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slavicbarbi3 · 4 years

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Thoughts on Success

I in no way consider myself a feminist. The word itself makes me cringe. I am a beautiful, fiscally conservative woman with a steady career, who has worked hard to be where I am. I never realized until I became a SUCCESFUL woman how many men and women are uncomfortable with my presence & sheer existence.

As a successful woman I have faced ridicule where my male counterparts receive praise. Upon commenting to someone how many hours a week I spent in the office or on-site with clients I was asked by a wide-eyed, (I am sure well-meaning) woman in her mid 50′s, “How much do you see your kids? Maybe you should change careers...that's a lot of time away from home...especially that young.” While my male counterparts are given the classic “Look at you, burning the candle at both ends for your family!”

I have also faced disbelief that I, a woman, could negotiate my first sale at a higher commission than the agency standard. I closed on a half a million-dollar property at 9 percent commission meaning I walked away with 6 percent and the agency, 3. For an entire month rumors spiraled I was sleeping with my clients, a rumor I may add, affected my personal life when a co-worker took to social media to state said rumors as fact. The screenshot of the post was sent to me by a friend & co-worker. This was promptly put to rest when I addressed her at my cubicle in the center of the agency, my boss in earshot. I calmly, and professionally called her out about her lack of professionalism, and reminded her of the repercussions such behavior could have.

After that I received either apology, or people stayed away from me. (I liked those people better.) My boss apologized profusely and told me it would not happen again, that there would be training. I told him it wouldn’t be necessary, it wasn’t his fault, I thanked him for taking care of it on his end. I stated with a smile, that I was fine and was satisfied. No training necessary I just wanted to work. He seemed uncomfortable and thought maybe I meant something else. He felt he needed to cover himself, because in his mind. women never mean what they say. He mandated the training, to which I told him, I would not attend.

I later concluded she was angry because the listing from which I obtained the client was originally hers, she was sick so I was asked by my boss to show the property. The client and I built a great rapport, and after listening to his needs we determined my listing was a better option and price for him. He brought me two more clients, and I closed all three sales within my first 90 days at the agency. My client list kept growing from those initial three sales. The rumor milling co-worker was eventually let go after she threw a flute of champagne in my face at the company Christmas party, where I was recognized for being the highest seller in the office.

Even to women, my sheer existence, the “no-nonsense” way I carried myself, my success was a threat. Her husband had chatted me up at the party, nothing inappropriate just a simple exchange of congratulations and light conversations. which I can only postulate lead to the eventual rage behind the champagne flute incident.

He told me, many months later on a coffee date that was the night he had decided to divorce her. He filed the day after Christmas and it was served to her on Valentine's day. Ouch. He said at home, I had become a fixation of her lack of confidence. He had warned her that the rumors and posting would be a very bad idea. He said when he met me at the party he realized all the things she had said about me were completely false, and that he had dealt with this with her for years. She even once accused him of cheating on her with a woman in her office even though he had never stepped foot in it. The imaginary affair sparked the creation of a joint Facebook account. We went on several lovely dates and had a wonderful summer fling. in the end, I did not pursue something more serious. He was a bit bitter but accepted it and we remain friends. After the champagne flute incident, it took about 6 months for my boss to relax and realize I was, a woman of my word, and I was not going to do anything I didn’t want to do. My boss and I grew to have a great mentor-mentee relationship. When he saw I had a way with people, and was very good at selling, he took me under his wing (within a respectable distance so not to concern HR) and I became a broker within 16 months of my career.

Once I became a broker, I was able to have more control over my time, I spent more days working from home, enjoying my kids. I no longer needed my full-time nanny to drop them off and pick them up from school. She stayed on part-time while she attended college.

By age 30 I had made my first million dollars, had my own brokerage firm, and was “the boss”. Which wasn’t bad for a girl who only had a 2-year degree from a community college and was raising two kids on her own.

With both my kids now in school, I had decided it was time to go back to the dating world. I am a very efficient person. The questions I ask someone to determine whether or not I meet them. Several times I had experiences where guys had given me the “right answers’ but when I met them they were more interested in talking about my money, how much did I make? How much did my car cost? This was always a red flag and I often promptly ended the date there. I even once had a guy ask me if I fucked my boss to get my job. To which I responded “I wish that was possible! It would have saved me 250 hours that I could have spent with my kids!” followed by me asking the bartender to cash me out.

No matter where I turned it seemed I faced some sort of stereotype, gender norm, or judgment. I learned quickly I had to be careful who I entertained whether it be romantically, professionally, or platonically. The more my wealth flourished, the more I attracted leeches.

One night I came home, I popped my heels off and I poured myself a drink, my usual nightly routine. My nanny had just finished dinner, she asked me about my day. She told me about the boy's day. I remember her taking my glass, and she looked into my eyes. I am not sure if it was my tired state, but I had stared too long. She took my disheveled look like an open invitation to kiss me and proceeded to grind on me. It took me what felt like way too long to realize what was happening. I pushed her off and we awkwardly stood there for a moment both trying to collect our thoughts. She apologized, and said she thought she sensed something. I told her it was ok. She started panicking, asking if she would be fired, to which I said “no of course not! it's ok! I will see you tomorrow” She had admitted to me, via email, she was very attracted to me and wanted to be my sugar baby. To which I told her, I didn’t want to make our relationship unprofessional. I kept the email for “just in case” because one thing I learned early on in life before the military or anything else was “CYOA” (Cover your own a**!) She was a no call no show the next three days. I thought nothing of it and hired a new nanny. This time I hired a single mom of 2 in her mid 40′s, who came with great references and was much cheaper hourly than the au pair agency. She and her oldest daughter both clean for me every Wednesday and Saturday and I set her sister up with a job at the agency. She is a fantastic fit and has been with us for two years now.

A month after the kissing incident,I received a call from the agency stating the young lady was preparing to sue for damages and wrongful firing. A simple forwarding of the email resolved the case, and I received an apology from the agency. Her lawyer dropped her as a client. She had illegally recorded me in my own home and this was her only evidence. My full video on the nanny cam and the email were enough to clear me of any wrongdoing. About 6 months later I received a check from her lawyer for my time and legal fees. I am now 32, and I can honestly say while being successful has its benefits, I often miss when I was broke. I miss the lack of judgment I faced. I had different stress as a broke single mom than I do now. In fact, I think I have MORE stress now. When you become successful you must be hyper-aware at all times. The constant feeling of being on edge, who to trust, where to invest, and the constant ridicule can be tiring. The only difference between the new me and the old me is I can take a vacation to get away from it.

#succesfulwomen #successstories #personalblog #mommyblogger #success

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ciathyzareposts · 4 years

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Missed Classic 80: The Price of Magik (1986) – Introduction

By Ilmari

It’s again a time to celebrate the start of a new year with a round of Missed Classics. Just as 2010s are changing into 2020s I am about to come to an end in my own Level 9 marathon by playing, first, The Price of Magik, and then, The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole.

Magik with k, bekause it sounds kool?

I said an, not the end. With these two games, a certain phase in the development of Level 9 is coming to a close. Looking back at all the products of Level 9 I’ve played, it seems that their most creative phase was with their four first games. Their first game, Colossal Adventure, itself mostly just a feat of importing an existing game from mainframe to PC, served as a template for all their Treasure Hunts, by which I mean a game where the main goal (aside from possible end sequence) is to maximize your score by collecting as many treasure items as possible (treasure items being usually, but not always, of no use beyond their role as treasure). The most perfect example of a Treasure Hunt in Level 9 collection was their third game, Dungeon Adventure, which.got rid of everything superfluous, like end sequences, and concentrated on looting treasures within the most fiendish puzzle box the developers could think of.

The second Level 9 game, Adventure Quest, could be said to form a template of Travel Story, where plot progression means basically advancement into a new map area (although backtracking might be allowed) and where main goal is to get to the final room (and possibly carry something into the final room or do something there). Travel stories Level 9 perfected with their fourth game, Snowball, where you have to move through a spaceship full of dangers into the final room where a terrorist is hiding with a bomb.

After this first round of creativity, the development of Level 9 games has been mostly technical – they added pictures and streamlined their parser – while most of their games still used the two templates. Lords of Time, Emerald Isle and Red Moon were again Treasure Hunts, although two of them tried to hide this fact with a meatier plot. Return to Eden, on the other hand, was like a bad parody of a travel story, with player walking through disconnected areas containing various threats to a trial, which they will lose unless they carry the right items with them.

This doesn’t mean Level 9 had completely stopped innovating. Interestingly, their imaginative side showed most with their games made for Mosaic. Partly these innovations must have been caused by a desire to make easier games. This is especially true with their take on CYOA genre, where The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole served as template and The Archers brought that template to fruition, especially by making the point system of the first game more sensible and giving real options for the player.

A more interesting novelty was what I could call a Game of Exploration, to which The Saga of Erik the Viking served as the template. The idea behind the name is simple. After a short introductory sequence, game world – big, but empty, as has been the case with Level 9 games – opens up almost completely, with only few hidden and/or closed spots. The task of the player is to explore this world, with no real idea what to look for (there are even no treasures to be discovered), and find the key items required for triggering the end game. This template was perfected in The Worm in Paradise, where the dystopian-bureaucratic context and the amnesia of the player character made the mindless exploration understandable.

The reason of this long prologue is that I feel The Price of Magik falls squarely into the Exploration type. It at first seems like it would be another Travel Story, but then… and now I am getting ahead of myself.

Let’s begin with the premise of the game. The Price of Magik continues the story of Red Moon, which was basically a tale of finding a stolen artifact (titular Red Moon of Baskalos), which was the source of all magik. In this game, the artifact is stolen again! The supposed guardian of the Red Moon, Myglar, wanted to make himself immortal and channeled all its energy to this task. Because of this, Red Moon is about to fade and magik will disappear.

Manual reveals also that the player was transferred to the House of the Red Moon magikally, after blowing and exploding a big red balloon found in an attic. I have a feeling nothing at all will be heard about this story in the game itself.

At the beginning of the game I found myself at the driveway outside the yard. There was a woodshed, leading to a herb garden, each containing a number of objects, some of which required some small scale puzzle solving (for instance, I could use a candle to burn a pile of wood into ashes).

The house itself could be entered from two directions – through the front door or by climbing a vine to the attic. It was completely dark inside, but herb garden had contained some eyebright flowers, which were said to miraculously improve vision when rubbed into your eyes.

Let’s start describing the house itself from the top. There was a small attic, consisting only of few rooms. Among other things, the attic contained a mirror, which I could cut to pieces with a diamond ring. Beyond the mirror I found a prism, which had the word XAM written on it.

This is the perfect time to speak of the magic system. Just like in Red Moon, you need two things for doing magic – spell word and corresponding focus. In Red Moon, the spell words, the required foci and the effects of each spell were described in the manual. No such luck here. Spell words – always consisting of three letters – are scattered around the game world, for instance, examining the knocker at the front door revealed the word ESP. Helpfully, if you try to cast a spell, but you don’t yet have the focus, the game will tell you what focus you’ll need.

Spell words seems to have some relation to the effects – you could think XAM might be about examining and ESP about telepathy – but it needs some research to verify what a spell actually does. As a book found within the house has told me, the game has three kinds of spells – spells you just cast generally, spells you cast to some direction and spells that you cast at some object/character (player included).

Interestingly, magic affects your characteristics. You start the game from the ripe age of 20, and each spell you cast makes you older – when you turn 100, you die. Magic is also connected to your sanity – the less sane you are, the more power your casting has. Naturally you want to reduce your sanity as much as you can, so how do you do it? Well, finding spell words and foci and casting spells for the first time does this. In addition, there are other events that shake your sanity – for instance, if you knock on front door, some nameless monster appears for a second and frightens you.

So, you’d think the game would be spent in searching new spell words and foci. Yet, the very first spell I found changed this radically – when I used XAM at any focus, I would learn what spell it was a focus for, thus making all spell words hidden in the house redundant. I then quickly learned that one focus – a piece of mirror I had just acquired – changed the game even more radically. The mirror let me cast ZEN, which gave me access to “mists of time”, which was essentially just a quick way to access nearly all of the map and even places that at this point would have otherwise been closed off from me (changing this from Travel Story to a Game of Exploration).

I decided I wanted to play this game more organically, learning spell words as I discovered them in the house and accessing new places only after I had solved the necessary puzzles (like Captain Kirk said, we are meant to fight our way through and claw every inch, not stroll to the sound of flutes). Back to mapping, then. Since most of this was pretty humdrum, I’ll try to be terse, indicating only the more interesting things I found and puzzles I solved.

My very own sidekick

The most interesting thing in the second floor was a bat that started to follow me. It took me a while to get this, but the HYP(nosis) spell let me command creatures. When I HYPnotized the fellow, it helped me to catch a moving wheel (another focus). Other puzzles on this floor were simple, once I found proper spells. There was one secret room containing lever, pulling of which released a sword. I also found an inscription of a spell on a roof, which I could read only by using the spell FLY on myself.

Finally, there was a room full of chests of many different colours. Opening up a wrong one created an explosion that hurt my stamina. It all came down to using the DOW spell – meant for checking if an item is magical – to find the one I could open safely, Inside, I found some salt.

I really don’t want to know what’s going on here…

The bottom floor was the largest in the house. The most remarkable thing I found in it was the Red Moon I supposed I was searching for. I couldn’t take it, because its magic gave me a jolt, but touching it rejuvenated me, making my age quite irrelevant. I also could levitate the Red Moon with my FLY spell, revealing yet another spell word (DED).

In addition, I met a ghost, who was willing to give me its old armour, if I just buried all his bones, scattered in few places. I had already found a shovel, and a good burial place was in the garden.

I also met my first hostile creatures: werewolf, wight, skeleton and a giant slug. The game has a combat system, but just like in Red Moon, I assume it’s completely useless. Indeed, I could walk around the wight, the skeleton wandered from one room to another and the wolf was scared of wolfsbane. And the slug? It didn’t like salt.

Beyond the slug opened up a whole new, underground section of the game. Having now searched through the house proper, I think it’s best to end the post. The main problem, as in many earlier Level 9 games, is that the game world is too sparse in comparison with its size – I’ve spent most of time mapping, instead of solving puzzles.

Spells (if I’ve “officially” found them) – foci (if I own them) – what they do: ESP – ? – ?, ? – candle – ?, ? – ashes – ?, DET – elder cross – detect danger, XAM – prism – checks if target is focus for some spell, ZEN – mirror – rapid movement, MAD – grimoire – make target mad, HYP – staff – hypnotises targets, ? – valerian – ?, DED – wheel – cancels spells, FLY- broom – makes target fly, DOW – pendulum – check if target is magical, BOM – ? – ?, SEE – feldspar lense – finding secret doors

Inventory otherwise: mandrake, skull, knucklebone, ring, eyebright flowers, cage, robes, knife, wolfsbane, shovel, plate armour

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/missed-classic-80-the-price-of-magik-1986-introduction/

#retro games #dos games #retro #crpg #adventure #amiga #oldcomputers #8bit #16bit #blog #repost

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actor-mark · 3 years

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Red Candles Pt 6

See Reflection

Agreeing with yourself that it’s worth at least saying hello, you venture over to the mirror properly to view your reflection and hopefully the reflection of the other trapped within

but...

There’s nothing.... No reflection, no other face looking back... no one home...and yet-

The cracks buzz a little as you move closer and before you know what’s happened, the world around you turns to black...

The faint squeal of high pitched ringing slowly greets your ears growing louder as a familiar echoing voice booms through your mind.

"̲̅Y̲̅ᴏ̲̅ᴜ̲̅ ̲̅ɴ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ᴠ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ʀ̲̅ ̲̅ʟ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ᴀ̲̅ʀ̲̅ɴ̲̅.̲̅.̲̅ ̲̅D̲̅ᴏ̲̅ ̲̅ʏ̲̅ᴏ̲̅ᴜ̲̅?̲̅

The gentleman slowly wanders into your view, glitching rather than walking. Dressed in the sharp white suit, black shirt and red tie, arms folded behind his back and a look of almost annoyance to him. “̲̅D̲̅ɪ̲̅ᴅ̲̅ ̲̅ʏ̲̅ᴏ̲̅ᴜ̲̅ ̲̅ᴄ̲̅ᴏ̲̅ᴍ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ ̲̅ʜ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ʀ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ ̲̅ᴊ̲̅ᴜ̲̅s̲̅ᴛ̲̅ ̲̅ᴛ̲̅ᴏ̲̅ ̲̅ɢ̲̅ᴀ̲̅ᴡ̲̅ᴋ̲̅?̲̅ ̲̅T̲̅ᴏ̲̅ ̲̅ᴘ̲̅ʀ̲̅ʏ̲̅?̲̅ ̲̅P̲̅ᴇ̲̅ʀ̲̅ʜ̲̅ᴀ̲̅ᴘ̲̅s̲̅ ̲̅I̲̅ ̲̅ᴍ̲̅ɪ̲̅s̲̅ᴊ̲̅ᴜ̲̅ᴅ̲̅ɢ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ᴅ̲̅ ̲̅ʏ̲̅ᴏ̲̅ᴜ̲̅?̲̅”̲̅ ̲̅

He flickers and is gone, now behind you instead his voice a low snarl in your ear and your head.

“̲̅P̲̅ᴇ̲̅ʀ̲̅ʜ̲̅ᴀ̲̅ᴘ̲̅s̲̅ ̲̅ʏ̲̅ᴏ̲̅ᴜ̲̅’̲̅ʀ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ ̲̅ᴏ̲̅ɴ̲̅ ̲̅H̲̅I̲̅S̲̅ ̲̅s̲̅ɪ̲̅ᴅ̲̅ᴇ̲̅?̲̅”̲̅ ̲̅

Gone again, now to the side, a red silhouette booming behind him.

“̲̅P̲̅ᴇ̲̅ʀ̲̅ʜ̲̅ᴀ̲̅ᴘ̲̅s̲̅ ̲̅ʏ̲̅ᴏ̲̅ᴜ̲̅’̲̅ʀ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ ̲̅ᴀ̲̅s̲̅s̲̅ɪ̲̅s̲̅ᴛ̲̅ɪ̲̅ɴ̲̅ɢ̲̅ ̲̅ʜ̲̅ɪ̲̅s̲̅ ̲̅ʟ̲̅ɪ̲̅ᴛ̲̅ᴛ̲̅ʟ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ ̲̅s̲̅ᴄ̲̅ʜ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ᴍ̲̅ᴇ̲̅s̲̅ ̲̅ɪ̲̅ɴ̲̅s̲̅ᴛ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ᴀ̲̅ᴅ̲̅?̲̅ ̲̅A̲̅ɴ̲̅ᴅ̲̅ ̲̅I̲̅’̲̅ᴠ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ ̲̅ᴊ̲̅ᴜ̲̅s̲̅ᴛ̲̅ ̲̅ʙ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ɴ̲̅ ̲̅ᴡ̲̅ʀ̲̅ᴏ̲̅ɴ̲̅ɢ̲̅ ̲̅ᴀ̲̅ʙ̲̅ᴏ̲̅ᴜ̲̅ᴛ̲̅ ̲̅ʏ̲̅ᴏ̲̅ᴜ̲̅ ̲̅ᴀ̲̅ʟ̲̅ʟ̲̅ ̲̅ᴛ̲̅ʜ̲̅ɪ̲̅s̲̅ ̲̅ᴛ̲̅ɪ̲̅ᴍ̲̅ᴇ̲̅?̲̅”̲̅ ̲̅

His voice shattered into anger as the glitching increased

“̲̅P̲̅ᴇ̲̅ʀ̲̅ʜ̲̅ᴀ̲̅ᴘ̲̅s̲̅ ̲̅I̲̅ ̲̅s̲̅ʜ̲̅ᴏ̲̅ᴜ̲̅ʟ̲̅ᴅ̲̅ ̲̅ᴊ̲̅ᴜ̲̅s̲̅ᴛ̲̅ ̲̅R̲̅E̲̅M̲̅O̲̅V̲̅E̲̅ ̲̅Y̲̅O̲̅U̲̅ ̲̅W̲̅H̲̅E̲̅R̲̅E̲̅ ̲̅Y̲̅O̲̅U̲̅ ̲̅S̲̅T̲̅A̲̅N̲̅D̲̅?̲̅”̲̅

He glared you down, slowly taking a breath, taking his time to smooth out the lapels of his suit jacket and pace himself again. The red silhouette dropping as flickers of blue shone through.

“̲̅P̲̅ᴇ̲̅ʀ̲̅ʜ̲̅ᴀ̲̅ᴘ̲̅s̲̅.̲̅.̲̅.̲̅ ̲̅ʏ̲̅ᴏ̲̅ᴜ̲̅ ̲̅ᴄ̲̅ᴀ̲̅ᴍ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ ̲̅ᴛ̲̅ᴏ̲̅ ̲̅s̲̅ᴇ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ᴋ̲̅ ̲̅ᴍ̲̅ʏ̲̅ ̲̅ʜ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ʟ̲̅ᴘ̲̅?̲̅ ̲̅I̲̅ ̲̅ᴡ̲̅ᴏ̲̅ᴜ̲̅ʟ̲̅ᴅ̲̅ɴ̲̅’̲̅ᴛ̲̅ ̲̅ʙ̲̅ʟ̲̅ᴀ̲̅ᴍ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ ̲̅ʏ̲̅ᴏ̲̅ᴜ̲̅ ̲̅ғ̲̅ᴏ̲̅ʀ̲̅ ̲̅ғ̲̅ᴀ̲̅ʟ̲̅ʟ̲̅ɪ̲̅ɴ̲̅ɢ̲̅ ̲̅ɪ̲̅ɴ̲̅ᴛ̲̅ᴏ̲̅ ̲̅ʜ̲̅ɪ̲̅s̲̅ ̲̅ᴛ̲̅ʀ̲̅ɪ̲̅ᴄ̲̅ᴋ̲̅s̲̅ ̲̅ᴀ̲̅ɢ̲̅ᴀ̲̅ɪ̲̅ɴ̲̅,̲̅ ̲̅ᴛ̲̅ʜ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ ̲̅ᴍ̲̅ᴀ̲̅ɴ̲̅ ̲̅ɪ̲̅s̲̅ ̲̅ᴀ̲̅ ̲̅ᴄ̲̅ᴜ̲̅ɴ̲̅ɴ̲̅ɪ̲̅ɴ̲̅ɢ̲̅ ̲̅ʏ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ᴛ̲̅ ̲̅ᴠ̲̅ɪ̲̅ʟ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ ̲̅ᴛ̲̅ʀ̲̅ɪ̲̅ᴄ̲̅ᴋ̲̅s̲̅ᴛ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ʀ̲̅.̲̅.̲̅.̲̅ ̲̅S̲̅ᴛ̲̅ɪ̲̅ʟ̲̅ʟ̲̅.̲̅.̲̅.̲̅”̲̅ ̲̅

He took a sigh but before he exhaled he vanished and reappeared elsewhere to your right, the cracks of the mirror showing behind him in a blue icy detail.

“̲̅I̲̅ғ̲̅ ̲̅ʏ̲̅ᴏ̲̅ᴜ̲̅ ̲̅ʀ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ᴀ̲̅ʟ̲̅ʟ̲̅ʏ̲̅ ̲̅ᴡ̲̅ᴀ̲̅ɴ̲̅ᴛ̲̅ ̲̅ᴛ̲̅ᴏ̲̅ ̲̅s̲̅ᴛ̲̅ᴏ̲̅ᴘ̲̅ ̲̅ʜ̲̅ɪ̲̅ᴍ̲̅.̲̅.̲̅.̲̅ ̲̅O̲̅ɴ̲̅ᴄ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ ̲̅ᴀ̲̅ɴ̲̅ᴅ̲̅ ̲̅ғ̲̅ᴏ̲̅ʀ̲̅ ̲̅ᴀ̲̅ʟ̲̅ʟ̲̅,̲̅ ̲̅ʏ̲̅ᴏ̲̅ᴜ̲̅’̲̅ʟ̲̅ʟ̲̅ ̲̅ɴ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ᴅ̲̅ ̲̅ᴛ̲̅ᴏ̲̅ ̲̅ᴄ̲̅ᴜ̲̅ᴛ̲̅ ̲̅ᴏ̲̅ғ̲̅ғ̲̅ ̲̅ʜ̲̅ɪ̲̅s̲̅.̲̅.̲̅.̲̅.̲̅ᴄ̲̅ᴏ̲̅ɴ̲̅ɴ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ᴄ̲̅ᴛ̲̅ɪ̲̅ᴏ̲̅ɴ̲̅s̲̅.̲̅.̲̅.̲̅”̲̅ ̲̅

The image fizzed in static and a candelabra of red candles with blue flames took its place

“̲̅I̲̅ғ̲̅ ̲̅ʏ̲̅ᴏ̲̅ᴜ̲̅ ̲̅ᴛ̲̅ʀ̲̅ᴜ̲̅ʟ̲̅ʏ̲̅ ̲̅ᴡ̲̅ᴀ̲̅ɴ̲̅ᴛ̲̅ ̲̅ᴛ̲̅ᴏ̲̅ ̲̅ᴇ̲̅s̲̅ᴄ̲̅ᴀ̲̅ᴘ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ ̲̅ʜ̲̅ɪ̲̅s̲̅ ̲̅ʟ̲̅ɪ̲̅ᴛ̲̅ᴛ̲̅ʟ̲̅ᴇ̲̅.̲̅.̲̅.̲̅G̲̅A̲̅M̲̅E̲̅S̲̅.̲̅.̲̅.̲̅ ̲̅ʏ̲̅ᴏ̲̅ᴜ̲̅’̲̅ʟ̲̅ʟ̲̅ ̲̅ɴ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ᴅ̲̅ ̲̅ᴛ̲̅ᴏ̲̅ ̲̅ғ̲̅ɪ̲̅ɴ̲̅ᴅ̲̅ ̲̅ᴛ̲̅ʜ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ ̲̅ʟ̲̅ᴀ̲̅s̲̅ᴛ̲̅ ̲̅ᴏ̲̅ғ̲̅ ̲̅ʜ̲̅ɪ̲̅s̲̅ ̲̅ʀ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ᴅ̲̅ ̲̅ᴄ̲̅ᴀ̲̅ɴ̲̅ᴅ̲̅ʟ̲̅ᴇ̲̅s̲̅,̲̅ ̲̅ᴀ̲̅ɴ̲̅ᴅ̲̅ ̲̅ɢ̲̅ɪ̲̅ᴠ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ ̲̅ᴛ̲̅ʜ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ᴍ̲̅ ̲̅ᴛ̲̅ʜ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ ̲̅H̲̅ᴏ̲̅ʟ̲̅ʟ̲̅ᴏ̲̅ᴡ̲̅ ̲̅ғ̲̅ʟ̲̅ᴀ̲̅ᴍ̲̅ᴇ̲̅.̲̅.̲̅.̲̅ ̲̅I̲̅ᴛ̲̅’̲̅ʟ̲̅ʟ̲̅ ̲̅s̲̅ᴇ̲̅ᴠ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ʀ̲̅ ̲̅ʜ̲̅ɪ̲̅s̲̅ ̲̅ᴄ̲̅ᴏ̲̅ɴ̲̅ɴ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ᴄ̲̅ᴛ̲̅ɪ̲̅ᴏ̲̅ɴ̲̅ ̲̅ᴛ̲̅ᴏ̲̅ ̲̅ᴛ̲̅ʜ̲̅ɪ̲̅s̲̅ ̲̅ᴘ̲̅ʟ̲̅ᴀ̲̅ᴄ̲̅ᴇ̲̅.̲̅.̲̅.̲̅ ̲̅O̲̅ғ̲̅ ̲̅ᴄ̲̅ᴏ̲̅ᴜ̲̅ʀ̲̅s̲̅ᴇ̲̅”̲̅ ̲̅

The image of Darkiplier returned to stare you down, leaning forward while hands returned behind his back

“̲̅I̲̅ғ̲̅ ̲̅ʏ̲̅ᴏ̲̅ᴜ̲̅ ̲̅ᴀ̲̅ʀ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ ̲̅ʜ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ʟ̲̅ᴘ̲̅ɪ̲̅ɴ̲̅ɢ̲̅ ̲̅ʜ̲̅ɪ̲̅ᴍ̲̅.̲̅.̲̅.̲̅ ̲̅I̲̅ᴛ̲̅’̲̅ʟ̲̅ʟ̲̅ ̲̅ʙ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ ̲̅ᴍ̲̅ᴏ̲̅ʀ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ ̲̅ᴛ̲̅ʜ̲̅ᴀ̲̅ɴ̲̅ ̲̅ᴊ̲̅ᴜ̲̅s̲̅ᴛ̲̅ ̲̅ʜ̲̅ɪ̲̅s̲̅ ̲̅ᴄ̲̅ᴏ̲̅ɴ̲̅ɴ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ᴄ̲̅ᴛ̲̅ɪ̲̅ᴏ̲̅ɴ̲̅s̲̅ ̲̅ᴛ̲̅ᴏ̲̅ ̲̅ᴛ̲̅ʜ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ ̲̅ᴀ̲̅ғ̲̅ᴛ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ʀ̲̅ʟ̲̅ɪ̲̅ғ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ ̲̅ᴛ̲̅ʜ̲̅ᴀ̲̅ᴛ̲̅ ̲̅I̲̅ ̲̅s̲̅ᴇ̲̅ᴠ̲̅ᴇ̲̅ʀ̲̅.̲̅.̲̅.̲̅.̲̅.̲̅”̲̅ ̲̅ ̲̅

He held his pose as the area around you begins to fall back, to split into multiple versions, quickly zooming out until you’re, with a snap, back in the entrance hall facing the broken mirror. It’s cracks practically vibrating with the static but it slowly settles down to what it had been before you approached. ¿ʍʌʞʞzᴉƃ ⅎʅq ʌᴉZ

You quickly look around...

To the side, the kitchen... You still have time to grab Mark that coffee and carry on what you were doing

To the right of you is the stairs, you could start searching the house while Mark is distracted.

Your choices are as follows:

Assist

Darkiplier has asked you to find Red Candles somewhere in the manor in an attempt to stop Mark once and for all.

Go Against

Going against Darkiplier is a bad idea, but going against Mark could be even worse. The choice is yours...

OOC: Not who you were expecting? Reminder to new folks you can join in at any time by sending an ask with your vote. The more votes the better the outcome! Thanks again to everyone who’s been voting on these! I appreciate yall! I hope youre enjoying these as much as I’ve been enjoying writing them!

#markiplier #actor mark #ask actor mark #red candles #red candles cyoa #red candles part 6 #cyoa #anwm #adwm #ahwm #darkiplier #ⅎʅq ʞoʌs ɯzx ꓤ

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actor-mark · 3 years

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Red Candles Pt 3

Open The Door

Holding your breath, and taking one last glance down the hall to possible safety, you steel your nerves and slowly push the door open. Thankfully it doesn’t creak but it feels like it just might if you aren’t careful enough and you take the extra precaution, ever so slowly pushing the door open to peek inside. Within? Not so harmless after all. It’s just Mark!

He’s in a disheveled mess of his grey suit, jacket off and slung over a chair, sleeves rolled up and tie loose with the collar button open. Hair a wavy mess and strangled into some sort of ponytail at the back that’s honestly useless for the rest left loose in glorious dark mane. Papers scattered all over the ground, his desk, the wall, with red strings going everywhere like some sort of mad theorist. The light of the room coming from the laptop left on a side table currently displaying a word document full of frantic bullet points. Casting the room in soft blueish light.

Mark was currently holding three different pieces of paper, a pen in his mouth, another behind his ear, and another in his hand, almost likely he’d maybe forgotten where he put that pen, grabbed another and then rather than lose focus by dropping the one in his mouth, grabbed another one. Or maybe he just really sucked at finding where that pen went. After opening the door just a touch further, perhaps Mark’s time in this place had made him aware to slight movements, maybe it was bad timing as he’d turned around at the same time and lifted his head up from the pages to look at the door and make eye contact, but he sort of froze for a moment. One might have expected the color to drain, or for him to be startled but he just sort of stood staring for a moment, as if trying to figure if you were real or some figment of the house. Then his eyebrows went up. “HEY!” there went that pen. “What’re you doin’ here? It’s like 1am!” He looked to his watch “3am! - wait really? Oh shit” He quickly scurried to the laptop, bringing up discord and checked a few messages before setting it to its desktop screen. “Sorry uh- HEEEY! How ya doin? Everything ok? You should have called! Er-. did you call?” He fished the phone out of his left pocket. “If you did I didnt get any- ah. everything ok? It’s pretty late! Ah- I mean, not that you aren’t welcome to stay or anything! Just kinda odd- er.. Can I getcha a tea or something? Hot chocolate? Coffee?” Mark haphazardly started rounding up the stray papers, shuffling them together into a pile and setting them on the desk nearby. “Or- Wait... did you come here for that thing? I bet it was that right?... or-..?”

Your Choices are as follows:

Point to the papers Ask Mark about his work and what he was up to. There’s a lot of papers everywhere, a lot more crumbled in the waste bin.

Nod in agreement Why yes you are here for that “thing” and a drink sounds great actually! Nothing wrong with hanging out.

OOC: A not so unanimous vote this time but still fun to see! thank you everyone for voting! We’ve met our trusted partner in crime, lets see how far down this rabbit hole goes eh?

#actor mark #ask actor mark #markiplier #red candles #red candles cyoa #cyoa #chose your own adventure #adwm #ahwm #wkm #you can vote by sending an ask!

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actor-mark · 3 years

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Red Candles Pt 18

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Listen A Little Longer

“Would you like to see which gateway this candle closes?”

You glare at Mark for a little moment, always a fan of his own voice. But if this candle isn’t for him, then maybe Dark made a mistake? Curiosity grips you and you nod your head in agreement. Mark’s expression didn’t change as the area around you both starts to melt and chip away like a cracking painting, Flakes and chunks breaking away from the fleshy meaty area, changing into light and color.

After a while the terrifying place changes to the manor, right back where you started. The front entrance. But off to the side where the broken mirror stands strong.

From this side of afterlife the cracks of the mIrror are much stronger and creak and churn with pressure, daring to break further but they hold firm. Mark ventures to the mirror and slowly pulls open a drawer just beneath it, taking out 3 red candles, setting them in the candelabra. They’d be there? The whole time? Maybe in some other life you’d have found them much sooner with a different choice and you can’t help but kick yourself a bit. Though you get the impression that maybe they didn’t exist on the living side. So maybe you are on the right path?

Mark glaNces back to you holding the completed candle set, striking a match and lighting the three with blue flames. The second he does so, the mirrors cracks heave and sway, turning blue as well, the area around you growing icy cold. Images around you flIcker, trees... thousands of them, or what used to be them, now just thousands upon thousands of stumps left behind.

As you shake the image away you see Mark press his hand to the glass of the mirror and while there’s no reflection of the man, another hand comeS back to place against his. Someone else witHin the mirror.

“You see? .... They’re trapped in here... Forever. And if this final gateway is sealed, they’ll be sealed away with it. With this I can at least give them some company and make eternity a little less.. boring.. I’ve been trying to find a way to get them out of there for a while now.... but.. I’ve been unsuccessful”

Mark frowned and moved away returning towards you, the candelabra coming with him. “But this latest story! Ohhh It’s perfect! It’ll take me right to what I need to help! .. or.. at least I hope it will.. “ ƃɥɹɥɥz ooɹp ʌᗡ .ƃɥⅎu ⅎʅq ƃzsp ʅϺ He gave you a look of sorrow and helplessness. “.... I just.. wanted to help them. To help YOU!” he grit his teeth and shook his head “-and instead you came here to kill me and seal this gateway....” He sighed heavily and set the candle down “Fine.”

Mark snapped his fingers and the multitude of hands still holding you in place sHrank away, returning tot he walls and floors and out of sight. you quickly dust yourself off of the feeling of theIr horrible fingers. after shaking yourself free of the feeling you look back to Mark who’d stepped away from the Mirror and set his hands behind his back

“Go ahead. Seal the gateway. Make me mortal. Kill me. Kill them. It’s what you came here for, right?” 𝐶𝑝𝑦 𝑢𝑓𝑞𝑢𝑠𝑚 𝑓𝑐𝑒𝑦𝑥 𝑛𝑏𝑦 𝑚𝑛𝑢𝑣𝑣𝑠 𝑔𝑦𝑛𝑏𝑖𝑥!

Your choices are as follows:

Blow out the Candles Finish what you started. Dark will be pleased with your progress. It’ll make Mark mortal again and you still have that knife in hand. You can easily blow out the candles cut off his ties to the afterlife and use the gateway before it closes to return to life and stab Mark one more time to finish him off once and for all!

Shake your head Decline. Maybe Mark just wanted to help, maybe he’s learnt his lesson? Or at least he’s given up on this stuff and just wants to focus on his career instead? The District Attorney is still trapped in that mirror and if you seal their gateway then they’ll be trapped and alone forever. Dark’s a man of vengeance, he sacrificed the DA before and likely wouldn’t care doing it again. Maybe Dark went too far this time?

Mark doesn’t speak any further, just stares you down, arms folded behind his back, awaiting your choices as he always has. He understands sometimes choices take time and this time, is willing to wait however long it takes. The silhouette of the person in the mirror slowly places their hands against the glass on the opposite side. You get a sense of pleading. .--. .-.. . .- ... . / ... .--. .- .-. . / -- -.-- / ..-. .-. .. . -. -..

OOC: Here it is folks! Your final choice! What will you do? You have the Red Candles, you have the Hollow Flame, you have way back to life and a knife to banish Mark to this place forever. Dark is waiting patiently. So.... The choice is now yours and fate in your hands. I look forward to the ending!

#markiplier #actor mark #ask actor mark #red candles #red candles cyoa #red candles part 18 #adwm #cyoa #ahwm #wkm #darkiplier #wkm da

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actor-mark · 3 years

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OOC: Red Candles Shoutouts

I just wanted to give a couple shout outs to some really cool peoples that I’ve noticed while writing Red Candles!

@shattered-da First off has been super awesome and super fast at grabbing the hidden codes within a few of the posts and translating them for others. If you wanna see what they say you should swing by their reblogs of the posts and check em out.

@theoryfan205 Has been super cool with giving me reasons behind the choices they make and detailing what it is that’s influencing them to make those decisions and this helps a lot for the writing aspect

The regulars who have voted every single time so far

@hawkeye221b @tinywy-frost @hypno-creator-party-expert @specifiedshippinglover13 @shizukuthepudu @theoryfan205

You folks are awesome and I appreciate your continued input!

And finally to @hawkeye221b @tinywy-frost and @melchoinsassy who are the unfortunate ones who deal with my BS on a regular basis, have been through my CYOA’s before and continue to love and support what I make

Thank you everyone else on Anonymous or just chipping in on occasion or if you only just saw and hopped aboard today, youre all fantastic and are making this adventure a lot of fun! I couldnt do it without youre input so thank you! <3 Big hugs!

- M

#actor mark #ask actor mark #ooc post #mun speaks #red candles #red candles cyoa

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actor-mark · 3 years

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Red Candles Pt 19 The End

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Shake Your Head

It takes a second for Mark to realize what you’re choosing. You shake your head again and take a step back putting your hands up to show him that no. No you won’t end it like this. The DA is innocent in all of this and if Dark wants to get rid of Mark so badly he can do it another way.

Mark’s shoulders release their tension and he closes his eyes. Moving over to the mirror “It’s ok... Can we pass through?” There’s a nod from the silhouette figure and Mark turns back to offer his hand to you. You still don’t trust this bastard, so you elect to placing your hand on the glass instead, the DA’s hand touching back, before fingers seep through the shattered glass and grab your hand with a powerful yank.

It’s like dying all over again, but with a gasp of breath you reenter into the cooler air, easier to breathe. You quickly stumble to your feet and check yourself over. Alive. Breathing. Vitals good. Alive. you turn around to see the silhouette of the DA sink away and vanish again into the mirror world. Mark carefully places the candelabra on the mantle underneath the mirror, taking the candles from each holder and putting them out with an odd twist of his hand, extinguishing them safely before tucking them into pocket for safety.

Slowly Mark turns to you with a solemn expression. “..... Thank you. They’re trapped in there because of THEM. I’ve been trying to get them out but.. I’ve had very little success...” He sighed heavily and moved to the entrance of the home, opening the door to show you out. “..... Safe journey back home.”

You stare Mark down for a moment before moving to place the knife you took on the mantle by the now empty candelabra. Mark smirks a bit. “Cheeky devil.” He shifts to pull a gun from the back of his belt, held aimed to the ceiling and away from you, finger off the trigger “Rock beats scissors” The gun is the one from the kitchen drawer you’d seen. You can’t help but smirk a little. How that could have ended... Much worse. With a nod you head out the door, turning back to look one last time at the mirror in time to see a silhouetted hand wave you goodbye before the door closes behind you.

A few steps away from the door you pause to think about what you just went through. Mark is a bastard, that’s clear as day... but maybe there’s hope for the DA somewhere... You take a breath, brace against the rain and take off at a sprint back to your car. What a night.. time to go home and sleep the day away.... and breakfast.. Breakfast sounds great right about now... As you drive away from the manor you take one last look back at it in recollection.

¿ǝɔᴉoɥɔ ʇɥƃᴉɹ ǝɥʇ ǝʞɐɯ noʎ pᴉᗡ

OOC: AAAAAAAAAA There it is folks! The End! thank you all SO SO SO SO MUCH for taking part in this little adventure! I’m super pumped for writing more of these and for ANWM2. I just brought a creative writing partner in to help out with it too and super psyched for you all to see what I got in store!

I’ll definitely do another one of these in future but for now I’ll be returning to my usual asks for a while and taking a break! Thank you all again!

@shattered-da Your code cracking skills have always been spot on! Your theories about them have been fantastic too. I think you hit the nail on the head on all but one! lol @tinywy-frost props for helping out with the codes! Always been fantastic at them! (Even when the code flipping makes things turn out misspelled oops!) To everyone else that has been sending in votes you are all fantastic! I wish I could hug y’all but alas! lol

I hope everyone enjoyed this adventure as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it!

See you all in the next one

-Mark

#actor mark #ask actor mark #markiplier #red candles part 19 #red candles cyoa #cyoa #wkm #ahwm #adwm

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actor-mark · 3 years

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Red Candles Pt 7

Assist (CW: Some spoopi stuff ahead. Knife mention and image, gun mention and image, twisting/spiral hallway image and detail, slight hands horror. Be safe <3)

While you slowly get your bearings from the visit to Dark, you agree that he’s right and Mark needs to be stopped before you get too deep into his new manipulating game.

Quickly you hurry up the steps to the upper floor and slip out of sight into the hallway. A long stretching path of doorways and an over the top Rich Boy carpet.

Before you are 7 doors. 3 on either side and one at the very end of the hallway. You don’t remember this hallway from what you’ve seen of this place, and the longer you look towards that end door the more the hall seems to twist in a spiral, as if you’ll start walking on the ceiling if you followed the carpet.

Shaking your head you try not to focus on the twist of the hall and venture towards the first door on your left. Red Candles... That’s all. Just gotta find some funky looking candle holder with red candles in it and somehow figure out how to make a “Hollow Flame” that’s blue. Easy peasy right?.... Right?

The first room is a small washroom, toilet, shower, sink and a fluffy towel on a rail. Not much of interest, not even things like toothbrush and such, its spotless, unused. You back out and cross the hall to door number 2 on the right hand side. A small study, a little searching reveals not much at all either. Door number 3 on the left, a guest bedroom. Bed, desk, wardrobe, night stand, a trunk at the foot of the bed, nothing too fancy. Door number 4, locked. Door number 5, another guest bedroom pretty similar to the first. Door number 6, locked. Finally you reach the door at the very end of the hallway and out of instinct you turn to look back at where you came in.

The hallway is straight again...

It’s a little jarring but you know this house likes to mess with people. You feign being unphased by it and proceed to the final door.

It opens with a slow creak and the room inside is bathed with a strange greenish glow, little particles float through the air like dust, like orbs, there’s whispers and intangible movement. The feeling of hands grip at your ankles, your shins, trying to drag you downward.

There’s the feeling of a hand grasping around your throat, cutting off air, but you push forward. More and more hands and shadowy shapes passing in your peripheral vision. You’ve heard of them before, whether briefly or in detail. Hollows.

Empty shells, bodies without a soul, reanimated and left to wander. Mark’s puppets. ɥⅎ ʌʌᴉn

You keep pressing forward and finally reach the desk in front of you, hands phasing through it before you manage to place them and the room slowly bleeds back into reality again. The glow gone, particles gone, whispers gone.

“We’ll fight you in the harbor, we’ll battle you on land but when you meet singin’ pirates they’ll be more than ye can stand~ A pirate I was meant ta beeee, trim the sails and roam the seaaa~”

You can hear Mark singing down the hall, odd.. wasn’t he downstairs? Is he looking for you? No... The room moved, of course it did. You’re downstairs again? Or is Mark now upstairs? Either way he’s close... qoʌɥɹp ʌɥʅʅsx ʍɯz ɯʅɹƃⅎzx sƃɹp ʍzʌᴉ⅁

You opt for stealth and begin to search the room you’re in quietly, the house lead you here so best to check. But once again, there’s not much to see. Books, papers, a lamp, a chair... Why did it bring you here? To throw you off course? The house needs Mark after all. An eternal puppet, a toy, a play thing, kept alive for all eternity, and for what?

You curl your fists a little and go for the door, and enter the- kitchen? Okay.

The kitchen’s how you imagined, same as what you had seen before, little Buddy was no longer here, but the kitchen had been left spotless by its previous inhabitant. Maybe it would be a good idea to arm yourself.. y’know.. just in case?

Hunting around you find the knife rack, but in one of the draws it seems there’s also a hand held gun. Something feels off about them both but it’s one or the other.

Your choices are as follows:

Take the knife If something were to happen, it’s the least lethal option at least. The blade is impeccably sharp though, glossy and reflective but it calls to you in a strange way. For some reason you hear the faintest notes of a music box in your head?

Take the gun

Why is there even a gun in here? Who left it here? Is it Chef’s? Marks!? Better in your hands than his at least. A gun seems a bit extreme, but it will quickly keep your assailants at bay from range and you wont need to get close. Like the knife though..it seems to call to you in a way that feels unsettling.

sƃzʌʍ ⅎʅq ʇɯɹᴉʎ ooɹp sƃʅ⅄

OOC: Bit of a strange one this time but a little glimpse at the house and my concept of Hollows. For those who dont know what Hollows are, you’ll find out soon enough.

Reminder to new folks joining, you can vote by sending an ask to the blog! Votes in comments or reblogs do not count as I wont be screenshotting them for the tally up as I do not get notified of these. I only get notified of asks (thanks tumblr)

thanks again to those who have been voting through this story!

#actor mark #markiplier #ask actor mark #red candles #red candles cyoa #cyoa #ahwm #adwm #wkm #cw knife #cw gun #cw horror #cw spiral

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actor-mark · 3 years

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Red Candles Pt 4

Ask about the Papers

You make a few vague gestures to the state of the room, then point to the papers in Marks hand with a quizzical expression.

“Huh? Oh these?” He gets defensive for a moment bringing them closer to hide them from you, seems to think it over and reconsiders. “I supppoooseeee you can take a lil look, I could use a second opinion actually, Amy’s out of town and Eef’s on brake, plus I’m pretty sure Amy wouldn’t be too happy with me calling her this time of night. Here-”

Mark thrusts the big stack of papers to you and you take a peek over them. They’re in absolutely no particular order and its a bit awkward to try and figure them out but he’s at least got page numbers so after a quick shuffle you manage to get them right and read through.

It appears to be a script! Creative mind such as his always chasing the next big story, it’s simply titled AHWM2. And its great! At least from the snippets you skim read through. Mentions of a prison and a character marked WW. Something about Mark in a wig and singing Ariana Grande’s Greedy... It’s a haphazard mess of creative drivel but this is clearly just the first draft and seems like it has a lot of potential.

As you lower the pages you blink a bit in confusion, the room is now fully lit, clean, the laptop wallpaper changed to one of Chica, Henry and Spencer playing in the yard, Mark’s dressed in a Cloak shirt with his gray cardigan overtop currently sat on the edge of the bed swinging his feet and swaying his head side to side as he sort of comically waits for you to be done.

“Huh? Done already!? Wow you’re a fast reader! So hey! what did you think? Pretty good right?” He flashes a broad grin and hops off the edge of the bed “I don’t suppose you’d be willing to run a few scenes with me to test em out? There’s a couple I’ve been stuck on and sometimes it helps to get a natural reaction y’know? How about it?”

Mark holds his hands up, palm facing towards the roof like weighing options. “Hmm? Hm?” It’s odd.. but... you seem to know what’s happened as you see the two small colored squares appear. On the left is a small box floating just above his hand, it’s titled YES and the still image appears to be a very happy looking Mark. On the right, another small box floating titled NO and the still image of him looking... disappointed but not particularly upset about it.

You know already that its too late, whatever bullshittery Mark Iplier wants to throw you into with these scenes, you’re already in them. No backing out now..

Your choices are as follows:

YES Mark seems to be weighing the two boxes as if he were scales and he keeps tipping this box a little higher with a grin

NO Whenever this box gets tipped higher he give a big over exaggerated frowny face to you “Yes? or noooo? YES!?!” nodnod “or nooo�� pouty face.

((reminder for newer people: You may jump in at any time you wish! Send an ask to the blog with your choice and the majority vote will be selected to progress! The more people the better this will run!))

OOC: Just wanted to state the writing on the papers is completely irrelevant and just the best thing i could find on google for an image to place there. Also, Y’know I haven’t exactly figured out what to do with a tie breaker yet. Maybe some combination of both or an entire different option in a sort of what would happen if you picked neither or ran out of time being indecisive. Thank you again to everyone who’s been taking part in this! I really appreciate the love this has been getting and I hope y’all are enjoying it so far! Also thank you to everyone who has sent me kind words and compliments on this! Yer all sweeties <3

#markiplier #actor mark #ask actor mark #red candles #red candles part 4 #adwm #wkm #ahwm #cyoa #red candles cyoa

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actor-mark · 3 years

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Red Candles Pt 8

OOC: I wanted to put this at the top of the page so it’s seen. I’m seeing some votes being sent to comments that if tallied could swing the vote in the other direction. However, If you send your vote in a comment it will NOT be counted. I do not receive notifications for these votes and they get missed when I tally up initially. YOU MUST SEND YOUR VOTE IN AN ASK FOR IT TO COUNT. It’s also the easiest way for me to screencap the votes and I don’t want to have to go scouring through all the reblogs comments etc to find them. Please send your votes in an ask to this blog. Thank you.

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Take the Knife

Lured by the soft music box and the fear of what had happened in this place before, you opt to take the knife instead of the gun and with no safe place to tuck it away out of sight, you just keep it in hand and aimed away. Best to be careful while holding it.

It feels a bit better to be armed now, and with Mark skulking around somewhere it brings a little more courage. The music box sounds are louder now to you while you carry it, and you find as you begin to move out of the kitchen that it gets... louder...

You make your way to the next room, a more open hallway of sorts, with large windows overlooking the outer balcony, some book shelves and furniture around.

There’s a flickering light outside, the same you saw when you first got here and elected to go inside. The rain is coming down a little harder now and in the flickers of light its possible to see some sort of figure, a shadow at best from this location, but it looks like there’s someone on the balcony outside?

You dare to venture over to the window and try to peer past the fog and rain and dark but the figure seems to vanish once you get closer.

¿uɹs ᴉʌʎuʌuʌᴉ ⅎʅq ʅϺ

You shake your head and move on, freezing dead as the door right in front of you opens.

“OHEY! There you are! did you get lost? Kitchen’s down the hall” Mark chuckled a bit, and before you can react his arm is slung around your shoulders to steer you out “No time anyway! C’mon we gotta get some lines in! You’re gonna love this scene!”

Mark’s grip is a little firm and persistent but not painful. You have chance to slip away. You have little time to react and two options.

Your choices are as follows:

Injure / Slip Grasp

You have a knife and he doesn’t seem to notice it, one swift motion and you could seriously hurt him and while holding this knife you get a strong gut feeling to go for the mans throat, but you know killing him wont be that easy, still it might buy you some time to wriggle free and get away long enough to search more. Though if you want a less lethal approach you could just as easily slip his grasp with a duck and run in the opposite direction.

Go with him Let Mark steer you away to the living room and join him for running lines, maybe you could talk to him about the candles whereabouts? Ask him some other questions, he seems happy to have company.

OOC: thank you to everyone who voted! I took notice that some people wanted a less violent route so options for violence and none violence will be added and tallied separately with the votes that they are involved in. So you actually get 3 choices this time! How bout that.

#actor mark #markiplier #ask actor mark #red candles #red candles cyoa #red candles part 8 #cyoa #adwm #ahwm #wkm #damien #wkm damien #music box

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actor-mark · 3 years

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Red Candles Pt 5

Yes

“GREAT!” He immediately shifts over to the closet and starts to yank out clothing, some silly hats, the familiar red silk robe, a white suit jacket, some cloak things and then out start flying the costume pieces, all the while to some ridiculous sound effects. Santa hat, a fluffy kings gown, was that the Grinch costume?

After a few more moments out comes a familiar gray suit with a red tie and Mark with a grin “Ah there she is! Seen a lot of adventures this one! I’ll have a new one for the actual thing of course but for now this’ll do just fine! Hey can you hand me those black shoes over there?”

You turn to look where he pointed and.. well.. there’s nothing there. Left, right, even under the bed. Nope, nothing. As you turn back to shrug at him, Mark’s fully dressed in the gray suit, shoes on. “Thanks pal! Alright, shall we?” He gestures to the door, offering you to go first of course.

The hallway is fully lit out there now, and yet somehow still a little eerie, maybe it’s just the emptiness of the house. With how large it was and no one else home, its possible to hear every sound, every creak, every howl of the wind and the patter of rain outside. When had it started raining?

“Thanks for helpin’ me out Pal, I know it’s late, why don’t you go grab us some coffee in the kitchen and I’ll set up the living room for us to work in, yeah? Alright thanks, see ya there!” Mark diverts from you once you both reach the bottom of the stairs and you watch him go off out of sight. Slowly you turn your attention back to the house, alone once more but at least with light this time...

You’ve heard stories... so many about this place... The house is an ever shifting maze but you manage to find your way to the entrance hall and pause.

Before you, lies the mirror.

THE mirror.

Still broken and shattered but left hanging on the wall, its cracks buzzing with static, and curiosity takes hold as you venture closer...closer... and pause just shy of seeing your own reflection. Someone’s in there, you know that much, but perhaps it’s not worth the risk of bothering them. You’re here for a reason after all and getting bogged down trying to helfp THEM is going to seriously slow you down, never mind what Mark might have to say about it. He’s waiting on you to get coffee too, and would absolutely notice if you took too long. Then again.. maybe you could help them? Maybe it wouldn’t be too hard? after all these adventures and ridiculous feats you’ve pulled off maybe it would be possible? Maybe you could ask Mark about it and the two of you could help? Is it still worth the peek?

You take a glance back towards the door that leads to the kitchen, it’s not far, but you can also hear Mark humming the disclaimer song to himself from the other room.

Your choices are as follows:

Fetch Coffee Mark’s waiting after all, maybe you can visit this place again later?

See Reflection Just a peek, maybe just a hello, maybe there’s a way to help them?

OOC: We getting into the good chunks now folks! Casual reminder to new peeps reading you can make your choice by sending an ask to this blog! The more votes the better the choices and more influence you’ll have for the next one!

#actor mark #ask actor mark #markiplier #red canles #red candles cyoa #cyoa #ahwm #wkm #adwm #red candles part 5

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actor-mark · 3 years

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Red Candles Pt 17

OOC: How to vote: Send your choice in an ask to this blog. Comments, reblogs and dms will not count as I do not get notifications for them nor do I want to screenshot from several places. I’ve spotted a couple of older choices coming through, please make sure to check by the blog to be up to date with the latest post! Thank you! CW: Minor horror with hands grabbing at reader Actors self inflicted injuries/deaths mentioned briefly Mark assuming suicide from your actions in the house briefly mentioned Zombie hands image at the bottom second choice.

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Struggle!

“.... And here I thought you and I were FRIENDS...”

His voice holds a slight echo in this plain, his figure seems to have a sort of pulse around it and its clear that he’s incredibly dangerous here. Still... You’ve clearly pissed him off this far, why stop now? you’re determined more than ever to stop him. Thrashing and flailing and glitching you do everything you can to free yourself from the hands, but they seem to know exactly where you’ll go, how you’ll move and they keep a firm grip on you.

Mark just shifts to stand before you, watching your futile attempts to wriggle free, a stern look on his face, one of disappointment, one of someone who had been betrayed yet again but at this point used to it.

You close your eyes and focus everything you have to try and glitch hop away but the most you can do while trapped is flicker a little. Your mind calls out to Dark.... But there’s no response.

“Are you having fun?”

Mark just seems annoyed that you’re kicking up a fuss while he’s in the middle of something. You’re growing more and more tired as time goes on and eventually settle down into just glaring angrily at The Hollow Man.

“..... Do you even know what this is?” He held up the black Candelabra with a look of concern, seeking an answer he knows he’s not going to get from you. “I didn’t think so....” He let out a sigh “did you just come here to kill me? Cos if so you’ve been doing a terrible job at it. Then again I’ve never had much success at it myself.” He gives a bemused smirk, taking to pacing around you, like some sort of vulture stalking prey.

“Y’know when you showed up at my house unannounced in the pouring rain at 3 o clock in the morning, I figured oh, maybe something happened. Poor thing well I’m here why don’t I give you a good distraction, some tea? I thought perhaps you needed help and had sought me out for comfort... But no... You went snooping around my house instead... Then I found you in the kitchen with a knife and my heart skipped a beat!”

He gave you a genuine look of concern, part of you believes he’s just putting on the act like always but something in his eyes says he maybe really did think the worst of your actions. Given his perspective you can’t really blame him for thinking that.

“So.. I offered you distraction again, whisked you away quickly, only for you to run off again” He shook his head “and look what happened to you” He gave an open hand gesture at you. Nothing more than a dead wandering spirit. “What got you? Was it the zombie? Ah no you’d still be walkin’ around... Hmm you’re kinda sickly looking though.. That might just be the Hollows.. hmm... OH! Right you probably got this from the morgue... ahah.. Dr Iplier eh? Yikes. Not the best of choices but at least it wasn’t too painful!” He smirked “Still... better than anything they probably went through” Mark pointed to the hands holding you “You know who they are right? Poor souls.. Strayed from the path and lost their lives along the way. I offered them safety, a home, a friend... They’re nothing but Hollows now...”

Mark paced back in front of you and leaned forward, hands behind his back “Did you peek into the drawers at the morgue? Did you see them?” he broke a smirk that had something sinister behind it. “Kinda proof enough that your little plan wouldn’t have worked... Still I’m kinda impressed you found this.....” He looked back to the candelabra “But you’re too late anyway..... I already sealed everything off. There’s only one left.” He thought for a moment. “Did THEY put you up to this?.... Of course they did. Did they tell you it was to stop me?” He suddenly took a look of concern “Oh my FRIEND... You’ve been lied to.”

Does this guy ever shut up? You start struggling again and call out for Darkiplier once more, but again there’s no response. Can he even hear you? Mark’s probably taken measures to stop that happening.

“I severed my ties with this place a long time ago- The last gateway was at Camp Unus Annus. that sealed when the channel - ah... passed away~.” He smirked a bit “But this? This one isn’t for me... Would you like to see which gateway this candle closes?”

He turned to the side, looking off into the distance a bit over dramatically, but awaited your answer. Like always with Mark, two choice boxes showed up.

Your choices are as follows:

Listen a little longer If Mark has already sealed off the paths and there’s only one left then Dark was telling the truth to you, but Mark says the gateway isn’t for him, so who is it for? And why did he keep it? Maybe he’s just tricking you, working his manipulative ways all over again to stop you from cutting off his final tie. He is HERE in death after all, and the power around him is suffocating. Clearly he still has some sway here. But maybe he’s telling the truth? He seems to genuinely care about you.

Reason with the Hollows These hands, Hollows Mark called them, past Y/N’s that have died on Marks adventures now working for him after he gave them home. They’re just like you though. Maybe you can convince them that Mark is an evil twisted son of a bitch and get them to put you down? Or maybe they have something important to share with you. You feel in tune with them a little. They are you...and you are them after all...

“This place has always felt like stepping into a sauna. No oxygen, heady, heavy.. but no need to breathe. I’ve always felt lost and at home in this place. It’s a strange mixture. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been back and forth.... It never seems to like me... just spits me right back out...”

OOC: @gemstone9 mentioned Mark monologuing anyway and I straight up..yeaaah yeah he is gonna monologue anyway. enjoy XD was kinda hard to find pictures for this one. Not a lot of actor mark pics that aren’t fan art. I haven’t used art cos I don’t wanna repost peoples work.

Well your ending has been set in stone now folks. You have perceived Mark to be your enemy from start to finish. I hope you’re ready for what he wants to show you, some of you theorists may already know what that is.

Big Pogs to @shattered-da and @tinywyfrost for cracking the big boy code yesterday, it was indeed Mark speaking. You got one more code coming your way for the finale and it’ll be the toughest one yet. Good luck!

#actor mark #ask actor mark #markiplier #red candles #red candles part 16 #red candles cyoa #cyoa #wkm #adwm #ahwm

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actor-mark · 3 years

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Red Candles Pt 10

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Go Pet Chica!

You glance back at Mark for a moment who’s stood looking just as clueless as ever hoping you have some brilliant scheme. You roll your eyes a bit and go over to crouch by Chica, smoothing over the soft silky fur on her noggin and immediately she’s wagging her tail happy at you.

A great guard dog! Best guard dog! Absolutely superb you funky lil pupper snupper! Just gonna yoink these keys right here, who’s a good girl! Best girl!

Chica’s softer than you thought, maybe she’s fresh from a bath earlier, smells doggy but a hint of flowery. Head empty, no thoughts, just love. Big brown doe eyes and look how cute she is in this lil guard uniform! Such a good doggo!

Mark raised an eyebrow and folded his arms. “Oh c’mon.. if yer not gonna play along what’s the point?” He pouts a bit like a moody child but comes over to give Chica good praise too, she did such a good job in her role! 11/10 give the gal an Oscar!

Once you have the keys Mark sneaks Chica a treat and lets her wander off to god knows where and comes back to join you at the door. “Alright pal! Here it is. Not as good as that box, but always have a plan B U T and a secondary plan T if you wanna get ahead of the game!”

Unlocking the door it swings open with a groan into a completely dark room. You go to head forward but Mark throws out a hand and pulls a-..a pink ridiculously over powered scented bath bomb from his bag. “Fire in the hole!” He launched the bath bomb in and took cover plugging his ears.

Somehow there’s a loud explosion noise and a plume of pink smoke billows out. Ah yes, a literal bath BOMB. Very clever Mr. Iplier. Once the smoke clears a little its possible to see inside and see all the red lines now criss-crossing through the room. Great.

“aw Crap. How’re we gonna get past all the lasers? I mean, I’m pretty good at acrobatics and all that but you?” he tapped his chin in as much a condescending manner as possible. “hmm.. We’ll have to find a way through.” With another roll of your eyes you glance into the room properly. Looks like the beams are just little red LED’s taped to the walls. In fact, they’re not even rigged up to anything... You could just walk right in! Great security system bravo!

Your choices are as follows:

Mission Impossible time baby!

You’ve a grappling hook in your bag, it would probably be somehow possible to pull off that ridiculous drop down from the ceiling tomfoolery. Might even impress your comrade!

You’re kidding right?

Go ahead, walk right in and take the chest on the podium. I mean really... This is a poor excuse for his usual shenanigans. The lasers aren’t even real, did Mark really just explode a bath bomb? What is this mess? Just grab the stupid thing so we can get back to the house.

“Maybe you can go along the floor or something? Y’know kinda..do the worm and inch your way across- ah never mind they’re pretty low to the ground too... -cough cough- ugh this smokes thicker than I thought it would be. At least we’ll smell great! Kinda like strawberry and Daisy Delight! Or maybe it’s Misty Meadow dewdrops?” sniff sniff “With a hint of honey!”

OOC: How can we not pet Chica? Of course we’re gonna pet Chica, what kind of choice is that am i right? Best guard dog 11/10. don’t worry, SCP Amy is off in the background somewhere to get the uniform off Chica and she’s getting all the treats! thank you for your Oscar winning performance Chica. What a star! <3

#actor mark #markiplier #red candles #ask actor mark #red candles cyoa #cyoa #red candles part 10 #wkm #adwm #ahwm #chica iplier

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