#for context. i work with a student magazine

[cheshirewrites]

Your work does not need to be perfect!

First drafts and editing and beta readers exist for a reason!! It is okay if you make mistakes!! It's even okay if you write something for fun, and don't have a deeper meaning behind writing it!

So-called "imperfections" do not define you as a writer!!

[mochinomnoms]

I had some thoughts during work and I'm writing this first thing after lol.

First off, the piercing thing (punk Jade my beloved). I headcannon him with so many piercings lol.

Also, a (as far as i'm aware) popular headcanon is trans fem Jade. My personal headcannons tend to shift based on the context, but i'm rather fond of both he/they and she/they Jade. I just really like the image of Jade in huge cozy sweaters and long skirts. I was just kind of curious on your thoughts about it, if you have any lol.

As always, have an amazing day and an amazing weekend! <3

-🦷

Gender is much more fluid under the sea due to the nature of merfolk and sea creatures. A good portion of merfolk can change their sex if they're not already hermaphrodites, which a surprising amount of them are. The octotrio stick with he/him pronouns because they noticed that it's what most humans who share features with them use. They're impartial to what pronouns they use, but there was a time when Jade and Floyd referred to each other as she/they and as 'sisters' in front of a bunch of students. They just wanted to laugh at the panic they caused the other students for thinking they misgendered some of the two scariest people in school.

They thought it was funny, though Azul did clear up with some of his own dorm's students that the twins, and he didn't care how they were referred to.

Some of their classmates are still scared and exclusively use they/them pronouns for the twins in case it's secretly a joke.

I like to think that Jade tends to stick with his current manner of dress because it's what's expected by humans. But dresses and skirts, especially the long flowy ones, are much more comfortable. More room, not tight, not restrictive. Moving from wearing, really, no clothes to tight, restrictive clothing, is fairly uncomfortable.

When you and him get close together, you two sometimes go out to the town and just walk around and window-shop. It's mostly for you to get more familiar with this world, but Jade likes you, so he comes along.

It's fall when a plush, flowy outfit at one of the boutique stores catches his eye. It's soft, a warm color, and of course very cozy. The skirt is also embroidered with mushrooms, which is a bonus.

You notice him staring, and ask, "Do you wanna try it?"

Jade's surprised at the suggestion, but nods and invites you to try something on with him. He finds himself surprisingly enjoying the comfort of the outfit. The skirt is long and flowy, it reminds him of fins, and the sweater is cozy, though a bit hot for him.

He only really has the clothes that NRC provided him and some clothes he and Floyd bought together after looking at men's fashion magazines and in the men's sections of stores. It's hindsight that neither of them bothered to look at the other sections because this what was expected, but Jade might find himself adding a few more pieces to his normal wardrobe.

[violetasteracademic]

On Being a Published Writer: Without a Degree

This is a bit of a vulnerable share today, and I am writing it after a sleepless night, the monster of anxiety and shame weighing heavily on my chest. However, I have come far in life and undergone an incredible amount of healing, and refuse to be ashamed of my past. I hope sharing this can help even one person like me remember that when it comes to craft, when it comes to art, the only thing stopping you from being worthy is you.

This year, I became a published writer. After years of hard work and dedication to my craft, I finally felt good enough to begin submitting my work to literary magazines. I'm proud of that accomplishment. It's a little tag I get to add to my bio now as I submit work that helps make me feel *valid.* But that quickly, all it takes is for someone to remind me that I did not have access to a degree, that I did not learn from the best, and I will spend the rest of my life without a formal education behind my writing, and they achieve the goal they set out: to make me feel less than for not having their background.

In America, the education system is for profit and public school system inconsistent. There are many factors that can contribute to whether or not a person gets through it successfully, and it often has little to do with intelligence, work ethic, or strength of character and drive before the age of 18.

So here is my story:

I graduated high school with a 2.1 GPA.

My first hospitalization (out of the 17 I would have in my life) for edometriomas happened at age 15. I spent the majority of high school struggling with chronic pain, stage four endometriosis and the accompanying endometriomas cysts, and illness. By age 16, social services was threatened by my school to be called on my home for suspected neglect and abuse. I moved out of my house that year, and was given temporary guardianship by a friends family.

By the end of my senior year, I continued to bounce around between friends houses, sometimes sleeping in my car, and struggled to keep on top of my coursework. I was enrolled in the work study program designed for students who had to keep a job during their high school years, and earned school credits for staying employed.

Despite all of this, I still maintained high grades in Advance Placement literature and language, proceeded to get 5's on my AP tests (a perfect score, and a rare accomplishment) as well as near perfect scores on my ACT's. I spent every spare second reading and writing from the moment I learned how. My intelligence and comprehension were not the issue. My health and my home life were.

The only reason I got into college at all was because I decided to audition for a school play freshman year. Much to my surprise, I was cast in the lead role, and thus the course of my life was set. I poured everything I had into acting, I finally had a purpose and something to keep me out of having to go home after school. Still, applying for colleges was one of the most stressful and shame inducing experiences of my life. I got into many top performance programs in the country, then would not get into the university itself with my GPA. The conservatories that did not look into school performance did not provide the financial assistance required for me to attend.

There was one university that offered limited talent admissions that would allow the university admission requirements to be overlooked for students that had displayed exceptional talent in their specialized field of study. I had to put together a request for the school board, complete with letters from my high school teachers providing context for my low GPA paired with high test scores, character assessments on my likely ability to maintain the minimum required GPA in college, as well as a letter from the head of the performing arts department of the university stating that I was worthy of this talent exception. The wait was unbearable. But I was accepted. And I was approved for the work study program that allowed me to gain employment at the university to help offset the cost.

I felt like my whole life had changed in college. I had gotten in. I had gotten out. I was a new person, no one knowing about my past or the stain of my struggles. I had a fresh start. While I continued to battle my illness throughout college, it was manageable with a consistent bed to sleep in every night, as well as access to physical and mental health services. And although I tested out of being required to take any English classes with AP, I still filled my elective credits with writing classes. Screenwriting, playwriting, poetry, creative writing. Performing became my work, and writing became my joy. I took every class that sounded remotely interesting, often filling my schedule more than required on top of my work and performance load.

I am withholding some of the more personal details of my life, but when I finally moved out to LA, I hit the ground running. I accomplished more in a few years than fellow artists and performers who had been out there for more than a decade. And I valued every person I met. I was in small, independent theatre shows with Juliard grads. I was on professional sets with wildly naturally talented people working to get their GED with no formal education but that undeniable *it* factor. People from all walks of life set out for the Angel City to make it, and I was one of them. I also began writing again, this time short films and audition monologues. I began writing pieces for friends and classmates at their request. I secured my first talent agent with a performance piece that I wrote, along with an offer to renegotiate my contract to include literary representation should I complete a script worth shopping. I began to organize applications for writing fellowships at top studios, when my condition became so severe the only option to move forward with my life was surgery. And then my life completely changed again.

I came out of that surgery with nerve damage that left me unable to walk for six months, as well as developed a new permanent nervous system disorder.

My career and my life never recovered. I was permanently changed. However, during that time, I turned one of my sci-fi short films I had written into a 160k word novel, with outlines for a trilogy. While it was one of the darkest times of my life, writing got me through it. I moved out of Los Angeles to a more affordable city and threw myself into writing. I learned that ivy league schools like Stanford, Harvard, and Yale shared their syllabi for continued study coursework online, including the required textbooks for the courses. Example here. I took myself through the textbooks and coursework of top schools, I took every local workshop possible when it was in budget. Any education on craft that was within my means, I reached for.

I will never be able to change the course of my life. I will likely never be able to go back to school. However, this amazing video by Bandon Sanderson helped me overcome my shame, my lack of access to returning to higher education when my life and career were irrevocably changed: Be Anything But an English Major

I had already done what he had encouraged, pick a subject I was passionate about, fill my college coursework with things I found interesting, and let it inform my writing. While this is not to disrespect or degrade English majors or say successful authors think the degree is worthless, I am simply sharing to say this video helped ME combat against English majors who made me feel worthless for not having access to their diploma.

So to anyone feeling insecure today, you do not need a degree in the arts. Whether you want to be an author, an actor, a painter, a fashion designer, a poet. And I say this as someone whose greatest privilege and joy in life was getting a performing arts degree.

We must continue to prioritize art being accessible, value diverse backgrounds, and wish for it to be open and available to all. We must continue to treat art as subjective, and reject ideals that learning from a certain set of paid individuals makes all other opinions, choices, or ideas invalid.

There is no dollar amount I could give to a piece of paper that would make my mind, my intelligence, and my ability to organize and understand words in an impactful way that would make me more valid than I am today. There is no degree that could replace my work ethic, my empathy, my desire to write stories to do good. To give something to the world and help people survive in the ways that I had needed to survive.

Maybe I'll tell this story again one day, and it will help another young person with my background believe there may be more in life than the cards they were dealt. Maybe this will be the first and last time sharing these words. Maybe I'll never get another piece published, but will continue to write fanfic and poetry and prose pieces to share on the internet for free because I believe in my heart it is valuable. To look at myself, and my work, and deem myself worthy of my efforts and passion.

I am proud to be a member of the community of published writers without a degree.

I am even more proud to be a member of online fandoms full of writers, artists, creators, contributors and more who give their free time and energy towards something that does nothing more than make others happy.

So,

to the people who look at the stars and wish.

to the stars who listen— and the dreams that are answered,

this one is for you.

[deliciousangelfestival]

My Problematic Girl - 12

Character: College!Steve Rogers x Rich!Female Reader

Summary:  Steve's mundane life in university, focused on graduating and funding his mother's surgery, is shaken by a mysterious new student who brings danger and surprises.

Author's Note: I decided to stop using "Y/N." Starting from this chapter, I will use the second-person point of view instead.

My Problematic Girl - Series Masterlist

Main Masterlist || support: Ko-fi

Thank you to anyone who gave a like, reblog, and left a comment. It motivated me to write more.

Your heart was beating fast as you approached Maximus, the patriarch of the Solomon family and the man who held the key to uncovering the truth about your mother's death.

Maximus, sitting in his wheelchair like a king on his throne, smiled at you. But you knew there was a hidden meaning behind that smile.

“You’ve made your way back. I’m impressed,” he said.

You bowed deeply. “I will do anything to impress the king.”

“Hahaha.” His laughter echoed through the grand hall, drawing the attention of the guests. Even those who had worked with Maximus for years rarely heard him laugh.

But you, the outsider who was thrown out for staining the Solomon name, were welcomed back.

Your father, Brian, stood nearby. His expression was neutral, but you could tell he was impressed that you had managed to gain Maximus's favor. He just hoped you wouldn't mess up this chance again.

Shara, your step-sister with no blood relation to you, stood between her grandfather and your father. To outsiders, she looked like your father's daughter. She had successfully stolen your father's affection, and you had willingly let her. She smiled at you. “Our house felt empty without you.”

You returned her smile with a fake one. “Hmph.”

This was the first time Steve had seen your step-sister. The difference between the two of you was like fire and water.

“It’s exciting, right? I heard the battle of succession will happen soon.” Steve nearly jumped when someone suddenly spoke to him.

“Why do you act like you’ve seen a ghost?” The stranger laughed. “My name is Derick. I saw you talking to Sophia. Does your company work with her?”

Steve quickly tried to remember the guest information you had given him. Derick was an elite from a wealthy family who owned an oil company.

“She’s interested in my painting,” Steve replied.

Derick gasped and covered his mouth with his hand in mock surprise. “Oh shit. You’re that painter.” He tilted his head, a mocking smile on his face. “So you’re just extra baggage, huh?” Then he walked away.

Steve didn’t know whether to feel offended or not. He wasn’t entirely sure what 'extra baggage' meant in this context.

'Ding.'

A small ring from the butler's bell silenced the room, drawing everyone's attention. “The dining room is ready for the guests,” he announced.

The guests began to make their way slowly toward the dining room. Steve hesitated, unsure if there was a seat prepared for him.

“Steve,” you called, nodding your head for him to follow you.

The dining room was immense, decorated with the opulence of a five-star French hotel. The elegant table settings and luxurious interior reminded Steve of scenes from the magazines he used for drawing references. It felt like a feast fit for a king.

Now, he regretted following you. He was seated beside you, directly in the circle of the Solomon family. He felt terrified, especially under the scrutinizing gaze of Maximus. The intensity of it made him want to crawl under the table.

“So you’re the new rising artist?” Maximus asked, his voice cutting through the chatter.

“Yes… sir,” Steve replied, his voice trembling. His nervousness almost made Sophia and Shara chuckle.

“You found an obedient pet,” Maximus remarked to you. You sipped your champagne before responding, “I need something to rid me of my boredom.”

Steve rolled his eyes. The conversation between you and Maximus sounded almost familial. Despite the initial fear, he started to see Maximus not as a terrifying patriarch but as an old man with a sharp tongue and a certain charm.

But Steve spoke too soon. He soon saw the true nature of Maximus—a sadistic man.

When the food arrived, everyone began eating except for Maximus. He never moved his hands from the armrests of his wheelchair. Three servants attended to him: one cutting his food, one feeding him, and one providing water whenever he asked for it.

“Water,” Maximus demanded. If the servant was too slow, he would slap the glass from their hand and say, “Too late.”

'What the fuck? This old man can use his hands. Why is he acting disabled?' Steve thought, trying to hide his shock. But Maximus could read him easily. His old age had taught him to read people like a book.

“You wonder why?” Maximus asked, his piercing eyes locking onto Steve's.

Steve stiffened, unsure how to respond. He glanced at you for some guidance, but you were calmly sipping your champagne, seemingly unbothered by the tension.

Maximus leaned forward slightly, a cruel smile playing on his lips. “Power, young man. It’s all about power. I don’t need to lift a finger because I’ve trained everyone around me to cater to my every whim. It’s a demonstration of control.”

Steve swallowed hard, nodding slightly. “I see, sir.” The answer is the same as you. Turned out you learned from him. No wonder why you mind fucked up some time.

Maximus chuckled, the sound sending a chill down Steve’s spine. “Do you? It’s not something you see, it’s something you feel. The weight of authority, the expectation of obedience.”

Sophia leaned in, her gaze fixed on Steve. “You must understand, in our world, appearances are everything. Power is maintained not just through actions, but through the perception of those actions.”

Steve nodded again, his mind racing. He could feel the eyes of the entire table on him, judging his every move.

“Eat, Steve,” you said softly, breaking the tension slightly. “Enjoy the food.”

Steve picked up his fork and began to eat, his hands still shaking slightly. The food was exquisite, but he could barely taste it over the anxiety roiling in his stomach.

‘Ding. Ding.’

One of the guests stood up from his seat. Steve recognized him as the country's economic minister. Silently, he marveled that someone of such importance was among the guests. The minister raised his champagne glass, and everyone followed suit. “We’re here to celebrate a genius businessman who has made us all rich.” His remark made the guests laugh. “We wish you a long life, Mr. Solomon.”

Maximus nodded his head and made a hand motion for everyone to sit. He didn’t say a word, yet everyone obeyed him. He was right; money and power could command such respect.

“I did. I made everyone in this room fucking rich,” he said, his voice filled with authority.

Everyone laughed and agreed with him.

“I’m grateful that all of you are here, wishing me a long life. But I have decided to retire,” Maximus announced.

‘Clink.’

A fork fell to the ground, the sound echoing in the room. Silence followed as everyone processed the announcement. Even Sophia, Brian, Shara, and you were shocked; Maximus had never mentioned retiring.

“Father…” Sophia tried to intervene.

“Be quiet, Sophia. I’m trying to talk here.” Maximus slapped her hand away, embarrassing her but remaining unfazed.

“Everything changes as I grow older. My generation is slowly dying, and the new generation must take over,” he continued.

The guests started murmuring. ‘What does it mean?’

‘Is he going to give the company to Sophia or Shara?’

“There are two people I see as my future heir. Shara, my granddaughter.” Maximus looked at Shara, who turned pale, anticipating the next words her grandfather would say.

“And my step-granddaughter, Y/N,” he declared.

The room erupted in noise. Everyone began talking at once. He skipped his daughter Sophia from the list and chose his granddaughter instead. Sophia turned pale as snow, her father not even considering her worth it.

“Sir, you’re going to give the company to someone not related to you?” one of the guests asked.

“It’s my fucking company. I can do whatever I want,” Maximus screamed, punching the table.

Steve flinched, realizing just how terrifying the old man could be.

“Besides… she has my blood,” Maximus revealed, dropping a bombshell.

You looked at him, confusion and questions etched on your face. What was he talking about?

Maximus smiled at you. “Eight years ago, when you needed a blood transfusion, I gave you my blood. So my blood is running through your veins right now.” He said it like he gave you a wonderful gift.

You were shocked, looking down at your arms. You had no idea. Confusion and disgust washed over you at the thought of having Solomon's blood.

Brian glared at his father-in-law. “You’re a prick.”

Maximus smirked. He slowly stood up from his wheelchair and opened his arms wide. “Like a king in the old days, he would choose a successor from his descendants. He would pick the best.”

Shara gasped, unable to believe her grandfather was serious. She looked at you, who was smiling at her like a joker. You were excited for this. You couldn’t wait to bring down this kingdom.

“Let the battle for succession begin!” Maximus proclaimed.

The tension in the room was palpable. Guests whispered among themselves, their faces a mix of shock and intrigue. Maximus’s declaration had set the stage for a fierce and ruthless competition.

You could feel the adrenaline coursing through your veins. The prospect of this battle excited you, the chance to prove yourself and to upend the established order.

Steve, still reeling from the announcement, tried to maintain his composure. He glanced at you, noticing the fire in your eyes. You were ready for this challenge, ready to face whatever came your way.

Maximus returned to his wheelchair, his eyes gleaming with satisfaction. “This will be a test of strength, intelligence, and loyalty. Only the best will inherit my empire.”

Sophia and Brian exchanged worried glances while Shara’s face twisted in fear. The room buzzed with anticipation, the air thick with unspoken rivalries and ambitions.

The murmurs of the guests could be heard, expressing a preference for you instead because you already have experience and started from the bottom, while Shara is still learning to become a doctor.

The guests couldn’t stop discussing the impending battle as the evening continued. You and Steve found yourselves at the center of attention, every move scrutinized, every word analyzed.

Maximus watched from his wheelchair, a satisfied smile playing on his lips. He had set the stage for a power struggle that would test the limits of everyone involved.

The night ended with a sense of foreboding and excitement. The real game was about to begin, and in the world of the Solomons, only the strongest would survive.

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Author Note: Hey friends,

If you've been enjoying the content, I've set up a Ko-fi account.

Your support through tips would mean the world and help me keep creating.

Only if you feel like it!

Here's the link: Ko-fi

Thanks a bunch for being fabulous followers!

[bargainoriley]

Here’s something I’ve been translating on and off for the past week or so! I was looking at old German youth magazines in order to find interesting articles about classic rock bands (specifically Pink Floyd) and came across this in the 01/1978 issue of BRAVO magazine (One of the most famous teen/young adult magazines in Germany that’s been there since 1958 and is still going strong today!) A lot of youth magazines back in the day had articles and posters about rock bands because, well, that’s the people who were celebrities at that time! This page includes both short descriptions of the band members and a short history of the band up until that point when the issue came out! Enjoy ;)

Here’s the original picture

And here is the translation! (Italized text are context comments added by me to add to the understanding of this text!)

Warning: Some of the information here is obviously incorrect!

Pink Floyd: Their profiles

Nick Mason:

Born on the 27th of January 1945 in London, plays drums, has black hair, brown eyes, is 1,72 m tall (for non metric peeps it’s approximately 5 foot 8), is married to Lindy, has two daughters, owns a vineyard and collects old cars (old timers in German means old/vintage cars)

Rick Wright:

Born on the 28th of July 1945 in London, plays the organ/keyboard, piano, cello, and Moog-synthesizer; has blonde hair, blue eyes, is 1, 74 m tall (approximately 5 foot 9), is married to Juliette, has a son named Jamie, and a daughter named Gaia, loves football (or soccer for American peeps)

Roger Waters:

Born on the 6th of September 1944 in Great Bookham near Cambridge, plays bass, Moog-synthesizer, and sings as well; has blonde hair, grey eyes, is 1,83 m tall (approximately 6 feet), is married to Caroline, and has a 15 month old son named Harry.

David Gilmour:

Born on the 6th of March 1946 in Cambridge, plays lead guitar and sings; has brown hair, blue eyes, is 1,78 m tall (approximately 5 foot 10), is married to Ginger, and has a 2 year old daughter named Alice.

The diary/summary of their career; All their albums

1965

The three architecture students Roger Waters, Rick Wright, and Nick Mason meet and get to know each other, establishing the band Sigma 6.

1966

February: Sigma 6 gets their first fee for a performance in the London Marquee Club and mostly cover popular rock and blues songs. During this time they meet art student Syd Barrett. He writes songs and joins the band as a guitarist and singer. Under his influence Sigma 6 evolve into their own music style: The group does electronic experiments and uses spotlights, reversal film, and recorded footage as part of their stage shows. Thus psychedelic music is born. Syd Barrett is as well (psychedelic), who now comes up with new names for the band almost every month — they call themselves “T-Set,“ “Abdabs” — and in this group a girl sings as well from time to time: Juliette Gale. She later marries keyboardist Rick Wright.

June: The group could pay for a band bus for approximately 200 Mark (the German currency at the time of this article), but decide to separate for the time instead. No one is interested in performing, since the boys want to enjoy the semester holidays as well as after them improve and work harder on their studies; music is fun but a real job is more important. Syd Barrett then has a new idea for a band name: The Pink Floyd Sound. He comes up with his idea through combining the names of two American blues singers: Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. The owner of an artist agency, Peter Jenner, sees a performance from The Pink Floyd Sound in the Marquee, and then from there on decides to manage the band, not knowing the band wanted to break up.

July: Peter Jenner gets the band gigs, and thus Pink Floyd stays together.

October: Pink Floyd are now the stars of the London Underground. They perform in the Roundhouse to 2000 fans, with even Paul McCartney being there to see them.

December: On the 23rd of December the UFO club opens, with Pink Floyd performing there daily henceforth.

1967

January: The English music magazine “Melody Maker” write an article about Pink Floyd, which makes record companies curious about the band. The band accepts the best offer, and as they sign the record label contract, they cash in an advance payment of 40 000 Mark.

February: The first single “Arnold Layne” gets recorded.

March: Arnold Layne goes to the English hit charts.

April: The single is on number 20 in the charts and then falls off. But this beginning success gives them the push they needed to record their first album “The Pipers at the Gates of Dawn.“ Norman “Hurricane” Smith serves as producer for this album, and began his career as a recording engineer for the Beatles. While Pink Floyd work on their album in studio 3 of Abbey Road studios, the Beatles work on their album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” at the same time in studio 2; two decade defining groups working next door.

June: Pink Floyd join as a supporting act along with Jimi Hendrix and the Move (runner up band to Electric Light Orchestra) for an England tour, but only get to play 17 minutes.

July: The second single “See Emily Play,“ becomes part of the English hit charts, coming in at number 6, and the first album “The Pipers at the Gates of Dawn” releases.

September: See Emily Play also goes into the German hit charts and reaches number 28. Syd Barrett at this time also creates a speaker system which is still useful today, where the speaker boxes are placed all around the room.

1968

At this time, it is practically impossible for Pink Floyd to continue performing with Syd Barrett. He is more and more off in his own world and mind, often not knowing where he is. Out of necessity, the band thus searches for a second guitarist who could join the band.

February: David Gilmour joins Pink Floyd. Syd is still part of the band, but during concerts his amps are often not even turned on, so that the audience doesn’t know any better about his mistakes.

April: On the 6th of April Syd definitively leaves the band, with manager Peter Jenner going with him. Pink Floyd begin working on their second album “A Saucerful of Secrets.“

June: At a free open air concert on the 29th in the London Hyde Park the band officially announces and debuts David Gilmour as their new lead (and only) guitarist. On the same day the new album releases as well.

1969

July: The soundtrack album Pink Floyd worked on for the film “More,” releases.

October: Pink Floyd have their first concert in Germany on the 11th of October at the Pop and Blues Festival in the Essen Grugahalle venue. On this day, Deep Purple celebrate their first concert in Germany as well.

November: The double album “Ummagumma” releases and makes the group successful worldwide for the first time.

1970

March: The soundtrack album Pink Floyd worked on for the film “Zabriskie Point” releases.

June: Pink Floyd perform the title track of their upcoming new album “Atom Heart Mother” worldwide at open air festivals with recorded footage, dry ice fog, and light bombs as part of their special effects on stage.

October: The album “Atom Heart Mother” releases and leads the album charts in England and America.

1971

The album “Meddle” comes out. This year Pink Floyd is particularly busy; they go from one concert to the next and have multiple tours worldwide.

1972

The soundtrack album Pink Floyd worked on for the film “La Vallée” releases under the title “Obscured by Clouds” as their new album. The rest of the year the band spends inside the studio.

1973

March: The album “Dark Side of the Moon” releases and is on the English and American album charts for over two years, and also goes gold in Germany. It is to this day the band’s most sold album.

October: Pink Floyd perform their last German concert for a long time on the 12th of October at the Olympiahalle in Munich, and it becomes the sensation of the year. Pink Floyd also make their way into the English and German single charts again with the single “Money.”

1974

Pink Floyd are tired of success and go back to their private family lives, with rumors appearing that the group will break up. In autumn, the double album “A nice pair” comes out, which is a rerelease of their first two albums.

1975

September: The album “Wish You Were Here” releases.

1976

This year, Pink Floyd doesn’t appear publicly that much as well, except for some performances at festivals.

1977

January: In Dortmund Pink Floyd start their first German tour since 3 years ago on the 23rd. They have 2 concerts each for Dortmund, Frankfurt, and Berlin, with Munich having 3. All concerts were sold out 2 months before the tour started. Simultaneously the 11th album of the band, “Animals” releases. Even before the album released, “Animals” goes gold, with 250 000 records being preordered. This German tour is also the starting point of a months long worldwide tour — the most comprehensive one that Pink Floyd have undertaken yet.

Written originally by: K. E. Siegfried

Translated from German to English by: me! (Vik)

(Btw my source to where I found this is the Internet archive, love that place!)

also here are some pictures that were included in the magazine of the band!

[justrainandcoffee]

Rose and James and the fic that was not.

This was going to be a fic but I was going anywhere with it and then I realised that I can summarise it just adding some bullet points. Because I feel I was adding a loooot of details that helped to understand the context but not helping at all with the plot. I don't know if it makes sense, but it does to me.

So, here you have.

Warnings: None.

In 2008, Rose (20) and James (21) met during a photoshoot session. The magazine where he worked at wanted to show future new fashion designers and the college where Rose was still studying selected some students, including her to show their creations.

It was Friday (around April) and it was a long day, as usual. Full of people, not just both of them but also the models, the make-up artists, the ones in charge of the lights, backgrounds, etc. Yet, they see eachother. And they couldn't stop looking at eachother the whole day.

I mentioned days ago that it wasn't just attraction at first sight, they liked eachother at first sight. Sexually speaking 😂.

Finally they introduced to the other, while everyone stop to eat something. And then they tried to find the most stupid reasons to say something to the other that day. Like a moment James offered her a cup of coffee because he thought she wanted one (Rose hadn't free hands to hold the coffee because she was sewing 🤭)

I always say this and I'm going to keep saying it. Lily James isn't Rose. She has the same smile, same hair, eyes...but Rose isn't that pretty. She's an average looking girl, and that's why she can't understand why someone like James is paying attention to her while around them it's full of gorgeous models. And yet... there he is.

There's a character I added, a friend of him (Sarah. She's his boss -kinda-, but she's a good friend of James and sometimes she acts like a mother -because poor boy his real mother is horrible-) that pushed him to invite Rose to go out because she was getting tired of the eye fucking between them (and she's right)

So he did it and, of course, she accepted.

Everything happened from that moment 😅. They kissed, she went to his apartment to what she believed it was a one night stand. But it happened she stayed there the whole Saturday too and Sunday morning.

And then, on Monday, he waited for her after college and it was when sharing a coffee they started to know each other better and they become friends (with benefits) And like that for a whole month.

That ended in the fic I posted the other day.

(A little additional detail about them is that the models wearing Rose's clothes had the best pictures he took. Because, of course ❤️)

-----

The next fic is almost there (the Christmas one).

[transmutationisms]

so i read the hp lovecraft short stories that the film ‘re-animator’ was based on (internet archive link) and the answer is yes, the source material is openly and deliberately racist, and it is not coincidental or accidental that the film so clearly recalls the history of american medical schools obtaining human cadavers through various deeply unethical means, esp the bodies of enslaved black people in the south. the lovecraft stories were serialised in the magazine ‘home brew’ in 1921–22 and are neither very long nor very good, but a few points of interest stood out to me:

both wikipedia and the encyclopedia britannica attribute the ‘modern’ zombie largely to george romero’s 1960s films; in ‘the undead eighteenth century’, linda troost suggested only that zombies appeared in literature as early as 1967 and were described as spirits or ghosts, not cannibalistic monsters. however, although lovecraft never uses the word “zombie” in “herbert west—reanimator”, i think it is fair to draw a clear connection from the haitian mythology to his story of reanimated, violent, cannibalistic bodies. because lovecraft was simultaneously satirising and paying tribute to “frankenstein”, the anxieties in the stories centre around the narrator’s discomfort with west’s materialist view of life, his fanatical devotion to scientific experiment, and the idea that living matter is only distinguished by accidents of matter and function, rather than by the operation of a divinely given soul. thus, when the narrator describes the outcomes of his and west’s experiments as “unthinkable automata” (30) we ought to understand this as a relatively early (again, these stories ran between 1921 and 22) example of american literature invoking the haitian zombie to work out a strikingly different set of social anxieties than enslaved africans in haiti did. in lovecraft’s stories, then, the medical students’ literal reanimations of stolen (sometimes murdered) bodies are almost themselves symbolic of lovecraft’s own deployment of the zombie myth, transposed into the context of debates about materialism, vitalism, and the nature of life and consciousness.

speaking of the cannibalism, yes, it is racialised. although the re-animated bodies exist largely out of view of either the narrator or west, and thus we cannot say for sure what they are or aren’t eating, the confirmed act of cannibalism is specifically attributed to a black re-animated man described as “gorilla-like ... [with] a face that conjured up thoughts of unspeakable congo secrets and tom-tom poundings under an eerie moon” (14) and later “a glassy-eyed, ink-black apparition nearly on all fours, covered with bits of mould, leaves, and vines, foul with caked blood” (16–17). this is the scene in which he is discovered eating a white infant: “a snow-white, terrible, cylindrical object terminating in a tiny hand” (17). he is consistently referred to as “cannibalistic” throughout the rest of the story, emphasised to be violent and dangerous. he, along with the other re-animated people, eventually joins a kind of re-animated army led by west’s own former army (wwi) commander, who is now headless (also re-animated); this ‘army’ eventually kills west. thus, west’s body-snatching and literal possession of the stolen bodies are flipped around, as the bodies develop allegiance to one another and then invert west’s violence against them: where he forced them to live again, they directly cause him to die. because this is lovecraft, though, the re-animated bodies existing and developing agency is the central horror of the story, even despite the unflattering portrayal of west; this is actually translated pretty accurately into the film sequel ‘bride of re-animator’ as a scene in which their version of the undead ‘army’ rampages through west’s backyard/cemetery, and we are treated to extensive shots of the bodies writhing, spasming, and seizing, in ways that simultaneously telegraph disability and (what is framed as) terrifying strength.

there are at least flashes throughout the stories of racialisation of the re-animated bodies occurring precisely on the grounds of having been re-animated: for example, of an early (white) re-animation experiment, the narrator reports that it was “like a malformed ape”, and lovecraft writes:  “For it had been a man. This much was clear despite the nauseous eyes, the voiceless simianism, and the daemoniac savagery” (11). thus, the fact of having been re-animated is itself what gives this white body its simian / ape-like qualities—descriptions which are of course racialised in american literature in general, and specifically in this series (see above).

in connection with lovecraft’s racism, the stories frequently engage in generalised physiognomical efforts to read a person’s moral character and personality from their physical appearance. this includes overtly racialised traits (west is described as blond and blue-eyed numerous times, an appearance that hides his "diabolical” machinations and “fanaticism” [7, 18], and contrasts to both his morbid fascinations [3] and to a “brawny young workman” with brown hair whom he re-animates [5]). there is also a link raised multiple times between nervous sensitivity and physical strength: one specimen is “a man at once physically powerful and of such high mentality that a sensitive nervous system was assured”, and west seeks out specifically “men of especially sensitive brain and especially vigorous physique” (25, 27).

although lovecraft’s stories are hardly making any manner of radical critique, they also contain flashes of tacit admission that west’s experiments, although cosmetically off-putting to the medical establishment, are not in fact diverging in deeper ways from ‘normal’ functioning of these institutions. for example, in the first installment, as the narrator and west attempt to secure a supply of fresh corpses from christchurch cemetery, the narrator notes that “we found that the college had first choice in every case” (4), a remark that for the modern reader alludes to the true and extensive history of american medical schools and anthropology departments purchasing or simply snatching cadavers and anatomical specimens (in recent years there have been a few high-profile cases of attempts at repatriation of skull and other collections). later, when re-animating buck robinson, the aforementioned black man, the narrator notes that “our prize ... was wholly unresponsive to every solution we injected in its black arm; solutions prepared from experience with white specimens only” (15). this remark has two major implications: one, lovecraft’s narrator is endorsing a view of physiology that assumes black and white bodies function essentially differently, ie that the white and black ‘races’ are intrinsically and undeniably biologically different to one another (this viewpoint is never challenged or questioned throughout the text); two, that lovecraft specifically portrayed medical students who experimented on white bodies, an echo of the medical schools’ focus on white patients and white health, with black bodies treated as more disposable, black patients as less valuable, and the entire medical endeavour aimed toward the preservation of wealthy white people and plantation owners (nb: west worked out of boston).

although the films and the stories both take a somewhat whimsical tone toward their subject matter, i found it hard to engage with the films on a genuinely comedic level largely because these elements of the lovecraft stories are still present. i do think the concept here (white medical students body-stealing, and forcing a partial and torturous version of ‘life’ upon those bodies) has quite a bit of potential as a horror premise; unfortunately, both lovecraft and the filmmakers approach this subject matter in ways that attempt to mine comedy and horror from it without thinking through the larger historical context they are clearly and explicitly invoking, and as a result the whole thing falls flat for me. 

[mangatxt]

any advice on how to improve writing style/get ideas for fics and dialogue? i’m forever in love with the way you write. it flows well, and the dialogue is super authentic and funny. i’m trying to get back into writing after a couple years of being crushed by the american secondary education system, so any tips would be much appreciated.

keep it up with the good work! i look forward to continue reading :))

Holy moly, this is a super kind ask. I'm so happy to know that you enjoy my work. Thank you for sending this!

As for the meat of this ask -- I'll do my best! I'll offer some reflections and then link some resources I've personally found helpful! I apologize for the length of this answer. This ask gave me a lot to think about, and brevity is my weakness as a writer.

I answer this with a few caveats:

I'm not an expert. I'm just loud.

I teach writing for a living, but I don't teach creative writing specifically. I do, by nature of my job, have more time for reading and writing than I did as a full-time student or corporate employee. That alone makes a huge difference. Everyone goes at their own pace, and it's hard to be creative without time, especially when you're starting out or getting back into writing after a break.

I write humor, so I'll discuss that primarily. While writing has rules that generally yield better results, comedy works often because it violates those established rules. Like many writing teachers, I have fully internalized the touted "canon" of Strunk & White's Elements of Style and George Orwell's Remedy of Six Rules. But sometimes, adverbs are funny. So I'll write an adverb, say "fuck you George Orwell," and, scandalously, call it a day.

If you want to deconstruct and consequently ruin comedy forever, start with Theories of Humor and then, to extend your suffering, hit the footnotes.

Humor writing is culturally dependent. You won't make everyone laugh. You'll flop. You'll embarrass yourself. You have to be willing to risk being unfunny. So it goes.

You can always publish anonymously on AO3 if it helps you start. Or for any reason. You can change your mind and claim it back to your account. Or you can abandon it entirely. I've done it plenty. Sometimes, it's what you need to do to draw up the nerve to put yourself out there, and that's completely fine.

Reflections

My first personal rule is that I write stories for myself, fic or original. If someone else likes it, that's a bonus. I write what I want to read. That factors into my overall writing style too. I write how I'd want someone else to write it for me. Even if someone's written it before, which is often the case with fic writing and popular tropes, I might want to hear it in another way. See: The Two Cakes Principle.

My second personal rule is that I write something every day. Even if it's a little bit. Even if it's all trash. Anything's better than nothing. Write without editing. Write without your spell checker on, even. (As they say "write drunk, edit sober" -- I don't drink much, so for me that means "write at 3AM, edit at not 3AM"). The more you play around with words and practice your voice, the easier it will get. Part of this is honing the muscle or whatever, but part of this is also gaining familiarity with structure that will make writing forever easier. How do journalists crank out stories everyday? There's a structure to newspaper and magazine articles that makes it easier to plug in the words and go. You'll find your own in creative writing too. Plus, the more you write, the easier it is to let go of things (aka kill your darlings). (Killed darlings go in your bits folder.)

My third personal rule is that I write every idea down, no matter how vague or ridiculous, because I might be able to use it later. I never want to lose things. I use my phone notes for this. They're full of silly ideas -- funny things I overhead at the library, out-of-context conversations I imagine Reigen and Dimple having, Wikipedia articles that I liked, funny plot concepts, etc. The other day, I wrote down, "The gang carbon-dates Dimple." I dunno where I'm going with that, but I like the idea. I write a lot of my plot ideas in IASIP title card style. It's more fun that way. Always prioritize having fun.

One last personal rule is that the mechanical act of writing has a purpose. You're rarely writing for the purpose of writing well, right? Most of the time, in class or at work, I'm writing for the purpose of being understood by my audience, and therefore, I do whatever I must to make my message better understood, even at the expense of "good writing." Here's a silly example: I've learned the hard way that some of my co-workers can't fucking read. So instead of paragraphs, I write emails in bullet points with bold and underlined text. At the expense of prose, the message is more likely received, and that's the goal.

This example might be on the nose, but it applies in some way to everything I write. When I write fic, I have to have a purpose. Maybe I'm trying to make myself laugh. Maybe I'm trying to explore some theme or feeling. Maybe I'm trying to correct canon. Maybe I'm trying to speculate how the conman will handle a Situation. Whatever that end is, I find the writing comes easier when I focus on the end more than the process of writing. It helps me stay focused, when I remember that writing's just the tool. I hope that makes sense.

Developing a writing style or a narrative voice depends on the writer. I'm an amalgamation of what I've read and watched and enjoyed, combined with formal writing education and my own personal narration. I hate to be the person who says "read a lot to write more!" I hate it so so so much, but...it's true. (That said, it doesn't have to be the classics. I get inspiration from there, sure, but I also get inspiration from sitcoms and crossword clues and the inane HOA emails my landlord forwards to me. "Honored neighbors, we are ecstatic to announce fire alarm testing next week..." Like, I'm sorry? That's a work of art I've filed away for later.)

For fics, some of the way I write is homage to the original creator. I consider this a plus, not a requirement. ONE writes satire. He's foremost a humorist. Most of his works are genre deconstructions. Like most shonen mangaka, he writes shorter narrative arcs that sum to (or in his case, reflect across) the overall narrative arc of the work. He's also pretty cringe/over-the-top with wordplay and cultural references (pop and traditional). When I try to reflect elements of his style in my own work, I find his characters easier to work with. For me, it's hard to write something fully comedic or fully serious with MP100 characters. The alternation between comedy and tragedy in MP100 works because it plays on emotional investment in the characters and subversion of expectations.

That said, I'm going to have to add something controversial: as a fic writer, how much you adhere to the original work doesn't fucking matter. (See my first rule -- write what you want to read.) Fic writing is meant to be transformative. The amount that you should care about canon depends on what you're trying to accomplish. My advice is to play fast and loose as much as you want. Unfollow and block the "he wouldn't fucking say that" people if it helps you write. I do, because they're annoying. Characterization is a product of audience internalization. Further, every work is for someone. Most importantly, you're doing this for fun, not pay or obligation. Sure, maybe ONE wouldn't write Reigen saying a particular line, but ONE also writes homophobic stereotypes into his works. No matter what you do, by definition of writing a fan work, you're gonna stray from canon. It's not holy word. Don't waste your finite man hours stressed about it.

Moving on to discussion of "get ideas" -- I mentioned I write every idea down. I try to stick with ideas I know fairly well off the bat, because it's easiest to write what you know. In absence of that, I find more inspiration in the research into an idea. Much of the action in TPC was heavily inspired by George Santos's many misdeeds, which I read in the news or on Wikipedia.

If I can distill the idea into a premise, it informs my narrative voice in a given work. Write what you know applies to premise as much as character perspective. You're always going to have an easier time writing a character you relate to or you encounter in real life and know quite well. You might consider this to get started. Personally, I find Reigen and Mezato easiest to write, because I relate to them the most. I find Serizawa and Shigeo more difficult to write, because I have more trouble relating to their life experiences. On the other hand, I find Roshuuto easy to write, because his brand of villainy is more familiar to me.

There's this notion of plotting vs pantsing. A plotter outlines every facet of their work before doing any writing. A pantser makes it up as they go (read: "by the seat of their pants"). Figuring out which one you are will enable you to write more comfortably.

Personally, I'm somewhere in the middle of that spectrum. For MP100, I always know where a work will end when I start. In TPC, the second scene I ever wrote was the epilogue. For me, the middle is what's more up in the air. In my experience, it's very difficult to be a total pantser and write comedic multi-chapter works, unless you write the whole thing before you post. It's not impossible, but in my opinion, humor relies on callbacks and repetition so much that you risk writing yourself into a wall if you're not careful. In general, I don't start formally "fic writing" without an overarching premise, but the premise might be as simple as: "Against everyone's better judgment, Reigen runs for union president. It blows up in his face."

This was my original outline for TPC before I even wrote chapter one:

I had the overarching narrative and the rough timeline for the mini-arcs in mind when I started. A lot of it ended up changing or shifting. I had a few themes I wanted to cover and comedic elements I wanted to set up. But when it came down to more specific mini-arc narrative details, I either plotted later or got away with pantsing it entirely.

Sometimes as I write chapters, I get stuck on individual scenes. Maybe I'm struggling to write scenery, or I haven't figured out a character interaction, or the dialogue isn't flowing the way I'd like. To deal with that, I have trained myself to write out of narrative order as needed. I write the scenes I'm most excited about first, and then I come back and fill in the rest of the connective tissue. This is easier in Scrivener, which is what I use to write, but you can set up any word processor to do this. Even within scenes, I sometimes skip parts that I need to think about for longer. Sometimes, I don't even finish sentences.

I'll write something like:

"Apparently you're quite popular on a particular Mobbit sub," he tells Reigen. Reigen's not sure he wants to know which one. "It was r/<SOMETHING FUNNY>. Did you know they hit a million subscribers this week? I think you helped."

And then in the middle of the night or in the shower or at the grocery store or whenever I think of "<SOMETHING FUNNY>", I fill it in later. When I edit, I make sure I clear out any remaining "<>." I do what I can, and then Future Ani does the rest. *handshake emoji*

For comedy writing, there are rules I follow that I'll link later on. While I've been inspired by a lot of other humor novelists or essayists, I also take a lot of inspiration from TV and standup.

I took a screenwriting class in college -- and while I didn't get the knack of screenwriting (B-, unlucky), I did learn a lot about plot progression, dramatic irony, show-not-tell, rule of threes, and scene setting. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but I found it helpful. You can see some of that inspiration manifest, for example, in that many of my fics have cold opens. I've always liked that comedic structure for drawing in the reader while establishing an overarching theme for the chapter. I do a lot of scene-switching and flashbacks as well. Scene-setting in comedy often involves juxtaposition -- e.g. "what if we put the weirdest loner from 7th division in a highly-collaborative corporate setting?". You're subverting expectations, and this is where you break the rules. Sometimes, comedy is about using the funniest word or word combination possible to describe something.

On that note, take some tips from poetry too. Alliteration, repetition, synecdoche, a lot of poetic devices work well here, because, like poetry, comedy writing depends on build-up and timing. Rules are best broken when it's rare and unexpected. It's way funnier and impactful when a character who never swears drops an f-bomb when they've finally had enough. Here's another example: in general, you should avoid epithets in fic writing, but it's all about being judicious with your timing. I can call Reigen "the union's esteemed president" instead of his name in a scene in Executive Privilege, because I juxtapose it with him doing something less-than-esteemed.

Perhaps less obviously, the TV influence manifests in the way I write dialogue too -- shorter and generally interleaved between the characters. While I read everything I write out loud during editing to check flow, I especially focus on tightening up dialogue. I don't always get it right, but I try to make sure that every word in a piece of dialogue has to have a purpose: either characterization or timing, in that order. Serizawa uses a lot of "I think" or "In my opinion." Reigen...does not do that. And Dimple is a master of the last word in the form of a pithy quip. If I plan my scenes to use that characterization to support the comedic timing I'm shooting for, it works all the better. (e.g. -- let Reigen babble on like an expert about something he doesn't actually know anything about, let Serizawa think on it for a while and come to a conclusion that puts Reigen on the spot, let Reigen backtrack, and then let Dimple add his jab at the end. And scene.)

Aaand that's a lot of reflection. Probably too much reflection. These are some considerations that have helped me over time, so I hope others might find it helpful too. Getting started is tough, and it's often terrifying to put your work out there (and somehow, even more terrifying to put a GDoc in front of a beta reader, I haven't a clue why but it's true for me!). But once you start, I promise it gets easier! You'll build yourself a foundation and continue to pick up things you like, discard things you don't like, and grow from there.

Thanks again for sending this ask. It means a lot to me. Happy to continue the conversation and field other people's thoughts on any of this! Like I said, this is a reflection on my process, but everyone develops their own unique approach to writing over time. Mine changes over time too. Above all, I hope you can heal from the crush of the education system, find enjoyment in writing again, and discover the style and process that works for you <3

Resources (AKA things I personally have bookmarked):

general writing (in addition to Strunk&White, Orwell, and others mentioned earlier):

how to get out of a writing slump (this fixed me once)

masterlist of general writing resources

another big ass masterlist

resources for describing places

masterlist of facial expressions

how to write an inciting incident

i found this recently: cultural differences writing work set in japan

i also follow writing prompt blogs, nanowrimo, character and relationship week blogs, etc. prompts can be a great way to start and build community with other writers!

comedic writing:

basic tips on writing humor

comedic devices

comedic genre

i can't find the link for this BUT: humor and comedy is not inherently less complex or wise or valuable than non-comedic work. writing is writing and fics are fics, whether they make the reader laugh, cry, or both.

[bloomingonionbitch]

(i'm going to blaze this post because teachers report to campus in 22 days and students return after we have five days of PD and prep).

Regardless of age, grade, subject, etc. would y'all mind sharing your perspectives on classroom environments and design?

I started at my current campus in February after the school cycled through three other teachers, and the room I inherited was mostly full of garbage (not hyperbole or sarcasm). I very much believe in co-creating spaces with students, but my prep period is at the tail-end of the day and once school starts it's like being launched on Disney's Hollywood Studios' "Rockin' Rollercoaster," except the ride lasts 180 days and there's no continuous soundtrack.

There also is a dominant teacher aesthetic that ranges from chevron everything to pastel bohemian to various interpretations of rainbow - it's great if you like that! But it can become expensive (purchasing materials or printing out decoration files online) or just straight up overwhelming.

Think back to your time in school - what made certain classrooms more inviting or easier to learn/focus in? Things to consider:

- Colors and patterns used in dècor

- Seating arrangements and options

- What was on the walls? Educational or inspirational content? Student work? Nothing at all? Your teacher's quirky obsession?

- What was your favorite room in school? Your least favorite? Why?

- Did the decorations or theme change throughout the year or stay the same?

- What do you wish you had in your classrooms growing up that you've come to appreciate or need now?

For context, I teach middle school media studies, which include journalism, yearbook, and a literary magazine. Class sizes of 20+. I teach in the desert and oh! My room doesn't have any windows!

***I can write grants and thrift, but I can't afford Loop earplugs for every kid, etc. Also - fire code (I know some folks really love the sky covers for fluorescent lights, but they're a fire hazard)!

[lilyweii]

a look into aladdin and hamelin bond

It is a look at the connection of Aladdin and Hamelin. My English is sloppy. So I had a guidance to help me write it.It is possible, in the future, I can update it. Hopefully. So sorry,this is not in the best english,so i hope you can enjoy it regardless. while i like the pairing,it is more or less to take a look at their friendship. it is on the viewer to read at this point. Sorry for my mumbling because i typed alot. credit to sinoalice database people, jyong and @bad-blood-animal Thank you for your work (pls tell me to remove the tag if needed)

Back round for Aladdin: Nice guy. He says, "money can buy and fix everything. No need to fight. I have a ton of wealth. Even a new princess, family, it can be bought with money (Act of Hatred and class story= remember for later). He was a poor boy who cheated to survive the streets. Tend to have laid back attitude. Aladdin spends his infinite wealth to show his love. But the fading memory of his dead princess haunts him. In Act of Elimination hard mode, I realize my true love for her, and accept she is gone. Note: Aladdin my favorite.

Back round for Hamelin: More difficult guy. He presents himself as cold and detachment. "I want what's beautiful for myself. For a more beautiful world. Only beautiful around me". I travel to play my pipe for money, with no home. I was cheated by the mayor. So I took my revenge. I show in several events I do not like wealthy people and capitlism (vday and other event). I want specific beautiful points from people for myself (remember for later) Every once in awhile, I present my true self in acts of maturity and kindess.

No evidence suggest the alters of these characters know each other. In fact, it seems even their deaths were very far apart. But both alters understand the pain of blaming themselves and their short comings of losing their important one (Was it my fault the piano student died? or if I made money, sis could be here still). But, their alters do not know each other, so there is no point here.

Also note: Aladdin says mainly in magic school event (characters can remember event in main story and switch) that the gender of his partner does not matter so much if they are happy. I think he might have a female preference overall, however Hamelin has been attracted to men and women. I do not believe these characters have a defined orientation. Even Rapunzel herself wants to make friends with women but fear, and fallen for rrh (zombie staff weapon) and recently even cinderella (act of sinoalice). Hamelin also have openly had men fall for him (paladin story,furisode police battle)

Butler event: We first met each other here. Seeing Hamelin distracted by a sound, I got curious. Here I get frustrated. Could you please help me?" or "Why did you not tell us sooner it was a scream?" Hamelin, "These people don't understand beauty at all." It was a rough start for first impressions. Aladdin is kind. Pinocchio tells Hamelin is too strange a guy. Aladdin defends it anyway, and says that everyone here is sort of strange. It seems, the two of each other do not understand each other at all. But in time, it will become a beautiful friendship strengthened by understanding. It is nice,because you see the growth in each other together over time.

(Note: In same event, the game was feautred in a Boy's Love magazine and had out of context Pixiv ads, and we got very strange stamps released together. Although it is not in the same scene, and won't count for anything here. But it seems, even Pokelabo was wanting it to sell… ) In same event, Aladdin insist to go hunting with Hamelin, who seems more annoyed by Aladdin than anything. Hamelin calls him, golden nueasance (GL: richie rich) and says he doesn't need help from others (remember for later) Aladdin decided to tell Hamelin what he thinks is going on. I ask Hamelin, "Do you want to kill that girl?" Hamelin reacts in pure shock at the assumption. It seems they work well together. They grin at each other and take off. They lose focus and track of the time competing with each other. Because of what Aladdin says, I think deep down they had fun. I think this is where they started opening up to each other and understanding.

No more meaningful interactions in this event. This event became busy trying to protect the girl.

It does not count for anything but the collab character Hinaka is rotten. And this is mentioned in the hammer story. Well, it's funny. Me and my friend just wanted to point it out and laugh.

It seems Ibarahime informs Kaguya Aladdin warned her of business talk and Hamelin is picky. Maybe they spent some time off screen? Well, who knows. In 2021 tanning event, Aladdin is checking himself out in the mirror, and understands why Hamelin is so fascinated with himself. These two are slowly opening and understanding. It's starting to feel like we became friends.

In Black Butler side story, Hamelin speaks fondly of Aladdin and Snow White. It seems like Hamelin and Snow White are not very friends though (shark and the winery model side story), but it shown many time at this point Hamelin is coming around to Aladdin. (cute Hamelin who is scared of Seb) Lost my phone I had during this time weeeeh, so no screenshot for this part.

In Summerfes event, Pinocchio is scared of the main course, and Dorothy points out to Aladdin the flaws in Hamelin's operations. Aladdin thinks Hamelin could be a good business partner. Aladdin hears it is Hamelin doing the DJing, and wants VIP seats right away. I believe in him, even if others around me do not. What a beautiful friendship, despite not understanding and trusting the other at first!

VR event: We are always together in this event. Despite Hamelin's beliefs about money, I help Aladdin with his N** project. I help make a beautiful photo and me, Aladdin and Dorothy do a photoshoot and have fun. Later, we go our own way from the girls and go to an endless art musuem. We talk for hours about everything including art and money and get lost. "Let's explore it all anyway!" A passerby sees the two having fun. "Go to the metaverse main event together!"

In weapon story, Hamelin sees the art is ugly AI generated artworks and looks down on it. Was he just having fun anyway?

The two are very much best friends by this point, and the atmosphere between them changes drastically. By the way, Aladdin is wearing Hamelin's color on his costume…it is not a color he wears, ever. It seems the two share matching accessories here,like violet ties to their costume. it is likely a reach. but what a cute detail! it was an event that mirrors many moments in their first halloween event together. it shows the process the two made with each other.

Act of sinoalice: it is so much material. to think this could be a main story between the two! were they building a friendship for this act? i do not know,but the friendship between them continues to build. we came to this world two years earlier than everyone else (there is currently not an explanation…. ) in this time we lived together. we smiled constantly at each other,and we agreed with each other despite our conflicting opinions right away. we became aids to the prime minister who dies. why did they think making him a zombie was a good idea?!!! they are so opposite,but bring the better out in each other. Aladdin: "For people as capable as us…" "Hamelin's magical flute is truly amazing!" "Hamelin really is dependable after all" "Oh goodness, it looks like I've picked up Hamelin's catchphrase." "Having such a capable partner is really invaluable!" Just some quotes.

chapter two. every verse has a compliment about each other. hamelin says aladdin is a beautiful partner. aladdin says his partner is invaluable. We call each other partners! They see each other as capable, trusting and equals, among other things. Aladdin reassures a confused Hamelin at the Pokelabo office. Both picked up on each others' speech and mannerisms

Hamelin: "Impressive, Aladdin." "Oops, it looks as though I've adopted the way Aladdin speaks." "Ahh… this has been all so enjoyable. Truly, having such a beautiful partner is something to be treasured." "But, I really am amazed by his sense of leadership." "Truly, having such a beautiful partner is something to be treasured." More quotes that were said.

Ch 3; we met up with Dorothy and Piggies. We became game producers. Everyone at our office seems to love us,and even pick up on how close we are with fantasizing and pointing it out. Hamelin compliments Aladdin yet again, saying he's impressive. His tone here is very soft. Very cute.

ch 4; Aladdin and Hamelin make a plan to save the world. the two live together in an abandoned apartment now. We had a small disagreement in wave conversation. But remain respectful and see through the other. Both of them point out everything they achieved in this world, they did together, and decide they will save the world together. We want to be partners to the end. "Both believed in the capabilities of their partner with their whole heart… " Both make good ideas and say "As I expected of you…" and both say they are both exceptionally talented perfectly in harmony.

We set our scheme in motion. Hamelin: Aah, it's nice to be able to talk to you so quickly, Aladdin. You're so efficient and beautiful. I'm so glad you came here with me. Aladdin: I'm glad I came here with you too, Hameln. The relationship I have built with you is something money can't buy!

Hamelin does not point out what he sees beautiful on Aladdin specifically,which is unusual. Does he just believe Aladdin is beautiful as a person? Aladdin who says money can solve and buy anything. Wow. He sees his bond with Hamelin differently.

Sadly the plans do not work out. They are looking over a devastated Tokyo on Christmas Eve. It is pointed out by alot of the fandom,but Christmas Eve is our romantic holiday. The set up feels very close connected. Because the two got exposed to desire working with Pokelabo, they succumb to turning to nightmares eventually, but seemed to fight it off longer than most. During this time they hold each other by the shoulders and pat each other to acknowledge their efforts comforting.

But sadly we were holding onto each other, so we lost our minds and did not realize it as we turn to nightmares. We wind up turning and accidentally kill each other by stabbing laying in the snow together. We did not realize what had happened, probably. Christmas's first snow falls on their bodies, creating a more beautiful and tragic and personal atmosphere.

Poor Aladdin and Hamelin. I hope the story can give them both a conclusion and they can continue to rule the world together. they are very important to each other. it is set in the official writing. I wonder how this arc will conclude? The end…. for now.

[s-che]

for the tarot ask game -

The Hanged Man — What other creative pursuits do you have? OR What current trends in game design are you most interested in?

Judgement — Talk about a game you’ve made that taught you a lot.

The RPG Designer Tarot Ask Game

The Hanged Man — What other creative pursuits do you have? OR What current trends in game design are you most interested in?

Before I started writing games, I was also a whole-ass poetry and prose person. I got published in a couple of small journals / magazines, and you can find some of that stuff up still — but honestly it's been long that I'm not gonna bother linking. Weird to go back to stuff I wrote pre-COVID, tbh. I also used to do wire/clay/wax sculpture (miss this a lot!!) & wrote a couple of one act plays which got put on by a local theater company when I was in high school but that is ANCIENT history.

My biggest non-game creative pursuit is definitely prose writing, and I do have a finished novel that I should probably remember to query around some more. its about a kid from Ohio who runs away to join the circus in like. 2011. and it sits sort of somewhere between Catherynne Valente and Terry Pratchett voice wise and is. and is a condemnation of american empire et c etc. Working title: The Major Americana.

Writing prose is definitely where I think I found my voice — you wouldn't get something like [three dudes go bowling] or gun cowboy or LESBIANS BUILT THIS FARM if I hadn't written Major Americana first (or, like, concurrently — I started writing MA when I was literally nineteen years old and didn't have a draft I was content with until last summer, five whole years later).

I'm also like. A graduate student. That's sort of creative sometimes.

Judgement — Talk about a game you’ve made that taught you a lot.

Talked about Queen of the Moon already in another post, so here's this: Beneath Pirate Flags was the first hack I ever actually released anywhere, my first time working in ndnm/bob tech, and also the only way I ever learned how to hack/write iteratively well. The first version of that game had a lot of good aesthetic ideas, but it was also ripping bits from Wanderhome and Dream Askew / Dream Apart without really thinking about how those things worked in their context.

Over the course of the next, well, two full fucking years (lmao) I started digging deeper into games and got much better at pulling them apart and figuring out how and why certain things worked in certain ways. And the result was that I had to go back to Beneath Pirate Flags not once but twice for from-the-ground-up rehauls and retoolings of the game. But in that process I ended up coming to much better systems for the story it's trying to tell — not just reskinning the mechanics of another game with the sort of shit that comes up in pirate adventures.

[hqsenvs3000w24]

"wood-wide network"

I've read some great blog posts from classmates about the coolest things they know about nature. After taking a few minutes to ponder it, I found myself looking at the trees around me and remembered learning some cool things about trees. 

The most amazing thing that I know about nature is that trees can communicate with each other. Trees in every forest are connected to each other by underground fungal networks. In the sciences, these are referred to as mycorrhizal networks.  Using these networks, trees can share water and nutrients in addition to communicating. These networks are often used to send signals regarding drought or disease. Those signals can be chemical, hormonal or slow-pulsing electrical signals (Grant, 2018). In these forested ecosystems, you will also find mother trees, which are the oldest and largest trees in the area. These trees can draw water and nutrients up from deeper soils making them available for younger, more shallow rooted seedlings (Grant, 2018). 

The first time I heard about this was during my time at SOES. I was out on a hike with a group of students and the specialist leading us stopped at one point to discuss it. He gathered the students up and asked them to find the biggest tree in the area. Once they had located the tree, Richard started to explain how that one tree was helping all the other trees around us through this underground network. It was very interesting to hear it told as more of a story instead of just spitting out the scientific facts. I found that the students were more engaged, and they also had the opportunity to ask questions. 

Simard (2018) presents evidence that these mycorrhizal networks act in a similar way to neural networks. It is a lot easier, when learning about new topics, if you can put it into a context that is familiar. For this idea that trees communicate, it is sort of similar to a human family. Messages are sent, resources shared and the older help protect and shelter the young. This is one of the most simplest ways we can think of this topic, and yet it is also the one I connect to the most. We, as humans, have come a long way from thinking that trees and forests are simply a resource awaiting harvest. We started learning these organisms are alive, and although we are still missing much understanding of how they work, this scientific breakthrough of mycorrhizal networks is a huge step in understanding forest dynamics. 

We now know that cutting down one tree will not just affect only that tree, but all the others surrounding it. In our textbook, it is mentioned that to look at the past means people are calling for a better future (Beck & Cable, 2018), I believe that this discovery is something that will one day have been a historic event. In the future we will look back to when we first discovered that forests and trees have these connections. It is another connection between humans and nature that will one day benefit society. 

All for now :)

Beck, L., Cable, T. T., & Knudson, D. M. (2018). Interpreting cultural and natural heritage: For A Better World. SAGAMORE Publishing.

Grant, R. (2018) Do Trees Talk to Each Other? | Science| Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved March 12, 2024, from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-whispering-trees-180968084/#

Simard, S. W. (2018). Mycorrhizal Networks Facilitate Tree Communication, Learning, and Memory. 191–213. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75596-0_10

[bleachbleachbleach]

Okay, I feel the need to begin by assuring you that I am completely capable of reading things in their intended context, and enjoying their intended meanings. But consider also... setting that aside and enjoying in addition:

THE BLEACH CONTEXT.

Because what has bigger Gotei energy than "17 million precious military records went up in smoke"?????

Who's with me? (I bet @proustianrecall is with me. Library/archives lore!)

The Seireitei is constantly being burned to the ground due to Bount and Zanpakutou and Reigai and Thousand-Year Blood Wars, and that's not even including natural fires, which I'm sure they have plenty of. Fire is commonplace in any place's history, but even taking that into consideration I swear Japan has a higher incidence than normal of histories that basically go "this building burned to the ground THREE times! And we rebuilt it each time!"

The article screencapped above is a really good read, and does wonderful work weaving together biographies of people who remembered the fire; people now tasked with organizing or working with burnt records; people who can try to find other means of finding information that exists in the ether but may be doomed to stay there without the puzzle pieces from the blaze.

It also talks about the nature of the articles themselves, which in a Bleach context makes me think about all of the records that comprise net-zero missions for the Gotei, or the personnel files of nondscript Joe Shinigami--their complete unremarkability but also their mass importance in the aggregate. Their perhaps greater importance to the families of the "unremarkable."

I think it's easy to assume that surely, someone was keeping records, and surely, this information can be located--but even in our age of search navigation and digital databases, I think there's more AND less information than one might assume, and it is a lot harder to access and piece it together than it seems. To add a fire to the mix really puts that into perspective, as years roll by and a fire that took days to put out takes decades to sort through.

There's a moment in the article where the author describes the fact that often, for these records, the only way to even know what is missing is to have someone request it, and then to see what shakes out.

And this is concerning a fire in a building that *only held 20th century US military records.* The US has a lot of military records, granted, but it's a baby child of a country. As far as societies go, Soul Society/the Gotei is honestly pretty young, too, especially given the different timescale at which shinigami live. But it's way older than the United States! I M A G I N E.

Other moments of note, relative to Bleach:

investigators tried for a long time to pin the source of the blaze to arson meditated by students protesting the Vietnam War. Pinning a national calamity on kids who are opposed to your hawkish ways? That doesn't describe Soul Society at all!

the architecture of the building is also discussed in this article, and you know (or you SHOULD what kind of B3 dash blorbo are you) we love furniture and architecture here. They talk about its lack of firewalls, the perils of installing or not installing sprinkler systems in buildings meant to be preserving paper items... (gg Minoru Yamasaki).

It's all great, Bleach brain is great!

If you'd like to read Megan Greenwell's original article, I heartily recommend it. You can find it published June 2023 at Wired Magazine.

[despair-to-future-arcs]

Do you remember anything else Mahiru?

*takes the flashcard and puts down the next down* So given what we learn, it seems your time at Hope's Peak had you often leave the school to work on your talent but you weren't allow to get a passport, but did you be-friend anyone or had friends?

'Relationships'

...Our teacher didn't allow us to be-friend each other, in fact she'd only allow it if our talent do connect.

And since Hope's Peak often had ask me to take photos of students doing activities or showing off talent, which meant I work with Masa to present that image to the public.

So you help with PR, huh? I see, I also remember that you helped take photos in fashion magazines, wedding ceremonies and profile events, correct?

Yeah I did, I got a lot of assignments and got my name out there during Hope's Peak, in fact the one person I did interact with the most was Taro Kurosaki, the Ultimate Wedding Planner - he mention that he needed help with wedding photos...

And I guess that's how I started my friendship with Hatomi, Ibuki and Mikan...

...

...

...

Date: April 1st, 2010

So I can't get a passport, that's... really disappointed, I really need one, what to do now?

???: Ah yes, there you are! Perfect, so perfect!

*As then Mahiru got approach by a boy with blue hair*

Excuse me but are you Mahiru Koizumi by any chance?

Uh yeah, I am and who might you be? Are you an ultimate too?

Well of course I am, you may call me Taro Kurosaki, I am the Ultimate Wedding Planner and I've heard quite a bit about you, my dear! In fact the one that captures the moment is what I needed of course.

You have now...? Well it's nice to meet you, well I mean I am the Ultimate Photographer so... (He seems a bit wordy, huh?)

Oh... did I overwhelm you...

Apologies for that, when I heard from Masa that you had arrive - I had to come to find you and speak with you, especially hearing of your photography skills.

And I figure I ask if you can cooperate with me in regards to wedding photos?

Wedding photos? I did remember taking photos for my school's yearbook - I never really took photos of weddings before...

Are you... sure you want me to do that? Shouldn't you ask someone else?

I think so - after all, I can tell you have potential for great things you just have to believe in yourself so how about it?

Well...

???: GYAAAAAH, MY SHIIIRT YOU SPILL ON MY SHIRT YOU OAF!

Wh-What...? What just happen!

It sounds like some yelling we better see! *the duo rush over and finds what looks to be 4 people*

M-My top, you to-totally wrecked my tooop!

Seriously do you have 2 left feet or something, do you watch where your going!

Lo-Look I'm sorry, I was...I mean... I was just walking by and this guy bumped into me!

He-Hey c'mon, don't throw me under the bus dude!

You bumped into me with those dance moves, you should be apologizing!

DOES IT MATTER WHO'S AT FAULT; MY DAMN TOP IS RUIN BECAUSE YOU BUMP INTO ME AND MADE ME SPILL COFFEE!!! DO YOU DAMN REALIZE HOW HARD IT IS TO REMOVE COFFEE?!

Pl-Please stop fiiighting...this is just the first daaaaay!

I think we are missing context here...

Sounds like we are...

[justsome-di]

what is the poop scene

I'll give some context, too, but here is what should be some of the chapter of my untitled wip that featured anxiety poops

----

Elijah went through the awful security protocols that had been sent to him in an email the length of War and Peace. He was scanned, thoroughly frisked, his bag was rifled through, pockets emptied, phone briefly confiscated, and he was sure at some point in the process, they must have taken DNA samples. By the time they finished, he was all turned around and his stomach was starting to twist around in knots.

He was sat in an empty lounge in the humanities center. He knew the lounge well. It was a large room full of old copies of school newspapers, magazines, published books of alumni and faculty, and a handful of awards the humanities college had won. They were all behind glass, lining the walls.

Elijah had spent many evenings in that lounge. Usually, students studied quietly and worked on group projects along the couches and tables. But most of the furniture had been pushed aside, and the building had been locked. In the center of the room, two overstuffed chairs had been pushed facing each other. Elijah was alone except for two beefy men in suits who stood by the doors, staring ahead.

The weight of the situation was starting to settle in. He was going to meet the prince. No matter how much Elijah was certain he hated the guy, he had never met someone so important.

The interview was his ticket to any internship he could ever want. A good internship could lead to a good job. If he pulled it off, he could be set for life.

Elijah wiped his sweaty palms on his pants. He felt ill. He wanted to finish the meeting quickly so he could find a bathroom to vomit in, but it hadn’t even started yet.

He had to do well. He couldn’t botch the interview. Everything was riding on it.

The doors opened, and Elijah’s chest seized with a single heart palpitation. He was going to die before he even got to write a single word.

Two more suited men walked in. They stepped aside once they were through the door and as they parted, the prince emerged.

He was stupidly handsome in person. It was the first thing Elijah noticed. His hair was perfectly slicked back and combed up high. He was wearing a collared shirt and a dark pullover with the school emblem embroidered on the breast.

Elijah shoved himself to his feet. His legs hit the chair, almost knocking himself back down.

He didn’t know what to do with his body as Prince Miles approached him. There had to be some tradition. Some protocol. And that was when Elijah remembered his crash course in etiquette two days before.

He bowed, too deeply, at the waist. When he lifted his head back up, Miles was smirking at him. Elijah wanted to punch him.

“You can straighten back up,” Miles said. “You don’t have to hold it for that long.”

Elijah shot back up. Miles held out his hand and Elijah took it, hoping he had wiped off most of the sweat pooling up in his palms.

“Miles.”

“I’m Elijah…. Uh, um, Your Highness.”

Miles was still smirking. He sat down, clearly enjoying Elijah making a fool of himself.

Saying fuck it to everything Elijah was supposed to do was getting tempting. He wanted to find something scandalous about Miles and write the whole story on that.

Elijah fumbled for his seat and pulled his laptop out of his bag. A blank document was open, ready for him to take notes in—inspiration for questions, ideas for the concept and direction of the article.

Miles swung one leg over his knee and leaned his head on his fist. He looked at Elijah like he was studying him. Elijah kept his head down.

“So,” Miles said, wiggling his shoulders a little. “Tell me about yourself.”

“Uh. Well. I’m interviewing you next month.”

“I know that much. And I know that you’re the editor-in-chief of the paper and at the top of your class in the journalism school. But what else do you do? Do you belong to any clubs?”

“I don’t really have time for clubs.” Elijah quickly corrected himself. “I do sometimes go to meetings for the LGBT alliance, but not all that often.”

“Your life is the paper and your schoolwork, then?”

“More or less. I also work in the writing center.”

Miles raised his eyebrows and smiled. “Admirable. Working while being a full-time student and running the wonderful paper. You’re probably the model student [school name] loves to show off.”

“Not exactly. I think they prefer the students whose parents donate buildings and art installations.”

Miles laughed. Elijah relaxed just a little.

“I won’t argue that maybe the administration here has… preferences to their more affluent students.”

“Scholarship students are kinda swept under the rug until they school can brag about how generous they are,” Elijah said. He hovered his hands over his keyboard. “What about you? What do you do around campus?”

“I had been looking into some social clubs last year.” Miles didn’t elaborate. Elijah didn’t need him to. He knew what happened last year, and he knew that this was Miles’ first semester back at school. “I was also invited into an honor society for political science students, but it’s a bit dull—don’t write that down.”

“But hearing that you called the poli-sci honor society would be such good journalism.”

“I think you’re being sarcastic.”

“A touch.”

Elijah did type up a brief note. School activities: honor society

“What about the Bowlings Club?” Elijah asked. “Your entire family has been members, but you haven’t joined yet. They invited you, didn’t they? They claimed they did.”

Miles grimaced. “The Bowlings Club isn’t exactly my scene.”

It seemed exactly like his scene. It was an exclusive club only for rich students who came from important families. When Miles didn’t join his first year, it made national news. Elijah had rolled his eyes when the articles were printed in the school paper.

“What is your scene?” Elijah asked.

“I think I just like getting to know my peers. I don’t need a social club to do that.”

“What about parties?”

“Ah. No. My publicist will not allow me to answer questions about parties.”

“But you do go to parties. We’ve all seen pictures.”

“My lips are sealed,” Miles sighed. “Don’t make me give you an NDA.” 

Don’t ask questions about parties, Elijah typed. Fine. He guess he didn’t want to cover any of that anyway.

…

Miles turned out of the room, followed by his security. Elijah packed his bag and took a moment to relax now that the room was totally empty. The meeting wasn’t as bad as he had expected. Miles seemed genuinely interested in the interview, and Elijah supposed it was something to work with.

He swung by the bathroom and almost hesitated when he saw Miles’ security standing outside. But they didn’t stop him, so he assumed he was allowed to use the facilities with His Royal Highness. [this is where I would write something about anxiety poops]

Maybe if he got lucky, he could hide in a stall until Miles left. The bathroom on that floor was large enough for anyone to sneak in and stay out of sight.

But when he pushed open the door, Miles was standing at the sinks. Or not really standing. He was slowly hunching over them, gripping the countertop like it was keeping him from totally crumbling to the floor.

Water ran out of one of the taps, and Miles was trying to reach into the stream. His face was flushed, and his breath was becoming labored as he fell closer into the basin.

“Are you okay?” Elijah asked.

Miles’ head twitched in his direction. Elijah could see now that his cheeks were red from tears.

Miles tried taking a deep breath in, but it only came out as a strangled sob. It echoed off the high walls and linoleum tiles and straight through Elijah’s chest. He had seen breakdowns before. [School name] was elite. Professors were tough. Students often curled up, breathless, at the end of every semester.

Usually, Elijah was fine at handling his friends. He gave them space and water and walked them through grounding techniques a counselor in the health center had shown him during his own panic attack.

But he didn’t dare approach Miles. He was frozen. Miles had seemed fine just a moment ago.  

The door swung open, and one security guard grabbed Elijah by the arm and began pulling him away. It wasn’t rough. It was just urgent. Elijah didn’t fight it.

Two others rushed forward to Miles and took him by the arms. Miles’ legs folded beneath him. His breathing had become raspy, like he was choking and sobbing at the same time.

The door closed in front of Elijah’s face before he even realized he was back out in the hallway. Miles’ crying was muffled now. Elijah couldn’t see his twisted, red face anymore, but he could imagine his teeth baring in pain and eyes squeezing shut.

Elijah shrugged his bag higher up on his shoulders. He tugged on the straps to tighten them and pull the weight of his books and laptop closer to him.

He probably shouldn’t wait around. He had homework to finish, and he promised to meet his staff for dinner to tell them everything about the meeting.

His boots hit the stairs leading to the ground floor. The cold air hit his cheeks when he pushed open the front doors of the building. He thought, for just a second, that he could still hear Miles’ crying.

[shipcestuous-two]

My Cousin, My Lover: The Rosales Saga by F. Sionil Jose

(Hi! Former lurker/anon here. Behold my humble contribution to this blog. I’ve been sitting on this for a while now and I wish I could talk to more people about it. Too shy to do it IRL).

Francisco Sionil Jose (1924–2022) was a Filipino writer. Declared a National Artist for Literature in 2001, he’s best known for The Rosales Saga, which is composed of five historical novels centered on the town of Rosales. Other people have commented on the saga’s main themes: Philippine history, colonialism, class struggle, etc. I’m only here to talk about the cousincest.

In My Brother, My Executioner (published 1973), the main character Luis Asperri marries his paternal first cousin, Trining. Before we proceed, here’s some background. Luis is the illegitimate son of Don Vicente Asperri (rich landowner) and Nena (used to work for the Asperris as a domestic helper). Trining is the daughter of Don Vicente’s brother, who along with his wife died when their house was burned by angry peasants. A servant saved Trining, who was then raised by Don Vicente. Luis didn’t join them until he was 13. Prior to that, he grew up in a village with his mom, grandpa, and half-brother. But then Don Vicente, who had no legitimate sons, called for him. His mom was angry for obvious reasons but let Luis go.

Fast forward a few years to the main point of the story. Luis, now living in Manila and the editor-in-chief of a magazine, is summoned back to Rosales. Reluctantly, he goes back home with Trining, now a student at a convent school (not sure if high school or college). She’s very proud of her cousin and brags about him to her friends, who tease that she’s in love with him. But he doesn’t pay attention to them, much to her disappointment. Now that they’re going home, she’s looking forward to spending more time with him, but he just wants to hear what his dad has to say before going back to his job.

So they go home. Don Vicente’s now getting older and sicker, so of course he wants Luis to be his heir and continue the family line. At some point, he asks Luis about women and says, “I want you to have a look again at your cousin.” Don Vicente talks about how Trining is pretty and rich, and tells his son not to worry if his current feelings for her are only like a cousin’s or even a brother’s. He also tells him not to worry about the church - “We’ll get a dispensation from the bishop later.” Granted, since the book’s set in the ‘50s and these are rich propertied people, there’s the “keep the money in the family” angle, but I found it hilarious that the old guy shipped his son and niece. Anyway, dad and son have a disagreement about their lives as landlords vis-a-vis the poverty of the peasants, so Luis cuts his stay in Rosales short.

Prior to that, he did view Trining in a platonic light. He felt comfortable enough to change his clothes in front of her, for example. But over time, he starts appreciating her less platonically and they go all the way when they’re back in Manila. A bit of a love triangle develops between Luis, Trining, and Trining’s friend, but the cousincest wins out. Trining says that even making love feels natural with them, while Luis comments (maybe with some sarcasm?), “What a nice, compact little family we are." 

They get married in Rosales at Don Vicente’s behest. Trining wants to meet Luis’ mom and is sad that the rest of his family couldn’t go to the wedding. Again, context: during the story’s time frame, the Philippine government was trying to suppress the Hukbalahap insurgency. Remember Luis’ village? People there were accused of harboring "Huk” rebels, so the army attacked it. When he finds out after the wedding, he goes searching for his family, but he only finds burned-out remains where the village used to be. Trining insists on joining him in his search, but it proves fruitless. 

As you may expect, the story ends on a sad note. Trining gives birth to a baby boy, but it’s premature and implied to have birth defects. She herself is fine, but sad because the doctors also removed her uterus (“Oh, Luis, I wanted to give you a dozen children!”). Then Luis (who becomes the new landlord when Don Vicente dies) gets a note telling him and Trining to leave before the day is over. Alarmed, she wants them to sell everything and move to Manila, but he tells her not to worry. Bad move. That night, the “Huks” attack the estate and Trining is shot. Before she dies, she tells Luis to give their son a happy childhood. This…doesn’t happen. It’s implied that Luis is killed, too. We don’t know what happens to the baby.

The relationship had cute parts and potential. Imagine: prim and proper Catholic girl x the brooding intellectual guy who fought with a priest and wants to fight for the poor. We could’ve seen how they first met, the little moments when they were growing on each other without them realizing it. The way it was, Trining seemed way more into Luis than the other way around. But the novel’s main point was always the class struggle, not the romance. Oh well. Maybe some fanfiction writer could fix that…?

The other novel featuring cousincest is The Pretenders (published 1962). I haven’t read this, but according to TV Tropes, the main character Antonio Samson (who, like Luis, starts out poor in a village and gets a job involving writing) has a son with his cousin Emy. However, these two don’t end up together.

There is another F. Sionil Jose-written story (not one of the Rosales books) that features incest, but I think it belongs on the other blog.

If you made it to the end of this long post, thank you :)

--

This is a wonderful contribution to the blog! Thank you so much or writing up all of these details about Trinning and Luis. It’s a pity the relationship isn’t explored more, but the development sounds wonderful. I particularly love that Luis’ father wants him to marry Trinning and that Luis isn’t enthusiastic at first but comes around later. 

The ending makes me sad. But particularly that the child has birth defects irks. As we all know, unless the family was already inbred the risk of such things is not much higher than a non-cousin union. Anyway... 

Thank you to all the family sagas with incest, and thank you to all of my followers who have read them!