"My Double Love" by Lyris Jiminal
.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .| — writing and images by
— |. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
.
My Double Love
by Lyris Jiminal.
I cannot help it — I am the victim of a great obsession. My obsession is twofold — Bismuth, and women. Let me be more clear, lest I be accused of womanizing. More recently, my obsession is bismuth in general and one woman in particular: the beautiful and illustrious Ysmir Quolix. Forget my past, it is not relevant in this account. All other figures pale within my mind beside the perfect singularity of grace and loveliness that is my beloved Ysmir. Similarly, no other metals may lay hold upon my engineer's affections like Lady Bismuth.
Why Bismuth among metals? The choice is clear-cut. She is queen among the post-transition metals. Her infinitely spiraling, iridescent, stair-stepped beauty pairs well with many magical gems and other enhanced metals such as Vaern Rose Heartgold and Silver. Her subtle, extraordinarily patient radioactivity may be employed to create biomechanical engines designed for great longevity, as her half-life is many, many xodes. Moreover, among heavy metals, she is among the least toxic: even being employed by many magi to craft robust alchemical potions. Certainly, she reigns supreme among the pnictogens! I shall, for now, cease to extoll her virtues in the context of this account, or the resulting tome would be too thick to carry. But, well — I really cannot help but say just a little more.
Nor can I stop myself from crafting beautiful and functional bismuth biomechanisms! In my workshop, I glow with the fervor of High Shi'yon as I dream and develop my blueprints and make the fancies true. Even now my fingers twitch as they yearn after the satisfaction of setting those sparkling gems into their asymmetric cavities with Hyas levitation. They nestle innocently amongst Her sacred stair-steps and power many lifetimes-long the lone and piercing eye. These sentinels, though, must of course have master or sweet mistress! And thus, my second love, perhaps even the greater... no! I cannot bear compare them, for sweet Ysmir has the whole of my strange heart.
Everything I do and say and build, I do and say and build for you — O Ysmir my sweet love. Please do not tell me you do not share my feelings! Dare not repulse me and deny your very deepest inclinations. Your lips say one thing and your eyes the other, my dear. Let us unite and set the world aflame with yellow, pink and blue!
Yes... these things and many more I desire to tell the beautiful Ysmir when I am sitting in the welcome hall of your father's grand manor, discoursing with good Old Dr. Jiminal upon matters of great importance. While we speak of exopolitics, and magical engineering, and philosophy — I cannot but think these unspoken intimate matters are of much greater import! O, what shall I do, who is doubly in love and can scarcely bear it?
My heart is full to bursting, and yet — it is heavy with unfulfilled yearning. My Hyas intuition tells me you find me repulsive, Ysmir. I cannot conceive why! Do you not admire my near-immortal mechanisms gaudy with the beauty befitting a queen? Do you not behold my noble countenance and picturesque complexion of deep purple, hints of orange? Enough! I cannot bear to tell this account much longer. It is time to retire to my study, document the days' findings, and sleep. Being at work upon my bismuth engineering always conjures for me a profound ocean of peace that washes away the grit of my most unrealistic dreams.
Original writing and images
by Daniel Pendergraft
— created for HIVE —
published on Dec. 8, 2021.
.
Writing is fully original
and can be considered a first draft/blueprint
towards eventual completion of a piece
shared and preserved immutably on blockchain.
.
Images are generated with Wombo Dream,
scaled up, and further processed using Deep Dream Generator,
then finished using Final Cut Pro for editing/combination.
