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mayflora-18 · 4 months ago

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Incorrect CoD Quotes #11 (aka Shit I Found On Pinterest That I Thought Was Funny)

*during secure transmission with Shepherd and Graves*

Graves, singing: 🎵 Sherlock, Sherlock, Sherlock… 🎵

Sherlock: …

Graves: 🎵 Are you finally single? 🎵

Sherlock: No.

Graves: 🎵 I respect that. 🎵

———

*in a hostage situation at a store*

Sherlock: Yeah, there’s four of them and only one of me, but I have a lighter. Okay, we get some hairspray, make some flamethrowers, and let’s fry these bitches!

Ghost, deadpan: No one is frying any bitches.

Sherlock: …

Ghost: I know, I’m disappointed in myself, too.

———

Yuri: I know Makarov, and you’re in far more danger than I. He’s coming for you. And I guarantee that his soldiers will find this place.

Sherlock: Not gonna happen. I rent it out under a shell corporation.

Nikolai: Yeah.

Sherlock: My mail goes to a P.O. box in Seattle.

Nikolai: Yeah.

Sherlock: My neighbors think my name is Rachel Fletcher.

Nikolai: Yeah.

Sherlock: People I work with all think my name is Sherlock.

Nikolai: Yea-

Yuri:

Laswell:

141:

Roach: Wait what?

Sherlock: Don’t worry about it.

———

Price: Sanderson, you’re fine. Just be yourself.

Roach: “Be myself”? Captain, I have one day to win over Sherlock and Kyle. *gestures to everyone else* How long did it take before you guys started liking me?

Soap: Couple weeks.

Ghost: Six months.

Laswell: Jury’s still out.

Roach: See, sir? “Be myself”, what kind of garbage advice is that?

———

Makarov: Go to hell.

Soap: Already been. Didn’t agree with me.

———

Nikolai: We didn’t do it.

Price: Then why are you guys laughing?

Sherlock, grinning: Because whoever did it is an effing genius.

———

Graves: Just trust me.

Shepherd: The last time you said that my house burned down.

Graves: Yeah, but you didn’t die.

Shepherd: That’s not the point!

———

Alex: Should I ask why you have a knife in your purse?

Farah: It’s a dagger, actually. And no, you shouldn’t.

———

Krueger: Sir, we’re surrounded.

Nikolai: Excellent, we can attack in any direction!

Krueger: -_-

———

*Gaz beating some asshole up*

Sherlock: Oh, don’t blame them. They did their best to try to kill me.

Gaz:

Roach: O.O

———

Graves: If it wasn’t totally unethical, I would definitely blackmail you with this.

Alejandro: *eye twitching* Because you’re a shining beacon of ethics, right?

———

Nikolai: Oh, look at all the pretties!

Sherlock: *grabs his hand and pulls him away* Can you please stop talking about assault rifles the same way I talk about shoes?

———

*Ghost, Soap, and Rudy break into the old prison to free Los Vaqueros and Sherlock, only for Rudy to find the latter in the kitchen hunched over with a sandwich in her mouth*

Rudy: Camarada, what are you doing?

Sherlock: *muffled by the sandwich* …Eating.

Rudy: You’re being held hostage and you decide to raid the kitchen?

Sherlock: They didn’t say the fridge was off limits.

———

Laswell: Is that blood?

Price: No?

Laswell: That is not a question you’re supposed to answer with another question.

———

Gaz: Are you clinically insane, or incredibly annoying?

Sherlock: I don’t know, probably both.

———

Ghost: How are you feeling?

Soap: I think you broke my fingers.

Ghost: Better your fingers than your face.

———

*Sherlock and Alejandro detained in the same room*

Alejandro: What’s our exit strategy?

Sherlock: Our what?

Alejandro: Dios mío, we’re all going to die.

———

Roach: *swinging his legs back and forth * Sitting around, waiting to get kidnapped. This is the best day ever.

~Later~

Roach: This is the third time I’ve been kidnapped this WEEK. It’s getting old.

———

Price, about Roach: Look, he’s smiling. He’s totally fine.

Ghost: Sir, he’s smiling because he’s terrified.

Roach, “smiling”: 😬

———

Gaz: Did you bring us here to die?

Nikolai: Obviously.

Gaz:

Gaz: I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic or not.

———

Nikolai: Is it still murder if I give them a heads up?

Sherlock: That’s called a threat.

Nikolai: Черт возьми.

(Черт возьми = Damn it)

———

Valeria: Nothing ever pleases you does it?

Alejandro: Nothing you do.

———

Graves: I know there was a compliment somewhere in there and I’ll take it.

Soap: You piece of shite.

Graves: Ah, there it is!

———

*talking about Valeria*

Alejandro: Oooh, she’s angry.

Rudy: How can you tell?

Alejandro: Well, you can see her mood by her hands. Like right now, she has a gun. I don’t think that she’s happy to see us.

Valeria: 🔫😡

———

Graves: Listen up, fives. A ten is speaking.

141:

Laswell:

Nikolai:

Sherlock:

Alex:

Farah:

Graves: Farah, can we talk, one ten to another?

Farah: I’m an eleven, but continue.

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anghraine · 7 days ago

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Perhaps the most purely surreal aspect of the election, btw, is that it actually went pretty great in my state (Washington). I don't even mean standard West Coast results. Washington is sapphire this year.

Harris/Walz are running about 20 points ahead of Trump statewide—currently, they're further ahead here than in Oregon or California. They're winning in Whitman County in eastern Washington and came within a few of points of winning Spokane County. Clark County, which is adjacent to the border with Oregon and contains the Portland suburb of Vancouver WA, can be a lot "swingier" than Multnomah County just to the south (which contains Portland) and a ballot box was literally blown up there to screw with the election results. Clark County worked to get new ballots to everyone affected and Harris is not only clearly winning in Clark, but further ahead than Biden in 2020—leading Trump by nearly 10 points iirc.

One of the few politicians I truly like, my beloved governor Jay Inslee, is stepping down, and had endorsed his Democratic AG, Bob Ferguson. Ferguson is easily winning the state, though not leading as much as Harris is, which is a kind of nice change from so many Democrats (including pretty mediocre ones) doing better than her, even though I've liked Ferguson as AG.

I will say that Ferguson was running against what goes for a good Republican candidate these days—a "moderate" with ties to King County (Seattle) who was not the first choice of the vile Washington GOP, but beat out some far-right assholes in the Republican primaries. For part of the campaign, it seemed like Reichert (the Republican candidate) might be "normal" enough and local enough to conceivably eke out a win, but in the event, Ferguson is ahead by double digits.

Our Democratic senator easily held her seat and also ran ahead of Ferguson in counties like Whitman.

Inslee's acknowledgment of Trump's win includes zero congratulations or unity blather, but instead remarks that Washington State sued the first Trump administration 97 times and won 95 of those cases while he was still president, and we will do it again if we have to (these suits were of course driven by AG Ferguson, now our governor-elect).

For the first time in generations, Washington Democrats actually won every statewide elected office—there are nine of them and the margins of the victories vary a lot, but the GOP failed to win even one, and the state government remains a Democratic trifecta as well.

There were four deceptively-worded, Republican-funded, corporate bullshit initiatives on the state ballot this year. Three are already dead in the water. As Governor Inslee put it, "Washingtonians sent an unequivocal message that they want action on pollution and climate change. Washingtonians also made clear they want to preserve the equity of our tax system with the capital gains tax on the super wealthy. When they or a loved one need long-term care, they want the WA Cares Act to be there for them." Yup!

Marie Gluesenkamp Pérez (a current Democrat in the House) is still leading in the Trumpy WA-3 district, which redistricting only made redder than it was before (when her victory was considered one of the biggest House upsets of the year). She's about three points ahead still.

This may sound like bragging about my state and isn't really meant that way. It feels like existing in a weird capsule because we're still very much in the USA and affected by national politics and we have our own right-wing assholes, of course, but so much about the country we live in is decided thousands of miles away from here, in large part by people who don't seem to share even the most basic sense of reality with most people here. It is a very strange experience to feel so estranged from what's happening in so much of the country.

#anghraine babbles #cascadia blogging #cw politics #us american blogging #washington state #jay inslee #etc #long post #election night hell 2024 #i know it's not fair to all the people who did NOT vote for the tangerine tyrant in the rest of the usa and would never actually ditch them #but is there part of me that sometimes wishes we could kyoshi ourselves into the pacific and stop being held back by gop governments? yeah

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csmiclub · 2 months ago

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❛ COSMIC CLUB ❜ ───── A KISS IS THE BEGINNING OF CANNIBALISM.

COSMIC CLUB was initially founded as Cupid’s Club in Seattle, Washington, by Monika Holičová and Park Jin-young in 1995.

From its inception in 1995 until 2000, it operated as a music publishing house and video production company. In 2000, it restructured itself as a talent agency, moving its headquarters from Seattle to Seoul, South Korea. It began accepting trainees in 2000. The label changed its name to Cosmic Club in 2014.

The company’s first act was the female R&B trio Bloom in 2001. The group attracted some attention at its debut. However, this popularity didn’t last long; the trio disbanded in 2003, only two years after its debut. The company debuted its second act in 2004, a female pop duo called Silence of Stars or S.O.S. The duo generated the company's mainstream popularity. The duo would later be accredited as one of Korea’s biggest acts.

Cosmic Club acquired Cult Creative in July 2015, but the latter would remain an independent label. Later, in November, it became a top shareholder in Antoinette Modeling and helped fund its opening.

The company has four subsidiaries: Cult Creative, Yugen Labs, Gods Complex Media, and Antoinette Modeling, collectively known as Sunflower Galaxy.

Native Name. 코스믹 클럽

Romanized Name. koseumig keulleob

Company Type. Public

Industry. Entertainment

Genre. K-pop • Pop • R&B • Dance • Hip Hop

Founded. October 5, 1995

Founders. Monika Holičová & Park Jin-young

Headquarters. Mapo-gu, South Korea

Key People. Monika Holičová ( co-founder, chairwoman & president ) & Park Jin-young ( co-founder, ceo & executive director )

Website. www.cosmic.com

── ★ ˙ ̟ COSMIC CLUB CONTROVERSIES.

Dispute with Judith Song

In late May 2017, Judith Song, a soloist signed with Cult Creative and several other subsidiaries of Cosmic, applied to the Seoul Central District Court to investigate the validity of her contract with Cosmic. She felt her earnings were insufficient, given the revenue she generated for the corporation and its subsidiaries. News of this dispute caused Cosmic’s stock price to drop significantly. In addition, many JUDY fans protested the company, sending protest trucks demanding better treatment for the idol. As a result of the dispute, several of Judy's scheduled appearances were canceled.

The court ruled in favor of the soloist. In response, Cosmic held a press conference, claiming the suit was fraudulent, and filed a countersuit. However, the countersuit was dismissed, as the court found evidence supporting Judy’s claims.

In a statement released shortly after the lawsuit was concluded, Judy’s lawyers stated: "Despite the hostile back-and-forth between Ms. Song and Cosmic, we’ve reached an agreement. Things have been smoothed out, and there appear to be no hard feelings between the parties."

── ★ ˙ ̟ SUBSIDIARIES.

The corporation acquired these labels and subsidiaries; however, they operate independently from Cosmic Club and receive support for creative activities.

CULT CREATIVE ... est. 2003

Yugēn Labs ... est. 2012

God's Complex Media ... est. 2014

Antoinette Modeling … est. 2016

HONEYSUCKLE PRODUCTIONS ... est. 2017

── ★ ˙ ̟ COSMIC CLUB ARTISTS.

BLOOM ﹙ female trio ── 2001 - 2003; 2016; 2021 ﹚

SILENCE OF STARS ﹙ female duo ── 2004 - 2013; indefinite hiatus ﹚

SUNNY AFTERNOON ﹙ four-member girl group ── 2011 - 2018; indefinite hiatus ﹚

BADLUCK ﹙ male duo ── 2013 - 2019 ﹚

VINNY ﹙ male soloist ── 2013 - present ﹚

PERSONA ﹙ female soloist ── 2014 - 2022 ﹚

EUNOIA ﹙ eleven-member girl group ── 2015 - present ﹚

BLUSHER ﹙ five-member girl group ── 2016 - present ﹚

MIDAS ﹙ co-ed duo ── 2016 - 2019; 2022 - present ﹚

SHIRO ﹙ female soloist ── 2016 - 2023 ﹚

GIHWA ﹙ male soloist ── 2022 - present ﹚

EGO ﹙ female trio ── 2023 - present ﹚

── ★ ˙ ̟ COSMIC CLUB PRODUCERS.

LUCKYGIRL ﹙ female producer ── 2003 - 2019; 2023 - present ﹚

DAEHYUN ﹙ male producer ── 2003 - present ﹚

── ★ ˙ ̟ COSMIC CLUB KEY PEOPLE.

MONIKA HOLIČOVÁ ﹙ co-founder, chairwoman & president ﹚

PARK JIN-YOUNG﹙ co-founder, ceo & executive director ﹚

MONIKA HOLIČOVÁ ﹙ co-founder, chairwoman & president ﹚

PARK JIN-YOUNG﹙ co-founder, ceo & executive director ﹚

#˖ ࣪ . ࿐ ♡ ˚ . cosmic club.#fictional idol community #fictional idol company #fictional idol soloist #idol au #idol oc #kpop oc #kpop au #idolverse #fictional idol oc #fictional idol au

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deluxewhump · 7 months ago

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Erik's Journals pt 3 (2014-2015)

Content Warning for entire series: institutionalized slavery of a minor (11-18), emotional abuse and manipulation, dubious comfort, pet whump, disordered eating, violence, guns, mutilation (off screen, no main characters), corporal punishment, sexual content/dubcon ( character is 18+), broken bones, death of a parent, unreliable narrator

3. Non Serviam

April 2014

Last week Carlo asked me about his dead mother.

He’s never asked before. I suppose I assumed he would eventually, but I didn’t expect him to do it on a red eye from Seattle to BWI.

I always get him a seat with me in first class. Some people find this rude, and think I am wasting valuable space. I don’t understand the point of treating my pet like checked baggage. They are meant to be companions. That’s the whole point. Furthermore— it’s a paid seat on a commercial flight, I can buy as many as I like.

Carlo was tired by the end of the trip, but he never complained. I noticed he was cold on the plane, and I’d given him my jacket to use as a blanket. It was quiet, somewhere over the dark plains of Kansas when he set down his paperback copy of The Stand.

“Sir?”

He is always good at remembering to use honorifics in public, although he could certainly have dropped them now in the relative privacy of our seats. I reminded him only once, on the very first trip I brought him on. Always remember to address me as Sir when you speak to me in the presence of others , I’d said low in his ear, so as not to chastise him in front of the entire room.

He’d been wide eyed and a little embarrassed at my correcting him anyway, and never forgot again. He’s as sensitive to criticism as the rest of us, I’m afraid.

“Mm?”

“Do you know what my mothers name was?” he asked.

There was a small chance I hadn’t heard him correctly. I leaned closer to combat the steady engine hum of our dimly lit aircraft. “Come again?”

He hesitated, probably thinking I’d heard him, was displeased by the question, and was giving him a chance to redact it.

“I didn’t hear you, angel. What did you say?”

“…Did you ever… see what my mother’s name was?”

I turned a bit in my seat to better regard him. He had never spoken directly of this mother, and I couldn’t remember it coming up since the Christmas movie that made him cry when he was eleven. “May I ask what’s got that on your mind?”

He toyed with a button on the sleeve of my jacket that lay over his lap. Anything to look away from me. “I don’t know. I was just wondering. I don’t remember it, is all.”

“When we land, it’s going to be two in the morning.” I reminded him. “Then we have the drive back to the house. Why don’t I give you your file tomorrow and you can look it over yourself?”

“What file?”

“I requested it from the state of California when you first came to me. Everyone who stays in a state home has an intake file and a discharge file. It’s not a lot, but it’s got the information you want.”

He looked up at me. He looks pouty when he is tired, and I think he knows it. “Is there anything bad in it?”

“Like what?”

“I—I don’t know. About me?”

I pet back a stray lock of his hair, dark as midnight in the hushed cabin. “Now, what bad could they possibly have to say about you?”

“They didn’t really like me there.”

That was perhaps more than he's ever said about the state home.

“It’s a very clinical report. Impersonal. But it’s yours. You can read it. And then we can talk about anything you want to. Though I don’t know much more than what’s in that document.”

He nodded and leaned into my touch so I would brush his face with my thumb like he liked.

“Is that book scary?”

His cheek dimpled in a grin under my hand, like he knew I was teasing him. Scary was a word for a child.

He is going through books like pamphlets lately. I’m aware that many don’t allow their pets to read books, or access the internet. There’s probably a large overlap with the ones who put their pets in the luggage holds of airplanes like stowaways. It’s no wonder then, why they don’t want their companionship. That level of censorship and control is absurd. I don’t know what the hell I would talk about with him if he wasn’t allowed to look at anything.

“It’s about a superflu called Captain Trips,” Carlo told me. “It wipes out like ninety-eight percent of the world population in the nineties.”

“Wouldn’t that be lovely.”

He opened the book and fanned through the pages. I didn’t know if I’d truly put him at ease or if he was quick to change the subject because I’d made him nervous.

“There’s a character called the Dark Man. He’s the bad guy. Or he’s supposed to be right now, we’ll see. He’s kind of cool though. He talks to people in their dreams and he has these wolves that are kind of like his familiars. He’s a lot more alluring than the good guys, honestly. That’s probably the point. It’s doing a pretty obvious good versus evil thing.”

“Sure,” I nodded thoughtfully as if he’d made some complicated academic assertion. “The Devil was God’s most beautiful angel. But I have to say, anybody with wolf familiars sounds kind of badass. Non serviam."

He huffed a laugh at my use of the word badass. “The parts with him are the most interesting, anyway.” He laid his head on my shoulder, bold in his sweetness.

“Almost there,” I told him. “Tomorrow morning you can sleep in as much as you like.”

“Today morning,” he mumbled, pointing to my watch. It was after midnight.

“Today morning indeed.”

It was another ten minutes before his mothers name came to me, buried deep in the years since I’d seen it on the page, his file now tucked away in the back of a locked drawer in my desk.

Luca, Chiara.

And Carlo was thinking of her. Wondering about his dead mother’s name. I wonder how long he waited to ask me if I knew it? Did he worry I would consider a question about his past an overstep on his part? A mother— something as vital and basic to his identity as anything could possibly be? How is a dead woman a threat to what he is now? I would have to harbor some deep hatred of him to be angered by that question. I’ve thought of it since. I suppose a lot of keepers do hate their charges, on a basic, even subconscious level. I never have. He’s just a baby, despite the new moments of teenaged surliness. He’s a pet, yes. But he’s my pet. And I believe he’s entitled to a name, so he is. I knew I’d given him enough of my love already that even just my coldness would break his heart.

I was tired, too. Tomorrow, I thought. In the light of day with a cup of coffee. I’d give him her name, and feed him something sweet to combat the bitterness.

4: Rite of Passage

August 2014

Carlo is fourteen this year. With the even birth year of the new millennium, it is easy to remember.

When he was prepubescent, he was fairly simple to handle. He soaked information like a sponge and was eager to please. He thought this estate was the world and I was the presiding general. Now he has a hot-and-cold temper, a sullen look I catch on his face now and then. He still wants desperately to please me, which he now seems to recognize and resent in himself.

Perhaps I let him read too much, or watch too much. Speak to too many people. Knowledge is power, but it can be a curse to the powerless. Have I been too soft with him? Too proud? Martin may have been right in that regard, though when he said it, the boy was only twelve, and mine for under a year. I was annoyed with him for suggesting I do much more than provide a house pet with a bed and a tutor, at that tender age.

His newfound restlessness birthed the idea of putting him out in my warehouse with my employees, a few times a week at first. He has already been accused of biting my right hand man, Keith (to my genuine surprise and amusement) and is simultaneously more docile with me than before. I understand the child is not a dog, that he has a full developing psyche under that mop of curls. I had hoped for just this — to show him other spheres of life in the hope that he would appreciate more fully the refinement and dignity of the ones I give him access to.

My on-property warehouse is a modest ten thousand square feet, corrugated tin and sheet metal, and it supplements the work we do at O&H. I will not put the use of it in writing, but I regularly employ an average of ten men to oversee the facility. It is both easier and cheaper to run this off my own property than to outsource.

The men I employ are rough around the edges. None of them are (convicted) felons, but almost all of them have multiple misdemeanors, or are simply immigrants with inadequate documentation. I pay them very well, so they feel loyal to me.

Their work does not reveal the nature of mine, and the only ones who know what it is exactly they are doing out there are Keith and a few others, who are thoroughly vetted. Even as a pet, a non-entity, and a fourteen year old child, they suspect Carlo has more education, comfort, and opportunity than they have ever had. This embitters them to him. As it probably should.

I told Keith in no uncertain terms: if any of the men besides him lay a finger on that boy in any manner I would have the perpetrator castrated and feed the offending parts to the dogs.

I know they have been rough enough with him to produce the desired effect without crossing any lines I would not wish to cross. He is my favorite, after all, no matter what surprising things he says to me or who he bites, and there is a sweetness in him I do not want to put out entirely. Carlo has always been an investment in the future.

Yesterday, he witnessed something in the warehouse that I’m not sure how he will be affected by.

One of the new men (not yet thoroughly vetted, not yet my inside man) was caught out as a police informant. I was almost flattered they’d send someone undercover to try and infiltrate my modest operation. They must not have been able to get a warrant from any judge in the county, many of whom I knew fairly well.

After reviewing the evidence with Keith, I had him bring two of my hounds to the warehouse. A few of the men smoking outside dropped their cigarettes when they saw me, and eyed the dogs with curiosity as they followed us inside.

Keith confronted the informant, who held his hands up and played dumb at first. A small crowd formed around the scene, maybe eight of my men and Carlo, hanging back in silence to watch what would happen. The dogs snarled and yipped, waiting for any command of permission from me. Keith held them tight, boots planted wide with the effort. I stood like an overseer, hands in my pockets.

“What’s your real name, Mike?” I asked him. “Care to tell us?”

It was Chris. He did not care to tell us, and raised his palms in the air, swearing on family members and God he didn’t know what I was talking about.

“Our new friend Chris is a police informant,” I said gently, like it was career day. “Has been for two years. He sold all his old friends for a plea deal. They’re in prison now, aren’t they Chris? He’s lied to me. He’s lied to you. He’s deliberately been trying to gain your trust, in order to fuck us over. What do we think?”

A man named Milo, who sports a Reichsadler tattoo on his weathered neck suggested I shoot him in the head. I paced a circle around Chris, took out my gun, and fired it into his shin. He fell and erupted in screams. My right ear rang from the close range shot, muffling them. The men didn’t move, except for Todd, who spat towards Chris passionately and called him a snitch, a pig.

”Not a pig, Todd,” I corrected. “Just a rat. He doesn’t even have a badge.”

I nodded to Keith, and he let go of the dog’s leashes. Their frenzied baying echoed off the corrugated ceiling as they snapped and tore at the young man’s clothes. Bleeding, shin shattered, he shrieked and flailed in the dirt as if on fire.

Before they could do irreparable damage, I whistled and they heeled to me, teeth pink with blood and foam, panting. “Let him bleed somewhere else,” I said, and two of my men stepped forward to drag him out by his arms, moaning, his left cheek torn open.

My gaze fell on Carlo in the semicircle then, standing only a few inches shorter than Milo and Todd. He lifted his eyes from the trail of blood in the dirt to me.

“Thank the rest of you for your cooperation,” I said to the remaining men. “Your dedication doesn’t go unappreciated. I will split what would’ve been the next month of his pay among you. You’ll see it by the end of the week.”

This elicited a few enthusiastic yessirs from them.

I turned and stepped through the open loading door into the sunlight, dogs at my heel.

5. The Lesser Evil

May 2015

This is an incident I am not pleased to report, but will anyway. I do not keep these logs to sugarcoat anything, they are meant to be a true account.

Yesterday evening Carlo joined me on the back porch of the house, where I was on the phone with an associate, taking in the first warm weather we’ve had all spring. It’s been drizzly and chilly, so the pink evening sky and balmy air was a welcome respite.

Carlo never joins me on the porch, and I watched him climb into one of the wicker chairs beside me, curious what new mood had brought him out. He’d been in the warehouse that afternoon with the men, and he had a streak of what I thought was grease or dirt on his cheek. I finished my conversation, and hung up the phone.

“Even you couldn't resist this weather,” I commented.

He didn’t answer, which I consider a bit rude, but I pick my battles with him. I drained my glass of bourbon and leaned forward to address him with something more direct.

“Would you like something to drink? I’m going to top this off and come back out.”

He glanced at me guilty. He was well aware, especially after our last trip to Martin’s house, that it was common for pets to be responsible for things like fetching their keepers a refill on their drink. I did not buy a maid, though, I bought a companion. Or rather, an investment in what would one day be a companion. He knows how to make a drink, how to serve the dinner table. But it is not his constant duty.

“No thank you,” he whispered. I turned to look at him more closely. He was pale, to the point of looking ill. He was curled in the chair defensively, like a wounded animal. I realized the streak of dirt was not dirt at all but a bruise

I got to my feet, squatting down in front of him at his level so he raised a pair of frightened eyes to mine. Why was he frightened? There was no mistaking it.

I raised my hand to tilt his chin upwards, turning him to the side so I could see the bruise on his cheek. “What happened to your face?”

He dropped his eyes.

“Carlo.”

“It’s nothing.”

“It’s not nothing. It’s clearly a bruise.”

Reluctantly, he revealed his left hand, which the right had been covering protectively to show me a ring finger that was not curled with the others, but stuck out at an odd angle, broken. He was shaking.

I felt only shock at that moment, but I must have looked angry, because he covered it again and whimpered like he was holding back a sob. I understood now why he was so pale.

“What happened?”

He blinked back tears. I reached to his unbruised cheek and held it in my palm.

“Carlo,” I said gently. “You’re alright. Look at me.”

He did.

“I’m going to fix this for you. It’s okay. I want you to stay right here. I’m going to get you something for your pain before I fix it.” I stroked my thumb over the corner of his mouth. “Do you understand?”

“Yes,” he whispered, and pressed his lips together tightly again.

I returned with a strong little pill, faster releasing than the other opiates I had, a glass of water, and a splint.

“Take this.” I squatted back down in front of him and held the glass for him so he could wash down the pill I’d fed him.

“Let’s give that a few minutes to start working. You will feel a little funny, but that’s a good thing. Don’t be afraid of that feeling. It will dull your pain, I promise.”

He nodded, watching my face for every expression, as if trying to determine if I was upset with him.

“I want you to tell me what happened. No editorializing.”

I could pull the footage, and I would, but I wanted to hear it from him.

“Did this happen in the warehouse today?”

It had.

“Did someone do this to you, or was it an accident?”

He looked away miserably. “Both?”

“Tell me what that means, please. Lo.”

At his nickname, he dared a glance back into my eyes.

I brushed his dark hair back from his clammy forehead. “You’re not in trouble. Nothing you might have done out there warranted this, or that bruise on your cheek.”

Tears spilled, finally, and I brushed at them with my thumbs, careful of his bruised cheekbone.

“It was nothing,” he said, throat tight with tears and pain. “I… I made Keith angry because I wouldn’t help him with something.”

“What was he requiring help with?”

“He was… welding a… a barrel with a leak in it. I wouldn’t hold a piece of the metal. Because of the welding torch. I…. I didn’t want to go near him while he was using it.”

“You thought he might hurt you with it?”

He shrugged. Of course he did.

“Has he ever threatened you with something like that?”

Keith knew better than to take a fucking blowtorch to my pet, but it did’t mean he hasn’t threatened to. I decided to drop it, for now.

“What happened next?”

“I… I refused, and a couple of the guys heard it. He says I shouldn’t talk back to him in front of them. And I know I shouldn’t, but…” he looked at me beseechingly, wondering if I understood.

“But he was holding a blowtorch,” I said. “Go on.”

“He just shoved me is all, but I lost my balance, and I fell. I hit my head on one of the pipes. The part that kinda sticks out.”

“And your finger?”

“He didn’t mean to. I don’t think.”

No, I thought. He wouldn’t have dared.

“He pulled me up and made me hold the… the metal piece he was welding on. It was hot, from the fire, so I… I tried to pull it back, and he was trying to make me hold onto it, and….”

“Did he notice he had broken your finger?”

“I don’t know. My eyes were shut so I didn't look at the light from the torch. Coz it'll burn your eyes. I- I yelled out, I think. But I covered it up, and he gave up. Told me to… to fuck off. The guys had been laughing, but by then I saw they were just standing there. Kind of like… Not sure what was happening. I wasn’t sure what would happen, either.”

“And did you come in after that?”

“Not until I was supposed to,” he whispered, like it might be a trick. “At four.”

I tilted my head, my annoyance at Keith’s idiocy overshadowed by affection for my young pet, who was better trained than I gave him credit for.

“You should have come to me,” I said as gently as I could, so he knew it was not a reprimand. “You know I would not want you to stay out there and suffer if you were hurt. Don’t you?”

He blinked back more tears. “I- I don’t know,” he admitted. “I just didn’t want you to be angry with me. I didn’t know what to do.”

Recently, Carlo had been on a deep-dive of internet searches about the treatment of other pets in the big wide world. He didn’t know I knew this, but I have keystroke tracking software on all my devices. To his credit, he was on an incognito browser, though it did him no good. He watched videos and read accounts of horrific things done to less lucky people in his position, torture and rape, public humiliation, more torture and of course, wildly unethical medical experimentation on pets.

Naturally, he was curious if my warnings and cautionary tales meant to keep him safe when we were traveling were exaggerated. Or perhaps some of the men out on the grounds had been talking of such things.

That, and after the incident with the police informant in our midst, I noticed he looked at me differently. Almost strangely, like he was seeing me for the first time. I suppose it had finally occurred to him what exactly I was capable of, of the things I could do to him if I was so inclined. Which I am not, and never have been.

“How much does it hurt right now?”

He closed his eyes to take an inventory.

“I think less. My lips feel kind of numb. And my face doesn’t hurt anymore.”

“Listen to me closely. I’m going to set your finger, and splint it so that it heals correctly. I have done this more than once, in the Army. I know what I’m doing. If I didn’t, I would call Dr Stern.”

He nodded sharply, lashes grouping in tear-wet triangles. His trust moved me.

“It’s going to hurt. But it will be very quick. Then it will throb and ache, yes, but the worse pain will be only once. I don’t want to hurt you, Lo. But I need to set the bone.”

“Okay,” he said. “I know.”

I got him a clean dish towel to bite. I twisted it into a ropelike coil and placed it in his mouth for him. He let me, the poor sweet thing. I wondered if it reminded him of the video I knew he’d watched of the pet with the thick gag in her mouth, screaming on a table as two men flayed the skin from her feet.

“It’s going to be quick,” I said again to reassure him. "It will be over in just a moment."

I counted him down to it, and on the count of one I set the bone. He screamed behind the towel. It was a noise of pain as I’d never heard him make. It went like a shot of sympathetic adrenaline from the pit of my stomach all the way to my fingertips and toes. It tapered to a sob, and then he was quiet.

“Shhhh,” I hushed anyway. “Good boy. All done.” I would need to buy a better splint, but the one I had found in the first aid kit did the job for now. I set it around the broken finger, fastened the attachment that held it snug.

“All done,” I kept murmuring to him as if he were a little boy again, wrapping the whole thing in medical gauze to support and protect it.

He let me, never once trying to instinctively pull his hand back.

I took the dish cloth from his mouth, wet with saliva.

“You did well. Now let’s get something on that bruise.”

He let me pull him up by his undamaged hand. I led him into the house, my arm around his shoulders, and put him in my master bedroom, pressing the remote control to make my bed raise to an incline so he could watch TV.

He thanked me drowsily, eyes glassy now from painkillers. I covered him in the softest blanket I had, and sat on the edge of my bed to brush a bruise cream over the deepening shadow of his cheek.

“If he’d broken your cheekbone, I think I might have had him drawn and quartered in the front yard,” I muttered as I did it.

“M’sorry."

“No, angel. You are the single most important thing that belongs to me, do you know that?”

Through his medicated haze, he tried to focus on me, eyebrows knitting. I may never have said something quite like it to him.

He mumbled something about practicing the piano tomorrow, the meds getting the better of his consonants.

“No,” I said, feeling fond. “No piano practice anytime soon. You need to let it mend.”

I left him there to sleep, and that night I brought him soup and soft bread for his dinner, and arranged for the doctor to come see him the next morning.

#whump of a minor #pet whump

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eopederson · 2 months ago

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High rise née Washington Mutual Building, downtown Seattle, 2014.

This rather awful building was built to house the corporate headquarters of Washington Mutual. In 2008 that firm went down in flames as one of the largest bank failures in US history. Not sure what is the buildings current name or its use, but it has to be one of the uglier buildings in a central business district dotted with modern architectural excrescence.

#urban landscape #highrise #ugly #washington mutual #downtown #central business district #seattle #washington state #2014 #photographers on tumblr #black and white #pnw #pacific northwest

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myloveismineallmine · 11 months ago

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Just watched It's a Wonderful Life and I have so many thoughts... it's so interesting to compare it to the modern christmas movies we see. Many are those lifetime romances about a business woman who visits her hometown for christmas and gives up her job in new york/seattle/chicago/LA/ insert some other metropolitan city here so she can marry a more "traditional" hometown man and stay in that community. I've seen some people point out how it feels very traditionalist and almost anti-feminist and I'm inclined to agree.

I think they tried to elicit the themes from IWL but got completely lost in the sauce. The protagonist is a man who had always dreamed of traveling the world and getting out of his shitty small town. But multiple times he is given the opportunity to escape to bigger cities, and each time he choses to stay behind. Not because he personally wants to, he craves a life bigger than he has. And not for anything like romance, either. He stays because the community needs him to stand up to corporate greed and be a leader for them. After his brother comes back from school, he is once again offered an opportunity to escape via putting his brother in his position to run the family business. But he lets his brother move away because he sees that his brother has already started a life elsewhere and is very happy. This selfless action is rewarded for the protagonist when his brother later saves hundreds of lives during WW2 and becomes a national hero. The protagonist sacrifices his own honeymoon money so that the community will have enough money to get by when the bank goes under. He is rewarded by getting a brief ego boost when the villain of the film fails to shut down his company. Even when the villain offers the main protagonist a job with high pay to support his struggling family, the protagonist stands his ground and continues to live a poor life while also being able to help people in his community build houses and businesses. The main protagonist is offered many "outs" to live a better life, and yet he chooses to not take them because he is selfless and knows his community needs him.

This is one of the main differences, I think. Hallmark/Lifetime movies think romance is a justifiable means of sacrificing a "better" life. And maybe it is, though I think the actors should have chemistry if they want that to be true. But despite having romance, IWL is not about sacrificing your dreams to get married in a small town. It's about sacrificing your dreams to help build a community and fight against corporate greed. Which is why IWL feels less like a Christian traditionalist propaganda, despite having religious themes. The protagonist does throw away his lofty aspirations, but it's not just for one person, it's to bring a whole community together and to stand up against an actual evil (monopolistic capitalism.) They even show you how shitty things are when there's no one there to do that!

In short. Modern christmas movies usually miss the mark because they want to sell us a very white traditionalist heterosexual romance celebrating America's most consumerist holiday. Any actual critique on the problems within our society= too much of a risk. Too hard to thinky about. Brain hurty from actual deep topics and not just "love good, small towns good, urbanism BAD!!!"

#out here writing essays on films when i'm supposed to be on winter break smh #film brain goes brrrrrrr when i think about this stuff though so i have to write it somewhere lol #it's a wonderful life #film analysis

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deacons-wig · 2 years ago

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Hello, can you please take 60 seconds to show solidarity with Seattle City Workers and sign this petition? It isn't a sketchy change.org thing and won't sell your information. We are short 300+ signatures!

Seattle City workers are currently in contract negotiations and the neoliberal, corporate-appeasing administration offered workers an opening bid of 1% cost of living adjustment. Seattle is one of the most expensive cities to live in the US and workers are no longer able to afford to rent or buy houses in the city they run amid record inflation. City workers have been deeply impacted by the pandemic as librarians, transit workers, animal control, parks and many others were expected to provide continued service even as lives fell apart and we had to fight for every inch of accommodation.

Usually the cost of living wage increases are 3-5% as an opening bid during contraction negotiations. The 1% is an intentional insult meant to intimidate the Union Coalition as we dive into the more difficult parts of negotiation. Your signature will help show city workers that people all over the world stand in solidarity with us, and show Mayor Bruce Harrell and City Council that we are only just beginning to fight.

If you are in a union, please share with your members if you can! Reblogs appreciated, spread the word.

Solidarity forever~

#solidarity #unions #workers #petition

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deathsmallcaps · 5 months ago

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ATLA Modern USA Battle of the Bands AU - Katara focused. I thought this up in the car so it isn’t polished. Check out comradekatara’s AMV for what inspired this.

Katara is a 18 year old Tlingit girl who is part Makah on her grandmother's side. She just graduated high school.

Due to work, she hasn't seen her Dad for a while, as he's constantly traveling from Juneau to DC and back trying to get elected to Congress so he can pass more protections against the Oil companies in the area, especially the long standing Caldera Oil Company (COC). And between that, he has a job fishing, because he isn't rich. Gram Gram, not wanting to worry her son, doesn't tell him that there's been some suspicious businessmen who've recently bought the local bank and jacked up the mortgage and rental rates in the area, so that they might lose the house.

(Katara's mom worked in city hall and was the only one to know that COC had applied to drill and then found a major oil reserve right under their town. So she was murdered)

Sokka and Katara overhear Gram Gram talking about this with the other adults who are affected and are devestated. Of course, that's when a big dog walks into their lives. He's dirty, he looks like it hasn't been taken care of in a while, but Enamored, the siblings take him in.

That's when, of course, the 16 year old Tibetan-American John Doe wakes up at the local hospital, the only survivor of a terrible car wreck.

His name is Aang, he's a musical virtuoso, and his parents died for similar reasons like Katara's mom.

Unlike Katara's mom, his parents shared the info with him. The hit men thought he died.

Gram Gram is the only certified foster parent in town, so she takes him in. Aang reunites with his dog Appa joyously. He hasn't processed his parents' deaths yet.

The kids get to see Zuko (nickname for Zachary Sozinson, disgraced spare to the COC throne) threaten Gram Gram in their home. They manage to scare him and his bullies off, though not before they see recognition of Aang and then a regretful look on his face. The next morning, they see a commercial on TV - there's a rock music contest!

Three cities across the USA (Seattle, Chicago, DC) will have 'Diversity Bands*' battle for the chance to get out on records. Each band member has to be from a visibly different race.

The contest in Seattle needs a solo or duet act, the contest in Chicago two to three people, and the one in DC three to five people. Previous contestants are allowed to recompete as long as they add to their band.

There is also cash prizes for the second and third place winners for each city/category.

*yes it sounds very tokenizing and faux-left corporate and there's a good reason why narratively. Hold on.

Katara and Aang decide to hit the road, using what little savings he inherited from his parents and her money from her job during the school year. As she's only 18 and can't get hotel rooms, and Aang is still a minor, Sokka agrees to be their driver/ roadie/hotel dude when they can afford rooms. They rescue a raccoon kit along the way and name it Momo.

Shenanigans ensue, Zuko is kind of haunting them along the way, they can't tell if he's following them or if he's just going to the same place they are, etc. Aang stops by his old house only to find that it's been taken over by a COC worker who has been using/covering up his parents' proof papers.

The gaang convinces him to be a whistleblower as they leave. They also meet John John (Jeong Jeong), who they briefly consider adding to their band if they don't make it this round, and who is currently embroiled in a case against COC and thus needs to stay on the move for safety reasons.

He teaches Aang another instrument, though for once Aang REALLY doesn't take to it. Along the way they meet Suki, who is in a all girl band and is also going to compete, though they're going to wait until the Chicago contest so they all can get into the contract, etc. Sokka learns to respect girl bands.

Jet, who is also just going to go to the DC one for his big band, reveals to them that the record label is owned by COC, who wants to appear hip with the kids and not a conservative's wet, polluting dream. He feels that since he knows this stuff and how to defeat them (supposedly) he is justified in ruining other bands instead of winning honestly. That isn't good, obviously, so they distance themselves from him.

Eventually they make it to Seattle, Sokka and Katara are invited to stay with some Makah cousins they haven't seen since they were little.

Aang comes too of course, but isn't the reason they were invited in.

Katara learns more about music composition. There Sokka meets and falls in love with Yue, daughter of the mayor. She has to compete with her

'boyfriend' who is really just using her as a beard (consensually) but is very respected by her parents.

Zuko, who realized who Aang was and wants to capture him to bring him back to his Dad, so that there's less whistleblowers for COC, and thus regain his standing in the company, ends up wrecking their performance.

So 'the Gaang' only gets third place, but enough cash to let them squeak by until they reach Chicago. Yue gets first place, breaks up with her boyfriend, and ascends to star-(moon?)-dom. She is extremely busy and does not get to hang with the Gaang much for the rest of the series.

They travel to Chicago, Aang doesn't recognize his old friend Bumi from High school and gets teased relentlessly about it. Meanwhile, they're also looking for a third band member, Aang wants to learn a new instrument and Katara and Aang end up kissing, much to their embarrassment. Zuko and Iroh are on the road too, Zuko embarrassed by the even more public failure to help his father's business take down an individual with so much power to hurt COC (Aang). Similar plot lines with Jet, Azula and Katara's relationships with Zuko occur. Iroh opens a cafe.

Eventually, they make it to Chicago, where they see this 14 year old absolutely destroy everyone in a rap battle while ALSO playing drums. It's Toph! They trick her parents into letting her compete in the Chicago contest. Chicago is where COC wants to move their headquarters, and the local government wants their business, so many higher class people are in serious denial about their effect on the environment.

This time, the get second place, because Jet, who had been tortured for information by COC, manages to escape during their performance and cause a ruckus (he gets treated and reunited with his family don't worry).

Azula and Zuko (it's complicated like in the show) manage to take out Aang via a last minute stage mishap involving a heavy light falling on his head Iroh gets pinned for some COC crimes that Jet did manage to get public, Zuko returns to the top with Azula, etc. Suki's band wins and gets signed, but due to interference from Mai and Tai Lee, their contract is shittier than Yue's and they have to work a ton initially for low pay.

Toph's parents are NOT fans of how this turned out, but Toph's underground fans manage to placate her parents, and then they're on the road again.

Along the way Zuko has his change of heart, Iroh escapes, Katara's Dad is stuck in DC, Gram Gram might lose the house soon, and Aang is growing out his hair for the first time since his parents died. Katara meets Hama, who has a story pretty similar to both hers and how her mom died. When she hands Katara an [instrument] she modified to work as a poison dart gun who would ever check that for poison!] Katara hesitates to take it. She does end up taking it, but switches out the poison for a nerve stopper poison (I can't think of the right way to say it makes you fall asleep/unable to move for a while?).

Also Hama teaches her more music composition and really rounds out her skills lol.

(The painted lady episode WILL happen of course. If I ever write this.

It will probably happen in WV)(as will the school dance episode. Probably in. A rich area just outside DC)

Sokka learns to video edit and starts making music videos for the band. He also meets back up with Suki! Her initial hard-core tour is done, and she's taking a break from her band members for a bit.

When Zuko joins, he and Aang learn how to play his instrument best, he and Sokka finally visit Hakoda and tell him what's going on at home, and he and Katara track down her mom's killer. She poisons him, even keeping Hama's dart in hand just in case, but ultimately lets him live. Even though Zuko assures her he knows how to make it look like an accident. Aang learns how to write a very powerful song from an old person.

They win the big battle of the bands of course. COC then holds a concert to celebrate its 'new, future-forward clean image. There, Katara composes the music to Aang's song, and as their big finale, they play a song - with visualizer proof in the background on huge screens cut together by Sokka and partly by Hakoda) that exposes COC and Ozai.

The series ends with Zuko shifting the company to clean energy, Katara and Sokka returning home triumphant with Aang and his animals in tow, Hakoda gets elected, Toph lives independently and everyone gets to be happy. Except 'Oz' (Ozai) and kind of Azula.

#atla #avatar the last airbender #Katara #Aang #Sokka #Toph #Zuko #I’m not sure on the whole different races thing but #it kind of works with the four nations and modern USA culture and corporate diversity initiative #type shit.

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stayworldclass · 2 months ago

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#corporate housing by owner seattle

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kickthecan-revolution · 10 months ago

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My angel number. Keep going, take the risk, move forward, change is happening.

Today I’ve been researching names for my consulting business. I’m circling around dreamlandd (Dream + LandD) - the .com is available. I snagged it as an option. I set up an appointment with my tax person to next week to identify what kind of corporation I’d set up, there are a lot of options and I want to make sure I’m doing everything correctly. I’m thinking I’ll just do a sole proprietorship out of the gate but if anyone has any advice on that versus an S-Corp, I would appreciate it!

After that, it’s just locking the name and applying for a business license. I also need to compare the merits of basing it in Washington vs California which she will help me with.

My flight is booked for Seattle in a few weeks to start dealing with all of the deferred Alki maintenance. There was another power surge which fried the upstairs furnace transformer, so I had to get that repaired, I’m hoping I can make a claim with the city to help cover that cost. Upon inspection, it turns out that the furnace downstairs is over 31 years old, which is insane, they only last about 15 years so I am well overdue for a new one. I think it can last a while longer while I assess the cost of putting another floor on the top of the house, which in that case, probably, I’d likely just replace both of them. I’m so bad at understanding any kind of basic house maintenance, that needs to be some thing I develop more of an acumen around this year.

Otherwise, my sister‘s ex partner who is a contractor is going to come and look at the floor in the bottom unit that was damaged by the leak, assess for mold and then give me a bid for replacing all of the flooring. There’s also a ton of old broken furniture, an outdoor fireplace and barbecue that are rotted out and a really old outdoor storage unit that’s rotted that I’m going to have a junk service removed.

Onward!

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lboogie1906 · 5 months ago

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Corporal Clayton Pitre (June 30, 1924 - December 31, 2020) was an activist, former Chief Housing Developer for the Central Area Motivation Project, and a retired Montford Point Marine.

Born to Gilbert Pitre and Eugenie Lemelle, he was the fourth child of seven siblings. He was born and raised in Opelousas, Louisiana. He attended Catholic schools until the ninth grade when he gave up his education to work in various defense plants in early WWII Texas.

He was drafted into the military in 1943. He signed up to become one of the first African Americans to join the US Marine Corps and was trained at Camp Montford Point. In December 1943, he was sent to Saipan. His unit was sent to Okinawa as a decoy for the other forces that invaded the south end of the island. He was an infantryman in the 1st Marine Ammunition Company sending ammunition to the front lines. He had earned his corporal stripes.

He was sent to China to oversee the evacuation of the Japanese Army. He was honorably discharged on February 8, 1946. He was persuaded to join one of his brothers in Seattle, where he got a job at Fort Lawton. He enrolled at Seattle’s Broadway Edison Technical School in a program specifically for military veterans who had not earned a high school diploma. He passed his vocational tests.

He married Gloria Tony (1958), a Seattle language teacher. The couple had three children. He graduated from Seattle University with a BS in accounting. He worked as a postal clerk and was active in the Seattle chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity. He worked with the First AME Church and the Urban League to help fund and build low-income housing across the city.

He joined the Veterans Administration. He continued his community involvement with the Knights of Columbus and the African American Dollars for Scholars program.

He was among 400 Black Marines honored by President Barack Obama at a White House ceremony where each received a Congressional Gold Medal. They are the survivors of the nearly 20,000 Black Marines who trained at Montford Point (1942-49). #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #kappaalphapsi

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anghraine · 2 years ago

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Would love to hear about your modern AU concept as well, if you're happy to talk about it :)

*the modern P&P adaption that is, sorry if it wasn't clear

Now that my exams are over, I am! And it's predictably long and rambling, so there's a quick summation at the very end.

Anyway, the concept for me is driven by two different gripes with US modernizations of P&P.

The first thing I'm grumpy about is how, although Austen famously prioritizes the experiences and perspectives of her female characters over the male ones, queer US modernizations (whether fic or adaptation) seem to skew strongly towards queer male experience. Individually, that's okay, but as a trend ... I do find it aggravating that m/m predominates so much over f/f even with an author as preoccupied with female experience as Austen. Lesbian Darcy/bi Elizabeth rights!

My second issue is with the ... not universal, but not-that-unusual treatment of modern US American Darcy as conservative or at least old-fashioned in the context of 2022 (or 2015 or whatever—I think it's a bad take regardless, though particularly egregious now). This is generally a way of "updating" his snobbery, but ... the original character's positions are fairly progressive for his time and circumstances, if with a blind spot about socioeconomics, and his tastes are modern.

Funnily enough, that is probably the easiest thing to translate into a modern US setting despite many other cultural differences, because "fairly progressive with a blind spot about socioeconomics" is THE stereotype of US liberals and especially "coastal elites." And relatedly, I think the reluctance to update the direct political power of families like the Darcys and Fitzwilliams as ... direct political power is both an understandable avoidance of a minefield but also kind of toothless. The closest US analogue to a Whig earl in the House of Lords isn't some random businessman, it's a senator from a Democratic political dynasty.

Also, I dislike Pemberley-as-corporate-enterprise on general principle. I much prefer things like Darcy's open-to-the-public art collection to be represented by an art gallery rather than the visual equivalent of elevator music.

So. In the modern adaptation of my dreams, Elizabeth's family comes from a western red state, where they've managed to hang onto a small family farm thanks to the comparatively low cost of living—but that's rising thanks to rich people bringing up prices. Enter Bingley with his fortune in trade micro-chips or something (truly the nicest Silicon Valley bro to ever bro). The Darcy character is Bingley's college BFF, who is clearly wealthy because a) she exudes it, b) Bingley's sisters "mention" it, and c) she owns a good-sized house in Seattle and runs a prestigious art gallery there. Nobody realizes she's one of those Fitzwilliams until later, however.

The easiest way to convert Darcy's names to a modern US woman's is simply to swap them to Darcy Fitzwilliam. That said, I like to give Darcy a pretentious first name and amuse myself by calling modern f!Darcy Narcissa—both because of her arrogance and because Fitzwilliam is the only person who can call her "Narcy" and live.

I don't think the exact initial insult would make a lot of sense translated literally, but there definitely is one, and Elizabeth basically sees Narcissa as a cross between "rich artsy type with no concept of normal life" and "the Seattle chill given human form." Narcissa, meanwhile, is the sort of US liberal who holds genuinely progressive positions—some more so than Elizabeth, in fact—and thinks that The Community should do everything within their power for LGBT+ people in hostile environments, but also doesn't get why they don't just ... move.

There is also definitely a (male) Wickham whom Elizabeth is regrettably fooled by.

I think the tension between Mrs Bennet and Elizabeth is complicated by a few things. I definitely see Mrs Bennet as a pushy where-are-my-grandkids type, and as someone who can be fairly indifferent about her less-favored children's personal happiness but a total helicopter mom about their life/career decisions, which clashes badly with Elizabeth's easy-going but very independent personality. I also suspect that Mrs Bennet is a non-voter because, while she's not aggressively bigoted, she just doesn't care that much and insofar as she does, it's all about the parasocial relationships. Elizabeth can't ever talk to her about her life (or most things) without it becoming all about Mrs Bennet's feelings, so she doesn't bother.

Mr Bennet is pretty much his familiar self—he resents his wife and is openly contemptuous towards her (I imagine there's some reason that Mrs Bennet can't work or isn't about to). He's indifferent to his younger children, but fond of Jane, loves Elizabeth in his way, and has supported the last two through some tough spots. At the same time, he's never bothered to save enough to pay off the mortgage or put any of his children through college, so the girls' loans are a point of legitimate frustration for Mrs Bennet (though her spending is a significant part of the reason they couldn't do more, since "keeping up with the Joneses" isn't exactly a FAFSA income deduction category).

I have some other ideas, but those are the basic ones!

TL;DR—lesbian Darcy/Elizabeth with political undercurrents, but none of them are Republicans. The Darcy character in particular is a smart, socially progressive (but rich and out of touch) artsy Seattle lesbian from a Kennedy-style Democratic dynasty. Elizabeth, meanwhile, is chill and personable, bi, and very independent (to the dismay of her wannabe-helicopter mother).

#lol i didn't even get to lady catherine #who would simply solve all the democrats' problems with the bully pulpit if she'd ever gone into politics!#crossedwithblue #respuestas #fic talk #anghraine babbles #austen blogging #austen fanwank #gay modern us politics au #long post #plotbunnies!#us american blogging

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