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Mina

A Photographic Novella

in Twenty Episodes

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Text and Makeup by Jennifer Broome

Photography by Allie Mullin

©2012. All Rights Reserved

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Tatter’s Tale

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‚The first thing yer got to understand is that the Philomorphs are new to the bleedin' Realm. At least, they’re as new as anyfink can be in a place this old. I’m not sure when they started appearin'—it were before me time. Thing is, yer not born a Philomorph. Philomorphs aren’t a race of blokes, but they’re not right victims of a disease, either. They’re somefink in between. ‚Even though no geezer knows when Philomorphs came to the Realm, and no one knows ‘ow yer get to be one, every bloke can spot the signs. It starts out small—a kid will start goin' on about sumfink. We become these—things.‛ Tatter made sure to pronounce the word clearly so Mina could understand, but her emotion soon got the better of her and she slipped back, speaking faster and faster.

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‚Kid’s not prattlin' about whatever catches their eye, like all kids do, but goin' on spooky. It’s like they get obsessed with one think. It could be anyfink—a tin of food, a red shoe, right, a flower…or, like me, right, lace.‛ Tatter gestured towards her face, but her eyes remained distant. ‚I don’t know when I first 'ave a look at a piece o’ lace, but I remember finkin' it were the bloody prettiest thing, and the scariest thing, I’d ever seen. Even though we’re called shape lovers, it’s not right love at all. It’s more like obsession, like an inability to NOT fink about sumfink. Pretty soon, yer goin' on to every geezer yer meet about this object, whatever ‘tis. And once the bloody talkin' starts, everyone knows that yer gonna be one of them…yer gonna be a Philomorph.

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‚We don’t choose to 'ave a look like this—we don’t choose it at all. Who would want ter have private wants, ‘er foughts, branded on ‘er face like so much newsprint? Every bloke and Doris finks ‘e can tell what a Philomorph believes, right, what they feel, what they are finkin' at every single moment. And because of it, because us insides are on us outsides, blokes fink they know us. They fink that we’re just this one fink, right, one part of us, that’s all. But we’re not one fink! We ‘appen to ‘ave lotsa things to say, but no one’ll listen.‛ ‚I know that there are some blokes, if they’re canny enough, can keep they obsessions inside theyselves. But most of us in the Realm, we never learned 'ow to do it. So we all start changin', start 'ave a lookin' like us fascinations. We change and change and change until

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eventually, right, we are that fink, right? So yer see, right, that’s why yer can’t ever cut the lace off yer shirt. That lace used to be some…some Doris like me.‛ And then, to her own surprise, Tatter burst into tears.

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Be sure to check out the next episode, ‚A Plan Develops,‛ tomorrow. It goes live at 10 a.m. EST on literaturecouture.com/mina. While you’re there, browse the character makeup tutorials, read cast bios, and more.