#well see if i make even more of these the likelihood is yes its the just the process of grabbing scs is annoying

[chiangyorange]

i truly dont know what in my soul believes that wars fits this role, but he does. i love putting him in strange and weird situations

< last

[austinsastrology8991]

Saturn the father you always wanted and always have. Saturn in da houses, and why your life sucks. Im blunt here so don't complain don't read if you can't handle the reality of saturn. Saturn in the first house - okay you don't like to try when you present yourself, you think people should just instantly respect you because youve been through many trials in life... well people usually dont know how to talk to you because you have a stick up your ass. Saturn in the second house - everyones greedy, but when you are, its not cool. Well it isn't because when you are greedy you act like a goblin. be more mature its okay to be greedy but your acting like its a virtue stfu. Saturn in the third house - everyone thinks your dumb af, and you are only because you lack confidence to drive your points home. you just need to learn how to communicate better, your not dumb but you act like a dumbass. Saturn in the fourth house - sad boy/girl now everyone knows you had a rough childhood but would you grow up already, everyone else has but your still stuck being sad about how life has treated you (or your momma/dadda) grow up your not getting any younger you can't change the past stop wallowing. the past has taught you well, use it to your advantage or let it hold you back. Saturn in the fifth house - pretend players who get played everytime. Always gotta pretend like they are fun but whenever you do try to have fun with them they are annoying. yes you could be fun in the bedroom simply because everyone knows your too sensitive to break someones heart... because your heart is the most broken. Saturn in the sixth house - the real try hards always putting in 100%. suck ups to there boss or whoever is above them. but when there authority disrespects them they go rogue and try even harder just to spit in there boss's face. i respect it because i got cap here Saturn in the seventh house - if your a bad person good luck in this life, because your karma is received ten fold by your partners, they always like to complete your karmic cycle because thats just how it works idk. so better act right or your partner will ruin it before you ruin yourself.

Saturn in the eighth house - will do anything to get to the top. no pain is too painful. well it all is, but the ends justify the means. when they put there foot down the whole room shakes. so when your making a move make sure its the right one because your power plays are on display for everyone and itll make or break you more than the other placements. Saturn in the ninth house - lazy asses, always looking for an easy way out. they know what the right thing to do is, but the likelihood of them doing it is never. its because saturn restricts there luck/ mind and they just have woe is me energy and its annoying make better choices, and if you dont stop crying about it. but if they act right saturn blesses them the fuck up. Saturn in the tenth house - okay these people think they are better than everyone and deserve everything, but they never receive the applause they crave. its never enough even if the whole room is looking at them they suddenly don't want it anymore. there karma everyone can see, and if its too good it feels like a curse, and when its bad and reality comes crashing down they just want to hide but they cant. own your life or it will own you. Saturn in the eleventh - there community will give them there karma, always these people dont have a place where they feel safe. because they never make anyone feel safe around them, then cry when no-one gives them that favour. stfu and treat us better and maybe we will do you better. Saturn in the twelfth - okay apparently this is where saturn is in its joy, and i guess its because god/ spirits judge you. and i guess thats a good thing because if anyone should judge you its him. except the pain here is you have ultimate freedom, you rarely get signs on what to do. will you make the right choice or the wrong once? well they are lucky because they always get there karma quickly so they can always recover fast. but these people struggle to empathise because they don't feel the energy of the room. sooooo just grow up you got the best saturn, and your karma resides is in your empathy. disclaimer - saturn wants you to be the best. and no one is.... so i like to think if you want a sense of direction (where are you going wrong) look at the saturn house and if you are successful congrats your doing saturn right. but be careful he always thinks you can do better, and he loves to humble you. so be-careful out there.

[andy-wm]

hey andy, loving your posts recently; was wondering what your take is on why jikook chose to film their trip and share it with fans instead of just traveling on their own? any thoughts?

Hey Anon, thanks for the ask and your kind words :)

I have a few thoughts on this actually!

After a conversation with my semi-ARMY, BTS loving, ride or die Jikooker (with caveats) bestie (yes, it's complicated but I fully support their right to choose a safe place in (or not in) this fandom that serves them as an individual 💜), I took a moment to think about how often Jimin and JK get to spend time together.

(Tldr: not often, so they take what they can get)

I think their choice to share their trips with us hinges around a few things -

Contracts, MS rules, group hiatus, ARMY, schedules, and (hopefully) themselves.

BTS renewed their contracts not too long ago and those contracts would have specified certain obligations and opportunities for each member, in line with the planned group hiatus and MS.

It looks like, with the new contracts, they all signed up for heaps of individual projects. Everyone seems to be doing at least one album, a live performance, a documentary, a guest appearance/collab, an episodic format media project, and perhaps some sort of idol-ajacent work like endorsements (or maybe in Joonie's case the MOMA docent recording.)

I assume this series is their combined episodic media project box being ticked.

Why would they choose this and not a series like Jinny's Kitchen, or Suchwita?

Working independently on their own projects for the previous year would have meant their schedules didn't necessarily align too often. Although I have no doubt they would have made time to see and support each other (Jimin going to Qatar as an example), it would have been hard to be apart when they're so used to being together.

Seeing that they had the option to take a sanctioned trip together as a couple best friends, it makes sense that they did that instead of filming a scripted /directed program in a studio with other random cast members and more schedules to try and work around.

In all honesty, the likelihood of them getting the chance to get away together on a personal trip would have been slim, i think. No time for that!

Assuming I'm right about the contracts, if they didn't take this opportunity, they would both have been involved in other projects to meet their obligations. More schedules, more time apart, more energy spent interacting with random strangers (we know they don't love that).

Three trips away together! What a boon!

And all they need to do is be themselves.

They have done so many similar projects - Now series, Bon Voyage, ITS, and even JK's GCFs... This is relatively easy for them. Plus it's a 'tried and trusted' format that ARMY loves.

And they're so used to having cameras around them, and they know the staff so well, that i don't think the presence of a film/support crew would have significantly detracted from the fun they had.

The time they spent together would have been a blessing, especially before they knew the were successful in the companion bid. And speaking of that, they could not have had these trips unless they were work-related due to MS regulations.

They still have this bizarre idea we might forget them. Hilarious, right?

We all know that the reasons they do these programs are first financial (keep those army dollars rolling in) and second, fan engagement.

Reality type shows are the best for an authentic connection to these guys, and we love that. We don't need much more than them being and doing and exisiting, for us to be happy.

Just quietly, I dont think Hybe really realise how easy we are. I'd watch jimin scroll on his phone and occasionally laugh, or yawn, or eat a snack, and I'd find it endearing and a worthwhile use of my time.

In summary, this series is a gift for us, and easy money for Hybe, its a win-win.

And if Jimin and JK have fun and get time together, its a win for everyone.

💜🏕💛

[anonymousewrites]

One Hell of a Love (Book 3) Chapter Five

Sebastian Michaelis x Demon! Reader

Chapter Five: One Hell of an Inquiry

Summary: The investigation continues, and Sebastian and (Y/N) have to amuse themselves while the case stalls.

            “I offer you this pledge and ask that you be my drudge, Ciel Phantomhive.”

            “I humbly accept.”

            The plan had worked. Ciel was one step closer to the P4 and discovering the inner workings of Weston College—secrets and all.

l

            Ciel groaned as he collapsed in the armchair in Sebastian’s office. The entire day he’d been mobbed by classmates that were impressed with how quickly he became Clayton’s drudge.

            “I feel like I’ve become an opera singer or something,” he sighed.

            Sebastian chuckled. “Your masterful performances here have been quite splendid as of late. Why not continue in this fashion and aim to be an actor instead?”

            “If you’re in the mood to make cutting remarks, I’m ready for you,” grumbled Ciel.

            “Far from it!” Sebastian smiled brightly. “I was offering you my heartfelt praise.”

            “That’s even worse!” exclaimed Ciel.

            “Well, you did play the P4 perfectly. It seems they cannot resist dealing out justice and seeing someone act honorably,” said (Y/N). Their lips quirked upward in a smirk. “What an exploitable weakness.”

            “And yet I am nowhere closer to my ultimate goal,” said Ciel, frustrated. “The Queen’s orders were that I investigate the reasons why a number of students, including her blood relationship Derrick Arden, have shut themselves up in this school and broken off all contact with the outside world.”

            “However, we have not been able to lay eyes on them,” said Sebastian.

            “No, not a single one,” said (Y/N). Their nose twitched. “This situation clearly has more to it than we’ve seen.”

            Ciel nodded. “I thought I’d compel them to return home by force, but the Queen bade me to simply ‘investigate the reasons why.’ Most definitely, she is aware that this situation is not the result of youthful rebellion on the part of the students. As (Y/N) said, something peculiar is going on at this school.” He leaned back with a grumble. “However, the school is enslaved to its own rules, and I can’t even make the necessary inquiries. It’s like I’m a prisoner!”

            “But is that not why you re attempting to get into the good graces of the prefects, the keepers of the rules, Young Master?” remarked Sebastian as he poured tea for Ciel and (Y/N). “And by employing much more peaceful methods than usual as well.”

            (Y/N) smothered a chuckle as they took a sip of tea. Ciel fought off an irk mark.

            “True, but I’m still only the drudge of the prefect’s drudge,” said Ciel. “In my position, I can’t take part in the ‘Midnight Tea Party’ hosted by the Headmaster.”

            (Y/N) nodded. They had heard about the Tea Party, and it was clearly prestigious and secretive. Because they had not been able to make any contact with the Headmaster, they absolutely needed to as soon as possible. His absence was suspicious,

            “It would seem you still have a long road ahead,” said (Y/N).

            “At least I’ve finally made it into the P4 Entourage,” said Ciel. “I’ll try sounding out the P4 directly about Derrick.”

            “Yes,” said Sebastian, nodding. “And in all likelihood, the most useful information lies with the house into which Lord Derrick was transferred.”

            “Violet Wolf,” agreed (Y/N). “And it’s prefect, Gregory Violet.”

l

            “Housemaster Michaelis, Housemaster Noir,” said a fellow housemaster, approaching the pair as they were grading assignments from their classes. “How are you?”

            “We’re doing very well,” said (Y/N) pleasantly, smiling.

            “Merely getting some work done,” said Sebastian.

            “Excellent!” said the housemaster, nodding to them. “I just wanted to say good luck this year. It will be your first time assisting with coaching the Interhouse Cricket Tournament.”

            “Yes, it is,” said (Y/N). Sebastian and they had made sure to do their research on such activities so that they were prepared for all their duties as housemasters.

            “And Sapphire Owl never wins—or, almost never—so, good luck,” said the housemaster. He smiled cheerfully. “It’s still good fun!” He nodded to them and walked off.

            (Y/N) hummed and tilted their head. “This could be useful…”

            “Indeed?” remarked Sebastian, prompting them to continue.

            They smirked. “You saw the rules—the most valuable player of the tournament is invited to the Midnight Tea Party.”

            Sebastian smirked, teeth flashing like a predator ready to lunge. “Precisely the opportunity we need.”

            (Y/N) sighed. “The only problem with the tournament is that outsiders are invited to the celebrations before and after, and that means the Midfords will be present.”

            Sebastian grimaced. Francis in particular was a force to be reckoned with, even for him, and he’d prefer to avoid her. Additionally…they could recognize (Y/N) and Sebastion. Hopefully, she’d see that they were there on duty with Ciel and refrain from identifying them…

            (Y/N) sighed. “As long as Lady Midford or Marquess Midford are kept from speaking up by Marchioness Midford, we should be alright…” They frowned. “However, if I’m caught dressing like a man, that could prove confusing.”

            “More likely, they’ll all be beguiled by your good looks,” said Sebastian.

            (Y/N) gave him a deadpan look. “Unlikely in the case of Marchioness Midford.”

            “However, she recognizes when the Queen’s Guard Dog is at work, so she’ll likely overlook the supposed ‘impropriety,’ ” said Sebastian.

            (Y/N) nodded. Fortunately, that was the turn recognition would likely take.

            “For now, we should focus on gathering information,” said Sebastian. “If we can, we could discover why Arden and the other students were transferred.”

            “And where the Headmaster is,” agreed (Y/N).

            “I shall inquire with Vice Headmaster Agares,” said Sebastian, rising from his chair.

            “Then I shall inquire with the other Headmasters,” said (Y/N), standing.

            “Shall we reconvene later?” said Sebastian, raising a brow and smirking.

            “To share our discoveries or for something else?” said (Y/N), eyes filled with amusement.

            “Why not both?” teased Sebastian.

            (Y/N) chuckled. “Insatiable demon,” they said.

            “Tempting darling,” returned Sebastian.

l

            “Derrick Arden?” repeated Agares.

            “Yes. I am worried because he has failed to attend classes for some time,” said Sebastian, smiling pleasantly.

            “You even extend your concern to the students of other houses, do you?” said Agares.

            “The house in which a student resides is of no import to me,” said Sebastian.

            “He was an excellent student,” said Agares.

            “Oh? Then why was his house assignment changed?” said Sebastian.

            “I don’t know. It was the Headmaster’s decision,” said Agares, formal and voice unvaried as ever.

            “Perhaps his truancy can be attributed to the shock of the transfer?” suggested Sebastian.

            “I could not say,” said Agares. “It was the Headmaster’s decision—”

            Agares tripped and fell down the stairs. Even Sebastian jumped at the sudden tumble.

            “Mr. Agares?” he said in surprise. He moved down the stairs after Agares. “Are you alright?”

            “Forgive me, forgive me, forgive me,” said Agares. Blood dripped from beneath his cap.

            “Shall I take you to the infirmary?” said Sebastian, assisting him to his feet. He paused as he smelled the blood and sensed something strange within it. He narrowed his eyes. Undoubtedly, something was going on at this school, and everyone was hiding it.

l

            “How unfortunate that I cannot find Arden,” said (Y/N), sighing as they shook their head. “I worry that he is falling behind on his studies.”

            The housemaster they spoke to averted his eyes from theirs. “The Headmaster always makes the best decision for students.” He smiled. “Though your worry is commendable.”

            (Y/N) smiled, and the housemaster looked away as he looked at the attractive person before him. “Well, thank you for trying to help,” they said. “I am so glad to know that other housemasters are worried for students at Weston College.” They smirked. “They only hire the best, after all.”

            “Y-Yes,” said the housemaster, fighting off nervous red cheeks.

l

            (Y/N) entered the library in the dead of night, and instantly, someone appeared behind them and wrapped a hand around their waist while closing the door.

            “Hello, darling,” said Sebastian.

            “My love, we have a job to do first,” said (Y/N), smiling and rolling their eyes. “Did you discover anything from Mr. Agares?”

            “No,” said Sebastian, trailing one hand up (Y/N)’s body to their chin. He tilted their head back and kissed them. “He insisted it was the Headmaster’s decision, and that was all.”

            “The housemasters I spoke to said the same,” said (Y/N), kissing him again.

            “Hm,” said Sebastian, pushing aside the collar of (Y/N)’s robes to kiss their neck. “I did sense something strange with Mr. Agares, however.”

            “Oh?” hummed (Y/N), sighing as he kissed them.

            They lifted a hand and laced their fingers through his hair. With his hand around their waist keeping them flush against him and their hand keeping his head close, if they were found, it would be quite the intimate picture.

            “His blood…It is different than a regular human’s,” said Sebastian.

            “How odd. So many layers to this mystery,” said (Y/N), eyes closing as Sebastian’s hand on their waist trailed up.

            “I think there are other layers to concern yourself with,” said Sebastian, pulling (Y/N)’s robes from their shoulders.

            “Indeed,” said (Y/N), smirking and arching back into him. They pulled his collar open and kissed his neck. “Yours.”

            Sebastian smirked positively devilishly and spun them around to devour their lips in a kiss. (Y/N) eagerly kissed him back, reaching up and using the cross around his neck to pull him closer.

            Sebastian groaned at the roughness. Oh, how he loved Felis.

            (Y/N) smirked against his lips before kissing him again. They truly loved Corvus, every aspect of him.

l

            (Y/N) brushed the dust from Sebastian’s robes, and he rebuttoned their shirt, hands trailing on their skin as he did.

            “Corvus,” said (Y/N), rolling their eyes with a smirk.

            “Felis,” said Sebastian playfully, smirking as he redid their tie. He pulled it tight and then pulled them in. He kissed them and lingered for a moment. (Y/N) kissed him back.

            The door to the library creaked open, and the pair stepped apart. They had been expecting Ciel at this time, so it was time to get to work once more after a “recreational” pause.

            “Sebas—”

            (Y/N) and Sebastian sensed another soul approaching, and Sebastian grabbed Ciel. He tucked him beneath his robes, and (Y/N) grabbed a book of Latin to “discuss” with Housemaster Michaelis.

            The door opened again, and Bluewer entered. He looked around suspiciously, and Sebastian raised a brow.

            “What are you doing here at this hour?” asked Sebastian, all pleasantness.

            Bluewer hesitated, uncomfortable as the attention of the room fell on him.

            “Well, we can hardly expect our prefect to not be hard at work,” said (Y/N), smiling. “After all, just as we ensure we are prepared for every lesson, so does Mr. Bluewer. He is a model student.”

            Bluewer didn’t reply and just nodded shortly. “I was looking for a book.”

            “Which one?” said (Y/N).

            Bluewer’s eyes went the one in their hand, and (Y/N) nearly laughed. How foolish to choose that one. It was so obviously suspicious.

            “That one. However, I can see it is in use,” said Bluewer formally. He nodded to them. “Pardon me, Mr. Michaelis, Mr. Noir.”

            “You’re excused, Bluewer,” said Sebastian.

            Bluewer turned and left. The door closed behind him, and Sebastain pulled his robes from Ciel’s head.

            “Pardon me for being rough, but it seemed as though you were being followed,” said Sebastian.

            “Guess I’ve done one too many things to stand out,” said Ciel. “But sniffing around was useless. No matter what I asked, the ultimate response was always, ‘It was the Headmaster’s decision.’ ”

            “The staff replied the same way as well,” said (Y/N).

            “The staff, too, hm?” said Ciel, frowning. “We’re getting nowhere like this.” He narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth. “Well, if that’s how it’s going to be, I’ll have to use whatever means necessary to make contact with Derrick directly.” He walked to the window of the library and pushed it open. “Come on, Sebastian, (Y/N).”

            “But, Young Master, are you not sure to be penalized with two Ys if you leave your house at this time of night?” said Sebastian.

            “Isn’t it the masters who mete out punishments to the students?” said Ciel, rolling his eyes. “Mr. Michaelis, sir?”

            “Ah. Yes, you are correct,” said Sebastian, smiling with closed eyes.

            (Y/N) smirked.

l

            Sebastian, (Y/N), and Ciel stood outside the gates to Violet Wolf House. The gothic architecture in dark colors rose upon the hill, dark against the inky blackness of night. The only lights were the few lanterns near the house and the one Sebastian held.

            “This house is even more atmospheric at night,” said Ciel.

            “Well? How will you meet with Lord Derrick?” said Sebastian. “You are forbidden from entering the other houses.”

            “Sneaking it and being caught will undoubtedly end our investigation,” said (Y/N). They were hoping they’d get to do something exciting in this school for once—outside of sneaking around with Sebastian.

            “Will you be relying on our powers?” said Sebastian, smirking. He, too, wished for some amusement.

            Ciel huffed and took the lantern from Sebastian. “I don’t even have to go as far as to depend on you two. If I can’t get into his house, I just have to get him to come out.”

            He wound up and threw the lantern towards the house. It crashed through a window and broke on the floor within. Flames leapt up from within Violet Wolf House, dousing the mysterious house in the bright light of burning destruction.

            “Are you aware of Article 87 of Weston College’s school regulations?” said Ciel, smirking.

            “ ‘In case of an emergency, such as the onset of a fire or other calamity, within the school buildings or houses, all students must promptly evacuate to the schoolyard and answer to the roll call taken by the prefect,’ ” quoted (Y/N). They smirked. What an excellent plan.

            “Your conduct is deserving of expulsion if you are found out, Phantomhive,” said Sebastian with a smirk. “But as the Queen’s Guard Dog, your actions are deserving of great praise, Young Master.”

            “Prefect Bluewer was right,” said Ciel, smirking. “I should know the school regulations by heart.” He crossed his arms in satisfaction. “I look forward to seeing what kind of fellow he is. We’ll meet at last, eh, Derrick Arden?”

            (Y/N) grinned with a mischievous glint in their eyes as they watched the flames rise in Violet Wolf House. Finally, some excitement at Weston College.

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[weirdowithaquill]

ok question how and why was the scrapping of sentence vhecials even allowed in the first place I mean sure irl this isn't that bad but in ttte the mass scrapping of steam engines in the 60s in Britain might as well be considered a genocide did Brittish railways use every loophole and excuse in the book to do this and every other country for that matter

Thank you for your ask! And wow does it open up some cans of worms...

But before we get to in-canon reasons for why BR was able to mass-scrap steam engines, we should probably consider the author's intent behind writing this in - after all, the Reverend W. Awdry was writing a children's book series and went "ah yes, I want this to be a picture children see":

So why does Awdry allow for scrap to happen? Because it happened in real life. Awdry was a massive steam engine fan - he grew up on the Great Western mainline near Box Tunnel listening to engines working up and down the grade, his father was a steam fan, and he himself volunteered on various heritage railways (most notably the Talyllyn in Wales) - this is a man who loves his railways and his steam engines. But in the era he was writing - the 1950s and 1960s - the engines were rapidly withdrawn and scrapped as part of BR's Modernisation Plan. Awdry hated this - Britain was scrapping completely useful engines who had served the country through two global wars for untested, faulty diesels that smelt. If you read through the Forewards from Four Little Engines onwards, you can sometimes find that he is quietly advertising heritage railways by crediting them and telling his audience where the real-live versions of the steam engines in his books are. He does this for the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway, the Dartmouth Railway, the Ffestiniog Railway and of course: the Talyllyn and Bluebell Railways.

Awdry's books were as much a love letter to steam as they were a series of children's stories, and he wanted to make a real point about how he disagreed with BR and try to promote heritage railways to help keep steam alive.

Rev. W. Awdry was also a notorious perfectionist. Remember, this is a man who said that Dalby's illustrations of Percy looked like "a green caterpillar with red stripes" (ouch!).

This perfectionism carried over to the books: Awdry is very famous for his views on realism in Thomas - he quite famously disliked the Season 3 episode 'Henry's Forest' because it both broke Rule 55 - which states that engineers need to notify the signalman that their trains are at a stand in order to avoid an accident - and the fact that the trees were too close to the line, which could have caused a fire from sparks from the engine in real life. He placed real railway practice and its constraints at the forefront of his stories, and it shows.

Mixed together, these two parts of Awdry created the situation where he wrote about the scrapping of engines and the existential danger that it posed to steam engines and their livelihoods. This is the authorial reasoning behind scrap and the mass-scrapping of steam engines being so prevalent in his works - and it is prevalent, from as early as the first story where Edward is bullied by the bigger engines for being used so little and the implicit likelihood that he could be withdrawn and cut up.

With the authorial reasons for the mass-scrapping of steam engines having been answered, it is now a question of how to drill down into canon and explain what these views and decisions made by Awdry translate into.

Firstly, we need to separate two things: sentience, and human. Vehicles are not people in this series - they are very much the closest thing in terms of intelligence and speech ability, but they are not human. They are built out of minerals pulled from in the ground and powered by more rocks dug up from underground. Whether or not you see this as making this a society that enslaves the engines or not, the reality is that they are machines and the property of their human owners. This is a lot like horses - horses love us, even though we own them, and we often love them back. But not always. Horses were and are, after all, animals used for jobs - in their heyday, they were the car, bus, tram and train of society. We bought and sold them, and when they were no longer useful, people often put them down. Which is extremely morbid, yes - but it's an unfortunately necessary fact of that era and their lives.

Now translate it over to locomotives - the iron horses.

Locomotives are built to serve a purpose, and they must be capable of fulfilling their role. They are taking on the position of the horse from the above analogy - and when they are no longer useful, they can either be sold or scrapped. Worse yet, they are the industrial evolution to the horse - the capitalist's beast of burden.

And now I can finally move to answer the question of why the mass-scrapping of engines was legal: there was never any laws to stop them. From the moment the first engine rolled out of the shop, their owners argued loudly and publicly that they were simply an evolution of the horse. If people didn't give horses rights, why give engines rights? They are not human; they are iron beasts of burden. And in the rigid and very xenophobic society of the Victorian era, this worked incredibly well. Engines were trained using the Railway Rulebook to fulfill their job in much the same way you trained anyone and anything to be good at their job, and their culture was dismissed in the same way that Victorians dismissed any non-European culture.

Now, don't misunderstand me - this is not a good thing. This is a laissez-faire system of caring for vehicle rights developed by capitalism to make it cheaper, easier and less objectionable to discard old stock when needed. The government never intervened because doing so would place all the vehicles under their control under scrutiny. Can't have military lorries and tanks suddenly wondering whether or not their roles in war are legal, after all. And it's that worry that led to no nation really looking into vehicle laws until after World War Two - and even then, it was haphazard at best and downright discriminatory at worst. Even today, there are still no solid laws in place to cover the vast majority of vehicles - only those held in museums owned by the government or 'considered to be of cultural or historic importance' are afforded any rights at all - Thomas, Flying Scotsman, Stephenson's Rocket - those engines.

It's not because the engines themselves don't care, but because they simply have no real option to change this. Engines cannot move themselves - the worst they can do is force themselves to break down, and there will almost always be another engine to take their place.

Sorry for how morbid that got, but I hope it helped explain why I think engines were allowed to be mass-scrapped by BR!

[heystephen]

Can you expand on the nanny breed thing being a myth? My understanding was pit bulls are like mamma bears...aggressive to people who get in between them and their family.

I also heard that pits aren't more likely to bite people, but their jaws are super strong so when they do bite people it's more likely to do damage. Idk though.

happy to! so the “nanny dog” myth was formed around the late 70s-80s to combat anti pitbull rhetoric as breed specific bans were becoming more common. the idea, poorly conceived as it was, was to rehabilitate the pitbull’s image even if it meant making things up. the myth was that pitbulls were just SO well-tempered, people used to trust them to look after their children and essentially play the ‘nanny’.. which is deeply flawed for a myriad of reasons but the first one is that nobody should trust an animal to look after their kids. unfortunately that myth has gained so much traction since its conception that it’s become like a runaway train, always being thrown out by pibble moms who haven’t done their research.

as far as likelihood to bite, that’s a harder question to answer. ideally, a well-bred american pit-bull terrier shouldn’t have a strong propensity to bite people, in fact i think their breed standard calls for them to be very people-friendly (but don’t quote me on that, I’ll have to double check) but a lot of the dogs that we see listed colloquially as pits are just genetic clusterfucks of bully breeds and it really skews any attempt at evaluating data. but yes, their bite is powerful and more likely to do severe damage in the event of one. they’re very powerful dogs, and given their origin in blood sports and fighting, it makes sense. the locking jaws is another myth, though, at least.

[crumbsssscookie]

i adore girl! logan, like if she has zero fans then i'm dead! so seeing the update made my day amidst midterms season, so thank you!

but yes, i looooooove hearing logan's thought process and i also love how quickly she soaks in all the information that she is given. because logan isn't taken seriously and probably doesn't get the same attention from other people as her male counterparts. so i feel her hunger this chapter— that hunger for good advice especially from someone like jenson; that hunger to get her name out there by taking a chance with an upstart hire and her hunger to be on top of the podium. god, i am so excited for her to take the world by storm (even more because she is already an icon).

and also, having logan have the (potentially but probably) backing of nico and jenson is perfect. especially nico, who has been an advocate for women in sports and a certified girl dad. i think having them, two world champions, as an immediate well of knowledge is making me so giddy. i think nico will be her biggest defender (besides her family and sister ofc), will not let journalists or the hosts to doubt or discredit her in typical rosberg energy.

ALSO THE TRIO <\3 MY BELOVEDS </3 liam and yuki coming to her defences ):

and yes, i can imagine yuki's excitement at the arrival of L² in f1 esp since he probably mentions them like ... all the time ... (which he does with liam which is so sweet). but NOT TO MENTION THE PREMA TRIO ??? very excited for oscar to give the heart eyes energy towards logan; her being blissfully unaware ("omg new bestfriend!) and fred being an unwilling third wheel.

thank you again for this new chapter because ugh its so good. also are you surviving the break or are you also going insane? AND ALSO LOGAN TO INDYCAR POTENTIALLY? a win for us i think

— sunnie ☀️

Sunnie, I missed you ♥️ So happy, that I could brighten your day :3

If I didn’t have fem!Logan I’d probably gone completely insane tho, but the break is generally treating me well. Nevertheless I’m ready to watch this gaggle of men drive in squiggly circles again. Also manifesting for Logan to get an Indycar seat, I was sooo happy when he finally posted on Instagram again today about his whereabouts 😍

You’re right, if boy Logan felt kinda lonely and starved for attention, it’s unfortunately ten times worse for fem!Logan. She has to be a sponge in that regard, because even though she knows the future, she cannot say if the people that helped her along the way the first time, will do it this time around too. That’s why she hit up Nico, because she knew that since he’s that champion for women in sports, the likelihood that he would help her, would be high.

I don’t want to diminish the role he’ll play in the story, but he was a kinda fail-safe for Logan in the case Jenson would’ve said no. Again, with Jenson too, she knew the likelihood would’ve been high that he would help, but this Logans fail-safes have fail-safes have fail-safes. The prerequisite for her taking revenge at James is getting into F1 which is currently her highest objective.

Also, on the topic of Logan’s grid parents. You’ve nailed it completely. Nico has birthed Logan himself and he will not accept slander of any kind towards her. That’s his daughter for all he is concerned, the heir to the Rosberg dynasty, nobody will discredit her 💅And Jense is the quintessential proud father. He’ll do anything to make his daughter happy. Also he’d definitely put Mark and Nando on babysitting duty if he’s off racing Le Mans or something 🤭

2020 will bring the rise of the Prema Trio™️ and probably a little bit of jealousy by our resident Kiwi bc social distancing bans him from seeing Logan as much and Yuki’s off to F2 (so he doesn't even have anyone he can cry to in person about it). But I’ll make up for it with them trying their hand at streaming, since the pandemic will still be a thing

[sugar-omi]

HIII I HAVE A REQUEST!! like maybe like step 3 cove asking fem reader to prom their senior year!! it’s a really nice proposal with a sign and flowers and stuff, MAYBE BY THE BEACH?/?1)?2

but he’s also like rlly nervous and kinda fucks up but reader accepts anyway because they’re in LOOOVEEEE AND ITS JUDT RLLY CUTE AND STUFF

OMG YES<3 I've beent thinking abt prom w cove for days now. this is LONG btw, sm so I will make headcanons/another drabble with cove n reader clothes shopping and at prom <3

tags : fluff, step 3 cove, fem reader (use of she/her pronouns & girlfriend), non-established relationship but yk abt each others feelings n it becomes established

synopsis : cove asks you prom and it goes almost horribly wrong.

cove is totally shitting himself with nerves.

everyone has been asking their crushes, lovers, and friends to prom and cove wants to ask you so bad. he sees you looking a bit longingly at the public proposals and the way you stare at him afterwards with a look of anticipation and want has him reeling.

after a late night of looking at prom proposals and seeing one too many people get rejected at school, cove knew a public proposal was out of the question.

he'd die if you rejected him, and a public display of that would make him flee the country for sure...

cove had enlisted the help of his dad, a willing volunteer after cove almost busted at the seems during dinner last night with anxiety and tears.

they drove all the way to Prism Vista to pick up supplies, the likelihood of you seeing them at the store too high and cove certainly couldn't handle the teasing or knowing eye of the clerks, everyone knowing what time of year this was for seniors.

as his dad pulled into the driveway, cove exhaled shakily, noticing that you were still out with your family.

quickly snatching the stuff in his arms, cove slams the trunk and winces.

cliff laughs at his son's haste and tender nerves and throws the front door open so they can make haste on the board.

it takes a bit of planning, and the only thing cove tasked his dad with was the calligraphy, cove's hands far too shaky for such big letters, but he glues on plastic seashells and sand dollars for awhile before he helps his dad with painting the letters as he becomes more focused and determined to make this the greatest promposal ever.

eventually cliff left, letting cove take over now that he didn't need help with the preparations.

it's a corny poster, with "will you be my mermaid to my merman at prom?" in pretty blue letters and 'prom' in yellow glitter.

cove sits back, a bit hot from being hunched over and moving around as he ogled and analyzed the poster while working.

he wipes his forehead and moves the board to the guest bedroom where he knows you won't see it if you decide to sneak in his bedroom.

cliff notices cove cleaning up, and he perks up at his son's relaxed movements. "hey bud, all finish? how about we order some pizza?"

cove wasn't ready. well he was, he had the bouquet of your favorite flowers and the sign, and he even bought your favorite food from one of the restaurants in Sunset Bird.

instead of his usual way of entry, cove makes his way to your front door and knocks.

your ma opens the door, a sweet smile on her face but with a knowing look only a mother could have, cove pulled at the the collared shirt he wore and he really hoped between this half buttoned shirt and jeans, you didn't know what he was planning...

"cove, sweetie! looking for y/n?" noelani smiled, biting back a snicker.

cove distantly thinks that he hopes the sign doesn't blow away while he's here.

"y-yeah... um, is she here?"

pamela appears from behind, having been laid up in the living room. "I'll get her for you, don't run off!"

noelani hisses a scolding "pam!" at her wife's teasing and smacks her lips as pamela walks up the stairs to your room. "sorry sweetie, you're too easy for her to tease." she says bashful, knowing very well she can't help but snicker sometimes at cove and y/n's romantic fumbles and years of pining.

as cove distracts himself with small talk, you come down the stairs with pamela.

cove feels his heart beat against his chest, like a bee stuck in a window. he hoped you couldn't hear it, and with the way he felt, he hoped you couldn't see it beating out his chest as well..

in cove's hazy state, your moms have left and it's just you two.

"hey cove! what's up?"

cove swallows, wiping his hands on his jeans. you watch his mannerisms, you know them by heart and you see the sweat on his brow even though there's a chill in the air as the night befalls you.

"h-hey y/n.." great. as if he wasn't obvious before. "um, I wanna show you something, i-if that's okay.." cove laughs, and he tries to push away his worry. you never rejected him before, you always agreed with his crazy ideas or encouraged him to a better plan of action that still fulfilled cove's mild (or major, if he's feeling particularly bad) need for adventure.

you agree, and make your way across poppy hill.

before you reach the shore, cove instructs you to cover your eyes and he'll guide you to his surprise.

cove beams as your trust him, your eyes closed and covered by your hands as he takes you by the shoulders and helps you down the hill.

as you approach the park, cove sighs with relief as he sees his preparations are still there, he can even see the board hiding behind the jungle gym.

cove paced, waving his hands in front of you in a 'stay there' motion, as if you'd leave.

"tell me when i can open my eyes!" you laugh.

cove exhales, taking in deep breaths before he held it in anticipation.

he reached for the sign, briefly he thought about how embarrassing this was, he wished he could skip ahead but seeing your hopefully happy expression would make every second worth it.

"okay... open your eyes."

you shed your hands, and blink as you adjust to the light. eventually you beat the glare of the sun, and your mouth dropped in awe and shock.

cove feel hot under his collar, the breeze does nothing to relieve his edge.

while you're silent for the most part, besides a mumbled "what's this?.." that almost washes away with the beating waves of the sea.

cove speaks, "y/n.. i know you've been waiting for me to ask you, and uh.. i'm sorry i didn't ask you sooner. i was afraid you'd say no and that i'd embarrass myself and.." cove sighed, adjusting his grip.

"never mind. that's not what I wanted to say. y/n... i really like you, i have for a long time.. and i wanna go to prom with you. as my date."

cove flushed, his cheeks rivaling the color of the blushing evening sky.

you stood there, silently and shocked, but happiness bloomed on your face quickly. with watery eyes and a blinding grin you brushed cove's hands so he'd drop the poster.

cove drops the poster, smiling shakily as you wrapped your arms around him. "i like you too cove, so much. and i'd love to go to prom with you!"

cove grinned, happy as a peach. buoyed by the new development, he cupped your face. "can i.. kiss you?"

you nod, leaning into each others embrace and your lips meet in the middle.

you break apart, cove's head falls to your shoulder and water washes over your sandaled feet.

wait. water?..

the food! cove jumps up, suddenly remembering how close he'd put the food to the shoreline and the rising tide.

"the food! the flowers!" cove scrambles to the wet blanket he laid out, wishing he'd noticed this sooner.

he picks up the bag of take out, noticing how soaked the food already is. the tide must of washed over the food before cove came back.

thankful for small miracles, the flowers are only damp on one side but not bruised or flattened.

cove holds up the bouquet and presents it yet holds it close. "well... the food is ruined. the flowers are okay though?.." cove smiled sheepishly.

you sigh and approach, curling your hands around cove's trembling worried ones. "thank you for the bouquet, it's beautiful."

"i'm sorry.. i should've known i-" cove rambles.

"cove.." you try to sooth him.

"i hope you still wanna go with me, even after the majority of the surprise is ruined.." cove deflated, looking like a sad puppy who got his treat stolen by the other pup.

"cove! it's okay!" you push back his bangs, "I still wanna go to prom with you, even if our food and flowers almost got washed away for the fishes.."

he leans into your hand, blinking watery eyes.

"i'm glad.." cove brushes his nose against yours, leaning into your body. "so uh.. are we dating now?"

you laugh, "yes cove, if you'll have me as your girlfriend that is."

"of course!" cove kisses you again.

this is a great way to end your senior year.

[ashleywool]

ramblings on the intersection of science and faith

My MRI report came in yesterday.

I'm not gonna get too deep into the medical details until I've had a chance to discuss it in-depth with the professionals (which unfortunately probably won't be until Monday at the earliest), but I do have some things I need to say about it.

First: I'm okay. My life is not in danger. Making these discoveries now has undoubtedly saved me years of struggle that may well have gone on to endanger my life. Instead, I get to address the source of many ongoing issues and most likely cure them all. Don't get me wrong, it's a pretty big deal, but not a big scary deal.

Second: yes, I will need surgery. This has not been officially confirmed and its safety signed off on by a doctor, but from reading everything I can get my eyeballs on, I don't see any reason under the sun why surgery would not be the logical and urgent (but not like, emergency urgent) next step.

Again, I'm not gonna go too deep into the details until I understand it better and we have a game plan in place. But I have to talk a little bit about the feelings that are bubbling up around all of this.

My condition, and the particular way it has manifested, is exceedingly rare. I mentioned one of the tests I took to a doctor who had to be older than my parents, and he said, "I have not heard those words in that order since medical school." Of course, I know that just because something is rarely reported doesn't necessarily mean its existence is rare. But in my case, it seems like it's both.

I'm a Broadway actress with no medical background and I somehow figured out what was going on in my body even though it was ridiculously unlikely to be true. And now the doctors have no choice but to acknowledge these discoveries.

I would not have discovered any of these things if it hadn't been for the show closing when it did, my ovarian demon babies causing trouble when they did, having that surgery when I did, and having a chance conversation with a friend who just happened to be marrying a friend I've known since high school (and wouldn't have known if it hadn't been for our one shared chorus class)...any tiny alterations to that timeline could have led to a completely new timeline.

I miss our show every minute of every day. My heart misses it. My bank account misses it. But also, if the show was still running, I'd be physically struggling even more, and I would not have had the time and freedom to pursue the solutions. If the show was still running, and I was still pushing myself to continue with it, it might have caused irreparable (or at least excruciatingly-slow-to-repair) damage.

The sheer statistical likelihood of everything that's happened, everything happening, everything that is in my life right now, is staggeringly low. Practically impossible.

And so, once again I find myself saying, I can't not believe in God. I can't not believe that my life and my purpose were by design and by a Designer.

I could dig deep into arguments about the finer points of theology all day. I could happily lose myself in Bible study--not just the literal words, but the history and cultural context for all of it. I could "academic" my Christianity to death the same way I "academic" everything else in my life to death. By that logic, some would argue, I shouldn't even be a Christian. "Walk by faith and not by sight," and what have you.

But I believe--and this tends to ruffle feathers of Christians and atheists alike--that one must walk by faith only after sight is entirely exhausted. My faith is rooted in the question of what happens when the science stops sciencing. My faith is rooted in the question of, why would humans be driven by a sense of purpose and an impulse to know the answers, unless the answers were meant to be known to us? Even if the answers change nothing, even if our sated curiosity has no practical value, we delight in it.

I think walking by sight often and inevitably leads to faith. Digging deep into science and logic brings us closer to God, not farther away.

Discovering all the things I just discovered about my brain and my body has strengthened my commitment to all the things I feel called to do. And rectifying the situation will enable me to live out those callings with more energy and effectiveness than I've ever had.

I can't conceive of a reality in which that wasn't done on purpose.

Anyway. I'm working on a list of things I'm going to do once I'm on the other side of this, and I'm planting the seeds for them right now. Maybe I'll share it later. Maybe I won't. I guess you'll just have to wait and see.

[strawberry-selfships]

🍋🍋🍋 can i see three of them?

-bleedingheart-s

send me a 🍋 and I'll tell you a character I crushed on that never became an f/o

oh my GOSHHH OF COURSE U CAN @bleedingheart-s AAUJGKGHKSGU

ok one of them is this fella named lester parnell from a film called saltwater moose . i havent started shipping with him yet because i only saw the movie once and the plot was like.. baffling (in a silly way like a What Is Happening Hello) so nothing ended up happening because i was like.. so goofily dumbfounded by the movie itself . HES SOOOOOOOO CUTE THOUGH.

and yes i did make that gif of him. (and yes hes played by dalton who is.. rassilon . among other blorbos of mine)

OK the other two will be from DW because youre you and you get it

my most recent DW crush is kazran...... thats the latest DW ep/special ive seen (besides fifteen's new eps and besides the later ones my friends have showed me individually like the mr clever ep) and i just..... its so unfair bc i already crush on a version of scrooge so u give me a scrooge-inspired guy AND make him from DW its just . not faiiiiiirrrr thats oscar baiiiiit !!! idk what the likelihood of me coming back to him and selfshipping with him is tho . bc i have sooo much DW to still watch.

and one more ahhhhhh THE NEXT DOCTOR AHHHHHHHHH !!!!!!!!! (idk what else to call him...) i can hardly even think about him without nerding out . HES SO WONDERFUL !!!!!!!!!!!!!! i actually wish i did properly start selfshipping with him after i saw his episode but ah well . maybe ill make that day our anniversary when i do start selfshipping with him . AND ALSO HIS ACTOR PLAYS ANOTEHR ONE OF MY ROMANTIC F/OS SO THATS MORE OSCAR BAIT AAAHHH

HES SOOOO CUUUUTE RAAAHHHHHHHHH runs circles around him really fast

[valeriefauxnom]

Crack Dragalia Theory:

...Did Midgardsormr kill the royal family's mom?

Okay, hear me out in this relatively unevidenced argument.

Here's what we know of the Queen's cause of death:

So she left to a village that had severe storms and got killed in a tornado, caused by a dragon. Ok.

Here's Mids' story.

Now, you might be saying, Mids surely isn't the only one whose presence is tied to storms. And for that, you'd be entirely correct. Dragons like Zephyr and Pazuzu are both also noted/claim to be able to summon storms in their presence.

However, Pazuzu, who would be the best counterargument, doesn't 'just' bring storms - he poisons things in his presence, poisons water, spawns miasma. He's the embodiment of calamity- a simple tornado wouldn't be the only thing he kicks up, even if he could potentially have been drawn to the previous disaster unfolding.

Most other wind dragons wouldn't likely be in Alberia. Several are on top of (or inside of) mountains, or otherwise just not noted to having a proclivity (or power) to starting tornadoes or other wind events. Others are wanderers free as the wind. Others have other environments they prefer, or in another country to begin with.

I'd also like to bring up geography, everyone's favorite subject.

Here's South Grastea:

Here's some relevant geography marked that I made a bit ago:

Here we can see that there is both a settlement close to Sol Alberia (the capital, mind you)... and one that's directly next to Mids' territory.

Mids 'marks his territory' with gales. He might have unintentionally kicked up a tornado near his forest, the boundary of his territory, and it caught Rovetelle, killing the Queen, who had simply stepped out of the capital's safety to a nearby village (see how close they are), thinking it relatively safe for a good PR move or something. Rovetelle is also called the 'City of Trees' in a weapon description, so it seems quite close to the forest.

Now, yes, there may well be undescribed dragons that could have done it, but if you are willing to entertain Rovetelle as a potential location for the demise of the Queen, I would counter that a dragon as powerful as Mids likely discourages other dragons from even daring to encroach on his territory. He's the primal embodiment of wind and revered among dragonkind, he's not just another to squabble over territory with.

In less of a logical sense, it also would add some thematic oomph to Leo's grandstand at ch.12. That battle takes place, in, you guessed it...

Rovetelle forest. And since you can see that both Chanzelia and Valkaheim both are to the north of the Halidom, they both for some reason decided to circle all the way to the southern forest to approach instead of attacking from its eastern side.

You could argue that they are to the south because Euden and co were apparently going to be making moves on the capital and that they were acting in defense, but neither Chelle nor Leo are exactly jumping for loyalty/joy in defense of Morsayati.

Leonidas is also very impulsive in this battle.

He starts the chapter off stewing about his mother, her death, and then he and Chelle decide to make a stand in the forest, where he's immediately throwing out the big guns and otherwise much more intense about crushing his opposition.

Is it so foreign to consider he might be feeling even more testy than he is usually if he knows he's fighting in the area where the Queen died, fighting against his brother who has maybe pacted with the dragon that did it, however unintentionally?

It being Mids also would reduce the likelihood that enough people would've been willing to get angry and go after the dragon for vengeance - again, he's the Windwyrm. Deeply revered on top of all the normal worship dragons get. And not easily found on top of it.

Of course, then it adds in the extra little twist of Euden and Mids' relationship as first pactwyrm. To the immediate reflexive question of 'why wouldn't Euden know that'? though, I would suggest that maybe it was just another thing Aurelius kept in the dark from him. It's sufficient that he knows his mom died in a storm in a village doing good deeds, he doesn't need to know that Aurelius is sending him out to try to pact with the dragon that potentially did it. It's exactly the kind of truth that Aurelius seems most inclined to lie for, to try to save his children some grief and complicate their lives, just as he did surrounding Euden's... 'younger years'.

As a final offhand note, I might throw out Sophie's story.

We find out there that Euden's mom might be haunting him protectively. Ghosts are a real force in Dragalia, both malevolent and benevolent, and I do believe we see some correlation for 'their place of death' and 'weird necromancy stuff in general' between zombies and ghosts. In short: where people die, ghosts and zombies are more inclined to pop up.

Is it any wonder Ghost!Mom was able to 'find' Euden to start protecting Euden again, then, when he starts wandering around the very forest she died near/in? After all, why attach to him in particular instead of any other sibling or just Aurelius if she could roam free? It's because he was the first one to start wandering in the area - Notte and Zethia followed him after he tried to make them stay home!

I'll throw in the most crackish 'evidence' to this whole thing as a final note, too:

Maybe Mids picks up on Euden's mana weirdness here because he, as a dragon, is intimately familiar with what is roaming about his forest, as is shown, and at some point passively became aware of the Queen's spirit haunting the woods (dragons are very spiritual creatures in Dragalia and sensitive to mana/this kind of stuff), and is thus attuned enough to the specific feeling to go 'hey, wait a minute, that feels familiar but from where-...' when said ~vibration~ starts coming from Euden?

So... yeah. Hopefully my argument here is at least vaguely convincing to say that there is a good chance that Midgardsormr unintentionally killed Queen Mom!

[thefisherqueen]

All right, reading The Bruce-Partington Plans this evening! Two more stories after this and I've caught up with Letters from Watson :)

In the third week of November, in the year 1895, a dense yellow fog settled down upon London. From the Monday to the Thursday I doubt whether it was ever possible from our windows in Baker Street to see the loom of the opposite houses. It blows my mind how normal this kind of heavy, extremely unhealthy smog was in this time. Makes me wonder what in another 100 years people will have going like "You lived like that?!" (I hope it's parking lots and highways and office buildings)

But when, for the fourth time, after pushing back our chairs from breakfast we saw the greasy, heavy brown swirl still drifting past us and condensing in oily drops upon the window-panes, my comrade's impatient and active nature could endure this drab existence no longer. He paced restlessly about our sitting-room in a fever of suppressed energy, biting his nails, tapping the furniture, and chafing against inaction. Bored Sherlock Holmes, oddly cute

“Look out this window, Watson. See how the figures loom up, are dimly seen, and then blend once more into the cloud-bank. The thief or the murderer could roam London on such a day as the tiger does the jungle, unseen until he pounces, and then evident only to his victim.” Oh my, Doyle was really in his tiger fangirl fase when writing these last few stories

Well, well! What next?” said he. “Brother Mycroft is coming round.” “Why not?” I asked. “Why not? It is as if you met a tram-car coming down a country lane. Mycroft has his rails and he runs on them. We'll get to meet Mycroft again! :) Also, quite a funny image, Mycroft running on rails

You told me that he had some small office under the British government.” Holmes chuckled. “I did not know you quite so well in those days. One has to be discreet when one talks of high matters of state. You are right in thinking that he under the British government. You would also be right in a sense if you said that occasionally he is the British government.” And this was me thinking that the BBC series had sucked Mycroft being this whole goverment mastermind out of their thumb. So that's canon?:O

“Well, his position is unique. He has made it for himself. Nice parallel between the brothers here!

“There has been an inquest,” said I, “and a good many fresh facts have come out. Looked at more closely, I should certainly say that it was a curious case.” “Judging by its effect upon my brother, I should think it must be a most extraordinary one.” He snuggled down in his armchair. “Now, Watson, let us have the facts.” I just love this interaction. Holmes being all excited and trusting Watson to tell the important things to him :)

So the case is about a dead clerk that was found - murdered, in all likelihood - carrying some seriously important papers. Which he himself had stolen. And some of which were again stolen of him. Intriguing.

I'm hoping for some fun investigations in tunnels and along train tracks (I hope our men are careful)

If the papers were guarded with the same 'super secure' protective measures as the secret papers we've seen so far, they couldn't have been hard to steal

The actual official guardian of the papers is the famous government expert, Sir James Walter, whose decorations and sub-titles fill two lines of a book of reference. He has grown gray in the service, is a gentleman, a favoured guest in the most exalted houses, and, above all, a man whose patriotism is beyond suspicion. I already don't trust him. At least it's not a colonel?

“Has the fact been verified?” “Yes; his brother, Colonel Valentine Walter, has testified to his departure from Woolwich, and Admiral Sinclair to his arrival in London; so Sir James is no longer a direct factor in the problem.” But his brother is! Very suspicious

“Well, well!” said Holmes, shrugging his shoulders. “Come, Watson! And you, Lestrade, could you favour us with your company for an hour or two? Off they go!

It was one of my friend's most obvious weaknesses that he was impatient with less alert intelligences than his own. Savage, Watson

Watson, we have done all we can here. We need not trouble you any further, Mr. Lestrade. I think our investigations must now carry us to Woolwich.” No don't leave the creepy tunnels and train tracks yet :( I want more adventure

No theories yet. I can't figure out what Holmes means by points and curves and not wanting to investigate the train's carriages

“That should be helpful, Watson,” he remarked as we took our seats in the Woolwich train. “We certainly owe Brother Mycroft a debt for having introduced us to what promises to be a really very remarkable case.” It's 'we' and 'us'. They are so Together

“The end is dark to me also, but I have hold of one idea which may lead us far. The man met his death elsewhere, and his body was on the roof of a carriage.” That explains a lot: why there was a loud thud, why the clerk hadn't a ticket, and also why there was no blood on or near the tracks

The house of the famous official was a fine villa with green lawns stretching down to the Thames. As we reached it the fog was lifting, and a thin, watery sunshine was breaking through. A butler answered our ring. “Sir James, sir!” said he with solemn face. “Sir James died this morning.” Oh! There's a second murder victim?

“It was this horrible scandal,” said he. “My brother, Sir James, was a man of very sensitive honour, and he could not survive such an affair. It broke his heart." Ah, of course, no murder but the mysterious victorian Death by Sadness disease. If he really is dead. Btw, I don't trust the brother

I have a theory: mr. colonel learns of the top secret papers because likely his scientist brother can't keep his mouth shut, either convices his brother to take the papers home, or he steals his key and takes them himself. Anyway, Cadogan West catches them being all suspicious and impulsively (he was hot-headed) follows them to try to stop them. Which doesn't end well, he knows too much so he's murdered, and they place 7 of the papers upon his body so he can take the blame. Of course the brothers cover for each other

Arthur was the most single-minded, chivalrous, patriotic man upon earth. He would have cut his right hand off before he would sell a State secret confided to his keeping. It is absurd, impossible, preposterous to anyone who knew him.” Always trust the opinion of his fiancee. This young clerk was innocent

My friend's face grew graver still. “Anything else?” “He said that we were slack about such matters—that it would be easy for a traitor to get the plans.” Poor security. Why am I not surprised

“We were to go to the theatre. The fog was so thick that a cab was useless. We walked, and our way took us close to the office. Suddenly he darted away into the fog.” “Without a word?” “He gave an exclamation; that was all. Clearly no planned theft then.

“I'm afraid,” said Holmes, smiling, “that all the queen's horses and all the queen's men cannot avail in this matter.” He had spread out his big map of London and leaned eagerly over it. Holmes is a map nerd! Same, Holmes, same. Now the question: what clue did he find from the map?

All the long November evening I waited, filled with impatience for his return. At last, shortly after nine o'clock, there arrived a messenger with a note: Am dining at Goldini's Restaurant, Gloucester Road, Kensington. Please come at once and join me there. Bring with you a jemmy, a dark lantern, a chisel, and a revolver. Danger date! Love it. No clue what a dark lantern is

Try one of the proprietor's cigars. They are less poisonous than one would expect. That is not reassuring at all, Holmes

When I found that the leading international agent, who had just left London, lived in a row of houses which abutted upon the Underground, I was so pleased that you were a little astonished at my sudden frivolity.” So the colonel was innocent this time? Or did he still steal the papers, and then sell them to this agent?

We must bear in mind that Oberstein has gone to the Continent to dispose of his booty, but not with any idea of flight; for he had no reason to fear a warrant, and the idea of an amateur domiciliary visit would certainly never occur to him. Yet that is precisely what we are about to make.” “Could we not get a warrant and legalize it?” “Hardly on the evidence.” They are going to break in! Exciting!

He sprang up and shook me by the hand. “I knew you would not shrink at the last,” said he, and for a moment I saw something in his eyes which was nearer to tenderness than I had ever seen. The next instant he was his masterful, practical self once more. Awww :) Be gay, do crime, boys!

“A fairly complete record, Watson! If we could only get at the man at the other end!” He sat lost in thought, tapping his fingers on the table. Finally he sprang to his feet. Colonel! I haven't given up on my theory yet

I think we might drive round to the offices of the Daily Telegraph, and so bring a good day's work to a conclusion.” I guess that Holmes wants to lure the other accomplice out by placing a new message

But some of these days you'll go too far, and you'll find yourself and your friend in trouble.” “For England, home and beauty—eh, Watson? Holmes you flirt

“By George!” cried Lestrade. “If he answers that we've got him!” “That was my idea when I put it in. I think if you could both make it convenient to come with us about eight o'clock to Caulfield Gardens we might possibly get a little nearer to a solution.” We're nearing the conclusion :)

One of the most remarkable characteristics of Sherlock Holmes was his power of throwing his brain out of action and switching all his thoughts on to lighter things whenever he had convinced himself that he could no longer work to advantage. I remember that during the whole of that memorable day he lost himself in a monograph which he had undertaken upon the Polyphonic Motets of Lassus. For my own part I had none of this power of detachment, and the day, in consequence, appeared to be interminable. The great national importance of the issue, the suspense in high quarters, the direct nature of the experiment which we were trying—all combined to work upon my nerve. It was a relief to me when at last, after a light dinner, we set out upon our expedition. This is a wonderful bit of insight into their characters. Watson is anxiety-inclined. Holmes is able to switch that off to a perhaphs unsafe level - anxiety helps keeps you alive, after all, not good to not have it at all.

The man glared round him, staggered, and fell senseless upon the floor. With the shock, his broad-brimmed hat flew from his head, his cravat slipped sown from his lips, and there were the long light beard and the soft, handsome delicate features of Colonel Valentine Walter. The colonel again. I fucking knew it. Careful, Watson, if you can find more words for his beauty you might faint yourself

I did not murder him! I'm innocent! I only did nothing to prevent it and then did not call for help and then helped get rid of the body!

Some weeks afterwards I learned incidentally that my friend spent a day at Windsor, whence be returned with a remarkably fine emerald tie-pin. When I asked him if he had bought it, he answered that it was a present from a certain gracious lady in whose interests he had once been fortunate enough to carry out a small commission. Cadogan West's fiancee gave Holmes a present? That is so sweet

Another fun read. I couldn't care too much about the fate of those papers, but it was a good case. The yellow smog and trains and tunnels added a lot of atmosphere. And Holmes and Watson interacted very cute in this story

[fangbangerghoul]

Absolute Zero

AO3 MTAS Fic Builder x Qi Rated: G wc: 996 Summary: Kiichi is new to Sandrock and has gotten some time to explore the various characters that reside in the town. There is one person in particular she has always enjoyed assisting even when she doesn't think she will be of much use.

Chapter 1: Just My Eyes.

The smell of clay and sand covered Kiichi as she continued to make the straw patches for her garden. Zeke had showed her how on a few occasions but even as she was elbow deep in the sand and mud it was proving to be difficult to organize properly. She wanted to get the autumn seeds planted since it was the end of summer and Kiichi felt it was the least, she could do since her roommate, Sage was out mining ore for their next big commission.

The sun never got along with Kiichi's body and she knew this before agreeing to move to Sandrock but room and board were offered for the first couple weeks as she settled with her new builder companion. Another trowel of sand and another of straw, the first patch of four was nearly complete before she heard a loud psst coming from across the fence of their yard. Kiichi looked up and smiled to herself as she saw her neighbor ahead. He was wiry, awkward, and always disheveled but that never bothered her. Where others would judge and criticize him for these qualities, she could see that it all amounted to his passion and work ethic when it came to his research.

"Kiichi." Qi said her name out loud now that he saw she was looking at him through the fence that parted them.

"That would be my name." She responded with a playful roll of her eyes as she gratefully put down the trowel and started to wipe off the clay and sand off her hands. The stringy feeling of the straw was also made her skin itch. "Surprised you didn't shout builder this time around."

"Well, yes, that is your occupation." He pushed up his glasses before straightening his posture. "But I had recalled a previous conversation in which you stated you were not satisfied with how impersonal that made you feel."

"How considerate of you, Mr. Scientist." Kiichi was now leaning over the old white fence, smiling broadly at his fumbling of words. He had a knack for sounding nervously smart. If that was what you could call it.

"Mister is unnecessary, scientist is just fine.” He said plainly as her sarcasm as usual went over his head. Occasionally she felt bad that it did and wondered if he ever took her so literal it offended him. Qi was starting to twiddle his fingers signally there was something ready to burst out of him.

“I have come here because you have been an excellent assistant in previous data collection expeditions." Qi's voice always sounded very posh and academic when he went on his tangents. There was times Kiichi could appreciate it and times when she would rather throw data discs at him. Kiichi crossed her arms as she tried to listen intently on him even as the sweat was starting to pour down the side of her head.

"You did most of the work, Qi. I just dug those items out of the ground. If you hadn't told me the likelihood of their location. I probably would have never found them." She felt a bit embarrassed by his complementing. It was a practical compliment but it gave her too much of the credit and she couldn’t have that. She used the back of her arm to try to wipe off the sweat that started getting into her eyes.

“Even if that is the case. It is beneficial to my research and the data to have your input. This time it will mostly be observational however your peer review would add to its empirical value.” His fingers still nervously interlinked with one another and the shifting of his feet made Kiichi want to smile even more. It was the little things with this particular neighbor that had her enjoying his company.

“We both know I am not a scientist. I am barely an official builder.” Kiichi’s red eyes looked towards the horizon of the desert and thought about the things she had to do. Things she barely knew how to do and things she had yet to learn. If it was not for Sage’s quiet guidance when she first moved to town, she was not sure if she even would have acquired the job. She slouched back on the fence as if the weight of pressure she constantly put on herself was physically pushing her down.

“Kiichi.” Qi stepped closer and put his arms out to gesture to grab her eye’s attention. “I am not asking for a fellow scientist to participate in this. I just need your eyes. They are fully functional and will be able to agree or disagree with what I observe.”

When she looked back up at him was staring at her with focused intent. It almost sounded like he was trying to motivate her but with the way he spoke it was always hard to tell. Normally Kiichi relied on the pitches and his tones to guide what he possibly felt but she had sunk into herself a bit to deep when he had spoken.

“Just my eyes?” She breathed in letting the options before her simmer for a moment before letting it all out in a soft sigh. “Well, if there is no one else and I suppose I could help.”

“Good. Your contribution to science will be noted.” He nodded before fixing his glasses again. There was a bit of a pep in his step as he turned to leave but he halted abruptly to add, “1800 I will meet you outside of my Research Center.”

“I’ll be there, Qi!” Kiichi waved as he darted off. His feet carrying him away back to his home the Research Center. She let her head fall for a minute sighing again. There was still a lot of planting to do and the sun was baking her like one of Sage’s gooey cakes.

Kiichi found the motivation to get back to the dirt and continue with her gardening.

[cilil]

Hello again! I was wondering if I could throw in a request for the Spicy Bingo:

Candles with Námo

He strikes me as a guy that'd totally be into wax play. Maybe he blindfolds reader also??? Idk make it as hot as the candle wax lol

Thank you!! 🩷

Author's Note: More fun times with Námo! I'm surprised by the amount of requests I got for him, but positively so - he's always fun to write (both top/dom and bottom/sub).

Thanks for the request!♡

ೃ♡⁀➷ Spicy Bingo: Candles + Námo x reader ৎ୭

"Hot or cold?" 

ৎ୭ Synopsis: A Maia of Mandos has been neglecting her duties. Námo allows her to choose her punishment.

ৎ୭ Featuring: fem!reader, Maia!reader, dom!Námo, BDSM, wax play

ৎ୭ Oneshot (~900 words)

"Hot or cold?" 

It seemed like a simple question, yet you could already imagine what it implied. You had been failing to keep up with your duties as a Maia serving in the Halls of Mandos, and your lord knew, he always knew; and now you would be justly punished for your transgressions.

His hand felt icy against your reddening skin, heating up with nervousness and embarrassment when he placed his fingers underneath your chin and gently forced you to face him while he waited for your answer. 

"Hot," you said instinctively and saw the Vala nod underneath his veil. 

"So be it." 

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

You find yourself kneeling on a chair completely naked, wrists tied to its back to keep you in position, thighs and ankles bound as well. There is a small table next to you, with nothing on it save for a single candle in a glass jug, emerald green wax slowly melting as it burns. It has long since dawned on you what your lord's intentions are, and you can do nothing except watch the flickering flame. 

Námo is silent when he returns to your side and picks up the jug to examine the wax inside. His expression is unreadable as always, hardly visible in the dim light even after removing his veil, and you bite your lip to stop yourself from begging for any sort of relief; the cool air of Mandos causes your entire fána to tremble, making you almost crave your impending punishment. 

The Fëantur places the jug back on the table. You nearly break your silence as another shiver runs down your spine, but then you see him approaching with a strip of cloth in hand and realise what he wants. Raising your head obediently, you close your eyes as he blindfolds you, then quickly inspects your bonds to make sure you will remain in place. You listen to his footsteps and hear the candle being picked up once again, nervously shifting on the seat of the chair. 

Your fána yearns for his touch, yet you know you won't be so fortunate; it's not in your lord's nature to take pity on those he punishes. Though perhaps, if you show him what a good Maia you can be– 

The feeling of hot wax dripping on your skin interrupts your thoughts and you let out a sharp gasp, toes curling as Námo meticulously draws a line down your back, then pauses to admire green droplets glistening on your skin like pearls on silk. He reaches between your legs to brush against your folds with the back of his hand. 

"Do you enjoy this, dear?" he asks.

"Y-yes, my lord." 

You know there's no point in denying it. In all likelihood, Námo knew your answer in advance, as well as the punishment you would choose for yourself; and chances are he also knows that a different kind of heat is spreading inside you. 

He proceeds to drip more wax onto your back, this time in a deliberate zig-zag pattern. You try your best to hold still for your lord and not whimper every time another hot droplet lands on your cool skin, and your efforts are rewarded when you feel his hand between your legs once again. This time, Námo pushes a finger inside you to test your fána's reaction, and you lower your head in embarrassment; you already know how wet you are. 

"You do seem to enjoy this indeed," he muses.  

Before you can even attempt to explain yourself, he continues with yet another zig-zag line down your back, making sure to spread the wax as evenly as possible. You keep your head low to hide your blush, but fail to contain your increasing desire as moans and pleas fall from your lips. 

"P-please touch me again, my lord... punish me however you want, but please... I n-need you–" 

Námo stays silent until he's satisfied with the amount of wax adorning your skin, then sets the candle aside and idly caresses the inside of your thighs. 

"Need me?" he echoes. "You seem to forget that this is intended to be punishment." 

"Please–" 

You receive a gentle yet warning slap on your thigh, reminding you of your place. 

"Perhaps I may grant your request once you have time to think about your actions," Námo decides, and you can sense him withdrawing from you before leaving you alone. 

Still tied to the chair, you have no choice but to wait. The wax has long since dried on your skin and you feel yourself getting cold once again, eliciting occasional whimpers from you whenever you shiver or attempt to shift to a more comfortable position. Needless to say, you regret not keeping up with your duties. You want to show your lord that you can do better. With a sigh, you rest your chin on the back of the chair, close your eyes and relax to the best of your ability; you have learned your lesson, you tell yourself, surely Námo won't begrudge you a bit of rest. 

You remain in this position, nearly dozing off while your mind wanders, until you feel your lord's cool hands grasping your hips and his hot, hard length being shoved inside you in one single thrust. Your mouth falls open, surprised by his sudden return, and a cry of pain and pleasure fills the room as he proceeds to set a merciless pace. He fucks you till your knees hurt and you cum around his cock, crying out his name, and he continues to fuck you still, not stopping before he's completely satisfied with you. 

If you enjoyed, please consider liking and reblogging!♡

Also if you like dom!Námo and/or wax play, here's another oneshot featuring both~

taglist: @a-contemplation-upon-flowers @asianbutnotjapanese @edensrose @eunoiaastralwings @i-did-not-mean-to @singleteapot

spicy bingo master post | my masterlist | tag list form

[tu-es-gegg]

14, 20, 31 !

qsmp ask game

14. Thoughts on Cucurucho and The Federation?

i think on the onset is the Fed itself doesnt seem all that scary at least to unfamilar new viewers. i think at first it definitely had that scare horror factor with that famous chainsaw hallway and how many times people got kidnapped. i think as time went on as people started to learn more abt the inner workings of the federation (from getting to knwo the actual workers like fred and walter bob, to the QSMP official streams, seeing all the goofs and gaffs of it all) it started losing its horror edge and characters openly mock it too. cucurucho too, liek these characters already been through hell and back that cucurucho and the federation are just lesser evils compared to stuff like purgatory eye guys

and that part to me is the scarier or at least on equal to the horror vibes it had before because that means people have just gotten comfortable with an oppressive force. the Feds are well... the feds, they enforce the rule of perfection and stability, they only care about presenting a perfect image and they dont really care about what they have to do to obtain it, so long as the veil of perfection is presented that is all they desire. no matter how much damage to children or islanders is done, they must achieve perfection; for what purpose we don't know.

i think a lot of people sweep under the rug the horrific stuff the feds do because its only looking at the very human and feeling workers. but workers do not represent the feelings and actual desires of the higher ups, we've seen what higher ranking federation workers do to dissents that decide not to work along with their assigned roles with walter bob. and we can see that some even higher ranking workers like elena are affected adn sometimes dont even know some things because of their manipulations.

the feds work with obscuring truths, lies and gaslights (yes im using this word correctly, they actively try to make present faults on the islanders instead of taking accountability for themselves), make themselve the better person, they trap birds in cages and when teh birds beg for freedom, they show them a polluted city and say "are you sure?", the bird says they'll stay and so the feds cut their wings. its less scary in that abject of horror of "what the fuck are they?" and more scary in the sense they are cruel.

i do wish we had more human experimentation, liek we cant jsut have qq be the ONLY one thats jsut unfair.

20. Name an event you’d like to see in the future

in terms of culturall events lmao i dont have much, i kinda hoped they did lunar new year earlier, i love lunar new year (IT WAS SO PERFECT THIS YEAR TOO, YEAR OF THE DRAGON HELLO), id like them do some sort of german holiday, Oktoberfest is a great one

likelihood of them doing something liek a nod to ramadhan and aidilfitri is low, maybe one day idk, they should do a whole day of night market GOD I FUCKING LOVE NIGHT MARKET

in terms of lore events PLEASE I WANT ANOTHER FEDERATION BREAK IN, OR AT LEAST SOMETHING SIMILAR, i know that kinda stuff is so fuckin hectic esp when you have the collective half of the server, but like i love that kinda

or maybe some sort of minigames sports day with cash prizes where they jsut play server minigames made by the players, like someone can make spleef or hunger games, they just hire badboyhalo to make a find the button and everyone collectively kills him.

31. What lore/arc have you enjoyed the most?

QSLIME CODEFLIPPA ARC PLEASE I NEED THIS CONCLUDED, im already a qslime sucker, i liek his cahracter and how he's played, this idea was already been a concept for other qslime fans when it was discovered the codes could disguise as eggs jsut because of how perfect it is. I think out of most people, he was one of the most succeptible to being manipluted because out of all the islanders, he was one of teh most desperate. someone like quackity or maxo would sniff it out immediately, by virtue of them finally reaching their acceptance. qjaiden to some extent also had acceptance, though BARELY just a hair, though her likelihood of being targeted would be thwarted by cucurucho and the feds if they ever found that fake bobby, also roier would just insta kill code bobby if he stuck around. qslime however, shown oveer time and time again very publicly he would never get over flippa. AND BY GOD HE WASNT.

i also was like dying to find out mroe about the nature of the codes themselves, not jsut as killing egg machines, liek seen with etoiles they were only seen as fighters, battlers, entites only served to be one-note killers. so when codeflippa came around everyone was immedietely in for a wild fuckign ride, it got even wilder by the end of the 3rd flippa hangout stream (tubbhole stream i call it) with flippa remembering something federation related and seemingly spouting honest endearment to qslime and GOD godd QSLIME AND HIS BEING A BEING A FATHER;;; like he is so self sacrificial to point it even hurts people around him jsut for the sake of making sure is daugther is the best and recieves the best, like;;; gah its jsut a perfect arc as a testament to what qslime is down toa core, a guy trapped in a cycle of grief and drowning in it over adn over, too blinded in denial and begging on his knees to have someone good ofr once in his life. when people want to know what qslime is i jsut point them to this arc in general. its executed so well thanks to charlie slimecicle and also codeflippa's admin (they do god's work being so patient by how many times charlie straight up just lets her go free) my only wish is that PLEAE COME BACK CODEFLIPPA I MISS YOU.

AND ALSO QBBH DYING, i think bbh bloggers can word that section better than me but holy shit the arc of him dying which went on so fucking agonisingly long, the wait for a shoe to drop and when it finally does, GOD ITS A WRECK, he's so interconnected with EVERYONE on the island simply by jsut being their babysitter, yet his death is so quiet, the news pouring out slowly and surely, and the fact only select few people were actually concerned in his process of dying, its a strange reflection of a very reoccuring themse of hidden sides and secret lives that mainly is a product of how streamed mcrp works, mainly for this style that the QSMP has, qbad's death was so satisfying beacuse it was the ending of an agonising wait, of questions being answers and new ones popping up, i could go on other stuff i cant fit in also cellbit's little federation detective adventures, that whole reveal where he is confirmed to be a fed employee and can never truly escape from their grasp was so fuckign good, the consequence of by all accounts selling his soul to cucurucho and the federation comign back to bite him OHHhhhhhhhhh that whole saga is so fuckign good. also the egg lore and developments like god sunny's whole drama with leo and also tallulah, the perfect representation of things little girls go through in life, litterally roier rat sage what the fuck (i dont know why doied exists but like ratoier is fuckign funny), FITMC AND AMDAGIO OHHHH BOY, i willcatch him with my bare hands, finally the answer after finding out he knew he ahd a reason to come ot he island oughghghh philza ender king lore ive been enjoying too i will catch that man too, etoiles and code interactions is also real fujckign good.

I think the main thing i like in lore is little things having big consequences, and the execution naturally blowing up, the thing i appreciate most is paying attention to all teh little memories and slights from before, and havign the comeuppance. some arcs i do appreciate, like bagi's search for her brother (the scene with her and cellbit mua chef kiss), litterally tazercraft getting arrested adn that whole saga, antoine daniel, whatevber the hell is ayrobot but i think what makes me not come back to those that often is mainly because... well i dont think theres a satisfying answer to them. not a conclusion or ending but more like, why did these happen? what sort of thing happens becausse of this? some arcs dont seem to lead into anywhere, and its not like filler episodes , its not jsut extra stuff to flesh out characters because they are actual stakes at hand with these arcs like there should be MORE consequences because of these things, stuff should be affected but instead are just little spice to these character and thus,, some jsut miss out on the depth they couldve had. its nto a diss to anyone, i jsut wish some arcs had more time to bake or be reworked to at least have a significant effect instead, they jsut kinda end up in my mid pile.

[blackvahana]

Oh, there's so many types of place. I get what was said regarding "If you want to be me, you need to know I'm not real".

It's... I get also why I Gated myself off from this. This is the mechanism of creation: the ALL is Mental, so to create another real Mental space... There's no way to talk about it here. The mind as people know can't create reality. These endless posts about "well, you see when you approach the world while happy good things happen and the world seems brighter therefore the world IS mental" are operating on a "see I respect you (not hurting you) therefore you should respect me (worship the ground I walk on)" level. There's two very, very different things going on here with mental and Mental - and even Mental and (ALL Mental). It's like saying music can have soul (feeling, emotion, energy as if it's alive) therefore souls (invisible copies of the body that may predate the body or linger after it, selves beyond physical bodies) clearly exist. No.

But this... This Creational Mental. The crystalline rain drop that forged everything we see now hangs in the mind of Brahma. The instance of fortification. The splitting of the Astral planes, it's a moment he's frozen inside his brain. You can traverse it - but it's not a place, it's a portal. It's a portal to something before this universe's incarnation. It's a reference to something in a different one... Or more so a pattern emerging in the Indra's Web of the Universes themselves...

He took a pattern and turned it into reality. He took a likelihood as bricks. He turned theory into reality by using the substance of theory itself. It was scattering light bouncing wall to wall that he plucked, and manifested into matter.

That's besides the point - and the whole point - ah, yeah, the song playing is called Manufactured Minds. Anyway. I keep returning to the number 15, 16 splits of reality... Various ways of stitching spaces together. All written in language that doesn't fit into English, we don't have a word for various types of fabric of experience and groundedness, rough equivalents to time and space that aren't always present in some form...

Ah. Man. I'm starting to understand the hall of mirrors, the Sky Library, isn't so much a - well, it's a set of gateways. Its portals into all (most? the Librarian's pride would hate me for not saying all) types of existence. It's a cataloguing of information which... Anyway.

The Sky Library has various functions. Information keeping, recording, informing int he way of using it to programme, this infinite-finite set of portals... Set of eyes... No. There's something else. It's this specific gateway into the mind of god, which makes me wonder if - again, yes, the point of Creation - it was an inversion of what we all do where we forge links to [God] to receive visions and information but... not inverted, not giving information, they have other ways to try and fail to do that, but uh. To. mirror the point of Creation.

That single droplet...