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vaguely-problematic · 4 years

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the whole 12 minutes is gold but especially this part:

for too long those of us with opportunity and privilege have failed and our responsibility to look at the truth squarely and name the system of racial oppression that artificially divides Americans and benefits those already in positions of relative power.

It’s perfectly understandable to not want to do this. It’s human. No one wants to lose privileges or position. Especially when fear of that loss is magnified and stoked by political leaders for their own supposed Advantage. I say supposed Advantage because if you deny the human rights and dignity of any people you will ultimately destroy the society and civilization that you claim to protect.

58 years ago John Kennedy said those who make peaceful Revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.

Not only is addressing systemic racial and economic Injustice The right thing to do. It is the safest most conservative most self-protecting most self-serving thing to do. contents Under Pressure will eventually explode and that’s not a threat that’s a law of nature. So it’s time to ask ourselves as it is always time to ask ourselves. What kind of nation do we want to live in?

that answer requires moral leadership.

Take it upon yourself to be a leader and set an example of the kind of country You want to live in.

that might mean going down to a protest or making a donation or having a tense conversation about race,

but you’re not going to get that from the White House. So we need to step up and provide it ourselves. America is now officially byop: be your own president.

(Full speech-to-text transcription under cut)

i’m Stephen Colbert, well, we’re back after 10 days off and I never imagined that after 10 days a global pandemic would not be the lead story.

Remember when we were all afraid of our groceries. I miss those days.

No the story that has pushed 100,000 covid deaths below the fold is America’s pre-existing condition- racism. protests against police targeting black people have broken out in dozens of cities.

So April was global pandemic May is massive Nationwide protests over systemic racism. I assume June is a plague of locusts then in July pleated pants are coming back.

That’s not just US citizens protesting racism in the United States. protesters gathered in London Toronto. Even Berlin, you know, it’s bad when Germany thinks your country is racist that’s like Jamaica telling you to put down the bong.

These protests were sparked last Monday by the extrajudicial execution of a man named George Floyd face down in a Street in Minneapolis Floyd died after a police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes now in civilized countries that’s called Murder. Minneapolis police officer and cop who so dirty even his badge is crooked Derek Chauvin even adding to the outrage is that it took four days to arrest the officer even though there’s video of him doing it.

It would be the shortest episode of Law & Order ever in the criminal justice system. The people are represented by two separate but equally important groups the police who investigate crime and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders who in this case are the police because come on we all saw the video. What are you waiting for? That’s it. I’m going to the protest. do the "dun dun”.

Even after Chauvin was arrested. He was charged with third-degree murder. That’s a pretty light charge. That’s like Prosecuting Jeffrey Dahmer for a bad case of the munchies. We find the defendant, hangry.

Plus the other three officers involved have not been charged with the crime. So if you’re wondering why people are so upset. It’s because this is so upsetting. Also, it’s not an isolated incident on the very same day that Floyd was killed. There was another viral video of a white woman named Amy Cooper who is confronted by a black bird watcher who asked her to put her dog on a leash in Central Park, and he responded by doing this and I’ve hidden please. Please call the cops. Please call the cops. African American man threatening my life. She knows exactly what she’s doing and why that man should be afraid of the police a brilliant performance. She should win the white lady Oscar. also known as the Oscar.

now Floyd’s death comes on the heels of Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arberyurry and also has Eerie similarities to Eric Garner in 2014. And in that same year, there was the case of Michael Brown in Ferguson Tamir rice and Cleveland all of those Echo Emmett Till and the Scottsboro boys, which happened in the context of Jim Crow, which itself was a soft relaunch of slavery. See really got to go back to the Triangle Trade which ultimately stems from man. Man’s inhumanity to man and are essential Fallen nature. So maybe start with the Garden of Eden actually, you know what in the beginning there was a single point of all matter and energy under tremendous pressure. But you know, there’s always a few bad atoms and the whole thing exploded

now in times like these we need empathetic and moral leadership. Unfortunately. We have Donald Trump. normally during National unrest president step up and address the nation’s pain.

Following the death of Michael Brown President Obama met with activists in the White House President Clinton comfort of the nation with a moving address after the Oklahoma City bombing. Even Richard Nixon in 1970 made a surprise trip, or he spoke to students protesting the Vietnam War who can forget his stirring words. We’ve got to come together and defeat are common. Enemy. The Jews I wrote down on this rushed

Trump can’t even match the compassion of a Nixon because as the Protests raged on Pfizer’s discuss the prospect of an oval office address in an attempt to ease tensions, but the idea was quickly scrapped for lack of policy proposals and the president’s own seeming disinterest in delivering a message of unity. Okay? Mr. President. We’re thinking a short powerful speech from the Resolute desk where you call for racial healing. I’m sorry. What’s that sir? You want to act it out with a box of Aunt Jemima. You know what? Let’s just scrap the whole thing. Today Trump had a call with the nation’s Governors to discuss the ongoing protests and he read straight from the authoritarian Playbook. Why isn’t comforting words. It reminds me of what? Mr. Rogers said about times of tragedy. Look for the dominators. Oh won’t you be? Oh you will be my neighbor you jerk.

That was mr. Rogers dominating someone.

Then Trump said something really scary, you know and you’ll never see this stuff again. So people are upset about systemic racism and a society that over polices and imprisons black people and Trump solution is to do more of that. You know, what they say those who refuse to learn from history are Donald Trump. So Donald Trump is the big tough guy going to dominate the opposition pew pew pew so naturally on Friday as

Range nearby Trump took shelter in the White House bunker. Well if history has taught us anything is that things always work out well for strong men who Retreat to underground bunkers. Mr. President. Come on. This is your moment. You’re always calling to beat up protesters at your rallies. You could shut this whole thing down just pop a couple of hydroxy xand come out of the White House swinging a 5-iron with a Confederate flag tape do it. But instead he tweeted great job last night at the White House by the US Secret Service. Service, they were not only totally professional but a very cool. I was inside watched every move and couldn’t have felt more safe adding a nobody came close to breaching the fence. If they had they would dad dad. Dad. Dad dot-dot-dot have been greeted with the most officious dogs and most ominous weapons I’ve ever seen that’s when people would have been really badly hurt at least many Secret.

Agents just waiting for Action. We put the young ones on the front line sir. They love it. I don’t know why they’re not letting him give that reassuring speech from the Oval Office my fellow Americans. Let me send a clear message to the people protesting police brutality law enforcement is just a bunch of cool guys who cannot wait for things to get crazy. They see you as target practice now a truly enjoy watching you get eaten by vicious. Dogs now, let’s all come together in peace. Come buy guns my Lord come buy guns.

The protest of the White House were specifically in response to this tweet. These thugs are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd and I won’t let that happen. Just spoke to Governor. Tim was and told him the military is with him all the way any difficulty and we will assume control, but when the Looting starts the shooting starts, thank you. Kind of an unnerving way to end a threat. It’s like that scene in Taken. I will look for you. I will find you and I will kill you. Thank you. Stay safe. Everyone top also had some more succinct thoughts tweeting. So terrible where the arrests and long-term jail sentences. We tried to sir, but Susan Collins voted to acquit you.

Now while Trump is in hiding it’s really good to see average citizen stepping up and filling in the void yesterday in Queens police knelt with protesters while in Flint Michigan the sheriff joined the march in Brooklyn protesters protected to Target from looters and Kentucky this group of white women formed a line to protect black protesters from police in Louisville protesters formed a human barrier to protect a cop who got separated from his unit and in Minneapolis.

Group of Mennonites showed up to support the protest Tonight’s Mennonites think America’s too racist! and they live in 1840.

Now I make a lot of jokes about Donald Trump because he is a dull and dark corrupting force that is undermining America’s moral leadership around the world and sewing hatred and fear among his own citizens. So that’s fun. and during this covid crisis the president is totally abdicated his responsibility of leading the people to understand the need to do the right thing for themselves and each other and yet the large majority of Americans have done the right thing anyway,

My Hope Is that the American people will do the same thing now Because ultimately they have to for too long those of us with opportunity and privilege have failed and our responsibility to look at the truth squarely and name the system of racial oppression that artificially divides Americans and benefits those already in positions of relative power. It’s perfectly understandable to not want to do this. It’s human. No one wants to lose privileges or position. Especially when fear of that loss is magnified and stoked by political leaders for their own supposed Advantage. I say supposed Advantage because if you deny the human rights and dignity of any people you will ultimately destroy the society and civilization that you claim to protect.

58 years ago John Kennedy said those who make peaceful Revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable. Not only is addressing systemic racial and economic Injustice. The right thing to do. It is the safest most conservative most self-protecting most self-serving thing to do. contents under Pressure will eventually explode and that’s not a threat that’s a law of nature. So it’s time to ask ourselves as it is always time to ask ourselves. What kind of nation do we want to live in that answer requires moral leadership?

Take it upon yourself to be a leader and set an example of the kind of country you want to live in. that might mean going down to a protest or making a donation or having a tense conversation about race,

but you’re not going to get that from the White House. So we need to step up and provide it ourselves. America is now officially byop: be your own president.

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ranger-kellyn · 4 years

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11 Favorite Excerpts

In honor if it being the 11 year anniversary of the first fic I ever posted, Platinum Bound, I thought I’d list out 10 of my favorite excerpts from everything I’ve posted so far, 1 from something I haven’t posted yet, and then kind of just. Talk about it~

As always, feel free to talk to me about any of my fics, no matter how old or new~ I’m very vain~<3

1 - Come With Me - Prologue - 03/02/2015 - Completed

A day that was supposed to be filled with sorrow and mourning had turned out to be very lovely. The cold that had long persisted since November had decided to lighten its icy grip on this one day in particular. It was almost a tragedy in itself that the weather failed to match the mood by pouring a relentless downpour. Rain was fit for a funeral. Not sunshine.

The opening to Come With Me has always had a special place in my heart, and while I know my writing has gotten better since then, I always hold up this opening as like...my premium brand, I suppose. I love the mood the prologue sets up for Siebold’s side of the story. Mismatched weather. His parents having the same death date. A sense of odd relationship dynamics with them. Clear indication that there’s going to be a lot of conflict with Jean as shown by Diantha, Siebold’d childhood friend, who has a clear disdain towards him. CWM may not be my BEST WORK, but it’s probably one of my favorites. ALSO....come on...the restaurant’s name is Apple of The Earth, which is a direct translation of pomme de terre, which is French for potato. And like???? i just get a little kick out of it every time

2 - It Takes Two - 12/16/2014 - Oneshot

Siebold chuckled. “A water dark type? My, my. You’ve already put yourself at a disadvantage. Cress shook his head. “Don’t give away your secret ingredient just yet, Siebold. Leave something to the imagination, please,” he teased.

If there is ONE THING I LOVE it’s writing flirty banter for these two, and this fic if full of it. My first fic for Cress/Siebold, staking my claim on the pool noodle that is this ship. I AM the captain of this pool noodle

3 - Second Chances - Chapter 7 - 06/14/2017 - Ongoing

“It was supposed to be me!” . . . Shaking, she stopped herself in the front hallway. Looking over the large, glass-famed map, she felt as though she was leaving her own body as she slammed herself against it in a last ditch effort to feel something other than emotional pain. In an effort to put a physical wound to her emotional one.

There’s plenty of happier lines from this fic I could choose. Ch 10 had a section I was considering instead, but I think this emotionally charged section has always stood out for me. I like to generally characterize Cynthia as someone who is in control of her emotions, or at the very least, is very good at compartmentalizing things, but here, she absolutely loses it. No rationality. No seeking help. Just raw pain. It was supposed to be me. Because it was! It absolutely was! In the previous chapter you learn that Diantha had fully intended to propose to her! But was instead manipulated by her mother and manager into leaving Cynthia. While Cynthia didn’t know that, we do, and that makes that line so much more painful to me. I swear. ONE DAY. I’ll actually finish this fic.

4 - Fortune and Fame - Chapter 1 - 03/23/2016 - Completed

“The best part of that outfit would be taking it off.” Her mouth turns into a smile. “I should think so,” she tells you.

Second person POV is a HUGE pain in the ass, but I still love this silly little fic, and I love this silly little moment EVEN MORE. What can I say. I love flirty banter. This whole fic was an absolute experiment, and while it certainly could be better, considering 2POV is not something I regularly work with, I’ve never been too upset with it.

5 - Stockholm - Chapter 4 - 06/20/2016 - Ongoing

“You’re my mission and my mission alone. I don’t need outside help,” he tells me. I catch myself about to laugh. “Figured you would welcome it seeing as whatever you think you’re doing to me clearly isn’t working.” He moves closer, enough for me to feel the warmth of his body, but it’s only when I think he’s looking at my lips do I come to my senses, pulling my legs up to my person, and pushing back up against the wall. “I would say it’s working just fine.”

i like to think of this fic as me playing in a sandbox. i don’t REALLY know what i’m doing, but i’m having fun, and that’s all that matters. This is a fic I had been thinking about for the longest time. I abandoned it back in 2016. I don’t really remember why, but I posted the first update early this year, and I just. I’ve been loving it since. I haven’t played in first person in SUCH a long time, it’s just nice to play in the space, and explore a darker emotion I guess. Game verse Commander Saturn/Dawn is always a weakness of mine

6 - Shadows of My Heart - Chapter 4 - 02/22/2011 - Completed

Looking at Kellyn, I notice that he has taken his jacket off and is now offering it to me. Shaking my head, I tell him that I can't take it, even though I would love nothing more than to take him up on his offer. He walks closer, smiling as he places his jacket over me. Now, the only thing I hear is the sound of the rain bouncing off of Kellyn's jacket, and the sound my own heartbeat. I'd have to be crazy or dead to not be blushing right now, and obviously my pulse is still going…

if you’ve followed me for a few years, you might think this is a weird pick for me. i complain about it a lot. i experience a lot of visceral cringe whenever i reread it (Like i did just now searching for a section i liked) But that’s why I like it. I love having this visible benchmark of where I’ve come from, and where my ideals have shifted to. I’ve always written Kellyn as my Ideal Man™© and in this fic he is suCH A “NICE GUY” AND IT’S JUST. SO BAD. I’M SO GLAD I’M NOT WITH THE KIND OF PERSON I USED TO WISH I WAS WITH. This fic is, at best, clumsy. Younger me was venting a LOT of stuff. Everything I put Rhythmi through in the fic, I was dealing with irl, and NOT handling them well. I never recommend this for reading, but I list it here because it’s like looking in a time capsule.

7 - Washington Blues - Chapter 2 - 04/30/2012 - Abandoned Work

Looking back up at me, the afternoon sun shines on her face. As if I needed to be reminded that she is very pretty. “I believe that it is too soon to be giving a definite answer, but,” she pauses to brush some hair behind her ear, “I do believe I am going to like it here.” I nod, liking the answer she has provided. I put my pink bag over my shoulder, and step down the stairs. “That’s good to hear. I do hope you come to love our little band,” I say, putting a little emphasis on “our”. Hopefully she will start using that term as well.

This fic has been abandoned since 2012, but as I was rereading it just now, I...felt a weird urge to give it a second chance? Marching band was my EVERYTHING in high school. It was basically my personality. It and Homestuck. If nothing else, I think I might give this fic a redo, because it’s something my younger self would have loved. I had so many ideas I wanted to explore and I think it would be a fun space to explore. Just reading it I got the most tactile memories of band camp, from the sounds, all the way down to the god awful smells. One day I’ll give this fic another go, but probably in 3rd person lmao. Also, it’s kind of funny. I remember holding this fic up as like. My Magnum Opus. I considered chapter 1 to be the BEST thing I had written up to that point. Now? It’s so fucking D RY......and no real person talks like they all do l m a o I love being able to see how far I’ve come.

8 - Hindsight - Sometime Feb 2014? - Oneshot for an old RP group

This question led him to placing both of his hands in his lap. “I would never describe her as winter. It’s the season she hates the most. From what I’ve gathered during our travels together, understandably so,” he answered, not meeting her eyes.

While this fic is OLD it holds a very special place in my heart. I had stopped writing for a while. For about 2 years nothing I wrote ever really panned out, and joining that RP group was literally the best thing I could have done for my creativity. It was so much fun, and I met some truly incredible people thanks to it. Literally, everything I’ve written since I attribute to that group. <3 I may not talk to most of them anymore, but I have some of the best memories of that time, and I just. Genuinely don’t think I would have HALF of what I have written now if it hadn’t been for their support. <3

9 - Ours For The Taking - Chapter 2 - 01/28/2012 - Abandoned Work

Killing is in the nature of almost every Pokémon, but we humans have inhibited that out for the most part. It doesn't take much to trigger the instinct though. A couple kills and then they thirst for blood.

Now i know this looks like a WACK ASS PICK. It’s been abandoned since 2012. It’s bad. It’s gore. It’s bad. But that’s exactly why I picked it. That, and I know it would chap Farla’s ass bc she told me years ago how awful this fic was. The whole reason my writing confidence took a blow. I can look back and know that this fic wasn’t great, but I hate for my younger self that they were knocked down like that. You can’t learn the boundaries of your writing until you try to push them. Maybe I could have turned into a great gore/horror writer if I hadn’t been knocked down? Who knows? But because of that negative experience, I now approach all comments I leave on fics with “unconditional positive regard”. I firmly believe if someone wants con-crit they’ll ask for it, and even then, I’m not someone who is going to offer up that criticism. That’s not my jam. I’m just here for a good time. This fic may be bad, but that’s why I love it. I love how over the top, 2Edgy4me the two chapters are.

10 - Getaway Car - Chapter 5 - 01/01/2019 - Ongoing

Pulling away just enough to make them look at one another, Cynthia looked her over. She was getting more drunk admissions than she ever thought she would, and she was in no frame of mind to worry about pushing her luck. “How did that make you feel?” she asked. She let her hand trail down her arm as she spoke. “Grounded. Like nothing else in the world mattered except us in that moment. I wasn’t worried about filming, deadlines, what people might say or think, or– anything, really. All that mattered was the calm you brought me, and how without meaning to you’ve made me feel like the most important person in the room.”

It’s no secret that Getaway Car is like. MY BABY. This is MY FIC. MY BABY. I CHERISH THIS FIC FOR SO MANY REASONS. I like venting through characters, and this fic is no exception. But I loved writing this moment specifically, because it just...I think it encapsulates everything Diantha has been looking for. She lives a charmed, chaotic life. Up to that point in the fic, she’s with a man who can’t really be bothered to give her the time of day, but also can’t handle the idea of letting her go. Without meaning to, without necessarily trying to, Cynthia makes her feel like the most important person in the room. She grounds her, and someone who lives a star-studded life needs that. This fic is my baby. My everything. It’s probably what I’m known for at this point, and I’m A-OK with that because these two are my everything. (ALSO, I specifically posted this fic when I did to get Farla to leave me a review, and had a good laugh about it when she did. My “bat shit crazy” plot device has ended up being my most popular fic~)

11 - Namtaflu - Chapter _ - Draft from NaNoWriMo 2019

The sound of something rising to the surface of the water attracted everyone’s attention. Turning their eyes towards the water, one by one, countless Starmie and Staryu began to surface, floating atop the water, their bright gem center’s shining in the moonlight. “Oh, wow,” Bianca said, holding the Audino closer to herself. "What are they doing?” Hilbert asked, turning himself so he wasn’t having to strain to look at them. Cheren shrugged. “They’ve always done this.” "They’re looking at the stars,” Hilda added. “It’s what Nona would always tell me. She said she read it in a book somewhere. They surface at night to look at the stars, and they’ll even start blinking here soon.” As she said it, from out in the distance, quick flashes of red began to move along the waves, reminding both her and Cheren of fireflies from further south. Soon enough, the entire shoreline was filled with the water pokémon blinking away at the stars, almost as if they were communicating with each other, or even something else. A few Audino continued to sit with them, everyone moved to silence by the display, afraid to make a single noise, not wanting to scare them at all and make them stop. The display moved in waves, like a heartbeat, ebbing and flowing. At times they were bright enough to cast a glow onto the shore, and at others it seemed like they had collectively stopped for the night. Once Broadway and Manhattan had decided to retire for the night, the group came to an agreement that it was time they retired for the night as well. They had stayed up long past sundown, but it had been worth every second.

I won’t be posting this fic WELL until my three current ongoing fics are completed, but this fic is pretty much everything to me. I first got the idea for this fic back in 2013, my senior year of high school. I wrote the first draft my first NaNoWriMo in 2014, and did a second draft of it last year. This fic has evolved SO MUCH, but this last draft is where I’m REALLY happy with it. I firmly believe there’s never a “right time” to write a fic, but I also believe this fic absolutely benefited from me not posting it after that first draft. They’re almost two entirely different stories. The original had a lot of unhealthy relationship dynamics, and this time, i decided, FUCK THAT, and now it’s a hilda/hilbert/cheren/bianca poly fic ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ I can’t wait for the day when I actually get to share this fic with the world.

#writing tag #my fics #i spENT ALL DANG DAY ON THIS

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clansayeed · 4 years

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Bound by Circumstance ― Chapter 15: The House on Prytania Street

PAIRING: Nik Ryder x trans*M!MC (Taylor Hunter) RATING: Mature

⥼ MASTERLIST ⥽

⥼ Bound by Circumstance ⥽

Taylor Hunter (MC) has made it good for himself in New Orleans; turns out moving to a new city fresh out of college to reinvent yourself isn’t as hard as people make it out to be. Things only start to get confusing when he finds himself the target of a malevolent wraith. Good thing someone’s looking out for him though — because without Nighthunter Nik Ryder as his bodyguard he definitely won’t survive long in the twisting darkness of the supernatural underworld he’s tripped into.

Bound by Circumstance and the rest of the Oblivion Bound series is an ongoing dramatic retelling project of the book Nightbound and the rest of the Bloodbound series. Find out more [HERE].

Note: Circumstance only loosely follows the events and plotline of Nightbound, and features a separate antagonist, different character motivations, and further worldbuilding.

*Let me know if you would like to be added to the Circumstance/series tag list!

⥼ Chapter Summary ⥽

The gang heads to Prytania Street to meet with the last power left untouched in New Orleans; the Garden District Coven. Taylor starts to experience the side effects of being a fae halfling.

[READ IT ON AO3]

The sun’s heat is blistering on the back of his neck.

It feels unnatural in a way; conducting their business with the darker side of the world in the daylight. They’ve been running between the worlds that exist between sunset and sunrise for so long that he almost forgot what the sun even looks like.

He likes looking at the moon. But looking at the sun? Ouch.

Still it feels strange not to have Cadence’s towering presence hovering somewhere at his back. Looking over at Katherine — he can’t imagine what it must feel like to her.

“Hey — nope, eyes here.”

Taylor winces at the backhand to his arm but Ryder definitely isn’t in the mood. He’s been tense ever since they left the hospital with a time and place to address the Garden Coven. Like he didn’t know that was the plan, or something.

“I’m listening,” promises Taylor. But listening for Nik at that very moment requires eyes as well as ears.

“Really? Then what’d I just say?”

He blames his hesitation on the fact its taking forever for the coffee to hit his nervous system. Looks to Cal beside him for some kind of help but the werewolf gives him a look of you’re on your own.

“Uh —”

“Right, thought so.”

“I get the gist, Nik. Don’t be rude, don’t make eye contact, probably best just not to open my mouth.”

Cal snorts. “Actually that’s scarily close to verbatim.”

“Did I ask you?” snarks Ryder, but the bait remains abandoned in the cracks on the sidewalk.

The Upper Garden District is like most wealthy neighborhoods; nice to look at for a time but not much for entertainment value without a place to actually go. And sure Taylor has entertained the thought of owning one of the many million-dollar mansions lined with black iron gates and enough bedrooms to sleep in a different one every night for a week or more.

But its like the streets know. They know what Taylor and the rest have seen — what some of them have done. They know what creature hunts them and close their entrances off with hanging willow branches and high brick walls.

Claiming innocence, refusing to be witnesses like covering their eyes in cupped palms absolves them of the duty placed upon survivors to recount tragedy when it is over.

Because they might be the only ones left to do so.

Taylor drags his fingertips along the winding bars of an iron gate. Wonders if the prickling he feels under his touch is static, his imagination, or something more.

Nothing about 937 Prytania Street sets it apart from the houses on either side of it, or across the street for that matter. If Katherine hadn’t stopped in front of it he might not have even guessed it was their final destination.

Wasn’t a witches’ home supposed to be covered in sigils or guarded by spirits from another world? At least adhere to the aesthetic, people.

Thank god, though, he’s not the only one underwhelmed by the obviously-new shiny coat of eggshell-white or the lack of shutters creaking in the mid- morning breeze.

“You sure this is the place, Kathy?” asks Cal with his head slightly raised, nostrils flared to try and pick up whatever scent witches carry. “It smells pretty ordinary.”

She doesn’t answer. Just presses the buzzer and waits patiently for the gate to open.

It does and without so much as an ominous creak.

Maybe its his paranoia kicking in but with every step they take towards the house the feeling of unease in Taylor’s stomach grows, and grows, until it sloshes around — doesn’t sit well with his coffee. Everything his eyes take in seems too normal. A lawn too well-manicured, a set of metal golden numbers too polished. Makes him want to grab a fistful of soil from a too vibrant pot of Easter lilies and throw it somewhere, anywhere to make the place a little less picturesque.

Lamrian was beautiful in its perfection.

The House on Prytania Street is perfect the way a staged corpse is perfect.

A stiff gentleman in a three-piece suit opens the door before Katherine can use the knocker. Looks the four of them over with a condescending air about him and there’s a half-second where it looks like he’s ready to close the door in their faces on principle.

He doesn’t, instead steps aside.

The problem with most of the houses in the area is that, beauty aside, most of them stand empty. Not on the material front — they are always filled with collections of things and with more places to sit than is realistically necessary. But whether its the shitty housing market or the fact that they’re just owned like another piece of a collection, rarely are they lived-in.

The Garden Coven house is no different.

While the Suit leads them to a parlor off the right of the house Taylor tries his best to try and find some evidence of life being lived; on the walls, the carpet, even in smudges in the dust that lines various and seemingly unrelated objects on display.

There are none. Not one single fingerprint.

Though the Suit gestures to a matching array of chaise lounges and high-backed chairs for them to wait in, they stay standing because Katherine stays standing.

“You will be collected shortly,” is all the Suit says before returning the way they had come; though this time he pulls the double doors closed behind him. Leaves them all feeling trapped despite the open windows and sunlight pouring through.

“Random question here,” Taylor breaks the silence because it might actually drive him up the wall, “but do we have a plan for if this goes badly?”

He looks to Ryder, who looks at Katherine, who has suddenly taken up an interest in the antique carpet underfoot.

Of course they don’t have a plan. Why would they have a plan for their last resort? The same wonder team that practically broke into Persephone without so much as an escape route on the brain.

Historically things have worked out in their favor, though. Is it wrong of him to hope this time, too, might not be so terrible?

The glowing yellow eyes that bore into his soul from across the room say yes, yes it is wrong of him. Say how dare he imagine that things might not turn out so bad. They blame him for bringing hellfire and brimstone down on this house, on this city.

“— ly shit, Taylor. You okay?”

Its like an out-of-body experience in reverse. Feeling too deep and too trapped within himself to answer the concern on Ryder’s face. Like he’s drowning inside his own mind — or inside someone else’s.

Nothing about her is stable — pinpointing what she looks like beyond the startling gaze with which she holds him captive is about as easy as finding a single raindrop in a stormy sea.

One moment there are wrinkles around her eyes. Lines at her mouth pursed with thin lips in a frown of disappointment. Then youthful candor in aching regret. Grey hair healthy and full then withered, curling like the rumors that hair and nails continue to grow long after you’re buried in the ground.

He doesn’t realize it until the tear burn at his eyes and make him choke, but he’s crying.

“Taylor — Taylor!”

It’s back-breaking to pull away from the vortex he’s been ensnared in. Both the sun and moon in each of her eyes. Glassy and knowing at the same time.

But he blinks. Feels those same tears run down his cheeks and tickle his chin. Looks at the concerned faces of his friends with utter confusion because how in the world could they be staring at him when he’s facing judgment at the metaphorical pearly gates, here?

Even he’s aware of how foolish he sounds when all he can let out is a dumb “What?”

Nik takes him by the shoulders; looks him up and down for any signs of physical harm like it all isn’t in his head. Remains the most tried and true validation of his experiences to this day.

“You — what the hell happened to you?”

Taylor looks to Cal’s frown of concern, to Katherine’s violet curls like whips lashing around her face as she tries to pinpoint what, where.

“You look like you jus’ saw a damn ghost,” Cal sees the confusion in his eyes and thinks he’s helping. He isn’t.

So he cranes his neck back, away from Nik, to the point where it feels like he might snap his own spine.

She’s still there — in the doorway to a shadowy corridor. Both young and old and there and not. Then she isn’t her at all and the elderly man standing in her place reminds him of his grandfather a bit — which does nothing but unsettle him further.

“You… you don’t see her — hi— it?”

No, of course they don’t. Why would they?

He’s used to this — defaults into the old habit of trying to pretend the thing he’s looking at doesn’t exist. Already with denial on the tip of his tongue burning like a sour candy left forgotten.

But this was supposed to have stopped. No more headaches, no more hallucinations. The things he’s seen and accepted… so why is this different? Why now of all the rotten times is he seeing something no one else can?

Sure Nik tries; Cal too. They look in the doorway where the figure hovers like a bad trip on acid. They try, but they don’t see.

“Rook,” — is this where he pulls a Hermione, tells Taylor that seeing things no one else can see isn’t normal even in their freaky lives? — “there’s no one there.”

Only he doesn’t sound his usual level of confidence. Sounds more like he’s trying to convince himself right alongside.

Katherine scoffs under her breath; shakes her head and sits because there’s nothing else to do with her arms folded so tightly across her chest its undeniably a measure of self-comfort. Of keeping herself grounded.

When Cal tries to sniff the air his nose crinkles. “There’s too many different scents. Ritual burnings, smudges — I can’t get a read on shit.”

“I swear,” mutters Nik so low Taylor wouldn’t hear it if he weren’t as close as he is, “if these bastards are messin’ with you —”

For a guy who spent the entire journey warning against this exact type of frustration, anger, Taylor’s pretty sure it doesn’t matter if the Coven — wherever they may be — can’t hear him.

“Stop, it’s fine.”

“It ain’t —”

“You’re gonna get yourself in trouble.”

“Like I give a damn?!”

“Lower your voice!”

“A-hem.”

At some point the Suit had returned without their notice. Taylor would like to hope it was after his little freak-out but, time to face facts; he’s just not that lucky.

The way he looks them over — he might very well have some sort of magic-witchy x-ray vision. How the fuck someone can have a gaze that feels something like being scored at the top of his head and having his very being pulled back layer by layer is a mystery and, unlike the others, its one Taylor has no desire to solve.

“The Garden Elders will see you now.”

He wants to ask for a second to catch his breath; regain his composure. But why ask for it when he already knows the answer he’ll get?

Like before Suit doesn’t wait for them to speak an agreement. Just turns and begins walking deeper into the old house with purpose. Cal follows close behind — for all his bravado there’s unmistakable gooseflesh riddling his forearms.

Taylor reaches out to Katherine without a second thought; offering like he can help her up when they both know she could very well launch him over the chair and out the window like a rag doll.

Just another thing to distract him from the unrelenting stare digging knives into his back, probably.

Only Katherine takes his hand; surprises them both by doing so.

“You still see them, don’t you?”

The way Kathy’s eyes roam the space behind him, Taylor can tell she’s searching for the smallest speck of something to assuage his worries. But if you see something you don’t look for it.

So Taylor just nods. Follows with her at Nik’s back where he acts like a wall to keep their whispers private.

“Its not the Coven.” She says it so matter-of-factly.

The figure, now a young girl in the same pale grey shroud as the other faces had been, keeps staring even as they leave the parlor behind.

“Then what is it?” Nik throws back through gritted teeth.

“Something much more powerful.”

Taylor squeaks. “Not helping.”

“I recognize that look — I’ve seen it in the mirror,” and when they approach another set of double doors, stalled behind the Suit and his glower, her breath is hot in his ear.

“Keep an eye out. If The Fate is watching then there’s far more at stake than we assumed.”

His first thought is there have to be more witches in New Orleans than this, closely followed by please stop inviting trouble into your life, Taylor.

But even Katherine looks confused at the emptiness of the solarium they’re led into. How unassuming the three occupants look taking their tea with a pristine porcelain pot at a table out of Home and Garden magazine.

The same kinds of lilies, white petals large and curling under the sunlight, occupy every planter and pot in sight. Some of them are accompanied by flowers he’s only ever seen in books or movies — others look like they might be more at home in Lamrian taking root than here; to be appreciated but ultimately with a finite lifespan.

The solarium is a half-circle of heat and glass. Even the door leading out to a back garden path is see-through; the handle made of crystal. Everything catches on the sun and it makes Taylor quite literally hot under the collar.

He wipes a bit of sweat away from his chin uncomfortably.

They aren’t greeted when they enter. There are no chairs for them to take up. The Suit departs with the same wordless condescension with which he arrived and they’re just left there, taking up space on pristine marble, watching the so-called Garden Elders take their tea.

Only one of them actually looks the title ‘elder.’ The cotton on his robes looks scratchy, makes Taylor want to itch along his arms even at a distance. The locs that obscure his withered face fall back when he lifts his head up to the sun — casting shadows in the lines and creases of age he wears not just well but with a sort of pride.

With a delicate two-fingered touch he pushes his cup and saucer to the woman to his left. She refills his cup without looking away from the newspaper folded in front of her setting. The air around her seems to hold back as if afraid to touch — reverent of her existence but willing only to observe. The way the light illuminates her dark skin is practically golden. Makes her shine with some ethereal grace more at home with fae-kind than mortal witches, but the glow is undoubtedly hers.

The third Elder takes Taylor by surprise — he’s seen her before. Can still smell the sour cling of sweat to copper talismans and commercial incense on the ever-crowded floor of the House of Voodoo shop on Bourbon Street. Takes hiding in plain sight to a whole new level.

Would the Taylor from before all of this have felt the power that radiates around them? Would he have understood there was something to be feared about this particular trio; something he couldn’t possibly understand yet could feel in a place deeper than in the marrow of his bones?

I guess we’ll never know.

The polite thing to do would be to wait for them to finish their morning repast.

They don’t have time for politeness.

“Thank you for agreeing to meet with us on such short notice, Elders.” Katherine gives a respectful nod of her head when she steps forward. Based on the look she throws at Ryder that’s what they should all be doing — but he doesn’t. And Taylor just doesn’t want to look like an idiot.

Something rattles hollow around the old man’s neck and when he turns Taylor really hopes those aren’t real bones strung together with twine. His eyes are a milky, clouded white but he looks at Katherine with no trouble.

“Despite what rumor may have you believe we care a great deal of our ties to the community.”

Kathy opens her mouth to speak but because Nik is Nik he scoffs “yeah, sure,” loud enough to drag the focus of all three Elders onto him.

“If you’ve something to say, boy, say it,” says the House of Voodoo employee, and Taylor will never hear a customer service voice the same way again with the shiver it sends running down his spine.

“Elder Millet —”

It isn’t politeness that cuts Kathy off when Millet raises her hand. Not with the purpling of her face or the way she seems to gasp around unspoken words.

“Excuses are as bad as lies, Miss Lopez,” she gives a flippant wave to her peers that breaks her unspoken spell; leaves Katherine on the verge of clawing at her throat for fragrant lily-scented air, “if Mister Ryder here has something to say who are we to force him into silence?” Ironic, much?

Now he’s done it — Nik can tell, too. If they want to continue he’s going to have to finish his thought and accept the consequences that come with it.

But he is Nik; so he squares his shoulders and stands his ground despite the unease that Taylor feels emanating from him.

“I mean no blatant disrespect Elder Millet,” —to the old man— “Elder Vion,” —and to the woman still yet to look up from the paper— “Elder Daniels; but if any of you three gave a damn about the community we wouldn’t’a needed to come get you in the first place. You’d have shown your faces at the Beau-Keyes with the rest of ‘em.”

“And look what happened to them,” drawls Elder Daniels as she flips the paper to the financial section, “almost killed due to reckless stupidity and an inability to see beyond the moment.”

The private laugh the three of them share isn’t lost on anyone. In fact it makes Cal bristle and go red in the face.

“You—You knew we’d be attacked? You knew and you did nothing?!”

Pack blood still runs deep.

Elder Vion adds a pink sugar cube to his tea. “‘Doing nothing’ was the ideal course of action.”

And his fellow Elders agree; “It followed the plan precisely.”

“And leaves us with an opening.”

“Though the guests will have to be taken care of first.”

“They won’t be here for long.”

“Hey—Hey! Now ain’t the time to dissolve into crazy!”

Nik’s clapping isn’t just loud — it makes the room tremble. Glass walls, the glass panels on the ceiling all somehow stunned by the weight of his audacity. That he would dare call attention to himself, this small, insignificant creature—

Taylor hastily shoves his palms into the front pockets of his jeans. Like that will somehow stop the feeling prickling at his palms like a thousand tiny needles. Different than anxiety; something borderline painful. Like if he thinks about it too much it will start to hurt, but pushing it out of the forefront of his mind will keep it at bay.

He recognizes the feeling easily enough — still doesn’t know what it means or what’s causing it but there’s one answer he didn’t have before. It has something to do with being a fae.

“So you all know what’s out… there.” Taylor jerks his chin to the garden, to the French Quarter beyond and the rest of New Orleans with it.

Given everything they’ve seen when it comes to the bloodwraith so far it’s almost laughable to think such a gruesome creature could exist—let alone appear—on a day like this.

Elder Millet looks Taylor over like she’s peeling back each and every layer of him with her eyes. Maybe she is — he wouldn’t put it past magic itself. Let alone past the magic that told the Coven Elders how terrible the attack at the Beau-Keyes would be and convinced them to do fuck-all about it.

“We do.”

But they knew that. “And you know what it’s after.”

“We’ve drawn our own conclusions.”

“Do those conclusions tell you how close you’re getting to the top of the list?” It sounds an awful lot like a threat. Good — he wants it to be.

“Do they tell you its only a matter of time until it comes after you — after the entire Coven?”

Nik agrees; “Whose to say it’ll stop with the Elders? Someone takes your place eventually — it can go after them, and the ones that follow, and the ones after that —”

Vion scoffs around his tea. “Preposterous!”

“Actually no; not in the slightest.” Wariness, distrust hangs over Katherine in an aura of thunderclouds. And its growing. “It’s logical.”

The word, the very implication of it makes Millet’s fingers twitch towards something partially obscured by the teapot. At first Taylor wrote them off as napkins but now the shape and size rings familiar.

Her deck of tarot cards doesn’t like being questioned.

“Logic is the predilection of the mundane.” When Elder Daniels finally looks up from her paper its to stare directly at Katherine. Hard and unyielding. Its a look of power; a silent demand for surrender.

And she almost does. Taylor knows without a doubt that she’d deny it with her last breath but words mean nothing when he can see the flash of her soul behind stormy skies — hear the rolling thunder not far behind.

“There are a thousand and one ways to interpret any given reading. And you chose the one that would keep you out of the crossfire.

“Even if it meant turning your backs on the Accords.”

Outside the walls of the sunroom nothing has changed. The clouds have continued to drift lazily by and the sun still beats down upon them. But when they entered the room felt as transparent as it looked.

Now they may as well be trapped in a dense fog. It threatens to block out the sun; to take pleasure in wringing out their last choking breaths.

“You overstep, insolent little Nighthunter.”

Elder Daniels stands and waves her hand. Probably takes a sick sense of satisfaction in the smallest flinch Katherine fails to hold back — but instead the witches’ spread vanishes as though it was never there.

There is no gaping absence of it — they could just as easily have been standing the entire time and had Taylor’s eyes not seen the table and chairs, had he not smelled the brewing tea or heard the clinking of cup against saucer, he would have a hard time explaining why he thought any of it was there in the first place.

Millet’s fingertips hover just above the surface of her tarot deck. The only physical thing to have remained. As much a member of the Elders as anything.

And the wrinkles on Vion’s leathery face have sunken deep like canyons. His movements are ancient and slow as he stands beside his fellow Elders in defiance of some unknown.

The sides are becoming glaringly obvious.

Small as it was Daniels’ display of power served its purpose; reminded them of who—what—they were dealing with. A power strong enough to entice the bloodwraith and prove its worth by remaining untouched.

The continued existence of them was a claim to power that the likes of Carlo de la Rosa and Denna the Shifter could never have dreamed of.

Taylor knows he’s not the only one of them having this fact hammered home inside him. Not solely because it takes some big and important shit to keep Ryder silent for this long but definitely highlighted by it.

“Perhaps,” Millet drags the word out solely to fuck with them, “we are the ones to be blamed. Blamed for our naivete in agreeing to this meeting disguised as an attempt to point fingers.”

And because its Katherine on the line — more than her name or reputation, but her life — she remains the sensible one. She tries to smooth-talk her way out. “With respect, Elder Millet, no one’s pointing fingers—”

“Save your arguments,” barks Vion, “though I’m sure they were well-rehearsed. Even blind to this physical plane as I am, I can see your true intentions for coming here.”

“Well there weren’t any, so —”

“We open our doors to you in this hour of need and yet you seek to accuse us of that which you cannot even begin to understand. Do you deny?”

It’s beginning to feel an awful lot like a trial and Taylor isn’t the only one who can feel it. He knows what the tension in Cal means — the way Nik shifts to the foot he favors standing his ground on.

But something just isn’t right. It’s echoing hollow in his bones; in the air around them. It fills him up, keeps filling him until he’s not sure he can stand it anymore. Until it wants to pour from his mouth or leak from his ears.

“Then why even agree to meet with us at all?” he blurts out to the surprise of the room; to himself.

And all that pressuring weight shifts from Katherine to him. Now he’s deep in it. Way to effing go.

Only its the first time the Elders don’t have a remark ready to be snapped at their heels. A fact that isn’t lost on them — and isn’t lost on his friends either.

And since its the only silence they might be getting any time soon he tries to roll with it in his usual word-vomit way.

“If you can see so much of the future in your cards or whatever — why agree to meet with us at all? Wouldn’t you know what we think of you? What everyone thinks of you? And you guys don’t seem like the type to entertain stupid people for the sake of a laugh.”

Nik gives him a very specific ‘Did you just call us stupid?’ look. Yeah, yeah he did.

But its rambling, and Taylor is good at rambling. Rambling is what he does best — rambling and improv monologues.

“You guys —” he drags an accusatory finger across the spread of them, “— are the ones accusing anyone, here. Which I get, you know, because there’s a lot going on. And everyone’s scared and everyone’s got their walls up because this is—like—ten thousand leagues away from normal even for your crazy world.

“But if we keep pointing fingers and we keep not helping everyone then what’s gonna happen? Right — the bloodwraith is gonna win. Because we’re gonna do its job for it!”

He drops his finger, then, because he’s making a point and leading by example. “Whatever reasons you may think we have for coming here are bullshit. No one wants to help, everyone’s just in it for themselves! And seeing as literally everyone in the city is a target right now that’s a really really stupid way of thinking!”

Like — he’s making sense, isn’t he? He feels almost compelled to look around not just at the Elders but at his friends, too. How many stories about good versus evil demand that everyone band together in spite of their differences for their own survival; for everyone’s survival?

They had been so close at the Beau-Keyes. If they’d all been given more time who knows what they could have accomplished. Maybe Kristof would be more willing to help. Maybe Lady Smoke wouldn’t have gotten hurt.

Maybe Elric would stop hiding behind his wards like a coward.

Taylor sighs and it comes out a ragged thing — takes every last bit of air in his lungs and tries to wring a choked noise from his lips but he’s just too tired.

“If you had already made up your minds about us — about helping everyone — then why bother letting us come here to ask?”

Over Elder Daniels’ shoulder, across the room and through the spotless glass wall he sees the same figure as before. Knows its them by the glint of their golden eyes. The young woman’s face is forlorn; almost weeping. Flickers like a heat mirage from young to old to young again.

The Fate, Katherine had called them.

Why here?

Why now?

Why won’t they do something?

“Such a rousing call to action…” says Millet with the vestiges of praise — yet it looks bitter on her tongue.

Daniels agrees; “And from the unseen complication, no less.”

“Perhaps we underestimated him.”

“What difference would it make? Everything has gone as predicted so far.”

“One wrong move can turn the tide.”

“Yes — but this…”

Again they fall into whispered confidences — as though the others aren’t even there.

Ryder almost growls. More unwilling to call them out on it than before but just as impatient. “This was useless…” he hisses through gritted teeth back in Kathy’s direction.

A small movement draws Taylor’s attention to Elder Vion. To the empty space beside him.

Where The Fate — as a child, making it all the more eerie — reaches up and takes the witch’s hand in theirs. Blood soaks through their grey sleeve; drips down onto the pristine white floor. One droplet becomes two, becomes three and more. A puddle forming at their feet and spreading out of its own will.

He knows it isn’t real — that none of it is really there. There is no child and no blood not only because no one else is freaking out about it but because of the way the blood moves. Spiraling tendrils seeking to consume but only at the Elders’ feet.

The meaning of the whole disturbing sight is clear.

There is blood on the Elders’ hands. They’re drowning in it.

“You didn’t answer his question.”

Katherine cuts Daniels and Millet off mid-word. All that cool calculation hidden behind her pretty face; the perfect mask to hide behind. “Why’d you agree to this? What do you gain?”

Daniels’ upper lip curls. “There is nothing you could offer worth our time.”

“Still doesn’t answer the question.”

“Do you forget you called upon us?”

“Yeah,” she scoffs, “when I thought you’d be useful. But we’re just talking in circles here!”

They are. What more do they know now compared to before?

Nothing is making any freakin’ sense. Nothing except for the sickening feeling growing inside. The blood spreads — devours. Leaves the witches draped in a dark veil thicker than a fog at night and the solarium, once filled with the light breeze of lilies, reeking of rot and the sour tang of open wounds.

A scent he’s becoming all too familiar with — something Taylor never thought would ever cross his mind.

Again there’s a prickling at his palms but this time he reaches for Ryder — a port in the gathering storm. Clasps their hands together tightly; desperately.

Nik who does a double-take when he catches the hollow light of fear in his eyes.

We need to leave.

What do you know?

Too much.

Too much. He knows too much. The Fate knows it and that’s why their figure has vanished but the blood seeping into the hems of the Elders’ clothes remains. The world knows it too, somehow. Keeps that damp and musty smell of molding decay stuck in his lungs and makes him choke on it. Makes his eyes water and an itching pain climb up from the inside of him begging to be let free.

He knows too much. Can’t even begin to understand the how or the why and maybe even a little bit of the what but he does.

He knows without a shadow of a doubt that the darkness that gathers around the Coven Elders and the one hanging as a fatal noose around the bloodwraith are one in the same.

We need to leave.

“It doesn’t matter Kathy,” Nik interrupts — keeps his eyes on Taylor like a grounding point; the only solid ground to stand on, “whether they answer or not it’s clear as day they don’t plan on helping anyone but themselves.

“We oughta get goin’.”

To their credit the Elders don’t deny it.

But the sudden change is a bit too much for Katherine. “Are you—Nik what the hell?”

“Kathy —” Taylor’s wavering voice almost breaks at just her name. Its enough; enough to drag her away from frustrating thoughts building to the fact that he’s white as a sheet and on the verge of unconsciousness. “Please.”

She doesn’t get the chance to argue. Not when the room turns to shadows upon shadows; very real and very not-in-his-head clouds blooming across the sun over their heads.

Even when Elder Vion lowers his hand the spell continues; grows and takes hold of the sky above until the sun is nothing but a distant memory, until the shadows are only a darkness unending.

He tuts and clicks his tongue — such a normal act in contrast to the way he leans on the gnarled handle of his cane. “Finally the consequences reveal themselves.” He bites out, though his scorn is quickly directed to the Elders at his side. “Had you not wished to speed the process this wouldn’t be an issue.”

“Had we?” Millet snaps; gestures with her hands so wide that one of the cards slips from her deck and flutters to the ground face-up.

The Wheel of Fortune stares lifelessly upwards.

“You insisted the Council could not be allowed to congregate, Vion.”

“Indeed we acted on faith of your vision,” agrees Daniels.

Vion, though, is adamant; “The consequences outweighed the risk.”

“And what of that,” Daniels thrusts a finger at Taylor, “little consequence? Was it worth the knowledge he now possesses?”

The energy directed his way makes Taylor double over — from pain or pressure he doesn’t know. But Nik isn’t having it.

“What the hell are you crazy people talkin’ about?!”

“Silence!”

There’s a loud and resistant groan over their heads. They look up just in time to see the metal framework stop — now twisted, coiled like a spring ready to snap and send the ceiling panels hurtling down in what would surely be a painful death for all but the Elders.

“You dare interrupt your betters; dare demand of those who hold absolute power over your mortal lives?!” She’s practically shrieking now; and with each crack of her voice comes a crack in the glass surrounding them. “That you continue to live is a testament to our generosity despite your wretched meddling!

“But a Nighthunter never learns. Not until he is forced into submission!”

The bones around Elder Vion’s neck rattle on a nonexistent breeze. “To give this cur the same punishment would be my pleasure.”

“Why bother prolonging it?” adds Millet in a ravenous growl, “Kill him now and we have a second soul to cut from the veil. A second soldier to finish the task at hand.”

Cal goes rigid; taken by surprise. Now he knows. “Holy shit. It’s you.”

And now Katherine knows too; forces down the oncoming waves of revelation — keeps herself afloat with a strength well-hidden.

“You’re the ones controlling the bloodwraith.”

#nightbound #nik ryder #cal lowell #nik ryder x mc #vera reimonenq #katherine nightbound #nightbound mc #mc: taylor hunter #oblv: bound by circumstance #oblv: new chapter #; my fics

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trollhuntingdirectory · 6 years

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What It Takes To Survive

Changelings.

To the common troll, the very utterance of the word evokes worry, suspicion, a suspicious glance to those around us. We all know our history with their people, a history full of deception, espionage, assassinations and infiltration. To the common troll, a changeling brings with them tragedy and misfortune.

But indeed, it is not just the common troll that suffers. To be a changeling is to never know peace. If they are found by trolls, they are killed. If they are found by humans, they are killed. This is the life of a changeling.

(Please click below for the full story)

Let’s make one thing very clear. I don’t excuse the horrors brought to our communities by the hands of these half-trolls, half-humans. There have been many deaths, and many tears shed, all for a purpose that none of us have yet to figure out, and may well never know.

But, at the same time, I will not deny that their existence is an ongoing hardship, and even those who have attempted to return after being taken have been chased away with stone and steel and the cries of ‘Impure’ at their backs. There is no home for them among trolls, or with humans, where they must always play pretend. Pretend has many more downsides, I’ve learned. Man may not be made of living stone like my people, but they are just as bloodthirsty, and capable of the same evil as Gumm Gumms and those who worship Gunmar.

Now, I know it’s going to be foolish to admit, but I did try tracking down a changeling up in Arcadia a while back. Not to capture or fight, but to speak with. It wasn’t easy, obviously. They hide in plain sight, and I cannot be out during the day like them.

Perhaps they got tired of my snooping, or suspicious at the very least, but I did catch the attention of one. Death threats aside, he was polite, and with a few exchanged words, a deal was struck.

He would grant me audience, I would agree to leave his people alone and not disclose any information that could be seen as a threat to their security. I imagine he was also amenable to the idea that a story may make sympathizers among trolls, making their goal easier to obtain. Doubtful, of course, but the idea of sympathy was not a poor one.

“The old Vespa Warehouse,” he told me. “Tomorrow night. We shall speak there, and you may ask for whatever story you wish. I cannot promise that it will be legitimate, though.”

Of course not, I thought. But the cataloguing of a real changeling’s life would be a welcome addition to my archives of Trollkind, and I’ve always been told that my curiosity was my constant lead to trouble.

Say what you will about changelings, but they keep to their words when bargains are struck, regardless of if they intended a backstab or not, which I had a feeling wouldn’t be necessary here.

He was in a small office within the building, sitting alone in a deteriorating room, waiting patiently. He seemed rather pleased that I’d shown up, at the very least. He greeted me, I took a seat nearby, and he asked a definitive question. What did I wish to know. I asked for only two things. His name, and what he’d done to survive among humans for so long.

The first was easy, just Otto. A surname was inconsequential, he was bound to change it in a few decades anyways.

The second, he found, was harder to answer.

“I am not sure if I understand this question fully, mein freund.” He said carefully, arms crossed.

“You’ve been on the surface for the last couple of centuries, right? We all know the humans have gone to war with themselves more than a few times. What was it like going through them, pretending to be human?” I asked.

Again, he found trouble finding his answer.

“I... hm. The last I was caught in, I did not pretend to be human for very long, I will admit, but that is a long, and difficult story.”

I encouraged him to tell his tale, though I could tell that the memories were something he did not want to bring to surface. This was a story to earn sympathy, to show the hardships of his species, to keep record of their stories as I would any other troll. It took some time, and some silence, but eventually, he told me his harrowing years in Poland, back in the human year of 1939.

“You must forgive me now if I do not remember everything correctly, but these times, they were chaotic, and I did a great many things to survive them. You trolls had long left to America by this time, with very few communities remaining as far as my people could tell, so I doubt you’d know much about World War Two outside of books. Back then, I was just another changeling, so to speak. A bit of muscle, just a quiet ear to the ground to send word back to the others in the area as was needed. My human life was nothing important... but that meant that food got harder to come by at that time, and neither of these things seemed to deter German soldiers from seeking me out. They were looking for magic, you see. Their fuhrer wished for power, be it from the deaths of other humans or from that which they call supernatural and arcane. Fellow changelings were captured, and it makes me understandably sick to think of what was done to them, but the most important thing was the safety of our sanctuary at the time.”

He paused, and looked me in the eye.

“I only mention it because it is gone now. Months before its destruction, sights had finally been set on me, and that place was the only that would keep me safe. We are not as indestructible as you, after all. Humans are always looking for ways to kill things even faster, even more painfully. One could easily brush off an arrow or sword, but wartime ballistic weapons pierce and hurt even our hardiest changelings these days. That much has been the way of things for a hundred years or so, now. But that is is aside from the point. You wish to know how I lived through such a dangerous time, when humans could easily shoot me down and were actively hunting me. The truth is, I’m... not proud of how. It was certainly not my first option, either, but one does what they must when they are cornered.” He paused, pushing his small glasses up his face a little.

“The first time it happened, I was cornered by a soldier in a back alley, in a town that I doubt still exists. He’d shot me in the leg, I was limping and helpless. I’m not sure how I’d been exposed, but he was after me because I was a changeling. A lucky reason to be hunted, many humans did not have that luxury, and were taken for far more mundane reasons... The first time it happened, I was cornered, and I was injured, and something in me snapped. I was a younger troll then, more quick to act on instinct.”

He shook his head, and looked troubled. I assured him that he didn’t need to continue if he didn’t wish it so, but he told me it was fine. It was difficult, but it was indeed something to be archived. If anything of changelings should be remembered, it’s what happens when they are pushed from all sides.

“One moment, he was approaching gun raised, the next... I was no longer in my glamour, and no longer hungry. It was... Hm. I was, scared, I think. We changelings were never part of the Pact you trolls follow, but we also normally don’t... eat, uh, humans. We ourselves are half human, so in a way it is cannibalism, yes? I was horrified, naturally. Killing a fleshbag is easy, but to lose control and eat was something different entirely. That’s when I knew I needed to return to my sanctuary. They would have food there, and shelter, and surely safety from the soldiers who wanted my capture. It was months before I reached it, having to hide often, trying to avoid losing control, and... occasionally losing it.” He laughed, nervously, as if it was an embarrassment. “The safe haven was gone when I came across it. Whether those inside had destroyed it to keep our existence safe, or there had been a lucky strike from a Luftwaffe, I will never know. It was still burning when I got there, with the soldiers pouring over it for anything useful. Those bastards, they do not realize how easily we crumble to dust. There was nothing for them there, but for me, it just meant there was nowhere for me to go... This is where things get fuzzy. I lost control, again, I think. And there are... moments, I remember, of lucidity, after that. Forests, snow, sometimes I think I came across soldiers, but I don’t know if I killed them or not. I was... not myself, then, but I still was particular. Only the soldiers and men with the armbands were eaten. You look in those history books from the surface, mein freund. You’ll see I did the fleshbags a service.”

“Ah, but that’s beside the point. The point is. Humans drove me into the woods. I did not have any changelings alive to help me anymore, and the local trolls would easily sniff me out. You asked me what I did to survive? Apparently, I lost my mind and ran off into the wilderness, for a length of time I still cannot seem to comprehend. I’ve been given numbers numerous times after being found, but they mean nothing to me. I survived by becoming a wild animal, because there was nowhere else to go.”

It’s been a few days since the meeting with the changeling, and I still wonder about a great many things. What is it like to lose yourself to instinct to survive? How do you life your life unable to find community, unable to trust others of your kind? What must it be like, to not be welcomed by anybody in times of trouble? The life of a changeling is a complicated one, and despite what many full blooded trolls may believe, they are still as much troll as any of us.

Perhaps Otto told a lie to earn sympathy, perhaps he told a truth to get it off his chest and forget about it for good... Or, perhaps, he hoped to have something of his people remembered in some way that wasn’t of fear or distrust. I don’t think I’ll ever know the truth, I don’t even know if he still lives, though changelings are notorious for faking deaths. There is only one thing for certain that I learned from this.

What would we do to survive in a world that is against us from all sides? Who would we turn to out of desperation and anger? What would we do to keep our people from extinction? These are questions we should always ask ourselves in the face of changelings who work against us. You do not have to like them or what they do, but you cannot deny their existence.

These are real trolls, three dimensional and complicated as any other, and we must never forget this.

#Archived Works #Species: Changeling #trollhunters #otto scaarbach

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impossiblepostchild · 3 years

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IN MEMORY f REMEMBRANCE THE HOLOCUAST-BLACK LIVES MATTERS-911-2001-VETERANS COMMEMORATIVE DAY-NATURAL DISASTERS-INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM and etcetera

Hello All Beloved Kindred Spirits.

I will welcome to hearing from Senior Council Executives, Presidents or Rabbis and leaders within the Jewish Community from around the world as well as Palestinians including BLACK LIVES MATTERS Senior Decision Makers overseas and or within my local chapter CALISTA WA 6167-AUSTRALIA.

Please note I do not communicate with degenerate computerized Daleks from Dr Who-ever Machines asking for petty donations hence why so many disasters went viral out of control past and present to date. Same applies to dealing with insignificant office clerks too busy polishing their nails, drinking tea all day or now a days too busy texting to friends for selfies.

I will also welcome to also hearing from all Executive Councils of Thoughts and Conscience from around world’s: GOVERNMENT (Presidents-Prime Ministers and Royal Members of Sovereign Countries) wishing peace of and for future survival with ongoing intentions to never forgetting history’s Dark Matter as in Space: WORLD’S MEMORIAL GOVERNANCE of REMEMBRANCE that we NOT FORGET the FORGOTTEN LOST of past, present and future.

This is also with regards to this horrific bloodshed against innocent people, children and animals caught up in the middle east at present. I am indeed sorry for this ongoing dispute which I fear will escalate to WW3 which I hope not as if we haven't enough to worry about such as this pandemic, shortage of natural resources, the economy with worse to follow such as weather patterns of the CURSE KIND in addition to an asteroid heading our which is not a question of IF but WHEN perhaps within 47 to 80 years from now.

On a positive note of Hope, I intend to go ahead with: IN MEMORY of REMEMBRANCE with Love, Compliments and Compassion against all odds and oppositions but alas I alone cannot move this MOUNTAIN of HOPE alone towards PEACEFUL-ACCOMPLISHMENT hence Teamwork is necessary for all to be involved to be nominated for THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE with my support and blessings. No not me as I have already made PEACE with GOD which by then I shall be 86 enjoying my final contribution as a philanthropist via my creation of:

“THE PEOPLE’s SYMPHONY of REMEMBRANCE”

And other related short works/songs Live New York 2026 with world-wide TV coverage of this special one off Multi-Million Dollars Historical fund raising event coinciding with “JEWEL-A-THON” in presence of President Joe, World Leaders, Royalty and Celebrities front row heading a mass audience of several thousand-w-tickets from $21 to $2.1 million dollars to commemorate the tragic year of 911-2001: World Trade Center.

Thank you for reading this whereas I will look to communicating with a REAL PERSON of good authority and not by some insignificant office clerk dismissing my Intentions as a scam in: Our world of suspicion, paranoia, superstition so on but by the same token in contradiction to asking funds for prayers which sad to say did not save 6 million Jews did it? in addition to another 30 million lives lost during WW2 and counting for God help those who help others by action not prayers for selfies. This includes superfluous chatter meetings after meetings while we are all suffer and die away slowly in agonizing sufferance: A C T I O N THE K E Y to OVECOME EVIL IN SACRAFICE.

Remember: the MIND LIKE A PARACHUTE CAN ONLY FUNCTION WHEN IT OPENS for IMAGINATION IS BETTER THAN KNOWLEDGE: SURVIVAL: THE MOTHER of ALL INVENTIONS and the wittiest thus ANYBODY WHO IS ANYBODY IS NOBODY, BUT ANYBODY WHO IS NOBODY IS SOMEBODY hence I hope it is you-The Reader SEEING THE PICTURE by reaching out to me IN MEMORY of REMEBRANCE which is nothing compared to colonizing Mars within its barefoot soil.

So, meanwhile, take care, stay safe, God Bless and Musically Yours. Jan Anthonisz. (1941-2041) The Silent Christian: Producer: Composer: Artistic Director: Coordinator. For more detailed information, please feel safe to contact me direct: [email protected] (Calista WA 6167) Call / Text: 61 (Australia 0) 466 370 484

It’s okay I’m user friendly and fear me not as I am use to the occasional death threats from some of these Looney Prunes hence in God I trust-In other’s I don’t (as written in my Mini-Bible aged 7 and how true to this very day) (Humility-Simplicity-Trust-Believing in Yourself as Faith is the Key with admirable selfless action towards others not prayers)

So please make your donation to a center near you NO NOT ME. Thank you as I am trying to lose weight

Ps: I make no apology to being blunt-outspoken especially when it comes to SAVING LIVES as life is too short to play games that children do-chasing rainbows. Thus, it appears if I may cause offence by being direct which for I'm renowned for so what? For this is not about you or your beliefs but THE LIVES and FUTURE OF OTHERS-ANIMALS-EARTH or what’s left of it.

Many laughed and under estimated Hitler and look what happened plus other tragedies to date which sad to say some folks may take my views and predictions out of context personally as this is not about them as I reiterate but those suffering with agony to death. Too many academic Derelicts out there who have lost the plot now that Donald Duck Trump has recovered from: OPEN HEART PERJURY who is now a BIDEN-ning his time for his:

“2nd Coming of The Reich Kind”

since Mary had a little lamb. Now her cats are everywhere: POLITICIANS and RELIGIOUS LEADERS in SHEEP CLOTHING just like the KKK. (Finger Trigger Happy.) So sad so many are still brought up what to think not how to think. Same applies what believe not how to believe.

Ten (10) things all politicians have forgotten: Common Sense. NOT GOOD. BLESS YOU and THEM ALL. JAN ANTHONISZ: Producer: Composer: The Silent Christian like all animals and children with suckling innocence. Cell Direct: 61 (Australia) 466 370 484

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the-bounce-back · 5 years

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THE CONFIDENCE CHRONICLES PART III - CONFIDENCE IN STARTING OVER

This is post 3/5 of my “Confidence Chronicles” series, in which I discuss the mindsets, actions and thought processes I’ve applied to build/rebuild my confidence in different aspects of my life. The goal of these 5 posts is for you readers to be able to apply relevant points to your own insecurities in order to combat them, and hopefully aid in building your own confidence over time.

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I know… this is insanely overdue. But this time I have a valid reason, I promise.

The purpose of this part of the Confidence™ series was (and still is) to discuss and learn how to eliminate feelings of insecurity, fear, anxiety and situational depression that can arise from trying to pattern a major life change. Namely, those changes that you just know are going to reshape your whole future from the moment it’s set in motion, and completely tear you out of your comfort zone.

Believe it or not, when I started planning this series what feels like eons ago (April? May? Who even knows anymore), I had an extensive plan about how I was going to discuss how I found the confidence to completely start over - twice - and how much it has made me feel better about myself in all aspects of my life for overcoming it all. I was so pleased with myself in regards to how I was going to tie in this post to my post about overcoming my crippling anxiety that came with moving back to London earlier this year (read it here anyways, it’s good stuff), and I had even almost finished the post.

Ok, that’s a lie. But I had come a little more than half way.

However, I was forced to delete all my delightful anecdotes and clever little reasonings about my growth from forcing myself to move back to the UK and eventually back to London to be happy (I don’t count moving to Sweden or Nottingham as sTaRtInG oVeR because I didn’t choose it for myself… all tea/shade/offense intended), because something very unexpected ended up happening.

Basically, the job that I moved to London for - my *~dReAm jOb~* - ended up not being at all what I wanted. In fact, it ended up putting me in a much worse place mentally. I could go into detail about what exactly happened at that office but it’s honestly not worth the energy - I recently quit on the spot, packed my load and went home the same day, and since then, I’ve been unemployed.

So - what does this have to do with this post?

After having some time to regroup and pattern my emotional and mental adjustment to this new situation, I realised that a lot of the coping mechanisms I used to get through other life-changing predicaments in the past were also applicable to a major life change that didn’t necessarily involve the stress and drama of relocating to another country or city. In addition to this, I also realised that the more I put myself in not so ideal situations - such as unemployment - the better I get at handling myself in these situations, and the more able I am to stay calm and collected while I’m trying to figure out my next step. In other words - it would have been wrong to submit this post about navigating a large change in my life, all while excluding a currently ongoing major life change… if that makes any sense at all.

Anyway - all you need to know is that this post will discuss how to find the confidence, mental resilience and energy to go through a complicated life change, eliminating the fear of failure during the whole project and understanding that while everything might not go to plan, you will be okay at the end of the process. I will draw examples from my two big moves, as well as my ongoing situation to illustrate my points.

So, without further ado, if you want to know how I’ve been able to confidently navigate a few of the hardest times of my short life with (most of) my sanity intact, do keep on reading.

1. Identify how badly you want to/need to make a major change in terms of your mental health.

Don’t get me wrong, I’d never downplay someone else's mental and emotional turmoil… but if you’re anything like me, you’ll probably have a mini meltdown at least once a week over something extremely minor, in which you dramatically declare to yourself that you are leaving and never coming back. Last time this happened, I was pissed off because McDonald’s hadn’t given me any sauces for my nuggets.

A tragedy? No (yes).

A reason to uproot my whole life and move to Indonesia? Depends on how you see it… but I’m going to go with no.

The point I’m trying to make is that you need to evaluate your current situation in depth, assess what about it is making you feel like a major change is needed, and see if there are any less drastic solutions that can help you through that rough patch.

In my case, even after analysing the situations in hindsight, I genuinely believe that there was no other option for me in either of the cases. I’ve touched upon how I never really felt at home or like I belonged in Sweden; therefore, moving back to the UK for uni and meeting new people that were more on my wavelength ended up being a massive boost for my self-confidence and sense of belonging. In terms of moving from Nottingham to London, I had a massive back-and-forth with myself if it was really necessary; I considered changing jobs and moving further away from areas in the city that constantly reminded me of my ex, but in the end, I decided that cutting Nottingham out of my life altogether was the only way I could allow myself to heal. Finally, with my former job, I considered firming all the stress until I’d either a) pass the one year mark so it’d look better on my cv when I quit, or b) tough it out until I got promoted and would get a massive pay rise so that the stress would be worth it. Needless to say, I opted for neither.

The common denominator here is that I thoroughly evaluated the situations in terms of the toll they were taking on me, and made a decision based on that. I’m a firm believer that once you prioritise your mental wellbeing over everything else - and do all in your power to keep your mental peace - self-assurance will inevitably follow, simply because knowing what you will or will not put up with is the first step to becoming more confident.

2. Eliminate fear.

Please don’t get me wrong here. It is one million percent normal to fear the unknown and hesitating to venture out of your comfort zone. We crave stability, comfort and familiarity to have a calm and peaceful life. But trust me on this - forcing yourself to ignore the alarm bells in your head and resisting the temptation to not go through with the change will be the best thing you’ve ever done.

It’s definitely no secret that there are so many of us out there that hate our strict routines, go to a job we hate every day, and are made to feel worse by our peers who seem to be having the time of their lives on social media (spoiler: they probably aren’t). However, we choose the dullness and boredom over making a change, because we’re afraid of instability and uncertainty in life. I even used to be like that, because I got told at a young age that education and career stability are two of the most important things in life, and that venturing away from them will severely damage my prospects for my future career.

This is true, to a certain degree - but I decided that my own happiness needed to start taking priority over my fear of being unstable. In other words, I decided that my own well-being is and always will be my main priority in life, regardless of the situation.

Once you make that commitment to yourself - and really mean it - I promise that you will discover confidence you probably didn’t even realise you had. When you look at your life and realise that you’re not being the happiest version of yourself, you’ll want to do everything within your power to change this - regardless of how scared you are.

In my case, this was especially true when I was working in Nottingham and first started considering moving to London. I was absolutely terrified that I was going to be moving to one of the most expensive cities in the world without a 100% guarantee that I would be financially stable, and for a long time my fear of both financial and emotional uncertainty made me try my best to see the positives with my current situation, and to find an excuse to play it safe.

However, as you can probably imagine, I got tired of lying to myself and pretending to be content with my situation. You can only run away for your feelings for so long, and in the end me forcing myself to stay somewhere where I was no longer happy just made me even more emotionally drained. In other words, the fear ended up inflicting more pain and stress than actually getting my sh*t together and organising the move when I first had the idea to leave the city behind.

I want you to remember that part. Letting yourself stay in a distressing situation because of fear will only stagnate and depress you in the long run. I really, really hope that this testimony gives you the kick up the arse that you need to take control of your future and emotional state.

Another approach to fear is to not eliminate it, but to embrace it. This, in the sense that my fear of living with regrets is infinitely larger than my fear of living in uncertainty. The thought of making a “safe” decision now, and then 10 years down the line finding myself obsessing over loads of different “what if…?” scenarios that could’ve happened if I had just been brave enough, makes me incredibly anxious. In this case, I welcome the fear, because it takes on the role of a motivator.

The bottom line is that you (most likely) won’t die from living in uncertainty for a while. However, you have to develop the confidence that everything will turn out fine in the end. Which brings me to my final point…

3. Understand that although things may not go to plan, life has a way of figuring itself out.

If you by any chance are already considering going through the process of starting over (if so, kudos!) and have devised an immaculately detailed plan on how to succeed, I’m here to tell you to rip it out of your notebook, scrunch it up, and slam dunk it right in the bin. Honestly. You could have the whole process planned down to the minute, and still, something will go wrong. And that’s okay.

I used to be an extreme control freak that would immediately feel anxious when I didn’t know what was going to happen, and if things didn’t work out as I had envisioned it in my head I’d go into full meltdown mode. However, the more I make these major life changes, the more I understand that part of the beauty of it is letting things work out as they should, at the exact right time that they should.

Allowing things to fall into place naturally - as opposed to trying to force the result that you want - empowers you to get used to adapting to difficult situations that may arise. Learning to adapt is heavily built on accumulated experience over time from other difficult situations. Having this experience with a variety of differing predicaments allows you to be able to proceed with confidence that everything will turn out okay no matter what happens - and having the fact that everything will be fine in the back of your mind can give your anxiety and overthinking brain a well deserved break. Furthermore, allowing your brain to have this chance to relax gives you even more confidence.

You see how all factors come full circle? This is because we are not meant to try to manipulate the process. Attempting to control an unpredictable situation is what leads to stress and anxiety in the first place, and - at least in my case - when efforts to force a certain result end up failing, it takes even more of a toll on your confidence levels. I start obsessing over the how/why/where/when I went wrong, just bringing negative energy into my own life for no reason - trying to justify it by telling myself that I’m trying to LeArN fOr NeXt TiMe. There is a huge difference between analysing a mistake and criticising yourself with hurtful and negative thoughts - the latter being a massive killer of confidence.

Instead, allowing things to flow naturally and observing pain points during the process while keeping a calm and collected mind makes you more resilient to recurring problems - which in turn gives you confidence to take a leap of faith when needed.

With these three points in mind, along with a genuine drive to succeed, I can guarantee that pushing yourself to start over won’t feel as terrifying and daunting. Once you’ve established why you need to make a major change in your life, what needs to be done to achieve it and have a clear vision of how this project is going to benefit your mental health (or whatever aspect of your life that you want to make a change for), pushing through the hard times of starting on a completely clean slate will be infinitely easier.

That’s right - it is going to be maddeningly hard at times. There will be times where you will want to give up, and try to convince yourself that your current situation isn’t so bad, after all - because let’s face it, these kinds of changes are hard work. However, as the cliché goes - nothing worth having comes easy, and that also applies to your peace of mind and happiness. I genuinely hope that anyone reading this that is considering starting over completely - whether that entails moving jobs, cities, or even countries - can use this post as a reference point, and as a reminder that everything will turn out just fine.

Put it this way - if I can navigate two major moves and two major career changes while trying to pattern my then near crippling anxiety, then I have no doubts whatsoever that you can find the confidence and resilience to make whatever changes you need to make to improve your mental health.

Love,

Liv

#selfhelp #Empowerment #confidence

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thebrierpatch · 6 years

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The Law of Progress I was seated on the veranda of the monastery gazing at the beautiful mountains that harbor it when the Old Man, as we affectionately call the oldest monk of the Order, approached. Always with a youthful demeanor despite his advanced age, he had in his hands two cups of fresh coffee which he placed on the coffee table next to me. He sat in a comfortable armchair and asked me, teasingly, to share my thoughts with him. I thanked him for the coffee and told him I was questioning the sacred texts for saying we are made in the image and likeness of God. However, while God is perfect, we still struggle at the first stages of learning. I argued that if the origin of all evil in the world is the prevalence of personal shadows over virtuous choices each one has to make, it would have been more sensible if we were all born perfect, like God, thus avoiding all tragedies and sufferings caused by humankind against itself. Therefore, either the Maker had been mistaken when he designed the creature, or the sacred texts had erred gravely. The Old Man looked at me with sweetness and patience, as someone who had faced that issue many times, and said: “There is no mistake, neither in the creation nor in the words. They are like a map that needs only to be correctly interpreted to take the traveler to the desired destination; a text requires a reading that goes beyond the letters that appear on it. Take into consideration that the sacred words were not written for a few, setting aside, once and for all, the idea of privileges, but for everyone without exception. They are signs that help us in the ongoing exercise of personal shaping, allowing us to overcome, little by little each stage of the many life cycles: learn the lesson suitable for that moment of existence, be transformed by the lesson, set it in motion by sharing the best that has flourished in yourself, and move on.” “Because the levels of perception are still diverse and the texts are for everyone, there should be different levels of interpretation in accordance with the awareness and the heart of each person. This allows us to learn from and teach one another, making personal and cultural differences valuable. It also makes sacred words alive and changeable, not in form but in meaning, as one moves forward, on their evolutionary journey.” I interrupted him because for quite some time I had had a question I wanted to have cleared up. There are many texts of different religious, philosophical or metaphysical traditions. Some are quite old, others are more recent. How can one know which texts are sacred? The Old Man had always said that true wisdom is quite simple so that all can have access to it. The water must be clear for one to see the depth of the lake. Complexity stems from the ignorance of those who troubled the water from the fear of being found swimming in the shallow side of the lake. This time it was not different. He explained: “Sacred is all that makes one a better person. The sacred lies in all corners, hidden behind the world’s ordinary things and relationships, waiting to be found. Every word or situation that is pacifying, that expands the feeling of love to everyone, that destroys the jail without bars of ideas that limit the perfect freedom of the soul, that shows that endless happiness is possible and that spreads the lightness of being through choices filled with dignity, is sacred. Every text, book, film, conversation, music or poetry that somehow, and in any variation, suggests in their core the idea that ‘one should love each person as himself’, have no doubt, is sacred. It is sacred because it is a fruit from the primordial seed. As simple as that.” I thanked him with a sincere smile. However, I warned the monk that he was shifting the focus of the core issue of the conversation: wouldn’t be simpler to be born perfect and hence avoid so much suffering? The Old Man smiled back and explained himself: “I only laid out a preamble about the beauty and simplicity of the sacred, in addition to indicating the importance of the diversity of people for the operation of learning. These are valuable pillars to support the rationale we are about to develop.” He paused briefly, took a sip of his coffee and asked: “Would you agree that every loving father wants the best for their offspring, right?” I agreed, and the monk continued with his reasoning: “Imagine twin brothers whose father, a very powerful man, separates them at birth so they are raised differently. One will have, since childhood, access to all that money can buy, he just has to want it. The other will be raised with the typical hardships of the world ordinary people face, and he will have the means to achieve what he wants, but he must work hard to obtain it.” He looked at me intensely and added: “There is nothing wrong with and no virtue either in poverty or wealth, these are only tools of existential lessons.” Then, he asked: “Which of the children was favored by the father?” I immediately replied it was the son raised in bounty and wealth. The Old Man smiled sweetly while shaking his head and said “The commitment to execute all stages of an achievement forces you to improve yourself, whether in performing the task or in relationships with others or with yourself. Properly done, this makes you stronger. From this process comes the need to invent yourself and all things around you, not as a gloomy escape from reality, but as an effort to expand the limits, to advance understanding that everything must be different and better for progress to occur. The will to go beyond borders, beyond oneself, is a force that cannot be stopped. It is the motivation of the soul. The work precedes the progress; without the former the latter does not exist. The journey of transformation aims towards evolution. Without the former, the latter does not exist. The characteristic of evolution is that each and every movement is directed towards light. It is the opposite of stagnation, that causes so much suffering.” “This is how perfection comes about.” “There is always some depth under the surface; an essence behind the appearance. It lies in the understanding and the motion towards not the world or money, but towards personal transformation that is required to continue the journey and to discover the infinite power of outdoing oneself. The beauty of perfection lies in transforming what is imperfect; the magic of plenitude is possible only when sought in the confines of incompleteness; the wisdom of the whole lies in finding plenitude in each of the parts that forms it. As progress evolves, plenitude will allow the achievement of infinite, immaterial wealth: peace, freedom, happiness, dignity and unconditional love, the love with which we embrace the other and that is the same we have towards ourselves.” He looked at me in the eyes and said: “To love someone dear to us is easy; virtue lies in loving who has hurt us. This is what separates the strong from the weak and reveals the stories worth telling. If they come ready-made, they will lose their enchantment, and the value, sense and wisdom embedded in them. What is the value of a story where you only know the last chapter? The best films are those in which the hero outdoes him or herself. One cannot forge the steel of a good sword without exposing it to the fire.” “Back to the brothers, note that while one had to work, the other was served. Do you think both will have the same perspective, the same idea about the world? Which will have a better perception of the order of the world? Or a more attuned relationship with life? Which brother will be more capable of leaving a legacy of learning to those who come after?” Before I could say anything, he repeated the question: “Which son was privileged by the father?” I changed my answer and said it had been the one the father had made stronger through work. The monk arched his lips in a discrete smile and said: “Wrong. The lake is a bit deeper.” Seeing I was bewildered, he explained: “There are precious lessons in both situations, suitable to the needs of each one. To think that the son who had the comfort of money was favored is a mistake. On the other hand, to believe that he was placed in disadvantage is also a mistake.” He sipped little coffee and expanded his explanation: “The son who has access to luxuries and is capable of paying for his slightest whim, differently from what many may imagine, faces a hard evolutionary challenge. He has much work ahead of him. Not the same as his brother’s, who must work to make ends meet, and from his work he extracts the lessons that are proper to him. The rich son, however, needs to make an enormous effort to find the reasons for his life not to run down the drains of existence”. He furrowed his brow, something he did when he wanted to emphasize the seriousness of what he was saying and added: “The life of a person with money must have some meaning to be, in fact, rich. And it is mandatory that such meaning be connected to spiritual evolution.” “Struggle for survival is a valuable learning method that, if properly understood, leverages personal accomplishment and incorporates the notion of prosperity. However, it is not the only nor the most difficult method. Giving up a luxurious life that serves as curtain in face of the hardships of the world, renouncing inner comfort by one’s willingness to transform wealth into prosperity by using it to propagate light also demands major effort and is equally important.” “Wealth or poverty are existential evolutionary challenges; therefore, they are temporary. Prosperity is walking on the sunny side of the road, regardless of the existing conditions.” “I often hear sad stories of depression and discouragement from millionaires who did not know how to use their money as a tool for spiritual transformation. The ego became loud in precise measure with the deafening of the soul. They insisted on having a vulgar existence without relinquishing privileges or material abundance rather than endeavoring to sow good. They have passed through life as if only sensory pleasures, ostentation, luxury pride and vanity were important. It is a pity to waste such opportunity. On the other hand, I see equal waste, but with a different presentation, from people who are angry or regretful because of the material hardships life has imposed on them, spending time and energy with fruitless complaints and somber emotions about the unfairness of their fate.” He paused briefly and added: “Yes, abundance or scarcity are presents. As any present, they can be well used or end up in the garbage”. “One way or another, work is essential to evolution. Without the former the latter will not exist. Personal evolution is the transformation without which the world will not move forward.” He paused and recalled: “Master Jesus once said, ‘you can do what I do, and even more’. This means evolution by improving personal virtues. This planet is a school that trains admirable masters. The Law of Progress is the Law of Perfection. It is unavoidable and will reach everyone; however, work is an essential condition.” We remained silent for a while, until the new ideas settled in. Then, I broke silence to say I had understood the metaphor he had made about money. One had to understand not only the importance of achieving light, but how best to use it to improve oneself and to benefit everyone. It is another aspect of the same lesson. The Old Man smiled, nodded and added: “So we are back to the beginning of our conversation, when I said that all that makes a person better is sacred. I also said that the sacred is hidden in mundane situations. Scarcity and abundance are, both, temporary tools that serve as lessons, and can be either profane or sacred. It all depends on how the tool is used. A hammer can be used in both, demolition and construction.” He shrugged and completed: “The choice is yours and will depend on the type of work you are willing to do.” Kindly translated by Carlos André Oighenstein. Other texts by the author at www.yoskhaz.com/en/

#yoskhaz in english #words #thoughts #law of progress

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julystorms · 8 years

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It seems to me that SNK went from being a character-based story (at least in the early volumes) to plot-based, judging by the development of each arc and the complaints I see from fans of secondary characters as to how little screen time they've been getting lately. What would you have done to change this (and I apologize for potentially asking an open-ended question)?

I think you’re right. Worth noting, too, is that most people in fandom who stick around for a long period of time do it for the characters; SnK is a little different, since the series is still ongoing (and therefore you’ll find a split where part of the fandom is here more for the plot while the rest sticks around primarily for the characters), but the majority would probably vote for characters over plot. After all, good characters can carry a shitty plot. (The reverse is rarely true; readers need to feel involved and invested in the plot through the characters, so a nice plot doesn’t fly if the characters are legitimately terrible.)

Anyway, like I said, I think SnK started off more character-centric with a basic do-it-yourself kind of a plot:

humanity is on the brink of ruin/extinction (the population we see is all that’s left of the human race)

keeping humanity trapped are magical anatomy textbook escapees

main character is going to fight for honor for freedom FOR GLORY

lmao too bad he sucks?

and also too bad that this is actually Really Dangerous and a lot of people die

good thing our main character can, uh, shift into a titan. For some reason.

There were hints as to Something Bigger going on (Eren’s father promising to show him what was in the basement right before all hell broke loose; the fact that Eren can turn into a titan in the first place), but the series, particularly the anime in some regards, really tried to play up the character-centricism of the story. There’s a plot, definitely, but this is first and foremost Eren’s story, Mikasa’s story, Armin’s story, Jean’s story (et cetera and so on). To showcase this they focus pretty hard on, say, Marco’s death because even though Mina and Franz and others died at the same time, Marco wasn’t seen dying or dead until several days later; he’s a different kind of tragedy. Like, Marco is important for several reasons. These kids are already traumatized from being flung face-first into fighting titans. And then they have to clean up the mess, too? Scrape their comrades off the cobblestones? All right. Marco is one of these classmates. Nobody saw him die. They were probably hoping they might find him injured or something--idealism at its finest maybe. But his bloated corpse is right there; one of their Top 10 died. Why was he alone? What happened? How much did he suffer? And like, was it all for nothing--all this training? Is this going to be everyone’s fate?

I think it’s unfair to give Marco the credit for inspiring everyone to join the Survey Corps (yawn; people are sheep but come on), but he deserves partial credit. The other kids who died, and the adults, too, deserve credit also.

And I mean, look: it doesn’t matter what you think of Marco as a character, the aftermath of his death was a turning point for a lot of characters, especially Jean.

People died, but we saw the immediate impact, if nothing else. Ian and Mitabi dying so that Eren could do his job? We see how this affected Rico, but the story was still largely from Eren’s perspective, so in a manner of speaking how it affected Rico probably had an impact on Eren almost as much as these near-strangers dying for the greater goal did.

The story started drifting, becoming more plot-centric, after this, with the Female Titan Arc, but we still saw humanity in the writing, in the domesticity of Levi’s special ops squad just being regular people, Petra being a li’l gossip and Eld being a piece of shit and Auruo trying in his own way to make a point about the life Eren has chosen for himself. We see that, too, in Eren’s struggle to understand his shifting, in his desire to be useful while feeling useless, while being treated like an object instead of a person. The series at this point was leaning more plotcentric slowly but surely, while at the same time forcing the reader to ask a lot of human questions about Eren’s situation: is him being a shifter actually even worth anything? Will it ever be? Or are these characters just hoping really hard and making some (perhaps!) fatal choices about using Eren for these purposes?

We see the characters come to terms with Eren. Levi’s special ops squad recognizes Eren as a human being, as a well-meaning child soldier, as a hard, dedicated worker who truly wants to do some good in this world. And they show it in making a show to demonstrate that they understand the troubles he is facing even just a little.

And when they die, we see the impact. Eren feels guilty. Levi tells him to move on because that’s just how life is. Accept the loss as a loss, personal or not, and keep going.

Eren hasn’t forgotten them; they’ve popped up a few times, chapters and chapters later. Their sacrifices weren’t for nothing, though IMO they died too quickly and without leaving a big enough impact on the audience. Still, at least Eren hasn’t forgotten them.

But after this the plot shifts into Plot Mode and a lot of people die, the impact of which isn’t seen until it feels forced in to account for so many fans bitching about how Isayama probably forgot to include it. The truth of the matter is that I feel 100% that the series shifted to tell a plot instead of a story, and other (fairly) recent events support that, like...Plot Vehicle Flocke who... I mean, I can get behind this kid as a character...or could, if he read as ANYTHING but a body to spew things to move the plot. I feel the same way about most of the new kids; they’re just there to fill space and I can’t imagine we’ll ever have time to get to know them and wrap up the actual plot of the series.

Of course, this is something that tends to happen in long serial works--the author drops tidbits about stuff, changes their mind about those tidbits, abandons plot threads (sometimes intentionally and other times not, oops), adds new plot threads, decides X or Y won’t work as well as originally anticipated and that Z, while a cool concept, has to go because it doesn’t fit with the story anymore/because there isn’t room for it/because now the audience is asking about A, B, C, D, E, and F, and those need to be addressed instead of, you know, why M wanted to be a soldier or how N feels about what’s just happened in the story.

And at this point I think that Isayama has this story to tell and his options are to tell the plot of the story at the expense of his characters’ depth, or...to dig into the characters at the expense of his plot, and he is NOT going to pick his characters over his plot. Tying up the plot comes first; it’s gotten so convoluted by now that if he doesn’t, the series automatically flops.

And let’s face it--people are invested. Because of the characters that he initially set up. Because Isayama is REALLY good at writing compelling characters if he doesn’t try to force a dull plot on them! Truly, he is. This is the Real Reason why people like his side characters; he paints fascinating possibilities and then (usually) kills them off before we know them, leaving the readers either happy that we got any hints of interesting-ness at all or bitter that that depth was never explored. (I fall into the latter category but I’m honestly a bit torn; if he was going to force a dull plot on Gelgar I wouldn’t really want any part of it, anyway...)

As far as what I would have done, it’s honestly pretty hard to say. I am a character person; I’d have taken a mediocre (or at least less complex) plot over the one we got any day if it meant the characters would have gotten more attention. So I probably would go back, simplify the plot a helluva lot (if not change it entirely: no more memory wipe bullshit, no ackermagic), alter the timeline itself (500 or 1000 years behind the walls instead of 100), and split my attention between the characters and the plot to the best of my ability. I’d no doubt lean toward characters but if the plot isn’t too complex, it won’t feel as if it’s being neglected for the sake of the characters because your readers aren’t busy trying to make sense of a plot that they can’t possibly solve without more information. A lot. More. Information. Instead, your readers are taking this journey with the characters!

(I’d also do hella worldbuilding because SnK’s is terrible and it makes suspension of disbelief very difficult. Like bitch you can’t breed specialized horses in less than 100 years are you high? And let’s be real here: you get speed OR stamina OR mediocrity: NO EXCEPTIONS.)

I was talking with @goodguyjean yesterday about how Eren/Mikasa/Armin don’t really live up to their hype as the main trio because I’m just not very invested in any of them, but Eren and Armin barely even pique a fraction of my curiosity by this point. Considering they are the main characters...that’s bad. I should love at least one of them. As it is, I get frustrated when the story bothers to focus on them. Which I think says something about the plot more than the characters: forcing a twisted complex (but so far very) mediocre plot onto characters that could have flourished if they weren’t bogged down by trauma that hasn’t even been addressed by the series itself--not enough, anyway.

I liked that Eren has had moments of, say, compassion for the titans after learning the truth about them, but...I hate that it wasn’t dealt with more thoroughly, or at least discussed with a more relevant character. Levi showed compassion in turn which was really nice ngl, but I really thought Eren and Connie should have had some screentime together instead. Or better yet: additionally.

Which brings me to another related issue: character relationships have gotten pretty stale and boring and they were once strong but aren’t being really addressed as falling apart or being “less than” they were before, so... They’re starting to remind me of the Fire Emblem: Awakening relationships we were meant to believe in because we were told to believe in them, but we were never shown those relationships in action and that made it difficult to buy into (I’m specifically talking about the Shepherds and their relationships to one another; the game tells us they’re close but what’s shown is...not that). I hope this is given some attention soon, even if it’s like “lmao yeah none of us feel close anymore” because just ignoring it doesn’t feel right.

(But really this series just tries very hard to do too many things at once and...it’s not working as well as it would if the author focused more heavily on characters or plot instead of balancing between both and inserting THEME in there as well.)

#snk #long post #snk meta #snk critical #defenestratethepies #replies to friends

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dailyaudiobible · 4 years

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08/31/2020 DAB Transcript

Job 37:1-39:30, 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:10, Psalms 44:9-26, Proverbs 22:13

Today is the 31st day of August welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I'm Brian it is great to be here with you. Can you believe it? We have made it to the end of another month. With that today's reading we’ll complete eight months consecutively seven days a week. We have journeyed long and far and unique…it’s been a unique year, to say the least, and there’s much out in front of us, much left in front of us in the Scriptures and much left in front of us in our lives this year. So, let's get to it. Let's finish this month strong. We’re reading from the book of Job while reading from the New International Version and today we’ll read Job 37, 38 and 39. And I just by way of reminder, so Job had three friends who came to see him, they have debated, they have conversed, they have talked, Job has pled his case, he is looking for God. Ad then there was his fourth voice, Elihu, a younger man who appears on the scene. And, so, he's with these men listening to them but out of deference because he's younger, he hasn't spoken but then he feels like he can't hold it up inside anymore, which…and he has a need to say his peace, which can be…which is common to younger men, right? And, so, he's now saying, “okay. I’ve listened to all the wisdom of the elders. I've listened to Job and this is what I have to say because I can't not say it.” And we’re…we’ve been listening to Elihu, but we’ll continue with that today in Job 37. And then Job will get what he wants because it Job 38 the Lord will show up.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we have been working our way through the book of Job. We’ve talked a lot about the book of Job, and now we’re ending the ending of the book of Job. In fact, as we begin next month, tomorrow, we will conclude the book of Job in tomorrow's reading. So, we’re almost there and if we just kind of glance back we remember, Job began with unspeakable tragedy. We watched this person who was a very wise, wealthy, strong, prestigious person in the community, wherever he lived, very well respected and systematically his entire life fell apart. He lost everything that he had. He lost everyone that he loved. It all just went away. And, so, Job is just undone, as you can imagine. He just is destroyed, and his friends come to see him, and they can't even recognize him. It's so horrifying what has happened to Job. And Job only wants one thing. He doesn't believe it's fair. Like he believes he is suffering unjustly. So, basically at the core of it all, what Job wants is understanding. He wants the knowledge about his situation. He wants to understand. And, so, his friends are there trying to make him or help him understand and they’re in this kind of circular thing where Job is holding onto his innocence and his friends are trying to pry his fingers away from that and tell him that it can't be, you can't be innocent, you can't be righteous. Like this is happening because of something in you, your pride, your evil. And he keeps saying, “like that’s…everything you're telling me I already know. There's not a thing you could…there's no understanding that you have that you can impart to me that I don't already know. What I want is an audience with the most-high God. I want God to explain and make me understand.” And Job claims, “I…like I’ve looked everywhere. I can't find Him anywhere. And of course, his friends are like, “of course you can’t find Him. Like only the righteous can find Him. Like, you’re not gonna find Him.” So, there's this whole circle going on and then Elihu, the younger person, goes on a rant on Job, just kind of goes off on all of them, and then the Lord God shows up. Like Job gets the audience. This righteous man Job is clinging to his innocence and looking for understanding gets what he wants. And God comes, it's just different than he was thinking. God says, “who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man. I will question you and you shall answer.” I’m telling you, if that ever happened to me, I would pee in my pants, like…or more. Like, can you imagine that you have been having an ongoing discussion with your friends about God, claiming…making claims and kind of arguing and debating with each other about God and about your understanding of what He does and does not do and His ways of acting and working and then God shows up and is like, “who is this? Who is this that’s talking without…like talking about things they don't know? Brace yourself. I have some questions of my own. Since you have all these questions for me let me ask you a few questions.” We’re talking about the most-high God. We’re not talking about some powerful person. We’re talking about God. It's…it's a…it's a wonderful thing that God shows up but it's a terrifying thing to think about if you put yourself in the position. It's like, holy cow or holy something. I don't know what to say. And He already knows what I have said. And the questions that God is asking, they cannot be answered. Who could know the answers to those things but the creator of all? And, so, as we conclude the book of Job tomorrow, we’ll hear what Job actually finally does have to say. We've listened to Job preparing his arguments for the whole book. So, we know what he was planning to say. Tomorrow we’ll find out what he actually has to say.

And then in second Corinthians, Paul is defending himself. This is something the that he…that he has to do often but definitely has to do with the fellowship that's in Corinth. It appears that the kind of the accusations that are against Paul is that he's just a shyster and that he really made this all up, he’s making this all up, he’ is manipulating people. And Paul is basically trying to push back and say like, “dude if this is what our…like if that was the plan, if the plan was to…to…to manipulate people and swindle people and do all of these things there are like way more effective ways than trying to create a way of looking at the world and spirituality that is nonsense to Gentiles and heresy to my fellow Hebrews who want to kill me. Like there are better ways to do what you're kinda claiming that I'm doing. Like that's not what we’re doing here at all. It’s all for your benefit.” I mean just quoting from…from second Corinthians, “all this is for your benefit so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So, we fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what…but on what is unseen since what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal.” So, even in defending himself he’s trying to say, “look higher.” And that's just like kind of a theme that we see in his letters to the Corinthians. Like…like even in your divisions look higher…there’s a bigger story here, seriously. Do you have to make this argument, this debate, this accusation? Like is this all there is to life? Can't you see the transformation that God wants to do in you and the way that he wants to use you to transform the world? It's bigger than what you think”, which ironically isn't so different than what's going on in Job. It's bigger than you think. And when you think you know it all you have put a ceiling on where you can go because you cannot see the unseen, you just waste away in the seen. And, so, let's take that to heart as we close the books on another month together and prepare to go sailing into the ninth month of the year.

Prayer:

Father we thank You. We thank You for these eighth…eight months that we've had the opportunity to be in each other's company every single day these months. And You have taken us through some territory this year, some serious soul-searching, some deep things. Not only in the Scriptures but in our lives. Like this has been a shaking and You have been faithful and we are grateful. And, so, as we release this month and…and allow it to become a part of our story, a part of our history we look forward to the stories that are yet to be told, the stories of the grand adventure of life in relationship with You and in relationship with one another. And, so, we stand here at the end of something, a month, and on the precipice of the beginnings of something, another month, and we worship You. We are grateful. You are glorious. You are the most-high God. There is none like You. It's a ridiculous thing to even say that. There is none even remotely like You. You are all powerful. You are the most-high and we are Your children. And, so, we are so profoundly humbled by that. And we ask forgiveness for all of the accusations and all of the assumptions that we have made like You or made about You. We confess that we know in part, we see through a glass darkly. We don't know what we think we know. But day by day step-by-step we are being transformed from within. You are sanctifying us. You are setting us apart and our prayer is that we just stop getting in Your way. Come Holy Spirit, well up from within and lead us the narrow path that leads to life we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it is…it’s the website but it’s home base for the virtual community that we are centered around the Global Campfire. So, check it out.

Check out the Community section. This is how to get connected.

Check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop. There are resources there, all kinds of resources, an entire Global Campfire line of resources that are just ways of allowing us to feel that connection that we share with our brothers and sisters who are on this journey of going through the entire Bible in a year. So, check that out. There are our written resources, audio resources, music, all kinds of stuff that are intended for the journey that we are on, taking us through the Bible in a year. So, check…check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, thank you profoundly, humbly. Here we are, last day of…last day of the month and it's hard to believe because these months…as crazy of a year this has been it’s like…it seems like it's going fast at the same time, like a lot is going on, but here we are at the end of another month and again I can’t thank you enough for your partnership especially as we move through the summer. So, there is a link on the homepage of dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app you can just press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app, which is the red button at the top or you can dial 877-942-4253. That's the number if you are in the Americas. If you're in the UK or Europe, you can dial 44-20-3608-8078 or if you are in Australia or that part of the world 61-3-8820-5459 is the number to call.

And that's it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family today is the 27th of August this…this is Laura in West Palm Beach Florida. I just heard a prayer request from Michael as he’s driving to possibly another eye surgery this morning. I…I hear despair in his voice. I know he’s lost his father and his mother in the last couple years and he’s been divorced in the last two months and I know Michael needs hope. I know he said that he’s been seeking God’s face and can’t find it. Lord I know that even Job in his despair said that all that he could see about you and know about you was just a whisper of the...of the truth. Father I just pray that Michael would grab a hold of this whisper of hope and that Lord he would have a successful eye surgery. I pray Father that He would continue to seek you because your word says that if you ask and you seek you will find. And Lord I know that you’re there for him. God he is seeking, and I know you’re not going to turn Your back on him. I just pray Father for Michael’s despair to be replaced with hope and peace and trust. And may his eye surgery be successful. And Father not only his eye surgery but I pray that the eyes of his soul would seek You and find You.

Hey this is for the DABber the Michael that called in, you had…you lost your parents and you have issue with your eyes that you may have to have a surgery. I think you said another surgery. I really feel for your man and I know how it is to not feel God or not…not be aware of God around you. That happens to me a lot and I just want to pray for you this morning. Lord we ask for a strong movement of Your strength this morning Lord in Michael’s life. Michael is like us Lord, he needs You, he…he can’t do this alone and he’s asked…he wants You Lord, he’s asking for You, he’s aware of You, he’s here listening to Your Scripture. He’s a part of our group Lord and he’s a part of Your kingdom. We ask that You deliver him from this I issue Lord, that You give him complete health and restoration of any vision loss or anything, Lord that You can comfort him with this…in regard to the loss of his parents and his divorce Lord that You can help him get through that without dwelling on it and without feeling any guilt or without any misery Lord. Please deliver him from these things and begin to bring joy, comfort, and purpose and all kinds of good things into his life Lord. We know that all good gifts come from You. We ask that You just pour out joy on his life and help him to begin to live in a different way in the likeness of Job where everything was taken from him and the pain was so great but in the later part of his life You blessed him with more than he ever had. We ask that You now begin to restore Michael and bless him Lord and help them to live a long fruitful and happy life. Let him share with others what…what happened to him Lord. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Hi this is Bighearted Ben and radiant Rachel and Andrew from Pennsylvania. We have a prayer request. Andrew’s buddy Kevin Cranes got in a car accident, a head car collision…head on collision…he’s in a coma and he’s in a coma in the hospital and he needs a lot of prayer. He’s one of Andrews good friends. So, we’re asking that everybody pray with us for Kevin Kevlar otherwise known as…what’s his nickname…Kevlar. Alright. Dear God, we lift up Kevlar to you. We pray that you will send your Holy Spirit to him, to his hospital room. We pray that the Holy Spirit will wrap his arms around him and heal him completely Lord bring him through this so that he can continue on with his life. He was just about to retire, and we pray that he can enjoy his retirement and live a long healthy life. And is there anything else to say Ben? Andrew, you got anything to say? And thank you for this dinner, please nourish it to our bodies. Dear Jesus, please have everyone in the whole wide world even that have been praying __ even everyone in the world to have no __ and the coronavirus to go away and every virus to go away…

Hello everyone, it’s Margo from Liberia I’m still stuck in the UK, been here for over a month and we just found out that our third flight’s that we’ve booked we’ve been bumped off again. And really today I just feel desolate. I do trust God. I totally trust God but my feelings right now…I feel like I’ve got no control over my life. I’m stuck here. I’m useless to anyone. I can’t do anything. I looked into getting registered here so I can work here but I can’t do that. I...I…I’m what I’m asking for is for prayer that we can could back to Australia. My husbands supposed to be doing some training, my sons getting married. I really…I want to be there for my son’s wedding. I’m just at a loss this morning and I guess I just…I’m in need of some support and some prayer. And I’m angry because it’s Australia that’s not letting us in. There’s thousands of us stranded in other countries and the governments put these flight caps on. And, so, kind of, if you can pay business class you can pretty much get in but the flight…the costs are horrendous, and I know I’m not even speaking very well today. I’m just trying to be coherent. I do trust in God, that I know, but I also know that it’s okay to feel upset about things some time. And that’s me today. Please pray. I love you guys. Bye.

Abigail from Oregon this is God’s Life Speaker. I hear your pain for your loss for your baby. Praise God that you got to hold your baby. And I understand totally being pregnant with friends and watching them continue. That happened exactly to be where we had multiple miscarriages and I was pregnant with a friend of the same…good family friend at the same time and it was so hard. I hear you. I hear you. But continue to lift them up, continue to pray for their babies, continue just to believe and speak life that…that your baby is coming. And I can be 11 years away from that time and just tell you the blessing…the blessing is coming. I don’t know why the wait. I don’t understand the babies that we’ve lost. But they are in heaven and will get to hold them. So, Abigail don’t worry about your friend that had an abortion. Pray for her. She will see that baby if she knows Jesus. Continue to be the light and the life of these girlfriends. Know people are praying for you. Losing babies are hard. Losing anything as hard, right? Because we so want it. And to hear that God has a plan…well He has a plan as we live continuously in the places that He has put us. Just like Joe did, we press forward. So, Abigail from Oregon God bless you. Look forward, speak life into yourself into your friends and into the unknown babies that are all you to come. God bless you.

Hi, I just had a prayer request. I had a stroke a week and a half ago and I lost my mom to cancer three weeks before that and I didn’t want to cry I just miss her. I’m a single mom with four boys and I’m in the hospital right now. I just wanted…I have two older boys and two younger boys, and I think one of my boys relapsed into using drugs. It was just too much for him. And if you guys could just keep us in your prayers. My pastor’s wife came and told me about this awesome iPod thing and I’ve been listening to your series from my bed in the hospital and I can’t wait to get home and listen to my boys…have my boys listen to the kids section. If you could just, please keep my family in your prayers and help me get home soon. My little boy Mario also has a birthday coming up on September 1st and he’s pretty sad I’m not going to be able to be there because I’ll still be in the hospital…

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ateamymm · 7 years

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Selling Your Rebuilt Home Doesn’t Have to be Stressful

We've been working for families that are looking to sell their homes that are being rebuilt to replace those which they lost in the 2016 wildfire.

It is an ongoing tragedy and it’s an honor to be able to help.

Families come to us anywhere from the blueprint stage to the final inspection, but they have similar (great) questions such as:

“What kind of problems can arise?”

“What happens if things get delayed?”

This post answers those questions and helps give some solutions.

The Offer Stage

Fast forward and let’s imagine your home is pending (we have successfully negotiated a purchase contract), and the buyer is working through their financing and inspection conditions.

It is very common that the home and other improvements to the land (for example, a deck or a concrete parking pad) might not be complete at the time of the offer coming in. If this happens, it’s actually a good thing since it means we must be selling the home quickly which means no carrying costs once it’s built (it will become the property of the buyers as soon as the last nail is driven)!

It can be a nervous time, but there’s no need to worry. A REALTOR®’s job is very varied, and we help out wherever we can. So, for example, if that means working for you in discussions with your builder, that’s what we will do. It’s all about putting a contract in place that offers some flexibility and that has realistic timelines that your builder can work within.

What might a sound agreement look like? There might be...

An option for a buyer hold-back for any agreed items that may not be completed before possession. This takes some pressure off you the seller (and your builder).

A seller’s legal condition. This gives you a chance to have the (often complex) purchase contract reviewed by a lawyer prior to you signing off on it.

Communication While Building

All the work that is still required to be completed can fit into two groups. Group one is items that the negotiated contract allows to be finished post-possession (with hold-backs). This group is not the priority at this stage.

There’s another group: Those pesky items that need to be completed before the new homeowner calls the property their home. This is where a good relationship with your builder and clear communication is key…

While negotiating the purchase contract with the buyers, we like to keep your builder in the loop. We are doing our due diligence that the timelines we are promising to the buyers can be executed by the builder.

Once the home is pending, let’s get that contract into the hands of the builder and communicate it effectively to them. This will ensure that they have ample time to address the issues and can make a plan to get them complete. Because builders are working on multiple projects, we do want to give them as much notice as possible to ensure that they have time to schedule the remaining work within the required timelines. We will also ask the builder to keep us in the loop regarding the schedule.

There are definitely going to be bumps in the road, it is best that you expect that up front.

Weather will delay outside work.

Lack of materials will delay inside work.

As unexpected issues arise, we ask that you please keep us in the loop. Here’s why that’s helpful:

We can act as an intermediary between you and your builder (or just another squeaky wheel). We can help by communicating your questions or concerns on your behalf.

Our role is to advocate for your interests to the buyer’s agent in the run-up to possession (and beyond).

Home Warranty & Quality Builders

Here is a little nugget of solid information. When working with a builder, get really detailed information on how the new home warranty works. This can then be passed on to the buyer’s agent for communication to the buyers. When hiring a builder, finding out how long the builder plans to stay in town might be important...

Quality builders show their professionalism by being there for the new homeowner, long after the owner receives the keys. The builder’s performance impacts their reputation, and therefore, their future sales. Local builders who plan to be around for a while (or for good) are surely more likely to be there for the buyers than those who are here only for the rebuild. Warranty companies are there as an additional backstop.

All of this, when communicated effectively to the buyers (through their agent), can help in the event that some of those aforementioned “pesky items” cannot be completed by possession. It’s okay because under the warranty, noted deficiencies must be completed under the home warranty! This will go some way to calming the nerves of the buyers (and therefore the nerves of you, the seller).

The Walk-Through

So you’ve done all that, and now it’s the witching hour; the buyers are coming to do their walk-through!

Your heartbeat accelerates.

You cross your fingers.

One of two things might happen:

A) It’s a clean, successful walk-through. You naturally stay calm.

B) A few deficient items come up. The buyer is feeling several different feelings. This causes you to feel several different feelings. But again, miraculously, you can stay calm.

Why do you ultimately feel calm in either circumstance?

Because you and your agent worked as a team.

Teamwork = Happiness

You and your specialist A-Team listing agent worked as a team: Together, you talked to the builder, and your agent spoke to the buyer's agent regularly also. Throughout the process, all parties always had a deep understanding of the build and a good agreement was written up as well as checked by your lawyer. Through the warranty, you have in writing that all remaining issues will be rectified soon after possession.

It’s all kosher.

Here’s a reality: Unexpected events will happen because a rebuild is a complicated process with multiple stakeholders & suppliers. At the core of a stress-free transaction is a seamless, trusting relationship between you and your listing agent. You can share your concerns along the way, and a great agent will put solutions in place, and sometimes just be a shoulder to cry on (or someone to vent to).

Moving On

It is going to be a tremendous feeling when we call to let you know that keys have been released. It’s a challenging process, but with the right team, there’s nothing to fear. You can allow yourself to get excited about what’s next for you in life!

Selling Your Rebuilt Home Doesn’t Have to be Stressful was originally published on The A-Team, RE/MAX Fort McMurray

#Real estate #Realtors #Talented Realtors

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wavenetinfo · 7 years

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SPOILER ALERT: This story contains plot details from Monday night’s season 3 finale of Better Call Saul, titled “Lantern.”

Chuck McGill was not exactly an easy character to like. He was priggish, self-righteous, bull-headed, and dismissive. He claimed to suffer from an allergy to electricity that prompted him to wear a space blanket around the house and to force all people who came into his orbit to surrender all electrical devices. This illness, however, was ultimately proven to him (in a public hearing) to be more mental than physical. Let us also not forget he ruined his brother’s chances at becoming a partner at his firm, in part because he always felt his brother unjustly accrued the lion’s share of love from their mother.

Chances are that you wished some form of comeuppance upon Chuck. But chances are that it wasn’t that.

At the end of Monday’s season 3 finale of Better Call Saul, Chuck (Michael McKean) apparently decided enough was enough, and instead of continuing to face his daunting demons, he gave into the darkest instinct of them, taking his own life by literal lantern light. The decision, made by someone clearly in an altered, tortured state, came as a shock after he recently confronted the realities of his illness and seemed committed to change, putting in the hard work with Dr. Cruz (Clea DuVall). The results were tangible. He was shopping for groceries again, and could even hold a lamp for a short time.

But after his ego-crushing exit from the law firm he co-founded — his longtime partner/ally, Howard (Patrick Fabian), couldn’t usher him out the door fast enough, handing him a $3 million check drawn from his own personal account — and after a devastating conversation with his brother Jimmy (Bob Odenkirk), the sibling with which he waged many moralistic wars and the one he dismissed from his house by saying, “You’ve never mattered all that much to me” — something in Chuck finally broke. (It was all the more surprising after Jimmy showed up at his house and Chuck looked as good as we’d seen him in recent years, listening to music, surrounded by electrical light, etc.)

After taking a pill and reviewing the journal where he tracked his progress in exposing himself to electricity for the last time, Chuck decided he just couldn’t do it anymore. He shut down the power in the house, unscrewing lightbulbs, and ripping his home down to the studs in search of the one last electrical charge that was causing his meter outside to keep ticking. He never found it, spiraling further into chilling mania. In the final moments of the episode, Chuck sat in his office in a numbed-out state, robotically slamming his foot into his desk, where a lantern was perched precariously on some papers. Finally, one of the kicks did the job, sending the lantern tumbling onto the ground and quickly setting the room ablaze, presumably marking a fiery end to a fiery character who stoked the ire of fans.

RELATED: Michael McKean explains that Chuck shocker in Better Call Saul finale

One can only imagine the damage this tragedy will have on Jimmy, who was destroyed by that conversation with Chuck, one in which his brother also urged him to acknowledge himself for who he truly was. (“In the end, you’re going to hurt everyone around you. You can’t help it. So stop apologizing and accept it. Embrace it.”) The battle for Jimmy’s soul, though, was still ongoing. He attempted to right last week’s wrong of using innocent old lady Irene as a sacrificial lamb in his desire for Sandpiper lawsuit money. He returned her to the good graces of her mall-walking friends by trashing himself, ending his own elder law career that waited on the other side of his one-year suspension. (Yet another piece of ground-laying track for Saul Goodman.)

RELATED: The Cast of Better Call Saul‘ on the Pressures of Following Breaking Bad’ Elsewhere in the episode, Kim (Rhea Seehorn) finally saw the light of workaholic ways after her dangerous car crash and decided to focus on her recovery. She also more than hinted at a future, or at least future office, with Jimmy. Meanwhile, the dark-but-weak-hearted Hector (Mark Margolis) almost met his maker but was resuscitated by Gus (Giancarlo Esposito). This marks the second curious sparing of Hector’s life in a year by Gus, wasting the efforts of fellow Salamanca haters Mike (Jonathan Banks) and Nacho (Michael Mando). One of these men is already starting to find himself in the employ of Gus; the other’s fate remains unclear.

There are plenty of questions surrounding “Lantern,” so let’s flip on the circuit breakers and dial Better Call Saul co-creator Peter Gould, who just might illuminate a light bulb or two over your head.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Let’s start at the tragic end. When did you decide you were going to kill Chuck? Or rather, that Chuck was going to kill Chuck? PETER GOULD: It happened during the season. We had a choice, and Chuck had a choice. After the midpoint of the season — that great episode “Chicanery” that Gordon Smith wrote — there was this powerhouse confrontation between Jimmy and Chuck, and Jimmy won. Chuck was humiliated and there were a lot of choices that we could have made at that point. One choice would have been to have Chuck redouble his efforts to get his brother, to try another round of tricks. That didn’t feel right, and it’s interesting — the moments that I find most satisfying in the writers’ room are the moments where the characters surprise us, and our first reaction, of course, was what I just said: “Okay, now how is Chuck going to bounce back and be even worse?”

And the more we talked about it, the more we thought about what a brilliant man Chuck is, and what he would actually take out of this experience. We came to the conclusion that maybe this could be in some ways good news for him. Maybe there’s a chance for growth, even? [Laughs.] So while Jimmy is kind of wallowing in his anger — the winner in the conflict is the angry one — Jimmy is pissed that he has to go to community service, he’s struggling to make ends meets and keep the office with Kim — Chuck actually takes what we always used to call his hero’s journey. He goes out of his safe house and goes out into the world and makes the call to Dr. Cruz [Clea DuVall]. And of course, Chuck previously has been vociferous in denying that there’s anything wrong with him other than sheerly a physical ailment. Chuck has been dead set on avoiding any confrontation with the medical establishment. Of course, the whole end of season 2 turned on that. But now Chuck is actually reaching out to this person who he’s never trusted and never liked, and he does some of the work. And you see it in subsequent episodes that he’s under this doctor’s care, he’s starting to make real progress to the point that in episode 8, you see him go out to the grocery store and get his own damn soymilk, which for some of us is not a big deal, but for Chuck, it’s the equivalent of climbing Mt. Everest barefoot and without oxygen.

That just all felt very natural, but we then realized that it’s one thing to make the choice to get help, but the bigger, more difficult problem in life is to carry through with change. And there’s really nothing more difficult than changing yourself. We’ve all tried it, it’s not easy to do, and under stress, as things continue in the season, Chuck reverts. Instead of taking it step by step as Dr. Cruz suggests, instead of really starting to understand himself in a deep way, he turns to the outside world and he starts blaming the outside world for what’s happening on his insides. Of course, the ultimate version of that is, after he has what might be the terrible final confrontation between the brothers, when Chuck says those terrible things to Jimmy, then he’s got an itch that he just can’t scratch. That’s when it all falls apart. And for me, one of the most heartbreaking moments in the finale is when he actually does call Dr. Cruz and there’s a moment where he could actually say, “I’m in crisis. I need help right now,” which is, by the way, what I would encourage anyone who’s in that position to do, but his pride won’t let him. Somehow, his pride keeps him from asking for help when he really needs it the most. And the results of that are, to my eye, tragic.

Now that he has been suspended from the law for a year, we’ve been asking a question in the second half of this season: Who is Jimmy McGill without the law? But for Chuck, in a way, he was nothing without the law. How much did Howard calling his bluff and removing him from the firm contribute to that downward spiral? And he really had no family left after what happened with Jimmy, including that devastating last conversation. What, in sum, led him to take his own life? It’s a little bit of a watercooler question: What drives Chuck to do what he does? I would point out, though, he is expelled from HHM with a giant bonus, and he still has his law license. As he said to Howard in the previous episode, he is getting better. There’s nothing to say that he couldn’t practice law himself. There’s nothing to say that he couldn’t turn around and try to hang his own shingle out in a very luxurious office or even join Schweikart & Cokely, or any of the other firms. There’s the possibility for renewal, and when Jimmy comes to Chuck’s house, Chuck is dressed properly, he’s listening to music, and he’s got it together enough to confront his brother and just cut him to the core. It’s only after he has that terrible scene with Jimmy that Chuck’s downward spiral begins. So to me, that means — however important what happened at HHM might have been — somehow it’s the scene with Jimmy that’s the trigger.

NEXT PAGE: Gould on McKean’s reaction when he learned the news, fan hatred of Chuck

20 June 2017 | 6:16 am

Dan Snierson

Source : Entertainment Weekly

>>>Click Here To View Original Press Release>>>

June 20, 2017 at 12:46PM

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lucya-dthings-blog · 7 years

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Character development survey.

Along with the help that I received through creating my design sheet. (The design sheet helped me to realise I wanted my characters to be emotions personified as real people who work in situations were the emotion they are is most common e.g Anger is a police officer, Anxious is an exam administrator, Lust is a bartender.)

I also created a character development survey to ask authors and writers tips on how they like to create their characters, below are the questions asked.

1. What is your name? (So I can quote you in my research, if you would rather stay anonymous then please move to question 2.)

2. How do you begin to form a character?

3. Do you have a system for forming a character? (E.g a grid or mind map)

4. If you do, why do you think character development is so important?

5. How much of a character should be left to the readers imagination?

6. Are any of the characters you have created yourself inspired by people you know in real life?

7. What is the name of your favourite character that you have written about/created, and where are they from? (Name the book.)

8. Is there anything that is vital to building up a character's personality? (E.g creating a backstory.)

9. Any other tips or advice you may have?

The responses.

Q1: What is your name? (So I can quote you in my research, if you would rather stay anonymous then please move to question 2.)

Hannah

Q2: How do you begin to form a character?

Define their qualities

Q3: Do you have a system for forming a character? (E.g a grid or mind map)

No just write them as I imagine them

Q4: If you do, why do you think character development is so important?Respondent skipped this questionQ5: How much of a character should be left to the reader's imagination?

Not too much but not too little

Q6: Are any of the characters you have created yourself inspired by people you know in real life?

Myself, close family or friends, or characters that I read or watch

Q7: What is the name of your favourite character that you have written about/created, and where are they from? (Name the book.)

Artemis and an ongoing story

Q8: Is there anything that is vital to building up a character's personality? (E.g creating a backstory.)

A backstory has morphed them and changes them and can affect their choices

Q9: Any other tips or advice you may have?

Be passionate and stick to it

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Q1: What is your name? (So I can quote you in my research, if you would rather stay anonymous then please move to question 2.)

Laurie

Q2: How do you begin to form a character?

Come up with a name and bio

Q3: Do you have a system for forming a character? (E.g a grid or mind map)

Work out how I need and wish them to be in my story

Q4: If you do, why do you think character development is so important?

Because it helps your readers feel more immersed

Q5: How much of a character should be left to the reader's imagination?

Just enough

Q6: Are any of the characters you have created yourself inspired by people you know in real life?

Yes a lot

Q7: What is the name of your favourite character that you have written about/created, and where are they from? (Name the book.)

Between Amir Loar and Olen Cain in Rule Are Made To Be Broken

Q8: Is there anything that is vital to building up a character's personality? (E.g creating a backstory.)

The Bio, Where they came from, Who they are connected with

Q9: Any other tips or advice you may have?

Do what feels right for the character, Don't just add something for the sake of adding it.

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I posted the survey online with the hopes that some professional authors would answer the questions or get in contact with me, unfortunately, this endeavor was unsuccessful. Luckily a friend of mine found a Facebook page and managed to get in contact with and get response from a few authors.

Leonie Plumeria,

I am an aspiring author and English teacher. I usually just know my characters, they are a mix of me, who I want to be and people I know. Character development for the main characters is important. The reader has to feel a connection to the character or they won't read. The characters have to be flawed too or the reader has nothing to connect with. I think the physical description should be left to the reader. I feel disappointed when I, as a reader, am told what the characters look like, especially the male characters. Characters are shaped by people I know, movies I have seen, me, (secretly sometimes students). My fave character is a girl named Alice, who goes through a self-awakening. I think a character has to be relatable... or at least that is what I teach my students about character personality.

Lindsay Lupher

I've been in the book world for three years now and just published my first book. I've been a reader, blogger, Personal and Promotional Assistant and now Author.

1. Usually, they just pop into my head. Something I hear or see inspires the character to come alive, and they form from there.

2. I have a doc that I write out that has my character's full name, what they look like, and a little bit about them such as what they do for a living, how they're connected to other characters and maybe even a little bit of history.

3. Character development is important because we all change. When my main character meets the love of their life, they don't stay the same. Love (or tragedy in some cases) change a person irrevocably. They either spiral down or they learn from it instantly. My job as an author is to get them to grow as a person and piece them back together or to fit into their new surroundings.

4. I'm a very detailed person, but I also love reading about a character that I can imagine as my own. I don't need to necessarily know every time their eyes meet what colour they are. (I just finished a book like this and personally it was a little annoying for me.) When I write, I tend to get into great detail, but I don't describe something every time it's seen. I don't tell the reader that they sit in the "brown wooden dining chair" every time, I would just say "chair."

5. My characters have bits and pieces of people from my life. Sometimes they're a mix of people, sometimes they're based on one person.

6. Don't laugh, but my favourite character is Kraken, the lovable mastiff from my first book. He's based off my Lab/Mastiff mix and he can steal the show at times.

7. Yes. The biggest thing for me about a character's personality, is that they are consistent or have a period of growth. You can't have a mousy shy girl who has one friend and never leaves her house, also be a party girl a chapter later. It doesn't make sense and talking to readers, it's one of the top reasons they flounce a book. The top reason, they can't connect with the characters. Which comes back to personality building. When building your character's quirks keep in mind that they should be relatable. You don't necessarily have to follow whatever trend is flowing at the time, but you want to keep the readers' attention. A big trend lately has been Billionaires, but my focus was on a guy who yes had money, but he owned his own tattoo shop and was tied to the mafia. Another big trend lately, Nannies. My main girl isn't, she's a photographer who was raised by her grandmother. So write who you WANT and FEEL you should write, but try to keep the reader in mind as well.

Yvonne müller from Germany

Hi, I'm writing and publishing on the www since 2011. I will try to answer your questions, but honestly I don't approach writing this technical.

1. I often have a scene in my mind all of a sudden, either planted by others or as a result of my dreams. More often than not this scene/idea grows roots and I start to wonder what kind of story could I wrap around this scene. I look at the character(s) and start to imagine how they could be. What could be their strengths and weaknesses. And the longer I think about it (sometimes a couple weeks, sometimes several months) the more the characters take shape.

2. No, it all comes from within. I let my heart and imagination speak to me. I seldom if ever make notes, it's all in my head and continuously grows.

3. It's a question of taste. Some people like to write and read stories with shallow characters, others want more depth. Since I prefer characters with depth I put a great deal into developing them before I start writing and they keep growing while I write. Which of course means that I often have to go back to already written chapters and change things to make them work with my new vision of my character.

4. Again it's a question of taste. Some readers wants to have everything written out, others want to have room for their own imagination. I tend to describe my characters clearly without much room for interpretation.

5. No, they are pure fiction

6. Hmmm ... I love them all otherwise I wouldn't have created stories around them. No favourites.

7. This is again a question of personal taste. I prefer my characters to have curves and edges. That's vital for me. Therefore I put a lot of thoughts into them and adjust them again and again as the story develops. But my advice is to keep it somewhat real. There's nothing wrong with idealising things, but keep it somewhat real. Otherwise, it's too unrealistic. But that's just my opinion.

What I have learned from this survey will be really useful when it comes to planning and designing my characters. It will be useful to have multiple opinions to look to when I have to make important decisions, particularly when they come from people who know what they’re talking about.

#planning

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