Don't you dare collect the Hammer Fragments to repair the Ball Hammer. "History records no more gallant struggle than that of humanity against the truth." -Ashleigh Brilliant Don't given 'em the satisfaction, is how! Revived out of a sense of begrudged duty. The trick is to work to keep their disorganization from becoming a feature rather than a bug. It's all in the game, though, right? In a way, the most powerful sorcery is that which has nothing at its center. A curious war. The only way to win is not to kill. "Just watch me pulling up my socks, and then they get away right out from under me." -Dragonette, "My Legs" A future we can all aspire to: "Become your best self. You can do it. We can help." They want you to know what's in the books; they do not want you to take them. Been a long time gone, Leningrad. Why did Leningrad get the works? Conviction is a terrible thing to concede. Turns out, the world is actually overflowing with things we should be thankful for. I'm as surprised as anyone. The morning air's still crisp, best to keep the java warm. This little cloud of mine, I'm going to make it thine. Devastating momentum! (Mediocre turning radii) Our geodes runneth over. Oh, him? He's definitely not on the list. Deception is a dish best served by an unwitting mail carrier. "When people ask me what I do in the mountains all day," the mole quipped, "I tell them I'm boring!" Though it be cool, and dark, much grows in the waters of the bog. I'm nourished by the lives that wove the web inside my haunted head. "starting to think these maidens are stumbling in soaked through from the rain just to steal my beautiful gowns and homewear are any of you actually lost" -vamprisms, 2022-09-17 Remember the four Cs of gemstones: Color, Clarity, Cut, and Cpecial Abilities. "The biblical Tower of Babel was built so high as to defy understanding. Those who built it began to talk nonsense. The tower could no longer be comprehended. There was simply too much of it." -Jon Bois, "Troy State 253, DeVry 141" a.k.a. "We're Serious About Success" (2017). "As long as the lookout manages to stay hidden, you can hide here as long as it takes to recover." All it takes is just one dropship, order yours today! Those copper-bottoms are no match for our shell-tops. While we're at it, any chance we could get your plow as well? We're going to need some battering rams. Look, Eunice, the company has done quite a lot to wind you up, it's only right that it get the song and dance it expects. It's like I've got this whole dense orb on my back! Won't anyone take pity on the burdens felt by the powerful? It's kind of wild how much the flora of an ecosystem rely on flowers to round out their collective color wheel. A rare window into how royal succession plays out after the chess game has concluded. I'll tell you what, when we're done down here, it's going to be all mine! "Why be among the last to do what's right, when you can be one of the first?" -Ashleigh Brilliant I'm hearing a lot of good things about, I think they're called "Lancers?" All the rage, I hear. What reason do you have to doubt? Have you ever met a pig who tells lies before? You know what would really get us ready for out astral raids? *Costume jewelry!* People sure seem upset about something on campus, but so long as I've got my barrier up, I can ponder my orb in peace. No need for the stick, the carrot's all the incentive anyone needs. "Text me back in like 30. I'm watching that episode of SpongeBob where he has a 3-day rager with his jellyfish." -Alfred Pennyworth A serpent of a thousand miles begins with a single mis-step. "In a logic that perhaps no man will ever understand, the true winner is the last to finish the race." -Dr. Nils Hellstrom, *The Hellstrom Chronicle* (1971). Why go to work when your place of work can come to you, direct as the crow flies? We all saw you both from across the room, and we agree: We like what you've both got going on. Teach a monkey to shoot, and they'll paint on a grimmer, grander canvas for the rest of their lives. I emerged from the disorienting journey changed in ways I could not have anticipated. These troublemakers are about to blow their tops! Things are gonna get hot! Some doors will only open to a stranger who you feel deeply that you knew in times past. What if a tingus and a tangus... fell in love? A lizard prince sits in a library, reading, wide-eyed. Sure would be a shame if we took these, the only remaining Talismans, into the Valley with us! Be grateful! The seasonal staff have been working through the night to lay out the white carpet for you. Two test tubes, and within them, two individuals. Their respective genders are not for others to decide. It's race to discover land between the lookouts in the crow's nests and the crew looking into the water! Zardoz gets to play Santa this year. The results are surprisingly heartwarming! A shady ne'er-do-well pulls himself from the ocean only to discover more than he bargained for. Beneath the canal, and deeper out beyond the harbor, there are things in the water. I'll lead, you follow, try not to get burned. You know what would look great in this untamed landscape? A housing development. Just *every* kind of animal, all hanging out together! A crowd of real cool shades-wearing dudes can be found on the streets of Los Angeles 2019. Cannot attack if defending player controls no islands. If at abt time you control no islands, bury Dandân. This bird had it all figured out, or so they thought. A bad day for small boats out on the big, big ocean. The powerful gather in secret to toast their unassailability. ’Tis now the very witching time of night, when churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out contagion to this world. Now could we drink hot blood, and do such bitter business as the day would quake to look on. The car's not going to know what hit it. A pair of stegosaur sailors discuss the dream of starting over on a new continent. A stretch of ocean separates the ambitions of the explorers on the left from the predations of the pirates on the right. A young witch reads an occult tome by the light of a single very intimidating candle. Three royals ladies, three noble creatures. A ground-based galleon must fend off an armada of airships descending from space. Folks with skin untouched by the sun. A diamond hardback in the bookseller's rough is truly the greatest of treasures. Don't rate this sports car in terms of horsepower, but rather in terms of cow power. Rock lobsters, scissor lizards, and paper tigers cannot attack or block. This place is just chock full of dogs! You are a toad. Toad toad toad. What, were you born in a book barn?! I'll cut more off than a nose before I'm done with you. Just do one thing, however small, that will allow you to start. Believe that you have something to say. Let me tell you, Cohen's couldn't believe how big my effect size is. "A trap is only a trap if you don't know about it. If you know about it, it's a challenge." -China Miéville, 1998. (A rat's become a fat cat, flanked by kings gone rank.) The Knight brandishes its nail as it is borne by the Last Stag into the deepest, buggiest corners of Hallownest. The Fish of April swam all the way from France to bring you this apology bouquet. A parade of blacks, from gray to black, are scrutinizing you with yellow eyes. "You can’t deny this song is actually a banger." The look of ire (that's the look, that's the look). A continental mystic of some notoriety seeks to complete a quest amidst an array of assets and obstacles. "The Thousand And One Nights is not something which has died. It is a book so vast that it is not necessary to have read it, for it is a part of out memory." -Tim Rogers (2020) quoting Eliot Weinberger's (1984) translation of Jorge Luis Borges (1980). L’ENRÉGISTREMENT ÉLECTRIQUE LE PLUS PERFECTIONNÉ "Is this the original board game of death?" -Colin Barras, 2020