bandit king of lunch and string

it's really really dry in my house. my skin feels like it's shrinking. we need to blast every humidifier we have simultaneously.

 

ooh, that looks boss. i like the way you think.

 

i never really grokked his motives, though. wasn't he just sort of collecting brides?

 

the reason casimir and gareth are able to break the cycle is because they're both outsiders, not subject to the Fairytale Rules thing. when narrative magic gets to them at all, it can only get a grip on the stories they grew up with. casimir grew up with arctic people's stories, which tend to be kind of existential and random. Shit Happens And Sometimes It's Real Weird, kind of stories. gareth grew up on ships, hearing sailors' stories, which are big on individual agency but not so big on scripted morality. this makes both of them hard to railroad into convenient roles.

on the meta level, though, this is all held in place by a conspiracy of gods who are not going to give up their favorite game board without a fight, and they'll break their own rules if need be. they're not all-powerful -- in fact, by the climax of the series our heroes will actually be powerful enough to go toe to toe with a god or two in person. we're talking like greek or norse gods power level. they can do Big Big Magic and sling thunderbolts and whatnot, but personally throwing a mountain would be a once-in-an-epic occurrence, and they can't create things from nothing or create souls or anything like that. mortal tricksters can still fuck with them. they mostly work through humans.

there are also plenty of gods outside this region, and those gods are not playing the same game. and are kind of :rolleyes: about this pantheon. it's like these guys have been obsessed with their little sims game for a few thousand years while the other gods have been doing sports and getting laid.

and various gods and nature spirits and djinn and whatnot move freely in the world and do their own thing. our heroes both have a personal connection to such outside forces. casimir is the Witness's pet human, and can 'summon' it -- more like channel it? maybe? -- to instantly destroy undead and constructs and summons. gareth kind of has the equivalent of a doctorate in the study of chi as it manifests in the form of place spirits and spiritual hot spots, and can organize ambient life force into a thing called the Golden Lotus, which is kind of a nuke that only acts on magic and doesn't affect material objects at all. as you can imagine, both of these are godkiller level abilities, and the local gods Do Not Like It.

 

hmm! you've got me thinking thoughts!

 

that poor sonofabitch. i just might use this.

 

seebs and i have been watching lucifer, and now casimir's boygirlfriend zuzu looks like mazikeen.

nooooo brain don't do that, i like maze but she's mean, zuzu is supposed to be fun-loving and mischevious!

 

i always assumed he was just. really really hot.

 

i'm on another taper of prednisone, and once again, food is suddenly AMAZINGLY EDIBLE. and this time i don't have a flu, so i'm feeling quite capable of cooking for myself. the problem is... choice paralysis. fish? hot dogs? beef stew? skettios? different fish? pierogis? something with rice? turkey sammich? grilled cheese sammich? tomato soup? I DONT KNOW THEY ALL SOUND GOOD and they all sound like they'll make my left leg go numb, because prednisone doesn't fix my spine and standing up long enough to cook pinches a nerve. but hungry!

 

helpy barb suggested square pizza so that is what i'm having. square za is terrible cardboardy frozen pizza but i love it with a weird fervor.