Nero wrote:@MaCatta's sig: Yes, but the Titanic was crewed by a negligent lot. God helped Noah. ;)

sentynel is gay

wrote:Nathaniel had soon perceived that among working magicians, appearance was an important factor in maintaining status. Shabby attire was frowned upon; indeed it was a sure-fire mark of mediocre talent. He did not intend to give this impression. With the stipend that he received from his department, he had bought a tight-fitting black drainpipe suit and a long Italian coat, both of which he considered dangerously fashionable. He wore slim, slightly pointed shoes and a succession of garish handkerchiefs, which provided an explosion of color across his breast. With this outfit carefully in place, he would walk around the Whitehall cloisters with a lanky, purposeful stride, reminiscent of some wading bird, clutching sheaves of paper in his arms...

wrote:I regarded him bleakly in my turn. His face still had the old pale and hungry look, or at least the bit I could see did, since half of it was curtained by a veritable mane of hair. I swear he hadn't been within a mile of a pair of scissors since I'd last set eyes on him; his locks cascaded around his neck like a greasy black Niagra.
As for the rest, he was less weedy than before, true, but he hadn't so much gotten bulkier as been clumsily stretched. He looked as if some giant had grabbed his head and feet, yanked once, then gone off in disgust: his torso was narrow as a spindle, his arms and legs gangly and ill-fitting, his feet and hands quietly reminiscent of an ape's.
The gangly effect was heightened by his choice of clothes: a swanky suit, so tight it looked as if it had been painted on, a ridiculous long black coat, dagger-sharp shoes, and a flouncy handkerchief the size of a small tent hanging from his breast pocket. You could tell he thought he looked terribly dashing.
There were some cast-iron insult opportunities here, but I bided my time.

wrote:"Ah yes, of course. The fragrant Ms. Whitwell. A delightful creature." I appraised him closely, warming to my task. "Did she advise you on your fashion sense as well? What's with those comical skin-tight trousers, anyway? I can read the label on your underpants right through them. As for those cuffs-"
He bristled. "This shirt was very expensive. Milanese silk. Big cuffs are the latest fashion."
"They look like lacy toilet plungers. It's a wonder you don't get blown backward in a draft. Why don't you cut them off and make them into a second suit? It couldn't be worse than the one you're wearing. Or they'd make a pretty Alice band for your hair."
It was notable that these jibes about his clothes seemed to annoy him more than the Underwood one. His priorities had certainly shifted over the years. He struggled to master his fury, picking restlessly at his cuffs, repeatedly smoothing back his hair.
"Look at you," I said. "So many new little habits. I bet you're copying them off one of your precious magicians."
His hand shot down from his hair. "No, I'm not."
"You probably pick your nose the way Ms. Whitwell does, you're so desperate to be like her."
Bad though it was to be back, it was nice to see him writhe with fury once again. I let him hop about inside his pentacle for a moment or two. "Surely you hadn't forgotten," I said cheerily. "You summon me, the backchat comes free. It's part of the package."

Luciene wrote:

Josh wrote:I pictured him as the main character from Persona 3. Until I got to the page where Bartimaeus said that Nathaniel would look like a girl if you looked at him from behind in a dark alley. That gave me the idea that Nat curled his hair.

[+] Spoiler

Anyways, what I really wanted to talk about was the ending. I didn't put the ending in the topic title cause I wouldn't want people to go,"Oh great, another 'Discuss the ending' topic." But I can't help it. The ending pissed me off. SPOILERS IN THE NEXT SET OF PARENTHESES!(Anyone seen Death Note? I've seen the ending and the episode before that one and a couple of other episodes. It made the same impact as this book. Just wanted to let you all know.) Anyways, could it be possible that at the absolute second before Nathaniel got hit, that when he said the dismissal stuff that he would've gone to the Other Place also? I mean, they were in the same body. Nat could've been sucked in too, right? Now I know what Bart said at the last second, but he could've been lying. After all, Bart did make everything dramatic. <_<

Put spoiler tags in for you ~Sentynel