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dragon-swords-prophecies · 3 years

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Sacrifice Chapter 1

So I'm trying to edit chapter 1 of Sacrifice because I really don't like it and even I can tell how much my writing style has changed in three ish months but I can't figure out exactly whats wrong with it and since I've never shared anything on here ever thats this long and also I need want someone's opinion on this (Please & thank you very much), here's the first chapter of Sacrifice. I already know a bunch of stuff I'm cutting out the awkward romance part specifically i really should not even attempt to write stuff like that its just awkward but I can't figure out exactly what else is wrong with it so this is my solution instead. You sincerely truly don't have to read it if you don't want to I just thought this might be a good idea. And also its something to do if you're bored.

It's below the cut.

Taglist: @golden-eyed-writer

I grinned. Anne and Enna were arguing over the rules of Gin, while Anne, she was Enna’s twin, anyway, while Anne’s kids played tag with my nephew, Zane. Jen and Zebra collided in the middle of the room, and Zane didn’t stop in time, so they ended up in a pile of tangled limbs. My sister emerged from the other room and sighed, then burst into laughter, her wavy, silver tipped, black hair bouncing up and down. We were nearly identical, same silver blue eyes, silver tipped black hair, and dark skin. Our scales were different though. Ana’s smooth, tear drop shaped, silver scales covered her collarbone and wound down one arm; mine encircled my torso. Mine were easier to hide, but more people knew about them. I cast a lot of wind spells.

Ana only showed her scales to people she trusted, so walking in the room in a black tank top was a statement. Anne and Enna were identical, and their names mirrored each other. Blue black hair, Anne’s in twin buns and Enna’s in a half ponytail. Alabaster skin tinged with blue, and blue eyes. They had wings, but Enna was grounded. There was a knock on the door of Lei’s apartment. Lei, a blond Demonsblood, was standing closest to the door and pulled it open, sticking her head out. Two seconds later a boy dressed in the Barony’s colors entered.

“Uh, is there any person named,” He checked the sheet of paper clutched in his hands, “Anne Jones & Enna Helder-Kromlin here?” The twins stood up from the corner and scowled briefly, then Enna darted across the room, grabbed the paper, read it, and swore in Dragon.

“You can go now.” Said Faith, Lei’s redheaded younger cousin.

“Yes, ma’am.” He mumbled, then scampered away. “What is it? Dennis explode something again?” Asked Anne, striding over.

“There’s a gnome, blond, asking to see us. The note says she’s carrying the seal of the last baron.” Her twin answered in a shocked voice.

“Mae?”

“Maybe.” While they conversed, and Ana shrugged her jacket off after yanking it on when the door was opened, there was a second knock. Emily, a gnome alchemist and a friend of ours, answered this time, and her lavender eyes stared unseeing into the face of a second messenger. This one had a message for Ana. After reading it, my twin turned to me and grinned. Ana’s smile sometimes scared people. We both had pointed, sharp canine teeth, courtesy of our draconic ancestry. And that had the side effect of looking like you were about to murder someone when you smiled.

“Cerea’s alive. She’s here, with the gnome En mentioned. Joshua recognized the name.” A rush of emotions went through me. Two hundred and seventy four years ago mine and Ana’s home had been burned to the ground by Dizerdrat, an ancient red dragon. Cerea had been the name of a half elf with impressive innate primal magic, who had left when she was twenty, three months befor A'sshyse burned, leaving us the only survivors. The name was a bit ironic actually, A'sshyse sounded like Ashes if pronounced correctly, and that’s all it was now. Ashes and memories.

We didn’t bother to say anything, no one did. Two sets of twins walked out the door, leaving confusion, five friends, and three ten year olds behind. Enna twisted around before leaving, threatening, “If anyone touches those cards I will kill you.” Then she ran, and the second she and Anne were outside they broke out into a full out sprint, matching each other pace for pace. When we got to the main hall area, which had a bunch of alcoves off it that served as slightly more private spaces for meetings and the like, Anne and Enna had already tackle hugged a gnome with curly blond hair, and a black haired half elf stood nearby, awkwardly. Enna was whispering,

"Thirty five years Mae. Thirty five goddamn years. Where were you?"

“I was- Thirty five years?!”

“Yes.” Answered Anne. Mae rounded on the half elf, who put her hands up in a sign of surrender. Before the gnome could get a word out Cerea spoke.

“I didn’t know alright? I’m bad with time.”

“Still. You should have told me!”

“I know. I should have done a lot of things.” It was at that moment she looked in our direction, and saw us. Ana didn’t hesitate, rushing in to embrace a woman she hadn’t seen in nearly three hundred years. I hung back a bit. Not because of my sister, but because me and Cerea hadn’t exactly parted on… civil terms. Half a minute later Ana grabbed my arm, muttering Draconic into my ear.

“I don’t care what happened last time. You never got over it, I doubt she did.”

“Erm, okay-”

Cerea interrupted. “You survived?! What in the nine hells happened to A’sshyse?!”

“Dragonfire.” Ana answered. Then I blurted out, in Dragon, before I had to wait another three centuries to apologize.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry I yelled at you. I was stupid, and, and an idiot-” Cerea intterupted in the same language.

“Yes, you were sometimes. But I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have said what I said. We were both wrong about the other.” She hugged me tightly, but quickly. As Cerea stepped away I noticed how much toll the last three hundred years had taken on her. She still had raven hair and coffee colored skin, but the freckles that once covered her face were gone. Her eyes still had the same twinkle, but the green was darker, closer to emerald than I’d ever seen them and older than they should be.

“So where were you?” Asked Enna, directing the question at Mae.

“I was petrified. I left right after you guys killed Shallodet, and then it’s a blur until waking up to find my very surprised teacher.”

Enna shuddered at the mention of the name. Shallodet was not a pleasant memory for her.

“Teacher?”

“Yeah. Anne & Enna, this is Cerea Roven. Cerea, these are my sisters. Anne and Enna Helder.”

“Helder-Kromlin. Claimed Mom’s name properly. But I’m not forgetting Helder. It’s hyphenated now. Drove the official crazy.” Corrected Enna. Anne followed with,

“Erm, it’s actually Anne Jones. I might have gotten married.”

“Sorry, what?!”

“I’ll explain later.”

“Hi?” Cerea grinned awkwardly, raising one hand in a half wave for a brief second. “Who’s the Gnome?” Asked Ana.

“I’m Mae Helder. Who are you?”

“Anastasia. Call me Ana. He’s Dash.”

“Hey. So you’re their sister?” I asked, changing the subject as quickly as possible.

“Uh huh. How’d you meet these two?”

“The War.” Answered Ana.

“War? What War?”

“Little sister, you’ve missed a lot. About a decade ago there was a War. Norfolk is gone.”

“Wow. Anything else I need to know?”

“Well, here’s the slight matter of there being a different Baron.”

“What?!”

“His name is Fredrick Falk.”

“Wait. Does that mean?”

“Yeah. He’s gone. Died about two years after you left.”

“Oh. I’m sorry. I know how much he meant to you.”

“It’s okay.” The previous Baron had been the first person who had believed in Enna for a long time. When he died she had taken it hard. He had been the latest in a long line of parental figures; and each one had died.

Pike, her adopted mother, had died when she was 10. Her older brother, Zibra, had died when she was nineteen, and everyone thought it was her fault. Everyone except Anne. Her mentor, a half-dragon named Sasha, had died when she was twenty eight. When she was 40 she came back to the capital, only to find Anne missing. She thought it was her fault. Anne had nearly died. Then her Uncle, her mother’s twin, had turned out be her mother’s murder, confessed to killing Zibra and framing her, then he tried to kill both the twins, leaving Enna with thin scars that covered her arms, shoulders, back & torso.

“Anyway, why are you here?”

“Well,” Said Cerea nervously, fidgeting with the hem of her tunic. “Gray has heard some things, concerning things. They’re actually what led to me finding Mae.”

“What things?” I asked.

“The forges, the ones under the mountain, are waking up again.”

“I still don’t understand why he would put forges there, of all locations.” Muttered Anne.

“You need to tell someone.”

“That’s why we came here. Under the Code, you need two high ranking Druids to request a meeting with a ruler.”

“That’s surprisingly smart for a twenty five year old.” Said Enna, perhaps the third time in her life she had judged someone because of their apparent age. Cerea, unsurprisingly, burst out laughing.

“I’m two hundred and ninety ish. Can’t remember the exact number. Not 25.”

“Two hundred and ninety four.” I muttered quietly.

“Two hundred and ninety four, then. Either way, I’m not twenty five.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay. Twenty five is the oldest anyone’s ever thought I looked. I had a couple friends, a few years ago, they thought I was nineteen. Never got around to correcting them.”

“Uh-huh.” I muttered. Cerea had always looked young for her age, and it, plus her innate and extremely powerful primordial magic and wildshaping powers, had allowed her to get away with more things than the average kid would. Most of these exploits were related to stealing jelly tarts, which Ana stole from her and I then stole some of them from Ana. Yeah, fourteen year old me probably had better things to do than steal pastries from a 7 year old prankster, but it was either that or get possessed again, which is not an experience I’d recommend to anyone.

Yes, you read that correctly. Possessed. It’s a very long story that will probably come to light in time. Probably. Either way, we were interrupted by Joshua, the Baron’s 19 year old half-dragon grandson materializing from out of nowhere. His brown curls were more rumpled than usual, and his blue eyes shown with exhaustion. Joshua’s robes, the outfit commonly worn by wizards-in-training, were rumpled, like he had slept in them. He wasn’t strictly half dragon, closer to a quarter dragon. His dad’s dad had been a black dragon. His Mum, the Baron’s youngest daughter, had eloped with his dad and Joshua had only been raised in the court after his parents died in an Orc raid when he was seven. Before you ask, yes most of us had/have sob stories for backgrounds. Happy people who are mentaly stable don’t go out and hunt literal dragons.

Either way, the top half of his face, on a diagonal from right to left, was covered in smooth, black scales. They continued down his neck, and onto one arm. Joshua asked, “So you guys do know each other. I mean, I didn’t think there were a lot of black haired and crazy powerful half elven druids, but hey. There could’ve been more than one. Anyway, Grandpa’s ready to talk to you two. You know how to get there?”

“Yep.” Confirmed Mae, leading Cerea down the hallway. Joshua stayed, leaning against the stone wall.

“Hey.” Anne raised one hand half heartedly, in a sort of wave.

“Hi.”

“So I know how Ana & Dash know the mildly terrifying druid lady, but how do you two know the Gnome?”

“She’s our sister.”

“But neither of you are two Gnomes in a trench coat. So how?”

“I don’t even own a trenchcoat.” Muttered Enna.

“Exactly.”

“She’s our adopted sister, our foster mother fostered her too, though we didn’t know that then.”

“You had a foster mother?”

Anne sighed. “Yes. Pike Helder. Why do you think we speak Gnome?”

“I don’t know. Figured you just knew a lot of Gnomes.”

“I mean, we do, but that’s not the point.”

“Also, I think we would know if you guys were just Gnomes in trenchcoats.” I remarked.

“Yeah, I think you would.” Said Anne.

“You okay?” Ana asked Joshua, probably in response to his disheveled appearance.

“I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not.”

“I’m fine. Just stressed.” Ana scoffed, but didn’t say anything more. Enna turned to me. Her arms were crossed.

“Spill.”

“What?” I asked cluelessly. Anne added, “You and Cerea have history. What is it?,” she asked, her body language the same as her twin.

“Nothing, we just knew each other as kids.” “Uh huh.” “So that’s all?” “Yes,” I lied. Anne laughed.

“It’s almost like he thinks we don’t know that he’s lying.” “Yeah.” I looked anywhere except at the twins.

“It wasn’t anything!” I said, coming way closer to yelling than I should.

“You apologized to each other in Dragon when you saw each other.” I swore under my breath. I had forgotten Enna knew Dragon. I tended to forget she knew a lot of languages, Elven not among them in spite of her heritage.

“That was nothing.” I mumbled.

“It was not nothing. I saw Ana’s expression when she saw Cerea. She looked like her best friend had just come back to life.”

“She has.”

“Please. We all know you’re Ana’s best friend. If it’s not you, it’s Zane. Anyway, Ana looked like her best friend had just come back to life. But you, you looked like, I don’t even know how to describe it. You looked a lot like Anne when she got married to Jones. You looked like you were in love.”

“No-o. Not in love with her. Dated her once, sure, maybe we kissed a couple times, but I’m not in love with her,” I protested, turning redder than Faith’s hair, which was very, very red. “Dash, either I tell them or you do.” Threatened Ana, switching into rapid Demonic. Demonic was the one language we both knew that the twins didn’t speak.

“Can we not do this now?!” I replied, in the same language.

“What, you don’t want all our friends to know that you and Cerea were etinye aka?” She asked, using an Elven word.

“No, I would prefer not. And I really think that Cerea wouldn’t either.” “You’d be surprised. She’s changed a lot in 300 years.”

“And how would you know? You’ve seen her about as much as I have.”

She hesitated, chewing on her bottom lip and thinking. “I knew she was alive.”

--------End Chapter 1---------

If you've read this far THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

#writeblr #chapter 1 #full chapter #fantasy writing #my writing #WIP: Sacrifice #feedback would be appreciated #feedback wanted #sacrifice excerpt #sacrifice full chapter #WIP: Frost & Fire #WIP: Frost & Fire formerly known as Sacrifice

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rivalsofnycupdates · 4 years

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“Being selfish to me means that you have to look out for yourself and you don't have to sacrifice.”

■ ABOUT. ■

name: Anthony Williams age: forty-two occupation: Lead Drug Chemist gender: cis-male pronouns: he/him sexuality: utp

■ HISTORY. ■

Anthony grew up as an only child and never needed to care for anyone other than himself. His parents provided him with anything he wanted, and that’s the way he liked it. Even today in his adult life, Anthony is known to be incredibly selfish and to always get what he wants. It’s this personality trait that’s caused him to gain far more enemies than friends. When he had first become a Royals member, he’d become a member out of convenience. He’d been working with Joshua Krongold for many years. At that time, Anthony had been an owner of a medium-sized transportation company. Joshua offered him a percentage for every gun sold using his trucks if the gang could use his business as a cover for his gun trades. It was a partnership they’d had for many years, one that Anthony appreciated since it earned him extra cash for very little work on his end.

After earning his jacket with the Royals of Purgatory, he started to become better friends with Garret Miller. A man who had the idea of expanding business with drugs in order to make double. The selfish bastard that Anthony was, wouldn’t ever pass up the opportunity to make more money for himself. For months Anthony partnered with drug dealers in the city and learned everything he could about making drugs. He and a few other dis-honest Royals cut and sold lots of drugs before it all going to shit. Despite his knowledge of breaking bonds and being disloyal to the Royals gang, he didn’t care. When the bad bust went down, Anthony went dark. He knew it wouldn't be long before Garret would be exiled from the club, and he no longer wanted a part of a club that carried very little about their plan for expansion. Selfishly, he disappeared from New York and met up with Tubbs in Texas where they continued their plan.

While in Texas, Anthony continute his focus on cutting drugs, learning how to make some and grow others. The male put all his focus on being the best and of course making a match that was different from others. He leanred about the value in purity, and once he mastered that, he was able to play around with it. He wanted to make drugs that were not only pure, though had an edge that others couldn’t figure out. One of their bartenders, Jamie Gomez, had begun experimenting with various alcoholic beverages. The young boy reminded him of himself in some way, and he often found himself being the guinea pig to his creations. When he explained that he was experimenting with natural flavours, sunch as mint, sage and lavender, he wondered if those were ingredients missing in his batch. He worked at it, experimented over and over, before finally making it work. He tested it out on their sales and he was happy to learn that his new branch of flavoured cocaine, hit perfectly with a younger demographic. Their return to New York had been a breath of fresh air, he was excited for their networth to grow exponentially. As the focus on drugs remained the same, Anthony was excited to have a new and improved space for him and his team to make drugs.

■ WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON? ■

Anthony has been alongside Garret from day one, he helped him get what he wanted, which was the presidency of the Quantum of Devils. Anthony was one of the few members who Garrett trusted to properly execute and get away with the murder of the Texas gang president. Anthony showed little remorse for whatever crime he committed, since to him it was necessary in order for him to get what he wanted. One would think that Garret has earned Anthony’s loyalty, though whoever thought Anthony Williams has the capability of being loyal to anyone, is a fool.

■ KEEP THIS AWAY FROM YOUR ENEMIES ■

While Anthony has been working hard at maintaining the production of drugs so the club girls and their drug dealers had enough to sell. He was also always working on a new mixture, a new flavour, a new way to get those who don’t drug users, addicted to their product and their product only. He knew his hard work isn’t only for the benefit of the Devils. He wanted their drug clientele to grow, which meant more money for him in the long run. Though being the greedy and selfish man that he was, he wanted more. Since they moved to new york, he has been pocketing a percentage of drug sale profits each month. No one has noticed since he has a few prospects doing his dirty work, he also knows that since arriving in New York, he’s noticed that Garrett has been distracted by his vengeance for the Royals. The only person he needed to worry about was Alicia Lopez since they worked fairly closely at the nightclub and actually has some loyalty to Garret and the Devils.

■ RELATIONSHIPS. ■

■ Eva Nelson: Eva was his biological daughter though since she joined as a prospect, he’s had an inkling suspicion that she might be his daughter. He knows exactly who her mother is, though he has put zero effort into reaching out or even making any connections with his daughter.

■ Domino Jackson: Domino has been helping him figure out if Eva is his biological daughter. He wanted to know for certain in order to know how he should act around her. As of now for all tense and purposes, she was just another Devils prospect, though in the event she might be his daughter, he wasn’t sure if things would change.

■ Garrett Miller: Since joining the Devils Anthony hasn’t become closer to Garett or anyone really. He’s worked fairly well with Alicia Lopez, though Anthony truly liked to keep to himself most of the time.

■ Margot Yang: Margot was one of the only people he chose to spend his time with. Since that time was usually spent between the sheets. She was mature and experienced, and he found that more attractive that the young porn actresses she works with.

■ CONNECTIONS. ■

■ Alicia Lopez > Drugs Partner

■ Jenna Alcott > Old Acquaintance

■ Julian Meadows > Current Acquaintance

Anthony Williams is an OPEN character and is portrayed by Michael Ealy who’s FC IS NEGOTIABLE.

#semi appless rp #bio rp #new rp #gang rp #literate rp #all #men #open #openm #michael ealy fc #anthonywilliams #devils #negotiable fc

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taylor-and-the-boys · 5 years

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Taylor Rose Charlese (very much like me heh)

Birthday;

October 25, 1998

Astrological Sign;

Scorpio

Birth Place;

Taylor, Texas

Current Living Place;

Manhattan, New York

Physical Attributes

Height;

5’2

Hair;

Wavy, Dirty Blonde, Medium length

Body Type;

Hourglass: Double D breast, Large booty, Thick thighs, Very small waist and Wide hips

Eye Color;

Brown

Skin;

Fair

Age;

Species;

Human mutant with DNA some particles of a cat

Mutant Powers;

Uses Light and Dark magic, telekinesis and when she’s angry her eyes turn green and her clothes become black; if she’s very angry her claws and fangs will show as well as her eyes becoming neon green and cat eyed

Fun Facts;

She did boxing for a short time

She wears glasses sometimes but prefers her contacts

She’s very kinky ;)

She can sing, dance, and draw (not very well though)

Wishes to own her own makeup company as well as have a walk in closet

Likes and Dislikes;

Likes;

The scent of vanilla

Favorite food is steak and vegetables

Romantic Dates

Reading

Makeup and Fashion

Animals and Kids

Vanilla cake

Strawberries and Chocolate

Paris

Disney

Dislikes;

People who intend to harm the innocent

Abuse (of any kind)

Pedophiles

Hate (of any kind)

Mental Attributes

Personality;

She is very sarcastic and hot-headed. Being honest she’s a bitch. She is very emotionally strong from all the pain of her past. She is also self conscious thought which makes it hard for her to accept compliments. Once you become her friend you become her family. She will be very loving and protective of you. If anyone hurts you she will hurt them worse. She is also very funny she loves watching people smile and laugh since she was deprived of that when she was young.

Mental Illnesses;

She has anxiety and social anxiety as well as AD(H)D, has PTSD from her past

Sexuality;

Demisexual: “Is a person who does not experience sexual attraction unless they form an emotional connection. It's more commonly seen in, but by no means confined, to romantic relationships. The term demisexual comes from the orientation being "halfway between" sexual and asexual”

Bisexual: “Is sexually attracted not exclusively to people of one particular gender; attracted to both men and women”

A bit of and open to Polyamory: “Is the desire for, intimate relationships with more than one partner, with the consent of all partners involved. It has been described as "consensual, ethical, and responsible non-monogamy"

Family and Friends

Parents;

Mary Lynn Charlese, Davis Taylor Charlese

Extended Family;

(uncle) Hank Ray Jefferson (aunt; mother's sister) Alexandria Rea Jefferson

Siblings:

Morgan Danielle Charlese (17) , David Arnold Charlese (24)

Friends;

Beau Alex Manson, Katie Joyce Charlese (married to David), Tony Blake Miller, Rylie Lane McMane, Joshua Oliver Jones

Family Friends;

Sargent Daniel James, Meriam Charlotte Smith

Backstory

Taylor was born in Taylor, Texas on October 25, 1998, with her older brother David who is 24 and her younger sister Morgan who is 17. As she grew up her life was not easy. When she was 5 years old she was kidnapped and moletesed but since she was very young she doesn't remember that happening. Then when she was 6 years of age her babysitter who was an older male touched her and said things to her that traumatised her. After that her mother and her close friend Meriam (who was there for her mom when Taylor and her siblings were born) wanted to protect her. So at age 7 she took Taylor to a secret society that studied magic or the unnatural. In this society there was mutagen which was later injected to protect the last known amount from getting into the wrong hands as well as help Taylor. On the day of getting the injection her father was mind controlled to go crazy and shoot her mother. Taylor had watched it happen which scarred it into her mind. That was the last time Taylor ever saw her mother. After that her father became very abusive to Taylor and her siblings. Taylor would become very protective of her brother and sister. Whenever their dad would try and hit them Taylor would step in and take the abusive for David and Morgan. Sometimes her Dad would drink so much that he would pass out for hours. One day when he passed out from a hangover a tornado came. Taylor decided to not wake him up. She locked her and her siblings into the basement. When the storm ended Taylor and her siblings went to live with their Aunt Alexandria. She taught them about life and continued to help Taylor with her powers and how to control them. When Taylor was 10 she was bullied about the way she looked. She had gone through puberty before everyone else. The boys would grope and be very inappropriate to her. The girls would call her a slut or whore because she would get a lot of attention. When she would push the boys away they would call her lesbian, fat or ugly and many more hurtful things. At the same time her aunt had died because of a heart surgery going wrong. Taylor had went into a very very deep depression. She couldn’t go to school without being called a baby. When her aunt died her Uncle Hank put David and Morgan into adoption homes never to see Taylor again. She later found out that Hank was the head of a Gang and he made his money off of soliciting young girls. He was very abusive to Taylor. If she didn't want to do something he would scream and hit her. On one faithful day the cops caught her uncle and sent him to jail. That is when Taylor met Sargent Daniel James. He put her into an adoption home and made sure to keep her safe. Sadly though Taylor was never adopted. When she was 14 she got mixed up with some bad people on the streets. She moved to New York with her “friends”. There she got everything she thought she wanted and she started high school. She went onto a site to meet more friends but then got caught up in more trouble. She met a guy that she thought loved her but he didn’t he only wanted her body. He forced her to send nudes to him and make him cum. One day when she was 16 he kidnapped her and forced him to marry her. Before the day of their wedding she poisoned him resulting in his death. If she didn’t he would come and find her and possibly hurt her. After that she forced herself to start a better life. She got good grades in school and graduated with a 4.1 and top of her class. Even though her highschool life wasn't easy she got through. She made better friends who would help her through everything. She also moved in with an old friend of hers Katie. Who she had known her her whole life. She talked to some of the police in NY mainly with Sargent Daniel Jones and asked them to help her find her siblings.

NOTES;

That is my OC (who has some parts of me) I hope y'all liked her maybe I would be open to any rps in messenger if ya want please do not be inappropriate towards me (mun) and ask for NSFW request

#my oc character

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julietlofarophoto · 5 years

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Jean White

Deming Street, Woodstock NY, Tuesday January 17, 2019

Juliet: What first brought you to Woodstock?

Jean: I was born here. My grandmother, Sarah MacDaniel Cashdollar was born and grew up on Overlook Mountain. She married a young man, Wilbur Cashdollar and they came down to the village to start married life. They rented the cottage from Mr. Lasher which is now The Woodstock Library. After a year or so, they were expecting their first child and returned to the mountain to be near the family.

Juliet: “The mountain”, as in, MacDaniel Road…

Jean: (laughs) Yes, my mother was one of seven children She worked with my grandmother at the boarding house (now Cumberland Farms). Earlier, because Sarah had five daughters she thought they would be able to manage the telephone switchboard which was in the building on the corner of Neher and Tinker Streets. And then, through the efforts of a family friend who spent much time in New York City, my mother Ethel took an intensive course with Harper Method, a new system developed for hair and beauty care. She had what we think was the first beauty shop of it’s type in Woodstock in a corner section of the house immediately behind Joshua’s on Tannery Brook Road.

Juliet: Do you know how your parents met?

Jean: It must have been about 1930. My father worked for a construction company. He was from North Carolina. You had to go wherever the jobs were. So he came and was living at the Woodstock Hotel. It was on the site of the present Longyear Building at the corner of Rock City Road and Mill Hill. There was a fire there, and the hotel burned. He came down and stayed at the Homestead Boarding House and that’s how they met! They bought the house across the street before I was born. I do remember it having a garage and an outside toilet attached to the garage. We did have a bathroom inside, but I’m not sure if it was added after they bought it or if it was already installed .

Juliet: Did you live in any other residence while you were growing up?

Jean: No, but we did go to Ohio with my father. He was working on Wright-Patterson Field in Dayton. My mother, sister Susan who was about 2, and I went with him for about a year or so. We were there during Pearl Harbor Day. When my brother came along, my father just went by himself when he had to go to jobs and we remained in Woodstock and attended school. He had a very early death. He was killed in an accident when he was 40. My mother raised the three of us by herself with the love of family. There were very difficult times but the love we shared held us all together.

Juliet: What is your first memory of Woodstock?

Jean: You know in some psychology classes they ask “What is your first memory?” I remember the sand box by the old apple tree in our back yard.! But of Woodstock itself? It was always a part of me. My grandmother lived across the street. There was a constant back and forth, with very little road traffic. I used to go up to little grocery store where the Joyous Lake was, owned by brothers Leslie and Clyde Elwyn. Their houses were right down on Pine Grove just before the Women’s Health Clinic. The houses are next to each other and the same design. You can still see them! I was thinking this morning, the store had a little meat department in it. My mother would send me with a note and list. There was a ramp that was fascinating to me. I think it’s gone, but maybe underneath it’s still there. You would enter the store by going up a ramp running along Mill Hill Road and then enter the store on your left. It was made of cement. So my earliest memory was that I was always living here and I can’t really put my finger on it.

We went to school near the corner of Deming street. Deanie’s Restaurant was on the corner. It was a brown rustic looking building then. Right next to it is a red building, I think it’s Castaways. We went to Kindergarten on one end of it, then first and second grade on the other end.

Juliet: And then you went to the one that was right by your house.

(Her home was between what is now CVS and Ulster Savings Bank. The former school building still stands right behind CVS)

Jean: That’s right.

Juliet: Did you graduate high school here?

Jean: No, Woodstock only went to eighth grade. Then at that time, we went to Kingston.

Juliet: WOW.

Jean: I’m not sure how that worked because there were no school buses. I guess the Township paid the bus company Pine Hill or whatever it was then. They were black and white buses. They would take us down with the commuters and everybody. After 3 o’clock the buses would all come behind the high school to pick us up. It was the same building as Kingston High school today, although they’ve added on a lot!

Juliet: When did you leave?

Jean: I graduated high school in ’52 and went to Pratt Institute Brooklyn for four years. There were some circumstances during that time … I became very interested in Native Americans. I decided I’d like to go and teach on a reservation. It was a big megillah to get certified to do that. They didn’t certainly need an art teacher, which was my training. Through a long haul, one of my professors said “Why don’t you just go to Washington, and the Department of Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs and just see? You’re not making any headway writing letters.” So I made an appointment and I went to Washington. They told me “You have enough credits to be a Guidance Advisor” (laughs) “Would you go wherever you’re needed?”. So by that point I said “YES”, and I went to Arizona. I was a guidance advisor but I ended up teaching first grade for half a year because the teacher they hired didn’t get there until January.

Juliet: Where were you exactly?

Jean: Keams Canyon, Arizona. It was 88 miles from Holbrook, Arizona. 100 miles from Gallup, New Mexico. They were the two closest…metropolises. It was the Hopi reservation surrounded by the Navajo. The children at the school were Hopi and Navajo primarily. There were also some Anglo kids from a few teachers.

Juliet: What was your path back to Woodstock?

Jean: I really wanted to have more adventures so from there I drove the car back to Woodstock and was here for the summer the next year. I had gone to an Art Education conference in Los Angeles while I was on the reservation. I took the bus there. I met a rep from Special Services Department of the Army. They had wonderful job opportunities in Korea, Germany, and France. I thought “Oh, Korea is only a year, I’ll go there”. So I signed to work with enlisted men’s dependents. It wasn’t for officers. The idea was to keep them from getting mixed up in drinking in the towns, and causing trouble. That all got changed after I went to New York to have all the shots for Korea. The program in Korea was ‘frozen’ and I went to Germany for a year and a half. I met a man who became my husband. We got married here in the Dutch Reformed Church and moved to New Jersey because that was where he was working. I had some art teaching experience there with some good administrators. We were married about 23 years and then divorced. I continued to come to Woodstock all during this time. My mother lived here in a little house just off Elwyn Lane and my dear daughter and I would come for summers and weekends. She and her husband built a lovely house on Plochmann Lane. Eventually, I met a really nice man. He loved the theater and he didn’t want to be too far from New York. I said “You might like Woodstock”. We kept coming up and looking for a place to live. Someone told us about a house on Broadview which was out of our price range. As we drove down Deming Street we saw a little sign on this lawn that said “For Sale”. That would have been the late 80’s, we bought this house in ’89.

Juliet: So I could ask you what you think has changed since 1989, but you’ve seen everything in the last seven decades.

Jean: You know I’m very grateful Juliet, for one thing. It’s terrible that buildings were torn down, my house and the Homestead because they were very nice buildings with lots of character. What’s in place of them you know, parking lots and Cumberland Farms… but I think those incidents maybe kind of spurred the zoning process into action. I’m not sure. I don’t think they were so willing to allow people to tear down buildings after that.

Juliet: I think it really must have changed the flavor.

Jean: Where Bradley Meadows is was just a lovely open field. My mother and father, just before he died, had signed papers to buy a little house that was right next door to them which had been the Christian Science church. It was very small, built in 1920, on this side of our house right there where CVS is. The congregation had purchased the former summer school of The Art Student’s League of New York where they are now, across from the hardware store. That was built in 1912 and they vacated it in ’22. My parents bought that little church next door and they rented it. Eventually they sold it to my aunt and uncle. I remember one night, when I was about 13 … I was ironing in that house, looking out. I saw in Bradley Meadows, a flame. I ran over to my grandmother’s across the street. There was a man who lived in the back in a little studio next to the garage. He ran out and we saw it was a hammer and sickle burning. That was startling to me to see that. This would have been the late 40’s. At that time, the Ku Klux Klan was burning crosses on the other side of town, periodically. I never saw it but I heard about it.

What I was going to say that what I”m really grateful for is the businesses that have gone into the houses along Mill Hill Road and Tinker Street who have tried to to keep them as much as it works. I like that. I so appreciate the people who came into town in the sixties and created their businesses and contribute to the community. And they are a part of the community. Whereas today I see more people coming in speculating and grabbing up real estate and wanting to make money from the Woodstock name. It’s too bad I think, because I don’t see a whole lot of becoming part of the community. There is a sense of “What can I get out of Woodstock?” rather than “How can I become a part of this wonderful vital diverse community?” The special aura that has brought folks here for many years is the appreciation of the quiet beauty and spiritual nature of this creative place… this Woodstock.

There are about 6000 residents and I’m not sure if this is correct but I think it’s 60% of homeowners are part time people. So that leaves a small amount to do the Fire Department, the Rescue Squad, all of those volunteer things. It’s unfortunate. Woodstock more or less has a population that leans on the older end of the age scale. We need more young people, more families.

It’s still lovely to walk around Woodstock. I must say I know fewer and fewer people. I think it’s unfortunate that folks who have lived here for many years can’t afford to stay here and their children are looking at the same picture. Real estate prices have risen from the demand of part time folks or B and B landlords that it prevents a lot of people from being able to stay in Woodstock. These are the folks who maintain our volunteer Fire Department and all the other organizations that support the residents..

Juliet: What is your favorite thing about living in Woodstock?

Jean: I have always loved the interaction with people from all walks of life. When I was working at Deanie’s in the summers, the theater would be open, the Playhouse. The actors would come up after the performance, the bakers would come out from the kitchen and there would be a song fest, right there among the tables! It was just a marvelous interaction of people. I have always loved that. I have lived in New Jersey in suburbia, where so much is the same, people seemed to be so much the same.

It’s just like a little world here in Woodstock. I know it’s not that complete of a melting pot, but it’s getting there. We are more and more diverse. I guess that’s what I like. There’s so much activity. You can find anything if you want to go out and do something. Everything from poetry reading to gymnastics classes and meditation groups and whatever. Woodstock as you know has such a big volunteer community. We were active in Meals on Wheels for several years. You had teachers and realtors and homemakers working. I like diversity and…the strong personalities!

Juliet: YEAAAAH! (we both crack up laughing)

Jean: I just hope Woodstock is able to maintain itself as a real community where it’s welcoming to those who really want to settle here and be part of the vitality.…

Here’s an illustration, I love this. I would hardly think this would happen: I kept my mother’s little house and rented it for a lot of years. Just before Christmas, the 22nd, a friend who lives on Neher Street was having an open house. So I said I’d go there, and then come back here because I had another event to go to for my stepdaughter. I went to the warm and lovely open house and had a grand time. It was filled with folks I knew and some new friends. When I came back here my phone rang as I was getting ready to go and my tenant who's been there many years called. She says "Jean, the guys from the water department were here and turned off the water. There was a big leak. They are going to call you.” So I said “Okay I’ll stay here”. Larry Allen from the water department called and was so nice and said he was so sorry but it was my responsibility to get that repaired. SO the water is off. Larry gave me names of people I could call and with his involvement, it all worked out within a few days. It was all repaired. But that same day at the open house, the Town Supervisor Bill McKenna walked in to the open house and asked "Is Jean White here?" They said “She was, but she just left” He said “Well, the water pipe at her house burst!” Obviously there's communication between the departments. I just thought that was very nice. I felt a real part of this community. I called Bill. It was Christmas Eve and he was at his office. I don’t know if I would have experienced that if I were a newer person, but I've been around a while. I think getting involved with the community gives you a real home. I LOVE living in Woodstock. There are such interesting and caring people who make Woodstock where I want to be.

#woodstocktownspeople #woodstockny #jeanwhite #julietlofaro #countrylife #woodstockhistory #ulstercounty #catskills #hudsonvalley #portraitphotographer

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cayleyshortstories · 3 years

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The Oculus

Written by Joshua Tesoro & Illustrated by Bastin Agustines

Itadori Zoldyck spends his weekends in a small apartment playing video games all day. He can make his life "better," but he does not have the opportunity to demonstrate it. He excels at coding and technology in general. He made tons of inventions when he was still a kid and his parents always supported him, but he felt hopeless when they died. He lost both of his parents when he was very young, and he had to work a variety of jobs just to keep up with the bills and provide shelter for himself. Except for his goofy best friend Feitan Portor, he doesn't really have anyone. Despite his circumstance, he idolized Franklin Stark, the brilliant billionaire and CEO of the well-known tech firm Stark Industries. His friend invited him to a Stark Industries tech expo one day, and when Itadori learned that Franklin would be there, he agreed right away. Normally, he would refuse to attend any events, but this time, his idol, Franklin Stark, had approved it.

Itadori and Feitan were astounded by the technology and inventions they saw on the day of the expo. Jetpacks and flying cars were among the inventions that were being developed. The entire area has a futuristic vibe to it. Itadori was curious if he could make similar inventions, or if he could improve them. “You can make inventions like this, you know; I know you can because you're a genius in this field,” Feitan said suddenly to Itadori. “It's all this computer nerd stuff.” “Do you really believe that?” Itadori asked. I don't know how long it's been since my parents died; I've lost faith in myself and haven't had the chance to demonstrate my abilities to anyone.” “Well, you can begin by doing something you think is fantastic, and never forget to believe in yourself. You know how proud your parents were of you and all the things you've created.” Feitan remarked. Itadori smiled, knowing that his friend was always joking around, but he would always be there for him.

They were walking around the tech expo when Itadori realized he couldn't find his friend Feitan. He immediately dialed his phone number, but no one answered. He was searching for his friend when he noticed him passing through the restricted area. It was a small room with a large door in the center. He pursued him in an attempt to stop his friend. “What are you doing?” he exclaimed. You'll be discovered, and we'll be kicked out of the expo. You know how much I've wanted to meet Franklin for a long time.” “I'm sorry, I was just curious, you know, what kind of technology they were developing in this area,” she explained. Feitan replied. Aren't you a little intrigued? Let's take a quick look and then get out of here.” Feitan knew from Itadori's expression that he wasn't convinced and that his friend would drag them out, but then the big door opened and someone came running in the opposite direction. They had no choice but to enter the restricted area.

When they walked into the room, they noticed a large white circular portal. There were a lot of people watching and taking notes. What was that for, Itadori wondered. Itadori knew the portal was a portal to somewhere when it suddenly released a large blue energy and became active, but he didn't know where. He suspected it led to another dimension, but he wasn't sure if it was possible with today's technology. They were simply observing the scientists present when the portal abruptly shut down, sending a small shockwave through the room that knocked them to the ground. Itadori and Fetitan were also knocked out, and when they awoke, they were surrounded by guards with guns drawn. “What are you doing here?!,” one of the guards exclaimed. Aren't you aware that this is a restricted area? This is a government-approved top-secret experiment. You are not permitted to enter. Both of you should be arrested right now!” Itadori was taken aback and apprehensive at the same time. He was under pressure to figure out a way to get out of this situation, or he and his friend would be arrested and imprisoned, or worse, killed by one of the guards. He suddenly came up with a plan to save himself and his friend. The only way to save Feitan in his mind is for him to say, "I know how to fix the portal you're working on here. I am the best in my school and I also have a masters in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering." Suddenly, a well-dressed young man enters the room and says, “Let's give this boy a chance, shall we? He’ll be imprisoned if he’s bluffing.” Because of this young man, the rest of the room fell silent. Franklin Stark, the CEO of Stark Industries, was the one who made the announcement.

Itadori was so shocked and happy when he saw his idol. So shocked that he couldn’t move for a second. “So, show us what you got, kid. To help you, I’ll explain what we're doing here. That portal leads to another dimension, not to mention an advanced one. It’s so advanced that the technology there can either destroy our world or lead it into a new era. We tried so many tests, but the problem was not activating the portal, but rather sustaining it while someone was still inside. There has been a test where one of our employees was stuck there. Her name is Lucy Smith. She was our lead scientist and as I’ve mentioned our problem is to make the portal stay open long enough for us to get in and out safely. We tried everything to save the scientist but as you can see, we have no way of contacting her and we can’t go through the portal because of the problem.”, said Franklin. “So, kid, show me what you've got. “Assist us in saving this man and possibly dozens of others who could benefit from the technology from another dimension,” he added. Itadori was under pressure because he didn't know what to do at first, but now that he knew about the portal, he knew what to do. Using his technological skills and knowledge. He created a program to handle the massive amounts of energy and a power source to keep the portal running long enough for them to enter and exit to the other dimension. Franklin was blown away by Itadori's abilities. He was so taken aback that he told him, "Not bad, kid." Do you want to be a part of my team? You have a lot of potential to follow in my footsteps as a successful inventor.” Itadori felt relieved when he heard those words because he had accomplished his goal. He was the one who did it. Franklin's words had a similar effect on him. “All right, let's put it to the test, shall we?” Franklin said, "You two are going to the other dimension with me." When they heard what Franklin said, both of the teenagers were taken aback. “What are you saying?” Itadori exclaimed. We're just regular teenagers, you know. We are unable to travel to another dimension. “Don't you have anyone to help you with this?” “Look, kid, you've got a gift. Don't settle for anything less than the best. You have tremendous potential, and I want to take you to the other dimension with me so that we can develop technologies that will benefit humanity. Furthermore, this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance. Franklin responded, "Would you really waste it?" Feitan eventually persuaded his friend to travel to the other dimension. Franklin put together a team that included himself, Feitan, and Itadori. They'll have two more people monitoring the portal to see how much time they have before the power source needs to be recharged. “See you on the other side, my friend,” Feitan said as he entered the portal. Itadori grinned and greeted Feitan with a smile. They saw a large white light after entering the portal and were astounded by what they saw. It was truly a futuristic metropolis. There are flying cars everywhere, and even the trains are floating. Humanoid robots were seen casually assisting the people around them. They ventured deeper into the city in the hopes of uncovering information about Lucy's whereabouts. So far, they've relied solely on advanced technologies to locate Lucy. There is a device that allows you to view the security cameras installed throughout the building. You can even identify the individual who was caught on camera. However, after receiving the device, Itadori noticed a mysterious woman staring at them. She fled after attempting to confront the woman. They were chasing the woman down a small alley when they were suddenly approached by some evil humanoid robots who attempted to hit them. They were about to be cornered when the woman they were chasing suddenly assisted them in stopping the humanoid robot by temporarily disabling it.

Itadori then inquired as to the identity of the woman, to which she replied, "I am Lucy Smith, and I thought you were one of the guys chasing me." When I saw Mr. Franklin here, I immediately returned.” “We've come to gather some data to aid in the development of technology for our world, and, of course, to save you,” Franklin explained. Lucy explained that she is attempting to hide from the people present because they are aware that he is from another dimension. Lucy added, "They call themselves the Eternals." Lucy explained that they live in an advanced civilization where there are no wars or suffering, and only one government. She didn't say anything about stealing a valuable piece of technology from them, the Oculus. The Oculus is a cube of pure energy capable of destroying an entire world. Lucy isn't really a bad guy; she wants to use the cube to generate an infinite amount of energy that will benefit the entire world. Many people in the other dimension will suffer, however, because when the oculus leaves the other dimension, it will unleash a powerful shock wave that will destroy the entire dimension and its inhabitants. When they were about to leave the other dimension, Itadori noticed a glowing blue light from the bag. He immediately approached Lucy and asked what it was. Lucy, having been exposed, tried to talk it out but Feitan was skeptical about it. He told Itadori and Franklin that she was up to no good. After hearing this, Franklin approached Lucy and asked her to give her the bag. She refused. After that, Franklin became suspicious of Lucy as well and tried to take the bag from her. When Lucy noticed Franklin was becoming suspicious, she dashed to the portal. The three of them chased her down, but just as Itadori was about to catch up to her, she threw a grenade at him, knocking him down. When Feitan realized what had happened, he immediately called Franklin and told him to save Itadori and enter the portal. He intended to take Lucy on by himself. Someone grabbed Lucy's feet as she approached the portal, preventing her from passing through. Feitan was the culprit. Feitan tried everything he could to keep Lucy away from the portal so Franklin could get Itadori to safety. Franklin was well aware that Feitan would put his life on the line for his best friend. That was crystal clear to him. Franklin entered the portal just as it was about to close. Lucy escaped Feitan's clutches and kicked him away, allowing her to pass through the portal as well. The other dimension, along with Feitan and his companions, exploded when the cube exited the other dimension. After the three of them escaped through the portal, Franklin confronted Lucy and asked what had happened. The other dimension was destroyed as a result of the cube, Lucy explained. She continued, "When the cube exits the other dimension, it will unleash a massive shock wave that will destroy everything in its path." Franklin couldn't believe Feitan, along with the other inhabitants of the alternate dimension, had died. Feitan was supposed to be trapped in another dimension, but he is actually dead. He was concerned about Itadori's reaction to his best friend's death. He had no idea Itadori had heard everything; he was unable to move due to the grenade's damage. He was furious with himself because he believed it was his fault that Feitan had to make the sacrifice. Franklin questioned Lucy about why she had done it. “It was for our world,” Lucy explained, “because this cube has unlimited energy and can develop futuristic technologies.” Even if it means killing dozens of people in the process, I would gladly do it. There can be no victory without sacrifice.” Itadori was enraged when he learned of this. What Lucy said disgusted him greatly. “Don't you dare make my best friend's life seem insignificant!” he exclaimed. Not to mention the billions of people you've murdered!” Given his circumstances, Franklin was surprised to learn that Itadori can communicate. Lucy smirked and giggled as she heard Itadori's words. Itadori used all of his remaining strength to stand

up when he heard her laugh. He inquired about Lucy's plans. “Fine, I'll tell you about my cube plans,” she replied. I'll construct a power container to store the cube's energy and use it to develop technologies that will make me one of the world's greatest scientists, capable of assisting dozens of people all over the world. Don't you see what I'm talking about? This cube is going to save the world! Itadori and Franklin attempted to fight her, but she possesses a device that allows her to easily knock people out. She was able to flee. Itadori and Franklin stood up and talked about what had happened. Itadori told Franklin about how much of a good friend Feitan was. He was furious with himself for being so frail in the other dimension. Franklin cheered him up by telling him that he was not to blame. He also needs to stop Lucy if he doesn't want his friend's death to be in vain. It was Itadori's mission to stop Lucy when he realized this. He was the only one with the knowledge to stop Lucy’s plan so Franklin went to him for help. He went to Stark Industries right away and used their technology to find Lucy. They eventually found Lucy after hours of searching and devised a strategy to apprehend her. Because they don't know much about the Oculus and only know that it's dangerous, Itadori devised a strategy to prevent Lucy from using it. Lucy was in a Stark Industries facility that had been abandoned, but some of the technology and cameras were still operational. Itadori first devised a method of hacking into the facility so that Lucy would be unaware of their presence. Franklin and Itadori discussed what they would do to Lucy once they had stopped her on their way to her. For a while, Itadori remained silent. “As much as I hate her for killing my friend, I can't kill her,” he said suddenly. I don't want to do it. Perhaps there is still a way to persuade her that what she is doing is wrong. So, Mr. Franklin, here's the deal. When we arrive at the facility, I'd like you to leave me alone with her. Stay in the plane and keep an eye on us. If everything else fails, press this button. When Lucy said she was going to build a power container for the Oculus, I knew I had to do something about it, so I built this device that can hack into any device. It will be able to stop Lucy's plan once you press that button.” Franklin was surprised to learn that Itadori had already devised a plan to stop Lucy, but he was determined to persuade her. Franklin stayed on the plane after arriving at the facility, as Itadori had requested.

Itadori and Lucy finally confronted each other. Lucy was taken aback when she saw Itadori approaching her from across the hall. Lucy stated, "You've got skills kid, I'll give you that." “Are you here to put a stop to it? I could kill you right now, but I've decided against it because you have potential. I don't want to squander it. As a result, I'll make you an offer. Join me, and together we can make a difference in the world. “Are you sure you don't want that?” “Lucy, I know we haven't spent much time together, but from what I've seen of you in the short time we've interacted, I know you are a good person,” Itadori replied. You want to help others, but your methods are ineffective. It is not worth it to put other people's lives on the line for the sake of progress. You have the ability to change the world, but this isn't the way to do it.” Lucy was taken aback by Itadori's continued attempts to save her. She immediately remembered her past, recalling how she had been bullied as a child, but that someone had helped her and believed in her. “Don't worry about them; they're just envious of your abilities,” said the person. Don't let anyone put you down because you have the ability to change the world.” She realized all the mistakes she had made after recalling this. “You're right, Itadori, what have I done?” she exclaimed. All I wanted was for the good of the world because I want to make it a better place. When I was a kid, someone believed in me, but will he be proud of me now that he knows what I've accomplished?” After saying this, a massive explosion erupted from the cube. “It is not too late to save other people,” Itadori told her. “Assist me in putting a stop to this.” Lucy knew there was no stopping the cube now, and the power container couldn't handle it, which Itadori didn't know. There was only one thing she could think of as a solution. She instructed Itadori to hack into the Stark Industries mainframe. She only said that so Itadori could flee for his life. She intends to make a self-sacrifice in order to stop the cube and undo everything she has done. She then called Franklin to warn him to stay away from the facility and to offer her body to be mixed with the cube. She can control the cube to some extent with this. Then there was a massive blue explosion. Itadori and Franklin had escaped harm's way. Itadori tried to go to Lucy's location after realizing what had happened, but his wounds from the grenade were still present, and he was knocked out due to the shock. Itadori awakens in a white room where Franklin has been waiting for him. Itadori tried to stand up because he remembered what had happened and felt guilty for not being able to help Lucy. “It wasn't your fault, Itadori; in fact, you were the one who made Lucy realize what she had done and she changed her ways,” Franklin said. She gave up her life for the sake of humanity.” Lucy's need to sacrifice herself made Itadori a little sad. “You fool, stop moping around. “After you're completely healed, you've got a lot of things to do,” a rambunctious adolescent said. When Itadori heard the teenager's voice, he was both pleased and surprised. Feitan was the culprit. Everything Lucy had done had been restored. Everyone in the alternate dimension was also alive. The reason why the other dimension exploded when the Oculus left the dimension is because they needed the energy to keep the balance. When Lucy mixed her DNA with the cube, she had restored the other dimension along with all the people that were killed because of the cube. When she was in the other dimension, she saw Feitan and at first, Feitan didn't remember what happened. He tried to fight Lucy but when Lucy explained everything to him, he immediately helped her to bring the Oculus back to its original place. They encountered the authorities in the other dimension, and Feitan tried to explain Lucy’s side and what had happened. After this, the authorities took the cube and Lucy was still punished because she stole the cube from the other dimension. She had already accepted this and was ready to

sacrifice herself for the peace of everyone. Feitan helped the people in the other dimension to restore what had been lost. In return, they taught Feitan their technology and how to utilize it. Following that, Franklin sought the help of Itadori and Feitan to study the cube and develop other technologies that would benefit the world.

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ILLUSTRATION EXPLANATION:

This is the analysis and appreciation for the short story titled "The Oculus". It shows two people in front of a portal looking at a futuristic city with floating cars, trains, buildings, and a large tower with a blue light-emitting from it. The two people near the portal are the two main characters Itadori and Feitan. This image shows the scene in which they traveled to the other dimension in search of the assistant of Mr. Stark which is Lucy Smith. She is hinted from the many digital screens with the silhouette of a wanted person who came from another dimension. The illustration also shows that the dimension they traveled to is more advanced than theirs and that it has many technological advancements that they could learn from. The tower at the back is where the oculus is kept. It can be a kind of foreshadowing because the thing inside that tower is crucial to the progression of the story. This image shows the characters, setting, and the main plot points of the story whilst not revealing the plot itself.

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fe8meta · 6 years

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Desire vs. Responsibility: Joshua and L’Arachel

While these two aren’t a sibling duo like Eirika-Ephraim and Innes-Tana, Joshua and L’Arachel also play important roles in the story as supporting characters.

Joshua is, for all intents and purposes, living exactly the kind of life that Ephraim sought after, and thus has a contrast with Innes that is explored in their supports. L’Arachel has Tana’s outgoing and loud personality, but it hides a more sensitive and emotional side that is like Eirika’s—or, perhaps, even Lyon’s. However, Joshua is driven more by his responsibilities (at least as a pretense), and L’Arachel her desires, which makes them a “balance” between the other two royal sets.

Joshua

Joshua is an interesting mixture of desire and responsibility. His intentions are rooted in his responsibilities, but most (if not all) of his actions in-game are tinged by his desires.

When he was a child, his father died, likely of illness. According his father’s will, his mother, Ismaire, took the throne as queen regent due to Joshua’s age. However, it was hard on her, as indicated by her dialogue with Carlyle about how “It was through your unwavering support alone that I still sit upon the throne,” and her dying apology to Joshua that “I was so intent on being queen that I spared no time to be your mother.” Provided that he’s alive, Joshua will afterwards state:

I’d grown tied of the formality of palace life, so I...just left. I wrote a farewell and left the palace, taking nothing with me. I felt I could never understand the people while I stayed sequestered in a castle. I abandoned my identity and roamed the continent, working where I could. I wanted only to be worthy of becoming king. [...] I was such a child, I see it now. Was I simply rebelling against my mother? Punishing her for tending to her duties?

While Joshua gets to live the life that Ephraim wanted, Joshua left with the intention of doing it to become a better king—though in hindsight, he himself believes he was motivated more by resentment towards his mother’s neglect. Ephraim, meanwhile, had no intention of using new experiences to become a better ruler. He wanted to discard his title completely. Because of this, while Joshua’s situation bears similarity to the situation that Ephraim desires, his objective is more along Innes’ line of thinking. In fact, in their A support, they have this exchange:

Innes: Interesting. I’ve never had any experience with this sort of thing. One only has so much time when he’s groomed to become the king, you know.

Joshua: I can imagine. But a king must have a wide range of knowledge, don’t you think? When I was a journeyman, I lost a lot of money to scams like this. I started learning these tricks so they couldn’t be used on me anymore! It’s all rubbish, innit? But it’s not a bad thing to add to your experience.

Innes: I must hand it to you, you have a point. Some things, you can only learn firsthand, on the field.

Joshua’s side plot bears many similarities to Eirika’s story, so it’s little wonder that we find out about it on her route. Both became/posed as mercenaries after running away from home to avoid being recognized; however, both intended to return to their country to fulfill their duties. Their only remaining parent is slain by Grado’s forces without them able to do anything about it, and they vow to put an end to the war and restore their homelands. Furthermore, they are betrayed by someone who should have been loyal to their cause: Carlyle for Joshua, Orson for Eirika.

Joshua and L’Arachel are mirrors in their implied lonely childhoods; Ismaire was too preoccupied with the court to make time for Joshua, and while L’Arachel has a good relationship with her uncle, she is constantly burdened by the knowledge that her parents died before she could even form memories of them. Eventually, they leave home to go on an adventure.

However, this is just about where their similarities end. Joshua snuck away without anyone knowing and was able to keep up his disguise for around ten years. Meanwhile, L’Arachel demanded that she be allowed to travel on her very-non-anonymous journey. (Her best disguise is the fact that her very existence is practically unknown.) Furthermore, Joshua ran away out of a mixture of disgruntlement towards his home life and to learn more about his people. Though L’Arachel claims to be on a holy mission to exterminate monsters, it becomes quite evident in her supports with Dozla that it is more ego-driven than charity... to speak nothing of the fact that she can’t even fight monsters herself when you meet her.

This isn’t to say Joshua’s a shining model of responsibility. As the game makes clear enough, he has a bad gambling addiction, and as his solo ending tells us, he also has a wanderlust persists for the rest of his life (it only settles in his paired ending with Natasha). Those aren’t exactly qualities you want to find in a future king, and he never really gets penalized for his gambling ways outside of his supports with Gerik and L’Arachel. In Gerik’s, Gerik sees through his trick and calls him out on it; in L’Arachel’s, her divine luck surpasses any attempt of Joshua’s to cheat her out. However, neither of those “lessons” permanently stick on him anyways.

Furthermore, we shouldn’t ignore the fact that Joshua’s been away from home for ten years. After Ismaire’s death, he says, “I knew one day I would return.” Doesn’t sound like he had a plan about when he would return, not to mention that it’s completely possible for him to die before he makes it back. Unlike Innes and L’Arachel, he won’t retreat when he’s gravely injured. He has no true consideration for his mother, nor of the fact that he’s left the throne vacant should Ismaire meet an untimely death. She does, and it’s only by chance that, if he’s alive, Joshua reunites with her as she lays bleeding to death on the floor. It’s after this turn events that Joshua vows to join forces with the other royals put an end to the Demon King’s threat.

Luckily for Joshua, the story isn’t a political one, and the game didn’t want you to lose a unit for their political duties. Realistically, his almost-immediate departure from Jehanna after it just lost its known leaders (Ismaire and Carlyle) would have thrown the country into chaos. (Though, if there are roughly two weeks between each chapter, he may have organized something before leaving.) Of course, this assumes that people would accept Joshua as king to begin with, after his ten-year disappearance. Long in short, Joshua’s irresponsibility gets handwaved in FE8 because politics are nonexistent. Sure, you can disguise yourself among the people to discover how to best rule them, but it’s all for naught if you can’t even get the throne afterwards.

(He’s also lucky that all the other royals, save for Innes, are laid-back people. Being away from the royal court and living as a mercenary for 10 years probably means he’d have a hard time dealing with court intricacies... the very ones that consumed Ismaire to the point that Joshua ran away.)

L’Arachel

Much like how Joshua's motivations for running away from home were both to become a better king and to get revenge for his parental neglect, L’Arachel’s “holy mission” is one she claims is part of her responsibilities as Rausten’s princess. However, it is made evident that much of said mission is really her excuse to put herself in the world and gain fame. At the same time, however, she proves herself to be genuinely knowledgeable and serves as a confidant for both Eirika and Ephraim in their times of distress.

Even without going into her supports, this exchange alone tells the whole story behind L’Arachel’s “holy mission”:

L’Arachel: Oh… I suppose there’s naught to be done about it now. Very well, Eirika. You’ve found me out! The beauteous wanderer who’s been your boon companion is none other than… the jewel of the theocracy of Rausten, Princess L’Arachel herself! I was acting under divine order to strike down evil in this land.

Eirika: ….. Is that so? But why did you…

Soldier: The truth is… The princess was enflamed by the words of the court troubadour, Saaga… She forced us to allow her to journey forth anonymously on a quest for justice.

When we meet her in Chapter 4, L’Arachel is a straight example of a cloudcuckoolander. She charges on-screen with Dozla and Rennac in tow, overlooking the battle from a steep cliff. Her suggestion is then to charge down said cliff to intervene in the battle, and luckily for her, Rennac manages to talk some sense and convince her not to go and die trying.

In many of her early story interactions and in her supports, she’s rather self-centered and prioritizes herself without much regard for others. It doesn’t seem to be deliberate, but she’s so naive in the world that everything ends up becoming self-centered. This is particularly evident in her A support with Joshua, where she indignantly declares, “Fixing? What do you mean? The game’s not broken. I’m doing fine!” In fact, in the Japanese version of Dozla and Garcia’s A support, Dozla even says that being L’Arachel’s attendant is like being the attendant of a young child.

However, L’Arachel isn’t completely irresponsible. Unlike Joshua, she will retreat if she’s defeated. This guarantees that she will survive to take up the throne regardless of what happens on the battlefield; she even has alternate bits of dialogue in her recruitment chapters if she was defeated. Even if we never see her actually pray or talk about the gods, she proves to be knowledgeable in Magvel’s legends, recounting to Eirika the legend of Latona.

Despite lacking a bit in emotional intelligence, she genuinely cares for others, and her desire to become a beauteous warrior of justice isn’t all just self-indulgence. In Chapter 14 of Eirika’s route, she’s the one who goes back to seek out Eirika once they find Ismaire and realize Eirika isn’t with them. As the story progresses, she continues being the spark of optimism and hope despite the odds. In Chapter 18, she displays concern for both twins when they insist on pursuing Lyon, urging Eirika to place herself over her desire to save Lyon, and suggesting Ephraim leave Lyon to the rest of the army.

Her concerns are proven correct when she and the rest of the army catch up with the runaway sibling, only to find the Stone of Renais shattered. Despite that, and Innes and Seth's observation that Lyon has escaped, her reaction is “So he got away, is that it? There's no cause to be discouraged.” Even though the party party suffered a pretty large blow to morale with the loss of the fourth Sacred Stone, it is L’Arachel who pushes them on. Her insistence on visiting Rausten Court instead of immediately pressing on to Darkling Woods is what saves the final Sacred Stone and Mansel’s life. In this way, her willfulness turns out to be beneficial as well.

If Tana dies in Ephraim’s route before or during Chapter 19, L’Arachel will speak to Ephraim in her place; she is the only option in Eirika’s route. For a while, I couldn’t understand it—Tana’s the one who was closer to Eirika before the war, so why can’t she speak to Eirika? Then it hit me. L’Arachel probably asked to speak to Eirika to atone for Chapter 18. Telling Eirika about how Latona resisted the Demon King gave her the spark of hope that ultimately resulted in the loss of Renais’ Sacred Stone. L’Arachel may have blamed herself for it, and so talking to Eirika in Chapter 19 was her way of taking responsibility.

L’Arachel and Innes serve as foils to each other; they aren’t good at communicating with others, but ultimately have good intentions. L’Arachel is too desire-driven, which makes her come off as demanding and selfish, while Innes is too responsibilities-driven, which makes him callous and bossy. While talking to Ephraim, she says that she and Ephraim are alike because “You refuse to show weakness, and you want to accomplish everything yourself.” Innes admits to Gerik, in their A support, he was mistaken in his belief that “Those born to royalty cannot show others any weaknesses or deficiencies. If they’re not perfect at all times, their enemies will take advantage of them.”

L’Arachel was heavily affected by the early loss of her parents. She may have wanted to go on her anonymous quest to also prove herself to be as capable as her late parents. Meanwhile, Innes was hailed as a genius strategist, but always feels a tinge of unworthiness, and his failures during the war only further his doubt in himself. It is by interacting with others in the army—Eirika for L’Arachel and Gerik for Innes—that they gain more (genuine) confidence in their abilities.

#FE8 #magvel #joshua #l'arachel #innes #eirika #ephraim #character meta #story analysis

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pamphletstoinspire · 6 years

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Angry with God

My older sister Patricia died of spina bifida before I was born. My younger sister Linda died of spina bifida when I was 3. Given that I was raised in a traditional, stoic, Irish-Catholic family, my sisters and their deaths were never talked about. In fact, I didn’t even know they existed until I was 5 and found their names in our family Bible. “Who are these people?” I asked my mother.

“They are your sisters”—that was all she said.

As I grew, I thought about them a lot. Eventually, I began to ask my mother why God did this to our family. She said simply that some crosses were heavier to carry than others. Somehow that answer and the related resignation didn’t work for me. And so I began to become angry. Specifically, I began to become angry with God.

For most of my youth, I felt this anger was wrong, sinful. Yet it didn’t go away. I encountered more and more suffering that did not make sense. A friend lost both his parents by the eighth grade. A very good priest dropped dead of a heart attack. The brother of a friend died in Vietnam.

As I began my work as a psychologist, I would touch on spiritual matters with my clients. I found that I was not alone in my anger. Worse, I met people whose explanations for tragedy were heartbreaking.

One woman, for example, believed that her prayers for a dying daughter did not work because her prayers were “not worthy of God’s attention.” Even my own father, as he dealt with a series of strokes, told me they were “punishment for my sins.” As I heard such struggles, I felt more and more that, because of anger, I was bound to grow away from my faith. Then I read the Book of Job.

Job: Not Merely Silent Suffering

Given that the Catholicism of my youth did not include a great deal of biblical study, I knew very little about Job other than the phrase “the patience of Job.” When I read this marvelous book, I realized among other things that Job was hardly patient. In fact, like me, he was angry!

The story of Job begins with a bet. Satan is arguing with God, saying that faith is easy when everything is going well in one’s life, but that people tend to lose that faith when times are tough. He then brings up Job, pointing out that Job has great faith but is also very comfortable and successful. But suppose, suggests Satan, that Job falls on hard times: Will he then be so faithful? God gives Satan permission to take away everything of Job’s but not to harm him. Satan does this, but Job holds on to his faith. So Satan ups the ante by asking God to let him harm Job directly.

And so Job ends up homeless, penniless, and afflicted with horrible skin diseases. He begins to seek an explanation from God. In fact, Job demands an explanation!

Job’s friends show up and offer standard explanations for his troubles. “You must have sinned,” suggests one. “You haven’t prayed hard enough,” says another. And yet Job continues his outcry, ultimately demanding that God show up and explain himself.

And God shows up! Granted, God tends to put Job in his place and never really answers Job’s “Why?” question. But the important points are that God shows up and that he never punishes Job for his outcry.

But Why, Lord?

I think the Book of Job is there to encourage us to embrace our outcries, not suppress them; and to struggle with the “Why?” question, not dismiss it. And so, somewhat timidly, I began to allow myself that anger.

It soon became clear to me that I needed to explore my anger at several levels. The most immediate level was the “Why?” question that was a large part of my youth. As I began to read, I found out that the “Why?” question has in fact given rise to a specific area of theological study called theodicy. Specifically, theodicy examines the issue of how an all-good, all-loving God can permit evil.

As I explored my anger, I came across the book May I Hate God? by Pierre Wolff. Despite its provocative title, this is a very gentle-spirited book that reminds us that God is a loving parent; and that loving parents, upon learning that their child is angry with them, want to hear about the anger—not necessarily condone it, but hear about it. This opened up to me the awareness that, when I am angry with God, my tendency is to express that anger in the same way I do at a human level. I shut down and use the “silent treatment.”

Novelist Joseph Heller put it another way in his novel God Knows. King David is reflecting on whether he is angry with God and concludes, “I’m not angry with God. We’re just not speaking to one another.” So it was with me and the God of my understanding.

In any case, Wolff’s book helped me to accept my anger. But I still struggled with the “Why?” question. Other thinkers offered helpful insights. Viktor Frankl did not answer this question, but he observed that, while we don’t always have a choice over what happens to us, we always have a choice regarding how we face it. Similarly, Rabbi Harold Kushner, in his well-regarded When Bad Things Happen to Good People, offered what for me was a novel idea—that perhaps God wasn’t responsible for some of the bad things that happened to us.

At first, Kushner’s notion was comforting. Maybe God wasn’t behind my sisters’ illnesses or children with cancer or senseless random shootings. Maybe those things just happened. Somehow that thought made me fear God less. Yet the thought that perhaps God wasn’t behind all bad things that happened created another question articulated by Annie Dillard, who wrote in For the Time Being, “If God does not cause everything that happens, does God cause anything that happens? Is God completely out of the loop?”

My anger at God brought me to wrestle with some important issues. It challenged me to reexamine my image of God. Did I see God as punitive, misreading the Old Testament? Did I see him as loving, as in many New Testament stories? Did I see him as uninvolved, caring for the big picture and leaving the details to us, as the Oh, God! films suggest?

My anger also brought me face-to-face with my struggles about prayer. Does God answer prayers? Clearly not all prayers. It’s been said that there are many unanswered prayers at deathbeds. If God doesn’t answer all prayers, to follow Dillard, does he answer any prayers?

These struggles have been productive, prodding me toward a more mature understanding of God, as well as a more clear appreciation for prayer. But I still come face-to-face with my anger.

A Personal Encounter with God

Over the past few years, I have read the entire Bible three times. It has been a truly enlightening experience. I saw clearly that Job wasn’t the only one to argue with God. Abraham did it; Moses did it; even Jesus did it! I was in good company.

I saw, too, that David’s Psalms were at times outcries. Within the poetry, one can hear the oppressed poet yelling out to God, “Do something!”

I’ve learned from my many clients who sit and try to understand tragedies in their lives. In asking these great teachers, “Are you angry with God?” I’ve heard many instructive answers. One woman wrestling with a lifethreatening illness said, “Of course I’m angry with God! But he’s God. He can take it!” Another very spiritual young woman observed, “No, I’m not angry. But I sure would like to have a peek at his operations manual.”

Harold Kushner recently published a piece on the Book of Job titled The Book of Job: When Bad Things Happened to a Good Person. It is a literate and scholarly book that offered me a new note of comfort. Kushner suggests that Job is comforted and consoled not so much by God’s explanation but by the encounter itself. Job deeply experienced God’s presence and took comfort in that meaningful experience. I found a note of personal truth in this thought. I realized that, yes, I’ve had meaningful encounters with God in nature or in the world of great art or in the sound of my grandchildren’s laughter.

But I realized that I have also encountered God in my anger in a way that has been profound. As I voice that anger, I feel God in a manner as profound as, albeit different from, my experience of God in nature.

The story of this journey of anger has a more recent turn to it, one with which I am still dealing. I recently saw an episode of The West Wing, a program from the early 2000s starring Martin Sheen as a fictional president. Prior to this episode, the president had lost a much-loved secretary in a senseless car accident. After the funeral, he stands alone in the National Cathedral and unleashes an anger that shocked me. As an example, his character refers to God as a “vengeful thug.”

I felt I’d long validated the importance of anger in my relationship with God, yet I found myself uncomfortable with the intensity of President Bartlett’s anger. But, upon reflection, I understood it. My anger is more than annoyance or disappointment—at times it is rage. Yet, out of fear, I withhold that rage and instead, like David in Heller’s novel, stop talking to my God or at least temper my feelings. Yet, when I allow myself to approach that rage, I find God waiting for me.

And so I come face-to-face with the God of my understanding. Is that God a vengeful parent who will not tolerate my anger and will punish me for speaking up? Such was the God of my youth. Or is the God of my understanding a loving God willing to wrestle with me, willing to accept my vented rage in the name of open, ongoing dialogue and genuine encounter? And do I have the courage to fully embrace this understanding of God and remain in dialogue in the midst of my rage?

The great Jewish scholar Abraham Joshua Heschel once wrote, “God stands in a passionate relationship with Man.” Anyone who has lived in a longterm, passionate relationship learns that passion is a package deal. You can’t have the joy and ecstasy unless you also accept and embrace the anger and alienation. I’ve dealt with several couples who say they don’t fight. But they are in my office because their relationship is stagnant. Without the struggle, there is no passionate intimacy.

The Path of Relationship

I realize at this point that, for me to have a joyful, peaceful, vibrant relationship with the God of my understanding, I must also embrace the rage. Not just annoyance, but rage!

And so, as I struggle, I return to reflect on my mother’s faith in the face of tragedy. I see that her faith was not some passive, shoulder-shrugging, “Oh well, it could be worse” type of faith. Throughout her life, she believed not only in the power of prayer but also in the persistence of that prayer. Like the woman in the parable seeking justice, she would not quietly plead or go away. Rather, she would “storm heaven with prayers.” Nor did she let tragic loss engender cynicism: on her deathbed and with absolute certainty and joyful anticipation, she said, “I’m going to see my girls.”

And yet I know my path is one of wrestling and arguing. It occurs to me that perhaps within the mystical body of Christ, we both play a part. People like my mother indeed inspire me to not lose hope and to continue to believe that understanding God’s mysterious way is possible.

But perhaps people like me—the questioners, the wrestlers—help others not to lapse into passive, depressed resignation. Perhaps in encouraging others to “fight back,” we help them experience real encounters with God. Perhaps we wrestlers help others to hope that our pain and anguish do matter. And perhaps together we can link arms and sing those words of Job offered not as an answer but in hopeful expectation: “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!”

Richard B. Patterson, Phd, is a clinical psychologist and freelance writer from El Paso, Texas.

#angry with god

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lizzysnotes · 7 years

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tiers 2-6 (gonna keep updating this post as i add new peeps so check back ;D)

HENRY ADAMS (36) tom hiddleston * taken by kate aa Occupation: Software Designer Relationship(s): Clara Neville (girlfriend), Amelia Foster (ex-fiancée), Victor Glass, Frederick Cordel (best friends)

ten years ago, henry was gonna marry amelia but she broke it off soon after they got engaged

so that was fun

she broke his heart!!!!!

didn’t think he would ever love anyone ever again but then he met clara!!!!

they’ve been dating now for a few years and henry!!! loves her so much!!!!!

kinda been toying with the idea of asking her to marry him but he’s so terrified of being hurt again he’s not sure he can do it

he’s been dragging his feet at every new step in their relationship b/c he’s so scared to move forward

suPER SMART and has his own startup company that’s become pretty successful

the type of dude who holds doors open for girls

willing to take calculated risks in his business ventures but not so much with his heart

GILLIAN CARTWRIGHT (27) jennifer lawrence * taken by lizzy Occupation: Relationship(s): Lucas Cartwright, Hannah Cartwright, Sarah Cartwright, Allison Cartwright (sisters), Samantha Thomas (best friend), Nicholas Gray (friend/interest), Nathan Yates (sister’s boyfriend/unsure of), David Carter, Joshua Gordon, Rebecca Taylor, Shannon Ryan, Eloise Ryan, Patrick Nolan (friends), Margaret Gray (irritant/brother’s girlfriend)

jill helps keep the family grounded in reality

their dad was just found guilty of money laundering and tax fraud so he’s in jail now and he and their mom are going through a messy divorce after more than thirty years of marriage

lucas likes pretending that none of this is happening

hannah likes to think that it’s going to be okay!!!! and that’ll he’ll be proven innocent!!!! and everything will go back to normal

sarah likes to be dramatic about it

allison likes to be angry

also everyday they seem to find out more horrible things that he’s supposedly done, so that’s fun

on top of it jill’s recently developed feelings for her best friend’s boyfriend

so that’s fun

sometimes thinks that maybe he feels the same way but she would never, ever act on those feelings!!!!!

pretty worried about her sister’s new relationship with nathan yates

she seems super happy but she’s wondering if they are getting too serious too quickly and is afraid she’s gonna get hurt

super private, super practical

SARAH CARTWRIGHT (26) emma watson * taken by kate aa Occupation: Relationship(s): Lucas Cartwright, Hannah Cartwright, Gillian Cartwright, Allison Cartwright (sisters), Nathan Yates (boyfriend), Joshua Gordon, David Carter, Shannon Ryan, Eloise Ryan, Patrick Nolan (irritants/friends), Margaret Gray (enemy), Madeline Cordel (best friend)

feels!!!!!! emotions!!!!!!!! deeply!!!!

wears her heart on her sleeve

everyone in the room knows exactly how she’s feeling at any given moment

can sometimes be a drama queen honestly

super high energy and giddy when she’s happy

sulky when she’s sad

loves to experience things!!!!! loves to travel!!!!!

hasn’t ever really dated anyone b/f b/c she has supER high expectations

tbh they are probably a little unrealistic

reads too many books and watches too many movies

was kinda in a bad place after her dad went to prison and her parents divorced

spent a lot of time in her room and taking long walks and generally just feeling brokenhearted by it all

has def been in a better mood since meeting nathan tho!!

when she met nathan she was just so!!!! swept up by him!!!!!

seems to understand her more than anyone else she’s ever met

can be a little self-centered and impatient at times but her heart is def in the right place!

loves watching the rain

can tell that david is interested in her and she’s flattered by she wishes he move on so they could just be friends

thinks with her heart not her head

CATHERINE CLARKE (32) gal gadot * open Occupation: Relationship(s): Natalie Clarke, Emma Clarke, Sophia Clarke, Teresa Clarke, Cecilia Clarke (sisters), Mark Carter (friend), Sebastian Cordel (interest), Brian Clarke (cousin)

basically raised her sisters

her mom died when she was 12 and while they still had their dad, he wasn’t the same afterwards

Wine Mom

not ~technically a mom but has it down

says lots of loud and embarrassing things about “her kids”

“i’m a cool mom” ~ cate,

“no she isn’t” ~ lia

AGGRESSIVELY WANTS THEM TO GET MARRIED AND BE HAPPY

sorta feels like it is too late for her???

plus if any guy comes around and tries to get with her she waves them off b/c she doesn’t have time for that

kinda lives vicariously through her sisters and is a little too pushy whenever a guy shows the slightest interest in them

(also lowkey always had a crush on sebastian cordel even tho she knew he hated her and when he got married it secretly crushed her)

honestly has been talking of nothing else but the wedding between joesph cole and emma ever since he breathed in her general direction.

lia is her joy, emma is her pride

loves the middle girls, too, but isn’t as close with them

can be a little dramatic sometimes

needs to know where all of her peeps are at all times so texts them all a lot

EMMA CLARKE (30) emilia clarke * taken by kate aa Occupation: Florist Relationship(s): Catherine Clarke, Natalie Clarke, Sophia Clarke, Teresa Clarke, Cecilia Clarke (sisters), Mark Carter (best friend), Alexandra Cole, Rebecca Taylor (friends), Joseph Cole (interest) Brian Clarke (cousin)

when her cousin brian needed a place to crash, emma was quick to offer the couch to him!!!!

natalie was less happy about it but she let it happen

emma has been the perfect hostess and caters to his every whim!!!!

she’s so nice to him that he doesn’t really wanna leave

(it has been a year)

but that’s just who emma is!

she’s sweet and kind and caring and the word no isn’t in her vocabulary

she’s the “back up mom”

has helped cate mother the other girls but in a much quieter, more helpful way

less in ur face about it. quiet, kind, considerate

sees the good in everyone (even when it isn’t there tbh)

such heart!!!! eyes!!!!! @ joseph cole but too shy to do anything about it.

NATALIE CLARKE (28) alicia vikander * taken by lizzy Occupation: Editor Relationship(s): Catherine Clarke, Emma Clarke, Sophia Clarke, Teresa Clarke, Cecilia Clarke (sisters), Elizabeth Martin, Mark Carter (best friends), Christopher Ellis, Virginia Ellis, Alexandra Cole (annoyances), Brian Clarke (cousin/annoyance), Dominic Young (intrigued), Arthur Ellis, Joseph Cole, Xavier Quaine (friends)

doesn’t take life too seriously

laughs at everything

kinda cynical

wishes chris would stop trying to talk to her

lives with her sis, emma

emma is hands down her fav sibling

loves all of them but honestly rolls her eyes/is frustrated with the other four a LOT. so thankful for everything that catherine did for her growing up but is glad to be out of the house

can be kinda judgemental of other ppl???

impulsive, stubborn, outspoken, vivacious, loving

her cousin brian is currently crashing on their couch b/c emma said he could stay as long as he needs while he finds a new place

emma is so nice to him that natalie is afraid he wants to stay forever

natalie was nice to him at first but it’s been almost a year and now she’s 1000% done w/ him

SOPHIA CLARKE (27) dakota johnson * open Occupation: Relationship(s): Catherine Clarke, Emma Clarke, Natalie Clarke, Teresa Clarke, Cecilia Clarke (sisters), Brian Clarke (cousin), Mark Carter (friend), Xavier Quaine (interest)

awkward turtle?????

the 1 who blends into the background the most of all the sisters

says the wrong thing always

likes to spend her time reading books and with her cat

when she doesn’t know what to say, she just says her favorite quotes????

doesn’t??? always??? make ???? sense????

her headphones are always in

will never hear u if u try to talk to her

can do The Thing where she walks and reads at the same time

talks more to her cat than people

1 time someone was being super annoying and she just hissed at them and they went away

half in love with xavier quaine but they’ve never actually spoken

TERESA CLARKE (25) daisy ridley * open Occupation: Relationship(s): Catherine Clarke, Emma Clarke, Natalie Clarke, Sophia Clarke, Cecilia Clarke (sisters), Brian Clarke (cousin), Mark Carter (friend), Adam Vaughan (interest), Penelope Quaine (friend)

tess is a mess

not ready to Adult

spends too much time hanging out with lia honestly

still lives at home w/ no sense of direction re: her future

kinda immature. doesn’t know how to stop giggling <33333

her greatest life achievement is her twitter followers

also knows how to take flawless snaps

adam once gave her a ride in his car and she’s been <3333 eyes at him ever since

CECILIA CLARKE (20) natalia dyer * open Occupation: Relationship(s): Catherine Clarke, Emma Clarke, Natalie Clarke, Sophia Clarke, Cecilia Clarke (sisters), Brian Clarke (cousin), Mark Carter (friend), Dominic Young (interest)

so! spoiled!

kinda wild.

cate literally cannot say no to her

their mom died when she was born so cate is the only mom she’s ever known

a prime example of what happens when a 12 year old raises you tbh

obsessed with boy bands and reality tv

spends too much time at the mall chasing boys

tess is lia’s bff

they do everything together

the older sister she aspires to be

the only sister who seems to constantly be enjoying herself and for lia that’s just #goals

has a HUGE crush on dominic young

he’s old enough to be her dad but that isn’t stopping her

BRIAN CLARKE (32) zach woods * open Occupation: Relationship(s): Catherine Clarke, Emma Clarke, Natalie Clarke, Sophia Clarke, Teresa Clarke, Cecilia Clarke (cousins), Virginia Ellis (boss), Elizabeth Martin (co-worker/interest), Samantha Thomas (ex-girlfriend), Damon Napier (thinks they are friends but they aren’t)

confident, conceited, awkward, suPER ANNOYING

got out of a long term relationship with Samantha Thomas a year ago

when they broke up, she got the apartment and he went to crash with his cousins, Emma and Natalie

a year later and he’s still living there

they’ve been so nice to him, he doesn’t want to leave

(when i say they, i mean emma)

works for virginia ellis and is at her beck and call 24/7!!!!!!!!!!

the gary to her selina meyer

thinks she’s the greatest person in the world and would speak her praises for dAYS

once she made a comment that brian should date elizabeth and now brian is dETERMINED to win her over

JOSEPH COLE (34) julian morris * taken by lizzy Occupation: Socialite/Philanthropist Relationship(s): Alexandra Cole (sister), Christopher Ellis (best friend), Evangeline Ellis, Natalie Clarke, Genevieve Quaine (friends), Emma Clarke (friend/interest)

energetic and social and loves doing!!!! things!!!!!! and meeting people!!!!!

a puppy in human form

he’s a good boy :)

his sister and bff chris are less likely to want to join him in his ventures but that’s!!! okay!!!! all he has to do is smile at them and they will come grumbling along <3

often gets evangeline excited too and when the two of them are eager to do something, alexandra and chris follow

joe is so!!!! nice and kind to everyone he meets

he has a lot of money and just wants to help everyone!!!!!

does a lot of charity work and lives pretty simply even tho he’s super wealthy

his heart stopped the first time he saw emma clarke!!!!!

he likes her so much he doesn’t know what to do about it

feels like she probably doesn’t like him in that way tho

his sister keeps trying to talk him out of it and it isn’t helping

she says he can do better (but joe knows that isn’t true)

ALEXANDRA COLE (33) felicity jones * open Occupation: Socialite Relationship(s): Joseph Cole (brother), Christopher Ellis (interest), Evangeline Ellis, Emma Clarke, William Cordel (friends), Natalie Clarke (rival)

~*~EYE ROLL QUEEN~*~

honestly hates most of the people in this town

cANNOT STAND people who are “uncultured” (aka poor)

has perfected being passive aggressive

glamorous, ambitious, strategic, well-educated

conniving, petty, sly, critical

has had her eye on christopher ellis since they were kids

has remained single in trying to catch him

hasn’t ever seen him super interested in anyone before so she always thought she had a chance until natalie clarke came into their lives???

alexandra: um no

doing her best to turn his attentions away from her but also pretty confident that natalie is only a passing fancy

does love her bro to pieces tho!!!!!! sometimes thinks he’s a bit of an idiot b/c he’s nice to everyone but y’know

LYNETTE COOPER (29) holliday grainger * open Occupation: Relationship(s): Leon Foster (boyfriend), Victoria Foster (”best friend”), Adrian Neville (interest), Juliana Foster, Amelia Foster (rivals), Madeline Cordel (friend)

knows that the fosters are struggling financially, but has faith that it will one day be restored

literally doesn’t care about any of them, least of all leon, but is sticking it out in hopes to being the next mrs. foster

knows how to stay on leon’s good side (literally just compliments him all the damn time

does the same thing w/ victoria tbh

had a thing for adrian neville but he straight up rejected her and it broke her heart so badly that she’s decided she doesn’t want anything to do with love

hates to see him constantly with juliana

but even she can see that he still loves amelia

amelia used to be her fav of the fosters but now she hates her too

LENNOX DAVIS (32) theo james * taken by kate aa Occupation: Socialite Relationship(s): Elena Greene (secret girlfriend), Andrea York (friend/flirtation), William Cordel (best friend), Simon York (friend), Charles Lawrence (annoyance)

secretly dating elena greene whom he’s loved literally from the first day he ever met her!!!!!!

but she’s just a waitress and his parents want him to marry someone “better” so he’s pretending to be interested in andrea york

does genuinely like her (but he doesn’t love her)

his parents are so thrilled by the fact that he might marry into one of the founding families!

eventually planning on telling his them that he’s in love with elena tho

but he knows that they will cut him off financially when he does

so he’s secretly getting his life together so he can be ok w/o their help

super charming and charismatic!!!

literally can charm his way into anything

tries to distance himself from elena in public and is sometimes a little too mean to her

doesn’t realize that some of the things he says really hurt her

enjoys his sense of humor and thinks he’s hilarious

CHRISTOPHER ELLIS (39) tom hardy * taken by kate aa Occupation: Relationship(s): Evangeline Ellis (sister), Arthur Ellis, Virginia Ellis (cousins), Joseph Cole, Adrian Neville, Sebastian Cordel (best friends), Alexandra Cole (friend/annoyance), Natalie Clarke (interest), Dominic Young (enemy)

broody, quiet, reserved

doesn’t want to meet new people

the light of his life is his bff joe and his sister eva

both of them drag him to do things he doesn’t want to do but does anyway

(he grumbles about it but lowkey enjoys it mostly to see them happy)

has a thing for natalie clarke but messed it up b/c he was trying to talk to her and instead he just was mean?????

someone help him????

he has poor social skillz

he was childhood best friends with dominic young but stopped after he realized how much of an asshole he is

loves his cousins!!!!

honestly rolls his eyes at virginia a lot and doesn’t always listen to her input but he loves her all the same

adores arthur and the two have been friends for ever

can be kinda old fashioned and arrogant sometimes

the king of holding grudges

super generous!!!!!! and kind and intelligent

VIRGINIA ELLIS (35) michelle dockery * taken by kate aa Occupation: CEO at Ellis Enterprises Relationship(s): Arthur Ellis (brother), Christopher Ellis, Evangeline Ellis (cousins) Brian Clarke (right hand), Elizabeth Martin (employee), Adrian Neville (security guard/interest), Sebastian Cordel (friend), Amelia Foster (best friend)

can be super overbearing and domineering

took over her father’s business when she was twenty-six after he passed away and would NOT TAKE ANY SHIT from anyone

a lot of strong ~miranda priestly~ vibes honestly

“details of your incompetence do not interest me.”

“by all means move at a glacial pace. You know how that thrills me.”

eyebrow game is strong.

wants The Best for her cousins which isn’t always actually the best???

inserts her opinion even where it isn’t wanted

brian is her right hand. (and when i say right hand, i mean personal slave).

tbh he’s kind of the gary to her selina meyer???

has had a thing for adrian for years but would nEVER say anything b/c she feels love is a weakness and is instead v mean to him????

LEON FOSTER (38) luke evans * taken by lizzy Occupation: Socialite Relationship(s): Victoria Foster, Juliana Foster, Amelia Foster, (sisters), Antoinette Caron Cordel (ex-girlfriend/interest), Lynette Cooper (girlfriend)

a DRAMA QUEEN

he and victoria kinda spent all of the family money and now they are dirt poor

pretending to still have money for the sake of appearances but they barely have too pennies to rub together

saying that their large ass mansion is under renovations so that’s why they are slumming it in this tiny apartment but the reality is that they are selling their home

doesn’t really like lynette that much but she is constantly telling him how good looking and smart he is so he keeps her around

eventually means to dump her for a rich chick but she’s a great ego booster for now

has a gold medal in vanity

doesn’t??? know???? how they are going to solve the problem of “no money” but looks to amelia to solve it

“not my problem” ~ leon

“it actually is ur problem” ~amelia

AMELIA FOSTER (32) keira knightley * taken by lizzy Occupation: Relationship(s): Leon Foster (brother) Victoria Foster, Juliana Foster (sisters), Jonathan Fox, Lynette Cooper (irritants), Oliver Collins, Sebastian Cordel, Adrian Neville (friends), Henry Adams (ex-fiancé/interest), Clara Neville (friend/rival), Virginia Ellis (best friend)

amelia @ her siblings constant: god why

does her best to keep this crazy family together???

her older siblings spend money constantly!!!!!

and now they have nothing

amelia is the only one who actually has money b/c she got a job but she does NOT have enough to support her siblings during their financial crisis but they are kinda expecting her to

she doesn’t wanna turn them out so she’s letting them live @ her place temporarily/trying to get them back on their feet but it is nOT easy

ten years ago she was going to marry henry adams but she backed out soon after they got engaged

they were so young and she was scared

tbh she broke his heart

never ended up dating anyone else b/c she never found anyone better

misses him every day

now he’s with someone else and super happy and she’s happy for him but she still loves him a lot

JONATHAN FOX (36) michiel huisman * open Occupation: Conman Relationship(s): Juliana Foster (girlfriend), Andrea York (interest), Damon Napier (cousin)

a chameleon!!!!!

super adaptable

not actually rich but pretending to be

doesn’t realize that juliana is also pretending to be rich???

both dating each other for money the other does not have

#awkward

came into town with the plan to date andrea york to con her out of HER money (which she actually has) but developed some actual??? feelings????

so he changed his plans and now he’s just wasting his time

comes off as a nice guy, but isn’t really??

would sell u to satan for a corn chip

NICHOLAS GRAY (36) chris evans * taken by kate aa Occupation: The Family Disappointment/High School English Teacher Relationship(s): Margaret Gray (sister), ----- Gray (brother), Samantha Thomas (girlfriend), Gillian Cartwright (friend/interest), Sebastian Cordel, James Walker (best friends), Hannah Cartwright, Sarah Cartwright, Allison Cartwright, David Carter, Mark Carter (friends)

probably has some kind of super powers b/c he’s able to make his bff sebastian smile

truly a rare and impressive talent

has always been super laid back and chill

has a great working relationship with his students!!!

knows how to motivate and interest them

makes learning fun!

(can get a little awkward sometimes tho b/c it is pretty obvious that like half of the kids have a crush on him but can you blame them?)

a great sense of humor

currently dating sam thomas

cares about her a lot but has recently developed feelings for her best friend jill

it’s not great

has plans to break up with her but doesn’t want to b/c he knows if he does, he probably won’t see jill anymore

pus he doubts he and jill will ever get together since he dated her best friend so ???

#feel free to reserve peeps if u see anyone u like #i know adding to posts is super annoying but it is for my sanity

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tessatechaitea · 7 years

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Dark Nights: Batman the Dawnbreaker #1

These Metal Tie-in covers remind me of copy protection on late 80s, early 90s computer games that used code wheels and color shifting technology to keep people from copying the passwords.

You didn't have to be alone, stupid. You do know what "corps" means, right?

I guess this is how this Dark Universe came into being. Bruce's thoughts when his parents died were "I would give anything to not feel powerless or alone." So a world was created where he got the universe's most powerful weapon and joined a large cosmic family. The only problem is he fucked it all up. I guess that's what happens when your timeline skews into the Dark Multiverse where it doesn't really exist. Here's an example of Sam Humphries' fine writing: Gordon: "Green Lantern. Wasn't sure you'd show up." Green Lantern: "Gordon. I advise you to remain polite with me. The last cop who threatened me regretted it..." Did I miss the threat in there? Or even Gordon's being impolite? It must have been in his tone. This is another story of another universe where Batman chose to kill his enemies. I guess that's the main reason for all of Batman's Dark Earths. There must be an infinite amount of them since I'm pretty sure he thinks about killing every time he battles a villain. But then he doesn't because he knows, like an addict, just one murder will open the floodgates and he'll soon be drunk on corpses. Eventually, the Green Lantern Corps notice something wrong with the ring sent to Earth. They head down to stop it and the entire corps is killed by Bruce Wayne. That's when he decides he doesn't want to be Green Lantern anymore. He decides to be Batman the Dawnbreaker which makes sense for some reason. I thought for a second that I knew what that reason was but then I read The Dawnbreaker's oath and I shit myself laughing.

It doesn't even maintain a proper rhythm! And that's the best part of it!

As Bruce discovers his new name, look, and oath, Earth-Negative-32 disintegrates all around him. But Batjoker turns up to recruit him to Barbatos's army. So now he's on his way to fuck up Earth-Main-Earth along with the rest of the Dark Bats. Batman the Dawnbreaker decides to destroy Coast City but he makes a mistake. Before he can begin his murder spree, he vandalizes the Welcome to Coast City sign which completely pisses off Hal Jordan for some reason. I mean, how the hell did Hal even notice? It's not like he's ever on Earth anymore! Hal loses the battle immediately but Doctor Fate rescues him. Doctor Fate is building a Justice League to save the Multiverse. It's weird though that he's only gathering Justice League members. I mean, he's kind of ripping off their idea, no? Dark Nights: Batman the Dawnbreaker #1 Rating: One out of Ten Green Lantern Oaths. By darkest oath, by darkest oath! No darkest oath can darkest oath! Quoth the oath, Nevermore! Okay, so I'm as bad at creating oaths as Sam Humphries and Geoff Johns! Sue me! I mean, don't actually sue me because I can't afford an attorney. Also I don't think you can sue me for not being able to write an oath while still criticizing the ability of others to write oaths! This is America, dammit! The land of lawsuits! I mean the land of freedom!

#Dark Nights #Metal #DC Comics #Batman #The Dawnbreaker #Sam Humphries #Ethan Van Sciver #Jason Wright

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douchebagbrainwaves · 7 years

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YOU GUYS I JUST THOUGHT OF THIS

Or rather, a large organization is forced to adopt. Without hope of gain, they'd have only fear of loss. Incidentally, nothing makes it more patently obvious that the old chestnut all languages are equivalent is false than designing languages. I suspect there are already some highly partitionable businesses that lean this way.1 I've noticed this too. That was contrarian advice 10 years ago, but it's clearly now the established practice.2 First of all, he was intellectually curious. A lot of people have a great teacher at some point in their childhood. He died at 59 of lung cancer.

When, if ever, is a way of predicting performance.3 If you try to attack this type of software. In the US this process still shows many outward signs of corruption. To me she seems the best novelist of all time. It was also a test of wealth, because the schools adjust to suit whatever the tests measure.4 They use the latest stuff. Kenneth Clark is the best nonfiction writer I know of, on any subject. But while some openly flaunt the fact that he has to do all the company's errands as well as Newton, for their time, but Newton is my model of this kind of thought.5 It's hard to beat this phenomenon, because the essence of programming is to build new things. So let's be clear what reducing economic inequality means. Indeed, if you felt Lisp programs using a lot of animals in the wild must feel better to a wide-ranging predator like a lion.

If you have an empty slot in your schedule, why not? He knew you were saving that piece of cake. And the only thing you can offer in return is raw materials and cheap labor. But I did not till recently understand the role risk played. But in addition there's sometimes a cascading effect. In 1958 there seem to have been two ways of thinking about programming. Anything you might discover has already been invented elsewhere. Organic ideas are generally preferable to the made up kind, but particularly so when the founders are young. But this year there may have been. The younger employees were paying their dues.

It's so easy to get distracted working on small stuff. Because that machine was not just a machine. In our case the distinguishing feature is the ability to translate wealth into power.6 There's an even better way to block the transmission of power between generations: to encourage the trend toward an economy made of more, smaller organizations will care less about credentials.7 A group of 10 managers to work together. You'll find that you can't stand programming in clumsy languages.8 Recently we managed to recruit her to help us run YC when she's not busy with architectural projects. It seemed to me as a twelve year old football expert that the best of them all was Jack Lambert.9 I can't figure it out, because she's gotten into sync with us.

But when someone on the manager's schedule is that they understand the cost. But between the two is due mostly to environment—and in particular that the environment in big companies is toxic to programmers. School was boring. I think most of them are the same for every language, so they don't affect comparisons much. This metric needs fleshing out, and it could require interpretation in the case of specific languages, but I wouldn't describe them as intellectually curious. This is a list of the n most admirable people. In theory, exit polls gave him a 52-48 victory. The quote I began with mentions two other qualities, regularity and readability, not succinctness. Reading The Nude is like a small boat in the open sea. Your boss is just the way that constraint is imparted to you. The use of credentials was an attempt to seal off the direct transmission of power between generations, and cram schools represent that power finding holes in the seal.

But that could still be a bad move, because macro definitions are harder to read than ordinary code. Locally, all the news was bad. And they will. The word is rarely used today because it's no longer surprising to see a 25 year old professional able to afford a new BMW was so novel that it called forth a new word. Parents will die for their kids.10 But they would do. You can adjust the amount of work you have to push down on the top as well as Newton, for their time, but Newton is my model of this kind of thought. You tend to keep your voice down, because there's a good chance the person at the next table would know some of the people working for him who made more than he did, because they'd been there longer.11

But in a large organization, and the language won't let you. This is one of them: he wanted to seem aristocratic; she was afraid she wasn't smart enough. Small in what sense though? Apple happened because Steve Wozniak wanted a computer. It seems to me that succinctness is power, or is close enough that except in pathological examples you can treat them as interchangeable, granting the same status to sweat equity and the equity they've purchased with cash. We'll have precise comparisons, but not accurate ones. A few months ago I read a New York Times article on South Korean cram schools that said Admission to the right university can make legacy status have as much or as little weight as they want, by adjusting the size of group that can work together, the only way I can imagine for larger groups to avoid tree structure would be to push for increased transparency, especially at critical social bottlenecks like college admissions. In the group one level up from yours, your boss represents your entire group. If anyone has examples, I thought succinctness could be considered identical with power.

Notes

When I catch egregiously linkjacked posts I replace the actual amount of material wealth, seniority will become as big as any adult's.

He adds: Paul Buchheit points out, if you threatened a company has to be closing, not competitors. The best technique I've found for dealing with YC companies that can't reasonably expect to do it is still possible, to take board seats for shorter periods.

They assumed that their experience so far done a pretty mediocre job of suppressing the natural human inclination to say that I'm clueless or even shut the company really cared about users they'd just advise them to. If they no longer a precondition.

Maybe it would be very unhealthy.

Investors will deliberately affect more interest than they expected and they have to solve the problem is the most, it's software that was killed partly by its overdone launch. But a company tuned to exploit it. There is one of them material.

On the other extreme—becoming demoralized when investors behave upstandingly too. That would be on demand, because we know nothing about the qualities of these companies unless your last round just happened, the thing to do sales yourself initially.

The most striking example I know what kind of power programmers care about. A lot of time on schleps, but it's also a good plan in which many people work with the sheer scale of rejection in fundraising and if it were better to overestimate than underestimate the importance of making a good plan for the most useless investors are just not super thoughtful for the future as barbaric, but Joshua Schachter tells me it was true that the valuation at the valuation is the following recipe for a startup.

It is the discrepancy between government receipts as a high school textbooks.

Indifference, mainly.

If you wanted to have to rely on cold calls and introductions. I mean forum in the narrowest sense. But the most accurate mechanical watch, the average reader that they probably don't notice even when I was insane—they could just expand into new markets. When investors can't make up startup ideas is to use an OS that doesn't lose our data.

And even then your restrictions would have seemed shocking for a year of focused work plus caring a lot about some of those things that's not art because it doesn't cost anything.

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pamphletstoinspire · 7 years

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Angry with God

“They are your sisters”—that was all she said.

Job: Not Merely Silent Suffering

And so Job ends up homeless, penniless, and afflicted with horrible skin diseases. He begins to seek an explanation from God. In fact, Job demands an explanation!

But Why, Lord?

These struggles have been productive, prodding me toward a more mature understanding of God, as well as a more clear appreciation for prayer. But I still come face-to-face with my anger.

A Personal Encounter with God

I saw, too, that David’s Psalms were at times outcries. Within the poetry, one can hear the oppressed poet yelling out to God, “Do something!”

The Path of Relationship

I realize at this point that, for me to have a joyful, peaceful, vibrant relationship with the God of my understanding, I must also embrace the rage. Not just annoyance, but rage!

Richard B. Patterson, Phd, is a clinical psychologist and freelance writer from El Paso, Texas. He is also the author of the article “Welcome Home, Soldier.”

#angry with god

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