#imitation geode

[sharkyswaters]

[faceless-dude]

My diploma work

(short gif in reblogs)

[viric-dreams]

Eleanor Roberts, The Dawning Aspirant (she/her)

Born: Rhondda, Wales, September 10, 1849

Occupation: Naval Officer Currently working as a stenographer/newspaper assistant

Closest to: The Admiralty

Qualities: Watchful, Dangerous

Quirks: Steadfast, Ruthless

They say...

No one could ever accuse her of being charismatic, but her earnestness about all she does goes a long way.

Profile below the cut.

Born in a Welsh mining town to a working-class family, she was determined to escape the life set before her and to scrabble up the societal ranks, however possible. When her father died and left her the sole breadwinner for her mother and older sisters, she ran away, unwilling to go down into that same pit and meet the same fate. She would not spend the rest of her life underground.

She ran to London to try to make a new life for herself. London, however, was less than kind to a child from the Valleys, with a strange lilt to her imperfect English. Even amongst the other urchins she was not well-liked, often seen as off-putting. She spent her nights in pubs near the harbour, listening in and imitating the voices and the mannerisms of the officers occupying them. She would have to become like them if she wanted that respect.

At the age of thirteen, she signed on with the Royal Navy as a cabin boy, listing a new, anglicised name to match her new identity. Her captain was kind to her, the first to be in ages.  Things were finally looking up.

And then London Fell.

When the city came crashing down into the Neath, Roberts’ ship had crumpled against the coastline, seriously injuring her and trapping her inside. In the almost two days it took to get her free, her captain had been there, yelling encouraging words to a scared child, one neither of them could be sure would survive the experience. When they’d finally managed to cut her free, to pull her back from the Slow Boat, her fate was sealed—she would follow that man to the ends of the earth.  

Her devotion never wavered. Not even when her captain split from the Admiralty, renaming himself the Commodore. She zailed with him to their new port of call, the Grand Geode, and stood at his side when the Dawn Machine was turned on. For decades, she was his right-hand man, his golden boy, the favourite son. Whatever he needed, she would do, no matter the cost. She would do his dirty work so that he could shine.

Decades passed in the Neath. Then one day, the Commodore called her into his office. He had a task for Lieutenant Roberts: She should sail to London and infiltrate a group of revolutionaries trying to bring about the Liberation of Night. With the group’s name and an alias scrawled onto a piece of paper, she took to Zee.

London, however, had changed much since her last visit almost forty years earlier. Its denizens were not the cheerful, smiling sort she was used to back at her port of call. It wasn’t long before she found herself set upon by a group of criminals, intent on robbery. In the scuffle, however, her dark glasses broke, revealing her dazzling golden eyes. The next thing she knew she had a bag over her head.

She woke up bound in a Benthic basement laboratory, half a dozen scientists watching her intently. She was a Sequencer, they said, clearly controlled by a false Judgement she was forced to serve against her will. But they could cure her—a cure that would free her from her slavish dedication to the sun the sun the sun the sun the sun the sun the s—

She came to in an alleyway, missing both memories and an earlobe. There was something she was assigned to do in London, and she could not disappoint the Commodore. But what? She would find a way to keep herself busy, further the cause. Expand the reach of the New Sequence. Ignore the missing time, the foreign fragments of memories that would hit at unexpected intervals, the rumours of a figure sweeping the Revolutionary circles wearing her face.

Unbeknownst to her, when she wasn’t acting as Lieutenant Roberts, liaison to the Admiralty, she was Mr Nite, climbing her way to January’s good graces, only knowing that her purpose was to help her in her goals, by any means possible. As time went on, their lives seemed to intertwine in unsettling ways. Nite would encounter long-time enemies she’d never before seen. Roberts would have memories of a man whispering words of love into her ear whom she’d never met. Roberts would experience flashes of colour she hadn’t seen in years. Nite would catch fragments of conversations in a language she didn’t know she spoke.

And then their worlds converged too closely, when Nite’s Liberationist activities threatened Roberts’ standing, when Roberts’ hostile encounter with a strange man brought about the end of Nite’s relationship. Nite declared war on her counterpart, determined not to rest until her life was in ruins, at the price of her own relationship with January. And Nite nearly succeeded—Roberts’ life was coming apart. Several of her projects were falling to pieces, a vengeful subordinate firebombed her flat, and she hadn’t heard back from the Commodore in weeks. The memory bleeds were getting worse—more and more flashes of someone in her body doing things she would never do, having feelings she should not have felt.

And then she gets the news. The Commodore is dead. They hadn’t bothered to tell her. Intentionally so. They’d pushed her out. Moved on without her. Left her in London with nothing. Because who is she without the Commodore? Without the Navy? Without the dawnlight coursing through her body, because as those grief-bound weeks went on, something had changed. She’d stopped fighting herself, that shared heartache forcing both sides of herself to come to terms with their singularity, that hurting one would only hurt the other. And without those two forces constantly in opposition… Roberts and Nite began to merge, memories and personalities coming together, draining out the residual dawnlight, leaving her… as her, whomever that might be.

Something wasn’t right, however. There’s no way the Commodore could’ve simply died. Men like him don’t just die. That couldn’t be right. The medical report left by the doctor who’d broken the news didn’t add up. The longer she’d looked at it the longer something didn’t feel right. Because he didn’t just die. He was murdered.

A furious dog set loose, it was not difficult to find the perpetrators—proud of their act. The Commodore had killed the ones they loved. Or more accurately, she had killed them, under his orders. She’d commandeered a ship and chased them halfway across the Zee, deeper and deeper south, until the first rays of dawnlight crested upon her ship as they lined up to fire. But then what? She kills them, then claws her rightful position back at the helm of the Admiralty? More people dead, more loved ones to grieve and to swear vengeance, and for what? For a position she’d never wanted. The dawnlight feels nauseating on the back of her eyes. There’s no comfort to it.

She turned the ship around, London-bound. This time, for good.

What do you do when your whole life and sense of identity is tied up in your job? When the question is never “who are you?”, but “what can you do?”. And who is she, really, when there’s no one else in the picture, and the only person whose opinion, and whose happiness matters is her own? Whereas she’d once changed her name to gain acceptance, when she does it again, it’s for herself. Eleanor. She likes the way it feels on her tongue. With no references, no family, no friends, and almost nothing to her name Eleanor would start again. A new beginning, on her own terms, whatever may come.

[queer-overwatch]

HI can I get uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Venture sticking up for their S/O who's being picked on because they're just a lil bit chubby.............................. fem or gender neutral S/O preferably!!! I need some protective Venture!!! 😭

Also have fun writing!!!!!!!! I hope y'all get lots of requests!!!!!!!!!

- venturelovebot

Protective Venture

Aaaa ty sm for the request!!!! Both of us follow u so we were kinda like "HOLY SHIT" when we saw you send an ask sdikfv d -Frisk

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bro would 100% beat someones ASS for making fun of you

they know what its like to be picked on! They got a chipped tooth and some of their colleagues make fun of it sometimes, so they are SO pissed if they find out someone's been making fun of you too

They're mad, but their first priority is making sure you're okay, they'll deal with those jerks later >:C

If it happens often, they'll plan a nice little date night and buy you some nice ass clothes that show off your curves because they love you and want you to be confident! And also want to rub how pretty you are in the faces of anyone making fun of you-

Would absolutely be the type of partner to squeeze your tummy, just a lil, they can't help it! They love someone with a lil shape to em <3

After your date they 100% go fuck with whoever was teasing you, they have so many cursed artifacts and will absolutely just slide one into where ever the person messing with you is most to scare the shit out of them and also hopefully get them haunted

══════ஜ▲ஜ══════

(blurb written by Xorn <3)

The day has been great, you and Venture having a nice walk around the dig site, that was until you passed some coworkers. Unfortunately you'd heard a bit of a ranking they had going on; the hottest body on site, you heard a couple comments about how your body wasn't particularly favorable. Thankfully Venture had verbally torn your coworkers a new one. But it left you a bit distressed and distracted for the rest of the day. On the way home you fiddled with the belt loop of your pants sighing as you and Venture listened to music on your way back to home. Venture glanced over at you tilting their head briefly before focusing on the road. "Cariño mío , what's wrong? Did what those jerks say earlier get to you?" They huffed a little upset at the thought of you being upset. Especially over something that made you so beautiful to them. "A little, I don't really feel all that great about it though, I thought I would after we started working again but not really" You sighed looking over toward them as you tugged at your shirt, a light attempt to get it to stop hugging the curves around your stomach and sides. "(Y/n), You're perfect. You know what, Surprise date night! We're going out just to prove those fuckers wrong!" They grin, they're all too familiar but oh so cute , chipped tooth front and center in their smile. As you get home they usher you to the bedroom telling you to put on your nicest clothes. As you prepare yourself, still not all too confident in what they might be planning . However when you walked down you caught them in the act of making the living room look rather fancy. The moment they noticed you they scrambled for a fake rose and biting down on it to imitate a romantic man as they leaned on the couch. "Mi amor-" They started though they couldn't fully get it out as they began snickering and laughing at their own actions "-(Y/n) would you do me the honor of eating takeout and watching Prince of Egypt with me?" You couldn't help but chuckle, making your way to the couch as you cupped their cheeks. "Of course I would, thank you" You muttered as they pulled you to the couch, happily settling in beside you as they lightly played with your tummy. "I'll say it again , you're perfect! Like a hidden geode, no one knows how good you are until they've gotten to know you inside and out !"

[wizard-irl]

Buying Crystals - Common Fakes

Part 5 of 7 in a guide for buying crystals. Read the rest here!

We are finally at the wholly fake crystals! These crystals are either dupes of real ones, real crystals passed off as other crystals, or man-made crystals without a natural analogue. I'm excited to get into this because once you know what to look for, its hard to be scammed.

And to be clear, if you value any of these, either as collector's items or as spiritual tools, that's perfectly fine. My issue is when people try to pass off crystals (or not-crystals!) as something they're not.

Real Crystals Sold As Fakes

Howlite - A very common dupe for turquoise. Real turquoise is very expensive, so cheap turquoise is likely to be dyed howlite. This may also be called turquenite. Acetone removes dyes.¹ ⁶

Malachite - Genuine malachite is green to dark green (never stark black), the colours fade together softly, without uniform patterns, and often with circular patterning. Conversely, fake malachite, often made of resin, may have black, hard lines, and uniform patterning normally without circular patterns.²

Clear quartz - Clear quartz is often faked using glass. Real clear quarts will have some kind of inclusion, even if they’re not visible to the eye, and will NEVER have bubbles in it.³

Obsidian - There are many types of natural glass, such as obsidian and moldavite. Real obsidian is opaque, dense, and its colours range from black to brown. Many fake obsidians promise vibrant colours impossible for real obsidian to form as.⁴

Moldavite - Moldavite is incredibly rare due to not only being found in one location, but being exclusively formed by meteorite activity. Real moldavite will be mossy-coloured, while fakes may tend towards light green. White moldavite is not real; it is typically calcite.⁵⁻⁶

Moissanite - Natural moissanite is incredibly rare. Most on the market will be synthetics.⁶

Citrine - Citrine is heated amethyst, but most citrine on the market will be artificially heated and sold as natural. Natural citrine has a colour ranging from olive to lemonade, and will never be found on a geode. A telltale sign of artificial citrine is any sign of a parent geode, especially a bright white colour on the bottom of the crystal, as well as the crystal’s colour generally looking “crispy” or bright orange.⁹

Prasiolite - Green quartz is incredibly rare in nature, and thus, most found on the market will be heat treated amethyst of certain localities. Typically, natural prasiolite is light, translucent green, while darker varieties are treated.¹¹

Geodes - Geodes are typically made of quartz, but less commonly calcite, dolomite, aragonite, akerite, hematite, magnetitie, pyrite, chalcopyrite, and sphalerite.¹² Anything else is either incredibly rare or nonexistent. Many geodes may be dyed, modified, or sold as crystals they are not.¹³

Man-Made Crystals Without Natural Analogues

Glass (artificial) - There are many types of glass that are sold as natural crystals, such as goldstone (erroneously marketed as sunstone) and opalite (opal imitation, erroneously marketed as moonstone).¹⁰

Smelt quartz - Also known as cherry, blueberry, etc. quartz, are made of dyed glass.⁶

Slag - Slag is the byproduct of smelting. Names of commonly sold slags are: Fordite/Detroit agate, Sieber agate, andara crystal, rosarita, leklai, Frankfort green, and Leland blue.⁶⁻⁸

Cermikite - Also called alum crystal, these are commonly made in “grow your own crystal” kits. They are made of potassium aluminium sulphate.⁶

Chalcanthite - Synthetic crystal made of copper sulphate. Natural chalcanthite is incredibly rare and grows as fibrous crystals. This is a toxic crystal.⁶

Lopezite - Synthetic made of potassium dichomate. This is a toxic crystal.⁶

Cubic zirconia -  Diamond imitation made of zirconium dioxide.⁶

Further Reading

I cannot list all possible fakes and dupes. However, I can point to a few sites.

Crystals Rock

The Vug

Mineral Expert

If you need more specific advice, I'd say to simply search "how to tell if [crystal] is real/fake."

In the next part, we are discussing the root of why we need to be so careful when it comes to buying crystals: capitalism.

Sources

"How to Spot Fake Crystals", Crystals Rock.

"Fake of Real Malachite?", The Citrine Circle.

"How to Tell If Your Clear Quartz is Fake", Manifest and Flow.

"Real Vs Fake Obsidian Stone", How to Find Rocks.

"Real Vs Fake Malachite: How to Tell Moldavite Is Real", Truly Experiences.

"Toxic Crystals, Fakes, and Forgeries", Solstice Stones.

"Leland Blue Stones", Leelanau.

"Rosarita Stone History", TFD Jewellery.

"(Real vs Fake Citrine) How To Tell If You Have Real Citrine", Rock Seeker.

"'Fake' Crystals — Opalite, Goldstone, and More.", Marble Crow Blog.

"Prasiolite", The Quartz Page.

"Geode", Britannica.

"Are There Fake Geodes? (How To Spot Man-Made Geodes)", Rock Seeker.

[troutfur]

top five rocks !!

5. Serpentine! A green metamorphic rock coming mostly in shades of green. Often serves as imitation jade.

4. Geodes! Like Kinder eggs but the surprise is really cool crystals inside. They're neat.

3. Limestone! Buncha dead sea animals made into a rock. What they made the Egyptian pyramids out of (mostly, the most famous ones at least). This material also forms the bedrock of the Guatenalan lowlands and the Yucatan peninsula, making for very poor farmland. Requires some real engineering prowess to live there, which is why after the ecological collapse of the Late Classic the region was very sparsely populated outside the coast up until the chewing gum and rubber trade industrialized.

2. Obsidian! A volcanic glass that results from rapid cooling of lava. Can be quite sharp. The highlands of Guatemala where I'm from are a pretty volcanic area and since I was a kid I have picked many up. My collection is quite impressive. Most recent additions are from my trip to El Chayal (literally "the broken glass place" after all the obsidian strewn about, just walking through there sounds like constantly stepping on broken glass). One day I'd like to visit the obsidian source in Pachuca, Mexico, famous for its distinctive green obsidian which when found in archaeological digs is a sure sign of commercial activity with Central Mexico.

1. JADE! 8 on Moh's hardness scale. Comes in a lovely assortment of shades of green, including a very deep green that is my favorite, but also very unique lilac shades found only on the Motagua River source here in Guatemala. Beloved from Mesoamerica to East Asia. I have a jade pendant I carved myself and it's a treasured possession of mine (it was an activity at the jade museum in Antigua Guatemala, not as cool as it initially sounds hahah). Fun fact: what is commonly known as jade is actually 2 minerals, jadeite (found in the Motagua source and in Japan) and nefrite (Chinese jade).

[meztliel]

Comet

A very late submission for TruMar Weekend.

Prompts: Moon; glow

“I'm glad you don't have a tail.”

“Why?”

“So we can admire the moon together without incident.”

Trunks's profile, framed lovingly by the glow of the moon, turns away from the sky to face her. Any regret she has for disrupting that serene picture of him is instantly dispelled when his eyes, glittering like geodes in the night, catch hers. 

The magic is soon just as gone when Trunks laughs through his nose, an abrupt exhale that to the untrained ear would sound sarcastic. 

Marron has had many years to learn his mannerisms; to discern his soft edges from the sharp corners of his character, often being the one to sand down those angles. 

Even as children, she knew that the conceit he put forward to the public was just a muted imitation of his father's prideful bearing. 

Even as an adult, the innate mischief of his character bursts through in a wayward grin that makes her heart kick up her breast bone. 

“Would you still love me if I turned into a giant ape?”

Feigning real consideration, Marron cups her chin and furrows her brow ponderously. 

“Why not? You can scale the Empire building with me in your hairy clutches, like Ann and King Kong.”

Now he quirks up a heavy eyebrow, a gesture Marron has found attractive since she discovered what attraction is.  

“Once again, I have no idea what you're talking about.”

Not everyone shares Marron’s penchant for classic black-and-white kaiju films, least of all a man who fights monsters in real life. 

“But–” Trunks bolts up from his spot on a cliff far, far away from the city, where the artificial lights cannot subdue that of the night's own natural light. He extends a hand for her, hoisting her up as if she was as light as a daffodil being plucked from the ground. “I can take you to the highest tower. Just name the place and we'll go. No ape form required.” 

It's moments such as this one when Marron is glad she has not yet mastered the ability to fly, so that she may be carried on her sweetheart’s back to the world's edge if she willed it, the wind brisk on her face and his warm body cushioning hers, slicing through the night sky like a comet set loose. 

[raitrolling]

Ok I’m still thinking of Hades-style keepsakes for my trolls

Katrin: Dulled Knives. A mismatched pair of well-used blades. Adds extra distance for your ranged weapon.

Nancor: Lucky Crow Feathers. A charm made from pitch-black feathers. Provides a brief attack boost every time you successfully dodge an enemy’s attack.

Ashe: Synthetic Blood Vial. Blood made from ink and his moirail’s magic. All attacks have a slight chance of stealing health from enemy.

Velour: Kitsune Brooch. A sparkly 3D-Printed fox with a teal-blue ribbon. Gain 1 invincible hit at the start of every encounter.

Mikiel: Never-Melting Ice. A chunk of crystalline ice. All attacks do extra damage to enemies afflicted with the chill status.

Lusien: Beacon Lens. A pendant made out of the shards of a lighthouse’s beacon. Deals extra damage to armoured enemies.

Viltau: Vintage Pocketwatch. An old watch made with real gold. Slightly boosts rewards for darkness, obols, and gems whenever encounters are completed in a set time.

Glasya: Imitation Rock Candy. Small geodes in a cellophane bag, carved to look like candies. Add and extra 5-15 points to all healing items.

Vallis: Cephalopod lure. A cute lure that resembles a bobtail squid. All fish caught while this keepsake is equipped will net double rewards when given to the Head Chef.

[splynter]

While doing college work my brain decided to wander

So have concepts for Ending’s main region: The Primeval Density.

The Primeval is basically a massive overgrown jungle, so thick that it barely allows light to creep through the dense leaves. The tops of the trees are coated in dust, much like the Shaded Citadel.

This heavy tree roof does not shield from the rain. In fact, this causes more rain to be collected in the branches. Sometimes the trees randomly dump the deadly rain on unsuspecting creatures before the clouds are ready. Consciously or not, who knows

Most of the ruins are stone and metal covered in moss and foliage. This includes shelters. They have little plant beds :)

More plants and fungi are hallucinogens and stimulants here, often brightly colored or glowing to make them more easily seen in the thick plants

Chameleon lizards that drop from their prehensile tails like dropwigs to catch their prey :)

Flying lizards like those little glider bois irl

Scavs are modeled more like leopards. Spots and moss on their bodies. Their horns and masks are smaller, and often have fruit stabbed into them for later meals

Somehow squidcadas live here and they’re basically unchanged, besides being greener

Carnivorous plants, including an imitation shelter creature

The Holiest Abyss is where Ending was built. It’s essentially a sinkhole. There’s another way to get to it, but it’s an underground route with deadly growing crystal geodes

I’ll doodle more concepts later lmao. I have work to do

[zeebreezin]

18, 22 and 23 for Beverley, B, and Shaw!

18. What embarrasses them?

There’s not a whole lot of things that really embarrass B, honestly! They’re a bit of a shameless person due to a combination of very little previous life experience (due to amnesia) and a devil-may-care attitude. The only thing that really embarrasses them regularly is being late to things - they despise it!

The #1 thing able to make Shaw immediately crave the slow boat ride is if he mispronounces a word in conversation. Because Shaw taught himself most of his education by book learning, he’s often rolling with pronunciations of technical terms he’s never heard out loud, so he’s come up with his best interpretations phonetically. English is kind of dogshit at phonemic orthography, though. He does his best to avoid it by trying to bait his conversation partners into saying the word first, but if he’s ever called out on his mispronunciations he does want to die.

Beverley gets really embarrassed if he’s asked a question he straight up can’t answer, especially when it’s something the other person considers simple. I’ve brought this up before, but Beverley really doesn’t have much of an education about surface matters - especially things like surface culture, politics, and history - due to growing up on the Grand Geode. He’s pretty good at bluffing his way around the holes in his understanding, but… yeah he does get quite flustered if that’s not an option.

22. How does jealousy manifest itself in them (they become possessive, they become aloof, etc)?

B’s not the particularly jealous type, but I imagine they’d get pretty clingy if they felt like they were losing someone or something. A lot of hovering around, a lot of nervous jokes.

Shaw… honestly I have no idea. It would depend a lot on the situation, but he’s very much a ‘if you love them let them go’ type of person. If anything he’d probably internalize a lot of self loathing for even feeling jealous in the first place. Pathetic old man.

Hahaha. Oh boy. So Beverley is a very jealous person, a trait that was absolutely aggravated by B’s betrayal. He doesn’t take to the idea of losing things very well at all, and approaches the situation from a sort of cold detachment. Obviously, he’s not going to lose anything, so what does he have to do to insure that? Don’t… uhm… make him jealous.

23. How does envy manifest itself in them (they take what they want, they become resentful, etc)?

B’s most likely to get envious over non-material traits people have, like personality or a relationship. A lot of the time they’ll try to imitate that trait in themselves, or just… hang out with that person more. They’re still figuring out who they are in a sense, so I don’t think they’d see anything strange with the mimicry. They never stay focused on one person for long, though.

Shaw dealt with envy a lot on the surface, considering his social standing & working for a wealthy household. At the time it made him bitter of the upper classes as well as motivating him to keep working harder. I feel like he could be unintentionally pushy with his kids about bettering themselves sometimes because of that, something he now heavily regrets. He hasn’t really dealt with severe envy since coming to the Neath though, because at this point, he can just… do shit!

Surprisingly I don’t think Beverley’s really an envious person by nature, seeing as he’s very content with his role in the Sequence (lying). Sure, he might wish for more creative freedom, but what else can he do? He denies the feeling of Envy until it becomes more manageable.

[appreciatingtokrev]

list of things that i want to eat (but shouldn’t)

bath bombs

any glass imitations of anything that are painted and have this glossy look. hard to describe but i want to bite bite chew

soap bars

glue

lego

parchment. like little crumbs of it. snack

pebbles

wet towels

crystals. especially those geodes you crack open with those funky textured crystals inside

flowers

dead leaves. oh would i shovel those into my mouth if they were less dirty

plastic gloves

grass

buttons

glass. i wanna eat glass so bad you don’t understand

[sharkyswaters]

[frogetime]

wanna hear about The Absolutely Disgusting Horrors i experienced today.

I got out of class at like 8pm and said fuck it we having breakfast for dinner. Pancake and homefries and strawbewwy with some sugar on it and the whole nine yards. Because its late and dark and wet outside and past me bought some of that sweet, sweet pancake mix just for these occasions, so thank you past me

I pull out the potatos from the cupboard. Theyre nice potatos - new potatoes, yellows, and reds. Very fresh. Got them from the farmers market.

Start washing and dicing the potatos into chunks. Dont even bother with peeling them because they are Respectable Potatos and unlike cringe shitty potatos (russets) their skins actually taste good (@ russet potatos) and dont taste like dirt jerky when cooked (@ nasty awful russet potatoes)

Cut open the second to last potato. And like the worse geode opening video there is a massive black void in the very center that spills Contents out onto the cutting board. A fly crawls out into the world, and only see the sun as a pale LED imitation in the kitchen ceiling before i smack it to the ground in a blind panic. The light is the first and last thing it sees

The potato is thrown to the whirring blades of the garbage disposal, quickly flip on the water to scalding hot, and the next few minutes are filled with nothing but the wet sound of metal slicing through potato

I still make the homefries, cus like, what the fuck else was i supposed to do

They turned out pretty good.

[viric-dreams]

Born in a Welsh mining town to a working class family, Euros was determined to escape the life set before him and to scrabble up the societal ranks, however possible. He had no desire to spend his life underground.

As soon as he was able, he ran away to London to try to make a new life for himself. London, however, was less than kind to a boy from the valleys, with a strange lilt to his imperfect English. He spent his nights in pubs near the harbour, listening in and imitating the sailors occupying them. At the age of thirteen, he signed on with the Royal Navy, listing his name as Elias Roberts and gaining the rank of cabin boy. He grew particularly fond of the officer he served, one of the first to treat him like the other English boys. Elias decided that he would follow this officer to the ends of the earth, should he be asked.

And then London fell.

Elias’ devotion never wavered. Not even when his officer split from the Admiralty, renaming himself The Commodore. Elias sailed with him to their new port of call, the Grand Geode, and dutifully helped to build the Dawn Machine, embracing the New Sequence.

Decades passed in the Neath. Then one day, the Commodore called him into his office. He had a task for Lieutenant Roberts: He should sail to London and infiltrate a group of revolutionaries trying to bring about the Liberation of Night. With the group’s name and his alias scrawled onto a piece of paper, he took to zee.

London, however, had changed much since his departure decades before. Its denizens were not the cheerful, smiling sort he was used to back at his port of call. It wasn’t long before Elias found himself set upon by a group of criminals, intent on robbery. In the scuffle, however, his dark glasses broke, revealing his dazzling golden eyes. The next thing he knew he had a bag over his head.

He woke up bound in a Benthic basement laboratory, half a dozen scientists watching him intently. He was a Sequencer, they said, clearly controlled by a master he was forced to serve against his will. But they had a cure—one that would free him from his slavish dedication to the sun the sun the sun the sun the sun the sun the s—

Nicholas Nite came to in an alley in Ladybones Road with nothing but a scrap of paper with what he presumed was his name, and an address.

Nicholas followed the address to what turned out to be the meeting place of a group of anarchists. These revolutionaries, he’d learned, were set on the Liberation of Night. Enraptured by their words, Nicholas devoted himself to the cause. At the recommendation of one of his newfound colleagues, he found an inn for the night and settled down to his new role.

Elias woke up with no memory of why he was in London.

There is no set time or indication of what might bring about the change. Usually Elias/Nicholas will feel poorly, and have to excuse himself. Neither man is aware of the other’s identity or activities.

Whilst they both share a deep devotion for the cause in which they believe, Nicholas is more likely to look outside of the box or to bend the rules to achieve his goals. He is unconcerned with decorum. Whereas Elias initially appears far more cheerful and therefore approachable, Nicholas is by far the politer of the two, more likely to kindly talk his way through a solution, rather than Sequence-sanctioned force. And whereas Elias is perfectly content to stand in the proverbial shadow of the Dawn Machine, Nicholas has a bit of a showmanship streak, at least to his fellow revolutionaries.

Bonus:

Nicholas spent several months haunted by mysterious words lurking in the back of his mind. The word he was seeking would be lost, suddenly replaced by foreign consonants. He eventually went to his fellow anarchists with this information, concerned that between this and all of his missing time, that the Correspondence had somehow infected him and that he was losing his mind. Instead, one of his associates simply laughed. “Fy mrawd yng Nghrist, siwd wyt ti ddim yn gwybod bo ti’n Gymro?”

[jesskaren84]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: Imitation Geode bracelet.

[sarah-the-poet]

On Men and Other Fine Stones

When he wakes up, And sees those things He does not like- Rather than giving up, As I do, He starts each day screaming And runs towards the wake Of the infinite future- The future where everything Is just the way he would like it.

His character is made Of the finest of stones, Strong and sturdy, Shimmering brilliantly in what little light My hand can provide.

And what am I? The pond? I am a mere imitation, A shallow reflection Of the diamonds laid out Upon his heart, And when bothered, I break into ripples, And am unable to do anything At all.

Since I cannot learn his secrets, I suppose the next best thing Is to stay by his side, And hope that even the smallest crystal From his geode of spirit Might find its way Beneath my murky surface.