#currently thinking about those FC Object Shows that would be made on there as well

[somecorn-thief]

Missing FC hours

[bulletballet-arch]

REALLY LONG  CHARACTER  SURVEY. RULES. repost ,   don’t  reblog !    tag 10 ! good  luck ! TAGGED. I took this from Minnie’s archived Bioshock blog. I’ve been looking for this meme all this month. TAGGING. @hammurabicomplex. @bluuxriising. @ Me - for Sal on @bulletsoverbensonhurst​. @immaterialed (charlie) @soypeor (bella) @svmmercmance​. @mrflayed. and you!

BASICS. FULL  NAME :  Eve Delores Littlejohn NICKNAME : Evie, Little Evie (by her maternal side of the family), Delores, Didi NAME  MEANING / S  Eve is from the ancient Hebrew name  חַוָּה (Chawwah), which was derived from the Hebrew word חָוָה (chawah) meaning "to breathe" or the related word חָיָה (chayah) meaning "to live". Delores is a variant of Dolores, meaning "sorrows", taken from the Spanish title of the Virgin Mary María de los Dolores, meaning "Mary of Sorrows." Littlejohn is a surname that has historically been found in England and Scotland. With potential origins being either ‘to distinguish a beloved child that was not the eldest.’ Or, ‘a contradictory nickname for a large man.’ HISTORICAL  CONNECTION? : She’s named after her grandmother, Evelyn Hollins.

AGE : 42 BIRTHDAY :  June 2 ETHNIC  GROUP : Black-American. Meaning she’s mixed with a lot (Some of her relatives are respectively Creole and Italian) but uses Black as a catch-all term. NATIONALITY :  American LANGUAGE / S : English, Italian, Spanish, Latin, some French SEXUAL  ORIENTATION :   Bisexual ROMANTIC  ORIENTATION :  Biromantic RELATIONSHIP  STATUS : Verse dependent, usually married -or connected- to Salvatore Scozzari in some way. CLASS : Upper-Class HOME  TOWN / AREA :   Brooklyn. Spent time between Bedford-Stuyvesant - with her paternal grandfather and Park Slope - with her maternal grandparents.  CURRENT  HOME : In her childhood home in Bedford-Stuyvesant. PROFESSION : Ballet Instructor. Former Professional Ballerina. ( Other verses see her as a professional thief. )

PHYSICAL. HAIR : Black. In terms of her natural hair, Eve has springy, 3C hair she seldom shows off because she was raised in a family where straightened hair was deemed presentable and professional.  EYES : Thin almond eyes. Dark brown. NOSE : Straight and small. FACE :  She has a prominent, high forehead, that’s accented with high cheekbones and a pointy chin. LIPS :  Full. COMPLEXION : She has a light brown (tawny) complexion.  SCARS : None major. TATTOOS : None. HEIGHT : 5′4″ BUILD : Eve has a slender build. One of those people who have been small and petite since childhood. Despite this, she also stays skinny because she is obsessively conscious of the food she consumes. The older she gets the more she weighs, however. USUAL HAIR STYLE :  Her hair is cut short. Reaching her shoulders in a neat, even bob. She either curls it in a retro fashion or curls the tips. For work she wears it in a traditional, pinned bun. USUAL FACE LOOK : In public, she appears stoic for the most part. Any emotion shown (such as the length of a smile) is carefully calculated. She has to seem perfect.  USUAL  CLOTHING : Form fitting dresses. Incredibly chic and fashionable for the time. Shoes include heels - never open-toed, unless she has on stockings. Extravagant earrings. Jewelry that can include either necklaces, crosses, pearls, or dainty rings. Prone to wearing black sunglasses in public.

PSYCHOLOGY. FEAR / S : Thunderstorms, airplanes, creatures like weasels, snakes and ferrets, break-ins, men she doesn’t know, harm coming to her children ASPIRATION / S :  Formerly wanted to become a major [black] ballerina in the elite world of ballet, now she just wants to expose more [inner city children] to dance through her job. Personally, she wants her children to change the world in some form or fashion, too. Eve also has good ideas on improving the community, but at the moment has no idea how to go about these ideas. POSITIVE  TRAITS :  Generous, compassionate, patient, protective NEGATIVE  TRAITS : Strict, sullen, hard to read, represses her emotions, secretive MBTI :  Advocate - INFJ-T ZODIAC :  Cancer TEMPERAMENT :  Melancholic ANIMALS :  Lioness VICE / S :  Pride & Lust FAITH : Christian. Grew up Baptist, but Catholic influences have been around her since childhood. Attended a Catholic High School in Park Slope, her grandmother Evelyn was also a practicing Catholic.  GHOSTS ? : Yes and no. She feels that objects formerly owned by the deceased posses the essence of their previous owners and that they essentially live on through these pieces of property. AFTERLIFE ? : Yes. REINCARNATION ? :  No, but it’s a romantic concept. ALIENS ? : No. POLITICAL  ALIGNMENT :  Democratic ECONOMIC  PREFERENCE :  She likes being where she’s at now. But honestly, being upper class is all she’s ever known. SOCIOPOLITICAL  POSITION : Bourgeoisie, basically. The Littlejohn’s represent The Historical Black Elite.  EDUCATION  LEVEL : College level. FAMILY.

FATHER :  William ‘Bill’ Littlejohn MOTHER : Linda Littlejohn ( nee Hollins ) SIBLINGS : None EXTENDED  FAMILY : Amos Littlejohn (paternal grandfather) Liza Littlejohn (paternal grandmother) Evelyn Hollins (maternal grandmother) Giuseppe D’Aietti (maternal grandfather) and a wide host of cousins, aunts and uncles.

FAVOURITES. BOOK :  Night Song by Beverly Jenkins. The Color Purple by Alice Walker. Some sort of old, French erotic novel that was published before she was born. MOVIE : Eve watches films along the lines of...Waiting to Exhale, Beaches, The First Wives Club and Fatal Attraction. She loves Made-For-TV movies from the time period. In regards to plays, her favorite one is Sunday In The Park With George. 5  SONGS :  Meet Me On The Moon / Essence of Sapphire / No One In The World / People / The First Time I Saw Your Face  DEITY :  Persephone  HOLIDAY : New Years Eve, Christmas, Thanksgiving. Major holidays during the colder season. MONTH :  October SEASON :  Autumn PLACE :  The dance studio she works at. WEATHER : Sunny, but cool. SOUND : The voices of Anita Baker and Sarah Vaughn. A skilled hand running over piano keys. Soft trumpets. Running water. Cats making chipper little meows. SCENT / S :  Perfume, floral scented lotions, her partner’s cologne TASTE / S :  Caramel, the tang of dark chocolate, strawberries coated with either chocolate, or sprinkles of white sugar. Light Vinegar.  FEEL / S : Performing in front of an audience. Hot water engulfing your skin after a long day. Satin - whether it be the fabric of her clothes or sheets, your fingers tightly intertwined with another’s, feeling your significant other’s chest raise and lower against your skin with each breath they take. ANIMAL / S : Cocker Spaniels, Afghan Hounds, Cats, Birds - she loves all ( well, a majority ) of animals. NUMBER :  Doesn’t have one. COLOR :  White, Pink, Gold.

EXTRA. TALENTS :  Dance, Eve is trained in ballet when it comes to her main verse. She has attended ballet classes since the age of eight and ever since then she placed all of her focus into it. Similarly, Eve has always had the makings of a good artist - as a child she enjoyed drawing and had informal art lessons with a man who lived in the basement of her grandfather’s brownstone, but she never invested into that half of her. BAD AT : Singing, Being interviewed, Public Speaking (as in Speech Giving), Decision Making TURN  ONS :  Charisma, Leadership Skills, Temperature Play, Phone Sex, Heavy Kissing, Light Roleplay TURN  OFFS :  Public Sex, Tearing [ Her ] Clothes, Threesomes, Cruelty, Senseless Violence HOBBIES :  viewing plays & some musicals, reading romance novels, shopping, working out (she was into the whole celebrity VHS tape exercise trend), playing tennis, decorating AESTHETIC :  Vintage Black Glamour, Black Ballerinas, Champagne and Wine Glasses, Paintings by Melinda Byers and Edward 'Clay' Wright QUOTES :  "I'm bad with words, I hope you're good in reading eyes." / "There are truths I haven't even told God. And not even myself. I am a secret under the lock of seven keys."

FC INFO. MAIN  FC / S : Lynn Whitfield ( A Thin Line Between Love & Hate ) ALT  FC / S : Kylie Bunbury ( Twisted ) OLDER  FC / S :  Lynn Whitfield ( Greenleaf ) YOUNGER  FC / S : N/A VOICE  CLAIM / S : Lynn Whitfield

MUN QUESTIONS.

Q1 :   if  you  could  write  your  character  your  way  in  their  own  movie ,   what  would  it  be  called ,  what  style  would  it  be  filmed  in ,  and  what  would  it  be  about ?       A1 : Recently I decided that if/when I try to write anything serious about Eve again, it’ll center on her being a jewel thief because it presents me more fun, and emotionally diverse, opportunities. That and I have a very specific cover image in my mind. Ideally, her adventures would be a series of books. I have no title in mind, no idea about how ‘it would be filmed’ ( although a style replicating 90s films would be excellent, film grain and all. ) but, I do have a bunch of plots in mind that I really don’t feel like typing out here.  

Q2 :   what  would  their  soundtrack / score  sound  like ?         A2 :  Her score would have a vintage sound (or a jazzy Spike Lee sound, if you will) with instrumentals by Dorothy Ashby (a Jazz Harpist) the Ahmad Jamal Trio, Pharaoh Sanders, Yusef Lateef and Tarika Blue. For music with lyrics, the soundtrack would include the likes of Julie London, Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald, and Dionne Warwick.

Q3 :   why  did  you  start  writing  this  character ?   + Q4 :   what  first  attracted  you  to  this  character ? A3 :  Whenever I make NPCs for my character’s lives I actually can’t just let them just be NPCs. I start thinking about them too much. Developing them too much. And then I’m like, ‘wow! I really like this character!’ Eve was a different character when I began writing her, and likely wouldn’t be considered the same character as she was previously, if I told someone in real life who knows about my writing (like my grandma) about all the changes she has undergone. Originally Delores was a university professor, because I thought it could lead to interesting interactions with college-age muses. And her previous history with the mafia was also something interesting to tap in. But then I started thinking about what was realistic, what wasn’t realistic, what did I feel comfortable/interested writing? What didn’t I feel comfortable/interested in writing?  So as time went on, things would alter about this character. And the new things I came up with attracted me more. 

Q5 :   describe  the  biggest  thing  you  dislike  about  your  muse.         A5 :  I have a love/hate relationship with Eve’s quiet demeanor. On one hand, I think quieter characters need love and the ability to be fully dimensional but on the other hand, writing louder characters has always been more fun for me. But really, Eve’s guarded behavior makes writing her stressful in some cases with others because sometimes...if I’m going to be honest...people don’t know how to carry a thread and interact with someone of her demeanor effectively. 

Q6 :   what  do  you  have  in  common  with  your  muse ?       A6 : We’re both black, we’re both into art (although our exact interests and aesthetics with art differ)

Q7 :   how  does  your  muse  feel  about  you ?         A7 : Realistically she would think I need to take better care of myself.

Q8 :   what  characters  does  your  muse  have  interesting  interactions with ?   A8 :  We skippin’ this question.

Q9 :   what  gives  you  inspiration  to  write  your  muse ?       A9 : Films such as, “Waiting to Exhale,” “The Kitchen” and “Widows.” Books by Alice Walker, like “The Third Life of Grange Copeland” as well as her short story, “Roselily.” The historical mob figure Stephanie St. Clair.

Q10 :   how  long  did  this  take  you  to  complete ?       A10 : A few hours.

[homenum-revelio-hq]

Welcome to the Order of the Phoenix, Gina!

You have been accepted for the role of SEVERUS SNAPE with the faceclaim change of Aneurin Barnard! We really enjoyed Severus’ ambiguous motivations that might come back to bite him in the butt later on! Your personality section was on point and we’re looking forward to having the resent grump come back to the Order. We are so excited to have you as part of this roleplay!

Please take a look at the new member checklist and send in your account within 24 hours! Thank you for joining the fight against Voldemort!

OUT OF CHARACTER:

NAME: Gina

AGE: 25

TIMEZONE: MST-Arizona

ACTIVITY LEVEL: First and foremost, I’m a promotions producer at a local news station, so I’m on call if breaking news happens. Thankfully, for my job, doesn’t happen too often. Also, my boss is currently on maternity leave, but will be back mid-March. In the meantime, I’ve been given a lot of extra tasks that sometimes make me work 60 hour weeks. Luckily, The Academy Awards was one of our biggest nights with deadlines, news, etc., so things have somewhat calmed down. Thank goodness! Weekends are usually when I’m on the most. I’ll try to get on during the week – especially on my early days. All that being said, I’ll definitely will be able to post at least once a week! As long as writing is still fun, and doesn’t feel like a chore, I’ll be on the dash frequently (and I’m very good about keeping admins informed if there’s ever going to be an issue with activity check)!

ANYTHING ELSE: trigger: non-con.

CHARACTER DETAILS:

NAME: Severus Snape

AGE: 21

GENDER, PRONOUNS, and SEXUALITY: Cis-Male, He/Him, Heterosexual.

BLOOD STATUS: Halfblood

HOUSE ALUMNI: Slytherin

ANY CHANGES: Request FC change: Aneurin Barnard. I can see Adam Driver work as well. Either way, I am comfortable - just happen to have more resources of Aneurin.

CHARACTER BACKGROUND:

PERSONALITY:

Generally, Severus is seen rather than heard.

The mind of Severus Snape is complex – to be sure. Filled with calculations, fragile threads of truths and lies he’s told and webbing them all together, and innovations for many different forms of magic. To keep all of these thoughts collected, Severus keeps a journal that he has heavily bound to keep secret. There, he states the deepest parts of his soul, creates new potions, spells, and whatever else he deems worthy. It is protected by a blood spell that only he knows the enchantment to. Like him, everything is kept very private and close to his chest.

While Severus has plenty of thoughts coursing through his brilliant mind, he does not initiate conversation. In fact, he says much more with his eyes. Even if they can be cold. However, this does not mean Severus will keep silent – nor is it out of shyness. When Snape graces others with his opinions or ideas, they should not be taken lightly. Every single word uttered has meaning.

Being around Death Eaters and the Dark Lord, he’s kept a keen eye – finding everyone’s tells and when it is best for him to speak his true sentiments. As well as this, if he feels provoked or given an opportunity to speak freely, he will not cower. Often, his retorts have a bite to them, thick with sarcasm or bitterness; or both.

Severus Snape is profound in potions – and dare we say even more skilled in the Dark Arts. Books were a comfort for him growing up, finding company with leather-bound pages and becoming well-versed in their contents. A strength he chooses not to boast about is his ability to create new spells, new magic, even. Most of these, however, were being saved to get a slight revenge over his old school enemies. And therein lies the rub. Snape’s insecurities are tightly bound to Hogwarts and being bullied – not to mention his inability to reveal his true feelings toward the one girl who showed him kindness all those years.

BRIEF OVERVIEW OF FAMILY:

A broken family. That was the home of Tobias Snape and Eileen Prince.

A Muggle father and a Pureblood mother. Such parents didn’t give Severus an opinion on blood purity – but rather if an individual could prove themselves. While his parents may have had married for love at some point, something shifted their feelings.

For Snape’s father, nothing seemed to please him. Except for, perhaps, a bottle of gin. This instilled a primal instinct for Severus to do better; be better. Strive for power.

As for Snape’s mother, she grew sickly and thin. Her grief taught him empathy. It also made him value any comfort; starving for any sort of love and affection. This was, most likely, the cause for Severus’ immediate interest in Lily Evans – and the roots of his near-obsession with her.

Both of his parents were unhappy, and let it affect both their home and their son. Living near-destitution, the Snape house was filled with hateful words, arguments, loud shattering of priceless heirlooms or objects, and other things that still haunt Severus to this day. When thinking back on his past, Severus prefers the memories of when they both neglected him altogether, rather than any other aspects of his upbringing.

OCCUPATION:

Potions Apprentice to Professor Slughorn.

Invaluable to the Dark Lord, the talents of Severus Snape brought him closer to his inner circle. For Voldemort, it also meant he could manipulate the young man’s talents to foil any plots that the Order may have against him. Knowing his passion for potions, Voldemort encouraged Snape to take on an apprenticeship with Professor Slughorn – while also peeking behind the curtain at Hogwarts and keeping an eye on the Headmaster.

ROLE WITHIN THE ORDER/THOUGHTS ABOUT THE ORDER:

**I read the following note: “Severus will not be in the plotline until a player is accepted in his role. Him turning on the Death Eaters and coming to the Order as a spy will be considered a “roulette” plot drop whenever he becomes a taken character. Until that happens, players should write as though he is not yet in the Order.” AND he plot drops, *so I’m writing him as if he’s newly joined the Order at first as a DE spy, but now as a means to win Lily’s friendship back. 😊

Walking a thin line between hero and villain had never once crossed Severus’ mind. Yet, here he was. An Order member. At first, in a plot for the Dark Lord, carrying out the order to spy on the organization; find out how it could crumble. The young wizard had already grown steadily in their ranks, garnered enough trust, and was even listening to Voldemort’s other requests like his employment. All for the sake of war. It was a task daunting enough for anyone; however, Severus knew pretending to be an Order member would bring him closer to Lily. That, and potentially erase any suspicions Frank Longbottom might have if he thought he saw the Slytherin’s face during the arrest. At first, it was all an act.

Now, within the Order, Severus is a black sheep. Many of his childhood bullies are within their ranks, and many who distrust him. Although, with Severus’ lust for power, proving himself is nothing new to him. In fact, he thrives on it. No more fighting behind a mask…watching those he cares for nearly meet their end. An easy task to spy, being a great reader of both people and their minds. However, an overwhelmingly difficult task to want to continue fighting for something he didn’t believe in. Not that he believes in the Order either, but his lust for power has now been overcome with a desperate need to win an old friendship back. Perhaps to take Lily Evans far away from any wars as well, forgetting the two sides; no more choosing between what is right, and what is easy. Severus faces this new challenge, while fighting off those he once stood beside. For now, he’ll leave it to fate – if he’s able to win Lily’s friendship back. Maybe even try and win her heart as well.

SURVIVAL:

Severus Snape survives purely relying on his skills – and providing them to whichever side he feels is winning. It was part of the reason why he joined the Death Easters in the first place. Unfortunately for the Order, Snape believes the Dark Lord will win; that they will fall – and not rise from the ashes, as their namesake. A lust for power has blinded him most of all. But with it, he’s earned the trust of Voldemort, become invaluable. A faithful servant. Once the war s over, Severus believes he will be rewarded for his acts. At least, as long as he continues to do his bidding…

While with the Order, Severus has taken up housing in Hogwarts during the school year under his apprenticeship with Slughorn. During the summers, he’s found a small flat down near Hogsmeade to keep close enough. Beforehand, he often stayed with Lucius Malfoy in their incredibly large manor. It made it easy to stay near his comrades and to carry out any dark deeds.

Until there seems to be a clear winner, Severus will carry out his work as a spy. Even if it means slightly changing sides to do it as time goes on. The skills he carries with Occlumency are not to be trifled with. It seems he’s one of the few to have mastered such magic, making him the perfect soldier for espionage.

RELATIONSHIPS:

Severus’ relationship with Lily Evans was broken long ago. However, he will try and make peace with her, at the very least. If they rekindle their friendship, Severus would likely switch sides; happily die for her and prove himself. If it blossomed even more (something he fears even daydreaming about will jinx it), Severus would give up everything with the Dark Lord and his following. Everything with the Order. All to be with her – away from the rotting parts of the Wizarding World.

OOC EXPLORATION:

SHIPS/ANTI-SHIPS:

Ships: Snape/Lily & Snape/Chemistry.

Anti-Ships: None

WHAT PRIVILEGES AND BIASES DOES YOUR CHARACTER HAVE?

Having gone through a very traumatic animalistic incident in his years at Hogwarts, Severus has a large bias against werewolves. The whole experience left a nasty memory for him, left in complete shock and disagreement with Dumbledore. And having Fenrir Greyback at the Dark Lord’s disposal certainly didn’t make matters any better.

There is one thing that will never chance for Severus Snape, and that is his hatred and bitterness towards certain Gryffindor boys he now has to work with in the Order. The thought alone makes his blood boil and skin crawl. Yet, he will do what he must for his cause…and maybe even throw in a snide remark or two every so often.

Muggleborns are something of a mystery to Snape now. When he first met Lily, he thought she was different from any other one – slumping the rest together with the likes of his father. Although seeing how fierce Dorcas has become – and so well integrated with the Wizarding World – Severus has gained a new understanding. Of course, he’s still untrusting, at first, and even a little cold; but, that doesn’t mean his mind cannot be changed.

WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO?

Jess and I were talking because I’ve been itching to write again. She linked me to the RP, and there was a spark to my muse once more! Had to apply because I love the Wizarding World and exploring it. This is an interesting take on the Marauders era, in that it’s concentrating on one organization and its inner workings. I’m excited to explore that!

PLOT DROP IDEAS: 

There was a head cannon I had once read where Irma Prince is actually Severus’ mother in disguise. That might be something to play around with! Perhaps to prove his loyalties to the Dark Lord, he must eliminate his parents. Instead of this, Severus uses his connections to hide her as the librarian at Hogwarts and keep her safe.

ANYTHING ELSE? Super excited to be applying! 😊

[elegant-etienne]

🍏🍉🍊

Fruity headcanon asks!

Apologies for the late reply @taetelli​ and thank you for the asks! I quite stupidly kept trying to answer this without a draft and would then accidentally close the tab, losing all of my answers more than once.

🍏  :    how stable is my muse’s physical health?  do they go for regular or semi-regular checkups by a physician?  do they have any diagnosed illnesses and / or take any medication?  how often do they get sick?

Etienne: is in pretty good health! They swim every morning and have gotten back into strength training. They see the healer as little as possible, even though they should know better. Over the years they’ve struggled with self-destructive urges, addiction and depression, which they call their ‘dark moods.’ Since going on hormone replacement therapy, those dark moods have lessened considerably - not that their mental illness is fixed by HRT by any means, but their baseline of absolute hating themselves, their body, etc., has been considerably lifted and they’re much happier.

Etienne severely damaged their aether pool casting black magic, essentially breaking through their considerable well of mana and pulling from their own life force in order to cast a blizzard spell. Since then, they’ve had trouble maintaining their body heat, have somewhat poor circulation, and in the past have had a slow healing time from injuries. Etienne assumes the injury has shortened their life and do any time they cast black magic - one of the myriad reasons they stopped adventuring was the very real possibility they would cast a spell that ultimately killed them.

Etienne is also at risk for a hereditary illness, but so far only experienced the symptom of occasional life sensitivity (but it’s fine, they have those cute pince-nez!)

Adi: suffers from a chronic hereditary illness. His symptoms include sensitivity to light which can be coupled with intense headaches, physical weakness and dangerously low stamina, and digestive issues coupled with frequent nausea. The dry air Thanalan irritates his delicate membranes and he gets nosebleeds and sometimes has coughing fits. Most of the sufferers of this illness die early which is preferable to the alternatives. He handles his illness with potions that help with nausea and have mildly restorative properties and an inhalant potion. He eats little snacks during the day any time he’s not feeling too sick to eat to maintain energy. He’s very food-oriented as a way to battle what could be seen as an apathy for life that also tends to couple with the illness. While he’s begun to occasionally eat dairy products (and eats honey and items made with east), he is a staunch vegetarian, partially out of a literal inability to do harm to other living things.

His organs and bones are a huge mess of scarring and tissue from constant, quick-healing, though aside from his scarred, mis-healed eye, he shows no external signs of what he’s been through. He’s surprisingly able to handle poisons and intoxicants, provided they’re things he’s encountered before, he treats himself with micro-dosing until he develops immunities “to better understand” the illnesses he treats.

Kadin: is the swoll dude who brags about how he never gets a cold. He has an iron stomach and can eat things regular people would probably die eating.

Houmei: suffers a compromised immune system, headaches and fatigue due to his physical and mental trauma. He suffers severe dissociative amnesia. He engages in extremely rigorous care of his skin, nails and scales, in order to try and fight his compulsion to pick and bite himself.

🍉  :    which of the four seasons suits my muse best,  and why?  

Eti: loves spring and autumn equally. They love the changes - both the living and dying - and has a deep fondness for their transitory natures, which they find spiritually inspiring. The bursting into life and the quiet surrendering into death and sleep are equally beautiful. Also, they have a slight preference for spring pastels over autumnal earth and jewel tones 

Adi: loves winter, but only in the Shroud, where it’s constantly cold, wet and rainy. He’s rather apathetic to seasons in general but prefers gray weather.

Kadin and Houmei: both love the activities, warmth, and foods of summer, but are wary about the fireworks.

🍊  :    does my muse desire romance?  is it something they would actively seek out,  or prefer to happen more  ‘  naturally?  ’  what is their love life like?  do they have any exes or past flings,  or crushes?  

Etienne: I feel like if someone asked Etienne this question right now they’d probably just sort of laugh and shrug? They just got out of a serious two-year-relationship with plans to marry, and before that they were in a toxic marriage. Ultimately, they’re not sure that those kind of committed relationships are right for them, and a lot of that comes down to what they feel are their obligations to someone they’re in a relationship with, and feeling trapped by monogamy.

They are pretty used to having other people pursue them, and in truth, are not quite sure what to do when they like someone. They make a lot of excuses for it, like the guy should always ask the lady out, but the truth is they are afraid to be super-open about their feelings. After all, if others are aware you want something, or someone, or the objection of your affection is aware of it, what’s to stop them from taking advantage of those feelings in the worst ways? It doesn’t really cross their mind that they could have something genuine if they risked being vulnerable with others. It’s too scary for them.

Besides, they have their pride. They don’t want to let someone else “win them over,” because that means they lost.

Basically:

Adi: has a boyfriend currently, Zihji’li. I think when it comes to his desires for romance and sex, he is still in very early stages of baby gay (“terrifying religious upbringing” model), while he’s not in total denial he still believes that it would be better if he were not gay, and that he does not deserve to feel good, be loved, or love anyone. Up until growing close to Zihji’li he would never allow himself to consider the possibility of even looking at another man twice, so he really doesn’t have any history with that sort of thing.

Kadin: has lived with his boyfriend for two or three years now! They started out as close friends, but Kadin always had a torch for him even when he was dating his ex. As far as previous relationships go, he’s had a lot of casual sex with men and women but has only dated other men seriously, although the last two guys he dated ghosted him - one of them actually ghosted him twice, and the second time really, really hurt. Considering people’s propensity for not taking him seriously or treating him like a priority, he’s not really interested in dealing with that crap from people! He’s down for casual flings with his boyfriend present, or if his boyfriend wants to have them on his own, but currently there’s no one whom he feels is worth the effort. He loves sex, but he’d rather stay at home with the dogs.

Houmei: has barely been able to leave the FC house until recently due to his level of fear of others. That doesn’t make for a lot of romantic possibilities! He does not have many clear, cohesive memories of his own personal life, just flashes of things, but he does have a sense he had two people who were precious to him in the past, and that bond was severed, and that he’s also taken lovers short-term now and then, people who’s names he might not even remember with a complete memory. Talk of feelings did not feature highly in any of his past relationships. He is somewhat interested in how romance is pursued in Eorzea ‘as an exercise,’ and I think he’s open to the idea, but a bit intimidated by the idea of navigating things when he feels he has little to offer. He has someone he likes but he’s taking it slow with them.

[mountphoenixrp]

We have a new citizen in Mount Phoenix:

                                Astrid Han, who is known by no other name;                                                  a 23 year old daughter of Thor.                                        She is a freelance computer programmer.

FC NAME/GROUP: park chaeyoung / blackpink CHARACTER NAME: astrid han AGE/DATE OF BIRTH: twenty-three / jan 25, 1997 PLACE OF BIRTH: manhattan, new york OCCUPATION: computer programmer HEIGHT: 168cm (5’6”) WEIGHT: 45 kg (99 lbs) DEFINING FEATURES: two small moles on her face; one on the top right corner of her lip & just under her left eye. has a birthmark on her right shoulder that reminds her of mjolnir. she’s gotten three tattoos so far (a small thunder cloud with a lightning bolt on her wrist, her mother’s initials above her heart, and a small pikachu near her left ankle).

PERSONALITY: though her family lineage is one left to stories of old recited to a child before bedtime, astrid tends not to focus on the mythical side of her blood. her upbringing shines through, however, as reflected mostly in her body language, poise, and posture in contrast to most around. she regularly dozes off; this is present from her early childhood. astrid’s personality changed following a childhood incident, making her more withdrawn despite having been a lively child before. in her teenage years, she appeared perpetually bored and uninterested in the things happening around her.

her overprotective upbringing has left her with poor interpersonal skills and she comes off as brusque with all but her closest friends. having witnessed her mother work tirelessly, pandering to those with filled pockets made astrid respect the value of work and the dedication needed of a resilient survivor, but also fear for the time she would need to assume the role herself, making conversations with her mother about her father a struggle. those close to her describe astrid as having experienced isolation in her youth and fearing to lose those close to her. astrid’s words and actions often stem from a fear of being unable to meet the expectations of those around her, but as a counterbalance, she desires to please them.

astrid has dealt with a lot of emotional turmoil as her father left when she was young and her mother had to cater to the demands of a career, leaving her to feel alone. nevertheless, she is not bitter over it, accepting that sacrifices had to be made. astrid is still trying to figure out who she is and struggles to articulate her feelings. she keeps a lot bottled up, especially with confronting how she feels about her father being the norse god of thunder, thor odinson.

when astrid struggles to cope with things, she tends to avoid the issue and become even more withdrawn, such as when she avoids her interaction with others or thinking about being her uncertain future due to worry over her mother’s ailing health. when she acknowledges the situation is bad, her first instinct is to focus on others rather than herself, or even her own personal well-being. she doesn’t share the weight of her grief over her absent father leaving his family to fend for themselves and instead tries to deal with it alone, further isolating herself and pushing others away. she enthuses about the things she enjoys, and has a bit of an inflated ego, as noted by previous teachers. she can be reckless, having to be held back by others, though this does not always stop her. she’s playful, especially towards close friends, and is frequently snarky and sarcastic. near the end of astrid’s high school years, her friends noted her increased confidence, and she has become more stern and resolute. she has learned to take on the responsibilities of her position as the daughter of a deity and does so without hesitation.

HISTORY

i. astrid han was born january 25, 1997. she takes her first steps on the cobbled streets near the brooklyn  bridge, and makes her first friend with the other children raised on baxter street, like the twins of the owners of wo hop takeout. the first word out of her lips trickles out when her mother is brewing tea, and astrid wants to get her attention so she smacks her tiny fists against the table and calls out for ‘appa!’ as loud as she can, and doesn’t even flinch when she hears a teacup tumble from her mother’s hands at the clap of thunder. she was raised with a loving mother, as well as loving grandparents, and not many changes - at least, until her sixteenth birthday. that’s when they move into their townhouse in lower soho - it’s not that far from chinatown, but just far enough to keep up pretenses.

ii. her mother would carry her around the house, around the streets, to introduce her to people she’d known all her life, and all those who knew of her father, too. astrid spent nights reading bedtime stories of old norse myths when her mother couldn’t, her mind yearned for the tales of the aesir gods and goddess from the epic battles of thor and the frost giants, the rise of fallen heroes with the aid of valkyries, to the lavish feasts held to those in valhalla.

iii. whenever the subject of her father came to mind, her mother was hesitant  to tell the few memories that she’d heard countless times, with a tiny bit of embellishment, changing up each story whenever she was asked to tell one. astrid’s favorites, though, were the ones of how her parents had met and fallen in love. it always brought a bittersweet smile.

iv. it wasn’t until her eighteenth birthday that her mother confessed the truth, and found that all her strange abilities had come from her father’s side of the family. he was no longer the man who had left because of her, but the norse god of thunder and prince of asgard, and his blood was a gift he gave to his daughter. her first show of power was when she was just a baby - she’d flung her fists out in the middle of a tantrum and as she had done so, the lamp had exploded. it had resulted in less than a minute of clean-up, but many hours of tears and worry on her mother’s part - she was so sure astrid would be as normal as possible, but it only proved that power ran through her bones and veins as much as her love of life would come to.

v. after the revelation of her mother’s confession, it comes as both a relief and twinge of sadness with the implications of the truth. astrid had spent years questioning her sense of distance from those around her, and now the answers came too little too late. at her mother’s request, astrid ventures to her mother’s place of origin to live in safety and spend the rest of her days with those who share similar experiences.

PANTHEON: norse CHILD OF: thor POWERS

astrid can create, shape and manipulate bio-electric currents that exist within all aspects of the body such as in the nervous system, heart, and muscles. she is also capable of finding people by sensing their bioelectrical presence and/or scramble her personal bio-electric rhythms to shock others.

astrid can switch between functions with physical force. at her desire, she can disrupt electronic signals, causing electrical appliances and other objects that rely on electricity to work erratically or fail completely, even when unplugged. biologically, extreme use of her power could cause sensory paralysis by switching off their senses.

STRENGTHS

charismatic

tenderhearted

reliable

WEAKNESSES

naive

brash

reclusive

[crimsonrevolt]

Congratulations Tess you’ve been accepted to Crimson Revolt as Narcissa Malfoy!

↳ please refer to our character checklist

I don’t even know where to begin, Tess! I absolutely loved your portrayal of Cissy, and maybe a part of that is from just genuinely being excited about having all three Black girls in the group but most of it is because of your stellar writing! I can’t wait to see where you go with her, especially with the plot points that you provided so I know you have plenty in mind to keep us on the edge of our seats. I know that you’re going to keep us all interested with her past, present, and future. You expanded on the very little we know about her beautifully, and really shaped her into someone I fully believe I could run into on the streets (not that I would want to personally) which takes real talent. *your faceclaim change to Elizabeth Olsen has been accepted

application beneath the cut ( tw: insert )

OUT OF CHARACTER

INTRODUCTION

Tess, 21 years old, she/her, pacific time, USA.

ACTIVITY

6/10. I am able to log in daily to keep up with the dashboard as well as plotting and keep up communication efforts. This group focuses on long paras so getting replies out might take a bit of time, I want to go back to how I was back when I first joined, getting out one reply a day.  

TRIGGERS

No triggers.

HOW DID YOU FIND US?

Current member, originally through a character tag.

WHAT HARRY POTTER CHARACTER DO YOU IDENTIFY WITH MOST?

I think I identify the most with Bill Weasley, mainly because I always liked the career of curse breaker and I think that going far away from the family to do something he loved was amazing (and brave).

ANYTHING ELSE?

As some of you know I’ve been having some muse issues so I am switching characters, hopefully that helps rekindle my love for writing. I’m grateful to be a part of this group, you guys feel like family, have been with me through the most important part of my life, and I don’t want to leave, so I’m doing everything in my power to get back at being a good member of this lovely group.

IN CHARACTER

DESIRED CHARACTER

Narcissa Malfoy née Black

BIRTHDAY / STAR SIGN

September 12th / Virgo

*I tried calculating the year but I got confused with what’s being displayed for Andromeda’s year so I hope it’s okay I didn’t put a year. Narcissa would be turning 24 in the upcoming in-game September 1979.

OCCUPATION

Housewive, socialite.  

FACE CLAIM

My options in order of preference: Elizabeth Olsen, Margot Robbie, Amber Heard, Skyler Samuels, Claire Holt. I prefer you guys pick who you think fits best with the current FCs for the rest of the House of Black.

REASON FOR CHOSEN CHARACTER

I was used to playing Death Eaters, and then taking on Alastor was a challenge that I enjoyed greatly, I’m thankful to have had a chance to do that in this group. Narcissa has always being one of my favorite characters, I’ve always been too scared to apply for her, even to think about playing her, but this group has always had my back. I hope I get to do her justice, a character that her entire life was told what to do, that survived by following the rules and learning to play the game from an early age. A woman that in the end picked herself, her son, and that if for the most part of her life she was loyal to her family, in the end she realized her family was her son. And now that I’ve become a mother I understand the choices she made. I could only hope I get to play her in this fantastic group.

PREFERRED SHIPS // CHARACTER SEXUALITY // GENDER & PRONOUNS

Narcissa was raised to marry whoever her parents picked for her. I think deep down she dreamed of falling in love before having to marry, but she knew that no matter who it was she was going to have to fulfill her duty as a wife. Narcissa is a cis-female, she/her pronouns. As for ships, well I would love to play Lucissa, but I am open to plotting previous relationships, maybe during her Hogwarts years, or even a lost love. I’m open to plotting according to our characters’ chemistry.

CREATE ONE (OR MORE!) OF THE FOLLOWING FOR YOUR CHARACTER

-AN AESTHETIC

-A MOCKBLOG ( here: cissablackmock.tumblr.com )

-A PLAYLIST

Beautiful Lies - Birdy

We Were Sparkling - My brightest diamond

Better - Regina Spektor

Yellow Flicker Beat - Lorde

Castle - Halsey

Bells for Her - Tori Amos

The Family Jewels - Marina and The Diamonds

Heathens - Twenty-One Pilots

-EXPAND ON THE TRAITS

+ Proper: Narcissa was raised as the perfect lady. Everything she does has proper written all over, the way she walks, the way she sits, and the way she laughs. Proper and graceful, is what most use to describe her. Some even say that she even cries in a graceful manner, not that anyone would ever dare to actually say they’ve seen Narcissa cry. Even when she’s looking down on people she does it so gracefully people are actually grateful she pursed her lips at them. She was raised as a Black, as a perfect pureblood lady, being proper is in her blood.

+ Loyal: Narcissa loves her family fiercely and will do anything she can to make them proud. She loves with all her heart and protects the ones she loves with everything she has. She is loyal to her name; she will be loyal to her husband. She is loyal to her beliefs and that’s why she’s loyal to the Dark Lord and the Death Eaters.

- Self-Centered: Most people usually fight or flight, Narcissa instead adapts. She plays her cards; she is observing and manipulative when she needs to be. She will always look for the scenario in which she comes victorious. She was treasured by her family since she was a little girl and she grew up believing that if she could get anything she wanted.

-Cold: Narcissa won’t even spare a glance to someone she considers beneath her. To those she talks to she usually treats in a polite but cold manner. She doesn’t get close anyone, she has lost to much. The betrayals of both Andromeda and Sirius made her develop a cold nature, she went from being a bratty pureblood girl who would tease mudbloods to a cold calculating individual. Whoever Narcissa can hold a bit of a grudge, and if someone hurts the one she loves she might even consider getting some revenge, usually sending someone else to do the dirty work for her.

-A FEW POTENTIAL PLOT POINTS / CONNECTIONS

&&. Friends in high places. This could go both ways, Narcissa makes it her mission to make powerful lasting connections with people in positions of power. And people see how convenient it would be to make Narcissa’s acquaintance so they approach her in hopes of getting the support of the Blacks/Malfoys

&&. To love is to lose. Someone Narcissa loved in her youth. Could be mutual or one-sided.

&&. We were friends once. Someone Narcissa used to be friends with and now because of the war they find themselves on opposite sides.

&&. Heroes on both sides. Narcissa discovers that those fighting the war are not what she was lead to believe.

&&. Not today. We know that Narcissa becomes an expert duelist, this person is the one that teaches her how to duel.

&&. Family first. Pureblood that Narcissa considers family.

&&. Just a pretty face. While out of a mission (wearing the DEs’ mask) Narcissa fights someone and proves that she’s more than just a pretty face.

&&. Dirty work. Someone that Narcissa goes to so they do the dirty work for her, she can take of herself, but a lady never fights if there’s someone willing to go to war for her.

IN CHARACTER QUESTIONNAIRE

♔ If you were able to invent one spell, potion, or charm, what would it do, what would you use it for or how would you use it? Feel free to name it:

“Wouldn’t it be just ideal to have a potion that would make your hair look perfect? Of course my hair is already perfect, but think of others who have no such good genes” Narcissa says with a smile, that shallow answer is what is expected of her, she purses her lips, “but you know what I truly want, a spell that would tell you exactly the blood status of any witch or wizard, that way you don’t make the mistake of making conversation with mudbloods.”

♔ You have to venture deep into the Forbidden Forest one night. Pick one other character and one object (muggle or magical), besides your wand, that you’d want with you:

“My sister Bellatrix of course” Narcissa says as if it’s the silliest question she’s heard, “she is the person I trust the most in this world. And I would take my House of Black heirloom” her voice with a hint of mystery, she would never reveal the true power of such artifact, “that would be all I need.”

♔ What kinds of decisions are the most difficult for you to make?

“The ones about my family.”

♔ What is one thing you would never want said about you?

“That I’ve never known love.”

REACTION TO LAST EVENT DROP

With the events of the ‘The New Normal’ Narcissa’s faith in the Death Eaters was rekindled. She had began to doubt their methods after the attack on St. Mungos. She was assured it had been the work of rogue members, and after the announcement of rebuilding, she trusted them about it. She is excited to have a chance to take a public role in the efforts towards a new society. She is ready to continue showing her loyalty and support the cause.  

WRITING SAMPLE

If there was a price for the dutiful wife Narcissa was sure she deserved it. Her beautiful home, the one people had been jealous about, was now full of people, friends, family, and some very terrifying people. There was shouting, and there was screaming, laugh, tears. Yet Narcissa remained unfazed, this is what she had to do, she had always been the perfect daughter, now she was the perfect wife, the gracious host, if you could even call it that. She had been once part of the movement, she had gone to battle with them, but since she found she was pregnant she had been ordered to stay home. She hated it. But at almost six months pregnant she stands behind her husband’s chair, a stoic face, and wonders where her life went wrong. A voice that very recently began to send chills through her spine speaks to her, “Narcissa this is hardly the place for someone in your condition, your husband should spare you the unpleasantness…” with the politest tone she can muster she simply says “my Lord” The Dark Lord now turns to the boy she once dreamed about marrying, now a changed man, “Lucius” and at once her husband stands up and gently guides her outside the room. I have as much right as any of them, she wants to say, but part of her is glad she was allowed to leave. Still she doesn’t say anything, she doesn’t let anyone see, it doesn’t matter if her last name is now Malfoy, she will always be a Black. Part of her wondered why this war has gone on for so long, she had assumed they would’ve controlled the situation long ago.

Just before she got to the staircase she heard a commotion at the door, her curiosity was bigger than her determination to not be part of whatever was going on. Or maybe it was fear, not knowing which face was going to be paraded now, which of the people she used to take classes with was going to be marched towards a certain death. Keep walking, a voice inside of her told her, but she stayed at the bottom of the staircase and waited. There was a lot going on, she could see her sister, more like she could hear her sister, it looked like along with some others they had caught someone, a girl. The girl was a fighter, nothing like some of the people she had seen being dragged before, do not look at her, the same voice inside her said, but Narcissa didn’t listen. As soon as she glanced at the girl she wished she hadn’t. Now all she could do was ignore her. It was a girl that had once helped Narcissa when she was a first year and had gotten lost thanks to the moving staircases, the girl who had not told anyone about it, a girl who she had ignored multiple times after that incident, the girl she will always remember as being kind to her and asking nothing in return. Now in another staircase all Narcissa could do was ignore her. Instead she turned to her sister, avoiding the girl’s eyes, “Bella… the Dark Lord is waiting” she said before turning around and start going up the stairs. Of course the girl had ignored her too, she looked prideful, not like someone who would beg for mercy. Narcissa wondered if the girl was scared, she had looked so brave. Narcissa had almost made it to her room when the screams started. She ignored those too. Placing a hand on her stomach she reminded herself why they were doing this, “we are building a better world for you” she told her unborn baby.

[megamikethomson]

Head League: 10 things to pay special mind to in Boxing Day and bubbly installations

Head League: 10 things to pay special mind to in Boxing Day and bubbly installations

1) Leicester without Vardy intend to party like it's 1963

Consistently for the greater part a century people have been seeking after a rehash of the Boxing Day fun of 1963, when the 10 top-flight installations created a record count of 66 objectives. We can't get a precise rehash of that this year since half of the groups who were in the First Division in those days are presently in the lower associations (in spite of the fact that, as it occurs, Ipswich and Fulham are meeting in the Championship this Boxing Day so Mick McCarthy could point to advance if his group show improvement over the 10-1 thrashing that Jackie Milburn's side endured against Fulham in '63). Be that as it may, the current year's Boxing Day installation list has hurled an indistinguishable blending to the '63 timetable, as Leicester have Everton. In those days, Everton, as opposed to Leicester, were the shielding champions and they lost 2-0 in what ended up being the most reduced scoring match on that record-breaking day. Both Leicester's objectives were scored by Ken Keyworth, who we will portray as the Jamie Vardy of his time in the event that we can determine that we just mean he was his group's most productive striker. Vardy, mind you, has not been productive this season however he scored a cap stunt in his last home match and would have been wanting to continue the latest relevant point of interest in the event that he had not proceeded to bounce into that handle on Mame Biram Diouf at Stoke. His suspension saves Everton's languid focal guard from adapting to his speed, however Shinji Okazaki and Islam Slimani could present various difficulties. Leicester could locate their different suspensions increasingly dangerous: the club didn't enroll sufficient guarded spread in the mid year so the unlucky deficiencies of Robert Huth and Christian Fuchs offer Everton a chance to recuperate from their Merseyside derby frustration – and retaliate for the thrashing of '63. PD

• Vardy to serve three-coordinate boycott after red card request is dismissed • Lukaku to sign new Everton bargain however may leave in summer – Raiola • Leicester battling yet Man City composed book on awful title safeguards

2) The signs are useful for Liverpool against Stoke

This will be the current year's other rehash of the 1963 Boxing Day plan, or rather it would have been if the current year's match had not been pushed back to 27 December. Fifty-three years back a 6-1 home triumph over Stoke helped Liverpool on their way to their first top-flight title in over two decades and, in the long run, a great time of household predominance. The parallels are self-evident. Isn't that so? All things considered, we should perceive what Joe Allen needs to state about that. The Welshman comes back to Anfield in awesome, free-scoring frame and will without a doubt be instrumental in Stoke's endeavor to pick up their first group succeed at Liverpool since 1959. In any case, Glen Johnson could be considerably progressively significant, thus also will Bruno Martins Indi, who has become the support of Stoke's resistance since joining the club in the mid year, particularly with Ryan Shawcross still apparently battling for greatest wellness. In the mean time, in the event that Daniel Sturridge is equipped for enduring an hour and a half, at that point he should begin for Liverpool instead of Roberto Firmino, who has glanced in genuine need of a rest in late games. PD

• Liverpool's Mané will make a beeline for Gabon with crushing sadness • Klopp acclaims Sturridge for helping Liverpool to derby triumph

Daniel Sturridge could come back to the Liverpool beginning lineup. Photo: John Powell/Liverpool FC by means of Getty Images 3) Arsenal and West Brom would like to think not to fuel old contentions

For some time it resembled this, finally, would be the period of generosity towards Arsène Wenger. Be that as it may, at that point his group lost two extreme away matches in succession and lo, Arsenal fans will again spend Christmas Day squabbling about their chief and the manner in which he plays his adaptation of imposing business model. The second 50% of Wenger's rule at Arsenal has not all been about property advancement, there has additionally been some group building, however the inquiry stays with respect to whether the supervisor has laid tough enough mental establishments. Beating West Bromwich Albion at home would not resolve that contention however it would at any rate convey Arsenal fans the endowment of flitting reprieve from in-battling. In 1963 the quarreling was all in the West Brom camp before their Boxing Day meeting with north London rivals: their players picketed in the approach the game in fight at being told by their chief, Jimmy Hagan, that they needed to prepare for it in shorts in spite of the outlandishly chilly climate (it isn't certain whether the solidifying conditions additionally blocked exposed headbutting yet Hagan in the long run arrived at a comprehension with the players, who proceeded to draw 4-4 with Spurs). The later past gives a superior pointer to West Brom's visit to the Emirates, obviously. What's more, according to West Brom's ways to deal with their large away games so far this season, we can depend on Pulis attempting to make this a troublesome counterpart for Arsenal and a nerve racking watch for everybody. PD

• Özil wins ownership more than you may might suspect

4) Moyes and co could make life hard for Manchester United

Give us a chance to stop with the 1963 examinations now. Truth be told, let us not specify the past by any stretch of the imagination, in case we carry a tear to the eye of David Moyes. Be that as it may, in the event that we should specify the Scot's past encounters at Old Trafford, let us focus on the successes he appreciated there during his 11 years as Everton director. Eh? In any case. Reveal to you what, let us simply think back to Sunderland's triumphant last match, a 1-0 triumph over Watford enlivened by Adnan Januzaj, who, oh dear, is ineligible for the prospective match against his parent club. Poor Moyes can't get a break when Old Trafford is included. Yet, his responsibility is to make his own karma regardless of the powerless hand he is managed, and on Monday that will involve picking an appropriate substitution for Januzaj. Odds are Moyes will stout for John O'Shea. Try not to giggle! The Irishman did well in a back three when Sunderland made life intense for Chelsea a fortnight prior and redeploying that framework appears as though Moyes' most obvious opportunity with regards to exacting hopelessness on Manchester United supporters, once more. PD

Man Utd close in on Benfica's Lindelof to fortify barrier • Ibrahimovic: the more seasoned I get, the better I get, similar to red wine

5) Memories of Brown group talk give light help to harsh test

It is accurately a long time since Hull met Manchester City on Boxing Day 2008 and Phil Brown significantly conveyed his half-time group chat on the pitch, with his group effectively 4-0 down. "I thought it was decent and cold and I figured I would keep the young men alive on the grounds that they looked as though they were dead," he stated, and the novel move sort of worked – they drew the second half 1-1, and the game finished 5-1. City were in the last three at the time, while Hull were 6th; via season's end City were tenth and Hull, who won just a single additional alliance game, stayed away from transfer by a point. Manchester City, who at the time had not completed in the main four since 1978, have just neglected to do so once since, when they came fifth in 2010. The knee damage continued by Pablo Zabaleta in the success over Arsenal implies that no overcomers of the 2008 game will show up in this one – Vincent Kompany and Joe Hart additionally played that day and stay on City's finance – however Hull may discover their errand is no less imposing. SB

• Snodgrass dismisses new Hull agreement and targets January flight • Touré: I need Manchester City to be greater than Manchester United

6) Carroll could have a whale of a period in Swansea

Swansea have been so devilish away – no, that isn't the correct word – so timid away that it is anything but difficult to overlook that they have been moderatelySo they are positively equipped for beating West Ham. In any case, that doesn't appear to be likely, as Slaven Bilic's side have shown proof of taking care of in ongoing games and, in Andy Carroll, have a forward who could unleash ruin against the gentlest focal barrier in the Premier League (once more). PD

• West Ham would prefer not to sell group's 'top player' Payet, says Bilic

Andy Carroll prepares himself for Swansea City. Photo: Avril Husband/West Ham United through Getty Images 7) When will Conte's Chelsea quit winning?

With Diego Costa and N'Golo Kanté suspended, is the end near for Chelsea's triumphant run? Michy Batshuayi would like to think not. Costa's one-coordinate boycott gives the Belgian striker, for whom Chelsea paid £33m in the mid year, a chance to demonstrate his value. It is up to Bournemouth, then, to demonstrate that without Kanté's security Chelsea's guard is unmistakably increasingly helpless. Bournemouth have been unbalanced out and about so far this season yet they succeeded at Stamford Bridge last term and Eddie Howe, and fanatics of a nearby title race, would respect a rehash of that outcome this year. PD

• Conte targets Bakayoko and Sidibé after £60m Oscar bonus • Chelsea to dismiss credit offers for appointee striker Batshuayi

8) A gathering of disappointing finishers at St Mary's

Disregard Mauricio Pochettino: what these two groups share for all intents and purpose is an incensing inefficiency. Both make a ton of possibilities, both will in general miss a large portion of them. Southampton gave indications of progress in their last match, that 3-1 win at Bournemouth, when they delivered a sharpness that they had frequently needed. They will presumably need to create that once more, and imitate the power and speed they appeared at Bournemouth, in the event that they are to dispense a third progressive away destruction on Tottenham Hotspur. PD

• Lloris signs new agreement to 2022 – taking him to age 35 • The changing substance of White Hart Lane – in pictures

Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung-min passes up on an opportunity against Burnley at White Hart Lane. Photo: Ian Kington/AFP/Getty Images 9) Palace try to stop away spoil at Vicarage Road

Three thrashings in their last four games have seen Watford slip from seventh to twelfth, yet on the off chance that the sentiment of tensely investigating their shoulde

[junker-town]

7 rule change ideas to make a better MLS

Major League Soccer is willing to change its rules dramatically on a whim. They’ll even do it specifically to help the LA Galaxy and Giovani dos Santos. Twice.

With that in mind, the fine folks of SB Nation’s team communities wanted to present their own ideas to make the league better. Hopefully we’ll see MLS consider some of these ideas heading into next season.

Or they could just implement them now. They’ve done it before.

Scrap the roster rules and add a luxury tax

Dave Clark, Sounder at Heart

One of the difficulties in explaining MLS to non-US sports fans is the abundance of special roster rules. There are a full five ways to exceed the salary cap on a specific player — Designated Player, Special Discover Player, Discretionary Targeted Allocation Money (team funded), Targeted Allocation Money, and General Allocation Money. By simplifying the rules while also incentivizing individual owner-operators to grow their own revenue streams a shift to a luxury tax system would help MLS as a business, as well as the quality on most fields. Having the luxury tax go into the overall salary budget pool for the next season would be better in future seasons, even for those teams struggling with revenue.

The idea essentially mirrors the NBA, but would be more open. All transfer fees would be subject to the luxury tax, as would salaries for players over their cap hit. It would exist at two thresholds. The first would be at three times the max salary budget (as that is where a significant break point in spending currently exists) and the other at some number to moderate the biggest spenders. This streamlined system makes tracking roster moves simpler for fans while enabling more transfers onto teams. It also permits the Haves to spend, while supporting the success of the Nots in the future.

Reward teams that develop talent with more Allocation Money

Adnan Ilyas, Stars and Stripes FC

I would like to see teams get allocation dollars based on the percentage of minutes played by Homegrown Players and U-23 college draftees. This way, teams that decide to play more of their young players consistently end up getting more money for the next season. For example, you could have a system where, if teams play their young players up to a maximum threshold, let’s say 10,000 minutes (about three full-starting positions), that team will receive perhaps $300,000 in allocation. If a team plays their HGP and draftees half as many minutes, they receive half as much money, and so on.

The goal is to encourage teams to play their developing players. Teams often have to choose between whether they are going to play someone who is more likely to get results now or someone who needs playing time to get to that level (or higher). And this proposal would help incentivize teams to choose the latter more often without completely sacrificing the quality of play. Teams know that they will receive something tangible for taking a gamble on a young player (maybe a more expensive veteran or two). However, there’s also a built-in age restriction which prevents teams from being able to claim the same players to get that allocation money in perpetuity. Because Homegrown players would age out of that program and draftees only apply until they are 23, teams have to find new players to qualify over time. This encourages clubs to make decisions on players who have already had the time and resources to develop, to either double down on those players as veterans, allow them to move, or be sold. This means there are spots for up-and-coming players and possibly even transfer fees to help invest in those academies.

Require homegrown players on gameday squads

Drew Epperley, Big D Soccer

To help incentive the youth movement in Major League Soccer, each team should carry at least three Homegrown-signed players on their game day rosters. Any team that cannot comply with this will be fined each game that they do not follow this gameday rule. In the event that a team cannot meet this requirement due to injuries, a fine will not be placed on the team.

Basically, if MLS wants to go the youth route and become a true selling league, this kind of rule will force teams to look at their academy systems closer, develop talent from within and actually use that talent. For most clubs, this shouldn’t be that big of a challenge as several teams tend to already meet this requirement game in and game out. But for those who struggle to develop from their academy system, this will put more pressure on them to find players that are MLS-caliber and it could give them the potential to see minutes on the field.

Refs should have to explain VAR decisions

Jake Catanese, The Bent Musket

All VAR reviews must include an “Ed Hochuli” style explanation — players, fans, and broadcasters should know the initial call, what/why the play is being reviewed, and then a conclusion (play stands/overturned) from the center referee before continuing play. For those of you not familiar with the now retired NFL referee, Hochuli’s rules explanations following reviewed plays are fairly legendary for being in-depth and at times quite entertaining.

Too often, broadcasters are unable to recognize why a play or foul is under review and fans inside the stadium have no access to the information besides the PA announcer or social media. Not having the referees communicate during the review process hurts the viewing experience of the game when for several minutes fans have to listen to broadcasters reviewing one part of the play only for something completely different to be what was actually called.

In particular, I remember a call in a Sounders-Impact game that caused just such confusion. Sounders defender Kelvin Leerdam undercut an Impact attacker and the play went to review. I remember hearing what the broadcast team analyzing why a review was needed for a yellow or red card for what seemed to be a hard, but likely routine foul. As it turns out, a field view angle showed Leerdam slapping Daniel Lovitz in the aftermath of the foul. It was a clear red card, but since no announcement was made before review or after, it took far too long for a simple matter to be cleared up.

Adding 10-15 seconds to a referee properly communicate about their review would clear up a lot about the process the referees are going through rather than trying to guess based on the information available and it would tremendously enhance viewing experience in my opinion.

Homegrowns should have no cap hit

Eugene Rupinski, Brotherly Game

My suggestion is that players signed via the Homegrown Player mechanism should not count toward a team’s overall salary cap numbers. This would further incentivize teams to develop players through their academy system and retain them, thus ideally having homegrown players stick with their hometown club throughout their careers. As Major League Soccer increasingly becomes a league of the haves and have-nots, this would be another tool to help those with smaller coffers compete against the clubs for which money is no object.

Force teams to engage in multiple languages

Alicia Rodriguez, Angels on Parade

This isn’t an on-field or roster rule proposal, but I think teams should be required to offer sustained bilingual content. The only team in the league right now that truly offers a bilingual experience is the Montreal Impact, which makes a certain amount of sense, but frankly, the rest of the league all sit in locations where potential fans speak more than one language. I wouldn’t necessarily mandate Spanish-language coverage in all markets, although it would make the most sense in a substantial number of MLS cities, but teams need to commit to regularly using social media, webpage content and press releases in more than one language, and always having translators on hand to facilitate communication with reporters and players or coaches who speak other languages.

Bring back the 35-yard run-up

Kim McCauley

When MLS kicked off in 1996, it had a handful of strange variations from traditional soccer rules, and many jokes were made at the league’s expense. MLS went to normal rules in 2000, which has mostly been for the best. But y’all, I miss the 35-yard run-up penalties so much.

Soccer is a sport where fan conversations are dominated by people who hate change. Chelsea will always be a small club because they were perpetual chokers until 2004, it’s blasphemous to say that a dozen modern players are much better than Pele, and MLS will always be crap because it’s American. We’re never going to win the respect of the world anyway, so we might as well have some fun. And 35-yard run-up penalties kicked the holy hell out of regular penalties.

[turnonthe8-track]

often underused character questions.

Tagged by: no one! but I lifted it from @penpursuiits​

               INTRODUCTION —

NAME: Hedwig Robinson AGE: 36-56 (one of) YOUR FAVORITE PICTURE OF YOUR MUSE’S FC:

               QUESTIONS —

WHAT WOULD BE THEIR TWITTER NAME? WHAT SORTS OF TWEETS WOULD THEY TWEET?     Professionally, Phyllis has long since registered the username @angryinch, which she uses to post tour updates; upcoming shows; notices if they’re going to be late for a show; birthday announcements; articles that have been written favourably about the band, its front woman, or the lawsuit; basically all the things you’d expect from any other band account.     For personal usage, she has @hedvigrobinson. It’s almost a joke that someone beat her out to having her own name as a twitter handle, but it’s not as if she has the money to buy it off of the current owner and Phyllis keeps telling her it’d be a waste of money anyway. 

    She mostly posts photos of her and the band, tour updates, the same sort of thing on the “professional” account that she’s supposed to have to make her more accessible to a younger generation (whatever that’s supposed to mean....) plus added occasional venting and q&as with the artist for anyone who has questions not focused on the rock n roll “icon.” 

      Sometimes, Hedwig posts late night venting that goes a little too far, spills a little too much detail about her past, or is just plain not the sort of thing that Phyllis thinks would be conducive to her career. At times, Phyllis has come close to demanding that Hedwig turn over her passwords, but knows that the rocker would never go for it.  WHAT’S THEIR FAVOURITE GENRE OF MOVIES? OF MUSIC?        Movies would be more indie movies and the sorts of things you have to know about to know about. Or know a friend who knows about them to know about. She likes international films more than most current Hollywood ones, though there are still quite a few of those that she’ll watch and enjoy and possibly even torrent later for later watching.... Obviously, gay interest films are of high interest to her, but not only. 

      Music is a mixture of rock n roll, various stages of punk, new wave, songs that were in the Top 40 between 1940-1990, Broadway in general, easy listening, some industrial, some of the more modern pop music. WHAT’S ON THEIR TOP QUEUE ON NETFLIX?     Danny Says. For some reason every time she sits down to watch it, some thing comes up and she has to put it off.  WHAT’S THEIR FAVOURITE SCENT? DO THEY SMELL LIKE THAT?     Anything that smells like the Western indulgences she was denied growing up. She does not smell like any of the Western indulgences.

APPLE OR ANDROID?       Apple. ( I would have picked Android since it’s cheaper, but JCM made it canon that she has a MacBook. ) FAVOURITE SEASON? LEAST FAVOURITE SEASON?       There’s something she likes about spring. She couldn’t say why, maybe it’s the promise of renewal and rebirth. Of second chances. She doesn’t really have a least favourite. ARE THEY A BOTTOM OR TOP OR VERSATILE?       In terms of positioning, she’s incredibly versatile with almost everyone. If they want to top her, they can, if they’d rather she be the one doing the penetrating, she can do that too. Switching? Great! If her partner would rather shake up the traditional ideology of exactly who does what in which position, there will be no objections from her. Ideally, it’d be a mix of topping, bottoming, and oral, sometimes toys.... it also depends on her mood on a given day as to what she wants to do, with whom, and how. What she’s much more reluctant to do is to give up control of a situation. It takes someone special for her to concede control of the situation. DESCRIBE THEIR MORNING ROUTINE. DO THEY WAKE UP EARLY OR SLEEP IN? DO THEY PRESS THE SNOOZE BUTTON A BUNCH OF TIMES OR DO THEY IMMEDIATELY GET UP?         Naturally, Hedwig is the type of person who likes to sleep in and has been since she lived in Berlin. Her mother was naturally a morning person, possibly through years of being a public school teacher, but also because she thought it was more efficient to get up and be active before the shops opened and any household chores could be done before work or before going to those same shops. Hansel rarely had the luxury of sleeping in.

      Marrying a military man did little to dispel Hedwig being forced to get up early. It was inevitable. She wasn’t a light sleeper per se, but whenever Luther rose from off of the mattress, it caused her to stir as well. As the commander of the nearby Fort Riley, even setting aside military efficiency, it would have looked bad for Luther to show up late. Often times after he left, Hedwig would go back to bed for an hour or so until she gave up on the idea of actually sleeping by herself and went about putting on her makeup and starting her routine. It was easier to sleep-in in East Berlin....

      When she was employed on her own and able to set her own schedule more or less, she still never slept in much past ten. No matter how late she had fallen into her own bed the night before, it was hard to stay asleep past that time for some reason. 

      Having her band, her husband, and a newfound paranoia over letting people see any glimpse of her outside of her blonde bombshell presentation ( courtesy of one Mr. Tommy Speck and the other residents of Junction City who always did seem to treat her better when they perceived her (or were able to pretend to perceive her) as cis ), Hedwig now takes great pains to rise before the other members of her band. Sometimes, they come close to seeing her with one aspect or another of her presentation left incomplete, but so far no one has actually seen her without her makeup; without her wig is almost as rare. They respect her enough to leave whatever curiosities they may have about her appearance sated only by the few photos she has of herself pre-transition. Sometimes Yitzhak thinks Hedwig’s trapped herself as throughly as she’s trapped him.

IF THEY WERE TO BE COMPARED TO A(NOTHER) CANON CHARACTER, WHO WOULD THAT BE?       I.... don’t know that there are other characters that Hedwig’s comparable to. Bits and pieces sure. Real people, she’d stand a greater chance of comparison with.  But in terms of pure characters, I don’t know that there’s a whole lot of them that she would share more than a few traits with.

[micaramel]

James Benning in Joshua Tree (December 25), 2011. Photo by Heinz Peter Knes

  Artist: James Benning

Exhibition Title: Down the Rabbit Hole: JB in JT

Arranged by: Julie Ault and Martin Beck

In Collaboration With: O-Town House, Los Angeles

Note: at the request of O-Town House we have adjusted this project’s presentation.

  Shortly after I arrived in Joshua Tree some three weeks ago, going into lockdown with Julie and Martin, we decided this was a perfect time to realize our plan for a James Benning exhibition of his works in their home. The idea for a private exhibition of James’s works here was hatched last Christmas, a time when the gang usually descends on Joshua Tree for some quality time at the kitchen table and in front of the fireplace. But now, considering the current circumstances, developing this exhibition as a virtual one seems to resolve several issues—of privacy, access to the public, and keeping busy and engaged with the world. Down the Rabbit Hole: JB in JT is conceived as part of a continuum with two earlier exhibition projects. The first, Tell It To My Heart, which traveled from the Kunstmuseum Basel to Culturgest in Lisbon and ultimately to Artists Space in New York, was an exhibition based on the artworks Julie has collected over decades, many of them the results of conversations and collaborations with other artists. The curatorial team was equally significant, and the project strove to develop a different mode of mapping the ways art and history touch our lives through relationships and collaborations. The second project in this lineage was inspired by the first, titled 31 Friends by James, for which he made 31 artworks for as many friends. The works were shown at the Marfa Book Company in Marfa, TX, and, after the exhibition ended, were given to their intended owners. James then asked everyone to send him a photograph of the works in their new homes. Those framed photographs were presented at O-Town House. James described 31 Friends as an “attempt to pay homage to the ability of art to produce community as opposed to just commerce.” The line drawn from Tell It To My Heart to 31 Friends to Down the Rabbit Hole is indicative of an ongoing effort to sustainably engage artistic practices and align the language around this work meaningfully with our lives. Down the Rabbit Hole  brings together (nearly) all the artworks and some artifacts made by James that are distributed in Julie and Martin’s house and grounds in Joshua Tree. Many of these objects are on permanent display, others were unearthed from drawers and closets. Most objects we photographed as they are installed, others we staged, and, collectively, we put together an annotated checklist, supplying details about the work and some stories of how they came about. Picking up on the aspirations of Tell It To My Heart and 31 Friends, this exhibition also reads as a conversation. The works are listed in chronological order to make present the unfolding of friendship over many years; the show becoming an extension of ongoing collaborations with a view toward the future. Moments of recollection, such as Down the Rabbit Hole represents, become crucial to finding fresh ways of thinking about the role art can play in the construction of community. By drawing lines across time, as we rummage through James’s traces here at the house, together, we are taking stock, reviewing, and recounting the conversations that grew into plans and then into actions. Enduring interests and subjects, obsessions, and curiosities have become shared experiences and the medium with which we solidify our lives together.

— Scott Cameron Weaver

    After Traylor, 2004 Colored pencil on cardstock Two parts 6 1/2 × 4 1/4 inches and 6 1/2 × 8 3/8

James often came to Joshua Tree around the holidays to visit our mutual friend Dick Hebdige. In 2003 they came over to our house a couple evenings. Sitting by the fire, James said, “I usually don’t like places like this, but I like it here.” I think he was referring to all the colors. When Dick and James came over the following Christmas, JB brought this wonderful gift. It seems reasonable to me now, but at the time, copying Bill Traylor imagery, and doing it well, was astonishing. (JA)

    Two sugar pine cones (Pinus lambertiana) from Hatchet Peak near Pine Flat, ca. 2005 Approx. 11 × 4 × 4 inches each

When coming to JT from his place in the Sierras, James sometimes brings a couple of large pine cones with him. We integrated most of them into the landscape, and some have disintegrated over the years. These two we kept on a stand on the patio. They sometimes get blown off by the wind and we find them somewhere between the cactuses. (MB)

    Clock, 2006 9 inches diameter Acrylic paint on clock

I needed to keep busy, part of my nature, so inspired by the many cans of paint in the garage (due to the many different colors used inside and outside of the house [what is it 36? I think it’s 42]), I decided to paint a clock I had just found in a local thrift store using a few of those colors. (JB)

  Continue the exhibition after the jump.

    AFTER JESSE HOWARD (DETAIL) J.B., 2007 Colored pencil on cardstock Two parts 6 1/2 × 4 1/4 and 6 1/2 × 8 ½ Pencil (verso of larger part): A MAN HAS NO RIGHT TO DEFEND HIS FAMILY DECATUR. ILL. OCT. 11. 1961 OF ALL THE UN=AMERICAN. UN=CIVIL- IZED WAY OF LIFE! ARREST: A MA- N AND THROW HIM IN JAIL! BECA- USE HE HAD NO PERMIT TO CON- STRUCT A FALLOUT SHELTER, FOR HIMSELF=AND=HIS=FAMILY. JESSE HOWARD

This was the second set of drawings made for this two-part frame. The first set was two Bill Traylor drawings (see After Traylor, 2004), but they looked rather silly so small, so I replaced them with these two truncated drawings of a Jesse Howard painting that I copied and is hanging in the replica Kaczynski cabin I built in the Sierras. I’m not sure what happened to the first set. (JB)

Once taken out of the frame, the first set, After Traylor (2004), was kept in the bottom shelf of a covered sideboard, visible right when opening its door. The unprotected drawings were vulnerable. This display, if one could call it that, always felt a bit treacherous and, recently, Julie packed the drawings in glassine and cardboard and stored them safely in the Christmas closet. (MB)

    Freedom Club, 2009 Wood carving 2 × 9 7/8 inches

Kaczynski embedded a signature of sorts—the letters FC—in the bombs he made from 1980 on, and in the mid-nineties signed letters to public figures and editors FC. FC (Freedom Club) was supposed to be an anarchist terrorist group. Kaczynski’s 1995 letter to Scientific American is worth repeating: “Scientists and engineers constantly gamble with human welfare, and we see today the effects of some of their lost gambles: ozone depletion, the greenhouse effect, cancer-causing chemicals to which we cannot avoid exposure, accumulating nuclear waste for which a sure method of disposal has not yet been found, the crowding, noise and pollution that have followed industrialization, massive extinction of species and so forth…. We emphasize the negative PHYSICAL consequences of scientific advances often are completely unforeseeable….  But far more difficult to foresee are the negative SOCIAL consequences of technological progress. The engineers who began the industrial revolution never dreamed their work would result in the creation of an industrial proletariat or the economic boom and bust cycle.” This carving was a step in James’s process of furnishing his Kaczynski cabin. After a while, he replaced it with one reading FC, and I asked if I could have this one. (JA)

    James Benning and Sadie Benning Untitled, 2010 Pencil on cardstock, framed Two parts (left part drawn by Sadie Benning, right part drawn by James Benning) Drawing: 6 1/2 × 4 1/4 inches and 6 1/2 × 8 1/2 inches Frame: 8 × 14 1/2 inches

This was the third set of drawings made for this two-part frame. I was going to continue to change the drawings for this frame, but since this is the only collaboration between Sadie and I, it seemed best to end the series here. (JB)

James and Sadie like to settle on the couch in front of the fireplace when they visit. One Christmas we got a new couch. Knowing that we wouldn’t be home when they arrived, and that they would immediately take their places in front of the fire, we wrapped a large ribbon around the couch and made it an in situ present to them. (MB)

    After Traylor by J.B., 2010 Colored pencil on paper Drawing: 12 3/4 × 8 1/2 inches Frame: 21 1/2 × 14 1/4 inches Pencil on backing board: APARTMENT FOR PEOPLE TO GO AND THEN COME OUT UP A ELEVATOR AND THEN JUMP OUT THE WINDOW. ONLY THE MANAGERS CAN GO THROUGH THE FRONT DOOR. NAME OF THE APARTMENT IS “THE PEOPLE’S APARTMENT”. 100 PEOPLE LIVE IN IT, EVERONES THE SAME AGE, BUT SOME ARE 10, 20, AND 40. by VANESSA

    Vanessa’s name is Vanessa Basilio. She was about eleven at the time, 2010. She was a CAP student. CAP is Community Arts Partnership. CalArts students teach kids in disadvantaged communities, and then the kids have a show at CalArts. When I saw her piece (house and text), I was most impressed and asked her if I could trade her an artwork for it. She was excited to make a trade, but told me she wanted to see what I could offer. I told her I could trade her a house for her house. The next day I met her and her mother, and showed her the After Traylor house. She really liked it and we made the trade, and I took a picture of her holding her house but can’t find the photo. (JB)

James made another version of the After Traylor (2010) drawing that he gave Vanessa for our house; he transcribed Vanessa’s description of her house on the frame’s backing board. A photograph of the work by Heinz Peter Knes, showing the drawing in context at the house, adorns the back cover of the first volume of Tell It To My Heart. Proofing the catalog, none of us noticed the image was reversed, the bird looking to the left rather than to the right. (MB)

    (FC) Two Cabins by JB, 2011 Edited by Julie Ault Contributions by Julie Ault, James Benning, Dick Hebdige, Theodore J. Kaczynski, and Henri David Thoreau Designed by Martin Beck Published by A.R.T. Press, New York

I still intend to write something about the Two Cabins constellation and Thoreau and Kaczynski copies James gave me. (JA)

    After Thoreau, 2011 Ink on chipboard, framed Drawing: 10 × 8 inches Frame: 18 1/2 × 15 1/2 inches

This is a copy of one of Henry David Thoreau’s many drawings that he made as the town surveyor of Concord, Massachusetts. The frame is tramp art from the 1930s. (JB)

The autodidactic orientation of both Thoreau and Kaczynski finds a correlation in Benning, who takes immense pleasure in learning. Ted Kaczynski created a numeric code to shield his most self-incriminating journal entries about his bombing campaign. JB meticulously copied the dense document and hung it in his Kaczynski cabin. He made a second copy for me, but it’s not in Joshua Tree. Empathy is palpable in his copies, and so is James, who leaves traces. I regard the reproduced TK code and the Thoreau survey as outlying companions linked by James’s acts of copying, thereby completing the triad of primary protagonists in FC: Two Cabins by JB. (JA)

    intertitle study for Stemple Pass, 2012 Typewriting on paper 11 × 9 1/4 inches

I spent a few weeks working on Stemple Pass at the kitchen table in JT. This was made while I was working on the intertitles. I believe there is a photo of me doing just that, in the first Tell It To My Heart catalog. (JB)

Tell It To My Heart was an exhibition about the artworks given to and acquired by Julie over a few decades. For the catalog, the works were photographed in situ, “at home” in our NY apartment and the JT house, installed on the walls, packed up in closets, under the couch, in drawers, and other odd places. Some of the images didn’t even show artworks, just the environment. The only person appearing in the catalog’s photography is James, seen from behind, with headphones on, sitting at the JT kitchen table, editing a film. (MB)

    After Beck 11 × 15 3/4, 2013 Acrylic paint on wood panel 11 × 15 3/4 inches

Martin gave me a painting of his that was hanging on the wall in JT. It was a painting that I always admired. I was going to make an exact copy of it and replace it in the same place. It proved to be too difficult for me to reproduce, so I made this painting instead. It was the same dimensions as the painting I tried to copy. (JB)

Back in 1996, I gave a painting I had made as an art student to Julie. It was the first painting I considered to be quite good and therefore was precious to me. Soon after we got the house in JT, the painting moved out here, which is where James saw it. Expressing his admiration, he wondered if there were others like it. I had a similar same-size one from that time in storage at my parents house in Austria. James and I then cooked up a trade: I would give him that painting and he would copy it for me. When visiting my parents next I took the painting to NY and sent it to him in the mail. Quite a few months later, at Christmas out in JT, James gave me his version of it. While James was working on the copy, Sadie painted a white version as a companion piece. Unbeknownst of the impending gifts, I had made two drawings, to give them as presents, one for James, one for Sadie, both saying “the same thing can be done in different ways.” (MB)

    Thinking about the Unabomber, 1987/2014 Enlarged photobooth photograph, framed Image: 4 3/4 × 4 3/4 inches Frame: 12 1/2 × 12 1/2 inches

Thinking about the Unabomber, 1987/2014 Enlarged photobooth photograph, framed Image: 4 3/4 × 4 3/4 inches Frame: 12 1/2 × 12 1/2 inches

In 1987 a woman witnessed a man wearing aviator glasses and a hooded sweatshirt placing a package outside a computer store in Salt Lake City that turned out to be a bomb. The widely circulated police sketch made from her description was the first representation of the Unabomber. (JA)

The last year I lived in NYC, Sadie visited me and we went to Coney Island and made this photo in a photobooth. I was thinking about the Unabomber because a number of my friends and I thought the Unabomber might have been Leo Burt, the only person never to be arrested for the Sterling Hall bombing at the University of Wisconsin, in protest against the Vietnam War. In 2014 I re-photographed the photo. (JB)

    Three Paper Airplanes, 2014 Signed contract; three one hundred-dollar bills, folded Laser print on paper, framed Print: 9 3/4 × 8 inches Frame: 12 1/2 × 10 1/2 inches Bills: 1 1/2 × 6 × 1 1/4 inches each

Julie bought this piece for $600 and paid with 563 single dollar bills. I then gave the three secretaries (the three women who keep the CalArts film school running) $200 each. The piece was in the spirit of Douglas Huebler—he was teaching at CalArts in the 1980s—and was one of the reasons I took a job there. I like his art very much, and he was an amazing guy. (JB)

For several years, whenever James needed a book for his Kaczynski library and research into artists he was copying, he asked me to scope out the possibilities online and order the books, since I had a credit card. This provided a productive exchange about the books’ contents and various editions. Periodically I’d give him the tally. On one occasion, he owed me $563 and paid me in one-dollar bills stuffed into a big envelope. Not needing the cash at that moment, I kept the reimbursement “as is.” A few years later, James told me about his paper airplanes made from one-hundred dollar bills and said he wanted to get more than their value to split the money between the three women that run the film department, who do a lot for him. So I pulled out the envelope and made up the difference to $600. (JA)

This work was really hard to photograph—it is usually stored in a protective box in a cabinet. Scott and I kept moving the paper airplanes around the house and tried about a dozen different settings until we settled on this one. Another image we shot looks very similar except that the hundred-dollar bills sit on a pink ground with a yellow glow coming in from the sides. Julie liked the green ground better, so we went with that. (MB)

    After Ono by J.B., 2014 Photocopy, framed Print: 7 1/4 × 5 3/8 inches Frame: 11 1/8 × 9 1/8 inches

This is a reproduction of a call for entries by Yoko Ono for a show (This is Not Here) at Emerson Museum, Syracuse, NY, to open on October 9, 1971. (JB)

    After Ono by J.B., 2014 Photocopy, framed Print: 7 1/4 × 5 3/8 inches Frame: 10 7/8 × 8 3/4 inches

    After Warhol (smiling), 2014 Serigraph, silver and black oil-based ink on paper Print: 25 × 24 1/2 inches Frame: 26 1/2 × 26 inches

I love this sexy exuberant photograph of Andy Warhol, grabbing Parker Tyler’s crotch. JB made it in the spirit of Warhol, as part of a diptych, the other half being After Noland (smiling). I’m often amazed by the images and narratives James annexes and activates. (JA)

    After Noland (smiling), 2014 Serigraph, silver and black oil-based ink on paper Print: 25 × 24 1/2 inches Frame: 26 1/2 × 26 inches

For quite a few years, I’ve been spending summers in JT, mostly by myself. The only friend who doesn’t mind the heat and visits regularly is James. During the hot days, we both work and tool around, he under the covered patio, I in the garage studio. In the evenings, I prepare food; he makes gin-and-tonics, we listen to music and talk about work and life. At first, I wasn’t sure why James thought I should have an image of Ruth Ann Moorehead (“Ouish” of the Manson girls). I know he likes Cady Noland’s work and I do too. I love the image and, of course, understand why he chose it. (MB)

    Thirty-one Friends (October), 2015 Published by Marfa Book Company, Marfa, TX

In the years 2014–15 James Benning made 31 works of art for 31 friends, and produced a book, recounting a story of each friendship and describing the works created with them in mind. Some of the works referenced work by other artists—Andy Warhol, Marie Menken, Bill Traylor, Jean-Luc Godard, Jesse Howard, Henry Darger, Henry David Thoreau, Cady Noland, Robert Smithson, Jasper Johns, Miroslav Tichý, and Ted Kaczynski—inferring another set of (imagined) friends. In the summer of 2015, these works were exhibited together along with the publication at the Marfa Book Company, in Marfa, TX. At the show’s closing event, the artworks were removed from the walls and given to each of the friends for whom they’d been made. The works then traveled to places near and far—Bastrop, Texas, Duisburg, Germany, Sydney, Austria, downtown Los Angeles…. The final chapter of this project happened in 2018 at O-Town House, and consisted of the photographs James asked each friend to take of his gifted artwork in situ— gathered together from their disparate locations. 31 Friends represented a self-professed exercise in prioritizing the mechanisms in art that foster genuine examples of community. (SCW)

    June 2nd, 1984, 2015 Acrylic paint on thermometer 15 1/2 × 2 3/4 inches

In the summer of 2015 James generously helped me with the shoot and edit for the Last Night film which is based on the records David Mancuso played on June 2nd, 1984, at the last party at the Prince Street Loft. To keep the sound clean we had to film with windows closed and swamp cooler off, making for a rather hot environment. To get a little break, one afternoon we went to the 99 Cent Store where James bought a thermometer. He painted it pink and, after thinking for a while what other decoration it should have, decided on June 2nd 1984. (MB)

    After Chris B., 2018 Acrylic paint on match-head on nickel coin in wrapping paper 1 × 2 inches Edition 7/20

After Chris B., 2018 Acrylic paint on match-head on nickel coin in wrapping paper 1 × 2 inches Edition 19/20

I made this work in JT while recuperating from major surgery. (JB)

James was pretty under the weather after his surgery. We were all worried about his vulnerability and waiting it out. One morning I was going to the store and asked if anyone needed anything. James suddenly perked up and said he needed twenty nickels, some metallic paper, and a box of red-tip matchsticks. I couldn’t find red matches anywhere, only Diamond-brand green tips. He then asked for red paint and a small paintbrush and proceeded to meticulously color twenty of the green tips red. With his obsession and ambition restored, we knew he was recovering. (JA)

James made this edition as gifts for friends while convalescing under Julie and Martin’s and Dick Hebdige’s doting care in Joshua Tree, staying at their places a few days each, wearing the pajamas bought for him by Sharon Lockhart. The work was inspired by the 1979 installation, The Reason for the Neutron Bomb, by Chris Burden. The original work, now in the collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, comprises fifty thousand nickels and match sticks, all placed on the floor in a grid, with the red match-heads all pointing in the same direction and the words of the title painted across the wall behind them. With each red match and nickel representing a Soviet tank, Burden’s installation spoke to the escalating arms race at the height of the Cold-War. (SCW)

    Ault + Beck, 2019 Acrylic paint on wood board 9 1/4 × 23 inches Sign reads: AULT + BECK 9224 VIA ROCOSA PSALMS=148=8

Soon after we bought the house, Jennifer Bolande and Cannon Hudson stayed here for a few weeks. They were having some packages sent and, in order for the carrier to find the house, painted a sign showing our names and address. Over the years, the sun burned off the paint and made it illegible. When James arrived for the recent Christmas holidays, we asked him to make a new sign, which he eagerly took on, commenting: “Now I have something to do and don’t have to stare at the walls.” His sign uses Jesse Howard’s lettering and cites a psalm Howard included in one of his paintings. Psalm 148:8 reads “lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding.” The day after we installed the sign, it snowed—a rare and lovely occurrence in the desert. (MB)

    Genius Christ, 2019 Acrylic paint on wood board 5 7/8 × 12 7/8 inches

In celebration of our favorite genius. (JB)

    Love Saves the Day, 2019 Acrylic paint on wood board 10 7/8 × 12 7/8 inches

Once James finished the two signs and needed more things to do in order to stay busy we started thinking of other signs that might be needed. I asked him if he could make one for the garage studio, referencing the Loft and David Mancuso. We decided on the phrase Mancuso used on the invitation to the first Loft party in 1970. (MB)

JB has copied Jesse Howard’s signs for many years, and replica signs figure into his recent projects Found Fragments and Alabama. A hand-painted recycled license plate that hangs from a thick rusty chain crossing his driveway in Pine Flat reads: “POSTED Henry David Thoreau KEEP OUT.” For some time previously, it read, “POSTED T.J. Kaczynski KEEP OUT.” (JA)

    Sketches for Genius Christ and Love Saves the Day, 2019 Laser print and pencil on paper 5 × 13 inches and 8 1/4 × 17 1/4 inches

These scraps of paper contain the scale calculations and printouts James used to transfer the sign layouts to the boards. They now are in the same place in the sideboard which the two-part After Traylor (2004) drawing inhabited for a long time. (MB)

    after Darger (Welcome), 2020 Acrylic paint on garage door 6 feet 11 inches × 25 feet

This work doesn’t exist yet. James had the idea for it over the holidays but wanted to wait for warmer weather to paint it. We thought including a mock-up here might insure it happens—hopefully soon as he can safely come to JT. (MB)

We were all talking about the influx of people to Joshua Tree over the last few years and envisioning a message to anyone coming up the driveway who didn’t belong there that they’re in the wrong place (or, perhaps, the right one). Naturally, the Vivian Girls came to mind, and James had just the Darger image on his laptop to extract from, Second Battle of McAllister Run they are pursued. The section he plans to superimpose on the garage door shows Glandelinians bearing bayonets, hunting for the girls, who hide behind trees, as if to say: welcome to the realm of the unreal. (JA)

  Images courtesy of O-TOWN HOUSE, Los Angeles

  Shortly after I arrived in Joshua Tree some three weeks ago, going into lockdown with Julie and Martin, we decided this was a perfect time to realize our plan for a James Benning exhibition of his works in their home. The idea for a private exhibition of James’s works here was hatched last Christmas, a time when the gang usually descends on Joshua Tree for some quality time at the kitchen table and in front of the fireplace. But now, considering the current circumstances, developing this exhibition as a virtual one seems to resolve several issues—of privacy, access to the public, and keeping busy and engaged with the world. Down the Rabbit Hole: JB in JT is conceived as part of a continuum with two earlier exhibition projects. The first, Tell It To My Heart, which traveled from the Kunstmuseum Basel to Culturgest in Lisbon and ultimately to Artists Space in New York, was an exhibition based on the artworks Julie has collected over decades, many of them the results of conversations and collaborations with other artists. The curatorial team was equally significant, and the project strove to develop a different mode of mapping the ways art and history touch our lives through relationships and collaborations. The second project in this lineage was inspired by the first, titled 31 Friends by James, for which he made 31 artworks for as many friends. The works were shown at the Marfa Book Company in Marfa, TX, and, after the exhibition ended, were given to their intended owners. James then asked everyone to send him a photograph of the works in their new homes. Those framed photographs were presented at O-Town House. James described 31 Friends as an “attempt to pay homage to the ability of art to produce community as opposed to just commerce.” The line drawn from Tell It To My Heart to 31 Friends to Down the Rabbit Hole is indicative of an ongoing effort to sustainably engage artistic practices and align the language around this work meaningfully with our lives. Down the Rabbit Hole  brings together (nearly) all the artworks and some artifacts made by James that are distributed in Julie and Martin’s house and grounds in Joshua Tree. Many of these objects are on permanent display, others were unearthed from drawers and closets. Most objects we photographed as they are installed, others we staged, and, collectively, we put together an annotated checklist, supplying details about the work and some stories of how they came about. Picking up on the aspirations of Tell It To My Heart and 31 Friends, this exhibition also reads as a conversation. The works are listed in chronological order to make present the unfolding of friendship over many years; the show becoming an extension of ongoing collaborations with a view toward the future. Moments of recollection, such as Down the Rabbit Hole represents, become crucial to finding fresh ways of thinking about the role art can play in the construction of community. By drawing lines across time, as we rummage through James’s traces here at the house, together, we are taking stock, reviewing, and recounting the conversations that grew into plans and then into actions. Enduring interests and subjects, obsessions, and curiosities have become shared experiences and the medium with which we solidify our lives together.

— Scott Cameron Weaver

  Link: James Benning at O-TOWN HOUSE

from Contemporary Art Daily https://bit.ly/2Vr0Hq6

[the-deadly-sins-rp]

You’ve got your demons and darling they all look like me. -Taylor Swift

Availability: TAKEN

Name: Miriam Barnaby Pender Alias(es): Reaper Species: Kelpie (Immune) Loyalty: Government Object: None Special Skill: He knows every major artery in the body so precisely that with a single cut, he can sever an artery and make a person bleed out through a cut less than half an inch wide. Title/job: Head Scientist of the Creature Feature, Research Division (Top Secret security clearance) Age: 37 Birthday: TBD FC: Joseph Morgan Gender: Cis male Pronouns: he/him Sexuality: Aromantic, pansexual.

Biography:

TW: GORE. Lots of gore. Animal cruelty/killing. Also cannibalism, and vague reference to rape (not in detail, and not done by or to character).

Miriam Barnanby Pender…. Is convinced his parents hated him to have given him that name. In any case though, he goes by Barnaby, and only the Director of the Government Agency and Judah Rosensweig know his first name. Barnaby was born in a small town, Colchester, England, though he always says, ‘Just outside of London,’ if anyone asks, as few people know where Colchester is, and he gets bored of explaining it.

Given his disposition for experimenting on and murdering people and creatures that piss him off, and many that don’t, but which he’s simply curious about, one would expect his childhood to have been one of trauma. It wasn’t though, not really, as far as he’s concerned. He was as normal as a kelpie could be considered at a young age. He found raw meat more appetizing than anything cooked, and perhaps he had bitten a neighborhood kid once when he wouldn’t let Barnaby borrow his skateboard, but honestly the kid deserved it. Selfish little bastard that he was.

The neighbors kept their kids far away from him after that, and perhaps that was why he didn’t realize until much later that he wasn’t what most families would consider a ‘normal’ child. Not that he cared all that much. Those normal children were incredibly boring. And their pets were loud. Particularly the one that lived next door to them. By that time, when Barnaby was about eleven, he’d thought over it enough, his mind obsessively running over the details of the situation and all possible outcomes so many times, that when the loud rottweiler disappeared, there wasn’t a chance his bones would be found. Even if everyone resumed their suspicious staring at Barnaby when they saw him, but even his parents never knew or questioned the dog’s disappearance. Barnaby almost regretted killing the thing so quickly. It was a fascinating experiment, seeing how fast the blood drained from it, how long it took until it no longer moved. Until it no longer breathed.

If anyone cared to try and put an explanation to his fascination with blood, with death, with how it occurred and why, they may try to pin it to a night when Barnaby was fourteen. Someone broke into the house, perhaps thinking it was empty, perhaps knowing it wasn’t. Barnaby was never really certain. But the would-be thieves killed his parents in cold blood. The knife that slit the throats of those two men, the blood that pooled on the kitchen tiles around them, the flicker of light and life that receded from their eyes as though fleeing Barnaby’s wrath as well, those are things that some would have perhaps called revenge. But it wasn’t, not really. Barnaby was upset about his parents’ murders, but not out of any care for them. He was indifferent on that, in all honesty. No, he was upset because he knew what came next; social services, group homes and foster parents that would kick him out as soon as they learned about how different he was. He didn’t want that. At all. So he left the bodies of the men, the bodies of his parents, and ran.

For the next four years, Barnaby worked odd jobs for money, and studied as much as he could. At eighteen, he passed the tests he needed for his high school diploma by a well-played game of convincing everyone he’d been homeschooled throughout high school. He scored in the top five percent of students in the entire country on the university entrance exams, so any disagreement to his claims didn’t matter much in light of his scores.

After moving to study Molecular, Cells and Systems Biology at Oxford, Barnaby found that his peers didn’t quite share his level of enthusiasm for understanding everything about the human, and non-human biology. After he was arrested for allegedly illegal and unethical experimental practices, an agency approached him, and promised his freedom, on the condition that he came to work for them. With a very real possibility of life in prison being on the table, Barnaby took the offer and found himself on Isle Cruento.

There, he found just as many people that found his practices abhorrent, though he also found some like-minded individuals. Judah Rosensweig in particular, became a close friend and colleague, as he understood and never questioned Barnaby’s experiments, even when some of them involved torturing his subjects to see their reactions to different stimuli. Barnaby doesn’t quite see anyone that isn’t also a kelpie truly as a person. They are lesser, in his mind. Weaker, fragile, easily quashed, and soon would be by natural selection. Barnaby just…. Gave natural selection a helping hand on occasion. It was in his kelpie nature, after all. Judah was of course an exception, though still horribly fragile, in Barnaby’s opinion. But the human understood, and therefore earned Barnaby’s respect as a peer. Most of the agency still finds it a miracle that Judah is able to share a lab, as well as living quarters with Barnaby and not end up dead.

Most others that Barnaby is forced to work with, he find extremely dull and most often annoying. Hunter Loftis, a scientist that works under Barnaby, fits the bill. The agency had tried at least a dozen times previously to assign him an assistant. At first he didn’t bother trying to pretend to play nice; he would simply eat them for lunch or dinner, once for breakfast, and really that was the assistant’s own fault for thinking he should show up when Barnaby was only half awake. Only one assistant lasted longer than a week, causing everyone in the lab to look at the girl as though she were a magician. As it turned out, she was simply so quiet and unobtrusive that it took Barnaby several days to even realize a new assistant had been assigned. She lasted mere hours after he’d made the discover. Soon his methods of dealing with his new assistants was to toss whichever Artifact he was currently studying to them, and watching their horror as they realized what they’d just caught. And the excruciating pain it would cause. His forced assistants then became his newest experiments.

Hunter was the most recent in a long line of assistants. And the first one that was immune to the Artifacts. Barnaby knew the agency would eventually catch on, but he didn’t expect them to send him an immune human. For the time though, Barnaby allowed the human to stay, if only out of curiosity, as so few humans were immune. The human has a very different methodology and self-proclaimed purpose for the experiments than Barnaby does, however. Barnaby is always irritated by Hunter’s incessant need to find cures, and results to benefit those affected by the Artifacts, whereas Barnaby believes that any results, whether positive or otherwise, serve a purpose. And that having some do-gooder attitude towards science is a hindrance towards real progress. Barnaby spends more time than he probably should, contemplating whether Hunter ‘accidentally’ ending up on his experimentation table would result in him getting a new, better colleague, or if he’d have the good fortune of not having another forced into his lab. Despite having technically been assigned to assist Barnaby, Hunter assists Judah as well when the doctor requires it. Barnaby has never backed Hunter’s claims that he doesn’t work for Judah, instead simply ordering him to do as Judah asked.

It’s common knowledge that having multiple kelpies in the same place is a dangerous game. There is most often a battle for dominance in which one of them ends up dead. The only exception is when one is deemed not to be a threat by the other, or in a rare case, one acts submissive to the other. Both facts are true when it comes to Ovia Donoma, one of the only other kelpies in the agency. Deaf and rather small, Barnaby sees the girl as incredibly non-threatening, and she’s never made any sort of indication that she would challenge Barnaby’s place as the single dominant kelpie at the agency.

Barnaby’s experiments have ranged from how different creatures react to the same Artifacts and how long until their expiration date, to observing what happened when someone with a Flask of Gluttony starved to death and whether a person with a Locket of Lust was in danger of being raped or harmed in any way by one of their ‘admirers’ under the effects of the Locket. There is little that he won’t do in the name of science. If anything exists that would be the line of ‘too far’ for him, then he hasn’t discovered it yet. If the results of an experiment are beneficial, then any manner of experimentation is acceptable to him in order to find the results. While some Artifacts for his experiments have come from the agency’s tightly protected collection, he sometimes finds that he must venture further to find what he needs for certain experiments. He first stop is most often a bar owner and dealer, Barocco Delmare, whom Barnaby has found to be useful for more than just a good drink and the occasional Artifact.

It is common knowledge that none of Barnaby’s subjects leave his lab in one piece, even if they survive his experiments. If such a thing happens, and he has no further use for the subject, he will drown and devour them.

Personality:

For all of his murderous tendencies, Barnaby isn’t typically very cold towards people. In fact, he’s rather amused by the fragile little things that consider themselves important to the grand scheme of the world. He is cruel and sadistic, and is most often smiling at something that would make anyone around him uneasy. He’s often sarcastic, and any compliment he offers has a backhanded meaning. He’s very rarely genuinely kind to anyone, and usually only to Judah.

Appearance:

Barnaby always looks put together, no matter how long he’s spent in his lab. He keeps spare coats in the lab to replace blood-stained ones, as well as extra shoes. Always the same shiny, black shoes, which he’s worn through various pairs of over the last twenty years. When not in the lab, he’s normally in a dark blue or red button-up shirt and black pants.

He carries himself with the authority of the Head Scientist in his department, and doesn’t tolerate being treated as anything less. The more he speaks with his hands, the more dangerous he is, as he’s been known to use casual, unthreatening gestures before lashing out at a person that was annoying him.

Connections:

Mutual annoyance of and colleague to Judah Rosensweig

Customer and regular one-night stand of Barocco Delmare

Supervisor of and greatly dislikes Hunter Loftis

Tolerates Ovia Donoma

Inciting Incident:

Barnaby finds Judah after the doctor accidentally picks up a Locket of Lust.

Three Headcanons:

Cleanliness and OCD: He often smells faintly of bleach, at least while in his lab and directly after leaving it. Despite having rather questionable research and experimentation methods, he is very particular about cleanliness. He can get blood stains out of anything, and cannot leave a single drop of blood anywhere in his lab before he leaves for the day.

Nicknames and Endearments: Having grown up in Great Britain, he’s accustomed to using the odd nickname for people. He often calls his regular one-night stands “my dear,” though if they take such a term as an endearment and brave to stay the night, they are disposed of in the morning. Similarly, it has become common knowledge around the agency facilities that if he calls a person “Darling,” they should not be expected to survive the next hour. Judah is the only person that he calls, “Love,” though it is almost always said in a chastising tone when he is annoyed at the doctor for one reason or another.

The Reaper: Because of the sadistic nature of his experiments, and the fact that no subjects leave his lab alive, people around the facility began calling him the Grim Reaper, though over time it’s been shortened to simply, Reaper. It is a nickname that he is quite proud of, and when meeting a new agent or employee in the lab, he’ll often introduce himself as the Reaper, simply to watch their expression change from pleasant to horrified, and knows that his reputation has already reached their ears.

[mountphoenixrp]

We have a new citizen in Mount Phoenix:

                                           Freya, the Goddess of Fertility,                                        whose origins stem from Ancient Scandinavia.                                             She is now the owner of The Flower Mill.

FC NAME/GROUP: im jinah ( nana ) / after school GOD NAME: freya PANTHEON: norse OCCUPATION: owner of the flower mill; coffee shop HEIGHT: 171 cm / 5’6 WEIGHT: 48 kg / 105 lbs DEFINING FEATURES: a dainty tattoo of ‘serendipity’ on her inner elbow; a compass of stars behind her left ear 

PERSONALITY: freya is a lot of things. she’s outgoing, witty, stubborn, critical and indecisive. freya, in the mind of humans, is associated with many things: love, beauty, fertility, war, wealth, divination and magic. in one word, she’s wild.

freya is someone who does something whole-heartedly and with every fiber in her being. whether it be something as simple as cleaning her pets or taking care of someone’s life, once you put freya in charge, she is definitely reliable. but this goes in hand with her stubbornness, as soon as she starts something, she will see it through till the end.

defined as a party girl, freya is one who sees no problem approaching others first. freya knows no boundaries when it comes to fun and it is definitely something she takes pride in. freya does not like being restrained or being held down; she wants to be free to be herself and do what she pleases. as a girl who shows no mercy, she is blunt and ruthless when it comes certain things. in short; she’s selfish. she cares for nothing more than the wellbeing of those she cares for and herself and she will do whatever it takes to get what she wants.

even though freya cares more for herself than others, she listens well and is open to the people around her. however, the more they think about her, the more confused they get. she rarely talks about her personal life or any of her concerns. she doesn’t have much variety in her expressions: she’s either jolly, tired, or drunk. and even when she’s drunk the pages in her book are smudged.

no one really knows freya except those she keeps close. she decides things too quickly but regrets the very next second. she’s greedy, oh so greedy. she has a way with words that has you second guessing what she truly means, but at the end of the day, they know that they hold a special place in freya’s cold heart.

HISTORY: freya was born into the vanir tribe of norse deities as the child of nojr and an unknown mother. ( her mother is assumed to be nerthus ) she is also the twin sister of frey. a leading practitioner of the art of seidr, freya often wandered from town to town performing acts of magic in exchange of anything that would be object of her interest; these objects usually consisted of high amounts of gold.

soon, freya found comforts in asgard, her magic gaining popularity that quickly turned into attempted murders. freya was labeled as greedy ( a trait the people of asgard were not wrong about). these events did not go unnoticed however and sparked a war between aesir and vanir. evenutally, the two tribes formed a truce, freya being a peace of offering to the god odr. though it was a marriage forced upon the two, freya fell deeply in love with her husband. their marriage was short-lived, however, odr soon left for travels and never returned. freya wept tears of gold, before soon finding comfort in the arms of others. some say she’s been in the arms of almost all the gods in asgard.

asgard only had so much to offer for the ambitious goddess and she soon found herself in the human world. while she’s had her fair share of fun nights, the human world could only keep the wild child busy for so long. word of mount phoenix made it’s way into her ears and now she finds herself residing there; it is definitely more fun than staying in asgard and the human world. she currently owns the flower mill and is willing to make use of her seidr magic as a side job. 

POWERS: fertility; like her children, freya is able to produce flowers and vegetation from thin air, but on a larger scale. 

love; while her love manipulation is nothing compared to aphrodite, freya has a small chunk of it. she is able to make people feel good and loved. this is why people who go out with the goddess always feel so good. 

magic; she has no need for spell books and is a seidr magic practitioner. it consists on discerning and altering the course of destiny by weaving part of destiny’s web; taking the form of a prophecy, a blessing or a curse. she can’t completely control destiny at will; it’s the way they react to the circumstances given by her magic that decides their destiny.

her cloak; she possesses a magic cloak made from raven feathers with allows the user to become and fly like one. ( this is often borrowed by loki, as he does not know how to stay out of trouble )

STRENGTHS: outgoing. witty. ingenious. loyal. passionate. charming. WEAKNESSES: indecisive. secretive. blunt. unpredictable. stubborn. reckless. impatient.

[ultrasfcb-blog]

World Cup 2018: Why France travel to Russia with many unanswered questions

World Cup 2018: Why France travel to Russia with many unanswered questions

World Cup 2018: Why France travel to Russia with many unanswered questions

France qualified for the World Cup by topping their group, but needed a win in their last game against Belarus to be sure of going to Russia

As the World Cup beckons, the usual predictions game is in full flow all around the world. Who will win it? Who is your money on?

France have one of the strongest squads in the competition but I’m not sure that many expect them to go all the way.

Head coach Didier Deschamps left big players like Alexandre Lacazette, Kingsley Coman, Adrien Rabiot and Anthony Martial at home, which shows how many options he has at his disposal.

He also lost Dimitri Payet and Laurent Koscielny through injury but their replacements – Nabil Fekir and Adil Rami – are not too bad either.

Yet there seems to be an expectation that France will be beaten at some point in Russia, by Spain, Brazil or Germany.

Despite all the talent they have, despite some clear progress between their 2014 World Cup quarter-final defeat and the Euro 2016 final, they will travel to Moscow on 10 June with more questions than answers.

Is Deschamps the wrong coach?

Does Deschamps know his best team? Does he play a formation to get the best out of them?

There is a perception in France that Deschamps, as a player and manager, has always had luck on his side.

However, since taking over the France team in summer 2012, his good fortune seems to have deserted him.

Euro 2016 had his name written all over it. After leading France to a World Cup triumph as captain in 1998, he could have added another chapter to his legend by guiding his country to another big title on home soil.

Yet, in the final against Portugal, Deschamps got it wrong, mainly being too cautious despite his team being on top.

Has he lost his touch? It is a bit early to say. The players still trust him but there have been a few other incidents where his decisions have been questionable and where his approach has been poor.

He made the wrong choices in a World Cup qualifier in Sweden in June 2017. He decided to start Blaise Matuidi, Moussa Sissoko and Payet instead of N’Golo Kante, Ousmane Dembele and Kylian Mbappe, who were all in better form and shape.

Les Bleus lost the game and the manager lost a lot of credibility.

Last September in Toulouse, France could not beat Luxembourg in another World Cup qualifier after Deschamps again got his selection wrong.

His inability to respond when Les Bleus threw away a 2-0 lead at home against Colombia to lose 3-2 in a friendly in March was also concerning.

“I make choices based on my analysis and my observations,” he said in response to the criticism. “I take responsibilities for the players I choose.”

Deschamps is under contract until 2020 but he knows how important this World Cup is. France have their best squad of players since 1998, when he won it. It is time for him to deliver.

Can Pogba be this generation’s leader?

Pogba and his French team were beaten by Portugal in the Euro 2016 final in Paris

Through the history of French football, the successful France teams have always had one outstanding on-field leader.

Raymond Kopa led them to third place at the 1958 World Cup. Then we had the Michel Platini generation, with two World Cup semi-finals in 1982 and 1986, and a win at Euro 1984.

Finally, between 1998 and 2006, it was Zinedine Zidane’s turn to reign and bring more success.

The Kopa-Platini-Zidane sequence needs an heir now, someone capable of taking the current France team forward. And there is only really one candidate.

“It is Paul Pogba’s turn to be in charge,” says former Arsenal winger Robert Pires, a team-mate of Deschamps in 1998.

“He says he is ready to take the role and the responsibility. This is his time. He wants to be the boss. He is mature enough now, strong enough to do it.

“For France to win this World Cup, they need Pogba at his best. He will have to guide this team, the likes of Mbappe and Dembele, to the next level.

“He is not the only leader. Hugo Lloris, Raphael Varane, Matuidi and Antoine Griezmann are all senior figures in this squad as well. But Pogba has to be the main man. He was named best young player at the last World Cup. He has to be aiming to be named best player of this tournament, full stop.”

And what about Mbappe, who moved from Monaco to Paris St-Germain on loan last year, with a £166m permanent deal set to follow?

Pires thinks it is too early for the teenager, although there is little doubt the prodigy will one day take on the role.

“He is only 19 years old – he has plenty of time,” added Pires. “It is important not to put too much pressure on him. This is his first big competition. I believe he will shine on the pitch but it will also be part of his learning curve.”

Leadership has been a problem for France since Zidane retired after the 2006 World Cup. You can have clever players and strong characters but to have a real leader, on and off the pitch, is a different matter.

Why has there not been progress since 2016?

Deschamps, capped 102 times by France, has been in charge of Les Bleus since 2012, succeeding former team-mate Laurent Blanc

Euro 2016 was a huge heartbreak for Deschamps and his men. It was supposed to be the competition that brought France back to the top.

The hopes were so high. It was theirs to grab. So the defeat in the final against Portugal was a big blow and the hangover lasted far too long.

Since 2016, this France team has not improved, even despite the emergence of wonderful talents like Dembele, Corentin Tolisso and Mbappe.

When the head coach and the players should have made sure they overcame the disappointment of 2016 and built on the positive things they did at the Euros (beating Germany, Griezmann shining), they actually crumbled.

Either they took for granted that they would continue their progression or they just underestimated the task ahead.

Is it a lack of ambition?

For this tournament, the objective set by the president of the French Federation, Noel Le Graet, is to reach the semi-finals. What is wrong with targeting the title? Why only think about the semis?

The absence of consistency from some of the players, the key players especially, has been a problem.

Tactically, Deschamps is also still searching for his best formation. Should he stick with the 4-4-2 that worked in 2016? Or is 4-3-3 more suited to this squad and better equipped to win the World Cup?

The head coach will have to decide.

There is some proof he has moved on from 2016 – he has called up only nine players for the World Cup squad who were there in 2016 (Hugo Lloris, Steve Mandanda, Samuel Umtiti, Adil Rami, Pogba, Kante, Matuidi, Griezmann and Olivier Giroud).

Whether those changes are enough, we will soon find out.

Can France be inspired by the class of 1998?

Many of the current crop of France players were raised on the glory of the victory in 1998

Twenty years ago, on 12 July, France won the World Cup, on home soil, for the first time. It has been a long and sinuous road ever since with some highs (2000, 2006 and 2016) and a lot of lows (2002, 2004, 2008, 2010).

There is a sense of destiny, however, which will travel to Russia with this French squad.

Most of the players called up by Deschamps grew up with the memory of 1998 and the incredible France-Brazil final. Mbappe was not even born when Deschamps lifted the trophy at the Stade de France that summer but he has watched the tapes a million times while growing up.

The 1998 generation need successors and it might be written in the stars that the class of 2018 can be exactly that. Expectations are high. The pressure will be too.

“It can’t be a burden for this generation,” said World Cup-winning left-back Bixente Lizarazu.

“It should not be some added pressure that they have to win because we did it 20 years ago. However, if they can use it as an incentive, it could work.

“Didier has been there before, he has done it and he will have a lot of advice for the players, especially the younger ones to guide them through this process and take them as far as possible.”

Winning the World Cup 20 years after Zidane would be very special for Pogba and this France squad.

They have issues to sort out, questions to answer and they might not be at the top of the predictions lists right now.

But as we say in French, nothing is impossible…

BBC Sport – Football ultras_FC_Barcelona

ultras FC Barcelona - https://ultrasfcb.com/football/5103/

#Barcelona

[reputablehqs]

A M E T H Y S T.

(noun). | ˈaməTHəs |

a precious stone consisting of a violet or purple variety of quartz.

a violet or purple color.

NAME: aera jeon

AGE: twenty-five

PRONOUNS: she/her

OCCUPATION: actress

SECRET: she dated a male celebrity and stole money from him before they broke up, and although he is aware of the fact it was stolen, no charges have been pressed because he doesn’t believe aera is the culprit.

FC: kwon yuri

R E L A T I O N S H I P with S T E L L A

stella happened to be a friend of the celebrity aera dated. even when they weren’t the closest, this man seemed not to think twice before sharing his personal happenings with the young lady- sometimes, he even spoke about situations aera wasn’t even aware about. although, this didn’t bother her as much as it should, since she was never interested in keeping such a tight relationship with the actor.

after a few meetings with stella and some other friends included, aera found herself becoming slightly closer to the girl as well, and finding it just as easy to talk to her. their relationship lasted, of course, what her relationship with the male celebrity lasted, as she decided to take distance from everyone who knew the guy after the break up. but stella was someone she felt comfortable speaking with when her boyfriend wasn’t around, and she would be texting her every now and then and even meeting up for coffee with her down at artopolis espresso. but still, the actress never found out much about stella’s personal life… and probably overshared a few details of her own unintentionally, with some alcohol running through her veins when the meet-ups weren’t at the coffee place.

stella’s disappearance came to her in the form of a social media post from a person who she did not even remember adding. a friend of my ex i probably forgot to unfriend, aera told herself. but once she recognized the post, her heart started racing. the person expressed worry about her vanishing out of nowhere, and asked anyone who had any information about her possible whereabouts to come forward. suddenly, ‘stella’ and ‘maddox’ became like forbidden words to her, and the sole mention of her name makes her slightly uncomfortable.

maybe it was because she started considering the possibility of stella knowing what she had done since, if there was someone aera could’ve told about her evil deed, or someone who could’ve gotten even the smallest hint, it was her.

A M E T H Y S T is currently closed.       BIOGRAPHY FOUND UNDER THE CUT.

— backstory:

money, money, money. jeon aera has learned to associate her own last name with dollar signs and korean won symbols from a young age, and as she grew up, she noticed everybody else who knew her and her family would make the same association at some point.

she was fed with a silver spoon since the day she was born, having her career built for her too. as a kid, she was sent to acting classes by her parents, and soon enough, obtained deals to get her to starry in a few Korean dramas. she wasn’t exactly the best actress- in fact, as she recalls in interviews done to her years later, she was absolutely terrible. but she didn’t exactly have to worry about skills when cash was involved; mr. and mrs. jeon could blackmail the producers any day to get her to stay on the show. her first interview deals were also signed and, before anyone could even realize, little miss aera became a local celebrity, her name ringing a bell whenever mentioned to people not only around the local city, but in the center of seoul, korea as well, where she was born.

and soon enough, as she became a teenager, aera realized that not only did she enjoy this lifestyle, but that she would be content with keeping it forever. after all, who wouldn’t want to live this life? full of luxury and pleasures, not a care in the world about ever losing it. the world could be at her feet in a matter of seconds, and even if it wasn’t hers completely, her sole presence, her elegance, her charisma, they are demanding of respect in itself. the name ‘jeon aera’ carried a lot of weight. it signified wealth, it signified power, it signified getting whatever you want being able to completely ignore the cost of it. she completely adored it during the time that she had it.

and so, she made a life for herself, eventually deciding that her opportunities in korea just weren’t enough. she decided to move to new york city as a young adult, of course, asking her parents for money. it was a city she had admired since the first moment she knew about it, thinking that successful people eventually made their own way there. but finding opportunities with the job that she had proved to be more difficult. her acting skills definitely weren’t bad and neither was her self-taught english, and she kept improving, with practice, with watching other tv shows. nevertheless, when it came to auditions, she was rarely ever accepted. with time, her original fame dissipated. the feeling of other people knowing her name was long gone, and ‘jeon aera’ became, for the most part, just a name besides a phone number to call, or when she was lucky, a bunch of letters appearing during the credits. sometimes, korean pop fans would recognize her from old dramas she starred in, but it didn’t go beyond that.

it was only one time when she managed to obtain a role as a secondary character in a popular small-screen show, alongside a famous actor who could get the rating points flying out of proportion just with his face making an appearance.

soon enough, a romance began between the two of them, aera finding herself attracted to… his possessions. hanging out in his house turned out to be spending her afternoons and sometimes nights in a huge mansion. going to eat out with him turned out to be her staring at his red laferrari, wishing she could be the one behind the wheel. and laying in his bed turned out to be her keeping an eye on the dollars she knew he was hiding in his drawer. which, oh, god. he made the biggest mistake by keeping it in there, a place aera could easily research and find every single thing he meant to keep a secret—the only thing that would successfully remain a secret for the general public was their relationship; both had learnt enough strategies to prevent the cameras from capturing their image.—

the young woman still had money left to spare but, why not more? there’s no such thing as too much of it, she believes.

so, in one of those nights, with the actor already asleep, she took the money. a week afterwards, when, in a moment where it was needed, the fading of his currency became of knowledge to the man, things just started to fall apart. the frustration of not finding his money and not being able to guess who stole it made him irritable, unpleasant to be with, and aera herself acting sad and panicked, as if she couldn’t believe someone could’ve done such a thing. but it didn’t take long for them to part ways, talking less and less as the days went by. and ever since then, aera has continued her life as normal, searching for more acting roles and only dedicating her time spent watching television to fictional dramas and series. after all, if she happened to turn on the news, she would see her own committed crime still unresolved, only missing her face on it.

— personality:

aera is as materialistic as materialistic can be. she cares way too much about material objects and puts emotional weight on them, also determining her own value according to how many gold necklaces she owns, how many diamonds she can find embedded in her earrings and how many digits appear on her bank account. she loves to follow trends, she is a shopaholic, ultimately failing at trying to save as much money as she can. she’s convinced that that is the only thing that even makes her worth someone else’s time.

on the outside, she appears confident, always well-dressed and with a nice fragrance. she is soft-spoken and witty, captivating many with her personality which is both attractive and mysterious, as she doesn’t let just anybody become close to her emotionally, much less after stella became missing. why’s this? because she’s practically out of touch with her own emotions. aera is pretty lacking in empathy, is not good at keeping friendships, and would much rather spend a night going to bars or staying at home playing with her expensive items. but you would have to be close to her to notice. in the meantime, she’s just a sparkly, beautiful figure that people like to look at. just like everything she owns.

still, she is always respectful, never raises her voice and although she has a hard time putting herself in other people’s shoes and offering emotional support, she is a good listener, and has enough patience to tolerate most problems that aren’t her own.

[russellgirard64-blog]

How you can Get Individuals To Like group.

Is group Still Relevant?

An exam of exactly what makes an effective team and why so often a team with all the raw components needed to be high doing drops well short of its possibility. By entailing the different abilities as well as contributions of youngsters, each child is well known independently while acquiring a feeling of coming from a team. In a team scenario, various other staff member could work as a sounding board, allowing us to puncture the alternatives and also move on with those more than likely to attain the wanted goal. This publication offers team structure tasks to hectic managers that do not have time to lose an entire day shaping his/her team. Team Choice: The standard of EHR implementation can only be exercised and also come to fact by having a well versed as well as efficient group. As an outcome of Team Growth, staff member set greater goals, people are more inspired to accomplish their goals, every person gets more support, support, and coaching, and also the group generates more and also much better ideas. Whether it was cornerback Darrelle Revis or center Nick Mangold, many of the biggest names on the Jets roster had currently been let go. The group has actually been trying to trade protective end Sheldon Richardson for time yet hasn't discovered any takers, as Manish Mehta of the New york city Daily News reported. Here are some pointers for structure interaction within your team that I have made use of effectively. Whatever team building games a firm picks, they will certainly be welcomed by team participants; particularly if it enables them to get outdoors. From 1954 to 1991, The Soviet Union's National Hockey Group won 30 medals in 31 global competitions consisting of 7 Olympic gold medals in 9 shots as well as 19 golds on the whole. Its certainly not easy - which is why there are so few terrific groups - however if the members of a group show adequate resolve to grit it out and overcome the challenging stages - the incentive of belonging of a high doing group could be really gratifying. The national football group of Italy prior to the UEFA Euro 2012 Last, Olympic Arena, Kiev, 1 July 2012. For a lot of us, discovering the best ways to effectively lead a team comes from on-the-job training. But the fact of the issue is that self advancement as well as team development can be integrated and, to be sincere, group development can not be complete if it does not include self development. However it is still a large task to arrange a group structure day for your group small or large. It's been revealed over and also over again that pleased team members see an objective in their job as well as really feel a deep connection to their work environment. The very first resource is the Group Citadel 2 Trade Post This resource is very valuable as a result of very high website traffic.

5 Enormous Impacts Of group.

I've seen a lot of circumstances of division heads (notice I do not call them leaders in this instance, due to the fact that they are not) take credit score for job that they could not have done without their team. Second, as a result of usual incentive information now rutherford (viatagimnastica.top) for entire group, it will certainly thrive cooperation as opposed to competition among employee for this reason increasing possibilities of attaining team goals (Cascio, 1995). Studies reveal nonetheless that teams that have proficient members do better and proper use the skills of the members play an essential function in exactly how effective the team is in achieving results. No matter all this, many people do not understand that The U.S.A. has an official top quality Women's Baseball Group under USABaseball. Plenty of others concepts could be discovered in the depths of the Web or by browsing several of the several team structure publications readily available. Pre-season group building camps( 1) made use of by teams with brand-new members to assist create team cohesion. Le divise del Group Rossetti sono da sempre realizzate dal maglificio Alexander Bike Put on di Gatteo (FC). If someone chooses not to take part or add to the team, this can have an effect on the overall production of the group as well as the establishment. For, this is a team as well as, because of this, you'll want everyone to rejoice about the name, thinking that all of them has joined its selection. In the bottom-up technique to company, all the people in all degrees of business add to the growth of the business as well as the success of the group all at once. MC5 had an excellent first season as PG for the 76ers averaging 16.7 ppg and also adding 6.2 rpg and 6.3 apg. Extremely often what brings teams extremely close to each other is an over-arching but shared objective that everyone intends to achieve together as a team.

team Will Be A Distant memory And Right here's Why.

Lord, I am chuckling at your referral to the political celebrations - I have no idea how many team structure exercises it would certainly take to make them work together 0n a concern! Surprisingly, I found that the most effective means to establish a natural group was to eat in restaurants together en masse.

[arisirie]

*whispers* sorry to everyone who follows me; whenever i get a tad too antsy, i answer ask me memes by myself. the answers and questions are after the cut, so please don't feel obligated to read them

have a nice day! <3

source

65 Questions You Aren’t Used To

1. Do you ever doubt the existence of others than you?

nope. i'm more of a 'believe innocent until proven otherwise' person. or in this case, 'believe real'

2. On a scale of 1-5, how afraid of the dark are you?

when i'm with someone else: 2 on my own: 5

3. The person you would never want to meet?

oh? i don't know. i'm generally okay with everyone, even those that others consider 'bad'

4. What is your favorite word?

tintinnabulation: the sound of ringing bells. i love its definition and the way it rolls off my tongue

5. If you were a type of tree, what would you be?

some kind of conifer, i think. maybe pine or fir. i'm pretty sturdy and i love the cold weather

6. When you looked in the mirror this morning what was the first thing you thought?

'my bangs are assymetrical'

7. What shirt are you wearing?

right now, a dark blue shirt i've had since grade 5

8. What do you label yourself as?

let's see: girl, isfp, choice. that's as much as i'm willing to divulge at the moment

9. Bright room or dark room?

dark room, as long as the lights aren't completely off (i sleep with a nightlight)

10. What were you doing at midnight last night?

mm, i woke up a few minutes after twelve. after that, i spent a lot of time thinking

11. Favorite age you’ve been so far?

thirteen. grade 8 was my favourite grade

12. Who told you they loved you last?

my mother! <3

13. Your worst enemy?

i don't have one. but if we're not talking about people, i really hate spicy food

14. What is your current desktop picture?

a picture of megurine luka

15. Do you like someone?

at the moment, no! but i do like all my friends

16. The last song you listened to?

i'm currently listening to リサフランク420 / 現代のコンピュー by MACINTOSH PLUS (i'm a big fan of vaporwave) on repeat

17. You can press a button that will make any one person explode. Who would you blow up?

see #3 and #13

18. Who would you really like to just punch in the face?

see #3, #13, and #17

19. If anyone could be your slave for a day, who would it be and what would they have to do?

i'd get my brother as a helper, just so he can do a more equal share of his chores

20. What is your best physical attribute? (showing said attribute is optional)

i've been told it's my eyebrows

21. If you were the opposite sex for one day, what would you look like and what would you do?

i'd probably look like me, but with a very short haircut. i'd love to try talking to some guys though!

22. Do you have a secret talent? If yes, what is it?

well, i can type on an old school cellphone pretty quickly. though that comes with practice, since i've had one for about four years now

23. What is one unique thing you’re afraid of?

showing my feet in public. yikes

24. You can only have one kind of sandwich. Every sandwich ingredient known to humankind is at your disposal.

nutella + ice cream + sweet bread; i'm a sweet tooth

25. You just found $100! How are you going to spend it?

i had this exact same problem the other day (though the money was a gift, not a happenstance)! i spent about $40 on a few books i wanted, but i couldn't figure out what to spend the rest on

26. You just got a free plane ticket to anywhere in the world, but you have to leave immediately. Where are you going to go?

iceland, iceland, iceland. i've wanted to go there since i was a kid

27. An angel appears out of Heaven and offers you a lifetime supply of the alcoholic beverage of your choice. “Be brand-specific” it says. Man! What are you gonna say about that? Even if you don’t drink booze there’s something you can figure out... so what’s it gonna be?

i don't drink (i don't like how alcohol tastes), but i'd get an endless supply of red wine please. for brands, i searched them up and banrock station sounds good

28. You discover a beautiful island upon which you may build your own society. You make the rules. What is the first rule you put into place?

"no harming others"

29. What is your favorite expletive?

cheese on a breadstick

30. Your house is on fire, holy shit! You have just enough time to run in there and grab ONE inanimate object. Don’t worry, your loved ones and pets have already made it out safely. So what’s the one thing you’re going to save from that blazing inferno?

my bin of stuffed toys that i got from friends and family

31. You can erase any horrible experience from your past. What will it be?

my first panic attack, probably

32. You got kicked out of the country for being a time-traveling heathen who sleeps with celebrities and has super-powers. But check out this cool shit... you can move to anywhere else in the world!

probably england. it's close enough to iceland, and i'm not as good in any other language as i am in english

33. The Celestial Gates Of Beyond have opened, much to your surprise because you didn’t think such a thing existed. Death appears. As it turns out, Death is actually a pretty cool entity, and happens to be in a fantastic mood. Death offers to return the friend/family-member/person/etc. of your choice to the living world. Who will you bring back?

no one. don't mess with life and death

34. What was your last dream about?

ahhh, something about 'halftipedes.' sometimes i see this weird insect that looks like a mili/centipede in my house, and dream!brother told me that's what they're called

35. Are you a good...[insert anything you’d like here]?

...artist? i guess i'm okay. i'm not the worst, but i wouldn't get into art school

36. Have you ever been admitted to the hospital?

the most serious case was for stitches

37. Have you ever built a snowman?

yes! i live in a country that snows

38. What is the color of your socks?

grey. they're either grey or black, really

39. What type of music do you like?

i like all music! i'm a big fan of edm, but i also like bossanova, electro swing, baroque pop, rock, etc.

40. Do you prefer sunrises or sunsets?

sunsets. there's something calming about dark colours

41. What is your favorite milkshake flavor?

i'm generic: chocolate

42. What football team do you support? (I will answer in terms of American football as well as soccer)

i don't watch soccer often, but i have a soft spot for fc barcelona

43. Do you have any scars?

plenty. i fell a lot when i was younger

44. What do you want to be when you graduate?

clinical psychologist!

45. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

ermmm, probably my indecisiveness

46. Are you reliable?

i like to think i am, yes

47. If you could ask your future self one question, what would it be?

"are you happy?"

48. Do you hold grudges?

no, but i'm not someone who forgets

49. If you could breed two animals together to defy the laws of nature, what new animal would you create?

i'd breed a cat + dog. i'm curious what their kid would look like

50. What is the most unusual conversation you’ve ever had?

in recent memory, i had a conversation about how near the near future had to be for it to be considered the near future

51. Are you a good liar?

yep. pretty good. though i always feel guilty after a while

52. How long could you go without talking?

a long time, i think. not that i'd do it, but...

53. What has been you worst haircut/style?

when i cut my hair to shoulder length. that looked terrible

54. Have you ever baked your own cake?

not my own cake, but i'm baked cakes before

55. Can you do any accents other than your own?

the stereotypical asian accent, since i can speak tagalog

56. What do you like on your toast?

butter! i like it when it melts

57. What is the last thing you drew a picture of?

a tree on a field with a person underneath it

58. What would be your dream car?

a dark red bmw

59. Do you sing in the shower? Or do anything unusual in the shower? Explain.

no. the weirdest thing i do is think. a lot. i spend more than half of my time in the bathroom thinking instead of actually taking a shower

60. Do you believe in aliens?

yes. as well as ghosts and other supernatural/magical folk (because i really love mythology and folklore)

61. Do you often read your horoscope?

i read it whenever i get the newspaper, but i don't give it much weight. it's just for entertainment

62. What is your favorite letter of the alphabet?

'c' for cat. also because it’s the third letter of the alphabet (and my favourite number is 3)

63. Which is cooler: dinosaurs or dragons?

dinosaurs. i used to read about them all the time. my favourites are the stegosaurus and the plesiosaur

64. What do you think about babies?

they're cute! fussy, yeah, but i can live with that. i'm not thinking of having children though

65. Freebie! Ask anything interesting you can think of.

i'll share a fact about myself: i played the baritone horn in my school band. but if i could learn any instrument in the world, i'd like to learn the accordion