Overall this was super solid from start to finish. I know a lot of people feel the ending was rushed overall I think it was handled well and it wrapped up everything in a solid manner. Definitely nailed the “high fantasy” style factions, lore, and world building. It’s one of the better series I’ve read without a doubt. If you haven’t read this series yet and needed that push here it is go pick it up and binge it!

As a "Wicked" fan, I was super excited when rumors of a movie adaptation began circulating.
Personally, I would have loved to see a professionally shot version of the stage show, maybe not with Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth since they’ve aged out of the roles. But it would have been perfect to see actresses who have brought these characters to life on Broadway.
When I learned Ariana Grande was cast as Glinda, my excitement waned, and I began to worry. It’s not that I doubt her singing—I'm sure with some work, she can nail the Broadway style since her version of "The wizard and I" in the 15th Wicked anniversary was good but left much to be desired in terms of performance compared to a lot of Elphabas. But her acting? That's what worries me. Fans often point out that she was a Broadway actress, but there's a significant difference between a former Broadway child actress and the quality and consistency an adult actor can deliver.
The trailer only made my worries worse. It seems she cannot act. I'm begging for Ariana to prove me wrong and her acting will be much better in the context of the full movie, even if she does seem to be mimicking Kristin Chenoweth's voice instead of creating her own take on Glinda, it would be more acceptable if her acting were convincing.
Then there’s the makeup, hair and eyebrows. She doesn’t disappear into the role at all, which just highlights how odd she looks in the promotional photos and the trailer footage. It’s almost laughable and cringeworthy. You can tell acting doesn’t come naturally to her anymore, especially after not having an acting career for so long. Her role in "Don't Look Up" wasn’t as bad as what I’m seeing here. And the way she talks about her approach to the role comes off as so pretentious without the results to back up the attitude, like she thinks she’s will be a super sophisticated actress if she talks of how much she tried to deconstruct herself to just have Glinda on the screen for us. I just don't see it.
I really hope I’m wrong because I love "Wicked" so much. I don’t want it to be a disappointment.
I would love to hear more from Wicked fans or just people who have enjoyed the musical before.

Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well!
Recently I commented under a post about tips and tricks to improve physical appearance and it seems that a few people liked my advice, so I figured I could transform that one comment into a whole post so more people can have access to it.
I am a 26 year old Southern European girly, I have learned a few things here and there that I would I like to share with you. This is by no means a step by step guide, but rather a helping hand that can provide some support or advice. This is for everyone, younger girls and older girls, from everywhere and all walks of life. Take from this post what works for you, and leave the rest.
Small disclaimer, these are tips and tricks that have personally worked for me. I don't believe there is one way to look or feel good, rather this is more for girlies who feel a bit lost style wise and need some minor guidance. My focus is more on healthy rather than pretty, since I do believe that if you feel good on the inside, you will also feel good on the outside.
Enjoy, and please do let me know if you need any more specific advice/tips, I am happy to help!
***

Face

• Skin: Keep it simple, keep it consistent, keep it adapted to your skin needs. Consult with a dermatologist or just do your own research at home (that's what I did!). It took me a while to figure out the products that work for me and the routine. I won't recommend any specific products because each product works very differently. What works for me might not work for you even if we have the same skin type/concerns. My main issues are the occasional spot, big pores and dull skin.
  • Night Time: I do a double cleanse at night (oil followed by water cleanser), use retinol, and moisturiser. Vaseline is a game changer if you have any dry or irritations spots on your face. My under eye area is very sensitive and irritates easily with products, and Vaseline is the only thing that works. Also apply Vaseline on your lips before bedtime, you will have the softest lips when you wake up.
  • Morning Time: I don't cleanse my face in the morning because otherwise it would get very dry. I wash with cold water, then Vitamin C serum, moisturizer (I love the Roche Posay Cicaplast Baume), and a generous amount of SPF.
  • One thing I recommend a lot, is that if a product works well on your skin, you should stop using it after a few months to make sure your face doesn't get used it and decreases its efficiency. I rotate between 2-3 products, and switch them whenever I finish a product.

​

• Teeth: Brush twice a day and floss daily. Trust me on this. Flossing is a game changer to make your teeth healthier and whiter. I won't recommend any whitening products because I don't use them as my teeth are very sensitive. But if possible try to schedule an appointment with an hygienist once a year to get your teeth cleaned and remove any buildup. This is super important. And remember that healthy teeth >>> white teeth.

​

• Eyes/Eyebrow
  • If you want to add an extra step to your routine, I recommend getting a lashlift, it lasts around 8 weeks, looks very natural and elegant, and make your eyes pop. You have smaller eyes (like I do), I really recommend this. You can also ask to do a lash tint so your lashes appear even longer. When you do go to a salon do make sure that it has good reviews (ie hygiene), and also make sure that they test all the products on your hand beforehand, so you don't have an allergic reaction in your eyes.
  • Getting your eyebrows done is definitely a game changer. I don't do any permanent or semi permanent treatments, other than getting my brows professionally plucked. I like

​

• Makeup: I like simple makeup (with the main reason being that I don't know how to do more complicated makeup). The good thing about simple makeup is that everyone looks good with it, and really gives you a confidence boost. I use a skin tint (MAC has a nice one, and Maybelline too) that gives the skin a bit of a glow with some concealer under the eyes and to hide spots. I like adding bit of blush (Rare Beauty is quite nice), some mascara, a bit of eyebrow gel (from Benefit Cosmetics), and a clear lip oil (I really like the Clarins one).
  • If I am going out, I do the same routine but I make it more intense. For example, I use a darker blush on my cheeks (MAC Swiss Chocolate), a dark brown lip liner as lipstick with the lip oil, and I also use a bit of shimmer on my eyelids to make them pop (I have very dark brown eyes). I will also use a setting spray in between steps along with setting powder to make it last longer.

Body

• Regarding getting fit, there is no easy way out. It will take months of consistently working out and following specific food regimens. If you can, I would advise getting a personal trainenutritionist to at least get you started on a meal and exercise plan. Having a healthy, and strong body will make you feel so confident and good.
• I would recommend getting a blood test to check on your vitals and make sure you don't have any deficiencies (regarding vitamins or hormones). Taking supplements can really boost your energy and improve your health. Magnesium with Vitamin D is great and has a lot of benefits, but please check with a doctor first.
• Some things help a lot with body confidence like getting your nails done (hands and feet!). Trust me. Get a simple semi permanent gel polish in milky white on both your hands and feet, it looks super natural, lasts for weeks, and makes your hands and feet look amazing and fresh.
• Body care: I recommend using a body brush when you shower, it will make your skin feel really smooth, and you suffer from body acne it will help. Tip: don't keep in the shower and clean your brush regularly, so bacteria doesn't accumulate, and cause issues. After the shower, I like using the Ordinary Glycolic Acid toner on my body, followed by a body oil (I recommend Bio Oil). It makes my skin look amazing, soft and minimises stretch marks, scars and hyperpigmentation. When I go out, I like using Nuxe Or to make things a bit more extra. I like being shiny. I also like using a body moisturiser on my elbows, feet, knees where the skin can get a bit more dry.
• For hair removal, I get laser done since it's quite cheap where I'm from. We Southern Europeans are very very very hairy. It honestly has been a game changer. I know it's not available to a lot of people but it's something that does work really well, specially if you have fair skin and dark hair.

Hair

• I have wavy hair, so this advice will not be useful to a lot of people. I thing hair with layers looks great, and I have my hair cut with long bangs and layers since I was 15 years old. I recently got a bit chop, right above my shoulders and I am embracing my natural hair colour. I kept the layers and I think it makes easy to style and maintain.
• I recommend getting a haircut every 3 months, just the tips to keep it healthy. I also use Argan oil on my hair tips, and rosemary water on my scalp before I wash it. My washing routine is very standard otherwise with a shampoo that focused on scalp care. I do a hair mask once a week, and don't use any conditioner because it doesn't work for me at all.
• I don't use any heat except hairdryer. If I want to give it a bit of more volume I use a round brush and some curling rolls to style it and make my waves more... wavy I suppose.

Style

• Find clothes that fit you well, and more importantly that you feel confident in. You don't need to wait until you have your 'perfect' body. Get clothes that suit your body type, your complexion. There are some threads on Reddit that I think can help with that.
• I like going on Pinterest and look for outfit inspiration. I also follow a few instagram accounts that focus on creating different outfits, and they even link the items. I use this less to buy new things but more to see if I can use items I already own and style them differently.
• I am very much a basics girl, I think nothing looks better than a well fitting blouse/top with straight jeans and either sneakers/ankle boots. T-shirt/jeans combo is honestly a classic that looks good on everyone as long as the clothes fit well. I don't usually follow a lot of trends because they don't really work for me. I think it's important to keep basics in your closet that will always be in style. Think basic t-shirts, long and short sleeved (in white, black, grey), some form fitting, other loose. Get some straight jeans in different washes. You can create so many different outfits, and it works for both the day and night time. When I go out for drinks, I use a white tight t-shirt and some dark blue jeans with ankle boots. It's simple but it works! Trust me ;)
• Jewellery: I re-use the same jewellery every day. And if you want to start wearing more, try getting some good quality but affordable pieces that always look good and you can use during the day and night. Think some small silver hoops, or gold, maybe a small ear cuff, and a simple necklace. I like using rings on my index fingers, they are quite simple, but look elegant, specially with the milky white nails.

Hope this helps! I might add some edits here and there as I remember more things!

I went out to a shopping area in my city to look for a couple of new clothing pieces and maybe some new makeup and skincare. The beauty stores like Sephora and Kicks and Lyko (Similar to Ulta) were overrun with children. Unattended children, blowing money at the fancy shops. I watched a group of middle-school aged girls at Sephora each pick out an expensive full-size designer perfume and go to the counter and pay for it. The streets and clothing stores were packed with these young girls. They were carrying shopping bags from makeup stores and lingerie (???) stores and department stores.
They all had the Dyson Airwrap blowouts, and full faces of makeup on, with foundation, blush, highlight, contour, lip gloss, eyebrows filled in, mascara, eyeshadow, etc. They had earrings and necklaces and bracelets and rings on. They had little designer bags, either new Prada ones or Y2K Coach bags. They had designer shoes on, and expensive new clothes on.
Whose children are these? Who is indulging their child in this way? Who is letting a 10 year old run around with a full face of makeup and a blowout and a designer purse?
I'm still a young woman myself and I don't remember anything remotely like this when I was their age or at any point of my teens. That level of makeup application and hair styling wasn't even something the cool older teens (16-17 years old) were doing, or even college girls. That was for adult women with like ... careers and degrees and stuff.
Preteens? Children? With full beats and blowouts and real jewelry and designer clothes? At 11, I didn't have any makeup, or nail polish, or perfume, or any hair styling tools beyond the curling iron my mom used on me for birthday parties and dance recitals. At that age, makeup was this mysterious, special adult thing. If I got a little bit of blush put on me by my mom for a ballet recital it was the coolest thing in the world. I didn't have jewelry or a purse or perfume beyond my strawberry glitter body spray from Claire's.
I feel like this has happened so suddenly too. Kids weren't running around like this even just three years ago.

Club Vlad sat near the confluence of Central Avenue and Washington Avenue, Albany’s two main thoroughfares. Two stories with blackout windows and a box office from when it used to be a movie theater, it was swarmed with people when Dom first spotted it ahead. He was somewhat familiar with it: He passed it every day on his way to work, and it was always busy around his time of evening, even on weeknights. Part of him always wanted to go inside and be a part of the scene, but he never did.
The man in sunglasses - his name was Joe - led Dom toward the club, and even before Joe spoke, Dom somehow knew that it was their destination. “There,” Joe said. “We’ll go around back.”
Dom and Joe had been walking for what seemed like an hour but couldn’t have been more than fifteen minutes. Dom stuck as close to Joe as possible as if for protection, and had become accustomed to his pungent smell. It was noticeable only at extremely close range, part sickly sweet and part…something else, something Dom could not place but still somehow recognized. They were two blocks from the club, maybe three, and Dom could hear the pulsing techo/house/whatever music as clearly as if he were standing in the middle of the dancefloor. He could hear the chatter of the people inside, or at least he imagined he could. He could smell them too: Beneath the odors of perfume, desperation, and spiritual rot was something richer, something blissful. Dom realized for the first time that he was parched - so parched - and drool filled his mouth.
A crowd of people waited outside Club Vlad, talking and laughing; some vaped, some stared down at their cellphones like Gollum with his precious ring. Dom’s first reaction was to avoid them. Perhaps sensing this…or perhaps feeling it himself…Joe ducked into an alleyway two doors down from the club. “We’ll go in the back,” Joe explained.
The back entrance to Club Vlad was a single door underneath a bare bulb. The music was so loud that Dom’s head began to throb. Inside, a dark hallway terminated in an archway filled with throbbing white light. Dread filled Dom as they approached it - he didn’t want to be around people - but thankfully they went into a room off the hall instead. An office. A cramped desk, a filing cabinet. A set of stairs disappeared into shadows.
“Sit,” Joe said.
Dom obeyed, sitting in the swivel chair.
Joe went up the stairs and Dom was alone. The deep coldness that had long settled into his bones made itself known again, and Dom leaned forward, wrapping his arms around his chest for warmth. The muffled music vibrated in his skull, setting his teeth on edge, and the various smells wafting in from the main room assaulted his senses. He was alternately repulsed and aroused by the crashing din of scents: The good, the bad, and the mouth watering. A sharp pain cut through his stomach like the killing edge of a knife, and Dom hugged himself tighter. Had his throat always been this dry? His throat felt like sandpaper; his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth and getting it unstuck hurt so badly that tears sprang to his eyes.
Dom rubbed his arms with his hands and tried to still his chattering teeth. He looked around for a blanket, a discarded jacket, something to cover himself with, but there was nothing. Only drifts of glitter on the floor and walls. He supposed it came from a party or something. He’d never been to a night club but it seemed fitting.
A sound drew his attention to the door leading back into the hall. A woman - no older than a girl - stood there, looking confused and unsteady. She was dressed in black, wore glow sticks around her wrists and neck, and held a red solo cup. “I have to pee,” she said drunkenly and laughed. “I thought this was the bathroom.”
A cold wind washed over Dom, and Joe was standing next to him. “The bathroom’s up here,” he said.
“Oh, good,” the girl laughed, “I thought it was here but I didn’t know. This is my first time here.” She held her cup aloft. “Take me to it.”
Joe glanced at Dom. “Come on.”
They formed a party as they climbed the stairs, Dom in the tear and Joe at the head. The girl stumbled and held onto the railing, talking incessantly. Her voice hurt Dom’s head, but the hot smell wafting from her was intoxicating. Drool coursed down his chin and his breathing came in short, hot bursts. Another sharp pain rent his stomach, and he winced.
At the top of the stairs, where the lights were cold and white, a woman in black stood by a doorway, her back ramrod straight and her eyes vacant. Her face was gaunt, her white flesh pulled tight across her skull. She wore a black dress and her black hair long and straight. Dom only caught a glance at her before looking away again.
She looked like a ghost.
“Show her the bathroom,” Joe said.
The woman’s eyes slowly, ponderles, went from Joe to the drunk girl. Her expression, like Joe’s, was dead. She had no expression. “This way.”
She and the drunk girl disappeared down the hall, and Joe led Dom into a room. Though it was pitch black, Dom could still see; not very well…but he could see. Suddenly, a blinding white light flicked on in front of him, causing him to stop and fall back a step. Ahead, through an archway, sat a vaulted chamber, at the center of which sat a man. To Dom’s light dazzled eyes, he seemed a proud king perched upon a throne, the skulls of his many enemies piled around him. Dom blinked and turned his head slightly to the side. His eyes began to adjust, and the world came into focus.
The man was not, as it had first seemed, sitting on a throne. Instead, he was esconded in a motorized wheelchair. The piles of skulls were actually various pieces of machinery, the kind you’d find in a hospital room. A clear tube extended from one of them to the side of the man’s neck: Yellow liquid flowed from the machine and into the man. Another tube, this one in the other side of his neck, filtered out a mixture of what looked like yellow pus and black sludge. An infected malodor filled the air, and the machines whirred softly as they worked.
As for the man himself, his appearance was normal at first glance, Dressed in a flowing red velvet robe, a blue and green blanket with a plaid pattern draped over his shoulders, he was portly, about fifty, and had shoulder length grayish hair with a bald spot in the middle. If the local theater put on a production of Hamilton, they could cast a worse Ben Franklin than him.
On closer inspection, he was not normal at all. His complexion was yellow and waxy, like a statue, and his body was lumpy, misshapen, resembling an overfilled trash bag stuffed with cotton. His eyes were sick and yellow, and something about his posture seemed…off. It didn’t make sense, but the only thing Dom could think was: He looks impossible.
Joe stopped at the edge of the shadows, where the line between light and darkness lay. He seemed to stand up a little straighter, a general greeting his king. “Here he is,” Joe said.
The man squinted slightly against the glare of the light and motioned with one gnarled hand. “Step into the light,” he said. His voice was soft and kind, that of a senile though loving grandmother. Dom imagined he felt a pull toward the man, and did as he was bidden, wincing as the light stung his eyes.
For a moment, the man stared at him, his waxen features frozen fast as stone. Then, a subtle look of compassion flickered across his face. Dom did not believe in God, but he suddenly felt like a man standing before God, his every thought, feeling, and transgression laid bare. He had never felt so naked in his life, so exposed. He had the sense that the man before him could see everything, knew everything.
“You’ve been through a lot,” the man said. It was not a question, but a statement.
Everything Dom had been through over the past couple of days came back to him in a rush, and hot tears filled his eyes. He nodded.
The man nodded slightly, more to himself than to Dom. “Kneel down,” he said, “I want to look at you.”
Dom knelt without question.
The man lifted one hand and touched Dom’s face, tilting Dom’s head from one side to the other like a farmer appraising a horse. His fingers were long and bony, his nails ragged and unkempt; his touch was like ice. He brushed his knuckles over the purple bruise on Dom’s cheek, and there was such gentleness in that one act that Dom broke down sobbing. He leaned into the man’s touch like a cat and gave voice to his misery.
“Shhh,” the man said, “it’s all over now.”
“W-What’s happening to me?” Dom asked.
In his heart of hearts, however, he already knew.
“You died,” the man said patiently. “And you came back.”
Hearing it stated so plainly, Dom cried even harder.
“Only a handful of people throughout history can claim to have defeated death,” the man said, stroking Dom’s hair, “and you’re one of them. You should be proud.”
“How?” Dom asked between sobs. “What am I?”
The man stroked Dom’s cheek. “You’re the same thing I am.”
At that, Dom looked up at the man. “What are you?” he asked.
A little, knowing smile touched the man’s lips, and when he spoke, his canine teeth were longer and sharper than before. “I’m a vampire.”
“No,” Dom moaned and shook his head, “no, no, no.” He grabbed the man’s hand and held tight, his tears coming faster. He trembled like a frightened animal and squeezed his eyes closed, as if by doing so he could escape the hell his life had become.
But there was no escape.
“You have a lot of questions,” the man said, monologuing now rather than speaking directly to Dom, “I had the same questions when I was your age. I have spent the last forty-two years of my life trying to answer them, but every answer I find leads me to still more questions. There’s one thing I’m certain of, though.”
Dom blinked the tears from his eyes. The last of them had been squeezed from his dead tear ducts and he had no more to give. He simply stared into space, trying to come to grips with his situation.
“There is freedom in death,” the man said. “Death is easy. It’s simple. Once it’s over, you feel no pain, no sadness, no grief. It’s living that’s hard.”
As he spoke, he brushed his long nails across Dom’s scalp. It was a soothing feeling, and served to calm him. “People have so many troubles.” A note of revulsion crept into his voice. “So many needs, so many desires. People are complex but we’re not. We’re easy to please. A vampire wants only two things: A little blood and one more night.”
The combination of his touch and his voice had pacified Dom to the point of almost tranquility. “I’m scared,” Dom heard himself mumble.
Nodding almost reluctantly, the man said, “Fear is one of the only emotions a vampire can’t escape. Everything feels fear. Do you want to know a secret?”
Dom nodded.
“I’m afraid too,” the man confessed. “I’m afraid of death. Well…death as it were. I’m terrified that my body will rot away and leave me a pile of bones somewhere, unable to move but still aware”
A shudder went through Dom.
“As I’m sure you’ve seen yourself, the movies lied. We rot just like any other dead thing. Our flesh decays, our organs turn to sludge, and we go from rational men to monsters whose only thought is feeding.”
Now it was his turn to shiver.
“But…you’re not like that,: Dom said.’
The man smiled. “I’m lucky, I guess” A thin yellow fluid began to drip from his nostrils. He did not seem to notice. “What is your name?”
“Dominick,” Dom said.
“I’m Merrick,” the man said, “and this is my family.”
Dom realized that they were now surrounded by others, ten in all. They stood ramrod straight, their eyes vacant and their faces devoid of humanity. They were mainly men, though one was a woman. Some were pale, others were blue or black, and one was little more than a skeleton clad in withered brown skin, a white button up and jeans hanging from its frame.
A thought occurred to Dom. “You said my brain was going to rot…”
“Not necessarily,” Merrick cautioned, “though it’s possible.”
“Am I going to be…?”
“Like them?” Merrick asked. “Braindead and staring?”
Sheepishly, Dom nodded.
“Maybe,” Merrick allowed. “But these people are free of everything that troubles humanity. You were human just a short time ago. I’m sure you remember all too well what it was like. The constant politics, the moral quandaries, the philosophical pontificating. Human beings - and make no mistake, we are humans - were not meant for all of that. We’re animals. We were made to hunt, fuck, and sleep. Somewhere along the way, we got pretentious and started complicating things.” He looked at Dom, sizing him up, seeming to read him. “Things that animals take for granted, people work their entire lives to achieve. If an animal wants to fornicate, it fornicates. If a man wants to fornicate, he needs to be tall, handsome, rich, funny, progressive when it suits women but traditional when it doesn’t. If a man wants a home, he has to work thirty years for it. An animal has only to dig a hole in the ground.”
Every word struck a chord with Dom.
Because every word was true.
“Unfortunately, the living won’t allow us to live that freely, so we have to hide. These people here - my children - need a guiding hand, a protector, someone who can lead them. And I, an old man, need help.” Here he smiled playfully and patted his bulging stomach. “My body is mostly sawdust and cotton balls at this point, so I can’t do much. I share my wisdom and my knowledge with them, and they take care of me.”
“Why haven’t you…rotted?” Dom asked.
“Embalming fluid,” Merrick said. “Blood doesn’t sustain you. Embalming fluid does.” He smiled at Dom. “It can sustain you as well. If you’ll stay with us. We’re not the most attractive bunch, but we’re a family, and we really wish you’d join us.”
A family.
Dom’s parents had broken up and he lived with his mother. He had never had a family before, and had always wanted one, a real one, like in the movies. Even as a grown man, he sought the love, acceptance, and belonging that a family brings. He sought it in the wrong ways, but that - and not sex, not romantic love - is what he had really wanted all along.
This is what he had wanted all along.
“I want to,” Dom said.
Working quickly, Merrick slashed his wrist open with his thumbnail. An ugly mixture of stale blood, siphoned from someone else, and embalming fluid leaked out. “If you choose to drink, my blood will be in you. You will be my son and I will be your father. You will obey me as your father. You will do whatever is asked of you for this family, as this family will do for you. You will not reveal the secrets of this family to anyone outside of it. You will protect this family from all threats, both inside and out. Do you accept?”
He held his bleeding wrist out to Dom.
Dom did not question, nor did he hesitate. He grabbed the hand of his father, brought it to his mouth, and drank from the seeping wound. The fluid was cold, thick, and vile.
It tasted like belonging.
“Have you fed yet?”
“No,” Dom said.
“Before you do, I have a question for you. Who did this to you? Who made you?”
Dom thought. Everything was hazy. “Was it someone in this room?” Merrick asked.
Dom shook his head. “Her name is…” he wracked his brain. “Heather.”
Merrick nodded. “So there’s another out there.” He looked at Joe. “Did you turn her?”
“Yes,” Joe said.
Merrick looked annoyed. “I’ve told you not to go out and feed on your own. You have no self-control. You drink too much and create others, which creates headaches for the family. Tomorrow night, I want you and Dom to find her and bring her here.” “Okay,” Joe said.
Merrick looked over Dom’s shoulder. “Jess? Can you come here?”
The black haired woman from earlier came out of the shadows, the drunk girl with her, arms tied behind her back. The girl looked dazed. “Max,” Merrick said to the skeletal corpse-thing, “help her.”
Max, Jessie, and another vampire named Matt tied chains around the girl’s ankles and hoisted her aloft via a pulley system. Upside down, she swung back and forth. Merrick instructed the others to leave the room. “Max,” he said.
On his way out, the corpse-thing produced a knife and dragged it across the girl’s throat, slicing her skin; blood spurted out. Max leaned in to taste it, but Merrick shooed him away. When he and Dom were alone, Merrick told Dom, “Go to her.”
But Dom was already on his feet, his eyes transfixed by the crimson life flowing from her pumping throat. The hot, rich smell filled his nostrils and tantalized his senses. Saliva filled his mouth and his stomach panged with hunger. Some small, human part of his decaying brain screamed at him to stop, but he did not listen to it. He had been human for almost thirty years, and he had been miserable. Now, in this chamber of the undead, he gave himself over to his dark thirst. Like a man in a dream, he shuffled to her, inhaled the sweet scent of her blood, and shivered. He was so lost in lust that he hardly noticed the strange, cumbersome feeling of his descended fangs.
“Drink,” Merrick said.
Opening his mouth wide, Dom sank his teeth into the girl’s neck. Her blood filled his mouth and splashed down his throat. Warmth thawed the ice in his marrow and spread through him. His dead heart began to flutter, then to pound. His knees shook, his body trembled, and his mind rolled away on a tide of ecstasy.
As it was his first meal, he couldn’t drink much. Before long, his stomach was hard and distended and his body burned with fire. He collapsed to a heap on the floor and twitched as random nerve endings, stimulated by the blood, began to misfire. He felt full, warm, and drunk. He closed his eyes and let himself drift.
Dominick Mason had died.
And this…
This was heaven.
***
With all that was happening in the city of Albany, the last thing Bruce Kenner needed on Thursday morning was a visit from Bertha the bitch, but that’s exactly what he got. She flew into his office like she owned the place and instantly started in on him. Young man this and have you talked to Joe Rossi that. You’d think she was his boss. And if she were his boss, he’d quit and find another line of work. He heard McDonald’s was hiring.
Bruce almost snapped at her. He’d been up most of last night riding around Albany and looking for Dominick Mason. He and Vanessa expected him to drop dead somewhere close to the medical examiner’s office, but if he had, he’d done so in a super secret location.
“I’ve been busy,” Bruce said, “but I’m going to go by his place of work today.”
Tired and still confused over that bullshit from last night, he had no energy to argue with the old crone. He could spare a few minutes to talk to Joe Rossi, he figured. He assumed that Jessie was safe but he owed it to her to check. If he found the girl, he’d take her back to her grandmother (sorry, kid, really) and try to avoid arresting the guy. Unless he came off as a creep, then he’d bust his ass. See, people assumed that an older guy with a younger girlfriend was some master manipulator hell bent on evil deeds. Sometimes they were, but hell, his grandparents married when his grandpa was twenty-one and his grandma sixteen. They were married for fifty-five years and loved each other to the end. Maybe it was innocent, maybe not. It wasn’t his job to judge either way. Just gimme the girl so I can get her grandma off my back and no one gets hurt.
“It’s about time you started doing your job,” Bertha said, “I heard on the police scanner last night that you people lost a body. What kind of town is this? Your coroner is a drunk who makes up stories about bodies walking away. He probably sold it to black people.”
Bruce couldn’t help it; he snorted laughter.
“Now what would black people want with a dead body?”
“Probably to use it as a prop in one of their rap videos.”
Bruce didn’t know much about music videos, but he was pretty sure that the people who made them didn’t like the smell of corpse any more than the rest of us. “I’ll be sure to round up all the local rappers for questioning. Is there anything else I can help you with?”
Luckily for him, there was not, and Bertha left shortly thereafter. Alone and able to hear himself think, Bruce sat back in his chair and went over his mental checklist for the day. First order of business, go to Club Vlad. Second, find Dominick Mason. There were others, but that was the most important. He wanted the body found so someone could get to work explaining this whole weird thing. There had to be an explanation. The thought that there wasn’t, that a dead guy literally rose from the grave and disappeared into the night, deeply disturbed Bruce, and the more this whole thing remained ongoing, the more disturbed he would become.
Needing some fresh air, he decided to hit up Club Vlad.
Outside, the day was hot and sunny. Waves of heat shimmered from the pavement and not a single breath of air stirred in the whole world. Bruce slipped on a pair of sunglasses and drove over to Club Vlad. It occurred to him that the place might be closed during the day; it was the only place Joe Rossi was associated with. His address in the computer system was Glens Falls, far to the north. The messages he sent Jessie indicated that he lived onsite at Club Vlad.
The build, wedged between a corner store and a check cashing place, was as grimy and dumpy looking as it had always been. The front windows were blacked out and covered with posters and fliers for punk concerts, house bands, and far left political organizations: The Albany Social Justice Center, something called Bash the Fash 2025, and Bruce’s favorite. ACAB. He caught some kid spraying that on the side of the police station once, and under extreme police torture (ie, a good tongue lashing), the kid told him it meant All Cops Are Barnacleheads.
Bruce shot the kid on the spot and planted a gun on him.
How's that for barnaclehead?
Calm down, he didn’t really do that. He made him clean the graffiti off with a toothbrush. LOL he was out there for hours.
The sidewalk in front of the former theater was empty save for some little. The box office was abandoned. There was no open sigh, but then again, there was no closed sign either. He parked his cruiser at the curb, killed the engine, and got out, sweat instantly springing to his brow.
To his surprise, the door opened. Inside, a couple steps led down to a dance floor. A bar lined the wall to his right, and a couple more sets led up to a railed platform filled with tables. Above, a huge balcony looked down on him. A giant disco ball hung from the ceiling like a pair of glittery nuts and there were cages here and there. Presumably where girls danced go-go style. Oh yeah, nothing hotter than a woman behind bars. Why do you think Bruce became a cop in the first place?
Speaking of glittery nuts, there was glitter everywhere. On the floor, on the tables, on the bar. It twinkled like flecks of diamond and swirled around your feet when you walked. Bruce imagined big buckets of the stuff raining down on the dance floor at midnight and he shuddered. Imagine having glitter stuck in your hair. That shit would never come out.
Music played from the sound system, not as loud as it would be during operating hours. It sounded like ‘80s metal, not exactly what he expected from a place like this.
Some say life she's a lady
Kinda soft, kinda shady
I can tell you life is rich
She's no lady, she's a bitch
Being morning, the place was deserted except for a man behind the bar, busy at cleaning the countertop in anticipation for the night’s events. He was tall, Hispanic or Italian, and feminine, with a single earring and a tank top.
Bruce moseyed over to the bar and the barkeep looked up, missing a beat when he realized the fuzz was here. He sat down his rag and walked over. “Can I help you?” he asked in a whispy voice.
“Yeah,” Bruce said, “I’m looking for Joe Rossi. Is he here?”
“I don’t know,” the bartender said. He looked nervous. “I can check.”
Before Bruce could answer, he scurried off, leaving him alone.
They suck my body out
But friend there is no doubt
I'm gonna pay the devil his dues
Cause I'm sick of being abused
Bruce looked around, his fingers absently drumming on the countertop. Club Vlad was a clashing mix of grunge and glam that made his head hurt. He imagined what the place must be like at midnight, packed and noisy, and nodded to himself. Yeah, this was the spot, he guessed, the place all the cool kids went, if they went anywhere anymore. Hell, if he was thirty years younger, he might come here.
He had been waiting for almost twenty minutes when a voice spoke behind him. He turned with a start, and beheld the strangest man he had ever seen in his life. Short and plump - lumpy, even - he sat in a wheelchair, a red blanket draped over his shoulders and his hands resting on his knees. He was about fifty with sparse gray hair falling to his shoulders and a plastic-looking face. He looked like a wax statue of Ben Franklin come to life, and a deep sense of disquiet stirred in the pit of Bruce’s stomach.
Just can't fight the temptation
It's become my inspiration
Gonna get myself an axe
Break some heads, break some backs
It was only then that Bruce noticed the sickly sweet smell of death.
It seemed to come from the man in waves.
“I didn’t mean to frighten you,” the man said, “my name is Merrick Garvis and I own Club Vlad. Maybe I can be of assistance.”
Bruce grew up in the south where manners and saving face were paramount. His mother and his grandmother both taught him that it was impolite to stare. Maybe he'd been in New York so long that he’d forgotten himself, or maybe Merrick Garvis was just the strangest looking man in the world. Either way, Bruce couldn’t help gaping at his strange appearance. Recovering, he shook his head. “I’m sorry, I -”
Merrick smiled and waved one hand. Why was it so goddamn skeletal? “Don’t worry. I was injured in a fire a long time ago and this is the best they could do for me. To be honest, I’d stare too. What can I help you with, officer?”
“I’d like to talk to Joe Rossi,” Bruce said. “I understand he works for you.”
“He did,” Merrick said, “but I had to let him go. Did he do something wrong?”
Bruce sighed. “Well, yeah, he’s shacked up with a sixteen year old runaway.”
A look of concern crossed Merrick’s features, such as they were. “Oh, my, that is concerning. I haven’t seen him in several days. I assume he went home. He lives in Glens Falls.”
Bruce nodded, his mind working. If Rossi really was in Glens Falls, that meant the whole mess was someone else’s problem. He could send Bertha up there to bother some other poor barnacle head and be rid of her. Yet…he didn’t think Rossi was in Glens Falls. Bruce had a knack for knowing when people were lying, and he was certain that Merrick Garvis was doing just that. It couldn’t be a facial tick, as his features were largely unmoving, like clay. Maybe it was something in his cloudy eyes. Maybe it was the tone of his voice. Or maybe Bruce had the shining and knew things just for the hell of it. In any event, the certainty that Merrick Garvis was lying grew stronger with each passing second.
“Why’d you fire him?”
“He got drunk and hit one of the customers.”
“What did he do?” Bruce asked. “What was his position?”
“He was a bouncer.”
“Aren’t bouncers supposed to hit people?”
Merrick fumbled. “Well…not to punch them in the face for bumping into them.”
“How long did he work for you?”
“Six months.”
“Did you ever see him with an underage girl?”
“Of course not,” Merrick said, “you have to be twenty-one to get in. I make sure everyone’s ID is checked at the door.”
“What if she had a fake ID?”
“Then I guess she’d get in, but I’d assume she was of legal age.”
“You said he shoved someone, when did this happen?”
“Last week,” Merrick said.
“I thought you said he hit someone.”
Merrick again fumbled. “I did.” Now his face seemed to darken a little. A strange yellowish liquid, too thin to be snot, began to drip from his nostrils. Bruce barely suppressed a smear of disgust. “I understand you have a job to do but playing mind games with me isn’t going to solve anything. I can give you his address. Other than that, I can’t help you further.”
“Fair enough,” Bruce said. “But I’d like to see your ID please.”
Merrick glared at him. “I suppose you want my name, rank, and serial number as well.”
“Actually, yeah, I’d love that.”
Merrick drew a deep sigh. “Okay.”
In five minutes, Bruce had Merrick’s ID, social, and all other relevant information. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t have bothered, even though he was well within his rights to ask for this information from someone he was questioning. But something about Merrick Garvis was off, and not just his weird face or strangely bulbous body. Bruce was just smart enough to realize that something was going on here, but not quite smart enough to even begin to imagine what.
When he had everything he needed and saw no reason to stick around, Bruce bid Merrick farewell and left the club. Before he could do anything else, he got a call from dispatch: Officer needed assistance in Pine Hills. Bruce slipped behind the wheel and went forth to help, momentarily putting Merrick Garvis out of his mind.
But soon or later, he would get back to him.
Oh yes he would.

(somehow wound up with 2 accounts no idea how. if you see it posted there this is my actual account)
Dear C,
I loved you. not in that wishy washy lifetime holiday movie kind of way either. I truly loved you. I knew when I met you I could possibly fall. I tried not to, stayed away. didn't want to rock any boats. I think it was that expression of what I believed to be a love of life. the smile and lighting up eyes. I don't know. It's hard to put my finger on. you just had that air about you.
Became friends. shared secrets. shared sorrows. I didn't expect to become what I thought was that area of close friendship. To then get feelings though we lived so far apart. it hurt when I realized it was more than feelings of friendship in my chest. trying so hard to shut if down. not let myself be swept up into something. Love is a lot like the ocean though. one cannot sway it's currents as one cannot halt the rotation of the Earth.
It was turmoil it couldn't be, though I wished for us to fall into each other, hold you tightly to me and feel ourselves melt into each other. You had inklings I know. never said anything, we never discussed it. you moved even further away. I thought perhaps I could move on. I didn't. perhaps that's when I should have noticed. not that you were with someone but that perhaps you were not really my friend.
permission to send flowers but sending them to your work. speaking on the whatsapp. instead of texting. letting me feel confused about your feelings with me yet no resolution. I didn't want to lose you so I said nothing. that was pathetic of me. I think just a way to let myself be taken advantage of again later.
losing touch, regaining communications. losing touch again. Honestly I should have realized sooner but one becomes blinded by their own feelings. It came to a head a year and a half ago. Nearing christmas I found myself this particular year in a deep depression. Even years after tragedy it still hurts. I saw through posts you recently had a family tragedy as well. I wanted to make sure you were ok.
We agreed to meet up for dinner at my place what was that? the 22nd? the 23rd perhaps. So glad to hear from a close friend, feeling a sense of happiness. looking forward to something. braving the grocery stores less than a week from Christmas. I got a bunch of ingredients settling on a fancy style pizza and poached pears. something fun, not romantic (I didnt want to give the wrong vibes) even got a new sauce pan just to make a great red wine reduction for the pears lol. It was all set. I had a bottle of moscato d asti too. just a dessert wine. I even handmade the damn dough. It did turn out pretty decent, the pizza cooked. pears soaking in sugar water. yet
Yet it was 4:00 and I hear nothing, I had that nagging feeling
no Surely she wouldn't.
5:30 I had no word. perhaps a little later dinner. afterall I did not set the specific time.
6:30 and I messaged you to get an apology. I'm so sorry.
She told me her grandmother's memorial was that day. they released a balloon even.
I was crushed. deflated much like that balloon after a week of floating I'm sure. It seemed like an airtight excuse. Or at least one if I questioned would make me an asshole. I may be an ass but C I'm no asshole. I told you I understood but it didn't end there.
for over six months, six months it went on like this. I sent flowers twice actually when I thought I overstepped, made you mad at me. I rememembe getting very sick in Februaury and aplogizing for looking you up to send the damn flowers, feeling guilty of being some type of creep. You didn't mind. Hell I forgot to mention I had a Christmas gift from the previous years I couldn't get to you due to covid.
I asked if you were busy, You asked my free days. if you had the same day off and we made plans, without fail you would cancel or just not show. you would not message me. I understood-still understand helping family when they are sick. yet why not call? text? If I questioned it I was the bad guy. I'd always be the bad guy for simply questioning. I asked you if you didn't wish to be friends. to just reject me if that were the case. I just wanted to spend time together yet... yet even getting you to answer a text was a chore. why? I didn't obsess, I didn't stalk. I just wanted to spend time with someone I cared for. to help in any way I could.
Looking back it was rather pathetic of me. you're still the only person to make me act in that manner. You never rejected me. why? I needed that finality, that goddamned nail in the coffin to know for sure. I guess I just wasn't paying attention. You seemed to get out any way from visiting. spending time together. at a trusted friend's suggestion I proposed time after time neutral territory. coffee shops, restaurants, the book store. any public place.
I didn't know if you had issue with me personally, meeting a guy in his home? you agreed so many times to meet up to only ghost me. You did ghost me. repeatedly. You then said you didn't ghost me that you were staying late to get in the good graces of a new boss, just not answering me letting me apologize later.
I'm sorry C but having well established plans then not letting the person know you weren't going until after the fact. or not letting them know at all IS GHOSTING. SAYING IT'S NOT GHOSTING IS GASLIGHTING.
you ghosted me constantly, you gaslighted me. it hurt. If I didn't have blinders, if I weren't so fucking depressed I would have wisened to it. Instead I hoped and thought perhaps this time. not unlike those scratcher addicts wasting money hoping for that big payout.
You ghosted and gaslighted me. it hurt my self worth. perhaps I wasn't worthy of love nor frienship. a lingering trauma from my childhood you only reinforced in me. I think looking back on it you gaslighted me the entirety of our relationship. when that hit me... I don't know. From the same friend, she thought it a good idea to ask what I was to you. What type of friend am I to you? that was the question. was I just an aquaintenance? was I a close friend? was I just some person?
"of course we're friends" was my response. That wasn't the question though. Crushed. Angry. depressed. I tried still. yet you didnt acknowledge me. I think I grew bitter.
You ghosted me, You gaslighted me. You wouldn't tell me you rejected me even when I asked you to. I felt as though I weren't being treated as a human being.
To me you seemed to be acting like a narcissist or perhaps afraid? You were giving excused the same way the people who raised me did. classic text book narcissists.
C , I hate that a part of me loves you. I hate that what seemed like a relationship that meant so much to me perhaps didn't mean anything to you. I hate that I fell for someone who lies, who ghosts, nor treats me with the slightest bit of respect. I loved you but you only hurt me. loving you made me not feel good about myself. I wish
I wish instead of this rant I could tell you in a nicer way how I feel. That I then wanted to know you because I think it was more the idea of you I fell in love with. just a phantom. That I wished to find the depths of conversation only those like us could know. to find the depths of that well. to truly know one another.
I realize you'll never give an honest answer. I'll never have that chance to cook for you. the closest we'll be emotionally is being an unanswered call, empty chair, dinner for no one. I'll never share true intimacy with you. I remember you placing your head on my shoulder during the movie at the art museum. I wante to put my arm around you so much that night. it seemed innapropriate. I had no idea if she were your friend or girlfriend. I could not intrude.
I realized there are othes who see my worth. I'm more than just a text. people who see me. Yet a part of me lingers wishing. it's only a whisper now, something that still aches. I wished for closure. I'll never get it. I try to accept it. I can only move on.

Long time motorcycle and bicycle rider here. This post will probably get downvoted to oblivion, but I thought I should share my experience in the hopes that it will create good discussion. I fell in love with ebikes a few years ago at a time where I hadn’t really been riding as much as I should. I found that it was just enough like a motorcycle to feel fun and just enough like a bicycle to get me moving. I would do much longer trips than on my bicycle that I could do in a practical timeframe on the daily. I bought three ebikes, including both hub motor and a crank motor style bike.
While I still do enjoy riding my ebikes, the time saving (vs a bicycle) and cost saving (vs a car) aspect of ownership has been offset by the near constant problems in terms of reliability. It seems I go to the bike shop 4 times a year with each bike. The hub drive kept getting broken spokes, then a motor malfunctioned, then the key stopped working. All within the first 1000 miles. The mid drive one was a Brose motor and it started making creaking noises and now needs a new motor. It has eaten through a chain and rear cassette. Less than 500 miles on that one.
Also the constant anxiety about water getting into them.
The nail in the coffin was when I found out that my renters/homeowners policy does not cover “motorized bicycles”. While there are policies that cover ebikes, they are quite costly and have minimal liability protection.
Anyways I ended up listing my ebikes for sale. Now I ride a maintenance free priority 600 as my daily commuter and have a triathlon bike for the weekends. I credit ebikes for helping me transition to a car free lifestyle but it was not the panacea that I was hoping for when I bought my first e-bike.

Wednesday, May 08 - Tuesday, May 14, 2024

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Previous
​
So, if you’re just joining us, I work at a haunted zoo now. Since I’ve gotten some rest, it feels like I’ve got my head on straight, at least, so I’d like to continue where I left off.
I sat on the floor in the office after meeting the ghost until I’d settled my rattled mind (and realized I’d forgotten to ask her name, how rude is that?). I took a deep breath and got up off the floor. Walking over and falling into the rolling chair in front of the large screen of camera views, when I brought up the camera that covered the area in which I’d spotted her, she was still there, and it seemed she hadn’t moved an inch.
Sitting there, at a loss, I continued to watch her. The ghost hung around for another five minutes or so, appearing to look at a few things off-screen, though I’m not sure what. Then she walked off into the forest and left the view of the cameras. I wasn’t sure if she vanished into the ether or if she’d gone looking into the trees to look for something.
But that wasn’t the end of the job interview, so let me jump back there. It continued into what kind of animals the zoo had, with Andrew asking me how much experience I had with dangerous animals.
I took a moment to consider the question. “So, ah…I’ve been going hunting and fishing with a neighbor since I was sixteen,” I told him. “We always have to keep an eye out for gators, bears, and hogs. Then there’s snakes, of course…snapping turtles… Since I’ve lived here my whole life and been aiming for a job with wildlife for a long time, I know a lot about the animals in Arkansas in general. But good advice for all of the above is avoid them, so I’ve had encounters, but I don’t know if you’d say I have experience with them.”
“That’s fine,” Andrew said, nodding. “That’s an answer I’m satisfied with. Now, the ghost was the appetizer, Ripley; here’s the main course. To start with, the pay isn’t twenty-five an hour. It’s fifty.”
Staring in shock for a moment, I asked, “Are you serious?”
“Yeah. But that’d be weird to post online considering what applicants think we need, so I halved it.”
“That’s… Okay, why?”
“The animals are already here. You just can’t see them.”
I stared at him for a long moment, some disbelief worming its way into my expression, before saying, “Sorry, what?”
“There’s a chance you’d naturally never see them, or at least some of them,” he continued casually. “It depends on both your genetics and how long you stay on the job. I can naturally see six of them, but that’s it. Suzanne can see all of them, and more. Some are what people would label demons or ghosts. Or magic. Mostly you’d call them cryptids. The ghost was just a warm-up; I mentioned her first because it never takes more than a week to see her if you work the night shift. If you manage to handle her okay, soon you’ll be able to see the animals too. The more time you spend on the grounds, for weird reasons,” he said, wiggling his fingers in the direction of the back door, “the more you’ll be able to see.”
“So, this…this is a zoo for cryptids,” I echoed slowly. He nodded once, waiting to find out what kind of reaction I would have. I gestured vaguely around the room. “If this is a hidden camera show, will you cut me a check for showing up and participating?”
Andrew coughed out a chuckle and shook his head. “No joke. There are a ton of stories out there that have been written to death, pulverized until they’re not the Grimm stories of old and instead they’re Disney films. A lot of those stories come from what some humans have seen. There are dozens of other worlds pressed up against ours, and occasionally things come through by accident. If they’re smart, they’ll lay low and then make their way back when they can. If not, they become local folklore until someone helps them back. I’m just from London, but Suzanne is from somewhere else. She hires people like us for this zoo. Humans.”
Sighing, I shook my head. “That makes no sense. Why would she hire a muggle for a magic zoo?”
Andrew burst out laughing at that, and then waited to gather himself before he continued. “Fair point, but this is less about magic and more about animals, and you’re missing some information that will explain it. First of all, if I misjudge an employee, and they think they can make bank by outing the endangered and valuable animals we have, it’s easy to relocate the zoo.”
“Because magic?” I asked.
“Exactly,” he replied, ignoring the thread of skepticism in my tone. “That means it isn’t the end of the world if that happened, though it is a pain in the arse. But second…let me ask you a question. Speaking of reality shows, say the Discovery Channel put out a call to replace Steve Irwin when he passed. Imagine they had a line out the door,” he said with a gesture, “of people who thought they had the skill and natural talent to replace him, to take on everything he’d been doing his whole life. How many do you reckon would lose an arm, a leg, or their life, by the end of the day?”
My lips parted in surprise and I narrowed my eyes at him. “You’re saying people from…wherever…they’re just as dumb as humans, but they’re worse, because they actually think they can handle these things.”
Andrew pointed the pen at me. “Things. Exactly. You called them things. Suzanne and her friends grew up with them and would call them animals. These animals have dispositions and temperaments that we’ve studied for as long as there have been scientists. Where Suzanne’s from, they know the weaknesses of these animals, and also they’re in enclosures here, even if you and I can’t see the walls because they’re invisible things called ‘wards’. If I hire someone who’s got magic on top of all that, they’ll have almost no instinctive fear.
“Everything here is nocturnal, and every one of them is a hunter. Some of these things? Humans see them and they pass out. Not that I want you passing out, but I need someone who is scared of these things, who knows to stay out of the enclosures no matter what. Not someone who thinks they can train them to do tricks, who gets close enough for them to grab a mouthful of hair and drown them. Once, we had a night shift manager injured, and once killed, because they didn’t take these animals seriously enough.”
Thinking back to the Sea World orca incident I knew he’d been referencing, I remembered wondering how someone at that level of her profession could be so careless as I watched the video on YouTube. It made sense when he explained it like that. I hesitated before mentally throwing my hands up and going all in. “So, why put this place here, then? If they’re endangered and also dangerous, why have a zoo at all instead of just a small reserve?”
He pursed his lips, looking disappointed in me. “Ripley. You know that already. You already said as much.”
Thinking back through our conversation, I said, “The rich humans who pay top dollar to see supernatural animals.”
“Not humans,” he told me. “But people, yes, and they are rich, and they’re making donations and spending their money on a ticket here because everything we have is endangered.”
“So…”
I just let my voice trail off and my mind started to drift. Andrew remained silent, letting me do so. There’s that thing people say, ‘I believe that you believe it,’ which is just a kinder way of saying, ‘Bullshit.’ Parents say it about closet monsters. Psychologists say it to people who say they’ve been abducted and probed by aliens. I wanted to say it to Andrew.
But I also wanted a job. If it meant working overnight at an empty zoo, that was fine. When it came down to it, especially when I took the tone of our conversation into account, this was a zoo specifically focused on preserving endangered ‘animals’, and it was allegedly doing important work. Also, if this turned out to be the real deal and I started seeing the animals, I would deal with it, just like I would deal with an enclosure that had a lion or tiger or gorilla. If it came with a ghost and invisible creatures, I really didn’t see what the difference was, if I couldn’t go in the enclosures either way.
On that note, I’d like you to imagine a kid who looks at a roller coaster, watching everyone screaming and grinning as they go up and down and all around and they’re like, ‘Heck, I could do that! That looks like a blast!’
Then they get on, the first drop hits, and they realize they’ve made a terrible mistake.
“All right,” I sighed. “I can’t say I’m going to turn down a job just because it’s going to be scary. Especially not one with this paycheck.”
Andrew smiled. “Awesome. There’s an adjustment process for anyone working here, similar to a dog that gets adopted, actually. I know the general guidelines of, ‘three days, three weeks, three months’ in terms of milestones, until they finally feel they’re where they’re supposed to be,” he told me, “and you can think of your time here along those lines. I really think you’re a great fit, and once you reach the milestone of working here for three months, I’ll officially consider you our new night shift guard. And I hope you’ll stay with us for many years.”
I nodded and smiled at the flattery of an employer wanting me to work a great job for them for a long time. I’d never had a dog, but those milestones were well-known among anyone who knew animals, especially dogs. The first three days, the dog is getting to know its new digs, exploring, and decompressing. At three weeks, they’ve gotten used to their environment and are starting to get comfortable with their surroundings and the routines of the humans they live with. By three months, they know the rules and follow them, they trust you, and they feel they are where they’re meant to be. I could only hope to be so lucky.
I saw the ghost two days ago and she has yet to make another appearance (for those who are curious, I asked, and her name is Leila), and I still hadn’t seen any animals. I did hear one, though, I feel compelled to note. A growling roar sounded from the lake on occasion, echoing across the vast zoo, sending a shiver down my spine. Whatever that animal was, it sounded gigantic.
Andrew said there was apparently a group that wanted to visit for a birthday and they were offering a huge donation, so he let me know they were making an exception and that this group would be walking through the park that night. That meant I’d be watching people watching animals that, as far as I could tell, weren’t there.
It was anticlimactic. Even the three people who came for the tour just looked like people, not like aliens or something eldritch from another dimension, and I stayed in the security office the whole time. Andrew was the one giving the tour. I watched them spend about five minutes at each enclosure, the hour or so that they were there passing without incident. It was clear that they were able to see all the animals, though, since they motioned excitedly at each enclosure and spoke to Andrew, who presumably answered any questions they had.
If they could see the animals, that was that. There was still that niggle in the back of my head, from my twenty-three years of life never encountering anything like ghosts or cryptids, telling me that this was ridiculous. Waiting for someone to knock on the door, a camera mounted on their shoulder, to tell me that it was a big joke and they wanted to see how long I’d play along. But from all I saw, this was a real place with real, invisible animals.
I do carry a taser and pepper spray in my capacity as a security guard. Though it isn’t for the animals, since they’re in the enclosures; they’re actually for the rare instance of a break-in. Andrew mentioned that it had happened several times it the past, someone trying to steal an animal in the hopes of selling it on the black market. They’d been successful before, but apparently my predecessor Roger was good at his job, and mostly they left in handcuffs.
I’ll be honest, I’m not a huge fan of confrontation, but my job was to call Andrew and then confront the person, not kick their ass. That’s what the police were for, or rather, the people Andrew would call in lieu of police in certain situations.
Fifty bucks an hour. That’s the key here.
Andrew hadn’t set up direct deposit, since he was sticking with a strategy of waiting to see if I’d continue to work there once I found out myself dealing with the animals (I’ve decided I am going to just call them animals). Instead, I got an old-fashioned check after my shift every Friday. The number on the first check was delightful. I went out that evening and had a big dinner at the local diner, order my most expensive favorites on the menu and a big slice of pie for dessert.
When it came to the paychecks in general, though, I had this weird feeling of not wanting to tell my dad and brother about the fact that it was actually $50/hr. I previously mentioned that my dad, his name’s Nathan if you’re curious, works at a local grocery store. Our town has a couple food franchises, but I think its size is just short of whatever threshold Walmart uses to decide where to open. He earns $14/hr. and that’s after the tiny raises he’s gotten over the past thirteen years.
That’s not to say he’d feel bad about not making as much as me. On the contrary, he would be ecstatic for me and really proud. But, like me, he’d be suspicious. That hourly rate was the biggest hint that this was more than just a private zoo for cryptids. And as soon as that fat check cleared without problems, my dad wouldn’t be satisfied with reassurances; he’d want to come visit the zoo and look around.
I’d told him it’s a private preservation with scheduled (expensive) visits only and that it had only eleven animals, so he’d been appeased by me brushing off the idea of a visit. Also, I took a few photos of my workplace; one of the security room, one of me sitting in my chair, one photo of the many screens I watched, and a selfie where I was feigning sleep out of boredom, slouched in my chair with my mouth open in a faux snore. That let him feel like he knew where I was and what I was doing, and that I was safe.
But if I told him I was making double what he thought, my father would practically order me to quit. No job was worth my safety, he’d tell me. I was quite of the opposite opinion, however, considering how crucial any and all conservation efforts were these days. Especially with the steep extinction levels due to humans competing with other animals for space, not to mention climate change. Working in any job that helped preserve species and keep ecosystems in balance, or put them back in balance, was so important.
Then again, my father would also point out something I had realized right away: the fact was that I was working with endangered species that were not from Earth. I wasn’t helping my planet. To be honest, though…that didn’t matter to me. Especially after that talk with Andrew about why he hired a human for this job, I figured whichever dimension these animals came from had the equivalent of us, razing forests to the ground, clouding the planet with pollution, and leaving the animals with no avenue of recourse when yet more land was taken from them.
I really do hope to keep working here for a long time, though, and not just because of the money. I can’t help it; I want to know what these things were, and I want to work with them, to do the job of a zookeeper. The same way you go up to the chain-link fence to get close to a carnivore on the other side who thinks you’d make a nice afternoon snack. You just want to be closer to them, to experience that incredible, daunting feeling of being in their presence.
Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t long before I got what I wanted.
The day after we had the tour go through, I was doing my sweep when I saw the ghost again. She was sitting on a small boulder in the same area I’d seen her the first time, looking identical, blood covering the front of her slashed shirt, the wounds visible underneath. I stopped and stood there for a moment before I decided to raise my hand in a small wave.
The young woman cocked her head at me and raised a hand in the air in an imitation of my gesture, her expression showing a bit of curiosity.
She was low-key, seemingly not concerned with my presence, looking at me as a novel phenomenon in her world. I wondered what that world consisted of. Was she always here, sometimes visible and sometimes not? Or did she have another world next to ours, in the ether, where she left everything in this world behind and floated in her disembodied form? Did she still feel emotions? Was that really curiosity on her face, or was I projecting? Did she feel happiness? Fear? Did she have the option of moving on, or was she stuck here?
Many questions that I might never get the answers to. And that was assuming Andrew knew the answers, since I’d never met Suzanne Cooper and he hadn’t even mentioned that possibility. This place was clearly her baby, but I’m sure running it was a lot of work. Plus, if she was rich enough to own it, she was rich enough to have other businesses and charities to run.
When it comes to the enclosures, they’re all wrapped by a barrier of some kind, though never one that seems adequate. There was not a single place with the ugly metal weavings of a chain-link fence, and no stretches of circular razor wire. Instead, there are nice fences. Black iron, or wrought steel fencing in a similar style to the one circling the perimeter of the zoo, just shorter and with different patterns. Or a spaced picket fence, the wood stained in some tone of brown, or a split two-rail fence. As if to say, ‘This is the border of your enclosure, but we’re just letting you know out of courtesy.’
When I started to pass enclosure number seven last night, a young woman’s voice spoke, “Hello.”
I startled, unaware that I hadn’t been alone. “Oh. Hi,” I said, staring at her standing a few yards in.
She had been next to a large tree and I hadn’t seen her. This enclosure was behind a picket fence, and she walked through the large area of wild grasses and flowers that stretched across the other side of the fence. There were fewer tall grasses closer to the fence, which I guessed was because it had been tromped down by her regular pacing along it when there were visitors, or if she wanted to see the various enclosures of the zoo. Her sudden appearance was a bit weird, considering I had been expecting to see a cryptid and instead I was looking at, it seemed, an attractive Asian woman.
She wore a black kimono, the soft silk robe draped gently over her body, with beautiful patterns of cherry blossoms, more so over her left side, and red and blue birds with their wings spread. A sash wrapped around her abdomen, she wore socks and sandals on her feet, and her hair was up in those rolls that gave volume to the style.
I was no expert on any fashion, much less that of another country, so I just assumed it was all traditional Japanese clothing. Most likely, the visitors who came liked to see a certain time-honored style and that’s what she stuck with. Or maybe she played on stereotypes. That would be amusing.
“I’m Yui. It’s nice to meet you,” she spoke, arriving at the border of the fence and holding out a hand for me to shake.
I’d been standing about three yards away from her, and I’ll be honest, muscle memory tried to kick in. But I only made it two steps, my hand starting to rise, before I froze, the hand falling limply at my side. “Nice to meet you, too,” I answered, my voice quiet.
Damn. I wonder how many times that honey trap works back where she comes from.
The pleasant look on her face faded, and she lowered her hand. “You won’t shake hands with me? Isn’t that rude?”
“I mean, I kind of like my hand where it is. You know, attached to me.”
Her demure smile widened into something more amused. “I would never do something so revolting.”
Looking her up and down, as if more visual information would give me more knowledge of what she was, I asked her, “What would you do?”
“I would be less wasteful,” she said softly.
A finger of ice trailed down my spine, and I had the sudden image in my head of her grabbing my outstretched hand in an iron grip and yanking me over the fence, leaving me to sprawl on the ground. Then killing and consuming me efficiently, without a single careless step, the same way humans slaughtered pigs, using everything from the hog but the squeal. I was struck with a shiver at the idea of her consuming everything from me but my screams.
Slowly, I took one step further down the path, then another. Just as I got to a walking pace, though, I realized the woman had started walking too, in the same direction. I’d have eventually gotten to the end of her enclosure and keep going, leaving her behind, but she spoke up. “Are you leaving?”
I came to a stop, meeting her gaze again. “My job is to walk the zoo every hour. Then I’ll get back to the security room and stay there until my next walk.”
“Have you met the others yet?”
I hesitated before saying, “Just Leila.”
She blinked languidly. “That means nobody welcomed you here.”
“Andrew did.”
She didn’t reply to that. Instead, she slowly started to lean forward, and I flinched backward a few steps further as I saw insect legs start curling out from her back.
No. Not insect. Arachnid.
The eight legs ended in small ‘paws’ with tiny claws, a layer of hairs covering the leg from top to bottom, like any typical tarantula. I took two more slow steps back and my mouth went dry as the jointed legs just kept lengthening, until they were large enough to lever her off the ground.
My gaze had been on the spider legs, but my heart skipped a beat as I realized her human legs had melded together and turned into a bulging abdomen. Her skin was shifting to a carapace, eventually all the way up to her shoulders and down her arms, her fingers elongating and her nails stretching to claws. From there down, her body was that of a pale tarantula with pedipalps the size of my arms and piercing fangs in her jaws that looked like they could take my head off.
There was a moment, my vision blurring, where I was worried that I might piss myself. The part of my brain that still had its humor intact in that moment told me that I should keep an emergency set of clothes in my car, or at the very least, start wearing Depends to work.
“I show you my true form,” she said softly, her voice now raspy like an eighty-year-old after a lifelong smoking habit. “Welcome to Suzanne Cooper’s zoo. The night shift guard for many years was Roger, before he retired and the zoo moved, and I miss him dearly. What should I call you?”
I choked on my words. There was no way my throat was going to cooperate enough for me to clearly get a sentence out. Instead, I realized my legs had taken control of the situation themselves, unsatisfied with my conscious brain’s decision to stand and stare, taking steps backward. I backed up a yard, then five yards, then ten.
My mind focused on the fact that spiders don’t waste anything, and pictured my demise. I’d be wrapped in a cocoon, killed, and made nice and mushy before she had me for dinner.
The whole time, my brain was a frenzied mess, my pupils were probably the size of dimes, and I was staring at that tiny, pathetic fence between her and me. There was so much adrenaline pumping through my body that I felt like my bones were vibrating. The fence was, to my eyes, the only thing between us. The only thing keeping her from tackling and killing me. My only hope was that she’d do it quickly.
But she didn’t move. As I absorbed her innocent, polite words, the look on her face was calm, and I wondered if this was typically the way a conversation went before she devoured her prey. I wondered how many people she’d eaten. Not humans, not people from Earth, but the ones from where she came from. The fact that she doesn’t scare the shit out of those people means they’re staggeringly dumber than humans.
Finally, I rounded a corner, both relieved at having her out of my sight and worried that she would take that moment to come find me. When she’d been within eyeshot, I had at least known where she was and could run in the other direction. But I didn’t hear the sound of faint footsteps moving rapidly toward me. All was quiet, in that deep, smothering way that only an empty business in the middle of the night in small town America could be.
My hands trembling, I barely paid attention to anything but the confirmation that my surroundings were free of the colossal spider as I finally got back to the door. Grabbing the handle and letting my eyes dart around for about ten seconds and my ears prick for the slightest sound, I finally swiped my key card across the pad and went inside, shutting the door behind me and engaging the backup deadbolt.
Maybe that was why they had decided on keycards. If I was running from something and panicking, using an actual key or inserting the card like at a hotel would keep me from getting to safety considering my hands were shaking enough to mix a margarita.
Walking over to my chair, I fell into it, letting my body flush itself of terror as I looked up at the cameras. There she was, still in arachnid form, exactly where I’d left her behind that rinky-dink fence, casually looking around and slowly pacing back and forth. I stared at her as my racing heart gradually slowed, and a minute or so later she turned on her eight legs and walked back into the trees.
Whatever invisible fences the enclosures have apparently work, which is nice, because I wasn’t keen on getting killed by one of the creatures here. And that’s what brings me here, spilling out everything that’s happened so far. Because nearly passing out from terror isn’t something I wanted to deal with at work, obviously, but I keep going over what she did in my head again and again, and I feel like I reacted like a child who spotted a wolf spider on their bed. I started to worry for my overactive sense of self-preservation, at least in my capacity as an employee here.
The spider didn’t even try to hurt me, and so I was feeling a bit foolish. Even annoyed, actually, at the fact that I’d freaked out so hard and took off instead of trying to engage in at least basic conversation. I got the sense that she wasn’t at human-level intelligence, but I was never going to be able to hold any level of conversation with an alligator.
Sure, she did mention that she wouldn’t be so crass as to yank off my hand because she’d rather just have my entire corpse, but wouldn’t a wolf do the same if it was hungry? Wouldn’t any carnivore? Actually, they probably would’ve been satisfied with one of my hands. The fear here was from the fact that she turned into a giant spider. If she’d turned into Clifford, I would’ve reacted the same way, if not better than, meeting Leila.
With that, I decided I’m staying on the job. Considering how frustrated I can get with foolish people, it’s a bit hypocritical, and I’m being a bit of an idiot. But…there are definitely wards keeping them in their enclosures. Also, I signed up for creatures for another dimension, whether or not I believed in them at the time, and I will not let encountering my first one in an objectively boring way be the reason I quit.
The money is a factor, I’ll grant you. Of course it is. And I can’t spend it if I’m dead, but all signs point to surviving as long as I don’t do anything dumb. Also, yes, I’ll admit there’s a not-so-little voice in the back of my head that’s desperate to know what else is here. I never thought I’d do something like this, but finding out these things are real, I honestly do want to learn more about them.
Still, though, I decided to call Andrew at the end of my shift to ask if the pepper spray and taser I carried worked on a certain spider, as well as the other animals I’d yet to meet.
​
Previous
***
/storiesbykaren

VOUCHED SELLER. Paypal F&F, Venmo, or Apple Pay only. I've sold over 3000 orders on here in the past four years.
Ships from the California. Price includes shipping with full tracking and insurance within the US. Worldwide shipping with full tracking and insurance available starting at $9.99 for Canada and $12.99 for the rest of the world.
Items paid before 2PM PST will be shipped out the same day if possible.
Timestamp and tagged photo: https://imgur.com/a/BmPDqId
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CLOTHING
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Prad@ Washed Denim Zipped Jacket
$75 SHIPPED, Size 36, Oversized fits like size Medium/Large, Brand New Photos: https://imgur.com/a/QO9ptDg
Made by Earlytom, uses real KF badge on the front.
Prad@ Re-Nylon Shirt
$59 SHIPPED, Size Medium, Large, XL, Brand New Photos: https://imgur.com/a/s3rmeeb
Prad@ Corduroy Bomber Jacket
$69 SHIPPED, Size Small & Medium, Brand New Photos: https://imgur.com/a/bAd99gs
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Balenciag@ Distressed Tape Tee
$45 SHIPPED, Size XS & S, Oversized fits like size Medium & Large, Brand New Photos: https://imgur.com/a/MA89OeF
Balenciag@ Distressed Surfer Tee
$45 SHIPPED, Size XS & S, Oversized fits like size Medium & Large, Brand New Photos: https://imgur.com/a/Kt99H6F
Balenciag@ 3B Sports Icon T-shirt
$45 SHIPPED, Size XS & S, Oversized fits like size Medium & Large, Brand New Photos: https://imgur.com/a/cT2R3wa
Balenciag@ Darkwave T-shirt
$45 SHIPPED, Size XS & S, Oversized fits like size Medium & Large, Brand New Photos: https://imgur.com/a/3Ma0wzB
Balenciag@ Flames Tee
$45 SHIPPED, Size XS, Oversized fits like Medium, Brand New Photos: https://imgur.com/a/exQTlmp
Balenciag@ Sporty B Tracksuit Tee
$39 SHIPPED, Size 2, Oversized fits like M/L, Brand New Photos: https://imgur.com/a/5OzG4r6
Balenciag@ Unity Fleece Sweater
$59 SHIPPED, Size XS & S, Oversized fits like large & XL New, Photos: https://imgur.com/a/9auxi9x
Balenciag@ Handdrawn Hoodie
$69 SHIPPED, Size XS,Oversized fits like size Large, Brand New Photos: https://imgur.com/a/QwOs9PQ
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Gucc1 Off White Mirror Sweaeter
$59 SHIPPEDS, Size Small, New, Photos: https://imgur.com/a/9kCuZt5
D1or Atelier Embroidered Hoodie
$69 SHIPPED, Size Small & Medium, New, Photos: https://imgur.com/a/zWj2sYb
Gucci1 Blade Logo tee
$39 SHIPPED, Size XS, Slightly oversized fits like Small, Brand New, Photos: https://imgur.com/a/yedo975
Vetement$ SS19 Georgian "Enough" Elbow Cut Out Oversized Sweatshirt
$35 SHIPPED, Size S oversized fits like Large/XL, Brand New, Photos: https://imgur.com/a/ZmyNFJj
Burb3rry Logo Patch Tee
$29 SHIPPED, Size S, Slightly oversized fits like Small, Brand New, Photos: https://imgur.com/a/fnocur2
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JEWELRY
VC@ V@n C1eef & Arpe1s Alhambra Black/Silver Bracelet
$45 SHIPPED, Silver, Brand New, Photos: https://imgur.com/a/aDxDbyA, Quantity - 3
Approximately 7.5 inches from end to end. Properly branded with engraving on the inside. Made with stainless steel and wont tarnish or turn green. ​
VC@ V@n C1eef & Arpe1s Alhambra Black/Gold Bracelet
$45 SHIPPED, Gold, Brand New, Photos: https://imgur.com/a/fCIjDEl, Quantity - 4
Approximately 7.5 inches from end to end. Properly branded with engraving on the inside. Made with stainless steel and wont tarnish or turn green.​
VC@ V@n C1eef & Arpe1s Alhambra Green/Gold Bracelet
$45 SHIPPED, Gold, Brand New, Photos: https://imgur.com/a/4ejzWeU, Quantity - 2
Approximately 7.5 inches from end to end. Properly branded with engraving on the inside. Made with stainless steel and wont tarnish or turn green. ​
VC@ V@n C1eef & Arpe1s Alhambra Pearl/Silver Bracelet
$45 SHIPPED, Silver, Brand New Photos: https://imgur.com/a/cl3xxsN Quantity - 1
Approximately 7.5 inches from end to end. Properly branded with engraving on the inside. Made with stainless steel and wont tarnish or turn green. ​
VC@ V@n C1eef & Arpe1s Alhambra Pearl/Gold Bracelet
$45 SHIPPED, Gold, Brand New Photos: https://imgur.com/a/YEYiahr Quantity - 2
Approximately 7.5 inches from end to end. Properly branded with engraving on the inside. Made with stainless steel and wont tarnish or turn green. ​
VC@ V@n C1eef & Arpe1s Alhambra Maroon/Gold Bracelet
$45 SHIPPED, Gold, Brand New Photos: https://imgur.com/a/apprbCK Quantity - 1
Approximately 7.5 inches from end to end. Properly branded with engraving on the inside. Made with stainless steel and wont tarnish or turn green. ​
VC@ V@n C1eef & Arpe1s Alhambra Silver Lasered Bracelet
$45 SHIPPED, Silver, Brand New, Photos: https://imgur.com/a/vmdf9Kl, Quantity - 1
Approximately 7.5 inches from end to end. Properly branded with engraving on the inside. Made with stainless steel and wont tarnish or turn green. ​​​
VC@ V@n C1eef & Arpe1s Alhambra Gold Lasered Bracelet
$45 SHIPPED, Gold, Brand New Photos: https://imgur.com/a/wQAQlGG Quantity - 1
Approximately 7.5 inches from end to end. Properly branded with engraving on the inside. Made with stainless steel and wont tarnish or turn green. ​
VC@ V@n C1eef & Arpe1s Alhambra Gold/Diamond Bracelet
$45 SHIPPED, Gold, Brand New, Photos: https://imgur.com/a/i37NTvx, Quantity - 1
Approximately 7.5 inches/19CM from end to end. Properly branded with engraving on the inside. Made with stainless steel and wont tarnish or turn green
VC@ V@n C1eef & Arpe1s Alhambra SilveDiamond Bracelet
$45 SHIPPED, Silver, Brand New, Photos: https://imgur.com/a/BXjMSYU, Quantity - 1
Approximately 7.5 inches/19CM from end to end. Properly branded with engraving on the inside. Made with stainless steel and wont tarnish or turn green.
VC@ V@n C1eef & Arpe1s Alhambra Pietersite/Silver Bracelet
$45 SHIPPED, Silver, Brand New, Photos: https://imgur.com/a/dB6eyM1 Quantity - 2
Approximately 7.5 inches from end to end. Properly branded with engraving on the inside. Made with stainless steel and wont tarnish or turn green. ​
VC@ V@n C1eef & Arpe1s Alhambra AmbeGold Bracelet
$45 SHIPPED, Gold, Brand New, Photos: https://imgur.com/a/7ZrcDec, Quantity - 2
Approximately 7.5 inches from end to end. Properly branded with engraving on the inside. Made with stainless steel and wont tarnish or turn green. ​​
VC@ V@n C1eef & Arpe1s Alhambra Blue/Gold Bracelet
$45 SHIPPED, Gold, Brand New, Photos: https://imgur.com/a/ePmc2KY, Quantity - 1
Approximately 7.5 inches from end to end. Properly branded with engraving on the inside. Made with stainless steel and wont tarnish or turn green. ​
VC@ V@n C1eef & Arpe1s Alhambra Black/Silver Necklace
$39 SHIPPED, Silver, Brand New, Photos: https://imgur.com/a/OdKRyXU, Quantity - 2
About 18.5 inches from end to end. Properly branded with engraving on the inside. Made with stainless steel and wont tarnish or turn green. ​ ​
VC@ V@n C1eef & Arpe1s Alhambra Black/Gold Necklace
$39 SHIPPED, Gold, Brand New, Photos: https://imgur.com/a/IW1RouS, Quantity - 2
About 18.5 inches from end to end. Properly branded with engraving on the inside. Made with stainless steel and wont tarnish or turn green. ​
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C@rtier Juste Un Clou Nail Gold Bracelet
$45 SHIPPED, Gold, Size 17, 19, Brand New, Quantity - 4
Photos: https://imgur.com/a/cXlgVw8 Properly branded with engraving on the inside. Made with stainless steel and wont tarnish or turn green. Please refer to the size chart in the album if you are unsure about your sizing.
C@rtier Juste Un Clou Nail Silver Bracelet
$45 SHIPPED , Silver, Size 17, Brand New, Quantity - 2
Photos: https://imgur.com/a/Sh0G7wZ Properly branded with engraving on the inside. Made with stainless steel and wont tarnish or turn green. Please refer to the size chart in the album if you are unsure about your sizing.
C@rtier Trinity Rings
$35 SHIPPED, Gold US size 8, 9, 10, Brand New, Quantity - 3
Photos: https://imgur.com/a/2VtQ88p Properly branded with engraving on the inside. Made with stainless steel and wont tarnish or turn green. Please refer to the size chart at the end of the album if you are unsure about your sizing.
C@rtier Love Bracelet Silver
$45 SHIPPED, Silver, Size 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, Brand New, Quantity - 6
Photos: https://imgur.com/a/Atp2MYP Properly branded with engraving on the inside. Made with stainless steel and wont tarnish or turn green. Please refer to the size chart in the album if you are unsure about your sizing. Comes with same color screwdriver to open and close the bracelet.
C@rtier Love Bracelet Gold
$45 SHIPPED, Gold, Size 16, 17, 18, 19, 21 Brand New, Quantity - 5
Photos: https://imgur.com/a/rswFuuM Properly branded with engraving on the inside. Made with stainless steel and wont tarnish or turn green. Please refer to the size chart in the album if you are unsure about your sizing. Comes with same color screwdriver to open and close the bracelet.
C@rtier Love Ring Gold
$29 SHIPPED, Gold US size 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, Gold, Brand New, Quantity - 6
Photos: https://imgur.com/a/dBqbbHM Properly branded with engraving on the inside. Made with stainless steel and wont tarnish or turn green. Please refer to the size chart at the end of the album if you are unsure about your sizing.
C@rtier Love Ring Silver
$29 SHIPPED WITHIN THE US, Silver US size 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, Brand New, Quantity - 6
Photos: https://imgur.com/a/dBqbbHM Properly branded with engraving on the inside. Made with stainless steel and wont tarnish or turn green. Please refer to the size chart at the end of the album if you are unsure about your sizing.
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V1vienne Westwo0d Pearl Chocker Orb Necklace
$39 SHIPPED, Silver, Brand New, Photos: https://imgur.com/a/k9UY2Yc Quantity - 2
About 15 inches from end to end. Shorter style necklace. Properly branded. Made with stainless steel and wont tarnish or turn green. ​
V1vienne Westwood Orb Necklace
$39 SHIPPED, Silver, Brand New, Photos: https://imgur.com/a/Lc021V6, Quantity - 2
About 18.5 inches from end to end. Properly branded. Made with stainless steel and wont tarnish or turn green. ​
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L*V Big Monogram Plate Cuban Bracelet
$49 SHIPPED, Silver, Brand New Photos: https://imgur.com/a/HT8oABU Quantity - 1
About 8 inches / 20 cm in length. Please measure your wrist before purchase. Properly branded with engraving on the clasp. Made with stainless steel and wont tarnish or turn green. Monogram on Plate and the clasp with plain cuban links.
L*V Monogram Charms Silver Necklace
$45 SHIPPED, Silver, Brand New, Photos: https://imgur.com/a/W6Up7p5, Quantity - 3
Properly branded with engraving on the inside. Made with stainless steel and wont tarnish or turn green. Adjustable length. The ring in the middle can be taken off the necklace. ​
L*V x N1go Duck Necklace
$45 SHIPPED, Silver, Brand New, Photos: https://imgur.com/a/m41FFcT, Quantity - 2
Properly branded with engraving on the inside. Made with stainless steel and wont tarnish or turn green. Adjustable length. The ring in the middle can be taken off the necklace.
L*V Tiger Pendant Necklace
$45 SHIPPED, Silver, Brand New, Photos: https://imgur.com/a/eVnGQg1, Quantity - 1
From Louis Vuitton X Nigo collection. Properly branded with engraving on the inside. Made with stainless steel and wont tarnish or turn green. Adjustable length.
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ACCESSORIES
Suprem3 SS17 Black Backpack
$55 SHIPPED , Black, Brand New, Photos: https://imgur.com/a/ZMpja4p Quantity - 8
Approximate dimensions: 19x11x7 inches. Fits up to 15/16 inch Macbook Pro in laptop compartment. Would fit everything you need for work/school, even for day trips. UTX hardware and YKK zips.
Suprem3 SS18 Black Shoulder Bag
$29 SHIPPED, Black, Brand New, Photos: https://imgur.com/a/ytHovds Quantity - 2
Can be worn as bum bag or waist bag. Adjustable strap length. UTX hardware and YKK zips.
M0ncler Light Grey Fur Logo Beanie$
$25 SHIPPED, Light Grey, Brand new, Photos: https://imgur.com/a/p7ABfvZ, Quantity - 1
M0ncler Monotone Grey Logo Beanie
$25 SHIPPED, Grey, Brand new, Photos: https://imgur.com/a/ZtZNm6h, Quantity - 2
M0ncler Monotone Beige Logo Beanie
$25 SHIPPED, Beige, Brand new, Photos: https://imgur.com/a/UYiJiQr, Quantity - 2
M0ncler Black Logo Beanie
$25 SHIPPED, Black, Brand new, Photos: https://imgur.com/a/Mi1fYZY, Quantity - 2

This is what I posted on the board game community in Korea, and I'm also translating and posting it on Reddit!
The translation and text inspection took a long time, but I'm posting it because I think croquinol gamers from other countries will enjoy reading it.
(I don't know how to put pictures in between when writing on Reddit. If you're curious about pictures while reading, please visit the link below. You may not understand Korean, but pictures are visual information so they can be understood universally)
https://boardlife.co.kbbs_detail.php?tb=community_post&bbs_num=26766
Not long ago in early May, I ran a croquinol booth for students and parents at a Children's Day event (it was held on the grounds of the University of Education)
The head of the school affairs department suggested, "I heard you like board games, do you want to run a booth?" so I thought very hard. Actually, it was bothersome.
In the end, I accepted because I wanted to make good memories with children as well as selling croquinol. At first, I thought it was easy to take a few croquinols and play a few rounds.
It wasn't long before I realized that the idea was very wrong. This is because there were so many things to consider operating the booth. The program should be organized in consideration of the number of users and the number of people visiting.
The arrangement of objects and the movement of people should also be considered. I shouldn't think, 'I'm done explaining the game to the students in moderation and watching them play.'
I have to think about the details. I thought about it until the day of operation and right before it started. Now that it's been decided so far, I'll have to recruit staff to run it together (this was the most difficult problem)
Finally, find out the products to give to the visiting children and purchase them, purchase notices to be installed in the booth, and other things necessary to proceed or make them
For two weeks, I spent a lot of time and energy thinking about and preparing for how to operate the booth. I thought a lot about what to give as the prize, but it was finally decided to go down
(1) Pokémon Key Chain Pokémon is definitely a successful IP!!
I decided it right away because it looked so pretty and the quality looked good. There were some that were really cheap, but the quality was really... It was a pity, so I put in more budget
(2) ritter sport chocolate It's economical because there are 200 in a pack I tried one to see if it's poisonous What????? This chocolate tastes pretty good...
(3) Crockinol Pencil (Steadler + Engrave) Originally, I didn't want to give pencils, but if I imprint them and give them to students, I thought they could remember croquinol for quite some time, so I made it meaningful.
If you look closely at the pencil, you can see the image of a disc bouncing with a finger. (○ ● ☜) I made it using the basic characters on the keyboard. Haha.)
It took a long time to think of the word 'dream tree' in the engraved phrase. (Offered words: rookie, genius, child, master, king, god, etc.) Since there are no other people to help me, I planned and produced a lot of things by myself.... lol
I recruited the operating personnel as follows
Head of the school affairs department -> Recruit me (one-person planner and business manager): Let's compare and analyze croquinol sales and rest at home and then experience it. Decided
Me-> First cast (S teacher): A versatile teacher who has been in the next class since we met in the 6th grade this year He became interested after being introduced to Crockinol by me. Enjoying Crockinol at home with his wife. Canadian style. (He said he was doing it without giving it away.) After receiving a proposal from me, "I'll do all the preparations, so please come and let the children know the games without any burden," he decided to participate after much consideration. I'm playing with my kids in the classroom, and my croquinol skills are increasing rapidly. I'm planning to promote the entire 6th grade croquinol competition later.
Second cast (Teacher C): My younger brother who met as a manager and a staff member at my last school and became very close. The same person who said in an old article that he helped move the classroom!
Together, we played about 400 rounds of croquinol 1:1 match. He made a lot of mistakes in his early days, but after hundreds of editions, he became enlightened at some point. He has become quite a master.
His powerful shots made a lot of crazy scenes. Among them, he sent five discs of his opponent to a ditch at the same time. When he was asked by me to help him, he accepted without hesitation. (He is expected to participate in the next event.)
Third cast (Teacher K): I am a teacher from another region, and I am close to him because I got to know him in a club. She was the last to be recruited, and she suggested liter port chocolate and keychain among the product ideas. Pencils were also highly recommended when I was thinking about it.
Lastly, he volunteered after seeing me thinking about recruiting one more person.
She's the only teacher who doesn't have a croquinol, and she doesn't usually have a chance to train, so she's still a beginner's skill.
Rather, a person who is expected to revitalize the booth operation because of that. (If teachers do too well, all students lose.) For the record, she has a board gamer gene that can also play Arcnova board games.
※ In addition, there is a sad history of rejection and subtly falling over during the recruitment process.
And I started setting it up on the day!! Visit early with teacher C and install one croquinol on three tables in the tent
At first, I was worried because the table was in the shape of a rectangle, but I could put things here and there. If you put the croquinol at an angle on the table, it was possible to conduct a 2:2 team, so there was no problem.
After I finished setting up, I sat down for a bit and tried a croquinol test. Played without any problems. The shot was even better because I told them to cut their nails, including myself.
However, there was a lot of dust on the tables and chairs provided by the company, so I hurriedly cleaned them. The remaining two operators also narrowly joined, and a total of four people were matched.
After that, I had time to start operating the booth as a whole They're here...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The name of the booth was 'Gather up here if you're confident in flicking', but I think I drew some aggro. Other places looked healthy like making animal bracelets, but our booth was like, "You! Come if you're confident!"
The booth was originally planned like this Planning the rules of the game: - If you feel uncomfortable, you can stand and shoot freely - In the case of 1:1, the original use of the 1/4 shooting line based on North America and Canada, rather than the use of the 1/2 shooting line that changed the rules in Korean company Korea Board Games. - A student who is too young is forced to shoot with a line forward. Two places are experience seats and listen to and experience the rules 1:1 or 2:2 (Parents and friends can participate together) - The experience gift is one litre pot chocolate - Rule Description -> Shot Practice -> consists of a two-game friendly
If you have learned the rules through the experience, go to the challenge seat of one place and challenge 1:1 or 2:2 (you can also participate together) - If you win, you'll get a Pokémon keychain, even if you lose, you'll get a 1/3 chance of a keychain and a 2/3 chance of a pencil through a lottery - Using one chance card, we will proceed with two sets, and if the student draws or wins even one set, it will be considered a victory. - Re-challenge possible when you line up again The booth gradually gathered and filled the corner, and the line got longer
I repeated the explanation and game so wildly!
The first episode : Even though it was in the shade of the tent, the temperature was high, so the chocolate melted. The student said it melted, so I touched it and it was liquid! Unfortunately, we can't give these defective products to students, so we decided to go to the challenge seat without giving them away in the experience seat.
The second episode : Our classmates are here! I heard a voice saying, "Teacher!" and I can see the 6th grade girls in my class
Of course, we played the game. I tried to lose, but I thought that if I lost too much, the student would notice, so I made mistakes from time to time, but these guys made more mistakes!
It ended with me winning or drawing (I should have made it more clear and lost... lol) I said, "This is just an experience seat, so it doesn't matter, show your real skills in the challenge seat," and sent the girl to another corner
The third episode : People were buzzing that a very famous politician visited the booth next door. (He was Korea's presidential candidate.) I looked up and saw the face that I saw on screen Although I was curious, I had my day job as a board gamer, so I welcomed students and focused on explaining the rules. Later, I found out that he talked to a student who experienced our booth and passed by
The 4th episode : The booth operators were not given a separate lunch break! It was announced that they would take turns eating lunch boxes. There were quite a few people... and I barely had time to eat. One person will be in charge of one booth, and one person will take turns eating I'm the type to eat slowly while tasting the taste, but I didn't have much time to relax on this day, so I sat on the stand and came back in a hurry that I couldn't even feel the taste
The fifth episode : There are so many people, and especially in the case of the challenge seat, the waiting line is longer, so to solve the bottleneck, we decided to take both the place and challenge as an experience seat It was the same with the booth I was in. I don't know what this day is... I made more mistakes than usual and often missed shots because I was nervous dealing with children. Hahaha
The 6th episode : The operations staff at the next table said, "A kid came up with a challenge and beat me." He got the prize, of course But after that, the student was still in the viewing room and gave advice to other participating children, saying, "I win all of them," showing a lot of confidence Then the child triumphantly challenged the management staff again! He must have wanted to win again. What was the result? According to him, he showed the dignity of an adult with his skills to children Of course, he gave away a croquinol pencil this time!!
The 7th episode : I explained the rules so much that the script was automatically made "This game is a 150-year-old game of Canada known to have started in 1876.... "In Canada, it's a daily sport that many families have and play throughout their lives, from childhood to grandmothers and grandparents. The rules are simple: if you put it in here, it's 20 points, this is 15 points....." I can't remember how many times I repeated the script above! The eighth episode : There are people who waited for an hour to listen to it while organizing it I've already experienced it and moved to the challenge seat, but the challenge seat lines are too long... Did they feel like they were waiting for a long line in the amusement park... ㅠㅠ Parents were tired of waiting, so they asked to go to another booth, but the child said, "Since I've experienced it, I really want to try it. I want to take a Pokémon keychain!" and waited a lot. It must have been very boring for parents, but there was no other way. I thought the quality of the operation would be very low to just experience/challenge one game at a time 2 play experience + 2 play challenge was the minimum number of plays to feel a little croquinol
The ninth episode : After eating, I heard parents and children talking "This is where we play Alkagi(flicking). Shall we play Alkagi?" "Let's do it!"
If you had written the booth title, "Who wants to play croquinol?" no one would know croquinol, so accessibility would have been low But when the title said "Alkkagi", I was proud of him coming in without any pressure
The 10th episode : The official closing time of the booth was 4 p.m At around 3:50 p.m., I took a breath and looked at other places, and some places had already withdrawn, and I was usually cleaning up, so the atmosphere was clear But our booth is still full It lasted beyond hours Is this the power of crocinol?
The 11th episode : Time has been deleted I was worried about what if time went by during that long time of operating the booth, but it was a mistake. We were so busy explaining and playing that we didn't have time to look at the clock, and when we came to our senses, it was a time when the end was imminent. I couldn't even go to the bathroom for five hours. Because it was hectic, the operation ended without a comparative analysis of 'Are many people visiting other booths? How popular is our booth?' (When I saw the photos and videos later, I could see that our booth was more crowded than other booths.)
The 12th episode : I tried a lot to react to it in my own way. I really complimented the kid every time he hit the disc. I exaggerated a little bit like I became a YouTuber and shouted a compliment chant out loud A young girl who looked like elementary 1 or 2 sat down (around 7-8 years old) I finished explaining the rules, and asked her to practice shooting a few times. After that, we started playing the game. The girl said she would do it first, and she took the first shot of her life's first game. It went straight into the center hole. There was applause from all around. I said, "Even I couldn't put it in at first. It's amazing." Congratulations on your best experience." She's made a lot of mistakes in play since then, but it doesn't matter at all! There's nothing more touching than the first shot of 20 The parents who were nearby filmed this scene and will cherish this meaningful moment for a long time
The 13th episode : There seemed to be something interesting to see other crocinol tables also clapping, wow, oh, oh From the perspective of planning, all these reactions are a gift
The 14th episode : There were a lot of spectators while explaining/playing There were a lot of comments about the rules of the game "You have to hit the disc when it's on the surface" "Oh!" A male parent was glad to hear that he knew croquinol "I knew this game since it came out last year. It was about 110 dollars, but I didn't buy it because it was expensive." (It's more expensive now. It's about $140)
The 15th episode : We allowed a re-challenge in the 'Beat the Teacher' section, caressing the hearts of children thirsty for crocinol Some students tried again 3 times (The challenge itself takes about 1 minute and 30 seconds for the first round, 3 minutes in total, so it doesn't take much.)
The 16th episode : After 4 p.m., I looked at the other booth thinking about when to organize it, and a boy who looked like a fourth grade in the challenge seat was doing very well Her parents were also amazed by it The accuracy of each step wasn't unusual He said he came back to try it out and do it again Looking at the game, he unfortunately lost to Teacher S by 5 points when he made a mistake of 2 turns in the second half Teacher S told the student. " Try it with that teacher. He's the best While sitting down, I asked, "Do you want me to do it with all my strength or not?" I laughed and asked At first, the student said, "Please be generous!" but later changed his words to "With full strength." "Haha, okay. I'll go with all my strength!" The student said he would attack first and tried an open shot and went straight into the center hole "Wow... does this make sense?" I also chased along the disc in the center hole. That's how I tried to hit my opponent's disc in Hogan's alley and accidentally wasted three turns. The result is that the student who leads by 15 points wins... The child liked it very much and came home with a light step with his parents "Thank you for your hard work. Bye!" When I looked at the playground with the back of my family leaving after saying hello, the sun was slowly heading down, scattering light everywhere and giving the lawn a cozy view What could be a more peaceful landscape. He must have felt really good on his way home. I thought he lost well
Finish writing : When I was in college, I ran a different kind of booth when I was the president of a club, but it was the first time I ran it this way in relation to board games.
At that time, there were a lot of club members and the space was very spacious, so the event was held comfortably, but the croquinol booth was operated in a very minimal condition: 1 tent, 3 tables, 3 croquinols, and 4 people in operation
Still, it ended successfully as it exceeded the time without an accident, so considering that it is the first operation under this condition, it should be considered a great success.
The operation of this croquinol booth was planned by myself and prepared for the program, so I have a lot of attachment.
I'm grateful to the three people who ran it together (they were dispatched from each elementary school publicly and privately). As expected, people are the most important.
I'm willing to do it again if I have to participate in the booth event another month this year or if I have to run it again next year. I think we can do it in a better way than now
For example, I dream of running a mini-contest by installing more tables. There's a mini trophy, and I think the kid who got it will really like it. (Of course we need a lot more people than we do now...!)

WARNING! This post is INFECTED with a dangerous disease called... MY OPINION! As everyone knows, ULTRAKILL would suck if we were designing it, so take this post with a grain of salt.

• + ORBITAL STRIKE - Hit an enemy with a [ultra]ricoshot using a coin that's a certain height above the enemy. I just think it's cool tech and should get it's own style bonus.
• + SLINGSHOTTED - While in the air, pull a lightweight enemy towards you, but whiplash cancel in the middle of it to send them flying into a death pit or hazard.
• + YOUR OWN MEDICINE - Kill a Malicious Face using the Malicious Railcannon, kill a Swordsmachine with any Shotgun's base primary fire (no core eject, no chainsaw, no projectile boosting, etc), kill a Streetcleaner by setting them on fire with the Firestarter, kill a Guttertank with any Rocket Launcher's base primary fire (no cannonball, no oil, etc), kill a Hideous Mass with the Whiplash, kill a Sisyphean Insurrectionist with a dead Maurice (+ MAURICED) or kill V2 with the Knuckleblaster.
• + LONGSHOT - Hit an enemy with a hitscan attack from over a certain distance away. Excludes explosions (malicious railcannon) and [ultra]ricoshots (marksman). I think this would reward having good aim from afar. We already have headshots and limbshots, right?
• + LONGSHOT COMBO x(y) - Just like how headshot has headshot combo, longshot has longshot combo. Works basically the same.
• + OXYMORON - Kill a Malicious Face or Soldier with a Core Eject or with any Rocket Launcher's primary fire. Now possible by covering them with the Firestarter's oil since a recent patch.
• + COYOTE TIME - Kill a Cerberus by tricking them into dashing off a ledge and into a death pit or hazard while enraged. I just think it's funny whenever this happens.
• + FLUID OVERFLOW - Kill a Streetcleaner by having them touch water. (yes, that actually kills them)
• + CHAIN DRIVE x(y) - Punch a Screwdriver drill out of an enemy and into ANOTHER enemy (y) amount of times. Haven't actually tried it, but I'm pretty sure this can be done infinitely as long as the drill doesn't miss and an enemy doesn't die with the drill in it.
• + JOLT PURCHASE - Hit an enemy with an electric jolt (+ CONDUCTOR) that chained through a Marksman coin. (yes, jumpstart/electric railcannon electricity can be chained through coins)
• + PROJECTILE ACCELERATION - Perform an ultraricoshot using a jackhammered core or rocket as the hitscan attack.
• + METEOROLOGY MACHINE - Have an enemy die from being naturally struck by the lightning in 5-2 and 5-4 after being filled with nails. Ferryman-summoned lightning does not count.
• + PAID THE TOLL LATE - Perform a coinpunch (+ FISTFUL OF DOLLAR) on a Ferryman.
• + CHOKING HAZARD - Shoot a projectile into Leviathan's mouth as it does the "fire breath" attack. This style bonus has a cooldown to prevent the nailgun, sawblade launcher, and shotgun from giving an obscene amount of style points.

Alright, first off I Read a post by u/Shiroudrake
About how Aether and Lumine are the Stars of the Morning and Evening and are the Split aspects of the one of the Shades(Venus). This sent my brain down the spiral abyss and into Baleful cleansing fire and now I'm creating this post. I agree that the Twins are likely the Son and Daughter of One of the 4 shades splitting itself with help from The Primordial One, because one of the shades did help him make all the creatures in the land. As seen in the quote below, this likely includes the stars in the sky (aka: the Twins) Stars of the Morning Phosphorus (Aether) Hesperus (Lumine). It would also explain the absence of a fourth Moon Sister.
Quote from Before Sun and Moon: "The Primordial One and One of its shades created the birds of the air, the beasts of the earth, and the fish of the sea. Together, they also created flowers, grass, and trees, before finally creating humans — our ancestors, numerous as the stars in the sky,"
With that, it's time for me to go crazy in the comments and drop a whole bunch of "Forbidden Knowledge" (aka incomprehensible Genshin Lore Speculations).
Let's zoom out, like waaay out. In Genshin, Gods are just powerful life-forms, think sci-fi style. These life forms have a hierarchy of power that also seems to be related to 2 things: first, how alien they are to Teyvat; and second, and arguably more important, how many times they can split themselves/create new life while still maintaining a "Core" version of their identities (example: Egeria and Oceanids). By Core version, I mean having the ability to create/use energy without suffering an identity death or loss of memories/goals/ambitions. Keep this in mind, because every "God" in the game does seem to have a limit to this power...every God except one.
When the lights go out for a "God," both metaphorically with their minds and literally with their power source, only one entity benefits from this death. This bad bitch is "The Night Mother," who is referenced in the in-game book the Pale Princess and The Six Pygmies (yes I read all of the leaked books, and they do seem like a massive lore spoiler for the gods/alien nature/potential future of the game). This bad Momma is currently the ultimate power in the cosmos...think about super massive black holes vs an ant and you'd get the power lvl difference between Zhong Li and The Night Mother. She not only controls the abyss, but seems to be the abyss! Her Aspects include everything that is infected with forbidden Knowledge. The Unknown is the dark, and it is fear, and it is all the things we wish we knew but don't...She has active control over that entire domain. Everything that interacts with hethe abyss for long enough becomes tainted, changed, and serves her will/vision. She wants only one thing...no light of any kind. No Suns, No Moons....and No Stars! A kingdom of eternal Night. She is also the mother of all things, because if you go back far enough in cosmological history you hit the unknown...which is her realm. Where did life on earth come from? Pre-mRNA molecules in a primordial soup? God? Eventually, if you go back far enough, we don't know...and that's where her power starts...at the edge of the light.
Fun note on her inspiration, she is likely inspired by a cross between the western Greek Goddess Nyx as well as the Ancient Chinese Goddess and "Mother of the West" Xiwangmu. The Mother of the West's earliest mention is found inscribed on oracle bones (1766 – 1122 BCE). She is one of the most ancient and powerful goddesses in the Chinese pantheon. She has complete control over life, death, creation, and destruction. She is married to the Jade Emperor(aka God with a big G). So I think we can say The Night Mother is the most powerful being we "know" of currently in game, and yes, she is the abyss...the one thing all other gods seem to fear like hell itself, is her. However, us freedom-loving idiot humans seem to think we can use her and still claim our destiny from the clutches of divine fate while throwing off the shackles of the Gods' heavenly principles....we are indeed fools.
Back to "God" power levels - let's start ranking Gods based on how much willpoweself identity they have after being able to split themselves into lesser beings or after they give some of their power away to empower other entities.
probs goes something like Night Mother >Phanes=/>Primordial One>Dragon King>Pale Princess>4 Shades (since it took 4shades+PO to beat Nibelung that the shades are weaker than dragon king) >3 Moon Sisters > Morning Star (twins)>Dragon Sovereigns> Seelies >Jinn>Adepti>illuminated Beasts>humans...unless those humans interact with the abyss/Night Mother which makes them sorta the same as her(eventually).
I ranked the Morning Star twins based on their full power lvl pre-game. This list is also assuming base power levels and does not factor in enhancers like Gnosis or visions because those come later and are mostly for surveillance purposes (eyes of god and what not).
More hot takes and wild speculations! The First betrayal of the Gods was because the Grand Unified Civilization, from the book Before Sun and Moon, wanted to know more about the greater existence/ universe, and so they succumbed to the "sweet honey wine temptations" of the unknown (aka abyss/forbidden Knowledge/Night Mother). They essentially fell into the craving cycle of "Yeah but what if?!" They knew that the Primordial One understood secrets from beyond and that the Seelie envoys weren't telling them shit about the greater cycles or about prophecy. So likely, some of the ruling class got afraid that their rule would end and they decide to give the scholars, witches, and alchemists the go-ahead to start probing the boundaries. They likely came into contact with Abyssal Corrupted Nibelung (Night Mother Controlled/ pulling the strings and empowering The King Dragon as her avatar). They made a deal with him/her, the humans would let him get vengeance on The Primordial One and his shades who are now turned Moon Sisters, if the Dragon would teach them how to become Gods and master the Abyss. The humans may have been the Original Sinners (Surtalogi and the precursors to the Hexenzirkel) who made this dark pact with the Dragon avatar of the Night Mother (or the Original Sinners may be someone else, I'm just theorizing). They came up with a clever plan to first weaken Celestia and the Primordial One before the Corrupted Dragon's attack. They did this by wedding crashing. (total fanfic moment here based on the union between the Seelie and the "traveler from afar"). I think that one of the Original Sinners may have poisoned the mind (with forbidden Knowledge AKA the Night Mother) of the person who went to Celestia and made a union with the Seelie.....This person's "data signature" (unsure of this term) would look to the gods as if they were an alien or outside traveler from afar...but since they had no reason to doubt humans at this point, they thought this "space" husbando was legit.
30 days after the "wedding," the forbidden knowledge spreads out from this unsuspecting host, maybe through a red or blue gem they were wearing. The data corrupting red abyss shit starts wreaking havoc on Celestia's machinery and partially corrupts One of the Moon Sisters (the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles) and fully corrupts one of the others. God-level fighting breaks out, and the third totally un-corrupted sister gets killed and becomes the moon of Teyvat. At the same time, the Abyss avatar dragon version of Nibelung attacks, and The Primordial One is left to struggle against (him/her) solo. The partially corrupted Sustainer of heavenly principle's sister manages to kill the fully corrupted Moon Sister and casts her corpse down into the abyssal waters of the ocean (this is the moon we see in the spiral abyss in game - it's the corrupted sisters corpse). Finally, The Primordial One (PO) kills the Abyss Dragon but has suffered unrecoverable amounts of damage in the process. Also, the World is almost completely Destroyed and the forbidden knowledge corruption is spreading everywhere. The PO and the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles try dropping a bunch of cleansing nails, but it's not enough.....The Primordial One decides to make the Ultimate Sacrifice for the world and uses his power level to fully give his body to the recreation of Teyvat...losing his memories and self in the process and becoming the very land we game on. Also during this time the Morning Star Twins got yeeted to the chasm and knocked out, and the precursor people to Khaenri'ah kidnap them.
This leaves the partially corrupted Sustainer of Heavenly Principles as the only God left in Celestia. Her moon body form is tainted red from the forbidden knowledge corruption, and she now swings from her Aspect of Themis into Nemesis. She opens her one traumatized red baleful eye and watches humanity for any signs that they will repeat this betrayal, this arrogation. She requires strict Order and surveillance...She initiates the Archon war to cleanse any remaining corrupted gods and to centralize her power and authority. Also because the PO body wasn't enough energy, and she sorta needs to... ya know reuse some of the creation materials that are locked up in minor deities' forms so that their elemental power can go back into the laylines and help re-balance Teyvat. Next she tells the Archons to lock the fate of the ambitious humans to that of Celestia by presenting them with an eye of god (a vision) so that she can forever watch and pass extreme vengeful judgement on the mortals who forced her heavenly family to sacrifice themselves and kill each other due to the betrayal of power hungry humans. During this time she may even have been leached on via alchemy by the furtive Crimson Moon Dynasty of Khaenri'ah as a secondary source for Forbidden Knowledge. All the while their Civilization hides underground from her all seeing eye! Over the centuries, many human kings and god kings attempt to reach for forbidden Knowledge (King Deshret, Remuria, Khaenri'ah) all to gain their freedom from the ever tightening grip of fate, and in time the Baleful Red Moon finds them all and destroys them.
As her own corruption progresses her judgments become more extreme...as she loses herself to the Night Mother's influence. By the time of Kaenri'ah cataclysm, her curses and hate culminate in a heinous act that even the Archons disagree with. The Sustainer of Heavenly Principles, Teyvats last celestial god and the crimson eye'd moon, massacres Khaenrian humans without discrimination. Her extreme acts vengeance are of retribution (not justice), an eye for an eye. If she has to live forever remembering the loss of her people ....then they should have to as well! She curses the pure bloods with immortality and lets the lesser ones lose their sense of self and become nothing more than husks(Hilichurls), just like her seelie sister had to while she watched forever...with her mind eroding. This is the last cycle of Teyvat because soon the last God in heaven will be fully corrupted by the Night Mothers Forbidden Knowledge and she will let the walls of the eggshell fall....and the Night Mother's Star Beasts will consume all life and light. The Traveler and their twin are the last Celestial hopes for ascension....but their Moon sister is so corrupted that she didn't even remember them, instead she attacked them on site. Remember the start of the game...her Celestial energy is tainted with black and red forbidden Knowledge - you can see the black and red pixels in her arm...she is focused on only one thing: "The arrogation of mankind ends now!"
and that's my fan lore speculation book dump for now, hope you enjoy your stay at Wendy's and enjoy that baconator!

Howdy, Currently considering going to barber or cosmetology school. I’m trying to decide which is best for me. I am primarily interested in doing hair, and maybe skin. But makeup and nails are not of interest for me. I know the main differences between the two schools are what you learn. My understanding is:
barber: hair and beards Cosmetology: hair, skin, nails, makeup
I’m mostly wanting to know if going to barber school would be too limiting for me?? I’d like to work with primarily queer and trans people so I want to be able to cut long creative styles and short razor cuts, I’d also like to get really good with color. Is going to barber or cosmetology school going to make a huge difference for me? Or will I get the training I’m missing from whatever shop/ salon I work in? Can barbers work at salons?
Also open to hearing any school recommendations in Oakland, CA!
Thank you!!

Dear C,
I loved you. not in that wishy washy lifetime holiday movie kind of way either. I truly loved you. I knew when I met you I could possibly fall. I tried not to, stayed away. didn't want to rock any boats. I think it was that expression of what I believed to be a love of life. the smile and lighting up eyes. I don't know. It's hard to put my finger on. you just had that air about you.
Became friends. shared secrets. shared sorrows. I didn't expect to become what I thought was that area of close friendship. To then get feelings though we lived so far apart. it hurt when I realized it was more than feelings of friendship in my chest. trying so hard to shut if down. not let myself be swept up into something. Love is a lot like the ocean though. one cannot sway it's currents as one cannot halt the rotation of the Earth.
It was turmoil it couldn't be, though I wished for us to fall into each other, hold you tightly to me and feel ourselves melt into each other. You had inklings I know. never said anything, we never discussed it. you moved even further away. I thought perhaps I could move on. I didn't. perhaps that's when I should have noticed. not that you were with someone but that perhaps you were not really my friend.
permission to send flowers but sending them to your work. speaking on the whatsapp. instead of texting. letting me feel confused about your feelings with me yet no resolution. I didn't want to lose you so I said nothing. that was pathetic of me. I think just a way to let myself be taken advantage of again later.
losing touch, regaining communications. losing touch again. Honestly I should have realized sooner but one becomes blinded by their own feelings. It came to a head a year and a half ago. Nearing christmas I found myself this particular year in a deep depression. Even years after tragedy it still hurts. I saw through posts you recently had a family tragedy as well. I wanted to make sure you were ok.
We agreed to meet up for dinner at my place what was that? the 22nd? the 23rd perhaps. So glad to hear from a close friend, feeling a sense of happiness. looking forward to something. braving the grocery stores less than a week from Christmas. I got a bunch of ingredients settling on a fancy style pizza and poached pears. something fun, not romantic (I didnt want to give the wrong vibes) even got a new sauce pan just to make a great red wine reduction for the pears lol. It was all set. I had a bottle of moscato d asti too. just a dessert wine. I even handmade the damn dough. It did turn out pretty decent, the pizza cooked. pears soaking in sugar water. yet
Yet it was 4:00 and I hear nothing, I had that nagging feeling
no Surely she wouldn't.
5:30 I had no word. perhaps a little later dinner. afterall I did not set the specific time.
6:30 and I messaged you to get an apology. I'm so sorry.
She told me her grandmother's memorial was that day. they released a balloon even.
I was crushed. deflated much like that balloon after a week of floating I'm sure. It seemed like an airtight excuse. Or at least one if I questioned would make me an asshole. I may be an ass but C I'm no asshole. I told you I understood but it didn't end there.
for over six months, six months it went on like this. I sent flowers twice actually when I thought I overstepped, made you mad at me. I rememembe getting very sick in Februaury and aplogizing for looking you up to send the damn flowers, feeling guilty of being some type of creep. You didn't mind. Hell I forgot to mention I had a Christmas gift from the previous years I couldn't get to you due to covid.
I asked if you were busy, You asked my free days. if you had the same day off and we made plans, without fail you would cancel or just not show. you would not message me. I understood-still understand helping family when they are sick. yet why not call? text? If I questioned it I was the bad guy. I'd always be the bad guy for simply questioning. I asked you if you didn't wish to be friends. to just reject me if that were the case. I just wanted to spend time together yet... yet even getting you to answer a text was a chore. why? I didn't obsess, I didn't stalk. I just wanted to spend time with someone I cared for. to help in any way I could.
Looking back it was rather pathetic of me. you're still the only person to make me act in that manner. You never rejected me. why? I needed that finality, that goddamned nail in the coffin to know for sure. I guess I just wasn't paying attention. You seemed to get out any way from visiting. spending time together. at a trusted friend's suggestion I proposed time after time neutral territory. coffee shops, restaurants, the book store. any public place.
I didn't know if you had issue with me personally, meeting a guy in his home? you agreed so many times to meet up to only ghost me. You did ghost me. repeatedly. You then said you didn't ghost me that you were staying late to get in the good graces of a new boss, just not answering me letting me apologize later.
I'm sorry C but having well established plans then not letting the person know you weren't going until after the fact. or not letting them know at all IS GHOSTING. SAYING IT'S NOT GHOSTING IS GASLIGHTING.
you ghosted me constantly, you gaslighted me. it hurt. If I didn't have blinders, if I weren't so fucking depressed I would have wisened to it. Instead I hoped and thought perhaps this time. not unlike those scratcher addicts wasting money hoping for that big payout.
You ghosted and gaslighted me. it hurt my self worth. perhaps I wasn't worthy of love nor frienship. a lingering trauma from my childhood you only reinforced in me. I think looking back on it you gaslighted me the entirety of our relationship. when that hit me... I don't know. From the same friend, she thought it a good idea to ask what I was to you. What type of friend am I to you? that was the question. was I just an aquaintenance? was I a close friend? was I just some person?
"of course we're friends" was my response. That wasn't the question though. Crushed. Angry. depressed. I tried still. yet you didnt acknowledge me. I think I grew bitter.
You ghosted me, You gaslighted me. You wouldn't tell me you rejected me even when I asked you to. I felt as though I weren't being treated as a human being.
To me you seemed to be acting like a narcissist or perhaps afraid? You were giving excused the same way the people who raised me did. classic text book narcissists.
C , I hate that a part of me loves you. I hate that what seemed like a relationship that meant so much to me perhaps didn't mean anything to you. I hate that I fell for someone who lies, who ghosts, nor treats me with the slightest bit of respect. I loved you but you only hurt me. loving you made me not feel good about myself. I wish
I wish instead of this rant I could tell you in a nicer way how I feel. That I then wanted to know you because I think it was more the idea of you I fell in love with. just a phantom. That I wished to find the depths of conversation only those like us could know. to find the depths of that well. to truly know one another.
I realize you'll never give an honest answer. I'll never have that chance to cook for you. the closest we'll be emotionally is being an unanswered call, empty chair, dinner for no one. I'll never share true intimacy with you. I remember you placing your head on my shoulder during the movie at the art museum. I wante to put my arm around you so much that night. it seemed innapropriate. I had no idea if she were your friend or girlfriend. I could not intrude.
I realized there are othes who see my worth. I'm more than just a text. people who see me. Yet a part of me lingers wishing. it's only a whisper now, something that still aches. I wished for closure. I'll never get it. I try to accept it. I can only move on.

Dear Reader: Emphasis on the -fi. Don't worry about it.
Effective Death. At least that’s what the news was calling it. The day the world wouldn’t end. Life could go on! It wasn’t over. You could still huddle around the last fires. Smoke the last cigarettes. Have the last children, though no one did.
Instead, they all watched. The slow dimming of light of the last supernova. A thousand little eclipses snuffed out the light as the Final Embrace closed around the star. We would not burn. We could die naturally. Charity. The Plan. The Plan wasn’t much of a Plan at all, and it definitely did not deserve a capital “P.” The universe would die. The Ark would wait. Maybe the universe wouldn’t die.
Then, a pinprick of light in the blackness, and another, and another. A tangled ball of christmas lights flashed in the sky, blinking on and off as people, my people, YSAs, flew headlong into the Ark. We all knew it was a meaningless gesture. One last light in the sky. Then nothing. Nothing more than a gesture: a middle finger among friends, and to people like me - cowards who would rather wait patiently for death than rage! “Rage against the dying of the light!” as their leaders preached. I didn’t care. There was a small chance I’d survive the crash, and then I would have to drift, and drifting was no fun. I’d rather be dead on a dead rock than be a dead rock.
Dehydration was my best bet. You see, Your Friend Corp, or as I called it now You’re Fucked, Cunt had made me into a Yakka Service Android: Lathe. Or YSA for short. And when I say made, I mean made. Per my contract, My DNA was a mishmosh of latent genes reactivated, entirely novel sequences, and of course, the tardigrade - the base model for spaceborne labor. Vacuum, heat, cold, radiation. A small shield powered by a miniature fusion reactor meant I could shrug off wandering asteroids. I didn’t need any PPE because I was the PPE. Cheaper, I guess. Making a welding arc was as simple as squeezing two fingers together, diamond nails and a skeleton of superheavy alloys let me fix anything that needed fixing and make anything that needed making. My copilot AI, Albert, kept my hands steady and made my new diet of ‘whatever’s around’ palatable.
The thing that needed fixing in this case, was my television. I had had enough of “effective death.” I spun up one wrist, and reached in. Shards of glass and blue-hot metal chips bounced off my naked body. Clothes were for those who needed them. I traced a slow serpentine pattern until only the power cord was left, which I unplugged. I looked at it for a moment, then began to chew it. Fruit roll ups, apparently.
‘Thanks Al’ I thought. ‘No problem’ he replied. ‘I was supposed to kill you, you know’ he continued.
‘Why didn’t you?’
‘You always said thank you’ He was silent for a moment. ‘I don’t want to die either.’
‘Thanks Al.’
‘You’re welcome.’
We sat in silence, and we waited. For what, we did not know. For nothing, probably. Technically, definitely.
—
Three weeks passed. Three weeks of nothing but blackness, punctuated by suicides. A small flash of light, a dull red glow of the now proverbial last cigarette, and a larger flash, and a bang. Slowly, people began to wake up. Lights shone in the distance now, as people realized they weren’t dead. Campfires billowed smoke, songs were sung, jokes were told, and I sat in silence. I didn’t want to make any friends. They’d all go away, in the end.
One by one, the fires burned to ash, the lights turned off, and the rock died. I often debated with myself if I was alive anymore. Al told me that since I could reproduce and poop that I counted. I wasn’t sure.
Maybe there were other cowards still alive. Other YSA’s living off dirt that tasted like mashed potatoes, tossing grape pebbles into their mouths. Maybe someone survived the crash, and is still drifting, a not dead rock dying of dehydration like I am. Trying to at least. I kept taking one last sip. Coward I thought to myself.
—
A crack in the sky. Final Embrace began to crumple like a deflated balloon. The scientists were wrong. Typical. They would tell you they weren’t. They would say that a .005% chance of the sun turning into a black hole meant that they had indeed predicted that the sun would turn into a black hole. The last black hole.
“Hey Al,” I said out loud. God I hadn’t spoken since the sky went dark. This is actually kinda nice. “I think I know I want to die. What do you say we take the ol girl out for one last ride?”
‘That’d be nice.’
“I’m going to put my clothes on. I want to hear your voice.”
I gently pushed the earpiece into my ear canal. Small barbed spikes extended, anchoring it in place, and a thin cable wormed its way into my reactor. “If you’re going to die, you might as well look good doing it.” Al said. “I’ll make a playlist.” I nodded, blowing the dust off my pre-op clothes. I always liked the old things, back from when Earth still existed. There was more culture, more life, in everything, somehow. Blue jeans, a white t-shirt, brown leather boots. Classic. Not real, of course. They were all made from the same poly-something textile. Durable, to a fault. I had only ever had the one set.
I looked in the mirror. I still looked the same on the outside. I was a skinny bastard that’s for sure. Olive skin, dark hair, and not a strand below the eyebrows except under my armpits and around my cock. ‘The biggest dick in the world’ I thought to myself.
“I heard that.” Said Al. I jumped. “You told me you wanted to hear my voice.”
“Dammit Al. Sorry. I do.”
“Everyone is dead and you’re making dick jokes.”
“Did you really think better of me?”
“No.”
“Come on then. Let’s take the ol girl out before we die. Give her one last ride too.”
To an observer, it would seem like I was glaring at myself in the mirror. But really, I was glaring at Al. And I was a little confused. I thought AI didn’t make sex jokes.
The “ol girl” in question was another of my fascinations with the old world. She was, or at least she looked like, a 1980 Toyota Corolla. I had made some heavy, heavy modifications. The engine bay houses the reactor and warp field generator. The main engine takes up the entire trunk, and is capable of 5% light speed outside the warp field and a whopping thousand times the speed of light inside it, though I keep the warp field up whenever I’m in it since it doubles as a shield. Ya can’t get hit by space if you’re not technically “in” space after all, and the body is plain ol painted steel - fire engine red, since you asked. Beautiful, but not the most durable. The undercarriage serves as a gravity generator, and yes, the wheels do turn, but since they’re powered by fusion reactor I had to replace the entire drivetrain. Not exactly original, but boy howdy! is she fast on the ground. Speaking of not original, the dashboard was anything but. I kept the old analog style but well, this was a spaceship after all.
I shoveled dirt into the fuel tank - gas tanks they used to call them, when they still ran on gas - then got in and turned the key. The low hum of the reactor was comforting, though not as much as the roar of the engines as I left the dead atmosphere of that now definitely dead rock behind me. I turned on the headlights - pointless, I know, but you shouldn’t drive in the dark with your lights on, and pulled a small bottle of moonshine from the glovebox. You shouldn’t do that either, but I figured I was about even as far as rules went. What was I going to do? Hit someone?
“Hey Al. Do you think you have a soul”
“Probably not.”
“That sucks.”
“Yeah.”
I hit somebody. Or something. Whatever it was bounced off the warp bubble and tumbled into space behind me, briefly red in the glow of my tail lights.
“Oh shit” Said Al and I.
“That was a person” Said Al.
“Was is right.”
“They’re still alive.”
I stopped the car. Al played the sound of tires screeching in my ears. I backed up towards the now spinning uncontrollably figure and rolled down the window. I liked the manual windows. They helped me feel human. I turned off the warp and reached out a hand to catch whoever it was, and they slammed against the side of my car, denting it. Damn it.
I’m not great at reading lips but whoever I hit was definitely alive, very naked, probably the most gorgeous woman I had ever seen, and was almost certainly calling me an asshole. She crawled around to the passenger door and got in. We rolled the windows up, and the cabin atmosphere flooded in. Now she was definitely going to call me an asshole.
“Why the fuck are you wearing sunglasses?” She said.
“Style.” I replied. “I’m going to go die. Want to come?”
“Better than drifting.”
“Where’s your AI?” said Al? I don’t detect one, and your hands are shaking.
“Killed him before he could kill me. Why didn’t you kill this idiot?”
"I didn’t want to die. And he said thank you.”
“Gross.”
I rolled my window down. She did the same, then looked in the center console and pulled out my spare sunglasses. I looked at her. “Style.” She said. Al played The Final Countdown. We were the not dead yets, in the Not Dead Yet Finally, a name for my car! Sunglasses on. Sun out. Life was good, and death was going to be even better.

It's essential to focus on continual improvement and resilience. Many successful authors faced rejection before achieving success. J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, received numerous rejections initially. Stephen King's first novel was rejected dozens of times. Agatha Christie, Dr. Seuss, and Margaret Mitchell all encountered rejection before finding success. Remember, rejection is a part of the journey, and perseverance in honing your craft is key. Focus on refining your writing, seeking feedback, and staying persistent in your pursuit.
Here are a few strategies to help navigate the journey as a writer:

1. Persistency: Keep writing and submitting your work. Each rejection can provide valuable lessons and insights into improving your writing. Don't let setbacks deter you from continuing to create.
   
2. Feedback and Improvement: Seek feedback from peers, writing groups, or mentors. Constructive criticism can help identify areas for improvement and guide your growth as a writer.
   
3. Diversify Submissions: Consider submitting your work to various publishers, agents, or literary magazines. Sometimes, a rejection from one might not reflect the response you'll receive from another.
   
4. Stay Motivated: Surround yourself with inspiration. Read books, attend writing workshops, or engage with other creatives to stay motivated and connected within the writing community.
   
5. Self-Care: Take care of your mental and emotional well-being. Rejections can be tough, so it's crucial to practice self-compassion and maintain a healthy perspective on your writing journey.
   

Remember, many renowned authors faced rejection before achieving success. Your persistence, dedication to improvement, and belief in your craft are vital elements that can lead you toward success as a writer.
6Here are a few more tips to help maintain motivation and progress as a writer:

1. Set Realistic Goals: Establish achievable writing goals. Whether it's a daily word count, finishing a chapter, or completing a manuscript by a specific deadline, setting realistic targets can keep you focused and motivated.
   
2. Embrace Revisions: Recognize that writing is rewriting. Embrace the revision process as an opportunity to polish your work. Revisions often lead to stronger storytelling and better-crafted prose.
   
3. Connect with the Writing Community: Engage with other writers through social media, forums, or local writing groups. Networking can provide support, encouragement, and valuable insights into the publishing industry.
   
4. Learn from Rejections: Instead of viewing rejections as failures, consider them as stepping stones toward success. Analyze feedback, if available, and use it constructively to refine your writing.
   
5. Believe in Your Voice: Each writer has a unique voice. Embrace your style and perspective. Authenticity in storytelling often resonates with readers.
   

Lastly, remember that every successful author faced challenges and setbacks along their journey. It's the perseverance, commitment to improvement, and belief in their work that helped them overcome rejection and achieve success. Keep writing, stay resilient, and believe in your potential as a writer.
Here are quotes from some well-known authors who faced rejection before finding success:

1. J.K. Rowling (Author of Harry Potter series):
   

   "Failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me."
   

2. Stephen King (Author of numerous bestsellers):
   

   "By the time I was fourteen the nail in my wall would no longer support the weight of the rejection slips impaled upon it. I replaced the nail with a spike and kept on writing."
   

3. Agatha Christie (Renowned mystery novelist):
   

   "I don't think necessity is the mother of invention. Invention, in my opinion, arises directly from idleness, possibly also from laziness - to save oneself trouble."
   

4. Dr. Seuss (Author of beloved children's books):
   

   "I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living. It's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope."
   

5. Margaret Mitchell (Author of "Gone with the Wind"):
   

   "Life's under no obligation to give us what we expect. We take what we get and are thankful it's no worse than it is."
   

These authors encountered rejection and setbacks on their paths to success but persisted in their writing endeavors, ultimately achieving acclaim for their work. Their quotes reflect their resilience, determination, and belief in their craft despite facing initial rejection.
Here are a few more quotes from authors who experienced rejection before achieving success:

1. Louisa May Alcott (Author of "Little Women"):
   

   "I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship."
   

2. George Orwell (Author of "1984" and "Animal Farm"):
   

   "Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand."
   

3. John Grisham (Bestselling author of legal thrillers):
   

   "I faced rejection and constant criticism, but I never let up. I continued to persevere and pursued my writing passion."
   

4. Madeleine L'Engle (Author of "A Wrinkle in Time"):
   

   "You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children."
   

5. Ray Bradbury (Author of "Fahrenheit 451"):
   

   "You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you."
   

These authors persisted through rejection, adversity, and doubts, yet remained dedicated to their writing. Their words reflect the perseverance, passion, and determination that ultimately led them to success in the literary world.
💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫🐔🐔🐔🐔 So in handling rejection as a writer and finding inspiration from authors who faced rejection before achieving success, this article has provided:

1. Strategies to stay motivated and improve as a writer, including persistence, seeking feedback, diversifying submissions, staying motivated, and practicing self-care.
2. Additional tips like setting goals, embracing revisions, connecting with the writing community, learning from rejections, and embracing your unique voice.
3. Quotes from various renowned authors such as J.K. Rowling, Stephen King, Agatha Christie, Dr. Seuss, Margaret Mitchell, Louisa May Alcott, George Orwell, John Grisham, Madeleine L'Engle, and Ray Bradbury. These quotes highlight their resilience, determination, and belief in their craft despite facing rejection, ultimately leading to their success as authors.

The overarching message is to persist in writing, seek improvement, learn from setbacks, stay connected with the writing community, and believe in your unique voice as a writer, drawing inspiration from the experiences of successful authors who overcame rejection on their paths to success.