jacksonian | contact post

[ so about like five or so hours after Dorian & Mark's conversation, he just sends Mark a text that's 100% just recommendations. ]

Important books: The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde. Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Lord Byron. Dracula, Bram Stoker. Anything by William Shakespeare, though I prefer Hamlet. Whatever John Keats poetry you can get your hands on. A note: Stoker's wrong about some aspects of vampirism but it's still a damn good read.

Books that I like that most people know nothing about: À rebours, Joris-Karl Huysmans. Manon Lescaut, Abbé Prévost. Mademoiselle de Maupin, Théophile Gautier. I'm sure you can find a decent translation somewhere. Otherwise, I hope you speak French!

Music: apologies in advance, this is all over the place. Everyone will tell you to listen to the Beatles but honestly, the Rolling Stones are better. The Beatles only are good near the middle of their run, early Beatles and late Beatles are absolute shit. Other good bands of note are the Kinks, the Who, Tom Jones, Dusty Springfield, and the Yardbirds. I've also got a slight soft spot for the 1980s, especially Talking Heads, Adam & the Ants and (don't laugh!) Culture Club. If you care to dip into opera, Wagner's Tannhauser is a classic.

Finally, I hope you have enough time to listen to this!

[ because attached to the text is a link to a knockoff spotify playlist that's just like the greatest hits of every band that Dorian rambled about as well as just some various 1960s and 1980s one-hit wonders, all exceedingly mod/British invasion or kind of ridiculous 1980s post-punk. ]

[ And he just stares at this, and looks at the playlist, honestly kind of...flummoxed. This is so much. Not in a bad way, either. There was genuine effort put into this. That's - It's not touching, exactly, but...But it's really a lot. It's really kind.

Damn. ]

I do speak French, that's not a problem. Can you triage the books? Just so I know what to start on first?

[ the sad thing is yeah, it's so much, but about 75% of it is Dorian just simply not wanting to do work, giving Mark lists and playlists to keep from being bored. ]

Important authors, most to least: Shakespeare, Wilde, Keats, Stoker, Byron, then the three French authors I listed that nobody knows about. Out of those last three, go for Huysmans first, I had a period where I adored him.

With Shakespeare, I've always maintained that it's infinitely better to see a production than to read it, even if the production is something as ghastly as community theater. Alas, this world doesn't have the actors I'm used to (my kingdom for Olivier!) but I'm sure even the local library has Hamlet or Twelfth Night on dvd.

So tell me Peter, do I deliver or do I deliver?

I do know Shakespeare, you'll be glad to hear. The Bard survives even into the future.

[ And popular on Barrayar. A basic part of his education. ]

The others are really good. You deliver. What do I owe you for this?

Owe? Why would you owe me anything?

[ because yeah, why would you owe him anything??? ]

Just check out some of Wilde's other work if you enjoy Importance. For reasons that will soon become obvious, I've got a soft spot for the man.

People don't usually do things like this for free. But yeah, I'll do that. I wish I could make you recommendations, but I don't know anything about literature from this century.

I'm not most people.

If you really want to pay me back somehow, ring me up once you've finished some of his works and we'll talk Oscar Wilde.

Yeah. We could do that definitely. We can also talk the future of your record label.

[ now THIS is gonna be interesting, hello there Mark, Dorian is already finding a way to use him to get what he wants. ]

I'm actually sort of signed/sponsored by someone else right now. However, I am definitely looking to find a way to finagle out of that agreement. Perhaps you can help me there?

[ And that triggers alarm bells. ]

I'm not a lawyer. I don't know how much I can help there.

Ah boo. Still, it was worth a shot!

[ Him backing off that easily calms the clone, enough that he asks a little more expansively: ]

Sometimes it's possible to deal your way out of a contract, though, if you have enough money. What's bad about the contract now?

Edited 2016-03-19 15:27 (UTC)

[ Who's ready for LYING. What's bad about the contract now, well he's recording under Lucifer and back in Dorian's world, Satan messed up his life, tricked Dorian into effectively killing Toby, and is now currently hanging out in Toby's body, about to make hell on Earth. So again. Who's ready for lying. ]

Well my patron is currently Lucifer. I don't know if you were here when this happened, but there was a VERY public incident where he murdered a girl over the Network. I'd rather not be associated with someone like that.

That makes sense.

[ After all, it's not necessarily good if your patron starts acting...decadent, is it. Who knows whether his tastes will get more...exotic. Still, that's not the first time that Lucifer has come up in the clone's research - the Barrayarans have had some dealings with him. Could this maybe be advantageous? Or more dangerous? ]

You have a contract signed with him?

[ lies lies lies LIES LIES LIES ]

Nothing formal. But considering as he's sponsored some events of mine in the past and helped finance the group, we already have a public association. I don't want to completely burn my bridges until I have something better lined up.

So it's less that you want out, and more that you want something new.

Can't it be both?

I mean...not really. Just wanting out is easier than needing something to go to. It involves different steps, I think.

You'd know more about these things than I would.

Anyway, keep an eye out for other potential labels, will you? I don't know what sort of job you have but even just by being an imPort we run into the strangest opportunities.

Yeah. And you should figure out what it'd take to buy you out of whatever deal you have with Lucifer. You don't want him after you, it sounds like.

I don't want him after me and mine. I was hoping I could do this as under the table as possible but well, he's Satan. He has a need for the dramatics.

I was wondering about that. This "Satan" thing is part of a religion, right? Is he actually some religious figure?

[ whaaaaaat ]

Your world doesn't have Christianity, does it.

It has it. I'm aware of it culturally. It's not exactly as important there as it is here.

Lucky your world.

But yes. Though he isn't this world's Satan, I'm certain that Lucifer is some world's Satan—or, at least, styled himself as some world's Satan. He's got the power to back it up.

text, let's pop this contact post's cherry

you're the best, I love Dorian's effete tastes

they are all over the fucking place.

He is such an aesthete

#aesthetic

oh sorry i misspelled "asshole" up there

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqgSO8_cRio

HAHAHAHA you're so great

c:

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