azdak

Posted by Fred Clark

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2025/11/18/the-kingdom-of-heaven-is-within/

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/?p=71867

Free your mind and your ass will follow.

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2025/11/18/the-kingdom-of-heaven-is-within/

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/?p=71867

Title: Moonlight
Author: Tarlan (tarlanx)
Fandom: The Untamed (TV)
Pairing/Characters: Lan Wanji/Wei Wuxian
Rating/Category: PG SLASH
Word Count: 300
Summary: Wei Wuxian goes to find Lan Zhan (Lan Wanji) after transferring the evil spell off Jin Ling and onto himself.

On AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/73043931

ICONS: Zhou Zishu (Word of Honor) icons:

  

Till the End of the Moon, Gank Your Heart, Instead of Tipsy Why Not Get Drunk | Flavour It's Yours

  
 

Crossposting from dmbj_tombraiders:

Stay tuned everyone, we are in the process of finishing up the two 2026 calendars. Posting will run on AO3 between December 1 and December 12. On the 12th I‘ll post a download link to the calendar PDF files for download on AO3, Tumblr and here in the community. That way you can print them or use them as digital calendars.

There is going to be one calendar focusing on our favourite gentlemen and one for our favourite ladies from across DMBJ canon!

Today my work outfit was goth Jessica Fletcher.

Posted by Fred Clark

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2025/11/17/well-think-of-something-funny-when-we-write-your-epitaph/

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/?p=71873

Any kind of heaven every body doesn't get in
Wont seem like a heaven to me

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2025/11/17/well-think-of-something-funny-when-we-write-your-epitaph/

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/?p=71873

"It's set in a time when things were hard for black people in America" - a line which so flabbergasted me that I don't think I ever figured out what to say.

But this one may have topped it!

"The story is about a black girl, somewhere between 8 and 16 years old, from a black family."

...I'm dying to ask why they think they need to specify that this girl is the same race as everybody else in her family, when that's usually how this works. There's no indication in the rest of the post that we might have reason to think she's not.

Prologue

The God of Beginnings created "souls": "Giving rise to smallest insects to the running rapids and the magnanimous mountains, these souls fused with the living and the inanimate."

After a long time, war between souls and humans broke out, upsetting the God, which created negative/evil energy, so they sealed themself away along with the ability so summon living and inanimate souls. It didn't contain the energy however and Fallen Angels were born.

The Magic Academy was finally able to awaken new souls from food and balance was restored.

Main Story

Gloriville

Rice and Ingredients: Rice is "Master Attendant" aka MC's new Food Soul. MC is started a new restaurant. Wanting to be useful, Rice goes out looking for ingredients, gets lost and runs into Ichi, who happens to want to be a cooking attendant. The MC finds them and they all are lost lol but a hooded stranger helps them.

Sudden Hostility: The stranger wants Rice as Payment and sends Boston Lobster after them when they refuse.

Introductory Present: In return for letting him stay at the restaurant, Ichi decides to make dishes for them. Ichi is a pure-hearted boy with a strong sense of justice.

Assessment: MC's restaurant is being turned into a guild branch along with others to make it easier for guild members to complete missions and take down Fallen Angels. Ichi has to complete a trial set by Olivia to become MC's cooking attendant.

Chance Meeting: Ichi encounters a standoffish blond man in the forest who may not be a human. (Hmmm could this "person" really be a... could that race from the legends, still have survivors?)

Light Kingdom

Tiramisu: Ichi passes the official test. Olivia wants to remodel. She sends MC out with the Food Soul Tiramisu to get building materials.

Cooperate and Get Through the Area: Thanks to Sky City, Light Kingdom is protected from Fallen Angel and the citizens live in harmony with nature.

MC and Tiramisu talk about how Food Souls work and how Olivia taught them to think and do for themselves. Their 'subjective thinking' can be different than their contractor 'to the point that it might contradict the contract'.

Follow: MC tries to talk to Rice about subjective thinking but she's confused. She's just barely learned to talk more clearly. They set off to save Food Souls who were accompanying the person delivering building materials and were attacked.

Clear the Way: They think it was the hooded stranger and investigate the area.

Doubts and Suspicious: We see Food Spirits can die. Boston Lobster to the stranger: With this act, you've reached the point of no return; your hands are stained with the blood of the pure. There is no turning back now. You must complete this journey to gain your freedom.

The stranger says that Food Soul bodies are needed for him to survive. He tells the group that Fallen Angels were originally Food Souls. Boston Lobster turns on the stranger and kills him before injecting the dying Food Soul with a syringe, and it becomes a Fallen Angel.

Rice is upset at the truth and starts to spill something: All this time... I..

From what I remember, Rice was one of the Food Souls in the war long past, so she may thinking of all the Fallen Angels they killed. She has amnesia so she doesn't remember much.

Ichi sees that the stuff in the syringe was made by 'Nevras Academy'. They study magical tools and made the crystals that are used for summoning Food Souls.

It's nice to be back in this world especially without having to worry about battling. I'd like to get this again for my next challenge to continue. I'm not sure how I'll do the event and other stories.

Basic summary: In a Gaslamp-lit world where hags and ogres lurk in thick pine forests, three magical queens form an uneasy alliance to protect their lands from invasion…and love turns their world upside down.

My thoughts: I believe I heard about this from someone on here (here maybe), otherwise I wouldn't have picked it up on my own, so thanks! I'm really starting to think I need to sit down and find more stories like this for listening at work, they really help uplift my mood. So far I've read:

Nettle & Bone
Legends & Lattes
The Secret Society of Irregular Witches
Wooing the Witch Queen

These all have some level of darkness or angst but nothing too dark for me. I do plan on reading this author's Scales & Sensibility. I'm think about cozy mystery and cozy horror (like 'How to Survive Camping'. Anyway---

Saskia's parents were murdered by her uncle but she later rose up and took back the throne. Now she lives with ogres, goblins and her bats and crows spending her days doing experiments to protect her kingdom. She is a bit impulsive with her feelings.

Felix was married off to his childhood friend but her father enslaved him and used his name to enact crusades. Felix eventually escapes, heading to Saskia's kingdom to seek asylum.

However, in her haste to get back to her work and used to dealing with tiresome dark wizards, she assumes he's the dark wizard she was looking to hire to fix up her library which has long been in disarray since her uncle messed it up.

Felix's kind and gentle nature quickly wins over one of Saskia's familiar crows, Oscar, which is just the start of Saskia's heart softening towards him.

This has themes of found family, suffering and healing from abuse, being true to oneself, simp!male lead POV and a more dominant female lead.

I'm not a fan of lust first stories but it wasn't too extreme here. They're attracted sexually first but nothing happens until later when they've already caught feelings.

I was a little ehh about the narration at times but overall liked it.

I won't be reading the sequels because I couldn't stand Lorelei which is the focus of the second book and I'm not that interested in seeing an Alana romance though I'm curious who could win her heart.

My favorite aspect was definitely Felix simping over Saskia and being happy to let her take the reigns. And his relationship with the crow Oscar, that was lovely! Oh, forgot to mention, Saskia is bisexual! I loved the housekeeper and Saskia's sort of 'second in command', I kinda wished there had been more of them/their backstory but it wasn't bad what we got at all. The Winter celebration with all the gift-giving was so lovely. Oh, here's another review I thought was great.

CWs:

-Saskia has moments of grief where she remembers her parents murder (she heard it happen)
-Both Saskia and Felix were abused as children and young adults, it doesn't go into too much detail but their trauma is brought up at times
-Felix's wife had a terminal illness and died, it doesn't come up too much
-Lorelei comes across as a sex pest to me though she doesn't outright lay her hands on Felix I don't think (I kinda blocked those parts out in annoyance), but in the preview for the next book she kidnaps someone and makes him her 'boy toy' though I hear he becomes willing

The weekly chat posts are intended for just that, chatting among each other. What are you currently watching? Reading? What actor/idol are you currently following? What are you looking forward to? Are you busy writing, creating art? Or did you have no time at all for anything, and are bemoaning that fact?

Whatever it is, talk to us about it here. Tell us what you liked or didn't like, and if you want to talk about spoilery things, please hide them under either of these codes:
<b>Highlight for spoilers!</b> *<span style="background-color: #FFFFFF; color: #FFFFFF">Write your spoilery text here.</span>* or <details> <summary>Write a non-spoilery summary of what's hidden under the arrow here.</summary> Write your spoilery text here. </details>

"Along the journey she discovers that her and her family were never actually slaves at all but the original royal family and the original slaves usurped the throne and took over due to constantly being oppressed and treated unfairly."

I really want to ask this person if they understand how the concepts of "slavery" and "royalty" work. This girl was definitely a slave because she was enslaved, you can be a slave and also be from a royal family since both these concepts are societal concepts, the word "usurp" suggests that this revolution was invalid and bad, and by the way, if she was born as part of the royal family she's probably lucky she wasn't killed, except that then the book would've been very short and grim, with no happy ending. Well, no happy ending for her, all the happy endings for the people who killed her family and secured their freedom.

(Somebody suggested this may be The Claidi Journals, which is what I was thinking.)

********************

( Read more... )

Dear Miss Manners: What is the polite way to eat large sushi rolls? Sometimes they’re too big to comfortably eat whole without gagging!

Dissect them.

Miss Manners does not usually condone deconstructing food in public, but these are desperate times. Use your chopsticks to pull out the insides and eat them separately. Then either squish the remaining rice and seaweed together and eat it in two bites or use the side of the chopstick to cut it in half.

Perhaps the sight of their beautiful creations being desecrated will inspire the chefs to make more manageable bites. Or at least have them wonder why everyone is suddenly ordering them as takeout instead.

I wonder why people don't like Charons?

Lunogloom has Chinese text over her head. I picked the 'Lunarians are cool' option because I thought the 'that would be scary' option would be mean but I got Chaos for it. 😂

Seems like Chaos has its using, like with Harlan. And lmao the fruit stall guy is in love with Harlan without realizing he's a guy and younger to boot. He thinks Harlan has a younger sister. Dude, you look about 40, a younger sister would mean she'd have to be in her 20s. I feel a little bad because Harlan wants to drag this out because he actually likes Valen's critiques;;

So I guess all Lunos look the same and have 'Luno' at the start of their name?

Aw, Paniemon is cute.

Secret Histories of the Forsakens: So interesting!

Also, it seems like maybe Elysium are the good guys? I mean, better than the Empire at least.

Betwixt Leaves and Branches: The Flithoid Waves: "Their divine power was forged into sacred relics, and who bore them served as a vessel of the gods' authority, spreading their grace across the land. Only the most virtuous and pure of heart were chosen to wield such relics." That's definitely the sword/key Vita used to unlock the door behind the Goddess statue, right?

The Charon entry: How come Vita doesn't have horns if they're a Charon? Wait, the red thing is a horn? Why do some have horns like that but others have big ones? And the name does originate from the Greek Charon, I wondered. Charon can either become Daimons, remain mostly normal or turn into monsters. I noticed that Charon like Vita and Berry resemble aspects of Filthoids, plus the Crystalophile note about it resembling human anatomy 'suggesting it may not have always been a monster'.

Lol my feelings pivoted on Outsider. For meeting him: this is my type of design for a guy. after meeting him: how dare you snatch our hard-earned crystal! *frowny face* Basically I was Snow in that moment. Plus we know that Psyche and Henrick need it for some reason. Maybe Outsider's reasons are important but what about the guys we met first?

I appreciate the yellow diamond on things that let's you know you haven't read/inspected certain things yet.

I thought Truffle looked too much like Phoebe from Wuthering Waves but at least her personality is very different, though the closeness with Geniemon is very much like Phoebe's with Echoes down to understanding them when no one else can.

When going back into town to meet up with Outsider, your options to reply to Henrick telling you not to involve Psyche are:

She is not your daughter you know. <- WTF that's just mean, she has no parents and he is her guardian now
You are quite a polite friendly person. <- If that's not sarcasm, Vita is really oblivious. 😅

Okay yep option two was sarcasm. I get it but Henrik has his reasons even if we don't agree or understand. He is Psyche's protector, she seems like she could be a teenager still plus it's clear something else is going on.

I feel bad when I can't befriend a Geniemon, like it's a personal failing not to be liked by them. 😂😭

Fina's voice is so lovely.

OMG WHY IS THERE CURSE CENSORING 

Outsider took the stone because he wanted to use it to get inside the hotel to look around for his lost friend Hunt and others who disappeared. I forgive him. I mean I knew there was a reason once he asked to meet Vita later.

I'm  having this weird but kind of funny issue where after a cutscene/convo, Vita starts running away. X'D