The Great Gazette Raffle

Now, I breathe. With each exhalation, I release a layer of my own perceptions, my own experiences, until I feel utterly empty, a vessel ready to be filled. The thread, once delicate, now hums with a faint energy. As I inhale, I draw in not air, but the essence of their dreaming. It washes over me, a kaleidoscope of fragmented images, emotions, and sensations.

I see a beautiful room where wildflowers dance over a piano. A sense of boundless freedom fills my chest. I hear the rhythm of music from a symphony in a faint echo, yearning. Colors begin to intensify, sounds sharpen, and the very fabric of reality warps and bends, mirroring the fluidity of my subconscious as I become a silent witness in the theatre of their sleeping mind. A temporary inhabitant of their interior world, and for a fleeting moment, their dreams become my own.

Whose dreams am I dreaming I wonder?

Juno clears her throat regally.
“We can’t ban the game – it’s too popular. But we can create something sophisticated for them to consume alongside it! How about a magazine?”

Applause breaks out. Jupiter nods:
“Agreed! A magazine it will be. But who will publish it?”

“Vibrent!” proposes Neptun.

“Impossible,” says Jupiter sternly. “She is promised to Orcus, the devil. He will take her to the underworld with his tentacled monsters soon. Not good for our image.”

Venus plays with a lock of her hair.
“Curt Kent, perhaps?”

Juno peeks into the Oracle window.
“He is flirting with Eska. Looks like a… very intense relationship.”

Jupiter grins wisely.
“Then Eska should support him. Editorial cuddling, so to speak.”

Everyone roars:
“Curt & Eska! Editorial team!”

But then the big question arises:
“What shall we call this noble publication?” asks Jupiter.

“3DXchat Journal?” suggests Neptun.

A brief silence.

Then Venus grimaces. “
Come on! That sounds trivial. And anyway, X stands for pornography, which we want to hide, not emphasize!”

Minerva nods.
“She is right. If we want to foist sophistication on people, it has to be… subtle.”

Jupiter frowns:
“Subtle, then. Something that remains hidden.”

“The hidden journal!” Venus suddenly exclaims.

Everyone nods in agreement.

But Juno raises an eyebrow.
“Hidden journal? That sounds like the diary of a moody teenager. Where’s the dignity in that?”

Jupiter thinks about it.
“She’s right. It has to be more. Something on a high level with depth.”

Lost in thought, he looks around. Round? Circle! “A circle… Yes! The perfect shape, just like the sun orbits the Earth. The circle encompasses us, protects us, and unites us in friendship – like a secret network! Hidden Circle!”

“Hidden Circle Journal!” someone exclaims.

“But journal?” says Juno sternly.
“Sounds like a trivial gossip magazine! Our publication is divine! Like a gazette! An official organ of the heavenly order!”

Jupiter strikes the table with thunder:
“It’s decided! Hidden Circle Gazette!”

Everyone cheers, except Mars, who looks grim, his eyes fixed on Venus’s lovely breasts, and mutters, “A highbrow gazette for sex-obsessed players will not survive a single year, never!”

But the enthusiasm of the other Gods makes him silent.

The messenger of the gods, Mercury, is summoned and given the task of appearing to Curt in his sleep and whispering the publication of this divine magazine to him, in a gentle voice and with divine urgency.

And so, it began – the divinely inspired, sophisticated companion magazine to 3DXchat for the spiritual salvation of humanity:

“The Hidden Circle Gazette.”

The name “Querquetum” stems from the Latin word “quercus,” meaning oak. The Querquetulanae nymphs were specifically associated with oak groves at the stage of producing new green growth, highlighting the importance of these trees in Roman religious beliefs and natural cycles.

The existence of this sacred grove and its associated nymphs suggests the significance of oak trees in Roman religion and mythology. It also provides insight into how ancient Romans integrated natural features into their urban landscape and religious practices, maintaining connections to nature even within the confines of their city walls.

Recently a guy chose Lucus Querquetum as the spot to propose to his husband.

((3 * 100) – 8) / 4 =
25 + (8-1) =
(100 – 25) / (75 – 50) =
25 + (8-1) =
((5 * 100) + 4) / 6) =
(25 + 1) * 4 =
100 + 1 =
25 + (8-1) =
(75 / 25) * 3 * 8 =
(25 – 4) * 5 =
75 + 25 =
75 + 25 =
100 + 1 =
((8 * 100) / 5) – 50 =
25 + (8-1) =
100 – 25 – (4 * 2) =
(25 – 4) * 5 =
(50 – (6 * 2)) * 3 =
(25 – 4) * 5 = 4 * 3 * 9 =
(25 + 1) * 4 =

And in case I’m being too obscure, which I often am, those are not just random equations. Those are all ⁠𝙽𝚞𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛-𝚂𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚛 Countdown-style equations. The real message can be alt-xxx’ed with the answers.