#very strange indeed 🤔

[furshrimps]

Cancelled the appointment because Sammy seems to be back to normal by now? Or rather, changed it to next week so I don't have to pay needlessly for the taxi. I still want to have him looked at for small things that I noticed and he needs his nails clipped anyway.

Maybe it was only a stuck fart or something? These things can be quite cruel, after all 😅 And he didn't poop as often as he usually does yesterday, so...

[confinesofmy]

shoutout to my rock-solid circadian rhythm for successfully tricking my body into thinking it wasn't a fucking crime to be running around on a few hours of scrolling-phone-in-bed time. they all said it couldn't be done but you did it.

[naffeclipse]

I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I have this strange inkling that you very much enjoy the predator/prey trope… but I can’t for the life of me figure out how I came to this conclusion🤔

HMMM very strange indeed wonder why you would ever come to that.......................

[miquella-everywhere]

Miquella Theory: The Blood of a Demigod

As I progress through my journey to catalogue the location of every Lily, Butterfly and any sort of connection to the young Demigod Miquella, I began noticing something very strange...

Whenever I encountered a Miquella's Lily, no matter where it may be, every-so often I noticed that there was an Arteria Leaf close by...

At first I brushed it off, didn't think much of it, but then it started happening more and more frequently to the point where it couldn't be just a coincidence.

This is Elden Ring afterall, and I'm on the hunt for Lily's to dig into the lore of a character with zero dialogue 😂 These Arteria Leaves being so close by definitely has some meaning.

So my first thought was of Mohg. The Omen bastard child of Queen Marika and kidnapper of Miquella. So that makes sense; wherever you find a Miquella's Lily an Arteria Leaf is looming close by, paralleling the twisted one-sided relationship between the two half-siblings.

Creepy... But lorewise very accurate.

But then I started thinking some more... And then it started to become more and more apparent to me that this goes even deeper than just Mohg.

Mohg proclaims himself as the so called "Lord of Blood" thanks to his connection to the Formless Mother, but what if he's not the only Demigod with a proficiency for blood? What if Miquella is a natural-born master at controlling the nature of blood?

The item description of the Arteria Leaf describes it as "exceedingly rare to find," Now we all have made jokes about how they are certainly not exceedingly rare to find lmao But this brings to mind only three other items that you can pick up that have the exact same description....

All items directly related to Miquella... All items that are exceedingly rare to find...

And then you dig deeper into Miquella's own lore and, what was it that they watered the sapling Haligtree with???? That's right.

Their own blood.

Not to mention the existence of the Sacramental Buds where Miquella has literally managed to cultivate their own blood.

And then you read the item descriptions of the only two items that call for Sacramental Buds in order to craft:

So then this means that Miquella's blood potentially has the ability to both heal and bewitch.... Intriguing 🤔

But then I noticed something else about Miquella that supports this blood theory even more: On the statues depicting Miquella they all seem to have very pronounced veins on their arms, indicating that they have an abundance of blood within them (and also that they may be left handed 🤷)

So at this point, with all the evidence layed out- to say that Miquella has an unspoken affinity for blood and the arcane isn't too much of a stretch. But unfortunately thanks to Mohg and his Sanguine followers, Miquella's Divine and Holy blood has been twisted and fetishized for their own purposes.

And now, this next part might be a bit of a stretch, but another theory I have about Miquella is about the origins of Unalloyed Gold... Well, perhaps Unalloyed Gold is actually derived from Miquella's blood?

I say this because the only item in the game that can alleviate the build up of Scarlet Rot(aside from the Needle) is the Preserving Boluses that specifically requires Sacramental Buds to craft, instead of, oddly enough, a Miquella's Lily, which is apparently made of unalloyed gold... a red herring perhaps? 🤔

And then there's this one item in the game that caught my attention, that really makes me scratch my brain, and that item is the common Beast Blood:

If simple beast's blood has small specs of gold within it then what about the blood of a higher being? What about the blood of Miquella the Unalloyed?

The ichor of the eternally young Demigod.

(Also the fact that the Arteria Leaf is described as having a faint pulse makes me think that maybe it's Miquella's pulse, proving that in the cocoon they are indeed, not dead, but only dreaming, with their heart beating oh-so slowly in their slumber :)

[le-sserafims-blog]

🌸 Thankfully, I was able to spend my birthday meaningfully, so came here late 😭😭

Once again, thank you so much for congratulating me on my birthday, FEARNOT 🥹🥹🥹🥹🩷

Wow!!!

I'm 26 years old!!!

I've already been an idol for half my life!! 🤔 LOL

Very surprising...

It's amazing... When I first started as an idol, I never imagined what the future brings. I always thought life was unpredictable, but I've been able to continue this far because of the people around me who always support me. I'm so grateful for that :)

When I was young, my birthday was a happy day when I could receive gifts and eat what I liked. It was a day when I felt like the arrow was pointing towards me, so I always eagerly waited for my birthday feeling excited.

After turning 20, I started to feel a bit anxious about birthdays... 😅

Honestly, I felt a little scared that my time as an idol was getting shorter...lol

And recently, especially this birthday, it became a birthday with a slightly different meaning for me.

I realized that birthdays are not only about receiving congratulatory greetings, but also about being able to express gratitude to the people around me.

It's a bit embarrassing, but for the first time in my life (excluding my school days), I wrote letters to each my family members and gave them as gifts for my birthday this year!

I felt grateful knowing that my family was preparing gifts because we could spend my birthday together with them after a long time. I wanted to express my gratitude to them as well.

As I wrote about how grateful I am for giving birth to me and raising me for 26 years, many emotions have overwhelmed me, so I was writing the letters while holding back tears... 😅

And seeing my parents shedding tears while reading the letters that i gave, I felt a mix of emotions.

At a young age, they've been worried endlessly about their daughter entering this world, living far away where she isn't within easy reach, likely feeling lonely... I felt sorry, but still, seeing my parents shedding tears while sincerely supporting my dreams made me think this way.

Latelt, I've actually been feeling that there would come a time when the effort I keep putting in for myself will reach its limit— like the effort, if it's all just for myself, might exhaust me, reaching some sort of emotional limit. But seeing my parents, I started to feel that maybe working hard for someone else could be another way.

If I think that all my efforts are for myself only, I feel like I might lose strength when I detach from that passion, and it would be even harder when results don't come. But when I think about supporting my parents who sincerely cheer me on, and for FEARNOTs who support me as passionately, and for the members and staff who share the same dream, strangely, I feel energized.

These are just my thoughts, but I believe that to be able to continue something for a long time, perhaps this kind of mindset is also necessary :)

I received so much love from many people on my birthday this year. It made me truly happy to realize that there are so many FEARNOTs around the world celebrating my birthday and supporting me.

The online world continues expanding and may not always spread positivity every day, but I'm still grateful for the internet because it allows me to know that there are people who like me and celebrate my birthday. 😊

I remember my mom saying once on my birthday, "I hope you become an idol who, just like your name which holds the meaning "may good things bloom," receive congratulations from many people.' Following my mom's wish, I was able to become an idol who is indeed loved by many people.

I have experienced many failures and I'm learning various things as a person, but I've come to think that I'm happy with who I am now. Everyone has imperfections and areas where they are still immature, but I believe that's how we can continue to grow.

Im still in the process of learning a lot about myself, and every day, I strive to be a better version of myself than I was yesterday, continuing to reflect and improve along the way.

The world may sometimes be noisy with negativity, but I still believe that there are many happy, positive, joyful, and precious things in this world. Despite its flaws, I still find this world beautiful.

It's not all good, but it's not all bad either.

I wish to be the kind of person in your life who brings even a little bit of positivity and goodness. :)

Thank you for celebrating my 26th birthday with me, and please continue to support me in the future as well. ☺️

[putschki1969]

Hello, Sarah. I'm the fan from Taiwan. I went to the YKL in Taipei last year. After that I love KEIKO's performance very well. Now I also joined her FanClub. I would like to know why KEIKO has the powerful and beautiful voice, but she didn't have the song belong her before personal debut? If I ask a strange question, please don't care about it. I really like your posts. I read many osts and know about many things from here. Thanks for writing the abundnat content.

Hello!

Ohh, YAY, I am very happy to hear that you enjoyed the concert last year. I attended a YKL in Taipei back in 2019 and it was AMAZING (Report #1 & Report #2). I have a lot of great memories from that trip. I was able to meet many fans from Taiwan, they made me feel very welcome and everyone was really kind to me💗

It's a lot of fun to be a member of KEIKO's fan club so I am glad you decided to join.

Thank you for the lovely message! I am always happy when my blog is helpful to other fans😊

As for your question: I am so, so sorry! I am afraid I don't really know what exactly you are trying to ask😭

Please don't feel bad about it, I am sure it is not a strange question at all and I would really like to try and answer it but something important was probably lost in translation. Maybe you could reply to this post here and rephrase the question or write it in Chinese?

Edit: A kind follower (@davi-doo) just suggested a good interpretation. Is this what you were trying to ask?

Just my guess, but maybe they meant why Keiko didn't have many songs written for her by Yuki Kajiura in early Fiction Junction time, and possibly also before she joined FJ 🤔 why indeed, since Kajiura composed a lot for FJ Wakana, Kaori and Yuriko Kaida. Though I remember reading somewhere that Kajiura's music signature just naturally favors sopranos ~

And yes, I have to agree with @davi-doo here, YK definitely seems to prefer to write leading parts for sopranos. Now that Keiko is exploring higher registers in her solo career, it's probably easier for YK to feel inspired?

[just-a-carrot]

Hey, Carrot!

What do you think Iggy's favorite childhood memory is? Do you think it would be one from the Wonderland? Or maybe all childhood memories from the Wonderland are tainted to him (and the others) now with all that has happened(?

I do remember him trying to distract himself from the murderous rabbits (back at the cottage in arc 2) by summoning a mental image from when they were all in bed in that same cottage, and when a rabbit appears in his memory, it ruins it. Although, to be fair, maybe it's just the rabbit memories that are ruined😅😅

oh gosh, this is a difficult question... 🤔

my first thought is something that is a bit spoilery for the finale so i'll refrain from saying it LOL

but indeed, i would say generally most would not be wonderland related, if only because he forgot so many of them?? and indeed, at least during their return to wonderland and with all the horrible things that happened, i can imagine many of what were once good memories would become tainted. or at the very least have a strange sense of surreal-ness to them.

i do think that no matter what, his best memories would probably be with his friends. it doesn't even need to be a particularly exciting or happy memory. but a time when iggy felt loved and that he fit in with his friends would have stuck with him for a long time. so in my head, things like some of their sleepovers and adventures they had. maybe the first time after all five of them started hanging out that they had a sleepover and stayed up super late just talking and laughing and eating snacks. and iggy would have felt like he belonged.

i can't say for sure that that would be his favorite but definitely a lot of friend-related ones would be up there at the top. going camping. going exploring. bike rides with genzou out on the dirt roads. now i'm thinking about that random gidget week memory of all of them in the christmas pageant LOL stuff like that. they would have stuck in his head for a long time i think

[srbachchan]

DAY 5402

Jalsa, Mumbai                Nov  28/29,  2022               Mon/Tue  12:05 AM

💛🪔 , November 29 .. birthday wishes to Ef Rajni Sawhney .. keep well and happy .. .. and .. more greetings .. Ef Kunal Sai Bulbul .. your birthday was on November 27 .. along with Babuji .. right ?? .. we thought we have your birthday recorded on the database of the Ef under the date of Aug 9 !! .. ??? 🧐🤔 .. any way , we wish you all happiness and well being for your special day and for everyday .. every Ef who comes on this Blog is important and so you are .. thank you for your affection .. thank you for translating the Blog words to Hindi sometime ago .. it was superb work and our admiration .. thank you for the KBC (Kunal Bulbul's Code) and your affection for KBC .. be well .. and may all your desires be fulfilled .. and may you meet the true love you deserve .. no one is poor that has the richness of life .. you should know that you are very rich because you have a life .. that is the richest possession a human can have .. you should not be afraid of struggle because “ jab tak jeevan hai tab tak sangharsh hai ” .. so long as there is life , there will be struggle .. Babu ji’s words .. strength to you , Manoj aka Kunal 💪🏽 .. love from your Ef .. ❤️❤️❤️

Nov 29,  2022             Tue 9:49 AM

the network failed .. Jio , jee na saka ... Jio जी ना सका , और ये दुविधा आ गयी  .. so went to another Dongle because the entire house is on the blink, and am connecting again ..

the mind and the body repels discomfort .. a discomfort that builds over time either through thoughts that disturb, cause anxiety, develop through feels that do not go according to what is desired - an ideal situation ..

But idealism is an ‘ism .. does it really exist ..

The existentialist gurus that brought awareness to it - a mr Sartré, Jean-Paul methinks - must have reason for it to be displayed in the public hemisphere .. and put ignorants like us into a literary display of knowledge without knowing what it really means ..

The creator of Crime Passionnele or some such spelling of the writer’s play, enacted on stage with yours truly in it , in the days of yore in the City of Joy, Calcutta - then, now Kolkatta .. was in remembrance .. aah .. the mind .. it remembers that which it remembers and then does not what it does not .. existentialism ? or euphemism  ???

So in the state of disturbed one seeks a infection of remorse or explain or simply none at all and lives .. lives , lives .. in existence prime .. 

For existence is indeed prime .. when you exist , you persist .. and the results find answers to the discomfort .. 

ending finally on the aspect , strangely, of the physical .. 

jog run gym the body push it to the end of all acts in its periphery  ...

and there .. there it is .. solved in solution, but retained in its existentialist mind .. 

Pity .. 

never final solutions ..

Amitabh Bachchan

[so-secret-it-was-daisy]

Hi, Kaylors

English is not my first language so pls be patient reading this

As much as I don't like talking about their private family life (bringing up their kids in conversations) that being said something caught my attention a while back with the whole speak now tv release/birth announcement/Taylor’s random game night out with friends and ever since I wanted to look more into it..

Here's what I found:: it all started with this⬇️

Something About the 13 days piqued my interest other than it's her birthday knowing it's symbolism and what it represents for Taylor..

There is something about the ill timing of those online pictures of her at a party out of nowhere which was strange considering she hasn't had public outings/hanging out with famous friends in forever ( RIP to the good old days of squad girl) on the same day that J.k posted it on Instagram letting the world know of the baby's arrival.. Him doing it both times with a little caption jk (pun intended)

Which reminded me of this by @chickawah23 I have seen a while back and how it clicked

it's all about the fvkin TIMING

I know it's reaching but life's a puzzle and I wanna play ▶️

Something tells me he was born days prior way before the announcement was made and that's how I clocked it down to the 7th to the exact date in her Tiktok caption<><><>

24th June=(13 days)=7th July

In btw those 13 days leading up to the birth from the speak now tv release and J.K posting it on the 13th July (13th for the second time) it's too good to be a koincidence and doing it in the exact same way it was done the first time ⤵️

Which is very strange considering the birth announcement of the first baby took place with Taylor having a public appearance at the grammys set to perform (when the news broke out online overnight) which seems to be a repeated pattern with the second baby's birth announcement taking place too with her coming out of her hiding to be seen because Taylor is out there when she wants to be seen either she is doing public engagements/media stuff otherwise she prefers hiding in plain sight..

Living a lifestyle she can afford using a private jet to go under the radar.. which is why they have managed not to be seen in public to this day whether on holidays or staying in the same place at the same time (looking at u <Paris>)

For me::

it's getting crazy Keeping up with rich people who are protecting what they love and in the name of karlie kloss it's all forgiven who is indeed made out of thousands of sunshine✨️ 💛

Food for thought::

What's the big deal can't they wait the next day to do the birth announcement?? why not wait for her to come back home or are they doing it to set up a narrative that she was out and about doing whatever God knows both times their supposed kids were born?? and why are they doing what I think they're doin 🤔

#invisiblestrings

[studentinpursuitofclouds]

Okay, another one!

Baking buddies!

(If I recall correctly, Julian likes to/knows how to bake, right? Or I could be wrong, I've been switching social media 😅 But I think you did mention it somewhere here🤔 But I hope I got it right, otherwise, this can be ignored 😭)

This one is what the title implied, baking buddies! Featuring Ziana again, and Rain (@silly-farmer's farmer, since she also can bake/likes to bake. If you know some farmers/NPCs who also know how to bake, feel free to add them as well! I don't know many farmers like you do, unfortunately 😭🙏🏻)

Imagine them all (Julian, Rain & Ziana) good at baking but then there is one that they haven't baked yet (probably... Strange Bun for example in here? 🤔) and one of them suggested trying this out together. So, imagine the scene as they all mess up and struggle in the kitchen trying to bake this thing and after many errors, it's done! And now, for the taste!

The result...? (Up to you 👀 Is it good? Or bad and that they worked hard in vain? This is also another funny interaction, hehe.)

Have fun! ^^ I don't know why I have so many ideas (this is like, a gist of it) 😅🙏🏻

Uh, have a good day, Mousy, and uh, bye! *runs* 🏃🏻‍♀️💨

Hello again! Here's another story, and thanks for the question!

This time, in addition to Julian and Ziana, the heroes will also be Rain (@silly-farmer) and Wren (@girls4zelda). This story is shorter than the previous one, hope you don't mind. Enjoy ❤️

_________________________________________

"The culinary disaster"

________________________________________

The spacious cottage kitchen was filled with various sounds and pleasant aromas. The banging of pans against each other, the sweet smell of strawberry jam, the heat from the oven where baked goods were baking, the noise of water from the tap, the kettle boiling.... And talking, so much talking. Of course, because there are not one but four cooks in the room at once, running from one part of the kitchen to another, trying to get the food everywhere in time.

"Goddamn it! What are we doing wrong?!"

Ah, yes, on top of all this, the kitchen is filled with the shouts of those very same cooks.

"I don't get it", Rain continued to wail. "We're doing everything according to the recipe. This bun is much easier to make than the other dishes!" She gestured with her hand to the tray on which a few burnt pastries lay.

Julian, Ziana, and Wren sat at the walnut kitchen table and watched poor Rain try to figure out the reason for such a botched cooking job.

"Maybe the recipe itself was wrong?" Ziana cautiously voiced her suggestion. Cooking with her friends in the kitchen at Rain's house had seemed like a great idea to her earlier, but she hadn't realized that they would encounter such a problem as not being able to cook a bun properly after perhaps the sixth attempt.

"I don't think there was anything wrong with the recipe. It's just a normal bun, we've made dozens of them before", answered Wren. And indeed, on the table there was a whole vase with freshly baked cookies, puffs and buns and various jams and fruits, which were beckoning with their aroma and beauty.

"Well..." Julian began cautiously. "You don't put void mayonnaise in ordinary buns".

"That's true". Wren couldn't agree more. "Rain, my friend, why don't we just forget about the Strange Bun? Sit down with us, and we'll finally start the meal."

But Rain, arms crossed, waited for the timer on the oven to reach zero. "I'll check on that last bun, and then we'll be done".

All three of them looked sympathetically at the blue-haired girl. They understood that the failed baking had hit Rain's confidence hard, as she was a great cook, and had even agreed with her friends to organize a communal cookout, teaching them new recipes. And all was well... Until Shane left her the recipe for that obscure bake yesterday. And now Rain wants to make sure she hasn't lost her skills. Thankfully, the timer has already managed to emit a chime, alerting those present that it's time to pull out the baking tray.

"YEEEEES!!! We did it! We are the best!" Rain's excitement slightly startled all three of her friends, but they immediately breathed a sigh of relief as the girl held the hot baking tray victoriously in her hands, where a - oh, miracle - properly cooked Strange Bun was displayed.

Rain, satisfied, set the bun aside on a plate, letting it cool. The pastry itself looked true to its name: the dough was unnaturally orange, and the filling was an acid purple color.

"So", Rain summarized, "would anyone like to try this pastry?"

"Nope", Ziana, Julian and Wren answered their friend honestly.

"That's good! I don't want to either..." She looked a little suspiciously at that 'culinary misunderstanding'.

"Now let's drink tea!" Finally, Julian poured hot jasmine tea into each of their cups, and they all sat down at the table, eating the delicious fruits of their labor, listening to praise about each other for their good cooking.

[ratkingdad]

You 👉 know what I’ve always hated 😡💢 about you 👉, Amethar 👑🍬? You 👉 were so damn 👿 lucky 🍀.

I mean 😪, fifth 5️⃣ in line 📉 for the throne 🪑 and the crown 👑 rests 🛏️ on your head 🙆‍♂️. And each of your sisters 👯‍♀️ better 🥇 and more clever 👩‍🏫 than you. It really makes the unfortunate 🍀🚫 minor lord 🤵 of a less ↘️ than wealthy 💵 barony feel… well, a little underwhelming 😑😴.

Oh, I’ll say 📢, your sisters 👯‍♀️ were a little less lucky 🍀. The least 🥉 lucky 🍀 thing that ever happened to Rococoa 🍫 was when she found out 🕵️‍♀️ that I was selling 💰 weapons 🔫⚔️ to the Ceresians 🍞🥯. That… that had to be dealt with ☠️. And I think 🤔 you’ll remember how odd 🤪 it was that she was found riddles with arrows 🏹 so far behind our own lines 〰️. But that’s war 💣, and strange things happen in war 💣🧨 all the time ⏰.

The Ceresians 🥖🍞, I find are very reasonable, very reasonable and you can see 👓🔎some of their tents 🏕️ out here in the field 🌾.

You know, I don't have luck 🍀 so I have to work 💪. I have to work 💪a lot. First, I had to put the little cheese 🧀 boy 🧒🏼 onto the scent of the Duchess 👸 Coldbottle 🍼, and I had to ferry ⛴️ his idiot sailors ⛵️all the way the Sucrosi road 🚗 to that little farmhouse 🏠 - I mean, had to get them there somehow, they couldn't sail ⛵️ there, could they? And they'd be so suspicious 🤨 walking 🚶‍♂️ up the road, and yet - you miraculously ⛪️ survived 🖖, when you should have died 💀. Amethar 👑 🍬 the Unfallen ❤️.

You uncharacteristically 😮 leave a fight 👊 , you jump 🐰 out of the ring 💍 rather than trying to behead that carrot 🥕- and they call the tournament 🏟️, even with all the work 🏋️ that me and Alfredi 🍝 put in to getting those watersteel 💦 daggers 🗡️ into her hands 🙌 . I - I thought 💭 I was going to fail 0️⃣.

And then, and then your friend Manta Ray Jack 🧀 mentioned a girl 👧 , at the banquet 🍱 , 'stashed somewhere in the Dairy 🥛 Islands 🏝️ ', and I thought 💭 , 'That's so interesting 🤔 . Amethar 👑 🍬 and I are best friends 👯‍♂️, war buddies 🤝 as far back as we can remember 🧐. Why 🤨would he never 👎 tell me?' And I got to thinking 🤔 , 'Amethar 👑 🍬 was never quiet 🤐 about his exploits 🏃 as a roving Prince 🫅 of Candia 🍭, so why didn't I hear 👂 about this girl 👧 ?' And I thought 💭 , 'I'd better talk 🎙️with Manta Ray Jack 🧀.'

He didn't wanna 🙊 talk, but a few fingers 👋 and pints 🍻 of blood 🩸 later we remembered your sister's book 📖 . Very useful, your sister 👩 . Very useful indeed - up until a young Belizabeth Brassica 🥦 ordered her run 🏃🏻‍♀️ down in the streets by Vegetanian 🥗 Knights ⚔️ . That - that hurt 😔 , because she had always been very sweet 🍭 to me. Well, after Manta Ray 🧀, I saw 👀 an opportunity. You know, it hurts 🤕 to have all of your plans 📒 fail, but they say that improvisation 🎭 is the better part of planning 📝 , so I was happy 😊 to take advantage 🔝 of that opportunity when 🕰️ it presented itself, Amethar 👑 🍭.

You know what happens to a man 🧍‍♂️ when he dies ☠️ ? He shits 💩 himself. So I'll be happy 😊 to watch 👁️ 👁️ you shit 💩 one last time 🕰️, Amethar 👑 🍭 .

I wonder 🧐 if they'll call ☎️ you 'Amethar 👑 🍭 the Unfallen ❤️ ' after this😤? Here's to a future 🔮 you can't ⛔️ ruin 😡.

[ladyswillmart]

🐝 fitting the emoji: "Not The Bees!" :D

Ah yes, this was another episode of the Ironworks sitcom, "Where's the Chief?"!

The episode starts out with Lucia Junius, who for REASONS WE WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND, is entrusting some sundry maintenance of her very expensive and beautiful custom champagne white Magitek Reaper mount (nickname: "Sweet Judy Green Eyes") to Garlond Ironworks. Basically it's chilling out in their hangar in Mor Dhona, awaiting some incredibly basic services like an inspection, an oil filter change, a chassis cleaning and total hoovering of the seats, etc. So what could possibly go wrong with this?

Yeah, that's probably what Lucia said to herself too. Anyway.

One morning, Wedge heads into the hangar to start work on the Reaper when he hears a strange thrumming noise—yes, a rather buzzy sort of sound, definitely some kind of buzz, coming from inside one of her rear leg panels... 🤔 Unsure what's up, Wedge runs back into the workshop to fetch the first person he sees for help. Unfortunately, the first person he sees is Nero Scaeva, breakfasting on his usual black coffee and leftover cigarette butts scrounged from the smoke room ashtray.

I mean, if Wedge had gotten like, Biggs or Lilja or Jessie or even Phil the Intern, the problem would definitely be resolved in a very sensible way within the span of like five minutes, and then we probably wouldn't have much of a sitcom, would we? Anyway.

He takes Nero out to the Reaper and asks if he knows what the problem is. Nero goes to press his ear against the panel, but soon the dead giveaway comes flitting out of a small hole drilled into it: A BEE! Wedge begins to panic, but Nero begins to think in a more rational way, and by rational I mean he's definitely thinking about how he can press this bizarre situation to his advantage, and by advantage I mean "making this month's rent before he gets kicked out of his flat and has to sleep on Garlond's couch for the next several months".

He knocks the can of bug spray right out of Wedge's hand and orders him not to say a word about this to anyone—especially Lucia. That's right, Sweet Judy Green Eyes is about to become Garlond Ironworks's newest Honey-Moneymaker! 🐝🐝🐝

Anyway, this scheme lasts for a highly improbable amount of time... long enough for Nero to turn the Reaper into a high-tech bee motel with the finest Scaev-Tec™ honey tapping technology (patent pending). Liquid gold! At least at the Mor Dhona weekend farmer's market. And whenever poor Lucia asks when she's going to get her ride back, Wedge just gives her some lame excuse, as Nero is giving him a cut of the honey profits just to keep his mouth shut.

WELL SOON ENOUGH CID GARLOND COMES BACK FROM WHEREVER HE WENT and naturally this is when the scheme falls apart: He demands that Nero and Wedge clear out the bees and get Lucia's mount ready for its scheduled maintenance. However, Cid's return coincides with the arrival of Dr. Flowering Tussock, a famous Sharlayan entomologist who has heard all about this famous "Mor Dhona Honey". She is especially intrigued by this story as to her knowledge, most of the bees native to the Mor Dhona region were extirpated during the Calamity. She investigates Nero's little sweatshop and confirms that the honeybees living within are indeed 100% native Mor Dhona honeybees and thus a valuable scientific specimen! She offers a frankly obscene amount of money for the mount, but Nero very begrudgingly "does the right thing" and explains that the mount isn't theirs to sell... SIGH.

However, when Cid tells Lucia the whole ridiculous story, she just laughs it off, saying it took so long for them to get her mount back to her that she already got herself a new scooter anyway—far more practical for the narrow streets of Ishgard! She gives her permission for Dr. Tussock to remove and rehome the bees (free of charge, naturally!), and to do whatever they like with Sweet Judy Green Eyes.

No more bees. No more honey. No more money. No more not sleeping on Cid Garlond's couch.

When Nero hears the conclusion of this story, he is so vexed he eats a cigarette butt.

FREEZE FRAME, END THEME SONG AND CREDIT ROLL

[clatterbane]

Back home for long enough to have changed back into my sweatpants now. And pretty exhausted, but it was more than worth it.

A little more from this evening's big adventure!

I wasn't sure what to expect in terms of how the timeframe might work here for these things, but suspected that if they were saying doors open at 6 and the first band was supposed to go on at 7? This being Sweden, they might actually mean it. So, I thought I might do worse than to aim for around 6:30 getting there, to make sure I could find the accessible bathroom and everything while it was still quieter.

So yeah, after that little detour heading off the wrong way down our own fucking street to get to the bus stop? I actually caught a 6:38 bus there. 🙄 Which is a little too on brand.

But, at least I am consistent!

Where I was supposed to go after getting off the bus (follow the dotted line) vs. where I actually started going--and needed to consult Maps again--after some "it's too dark to read the street signs properly without working glasses" wrong turn:

Yeah, I rolled way the hell off in a strange direction down some side street, and things were really not looking right if I was not aiming for some apartments or a park.

Spotted once I got away from the park and sorta back on track, though. "DEATH TO FALSE PUNX"

I can't quite rely on doing the absolute damn opposite of whatever devil posing as my sense of direction is telling me to do, George Costanza style--but, it really can be tempting at times. The results could hardly be more frustrating.

Somewhat back on track but still having very little idea where the fuck I was going, with the freaking Maps app open in my lap, I did eventually find the right address. And then wasn't much less confused.

Because Maps was indeed pointing me down this random industrial-looking alley. 🤔

This is looking back out toward Norra Grängesbergsgatan, where I had turned in. By that point, I could hear music and figured I was at least getting warm. After trying the closest couple of (unmarked, locked) doors I could find to where the sound seemed to be coming from, thankfully some guy came by to park his bike so I caved and asked him where the club entrance was.

"Just go back around another side of the building and turn by the old red truck and the toxic waste drums! You can't miss it."

Not what Random Guy actually replied, but yeah. He did kindly point me in the right direction. Automatically opting for English, after hearing whatever frazzled attempt at asking for directions came out of my mouth by that point. This would not be the first or last awkwardness of the night, but I survived.

By the time I got to the actual entrance, it was like 7:15 and the first opener hadn't really gotten going yet. Ended up not being terrible timing, after all the fun getting there this evening.

Especially now that I have seen some landmarks to look out for, pretty confident that I could get myself back there without too much trouble, at least. I am on MUCH firmer ground with navigating by landmarks. Though, that did work better back home in a less built-up environment with way more varied terrain. (I say, as I am remembering having to repeatedly, say, go turn around in somebody's cow pasture once the pavement ran out and shit like that. 😒 Still not sure exactly where some of the places I ended up were, pre-GPS access.)

And it did seem worth going back to Plan B. Pretty chill environment, and they do get some good shows. Pretty much everything I've been vaguely interesting in seeing so far here in town. Glad to have finally trekked over there to check it out.

[mikimeiko]

Day 5 - Rijeka>Trieste>Milan

It's not raining! Still very cloudy white sky but we'll count this as a win XD

I see the rooms manager on my way out. He asks me where I'm off to today and when I tell him that I'm going back to Milan he tells me that he lived there for 16 years! He did speak Italian remarkably well, but still it was a nice coincidence (also he was a very nice man! I wish I asked him his name but alas I'm not good at conversation and I forgot XD)

I have more than two hours before my bus leaves and my backpack is quite heavy, so I alternate walking around with coffee breaks, not a bad way to start the day XD in every café I've been here and in Slovenia they always brought me a big glass of water with my coffee and can I just say: yes. Yes please, can we import this custom? (in most of central/southern Italy they'll give you a small glass of water, which is also nice. In Milan - and most of northern Italy - they give you NO water and it's barbaric, time to move with the rest of Italy and the Balkans Milan!)

Being the person I am I of course go the bus station very early to make sure it exists XD and find my bus stall. Apparently the flixbus buses stop... somewhere around here but not at the stalls of the bus station? D: I hate uncertainty!

I get another coffee nearby, at a lovely café with beautiful yellow chairs, and I see a train go by on the rail crossing I saw on the first day while walking from the station! (It's always strange for me seeing a level crossing inside a city)

I get one last meat burek before I leave and WHY DID I EAT ANYTHING ELSE. I love meat bureks. Food of the gods. I should have eaten way more of them. Now I'm sad that I won't get to eat more meat bureks. I wonder if they have burek in Trieste. (Also. Also. Why is there no burek in Milan. Lots of Balkan people in Milan. Please open a burek place? Pretty please? XD)

I leave Rijeka on a much sweeter note than when I arrived. These two days have been good in their weird way, and if I'm ever in this area in a different, sunnier season I'll make sure to come back and take a look.

My bus to Trieste went through Opatija and it was indeed very pretty in the daylight!

It was foggy in Croatia, then when went into Slovenia it cleared up a bit and you could actually see the surroundings. And then we crossed into Italy and it's... foggy again? Maybe staying in Slovenia was the key XD

(Also we didn't go through a passport control when we crossed from Slovenia to Italy? But we did when entering Slovenia from Croatia 🤔)

When I get to Trieste everything is very grey. White sky, a general feeling of fogginess (though not real fog, not inside the city).

I leave my heavy backpack at a laggage storage and I find myself once again wandering around the city for 4 hours between a bus from the Balkans and a Frecciarossa train to Milan (last time I was coming from Ljubljana, but still). This city is huge, I think sooner or later I'll have to come visit it properly, and not just passing through at the end of a different journey.

Of course I find a Christmas market (I used to love Christmas markets but I hate the way they have become standardized in the past few years, now every city you go has the same stalls of usually mediocre crap and it's just sad) but! This one has warm apple juice with cinnamon, which makes me really happy.

I take a thousand photos of the canal, from every single bridge XD but the reflections are just too good!

I get to the sea. The last time I was here it was the first thing I did, going to the sea, and after two weeks of wandering far from the coast I just... cried. I saw the deep blue of the Mediterranean and actual tears formed in my eyes.

This time it's a ghostly sea, white and kinda haunted, but it's still mesmerising.

I walk along the promenade, farther than I did last time, until I get to the Salone degli Incanti (which is a beautiful name for an exhibition space, "Hall of Enchantments", but the building used to be the city's fish market and apparently incanti was the word they used for the fish auctions?).

There's an exhibition about videogames there, but OF COURSE it's closed today.

I walk back through a pedestrian zone, a part of Trieste i totally missed last time.

I stop at a café for coffee and cake, and once I'm done I realize that it's less than an hour to my train, I'm nowhere near the station, I have to stop somewhere to buy food for the journey+a couple of things to bring home from Friuli, get my backpack back from the luggage storage and possibly have time for a cigarette before the train.

I somehow manage a brisk pace despite my achy feet and tired muscles, and do everything I wanted to do; and most importantly I do not miss my train home ✌️

Yesterday when I got in the mood for some music I decided to listen to my 2022 big playlist (the playlist where I put all the songs I like that I discovered this year, in chronological order XD) instead of a new album, and it was the best decision. A good way to end the year.

[muraenide]

send me 🕯️to hear my character's inner thoughts about your character. → { NO LONGER ACCEPTING } 🕯️ // either wonderland au or canon verse 🤔 — @splitcards

Wonderland AU because we love pain.

Floyd and I have seen more than five Hatters over the course of ten years. We have been careful to keep it as subtle as possible, but the reason why we have taken up residence in Wonderland was because we are looking for Hatters.

Do you wonder why? *chuckles* It is because in the letters Mother left behind, there was a frequent mention of a Hatter. Mother said the Mad Hatter is someone we could trust. He was the one who accommodated her back when she visited Wonderland as a child.

And so here we are, looking for him.

The letters only began to make sense after we found Wonderland. The "Mad Hatter" is only one of the twelve Hatters in this place. Floyd and I ran into the "Happy Hatter" on our third day. Call it a stroke of instinct if you may, but the moment we laid eyes on him, we knew he was not who Mother mentioned in her letters.

Disappointed, Floyd and I continued our search. We picked up the occupation of a magician as Leander Elddill because we heard that all Hatters share a love for strange and curious things — things that could make them forget reality and temporarily submerge themselves in a false sense of fantasy.

It worked. To date, we have met the Hatter of Happiness, Woe, Anger, Contempt, and Fear, but the Hatter mentioned in Mother's Letters was nowhere to be seen.

As of late we've come to know of another Hatter: The Hatter of Madness.

It was not easy to find the path that led to his tea party, but I somehow managed. Truthfully, it almost feels like the Mad Hatter had opened up his secret path out of his own will, and not because I've somehow managed to force my way in.

Cater Diamond. I knew his name before I came. Doing our due diligence before involving ourselves in unfamiliar territory is always wise. However, the real person was someone I was not expecting to meet. He is different; a lot more than the other five Hatters I've encountered.

He always seems sorrowful, his madness barely keeping him from erupting at bay. Of course, someone who was not born here such as myself would never understand how Wonderland works even if I have lived here for more years than I have in my own birthplace.

"Are you expecting someone?" I always ask him whenever I see the same empty chair at the end of the dining table. I noticed it's an odd practice that the Hatter of Madness exercises. It's always the same chair, the same spot at the table. It cannot be a coincidence.

I eventually came to the conclusion from my own hypothesis. Slowly, I tried changing my words. "Are you missing someone?" Missing. Expecting. It's strange how those words meant the same thing but somehow produces very different effects when used in a certain context.

That was the first time I saw some kind of life in Hatter's eyes. It was everything I needed to confirm that I was indeed correct.

"You need to stop," I add, surprising even myself.

I was not usually known for harboring affection for anyone other than my other half. After all, the moment we were born all we had were each other. Were it not for the pendant I carry on my neck, I would not even have known what Mother looked like.

But somehow, I think I care about Hatter to some extent, after meeting him for a few times. "It's not healthy like this."

It feels odd. Lecturing someone older than me. It feels wrong to do so without knowing what he had gone through with whoever he is missing.

A bell chimes from somewhere far away and Cater yells "It's 6 o'clock!" It is the same chime that snapped me out of my thoughts, realizing that my 'lecture' only happened in my head, that I'd never said those words no matter how much I wished to.

I suppose it would be cruel to forcibly wake him up from a dream he never wishes to wake up from. I understand this. It is why I knew that I would never forgive myself if I ever woke him up.

[neuerswaist]

Crazy day today, Kane scored a hat-trick as Bayern won 9 nil. United won their game 7 nil as well with big H starting.

strange day indeed in a good way 😂🤔

9-2 but honestly when you win with a 7 goals difference it counts as nil. the Hs did their very best yesterday <3