Dr. Omega 🦞
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theomegageek.bsky.social
Dr. Omega 🦞
@theomegageek.bsky.social
1.7K followers 940 following 3.7K posts
Writer (alt history fantasy, Victorian occult), PhD in psychology, trauma researcher. Shorter than you might expect. He/him. Trans rights, ok?
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theomegageek.bsky.social
When you make a deal with the Devil, best ensure you're at least getting something out of the bargain. #WIPSnips
Text reads: Grace nodded even though her stomach was flighty and all of this felt wrong. The plan had been to come to London, find a professional who would do…something? then return home with time to spare to live happily ever after. Taking on work as an occultist’s catspaw and extending her stay wasn’t any part of it. Beyond that, could she even accept a position without her father’s permission? Surely she should at least consult with her parents, but that would mean a telegram and another few days delay and perhaps they’d forbid it. Then, there was Daphne and Grace knew she couldn’t ask her cousin to put her own life aside forever. “So, I ask again, Mademoiselle Wexler, do you accept?” “Yes, ma’am.” She felt ill. Even if it was wrong, there was no taking it back now.
September 27, 2026 at 9:04 AM
theomegageek.bsky.social
The flight of the Freemasons was a long time coming, but their empire collapsed with suspicious speed. #WIPSnips
Text reads: “Personally, I was surprised, as the Freemasons hold a considerable amount of power both here and on the continent. How their opponents were able to so quickly and skilfully manoeuvre the situation, well, we are still looking into that. Those with connections renounced them and members fled. I am told that a small stronghold remains in Edinburgh, but that is unconfirmed.” The Freemasons. Even Grace knew about them, though really only their name and that they were an invisible hand in a midnight velvet glove – that alone was enough. At the time, her father had said it was all nonsense, simply another stunt by an unpopular government to appear to be doing something for the people. He compared it to the Prime Minister announcing that all monsters had been flushed out from under the beds of the nation, never to return.
September 25, 2026 at 7:53 AM
theomegageek.bsky.social
Shrinkflation is getting ridiculous
The inside of a Pop Outs (ALDI brand) crisp packet with one lone crisp inside.
September 24, 2026 at 11:10 AM
theomegageek.bsky.social
I didn't have meddle so I used interfere.

Grace would pay dearly for anything which could cure her family's curse, even if all it can do is buy them a bit more time. #WIPSnips
Text reads: “Sparing the full explanation of the methods and theories involved, every curse has an origin, an anchor, and a chain,” she replied, gesturing in the air to illustrate, “very simply, the chain binds the person to the functions of the curse, but it is only a force and like any other force, it can be tampered with. Do you understand?” For once, that did make sense. “Yes, ma’am.” Mme. Chauvinard smiled. “Now, tampering without knowing the curse modus can be difficult, dangerous, and frequently deadly. This is exactly what we do not want. Instead, I will create something to project a small ward, not enough to interfere with their own life forces, but hopefully enough to slightly disrupt the chain. Loosening the grip, you see?” The image of her father in bed, bound by ghostly chains, raised a shudder up her back. “Will it work?”
September 24, 2026 at 7:31 AM
theomegageek.bsky.social
I didn't have tumble so I used stumble.

It's just a bullet, how much could it possibly hurt? #WIPSnips
Text reads: “Fine, but let me help you?” “Don’t need help,” and she took a laboured breath and started up again, “it’s just a bullet. Didn’t break nothing important.” Not if you collapse or bleed to death! The arguments died in her throat. Sighing, Grace kept her pace and made ready to catch Kat if she stumbled. Beyond that, she realised that she had absolutely no idea where they were and the only thing she could have done at that point would have been to drag Kat back to a main street. Given that their attackers (and probably the police) would be looking for them, the only option was to go along with it. Eventually she was able to at least drape Kat’s coat over her shoulders, as she was starting to shiver, even if she denied being cold.
September 23, 2026 at 7:12 AM
theomegageek.bsky.social
There are perks to moving into a flat most recent occupied by occultists and an enhanced icebox is one of them. #WIPSnips
Text reads: Trying again, she bent down and wrapped her fingers in her sleeve, undoing the latch and opening the lid. Indeed, in contravention to every natural law Grace believed in, the space was filled by a block of ice covered in frost when it should have been slick with meltwater. Curious, she brushed some of the frost away with her sleeve, which was as crisp and dry as the coldest winter day, her breath clouding above it. There chiselled into the ice were several symbols, glowing a bright and baleful blue. Devilry? Alchemy? Some other equally unnatural thing? “Ice created not to melt?” she said out loud and then realised how ridiculous that was, both the idea and talking to herself. Her grandmother had always said, ‘words spoken alone are between you and God so do not waste His time.’
September 22, 2026 at 7:21 AM
theomegageek.bsky.social
Darth Vader stands next to Boba Fett and Lando Calrissian. The subtitles read, "I have altered the user agreement. Pray I do not alter it further."
September 21, 2026 at 9:18 AM
theomegageek.bsky.social
When the curse came for Daniel Wexler, Grace was taken by surprise even though she'd spent her entire life preparing. #WIPSnips
Text reads: “There now, just breathe,” Kat said from somewhere nearby, which turned out to be next to Grace on the sofa. She put the bottle of ammonium salts on the table and put a hand on Grace’s shoulder, saying nothing, just waiting. For more than a minute, they sat without moving or speaking. Grace kept trying to say something, taking the breath and then letting it go, because to speak the words would make it real. Here in the silence, Daniel Wexler was still alive and the telegram was mere speculation or a hoax to be soon proved false. “Father’s dead,” she finally whispered, sealing his fate. Tears streamed down her face before Grace even realised that she was crying. “Poor man, God love him. I’m so sorry,” Kat told her.
September 21, 2026 at 7:45 AM
theomegageek.bsky.social
I didn't have signal so I used sign.

In which Grace conducts her first bit of occult detective work and Kat sulks (because she's been told not to ruin everything). #WIPSnips
Text reads: The sign above the shop window was lovely, red with black letters outlined in gold paint and read, ‘M. Chiang, Fine Goods and Imports’. Several papers were plastered inside the window, but these were in Chinese. Across the street, a team of workers loading a cart with heavy white sacks stared at them as they worked, taking note. “Good,” Grace said, maintaining the fiction that she was in complete control of the situation, “shall we go in?” Kat shrugged belligerently and waved for her to go ahead. Grace had been mentally playing the whole thing out during the cab ride, what she’d say, what she’d ask, and how she’d respond to any of Chiang the Younger’s questions. Now she actually had to do so while trying to keep Kat in line, but she took a deep breath, stood up straight, thought of her father, and walked through the open shop door.
September 20, 2026 at 10:04 AM
theomegageek.bsky.social
The closest I had to tube was pipe.

If Grandmother Haney can't cure your family curse, it might be time to get serious about Devilry. #WIPSnips
Text reads: Without her parents’ knowledge, she borrowed a horse and rode all the way to Saddleworth. A cunning old woman lived out on the edge of the moors and, if the legends were true, had done so since her grandfather was young. It was said that Grandmother Haney knew the forgotten ways to solve problems, Devilry Laws be damned. No fool and equally no boor, Grace brought jars of preserves, spices, pure Cornish salt, and other simple delicacies she thought the dear old soul might appreciate. Failing that, an envelope with several pounds Sterling. Though she expected a witch’s cottage from a Grimm tale, what Grace actually found was just an old peat-cutter living in a shack on the edge of the scrubbed wilds. Grandmother Haney was glad to take the offerings (both), and smoke her pipe while Grace told her everything. It was a dire curse, the old woman agreed, but one beyond her power to cure. Something so powerful as to persist across generations and ensnare non-blood relations required the attention of a scholar or master of such matters. People of that persuasion were an increasingly rare breed.
September 19, 2026 at 10:25 AM
theomegageek.bsky.social
The penalties for falling afoul of occult London can be dire, but there is sometimes room for mercy. #WIPSnips
Text reads: Woodford immediately stood. “Kill the sodomite. There is no other option.” “Yes, he cannot go free,” Elmut Os agreed, albeit slowly and with a look of some regret. Sitting up straight, Master Culverhouse shook his head and leaned against the table. “He knows too much to stay, but he shouldn’t pay with his life. I know a man in Occitania who would take him and put his skills to work if asked. Let him be bound and sent there.” “We are thinking of the same man?” Mme. Chauvinard asked and he nodded. “In this case, yes, I agree. He should be sent where he cannot be compelled by the police.” “No, he should be killed! He is a mortal danger to every one of us!” Woodford countered, slamming his hand on the table, “if my brothers were here he’d already be dead!” Lady Sanjana stared him down. “They are not here and you would do well to remember that. Let us turn his threat to service. I agree to exile.”
September 18, 2026 at 6:55 AM
theomegageek.bsky.social
Grace finds fault with the command to 'just open your Third Eye, it's easy'. #WIPSnips
Text reads: Mme. Chauvinard nodded once and smiled. “Exactly. You’ve been living with your Eye nearly open, like a sliver of sunlight breaking through the smallest gap in the curtains. To open it, even just a crack, even for but a second, that is the real test of your will. First you must force it and then it will become more natural as you learn to use it.” She closed her eyes and tried again, but nothing happened. Still, there was a strange feeling in her chest just behind her breast bone, a sensation somewhere between exhaustion and pain which made her heart flutter. Grace suddenly remembered being very young and recovering from influenza, how even walking across the room was both an effort and a triumph. Opening an eye which didn’t exist, not physically anyway, with little more instruction than ‘do it’, wasn’t at all comprehensive. Trying a third time only resulted in a burning, stabbing pain deep in her forehead and she winced, opening her eyes.
September 17, 2026 at 7:20 AM
theomegageek.bsky.social
Our heroes meet in Lambeth one fateful morning, only because a carriage driver was too lazy to go an extra few streets. #WIPSnips
Text reads: “Oh thank you! I truly appreciate it,” Grace gushed, “I told the cab driver the street and he said this was the right place, but Lord knows what he was thinking of.” “They’ll do you one every time, they will,” the woman agreed as they began to walk towards the river. “You must think me so ill mannered, my apologies. I’m Grace, Grace Wexler,” she said, though she suspected that the woman thought nothing of the sort. “And you are?” Grace prompted when her guide didn’t reply. The woman gave her a look that Grace couldn’t quite place – a bit of a side-eye with a raised eyebrow, falling somewhere between bemused and incredulous. “Well, call me Kat. Where you from anyway?” “Manchester. This is my first time in London.”
September 16, 2026 at 8:09 AM
theomegageek.bsky.social
I didn't have exterior so I used outside.

A lie grows until it's as plain as the bruises on your face. #WIPSnips
Text reads: “No, I can…” and Kat straightened. Her right eye was red and nearly swollen shut. A trickle of blood had dried at the split on her bottom lip and a wicked bloody scrape ran from her left cheekbone down to her jaw. Grace gasped and Kat winced, turning away again. “Kat, your face! Are you alright? Who did that to you?” “Pulled into a scrap outside the pub, knocked to ninepins, but ain’t that always the way?” Giggling to herself, she shrugged and managed to corral three of the four sacks into her arms. Grace bent and picked up the last one. “I have no idea what that means. Mary did this, didn’t she?” Kat turned away, drunken smile playing across the unswollen half of her face, “Mary? No, ‘course not! Mary’s tough but fair, she’d never!” “I watched her slap you twice today.”
September 15, 2026 at 8:11 AM
theomegageek.bsky.social
Every remaining moment Grace has with her family is precious, but she'll sacrifice that for the chance to save them all. #WIPSnips
Text reads: In the end, she’d promised to write twice a week and send a telegraph immediately if something went wrong. Propped up in bed, her father whispered his blessings and she’d cried as she embraced him and swore it would all be alright. Her brother Edward sat in his chair by the fire, surrounded by his books and looking thinner these past few months. A ghost of the rascal he’d been still remained, and he wryly maintained she was in fact away to London to catch a husband. Last was her mother, still well enough to accompany her to the station with Grace’s assistance on the one side and her cane on the other. That was the moment when she’d nearly faltered, about to abandon the entire plan in favour of the familiarity of accepting the inevitable. “Be careful, be safe, and be good,” her mother said, kissing her forehead and embracing her so that Grace might spend one last moment in the warm, rose-scented comfort of her mother’s love, “don’t take unnecessary risks and don’t put yourself in harm’s way for our sake. If nought can be done, then come home.”
September 14, 2026 at 7:20 AM
theomegageek.bsky.social
Not quite the Odyssey, but this book changed my life as a child. The illustrations are amazing.
The cover of D'Aulaires Book of Greek Myths
September 13, 2026 at 9:43 PM
theomegageek.bsky.social
Did some baking this morning, chai sugar cookies. (Recipe is here: cookiesandcups.com/chai-sugar-c...)
Some brown cookies with white frosting on black cookie racks on a table with a green tablecloth
September 13, 2026 at 1:30 PM
theomegageek.bsky.social
I didn't have distract so I used confuse.

Catching a good night's sleep on a cot in the chapterhouse of the Transversal Acolytes can do wonders. #WIPSnips
Text reads: “Is…is it your turn? There’s other cots,” Grace mumbled, confused and still exhausted. She closed her eyes, trying to dip back into the shallow waters of unconsciousness and hoping that was the end of it. Kat gently shook her shoulder again. “It’s morning, pet. I’ve already had me sleep. Lady Sanjana’s calling everyone together ‘bout the translation.” Groaning, she willed herself to sit up as her body reminded her of every single indignity she’d put it through in the past few days. Sore muscles seized and the bruises on her back and side throbbed as she slowly changed position. Her dress was terribly wrinkled from sleeping in it, but it was a small thing next to the tears and blood stains which had already ruined it. If her grandmother had indeed managed to talk her way into Heaven, likely by browbeating good Saint Peter until he gave up in exasperation, she was doubtlessly looking down on Grace in abject horror and disappointment. Reaching out, Kat helped her to stand. “It’s bad, I think. Real bad.”
September 13, 2026 at 8:35 AM
theomegageek.bsky.social
I didn't have wedge so I used piece.

Surprisingly, there are some places where money doesn't talk as loudly as one would hope. Occult London is one of those places. #WIPSnips
Text reads: Here it was, the crux of the matter. “I have money. My father sent me with a promissory note. It’s already signed. If you need more,” her voice broke and she couldn’t stand to meet Mme. Chauvinard’s piercing stare, “if you need more, there are other family members who Mother may be able to convince to contribute.” Grace reached into her key pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper, taking care that Kat’s knife didn’t fall out. Unfolding it, she handed the note over, painfully aware that it made obvious how badly she was shaking. Mme. Chauvinard took it, read it, refolded it, and handed it back. Her expression remained frustratingly inscrutable as she refreshed her tea. “Unfortunately, I am afraid money is not worth much in occluded London.” “Isn’t worth?…but it’s all we have!” Grace felt lightheaded trying to imagine just how much of a fortune would be ‘worth much’.
September 12, 2026 at 10:06 AM
theomegageek.bsky.social
We all need people who will stand by us, no matter the odds or how hopeless they might be. #WIPSnips
Text reads: Kat bowed her head against the wind and held onto her hat. “I think I understand. Remember you was saying ‘bout how all your friends moved on and your family died? I know what that feels like. Don’t have no people, then going from place to place, friends get locked up or transported, some get murdered, until you only got a few left.” And you’re so afraid of losing another one that you act out and force them away just to get it over with, Grace thought. “Elspeth and Red?” was what she actually said. “Yeah, and I thought, if it was me standing where you was and them in trouble, well, I’d have done the same thing, wouldn’t I?” Kat told her, hunching down again and holding her hat by the brim. The terrible cocktail of exhaustion, worry, and grief lessened for a moment. “I know you would. They’d stand by you if something happened and…and so would I.”
September 11, 2026 at 8:42 AM
theomegageek.bsky.social
It takes a certain kind of friend to drag you home through the pouring rain and keep you alive once you get there. #WIPSnips
Text reads: She’d say no more despite Grace’s questions and pleading, so they returned to their march. The clock on the mantle was just chiming eleven by the time they made it through the door, sopping wet and freezing cold. Immediately, Grace shed her coat and dress, leaving these in a sodden heap on the floor and ran over to light the stove in only her chemise. Kat stood in place, dripping. The fire came next, Grace’s hands shaking and numb as she tried over and over to spark the kindling, which finally caught. Through all this, Kat was just a ghost in a body, her eyes distant. She didn’t even respond when Grace moved her over to stand before the fire, stripping her down to her underclothes. “Here,” she said through chattering teeth, “sit down. It’ll be warm soon.”
September 10, 2026 at 7:19 AM
theomegageek.bsky.social
I didn't have rig so I used fix.

A little light Devilry can usually solve the problem. #WIPSnips
Text reads: “What did you do to the door?” Grace asked, having quite a lot of questions and not wanting Mme. Chauvinard to end the session due to Kat’s impertinence. “That would be equally difficult to explain. For now, I used a combination of methods to dispel the protection on the lock and the door for just long enough to enter,” she replied, as if this was a routine matter, then retrieved a small compact from her chatelaine bag and proceeded to fix the stray hairs which had escaped her intricate bun.
September 9, 2026 at 7:26 AM
theomegageek.bsky.social
Kat sometimes forgets that not everyone thinks like a criminal. #WIPSnips
Text reads: “No, not what I said,” she replied dismissively, “so his mate Thomas was found in pieces, yeah? That’s more than murder, that’s sending a message. Thing is, to who?” “The members of the Eighthday Market?” “But what’s the death of this bloke supposed to say? The people I know, if someone owes or they crossed who they shouldn’t, a piece says, ‘We have your son, here’s one of his fingers, or we have your wife, here’s her ear. Do what we want, pay what we say, maybe you see ‘em again.’” It was hard to keep from shivering at the thought of opening the post and finding a bloody piece of your loved one. The casual way Kat said it turned Grace’s stomach more than the mental image of a detached finger falling out of an envelope. “That’s unconscionable,” she said, not hiding her disgust. Kat didn’t seem to notice.
September 8, 2026 at 8:23 AM
theomegageek.bsky.social
I didn't have elevator (it's 1879) so I used rise.

The flight of the Freemasons left a power vacuum in occluded London and their sole renounced member means to capitalise on it. #WIPSnips
Text reads: “I propose a true tabula rasa. We must bring all our philosophies together under a common banner and build the structure from the ground up. No more would we have Rosicrucians, Acolytes, Spirit Apostates, the Ordo Iridis or,” Woodford waved dismissively in Mme. Chauvinard’s direction, “continental vultures. What happened to my brothers was a dire tragedy, but we can reform from those ashes and ensure it is never repeated. The sun rises golden over the ruins of old London and that bright dawn is ours to grasp!” Woodford sat amidst another round of scattered applause and Lady Sanjana waited for it to die out before speaking. “Very pretty words, Bertrand, I sincerely hope you were not kept awake all night with the writing of them. You have said a great many things, yet none of these have been what your grand plan actually is.”
September 7, 2026 at 7:12 AM
theomegageek.bsky.social
Occult masters...they're like academics, only worse. #WIPSnips
Text reads: Master Culverhouse nodded slowly, considering his words. “It is what you would consider to fall under the common and legal definitions of Devilry, but nothing infernal took place.” Managing with great effort not to sigh and roll her eyes, she wondered how many more times she’d hear a variation of that notion. “The Devil might not have been standing in the room, sir, but it was evil and unnatural,” Grace countered, “I watched her closely and that’s when she looked at me with…with dead eyes. Something was choaking me and the very spirits of the dead flew to attack me! I heard their voices and they said she could see there was rot in my soul, but that she couldn’t help me. Instead, I should go to Lambeth and find Master Culverhouse.”
September 6, 2026 at 9:43 AM