#hell even before then I have books of just printed images and info from the early internet

[blackbackedjackal]

can you PLEASE share some of the books? or at least where to get em, bc im in desperate need of some good taxidermy books instead of rummaging trough random internet sites

Absolutely! I was compiling a list of what I've gathered over the years that I'll drop when I have a chance. After reading or thumbing through most of them, I have a top 10 recommended list as well of the most essential ones for learning taxidermy and animal processing.

I like to gather as much info as possible when I'm hyperfocused on something, and since most of this was either dirt cheap or free, I've collected quite a bit xD! Most of them are PDFs I found or purchased through ebay or PDF Drive (if you look up taxidermy on the site, a ton of free stuff comes up). Anything I couldn't find after several months of searching, I got used physical copies of or just got the physical ones for convenience.

[scrapheapchallenge]

"Just Neil Gaiman being wholesome again" but also Rob Wilkins being extra wholesome too! On Tuesday evening I went to this talk https://living-knowledge-network.co.uk/library/the-worlds-of-terry-pratchett By Rob Wilkins and Neil Gaiman.

Neil was co-author of "Good Omens" with Sir Terry Pratchett, and they collaborrated on many other books together here and there, just not sharing co-author status too - read this article for more info: http://www.elizabethcallaway.net/good-omens-stylometry?fbclid=IwAR2hVnd8aTYFBZqphk8SzYt8j1NucBl5mUxbDscF3kljQ9Bpuq2leUW2S6I Confirmed by Neil yet again on Tuesday.

Rob Wilkins was Terry's PA, and now manages his estate, as his representative. He also wrote "A life in footnotes" - the official biography of Terry.

On Tuesday evening, I arrived at the British Library very early, and was guided up to the Piggot Theatre lobby to wait by a security person, so I was there before anyone else, including Rob. All the staff were absolutely lovely. When they noticed there weren't any gaps for wheelchair spaces in the audotorium, facilities engineers were summoned and made short work of unbolting a set of 3 seats to make a wheelchair space for myself and another wheelchair user who turned up later.

Then Rob turned up, carrying a mannequin, Terry's leather jacket, scarf, hat, and other stuff.

Now the email we recieved before the event said that Neil wouldn't have time to do any signings that evening, although they didn't mention Rob, so I asked him if he might be able to sign my copy of "a life in footnotes".

He happily said yes, and once he'd sorted his things out, he came back out to chat to me for a while and OMG he was the loveliest person EVER!

I gave him a print I'd signed of my ink portrait of the Bentley, and some stickers of my other Bentley illustrations, and he said "WAIT! I have presents for you too! I'll be right back!" Then rushed off to the green room. (Below are the ink portrait, then I gave him small stickers of the "this is fine" flaming Bentley - which I was also wearing on my t-shirt that day - and my most recent digital portrait of Crowley and the Bentley - and yes it is all hand drawn, not a photo manipulation, feel free to zoom in. A couple of years separate these 3 drawings and I'd been working hard on learning photorealism.)

He came back and gave me Terry and Neil badges, which he explained you only get if you meet them in person. I had met Terry (and incidentally Rob as well) years ago at a book signing, plus I met Neil, albeit briefly, on Tuesday as he came through the lobby and said hello.

He was happy to chat and especially about cars, which he also loves. He confirmed that I was 100% correct about the "2 whole cars and a cab for CGI" between seasons 1 and 2, and that the interior colour change is nothing to do with plot it legitimately is just continuity errors if they forgot to cover the new Bentley's new seats with covers matching the old Bentley's orange ones. (The cab only also has orange leather seats).

When I told him about this year's RREC (Rolls Royce Enthusiast's Club - also for Bentleys) Christmas card design, he was delighted, and asked to take a photo of the image I had of one on my phone because he wants to order some as well.

I showed him my re-usable coffee cup from "give me coffee or give me death" which we were given on the set tour, and which I had Sir Derek Jacobi sign at a comic con the other week. Rob thought that was wonderful, and then did something extra sweet...

He asked me "if you're ok trusting me with this for a little while, would you like me to sneak it back to the green room to ask Neil to sign it for you as well? Then I'll come and find you afterwards to give it back again."

HELL YES! I couldn't believe it! I hadn't wanted to ask because we'd been told that Neil wouldn't be signing things due to lack of time, so for Rob to spontaneously make the offer was not something I was expecting. He did also take my Occult Edition of Good Omens to ask if Neil would sign that as well.

I didn't fully expect that he would, and was prepared for him to come back later and say "sorry he was too busy", and that would have been fine, but no: Neil DID sign them both!

Neil writing "burn this (big fancy) book!" was a spin on how Terry used to sign copies of Good Omens: "burn this book" - which is actually embossed on the rear cover of this edition.

Later, Rob also signed it for me, as did Colin Smythe, who was Terry's publisher and lifelong friend.

We were sitting at the front, only about 7 or 8 feet from Neil, the talk was wonderful, we laughed, we cried a little, and Terry was with us in the form of the mannequin with his jacket, scarf, and hat (which are also on set of Good Omens at all times while filming, and also even during rehersals/table reads - so he's always present.)

Rob is honestly so bloody wholesome, he was hugging a lot of people, and ever so sweet, taking time to chat to other people as the venue filled up, and stayed behind to sign things and talk to other folks as well.

I also got to chat to Dr Pat Harkin and Dr Jan Clarke, who were the researchers who spent months of hard work tracking down Terry's lost short stories in the national archives in Boston Spa, which were released in a compliation book "A stroke of the pen." If I'd known that they'd be there as well, I'd have taken that book and asked them to sign it too. They were in the audience and sitting next to us with Colin Smythe. I was truly surrounded by Pratchett royalty, and everyone, without exception, was SO friendly and lovely.

I had done two prints of the Bentley drawing and stickers, for Rob and for Neil, in case I got chance to give them to them, and when I gave Rob his, I said I had some for Neil as well, and again, he OFFERED to take them to give them to Neil for me.

Although I didn't get chance to thank Neil in person, I wanted to reach out to let him know I was very grateful for his kindness as well, so sent him a message via his "ask" channel, although not with an expectaction of reply - just for him to see privately and know that I was appreciative. But he chose to actually publish it as a public reply, which was lovely of him. I hadn't wanted to thank him publicly just in case he didn't want others to know that he had signed some items after all. I'd been expecting to have to wait until he did a proper public appearance with signing at a comic con or something - although with him living in the USA, not the UK, I may have had to wait a long time.

So I guess the answer is to getting an autograph - turn up 2 hours early, and be very VERY nice and polite to Rob Wilkins 😅 (but also don't expect results - I didn't, it just sort of happened).

[jamiebluewind]

Charatcter Descriptions and Summary 2.13

As always, let me know if I need to edit or add anything and tag/ask/PM me about art and stories so I can check them out! I'll try to add warnings later. Also, we have 8 episodes left including this one, so the last one should be number 20.

***

Things

Dusk Moss

Hallucinogenic moss with very few alchemical properties that puts the user into a state of lucid dreaming where they are also concious of waking world (basically fantasy marijuana)

Is a flammable powder that cannot be unlit once lit

Crumpkin said his brother swears by it and that everyone should try it at least once.

It will even you out if you take a little bit and a quarter of teaspon will send one of them on a trip all day (so what about the size and race of the person?)

Can buy in a massive block from Tinkerer's Hall where a dose of the powder can be shaved off the block to use

Mystery Rune

The rune was abjurative magic: metamagic school (instead of protection, wards, and shields) which shapes the nature of magic itself. Specifically, the rune involved curses and a way to mask powerful curses and spells. One can take a tremendous amount of spellcraft (or the ability to cast multiple spells), put it into a curse, and have the curse ride under other curses. In other words, if connected to an object, the object would have been "cursed" to be a vessel for a wealth of other spellcasting (flash drive), but hidden under another curse (advanced encryption and a virus).

The larger and more permeable the curse, the more able it is to ride under another curse.

The curse on top (dummy curse) works best the more widespread, static (can't be easily ended or doesn't have random frequent spell effects), ambient, and passive it is like using a magical landscapes or creatures instead of a spell made by a spellcaster.

***

PCs With Datemates

Kristen

Took a picture on her crystal of the unknown goddess mural (originally wondered if it was a tequila advertisement)

Kissed Tracker and the tree she was hiding behind

Wanted rosé with the cold fratatas, but thought it was weird that he put both kale and spinach in them (as did Tracker)

Looked through the medical papers Adaine and Riz found and figured out how to cure the Kalina infection (greater restoration due to studying records or a tinsure that requires dusk moss, the alchemical supplies Gorgug got from the tinkerers, some things Adaine can pull from her jacket, and one or two things they'd only be able to find beyond the wall)

Her and the group decided on the tincture method despite the risk of curing behind the wall as she can only cast greater restoration once per day (only one 5th level spell slot and 5 infected: Tracker, Sandra Lynn, Ragh, Riz, and herself), but the option of using greater restoration on herself and Riz while leaving the others behind or inside Van was discussed (side note: could she team up with any of the locals bards/clerics/druids/artificers/celestial warlocks who know greater restoration and teach them the specifics of the altered spell while they wait on the others to get back?)

Suggested they pretend they all died after they take the tincture in order to give them an advantage due to Kalina thinking the party was cut in half (all but Adaine agreed)

Owns little handcuffs with her and Tracker's initials on them

"I don't know why I'm saying this, but Go Ball."

Assumed that the team in hell were just stuck in a waiting room, possibly drinking pina coladas

Investigated where Aelwen, Adaine's mom, and Killian entered the briar wall. It was much more tangled, far from Arborly, up a cliff with difficult rocky terrain between them and the temple. It was a place where they wouldn't be looked for, but it would take them longer to get there.

Tracker

Said the thing with Vraz made her werewolf issue with the Shrine of Thorns the second weirdest thing that's happened

Started transforming after glancing at the uncovered mural image of the unknown goddess, growling as half her head transformed as she fought changing before rolling off and hiding behind a tree (per Kristen's suggestion)

Couldn't go to hell because she couldn't enter the shrine

Gorgug

Got springs put in his shoes by the gnomes which gave them thick rubbery soles (Spring Coiled Sneakers of Bounding) and also asked for shock thing from tinkerers which would have a spare the dying effect (unknown if he got it)

Wears size 19 canvas shoes

Looked through a big log book with the alchemic ingredients in tinkerer's shorthand before buying the same alchemical ingredients that Killian bought (magnesium, antimony, and mercury which are used in magical candles) for 350 gold. Killian also bought two huge blocks of dusk moss incense (600 gold for both which he split cost wise with Fabian), but he was nervous about buying it (dusk moss details above).

Explained cell towers to the tinkerers

Considered jumping into space to either get to or place a satellite

Found a picture of his parents launching their satellite into space (Wilma and Digby giving double thumbs up, the van tipped on it's nose with it's back doors open to launch the satellite from the back of it, a lot of papers and a mobile desk in van's glovebox) and found space tech-esk routing info for the satellite in Van which allowed him to make a satellite phone

Originally left his crystal and the info with the tinkerers (original timeframe 1-2 days), but came back to help which speed up the process

Was curious why Gilear wasn't infected by Shadow Cat like Sandra Lynn and was later sorry he brought it up

When they found out they couldn't enlarge/reduce Van, he considered making a massive vest with massive pockets he could wear that everyone could jump in before they used enlarge/reduced on him, but the idea was scrapped

Suggested that if they played dead after taking the tincture to not warn Gilear so he wouldn't be acting when they "died".

"Hey, this is based on nothing, but I feel like Gilear is dead."

Believed that hell wasn't as bad as people said it was, just unfamiliar and like 5 degrees hotter

Ran into the briars after the portal closed

Likes a hot hot tub because warm ones just makes him wonder what's cooking in there

Was up all night sweating with his hoodie off (first time in a long time) working on his phone before finishing up the crystal pack (made his phone into a satellite phone). He felt pretty good about making it work.

Got a slew of unread messages once he turned his phone on (few old ones from Zelda, some from his parents checking in, and tour stuff)

Called Zelda with a video call, putting his hoodie back on as it rang and rang (most of the call is in Zelda section)

Told Zelda he loved her for the first time (after she said it first). Said he wished he was there, but hadn't figured that technology out yet and admitted that he might not have service once they went into the forest ("I'm here to communicate")

The gnomes erupted into cheers over the crystal working, but he was equally exciting over Zelda saying she loved him. They popped some gnome wine (pink fizzy champagne that smelled like cloying sweet strawberries) and shared it with him in celebration

Got a bunch of DMs from the other seven maidens saying "Way to go big guy"

Zelda

Was at Ostentata's house at night for a party (everybody was telling the story of when Gorgug jumped the fire elemental there and when he backyard wrestle smashed the beer pong table while time was stopped) when Gorgug called

Told her adventuring party he was calling before she went outside, but they followed

Answered her phone while still wearing her earbuds and assumed he was back, but was told he figured out how to make his phone work. He did it because he felt like it was important to be able to talk to her, the world, and her (not because it was part of the quest). She asked if they had cell towers, but Gorgug said that he had been working on artificer stuff and used his parents' satellite.

Started crying over Gorgug doing a whole bunch of new science to make his phone able to call back, apologized to him over getting upset, and said she missed him and he was the best

Was embarrassed by the other maidens eavesdropping (they called out "Good lookin out Gorgug! Stand up thing to do! You did it!"). Gorgug went on speaker and said "Well hello guys!" before she shooed them off to talk to her boyfriend

Made sure that Gorgug's friends weren't in danger over him working on his project, but was reassured that he was having down time and it would also help them in the long run

Told Gorgug that she loved him for the first time and freaked out (insulting herself) before he said that he loved her too. This was followed by her saying "oooh I just wanna... I just wish you were here."

Said the Red Waste was super hard, but they were done and thought they would get a good grade on it

Called Gorgug cool (and was called cool by him). Said what he did meant a lot to her. The call ended with one last quick I love you from Gorgug.

Fig

Subpoenaed to be a witness for Gortholax before a tribunal due to him being negligent for his infernal domain (after his 9th and final request for appearence lapsed). The print of her subpoena got so fine that it was mostly illegable without a magnifying glass. It was also in infernal (which she can read)

Asked Vraz if she could leave the door to hell open with them following later (left open, but was yelled at)

Considered disguising herself as Gortholax and offered to disguise herself as a famous lawyer from billboards to help Gilear

Wanted to know more about law so she could defend Gortholax domain and yelled "THE CHOSEN ONE!" when she discovered that Gilear knew the law

Wanted to start a grass roots campaign about the demons working with the nightmare king (as devils hate them both)

Asked her mom why Gilear wasn't infected and discovered her parents had slept together many times, but not in the last 3 years

Got upset with Riz over his opinion on devils (quote in dialogue link)

Had to be the first through the portal to hell, but straddled the flaming doorway with Riz on her back to try to keep it open

Tied a rope around Hangman so she could wakeboard while smoking a clove, library card behind her right ear

Thought Gortholax's home was tasteful and knew the door code.

Blamed herself for the quality of Gilear's life (quote in dialogue link)

To Vraz "What going on with you? Do you need a hug?"

Lit a cigarette in court, told them that Gortholax was trapped in a gem, put her feet up, and said Kalina the Shadow Cat used a proxy to trap Gortholax with the assistance of demons (but was able to hide the fact that she was the proxy from Vraz)

Asked for help getting into the forest of the Nightmare King, but got yelled at because calling a recess does not mean the trial is over

Cut her arm and offered the tribunal her blood as proof she was Gortholax's daughter, but the blood sizzled when it hit the ground and either summoned or created an imp which served as proof

Ayda

Told Adaine what the rune was (details below)

Still working on plane shift

Got upset over Fig getting sucked into hell, insisting that they had to go rescue her "Well, we should do whatever we can to make it happen as fast as possible because I'm going to get another kiss, whatever happens"

Said Fig's lips are the softest things she's ever felt (grossing out Adaine) and "If I don't smell Fig's hair again, I'm going to incenerate"

Asked Adaine for advice as the Oracle, wanting to know how many potential futures there were were Fig wouldn't want to kiss her or be around her anymore and if they could be avoided. She was also worried that Fig might have kissed her, but not felt attracted to her.

"If we kissed a bunch of times over the course of an hour, does that mean we are girlfriends or wives?" (potentially but ask to clarify)

Was worried that she would look sad, weird, or not normal from a social standpoint for asking Fig to clarify if they were girlfriends (to which Adaine said she was not and was in face very very cool).

Worried about her mind being foreign to other people and despite not being the same as Adaine, felt better after talking to someone who understands not being like everyone else.

Told Adaine "You're a very special person to me and your friendship means the world to me. I hope we study magic together for a long long time" and that she loved her.

Has notes on how her brain works and built an entire friendship section in the library because she was so lonely.

Went to the Synod to be alone because she lived "on a dirty pirate island"

***

Other PCs And People In The Party

Adaine

Released an aura in the crime scene and might have put on gloves

Found the non detection runes her mother had placed (to keep elves off the trail) and the remains of two rituals, one to kill Killian and one to put the Devil's Heart (with Gortholax) inside Killian. The rituals happened 24 hours appart, meaning they left the night the teens arrived or her mom knew to kill Killian before Aelwen arrived.

While looking for something in the room (something nice her mom might have said about her), she found a blank piece of parchment on a small desk and revealed a message using "the pencil trick" ("Aelwen is with me. You are betrayed. You have no other choice darling. Come with us.") which she believed was probably for her dad. Later got the original copy (wrote out for a sending spell) by using mend on ashes she found in a trashcan

Suggested a cold fratata picnic

Pulled beautifully printed pamplets out of her jacket for Fig's grass roots campaign, but they had a typo so she tossed them

Told the group to give a thumbs up to someone who had the message spell (currently only Fig and Adaine) if they had something to say to keep it from Kalina

Was caught by briars and ejected from the hell potral, keeping her from entering, but decided that heaven and hell were just reflections of each other so she wasn't worried

On dusk moss, said "I've heard it's good for anxiety." and suggested that they all got high while waiting on their friends to return from hell (but was unable to convince the others)

Discovered that the unknown goddess' spellbook had a distinguishing mark on it, an occult rune that was in a lot of stuff at Compass Points (which Ayda would have studied) and on the coin given to Kalvaxus (more info under mystery rune)

Liked a hot tub that started off very warm at first and then got more comfortable

Messaged Ayda late at night for help "Avast ye scurvy devil. How is plane shift going? Also, need info on rune. It looks like [x]" (answered back "I'm not a scurvy devil. Let's use the synonym. Right jacket pocket.")

Found a key made of glowing blue crystalline energy in her pocket as the keyhole on a nearby door started glowing slightly blue.

Was given a scroll with a first level spell by Ayda that granted her access to the Synod of Spyre which is a meeting place for wizards

Told Ayda "I think your great",  made her laugh by telling her that curses were "ten a penny", and told her that she enjoyed talking to her about their magic as Ayda is someone who gets it and is not mean to her

Asked Ayda to tell her everything (about the kiss), but then realized that she didn't want or need to know everything. She did say (about Ayda and Fig) "I support this. I am happy about it. I am amazed. Oooo she's secretive!" and that while on a macro level, some people will kiss without caring, Fig wouldn't because she cared about everybody (she did kiss those two older guys though?)

Admittedly that being oracle only let her help out a little every day and occasionally she got a terrifying vision, but she doesn't know when the event will occur or what will cause it

To Ayda, "If you like a person and they like you and the relationship is good, it shouldn't matter how other people feel about it? I think."

"I want to be alone and also surrounded by my friends at all times."

Riz

Worked the crime scene in the Owl and Harp with Adaine (putting on gloves before starting)

Found that the rituals were specifically to get Kalina into Silvar by bypassing the need for permission from a devil authority by using petrismosis to move from an infected creature into a gem to commandeer the devil within it

Petrismosis: The body's ability to start having elements of the magical gem within it to start permiating orgainic membrane; the process of an organic body and gem to become one which includes osmosis of blood to gem (ragh mom constrantly fights against the being within her gem using her rage, blood, and soul)

Told Adaine "It's great to fin- be around someone who just focuses up. Me and you? Everybody else is super horny. Super emotional. But me and you? *slaps hands together* No emotions between the two of us." (she was looking for something nice from her mom)

Discovered that Adaine's mom had packed WAY more rations than they needed to get to the temple, some alchemical ingredients, and all primary work, leaving only hints behind as well as some research and medical diagrams (which Adaine and Riz took). The medical diagrams were extremely old velum grave robber level medical stuff written in a character based pictogram language (think hieroglyphs, almost like emoji) that was most likely centaur. One medical diagram was of a disected and dismembered centaur with dark, very scary looking cat symbols (refered to as the disease or infection) behind eyes, in ears, on tongue, deep in sinuses, and on spine. It also showed that the brain was carefully taken apart and looked at, but the infection was not present there.

He and Adaine deduced that Kalina could only look through one person at a time using their senses and couldn't get into their brains, but could cause paralysis. The only safe place would be the moon haven/Kristen's hallow, but Kalina might be able to ride one of the infected into the haven if she was actively trying to do it. They could however talk anywhere using telepathy (such as the message spell).

Was worried about going to hell while infected, but later said "I meantioned that I was concerened about going to hell and her possibly being able to see the trial, but hell is also bad so I don't really care if they end up fighting and killing each others. Let's just go to hell. Also, they're super far along already. They have Gortholax and they're in. So it's not like... yeah."

Might have internalized racism/goblinphobia and has bias towards devils (both from his reactions in this episode and his reaction to Gortholax in season 1)

Suspicious of devils and doesn't think they should be super cool with them (quote in dialogue link), later becoming upset over what Hangman said about goblins ("Oh like goblins have such a great reputation.") and the others reaction to his and The Hangman's statement.

Road into hell holding onto Fig's back.

Upon seeing Gilear knocked out, said "See I told you that hell was bad! I mean, this is awesome, but this is bad." Pointed out the irony of Gilear getting mad at him a long time ago for stealing the first aid kit that gave him the healing feat.

After Hangman said the evil souls were murderers, thieves, and liars, he started sweating and said "Liars huh?" (side note: Riz has actually done all three)

Grabbed Gilear's face and investigated him to figure out why he was so confident (he said no to an offer from Sandra Lynn). Hissed at Gilear and then apologized, saying they were in hell, it was weird, and the things said about goblins earlier made him feel kinda crazy

Hissed at Vraz repeatedly, even after she threatened him.

To Vraz "Well I'm Riz The Ball and I'm just gonna ROLL WITH THIS! We're here! We're here for your trial thing! *hiss*" Is held back by Gilear while Fig tried to push him forward towards Vraz (told her to stop it)

Hissed at Vraz again (when she was mean to Fig) saying Vraz calling somebody in the middle of a trial was weird before the pair got in another hissing/screaming match. Asked The Hangman to hold him back and got his foot run over.

Fabian

Ownes 250 to 312 pairs of shoes (depending how many have been thrown away or given to childen), has size 5 feet (and is self conscious about it), said he had delicate feet and was lithe and dexterous, and his father had small feet and mother had normal sized feet

Said "god damn it" when he discovered Krumpkin wore the same size shoes as him, lied and said he had big toes and wore a 5.5 because he didn't to exchange shoes with a gnome, and quietly said "...let's go" when Gorgug asked if he wanted little bells on his shoes (side note: was he teased in the past?)

Completely confused by tinkerers logbook, so he deferred to Gorgug. Tried to help by rubbing his sheet on the gold coins they were buying supplies with, but nothing happened

Was nervous about buying or using dusk moss, saying he knew a guy who tried it while wearing a hat and now he always felt like he's wearing the hat. Told the rest of the group "We bought so many drugs." when they dot back.

Fabian's bardic "You feel the power of Fabian's support and care for you" (the explanation of his new stats is linked below)

When asked if he wanted to stay in the Tinkerer's Hall, he answered "Absolutely. With all these weird little men and women. No thank you. Ragh, let's go!"

Has a bunch of private stuff on his phone that he doesn't want anybody seeing

Tried to ride Hangman into hell, but caught by the briars and ejected as the portal closed

Told Hangman "You are literally the sweetest meanest thing ever."

Mutters "Go off The Ball, go off" while Riz was in a different dimension from him (yelling at Vraz in hell)

Said he didn't worry about his father as he was thriving, but he missed him. When told he could get word to him, originally assumed Bill would be busy, then agreed but asked Hangman not to be needy about it, then tried to pretend that he was cool either way and that he didn't need it and it wouldn't fill him with joy, then admitted that it would fill him with joy, and finally just asking "yes please do it"

Likes a warm hot tub due to it being better for his skin and he can stay in there longer

(Multiple quotes can be found in the dialogue link below)

Hangman

His presence (a devil) closed the portal to hell, seperating him from Fabian. He could still talk to Fabian telepathically, but freaked out. When asked to turn it down, he replied "I can't turn it down, I'm sad!"

Said that the portal was created for the dark tribunal and afterwards the devils are required to deposite them from where they came from

Gave Gilear his mark by making his eyes glow dark red pinpricks and etching an infernal ruin of blood and fire on his forehead

Got pissed off over Gilear having to ride on him, but did it to stop his complaining. Meanwhile, Riz also road on him (with a "Huzzah!") and Fig tired a rope around him so she could wakeboard on her skateboard behind him

Approved of Riz hissing at Gilear

Said the souls falling into The Bottomless Pit were evil and of murderers, theives, and liars

Got the tribunal to allow them to stay at The Bottomless Pit (as Fig was both Gortholax's daughter and she had passage there) instead of prison

When he was told only Fig was going to go in the hot tub, he pouted and said "I want to go too!"

Offered to send word to Bill Seacaster for Fabian

Gilear

Made fratatas (with both spinach and kale) immediately, but they all got very cold due to the teens being away for hours (were so cold that they thought he put them in the freezer)

He was not "the face" when he worked in Fallenel at the elven counsel (where he said he was a glorified paralegal), but was still an expert in international and interplaner law

When Fig told him that it was his moment and she needed him, he immediately replied with "Nope!". He eventually gave his word to help, but was confused about how they got into trouble in Arborly, discovering the trial was both in hell ("what? what? oh no.") and delivered by a really keyed up woman who was probably working through something ("I...what have you done?")

From Adaine's jacket, was given a barrister wig from Fig ("None of the cultures I've worked for use these wigs"), a gavel from Kristen, and a black robe from Adaine

Found that the subpoena had no clause concerning ther souls, but hell would send people to get Fig if she didn't go

Wears boat shoes and had a powerful aura of disease coming from his feet (again Gilear DOCTOR! or have a healer greater restore!)

His bald spot was hit by a bit of fire before a blast of fire hit him and knocked him out, setting his wig on fire. He was healed by Riz, but left with burns.

Was given the Mark of The Hangman, which was an infernal ruin of blood and fire etched on his forehead which caused a red force field to appear that protected him from the fire as long as he was with The Hangman

Noticed how Fig was acting (library card behind ear) and started asking her questions, but she dodged them until Riz confronted him about his confidence and got him to confess "I got confidence because Sandra Lynn asked to sleep with me and I said no!" Said that he and Sandra Lynn talking until morning and towards the end she made an offer, he said "No. Thank you", and everyone was still happy and fine afterwards

Told Riz he was very scary and intense sometimes, resulting in Riz hissing at him

Did not actually help during the trial due to fear.

(Has multiple quotes in dialogue link.)

Sandra Lynn

Covered for the teens messaging by talking about finding where Adaine's mom entered the forest as the teens nodded along

Had to explain to her daughter that her and Gilear slept together, but she could have gotten the Kalina disease anytime in the last 3 years and Gilear wouldn't have been infected ("I love you. It's weird. Sorry for all this weird info.")

On Kristen attempting to handcuff her "So help me god Kristen Applebees. I understand that I work for you, but so help... wow."

No longer with Jawbone, but ended on good terms

Was very kind to Gilear the first night in Arborly. She offered to sleep with him at one point and was turned down.

When she asked what the teens were messaging about (dusk moss), Kristen said Spring Break and suggested Sandra Lynn have a spa day with a hot tub soak and a massage with cucumbers on her eyes. Gorgug suggested cucumbers on her ears. Fabian said they should get the weird gnomes to pound her (dear god Fabian! XD) with Kristen saying "gnomes all over your body", Adaine adding that they would walk on her back, and Fabian adding that the little shoe bells would be meditative

Ragh

Asked for a lost spring from the tinkerers

Wears a size 17.5 shoe (quote in dialogue link)

Was paranoid about buying dusk moss (ARE YOU A COP!?), but after Crumpkin's reaction, he grabbed Fabian and Gorgug's arms and said "I think drugs are legal here"

Took a solid chunk of dusk moss and was found staring at his hand ("My hand is just little animal on the end of your arm")

Came into the van later, shirtless and looking like he'd sweat ten gallons. Said "Everything in the world is connected", (on Adaine thinking of trying it) "Adaine, for real? I can never be anxious again because I don't even know if I can ever be fully in my body again.", and (response to Fabian saying it sounds scary) "No no. I'm part of the universe dude" before drinking a glass of water and going off to go to bed.

***

Gnomes

Crumpkin Springbill

Head Tinkerer of the Tinkerer's Hall of Arborly

Confused as to why anybody would be mad about people buying or using dusk moss

Told Gorgug that it would take a long time and a lot of materals to build a cell tower

Size 5 shoes (but likes a little toe room) with curled toes so he can puts little bells on them (sounds like the general style of shoes for the gnomes there as well)

Said hello to Zelda enthusiastically over a video call

Polly Pullypad and Osmand Wobbletrouble

Accidentally flew into where they stacked all the old pots and pans (Polly)

Brought Gorgug his altered shoes back and bowed to Gorgug

Asked to examine Gorgug's crystal in exchange for the spring shoes (Osmand)

Suggested they try to skip building a cell tower and connect directly to a satellite

(Unnamed Twins)

Shallower cone hats with tufts of fur on the ends of springs

Took gorgug shoes off his feet

***

Devils

Vraz the Mean

Sarcastic erinyes with a +13 insight and a beautiful but uncannoy vally porcelain face with a beauty mark

When Fig and Kristen asked if she could leave the door open so they could follow "Are you guys having a fun time? BECAUSE YOU SEEM PRETTY FUCKING GLIB! Keep your sass to yourself!", but still left the door open

Got hissed at by Riz a lot (multiple quotes in dialogue)

Said she is having a bad time between her title (Vraz The Mean), species (Erinyes), running hell, and her title (Arch Secretary)

Called the tribunal into order (with her two co-jurors in a room with a small 3 seat judges bench), stating that it concerned the issue of Gortholax's infernal negligence

Tried to call her boss Blozo, but he couldn't come due to traffic

Found that being trapped in a gem counted as extenuating circumstances and he would not be punished, but they needed a new regnant for the Bottomless Pit so they called a recess while they consulted the bylaws.

Yelled at Fig for asking for help after the recess saying (in a durr voice) " *points at temple* Do you know what words mean!? Do you know what words mean!? *jacking off motion* Huh?"

Was going to imprison "the mortals", but was convinced by Hangman to put them under house arrest at The Bottomless Pit

Kystrona (Ky-stron-ah) The Chained

Vaguely humanoid figure that is just like

A person with chains coiled where arms would be as well as the torso and head, making a massive mound of chains

Moved with a lot of strain (including trying to shrug) and voice is muffled from all the chains

Lorzug (lore-zug) The Impaled

Bone thin naked person with incredibly pale skin and translucent vains all over

Impaled through the stomach about 10 feet up a jet black iron spike as they kick and scream

Only responded with screams

Retch Rot

Tiny blood red imp with a scorpion tail summoned by Fig's blood (calls her mistress)

Might look like a red Boggy with really long legs for his size (Ally wondered if he looked like "a really famous mouse", including suspenders, but I personally give Emily's description more weight as she is in fact in hell as Fig)

Valet to Fig while in the Bottomless Pit

Wanted to show them to their quarters and the many doors of The Bottomless Pit (but had to make it clear that the doors were just rooms in the pit and not portals)

***

Other Stuff From 2.13

***

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[To be added]

[suicidalcatz]

DOG DAYS ARE OVER : CHAP 4

AN: Hello ! In this chapter we go on an investigation! But also we get closer to God Jake. I’m writing the 7th part at the moment, and I think the 8th one will be the end of my dream, but not of this fanfic. Let the fluff begin !

Pairing: Jake Kiszka x reader

Genre: College AU

Previous parts: Prologue ; Chap 1 ; Chap 2 ; Chap 3

Masterlist : here

Chapter four : Need a hand ?

It became obvious to both Mandy and I that I was starting to have a crush on Jake. How could I not ? For a far as we knew him, he was perfect in every way.

At first it was discreet. My new hobby of staring at him during lectures was unnoticed by both of the Kiszkas, or if Josh noticed something, he at least thought it was me waiting for his next paper ball notes and getting impatient. Regarding my class daydreamings, they weren't new so classmates and teachers didn't think much of it. Although it became very apparent something was up when I started unintentionally drawing his face several times in the workshop during portraits studies. Even though my photo reference was Kurt Cobain. It could've been easily mistaken for a very bad observation job (and it did), if it weren't for Mandy who saw me coming home after a long day with a painted 50x70cm Jake canvas under my armpit. Judging by my defeated look, she didn't address it, but she knew.

It's a few days later that we had that talk. It was getting so bad that I began mistaking people in hallways for him, smiling or even giggling to myself as I was remembering stuff he did or said, and again, drawing him.

- I can't focus on anything, I sighed defeated. I have this assignment due to next week and I can't draw any character right. I even dreamed of us doing grocery shopping.

I let my head bump loudly against the dining table as she made me a cup of tea/coffee and placed it in front of me. She knew perfectly how I felt because we all went through the same, that's why she softly pulled the chair opposite mine to sit and have a chat.

- You should talk to him more, get to know him, she encouraged. He's nice and now we sometimes hang out so it's not that weird wanting to know him better.

She was right. Sooner or later I'll had to talk to him and even tell him how I feel anyway. Not now though, it was too soon. I kind of got struck by lightning when I first laid my eyes on him and it got worse when we spoke, but it still rarely happened for people to fall instantly like that. There was no way he'd understand if I just confessed my feelings out of the blue. I should wait and see if there's any chance that my feelings are shared, because there was no way in hell I'd tell him if I wasn't sure I had a chance to date him. Speaking of which...

- Should I ask him out on a date?

As an answer, Mandy smacked my head accross the table with an empty box of biscuits.

- Are you out of your mind ? I just told you to wait ! I know you're impatient to get into his pants but think about all the times you rushed things and how many times it worked.

Raising my head to rest my chin against the plastic flowery tablecloth, I considered it, looking at her munching on chocolate biscuits, browsing a fashion magazine for inspiration. Defeated once again, I let out a sigh and shifted so my cheek was against the table.

- First of all, I don't want to get into his pants- Not yet. Second of all, you're right. I don't want to screw up this time because it'll be so awkward afterwards.

She closed her eyes and quickly nodded because she knew she was of good advice, as usual.

- You forgot something essential boo. You don't know if mister doe-eyed guitarist is single.

Fuck, that's right. Neither of them mentionned it but it's not something you just blurt out. We exchanged a look, and she grinned at me in a knowing way.

- Let's investigate.

The first thing to do was to go on his Facebook. It did seem a bit wrong searching him like that instead of asking straightforwardly, and as if karma thought the same, we found that his infos were set on private. We didn't even bother searching for instagram or twitter as nobody puts their real full names on these, so the second thing to do was to go on the field.

Despite all the departments, the school was small so buildings were close to each other and all communicated (except for the fashion workshop). I kind of knew where everything was, since you could tell just by looking at the people hanging around. And as cliché as it sounded, it was true. Illustration students were always carrying ridiculous amounts of art supplies. Entire bags of paint, books and pencil case in their backpacks, giant portfolio under an arm, A3 sketchbooks in the other, and somehow they still found a way to carry their coffee cups. Architecture, Carpenters and Furniture Design students were often seen with big mock ups and models in their arms, tools or wood. Photo and Fashion peeps were carrying the less stuff since they worked mainly on computers in the Photography dep and let all their mannequins and fabric either at home or in the Fashion workshop. It was as easy to spot dudes from the Music dep, with their guitar on their back, hanging around the Architecture building, smoking, chatting, and drinking soda or coffee.

Their building was near the park, so they were mostly seen in that area. And thank God because I would've look so stupid passing by purely « by chance » in an area where no one ever went except for the people who actually studied there. The park was great. A lot of us used to play ball, sit on the grass to drink, chat or have lunch. It was big enough that the Architecture jocks built some cabins in a corner of it to host parties. I still don't understand how the school allowed that, but anyway, the plan was simple, make a little detour to see if I could spot Jake.

It was so cold outside that students were just hurriedly passing by, quickly making their way inside where it was somewhat warm. As a result, there wasn't many people in the park at this hour of the day and I wondered if Jake was in the dorms or in class before catching a glimpse of his hair in the corner of my eye. Okay time to be discreet. I put my bag down near the trash to fake looking for something while watching him. Fuck he looked good with a scarf and head covered with a beanie. Aside from his looks, he seemed rather bummed. Passers by kept shaking him off as he tried to hand them yellow papers. Probably flyers.

- Jake, I'm taking 5 !

Some guy just beside me doing the same task called him loud and clear, and I think I just saw my life flash before my eyes when Jake turned around to reply and locked eyes with me. I instantly felt very dumb, crouched next to the trash with my hands on my bag. The mental image I had of myself at that very moment was that of a raccoon. Running away was out of the question since he was approaching my way already, one hand holding the flyers and the other in his jacket pocket.

- Hey.

- Hi, I replied without moving an inch.

- Need a hand ?

Shaking out of it, I got on my feet by myself and lied about just passing by. Karma really was a bitch, wasn't it ? Henceforth no more weird MI6 strategies for me. Avoiding staring at the blushed tip of his nose, I gazed at my hands and saw his in the process.

- Are you giving out flyers ?

- Oh yeah, for the Christmas school festival, but no one is either interested or invested in it unfortunately. It's a shame, I think it's gonna be great. I don't know what's holding them, he added while scratching his beanie, it's free and there's gonna be music and food and booze, what more could we need ?

To be fair I understood both parties. Jake was right but some students probably had exams or homework, and it was freezing and they were doing it outside. Well if we were honest it never stopped anybody from partying so maybe the event wasn't the issue.

- I saw people displaying posters, I remembered, can I see the flyers ?

Without missing a beat he handed them all to me and dear lord I almost got blind just by looking at them. That yellow and black and these awful drawings weren't doing anything good for the event. He must've saw it on my grimacing face because he sighed.

- That bad ?

- Honestly ? It looks like a Bee Movie add.

It actually made him let out a chuckle before puting a hand to his heart.

- That hurts.

That flawless smile made my cheeks burn, thank god they were already red because of the cold. His thumb brushed mine when I handed the flyers back to him, and at this moment I knew I was gonna act without thinking again, because my brain went on vacation the second his skin got in contact with mine.

- I can make you new ones, if you want.

His eyes searched for any traces of a joke on my face before realization hit him and his brows frowned lightly.

- Are you sure ? 'm not an expert but this looks like a lot of work.

As backup to his words, he shook the big bundle of paper between his fingers. Jake genuinely looked worried about me, and all the work it'd put me through. Deep down I knew there was a little voice in my head screaming that helping him only meant more sleepless nights but all the other parts of my brains ignored it when two gentle brown eyes stared at me with concern.

- It'll be fine, I assured with a smile. I'm working fast. I just have to do one design and the rest will be printed, right ? No big deal.

Hand on his hip, Jake let out what sounded like a relieved breath and cracked a smile.

- Thanks, I really appreciate it. Do you have a pen ?

Of course I did, I even got one on my coat pocket for some reason. Things I just forget to remove. He gave me the flyers for me to hold while he uncapped the black marker and took my free arm.

- I'm giving you my number, so you can text me if you're having troubles for the design, and show me some pics if you need advice.

With cold fingers, he gently grabbed my wrist and pushed back the fabric to expose my already shivering skin, and started writing numbers on my veins. It tickled, and I got goosebumps, mostly because of the cold wind but also because of his hand around my arm. The soft touch of his calloused fingers felt right on my skin, replacing the freezing feeling of his digits by a sweet wave of heat and I unconsciously held my breath to focus on the new sensation. He let the ink dry a bit before covering my arm again, raising his chin to meet my face.

- I could've write it on one of the flyers but I got a feeling you would've lost it, wouldn't ya ?

A playful smile danced on his face and once again I found myself mesmerized by him, nodding and chewing on my lip in a childlike manner. Jake tapped me on the shoulder to thank me again, saying he'll make it up to me, but I was too absorbed by the burning feeling of his skin on mine.

- I have to go, he said after sliding the marker back inside my breast pocket. My band's playing at the christmas party by the way, I hope you'll come!

[anxiousanimal]

The Adam Parrish visual masterpost

Edit July 4 2018: added excerpt from chapter 33 of Dream Thieves. Thanks to @flowersalad for the suggestion!

Because there has been so much debate about what various parts of Adam Parrish look like, and because it can be hard to flip through four books to dig up the info you want, and because it’s his birthday and I am an idiot, I took on the task of collecting all (well, almost all) canon information about Adam’s visuals into one comprehensive post. Four books’ worth of quotes is under the cut, after the  

Summary:

Build: He’s tall (the second tallest of the boys), described as “slender”, “long” and “wiry”. It’s easy to see where the twink/twunk debate came from because he’s often said to look “fragile”. This seems to be more about his face than anything else though. (He does work three manual jobs and lifts weights on a regular basis but on the other hand he doesn’t seem to get a lot to eat.) 

Face: “Gaunt”, “strange”, “fine-boned”, “elegant”, “elongated features”, “wide-set eyes”. He’s tanned with fair, almost invisible eyebrows. His face tends to fascinate people. He looks tired and wary a lot because he is. There is not a freckle in sight. Sorry.

Hair: “Dust-colored”, “the same colorless brown as the tips of old grass ”. Unevenly cut.

Eyes: Blue and “pretty enough for a girl”. “Dusty lashes”.

Demeanor/mannerisms: Usually quiet, observing, can appear shy but isn’t. Hunched shoulders, cautious. Narrowed eyes. Pensive knocking. Hands in pockets. Elegant, controlled. Disdainful eyebrow.

The Raven Boys:

Chapter 2:

In the passenger seat was Adam Parrish, the third member of the foursome that made up Gansey’s closest friends. The knot of Adam’s tie was neat above the collar of his sweater. One slender hand pressed Ronan’s thin cell phone tightly to his ear.

Unlike Ronan, Adam’s Aglionby sweater was secondhand, but he’d taken great care to be certain it was impeccable. He was slim and tall, with dusty hair unevenly cropped above a fine-boned, tanned face. He was a sepia photograph.   

Chapter 6:

And the third was — elegant. It was not the right word for him, but it was close. He was fine boned and a little fragile looking, with blue eyes pretty enough for a girl. 

Despite the comeliness of the boy in the booth, it was not a pleasant millisecond.    

Beside him, the elegant boy ducked his head. His ears were bright pink. 

The elegant boy looked up and caught her gaze. His eyebrows were drawn together, remorseful rather than cruel, making her doubt herself. 

Chapter 7:

He looked tired, up too late too many nights in a row working and studying. 

I could tell him his grades are going to go to hell if he doesn’t cut back on his hours, Gansey thought, looking at the dark skin beneath Adam’s eyes.

In comparison to Ronan, Adam looked clean, self-contained, utterly in control. From somewhere, he had gotten a rubber ball printed with a SpongeBob logo, and he bounced it with a pensive expression.  

Adam dropped the ball and caught it again. He had an almost mechanical way of snapping his fingers around the ball as it bounced back toward him; one moment his hand was open and empty, and the next, tight shut around it.

Bounce. Snap. 

Instead of answering, Adam twisted his hand and released the rubber ball. He’d chosen his trajectory carefully: The ball bounced off the greasy asphalt once, struck one of the Camaro’s tires, and arced high in the air, disappearing in the black. He stepped forward in time for it to slap in his palm. Gansey made an approving noise. 

Chapter 8:

"Excuse me, um, miss — hi. " The voice was careful, masculine, and local; the vowels had all the edges sanded off. Blue turned with a lukewarm expression. To her surprise, it was Elegant Boy, face gaunter and older in the distant streetlight. He was alone. No sign of President Cell Phone, the smudgy one, or their hostile friend. One hand steadied his bike. The other was tucked neatly in his pocket. His uncertain posture didn’t quite track with the raven-breasted sweater, and she caught a glimpse of a worn bit of seam on the shoulder before he shrugged it under his ear as if he was cold. 

It didn’t escape Blue that his slightly accented voice was as nice as his looks. It was all Henrietta sunset: hot front-porch swings and cold iced-tea glasses, cicadas louder than your thoughts. He glanced over his shoulder, then, at the sound of a car on a side street. When he looked back to her, he still wore a wary expression, and Blue saw that this expression — a wrinkle pinched between his eyebrows, mouth tense — was his normal one. It fit his features perfectly, matched up with every line around his mouth and eyes. This Aglionby boy isn’t often happy, she thought. 

But she was stymied by his blush at the table; his honest expression; his newly minted, uncertain smile. His face was just strange enough that she wanted to keep looking at it.  

"Talk," he said. In his local accent, it was a long word and it seemed less of a synonym for speak than it was for confess. She couldn’t help but look at the thin, pleasant line of his mouth. He added, "I guess I could have just saved a lot of trouble by coming up to talk to you in the first place. Other people’s ideas always seem to get me into more trouble.  

Something about Adam told her that this was a boy she could have a conversation with.  

He just leveled her with a very steady look. It wasn’t an expression that left room for folly. 

Adam said only, "I’m glad I came back. " Turning his long self around, he began to push his dolefully squeaking bike back the way he’d come. 

Chapter 14:

Adam’s mother answered his knock. She was a shadow of Adam — the same elongated features, the same wide-set eyes. In comparison to Gansey’s mother, she seemed old and hard-edged. 

The ripped knees of Adam’s camo cargo pants appeared first, then his faded Coca-Cola T-shirt, then, finally, his face. A bruise spread over his cheekbone, red and swelling as a galaxy. A darker one snaked over the bridge of his nose.  

Now Adam looked at Gansey. There was something fierce and chilling in his eyes, an unnamable something that Gansey was always afraid would eventually take over completely. 

Chapter 15:

There were three boys in the doorway, backlit by the evening sun as Neeve had been so many weeks ago. Three sets of shoulders: one square, one built, one wiry.  

What it did was make him look more fragile and dirty, somehow, like a teacup unearthed from the soil, but Blue didn’t say that.  

No one volunteered immediately to go first, so she offered the deck to Adam. He met her gaze and held it for a moment. There was something forceful and intentional about the gesture, more aggressive than he’d been the night he approached her. 

Chapter 21:

But it was very difficult to imagine Adam as a raven boy as he greeted her, his hands neatly in his pockets, scented with the dusty odor of mown grass. His bruise was older and therefore more dreadful looking. 

Adam kept walking, but he didn’t look away. He seemed shy until he didn’t.  

Adam stopped walking. Blue, a few feet ahead of him, waited as he frowned at the things in his hands. He held the journal very carefully, like it was important to him, or perhaps like it was important to someone who was important to him. Desperately she wanted him to both trust her and respect her, and she could tell from his face that she didn’t have much time to accomplish either. 

Adam’s face melted into a grin, an expression so unlike his usual one that his features needed to completely shift to accommodate it. 

Chapter 23:

Beside her, Adam shielded his eyes. He looked at home here, his hair the same colorless brown as the tips of old grass, and he looked more handsome than Blue remembered. 

Chapter 32:

She looked at his face, fragile and strange under the bruise. It was easy to read him as shy or uncertain, she thought, but he really wasn’t either. Noah was. But Adam was just quiet. He wasn’t lost for words; he was observing. 

Chapter 39:

He held Adam’s gaze for a long, long moment. There was something unfamiliar in Adam’s expression, something that made Blue think that she didn’t really know him at all. 

Chapter 41:

She felt a little like she’d been approached by a wild animal, and she was at once flattered by its trust and worried that she’d scare it away. After a moment, she carefully stroked a few fine, dusty strands of his hair while she looked at the back of his neck. It made her chest hum to touch him and smell the dust-and-oil scent of him.  "Your hair is the color of dirt," she said. 

She wondered what it would’ve been like to kiss this hungry, desolate boy.  

The Dream Thieves:

Chapter 1:

Adam Parrish, gaunt and fair; 

As always, his features intrigued Blue. They were not quite conventionally handsome, but they were interesting. He had the typical Henrietta prominent cheekbones and deep-set eyes, but his version of them was more delicate. It made him seem a little alien. A little impenetrable.  

Chapter 5:

Ronan sometimes dreamt of Adam, too, the latter boy sullen and elegant and fluently disdainful of dream-Ronan’s clumsy attempts to communicate. 

Chapter 13

Blue craned her neck to see what they were looking at. It was just Adam. He sat in the reading room by himself, the diffuse morning light rendering him soft and dusty. He had removed one of the tarot decks from its bag and lined each of the cards faceup in three long rows. Now he leaned on the table and studied the image on each, one at a time, shuffling on his elbows to the next when he was through. He looked nothing like the Adam who’d lost his temper and everything like the Adam she had first met. That was what was frightening, though — there’d been no warning. 

Chapter 33:

Beside him stood Adam, his strange and beautiful face pale above the slender dark of his own suit. 

For a moment, Adam said nothing. He was not Gansey, he did not dazzle, he was a pretender with a flute of false champagne in his slender hand made from dust. He looked at Mrs. Elgin. She looked back at him through her eyelashes. With a jolt, he realized that he intimidated her. Standing there in his impervious suit with its red-knotted tie, young and straight-shouldered and clean, he had pulled off whatever strange alchemy Gansey performed. For perhaps the first time in his life, someone was looking at him and seeing power.

Chapter 48:

Adam cocked his head witheringly. 

Chapter 51:

She looked at him again. He was handsome and he liked her and if she hadn’t told him the truth, she could have dated him like a normal girl and even kissed him without worrying about killing him. 

Epilogue:

Ronan’s second secret was Adam Parrish. Adam was different since making the bargain with Cabeswater. Stronger, stranger, farther away. It was hard not to stare at the odd and elegant lines of his face.  

Blue Lily Lily Blue:

Prologue:

Adam Parrish stood beside her with his hands shoved into the pockets of his grease-stained cargo pants. He looked tired, but his eyes were clear, better than when she’d seen him last. Because Persephone was only interested in important things, she hadn’t considered her own age in a long time, but it struck her as she looked at him that he was quite new. That raw expression, that youthful hunch of his shoulders, the frantic sprawl of the energy inside him. (BLLB prologue)

His eyes fluttered, his dusty lashes resting on his cheeks. (BLLB prologue)

Chapter 1:

Adam Parrish, curled over himself in a pair of battered, greasy coveralls, asked, “Do you?” 

The walls were dust and rock, roots and chalk, everything the color of Adam’s hair and skin. 

Chapter 5:

Adam absently tapped a finger against his own wrist, a gesture somehow disconcerting and otherworldly. 

Adam’s expression was ferocious and pleased; Gansey was at once proud to know him and uncertain he did at all.  

Chapter 20:

They regarded each other. Adam fair and cautious, Ronan dark and incendiary. 

Chapter 27:

Adam was quiet as he weighed the options. His face was strange and delicate in the sharp light of Gansey’s head beam. Swiftly, and without explanation, he reached out to touch the cavern wall. Although he was not a dream thing, he was now one of Cabeswater’s things, and it was hard not to see it in the way his fingers spidered across the wall and in the blackness of his eyes as they gazed at nothing. 

Chapter 32:

How narrow-shouldered he was beside this other man. It was hard to see where he’d come from without a close look at their faces. Then one could see how Robert Parrish wore Adam’s thin, fine lips. Then it wasn’t hard to see the same fair hair, spun from dust, and the wrinkle between the eyebrows, formed by wariness. It was actually not a difficult thing at all to see that one had sired the other. 

Chapter 37:

Adam raised a diffident eyebrow at the scene. “Who’s ‘them’?” 

He was standing, very still, his hands by his sides. His chin was tilted up in a wary, fragile sort of way, and his eyes narrowed at nothing. Unlike Ronan and Henry, he was dustless. Gansey saw the jerk of his chest as it rose and fell. 

No one was talking to Adam. It wasn’t difficult to understand this: Adam didn’t look like someone you could talk to, just then. There was something more frightening about him than there was about the circle. Like the bare ground, there was nothing inherently unusual about his appearance. But in context, surrounded by these brick buildings, he didn’t … belong. 

Adam’s eyes slid over to him but his head didn’t turn. It was the stillness that made him seem so other.  

Chapter 39:

Leaning over the pool, Adam saw his face. He hadn’t noticed that he didn’t look like everyone else until he got to high school, when everyone else started noticing. He didn’t know if he was good-looking or bad-looking — only that he was different-looking. It was up to interpretation whether the strangeness of his face was beautiful or ugly.

He waited for his features to disappear, to smudge into a sensation. But all he saw was his Henrietta-dirt face with its pulled-down thin mouth. He wished he wouldn’t grow up to look like his parents’ combined genes. 

Chapter 44:

Both of the boys were unsettling — Adam Parrish, in particular, had a curious face. Not as in, he was a curious person. But rather that there was something peculiar about his facial features. He was an alien, handsome specimen of this western Virginia species; feather-boned, hollow-cheeked, eyebrows fair and barely visible. He was feral and raw-boned by way of those Civil War portraits. Brother fought brother while their farms ran to ruins — 

Adam Parrish smiled a little; it took two years off his age in a second. He had teeth on both his top and bottom jaw. 

The Raven King:

Chapter 13:

Adam stepped in front of the glass, his hand over his eye, looking at his gaunt face. His nearly colourless eyebrow was pinched with worry. 

Chapter 14:

His expression, if possible, turned more disdainful than it had over Henry Cheng.  

He was sort of half-smiling, but in that way people did when they were annoyed rather than when anything was funny.  

He spread his hands out at the still-empty restaurant, as if he, too, was amazed by the turn this conversation had taken.

Now Blue also spread her hands. It was a rather less elegant gesture than Adam’s, more like a fist clench in reverse.

He merely raised an eyebrow in reply, an action that warmed the temperature of Blue’s blood by a single degree. 

Adam’s mouth went very thin, like he was about to retort something, but in the end, he just swiped his keys from the table and walked out of the restaurant.

Chapter 18:

Adam was crouched in front of it, staring unflinchingly into the headlights’ brilliance. His fingers were spread on the asphalt and his feet braced like a runner waiting for the starting shot. Three tarot cards splayed before him. He’d taken one of the floor mats out of the car to crouch on to keep from dirtying his uniform trousers. If you combined these two things – the unfathomable and the practical – you were most of the way to understanding Adam Parrish.

“Parrish,” Ronan said. Adam didn’t respond. His pupils were pinhole cameras to another world. “Parrish.”

Just one of Adam’s hands lifted in the direction of Ronan’s leg. His fingers twitched in a way that conveyed don’t bother me with the absolute minimum of motion.

Ronan crossed his arms to wait, just looking. At Adam’s fine cheekbones, his furrowed fair eyebrows, his beautiful hands, everything washed out by the furious light. He had memorized the shape of Adam’s hands in particular: the way his thumb jutted awkwardly, boyishly; the roads of the prominent veins; the large knuckles that punctuated his long fingers. 

Adam’s fingers tensed, and then he sat back. He blinked, and then blinked again, rapidly, touching the corner of his eye with just the tip of his ring finger. This didn’t suffice, so he rubbed his palms over them until they watered. Finally, he tilted his chin up to Ronan.

“What the hell’s wrong with your eyes?” Ronan asked.

Adam’s pupils were still tiny. “Takes me a while to come back.”

Chapter 21:

For Adam, it meant linking in to the ley line that pulsed beneath the forest, unwrapping himself and allowing the bigger pattern inside. It was a process that was both eerie and awesome to watch from the outside. Adam; then Adam, vacated; then Adam, more. 

He glanced behind to make sure Adam was following; he was, looking at Ronan with narrowed eyes. 

Chapter 27:

Blue and Adam regarded each other. She sucked in her lip; he lifted a shoulder. They were both sorry.

Adam leaned to bump his knuckles against Gansey’s. 

Chapter 31:

Adam gently closed his locker.

Adam smiled cheerily. Ronan would start wars and burn cities for that true smile, elastic and amiable. 

Chapter 36:

Now Adam turned to him, intense. “What does that mean? How did you know it was different than just being her friend?”

“Nothing,” said Adam, a lie so outrageous that they both looked out into the yard again in silence. He tapped the fingers of one hand on the palm of his other.

“Ronan kissed me,” Adam said immediately. The words had clearly been queued up. He gazed studiously into the front yard.

Adam continued peering out the window. The only tell to the furious working of his mind was the slow twisting together of his fingers. 

Adam released his hands from each other. “I think that’s what I needed to hear.” 

Chapter 39  

After a few moments, he heard the door ease open behind him and Adam joined him. Silently they looked over the dancing lights in the fields. It was not difficult to see that Adam was working intensely with his own thoughts. 

Chapter 45:

“Fuck,” said Adam vehemently. He had begun to shake, though his face had not changed. 

Chapter 52:

And he had Adam’s mind here in the dream with him. In the real world, he was scrying in the passenger seat again, and in this one, he stood in this ruined forest, hunched over, face unsure.

The real Adam was standing with his head turned to the side as an unreasonable facsimile of his father screamed in his face, the cadence of his voice perfectly and eerily matched to the real Robert Parrish. There was a firm set to Adam’s mouth that was less fear and more stubbornness.

Adam met Ronan’s gaze, even as the duplicate version of his father kept screaming at him. The strain of whatever energy balance he was doing was visible on his face. “Are you ready?” 

Chapter 56:

Adam just looked at it in a distant way, his hands clasped together as if they were cold. 

Chapter 64:

Shaking his reddened wrists free of the ribbon, Adam first touched the top of the Orphan Girl’s head and whispered, “It’s going to be all right.” And then he climbed out of the car and stood before Gansey. What could they possibly say?

Gansey bumped fists with Adam and they nodded at each other. It was stupid, inadequate.

Chapter 66:

Beside Blue and Henry, Adam was dry-cheeked and dead-eyed, but the Orphan Girl hugged his arm as if comforting a weeper as he stared off into nothingness.

Adam suddenly sat down. He said nothing at all, but he covered his face with his hands.

Adam looked up from where he was folded in the grass. His voice was small. “What about Cabeswater?” 

Epilogue:

He waited, hands in the pockets of his pressed khaki slacks, looking at the clean toes of his shoes and then up again at the dusty door.

The door opened, and his father stood there, eye to eye with him. Adam felt a little more kindly to the past version of himself, the one who had been afraid of turning out like this man. Because although Robert Parrish and Adam Parrish didn’t look alike at first glance, there was something introverted and turned-inward about Robert Parrish’s gaze that reminded Adam of himself. Something about the knit of the eyebrows was similar, too; the shape of the furrow between them was precisely the shape of the continued difference between what life was supposed to be and what life was actually like.

He knocked on the cabinet beside him, once, thoughtful, and then he took out the BMW keys. “I’ll do that,” he said.

Opal - a story

Adam had taken the cassette from Ronan’s hand, working Ronan’s fingers loose and putting his own fingers between them. For a moment Opal, hidden, had thought they were going to kiss. But instead, Ronan pressed his face against Adam’s neck and Adam quietly put his head on top of Ronan’s head and they did not move for a long time. 

Adam’s feet were long and hairless and vulnerable looking. His anklebone protruded like his wristbones did, as if his feet were just very strange hands. He had little bits of dark sock lint stuck to his skin, and it came off in a stripe when Opal rubbed at it. 

[tomyo]

So I have life things right now but what if instead I just list off some shit I’ve done falling in love with Soul Eater 10 years ago.

Soul Eater was probable the first series I watched as the series was still airing. Not a huge deal nowadays but in 2008, all we had were some sketchy sites that would play four anime series in 360p. I think turnaround would still only be a week or two but it was so much more harder. I found the series when my site uploaded it as a Naruto episode by mistake.

Later on as I was reading the manga as it came out, I would go on just as horrible malware sites to look at the raws. 

Honestly, I stopped watching the anime around episode 30 initially because I preferred the manga.

I have some drawings somewhere planning to cosplay Maka in 2009 but I wasn’t that into it yet. 

Changed at the end of my sophmore year of school when I fucking crashlanded in crazy fan land.

Summer of 2010, I went on fanfiction.net from my dsi and read as many stories as I could until I fell asleep. My set up would either be propped up on my bed or floor with my bedding (it was hot and no fan and floor cool). I would sneak down stairs to grab an icecream cone. And then in the morning I would wake up to a dead DSi because I fell asleep when my body gave out.

Also since it was 2010 and smartphones were hardly a thing yet. I would print out novelas worth of fan fiction to read when my dad would drag me to see family who lived without internet and maybe one socket that had one three pronged socket. Rip environment.

Remember this really long drabbles collection. Sometimes it was 100 words, sometimes its a 10k Vampire AU that was so, so very tasty.

Maka Shop was a mispelling often made and I made my own AU based on that. I’m too much of a coward to share any fanfics I’ve ever made tho.

Was there for the blip that was ‘I’m writing this based on my criminology class’ hell fanfic. If you know it, you know it. If not. Good.

I was hype to buy a Soul plush from my local con that year and took embarrassing af photos with it because he was my first anime crush.

I also snuck into the one 18+ section of the one doujinshi booth at said con because there was only one book in the non

Niwatori and Kiss were legends, I own all of Niwatori’s SE doujinshi but now I’m onto finishing the Kiss ones I’m comfortable with own. Had managed to find Niwa’s old sites before she became pro.

Nowadays I keep up on Pixiv to see what still active SE doujin artists are up to and am desperately trying to collect their work.

Also holy shit, I nearly spent $90 on ebay at one point to get the official artbook but thankfully held out and got it for $15 a few years later.

Back into the timeline

Made OCs for an OCT and it was basically Soul and Maka

Followed a bunch of notable fans on DeviantART. Zraid was a big one. Was in love with Keiko-chan’s art. Also followed Dragula as they were releasing chrona centric doujinshi. 

I drew the characters a lot but didn’t post as much since I didn’t like how I drew them. There are tons of Maka and Soul scribbles from my notebooks though. I really expiremented because of how fluid Ohkubo was with his art.

Fighting dreamers pro did their soul eater group and made me determined to have my own. Lists exist somewhere of planning to go to NYCC when it was NYAF.

Started to get into Soul Eater cosplay. Determined to do Spartoi Maka. Bought a costume from Fanplusfriend for $180 on the outfit alone because no other listing existed. Still have my $1000+ limebarb quote when I nearly bought it through her (yikes)

I have still failed to this day to remake the outfit and scythe even though I try every katsucon. But I’ve done others tho.

Soul was the first case of me ever wanting to ‘crossplay’ (no longer accurate term)

Asked my mum for a white shirt from target that became the shirt I wanted to cosplay a splash page image of soul with. The white one with the red scarf

There was also the Soul Resonance Bad Romance parody skit when skits were big that was heavy inspiration.

Made a whole one up in my head to Don’t Stop by innerpartysystem. It had backdrop cutouts and lighting that I would never be able to do. Also like 20 person team beyond the cosplayers honestly.

Also wanted to do a high school centric amv to Arashi’s Troublemaker. 

Watched so many AMVS. Started to learn more about AMV culture because of it. Also Mentalprodigy is Soul Eater AMV god and I’m sad that she’s deleted some of them for good. ‘Insanity’ helped me get over a crush the next summer.

Tried making some of my own first CMVs. I put a lot of work into one of ‘If it really means a lot to you’ in which I tried making maka’s outburst from episode one match to the lyrics. Bad video quality but I’m still proud of it. Also did one to Be my escape and Lydia songs but most of them would never render properly because my computer was 2gbs on windows vista. Anyways here they are in case you were curious.

Lots of headcanons

Ponponpon came out and I immediately connected it to one off comment Maka makes about liking the PonPon dance even though she said it before Kyary’s debut.

Started estimating the main pairs ages based on info (Maka was 17 at the end of it fite me)

Designed a Kama Design and it turned out post end Maka was drawn with the same hairstyle so :OOOO

I hated wearing badge pins back then but I kept one of soul on my beret when they were popular.

Took up Piano for a semester at school. Sadly it was only a half year course but I spend a good amount of time trying to play Selenic Soul. Still remember a bit of how to play it. Also because of a Kiss image, I wanted and got a Melodica.

Started reading Bichi because I was DEADIATCATED

Fun fact: it has a proto version of like, every character. Maka is a maid.

Signed up on Nico Nico and Pixiv to start finding artists and video makers.

Recently found a whole bunch of old videos on Nico of Gangan CMs with a person dressed as Maka and its gooood.

When I joined in highschool , I had intent to start posting seasonal art and try to connect with japanese artists. Drew an unfinished NY art for the year of the rabbit with broken japanese.

I think I finished the Anime around this time??? We had just gotten Netflix. Hated the ending so much. ‘The manga is going to be so much better’

It was Book of Eibon Era so like, the best part before it all went down hill veeeery sloooowly

Genderbent chapters were fuuuuuuuun. Still about it

Soul Eater Not was announced and my body couldn’t take it. Loved it even though it was basically Kon in Soul Eater. It became harder to get even the raws because Yen Press was getting big and cracking down so I bought one of the books. 

Joined twitter to see if Ohkubo was okay during the Earthquake and Tsunami that hit Japan in 2011. This is a poor reason to worry about someone’s life but I was a dumb teen. 

After about a year and a half of non stop fixation, my interest went into a new direction because of Homestuck.

Fun Fact, I’ve seen huge crossover with the two. Every modern Soul Eater fan 200% was a Homestuck. ESPECIALLY IF YOU WERE INTO KAREZI.

Various Soul Maka supplement characters over the years: Ladybug and Chat Noir, Judy and Nick from Zootopia, Karkat and Terezi. Any strong female with a devoted male partner. 

Also some fave, I want Maka ships but I’ve watched soul eater enough already; Tonari no Kaibutsu and Kaiba. There is more but I forget :c

Fell down general obscure Soul Eater shit

Cosplay Meme because why the fuck not

Years of insisting groups never got me anywhere in college so I mostly solo and look it up on tumblr now and then

Manga ended so..yeah

Soul eater not comes and goes and everyone laughs. I still try to get peple invested in it because its the only time we get to see any Liz and Patty character development. Also lesbians >>

Get back in deep in 2017. Finally achieved buying doujinshi after a 7 year gap in availability. Have thus spent probably close to $500 on my collection and its sad. I spent so much money at Otaku Republic that they’ve sent me 3 freebie items since, a plush keychain, a pencil board, and a pass case that was actually useful and causes a bunch of intense moments of love for soul eater with my college peers.

Moved onto finding rare promo items in the mean time. Mouse? check. Speaker that looks like headphone illustration? check. Looking into an mp3 and rare instax as we speak. 

Did you know there was a calculator? Did you know there was a Lamp. And a fucking cd player.  

Debating learning how to drive a motorcycle and buying the same model as Soul’s. I hate harleys but man the aesthetic. God, one of my various information searching used to be on why soul could drive a motorcycle when most us law says you have to be 18. Why? who knows why. I was 17 and wanted the characters to be my age.

Started compiling Maka costumes. Episode 12 Maka? Check. Exams arc Maka? In progress. That one illustration for the chapter art? Check. Monster Hunter Promo art? Sure Why not. Black blood Maka, Halloween Maka, Halloween Fanart Maka, Christmas Maka, Shit why not deathbucks maka. 

Over the years many friends said they could be Soul for me and I’m sure none of them are prepared for if they actually do. The one case where it did happen...I was intense. It was bad.

After alot of internet digging, I finally found the site of Channel C who’s many people’s fav soul eater cosplayer. So many images that had been hidden away.

Realized when watching Mob Psycho 100 that I now recognize the Japanese VA. Sadly can’t say the same for Laura Bailey since I don’t watch a lot of anime anymore. 

Most importantly I had a feverish desire to make more soul eater art just before Ohkubo announce perfect edition.

[dxmedstudent]

Hi dxmedstudent :) i LOVE your tumblr and appreciate all info and advive you give js, as well as your stories 🤗. Im a final year med student. Can you please give me any tips on how to best prepare for F1? And also any advice you'd give your current F1's? Thank youuuu x

Aww thank you! I’m really humbled! I’ll do my best in the future :D Soon I’m sure you’ll have stories of your own to share.

I give too much advice to my FY1s, sometimes my time with juniors feels like a stream of consciousness conversation in which I’m just trying to make their lives less horrible by giving them all the tips I can as much as possible. But I can’t remember it all off the top of my head XDPrioritising is so important. Deal with urgent or time sensitive jobs first, then order the rest in order of how much it will change what you do today. So, bloods and imaging are important, as are reviews by other speialties, and collateral histories. But if you are swamped, always remember what is likely to change my management plan here and now? What is the most clinically urgent?

First do the most urgent jobs; this may even be during ward round. Reviewing anyone who is sick goes into this category. Requesting urgent opinions, doing urgent bloods or urgent investigations, goes here.

Then jobs that you want to get back ASAP (requesting imaging, doing bloods).  If your nurses can’t do a blood sample, and your phlebs won’t, then you’ll have to do it, but remember it will take 2 hours to come back, at a minimum, so prepare accordingly.

I request things before sitting down to do the other jobs like phoning different specialties for routine referrals, speaking to relatives, getting information from the GP etc go here. Therse are the kinds of things

EDS/TTO/TTAs should be left til the end of the list, as should reboarding drug charts, updating relatives that nothing new is happening. However sometimes non-clinical urgency (bed managers hassling yout to send  people home, relatives telling you ‘I want an update but I am leaving in 5 minutes’) may push it up your priority list so you have to deal with it sooner.

some things can wait til tomorrow, if you can’t get everything done today.

Aim to keep people safe. That is the most important thing.

Don’t be afraid to hand over to the oncall. It is what they are there for.

Don’t stay later than you have to. We all get crises sometimes but we shouldn’t make it a habit.

it is really hard to organise yourself at the beginning, so if you end up staying late or feeling like there are too many jobs, please remember it is hell for everyone at first, and it will get better. You will become so organised!

General tips:

be nice to everyone. befriend the staff as soon as you start FY1. Everyone is a teammate and deserves to be treated as such. And if you treat people nicely, they are much more likely to help you, too.

If you want something to happen, send a request. If you want it to happen faster, phone them up and have a chat. If you want them to bend space-time and make it happen right now, walk down and see them personally.

If something doesn’t happen when you expect it to, call them up and ask why.

If something was requested by someone else, assume it may have gotten lost in the void, and call up/have a chat to ‘chase’ where it is up to. Unfortunately, for some reason, half our job is chasing things that other people are meant to have done. You requested it, but that’s not enough. Your seniors will expect you to chase to make it happen.

be a team player with your other FY1s. Some people will be snakes, you can only let them do their thing. But try to make friends and support each other.

Mental health is important, and you are too. If you are struggling, it is very common, and not a reflection on your own worth as a doctor. Look after each other and reach out; you are each others’ support network.

Tea and Empathy and the Junior doctor contract forum are two groups for UK doctors on facebook, and honestly two of the most useful sources of doctor information and support that I’ve seen.

Bad jobs and mean seniors will happen, but they will end. They are not forever.

Carry a clipboard full of any request forms/paperwork (like DNACPR, drug charts, continuation sheets) that you will need in your daily work. I don’t carry one now because you get ribbed for carrying one as an SHO and an SHO shouldn’t be having to do as many ward jobs, but it was honestly so, so useful that I held onto mine for like 3 years. Your consultants will think you are the most organised person ever, because whenever they need a form, you will spirit one up out of nowhere.

You can also print out the most commonly used protocols in your hospital; for example ACS, falls, head injury. So you can keep them in your folder and refer to them at a glance. If not, they will always be on your hospital intranet but make sure you familiarise yourself with how to find them easily. There’s a guideline for almost anything.

I keep an acute medicine handbook on me for oncalls, but a general pocket guide can be useful.

download any apps that your hospital uses (e.g  microguide for antibiotic guidelines). Download the induction app; people upload the internal numbers and bleeps for your hospital.  They are a godsend. The MDcalc app is wonderful for remembering how to calculate Wells scores and CHADSVASC etc so you don’t have to at 3am. The BNF app is amazingly useful; I used to carry a pocket prescriber book, but not any more.

I have a tag called #tips for new docs which might be useful for you. I try to lump my ‘how to survive night shifts’ style posts over there. And if you have any questions about FY1 life, or if you just need to rant, , I’ll always be happy to help.

Hope this helps :)

[ncfan-1]

ncfan listens to The Magnus Archives: S1 EP 004, ‘Page Turner’

Come to Jurgen-Leitner’s, where we have Necronomicons for every occasion and situation you could imagine! Necronomicons for summoning the dead! Necronomicons for revealing past transgressions! Necronomicons to drive the sanest man mad! Bring a friend, bring the whole family! Buy as much as you like, because you won’t be coming back! You’ll be dead or in a mental hospital with a melted brain before coming back passes your mind!

No spoilers, please!

- The evil book is a common theme in media. Books of arcane knowledge that corrupt the user in some form or another are commonplace, really, and in about half of those you will find some sort of sapient entity that may or may not interact directly with the reader. The Necronomicon of Lovecraft lore is probably the most notorious, along with Tom Riddle’s diary from the Harry Potter series; heck, the Restricted section of the Hogwarts library is full of books like this. You’ve also got ‘The King in Yellow,’ the play in book form of the similarly titled The King in Yellow. I think Evil Dead has one. The 2003 Teen Titans series has Raven come across a spell book that hosts an evil dragon pretending to be a good wizard. Eclipsa’s chapter of the Royal Book of Spells in Star vs. The Forces of Evil is this in miniature, though like many things in Svtfoe, it’s not what it seems at first glance. House of Leaves is a weird example of this, but it is an example. A Sith Holocron in Star Wars is a sci-fi equivalent. Even the Care Bears Movie had one of these.

What is it with our enduring fascination with Evil Books, anyways? The obsession seems to go beyond even Evil Books, anyways, because I can’t help but remember the way the Catholic Church reacted when people first started printing Bibles in their own vernacular. In that case, they likely came down so hard on translators like Wycliffe and Tyndale (well, Wycliffe was involved with the Lollard movement; I doubt that helped) because they knew their own power would wane if they couldn’t dictate religion to the masses, but we seem to have a Thing about books in general. Everybody’s obsessed with the Voynich Manuscript, too.

- And we’ve got Dominic insisting he’s not some crazy hobo, furthering our “mentally ill people are more vulnerable” theme; Dominic seems to understand it would work against him.

- “Probably calf, given how soft it was.” I do wonder how leather made from human skin feels to the touch. Is it, by any chance, soft?

- ‘Ex Altiorā’ is an interesting phrase, because it can mean a couple of very different things. ‘Ex’ is a preposition whose potential meanings include ‘out of’, ‘from within’, and ‘from.’ ‘Altiorā’ is the ablative case of the superlative form of the adjective ‘altus, -a, -um,’ which can mean either ‘high’ or ‘deep.’ So while it can mean ‘From/Out of the highest’, it can also mean ‘From/Out of the deepest.’

- So the book is a magic time sink?

- And after flipping through the book (one image of which was a mysteriously frighteningly night sky), Dominic is now picking up the smell of ozone.

- The pictures triggered Catherine’s vertigo? Given how affecting the night sky image is supposed to be, I’ll take that as a warning.

- Given that another Jurgen-Leitner book later shows up in Sanskrit, I wonder if the woodcut of a crooked tower with birds circling the summit represents the Tower of Babel.

- In real life, ‘Key of Solomon’ is a grimoire that was authored sometime in the 14th or 15th century in Italy. Though it is attributed to King Solomon, it was almost certainly not written by him as, again, it surfaced sometime in the 1300s-1400s. The book included incantations to summon and control the spirits of the dead and demons, how to find lost items, how to become invisible, etc. It also described the purifications the practitioner should undergo, how they should dress, how they should make the instruments used in their experiments, and what sort of animal sacrifices they’d have to make to the spirits. I got that info from Wikipedia, so take it with a grain of salt, but the last detail may potentially be important.

- “Something else there. Something I knew but… could not remember.” Wonderful.

- Mary Key sounds… creepy as hell.

- I wonder if dead Mary (I listen to these entries at least twice: the first time without making any notes, and at least once to make my notes) plays death metal music for a reason. Could it be, say, to block out the screams of dying animals?

- As to the picture of the eye, the eye is rich in symbolic meaning, but right now what I’m thinking of the most is the idea of God—or, if the story so intends, some other in-universe higher power—staring down on mankind and judging them.

- “Grant us the sight that we may not know. Grant us the scent that we may not catch. Grand us the sound that we may not call.” Well, we’ve got ozone so far—and something that will be revealed to us soon.

- So Mary Key’s Jurgen-Leitner book is a Jurgen-Leitner with no title, and the leather is in “better condition.” That’s great, that’s real great. Is it the copy of ‘Key of Solomon’ that was mentioned earlier on, because that might make some sense of what happens next.

- Mary’s book is in Sanskrit. If this is a copy of ‘Key of Solomon’, that might actually make sense as an attempt to pass ‘Key of Solomon’ off as actually having been written by Solomon. Sanskrit was in use in Southwest Asia (otherwise known as the Middle East), as there was trade between India and Southwest Asia; it’s actually believed that Sanskrit may have originated in what today is Iran.

- So you pass Mary’s book through shadows, and bent little animal bones fall out, “warped into shapes that bones should not form.” Interesting.

- Yeah, Mary’s been summoning demons. Or at least she was when she was alive.

- And when Dominic looks through his book—even without having to pass it through shadows—the woodcuts have changed. There are new lines in the picture, thick and dark and coming down from the sky like lightning.

- He sees the Lichtenberg Figure—grant us the sight that we may not know.

- The smell of ozone and cooking flesh—grant us the scent that we may not catch.

- The deafening lightning—grant us the sound that we may not call.

- So Mary messes with what is probably a copy of ‘Key of Solomon’, and possibly winds up being sacrificed the way she seems to have sacrificed animals. If Dominic had kept Ex Altiorā, would he have been struck by lightning?

- Jared sounds like he just wants to be done with all of this.

- So, as for Mary being in the bookstore when she was dead… Did Jared summon his mother’s spirit using her old book?

- Was… Was Jared going to use Mary’s skin as new pages for the book?

- Yeah, it was probably the grimoire that was deemed inadmissible.

- I wonder what Jared saw in Ex Altiorā, what it was that made him laugh.

- “My mother doesn’t always know what’s best for our family.” Well, alrighty then.

- So… It seems that Jurgen-Leitner makes books that are basically Necronomicon-grade tomes of forbidden knowledge fit to drive men mad. And the Magnus Institute has (or had, though it sounds like we’re going to be dealing in present tense again, now) an ongoing project devoted to dealing with his library after some incident in 1994. Well, I’m sure this will never come back in any way. Jonathan sounds so done.

- And Jonathan’s running assignment has just crossed over from “assignment that makes you rip all your hair out” to “assignment that makes you entertain fantasies about killing your boss for handing you this mess without even warning you about what you were walking into.” You can hear it in his voice. Though in this case, it sounds more like he’s entertaining fantasies of learning how to perform necromancy so he can resurrect Gertrude Robinson just to have the privilege of killing her again.

- That said, I’d say there’s more method to Gertrude’s madness than he’s willing to acknowledge right now.

- It’s possible that Dominic’s translation was off, and Martin was only looking for English translations. Because there is more than one possible translation.

[welcometophu]

Not Your Love Song: Chapter 18

Marked Book 2: Not Your Love Song

Chapter 18

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Rory is awake far too early on Sunday. Alaric convinces him to stumble down into the dining hall for breakfast, but Rory doesn’t bother to shower first. He just wants to go back to sleep after breakfast, when Alaric leaves for OPT.

It works for a little while.

His phone starts buzzing a little after noon. Rory would guess that Alaric just hit the road in Dax’s minivan to go home, so he’s not surprised by the onslaught. He rolls over and grabs the phone, unlocks it to find three text threads waiting for him.

The oldest is from Darrik, and Rory can’t imagine why he’d be up at just past six in the morning on a Sunday.

I forgot to text that I got in okay last night after the movie. Had a good time. Bet you’re still sleeping.

At that hour? Definitely. The nine o’clock breakfast was too early as it was.

I was, Rory replies. I’m awake now. You surviving after your late night?

While they’d seen the first movie showing of the night, their group had all gone out to Teas Please after, and Darrik had dropped Rory off at just past one before heading back to Valiant. It wasn’t all that late for Rory, but for someone who works in a high school on weekdays, it had to be past his usual bedtime.

He switches to the next conversation in the list, a little surprised that it’s just Kit and him, and not the group chat with Shane, or the larger one that includes Dax and Darrik as well.

We just hit the road. Carolyn looks like she’s going to puke. Corbin is loud and he and Drea are kind of disturbingly cute. There are two people we knew in high school going with us, and having their car behind us is like having the past on our tail.

It’s a poetic image, the idea of the past literally hunting a person down, following them down the highway. Or back roads. Rory grabs a notebook and writes it down before he sends back, Is that imagery up for grabs?

Give me a shoutout when you sing it, if it makes it that far, Kit replies.

That’s easy enough. I can do that, Rory agrees. Is Alaric bored and sulking about having to go home?

I think he’s talking to Dax about football. Why? Is he texting you, too? You guys are really good friends, right?

Like family. Rory doesn’t need to think about it, or qualify it in any way. We got lucky. I think he was dreading having to room with a Mage. I didn’t know what to expect from Clan. People are so different. There’s Alaric, and then there’s Darrik.

It’s a cue, maybe, because a notification pops up to add to the trail of texts he has from Alaric. It starts with a series of apologies for waking him up early, trails into a discussion of just how thrilled he is to be heading home, and meanders into a dry commentary on public displays of affection between his sister and his best friend. It’s easy to imagine Alaric’s voice for each of the texts, and Rory’s laughing at the end. You could just tell them to quit it, he suggests.

Do you think I haven’t tried? Do you know how many Mages are in this van? And two more in a car behind us. Drea says she talked to our parents. I don’t think it matters that they’ve been warned. It’s not going to go over well.

Do you have a plan for Theobald? Rory asks.

Yeah. I’m distracting him with politics. I have a whole printed contract with Dayton’s Clan, specific to her and me allying, not the older generations. I also want to arrange a visitation for spring break. Our whole alliance plans to meet there, including the Mages.

Rory rolls onto his back, phone held above him. That’s going to be a hell of a distraction, yeah. I don’t have to worry about him trying to kill you or something, do I?

I’m all he has left.

Rory knows exactly how Alaric says it, how lost he sounds with those words. He also knows it’s not true. There’s Drea. There are other families among their Clan. There are options. He’s not sure what, exactly, keeps Theobald from stripping this away from Alaric. But something does, and Alaric’s going to continue to push his limits as long as he can.

I’m doing okay. The message pops up from Darrik, and when Rory switches conversations there are dots like Darrik is still thinking through what he wants to say next. I had fun last night, Darrik finally sends. I like your friends. I’d say I’m looking forward to Wednesday, but I’d be lying. I am looking forward to seeing you and your friends, though.

That statement makes sense to Rory. Did you talk to Lora’s parents and the people at Sunnyview?

Not yet, Darrik admits. I did try to call her parents, but they’re out. They do brunch sometimes, so I’ll probably get hold of them this evening. I’ll let you know when everything’s set. Do you need anything special for the ritual?

Rory switches conversations, pulling up the group text with Kit and Shane and staring at it for a long time before deciding he’s not typing anything there right now and switches back to Darrik. I don’t know yet, but I’ll let you know. I think it’s going to be all Kit’s focus and me and Shane trying to supply direction, and we’ll go from there. Hopefully we can reach her.

Hopefully.

There’s nothing more than that one word from Darrik. Rory shifts from conversation to conversation, ignoring what he’s been sent in favor of looking for another reply from Darrik. When one doesn’t come, he bites his lip, tries to decide what to send back.

This was a rough weekend. Are you okay?

I’m going to be. The response comes back like he didn’t have to think about it, like maybe he was expecting the question. I’ll send you info as soon as I know it for Wednesday. And probably text you when I’m bored in study hall.

Rory smiles at Darrik’s attempt to lighten the mood. I’ll look forward to it. And keep my phone on silent so I don’t get in trouble for texting my boyfriend during lectures.

This time when there’s no reply right away, Rory lets it go.

Alaric put his phone away. I can almost feel his anxiety. He’s the one who doesn’t like Heather, right?

Kit’s text comes through while Rory is talking to Darrik. It’s been several minutes by the time Rory gets to it, but he figures that’s fine. It’s not like Kit’s going anywhere; he’s trapped in a car for at least a half an hour.

Yeah, he doesn’t like Empaths. I was just talking to Darrik. He’s going to talk to Lora’s parents. He’s not looking forward to reliving any of that mess again, but he liked you guys. So he’s looking forward to seeing everyone again.

Jess won’t be there, Kit replies. But I liked her. She’s got a lot of energy, doesn’t she? But quiet energy. Like a mountain. With freckles.

Rory has to look through his photos to find one from last night, because he doesn’t have a clear mental image of Jess, and he doesn’t remember the freckles. They’re there, though. She’s tall, broad-shouldered, taking Shane’s weight when he leans on her.

He hopes Kit never actually calls her a mountain; he’s pretty sure she’d find that offensive. But he understands the reference, that kind of solid, stable energy that lies in the earth. I get it, he replies. Did you get to talk to Serina at all today? You guys seem to be doing well.

It’s only been a week. Ish.

Rory frowns at the phone. Is that your way of saying it isn’t serious? Or that it’s not a thing? Or that it’s not working? You guys seemed good last night.

I think we’re okay.

Kit’s response comes quickly, but it’s followed by a series of dots and Rory waits to see if Kit’s going to finish the thought. He reaches for his notebook, scribbles notes to himself about the idea of the past chasing as they drive down the highway, the car close behind. What happens when you stop, and the past catches up… yeah, that’s a thought.

I really like her.

The phone buzzes to let him know Kit replied, but it’s just those four words.

I think she really likes you, Rory replies.

I know. We get along really well, and she’s fun. We talk a lot, and we make out some.

Rory winces, because this may be starting to verge into TMI territory. Not that he hasn’t handled that since Thorne hit puberty, but still. He doesn’t really think he has that kind of friendship with Kit, yet.

I like kissing her. I think I like kissing in general. Which is good, right? I’m just not sure… I haven’t really wanted to move past that. She hasn’t said anything about it, which is also good, since moving past kissing starts getting into other things. But I don’t know if not wanting more is a me thing, an us thing, or maybe it’s just life.

Rory is not qualified to be having this conversation. He wants to ask if it matters right now, but he figures it must matter to Kit, since he brought it up. And maybe it matters to Serina, maybe it doesn’t, but Rory certainly isn’t going to go knock on her door to ask.

He looks at his door like it’s about to burst open on cue. Thankfully it doesn’t, but he gets out of bed anyway, just to check and make sure the door is actually still locked.

Is it something you need to figure out right now? he asks.

No, but I

The text ends there, as if Kit was interrupted or just decided to stop, and Rory isn’t sure which it is. Alaric’s gone silent, and Darrik never responded to his last. It’s as good a time as any to toss his phone on the bed and go looking for something to wear.

Rory tosses dirty laundry into a hamper; there’s enough that he probably should throw a load in  while most of the world is either still sleeping off the Saturday night drunk, or getting brunch downstairs. Apparently it’s long overdue since the only t-shirts left in his drawer are the ones he wears when he doesn’t really give a shit. And every single hoodie could use a wash, so he has to decide which one is least offensive, or else just not leave the building.

He does a sniff test and decides that not leaving the building is the right answer. Clean pajama pants, an old t-shirt, and hanging out in his room finishing up assignments and working on music. He can do that.

He takes the hamper down and separates it into two washers. He walks cautiously past Serina’s room, as if she somehow knows what he’s been talking to Kit about and is going to pounce on him with her side of the story.

When he gets back to his room, he grabs the phone and checks it.

Maybe I’m just being stupid, Kit says. If I like her, shouldn’t I want to do more? Shouldn’t I be interested in

He cuts off again in that text, but another one has already come through.

I just want to know if it’s me, or if it’s because it’s her, or if it’s something else entirely. I’ve never had a girlfriend before, and maybe it’s just a time thing.

Rory closes his door, twists the lock. Have you ever kissed anyone before Serina? he asks. He strips down to his underwear and wraps a towel around his waist while waiting for Kit to respond.

Once. In seventh grade. During one of those stupid games that I honestly didn’t believe that anyone actually played at middle school parties.

I didn’t like it. But I figured it was because he didn’t know I was a guy, so it just felt weird and wrong. Most of seventh grade felt weird and wrong. Adolescence sucked in a major way.

Rory’s starting to wonder if maybe he is the right person for Kit to be talking to. He leans back against the bed, fingers sliding over the keyboard as he types. I’m not personally a big fan of kissing. I like cuddling. There is nothing better than having another body in bed with you, honestly, but it’s nothing sexual. I snuggle people I trust. Kissing always feels weird to me, and I definitely don’t want to do anything else with anyone.

Hm. Rory imagines the way Kit’s brow furrows. I do like

He cuts off again, and Rory swallows a laugh. It’s like talking to someone who’s been bleeped out.

You can like getting off without wanting to do it with another person, Rory says, his cheeks bright red even though no one’s there to see it. Or it’s possible she’s just not the right person for you. No matter what popular media says, not every guy wants to get into every girl’s pants. And not everyone is thinking about sex all the time. Even people who like it. Thorne’s an outlier. Most people are a lot more subtle about it.

Thanks for talking to me. I know you’re not a fan of sex. I appreciate it, Kit replies.

Rory does laugh out loud at that. I am betting I’m the only ace guy you know, so I’m okay if you want to talk to me about that. It’s one of those things that a lot of guys don’t understand. And Kit? It’s okay if it’s also just because you’re anxious because of everything else. That’s something you’ll figure out. Just don’t worry about rushing it, okay?

He leaves the phone on the bed when he heads to the shower. Kit should be arriving in Haverhill soon, and Rory thinks that maybe he’s had enough awkward but encouraging conversations about sexuality.

There’s a song in that somewhere. It might even have to do with the past chasing…

Huh.

He hums under his breath while he showers, and by the time he gets back to his room, lyrics are starting to form.

[ Previous | First | Next ]

[theparadorinn]

Holiday Card, DJT, Post Office

Hi, 

Well here I go, I think I have it now. 

Here’s a pic of my traditional holiday tree in the parlor.

I can now rattle on and insert pic’s.  I’m so excited.  :)  

Holiday cards are in the mail.  If I don’t have your address and you’d like to receive on send me your snail mail address.  Or if you are in my data base and don’t get one within the next week or so send me and email so I can update your address. Still learning, I don’t know what I did saving this from the printer into Picasa, it’s not at all as red as this pic:

OK, now for some of my pent up ranting.  First of all I am so glad DJT lost, but I must admit I will miss his craziness (in a way).    I am really afraid of what he is going to do in the next month and a half through Executive Orders (at least when President Biden takes office he will be able to quickly change it back.  One of my current concerns (and always is) is the environment he seems hell bent on reversing all the progress we’ve made on clean water and other protections for the natural world.

I saw a funny posting on face book, and image of him at a desk and there was something about the elections and the bubble over his head he’s saying “This is where I normally declare bankruptcy” ain’t that the truth?

Yes, I also don’t like career politicians, but there’s something to say about having someone running a department that knows what they are doing.  The post office blows me away how bad it is and to give DJT some credit (which I hate to do) :) it was messed up before he installed  Louis DeJoy with no postal experience, at least he’s got experience in logistics, but that hasn’t helped much it looks like.  They are still running in a deficit.  These days you see ads “hiring now” in the front of most chain businesses.  Target for one doesn’t pay their people anywhere near the relatively generous compensation our mail carriers get. Every post office I pass has a help wanted-now hiring- sign in front of it.  And who does the hiring?  I probably receive a piece of mail for 939 North Avenue every two weeks, two blocks north of Western, isn’t reading a requirement?  Three times my payment to my local phone company was returned to me with a note “no such address” or “can’t be delivered as addressed”.  When I address an envelope I take it from the address printed on the check in Quick Books.  I hate paying late fees and call the phone company and the PO box is the same on the envelope as on my check.  It’s so bad that I’ve set up an ACH where I can send the payment 2 days before the due date.  I hate my local phone company and can’t get out of the contract for another year and refuse to pay their “early termination fee”.  If you notice I didn’t put their name in here, no free advertising for those SOB’s. 😊

I’m trying to get some press for safe family holiday gatherings.    I’ve sent the following to the three major TV stations and both the Trib and Post Gazette:

People are seeking safe ways to enjoy their families and the holidays.  And exclusive use of a bed and breakfast fills both these bills, no outsiders, just family.  The totally decorated Parador Inn is ready to accept bookings for exclusive all family holiday events.  Lots of public space for smaller and larger family gatherings.  For exclusive they would need to book the 7 guest rooms in the mansion (2 in the carriage house also available).  Working fireplaces in the guest rooms, parlor and dining room adds to the holiday festive atmosphere.  The Parador even has an ADA guest room for grandma.  All the usual amenities provided with an over night stay (dinners and option) or they could bring in dinner and have it in my dining room. The best part is I am running my covid special through the holidays.  My cell 412-508-6000

I sent this a week ago and I haven’t heard from anyone yet, I know they don’t move at the speed I normally do.  Something a little eerie was the day after I sent the above out a woman here on the Northside contacted me and wanted info about having a “safe birthday party for her 80 year old mom and immediate family.    She just took the initiative to inquire with no knowledge of what I’m trying to push.

I’m finishing up one of my covid projects (things I can’t do when I have guests because it’s too dirty or smelly).  The shelf in the library over the book shelves has never been refinished since being built over 100 years ago.  And there was lots of imperfections, splattered paint and many other things wrong with it.  It’s stripped and two coats of oil based polyurethane applied.  It definitely will need at least a 3rd.  OMG what beautiful walnut it’s made of.  As I was stripping it I was admiring the wood.  How beautiful this place must have been when it was new.  It just blows me away.

That’s it for today,

ed

[lalainajanes]

@cupcakemolotov tossed me “publishing house” yesterday and this teeny thing happened.

Line After Line

Caroline’s just about to start yelling (or whisper yelling – they’re at work and she’s not an animal) because Klaus’ feet are on her desk.

She was beginning to think he had a death wish.

Caroline had googled the crap out of him (and then his family) when they’d become cubicle mates. From what she’d gleaned he’d grown up in a super fancy house, had probably had etiquette lessons and a stern Nanny to correct his behavior so there was no excuse for him treating her desk like an ottoman.

Other than the fact that he seemed to take great pleasure in being the most annoying person on the planet. At least to Caroline. Other people seemed to find him perfectly charming, a couple of the girls down in marketing were forever attempting to pump Caroline for info in hopes of snagging Klaus’ attention.

Did he date often? How did he take his coffee? Did Caroline think he was the type who liked it when a woman made the first move? In the beginning she’d demurred, dodged. Eventually she’d just started making up amusing lies. At this point they thought Klaus was an avid lawn bowler who collected vintage picture frames.

She’d been tempted to offer her Great Gran’s foolproof man catching strategy – less hair, more boobs – but she figured that wouldn’t go over well. Gran had been married three times though so she had clearly been doing something right.

Plus, he might think he was subtle but Caroline had noted that Klaus’ eyes tended to dip whenever her necklines did

Caroline stands at the entrance to their workspace, fuming while Klaus pays her no mind. When she notices the manuscript in his hands, the one he’d perusing with great interest, all biting words about his appalling lack of manners die on her lips.

It’s her manuscript.

That was not meant for his eyes.

She’d been planning on slipping it into one of the to-be read piles. The publishing house received stacks upon stacks of spec stories from hopeful authors every month. She, Klaus, and a handful of others were responsible for pre-reading them and separating out the ones that had potential.

Caroline was finally ready to share hers. She’d listed a pseudonym, had told herself that there was no harm in taking a shot – maybe she’d be rejected but that wouldn’t be the end of the world. She’d just have to keep trying, improving.

She hadn’t wanted Klaus to be the first one to get to it.

He’d read way too much into the fact that her hero kind of resembled him. Mostly physically but Caroline will admit that some of the snarky-one liners were things she imagined from his distractingly full lips. And maybe her hero had a few exasperating younger siblings. But that was all. Caroline hadn’t even really done it on purpose but when there was a hot English dude in your space every day it was inevitable that the Earl in your historical romance ended up molded in his image.

That was her story and she was sticking to it.

She hastily smooths her face into a less panicked expression when Klaus glances up. No need to clue him into the fact that she didn’t want him to read what he was reading. He delighted in being contrary so there’s no way he’d willingly put it down then. Tackling him and taking it by force was obviously out of the question since she was a professional. “Do you mind?” she hisses. “You have a perfectly good desk less than three feet away. Rest your stupid hipster boots over there.”

Klaus has the gall to smirk up at her, slouching down slightly in her chair, “I thought I’d help you out. It seems like you’ve fallen behind.” He nods over the whiteboard where they keep a tally of the projects they’ve completed. Every month the loser was obligated to buy drinks and Klaus had narrowly eked out a victory two months running and was in the lead once more.

Did that kill her a little? Yes. Something Klaus clearly knew.

“I think I picked an easy one, however. It’s quite good. The dialogue flows nicely. The sex scenes need the most polishing.”

Caroline tries not to obviously bristle. “What, did you skip ahead to the dirty bits?”

Klaus would never say ‘duh’ but the look he sends her conveys it all the same.

“And what, exactly, is wrong with them?” It has come out a little sharper than Caroline had meant it to, more defensively, and Caroline hopes Klaus doesn’t notice.

“This is for print, correct? If it were eBook only it would be fine, they’re a bit more lenient about the racy elements there. “

Caroline feels her cheeks heat. That’s so not what she’d been expecting him to say. “So you’re saying it’s too graphic?” Was it too graphic? Caroline hadn’t thought so but, as much as she hated to admit it, Klaus was a good editor. She’d been dubious when he’d shown up, even more so when she’d found out that his father was kind of a big deal in the publishing world. Why he was choosing to do grunt work in New York City when he could join his older brothers in a huge offices with a view in London was still a mystery.

“Mmm,” Klaus hums in confirmation. “And it’s perhaps a bit too… imaginative for a title in this division. Authors are only allowed to sneak in bondage sparingly, as you know.”

That was true. She could maybe omit the ribbons. Perhaps have the hero instruct the heroine to hold on to the bed rails if she wanted to come? But then she’d have to rewrite the descriptions of the room. Lost in her own thoughts she barely registers Klaus saying her name. Caroline shakes herself, “What?”

His eyes narrow, “So you’ve started this one already? And here I thought I was doing a good deed.”

Yeah, and that was suspicious. “Which is confusing to me, by the way? Why would you want to help me win? Don’t you like free drinks?”

He shifts, so slightly she might not have noticed if not for the squeaky wheels of her chair. It’s intriguing since Klaus was generally pretty unflappable, she’s not certain he’s even capable of being embarrassed. The quick glance down, the way he wets his lips before continuing tells her she might be wrong. “I do. I just thought you might as well.”

“Of course I do. I have an entry level job and an insane rent payment every month. I occasionally consider accepting dinner invites from total creepers just to get a free meal.”

“And would you consider me a ‘total creeper’?”

He looks pained as he says the words and Caroline presses her lips together to keep from giggling. It takes a second for the meaning of his question to register. “What, what?” Did you just ask me out?”

“Not quite though I’ll admit that is my intent.”

“Oh my god Klaus you are way too old to be annoying me because you like me.”

“Initially it was just because it was fun,” he confesses. “And then it became a habit. Your reactions are delightful.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet anger really brings out the blue in my eyes,” Caroline quips, crossing her arms as she studies him. He seems sincere, invested in her responses.

“Is that a no, then?” Klaus asks, his expression carefully blank.

Caroline takes a second to mull it over. She has to admit that she usually has a good time with Klaus once they’re off the company premises. He is funny, even when they’re trash talking and needling each other. And he had taken a semi-terrible book by a first time author who clearly thought women were brainless morons off her hands next week when she had been painfully close to banging her head against her desk. So he wasn’t actually a terrible person hell bent on making her miserable.

And if she had to refine her sex scenes for a broader audience maybe it would be helpful to have some assistance? He’d already read them and had some ideas about how they could be improved.

He already resembled her Earl and Caroline’s bed did have a slatted wooden headboard.

They could experiment. Test out practical applications. For art.

“Tomorrow,” Caroline says. “My outfit today is so not cute enough for a date.”

Klaus eyes flit down her body taking in her fitted navy dress. “I would be happy to argue that point, love.”

“Nope,” Caroline chirps, before pointedly jerking her thumb in the direction of his desk. “You only say that because you’ve never been treated to a date dress. Now get out of my chair.”

He unfolds himself and stands and Caroline takes in a sharp breath when she realizes how close he is.

How is it that she’d never noticed that he smells really good? They work in a freaking plywood shoebox. He gives her an infuriating little smile, like he knows what she’s thinking. He’s left her manuscripts behind and Caroline snatches it up. “Wait, take this. I think it needs another opinion.”

And, while she wouldn’t say it aloud just yet, Caroline does trust Klaus’s.

He takes the pages from her hands. “I’ll bring it home with me. We can discuss it tomorrow?”

“Sure!” Caroline says, even though she begins eternally panicking. Her in a date dress, Klaus with the charm turned up to eleven, discussing her book? Diving into details about the sex scenes? That could very well be a disaster for her self-control.

Or, Caroline thought optimistically, possibly an excellent research opportunity. Car sex could totally be translatable to carriage sex, right?

[a-h-arts]

Laughably terrible image reproductions This is the first review I have ever written on this site. People are being way to kind about this book. The reproductions are TERRIBLE. I live in NYC, and the show is going on right now at the Metropolitan museum of art. All of the paintings from this book are in the show. The show is so amazing, that i went one day, and woke up the next morning and went back. I will probably go again in a couple of days. At the show they have all of these astonishing paintings hanging, the most Sargent paintings I have seen in one area. Being a crazed Sargent fan, I almost wept. They have this table at the show with 4 of these books there so you can flip through them and read the text associated with the images. I was disgusted! I didn't see a single painting in the book that was well reproduced, or even acceptable. The color management was terrible, they made no effort against glare, the value levels were way off, some of the pictures were remarkably undersaturated or over saturated. For example, Sargen'ts portrait of Edwin Booth looks like they took a picture of it, then put it in photoshop and dropped a yellow/red saturation filter over it. The painting "a gust of wind" which is one of the most beautiful paintings i have ever seen face to face is printed in this book maybe a couple shades darker on the value scale, and its printed REVERSE horizontal. How the hell does that even happen? It's disrespectful. Sargent would have been outraged. I don't think painters collect images for books like this. I almost laughed out loud sitting there in the show surrounded by all of the real paintings flipping through this book. I was taking better photo reproductions with my iPhone 5S. I wish i was kidding. I wish I was just saying that for dramatic effect. If you saw the show, then you know what I am talking about. Don't act like this is okay. I would have bought this book instantly without even looking at a review had i not seen the show first, because i am such a big Sargent fan. But having seen the show, nothing will get me to buy this book. Ill just flip through my iPhone instead. Go to Amazon

Sargent is a sublime painter,this book is high-quality This book reflects the show that was recently at the Metropolitan Museum of art .the number-amount of portraits Sergeant did in his career is staggering and the quality and bravura of painterly brush stroke amazing. The reproductions here in this book are wonderful to look at and savor-really a good keepsake for those who saw the show and those who couldn't. Sargents' portraits of Madame X,Rodin and the youthful Monet are wonderful to behold .Sargent makes the portrait come alive and in the most dimensional aesthetic way.This book which really savors his relationships and art is ideal for those that love him and the art of the portrait. Go to Amazon

Great companion to the exhibition. I was lucky enough to see this exhibition - the book is a great companion, includes many pieces i have never seen before, and some nice background info and information. It's always interesting to see artists portraying an interacting with other artists, writers and musicians as Sargent has done here. I own about a dozen Sargent books and I always thing i have enough, but always end up buying more! Go to Amazon

Excellent Sargent Book! Awesome book about Sargent. If you weren't able to attend the exhibit at the NY Metropolitan Museum of Art, this book will give you a great insight into the artist and his personal relationships. I never appreciated him before I saw the exhibit and purchased this book. You see Sargent in entirely different eyes and realize the genius of this man! Definitely worth purchasing! Go to Amazon

Nice book. Really good book for the money. I like this guy's portraits, and that is coming from someone that prefers modern and contemporary art. I would compare Sargent to the Sorolla exhibit I saw in San Diego last summer for the portraits but no so much the mystique of his subjects or their culture. They are just expertly painted pictures. But they're really good! Go to Amazon

A Superb Catalog If you love the portrait work of Sargent, owning this books is a treat. The color reproductions are large and well-done. The text is authoritative and informative. The large Amazon discount is easy to take. If you weren't able to see the show at the Met, this is the next best. If you were there and want to relive the experience, here's the way to do it. Go to Amazon

I like Sargent's work and have other books I like Sargent's work and have other books, but this is so informative​ as to the subjects and methods. Great book Go to Amazon

Splendid record of a stunning show A splendid record of a stunning MMA show. No printed photo can come close to the lushness and life of an original Sargent -- but this book brings my memories of that show alive again. Go to Amazon

Oustanding retrospective Nice book on Sargent He love the book so much Love this artist! Five Stars Beautiful book. Highly recommend this Love this book! My favorite painter

[tenchisgirls]

Is there much knowledge out there regarding the Kamidake Onsen books? From what I understood, those are the Kajishima Doujin which aren't tied to a specific Tenchi series, right? Actually, if you could explain the different doujin series in general, it'd help a hell of a lot.

MASAKI KAJISHIMA DOUJIN EXPLAINED

tldr; Anything published by Kajishima Onsen (do NOT confuse with Kamidake Onsen) is all canon/MK content.  Anything else is often, at best, a mix.

WARNING, some NSFW links below

Oh wow, how such short questions can give birth to such involved answers :/  I hope you see why it took a while to answer this.

Here is the full resolution of the above diagram.  The latest years’ doujins such as Tenchi -IF- are not in that pic, but they’d all fall under the large central Kajishima Onsen group with green dots.

Continuity

Simply put, afaik all of Masaki Kajishima’s (MK) content fits into one single coherent multiverse, where all his series are all “connected at the corners” to each other, even if they are in different dimensions. 

He only directly worked on one single Tenchi continuity and clearly considers that his story, the original one starring the main Tenchi-cast is known as Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki, even if he’s obligatorily credited as “Original Character Design”/”Creator” or such in other tangent Tenchi works.

That’s the one where Tenchi has Light Hawk Wings, where silver-haired space pirate Kagato, “octopus head” Dr. Clay, and Z were the main antagonists, his mother is Kiyone Masaki, Washu/Tsunami/Tokimi are goddesses, and his extended family includes Lady Seto and Minaho, Mihoshi has a brother named Misao, etc.

MK has created regular series such as Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki, Photon: The Idiot Adventures, Tenchi Muyo! GXP, Tenchi Muyo: War On Geminar, Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure, and Paradise war.  He also has created hentai series such as Spaceship Agga Ruter (comedy), Masquerade (drama), Anata Dake Konbanwa, and My Harvest GAP☆P.

Tenchi Universe, Tenchi in Tokyo, Ai Tenchi Muyo, the 3 movies (TMiL 1 + 2, Daughter of Darkness), and the 2 series of Okuda mangas, storywise, have absolutely nothing to do with him personally, this storyline, or this multiverse.  MK’s world and characters simply inspired these later works.In addition, he has written novels and doujins that expand on the Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki universe.  At my last count, that was 3 True Tenchi Novels and 14 GXP novels, still ongoing as of 2017.  Idk the exact doujin count, I’d estimate with the diagram above and a few missing ones, more than 90 right now.Here is where it may get confusing.  Everything Kajishima has drawn or wrote himself, including pages in doujins, can be considered canon – but not everything in these doujin are his.  It gets rather easy to see what his drawing style is though, to pick things out.

The Role of Doujin in Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki

Back in the 1980s, Doujin was among the cheapest mediums to get published as an artist.  Masaki Kajishima has ALWAYS outputted or contributed to doujin and it probably was how he was discovered in the first place.  Indeed, he was sketching out and displaying character designs for what would become the Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki cast already in 1987.  He also generally puts a message to his fans about projects going on in a foreword or afterword.  It’s just the way he has communicated to fans and built his worlds before the anime were even released.

Below is the back/front cover of one of his first 1987 self-published doujin, titled “Omatsuri Zenjitsi no Yoru“ / “Night of the Carnival” just like later TM!R special episode 7 and the Kajishima Onsen doujin series starting in 1998.

Not much is known about it, only 250 copies were made and MK himself had to borrow a fan’s copy to scan it for an anniversary CD.  One was seen on auction asking around $700 usd.

After that, in the early 90s, he published individual pages in the Chosen Ame series before moving on.

Here are the major doujins series he contributed to (roughly chronological):

Chosen Ame (Ganso Sonodaya)

Nontan Project/Various (Nontan Project)

Omatsuri Zenjitsi no Yoru –Subtitle– (Kajishima Onsen)

Ianryokou Toujitsu No Yoru (Kamidake Onsen)

Tenchi -IF- (Kajishima Onsen)

Various small smattering of others

Title (Circle):

Title is the name of the individual doujin series or specific issue.  (Circle is the publishing group, which, like Marvel Comics, can have mutiple series out at the same time.)  Sometimes the two are the one and the same.

Chosen Ame (Ganso Sonodaya).  Early 1990s. 

He published maybe 1 or 2 pages in each issue.  So, in this 62 page doujin, this is the only page that’s from him and so the only page that has any canon info.  Coincidentally, someone has kindly compiled all the MK pics from this series into one collection.

Nontan Project/Various (Nontan Project).  1994-1997, 2002. 

All the covers and many of the sketches (anime production content) seem to be MK’s.  But a few images and some of the extensive text might not be, perhaps there is some fanfiction.  Tenchi.org confirms MK is not the only contributor on each one.

For example, Tenchi Zokuhou (Nontan Project), the page 3 Washu/Sasami beach pic does not seem to be his drawing style, but many of the other sketches are his style.  The same goes for Owarihou (Nontan Project), that page 3 also is from a different artist, much of the rest is his.

One exception might be Jun’s GXP, from 2002.  It’s published much later than the other (Nontan Project) doujins and while many sketches are obviously his, Idk if the racy covers are drawn by MK.  Possibly.

Omatsuri Zenjitsu no Yoru –Subtitle– (Kajishima Onsen).  From 1998 to present day.  

This doujin series is from MK’s own publishing circle and can be translated “Night Before the Carnival”, same exact title as the previous 1987 doujin and the renowned special episode 7 of the OAV. 

This doujin series has always been all Masaki Kajishima content each and every issue and it will talk about his various series.

These are easily recognizable from the same big Kanji title used nearly every issue on the top of their cover pages with the various subtitles in the slanted box.  The sub-titles will generally relate to the type of content or specific series he’ll cover in it.  For example a “Omatsuri Zenjitsu no Yoru Seikishi Ban” or “Omatsuri Zenjitsu no Yoru Tenchi Ban” will cover War on Geminar or Tenchi Muyo respectively.

Ianryokou Toujitsu No Yoru (Kamidake Onsen).  From 2002 to 2013, sporadic releases.  

This series title can be translated to “Night of the Vacation”.

Issues 1-5 were filled with Hentai/ecchi pics from other artists so those pages are not canon, and MK’s contribution were all the series’ covers (coming from his previous Comiket booth art) and then the recognizable anime production sketches, perhaps a page with text about his projects.  Issues 6-11 only have MK content.

So, for example, Ianryokou Issue #4 (NSFW!!!), the hentai images 4-50 are by the artists Chiba Dirou and Miyakawa Hajime, are not canon.  Images 1-3, and 51-90 are the actual Masaki Kajishima content.

Tenchi -IF- (Kajishima Onsen). 2013-Present.

Again, MK’s own publishing circle and all Masaki Kajishima content every issue.  So far these have been the nicest for western fans as there has been minimal to translate.  Example doujin.

Various (Various):  Various Dates, mostly 1990s. 

The various known doujins MK contributed to is listed in the infographic.  Most of them, like KNOCK OUT, seem to only have a page or two of his content similiar to Chosen Ame.

About other Tenchi Fan Doujins (Various): Various Dates. 

I have gathered over 1500 pairs of front-and-back Tenchi doujin covers from Tenchi.org, it’s fair to say there are probably over 2,000 doujins out there with some Tenchi content, maybe even close to 3,000.  Most of them date from Tenchi’s heyday in Japan, the mid-1990s.

Those are, of course, same in status like fanfictions are here.  If you want to collect these, be aware that the cover is the best part and all too often the drawing quality of the content drops rapidly from there.

On Hentai.

While MK has made Hentai series, I generally have not seen him produce much if any hentai content for his regular SFW series.  For Tenchi Muyo, I only know of one exception, the infamous Omatsuri Zenjitsu no Yoru Omake Ban, which is tame as far as explicit content from Japan goes. 

About the furthest he has gone with most of the Tenchi cast is nudity in characters you expect (Ryoko) and generally seems to be rather protective of some other characters, like Sasami and Tsunami.

(C??) labeling system.

MK like many other artists sells his doujins only at Comiket.  He releases between 1-3 new ones each show, typically 2.

Comiket started as a small trade show in December 1975 and generally has 2 conventions a year, in August and December.  Last December (2016) was the 91st comiket, you will see those Doujins labelled as (C91) some places. 

Some years, comiket will have a surpise special show.  The 6th one of these was held in March of 2016.  Doujins from that would be labeled (CSP6), like this Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki 4? (Kajishima Onsen).

Here is a translated Chronology so you can match (Cxx) numbers with dates.

Resources:

Tenchi.org: A japanese listing, current to the early 2000s, of both MK and fan doujin and printed Tenchi merchandise.  Here are the pages dealing specifically with release information of (Nontan Project) and some earlier Omatsuri Zenjitsu no Yoru doujins.

e-Hentai: Some Masaki Kajishima doujin you can browse.  Attribution to proper author/artist is not guaranteed.

Special thanks to SOB and Fap_Fapperson.

A duplicate of this article has been posted on our forum.

[peace208]

For God so love the World...

Sophia told me you wanted to know what I believe as a Christian, so I am giving you a lot of info, some of this you may know, but I don't know what you know, so don't feel like I am acting like you are stupid, I am explaining this as though you are someone that doesn't know who God is, or someone that may be an atheist-that knows nothing about God.

Now before I get started, I hope the greatest thing you would take away from this is that God loves you. He loves you more than you know. He loves and knows you better than you know yourself. He loves every human on the planet, and he did everything he could to show you that love in his creation, in the details of your image, down to your individualistic finger print and the beautiful world you have around you. To show us how much he loves us he gave his only begotten son Jesus, as a sacrifice for us all. He loved you too much to give up on you, and when you call on him, or pray, he WILL listen to you-no matter who you are, or where you come from. His plan includes you, and he is waiting for you to include him. God loves you, and he loves everyone you know, and don't know. ♥️

I am a Christian, but we don't have a title, more specifically I am a follower/or disciple of Christ. There are no Christians (the term Christian is used once in the new testament by a Roman leader or dictator, so Christian is actually not a desired term) in our Holy bible, which consists of an old Testament and a new Testament.  I don't believe in organized religion, I believe in studying and learning from the bible (through the Holy Spirit) to know how to love God, and love his people and bring others to worship him (God) and his son Jesus so they also may be saved (have eternal life in heaven after this body dies).

The guide book to our beliefs is the Holy Bible. Everything we believe and live out is in it. It is our rules, but many interpret it differently, that is why there are different denominations of "Christians", such as Baptist, Protestant, Seventh Day Adventists, Pentecostal, etc. I am a non denominational follower of Christ. I only practice what the bible teaches and have found that practicing "denomination-ism" is not biblical.  The holy bible is the "living word", meaning the words in the Holy Bible (Old and New testament) are alive with God's own breathe. The words in the bible do not get read, said, sang, prayed, or re-written without God's presence and true interpretation being present within them. It is not old and "dead" but still relevant and truth filled.

Old testament is the beginning of the world, through all the prophets before Christ's birth.It is our Earth's early history- and creation described through the holy spirit which inspired men to write books, poems and songs and letters about God the creator his love, and his law for us.The old testament contains all the prophesy of Jesus (or a messiah that would be God's only son), flesh born to redeem us, (his chosen people) from our sins, so we can go to heaven with God and not burn in Hell (which the bible says you (your soul) will burn in a lake of fire for all eternity after your bodies death if you don't believe in God's only son, who is Jesus.

The New Testament starts with Jesus (our savior/messiah) birth-through death and resurrection, his instructions for us to live out after he ascended into heaven and his holy spirit, which he left with us, so we would still hear and feel him and his father in our lives, until his return, ( we have many works in the bible that describe signs of when we have reached the end times (end of our world), but scripture also tells us, we neither know the date, nor the time, the only one that knows is God the Father and our Creator) and Revelation which describes the end of the world until Jesus returns and takes his believers back to heaven with him, those that died already, and those that still live will rise and ascend into heaven (where ever heaven is, either here on Earth or 'in the sky', we don't know, and I personally don't care, I just know where ever it is, it is going to be more than I can imagine, and it doesn't have pain, or suffering, sadness, or crying, so who wouldn't want to go!) with him, and then we will meet God our creator and live for all eternity and never die.

In order to call your self a follower of Christ (or Christian), our bible tells us to give our hearts to Christ and believe he is God's only son, our messiah and the savior of our souls. John 3:16 in the new testament says:

"

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." Based on the fact that Jesus died for all sin, from creation, to the end of time, ALL can come to Jesus and confess their sins and become a new ( a new creation, or new life) person. Meaning, when you have been forgiven of all your sins, you are new, you are clean. You can start again, you are free, you are "saved", which means, you were saved from dying (through Jesus sacrifice) and you will go to heaven. You were saved instead of the curse of dying, you will live in heaven for eternity after Jesus calls us.

God gave us one commandment in the garden of Eden, but we couldn't even keep that one commandment. The price for that sin (sin is when you do things God has asked you not to do) was that instead of living forever with God in the garden, we had to be separated from him, and one day we will die, instead of living forever. Now since sin entered the world, God gave us many laws, or rules to be without sin and live a blessed (or happy, and fortunate life), such as don't lie, don't steal, don't kill, honor your mother and father, worship only him, and keep the Sabbath holy, to name a few. There are other things he asked of us, not to do drugs or get drunk, no witchcraft, and don't have intercourse until you are married, marriage is between a man and a woman, and stay married to one person til death, only have sex with your wife or husband and no one else, common ones a lot of people know of, but we were and are unable to keep from doing these things. A sin is a sin, whether you have stolen, or lied, or killed, any sin will send you to hell.

Why is sin bad? GOD is holy, clean and pure. We can't be in his presence unless we too are holy, which means our soul would have to go to hell, because if we are in his presence with sin in our heart, his holiness would destroy us, burn us up. So, without Jesus covering your iniquities with his blood, so your sins are forgiven, you will die, and pay the price for your sin by going to hell. God, our father and Creator of everything, the universe, the galaxy, EVERYTHING gave us the gift of freewill, which is the ability to make choices, say yes, say no. This is a wonderful but great responsibility. Freewill means we can be sinful if we choose, we can turn our back on God and go it alone and choose to go to hell if we want, OR we can choose to obey God, which shows we love him and try to live by following his rules. Our problem is, we can't follow all his rules to be holy and pure. We just can't, we fail, and fail, and fail over and over and over and over and over again. There are examples in the bible describing in detail (specifically old testament) many times that we didn't listen to God no matter the wonderful things he would do for us to show us we could trust him completely. We wouldn't completely love him, we wouldn't completely believe in him because of our own weaknesses, we couldn't completely obey him. We aren't able to live without sinning, because the 1st sin (in the garden of Eden) separated us from God, and caused all of us (human race) to be born into sin. Sin is in our world, it was not in Eden. God meant for us to live forever with him, because of his love for us.

God made us little humans imperfect, because the only perfect being, is God. This imperfection that is us, is human. So having said that, because God loved us (each of us more than we can imagine), his creations, his children- even though he could give up and destroy us if he chose, he didn't (not that he didn't get upset with us and make one attempt (look into the flood and Noah)). He took compassion on our weaknesses, gave us mercy (a blessing that is an act of divine favor that cannot be earned, regardless of circumstance) that we didn't deserve and planned to (before he even created us) send an intercessor, his own son Jesus.

Now because he gave us this wonderful gift of making our own choices, instead of him controlling our every move (which doesn't feel like love), he knew this gift would keep us from him. He (God) knew we would fail, and he was right, we did (and we still do) he had already made the plan of giving us his son Jesus (who was God in flesh, or human form) so that he would be the sacrifice that would make up for our sins. He had to be virgin born and created in the Holy Spirit and sin free. Jesus was God in the flesh, or human form, because only God could be perfect, and Jesus was God. **

**Hold on, I know this gets confusing, so let me try to explain. God wants us to worship only him, God, the Creator of everything, everything is his. We are his, we are not our own, our souls are ours to choose their destiny, whether it goes to heaven to be with him, or whether we will go to Hell and be without God. Our souls live forever, our fleshly body is flawed, imperfect, mortal -  but our souls are immortal. God is in all of us, because he created us, he has his imprint on our hearts, but Jesus fleshly body was human, and Jesus (God's only son) soul was/is (he is still alive, he was resurrected) God. Jesus's body could be destroyed, because it was human, but he couldn't actually be killed, because he was God (therefore Jesus came back [or resurrected} in three days, like he said he would (proving he was the messiah). There is also the Holy Spirit, which is also God. God is in trinity (3) form. Instead of thinking of God as 3 Gods, which he isn't, think of him as 3 OF one. He (God) is not 1(God)+1(Jesus)+1(Holy Spirit)=3, but he is 1x1x1=1.  God wants us to only worship one God, and that is what he is. God never meant for us to be alone, and he shows us this in his own form, with himself not even being alone, because he is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. *Now I know a lot of people find this confusing, but I don't really. My son and my daughter are their own people, but I created them from my own flesh, so they are also me, so I can relate to this. Also, God created everything from nothing. Every thing God ever created, makes no sense to our little minds. I can't create anything just by saying "Let there be light." I can't give everything I see a special fingerprint. I can't do this, but because I see a loving design in everything around me, the ring in my eye, every blade of grass, every beautiful bird in the sky, every unique flower, and every sunset, I know this God I feel in my heart that created me, created every thing else too. Someone with that detail, love, and science is waaaaaaaay beyond anything I can comprehend, so (God) if you tell me that you are Jesus and you are also the Holy Spirit, I BELIEVE YOU, because you are amazing and deserving of my praise. There is NOTHING that you can't do, and because I can see with my own eyes, the stars, the waters, birth, nature, life and death, I KNOW there is nothing you can't do. Believing he (God) is 3, doesn't seem very complicated when you look at the perspective!

 Now, since Jesus is God's son, God asked us to accept Jesus as our savior, a being we could relate to, another human that actually obeyed everything God asked us to do to show us the way. We didn't seem to understand God in the old testament, so Jesus was relatable, God told us without accepting his son (which was God in the flesh, but still Jesus, his son) we were also rejecting him. If we rejected Jesus, God would also reject us. This is because without the sacrifice Jesus made covering our sin, we were right back in the boat of "not being clean enough" to be around God. The only way to be near God after we die is to be sinless, and even if we can ask God to forgive us for our sins without Jesus covering them they are still there. Jesus NEVER sinned. His life was lived without sinning. When he died, his blood was the sacrifice needed to 'cover' all sin (for all time). He was the messiah that was predicted throughout the bible, and proof that he was the messiah is everywhere in the gospels in the new testament that testify to this. The most important proof that Jesus was the messiah was the fact that he resurrected (lived again) after dying in front of about 100 witnesses! Everyone saw him die a horrid death, then BAM in 3 days, he was BACK!!! It was an amazing miracle! Anyway, Jesus is the bridge between us, and God. Without him, without asking him into our hearts (Romans 10:9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved) and repenting for our sins and living our lives for him, we will go to hell. It doesn't matter how nice you are, or how many good deeds you do, unless you are sin free (again, no one is) you can't go to heaven without Jesus. You will go to hell. It is your choice, choose well.

Jesus death came with a price if you are his, you show you are his by living for him, following the instructions that Jesus gave us. As a believer, I happily live for him. He took away my sins, loved me no matter what I did, took me as a filthy rag, and made me new. He gave me new life, abundant life, and eternal life. The things Jesus asks of me, are not too difficult, because he is with me(holy spirit), so I am never alone. I obey God and Jesus as best I can, because everything he asks is for my good and will only benefit me and my life.

Jesus gave us a lot of examples and teachings (and showing) of how to live, but he gave only 2 commandments, and those were:"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." (Matthew 22:37-39). He also gave us the great commission: "Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20) This is why we try to tell everyone we know about Jesus saving sacrifice and encourage others to come as they are to Jesus. He will cleanse them of their sins, they will be a new creation, so they may be in heaven with God after they die, and to tell others. If you truly are one of Christ's followers, you love everyone around you, for no one is outside of God's reach, and he wants us all to go to heaven to be with him, and live forever. Have faith in your fellow man, forgive as forgiveness was given you, and don't judge others as the pharisee did(new testament), but love as Jesus loved everyone. Only Love is from God, you will not draw anyone near to God with hate, fear or anger, only with love, forgiveness, mercy, and grace. Your life shows who(se) you really are. Jesus changes your life, he makes you more like him, making you better, and drawing you closer, and closer to God, every day you are alive. (hopefully, because no one is perfect [except Jesus]

The only thing you can take with you to heaven, is people. So pray for the world, pray to God in Jesus name every time you pray, so your prayer will reach God's ears with faith (believe in what you don't see to be real and that God can fulfill your request, believe what you ask God for) knowing ANYTHING is possible for him(God) and those that believe. Pray for one another, speak to God, because he loves you. Don't fear him, love him, as he loves you. 

Peace, and may God be with YOU, in Jesus name. Amen