally your suffering...ok...more than occasionally...

Bimboization - there's nothing better than a soft, dumb, big-titted, fat-booty slut ready to do whatever I tell her. Follow my sideblog (@bimbomenagerie) if you're interested in my taste in women.

Feminization/Sissification - a close second is turning men into soft, obedient, sexy gurls.

Chastity - male or female

Watersports/Bathroom Use Control (giving) - all your bodily functions should belong to me.

Denial/Edging - all my gooners should follow @goonermenagerie. Go ahead and waste your life pump puppies.

Humiliation/Degradation - I know I'm better than you...I just want to drive it home so deep that you can't even escape me in your dreams

SPH - I'll rate your little peepee, but ask politely first. Unsolicited dick pics get you blocked.

ABDL - MDlg preferred.

Hard Limits:

Kids - it's disgusting that I have to even say this. For real - if you're evening thinking about it just go walk yourself down to the police station right now...or into a wood chipper.

Animals - also...fucking ew....

Actual misogyny - I LOVE submissive women, I even love degrading and humiliating them...but that's their choice to make if it makes them happy.

Race play

Sending pics - for any number of reasons this is a non-starter for me.

DMs/Inbox:

I like to chat but my time is not unlimited and I engage based on my interests and availability. Feel free to reach out - for tasks, dick rating, some chat (kinky or not) - but be interesting. Don't just send me a list of your kinks and a picture of your dick...I don't care about either of them. If you reach out I assume you're interested in something in my list, so you should be thinking about how you can satisfy my desires first and foremost.

I'm not here looking for anything IRL. I have other venues for that, so don't even ask.

If you read this far, edge twice for me for being a good little girl or boy - don't even think about cumming of course. And don't forget to say thank you.

[sleepyghostuwu]

The Artist and the Gem: Part 1

"I'm pretty sure this only happens in dreams."

Synopsis: An IPC member part-timing as an artist unknowingly spices up her life when a certain colleague comes to her for a leisurely art commission.

Notes: Fem! Reader POV since it's what I'm more comfy writing in for this series. I also have no clue how art commissions work so apologies if it isn't lore-accurate ^^"

Ping!

You groan as you reluctantly reach for your phone for the umpteenth time today, bracing yourself to read your client's incessant texts about your work progress despite it being mere weeks since they first contacted you. Combining that with the fact that your supervisors were piling you with more paperwork these days made it all the more frustrating to deal with.

"Hi again! I feel the need to mention that I have a full-time job outside of my artist life, and also take note that it takes time in general to complete multiple people's commissions over time. I will send you more WIPs once I'm available to do so. Thanks for your patience!"

As cordial as the text sounded when you sent it out, you were like a pot filled with boiling water, ready to burst in fury in the event that client continues to add fuel to the fire. Too angry to continue doing work properly, you excused yourself to get a drink at the pantry.

As the coffee machine whirred to life on the counter, you hear your phone ringing again. Doing your utmost to keep your composure, your trembling hands open your inbox. This time, it was not your current client who texted you, but a new one.

"Hey (username), I find your artworks to be rather intriguing. I saw on your webpage that you're still taking in commissions, so I was wondering if I could trouble you to do one for me."

"At least this one's polite about this," you muttered as you replied to their message with equal respect.

"Hey there! Happy to know that you appreciate my art! My commission list is quite full at the moment, so I'm afraid that it will take long while to complete yours. Would you mind if your commission took a longer time to complete, or would you rather contact me another time instead?"

That should do, you think to yourself as you retrieve your coffee cup from the machine and take a sip of your drink. Your phone rings again.

"It's all good. Take as much time as you need. I'm not in a rush :)"

Your eyes practically lit up upon reading that message. Unlimited time for a commission? In times like these? Is this heaven?? You quickly shoot back another text.

"Very well. What would you like me to draw, then?"

"I would like you to draw a portrait of Aventurine from the IPC."

...

You've got to be kidding me.

You blink furiously at your client's art request, trying to make sure that you did not misread whatever they sent to you.

"That's an interesting request you got here."

Who even is requesting for this from me? A fan from the Aventurine Fan Squad? For all you knew, any of your colleagues could have either chanced upon your art account or decided to knowingly exploit your creativity for their own pleasure. As you type out the default reminder for them to pay up as per your terms, your phone rings twice.

[100,000 Credits have been transferred to your bank account.]

"Say less. Wishing you the best of luck ;)"

You take a huge gulp of coffee as you switch off your phone, evidently more stressed about your artistic career than you already were before. With such a hefty sum of money transferred to you for a singular drawing, chances are that you will have to pool in all of your creativity for this particular commission if it means that your mystery client would be assured to get their money's worth. Taking a glimpse at the nearest clock within your hindsight, you quickly down your coffee before rushing back to your cubicle, ready to check off your task list if it meant more time to draw later on.

---

As you briskly return to your cubicle to work, a certain blond man in green glances at you from a distance and smiles.

[sinnabarmoth]

Worthy of Devotion (3/9)

Pairing: Sea God|Rafayel x Worshipper|Reader (fem)

Summary: Reader learns more about Rafayel and can't help asking some more personal questions. Meanwhile Rafayel is learning new things about human peculiarities both funny and concerning.

Content Warnings: Self worth issues caused by religious trauma.

Length: 3k

Chapters: (1) (2) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9)

Read on AO3

~~~

The next day was more of the same. You woke up, made yourself from breakfast and started cleaning a new part of the temple. You had decided to work on the bedroom this time. The main issue was all the dust and you ended up tying a handkerchief around your face to help keep yourself from sneezing.

You had also finally entered the attached bathing room. Yesterday you had just availed yourself to the communal toilets on the main level since that was where you had spent most your day. The bathing room was in much the same state as the bedroom, covered in a fine layer of dust. The main problem was the large tub in the center of the room. In any other circumstance it would have been lovely, the large basin cut into solid marble, you could fit at least four people inside easily. But over the years a layer of moss and fungus had sprouted inside, coating the marble like a carpet. That took a lot of scraping and shoveling and scrubbing to get clean.

You were knelt in the center of the tub, trying to get the green ring stain out of the marble when Rafayel wandered in. “There you are,” he sat at the edge of the tub. “Keeping busy?”

“Someone has to repair this temple and I’m the only one here, so yes.” you wiped the sweat from your brow but only managed to smear more dirt and grime against it. “I assume you’re here to continue working on the journal?”

“Yes. But you are going to need to clean yourself up first. You’ll end up dirtying the pages with hands like that.” he picked up one of your hands and inspected the grime caked under your nails. “In fact, have you bathed at all since coming here?”

“I have rinsed…” you muttered, “But I haven’t really had the time to--”

“Up. Now.” he pulled you up and out of the tub. “You are not doing any more work until you’ve bathed. To be perfectly honest, you smell rather bad too. I let it slide yesterday because we were working but there is no excuse for this now.”

“Alright. I’ll go down to the baths--”

“What are you talking about? You just cleaned this one, use it.”

“If I use this one then I have to carry buckets of water up here to fill it. It’s just easier to go to the baths downstairs.”

Rafayel rolled his eyes and reached towards the head of the tub. There was a pipe over the basin but you saw no pump with which to call up water from. Behind the pipe was a large smooth gem that he put his hand over. He muttered something foreign to your ears and suddenly water began to fill the tub. Even more than that, steam was rising from it.

“But how--”

“A water gem.” he pointed to the gem behind the pipe. “Very rare. They provide unlimited water with the activation of certain phrases. “Calidum, for hot water. Frigus, for cold water. To get it to stop, say finis. Try it.”

You put your hand on the stone. “Frigus?”

There was a pause in the spray of water and when it returned you felt it was ice cold. You touched the stone again. “Calidum.” Another pause and hot water came out again. “Finis.” The water stopped. “Wow. Do you know how useful that would have been to know an hour ago when I was carrying buckets of water up here to scrub the floors?”

He smiled. “Well now you know. There should still be some soaps around here somewhere. Clean yourself up, I will be back.”

“Thank you.” You started the water again, going back and forth with the cold and hot to get it to a nice temperature and then sank in. When was the last time you had an honest to goodness hot bath? It was always such a hassle back home to get a hot bath all to yourself.

You let yourself relax, the feel of the hot water easing the pain in your joints and relaxing your muscles. Yes, you needed this. After a while of just soaking and enjoying the bath you picked up a rag and the soap and started cleaning yourself in earnest. You shouldn’t have been surprised by how nice the soap was but it still caught you off guard to smell something so pretty and floral. It smelled like plumerias and a whiff of coconut.

You were rinsing the suds away when the door banged open and Rafayel strode in again. You ducked under the water up to your neck, covering your body with your arms. “I’m still in here!”

“I figured you would be.” he didn’t seem perturbed by your nakedness or the clear panic you were exhibiting. “I brought fresh clothes. Those rags you’ve been wearing need a wash, if you still want to keep them that is.”

“Yes, thank you. You can leave now.” you curled into yourself, trying to hide your body more the closer he got.

“You’re awfully jumpy. What’s got into you?” he cocked an eyebrow up at you.

“I’m naked!”

“So?”

You swallowed back the urge to scream. “So I don’t want you seeing me naked. Please.”

“I assume this is one of those human peculiarities.” he shrugged. “The nude form is very natural, there’s nothing to be ashamed of. You especially have a rather delectable form, from what I glanced when I came in at least.”

You were going to drown yourself in this tub. “Thanks. But I’d rather not wander around naked so freely. So can you please leave now so I can dry and dress?”

“Yes yes, I’m going.” he left the room. “We’re going to add these views on nudity to the book I hope you know. It’s ridiculous that you humans are so preoccupied with it.” He shouted from the bedroom.

“Got it.” you sighed, pressing the heels of your palms to your eyes. “Gods give me strength.” you muttered.

“Strength for what?” Rafayel shouted again.

“That prayer wasn’t for you!” you snapped. So he really could here your prayers…great. You needed to be careful about what you said now.

After you had drained the tub and dried yourself off you picked up the bundle of clothes that Rafayel had left for you. It was a pair of loose pants and shirt made out of the same linens that he wore. There were little shells embroidered along the sleeves and a wave design along the thigh of the pants. They were simple working clothes, easy to move around in and lightweight.

When you left the bathing room you saw Rafayel packing more garments into the standing wardrobe. He turned back to you and smiled. “There, that looks much better.” he walked up to you and pulled you close. You froze as his face was buried in your hair. “Smell much better too. Now we can work without you smelling like dirt and sweat.”

“It wasn’t that bad!” you protested. Your resentment covered the sheer panic of his sudden embrace.

“It was. Come along, mudskipper. Time to get writing.” he pulled you to the sitting area of the bedroom.

“First I’m a grouper and now I’m a mudskipper. If you’re going to keep comparing me to fish can’t they at least be cute? Like an angelfish or even a starfish would sound nicer.”

“How about a clownfish?” he deposited you in one of the chairs.

“Do you enjoy mocking me?”

“What? Do you not think clownfish are cute?” he tossed you the book and sat down in the chair opposite you. “Now, where were we?”

You flipped open the book with a roll of your eyes. “Let me see, we had just finished discussing how the title of Sea God is passed down through generations and I have a note here about partners to the Sea God. I think we left off talking about unions and the powers that romantic partners had if any.”

“Right,” Rafayel cleared his throat, “It varies from person to person, some gods chose to have a partner with which they could entrust helping to rule over the Lemurians, in that way it was very strategic. Others were more driven by their desires and chose partners with their hearts. Sometimes partners are equal rulers with similar ruling authority, sometimes they are figure heads, but there is no set in stone responsibilities for the partner of the Sea God.”

“Interesting.” you started writing everything down. “And what about children? Is there any chance that progeny of the current Sea God may be chosen as the new god or is it entirely up to chance?”

“It is entirely up to chance. Children of current gods do not automatically inherit their parent’s title. I only know of one recorded instance in which one of the children of a past god was selected as the inheritor.”

Your pen paused. “Rafayel, do you have a partner?”

His eyes widened a fraction before he shook his head. “No. I do not.”

You didn’t know why but your heart did a pitter patter in your chest hearing that. “Then, do you plan on marrying for strategy or for love?”

“I don’t really have any plans right now.”

“Alright, let me just write that down. Current god, Rafayel, is not one to plan for the future.”

“Hey! You can’t write that down!” his face turned pink.

“I’m the one with the pen so--ah!” you held the pen back as Rafayel tried to grab it. “You’re the one who tasked me with writing this book so I get to write my findings!”

“No, you write what I tell you to write. Now give me the pen.” he made another swipe for it but you leapt out of your seat. “Are you disobeying me, clownfish?”

“Of course not. I would never dare disobey my god.” you handed the pen to him. “Here you are.”

“Thank you.”

“But I will be taking this.” you grabbed the book and took off out the door.

“Oh! I see how it is! My sweet clownfish is actually a slippery little eel!” he took off after you.

There was a part of you that screamed that you shouldn’t be doing this. Everything you had learned, everything you had been raised as told you that you shouldn’t have been disobeying and teasing your god like this. If any of the priests or priestesses could see your behavior you’d be put on floor scrubbing for a year, maybe ten. But they weren’t here. None of them had actually completed their pilgrimages. None of them had spoken to Rafayel. According to what they taught you, and according to your god, you were more worthy than any of them. No one was here to say otherwise. You could do whatever you wanted. And you felt like having a little fun, and the fact that it was at the expense of a god made it all the funnier.

You were flying down the stairs, a wide smile on your face as you ran. You could hear Rafayel gaining behind you. You weren’t sure if you wanted to be caught or not.

You glanced over your shoulder to see how close he was and your foot hit a chunk of fallen ceiling. Your body pitched forward, gravity helping send you down the last couple of steps.

“Watch it!” you were caught by the waist and tugged backwards with force. You were tipping back instead and you landed with a thud on the stairs, Rafayel cushioning your fall. “Ow.”

“Oh no, I’m so sorry!” you rolled off him. “Are you okay?”

“No. I think this is it for me. I’m weak, this is the end.” he threw an arm over his eyes. “The light shall need to choose a new Sea God now. I am to descend into the abyss. Tell my people I died heroically, saving one of my acolytes.”

You could tell he was being dramatic but you saw the way he winced as he sat up and the rock that he had landed on was painted a deep crimson at the point.

Rafayel looked at you, the humor on his face disappearing. “What’s wrong? Are you hurt?” he waved a hand in front of your face, “Say something, you’re starting to worry me.”

“You…you’re bleeding.” you murmured, horrified that he had gotten injured saving you.

“Ah that,” he picked up the rock and tossed it away to a corner. “Don’t worry about that. I was only joking, I feel fine. A little sore between the shoulder blades but nothing to get worked up about.”

“I’m sorry.” you drew into yourself, pulling your knees close to your body. “I’m so sorry. You got hurt because of me. I’m sorry.”

“You would have gotten hurt worse if I let you fall. We really need to work on that balance of yours. You have about as much grace as a fish on a dock.” he smiled at you. When you did not return it he inched closer. He reached out as if to touch you and you flinched back. He eased away.

“You’re shaken from the fall. I get it.” he said slowly, as if trying to coax a skittish animal, “But I promise I’m fine. You don’t need to feel bad about it. Accidents happen.”

“I…I…” you glanced around and saw the book splayed out at the bottom of the stairs. You stood up, ignoring the pain in your foot as you hobbled down and recollected it. “I need to go.” You set the book on the bottom step and limped out of the temple.

“Where are you going?” Rafayel raced after you. “Your foot is scraped, if you get sand in it it will only make it worse.”

You ignored him, your body taking you down the steps and onto the beach. You kept going until you got the shore where the ocean lapped at the sand. You waded into the water up to your knees. The salt burned against your wound but you didn’t retreat, the pain helped to ground you. Staring straight ahead your vision tunneled as it tried in vain to see past the horizon line.

You hurt your god. Actually hurt him. And for what? Because you wanted to tease him a little? What right did you have? Was this a divine punishment? Fate reminding you of your place? A mortal poking fun at a deity like he was an old friend. No. There were lines for a reason. You couldn’t cross them. No one was ever meant to cross them.

“Come back inside,” you heard Rafayel’s voice behind you. “Your foot needs tending.”

“I shouldn’t be in there. I don’t belong in that temple or on this island. I’m not worthy. I need to leave. I need to--”

“By the tides, not this again.” Rafayel groaned and with an ease that surprised you he hefted you out of the water and started carrying you back to the temple. “Here I thought you were finally done with all that aggrandizing. One little tumble down some stairs and suddenly you think you need to throw yourself into the ocean. Those charlatans on the mainland really messed with your self worth in the name of worshiping me, didn’t they?”

“What--what are you--” you stammered as he marched you back into the temple. “Please! Put me down. I don’t--I can’t--”

“Shush.” he brought you into the kitchen and set you down on the table. “Stay there.”

“But--”

“Stay.” he pointed and left out the back door. He came back with a bucket of water and grabbed a clean rag out of one of the drawers. Dunking it into the water he grabbed your injured foot and started dabbing away at the blood and sand. “And here the day was going so well. I finally got you to take a bath, we were having a nice chat, then we took that little tumble and it was like it reset you. You had better not start calling me Your Radiance again, I swear.”

“I shouldn’t have ran though. It’s not my place. I shouldn’t have done it and then you wouldn’t have had to help me and you wouldn’t have gotten hurt and--” you went silent as he glanced up at you, that spark of blue flame alighting his eyes once more.

“Did I not say yesterday that you are allowed to feel whatever you please in regards to me? You can feel guilty if you wish but your guilt doesn’t get to erase the fact that you also feel comfortable with me. I like that you play. I don’t want you to stop on account of this one accident.” He patted your wound dry and tore a strip of fabric off of his sarong, wrapping it around your foot. “Understood? Don’t make me have to make it an order because that will go against everything I am trying to accomplish here.”

“What is it you want to accomplish?” you asked.

“I want to create followers that want to follow me out of devotion, not fear. If I can’t get you to not fear me, then what hope is there for the others?” he handed you the wet rag. “I know I can’t undo everything you learned, especially not in a day. But we are not going to spend this time with you too scared to say anything out of turn or show any displeasure. I may be your god but I do not control you. Do you understand?”

You nodded.

“No. Say it.”

“I understand.”

“Understand what?”

You took a deep breath. “I understand what you want from me.”

“Which is?”

“To be devoted to you out of desire, not obligation or fear.”

“Good.” he turned around and you could see the wound in his back where the rock stabbed him. “Now, could you be so kind as to help clean this for me?”

“Yes. Of course.” You wiped at the blood trickling down his spin and pressed the rag over the cut to staunch the bleeding.

“Rafayel?” your voice felt as if it was a thousand miles away from your body.

“Yes?”

“You talk of being a god worthy of devotion, but do you not have any requisites of your followers? Is there nothing to make us worthy of your blessings outside of wanting to worship you? It seems unfair that you hold yourself to such a high degree but not us.”

“You wish to know what I think makes my followers worthy of my blessings and spared of my wrath?” he thought for a moment. “They have to be kind and honest. They cannot spread fear in hopes that it will gain me more followers or larger offerings. To be worthy, their actions and words must come from their souls. A sand dollar offered by a child that believes in me out of trust is worth more than all the gold shoveled onto a dais by fearful priests. Chasing you through the halls as you try to play keep away with me is more precious to me than this self loathing you carry about inadvertently causing me injury.”

“I understand.” A smile started to creep its way back onto your face. “I like this version of you far better than the one I learned about on the mainland.”

“Nice to hear it.” he glanced over his shoulder. “Almost done back there?”

“Oh right.” you had forgotten what you were doing for a moment. You removed the rag from his back. You were shocked to see that the wound had completely disappeared, gone as if it never existed, save for a small pink spot between his shoulder blades. “What…how did that happen?”

“I’m God of the Seas, water is a natural healer to me, be it fresh or salt.” he rolled his shoulders, the muscles in his back flexing as he did. “Now, how about we do something relaxing for the rest of the day? No cleaning, no writing, something simple.”

“Like what?”

“Want to learn how to play a Lemurian board game?”

“Sure.”

“Alright,” he glanced around the room. “Right, I need to go get one. Stay here, don’t go tripping over anything else, I will be right back.”

He left to dive back into the sea while you stayed sat on the kitchen table. You picked your foot up, inspecting the makeshift bandage over your foot. He could have gone and found actual bandages but he tore off part of his clothes just to dress your wound. Either he thought very highly of your foot or very little of his clothes. You ran a finger over the gold embroidery, contemplating.

It would take him some time to return so you carefully stood up and limped back out to the staircase. The book was still resting on the top step along with the pen that Rafayel had dropped. You picked up both and cracked open the book, penning a new note near the back.

“The god Rafayel wants more than anything for his followers to follow him out of love rather than fear. I think this shows more than anything that he cares for us more than the priests of old would have had us believe. He is a kind god,” you bit back a mischievous smile, “and he likes it when you tease him, so if you are reading this you should do it a lot. He really does like it. Just be ready for him to tease you right back.”

[elumish]

My Experience With Digital-First Royalty-Only Publishing (Part 2)

Disclaimer: just my experience, may not reflect other people's

Part 1 (What is this sort of publishing; how did I get published; what does the submission, contract, and editing process look like)

Book Release:

My [redacted] book came out in April 2024. It is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and the publisher's own website, where it is listed for a couple dollars less than on Amazon/B&N. It's available both digitally (in multiple different file formats) and for print (paperback).

I can't speak for whether this is standard across these sorts of publishers, but it probably isn't unusual. This does mean that the book can't be available on Kindle Unlimited, given how Kindle Unlimited's requirements work.

The timing for this sort of publishing is extremely fast compared to traditional or even small-press print publishing. I signed the contract in late August 2023 and sent in the final draft to my editor in late October 2023, and the book was released in late April 2024.

Book cover:

For designing my book cover, they pointed me towards where they pull stock images from and asked me to describe the sort of cover I would want, including possible stock images. They also asked for physical characteristics of my characters, which is when I realized that I had no clue what my characters look like.

The stock image website included AI art, as well as regular non-AI stock images. I specifically requested no AI art, including no AI-generated stock images. As far as I am aware, they respected that request.

Once they created one, they sent me a mock-up and asked about minor changes (typography, etc., from what I remember). I didn't have any changes. Overall, my cover looks like what I described to them, and I'm really happy with it.

Marketing:

My marketing experience with my publisher has been decidedly underwhelming. They seem to have started to revamp their marketing process right around when my book came out, so my book didn't receive/hasn't received a huge amount of marketing support from them.

What they gave me marketing-wise: a few marketing images for pre-release/post-release, including Twitter and FB header images, etc.; general marketing guidance for what I could/should be doing; a couple of mentions on their publisher Instagram post-release and a mention in their weekly newsletter

What they didn't give me marketing-wise: connection to reviewers, including sending an ARC or providing a list of reviewers that might be good to work with; marketing materials for sites like TikTok or Instragram; a meaningful amount of airtime/mention on their accounts; a large following of their own

Overall, the marketing is what is probably most like self-publishing--a huge amount of it is on me (and I am terrible at it). It will be interesting to see what their revamp brings, but they are starting from a minimal following and not a lot of previous activity on their accounts, and so they also need to build their reach to make their marketing on their accounts more effective.

Royalties/payment:

I get paid on a monthly basis through PayPal. I also receive a royalty statement that lists days, amount/type sold, etc. so I can reconcile with what they have paid me. From what I have seen this royalty statement is pretty standard.

So far, they've been prompt and haven't had issues with payments.

However, because of (among other things) their general lack of marketing, my royalty statements have been fairly low. So far (and, granted, the book came out less than 2 months ago) I have made very little money on this.

My Path Forward:

I've thought a lot about whether I will continue to do this sort of publishing. I am currently querying my "main" books, and I don't plan to publish them through this sort of publishing, even if the publisher would likely accept them.

My contract stipulates that my publisher has right of first refusal for the rest of the books in this series. I am currently writing book two, and I plan to also write a third, as I had initially discussed with them. Beyond that, I'm not sure. I don't mind working with them as a company, but I don't know if they have the processes in place for me to make money publishing with them.

One thing I will likely do is explore other romance publishers that accept unagented submissions. They have a much lower barrier of entry and they are often willing to accept books that trad publishers might not want to spend money/reputational risk on.

As such, I would likely submit to these publishers stories that I don't think traditional publishers/agents would likely to be willing to publish, including more niche subgenres and less standard lengths that are easier to publish digitally.

Why do I redact the name of my book?

Honestly because I'm a coward and because people are weird about romance, especially certain subgenres of romance. I also plan to use this account for my main agented publishing, if I ever reach that point, and I don't necessarily want those two pen names associated.

Any other questions about this sort of publishing?

[sihtricfedaraaahvicius]

The Extended Booking

Note: I really had to take a break from my current wips, as I began to dislike every word I wrote, so I decided to try and start a whole new fic from scratch. This was an idea/request from @neonhairspray, a concept which we discussed as a joke but it now turned into a story. I hope you will all enjoy this lighthearted fic 🖤

Warnings: 18+! smut/fluff.

pairing: Modern!Sihtric x you (f)

summary: your stay at an airbnb came with a pleasant surprise.

wordcount: 3,4k 

Masterlist

You couldn't believe your luck when you stepped into the most beautiful Airbnb you had ever booked in your life. Your trip to an enchanting and remote spot in England's countryside had been nerve wracking to say the least, as it was your first solo trip ever, but all stress fell off your shoulders as soon as you closed the door of the spacious bungalow behind you. One of your concerns had definitely been that your booked home was too good to be true, but you couldn't stop smiling when you dropped your bags and went to explore the incredible interior of your rental for the next seven days.

The place had many windows and was painted a warm shade of white, a nice contrast with the all black furniture and dark wooden floor. The living room had everything you needed; a TV that came with a game console and every possible streaming platform, all free of use, a comfortable sofa, two lounge chairs to relax in and a nice dining table with an impressive kitchen. There were three bedrooms, all equal in size, but one was clearly meant as the main bedroom as it had a beautiful dark wooden bed with a massive headboard, and there was a matching chandelier on the ceiling as well as an unlimited supply of candles to use. There was a bathroom with a walk in shower and a jacuzzi, with the walls and floor of the room made of white marble. The bungalow also had a back porch which gave view to acres of woods surrounding the place, and there was a little pond in the distance. There was no doubt you'd spot a lot of wildlife during your stay and, to top it all off, on the very end of the porch was a hot tub which was heated by firewood.

Your whole goal of this one week trip was to find yourself again and to hit that reset button on your life. Things had been rough lately and you needed to clear your head, and you immediately knew that this was the right place to do so.

The days went by faster than you wanted while you pampered yourself daily. You enjoyed several quiet hikes in the woods, reading books in the lounge chair, taking relaxing showers and you ended each day with a nice glass of wine at night, in the hot tub outside while moon bathing. You finally found that inner peace again but you weren't ready yet to go back home. You checked the forecast for the upcoming week and saw there should be loads of rain and thunder, and after the nice and sunny days you had experienced there you could only dream of being comfortable on the sofa with a book and a drink while the rain tapped on the windows and the thunder rolled through the sky. And so when you were supposed to pack your bags to leave the next morning, you opened the Airbnb app and saw that the option to extend your stay in the wonderful little palace of peace was available. Without any hesitation you booked another full week, and you threw your phone somewhere in bed before you fell asleep, feeling like a princess in a fairytale home in the woods.

The next morning you woke up late and had your coffee while sitting on the sofa, gazing out of the massive windows as the rain started to pour down from the sky. You smiled and sipped your hot beverage, your hair still messy and uncombed while wearing an oversized shirt with bunny flip flops underneath. Life is good, you thought to yourself, for the peace and quiet was all you needed. But then your heart skipped several beats while your body froze, your fingers tightly clutched around the mug in your hands as you suddenly heard a key being shoved into a lock. You snapped your head to the front door, where the sound came from, and you held your breath as you stared at the entrance with wide eyes when it suddenly opened. You felt your cheeks heat up as you watched a handsome but rugged looking man walk in, who didn't seem to notice you, as he closed the door behind him and threw his keys on the cabinet next to it. You swallowed hard while he kicked off his shoes in the open hallway and then raked his hand through his long, dark and wild looking hair. And it was then that the handsome intruder looked up and saw you sitting on the sofa. His sofa.

'Gods, what the fuck!' he hissed as he jumped a step back and grabbed onto the cabinet to keep his balance, 'who… who the hell are you?'

'I… I,' you panicked after your mouth had gone dry, 'who are you?!' you half yelled.

'Me?!' he almost snarled, 'I own this place! Who are you?!'

'I rented the place!'

'What?' the man asked, confused as he grabbed his phone, 'no, that… wait,' he scoffed and was quick to check his agenda, 'yes, I had my house rented out until this morning. You were supposed to check out three hours ago already.'

'What? No!' you jumped up, 'no, no. I extended my stay last night. I paid for one more whole week right away!'

He stared at you, even more confused than he already was five seconds earlier, and he began to scroll through his emails, looking for any confirmation of your stay while you went to grab your own phone from the bedroom. You figured the man you were dealing with was Sihtric, who was listed as the owner of the bungalow, and you became concerned about what would happen next as you walked back to the living room. Sihtric glanced at your appearance as you walked past him, back to the sofa, and if he wasn't so confused and startled right now he would allow himself to think that you were adorable in your oversized shirt and fluffy slippers, but there was no time to flirt with a pretty lady right now.

'Look,' he said and pinched the bridge of his nose, 'I don't know what went wrong, but clearly something did go terribly wrong. My place was only supposed to be booked until this morning as I'd come back home from a business trip. Airbnb made a mistake somehow by listing it as available, when it's really not. I mean,' he scoffed, 'I live here. I literally live here.'

'But what am I supposed to do?' you scoffed back, 'I can't just pack up and leave, I already changed my train ticket. I have nowhere to go and I sure as hell ain't going to pay for another home or a hotel.'

'Well I sure as hell ain't going to pay for that either,' Sihtric almost snorted.

You stared at each other for a moment, unsure about what to do next, and he then sighed while shaking his head, 'I'll call Airbnb and ask what to do.'

You agreed and anxiously waited while you watched him talk on the phone, and before the conversation was over it already became clear that you were both kind of screwed in this situation. You would get your money back, Sihtric informed you, but there were no available rooms nearby anymore apparently, so he either had to be an asshole and throw you on the street, or he had to allow a complete stranger to share his house with him for a whole week.

And it turned out that the intimidating man wasn't as tough as you thought, because he could simply not tell you to pack your bags and leave with nowhere else to go.

After your horrendous introduction, Sihtric had left the house to get some groceries to stock up his fridge. After he came back and eventually started cooking dinner, there lingered an unbearable awkward silence while you were both in the same room. You had quietly been eyeing each other up for at least an hour already, and both averting your eyes whenever the other would catch them.

You couldn't deny the fact that Sihtric looked good. His hair was messy but in a stylish way, he had a couple of tattoos on his body and was dressed in all dark clothing, his tight jeans showing off the good shape of his legs and buttocks. He surely was muscular and you wondered what kind of work he did, as a man in such good shape was probably not an office guy.

'Look,' Sihtric said, not being able to stand the silence anymore after a while, 'I'm sorry about earlier.'

You looked up at him as you sat at the dining table.

'I had a rough week,' he continued, 'a business deal went south and I had a long flight back home. I really needed some peace and quiet when I got home and I did not expect someone to be here. I never meant to be rude, that's not who I am,' he sighed and shoved a potato dish in the oven, 'I was just surprised and in a bad mood.'

'It's okay,' you smiled, 'I am sorry too for freaking out. I had nowhere else to go if you would've kicked me out, which I could've understood, because this is your house. So I'm really thankful that you're letting me stay.'

'Yeah,' Sihtric sighed softly again, 'we'll figure this week out, don't worry.'

During dinner you both started to warm to each other and to open up. You told him about the disaster your life recently had been and why you had booked a solo trip to ground yourself again, and Sihtric in return told you that he worked in finance and often travelled all over the world to close deals for his firm. He had houses all over the globe, renting them out whenever he wasn't staying in them, and this was the first time in years that a booking had gone wrong. 

You quickly started to enjoy each other's company later that evening and agreed to play a few games on his playstation. And slowly a certain tension began to grow, which wouldn't explode until a few days later.

The weather was indeed awful in the days that followed, as the forecast had predicted. There were zero options to go out and explore the area, so you tried to keep yourself busy inside the house. You read a few more books while Sihtric worked from home, often being busy writing emails and making phone calls from his living room. You'd try and read a few pages of your book but couldn't stop your eyes wandering off to Sihtric as he was on another call, pacing back and forth in front of the window that overlooked his woods surrounding his home, and you became more and more attracted to him as the day progressed. He looked so handsome, dressed in a white shirt that showed off his figure and a pair of fancy black trousers with a black belt, and the silver watch around his wrist was the finishing touch.

Sihtric clearly had a way with words and his charm seemed to work even through the phone. He closed deal after deal during the day, while he made you dinner every evening and relaxed with you until it was time to go to bed separately. The bedroom you had chosen to stay in, with the massive headboard, was actually Sihtric's bedroom when he was alone, yet he had no trouble giving it up for another week. But after a few days you both quietly began to wonder at night what it would be like to share the bed with each other.

Every time you spent some time together you started to become closer, and suddenly faint touches began to linger and eyes began to hold contact. Hands and fingers teasingly grazed over one's arms in passing and during the evening you started to put your legs over his as you watched TV. Sihtric gave you a flirty smirk at that and gently ran his fingers across your bare legs, giving you pleasant tingles all over your body and causing you to squeeze your thighs together.

'What's the matter?' Sihtric whispered with his breathy and warm voice, the sly smile on his face telling you he knew exactly what he was doing.

'Nothing,' you feigned being composed and collected.

'Nothing,' he said with a soft chuckle, then leaned in and trailed his fingers over your neck and shoulders, 'so,' he said quietly and licked his lips, 'are you finally going to ask me fuck to you? Or are we going to pretend there's nothing here for the remainder of your stay?'

You gave him a cheeky smile and scoffed lightly.

'I have to ask you?' you raised an eyebrow, 'I thought you were the type who would just pick me up and throw me on his bed. But… I guess I was wrong,' you faked a yawn and noticed how his eyes darkened as he saw the mischief in yours.

'I'll prove you wrong,' Sihtric whispered, and he then got up from the sofa.

He grabbed your ankle and pulled you towards him, then lifted you with ease and threw you over his shoulder, to which you yelped as you laughed, and you couldn't resist giving his ass a firm slap as he carried you to his bedroom.

'Watch it,' Sihtric responded with a lighthearted threatening tone.

'Or what?' you giggled.

'Or,' he said and threw you on his bed, 'there's still time to kick you out of my house,' he said with a grin.

'Trust me,' you chuckled as you spread your legs, pulling your oversized shirt up to reveal your thighs, 'you don't want to kick me out anymore after you've had me.'

You looked up at him, smiling as you bit down on your lip while you watched him take off his leather belt and unclasp his fancy watch.

'Is that so?' Sihtric murmured and took off his shirt.

Your mouth nearly watered as his biceps looked so biteable, his shoulders looked like great leg support, and his chest was more than firm enough to place your hands on when riding him. You nodded at him and kicked your legs with anticipation as your eyes darted over his body, but you were stopped when Sihtric grabbed your ankle again to pull you swiftly towards him as he stood next to the bed. He then pulled you up by your hands and removed your shirt, exposing you completely apart from your underwear. He then told you to unbutton his trousers, which you did, and you felt his cock twitch in his boxers with each teasing brush of your palm.

'Someone's excited,' you taunted and pulled him down on the bed.

'Can you blame me?' Sihtric breathed as he grabbed your face, his lips touching yours when he spoke softly, 'you've been wandering around my house for days, barely dressed, giving me looks and touching me just enough to make it look innocent,' he paused and chuckled darkly, 'but we both know by now you're probably not that innocent, are you?'

'I guess you're about to find out,' you smiled and flicked your tongue against his lips before you sucked his lower lip gently.

Sihtric then crashed his lips onto yours, kissing you hard and deep, a kiss that told the truth about how you both had been secretly longing for each other ever since you met. You raked your hands through his loose hair, keeping him as close as possible while he slowly bucked his hips into you, both your private parts still clothed with a thin layer of fabric which became soaked with both your fluids of arousal. Sihtric pulled you on top of him, his hands massaging your breasts and his fingers occasionally pinching your nipples. He then looked up at you, his dazed mismatched eyes betrayed he was clearly hungry for more, and he kissed down your neck and to your chest, lightly sucking your breasts in between wet kisses, his tongue flicking slowly against your nipple while you grinded against his hard cock and moaned at the friction.

But it wasn't enough, and you pushed him away to quickly lower his boxers, his leaking cock jumping out. You smiled, pleased at the size of him, and you wasted no time to slowly drag your tongue up his length and you teased the tip while you looked up into his eyes. Sihtric moaned and threw his head back on his pillow, his hands finding your hair as you wrapped your lips around him and eagerly took him in your mouth, sucking him off until tears ran down your face and a mixture of drool and pre-cum running down your chin.

'Good girl,' Sihtric breathed and allowed you to catch your breath, gently pushing you away.

He didn't want to finish that quickly, not before he had giving you the fuck of a lifetime, so he grabbed your face and wiped your tears before he kissed you again. Then he picked you up in his arms and walked you to the living room, where he threw you in one of the big lounge chairs. He pulled your panties down and was quick to lift your legs upon his shoulders as he knelt down in front you. He grabbed your hips and teased you first with a few soft kisses to your wet pussy, but the taste of you was irresistible and he soon licked and sucked your folds until your legs trembled and you almost cried out his name while you grabbed onto his hair and grinded your hips against his face.

Sihtric stopped before you could finish and he kissed his way back up to your lips, letting you taste yourself as he pushed his tongue in your mouth, sloppily making out until you both couldn't take it anymore. Sihtric then quickly ran to his bathroom to grab the essentials, some condoms and lube, and you squirmed with a smile when you felt his warm hand teasingly rub your sweet spot with some lube, and he gave you just a small tease of pleasure when he slid two of his digits inside you.

'Someone's excited,' Sihtric taunted back at you this time, feeling your walls clench around his fingers while he left love bites on your neck and shoulder.

'Sihtric,' you whined, 'just fuck me already.'

'Your wish is my command, my lady,' he chuckled and then winked at you, 'it's an all inclusive stay after all.'

You barely had time to blink and he had already gotten a hold of your legs again. Sihtric got up from the comfortable chair and towered over you. He brought your legs up, holding your ankles with only one hand as he pressed them against his chest, with his other hand holding your waist firmly as he slowly entered you, giving you some time to adjust before fucking you relentlessly in that same position. He kept your legs pressed together as he refused to let go of your ankles, which caused him to grunt and moan heavily as you felt so tight around him, and it made you cry out in pleasure all the same while you grabbed onto the various pillows around you as he continuously hit that right spot deep inside you. And he didn't stop pounding into you until you came, with his own release following shortly after.

Once all cleaned up, Sihtric wrapped you in a blanket and threw one over his own shoulders before you both sat on the sofa, his arms around you while you rested your head against his chest, both tired but satisfied.

'How many more days are you staying?' he wondered quietly out loud as he nuzzled your neck and left soft kisses on your skin.

'Only two more,' you whispered, a little sadly while you both listened to the rain as it tapped against the windows and on the flat roof, and you took his hand to press a kiss to the back of it.

'Well, I think you should extend your stay,' Sihtric said softly and squeezed you in his arms, 'for free this time.'

taglist: @foxyanon @alexagirlie @sihtricsafin @neonhairspray @gemini-mama

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@carnationworld @justanother-sihtricgirlie @stark-head @reidsbookstore @thenameswinter99

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if you want to be added to/deleted from the taglist, message me 🖤

[sweetcloverheart]

One of the things i love about steven universe—so much of the show is straight up dedicated to inadvertently showing you lore, and then giving you those “aha!” moments once those puzzle pieces come back into play.

With miraculous ladybug on the other hand, it almost comes across like the writers think of their own lore as…a nuisance? Wrapping every episode’s plot up in a 22-minute bow will prevail over any silly “lore” about 85% of the time. Even if that lore is super important!

Oftentimes it feels like they just kinda throw whatever at the wall and only keep what sticks, too. I think I wouldn’t find unification AND the power up potions AND the entire class getting a miraculous AND all the time travel stuff AND the semantics behind sentimonsters as flimsy as it currently is, if only the story had introduced all of this to the audience in a more purposeful way.

So much of the show is dedicated to the same exact song and dance we’ve been doing since season 1 and it all comes back to the episodic “akuma of the week” issue. It sticks the writers in a perpetual rut. Things change… but never much.

Precisely! There's no build up, no hint dropping, no anything! Stuff just happens and we move on to the next ep, or gets retroactively explained an entire two seasons after the event no longer has meaning. For all they like to fall on "watch the previous episodes" when folks ask questions, the show just seems...completely uninterested in doing any world building for that to help - it'll just drop in or remove stuff whenever it feels like it and then acts like that's how it always was or pretend a thing they literally just introduced doesn't exist.

(And what lore they do feel like sharing, is placed sporadically in mediums a good majority of the fandom would not consider buying/investing in to find it; The origins of the Kwami are in a short mini comic and the start of Gabriel's grand plan to become Hawkmoth is in a mini cutscene in a videogame only a small handful either played or datamined. Unless you are obsessive over the media or a habitual rabbithole-diver (like myself), you're likely never going to know where to find this info, or that it's even available.)

And it's frustrating, because there is genuinely a lot of interesting lore in the story (implied or otherwise) that should be expanded upon, but it always gets shoved aside for stuff that doesn't matter (like do they realize how many of those stupid Chloe Salt eps in S5 could have been better used/dedicated to explaining the Sentilore more? Or how LB and CN unlocking unlimited power spamming could have been build up to with hints and loredrops rather than Noroo going "Guess they've grown up now." no explanation of how that even works? Or how we still don't have a episode dedicated to the Order that doesn't involve indirectly mocking them for being "Old Fashion" via Su Han? ).

On the one hand, I feel like part of that's the fault of it being episodic+initially a toddler show - they only have so many minutes for the plotline and half of it has to be dedicated to ensuring a "lesson" for Marinette is inserted somewhere there. They likely are limited to how much lore they can insert at a time. There's also the issue of their "Episodes can be watched by themselves" guideline and other annoying Status Quo enablers (like the "Adrien is Perfect, the world is flawed" rule), because they're clearly limiting what the writers can do with the world/characters in a bad way (hard to have an interconnecting overarching plot when you purposely make your timeline such a janked up jumbled timeywimey mess that even Alexander the Great couldn't cut through it), but they refuse to toss them out.

On the other hand though - we're 5 to 6 seasons, a movie, and several specials in with a good 2/3rds of the magic system being supported/provided by fanon and headcanons. At this point, you should be more than able to properly organize your episodes so they can explain your universe and how it works in them.

[lunarsilkscreen]

The Monetization System

This was going to be a deep dive into [wealth] and the history of the term and how [wealth] is not the same as [currency].

Then I figured... We already know what this is, right?

It's a simple transport system for getting goods with a [Per Diem]{per day costs} as a base line. And many people, who want money to be affected by the laws of Thermodynamics... That is; automatically, or Dynamically.

*It* {meaning the economy} isn't automatic. And the automation we use *isn't* beholden to the laws we have defined for it in our economic text books.

It's a system with which to move junk from one place to another utilizing human greed/need as the driving force. That's it.

And what keeps happening to this system is that it deviates from its intended purpose and shift towards that [greed] part of human greed/need.

If you think you can make an unlimited amount of money; you're sorely mistaken. If you think you can save an unlimited amount of money; the banks are still gonna lend yours out, because we need that money to move the economy.

Those things drive up costs and reduce the effectiveness of our economic structures. I've been deliberating on what the other side of the economic issues are; or aren't; and I'm definitely missing pieces of this puzzle. But I wouldn't expect congress to be able to tell me what they are.

Because I think this is the definition that *most* Americans have arrived at.

So what happens when the economy encounters a stutter or blockage like it tends to do every 5-10 years? Turn it off and back on again until we need to do so again?

The issue with that is that it doesn't reset anything, so nothing changes. Lots of corporate $$ invested into ensuring their systems boot up a certain way and shutdown another.

So turning it off and back on again won't affect the cache-clearing-need. And they're definitely uses quick boot tech... Which further restricts how much data needs to be reloaded, and often causes issues on a home PC.

I dunno if you've ever been stuck in the endless update of doom. It's part of the reason.

It's why you need to maintain your shit.

So we know these things should be able to be reset AND WE KNOW; Corporate and government interests from both sides (Fed, Banks, Every Financial Whatever) because they want to ensure a certain data integrity and less-breaking.

Creating a situation where the [breaking] that needs to be done, cannot be done. This kind of breaking is closer to an [reorganization] or a [spring cleaning].

How interesting.

They can't change it because they don't want it to deteriorate, or worse; lose transaction records.

So. Since [that] is *always* going to be broken, and everybody agrees it does not need to broken further; we need a way to distribute resources to where they need to go when the economy starts trickling down to a stop.

And, actually, a lot of this might already be covered in economic and farming and supply chain documentation.

Which is likely in place to ensure there are no food shortages even when your favorite [snack] isn't on the shelf.

So how do we consolidate all *that* information into a single document that can reference the other documentation?

And then use it to ensure that we counteract inflation for things that may not have reason to [inflate] not limited to [decreased demand] and [increased availability of resources].

At the same time; there's a recurring disruption in our tech sectors related to the price of Video Cards; which are attributed to Crypto and AI.

Which changes the target audience of our [graphics cards] from [work and hobby] to [throwing as much resources as Crypto and AI as we possibly can]

On the surface it looks like a drop in available resources. But that's *not* the case, it's a rise in demand for support towards a specific kind of technology that is both wasteful, and poorly implemented.

Not that it isn't useful; but the *kind* of increased demand we see in the tech sector has a direct correlation to both Crypto and AI, and includes how they're implemented, who's implementing them, and what restrictions they're taking account of to ensure a waste of [wan-internet] resources.

[wan-internet] is a term to describe the [world wide web] when restricted by region.

The [wan-internet] in this depiction is exactly like how you would think of a power plant. Not including the power demand, all power on the internet (especially by region) affects everybody else online currently.

And with the increased internet adoption rates; were *more* likely to see a huge adoption for more skilled tech experts AND increased demand and resource drain until the bubble itself either collapsed or decompresses.

Anyway; unless people get their butts into gear, the economy is likely to take a turn for the worse and increased intervals until the general population loses interest in generic AI and Crypto use-cases.

Which is why I'm making this suggestion.

We need a way to move resources where they need to go, or even people to where there is available (AFFORDABLE) housing should they have need. (Across the country, if it needs to be.)

So in order to curtail that inevitability; we need alternative ways to affect our economic and supply chain systems that are not directly tied to financial support arms.

And a way to charge developers creating WAN and maybe not paying their fair share towards resource generation (electricity) which a big difference from simply asking somebody to pay their taxes.

It may mean they don't know that the apps they create [wan apps specifically] how much affect that will have in their user's bottom line.

Or even that of their non-users... Since it congests all of our networks anyway!

[alonelystargazer]

so if any of y'all have ever purchased e-books from Amazon, then you should log in to your Amazon account, and under your Content Library, download all your e-books to your computer and transfer them to your kindle reader via USB, or send them directly to your preferred device (if you have more than one connected to your Amazon account) via wifi by clicking "Deliver or Remove from this device" and switching the device you want to send it to

Once you've downloaded all your purchased e-books, not ones that are borrowed from Kindle Unlimited or Prime Reading, download the free Calibre e-book management software and this DRM removal plugin to remove the DRM (digital rights management) from your e-books, which converts your kindle e-books into the universal e-book format EPUB or whatever other ebook format you'd like, bc the Kindle ebook format AZW and AZW3, can only be used on Kindle readers, but by removing the DRM, they can then be used on any device that reads the EPUB format

BUT why should you do all this? bc on Feb. 26, 2025 (one week from now as of the time I posted this) Amazon will no longer provide this download option bc they're aware that people have been downloading their e-books from their kindle libraries and using software like Calibre to convert those e-books into EPUBs and not have to be tied down to Amazon's ecosystem, which makes them lose money (boohoo), and also the switch towards cloud-based storage

Basically, any e-books you have purchased from Amazon are not yours to own, you're essentially being licensed the e-book, so they can use this loophole to alter or completely remove those e-books from the website at their whim, and you would no longer have access to those e-books, even though you legally purchased them, which is wild bc we should be able to legally own, forever, any digital media we buy and do what we want with it, and this is something that has been happening with other forms of digital media like movies and video games, where you "buy" a digital copy but you don't actually own it

You should also stop buying e-books from amazon from now on since you don't even own them, and cancel your Kindle Unlimited subscription if you have one, and you might as well download any audiobooks you've purchased on Audible (which is also owned by Amazon)

[watch this video and this video for more thorough explanations about this issue and this video for a tutorial on how to use Calibre and the DRM ]

Alternatives to kindle readers include: Kobo (has integration with Libby) and Nook (from Barnes & Noble), or sell or donate the one you have if you don't want to use it anymore

Alternatives to amazon e-books: Libby (free app that links to your local library if you have an active library card where you can borrow ebooks and other digital media), Internet Archive, Project Gutenburg, 🏴‍☠️ ebooks and PDFs, and research whether your favorite author has books available to purchase directly on their website

....and you can always purchase or borrow physical books and other media as well! support your local libraries and indie bookstores!

TL,DR: this is a matter of media ownership, censorship, and archiving, so download your Amazon e-books NOW before Amazon takes away your ability to access the items that you legally purchased and locks you down to using their devices and ecosystem

FEBRUARY 26 IS THE LAST DAY TO DOWNLOAD YOUR AMAZON EBOOKS

[wrdn-tabris]

BATMAN BEYOND/TERRY McGINNIS; a reading list

So, you're interested in the Batman of the future! A series which takes place in the far off year of... 2039? Listen, the original show came out in the nineties, you gotta give it some slack.

Hopefully here I've compiled a nice list of the comics, as well as any extra appearances of Terry, Batman of Neo-Gotham.

Who is Terry McGinnis?

Terry McGinnis is our seventeen year old protagonist. He meets Bruce Wayne after the old man helps him in beating back a gang who take after the late Joker, and in helping Bruce into his manor discovers that he was formerly Batman. After his father's murder, Terry steals the hi-tech batsuit in order to hunt down the people responsible for his death. In doing so he sees Gotham for how corrupt it really is, and becomes the Tomorrow Knight and Batman of the future.

Where to start?

The best place to start is with the 1999 animated series of the same name. It takes place firmly in the DCAU, alongside Batman: The Animated Series and The Adventure continues, Superman TAS, Justice League and Justice League Unlimited.

The show goes over three seasons, with cameos in a spin off called The Zeta Files (which only ran for a season) Static Shock (ep, Future Shock) and Justice League Unlimited (The Once and Future Thing; part 2, Epilogue) and a movie, Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker.

While the cameos are more optional, you don't really need to watch them, though Epilogue is treated as the 'end' of both JLU and Batman Beyond. ROTJ also has two different versions, a censored and uncensored one.

You can watch it on WatchCartoonsOnline, though I'd be a little careful with using that site. If you also have MAX, it should be available for streaming on there.

Comics wise, I apologize for not putting individual issues. I've also included links to readcomicsonline for each comic.

DCAU Tie-In Comics

These tie in directly with the show, and as far as I know, were released at the same time.

Batman Beyond I

Batman Beyond II

Superman Adventures #64

Unlimited and 2.0

The unlimited and 2.0 comics take place post show, and are in the same universe as the DCAU so I personally consider it canon to the series.

Batman Beyond: Hush Beyond (2010)

Batman Beyond: Industrial Revolution (2011)

Batman Beyond: 10,000 Clowns (2012)

Batman Beyond Unlimited

Batman Beyond 2.0

Justice League Beyond

Justice League Beyond 2.0

(and optional, the Superman Beyond comics. I think Terry only has some cameos, but it's always fun to hang out in the world a little bit with different characters)

Superman Beyond 2011

Superman Beyond 2012

N52 Futures End and Rebirth

Futures end is... personally, I'm not a fan. While Terry isn't Batman for the entirety of 2015, 2015 takes place in the aftermath of futures end, while Rebirth is the aftermath of 2015, only a few months later.

N52 Futures End #1-17 #18-30 #31-48

Batman Beyond (2015)

Batman Beyond Rebirth

Neo-Year

A reboot of BB, Urban Legends #7 and Neo-Year set off as Terry's own personal sort of 'year one' as Batman, one without Bruce. I'm personally highly enjoying it so far, and I feel like it does treat his character very well. Neo-Gothic is currently on-going.

Urban Legends #7

Batman Beyond: Neo-Year

Batman Beyond: Neo Gothic

Optional Individuals and Cameos

Batman #700

Superman/Batman 2010 Annual #4

Milestones 30th Anniversary A story with Static and Terry

Batman 2016 #135

Countdown #21 (Just a brief cameo)

Justice League vs The Legion of Superheroes #3

Batman: Beyond the White Knight

This is as comprehensive of a list as I can get, including almost every appearance of Terry's that I can think of. I hope that this helps anyone who is interested about Terry, he's personally one of my favorite characters and I think he's really fun and compelling.

[ponett]

Is there any way to read the whole IDW sonic series without individually buying them all?

Like how you can get a marvel membership and binge the whole world war hulk in one weekend without buying each issue

At a glance it seems like most of the series up through issue #68 (of 73, currently) is available through Comixology Unlimited on Amazon. That should get you most of the way there

[tackyink]

This was supposed to be for @asususasa but in the middle of writing I thought this could be useful for someone else, so here's Tacky's general list of otome recs. It took me over an hour to write so I'm not proofreading it.

DS

Not much to say here because back in those days otome games didn't get localized. The stand outs are Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side 1st Love Plus and Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side 2nd Season, who have English fan translations. Slice of life games where you play as the protagonist through her three years of high school. And if you feel like a student-teacher romance that would make Sakura Kinomoto's mom proud, these are your games.

PSP

Still well into the no localizations era with one exception: Hakuouki Demon of the Fleeting Blossom. Not recommending it on PSP because there are better versions. Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side 3rd Story Premium also has a fan translation and should be played over its DS counterpart because it has added functionalities. Sadly this time around the teacher is a secret character and a shota.

3DS

There's Hakuoki Memories of the Shinsengumi. Still not recommended because we can do better.

PS3

Hakuouki Stories of the Shinsengumi includes the original game and the fandisk with some neat animations added. This is the version to play if you want the original experience. If you want even more routes, go for another version.

Vita

Hakuoki Kyoto Winds and Edo Blossoms, Collar x Malice and Amnesia are the best games you can get for the Vita imo. Some people dig a lot the Psychedelica of the Ashen Hawk and Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly (I've only played BB, it was good but wasn't the best; wouldn't rate it as high as the others). There's Code Realize and its two fandisks (Future Blessings and Wintertide Miracles) and many people swear by them, but while I liked the common route in the first game, the rest didn't do it for me. You can find all of these except CxM and the CRs on Steam, and the Hakuoki games get dirst cheap on sale. Best bang for your buck of the saga. The CR games have PS4 ports and CxM has a Switch one, which you already know.

Switch

*rolls up sleeves* LET'S GO.

To get it out of the way: Hakuouki KW and EB are getting a Switch rerelease and a new translation and will be released as a single game, Hakuoki Chonicles of Wind and Blossom, on August 1st.

Collar x Malice fucking nails the mystery and lowkey horror vibes with and excellent plot that's interconnected in every route. CxM Unlimited is its fandisk and only recommended if you really have the CxM itch, because it's mostly fluff and the little plot there is is at most functional. It has a route where Ichika joins Adonis and you get to see its inner workings though. That was very interesting.

Bustafellows is 100% found family vibes with a very assertive protagonist. It's a mystery/action story and the team dynamics are sort of Ocean's 11-ish. Hilarious, heartbreaking at times, I've never felt more dread in a game than heading towards the basement in a certain's guy's route. There are two unlockable stories after you finish the routes of the guys, one of which I thought was glorious, another which sets up a sequel and is a big downer but I also really liked. It gets heavy at times with murder, suicide, sexual assault, human trafficking, among other kinds of violence, but despite it, it's generally a very funny and upbeat game. We're getting the sequel next year. Also available on PC.

Café Enchanté baits you with the premise of being a girl who manages a coffee shop patronized by handsome supernatural beings, so it's a real surprise when the cannibalism shows up. Anyway. Great game, but I'm afraid saying more would kind of defeat the point. Reminds me of Megami Tensei games, so if coffee shop AUs with supernatural world-ending threats are your thing, go for it. Just be warned that the fandom has kind of collectively agreed that poster boy's route never happened.

Birushana is a hidden gem that goes on sale super cheap and is also probably a hit or miss thing. You play as the legendary Yoshitsune, who in this game is a girl disguising her gender, but she's an amazing warrior as in history. It has the best otome couple I've ever seen, bar none, with Yoshitsune and Noritsune. The game is worth the price just to see them fall in love on the battlefield and watch Noritsune chug down Respect Women Juice all the way through it. The thing is... the rest of routes aren't great. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed how utterly unhinged they got at times, but the plot got worse as it deepened. Still. Noritsune. And I loved that most of the guys respected her as a warrior and were aware she was as capable or a better warrior than them and she didn't need a man to protect her. Very refreshing. One of my faves got done dirty by the translation because they started pulling lines out of thin air to make him creepier. Just him. Why. It's not like he needed the help.

Virche Evermore Error Salvation is also a good one if you can handle continuous drama and see egregiously bad science and say, "You know what? It's magic. Humans in this world are just built different." The worldbuilding is really interesting and the characters very enjoyable, though they don't feature a lot in each other's routes or aren't that friendly with each other. The continuous tragedy may tire you out, or maybe it'll work and emotionally destroy you. It didn't get any emotional reaction out of me until a certain point near the end, but I enjoyed the game a lot, nevertheless. We're getting the sequel this November and I'm really looking forward to it.

Variable Barricade: a fun romp where a young heiress has to chose a fiancé among the four disaster bachelors her grandpa has selected. It's not really similar to Ouran, but it reminded me a little of it at times. It's a pretty light game. The BFF is a gothic lolita otaku who has the time of her life shipping you with the guys, and the butler... oh boy the butler.

Amnesia, as I mentioned earlier, has a PC port as well as the Vita version, as well as two localized fandisks for the Switch (Amnesia x Crowd) that I can't speak of because I haven't played them yet. The protagonist has supernatural amnesia and must piece together her life while avoiding that other people realize she's lost her memory. It's a super intriguing game the first time you play, really nailed the being completely and utterly lost in the protagonist's shoes. A required play to get in on the cage jokes. It's sort of a rite of passage for otome gamers.

Jack Jeanne has probably the best group dynamics of any otome I've seen. I think some people have issues with the protagonist because they find her passive, but to me she felt the complete opposite. Everybody is adorable. A sentimental story of hard work, being young and and fighting for your dreams, 10/10, no notes. I lied, there's a note: Tanakamigi deserved a route! Where is our Tanakamigi route! щ(゜ロ゜щ)

Last but not least at all, the two Piofiores. Mafia games where all trigger warnings you can think of apply. Well, maybe not the cannibalism, that's still Café Enchanté's crowning glory. Fated Memories, the first one, has its ups and downs, but has very enjoyable characters, rock-solid worldbuilding, an amazing atmosphere set in 1920s Italy with a jazzy soundtrack that ends up living rent free in your brain. The last routes of the first game, Gil's and Finale, are worth the full price of the game alone. Piofiore Episodio 1926 is a masterpiece of the otome genre. It doesn't have a single boring route, and the final stretch (Advent Calendar-Alternativa-Secret Character route) has the best writing I've seen in an otome. Lots of points of view and situations interconnecting, an excellent final couple, top notch interactions between the main characters. Just the best.

[milkteamoon]

She wanted to be a cop.

It’s not something that she goes about broadcasting to anyone now; you don’t tell people that you wanted to be a cop if you don’t end up being a cop. It’s just something that you think is cool as a kid, watching all those crime shows with simple, clear-cut villains, and then you grow up and learn that cops aren’t all that the telly made them out to be because there’s no one putting pen to paper on who the bad guys are, so you keep that bit about childhood ignorance to yourself. It’s not like Alice wants to be a cop now, anyway. It’s just something that she thinks about from time to time — what it’d have been like if she didn’t have a bad back from that childhood injury and had chosen a different path, traded in her baton for a gun. Alice doesn’t think she’d like carrying a gun. Too noisy and too messy, from what people who have actually shot one say, and she’s much happier when things are quiet and uncomplicated.

So: Alice Tonner isn’t a cop, even if she may have wanted to be one a long time ago, and that’s fine by her because her current job has unlimited paid leave and her coworkers aren’t too nosy as to get on her bad side. Most of the time she doesn’t see them at all, being the number one choice for night shifts, but they still invite her out to drink even though she never gets drunk, and she still goes along because she doesn’t have anything better to do. Mostly, she just goes along to see Basira. There’s something about her that just intrigues Alice; every time she goes home for the night, she tells herself she ought to talk to Basira more when they aren’t squeezed in some dingy bar, and then she never does. But she’ll do it next time. She just has to remember.

The point is, Alice isn’t a cop, so the email she gets addressed to “Detective Tonner” stands out like a sore thumb in her inbox, to the point that she almost thinks it’s spam.

She’s not even sure why she opens it instead of deleting it immediately. The address doesn’t offer any sort of identifying features — doesn’t even have a name attached to the handle, just “js” with a string of seemingly random numbers behind it, and c’mon now, Alice isn’t stupid. She did all that pain-in-the-ass phishing training when she got hired, and if this is one of those “exercises” her boss thinks will teach his employees the dangers of technology when all it really does is just royally piss everyone off, then it’s doing a very, very poor job at it.

But it doesn’t seem like that, is the thing. There are no links, no flashing lights. No strange fonts or misspellings or promiscuous language. There’s not even the promise of millions from a nigerian prince if only she’ll send her credit card information — it’s just...a letter. Addressed to one Detective Tonner. Asking if she’s available for work, and offering to pay for her time, and apologizing for wasting it if she isn’t. It’s not like Alice isn’t a stranger to freelance work, dealing security at some rich tosser’s birthday party or standing outside a concert for six hours just to make sure no one decides to climb the fence. Simple work. Straightforward. Most of the time, the job is easy and the pay is good. Most of the time, she takes the check without asking questions.

This doesn’t feel like most of the time.

...She really should delete it.

So instead, she goes to her fridge, grabs a beer, and then replies, asking where to meet.

Funnily enough, the mysterious stranger decides on a bar.

It’s a bar that Alice knows even. Sorta. The owner, Calvin Benchley, is a boy she went to school with, though she doesn’t think he’d remember her all those years later. Probably for the best, if she’s being honest with herself. Always was a bit of an arsehole.

There’s only a handful of people inside when she arrives  — easy enough to pick through, if needed  — though the stranger she’s looking for zeros in on her immediately. In fact, she’d reckon that she frightened him, the way he’d jumped up when he’d seen her. Looked just like he’d seen a ghost as he looked her over from head to toe, then shuffled out from the booth he’d been seated at. Meandered over with his hands close to his chest. Looked up at her with these big, wide eyes that look more like a sad animal’s than a man’s, and hell, Alice almost feels bad about the way she towers over him. Like he didn’t even get a chance, as scrawny as he is.

“D— er, Miss Tonner?”

“That’s me,” Alice tells him, “though Alice is just fine.”

The man nods, wrings his hands together, then sticks one out in a belated sense of politeness. “J-Jonathan. Jon. Uh, Sims. Just Jon is fine.”

“Pleasure to meet you, ‘just Jon,’” she says wryly as she takes his hand. The texture of his palm is strange, she notices, and glancing down she can see that it’s scarred over. Huh.

The nervous energy flitting around him eases slightly at this, and he even manages the smallest of smiles beneath all that painted-on worry. “Right,” he says softly, then clears his throat, and repeats louder, “Right. Shall we sit down then?”

Alice shrugs, but doesn’t argue as he leads her back to the booth.

The thing is, once she settles in and gets a proper look at her date, Alice realizes he’s nothing like she had expected him to be. Something about the bar being in Chelsea had her picturing an old bastard in a stuffy sweater vest and dress pants — in truth, Jon’s wearing jeans and draped in a jumper about two sizes too big for him that can’t possibly be his own. His hair is long and braided, looking as if it took the brunt of the morning’s humidity, and while the hand had been the first abnormality to notice, she now can see that his skin is peppered in small, circular pockmarks, spread in clusters all over. Not like acne, exactly, more like cigarette burns. They don’t fit him at all, she thinks to herself.

“Would you like a drink?” he finally asks once he’s squirmed enough under her scrutiny.

Alice half shrugs, half nods. It’s only noon, but she doesn’t have to work until nine. “Sure. Get me—”

Jon’s already risen and wandered over to the bar before she can finish, and a moment later he returns with a beer for her and a glass of water for himself. The strange thing is, it’s the brand she typically drinks anyway. The even stranger thing is, Jon doesn’t seem to find this strange at all.

“...Right,” Alice says as she takes it from him. The lid pops off with barely a flick of her thumb. “So then. Business.”

“Business,” he echoes.

“What kind of gig are we looking at then? Office party? Concert? I don’t really like dealing with things that are too private, so—”

"What?" Jon cuts her off, brow furrowed in genuine confusion. "It's— I didn't contact you about a security job."

That makes Alice pause. She stares down the neck of her bottle at him, trying hard to parse his tone. If he’s cracking a joke. Jon doesn’t look like the type of guy to make jokes, if she’s being realistic, but if not a security job, then what? Something that requires knowledge of one? "...No?"

"No," he says agreeably. And then he takes a long sip of his water and says, "I lost someone recently."

“Oh,” Alice replies. She doesn’t know quite what to say to that, but the sense of finality is so palpable that all she can think to respond with is, “Sorry.”

"O-oh, no he isn't— ah. Well, thank you," Jon ends up settling on, smiling at her in a way that feels as if he's the one consoling her. “I um. See, the reason I contact you is...I’d like your help in finding him.”

Alice blinks. That is...not what she’d been expecting. Slowly, as if the moment might crack like an egg at any misstep, she asks, “Find...him?”

“Um. Yes.”

“You...do realize I work security, right?”

Jon flushes. “W-well, yes, I know, I’ve seen your work history — um, very impressive, by the way — I just thought...”

“You’ve seen my work history?” Alice asks, face neutral. She sets down her bottle as softly as possible. “Where?”

“It...was on your employer’s website.”

“And I take it that’s where you found my email?”

“...Y-yes.”

Liar, Alice thinks, and a poor one at that. She knows her personal email isn’t listed anywhere online, and that’d been the one that he contacted her with. Enough of a lead to snag him with, surely. but she sets aside as she presses on.

“So this,” she begins slowly, folding her hands in front of her, “‘person,’ you’re looking for—”

“Martin,” Jon supplies. “Martin Blackwood.”

“He’s...what to you? Friend? Family?”

Jon’s mouth twitches into a mournful sort of smile. “My partner.”

“Hm.” She nods. “Lover’s quarrel drove him off?”

Jon laughs a little, and Alice catches another scar in the light, just across his neck as his adam’s apple bobs. Deeper than the rest, she reckons by the color. Cleaner too. Like it was intentional. “If only it were that simple.”

“So why not go to the police?” she asks, genuinely, “or hell, even a P.I. Seems like you have a case for a missing person.”

Jon swallows visibly, shifting in his seat. “Ah—” he starts, “we, er, w-we were sort of living off grid...”

“Huh. Legal troubles?”

“Not...not quite legal.”

“You don’t so sure.”

Jon snorts at this. “I’m not sure of much of anything around here, to be honest,” he explains. “I-I mean I know he’s...he’s here, somewhere— i-in the U.K., at least, but it’s...difficult to see clearly here. Suppose it’s to be expected...”

Alice glances up at the tacky light fixture overhead, a horrid myriad of colored glass that was probably the cheapest in the catalogue. She isn’t exactly sure what he means by that; it seems bright enough for her, anyway. Passively, she chooses to ignore the comment.

“So you lose your boyfriend, you can’t go to the police, so you hire...a security guard to find him?” Alice muses, not maliciously, just trying to put things together. Trying to find the line of thought in a seemingly random string of actions.

Jon winces, grimacing as he sinks back into the booth’s fake leather. “Well, I guess it does sound pretty terrible when you put it like that.”

That barks a laugh out of her. She’s not exactly sure why. In the half hour she’s known him, Alice can say that Jon Sims is definitely one of the shadier men she’s met in her line of work — and she’s met plenty of corporate arseholes who spend their breaks doing coke in the company bathrooms — but there’s something about him that she finds awfully...genuine? Candid, she supposes. Endearing, even. Maybe it’s just part of getting old. Maybe she’s just going soft.

Alice takes a sip of her beer, then nods to his folded hands. “What happened to your hand?”

“What?” he asks, brow furrowing before following her gaze down to the spider-webbing scar that wraps around his palm. “Oh. The scar?”

“Yeah.”

“It...um, a wax burn.”

“And...” she gestures to the side of her face in a mirror of where the little circles are heavily clustered on his own, “this?”

He looks at her sheepishly. “Uh...worms?”

“Wh— worms?” she repeats, the bafflement bleeding past her composure into her tone.

“Lots of worms,” Jon agrees, and she gets the feeling that she’s not going to get much more of an answer than that.

“...Right,” she says, swirls her drink, and then— “What about your neck?”

That seems to be where she finally finds the nerve.

Because as soon as she asks, Jon winces, hand reaching up to the line across his throat. Covering it, possibly, as if he doesn’t want her to see. Protecting it, maybe, like she’s going to cut it back open. He opens his mouth slowly, then closes it. Opens it again as he fishes for words. There’s a line there, Alice recognizes, that she’s in danger of stepping over — maybe she should pull back. 

She doesn’t want to pull back.

“...Pocket knife,” he finally says, barely above a whisper.

It’s not really an answer, if she’s being honest with herself. Alice decides against pressing further.

Instead, she looks to her bottle and swirls it around. She takes in the sounds of the bar around her — the soft chatter between bartender and patron across the room, the low television hum, the fan ticking above. Jon breathes in, and breathes out. And then he doesn’t breathe anymore. She counts in her head, just how long he holds it, until she loses count and has to start again.

“You know,” she starts slowly, finding his gaze on her hands, “I’m not a detective.”

Jon frowns like she’s saying something trivial. “I know.”

“Or much of a hunter, really.”

“I...yes, I know.”

“Sims,” she begins. That draws his full attention. Good. She can see his eyes better, like this. They’re brown with just the faintest hint of green around the rim, in a way that reminds her of colored contacts; though, something tells her that isn’t the case. “I don’t think I’m the man for your job.”

He’s already small, seated with his shoulders hunched in over him, but she can still see him deflate at the statement. The disappointment as it flickers across his face. The way his mouth twitches and quivers as he swallows, painfully, and he nods before moving to stand, to get away from his discomfort. “R-right. Right. I’m sorry, I don’t know why— I’m wasting your time, I’m very sorry. I’ll—”

“Sit—” Alice snags his arm, giving him a yank back into the booth, “down.”

Jon sits without another word. She’ll give him credit — at least he’s obedient.

Alice downs the rest of her bottle, watching him closely. 

Here’s the thing: despite his timid voice, his skittish nature, his eyes that never seem to quite meet her own, Alice Tonner knows without a doubt is that Jonathan Sims is not prey. That much is obvious. Call it intuition. Alice knows the type and she know how to deal with them, and she could easily put the strange little man sitting adjacent from her in his place with one quick motion, if she cared to.

She isn’t going to, though.

Because the fact that he’s out here asking someone else to hunt for him? Now, that’s the part that she finds interesting. That’s the part she desperately wants to learn more about. She is going to learn more about it, one way or another.

“I think,” she begins, leaning onto her crossed forearms, “that I’m going to give you two options. The first is that you can get up and leave. Get out of my sight, and never contact me again.”

Jon flinches at this. He chews his chapped lip. “...and the second?”

Alice feels a smile tugging at her lips. “The second is that you tell me your story, and I sit here and listen. And then once I say you’re finished, I’ll tell you what I think.”

That gives him pause, clearly taken aback.

“...Everything?” he asks softly after a long moment of thought. She can see the gears in his head spinning. She so desperately wants to stick her fingers in between them.

“From the very beginning,” she answers.

Jon heaves a breath, like he’s just remembering how to, and nods. “Right,” he agrees quietly, to himself, “from the very beginning.”

Alice watches as he picks up his glass, takes a long drink, and then proceeds to tell her everything.

[rabbiaharon]

As we stand, within the 10 days of repentance, from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur, it is fitting to stress the importance of tefillah (prayer) and its role within Judaism. While there is some dispute among poskim whether or not tefillah is a scriptural command, or whether it is rabbinic, there is an agreement that the obligation to pray every day, as well as the current text of the siddur is rabbinic. However, the actual obligation to communicate with Hashem, to praise him, and to ask for one’s needs is scriptural. Thus, while the rabbinic obligation is fixed and limited, the overall idea of tefillah is unlimited, as a person has an opportunity every minute to connect with the divine. One can delve much deeper into this by learning “Shoresh Mitzvas HaTefillah” (The Root of the Commandment to Pray) in Derech Mitzvosecha (Path of Your Commandments) by the Tzemach Tzedek (the third Rebbe of Chabad). We also believe that there is no need for “intermediaries” which stand between a person and G-d, contrary to what is often believed by adherents to other religions referred to by scholars as “abrahamic”.

The idea that a direct connection is available to the Ribono Shel Olam (Master of the World) is a fundamental belief of judaism. While there are many examples of the idea of “intermediaries” having its own place in our faith, such as one midrashic interpretation of the angels ascending and descending upon the ladder in Yaakov Avinu’s dream, we believe that a person need not rely on this natural procedure, but can simply reconnect their soul to its source and pass a signal directly. The ease of this is, of course, affected by a person’s intentions when coming to pray, as well as their location and the time of day or time of year. There are places and times when tefillos are more likely to be accepted, such as at the gravesites of the righteous, praying with a quorum of 10 jewish men (a minyan), or at the Temple in Jerusalem. Likewise, there are times, such as right after halachic midnight on every night of the year, as well as during the 10 days of repentance - and especially Yom Kippur (and on Yom Kippur, especially at the time of Neilah, by the end of the day, just before sunset), and praying at the same time that the local community is praying. At these times and in these places, it’s easier to cross the wires, so to speak, and connect your neshama directly to the high voltage current coming down from above, at least long enough to send a signal up the line. This isn’t only spoken about in chassidic discourses and kabbalah, but also in nigleh in dozens of locations (The revealed aspects of the Torah) For example, in Masecta Berachos 7b, the talmud describes a situation where one cannot make it to the shul. The gemara states that ideally the individual should gather a minyan to daven at their house, and if they are unable to do so, at least they should daven at the same time as the community does. The gemara then continues on 8a “מאי דכתיב ״ואני תפלתי לך ה׳ עת רצון״. אימתי עת רצון — בשעה שהצבור מתפללין” - “‘May my prayers to you be at an auspicious time.’ What is considered an auspicious time? The time that the community is praying.”

At all times, and especially those, one can pray in their own words, in a translation to whatever language they understand, or they can use a traditional text (nusach), and they will fulfill their scriptural obligation to connect with the Ribono Shel Olam. That said, there is a powerful advantage to praying using a real nusach- based on whatever your family custom or personal custom is (whether sefard, ashkenaz, mizrachi, chassidic, or the like). Even when praying at an auspicious time and place, one’s prayers can be compared to a trip through the forest at night. To follow the paved path - a traditional nusach - will guarantee your safe arrival home (i.e. connecting with your soul’s source), because even with no light (i.e. no understanding of the Hebrew you are reading), one’s feet can tell the difference between a paved road and untamed brush. By making up the words to your own prayers (trying to cut your own path through the forest in the dark), or using words someone else recently decided to come up with (following a slightly cut unpaved worn area), or using abridged versions (trying to follow a broken and fragmented paved road - all in the dark, should you not understand your words) of the nusach, one complicates the procedure, making it more difficult (although of course not impossible) to connect to the level you want to reach.

With all the challenges we face these days, and what we’ve experienced over the last year, we should all be careful with the mitzvah of tefillah, to each at their own level. And may our prayers be at an auspicious time! May they be received before the Ribono Shel Olam like the cries of children for their father, for revealed good in every part of our lives. In the merit of this, Hashem should fulfill for us the posuk (verse) “And I will bring them to my holy mountain, and rejoice with them in my House of Prayer, their offerings received with delight upon my altar, as my house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations.”

Gmar Chasima Tova.

–

Rabbi Aharon