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sungbeam · 1 year ago

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HONEY BUNCHES OF POLLINATED PETALS HELPPP 💀💀💀💀 Nearly choked when you ended with that RDJYDJ WHAT A LINE 😭

BUT IDK IF I SHOULD SPOIL [REDACTED] 🫣 but just for you I’ll give you a line from the book, “You know, when you’re as sad as I was, you love sunsets.”

I KNOW IT MIGHT SOUND KINDA CORNY BUT CONTEXT MATTERS 🤓☝️ and you’re right I just never brought it up JEFNEJFN sorry to the people for making it seem like I read as much as I used to back in ye old days 😔💔 BUT! I’m trying to get back into reading so lmk any book recs hehe cause I’m so sorry anytime I walk into a book store all I see are those corny ass Canva lookin book covers and it’s turns me off immediately 😭 not to be like “argh what happened to literature 👺” but like ARGH WHAT HAPPENED TO LITERATURE 👹👹 now all we got hyped up is Cassandra Clare like… is this who we are now… is this what we represent as a society 😔

N E WAYS MOVING ONTO A STUDY IN MONSTERS- Medusa!yn??? 🫣 also omg the preview is giving like… the intro to Mirror Mirror yk? Like the animated backstory 😳 which is a coincidence because that was onE oF My FaV MoViES???? Omg now I’m more hype PLELRJEKRNE

OK OK BUT I DID HAVE A FEW IDEAS LEMME SHARE LEMME SHARE AHEM-

1. Something like Fantastical Beasts and Where to Find Them and Chanhee and yn were lil vets for the beasts/monsters OR explorers that went around looking for them to document them

2. Something like Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (cause the children are seen as monsters yk-) where Chanhee or yn encounter Hollows and wants to know more abt them which leads them to the home for peculiar children or smth like that LOLOL

3. Could’ve also gone the route of Chanhee or yn making it out of a traumatizing event or smth and other ppl in the story are the real monsters

4. Could’ve also gone existential and could’ve been Chanhee and/or yn contemplating as to if they’re actually good people and what makes a good person etc etc

BASICALLY THE CURTAINS COULD’VE JUST BEEN BLUE OR THEY COULD’VE SIGNIFIED SMTH DEEPER LMAO

and EEEK Eric or Juyeon it is 🤭🤭🤭 AND STFU I COULDN’T FIND A BETTER WORD OTHER THAN BEQUEATH ATM OKAY 😭

AND PLEASEEEEE A LOVE CORNER IS JUST A LOVE TRIANGLE BUT THE MORE PROPER VER CAUSE THE MLS ARE INTERESTED IN THE FL BUT NOT INTERESTED IN EACH OTHER IF YOU CATCH MY DRIFT

Like if one of the MLs were interested in both the FL and the other ML then THAT would be a love triangle but in this case all the MLs are just attracted to the FL which makes the love triangle a ✨love corner✨

….

IF YOU WERE THINKING OF ANYTHING ELSE THEN WATCH OUT PERV I GOT MY EYES ON YOU 🤨🫵

And abt your banners, I think they’re perfect honestly 😭 it doesn’t matter if they’re more simpler or minimal, they perfectly convey the vibes of the story and honestly your banners are what attracted me to your works in the first place 😭 I thought the banners for In all your endeavours and Party people were so well done that I clicked on them AND BOY AM I GLAD I DID LOLOL

AND ABT BONES- the og ver def sounds interesting but I can also see how it would’ve been hard to write since idk why but imo it feel so hard to write dark academia like I only get the aesthetic pics but I don’t get how to translate it into words properly yk 😭 THAT’S JUST ME THO-

YES MY LOVE FOR WOO IS UNDENIABLE JUST AS MUCH AS MY LOVE FOR ERIC 😩🙏 I fell in love with Woo during Deja Vu era LOLOL right when I watched his AOTM like damnnnn I knew he was the one for me on SIGHTTTTTTT😔🙏

- Love you always my beammie weammie sugar plum honey bunches of oats paczki boo boo ba ba pookie bear 🤭, 🌷 anon

(Ps. Yes, I tried my upmost hardest to make a unique cutie name 😔🫶)

AHAHHAHAHA I ACTUALLY HAVE NO IDEA HOW I GOT TO HONEY BUNCHES OF POLLINATED PETALS 💀💀💀 this is what happens when i let my intrusive thoughts win 🤡🤣

"you know, when you're as sad as i was, you love sunsets" NOW THATS A LINE 😔 i didn't find it corny at all tbh maybe cuz i have a special place for sunsets and sunrises in (as my mother once said 💀) my black heart skfnekdmkr i def have not read the book tho so no worries abt spoilers LOL OMG PLS 😭 im literally an english major and i haven't read for fun in YEARS 😭 it's so sad, i think the only way to get me to read again is to get me to drop out of fanfic,,, like the dry spell is that bad skfnkemfk U R SO REAL FOR THAT WHY IS EVERY BOOK COVER LIKE THE SAME JUST IN DIFFERENT COLORS???? LIKE GUYS . PLEASE. GUYS /PLEASE/ wait wait hyped up cassandra clare??? that's still going on 😭😭😭😭 i thought we were over this guys skxnekdn but i honestly wouldn't know cuz im not on tiktok 💀 anyways. Booktok sucks!

omg wait 😭😭 i've actually never watched mirror mirror before don't come for me 😭😭 but im glad the similarity hypes u up even more !!! OKAY WAIT I NEED TO COMMENT ON ALL UR BRILLIANT IDEAS 🤸‍♀️🔎

AHHH A FANTASTIC BEASTS AU WHERE THEY'RE VETS OR SUMN TO THAT EFFECT WAIIIIIIT TULIP. TULIP U R ONTO SOMETHING BESTIE. THAT WOULD BE SO MUCH FUN AND SO CUTE !! it's like that one disney movie called the rescuers 😭😭 i haven't watched the full thing, but when u said little i immediately thought of that TT

ohhhh miss peregrine's au would be SUCH an interesting idea too, and i def see where the title comes into inspire that 🤔🤔 it's been awhile since i've seen that movie actually, i can't remember what my orig thoughts abt it were

humans = monsters tbh 🙁🙁 BUT ACTUALLY the fic im like writing has a lot of those elements in it of itself cuz yk they're "different" so they're treated and seen differently yk ,, and i literally start off w both yn and chanhee's separate traumas TT

AHABAHHAHAHAHHAHA THE CURTAINS COULDVE JUST BEEN BLUE OR SOMELFNSKDNDJ THATS SO FUNNY I HATE THAT I UNDERSTAND THAT 😭😭😭 but a fic that's existential? my life tbh 😎

OHHHHHHHH WAIT THAT ACTUALLY MAKES SO MUCH MORE SENSE THAN A LOVE SQUARE I TOTALLY GET IT NOW 😭😭😭 GIRL I THINK U NEED TO GET /UR/ HEAD OUT OF THE GUTTER 🤣🤡 my mind went nowhere but a corner shaped diagram 🤡

wodjoejdkejdkrj im crying if u couldn't tell 😭😭😭 PLS DONT MAKE ME BLUSH 😔 WAIT WHERE IS MY MEME—

i lurv you (´Д⊂ヽ im so happy to hear that like lemme go yell on a cliff rq 😃😃😃 LIKE WOW WHAT A COMPLIMENT CUZ SKDNKENF as long as it does what it needs to and it looks pretty then my job here is done 😎 like who needs a whole fic 😎 OOP both those fics' banners were made bc i fell in love w those pics of joong and cobie (´Д⊂ヽ i literally saw joongs lemon tree mv screenshots on pinterest and they were PERFECT and then cobie dropped those pics from the i like u stage and they were PERFECT. omg when my banners brought us together 🤩🤩🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️

ahh yeah i think i kind of have dark academia down, i just wasn't feeling the fic after all the planning i did for it 😭😭😭 so it never made it past 1k words LMAO 💀

OKAY BUT wooyoung and eric kind of give off similar vibes, don't u think ???? cheeky, flirty mfkers 😔😔 BUT OH MY GOD. WOOYOUNGS AOTM LIVES RENT FREE IVE WATCHED IT LIKE A BILLION TIMES ITS SO ICONIC. i literally almost wrote a fic because of it 😭 i also LOVE christopher's songs, and bad just hits SO HARD TT

AHAHAHHAHAHA THE BEAMIE WEAMIE POOKIE BEAR OSFNKENDJ PLSS 💖💖 roses r red / violets r blue / im sending a heaping spoonful / of sugar (and love) to you ✨💖

#sungbeam strikes again #🌷 anon

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newnoirstories · 6 months ago

Text

Part Three, Noir Mystery/Dark Academia Trilogy

(As always, the inclusion of religious or mystical themes in my works does not constitute an endorsement of them. The following story contains violence, death, references to torture, to self-harm, drugs, alcohol, implied sex, and to mental health problems, including depression.)

"The Eye Never Forgets"

Chapter I

One Summer night in 1975, in Boston's Combat Zone, a woman sat on a littered sidewalk. Torn dress, one shoe on, a grin missing more than one tooth, she smoked something, something strong.

Just out of her line of sight, a lady of the night got in a beat-up old red car with a man, but just as he leaned back, his leg was cut, and off the lady made with his wallet.

Worlds away from this, Caldwell Rome strolled in Franklin Park, one overcast day in 2008, but saw a glum man, about his own age, named Nikólaos Panagos, though more often called "Diogenes" by the locals.

"Did you ever wonder why I am a cynic, alone and miserable? It is because of the woman who is after you." Diogenes said, somewhat cryptically.

"What do you know of someone after me?"

"I know everything about her. For thirty-three years, I have thought of little else. Look at me. Do you believe I was once wealthy?"

"If you say so, yes, I will take your word for it," replied Caldwell.

"It was in 1975. I curse the day. I sinned, but how I have paid for my sin! Her name was Ann Patterson, originally, I am told. Some say she was the daughter of Roger Patterson, the man who made the movie of the Bigfoot, but they say many things about Roger, true or not."

"I am not a priest. You needn't tell me any of this."

"I want to tell someone. I want someone to understand."

"Okay," replied Caldwell, sitting down on the bench next to the forlorn old man.

"She called herself Bella Lovelace, in imitation of some other woman, and she was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. Words cannot do justice to her beauty. She invited me to make, to m-make… a dirty movie with her. Yes, sir, that's what happened. I was paid $500 for my soul. I did it for desire, not the dollars. I later threw the money in the Charles River. But that wasn't the end of it: Back then, blackmail was her game. I was wealthy, but refused to pay, so she disgraced me before my family, who are ashamed of me to this day. I now wash dishes in a fast food place, live in public housing, might as well be homeless."

"Is there anything I can do?"

"What is there any man can do? What is this world? It is not one, but two, it is torn, so that every instinct we possess leads to evil. Whatever we are without, we are chaos within."

"I have felt that way. I find Confession- to a priest, I mean- helps."

"Maybe I will. What do I have to lose? But I have not told the whole story. Imagine my shock one day, 1983, I see this temptress's photo on the news. The British sought her, said she worked for the Irish, the INLA, had fled to America, back to America. Well, this woman now goes by 'Elle Kane', and she is back here in Boston. 'Elle Kane' comes up again and again in deaths in the papers. I hear of your family tragedies, and no one but her could be at the bottom of them."

"Being a private investigator, I have made many enemies, but what makes you think Elle, or whatever her name is, is one of them?"

"The strange feeling of an old man," replied Nikólaos.

Chapter II

Caldwell Rome refused to buy a television. He grew up with a radio, and felt overwhelmed by sight and sound at once.

"Ray Allen makes another three from the corner! Time out, Clippers…" said the old radio.

Caldwell went through old files. Some haunting failures, haunting the whole city. Filed year by year, worst of all, perhaps, was 1987. That year saw the terrible death of Cassandra Mullin.

In the winter of '87, someone deftly disabled the alarm of the library Mullin oversaw. Evidence suggested more than one person was involved. Mullin was found murdered, her eyes gone as if by vultures, the library ransacked.

But for what? Caldwell looked through the notes. The books stolen, which numbered over one hundred, included "Several Jane Austen novels, a copy of Sun Tzu's 'The Art of War', titles on botany, medicine, American history, Canadian history, some genealogical records, old magazines". Caldwell, with his background in antiques, knew as well as anyone that none of these were of great economic value, so Cassandra's death, which had not been quick, seemed to be for nothing, yet the methodical nature of the crime suggested otherwise.

Boston's definition of mediocrity, Detective Louis Meath, pronounced it, in the papers, as the act of "random psychos", who were "probably high on something". Caldwell knew better, but what could he prove?

The next one, however, hit closer to home: Paul Knudsen, Caldwell's son-in-law, the papers claimed, had, one night in 2001, taken his own life. He had been found dangling from a rope, out his own second story window, yet no one, including Caldwell Rome, who knew Paul believed that he met such a fate of his own accord.

The two cases, Caldwell believed, were connected, through one man in particular, a man reported to have died in a 2002 motorcycle accident, one Birger Pedersen, Norwegian, called "Fenrir" on stage, part of Norway's terrible black metal scene in the nineties. Fenrir had gone after Caldwell one day in 1999, wielding a knife, but as Rome had considerable knowledge of Kyokushin Karate, having completed a 20-man Kumite, Pedersen, though the stronger of the two, had gotten the worst of it, a well-aimed kick to the knee, though Fenrir savagely bit a policeman who took him into custody.

Caldwell Rome's research indicated that Pedersen, a man of evident means whose wealth came mysteriously, who had a home in New York City, as well as another in Norway, but occasionally visited Boston, had been in Boston when both Mullin and Knudsen died, again in '99, of course, and finally, had died in Boston in 2002.

Chapter III

Early in 2002, a grieving Natalie Rome had herself come to the conclusion that Birger Pedersen, still in Boston at the time, was involved in her husband's demise. Teaching herself to throw antique knives, antique per her profession as an appraiser, Natalie was daring enough to venture to one of Fenrir's known haunts, the Handel Bar, which, despite the classical connotations of the name, was a biker bar that barely managed to keep its liquor license, so often were police called over its violence and mayhem.

However, Natalie made a miscalculation, being unfamiliar with such parts of Boston, and instead went to a bar known as The Handlebar. The Jackson 5's "Never Can Say Goodbye" was playing, and neither that nor the ambiance seemed anything like the Birger Pedersen she knew only by reputation.

"I haven't seen you here before," said an unfamiliar woman, smiling at Natalie.

"No, it's my first time."

"You go both ways?"

"What do you mean?"

"Never mind. I couldn't help but notice you're kinda cute," said the woman, flirtatiously.

"Thanks…" said Natalie, a bit uncomfortable.

"I'm Sally. A handshake? Okay."

"No dice, Sally, this femme's mine," intruded another voice. The new woman eyed Natalie rather audaciously.

"Mind your manners, Katie. It's not like we're men or something," quipped Sally.

Natalie looked around, and realized from even less subtle signs that The Handlebar, unlike the Handel Bar, was a bar for women drawn to other women.

Natalie's mother, Agatha Rome, in a most unlikely way, would have better luck. She approached Thomas Banerjee, Broadway performer and old friend of her son Philip, asking about disguises.

"Angie, this woman I know, could make us look like each other. There is practically no limit to what they can do now," asserted Thomas.

"Can they do what I asked?"

"Well, there's one thing… I love you like a mom, and I don't want to be insensitive, but to play a part like that, you would have to be very limber, and you're not as young…"

Agatha, smiling, responded by doing side splits with ease.

Chapter IV

As of 2010, Clyde Tomasini, producer, dancer and choreographer, was considered Boston musical theatre's most important and acclaimed person, and some would have expanded that to "America's most important" as well. Having explored many themes, it was in this year that Tomasini struck upon the idea of combining Broadway dance with Bollywood dance, though Thomas Banerjee dropped out of the production, considering the core of Tomasini's plot idea too derivative of Bollywood's "My Brother… Nikhil" (2005).

Philip Rome, however, a noted designer of musical theatre sets and costumes, was very active in the production, entitled "Closet to India". Inspecting the set, however, Philip nearly lost his life when a counterweight plunged toward him. The same instant, however, Tomasini, acting quickly, tackled Philip out of the way, both escaping with only minor injuries.

Meanwhile, in a bar across town, a random man recounted a story:

"It's true. This housewife type, Agatha Rome. This horrible man, Fenrir, somebody called him. He's playing 'Cape Fear' with the whole family, you know. He shot their pitbull. Agatha thinks he killed her son-in-law, so she gets this guy to let her disguise herself as this made up version of him, at a bike, you know, motorcycle repair shop, and up shows Fenrir."

"You've been drinking too much, Bobby."

"No, I swear: She's made up like this young man, wild red hair, contact lenses that make it look like she's on something. She fixes his bike, she fixes it so it doesn't work, and he dies in a crash."

Or so went "Bobby's" version of the story.

Chapter V

In 2015, not far from where Bobby told his tale, an abandoned old warehouse was supposed to be the lair of "Salty". Children, mingling fear and curiosity, claimed that a man, a man adults would describe as an occultist, did rituals in the prosaic ruins, rituals involving salt. They often dared each other to go to the warehouse, making bets about who would go there alone.

Philip Rome, veteran of more than one near-death experience, would soon have yet another. Whisked into a limousine against his will, he was taken to a building not unlike the old warehouse, but this one very much occupied.

A dim lamp's flickering light fell on Georg Faust, notorious racketeer and rumored agent of espionage (though for which nation, no one knew), who often introduced himself by adding that he was "no relation" to the Faust of legend. Most eerie of all, he was seated in what appeared to be an old electric chair.

"Philip, excuse the awkwardness of our introduction," said Faust, with a touch of a German accent, "I do wish, however, to let you know about some fine likenesses of yourself."

"Likenesses?"

"Yes. Also in the photograph is your good friend, Elire Dervishi, a rising Broadway star, I understand."

"What about her?"

"You two are 'just friends', as you Americans say?"

"Yes."

"Kindly explain this photograph. Is it customary in Albania [Elire's land of origin] to kiss friends on the lips?"

"Oh, that… it's none of your business, but we played tennis, which her father wanted her to do professionally, but this was just for fun. It was after she defeated me in straight sets, we went to kiss on the cheek, but I forgot she is left-handed, so it went wrong, that's all."

"Oh, Philip, I do believe you, but Sokol, her father, alleged Albanian mobster, feared almost as much as I am, will not. I understand he disapproves of her Broadway career, and considers that you turned her in that direction. Well, what would this hard man say if he saw a copy of this photograph?"

"In other words," asked Philip, "Blackmail?"

"Not precisely," explained Georg, "It is not money we want. I merely want you to tell your father, Caldwell Marion Rome, what you experienced today. It will give him the perspective not to talk too much."

Chapter VI

Little did anyone in this mysterious lair know that outside was a woman, a woman who went by the name Elle Kane, smiling as she manipulated some exterior electrical wiring.

Back inside, Philip asked Georg why he was seated in an electric chair.

"Oh, this, yes. I often forget," laughed Georg, "It is not operational. It was deactivated some three decades ago, but it gives me a flair for the dramatic, don't you think?"

Philip noticed that a wire to the electric chair had been cut. Puzzled, Georg said that he had not cut that wire, nor asked for it to be cut. The wire had been severed by Kitao Takashi, also Caldwell Rome's instructor in Kyokushin, for reasons the reader will later learn.

Georg, resuming the conversation, began to say, "But look me in the eye…"

At this moment, a sudden blast of electricity shook Georg Faust, violently shaking him. With the wire cut, how was this possible?

In the quiet of the Rome residence, Agatha being away visiting relatives, Caldwell Rome slumbered in strange dreams, unaware of his son's predicament.

Following the logic of a dream, Caldwell saw Cassandra Mullin as she had been in 1976, when readers of "Ars Oculus" first knew her. The dream knew her, however, not as Cassandra, but as "Rose Davies", burlesque dancer, by her side ghostly old men, the men with no eyes.

At the song's final lines, "The edge of the big reveal…", per Rose's tease, she revealed not herself, but the genealogy Caldwell had read that fateful day thirty-nine years ago.

Chapter VII

The next day, Caldwell Rome saw in the paper the meaning of his dream: A much lauded and discussed international charitable effort- or so it was promoted- Paint the Heart, touted as a charity to help impoverished children use art to earn money and express themselves, was the brainchild of United States Senator and former corporate mogul Montgomery Cross. Official biographies claimed that Montgomery's father was one "Michael Elliott Cross", in fact nonexistent, but the dream unearthed Caldwell's memory: Even as he looked for the name of the notorious Robert Cross, back in 1976, he had mentally noted that Boston's own Montgomery Cross's father was, in fact, David Cross.

This, then, was the secret for which Cassandra Mullin died, interrogated, no doubt, as to who had looked through these old family records. The assailants then ransacked and stole random books, Caldwell deduced, to disguise the particular importance of the genealogical records stolen.

The reader may understand the context if told a bit more about the late, hated David Cross, a eugenicist known mainly for the African Trepanations, experiments on innocents in Africa that horrified every civilized person, and the mere association with David Cross would end any public career, were it widely known.

More conversations with fellow old-timer Nikólaos Panagos were, for Diogenes, therapy of a sort, but for Caldwell, crucial to piecing together his failed cases, and turning them, even now, in his ninth decade, into successes.

If Nikólaos could still be relied upon for his memory, he told the story that Ann Patterson's crimes did not stop with the INLA dealings, but that she had been in the employ of spymaster Georg Faust, which tied her to the threats Philip relayed, per his instructions, to Caldwell.

"Look up old papers, old records," said Diogenes, "Everywhere Patterson went, death followed. Mr. Rome, she hunted teen campers for sport, for sport! The very Karate academy you used to attend: Well, Elle Kane would maim its students to sharpen her skills [this, if it is to be believed, could explain Kitao Takashi attempting to stop Ann Patterson's crimes]. No conscience, conscience…"

Nikólaos Panagos had fallen asleep on the familiar park bench.

Chapter VIII

Dreams know no time, and in 2002, Agatha Rome drifted off to timeless aeons. As a sleeping Agatha saw it in her mind's eye, a large female bodybuilder, in a red bikini, transformed, in an instant, into a powerful she-wolf. It was this dream, for reasons unclear, that inspired Agatha to discuss disguises with Thomas Banerjee, and if "Bobby" can be believed, take revenge on Birger Pedersen, a man so hated that no one claimed his remains.

Complicating matters, however, was the death of Carl Wozniacki in 2012, dangling, just like Paul Knudsen, from his own second story window. Wozniacki was allegedly a contract killer and MDMA dealer, called the "Love Killer" by the press, and a man with many enemies, though he was also going through a divorce at the time he passed. Among those to whom he allegedly sold ecstasy was Peter Knudsen, troubled son of Paul, trying to forget his father's senseless death.

"It's this way," explained Caldwell to a cop on the beat, "Either Wozniacki took his own life that way as an admission of guilt in Paul's death, or he was murdered by whoever killed Paul, but that could not be Birger Pedersen, who had himself been dead a decade."

As they walked, they approached Kneeland Street, in Boston's Chinatown.

Chapter IX

Boston, Massachusetts, a bleak, rainy day, 2022. Philip Rome, shaking the water off his umbrella, entered his theatrical place of work. Philip, dripping wet, noticed a framed portrait of Sir Alfred Hitchcock, a new addition to the venue.

"Our first scene back [from lockdown] is about birds, so I thought that appropriate," explained producer Clyde Tomasini.

"Speaking of that," began Philip, "I think the set idea is too expensive with our limited cash flow, so I have…"

"Is it difficult?" Clyde interrupted.

"Is what difficult?"

"Dealing with scarcity, the first law of economics?" asked Tomasini.

"It comes with being human."

"Ah, but that's where you're wrong. Scarcity applies to those who earn, but not those who steal, like me, for instance."

Philip looked at Clyde, stunned.

"You steal? What did you steal?"

Clyde began to laugh oddly, "You must admit I am a genius. The way I 'saved' your life in 2010, but I rigged the counterweight to fall in the first place!"

Rome began to back away from Tomasini.

"Don't worry, Phil, my aim was never to hurt you, only gain your trust."

"Needless to say, now you've lost it."

"But what if I told you, Philip," began Tomasini, halting, as if for a dramatic pause, "That I am the new Shakespeare, and that you will be immortal even for having known me? So, so many playwrights, all in the shadow of the Bard, all broken by scarcity, the need to receive grants, donations, snivelling before patrons and bureaucrats. Well, no more!"

Rome had no response to this grandiosity.

"You, Philip, friend of horses, will be the next Franz Marc, the next Salvador Dalí, master of dreams. Where is this budget, you wonder? Why, from Paint the Heart, with over a trillion, by US dollars, in funding, some on the books, some off them. That was Georg Faust's angle: He was blackmailing Monty Cross over something, and he needed to keep it a secret or lose his percent of the money."

"That was why Faust kidnapped me?"

"Yes, but you should thank me. I killed him," proclaimed Tomasini, his pride evident, grinning.

"Why would you confess this to me?"

"I have the photo negatives of that kiss, accidental or not, as well, Philip, but I would rather we were partners."

"So you murdered Georg Faust?"

"Well," began the grandiloquent master criminal, "Strictly speaking, human law could do nothing about it."

To Clyde, it all seemed a light comedy.

"But I thought you said…" began Philip.

"I said I killed him. I did it by a hex. I, my dear Mr. Rome, am the legendary 'Salty'. It began simply enough. I am a charming man, as you know. Evidently, it seems Georg Faust's sister, Stefanie, lovely, golden-haired tigress, has an unfaithful husband. Rather unsatisfied with this cad, she turned to me, in Maithuna."

"Where?"

"Not where, what? Maithuna is intimacy of the Tantra. I captured her subtle body thereby, and she mine, but I knew it, and she did not. Now, the difficult part: How to transpose her essence with that of her elder brother? Fortunately, I am an Adept. After, I admit, some failed experiments, I found the perfect spell, if you will: A statue of Ardhanarishvara, androgynous Hindu god and goddess, but I wrote Stefanie's name, in Latin, on Shiva, and Georg's name on Parvati, with the Algiz rune between them, for my own safety, salted the ground for the Magnum Opus, and all was prepared."

"Prepared for what? A padded room?" sneered Philip.

"Ah, but Philip, you saw the result. I grounded myself, put an electric shock through my own subtle body, elementary sympathetic magic, and you witnessed the result."

Chapter X

Philip Rome now realized that any show of skepticism or of scruple would weaken his position.

"Why did we need to get Georg out of the way?" asked Philip, changing his manner to that of grasping cynicism.

"Because, my dear Phil, he was a philistine, no art in him. He wanted the money only to reinvest, to make more money, never dreaming what money could make immortal."

The lighting designer, none other than Peter Knudsen, a man of striking palor, was set to join them, but was rather delayed by the harrying of a large flock of greedy pigeons, seeking the free food to which they had become accustomed.

"There is a problem in our plans, however," said Philip, with a look of concern.

"What possible problem could there be?"

"You should pay more attention to the local news. Georg Faust, though in a coma, is expected to survive."

Tomasini showed fear for an instant, then gave Phil an odd smile.

"Marvelous humor, Mr. Rome… you had me for a moment! More of why I need you for comedies," laughed Clyde.

"No, it's true," interjected Peter, who had finally arrived, "This Faust, the racketeer, is expected to come to any day now."

Philip and Peter looked at Clyde, and Tomasini began to believe them, and turned ashen in color. For once, he seemed at a loss for words. Mr. Tomasini stepped on stage, beginning to open the curtains, standing precariously.

"Clyde, don't!" shouted Philip.

For an instant tearful, Clyde Tomasini's last words were from Hamlet, "Conscience doth make cowards of us all."

Philip and Peter winced as a heavy counterweight fell on the mad playwright. How much of his story could be believed? One matter was certain: Georg Faust was dead.

Chapter XI

Jeremiah Rome lacked the intellect or the good sense of his siblings, Philip and Natalie. Appropriately, he moved to the West Coast, and equally fitting, was in middle management in a multinational corporation, and as such, his stumbling ways were scarcely noticed. He occasionally, however, visited his Bostonian family, doing so in the Summer of 2023.

Louis Meath's heir to obliviousness, Jeremiah had not the scarcest notion of the trials his family had endured, but seemed to know every catchphrase and slogan ever used to market trendy technology. Neither, moreover, had the recklessness of his youth abated, but on this day, as he drove, rather over the speed limit, into Boston, it would work for the best.

Ann Patterson, or call her Bella or Elle, by any name, took a deep breath and rolled back her eyes in a parked vehicle, a common enough make and model. Like an addict feeling the fix, Ann would experience her fix of violence today, she believed, putting a silencer on an automatic handgun.

She began tailing Philip Rome through traffic, having timed it perfectly. As Philip did not know her by sight, let alone through a rear-view mirror, all Ann had to do was wait for an opportunity, or so she thought.

In barrelled Jeremiah, not recognizing Philip's vehicle, but fortunately for Phil, his younger brother instead struck Ann Patterson's car, which itself was over the speed limit, as Patterson, to avoid suspicion, would alternately pass and fall behind Philip's car.

In a grisly wreck, which Philip managed to avoid, Ann Elle Patterson (1949-2023) met her end. Jeremiah's corporate connections, meanwhile, prevented any but the lightest legal consequences.

Chapter XII

Indra's net shook: A rich young man in Back Bay met an irresistible woman on the World Wide Web, calling herself "ChinaDoll68U", but this woman did not exist, and when the baited fish went to meet her, he was bound and gagged by agents of Sokol Dervishi, aforementioned Albanian gangster, presumably for ransom.

The next day, splashy headlines read, "Wealthy Heir Missing", while elsewhere in the city, a sleepy old man, Nikólaos Panagos by name, was working a fast food grill, salting the hamburgers, as Agatha Rome did needlepoint meant to depict the Electron Cloud Model of the atom, but to the strictly artistic mind, perhaps abstract expressionism, to keep her mind off her husband's passing, the gravestone of Caldwell Marion Rome reading (January 6, 1933-April 12, 2023), and the same week in April, 2023, headlines glared "Senator Cross Family Horror"- in spite of all, he could not outrun his family.

On a stage, in an electric blue dress, Grace Martel, known to readers of "Jashi", was practicing a trick as a magician. Reaching into a fish tank full of water, she removed her hands from the water, and flames shot from them, then, with a circular motion of her hands, a ring of smoke rose into the air.

The end.

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rotary-supercollider · 1 year ago

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Ok. It’s not a full essay, but it’s still around 1000 words

Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park is a character whose rebellion evolves over the course of the novel. Prior to the story, he is already rebelling against the established traditions of academia, as a member of the group of mathematicians who called themselves “chaos theorists”, statisticians who use computer simulations in attempts to predict the behavior of very complicated systems. This reactionary movement is deliberately written to be similar to the punk movements of the 80s, characterized by a rejection of established norms (though academic instead of societal). Malcolm is blunt and convicted, and from before the novel even begins, he is certain that the park will fail. Malcolm’s confidence straddles the line between infuriatingly earned and egotistical. He phrases everything he predicts as a statement of fact, usually without explaining why he believes this for at least fifty pages. As the story progresses, his rebellion shifts from a general rejection of norms to directly refuting the park owners’ belief in the safety of the park. While the park is indeed deeply unsafe, instead of attributing this to the park’s actual security flaws, created by a rush to appease the investors, he says that the park is doomed by its very nature as an attempt to recreate such a complex system. This is a glimpse at what will become a more obvious problem with his view of rebellion. Around halfway through the book, Malcolm is grievously injured by an escaped dinosaur and spends the rest of the book slowly dying in a bed in the resort building. From here, his rejection of authority reaches his final form. Up until almost the very end, every few chapters, the book will return to Malcolm in his bed, who will receive bad news about the status of the park from whoever’s checking in on him. Malcolm then launches into a diatribe about how the park was destined to fail, because science can’t progress far enough to create a perfect system at the complexity of the park. Nearing the end of his life, Ian abandons talking about the park entirely to rail against the concept of science, saying that it has outlived its usefulness, and it needs to be replaced as a system to operate our society on, as the feudal system was at the end of the middle ages. Ian’s motivation for rebelling is rooted in a desire to prove that he has a deeper understanding of the world than anyone else. When people start agreeing with him, he has to rank up and take on an even bigger aspect of life, to show that he can see down to the very cracks of reality. This blinds him to simpler answers to his questions, because those won’t allow him to peel back another layer and reveal the “dark truth” to someone else. The maddening thing about his character is that there is a corrupt bedrock on which society is built, and it did kill him. Jurassic park failed because, in a blind rush for money, caution was abandoned. Because it could’ve made money, an insane amount of scientific research went into creating a park, and when that research was ignored in favor of more money, that park killed 29 people. Ian malcolm died in the name of capitalism. But that isn’t enough for him. He needed to rebel so badly that he targetted a much larger, much more valuable system, one that he built his own life around. The novel frames Ian in the same way he frames himself, a Cassandra who was killed by the hubris of mad scientists despite his always-correct warnings. The message of the novel, about capitalism impeding scientific progress, is muddled by Ian redirecting the blame so that he can feel smarter. Ian, on all accounts, is right for the wrong reasons. It is the fault of the narrative that those reasons are framed as the ideological core of the novel.

#I wrote this for school the prompt was to analyze a rebel #ro

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tatselksism · 3 years ago

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The Goth Household: Makeover 2.0

Following EA’s release of the new version of the Goth household, I combined the old and new versions of the Goth household to make my own version of it.

Mortimer: I used New Mortimer as the base because I love his strong Gomez Addams vibe. In line with my headcanon of Mortimer as a horror novelist from an aristocratic background, I went for a vampirish/vintage-y sorta look for him, as per my first makeover of the Goths.

Bella: I used Old Bella as the base but gave her a slightly darker skintone. Frankly, I think this is what EA should have done with New Bella, who just looks kinda flat and ordinary looking. For Bella’s outfits, I maintained the vintage gothic bombshell look (inspired by characters like Morticia Addams and Elvira) from my first makeover of the Goths, but made her look abit more mature/sophisticated.

Cassandra: I used New Cassandra as the base because I like how her new look fits her “awkward/angsty teen” persona more. Compared with my first makeover of the Goths, I downplayed the edgy/vampirish tone and played up more of the witchy/Dark Academia vibe for Cassandra.

Alexander: I used Old Alexander as the base because, uhh, New Alexander looks nothing like how Alexander is supposed to look. I basically maintained the same looks for him from my first makeover of the Goths. But I now used blue as the key colour of Alexander’s outfits to distinguish him more from the rest of the Goths.

Downloadable here or via my Gallery id: tatselk.

Mortimer Goth

Age: Adult

Trait(s): Bookworm | Outgoing | Creative

Aspiration: Renaissance Sim (Knowledge)

Bella Goth

Age: Young Adult

Trait(s): Active | Outgoing | Romantic

Aspiration: Party Animal (Popularity)

Cassandra Goth

Age: Teen

Trait(s): Creative | Gloomy

Aspiration: Musical Genius (Creativity)

Alexander Goth

Age: Child

Trait(s): Bookworm

Aspiration: Whiz Kid (Mental)

#mortimer goth #bella goth #cassandra goth #alexander goth #makeover #lookbook #pleasantview 0.5 #ts4 #the sims 4 #willow creek #tatselk premades

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wangisking · 3 years ago

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𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐘 𝐋𝐎𝐍𝐆 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐕𝐄𝐘

BASICS. FULL NAME : Augustus Alexander Wang NICKNAME : August and Gus ( in general ), Auggie, Ice Prince, and Guggie ( by Aurora ). Aug and Lestat ( by Jack ), NAME MEANINGS : Augustus is Latin for the great / the magnificent. Alexander is also Latin and means defender of mankind. From what I know, Wang in Chinese means king. HISTORICAL CONNECTION ? : Though, his dad did think of the Roman Emperor Augustus when they named him, they liked the meaning. It seemed to fit him. They weren’t wrong, he was an emperor and he still has that energy. AGE : 22. Like Aurora, he can’t age past 22. He wouldn’t have minded either way. BIRTHDAY : 5th April ETHNIC GROUP : Augustus is half Korean and half Brazilian. NATIONALITY : British LANGUAGES : fluent in English and French. Conversational Latin. Broken Korean. Learning Urdu. SEXUAL ORIENTATION : demi-heterosexual ROMANTIC ORIENTATION : demi-heterosexual RELATIONSHIP STATUS : Single and doesn’t want to mingle. He had only one serious relationship in the past with Aurora Shams from 2017-2019. CLASS : Upper class, Wealthy but not private-jet kind of wealthy. HOME TOWN / AREA : London till he was 10 and Vancouver till he was 17 CURRENT HOME : Los Angeles PROFESSION : Drummer, songwriter, model, and student. PHYSICAL. HAIR : long and wavy. Chestnut brown. Here is an example. It goes down his earlobes in length. EYES : piercing, almond-shaped eyes. Naturally brown, but he wears blue or green contact lenses. NOSE : a Greek nose, straight without bumps. FACE : Oblong shaped, sharp and chiseled cheekbones, strong jaw. Masculine features. Example. LIPS : not full nor thin, heart shaped. COMPLEXION : pretty pale. Example is same as the face section. SCARS : one on his chest. TATTOOS : a very small ‘10/17′ on his left rib. PIERCINGS: earlobes HEIGHT : 6′5″ or 195cm. BUILD : Inverted triangle. Broad, tapered shoulders. Muscular. Defined, sculpted abs. Long limbs. Broad chest. He was naturally towards the muscular side with broad shoulders and chest. He’s never been on the skinny side. Example one and two USUAL HAIR STYLE : he lets his hair do their thing, he styles them a little, but he prefers a messier vibe. USUAL FACE LOOK : He looks generally bored. His eyes have a piercing look that seem to be drilling into the person before him. Like he can see right through you. There is an insolent smirk tugging at his lips like he thinks you’re amusing. Almost proud, like he thinks he is above you. There is depth and intensity in his eyes that stare skywards in thought. There is also mischievous, radiant glimmer in his eyes. USUAL CLOTHING : prince charming meets rockstar. Lots of jackets, darker colors, boots, necklaces and rings. Here is his wardrobe. PSYCHOLOGY. FEARS : claustrophobia and the fear of ending up alone. He always had this creeping feeling that he’d be alone in the end and that he was always meant to be alone. ASPIRATIONS : he doesn’t have any set aspirations. They change every now and then. However, his goals are just to keep his found family happy. POSITIVE TRAITS : extremely charismatic, intelligent, academic and studious, alluring and attractive, quick-witted, charming and captivating, articulate and eloquent, adventurous, desirable, analytical, brilliant, friendly, enthusiastic, adaptable, observant, kind, mellow, competent, extremely caring and protective over those closest to him, clever, loyal, clear-headed, confident, humorous, courageous, imaginative and creative, a visionary, refined tastes and manners, daring, dignified, ebullient, deep, remarkable, surprisingly he’s very forgiving, forthright, gallant, logical, gentlemanly and sophisticated, perfectionist, popular, self-reliant, shrewd, witty, suave, curious, and resourceful. NEGATIVE TRAITS : egocentric, self-obsessed, idle, indifferent, selfish, defiant, arrogant, argumentative, rebellious, kinda lazy, stubborn, distracted, doesn’t really care for morals, blunt, can appear insensitive a lot, is insensitive at times, no filters, can be cold for those he doesn’t care for, emotionally immature, deflects emotions, suppresses his feelings, sorta detached, kinda pessimistic, and unknowingly self-sacrificing because he thinks it’s fair and he deserves it. MBTI : ENTP ( Ne dominant, Ti auxiliary, Fe tertiary, and Si inferior — this means she can’t use Ni, Se, Te, and especially can’t use Fi). He perceives the world by connecting dots, thinking of never-ending possibilities, looking for pieces of a puzzle, and finding meaning in abstract. He makes judgments on if what he perceives fits his internal logic. ZODIAC : Aries sun, Gemini rising, Sagittarius moon. TEMPERAMENT : sanguine choleric ANIMALS : parrots and cats because they’re both intelligent but little pieces of shit who enjoy making your life hell. VICE : it’s either his ego or how he ends up detaching himself FAITH : currently, he’s Mu.slim. He was born protestant, became an atheist when he was 13, agnostic at 14. Bud.dhist at 15. Taoist at 16. Confucianist at 17. Mu.slim at 19. Doesn't practice it though. GHOSTS ? : yep.. AFTERLIFE ? : yep REINCARNATION ? : he guesses so. Went through it, but doesn’t remember. ALIENS ? : hell yeah. POLITICAL ALIGNMENT : liberal. ECONOMIC PREFERENCE : upper class or upper middle class is good with him. EDUCATION LEVEL : MSci in Physics from the University of Cambridge. Is opting to specialize in astrophysics soon. FAMILY. FATHER : Edward Wang, owner of a chain of fine dining restaurants MOTHER : Elisa Violeta Wang, psychiatrist, deceased STEP MOTHER : Chaeyoung Wang, lawyer. SIBLINGS : Cassandra Wang, athlete EXTENDED FAMILY : he is not close with his external family and doesn’t know his birth mother’s family at all. They never wanted him. FAVOURITES. BOOK : Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Galactic Dynamics by James Binney, Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Mukarami, Slaughter house Five by Kurt Vonnegut, War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, and Lord of the Flies by William Golding. MOVIE : Scott Pilgrim vs The World 5 SONGS : All You Want - Dashboard Prophets, Tokyo Smoke - Cage the Elephant, Where is My Mind? - The Pixies, Sparks - Coldplay, Lithium - Nirvana, and Mr. Blue Sky - Electric Light Orchestra DEITY : none. Let him argue with one and ask for proof of their deity-ness. HOLIDAY : Halloween. It’s dramatic and fun. MONTH : October, because he met Aurora and Jack this month in 2017. SEASON : spring and summer. PLACE : he doesn’t have a specific place, but he prefers European architecture. WEATHER : cloudy and windy. Sunny if it isn’t too hot. SOUND : drums and percussions, the sound of aurora and jack’s laugh, guitars, violins, the sound of wind roaring, music boxes, and the clinking of bangles and jewelry. SCENTS : sage, rosemary, and damascus roses. TASTES : chocolate, strawberries, chilies, and fried food. FEELS : the feeling of hitting the drums, wind in his hair, the cold night air, warm morning sun, grass against his fingertips, silk, and touching long hair. ANIMALS : cats and dogs. NUMBER : 8 COLORS : white, cherry red, pink, maroon, wine red, black, and silver. EXTRA. TALENTS : he is an extremely talented drummer, good at guitar and the piano, he is talented at songwriting, composing music, he’s exceptionally good at mathematics and physics, analytical skills, storytelling, knows a lot of facts, near photographic memory because he remembers all important historical events with dates and details, academic writing, and brainstorming ideas. BAD AT : cooking, not very good at driving because he gets distracted, doing one task at a time, playing videogames, actually listening to what people say, being humble, and actually being a good leader. TURN ONS : this is a complicated question. He needs a very strong emotional connection to feel sexual attraction towards someone. And he only felt it for one person in his whole life. But, what sparked that attraction was a brilliant mind and the ability to connect with his mind on a very different level. It’s not going to repeat with anyone else. TURN OFFS : literally everyone else. He’s not sorry, but I am. HOBBIES : playing the drums, writing and composing songs, reading, solving problems, listening to music, watching shows, getting people to do weird shit, and annoying people. AESTHETIC : crowns, drums, broken drumming sticks, abstract art, the vast space, chess boards, album cases, thrones, the echoing sound of pianos, Greek sculptures, galaxies and nebulas, early morning sunrise through curtains, libraries, equations scribbled on napkins, empty museums, unmade white sheets, polaroid cameras, conspiracy theories, VHS tapes, antique books, cobblestone alleyways, night skies, cluttered books, calloused fingers, crumpled composition pages, guitar picks, vinyl, telescopes, and planets. Basically: abstract, chaotic academia, cryptid academia, dark academia, indie, kingcore, light academia, musical academia, science academia, spacecore, QUOTES : it’s weird but i can’t decide which one fits him. FC INFO. MAIN FC : victor han ALT FC : n/a. OLDER FC : he can’t age past 22, so he doesn’t need one. YOUNGER FC : none yet. VOICE CLAIM : both speaking and singing (his accent is posh British with a slight hint of Canadian) MUN QUESTIONS. Q1 : If you could write your character your way in their own movie , what would it be called , what style would it be filmed in, and what would it be about ? A1 : The same answer as Aurora, The Tale of Solis et Lunae that stars him alongside Aurora, Lunae, Jack, and Tate, plus more. A cosmic adventure / fantasy / coming of age / superhero / the reluctant hero / the chosen one. His role is of Aurora’s best friend and her greatest support in emotional and supernatural dangers. He is the time traveler who ascends time and space, so he often also gives her insight and information like the sage. It’ll expand across dimensions, worlds, and different states of existence. The scenes would be cinematic with a strong soundtrack. I imagine him to have some scenes like Quick Silver in the X-Men movies. Q2 : What would their soundtrack / score sound like ? A2 : He would have a 90s grunge or spacey dream rock sound. It ties in with the end of the last answer because i see him in one of those scenes with 90s grunge or maybe classical music ? Q3 : Why did you start writing this character ? A3 : I made Augustus just a bit before Aurora. They were a two part deal. I don’t know when it began, I just had this image of a tall, long haired boy with piercing, intelligent eyes who’s a smart-ass and likes being a know-it-all nuisance. This character has been the same since he began in 2019 and refused to change. He was always a drummer, he always had the same fashion sense, the look, Gus was always half-Korean, he always had long fingers he wore rings on, and he was always Aurora’s best friend/partner in crime. He remains unchanged and that's why I wanted to write him. This very vivid image of this boy was something I had to pen down. And just my luck, I found a fc who looks exactly how Gus looked in my head. Q4 : What first attracted you to this character ? A4 : Augustus is just extraordinary. It’s something I always felt about him and Aurora and I don’t see any of my other characters coming anywhere close to them regardless of how much I spent time on them. But with Augustus, his entire image and looks and personality — down to his wardrobe and jewelry was always so vivid in my head. Like I knew this very chaotically handsome boy who was going to turn the world upside down. His story is interesting, but what interests me more is his perspective on his story. The way he looks at his life and how he is quiet and doesn’t show his pain. How confused he always is. How much he aches but never seems so. The way he loves but doesn’t say even a quarter of the intensity he feels. And how sometimes he believes he deserves suffering because it makes sense to him. I also love the connections he makes and the way he loves so deeply and profoundly but underneath the surface. His connection, love, fears, and hopes with Aurora and Jack for their respective reasons are extremely beautiful. Q5 : Describe the biggest thing you dislike about your muse. ? A5 : Augustus is unknowingly self-sabotaging. He let go the only relationship / love in his life that made him feel like real love just because he thought he didn’t deserve it. And because when he was provoked, it made “sense” to him. He bottles his emotions and pain so much despite their intensity. He never shows how much he really cares and really hurts. And how sure he is that he’ll end up alone without friends and that it makes sense to him. Q6 : What do you have in common with your muse ? A6 : Here’s a fun answer, because I bottle my emotions like him. I also interact with the carefree way he does even if I don’t feel peachy. He’s smart and witty and really hot and I don’t even have that going on for me. So, yikes. Only of Gus’ bad things I share. Q7 : How does your muse feel about you ? A7 : Gus loves interacting with people so he’ll definitely show up to annoy me. Maybe, he might think I’m fun to annoy? Or maybe, we’ll have a similar sense of humor. I think he won’t dislike me. Not sure if he’ll like me. I think he’d think I’m funny in a strange sort of way. Q8 : What characters does your muse have interesting interactions with ? A8 : Aurora, first of all. They have this same brain wave-length thing going on where they’re partners in crime and bffs forever more. He knows how she is feeling and what she’s thinking even before she utters it. If she is about to sneeze, he’d get a tissue ready. He can tell if she is hungry or sleepy with one glance. She can do the same, so they sorta have this weird understanding of each other. Jack is this older brother figure Augustus loves. He won’t admit it, but he kinda wants to make Jack proud of him. He also wants to provide love and care to Jack that he thinks he deserves but never got. They’re his family now and he’ll never be alone or sad again. He annoys Jack a lot but behind it all, he just wants Jack to think he is needed and he belongs. That if he thinks Augustus is reliant on him, then he has this family he has to protect and care for. He can’t stand the thought of Jack feeling unloved, forgotten, alone. Tida is another one. There’s this great respect and adoration Gus has for him. Almost like he looks up to him in some ways He also has a lot of hopes and expectations attached. He feels Tida is everything that Gus himself lacks. He is the ideal boyfriend, kindest person, shows his emotions vividly, and is like a warm and cozy blanket personified. He is probably Tida and Aurora’s biggest supporter and first one to know. He can’t be happier than he is that Aurora found someone as good and perfect as Tida. Taewon is one really fun character. Their two-way frenemy jealousy spans over years and started in Cambridge when they were both in love with the same girl they claimed to be best friends with. Though, trying to be calm, Augustus was constantly provoked and hurt, made to feel inferior and constantly in fear of his relationship being broken by Taewon’s schemes that he couldn’t say out loud. This dark period ended with a fist fight and baggage of guilt they both carry to this day for hurting each other and the one they claimed to love. Today, they’re way past that and frenemies who have funny quips and arguments for each other. They say they dislike each other. But if the lighting is good, one would be the photographer of the other. Q9 : What gives you inspiration to write your muse ? A9 : Music helps me imagine scenes with perfect visual details. Any scenes from shows that remind me of my storylines. Q10 : How long did this take you to complete ? A10 : I don’t remember. It was many days and I didn’t count because it was in bits and pieces.

#╰ ♛ 𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐀 ━━ the king of gods #long post #i finally did this!

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birdkoskincare · 4 years ago

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heyy, do u have any fav youtubers? or podcasts? do u have any recs?

oh, do i ever! strictly skincare or in general? because we could be here for a while, i watch a lot of youtube (barely any podcasts tho). actually screw it, here’s the current list of youtubers whose videos make me go “!!!” and click instantly when i see they’ve uploaded. topics unrelated to this blog below the cut :’)

skincare and beauty youtubers

lab muffin beauty science: chemistry PhD, super savvy about the science side of cosmetics, 100% my top recommendation

james welsh: not an industry insider, more of a traditional influencer, but he’s very receptive and in touch with actual experts and he’s super humble

kelly driscoll: focuses on k-beauty for sensitive skin, very thorough reviews

cassandra bankson: i watch her occasionally for her aesthetician’s point of view

samantha ravndahl: fave MUA, because she actually went to beauty school and her approach to makeup resonates with me (and she’s really funny)

nisipisa: best personality in the beauty scene hands down, i love her

science/nerdy stuff:

any channel presented by simon whistler (biographics, geographics, history highlight, i binge this stuff like nobody’s business)

sideways: music theory

overly sarcastic productions: literature and mythology presented in hilarious ways

history and fashion

(significant overlap here bc of my vintage fashion tastes)

jessica kellgren-fozard: 1950s-clad lesbian activist who talks a lot about disability, queer history, fashion, and other such topics

rachel maksy: fun sewing and DIYs, vintage/cottagecore/dark academia/hobbit vibes

karolina zebrowska: fashion history and costuming, really good mythbusting videos

commentary

lindsay ellis: literary analysis and sarcasm and she’s just a delight okay

contrapoints: mayhaps the best sociopolitical commentary channel ever?, cinematography is out of this world

creepy stuff, true crime, etc.

caitlin doughty: mortician who talks about death positivity and related topics

fascinating horror: true crime and disaster stories presented without excess gore or sensationalism

jacob geller: excellent video essays about horror elements in videogames and other media

miscellaneous

oneboredjeu: best mashups, the talent is unbelievable

critical role: THE #1 dnd stream, has been a big source of serotonin to me in the past few years

nyangsoop, haegreendal and cozyday: all three fit the same category of super cute and relaxing korean vlogs, with very cozy homes and recipes

i’m sure i forgot plenty, but these will have to suffice (i’m sure there’s a few years’ worth of watching from these recs alone)!

#answered #youtube #bloggers #youtube recommendations #Anonymous

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silenasbeckendorf · 4 years ago

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17 questions, 17 people

i can’t believe i almost missed this notif!!😅 but thanks cam ( @downtuwn ) for tagging me!!

nickname: family and old friends call me kacy, i have a cousin who calls me kac (like “case”), my friends and i call each other gubs and rats so i’ll count that too lol

zodiac: gemini !!

height: idk about centimeters so i’m sorry to my international peeps but about 5’2”

hogwarts house: ravenclaw all the way lol

last thing i googled: “the urban art trail” (the art is so cool, i’d definitely recommend looking at the pictures of it)

songs stuck in my head: omg it’s actually a tiktok audio,, that one song from hamilton that’s like “we fought with him / we died for him” except it just keeps repeating “died for him” (also that one shane dawson one??? it keeps popping up on my fyp)

number of followers: 95

amount of sleep: uhhh i went to bed around 2300 and woke up at 0545,, almost seven hours then? but i had to take the ACT today an hour away from my house so it feels like only two hours lol

dream job: okay if we’re talking DREAM job, that would be an owner of an indie bookshop and an author. buuut i’m planning on being a speech-language pathologist (which i think will be so cool still since i’ll get to help out kiddos with special needs!)

wearing: literally the ugliest thing omg...a mustard yellow shirt from junior high (AND green lettering😖) paired with pink basketball shorts. yeah i’m big chilling lol

favorite song: dude i don’t even know,, maybe “lost in the world” by montell fish?? but lately i’ve been listening to more podcasts.

favorite instrument: violin bc it reminds me of jem and idk i feel like it’s just such a poetic/romantic instrument

aesthetic: dark academia has been catching my eye lately,, i literally started learning latin bc of it haha. i want to dress like a dark academic but i live in texas so that’s a no except for maybe two months out of the year

favorite author: cassandra clare and rick riordan

favorite animal: flamingoes and dolphins

random: i want to double-major next year (i’ll be a freshman in college) so that i can also be an asl interpreter ((:

tagging (sorry if you don’t want to be tagged or if we’ve never talked before haha): @nicreadstoomanyfics @perseusandthesea @ragnor-fell @lucieeblackthorn @cordelia-mf-herondale @pyqmypuff @siriuslylovingyou @feistyravenclaw @impossiblesoulpursetoad @layla-herondale (also that was definitely not 17 people but hey, it’s okay)

#personal #tag

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vitosscaletta · 5 years ago

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Vampire infodump......2! (this time it’s about my malkavian LOL)

Her name is Cassandra Erin Winters (just goes by erin bc cassandra is a stupid name)

ik i said her faceclaim is Am*nda Syfried BUT..... it’s B*lla H*athcote now. white girl 2

Born in the early 80′s.. Old Money family 😳 they thought of themselves like all rich peope do.. classy, modest, don’t waste your money and be respectful to poor people bla bla bla but in reality they were pretty shitty. Rich people have no self-awareness. Bad parents who didn’t necessarily want a child so Erin was mainly raised by her grandmother while mom and dad just fucked off.. she was kind of weird, think old Elizabeth Taylor in this interview hhikjfgig. She also believed in all sorts of occult stuff, especially ghosts, communicating with the dead, reincanation... and fortune telling of course 🔮 which was sort of what kickstarted Erin’s little hobby

She genuinely believed she had a fifth sense before all that and thought she could predict events.... she didn’t lol

was part of the popular group in her (prestigous private) high school days but grew tired of that bc she didn’t feel any connection to those people.. evetually ended up befriending the weird kids who had really odd hobbies 😳 she didn’t really fit there either but they liked her for being popular i guess

went to college later and studied.... idk probably psychology or something (ironically).. her parents wanted her to become a business major but that ain’t happening!

met her sire, Ray, at the library bc they’re like that.. he’s a weird guy, was embraced in the early 80s and still dresses that way. he looks like Jasper from twilight, particularly in that one scene where he makes that really weird face bc he’s trying not to drink Bella’s blood

this one.

(idk if she’s the fledgling so... the circumstances of her embrace are ???? i don’t know. ignores that)

lowkey wanna put her & helena in the same canon thx bye

she’s not.. ~~~crazy~~~ like in the game & actually acts normal most of the time... but sometimes blacks out and has random visions of the future *that’s so raven theme playing*.... She mostly sees the bad stuff for some reason :/

one of the voices in her head are her grandmother’s 😳 I’m gonna have to do more research on schizophrenia beyond what I had in my psychology class so most of it is *REDACTED* for now & it’s weird bc it’s fantasy at the same time..

also her strongest discipline is auspex 😳 sees a lot of weird shit

vibed with Rosa (that loser malkavian on the beach.. all the thin bloods are losers) for a minute until she asked for money..... Erin: wtf no...... I can see my own future thank u 😤

she’s independent/anarch aligned. we stan a class traitor

her favorite song is isolated.. stuck in her head 24/7

uhhh she has no proper pinterest board yet bc I’m cleaning up but her vibes are a weird mix of victorian gothic/dark academia (ykow those old buildings & uniforms? those.)/early 2000s prep...... somehow it fits i guess

#c: erin #all of this is. a joke.

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cafesulsul · 4 months ago

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the goths

#ts4 #sims 4 #the sims 4 #simblr #townie makeover #sims 4 townie makeover #sims 4 townies #ts4 townie makeover #ts4 townies #bella goth #cassandra goth #alexander goth #mortimer goth #cafesulsul #went for more of a dark academia look for cassandra

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daniellethamasa · 5 years ago

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Hey all, Dani here.

We have reached the beginning of a new month, and before I can really focus on the road ahead, it is worth taking a look behind to see what all I’ve accomplished so far in 2020. Honestly these wrap-ups really help to reinforce that I actually am doing a lot. Sometimes I feel like I suffer from impostor syndrome and feeling like I’m not doing all that much.

So, in January I forgot to continue with the wrap-up format that I had established last year, where I talked about the progress I made each month towards my personal yearly goals. When I realized that a day or two after the post went up, I thought about going in and editing it, but decided against it. I’m not going to forget it this month, but I also feel like I don’t want to skip over my accomplishments in January, so I’m going to discuss both months this time around.

Reading: I have completed 46 books so far this year, which is pretty great. I’m already thinking my goal of reading 125 books will have to be edited in a few more months, but we’ll see what happens. Anyway, I read 23 books in January and 23 books in February, so I’m pretty darn happy with that. Yes, there was more of my February TBR that I hoped to get through, but I still accomplished quite a bit.

Blogging: I have blogged every single day so far this year, which is incredible, and I still have quite a large list of reviews and other posts I need to write. While drafting up this post I looked at my list of posts to write and if I just posted once a day without reading a single new book, I could probably still have posts for at least two months, which seems baffling to me. So, I suppose for the foreseeable future I’m going to have to try and post up a bonus post or two each week.

Writing: Oh man, I pretty much failed on the writing front this month; I mean, unless you count the blogging, because I did manage quite a few words on the blog. I have thought about writing, and I guess technically I have done a lot of mental writing, which is worth nothing in reality, but at least I have more of my book thought out.

Conventions: Well, we got our hotel room booked for Gen Con this summer, and we’re getting things together for Lexington Comic & Toy Con at the end of March, so that should be a pretty darn good time.

All right, well let’s go over everything that I’ve read this month. If I have the review up already, then I will include a link to the post.

Fruits Basket, Collector’s Edition Vol 3 by Natsuki Takaya — 4.5 stars

A Queen in Hiding by Sarah Kozloff — 4.5 stars

Infinity Son by Adam Silvera — 4 stars

The Unwilling by Kelly Braffet — 5 stars

The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin — 5 stars

The Warrior Heir by Cinda Williams Chima — 4 stars

The Unspoken Name by A.K. Larkwood — 4.5 stars

Firefly: Big Damn Hero by James Lovegrove — 3.5 stars

My Hero Academia, Volume 23 by Kohei Horikoshi — 4.5 stars

Snug by Catana Chertwyd — 5 stars

Foul is Fair by Hannah Capin — 4 stars

Looking for Group Omnibus (Vol 1-3) by Ryan La and Lar DeSouza — 5 stars

Is it Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Volume 4 by Oneida — 4.5 stars

How to Treat Magical Beasts, Volume 4 by Kaziya — 5 stars

Prince Freya Volume 1 by Keiko Ishihara — 3.5 stars

Vox Machina Origins II #5 by Jody Houser, Matthew Mercer, Ariana Maher, Msassyk, and Olivia Samson — 5 stars

Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon — 4 stars

Fatal Throne by Candace Fleming, M.T. Anderson, Jennifer Donnelly, Stephanie Hemphill, Deborah Hopkinson, Linda Sue Park, and Lisa Ann Sandell — 4.5 stars

The Missing of Clairdelune by Christelle Dabos — 4.5 stars

Fruits Basket Collector’s Edition, Volume 4 by Natsuki Takaya — 4.5 stars

The Magician King by Lev Grossman — 4 stars

The Kobold Guide to Worldbuilding edited by Janna Silverstein — 4 stars

Sword of Destiny by Andrzej Sapkowski — 5 stars

Okay, with the wrap-up portion over, I guess it’s time to talk about book haul and book unhaul, and then OwlCrate unboxing. My book unhaul isn’t very big at the moment, so I’ll be holding onto these books a little longer until I have enough to make for a worthwhile trip to Half-Price Books.

Now, for the book haul, I definitely caught up with the extra books I hadn’t bought in the past couple of months, but that’s okay, because I’ve picked up some great books. A few of them I’ve already finished reading, and a few of them are ones I plan to read quite soon. And a couple of them are a little bit out of my normal reading comfort zone, so I am very much looking forward to giving them a try.

Then there’s the OwlCrate unboxing, and this might be my favorite OwlCrate box so far. There are so many items I love in this one. The OwlCrate edition cover for the book is absolutely stunning. There is a set of best friend bookmarks inspired by the Witchlands series by Susan Dennard. I absolutely adore the bento box inspired by the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson. And, obviously, as a huge fan of the Something Dark and Holy trilogy from Emily A Duncan, I love the art on the cloth wipe for digital screens we’ve been given. The edges of the playing cards are very shiny, and I guess it’s always nice to have an extra deck of cards. There’s also a sampler for the new Cassandra Clare book (that I won’t be reading just yet because I am a few books behind on the Shadowhunters books).

Finally, I guess I need to talk about my March TBR. I already talked about some of the reads in my Middle Grade March post a couple days ago, but I also want to talk about the books I have picked up for Monstrous March, hosted by Kathy at Books & Munches. Because these plans are a bit ambitious, especially with everything else I’m hoping to accomplish this month. Some of these books are filled with monsters and some are monstrously sized, but all of them are ones I’m looking forward to reading (or re-reading in the case of Nevernight).

Well, that is all for now, but I will be back soon with more bookish content.

February Wrap-Up and March TBR Hey all, Dani here. We have reached the beginning of a new month, and before I can really focus on the road ahead, it is worth taking a look behind to see what all I've accomplished so far in 2020.

#ARC #Blog Tour #Books!#Conventions #Gen Con #Manga #Middle Grade #Reading #Reading Challenge #Review #Writing

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