#Cairo Day 2019

[macgyvercairo]

Cairo Community Ask Game!

Hey, y’all! It’s ask game time! Below is a list of MacGyver or fandom-related questions (plus a few bogeys) that you can shoot to our ask box, or post to your own blogs you can answer them yourselves. Ready, set, go!

What was the first MacGyver (2016) episode you ever watched?

What’s your favorite episode?

What’s your least favorite episode?

Do you have any favorite fandom media you’d like to recommend? (Fic, edits, art, etc.)

What fandom work(s) of your own are you most proud of?

What is your favorite show dynamic?

How did you discover the show?

What’s one thing you couldn’t live without?

What is one of your favorite scenes?

Who is your favorite character?

Least favorite character?

Have you adopted any headcanons (your own or others’)?

What’s a song you can’t stop listening to right now?

Are there any songs that make you think of the show?

Have you learned any Mac Hacks?

What’s your favorite cold open?

Which episode to you go back to the most?

If you could wish an episode tag/missing scene fic into existence, which episode would you choose?

What's a food you never get tired of?

How many Cairo Days have you participated in?

What's on your mind?

Wild Card, ask what you will!

[odinsblog]

Five days before Donald Trump became president in January 2017, a manager at a bank branch in Cairo received an unusual letter from an organization linked to the Egyptian intelligence service. It asked the bank to “kindly withdraw” nearly $10 million from the organization’s account — all in cash.

Inside the state-run National Bank of Egypt, employees were soon busy placing bundles of $100 bills into two large bags, according to records from the bank. Four men arrived and carried away the bags, which U.S. officials later described in sealed court filings as weighing a combined 200 pounds and containing what was then a sizable share of Egypt’s reserve of U.S. currency.

Federal investigators learned of the withdrawal, which has not been previously reported, early in 2019. The discovery intensified a secret criminal investigation that had begun two years earlier with classified U.S. intelligence indicating that Egyptian President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi sought to give Trump $10 million to boost his 2016 presidential campaign, a Washington Post investigation has found.

Since receiving the intelligence about Sisi, the Justice Department had been examining whether money moved from Cairo to Trump, potentially violating federal law that bans U.S. candidates from taking foreign funds. Investigators had also sought to learn if money from Sisi might have factored into Trump’s decision in the final days of his run for the White House to inject his campaign with $10 million of his own money.

Those questions, at least in the view of several investigators on the case, would never be answered, The Post found.

Within months of learning of the withdrawal, prosecutors and FBI agents were blocked by top Justice Department officials from obtaining bank records they believed might hold critical evidence, according to interviews with people familiar with the case as well as documents and contemporaneous notes of the investigation. The case ground to a halt by the fall of 2019 as Trump’s then-attorney general, William P. Barr, raised doubts about whether there was sufficient evidence to continue the probe of Trump.

(continue reading)

[alarici]

State of decay

Rated T, 950 words

-

In the years since the Kira case, with Near at the helm, and L and Watari long since buried in the plot beside the west wing, what was once called The Wammy’s House decays.

It takes seven years to fully dismantle the program. The youngest children need to find foster homes or new families or other, carefully vetted, well-funded programs to matriculate into. The older children are graduated and placed in the best universities around the world—set to become the everyday successes of tomorrow. Tsinghua, Juilliard, Cairo, LSE, UCLA, Tohoku, ETH Zurich, Oxford. The residual funds are allocated appropriately to make sure that everyone is well taken care of. Study funds and stipends, merit grants and insurance.

Personally, Near sees to the edge cases. Kids who, according to the headmasters and the instructors, never lived up to the promise of their aptitude testing—the weak, the attention deficit, the headcases. He speaks to each one—Do you want to live alone? Do you want to learn a skill and work? Do you want to go back to where they found you? What are your medical needs.

It’s dispassionate work that he takes on in his limited spare time. The dismantling of the program was not necessarily his idea, but he saw it to the end.

By 2024, L Lawliet has been dead for almost two decades. Enough time for a child to grow and have a child of their own. Near has no children—will never and can never—and finds this fact amusing.

At exactly 13:23 GMT on 21 October, 2024, Near celebrates a homecoming of sorts.

—

The grounds have been left to wither. The estate is unsellable—or, nobody wants to bother selling it to a Silicon valley expat or a London financier’s portfolio. After all, it was a school. Renovations would be required.

When Near is driven into town and left there—”I’ll get there from here, thank you,”—he overhears, in a quiet cafe, that the children think the mansion on the hill is haunted. “Halloween” is an American holiday that is not celebrated in England. The evening is foggy and limpid. The sky threatens an afternoon rain.

He arrives at the wrought iron gates at 15:13. He knows there is nothing for him, here. But he’s already been given this time to pay his respects. A holiday of sorts. Never in the past twenty years has he kneeled before graves. He expects he won’t today, either. There is nobody here to pay respects to. Mello is buried in an unmarked plot in a quiet district of Tokyo. The stake on the eastern edge of the property in Winchester—In Memoriam, Mihael Keehl—is growing moss. Near stops by this landmark, first. Many colleagues and coworkers, commanding officers and cadets, have died since Mello. Near has not kept track of many of their names.

Mello’s memorial has not been cared for. They stopped sending groundskeepers to the property in 2019. Near carries a book in one hand, his plastic cane in the other. He stares at the spike, leans on the arm brace, and considers the most respectful acknowledgment of this memorial. This isn’t what he came here to do. Mihael Keehl—no, Mello—has been dead for more than a decade. In that time, Near has solved more than five hundred cases. A-Kira. The Hong Kong murders. The Dubai trafficking ring. A few stray Death Notes.

In the years elapsed, the loss has simmered. Like soup, which Near has seen others make (his current boyfriend is fond of cutting the mirepoix into centimeter by centimeter cubes) the thought of Mello is turbid and wafts around him constantly. However, there is no room for the what if. There is only the course the universe bent, that day.

Near, in his own way, has paid his respect. Said his thank yous, if he owes any thanks. He bows, as far as he can manage, to the spiritless grave. He does not kneel.

In Tokyo, Mello’s bones are likely rusting, rotting in the temperate soil. Were he buried here, at 51° latitude, he may still have his skin, in death. But this is unimportant. He would not wish to be buried here.

Near bows, and says two prayers for the dead. He knows a Latin version as well as a Hebrew. To this day, he does not know if Mello died religious—died believing in any gods beyond those he had met and been scorned by.

“Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis.”

“יִתְגַּדַּל וְיִתְקַדַּשׁ שְׁמֵהּ רַבָּא.”

He adds a hymn Mello might have sung for his parents in the dialect he most likely spoke before his life as a successor began.

“Святой Юмо, Святой Куатле, Святой Колыдымо, мемнам серлаге.”

Near has been told not to pass judgment on the irrationality of faith, so he has learned the hymns. The grass grows tall around Mello’s stake.

One year, Near had gotten angry about it. Back when he was twenty one or twenty two—inconsequential—and awake for forty hours, Near had raged at a silent room over it, and never again. And the anger was not about the death, nor about Near’s inheritance, his duty. Not Mello’s mistakes nor his sacrifice. Likely, looking back with the hindsight and wisdom of a man ten years older, Near images he experienced as much grief as he was capable of, that night. There was no grave to stand over, and there was no body, in the small room in Cape Canaveral when Near was twenty one. No surviving images of him. No letters nor notebooks. The bout of rage, insanity, grief (he cautions to call it) was triggered by a smell (something sweet burning), of all things. And had subsided with the yellow dawn.

The frustration was likely at being left alone. Of his own inefficacy in his first trial, and the acknowledgement that a man like Mello had deserved to live to see more days. Had deserved better than a pine wood stake on a lonely corner of the grounds of the school where he was raised and an unmarked plot in Adachi City, Tokyo.

Next, Near walks slowly towards the house itself. A jackrabbit sprints across the lawn in front of him. A hawk circles to the north. 

[impossiblepluto]

Coasting into the final hours of 2024 and I’m still as surprised as ever to call myself a fanfic writer. Writing this year felt hard so I wanted to take a minute to reflect.

In the last 366 days, I’ve worked on 45 fics, which sounds like a lot but it’s a numbers game. I write a lot of opening scenes/idea snippets that never end up seeing the light of day, or take years before they finally come together. (I also opened and reread 23 other snippets without adding any writing to them)

I posted 15 new fics on AO3 this year! Though some of those fics were started a long time ago The earliest version of “When You’re Here, You’re Family” was started back in 2020. I’ve talked about writing a Mac and Jack version of the infamous Starsky & Hutch episode “The Fix” for nearly that long and finally posted the first chapter for Cairo Reprise in “Piton.”

Speaking of Cairo Reprise, we did that this year and had a blast! Fandom events are a blast and it’s amazing to see people look at the same prompts and come up with their own twists. Always a highlight of the fandom year for me. 

Until I went back and looked through my documents, I forgot that I started out 2024 by cleaning up and posting the next six chapters of “leave a light on” which had been languishing in my docs since 2019. I backdated when I posted because technically it was all written in 2019 and I didn’t add much to it so I felt weird about having 20k words attributed to 2024. Also I feel a bit fragile about this fic. I didn’t want to draw a whole lot of attention to it at the time. It’s got an ambiguous “ending” that wasn’t really supposed to be the end but I couldn’t decide if I wanted to go full KX7 Winter Soldier Mac. 

So even though I’ve been calling 2024 the year of unfinished wips (Looking at you specifically Abrogation and Adversary+Antigen) I finished my first ever posted wip, which feels pretty good.

I'm really excited to see what fic will give me a new "2025" button on my stats page

[spongebob-connoisseur]

@bluebellthesponge

Hmm I dunno tbh. I guess he's just easy to caricature. Bug eyes, crooked teeth, short stature, creepy voice. Even describing it probably puts a handful of characters in your mind.

According to the book The Animated Peter Lorre, there's at least 700+ lorre caricatures/impressions in cartoons. Tho he does include igor-type characters and impressions of an impressions but still, that's A LOT. Too bad the author doesn't give an explaination as to WHY Lorre is so parodied.

I know Looney tunes parodied Lorre because he was one of the popular stars of the day, Looney tunes parodies a lot of famous stars from the 40s so it's not really surprising. I also know in the 90s Looney tunes reboots you have a lot of lorre caricatures because the animators were fans of his movies.

I've heard a story about how Lorre stuck up for the animation union at Warner Brothers and got fired for it and that's why he is caricatured so often as a way to honor him. I kinda doubt the story is true because I can't find a source (and Lorre was more likely fired for beefing with Jack Warner) but if the story is true then it's super wholesome.

Something that is official is Charles Addams (the creator of the Addams Family) telling Lorre that he based Gomez Addams off of him. I know people hate on the 2019 Addams family movies for making Gomez ugly but it's comic accurate because he was based off of Lorre (and the governor of new york in the 30s but that's not important)

I've also heard Lorre parodies are possibly an antisemetic caricature because Peter Lorre was Jewish (his birthname is Laszlo Löwenstein and you can guess why he avoided using it) and let's be real, they often give him very unflattering portrayals. He barely played horror yet is the most affiliated with it, and his "creepier" roles sometimes hinged on the fact that he's a foreigner. It's not a good look. I get that he often avoided telling others he's Jewish and apparently a lot of people didn't know but there's still a weird layer of xenophobia to it that I kinds feel like kinda bleeds into some of the caricatures? That's just my opinion. Most Peter parodies are such copies of a copy that they're pretty far from the original source material. Still, it's food for thought. Especially when making your own Peter parody.

As far as I do know Lorre did like the caricatures, keeping some of the drawings fans sent him and even finding it amusing when others tell him how to do an impression of HIMSELF. Some of those saved fan drawings are still online. My favorite is the drawing of him as a turtle <3 Most of the caricatures was because he was pretty famous for the time.

The most amusing thing about peter parodies is that it's gone on so long that nobody really knows who lorre is, but they can identify his "image" in cartoons. Tim Burton didn't even know Lorre's name when he added Maggot in corpse bride, but he did know the voice and look. That's how it is. (Check out this maggot pin I got recently)

I know for Slappy, Kaz is actually a fan of Peter Lorre and collects his movies, hence why we have Slappy. I remember from Kaz's Facebook where he mentions Slappy saying he never knew just HOW many characters were inspired by lorre. There's also John K (creator of Ren and Stimpy, I know he's terrible) who mentioned on his personal blog that he's a big fan of Lorre which is why Ren from Ren and Stimpy is based off of him. I've notice Ren quotes some Peter Lorre movie quotes, aside from his famous catchphrase "YOU EEEDIOT" of course. (Check out this Ren and Stimpy comic where Ren meets Joel Cairo, a character Peter Lorre played)

I just think it's neat. He shows up everywhere all the time :) I made a joke Thomas The Tank Engine Peter Parody but @thekhaotickrab messaged me saying they found an actual Thomas character with Lorre's voice which is pretty hilarous. Many of these I find amusing because there's no reason for it to exist. Yeah, there's a Peter Parody transformer named Cosmos and he likes scaring people because he's lonely. Yeah, there's several in Scooby Doo for some reason. Yeah he's GOMEZ ADDAMS. He's also a GPS in hotel Transylvania 2. He's also a literal egg with legs in digimon. He's also a lamp.

I heard Lorre's dream was to continue to act forever. He sorta got that wish because he keeps respawning in cartoons forever. I hope this tradition keeps up. Slappy gets a lot of shit but I'm forever grateful to that ugly little fish for introducing me to all of this <3 May the Peter Parody live on forever!

[ariwritessometimes]

All Burn Together

Cairo Day Reprise: BONUS FIC!

When the Phoenix falls after Mason's infiltration, the members of team Phoenix are declared terrorists and faced with a choice: Permanently disappear into a black site, or go on the run as international fugitives.

Bonus fic for the Summer '24 Cairo Day Reprise: 2019 Prompt "Return to Cairo" + 2024 Prompt "Collapse"

I managed to write a few extra fics, so I'll be posting them as bonus throughout the week :)

Today's 'official' fic found here

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Martin Pengelly at The Guardian (08.02.2024):

A spokesperson for Donald Trump blamed “Deep State Trump-haters and bad faith actors” for a bombshell report on Friday about a secret criminal investigation into whether Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, the authoritarian ruler of Egypt, sought to give the former president $10m during his victorious 2016 White House run.

“The investigation referenced found no wrongdoing and was closed,” Steven Cheung told the Washington Post, which published the report on Friday. “None of the allegations or insinuations being reported on have any basis in fact. The Washington Post is consistently played for suckers by Deep State Trump-haters and bad faith actors peddling hoaxes and shams.” The deep state conspiracy theory holds that a permanent, shadow government of agents, operatives and bureaucrats exists to thwart Trump. One of the theory’s chief propagators, Steve Bannon, has said it is “for nut cases”. Nonetheless, it remains popular on the US right and among Trump’s aides. Bannon was Trump’s campaign chair in 2016. According to the Post, five days before Trump’s inauguration in January 2017, an organisation linked to Egyptian intelligence services withdrew $10m from a Cairo bank.

“Inside the state-run National Bank of Egypt,” the Post said, “employees were soon busy placing bundles of $100 bills into two large bags.” Four men “carried away the bags, which US officials later described in sealed court filings as weighing a combined 200 pounds and containing what was then a sizable share of Egypt’s reserve of US currency”. According to the Post, US federal investigators learned of the withdrawal in 2019, by which time they had spent two years investigating CIA intelligence that indicated Sisi sought to give Trump $10m. Such a contribution would potentially have violated federal law regarding foreign donations.

A Washington Post report from August 2nd reveals that Egyptian’s autocratic leader Abdel Fatah al-Sisi sought to give Donald Trump $10M during his 2016 run for the Presidency that he was successful.

See Also:

MMFA: Broadcast news and major papers failed to cover WaPo report of possible Egyptian bribery involving Trump

[tiptapricot]

MKcember day 19. Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives and/or Notes

———

A journal, filled with colored sticker bookmarks and shifting scrawls of Spanish. It’s squeezed into the limo’s messy glove box. He flips through a few pages.

January 13th, 2019 Chicago

—Food cart a few blocks from hotel. Good hotdogs. Cheap. Only takes cash. Order “the usual” if you don’t remember what that is. No vegetarian options. Will understand you without English.

—Falafel place with good drinks near old library. New. Comfy seats. Specify non-alcoholic

—Don’t let Marc find the waffles.

March, Tuesday something, New York

—Don’t remember the street. Somewhere with a big red sign and iron man stickers on the windows. Best fucking (the text is blurred, something smudging the ink)

SOUP ON 6th

Friday, New York still

—Go back to that cart by the mural for the elote and his number

London, new years recently I think. Rough time

—Sweets shop near place with Layla, breads and custard and good malt balls. In bulk.

—Diner downtown, Gena’s. She was nice. Good food ——> Colombian!

—Can’t find my snacks

September 6th 2020, Cairo

—DONT get drinks from place with green overhang. Layla says don’t trust.

—Get ful medames if rushing. Good place a few blocks down from usual hotel.

December, cold, monday(?)

—Gena’s got two kids. Gives leftovers. Ask her about other places to check out. Rice pudding not as good as ours ok though

Valentine’s Day, has to be 2021, London

—Steven’s soda is gross, don’t drink it

He flips a chunk of pages ahead.

The book is now marked with sticky notes and inserted papers. Shopping lists—some crossed off, others half finished—short exchanges, reminders, small drawings. They litter the back of the book, bulging out unevenly as he looks through them. There’s a mess of receipts taped in between an exchange about vegetable broth, and a drawing of a goldfish next to something heated about sushi.

He pauses on another shopping list, this one divided with names denoting the sections to who wants what.

Jake. Steven. Marc.

He glances up at the window, his reflection odd in the tinted glass. The material should be thicker. He thinks distantly of stars. The list flutters to the floor as he moves slightly, and he reaches down to grab it, mouth thinning.

Which one is he?

———

Check out the prompt list here!

(Subtle commander fic fOr me!! In prep for the fact I’m absolutely doing another with a later prompt lol)

[fuckyeahmarxismleninism]

Today marks 5 years since the first issue of Struggle - La Lucha. Here's what I wrote at the time:

"It's a special day. Today we launch a new publication, Struggle - La Lucha for Socialism, providing a fighting Marxist-Leninist perspective for the workers and oppressed.

"We are dedicated to preserving the legacy of Workers World newspaper and the revolutionary spirit of the founders of Workers World Party, before the leadership of our organization was seized earlier this year by a renegade grouping hostile to those traditions.

"2018 has been a difficult and painful year for many comrades. But it's ending with great hope, as we raise the red flag and carry forward the urgent struggles to unite our class against the deepening attacks of the U.S. imperialist ruling class and the capitalist system.

"We'll have much more to say in the coming weeks and months. For now, check out our beautiful first issue and other articles on the website, like and share our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter."

From here we launched the Socialist Unity Party in 2019. The publication has been consistent, as has the work of our party in the face of numerous obstacles.

In 2023 we successfully carried out our first national initiative, building a coalition and mobilization for the Oct. 7 National March to Protect Trans Youth in Orlando.

Following up on the John Parker's 2022 trip to the front line of the U.S. proxy war in Donbass, which helped to break the grip of pro-Ukraine war propaganda on much of the U.S. left, this year our comrades went to Cairo to support the Global Conscience Convoy for Gaza.

There is much more to come in 2024. Join us.

-- Melinda Butterfield, co-editor

Struggle-la-lucha.org

[solarbird]

Washington Post headline, 12 days ago:

$10M cash withdrawal drove secret probe into whether Trump took money from Egypt

The story sank like a stone. One WaPo article and the media’s not touched it since.

Federal investigators learned of the withdrawal, which has not been previously reported, early in 2019. The discovery intensified a secret criminal investigation that had begun two years earlier with classified U.S. intelligence indicating that Egyptian President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi sought to give Trump $10 million to boost his 2016 presidential campaign, a Washington Post investigation has found. Since receiving the intelligence about Sisi, the Justice Department had been examining whether money moved from Cairo to Trump, potentially violating federal law that bans U.S. candidates from taking foreign funds. Investigators had also sought to learn if money from Sisi might have factored into Trump’s decision in the final days of his run for the White House to inject his campaign with $10 million of his own money. Those questions, at least in the view of several investigators on the case, would never be answered, The Post found.

Bold added.

This is just one of many, any single one of which would’ve, in a sane body politic, have ended a career and sent people to jail. It’s also another investigation killed by Trump’s political appointees.

I’m hoping this one will come back.

82 days remain.

[actuallylorelaigilmore]

2024 Belated Updated Movie Masterlist

every year, i repost my movie watchlist here and set a new goal for movie watching. it is september now and i only just realized that i never did that for 2024!

instead, i tried to chip away at the 2023 reviews i was behind on first, got absolutely swamped by life (which i promise i'm still working on telling you all about) and never kicked off 2024 officially, even as i have been watching movies and keeping track of them to review here.

so, no time like almost-october, right? better than letting all of 2024 be absorbed into a black hole. and i didn't have a goal for this year, since i completely forgot to even kick off the year with a fresh masterpost, but the upside of that is that i don't have to feel bad about never coming close to my aspirational ideals.

also! i finally gave in and created a letterboxd account, though i'm still working on setting things up over there--and i'm going to keep writing my reviews over here anyway, because this is still my online home.

if anybody wants to read my most recent year in review, last year’s list is here, with movies i watched linked to their reviews (and more reviews to come). for 2024 though, behold, my constantly-growing movie list (split in half because tumblr's mad at how many i want to see):

4th man out (2015) 12 years a slave (2013) a family man (2016) a room with a view (1985) a simple favor (2018) a single man (2009) a wrinkle in time (2018) abigail (2024) about time (2013) admission (2013) after yang (2021) always be my maybe (2019) american fiction (2023) american gangster (2007) ammonite (2020) amsterdam (2022) an education (2009) anything’s possible (2022) aquaman (2018) are you there god? it’s me margaret (2023) argylle (2024) arrival (2016) atonement (2007) august: osage county (2013) babylon (2023) bad education (2019) be kind rewind (2008) bedazzled (2000) beetlejuice (1988) beetlejuice beetlejuice (2024) begin again (2013) between the temples (2024) big eyes (2014) billy elliot (2000) blockers (2018) bohemian rhapsody (2018) bowfinger (1999) boy erased (2018) breaking (2022) brideshead revisited (2008) bright young things (2003) burn burn burn (2015) cairo time (2009) call jane (2022) can you ever forgive me? (2018) catherine called birdy (2022) chef (2014) clemency (2019) coco (2017) cold copy (2023) colette (2018) crazy rich asians (2018) creed (2015) creed 2 (2018) creed 3 (2023) crimson peak (2015) crouching tiger, hidden dragon (2000) crush (2022) cuckoo (2024) cyrano (2021) dazed and confused (1993) demolition man (1993) devil’s knot (2013) didi (2024) die hard 2 (1990) die hard with a vengeance (1995) dog day afternoon (1975) drive-away dolls (2024) dual (2022) earth girls are easy (1988) effie gray (2014) ella mckay (?) eurovision song contest: the story of fire saga (2020) fast color (2018) fear street part one: 1994 (2021) fear street part two: 1978 (2021) fear street part three: 1666 (2021) fighting with my family (2019) fly me to the moon (2024) fright night (2011) furiosa: a mad max saga (2024) galaxy quest (1999) girls trip (2017) glass onion: a knives out mystery (2022) gone girl (2014) good luck to you, leo grande (2022) goodbye christopher robin (2017) gosford park (2001) gunpowder milkshake (2021) happy death day (2017) happy death day 2u (2019) happy texas (1999) her smell (2018) his three daughters (2023) hit man (2023) holes (2003) honk for jesus. save your soul. (2022) honor society (2022) how to talk to girls at parties (2017) how to train your dragon (2010) hysteria (2011) i am not your negro (2017) i don’t feel at home in this world anymore (2017) i saw the tv glow (2024) i, tonya (2017) if (2024) if beale street could talk (2018) inception (2010) infinitely polar bear (2014) jackie (2016) jane got a gun (2015) janet planet (2024) jennifer's body (2009) joyful noise (2012) judas and the black messiah (2021) judy blume forever (2023) junebug (2005) jupiter ascending (2015) just mercy (2019) kajillionaire (2020) keeping mum (2005) killers of the flower moon (2023) knife fight (2012) kubo and the two strings (2016) laggies (2014) last holiday (2006) late night (2019) lemonade mouth (2011) little (2019) live free or die hard (2007) logan lucky (2017) longlegs (2024) love, simon (2018) magic mike xxl (2015) magic mike: last dance (2023) mansfield park (1999) marmalade (2024) mars attacks! (1996) mary queen of scots (2018) master (2022) master gardener (2022) maxxxine (2024) may december (2024) me and earl and the dying girl (2015) meet the robinsons (2007) megamind (2010) memento (2000) men in black international (2019) mermaids (1990) midsommar (2019) migration (2023) miss pettigrew lives for a day (2008) miss sloane (2016) missing (2023) monkey business (1952) moonlight (2016) moonrise kingdom (2012) moonshot (2022) mother couch (2023) mothers instinct (2024) moving on (2022) mr. magorium’s wonder emporium (2007) mr. mom (1983) much ado about nothing (2011) muriel’s wedding (1994) musica (2024)

nancy drew and the hidden staircase (2019) nanny mcphee (2005) nanny mcphee returns (2010) national anthem (2024) never let me go (2010) newsies (1992) night shift (2023) no time to die (2021) nope (2022) northanger abbey (2007) not okay (2022) obvious child (2014) omni loop (2024) on the come up (2022) oppenheimer (2023) other people (2016) pacific rim (2013) palm springs (2020) parallel (2024) parasite (2019) paris is burning (1990) passing (2021) penelope (2006) pete’s dragon (2016) pirate radio (2009) please stand by (2017) polite society (2023) pride (2014) pride and prejudice and zombies (2016) professor marston and the wonder women (2016) renfield (2023) return to oz (1985) rise of the guardians (2012) rita moreno: just a girl who decided to go for it (2021) rocketman (2019) roll bounce (2005) rosaline (2022) saving face (2004) say anything (1989) scoop (2024) scream (2022) scream 6 (2023) see how they run (2022) seeking a friend for the end of the world (2012) she said (2022) shirley (2024) shoplifters (2018) short term 12 (2013) sing street (2016) skincare (2024) sleeping with other people (2015) someone great (2019) somewhere quiet (2023) sorry to bother you (2018) soul (2020) spider-ham: caught in a ham (2019) spider-man: across the spiderverse (2023) spider-man: far from home (2019) spider-man: homecoming (2017) spider-man: into the spiderverse (2018) spider-man: no way home (2021) spin me round (2022) spotlight (2015) spy kids (2001) stage fright (2014) step up (2006) talk to me (2022) teeth (2007) the 355 (2022) the age of innocence (1993) the american society of magical negroes (2024) the anniversary party (2001) the batman (2022) the best exotic marigold hotel (2012) the bikeriders (2023) the book of clarence (2023) the breadwinner (2017) the burial (2023) the children act (2017) the craft: legacy (2020) the disaster artist (2017) the divine order (2017) the emperor’s new groove (2000) the eyes of tammy faye (2021) the fall (2006)    the fallout (2021) the fighting temptations (2003) the five year engagement (2012) the gentlemen (2019) the godfather (1972) the godfather part 2 (1974) the godfather part 3 (1990) the great gatsby (2013) the great lillian hall (2024) the hunchback of notre dame (1996) the hunt (2020) the iron lady (2011) the kill room (2023) the legend of tarzan (2016) the lost city (2022) the master (2012) the matrix resurrections (2021) the monuments men (2014) the notebook (2004) the old guard (2020) the outfit (2022) the photograph (2020) the prestige (2006) the prince of egypt (1998) the prom (2020) the queen (2006) the royal hotel (2023) the second best exotic marigold hotel (2016) the secret garden (2020) the skeleton twins (2014) the spy who dumped me (2018) the suicide squad (2021) the thicket (2024) the trial of the chicago 7 (2020) the truman show (1998) the unbearable weight of massive talent (2022) the united states vs. billie holiday (2021) the velocipastor (2018) the way he looks (2014) the woman king (2022) the wonder (2022) their finest (2016) thelma (2024) this means war (2012) tootsie (1982) treasure planet (2002) troop zero (2019) turtles all the way down (2024) twisters (2024) two lovers and a bear (2016) uglies (2024) upgraded (2024) us (2019) v for vendetta (2005) valley girl (2020) velvet goldmine (1998) venom (2018) venom: let there be carnage (2021) venom: the last dance (2024) victoria & abdul (2017) violent night (2022) walk the line (2005) wet hot american summer (2001) what happens later (2023) what we do in the shadows (2014) where’d you go, bernadette (2019) widows (2018) wild target (2010) winner (2024) women talking (2022) yesterday (2019) young adult (2011) zombieland: double tap (2019)

[macgyvercairo]

Do you have a Cairo Day story that you weren't able to finish writing? Did you miss a previous Cairo Day Celebration Week? Is this the first time you're hearing about a Cairo Day Celebration? Well, this is your chance. Introducing Cairo Day 6.5 (aka Cairo Day Reprise) August 5th-11th

Cairo Day is a week-long MacGyver fandom celebration which usually takes place during the week of April 14th, the airdate of the season one finale. This event has been ongoing since 2019 and every year we hear from people who weren't able to finish the projects they were working on. While we will always happily accept "late" stories, artwork, gifs etc. we also recognize the appeal and hype of working toward a goal or deadline.

Posted below are all the prompts from the previous six years. As all these prompts were submitted and voted on by the participants there were some repeats and we have included them. You can fill as many or as few as you would like. You can do all the prompts from one year or mix and match your favorites. The fandom may not be as active as we were once upon a time but we're still around.

2019

Family 

Best Friends 

The Sandbox

Sickfic 

Close Calls 

Blood Brothers 

Return to Cairo

2020

Family

Improvise Day

This is Going to Hurt

Outsider POV

In Sickness and in Health

The Ties that Bind

AU

2021

If You Go Kaboom, I Go Kaboom | Kidnapped

Tell Me Where it Hurts | Army Days

Improvise

I Have an Idea and You’re Not Going to Like It | Warmth

Jack Lives | Hurt/Comfort

Murdoc  |

Faked Death  | Sandbox

2022

Jack Lives

Fever

Hurt/Comfort

Tell Me Where it Hurts

Undercover/Secret Identity

Found Family

Bedside Vigil

2023

Answer Me

Hidden Injury

Respiratory Distress

Sandbox

Improvise

Is That Blood?

The worst things (To be in bed and sleep not, To want for one who comes not, To try to please and please not.)

2024

Collapse | Eclipse

Crash Course  | Hidden Injury

Polaroid | Swim With the Fishes

Midnight Rituals  | Jack Lives

Shot | Locked In

In Flight | Shh, You’re Okay Now

Photo prompts:

2022

2023

2024

[nativestarwrites]

3,4 and 9!

Thanks for the ask!

3. What’s your favorite fic that you’ve written?

Currently, the Apocalypse wip (When Darkness Falls), I'm having a lot of fun and its coming together very nicely, I feel quite proud of it so far. But in terms of actually completed fics, that's a very tough question! I've got a soft spot for We Don't Talk About Cairo (Macgyver) I liked coming up with an explanation for what happened in Cairo and how in their own ways Mac and Jack were protecting and looking out for each other.

4. How many WIPs do you have right now?

😬 a lot. Ted Lasso is a fairly new fandom for me and I'm mostly focused on the Apocalypse wip right now so it only has about a dozen wips in the folder. I've been writing for Macgyver since the end of 2019 and I've got around 100 wips for that...

9. Do you write every day? If you wrote today, share a sentence of what you’ve written!

Last year? No. This year, I've been trying to write everyday (even if it's only a few words) and so far I've done every day bar one! Here's a sentence from the next chapter of Apocalypse fic, I've only got one small bit to wrap up then its off for a beta.

Jamie headbutts him again.

[connan-l]

bittersweet

Fandom: Ciconia: When They Cry Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationship: Mariana/Noor Summary: While Cairo Squad is on a trip to Lubango, Mariana invites Noor to eat cakes with her. [Femslash February 2024 Day 3: Cake] Words: 3,118 Link: AO3 | Fanfiction.net

Notes: Late annual Ciconia FemFeb fic delivery. It’s meant to be for Day 3: Cake, from those prompts.

I feel like the Cairo Squad girls could be a fun OT3 in and of itself, but admittedly Gannet is like Naima to me in which she feels too… young and childish compared to the others to really ship her with them? I know we don’t have canon ages for the Ciconia kids, but in my head Gannet and Naima are more 12-13 years old, whereas the others are 15-17 years old. (Though I admit I’m a bit of a hypocrite here as I do enjoy Naima/Rukhi as a pairing, if only for the pink/black aesthetic.) So that’s why I actually settled for Noor/Mariana as a ship, even though admittedly Mariana really don’t seem to appreciate Noor whatsoever so that was a bit tricky to do. As a result the fic feel more like an unrequited crush-fic than an actual pairing-fic, but I hope that’s still satisfying.

In Mariana’s profile, it is mentioned that she went to the “Lubango Toddler Brainpower Research Center” as a child, so that’s why I decided that Lubango was her hometown — though obviously I don’t know if it’s actually the case in canon. Noor’s profile also mentions her “ancestors,” so although it could mean anything I interpreted it has her having an actual biological family instead of being born through a factory.

Also I never went to Lubango or even Angola before and I know very little about the culture/country, so I hope I was able to be mostly-accurate from the tidbits about it I put in there. If I wasn’t you’re free to yell at me about it!

On the other hand, I still haven’t replayed Ciconia since. Well, 2019 now. And truthfully we don’t know much about Cairo Squad girls, so, not sure how… accurate to their game-self they feel. But it was still fun to try writing them.

No spoilers here except for the start of Phase 1, or content warnings except for the inevitable vague mentions of war/child soldiers.

* * *

The trip to Angola hadn’t been planned.

They were still in Cairo this morning when suddenly their superior let them know that because of some political complications their squad was needed in Lubango. Nothing serious, he’d assured them — and truthfully they were only needed to make act of presence more than anything — but they couldn’t just ignore it, either. So here they were, a few hours later, in Lubango. They’d taken part to the needed boring reunion, during which they hadn’t even been allowed to say a single thing. They should be used to it by now; as soldiers, the only thing expected of them was to listen to orders, but it was still frustrating to be treated that way sometimes. And once that had been over, their superior gave them permission to have a break and to do whatever they wanted. They’ll go back to Egypt tonight, but for now they had the whole afternoon entirely free.

Noor didn’t know Lubango. Since she’d become a Gauntlet Knight, she’d visited a lot of cities throughout the whole continent and even outside of the continent. She might not be as familiar with ACR’s countries as Princess Rethabile, but she still went multiples times to Lagos, Abidjan, Alger, Lubumbashi, Douala or Gqeberha. However, it was the first time she’d ever set foot in Angola; she’d never even been to Luanda before. The only thing she knew about it besides some surface-level history was the fact it was where the famous Lubango Toddler Brainpower Research Center was, and that it was Mariana’s hometown.

Which, despite how interesting the city might be otherwise, was actually what interested Noor the most. She tried to appears as her usual, composed self, but inside she actually felt herself fidgeting as soon as they landed to Lubango Mukanka Airport. As they strolled through the streets, she couldn’t help but look around left and right, trying to imagine a little Mariana running around here and how cute she must have been all while her ears kept catching bits of Portuguese and occasionally Umbundu conversations. Noor had decided to not use her Kizuna translator here, as she thought it would be good practice for her — she’d decided last year to start learning Portuguese and Umbundu not only because it could be useful even in their era, but also because she hoped Mariana would be more open to her if she were to communicate in her native languages; but so far, as usual with Mariana, her efforts had been in vain.

Even though they’ve been teammates for a while, Noor didn’t know much about Mariana. She’d heard about her being born in Lubango; about how she was the only one of the children who received mental training at the Lubango Toddler Brainpower Research Center to achieve the highest P3 levels of her country, and that the ACR Royal Brainpower Research Center has set up a research team just to raise her Aerial Augmented Infantry aptitude. But all of these were information anyone could know about her. When it came to more personal things, like how she grew up, whether she had a family or was born through a factory, if she had any friends or siblings… There was nothing. And whenever she tried to make conversation to know more, Mariana always shot her down right away. Gannet had no idea how lucky she was, to be able to gain her affection like that with no effort whatsoever — and yet she always rejected it. That was how their squad’s relationship had been since the beginning, but it was not any less so frustrating.

“Wow…! That looks so cute! Hey, hey, big sis Noor, have you seen this? Do you think it’d look cute on me?”

The smallest girl of their trio excitedly tugged at Noor’s skirt with a wide smile spread on her face and her blue eyes sparkling, but Noor only groaned. At the start of their break, Mariana had been kind enough to accept to take them on a tour to show them around — although it had only been at Gannet’s insistence that she’d accepted — and yet that damn puppy had not stopped being overexcited for one second, stopping and pointing at every little thing; and, of course, specifically soliciting Noor’s attention. It was always like that, so Noor should be used to it by now. She wasn’t.

“I told you to not pull on my clothes. And no, I don’t think it would.”

“How shameful to say something like that. You truly have no heart,” Mariana suddenly argued back with her usual blank face, although Noor could tell she was annoyed at her comment. “Don’t worry, Gannet. Of course this looks cute on you. You look adorable in everything. Come here.”

Mariana tried to pet Gannet, but the girl avoided her with a pout. “Stop petting me! You know I hate that. I only want to be petted by big sis Noor!”

And then she yet again tugged on her skirt, and Noor sighed, making it clear that no, she would not pet her, stop asking. She would never ever understand what Mariana found so endearing about that idiotic child. She was so immature and noisy and irresponsible; just the sight of her managed to give Noor headache.

And yet, Mariana spent all of her time fawning over her. Noor knew that it was silly of her, to be jealous of Gannet like that — but she couldn’t help it. No matter what she could try or not try, Mariana always favored Gannet over everything, and she always refused any attempt from Noor’s part to get closer to her.

That was, until today. Allah may have finally answered her prayers then, because right after that Gannet actually got lost.

Or, well, it would be more accurate to say she vanished on them. It wasn’t something unusual exactly, as Gannet was never able to stay in a same place for too long and always ended up wandering about — but that didn’t mean it was any less annoying when it happened. Still, in general Gannet would use her Kizuna to contact them right away, asking for help — but this time, there was nothing but silence from her. Mariana got worried of course, and admittedly, so did Noor; she might not be fond of Gannet even at the best of time, but she was still her teammate and she certainly never wished any real harm upon her. Thankfully, they finally managed to reach out to Gannet half an hour later, after they’d run around Lubango’s streets while screaming her name.

“Sorry,” the girl said, having at least the modesty to sound a little ashamed. “I needed to go to the bathroom and then I got lost. So I asked to find my way and realized we were close to the military base, so I went back there.”

“Why did you not contact us then? Couldn’t you hear us calling you?”

“I just forgot! Sorry!”

Noor tried not to get too mad at her in Mariana’s presence, but it was hard when Gannet had made them run around the city for no reason — and she suddenly felt angry she’d ever let herself get even slightly worried for her sake. Mariana was only relieved to know Gannet was fine, and they promised her they’ll find her back to the base once their tour was over.

And then, just like that, it was just the two of them; just Noor and Mariana. An embarrassing silence spread between them, and suddenly Noor — the top scorer of the ACR Egypt Aerial Knight Corps, one of the most talented teenagers in the world who received perfect training — simply didn’t know what to do with herself anymore. She kept steeling glances at the pretty girl next to her, wondering what she should say or do; and weirdly enough, she now actually thought that she missed Gannet. At least when she was here, there never was such awkwardness between them.

Mariana, as always, appeared completely unperturbed. She let out a small sigh, looked to her right and left — and then said the last thing Noor would ever expect to hear from her:

“Do you want to go eat cake with me?”

* * *

Of course Noor loved cakes.

She loved sweets in general — like most Gauntlet Knights. She didn’t think there was a single one of them who didn’t. Noor’s father was a big sweets lover himself, and when she was little he would bake her the best basbousa and qatayef that she’d ever eaten.

So, Noor loved cakes, absolutely. She’d just never thought she ever would have the opportunity to eat some alone with Mariana in a shop in Angola. It wasn’t even the first time she’d eaten cakes with Mariana, exactly, as their squad ate together most of the time; but it was the first time she’d ever ate with her alone — especially when it was something Mariana herself had initiated — so the situation was so strange and unusual to Noor that she honestly didn’t know how to handle it.

“Have you chosen yet?”

Mariana asked her in her perfectly controlled, monotonous voice, but Noor knew her well enough that she could detect the slight movement of her eyebrow, signaling her annoyance at her indecision. That hint of a scowl was a shame, as she otherwise looked quite cute sitting here in the middle of the shop. The place Mariana brought her to was a cozy, colorful little place decorated with curtains and garlands and traditional trinkets Noor couldn’t identify, with joyful Ovimbundu music resonating around them. It was small, with very few people, but it felt nice and familiar. Mariana told her she found this shop by coincidence once when she was a child, and she’d loved it ever since — it had become a bit like a secret base of hers. And Noor would’ve felt honored that Mariana opened up enough to her to show her such a place from her childhood if it wasn’t for her adding afterwards that she wished she could’ve shown it to Gannet as well.

“I-I’m still… trying to decide. I just don’t know any of these cakes, so…”

Mariana sighed, then looked the menu. “… Bolo de ginguba is very popular around here.”

“I can’t. I’m allergic to peanuts.”

“…Well, their bolo de fubá is quite good.”

“I… don’t like corn…”

“…I guess you can try their cocada amarela then.”

“…That’s not a cake, though, is it?”

Mariana stared straight into Noor’s eyes, and then, bewilderingly, threw at her an actual, expressive exasperated look, before putting down the menu. “See,” she declared. “That’s why I can never stand you. You never make any effort to be likable whatsoever.”

Noor felt herself flushing. “I-It’s not that I’m not making any efforts, it’s just… I haven’t decided on anything yet, that’s all.”

Mariana, of course, didn’t seem convinced by her excuse at all; she just sighed, then looked away at the street by the window.

And Noor… Noor just didn’t know what to do. Mariana was never satisfied with her, no matter what she did. She could try anything, and Mariana’s image of her never seemed to budge in the slightest. Noor never let this kind of things get to her usually, but today, she just couldn’t ignore the weight in her stomach.

“Did you bring me here just to be cruel?”

Her voice was soft, a murmur, a drop of water falling in a sea of strangers’ conversations and background music — and Noor hated how fragile she sounded right now. That wasn’t like her at all. Noor was a confident person, proud of who she was, of her heritage and ancestors and accomplishments, and she never spoke so shamefully. But somehow Mariana did always have that ability to makes her feel that way.

The other girl looked at her, and for once, there actually seemed to be a slight… surprise, in her pretty amber eyes.

“I know you don’t like me,” Noor continued, unable to look at her teammate and instead staring down at the table. “I’m not an idiot. Of course I’m aware — you don’t like me as much as I don’t like Gannet. But you know— I’m still trying, most of the time. And I just thought…”

She trailed, and couldn’t even finish her sentence. Honestly, she didn’t even really know what she was saying. The air between them felt so thick now, and Noor might hate herself a little bit. It was such a rare opportunity, to have just the two of them without Gannet around and for Mariana to propose on her own that they do something together… and here she’d messed everything up, again, somehow.

Why couldn’t she do anything right when it came to Mariana?

“…I don’t dislike you.”

Noor felt her breath get caught up in her throat. She swallowed, and with an insurmountable effort, stared at Mariana. Her teammate was staring straight ahead, her shoulders steady, her chin up; almost as if she was trying to challenge her.

“—What?” Noor blurted out, because surely she must have not heard that correctly; in what world had Mariana ever showed anything other than contempt towards her? Had ever extended any kindness to her?

And that was fine; Noor was used to that. She could wait and continue to make efforts for as long as it was needed, until Mariana finally realized Noor was someone worth investing in. It might be frustrating and hurt a little sometimes, but Noor was strong, and patient, and Mariana honestly just meant that much to her. But that was the thing — for now she still hadn’t showed any signs of progress, so what was she—

“I don’t really like you either,” Mariana continued. “But… I don’t dislike you.”

“But you… I mean, you always shot me down. No matter what I do or say.”

“Yes, because you annoys me. If you tried to be less coldhearted, or to actually be nice to Gannet, then…”

Noor almost snorted at this, because of course everything came back to Gannet in the end — but the way Mariana slightly vacillated at the end of her sentence here caught her attention. Her heart skipped a beat, and she stared at Mariana expectantly.

“…Wait. Are you saying that… that if I was nicer to Gannet, then… then what?”

“…Nothing. Just, it would be better.”

“Do you mean that you’d give me a chance then?”

“I have not said that.”

She pretty much had, but Noor knew now wasn’t the time to push her on the issue. Mariana sighed, then looked down, as if she’d suddenly noticed a very interesting thing on the ground.

“I wouldn’t have invited you here if I disliked you,” she added, her voice a lot softer than usual. “You’re still my teammate. You just could be cuter sometimes, that’s all. …Sorry about being mean about the cakes earlier, though.”

Noor should probably feel a little embarrassed about it, but she couldn’t hide the wide smile spreading on her face even if she tried. And she knew Mariana noticed it, too, as she could almost sees her rolling her eyes.

“…So. Have you chosen yet?” She repeated, and Noor could tell she was trying to not be as curt as before.

“Hmm, well…” She looked up at Mariana, then smiled. “What about you?”

“Me?” Mariana briefly glanced at the menu, as if hesitating. “My favorite is the bolo de cenoura.”

“Cenoura… Carrots?!” Noor exclaimed after a moment of doubt, unsure of the word’s meaning at first; without Kizuna, the translation didn’t instantly came to her mind as she almost never used that word. “Carrots in a cake?”

“Yes. You’ve never eaten one?”

“No…”

Somehow, the idea seemed a little ludicrous to her. Carrots weren’t common in Arab cooking in general, but as a dessert?

But Mariana had said it was her favorite.

“…In that case, I’ll take one too.”

Mariana blinked at her. “What?”

“You said it was your favorite, right? Of course I need to know all of your favorite things too. Maybe I could try cooking one for you, too. I’m a pretty good cook, as my father taught me when I was young.”

Mariana stared at her for a moment in silence. Her face was just as blank as usual, but there seemed to be something, in her eyes. Something more , that Noor couldn’t entirely figure out. It disappeared just as quickly as it appeared — but Noor wondered, then, if it would be possible to get her to have that something in her eyes while looking at her once again. To get her to smile, just because of Noor.

The thought made her feel dizzy, and she couldn’t wipe out her smile even after they left the shop. After tasting it, Noor decided that she didn’t like bolo de cenoura in the end — but that didn’t really matter much. She still would do her best to cook it for Mariana once they’ll be back.

“In Cairo,” Noor said as they walked slowly in the street, a bit shyly. “There’s, um. A cake shop I like quite a bit. They make great basbousa there. Not as good as my father’s, but… still good.” She took a quick glance at Mariana next to her, who seemed fairly determined to stare at the road and not at Noor. “I’ll… take you there, when we have time.” And then because it sounded a bit too commanding, she added: “I-If you want to. Of course.”

Mariana stopped walking for a moment, a slight frown on her face, as if thoughtful. Then she finally glanced up at Noor, very slowly.

“Is that a date?”

“…Wh-What? No! Just, erm…”

“All right.”

And then she started walking straight ahead again.

Damn. Maybe I should’ve said it is a date, after all.

She caught up with her teammate, and then suddenly felt a hand slip into hers, pulling her in the right direction. Mariana claimed it was because the streets were starting to get quite crowded, so she didn’t want to lose Noor and have to run after her like they did for Gannet earlier — but her grip still tightened firmly on her hand, their fingers intertwining, and Noor made no comment on it, simply enjoying the moment for as long as it could last.

When they finally got back to the military base, Gannet got jealous about their hand-holding; but Mariana reassured her it was nothing and only petted her, much to the girl’s dismay. Even so, to Noor’s surprise, she didn’t say a word about what they had done during the afternoon.

A brief, quiet encounter in a cake shop that would stay only between the two of them.

[rosieblogstuff]

Mac started spiraling the minute Jack walked out that door without him to hunt Kovac. Now he’s dealing with the new partner he didn’t ask for in a job that suddenly feels all wrong.

Cairo Day 2023 Day 7: The Worst Things

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February 22, 2019

Mac blinks at the bedside clock, waiting for his sleep-sticky eyes to focus on the numbers. Four twenty-two am. He’d been hoping it was later, even though he knew it wouldn't be.

Sleep has been elusive since Jack left, but for the first few days, he’d managed to fool his brain well enough to get in five or six hours a night, even if he spent the rest of the time tossing and turning.

But ever since he found Desi in his bedroom, even that is gone. Now it’s usually an hour and a half, maybe two, and only after laying awake for at least that long. He’s been laying here since eleven this time, and now he is simultaneously wide awake and half asleep, brain racing and too tired to think properly.

He usually sleeps badly after a tough mission, especially if it drags up memories of the past along with it. The night of the wedding he’d conked out on the bed in Jack’s hotel room, knowing he’d probably wake up at some point seeing Riley’s too-still form laid out on a silver countertop. He’d known that, and he’d known Jack would be there to shake him awake before it got worse, and listen to his middle-of-the-night fears. In the dark, half-asleep, that’s the only time he ever lets himself fall apart like that.

But he wishes he’d said something then to Jack about this Kovac mission. He wished he’d asked Jack to stay. He wishes he’d told Jack how he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to handle doing this job without him, instead of just boxing up his fears and telling himself not to be selfish, telling Jack he’d be okay. He should have asked Jack not to leave, instead.

Because he isn’t sure he’ll be okay.

Two weeks ago if he’d gone two nights like this, he’d have invited himself over to sleep on Jack’s couch. Now he wonders if he’ll ever sleep right again.

(here's a link to the rest of the angiest thing I've ever inflicted upon you)

@macgyvercairo

[rhetoricandlogic]

A Steampunk Mystery with Real Bite: P. Djèlí Clark’s The Haunting of Tram Car 015

Alex Brown Wed Feb 20, 2019 11:30am

On the eve of one of the country’s most important votes in years, a spirit takes over a tram car. Agent Hamed Nasr has been at the ministry for a long time, too long perhaps. He’s seen just about everything. Joining him is a fresh recruit, Agent Onsi Youssef, an eager, learned young man. What starts off as a standard exorcism explodes into the unimaginable. This is no ordinary haunting, and to solve the case Hamed and Onsi will have to make some unexpected alliances in the city’s underbelly.

For years now, P. Djèlí Clark has quietly been cranking out short fiction that is as fantastical as it is attuned to social justice. Through captivating characters unlike any we’ve ever seen before and sumptuous worldbuilding that twists the familiar into something exciting and new, Clark works his own magic. Back in 2016, Tor.com published his novelette “A Dead Djinn in Cairo,” a supernatural murder mystery set in an alternate Cairo. With The Haunting of Tram Car 015, Clark expands on his “Dead Djinn” world here with masterful effect. Agent Fatma el-Sha’arawi and Siti from “Dead Djinn” both make appearances in here, but the main protagonists here are Hamed and Onsi.

The early twentieth century Cairo of Haunting isn’t the Cairo you’re familiar with. In this alternate steampunk-ish 1912, djinn and angels and necromancers and mystics share the city with opinionated citizens and agents from the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments, and Supernatural Entities. With the discovery of magic in the late nineteenth century, Egypt burst on the world stage as a major power player, driving out imperial threats and thriving on fantastical innovations. Airships and trolleys ferry Cairenes to and from neighborhoods of new money, magical beings, and hardworking immigrants. Country bumpkins and those longing for more freedom and educational and employment opportunities flow in from far flung regions as the metropolis expands and evolves.

However, while advancements in technology, aided in large part by the djinn and their supernatural ilk, have made Egypt a place of wonders, society is still catching up. All that’s about to change if women’s suffrage is passed. For years, women activists have been pushing for equal rights. Now with the backing of the queen and a groundswell of support, they have a real chance to win. But victory is not guaranteed. The old ways of restrictions and limitations based on gender are hard to shake and many are unwilling to accept women in pant suits, much less gaining equal rights.

It’s this complicated world that Hamed and Onsi live in. They are modernists who aren’t afraid of the future, but middle-aged Hamed perceives those changes differently than young Onsi. Onsi is young enough to still be unjaded. He’s ambitious and inquisitive enough want to try the unorthodox but remains respectful of the past. Hamed isn’t rigid or conservative, but he’s had years of the old ways and it isn’t always easy to keep an open mind about the wild antics of kids these days.

If Hamed straddles the line between the future and the past, Clark cleverly places the women characters (with one key exception) on the side of the future and the men (other than Hamed an Onsi) on the side of the past. It’s not that men are bad and women are good but more that men in a patriarchal society often feel they have something to lose when women gain rights. They don’t, but in a world built upon a foundation of oppressors and oppressed, those on top typically either dismiss the push for equity as a silly fantasy or try to reframe it in the context of a hierarchy. Through Hamed, Onsi, and Abla, Clark resists not just the notion that equity demands sacrifice and subtraction but that enlightenment requires Westernization.

As much as I love the idea of steampunk, I often have a hard time with the subgenre because it tends to if not outright glorify then simply ignore colonialism and imperialism. Without the Victorian era, you don’t get steampunk, but you also don’t get the Victorian era without the brutality, exploitation, desecration, and destruction of imperialism. It’s easy to set aside what Queen Victoria was doing to her colonies if all you care about are airships and goggles on top hats. Clark uses the British invasion of 1882 as a springboard—the newly arrived djinn helped repel the imperialists—then takes it one step further. Often, in both fiction and non-fiction, a society isn’t deemed “civilized” until they adopt Western rules, including those regulating the subservience of the conquered by the conquerors.

In Haunting, Clark shifts the focus from the British to the Egyptians. Agent el-Sha’arawi wears English menswear because to her the attire is exotic and unusual—she is, in fact, turning the imperialists’ obsession with exoticism against them. Abla explores the themes of immigration and migration by bridging the chasm between ancient beliefs and contemporary traditions. The djinn, angels, and other supernatural entities use their knowledge and gifts to benefit Egypt and prevent further invasion from Westerners. Cairo develops according to its own goals, needs, and socio-cultural interests with no influence from the Western world. In young adult science fiction and fantasy, the trend of POC authors deconstructing colonialism has been gaining traction recently, but it is still fairly uncommon in adult SFF. Here’s hoping Clark is only the tip of the iceberg.

If last year’s stellar novella The Black God’s Drum hadn’t already solidified P. Djèlí Clark as one of the best under-the-radar writers today, The Haunting of Tram Car 015 will. In just over 100 pages filled with monstrous creatures and fanciful magic, Clark critiques the patriarchy, imperialism, and Westernization under the guise of a slight plot about a haunted public transit trolley. This book should be on every recommendation list of the best fantasy fiction for 2019. I can’t wait to see what he writes next.