burned my house down with a crystal ball once;

[asipofbride]

WHO: Nicholas Dicholas Wolfwood, the seers of Kaisou, and you.
WHERE: Libra and Gemini
WHEN: end of the month-ish
WHAT: mirror mirror on the wall, what's gonna happen in the fall? PROPHECY POST!
WARNINGS: none that come to mind

video; un: nicholasdwolfwood

[ the camera is being puppeted by somebody else--given the glimpse of a mechanical finger, it's probably a long-suffering Vash who was asked to film before... Wolfwood? decided to...

... if you are familiar with Nicholas D. Wolfwood, weirdo living on the edge of town with other weirdos and his current pinnipedal status, it's probably not weird that there's a big gray-black lump of seal stuffing its head under the sand. if you are unfamiliar with Nicholas D. Wolfwood, somebody's taking a weird video of the gothest little blubberbeast in the harbor and uh. gently trying to cajole it. ]

Heyyy, Nico, c'mon! You said you had a smoke thing you needed to post about?

[ the Nico-seal snrfs. sand leaps from newly revealed nostril-holes. it's followed by the hottest glower a seal's ever given a camera. ]

Stickin' my head in the sand makes the ringing shut up for a couple of seconds, blondie, let me have this. Or shoot me. I'll take either option.

[ the camera goes into turbo mode as the idiot holding it needs to tell you that NO, NO, SHOOTING IS NOT AN OPTION WOLFWOOOOOOD and the seal rolls on his back, staring out at the ocean as if urging it to wash up higher, higher, and claim him for somewhere far and away. please. God. do him a solid for once, you cosmic asshole. ]

Will you shut your yap-hole for--needlenoggin! Stuff it! You're not helping! [ he's throwing a flipperful of sand and angrily rolling over, God's angriest powdered donut as he flops this way and that on the beach. ]

Apparently the magical predictive bullshit livin' rent free in my brain wasn't content with showing me a stupid bell, but I keep hearin' a friggin' bell too. It sounds like a bell. Good luck figuring out what that portents to--maybe the other assholes have something meatier.

Wishin' bells on all of you.

[ head goes back in the sand until the camera cuts off and the cameraman's voice hits a new decibel of catastrophically fretful. ]

Comments

text; un: DOINK!!!

[tonberrykin]

So.

Not to alarm anybody but I definitely got a ping on the Alarm system about, like, a footrace between Pokemon? I didn't get to see how it ended so we can't fix betting or anything, but. Yeah. Watch for danger if a bunch of lil' critters get together to do some running.

And apropos of nothing in particular @/hikari-vi I need to borrow Koukou. I promise I will return him entirely intact and with no additional criminal record. Probably. definitely. Definitely! Capital letter for how confident I am!

UN: hikari-vi | Text

[whiteshroud]

Koukou? Really?

I mean, I'm sure you'll look after him but... if you're hoping he'll win a race, you're going to be really disappointed.

un: shadowsword, video

[rupturingheaven]

... I've got nothing on what bells could possibly mean.

As far as my own territory goes, I've got the Hermit, upright. [They hold up the appropriate card.] The general meanings for this one are solitude, soul-searching, introspection, spiritual enlightenment, inner guidance... that sort of thing. Withdrawing to focus on bettering yourself or possibly even recovering from difficult situations.

video; un: absolutenumber

[mediocrites]

[Unusually for Dr. Ratio, he's appearing on a video feed this month. He seems drained and irritated.]

Ordinarily I have a quote from a book to present at this time. ...This month, I have nine. Take that as you will.

[And he begins to read them off from torn-out notebook pages, one by one, dropping the page dramatically into a pile after each is finished.]

“The true genius shudders at incompleteness — imperfection — and usually prefers silence to saying the something which is not everything that should be said.” Edgar Allan Poe, Marginalia.

“No matter where I go, I still end up me. What's missing never changes. The scenery may change, but I'm still the same incomplete person. The same missing elements torture me with a hunger that I can never satisfy. I think that lack itself is as close as I'll come to defining myself.” Haruki Murakami, South of the Border, West of the Sun.

“A one-eyed man is much more incomplete than a blind man, for he knows what it is that's lacking.” Victor Hugo, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.

“People search for certainty. But there is no certainty. People are terrified — how can you live and not know? It is not odd at all. You only think you know, as a matter of fact. And most of your actions are based on incomplete knowledge and you really don't know what it is all about, or what the purpose of the world is, or know a great deal of other things.” Richard Feynman, The Pleasure of Finding Things Out.

“There was something wrong with her. She did not know what it was but there was something wrong with her. A hunger, a restlessness. An incomplete knowledge of herself. The sense of something farther away, beyond her reach.” Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Half of a Yellow Sun.

“Human life is but a series of footnotes to a vast obscure unfinished masterpiece.” Vladimir Nabokov, Pale Fire, and please remind the internet that the man wrote things other than Lolita.

“There’s nothing that makes you so aware of the improvisation of human existence as a song unfinished.” Carson McCullers, The Sojourner.

“It makes little difference how many university courses or degrees a person may own. If he cannot use words to move an idea from one point to another, his education is incomplete.” Norman Cousins, Modern Man is Obsolete.

“My entire life consisted of musings, calculations, practical works and trials. Many questions remain unanswered; many works are incomplete or unpublished. The most important things still lie ahead.” Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky, as quoted in Air & Space Smithsonian.

[Recitation finished, he seems almost defeated.]

...I dearly hope I don't come up with any more before the month is out, but I will relay them if I do.

video: un:trienemybest

[droptheious]

[Honestly, Varian is more concerned with his professor's response to this over than the actual content. He'll think about that in a little while, but for now, Ratio is his main concern. ]

Wow. That's a lot. Like... a lot, a lot. Are you okay, Ratio?

video; private

[neverchanged]

[Rather than advertise everything publicly on the network, he slaps a private filter on.]

I didn't realize you'd been logging all of them. No wonder you've been wound up tight.

Listen... I'm sure it looks directed at you, but it isn't. This pointless prophesying is referencing the search for knowledge because the Gate to the Library of Alexandria is probably opening up again. [He knows Ratio has already figured this out logically, but it's worth pointing out again until he gets it.] You're still a brilliant, incredible, stubborn scientist and everyone adores you, me included of course~

Anyway, you should be packing. I fully expect to not see you for weeks. Do they even have a dry cleaner? ... Probably not. Ugh, talk about backwater destinations...

Voice | UN: makeitaventi

[venti_late]

[Venti hums softly as he turns on the voice.]

Mm, the winds brought to me some old voices from my past this time. Specifically, the voices of my parents. It was an old conversation I had with them in my childhood.

[There's a moment of silence.]

I think today's gonna be a self-care day for me~! Oh, and I guess make sure you guys take care of yourselves next month. It sounds like it might be rough.

voice: UN:hotgoss

[bebest]

Oh, Bestie. Please take care of yourself. I'm gonna send you some of my best house wine, okay? You need anything else? You know all you have to do is ask and I'm there.

voice; private

[lapislazily]

[... Ah. It has been a very long time indeed.]

I am sorry the wind brought you such a bittersweet memory...

Is there anything I can do for you? A full spa treatment administered entirely inside our shared realm, perhaps?

[Time to dote on the puffball. Mountain breezes, cool stone, and hot tea towels would do some good.]

un: kesitakame

[hoshikiri]

[Takame had no expression on a good day and less of one when he reported what he saw of the future. But this time he appeared... very noticeably somber. Like a fresh wound was just pressed into while staring him straight in the face.]

... I dreamt of my mother and father in a time before our home was taken and we all changed.

[He shook his head lightly.]

I do not know for certain what that may entail... but the days ahead may be taxing. I apologize for such a dour view in my report.

un: lycaon

[paraselenic]

[Lycaon's brow is furrowed in worry. Takame was always rather stoic, but there's pain hidden underneath this time.]

I will take over your duties, Takame. Please take care of yourself.

Text | UN: Pythia

[life_ethereal]

O splendid Muses Nine,
Within my heart you dwell divine!
O beautiful Muses Nine,
What I would give to make you all mine!

This prophecy has been endorsed by Apollo.
Please do not like, smite, comment, or follow.

[The anonymous cat behind the screen may or may not be screaming internally or externally.]

un:kesitakame

[hoshikiri]

[actual un: bacchus, let's be real]

LMAOOOOOOO YOU RLY JUST CAME RIGHT OUT AND SAID IT HUH

un: hikari-vi | Text | PRIVATE FILTER

[whiteshroud]

Apollo.
Sunshine.

That was public. This is a public feed.

[8 months keeping it a secret and he just... tweeted it out.]

un: eve

[playtag]

[There is an audible little hopefully gasp from the shortest of bookworms.]

The Muses? Could it be?

[When they visit that means-]

[Suddenly Eve is excited for summer to end.]

text: un:kore

[aslowburn]

[ There are many things Persephone is sensitive about. There are many things she gets very murderous about. But the muses? That hits a specific nerve, and she is Not Having It Today. All the pain from losing Calliope comes rushing to her like a flood.

She really wants to punch something and Apollo is right there. ]

I think it would be wise for you to shut your mouth before I find a way to shut it for you, Brother mine. You are crossing a line

Private text, un: devilchild

[myriadeclipse]

My Lovely Heavenly Star, I thought we were avoiding Her Majesty’s everything, not flagging it down like an airport runway.

Text: UN:bar_cat75

[wiseoldbartender]

I got that stupid fuckin' Reading Rainbow song stuck in my head and now I know shit from that show that I definitely never knew before. 'Cause that's what I wanted, more useless garbage in here.

I probably forgot something important like someone's birthday for this to get lodged in my skull. But if I have to suffer, so do you:

1. It ran for 26 years, which is how long it feels my headache about this stupid show since I got my prophecy has lasted.
2. It got more than 250 awards. Yes, I do know all of them now. Yes, I wish I was dead.
3. There were 155 episodes and 21 seasons. Remember when shit wasn't cancelled after 1 season?
4. The theme song was written by Steve Horelick, Dennis Neil Kleinman, and Janet Weir - they did this to you.
5. It's an app now. Because everything has to be a fucking app.

It won't stop. I promised I'd hold back on the booze for my kid so if someone could just come and smack me across the head with a brick to simulate the feeling of a bender for me to get this shit outta here, I'd appreciate it.

voice | un: lastlullaby

[end_singer]

Amongst the somewhat more ominous offerings of my fellow seers, I'm pleased to lend more weight to Ghilly's supposition that we're to have a pokemon race of some sort. I was part of the proceedings in my vision, after all, though I've no intention of physically participating when it comes time.

...Though I do hope there are size categories. 'Twould hardly be fair to have one of the wee ones race against pokemon anywhere near Coffee's size, wouldn't it?

[Yes, he named one of his pokemon Coffee. Don't worry about it.]

video | un: blackbirdtarot

[drewthetower]

[August holds up a card: Five of Swords, Upright.]

Someone somewhere has ambition and doesn't know how to fucking stop it. Also sneaky as fuck. So....yeah, keep an eye out?

UN: hikari-vi | video

[whiteshroud]

Mm... not sure I like the sound of that.

We'll just have to keep our eyes out peeled.

photo and voice | un: sillouetto

[threebetrayals]

[Kuni posts a photo of his flour in a very familiar shape, if you were a kid in the States in the like 90s.]

That. What the hell is this even supposed to be?

voice, un: mallemok

[mauks]

[ the vision had been rough ruining the good mood Mollymauk had woken up with, leaving him twitchy and irritable and tense. it bleeds into his voice, catching the casual tone he's so known for. ]

Terrible thing ambition, even worse when you're too blind to see the pitfalls put in your way. [ he snaps a quick picture of his card; a brilliant shining ruby and a man lurking in the shadows reaching to take it. ]

Hopefully this won't come and bite us in the ass later.

un: petaltothemetal; voice; private

[blossominghopes]

[That tension in his voice... Oh, she doesn't like that.]

... Do you want a distraction, Molly?

[Asking if he's okay seems kind of like a stupid question.]

video; un: photocutie

[trailblazingspirit]

[March, dressed in a summer-appropriate outfit, looks slightly embarrassed today. She coughs, then gestures to the corkboard full of photos of a sandcastle version of the Colosseum. Various stickers that have something to do with Italy have been posted all over the border.]

Trance-me wanted to go to Rome, but I think even she knew the prices of plane flights were too high, so. Sorry, everyone at the beach party, if I didn't say hi while I was building this! I was in a trance and everything, I didn't really know what I was doing until after I took the photos.

[A gusty sigh.]

And I even dressed up for the beach and all. Ugh, what a waste of a summer outfit, I didn't get to hear people compliment it.

un: petaltothemetal

[blossominghopes]

Oh, is that what was happening at the party? No harm in reiterating the compliment, then--I thought you looked really cute!

UN: CamCotton

[creamcottonshepherd]

Well, good day everyone, I've got my own contribution here...

[BEHOLD....THE COLOSSEUM, IN YARN FORM! It's 3D and everything, quite impressive.]

I've been considering adding a few features to it. Perhaps some little figurines..?

[The phone moves up to the various Venti figures she got from her advent calendar the one year. They all have sweaters.]

I'm quite open to suggestions!

voice; un: doordash

[doublethumbsup]

Whoa, Grandma! That's so cool!

Did you put the little sweaters on?

voice; un: antiva

[mmmleather]

I... Is that seal... speaking?

Is it possessed, by chance?

[Why is this the first thing he sees trying to learn how to use the phone. Why.]

video; un: ndwolfwood

[asipofbride]

[ as he is still without hands and on the beach, said seal in question is still being filmed by his unseen idiot assistant--who's ever so helpfully reading the question... In his unique way.

'Aww, Nick, one of the new names wants to know if you're possessed. We should take them a pie.'

The seal snorts and performs another barrel roll. It's tummy time. ]

That's about the only thing I ain't got wrong with me in this godforsaken place. Tell'em I'm cursed or however you're gonna be a big wuss about makin' it not sound like a pain in the back areas. And stop making pies in your mind, I wanna get started on cider and if you sneak all the apples out of the house again I'm gonna be pissed.

[ for someone who's approximate shape is lumpy and round, he's got a pretty good Hard Stare on him as he squints up at the camera. ]