bottled love is suicide, speak, speak, speak (part XLII)

(Roleplay entry. Continued from part XLI.)

Finally, she found Athena again!



...which lasted all of a minute, before gravity--what little there was--flipped, making her dizzy. She ended up clinging to one of the floating rocks. She could hear her little girl, close, but she couldn't see her, until it suddenly struck her--she was on the same rock! She was that close!



She gritted her teeth, creeping forward, disregarding the swoops her stomach did trying to tell her to stop passing through shifting gravity fields, until she'd made it to the other side, and scooped her daughter into her lap. Safe, at last.



"Mama, what's on your--"

"Never mind, dearling. Never mind. Now, can you show me how you got in?"

The kitten looked around. "No...but...I know where we might go next."

She sighed. "Where?"



Athena jumped up, bounding from rock to rock until she suddenly took a sharp turn. There was a sizzling sound. Oh, not again!

She leapt into the air, closing her eyes. There was another shearing gravity shift, and she landed...somewhere. On the other side.



There was ground, and there was...sky, at least, she thought it was sky, and there were...ruins? Bizarre, translucent ruins, but...ruins.

Now where were they?

(Continued in part XLIII.)

cold reflections, they tell no lies, but eyes just scratch the surface

There was a thing that came up in ISC chat earlier...Leaving names in because there are no guilty to protect, per se. So.

[08:44] Kara2016: Did hear that LL is going too increase the linden exchange rate?
[08:44] Grimoire Hexem: yeah.
[08:44] Grimoire Hexem: it's 3$ per every 10k L
[08:45] Zantyago Mannonen: so evey linden is worth more or less=
[08:45] Justine (justinejohndory.amethyst): every linden will cost us more.
[08:45] Zantyago Mannonen: WHAT?
[08:45] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Err....no....
[08:45] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): 10K in Lindens is currently $41.67, not $3.00?
[08:46] Grimoire Hexem: they're adding a tax.
[08:46] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): In addition to the $1.49 they already charge?
[08:46] Isobel DeSantis: They're increasing the $1.49 - that will now be the minimum
[08:46] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Ugh.
[08:47] Kara2016: i use the Instant buy(Market buy) not the Best rate buy(Limit buy)
[08:47] Isobel DeSantis: Mari sent a notice about it the other day - it changes on the 22nd

The notice Miss Mari sent goes thusly:

Not polite [ but we're family ]
to discuss money but Linden is raising the BUY, not sell Linden dollar transaction fee eff 4/22 to 7.5%, $9.99 cap, $1.49 minimum (current max). So, if you long term rent you may want to save a bit and stock up before 4/22 to cover your tier for a while
https://community.secondlife.com/blogs/entry/7770-infrastructure-investment-update-buy-fee-change-effective-april-22/. {in case of error website info rules}

And I say again: Ugh.

[08:47] Grimoire Hexem: they must pay tribute to the new Amazon Cloud overlords.
[08:47] Isobel DeSantis: yeah, this is the instant one as well, [Kxxx]
[08:47] Isobel DeSantis: Those of us outside the US already pay a huge exchange rate charge to Tilia

Which sounds like the advent of Tilia gave the Lindens the ability to charge fees above and BEYOND VAT, which (at least personally) I think is a terrible idea...

[08:48] Kara2016: it may not be that bad..
[08:48] Zantyago Mannonen: CURSE YOU BEZOS
[08:48] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Well, bother. I appreciate her suggestion to stock up before the 22nd, but that assumes one has enough TO allow stocking up before the 1st.
[08:48] Isobel DeSantis: they give us the worst exchange rate of anywhere in the world!
[08:48] Isobel DeSantis: ikr, Emily?
[08:48] Isobel DeSantis: When my bank was giving $1.30 to the £, Tilia gave $1.18
[08:49] Isobel DeSantis: They make more on selling Lindens than anything else, I would think [08:49] Kara2016: Just be glade you are not paying $40.00 for $500.00 Rays on top of a $20.00 membership..
[08:50] Kara2016: a week
[08:50] Isobel DeSantis: what are Rays?

Yeah, I have no idea. I never played on Red Light District, Utherverse, or Oasis, though I'm sure there are other adults-only virtual worlds.

[08:50] Isobel DeSantis: "Linden is raising the BUY , not sell Linden dollar transaction fee eff 4/22 to 7.5% , $9.99 cap , $1.49 minimum(current max) "
[08:50] Kara2016: i used too be on an adult virtural site..those were the currancy
[08:52] Isobel DeSantis: I normally buy 15,000L at a time - so my transaction fee will go from $1.49 to about $4.50
[08:53] Kara2016: Thats a lot of Lindens..I like 2,500
[08:54] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Part of the annoyance with the new fee, for me? I had started buying my largest lump-sum amount of Lindens at the start of the month, TO avoid hitting that fee again and again, buying L$1K here, L$500 there.
[08:54] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): With this, it's basically making us choose--either accept the higher fee for the larger lump sum, or LET us charge you $1.49 for every smaller transaction.
[08:56] Isobel DeSantis: My rent is about 7500L$ a week Kara
[08:56] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr) nods
[08:57] Isobel DeSantis: Yeah it's capped at $9.99 which is about 30,000L$
[08:57] Isobel DeSantis: maybe 35,000
[08:57] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Still no. $9.99 is L$2397 in Lindens.
[08:58] Kara2016: if i bought 5,000L NOW, IT WOULD BE 22.33$
[08:59] Isobel DeSantis: I mean if you buy more than about 35,000L$ at a time, your transaction fee won't go up
[08:59] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): It won't go up from that four-buck-plus figure, probably not, no, but that's still more than double the fee for transactions $9.99 or less.
[08:59] Isobel DeSantis: so you can buy 50,000L$ and pay the same transaction fee as someone buying 35,000 is what I'm trying (badly!) to say
[09:00] Isobel DeSantis: not $4 - the max is $9.99 Emily
[09:00] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): The FEE is $9.99??
[09:00] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Oh good gods.
[09:00] Isobel DeSantis: Yes
[09:01] Isobel DeSantis: it's 7.5% with a max of $9.99

Thanks, I hate it.

[09:01] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Do they...want...people to stay in SL?
[09:01] Isobel DeSantis: currently the max is $1.49
[09:01] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Because this is how you drive people off a platform.
[09:01] Isobel DeSantis: From Thursday, the MINIMUM will be $1.49
[09:02] Kara2016: SO THE NEW FEE WILL BE 9.99?
[09:02] Isobel DeSantis: the new maximum, Kara
[09:02] Kara2016: sory for the caps.
[09:02] Isobel DeSantis: the new minimum will be $1.49
[09:03] Kara2016: what i seeibng now is the transactiuon fee of 1.49
[09:03] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Right, but it's not the 22nd yet.
[09:03] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): It's the 18th.
[09:03] Isobel DeSantis: that's the current maximum yes
[09:03] Isobel DeSantis: it WILL be the minimum
[09:04] Kara2016: oh, well.

Now, I should add that since I captured this, I linked the forum URL to Hiro, and his perspective is that this is a good thing? To encourage people not to carry huge amounts of Lindens on their accounts (he suggests potential money laundering concerns, and maybe that's a thing?), but also, to make money in-world and not buy through the Lab.

Which, again--are they trying to discourage people to buy Lindens? Isn't that Second Life's chief microtransaction? Why would they want to make it less desirable to buy the in-game currency?

any way you wanna love, speak deep from the inside (part XLII)

(Roleplay entry, but also mostly dialogue over description. Continued from part XLI.)

The last thing Emilly wanted to do was attract the attention of the clown-faced imp on the shore, and really didn't want to risk getting close to the tentacle...things...over the bay, so out of expediency, she dove into the waters and swam for Steam.



She saw...something...off in the far distance of the Dark Sea, but shook her head. She had larger concerns.



She clambered up the bank and moved towards the garden, and got snared by floating tentacles. She fought her way free, stumbling against the garden wall.



She got snared again, and the thing flew, dragging her along the walls of the tower, spinning in place on the balcony outside the main study. She got away again, diving low, opening the study doors and slamming them firmly in the mass of writhing black tentacles outside.

[1:50 AM] RoseDrop Rust: Em emememem
[1:51 AM] RoseDrop Rust: I am under attack.
[11:34 AM] Emilly: Where are you?
[12:06 PM] RoseDrop Rust: Last I looked, I was in the music room. I was chased down there from Justine's rooms by some sort of beasts.
[12:06 PM] Emilly: They're in the house?

[12:37] RoseDrop Rust: Emerly?
[12:38] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Yes?
[12:38] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Oh, gods, are you still in the music room?
[12:38] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): AAAAAAAAH
[12:39] RoseDrop Rust: Yes!
[12:39] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): How in the HELL....I came into the public study and got attacked!

The beast in the house reached through the open study doors, pulling her into the hall beyond, pinning her to the parquet. What were these things?!



Oh, gods. There were eggs. Outside Justine's parlor. Why were there eggs?! What was...

[12:39] RoseDrop Rust: Cowering near the piano. with a globe of something created by a tune ...
[12:41] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): I swam across from Darktow, I tried to make my way through the garden.
[12:44] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): I had to fight my way through the bamboo! Those beasts are everywhere.

The thing seized her again, dragging her down the hall, where she half-fell down the stairs, but by the time she rolled into a breathless ball, while she could still hear it shrieking upstairs, it was upstairs.

[12:44] RoseDrop Rust: Oh Em!
[12:44] RoseDrop Rust: I am so confused!
[12:45] RoseDrop Rust: What kind of, what can they do?
[12:45] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr) breathes out.
[12:46] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Well...Flying's bad. Simplest of things, I do it without thinking about it, and I got snatched out of the air and nearly dragged into the house.
[12:46] RoseDrop Rust: I was so scared I was talking to myself.
[12:46] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): And there are....eggs...near Justine's parlor.
[12:46] RoseDrop Rust: Eggs?

She sincerely hoped they didn't hatch, or if they did, it was well after they'd cleared the house of everything else.

[12:46] RoseDrop Rust: [F*ck]!
[12:47] RoseDrop Rust: I made an ..... energy ball.
[12:47] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Fascinating!
[12:47] RoseDrop Rust: from the piano.....

She made her way to the music room, tilting her head as she looked at the poet.

[12:48] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): You...I thought you were casting, my apologies
[12:49] RoseDrop Rust: "Casting?"
[12:49] RoseDrop Rust: If it is a science? Is it not magic to some?
[12:49] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Well, I suppose that makes sense.
[12:50] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): There is integration between what we think of as magic and what we know as science, after all, at the highest levels. Or the smallest, considering quantum mechanics.
[12:52] RoseDrop Rust: This may be a philosophical discussion we should pursue...Still, there is the matter of the monsters.

She flicked her eyes to the mantel clock, running times in her head. The Stormhold reading group was meeting soon, and she had said she'd tried to be there. Of course, that was before an entire flagship collapsed into the bay...

[12:53] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr) I'm close to due on another sim, but--if you use the port circle in the corner, and go to Darktow or the lighthouse, you *should* be clear of the beasts, and can go wherever you need to? And I'll meet up with Justine in Stormhold, and figure out what to do.
[12:53] RoseDrop Rust: What is a "darktow?"
[12:54] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): My apologies, it's the small island. Just be careful, it's *very* close to the debris of the Gray Area.
[12:56] RoseDrop Rust looks for the circle and will go to darktow ...
[12:56] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr) nods. Fair winds to your sails.
[12:56] RoseDrop Rust: Emerly ....
[12:56] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): This is going to be...nuts.
\[12:56] RoseDrop Rust: What will you do?
[12:57] RoseDrop Rust: What do you know of these beasts?
[12:58] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Right now? I don't know anything. But I'll learn. I do know they likely came through the rift we've been observing on Tannhauser Station, which is....disappearing in sections, which may be part of the problem.
[12:58] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr) hugs him and disapparates to elsewhere, hoping he makes it to Darktow intact.

(Continued in part XLII.)

I saw a siren singing, shifting through the shots-a ringing (part XLI)

(Roleplay entry. Continued from part XL. Written by Rosedrop Rust.)

The next day, the poet took a port into GearHaven. It had been a long day...and he soon discovered he was under attack!

"What the hell? It’s moving with me. Some kinda...black...blobby...tendrelly thing!" He headed downstairs to see if he could shake it.

"Okay, that worked, but I can hear it on the roof. Damn! That is other-worldly. I wonder if Emilly knows of this thing. I swear it felt like it was following me."

Rusty checked for damage, and thankfully, wasn't specifically damaged, but he also agreed he was shaken up.

"Wait a minute!" he cried out. "Those were Justine's rooms. I wonder if it is attacking other parts of the upstairs!"

Rusty paced a little. Standing still didn't seem like a good idea yet.

"I could just hang out in the music room. There is a piano. Somehow, I don't think music...hmmm...some songs are demon chasers...and I have been experimenting with a composition suggested by physics to have some power possibilities..."

Rusty headed for the music room.

"This would be too easy..."

About then it occured to him he had been talking out loud, and became embarrassed at babbling in the face of danger.

"And I am actually toying with the idea of seeing if playing the piano would help. Okay, it usually helps me..."

He wanders into the music room and sat down at the piano. He tried to remember the combination of notes the computer spit out that correlated to that theory of frequency-based power generation. He played some of the tune he remembered. He realized there was more to it. Luckily, once he's heard a tune he retained it. He and his friends had won a fair amount of bets insisting they could tell what town someone was from just by how they hum a simple tune. He had the ability to read the soul of a person by how they played. It was like handwriting analysis, or lie detectors, but he was rarely, let's say never, wrong. He was told he had psychic powers, but he just knew what was being said when someone played an instrument. Their desires, confidence, and anxieties. He could tell when they were born, likely what city, from the phrases they picked up coming into maturity in certain places. People used to sit around and watch him do it at parties.

After a while, it became a bore. He was not convinced he had any "powers", he was surprised everyone couldn't hear it. It helped him know what to play to best complement just about any composition. Producers lined up around his studio to try to book him. It began to get on his nerves.

Right now, he had a monster on the roof and wasn't sure if he could read it like he was able to read frat boys. He needed a plan. In the meantime there was this computer-generated composition. He began to play and the sheet music on the piano stated to rattle.

"What the hell?"

He kept playing, and a strange glow started coming off the strings. It rose above the strings in what looked like a glowing ball. He stopped and stood. He reached for the ball. He could move it. It was a bit like holding an angry cat, he thought, as he held it out from him.

Then the tentacle-whatever crashed through the door of the music room, and he threw up the glowing ball in front of him like a shield. The thing hissed, flailing, but didn't seem to be able to get past the curve. He hit the comm, set it to wideband, and yelled.

"Help! I'm trapped in the music room!"

(Continued in part XLII.)

Lady Luck is on my side as I swim against the tide (part XL)

(Roleplay entry. Continued from part XXXIX.)

As she was pulled into the distortion field, she lost her grip on Athena's tail and panicked. It was hard to remember to breathe, then it was hard to breathe, once she was through.



She was pulled through the rift into light: searing light, unearthly radiance beating at her eyes, burning her skin. Her body reacted before she even consciously sorted things out.



The radiance began to fade, and she fought to make out shapes. She felt...odd, not...quite herself, but...before she could focus on the cause, she saw her. Her little kitten, was she--swimming? Floating? Either way, she was alone!



She leapt off the rock formations she'd landed on, and found herself floating as well. What was holding her up? She tried to look behind her and--it wasn't wings. It was...was...

Flash of utter icy dread through her. The tendrils the succubus had had, so many years ago, the succubus she thought she'd parted ways with forever in lost Valruna, and now...there they were. What did it mean?



She caught sight of her little girl again. Spiraling down...or was it up? It was so hard to tell. She dove after her.



There! She saw her again, little grey paws moving as if on a walkway only she could see. Maybe there was, she thought frantically, maybe she knows something I don't--



--but in the meantime, what was happening to her?!

(Continued in part XLI.)

come join the party in the dust and the sand

Oh, this one's going to be...fun...

Dear Ms. [name],

Oh, hi--am I not off your mailing list yet? I've told you twice, thanksbutno, take me off. Seems...not to have taken?

I want to have your name and intentions taken to Fátima for the 104th Anniversary of the most amazing historic event.

How...is that going to work, precisely? How can you take my name to a place?

Would you like that?

I have no idea. Why would I want that, again?

Click here [link given] to add "[name]" to the ANF banner in Fátima!

Ohhh, I get it now. You want to put my name on a banner. To take TO Fátima. Silly idea, but okay.

Yes, that is correct, on May 12th, the eve of the 104th Anniversary of Our Lady’s first apparition at Fátima, Portugal, our ambassadors will carry your name on the unique America Needs Fátima Banner during the Fátima celebrations and candlelight procession.

No thanks.

They will also present your intentions to Our Lady of Fátima on the exact spot where she appeared.

No thanks.

Join me and thousands more, by having your intentions delivered to the very spot where the Queen of Heaven appeared to the three shepherd children so long ago.

Sounds like a cash grab.

Though we have all been dealt a trying hand this past year, Our Lady has been with you and I every step of the way.

And as uncertain as the future looks for America right now, I know she will stay by our sides through it all.

She will never abandon her faithful children!

Good to know, but, thing is, I'm not actually Catholic? Sorry if you have that impression. I've tried to correct that by unsubscribing.

So, [name], what better way to thank her for her sweet maternal protection--nd lay our present difficulties at her feet--than to participate spiritually in the annual Fátima celebrations?

I can think of lots of ways. Most of them far more direct than carrying a banner with a bunch of names on it.

Click here to have your name added to ANF’s Banner carried through the Shrine of Our Lady of Fátima.

No, but good luck with that. Really.

Because you love Mother Mary so much,

That's assuming a great deal about me because once you offered a free scapular with the image of Mary of Fátima, and I accepted...

because you want her Immaculate Heart to Reign over all this troubled world and because you have supported ANF with your prayers and sacrifices in the past

Err, no, I paid you a pittance once to send me a rosary chaplet, because that was a bit nicer than the scapular, but I haven't paid you a single centime since--and won't, in all likelihood.

--for all these reasons, and more...

Right, we're back at cash grab again.

...I want to offer you this beautiful spiritual experience absolutely FREE!

The hell you say.

So what are you waiting for? Click here now [link given] and send your name and intentions to Fátima this May for the 104th anniversary celebration of Our Lady’s first apparition at Fátima, Portugal.

No, but thanks. I'm going to try again to get off this mailing list,

I remain your friend,
In Jesus and Mary,

Sure, whatever,

Robert Ritchie
Director, America Needs Fátima

I mean, look. As far as religious hucksters go, I don't think this group is entirely terrible, which is why I'm leaving their web page link in. They are operating from a prophecy from one of the children that says fairly clearly, world go boom unless Russia worships Mary. Which...no, on multiple levels, but I can see why they're invested.

But my sideline interest in Marian cults doesn't respond to this level of froth. I don't care if someone carries my name through the streets of Fátima. Why does it matter? It certainly won't matter to the residents of Fátima. It won't matter to the people carrying the banner. And it's certainly not going to be "FREE", as they said. There will be a fee for doing this, at some point, I guarantee it.

So no, thanks, I'm going to try to get off your mailing list again. Good luck with the world saving.

fan fiction told me that he died all alone (part XXXIX)

(Roleplay entry. Continued from part XXXVIX.)

Thaumaturgy is the purported capability of a magician to work magic or other paranormal events or a saint to perform miracles. It is sometimes translated into English as wonderworking. A practitioner of thaumaturgy is a "thaumaturgus", "thaumaturge", "thaumaturgist" or "miracle worker". A saint, who is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness or likeness or closeness to God, may be claimed to have performed miracles, which are events not explicable by natural or scientific laws.

In the 16th century, the word thaumaturgy entered the English language meaning miraculous or magical powers. The word was first anglicized and used in the magical sense in John Dee's book Mathematicall Praeface to Euclid's Elements (1570). He mentions an "art mathematical" called "thaumaturgy... which giveth certain order to make strange works, of the sense to be perceived and of men greatly to be wondered at".

All major religions and all cultures in the world have some form of Thaumaturgic beliefs.

In the following chapters, I will articulate how the golden age of Magic and Sorcery was actually the 20th and 21st century, and how Clarke’s third law is the driving zeitgeist of the age.

The most powerful and influential magicians of the the 20th century were not Crowley, Gardener or Carroll but actually Napoleon Hill, W. Clement Stone and Tony Robbins or arguably Alan Greenspan, Werner Van Braun and Heisenberg.

The following are quotes from these magicians. My advice to any serious student of these arts is to read these works for yourself and find the common themes.

Similar to many great magicians, he was accused of being a fraud and a con man. Nevertheless, he did not let facts get in the way of a good story. He knew that the mythology had power to help people achieve things in the physical world. Much of his beliefs became the staple of positive thinking movements.

Napoleon hill attributed his beliefs to a "secret" Andrew Carnegie taught him. He then validated the secret talking to many powerful and wealth people of his era. Including: Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, and Edwin C. Barnes (an associate of Thomas Edison). Hill reported that Carnegie had given him a letter of introduction to Ford, who Hill said then introduced him to Alexander Graham Bell, Elmer R. Gates, by William H. Taft, Cyrus H. K. Curtis, Thomas Edison, Luther Burbank, E.M. Statler, Edward W. Bok, John D. Rockefeller. Rufus A. Ayers, John Burroughs, Harvey Samuel Firestone, Elbert H. Gary, James J. Hill, George Safford Parker, Theodore Roosevelt, Charles M. Schwab, Frank A. Vanderlip, John Wanamaker, F. W. Woolworth, Daniel Thew Wright, and William Wrigley, Jr.

However, these claims have proven to be false or greatly exaggerated. It seems just as authors of other religious and mystic texts, Hill appealed to other figures for credibility and to provide plausibility for the teaching.

These issues notwithstanding, the thoughtforms and mythos created by Hill became one of the most powerful uses of magic in history which propelled people to even greater highs of accomplishment.

In 2017 the Vatican released and allowed the publication of a fragment of the Codex Magisterium. This manuscript had been kept secret in the Vatican Secret archive for an unknown number of years.

The saying of St. Collis seem to echo teachings of Napoleon Hill. However, the manuscript was dated to the early middle ages. The fragment is translated below:

The wisdom of Magus Adept Hill:

Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.

The starting point of all achievement is desire.

A goal is a dream with a deadline.

Every adversity, every failure, and every heartache, carries with it the Seed of an equivalent or greater Benefit.

If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way.

Any ideas, plan, or purpose may be placed in the mind through repetition of thought.

Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success.

The man who does more than he is paid for will soon be paid for more than he does.

Don't wait. The time will never be just right. Start where you stand, and work whatever tools you may have at your command and better tools will be found as you go along.

Some people dream of success, while others wake up and work hard at it.

Most great people have achieved their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure.

Success comes to those who become success conscious.

Any idea, plan, or purpose may be placed in the mind through repetition of thought.

When your desires are strong enough, you will appear to possess superhuman powers to achieve.

The starting point of all achievement is desire. Keep this constantly in mind. Weak desires bring weak results, just as a small fire makes a small amount of heat.

Great achievement is usually born of great sacrifice, and never the result of selfishness.

Opportunity often comes disguised in the form of misfortune or temporary defeat.

Every adversity, every failure, every heartbreak, carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.

It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others succeed.

Success is good at any age, but the sooner you find it, the longer you will enjoy it.

It takes half your life before you discover life is a do-it-yourself project.

Victory is always possible for the person who refuses to stop fighting.

When defeat comes, accept it as a signal that your plans are not sound, rebuild those plans, and set sail once more toward your coveted goal.

A positive mind finds a way it can be done; A negative mind looks for all the ways it can't be done.

The way of success is the way of continuous pursuit of knowledge.

Deliberately seek the company of people who influence you to think and act on building the life you desire.

You are the master of your destiny. You can influence, direct and control your own environment. You can make your life what you want it to be.

You give before you get.

Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle.

The ladder of success is never crowded at the top.

The more you give, the more comes back to you.

Think twice before you speak, because your words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another.

Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire and begin at once, whether you are ready or not, to put this plan into action.

When you have talked yourself into what you want, right there is the place to stop talking and begin saying it with deeds.

Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success.

Plan your work and work your plan.

You can think your way into or out of almost any circumstance, good or bad.

Procrastination is the bad habit of putting of until the day after tomorrow what should have been done yesterday.

If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way.

No one is ready for a thing until he believes he can acquire it.

Keep your mind fixed on what you want in life: not on what you don't want.

Everyone faces defeat. It may be a stepping-stone or a stumbling block, depending on the mental attitude with which it is faced.

Life reflects your own thoughts back to you.

If you do not see great riches in your imagination, you will never see them in your bank balance.

Action is the real measure of intelligence.

You become what you think about.

To be a star, you must shine your own light, follow your own path, and don't worry about darkness, for that is when the stars shine brightest.

There has been significant debate on how a magical text previous unknown could have mirrored exactly self help literature authored in the early 20th century.

(Continued in part XL.)

I'm cold as a match ready to strike (part XXXVIX)

(Roleplay entry. Continued from part XXXVIII.)

"With every mistake we must surely be learning."
~The Psalms of St. Harrison, Codex Magisterium Metaverse

Hiro activated the Cryo chamber. He knew the Beta was on the way north to Thule, Epsilon was in Jerusalem, Gamma was being sent to Ophir from Sheba, Delta was being sent to Egypt, the most dangerous of all the fragments.

He had completed much of the Books. All were combined in two large volumes and one small epistle: the Codex 1: Magisterium Metaverse and the Codex 2: Quantum Grimoire and the Epistle of the Blue Avatar. He sent copies to all instances of himself.

El spoke. "Five copies delivered."

Hiro looked puzzled. "Five?"

He rubbed his forehead. Forget it, he thought. "I am tired." He activated the cryo pod and drifted off, not sure when he would be awakened by his other fragments still in the world.

(Continued in part XXXIX.)

I said there is a purpose to this all, just dig a little deeper, feel it (part XXXVIII)

(Roleplay entry. Written by Miss Justine! Continued from part XXXVII.)

JUST PICK A REALITY AND STICK WITH IT

Rusty and Justine were cuddling on the loveseat in her parlour while he decompressed from his evening show, when her wrist-com beeped. Idly she looked at the screen, expecting a goodnight message from Emilly. Instead, her eyes widened as she saw an alert from the Fringe Lab in Tannhäuser. Cursing herself for taking the night off she leapt up.

"I need to go to Tannhäuser." Looking back and seeing the confusion on his face, she added, "Do you want to come?"

"Yup!" he replied with a smile. "What’s Tannhäuser?"

Laughing she took his hand and pulled him up, "I'll tell you on the way," and headed for the shuttle.

======

MESSAGES

"STAN, silence the alarms." Justine pulled a lab coat over her dress as she entered the Fringe Lab. "Lights up." Heading to the Quantum Containment module, she swept a hand over the console, waking up the display. Rusty followed nervously behind, looking a bit awe-struck, arms folded across his chest as if he were cold.

Justine threw the data from the console onto a holo display that quickly surrounded her. She'd left the local Hiro-instance in the quantum containment cube "live", systems set to monitor for activity in the neural net consciousness or evidence of further quantum data transfer from Hiro Prime. A frown spread across her face and she cringed guiltily, seeing evidence that local Hiro-instance had awoken and suffered a moment of severe panic before the safety protocols cut in. She chewed on a fingernail, chastising herself. "I should have been here."

The data scrolled by until she reached what had triggered the alert notice.

STAN: Messages.

From Hiro. Hiro Prime.

Justine felt the world disappear around the edges as she read,

Em - I am not sure how this is getting to you. I know it is. I feel a presence when I focus. It seems like it is me or a version of me.

This timeline corrupted deeply. I fear that our adversary (the serious one, not the pirate princess with a taste for pork) has captured power in a very early stage of this civilization.

I am going to use the Cryogenic units salvaged from the Gray Area to try to sleep until you find me. It is only three thousand years. I will have to awaken multiple times to recharge the units. Perhaps move the vault but luck and Magick, I should see you very soon.

I have some downtime so I have been composing some texts that maybe influenced this time line? I will send a copy of the text soon. Love as always -

your Hiro, Duke of Gearhaven, Archduke and Caliph of the Sphinx Hegemony, First Consul of the United Civilizations and Timelines.

P.S. In the library, I left a short translation of “Thaumaturgic Dynamics and the 21st Century Economy” by Jean-Pierre Kalifa. Might be helpful.

Justine read the message a dozen times, her ears ringing. At some point she realised Rusty had come to stand behind her hands gently rubbing her shoulders. "Adversary?" he asked.

"I need to talk to Emilly," she murmured, then more loudly, "STAN, locate Emilly. Has she been sent an alert? I need to talk to her."

"Emilly Shatner-Orr is not present in this reality," the mechanical voice of the Sphinx-Templar Automated Network replied.

"I'm sorry, what?" Justine asked, that familiar sensation of not knowing what the hell was going on washing over her.

"Emilly Shatner-Orr is not present in this reality," STAN helpfully repeated.

"Well...which reality is she..." She paused to take a deep breath, let it slowly back out. "STAN, spawn a process and find Emilly using all available resources."

"Acknowledged. Engaged."

Justine turned back to the holo-display and moved to the next message. Her eyes filled with tears as she saw it was sent to her.

Justine - By now you will have surmised that something has gone wrong. Hopefully, part of the Gray Area will be home. Knowing the engineer in you, you will have found some items are missing. Power systems, Cryonics. The quantum Mechanical drive is destroyed. I am going to attempt to use the Cryogenic Tech and make it home.

Love you,

your Hiro, Duke of Gearhaven, Archduke and Caliph of the Sphinx Hegemony, First Consul of the United Civilizations and Timelines.

P.S. Jung and Pauli were friends. See the transcribed article.

Choking back a sobbing laugh at the gross understatement of that she forced her eyes to focus, reading the brief personal message again and again before turning her attention to the longer postscript.

"Classic [f*cking Hiro," she muttered with a small smile, "can’t say anything without making an academic treatise out of it." She knew better than to dismiss it, though. If Hiro took the time to send it, it was important. Now if only she could figure out HOW it was important. For the hundredth time, she really wished Emilly was there.

She downloaded the messages and accompanying quantum entanglement measurements to her datapad and turned to Rusty. "Let's go home, I need to do some reading." Then she paused, seeing his eyes aimed over her shoulder.

"What?"

"Justine, there’s another message," he said, pointing.

On the screen, text scrolled.

"57.) OsF., or Voso.-The Fifty-seventh Spirit is Oso, Ose, or Voso. He is a Great President, and appeareth like a Leopard at the first..."

The two of them stared at the image of the Seal of Ose in silence for a long while. That doesn't look like anything to me," Justine said, an itching ache forming behind her eyes with the struggle to remember something she wasn't sure she knew in the first place.

Rusty’s eyes narrowed in concern. "Have you ever questioned the nature of your reality?" he whispered, watching her face for a reaction.

"No," she whispered before shaking herself out of her reverie, "STAN? Is Lina present in this reality? Can you locate her and ask her to meet me in the Steam library?"

"Lina Rodex is present in this reality," STAN replied with more sarcasm than was really warranted. "Message sent."

Justine took a deep breath reminding herself again of the futility at getting frustrated at a pre-sentient AI and downloaded the third message to her datapad as her wrist com pinged. Answering it she heard Lina's cheery voice, "What’s new, sis?"

“Lina, I need you to search the Gearhaven library for a volume titled 'Thaumaturgic Dynamics and the 21st Century Economy. It's in there somewhere."

"I can probably find what you need a lot faster through Memory Alpha, boss," Lina replied.

"Sorry, no, has to be the actual physical book. And it’s in the library. I'll be there in a bit."

"Roger that, sis. I'll find it." The call dropped.

"Ok, now I think we can go home," she said to Rusty. She paused for a moment, crouching beside the quantum entanglement cube housing the Hiro-instance. She leaned her forehead against the cool metal, thoughts swirling and she felt dangerously close to losing her grip on all the threads again. "Hiro," she whispered, thumping her forehead against the box gently, "I don't understand. I can’t do this. And where the [f*ck] is Emilly? Why can't you two just stay in the one reality? Honestly." Drawing in a shuddering breath, she took Rusty's hand and led him back through the station to the landing dock.

(Continued in part XXXVIX.)

don't have to tell you this world is whack

It started out so innocently (and I have to say, yes, anonymized, but again from the Contraption group, because elsewise the misspeaking makes no sense)...

[21:47] Mxxxxx Yxxx: can anyone point me in the direction of a good monocle i feel like i saw one recently but damned if i can find it now
[21:47] Sxxxxx Dxxxxxxx: Engine Room has one
[21:47] Sxxxxx Dxxxxxxx: I believe
[21:48] dxxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxxx: There's one in the contraception shop too, on the right as you come in amongst the eyewear.

Meet Mistah J. Darn you, autocoffee!

[21:48] Sxxxxx Dxxxxxxx: it was either that or We Love Roleplay
[21:48] Mxxxxx Mxxxxxxx: lol
[21:48] Hunter (drunkenmonkeystyle): Rip it off of old pennybags
[21:48] Mxxxxx Mxxxxxxx: contraception haha
[21:48] Sxxxxx Dxxx: Contraption
[21:48] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr) knows what [Jxxx] meant, but now she's amused by the concept of the contraception shop also carrying monacles
[21:48] Vxxxxxxxxxx Cxxxxxxxx: The Kosmii one at NeoJapan I assume?
[21:48] dxxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxxx: oh jfc im so sorry
[21:48] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Because....reasons
[21:48] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): No, truly, it's fine
[21:48] dxxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxxx: I need to use the sleep. x_x

Many of us do.

[21:50] sxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: (wonders if monocles can be used as contraception)
[21:51] pxxxxxxxxxxx Sxxxx: only condomonocles
[21:51] sxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: hehehehe good one
[21:51] dxxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxxx: What have I done
[21:52] axxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: Doesn't that comic Saturday Morning cereal or what ever have single use monocoles
[21:52] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): If it wasn't you, it would surely be someone else. Unusual conversations are nearly as common here as in Caledon.
[21:52] sxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: hmm looks like the jokes are
[21:52] sxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: reproducing
[21:53] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr) giggles
[21:53] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): That was terrible.
[21:53] sxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: well, [Jxxx]'s comment was pretty
[21:53] sxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: seminal
[21:54] dxxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxxx: Really I think this is just getting Blown out of proportion.
[21:54] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr) facepalms

Can't leave puns alone, they tend to breed, after all...

shined so bright this star's gonna burn out (part I)

DJ Verdant, he of the incomparably fun Wandering Star, sent out a notice that he'd be playing a set for the spring equinox. And fae were requested! Fauns specifically, but fae of any order, or whomever wanted to come--just come and dance.



So we turned out in a minor drove.



We all picked out spaces around the fire, and the dancing began.



DJ Verdant Homewood himself, spinning for the revelers.



So, I could have just included the pic after this, because right when I snapped this, the lass on the left whose wings I REALLY wanted to catch turned to the side...but it's still a fun pic, I'm going with it.



And those are her wings full on, with the eye spots.



And we wheel around to another side of the fire. I'm the little thing on the right!

(Part II coming soon!)