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43453 · 2 years ago

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SDG 1- NO POVERTY AND SDG 13- CLIMATE CHANGE

SDG 1 No poverty

Iberdrola makes energy available to the monetarily oppressed.

Working in a joint effort with public organizations, different organizations and NGOs, Iberdrola has kept weak clients from being denied their electric stock. Iberdrola has likewise offered over €15 million towards a progression of drives to increase living expectations for individuals in danger of social rejection.

Goal 1: No poverty.

Iberdrola consents to arrangements with public organizations and NGOs to forestall cuts in the energy supply from influencing clients in weak circumstances. Because of these arrangements, totally all weak clients in Spain are currently covered. In the Unified Realm, the organization has the Warm Home Markdown program, and in the US, there is Activity Fuel.

Commitment of 5.8 million euros at the gathering level by Iberdrola's establishments for drives pointed toward working on the personal satisfaction of weak gatherings in the nations in which it works.

To facilitate the possible effect of Coronavirus on clients battling to pay, Iberdrola has sent off the assist plan with helping clients in covering their power, gas, and other service bills.

Iberdrola 2021 Social Program: through its Establishment in Spain, the organization will allot 1.2 million euros to social guide pointed toward moderating the outcomes of the Coronavirus pandemic. 43 % of this financial plan will be committed to forestalling circumstances of destitution and avoidance, focusing on the battle against youngster neediness. Altogether, 34 activities have been chosen, which will help exactly 50,000 individuals. Since its creation in 2010, the Social Program has dispensed more than 10 million euros to social drives in the nation, helping 375,000 individuals.[1]

Scottish Power — the gathering's UK auxiliary — is working with Reaching Wider, a relationship to give advanced education to weak individuals in Ribs, and with Bending Trust, an outdoors training nursing home to really focus on individuals with handicaps through the Experience for All task.[2]

WHAT IS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOAL 1: NO POVERTY?

SDG 1 means to end destitution in the entirety of its structures all over the place. Its targets incorporate guaranteeing that the whole populace and particularly the least fortunate and most powerless have equivalent privileges to monetary assets, admittance to fundamental administrations, property and land control, normal assets and new advancements.

WHY IS IT SO IMPORTANT TO ACHIEVE SDG 1: NO POVERTY?

The ascent in neediness isn't just out of line and a danger to the honesty of millions of individuals, however it likewise uplifts disparity which, thus, debilitates social union and seriously hampers monetary development.

The primary drivers of neediness (joblessness, social prohibition, and significant weakness for specific populace sections to catastrophic event and illness) drive disparity and increase unhealthiness, absence of admittance to schooling, separation, and rejection. By and large, this worsens emergencies, expands political and social pressure, and prompts a wide range of contention.

There are right now north of 700 million individuals or 10 % of the total populace living in outrageous destitution (for example on under US$1.90 each day), and that implies they scarcely have to the point of covering their most fundamental everyday requirements. Also, this basic circumstance is a long way from improving. Regardless of having improved bit by bit from 36 % in 1990 to 10 % in 2015, the vertical pattern has eased back throughout recent years to reach 8.2 % in 2019. Presently, the circumstances could turn out to be a lot more regrettable because of the Coronavirus emergency, which is driving many individuals into outrageous neediness. It is normal to reach 8.8 % in 2020 (approaching 2017 figures). This would mean the principal ascend in destitution in north of 20 years (as per the 2020 SDG Progress Report).

To exacerbate the situation, outrageous neediness is an orientation issue: for each 100 men matured 25 to 34 who live in outrageous destitution around the world, there are 122 ladies inside that age group experiencing the same thing. Besides, there are two districts lodging the best number of individuals who live underneath the destitution edge: Southern Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Because of the worldwide pandemic, we can hope to see the main flood in outrageous destitution levels here, with an extra 32 million individuals in Southern Asia and 26 million additional in Sub-Saharan Africa attempting to get by under the global neediness limit.

Destitution is likewise expected to ascend among the functioning populace. Throughout the last 10 years, the proportion of laborers living in outrageous neediness has increased bit by bit, from 14.3 % in 2010 down to 7.1 % in 2019. In April 2020, nonetheless, as organizations and different work environments started to close, 81 % of representatives and 66 % of consultants endured the side-effects. In February 2020, just 87 nations had joblessness security programs set up as a feature of their public regulation, and specialists were just shrouded in 34 of those nations.

There is likewise a stunning distinction in the inclusion gave as far as monetary and social help for weak portions of the populace starting with one locale then onto the next. Around 61 % of these fragments (youngsters, grown-ups at working age and senior residents not covered by commitment plans) get monetary help in Europe and North America. Paradoxically, money related help is simply proposed to 4 % in Focal and Southern Asia.

For this multitude of reasons, finishing neediness in all structures wherever requires the whole worldwide local area to reach out. Consequently, why the Assembled Countries (UN) set this as SDG 1 of its 17 Feasible Improvement Objectives, supported in September 2015 as a feature of the 2030 Plan.[3]

This picture shows an insight into Burundi located in Africa. Burundi is one of the poorest countries in the world. Due to poverty, the country suffers from lack of basic nutrition. Protein and fat intake in the population of Burundi is very limited. As a result of poverty, common diseases such as kwashiorkor are formed from lack of nutrition. Due to overpopulation and high poverty, crime such as sex trafficking is common to find.

This picture shows the slums of India. This picture helps you imagine the poor living conditions of 22.5 percent of the population of India. Some of the reasons why India is so poor today is because it cannot keep up with its high population crisis. illiteracy, a lack of healthcare facilities, and a lack of resources. India is also less efficient in resource utilization, which has resulted in low agricultural productivity. As a result, people’s quality of life plummeted. Due to High inflation, it lowers the purchasing power of money, and requires poor people to pay more to obtain the same amount of goods. As a result, people can't improve their social status.[6]

Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the war due to the constant wars and high threats of terrorist attacks. Last year the U.S ended its 20-year war with Afghanistan making it the longest war in U.S history. Afghanistan is so poor because of its lack of infrastructure, limited access to markets, social inequity, historical and ongoing conflict. Exc.

[8]

Article: Overview. (n.d.). World Bank. https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/togo/overview

Another country that suffers from poverty is Togo. Togo is the 10th poorest country in the world. Some of the reasons why it's a poor country is because of political instability, lowered commodity prices, and external debts. One of the most common problems in the country is the widespread water insecurity. Only 63 percent of the Togolese people have access to sanitary water available for consumption often leading to the spread of waterborne diseases. 108 children per 1000 will die before turning 5 because of malnourishment. This is caused because of lack of health care.

[10]

This picture shows the living conditions in Uganda, Africa. The total population of Uganda is 44.2 million. Inequality and multidimensional poverty remain prevalent. The Gini coefficient, the measure of the degree of income inequality, has remained largely constant since 1996. The situation has worsened with the COVID-19 pandemic. Uganda suffers from Malaria with over 90% of the population at risk. It is also the leading cause of death in children. Some of the reasons why Uganda is unsuccessful in solving poverty is due to Lack of access to basic services, education, and employment opportunities.[12]

SDG 13- Climate action

Objective 13 means to battle environmental change and its effects by making an earnest move. Environmental change and natural debasement are values that subvert the freedoms of each kid, particularly the most distraught. The acknowledgement of kids' privileges, as installed all through the SDGs, are dependent upon making a move to address and adjust to environmental change.

The worldwide temperature has proactively transcended the pre-modern level, with glacial masses liquefying and the ocean level rising. Effects of environmental change additionally incorporates flooding and dry spell, dislodging a great many individuals, sinking them into neediness and craving, denying them admittance to fundamental administrations, for example, wellbeing and training, extending imbalances, smothering financial development and in any event, causing struggle. By 2030, an expected 700 million individuals will be in danger of dislodging by dry season alone.

Making a pressing move to battle environmental change and its staggering effects is consequently a basic to save lives and job, and key to making the 2030 Plan for Supportable Turn of events and its 17 Objectives - the outline for a superior future - a reality.

In 2020, groupings of worldwide ozone depleting substances arrived at new highs, and continuous information highlight proceeded with increments. As these fixations rise, so does the World's temperature. In 2021, the worldwide mean temperature was around 1.1°Cover the pre-modern level (from 1850 to 1900). The years from 2015 to 2021 were the seven hottest on record.[1]

To restrict warming to 1.5° Celsius above pre-modern levels, as set out in the Paris Arrangement, worldwide ozone depleting substance discharges should top before 2025. Then, at that point, they should decline by 43% by 2030 and to net zero by 2050. Nations are articulating environment activity intended to slice emanations and adjust to environment influences through broadly resolved commitments. Nonetheless, current public responsibilities are not adequate to meet the 1.5°C objective.

Environmental change is an immediate danger to a youngster's capacity to make do, develop and flourish. While youngsters are the most un-liable for the evolving climate, near 90% of the weight of infection inferable from environmental change is borne by kids younger than 5. Consistently, over a portion of 1,000,000 kids younger than 5 pass on from causes connected with air contamination. Significantly more will experience enduring harm to their creating cerebrums and lungs. Today, interestingly, a worldwide age of kids will experience childhood in a world made undeniably riskier and more unsure by changing environment and a corrupted climate.

UNICEF works with accomplices at the worldwide and neighborhood levels to guarantee that kids can live in a protected and clean climate. UNICEF assists put kids at the focal point of the environment with changing methodologies and reaction plans, remembering them as influencers who are making a move wherever to safeguard the fate of the planet. Information is expected to speed up systems and activities in needed regions for youngsters and environment activity. Environmental change related information/proof on regions generally applicable to youngsters is scant, explicitly on interlinkages among environment and kid wellbeing, nourishment, schooling, uprooting, relocation, and so on. Gathering and disaggregating Objective 13 targets and pointers is imperative to figuring out how and where kids are abandoned with regards to tending to environmental change.[2]

This is a picture of India showing the effects of climate change, as floods, droughts and rising temperatures continue to rise. India’s agricultural sector relies on the monsoon season. However, over the last century, there have been more days with extremely heavy rains with longer dry spells. One of the worst incidents of rain happened in 2005, where 37 inches of rain hit Maharashtra state in under 24 hours. The rain flooded the city of Mumbai and killed almost 900 people. The heavy rain was traced back to warming in the Arabian Sea. In the past decade extreme rain events resulted in losses of approximately $3 billion each year. With over 70% of the population relying on agriculture for their livelihood, the farming industry is harshly getting impacted by global warming.[4]

This is a picture of one of China’s steel plants in 2016.China is the largest emitter of carbon dioxide, through an energy infrastructure heavily focused on coal. Other industries, such as a burgeoning construction industry and industrial manufacturing, contribute heavily to carbon emissions.60% of global emissions in 2019. China alone generated about the same amount of CO2 as the next four countries combined. And its carbon output is still rising every year. China has one of the worst air qualities as it has reached emergency conditions, threatening the health of tens of millions of people.[6]

This is a picture of a railway in Pakistan’s showing how bad the pollution is. A lot of the pollution is due to the weather, transportation, and steel mills. Pakistan is affected by its numerous cars, motorbikes, trucks, and buses on the road. Many of them would also be utilizing heavily outdated and unsafe engines, running on lower quality fuel, which when compounded together the result is pollution. Other operations that emit large volumes of pollution would be the countries steel mills, which once again rely on fossil fuels such as coal to provide energy. The burning of fossil fuel leads to large amount of highly dangerous pollutants.[8]

This is a picture showing an event that caused pollution in Iraq. One of the leading reasons why Iraq pollutes air is because it is one of largest oil industries in the world. Air pollution across Iraq has become an alarming issue caused by industrial emissions coupled with climate change. Last year, the country witnessed an increase in dust storms causing serious breathing issues among the population. Water scarcity is also becoming an alarming issue in Iraq as well. Iraq’s carbon emissions have doubled last year alone.[10]

This is a picture of a factory with a nuclear power plant in the U.S. Power plants that burn coal, oil and natural gas are the largest source of carbon pollution, the biggest driver of climate change. Some of the leading causes of pollution in the U.S involve, Fossil fuel burning for heating, electrical generation, and in motor vehicles are responsible for about 90% of all air pollution in the United States. To have restrictions on pollution in the U.S, it created The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) which puts restrictions on certain air pollutants in the country such as automotive industries, factories etc. [12]

Conclusion:

Poverty and global warming are two of the growing problems today. Poverty has become an even growing problem all around the world and has gotten worse since the pandemic as more and more people can’t afford necessities. A solution to poverty is to spread awareness to help those that are in need across the world. The more people are informed about what poor conditions look like; the more sympathy people will feel for others. To stop global warming use different alternatives such as traveling individually; Instead of going to work in a car, use public transportation such as a train or bus to get reduce CO2. We can also start to invest in companies that use and produce cleaner products within their company. Using reusable items can be a simple alternative for people, this will reduce waste which will lower CO2 emissions as well.

[1] Climate change. (2022, November 4). United Nations Sustainable Development. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/climate-change/

[2] SDG 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts. (n.d.). Congress of Local and Regional Authorities. https://www.coe.int/en/web/congress/goal-13

[3] Climate change triggering extreme weather events across the world, India no exception. (2021, July 29). NewsClick. https://www.newsclick.in/climate-change-triggering-extreme-weather-events-world-india-exception

[4] Climate change in India. (2022, July 1). The Third Pole. https://www.thethirdpole.net/en/hub/climate-change-in-india/?gclid=Cj0KCQiA6LyfBhC3ARIsAG4gkF_Z1v8-8zXWdzXJcQcgDgvZ3ha9ull5hMApZ6i2lFb_PFV_rvVrthMaAo6sEALw_wcB

[5] Lynch, C., & Gramer, R. (2019, May 7). China rises in U.N. Climate talks, while U.S. goes AWOL. Foreign Policy. https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/05/07/china-rises-united-nations-climate-change-talks-u-s-trump-goes-awol-environment-diplomacy-global-warming/

[6] China’s clean air campaign is bringing down global pollution. (2022, June 14). Time. https://time.com/6187349/china-air-pollution/

[7] Breathing in poison – Lahore’s growing air pollution problem. (2016, December 8). the Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2016/dec/08/breathing-in-poison-lahores-growing-air-pollution-problem

[8] Pakistan. (2022, June 13). AQLI. https://aqli.epic.uchicago.edu/country-spotlight/pakistan/

[9] Iraq pollution - Google search. (n.d.). Google. https://www.google.com/search?q=iraq+pollution

[10] Climate change inaction threatens Iraq’s social stability and long-term economic development prospects. (2022, November 9). World Bank. https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2022/11/09/climate-change-inaction-threatens-iraq-s-social-stability-and-long-term-economic-development-prospects

[11] Where does air pollution come from? - Air (U.S. National Park Service). (n.d.). NPS.gov (U.S. National Park Service). https://www.nps.gov/subjects/air/sources.htm

[12] Pollution in the United States got worse in 2018, new study shows. (2019, January 9). ConsumerAffairs. https://www.consumeraffairs.com/news/pollution-in-the-united-states-got-worse-in-2018-new-study-shows-010919.html

[1] SDG 1: No poverty. (n.d.). Iberdrola. https://www.iberdrola.com/sustainability/committed-sustainable-development-goals/sdg-1-no-poverty

[2] SDG 1 - No poverty - Statistics explained. (n.d.). European Commission | Choose your language | Choisir une langue | Wählen Sie eine Sprache. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=SDG_1_-_No_poverty

[3] #Envision2030 goal 1: No poverty | United Nations enable. (n.d.). Welcome to the United Nations. https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/envision2030-goal1.html

[4] The world looks away as blood flows in Burundi. (2016, April 10). the Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/10/burundi-ethnic-violence-refugees

[5] Afbeeldingen over poverty India – Blader in stockfoto's, vectoren en video's over 11,496. (n.d.). Adobe Stock. https://stock.adobe.com/nl/search?k=poverty+india

[6] Soapboxie.com. (n.d.). soapboxie.com. https://soapboxie.com/social-issues/Reasons-Why-India-is-So-Poor

[7] Afghanistan. (n.d.). Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. https://www.gavi.org/programmes-impact/country-hub/eastern-mediterranean/afghanistan

[8] Amy. (2020, June 16). Why is Afghanistan poor? The Borgen Project. https://borgenproject.org/why-is-afghanistan-poor/

[9] Help women work their way out of poverty in Togo. (n.d.). GlobalGiving. https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/help-small-business-entrepreneurs-in-rural-togo/

[10] Overview. (2023, 31). World Bank. https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/togo/overview

[11] Project, B. (2020, July 17). Ureport gathers vital information on Uganda's poor. The Borgne Project. https://borgenproject.org/ureport-continues-gather-vital-information-ugandas-poor/

[12] Uganda. (2022, February 23). Target Malaria. https://targetmalaria.org/where-we operate/uganda/

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jmreyes9 · 2 years ago

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PC-Selfie & Jesse Reyes

PLAYING GOLF ON A WARM WINTER DAY IN CHICAGO NEAR SUNSET.

By Jesse Reyes

As I drove back home from the bank on the 17th of February, 2017, they announced on the radio that the temperature of 64 degrees Fahrenheit on this day broke the record of 60 degrees set on this day in 1880 (137 years ago). Hurriedly, I ate lunch and decided to hit some balls at the driving range near my home, even just for a half-an-hour or so, before I picked up my grandson from school.

I had to take advantage of this spring-like weather. I had never played golf in winter in Chicago (or anywhere else for that matter!) and there is still a month left before winter ends and spring begins. After I hit some balls in the driving range, I proceeded to pick my grandson up from school.

On another day this week, temperatures were again in the mid 60's. It was raining earlier in the day, so after it had stopped raining, I went to the driving range once more. It was nearing sunset, so I got my camera ready and took some pictures as I enjoyed watching the awesome sunset with its exquisite hues of reddish orange, gold, pink and fuchsia.

I was glad to be able to "shoot two birds with one stone"--playing golf and watching the sunset almost simultaneously, although I had to look back after each shot, since I was facing east when I hit the golf balls.

Ellen G. White in the first page of her book Steps to Christ affirms, "Nature and revelation alike testify of God's love. Our Father in heaven is the source of life, of wisdom, and of joy. Look at the wonderful and beautiful things of nature. Think of their marvelous adaptation to the needs and happiness, not only of man, but of all living creatures. The sunshine and the rain, that gladden and refresh the earth, the hills and seas and plains, all speak to us of the Creator's love. It is God who supplies the daily needs of all the creatures.

.In the beautiful words of the psalmist--'The eyes of all wait upon Thee; And Thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou opened Thine hand, And satisfiest the desire of every living thing.' Psalm 145:15, 16 KJV"

Written on 2/24/17 in Chicago, IL. Posted in FB on 2/23 and reposted on 2/23. Other writings and poems of Jesse Reyes can be found in his blog: anadventurecalledlife.com.

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originalavenuefestival · 2 years ago

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j3tsabyss · 3 years ago

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Hollywood Undead iceberg 1 full explanations

This is a super long post so just keep that in mind reading. I ended up finding out icebergs are the best way to infodump. Also feel free to correct me on anything. Also sorry if I have the stupidest wording ever

Level 1-Everywhere I Go/Riot: both songs are popular HU songs

Lorene Drive: Danny’s first band before he joined Hollywood Undead

Danny American Idol: Danny originally competed on American Idol before dropping out to join HU. This was often disputed about and originally Johnny disapproved that Danny was on American Idol. But eventually Johnny later said in another interview he didn’t know Danny actually DID try for American Idol and did manage to get on. Not only that but there is at least 2 pics of Danny being on American Idol but his audition (if any) is not shown (he’s also only shown for like 1 second in the episode he was in). So ultimately yes Danny American Idol is real

Johnny falling off stage: a popular meme that goes around the HU fanbase referencing that time Johnny fell offstage at a concert. Surprisingly he didn’t get hurt (I think?)

Masks: up until New Empire Vol 1/Vol 2, HU’s signature was masks (though the masks briefly came back for House Party)

Old versions of songs: certain songs like Black Dahlia and Sell Your Soul have old versions that you can listen to. I think the word for this is demo versions

Deuce’s departure: Deuce parted ways with HU in 2010. As we all know it’s very complicated

Level 2-Brian Cox music videos: during the Five era, Brian Cox became the director for music videos and other stuff for HU. Most fans didn’t mind his presence at first until his editing became repetitive and too flashy and it got to the point of having Already Dead be special effects overload and practically unwatchable. Eventually he was replaced by Cameron Nunez. Also he loves Starbucks. AND ALSO he and Johnny tend to make fun of each other. A lot

Da Kurlzz’s departure: Da Kurlzz departed from HU in 2017, making HU a five man band

Dead Cultoure/Danny Rose Supply: clothing lines ran by the HU guys and Danny respectively. Clothing from Dead Cultoure was often worn by J-Dog and Johnny. Both clothing companies eventually went defunct without explanation. Tho Danny Rose Supply somehow magically got resurrected when the company collabed with a mask company to make face masks back in March 2020 and lemme tell you those face masks are COMFY. But despite that there’s still no way to purchase Danny Rose Supply clothing

Misheard Lyrics: it’s VERY easy to mishear a lot of HU lyrics. It’s also common to see fans fight over what lyric is the correct one

S.C.A.V.A title: S.C.A.V.A is a song from American Tragedy (deluxe version). The title is an abbreviation that has never been confirmed about what it means. Most think it’s from Johnny and Danny’s daughters’ names, Scarlett and Ava. This song is also the first song Johnny and Danny dedicated to their daughters so that probably helps the theory

Bald J-Dog: joke entry but seriously bald J-Dog is cursed

Charlie’s youtube channel: CS101HU is Charlie’s youtube channel from 2008. The channel has 7 videos and the most well known of these videos are Shady Fizz, Stella and J Dog’s Biggest Fan. In 2018 Charlie briefly revived his channel to upload his “workout routine” but he hasn’t uploaded anything else since

Dove and Grenade (company): Hollywood Undead’s weed company that’s based in Oklahoma. It also has its own merch

Dead Bite (the character): Dead Bite is a masked character made by the HU guys named after the song of the same name. There’s been implied lore about him but nothing much has been revealed of him yet. He also has his own twitter instagram and youtube accounts. He’s also EXTREMELY buff and tall

Johnny likes fan posts the most: both on instagram and twitter Johnny is the one who likes fan posts the most

J-Dog never went to high school: self explanatory. He just never went to high school

Johnny went to Yale: disapproved. Johnny never went to Yale and him going to Yale was just a joke he made. Despite that the HU wiki still keeps that point in his trivia section so go figure

Level 3-Dead Bite is Deuce/Kurlzz theory: for some reason when Dead Bite first debuted, a LOT of HU fans started to assume Dead Bite was Deuce or Da Kurlzz in disguise. This ended up being disproven with Dead Bite not only being played by an actor (Robert Mukes) but also the fact Dead Bite is EXTREMELY tall and muscular and does not match neither Deuce or Kurlzz’s builds at all

FunnyMan having long hair on 3 different occasions: I should’ve worded this differently but I think FunnyMan had long hair 3 different times. In some Swan Songs photos his hair is tied back in a bun, then I guess somewhere in 2012/2013 maybe his hair was longer and curlier, then in 2015 he started growing out his hair again and it was gloriously long enough for him to wear it in braids… and then he cut it leap day 2020. Rip Funny’s long hair you are still missed

FunnyMan’s fake toyota commercial: Funny made a fake commercial related to toyota. I honestly thought it was real until I saw a post saying it was fake. It’s glorious tho

J-Dog’s inactive tumblr: jdog-hlm-blog is basically J-Dog’s tumblr he had from April 2012 to September 2014. Most of his tumblr was just reposts from instagram and then he abandoned his tumblr since then

Johnny’s voice being deeper in American Tragedy: credit to my mutual Dove for this one. When you listen to Johnny in Swan Songs then to Johnny in American Tragedy, there’s a definite difference in his voice between the two albums. It’s unknown if there’s a reason why (if any) this happened

Guzzle, Guzzle and Your Life were written under the influence: both songs were written under the influence. While Guzzle, Guzzle is obvious, Your Life actually sounds comprehensible for being written while high/drunk

Brittany: Brittany Burton was Funny’s ex. She’s on the iceberg because I don’t recall if there was ever a reason on why they broke up

The unknown heights of the HU guys: with the exception of Johnny who has stated his height (6’3”), most of the HU guys’ heights are completely unknown. Estimating their heights are furthermore confusing by pics of the HU guys being together having them all look roughly around the same height despite Johnny being super tall. In addition to that, there’s also debate about if Johnny or Funny is taller. But then some months after I made the first iceberg Anna kindly mentions that FunnyMan is 6’4”, so this equals that one other HU guy’s height is now known and Funny really is taller than Johnny

Deuce Invaders/FunnyMan Pac-Man: both of these were reskinned games on the official Hollywood Undead site on an unknown year (though it was likely around when Deuce was in the band). Both gameplays have minor graphic changes like Funny’s mask substituting for Pac-Man and alcohol being used as the power pellets. Good thing they didn’t reskin a Nintendo game *cough*

The Loss unknown meaning: a lot of fans believed that The Loss was about a brother of J-Dog’s who committed suicide. However that was later disproven. Despite that, there has been no other explanation about what does The Loss mean

Who did Ghost verse 3?: verse 3 of Ghost is infamous for having vocals that HU fans fight over who did it. It was assumed to be J-Dog but some believe it to be Johnny. Some still fight about who did verse 3 to this day and the answers on who did Ghost verse 3 are mixed

Pray (Put Em in the Dirt) is not rated E despite the f word: pretty self explanatory. Pray does not have a E rating on itunes despite the f word and it’s variants being dropped a million times. Ratings at its finest

Level 4-J-Dog’s fake relatives: a pretty lengthy one. Like I’ve explained, on the HU wiki J-Dog’s relatives list had 3 random names that were of 2 brothers and 1 sister. Yet in reality those 3 people weren’t proven to exist which implies that they just added that randomly with no source. I edited it to be more accurate but since it’s currently 2021 that means for literal years those names have been there since forever. In fact it doesn’t help google itself has the fake names listed as his relatives too

J-Dog divorced Vanessa: wording is important people. It was J-Dog who issued the divorce not Vanessa

The P in Charles P. Scene stands for pussy: I straight up googled this one time and turns out there’s an actual meaning for the P in Charles P. Scene

Unfilmed War Child music video: back in 2016 there was an announcement that was about War Child having a music video and the director was going to be Charlie Scene. As you can tell it never came out so the label probably screwed them over

“What You Ask For” unreleased song: during the Five recording sessions there was a song that seemingly had FunnyMan singing. Despite a sample being shown in a video the song was not released on Five at all. There’s also no official title given to it

Pray (Put Em in the Dirt) early demo: in another video Pray appeared to have a way different sound than the released version of Pray (Put Em in the Dirt). Again this demo has never been released but I wanna hear this demo so badly

Mother Murder unknown meaning: I’ve written a post about this but generally Mother Murder has a really different vibe compared to the rest of HU’s serious songs as the lyrics sound a lot like a male victim of abuse. There’s no known meaning to Mother Murder if any

Someone attempted to kill Danny (NOT A JOKE): in a 2011 interview Johnny briefly talked about an incident where a stranger randomly gave Danny a cyanide laced pill. Johnny ended up taking the pill as he thought it was a sleeping pill and he ended up going to the hospital. While it’s never outright said the pill was maybe supposed to kill Danny there’s enough implications that someone likely attempted to kill Danny for replacing Deuce since it happened back in 2011 and how it was only given to Danny

Da Kurlzz works at a beef farm: at one point Kurlzz shared some pics of him at a ranch and turns out that the ranch is a beef farm

Deuce and Kurlzz no longer live in California: Deuce moved to Oregon at some point in 2015 while the beef farm Kurlzz works at is located in Nevada. It’s a bit of a stretch to say “no longer” in the case of Kurlzz but hey who knows

Level 5-Deuce-J3T-Kurlzz extortion: back in 2015 Deuce accused Johnny and Kurlzz of extortion on twitter. Considering this is Deuce it’s unknown if there’s any truth to it and Johnny didn’t give a frick to say anything while Kurlzz simply said “did someone say something? Didn’t think so. Back to it.” It’s also ironic since Kurlzz left the band 2 years later

Hannah Decker: sort of related to fake relatives, there was a girl named Hannah who claimed she was J-Dog and Vanessa’s daughter and some actually believed her. She also wanted to get plastic surgery to look more like Vanessa. That’s all I can remember about this. There’s also the fact this is another ironic one since J-Dog and Vanessa divorced now

Hollywood Undead parasocial relationship: honestly a joke entry. I heard of the word parasocial relationship and it ended up making me think about how that is the relationship I have with the HU guys. At the same time HU just happens to appreciate their fans really and parasocial relationships aren’t bad per se as long as it doesn’t become obsessive

Hmm, maybe Idol is secretly about parasocial relationships

End of iceberg 1

#hollywood undead #iceberg #long post #ok to reblog

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satansjit · 4 years ago

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Reflections on the Color of My Skin

By Neil DeGrasse Tyson

Wednesday, June 3, 2020

My colleague had other encounters with the law that he shared later that night, but his first story started a chain reaction among us. One by one we each recalled multiple incidents of being stopped by the police. None of the accounts were particularly violent or life-threatening, although it was easy to extrapolate to highly publicized cases that were. One of my colleagues had been stopped for driving too slowly. He was admiring the local flora as he drove through a New England town in the autumn. Another had been stopped because he was speeding, but only by five miles per hour. He was questioned and then released without getting a ticket. Still another colleague had been stopped and questioned for jogging down the street late at night.

As for me, I had a dozen different encounters to draw from. There was the time I was stopped late at night at an underpass on an empty road in New Jersey for having changed lanes without signaling. The officer told me to get out of my car and questioned me for ten minutes around back with the headlights of his squad car brightly illuminating my face. Is this your car? Yes. Who is the woman in the passenger seat? My wife. Where are you coming from? My parent’s house. Where are you going? Home. What do you do for a living? I am an astrophysicist at Princeton University. What’s in your trunk? A spare tire, and a lot of other greasy junk. He went on to say that the “real reason” why he stopped me was because my car’s license plates were much newer and shinier than the 17-year-old Ford that I was driving. The officer was just making sure that neither the car nor the plates were stolen.

Among my other stories, I had been stopped by campus police while transporting my home supply of physics textbooks into my newly assigned office in graduate school. They had stopped me at the entrance to the physics building where they asked accusatory questions about what I was doing. It was 11:30 p.m. Open-topped boxes of graduate math and physics textbooks filled the trunk. And I was transporting them into the building, which left me wondering how often that scenario shows up in police training videos.

We went on for two more hours. But before we retired for the night we searched for common denominators among the stories. We had all driven different cars—some were old, others were new, some were undistinguished, others were high performance imports. Some police stops were in the daytime, others were at night. Taken one-by-one, each encounter with the law could be explained as an isolated incident where, in modern times, we all must forfeit some freedoms to ensure a safer society for us all. Taken collectively, however, you would think the cops had a vendetta against physicists because that was the only profile we all had in common. In this parade of automotive stop-and-frisks, one thing was for sure, the stories were not singular, novel moments playfully recounted. They were common, recurring episodes. How could this assembly of highly educated scientists, each in possession of the PhD—the highest academic degree in the land—be so vulnerable to police inquiry in their lives? Maybe the police cued on something else. Maybe it was the color of our skin. The conference I had been attending was the 23rd meeting of the National Society of Black Physicists. We were guilty not of DWI (Driving While Intoxicated), but of other violations none of us knew were on the books: DWB (Driving While Black), WWB (Walking While Black), and of course, JBB (Just Being Black).

None of us were beaten senseless. None of us were shot. But what does it take for a police encounter to turn lethal? On average, police in America kill more than 100 unarmed black people per year. Who never made it to our circle? I suspect our multi-hour conversation would be rare among most groups of law-abiding people.

As I compose this, about 10,000 chanting protestors are filing past my window in Manhattan. And because of the intermittent looting and related violence, the curfew for this evening has been pushed earlier, to 8 p.m., from 11 p.m. in the preceding days. The most common placard was “Black Lives Matter.” Many others simply displayed the name George Floyd, who was handcuffed face-down on the street with a police officer’s knee on the back of his neck, applied with a force of at least half the officer’s body weight, resulting in his death. Curious irony that NFL star Colin Kaepernick offered a simple demonstration of care and concern for the fate of black people in the custody of police officers, by taking a knee during the Star Spangled Banner before football games. (One media outlet mangled the moment by describing him as protesting the national anthem.) The outrage against his silent act of concern for a national problem persisted through the 2017 season when, as a free agent, he went unsigned by any team to continue his livelihood.

So, we went from a peaceful knee to the ground to a fatal knee to the neck.

The way peaceful protesters and the press are being shoved, maced, tear-gassed, pepper-sprayed, and tackled in the streets of our cities (when the police should have focused on arresting the looters) you would think the protestors were doing something illegal or un-American. But, of course, the U.S. Constitution has something to say about it:

Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom … of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Which amendment was that? The First Amendment. So, the founders of this nation felt quite strongly about it, empowering one to declare that protesting for redress of grievances is one of the most American things you can do. If you are the police, pause and reflect how great is the country whose Constitution endorses peaceful protests.

What do we actually expect from our police officers? To protect the peace and arrest the bad guys, I presume. But also, to be armed with lethal force that they can use when necessary. That part clearly requires training on how and when to use (and not use) the power of your weapons. The rigorous Minneapolis Police Academy training lasts 4 months. The slightly more rigorous NYC Police Academy lasts 6 months.

Yet to become a certified pastry chef at a prestigious culinary academy requires 8 months. The perfect croissant demands it. So maybe, just maybe, police recruits could benefit from a bit more training before becoming officers.

In 1991, Rodney King (age 25) was struck dozens of times, while on the ground, by four LAPD officers, with their batons, after being tased. The grainy 1990s video of that went media-viral, inducing shock and dismay to any viewer.

But I wasn’t shocked at all.

Based on what I already knew of the world, my first thought was, “We finally got one of those on tape.” Followed by, “Maybe justice will be served this time.” Yes, that’s precisely my first thought. Why? Since childhood my parents instilled in me and my siblings, via monthly, sometimes weekly lessons, rules of conduct to avoid getting shot by the police. “Make sure that when you get stopped, the officer can always see both of your hands.” “No sudden movements.” “Don’t reach into your pockets for anything without announcing this in advance.” “When you move at all, tell the officer what you are about to do.” At the time, I am a budding scientist in middle school, just trying to learn all I can about the universe. I hardly ever think about the color of my skin—it never comes up when contemplating the universe. Yet when I exit my front door, I’m a crime suspect. Add to this the recently coined “White Caller Crime,” where scared white people call the police because they think an innocent black person is doing something non-innocent, and it’s a marvel that any of us achieve at all.

The rate of abuse? Between one and five skin-color-instigated incidents per week, for every week of my life. White people must have known explicitly if not implicitly of this struggle. Why else would the infamous phrase, “I’m free, white, and 21” even exist? Here is a compilation of that line used in films across the decades. Yes, it’s offensive. But in America, it’s also truthful. Today’s often-denied “white privilege” accusation was, back then, openly declared.

The deadly LA riots associated with the Rodney King incident are often remembered as a response to the beating. But no. Los Angeles was quiet for 13 months afterward. Everyone had confidence, as did I, that the video was just the kind of evidence needed to finally bring about a conviction in the abuse of power. But that’s not what came to pass. The riots were a response to the acquittal of the four officers in the incident, and not to the incident itself. And what is a riot if not the last act of helpless desperation.

The 1989 film by Spike Lee “Do the Right Thing,” which explored 1980s black-white-police tensions in Brooklyn, New York, ends with a dedication to the families of six people. Eleanor Bumpers (age 66), Michael Griffith (age 23), Arthur Miller (age 30), Edmund Perry (age 17), Yvonne Smallwood (age 28), and Michael Stewart (age 25). All are black. One was killed by a white mob. The rest were unarmed and shot by police or otherwise died while in police custody. All deaths occurred within the 10 years preceding film, and all occurred in New York City. None of the police-induced deaths resulted in convictions, as continues to be true for 99% of all police killings.

We know of these events because they each ended in death. But even so, back then, it was just local news. Was this just NYC’s problem? I asked myself. But for every police-related death anywhere, how many unarmed victims are shot by police and don’t die, or are wrongfully maimed or injured? Most of those cases didn’t even make the local news. But if you lived there, you knew. We all knew. For what it’s worth, NYC now has the lowest police-caused death rate per capita among the sixty largest cities in the US. Is it that extra two months training in the Police Academy?

The corrosion and ultimate erosion of our confidence in the legal system in cases such as these, even in the face of video evidence, has spawned a tsunami of protests. With sympathetic demonstrations across the United States and around the world. If the threat of prison time for this behavior does not exist—acting as a possible deterrent—then the behavior must somehow stop on its own.

Some studies show that the risk of death for an unarmed person at the hands of the police is approximately the same no matter the demographics of who gets arrested. Okay. But if your demographic gets stopped ten times more than others, then your demographic will die at ten times the rate. I suppose we first have to get the bias factor down to zero, but then there’s still the matter of police killing unarmed suspects, white people included.

I talk a lot. But I don’t talk much about any of this, or the events along this path-of-most-resistance that have shaped me. Why? Because throughout my life I’ve used these occasions as launch-points to succeed even more. Yes, I parlayed the persistent rejections of society, which today might be called micro-aggressions, into reservoirs of energy to achieve. I learned that from my father, himself active in the Civil Rights Movement during the 1950s and 1960s.

In a way, I am who I am precisely because countless people, by their actions or inactions, said I could never be what I am. But what if you don’t have this deep supply of fuel? What becomes of you? Who from historically disenfranchised communities, including women, LGBTQ+, and anybody of color, are missing—falling shy of their full potential because they ran out of energy and gave up trying.

Are things better today than yesterday? Yes. But one measure of this truth is a bit perverse. Decades ago, unarmed black people getting beaten or killed by the police barely merited the local news. But now it’s national news—even breaking news—no matter where in the country it occurs.

So how to change all this? Organizations have surely assembled demands for police departments. Here, I offer a list of my own, for policy experts to consider:

Extend police academies to include months of cultural awareness and sensitivity training that also includes how not to use lethal force.

Police officers should all be tested for any implicit bias they carry, with established thresholds of acceptance and rejection from the police academy. We all carry bias. But most of us do not hold the breathing lives of others in our hands when influenced by it.

During protests, protect property and lives. If you attack nonviolent protesters you are being un-American. And you wouldn’t need curfews if police arrested looters and not protesters.

If fellow officers are behaving in a way that is clearly unethical or excessively violent, and you witness this, please stop them. Someone will get that on video, and it will give the rest of us confidence that you can police yourselves. In these cases, our trust in you matters more to a civil society than how much you stick up for each other.

And here’s a radical idea for the Minneapolis Police Department—why not give George Floyd the kind of full-dress funeral you give each other for dying in the line of duty? And vow that such a death will never happen again.

Lastly, when you see black kids, think of what they can be rather than what you think they are.

Respectfully Submitted

Neil deGrasse Tyson — trying hard to Keep Looking Up.

#neil degrasse tyson #reflections on the color of my skin #reflections #black lives matter #justiceforfloyd #blm movement #blm #support blm #science #george floyd #justice for black lives #justice for poc #no justice no peace #know justice know peace #white silence is violence #physics #amerikkka #blacklivesmatter

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the--social--anarchist · 5 years ago

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Study Tips for Chronically Ill Students

Most bloggers aren’t writing for the chronically ill audience. Typical tips, tricks and hacks on productivity, motivation and studying just don’t work for us. As a chronically ill student who’s in her last year of undergrad (yay!) I decided to share what I have learned over the (many) years.

1. Get comfortable. Seriously. Don’t force yourself to sit at your desk, or go out to a coffee shop to study. Most people will tell you not to lay in bed while you read your books but if you are anything like me, getting ready and driving to the library or Starbucks just takes too much energy. I recommend making yourself a nice set up with everything you need. If you can tolerate sitting at a desk don’t skimp out. Buy yourself a decent, ergonomic office or gaming chair. Make sure you have a drink, a snack, your medication, charges, books, and anything else you need within arms reach. The less you have to get up the more energy you are saving.

2. Take frequent breaks. Okay, this may sound contradictory to tip #1 but hear me out. Everyone person is different, every body is different, and every day is different. Some days your symptoms are just so bad you need to get comfortable and try not to move. But other days you might be fighting brain fog and mental exhaustion. So get up, or even just stop and sit for a minute to rest your mind. Some days I will stop every few sections and get up to do something small like apply a face mask, go back to studying, and then get up in 15 minutes to wash it off etc. Just find what works for you.

3. Write shit down. Write everything down. And write it in multiple places. Again, brain fog is such a bitch, but writing things down multiple times in multiple places will help you remember. I have a paper calendar that I write all my assignment due dates, doctors appointments, and other important things onto, but I also have an assignment check list with all of my upcoming assignments in my notebook. Also, I keep a huge running list titled Never Ending List of Shit To Do with boring chores and tasks that need to be done like doctors to call, bills to pay, letters to mail etc; and I use that list to pick and choose what I’m going to do each day and fill that out on a sticky note or another small insert that serves as my daily to do list.

4. Establish a routine. But don’t be discouraged if you can’t follow it to a T and don’t be afraid to change it up. My routine changes a lot because my symptoms and body are constantly changing too. Also, it’s important to note that a routine is not the same as a schedule. This is important for those of us with chronic illness because its just not feasible to assume we will be able to get up at the same time every day, eat lunch at the same time every day, and study for the same amount of time every day.

5. Stay (way) ahead of schedule. You never know what life is going to throw at you, especially when you are chronically ill. Unfortunately, we can’t plan our flares, but we can prepare for them. If you know you suffer from migraines that will knock you out of commission for 3 days then make sure you are always 3 days ahead of schedule. Something I highly recommend is doing a little bit every day, even if its only 20 minutes of reading. Of course, sometimes we need a break and that’s okay too! Self care is important!

6. Online classes are the best. So many people say online classes are hard because you have to be super disciplined, and that it’s easier to have the accountability to show up to class, but I highly disagree. Online classes give you the freedom to read when you want, listen to lectures when you want, sleep when you need to, and stay comfortable in bed when it would be impossible to get to class. I work solely online and if it weren’t for the option of online classes I would not be in college right now or anytime in the near future.

7. Audio is your friend. Honestly, this is a tip for everyone in high school or college out there. Sometimes we are too tired or in too much pain to stare at a book or screen, or sometimes we need to utilize our energy wisely and multitask by listening while we clean the house. And this isn’t limited to audio text books. There are so many YouTube videos, podcasts, documentaries and more that you can easily just pop on while you are resting or doing chores! I listen to my lectures while I do my nails every week.

8. Don’t rewrite your notes. Don’t write them at all if you can avoid it. Almost all of my professors supply chapter outlines or summaries that I can just print off and fill in extra notes on. If you do need to write your notes I suggest typing them, or only writing them out once, and only what is most important. Whatever you do, don’t rewrite them, and for the love of god do not waste your time trying to make them look like an Instagram photo. Ain’t nobody got spoons for that.

9. Try to balance your course load appropriately. If you are taking a full course load try to even out the number of upper division classes you take with some easy classes, as well as some boring and some interesting. Alternatively, don’t be afraid to drop classes and go down to part time, even if just for one semester. I have tried to stay full time all year round since I re-enrolled in school fall semester of 2017, but spring of 2019 my health took a drastic decline and I did drop down from 5 classes to 3. I also took summer of 2019 off to focus on my health and came back this semester (fall 2019) ready to rock and roll. Seriously, do not be afraid to drop classes. It felt like the end of the world when I did it, but it was absolutely the right choice for me. It saved my GPA and my sanity.

10. Talk to your professor. And your university, and your classmates, and your adviser, and anyone else around you who can offer resources and support. Every university and college has a Disability Services Coordinator Student Center available to request accommodations. The information to contact the center should be listed on your syllabus and the school website. They can help with everything and anything disability related. And if you feel comfortable you should really talk to your professor. Just give them a heads up and inform them of what’s going on. As for your classmates, its always good to connect and find a study buddy or someone you can borrow notes from whether you have a disability or not!

I really hope this list can help some fellow chronically ill students out there. This is what I have learned in my 5+ years of attending college with various chronic and mental illnesses. I truly live by everything I talked about in this post and I have been fairly successful in my academic career. Please re-blog this post to help a fellow student who may have a chronic illness or disability! Happy studying!

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here-are-my-reasons-to-live · 3 years ago

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Number 15

Just wanted to update everyone, I'm out of surgery and doing well! I'm up and walking and the surgeons have been so very kind.

I know the whole "don't talk about yourself on the internet" rule, but I hope that my story can help inspire others to be kind and considerate. I never want anyone else to go through what I did.

This one is pretty long, you do not have to read it all. The last paragraph is the most important.

I was diagnosed with Scoliosis back in the summer of 2017. I had just moved back to my small conservative hometown in the middle of Texas, but before that I'd lived in Las Vegas, Nevada for almost 8 years. I bet you could guess there was a bit of a culture shock there.

Since I was new, I had to have a full physical to join the rest of the students in 7th grade. It was the doctor there that gave me the initial diagnoses.

For those of you who don't know, Scoliosis is a deformation of the vertebrae and spine. You can be born with it or it can appear suddenly.

I was not born with it. We still have no idea what caused it either. I'm pretty sure I had had it for a while, because I had struggled with migraines and back pain since I was in 3rd grade. But no one had believed me, at the time. It took 4 years of pain before I even got the diagnosis.

It took months to get an x-ray scheduled and it was almost a two hour drive to get to the specialist. I was told there that I had two curves; one up near my shoulder, and one down near my hips. Both of the curves were severe enough that I was immediately warned about a possible need surgery and was prescribed a back brace.

The back brace was probably one of the most painful things in my life, both emotionally and physically. The brace was tight and restricted most of my movement. I had to wear undergarments, an undershirt, the brace itself and an over-shirt everyday in the middle of Texas. 18 hours a day too. It would have been decent enough to real with if not for my peers. They would go out of their way to mock how I leaned or the way that I stood. I couldn't wear jeans for a while because the metal would leave bruises in my skin from where the brace but the most pressure, and my classmates loved to point that out.

Some of my most vivid memories are from my classmates making fun of me. Like;

When the school nurse had to chack everyone in the school for it, since it is a quite common condition. The whole class turned to my and snickered. "I bet we'd know if we were freaks like them,"! They told me. The jokes lasted for weeks.

When some kids figured out which desk was mine for 4th period and placed several pieces of gum on the exact side of the chair that the side of my brace hung off of.

This one athletic dude in my class asked if I was too poor to get the surgery or if I just preferred looking like a freak. His family was rich too the point where he and his 6 siblings could afford to go to any school they wanted, not including the price of their house and yacht.

A bit of explanation is needed for this one; I used to stand with one foot pressed against the opposite knee so that some of the pressure from the foam was off my back. The foam would make it difficult to breathe sometimes so I would also move the chest plate forward every once in a while so that I could breathe. This wasn't usually a problem unless I had been standing still for a while. I had been standing for 30 minutes, way longer than what was comfortable for me. One of the guys in my class notice how I was standing, and moved to stand behind me. He spent the next 15 minutes pretending to 'subtly' copy my movements and eventually the whole class was laughing at me.

I was told in June 2019 that I no longer had to wear the brace. It had been ineffective and the curves were both already over 50°. I also was made aware that we were moving to a bigger city and when I tell you that I had never been so happy to move in my life, I mean it from the bottom of my soul.

I managed to make it through 9th and 10th grade. At that point my back hurt badly enough that I had to use a rolling backpack most days. My school does not have lockers, so this is where the bullying got worse. I'm not going to go into detail with these.

People went out of their way to kick my bag. Several of my pride pins on my bag were broken or destroyed entirely. Eventually it got to the point where my friends would carry my bag for me, because people were starting to damage the expensive art supplies that I wasn't always able to hold separately.

People would stare at my uneven shoulders and whisper.

I have a non-binary pin on my bag, and with my comfy clothes I guess I confuse people. Several freshman have decided to entertain themselves by throwing slurs at my partner and I. It got so bad that I moved it off my backpack to my purse.

I'd like to continue this later if any of you are interested. Mostly I just wanted to thank anyone who is kind unconditionally. I want to thank those who stop bullying or teasing. I want to thank the people who would stop and wait patiently outside a public restroom stall because they can hear a child in there crying, and struggling to put on a brace by themselves for the first time. I want to thank the old lady at the Farmers Market when I was in 8th grade, she not only watched my brace and bag because it was 90°F and she could tell that I was missing hanging out with my friends, but helped me make sure that my shirt wasn't caught on the Velcro before I left. I want to thank my friends who defended me when someone would talk about me behind my back, and who were always there to assure me that I was still desirable and loved even if I didn't think I was worth it

To all of the people who helped me, who inspired me, and you cared for me. I owe you all everything. Thank you so much.

#cronic pain #Scoliosis #tw surgery #recovery #i want to thank everyone #bullying #my friends are my family #reasons to live #seriously tho guys #thank you sooooo much #ily all #im sorry its long #inspirational #please bear with me #kindness matters #lgbtq #mentioned homophobia

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longwindedbore · 3 years ago

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Thought of the Day

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50% of US firearms are in the hands of 3% of adults

Which actually makes ‘hoarders’ out of mere gun ‘huggers’.

Hoarders always hoard their ‘precioussssss’.

Hoarders don’t share.

So would Gun Hoarders be the ‘Arsenal of the threatened Faux Patriot Uprising’?

1. Basic Issues.

133M guns among 6.5M+/- hoarders = 20 firearms per.

One can possibly carry one long gun, sling a second, use belt or shoulder rig for two pistols, an ankle holster for a third small pistol. Still leaves 3/4 of their arsenal at home.

Bear in mind trying to walk with the above weight of the weaponry, harnesses, spare clips and ammo for each weapon, tactical gear, and boots all being worn by an out-of-condition middle-aged Reactionary.

2. Do Hoarders Share?

If the gun hoarder’s shooting buddies all own a like-sized arsenal, then to whom would they supply the unused guns?

People who hoarded never let us take their hoarded newspapers for the school paper drives. Never let us have some hoarded string or tinfoil. We only ever pried the hoards from the hoarder’s post-funeral apartment cleanings.

Of course today newspapers cost $1 versus $1,000 ($600 used) for a long gun so there is an added negative.

I’m having trouble envisioning gun hoarders handing their guns out. Why would they assume they’d ever get them back?

3. Hoarders Apocalyptic Vision

I would also suspect that a large number of gun hoarders reside in red counties rather than in large urban areas in blue counties.

So to ‘put down’ their perceived enemies they’d have to travel relatively long distances as did the January 6th insurrectionists and Rittenhouse.

But the vision of an apocalyptic near future expressed by hoarders tends to be just the opposite. With them as the Persecuted being attacked in their communities.

So they imagine that their red counties will be inundated by a flood of urban horrors: thousand of black and Hispanic heavily armed gangs, the millions of ISIS and Al Qaeda we Libertards have smuggled into the country, the indigenous in war paint, public health officials with vaccination needles, federal troops coming to confiscate guns, OSHA, census takers, the SPCA coming for their dogs, CPS coming for their kids, etc.

I think most gun hoarders will hunker in place. To defend their homes. And their ‘preciousssss’.

Unfortunately, the bloodshed has started in urban areas and it isn’t finished yet. But, will the red county folk rise up?

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

[https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/nov/15/the-gun-numbers-just-3-of-american-adults-own-a-collective-133m-firearms]

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suknas · 4 years ago

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First Line Tag Game II

Tagged by @ruluxe (who dared to say that I have fanfics that I'm "holdin out on us" -- it is true tho lol)

Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all!). See if there are any patterns. Choose your favorite opening lines then tag 10 of your favorite authors.

Tagging: Everyone who wants to do this! (I'm not sure which authors are still active here ;-;)

Now we all know how inconsistent I am. But I do like starting with what's going on with the characters/where they are... Don't I? Well I decided to start with the most recent published ones, descending to the first ones published (skipping some), and finally some of my WIP/"One day I will finish" fanfics.

Quick fun fact: I didn't remember writing most of those fanfics lol

So here we go!!!! (it's gonna be a bumpy ride)

1. Into the Storm [GrimmIchi]: The lightning and thundering's brightness and strong noises were slicing the dark-blue sky of a lonely and sleepless night. A storm was coming. The heavy rain and gusts of wind were not the only thing rapidly creeping through the night. Kurosaki Ichigo could sense something else approaching along with the dark clouds and the pouring rain that now was hitting his window. [2021 (but the draft was from 2017 maybe), Bleach]

2. Ascension [AoKaga]: Light appeared in the darkness and soon darkness became insignificant before the beauty and immensity of the bright light surrounding a tall and masculine figure. He walked calmly through the uncertain route that many others once also stepped into it. He had a goal. The time to seek the one whom he had once shared many memories with, good and bad. The one person whom he had loved immensely but had never gotten to experience that feeling truly and at its fullest. The time had finally come. [2021 (again the draft was probably from 2016), Kuroko no Basket]

3. The One Where Prompto Does Not Want To Be In The Middle [Gladios x Prompto x Noctis x Ignis]: Sleeping in the camping tent was always a challenge in Prompto’s opinion. It is not as if he does not like camping, it was pretty nice being able to sit under the stars and gaze them, it was relaxing. Sometimes Noctis would sit behind him, embracing him in a warm hug. They would spend a long time chatting and exchanging affectionate touches until both of them felt like sleeping. Other times Gladio would join him, and the shield would let the blond lay his head on his lap. More often than not Prompto ended up sleeping while feeling his hair being played by dexterous and caring fingers. And whenever Ignis had time to spare, he would also join him after cleaning the mess they did during dinner. [2020 (again the draft was maybe from 2017), Final Fantasy XV]

4. The Owl Who Got Caught [KuroTsuki + Bokuto]: The third day of the training camp was finally over. Soon, everybody was running to the school cafeteria to grab something to eat. In the meantime, while nobody was looking, Kuroo took the opportunity to take Tsukishima’s hand, guiding him to the room that the Nekoma team was sharing; closing the door right after they entered. Nekoma and Karasuno’s middle blockers became closer ever since their first practice game, now they were spending more time together, and their relationship had an unexpected development. [2020 (draft probably from 2017), Haikyuu]

5. A Boyfriend Text [KuroTsuki]: Laying in his bed with a smile on the lips Kuroo was texting his sweet strawberry shortcake boyfriend. Eyes rapt, staring at the bright screen in the dark room; he was feeling anxious if his stupid smile and trembling fingers were any indicator.

TETSUROU: Wanna come over this weekend?

It had been some weeks since they had the opportunity to meet; school and volleyball practice were mostly the reason for their inevitable long separation. Week after week something "magically" came up in their agendas, but Kuroo was hopeful, however, that maybe this time their schedules would finally allow them to meet. [2020, Haikyuu]

6. Domestic Bliss [KiriBaku]: Sitting comfortably on the couch, Kirishima and Bakugou were finally spending some time together after a rough week. It was one of those rare days where both could enjoy a peaceful and uneventful afternoon. To say that both men were lazily on the couch doing absolutely nothing productive was not very accurate. Bakugou was doing something with his spear time, he was reading a book. By his focused attention on the pages, anyone could tell that he was enjoying his reading and only someone stupid would dare to bother him. [2017, Boku no Hero Academia]

7. Getting Together [KiriBaku]: “Let’s grab something to eat!” The blonde shouted after stretching his arms above his head. Bakugou’s red eyes fixed on the figure of Kirishima, who was sitting comfortably in bed with his back against the headboard.The redhead’s own red eyes snapped at the figure on the chair, eyeing him from head to toe; he spaced out in no second. Kirishima wanted to touch those damn nice muscled arms, which were slowly lowered down while his hands were placed on his toned thighs. Kirishima couldn’t help himself and started to imagine Bakugou’s whole body underneath him wrapping his body with those strong legs and arms. [2017, Boku no Hero Academia]

8. AoKaga short stories collection [AoKaga]: The atmosphere of the place was hot and heavy. However, because of that, the two teens lying down on the bed were more connected than ever. Their bare bodies were united white skin with dark skin. Their breaths were out of rhythm and their hands slid skillfully on each other’s bodies. The movements were synchronized and intense. The pleasurable moans and whispers echoed in the dark room, making the place even more delightful for both of them. [2017 - Short Story #4, Kuroko no Basket]

9. It's Picture Time! [Pomptis]: In the Regalia, Prompto and Ignis were heading to the nearest outpost from their camping spot to get some supplies for the night. The sun on the horizon was almost hiding behind the tree path by Prompto’s right side, the scenery formed by dim light and shadowy dark spots caught Prompto’s eyes.“Wow! Look at the light, it’s amazing!” the blond shouted, “Can’t we stop just for a bit?” Prompto was thrilled by the idea of adding more photos to his portfolio. [2017, Final Fantasy XV]

10. That Side of You [MiSawa]: Miyuki was laying in the bed on his back, eyes glassy, hands shaking and skin hot. The body above his was driving him to a place where it was absolute bliss and pleasure. Hips moved together, swinging with movements that were making Miyuki moans the pitcher’s name in a short and breathless tone.“Sa-wamura– Aah! Do that again,” his voice low and hoarse made the order sound weak, and his usual snarky tone was lost a long time ago in some part of his foggy mind. [2016, Diamond no Ace]

11. Runaround [Sterek]: Everything was set neatly on the kitchen table. Stiles was going to be there soon, so Derek had already prepared every single book and even snacks that they may need for their studying.It wasn't new that both of them were hanging out for studying matters. Actually, Derek had come up with the idea first, mainly because he was having some issues involving fast heartbeats and some inconvenient hard-ons whenever Stiles was around. He had a ridiculous crush on his friend. However, the smart geek boy didn't have to know about that. [2016, Teen Wolf]

12. Eavesdropping [MiSawa]: Sawamura’s suspicions must be right for his sake. Otherwise, Miyuki would make sure his so careless kouhai would pay a high price for being so noisy about Kuramochi and Ryou-senpai making out when no one was seeing. The closed and almost claustrophobic locker didn’t have enough space to move around, but he and Sawamura managed to fit in somehow. So what? They were eavesdropping, and he still couldn’t say that he was regretting this. [2016, Diamond no Ace]

13. Sterek Short Stories Collection [Sterek]: Stiles had broken up with his last boyfriend a couple of months ago. Or it was what he usually says to Scott when his best friend asks him why he isn’t over his past relationship. Because according to Scott, it’s been a year and a half since Stiles had parted ways with, at the time, his other half. And right now it was one of those times.“You should move on. I haven't seen you with no one since then. What about Danny? Last night I saw him flirting with you, and when I looked again you were nowhere to be found, but Danny was still there drinking alone. And let not forget your grumpy humor because your sex life sucks. It's getting old bro.” [2015 - Short Story #3, Teen Wolf]

14. Urge [AoKaga]: The small public bathroom stall in that bar hadn't been made for sure to accommodate two giants, dumbasses, and impulsive basketball players. Nevertheless, this fact wasn’t that important for the Too player neither to the Seirin player. Kagami was already pressing his body against Aomine’s, who was stuck between the wall and Kagami while his mouth was being devoured by the other’s tongue. Both were fighting into that kiss as if there was no tomorrow. Their hands were traveling quickly by each other’s body, and quickly they were undoing their pants’ zippers and buttons. Their shirts were all messy, as well as their hair. Their breaths were heavy, and the kisses now were directed to their necks, sucking and biting the skin exposed. Soft moans could be heard, but not loud enough to echo in the bathroom. [2013, Kuroko no Basket]

15. After Dancing Lessons [AoKaga]: The music was set up, and his hips started to move, his steps were guiding him to where a dark skinned guy was sat on a chair. The dancer's eyes were fixed in front of him. The watcher's eyes sparkled with excitement when the other sat on his lap, one leg on each side of his body, and kissed his cheeks along to his lips and chin, returning the same way till his ear, biting there slightly. The dancer felt the other hands trying to take his clothes off and immediately stood up, preventing to have those hands on his body so easily. [2013, Kuroko no Basket]

16. Sleep Well [ZoSan]: The night was agitated on board of the Sunny and lots of dirty dishes were pilled up on a corner of the sink. Sanji didn't have this time someone to help him to clean everything up. 'Those lazy bastards!' He frowned, 'all right! Let’s put all these things in their right place!' And with that thought, Sanji started the tiring process of doing all the dishes. On the bright side, if he was the one doing it everything would be spot on in no time. [2013, One Piece]

17. Possessive Lover [KidLaw / LawLu]: The bell indicating the change of periods rang and the students gradually began to leave one room to proceed to another. In the middle of changing classrooms, some students went to a quick trip to the bathroom, which was where that a spiky redhead boy was heading to. He had a dangerous gaze gleaming in his golden eyes; he had quite a threatening presence, and his looks did not lie about his fiery and explosive personality. Any sane person would prefer to avoid crossing paths with him or to even look the boy in the eyes. [2012, One Piece]

18. English Lesson [WIP, AoKaga]: The room was a mess. There were a lot of magazines, books, sheets, some snacks, three soda bottles, two hoodies and two pairs of sneakers all thrown on the floor. Sitting side by side, in front of the center table with notebooks and pens in hands were Kagami and Aomine. They had that idea of starting to study at each other’s places every Thursday night after their club activities. It was not like they liked to take a book, read it and think about the subject, the matter here was way bigger than just casual study. Their grades were in the red mark, which meant that they needed to rise them at least not to get scolded and taken off the basketball team. This time around Kagami was helping Aomine with his English study. The redhead was doing his best to try to explain, but he wasn’t that good at teaching those so detailed grammatical things… [unknown year - present, Kuroko no Basket]

19. High heels [WIP, KuroTsuki]: Tsukishima walked all proud on a black suit, white button-up shirt, grey tie and black stilettos in the room. Kuroo was watching his slow movements with a fierce look from the bed, where he was sat with his hands tied to the headboard by a soft cloth. Tsukishima stopped at the bed foot, looking straight at Kuroo. Ever so slowly, Tsukishima’s hands loosened the tie around his neck, the button-up shirt was having his buttons calmly undone, soon the shirt was wide open reviling Tsukishima's snow-white skin for Kuroo’s delight. [unknown year - present, Haikyuu]

20. Christmas thing / The untitled fanfic [WIP, AoKaga]: It was Christmas the snow was falling outside, many sparkle lights, so many decorations everywhere, people receiving and giving presents, eating together and singing songs. A day to celebrate and stay with family and friends. A day full of joy and happiness.At Kagami's house every single tradition was made. Kagami invited the Seirin basketball team to celebrate, but it ended up with some unexpected guests, the self-invited guests were some of Touou basketball team. And of course, Aomine Daiki was there. The redhead didn't even want to know how Aomine had found out about his little party. He'd bet that Kuroko had told something to Momoi and she kindly invited Aomine and the rest of the troupe. [unknown year - present, Kuroko no Basket]

#ruluxe #tag game #Kuroos got tagged #that was fun and I'm also embarrassed that I wrote some of these lol #aokaga #kurotsuki #grimmichi #sterek #misawa #kiribaku #zosan #lawlu #kidlaw #kuroosden #Kuroos writing again

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affiliateboosterplugin · 4 years ago

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5 Best Books to Improve Your Affiliate Marketing Skills

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hovercraft79 · 4 years ago

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There She Goes

Chapters: 1

Word Count: 7,173

Fandom: The Worst Witch (TV 2017)

Rating: Teen

Warnings: doubts about self-worth, body-image issues

Summary: The start of a new school year brings a host of new challenges. One challenge Hecate never imagined comes in the form of the vivacious Miss Goodcast – a supply witch with more on her mind than chanting.

Notes: This fic covers the Week prompt ‘Accidentally Married.’

The title comes the song by Sixpence None the Richer (originally by The La’s). Is it about heroin? Ada? Could go either way.

Sparky is still doing her best to make me sound literate. I appreciate the great effort that takes.

Ada schooled her face into a neutral, vaguely interested expression. Rusty cauldrons, but her mother could drone on… I’ll never be that way, she told herself. Idly scanning the room, her eyes jerked to a stop when they crossed Miss Hardbroom’s. The younger witch was staring pointedly at her. As Ada looked back at her, Hecate opened her eyes wider and arched one slender eyebrow.

Clearly, she hadn’t been as subtle about her boredom as she thought.

At last, her mother finished her traditional ‘back-to-school’ speech and dismissed them for lunch. Ada waited for Hecate at the door.

“If any of the girls displayed your level of attentiveness…” Hecate teased, “you’d have them in detention.”

“Let’s hope my lessons are a bit more stimulating than Mother’s speech. Promise me you’ll never let me drone on like that.”

Hecate snorted. “Sounds like Headmistress’s prerogative.” She bumped Ada with her shoulder. “Or a Cackle family trait.”

“Not the only one I’m hoping to avoid.” Ada adjusted the too-tight waistband of her navy slacks. The summer had brought a few extra pounds along with the warmer temperatures. More and more often, when she looked in the mirror, Ada saw her mother staring back. “I refuse to cast an enlargement spell on my trousers.”

“It’s just the effects of a lazy summer. Once term begins, you’ll be active enough. Either way, you needn’t worry about your appearance.” Hecate tried to hide her wince but didn’t manage it. She wanted to tell Ada that she was beautiful – no matter an extra ten pounds or so, but… the one time she’d tried to say it, the whole conversation had disintegrated into an awkward silence.

Ada gave her a sidelong look, taking in her thin form. Hecate had returned from Darkwood Cottage and Mistress Broomhead alarmingly thin. Over the course of the last few months she’d put some of the weight back on, but not all. Ada knew part of her own added weight came from bringing sweets or savory snacks to their evening teas. She’d never say such a thing to Hecate, however.

“Mind if we make a stop before lunch?” Ada steered Hecate towards her quarters. “I have something for you.”

“Would that happen to be the timetables for the First-Years?” Hecate had been waiting for Ada to finish those since Selection Day. “Or is that too much to ask?” Even though this was to be Ada’s first year as Deputy Head and her transition into running the school, her best friend from childhood’s oldest daughter would be entering Cackle’s this year. Ada had asked to be able to teach Mavis Spellbody’s first year of potions. Since Hecate still worried that she might be too harsh for the youngest students, she’d gladly agreed.

She also looked forward to spending another year teaching with Ada, even for only one class.

“Definitely too much,” Ada said with a chuckle. “I promise I’ll have them before the start of term.” She opened the door to her quarters with a wave of her hand. “Not that you haven’t already created your own set.”

“A good witch is always prepared.”

“And you, dear Hecate, are an excellent witch.” Ada summoned a small box. “I know I’ve thrown a bit of a spanner in the works for your first year of teaching, but I wanted to mark the start of your first official year on staff.”

Hecate took the box with slightly shaking hands. “You needn’t have…”

“But I wanted to…”

Eyes glistening, Hecate carefully pulled the ribbon loose and lifted the lid, gasping when she revealed a gleaming pocket watch inside. “Ada… it’s beautiful…” She lifted it out of the box, the chain sliding through slender fingers. “Oh! A necklace!”

Ada vanished the box away. “May I?” Nodding shyly, Hecate handed the watch over. Ada slipped it over her head, carefully avoiding her bun. “It suits you,” she said, stepping back to get a better look.

Hecate pulled it away from her chest, opening it to check the time. “I don’t know what to say… thank you.” She squeezed Ada in a tight hug, careful to let go quickly.

“You’re quite welcome. It’s spelled to always keep the correct time and never to need winding. I thought you could use it when you’re working on your own potions.”

“And when we’re preparing the kitten potions during the summer, and when it’s my turn to do rounds and… I’m sure I’ll find all sorts of uses for it.” She clicked it closed and let it hang.

“I’ve no doubt about that.” Ada cocked her head before magicking a few more links in the chain, adding an inch or two in length. “Better.” Ada held out an elbow. “To lunch?”

Hecate smoothed the watch against her chest and nodded. Slipping her arm through Ada’s, she followed her into the corridor, enjoying the closeness Ada offered her. She still struggled around people. Though she told herself that it had only been a few months since she’d escaped Broomhead’s abuses, she feared that this would be a lasting effect – one more mistake resulting in one more lifetime punishment. She could let those fears go with Ada, though, a little at least. Ada made her feel as close to normal as she had ever felt – as normal as she’d felt during her last two years of school. She prayed Ada never found out how much she craved her company. Or how off-balance she felt when she wasn’t with Ada. Either one was likely to drive Ada away, and Hecate knew she wouldn’t survive losing Ada the way she’d lost Pippa all those years ago.

They arrived in the Dining Hall and Hecate dropped Ada’s arm, missing the warmth immediately. It wouldn’t do to seem overly familiar, though. Cackle’s was a small place. One comment from Miss Swoop implying that Ada and Hecate might be more than friends had been enough to send Hecate into a tailspin for days. Ada had simply waved the comment away, but she’d been understanding of Hecate’s feelings.

As usual, the seat next to Alma had been left empty for Ada. Also, as usual, the seat next to Ada had been left empty for Hecate. At some point over the last term, it had become generally accepted that, no matter the occasion, the seat next to Ada belonged to Hecate. Most of the staff smiled indulgently, or smirked knowingly, and kept any comments to themselves. Save for Miss Gullet, of course. She regularly had an eye roll or huff of annoyance to add whenever it came to seating arrangements.

“She’s hardly the senior staff she thinks she is,” Geraldine grumbled as they approached.

“Who? Miss Hardbroom? Senior staff or no, she’s the preferred company,” Gwen stated. “It’s lovely to be able to work with good friends, isn’t it?”

“I wouldn’t know,” Geraldine muttered as she moved to another table, delighting Miss Bat.

“What’s wrong with her?” Ada asked as she took her seat.

“Just realized she’s Geraldine Gullet, I imagine,” Gwen drawled. She smiled at Hecate as she took her place between them, leaning around the younger woman to speak to Ada. “I heard back from the Witching Academy Network about the supply witch. A Miss Prudence Goodcast will arrive just before I leave. I should have a few days to get her into the routine of things before I leave for my tour.”

Ada looked at the ceiling as she tried to place the name. “I’ve heard that name before. I believe she may have been a student at Amulet’s when I started there. If that’s the same girl I remember, you shouldn’t have any worries about leaving your classes in her hands.”

“That’s a relief.” Gwen focused on Hecate. “You might enjoy having someone about your own age in the faculty lounge for a change.”

Hecate thought back to her childhood experiences with people her own age. “Delightful.”

A few weeks later and Prudence Goodcast touched down at Cackle’s Academy. When Miss Bat brought her ‘round to the faculty lounge, she was nothing like Hecate expected. Bubbly, blonde and bright, Hecate’s heart had clenched on their first meeting, fearing she was to be reminded of Pippa every single day for the next two months. It only took Hecate a few minutes to realize she was wrong.

“And well met, indeed, Miss Hardbroom!” Prudence’s eyes took in Hecate’s form fitting dress. “You must call me Prudie. I think if I’d had a potions teacher as enchanting as you, I’d have done better on my exams!”

“T-thank you?” Hecate looked down at her dress. It was form fitting, yes, but only because she’d felt she needed a change after the second student set her looser skirts on fire. “Call me Hecate.” She held out a hand and Prudie took it, squeezing gently and holding it just a tad past proper.

“I’m sure we’ll be great friends, Hecate.” Prudie grinned impishly and let Miss Bat lead her away.

At first, Hecate was sure that Prudie would prove to be a special sort of tribulation. Instead, she found her quite charming. Quick with a compliment, but not fawning. She asked thoughtful questions about Cackle’s and the Academy’s traditions as well as of Hecate herself, but never seemed to pry. She had a keen intellect and a healthy respect for traditions and the Code – a fact that surprised Hecate. She also made it abundantly clear that she would be open to being more than simply friends during her stay at Cackle’s – a fact that stunned Hecate.

After the second night of Prudie’s flirtations, Hecate had excused herself early from dinner, retiring to her rooms just to have a chance to breathe. She couldn’t deny that she felt a certain attraction to the woman. Who wouldn’t? With wavy blonde hair, hazel eyes and a trim, fit body, Prudence Goodcast no doubt turned heads everywhere she went. And somehow, she was interested in Hecate.

No strings attached, Prudie had said. Hecate hardly even knew what that meant. Everything came with strings or conditions or consequences. As much as her skin tingled whenever Prudie touched it, Hecate was terrified of the inevitable fallout that would come, whatever it may be. A soft knock on the door nearly caused her to jump out of her skin. The thought that it might be Prudie both thrilled and frightened her. Hecate hoped that it was Ada just so she could feel a sense of calm. Ada always brought calm.

When she opened the door, she found neither Ada nor Prudie. Instead, Gwen Bat stood there, smiling serenely up at her. “Good evening, Hecate. Might I trouble you for a moment?”

“Of course.” Hecate stepped aside, allowing Gwen to sweep into the room. “Please, have a seat.” Hecate watched as Gwen made herself at home on her sofa.

Gwen studied Hecate for a moment before she spoke. “Miss Goodcast has taken quite the shine to you. Dare I say the feelings seem mutual?”

Hecate hugged herself and stared at the floor. “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.”

“That’s probably true.” Gwen patted the seat next to her and waited for Hecate to sit down. “It’s clear that Miss Goodcast is interested in pursuing a relationship with you. It’s not quite as clear, but I think you might be interested in that as well?”

“I’m not sure what your point is, Miss Bat. We’re here to provide an education for our students.”

Gwen rolled her eyes. “Of course, we are, but you’re also here to live your life. I suppose what I’m saying is that you should allow yourself to have a good time. You’re too serious for such a young woman, Hecate. Allow yourself a bit of pleasure. Indulge. Have an extra slice of cake, or a lie-in on a Sunday morning. Indulge yourself in a bit of romance. If nothing else, indulge in enjoying the company of another witch your own age here.”

“Miss Gullet is the same age as—"

“For Merlin’s sake, Hecate. You’ve been punished enough.”

Hecate gasped, stricken eyes finally meeting Gwen’s. “That’s not funny.”

Gwen took Hecate’s hand between her own. “It wasn’t meant to be. You have been punished beyond all measure for your supposed crimes.”

“What I did— “

“I know what you did, Hecate. I was here, remember?”

“I know...”

“Well, let me tell you something you may not know. The day Indigo Moon turned to stone, two little girls winked out of existence, not one. We lost both Indigo and Joy. Now, sad as it was about Indigo, I didn’t know her, but believe me when I tell you that I grieved for Joy Hardbroom. I still grieve for the loss of that girl. But things have been different since you struck up your friendship with Ada. Every once in a while, I catch a glimpse of Joy again and I can’t tell you how happy that has made me.”

“I’m sorry… but I can’t ever be that girl again.”

“No. Nor should you be. I would grieve the loss of Hecate Hardbroom far more than I ever did Joy.” She smiled sadly and patted Hecate’s cheek. “But you deserve a bit of Joy every now and then.”

“And you think I may find this Joy you speak of with Prudie?”

Gwen lifted an indifferent shoulder. “Perhaps. Perhaps not. Sometimes a thing can be all the sweeter because it’s fleeting.”

Hecate thought about it. “You think I should… indulge myself with Prudie?” The words tasted strange on her tongue.

“Not necessarily. Not everyone is cut out to enjoy a brief romantic fling. Maybe you are, maybe you aren’t. If you aren’t, that’s perfectly fine. What I’m saying is this: if the only thing holding you back is the belief that you don’t deserve any happiness it might bring, you’re wrong. You do deserve it. Is there something else holding you back? Or someone, perhaps?”

“No,” Hecate said quickly. Too quickly. Ada’s face blossomed in her mind’s eye, but she tried to push it away. Despite the warm feelings Ada brought to her chest, Ada had never been more than a friend. She’d never expressed an interest in Hecate beyond friendship. Even if she had… the risks were too high. Neither could leave the Academy if things didn’t work out. Giving in to any sort of feelings for Ada could be disastrous. But someone only here for a few weeks? “Did you have these...flings?”

Gwen grinned fondly at the memories. “I’d been known to have an occasional dalliance before I met my Algie. How do you think I was able to know for certain that he was the one for me? Think on it, dear.” Without another word Gwen patted her knee and transferred away.

And Hecate did think on it. For the rest of the night and all the way into the morning. She was still thinking about it when she accepted Prudie’s invitation to join her for a picnic dinner. The butterflies in her stomach only stopped fluttering when she thought about telling Ada.

She’d hoped to catch Ada between classes, but she’d been delayed when Ivy Watercress had mixed up her lacewing and mayfly eggs in her Color-Changing potion, causing her to turn blue and swell horribly. Three other girls had begun chanting something about oompa-loompas that Hecate didn’t understand. She made a mental note to ask Ada about it later.

She finally caught up with Ada in Mrs. Cackle’s office. “Ada!” She smiled as Ada turned, lighting up and smiling herself. Her heart fluttered, but she reminded herself that the risk was too great. “I ummm… I wanted to let you know that I won’t be at dinner tonight.”

“Oh?” Ada’s expression changed to something unreadable. Behind her, Alma suddenly found something fascinating in the report she was reading.

“Miss Goodcast has invited me on… a picnic… supper.” Her smile faltered as she trailed off.

“Oh. Well. That does sound lovely. Where are you going?”

“The clearing south of the cottage.” Hecate had chosen the location – somewhere that had no history for her or for Ada.

“Okay.” Ada nodded, a bit too forcefully. “I’m sure you’ll have a lovely time.”

“Thank you.” Confused, Hecate started to close the door when Ada called out.

“Hecate? I know Miss Goodcast is only here for a short time. Please… don’t worry yourself with me. Have a good time with your… your friend.”

Hecate studied Ada’s face for a moment. The smile never left it, but… “Thank you, Ada. Goodnight. And goodnight to you, Mrs. Cackle.”

Ada slumped against her mother’s desk as soon as the door closed. Alma studied her daughter for several long minutes before moving over to lean next to her.

“That was a very generous thing you did, daughter. And difficult, considering your feelings.”

“We’re only friends, Mother. Nothing more.” I don’t even know if she’s interested in anything more, she thought. “You said she needed to be free. You were right. She needs to live her own life.” Even if it hurts.

Hecate watched as Prudie explored the clearing.

“It’s lovely,” she called over her shoulder. “You must come here all the time!”

“No… not really,” Hecate answered as she spread the blanket over the grass. “There aren’t many useful potion ingredients in this part of the forest, at least none that aren’t everywhere else as well.”

Prudie waltzed over to stand next to Hecate. “I’ll bet you can name every one of them, can’t you?”

Hecate felt the tingling warning of an old, old trap. Don’t be smarter than the other girls, she reminded herself. “I don’t—”

“Oh, come on, Hec,” she raced to a tree at the edge of the clearing. “What’s this one?”

Rolling her eyes, Hecate deadpanned, “It’s an oak tree. The most common tree in Britain.”

“I know it’s an oak tree, silly. What’s it also called?”

“Quercus robur,” she sighed.

Prudie scanned the clearing and ran to a different sort of tree on the other side. “And this one?” She held up a finger. “And before you say it, I know it’s a hawthorn.”

“Crataegus laevigata. And before you ask, the little tree leaning towards the light is Acer campestre, also known as?”

“A maple tree,” Prudie answered laughing. “I should have known you’d turn it back ‘round to me. I’m being too easy on you.” She pointed to a cluster of plants on the ground. “How about these?”

“Fennel, corn mint and dandelions.” Prudie stuck her hands on her hips, cocking her head in expectation. “Very well. Foeniculum vulgare, Mentha arvensis, and Taraxacum officinale. Surely you don’t want to spend the evening doing this.”

“Actually, I could. I love watching the way your eyes light up when you talk about plants and potions.” She walked slowly up to Hecate, not stopping until she was close enough to place her hands on Hecate’s hips. “I’d like to kiss you now, if you’d like that as well.”

“I think… I think I’d like that very much.”

The kiss was soft, but sure. Prudie held back, letting Hecate take the lead as she figured out what to do, their picnic forgotten.

-----

The next few weeks seemed a whirlwind to Hecate as she tried to juggle her classes, evenings spent with Prudie and finding time for Ada. She was ashamed to say that Ada got short shrift, but Ada never seemed to mind, always greeting her with a smile and a lemon drop. She’d ask how Hecate was enjoying her time with Prudie, but Hecate could tell that hearing the answer bothered her. She just didn’t understand why. Hecate kept her answers brief.

At last, the day came when Miss Bat returned, trunk full of gifts for the staff. “I’m sure you’re not so excited to see me return,” she whispered to Hecate as she hugged her hello.

“Quite the contrary,” Hecate whispered back, knowing in her heart that it was true. “As you said, sometimes things are all the better because they are fleeting. Welcome home, Miss Bat.”

“Why don’t you come ‘round for tea later? I’d love to hear all about your adventures.”

Hecate nodded. “I’d like that.” She looked over Gwen’s shoulder at Prudie who was looking back at her fondly.

Gwen followed Hecate’s eyes, smiling gently. “I’ll leave you two to it, then,” she said before transferring to her rooms.

“Well,” Prudie said, softly. “It seems our interlude has come to an end. Any regrets?”

“No, no regrets.” Hecate leaned against the wall. She reached for Prudie’s hand before changing her mind, dropping her hand back to her side. “At least now I won’t have to answer to that ridiculous ‘Hec’ that you insist on calling me.”

“You didn’t seem to mind hearing it in certain… circumstances.”

“Prudence.”

Prudie threw her head back and laughed. “That’s the Hecate we all know and love.” She crossed her arms and matched Hecate’s pose. “You know you’re going to miss me.”

Would she? Hecate wasn’t sure if that was the case. “I will always think of you fondly.” That much she knew to be true. “Will you come back, do you think?”

“Well, you never know which way the wind blows, do you?” She leaned forward and kissed Hecate’s cheek. “Even if I do… I don’t think we have any other… interludes… in our future, do you?”

“Did I… was I… Was I not good enough?” Hecate knew that saying she’d been inexperienced was a gaping understatement, but… she’d tried.

“You’ve been nothing but delightful, Hec. Hecate. You can’t imagine I’ve had any complaints.”

Pleased to hear it, Hecate felt her cheeks flush, nonetheless. “Then… why?” She knew Prudie was right. As much as she’d enjoyed their time together, she had to admit that she didn’t feel any great pangs at its ending.

“Do you remember that first night? The picnic in the woods?”

“The first night you kissed me.”

“Mmm… Do you remember I told you that I could listen to you talk about plants forever, because of the way you lit up whenever you did?”

“A very generous lie,” Hecate said, with a soft chuckle.

“Well, perhaps an exaggeration, but not a lie. Probably. The thing is, what I said about the way you… light up… whenever you talk about something you love… Well, there’s only one other thing I’ve ever seen that makes you shine the same way. And it isn’t me.” Prudie took Hecate’s hand. “It’s Ada. Whenever you see her or talk about her. It’s her.”

It’s always been her, Hecate thought. “It’s… complicated,” she said.

“I’m sure. But… If I meet someone who makes me feel the way Ada obviously makes you feel… I’d hope I’d be brave enough to tell her. I hope I’ve helped you be brave.” She squeezed Hecate’s hand before letting it go. Letting her go. “Be brave, Hecate.”

Later that afternoon, Hecate knocked before opening Ada’s door, intending to invite herself in for tea. “Mind if I join you?” Prudie’s words echoed in Hecate’s head when she saw how delighted Ada was to see her.

“Hecate!” Ada waved her inside. “Not at all.” Her enthusiasm wavered. “I thought you’d be spending this last evening with Miss Goodcast.”

Hecate waved the idea away. “We’ve said our goodbyes. I’d rather spend the evening with you, if you haven’t decided you prefer less of my company.”

Ada slowly folded a newspaper into her lap. “Never.” Ada magicked away her tea set and replaced it with a bottle of wine and two glasses. “I’d never begrudge you a moment spent… pursuing your own… interests.” She poured the wine. “However, I will confess that I’ve missed my friend.”

“I’ve missed you, too.” Hecate took her glass, not sure if she trusted herself to drink it. “I fear I wasn’t very good at balancing…”

“No matter, dear. I’m sure next time you’ll manage.” The tension in the set of Ada’s jaw belied the lightness of her tone.

“I don’t think there’ll be a next time. I don’t regret my… relationship with Prudie, but… well,” Hecate took a gulp of courage from her glass. “Prudie was appealing because I knew I had no future with her. There wasn’t any risk.”

“Oh…” Again, Ada looked at her with an unreadable expression.

They fell into an uncomfortable silence, unsure where to go from here. Hecate took another sip of wine as she searched the room for anything to talk about. There were no assignments being graded, there’d been no incidents in class lately… even Pendle was nowhere in sight. Finally, her eyes lit on the newspaper in Ada’s lap.

“Beret.”

“What?” Ada looked up at her, confused. She lifted her hand to her head, finding it just as beret-free as it had been… well, all her life, really.

“Beret.” Hecate tapped Ada’s copy of Witching Weekly with her finger. “The word in the Jumble you haven’t solved. It’s beret.”

Blinking, Ada looked at the paper. “Brilliant!” She summoned her pen and filled in the blanks. “That makes the final puzzle…” She rearranged the letters. “The cauldron maker wanted to expand his business but decided it was too much… TOIL AND TROUBLE! Lovely!” She grinned up at Hecate. “Now, you pour us another glass of wine – I’ve got a puzzle from last week that’s been driving me batty.”

Ada hurried to her bedroom to fetch the other puzzle. Hecate waited, feeling something loosen in her chest. Feeling like she was the one coming home, rather than Miss Bat.

-----

Alma sat in her office chair, staring at the still empty boxes on the floor in front of the fireplace. Her life’s work would soon be reduced to little more than trinkets and mementos packed into cardboard boxes. No matter how often she told herself that the school and the girls were her legacy, it all still came down to a few cardboard boxes. Boxes that she just couldn’t make herself fill.

“Come on, you old fool, you can’t keep putting it off,” she told herself sternly. She still didn’t move. Had her own mother harbored these doubts about retirement? No, she humpfed to herself. Her mother had been eager to retire, passing the reigns to Alma while she was still in her thirties. She’d promised herself she wouldn’t do that to Ada – that Ada would have a chance to live her own life while she was young.

Now she feared she’d erred too much in the other direction. Alma had always known and accepted that her place was at Cackle’s. She’d never given her mother cause to have any misgivings about leaving the school in her hands. She herself hadn’t been so fortunate. Agatha’s constant Code-breaking as a child had finally erupted during their teen years. At the time, she’d felt she had no choice but to send Agatha to Wormwood’s – and not just for her own sanity. Agatha’s influence over Ada had reached a tipping point. It wasn’t until Ada’s retreat from Cackle’s immediately upon her graduation that Alma realized she’d waited too long. As fine a woman as Ada had grown into, Agatha still had the ability to bully, guilt or manipulate Ada into almost any situation.

And that was the heart of it.

Alma feared handing over the school to Ada because Ada still believed she and her sister could run Cackle’s together. She’d begged, debated, raged… but Ada wouldn’t be persuaded. If Agatha wanted to return to Cackle’s, she would be welcome. The very idea shook Alma to her core.

A brisk knock at the door disturbed her melancholy. Not a moment too soon, she thought. She waved her hand and the door opened to reveal Miss Hardbroom, standing broomstick straight, a slim catalog in her hands. Alma smiled. Her unexpected daughter – though she’d never embarrass Hecate by referring to her as such. Yet. “Hecate, to what do I owe the pleasure?”

“I’m not sure you’ll consider it a pleasure once you’ve heard my request.”

“Och,” Alma groused, good-naturedly. “You want me to spend money on that lab of yours, no doubt.” She gestured to the sofa and conjured up a pot of tea. “Show me what you’ve found that we just can’t live without.”

Ignoring her tea for the moment, Hecate laid out the catalog showing the latest in student potions materials. “I’d like to replace our current cauldrons with these.” She tapped a photograph of a clear cauldron with her finger.

“A bit on the modern side, aren’t they?”

“Unfortunately, yes. But the fact that they’re clear will allow me to monitor the students more accurately, thus creating a safer learning environment. Perhaps they could prevent another ‘human blueberry’ incident like the one earlier this term.”

“Health and safety? Now you sound like Miss Gullet.” Alma’s eyes widened when she looked at the cost. “My goodness, they’re proud of these, aren’t they?”

“I’m afraid so,” Hecate said, sinking back into the sofa. “We’d need twenty to replace enough for a class.”

Alma nodded. She’d already done the math. There was no way they could afford that, and she knew Hecate likely knew that as well. Alma knew Hecate probably already had a plan – likely the same one Alma herself had. “There’s not money in the budget for that many.”

“I didn’t expect there would be.” Hecate reached for her cup and took a sip. “If we could afford five this year and for the next four years, we could do it.” She looked hopefully at Mrs. Cackle.

Alma shook her head. “I’m getting soft in my old age, I am. Order ten; I’ve got a donation I’ve kept tucked aside for a rainy day.”

Hecate thanked her profusely; she’d not expected to get ten. She hadn’t expected to get any. She finished her tea and excused herself before Mrs. Cackle could change her mind. She opened the office door to a surprised Ada.

“Hecate!” Ada’s expression lit up in delight. “I didn’t expect to see you here.” She leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially. “This isn’t about the incident with the enlarging potion, is it? I swear that both Mavis and her familiar are fine.”

Rolling her eyes, Hecate stepped out of the way. “No – you can deal with that yourself. Why are you here? Is it because I have Tabitha Tallow in detention again? She’s purposely wasting ingredients.”

Behind them, Alma cleared her throat. Loudly. “Perhaps you should just ask me rather than spill all your dirty robes in my doorway.” She glanced at Hecate. “You may as well stay, Hecate. I’m sure Ada will rope you into it anyway.” Though she’d never admit it, Alma was thrilled that Hecate and her daughter had put themselves back to rights. They’d certainly had a bit of a wobble after Miss Goodcast’s tenure here – weeks of being careful, almost shy with one another. But they’d managed to find themselves again. Just in time, too, she thought. Ada would need Hecate’s steadying influence once she took over as Headmistress.

Alma pointed up the short flight of steps to the reading area. “I need you to go through those shelves. Pack anything that doesn’t belong to Cackle’s into one of these boxes.” She floated a cardboard box into the middle of the nook. “I’ll be going through the files down here.”

Ada sighed. She shouldn’t have expected a ‘please’ or a ‘would you’ but somehow, she did. “You don’t need to give up your Saturday, Hecate. I’ll help Mother and catch up with you for tea,” she looked at the shelves stuffed with books and all sorts of odds and ends. “Or maybe this evening.”

Hecate followed Ada’s gaze. It wasn’t how she’d planned to spend her day, but… “Nonsense. With both of us working we’ll be done quick as a wink.” She squeezed Ada’s elbow and slid past her, climbing the stairs and getting straight to work.

The morning passed slowly. The upstairs library seemed to be something of a Cackle family time capsule. Time and again they had to ask Alma what she wanted to do with some personal memento of a long-lost Cackle. Each question resulted in a story or an anecdote about the item or its owner. Teatime had long since passed and they’d only managed the first bookcase.

Ada’s stomach growled – loud enough to pull Hecate’s attention from her own work. “Sorry…”

Hecate graced her with an indulgent eye roll. “Perhaps a break is in order?”

“Unless you want to keep getting serenaded by my stomach.” Ada pulled a box into her lap and took off the lid. “Help me sort this first?”

Nodding, Hecate pushed the book she was about to go through back onto the shelf. The box looked more interesting. “Are they personal items?” She kept her voice low, lest they catch Alma’s attention and be forced to endure another trip down memory lane.

“Looks like it… an old post card from Paris,” she flipped it over, “that was never even written on.” She passed it over along with a few pressed flowers and faded receipts. “Chuck those into the bin.”

Hecate vanished them at once. “What’s that scroll? It looks official.”

Ada pulled it out of the box and unrolled it. “I’ve never seen it before. It looks like an incantation of sorts, but I’ve never heard it.”

Hecate leaned over to get a better look, bracing herself with a hand on Ada’s shoulder. “What does it say?”

Adjusting the scroll so she could read it with her new glasses, Ada began to read.

As life’s thread is spun

Through storm and sun,

Before all we stand,

Open hearts, open hands.

Signified by this token, sacred and true,

For then, now, and always, forge one out of two.

No sooner had Ada uttered the last word when a flare of blue light filled the room, knocking Hecate off her feet.

“Ada!” Alma hurried over. “Hecate! Are you all right? What happened?”

“I – I don’t know…” Ada helped Hecate to her feet. “We were cleaning out the box—”

“What is this scroll?” Hecate pulled it from Ada’s hand and gave it to Alma.

Alma read through it. “It’s Grandmother Cackle’s marriage scroll.” The color drained from her face. “You didn’t… Did you recite the incantation?”

Ada’s face colored a mottled red. “I – I may have read the scroll…”

“Are you telling me that MY daughter, a fully grown witch about to become Headmistress of this academy, found a scroll she knew nothing about AND READ IT OUT LOUD?” She slammed the scroll onto her desk. “Like a bloody First-Year?”

“I’m not a bloody—” Ada caught herself, lowering her voice. She could see Hecate, wide-eyed and stiff beside her. “I’m not a First-Year. There has to be more to it than just saying the words.”

Alma snatched it off the desk and began reading it again. “No… there were…” She looked up at them. “Were you touching each other?”

“NO!” Ada said quickly.

“Yes,” Hecate corrected. “I was leaning on your shoulder, remember?” Ada closed her eyes and nodded.

“Well… you would have had to have given Hecate a gift, like an engagement ring in the last few months… the ‘sacred token’ it mentions. You’ve not been handing out rings have you, Ada?”

“Not rings…” Ada looked at Hecate, who stood clutching the watch around her neck, a terrified expression on her face. “It was just a gift! To start the term!”

Hecate backed herself into the corner. This couldn’t be happening. Not when she and Ada had just found their footing again after her interlude with Prudie. Not when she’d finally figured out that Ada was who she wanted.

“No. This is unacceptable!” Ada turned to Hecate, too panicked herself to notice Hecate’s distress. “We’ll get this sorted. No one is getting married today.” She turned back to her mother. “I refuse to allow this – this ridiculous situation to continue. I’ll not be forced into some unnatural union because of a mistake. Not with Hecate!”

Unacceptable… ridiculous… mistake… The words echoed in Hecate’s mind. “I’m so sorry, Ada… I didn’t mean for this to happen… I would’ve stopped you… I’m so, so sorry…” Hecate waved a hand and dematerialized.

“Hecate?” Ada dropped to her seat on the top step. “Wh- where’d she go?”

“Anywhere but here, I’d imagine. Somewhere she didn’t have to hear you go on about how being married to her was the worst thing in the world.”

Ada leapt to her feet, nearly tumbling the rest of the way down the steps. “I never said that!”

“You called it an ‘unnatural union,’ Ada. How did you expect her to react?” Alma paced the narrow space in front of her desk. “Is this how you’ll respond to a crisis once you’re Head of the school? With panic and thoughtless words?”

“This is hardly a school crisis, is it? And it is an unnatural union if neither of us had any say in it! What have you always told me, Mother? That Hecate must be given as much freedom as possible and now… now some scroll thoughtlessly tossed in a box has just taken away the most important choice someone can make. That’s what I’m upset about.” She raised her hands in surrender. “It will be a lucky person indeed that Hecate chooses to share her life with.”

“Then go explain yourself to her. I’ll mirror the Great Witch and see if we can’t get this sorted.” Ada nodded and moved towards the door. “And daughter,” Alma called just as Ada’s hand grasped the knob. “The person you choose will be lucky as well.”

Lips pressed in a thin smile, Ada hurried away. She had an idea where Hecate might be.

She found Hecate in the potion’s lab, sitting in the middle of the storeroom floor. She’d always found comfort surrounded by the familiar sights and scents of her beloved ingredients. “May I join you?”

Hecate refused to look at her. “If you can stand to be in the same room with me.”

Ada sighed. “I do so hate it when Mother’s right.” She lowered herself to the floor, sitting cross-legged next to Hecate. “I’m sorry. Please, look at me.” She placed a hand on Hecate’s knee and waited until Hecate’s anguished eyes lifted to meet hers. “I never meant to imply that it was you that I was upset about. Quite the contrary. Anyone – including me – would be lucky to have you. I’m so sorry if I made you feel otherwise.”

Hecate shook her head. “You weren’t upset – you were angry. Angry because you’re tied to me.”

“No. Not angry about that. Angry with myself for doing something so stupid. Angry that a piece of magic so powerful was just… carelessly tossed in a box. And I’m certainly angry that once again, you’ve been forced to do something against your will and that this time, I’m to blame for it.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“I read the incantation, Hecate. I’m the one that put us in this position. You’re the one who should be angry. You’ve already been forced to spend your life here at Cackle’s. I can’t stand the thought of you being forced to spend it with a fat old crone like me.”

At that, Hecate’s head shot up. “You’re none of those things! How can you say that about yourself?”

Ada cocked her head and took a long look at her own body. “I’m hardly Prudence Goodcast. I can’t blame you for preferring someone younger… or prettier.”

“Is… is that why you encouraged me to… to have a relationship with her? Because you thought you had nothing to offer?”

Ada’s silence was all the answer Hecate needed.

“In what universe does Prudence Goodcast hold a candle to you?”

“You don’t have to…”

Once again, Hecate could hear Miss Bat’s voice in her head. Move forward. You’re allowed. She knew that she – no they – were standing at a crossroads. And it had nothing to do with that ridiculous marriage scroll. “Clearly I do.” She scooted closer, clamping a hand over Ada’s when she tried to pull it away. “You don’t think I could find you attractive? You couldn’t be more wrong. Your eyes are the perfect shade of blue – like the sky on a summer day. And when those eyes look at me, they see me, like no one else ever has. I love the way the corners crinkle when you smile and the way your smile is different when you’re smiling at me.” She watched as those eyes filled with tears.

Hecate remembered the first time she’d noticed Ada’s body. They’d been walking in the woods and Ada had spotted a raven’s feather caught in the crook of a tree. Determined to get it for the potion’s lab, she’d stood on her tiptoes, reaching overhead to grasp the feather. The movement pulled her chambray shirt tight across her chest, revealing the heavy curve of a breast as she stretched. It had only lasted a few seconds before Ada was standing in front of her, twirling the feather between agile fingers, but Hecate saw it every night for a fortnight as she lay in bed trying vainly to sleep.

She remembered the Solstice dance, where Ada’s curves and cleavage were deliciously on display.

“I love your curves and your softness. All my life I’ve only known angles and sharpness. Rigidity. Then you came along in your dark jeans and leather jacket, and you were so... alive and free – despite the fact that you felt just as trapped here as I did. Now, it’s years later and perhaps the jeans have been replaced with slacks and you wear jumpers instead of the leather jacket. Still, when you move, I can scarcely stop from staring. You make me feel safe, Ada Cackle. Safe from my fears, my shortcomings... my own hardness. I feel free when I’m with you. I always have done. I don’t know how else to say it, Ada, but you are the most beautiful thing in the world to me. And I’m terrified of losing you.”

For a second, when Ada pulled her hand free, Hecate feared she’d said too much. Then Ada’s arms were around her, nearly squeezing the breath from her lungs.

“You won’t lose me, Hecate. I wouldn’t know what I’d do without you.”

They stayed that way for what felt like hours. Finally, Ada pulled away. “I am truly sorry for how I reacted. I just can’t stand the thought of this being something we were forced into.”

“I know. But if it had to happen, at least it’s with you.”

“True. You could be married to Geraldine Gullet.”

Hecate’s face twisted in mock-horror. “That would be… oh, that would be awful.” She leaned against Ada. “What are we going to do?”

“Mother was calling the Great Witch when I left. Hopefully, they’ll have figured something out. If not,” she lifted a shoulder. “Well, if not, then we will. Together.”

#hackle summer trope challenge #hackle #Hecate Hardbroom #Ada Cackle #moving forward

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