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Gibbous Chapter 9

Chapter Title: The Thought of Fresh Meat Is Making Me Ill

Summary: It was October. A month full of cheer for the macabre. A month where humans gleefully wore the skins of those they saw as monsters. A month that Virgil generally enjoyed. It was the one month out of the year where he felt the most alive. Yet somehow, for this year’s October, he felt dead inside. Like his body had turned into the rotting corpse of a zombie and his soul was somehow still trapped inside.

Pairings: platonic lamp & platonic sleepxiety

Chapter Word-Count: 5503

Warnings: Verbal/Emotional Abuse, Anxiety, Depression, Paranoia, Arguing, Disassociation, Sensory Overload (Yeah this one isn't gonna be a particularly happy one, Virgil Is Spiraling Mentally Big Time)

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Surprise b*tch, bet you thought you saw the last of me! I'm back for my yearly update--this chapter is dedicated to all the lovely comments people have left on previous chapter! Also!! I rewrote a significant amount of Crescent Chapter 3 and added onto Gibbous Chapter 5, the latter you might want to reread as it adds a bit to the opening scene of this chapter.

Chapter title taken from "I know I'm a Wolf" from the Young Heretics!

In books, there was always a perfect, logical sense of progression. Stories were generally told in a three-act structure. The setup, the midpoint and the resolution. The beginning of a story established the protagonist to the reader. It gave you details about their personality, their way of living, their wants and desires. Then the protagonist found themselves upended by an inciting incident.

Something that caused their way of living to never again be the same. Tension grew and grew as they sought to come about a way to continue living. Until it reached a climax, one where after which, they either thrived or withered away. In which case, the story ended as the protagonist returned to a new sense of normalcy.

One that would last until the next inciting incident came along to shake up their world once again.

Once one found this pattern, it was hard to ever see stories the same way again. There were certain things to always expect—things you could decipher before the story’s end. Real life, however, wasn’t quite like that.

Or at least this was what Logan had come to find. Sure, in many ways events in life played out like stories. There was an inciting incident, something that arose tension as one sought to solve the dilemma. It just wasn’t as neatly bound together like a story or even a math equation. Life was messy, complicated—it threw in plot twists or details that critics would claim lazy and unbelievable.

Logan was harshly reminded of this in the case of one Virgil Raine. He couldn’t understand—he was doing everything right, remaining patient and giving Virgil a chance to open up to Logan on his own time. Yet the human shied further and further away, all development he made since working at the library immediately erased. Virgil even shut out all notions of spending time outside work without explanation. It’d been weeks at this point with no result despite the attempts of Logan, Patton and even Remy, who was arguably the closet with Virgil.

Perhaps this was something that should be expected. Virgil rarely spoke about his past, but what little he shared, he had to fend mostly for his own from a young age. Whoever hurt Virgil caused him to believe again he couldn't rely on anyone but himself.

Logan was not a particularly violent person. He'd been ignorantly cruel once upon a time, yes, but even back then he wasn't one to have the urge to kill people. The wolfish part of him begged to differ, as always. His instincts howled at him to find that person and tear them limb to limb. Better yet, they demanded he snatch Virgil away and bring him against his will to the pack, to safety. As much as Logan wanted this, logically he knew Virgil might never fully trust Patton or himself ever again despite their good intentions. Illogically, he couldn��t bring himself to do the one thing he swore he’d never do again, even if it was for Virgil's safety.

He pondered this, sitting in front of a mountain of paperwork. It was late, too late for him to still be at the library. He couldn’t bring himself to move from his desk, not until he figured something out. He gnashed sharpened teeth in agitation, gripping his hair with claw-like fingernails. It didn't help that normally this time of the month, his cognitive thinking skills were usually in a different state of being. If he wasn't careful, the cleaning staff might find a wolf rampant in the library the next morning.

His phone rang just then, some meme-related ringtone Roman picked out that he’d found funny. Logan snatched it up and answered it.

“Patton, listen, I will be home soon I am just finishing up—”

“I’m not Patton,” The person on the other line cut in, “It’s me, Remy.”

“Oh,” Logan cleared his throat, thrown off by this revelation, “is something the matter?”

“Yeah, something’s the matter alright,” Remy said, his voice hoarse, “I fucked up big time with Virgil.”

It was October. A month full of cheer for the macabre. A month where humans gleefully wore the skins of those they saw as monsters. A month that Virgil generally enjoyed. It was the one month out of the year where he felt the most alive. Yet somehow, for this year’s October, he felt dead inside. Like his body had turned into the rotting corpse of a zombie and his soul was somehow still trapped inside.

He supposed it had something to do with how September slipped from his fingers much in the way that his phone slipped from Jerad’s fingers. Falling all the way down, down, down, breaking upon the asphalt below into a million tiny pieces. Tried as he might, the memory haunted him in the waking world as well as his dreams.

Only, in his dreams, sometimes it was him that fell to the ground. Like a shoddy version of Humpty Dumpty. Remy, Patton and Logan would try to fix him to no avail. They’d always leave, scoffing that it wasn’t worth it. He couldn’t cry or reach out towards them, begging for them to return. He could only lay there, broken and bleeding, watching as they abandoned him. Sometimes Roman showed up to gloat, mocking him for thinking they ever cared for him.

The worst thing about it? He knew it was going to happen in real life. It was only a matter of time. Even Jerad knew this.

“C’mon, you really want to hang out with them and not me, your friend?” Jerad scoffed, “what have they done for you? Have they helped out you when you couldn’t pay rent? Replaced your shitty phone for the best smartphone out there?”

“Well no but—”

“Face it, V-Man, they’re using you. They set you up with a new job, making you beholden to them and it’s sickening! They don’t actually care about you. Once they’ve had their fun jerking you around, they’ll just throw you out with the garbage. And I don’t want you coming to me, bawling like a baby, when it happens!”

As much as Jerad was a jerk, Virgil knew deep down he was right. He’d been so ecstatic at their displays of friendship, he didn’t even stop to consider it was all a façade. Maybe they themselves thought it was real, that they actually cared for him. But eventually they’ll realize the truth. That he’s a loser and nothing more.

Or maybe they already knew the truth and were merely toying with him. Virgil was just a human, mortal through and through. Remy, Patton and Logan were all near-immortal, unkillable save a well-placed piece of silver and a stake of wood in Remy’s case. At least with Jerad, he was honest. He knew Virgil was a loser and made it clear he only hung out with Virgil because it was better than nothing.

Jerad had been nice to Virgil lately—or nice as Jerad could be at least. He’d insisted on occasionally giving Virgil rides to and from work. An offer Virgil couldn’t refuse—no matter how hard his heart thudded against his chest with Jerad’s sharp swerves and his blaring car radio. He taken to asking about Virgil’s day even, asking where he’d been and what he’d been doing. He even took Virgil out to bars and clubs in an attempt to get him to loosen up.

Virgil wanted to tell him he’d rather set himself on fire than willingly enter a noisy nightclub. However every time his lips went to form those words, he found himself saying yes always. So that was how he found himself dissociating in a noisy nightclub, holding onto a pink-colored alcoholic beverage he faked taking a sip from.

A hand knocked jokingly against his forehead. “Yo, Virgin!”

Virgil blinked, his gaze blearily onto Jerad. It was hard to concentrate with all the flashing lights and loud music. He wanted to crawl underneath his beloved purple fleece blanket in his dark, silent bedroom and never leave. But he couldn’t leave just yet. Jerad had been nice to take him along to the club. If he’d asked leave now, he’d get upset. He knew eventually Jerad would get upset at him for something, but he preferred to delay that as long as possible.

“Yeah?” Virgil mumbled, curling his fingers tighter around the alcoholic drink that had been hoisted upon him. Jerad knew he didn’t like alcohol—it was something he ridiculed Virgil about constantly. He always insisted on Virgil drinking, saying he’d stop being a pussy and man up eventually about it.

“Are you high or something? You looked like you were seeing into the third dimension or something.”

Virgil shrugged. Jerad laughed at that, patting him on the back. Virgil tensed from each thud of Jerad’s hand, but he did not flinch or move away. It was a friendly gesture on Jerad’s part. If he wanted to really hurt Virgil, he would’ve put more force behind it.

“Probably not! You’re too much of an anxious wimp,” Jerad said, downing the contents of his drink, “but let me know if you ever get man enough to try it—your good friend Jerad has connections.”

“Okay.” Virgil said, his voice sounding far off in the distance to his own ears.

Jerad laughed again, and then started rambling about something probably among the lines of his most recent hookup, his parents being jerks for not giving him a new sports car or the latest college professor he deemed a complete idiot. Virgil stared at him, nodding all the right moments yet barely processed any of the words being directed his way.

Even with lungs filled with air and a warm beating heart, Virgil felt nothing. He was nothing. A worthless sentient waste of space. Like an ugly mutt nobody wanted that should be euthanized to end its miserable existence.

His phone—the replacement one Jerad gave him—vibrated in his pocket. A text, no doubt from one of the others. The fourth one this night. Virgil’s hand twitched, refraining from looking at it in the presence of Jerad. Virgil didn’t feel like losing a second phone within a month of the first.

“Um, hey,” Virgil interrupted, wincing, “I gotta go use the bathroom, is that alright?”

“’Is that alright?’” Jerad mimicked in a high pitch tone, “Dude, is this elementary school or something? You want a hall pass? Me to hold your hand the whole way there?”

Virgil stared at him.

Jerad rolled his eyes, “Go ahead, whatever. I don’t care if you take a dump, just be quick with it.”

“Thanks.” Virgil bit out, running off before Jerad could change his mind.

He twisted and pivoted around the crowd of sweaty, glistening bodies wearing skimpy clothing. The bright neon lights and loud music warped around him like something out of a nightmare. Eventually he made it to the restrooms and locked himself in the nearest stall. The pulse of his heart roaring in his ears, he drew the phone of his pocket.

Four New Text Notifications from Patton

Patton: [Image of a black cat that looked approximately a year old. It appeared to be nestled close to Patton’s chest, staring up at the camera in wide-eyed stare.]

Patton: Look at what I found on my evening walk! Isn’t she the cutest??

Patton: I’m trying to convince Logan to let me keep her. Maybe you can come visit tomorrow and meet her??

Patton: It’s ok if not! I know you’ve been busy and I want to let you know I’m here for you, you can come to me about anything okay?

Virgil’s vision blurred a bit. He didn’t understand it. Why hadn’t Patton given up already? It’s been weeks since he’s sent Patton a text. He’d been terrified, too, really. And in the few times he ran into Patton at the library, he made excuses and scurried the other way.

Logan was at least kind enough to exchange a few pleasantries and keep their verbal interactions work-oriented. And Remy? They still delved deep into discussions about their taste in music but there was an awkward unspoken agreement not to bring up what happened that one morning. Virgil also shied from hanging outside of work, hoping Remy would eventually forget about him. It seemed to be working; Remy hadn’t offered to hang out in about a week or so.

But Patton? Patton seemed determined to stay in contact with Virgil, sending his dumb silly memes and cute animal videos. He sent good morning and good night texts, while making sure Virgil knew he could respond to them on his own time. On one hand, it made sense—this was the same Patton who saved a complete stranger’s life for literally no reason. On the other hand, he wished Patton would give up. It would made things easier, make it hurt less for everyone.

His phone buzzed with a new text notification.

Jerad: Dude, did you fall in or something?

Virgil swallowed, wiping away any stupid tears running down his face. As he typed a response to Jerad with shaky hands, the bathroom door slammed open, banging against the wall. He almost dropped his phone in the process, silently cursing at how close he’d been to breaking yet another phone.

Several loud booming voices filled the bathroom, peppered with obnoxious laughter every half second. Virgil shut his eyes, resisting the urge to cover his ears also in the process. The noise was too much. It was too much in the club outside, but all those voices echoing off the small crammed walls of the bathroom made Virgil want to scream.

The door creaked open yet again, the voices venturing away from Virgil. Good, they were leaving so Virgil could finally self-destruct in peace. Or so he thought, as a set of footsteps stopped abruptly, wavering. The club music blasted from the doorway, drowning out whatever discussion took place.

Then the door swung shut, the roaring club music muted once more. Virgil waited, breath catching in his throat as the single set of footsteps took a couple strides towards him. Oh god, this was how he was going to die, wasn’t he? This was probably some serial killer with an obsession of killing people in night club restrooms.

This was, of course, the moment his phone started vibrating in his hand. A call. Someone was calling him in the final moments of his life. Virgil looked down at the caller id; Remy. His heartrate spiked, dancing so painfully close to what a heart attack must feel like. Why was Remy calling him? Was he at last going to tell him he was done with Virgil forever?

Virgil almost wanted to ignore the call. But then he glanced at the black boots hovering near his stall and gave it a second thought. If this was going to be how his life ended, it’d probably be best to say goodbye to someone at least. Sucking a breath in, he pressed the green phone icon and held the phone to his ears.

“Hi?” He whispered.

“Hey Virgil,” Remy said, echoing oddly in Virgil’s ears, “what are you up to tonight?”

Virgil glanced down at the black boots menacingly close to his stall, “Umm, I’m just home, chilling.”

“That’s a lie, Hon. I know you’re hiding in a stall of this bathroom.”

“W-what are you talking about?” Virgil couldn’t breathe.

Remy sighed, sounding so similar to the person outside the stall, “Please, let’s talk face to face, alright?”

This was some sort of trick to lure him out of the stall, wasn’t it? Still, with the hand not clutching tightly to his phone, he reached out and unlatched the stall door.

Remy stood there, expression hidden under his black shades. His hair was slicked back with gel, shimmering with a glitter of some sort. He wore his iconic black leather jacket with a black crop top underneath. His whole outfit was black, in fact, down to his ripped jeans and the ankle-length boots. Virgil had seen him wear something similar before to a college event he’d taken Virgil to.

“W-what are you doing here?” Virgil demanded.

“I could ask you the same,” Remy responded, eyebrows raised above his shades, “this isn’t your scene, Virge. What are you doing here?”

“I’m not answering unless you answer.” Virgil said, trying to ignore how much he sounded like a toddler.

“A few of my homies from the art program wanted to celebrate the end of mid-terms. This is the night club most of the college body hangs at.” Remy crossed his arms.

“And how did you know I was in here?”

“A few keen observations,” Remy mustered a thin smile. He tapped his nose for emphasis before drawing his finger close to his lips. Virgil’s eyes widened in understanding. Vampire senses, then. “But mostly, I’d recognize those faded converse of yours anywhere.”

“O-oh.”

“I answered your question, now it’s your turn, Virge.”

“I…” Virgil said, the rest of his words strangled in his throat. His phone buzzed in his hand; another impatient text from Jerad no doubt. He didn’t bother to look at it, choosing to focus on taking a breath in rather than going unconscious from a lack of oxygen.

He could tell Remy the truth. That he’d gone with Jerad—his roommate whom he used to complain to Remy about all the time. But then Remy would ask why he was with Jerad and then—well. Then Virgil would have tell him what happened the time he found him the night his phone broke and well, Virgil wasn’t ready for that. He couldn’t tell Remy about his humiliating mistake.

“I…went here to have a good time completely by myself.” Virgil withheld himself from wincing because wow that didn’t sound weird or suspicious in the slightest, “So you can go catch up with your friends or whatever, I’m good hanging out right here.”

“Right here, in the restroom?”

“Yeah.”

“Honey,” Remy said, his voice washed with some emotion Virgil couldn’t identify, “Let’s ditch this shithole and go somewhere else.”

“W-what—but your friends—” Virgil stammered.

“—will be fine without me. N-G-L they’ll probably too trying to give themselves alcohol poison even realize I’m gone,” Remy shrugged his shoulders, “besides, you don’t seem as gucci as you say you are in here and it’s been a while since we really hung out hung out, y’know?”

Virgil stubbornly directed his gaze away from Remy, jaw tightening. It had to be okay, didn’t it? Jerad was most likely to get too drunk to even coherent colors, let alone that Virgil slipped off without him. Maybe he wouldn’t be mad. Maybe he wouldn’t fly into a rage and come close to hanging him off a balcony. Besides Remy would be even more suspicious if he said no.

Virgil sighed, holding the home button on the phone until it shut off completely. That way he wouldn’t have to deal with Jerad calling him, demanding to know where he’d disappear off to, despite ditching Virgil all the time without warning.

“Alright, fine.”

Remy smiled, his teeth looking a little too sharp for Virgil’s liking. Wordlessly he turned aside and reached for the bathroom door.

Virgil swallowed, shoving the phone in his pocket to be forgotten about. Tried as he might, he still flinched as lively blare of the club’s music and flashing lights greeted him with full force. He froze, cowering before the threshold of the door. A hand landed on his shoulder, soft and gentle.

“Virgil?” Remy asked, his brows furrowing together.

Molten lava settled in the pit of Virgil’s stomach—pity. That was the expression on Remy’s face he couldn’t identify at first. He didn’t want pity; Virgil knew what pity meant. He didn’t want pity of any kind, it reminded him too much of the foster parents that looked at him like he was some feral dog that could be whipped into obedience. And sure, Remy had never hurt him but it didn’t mean Virgil forgotten about that morning spent at Remy’s dorm a month back.

Eyes lit up with a burning, controlled fire. Words hissed through a clenching jaw, “Tell me their name and I’ll beat them up for you.”

If Remy was willing to hurt who he deemed as threats to Virgil, who’s to say he wouldn’t be willing to hurt Virgil? To reprimand Virgil, to let him know how much of an idiot he was being? It sounded absurd, even now, because he’d known Remy for almost a year. Remy had plenty opportunities up to now to do something and hadn’t. Yet he was a vampire; years were nothing to him. He had plenty of time to wait for Virgil to slip up in some way and make his irritation known.

And Virgil knew by now to expect the other shoe to drop in a relationship—it was why he distanced himself, isolated himself to solely to work and his cramped little room at the apartment. He was foolish to believe Remy, Patton and Logan were different. Logan and Patton especially—what was he thinking? Patton saved him, sure, but Logan had been hellbent on locking him in their basement for the eternity of time. Why had ever he allowed himself to accept their apologies, to believe something was going right in his life for once?

“I’m fine.” Virgil snarled, shoving himself forward. It was like marching into a warzone, the music assaulted his ears and rattled uncomfortably against his chest cavity. He grimaced, keeping his eyes towards the floor, away from the flashing lights. He stopped a bit before the ocean of bodies that stood between them and the entrance.

He knew if he looked up, he could make out the back of Jerad’s shirt from his spot at the bar. Stupid, this was so stupid. Why had he allowed himself to get talk into this by Remy? There was no doubt in his mind that Jerad would catch him trying to leave and rightfully demand why he was ditching him for Remy. It was a shit thing to do, after all.

Friends don’t ditch one another without explanation. Jerad left him, sure, but he always had an explanation after the fact. Virgil didn’t think Jerad would like his explanation very much. Especially when it involved Remy, one of the people Jerad had been trying to warn him about.

A hand gracefully looped itself around one of his own, tugging him off to the side rather than through the crowd. Virgil looked to see Remy guiding them towards a set of doors, ones clearly marked for employees only.

“Remy—”

“Shhh, this is a faster way outta here, trust me.” He said, flashing a smile. Perhaps it was meant to be comforting but for Virgil it only caused his stomach to churn.

Right before they made it to the doors, an employee materialized in front of them. “Excuse me, sirs, you’re not allowed back here—”

“Cindy, gurl, remember me, Lansing? Worked here last summer? Do you remember, yeah?” Remy lowered his shades to take a look at her. Virgil peered behind him, unable to view Remy’s face. He could see Cindy’s face, however. Her face pinched up in confusion, frowning, before abruptly smoothening out with a wide grin stretched from ear-to-ear. She looked right at Remy, her gaze shifting entirely off of Virgil as if he no longer existed.

“Lansing, oh! Oh yes, I remember.” Cindy said, with a high-pitched laugh. Virgil shrunk further back into Remy’s shadow, squeezing Remy’s hand tightly. Something was wrong and he didn’t like it. Remy never mentioned working as a bartender—and that wasn’t quite something Remy would be quiet about. Virgil could just picture the outrageous bartending stories he’d have if that was the case.

Remy laughed along with her, light and airy.

“Good, then can ya do a fellow former co-bartender a favor and let us slip through, just this once?”

“Gurl, of course, just if you caught don’t let Gregory know I was the one that let you pass.” She leaned in conspiratorially, face twitching a bit.

“Oh don’t worry, you won’t see us again, in fact forget that you even saw us. I’d love to stay and catch up, but I bet you have things to do.”

She laughed again at that. “Yes, of course. It was nice seeing you, Lansing, but I have to go.”

Cindy hurried off, quickly dissipating through the crowd. Virgil blinked; what the fuck? What the fuck was that—

He didn’t even have time to process the encounter before Remy led them into the dimly lit back hallway of the nightclub. Whether it was a faster way out of the nightclub was debatable. For all his talk about previously working there, Remy seemed just as lost as Virgil in the winding hallway. He led them one direction, only to immediately pivot down the other way.

Remy wasn’t talking. Remy was always talking endlessly, as if speaking was as vital as oxygen to him. He was terrible at whispering too—something Logan would get on him about at the library. That was why he was usually stuck on front desk duty to speak with patrons, helping out at events or doing organizational work in the back office. For Remy to be this silent, like the brooding calm before a storm, well. Virgil’s lungs wanted to seize up right then and there.

Eventually, they made to a door that opened out to an alleyway, right where the night club kept its dumpster. The moon gleamed from her perch in the sky, nearly full but not quite. Like a cookie with a bite taken out of it. Virgil knew there was terms for the different phases of the moon. His mother loved taking him out to see the night sky. She’d point out the constellations and tell him what phase the moon that night was.

He wished he could remember, for her sake, what they were. Considering he knew actual werewolves, you’d think he pay better attention to it. But it was a topic Virgil never felt brave enough to venture and one that neither Patton nor Logan opened up much on their own about.

He stared at the moon, transfixed, that he almost forgotten the reason he was outside in the first place. Not until Remy murmured something before attempting to lead him off somewhere. The gaping dread from moments prior seized hold of him once more.

“No!” Virgil snapped, yanking his hand out of Remy’s grip. He stumbled backwards a few steps, slamming himself into a wall of the building in the process.

“Virgil?” Remy asked, frowning as he took a step forward.

“What the hell was that back there?”

“What do you mean—”

“Don’t act stupid!” Virgil demanded, taking a shaky breath, “That lady—Cindy—you did something, I—I don’t know, she was acting weird! And—and you were acting weird! So I’m asking again; What. The Hell. Was. That?”

Remy stared at him, his breath hitching, “Virgil, I was just trying to get you to a quiet place ASAP before you—”

“You’re still not answering the question.” Virgil cut in, his intestines tightening themselves into knots over it. Because maybe this was just a classic case of Virgil paranoia striking again. Maybe he really was driving himself into a panic attack over nothing. Maybe he was accusing Remy unjustly.

Yet, if that was the case why would Remy flinch if Virgil struck him physically with his words?

“Virgil,” Remy said slowly, “I need you not to panic and hear me out, ok?”

Virgil’s heartrate accelerated. Not panic, not panic?! What did Remy expect but for him to panic at those words?

“Okay.” Virgil said, definitely panicking.

“What have you’ve heard about vamps?”

“That they—you drink blood. And your reflection doesn’t show up in mirrors—and—and if you get bitten by a vampire, you’ll either turn into one or get mind controlled.”

“All technically true, well I mean—there’s a fuck-ton more to the turning process than that—” Remy cut himself off, “That’s beside the point. The point is, what you call mind-control, we call ‘enthralling.’ Enthralling is…”

“Is what?”

“Enthralling is, well. It’s a form of hypnosis. Anyone enthralled by a vampire is mostly aware of it and the least likely they are to follow a vampire’s suggestions, the more likely they are to fight against the hypnosis. And it can be activated through eye-contact which is what I did to Cindy.”

Virgil couldn’t breathe. Suddenly pieces were slotted together in mind, forming a picture Virgil never wanted to envision. That faint but visceral memory of Remy with red eyes, the natural charisma Remy held with anyone he met, how Remy managed to steal confidential information from Virgil’s employee file in the back office of Kirby’s Burgers—all of it. He thought Remy, out of anybody, was safe. Past his sassy, laidback exterior, Remy was honest, willing to speak his mind about anything and everything.

If Remy enthralled a complete stranger without blinking an eye—who’s to say he wasn’t above doing it to Virgil? Who’s to say he hadn’t enthralled Virgil into being his friend? Who’s to say Virgil wasn’t an oblivious mouse in a game of cat and mouse? Oh gods, this had just confirmed all of Virgil’s worst fears and more.

“Virgil—” Remy said, reaching out, his eyes hidden beneath his shades. He continued speaking, a mumble jumbo string of excuses probably. Virgil couldn’t stand to stay around and listen to it.

“Stop—just don’t—” Virgil stuttered, taking one step and then another towards the open sidewalk. What was just a few steps then became a few hundred until he found himself leaning against the door to the apartment, hands shaking to slot the key to unlock it.

A few more steps he was inside, the usual musty smell an unexpected comfort. He sat on the couch, seconds stretching into eternity. He half-expected Remy to have chased after him, demanding Virgil to listen, why couldn’t you just listen, you’re so stupid no wonder you’re pathetic—

Virgil blinked a few times, his eyes burning with some sort of irritation. For some reason, Remy let him go. He couldn’t decide if that was a good or bad thing. His head ached and so did his ears for some reason.

Jerad entered the apartment a few millennia later. Virgil froze at the rattling doorknob, his hand clutching onto his phone in his pocket.

“There you are, you fucker!” Jerad drawled, stumbling over in a drunken stupor. His hand moved towards Virgil, but not with a closed fist. Instead he patted him on the back like earlier, “I can’t believe you did it! You finally got the balls to go and hook up with somebody! I guess I can’t call you Virgin, now huh?”

“Uh-huh,” Virgil murmured, not correcting him on that assumption. He sat there, a bit of tension draining from him. Jerad wasn’t mad for abandoning him. Jerad was still a jerk, but at least Virgil mostly knew what to expect of him. It wasn’t ideal, but that was life. It was better to deal with the devil you knew, then the devil you didn’t know. Virgil was stupid to have ever thought otherwise.

“My parents are being such dicks at the moment,” Jerad said, precipitously changing topics as per usual of him, “sometimes I wish I didn’t have to wait until they were dead to take my inheritance and do what I want to do, y’know?”

Virgil didn’t really know. Did his parents leave him money? They had to have had some sort of savings stashed away. A life insurance of some sort, right? It wasn’t like they were poor. He never thought about inquiring into that. Jerad accidentally slapped Virgil across the arm with a huge hand gesture, still ranting about something. Maybe it wasn’t an accidental hit.

Virgil didn’t know. His tether on reality felt weak, like a balloon close to floating away into the stratosphere. He almost wished he could float away, but the weight in his chest said otherwise. Jerad passed out not long after his rant, slumped half on the floor and half on the sofa. Virgil took this opportunity to slip into the comfort of his bedroom and turn on his cellphone once more.

Seventeen new text notifications and five missed calls from Jerad greeted him, along with one new text notification from Logan. He clicked on Logan’s and his conversation, staring at Logan’s text at the bottom of it.

Logan: Virgil, Remy wanted me to inform you that he is taking a leave of absence from work. Please let me know if you need to take a leave of absence as well or need to confide in somebody as a friend, Patton or I would be happy to listen.

Virgil stared at it some more. Then he tapped out a short response, set the phone on the stool that was his makeshift nightstand and collapsed headfirst into his mattress.

Virgil: K thanks, I’m fine

A/N: Hope everyone is doing well, if you enjoyed the chapter please consider leaving a comment--it's completely free and helps me out as a fanfic writer a ton! I'm technically not in the Sanders Sides fandom anymore, but I still have a lotta fondness for this fic and I will finish it, even if takes me ten years to do so :') -Kat

#sanders sides #virgil sanders #logan sanders #remy sanders #kat writes #werewolf au #long post

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ghostofstudentspast · 4 years

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Hide and Seek

#5 “Yes I’m bitter, it’s part of my charm.”

Draco x Reader

Another one for @nebulablakemurphy ‘s 500 celebration!!

This was going to be longer but I don’t have access to my laptop for the next two weeks and wanted to post this 😅

“Draco please,” you begged for the millionth time that day, “you know Pansy won’t go to Hogsmeade when it’s snowing, and I don’t want to go alone.”

“Hogsmeade is for kids Y/N,” the boy sitting next to you on the dining bench rolled his eyes and continued eating his breakfast and ignoring you.

“We are kids you prat,” you elbowed him in the ribs ever so lightly.

You’d been friends with Draco Malfoy for as long as you could remember. Your families had always been close, as pureblood circles usually are. Together you had played hours of hide and seek in the manor gardens before Hogwarts. When it was finally time for the two of you to head to school, you had nervously clung onto Draco’s hand for the entire sorting ceremony, all the way until they called your name.

It was lucky you’d been sorted into Slytherin, most of the people you knew were sorted there and Draco was no different. He wasn’t your best friend, but he was your oldest friend. This was exactly the reason why you could never in a million years tell him outright that you were hopelessly in love with him.

“Fine, if you stop whining I’ll take you,” the blond boy muttered without looking up from the book he had folded open on the table.

“I knew you’d come around,” You grinned and returned to your breakfast.

“You’re lucky I love you,” he teased and lightly kicked your foot under the table with a smirk, never taking his eyes off the pages in front of him. You nearly choked on your toast but managed to hide it with a cough.

It wasn’t uncommon for you to be affectionate towards each other. A hug, an arm around your shoulders, one of you messing with the other’s hair, it still caught you by surprise every time.

Like now, Draco had one arm slung over your shoulders as the two of you walked through light snow to get to Hogsmeade. Even through layers of sweaters and gloves, you swore you could feel the heat radiating off his arm. With the tiny snowflakes sticking to your hair and robes, it was comforting.

“You should really come stay at the mansion for a few days over Christmas break,” Draco squeezed your shoulder with a small smile, “Mum hasn’t stopped talking about you since…well since forever now that I think about it,” he let out a short laugh.

“We’re already coming down for the yearly ball Draco, I can’t just live at your house,” You laughed and shook your head. Narcissa doted on you like you were her own child and Draco never stopped making fun of you for it. He always swore she loved you more than him.

“Yeah but I never get enough of you,” he smirked as your cheeks darkened to a terrible red. At least you could blame it on the chill, usually it was painfully obvious. Sometimes you forgot how flirty your friend could be, and how much it actually affected you.

“I’m sure if you beg hard enough I can find some time,” you bit the inside of your cheek to keep from grinning like a fool every time Draco cast a glance at you.

“Speaking of begging,” he stopped walking, people milling about you, making their way into the small town a few streets down. “I know you really don’t want to and you hate doing me favours but would you be my date for the ball this year?”

The Malfoy Christmas ball, an annual tradition beloved by all Pureblood families. It was a chance for everyone to get together, catch up and let loose a little. You loved those parties, it was a chance to see all of your childhood friends and dressing up was always a guilty pleasure. As a kid, you’d mostly spent the night running through the manor or stuck to your mother skirts. No one expected you to really behave as a kid but after the age of sixteen, everyone’s parents pressured them to bring a date and act ‘adult’. It was just how it had always been done, and even though you were aware how old and stiff Pureblood traditions really were, you couldn’t exactly say no.

Normally Draco was quick to get a date, he was handsome and smart, and no intelligent Pureblood would turn down a Malfoy. You however, were a little less enthusiastic about the prospect of dragging a random boy along with you all night. Nevertheless, you did (ditching them as soon as your parents had a glass of wine in them).

“Dray you know I would but…I’ve already said I’d go with Theo.” Your mouth tilted into an apologetic smile as you shrugged. Your heart was pounding in your chest, the one-time Draco asked you to go, even just as friends, and you already had a date…Fuck.

“You’re taking Nott? Seriously?” Draco scoffed, giving you a look of disgust.

“What’s wrong with Theo? He’s a nice guy!” You crossed your arms defensively. Draco was never a fan of your dates, he was just protective over you, but it still got on your nerves.

“Yeah he’s nice to you because he wants to get under your skirt,” he sneered and rolled his eyes.

“Oh my god, you’re so bitter!” You said, throwing your hands up in frustration.

“Yes, I’m bitter, it’s part of my charm,” he sighed accepting defeat, “come on.” He grabbed your hand and steered you into Hogsmeade again hoping to get out of there faster, so he could wallow in self-pity.

“You call it charm, I call it having your head up your ass.” You shake your head but let him drag you along anyway. “Listen if it makes you feel better I’ll help find you a date alright? I already know who’s going with who, the girls won’t shut up about it.” You chuckled to yourself at the thought of your dormmates and their late-night gossip sessions.

“Alright fine, but you better not stick me with Bulstrode,” Draco’s tone was snippy, but you knew he wasn’t really annoyed. He only wants to go with you as a favour, not a real date, you couldn’t help but think.

Finding Draco a date was easy. You had barely mentioned it to your dormmates in passing before Daphne had practically pushed her younger sister forward like a sacrificial lamb. Astoria was a shy girl, only a year younger than you. It was her first year taking a date and the poor girl had been wrecked with nerves, so Daphne had been on the lookout in her stead.

The worst part was, Astoria was gorgeous. She was this petite girl with gorgeous long dark hair and the clearest skin you’d ever seen on a teenager. It was awful. Not that you were jealous of course, you just knew she was more Draco’s type than you would ever be.

But with your mum’s help you had been primped into the elegant daughter of a Pureblood family. It really was a once a year occasion. Your dress robes were fitted perfectly to your size and your hair had been curled perfectly by expertly performed magic. Not yours of course, your mum’s.

With a soft pop your family apparated to the front gates of Malfoy Manor. Theo was waiting for you there and gave you a big grin and a wave when he saw you appear. You waved back and met him halfway to the large iron gates barring entrance to the mansion itself. You parents left you with your date and continued up the walkway.

“Hey Y/N,” Theo smiled and roped you in for a hug, “you look really nice!”

“Thanks, you too,” You picked at your dress robes and tucked a bit of hair back into place. Theo was in most of your classes and you were always happy to buddy up with him for projects. He wasn’t exactly the smartest, but you had a lot of fun together and you didn’t mind doing most of the work anyway.

Theo was dressed elegantly in basic black dress robes, he was never one for extravagance and you kind of respected that about him. Taking his arm you made your way through the manor, knowing exactly where to find the huge ballroom it housed. Draco often complained about the house because it felt so gloomy and empty sometimes with only the three of them living there. However, with music pouring through the halls and people laughing and talking over each other it felt very much alive and warm.

The pair of you were careful to avoid the dance floor and make your rounds among old family friends. A friendly chat here, an ‘I haven’t seen you since you were this small’ there and introducing your date to family members. It was a formal start to the night but it was always better to get it over with before the adults had too many glasses of fire whiskey in them.

Draco hadn’t been able to keep his eyes off you since the moment you stepped foot in the ballroom. You were all smiles and laughter as you walked around talking to Theo. His own date had been trying to get him on the dancefloor for the past twenty minutes but Draco refused to let you out of his sight for a whole song.

You looked stunning. To Draco you always did, but sometimes he forgot how much you affected him. He watched Theo whisper something in your ear and you responded by throwing your head back and letting out an obnoxiously loud laugh. Draco thought it was the most amazing sound in the world. Though, he was less pleased by the thought of someone else making you laugh like that.

“Do you think someone put a hex on him when he was younger, so he’d permanently look constipated?” Theo whispered in your ear as the both of you watched Professor Snape sneer at the people on the dance floor.

You couldn’t hold back your laughter as you watched your teacher grimace when someone tried to speak to him. You knew he was close with the Malfoys, but you always wondered why he actually showed up to these things. It was however a great source of entertainment for the evening.

“Nott good to see you,” The blond appeared out of thin air in front of you.

Subconsciously you held your breath as you cast a lingering look over his appearance. Black robes with a dark green lining, hair perfectly gelled back showing off his aristocratic bone structure. You swore you were melting into a puddle in front of his eyes.

“Cat got your tongue Y/L/N?” You hadn’t even noticed him speaking to you. You drew your eyes back up to his and a mischievous smirk rested on his lips as he repeated, “Dance with me.”

“That’s not a question,” you jab Draco’s side but take his outstretched hand anyway. “see you in a bit Theo?” You smiled at him as he nodded and shooed you away with a wink.

“You know I like you in green but if you were going to match me you should’ve just come as my date,” Draco smirked and pulled you closer to him. His hand slid easily to your waist as you rested yours on his shoulder.

“Oh, shut up,” you rolled your eyes with a smile on your face, “you don’t own the colour green.”

“I’m glad I don’t because you’ll always look more stunning in it than I ever could,” he leaned in to murmur in your ear, his hand squeezing your hip ever so lightly. If he hadn’t been holding you, you were convinced your legs would have simply given out under you.

“You’re not so bad yourself,” you responded shakily. His slate grey eyes bored into yours and he almost looked like he was searching for the answer to an unspoken question.

“Draco!” a female voice called from a few meters away and the boy in question closed his eyes and groaned.

“If we run now, do you think she’d find me?” he whispered dramatically. The girl stalking towards them was in fact his date.

“Wanna find out?” You whispered back with a cheeky grin and grabbed his hand before pulling him towards the large double doors of the ballroom.

The two of you ran through the hallways of the manor side by side, robes whipping about you and footsteps echoing behind you. The two of you were laughing your heads off by the time you had escaped the house into the gorgeous gardens. Together you ventured farther into the garden, a light frost covering the grass and plants surrounding you.

“Draco?” This time the woman calling out your companion’s name was unmistakeably Narcissa Malfoy. She did not sound pleased at her son’s antics at all.

Draco’s hand found yours again and he pulled you along with him behind a nearby tree. You opened your mouth to complain before he covered it with his hand and shook his head. You could hear Narcissa retreating back into the house, but Draco didn’t move. Instead his fingers lightly touched your cheek, his thumb brushing over your cheekbone.

He was so close you could smell his cologne, it was earthy and warm, and you were back to being in danger of melting. You were nearly chest to chest and his body caged you in against the tree. You felt your breath hitch as his eyes left yours to look at your lips. His cheeks had a light pink flush to them as he swallowed and licked his lips.

“We should really go back.” He said softly without conviction. “I’m sure Theo will be wondering where his date ran off to.” He teased with a quiet laugh.

“Draco?” you said softly and he hummed in response, “shut up.” You breathed and pulled him in by the collar of his dress shirt.

You kissed him with everything you had. It wasn’t slow or tender, it was fiery and passionate just like the both of you. You kissed him for the first time like it could be the last. He kissed back with everything he’d been holding in for years.

He melted into your touch and pressed you against the tree trunk with his body. The bark dug into your back but you could only pay attention to how soft his lips were and how he was a really good kisser. His hands roamed from your waist to your rib cage to your hair as he feverishly kissed you.

He reluctantly pulled back for air and searched your face in the moonlight. The cold air doing nothing to cool down the heat in your cheeks. Draco’s eyes were wide and for the first time in your life he looked unsure of himself. You looked at him in that moment with all the love in the world and couldn’t help but smile. His face was just as flushed as yours and his perfect hair fell into his eyes from you running your fingers through it.

He leaned in to kiss you again but this time softly, so gentle as if he was afraid your break under his touch. As if he wasn’t sure you were real at all. He kissed your nose, peppered little kisses along your jaw and kissed every inch of your face. He leaned his forehead against yours, noses bumping gently.

“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that,” he sighed, eyes closed. You could hear the smile in his voice and your heart fluttered.

“I can guess,” you giggled lightly and gave him a quick peck on the lips.

“I am so incredibly in love with you,” his voice was barely above a whisper and held all of the emotion you couldn’t see on his face.

“I love you Draco, I always have,” you smiled brilliantly and kissed him again, never wanting to leave the hidden spot you had found for yourselves.

“Time to face my mum now I suppose?” He grimaced and buried his face in your neck with a sigh.

“Together,” you chuckled and grabbed his hand, placing a light kiss on his golden hair, “at least you already know your mother loves me.”

#harry potter #hogwarts #draco imagine #draco x you #draco malfoy #slytherin #hogwarts au #harry potter imagine #writing #hp fanfic #hp fandom #draco malfoy x reader #draco x reader #theo nott #astoria greengrass #christinas500celebration

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grasslandgirl · 3 years

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do you like plays/musicals? and if you do which are your favorites?

in case you couldn’t tell by. Everything about the way that I am. I’m a recovering theatre kid and this ask is like waving a red flag in front of a bull in the best possible way. Mutuals and followers, if you don’t want to see me take this as a wholehearted excuse to talk loudly, exuberantly, and at length about theatre, please keep scrolling, ty ily and I’m sorry 💛

I was lucky enough to go to a high school with a very vivacious theatre department with a very experienced and talented teacher. It was kind of like a second home to me and I spent more time after school in rehearsals than was probably healthy, but here we are. I think I did around 13 shows while I was in high school, 5 of which I did during my senior year. I acted in most of them, but was lucky enough to get the opportunity to work on the production team for some, and to be able to direct or co-direct two of them.

Straight plays (non musicals):

DNA, by Dennis Kelly: technically a dark comedy that probably leans a little too close in to horrific tragedy territory, this was the first show that made me really understand what theatre was and what it meant to Act. That it wasn’t just standing on a stage and saying words. In retrospect this show was probably a little too dark and a little too graphic for us as a cast of mostly 15 and 16 year olds but you know what. You live and you learn. It’s a brilliantly written script that really delves into the social structure of high school friendships and group dynamics, and how tragedy can both bind a group together and also tear them apart. To this day one of my favorite shows I’ve ever done and probably the show I’d be most eager to do again if given the opportunity

you can read dna here!!

Antigone, the Anne Carson translation: a really breathtaking and poetic translation of the classic Greek tragedy, the text of this show is so dense and layered with so many secondary and tertiary meanings, and it was an absolute delight to get to work on. I remember spending so much rehearsal time really digging into the text and the script and to the multiple meanings behind every line. There’s an alternate translation she also did that I was able to see performed by a local college troupe around the same time called Antigonick which is a little less traditional approach to both the translation and the retelling but I’d highly recommend reading and seeing both if you’re given the opportunity

I Am Not Batman, by Marco Ramirez: A really lovely one person short play that features a love drum accompaniment. I believe it was featured in a Humana festival a couple years back which was how I discovered it, and I was actually able to direct this show as part of a larger festival of short plays through my high school and it was such a incredible and enlightening experience. The show is really heartfelt and takes a really heart wrenching turn in the second half of the script and I’m so lucky and thankful I was given the opportunity to see it brought to life

you can see I am not Batman performed in Adam driver’s Ted talk about acting!

Horse Girls, by Jenny Rachel Weiner: a truly hysterical dark comedy that I like to describe as: if Heathers was set in a middle school in Florida. It was the last show I did in my high school, and it was a show directed and produced by my peers as part of our senior year final project and it’s one my favorite shows I’ve ever done. It’s so funny and tongue in cheek and surprising and takes a shocking turn in the last fifteen minutes that was always so delightful- I got stabbed in the stomach with a horse statue and got to bleed out onstage every night!

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, by Shakespeare: probably my current favorite Shakespeare, it’s just so funny and interesting and while i do think it’s probably over done I also am delighted with every production and adaptation I see of it

Musicals:

The Sound of Music, Rogers and Hammerstein: I got to co-direct this show my senior year which was something of a dream come true. This is one of my favorite movies of all time and the musical takes some interesting diversions from the film- there are a couple songs that were written for the film, and a few songs that were written out of the film, including two songs by the baroness and Max! You can find the original Broadway cast recording on Broadway that has those original songs and if you’re a big fan of SoM like I am I highly recommend it!! They’re very fun

The 25th Annual Putnam Country Spelling Bee: a little more niche of a Broadway musical, but I got to see it performed locally and it was SO good so funny so sweet and heartfelt highly highly recommend a listen if you haven’t; there’s a song called My Unfortunate Erection and yes it’s as funny as it sounds

In the Heights: probably one of my favorite musicals I’ve ever heard. I’ve never seen it performed but I’m so terribly excited to see the movie when it comes out on hbo and it’s such a beautiful score with such a compelling story behind it

Anastasia: that’s right the beloved 90’s princess movie was made into a Broadway musical and let me just tell you it’s SO GOOD. I got to see this while it was still running on Broadway and it’s so breathtaking please please please please go listen to the obc soundtrack on Spotify

aaaaaaaaaaa okay I think that’s it for now PLEASE let me know if you have any thoughts on these or other plays I miss theatre so badly and would love to talk about plays or performing or theatre!!!

get to know the blogger: send me questions!

#asks #theatre #aaaaaaa I have many thoughts and feelings oaky

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barbaramoorersm · 3 years

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April 11, 2021

2nd Sunday of Easter

Acts of the Apostles 4: 32-35

The early post Resurrection community is described in this text.

Psalm 118

The Psalmist speaks of God’s mercy.

1 John 5: 1-6

The author shares with his readers that God’s commands are not burdensome.

John 20: 19-31

This familiar Gospel relates two appearances of Jesus to the disciples. One was without Thomas and one with him.

Belief in the risen Lord comes in a variety of ways to a variety of people. Father Raymond Brown points this out in his book,” Christ in the Gospels of the Liturgical Year”. He shares that the “beloved disciple” believed when he saw Jesus’ burial garments in the tomb. Mary Magdalene believed when she heard Jesus call her by name. The disciples believed when he came to them behind closed doors, and Thomas believed because he was challenged. But Brown tells us that John presents us with a fifth and perhaps a more important example of faith. “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed”. That type of faith is the one you and I try to live out on a daily basis.

It might come as a shock to many that one of the great models of faith, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, reveals in a book of her letters (2007) that faith was at times a struggle for her. She wrote to a friend in 1979, “Jesus has a very special love for you. As for me, the silence and emptiness is so great that I look and do not see, listen and do not hear.” She even found it hard to pray. I find her letters very consoling as I try to live out my daily life and often experience doubts. I admire those who seem so sure and at peace with their faith. But then along comes Thomas and Mother Teresa and at times, I find myself in their actions and words and feel understood by them. And we also find peace in variety of definitions of faith. I love the one shared by Jayce Ann Mercer. “Faith is a life orientation of the whole person in partnership with God”.

I often wonder why Thomas was not with the community when Jesus came to them. Where was he and why was he absent? Did he need to be alone to deal with his grief? One lesson this Gospel shares with us is the power and assistance a community of faith becomes for all of us as we struggle with our own doubts and problems. Another lesson the Gospel shares is the numerous ways we grow in faith. Seeing like the beloved disciple did, hearing as Mary did and being challenged as Thomas was, are each so different. But we may have experienced all of them.

But as Father Brown writes, Jesus raises the bar with Thomas. “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” Those who have not experienced the risen Lord through his actual presence. And that reality brings us to the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles. This text was written some 40 years after the Resurrection and the new community was growing and as the Scripture tells us, “…they were of one heart and mind…(with) no needy person among them…”. They were examples of those “who had not seen, (but) believed”. And their belief flowed into action. And their actions deepened the faith of others.

I often think Thomas’ reputation is unfairly described. He was honest and challenging and yet has lived with the name of “doubter”. But he was courageous and admitted his weaknesses and believed. He uttered the words that are so powerful. “My Lord and my God”.

Imagine being in that locked room. The memories of the previous days still present in your mind and heart. The guilt some must have felt because of their behavior. The fears, questions and worries they perhaps were sharing. But then they experienced the unexpected presence and words of the risen Jesus. “Peace be with you”. Jesus could easily have said, “How could you have done this? Why did you betray me and then abandon me? I gave you warnings but you did not believe them?” But he did not. He simply said, “Peace be with you”. What a gracious and healing statement. A statement filled with forgiveness and hope for the future. He not only was a forgiving presence but a presence that was filled with gifts. “Receive the Holy Spirit”, and he also charges them with a mission to heal and forgive others.

The psalmist today has written, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” These post resurrection appearances reflect the new structure, the new community Jesus was establishing. A community that accepts everyone. With all our doubts, limits and weaknesses we are received and embraced with the words, “Peace be with you”.

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piedelune · 5 years

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Finally making his debut is my new My Hero Academia oc, Nami!!! Please love and adore him uwu He’s the boyfriend of @fuure‘s oc Hydne! <3 template - uunearthly @DA

Full bio under the cut!

Name: Namire Shinkai (深海·波雨, Shinkai Namire)

Gender: Genderfluid (amab)

Pronouns: He/him mostly, but any are fine except it/its.

Age: 18

Birthday: December 5

Sexual Orientation: Homosexual

Occupation: Student, hero in training

Height: 5’9” / 180cm

Weight: 145 lbs / 65 kg

Hair Color: Dark teal

Hair Type: Thick, wavy

Eye Color: Deep blue

Skin Color: Caramel

Nationality: Japanese

School: U.A. Academy

Year: 3

Distinguishing Features: Nami is flexible with the UA uniform, wearing girls’ or boys’ depending on how he feels like presenting that day. His androgyny leaves people guessing his gender most of the time, which is exactly how he likes it. Even his voice can be very much left to speculation (dream voice cast Maaya Sakamoto).

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Hero/villain Name: Tidefall

Costume: A sleeveless teal yukata with deep slits under the arms, turquoise hemline, and goldenrod obi, black sun-protection sleeves, hand/wrist wraps for protection in melee combat, sarashi bandages over the chest, black thigh-high stockings with a dual-purpose garter and gun holster, and dark midnight blue knee-high heeled boots with turquoise ribbon laces.

Quirk: Water manipulation/waterbending

Weapons: Neptune, a special customized gun connected to gas canisters on his back that convert hydrogen and oxygen into liquid water and acts as a projectile.

Gadgets/Tech: A small canteen of ion-balancing, electrolyte-restoring sports drink at his hip so he doesn’t dehydrate! He has a dowsing tool in the form of hair clips that find bodies of water nearby so he doesn’t have to go hunting for one, including urban water fountain installations and fire hydrants. It’s connected to a GPS and detects moisture levels in the atmosphere.

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Likes: Anywhere there’s water (but especially the ocean), seafood (his favorite is unagidon), the month of June, hydrangeas, moss, fungi (things that remind him of his bf Hydne), Hydne’s family, horror movies, Wa/Japanese style

Dislikes: Litterers, science deniers, hot, dry weather/climates, spicy food, English class

Habits: Very set in his own ways and headstrong, difficulty following directions and working with others because he wants to carve his own path. Not a good listener; stims when understimulated and mind frequently wanders off. Plays with stim toys, usually a bracelet or a spinner. Has to trim his nails short or he will pick them when he gets anxious. He’s extra enough to carry a parasol around on hot, sunny days.

Fears: Losing his loved ones, drowning, needles/sharp things

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Family:

Mother: Shinkai Uroko: (深海·鱗, neé Narumi 成美) A beautiful, glamorous civil servant with a Mermaid quirk — she becomes a mermaid when she comes into contact with water (not drinking). She was born via C-section, in her mermaid form, which became her namesake! Her parents were pretty surprised once she was dried off and her legs appeared. Nami’s most prized possession came from her -- a cord necklace strung with blue pearls that she harvested from the sea herself and gave to him as a gift for his acceptance into UA’s hero program.

Father: Shinkai Kiba: (深海·牙) A luxury cruise ship captain. Not home often but loves his family and spends as much time with them as he can when he’s ashore!! Quirk is a mutation type: he’s a shark man like a Zora, and a very strong swimmer.

Grandfather: Shinkai Hayate (深海·颯) Kiba’s father, whose role in raising Namire was the most involved out of the whole family. A retired fisherman who still loves to take his pole down to the docks to catch something for dinner, and beloved by his only grandchild. Quirkless, from a generation when that was more common. He likes to joke that his quirk is knowing when to reel the fish in perfectly every time.

Romantic Interests: Kodama Hydne

Allies: Generally, the student body of U.A. and its faculty

Rivals: None yet

Enemies: Anyone who’s mean, rude, or even passive aggressive to Hydne

Physical Weaknesses: Dehydrates easily, needs to drink a lot of water compared to the average person. Has to pee a lot more than most because of this and is frequently ducking off to the restroom, and is not as lucky out on the battlefield. Alleyways it is.

Mental/Emotional Weaknesses: If his loved ones threatened, all discipline and training goes out the window and he goes feral. Easily distracted, difficult to focus, which his quirk does require a lot of in addition to knowledge of physics. Stubborn in his ways and difficult to cooperate with others and accept their ideas.

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Name of your quirk: Water Manipulation

Description: He can control water, down to drawing moisture from the air or soil! He can't create any water from nothing, but he has a weapon that converts pure hydrogen and oxygen gas into liquid water! He also can't manipulate anything that is less than 95% water, so no soft drinks or bodily fluids.

Strength: If physics allows for it, he can make water do it. In his second year of high school, Nami began taking his quirk far more seriously and studied his ass off with physics in order to expand his ability and stretch the outer limits of what he can do. By his third year, he could cut through solid concrete with water and suck the moisture out of plant life.

Weaknesses: He can’t manipulate water that has been frozen; only water in a liquid or gaseous state. Absolutely useless in dry areas, droughts, and bright sun, where there is little or no water to manipulate. Drawing moisture from the air or soil takes far more energy and concentration than open bodies of water, and for small results, so it’s usually a last resort. City infrastructure must be taken into account if fighting in an urban setting and municipal water pipelines underground are the only source of water available to him. Damage to pipes, streets, and other structures cost money and he can be quite the liability if he’s not careful. Has accidentally created sinkholes in UA’s simulations.

What age did you obtain it: 4

How did you obtain it (what was happening at the time): He was playing in the koi pond in his family’s garden when he slipped and fell under the surface. In his panic to get out of the water, it suddenly parted like the Red Sea before his grandfather could get to him and help him. Namire has been afraid of drowning since then.

Ultimate move(s): Instantly boiling water by exciting the molecules! Instantly freezing water by slowing the molecules down, which he can also shape into spear/javelin shapes ahead of time and then use as projectiles. At full strength and concentration, he can hold back and return a tsunami to sea.

Power: 4/5 Speed: 3/5 Technique: 5/5 Intelligence: 3/5 Cooperativeness: 2/5

#my hero academia #boku no hero academia #mha #bnha #OC #original character #water bending #water bender #Pie de Lune #slice of pie

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lisinfleur · 5 years

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Surprise, surprise!

Hey guys!

This month I saved this sweet surprise for you all. Believe me, it was a surprise for me as well. I never thought it could happen someday and to have this content to offer you guys is really something impressive and almost unbelievable to me.

I have been working hard on edits and fictions all this time to provide the events from the "Uncrowned King's Thursday" to the "5 Crowns Weekend" and, somehow, it filled my life with joy, so add this small interview as a part of this event - especially for THIS prince you all know is my favorite haha - is something very special and a huge gift. Maybe the hugest a fan could ever get from its idol.

Well, let me stop the rounds and rounds and tell you what this surprise is all about: dear David Lindström agreed in answering some questions for me to publish here, for you guys!

We all know our sweet bardic prince launched on July 12 the first single of his album to come, a beautiful song named "Autumn". If you didn't hear it yet, you're losing a hit! However, I didn't lose time and pre-saved my single and my chance to have this amazing content for you guys!

Enjoy!

Image source: Instagram (@dalindstrom, credits to the owner)

Me: First of all, and once again, thank you for this amazing opportunity! Considering this small article will be published in an event about Sigurd, I would like to start with a few questions related to him if you allow me. Would you mind telling us a bit of what was the meaning of this character in your life as an actor? How did it contribute to your professional career, acting style, and personal life?

David: My pleasure! Obviously, the role of Sigurd has been extremely important for my career, giving me exposure and resources that I would otherwise never have had at this point which in turn has made possible almost everything I do today. But it was actually the process around getting the role that impacted me the most personally and that has affected the way I approach acting, music, and life in general. Here’s the story: When I got to the open audition for the sons of Ragnar at 07:30 in Stockholm there was already a line outside the building with 200 giant dudes in a Ragnar mohawk, each and every one having about as much mass in their beards as I had in my entire body at that point. I realized that I was never going to get the job by competing with these guys on who’s the biggest, baddest warrior so if I were going to do this at all I’d have to take a different approach. I had the belief that even in the Viking age not everyone could have been the giant beasts that we associate them with, so what if I could present a character that was a little more sensitive, slender and insecure? Even better, what about a Viking in his awkward teenage phase, gradually growing into the legend he would later be known as? I took a shot and was told from the start that I was unlikely to get the part, but there was something interesting in my interpretation so I was still brought back repeatedly up until the final audition in Ireland. At this point, I was auditioning both for the role of Sigurd and Ivar, with the latter having a flamboyance and hubris that was suppressed in Sigurd. When all was done Travis Fimmel and Alexander Ludwig came into the room for a group shot, during which I awkwardly waved to the camera and was promptly called out by Travis and told that I could forget landing the role. I’ll admit that I believed him, and part of me would continue to believe him all the way through filming and even long after. But what was so special about the whole thing was that from the very first second I was put in a situation where I was forced to believe that I had something unique to bring to the table, if I didn’t go all in on embracing my differences I could as well forget it. So, whereas I’d never normally trust my instincts and go out on a limb that way, when that became the only option, I had a chance to see for myself that it can be worth it. Ever since, I try my best to remember how hopeless it all seemed until it suddenly worked out, and that no matter how inferior and incompetent we feel at times, it’s our unique combination of flaws that make us valuable, exciting and irreplaceable.

Me: We’re a large community of Vikings fans, passionate about the series, their actors, and everything related to the world your talent helped to bring for us. This community embraces the characters with such love, that many of us write fictions about the series, giving our beloved characters what we think they should achieve or deserved. How it is it for you to know there are such fanfictions and that - in a great number of them - Sigurd was described with a different ending, where his life followed the curse of history and he became a king, or he found love, had children, etc.? How does it feel for you to know so many people wanted a better life and a sweet ending for your character?

David: It’s incredibly humbling to see the passion and investment that so many of you put into the character’s fate. It’s a hard feeling to describe, but it’s sort of just the reassurance of having a whole bunch of great artists on your side. Even though the reason behind Sigurd’s fate has been somewhat explained to me, I can’t honestly say that it’s a decision that I really agree with. Of course, Hirst does a job writing the show that I can’t imagine many others could, and it’s crucial for a good story that the writer’s vision takes precedence over the actors getting what they want. That said, it’s obviously no question that I personally would have wanted more time to release what I’d built up, and for Sigurd’s coming of age-arch to be completed. When I was told what was going to happen, I actually felt I had to get involved with making suggestions to Hirst for the remaining scenes to get some sort of closure, which can be seen in Sigurd being noticeably more proactive and confrontational towards the end. The fact that so many in the community seem to have similar ideas and feelings on the subject means more than you’d really believe. Still, we should never underestimate the impact that a story can get out of an uncompleted pattern, maybe it’s better that Sigurd left us wanting more rather than outliving our interest for him. But there’s so much good writing in the community that I wouldn’t be surprised if some of it became a great screenplay of its own.

Me: Despite the huge project Vikings represented for us or the fact that many of us came to know you because of Sigurd, you worked in different projects on Swedish television, theatre, and other fields. Would you mind talking about some of these projects for us? Something you recommend for your new fans?

David: I’d love to! The part I’m proudest of is probably Simon in the TV series “Blue Eyes”. It was my first major professional role and I was overjoyed to receive such a well written, complexly human character that I felt really fit my style. The filming was also incredibly fun, I was warmly welcomed into the business and had great guidance from a number of caring directors and while I was personally going through a major heartbreak at the time, I had the opportunity to make use of those emotions and grow both artistically and personally. The series itself is a great political drama that mirrors the ideological situation that much of the world was dealing with at the time in a way that I thought was both insightful and thrilling.

Image source: Google Images (credits to the owner)

Me: Now, speaking of your present life, you changed your focus from acting to your musician self, now gifting us with this amazing work that's your soon-to-come album. What is the meaning of this project to your life as an artist?

David: I’ve probably always seen myself as a musician more than anything else, and although acting has been another one of my favourite things since long before I got paid for it, my go-to source of expression has always been music. I’ve loved sharing musical ideas with my close friends and processing life through song writing, and few things have been as exciting as finding someone willing to give my stuff a listen. Landing a record deal like the one I have means the sudden realization of so much that had only been fantasy before, and it’s been surreal to see this imagined world take shape. But that’s still something I’ve had more than a year to prepare for. What I could never prepare for was the reception we’ve had so far. I know that I tend to not expect things to go very well, but even when I allowed myself to dream big, I thought that it would take Autumn a year to get where it’s now at after a month. It’s once again the feeling of being surrounded by incredible people giving incredible support, and there’s nothing quite as uplifting as the feeling of being in such good company.

Me: I'm a writer myself. And to compose my text works, I usually have some sources of inspiration like listening to some specific musicians and music styles, reading books related to the work I want to compose, etc. What are your inspiration sources when composing your songs?

David: Of course, my main source of influence is other music, and that would mostly be my favourite artists such as anything Julian Casablancas, Muse, Kent, MGMT and Lars Winnerbäck, as well as the classical music of Chopin, Liszt and Rachmaninoff. I love anything with great lyrics or big melodies. I’m also lucky enough to live with one of the most creative people I know, so I always run my ideas past her when I’m stuck or unsure, but the ideas can really come from anywhere. If I come across a story, place, picture or anything that resonates with me it usually has something special when it comes to structure, dynamics or flavor that I can try to apply on what I’m working on, so I find that really just living life and being aware of the world around me gives me more than enough input without having to actively pursue it. However, if I’m working towards a deadline, I find it most effective to take an idea that I already like and either jam with it or elaborate on it until it’s become something else. In either case it’s important to remember that the majority of creative work is just finding out what doesn’t work, so no effort is ever really wasted. I sometimes task myself with writing 10 songs that I think are shit, because even if I’m right 90% of the time that will still leave me with a good one.

Image source: Spotify (Autumn, 2019)

Me: Dayfelice. At the pre saving of your album's first single "Autumn", we saw the album was signed "by Dayfelice". I already know this is a new artistic name, but how did you come up with the idea and what’s the meaning of this name you chose, in your personal view?

David: It’s a stylized version of my first names “David Felix”. When I make music, I try to liberate it from trends or expectations when it comes to genre and sound, and to end up in a space where the song’s emotion, narrative, and imagery can really shape it without limits. So, most of the songs are very different from each other, but they center around an emotional, cinematic larger-than-life style, and I wanted to signal that with an artist name that had a romantic, elevated feel without saying too much else. Something that could be either a band or an artist of any gender, as well as something that just sounds good.

Me: I’ll never be tired to thank you for this amazing moment! Would you like to leave a message to the fan community of Tumblr and Vikings' fans that will reach this work?

David: I know it's cliché, but I genuinely just want to thank you all for your amazing support. I want you to know that I see your comments, I read your messages and it truly means a lot be surrounded by such a smart, progressive and kind community. Stay awesome and take care of each other.

Well, that's it, guys! The apex of what a fan could get and one more of the thousands of reasons why David became one of my favorite artists in this world: his sweetness and kindness towards his fans is admirable such as his talent and beautiful work. A complete artist bringing to us not only our sweet and beloved prince Sigurd but also lots of amazing works and new songs for us to enjoy!

Thank you one more time for your gentleness, dear David, and for you guys, thank you for bringing me the courage to go there and get this for us! I hope

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myeongchokrp · 5 years

Photo

Classical music, long ball gowns and freshly ironed suits— Yeongi’s very own Daengom, a stunning venue for only the richest of weddings and social events, is full to the brim with guests. Invite-only and the event of the year, shopping tycoon Lee Yeonseok’s winter ball has started only a mere hour ago. Despite the weather, much of the tables and dance ( ballroom only, please! ) areas are outside, under a faux sky of twinkling lights. Untouched until dinner, each table is dressed in a crisp white cloth, bouquets upon bouquets of beautiful white and cream flowers and if one didn’t know of the Winter Wonderland theme, it’d be easy to mistake the scene for a late night wedding reception. The only difference is the money.

Inside where his guests currently mingle, the walls are covered with loaned paintings from the art gallery within the Museum of Myeongcho, as well as some of Lee’s private collection. Guards stand in each corridor, in the corner of each room. But what lurks doesn’t mingle amongst the guests— not in numbers, anyway.

TW DEATH, BOMBING

As the night gets under way, champagne sipped gingerly from tall glasses, Hydrus lingers below ground, coordinating via a sophisticated, impenetrable communication system, in-ears invisible to anyone not directly looking for them. They’re in position, waiting for the clock to strike nine. Lee takes the ‘stage’ just before the hour, clinking his spoon gently against his glass to gather the attention of his star studded guests. Celebrities from the mainland, local heroes, CEOs, even known gang members— anyone who’s anyone on Myeongcho is stood together in a crowd before him. Lee smiles at all the people he will sometime soon use for his own benefit and begins his speech.

“Thank you all for coming tonight.” He draws in a deep breath. “Welcome to my annual Winter Ball, which the Daengom is kindly hosting for us tonight.” His audience claps quietly. “Thank you, thank you. Now, I’m sure you all know this has been a long, difficult year for our dear island. Riots, public executions, growing crime rates across the board, attacks to our very own...” He offers a sympathetic smile to MPD Lieutenant Yoo Sihyun who dips his head in return. “In the coming year, we will work together to—” As he raises his glass to propose a toast with his magnificent act of selflessness, the lights cut out. Plunged into the darkness, feet rushing across the floor— some to protect Lee, some in an attempt to restore power, some knowing what is coming next— no one feels the rumble of the floor until it’s too late.

First, the exits fill with rubble. Then, the ceiling cracks. Smoke fills the room. It’s a bomb! They shout. No! It’s more! Two, three, four, maybe. It’s hard to tell amongst the screams of pain, agony, fear. Will you make it out alive?

WELCOME TO MI’S NEWEST EVENT, MI:BLACKOUT !

This post marks the beginning of our newest event — we hope you’re as excited as we are!

IC, Lee’s Annual Winter Ball begins at 8 PM on Saturday, December 21st, 2019. The power cuts out just before 9 PM, and a minute or so later, the first bomb of five goes off below the venue. Due to the power cut, Hydrus members coordinating the attack under the event could not communicate and the bomb was set off with Hydrus members still above ground and in the tunnels.

OOC, this event lasts until midnight at the end of Saturday, January 18th, 2020.

HYDRUS, consider this a mission at the very least derailed. Your own members are caught in the crossfire and whilst the serpents don’t usually concern themselves over friendly fire, this complication runs much deeper than a few lost teammates. Your attempt to kill the shopping tycoon and various other high profile names in a continued effort to rebuild your reputation has been turned on its head. Your targets are trapped as you wanted, but can you finish the job?

LYNX, congratulations on unknowingly making life that little bit harder for Hydrus. You’ve successfully cut out all communications and power across the island — at least for a little while. Unlike Hydrus, however, your targets aren’t living. How much easier is it to steal something with no security alarms? In teams, members of Lynx will advance on various goldmines for valuables — the temporarily closed Museum of Myeongcho, Sunrise Star Hotel, the MPD’s various armouries, confidential files in Myeongcho’s largest organisations. Take what you can, but don’t forget to stay alive. Security officers don’t go home just because the power is out! If you’re on the inside, however… Bad luck on missing out on all the fun! Or are you?

Those on the inside from COLUMBA, PHOENIX and CORVUS, what’s more important: your loyalty or your life? Do you save your fellow members? Or all citizens to keep your allegiance hidden? Do you try to find a way out and leave everyone behind? Can you get to the bottom of this? Or do you take advantage of this opportunity? There’s so much wealth in this room, after all…

MPD, how fast can you really react to something you don’t know about? No calls can come in or out, you’re scrambling to find the source of the island-wide blackout… Unless you’re at the event, it’s likely your attention is elsewhere. Those guests will be fine by themselves, anyway… Right?

To summarise, Lynx and Hydrus have unknowingly planned separate attacks on the same night. Lynx just slightly beating out Hydrus has derailed the latter’s bombing of shopping business tycoon Lee Yeonseok’s Annual Winter Ball, leaving many wealthy names, as well as many of our beloved muses, trapped inside fighting for their lives. The blackout took out all power across the island, including phone reception towers and internet access, meaning there’ll be no way to contact one another for at least twenty minutes whilst teams work to restore power to, at the very least, phone towers. After forty minutes, power will come back on. The Daengom will remain in darkness thanks to the destruction caused by the bombs but mobile phones will regain signal when phone towers are restored regardless.

The above descriptions for each gang are just guidelines! Whether or not your muse is at the Winter Ball or working on the outside in some way is completely up to you!

Muses may have gained access to the Winter Ball through invite, being someone’s plus one, hacking the guest list, etc. If you can’t think of a realistic reason for your muse to be present but would like one, feel free to message us!

To earn +5 points, write a four-post thread or 200+ solo about any part of the event. Any thread about the ball, blackout, bombings, actions elsewhere as a result of the attacks or any aftermath will count!

To earn +5 points, write a four-post thread with a muse you have never written with before about any part of the event. If you’re not sure where to start with ideas for plots, keep reading below this OOC information…!

As always, for threads and solos to count for points, they must be posted before the deadline. You can write as many threads and solos as you’d like, but you can only claim points for one thread/solo for each set of points.

Don’t forget to tag all your event-related posts with this event’s tag mi:blackout and most importantly, have fun! If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to message the main or Admins Gyu & Woo directly. We hope you enjoy this event!

CLAIMABLE PLOTS

The following are set plots and roles within the event for you to claim for your muses should you choose! These are all optional; you do not need to claim any of these to participate in the event. These plots and positions are for helping guide the event’s progression and offer ideas for development and plots if needed. To claim a plot, simply message us with the letter code and the muse you’d like to have that role within the event and we’ll update the post as soon as we see it! We hope this will connect you to new muns you may not have otherwise gotten the chance to plot with, and give you unique development for your muses! Please let us know if you like this idea for events. Your feedback will help us plot and structure future events!

You, SONG SEOAH, have been assisting with first aiders such as LEE HYUNWOO since the explosions stopped. Paramedics are on their way, but for many present, that may be too late. Your bravery and intuition hasn’t gone unnoticed by others and following the release of all those trapped inside, you’re recruited for Columba by KIM TAEHYUNG for your tenacity. They won’t be the only ones watching, though, local hero. NOTE: This is an opportunity to get your muse recruited by Columba and requires no further point cost or reward solo to change your muse’s affiliation.

Hydrus member Muse D had been mingling amongst the guests listening to Lee’s speech when the power went out. Alarmed, they’d tried desperately to get in touch with other members but with no signal and no power, it’s impossible. You connect eyes with Muse E ( Hydrus ) across the crowd and gravitate to one another for safety. After all, you were only supposed to keep an eye out and give the signal before making your escape. You weren’t supposed to get caught in the crossfire.

JEON JEONGGUK is fascinated by this power outage and the moment you regain signal, you begin to delve into finding the source. Along the way, you find SON HYEJOO a fellow hacker who may or may not be part of the team that took the island down…

Muse H ( Lynx ) is one of the coordinators or seniors on the attack against the Museum of Myeongcho. Muse I ( Lynx ) is one of the most inexperienced on the job. Eager to impress as they may be, this is a rather large first step. Can you work together to get the job done?

KIM MINJI and PARK SUNGKI are trapped inside the Daengom with no power, no first aid kits and PARK SUNGKI unable to walk on their injured ankle. They won’t die from the injury, of course, but it’s not like they can get out by themselves before the rest of the building collapses. Will KIM MINJI help them, or does their loyalty not extend to outside of their gang?

Muse L is out in the streets when everything descends into darkness. Luckily, a reporter is there to ask them a hundred questions! Buckle in, Muse L, because you’re not going anywhere until they get all the answers they’re looking for. NOTE: This prompt is in the format of a submit from the main and will likely take a couple days to get to you due to the holiday season.

#mi:event #mi:blackout #( enjoy!! ♥ )#tw: death #tw: bombing #tw: bombs

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madamlaydebug · 5 years

Text

18 LESSONS OF THE LAW OF ONE

Ma'at (The Kosmic Order)

And The "Universal Mother"

The Advancement of Human Consciousness is evidenced by the development of a Kosmic structure that the Ancient Egyptians called MA'AT. This system was handed down from the Gods to Man and the Pharaoh was the personification of MA'AT.

MA'AT is the Egyptian Goddess of the Physical and Moral Law of Egypt, of ORDER and TRUTH. The aim in Ancient Kemet (Egypt) was for a person to become One with the Goddess. The path to the development of Goddess-like qualities was through the development of specific Virtues.

Each Soul was judged in the Hall of MA'AT (depicted in the 'Book of The Dead' and Book Five of 'The Book of Gates') when they died. The Heart (conscience) was weighed against the feather of MA'AT (an ostrich feather) on scales which represented Balance and Justice. If their heart was heavier than the feather because they had failed to live a Balanced life by the principles of MA'AT their heart was devoured. If, however, the heart Balanced with the feather of MA'AT they would pass the test and gain Eternal Life. At certain times it was ASAR/AUSAR who sat as Judge in the ritual, and many other Deities were involved in the ceremony, but the scales always represented MA'AT.

In the weighing of the wrongs done in this life against the INTENT of the Heart, MA'AT makes a distinction between SINS and TRANSGRESSIONS. A sin was considered a violation of the Laws of the Gods and Goddesses. That is, Laws pertaining to the Ordinances and Requirements which the Gods and Goddesses had given for their worship. Transgressions on the other hand, were offenses against fellow mortals, their possessions, or the Earth -- or that portion of the Earth on which we live. Therefore, sins were against God or Goddess, but one's transgressions were against mortals. All transgressions may be forgiven, but not all sins.

MA'AT is also the God of Balance, Rythm and the Cycles -- the Primal Laws of the Universe that SUPPORT CREATION and prevent it from falling into chaos. The Good and the not-Good moved the Cycles of the Universe. The Good and the not-Good came out of the Same Source, the Void, the Sekhem, the Source of Infinite Potential and Love.

In this crucial role She stands for BALANCE and HARMONY. Her power was beyond the Pharaohs' who declared themselves Beloved of MA'AT and upholders of Her laws. There were Seven Cardinal Principles/Virtues of MA'AT to achieve human perfectibility.

These principles are:

TRUTH

JUSTICE

BALANCE

ORDER

COMPASSION

HARMONY

RECIPROCITY

Woman is the LAW-GIVER and Man is the LAW-ENFORCER.

MA'AT as a Spiritual Principle, is more than Justice, it is DIVINE JUSTICE, personified in the Goddess, (NTRT) MA'AT, who exemplifies the ETERNAL LAWS of the Universe as, RIGHT and TRUTH.

These Virtues encompass all of the following:

(1). Control of Thoughts

(2). Control of Actions

(3). Devotion of Purpose

(4). Have faith in the ability of [your] [teacher] to Teach [you] the Truth.

(5). Have faith in [yourself] to Assimilate the Truth

(6). Have faith in [themselves] to Wield the Truth

(7). Be free from Resentment under the Experience of Persecution.

(8). Be free from Resentment under the Experience of Wrong.

(9). Cultivate the ability to Distinguish between Right and Wrong and

(10). Cultivate the ability to Distinguish between the REAL and the UNREAL.

MA'AT transcends specific Ethical rules (which differed according to different times and different peoples) and instead focuses on the NATURAL order of things. That being said, certain actions were clearly against MA'AT as they increased the effect of chaos and had a purely negative effect on the world.

In addition there are 42 Negative Confessions also called, "42 Declarations of Innocence" or "42 Affirmations of MA'AT." They were 42 in number because there were 42 "Nomes" (called districts/states today) in Kemet at that time.

These principles have been termed "Negative Confessions" because they usually begin with the negative, "I have not." However, these principles of Right and Truth, are in fact AFFIRMATIONS of what one has not done in this life to live by MA'AT.

I have not done iniquity.

I have not robbed with violence.

I have not stolen.

I have done no murder; I have done no harm.

I have not defrauded offerings.

I have not diminished obligations.

I have not plundered the Neteru.

I have not spoken lies.

I have not uttered evil words.

I have not caused pain.

I have not committed fornication.

I have not caused shedding of tears.

I have not dealt deceitfully.

I have not transgressed.

I have not acted guilefully.

I have not laid waste the ploughed land.

I have not been an eavesdropper.

I have not set my lips in motion (against any man).

I have not been angry and wrathful except for a just cause.

I have not defiled the wife of any man.

I have not been a man of anger.

I have not polluted myself.

I have not caused terror.

I have not burned with rage.

I have not stopped my ears against the words of Right and Truth. (Ma-at)

I have not worked grief.

I have not acted with insolence.

I have not stirred up strife.

I have not judged hastily.

I have not sought for distinctions.

I have not multiplied words exceedingly.

I have not done neither harm nor ill.

I have not cursed the King. (i.e. violation of laws)

I have not fouled the water.

I have not spoken scornfully.

I have never cursed the Neteru.

I have not stolen.

I have not defrauded the offerings of the Neteru.

I have not plundered the offerings of the blessed dead.

I have not filched the food of the infant.

I have not sinned against the Neter of my native town.

I have not slaughtered with evil intent the cattle of the Neter.

The 77 Commandments of Ancient Kemet (Egypt) and the 42 Affirmations are the original source of the 10 Commandments of the bible, and the Lesser Commandments of the Books Deuteronomy and Numbers.

They are known as "The Divine Code of Human Behavior".

Thou shall not cause suffering to humans

Thou shall not intrigue by ambition

Thou shall not deprive a poor person of their subsistence

Thou shall not commit acts that are loathed by Gods

Thou shall not cause suffering to others

Thou shall not steal offerings from temples

Thou shall not steal bread meant for Gods

Thou shall not steal offerings destined to sanctify spirits

Thou shall not commit shameful acts inside the sacro-saints of temples

Thou shall not sin against nature with one’s own kind

Thou shall not take milk from the mouth of a child

Thou shall not fish using other fish as bait

Thou shall not extinguish fire when it should burn

Thou shall not violate the rules of meat offerings

Thou shall not take possession of properties belonging to temples and Gods

Thou shall not prevent a God from manifesting itself

Thou shall not cause crying

Thou shall not make scornful signs

Thou shall not get angry or enter a dispute without just cause

Thou shall not be impure

Thou shall not refuse to listen to words of justice and truth

Thou shall not blaspheme

Thou shall not sin by excess of speech

Thou shall not speak scornfully

Thou shall not curse a Divinity

Thou shall not cheat on the offerings to Gods

Thou shall not waste the offerings to the dead

Thou shall not snatch food from children and thou shall not sin against the Gods of one’s city

Thou shall not kill divine animals with bad intentions

Thou shall not cheat

Thou shall not rob or loot

Thou shall not steal

Thou shall not kill

Thou shall not destroy offerings

Thou shall not reduce measurements

Thou shall not steal properties belonging to Gods

Thou shall not lie

Thou shall not snatch away food or wealth

Thou shall not cause pain

Thou shall not fornicate with the fornicator

Thou shall not act dishonestly

Thou shall not transgress

Thou shall not act maliciously

Thou shall not steal farmlands

Thou shall not reveal secrets

Thou shall not court a man’s wife

Thou shall not sleep with another’s wife

Thou shall not cause terror

Thou shall not rebel

Thou shall not be the cause of anger or hot tempers

Thou shall not act with insolence

Thou shall not cause misunderstandings

Thou shall not misjudge or judge hastily

Thou shall not be impatient

Thou shall not cause illness or wounds

Thou shall not curse a king

Thou shall not cloud drinking water

Thou shall not dispossess

Thou shall not use violence against family

Thou shall not frequent wickeds

Thou shall not substitute injustice for justice

Thou shall not commit crimes

Thou shall not overwork others for one’s gain

Thou shall not mistreat their servants

Thou shall not menace

Thou shall not allow a servant to be mistreated by his master

Thou shall not induce famine

Thou shall not get angry

Thou shall not kill or order a murder

Thou shall not commit abominable acts

Thou shall not commit treason

Thou shall not try to increase one’s domain by using illegal means

Thou shall not usurp funds and property of others

Thou shall not seize cattle on prairies

Thou shall not trap poultry that are destined to Gods

Thou shall not obstruct water in the moment it is supposed to run

Thou shall not break dams that are established on current waters

MA'AT is at the Heart of understanding Ancient Kemet Civilization in its entirety, and is the foundation of its longevity. It is bound to and fused with Ethics (including Justice and Truth) and Universal Order (Kosmic Order, Social Order and Political Order).

However, they also understood that it was not possible to be perfect, just BALANCED. The Universe is ORDERED and RATIONAL. The rising and setting of the Sun, the flooding of the Nile and the predictable course of the Stars in the Sky reassured them that there was permanence to Existence which was central to the Nature of ALL things. However, the FORCES of CHAOS are always present and threaten the BALANCE of MA'AT.

Reciprocity -- often called the Golden Rule -- simply states that we are to treat other people as we would wish to be treated ourselves. To apply it, you imagine yourself on the receiving end of the action in the exact place of the other person (which includes having the other person's likes and dislikes). If you act in a given way toward another, and yet are unwilling to be treated that way in the same circumstances, then you violate the rule.

To apply the Golden Rule adequately, we need KNOWLEDGE and IMAGINATION. We need to know what EFFECT our actions have on the lives of others. And we need to be able to imagine OURSELVES, VIVIDLY and ACCURATELY, in the other person's place on the RECEIVING END of the action.

With Love, Light, Knowledge, Imagination, and the Golden Rule, we can progress far in our moral thinking. The Golden Rule is best seen as a CONSISTENCY Principle. It doesn't replace regular moral norms. It isn't an infallible guide on which actions are right or wrong; it doesn't give all the answers. But it does prescribe consistency -- that we DO NOT have our actions (toward another) be out of HARMONY with our desires (toward a reversed situation action). It is a test of our moral coherence. If we violate the Golden Rule, then we violate the Spirit of Fairness and Compassion.

The Golden Rule is well suited to be the standard to instill ORDER against the chaos that otherwise permeates the Universe. Rather than a Code of Justice, MA'AT is the BALANCE to be applied in order to restore HARMONY to Society , and thus to the Universe. The basis of the Golden Rule's equality is summed up by a simple explanation of MA'AT that the Egyptians attributed to the Creatress-Creator: "I made every man like his fellow."

Humanity's evolution of CONSCIOUSNESS is hereby illustrated. MA'AT is not based on what one did that was wrong during one's life, but on one's INHERENT EQUALITY.

Each of us is duty bound to RESTORE and defend MA'AT.

The way of MA’AT was to Act out of the Center of Consciousness, the Heart. Acting out of the Heart is called the Virtue of Love.

As one progresses in Knowledge on the Service To Others pathway, the more he or she incorporates the Principles of MA'AT into his or her life. It is the FOUNDATION of Human Life and is about the promotion of Sanity, Order, Balance, Harmony, Peace, and Justice among Human Beings.

The excellent condition of the Ancient Egyptians was attributed to their application of these Metaphysical Realities in their daily life -- in other words -- TOTAL COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS.

"As above, so below, and as below, so above."

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elenajohansenreads · 5 years

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Books I Read in 2019

#130 - The Poppy War, by R.F. Kuang

Mount TBR (83/100)

PopSugar Reading Challenge -- A book with “pop,” “sugar,” or “challenge” in the title

Rating: 2/5 stars

Hugely disappointed and more than a little bewildered by how beloved this book is. I went into it blind, as was recommended by pretty much everyone who touted the book as amazing, so that's what I did. The opening act was like, huh, a female-empowerment version of Harry Potter, let's escape my miserable home life and learn to be something better at this academy that will give me the structure and purpose that's missing from my life. So far, I'm on board. As far as the time spent at the academy itself, I was also mostly on board with how it was depicted, the quirks of the masters, the general antagonism and rare friendship of Rin's fellow students, and the slow peeling-back of the mysteries of the world's lore. Interesting stuff. Then the war starts and implodes everything. After this, I felt like the story had no mooring--I never knew what was going to happen, I couldn't see Rin's arc clearly ahead of time, and when the end came and I finally did understand what the point of it all was, I was actually disgusted by where she ended up. The pacing slows to a glacial crawl in order to fully depict the atrocities of war and fully demonize the enemy. Other reviewers have commented that they didn't feel it was gratuitous, but I most definitely did, especially when a minor character from the school who was never well-developed or all that important miraculously survives a prolonged stint as a "public toilet" just so she can spend a few pages graphically detailing her endless cycle of rapes and the horrific treatment of the other women who were in captivity with her. Beyond that, just how long do we have to devote to describing the piles of corpses all over the city? Thank you, I got the point, can we get the plot moving again yet? Now, the brutality of the "Mugenese" army, which is clearly based on Japan, against the "Nikara," who are clearly Chinese, does actually have historical basis, because Japanese Imperialism wrought some horrible things on the world. My objection to this depiction of war isn't because of any quibbles about real-world analogues. My objection is because the only way to allow Rin to become a war criminal and still be a sympathetic protagonist, still the hero of the story, is to have the enemy she's fighting somehow be worse. But they're not. And one of her comrades even points that out to her, after the fact, still trying to be the voice of reason, in yet another guise that Rin fails to listen to. Because that's the entire story. Rin is constantly given the choice between wisdom/prudence and power/revenge, and she constantly chooses power. Her arc is from nobody-peasant-girl to insanely powerful war criminal, and yet, I'm still supposed to be rooting for her and invested in her cause, but I'm not, because she's an idiot who is given every chance to do better and not be a war criminal, but she always chooses wrong. No matter how many times someone with a cooler head advises her against an action, she always knows better and does what she wants to do anyway, only to have the consequences of her poor decision-making blow up (sometimes literally) in everyone's faces. And we have to suffer her intense moments of indecision, her internal debates, over and over again, always hoping she'll choose differently, she'll make the smart choice, and being disappointed over and over again when she doesn't. Her character arc gives her an increase in personal power that's massive in scale and completely out of tone with her incredibly humble beginnings, so much so that even with the substantial length of this book, I still feel like it was rushed, that Rin grew too fast. And yet, really, she doesn't grow at all, because never once did she learn from a single mistake that she made.

#booklr #book review #the poppy war #r.f.kuang #my reading challenges #mount tbr 2019 #popsugar reading challenge 2019

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mindibindi · 6 years

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Do you have any tips for writing fanfiction?

Hey, Anon, thanks for the ask and sorry about the delayin replying. I’ve been writing fanfiction for so long that I’ve gotten into abit of a routine with it so I had to have a think about what I actually do. These tipsare based on my own writing practice, experience and approach to fanfic.But I would encourage you to keep asking this question, keep chatting withother authors (some might be kind enough to comment here) as you search for your ownunique writing style and practice. Everyone’s will be different and, as long asit works, I say stick with it. I’m assuming that you’re a new or aspiringauthor so I hope one, some or all of these tips prove useful.

1. Get In The Zone: Find the time of day when yourbest writing happens. For me (rather inconveniently when there’s work to bedone), this is first thing in the morning. For others, I’ve heard it’s themiddle of the day or late at night. But you will know this time when you find itbecause words and ideas will flow freely and easily, faster sometimes than yourfingers can keep up. Revel in this time, use it well then stop writing when theenergy runs out. Nothing good was ever produced by pushing past inspirationinto frustration or exhaustion. That said, inspiration can strike at any time – while watchingan ep or taking a walk or going about your work or trying to fall asleep. When itdoes – whether it’s an opening line, a plot point or snippet of dialogue – jotthose ideas down.

2. Watch (and Rewatch) Your Source Material: Thismay sound obvious (and not much of a chore for a fan) but watching whatevermovie/show/whatever you’re working from helps you to pick up the jargon of thatworld, to absorb the particular milieu, to know the people, places and canon(before you presumably diverge from it). The best fanfic gets both the bigpicture and the little details right. Without these firmly in place, you riskwriting a story that doesn’t ring true to the basic characters, tone orsituation you’re attempting to emulate. You want to extend a reality you love,not break it. So always be on the lookout for any little thing that mightfracture this reality and cause readers to fall out of a world they (you mustassume) know equally well. As a reader, there’s always a jolt when this happens, a dishearteningplummet. So know your stuff before you put pen to paper.

3. Get the Voices Right: Unlike character which canbe ambiguous, changeable and open to interpretation, every fan becomes attuned tothe particular voices of their favourite characters. When reading, you don’t need to work toknow when an author gets this right. You can just hear it. You can also (unfortunately)hear the tiniest slip in consistency and truth. I have written for somecharacters with very distinctive voices, voices I really didn’t think I couldemulate: both Ten and Donna in “Doctor Who”, Jack and Liz in “30 Rock” and,more recently, Gene Hunt in “Ashes to Ashes”. My particular trick for writingthese characters, for practicing their voices, was to write out the dialoguefirst then fill in everything else. Obviously this is only going to work forfics like this, this and this that rely heavily on banter. I love this kind offic. I love reading ‘em and I love writing ‘em. But even in fics which meldprose and dialogue, writing the dialogue out in isolation can help since theseaspects use slightly different writerly muscles.

4. Spellcheck is Your Friend: There will probablyalways be errors in your writing but do your best to avoid preventable andobvious mistakes. These can destroy your credibility as a narrator and takeyour reader out of your story. Personally, I am a compulsive editor. I wouldn’trecommend it. But I would recommend reading through your work at least once andrunning spellcheck before posting. Reading aloud can also help to identify anygrammatical errors or issues with flow. You can, if you find a friend willingto act as beta, outsource some of this work.

5.Don’t Be Afraid to Start Small: I’m a fan of theshort, self-contained fic. I’ve written lots of them and significant work must still go into making them work. So don’t aim to produce 25,000brilliant words right off the bat. Just 1-2,000 solid ones of which you can be proud.

6.Write What You Want: If you’re lucky, readerswill request fics of you (I have never been good at fulfilling these requests).If you’re unlucky, they’ll complain about directions you take or detail whythey refuse to read what you’ve written (this is pretty rare). But you can’t, Ibelieve, force inspiration. It’s either there or it’s not. For me, I beganwriting fanfic because there just wasn’t any for a pairing I shipped. So Iwrote it myself, for myself. I wrote what I liked and wanted to read (I stilldo). This is a medium in which fans have complete autonomy. They choose to go frompassive consumer to active creator. So just do what you do. Do whatever youwant. Turn back time. Bring people back from the dead. Unite lovers. Mergeworlds. Create characters. Make it sad, happy, dramatic or funny or both. You have the power. Claim it. Play with it. Revel init.

7. Start Strong and End Strong: You gotta have agood first line, in my theory of ff. That’s where it (literally) all begins. I always like to openwith something concise and intriguing that immediately communicates a little (butnot necessarily all) of what I’m planning to work with. Don’t be fooled intothinking you gotta start at the beginning. You don’t. You can enter the storyat any point. You can enter late – and leave early, as the saying goes. Thisis a screenwriting principle that ensures that only the most relevantinformation is included in a scene. It keeps the pace of a piece up, controlsthe dissemination of information and keeps audiences engaged. I think thisprinciple transfers rather easily to the page, especially since most of us areemulating material from the big or small screen. In order to imitate thesevisual mediums in written form, you might like to think of paragraphs, breaksand sentence structure as editing techniques that can guide the reader’s pace, growingperception and emotional experience.

8.Avoid Clichés: Clichés can occur at the level ofexpression, character or narrative. At the level of expression, these arewasted words that hold no meaning so find a fresh way to express what you mean.At the level of character, keep words, thoughts and actions rooted in thecharacter. “Show, Don’t Tell” is another well-known writing principle that can help maintain authenticity. As much as we may identify with certain characters, make judiciousdecisions about how much of yourself belongs in them. When writing intimaterelationships, less is often more. I know many shippers (myself included) spendyears sometimes LONGING for couples to express what they mean to each other,physically and/or verbally. By all means, let your beloved characters express –but not everything and not all at once, would be my advice. Allow them to maintainsome sense of mystery and sovereignty. At the level of narrative, clichés canactually work, especially if used with awareness. I had such fun writing a OneBed! fic for Jack and Liz, in which I paidtribute to some of the many reams of MSR fanfiction I had previously consumed.There were so many of these stories in that fandom that they became a categoryof their own, boasting a set of (increasingly ironic) conventions. Some fanfictraditions, it must be said, deserve to be embraced, extended and celebrated.

9. Read: Reading is the easiest way to absorbgrammar, to expose yourself to different writing styles and to become moreadept with language. So read books of all kinds. And read fanfic from your favefandoms. But read it actively, critically. Figure out what works and whatdoesn’t and why. Figure out what you enjoy, don’t and why. Apply theseinsights to your own writing and keep applying them. Keep improving. The more you read and write, the better you’ll get.

10. Avoid Comparisons: My best experiences of readingand writing fanfiction have been in strong, supportive communities. Generally,the more supportive the community has been, the more prolific I have been. These communitiesare wonderful spaces to inhabit, filled with peeps that love their shows,defend their ships and support their authors. Authors are always hungry forfeedback, and is it any wonder? Writing, creating and sharing takes work, love,thought and guts. You have to claim a little corner of a fandom and boldlystate that you have something to say that’s worth listening to. Sadly, you will probably never receive the same amount of energy back as you putin. This can lead to authors comparing their output and input, judging theirwork on its stats rather than on its merits. It can lead to them competing forthose few meagre reviews that roll in. This is partly why it is so important toreview fanfic, particularly fanfic you love and authors you read consistently.It’s part of encouraging and creating a sense of community in which people feeltheir voices are heard and their contributions valued. So be generous with others. Encourage and share. Read, review, reblog.Treat your fellow writers as your community, not your competition. Viewfanfic as a labor of love, an act of generosity that sometimes gives back. And if you don’t get the response you wishfor then make sure you hit that internal heart button and give yourself somekudos for trying, for creating, for loving something and letting it show.

Good luck. :)

#fanfic #asks

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teashadephoenix · 6 years

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11 Questions

I got tagged by @pomegranate-belle <3 I'm sorry this took for fucking ever?!!??

I’ll tag @lioness--hart @fox-in-the-library and @whitegodiva if you guys want to do it? And anybody else, obvi <3

1. How long have you been writing?

Actually sitting down to type stories out? Eight years old. I've been making shit up since I could talk. I have it on good authority I am entertaining to listen to.

2. What are the major themes of your current wip(s)? LONG ANSWER

omg I really dont know. I spent several hours over several days banging on this question in my head both in front of the computer and away from it only to come to the horrified realisation that I Don't Know. *gay panic*

I know the things I like to write about. I like to write about free exchange of culture, of mutual respect and fraternity with your fellow humans (which leads to themes of unity, unconditional love not only of people but of the world, and the gray area of what it means to protect those things without giving in to hate, indifference and intolerance. THE GRAY AREA IS WHERE I THRIVE.)

I like to write about intergenerational relationships (which leads to themes of obsolescence, changing of the guard, and how people, in general, not individuals, never really change. Like, there's For a Good Time graffiti on the walls at Pompeii. That is HILARIOUS.)

I write a lot about family, both born and found. (Everybody has a place and everybody is loved.) I write about mental illness and being queer (which all by itself leads to themes of not knowing your place in the world even if you have one. Frequently comes up against the previously mentioned theme)

So yeah. I don't know. My big WIP, the Aalee Rise series, is about a young woman on the cusp of adulthood going out into the world for the first time. It's her idealism vs reality. The other main characters in that cast are all foils re: various facets of societal structure and ideologies. One challenges her idea of government, another her idea of religion. She falls in love, her loyalties to her brother and parents are tested, she makes mistakes, she fights monsters and saves the world. A lot.

tldr; It's my sandbox and I just wanted to build castles in it. I don't really know if the castles will mean anything when I'm done. I hope they do.

3. What do you want people to take away from your story once they’ve read it?

My greatest ambition is that I could ever write a hero as beloved as the heroes I read about growing up, figures that reminds not to give up hope, to get back up when we're down, that the dark times ahead of us will come to pass.

At best, if I've done that, I'll be ecstatic and satisfied.

At worst, as long as you had a good time, if you didn't throw the book across the room in disgust, I'll take it.

4. Would you be excited if people write fanfiction about your wip(s)?

YAAAAS. I would literally never read it because Im terrified of accidentally absorbing someone's ideas and making them my own bc Christ alive that's a legal nightmare, but yes that would make my life.

And you can have my firstborn if you send me fanart.

5. What’s your go-to writing beverage?

Tea. Really strong and sweet. I make a fresh quart each morning and usually go through it by the end of day.

6. Who is your favorite oc? Tell me about them!

OMG ALL OF MY CHILDREN ARE PRECIOUS. (it's Aalee.)

Aalee Dering is the eighteen-year-old protagonist of my Aalee Rise series. When we meet her in volume one (Worldwalk) she and her twin brother are setting off on their coming-of-age journey around the country. Her people, the Noruahai, have defended humanity for generations from unearthly creatures called asmic, and if she wants to become a licensed Marshal like her famous mother (and wow, she really, really does) she'll have to prove herself on her Worldwalk.

Aalee thinks with her heart first and always. She loves beautiful things, and all things are beautiful to her. She's quick to cry and struggles with anger, as well as distraction; she has trouble keeping focus. Good for getting into trouble. Not so good when it comes to being a responsible adult.

It would probably be easier if she wasn't of two minds on every single decision she has to make. She empathises with everyone, which can be paralysing-- how can she fight someone whose point of view she gets?

7. Do you feel that mistakes are important learning tools in the writing journey?

Mistakes are learning tools of life, darling. In writing they generally aren't the types that will destroy friendships, health, financial status, etc, which means they're generally easier to bounce back from. Unless you commit career suicide in some way...

8. Rank your ocs by their capability in a footchase (either running after or from smth, your choice)

1. Fall from the Aalee Rise series. He's a complicated human. Without getting into the context of the world he's from, he's hard to explain; but the short version is he's half-ghost so he can basically turn himself into the wind.

2. Rosie Frey from Color of the Stars but only when she's a lion. In her human form she's pretty normal.

3. Lynn Blythe (or any of the other vampires) from Echoes of Eden, because they're cheating cheaterfaces who use mystical vampy powers to be stronger and faster than humans

4. Sendmarshal Henley from the Aalee Rise series. Probably the fastest regular human. Imagine the most beautiful, tall, leggy black woman you can, all lean muscle and elegant grace, and now imagine her scooping you up and zipping out of danger with an easy smile on her face... *fans self* I stan.

5. When running headlong into danger to save someone? Aalee Dering. When running away? Frustratingly, satirically slow. She's one of those idiot heroes who stops to make sure everyone got away okay so Fall's always running back to grab her ("MOVE, IDIOT" "But that little old lady--" "FIRE-BREATHING MONSTERS. MOVE.")

9. Does your wip have romance? tell me about it!! if not tell me about a friendship/important relationship in your wip!! MORE LENGTHY BLAH

Relationships are the driving force of my writing. How one loves or is loved by other people, how they relate and engage with others, is how one grows, in real life and in fiction. There are a number of relationships in all my series that I'm fond of for various reasons. (For instance, even though she cannot STAND him, I'm eager af to write Eden and Lynn's relationship in Echoes of Eden because of how complicated it is.)

And as a rule all of my characters are queer or questioning unless otherwise stated, and I ship everybody with basically everybody else, and almost everybody has a love story in their history. (at least, their parents certainly do because I am a gross vile romantic and these fuckers came from somewhere.)

That having been said, for the sake of brevity I'll stick with Aalee Rise and limit myself to the Big Three: Aalee and her brother Elles, Aalee and her best friend Norah, and Aalee and Fall.

FAMILY: Aalee and Elles are twins. Born together and never separated, which stands out in a world where families are broken up by chaotic circumstances and random death on a regular basis. Aalee is easily distracted and has difficulty communicating her thoughts, so she tends to act on impulse; Elles is forever the cool head and the hand grabbing her by the back of the shirt to stop her from walking into danger. And after eighteen years of this... he's tired of it. He loves his sister, but he longs to see the world on his own terms, walk his own path. And Aalee doesn't share that sentiment. Not only doesn't share it, but is blown away when it comes into play. Her partner in crime wants to break away, and she does not take it very well. The first volume (Worldwalk) explores how their relationship suffers, grows, and changes due to this break.

FRIEND: Aalee's best friend of ten years is Norah. They met as little girls in a monster-ravaged town; Norah was entertaining the youngest orphans with a story and Aalee joined in. The pair of them spent a long night keeping civilians from panicking while Marshals battled asmic beyond the walls of the bunker. They exchanged addresses and became penpals over the next few years, since both of their parents travelled and they were rarely in the same place at the same time. That changed suddenly when Norah lost her father. Since then, Norah's family and Aalee's have lived in the same town. Norah is her warm hand in the dark, her shoulder to cry on, the first person she tells any good news. for Norah, Aalee is the only person (at the beginning of the story, anyway) with whom she can be her real whole self. They love each other no matter what.

ROMANCE: And then there's Fall. Aalee meets Fall when she rescues him from being murdered in a back alley-- except, oops, turns out it was a sting operation to catch the killer because he's not actually the helpless filthy vagabond she assumed he was; he's actually a powerful Marshal who was on assignment. Stuck together for various reasons, he becomes a mentor to her on her worldwalk, while she blatantly digs into the mystery of who he is, which turns out to complicate their lives, the lives of their friends and families, randos they happens across, their enemies, and also God's. To say they fall in love with each other is an understatement of cosmic proportions. They choose each other.

10. Do you believe in the advice kill your darlings?

Yeah but I take the advice as intended; which is not, as most assume, kill your fave characters, but to get rid of that which does not work, even if you love it. That pearlescent line of dialogue, or that golden bit of allegory? Doesn't matter how much you love it and how proud of it you are, if it does. not. work. it HAS. TO. GO. (save it in a new file to reread when you feel down and scrap that shit from the main file.)

that said re: killing characters, in my youth I was very much of the George RedRum Martin camp of "KILL THEM ALL" but as Ive gotten older my main focal point has been "What purpose does their death serve?" Death is not the only sacrifice worth writing. So while I am not afraid to kill my characters, I do take the nature of their deaths in the writing very seriously. There has to be a point.

11. Do you prefer plotting or worldbuilding? Why?

WORLDBUILDING MANYEXCLAMATIONPOINTSGOHERE! Plotting is like the maths of writing. It's measurement, it's brickwork, it's demolition when the wall you put up last week is three feet too long and now you have to scrap it and start over. Vital. But not my favorite part.

Worldbuilding is the art. It's the music your OCs hum and the stories that they treasure and the faith that holds them up when the crap you throw at them might tear them down. It's the story behind the jacket they wear and it's the reason they nod to the altar when they enter a place of worship and it's the meaning of their names. It's the magic. How the world works, the little details that make it real to the reader because it's real for your characters, is my favorite part of writing.

#long post #writing #about Tea which is me #tea writes

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princeofgod-2021 · 2 years

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LIGHT OF LIFE 253

John 1:4

SATAN’S STRUCTURE 60: CULTURE & TRADITION 19

1Pe 1:18 Forasmuch as ye know that YE WERE NOT REDEEMED WITH CORRUPTIBLE THINGS, as silver and gold, FROM YOUR VAIN CONVERSATION RECEIVED BY TRADITION FROM YOUR FATHERS; KJV

I must disabuse your minds beloved: being sent by God to decry a demonic or despicable religion Tradition, does not mean that there is sure protection against violence that could [even] end your life.

You must know that it yet glorifies God when His saints are killed for speaking out against wickedness.

Rev 2:13 I have knowledge that your living-place is where Satan has his seat: and you are true to my name, and were not turned away from your faith in me, even in the days of Antipas, MY TRUE WITNESS, WHO WAS PUT TO DEATH AMONG YOU, WHERE SATAN HAS HIS PLACE. BBE

This does not imply that God cares nothing when any of us dies though. Remember Jesus and Lazarus?

Every life is precious to Him and He hates the injustice that ends the life of saints, like Abel (Gen 4:10).

Ps 116:15 THE LORD CARES DEEPLY when His loved ones die. NLT

But you see, dead saints will rise again to be with God forever, so they are safe still. But demonic or wicked traditions will influence many souls, trap them and cause them to lose out in the heavenly race.

2Ti 2:17-18 THAT SORT OF TALK IS LIKE A SORE THAT WON'T HEAL. And HYMENAEUS AND PHILETUS have been talking this way by teaching that the dead have already been raised to life. This is far from the truth, and IT IS DESTROYING THE FAITH OF SOME PEOPLE. CEV

Whether teachings or practices, if they can destroy the faith of believers, they must be stopped, even at the expense of some lives, which are already secured.

That’s what happened to John the Baptist.

Luk 3:19-20 But JOHN REPRIMANDED GOVERNOR HEROD, BECAUSE HE HAD MARRIED HERODIAS, HIS BROTHER'S WIFE, AND HAD DONE MANY OTHER EVIL THINGS. Then Herod did AN EVEN WORSE THING by putting John in prison. GNB

Herod had wanted John dead directly but was only restrained because of his Place with the people and because it would indeed seem a wicked decision to kill a man just because he condemned a sinful act.

Mat 14:5 HEROD WANTED TO KILL HIM, but he was afraid of the Jewish people, because they considered John to be a prophet. GNB

However, Herod must have spent time with John and developed a conscience that convicted him, and so, he continued listening to John from time to time and probably would have repented totally.

Mar 6:20 But Herod both feared and stood in awe of John and kept him safely in custody, because he was convinced that he was a righteous and holy man. EVERY TIME HEROD HEARD JOHN SPEAK, IT DISTURBED HIS SOUL, BUT HE WAS DRAWN TO HIM AND ENJOYED LISTENING TO HIS WORDS. TPT

But women don’t forgive that easily: Herodias was enraged with him and looked for every possible opportunity to have him beheaded, evidently as mockery on John for “running his mouth” against her.

Mat 14:6-8 When Herod's birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced for the guests. She pleased Herod so much that he swore to give her whatever she wanted. BUT THE GIRL'S MOTHER TOLD HER TO SAY, "HERE ON A PLATTER I WANT THE HEAD OF JOHN THE BAPTIST!" CEV

The stupid King should have said: “I promised you up to half of the kingdom, not a man’s life”, but you see, wicked hearts are clouded and dumb; sin always multiplies itself.

Remember this scripture?

Luk 3:20 ADDING TO HIS MANY OTHER SINS, Herod had John seized and locked up in prison. TPT

Traditions of Men always seeks to take what is wrong and abominable to God, and make it, not only the norm but spread out as general practice.

Then Satan institutes war against anyone who decries it.

Pro 15:10 Whoever stops living right will be punished. WHOEVER HATES TO BE CORRECTED WILL BE DESTROYED. ERV

You see, it is the sinful person that will die by God’s judgment, but they seek to silence anyone who “touches” their “business” of wickedness and abominations by all means possible.

A prophet, by God’s mandate and at Jeremiah’s time, once rebuked the King and ran away to Egypt, but he paid for it.

Jer 26:20-23 THERE WAS ANOTHER MAN PROPHESYING IN THE NAME OF THE LORD. His name was Uriah, son of Shemaiah, from Kiriath Jearim. He prophesied against this city and this land as Jeremiah did. When King Jehoiakim and all his personal troops and officials heard what Uriah said, the king wanted to put him to death. But Uriah heard about it and fled in fear to Egypt. King Jehoiakim sent soldiers to Egypt: Elnathan (son of Achbor) and other soldiers along with him. THEY BROUGHT URIAH FROM EGYPT AND TOOK HIM TO KING JEHOIAKIM. THE KING EXECUTED URIAH AND THREW HIS BODY INTO THE BURIAL GROUND FOR THE COMMON PEOPLE. GW

However, nobody kills a Man that God has determined to keep alive to declare His Holy Mandate: Jeremiah was right there then but could not be killed anyhow and thus was protected profoundly.

Jer 26:24 However, Ahikam son of Shaphan used his influence to keep Jeremiah FROM BEING HANDED OVER AND EXECUTED BY THE PEOPLE. NET

Take note here that it was not just the King that declared the death of Prophet Uriah but also the people.

This is because they all (King and people) were consensually practicing the demonic Traditions.

But God had, from start, promised Jeremiah that he’d be kept safe, though he had to face the people.

Jer 1:7-9 But the Lord said to me, Do not say, I am a child: for wherever I send you, you are to go, and WHATEVER I GIVE YOU ORDERS TO SAY, YOU ARE TO SAY. HAVE NO FEAR BECAUSE OF THEM: FOR I AM WITH YOU, TO KEEP YOU SAFE, SAYS THE LORD. Then the Lord put out his hand, TOUCHING MY MOUTH; AND THE LORD SAID TO ME, SEE, I HAVE PUT MY WORDS IN YOUR MOUTH: BBE

I pray that God will put His words in your mouth and keep you alive many years to speak out for Him against all wicked and demonic Traditions plaguing our Churches and lands, in Jesus name, Amen.

Come back on Monday for more digging into this intriguing subtopic.

Keep Shinning!

Brother Prince

Friday, September 23, 2022

08055125517; 08023904307

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wtnv-panels · 6 years

Text

Good Morning Night Vale, episode 5: “Good Morning the Shape in Grove Park”

Symphony: Close your eyes. Let my words wash over you.

Meg: You are safe now.

Hal: Good morning, Night Vale.

Meg: Hello and welcome to Good Morning Night Vale, episode 5, “The Shape in Grove Park”. So my name is Meg Bashwiner, I am your tri-host, co-host, what do you call it when there’s three of us?

Hal: Throst?

Symphony: Three…

Meg: Throst?

Symphony: Aa-aa, I was thinking that too.

Meg: And I am joined today by the beautiful Symphony Sanders…

Symphony: It’s me!

Meg: And the beautiful Hal Lublin.

Hal: That’s me.

Meg: And we’re here to talk to you. We’re here to talk to you.

Hal: We’re just here to talk, but you know what? We also wanna listen.

Symphony: [chuckles]

Hal: That’s not gonna work for this show.

Meg: Let’s all listen right now.

Hal: Alright, let’s just listen for half an hour. [long beat] Has it been 30 minutes?

Symphony: That would be terrible.

Meg: Yeah, felt like it.

Hal: Yeah, that felt like 30 minutes of listening.

Symphony: So hey guys! What are we, what do we do in this show, huh?

Meg: We recap and chat about episodes of the hit popular podcast, This American Life, no.

Symphony: Is that popular?

Meg: It was, it was like one of the first podcasts, but I don’t think anyone listens, I don’t think they make that anymore.

Hal: I’m just glad a show exists where somebody recaps and analyzes Joe Rogan’s podcast, and we are those three people!

Meg: No we’re here to analyze and recap the hit popular podcast Welcome to Night Vale.

Hal: That too.

Meg: And this week we’re talking about “The Shape in Grove Park”, which is described as “A protest against the removal of the shape in Grove Park that no one acknowledges or speaks about, plus changes to the school curriculum, a growing tarantula problem in town, and musical auditions”. So that’s a pretty hefty description for lots of things that happen this episode.

Symphony: There are lots of things that happen in this one. Well, first of all, the fact that it’s called the shape and is a shape in, that Cecil repeatedly asked to get a statement from it, and sometimes it quivers or something, but that freaks me out a little. I don’t know about you guys.

Hal: That scared you? Did you get a little scared listening to it? It’s creepy.

Symphony: Well-

Hal: There is a creepy experience to like when you listen to it, especially with headphones, because like the sound picture being painted is so specific that it can, it can creep you out.

Meg: Yeah absolutely. So we’re talking about “The Shape in Grove Park”, so there’s this monument, this landmark, which reminded right away of the removal of confederate statues.

Symphony: [chuckles] Right!

Meg: I was like, this is another one of those like creepy foreshadowing to the public removal of statues where in this case it’s like, no one talks about it or acknowledges it but it’s still really important. That’s kind of the vibe there whereas with confederate statues, we all talk about it and it’s important and we should tear them down, but… [laughter] It’s this kind of similar discussion about public space and monuments and interacting with them.

Symphony: Yes and the City Council isn’t very helpful with all of that at all. Aren’t they trying to make sure, they’re trying to save it right, so they end up putting it in front of the studio in and trouble ensues, obviously.

Meg: Yes. So this is kind of a monumental, monument, monumental episode in the sense that this is where Cecil gets a name.

Symphony: Oh right!

Meg: This is where Cecil gets the name Cecil.

Symphony: I always forget about that, that he’s just like nameless narrator until a certain point. But he still doesn’t have a last name.

Meg: No. And he doesn’t get a last name for a bit. And then he gets a middle name.

Symphony: Yes.

Hal: There is something interesting to this that this is the first time he really gets an identity for the listener in terms of a first name, but the thing that struck me about that it even though there are a lot of things that happen is that it’s just his existential struggle. Like that’s the thing, that was my biggest takeaway from it and the thing that struck me is how well constructed that was, and then it didn’t need to, I mean it has a place in the larger continuum, but it also can exist on its own, just that particular plot line of him struggling like, am I the only one here, for all I know nobody’s listening or. I just, that was something that I was really drawn to and and, just very well written and well executed.

Symphony: Yeah I loved that idea of him possibly being alone in this universe, to something that’s not even connected to anything or anyone else. I mean, haven’t we all felt like that at one moment or another?

Meg: Yes.

Hal: Oh sure.

Meg: (God).

Symphony: [chuckles] Just…

Meg: So yeah, that’s the plot point that launched a thousand theories, conspiracy theories about this show.

Symphony: Yes. [laughter]

Meg: Cecil is alone. There’s been heat death of the world and Cecil is all that is left, alone in his empty universe.

Symphony: Yeah or it’s just, even that he’s like in this all by himself or it’s in his head kind of thing, I’ve seen a lot of those theories on Tumblr and whatnot over the years, so that’s always been really fun.

Meg: I thought this was one of the funnier episodes, I think this is they’re really starting to find their rhythm with their writing structure, their joke structure for how this show works, and this episode is very funny. There’s lots of really interesting things that are done with writing, like when they talk about the tarantula problem. Which is, [chuckling] there’s just so many different things that happen in that paragraph…

Symphony: Teen pregnancy.

Meg: ..teach a spider to read, teen pregnancy teach a spider to read, stop the madness.

Symphony: [chuckles] Yeah.

Meg: It’s just like it just keeps, things just keep happening in that paragraph that keep turning it on its head.

Symphony: Yeah and I love that they are, yes they do find their humor in this, and Cecil starts becoming more of a fleshed out character, you can hear in Cecil’s voice acting even. Like, he starts getting a little bit more into his higher ranges, which is always very fun for me to hear, ‘cause it just is more light-hearted than just like..

Hal: Yeah.

Symphony: ..the announcer, I mean Cecil has a gorgeous timbre to his voice already. But when, you know you’re adding these other levels to this person, you are really fleshing out a character.

Meg: Absolutely, we are starting to kind of land in Cecil now that are, this is yeah we’re at this point we’re five episodes in, and so we’ve learned a lot about the world of Night Vale, we’re learning a little bit about the character of Cecil, and then just the continual world building that we’re getting. Michael Sandero gets his second head.

Symphony: That’s more attractive.

Meg: Yeah.

Hal: Yeah.

Meg: That his mother prefers, so.

Hal: And puts, I love that she has a list out on, a public list, ranking of her children that goes out in front of her house for everybody to see.

Symphony: In the front yard! [laughs] If only, I mean Hal, you’re an only child, right?

Hal: True.

Symphony: So you’ve never really had to deal with this, but Meg you have a sister as I have a brother. And there is always that sneaking suspicion of who’s like, the more beloved. [laughs]

Hal: Do you think it’s you?

Symphony: No, I think my brother is the more beloved, in a different way.

Meg: Yeah. I think my sister and I kind of trade that position, like over the years in our life we’ve kind of traded that role several times back and forth about who’s the favorite. So we’re just hoping for many more years of trading off who’s the good one, so… [laughs]

Symphony: Can you imagine tho if your parents put that in the front yard for everybody to see it’s like, this is my favorite kid and this is my least favorite kid?

Meg: At least you’d know where you stand, you know.

Symphony: I guess so. It’s all (that truthfulness).

Meg: Which is kind of interesting, ‘cause in my family you know where you stand. There’s like…

Symphony: [laughs]

Meg: We’re not really a passive aggressive bunch, we're pretty much an aggressive aggressive bunch [laughter]. So you know when you’re on top and you know when you’re not.

Symphony: [laughs] Oh. Well, what if you grew another head and it was more attractive or people liked that head better, how would you feel about that? It’s not even just like your sibling, it’s like on your own body, like that’s adding insult to injury, now?

Meg: Do you have to do its makeup or does it do it on its own?

Symphony: Well I guess if you share a body, the body has to do all the work. Like the, right? Like maybe you only get one arm like, the left head gets the left arm and the right head, that would be really tough for your eyeliner, I can’t wing with the same hand.

Meg: Yeah. I do most of the stuff with my right hand. The thing that would probably bother me the most is that I would have to share the, the real estate of my body with someone else, like I feel like I’m barely getting by being a clumsy person with the stuff that I’m working with and to have to share that with another entity that would just be, I’d fall down every flight of stairs, I would not be able to chop an onion. [laughter] Symphony: Well and this gets into the territory of Siamese twins, guys.

Meg: Here we are. Episode 5, we finally got there.

Hal: Finally. I can’t wait, this is welcome to the finale of Good Morning, we got there in five episodes, we did it, that’s the record for getting to Siamese twins. I feel like I’m so insecure, the idea of a better looking smarter head on my body is like…

Symphony: Right.

Hal: That is my worst nightmare that I didn’t know I had until you asked that question like two minutes ago.

Symphony: Also is it now incorrect to say Siamese twins? [laughs]

Meg: I think we say “conjoined twins” now.

Hal: We say “conjoined twins”.

Symphony: We say “conjoined twins”. (Grant, cut it!) [laughs] OK. So “conjoined twins”. Yeah after I heard it I was like, that probably sounds a liiittle racist, (--).

Hal: I know that people can’t see what we’re doing right now, but Symphony has a clipboard in her left hand, and when you ask questions like that, you look like a camp counselor who’s going through the sensitivity training like, [laughter] can we say “Siamese twins”? Is that OK, let me mark it down ‘cause I had a note about that, I have finally the answer. Free swim at 9 AM, that’s gonna be fun.

Symphony: And crafts are in the barn.

Hal: Even for you “conjoined twins”, see I do learn. [laughter]

Symphony: After last summer’s debacle, (I mean it is)…

Hal: Surprised you came back, but I’m glad you’re here. [laughter]

Symphony: It’s how we learn, it’s how we learn.

Meg: Right, we just gotta keep the conversation, keep the conversation (going).

Symphony: We’re gonna move forward.

Meg: Yeah.

Hal: Yeah.

Symphony: So OK, I feel like this is the first time that the people huddle outside the back of the Ralphs. I’ve always loved that imagery, like in the hole of the parking lot.

Hal: Yes.

Symphony: It’s like, what are these people just like hanging out in a hole? Ralphs is a grocery store.

Meg: Yeah, Ralphs is a grocery chain.

Hal: Yes.

Symphony: Right. It’s like real tho?

Meg: Yeah.

Hal: Yes.

Symphony: Right, I’m like I feel like I’ve heard of the Ralphs before.

Meg: They’re just in California and maybe there’s one in Arizona.

Symphony: OK, well…

Hal: You know them as Kroger, same company.

Symphony: Ah, I do know a Kroger, seen a Kroger before. But I always think, I saw that recently about like chain grocery stores, and that’s always interesting to me ‘cause what you grow up with you’re like, oh all grocery stores aren’t a Jewel?

Meg: Or a Shoprite?

Symphony: But when people are just hanging out in a huddled mass outside of the Ralph, and they put out an ad for it.

Meg: Yeah, that Cecil delivers earnestly.

Symphony: Like come hang out with us.

Hal: Yeah.

Meg: Just an earnest ad for a hole in the parking lot.

Symphony: For you to huddle with other people in.

Meg: Pretty good. So we add to our intern count, intern Leland.

Symphony: Leland.

Meg: RIP.

Symphony: But you know, doesn’t there seem like there’s more pomp and circumstance with this one like…

Hal: Yeah!

Symphony: He dies but they talk about having a funeral and how they bury them in the break room, which…

Hal: [laughs]

Symphony: ..was never discussed before, but I like it.

Hal: Yeah.

Symphony: It seems a propos.

Meg: It’s important to have ceremony surrounding grief, you know.

Hal: Oh absolutely. [chuckles] It just feels, I like, I love watching the little detail like coloring the corners, getting the little nooks and crannies in this world building, and that’s what this feels like ‘cause it’s not, yes a series of, at this point you probably would figure out that most of the interns are going to die. But those little like, you get filled out what actually happens when somebody dies outside of, Cecil makes an announcement that there is a full sort of funeral held in their break room, which is just really for all intents and purposes, a graveyard where they eat sometimes.

Symphony: [laughs] I don’t think they allow that in actual cemeteries, so they get mad if you go in there and try and picnic.

Hal: Have you tried?

Meg: You can. Yeah.

Symphony: Can you?

Meg: Yeah I have a friend growing up whose Mom would take her to the cemetery to eat on her grandparents’ grave, they would like go do that. They would take a hot lunch.

Symphony: But if you didn’t know anybody, you’d just like sit that’s what I’m saying…

Meg: Yeah, then it’s…

Symphony: Not like it’s some of your family.

Meg: Yeah it’s like have some respect, you’re just sitting there like eating a six-inch Subway meatball sandwich just like, I was hungry! [laughter]

Symphony: It’s like, oh I just stopped at the Kroger or whatever like I just needed a place to sit down, and this is closer than the park.

Meg: Quieter, it’s cleaner.

Symphony: Totally, and it’s nice, there’s flowers, trees and stuff.

Meg: Yeah.

Symphony: Some cemeteries are very nice.

Meg: They are.

Symphony: Although I think a waste of land.

Meg I- I have to agree that they’re a waste of land, although some of the existing ones are pretty special, like-like the famous existing ones they’re special. There’s a bunch of ones that are just like, you know, miles and miles of dead people, where it’s like they probably could have figured out something better to do here with this, but you know.

Symphony: I like the fancy ones in LA.

Meg: Oh.

Symphony: I’ve been to a couple of those.

Meg: Yeah.

Hal: Hollywood Forever, where…

Symphony: With like celebrities.

Hal: Yeah, they show movies at Hollywood Forever…

Symphony: Yeah yeah yeah!

Hal: ..you can go see, when Jennifer and I were first dating, we went with Annie Savage who was appeared on the show, and her future husband at the time Fred and Ben Acker, we all went and watched, I think “Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure”. Like they just project it onto a mausoleum and a bunch of people show up, and and it’s acceptable.

Symphony: Wow.

Hal: That’s what happens in a Hollywood cemetery. It’s all glamour out here, folks.

Meg: Anything goes in Hollywood. Anything goes.

Hal: All the rumors are true.

Symphony: But I guess that’s what you sign up for when you’re like, oh I wanna be buried in this Hollywood cemetery and then you’re gonna get a movie shown on your grave, you know?

Hal: Yeah. I wanna, if I do that I want it written into my will which movies I will allow.

Meg: What would you pick if you had to like have a list of a few that you would find acceptable to project onto your grave?

Hal: Only “Xanadu”. That’s all I want shown all the time.

Symphony: Yes! [sings] Xanaduu…

Hal: And only the big number at the end where they combine all of their ideas into one horrific – dance number?

Symphony: [laughs]

Meg: I’d have to go with “Grease 2”, if it was me.

Hal: [laughs] Bowling alley sequence only?

Symphony: That’s the one with Michelle Pfeiffer?

Meg: Yeah. Yes.

Symphony: OK so, ‘cause I was about to say, I was like wow are we going to let Olivia Newton-John here? And then no it’s ‘cause it’s “Grease 2”. I think on my – “Labyrinth”.

Meg: Oo!

Hal: Nice. Nice.

Symphony: I like that movie a lot.

Meg: That sounds cozy and you know a bunch of college kids would roll up a joint and rock up to your grave and..

Symphony: Right!

Meg: ..(-) [silly voice] “Are we watching ‘The Labyrinth’ at Symphony Sanders’ grave tonight?” And it would be a good time.

Symphony: Yeah, and then my ghost would come out.

Meg: Yeah, and your ghost would love it!

Symphony: [laughs]

Meg: Your ghost is like, I’m trying to imagine what your ghost is wearing, it’s a one piece.

Symphony: Yes.

Meg: It’s like a spooky little one-piece jumpsuit. [laughter]

Symphony: You know me and my one-piece living, or dying.

Meg: Your one-piece dying! [laughter]

Symphony: Boo, Sanders! So speaking of celebrities and dead celebrities, Rita Hayworth apparently. But I mean you guys, first of all it’s hearsay of hearsay. This is like the most like not, probably it’s not true at all.

Hal: It did come from an angel, they’re very trusted sources of, they’re known celebrity spotters.

Symphony: They said to Old Woman Josie, who told Cecil, right?

Hal: Yes.

Symphony: The angel didn’t tell Cecil, Old Woman Josie did. She could be a liar.

Hal: Are you saying…

Meg: Wow, accusation.

Hal: ..there are unreliable voices in Night Vale?

Symphony: [laughs] Noo… Yes. No. Maybe. Uuuh, well, do you even know what Rita Hayworth looks like?

Hal: Yes!

Meg: I don’t.

Hal: Have you not seen “The Shawshank Redemption”? She’s the one who whips her hair back when they watch the movie and goes “Who me, boys?” She’s the first poster that he puts on his cell wall.

Symphony: No I was just asking like for posterity, do you know what [chuckling] Rita Hayworth looks like?

Hal: I do.

Symphony: So the answer is yes.

Hal: Yes. She’s shorter and more Hispanic than I remember but…

Symphony: [laughter] (-) that was fun.

Hal: Yeah.

Symphony: Well, maybe that woman’s name was Rita Hayworth, it just wasn’t the Rita Hayworth that we’re thinking of.

Hal: That’s true, that’s on us.

Symphony: Right? Her name could be Margarita Hayworth. She just goes by Rita. Actually that’s my, a girl I went to high school with. Her name was Margarita so it’s not like…

Meg: No, when I was taking Spanish class in fifth grade, my Spanish name was Margarita, so…

Symphony: Did you know what a Margarita was, the drink?

Meg: Yes.

Symphony: OK.

Meg: I wasn’t drinking them at the time, but I had been to a Chili’s before, so I… [laughter]

Hal: You do a lot of growing up the first time you go to a Chili’s, don’t you?

Meg: Sure, that’s for sure.

Hal: Mm hm.

Symphony: God I love Chili’s. I also have digestive distress, but it’s so good.

Meg: I feel like we have already done this on this show, we have ranked the Applebee’s and the Chili’s and [laughter] and the uh, TGI Fridays, I feel like we’ve already been down this road.

Symphony: Well Applebee’s is on the lowest, it’s on the lowest.

Meg: We all agree that Applebee’s is the worst, it’s Scrabblebee’s.

Hal: Applebee’s is terrible, but I got food poisoning at a Fridays, so that will always be the bottom for me.

Symphony: Well that’s full of people that definitely don’t wash their hands.

Hal: That’s true. They dump their wings in the toilet before they bring them out.

Symphony: [laughs]

Hal: And they told me, it’s really on me. I rank myself below Fridays for that reason. (--) OK, you know what, I’ll roll the dice, I’m a gambler. [laughter]

Meg: I also really love the satire that we have of auditions, and (--) as a whole we get for the “Once on this Island” auditions announcement. [laughs]

Symphony: Yes. I love how they do this throughout the series, throughout the show in general, but they’ll do lists of things and it’ll start out normal or it’ll be like a couple normal things, and then it’ll totally go off the rails. Which I love, and I think you know, when you’re an actor, you just gotta have all those skills, you know what I mean?

Hal: Yes.

Meg: Yes.

Symphony: Sniper skills, all sorts of things. What is a dirigible?

Hal: It’s a, it’s a blimp.

Symphony: You’re, [laughing] you’re a blimp?

Hal: (--) I’m a blimp? ‘cause I answered, how rude!

Meg: That’s rude.

Hal: That was just Applebee’s style behavior right there.

Meg: When you’re here, your family. [laughter]

Hal: What is the biggest lie you ever put on your resumé, or like the dumbest skill that you have on your acting resumé?

Symphony: My own? I dunno.

Hal: Did you write stuff on other people’s resumés? When you’re on auditions you wrote like, “doesn’t work well with people”.

Symphony: Well I just remember I was, I was looking at someone’s once, and I just thought it was funny that they put like “burp on command”, they could burp on command.

Hal: [laughs]

Symphony: And I’m like, do people like test you on that, or what?

Hal: They might.

Symphony: I mean I’ve always wondered if people get called out, you know.

Meg: If someone were to actually call me out on the horseback riding skills that I list, it probably would be dangerous, I probably would get hurt. Like so you can actually really ride a horse, right? Yeah sure, totally. And like, I would get trampled. It’d be like here, gallop down this beach, and I’d be like oh no, we’re all gonna die.

Hal: [laughs]

Meg: I always wonder why they have the, like where we have to put our that we have a driver’s license and that it’s valid. [laughs]

Symphony: Yeah.

Hal: Yeah!

Meg: Valid driver’s license.

Hal: Like they’re gonna go, oh driver’s license huh? I’ve got a truck downstairs in the garage and they just throw you the keys. Go round the block and don’t hit any stuff!

Meg: Yeah. I’ve never had to act in a car. It’s never been a place for like…

Symphony: Me either, never been in that commercial. That’s usually like commercials, right? Like…

Meg: Yeah.

Hal: Yeah.

Symphony: You’ll have to be, but do they even like, make you drive in the actual car, or is it like you’re in one of those fake cars on a like green screen?

Hal: It depends. Sometimes you probably have to drive it. But even then if you haven’t ever driven before, and they put you in the car and you do that thing that kids do where you’re like just, you’re constantly moving the wheel..

Symphony: Yeah.

Hal: ..because you know that there’s a steering wheel in a car, that’s how they know this person probably doesn’t have a valid, this person can’t act like they’re driving, they seem really bad at it.

Meg: We would all get not cast in “Once on This Island”. Which is an interesting choice.

Symphony: Well maybe I could because I’m a person of color…

Meg: Yeah.

Symphony: So I was encouraged, that’s good.

Meg: That show really should be people of color..

Hal: Yeah.

Meg: ..only. [laughs]

Symphony: Pretty much, well except for, there’s like four white people in the show.

Meg: Yes.

Symphony: They’re like staying at the hotel or wherever.

Meg: Actually I saw Welcome to Night Vale actor Kevin R. Free in a wonderful production of “Once on This Island” at the Papermill Playhouse, and he did a fantastic job. Fun fact about Kevin R. Free is that he has a beautiful singing voice.

Symphony: He’s a good actor.

Meg: He’s a good actor, beautiful singing voice.

Hal: Not a surprise.

Symphony: All around good guy, yeah. Just sending Kevin R. Free some love, that’s all.

Hal: Yeah. I do like the idea of auditions ‘cause that in the later, in the touring show that just concluded, there was another bit about auditions as well, like it’s just a fun thing to come back to, that something’s always being cast and it’s very dangerous. Like the requirements are different every time, but also you know we were talking about the lists earlier, so people who are a fan of comedy and breaking down comedy, listening to and sort of studying how these lists are put together by Jeffrey and Joseph, it’s a little good way to understand heightening and misdirection, and the way they build their laughs out of surprises and then, they build on the surprise, it’s like constant hard turns, and then build build build hard turn that gives them like a reset to build off of, which is really really smart and fun as an audience member to experience, and really fun as an actor to perform.

Meg: Yeah, absolutely like especially in this episode with the list where they talk about the curriculum. “Finally, in addition to the current foreign language offerings of Spanish, French, and modified Sumerian, schools will now be offering double Spanish, weird Spanish, Coptic Spanish, Russian, and unmodified Sumerian.” So yeah, construction of these lists that do, they just take us on a journey, a journey of humor.

Symphony: I love the text books, that was always, that was really funny for me. I just like when they turn the things that would normally happen in everyday life right on its ear, you know like the math and English, those two just switching names but they still are the same like principles right? I just find that really funny and imaginative. And that teachers are astral projecting.

Meg: Yeah. And we get our, I think it’s our first Children’s Fun Fact Science Corner.

Symphony: Yeah, about the moon.

Meg: Where Cecil’s talking about the moon, yeah. [laughter] And Telly the Barber and Carlos, so I think it’s our first Children’s Fun Fact Science Corner, which is a fun segment on this show. So speaking of segments on this show, we have some fan theories and fan questions that we got from our voicemail and from our email, and we’re going to talk about those.

But first, let’s talk about the weather.

[ad break]

Meg: So this episode’s weather was “Jerusalem” by Dan Bern.

Hal: I love Dan Bern.

Symphony: I thought that song was so funny. It had, the tune itself made me think of almost like a 60’s revolutionary folk rock song, but what he’s talking about, the whole thing about the olives was killing me, I was like yes.

Meg: [sings] Olives!

Symphony: I wrote “loves olives”. [laughs]

Hal: Yeah, Dan is super smart and super funny and he sounds, he’s not a Bob Dylan soundalike but he’s super evocative. He’s got a similar vocal style, the way he plays the guitar has that folk rock feeling to it. That is like, he’s the kind of musician where you want to listen to, the lyrics are super important and sometimes just the way the music is built is the most important thing. But with him, you wanna catch all the details of what he’s saying as he sings, ‘cause it’s always super smart and really funny satire.

Meg: Yeah, agree on all of those things, I think it’s a really nice addition to this episode. It feels like it almost matches the rhythm of this episode, where it is one that does kind of, has a more humorous tone to it, has a “hey pay attention to the words” kind of tone to it, observational humor tone to it, it does feel like it is a nice match with that, whether that’s intentional or not, it feels like at home in this episode.

Hal: Yeah, 100 per cent. Probably the most, the best fit in terms of matching what’s going on. It doesn’t feel like it’s hard to turn away from where we’ve been. It feels kind of, it’s logical in a way that…

Symphony: Right.

Hal: The weather doesn’t really have to be, but when it is it’s nice, it’s a nice little sort of surprise.

Meg: Let’s go into the FanZone where we hear from some of our fans who have written into the email address and have dialed into our weird voicemail. So I (-) through the email account today and found some things. We asked, just for these first couple of episodes, we asked fans to react to the first ten episodes of Night Vale and what they had in terms of theories and questions. And Erin B. writes to us and says: “Theories. Carlos was sent to Night Vale by the place he works for, and as soon as time distorted, he wasn’t able to ever send any research back. Theory 2: Cecil was extremely lonely prior to Carlos arriving and pushed people away. Theory 3: The Voice of Night Vale infects Cecil and he doesn’t even really need a radio station to podcast. And theory 4: the secret government agency sent Carlos to Night Vale.” So we’ve got some theories here. I think are interesting when we are listening to it and hear the kind of new things about how Cecil wonders if his microphone is even attached, and if he is all alone. So it’s kind of the first episode that starts to pull back the, the (lens) of possibility and so, hearing from Erin on their theories about what’s going on here. We can’t of course confirm or deny any of these theories. I think that Cecil probably was extremely lonely prior to Carlos arriving. I dunno if he pushed people away, maybe he pushed people away, it’s possible.

Symphony: I think it is interesting that um, just like with a lot of theatre itself like, why is it important now, why are you talking about this thing now? So obviously Carlos coming into his life has been a catalyst for something or it’s been a big deal, because he wasn’t really, like we didn’t hear about Cecil before all that stuff, and now since Carlos has come into his life, things have changed. I dunno if he pushed people away, but now things in his life are changing, and Night Vale especially.

Meg: Yeah.

Hal: Yeah. I think they’re good theories. I like the, I like back filling sort of character. You sorta can find the notes that you need to back fill where a character might have been when they arrive through listening and just sort of what the current relationship is and how important it is to the people, so I’m all for stuff like that. And then it’s fun when the writing either confirms or denies that, and if it doesn’t, then that’s something you can hold on to, and you’re always right.

Meg: Yeah and on that, the similar topic there, (Julianne) writes to us and says, “In episode 5, Cecil explicitly addresses this idea, questioning whether his mike is even plugged in and if the world is held aloft merely by my – his delusions and by his smooth, sonorous voice. But it leaves, it has a hypothetical scenario by not pursuing it past his musing. But his mind being stuck in limbo makes sense, Cecil and the city having (-) sense of time is the biggest clue, followed by a general lack of knowledge about how things – science, correct building materials for drawbridges and - heck, just how weird everything in Night Vale is”, so that’s (Julianne) saying that it makes sense that this might be a real thing that Cecil’s not actually there, that because it might prove that Cecil is stuck in limbo and that creates a weird sense of time, which makes sense why everything is weird in Night Vale.

Hal: I would ask, and (Julianne) you can’t respond. You can do it on social media I guess but right now, [chuckles] right now we can’t have a conversation about it, but I always wonder in those cases, is it more interesting for it to actually exist and be real, or is it more interesting if none of it is real and he is delusional, or has created a reality around him, in which case where is he and what is the real world around him? And I don’t think I, I don’t have an answer one way or the other, but I think that’s sort of the interesting question and conversation that you can jump off, either thinking about it by yourself or discussing with other friends/fans.

Meg: Nice. And Nina asks us, trying to put this the right way, Nina says: “Did I hear that a typo in an early episode resulted in a somewhat prominent change in plot? Can you tell us what that was all about?” So it’s not so, getting the story from Jeffrey, we talked to Jeffrey about this. Not so much that a typo resulted in a prominent change in the plot, it was that a typo resulted in a prominent change in the plot so we had to have Cecil re-record. So the way that the episodes are recorded is Joseph and Jeffrey work on a script, that script goes to Cecil, Cecil sits down, reads the script and kinda figures out his emotional beats, and then he performs it into a microphone and then he sends that recording off to Joseph, who cuts it into an episode. So there’s not a director in the room that is gonna go through word for word and make sure that the writers’ intents come through, so in this situation there was a typo that twisted the meaning, or a word got dropped and that changed the whole meaning of an episode, so he had to go back and have Cecil re-record and get that word in there, and have the episode have the meaning that Joseph and Jeffrey intended.

Symphony: But otherwise, all is well.

Meg: All is well. Sarah writes (-) us about Michael Sandero and Michael Sandero’s mother. So Sarah says: “Michael Sandero’s mother kept a ‘which of my children I like best’ ranking outside her house, which means Michael presumably had at least one other sibling. Why have we never heard about them? Will we ever hear about them? Are they simply so utterly normal compared to Michael and his recordbreakingly awful luck that they don’t stick out at all? Do these siblings actually ask?” And then this is in parenthesis: “Regardless of siblings or lack thereof, Flora is not a good mother, at least to Michael. So if the siblings are real, it would be nice if they showed him the support she does not.” Sarah also says [chuckles]: “How are the troubled tarantulas doing? I hope they’ve managed to turn their dire situation around and get on their many very hairy feet by now.”

Symphony: I don’t know that, like any theory, we can only make assumptions on the information that we have. And knowing how Night Vale is, I mean maybe he does have other siblings, but they don’t get any sort of (interest or play), right? They can’t possibly, ‘cause he’s a big football star. When you got a big football star, if you don’t live up to that, you know? It’s like “Friday Night Lights”.

Hal: He was already at top of the list and then the head beat him out. So he can’t, even when you’re at the top of the list, you’re not at the top of the list. Sorry, Michael.

Symphony: Yeah. You’re never safe.

Hal: Never.

Symphony: Oh and the tarantulas, do we wanna answer that? Is that a question?

Meg: How are they? I hope they’re doing OK. I mean, it seemed like there was a good program in place for them.

Symphony: Yeah, I mean they’re trying to get them to read, which is the first step I think in any sort of, uh, programming.

Meg: Yeah. And I think there’s passionate people involved in trying to rehabilitate and provide opportunities for these tarantulas, just all we can only ever hope for is that people are, there’s good people trying to do their best for them.

Hal: I’m deathly frightened of tarantulas, so they could all walk into a fire as far as [chuckling] I’m concerned!

Symphony: [chuckles]

Meg: That’s so cold, Hal. So cold.

Hal: Yeah. Not the fire, the fire’s plenty warm, if you’re cold get in that fire.

Meg: [laughs]

Hal: It’ll warm you up.

Meg: So let’s burn the tarantulas or not. And thus we end the FanZone. [laughter] Alright, we got through our episode. Thanks so much for discussing “The Shape in Grove Park”, all ‘yall! Next week, we are going to be speaking with Jon Bernstein, you may know him as Disparition. He is the creator of the music for Welcome to Night Vale and Alice Isn’t Dead, and he is an all around rad dude. We will be discussing episode 6, “The Drawbridge”, so we have that to look forward to, which is exciting. I’m very excited.

Hal: Me too!

Meg: Symphony?

Symphony: I’m not that excited.

Hal: Wow, hateful. The shade!

Symphony: Just kidding!

Hal: [whew].

Symphony: It’s because I’m afraid of bridges.

Hal: [laughs]

Meg: Awww. Well we’ll unpack that and all of our fears in next week’s episode, where we unpack our fears and talk it over with musician Jon Bernstein. You know him as Disparition, I refer to him as Yon. Symphony, do you have any other nicknames for Jon?

Symphony: Berenstain. I call him like Berenstain Bears, he doesn’t like that.

Meg: No. Alright great, (-) one in the (-), thank you all so very much for listening, and we will check in with you next week. And until then, good morning Night Vale, good morning.

Meg: Good Morning is a Night Vale Presents production. It is hosted by Symphony Sanders, Hal Lublin and Meg Bashwiner. It is edited by Grant Stewart. It is mixed by Vincent Cacchione, it is produced by Meg Bashwiner. Theme music by Disparition. Special thanks to our fans who submitted their thoughts. Leave us a voicemail at 929-277-2050, or email us at [email protected], to share your theories and ask questions, or to tell us which host would lie in court for you.

For more information on this show, go to goodmorningnightvale.com and follow us on Facebook and Twitter @NightValeChat. Special thanks to (Christy Gressman), Jeffrey Cranor, Joseph Fink, and Adam Cecil.

Today’s adverb is “savagely”. The lion savagely attacked his tempe and quinoa salad, because he was a hungry wild beast, but also had just started doing meatless Mondays, because sustainability matters and we are all on this planet together.

#night vale presents #good morning night vale #meg bashwiner #hal lublin #symphony sanders #episode 5 #the shape in grove park

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