#god I enjoyed answering these | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

thatdeadaquarius · 9 months

Text

THE SAGAU FANFIC ONE-SHOT WINNER IS...

🎊🎉🌿Eldritch! Reader AU🌿🎉🎊

Just a small annoucement for the winner, though I'm sure we all saw the results lol

Have a snippet, hope you enjoy!

*disclaimer: subject to change, this is a draft, no finalized version yet.

At least, you were pretty sure of where you were now. But that didn't mean it made any more sense. You hadn't recognized it at first, but the Irminsul was unmistakable after a minute of looking at it and the surrounding blue. The lights were incredible, with sparkles and stars floating up from the ground. Strange, nearly mechanical patterns flared out from its branches. The only difference between the Irminsul in-game versus the real one you see now is the rapid swelling and filling out of its trunk. As you had woken up more and more, ignoring the strange state of your body for now, it had let out weirdly nostalgic noises. Like a computer booting up, and a million other digital pings or tunes as it grew. As you tentatively reach a hand out to touch the trunk, a familiar book materializes. The dark blue pages flip to the first page instead of to the middle of the book. ...isn't this usually the really obscure "Archives" animation from the Paimon settings page? What's it doing here?? In gold writing that hovers slightly above the pages, your (presumed) stats display. The eerily familiar Genshin Impact font rapidly types itself out from left to right. /gamemode: admin *Executing... *Executing... *Loading... *Loading... *... *...Success! *Your gamemode has been changed. " Player." [ADMIN.] EXP: 1000000#%$+??? DEF: ?%@****+~?? ATTK: ??*!!%^<=+? POWERS: - ??";*&%[]\/%? - &%#@?<_++}] - ~`*(-_+}|\\!!??^& ...you decide to stop looking at your... stats, for now. Because more importantly, as you pull your hand back from the book (letting it float in place in front of the Irminsul trunk again), you notice something even more off. Your hand. It's... wrong. As you trail your eyes up your arm, you choke back a sense of panic. Sure enough, when you bring the right arm over to poke and try to smear the seemingly black paint that drenches your left arm, it too is covered in black. Your arms are pitch black. And as you attempt to touch your forearm for more answers, only to phase through it... you begin to think maybe this is not, in fact, paint. And as you realize you are hovering, instead of standing in place, you begin to think this is, in fact, the very real world of Genshin Impact. ...you decide to lay back down on the weird blue ground (?) and take a nap.

Maybe start today over.

☆

I'll be working on asks in the mean time!

But this'll be higher priority/posted soon bc I'm worried I'll forget abt it otherwise lmao

Idk if anybody cares that much, but I'll go ahead and ask just in case:

I hope you guys are having a great week, wherever you may be!

Safe Travels,

💀♒️

♡the beloveds♡

@karmawonders / @0rah-s / @randomnatics / @glxssynarvi / @nexylaza / @genshin-impacts-me / @wholesomey-artist / @thedevioussmirk / @the-dumber-scaramouche / @chocogi / @fallen-starr

@yomilyy / @0rah-s / @idontknowwhatimdoingbutweball / @blackstar-gazer

(^^^ dw you'll still get tagged when the actual piece is out! :)

#hope u guys enjoy the snippet!#i hope u all read that little disclaimer before it like that rlly fast salesperson voice lmao #BTW IF U READ THIS UR OBLIGATED TO SEND A SUBMISSION TO JUST SEND ME A CHAT #ANSWER THIS QUESTION: What was the funniest thing you've done in-game?#get nerfed during a cutscene?#fall off a cliff ass-first onto a boss monsters?#bc i did #3 times #genshin isekai #sagau #genshin sagau #genshin impact sagau #genshin imagines #self aware genshin au #gender neutral reader #genshin x reader #sagau eldritch au #sagau eldritch god au

383 notes · View notes

jacqcrisis · 12 hours

Text

I can't stop thinking about the rings on Hermes' fingers. I can't. Whats the story behind those? Did he start wearing them because Charon gave them to him as a job well done? The weirdest gift imaginable to your professional associate?

Did Hermes steal them to be a cheeky bastard and got them fitted and put them on for the jokes? Did he start wearing them apropos of nothing? Just happen to start accessorizing like his professional associate? Is it part of a shared uniform? Can we see the employee handbook?

Did Charon go out and get rings commissioned to look exactly like his for not one, but two of his partner in crimes' fingers, slide each lovingly onto Hermes' corresponding digits, and then gently hold his now bejeweled hands in his own to see how they match, knowing Hermes will now carry something of Charon with him when he leaves him for his dangerous work?

I'm just. Asking. Questions. But I swear to God, if we get Charon's portrait and he has a feather or an orange ribbon somewhere on his person, I will be inconsolable for days.

#charmes #hades game #hades 2 #charon hades #hermes hades #i dont even necessarily want answers to these questions #i enjoy that this ship is about piecing together a scattered puzzle and inferring something from it #they dont even need to be canon for me to go feral again #so long as they still just as weird about each other as the first game and the same kind of mystery surrounds their partnership #ill be so happy without my favorite boys being canon #but dear god if they are. if we get even a scrap of them being explicitly sweet to each other #i just AH ill be ripping and tearing at shit #im gunna write fic again i can feel it in me bones

86 notes · View notes

ohbo-ohno · 4 months

Note

Whenever Ghost wants to completely derail training for his own amusement, he'll casually say something about a top because he knows Soap will crow about being a top, Gaz will be like "buddy you are a bottom, I'm a top" and then it will descend into absolute chaos. And if he's lucky they'll angrily make out about it.

loooove poly 141 stuff, but more specifically i love the dynamic of gaz and soap being two angry dogs who are constantly on the verge of (play?)fighting + ghost who is always willing to encourage them + price who's exhausted

also. goddd super slutty gaz and soap who are always pressed against each other, making out, humping, really anything, because they have nearly equal stamina and price and ghost usually let them play all they want. my god, it never leaves my mind

also just love the idea of them fighting over who's a top, then descending into making out about who's a top, and humping each other and getting themselves all overstimulated and needy before they ever actually find out who would top the other :/

#i really do enjoy soapgaz exclusively in a “two hot men are gonna make out about it” way. frat boys fucking. GOD it's hot #asks and answers #clumsydragon #poly 141 #soapgaz

104 notes · View notes

cimicherrychanga · 1 month

Text

Complicated Relationship with God (As Seen Through Lyrics in the Character's Playlist)

#my art #wc #weirdos class #seth #hes SO weird abt religion it drives me insaaaane every time i listen to his playlist im like aughhhh #the complicated relationship is basically 'god never answered my prayers im done trying to believe. i shall take his place #and burn this whole place to the ground to create a new world' hes not okay if u were wonderin <3 #anyways. this collage is an epic rama vulnerable moment ( i am very reluctant to share what music i like beyond certain bands)#(its bc i got made fun of so much for my bad taste </3 so now im embarrassed abt every single thing i like)#showing someone music i enjoy is like. such a big thing for me its like. im entrusting u w rama secrets...#and if ur mean or dismissive i WILL be sads forever. that applies here btw <3 #if any1 is mean abt my lyric choices ill. delete my blog and disappear off the internet forever. okay?#HOWEVER on the same vein. ur invited to tell me if u know the songs...and if u know more than 5 of them we shall have a summer wedding

70 notes · View notes

tonberry-yoda · 1 year

Note

Yo Tonberry! Could I get some Moira smooches? Please and thank you! :D

OMFG YES!! Sorry for it being late, you sent it to me right when I was getting to bed last night lol, but I am so so happy to do this for you (I'm not gay, but godamn Moira, why you built like this???) Thanks for the request!!!

You had this scientist wrapped around your finger. The woman who refused to come out of her shell, the woman who never had emotion, the woman who was unethical, impractical, and a villain.

The woman who was now yours.

"Moira," you gasped when she stepped down the stairs, a shiny black dress clinging to her body. "Moira, dear, you look beautiful." You kissed her hand and helped her down the rest of the steps. You admired her in all her beauty. You rarely got to see her all dressed up like this.

"It's nothing, really," Moira chuckled and looked at you. You were just as dressed up as her. "If anything, you're the beautiful one here, rabbit."

"Moira, don't. You can be happy to be in a dress every now and again."

Moira jokingly rolled her eyes, but looked at herself in a nearby mirror. Her eyes lit up, to your surprise.

"See, love," you said, wrapping your arms around her waist. "You look beautiful."

Moira blushed and turned to you. "I suppose I am.... just a bit though."

She pressed a kiss onto both of your cheeks and tucked your hair behind your ear. "You're the stunning one here, y/n."

You wrapped your arms around the back of her neck and pulled her closer. Moira placed kisses up and down your face, making you giggle before pulling you to the car to go out for dinner.

~~~~~

if you want smooches, just send in a character name and i gotchu!

~~~~~

#i hope you enjoy #god moira doesnt have to be this fine #asks #writing #fanfic #my writing #<3 #fanfiction #tonberry answers #overwatch #overwatch x reader #moira #moira x reader #moira o'deorain #moira o'deorain x reader

210 notes · View notes

blindmagdalena · 1 year

Note

can plz I request homelander waking up reader in the middle of the night bcuz he’s hôrnyyy !!

18+, f!reader, somnophilia. Homelander doesn't need much sleep. Vought always chalked it up to being simply unnecessary, given the sheer amount of Compound V in his system. Whether he sleeps for two hours or eight, his powers function just the same. That was all that ever mattered to them. It was better that way. Fewer nightmares. And then you came along, and that began to change. The nightmares lessened. Nowadays, he generally sleeps however long you do, but old habits die hard. Tonight, Homelander finds himself wide awake at about three in the morning, cuddled up against your back.

Homelander sighs, nuzzling at the back of your neck, then your bare shoulder. The weight of you in his arms is a constant, warm comfort, the smell of you intoxicating. He's not even sure if he could sleep at all without you anymore. Even the way you snore endears him. Absently, he begins to run his hand along your naked side, tracing the slopes of your body from your ribs to your outer thigh, then back up. He's always run warmer than you. He can feel little goosebumps prickling along your skin where he touches you, featherlight and perhaps a little ticklish. He can't believe how soft you are. At times he feels like every curve of you was made for him. Given the chance, he can't help but explore you. You make a soft sound in your sleep, giving him pause. The corner of his mouth quirks slightly. Hmm... Homelander kisses the junction between your neck and your shoulder, ghosting his hand back down your body. On the slide back up, he cups your breast. He thumbs gently at your nipple, coaxing it hard. His cock gives an answering throb at the feel of it, of your body responding to him involuntarily, even in your sleep. "Babe," he whispers against your skin. No response. He licks his lips, his own heart rate picking up. It's beginning to feel like an exciting game of sorts. He moves his hand a touch more firmly down your body, over your stomach, and down further until his fingertips brush your clit. He begins rubbing slow, gentle circles while kissing a line from your shoulder to your throat. And then you moan so very sweetly, a breathy sound pulled from you, even as you sleep. Homelander bites down hard on his tongue, holding you against him as he grinds against the curve of your ass. He's achingly hard now, riled up by his little game far more than he expected to be. "Babe," he murmurs, louder now. "Honey... Wake up," he says, breath tickling the shell of your ear. He rubs a little firmer between your thighs, coaxing you in more ways than one. With a sharp inhale, you finally wake, bleary and confused. "Mmm, wha—Nnnngh..." you moan, reflexively grabbing him by the wrist. You feel hot all over, coming out of sleep with a feverish need already in full gear. Your mind practically runs a gauntlet to catch up. Homelander exhales a heated sigh along your neck. He uses the arm crooked under you to catch hold of your jaw and turn your head to face him, leaning over to kiss you fervently. "Need you," he murmurs between kisses. "Body so goddamn perfect, you know that? Fuck, couldn't help myself," he says, the words tumbling out in an urgent stream of hunger.

Still half asleep, you reach between your legs, beyond his hand, and grasp blindly at his cock, surprising a breathless little moan out of him. Parting your thighs, you guide his cock between them, and then tighten them back together. You press your hand overtop his. "Don't stop," you tell him, voice wrung with sleep and arousal in equal parts. Immediately, Homelander resumes massaging circles over your clit, stopping only briefly to bring his hand up to his lips, sucking them into his mouth to wet them before he puts them right back to work. Simultaneously, he starts thrusting against you, fucking the plush, warm space between your thighs, your cunt wet and perfectly soft along the top of his cock. "Uuhhnn, fuck, fuck," he moans, moving his hand from your jaw to your throat, holding you firm against him as his pace quickens, thrusts turning jagged the closer he climbs to his release. He's bringing you to the edge with him, fingering your clit with such deft precision that you're starting to feel lightheaded— though that could also be from the divine grip he has on your throat. "John," you whimper, clinging to both of his wrists, your skin pricking, pressure building. You're fully awake now, but helpless to the onslaught of pleasure. "Oh, god, John. That feels so f-fucking good, gonna make me— make me—" Homelander doesn't get to hear the rest of it, but he feels it. He feels your whole body lock up like a vice, your hold on his wrists tightening, your nails biting ineffective crescents into his invulnerable skin. He feels your clit throb wildly, but it's your pussy soaking and convulsing along the top of his cock that hurls him over the precipice of his own release. He comes messily into the space between your thighs, load after load spilling out from between them, dripping down your skin. He forgets to breathe for a solid minute, the orgasm shaking him to his core. Finally, he sucks in a shaky breath, exhaling roughly as he gently rocks his hips into the wet mess he's made of your thighs, relinquishing his hold on your throat, burying his face into your neck. The two of you spend a few moments just breathing, gradually floating down from the high of it, peaceful silence falling over you both. Homelander nuzzles you, smiling dreamily in the aftermath of his pleasure. "Good morning," he murmurs, kissing your neck. You lift your head just enough to catch a look at the clock. "Absolutely not," you respond, words half slurred. "It's barely 4AM. Get me a towel, I'm going back to sleep," you inform him, putting your head right back down on the pillow. Homelander laughs, adjusting his arms around you to embrace you, squeezing you briefly against him. "Pretty good way to wake up if you ask me." "Try it again in four hours," you respond, jelly-limbed in his arms. Homelander grins, broad and predatory. "Is that permission?" "Mmmhm," you hum, already forgetting about the mess between your legs as you fade back into sleep, walloped by one of the most intense orgasms of your life. "Perfect," Homelander purrs, kissing your cheek. "Sleep tight." Now he's really got something to look forward to.

#oh my god i meant for this to be short but it ended up taking up the majority of my night LMAO #sorry i'm on a somnophilia kick i guess!!!#i will answer the other asks this week haha thanks for sending in so many good ones my lovelies!!!#homelander x reader #homelander x you #ask and you shall receive #darling anon #smut #i cannot proofread to save my life but enjoy!#my writing

654 notes · View notes

alientoastt · 10 months

Text

hey are you a mechanisms enjoyer or perhaps a fan of the new albion tetralogy

have you ever wanted to hear R L Hughes' full vocal range as she plays two characters often in the same song as one another? Tim Ledsam as a morally repugnant but slightly sexy priest? an exploration of religious guilt around sex and where a sex worker gets a happy ending that doesn't involve no longer having sex? heavy fucking themes and jazzy instrumentals? you should listen to Lolina: Origins.

With a mish-mash of jazz, rock, classical and electronic music this concept EP tells the story of our heroine Lolina as she is taken from the brothels of dystopian Mars to the wastelands of post-apocalyptic Earth and beyond...

Vocals Lolina and Mariella: Rachel Hughes The Patriarch: Tim Ledsam OrganaTech Doctor: Jessica Law Backing Vocals: Jessica Law, Ben Below, Rachel Hughes Spoken Vocals: Tim Ledsam, Ben Below, Rachel Hughes

Instruments Piano and E-Piano: Rachel Hughes Violin and Electric Violin: Marius von Raum [sic.; released in 2017 and Kofi Young was credited as MvR until... I want to say 2020?] Fretless Bass, Electric Guitars, Banjo, Saxophone, Ewi, Electric Drums, Synths: Ben Below

content warnings under the cut this album is a lot. but its very good

religious guilt / extremism / kidnapping / forced conversion yeah quite a lot of it is about the whole uh. this congregation treats its women like shit and especially Lolina. I think it's handled well and there's an added layer of removal in the fact that it's like. on Mars. if that helps

a character kills herself because she realizes she has feelings for another woman and has been made to feel unclean for this. this is pretty much entirely contained in "Mariella's Lament", but is like. pretty integral to the story at play

hospital noises in Hospital Bed + medical malpractice. which isn't quite the right word for the deal with healthcare in this album but it's the best i can do without just Describing What Happens In The Album. general cyberpunk "you don't own parts of your body" type medical malpractice?

#some time i will sit down and do an honest to god review of this and pick it apart because i love it and when i love a media that means #i can pick out about 200 things wrong with every minute. but thats enriching and Part Of Enjoying It. its a courtesy that i want extended #to the things i make as well! to have someone say ''huh this is a bit strange. lets break down why you did that''#and sometimes the answer is because the expected thing to have done would have been worse.I DIGRESS LISTEN TO THE ALBUM #babble #Lolina: Origins #Bandcamp

182 notes · View notes

crescentfool · 1 year

Photo

does anyone else want to stick these two in the same room together or is that just me... i simply think they are adjacent in vibes... (+a bonus thing???)

get u a fictional guy that makes you feel like this... seeing these guys just evoke a Similar Kind of Brain Chemical and Response. Help Me.

also have bonus yosuke doodle featuring the same brushes used here...! from january 23rd, lol.

#fe3h #sylvain jose gautier #persona 4 #yosuke hanamura #crossover #lizzy does art #umm... hi.... (looks away) this is cringe but i am free. what is life if not to draw your favorite characters together on the same canvas #for the record i do not intend to conflate these two as the same character because they are NOT #'lizz. what on EARTH do you see in these guys.' you know. i wish i could answer that. (actually. i can.)#experiencing both of these characters sent me into an absolute spiral of denial when i realized that i enjoyed them #Words Hard but Basically i think its fascinating how both sylvain and yosuke have like this happier front that they project outwards that-#masks the struggles that they don't want others to see... and while both of them do cringe shit thats incredibly stupid #both of these characters have shown themselves to have like?? actual braincells? (re: yosuke at the start of p4 + sylvain support convos)#granted the kinds of themes and messages each of them is meant to convey varies bc of the setting and stories they are in #the sylvain + yosuke pipeline.... oh also i think the fandoms tend to rationalize both of their behavior towards women as like.#a closeted bi case. it's kinda strange to me why they overlap in certain ways hm hm...#but its just so funny to me that like. idk. they're both unbearable. they irritating for a reason /s #i should really draw these two more often (in like separate illusts) they are so fun i love their color schemes and designs it sparks joy #ok ok god i had a lot more to say about that than i thought oops. um. yeah. i learned how to draw for stuff like this. worth itTM

296 notes · View notes

mushroompoisoning · 29 days

Note

Good friend, I ask of you because I trust you, what are these "The Mechanisms" you are so fond of?

Okay I tried to type out an incredibly long summary but tumblr deleted it so you're getting a semi-sane version instead

The Mechanisms are a band of immortal, space-faring pirates travelling the universe singing about the tragedies they witness for our entertainment!

There are nine main members you'll hear about, with the tenth - Dr Carmilla - having left much earlier and making her own music 👍 ( there is technically an eleventh but they're more of a mystery easter egg than anyone we know things about )

Quick lore thing: the mechanisms immortality works from the mechanical part(s) they each have. They can die and get injured, but they'll revive whenever the narrative wants them too. All logic in this universe functions off of Would It Be Good For The Story

The cast is:

Jonny D'Ville (he/him) is the ship's first mate ( don't let him tell you otherwise ) and he's got a mechanical heart

Nastya Rasputina (she/her) is the ship's engineer and girlfriend! Yea the ship - Aurora - is alive btw. She's got me hanical blood

Ashes O'Reily (they/them) is the ship's quartermaster and best arsonist! they've got mechanical lungs

Drumbot Brian (he/him) is the ship's pilot and the only one with a moral code. It's controlled by a switch which flips between Means Justify Ends and Ends Justify Means with no nuance. everything is mechanical except for his heart

Ivy Alexandria (she/her) is the ship's archivist! Pretty chill, cares more for books than violence but that doesn't mean she disapproves of the latter. she's got a mechanical brain

The Toy Soldier (it/its) is the mascot and whatever else they tell it to be! it just wants to be involved. will follow anything you tell it if you ask nicely ( or with enough force ). it's not actually mechanized, and is instead a sentient wooden man

Gunpowder Tim (he/him) is the ship's master at arms! madman war veteran who I love dearly. he blew up the moon. he's great. I pick favourites. he's got mechanical eyes

Raphaella La Cognizi (she/her) is the ship's unethical scientist! nothing is off the table when it comes to research. nothing. theory is she mechanized her, but iirc that unconfirmed. she's got a mechanical spine and wings!

and Baron Marius Von Raum (he/him) who is neither the ships baron nor doctor. he claims to be both, though. Deeply unserious fella. he's got a mechanical arm

^ here are some good images for crew reference

OKAY! Now onto actual music

They have six albums and a couple singles!

Once Upon a Time (In Space) is an unconventional retelling of classic fairytales

High Noon over Camelot is a retelling of King Arthur

Ulysses Dies at Dawn is a greek mythos adaptation

and The Bifrost Incident is a norse mythos adaptation

there's also Tales To Be Told volumes I and II, and the two single Frankenstein and Death To The Mechanisms ( technically that one is part of an album but the album is just a bunch of their other songs from already existing albums )

The tales to be told albums contain some of the mechanisms origins!

One Eyed Jacks is Jonny's

Lucky Sevens is Ashes'

Lost In The Cosmos is Brian's

and Gunpowder Tim vs The Moon Kaiser I don't think I have to say

Nastya has an origin song, but it was never officially put on anything. You can find it on the @mechanismslorearchive ( you can get any lore you want on there )

They also have a number of live shows ( you can find those on youtube ) and written stories on their website! I recommend these if you wanna get to know the mechanisms as characters better

that is the basic rundown. I'm not an expert on the mechs so if you're looking to talk to a metaphorical seasoned nurse instead of a med student I'd go to @bugsinthebayou or @gunpowderdtim (sorry for tagging yall)

#wallace says shit #asks & answers #mechs posting #HP!!#hope thats right I had to check your name #enjoy this messy and amateur summary #god I hope there are. limited mistakes in this.

45 notes · View notes

toytulini · 2 months

Text

whys it so hard

#toy txt post #yknow. just. everything. whys it hard to do things #like maybe im not going to enjoy the things but i know i need to do them. i want them to be done. i want to do the things and have them be #done. so whys it so fucking hard. my executives are dysfunctioning. i am incapable of starting shit. i am doing nothing and sitting here #sad and scared and angry #for what. why #i know the answer is like. brain dont work + capitalism bad and exacerbates brain dont work but like. why #whys it work like that. @god or whoever or whatever. whys it hard. things should be easier. fuck you #okay enough serious venting im silly now #whys it hard. fucka you. booyah bomb in your house. 3 times #crab tank twice on a small fry during lowtide fog. fucka you #you know what maybe squidciety would be fucked too but at least in squidciety i get booyah bomb #wait. i have 1 braincell and its connecting dots that dont make sense. dungeon meshi splatoon. lets send the squids into the dungeon.#they get revived. salmon dinner i guess #lets give marcille a crab tank

28 notes · View notes

masterqwertster · 7 months

Text

Cursed(?) Knowledge:

Ashton, as a person, is Madi Gras colors: purple, green, and gold.

#a little bit of titan in the veins. a little bit of dunamis in the brains #a little bit of anger at the gods. a little bit of love for their fuckwads #a little bit of world saving to do. a little bit of fuckery too #a little bit of past mysteries to enjoy. a little bit of answers makes our boi #(yes that is my hat. I bought it the last time I was in New Orleans)#MQ blathers #ashton greymoore #shitpost

39 notes · View notes

eldritchamy · 4 days

Note

A question for Uneiverse (to give you an excuse to talk about it, only if you wanna. Since I also just really hearing about it). What's a detail about it that you really enjoy but haven't gotten a chance to use anywhere story related or otherwise just don't get to play with much (silly or serious)

This ask has been sitting in my inbox for over 5 months.

It's time.

And so, we begin with a question of my own.

What IS time?

We're off the map now. Come with me. Take my hand as we walk through the valley of the shadow of time. We're going to uncharted waters, and I'm going to put the fear of god into you. I'm going to make you ask yourself (and me) Amy, how the fuck does you brain WORK like that?

Let me tell you about time and fate, and about what it means to "predict" the future.

And you will begin to understand the scale of what lives within me, eternally gnawing at the inside of my skull, begging for release.

If I asked you to conceptualize time, what would you say? Is it the neat and rigid tick-tick-ticking of regular intervals on the clock? Is is the fluid, indivisible space between?

Is is all just an illusion conceived by the animal brain to account for the changing shape of the universe as one dimension passes through another, which our three-dimensional eyes are too flat to see all at once, and our souls have concocted for us a comforting lie, that we may pretend to know the universe in its whole, by knowing it piece by infinitesimal, grinding piece, seeing the pan-dimensional amalgam of existence as an endless, continuous sequence of cross-sections in a number of dimensions our meat-circuitry can pretend to process?

Time is shadows.

Imagine, if you will, a sphere.

You hold it up against the light. Suspend it in the air, perhaps, for simplicity's sake. And the sphere casts a shadow.

Is the shadow still a sphere?

Far more importantly, is it even a circle?

At even the tiniest fraction of an angle, the sphere casts a shadow that no longer perfectly represents a cross section of the sphere. It has ceased to perfectly capture the nature of the object that cast the shadow, even accounting for the wrong number of dimensions. It's skewed. You can never unskew it. The distortion is irreversible.

And the floor isn't flat.

The sphere casts a shadow at an angle at a surface that ranges in distance and direction from the object casting the shadow. Is the shadow still an oval? Has it become a shape you can't name?

But the shadow isn't cast upon a floor, even an uneven one.

What shape is the shadow of a sphere cast at an angle upon a field of grass blowing in the wind? By now there's no pretending you know the answer. And even if you could snapshot a single instant of a single shape, the very next instant that shape would change in the breeze as the grass shifts.

The world is not a field of grass upon the ground. The world is endless variation of leaves upon trees, forests upon mountains, birds in the sky, hunting for the bugs that crawl on the branches of the trees. Massive floating pools of water churning in the low atmosphere as humans decide whether that one looks like a mouse or a sheep. So many humans walking, their clothes flowing behind them as they talk, eat, buy goods, shed tiny particles of skin and hair into the wind, their breath adding chaos to that same wind and a hundred miles away a leaf turns slightly more to the left than if that human had said nothing.

What is the shadow of a sphere cast upon that world? Twisted by its unfathomable complexity of shapes and movement?

And now, to make things worse, imagine if that shadow were a tangible thing that you could pick up. That could cast its own shadow not on the floor but up against the wall.

And all of that is if the shadow is cast by a perfect sphere.

Imagine you are a being that can see the shape of time. Could you look at the echo of a shadow of a shadow of a reflection in a fun house mirror, and recreate what it once was?

Could you look at a crooked set of lines upon the wall and know the meaning of cause and consequence? Could you predict what consequences of which actions would lead to favorable outcomes when realization dawns on you that

𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖘𝖕𝖍𝖊𝖗𝖊 𝖍𝖆𝖘 𝖙𝖊𝖊𝖙𝖍, 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖎𝖙 𝖎𝖘 𝖘𝖔. 𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖞. 𝖍𝖚𝖓𝖌𝖗𝖞.

Time is an ocean of possibility. Each possibility has consequences. Each consequence a sea of new possibilities. How can you hope to understand the shadow of a shadow of a shadow, and not only know what's coming, but how to stop it?

Nothing is fated. But I said something important that bears repeating. Time is an OCEAN. We'll come back to that.

Time MOVES, at least the way we perceive it. I don't like the phrase "everything happens for a reason." I prefer something of my own creation: for every effect, a cause. To achieve a desired effect - a desired outcome - you must change the circumstances of cause that lead to that effect. But there are limits to your influence.

The time to change the course of a river is when the river is still small. The longer that river runs its course, the deeper it shapes and erodes the ground around it. The larger and faster a river the harder it is to redirect it. It will go where it's going, and there's nothing you can do about it. There is an element of momentum that must be accounted for. An element of inevitability.

The path of one person's life, one set of choices available to them in one specific context, may feel perhaps like the current of a river, when you look back on it. But if different changes were made during its formation, it could have taken a completely different path. Ended in a completely different place. And influenced the formation of completely different paths in the future as a result.

But I'll say it again, and you'll know its significance now: time is an OCEAN. It is not a river, but an IMMENSE network of currents with no clearly defined borders, flowing with or against or around each other in an unimaginably complex churning of possibility and consequence and cause and effect. A shift in one current may brush up against another. The second current may shift with it, or crash violently into it, or ignore it entirely.

For every effect, a cause. But for every CAUSE, many POSSIBLE effects.

So time becomes a series of choices beyond number. Each choice leading to fathomless changes in the flow. As the earth turns, some currents flow inevitably in certain directions. If not here, then somewhere else. SOME CHANGES ARE INESCAPABLE.

The universe must be dynamic. If nothing changed, the universe would not need to exist at all. Change is the point. Variance is the point. Choice is the point. The universe exists to know itself, and it knows itself through change.

There is an endless sea of currents flowing in various ways with, beside, against, around each other. Some directions of flow are strongly influenced by the shape of the seafloor and the rotation of the earth. There are changes in the world that are virtually guaranteed to exist, whether because the nature of the universe has made them inevitable, or because changes long past have created the currents that are now too old and too deep to change.

Picture a river again. What happens when you throw a stick into it? The stick is swept up in the current and carried along the river.

Throw in more sticks. Same thing, right? You can make small changes without affecting the overall outcome. Within one large shadow of a sphere, the details of a hundred blades of grass whose shadows are lost within the larger shape.

Anchor a large stick to the riverbed so it can't get swept away. Now, it's just one stick. The water will flow around it. There are small ripples. Tiny changes in the river, micro-currents that will affect a localized area. But on the whole? The river still flows. You changed something. But you didn't change the course of the river.

Add stick after stick after stick until the river is obstructed completely, and the current is forced to change shape.

Which stick built the dam?

Which straw should the camel's back blame?

Back to the ocean. Can you dam the sea? Can you build that dam one stick at a time, by throwing sticks into separate currents, hoping the currents bring them where they need to be in time?

There are patterns borne out from the endless flow of possibility as the ocean of time churns. With all those ancient currents running together, what difference does the wake of a boat make on the shape of the waves? How many breaches from how many whales would it take to turn a current south instead of north?

What if you could make a bigger change? What if an avalanche altered the shape of the seafloor, so the rotation of the earth forces new waters to resist the old currents? So the inevitability of the dynamic universe drags forth a new set of possibilities?

There are a LOT of currents. They've been turning for a long, long time, ebbing and flowing with a billion tides and ten thousand quintillion waves. Choices can make new currents. BIG choices, with a lot of consequences, may even change existing ones.

But the ocean still has a geography to it. There are places where water is forced through the gaps between landmasses, or forced into the shallows, or freed to dive into the black beyond a continental shelf. There are places where, no matter how many changes you make, many currents are still guaranteed to meet.

There are fixed points in time.

What if one of those points is a whirlpool, threatening to swallow everything drawn into the place those currents meet?

What about a whirlpool on the scale of worlds and gods?

How do you keep from drowning?

How do you give yourself the best chance, not of AVOIDING the whirlpool of inevitability, but of entering it at the farthest possible edge, where the right momentum, the right decisions made in the moment you are caught in its gravity, may carry you through to the other side, so you still remain when time marches on?

Is it better to see things coming at all? Or is the ability to see time, to speak a language of the universe that no one else can speak, one of the greatest cosmic horrors you can imagine?

youtube

Imagine the burden of time on those who can see it.

Imagine the WEIGHT of being able to see those currents. Of knowing which threads of fate to pull. Of knowing which ripples to make, which waves to break, which currents to shift. Of knowing.

Imagine the complexity of figuring out WHICH changes to make. And the great leviathan of guilt left on your shoulders when the decisions you made - even in pursuit of the best possible outcome - bring harm to the ones you love most, the ones you're most desperate to protect.

Even if you're right.

Even if you played 17-dimensional chess with the wizard-addled corpse of god and knew, with certainty, that if a single problem you had a hand in creating had been resolved more neatly by even minutes, the sticks would not have fallen into place within the dam, and the entirety of creation could have been swallowed piece by piece by the horror you were trying to stop.

Imagine the horror. Imagine the responsibility. Imagine the unending, agonizing pain of the burden of Knowing.

Because what time is, most of all, is a nightmare.

And there's no waking up.

#Uneiverse #worldbuilding #a sufficiently clever person who has meticulously read all of my Uneiverse posts #MIGHT be able to make some pretty reasonable guesses about the plot of the first book by now #is it likely? nah #is it possible to get a CLEAR idea of how any part of this will go? oh not a chance in hell #no matter what shape of shadow you can see .... remember there are blades of grass #is this the most horrifying answer I've ever given?#please scream your incoherent cosmically garbled thoughts into my inbox so I can enjoy your mental breakdowns #I feed on the knowledge that I have changed you on a neurological level #and yes this is the shit I have to live with inside my brain at all times #I mean is that fucked up or what #I haven't even scratched the surface of what god is

15 notes · View notes