#China Chokes America!

[headingalaxys-spicy]

Can I ask for a country!reader with aph america, china and russia who used to depend on them for survival in the past because they were very poor, but now they are successful and distancing themselves? Thanks

I uh got lost on this one and it’s a long Drabble where I think I hit the mark but didn’t .

This one is kind of a long read.

Anyways I still hope you enjoy!

America 🇺🇸

Reminsing about the times you used to cling to him for everything.

You and your citizens needed food because your nation was experiencing a once-in-a-mellinnia drought?

You got it. Alfred would have prepared you and all of your people a splendid feast. He’s more than happy to provide.

Lacking clothes?

Not a problem. He’s made sure that all the clothes you require are bespoke. You look stunning & quickly made any other nation stare at you in awe whenever you attended world meetings with Alfred. Since you needed him, you did your best to prove your loyalty to him in subtle but sufficient ways. You always hung off his arm whenever meetings adjourned or before they began. You always sat next to him & voted in his favor when he did something for you. You’d become the lovely little charm he enjoyed showing on the world stage. He loved having all the strings attached to you. You were like a perfectly crafted marionette doll made just for him.

Alfred was always interested in maintaining dominance in your relationship. It was amusing to watch you attempt to break that power dynamic.

Alfred is going to allow you to cut your ties to him symbolically. He’ll allow your economy to blossom, the education sector to bloom, and you have one of the best healthcare systems. You’d figured out how to be efficient. But you had no military because you depended on him, and he couldn’t have you be too far independent from him. But to some degree, he wants you to believe that you are. He didn’t want to lose, just like England. He was better than him and felt that he’d always maintain control over you. It was obvious you couldn’t take care of yourself. You needed him. To him, your success was temporary.

The moment he sees the first string break from his precious puppet, he begins devising a plan to pin you with iron strings.

“Y/N? Why are you looking into how to structure a military? Aren’t the bases I gave you enough? But also aren’t your people kinda weak and like being with books and having intellectuals and farmers?”

“Yeah….” You began hesitantly and try to concoct a lie that would soothe his fears about being abandoned. You began to abhor the tight strings that choked the life out of your wrists. You wanted to begin to break free so that you could create a future independent of him & his contracts.

“No…actually…” Your voice was trembling now. You forced your arms outwards to the open air, waiting for the divine silver scissors to cut loose your wrists.

“I appreciate you, Alfred… I really do…but” You stare at him straight in the eyes, summoning your strength. His blue orbs had darkened with scary ghost-like shadows. Still you marched onwards.

“But I want to build myself up and be on my own.”

Alfred bit down on his own lip. Holding back his rage was difficult for him but he was desperately in love with you. He thought you would have known that it would have been your permanent place to be with him. The deal was that you were supposed to be in debt to him forever. And forever means until the end of time! Till the two of you were the last people standing in the midst of an alien war, the only ones on a desolate island. You were designed perfectly for him, but he had to let you find out just how difficult it is to be in charge of through thick & thin.

“That also means….” You place a comforting hand on his cheek to break him out of his internal fantasy of the two of you against the world. You attempt to soften the blow to his already bruised ego. A sprinkle of light briefly flashes over his eyes. You already know that what you’ve just started is going to be a major emotional endeavor.

“I can pay you back” A bright like the summer sun smile graced your face & melted some of the ice that had formed in his heart after hearing you wanted to become independent from him.

‘Y/N why do you have to do this to me? Why in hell do you want that of which is forbidden?’ He placed his hand on top of you hand that still cradled his cheek.

“Okay just let me know if I can hel-”

“NO! No… America…I’ve got to learn how to do things on my own. If I depend on you all the time I’ll never know how to do anything.”

The strings that are attached to your soul shake. Your wrists had been cut free by the silver scissors. That feeling was terrifying and magnificent.

Alfred's heart was hit with the sharp sting of a lightning bolt. What he feared was beginning to manifest into reality. It left a bitter taste in his mouth. It made him insanely angry and drove him mad. You never called him by his nation's name like that, at least not in a long time.

“Okay [Country Name]. We can talk later.” He politely removes your hand from his face and leaves you without giving you a hug good-bye. Alfred didn’t give you another glance before he left you alone. Once the door slammed shut that’s when his scheming began.

He will take you down like an agonizing tumor once you have your nation properly running. Alfred will allow you to stabilize because he wants to dissolve you slowly. He will document every miscalculation, bad decision, and failed proposal & use it as evidence that you should have never been allowed to be in charge of your own nation. This time his newer strings would be made of impenetrable steel.

Cartels and Mafias suddenly began to spring up in all of your major cities and spread to the suburbs. Your police departments were ineffective at solving the crime waves that were sweeping your small nation. Your government, of course, was in a panic due to the magnitude and rapid pace of these crime sprees. It only took three weeks for the chaos of the mafia wars to be taken to the quieter streets in the suburbs. There was an apparent hunt to find a drug den that had the product of at least $15 million. It was also rumored that it’s likely a scared diamond somewhere in your nation's midst.

“Oh, this is getting insane!”

You were watching the coverage of your nation's trials and tribulations on international television. America’s news outlets seemed to be particularly harsh. Deep down you were beginning to doubt whether being independent from him was the right choice.

‘Everything is getting so bad so quickly.’

You tap your fingers nervously against your desk until the fact dawns on you that: Dealing with tough issues was a part of life.

You take a deep inhale in and call a meeting with your boss, emergency response teams, & negotiators. You pop open your computer to take notes and devise a plan. You were ready for the crazy next few months with lots of caffeine and difficult conversations.

Alfred hates that you’ve become self-sufficient and can handle the major crises he’s constructed. You had cut loose your feet by now. You knew your silver scissors hungered for more. All you had left to cut was that of which was around your neck. He didn’t want to see you free.

The next thing Alfred will try to attack is your economy. Can’t run a nation on an empty bank account. As he drew up plans to make your nation sink under, there was a delicate knock at the door. He knew it was you. His heart hums fast-paced with anxiety-filled music.

‘Why won’t they be mine?’ He repeats over and over again in his mind. He swiftly flips his plan board to its other blank slate.

“Come in Y/N I know it’s you!” The door swings open to unveil his lovely puppet. You were ecstatic as you practically sprinted to him as you busted through the door. You had a white envelope with you.”

“Here you are Alfred some of what I owe you!” You gleefully hand him your payment. His heart begins to reveal that it has cracks that begin to deepen.

‘They can’t be doing this! How could they?!?! How in the fuck can they not see that they were made for me!’ Alfred didn’t want to admit he admired your determination. You really could be indepe-

Blood crept up his throat at the thought of your independence.

The check that you handed him may as well have been the sharp end of an axe. It made his blood run between ice and fire. He was angry that you desired the forbidden fruit and sad to some degree that you didn’t want him as much as he wanted you.

‘Weren’t you always supposed to stick around with the people who save you….Y/N? I’m your hero after all those decades…That means I’m supposed to own you for life dammit.’

Your hand on his shoulder will jolt him back to reality.

“Alfred, are you okay?”

“Me? Yeah. Yeah. Just busy and consumed with a few important things.” His eyes don’t meet yours they stay surveying the ground. He’s fighting the urge to pin you down & steal your silver scissors before they have a chance to become the ax. It means that you’d be able to sever your ties forever and be in-

“No.” He says to the frigid air-conditioned room.

“Hmm?”

“Long day Y/N and even longer month. You should go.” He shoos you away in an attempt to save face & not showcase his worse tendencies just yet. He needed you to believe that he was 100% on board with your plan to be 100% independent from him.

“Okay! I won’t linger. I’ll have another payment for you soon!” You rush off to continue with your ambitious endeavor. His heart never failed to flutter furiously whenever he was hit by your fiery determination. That’s one of the reasons he loved you and why he had to have you. He was itching to have you living with him again.

Once he see’s that you’d come a significant way in paying off your debt to him you had flourishing trade deals with larger countries that seemed to benefit your population greatly. You were doing it. The thick thread that was around your neck shook.

Alfred’s eye will twitch in reacting to the shift in power. He hated how you weren’t in his home doing more important things like cooking with him, playing video games, pigging out on pizza and watching movies. You knew how to soothe him, make him laugh, and fit perfectly between his arms.

Why did you have to break your responsibility to protect his heart?! Alfred’s inner turmoil about losing you will only increase. It will reach a boiling point where he’s going to resort to kidnapping you if you refuse to have a close permanent relationship where he can easily dominate you.

He shatters those silver scissors you possess into millions of tiny pieces. He doesn’t fail like Arthur because he is superior to that old man of his past. The iron strings will be bitterly cold & burn your skin. The steam of hate will be felt in the air as you know Alfred would never allow you to be without your strings. After all, you were all he’s ever wanted in his lonely life.

China 🇨🇳

There are many early mornings when the beauty of the Spring Blossoms takes his mind off of how his heart aches when he’s without you. With his legs crossed and his mouth inhaling deeply, his mind takes stock of the lack of noise in the background.

You weren’t there because you’d moved away.

Yao’s eye twitched at that awful thought. It made him sick to his stomach. He’s been through numerous wars, scandals, collapses, & centuries worth of bullshit. It’s not like he hadn’t felt betrayal but since he regarded you differently from the others. You had a certain effect on his heart, making him infatuated with you. You were like a rare gem unearthed from the Forbidden City. You were special to him, and no one else was allowed to have you. He, like Alfred, will want to maintain a calm & collected composure in front of you. Yao didn’t want you to know he hated the idea of you separating from him to become more independent. He wanted to keep you trapped in his beautifully crafted glass cage.

‘How in the hell does Y/N not love the life I meticulously crafted for them here?’ His mind wanders to all the fun outings you did together….hand-in-hand. One of the main things he enjoyed doing with you was drifting through Wangfujing snack street—the hustle and buzz of the sea of people that frequented the busy night market.

He loved being your guide & seeing your face light up when you tried something new & enjoyed it.

‘How could that not be enough for you Y/N?’

His nails scrape at his freshly pressed sage brown military uniform. The thick fabric crinkled under his frustration. He understood that having power over you would eventually make you want to escape him. He, however, was impressed with how you breached security systems and bypassed his guards.

For as long as you depended on him Yao primarily treated your relationship as he was your mentor that you were always supposed to adhere to. He always took up most of the time you had in the majority of your schedule. Yao hardly allowed you without his supervision either he or one of his guards was beside you. But what did that matter? Why should you complain? He provided for you since you’d come to him at his doorstep. You were desperate, destitute & in great need. You required his assistance & his tender love and care.

“Of course, y/n of course! Come in! You look sickly I can nurse you back to health!” Yao was ecstatic when you crawled to him in your desperate hour. It meant that he had an opportunity to ensnare you for all of your existence. That’s why he crafted that golden cage for you. It was beautiful, and that's all that should have mattered to you. Yao defended you well whether it be in the negotiation room on the world stage or even on the battlefield.

Yao had you covered. But you were still desperate to leave. It’s why the ground had tiny shards of glass that cut into him deeply.

Yao takes another deep inhale. He understood all too well that this was just a rebellious state & you’d soon be reminded of your place. All he’d have to do is retrieve & re-educate you.

Yao is going to devise ways to make your economy come to a sluggish crawl. He knows it is foolish to allow you to have a strong cultural economy which allowed your nation to expand your tourism, architecture, & education sectors. This allowed you to have time away from him so that you could develop your own ideals… a determent to his dominant control over you & your people. He wanted to keep you trapped in the delusion that you needed him for your survival.

‘The time for my sweet y/n to play this foolish game of independence has run it’s course.’

Yao’s mind blissfully wandered back to the days when he’d first found you: poor, destitute, and alone. You didn’t have any fight within you as a struggling nation. You and your people were on the verge of giving up all hope. Everyone who was a [name of your nation's people] wanted to resign themselves to being dissolved into the cold void of space, leaving behind nothing more than a chapter or two within the catalog of history.

That all changed when you caught the eye of one of the oldest empires in the world: China. He sought you out due to the fact that you were a lovely nation that sat near the sea. You had prime port spots and beautiful land whose capabilities were best suited for farming. He could take you under his wing & teach you how to utilize your available resources to it’s full capabilities. Not to squander itlike you were so foolishly doing.

He recognizes that his first huge miscalculation in maintaining control over you was allowing you to have unsupervised educational rights. You began to craft a population that valued critical thought over blindly following direction from those in charge.

Yao’s eye twitches once more. The thought of having to contend with a [country name] intellectual, professor, or anyone who’s been through your unique but effective education system meant he had….

“General Wang!” You have a response to the contract that you sent to [country name] for review.

Yao was eager to see your response to a partnership deal that was riddled with a ton of underhanded loopholes he could take advantage of if you disobeyed him. He was able to sense the hesitation in the soldier's hand. It wanted to jerk back. To keep his eyes away from the offensive sight.

“Let me guess the Magpie didn’t want to nest and make a home in its beautifully gilded cage?” No trace of surprise in his monotone voice. Within the calm, there was a silent raging anger brewing beneath his skin.

‘How fucking dare you Y/N. Using me. Don't you know once in debt you’ll always be in debt?’

It takes him a couple of decades to even acknowledge that he has feelings for you. By the time he does, he’s already rescued your nation a few times. He knew he felt differently about you just he couldn’t pinpoint why.

Yao hoped that you’d be satisfied with having the illusion of freedom. You could pick your clothes, what you ate, what outings. That was enough for a while. After all, you did come from a [country name] where there was nothing but struggle and strife and hardly enough to get by. It was easy at first to satiate your population with feasts that had high-quality and fresh food. Dim Sum day and night accompanied by the best teas and wines.

Yao LOVED showing off his knowledge of tea, whether it be a strong black tea that kicked alive all of your senses or a green tea that relaxed you to sleep and gave you lovely dreams. Crafting food and drinks was one of his specialties. He put extra passion and flare when it came to making food for you. That and he is trying to show off. He didn’t always need military power or grand spectacles to captivate. Thats what he had developed his cooking skills for. He could prove that he was more than just a political stronghold…he had a gentle side too. Yao is going to make a spectacle while he cooks. He will do back flips as he makes your pan-fried dumplings or spruces up your rice. His heart flutters with joy whenever he sees you giggle. It was like getting a strong hit of opium. You’re his addiction, and he wasn’t going to give it up. He wanted to create reasons as to why you should always be around him. So if keeping you poor was a part of the game, he was willing to do so.

He’s not an idiot or blind to how you’d be in pain from him being ruthless in trying to keep you under his thumb. So he does give you some economic leverage and allow your people to concentrate solely on art. He adored it when you created masterpieces especially when they were exclusively for him. It was easy & it wouldn’t burst the delicate bubble of reality that he wanted to keep you trapped in. It prevented the both of you for a while from thinking about the future. Yao could once again see his and your nation become tied together and be content. However, that's a double-edged sword as it does eventually lead you to crave more.

Yao is going to create a cyclical conundrum for himself: Give you microdoses of freedom that slowly show you that you can be independent and happy while fighting the urge to want to take you over and never let you be free and see you sad. He still has to worry about you seeking susbatantial answers he’s not really ready to answer (if ever). He hoped to some degree that as an immortal nation, you’d come to be infantilized forever. But he could not pause progress.

“You’re 100% right sir. Y/N & [citizen name] didn’t really want to be beholden to you anymore. The parliament has decided to vote against your proposal. They seem determined to forage their own way.”

“Dammit Y/N why do you have to be incredibly headstrong!” He springs to his feet as soon as the anger rushed through his body.

“Why do you have to be so ungrateful? Why do you show no respect? How in the world can Y/N not see that I LOVE & just want to PROTECT you!”

“Well, sir I suppose it’s time to resort to less gentle tactics to make them concede.”

“Oh, my rebellious misguided magpie. What am I going to do with you? Looks like you’re going to do with you? Looks like you’re going to need a heavy dose of tough love.”

Yao snaps his finger for his soldier to come close.

“If they want to prod the dragon as it sleeps then I’ll let the people of [country name] find out how foolish that is.”

Yao is going to “peacefully” kidnap you meaning he will bribe who he can and kill whoever can’t be reasoned with money when it comes to your security detail. He’s going to make a show of it. It will start when you accidentally cut yourself with glass. It will begin at the sole of your foot. Birds will suddenly join your midst. A black and white feather will land in your small puddle of blood.

“More won’t have to be spilled Y/N if you just give in.”

Russia 🇷🇺

At first, Ivan will be lax & he won’t really acknowledge the things that you’re trying to do to separate from him. He’ll want to believe he’s downed too much vodka and cocktails. It’s nonsense. Nonsense. All of it. Since you’d been with him for so long & still in debt to him he believed that’s guarantee that you’d never leave him. At this point in his mind, he’s built the narrative that you stayed because you loved him.

“ I wish things didn’t have to be this way,” Ivan says coldly with his pipe in one hand and love letter in the other.

At the beginning of your relationship, when you and your people were down on your luck, he saw you as a feminine version of Latvia that he wanted to protect and bear hug 24/7.

“Let the loving, warm arms of Mother Russia help you.”

Ivan is eager to assist you & your impoverished people not only because he is fond of you but because you have beautiful tracks of land when it’s not being bombarded by drought and animals facing severe infection and plagues. It seemed for some reason that sunshine and prosperity had been avoiding you like finding a cure to heal your cattle.

“Hmm? Ummm…” Were the only words that you could summon. You were shocked that one of the superpowers would come over to chit-chat with you. To some degree you knew you were hardly a faint blip on most nations radar.

“Y/N you’re cute when you behave like a nervous kitten.” He placed his gloved bear paw on top of your head. When he did so you could finally take stalk of how much taller he was than you. At least a foot and a few inches. Your muscles soon tensed up and intimidation along with a host of other emotions suddenly flooded your nervous system.

“Ha. Ha. Ha. I guess. I’ve been under a lot of stress lately you know?” Nervous still you began to involuntarily shake. You could tell if it was caused by your nerves or hunger. Being in his presence was intense. You bite down on your lip hoping there was at least some decent food when you got back to your room like your boss had promised. Your facade of keeping it together without collapsing seemed like an impossible task.

“Stress? What kind of stress? Tell me da? We are friends now after all aren’t we?” His pure periwinkle eyes sparkled with glitter with hints of black specks within them.

“Huh? I mean we’ve been on a few committees and have been in a few voting blocks together, but it’s …” You knew you had to be careful with your choice of words. One wrong one and you knew he could crush you in one quick motion only using his wrist.

You hardly had the energy to stand. You began to wobble. You became woozy.

“Come. Y/N. Come. You must sit sunflower. You look pale & weak.”

You were definitely going to ignore his emphasis on the word ‘weak’. You kept it as a mental note in the back of your head.

‘He’s being a bit suspicious and creepy. I wonder if he’s about to offer…’

“About to make you a kind offer you won’t forget.”

‘Is he!? No. NO. I’m definitely going loopy due to hunger.’ You were trying to concoct a response that was equal parts composed, resilient, and calm. However, that process was cut short when a grey, black, and white static filled your eyes. Rendering you incapable of seeming like a nation that had their shit together. Quite the opposite. With no response, Russia will take the lead. He placed his hand on your upper back. He took note of how your palms and fingers were spread apart wide in an attempt to stabilize yourself. Your eyes were glazed over with an exhausted grey mist.

He chuckles in amusement.

‘Man, this is going to be easy.’

It took a few minutes before your haze finally lifted. However, it felt like your soul had left your body and you were just an empty husk running on fumes.

“Um, this is really a conversation for a later time…” Unable to think of ways to navigate a negotiation with a massive country like Russia. You could at least buy yourself some time and try to talk to someone for advice. You know that it seemed benevolent but had plenty of tight ropes, strings, and red lines that come attached with such a deal.

“After the meeting, we can talk it out over dinner. I can show you some of my nation's best food.” His aura brightened at the fact that you’d be more within his domain and far deeper within his influence.

Russia, at this point, is kinda like a honey trap. He learned this tactic from his friend (enemy at times) America. Knowing how to be a smooth charmer even though he tends to have an unsettling presence that has chaotic energy with a baby face. He incorporates but doesn’t copy America. Russia tends to lean on his disarming soft face to help him and instead of offering punishments first, he’s more likely to offer an insensitive with maybe a threat at the end. (This only tends to happen if he can’t see that you’re responding positively to what’s being offered.) So Russia knows how to show more restraint.

Of course, you didn’t say no to the private meeting you had with him. Your boss practically begged you to do so, along with some of your citizens and advisers.

“How can we say no? You have to Y/N! What do we have to lose at this point?”An advisor stated with urgency.

“We can figure it out as we go but we must do something! This is a sign this is it!” Another citizen piped up.

“All right, all right I’ll go.”

Ivan will introduce you to this five-point plan that he drafted. It will be showcased through Matryoshka Doll. The five stages will explain how you will become one with Mother Russia without losing your recognizable national heritage.

‘Don’t worry’ is what he’ll assure you. He’s got all the heavy lifting. Just allow him to set the pace and control everything.

Ivan won’t immediately snap you up like a Venus fly trap. He knows that he has to manage you and all of your people, constituents, and other parties. He’ll let all settle in before he begins to move any plan forward.

Ivan’s scarf had wrapped around your shoulders as he brought out a Matryoshka doll that was about the size of your thumb.

“You will receive a new one once you complete a new phase. It shows how close friends we’ve become.”

Your eyes wander down to the bright red hooded figure that is decorated with Ivy and Azalea flowers. You ran your index finger down the smooth surface. You admired the intermixing of the pastels with the primary colors. The florals seemed to string themselves together like a fence that had cursive graffiti on it. In the back of your mind, you still couldn’t help but feel that you were making a huge mistake even if on the surface, things between you and Ivan would be smooth.

“We first have to ensure that your citizens are able to eat, have proper housing, and all of their other basic needs are met. You’ll have to live with me of course.”

‘Maybe, I’m just overthinking it. After all what choice do I really have? It’s not like I’ve been able to survive to well on my own.’

Your thumb continued to rub the fresh paint. The Azalea flowers encapsulated and sustained you. They were lovely because they represented the current concealed love. The colors made you feel safe and comforting. The coolness of the wood brought goosebumps to your skin. Your immune system was trying to send warning signs but you continued to ignore them for the idea that permanent comfort wasn’t too far off. The suffering was beginning to be too much to tolerate daily.

Ivan will make sure that you’re comfortable in his house. He’ll allow you to go see your nation every 4 months or so. The rest of the time will be you learning proper Russian, the culture, history, etc.

As you began to adjust to life with him, you enjoyed not having to face hardships. It was nice not to have to worry about where your next meal was to come from or how some of your particularly vulnerable cities managed to survive with minimal resources. These questions were no longer at the forefront of your mind. You allowed the sweet side of life to dull your senses.

The next part of Ivan’s five-point plan involves him having full jurisdiction of your military bases, ports, secret hubs, etc. He didn’t want you or your population getting into battle.

Ivan’s log-like arm was draped over you, and he introduced you to some of his seasoned commanders who’d be taking over all of your military operations. As you trailed behind him through the Russian-built base, you were in awe of the immense firepower he possessed and was lending to you. It was a not-so-subtle reminder of how much you now depended on him. It was the first time that you realized that you entered an inescapable pact that you made with Ivan. Your mind had finally registered the second doll with the Camellia flowers had been firmly sealed around you as it was tossed into the sea.

A firm squeeze on your hand brought you back to reality. Ivan’s sweet and somewhat sinister smile that adorned his pale snow face reassured you that everything would be fine so long as you were in his care.

If you want to escape him with the least emotional and economic damage and the lowest detriment to your citizens, then you really should have prevented him from setting up any kind of military infrastructure. So he now has a strategic advantage if (and or when) you try to separate from him.

As a nuclear power he of course, never let you have a program for energy much less for weapons. If you ever asked about such things ice and snow will coat the room while his face will have the everpresent smile remaining on Ivan’s face. His icicle-like ‘why’ was more than enough for you to never bring the subject up with him again.

The comfort began to feel more like constriction….suffocation. The air around you felt like you were in the vacuum of space.

The final matryoshka doll is decorated with cedar leaves (I will live for thee), Yellow Hyacinths (Jelously), Ivy (Wedded Love), and Primrose (I cannot live without you). It was handed to you right before the two of you began another tense meeting on why you’re trying to become more independent.

“I will not be without you Y/N nation of [insert most recognized attribute]”

“Hmmm?” Trying to make sure you didn’t just hear that highly possessive statement. Trying to give Ivan a chance to walk that back. After a minute of uncomfortable silence, you break it.

“Ivan, are you okay?” Your voice trembles out.

“Da Y/N….But we do have some difficult discussions to be had.” He closed his book with a loud thud, it was loud enough to make you jump in your seat a little.

At this point, it’s game over. Whatever well-thought-out plan you may have made to be independent of him may as well be strapped to a rocket being sent to the moon. If you want to be successful, you’d need another superpower backing you or extremely good socioeconomic conditions and political unrest in Russia to actually be able to win against him.

[milaisreading]

I saw someone's request about 2p's reactions to someone hurting y/n. I like the way you write their reactions. If it's not a bother and if it's not too much can you also write the request with 1p's reactions, please?

Hmmm... let's see

Italy 🇮🇹

Now, this white flag-waving man nearly choked on his spit when he heard (Y/n) being insulted by the preson. Watch him turn as loud as Romano.

Italy: WHA?! WHO DID YOU JUST CALL UGLY?! MIA BELLA IS THE MOST ADORABLE WOMAN AROUND! NOW TAKE THAT BACK, BASTARD OR ELSE-

Yn, trying to pull him off of the person: Please, Feliciano! People are watching!

Italy: AND I CARE?!

Germany 🇩🇪

This man would probably keep his mouth shut if the person dared to insult you, if (Y/n) defends herself. Otherwise, he would glare at the person and make them apologize before leaving. Now, if the person attacks Yn...

Yn, trembling when Germany kept on punching the person: I... I think they get it now... ARE THEY STILL ALIVE?

Germany: Don't know and don't care.

Japan🇯🇵

The first thing this man will do is pull you away from the situation, then go back and scold the person for insulting you. If, and I mean IF the glare Japan gives them isn't enough to scare them away, then Japan showing off his katana should dot he trick.

America🇺🇲

Yn: A-america... isn't pointing a gun at someone like that against the law?

America: Not at all, dudette! I do that all the time back home!

Yn: AMERICA, WE ARE AT SWEDEN'S!

America: So? Now let me deal with this asshole first

France🇫🇷

Now, this country is not known as the best fighter, but there is a great difference to it when someone tries to injure Yn...

Yn, wrapping up his knuckles: I didn't know you could punch like that! ○_○

France, being smooth as usually: I can show you more things you don't know about me~

England🇬🇧

England will play cool for a moment, throwing a few insults at the person before pulling Yn away to comfort her. The same night at his house, while nobody is around.

Engalnd: Sooo... where is that curse spell? Hmm?

Russia🇷🇺

This man will not even let the person say anything or move closer to Yn before he swings his pipe at the person's skull.

Yn: Isn't that too much?!

Russia: Not at all! :]

China🇨🇳

China usually isn't someone to curse or physically threaten people, well, at least in front of Yn. But now, when someone tried to insult her...

Yn: Yao... I think he understood it. Can you please let the man's neck go?

China: I need to finish my lecturing, hold on!

Canada🇨🇦

Yn, looking upset as she approached Canada again: Well, that was an experience.

Canada: What happened?

Yn: Ah... that man was just... he has quite the language...

Canada:...

Canada: Can you hold Kumajiro for me? I need to check out something.

Yn: Sure... but where are you going?

Canada: Just to talk

Yn: With?

Canada, pats her head and starts walking away: Not important!

[calder]

Tim Cain has performed a complete blunder and stated that China dropped the first bombs, completely ignoring the entire point of the franchise. Damnation upon him

hmm. i get the spirit here but i dont really agree. the details trivial and pointless, the reasons purely human. i have always felt it does not matter

im pretty sure america was invading china by land in 2077. it doesnt make a ton of sense for america to trigger MAD in a war they had nearly won. in the mind of a military officer, perhaps china didnt have much to lose

and unfortunately i dont think there's a good way to do 'intentional vault tec apocalypse' without it being so conspiratorial as to be offensive

ive always felt it is okay to assume the details of the launch itself were lost to time, and they would not matter even philosophically. the american empire brought death upon the world over the course of centuries, ultimately waging a campaign against the concept of feeding and housing the poor. the idea that america was the victim in armageddon because they didn't Push The Button On That Day is beyond childlike.

america was a slaver, torturer, and tryant, and that is why god lit her on fire and ripped her apart. america chokes on filth and politics as it endlessly battles itself in stagnant agony because that was the fate america spent centuries building for its people.

thanks for writing 🌱

[pomodoriyum]

heeey could you tell me a little more about your girdling method for ligustrum? what age group is the ligustrum in when you treat ti that way and at what density in the stand? it was never a high priority target in the places i worked before just because it was in such high density monotypic stands that we didn't have the means to do followup restoration work so i never really tried a lot of control methods for it!

Hi! Thanks for the questions, I’m pretty stoked to be asked about this.

Going to start with identifying the ligustrum I girdle first, mostly for folks who don’t know what it is, where it’s native to, what it looks like, and its role in the ecosystem it comes from (and how it doesn’t fulfill those roles in the Americas). also, going under the cut because this is long.

The plant that I girdle is Ligustrum lucidum (common name: glossy privet).  It’s a shrubby tree that grows about 20-30ft tall here, and creates monoculture stands (read: it’s the only plant in the area).  Bugs don’t recognize it as food, and it tends to soak up available groundwater in such quantity that it kills our native trees during droughts due to additional stress. Where I live it’s considered invasive, though due to deregulation many types of ligustrum are used in landscaping.  Ligustrum originates from china, japan, and korea, and in these areas, it’s a fairly important plant (frequently used in nonwestern medicine, but it’s also been documented as a poison and an allergen, so….don’t try at home?).

Riparian areas–especially disturbed riparian areas–is where most escaped ligustrum is found. 

Ligustrum is notoriously difficult to remove. It’s got really large energy reserves in its root system, so if it’s cut down, the tree will re-sprout rapidly. There are ways to chemically poison it, but over vast areas that’s dangerous and very expensive.  Usually, the best method is to prevent it from entering the ecosystem in the first place– once it’s there, best efforts are really about controlling its spread rather than completely eliminating it.  I do think part of the issue is that it’s commonly used in landscaping, so there’s endless ‘stock’ revitalizing escaped populations.  Also, ligustrum leads the way for other invasive species to colonize more land, as it is extremely quick to mature and reproduce, thus choking out other native vegetation.  It’s a bit brutal to see. Anyway, it’s everywhere once you know how to spot it. 

One drop of good news: the seeds that enter soil tend to rot within the year if they don’t sprout– though, of course, individual trees may produce up to three million viable seeds. One thing they do is feed cedar waxwings, which I can’t really be upset by. However, outside of their original ranges, they don’t do much to support the new communities they’re in, and actively kill legacy trees.

Now, to your questions:

could you tell me a little more about your girdling method for ligustrum?

Sure! Very simple and satisfying. I’ve also included a video link– similar method to mine.

The goal of girdling is to disrupt energy flow from the leaves of the tree to the roots, causing the trees to starve and die. It usually take 6 months to 1 year to fully kill the tree, though I’ve seen the effects (leaf wilt, drooping) as early as 2 weeks after girdling.

Tools needed:

Paint scraper

Isopropyl alcohol in spray bottle, or soapy water

Rough sponge that’s fairly abrasive

Hedge clippers

Steps: 

Identify the tree. Look for glossy, dark green leaves with grey-green bark.  The edges of the leaves will light up when you hold them up against the sun.  The edges of the leaves are also smooth, not serrated, and they are opposite each other on the stem. Ligustrum also tends to have 2-8 mini “trunks” that support its branches. When flowering, its white, perfume-y, and the flower branches are sort of shaped like a triangle or a cone.

Their seeds are drupes, blue and similar to seeds from some species of juniper. Please don't eat them.

Clean the tree up– frequently there’s lots of growth around the base, with a bunch of tiny little branches that should be trimmed away. The hedge clippers are handy here.

Remove the outer layer of bark from one of the trunks with the paint scraper, all the way around. It should come up easily in the spring, but will resist strongly during the summer and winter.  You want to make sure that there’s at least a 5-6 inch gap between the top and bottom edges of bark. I usually go between 1 and four feet of space, when the bark is easy to peel up. This layer is about an eighth to a quarter of an inch thick, depending on the age of the tree.

Repeat this step to all of the trunks present.  Make sure that you remove the bark from all the way around each branch. This prevents it from scabbing over.

You’ll notice that the sapwood is slimy to the touch where the bark has been peeled away. This is a tissue layer responsible for generating more bark, and it must be scraped off, or else the trunk will scab over and recover.  Use the paint scraper to get rid of all of this material in a ring around the trunk, about 5-6 inches wide.  If you miss any, it will start drying a dark brown color on top of the lighter sapwood, and is easy to spot.

Make sure to remove all leaves and non-girdled branches that are below the cut / where the ring of bark was removed. This prevents sugars from being created by leaves that are still connected to the roots.

Finally, take your spray bottle of isopropyl and spritz each girdled band all the way around, and scrub it in with the abrasive sponge.

Congrats! It’s been girdled!

The tree will likely try to sprout new growth underneath the girdle bands over the next year. If you return and remove them before the stems become woody, the tree will die.

what age group is the ligustrum in when you treat ti that way and at what density in the stand?

I’ve girdled trees that are fully mature (30ft) as well as smaller saplings that are still part of the understory (8-10 ft).  Typically, I prioritize removing ligustrum within 20 ft of our legacy trees (oaks, pecans, hackberry that range between 50-200 yrs old). The project area’s pretty large, and has stands of trees with various percent ligustrum, probably between 10% ligustrum at the least affected areas and 85-95% ligustrum in most affected areas.  Most of my work has focused on areas with less than 50% ligustrum monoculture.  I’ve noticed that smaller trees tend to die faster when girdled, while more mature trees need to be checked frequently to prevent regrowth. This is probably due to large amounts of stored energy in the roots. 

 A lot of follow up is needed for these plants– about half of the ligustrum I’ve girdled so far has actually died, while the other half (while severely injured and on the way out) have needed new growth removed from their bases at least once, if not twice so far.  It’s a highly intensive process, and probably isn’t suited for large scale restoration projects, unless endless time and money is available. I just happen to be the right flavor of nuts to do this in my free time. You’ll need to check girdled trees at least once every three months for a year or so.

One thing that kills ligustrum pretty effectively are temperatures below 15 degrees F for a week or more, though larger trees will recover from the damage. Those kinds of temperatures clear out small 4-5 ft trees decently, and guarantee death for the 3ft bushes. If you figure out a way to selectively control the weather, let me know.

For trees below 4 feet, I use a tree puller to uproot them. It’s more efficient than girdling.  Also, snails really like climbing up ligustrum when it rains, so watch out not to smash them!

Thanks for the questions, feel free to reach out for more info!

Photos are from wiki commons and creative commons.

[nokingsonlyfooles]

Sometimes, it's the little nonsensical annoyances...

There are definitely more important things than this going on, and I'm not going to do much good by pointing it out, but I might as well express the thoughts so I can try to lay them to rest.

This:

...is absurd. Some Taiwanese venture capitalist asshole was annoyed that some white business assholes in Quebec are remixing boba tea, which he loves, and is his culture, and cannot be improved without due deference to its originators. To address his grievance, perhaps he'd like to fund some more authentic boba tea, made by the folks in the image above.

Depending on their personal behaviour and business practices, which I am not aware of, I wish all the boba tea makers the best. I love boba tea and NO, MORE BOBA TEA PLACES WITHIN WALKING DISTANCE THAN I HAVE FINGERS IS NOT ENOUGH. I NEED MORE!

Fuck, I want boba tea.

But I digress. To experience offence in this particular fashion over this particular item, you need to stop learning and switch off your brain at the point where Taiwan invented the boba tea. Where did the tea and tapioca, and milk and sugar come from? Don't worry about it. We gotta stop right here, or this story will get real complex, and I'm not comfortable with that level of complexity, so let's pass our judgment and say no more about it. Boba tea belongs to Taiwan!

Chat, ya gotta realize, mainland China was not interested in diluting its tea with so much milk and sugar that it doesn't taste like tea anymore. That would've been kookie-dooks. The British Empire had to steal it and fuck it up. Then Taiwan stole it back and fucked it up more (according to Wikipedia, via the Dutch in the 17th century). And tapioca is a staple starch from the Americas. "Refined into a juice, gelled into cute little pearls, and served with tea and sugar" is not an Indigenous American serving suggestion. I don't see Taiwan adding a label to every boba tea giving due deference to cassava-loving Americans, nor expressing humility about their use of it not being an improvement.

It's not that I need Taiwan to do this. I just want to see this train of thought followed to its logical conclusion. If you're saying these assholes in Quebec shouldn't be fucking with Taiwan's boba tea, you're also saying those assholes in Taiwan shouldn't have fucked with America's tapioca - and that's terrible. Of COURSE they should've fucked with the tapioca, it is delicious! And if it turns out it's more delicious with fizzies or liquor in it, we're gonna drink that, too, no matter who came up with it. This is how food works. Copying the good ideas off a nearby culture is not evil, not in and of itself. Butter-chicken pizza is not evil, it is spectacular.

I want my boba tea. I don't need a label specifying that it resulted from an intersection of five separate colonizing empires (China, Britain, the Netherlands, Spain, and Japan), the colonization of Taiwan, mass political imprisonments and executions, and the genocide of the Americas. It's very interesting to know that, but mentioning it right when I'm about to slork up my tea would make me choke - pointlessly, I think. Everything is like that. The machine I'm using to write this is like that, the clothes I wear are like that, the language I speak is like that. Nothing is without sin. It can't be put back the way it was, all we can do is try to mitigate it as best we can.

Is refusing to fund some guys with new tea additives because they wounded your nationalist pride (which seems to exist in somewhat of a context-free void) anything more than Neo-liberal capitalist wanking behaviour? Maybe the Chinese-American company will do better and the Quebecois one won't, but that's not justice for any of the injured parties, that's just marketing. Buying shit is not an effective means of reparations or political speech. There is no ethical boba tea under capitalism. I don't have the spoons to research and consume the Least Problematic Beverage, and if you do, I think they'd be better spent on literally anything else.

Mr. Dragon's Den, I have a brick you can use. Go damage property like a real protester or just sit down and drink your tea. Feel free to appropriate whatever cultures you prefer for your toppings.

[aphimagining]

S/o and the nations has been dating for a while, but unbeknowst to them, s/o is the personification of their capital. One day s/o tells them this. Reaction? (Would like the allies or if that don’t work then; Russia, Sweden, America, England, Germany)

America/Alfred F. Jones

His immediate reaction is surprise and delight. He's absolutely overjoyed knowing that time is not limited with you like it would be with a human partner. However, the excitement would give way to just about a hundred questions. How did he not know? How long have you been around? Whatever the answer - Alfred would be thrilled.

England/Arthur Kirkland

Arthur's knee jerk reaction is suspicion. If you've been a personification all this time, why didn't you mention it? He's a little hurt you never shared that with him or sought him out before, although it's unlikely he would express that. There's going to be many many in depth discussions on how, when, why, and where. Not to say he wouldn't be happy about the situation of course. Getting to avoid the death of a loved one is of course a huge relief for him.

France/Francis Bonnefoy

Francis is simultaneously shocked and overwhelmed. He is overwhelmingly relieved. His partner will be around much longer than the average human, and being as so he has experienced heart break with a human before -- it's a wonderful feeling to know he might have a partner forever. He would definitely need a moment to process things before giving an initial reaction, but then would immediately pull you to him for a much needed embrace.

Canada/Matthew Williams

Matthew is silent. A little too silent. There's a lot of things he wants to say and somehow he doesn't have the muster to choke any of them out. Obviously he is happy, but mostly he's wondering how this hadn't been brought up before. He would probably cozy up to you a bit, just for some closeness before eventually spewing a mountain of questions. Overall, his reaction would be supportive and relatively calm, but trust that the joy in his eyes is extremely noticeable.

Russia/Ivan Braginsky

Ivan is overjoyed. He is thrilled to know this person who he has let down his walls for won't be lost to a difference in life span. He is mildly curious and may have a handful of questions, but ultimately is more focused on the fact that your time together has just extended exponentially in his eyes. He has all the time in the world to ask you anything he may want to know.

China/Yao Wang

Yao is happy with the news, but also a little angry. It wasn't an explicit lie, but it wasn't telling the truth either. You're the capital of his nation, and you didn't seem to feel the need to let him know that? While a little indignant at first, he will eventually calm down to be very satisfied in knowing there is a personification who is almost as old as he is, and a partner who he can spend the rest of his very long lifespan with.

-Admin K.

[lady-ofdark-roses]

Au where the juniors are in High School and maybe also College omegaverse

So WWX a adopted the baby(LSZ) he found in his door so he told LWJ about so the both of them Agee to raised This baby(LSZ) as they own a year later JL was born and JL and LSZ become friends but after two years LXC adopted a boy named LJ ofc LJ a little shy so LSZ become his first friend JL so a little jealous for not getting LSZ attention but later LJ become friends with OZ now JL can have all of LSZ love and a attention but JL forgot that LSZ has a little overprotective brothers named lan yun and wei xie even though they are young then JL they are very hostile towards him and it's just really funny JL is just want LSZ love and LY and wx are just don't you dare come close to our gege when LSZ turn 5 he had to go to America because of WWX(photographer) and LWJ(CEO of the lan Corporation) work 10 years later LSZ return to China and accidentally get in the same school as JL so some girls would runs after JL because of his money and of how handsome he is some girls got interested in LSZ because of his long hair and calm smile some of the boys also got interested because he likes almost like a girl because of his small waste and long eyelashes and pink and reddish lips so when JL found out that the new student was actually his old friend LSZ like a fox he can change his emotions so one day when JL was running from some girls he saw LSZ running from some boys immediately he hold LSZ find him in a corner with him they were very close to each other almost kissers it was very awkward it was true that JL who is a little taller than LSZ even though he's one year younger than LSZ after the boys and girls leave they jumped out of the corner heavenly breathing because it was suffocating then LJ and ZO came and questioning about something sus happened immediately LJ hold JL shirt and said what did you do to LSZ cousin LSZ was wondering why did LJ said that then he remembered JL mother has a young brother JC marry LJ father LXC surprisingly he forgot about it then LJ said answer me angry mistress JL replied with a call me mistress again and I chopped at confident head of yours the both of them were glaring LJ let's go of JL shirt and said fuck you and JL replied with a middle finger fuck you too LSZ you're just like kids but more violent when LJ sew LSZ he hug him and said shiuzi-gege are you ok did the mean mistress hurt you LSZ reply no he didn't we were just hiding because some boys and girls were chasing us oh LJ said mistress why didn't you not say so earlier JL very pissed and want to choke him to death said I tried to tell you but your idiot mouth didn't let me talk OZ said actually JL was right about that we just thinking something inappropriate happen JL and LSZ turn red on the spot

[welcome-to-the-cafe]

Johnny Keep Walking! (2023)

I always consider corporate satire a treat as I continue to cosplay as an everyday salaryman.

I was overwhelmed by rapid barrage of modern Chinese corporate lingo, slang, puns, jokes. Terms like 裁员, 鸡汤， 画大饼, 国际化。。。Each was introduced to me, and they turned out to be all too familiar ideas, like an old classmate you happened to see in another city. In those realizations there is both comfort and disappointment; western capitalism has indeed fully infected and choked our motherland.

The corporate pyramid structure, the globalized workplace names, the layoff interviews, the quality inspection paper trails, the contractors' shaky employment and resulting exploitation, the lavish corporate events, the circular language.

It felt so American for a small town blue collar worker to show the city slicked white collar boys and girls the value of hard work and honest values, while be thrown for a loop by a corrupt middle management, and ultimately, the upper brass.

Notably it was the second-in-command who was bad, the CEO and founder was still a good dude. This brings to mind In the Name of the People (人民的名义) where the corrupt guys are powerful, but not the most powerful; the good ending can always be achieved by the good guys going to the Good Boss and Good Boss bringing the hammer down on the bad egg, a la Robocop's "You're fired!" .

The movie is very funny and has a cheesy ending, but I found at its core is horror. Corporate China is but a mirror of corporate America, with all of its whimsy and even more bullshit.

Woe for the small town factories and workers who toiled to bring China so much wealth, pride, and prestige. Hu are the Jianlins that will speak for them?

.

.

.

Semi-related, the Donghua Jinlong glycine meme on Tiktok warms my heart. I think its nice that foreign kids can (un)ironically appreciate an earnest chemical factory doing its best. Its quite sad Tiktok is to be shut down / sold on allegations of being Chinese propaganda / spyware. Even if it were true, I feel it did a lot to make young people truly appreciative of Chinese media and culture.

[if-you-like-pina-colada-s]

YO HEY ✨AGAIN✨ BROSKI CAN U SHARE WHO UR HETALIA KINS ARE AND WHY U KIN THEM? I'LL EXPLAIN WHO MINE ARE AND WHY I KIN THEM IN RETURN

ANSKXLKSNSNC HI BESTIE!! YESS ABSOLUTELY!!!

Ok ok, I have 3 Hetalia kins, so:

First we have the one and only Mr. United States of America. Honestly the main reason I kin him, I think, is because I AM American and I swear everytime he does something so painfully American I'm like "damn, lowkey I would've done that too" (my favorite foods are hamburgers I mean cmon). Now I wouldn't say I'm as boisterous as him but I am overly friendly and I love making new friends so I am pretty extroverted! I think we'd have a lot of fun together in real life, we'd share the same level of enthusiasm about the things we like. We'd ramble on and on about things like science and movies and where the best place to get good artisan burgers is at.

Next, we have Mr. Italy (North Italy to be specific). He is very creative and artsy, and so am I!! I adored that part in season 7 where he tried to explain how to make art to England and failed miserably. That's me. He's very bubbly and happy-go-lucky just like me. I bet my ass he's the art kid who gets asked to "draw me next!" To which he just rolls his eyes in response. I also think he's incredibly unhinged and would say the most fucked up shit at random moments and then finish his sentence as if that's completely normal.

Last but not least, Mr. China!! Yall should know, I am a big sister and also the oldest grandchild in the family. So I very much feel like I share the same "eldest sibling" energy with him. He's the responsible older bro who tries to look out for his younger siblings, but isn't exactly the... best sibling all the time. Not exactly parent material, he's just quite literally older brother material. Also, even though he carries a mature, responsible manner, he's still incredibly unhinged at times. He's one of the few characters with actual braincells but he'd still be totally down to commit arson! Its also said he's a huge fan of cute stuff (such as Hello Kitty) and me too!

And of course there's the things the three of 'em have in common:

I feel like all three of them are just silly goofy guys who laugh and joke about the most fucked up shit ever. They're just ever so slightly unhinged.

I also think they're very booksmart, but can't read the room for shit like me.

They're all quite egotistical, while also extremely insecure.

Not to dump my insecurities on yall but... lowkey I suspect these guys have like, MAJOR abandonment issues. They tend to keep their friends and family in a sort of choke hold. It doesn't look like they particularly enjoy being alone or left out. And REALLY take issue with people leaving them.

Again... not to dump things on yall... but they seem a little... idk, maybe a bit adhd to me? Maybe I'm just projecting onto them since I suspect this of myself. (I'm no expert and have never been diagnosed for any sort of neurodivergency. So this is all a "hmm I wonder?" sort of a speculation).

Anyway, they're just so silly goofy.

[cassipedia]

Review of Cabrini (2024)

Hey, Cassipedia, what're you watching?

My first viewing of Cabrini was during National Women's Day, as the story is a dramatic retelling of the Catholic missionary Francesca Cabrini as she travels from Italy to America in 1889 to help impoverished and suffering, Italian orphan children while living in the depths of a dangerous city of poor working conditions and cutthroat criminals, and an ambivalent upper class.

Do you recommend watching it?

It’s absolutely a recommended watch. It has beautiful visuals and immersing acting that handles this dark topic with respectful seriousness and dignity. It also stirred my heart in desiring to further bridging the gap between people.

What's the story like?

It is based on a real-life figure and series of events, but it is told as a story rather than a biography. It is 1889 and we are introduced to Mother Cabrini, a woman who suffered from a severe lung disease and was told as a young girl that she would be bedridden, only for her to grow up, very much able to walk and make a journey to the Vatican to have her proposal for orphanages in China to be turned down by a cardinal. But her persistence brings her an audience with the Pope, whom recognizes her zeal and provides a counter-offer; he approves her missionary work, but only if she starts in New York, where it’s apparent that Italian immigrants are suffering, ignored by the higher classes and those whom had not learned their language. She is faced with challenges of a grim reality of giving an abused orphan and taste of lovingly-made food, a safe place to sleep and hope only to hear news of that same child’s life being claimed due to the violent and unstable conditions of the surrounding community. It is a story of unrelenting love and determination under immense pressure. This movie does not shy away from showing the darkness and danger of the world, in all its intensities, and it’s all the more gratifying when a glimmer of hope begins to come through.

What does the movie look like?

It's gorgeous, even painting a masterful but tragic picture of poverty. I recall the way that rays of sunlight practically glowed like white gold when they filtered into rooms choked by dust as rats scattered across the floors. The nighttime was black oily, glinting with barely contained fire in metal barrels and the flashes of moonlight and pocket knives. The sewers below were dingy and people scurried like rodents yet it had a floor of water that created a mirror world of those passing through, with a surreal beauty despite the horrible situation. There was darkness in the quiet, early morning, easing into purple then broken open by a silent yet brilliant orange-golden sunrise. The nuns and their black habits and capes gave them an unmistakable silhouette in every scene, as if they were a mysterious ghost. It was beautiful and memorable from the cheery and hopeful scenes to even the tragic and uncertain times.

How are the actors and actresses?

It’s safe to say that the actors and actresses did exceedingly well. Cristiana Dell'Anna as Francesca Cabrini was very compelling in her strength and dignity, as well as displaying her caged anger. Yet she frightened me terribly when the movie went silent and all you see and hear were Cabrini’s wheezing, pained coughs of her lung disease, leaving me wondering if this burning fire of determination was going to snuff out, alone in her room. At the core of this story, it is not a battle against starvation or neglect, but a battle of the heart, to stir the residents of New York whose hearts have gone cold and blackened, ignoring the cries of orphans while their parents die of sickness in their arms. Federico Ielapi as Paolo and Rolando Villazón as DiSalvo were amazing as these children in need, not just there to be objects of suffering, but active individuals, as lost children desperately reaching out for comfort in their broken ways. But we see how the presence of Cabrini and her sisters starts to change hearts, especially in the case of Romana Maggiora Vergano as Vittoria, a prostitute who slowly finds herself hoping for better and wanting change while the oily hands of her old life reach out and threaten to drag her back. We see the hearts stirred of the Italian immigrants, whom had grown hopeless and complacent to their situation. And one of the many powerful scenes in the movie was when Jeremy Bobb as New York Times reporter Theodore Calloway narrated a chilling news story after Cabrini opened his eyes to the suffering of his neighbors, right beneath his feet. I enjoyed also clever touches, like how the characters switch between speaking Italian and English, and they generally switch to English as a sign of commitment to Cabrini and her sisters from her order choosing to stay, despite everyone else trying to repel them from making any changes. This movie is rife with thoughtful decisions.

Who would like this movie most?

Though I am no history buff nor anything close of an expert, I think it is a kind of movie that those whom are fascinated by the era of the early 1900’s and depiction of the trials of the Industrial Revolution era would be interested in. It is not a film for younger audiences with the heavy topics it tackles, but it is a good movie for young adults and up.

Where can I watch it?

Cabrini is still available in some theaters and it is definitely worth the watch on the big screen. It is likely set to be available for streaming afterwards on places like Roku.

Final thoughts?

It remains in my memory. It was released on National Women’s Day, but I don’t think it would be fair to limit it to simply women, as that I think would defeat the point of its message. It’s a homage to how a particular person in time changed history in a way we still feel. It is a movie that doesn’t shy away from darkness in order to shed light on it and reflect that onto ourselves and ask, “What will you do now?” It's a good movie for those looking for something that challenges you to examine your heart towards others, like it did for me.

[alexie-writes]

Extra Ordinary Chapter 7

A/N: Hey y'all! Sorry I missed last week, it was the first week of classes. To make up for it, here's an extra long chapter! Also, if anyone wants me to make a taglist, please let me know.

Series Masterlist Prev Next

Chapter Seven: Basketball Parties and Club Meetings

After the three made their way down to the floor where the cheerleaders were still milling about, Taylor turned to them and smiled, “Ready to go?”

“Totally!” Essie said, as both of the boys nodded.

“Angel’s dad is going to give us a ride to Maddie’s.” Taylor said, motioning to an Asian girl with her hair pulled into two braids, who waved at them.

“Us too?” Ostin asked, motioning to himself and Essie.

“Of course.”

The group walked out to the parking lot, Ostin all the while staring at Angel.

“What?” she asked, confused as to what had warranted his undivided attention.

“Ostin,” he said, putting out his hand for her to shake.

“I’m Angel.” she said, hesitantly shaking his hand.

“Are you Chinese or Japanese?”

Essie nearly choked. “You can’t just ask people those things,” she whispered to no one, mortified.

“Chinese,” Angel answered, her brow furrowed.

“Were you born in China?” Ostin asked her.

“Yes?”

“What brought your parents to America?”

“My parents are American, I’m adopted.”

“Oh, you’re adopted.”

Essie wanted to sink into the ground.

“Sorry, Angel, Osting doesn’t get out much.” Michael said, trying to keep him from continuing this line of questioning.

“Hardly ever,” Ostin said, not understanding the ‘out’ in the sentence.

Angel shook her head, “It’s okay.”

“And I think you’re the prettiest girl in the world,” he blurted.

“Enough,” Michael said, hoping to end this all before they ended up finding their own way to Maddie’s.

Angel smiled.

The five of them got into Angel’s dad’s car, a BMW with leather seats that reminded Essie of football. Essie could tell Michael thought the car was awesome, she’d seen him looking at some of the other luxury cars that some parents in Meridian drove.

They arrived at Maddie’s house, a mansion big enough to fit their entire apartment complex in. It also had enough room for the Olympic sized swimming pool, which was also in the mansion. Essie was looking at it in awe. Rich people like this would definitely have good snacks, and she hoped that they had pastries, she had a sweet tooth.

As they exited the car, Essie murmured a quick, “Thanks,” to Angel’s dad, as did Michael.

He smiled. “It’s nice to see that not everyone’s lost their manners. You’re welcome.”

As they walked up, Essie heard Taylor teasing Michael about being such a gentleman. Michael’s vocal tics started to get louder, and Taylor asked if he was okay. He answered that he was just nervous, to which she told him they were just there to have fun.

Taylor opened the door, and Essie heard music blasting through the house. There were groups of kids walking around, some with plates of food, which Essie was eyeing, trying to figure out what the options were.

“Hey, Tay!” Maddie shouted over the music as she ran over, and hugged Taylor.

Spencer looked over at them, “Hi, Taylor.”

“You were awesome tonight, Spence!” Taylor said, pulling back from the hug.

“Yeah, you were awesome.” Michael said in agreement.

Essie nodded, still a bit too awkward to say anything unless someone talked to her first.

“Thanks, little dude,” Spencer said, smiling at Michael. He nodded to acknowledge Essie.

Maddie looked over at Michael, cocking her head to the side. “What’s your name again? Trent? Trett?”

Michael and Essie both realized at the same time that she was thinking Tourette’s.

“No. It’s Michael.” he said, smiling shyly.

“Michael. I wonder why I thought it was Trett.” she turned to Essie, “and then it’s Essie and… have we met?” she asked Ostin.

“I’m Ostin,” he said, grinning at her.

“Oh, right.” she said, clapping her hands once.

“You have a nice house,” Michael said, drawing her attention back.

“Yeah, the pool looks awesome!” Essie gushed, wishing she had a swimsuit she could’ve brought.

“Thanks,” Maddie said, grinning at the two, “Well, have fun!” she said, patting Michael’s arm as she turned, waving at Taylor as she flitted away.

They walked into the house maybe another 20 feet, when Ostin spotted the food tables. “Hey, hold the phone, I’ll be right back.” he said, making a b-line to the other room.

Essie’s reaction was a much simpler, “Food!” as she began to speed-walk after him. She vaguely heard Taylor ask Michael, “Hold whose phone?” as she got to the tables.

The food tables were in the swankiest dining room Essie had ever seen outside of the movies. There were porcelain statues built into spaces in the walls, lit from above and below. Between each of the statues, there was an oil painting. Most of which were still lives of fruit bowls, and a handful of garden landscapes. All of the art looked original, the brushstrokes noticeable on the canvas.

Essie took it all in for maybe a minute, before she turned back to the tables, inhaling the scent of puff pastries and fruit jams. She got a plate and filled it to the brim with eclairs, macaroons, Berliners, and miguelitos. She also got another Sprite from the cooler at the center of the table to drink. As she turned, taking a bite out of a blueberry jam filled Berliner, she noticed Drew walking over to Michael, who was standing near the entrance to the room.

“Hey, it’s little Chuck Norris. Give me some,” he said, raising his hand.

“Hey, Drew,” Michael said, high-fiving him as they devolved into a joking small talk about the game. Ostin joined them, after a minute.

As Essie was finishing up her second dessert, a chocolate eclair, another person walked over to the conversation, taking Drew into a joking chokehold, then releasing him. “Drew-meister, what gives?” he asked.

Essie recognized him as Corky. He was a heavyweight wrestling champ, a couple of grades above them. He was always getting awards at pep rallies.

“Just hanging out with my little black-belt friend.” Drew said, laughing.

Corky gave Michael a once over. Michael was noticeably shorter than the majority of the boys in their class, let alone their school. “This isn’t the guy you were talking about.”

“He’s the man, Little Chuck Norris.” Drew said, preening.

“He’s a shrimp!” Corky responded.

“Only on the outside. On the inside he’s a powder keg of pain, just waiting to explode on someone.” Drew said, and Essie had to swallow her laughter.

Corky, however, did not, laughing boisterously through the room, “You’re pulling my leg, aren’t you? I could crush him like a bug.”

“I’d like to see that. Battle of the titans.” Drew said.

Corky pointed a massive finger at Michael. “You’re talking about the little guy?”

Drew put his arm around Michael’s shoulder. “This is exactly who I’m talking about.”

Corky shook his head. “C’mon, little guy,” he turned, motioning for Michael to follow him. “Let’s go outside and spar a little. I want to see what you’ve got.”

Essie choked on her food. She really hoped that Michael had a plan here, otherwise he was going to get crushed.

Drew, not noticing the slowly rising panic on Michael’s face, laughed, “He’ll mess you up, dude. I’m not kidding.”

“I’ve got to see this,” said a dark haired girl a couple of grades above Essie. There were murmurs of agreement from the other people who’d gathered around the conversation.

Essie distantly heard Michael say something about how he needed to get Taylor a drink, as she walked up.

“Hi, guys. Hi, Cork. What’s going on?” Taylor asked, taking in the group that had gathered.

“Corky wants to engage the little dude in hand-to-hand, called him out.” Drew said.

Taylor looked around, confused.

“He heard about Michael’s fight with Jack and he wants to see what Michael can do.” Ostin translated.

“Black belt or not, I’m going to crush him,” Corky said.

Taylor looked at Michael, with a ‘how-did-you-manage-to-get-yourself-into-this’ look, then turned around, and shouted to the open room, “Everyone, outside! Michael’s going to take down Corky!”

Oh fuck. This was not going to end well. Essie followed the crush of kids out into the courtyard.

Ostin grabbed Michael’s shoulder. “Dude, you know you can’t use your power.”

“I know.” Michael hissed back, his eyes on Corky, who was warming up to spar.

“He’s going to kill you.”

“I know.”

Taylor walked to the front of the crowd, announcing, “Okay, so here’s the deal. First one knocked to the ground loses. Fair enough?”

“Fair enough,” Corky said, bobbing a little.

“Taylor…” Michael said, ticking harder than before.

She reached into her pocket. “And here’s a twenty-dollar bill that says Michael’s going to put Corky on his back. Any takers?”

Everyone looked around at each other, but there were no takers. She turned to Corky. “C’mon, Corky. You’re going to crush him, right? Where’s your money?”

Corky somehow managed to look very small, for someone almost the size of Andre the Giant. “I don’t have my wallet…”

“In fact, let’s make it sweeter. The loser has to wear my skirt to school on Monday. All day, and he has to carry the other’s books and tie his shoes.” Taylor continued, turning to Corky. “C’mon Corky, he’s half your size. On the other hand, there’s only one of you. The last time I saw him,he had three guys on their backs begging for mercy. It was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen.” she turned back to the crowd. “Who wants to see Corky wearing my skirt on Monday?”

The crowd cheered, and Corky shouted above them, “Hey, I was just kidding around. I don’t want to hurt the little guy, Cool?”

Michael sighed in relief.

Drew stepped in, not wanting to let the crowd die down. “Arrgh,” he shouted, in a pirate imitation. “Them be fightin’ wards, matie. Wards yu’ll be a regrettin’. Li’l Norris be so tough he can kick the back side ‘a yar face.”

The crowd laughed, and fell into a barrage of Chuck Norris jokes. After a minute, someone shouted, “What’s the matter, Corky? Chicken?”

Someone then started a chant of, “Vey, Vey, Vey,”

Taylor walked over to Michael. “That didn’t go the way I thought it would.”

“Really?” Michael said.

Essie was doing everything she could not to hyperventilate. She really hoped Taylor had a plan.

“It’s not so bad.” Taylor said.

“How is this ‘not so bad’?” Michael asked, ticking about as hard as Essie had ever seen.

“Well, no one expects you to be.at him. So if you lose, you’ll look brave for fighting a monster. And if you somehow win, you’ll be a legend.”

“I feel much better.”

“Hey, sarcasm, that’s a good sign. If you can still snark, you can still think.” Essie said, and Michael shot her a look as Taylor chuckled.

“Wait. I’ve got another idea.” Taylor said.

“What? We snark Corky until he falls?” Essie asked, quizzical.

Taylor shook her head, still laughing. “No.” she turned back to Michael. “When I say ‘go’, run into him as hard as you can and try to knock him down.”

“Are you kidding me? He’s a goddamn brick wall.” Michael said, his voice going high on the last sentence.

“Trust me.” Taylor said, putting her hand on his arm.

“I did.”

“Trust me again.”

“Let’s go!” Corky shouted, getting antsy from the other side of the courtyard. “Let’s get this thing going.”

“Alright,” Taylor said, as she and the others stepped away from Michael. “When I say ‘go’, come out fighting. Ready… Get set… Go!” Essie noticed out of the corner of her eye that Taylor seemed to concentrate on Corky right after she finished her sentence.

Michael took off running, shouting as he slammed into Corky, who, shockingly, stumbled back and fell into an azalea bush.

“Yeah!” Drew shouted, running to Corky. “I told you, man! Little Norris rules.”

Michael stood up, and Corky looked dazed. Drew pointed his finger at Corky. “I warned you, don’t mess with little Norris. The kid’s got sweet moves.”

Michael looked more shocked than anyone. He held out his hand to Corky to help him up, though Corky was easily three times his size, so he likely wouldn’t have been able to help, regardless. After Corky stood, he looked to Michael.

“Good job, kid.”

Taylor walked over to the two of them, “I’m not letting you wear my skirt, you’ll stretch it. But it looks like you’ll be carrying Michael’s books.” she told him, with a bit of pride in her grin.

Michael waved it off, saying they were just messing around. Corky agreed in his dazed state, seemingly confused about what had just happened. Essie was confused, too, from her spot near the sidelines, as more of their classmates seemed to surround Michael to congratulate him.

After a few more minutes of conversation, as Essie was trying to make sense of what had just happened, Taylor dragged Michael away, towards Essie and Ostin.

“Where are we going?” Michael asked her, looking over his shoulder at the group that had been talking to him.

“Where no one will hear us. Come on, Ostin, Essie.” Taylor said, motioning for the two to follow.

“You got my name right,” Ostin said, eyes wide.

The group went back inside of the mansion, and Ostin grabbed a brownie as they passed back through the snack tables, up a set of marble stairs, into a bedroom that was as big as Ostin and Essie’s family’s entire apartment. As Essie was looking at the giant impressionist style painting hanging on the wall opposite, Taylor locked the door behind them.

“Where’d you learn that move?” Ostin asked Michael, which snapped Essie out of her train of thought. “That was awesome. You took down gorilla-man without your powers.”

“It wasn’t me,” Michael said, looking at Taylor, his eyebrow raised. “Was it?”

Taylor sat down on the massive, overstuffed bed. “It was sort of you. You did knock him down.” she corrected, a glint in her eyes.

Essie and Ostin looked between the two of them. “What did she do?” Ostin asked.

“The same thing she did to Mr. Poulsen. She rebooted him. Didn’t you?”

Essie didn’t follow. Reboot a person? How would that even work? They weren’t machines, they couldn’t be rebooted.

“Can I tell them?” Michael asked Taylor.

She rolled her eyes and sighed. “You just did.”

“Well, you showed them first.”

“What are you talking about?” Ostin asked, continuing to look between the two of them.

“Taylor has powers like mine,” Michael answered.

“What the hell does that mean?” Essie asked, putting stress on the last word.

Ostin’s jaw dropped. “She can shock like you?”

“Not exactly. She can shock people’s brains.” Michael corrected.

“Oh, rebooting!” Essie said, clapping her hands together. That part made so much more sense now.

“Ah,” Ostin smiled. “Like pressing a reset button. I get it. That’s why Poulsen looked like he’d been sucker punched. I thought he had a brain tumor or something. Then how did you knock Corky over?”

“I didn’t. Michael did. I just rebooted him a second before Michael crashed into him. He didn’t even know where he was.” Taylor answered him, looking a bit concerned about how easily the two of them were accepting this.

“Wait a minute, rewind. Are we all just going to ignore the fact that Ostin thought a teacher had a tumor and didn’t tell anyone?” Essie asked, looking at her cousin, incredulously.

“Nevermind that, this is awesome!” Ostin said, looking at Taylor.

“No, it’s not. She shouldn’t be using her powers in public like that. Someone will figure it out.” Michael said, looking concerned.

“I know.” Taylor said, pressing the heel of her palms into her closed eyes. “I need to confess something.” she continued, looking at Michael with an equally concerned expression. “But first, you need to promise me that you won’t get mad, okay? I feel bad enough about it.”

“What did you do?”

“Promise me.” she said, reaching out to Michael’s hand.

“Alright. I promise.”

“I won the basketball game for us. At least I might have.”

“What do you mean?”

“I rebooted the guy as he was shooting his free  throws. That’s why he missed so badly.” Taylor said softly, looking at her other hand in her lap.

“That’s just wrong,” Ostin said.

“Ostin!” Essie hissed. She shot Taylor an apologetic look.

Michael looked at Taylor, his expression disbelieving. “After what you said to me at the game? What happened to not using our powers in public?”

“I know. I just didn’t want to lose. I’m such a hypocrite. I, like, ruined that guy’s life.”

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I highly doubt you ruined his life. He’s got a few years left of school to get college scouts looking at him again, and one bad game doesn’t lose a scholarship, or high school popularity.” Essie shrugged. At least, that’s not how she’d seen it play out in her school life. The people in sports stayed popular, this wasn’t going to ruin that for him.

Ostin was pacing. “People, we need to keep this under control. That’s why we need the club, to set standards.” he smiled, turning his chin up. “And I have a name for our club. The Electroclan.”

“What’s an Electroclan?” Michael asked.

“Us, obviously.” Essie said sarcastically.

Ostin shot her a look. “It’s just a name, the electro part is self-evident. A clan is a group of people who all have the same…”

“I like it,” Taylor cut off his sentence. “It’s catchy.”

“I told you he was good at this,” Michael said, grinning at Ostin.

Ostin looked even more proud of himself. “Now we need bylaws and a mission statement.”

“What kind of bylaws?” Taylor asked.

“Like, for instance, who we can tell about our powers,” Ostin said.

“Which would be no one,” Michael said.

“And when we can use our powers,”

“That’s easy for you,” Taylor said, looking between Ostin and Essie. “You don’t have powers.”

“Yes I do. Advanced intellectual powers.”

“No, that’s fair, although I do have AuDHD, so I have a really good memory for things I’m hyperfixating on.” Essie answered.

“They’re not electric.” Taylor said, eyebrows furrowed.

“You’re wrong. Technically, all thinking is electric. The brain consists of about a hundred billion cells, most of which are neurons whose primary job is shooting electrical impulses down an axon, and-” Ostin explained.

“Alright, we get it.” Michael said, cutting off Ostin’s rant before it became a lecture.

“So, I’m just as powerful as…” Ostin stopped mid sentence, looking around the room. “What was I saying?”

Michael and Essie turned to Taylor, who just grinned.

Ostin blushed, annoyed. “You rebooted me, didn’t you?”

“Well, you’re just so powerful.”

Essie bit back her laughter.

“You can’t do that, you don’t know if that damages someone’s brain. It could burn brain cells.” Ostin said, rubbing his temples.

“Relax, Ostin,” Michael said, shaking his head. “You’ve got plenty to burn.” he turned to Taylor. “He’s right, you know. We shouldn’t be using our powers on each other.”

Taylor looked a bit embarrassed. “I was just fooling around.”

“Alright, rule number one: no using powers against each other.”

Essie got out a notepad and glitter pen, scribbling Michael’s words down.

“And we need a mission statement,” Ostin said, frowning at Taylor.

“We need a mission,” Michael said, pointedly.

“I think I have one,” Taylor spoke up, moving closer to Michael. “To find out why we have powers. I’ve discovered something that might be important.”

“What?”

“Okay, you were born in California, right?”

“Pasadena.”

“Get this… so was I.”

“Really?” Michael said, at the same time Essie whispered, “No way!”

“I asked my parents. I was born at Pasadena General Hospital. So I went online and tried to find our birth records. They have the records of births for the last 42 years. In all that time, just 11 days are missing. Guess which days.” Taylor continued, leaning in towards the rest of the group, a glint in her eyes.

“Our birthdays?” Michael asked.

“Exactly,” she answered.

“That’s weird,”

“Statistically, an improbability,” Ostin said, sitting on a chair that Essie had moved towards the group earlier. “You two born at the same hospital nearly the same day with the same mutant variation.”

“Mutant variation?” Michael said, eyebrow raised.

“Like X-Men?” Essie laughed.

“For lack of a better term.” Ostin said, frowning at them.

“Find a better term,” Taylor said. “I like power.”

“Clearly,” Ostin said, as the two dissolved into bickering, until Michael stood up.

“Stop it, you two. Ostin, quit calling us mutants or I’ll shock you.”

Ostin closed his mouth, frowning.

“Why would the records be hidden?” Michael asked, getting them back on track.

“Same reason I hide my diary from my mother,” Taylor answered.

“Because you’d be in trouble if she found it,” Michael smiled at Taylor. “I think you’re onto something.”

“Except we hit a dead end, the records are gone.”

“Au contraire,” Essie said, eyes gleaming. This was something she could do. “All we need to do is look at news coverage or government records from that time and place. It shouldn’t be that hard to find, genealogy sites should have plenty of info linked, too.”

“Excellent. So we just look up those births and see where they lead.” Michael said, smiling.

“We’ll work on that.” Ostin said, motioning to himself and his cousin. “We’ll look them up and analyze them for our next club meeting. When should we meet again?”

“You have your birthday party tomorrow, and I have mine on Sunday. Monday I have cheerleading practice. How about Tuesday?” Taylor asked, going through the events in her head.

“Works for me.” Ostin said.

Essie nodded. The only things she had to do outside of schoolwork was writing, and her characters could wait a day. 

“Good with me,” Michael agreed. “Then the first meeting of the Electroclan is hereby adjourned until next Tuesday.”

“Good, I hope there’s some food left.” Ostin said, as the four left the room and moved downstairs.

Michael looked at his watch, then to Taylor. “I need to call my mom for a ride home.”

“Don’t you have a phone?” Taylor asked.

Michael looked down, blushing as he began to tic. “No. Things are kind of tight right now.”

“You can use my cell,” Taylor said, pulling a pink slide phone out of her purse, handing it to him. Michael tried to dial the number, but the screen kept turning to static. “What’s wrong with your phone?”

Taylor took it back, confused. “I don’t know. Nothing was wrong with it earlier. Let me try it.” she pressed a few buttons, then shrugged. “It’s fine. Maybe it’s you?”

“Maybe you better dial.”

Michael told Taylor the number, and she dialed. After a moment, she said, “Hello, Mrs. Vey, this is Taylor Ridley. I’m calling for Michael.” she paused. “Thanks, we’re having a good time.” there was a long pause, before she answered, “That sounds really fun. When are you doing it? Okay. I think that will be fine. I look forward to meeting you too. Here’s Michael.” she handed him the phone. “Your mom invited me over tomorrow night for cake and ice cream.”

“You’re coming?” Michael asked, surprised.

“If it’s okay with you.”

“Sure.” Michael said, putting the phone to his ear. “Hi, Mom. Yeah, that’s okay. Sorry, I just have a bad connection. Well, it’s just me, okay. We’re over on Walker Lane. Walker Lane. It’s the last house. You can’t miss it, it’s huge. Okay. Bye.”

He hung up, and handed the phone back to Taylor. “That’s so weird. I’ve never had that problem before.”

“Maybe your electricity is increasing,” Taylor said, looking from her phone to him.

“Tomorrow, we’ll check your voltage again,” Ostin said.

Michael looked a little offended, then shook his head.

“Hey, if you’re coming over to Michael’s, we can have another meeting.” Ostin said, turning to Taylor.

“Fine with me,” she said.

“Fine with me,” Michael said.

“I’ve got no problem here,” Essie shrugged.

Ostin smiled. “Great. Bones.” Ostin said, fistbumping Michael and Essie. When he turned to Taylor, she cringed and waved her hands, motioning at his hands. “I don’t do that.”

About ten minutes later, Mrs. Vey showed up to get them. The three piled into the car, and Essie waved goodbye to Taylor.

Finally, something interesting was happening in Meridian.

[argumate]

a covid death in china is a tragedy. a covid death in america is a statistic

one thing I’m quite sure of is that the omicron outbreak in China is going to have the lowest death rate in the world, it’s not going to count as covid related unless you choke to death on a nucleic acid test.

[mathancalifas]

Invasive species are a bigger threat to our future than China or Russia, but you'd never know that from looking at America's budgets! In California in particular, invasives are one of the leading causes of wildfires destroying rural communities and choking our whole country. Closing our eyes and hoping the problem will solve itself is madness.

[iwantjobs]

7/17/2024: Trang the anti-wrinkle expert starting with brushing teeth, floss, and scrap tongue after every meals (can't have a youthful face if all the teeth fall out in old age to collapse the facial skin. Plus, life will be hell as an elderly if you have no teeth left to eat the crunchy and cheesy food in your youth for mushy food and liquid are yucky on death bed). To push down the wrinkles from cutting deeper as I age, I Vaseline as glue and surgical tape. WARNING: Newborns, infants, and toddlers up to 3 years old might die from choking if the mothers, babysitters, grandmas, caregivers don't pick up the used little anti-wrinkled tapes on the bed, grounds, and clothes. A female vanity can kill your babies,ladies and men. So my advice is to do this anti-wrinkled technique when there's no children under 4 years old or else this jealous old spinster is out to kill your children and children you work in day care or babysitting with her vanity of anti-wrinkled tapes. Plus, Trang's anti-wrinkled tapes might choke and kill the fish if they are washed into the drains and sink so please invent tapes that dissolves quickly in water for fish , babies, and toddlers. This can be the alternative for botox. The tapes around the mouth area is excellent to prevent aging people to yank down their mouth to create ugly old people's frown permanently on their faces. F_gly. The taping and Vaseline can suffocate the skin area so do taping for an hour a day on wrinkles. Also The taping is excellent for elevated sun spots like the ones I have and even reduce the dark color in molee (my poor dark color of the sexy mole around the mole got reduced because I rather kill it than have deeper bitter wrinkles taking down my lips into a permanent frown. Can't have everything folks. The yellowness is the tumeric powder or curry powder I put on my chips-eating zits and aging skin exposed to sun. Trang at 51.23 Years old as a hardcore heterosexual female with eggs and baby making machine body philosopher who will get doind at home online masters and PhD in philosophy (or the female Freud), I can tell the evilness in people's wrinkles for I nearly died in the last 16.1 becoming a crippled, mental, lost my condo, and nearly everything since I was bullied and sexually harassed in a minor form by 3.1 lost children as my bosses at Starbucks in gay San Francisco after I took on an easy job by kind health insurance package after I abruptly quit teaching as a hight social studies teacher to save the world for my offer my life. 1.1 of those 3.2 are lost Jewish-related children (1 boss was American French German Jew who failed to report my back strain work in jury, and the .1 gay is the HR man named David, as the Star of Davis, who laughed a little laugh on the phone when I called in to say I think i was bullied by the gays bosses at Starbuck. I sent in an inappropriate sexual letter after I smoke pot threatened to sue if he doesn't report my bullying claim, he ended firing me which took away my health insurance to treat the work back strain and stress and revenge of mental illness. Anyhow, I am over it because I am on my way of healing as a hardcore heterosexual human as I am incing away relinquishing my genocide-gay-Spanish-as-2nd-language American citizenship eternally after I pay off my debts to America for their involvement in the Vietnam war. This will be my last post unless life and death. Take care folks. Peace via love and suing. You use a president in a democracy, not shoot him. Those who support the shooting of Trump, you are all lying hypocrites for that is what Putin, China ,Latin America, Africa, etc. do--thus get out of America and American democracy and go there. I am getting out to prove that I am not a hypocrite as the female Buddha or Jesus' father or God living as a female with eggs named Trang. I regretted my double-eye-lid plastic surgery at 19 for I can analyze how my eyes ages as the female Buddha now. I want no violence on gays, Jewish, Isrealis, Muslims, whites, and Asians, and blacks, and all.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 6.1 (after 1920)

1922 – The Royal Ulster Constabulary is founded. 1929 – The 1st Conference of the Communist Parties of Latin America is held in Buenos Aires. 1930 – The Deccan Queen is introduced as first intercity train between Bombay VT (Now Mumbai CST) and Poona (Pune) to run on electric locomotives. 1939 – First flight of the German Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighter aircraft. 1941 – World War II: The Battle of Crete ends as Crete capitulates to Germany. 1941 – The Farhud, a massive pogrom in Iraq, starts and as a result, many Iraqi Jews are forced to leave their homes. 1943 – BOAC Flight 777 is shot down over the Bay of Biscay by German Junkers Ju 88s, killing British actor Leslie Howard and leading to speculation that it was actually an attempt to kill British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. 1946 – Ion Antonescu, "Conducator" ("Leader") of Romania during World War II, is executed. 1950 – The Declaration of Conscience speech, by U.S. Senator from Maine, Margaret Chase Smith, is delivered in response to Joseph R. McCarthy's speech at Wheeling, West Virginia. 1950 – The Chinchaga fire ignites. By September, it would become the largest single fire on record in North America. 1958 – Charles de Gaulle comes out of retirement to lead France by decree for six months. 1961 – The Canadian Bank of Commerce and Imperial Bank of Canada merge to form the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, the largest bank merger in Canadian history. 1962 – Adolf Eichmann is hanged in Israel. 1964 – Kenya becomes a republic with Jomo Kenyatta as its first President. 1974 – The Heimlich maneuver for rescuing choking victims is published in the journal Emergency Medicine. 1975 – The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan was founded by Jalal Talabani, Nawshirwan Mustafa, Fuad Masum and others. 1978 – The first international applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty are filed. 1979 – The first black-led government of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in 90 years takes power. 1980 – Cable News Network (CNN) begins broadcasting. 1988 – European Central Bank is founded in Brussels. 1988 – The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty comes into effect. 1990 – Cold War: George H. W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev sign a treaty to end chemical weapon production. 1993 – Dobrinja mortar attack: Thirteen are killed and 133 wounded when Serb mortar shells are fired at a soccer game in Dobrinja, west of Sarajevo. 1994 – Republic of South Africa becomes a republic in the Commonwealth of Nations. 1999 – American Airlines Flight 1420 slides and crashes while landing at Little Rock National Airport, killing 11 people on a flight from Dallas to Little Rock. 2001 – Nepalese royal massacre: Crown Prince Dipendra of Nepal shoots and kills several members of his family including his father and mother. 2001 – Dolphinarium discotheque massacre: A Hamas suicide bomber kills 21 at a disco in Tel Aviv. 2004 – Oklahoma City bombing co-conspirator Terry Nichols is sentenced to 161 consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole. 2008 – A fire on the back lot of Universal Studios breaks out, destroying the attraction King Kong Encounter and a large archive of master tapes for music and film, the full extent of which was not revealed until 2019. 2009 – Air France Flight 447 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Brazil on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. All 228 passengers and crew are killed. 2009 – General Motors files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It is the fourth largest United States bankruptcy in history. 2011 – A rare tornado outbreak occurs in New England; a strong EF3 tornado strikes Springfield, Massachusetts, during the event, killing four people. 2011 – Space Shuttle Endeavour makes its final landing after 25 flights. 2015 – A ship carrying 458 people capsizes in the Yangtze river in China's Hubei province, killing 400 people.

[ennovance]

BIOSECURE act:

“… on April 17th President Joe Biden proposed tripling tariffs on steel imports, citing China’s unfair trade practices. Having choked off China’s access to advanced semiconductors and moved to ban TikTok, a Chinese-owned social-media app, lawmakers are eyeing a new target: biotechnology. The biosecure act, which has bipartisan support in Congress, proposes to end government contracts for firms that count Chinese biotech companies as clients or suppliers”


https://www.economist.com/leaders/2024/04/18/americas-moves-against-chinese-biotech-will-hurt-patients-at-home #china #biotech #biotechnology #healthcare #lifescience #tradewar #investor #pharmaceutical #IP #trade