#Impart to Human Hearts Series

[siflshonen]

The Greatest Robot on Earth: Astro Boy and Pluto Part III

Part I is here. Part II, where the manga comparisons start, is here. The entire set of slides and text is also available on Ao3.

Pluto as Urasawa’s Own Work

Given Tezka's core instruction, I don’t find it surprising that Urasawa Urasawa’d the ever-lovin’ shit out of Atom, because I’d recognize the similarities between Atom’s snail scene and Monster’s moth scene all the way from outer space! But where Milos chose to crush the moth in his despair and disillusionment regarding the nature of new life and procreation and how his mom never wanted him, Atom controlled his hatred and comforted Ochanomizu despite his own agony. (Note to the Monster fans: Wolfgang Grimmer's contrasting attitude towards the moth is analogous to Atom's in that he makes the choice not to lose his interest in the things that make him human like Roberto/Adolph Reinhardt, his friend from Kinderheim 511 who loved insects, or destroy it in fury like Milos.)

Atom’s furious anti-proton bomb equation and breakout followed by his swift internal denial to give into his violent urges isn’t just a callback to “Astro Reborn” wherein Tenma “turned Atom evil”—it’s a dramatic way for Urasawa to assert that, while he does have it in him to become one, Atom is not a monster.

Grimmer’s rediscovery and acceptance of his own humanity in this scene would also allow him to be right at home with the ennui of Pluto, too, I must say.

It shouldn’t even be a little bit surprising that Urasawa chose to have Gesicht, called Gerhardt in “The Greatest Robot on Earth”, feature as the initial primary character. His detailed research and love for Germany begged for new life after Monster, and dear Gesicht and his beautiful wife Helene are the perfect outlet.

“The Greatest Robot on Earth”’s Gerhardt made a house call to visit Atom, was made of a zeronium alloy, and shot special bullets, it’s true, but I think anyone who asserted that he is identical to Pluto’s Gesicht would be kidding themselves.

In his postscript essay, Murakami posited that, as a counterpoint to Tenma and Ochanomizu reflecting two sides of Osamu Tezuka, Atom and Pluto embodied Urasawa’s push-pull struggle with his feelings towards the late master and his work. Well, I think if that can be true, so can the notion that Gesicht is the closest thing Urasawa has to an embodiment of his own adult self’s creations and work while Atom is the echo of Tezuka as he exists in Urasawa’s perceptions as well as the the avatar of what inspired him to pursue manga. 

Gesicht may have died in the story, but not before imparting the core of his being to Atom in order to reach a new level of mutual understanding and revive the then-out-of-commission Atom with a fury and passion so strong that it could not be ignored. Atom with the memories and heart of Gesicht is Urasawa and Tezuka both existing as one, and blasting off towards the future.

Or maybe I’m just waxing poetic. We could cook this tomato using multiple methods, but it would still come out as the same kind of pasta sauce in the end.

Adolf Haas is a particularly interesting Tezuka case study because he doesn’t really have anything to do with the original “The Greatest Robot on Earth”. Instead, he and his brother appear to be the product of putting all the primary characters from Tezuka’s Message to Adolf in a blender. See? I told you I’d get back to Message to Adolf.

Message to Adolf, considered Tezuka's last complete long-running work, is the story of how the existence of documents supporting a particular rumor—that Adolf Hitler has Jewish blood—tears the lives of Sohei Toge, a Japanese sports reporter who finds himself with a target on his back while investigating the murder of his communist brother; Adolf Kaufmann, a Japanese-German boy born in Japan who begins the series pure and heroic but is corrupted by the indoctrination of the Third Reich; and Kaufmann’s childhood friend Adolf Kamil, an Ashkenazi Jew living in Japan who later joins the Israeli-Lebanese Conflict and perpetuates the story’s cycle of vengeance and violence, into itty, bitty, bloody pieces. Only Toge survives to the end.

The story of Adolf Haas’ bid for vengeance in Pluto touches on details from all these characters’ stories, but unlike the Adolfs in Message to Adolf, he has a chance to put his hatred to rest and continue to live on with his family. He even has top-secret information about a dictator on his computer that he didn’t initially realize was crucial to maintaining or destroying the political status quo.

Adolf also gets his very own Monster-esque, “Whatcha gonna kill with that gun?” moment, which I find incredibly funny.

But the character that Urasawa arguably most made his own is Pluto (sometimes called Bruton in certain dubs) himself. At first, he is hidden throughout much of Pluto like a monster or serial killer in any self-respecting thriller/horror while in Astro Boy, the audience meets him right off the bat and learns that a sultan built him to kick the metal butts of the world’s seven most advanced robots. But Pluto’s Pluto isn’t just hiding his monstrous form—he is also hiding the fact that he isn’t really Pluto, but Abullah's robot son Sahad trapped in a new body.

If you’ve read Monster, you likely noticed immediately that Sahad is Monster’s Karl Neumann/Schuwald (make his nose smaller and Japanese-ify him, and he’s suspiciously similar to Billy Bat’s Kevin Yamagata!) For those that don’t know Karl, it’s his lot in life to be totally caught up in daddy angst until an ethereal blonde or silver-haired guy reaches out to him and knocks over the dominoes to allow change into his life one way or another.

In Monster, Johan is favored over Karl by rich sunuvabitch Hans Georg Schuwald, Karl’s (unknowing) biological father, and it is assumed he sees Johan in more of a son/heir capacity than the fuck-up Karl. Shit ensues, Johan dramatically eliminates the possibility of him becoming Schuwald’s son or heir, but he lets Schuwald live so that he and Karl can reconcile.

In Pluto, Sahad is only able to destroy Epsilon because Epsilon basically forfeits. This does not solve his problem, but Epsilon manages to see him for who he is, communicates this with Atom (sort of), and opens the door for Sahad to regain his sense of self and shake free of his father’s will. Yay!

Ok, so Brau-1589 is the most fun Easter egg in Pluto. He’s a Hannibal Lecter-ified Blue Knight. His open bloodthirst has increased tenfold in comparison to his Astro Boy portrayal, but that’s definitely the shape-shifter Blue Bon lying there in ruins.

Finally, the last big, giant, and noticeable new thing Urasawa added was the United States of Thracia’s open, by-name involvement in the story’s plot and conflict. Personally, I think it was rather gentle of Urasawa to not just blast the USA by name, but I suppose as a monolith, USAmericans are fragile and sensitive and Tezuka Productions still wanted to sell this manga in the states.

Dr. Roosevelt, as well as the teddy bear face and mouth for the supercomputer may actually be an Umataro Tenma creation. The Pluto manga began serialization in 2003 as part of a concentrated “birthday celebration” series of reworks of the original Astro Boy—you see, in-story, Atom was “born” in April 2003 (source: I know this as a fan.)

The 2003 Astro Boy anime, produced by Tezuka Productions (which I mention only because it means that Makoto Tezka likely knew all about the details of the series throughout planning and production), premiered on April 6, 2003. The series introduces the cute and manipulative bea-chan, or micro bears, one of many Tenma-adjacent creations (Tenma’s robot clone made them using plans originally created by Tenma, okay? It’s complicated) used for nefarious purposes, in an episode that premiered in Japan on September 21, 2003. These bears’ MO is basically to manipulate and socially isolate people and get them to do whatever they want, which is basically the same thing Dr. Roosevelt does.

Pluto’s first chapter came out in Big Comic Original on September 5, 2003, but its story was completed well in advance under supervision from Makoto Tezuka. The Dr. Roosevelt supercomputer and bear may be related somehow to the micro bears, which are a known Tenma creation in the extended Astro Boy universe.

What I’m saying is that Tenma was so sloppy that he caused the Gulf War. Look at the red string on this corkboard. I’m not crazy.

Beyond Pluto

What’s Next?

Nothing! Go read Monster or something!

Anyway, here are the sources for the stuff on my slides in case you need them.

[superdoctorpotter-head]

your url sucks and you should literally stop being into hp right now if you give a fuck about trans life

I keep thinking about the post about not trusting anyone who hasn’t acknowledged their capacity for evil, I think it gets at the heart of the lesson we could be learning from who that bitch has become, which is that no matter how open, compassionate, and accepting we think we are, it is vital that we check in with ourselves to assess new ideas and beliefs we develop as we get older. I think this knee-jerk reaction of “well JKR believes these things because she’s a bad person, I’m not a bad person, so I could never be susceptible to believing such horrible things!” is how one would start to condition themselves into thinking that they are above influences like fear propaganda, and that is a very dangerous road to go down.

I don’t think it’s that much of a stretch to say that she taught my generation to recognize bigotry and intolerance, which is why the person that she’s become feels like such a betrayal. If there is a message we are supposed to take from the series as a whole it is that even in a world were magic exists, love is still the most powerful force in existence, and if you don’t understand, or value that, you will be left with hatred as your guiding principle, which breeds this idea that you are better than other people for reasons as inane as your heritage and bloodline, and you will be set on a path that ends with you being something less than human as a direct result of your choices. That's still a message I can get behind, and I truly believe the person who imparted those values onto 12 year old me would be horrified if she could see the person she’s become.

Anyways, if all this is hard to swallow coming from the mouth of a cishet dude, then… understandable, so here’s a post from a trans person saying what I think amounts to more or less the same thing, here’s a HP podcast episode with a trans man guest who’s attitude can be summed up by “fuck her, but she’s never going to be able to take away my love of the books,” and here’s another podcast episode taking the time to denounce her, and who eventually donated all their profits to funding trans people’s transition goals to completion.

[merryfortune]

to hold a candle for a past flame

August 16th: Reincarnation/Reencounter | Circus | Historical AU

Title: to hold a candle for a past flame

Ship: Entrustshipping | Kiku/Takeru

Series: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS

Rating: T

Word Count: 1,525

Tags: Angst, Character Death, Mid-Canon, Duel Monster Spirits Are Real, Supernatural Elements

   Takeru was keeping secrets lately and that worried Kiku but… He wasn’t the only one. So was she.

   Honestly, if this wasn’t her lived experience, Kiku wasn’t sure if she would believe her either. It seemed like a severe case of middle school syndrome but it wasn’t. 

   For proof, aside from her memories, she had been having nightmares for as long as she could remember about a wartorn desert with havoc wreaked through it and a fire engulfed, she could feel that smog inside her lungs and the panic that it instilled. She wasn’t making it up, Kiku swears that she is not making it up and not only her mind remembered but her body, too. 

   Nonetheless, because of the stigma, Kiku was certain if she ever told Takeru what weighed on her mind, she would not be believed. It broke her heart but she was certain. Her good, sweet, kind, silly, goofy Takeru who had been with her through thick and thin may very well turn on her and called her a liar for this because he simply would not remember. 

   But she did.

   Takeru had been part of her existence before she could articulate what she could remember. What had begun in a lifetime before them both and continued to burn on inside of her regardless of what she did. If she tried to ignore it or otherwise block it out.

   For you see, Kiku was, very genuinely, one of the rare few who recalled a lifetime from before her own. She was an instance of transdimensional reincarnation.

   In another life, in a previous life, she had lived a long and storied journey as the Valkyria Knight.

   Kiku vividly recalled the harsh training and harsher conditions of that other world, the Monster World. A spiritual plane filled to the brim with monsters and was fraught with danger, an ever cycling push and pull of good versus evil, embroiled in violence where strength was justice. But she, even then, as a little girl, aspired to something better, something kinder, and she honed those ideals alongside the art of war, of swordsmanship and strategy.

   Even now, in this life, her present life, Kiku had been drawn towards martial arts. Hence how she and Takeru’s families became involved at all when they had been children in pre-kindergarten sports but kendo was more clearly her calling than judo. Even as a human child, Kiku showed promise with the bamboo sword as she recalled and drew upon her previous life’s recollection for this new skill. 

   But a fake sword wasn’t as thrilling, or gratifying, as a fake sword. Not to mention, her prodigal markings quickly made her a tall poppy so Kiku dropped the interest but not her interest in Takeru as there was more to her previous story.

   There had been a man. Her lover and her husband, the man who was supposed to have been father of her eventual children. Her army’s commander, their brilliant hero who was going to usher in a glorious and more prosperous, peaceful era: the valiant Phoenix Gearfried. 

   And Kiku was certain, she could still feel that spark - that flame - in Homura Takeru.

   Their love story in that previous life had ended in tragedy. It was as the saying went. The good always died young and Phoenix Gearfried had died in Kiku’s arms- no, Valkyria Knight’s arms and he had looked up unto her and gave her one last mission, “Please, my love, protect me, for the rest of your days.”

   His dying words imparted a mission upon her and Kiku was nothing if not a woman of her word.

   She always was. As a child, as Valkyria Knight. She was serious and earnest, an old soul, and Kiku wanted to serve her lord-husband until the end of her days. Whether it was as Valkyria Knight or as Kamishirakawa Kiku. That was her destiny.

   Though perhaps it was more like a curse.

   Because she knew.

   And no one else did, least of all the youth whom she was certain was her twin flame, Phoenix Gearfried.

   It made sense, perhaps. Their previous life’s love story had ended in tragedy because it had begun in ill. Intercrual fraternising was a taboo even in that other world and Phoenix Gearfried did not want to be distracted from his own mission but she, Valkyria Knight, made him soft.

   Kiku held onto those precious memories of various kisses in the soft, late afternoon sunlight, or holding hands under the tables during war meetings, and more interactions snuck in between their efforts during the campaign. Even now, they made her heart swell but they brought tears to her eyes too due to being so bittersweet. 

   If only Takeru remembered, if only…

   At first, Kiku thought maybe their reincarnation alongside each other in a dreamy beachside town had been a blessing. That it was the gods' ways of apologising that their first lives together as Monsters had gone so awry. That made sense as they were once again brought together by a passion for athleticism, of bettering themselves and their bodies but then things changed.

   The… Incident happened.

   Maybe if it hadn’t happened, the outcome of a hypothetical confession of such cosmic proportions would be different…

   Takeru’s not so safe return from the clutches of such heinous events reignited the fire inside of Kiku: she had to protect him. That was her duty as Phoenix Siegfried’s second-in-command and sergeant but he was a very different boy compared to before.

   He now hated Duel Monsters, he hated Duelling and his once favourite cards of Phoenix Siegfried and Valkyria Knight, and the rest of their fiery armada, were now amongst his most hated things.

   Not once had Kiku ever seen Phoenix Siegfried so rattled. 

   She had seen Phoenix Siegfried storm into battle, fight back when surrounded. He did not endure duress, he thrived in it. He always burned brighter than the fires of conflict around him. Kiku could say much the same of Takeru who looked only after he leapt, who never cried over skinned knees and whose favourite place was the highest part of the jungle gym.

   So to see him so scared, it harrowed Kiku to the very last specks of stardust in her soul. Worse still, she wasn’t allowed to know why. There had never been secrets between her and Takeru: merely pinkie promises that had yet to end in a needle in either of their eyes. Same for Phoenix Siegfried and Valkyria Knight. 

   Yet here they were. Frozen out from another by adults who could not begin to fathom what Kiku knew. It broke her heart then and ten years later, it broke her heart again because something had changed. She was certain something had changed. The way the headwind blew over the ocean, the sparkle in Takeru’s eye.

   There was something new. Renewed. Reincarnated, even but Kiku was still not allowed to know and that made her howl in agony. She was supposed to be Takeru’s confidant, his strongest soldier but instead, she was pushed away. The menial, instead, was pushed onto her.

   That night… Against the bullies… Kiku had not been at Takeru’s side but her card had been in his deck and that mattered close enough, she supposed. That was when the switch was flipped but cardboard was a far cry from flesh and blood so she didn’t know what entailed in said duel. Just that she had been summoned there, she could feel it, every hack and slash, every attack from the depths of Takeru’s soul.

   He had no idea how he had shone, how his past life was reinvigorating him.

   But afterwards, in the morning light, something changed. He had a new deck. One that his old cards and old life were a part of. Something sparkling and new in the sunlight. He would go on to battle with it over and over again and in places as far flung as the big smoke, like Den City.

   Kiku was superficially gladdened that Takeru had direction again. Who wouldn’t be? Except it saddened her. She still wasn’t allowed to know. Takeru was still keeping secrets about what had fundamentally changed him. She just knew that it did, she could hear it in his voice and the way his passion rippled through.

   To not know was worse than knowing, Kiku was certain.

   Especially when her precognition unto Phoenix Siegfried, and by extension, Takeru, led her to the conclusion that something was wrong. Something dire had happened. She could just feel it a la an extrasensory perception and that rattled her. 

   A fearsome battle. Life versus oblivion. A fire extinguished, a gale blew. Kiku got flashes of something beyond her comprehension of how she understood life in superstitions and the supernatural. Grand duels of violent delights which with snuff of extinction. Who? Why? Oh, Takeru, please… Please! Allow her, your darling Valkyria Knight, to aid you in this time of complete crisis.

   She could only sob uncontrollably in her room as she knew - just knew - that she needed to be by Takeru’s side as his sword yet was miles, no, worlds away from him. 

[spectrechosts]

The Cruel Ship's Captain

A chance meeting of two cursed souls, so very long ago.

Full Series

Senna is hungry again.

She shrouds herself in a cloak and makes her way to the port, as has become her habit in this age of piracy. Travelers from all around, known by none here. A drunk stumbles out of a tavern and no one ever sees them again- Maybe they fell off the dock, it happens.

She's long past the days of pretending she does a noble thing, feeding on the seedier humans. She's worse than the worst of them. She does it because it's easy. Even if someone investigates- and they won't- it'll never link back to her ever so dignified family, convinced she belongs even though she's in none of the portraits and looks nothing like them.

Ugh, she gets so mopey when she needs to feed. It's not like she chose to become this.

And besides, she can't just not eat. She's tried, it only makes things much, much worse when she finally gives in. You only need to massacre a village once to get it through your head that the monster will feed regardless of what you want; better to just quietly indulge every few weeks rather than uproot your entire life twice yearly.

"Now what's a girl like you doing in a place like this?"

Someone snatches her cloak off her shoulders and slams her against the wall of the alley.

Impossible, she thinks, as she collides with the stone. Nobody sneaks up on her, she would hear it! Is she slipping?

This is bad, this is so dreadfully bad- She can't be seen here, her feeding can't be thrown off like this, the whole thing is a catastrophe. She struggles, but the pirate is stronger than her, pinning her shoulder to the wall with her off hand as she lifts a jeweled earring with the barrel of her pistol.

"These look expensive. You should be more careful." She says. "There's all kinds of scum 'round these parts, you know."

She doesn't have time for this this isn't the plan she needs to get out of here and hide and come back to feed another time.

"Let go of me." She hisses, voice layered with hypnotic charm as her eyes go dark. "Go back to your ship and shoot yourself."

The pirate blinks, shakes her head as if to clear it of the imparted command, and then shrugs.

"Anything for a lady." She says, and then she pulls open her coat and shoots herself through the heart.

"Ow." She grunts, rolling her shoulders and letting her coat fall closed. "Hurts even when you know it's coming."

Oh, damn it all.

"That's right girlie, don't bother screaming." The pirate says, as Senna huffs and thumps her head back into the stone wall. "Ain't gonna be louder than that, and ain't anyone 'round who cares."

That much is true. A few humans peek into the alley as they pass, but none intervene. It's why she feeds here. And presumably…

The pirate's fangs sink into her neck, and then her eyes go wide and she recoils.

"Augh!" She cries, spitting onto the ground. "What the fuck?!"

It's why she feeds here too.

"Alright, so we're both stupid." Senna says, tired. "I haven't seen another of our kind in centuries, what's your excuse?"

The pirate is still retching, trying to get the taste out of her mouth. "Centuries?" She asks, and Senna groans.

She got caught out by a fucking fledgling.

"Oh god, how old are you?" She asks.

"Twenty-nine."

Please please please please-

"Twenty-nine as a vampire or-?"

"Oh, uh… three."

Goddammit.

"Fuck me." She says, and the pirate barks a laugh, and then winces at the pain still radiating through her chest.

"Love to, but ah- Just about blew my tit off, so…" She pauses, waiting for Senna to maybe say something. "Drinks?"

"Ugh!" Senna huffs, and she turns tail and leaves.

"Hey, don't be like that! This is great!" The pirate says, following her. "I've been at sea for ages, I'm starved. Two of us together? None of these assholes stand a chance, we could feast!"

"No!" Senna snaps. The girl is an idiot and a liability. "There will be no feasting, I live here, you boorish menace!"

The pirate shrugs. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"If a slew of people get killed by vampires," Senna seethes, "the rest will start looking for vampires, idiot."

"Sure, that's why you leave after."

"I can't leave!"

"Why not?" The pirate asks, and Senna pauses.

It's not as if her family is truly hers. It's not as if she allows herself human friends, or goes outside for any reason but to feed. Her only attachment to this place is that it's where she is.

"Drinks? Yeah?" The pirate says with a growing smile, and Senna allows herself to be dragged along.

~

"Cap'n." Nods a stout man as the pirate (Alice, she called herself) sits Senna down with her on a tavern bench.

"Bill." Alice responds, then jerks her head back at Senna. "Senna. She'll be joining us for a bit."

Bill grunts, and Senna quirks an eyebrow. "I will be? Am I being press-ganged?"

"What? Nahh." Alice scrunches her nose and shakes her head. "Press ganging implies I mean to put you to work. We're taking you on as a passenger."

"And if I don't want to be taken as passenger?"

"Well, then we're kidnapping you." Alice says, with a wry grin. "But don't that sound so unpleasant?"

Senna turns her nose up at that with a "Hmph!"

"Everyone back on the ship?" Alice asks, ignoring her.

"All accounted for 'cept us in here." Says Bill. "Is she..?"

"She's like me." Alice says, and she puts an arm around Senna and whispers into her ear as if she's murmuring something sordid to a conquest.

"I'll tell you what's going to happen here, miss." She says, licking her lips. "When I give the signal, me, Bill, those two men over there- Jim and James, also on my crew- we're going to grab some nice girls and take them back to my ship for me to eat."

God, is this really how she feeds? Just, smash and grab? Right out in the open?

"Now, you can sit here and pout and go hungry until we reach the next port; not too long a trip, I like to make little stops for myself before our main destination, let the rest of the crew relax somewhere I haven't made a mess. Or-"

"Yes, yes, I was already at the docks to grab someone, imbecile." Senna hisses. "Some of us value subtlety. Not letting people see us feed, for instance."

"Okayy, touchy. You've already been seen here with me, grab someone or don't. Ready?"

Senna grumbles and scans the room. There's a girl with a pretty neck over in the corner, hanging off some giant brute of a sailor. If she has to pick someone here…

"Ready."

Alice vanishes, and a swarm of bats surges toward the bar and reforms into her. She grabs a woman and tears her throat out with her teeth, gulping down blood and throwing the whole tavern into a frenzy.

"That's the signal?" Senna whines, as the other pirates spring into action, snatch frightened patrons and drag them away. All eyes are on Alice, cackling like a madwoman as she shrugs off pistol rounds and breaks the arm of someone foolish enough to rush her with a knife.

Senna walks briskly to her target, cowering behind her beau. "Forget about the woman behind you." She orders, and the man looks into her black eyes and lowers the protective arm he'd had around her. "You, follow me."

The girl follows her like a lost puppy. It doesn't even look like a kidnapping, with any luck, no one will remember Senna was here at all. Alice is still wreaking havoc, bones shattering under her fists as the humans try and fail to subdue her.

And the blood.

There's so much blood. The thick, rich, cloying tang of it in her nostrils makes Senna dizzy. Her stomach growls angrily, and she just about loses herself and devours her girl on the spot.

But not yet.

"You!" She hisses at another girl, hiding under a table. "Follow."

She leads the two of them outside, taking them down the waterfront until she can see where the other pirates are struggling to get their last victim aboard their ship while some would-be hero accosts them.

That's rare, in this part of town. Senna would be impressed, if not for the fact that she's grumpy hungry now.

"Hey." She says to the interloper, and he glances back at her for just a moment, and that's all she needs. "Swim to the horizon."

Then he's gone, swimming out to his death.

"What in the hell wassat?" Says Jim or James, she doesn't really care which.

"That would be our new passenger." Says Bill. "Take her and her guests to the captain's quarters with the rest, we're leaving."

"The captain?" Senna asks, climbing up to the ship's deck. She was still fighting, last she saw.

"Flies on a hundred pestilent wings, my sweet." Says Alice, coalescing before her out of a swarm of vermin. She takes her last captive from Bill and hefts her over her shoulder, then beckons Senna below deck. "Come! Eat with me, we'll have a grand old time!"

Senna isn't sure about a grand old time, but she really needs to feed now. She follows her, down to the lowest deck, where the sun never touches. Alice's cabin has many of the luxuries one would expect of a pirate captain's quarters, though completely devoid of any light sources. The other two victims are already here; they squirm and whimper in the dark, bound at the wrists and ankles and rendered blind by their human eyes.

Senna's charmed duo need no such restraints. She pushes one to the floor and falls upon her, sinking her fangs into the soft flesh of their neck. Shakes her head violently, tears open the vein, lets blood spill forth into her mouth; hot and salty and metallic on her tongue.

The monster within her demands more, urges her to bite again, harder- not just fangs but human teeth, made for ripping into meat, gouging out chunks and choking them down, bloodied and raw.

She can hear Alice chuckling. "Messy eater. Always the proper ones, innit?" She hums to the girl she's drinking from. "Maybe I'll toss you to her, you're so afraid of me." She says, and she latches back onto the girl's open vein as she cries.

Hours pass, in the inky darkness. Senna eats and eats until she's full and lethargic and guilty, the stench of blood clinging to her in the aftermath. She didn't even drink most of it from that first girl, just let it puddle on the floor. What a waste.

She groans loudly.

"Are you always so pissy about a good meal?" Alice asks her, sated and languid on her bed. "Get off the floor, come join me."

"I didn't have to kill that man at the dock. He was trying to do a good thing. I could've just told him to run away, forget what he saw."

"Please, if you didn't kill him we would have. Who cares?"

"I care!" Says Senna. "I don't like killing, I just- I get so hungry. It's like I'm not even me anymore."

"Aww, poor little vampire." Alice coos, mockingly. "Come to bed."

"Fuck you."

"That's the idea." She says, smug. "We both prefer girls, yeah?"

Senna grumbles and rolls face down.

"How are you so squeamish about this? You made it sound like you were old. Should be used to it by now."

"Nobody should be used to being a monster." Spits Senna.

"Careful." Alice chuckles. "Get that stick any further up your ass, might stake yourself."

"Ugh." Senna huffs. She can hear Alice get up, walk toward her and sit. She drapes a blanket over her and rubs her back through it.

"So, what?" She asks, joking tone absent from her low voice. "You feel bad about yourself until you can't help but eat someone, then you go feel bad about it 'till the next time?"

"…Essentially." Senna says, wrapping the blanket tight around her. "I don't know. I don't want to kill people, but…"

"Don't wanna die?" Alice asks, and Senna nods tightly. "Right, who could blame ya?"

"The people I eat, presumably."

"Ehhh, fuck 'em, they're dead." Says Alice. "How often you eat?"

"I can get by with one every couple months, if I save my energy."

"Goddamn, no wonder you made such a mess. Must be starved to death, eating like that." She says. "Tell you what: I kill more 'n that just going about my business-"

"How delightful."

"Oh hush ya miserable cunt I'm trying to be nice."

Senna hushes.

"Me and my crew are going to kill people, not saying it's nice, but it's going to happen. If you stay on board, and the odd dead man walking finds their way to you…" Alice shrugs. "Don't make any difference that matters, does it? Dead's dead."

"You want me to kill for you."

"I kill for myself just fine, thanks. You're the one having trouble with it." She says. "Think about it, alright? You can go home and mope and pluck someone off the street every few months, be hungry and sad, or, you can have a full belly off folk who're dead anyway. Can't say your hands'll be perfectly clean, but- maybe rest a little easier, yeah?"

~

Weeks later, Senna leans over the guardrail of the moonlit ship, docked and gently swaying with the tide.

"Well, your ladyship?" Alice asks from behind her. "We're set to be off, will you be joining us?"

Senna inhales deeply through her nose.

"I'm not working on the crew." She says, haughtily.

"Of course."

"And I'll not participate in any plundering, murdering, what have you."

"Oh, never."

"And… don't feed me anyone too smelly, or hairy, or anything."

"See what I can do, but we're looking at sailors here."

Alice gives the order to set sail and makes her way below decks, and Senna follows after her.

"Don't expect me to call you captain, either." She says, and Alice scoffs.

"Seemed eager enough to last night."

"That was seduction, I was being seductive."

"Right, I'll expect no more of that then." Says Alice. "Shame. Guess you can hang a hammock, bunk with the rest of the crew."

"Hey! No!"

[dirhwangdaseul-archived]

ive put part of these thoughts in the tags of many a post i have made of the show or reblogged from but im just gonna put it here and hope it makes sense but i do think people are doing a disservice to the story when they don't consider what the creators set out to do which comes from a desire to simply adapt the lord of the flies, but of course with girls, so first, the story of the book deals with the survival of white british boyhood and the circumstances which see them find their cruelty, these results and variables don't shed light on humanity as much as they shed light this particular group of kids in time and space, a lot of the things that happen to them are circumstantial at best and i think they mostly show us how much kids need guidance, otherwise they fill the spaces with whatever is closest to making sense, even that alone just tells you that whatever story they can tell themselves to survive and exist with each other will suffice and as humans do it will escalate, at most if we're going for universality in the text, we're shown one version of a caged animal, and it's our youth at it, even so the story works because the circumstances and the stories they tell themselves speak of a cruelty that isn't inherent of anyone as much as it belongs to their processing of their identity in the face of their situation, misguided and stressed, the world they can imagine is limited by the knowledge imparted to them before being left alone in their childhood to make sense of the world as well, the story, thus, makes more sense as stunted growth even then rather than just the lessons of a white colonial power, but even so, they mingle, the cruelty of survival, their youth, and how quickly can stories spin out of control in our hearts and minds, and the rage of violent uncontrolled and unexperienced hands hands

and so it is with yellowjackets, how could it dream of divorcing itself completely from the source material, the story isn't and it can't be some universal take on girlhood, how could it be, girlhood is so varied anyway, we must know or we must suspect, because that's what human is, varied, just by race in this iteration of our universe, because we have given it importance in our day to day lives, by itself, anything can change universes, and race alone? it's tied to so many other circumstances of time and space too, the history of a strand of humanity... and even if the show had tried to be universal (because i dont think its even trying as much as a certain subset of fandom is trying to imply) the creators/writers have shown repeatedly their lack of understanding of how things like race changes the lens, how class, how so many things other than age can alter that transition to adulthood

and it's just becoming.... what boyhood, girlhood, being are.... metamorphosis... like most of the time we're fucking becoming, the metamorphosis is harrowing, but having bodies is, and for all the supposed nuances so far of the series it's patently clear that the end result of these series is the same as that of the book it takes from: this is a particular group of people with a particular set of beliefs that have managed to alienate them from not just the world but from each other so that they can easily justify killing each other, it's a bunch of kids lost and unable to guide themselves to better while a fucking supernatural presence grooms them to murder like how's that remotely universal to girlhood, it's why ive never felt comfortable with people excluding javi and travis like travis wasn't about to be raped and honestly what jackie did qualifies as such even if she didn't notice til later he was drugged, and the dismissal of his little brother is very demonstrative of how barely attached the yellowjackets are to fucking life outside of their own selfishness, like these cruelties you wanna attach as inherent to girlhood, like we're all seeing travis get traumatized aren't we like you can't be this blind as to how his suffering has literally kept the horror going, like how's this girlhood only i just dont fucking get it, explain to me the nuances cause i must be fucking stupid

[sihaya74]

The Lessons of Hannibal - My New Blog Series

The Lessons of Bryan Fuller’s Hannibal: Thirty-Nine Morsels of Wisdom

I believe that the most human of all things is the construction of meaning. Out of what we see, what we hear, what we feel – taste, smell, sense – we create meaning for ourselves. Every day, we write our own narratives, draft our own plots. We are author and protagonist – and perhaps antagonist, as well. It depends on the author, and it depends on the story. As humans, we are hardwired to create meaning. And if we cannot find it, we will make it up out of whole cloth. Meaninglessness is equivalent to death. If nothing has any point, why do it? This life, this world, your life, my life, must have some purpose. Doesn’t it?

            We are born into this world as it is at the time of our entrance, as it is politically, environmentally, spiritually. We are akin to the hero of a Greek epic – dropped into the story in medias res. When we appear, everything is already at a full, rolling boil. We are thrown into the simmering cauldron, and we must impart our special flavor to the stew of human existence. Will we sweeten the stock or spice it? Will our addition be negligible or profound? Does any ingredient make the stew more of what it is? Is the stew ever finished? No. It just remains over the fire at the hearth of the Universe and thickens and deepens and boils onward into the future. The stew ever mixing, ever changing. David Bowie would approve.

            The stew is ever mixing – but there are chunks of import that rise to the surface – morsels of meat and potatoes – a carrot here, an onion there – that make the stew recognizable and that tie our 21st century stew to the stews of previous centuries and to the stew of the first humans in a cave, tossing together hunks of whatever they could find.

            Perhaps you find the metaphor of the stew ham-fisted. It has a purpose.

            I have been known to write a bit of fan fiction. In the first installment of my series Hannibal’s Garden, Hannibal serves a stew he has cooked to Will. It is made with the heart of Francis Dolarhyde. That is not the event that shocks Will. It is that Hannibal has prepared a dish as simple as stew. To this, Hannibal says:

“Of course! Stew is one of mankind’s most ancient dishes. Its healing properties are immeasurable because it speaks to us of our deepest roots; our darkest beginnings in the cave, around the fire, watching and naming the shadows and light on the wall.”

            Hannibal’s right, and you know it.

            Stew is a good metaphor for human existence.

            One of my additions to the Great Stew will be the series I am embarking on with this introductory post. I call it “The Lessons of Bryan Fuller’s Hannibal.”

            The series will be comprised of thirty-nine posts, one for each episode of NBC’s Hannibal. In each post, I plan to focus on a central piece of dialogue from that episode I feel communicates a powerful message. In short – THEME.

            I was a born English major. I began reading and writing stories as soon as I was able. Even if I do not physically write them down, as I do with many, though many have been abandoned and many continue to torture me, I write stories in my head every day. I also dig through the odds and ends of that which we call reality to find things that count, things of value, things that convince me of the one belief I have never been able to talk myself out of – that life indeed has a meaning – even if it is only one that I myself create.

            One of the greatest sources of meaning for me was books. Novels and plays and poetry – comic books, comic strips, non-fiction works. And as I got older, I began finding more and more scattered pieces of meaning in movies and television – like shells on a beach or lost coins on the sidewalk – or feathers that blow into your path in places where there is no explanation of why a bird would be there.

            Being a Fannibal and part of the large and loving #FannibalFamily, I have watched the series of Hannibal all the way through at least four times now (maybe five…I’ve lost track.) Therefore, scenes, images, music, colors, all sorts of symbolic items have burned their way into my consciousness and now live there like the phone number at my childhood home or the smell of father’s cologne or the words to the Thunderbolt Transmission commercial (Houston, Texas, y’all…).

            Each episode of Hannibal tells a piece of Fuller’s larger story – a story that was once Thomas Harris’ – and that it ever made its way out of Harris’ mind and into printed form, I am eternally grateful. He created one of the greatest characters in literary fiction in the construction of Dr. Hannibal Lecter. Call him what you will: a villain, a hero – antihero, tragic hero, Byronic, a ‘problematic’ character, or simply an adorable MEOW MEOW… Hannibal Lecter stays with us because he has gravitas. And he has swagger. And he makes you feel good about loving a villain even as he eats their leg for osso buco and grins like a satisfied cat doing it. As far as catharsis goes, Hannibal is the perfect relief – he is a triumph of schadenfreude and an incorrigible bitch that you love to love. In all written and on-screen forms, he has this power. Harris crafted him this way at the outset.

Then, Bryan Fuller, with his fellow writers: Lightfoot, Nimerfro, Vlaming, Brancato, Antosca, Black, Mancini, Schuur, Wu, Gray, Fury, Alexander, Grote, Floyd, Burnett, de Ville, Shang, and LaManna, took the not-so-good doctor and gave us more than we could have ever hoped for.

            And Bryan gave us wonderful, tasty, savory pieces of wisdom in every episode that changed the stew forever.

            The first post in this series will cover Season 1, Episode 1: “Apéritif.”

            It’s all about a mongoose.

            I hope you enjoy my additions to the stew.

            Here endeth the lesson…

[divine-nonchalance]

∞

The 9D Arcturian Council, Channeled by Daniel Scranton

“Greetings. We are the Arcturian Council. We are pleased to connect with all of you.

We are very big fans of all of you there on Earth because you chose the harder path. You chose to take on more challenges, more baggage from your past life selves and your genetic line, and we know that you did so because you felt at the time you were up to the challenge. We also know that once most of you began living your lives there in this current era on Earth, you discovered that the challenges were excruciating at times, unbearable to say the least. And yet, you kept going, you kept coming to Earth, a place where no one is trapped. 

No one is forced to incarnate anywhere because of karma. You incarnate where you want to incarnate, when you want to incarnate in that particular place and time, because you are sovereign beings, because you are Source, and you do get to choose whether to continue a series of lifetimes in a particular location. Those of you who have chosen a series of lifetimes there on planet Earth have done so with a great degree of courage and an enormous belief in yourselves and also in your guides and other helpers.

So the plan never was to do it all on your own, and in many ways you are not by yourselves there on Earth, even if it feels like you are at times. Everyone who is consistently receiving these messages from us is linked in a very real way. You are anchoring in Arcturian energies, and you are grounding them into Mother Earth. They are creating an Arcturian grid, and you are in psychic, telepathic communication with one another through these gridlines that you are creating. 

You are our ground crew there on planet Earth, and we need you in order to deliver the help, the guidance, the wisdom that we want to impart on all of humanity. But not everyone, as you know, is ready for what we have to give, and that’s where you all come in as the Arcturian ground crew. You are the gridworkers who make these energies available to others, who would otherwise be closed off to them, who would laugh at you if you were to send them one of these messages because you think it might resonate or help them in some way. And we know that many of you have done this and received those replies from the ones you’ve been seeking to help in your lives. 

But know this – you get to everyone with what you are holding in your consciousness, your awareness, your beliefs, and with the open hearts that you have. We consistently tell you that love is the answer, that compassion is the way, and that inner peace leads to getting everything that you want, and you walk around emanating all of those truths, even if you don’t speak them aloud to the person who is ringing up your groceries at the grocery store. They’re all benefitting from what you are grounding in from us, and we are so appreciative of each and every one of you there on Earth, but especially those of you who are helping to further the Arcturian agenda, which is of course to help humanity awaken and ascend.

We are the Arcturian Council, and we have enjoyed connecting with you.”

[markwatkinsreviews]

BOOK REVIEW: AMERICA SERIES by Florence Montmare (2023)

DAMIANI issue AMERICA SERIES in October (2023) and it's a wonderful display of black & white footage camera-taken from Vienna-born Florence Montmare. This "vox" obviously means everything to her.

Katriel, pictured on the cover (and also features inside) imparts to human hearts these pearls of wisdom: "Anytime I meet a new person, my priority is to learn about them and see how our worlds relate. I dream about a world where I can provide for all the people I love. Love is free, so it's not limited to how much you can put into the world".

You might say, looking at him Christ-on-the-cross-like, he'd be exactly the right person to pass over loaves and fishes to. He seems a photogenic catch.

AMERICA SERIES is therefore full of such bittersweet anecdotes scattered among this "new look at the United States" , the fruits of Florence Montmare's erstwhile journey capturing the current states of reflective states.

All introduced meaningfully by Sam Samone.

Rating: 9/10

America Series – Damiani Books

Mark Watkins, Dare radio, 3 October, 2023.

[usagoodnews]

Selena Gomez Birthday Post: Celebrating 31 Years of Life and Music

Selena Gomez, the multi-talented artist and beloved public figure, turning 31 is a milestone worth cherishing. As she shared a heartfelt birthday post with her fans and followers, the world joined in commemorating her journey through life and music. In this article, we take a moment to honor Selena Gomez’s 31st birthday and reflect on her remarkable career and impact on the entertainment industry.

A Grateful Heart on Her 31st Birthday

A Heartfelt Birthday Post

A Message of Hope and Love

Selena’s birthday post conveyed a message of hope and self-love. She encouraged her followers to embrace their uniqueness and to be kind to themselves. Her words resonated deeply with her fans, who responded with an outpouring of love and admiration.

A Journey of Music and Artistry

Rising to Fame: A Young Sensation

Selena Gomez first captivated hearts as a young actress and singer, gaining widespread recognition for her role in the Disney Channel series “Wizards of Waverly Place.” Her infectious charm and undeniable talent quickly turned her into a teen sensation.

Embracing Music: From Selena Gomez & the Scene to Solo Success

https://usagoodnews.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Selenna.png

An Evolution of Artistry: Rare and Vulnerable

With each album, Selena Gomez showcased her growth as an artist. Her critically acclaimed album “Rare” was a testament to her vulnerability and authenticity as she openly addressed personal struggles. The album connected with fans on a deeply emotional level and solidified her place as a respected musician.

Empowering Through Advocacy

Using Her Platform for Good

Beyond her artistic endeavors, Selena Gomez has been an ardent advocate for various social causes. From mental health awareness to supporting underprivileged communities, she has used her platform to amplify important voices and make a positive impact on society.

Inspiring Resilience: Selena’s Journey with Health

Selena’s own journey with health challenges, including her battle with lupus, has inspired many. Her courage in sharing her experiences has helped break stigmas and foster conversations about health and well-being.

Diving into the essence of our creative endeavor, we find ourselves acquainted with the Rare Impact Fund and its noble cause. Gomez, a beacon of compassion and goodwill, has graciously linked the “Donate Now” page of the fund on her Instagram Story. She initiated this noble endeavor with a steadfast focus on addressing the intricate realm of mental health and self-acceptance.

Within the tapestry of description lies the true essence of Rare Impact – a profound aspiration to dismantle the stigma shrouding mental illness. It strives to extend a helping hand to individuals seeking support for their mental well-being. The benevolent fund acts as a catalyst, channeling its resources to organizations across the globe. These organizations strive to widen the access to crucial mental health services and impart invaluable education on this crucial subject.

Astoundingly, a mere one percent of all sales stemming from Gomez’s beauty brand cascade into the coffers of the Rare Impact Fund. A testimony to her dedication to the cause, this contribution solidifies her commitment to the welfare of humanity.

Read More Articles

Mission Impossible 7 – Tom Cruise’s Thrilling Ending Explained”

Joker 2: The Story of a Cinematographer’s Mysterious Encounter on the Sets

Selena Gomez’s 31st birthday is not just a celebration of another year in her life but a celebration of the positive impact she has had on millions of lives worldwide. Through her music, advocacy, and openness about her struggles, she has touched hearts and inspired countless individuals. As we wish her a happy birthday, we also thank her for being an extraordinary artist and human being.

[thejaytapes]

So, I ended up seeing Elemental. I'm not gonna lie, when I saw all the trailers, I didn't see the appeal or draw at all, and I was the first to start picking it apart about how bland the film looked and how much the comedy it was presenting made me cringe.

But here's the thing.

The advertising did this movie so dirty. Whether you like the movie or not, you can't deny this. What the advertising campaign did essentially tried to sell a character drama as a comedy, and they took the film's jokes out of context and edited voice clips over different shots to frame the jokes in a different way. They almost built the advertising the way Illumination tried to sell the Secret Life of Pets, where it capitalized on a series of silly jokes and "memeable" moments, but like. That was all the Secret Life of Pets was really banking on. But for Elemental, I think there's a genuinely good film that the advertising for some reason didn't have faith in.

And the key reason for that is the director Peter Sohn. I really haven't heard much discussion at ALL about him. I've heard critiques about how animated films attempt to explore the ideas of racism through objects or animals, and they are valid critiques for sure. There is something to be said about applying concepts like chemical reactions or the structures of the natural world being compared to the cruel and illogical mindset that is racism. But I haven't heard enough discussion about WHO was behind this film. This isn't a film attempting to cover the topic of immigration by a white director. It's directed by someone who was directly inspired by his own life.

There is such a genuine and earnest heart behind the story of Elemental. While the analogy isn't a perfect 1-to-1 comparison to the nuances of human existence, I don't think it needs to be. Because it's about the emotions and personal experiences of one second-generation Korean immigrant, and the way his imagination, storytelling, and worldbuilding melded with it.

The movie paints such a loving and empathetic picture of Ember's parents, even though they cause internal conflicts within Ember. Because Sohn clearly knows how much of a risk immigration can be, and how difficult it can be to build a new life and a new home in a place that doesn't really understand or fully accept you. And how hard it can be to leave behind everything you've ever known to start something new. Especially when that new place is built to put you at a disadvantage, and built around discriminating against you, while other people are born into success and comfort. And how important it is to remember the culture where you came from while also looking forward to the future and how to continue to burn even brighter, to make your family proud.

But it also understands and empathizes with the children of immigrants, who are both a product of the culture their parents imparted to them as well as the culture they grew up around beyond their household. And how those two things can coexist, even if it causes some culture clashes along the way. And more than anything, how much those second-generation immigrants' perspectives still matter, and they can make their families proud while also pursuing what they are passionate about.

So yeah, is using elements a perfect metaphor? No. But I think people really need to take a closer look at this movie to see where it succeeds in telling the story Sohn wanted to tell.

...Oh yeah, and why the HELL is that kid Clod so heavily advertised when he's barely in the movie?

[benditlikebuddhayogaalgarve]

Accepting applications for RYT 300Hr certification

Calling all Yoga lovers, body art healers, Life coaches and emerging Yoga Instructors   We are very excited to announce that Bend it like Buddha Yoga school is now accepting applications for the Yoga Alliance accredited RYT 300 Hr yoga training cohort starting on April 4th!    We want to personally invite you to upgrade your skills by joining the advanced 300Hr Advanced Vinyasa & Ashtanga Yoga Teacher Training along the gorgeous beach coastlines of Algarve, Portugal! During this hybrid 20 days yoga program, you will go deeper into yoga philosophy, alignment, mudras, learn how to facilitate sound healing and cacao ceremonies, how to facilitate Usui Reiki healing sessions and practice daily advanced pranayama. Highlights:-Daily advanced Vinyasa and Ashtanga yoga practice twice per day AM/PM or healing practice such as cacao ceremony or Tibetan bowl sound healing journey.-Traditional Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga lessons with Intermediate series postures;-Advanced Vinyasa sequencing and postures;-Advanced accredited Yoga Alliance RYT 300 yoga teacher training course 300-hour certificate in Ashtanga and Vinyasa-Daily philosophy classes: Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads, Patanjali Sutras meditation, heart healing intimacy exercises, inner child shadow workshops and profound Breath Work journeys-Acro, prenatal, kids yoga, Partner yoga, sound journey, traditional Kirtan Mantras, alignment, anatomy, trauma informed yoga therapy training, daily hands-on adjustment practice-Learn and practice how to teach advanced and tailored Vinyasa and Ashtanga classes each day 6 AMAZING BONUS:-Eight-hour Ayurveda therapy massage certificate;-Four-hour workshop on trauma-informed yoga principles;-Four-hour Nada yoga workshop, sound healing facilitator training, and cacao ceremony facilitator: best tips and recommendations for beginners and seasoned practitioners of Nada yoga / sound healing and cacao ceremony and learn how to conduct and hold space during your sound healings and ceremony for your future students.-Six-hour Usui Reiki level 1 training and certificate: if you have level one or two already, you will receive the next level training and attunement for the level you are at.-Learn how to facilitate and plan a breathwork journey for groups and practice advanced pranayama imparted by the Father of Modern Yoga Krishnamacharya, a student of BNS Iyengar based in Mysore, India.-Four-week yoga business lifestyle coaching: post-graduate support, weekly live training, accountability, and implementation labs to inspire you to take massive action to launch your micro yoga-niched brand to attract your dream students. Learn how to market your workshops and retreats utilizing the effective Online Yoga Challenge model taught by Bend it like Buddha Yoga school founder L. Farrah Furtado E RYT 500.The world is in great need of incredible yoga teachers, now more than ever, and it is RYS 200/RYS 300 Bend it like Buddha's  purpose to impart the practice for sharing it, with as many people as possible to awaken, heal, and move beautiful souls into their dharma and purpose as we enter into the most pivotal spiritual transition on Earth in human history! Learning and successfully implementing this innovative and nuanced yoga challenge framework is a must for all yoga teacher entrepreneurs in order to survive and thrive in today's competitive yoga noisy world full of distractions...Together as a yoga family, in friendships, also fun, and in community support, you will thrive as you create a positive ripple effect on the planet. Through sharing yoga, you are all sowing fertile seeds of hope, good health, joy, and inner peace into a world in desperate need of hope and healing. Join this movement that is happening within the Bend it like Buddha yoga community to receive training and support while helping as many people as possible, through the profound and powerful practices of yoga, meditation, and pranayama Hurry, very limited spots!Namaste benditlikebuddhayoga@gmail.comDM for more info.....#yogateacher #yogaforlife #yogateacher300Hr #reikicourse #meditation #yogamom #yogaworkshop #Yoga #yogientrepreneur #yoginilife #yogalover #portugalretreats #healing #portugalyoga #yogateachertrainingadvanced #RYT300Hr #retreatalgarve #portugalyoga #vinyasayoga #transformation #meditationretreat #ayurvedamassage #yogaportugal #algarveretreat

[readjthompson]

Well, since my novelette Cancel Toby Chalmers! (copyright me, now) has been sitting around, completed, for nearly 16 months, I’ve decided to share it for free, until it’s later released as part of a Toby Chalmers collection.

Here's Chapter 10.

Chapter 10

“Wow, they actually did it,” Toby announced to a hypothetical audience, alternating between primal rage catalepsy and giggly nihilism. He closed his laptop to avoid smashing it, then massaged his temples, blinking frantically. He clamped his jaw shut to stifle his screams.

All of his books’ Amazon listings were gone, as was his Author Page. So, too, had every trace of his fiction been expunged from Goodreads. Google searches turned up no literature, neither synopses nor cover art. Years upon years of honing his fiction yielded no evidence whatsoever online.

Toby had purchased author copies of his own titles before the great erasure, however: a hundred of each book, stored in boxes in his garage. Attempting to list them on eBay, he’d found his account deactivated. He’d left a copy of each in his local Little Free Library bookcase, and planned to do so again, probably. Otherwise, he wasn’t sure what to do with ’em. Would door-to-door selling gain me sales or bullet wounds? he wondered.

After composing himself slightly, feeling half-spectral, he reopened his laptop, to search for traces of his existence on social media. There, too, all evidence of his books and references to him as an author had vanished. Posts and replies branding him a racist remained, though, along with screenshots of his drunken meditation on blackness.

Joseph McCarthy Jr.’s call to action post had been edited, with every mention of Toby removed. Lest Toby feel entirely neglected, however, Joe had crafted a brand-new post in his honor, released to the masses just a few minutes prior. And, boy, was it a doozy.

Toby saw his own photo staring back at him—a squinting, smirking portrait that he’d always hoped conveyed wit, but feared imparted the opposite impression—the one he’d been using as his author photo for the last couple of years. Aside it was a second photo, its subject a strangely hirsute grade-schooler that Toby had never seen before. Beneath them, it read:

AN UNCLE’S ORISON

Oh, my wonderful, diverse social justice superstars, my much-valued supporters in horror fiction renovation, my Rocks of Gibraltar in the tempest, my radiance in the howling void, I beg of you, right now, wherever you are and whatever you’re doing, please, please, please attend my plea.

After the opioid epidemic seized ahold of my sister Clementine, after she let horses sodomize her for bindles of heroin and became famous on the internet, after she overdosed in the carwash with nary a vehicle in sight, she made the courageous choice to check herself into rehab. The good gal’s been an addiction center patient for just over two months now, showing extraordinary progress, and I couldn’t be prouder of her.

Clementine has a tremendous heart and I love her dearly. So, naturally, I volunteered to take care of her son while she gets the treatment she needs. I’ve paid for his food out of my very own pocket, introduced him to some of my favorite horror films (Jordan Peele’s first, natch!), and ensured that he kept up with his schooling. Overall, Shadrach’s a great child—smart as a whip and nearly as handsome as his dear old uncle is—but he’s had some, let’s say, moral deficiencies that I’ve been helping him overcome.

As much as it shames me to admit it, the boy’s shown evidence of insensitivity to the black cause. I caught him laughing at an African American that he saw on TV, as if that individual was less human than those of other races.

Well, you know that Joseph McCarthy Jr. won’t permit bigotry in his radius, especially when it’s coming from his own family! Immediately, I devised a series of role-playing exercises to make poor, misguided Shadrach sympathize with black folks and their culture. The boy was showing great progress; congratulations were forthcoming. Then infamous racist Toby Chalmers came along and spoiled everything.

I don’t know how they first communicated—some sort of clandestine message board, I’m assuming—but one night, a fully grown fellow showed up on my doorstep, asking for Shadrach by name. The boy’s just eight years old. No way would I let him near a cisgender, racially challenged, straight man I don’t know.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“Toby Chalmers,” the man answered.

“That evil fellow from social media who thinks that blacks are worth less than dirt?”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Toby then declared. “Don’t you know that those coal-coated animals will never accept you, that they’ll rob and rape you any chance that they get?”

“Lies!” I shouted. “Black is beautiful! It is! Stay the heck away from my nephew or I’ll call the police!”

Silly me, I assumed that Toby Chalmers possessed enough intelligence to realize that I’m not a man to be trifled with, that I have pal-o-roonies all over the planet, linked by a love of horror fiction more powerful than religion. Your strength is my strength; my strength is yours.

But then I began sighting Toby Chalmers when Shadrach and I were out in public—lurking in a parking lot’s periphery, seated behind us at the movie theater, even browsing at the comic shop. As I couldn’t prove that he was stalking us yet, I tried to photograph him with my cellphone, but the man kept hiding behind his hands every time I snapped a picture. Clearly, he was planning something terrible.

My worst fears were confirmed just a few nights ago. Shadrach and I had spent the entire day together, shopping and singing, dancing and gaming, grubbing and gabbing, as close relatives do. After an invigorating supper of lobster ravioli, I left the boy to his own devices while I attended to some Transylvoria correspondence. There are many exciting things in the pipeline, believe you me (OMG, OMG, OMG, one of my favorite movie stars is thinking about writing a monthly column for us! Keep those fingers crossed, fam).

A couple of hours later, with my evening’s editorial duties behind me, I looked at the clock and realized that it was my nephew’s bedtime. Naturally, a nurturing fellow such as myself would rather die than miss an opportunity to tuck that boy into bed. My heart was so full of love; indeed, I couldn’t stop smiling.

That lip curl upended itself when my door knocking went unanswered. Entering the guestroom that I’d donated to Shadrach for the duration of his stay, I found him absent. Most of his clothes were gone. The screen was missing from the window frame.

Indeed, it seems that evil Toby Chalmers has abducted poor Shadrach, undoubtedly to indoctrinate him further in Toby’s black-hating ways. I’ve already contacted the police, but I need the help of all of you good people, too. Spread these photos and this story all across social media, so that if either of the two shows their face anywhere, the authorities and I will be notified, and Shadrach can be deconditioned, and Toby Chalmers can face justice.

Now and beyond forever, I love all of you, my exquisite, intelligent, diverse pal-o-roonies.

“What…the…fuck?” said Toby. Before his eyes, by the thousands, Joseph McCarthy Jr.’s words accrued likes and reposts. Replies sprouted every second: “Toby Chalmers can’t get away with this,” “We’ll stomp that child rapist to mush,” “Stalkers don’t belong in our country,” and myriad variations.

This smirking sack of pudge actually thinks that I visited him? Toby wondered. He thinks that I abducted his strange, hairy-faced nephew? Do I have a lookalike out there? Nah, Joe must be fabricating this story, for attention. Where’s this asshole live, anyway?

A quick internet search revealed that Joseph McCarthy Jr. and Transylvoria were based in Georgia. That’s like three states over. No wonder the cops haven’t bothered me yet. Will they, though, sometime soon? Do the posts of social media jackals carry much clout with authorities? I doubt that there are many Transylvoria fans with badges, but how can I be sure?

Whatever the case, I can’t keep letting this lit scene fascist take shots at me. People incapable of writing horror fiction don’t deserve to control it. No one does. Art should always, always, always evolve unrestrained, and have its existence acknowledged. I’m gonna have to kick this loser’s ass, aren’t I?

Grinning at the thought of Joseph McCarthy Jr.’s mouth imploding under a clenched fist, at watching that slanderous scumfuck writhing on the ground, choking on his own teeth shards, Toby navigated Transylvoria’s website.

“Holy mackerel,” he soon exclaimed. “Transylvoria’s Media Outreach Luncheon—whatever the fuck that is—is just a couple of weeks away. Joe is signing autographs there and everything.”

Perhaps I can’t fight cancel culture as a whole, Toby thought, but I can at least hurt this malefactor, this prime pile of dog shit. How satisfying will that be? I can wear a disguise and devise an escape route. If I do happen to get caught, assault’s just a misdemeanor anyway. Totally worth it.

He flexed his fingers and stretched. A mad impetus had seized him. I’ll start a literary blog under a false name on a free site and whip up a dozen quick reviews, he thought. That oughta get me through the luncheon’s registration page. Their website doesn’t take payments, so I’ll pay the fifty bucks there, in cash. I can do this. I’ve gotta do this. Fuck Joseph McCarthy Jr.

[rashid565]

📊 The Impact of Retail Software on Modern Business Strategies🏬💼 A Comprehensive Overview 

In the present day fast-paced international, e-commerce has ended up an integral a part of retail, permitting agencies to attain customers everywhere, every time. 

However, with this comfort comes the project of coping with more than one element of your commercial enterprise efficiently, from monitoring stock to processing income and analyzing client statistics.  

For e-trade outlets, investing in the proper software program isn't simply an alternative, it’s a need to live aggressive in the current market. 

But what precisely is software, and how can it assist you as an e-trade store? Let’s discover the significance of this software, particularly the billing software program for retail stores, retail POS software program and retail POS structures and how they can rework your e-commerce operations. 

✅Understanding Retail Software 

Retail software is a good-sized time that encompasses various sorts of programs designed to manipulate and optimize retail operations. Whether you’re an internet-only retailer or run an e-alternate and a bodily save, software can assist streamline approaches like inventory manage, customer relationship control, Quick Billing, and sales tracking. The proper software program will help you scale your operations as your organization grows, lessen human errors, and provide a progressed purchaser experience. 

✅Why is Retail Software Important for E-Commerce Retailers? 

E-commerce is unexpectedly developing, and purchase expectancies are better than ever. With this software program, you may: 

Automate tactics: Retail software seems after repetitive responsibilities like generating invoices and tracking inventory degrees, liberating you to cognizance on strategic increase. 

Improve consumer revel in: With quicker checkouts and actual-time stock updates, customers can hold with self-assurance the know-how that what they see is what’s available. 

Reduce errors: Manual statistics access is liable to errors. Retail software program software reduces this danger by way of automating information series and input. 

Integrate with extraordinary systems: Many software program software solutions can be included with e-alternate systems, helping you manipulate all factors of your commercial enterprise from a single dashboard. 

For e-trade stores, these benefits translate into smoother operations, happier customers, and greater time to attention on developing your commercial enterprise. 

Billing Software for Retail Shops: The Heart of Seamless Transactions are 

One of the core components of any retail software answer is billing software for retail shops. E-trade shops no matter their online presence nonetheless want green billing software program to method bills, generate invoices, and control taxes. This is specifically vital when increasing offline sales or coping with complicated tax policies across areas. 

✅With billing software, you may: 

Generate correct invoices speedily: No greater guide calculations or overlooked info. Billing software ensures your invoices are error-free. 

 Track bills and transactions: Easily keep tune of what’s paid, pending, or past due. 

Ensure compliance: Many billing software program structures are designed that will help you stay compliant with neighborhood tax laws, lowering the threat of fines. 

For e-commerce stores imparting a clean, secure, and quick billing technique, this helps build agree with with clients, leading to copy enterprise and tremendous phrase-of-mouth. 

Retail POS Software: The Backbone of Multichannel Retailing If you use both online and offline channels; retail POS software is important for keeping your commercial enterprise running easily. Retail POS (Point of Sale) software is the machine used to process transactions and manage sales in body shops. 

For e-trade stores who also have a brick-and-mortar presence, integrating POS software program with your e-commerce platform guarantees that you have a unified view of your enterprise. 

✅With retail POS software program, you may: 

Synchronize inventory: Whether a product is bought online or in-store, retail POS software program ensures your stock is updated in actual-time, keeping off stockouts and overselling. 

Offer flexible charge alternatives: Modern POS software program helps with a couple of payment methods, ensuring a continuing level in for your clients. 

Analyze income records: Gain insights into your nice-selling products, busiest instances, and purchaser alternatives, assisting you make knowledgeable commercial enterprise selections. 

In essence, retail POS software ensures that your on-line and offline operations are incorporated, providing an unbroken enjoyment for each of your staff and clients. 

✅Choosing the Right Retail Software for Your E-Commerce Business 

Selecting the fine software program for your e-trade depends on your desires. Are you trying to streamline billing, integrate inventory throughout more than one income channel, or advantage insights into client conduct? Understanding those needs will help you select the proper software program for your enterprise. 

✅When selecting retail software program, do not forget: 

Scalability: As your commercial enterprise grows, your software needs to be developed with you 

Ease of use: The software needs to be smooth for your group to analyze and use. 

Customer aid: opt for software providers that provide dependable customer service in case you run into issues. 

Integration talents: Ensure that your software program integrates nicely together with your e-commerce platform, payment gateways, and other equipment you rely upon. 

Conclusion 

Investing in the right retail software, consisting of billing software for retail stores and retail POS software program is critical for e-commerce outlets looking to live aggressive.  

These tools now not most effective simplify operations however also enhance patron pleasure, giving you greater time and sources to attention on what topics most—growing your business. 

FAQs on Retail Software: - 

1.How does retail software improve enterprise performance? 

Retail software automates obligations like inventory management, sales tracking, and patron facts series, helping agencies save time and reduce errors.  

2. How does retail software affect patron experience? 

With functions like customized recommendations, faster checkouts, and loyalty packages, retail software enables corporations to offer a better buying enjoy.   

3. Can retail software help with enterprise decision-making? 

Yes, retail software programs afford real-time insights and reports on income trends, customer alternatives, and stock levels.  

4. How does retail software support commercial enterprise boom? 

By streamlining operations and enhancing patron interactions, retail software programs allow corporations to scale greater effectively.  

[pradeep-45]

➡️The Impact of Retail Software on Modern Business Strategies: A Comprehensive Overview: - 

Retail Software

In the present day fast-paced international, e-commerce has ended up an integral a part of retail, permitting agencies to attain customers everywhere, every time. 

 However, with this comfort comes the project of coping with more than one element of your commercial enterprise efficiently, from monitoring stock to processing income and analyzing client statistics.  

For e-trade outlets, investing in the proper software program isn't simply an alternative, it’s a need to live aggressive in the current market. 

But what precisely is software, and how can it assist you as an e-trade store? Let’s discover the significance of this software, particularly the billing software program for retail stores, retail POS software program and retail POS structures and how they can rework your e-commerce operations. 

➡️Understanding Retail Software 

Retail software is a good-sized time that encompasses various sorts of programs designed to manipulate and optimize retail operations. Whether you’re an internet-only retailer or run an e-alternate and a bodily save, software can assist streamline approaches like inventory manage, customer relationship control, Quick Billing, and sales tracking.

The proper software program will help you scale your operations as your organization grows, lessen human errors, and provide a progressed purchaser experience. 

➡️Why is Retail Software Important for E-Commerce Retailers? 

E-commerce is unexpectedly developing, and purchase expectancies are better than ever. With this software program, you may: 

Automate tactics: Retail software seems after repetitive responsibilities like generating invoices and tracking inventory degrees, liberating you to cognizance on strategic increase. 

Improve consumer revel in: With quicker checkouts and actual-time stock updates, customers can hold with self-assurance the know-how that what they see is what’s available. 

Reduce errors: Manual statistics access is liable to errors. Retail software program software reduces this danger by way of automating information series and input. 

Integrate with extraordinary systems: Many software program software solutions can be included with e-alternate systems, helping you manipulate all factors of your commercial enterprise from a single dashboard. 

For e-trade stores, these benefits translate into smoother operations, happier customers, and greater time to attention on developing your commercial enterprise. 

Billing Software for Retail Shops: The Heart of Seamless Transactions are 

One of the core components of any retail software answer is billing software for retail shops. E-trade shops no matter their online presence nonetheless want green billing software program to method bills, generate invoices, and control taxes. This is specifically vital when increasing offline sales or coping with complicated tax policies across areas. 

 ➡️With billing software, you may: 

Generate correct invoices speedily: No greater guide calculations or overlooked info. Billing software ensures your invoices are error-free. 

Track bills and transactions: Easily keep tune of what’s paid, pending, or past due. 

Ensure compliance: Many billing software program structures are designed that will help you stay compliant with neighborhood tax laws, lowering the threat of fines. 

For e-commerce stores imparting a clean, secure, and quick billing technique, this helps build agree with with clients, leading to copy enterprise and tremendous phrase-of-mouth. 

➡️Retail POS Software: The Backbone of Multichannel Retailing:-

If you use both online and offline channels; retail POS software is important for keeping your commercial enterprise running easily. Retail POS (Point of Sale) software is the machine used to process transactions and manage sales in body shops. 

For e-trade stores who also have a brick-and-mortar presence, integrating POS software program with your e-commerce platform guarantees that you have a unified view of your enterprise. 

➡️With retail POS software program, you may: 

Synchronize inventory: Whether a product is bought online or in-store, retail POS software program ensures your stock is updated in actual-time, keeping off stockouts and overselling. 

Offer flexible charge alternatives: Modern POS software program helps with a couple of payment methods, ensuring a continuing level in for your clients. 

Analyze income records: Gain insights into your nice-selling products, busiest instances, and purchaser alternatives, assisting you make knowledgeable commercial enterprise selections. 

In essence, retail POS software ensures that your on-line and offline operations are incorporated, providing an unbroken enjoyment for each of your staff and clients. 

➡️Choosing the Right Retail Software for Your E-Commerce Business 

Selecting the fine software program for your e-trade depends on your desires. Are you trying to streamline billing, integrate inventory throughout more than one income channel, or advantage insights into client conduct? Understanding those needs will help you select the proper software program for your enterprise. 

➡️When selecting retail software program, do not forget: 

Scalability: As your commercial enterprise grows, your software needs to be developed with you 

Ease of use: The software needs to be smooth for your group to analyze and use. 

Customer aid: opt for software providers that provide dependable customer service in case you run into issues. 

Integration talents: Ensure that your software program integrates nicely together with your e-commerce platform, payment gateways, and other equipment you rely upon. 

➡️Conclusion:- 

Investing in the right retail software, consisting of billing software for retail stores and retail POS software program is critical for e-commerce outlets looking to live aggressive.  

These tools now not most effective simplify operations however also enhance patron pleasure, giving you greater time and sources to attention on what topics most—growing your business. 

➡️FAQs on Retail Software: - 

1.How does retail software improve enterprise performance? 

Retail software automates obligations like inventory management, sales tracking, and patron facts series, helping agencies save time and reduce errors.  

2. How does retail software affect patron experience? 

With functions like customized recommendations, faster checkouts, and loyalty packages, retail software enables corporations to offer a better buying enjoy.   

3. Can retail software help with enterprise decision-making? 

Yes, retail software programs afford real-time insights and reports on income trends, customer alternatives, and stock levels.  

4. How does retail software support commercial enterprise boom? 

By streamlining operations and enhancing patron interactions, retail software programs allow corporations to scale greater effectively.  

[lesewut]

An Homage to education:

School was a place of peace for my childish soul. Escaping the circus at home like a violated animal, school was a place of routine, where rules applied and the day was given structure. At school, I forgot the nightly tears and the daily abuse. At school, the bumps on my head no longer hurt, my sore skin cooled down during the breaks when the wind kissed my face as I ran. My homework was so easy that I finished it while playing. Without having to study at home, I was top of the class. ‘My greatest wish is to go to university,’ was drilled into me as a toddler and every year when I blew out the candles, I wished for something whose meaning I couldn't even grasp. No one really explained to me what university was, but I knew it was a place of knowledge. Education is seen as the key that unlocks the upper bars of society. And the guardians and keepers of this key are the teachers who are able to impart knowledge to the children.

Teachers and scholars seem to be surrounded by a kind of magic in the worlds of the Dustborn, who come from economically weak regions. ‘Learn, my child, so that later you don't have to work that hard like we do.’ These families say. They see better opportunities and chances for their future lives in a better education.

I was eager to learn and I absorbed it like a sponge, almost unconsciously filling my cup. Reading and writing was what I enjoyed the most, but before I could put my first letters together to form words, I looked at the black letters in the storybooks our mum read to us and saw messages on large posters, clothes and wherever else that I would soon decipher myself. ‘Will I be able to read in a year's time?’ I wondered, looking forward to the new side of life that might open up to me. In Turkish, the literal translation for 'intellectual' is ‘he/she has read’ (okumus). My primary school teacher was able to increase my love of books through her passion. Magazines regularly wafted into the classroom, presenting numerous books and offering them for sale. I can't say exactly when I started devouring a book every day, but as reading and books symbolised education, my parents gave me every book I ticked and when the big parcel arrived, nobody had ordered as many books as me. Together with my schoolmates, we looked through the large and illustrated non-fiction books (at that time I mainly read crime and thriller novels, and I have all the German translations of the Fear Street series - but in the magazines there were no such books...) and my heart was filled with joy! Soon I will be able to take my treasures home and look at every page at my leisure!

The teacher is the mediator of knowledge, but he is also the link between the state and the people. Mothers and fathers have the duty of care and supervision, but the educational task falls to this function in particular. In my parents' homeland, the profession of teacher is almost sacred, there are numerous songs of praise and in Islam, acquiring knowledge is a basic prerequisite for refining one's ego (not to forget the general symbolic meaning of the teacher and the teaching itself, always a metaphor for uplifting the human-being in means of reason and virtue). There were many moments in Aitmatov's book that reminded me of the love and gratitude I cherish for some very special teachers. It is a blessing when potential is recognised and nurtured, but it is also a gift for the child to have a place of self-discovery outside the home.

[kundlimodern]

Sustainability Initiatives at The Modern School, ECNCR-Delhi

At The Modern School, ECNCR-Delhi, we believe in nurturing not just the minds of our students but also their hearts and spirits. As part of our holistic education approach, we emphasise the importance of environmental stewardship and sustainability. Top CBSE school in  delhi Through various events and activities, we aim to instil a sense of responsibility and love for the environment in our students. Here are some recent initiatives that highlight our commitment to sustainability.

Tree Plantation Activity

On April 22, 2024, our students from classes 3 to 5 participated in a vibrant Tree Plantation Activity to celebrate Earth Day. This event was designed to cultivate a love for nature and highlight the significance of environmental conservation.

Classes 3 and 4: Students engaged in a hands-on activity where they planted seeds in small pots. This experience allowed them to feel the joy of nurturing new life and understand the role of plants in our ecosystem.

Class 5: Students conducted research on native plants specific to their communities. They presented their findings through creative visual aids and developed plans to promote the growth of these plants. Best modern schools in delhi This research emphasised the importance of preserving native species for habitat conservation and environmental sustainability.

This activity not only raised awareness about the importance of protecting nature but also empowered students to take active roles in environmental conservation.

Earth Day Assembly

"The earth does not belong to us. We belong to the earth."

On April 18, 2024, we held a special Earth Day assembly to foster awareness about environmental conservation. The assembly featured a series of thoughtful and inspiring presentations by our students.

Prisha Singh (P4): She delivered a reflection on the significance of Earth Day, highlighting the interconnectedness of all living beings and the necessity of preserving our planet for future generations.

Bissman (S4A): He shared the latest news, emphasising environmental issues and initiatives.

Shiven (S5): He gave an insightful talk on Earth Day, stressing the impact of human activities on the environment and sharing practical tips for sustainable living.

Tejas Mishra (P5): He presented a beautifully crafted poem celebrating the wonders of nature and the importance of environmental stewardship.

Anuska: She captivated the audience with a heartfelt song dedicated to Mother Earth, delivering a powerful message about the beauty and fragility of our planet.

The Earth Day assembly was a meaningful event that highlighted the importance of environmental awareness and encouraged students to take action to protect our planet.

"Har Haath Kitaab" - Inch Paper Recycling Workshop

On May 6, 2024, our Interact Club organized a workshop on paper recycling titled "Har Haath Kitaab." The workshop aimed to raise awareness about the effective utilisation of used paper and the importance of recycling.

Conducted by Mr. Pulak Aggarwal: The CEO of Inch Paper Pvt. Limited, Mr. Aggarwal, shared his expertise on the recycling process. Best private schools  in delhi He explained how Inch Paper transforms used paper into free notebooks for underprivileged individuals, emphasising the importance of sustainable practices.

Volunteer Participation: The workshop was attended by 40 volunteers from the Interact Club and IAYP Club. Students learned about the meticulous process of cutting and recycling used paper into unruled white sheets. This workshop effectively conveyed the significance of sustainability and resource conservation, imparting practical knowledge on recycling procedures and their environmental impact.

Conclusion

At The Modern School, ECNCR-Delhi, we are dedicated to creating a sustainable future.  CBSE  schools in delhi NCR Through these activities and initiatives, we aim to inspire our students to become environmentally conscious individuals who actively contribute to the preservation of our planet. Together, we can make a difference and ensure a greener, healthier world for future generations.