#476 words

The water felt good.

Calmed my nerves a little.

And my legs.

I had probably… babbled on the way to the bathroom.

Because I was not sure what to think about what just happened.

Raphael was… different-attractive, like this.

I had stared at the skirt waving from side to side, clinging to her butt.

And had tried not to cling to the thought that I was… in her just about a minute earlier.

Landon was human, once. He remembers his humanity vaguely, but his memories are dull in most places and sharp around the guarded one and his death. He has no race but, tentatively, guardian spirit.

He remembers the guarded one, of course: he can never forget her, even if he tried. A guardian spirit remembers all he or she guards. Once the guarded one passes, he, too, will follow her on.

He remembers his death vividly as well, remembers the assassin who took his eye and took his life. The eye that replaced his stolen one watches only after the guarded one. He knows where she is at all times, even now, when she is out of sight. The life that replaced his stolen one, too, belongs solely to the guarded one.

Greta is the oldest vampire, but she still feels human. Mostly. It’s only when the bloodlust comes over her that she feels inhuman.

She watched the evolution of the relationship between vampires and humans: the fearful humans, the superiority of pureblood vampires, the wary truce and the bloody war that followed, the eventual balance between vampires and all their potential dynamics with humans through the laws of magic that she could only dream of when she was still human.

She has come close to death many times over the years, but never succumbed, her will to live carrying her recklessly through strife and struggles until now, finally, she has secured the line between humanity and humanity’s extensions.

Amber was born a faerie, the firstborn to a royal family, with good prospects and the guarantee of an easy life.

And then humans struck, offering peace but turning to war, wiping out her clan with a fierce, savage sweep, stealing her baby sister to raise human, to use, all because the human leader wanted to transcend his humanity.

So Amber licked her wounds and waited, spending hours poring over the remains of her desolate city, learning all the skills she could teach herself, and in 20 long years snuck past the humans to see her sister and tell her nothing until she could finally set them both free as the air they inherited.

Leon’s world is hell, suitable for a blood demon like himself, except that he despises himself and all that he has done. He has only regret for his past— regret for his addiction which was cured by his conversion, regret for his conversion which caused his brother’s current state, regret for his brother’s current state as his own overfamiliar familiar.

Even though I’ve lived in Blackburn all my life, I never realised that the museum I live just five minutes away from had a collection of such wonderful and insightful artifacts and artworks from varying periods of time.

One particular painting I was drawn to was ‘Diana or Christ?’ (1881) By Victorian artist Edwin Long, framed and on display in the Victorian Gallery. I was originally drawn to this painting by the stern and detailed expressions on the people’s faces. The large crowd in varying distances with many wearing formal dress reminded me of the film ‘Gladiator’ starring Russell Crowe at first glance, like a view into a distressing scene from a Roman Amphitheatre, where the Caesar is in the moments before sparing the Gladiator’s life or pleasing the crowds by condemning him to death. I loved the depth of colours, the use of shadows and the intricate folds in the clothes the people are wearing in the scene, as well as feeling immediately compelled to know more about what/where and why the scene is how it is.

I related this painting to one of the Icons on display in the Heart Room, where Christ is depicted in the centre of the icon surrounded by his disciples, where all focus in the work is directed towards Christ, just as all focus is directed towards the forefront lady in white in ‘Diana or Christ?’. Even though the icon is vastly smaller than the oil painting done hundreds of years later, it does not lack in detail or in richness of colour, and I presume has a much greater sentimental value and religious significance depending on the viewer. However I could not help thinking that the Icon reminded me of a photograph I once saw in a newspaper of Harry Styles from the irritatingly famous boy band ‘One Direction’, where hundreds of overly dramatic screaming fans are pouring over him walking on the red carpet, begging for recognition.

Mars needs humans. Well, maybe not, but I think humans need to go to Mars. It's the next logical step, unless you count going to some of the nearer asteroids. Don't get me wrong, I think we should visit those too, but I think that might be simply a step on the way to going to Mars. After all, the ship that goes to Mars will have to be big, very big, and bringing stuff up out of the gravity well of earth is expensive. I think out would be great if we made a space elevator to alleviate that problem, but I really don't think that will happen soon enough. So the next best option - in fact, probably a better option - is to use stuff that's already out of the gravity well, which means asteroids and comets. It ought to be possible to make most, if not all, of the spacecraft that will fly to Mars out of stuff that is already in space. Another great advantage to using asteroids to build the spacecraft is that none of the pollutants or other usual problems that occur when mining on Earth are an issue, nor are there problems of oxidation if the metals, at least not in the same way. If the metals in the asteroid are already oxidized, then it might actually be a good thing, as the astronauts will be able to use the oxygen themselves, after they have removed it from the metal. One of the disadvantages to mining asteroids is the lack of gravity, which is good in that less energy is used to move it, but makes traditional mining difficult. For example, on some asteroid, the force of swinging a pick may be enough to cause as person to fly into space. Using lasers or concentrated sunlight, as was suggested in one book I read, can cause the asteroid to move out of position, which can be dangerous. So there will be challenges to overcome, but they won't be impossible.