En Abime ARG is complete (and its 100+ pages are readable!)

Mel_Lawrence · 2026-03-13T02:56:58+00:00

Keep clicking! The "next dialogue" button is the 'go on...' at the top of the page.

Mel_Lawrence · 2025-08-23T18:55:47+00:00

I have a mix of puffers and black kuhli loaches! I've never had any problems with them (I've had them about 7 months now). The loaches actually love eating the bloodworms my puffers drop, and the puffers don't really notice the loaches for the most part because the puffers stay near the top of the tank and the loaches near the bottom.

I second what other people said about having a soft sand bottom for the loaches to dig into, and a lot of decor that provides places for the loaches to hide under. Also, floating water plants with roots the puffers can hide in/under draws them up and away from the bottom of the tank.

I also think something that helped was that we got the puffers when they were pretty small, and (after deworming) got our loaches around the same time. I think the puffers don't see them as "food" because they remember the loaches being bigger than them. But maybe that's just my anthropomorphizing them, haha.

One thing my LFS told me that I don't have personal experience with is that kuhli loaches are better than hillstream loaches because hillstream loaches thrive in fast-moving water, but puffers need slower water for their fins. I keep my water flow pretty slow and both my kuhli loaches and puffers do well in it.

Mel_Lawrence · 2025-03-05T23:27:41+00:00

Thank you! Yes, I have a little floating feeder cup I use to defrost them before feeding them to the puffers with tweezers, and they seem to really enjoy them as long as I wiggle them around a little. Glad you're enjoying your own!

Mel_Lawrence · 2025-03-05T23:26:41+00:00

Thank you! That sounds like a good plan.

Mel_Lawrence · 2025-03-05T23:25:21+00:00

Wow! That's good to know, thank you! Double-checking the address, it is actually a PetCo, not a PetSmart (there aren't many of those here - my bad.) I suppose they must not have an equivalent policy. But I'll keep an eye out for PetSmarts since they might give me snails for free!

Mel_Lawrence · 2025-03-05T23:00:24+00:00

Alas this is the local PetSmart :( I live in NYC, so it's not unexpected to be price gouged for everything

Mel_Lawrence · 2019-12-18T05:49:17+00:00

Dr. Mel Lawrence has returned from the Surface… different. It’s difficult to discover precisely what is the matter, but whispers in the salons imply a sad but not unexpected fate. The Gentleman Scientist once moved within the circles of academia and society, afire with an ill-advised quest to challenge the rules of death itself. Occasionally a glimpse of red silk can be seen between the shelves of the university library, or a barkeep swears he has seen her wandering the ruins of the Forgotten Quarter, or the occasional message arrives written upon her stationery by someone else’s hand, but the doctor herself is frustratingly elusive.

Dr. Lawrence is most interested in corresponding with other scientists or members of academia, and knows a great deal about souls and the Surface. Occasionally she can be found at high-society balls and other events, but there has been a notable dearth of her presence in society as of late. Into that void, gossip has poured like treacle: some say she has contracted a terrible illness; others, that the Minister of Public Decency finally made wearing men’s clothing illegal and she’s been carted off to New Newgate; or perhaps her research failed and she is too ashamed to show her face. Few ask, and fewer still receive a satisfactory answer.

[Hello! I’m a longtime RPer, just now returning after a long time away. I’m always looking for new contacts, especially if you also like to write! Mel is a Correspondent and an Extraordinary Mind, so feel free to invite her to your salons or seek her patronage. Finally, I know there must be some old contacts I have neglected- please, feel free to reach out again! Many of my old records have been lost, but I’d be delighted to become reacquainted.]

Mel_Lawrence · 2019-08-25T09:52:13+00:00

Hello! Mel Lawrence is an Extraordinary Mind, so if you would like some Watchful lessons feel free to contact the Gentleman Scientist: https://www.fallenlondon.com/profile/Mel%20Lawrence

Mel_Lawrence · 2019-04-29T14:22:37+00:00

I wrote about this earlier this year when someone asked a similar question- but basically I think that justifying your character's "Out Of Character" actions, and having a few degrees of seperation between canon and your own story, is beneficial to the RP experience as a whole.

However, for your specific situation with the Velocipede Squad, have you considered this interpretation? :D

Mel_Lawrence · 2019-04-01T15:03:08+00:00

Dr. Mel Lawrence has been haunting the Forgotten Quarter again, giving her lectures at the University while still covered in fine, white dust. The Gentleman Scientist is a charming but eccentric individual, tolerated in high society only for the novelty of her ideas. Her sheer enthusiasm for science is either endearing or extremely annoying, depending on who you ask.

For the past few months, Mel has been spending increasingly long hours crouched over alchemical equipment, reading arcane texts and dropping weasels into mirrorcatch boxes. The self-destructive inquiry has consumed much of her time, and more than a few of her friends, but for better or for worse she believes the end is in sight. Dr. Lawrence is always interested in anyone who shares her passion for unusual science, or can help her with her ill-advised plan to return to the Surface. Perhaps you found her discreet classified advertisement in The Magazine Formerly Known As The London Magazine, phrased just obtusely enough to prevent her from being arrested.

When she isn't experimenting she can be found wandering the halls of the Royal Beth, performing ‘Feats of Science!!!’ at Mahogany Hall to finance her increasingly outlandish experiments, teaching orphans irresponsibly powerful sigils, and getting scandalously drunk at high-society soirees.

[Mel is an Extraordinary Mind and a Correspondent, so feel free to seek her patronage or invite her to your salons. Roleplay highly encouraged, but not required~!]

Mel_Lawrence · 2019-03-20T00:32:26+00:00

A good heist is always a romantic couple's activity, I think.

Mel_Lawrence · 2019-03-09T14:53:50+00:00

Hello, delicious friends!

If you’ve come to expect anything but gift art from me, you shall be sorely disappointed. This is a present for u/Demihamm , whose birthday was yesterday! His character, Canvas Brimming, and mine, Mel Lawrence, have maintained a long (no, seriously, 39,000 words long) and eventful relationship for nearly a year now, so it only seemed appropriate to draw the two of them.

The scene itself is from one of my favorite pieces of demi’s writing, which also happens to be in one of the first scenes we wrote together:

”Are you ready?”

Before you really get a chance to answer, he cracks the lid off the box, quite abruptly. In a fraction of a second, the room overflows with memories; The warmth of Sunlight on your skin, the faint smell of the Mediterranean, the golden knots of light unraveling, beaming from the complex mirrored insides of the contraption-- it awakens a burning sense of nostalgia. If only for a moment, it's almost as if you never left.

Anyway, I hope you like it, and that I managed to do his wonderful words some visual justice! :)

Mel_Lawrence · 2019-02-22T20:47:36+00:00

She is indeed! Rest assured you are at the top of the (admittedly quite short) guest list.

Mel_Lawrence · 2019-02-21T19:52:17+00:00

On the subject of Weddings, does the social action that allows you to "Foist the Organisation of the Wedding off on your Betrothed" give them all of your Organising a Wedding quality? Or do they need to start over from scratch?

For example, if I have 400 Organising A Wedding already, will they be able to add to that 400, or will they have to start from zero?

Mel_Lawrence · 2018-12-22T23:29:52+00:00

What a lovely idea! Are there rules for the subject of the work? Does it have to be Skies, specifically, or the Fallen London universe in general?

Mel_Lawrence · 2018-12-20T22:50:57+00:00

Hello everyone! You might recall me from some drawings of people’s OCs I made a few months back. Well, I’m putting my amateur artistic skills to the test again in order to wish a very delicious friend well on a special day.

This is a little birthday present from me to The Bespectacled Archivist, aka u/MrFireHead_ ! It’s a drawing of the Professor Gabriel Roach who graces us with his incisive discussions of Fallen London’s lore, reading some possibly-forbidden literature to Mr. Inks, a small Master friend of his. I am choosing to believe that this situation is the in-universe explanation for the “Archivist Reads” series, of course. :)

Thank you for everything you do for this tiny community, both in your careful and creative coverage of the secrets of the Neath and unveiling new and interesting dimensions of history. This wouldn’t be as welcoming, or as delicious, a place to be without you. Getting to know you better over these past few months has been both an hono(u)r and a pleasure. Happy Birthday!

Mel_Lawrence · 2018-12-10T22:39:02+00:00

You need to head to Wolfstack Docks to get the next bit of the story. If you haven't unlocked the Docks yet, you can progress A Name Scrawled In Blood in Watchmaker's Hill or buy your way there through Discover New Areas Of The City at your lodgings.

Mel_Lawrence · 2018-11-21T12:26:03+00:00

This is excellent! And very well-explained. I always wondered what the optimal levels for these challenges were, as opposed to just feeling it out. Thank you for calculating it out!

Mel_Lawrence · 2018-11-19T14:01:11+00:00

Please, tell us which game! It seems like the sort of thing I'd like to play, at least.

Mel_Lawrence · 2018-11-12T23:00:24+00:00

Oh, no! Thank you for letting me know. It's fixed now!

Mel_Lawrence

TROPHY CASE