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f4liveblogarchives · 4 years

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Fantastic Four Vol 1 #236

Mon May 04 2020 [08:31 PM] Wack'd: IT'S A MILESTONE!

[08:32 PM] maxwellelvis: A triple-sized issue, eh? [08:33 PM] Wack'd: All your favorite Fantastic Four characters are here! Wyatt! Norrin! Agatha! Franklin! Namor! Willie! Impy! T'Challa! And, uh. I guess some other folks? [08:33 PM] maxwellelvis: I'm going to guess that's a double-sized Byrne story and then a regular-sized one by Stan and Jack. [08:33 PM] Bocaj: Ah yes captain america and reed richards in one place at one time in a time and place that isn't the ill received special avengers 300 roster [08:33 PM] maxwellelvis: That's the rest of the Marvel Universe heroes here to party. [08:33 PM] Wack'd: Yes. [08:33 PM] Wack'd: Why isn't Alicia on this cover. [08:34 PM] Wack'd: Or, like, any number of Fantastic Four repository players. [08:34 PM] maxwellelvis: Had to make room for Stan Lee. [08:34 PM] Wack'd: Also who's that guy in the suit? Is that...Collins, maybe? [08:35 PM] maxwellelvis: I just told you. [08:35 PM] Wack'd: Oh [08:35 PM] Wack'd: ...where's Jack? [08:35 PM] maxwellelvis: Either he's on the back or John Byrne knows which side his bread is buttered on. [08:36 PM] Bocaj: maybe he's behind the special triple sized sticker [08:36 PM] Bocaj: Like he got Mike Wachowski'd [08:36 PM] Wack'd:

Clint: I can't believe it... Wanda: Oh, Clint, I'm so sorry... Clint: I'M ON THE COVER OF *FANTASTIC FOUR*!

[08:36 PM] maxwellelvis: 🤣 [08:37 PM] Wack'd: Can't believe Bocaj beat me to essentially this same joke [08:37 PM] Bocaj: My secret is that I didn't bother putting in extra effort [08:39 PM] Wack'd: Anyway, let's start our first story, shall we? [08:39 PM] maxwellelvis: Indeed. [08:40 PM] Wack'd: Oh good, we're doin this

[08:40 PM] Wack'd: I think this is our first real, proper origin retelling. We got one in the late 70s but it was less a retcon and more "this is a recap issue, please don't kill us if we fudged some details" [08:40 PM] Umbramatic: welp [08:42 PM] Wack'd: I guess instead of "first to the moon" it was "make it further into space than anyone else"

[08:42 PM] Bocaj: Time keeps on slipping, slipping into the future [08:42 PM] Umbramatic: what is time [08:42 PM] Bocaj: I know that the Slott FF has the idea instead that the rocket was FTL and they were trying to get to a specific planet, which turns out to be full of assholes [08:44 PM] Wack'd: So here's egg on my face [08:44 PM] Wack'd: The dialogue from this scene is taken note-for-not from #1 [08:44 PM] Wack'd: This isn't actually retconning anything at all, except for that one narrative caption [08:45 PM] Wack'd: Oh, and the addition of some jargon

[08:47 PM] Umbramatic: CAPTAIN SPACE ICEBERG AHEAD [08:47 PM] Wack'd:

[08:49 PM] Umbramatic: this is intense [08:49 PM] maxwellelvis: Both version are pretty intense. [08:49 PM] maxwellelvis: I'm noticing the dialogue's been slightly rewritten on the new version. [08:50 PM] Wack'd: Very slightly, mostly just to add technical terms you'd expect a rocket crew to be using [08:50 PM] Umbramatic: aha [08:50 PM] Wack'd: All of the original lines are still there, though [08:50 PM] maxwellelvis: And to keep Ben's manner of speech more consistent [08:51 PM] Wack'd: Punctuation is a bit different [08:52 PM] Wack'd: OH SHIT, WE'RE DOIN' THIS

[08:53 PM] Umbramatic: oh. OH [08:55 PM] Wack'd: In this reality, Reed's a college professor, Sue's a housewife, and Ben and Alicia are married and running a tavern. All in a little town creatively named Liddleville. [08:55 PM] Bocaj: Our Town Founders made a decision there [08:55 PM] Wack'd: Our Town Founder is Josiah Liddle [08:56 PM] Bocaj: Lets cut the head off his statue [08:56 PM] Bocaj: Like in the Jetsons [08:56 PM] Wack'd: Oh, also, Alicia can see in this reality. Alicia offhandedly mentioning she saw something makes Ben real happy and he has no idea why [08:57 PM] Bocaj: Hmm. [08:57 PM] Wack'd: But I do! It's this creepy fucker

[08:57 PM] Umbramatic: oh boy! oh BOY! [08:58 PM] maxwellelvis: We're actually doing the "Perchance to Dream" thing, aren't we? [08:58 PM] maxwellelvis: Is THIS where B:TAS got that idea from? [08:59 PM] Wack'd: Pretty sure they stole it from For the Man Who Has Everything [08:59 PM] Wack'd: Which incidentally won't exist for another three or four years [08:59 PM] maxwellelvis: Wild how time works [09:00 PM] Wack'd: Another dream sequence, this time for Sue! And with much more dramatic changes [09:01 PM] Wack'd: This time, Ben's complaints about safety concerns are much more substantial, and Sue's accusation that Ben is a coward is more to do with time and money running out to do this experiment and less to do with, uh [09:01 PM] Wack'd: Commies [09:03 PM] Umbramatic: "I'm going to the one place free from capitalism... SPACE" [09:03 PM] Wack'd: Also this happens

[09:03 PM] Umbramatic: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH [09:04 PM] maxwellelvis: It's a nice touch that in those first two panels, the Thing is more leathery, like he was in the early comics, and it's only when Reed starts stretching that he looks more rock-like [09:04 PM] Wack'd: Yeah, I liked that too [09:05 PM] Umbramatic: oooh [09:05 PM] Wack'd: So Reed, Johnny, and Ben meet up at Ben's tavern to discuss these dreams, and whaddayknow, they've all been having them [09:06 PM] Wack'd: Tragically, Ben's dreams give him super-strength, but no rock skin. Dream!Ben is scared to ask Alicia to marry him--but he doesn't know why. [09:08 PM] Wack'd: Reed then goes to work, where he's having problems with his dickhead boss.

[09:09 PM] Wack'd: Reed decides to try and work out what's up with these dreams, dozes off, bonks his head, and realizes when he wakes up that he is actually a superhero, and the Puppet Master is responsible for all this. [09:10 PM] Umbramatic: wha [09:11 PM] Wack'd: Reed, trying to figure out why he doesn't have stretching powers, makes the very smart and scientifically motivated decision to stab himself in a vein and bleed out in his office. [09:12 PM] Umbramatic: oh [09:12 PM] Umbramatic: i diagnose you with dead [09:13 PM] Wack'd: It's okay though! Turns out he's a robot and the blood is all fake. So are the bodies of Ben, Sue, Johnny, Alicia and Franklin. [09:13 PM] Umbramatic: ...IS DOOM IN ON THIS TOO?! [09:13 PM] Wack'd: It takes Reed no time at all to convince his friends and family of this and go confront Phillip. [09:14 PM] Wack'd: Wow, uh, you're ahead of me here, Umbra [09:14 PM] maxwellelvis: Lucky guess [09:14 PM] Umbramatic: damn this is the second thing i've predicted tonight [09:14 PM] Wack'd: Phillip apparently just wanted to give Alicia the life he thought she wanted, but Reed points out he doesn't have the tech to do this all on his own. [09:15 PM] Wack'd: Phillip, it turns out, has made the very smart and not-at-all-suicidal decision to mind control Doctor Doom [09:15 PM] Umbramatic: oh this is gonna be goooooooooooooooooooooood [09:15 PM] Bocaj: Oh geeeeeeeeeeeez [09:16 PM] maxwellelvis: This should be good. [09:17 PM] Wack'd: Of course this is Doom we're talking about. He doesn't make mistakes, he just lets people figure things out for stupid ego reasons.

[09:18 PM] Wack'd: God, the fact that this isn't an illusion, the Four, Franklin and Alicia are trapped in tiny robots, is a lovely extra layer of bonkers. [09:18 PM] Bocaj: Amazing [09:19 PM] Wack'd: ALSO "LIDDLEVILLE" ISN'T A SMALL TOWN JOKE, IT'S LITERALLY LITTLE [09:19 PM] Wack'd: INCREDIBLE [09:20 PM] Wack'd: Anyway, Reed asks Doom what his next move is, and Doom...doesn't have one [09:20 PM] Wack'd: He's just gonna leave them like this [09:20 PM] Wack'd: Forever [09:21 PM] Umbramatic: DOOM: "I don't know, I never thought I'd get this far.” [09:21 PM] maxwellelvis: The fact that he's resisted the urge to play Godzilla now that they know he's the one who orchestrated this shows he has way more willpower than I [09:22 PM] maxwellelvis: Assuming the shock of dying in robot bodies wouldn't wake them up. [09:23 PM] Wack'd: They do have one ace in the hole--Phillip! After all, Phillip's in this mess because he mind-controlled Doom, but he's not an idiot, surely he has an escape hatch. [09:23 PM] Wack'd: Well turns out he did. Doom turned it off. [09:23 PM] Umbramatic: oh [09:23 PM] maxwellelvis: Womp womp [09:23 PM] Wack'd: Reed examines it through and tries to see if he can get it to work anyway. [09:24 PM] Wack'd: Ben, meanwhile, is taking all this really hard. [09:25 PM] Umbramatic: aw... [09:26 PM] Wack'd: He's also decided to stay in Liddleville. The world has other superheroes now, and he's earned a normal, idyllic life. [09:26 PM] Wack'd: (The fact that Doom turned off all the fake villagers does not seem to be something he's noticed.) [09:27 PM] Umbramatic: Ben: The Last Man On Fake Earth [09:28 PM] Wack'd: So! Here's the plan. Turns out Doom built a real miniature particle accelerator at Reed's fake miniature college because Reed would spot a fake. [09:28 PM] Wack'd: So all they have to do is get it to spit out some cosmic rays. Easy. [09:28 PM] Umbramatic: excuse me what [09:29 PM] Wack'd: To which part? [09:29 PM] Umbramatic: the first bit mainly [09:29 PM] Wack'd: Yeah uh [09:30 PM] Wack'd: Doom wanted to taunt Reed with some cool science he couldn't play with to make Reed miserable [09:30 PM] Umbramatic: omg [09:30 PM] Wack'd: But he also knew Reed would know if it was a fake cool science [09:30 PM] Umbramatic: that's deliciously petty [09:30 PM] Wack'd: It issssssss [09:30 PM] Wack'd: So, as they're debating who gets a power up first, Ben has a change of heart and demands to go first. [09:31 PM] Umbramatic: Ben: This is insane. ...I’m in. [09:33 PM] Bocaj: Hahah [09:33 PM] Wack'd:

Alicia: ben you dingus i literally sculpt real people with pinpoint accuracy, you've seen my work, and also we've touched each other...a lot... Ben: Yeah I know but I got that danged body dysmorphia

[09:33 PM] Bocaj: Aww [09:34 PM] Umbramatic: awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww [09:34 PM] Wack'd: I joke because I love [09:35 PM] Wack'd: Ben/Alicia 4ever [09:35 PM] Umbramatic: ye [09:35 PM] Umbramatic: (though i felt the body dysmorphia part) [09:37 PM] Wack'd: With their powers restored, all they have to do is fight a bunch of miniature robots, scale the walls of their fake city, climb up to Doom's workstation... [09:37 PM] Wack'd: Aaaaaaand he took the battery out. [09:37 PM] Wack'd: Now the workstation can only turn left 😛 [09:38 PM] Umbramatic: -gasp- [09:39 PM] Wack'd: So! New plan. Use the Liddleville river to flood Doom's office, stick some live electrical wires in there, and hope the alarm goes off. [09:39 PM] Wack'd: No dice. [09:39 PM] Wack'd: They're gonna have to find Doom and bring him to them. [09:40 PM] Wack'd: And since Reed and Ben have fairly limited top speeds, and Johnny's flame can run out without rest, this task falls to Sue. [09:41 PM] Wack'd:

Reed: No! I can't permit you to go against Doom alone! Sue: Please, Reed! Must we go through this every time a dangerous task falls to me? I've proven time and time again that I can handle myself in an emergency situation. I'm the only one who can go. And you know it.

[09:42 PM] Wack'd: Sue puts up a good fight against Doom, pelting him with force fields, but she's still as big as a fingernail, and all he really has to do is put a cup on her like she's a bug he's found. [09:43 PM] Wack'd: But the goal is accomplished. Doom is going to check and make sure the other three aren't making any trouble. [09:43 PM] Wack'd: Just like they wanted. [09:43 PM] Bocaj: Good job Sue [09:43 PM] maxwellelvis: Was this inspired by the 1967 Fantastic Four cartoon intro? [09:45 PM] Wack'd: ...hahahaha it coulda been! [09:45 PM] Wack'd: Oh hey, that's where this meme comes from

[09:46 PM] Umbramatic: this was a meme? [09:49 PM] Wack'd: 106k notes on Tumblr [09:51 PM] Wack'd: AND SO! Doom does not blindly stride into this childish trap, and then electrocute himself. [09:51 PM] Wack'd: He angerly fires some energy beams at the childish trap because he feels insulted. [09:51 PM] Wack'd: And then Reed, Johnny, and Ben use their powers to trip him into the childish trap. Which electrocutes him. [09:52 PM] Bocaj: Wow [09:52 PM] Bocaj: bad show doom, good show reed, ben, johnny [09:52 PM] Wack'd: This somehow instantaneously shunts everyone back into their real bodies. [09:53 PM] Umbramatic: welp [09:54 PM] Wack'd: Also, Doom is now in a stasis coma in his suit. [09:54 PM] Wack'd: To ensure he stays that way, the Four decide, well... [09:55 PM] Wack'd:

[09:57 PM] maxwellelvis: I must admit I am curious to see how he gets out of this one eventually [09:59 PM] Bocaj: If you die in Liddletown you die in real life [09:59 PM] Wack'd: Anyway, the quote-unquote "brand new story by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby" is a rejected script for the 1978 animated series, adapting Doctor Doom's first appearance. [09:59 PM] Wack'd: It is also not available here. So I am going to write it off as no big loss and move on. [10:02 PM] Wack'd: I did like this story, though! I think it coulda stood to spend a little less time on the mechanics and a little more time on how everyone felt about this situation, but overall it's really good.

#1981 #John Bryne #The Main Book

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orthodoxydaily · 4 years

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Saints&Reading: Tue., Aug. 18, 2020

Commemorated on August 5_Julian Calendar

The Martyr Pontius (267)

The Martyr Pontius lived during the III Century, the son of a pagan Roman senator named Marcus and his wife Julia. While with child, Julia had gone with her husband to the pagan temple of Jupiter. The devil, inhabiting the temple, shouted from the lips of the pagan priest that the boy in Julia's womb would destroy Jupiter and his pagan temple. When the boy was born, his mother wanted to kill him out of fear of the prediction, but his father opposed this and the child was left to live. He was named Pontius, and he grew up sharp of mind and keen for study. On his way to the pagan school Pontius happened to go past an house, where Christians were making the morning Divine-services. Hearing the words of the psalm which the Christians were singing: "pagan idols be silver and gold, the works of the hands of men..." (Ps. 113: 12 [115: 4]). Pontius became very interested in this verse and he paused at the gate. Pope Pontian, who was making the service, invited Pontius and his companion Valerian to come in. After the service, the pope talked for a long while with the youths, revealing to them the Gospel teachings, and after a certain while he baptised them. Saint Pontius in turn likewise converted his father to Christ, whom Pope Pontian also baptised, together with his whole household. And after the death of his father, Saint Pontius, then 20 years old, was appointed by the emperor Alexander Severus (222-235) as a senator, to take the place of his deceased father. In the Senate and the surroundings of the emperor, Saint Pontius enjoyed universal esteem for his good nature, sound sense and fairness. Under the successor to the emperor Alexander Severus – Maximian (235-238), Pope Saint Pontian finished his life as a martyr (+ 235). Pope Saint Antherus was elected Bishop of Rome in place of Pope Saint Pontian, and he too soon accepted suffering and death for Christ (+ 236). His successor was Pope Saint Fabian (Fabius), who as a presbyter fearlessly gave burial to the bodies of martyrs. Pope Saint Fabian loved Saint Pontius as though he were his own flesh and blood son. Saint Pontius distributed with Saint Fabian all his substance on the needs of the poor. After the perishing of impious Maximian, the new emperor Gordian (238-244) did not persecute Christians, and thereafter in turn the emperor Philip (244-249) together with his co-regent son Philip was persuaded by the conversations and preaching of Saint Pontius to believe in Christ and to accept Baptism from holy Pope Fabian. With the permission of the emperors, Saints Pontius and Fabian threw down the statue of Jupiter at the pagan temple and on this place built a church. For 4 years the Church of Christ dwelt in peace and tranquility. But then Decius (249-251) ascended the throne, having organised a rebellion and murdered the emperor Philip and his son. And during this time Sainted Fabian, Pope of Rome (+ 250), accepted death for Christ. But Saint Pontius left Rome for the city of Cimelum (on the border of Italy and Gaul-France) and lived there like a stranger. During the time of the emperor Valerian (253-259), cruel torturers were sent out with full authority to all ends to seek out and kill all Christians. And thus Claudius and Anubius arrived in the city of Cimelum for this purpose. Saint Pontius fearlessly confessed himself a Christian and refused to offer sacrifice to idols. They shackled him in irons and threw him in prison. From the very beginning of the torture the saint calmly admonished the torturers, that the Lord would bring to naught the torture and they would see the power of God. And indeed, as soon as the servants attempted to tie Saint Pontius to the rack, it fell apart to pieces, and the torturers fell to the ground as though dead. "Be convinced, O man of little faith, in the power of my Lord", – said Saint Pontius to Claudius, but on the advice of Anubius he gave Saint Pontius over to be devoured by two bears in the circus. The wild beasts, while not touching the saint, fell instead upon their keepers and tore at them. The spectators began to shout: "God only is the Christian God, in Whom believeth Pontius". By order of the torturers a bon-fire was built, but it burnt out, and the saint remained alive, and even his clothes did not burn. The crowd shouted all the more strongly: "Great is the God of the Christians!" Saint Pontius then was sentenced to beheading by the sword, and the execution was made out beyond the city in the year 257. The body of Saint Pontius was given burial at the place of execution by his comrade and friend Valerian.

Martyr Eusignios of Antioch (362)

The Martyr Eusignios was born at Antioch in the mid III Century. Over the course of sixty years he served in the Roman armies of the emperors Diocletian, Maximian Hercules, Constantius Chlorus, Constantine the Great and his sons. Saint Eusignios was a companion of Saint Basiliskos (Comm. 3 March and 22 May), and he provided an account of his deed of martyrdom (+ c. 308). At the beginning of the reign of Saint Constantine the Great, Saint Eusignios was a witness to the appearance in the sky of the starry Cross, a prediction of victory. Saint Eusignios retired in his old age from military service and returned to his own country. There he spent his time in prayer, fasting, and attending the temple of God. And thus he lived until the reign of Julian the Apostate (361-363), who yearned for a return to paganism. Through the denunciation of one of the Antioch citizens, Saint Eusignios stood trial as a Christian before the emperor Julian in the year 362. He fearlessly accused the emperor of apostacy from Christ, and reproached him with the example of his relative, Constantine the Great, and he described in detail how he himself had been an eyewitness to the appearance in the sky of the sign of the Cross. Julian did not spare the quite old Saint Eusignios, then 110 years old, but rather ordered him beheaded.

2 Corinthians 2:14-3:3

14Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.15For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.16To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things? 17For we are not, as so many, peddling the word of God; but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ.

1Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others, epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you? 2You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; 3clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.

Matthew 23:29-39

29Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous,30and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.'31Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.32Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers' guilt.33Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?34Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city,35that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.36Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.37O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!38See! Your house is left to you desolate;39for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'

#orthodoxy #orthodoxchristianity #ancientfaith #firstchristian #spirituality #sacredtext #gospel #scripture

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creepingsharia · 5 years

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“They Asked Him to Deny Christ” - Muslim Persecution of Christians, August 2019

by Raymond Ibrahim

Hate for and Violence against Christians

Cameroon: Militant Muslims reportedly connected with the Nigerian based Islamic terror group, Boko Haram, “reached new heights” of depravity, according to a report: after devastating the Christian village of Kalagari in a raid, they kidnapped and fled with eight women. Some of the women were later released—but only after having their ears cut off (image here). The report adds that Boko Haram “has terrorised Christian communities in Nigeria for the last decade and has now splintered and spread its violent ideology into Cameroon, Niger and Chad.”

Nigeria: On August 29, Chuck Holton, a CBN News reporter, aired a segment on his visit with Christian refugees who had fled Boko Haram’s incursions into their villages. Among the stories of death and devastation, the following, spoken by a young man, stood out: “On 29 September 2014 was the day that they attacked my village. Around ten I had a call that they have killed my dad. They asked him to deny Christ and when he refused they cut off his right hand. Then he refused [again], they cut to the elbow. In which he refused, before they shot him in the forehead, the neck, and chest.” “Many of the 1,500 Christians living in this camp have similar stories,” adds Holton.

Indonesia: A Muslim preacher in a Christian majority region referred to the Christian cross as “an element of the devil,” prompting outrage among Christians and some moderates. Sheikh Abdul Somad made the comment during a videotaped sermon when he was asked why Muslims “felt a chill whenever they saw a crucifix.” “Because of Satan! Was his response: “There’s an evil jinn in every crucifix that wants to convert people into Christianity.” Christians and moderates condemned his words. Even so, “I can’t imagine the reaction if it had been another preacher of a different religion insulting an Islamic symbol,” observed one moderate. “There would have been a tsunami of protests, with the perpetrator severely punished.” Sheikh Somad responded by releasing another video; his excuse was that he was unaware that non-Muslims might hear his words: “The Quran reciting session was held in a closed mosque, not at a stadium, a football field, nor aired on television,” he explained. “It was for Muslims internally. I was answering a question about statues and the position of the Prophet Isa (Jesus) relative to Muslims.”

Burkina Faso: Although most mainstream media downplay the religious element in Muslim on Christian violence in Africa, attacks on the Christians of Burkina Faso have become so flagrantly based on religion that the Washington Post published a report on August 21 titled, “Islamist militants are targeting Christians in Burkina Faso.” Its author, Danielle Paquette, explained that “A spreading Islamist insurgency has transformed Burkina Faso from a peaceful country known for farming, a celebrated film festival and religious tolerance into a hotbed of extremism.” She noted that the jihadis have been checking people’s necks for Christian symbols, killing anyone wearing a crucifix or carrying any other Christian image. In a separate report discussing several deadly attacks on Christians and their churches, Bishop Dabiré said, “If this continues without anyone intervening, the result will be the elimination of the Christian presence in this area and — perhaps in the future —in the entire country.

Egypt: Authorities reinstated Sheikh Yasser Burhami, a notoriously “radical” cleric and hate preacher, to the pulpit (minbar) despite strong opposition. Burhami had previously issued numerous fatwas—edicts based on Islamic scriptures—that demand hate and hostility for non-Muslims, most specifically the nation’s largest and most visible minority, the Christian Copts, whom Burhami has referred to as “a criminal and infidel minority,” and has invoked “Allah’s curse” on them. He once went so far as to say that, although a Muslim man is permitted to marry Christian or Jewish women (ahl al-kitab), he must make sure he still hates them in his heart—and show them this hate—because they are infidels; otherwise he risks compromising his Islam. Burhami has also stated that churches—which he refers to as “places of polytheism (shirk) and houses of infidelity (kufr)”—must never be built in Egypt. He issued a separate fatwa forbidding Muslim taxi and bus drivers from transporting Christian clergymen to their churches, an act he depicted as being “more forbidden than taking someone to a liquor bar.” Burhami’s fatwas also include calling for the persecution of apostates, permitting Muslim husbands to abandon their wives to rape, permitting “marriage” to 12-year-old girls, and banning Mother’s Day. In a video, Dr. Naguib Ghobrial, a Coptic activist, politician, and head of the Egyptian Union for Human Rights Organization—which over the years has lodged 22 separate complaints against Burhami—repeatedly questioned Egypt’s leading religious authorities’ decision to reinstate the hate preaching sheikh:

Is what Burhami teaches truly what Islam teaches—is that why no one has done anything to him [in regards to the 22 complaints lodged against him]? Truly I’m shocked! Please answer Sheikh of Al Azhar; please answer Grand Mufti: are the things Burhami teaches what Islam teaches? Is this why none of you oppose him or joined us when we lodged complaints against him?… Why are you so silent? Amazing!

The Slaughter of Christians

Pakistan: “A ten year old Christian child who chose to work in a dangerous scrap factory so he could support his mother who had to fend for a family of two boys and a drug-addict husband, was raped and tortured before being killed by his Muslim employers,” according to a report (with photos). Badil, 10, worked at the men’s factory in order to support his impoverished mother, Sharifa Bibi:

I worked hard for many hours just for the sake of my two sons so that they would not have to suffer as I have suffered without education. My son Badil couldn’t bear to see the struggle of his mother and insisted on working to help the family—despite my insistence that he avoid work till he was older. Badil was such a responsible son. Daily before leaving for work he asked me what should bring in the evening from his wages. I insisted that he kept his money for himself, but he brought groceries like sugar, rice, flour, ghee daily.

Badil had to walk long distances and work for many hours a day to earn the equivalent of one dollar a day. Soon his employer began to cheat him on his wages. His mother insisted that he quit, but the boy persevered; at one point he took his younger brother, 9, with him to help. When the employers refused to pay his brother anything for his contribution, Badil finally decided to quit—which angered his Muslim employer. His younger brother recalls:

As Mr Akram heard this he ran to hit Badil but Badil ran from the shop and Akram gave chase. However, A friend of Akram was standing nearby on his motorcycle and told Akram to sit behind him, then both men chased Badil till they caught up with him. Akram then got off the motorcycle and dragged Badil back to the store. They took Badil inside the store which is full of scrap. For half an hour I was completely unaware of what was happening with Badil inside. Eventually both men came outside and pretended as if nothing had happened inside. I thought my brother had also left the store from another exit so I went to look for him. I searched vigorously for 15 minutes and then saw my mother [approaching to walk the boys home], so I rushed to her to tell her what had happened.

Sharifa and her younger son searched frantically for Badil and finally found him collapsed on the ground near their home. They rushed to him, thinking he was exhausted from the day’s work and subsequent thrashing, but quickly realized that he was barely breathing: “At this point the whole situation was too much to bear for Sharifa who began to scream and wail hysterically,” the report notes. Badil was taken to a hospital where, seven hours later, the boy was pronounced dead. His brother “has been traumatised following his brother’s death and hasn’t left his house since and often screams in terror thinking the men responsible will take him too.”

Cameroon: A Bible translator “was butchered to death on Sunday morning [August 25] during an overnight attack while his wife’s arm was cut off,” according to a report: “Bible translator Angus Abraham Fung was among seven people said to have been killed during an attack carried out by suspected Fulani herdsmen sometime during the early hours of Sunday morning in the town of Wum, according to Efi Tembon, who leads a ministry called Oasis Network for Community Transformation.” Fulani herdsmen are Muslim and the chief persecutors of Christian farmers in Nigeria. “They went into houses and pulled out the people,” Tembon explained: “They attacked in the night and nobody was expecting. They just went into the home, pulled them out and slaughtered them.” Fung’s wife, Eveline Fung, who had her arm hacked off was last reported as receiving a blood transfusion at a local hospital.

Attacks against Apostates and Evangelists

Iran: Authorities sentenced a 65-year-old woman, a Muslim convert to Christianity, to one year in prison, on the charge that she was “acting against national security” and engaging in “propaganda against the system.” According to the report, “The hearing was owing to her arrest shortly before Christmas when three agents from Iranian intelligence raided her home and took Mahrokh to intelligence offices where she endured ten days of intensive interrogation before she was released after submitting bail of 30 million Toman (US$2,500).” Friends of the woman said that “the judge was very rude and tried to humiliate Mahrokh after she disagreed with him.”

Separately, a Kurdish bookseller in Bokan, Western Azarbaijan province, was arrested for selling Bibles. According to the August 27 report, “Mostafa Rahimi was arrested on 11 June on charge of selling bible[s] in his bookstore, and he was released later on bail until the court issued his sentence. Hengaw Organization for Human Rights has learned that Rahimi is sentenced to 3 months and 1 day imprisonment. Later in mid-August he was arrested again, and he is currently at the central prison of Bokan.” Another report elaborates: “Iran’s government is officially Islamic, and authorities actively restrict access to Bibles and other Christian literature. Sharing one’s faith is categorized as a criminal offense, usually of the national security nature. The authorities often pressure Christians so extensively, routinely violating their human rights, that they are given no choice but to escape their country.”

Somaliland: An August 16 report shares the experiences a married Muslim woman, 32, underwent after her husband discovered a Bible in her possession.

“I told my husband that I found the Bible in Nairobi and wanted to read it,” the woman responded. “He just pronounced the word talaq [Arabic for divorce] to me. I knew that our marriage had just been rendered null and void because I joined Christianity, so without wasting time I left the homestead…. There and then he took our two daughters [ages 4 and 7] away from me and divorced me. He gave me a stern warning that I should not come close to the children, and that if I do, he will take the Bible to the Islamic court and I will be killed by stoning for becoming an apostate.”

Her former husband proceeded to expose the clandestine Christian to her Muslim family. “My brothers beat me mercilessly with sticks as well as denying me food,” she said. “I feared to report the case to the police or the local administration, because they will charge me with a criminal offense of apostasy in accordance with the sharia.” She has since relocated to an undisclosed location: “God has spared my life, and my fellow underground Christians in other regions of Somalia have received me and shared the little they have, but I am very traumatized.” According to the report,

Somalia’s constitution establishes Islam as the state religion and prohibits the propagation of any other religion, according to the U.S. State Department. It also requires that laws comply with sharia (Islamic law) principles, with no exceptions in application for non-Muslims. Somalia is ranked 3rd on Christian support group Open Doors’ 2019 World Watch List of the 50 countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian.

Pakistan: After opening a summer education program for the youth, a Christian family was “terrorized” and forced to shut down on the accusation that they were clandestinely trying to convert Muslim children to Christianity. According to a family member: “We started a project for interfaith harmony and education teaching marginalized children from different faiths about a year ago. In June, we started a summer camp that provided a free program for children that have dropped out of school. The design of this program was to provide guidance for these children to become civilized and tolerant.” Two weeks into the summer program, a group of men, two of whom were armed, stormed into the academy, did violence to the property and harassed the children, and beat one of the instructors: “They threatened us with consequences if the academy was not shut down. They alleged that we were promoting Christianity and were doing Christian evangelism. For safety and security, we had no other choice but to obey the extremists and shutdown the academy…. I don’t want to lose my son or any family member. This terrorizing incident has already put us into trauma.”

In a separate incident in Pakistan, around 4 a.m. of August 2, seven Muslim men stormed into a parish house, where they tied up and savagely beat two young priests, Fr. Anthony Abraz and Fr. Shahid Boota, all while they “humiliated and abused them for preaching the Gospel in a Muslim-majority neighborhood.” The invaders also vandalized the building—including by breaking windows, bookshelves, and cupboards—and desecrated Christian objects, including Bibles, Christian literature, and icons. Afterwards, “We were told we will have to face consequences if this house is not vacated,” Fr. Abraz reported. “They said, ‘We don’t want a Christian center near the mosque.’”

Finally, increasing numbers of Christian girls continue to be targeted for kidnapping, rape, and/or forced conversion in Pakistan. According to one report,

In August, Yasmeen Ashraf, age 15, and Muqadas Tufail, age 14, were kidnapped and raped by three men in Kasur. The pair of Christian girls were taken when they were on their way to work as domestic workers. Also in August, another young Christian girl, named Kanwal, was kidnapped, raped, and forcefully converted to Islam by a group of Muslim men and a cleric in Lala Musa, located in the Gujart District. After reuniting her family, Kanwal shared that she had been beaten, sexually assaulted, and threatened with the deaths of her brothers if she refused to convert to Islam.

In the previous month of July, at least three similar cases occurred. “Oppression exists in different layers for Christian girls in Pakistan. They are suffering on the bases of gender, religion, and class. It has been documented that young Christian girls face higher levels of sexual harassment and are persecuted for their Christian faith,” Nabila Feroz Bhatti, a human rights defender in Lahore, said in response to the aforementioned incidents. Similarly, the Pontifical charity, Aid to the Church in Need, announced in August that it “is sounding the alarm on the plight of young Christian women, and even teenagers, in Pakistan who are forced to convert to Islam.” “Every year at least a thousand girls are kidnapped, raped, and forced to convert to Islam, even forced to marry their tormentors,” elaborated Tabassum Yousaf, a local Catholic lawyer.

Meanwhile, those who try to protect Christian girls are punished. On August 16, Maskeen Khan and two other Muslim men attacked the home of Bahadur Masih, a Christian. While holding a knife, Khan and his partners tried to rape Masih’s daughter, Rachel, but were prevented by the rudely awoken family that immediately and desperately responded. “Since the Christian family was defending themselves, Khan also got some injuries,” Ahsan Masih Sindhu, a local Christian political leader, reported. “The family handed Khan over to police and he got medical treatment. However, he later died in police custody.” Police arrested and charged four members of the family with murder, even though they were in their own home protecting their daughter from violent intruders. Other members of the family have gone into hiding due to threats from the dead would-be rapist’s relatives. “We are sad about the death of Khan, however, the Christian family did have the right to defend,” Sindhu explained. “The police must conduct a fair investigation into this incident.” Instead, police are denying the family the “right to defend” itself.

Attacks on Churches

Algeria: On August 6, police barged into a church during worship service, evacuated reluctant worshippers, and sealed the church building off. “I am deeply saddened by so much injustice – it breaks my heart,” Messaoud Takilt, the pastor said. “This is not surprising since other Christian places of worship have been closed and sealed as was the case today. But anyway, we will continue to celebrate our services outside while the Lord gives us grace for a final solution.” When police denied, with a veiled threat, his request to at least let the worship service conclude, “The assembly finally yielded and agreed to leave the premises, but with much pain. Some went out with eyes full of tears. ” Police proceeded to empty the premises of all furniture and sealed off every door before the distressed pastor (picture here). Responding to this latest church closure the World Evangelical Alliance issued a statement on August 12 calling on Algeria to cease closing and instead reopen churches. A portion follows:

We deeply regret that two additional churches were forcibly closed by administrative decisions, in May and in August 2019 in the city of Boudjima, northeast of Tizi-Ouzou in Kabylie Region. This brings the number of forcibly closed churches to 6, including one house church…. Many more churches are threatened with closure, amid denial of formal registration and recognition by authorities.

Indonesia: Muslim protestors compelled local authorities to revoke a permit for and cease construction of a Baptist church in Central Java. On August 1, residents went to the partially constructed church and padlocked its fence. A meeting was later held between the church, local residents, authorities, and others. Although the pastor displayed the governmentally issued permit to build a church, Muslim residents insisted that it was wrongly given, leading to a standstill in negotiations. In the previous month, July, two other churches were shut down in Indonesia following local protests.

Turkey: St. Theodoros Trion, an abandoned, historic church—the original Greek congregation of which was purged by the Ottoman Empire—was vandalized, including with genocidal slogans. According to the report,

The vandals sprayed hate speech across the church’s walls. The vandalism was largely a reference to the secularism that Ataturk, modern Turkey’s founder, had forced into the governmental structure…. Just a few years ago, the same church was targeted by Islamist vandals who wrote slogans such as “the priest is gone, he went to the mosque” — a reference to the country’s genocide and the forced conversions which occurred during this time. There are no Christians attending this church. All of the congregants were victims of the genocide. They faced death, deportation, and forced conversions. Those few who survived have since fled the country. The church currently stands as a historic monument to the Christianity that once was commonplace in the region.

Egypt: A Christian toddler was the latest, if inadvertent, victim of Egypt’s draconian restrictions on churches. According to an August 21 report, Youssed Ebid, a 4-year-old Christian boy (photo), was struck by a tractor while waiting outdoors for a bus to take him to church in another village. His own village is currently denied one, forcing its Christian residents to travel long distances to attend church. Many Christians in Egypt are in the same situation, and accidents during their long treks are not uncommon.

Raymond Ibrahim, author of the new book, Sword and Scimitar, Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute, a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, and a Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum.

About this Series

The persecution of Christians in the Islamic world has become endemic. Accordingly, “Muslim Persecution of Christians” was developed in 2011 to collate some—by no means all—of the instances of persecution that occur or are reported each month. It serves two purposes:

1) To document that which the mainstream media does not: the habitual, if not chronic, persecution of Christians.

2) To show that such persecution is not “random,” but systematic and interrelated—that it is rooted in a worldview inspired by Islamic Sharia.

#Sharia #Islam #Muslim #News #Politics #Persecution #Religion #Jihad

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yahooeny · 4 years

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All That I Know

## I'm really quite stupid. I've been told that I'm a smart kid but as far as I'm concerned a dumb guy who makes rash decisions driven by spite and what's in front of me more than thinking about the long term. I say this upfront not to beat on myself but to say, this is not written from the perspective of a know-it-all educating the public. I'm just a dumb guy scared of the world I live in. I think a lot of us are just scared, dumb guys. And I'm just trying to take stock of all that I know to take a second to think. ## [I know the police were created to serve the wealthy.](https://plsonline.eku.edu/insidelook/history-policing-united-states-part-1) Yeah I dunno man, all that "protect and serve" stuff seems like nice PR to me. The earliest organization that resembles modern policing in America were the slave watches, first formerly organized in South Carolina in 1704. And like it sounds, their express purpose was to round up escaped slaves and terrorize slaves to scare them into conformity. So the subjugation of black populations is built into the foundation of the police force in America. But of course it's not just about black people. It could've been anything valuable to the wealthy class that held power in the South. It's just that black slaves happened to be the most valuable property of the upper class. Jump forward a century and police forces are being used to silence labor organizers like during the [Haymarket Riots](https://www.illinoislaborhistory.org/the-haymarket-affair) in 1886. A bomb was thrown at police trying to subdue the protests, leaving seven policemen and four workers dead by the end. But what is often left out in the retelling of the Haymarket Riots is that the reason workers had organized for protests on that was because a couple days ago a peaceful march in support of the eight hour workweek (which was already the law of the land but was blatantly unenforced) was silenced by the Chicago Police who opened fired and killed several protesters. And this keeps happening in history. 1934, a union strike of dockworkers is attacked by San Francisco police and the National Guard in what becomes known as [Bloody Thursday](https://www.upte.org/laborhistory/bloodythur.html). 1979, San Francisco police retaliate at protests and riots sparked by anger when Harvey Milk's (the first openly gay American mayor) murderer, Dan White, is found guilty of voluntary manslaughter instead, by clubbing protesters and deliberately destroying the legendary gay bar Elephant Walk in what becomes known as the [White Nights](https://www.sfchronicle.com/chronicle_vault/article/SF-s-White-Night-riots-40th-anniversary-13865164.php). Twice, [once in 1874](https://www.nytimes.com/1988/08/27/opinion/l-police-and-protesters-have-clashed-before-in-tompkins-square-276588.html) and [again in 1988](http://projects.nyujournalism.org/streetsofnewyork-northtompkins/2017/04/18/tompkins-square-park-riot-1988/), cries for the city to do something about the employed and the homeless were met with clubbings and beatdowns. In a chilling flash to the present, many officers concealed their badge numbers with tape. ## I know the police force was engineered to retain power and protect it. As protests form around the country- even around the world, it becomes clear that many would be peaceful demonstrations have been [escalated by the police](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/05/george-floyd-protests-police-violence.html).

Here is the overhead... pic.twitter.com/US6Qqhkz3O

— Rob Bennett 🤠 (@rob_bennett) May 31, 2020

I don't know how you look at police brutality being documented online and think any of this brutality is necessary. People being run over by police cars, reporters being arrested and brutalized by cops.

Minnesota police arrest CNN reporter and camera crew as they report from protests in Minneapolis https://t.co/oZdqBti776 pic.twitter.com/3QbeTjD5ed

— CNN (@CNN) May 29, 2020

In a shocking big dick move, the SBA doxxed the daughter of NY mayor Bill de Blasio after he made the most cowardly "both sides" statement about the NYPD car running into protestors pictured above. I guess even that wasn't enough for the unions

Oh I guess that brings me to the unions. Police unions are the most powerful labor organizations in the country. Congratulations, except you're helping cops kill us by protecting them as much as possible. Unions help bad cops get back on the job. They are on the frontlines of obscuring the misdeeds of cops from the public eye as much as possible, leading to "gypsy cops" that can shuffle around from department to department because their misconduct gets erased. Remember how mad people were about how long it took Derek Chauvin to be arrested and questioned? Oftentimes delays between police misconduct and questioning is built right into labor contracts, so that offending officers can take a few days to "get their story straight", a privilege rarely given to civilians and fought for by unions. Protect and serve the public? Fuck you, got mine. Police unions are engineered to protect cops-bad or good from any retribution and they will fight to the teeth for their survival. And because so...

I know police reforms have so far done little.

Often in the aftermath of police violence the topic of "police reforms" is brought up and difficulties encountered with having reforms enacted, but you don't hear often discussions of whether or not the reforms that have managed to pass have worked. Like bodycams. There was a lot of talk about bodycams after the shooting of Michael Brown with advocates claiming that wide use would dissuade officers from using excessive force or that at the very least they'd be caught on camera and would result in swifter justice. But six years later results are a wash. A study focusing on the Orlando PD found that officers that wore body cams were 53% less likely to use force and have 65% less civilian complaints levied at them. Meanwhile a study in Washington DC resulted in little difference in the use of force between those who wore body cams and those who didn't. As for whether bodycams brought an increase in justice, they don't seem to have brought any more convictions than before bodycams were in wide use. What about procedural reform? After the killings of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, the Obama Administration laid out a large list of recommended reforms to proceedings like embracing "a guardian mindset to build public trust and legitimacy", "initiating positive nonenforcement activities to engage communities that typically have high rates of investigative and enforcement involvement with government agencies", and having "comprehensive policies on the use of force that include training, investigations, prosecutions, data collection, and information sharing." The reforms were enacted in Minneapolis and after almost $5 million they clearly didn't work. None of these reforms solved the underlying foundation of the police force that encourages officers to retain power and serve the upper class before the public.

I know people have been suffering for too long.

Let's count the numbers. It's been an year since federal charges were dropped for the police officer that killed Eric Garner. Six years since Eric Garner died from a chokehold while unarmed, gasping "I can't breathe." It's been four years since Philando Castile was shot and killed in his car by an officer who allegedly thought Castile was reaching for a gun. There was no gun. Three years since the officer that killed him was acquited. There was a dash cam. It didn't matter. Also six years ago, Tamir Rice was twelve years old when he was shot to death by a police officer that thought he was reaching for a gun. It was an airsoft. The officer was not charged. Also six years ago, Michael Brown was eighteen years old when he was shot twelve times by a police officer. The police officer that killed Michael Brown was not charged. Seven years ago, the Black Lives Matter movement was founded following the acquittal of the watchman that killed Trayvon Martin. Trayvon was seventeen. There is no national database of police violence. But one database has recorded at least 1000 deaths a year by the hands of police since its inception in 2013. In 2015, almost 20% of those killed were unarmed. 2018 was the most violent year by 1143. Black people made up 24% of those killings despite comprising 13% of the population. 52 years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. The FBI considered him a radical and closely surveiled him as a national threat.

[380 years ago the Virginia General Court sentenced a black man to slavery for the first time].(https://www.americanevolution2019.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/PDF-The-John-Punch-Court-Decisions-and-the-Advent-of-Slavery-in-Virginia-Full-Lesson.pdf)

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fxckbiscuit · 5 years

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Day 9: Ichi-go Ichi-e | The City

“So is that an agreement? Let’s both die in the morning?”

SasuHina | Rating: T | @sasuhinamonth

Ichi-go Ichi-e (一期一会): a Japanese proverb embodying the philosophy that every second in an encounter should be highly treasured, for it will never occur again; “one time, one meeting”

2:03 PM

“If I don’t ask you this, it will haunt me for the rest of my fucking life.” “What?” He looks at her nervously, frozen from where he sat, phrasing and rephrasing the words in his mind he wanted to say but just couldn’t. The train was moving slowly enough to make everything outside a wondrous streak. Intrigued and a little nervous too, Hinata’s eyes gleamed with a hint of amusement at what he’s struggling with. They were seated across each other for the two-hour ride, aimlessly dissecting whatever idea stumbled upon their vagabond minds. Now the train finally slowed to a stop. The afternoon sunlight bounced off the windows, lighting up the lounge car. He gets off on this station, she remembered him saying earlier. “What?” she questioned again. The burden was on him. She leaned back on her seat in anticipation. The doors to the train opened. People were boarding and unboarding. A warm bright glow hung in the air. Her lips curved into a smile. He had to say what was needed to be said. “I want to keep talking with you, if that’s okay,” he admitted as his eyes scanned hers in search for an answer. “Yeah. Yeah, it’s okay. Me too. But don’t you have a plane to catch?” Sasuke continued, “I have a little time to kill so how about this. Okay. Yeah, we just met but…Fuck. You want to get off the train with me? Maybe go see the city?” The thought was a siren luring her to uncharted seas. She leaned over the table, half-smiling at the idea, her mind not entirely made up yet. “But…what would we do?”

4:55 PM

“We never talked much, but it was alright,” he explained, picking up where he left off. “Before my brother died, he liked to look at the night sky with me, which was deeper than any conversation, don’t you think? Anyone can talk to you. Anyone can look at you. But isn’t it quite extraordinary to have someone else seeing the exact same world you see?” Hinata nodded in understanding, unsure of what to say. There were cobbled streets and hundreds of joints. She caught a glimpse of a lavish, massive fountain that hardly seemed real—built into a palatial building, adorned with sculptures of godlike humans. He ran a hand through his hair. “Well, now I told you my story. Might as well tell me yours.” “Strange how we avoided this topic for this long.” “I know. And now you owe it. You have to tell me.” “But I don’t have one.” “That’s bullshit. Everyone has stories” “I guess, but it’s not good as yours. You got arrested. Arrested,” she argued, making sure to put emphasis on the word. He raised a brow at her dismissively. She gave in. “Fine,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I’m married.” Sasuke almost tripped over. “You’re what?” She looked at him for a moment, sizing him up. She watched different emotions flicker through his eyes. “I said I’m married,” she flashed a smile of mischief. “…To boredom and distaste.” Hinata could tell he dived headfirst into a state of relief. He raised a middle finger to her. “Oh, touchy,” she shook her head, cracking a laugh. “Anyway, anything relatively interesting that ever happened to me was because of accidents. Without those happy, little accidents, I’d be barely a person.” A twenty-foot angel statue greeted them as they turned a corner. Up ahead they could already see the veins of the city, alive with the hustle of people. “We’ve known each other for a little while now, and we’re stuck together so…here’s a little game. Uh, it’s all just questions really. I ask you a question, you ask me a question. Simple. Ready?” “Yeah. Wait, we can ask any possible question right?” “Of course. You go first.” “Can you describe your first sexual feelings toward someone?” Hinata asked with a laugh. He shot her an amused look. “Let me think…here, my first sexual feelings were consummated by an obsessive hookup with a magazine. Ever heard of ‘Playboy’?” “Yes.” Her shoulders were still shaking with laughter when Sasuke dropped the next question. “Right, what are the things that infuriate you?” The sky was bright with yellows and oranges and pinks as they walked along the boardwalk near an amusement park buzzing with the noise of thousands. He received a long, fuming sigh as a reply. “Boy, almost everything infuriates the shit out of me.” “Yeah? Name some.” His eyes hovered over her short figure, glinting with mischief as he noted that his demand riled her up into a little ball of anger. As they walked around without definite aim, their conversation hummed with the city’s mid afternoon rush. “I fucking hate men who tell girls what to do, like to smile or something. Hell, you’re just minding your own on a street, then suddenly a man tells you what the fuck to do as if you owe him something. I hate…” Hinata took a deep breath and gripped the straps of her backpack, “I hate how people are dying fighting or caught up in a war conjured by people who don’t give two shits about anything. And it sucks that we don’t know what to do for them. I hate mosquitoes, I hate people with myopic views, I hate plane rides. Oh I hate those.” By the second, she grew angrier while he got amused. Looking up at him, her face twisted in disgust as his smirk morphed into half a grin. Not a second later, they both blew up in a fit of laughter. As they were calming down, she thought of a question for her new friend. “Okay, my turn now right? What’s a…a problem for you?” Sasuke looked at her and noted with deep concern that he found her endlessly fascinating. The thought frightened him. “You. You’re a problem.”

6:38 PM

“How long ‘til you leave here for the airport?” “About six in the morning? Six-thirty at the latest.” A breeze picked up, the tall grass on the little cemetery tilting away from it. He pulled his jacket over his shoulders to stay warm. The memorial park was still within the metropolis, the whispers of the city a constant sound. A rabbit ran past them on the wide staircase, descending to the array of old headstones ahead. “I came to this exact place once as a kid,” Sasuke said, wandering around, eyeing the almost identical angel heads. “Yep. I was with my mom. The groundkeeper told us most of the bodies buried here washed up from the riverbank,” he gestured to the patch of woods beside the grounds with Hinata following his gaze. “Why did so many bodies wash up on the banks?” “From boat accidents I think, and mostly suicides.” “This idea of nameless, unknown people lost in the world, I always liked that. If none of the people you’ve ever known knew you were dead, they could only imagine what happened, give you a story weighing on both ends of a spectrum—the best and the worst…” She tucked astray strands of hair behind her ears. He stopped by one grave. “It’s similar to not being dead at all, no?” “I remember this one. See, she’s twelve when she died, and I was that age too when I came here. Now I’m a decade older and…” “She’s still twelve. Twelve forever.” Hinata finished his sentence. She fished out a pack from her bag, lighting up two sticks, and handed one over to Sasuke. It was eerie, he thought, how she could tell he wanted a cigarette. But awful notions clouded his head, the lifeless twelve-year old left a bigger crater in him than he led on. The sadness of the setting sun seemed to have gotten to him. He exhaled. Everything seemed to be tinted with melancholy. He turned to her. Just like that. His brain running a million miles an hour was halted in half a second. He took in the sight of her. He wanted so badly to memorize every detail. How old was she? What was her favorite book? Did she prefer coffee or tea? How many sticks did she light a day? What did she think of Tarantino movies? Maybe she liked Scorsese more? Has she ever been in love before? What made her get out of bed in the mornings? While Hinata was finishing up, Sasuke tried to ransack his mind for the right words to say. Nothing came up. “Let’s get out of here.”

8:29 PM

“From up here, you ought to think the city is alive—the streets are the veins, the people are the cells…It’s all a lovely, breathing chaos, don’t you think?” Her eyes bored into the half-empty second bottle as she mused. They were sitting on the edge of the bookstore’s roof, four stories above the ground. Sasuke thought they were so high up they were practically part of the night sky. “Yeah, look…stars up above, stars down below. It’s tough to decipher where the other starts and where the other ends.” A beat closed in before he continued. “Pass me the wine?” Hinata ignored him. She looked at the city beneath. Her entire world tilted. She closed her eyes, laughed at the way everything spiraled. “Very gracious of you to call this shit wine,” she cracked him a smile. “It tastes like an open grave. We’re gonna be sick if we keep downing that piss. So let’s play. Best day, worst day.” “Never heard of that one,” Sasuke responded, lighting the cigarette between her lips. “’Cause I made it up, just now.” She said with a crooked grin. After drawing her legs up, she leaned forward and rested her arm on top of her knees, her pale skin the most vivid memory of his night. “How do we play?” With her lips slightly parted and a far-off look in her eyes, it occurred to him that she might be a little plastered already. “Easy. We tell the story of our best day. Better narrator wins. Loser drinks. We tell the story of our worst day. Better narrator wins. Loser drinks.” Remembering she was nursing a roll between her fingers, Hinata’s cheeks hollowed out a little as she took a long draw. She wouldn’t look at him. He drank up her movements with idle fascination. Taking a drag from his own, it also occurred to Sasuke that he might already be a little plastered too. Hinata felt herself flushing under Sasuke’s gaze and tried to distract herself by blowing smoke rings. His stare was puzzling, just like him. It stirred up her insides in the most fascinating way, morphing her smoke rings into shaky, pseudo circles desperately pretending to be round. Seconds later, she concluded that his laugh was one of the best sounds she has ever heard. “That was horrible. Here, like this.” Sasuke showed her. He cracks his mouth open and blew perfect ones. As she followed his lead, only wobbling, sad-looking circles managed to escape her mouth. A fraction of his laugh was heard again. Hinata stifled the thought of the inevitable morning where his laughter would be nothing more than a half-remembered vision. Inhaling for yet another try, she held it in for a few seconds. Maybe it was the small high of the nicotine rush, or the light buzz from the cheap bottle, or something else, he didn’t know. When she parted her lips with the smoke pooling out ever so slowly, Sasuke had wanted to kiss her. So he did. And she kissed him back as the smoke danced around their faces. When he pulled away a little, she couldn’t help but smile a bit. “Is this okay?” “Yeah. This is fun.” “Wanna do it again?” She was sold. The night was cold but the hand on her cheek was warm. They made out some more. He pulled away again. His lips grazing hers as he asked. “Wait, how do we know who’s the better narrator?” She shrugged. “Guess we’ll just have to find out.”

10:16 PM

“Come on,” he said, taking her hand. The night had become colder. Glowing orbs of car lights pierced strange patterns throughout the street. She was slightly terrified of crossing the street since everybody there drove like they were stunt extras from a car chase in a bad action flick. Another sharp turn took them down a busy street. They walked and drowned in the neon glow of the city, eyeing the vibrant buildings lit by hundreds of multicolored lights. The pubs were everywhere. Pubs with proper names like the Apple, Conspiracy Garden, Purple Unicorns, and the Aged Ship. “Here we are,” he glanced over her, brushing his thumb against her knuckle. “The Drunk Poet?” “Let’s go in. You wanna go, yes?” “Yeah, but why’d you pick this one?” “I noticed it’s the only one offering discounts for students.” Hinata couldn’t even see the bar from where they were. A wall of people guarded it and a haze of smoke hung over, as if it had its own climate. “What are you having?” Sasuke asked. “I’ll go and get it. Maybe you try to find somewhere to stand?” “A zigzagger?” “Right. Okay.” He threw himself into the crowd and was absorbed. It came to his mind that this was the first time they were separated since they met just hours ago. Squeezing herself in between bodies drowned in liquor and sin, she backed far into a wall for a little air. There was nowhere to stand, she thought. Pressing herself in close, she examined the wall fastened with hundreds of ripped pieces of paper. ‘Let us go then, you and I When the evening is spread out against the sky To lead you to an overwhelming question… Oh, do not ask what is it Let us go and make our visit.’ Sasuke found her there, looking intently at the wall like a psychopath, reading the grimy papers like her life depended on it. He carried a pint glass full of dark liquid coughing up tiny bubbles. Passing her the glass, she had a brief flash of the disgusting wine they had earlier. She shuddered. He placed himself next to her then looked up at the wall too. “I like that one. Read it to me,” he said, pointing to a poem passage. “’Stand at the window as the tears scald and start,’” he threw an arm around her shoulders, earning himself a blush across the bridge of her nose. She ran on. “’You shall love your crooked neighbor with your crooked heart.’” Her skin was alive with the feeling of equal parts wonder and doom. “Hinata, I have a crooked heart. And you…” he bent down, giving her a light kiss on the chin. “…Are my crooked neighbor.” He felt giddy so he smiled at her. At that nanosecond, the world could have ended. And she still wouldn’t have moved from where she stood, staring up at him. Sasuke averted his gaze, hoping she wouldn’t notice he was hopelessly hooked, and then buried himself beneath the scattered words again. “I like that one too,” he said, distracting himself. ‘What is the life of a human being— A drop of dew, a flash of lightning? This is so sad, so sad’ “I like it too,” she paused to think over the words. “But I don’t think I completely agree with it.” “Why not? It’s true. We are so small. Life is so fragile. It’s an inevitable fight and we’re doomed to lose. Time is always never enough. I had to learn that the hardest possible way. All we are is a split second in the grand scheme of things. There’s no greater tragedy.” “Maybe we’re all just little dewdrops and lightning flashes, born to a tragedy of being forgotten and passing too quickly. But I think there’s no bigger spectacle than that. I might be nothing more than a dewdrop, but maybe I can make ripples on the water or maybe tip over leaves,” she said, determined to disagree. “You might be nothing more than a lightning flash, but maybe a little kid would catch a glimpse of you and remember you and make you feel like you’re not just one, but a thousand more. Sasuke, it’s not a tragedy at all, no?”

12:21 AM

“Look at that lady.” “What about her?” “How do you think her story goes?” “She helps run a food bank in her spare time. See her bag? It contains a small gift she just bought from the night market. It’s for the little girl who always comes by their truck. A lady of altruism.” They were huddled on the topmost step of plaza’s stairway, overlooking the flea fair. The city twinkled with the string of lights hanging above the stalls. “Perhaps she’s planning to kill her cheating lover. Not a gift on her bag, but a gun. She knows what a .44 does to a man’s dick. Now she’s this vengeful lady,” Sasuke countered. Hinata laughed. She furtively pointed to a young couple. “The blue-eyed girl with the black-haired boy. They’re just about to go home from visiting the girl’s family in the next city from here. The girl works as a psychologist, but the boy is a fucking sloth.” “Mm. Guy over there with the bowl cut…he wanted to be a monk and went to various monasteries. Changed his mind because all the monks did was ask if they could suck his cock.” “Ahh. Sucking cock. Everything always comes down to that, no?” He laughed. “You’re right.” “About the cock sucking part?” “No, no. About what you said in the cemetery. How you could make up the best and the worst stories for people.” “They could end up anywhere if we imagined hard enough,” she muttered, pale eyes studying the ocean of people below. “Maybe we could end up anywhere too,” he replied, feeling half out of his mind. Just a bit. It was nice. She let herself imagine it—the crunch of browning leaves under their feet as they walked home, discussing magic in the universe, and cats, and ruling systems, and whatever the fuck there was to talk about. She imagined the cold hitting her skin when they arrive and don’t stay in their clothes. She imagined all the futures they might have, all the people they might become. “Yes. We could. But this night is almost over, Sasuke.” She gave him the softest smile. “Do you think we’ll see each other again?” “I don’t know. The future is uncontainable.” “Right. And unknown.” “And finite.” “And terrifying.” “And beautiful.” “So beautiful…” “Let’s just pretend we’re going to die when the sun comes up,” Hinata propositioned. The midnight streets were still awake with the cacophony of multitudes. He’s never been this far from home, and sitting right next to him was a girl he liked but cannot have. “So we won’t be that lonely when we never get this night again, right? That way, I could imagine the best for you and you could do the same for me,” he said, accepting the loveliest of all tragedies—the quick, fluttering moment when their lives intersected, only to part and go their separate ways again. He knew what she meant. “Exactly.” Hinata looked at him, feeling both happiness and hopelessness sink in as the lights faltered beneath them. Sasuke’s voice was just above a whisper, hoping to keep the next few words a little secret between them and the universe. “So is that an agreement? Let’s both die in the morning?”

5:50 AM

“Let’s just stay here for a while and watch the world go by.” So they lazed there—backs against a thousand blades of grass, fingers intertwined, staring up at a cloudless summer sky. “This is it, Hinata. We’re going to die soon.” “I know.” “What could we do?” “Take joy in it.” She shifted on her side to burn his image on her mind: crooked smile, tousled hair, careful hands, eyes the color of the night sky. He thought of all the dark. And the quiet. And the city. And her. And her eyes. And her lips. Mostly her eyes—her eyes looking back at his like there was something inside him worth seeing. The buttons of her shirt were fastened all the way up. He subtracted three. He lifted a hand to trace her collarbones. She wondered what it’d be like to memorize every line on his fingertips. He lifted his head to kiss her neck. Her fingertips grazed the grass and then his hair. “Almost forgot,” reaching into his jacket, he drew out a piece of paper. “I got something for you.” “Oh. You stole this from the Drunk Poet,” she glanced at him then laughed. “Yep. You should call the cops on me,” he said, smiling. Silently, she read on. ‘Loafe with me on the grass… Loose the stop from your throat, Not words, not music or rhyme I want… Not custom or lecture, not even the best, Only the lull I like, the hum of your valved voice I mind how we lay in June, Such a transparent summer morning’ Not wanting to catch sight of the rising sun, she laid on her stomach, whispering something. “What did you just say?” Sasuke asked, placing a hand on the small of her back. The corners of her mouth turned up. “Today’s a good day to die.”

Thank you for reading!!

Art: idontliveinatent Excerpts: T.S. Eliot, W.H. Auden, R. Akutagawa, W. Whitman Plot: R. Linklater

#ripped this off mr richard's movie script aaaa #so so sorry for this shitshow #sasuhina #sasuhinamonth #sasuhinamonth2019 #shmonth2019

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homenum-revelio-hq · 5 years

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Welcome to the Order of the Phoenix, Jess!

You have been accepted for the role of ANDROMEDA TONKS with the faceclaim of Natalie Portman! We really enjoyed your focus on the ambiguity of Andromeda’s beliefs and choices; how choosing Ted doesn’t mean she stopped loving her family, how things aren’t perfect now any more than they were wholly miserable before. We look forward to seeing you dig-into her conflicted feelings and lingering prejudices. We are so excited to have you as part of this roleplay!

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

OUT OF CHARACTER:

NAME: Jess

AGE: 20

TIMEZONE: EST

ACTIVITY LEVEL: I’m a full time student, but I usually have time to spend an hour or so writing a day, and I’m always reachable by mobile!

ANYTHING ELSE: I have a lot of experience with Tumblr RPs, but I haven’t been part of anything for about a year! I’m really excited to re-enter the fandom with a new character.

CHARACTER DETAILS:

NAME: Andromeda Tonks

AGE: 29

GENDER, PRONOUNS, and SEXUALITY: Cis-female, she/her, heterosexual

BLOOD STATUS: Pureblood

HOUSE ALUMNI: Slytherin

ANY CHANGES: I’d like to use Natalie Portman as her FC- for me, Natalie always comes across so poised and graceful, which is a trait I really want my Andromeda to have.

CHARACTER BACKGROUND:

PERSONALITY:

All middle children act out, the Blacks used to say to themselves. Andie’s stubbornness and fire, her petulance and ferociousness were absolutely natural for anyone who grew up aside an elder sister as prominent as Bellatrix, and a younger sister as pristine as Narcissa. Regardless of the occasional dinner table outbursts and the Muggle books hidden under her bed, her fierce love for her sisters convinced Cygnus and Druella they had nothing to worry about. Nobody would have chosen her as the rebel of the family. Sometimes, Andromeda can’t even believe it herself.

While her parents urged her to spend her Hogwarts years searching for a suitable match, Andromeda was almost always found in the library. Slytherin cunning manifested in a thirst for knowledge, a trait that serves her well in the Department of Mysteries. A built-in lie detector and a keen eye for bullshit got her through teenage drama and now, get her through pre-teen squabbles with her daughter. As she grew, she learned when to share her opinion (almost never) and when to keep her mouth shut and listen (most of the time). She prefers to get a good read on people before sharing any of herself with them.

Like every Black, she has her own tempestuous streak. Andromeda can be impatient and particular, liking things done a certain way and at a certain time. A childhood in a controlling family has left her with a need to control her household the same way Druella ruled hers- of course, unlike her mother, Andromeda works full-time and lacks the small army of house elves. Her mother’s influence also left her with a too-sharp tone and a habit of bossing others around. Passion comes easy, but steady, everyday love is harder. Adulthood and responsibility hit her like a brick. She’s a little too measured for spontaneity these days, too concerned about the future to be present in the now. Andromeda is at her best when she’s having fun- but it seems those moments are too few and far between now. Maybe that’s just part of growing up.

BRIEF OVERVIEW OF FAMILY:

Cygnus and Druella never appeared to enjoy having children. To them, children weren’t something to be enjoyed. They were walking trophies, representations of the long and storied history of Black. Andromeda was hardly raised, more cultivated, like a rare orchid or crossbreed of roses. A Black is poised, she is lofty, she is obedient. A Black does not slide down staircases, or speak to the house elves, or make faces at her parents. In time, she became two women- stoic Andromeda, to her parents, and goofy Andie, to her sisters.

Who’s lucky enough to be born amongst their best friends? Andromeda never needed anybody but her sisters growing up- they were her anchors, her compass, her roots. Being a Black was important, as her parents beat into her, but being a sister to Bellatrix and Narcissa was her priority. As her built-in confidants, she confided in them about every impulse and doubt and fear. Until Ted Tonks.

Finally, something was just for her. She hadn’t anticipated how delicious it was to have a secret, how much of an adrenaline rush it was to sneak around. She felt seen for the first time, seen and loved and wanted, and by someone who was indisputably good and kind. Ted shone a light on the fear and confusion that had gradually begun to fill her heart, and in return Andromeda gave Ted her whimsy, her joy- all the parts that were disagreeable to her family. But she also hadn’t anticipated how difficult it would be to lie to her sisters. Or how difficult it would be to watch them walk away from her. The rejection of her parents hadn’t stung as much as she thought it might. Yes, there was shame, but perhaps more from an accidental pregnancy than from being disowned. The sting was from the upturn of Bella’s nose, the curl of Cissy’s lip. She would have died for them- and they wouldn’t even bend over for her. Becoming Ted’s Dromeda was easy. Shedding Cissy’s Andie was hard. She knows she made her choice, but some days it’s all she can do to keep the lump out of her throat when she looks at her life. It’s worth it, she knows that. She loves her husband and her daughter just as fiercely, if not more so, than she loved her sisters years ago, but that love for them still hasn’t faded. She’s grown to accept that it might never. But even a core as iron as Andromeda’s can fail sometimes, and she sometimes wishes she could have raised Nymphadora in the same palatial luxury she came from.

OCCUPATION:

It’s almost ironic- the woman who’s name is verboten in certain social circles is an Unspeakable. Andromeda loves her work- for the first time in her life, she feels as though she’s contributing to something important, helping people without rocking the boat. The Department of Mysteries is her sanctuary. It feels like nothing from her past followed her here, no petty gossip or snide looks. She’s truly thrown herself into the werewolf project, fascinated by every difference between herself and the subjects that look just like her for all but a few nights a year. She began this study to find a cure for lycanthropy, to make werewolves like everybody else, but the project’s evolved over time to focus on the unique talents and gifts of the werewolf and how they can be exploited. Her whole life has emphasized homogeny, but it might be time for her to start seeing the power of divergence.

ROLE WITHIN THE ORDER/THOUGHTS ABOUT THE ORDER:

She’s given up her last name, her family, her inheritance. She will not give up her daughter’s safety. It’s not that she doesn’t believe in the cause, because yes, of course she believes Muggleborns have a right to be in this society. She just doesn’t see why she should put her life at risk for it. Of course, the occasional slip of information from her department hardly counts, it’s not as if she’s on the front lines. It could never even be traced back to her. And if she doesn’t tell Ted about it, it’s only because it’s unimportant, not because she’s afraid. Andromeda Tonks would never confess to being afraid.

SURVIVAL:

She flies under the radar as much as possible. Sometimes that means signing her name as A. Tonks in fear of someone putting puzzle pieces together, sometimes that means waiting for the next elevator when the faces inside don’t look friendly, and sometimes it means spending Friday night til Monday morning locked up in their house, afraid of something she can’t put a name to. She’s fortunate enough that her parents are content to only act like she’s dead, but her eldest sister may change that any day. There’s still a part of her that cares for her sister, but if Bellatrix even glanced in the direction of her family, Andromeda would rip her apart in an instant.

RELATIONSHIPS:

The problem with leaving your world behind for a man is that, suddenly, that man becomes your world. High on hormones and righteous fury, Andromeda told Ted over and over he would be all she needed. But she can’t help feeling as though she gave too much and he gave too little. With every slip of the tongue, each not-progressive-enough viewpoint, she wonders if he’ll ever look at her without disappointment in his eyes. If she’ll ever feel worthy of his love. She tries to give hers freely in return, but showing appreciation is hard for her, and recently their relationship has felt more like business partners than man and wife.

She’d love to fill that void with some friends, but frankly, she was too busy following her older sister around like a lost puppy at Hogwarts to make that many. She recognizes surnames in her new social circle from the old- Selwyn, Macmillan, Yaxley- but she doesn’t miss the way these people look at her (she thinks it’s the pity that’s the worst, worse than the disgust or the amusement). And so many others hear the implicit Black when she introduces herself and flee. She never forgets that she still has some family, but Sirius still looks at her with distanced eyes. It doesn’t make sense to Dromeda- in her mind, the two black marks of the family tree should look out for each other, but then again, blood has always taken up a disproportionate amount of Andromeda’s thoughts.

OOC EXPLORATION:

SHIPS/ANTI-SHIPS: I think Andromeda really loves Ted, but there’s definitely a lot of room to explore in such a high-pressure relationship! She’s lost her family, given her all in raising a child, and is keeping a secret from her husband about helping the Order, all of which I think could be major stressors in their marriage. I’m really very flexible with ships, I just love to write through conflict like that!

WHAT PRIVILEGES AND BIASES DOES YOUR CHARACTER HAVE?

Andromeda grew up in the lap of luxury, with any privilege imaginable. Having all those taken away from her in a heartbeat (the money, the family cache, the status, the family, oh Merlin, the money), left her with more frustration than compassion. These are things she silently feels entitled to, and wishes she could have given to her daughter! Basic responsibilities were foreign to her a decade ago, but she’s been made painfully aware of what her privilege enabled her to do, and what she no longer has access to. It’s made her colder and more serious, and if she was confronted with any of the privilege she still has (being a white, cisgender, straight pureblood), she’d be highly defensive. I’d really love to explore how this silent resentment is building up inside Andromeda- it’s her own choices that led her here, but self-reflection was never her strength, and it’s just easier to pin this loss on Ted, her family, really anyone but herself.

Andromeda was essentially raised in a fundamentalist cult, and she’s only just begun to really confront those implicit biases. While she can say all the right things when prompted- Ted, of course I don’t think Muggleborns are genetically inferior, would I have married you if I did?- she’s not interested in exploring any deeper. To Andromeda, being a pureblood still means something, she just can’t elaborate on what something is without revealing the blood superiority still in her heart. She works with werewolves, but she still sees them as beasts to be feared. She’d be embarrassed if her daughter was born a Squib, and she’d never let her marry a Muggle. In Andromeda’s world, these aren’t viewpoints, but indisputable truths, and she reacts to any attempts to change these truths with a laugh and a wave of an ivory hand. No point in being naive- this is just the way the world is.

WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO? I LOVE exploring duality within characters, especially ones seen as “good” in canon. The focus on the gray in all the skeletons really drew me in, and I would really love to write the messier parts of Andromeda.

PLOT DROP IDEAS (OPTIONAL): It would be really exciting to get to write Andromeda when the threat of Death Eaters becomes more immediate, and she begins to recognize faces under the mask. Her love for her family is still very real, and I’d love to write out that internal conflict.

ANYTHING ELSE? Nothing!

#homenumaccepted

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love-sapphirerose · 5 years

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Naruto: 30 Storylines Boruto Wants Everyone To Forget

https://www.thegamer.com/naruto-storylines-boruto-wants-everyone-forget/

With the reboot of everyone's favorite anime, Naruto fans are noticing inconsistencies. Here are 30 storylines that the creators want fans to ignore.

In the modern day-and-age, there is one word that will elicit a rather polarizing reaction from people. Either they will give you a quizzical look as they slowly move away from what they perceive to be an absolute maniac, or else they'll jump up in joy as they recount some of their most beloved anime and manga. Yep, you guessed right — the word we're talking about is none other than shōnen. It's a word around which so many things have been built that trying to talk about all of them is close to impossible. Thankfully, we're not here to talk about all of these anime and manga — rather, our aim is to talk about only one piece of shōnen entertainment that took over the world by storm. If the first word that came to your mind was Naruto, then you're absolutely right in guessing that (although we're assuming that the title was a dead giveaway).

The fact of the matter is that Naruto has certainly become one of the most popular anime and manga series of all time. Kishimoto has created a world that is so incredibly fleshed out that most people are already familiar with the ins-and-outs of this place. The show was so beloved that a sequel series by the name of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations actually came into play so that rabid fans would be provided with even more material centering around the land of the Shinobi.

However, not all is well with the series — fans are less than enthused about some of the elements of Boruto, namely because of certain things that have already been presented or established in the Naruto universe. Here are 30 such storylines in Naruto that the creators of Boruto wish everyone would just forget.

30. Naruto's Vast Chakra.

Everyone who's seen Naruto can vouch for one universal truth that has been spouted out time and time again — Naruto's chakra reserves are incredibly vast. His penchant to form thousands of shadow clones and fight for hours without being exhausted is proof enough of this.

However, if you've seen Boruto, then this quality doesn't really get reflected.

At the Hokage level, you might assume that Naruto is one of the most adept chakra users of his generation. However, he's failed at the most basic tasks multiple times and tends to get exhausted after the slightest bit of effort.

29. The Very Concept Of Chakra Itself.

To say that only Naruto's chakra system has been nerfed in Boruto would be a gross understatement — in fact, pretty much everyone in the series has been nerfed quite heavily.

The entire concept of chakra has been turned upside down.

What used to be a system that governed every form and type of jutsu — with the sole exception of taijutsu — has turned into nothing more than a glorified excuse to showcase cool blue auras... that don't even stay in control!

Get your act together, Boruto.

28. It Was Stated That Only Three Dōjutsu Exist In The World.

During the events of Naruto, it had been stated time and time again that the forms of dōjutsu present in the world were only of three types — the Byakugan, the Sharingan, and the Rinnegan.

However, fast forward to Boruto, and this wasn't even remotely the case.

Now, there's the Tenseigan, the Jōgan, and the Ketsuryūgan (just what is this last one) to take into account as well! To assume that the historians of the Naruto universe were inept is a poor excuse that Kishimoto is hiding behind.

At the end of the day, these extra dōjutsu are just a lazy way to augment someone's power level.

27. Sasuke Performing Horrible Crimes And Acts That Are Promptly Forgotten.

Sasuke is one of the most beloved characters in the series, don't get me wrong on that. It's obvious that he's one of the reasons why people even watched the series, to begin with... but that doesn't excuse the whole host of crimes he's committed.

Just to put it into context, Sasuke started his very own mini-Akatsuki, attacked the Kages, ended the life of a Hokage, caused numerous avoidable demises... and was almost going to destroy the whole world, had it not been for Naruto!

Jeez... that is quite inexcusable, isn't it?

26. Orochimaru's Malevolent Actions Are Ignored.

Speaking of past crimes, it's time to talk about another fan favorite character that played a major role throughout the series — yep, we're talking about the one and only, Orochimaru. In Boruto, this villain is allowed to run Otogakure, his very own village!

What has he done that mandates such a stupefied reaction? Well, for starters, he experimented — and ended the lives of — countless children, laid waste to a Hokage (he and Sasuke can share that honor), caused endless destruction, and did a myriad of other actions that are definitely on the evil side.

25. Kabuto Performing Countless Transgressions But Being Allowed To Run An Orphanage Anyway.

Of course, we can't talk about Orochimaru without mentioning his loyal sidekick, Kabuto. The fact of the matter is that this character also got a free pass along with Orochimaru and Sasuke, even though his actions could've ended the entire shinobi world.

There are several reasons why this character didn't deserve a clean slate, but we're going to pick out the most egregious one of the lot — his Reanimation Jutsu is the entire reason why Obito managed to amass an army, in the first place!

If that isn't enough of a reason, I don't know what is.

24. The Entire Mythos Of The Ōtsutsuki Clan Being Virtually Untouchable.

I think I'm definitely not exaggerating when I say that the Ōtsutsuki clan is basically the family that helped usher in the age of the Shinobi — and trust me, that's definitely not an exaggeration. The mythos that was built around this family should prove beyond a shadow of a doubt as to just how powerful the Ōtsutsuki actually were.

However, by the time Boruto ruled out, this aura that the Ōtsutsuki sported has completely disappeared. Kaguya was a pushover near the end of the series, and the duo of Momoshiki and Kinshiki was extremely disappointing as well.

23. Naruto Having Family Issues.

To simply state out of the blue that Naruto didn't exactly have a great childhood is a gross understatement — the lack of a father or mother figure, coupled with his status of being the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki, led to him being ostracized from society during his formative years.

So, why is it that he's ignoring his own family now that he's Hokage? From not even bothering to eat his wife's food to sending a Shadow Clone on his daughter's birthday — there's no excuse to be made, especially by someone who understands the pain of being alone.

22. Sasuke Having A Horrible Childhood But Still Ignoring Sarada Anyway.

When it comes to bad parenting, it seems that best friends really are alike, aren't they? Just like Naruto has never been around for his son, it seems that Sasuke has also prioritized everything over the task of being a father and supportive pillar for his daughter.

I mean, just imagine — unlike Naruto, Sasuke has experienced the pain of loss. Coupling that with a sense of crippling loneliness should've ideally compelled him to prioritize his daughter above anything else... but alas, it seems that logic is not a mandatory thing for people to have in Boruto.

21. The Focus Of The Entire Series On Valuing Bonds.

The bond that Naruto yearned for with his parents is not the only thing that needs to be discussed here — a major crux of the original series was the fact that everyone had bonds that they treasured, to the point where they were willing to give up their own life for the people closest to them.

However, with the advent of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, it seems that the entire series is missing this crucial element. The titular character himself is a great example — Boruto has formed a ton of bonds throughout the series, but he's never treasured them like any of the characters in the previous generation.

What a sad turn of events.

20. The Very Existence Of Previous Minor Characters.

Speaking of other characters, I have only one question to ask — what is their purpose in Boruto? While I understand that the whole point of this sequel is to focus on the new generation of Shinobi, this basically means that a colorful cast of characters who were already sidelined in the last arc of the previous series won't be given any attention... again.

This is such a massive disservice, especially to great characters like Rock Lee, Gaara, Sakura (hey, don't snigger), Choji, Shino, and Iruka, who were a crucial aspect of what made the series great in its heyday.

Well, at the very least, people like Shikamaru and Kakashi are at least somewhat important, if nothing else.

19. The Sheer Power Of Both Naruto And Sasuke.

While we might've already mentioned the fact that Naruto has been nerfed quite a bit in Boruto, this fact definitely deserves a further glance. In fact, Naruto is not the only person who suffered from this — Sasuke's powers have also unfortunately gone down the drain as well.

The two shinobi who used to be absolute powerhouses by the end of the original series are nothing more than a shell of their former selves in Boruto. It's a darn shame since we would've liked to see more of their astounding power in new combat scenarios.

18. The Era Of Peace That Was Supposedly Ushered In After The Fourth Shinobi World War.

The Fourth Shinobi World War was a landmark event that completely rocked the ninja world as we know it. Oh, and it's also considered by many to be one of the most bloated, rushed, and uninteresting arcs in Naruto... but let's keep that out of the way for now.

The fact of the matter is that the end of this war was supposedly going to bring about a new era of peace and harmony. However, if you've seen Boruto, then you know for a fact that things are still as problematic as ever.

While the scale of these problems might not be all that massive, it's still a worrying development nevertheless.

17. Naruto's Ramen Obsession.

I think I'm not just speaking for myself when I say that Naruto sparked a love of Japanese food in me. To be more precise, he made me love one particular dish that served as an introduction to Japanese cuisine — ramen.

The times when Naruto used to have food at Ichigakure Ramen and absolutely demolish their food is long gone. Now, with the massive responsibility of being the Hokage, it seems that the days of Naruto hogging massive amounts of food is behind him now.

16. The Tradition Behind Team 10'S Leadership.

The leadership status of Team 10 has always been quite iconic for a whole host of reasons. Generally, this team consisted of three members from the Nara, Akimichi, and Yamanaka family. These three whippersnappers would then be led by a member of the Sarutobi clan.

However — in classic Boruto fashion — this age-old ritual has also been broken in the latest installment. While the children from all three families are still constant, the ninja leading them — Moegi — has no relation to the Sarutobi clan.

You can bet that fans were less than happy about this development... or — dare I say — was it a genuine oversight?

15. The Stuff That Sakura Faced At The Hand Of Sasuke.

Ever since the start of the series, one thing was always constant — Sakura had intense feelings for Sasuke. However, childhood crushes rarely stay permanent, and things developed to a point where Sasuke completely disregarded Sakura's feeling and treated her like — for lack of a better word — crap.

So, you'd think that after facing all this stuff, Sakura would shun her crush and go for a man who treated her properly, right?

WRONG.

She ended up with Sasuke only, which was one of the many decisions in Boruto that fans felt wronged by.

14. The Capable Nature Of Ninjas.

The status of jōnin, and — to an extent, even chūnin — is something that denotes the effectiveness of a particular ninja. Achieving this rank is nothing short of amazing, and goes to show just how powerful your skills are.

However, one look at the events of the latest series, and you might be forgiven for being confused. All of the ninjas who've received these ranks are woefully inept at their jobs, with freaking low-ranking genin being a hundred times more efficient and result-oriented than them.

13. The Potential Of Female Ninjas.

As much as I hate to say it, it must be said that Kishimoto did a horrible job of making any of his female characters interesting. They were either a plot point for the protagonists to find their drive to move forward, or served as nothing more than an excuse for fan service.

Kishimoto could've redeemed himself by making Kaguya seem like the most unassailable threat to mankind's existence... but then even she was taken care of with little to no issues.

What. A. Waste.

12. The Fact That Children Need To Be Kept Safe.

Regardless of how the shinobi world might carry out its day-to-day activities, you can't sit and convince me of the fact that it's perfectly fine for children to embark on quests that can put them in substantial danger, which includes the possibility that their life might be snuffed out as well.

This was a problem that plagued the original series as well but reached a whole new level in Boruto: Naruto Next Generations. Now, we have a bunch of kids duking it out in highly dangerous situations... simply because the stakes need to be raised high for any scenario to be even remotely interesting.

11. The Interesting Character Development Of Naruto.

It feels like we're circling back to Naruto time and time again, but the fact of the matter is that this character has suffered the most with the advent of the latest series. We've literally seen him grow from a young, lonely brat into a sensible adult who is loved by everyone.

But, fast-forward to the events of Boruto, and it seems that Naruto has forgotten everything that led him to become such a distinguished enigma in the first place. He doesn't treasure his relationships, has lower power levels, and has generally regressed across a number of verticals.

10. The Highly Durable Nature Of Naruto.

It seems that we simply can't talk about the problems of Boruto's tale without mentioning his father time and time again. However, such are the transgressions that the latest series commits that it's impossible for us to ignore him as well.

Naruto is supposed to be incredibly durable... and yet, there are times when he's been dispatched with ease. Kinshiki and Momoshiki were able to take him with ease, but that's still forgivable.

What is not forgettable is the fact that the most powerful shinobi — arguably of all time — was knocked out in a single blow by his daughter.

9. His Constant And Unwavering Need To Become Hokage.

The knockout blow that Himawari landed on Naruto was enough to take care of him for an entire day. While this might be alright after a bit of cribbing, the worst part is that this happened on the very day when Naruto was to be inaugurated as the Seventh Hokage!

So, in other words, the very day that Naruto pined for his entire life went to waste because he got knocked out by his freakin' daughter,

If that's not a slap in the face of fans all over the world, then we don't know what is.

8. Naruto's Whiskers Being Indicative Of The Fox Spirit Inside Him.

The entire reasons why Naruto has his whiskers isn't because of a misplaced style statement. Rather, it's because of the fact that the spirit of the Nine-Tailed Fox resided in him, contributing to a rather striking outward presence.

However, this brings to light another plot hole — unlike Naruto, Boruto and Himawari don't have Kurama's chakra in them. If this happens to be the case, then why is it that both of Naruto's kids have the same exact whiskers as his father? It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

7. The Introverted Shino Who Gets A Teaching Job.

While Shino didn't get the screen time he rightfully deserved, the fact of the matter is that he was still an interesting character who was liked by the majority of the fanbase. There was one personality trait of his in particular that endeared him to fans — Shino was somewhat introverted and preferred to spend time with his insects.

So, if that's the case, then it's kinda stupid that — by the time Boruto: Naruto Next Generationsrolled out — Shino became an instructor at the academy.

How can someone with zero social skills handle an entire academy full of boisterous children?!

6. Anko's Previous Character Doesn't Fit Her Redesign.

The character of Anko was a highly interesting one. While her appearance and relevance in the original Naruto series might've been brief, it was still notable enough for fans to keep this character in the back of their minds.

However, as Boruto rolled out, fans noticed a development that they simply can't take out of their heads anymore — Anko lost control of her discipline and became quite heavy! This definitely doesn't fit in with Anko's character, and now she's become nothing short of a joke.

A big, bloated, joke.

5. Choji And Karui Having No Romantic History Whatsoever.

When Boruto's story made its debut, fans were understandably perplexed at the fact that so many of the couples that kickstarted the new generation were quite... random, for lack of a better word. While there are some sensible couplings like that of Naruto and Hinata, other people were grouped together simply for the heck of it.

The partnership of Choji and Karui is a great example. Both individuals have seemingly nothing in common and never really interacted on a romantic level in the original series. So, how is it that both these people ended up marrying with zero chemistry?

4. Naruto's Sage Mode.

Sage Mode is an incredibly powerful transformation, allowing Naruto to reach a new level of power that let him take care of Pain and save Konoha once and for all. However, after this amazing battle, Sage Mode is criminally underutilized by Naruto.

However, there are several moments where this mode could've proven to be quite useful in Boruto. Take the example of the battle with Nue — Naruto is advised not to fight this creature since he could absorb the Nine-Tailed chakra and become even stronger.

However, with Sage Mode, the chakra that Nue absorbs would transform him into a frog, making the fight trivial in every sense of the word.

3. Naruto Mastering His Shadow Clone Jutsu.

The Shadow Clone jutsu is one of the hardest clone techniques to master, and Naruto — to his credit — was able to master the technique with just one glance at the scroll. It showed that Naruto did have some talent and could give high-level shinobi a run for their money.

However, the usability of the Shadow Clone technique is barely touched upon in Boruto.

One simple misstep is enough for Naruto's clone to disappear, while the impact should ideally be far greater. In fact, Naruto should use his clones to handle boring paperwork while he spends some quality time with his family.

2. The Entire Fourth Ninja World War And Its Implications.

The Fourth Ninja War was a major arc in the latter half of Naruto, and a groundbreaking war like this is bound to have some grievous implications. However, fast-forward to Boruto, and it's almost like the war had little to no effect.

It's just another fragment of history now.

This should not be the case at all. Wars are traumatic events that can completely alter the mentality of mankind as we know it. If that's the case, then why is it that people go about with their day-to-day lives as if everything is back to normal?

It's not like the war happened ages ago, and the memory of it should still be fresh in the minds of people in the shinobi universe to this day.

1. The Problem Caused By Criminal Organisations Like The Akatsuki.

The Akatsuki was one of the most diabolical organizations around. They were the driving force that caused tons of mayhem all over the shinobi world, finally culminating in an all-out declaration of war against the entire world!

In Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, there's a new criminal organization called Kara.

However, instead of giving this threat its due importance, the higher-ups at Konoha allow a simple genin like Boruto to investigate this organization. If they'd learned their mistakes from before, then the ideal thing to do would've been to nip the threat in the bud before anything serious happens.

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thewritewolf · 5 years

Text

Rekindle Chapter 25: Puss in Boots

Adrien and Marinette discuss the Mayor’s celebration over breakfast.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

@marichatmay

Enjoy!

Read on Ao3

“A party, huh? About time we got some recognition.” Plagg swallowed the cheese wedge he had been working on whole, then floated towards the refrigerator.

“For once, I’m with Plagg on this,” Adrien said as he sat at the kitchen table. They hadn’t been awake for very long, but Marinette had already brought up Mayor Andre’s upcoming banquet at the city hall. “It’s nice to be rewarded for our good deeds, even if it is just an event in our honor.”

Marinette finished the eggs and toast she had made them for breakfast, sitting across from Adrien as they dug in. She gestured at him with a fork. “You make it sound like we’ve gone unappreciated all this time. We were barely a year into this when we got the first statue built for us, remember?” He conceded the point with a nod and they ate in silence for a few moments. “So… do you want to go?”

Adrien smirked. “Why, my lady, are you asking me to be your partner at the ball?”

“Not if you’re going to be weird about it,” she said with a teasing lilt to her voice. “Besides, it won’t be like a super fancy ball… right?” She’d done some sketches last night while waiting to become tired and none of them would work for a high class function.

Unfortunately, Adrien shook his head. “No, Andre has really gone all out for bigger, fancier parties in the last few years. I guess his businesses are doing pretty good or something? At least he has more money to flaunt. Anyway, he tends to prefer more high class gatherings these days. My…” He cleared his throat. “Gabriel and I were always invited.”

“But… everyone is invited to this one!” Even as she said that, her mind was thinking of new designs, the old ones effectively dead to her now.

“I’m sure he said that, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he turned away anyone not in a decent suit.” He took another bite and added without looking up. “It used to be that you had to have an Agreste wardrobe to enter, but something tells me that particular restriction isn’t going to be present this time around.”

Marinette absently stirred her coffee with a frown as she considered what Adrien had said. “So Gabriel and Andre were… friends then?”

To her surprise, he scoffed. “I don’t think he had friends, exactly. But they certainly had connections with each other.” He stared into his coffee, both hands wrapped around his cup as he set it on the table. “Maybe that’s why Andre is making this such a public event. Trying to distance himself from Gabriel as much as possible.”

“Maybe.” She smiled brightly, prying one of his hands off the cup and to hold it. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t have a good time. Assuming you still want to go?”

In an instant, the gloom that had started to surround him vanished. He returned her smile. “If you’re there, I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

“There’s my sweet kitty,” she whispered while gently running a hand along his cheek. More loudly, she asked, “Do you need me to design your outfit? I’ll be making mine, so it might be nice to be matching.”

He shook his head. “You’re amazing, but I don’t think there is enough time for you to make us both something. Besides, I think I’ve already got an idea.” He leaned back in his chair and looked towards the refrigerator. “Right, Plagg?”

Annoyed, the black kwami floated out of the appliance. “What are you on about, kid?”

“We can make modifications to our suits, right?”

“Yeah, I guess…” Plagg replied grudgingly.

“Then it shouldn’t be a problem for me to look like a musketeer?”

“Ughhh, that sounds like a lot of work.” Not for the first time, Marinette wondered how diligent, efficient Tikki had managed to put up with Plagg for this long. Or how Adrien had, for that matter.

“There’s camembert in it for you.”

“What do you think I’m eating now?” Plagg waved a wedge of cheese about as large as he was in front of Adrien.

“About as much camembert as you’ll be getting for the next month if you don’t help me.”

With a dramatic gasp, Plagg replied, “You wouldn’t.”

“You’d be surprised how far I’d be willing to go for love.”

As Plagg floated away, grumbling, Marinette asked, “Musketeer?”

“Yeah! That way I can be my lady’s dashing knight.”

She put her dishes away and returned to kiss Adrien’s cheek. “Aw, kitty. You’ll always be my dashing knight, no matter what you’re wearing.” As he beamed under her compliment she grinned and added, “My own little puss in boots. You’ll be so cute!”

“...I think I’ll stick with dashing knight, if it’s all the same to you.”

He stood up to take his own dishes to the sink, only to have Marinette hug him around the waist and obnoxiously yell into his chest, “PUSS. IN. BOOTS.”

Chuckling, he tried to shove her off, but failed to shift her. She assumed because he didn’t want to hurt her. “You're a ridiculous woman!”

Chin on his chest and looking up into his eyes, she murmured, “I am your ridiculous woman.”

He returned the hug after setting down his plate. “And I’m grateful for you always.”

“There’s my dashing knight.” Leaning forward on her toes, she caught his lips with hers. The day had officially begun.

--------------------------

The two weeks passed uneventfully as the two of them made their preparations for the party. It had taken some negotiating and fine tuning, but he had managed to get the suit done in just the way he had been envisioning it. His wide brimmed hat had a light green feather tucked inside it, to match his full black musketeer uniform. The only part of his suit he’d been unable to alter were his ears, mask, and baton. At least Marinette hadn’t seemed to mind.

Now it was the night of the party and Adrien found himself pacing nervously in their living room. It was the first time in months that he’d be out in public and expected to be social. While it would be as Chat Noir rather than Adrien, he was still worried. Even if he knew he had no reason to be afraid. For now, he stuffed those thoughts aside as he waited for Marinette to emerge in her dress. Despite his curiosity, he’d deliberately avoided watching Marinette work on her gown specifically to give this reveal all the more impact. And as she stepped out of their shared bedroom, he was glad that he did.

She’d really outdone herself this time, the pinnacle of class with her strapless, sweetheart neckline dress. The bodice of her dress was black, but with red Swarovski Crystals scattered across it. As his eyes floated downward, he noted the many layered chiffon ball gown and saw her genius unfold. While the first layer was black, it was semi-transparent, showing off the red with black polka dots of the lower layers. It was subtle and refined, but gorgeous. His eyes snapped to hers as she giggled. He caught a glimpse of a familiar ruby necklace that had caught his attention during a patrol a few days ago, and a less familiar bejeweled ladybug clip in her hair.

“See something you like, minou?” She gave him a smirk and she stopped in front of him, her red strappy pumps clicking against the wood floor.

“Only everything,” he said as he kissed her hand. He held out his arm for her. Once she had taken it, they made their way out of the apartment. “Are you ready to arrive at this party in style?”

“If by ‘style’ you mean, ‘the arms of a superhero,’ then yes. Though you might have to give me a couple minutes after we land to fix anything.”

He chuckled as they stepped onto the streets and he scooped her into his arms and pulled out his baton. “As you wish, my lady.”

---------------------------

To Marinette’s immense relief, they managed to get in without any trouble and were having a good time in the middle of their fifth song of the night. And despite her fears of being overdressed, they weren’t too out of place. Honestly, the only thing that set them apart from the crowd was-

“Gaudy stuff here tonight, isn’t it?” Chat whispered into her ear as they slow danced on the open floor, his hands on her hips and her arms around his neck. She had her head against his chest, quietly enjoying the fact that despite the modifications, his suit still smelled like leather and Adrien. “Not at all like what you made.”

“That’s… Well...” She bit her lip, trying to be tactful. But he was right, most of the outfits were a spectacle, sure, but they weren’t good quality. Already the floor was starting to get a fine layer of red and black dust from what was flaking off the worst outfits present. She shook her head, lips curling slightly in disgust at the poor craftsmanship. “I get the feeling some shops made a killing these last couple weeks.”

Chat snorted. “No wonder. The mayor kinda threw that theme out at the last minute, didn’t he? And not everyone has a master seamstress on hand to custom make dresses at the drop of a hat.”

“I’m not a master yet, but… thanks. And you’ve got a fair point. It all seems kinda last minute, doesn’t it?”

She was about to comment on a lack of Mayor Andre, but then the lights cut out except for a spotlight on the stage. The slow dance music was swapped out for something generic yet vaguely patriotic. Stepping into the light was the mayor himself. She didn’t feel like it had been that long since she had seen him in person last - as Ladybug, she often bumped shoulders with the man, whether she wanted to or not. Something about him always felt a little sleazy, even if he covered it up with his wealth and prestige.

The man now on the stage, however, felt like someone else entirely. He seemed to have aged twenty years in the span of a couple months and despite his wide smile, she could see the panic in his eyes, and the fear that he was barely able to conceal under a layer of false confidence, proved by the sweat dripping down his face.

Mayor Andre began his speech - something about rallying together and putting the past behind them. It quickly became clear that Marinette wasn’t alone in her observations. She picked up the words, ‘scandal’ and ‘corruption’ in the whispering around her. Maybe Adrien wasn’t too far off in his guess about why the festivities were being held in the first place.

A slight murmur washed across the room and Marinette pulled away from Chat, suddenly on alert as her eyes snapped back to the stage. Her eyes widened as she saw the mayor clutch at his chest and fall to his knees. Before anyone could do anything, the doors to the outside burst open, letting in five men covered head to toe in jagged, black plate armor, brandishing two handed swords. The crowd panicked as four of them began charging towards them, leaving the fifth to approach the mayor.

She glanced over at Chat Noir, who was watching her in turn. She nodded to him and a spark passed between them, a moment of perfect understanding.

They were still heroes, and these people needed their help.

#Miraculous Ladybug #MarichatMay2019 #Adrien Agreste #Marinette Dupain-Cheng #Chat Noir #Adrienette #Marichat #ml fanfiction #my writing #Rekindle

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lostinfic · 6 years

Text

The Raven and the Goldfinch | 2

Part 2 out of 3 | Part 1 | Ao3

Summary: In turn-of-the-century London, the famous illusionist, Peter Vincent, must use his skills to reclaim the love of his life, a woman he thought was lost to him. Now that he’s given a second chance, he won’t lose her again, not even when supernatural forces get in the way.

Rating: explicit (@ktrosesworld wanted smut, so it begins, but there’s still plot)

Word count: 2.6k (I decided to divide it into shorter parts)

Ship: Peter Vincent (Fright Night) x Jenny (Spirit Trap). (see part 1 for notes on this pairing)

≒

The Bristol Commercial Chronicle, 29 November 1895

ON VAMPIRES AND VAMPIRISM

Lately, the conversation of private parties has frequently turned on the subject of vampires; and the discussion has been prolonged and invigorated by the pieces brought out at the theatres across Europe. Even in Paris, the French literari, whom nothing escapes, desirous of displaying their learning, have brushed off the dust of repose and oblivion from more than one story applicable to the matter of vampires. In London, vampirism has almost superseded politics in the journals, clubs and salons of the genteel society. The success of Mr. Peter Vincent’s Frightful Entertainments is no stranger to this phenomenon; his Nosferatus have inflamed the collective unconscious. He deserves attention, no less from its temporary interest, than from its peculiar character, as part of the history of the human mind. It is connected with notions of the most extensive and powerful influence.

Last week, we reported on the presence of the Earl of Westmorland and his new bride, Countess Iphigenia (nee Goldfinch), at the premier of Mr. Vincent’s show at the Egyptian Hall. They had recently returned from the Austro-hungarian empire, where perhaps they were acquainted with such creatures of the night. Indeed, it is reserved for the ruder tribes of the north, and perhaps for those of the wilder parts of the East, to graft on the notion of re-appearance of the dead, that of malignity and delight in the suffering they had the power to inflict. It is a notion generally received among the Hungarians, that certain dead persons possess the power of returning by night to molest the living. We have it under good authority that a peculiar illness has struck the Westmorland household, and that the Earl has invited Mr. Vincent himself to his residence for a private performance.

≑

It was common for the rich and nobles of British society to own houses around the vast green expanse of St. James’s Park, and the Earl of Westmorland was no exception. Though he owned lands and a castle in the north of England, he needed a pied-à-terre in London, so, for the season, he and Jennie lived in a large Georgian townhouse not far from Buckingham palace. The grey, smoke-smeared stones of the house surrounded by skeletal trees was a dreary sight on this November afternoon.

At the gates, Peter and his manager, Ingwer, were instructed to enter through the staff door. Neither the Earl nor, more importantly, Jennie, greeted them.

As Peter followed the butler through the house, he deliberately slowed his walking pace and peered inside every room to catch a glimpse of her, but to no avail. As disappointed as he was, he understood she had to be careful in her own home. Since their secret meeting in the carriage, he’d thought of nothing but of her. It was maddening: they were in the same city but couldn’t see each other, and now in the same house yet she wasn’t in his arms.

Peter whistled in admiration when he entered the pompous great hall. A stage, built for his performance, occupied the back of the room under a large crystal chandelier. Peter snickered at the somewhat phallic shape of the chandelier.

“Do you think he’s compensating for something?” he asked Ingwer, elbowing him in the ribs.

Several portraits of the Earl himself adorned the walls in ostentatious gilded frames, along with ancestors and pastoral scenes in smaller frames.

Peter thought, if he owned this house and was married to Jennie, there would be nothing but portraits of her on the walls.

From every corner of the hall, marble statues of Roman gods watched as the servants arranged velvet-upholstered chairs in rows for spectators. Comparatively to the rest of the room, the stage was bare. Exposed. A challenge. One Peter was keen to take on to prove his higher intellect and skills to the husband of his beloved.

≑

From the minstrels’ gallery above the great hall, Jennie observed them enter. She hid behind the balustrade and peered between the marble pillars as he set up his equipment for the show. He kept glancing around, surely looking for her too. But for now, she had to stay away, there were too many people around, servants she didn’t know if she could trust, and the butler her husband had obviously instructed to keep an eye on Peter.

She bid her time by watching him work, he’d removed his jacket and rolled up his sleeves to install a dark wood contraption at the center of the stage.

So entranced was she by Peter, she jumped when she heard a whistle, like the twittering song of a bird. She hurried off the minstrel’s gallery. The trill echoed in the corridor, but she couldn’t locate its origin.

Voices came from the foyer, then footsteps up the staircase, and she forgot about the bird.

“Iphigenia? Where are you?” Dorothy, her sister, called.

The twelve year-old girl was as dark as Jennie was blonde, skinny while Jennie was plump, and for a good reason: they weren’t from the same mother. Dorothy was the daughter of a prostitute their father saw regularly, she’d died in childbirth, and against all reason, he had kept the baby. However illegitimate, Jennie loved Dorothy like a real sister, and she was the main reason Jennie couldn’t run away with Peter. It would reflect poorly on her sister and ruin her chances at a happy future. The Earl, because he was well-acquainted with Jennie’s mother, was the only one who knew that she would have been too ill to bear another child. At first, his tolerance of Dorothy had made Jennie happy, now it made her wary.

Dorothy and their father, Baron Thomas Goldfinch, had come over for tea and would stay for Peter’s show. Thomas’ cheeks were rosy under his greying beard, healthier than ever now that his gambling debts had been cleared by the Earl.

Jennie’s relationship with her father was ambivalent at best. For all intents and purposes, he had abandoned his wife in Northumberland, and Jennie held him responsible for her mother’s declining health and death, but he had a good heart nonetheless, as demonstrated by his care for Dorothy. And even if his interest in Jennie had laid mostly in acquiring wealth, he had never forced her to marry against her will. In fact, before Richard, she had turned down a few proposals, hoping for Peter’s return. Them, at 25, she was almost an old maid when the Earl started courting her. He was a widower, in his late thirties, and they’d been acquainted for some years already as his lands flanked those of her father’s. If only she’d held off just a little longer.

The family sat in the conservatory on rattan chaises amongst potted palms. She didn’t have the green thumb of the Earl’s first wife and some plants wilted. The high windows offered a beautiful view of the lake in the park, but most importantly, Jennie could also see into the great hall.

Her father inquired after the peculiar illness reported in the society column of the newspapers.

“One of our maids is so weak and pale she cannot work. We had to call in a physician, but he couldn’t make a definite diagnosis, and another girl is now feeling fainter as well. It is concerning, but the papers have exaggerated the story as they are bound to do.”

Jennie served the tea, two sugars for Dorothy and a drop of milk for Thomas.

“Is that the new tea service you brought back from Vienna?” Dorothy asked.

Sinuous, organic lines reminiscent of flower stalks and insect wings decorated the porcelain set.

“They call this style Sezessionstil. Richard thinks it’s too modern, but he admits I’m the artist, and I love it.”

She told her father and sister about the honeymoon in Austria-Hungary where they had visited the Earl’s family. She spoke with more passion about the beautiful mountains and architecture than about her new husband. Thankfully, they’d changed subject when Richard joined them. He down sat next to Jennie. When he put his hand on her leg, she had to exert phenomenal self-control not to recoil. Aspects of his appearance that hadn’t bothered her before, such as his bushy sideburns and fat hands, now repelled her. Every minute spent with him felt like a betrayal to Peter, even more so now they stood under the same roof.

“I have to go,” she said suddenly as she sprang to her feet.

"Where? We are all here, my dear.”

“I, erm, I have to… give the staff instructions for the reception. A lady of the house’s work is never done.”

She walked to the door with measured steps, but hurried as soon as she was out of the conservatory.

This morning, she’d chosen a cornflower-blue dress, reminiscent of her childhood’s skies, and so as she walked, she unpinned her hair, letting it fall loose down her back as a young girl would wear it. She wished she could be that child again, free of responsibilities and concerns about her family, wrapped in that magical world that only she and Peter inhabited.

She didn’t see Peter in the great hall, and knew he’d retired to the makeshift greenroom she’d had set up in the adjacent boudoir. Though a feminine room by definition, Jennie rarely used it as it held many mementos of the Earl’s first wife.

Peter didn’t notice her entrance. She’d become quite adept at avoiding attention, walking on tip toes to prevent the clanking of heels, only the quiet ruffle of taffeta might give her away. He was in the middle of putting on his costume, braces dangling off his breeches. She spoke quietly so as not to startle him or be overheard, “I used to do that for you.” She pointed at the kohl on the vanity, similar to the one she once stole from her mother.

He beamed at her, then sat on the edge of the table so they would be eye-level. She stepped between his legs. He closed his eyes and let her gently glide the stick of kohl across his eyelids.

“You used to shake like a leaf before a show,” she said, though her own hand was unsteady right now.

“It was not the show that made me nervous, it was you being so close to me.”

He opened his eyes and his copper brown pupils were even more striking with the dark lines. Despite the faint wrinkles that now surrounded his eyes, she saw in them her best friend, the magical boy with whom she’d fallen in love so long ago. However, the feelings that gaze stirred in her now, were not as innocent as they used to be.

He put his hands on her sashed waist, drawing her closer.

“These last days have been a real torture,” she confessed, “knowing you were in London and I couldn’t see you.”

“For me too.”

She touched his chest where his white shirt gaped, but glanced nervously over her shoulder. With a hand on her cheek, he brought her eyes back to him.

“My Jennie.”

Her chest heaved with a sigh, and she pressed her lips to his.

The kiss they’d exchanged in the carriage had been short, but she’d thought about it so much a yearning had built inside of her, growing stronger every day.

The taste of his mouth, the scent of his skin, his fingers spanning her waist, it all made her head spin. She wished there had only ever been him in her arms.

She deepened the kiss, fisting his shirt and opening her mouth in invitation. His arms wrapped around her waist, holding her tight. His lips moved to her jaw and down her neck, and she canted her head to grant him access to her throat. His goatee scratched her skin. His mouth traveled lower down her neckline. His teeth pressed lightly in the swell of her breast. She gasped but it wasn’t unpleasant, on the contrary. She encouraged him to continue, running her fingers through his hair, grabbing handfuls. His tongue sneaked under the lacy edge of her waist shirt just as his hands searched for the fastenings.

Jennie was faster, opening his breeches and slipping her hand inside. He hissed when she palmed his warm flesh. His movements faltered.

Jennie caressed him tentatively. Full of hesitation, she searched his face for signs of pleasure. A string of curses gave her the confidence she sought.

“Watch your mouth in the presence of a lady,” she teased.

“Then give me something to do with my mouth.”

She let him open her waistshirt and corset cover, exposing more of her breasts which he prompts covered with hungry kisses.

“Have you ever thought about me touching you in such a way?” she whispered.

“Many, many times.”

She opened his breeches wider. She wanted to see his cock, see her hand wrapped around it, see it throb thanks to her touch. It wasn’t mere curiosity, but a primal sort of satisfaction she sought.

“Have you thought about me too?” he asked in return.

“Yes.”

“Let me see you.”

She stopped him going further. She wore too many complicated layers to undress and redress quickly if they were caught.

“If you won’t show me, then tell me.”

“I wished for your body. For your mouth.To soothe this burning in me no other man can.”

“I will soothe it, then revive it, again and again.” He spoke the words, hot against her neck.

He closed his hand over hers to make her pump harder. His knee pressed into the front of her skirts, she jerked her hips.

“I wished for your hands,” she said.

“What about my them?”

“The way they move during a magic trick. So agile. It inflames one’s imagination.”

He thrust into her fist, she used her second hand, twisting over the head of his cock.

“Fuck, Jennie…”

She covered his mouth with hers and swallowed his groan of release.

He’d barely caught his breath, that he was gathering up her skirts. She was too turned on to stop him. To hell with getting caught.

A flower vase fell and crashed to the floor. They jumped apart and stared at the pieces of porcelain scattered at least three feet away from them. How had it fallen?

“Did you hear that?” she asked. “The whistle.”

“No.”

Peter tucked his member back into his breeches, and Jennie cleaned her hands with a handkerchief.

Just then, someone knocked at the door. Jennie quickly hid behind a screen and Peter opened the door. It was the butler, bringing him refreshments. He noticed the broken vase, and Peter took the blame, then a maid was sent in to clean it up.

“I think that butler wanted more than offer me a glass of water, he’s been on my heels all day. He could’ve caught us in the act,” Peter declared after they’d gone.

Jennie nestled in his arms, and he rubbed her back to soothe her nerves.

“Maybe your husband’s suspicious because you wanted to invite me here.”

“It was his idea.”

“So, he’s not aware we know each other?”

“No. He would hate that… I’m still not certain why he did invite you.”

“You’re worried?”

“I cannot get the measure of him. I thought I knew him before the wedding, but since we came back from Austria…” She shook her head. “On the one hand, he liked my mother.”

“What?”

“You know… her gift.” Jennie rolled her eyes. “He wanted to communicate with his deceased father, and my mother, she just told him what he wanted to hear.”

“So, he’s gullible.”

“But also very proud.”

“He’s full of himself, he is. What are you getting at?”

“Just please, don’t do anything to ridicule him tonight. A wounded ego is a dangerous thing in such a man.”

Part 3

#Teninch Fic #childhood friends to lovers #Peter Vincent #ktrosesworld #Fright Night #peter vincent x jenny #Lostinfic writes stuff #Raven & Goldfinch #autumn prompts #the raven and the goldfinch

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kmp78 · 7 years

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FINLAND 1 - 0 - 0 🇫🇮

A QUICK COMPILATION OF ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW - AND WISH YOU NEVER DID.

1. You may call us Finland and Finns, but we call ourselves Suomi and suomalaiset.

2. Altho if you don´t mind, we would rather you did not call us anything ever. Actually if we could both pretend each other doesn´t even exist, that would be just great!

3. Yes we are a notoriously shy and reserved nation with a gigantic inferiority complex - especially when compared to our neighbor Sweden.

4. Who incidentally we loooooove beating in hockey.

5. Saimaannorppa aka Saimaa ringed seal can only be found in Finland and is highly endangered.

According to a count done in 2015, there are only about 320 individuals left, and therefore quite understandably whenever one is found dead in a fisherman´s net or by the hands of a poacher etc., it causes headlines and outrages.

6. 70% of Finland is made up of forests - that´s roughly the size of the entire area of the United Kingdom.

7. Finland was awarded the Summer Olympics for 1940, but then things got all sorts of fucked up thanks to Adolf & co., so those plans were scrapped even tho we had a brand-spanking new Olympic stadium and everything! Dammit!

Oh well, we were compensated in 1952 when we finally got the honor of hosting our only (so far) Olympic games.

8. Those 1952 Olympics were the first time Coca Cola was introduced to Finns.

9. No, we do not have polar bears.

10. We also don´t have KFC, Wendy´s or Dunkin´ Donuts.

11. Yes I am very upset about all those things mentioned above but especially about KFC.

12. Finland was the first country in Europe which gave women the right to vote (1906).

13. The Finnish language does not separate words such as “she” or “he”. We just use a gender-neutral “hän”, which means “that person”.

14. The national bird of Finland is the whooper swan.

15. Helsinki has the world´s most Northern metro system.

16. Savonlinna hosts their annual Opera Festival in a Medieval castle.

17. We are vindictive and petty as HELL. Just ask Silvio Berlusconi.

http://kmp78.tumblr.com/post/155861218049/finland-chronicles-part-14

18. A Finnish person will drink approximately 129 litres of milk a year.

19. Some years ago, the word for mother (”äiti”) was voted the most beautiful word in the Finnish language.

20. Moomins are, as some of you MAY REMEMBER FROM A SPECIFIC DEBACLE FROM EARLIER THIS YEAR, from Finland and were created by OUR Miss Tove Jansson.

21. Unlike many other countries which after gaining independence tore down all statues and other remnants of their history under foreign rule, in Finland we chose to keep ours up as reminders of our past.

For example, on our main square aka the Senate Square you will find Czar Alexander II standing proudly.

22. And speaking of statues, one of the landmarks of Helsinki is Havis Amanda.

It depicts a mermaid who decides to leave the sea and walk on... well, not water.

Each year on April 30th, she is “crowned” with a cap, to represent all those who have graduated from secondary school and earned their caps.

23. As of 2010, internet access has been a legal right in Finland.

24. Do you have one of those cupboard things over your kitchen sink, the kind where you place your dishes to dry?

That was invented by a Finnish woman called Maiju Gebhard in 1945.

25. The longest word in the Finnish language is “epäjärjestelmällistyttämättömyydelläänsäkäänköhän”, which loosely translates to “not even by her lack of organization, do you suppose”.

26. Angry Birds are from here.

27. Finland is also the birth place of the most successful ski jump champions of all time, Matti Nykänen.

28. After his sports career came to an end, Matti has been a permanent fixture in the tabloids with his... issues... involving alcohol abuse, domestic abuse (he even served time in prison for attempting to kill one of his many ex-wives) and an assortment of careers including stripping and now singing.

He is also responsible for one of our most beloved and useful quotes of all time: back in the 80s when he was still jumping from towers and competing in Canada, he got into some “situations” and was sent back home as punishment. When he arrived at the airport, a journo asked him “Matti, did you drink alcohol?”, to which Matti replied “Maybe I did drink, maybe I didn´t drink”.

All bases covered then!

The man is a fucking genius.

29. There are absolutely ZERO public payphones anywhere in Finland.

30. For a very short period of time back in, Finland had a female president AND a female Prime Minister.

Sadly that arrangement came to an abrupt end when the Prime Minister was forced to resign over a scandal involving some sort of Iraq documents which I´m still, a decade later, completely baffled by.

31. As those who come on this blog surely know by now, Yours Truly is a passionate berry picker - and being a berry nut in Finland is easy indeed since a) we have one of the cleanest natures in the world and b) all living things you find in nature, you can keep - within reason, of course.

Usually a good principle is to keep about 100 meters distance from the nearest house. Other than that, you´re good to go!

32. People in in Northern Finland aka Lapland area have a very specific unit of measurement called the “poronkusema” which could be loosely translated to “Reindeer´s piss”. Roughly it means the distance a reindeer can walk before needing to urinate. It´s quite a long distance...

33. Our current President Sauli Niinistö is a survivor of the tragic tsunami which took place in South-East Asia on Dec 26, 2004. Over 200 000 people (including almost 200 Finnish tourists) died in one of the worst natural disasters of our time - Mr. Niinistö and his sons saved their own lives by climbing up a telephone pole and staying there for several hours.

34. In Finland October 13th is National Failure Day which aims to encourage people to share their failures and learn from them rather than hide their heads in shame and pretend all is well.

35. The REAL Santa Claus lives up in Rovaniemi and you can visit his village all year long.

36. Sheldon gave us a good laugh and an ego boost.

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37. We like eating Rudolf with lingonberries and mash.

38. On some years we get A LOT of snow, but on others we get practically none. Back in 1997, in Lapland the snow reached up to 190 cm.

Incidentally I am 155 cm.

39. In the Finnish language there is an alphabet called Å which isn´t actually a part of a single Finnish word in the entire Finnish language - it is simply a remnant from our many centuries spent under Swedish rule.

40. Unesco has reported that Finland´s tap water is the cleanest in the world.

41. A handy Finnish saying: “Early bird catches the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese”.

42. For some God forsaken reason, Finland and Estonia have the same national anthem.

43. Sadly accurate these days.

44. Sadly accurate these days.

45. Rosina Heikel (1842 - 1929) was Finland´s and in fact the Nordic countries 1st female doctor.

46. When something is a failure/a dud, the common term in the English language is “a lemon”. Over here, it´s “susi”. Susi also means wolf.

47. And susi should not be confused with sisu!

48. In Lapland you can spend your vacation in an igloo.

49. Fines for speeding are determined by the offender´s income. Basically if you earn more, you have to pay more. The highest fines have been over 100 000 €. Stay poor, kids!

50. Pamela Anderson´s grandparents were from Finland.

51. Yes we like getting our drinks on, and most of us go abroad to Tallinn to get our drinks on for a lot less €s.

52. In Lapland, the Sun never rises from November to January.

53. In reverse, the Sun never sets from June to July. We call it “The Nightless night”.

54. Finland has exactly 1 Eurovision victory under its belt.

55. In 2018 Saara Aalto will be repping us.

Please vote for us. Please?

56. Nokia became famous for their mobile phones, but originally they manufactured rubber boots.

57. We don´t dub movies or TV shows.

58. We do however sometimes give them ridiculous and extremely SPOILER ALERT-y names. For example, “The Shawshank Redemption” was translated to “Rita Hayworth - Key to escape”.

I mean... C´MOOOOON!

59. Sometimes that´s all you can do.

60. Simo Häyhä aka “White Death” was one of the deadliest snipers of all time. During a 3 month stretch of the Winter War, he shot roughly 200 Russian soldiers before getting shot in the face himself. He survived and lived to be 96.

61. We don´t use the 1 and 2 cent coins. You CAN try paying with them as they of course are legal currency, but there are no guarantees you´ll get very far.

62. Feb 14th may be a day for lovers for the rest of the world, but we know it as “Friend´s Day”.

63. Tipping is not (thankfully) a part of the Finnish culture.

64. The guy longing for Sven in Titanic (the coat dude) was portrayed as a Swede, but was actually a Finn called Jari Kinnunen.

65. Karelian pies with egg butter are the best thing ever.

66. Märket island which is situated between Finland and Sweden had to have the border lines twisted a bit because the Finns who built that lighthouse, accidentally built it on the wrong side...

67. While often named as one of the 5 Scandinavian countries, Finland isn´t technically even a part of Scandinavia: we ARE however a part of the Nordic countries.

68. If you are invited to a Finnish sauna, you are expected to go nude.

69. Finnish armed forces are mandatory for men but voluntary for women.

70. Moomin mugs are peculiarly popular especially among Asian tourists. They can sometimes pay even thousands for rare ones.

71. We never had vikings, but there is one viking tale about a princess called Skjalv, daughter of the Finnish King Froste (those aren´t even Finnish names...), who was stolen as war loot to Sweden but ended up strangling her captor with a gold chain.

72. Our 4th president was Kyösti Kallio, who was forced to resign from office after the Winter War on December 19th 1940. On that same day he was about to step onto a train to take him back home for retirement, when during his final official ceremony at Helsinki Railway Station, in front of his soldiers and while the orchestra played, he suffered a fatal heart attack and died right there in front of everyone. Legend says he collapsed into the arms of our greatest war hero and later president himself, Marshall C.G.E. Mannerheim (seen in the white hat next to President Kallio).

73. Marshall Mannerheim is the only person in Finnish history who has been rewarded that particular military honor. In fact, he is and forever will remain the only person who has the title “Finland´s Marshall”, an honor bestowed upon him for his services to his home country during Finland´s tumultuous early years of independence.

A few years ago he was voted by the Finns themselves as the most important Finnish person of all time.

74. In June 1942, Adolf Hitler came to Finland to pay his respects to Marshall Mannerheim on his 75th birthday. As a little “souvenir” for future generations, the sneaky Finns recorded a snippet of his and Mannerheim´s private conversation.

It is the only known recording of Hitler speaking with a calm, normal voice, as he was very particular about only being filmed while screaming and ranting his ideologies.

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75. Roughly 3 million tourists visit Finland each year and I think at least 2 500 000 of them are always going exactly where I´m going too.

76. We like to make things hard for foreigners.

77. We don´t have any mountains.

78. But we have lakes. We have a shit ton of lakes. 187 888 lakes to be precise.

79. FYI

80. All our days end with -tai (Monday = maanantai, Tuesday = tiistai etc.), except for Wednesday. Wednesday is called keskiviikko.

81. We have a lot of free time.

82. J. R. R. Tolkien used the Finnish national epoch the Kalevala as inspiration for the languages in the Lord of the Rings saga.

83. The St. Louis Arch was designed by a Finn called Eero Saarinen.

84. Every summer we arrange what is called Kaljakellunta aka “Beer float” which pretty much just consists of taking a floatie and a case of beer and... well, that´s about it.

85. If you want to enhance your sauna experience, you can use a birch whisk.

86. The bubble chair was designed by a Finnish man called Eero Aarnio.

87. Thursdays are the “official” pea soup and pancakes day all over Finland.

88. Finns love queuing.

89. Life expectancy for men is 78 years and for women 84 years.

90. In Tornio you can play golf in two countries:

http://kmp78.tumblr.com/post/155901150914/finland-chronicles-part-15

91. Finns invented the so-called Molotov´s cocktail.

92. All people in Finland must pay a TV tax even if they do not they own a TV.

93. We celebrate Christmas on the 24th of December.

94. Finns love salmiakki aka salty licorice.

I don´t, btw.

95. Finland is one of the few countries in Europe which has not banned sex with animals - and some actually take advantage of that loophole...

http://kmp78.tumblr.com/post/156161829244/finland-chronicles-part-21

http://kmp78.tumblr.com/post/156257574544/finland-chronicles-part-23

96. Armi Kuusela won the 1st ever Miss Universe pageant in 1952.

97. In 2006, Conan O´Brian did a sketch about looking like our then-president Tarja Halonen and it ballooned into a huge movement.

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98. Weeeeell...

99. On every Independence day, the current president hosts a party at his residence for about 2 000 dignitaries, celebs, politicians etc. We riff raffers sit at home in our sweatpants and watch it on TV with some nachos and snarky comments.

100. MONTY PYTHON KNOWS.

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SUOMI, AND THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING.

Despite you reeeeally getting on my nerves SO MUCH and SO OFTEN, I still love you. 💙 💙 💙

#finland 100 #suomi 100 #itsenäisyyspäivä #december 6th 1917 #thank you #100 facts for 100 years #national pride #also shame for good measure

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rp-meme-central · 7 years

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Nick Valentine sentence starters

1. “I told them that I was rigged to explode, and started going ‘beep... beep... beep’.”

2. “Those people treated me like a human being. I’ve been trying to return the favor ever since.”

3. “A detective’s life isn’t an easy one, but it rarely lacks for excitement.”

4. “You see a lot of people at their worst when you’re in my line of work. Hard to not let it get to you sometimes.”

5. “Another beautiful day in the most dangerous place in the world.”

6. “The only tune I want to hear right now is ______ recanting a life of villainy.”

7. “I never would have gotten this far without you.”

8. “I’m not going anywhere until I get what I came for.”

9. “All I know is that, without you, ______ would still be at large.”

10. “I just thought this would fix things. But it’s not that easy.”

11. “It was about justice, about doing what was right. And that act of goodness, that’s ours. All the good we’ve done. That’s ours and ours alone.”

12. “With you at my side, doing the kind of good we’ve done? I’m about as great as one _____ can be.”

13. “Well, to not put too fine a point on it, you’re the best damn partner I’ve ever had. So I’d say I’m doing pretty good.”

14. “I got you as a friend. There’s nothing more one old _____ could ask for.”

15. “Thanks to you, _______ is pushing up daisies and ______ is safer for it. What you’ve done, I’ll never be able to thank you enough.”

16. “I used to wonder how people lasted as long as they have out here. Now I know, it’s thanks to people like you.”

17. “_____ can take a real toll on you if you let it. I’ve seen this place make monsters out of men.”

18. “Don’t pay ‘em any mind... not that they would know what to do with one anyway.”

19. “Just ignore ‘em. Not worth anyone with manners possibly getting hurt.”

20. “Only madmen could justify trying to wipe out an entire people just because they were made, not born.”

21. “All the resources they’ve got, the _______ could do a lot of good. Shame they want to wipe out my kind instead.”

22. “I’ll keep out of trouble if s/he does.”

23. “It’s all right, _____. I’ll take it from here.”

24. “I can’t promise there won’t be some scuffs and dings.”

25. “Now that’s not... oh. Oh, I’m so sorry.”

26. “S/he was just here. You saw him/her right?”

27. “Drinking that, huh? Braver than I.”

28. “Always preferred something with a nice high octane, myself.”

29. “Is it this bad every day, or did something pass away in here recently?”

30. “I want you to know, this is all going on your bill.”

31. “It’s not easy to do the right thing for something that seems so evil. But everybody deserves their fair shot.”

32. “Now I understand why people end up vegetarians.”

33. “I won’t tolerate anyone mistreating the only other robot in town I can stand.”

34. “It’ll be a chilly day in Hell before I buy any of your swill.”

35. “Always wondered what you’d look like as a robot. Not too shabby.”

36. “Don’t let all that horsepower go to your head.”

37. “Why would you fill yourself with that junk?”

38. “It took me a long time to realize that home is where you make it. With some time and effort, this place could be home for you too.”

39. “I remember waking up one day in a garbage heap, a body in tatters and a head full of memories belonging to a wo/man who’d been dead for _____ years. Suffice to say, it was a confusing couple of weeks.”

40. “I think his/her name was ______. The first person to actually speak to me after I got the boot from the ______. My first human contact in this world.”

41. “I wouldn’t normally bother you with this sort of thing, but... well, I know I can trust you at this point.”

42. They’re just this inescapable reminder. That I’m not the person I think I am. That I’m not a person at all.”

43. “All I want is a life where I have something I can call my own.”

44. “_____’s not an easy place to travel alone. Nice to have someone watching my back.”

45. “You know, some folks are just out for themselves. Others want to help those in need. Jury’s still out which camp you’re in.”

46. “There are some crimes even you can’t get away with, _____.”

47. “Stop. Now.”

48. “No. No more jokes. You looked me in the eye and told me you were going to shape up. But that was just another load of bull.”

49. “You know, you have a funny way of showing your fondness for others.”

50. “All right, fine. But seriously, drop the buffoon act. Because this is your last shot. There won’t be another.”

51. “I’ve met a lot of scum in my line of work. People I wouldn’t throw to the _____. But you, you’re a real piece of work.”

52. “If I were your ______, I’d remember.”

53. “I always thought I was just more of their discarded trash. Never thought of the possibility that someone wanted me out. Helped me escape.”

54. “Get away from me! What the hell are you?”

55. “_____ really did help me escape the ______? I wasn’t just tossed out with the garbage?”

56. “Should I give him/her a chance? Try to accept him/her as my _____? S/he might be the only other ______ that exists.”

57. “i guess no one gets to choose their family, but when your family is built in a lab, things gets... weird.”

58. “So... ____ is dead. After all that talk about trying to accept him/her as family, we end up getting him/her killed anyway.”

59. “You know, why don’t you shut the hell up for once? I swear you care more about sounding smart sometimes than you do about who has to listen to it.”

60. “You sure you want to waltz through ______ HQ with a _____ at your side?”

61. “If I got the chills, this would be the place to provide ‘em.”

62. “You look like you just crawled out of a ______ gutter.”

63. “Now you’ve done it. We need to get you to a doc.”

64. “Someone could make a statue out of you like that. Abstract, ideally.”

65. “No! Dammit, _______, don’t listen! Hang in there!”

66. “That was one sorry negotiation up there.”

67. “With any luck, something will be making a meal out of ______ before sunrise.”

68. “It took a lot of guts to do what you did. I know it couldn’t have been easy.”

69. “This is a brave new world you’ve ushered in. But I suppose it’ll do.”

70. “There really is no way to ride a seesaw with dignity.”

71. “I’d offer a game, but you probably can’t calibrate your arm sensitivity, can you?”

72. “It’s a little disheartening that this is one of the nicest places we’ve been.”

73. “Don’t be afraid to dream big, _____. This isn’t all you have to be.”

74. “You know, since the first time we met, I always got the sense that you would change this place. I just never expected it would be like this.”

75. “Thanks for getting me out. How did you know where to find me anyway? Not many people knew where I went.”

76. “Yeah, I’ve heard it all before. ‘You’re a freak’, ‘You’ve got something to hide’. Blah, blah, blah.”

#rp memes #sentence starters #Fallout 4 #Nick Valentine

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waynelizzie · 3 years

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The Tattered Prince took a sip of wine and said, “A vexing question.

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drthetasigma14 · 7 years

Text

Lovecraft Fic/RP Prompts

The Commonplace Book of H.P. Lovecraft

This book consists of ideas, images, & quotations hastily jotted down for possible future use in weird fiction. Very few are actually developed plots—for the most part they are merely suggestions or random impressions designed to set the memory or imagination working. Their sources are various—dreams, things read, casual incidents, idle conceptions, & so on.—H. P. Lovecraft

Presented to R. H. Barlow, Esq., on May 7, 1934—in exchange for an admirably neat typed copy from his skilled hand.

1. Demophon shivered when the sun shone upon him. (Lover of darkness = ignorance.)

2. Inhabitants of Zinge, over whom the star Canopus rises every night, are always gay and without sorrow.

3. The shores of Attica respond in song to the waves of the Aegean.

4. Horror Story. Man dreams of falling—found on floor mangled as tho’ from falling from a vast height.

5. Narrator walks along unfamiliar country road,—comes to strange region of the unreal.

6. In Ld Dunsany’s “Idle Days on the Yann.” The inhabitants of the antient Astahan, on the Yann, do all things according to antient ceremony. Nothing new is found. “Here we have fetter’d and manacled Time, who wou’d otherwise slay the Gods.”

7. Horror Story. The sculptured hand—or other artificial hand—which strangles its creator.

8. Hor. Sto. Man makes appt. with old enemy. Dies—body keeps appt.

9. Dr. Eben Spencer plot.

10. Dream of flying over city.

11. Odd nocturnal ritual. Beasts dance and march to musick.

12. Happenings in interval between preliminary sound and striking of clock—ending— “it was the tones of the clock striking three”.

13. House and garden—old—associations. Scene takes on strange aspect.

14. Hideous sound in the dark.

15. Bridge and slimy black waters.

16. The walking dead—seemingly alive, but—.

17. Doors found mysteriously open and shut etc.—excite terror.

18. Calamander-wood—a very valuable cabinet wood of Ceylon and S. India, resembling rosewood.

19. Revise 1907 tale—painting of ultimate horror.

20. Man journeys into the past—or imaginative realm—leaving bodily shell behind.

21. A very ancient colossus in a very ancient desert. Face gone—no man hath seen it.

22. Mermaid Legend—Encyc. Britt. XVI—40.

23. The man who would not sleep—dares not sleep—takes drugs to keep himself awake. Finally falls asleep—and something happens. Motto from Baudelaire p. 214.

24. Dunsany—Go-By Street. Man stumbles on dream world—returns to earth—seeks to go back—succeeds, but finds dream world ancient and decayed as though by thousands of years.

1919

25. Man visits museum of antiquities—asks that it accept a bas-relief he has just made—old and learned curator laughs and says he cannot accept anything so modern. Man says that ‘dreams are older than brooding Egypt or the contemplative Sphinx or garden-girdled Babylonia’ and that he had fashioned the sculpture in his dreams. Curator bids him shew his product, and when he does so curator shews horror. Asks who the man may be. He tells modern name. “No—before that” says curator. Man does not remember except in dreams. Then curator offers high price, but man fears he means to destroy sculpture. Asks fabulous price—curator will consult directors. Add good development and describe nature of bas-relief.

26. Dream of ancient castle stairs—sleeping guards—narrow window—battle on plain between men of England and men of yellow tabards with red dragons. Leader of English challenges leader of foe to single combat. They fight. Foe unhelmeted, but there is no head revealed. Whole army of foe fades into mist, and watcher finds himself to be the English knight on the plain, mounted. Looks at castle, and sees a peculiar concentration of fantastic clouds over the highest battlements.

27. Life and Death. Death—its desolation and horror—bleak spaces—sea-bottom—dead cities. But Life—the greater horror! Vast unheard-of reptiles and leviathans—hideous beasts of prehistoric jungle—rank slimy vegetation—evil instincts of primal man—Life is more horrible than death.

28. The Cats of Ulthar. The cat is the soul of antique Ægyptus and bearer of tales from forgotten cities of Meroë and Ophir. He is the kin of the jungle’s lords, and heir to the secrets of hoary and sinister Africa. The Sphinx is his cousin, and he speaks her language; but he is more ancient than the Sphinx, and remembers that which she hath forgotten.

29. Dream of Seekonk—ebbing tide—bolt from sky—exodus from Providence—fall of Congregational dome.

30. Strange visit to a place at night—moonlight—castle of great magnificence etc. Daylight shews either abandonment or unrecognisable ruins—perhaps of vast antiquity.

31. Prehistoric man preserved in Siberian ice. (See Winchell—Walks and Talks in the Geological field—p. 156 et seq.)

32. As dinosaurs were once surpassed by mammals, so will man-mammal be surpassed by insect or bird—fall of man before the new race.

33. Determinism and prophecy.

34. Moving away from earth more swiftly than light—past gradually unfolded—horrible revelation.

35. Special beings with special senses from remote universes. Advent of an external universe to view.

36. Disintegration of all matter to electrons and finally empty space assured, just as devolution of energy to radiant heat is known. Case of acceleration—man passes into space.

37. Peculiar odour of a book of childhood induces repetition of childhood fancy.

38. Drowning sensations—undersea—cities—ships—souls of the dead. Drowning is a horrible death.

39. Sounds—possibly musical—heard in the night from other worlds or realms of being.

40. Warning that certain ground is sacred or accursed; that a house or city must not be built upon it—or must be abandoned or destroyed if built, under penalty of catastrophe.

41. The Italians call Fear La figlia della Morte—the daughter of Death.

42. Fear of mirrors—memory of dream in which scene is altered and climax is hideous surprise at seeing oneself in the water or a mirror. (Identity?)

43. Monsters born living—burrow underground and multiply, forming race of unsuspected daemons.

44. Castle by pool or river—reflection fixed thro’ centuries—castle destroyed, reflection lives to avenge destroyers weirdly.

45. Race of immortal Pharaohs dwelling beneath pyramids in vast subterranean halls down black staircases.

46 . Hawthorne—unwritten plot. Visitor from tomb—stranger at some publick concourse followed at midnight to graveyard where he descends into the earth.

47. From Arabia Encyc. Britan. II—255. Prehistoric fabulous tribes of Ad in the south, Thamood in the north, and Tasm and Jadis in the centre of the peninsula. “Very gorgeous are the descriptions given of Irem, the City of Pillars (as the Koran styles it) supposed to have been erected by Shedad, the latest despot of Ad, in the regions of Hadramaut, and which yet, after the annihilation of its tenants, remains entire, so Arabs say, invisible to ordinary eyes, but occasionally and at rare intervals, revealed to some heaven-favoured traveller.” // Rock excavations in N.W. Hejaz ascribed to Thamood tribe.

48. Cities wiped out by supernatural wrath.

49. AZATHOTH—hideous name.

50. Phleg′-e-thon: a river of liquid fire in Hades.

51. Enchanted garden where moon casts shadow of object or ghost invisible to the human eye.

52. Calling on the dead—voice or familiar sound in adjacent room.

53. Hand of dead man writes.

54. Transposition of identity.

55. Man followed by invisible thing.

56. Book or MS. too horrible to read—warned against reading it—someone reads and is found dead. Haverhill incident.

57. Sailing or rowing on lake in moonlight—sailing into invisibility.

58. A queer village—in a valley, reached by a long road and visible from the crest of the hill from which that road descends—or close to a dense and antique forest.

59. Man in strange subterranean chamber—seeks to force door of bronze—overwhelmed by influx of waters.

60. Fisherman casts his net into the sea by moonlight—what he finds.

61. A terrible pilgrimage to seek the nighted throne of the far daemon-sultan Azathoth.

62. Live man buried in bridge masonry according to superstition—or black cat.

63. Sinister names—Nasht—Kaman-Thah.

64. Identity—reconstruction of personality—man makes duplicate of himself.

65. Riley’s fear of undertakers—door locked on inside after death.

66. Catacombs discovered beneath a city (in America?).

67. An impression—city in peril—dead city—equestrian statue—men in closed room—clattering of hooves heard from outside—marvel disclosed on looking out—doubtful ending.

68. Murder discovered—body located—by psychological detective who pretends he has made walls of room transparent. Works on fear of murderer.

69. Man with unnatural face—oddity of speaking—found to be a mask—Revelation.

70. Tone of extreme phantasy. Man transformed to island or mountain.

71. Man has sold his soul to devil—returns to family from trip—life afterward—fear—culminating horror—novel length.

72. Hallowe’en incident—mirror in cellar—face seen therein—death (claw-mark?).

73. Rats multiply and exterminate first a single city and then all mankind. Increased size and intelligence.

74. Italian revenge—killing self in cell with enemy—under castle.

75. Black Mass under antique church.

76. Ancient cathedral—hideous gargoyle—man seeks to rob—found dead—gargoyle’s jaw bloody.

77. Unspeakable dance of the gargoyles—in morning several gargoyles on old cathedral found transposed.

78. Wandering thro’ labyrinth of narrow slum streets—come on distant light—unheard-of rites of swarming beggars—like Court of Miracles in Notre Dame de Paris.

79. Horrible secret in crypt of ancient castle—discovered by dweller.

80. Shapeless living thing forming nucleus of ancient building.

81. Marblehead—dream—burying hill—evening—unreality.

82. Power of wizard to influence dreams of others.

1920

83. Quotation “. . . a defunct nightmare, which had perished in the midst of its wickedness, and left its flabby corpse on the breast of the tormented one, to be gotten rid of as it might.”—Hawthorne

84. Hideous cracked discords of bass musick from (ruin’d) organ in (abandon’d) abbey or cathedral.

85. “For has not Nature, too, her grotesques—the rent rock, the distorting lights of evening on lonely roads, the unveiled structure of man in the embryo, or the skeleton?” Pater—Renaissance (da Vinci).

86. To find something horrible in a (perhaps familiar) book, and not to be able to find it again.

87. Borellus says, “that the Essential Salts of animals may be so prepared and preserved, that an ingenious man may have the whole ark of Noah in his own Study, and raise the fine shape of an animal out of its ashes at his pleasure; and that by the like method from the Essential Salts of humane dust, a Philosopher may, without any criminal necromancy, call up the shape of any dead ancestor from the dust whereinto his body has been incinerated.”

88. Lonely philosopher fond of cat. Hypnotises it—as it were—by repeatedly talking to it and looking at it. After his death the cat evinces signs of possessing his personality. N.B. He has trained cat, and leaves it to a friend, with instructions as to fitting a pen to its right fore paw by means of a harness. Later writes with deceased’s own handwriting.

89. Lone lagoons and swamps of Louisiana—death daemon—ancient house and gardens—moss-grown trees—festoons of Spanish moss.

1922

90. Anencephalous or brainless monster who survives and attains prodigious size.

91. Lost winter day—slept over—20 yrs. later. Sleep in chair on summer night—false dawn—old scenery and sensations—cold—old persons now dead—horror—frozen?

92. Man’s body dies—but corpse retains life. Stalks about—tries to conceal odour of decay—detained somewhere—hideous climax.

93. A place one has been—a beautiful view of a village or farm-dotted valley in the sunset—which one cannot find again or locate in memory.

94. Change comes over the sun—shews objects in strange form, perhaps restoring landscape of the past.

95. Horrible Colonial farmhouse and overgrown garden on city hillside—overtaken by growth. Verse “The House” as basis of story.

96. Unknown fires seen across the hills at night.

97. Blind fear of a certain woodland hollow where streams writhe among crooked roots, and where on a buried altar terrible sacrifices have occur’d—Phosphorescence of dead trees. Ground bubbles.

98. Hideous old house on steep city hillside—Bowen St.—beckons in the night—black windows—horror unnam’d—cold touch and voice—the welcome of the dead.

1923

99. Salem story—the cottage of an aged witch—wherein after her death are found sundry terrible things.

100. Subterranean region beneath placid New England village, inhabited by (living or extinct) creatures of prehistoric antiquity and strangeness.

101. Hideous secret society—widespread—horrible rites in caverns under familiar scenes—one’s own neighbour may belong.

102. Corpse in room performs some act—prompted by discussion in its presence. Tears up or hides will, etc.

103. Sealed room—or at least no lamp allowed there. Shadow on wall.

104. Old sea tavern now far inland from made land. Strange occurrences—sound of lapping of waves.

105. Vampire visits man in ancestral abode—is his own father.

106. A thing that sat on a sleeper’s chest. Gone in morning, but something left behind.

1923

107. Wall paper cracks off in sinister shape—man dies of fright.

108. Educated mulatto seeks to displace personality of white man and occupy his body.

109. Ancient negro voodoo wizard in cabin in swamp—possesses white man.

110. Antediluvian—Cyclopean ruins on lonely Pacific island. Centre of earthwide subterranean witch cult.

111. Ancient ruin in Alabama swamp—voodoo.

112. Man lives near graveyard—how does he live? Eats no food.

113. Biological-hereditary memories of other worlds and universes. Butler—God Known and Unk. p. 59.

114. Death lights dancing over a salt marsh.

115. Ancient castle within sound of weird waterfall—sound ceases for a time under strange conditions.

116. Prowling at night around an unlighted castle amidst strange scenery.

117. A secret living thing kept and fed in an old house.

1924

118. Something seen at oriel window of forbidden room in ancient manor house.

119. Art note—fantastick daemons of Salvator Rosa or Fuseli (trunk-proboscis).

120. Talking bird of great longevity—tells secret long afterward.

121. Photius tells of a (lost) writer named Damascius, who wrote “Incredible Fictions,” “Tales of Daemons,” “Marvellous Stories of Appearances from the Dead”.

122. Horrible things whispered in the lines of Gauthier de Metz (13th cen.) “Image du Monde”.

123. Dried-up man living for centuries in cataleptic state in ancient tomb.

124. Hideous secret assemblage at night in antique alley—disperse furtively one by one—one seen to drop something—a human hand—

125. Man abandon’d by ship—swimming in sea—pickt up hours later with strange story of undersea region he has visited—mad??

126. Castaways on island eat unknown vegetation and become strangely transformed.

127. Ancient and unknown ruins—strange and immortal bird who speaks in a language horrifying and revelatory to the explorers.

128. Individual, by some strange process, retraces the path of evolution and becomes amphibious.

1925

129. Marble Faun p. 346—strange and prehistorick Italian city of stone.

130. N.E. region call’d “Witches’ Hollow”—along course of a river. Rumours of witches’ sabbaths and Indian powwows on a broad mound rising out of the level where some old hemlocks and beeches formed a dark grove or daemon-temple. Legends hard to account for. Holmes—Guardian Angel.

131. Phosphorescence of decaying wood—called in New England “fox-fire”.

132. Mad artist in ancient sinister house draws things. What were his models? Glimpse.

133. Man has miniature shapeless Siamese twin—exhib. in circus—twin surgically detached—disappears—does hideous things with malign life of his own.

134. Witches’ Hollow novel? Man hired as teacher in private school misses road on first trip—encounters dark hollow with unnaturally swollen trees and small cottage (light in window?). Reaches school and hears that boys are forbidden to visit hollow. One boy is strange—teacher sees him visit hollow—odd doings—mysterious disappearance or hideous fate.

135. Hideous world superimposed on visible world—gate through—power guides narrator to ancient and forbidden book with directions for access.

136. A secret language spoken by a very few old men in a wild country leads to hidden marvels and terrors still surviving.

137. Strange man seen in lonely mountain place talking with great winged thing which flies away as others approach.

138. Someone or something cries in fright at sight of the rising moon, as if it were something strange.

139. DELRIO asks “An sint unquam daemones incubi et succubae, et an ex tali congressu proles nasci queat?” [Red Hook]

140. Explorer enters strange land where some atmospheric quality darkens the sky to virtual blackness—marvels therein.

1926

141. Footnote by Haggard or Lang in “The World’s Desire”: “Probably the mysterious and indecipherable ancient books, which were occasionally excavated in old Egypt, were written in this dead language of a more ancient and now forgotten people. Such was the book discovered at Coptos, in the ancient sanctuary there, by a priest of the Goddess. ‘The whole earth was dark, but the moon shone all about the Book.’ A scribe of the period of the Ramessids mentions another in indecipherable ancient writing. ‘Thou tellest me thou understandest no word of it, good or bad. There is, as it were, a wall about it that none may climb. Thou art instructed, yet thou knowest it not; this makes me afraid.’ Birch Zeitschrift 1871 pp. 61–64 Papyrus Anastasi I pl. X, l.8, pl. X l.4. Maspero, Hist. Anc. pp. 66–67.

142. Members of witch-cult were buried face downward. Man investigates ancestor in family tomb and finds disquieting condition.

143. Strange well in Arkham country—water gives out (or was never struck —hole kept tightly covered by a stone ever since dug)—no bottom—shunned and feared—what lay beneath (either unholy temple or other very ancient thing, or great cave-world).

144. Hideous book glimpsed in ancient shop—never seen again.

145. Horrible boarding house—closed door never opened.

146. Ancient lamp found in tomb—when filled and used, its light reveals strange world.

147. Any very ancient, unknown, or prehistoric object—its power of suggestion—forbidden memories.

148. Vampire dog.

149. Evil alley or enclosed court in ancient city—Union or Milligan St.

150. Visit to someone in wild and remote house—ride from station through the night—into the haunted hills—house by forest or water—terrible things live there.

151. Man forced to take shelter in strange house. Host has thick beard and dark glasses. Retires. In night guest rises and sees host’s clothes about—also mask which was the apparent face of whatever the host was. Flight.

152. Autonomic nervous system and subconscious mind do not reside in the head. Have mad physician decapitate a man but keep him alive and subconsciously controlled. Avoid copying tale by W. C. Morrow.

1928

153. Black cat on hill near dark gulf of ancient inn yard. Mew hoarsely—invites artist to nighted mysteries beyond. Finally dies at advanced age. Haunts dreams of artist—lures him to follow—strange outcome (never wakes up? or makes bizarre discovery of an elder world outside 3-dimensioned space?)

154. Trophonius—cave of. Vide Class. Dict. and Atlantic article.

155. Steepled town seen from afar at sunset—does not light up at night. Sail has been seen putting out to sea.

156. Adventures of a disembodied spirit—thro’ dim, half-familiar cities and over strange moors—thro’ space and time—other planets and universes in the end.

157. Vague lights, geometrical figures, etc., seen on retina when eyes are closed. Caus’d by rays from other dimensions acting on optick nerve? From other planets? Connected with a life or phase of being in which person could live if he only knew how to get there? Man afraid to shut eyes—he has been somewhere on a terrible pilgrimage and this fearsome seeing faculty remains.

158. Man has terrible wizard friend who gains influence over him. Kills him in defence of his soul—walls body up in ancient cellar—BUT—the dead wizard (who has said strange things about soul lingering in body) changes bodies with him . . . leaving him a conscious corpse in cellar.

159. Certain kind of deep-toned stately music of the style of the 1870’s or 1880’s recalls certain visions of that period—gas-litten parlours of the dead, moonlight on old floors, decaying business streets with gas lamps, etc.—under terrible circumstances.

160. Book which induces sleep on reading—cannot be read—determined man reads it—goes mad—precautions taken by aged initiate who knows—protection (as of author and translator) by incantation.

161. Time and space—past event—150 yrs ago—unexplained. Modern period—person intensely homesick for past says or does something which is psychically transmitted back and actually causes the past event.

162. Ultimate horror—grandfather returns from strange trip—mystery in house—wind and darkness—grandf. and mother engulfed—questions forbidden—somnolence—investigation—cataclysm—screams overheard—

163. Man whose money was obscurely made loses it. Tells his family he must go again to THE PLACE (horrible and sinister and extra-dimensional) where he got his gold. Hints of possible pursuers—or of his possible non-return. He goes—record of what happens to him—or what happens at his home when he returns. Perhaps connect with preceding topic. Give fantastic, quasi-Dunsanian treatment.

164. Man observed in a publick place with features (or ring or jewel) identified with those of man long (perhaps generations) buried.

165. Terrible trip to an ancient and forgotten tomb.

166. Hideous family living in shadow in ancient castle by edge of wood near black cliffs and monstrous waterfall.

167. Boy rear’d in atmosphere of considerable mystery. Believes father dead. Suddenly is told that father is about to return. Strange preparations—consequences.

168. Lonely bleak islands off N.E. coast. Horrors they harbour—outpost of cosmic influences.

169. What hatches from primordial egg.

170. Strange man in shadowy quarter of ancient city possesses something of immemorial archaic horror.

171. Hideous old book discovered—directions for shocking evocation.

1930

172. Pre-human idol found in desert.

173. Idol in museum moves in a certain way.

174. Migration of Lemmings—Atlantis.

175. Little green Celtic figures dug up in an ancient Irish bog.

176. Man blindfolded and taken in closed cab or car to some very ancient and secret place.

177. The dreams of one man actually create a strange half-mad world of quasi-material substance in another dimension. Another man, also a dreamer, blunders into this world in a dream. What he finds. Intelligence of denizens. Their dependence on the first dreamer. What happens at his death.

178. A very ancient tomb in the deep woods near where a 17th century Virginia manor-house used to be. The undecayed, bloated thing found within.

179. Appearance of an ancient god in a lonely and archaic place—prob. temple ruin. Atmosphere of beauty rather than horror. Subtle handling—presence revealed by faint sound or shadow. Landscape changes? Seen by child? Impossible to reach or identify locale again?

180. A general house of horror—nameless crime—sounds—later tenants—(Flammarion) (novel length?).

181. Inhabitant of another world—face masked, perhaps with human skin or surgically alter’d human shape, but body alien beneath robes. Having reached earth, tries to mix with mankind. Hideous revelation.

182. In ancient buried city a man finds a mouldering prehistoric document in English and in his own handwriting, telling an incredible tale. Voyage from present into past implied. Possible actualisation of this.

183. Reference in Egyptian papyrus to a secret of secrets under tomb of high-priest Ka-Nefer. Tomb finally found and identified—trap door in stone floor—staircase, and the illimitable black abyss.

184. Expedition lost in Antarctic or other weird place. Skeletons and effects found years later. Camera films used but undeveloped. Finders develop—and find strange horror.

185. Scene of an urban horror—Sous le Cap or Champlain Sts.—Quebec—rugged cliff-face—moss, mildew, dampness—houses half-burrowing into cliff.

186. Thing from sea—in dark house, man finds doorknobs etc. wet as from touch of something. He has been a sea-captain, and once found a strange temple on a volcanically risen island.

1931

187. Dream of awaking in vast hall of strange architecture, with sheet-covered forms on slabs—in positions similar to one’s own. Suggestions of disturbingly non-human outlines under sheets. One of the objects moves and throws off sheet—non-terrestrial being revealed. Sugg. that oneself is also such a being—mind has become transferred to body on other planet.

188. Desert of rock—prehistoric door in cliff, in the valley around which lie the bones of uncounted billions of animals both modern and prehistoric—some of them puzzlingly gnawed.

189. Ancient necropolis—bronze door in hillside which opens as the moonlight strikes it—focussed by ancient lens in pylon opposite?

1932

190. Primal mummy in museum—awakes and changes place with visitor.

191. An odd wound appears on a man’s hand suddenly and without apparent cause. Spreads. Consequences.

1933

192. Thibetan ROLANG—Sorcerer (or NGAGSPA) reanimates a corpse by holding it in a dark room—lying on it mouth to mouth and repeating a magic formula with all else banished from his mind. Corpse slowly comes to life and stands up. Tries to escape—leaps, bounds, and struggles—but sorcerer holds it. Continues with magic formula. Corpse sticks out tongue and sorcerer bites it off. Corpse then collapses. Tongue become a valuable magic talisman. If corpse escapes—hideous results and death to sorcerer.

193. Strange book of horror discovered in ancient library. Paragraphs of terrible significance copies. Later unable to find and verify text. Perhaps discover body or image or charm under floor, in secret cupboard, or elsewhere. Idea that book was merely hypnotic delusion induced by dead brain or ancient magic.

194. Man enters (supposedly) own house in pitch dark. Feels way to room and shuts door behind him. Strange horrors—or turns on lights and finds alien place or presence. Or finds past restored or future indicated.

195. Pane of peculiar-looking glass from a ruined monastery reputed to have harboured devil-worship set up in modern house at edge of wild country. Landscape looks vaguely and unplaceably wrong through it. It has some unknown time-distorting quality, and comes from a primal, lost civilisation. Finally, hideous things in other world seen through it.

196. Daemons, when desiring an human form for evil purposes, take to themselves the bodies of hanged men.

197. Loss of memory and entry into a cloudy world of strange sights and experiences after shock, accident, reading of strange book, participation in strange rite, draught of strange brew, etc. Things seen have vague and disquieting familiarity. Emergence. Inability to retrace course.

1934

198. Distant tower visible from hillside window. Bats cluster thickly around it at night. Observer fascinated. One night wakes to find self on unknown black circular staircase. In tower? Hideous goal.

199. Black winged thing flies into one’s house at night. Cannot be found or identified—but subtle developments ensue.

200. Invisible Thing felt—or seen to make prints—on mountain top or other height, inaccessible place.

201. Planets form’d of invisible matter.

202. A monstrous derelict—found and boarded by a castaway or shipwreck survivor.

203. A return to a place under dreamlike, horrible, and only dimly comprehended circumstances. Death and decay reigning—town fails to light up at night—Revelation.

204. Disturbing conviction that all life is only a deceptive dream with some dismal or sinister horror lurking behind.

205. Person gazes out window and finds city and world dark and dead (or oddly changed) outside.

206. Trying to identify and visit the distant scenes dimly seen from one’s window—bizarre consequences.

207. Something snatched away from one in the dark—in a lonely, ancient, and generally shunned place.

208. (Dream of) some vehicle—railway train, coach, etc.—which is boarded in a stupor or fever, and which is a fragment of some past or ultra-dimensional world—taking the passenger out of reality—into vague, age-crumbled regions or unbelievable gulfs of marvel.

1935

209. Special Correspondence of NY Times—March 3, 1935 “Halifax, N.S.—Etched deeply into the face of an island which rises from the Atlantic surges off the S. coast of Nova Scotia 20 m. from Halifax is the strangest rock phenomenon which Canada boasts. Storm, sea, and frost have graven into the solid cliff of what has come to be known as Virgin’s Island an almost perfect outline of the Madonna with the Christ Child in her arms. The island has sheer and wave-bound sides, is a danger to ships, and is absolutely uninhabited. So far as is known, no human being has ever set foot on its shores.”

210. An ancient house with blackened pictures on the walls—so obscured that their subjects cannot be deciphered. Cleaning—and revelation. Cf. Hawthorne—Edw. Rand. Port.

211. Begin story with presence of narrator—inexplicable to himself—in utterly alien and terrifying scenes (dream?).

212. Strange human being (or beings) living in some ancient house or ruins far from populous district (either old N.E. or far exotic land). Suspicion (based on shape and habits) that it is not all human.

213. Ancient winter woods—moss—great boles—twisted branches—dark—ribbed roots—always dripping. . . .

214. Talking rock of Africa—immemorially ancient oracle in desolate jungle ruins that speaks with a voice out of the aeons.

215. Man with lost memory in strange, imperfectly comprehended environment. Fears to regain memory—a glimpse. . . .

216. Man idly shapes a queer image—some power impels him to make it queerer than he understands. Throws it away in disgust—but something is abroad in the night.

217. Ancient (Roman? prehistoric?) stone bridge washed away by a (sudden and curious?) storm. Something liberated which had been sealed up in the masonry of years ago. Things happen.

218. Mirage in time—image of long-vanish’d pre-human city.

219. Fog or smoke—assumes shaped under incantations.

220. Bell of some ancient church or castle rung by some unknown hand—a thing . . . or an invisible Presence.

221. Insects or other entities from space attack and penetrate a man’s head and cause him to remember alien and exotic things—possible displacement of personality.

#prompts #fic prompts #rp prompts #starters #rp starters #drabble prompts #lovecraft #cw: horror #cw: death #cw: body horror #ooc? what's ooc?

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