#literary training service

[anghraine]

I've spent pages of my dissertation explaining my gripes with historicist literary criticism and then it's like "I'm a historicist btw"

(...my brain is very tired)

[insipid-drivel]

Horses: Since There Seems To Be A Knowledge Gap

I'm going to go ahead and preface this with: I comment pretty regularly on clips and photos featuring horses and horseback riding, often answering questions or providing explanations for how or why certain things are done. I was a stable hand and barrel racer growing up, and during my 11 year tenure on tumblr, Professional Horse Commentary is a very niche, yet very necessary, subject that needs filling. Here are some of the literary and creative gaps I've noticed in well meaning (and very good!) creators trying to portray horses and riding realistically that... well, most of you don't seem to even be aware of, because you wouldn't know unless you worked with horses directly!

Some Of The Most Common Horse + Riding Mistakes I See:

-Anybody can ride any horse if you hold on tight enough/have ridden once before.

Nope. No, no, no, no, aaaaaaaand, no. Horseback riding has, historically, been treated as a life skill taught from surprisingly young ages. It wasn't unusual in the pre-vehicular eras to start teaching children as young as 4 to begin to ride, because horses don't come with airbags, and every horse is different. For most adults, it can take months or years of regular lessons to learn to ride well in the saddle, and that's just riding; not working or practicing a sport.

Furthermore, horses often reject riders they don't know. Unless a horse has been trained like a teaching horse, which is taught to tolerate riders of all skill and experience levels, it will take extreme issue with having some random person try to climb on their back. Royalty, nobility, and the knighted classes are commonly associated with the "having a favorite special horse" trope, because it's true! Just like you can have a particularly special bond with a pet or service animal that verges on parental, the same can apply with horses. Happy horses love their owners/riders, and will straight-up do their best to murder anyone that tries to ride them without permission.

-Horses are stupid/have no personality.

There isn't a more dangerous assumption to make than assuming a horse is stupid. Every horse has a unique personality, with traits that can be consistent between breeds (again, like cat and dog breeds often have distinct behavior traits associated with them), but those traits manifest differently from animal to animal.

My mother had an Arabian horse, Zipper, that hated being kicked as a signal to gallop. One day, her mom and stepdad had a particularly unpleasant visitor; an older gentleman that insisted on riding Zipper, but refused to listen to my mother's warnings never to kick him. "Kicking" constitutes hitting the horse's side(s) with your heels, whether you have spurs on or not. Most horses only need a gentle squeeze to know what you want them to do.

Anyway, Zipper made eye-contact with my mom, asking for permission. He understood what she meant when she nodded at him. He proceeded to give this asshole of a rider road rash on the side of the paddock fence and sent him to the emergency room. He wouldn't have done it if he didn't have the permission from the rider he respected, and was intelligent enough to ask, "mind if I teach this guy a lesson?" with his eyes, and understand, "Go for it, buddy," from my mom in return.

-Riding bareback is possible to do if you hold onto the horse's mane really tight.

Riding a horse bareback (with no saddle, stirrups, or traditional harness around the horse's head) is unbelievably difficult to learn, particularly have testicles and value keeping them. Even professional riders and equestrians find ourselves relying on tack (the stuff you put on a horse to ride it) to stay stable on our horses, even if we've been riding that particular horse for years and have a very positive, trusting relationship.

Horses sweat like people do. The more they run, the more their hair saturates with sweat and makes staying seated on them slippery. Hell, an overworked horse can sweat so heavily that the saddle slips off its back. It's also essential to brush and bathe a horse before it's ridden in order to keep it healthier, so their hair is often quite slick from either being very clean or very damp. In order to ride like that, you have to develop the ability to synchronize your entire body's rhythm's with the rhythm of the horse's body beneath you, and quite literally move as one. Without stirrups, most people can't do it, and some people can never master bareback riding no matter how many years they spend trying to learn.

-You can be distracted and make casual conversation while a horse is standing untethered in the middle of a barn or field.

At every barn I've ever worked at, it's been standard practice with every single horse, regardless of age or temperament, to secure their heads while they're being tacked up or tacked down. The secures for doing this are simple ropes with clips that are designed to attach to the horse's halter (the headwear for a horse that isn't being ridden; they have no bit that goes in the horse's mouth, and no reins for a rider to hold) on metal O rings on either side of the horse's head. This is not distressing to the horse, because we give them plenty of slack to turn their heads and look around comfortably.

The problem with trying to tack up an unrestrained horse while chatting with fellow stable hands or riders is that horses know when you're distracted! And they often try to get away with stuff when they know you're not looking! In a barn, a horse often knows where the food is stored, and will often try to tiptoe off to sneak into the feed room.

Horses that get into the feed room are often at a high risk of dying. While extremely intelligent, they don't have the ability to throw up, and they don't have the ability to tell that their stomach is full and should stop eating. Allowing a horse into a feed/grain room WILL allow it to eat itself to death.

Other common woes stable hands and riders deal with when trying to handle a horse with an unrestrained head is getting bitten! Horses express affection between members of their own herd, and those they consider friends and family, through nibbling and surprisingly rough biting. It's not called "horseplay" for nothing, because during my years working with horses out in the pasture, it wasn't uncommon at all for me to find individuals with bloody bite marks on their withers (that high part on the middle of the back of their shoulders most people instinctively reach for when they try to get up), and on their backsides. I've been love-bitten by horses before, and while flattering, they hurt like hell on fleshy human skin.

So, for the safety of the horse, and everybody else, always make a show of somehow controlling the animal's head when hands-on and on the ground with them.

-Big Horse = War Horse

Startlingly, the opposite is usually the case! Draft and carriage horses, like Percherons and Friesians, were never meant to be used in warfare. Draft horses are usually bred to be extremely even-tempered, hard to spook, and trustworthy around small children and animals. Historically, they're the tractors of the farm if you could afford to upgrade from oxen, and were never built to be fast or agile in a battlefield situation.

More importantly, just because a horse is imposing and huge doesn't make it a good candidate for carrying heavy weights. A real thing that I had to be part of enforcing when I worked at a teaching ranch was a weight limit. Yeah, it felt shitty to tell people they couldn't ride because we didn't have any horses strong enough to carry them due to their weight, but it's a matter of the animal's safety. A big/tall/chonky horse is more likely to be built to pull heavy loads, but not carry them flat on their spines. Horses' muscular power is predominantly in their ability to run and pull things, and too heavy a rider can literally break a horse's spine and force us to euthanize it.

Some of the best war horses out there are from the "hot blood" family. Hot blooded horses are often from dry, hot, arid climates, are very small and slight (such as Arabian horses), and are notoriously fickle and flighty. They're also a lot more likely to paw/bite/kick when spooked, and have even sometimes been historically trained to fight alongside their rider if their rider is dismounted in combat; kicking and rearing to keep other soldiers at a distance.

-Any horse can be ridden if it likes you enough.

Just like it can take a lifetime to learn to ride easily, it can take a lifetime of training for a horse to comfortably take to being ridden or taking part in a job, like pulling a carriage. Much like service animals, horses are typically trained from extremely young ages to be reared into the job that's given to them, and an adult horse with no experience carrying a rider is going to be just as scared as a rider who's never actually ridden a horse.

Just as well, the process of tacking up a horse isn't always the most comfortable experience for the horse. To keep the saddle centered on the horse's back when moving at rough or fast paces, it's essential to tighten the belly strap (cinch) of the saddle as tightly as possible around the horse's belly. For the horse, it's like wearing a tight corset, chafes, and even leaves indents in their skin afterward that they love having rinsed with water and scratched. Some horses will learn to inflate their bellies while you're tightening the cinch so you can't get it as tight as it needs to be, and then exhale when they think you're done tightening it.

When you're working with a horse wearing a bridle, especially one with a bit, it can be a shocking sensory experience to a horse that's never used a bit before. While they lack a set of teeth naturally, so the bit doesn't actually hurt them, imagine having a metal rod shoved in your mouth horizontally! Unless you understand why it's important for the person you care about not dying, you'd be pretty pissed about having to keep it in there!

-Horseback riding isn't exercise.

If you're not using every muscle in your body to ride with, you're not doing it right.

Riding requires every ounce of muscle control you have in your entire body - although this doesn't mean it wasn't realistic for people with fat bodies to stay their weight while also being avid riders; it doesn't mean the muscles aren't there. To stay on the horse, you need to learn how it feels when it moves at different gaits (walk, trot, canter, gallop), how to instruct it to switch leads (dominant legs; essential for precise turning and ease of communication between you and the horse), and not falling off. While good riders look like they're barely moving at all, that's only because they're good riders. They know how to move so seamlessly with the horse, feeling their movements like their own, that they can compensate with their legs and waists to not bounce out of the saddle altogether or slide off to one side. I guarantee if you ride a horse longer than 30 minutes for the first time, your legs alone will barely work and feel like rubber.

-Horses aren't affectionate.

Horses are extraordinarily affectionate toward the right people. As prey animals, they're usually wary of people they don't know, or have only recently met. They also - again, like service animals - have a "work mode" and a "casual mode" depending upon what they're doing at the time. Horses will give kisses like puppies, wiggle their upper lips on your hair/arms to groom you, lean into neck-hugs, and even cuddle in their pasture or stall if it's time to nap and you join them by leaning against their sides. If they see you coming up from afar and are excited to see you, they'll whinny and squeal while galloping to meet you at the gate. They'll deliberately swat you with their tails to tease you, and will often follow you around the pasture if they're allowed to regardless of what you're up to.

-Riding crops are cruel.

Only cruel people use riding crops to hurt their horses. Spurs? I personally object to, because any horse that knows you well doesn't need something sharp jabbing them in the side for emphasis when you're trying to tell them where you want them to go. Crops? Are genuinely harmless tools used for signalling a horse.

I mean, think about it. Why would crops be inherently cruel instruments if you need to trust a horse not to be afraid of you and throw you off when you're riding it?

Crops are best used just to lightly tap on the left or right flank of the horse, and aren't universally used with all forms of riding. You'll mainly see crops used with English riding, and they're just tools for communicating with the horse without needing to speak.

-There's only one way to ride a horse.

Not. At. All. At most teaching ranches, you'll get two options: Western, or English, because they tend to be the most popular for shows and also the most common to find equipment for. English riding uses a thinner, smaller saddle, narrower stirrups, and much thinner bridles. I, personally, didn't like English style riding because I never felt very stable in such a thin saddle with such small stirrups, and didn't start learning until my mid teens. English style riding tends to focus more on your posture and deportment in the saddle, and your ability to show off your stability and apparent immovability on the horse. It was generally just a bit too stiff and formal for me.

Western style riding utilizes heavier bridles, bigger saddles (with the iconic horn on the front), and broader stirrups. Like its name may suggest, Western riding is more about figuring out how to be steady in the saddle while going fast and being mobile with your upper body. Western style riding is generally the style preferred for working-type shows, such as horseback archery, gunning, barrel racing, and even rodeo riding.

-Wealthy horse owners have no relationship with their horses.

This is loosely untrue, but I've seen cases where it is. Basically, horses need to feel like they're working for someone that matters to them in order to behave well with a rider and not get impatient or bored. While it's common for people to board horses at off-property ranches (boarding ranches) for cost and space purposes, it's been historically the truth that having help is usually necessary with horses at some point. What matters is who spends the most time with the animal treating it like a living being, rather than a mode of transport or a tool. There's no harm in stable hands handling the daily upkeep; hay bales and water buckets are heavy, and we're there to profit off the labor you don't want or have the time to do. You get up early to go to work; we get up early to look after your horses. Good owners/boarders visit often and spend as much of their spare time as they can with spending quality work and playtime with their horses. Otherwise, the horses look to the stable hands for emotional support and care.

So, maybe you're writing a knight that doesn't really care much for looking after his horse, but his squire is really dedicated to keeping up with it? There's a better chance of the horse having a more affectionate relationship with the squire thanks to the time the squire spends on looking after it, while the horse is more likely to tolerate the knight that owns it as being a source of discipline if it misbehaves. That doesn't mean the knight is its favorite person. When it comes to horses, their love must be earned, and you can only earn it by spending time with them hands-on.

-Horses can graze anywhere without concern.

This is a mistake that results in a lot of premature deaths! A big part of the cost of owning a horse - even before you buy one - is having the property that will be its pasture assessed for poisonous plants, and having those plants removed from being within the animal's reach. This is an essential part of farm upkeep every year, because horses really can't tell what's toxic and what isn't. One of the reasons it's essential to secure a horse when you aren't riding it is to ensure it only has a very limited range to graze on, and it's your responsibility as the owner/rider to know how to identify dangerous plants and keep your horses away from them.

There's probably more. AMA in my askbox if you have any questions, but that's all for now. Happy writing.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Margaret Killjoy’s “The Sapling Cage”

TODAY (Sept 24), I'll be speaking IN PERSON at the BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY!

The Sapling Cage is the first book in Margaret Killjoy's new "Daughters of the Empty Throne" trilogy: it's a queer coming-of-age tale in the mode of epic fantasy, and it's very good:

https://firestorm.coop/products/21646-the-sapling-cage.html

Lorel wants to be a witch, but that's the very last of the adventurous trades to be strictly gender-segregated. Boys and girls alike run away to be knights, brigands and sailors, but only girls can become a witch. Indeed, Lorel's best friend, Lane, is promised to the witches, having been born to a witch herself.

Lane doesn't want to be a witch. She wants to be a knight. So she and Lorel swap places, so when the crones come to their little hamlet to collect the girl who was promised to her, it's Lorel who steps forward, wearing the black dress Lane's mother left behind. None of the townsfolk rate Lorel out to the witches, and just like that, she is on the march with the coven, a whelp – the lowest ranking inductee, aspiring to "apprentice" and then, "witch."

What follows is, in some ways, a very expertly executed coming-of-age story. Lane is getting trained up with the coven, among a new cohort of whelps of varying degrees of friendliness and hostility. The world is a richly realized fantasy landscape of monsters and giants, magic and political intrigue.

Lorel has signed up for witching just as the land is turning against witches, thanks to a political plot by a scheming duchess who has scapegoated the witches as part of a plan to annex all the surrounding duchies, re-establishing the long-disintegrated kingdom with herself on the throne. To make things worse (for the witches, if not the duchess), there's a plague of monsters on the land, and the forests are blighted with a magical curse that turns trees to unmelting ice. This all softens up the peasantfolk for anti-witch pogroms.

So Lorel has to learn witching, even as her coven is fighting both monsters and the duchess's knights and the vigilante yokels who've been stirred up with anti-witch xenophobia.

This is a good, sturdy, serviceable plot, and in Killjoy's hands, it is expertly handled. There are lots of reversals and double-crosses, brilliant fight scenes, all the things you could want in an epic fantasy. And of course, it's a coming of age, with Lorel seeing the world and discovering who she is and brushing away the comforting half-truths and lies her elders have cocooned her in.

That's where the fact that Lorel is trans comes in. Lorel is figuring out what that means, but she's also very worried about discovery. After all, she's entered the company of witches, the last all-female cohort in the land, and these are powerful women – what's more, they're anarchists, leaderless and fractious. Who knows what happens if Lorel gets discovered.

So you've got this incredibly well-turned fantasy/coming-of-age story going on, and Killjoy figures out how to work in this gender stuff not just as a way of doing "representation" or "queer joy" or any other value that's orthogonal to the literary merits of this as an adventure tale. Nor does she simply integrate trans-ness as an unremarkable fact of life, another kind of statement (indeed, there's plenty of queer characters in this story who are matter-of-fact in this manner).

No, Killjoy uses the special complications of coming-of-age while transitioning to heighten the stakes and thus fuel the suspense of the novel. In addition to all the normal merits of diverse characters, Killjoy is using gender issues to crank up the story, winding it up to a breakneck pace that makes the pages practically fly past.

Thematically, there's a bunch of chewy stuff Killjoy does with the way that magic transforms bodies, making monsters out of witches who push their powers too hard. The story has all these changing bodies – children coming of age, Lorel coming out as transfemme, the transformation of magic-users into monsters. It's just another layer of depth that supports a zippy, run-and-gun quest tale.

I've followed Killjoy's work for more than a decade, ever since her days publishing the seminal zine Steampunk (motto: "Love the machine, hate the factory"):

https://firestorm.coop/products/2624-steampunk-magazine.html

Years later, I had the pleasure of instructing her at the Clarion West workshop. She's published regularly all that time, and this is by far her most commercial – and, I think her best! – novel (to date).

Today, Tor Books publishes SPILL, a new, free LITTLE BROTHER novella about oil pipelines and indigenous landback!

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/09/24/daughters-of-the-empty-throne/#witchy/a>

[bubonickitten]

The ALA's State of America's Libraries Report for 2024 is out now.

2023 had the highest number of challenged book titles ever documented by the ALA.

You can view the full PDF of the report here. Book ban/challenge data broken down by state can be found here.

If you can, try to keep an eye on your local libraries, especially school and public libraries. If book/program challenges or attacks on library staff are happening in your area, make your voice heard -- show up at school board meetings, county commissioner meetings, town halls, etc. Counterprotest. Write messages of support on social media or in your local papers. Show support for staff in-person. Tell others about the value of libraries.

Get a library card if you haven't yet -- if you're not a regular user, chances are you might not know what all your library offers. I'm talking video games, makerspaces (3D printers, digital art software, recording equipment, VR, etc.), streaming services, meeting spaces, free demonstrations and programs (often with any necessary materials provided at no cost!), mobile WiFi hotspots, Library of Things collections, database subscriptions, genealogy resources, and so on. A lot of electronic resources like ebooks, databases, and streaming services you can access off-site as long as you have a (again: free!!!) library card. There may even be services like homebound delivery for people who can't physically come to the library.

Also try to stay up to date on pending legislation in your state -- right now there's a ton of proposed legislation that will harm libraries, but there are also bills that aim to protect libraries, librarians, teachers, and intellectual freedom. It's just as important to let your representatives know that you support pro-library/anti-censorship legislation as it is to let them know that you oppose anti-library/pro-censorship legislation.

Unfortunately, someone being a library user or seeing value in the work that libraries do does not guarantee that they will support libraries at the ballot. One of the biggest predictors for whether libraries stay funded is not the quantity or quality of the services, programs, and materials it offers, but voter support. Make sure your representatives and local politicians know your stance and that their actions toward libraries will affect your vote.

Here are some resources for staying updated:

If you're interested in library advocacy and staying up to date with the challenges libraries are facing in the U.S., check out EveryLibrary, which focuses on building voter support for libraries.

Book Riot has regular articles on censorship attempts taking place throughout the nation, which can be found here, as well as a Literary Activism Newsletter.

The American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom focuses on the intellectual freedom component of the Library Bill of Rights, tracks censorship attempts throughout each year, and provides training, support, and education about intellectual freedom to library staff and the public.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation focuses on intellectual freedom in the digital world, including fighting online censorship and illegal surveillance.

I know this post is long, but please spread the word. Libraries need your support now more than ever.

[yukimomodivorce]

The Ghosts in IDOLiSH7 are a Literary Device, Mostly

(an essay by me)

People are always asking me, "Robin, what the fuck is up with those ghosts in IDOLiSH7? How come this otherwise completely non-supernatural universe randomly has these two ghosts that show up and then never get acknowledged again? Is it just canon that ghosts exist and only Riku and Momo can see them?" and I am always telling them that I have an analysis about this I just haven't written it yet. But that ends today, as do all of these very pressing concerns about the i7 Ghosts™, because here I am, finally writing the analysis. This essay will have two sections, the first on the training camp ghost from part 3/third beat, and the second on the Re:vale house ghost from Yuki's third chapter of Re:member. So, spoilers for all of part 3/third beat in both sections, Re:member in section 2, and there's one extremely minor spoiler for part 4 in section 1 but it's honestly so predictable I don't think it even counts. Also, I'll reiterate this once we get to it, but just a warning that section 2 will contain discussions of depression, suicide and suicidal ideation, and a brief mention of self-harm, so please stop reading after section 1 if you don't want to see any of that! Another less important disclaimer about section 2 is that I am going to spend an entirely unecessary amount of time talking about Yuki. I am normal about Yuki. Okay. Without further ado, let's watch my spiral into ghost analogy insanity unfold!

Game translations: @seigyokus Re:member translations: @ takara_time (+ scans and editing by @ waitamomoment) Rabbit chat translations: @osakaso5

Section 1: The Training Camp Ghost

This first point applies to both ghosts, but I wanna start by noting that I think superstitions and beliefs like this are more common in Japan than a lot of other places, so yeah it is entirely possible that ghosts are just a canon and accepted thing in Idolish7's universe and this isn't really that strange of a detail for the series to include. However, I don't have any real background knowledge about if ghosts are normal in non-supernatural anime/etc. and I am not committing to that kind of research, so we'll have to leave the specifics of the ghost canonicity issue to someone else. But regardless of how canon they are, I think we've established well enough by now that the i7 writers don't put much of anything in the series without reason (re:vale band name you will always be famous. to me), and that definitely applies here as well - both of our ghosts are doing a LOT of potential symbolic work in their brief appearances, and that's what we'll be unpacking today, starting with the TCG.

The infamous TCG (training camp ghost) of Atami needs no introduction, but I'll give her one anyway. During the filming of the Friends Day special, upon following the shopping group home, she offers her services to Riku (inexplicably the only person capable of communicating with her) for the evening entertainment group's test of courage, terrorises several cast members throughout the day, and finally brings us Soma Saito's incredible cover of Dis One before probably being sent back to idol fan purgatory forever. Who is she? Where did she come from? I have several theories.

1.1: The TCG is the audience

While the 'ghosts are real in i7' possibility is there, I think it's also important to note in this case that the whole training camp is very explicitly being filmed for TV, and the biggest vibe I get from this episode of the anime is that the ghost is a part of the show, and we're seeing that show through the eyes of its in-universe audience. This happens pretty often in i7 (for example, when we see the groups talk to their fans during concerts), and generally the line between the real fans and the fictional ones can get pretty blurred (which deserves its own much longer analysis but I Am Not Writing All That), so everything with the in-universe audience here kind of naturally extends to us as the real audience. The TCG would probably be easy enough to manufacture with special effects as long as Riku and the driver guy were in on it, and it would make sense for the Friends Day producers to include it to keep things entertaining and be a stand-in for their viewers/fans of the idol groups - the ghost is specifically a female fan of male idols (Zero), and a lot of her interactions with the cast would qualify as self-insert material (e.g. Tenn singing for her and Riku looking directly into the camera to smile at her). And speaking of Tenn and Riku,

1.2 The TCG is Nanase twins angst

I think this connection is fairly obvious in their exchange here. You could make a case for the ghost representing either one of the twins. Like Riku, she's being pushed away by Tenn before she's ready to leave, told that it's necessary and for the best that they stay separated - after all, they live in different worlds. Like Tenn, she's leaving despite Riku's protests and part of her not really wanting to go at first, because she believes it's for the best that they stay separated - after all, they live in different worlds.

There's also the association with ghosts of being ignored/invisible, and Riku being the only person able to see or talk to her. Maybe it's because he's the only one who's able to reach her. Maybe he can see her because he understands her on some level - she was torn away from life like he was torn away from his brother, and she's now practically invisible to everyone else around her, like Riku probably feels to Tenn (and arguably the rest of his family in some ways). Maybe he wants her to feel seen, and he can make Tenn acknowledge her in the way he wants to be acknowledged by him. I might actually be going somewhere with this so bear with me for a second.

1.3: The TCG is monster Riku foreshadowing

So my first thought when I watched the Nanase twin angst portion of this episode was 'well obviously the ghost isn't real and Riku is just using it to talk to Tenn indirectly' because they are always having indirect conversations like this and it makes me insane, and I do still think that's the idea here, just not quite in the sense that Riku is making things up. Going back to the whole 'ghost is a stand-in for the audience' thing, and assuming that she's saying the things that Riku wants to say and Tenn is telling her the things he wants to tell Riku, then we could say that rather than Riku purposefully having the ghost speak for him, this is an extension of the monster effect. I guess in this scenario the TCG is a real ghost (and a figurative representation of the audience), and Riku is having the same effect on her that Iori says he has on everyone else. He unknowingly projects his desire to connect with his brother onto her, and she tries to help him. Really, the only times we see her after she follows the shopping group to their cabin are when she's helping Riku, with the test of courage and then with speaking to Tenn. This gets convoluted so I kinda doubt it's intentional? But it's fun to think about.

1.4: The TCG is the friends we made along the way

Riku spells this out a bit more explicitly in the game here, but the TCG represents the each of the groups in the series in a couple different ways. I guess one way you could interpret this is that the ghost is meant to be there to emphasise how extraordinary it is that they're all together, but I don't think that really holds up considering how often they end up working with each other throughout the series anyway. What's important here is the idea of the ghost itself, something that can be present and felt even when it isn't physically or actually there. Again, the ghost is the audience - a constant influence for better and for worse on these idols even when they aren't watching, even in their personal lives; and vice versa, the ghost is the idols being able to reach their fans without ever actually knowing them. More relevant to what Riku says, the ghost is the groups to each other - friends, mentors, rivals, pushing them forward even when they aren't standing side by side. You could even say the ghost is ZOOL, friends who aren't here right now but will be someday. Re:vale and Idolish7 as groups don't especially fit the ghost description, but they have their fair share of ghosts - Banri, Haruki, Tenn, Aya, Sougo's uncle. Zero. The list goes on, for Trigger and ZOOL as well, but I think the most important way the ghost analogy applies to this section of the story is with Trigger. Because during the imminent Arc Where Trigger Gets Cancelled™, despite leaving their agency and disappearing almost entirely from the public eye, they're still very much there to their fans and to their friends. So. I kinda forgot what I was saying but to sum it all up the ghost here represents everything that stays with you even when it's far away or after it's gone from your life. Mikanseinabokura and all that. And now that I mention it-

Section 2: The Re:vale House Ghost

Once again, a warning that this section has a brief mention of self-harm, as well as in-depth discussions of depression, suicide and suicidal ideation (which I'm gonna be talking about pretty bluntly the entire time), so please don't proceed unless you're comfortable with all of that!

Like most things in Re:member, the RHG (Re:vale house ghost) makes me insane. Today I am going to attempt to form coherent thoughts about it and it is unlikely that I'll succeed, but try to bear with me. Though it isn't around for as long as the TCG, we have a little more info about the RHG - it's the ghost that haunts the shitty apartment Yuki and Momo live in together in their early days as Re:vale. Supposedly. All it actually does is slam the door of one kitchen cabinet and I don't think that this is definitive evidence of paranormal activity because most houses are just like that. It's all a little bit vague, but according to Re:vale, their house is definitely haunted by the ghost of someone who died in the kitchen, because when they move in there is a mysterious black stain on their kitchen floor. Momo introduces himself to the floor stain while Yuki stares at him in awe and blushes and shoujo filter flowers appear in his eyes. God I hate them. I think the RHG is just a figment of their collective imagination or maybe they're having one of those shared delusions or something. But that's really besides the point because this ghost exists for one very specific thematic purpose: the RHG is Yuki.

And on that note, let's go back and talk about Yuki for a few minutes (potentially hours) before we get to our actual analysis of the ghost scene. Mostly because I just wanna talk about him, but also because I do understand why some people think the 'Momo starts talking to ghosts' part of Re:member is kinda weird and random, and I think at least some of this is important to go over before we unpack it.

A consensus has already been established among Yuki scholars that our subject has autism (Kei et al. 2024). Today, I would like to propose an additional diagnosis: Yuki has depression.

2.1: "I lost my dreams, friends, and passion as well."

So, Yuki pretty clearly gets depressed when Ban leaves him. He loses interest in everything he used to care about, gives up on his dreams, blames himself for Ban's injury and disappearance, he's constantly sad, tired and irritable, and he lashes out at Momo (and Kujou, though there are some other pretty strong reasons for that one) and presumably everyone else he knows (I doubt he had a particularly good relationship with anyone else in the first place, but still).

He's grieving here, and it would make sense for him to react this way because of that fact alone. But I really don't think that's all there is to it, because he exhibits these symptoms (among others) long before Ban leaves him. He can't get out of bed in the mornings, he rarely leaves the house if he can avoid it, he has days where he can't eat or sleep, he's underweight and always tired and generally known to lack energy and be slow (or 'lazy') and in some cases listless and despondent. Ban even says that he wouldn't put it past Yuki to start slitting his wrists. And it's subtle, but there's one more really big one that really never goes away for him, even after he finds Ban.

2.2: "I don't need anyone to love me."

I'll get straight to the point. Yuki hates himself. Maybe only a little bit, maybe only sometimes, but it's there. Especially when he struggles with composing - he even says it himself in part 1 of his birthday photobook rabbit chat, almost immediately after saying that it made him want to kill himself but we'll get back to that part.

But it's really everywhere on what seems to be a mostly subconscious level for him, if you know how to look, even from the very beginning:

On paper, this line is just his frustration with being judged by anything other than his music, because it's something he cares a lot about and puts a lot of work into and he wants that to be acknowledged. But I think that if you take it in conjunction with some of the other things he tends to say, there's a little bit more to it.

I dont need anyone to love me. Yuki's songs are worthy of love. Yuki is not. There is nothing valuable about Yuki other than his songs, he has nothing else that deserves any sort of praise, and without them, he's just a useless burden with nothing to offer. He doesn't need anyone to love him - he doesn't understand why anyone would. And Momo does, and he's a good person, and Yuki doesn't deserve that when there's nothing he can actually do for him. And when that starts to change and he starts getting better at showing kindness to others and being there for Momo, he doesn't see it as learning to better express his feelings, he sees is as learning to feel affection and be a good person, because he believes that he is inherently not. As far as he can tell, Yuki is just naturally a bad person and a bad partner who isn't kind and isn't capable of love or compassion, not unless he tries to be. He knows, because he's heard it god knows how many times - even Chiba Shizuo blatantly tells him that neither of them can become good people - and maybe things are different now, but on some basic level it'll always be who he is.

Ok breaking character for a second, imagine you show up to your acting side gig and on the first day Keanu Reeves comes up to you and gives you $300 cash and then later he indirectly tells you that you're a nasty lonely egotistical failure. Now imagine you're Yuki and you have no fucking clue who Keanu Reeves is. He also shows you pictures of his top secret illegitimate son after talking to you for like 10 minutes and you have to lie to him about being straight. I think this is objectively the funniest situation to be in ever. Chiba Shizuo and Yamato both probably have depression also, but I'm not gonna spend any time on it, because every three months a person is torn to pieces by a crocodile in Northern Queensland. I forgot what I was talking about. Anyway

2.3: Hey remember that one time Yuki just straight up tried to kill himself

Yeah, that one. As far as I know this is really never addressed or acknowledged again, so we're just gonna take the page-long gag from Re:member at face value and say that after Ban's disappearance, Yuki (almost) attempted suicide, and the only reason he didn't go through with it is because he couldn't find anywhere to hang the noose. And like, yeah you could say it's just because he thought Ban might have killed himself and he's always been the kind of hopeless romantic to be waxing poetic about how "I can't live without you," but at the same time, he had no apparent reason to believe this (even if Ban did have suicidal tendencies I doubt Yuki would've really known), and he was planning to go through with it (I know it's probably just for comedic effect but he left a will. He left a will. He's, like, 20, and surely not the kind of person who would just have something like that in order already). This is also emphatically not the last time or the only reason he thinks about it.

I told you we'd get back to the photobook chat! I think there's also a lot you can infer from all the times he says he'd probably be dead by now without Momo and he wouldn't be able to handle losing him, what with the whole "when you jump, you'd better take me with you" thing. But regardless, this really isn't just that one time that Yuki tried to kill himself. It's suicidal ideation, and it's something he consistently struggles with especially in the few months after Ban leaves him. It even comes up in how he sees the 'paranormal activity' his new apartment:

2.4: "It seemed as though someone had hung themselves there."

Yeah it's the ghost I'm finally gonna talk about the ghost. I'm done with my Yuki has depression rant we can talk about why the ghost is Yuki now. I guess it might be more accurate to say that the ghost is Yuki's depression/suicidal thoughts/Banri trauma/whatever, but either way I think it represents him and he might also be semi-consciously projecting onto it, and I'm gonna go through line-by-line and try to explain my interpretation.

I think if you want to there's definitely room to take the 'usual paranormal activity' super literally and say that Yuki was having outbursts and slamming doors at the time (which would also match up with him being startled by it). I think it's also important to note that this is happening around the time he mentions feeling suicidal and not being able to compose in the photobook chat, but the main thing here is that second line. Even though Momo is always so nice to him, he can't stop himself from getting mad and being difficult and depressed, and he can't return that kindness - he can't even be useful to him.

I've already mentioned how I think Yuki's conclusion about the stain here plays into his suicidal ideation, but let's look at it a little more thematically. It's the way that even though it's glossed over earlier in the manga, Yuki's suicide attempt and everything that accompanied it still follows him, and it hangs (lol) heavy in their house like a ghost. To Yuki, it's startling and eerie - it scares him, and he's expecting it to scare Momo once he sees that side of him too. And it probably does scare him a little, and he hesitates, but he doesn't scream. Again, there's room to interpret this more literally as Momo finding out about his attempt/ideation/depression, or just as him inevitably seeing how he gets on his worse days, but either way the outcome is the same. Momo is starting to know Yuki as a person instead of an idol, flaws and probable mental illness and all, and his first reaction isn't to shy away or start to hate him or want to leave. It's an introduction. He makes it clear that they'll both be staying here from now on, that he's willing to live with the 'darker' sides of Yuki, and to help him do the same. Another point on this that's up to interpretation (because let's be real they're probably never gonna deal with this stuff explicitly in canon), you could see the whole ghost thing as neither of them really being able/wanting to accept that Yuki's symptoms are actually a part of him (and this is veering completely into fanfic territory but now I'm just imagining both of them silently agreeing to blame the things Yuki does on bad days on the ghost) but we've had enough angst for one day.

Everything else lines up well enough with the ghost and Yuki, but it's really his reaction here that sells the whole thing for me. It's a simple gesture, but just by Momo greeting him, being by his side, waiting for him when he comes home, that constant reminder of all his darkest thoughts becomes just another mark on the floorboards. It's not gone, and it probably never will be. But at least now, he doesn't have to face it alone. And it doesn't look so scary anymore.

2.5: "Now I know joy, and the meaning of a smile."

I must confess that I lied to all of you earlier. I'm actually not done with my Yuki rant and also there's a good reason I've been ignoring all the parts of Re:member where he isn't being self-deprecating or trying to kill himself. The end of the ghost scene is only the beginning of the end of this analysis, and the end of this analysis is pretty much just me having a meltdown about Yuki. Also I'm running out of space for images so we're doing some of the quotes like this instead.

After losing Ban, I lost my dreams, friends, and passion as well. I could only feel a sting as the wind passed through an empty, gaping hole in my chest. But I breathed as best as I could, and he tried to clear the dirt out of that hole, filling it with his earnest words instead.

Yuki still exhibits a lot of symptoms of depression all the way through the series, like the low energy and the trouble eating and sleeping, and [redacted part 5 spoilers] makes me think there's definitely some sort of connection between his writers' block and his depressive episodes. He still mentions feeling guilty towards Banri in second beat, the suicidal ideation doesn't really come up explicitly but he kinda hints at it on a few occassions, and he's very adament that he was a bad person and still isn't really a good one. But it's like. I don't really know how to put this, but I guess it's not his default state anymore like it was right after Ban left (and possibly before that, too). For the most part, he really does get better, and these things become less intense and fewer and farther between. He would probably say that it's all thanks to Momo, and it is, but he also very much does it of his own volition. Momo refuses so desperately to give up on him, and because of that he makes that choice to keep going by restarting Re:vale with him.

Yuki allows himself to let someone else in and start to love again - his partner, his music, his life. Even while he's thinking that he's just a burden to those around him, he doesn't resign himself to his fate like he might have done in the past. He's determined to become a better person, someone who can be a source of strength for Momo just like he was for him. And in the end, he does, but it's not just that. Now he knows joy. Now he can genuinely smile. And now,

I want to hear them scream my name. The voices that called out had annoyed me in the past. But now, I'll smile, together with Momo, who'll be by my side.

Going back to what I said about some of Yuki's subconscious self-hatred coming through in the way he wants people to look at his music and not at him, I. Cannot finish a sentence. Do NOT think about Yuki learning to love himself and see himself as worthy of love because Momo loved him just that much in a way that he could accept. BAD IDEA. Okay. So. It's Ban's advice and Momo's fan letter that get Yuki to accept that his fans do genuinely love his music in the first place, and I think it's here that it really starts to turn into him accepting the idea that they love other things about him too? Or that he really starts to want it and be happy about it instead of just accepting it? Whatever. I give up. I don't even like Re:vale anyway

That day, I would play the guitar I'd almost thrown at Kujou, because I now knew the power of a song that could not be silenced. I would dry my tears, open the door, and say, "I'm home."

[trollprincess]

Since my birthday is tomorrow, I figured I would make a short list of what I want just in case anybody is in a giving mood:

Money.

Any of the many, many, many minidollhouses on my Amazon wishlist.

For the Leverage team, and in particular Hardison, to hack into the system and wipe out our collective student debt. (And also all the medical debt while he’s at it.)

A free ticket to go back in time and watch Queen perform at Live Aid from the front row.

The ability to teleport.

A lifetime supply of red licorice laces and salted roasted pumpkin seeds.

For Pringles to start making those cinnamon sugar tortilla chips again.

To dump a truckload of elephant diarrhea on Ronald Reagan’s grave.

I said money, right?

To lose forty pounds in one night, preferably without delivering a child I didn’t even know I was pregnant with or losing at least one limb.

Five more seasons of “Sense8.”

That really fancy train ride from Paris to Istanbul that costs like 80k Euros.

The ghosts of the people in town who died of COVID to haunt the newspaper editor who added “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” to his enormous Trump sign out front of his office.

One free month at the Library Hotel in NYC where I’m not allowed to do anything but read and write.

A literary agent.

A pitch-black Victorian house decorated with 90s movie witch vibes.

A Bluetooth connection between my brain and my phone so I can just download my goddamn story ideas instead of wasting time typing them out.

For all of my WIPs to edit and polish themselves.

A free maid service that doesn’t judge about the depression mess and makes me a tea before they go.

A wallet that always has the exact amount of money I need inside it whenever I open it up and can never be stolen or lost from me.

The ability to choose to watch a show I’ve been meaning to watch instead of watching the same old show for the eleventy millionth time.

For someone to come repair the patch of cross-stitching I fucked up so I don’t have to.

My own capybara.

Yup, definitely said money. I take PayPal, Venmo, CashApp, Zelle, carrier pigeon, singing telegram, personal delivery by Janelle Monae, and the quiet but satisfying feeling of all my creditors suddenly forgetting I exist.

Chocolate chip cookie dough without the chips in a jar that never empties.

To live long enough to finish all the books in my TBR pile.

For Professor to live just as long as I do, if not forever beyond that.

For Elon Musk to eat several thousand fried dicks.

For Donald Trump to end up broke and alone with every single one of his followers having finally realized the emperor has no clothes.

World peace, free education for all, universal healthcare, high-speed rail, the end of poverty and bigotry, kindness throughout the land, and for whatever embarrassing memory pops into your head at the worst of times to vanish from existence as though it never, ever happened.

[not-goldy]

Hello I'm not quoting blog name here but what do you think about this ? Your real opinion about Jimin and Jungkook.

the thing is i dont think jikook are actually together. i think they have feelings for each other and on some level they both know it and i think they play it up in front of the camera because it feels safer in some twisted way-- they can write it off as fanservice. theyre obviously the closest in the group but besides a few drunken... not kisses but charged moments (the hickey hello), i dont think theyve done anything. i think they are acutely aware of the eyes on them and the line they cannot cross, and i think they toe it more often than they probably should. i think they date other people. i think as their outside relationships ebb and flow so does the bond between them, i think there is jealousy, i think there is confusion about what will happen between them. i think theyre both very aware of their status as celebrities and that they will simultaneously be wholeheartedly accepted and carelessly shunned, i think nothing will happen until after their military service, i think, realistically, nothing will happen until after DISBANDMENT, when they try to stay away from each other, bitter, and realize they can't

I think it's beautifully written.

It's the most serene form of adultification of Jikook I've seen so far. Don't get me wrong. Jikook are adults, yes. But they've not always been adults.

But I mean, I would come to the same conclusion too if I was looking at jikook in media res. It's very easy to look at them as they are now and think - for lack of a better word- highly of them because they look like two professionals and two self respecting adults who have control over their charged "chemistry" on screen.

But I'm afraid that's not jikook.

I met jikook as teens and have had the privilege of watching them literally grow to become the jikook we see on screen today.

"They are very aware of their status as celebrities"

Uhmmm celebrities where?? Here? I think da fuck not

I don't even think it's clocked for some of them that they are celebrities and some of them are still getting used to the fact they are.

You know there was a time they would stroll into airports and nobody cared? Shocking I know. They took to the streets to sell their own tickets and would keep asking strangers, "do you know BTS"

Back in their own home country not many people even knew who they were.

And you have to understand this fact about them on order to appreciate the gravity of their success. They are a spectacle and such a global phenomenon partly because of their poor to riches story. Let's not belittle that for literary symmetry.

Bts hasn't always been this big huge stars of world dominating proportions. Believe it or not.

That gaze we think shapes their every conduct now hasn't always been there. No one was checking for them like that and like they themselves said some of them even nearly quit because they didn't know they would become this huge.

In the Fandom we talk about Namjoon constantly keeping them in check and reminding them people are watching- mind you these are media trained idols we talking about and yet how many times have we had to clear searches for their blunder? How many times have they had to issue an apology for the song lyrics or comments they've made.

They are constantly reminding eachother of the gaze

BTS came from somewhere. Whatever platform they are on they built it from the ground up. As good intentioned as we are in our analysis of them, we shouldn't take that away from them.

They've been in the mud and they've got some dirt on them and they've done things when they thought no one was watching. But that's part of their journey. You don't need to bend over backwards and clean them up to make them look presentable. Which is what I feel OP is doing here. A cleaned up version of jikook.

Op talks about a few drunken moments- was this before or after Jungkook was legally allowed to drink alcohol? Or is she just superimposing adult jikook on all stages of Jikook's journey? See what I mean?

BTS have talked about struggling with teenage hormones, about struggling with lust and love, watching porn, popping off, girls, boys, dating, attraction, gender expression, struggling with their identity- those are very valid lived experiences we cannot take away from them.

We cannot for instance take away from the fact they shared a bed while naked, the fact they sneaked into each other's hotel rooms and was caught on camera, nor take away from them the feeling of attraction or the fact they love each other.

And while Anon likes to think so highly of them as to believe they could be in such close proximity, as human as they were, as young as they were, as hormonal as they were, willing to experiment and take risks, that they could restrain themselves because of a career they had no idea they would have or because of a large audience that didn't exist at the time, I have no such compunction. Jikook fucked eachother. They were young, and wild and horny and they fucked eachother. It's very simple.

One plus one is two for me. I don't have to rack my brians or sugarcoat it.

"Nothing will happen until after disbandment."

Why do people make sex out to be such a big deal😭

IT'S JUST SEX.

Okay scratch that, it's not just sex for them because it's also about having their needs met, it's about the companionship, self discovery and exploration. People think being an idol is easy. It gets lonely and often times depressing and these people develop all kinds of coping mechanisms and to me jikook found each other to cope too.

We cannot have a conversation around Tae Tae's struggles and depression, Jimin's complaints of loneliness, Namjoon and Suga's you know what, Jin's depresion and abyss while also not considering what they'd done or what they would have needed to do to cope. Especially when we read that other idols were and are advised to date, do therapy, smoke, do drugs, fuck around- albeit discreetly as a cooping mechanism for these struggles.

They can give each other hickies and rat each other out in public for said hickies, touch their dicks and spank each other's ass, they can play kiss kiss with each other as part of games, and tell each other they like to be tied up, but God forbid they actually kiss.

And gaze or not, there men have lived their lives and gathered experiences. Not all facet of their lives are controlled by our gaze. They out there living their lives I promise you that. They all fucking those they want to fuck, taking substances they wanna take, drinking whatever the fuck they want to drink.

Our opinion of them isn't stopping them from living their lives. That's my opinion and my belief. Just because I say they not screwing no body don't change a thing for them.

And if jikook ain't fucking, really their loss 💀

I wouldn't mind fucking jimin for Kook. Imma blow his back the fuck out. Every block boy need a little love💕

Put it down and imma pick it up purr

These mofos are out here thirst trapping eachother thrusting their hips in sexual aggression and belting in high key notes over sex and here we are thinking they are too decent to the blowing it up each other's ass.

And to think they both been acting dickmatized all these years because they aren't screwing??? Huh???

Yall do too much I swear

Look, this is a bell

This is Jimin ringing said bell

This is Jungkook when he heard Jimins bell

And this is Jikook ring ranging the bell together

Jikook are fucking eachother. They can't unring that bell and no one can convince me otherwise. I just don't trust that with all the sexual tensions and all the alone time they spend together that all they do when they are alone is read scriptures.

Nope. Nah uh

But hey, to each their own.

[topazadine]

The Ultimate Guide to The Eirenic Verses

"Poesy wrote the first word." "Amen, amen, amen."

Centuries ago, the goddess Poesy gave her people, the Bremish, the gift of High Poetry: the ability to turn words into actions, whether that is raising mountains from raw earth or spreading pestilence in the land. Societies developed on either side of the Rimuk Mountains, sworn to perpetual strife.

This is the story of Breme and Sina, two countries whose histories are paradoxically separate and intertwined, as seen through the eyes of their inhabitants. The Eirenic Verses offers a glimpse into the world of Eirenen: a planet both like and unlike our own, where literary prowess can be transmuted into military might.

About the Author

Cover art by Katarina @nskvsky

Main Characters

Cerie Korviridi

Uileac Korviridi (additional details)

Orrinir Relickim

Haniya Aina

Ono Kagan

Mordrek Willets

Societies and Major Locations

Breme

Breme Overview High Poetry Major Locations in Breme

Sina

Sina Overview Royal Family Major Locations in Sina

Additional Societies

The Eirenic Verses Series

Part One: 9 Years Yearning

Uileac Korviridi, student at the Bremish War Academy, expects to focus on his studies and protect his little sister - not fall in love with Orrinir Relickim, the hotheaded infantryman who can't seem to leave him alone. Subgenre: Gay coming of age romance Main Character: Uileac Korviridi Status: Live on Amazon

Part Two: Pride Before a Fall

Orrinir Relickim's horse, Bannain, was a wedding present from his husband, Uileac Korviridi. The intemperate animal nearly ends his marriage, too. One swift kick to the ribs turns into a journey through magical medicine and the human heart, as he comes to better understand the man he swore to love. Subgenre: Cozy romance Main Character: Orrinir Relickim Status: Pre-orders available

Part Three: Funeral of Hopes

Uileac Korviridi's husband, Orrinir Relickim, speaks little of his past. Vague mentions of an unhappy childhood before becoming a Future Boy at the War Academy are more than enough for Uileac; he has his own demons, after all. This changes when Orrinir receives word that his alcoholic, abusive father is dying - and refuses to reconcile. Subgenre: Family drama Main Character: Uileac Korviridi Status: Completed, revisions Sneak preview here

Part Four: What Is Cannot Be Unwritten

Mordrek Willets loves murder, mules, and women - not necessarily in that order. He's the first Sinan Intelligence Services officer to sneak across the forboding Rimuk Mountains and learn more about the Bremish High Poets, a secretive cabal of women tasked with protecting the beleagured country from his own. This mission takes more out of him than he ever could have expected. His pride. His loyalty. His heart. Subgenre: Dark adventure Main Character: Mordrek Willets Status: Completed, revisions

Part Five: Absent All Light

Cerie Korviridi has trained for over a decade to complete the Sigillum: the ritual that will make her a fully-fledged High Poet. In the aftershocks of the brutal ceremony, she finds that her brother-in-law, infantryman Orrinir Relickim, has been taken hostage by the enemy - and that the army is refusing to send help. Her brother, Uileac, refuses to leave his husband behind enemy lines and recruits her help, making them both traitors to the Bremish government. Subgenre: Adventure Main Characters: Cerie Korviridi, Orrinir Relickim Status: In progress

Part Six: Poesy

Cerie has spent her entire life learning High Poetry, a rare skill that assists her impoverished nation in countering endless warfare. Worshipping the goddess of poets is all she has ever known – that and her hatred for the enemy. Her worst nightmare comes true when she is kidnapped by her nation’s eternal rival, a queendom seeking High Poetry to colonize her homeland. Subgenre: Adventure Main Character: Cerie Korviridi Status: Completed, in revisions

Part Seven: Shadow and Sword (tentative title)

Haniya Aina has accepted the sea change that has come to her life: disowned by her mother, the Queen of Sina, and living in exile with her lover. What she never expected was for her new countrymen to despise her - and for her murderous brother to send a stream of assassins her way. Alongside her partner, Cerie Korviridi, and her new family, she finds herself battling more pressing threats than losing her princess status. Subgenre: Adventure Main Character: Haniya Aina Status: Not started

Part Eight: Perseity

After ending the endless war, Cerie Korviridi expects to never see Sina again - except its former symbol, Haniya Aina, the disgraced Princess of the Sinan Royal Family. However, the disowned daughter is embroiled against her will in Sinan domestic politics when her mad brother, Daiski, seizes the throne. Both women must decide how far they'll go for a country that hates them - and what it means for their love. Subgenre: Adventure Main Characters: Cerie Korviridi, Haniya Aina Status: First draft completed

Part Nine: The Sorrow of the Bells (tentative title)

Cerie Korviridi and Haniya Aina knew the Sinan public would not accept their relationship easily. Not only is a royal family member marrying a member of the enemy nation, but another woman, no less. Cerie and Haniya's friends and family must protect them from all comers, whether a poisoned chalice or a knife in the dark. Subgenre: Suspense Main Characters: Cerie Korviridi, Haniya Aina Status: Not started

Part 10: Plexity

A civil war to end all others. High Poets working on behalf of their former enemies, soldiers revising their loyalties to reflect a new age. Above it all, questions of how far love can really go to save a relationship - whether that is within people, deities, or countries as a whole. Subgenre: Adventure Main Characters: Cerie Korviridi, Haniya Aina, Orrinir Relickim Status: Not started

Additional Pages/Memes

Writer Questionnaire

Writer Questionnaire (part two)

MCs on Social Media

Writing Exercises: Mordrek's Bedroom

OC Questionnaire: Uileac and Orrinir

OC Fun Facts Tag

OC Deep Dive (Uileac, Orrinir, and Cerie)

Horses of The Eirenic Verses

Horses in The Eirenic Verses

Animals in The Eirenic Verses

Character music preferences

[scotianostra]

May 23rd 1951 saw the death in Edinburgh of Christina Kay, the schoolteacher who became the model for the main character in Muriel Spark's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

The daughter of Mary Ann MacDonald and Alexander Kay, a cabinet maker, led an uneventful life, but one that would inspire one of the great characters of 20th-century literature: Miss Jean Brodie.

From the age of five, Christina Kay was a pupil at James Gillespie's School for Girls, where she would later teach. Between 1897 and 1899, she completed her teacher training at the Church of Scotland college in Edinburgh, where her conduct was described as "exemplary".

An only child and a devout Christian, Kay was born and lived in the same flat, at 4 Grindlay Street, Edinburgh, almost all her life. Her father died when she was 15, and she lived with her mother, caring for her until her death in 1913. Kay devoted her life to teaching at Gillespie's. Since in her early years very few women could take degrees, as younger colleagues later could, she remained a "class mistress", without promotion. But she was an inspirational teacher to her classes of 11 and 12-year-olds, sharing with them her passion for the arts. In 192930 they included the young Muriel Camberg (later Spark), whose literary success she predicted. Spark's Curriculum Vitae (1992), vividly recalling Miss Kay, makes it clear that Jean Brodie was based on "that character in search of an author". Kay would exhilarate her pupils by speaking in "dazzling non-sequiturs" about her foreign travels, particularly to Italy, and the great art she saw there, reproductions of which adorned her schoolroom walls.

She admired Mussolini, and a picture of his Fascisti was given wall space. Kay called her entire class the "crème de la crème", but she also had favourites, including Camberg and her friend Frances Niven, whom she took to exhibitions, theatre and ballet. Most of her pupils found her teaching unforgettable.

Kay kept her coming retiral in 1942 secret, but a tribute in the school magazine said that "service like hers must surely be unique". After her death in 1951, she was buried in Abercorn churchyard near South Queensferry.

[mslanna]

Who Has been Sleeping With My Shape?

Chapter 6 of Be My Guest now up at AO3

Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times, is Raphael's kink.

The incident doesn't repeat itself for some time. Tav almost thinks they imagined it. But then it happens again the day the second intruder appears. Tav greets him, well-prepared as ever, but the high elf is haughty, above dealing with simple minions.

He insist on seeing Raphael, so Tav complies. He doesn't even see the hit coming that knocks him out cold. Tav drags the unconscious elf through the house by the scruff of his armour, greaves and boots bouncing and banging on the floor the whole way.

Since they have leave to disturb the devil under these very specific circumstances, Tav drags the elf right into the war council. Raphael actually preens, showing off his well-trained human. Despite their annoyance of being reduced to "the mortal" Tav feels a flush of pride. A small wave of pink that definitely shows on their face as Raphael takes the intruder of their hands.

"Well done." Rare praise from his lips and in front of an audience.

Tav tries to shrimp up into themself, embarrassed and unwilling to show the effect of two simple words on the colour of their face. "It is as we agreed," they get out, each word a stumbling stone on their tongue.

"It is indeed." Raphael lifts their chin with a clawed finger. His smile is mesmerising, indulgent and commandeering at the same time. "I knew we would understand each other."

In response, Tav only tries to nod, but their chin is caught on the fiend's finger and not moving. "Do you need me for anything else?" Tav tries to make him look good before the other devils while they fight the pull of his black-hole eyes. They grow deeper, coronas blazing at their words and it feels good to have found the right ones for once.

"Not now, my -" Raphael stops himself. "Not now. You may leave."

Dazed, Tav turns and leaves the room, acutely aware of the many eyes following them. The door falling into its lock behind them is a blessing. Tav takes a deep breath and returns to their room. The set of armour returns to its place in the wardrobe and they fondly run their fingers over the metal that always feels a little too warm to the touch.

Later that day, reading a most gory murder spree for later sharing with Haarlep, Tav feels it again. A soft tingle, the caress of warm air, almost non-existent. They slap at it like at a bug, which doesn't help. Without wine to dull their senses, Tav sits it out, squirming on the chair they fled to from their comfortable nest.

Some patron must have really liked their performance. Tav winces. But neither ignoring the recurring hints of touch work, nor does concentrating on something else. At least this time the end is clear, like a soft kiss to their very core resolving all hidden tensions. Tav buries their face on their arms and can't even cry. This, they chose themself; this, they brought on themself.

They carry on best as they can, but even Raphael notices they are distracted and dismisses them from their literary skirmish sooner than usual. That hurts. Tav enjoys the conversations on the balcony, battling with words over words and none of it of consequence. They pull themself together and leave dejected.

Haarlep offers no explanation and Tav is not keen on divulging which of the attending fiends fond interest in their shape. At least they are safe at the side of the incubus. While they share their gory novels with giggles and bloody jabs, nobody else can demand Haarlep’s services.

"This is not very well researched," Haarlep chuckles. "How much blood does the author think an average human holds?"

Tav lies on their belly, chin propped up on their hands as they read to the incubus. Not a necessity, but fun. They like doing the voices and Haarlep is a grateful audience. As long as they can drag for inaccuracies of which there are many. "At least 15 litres by the descriptions so far." Tav rifles back a few pages.

"Plus a major organ punctured and the blade removed."

"For an extra five litres of blood," Tav nods.

"Alright, go on." Haarlep nudges them. "But be aware that poor Adoralina is dead at least two times over by now."

"Somebody should start a fund for the cleaning crew." Tav runs their finger down the page to pick up the story again.

"Maybe get some spawn on it? I heard you know of a hand bunch?"

Tav giggles into the pages, wagging their feet in the air. When a voice behind them booms, head and legs drop flat.

"What is going on here?" Raphael makes a strategic pause after the first word and comes towards the bed with long strides. "Haarlep?"

On the one hand, Tav is glad to be out of the line of fire for now. On the other hand it burns to be so ignored. They turn to their back and glare at the approaching devil. "What does it look like?"

"It looks like you are wasting Haarlep's precious time," the devil snarls. He takes in Tav's figure rolled out over the red sheets, book pressed to their chest.

Under the devil's glare, Tav might as well be naked. They hold the book tighter though it doesn't even cover anything important. Black and gold eyes lie on them heavy enough to force the air from their lungs. Tav swallows, ready to defend themself and Haarlep but the incubus is faster.

"As we are want to. Tav and I share delight in literary exploits. Maybe not on the same level of, ah, learning as you do." They open up their front in a peace offering. Raphael does not take it, though.

"There are patrons waiting," he says and points towards the closed curtains. "Patrons who will leave, unlike our – little house guest."

"Alright, alright." Haarlep rolls over seductively, showing off all assets their body has to offer. "Just mentioning here, that usually Tav gets a whole hour of my attention and we are way under."

If devils could turn red, Raphael just might have. "You will do well to remember your station, incubus."

"Oh, but I do," Haarlep smiles easily s they help Tav off the bed. "At the beck and call of every wish our little mousling may have. And humans have such interesting needs. You leave now, dear. We will continue the physically impossible exsanguination of Adoralina Bellheart at a later time."

"Okay," Tav mumbles. "Sorry."

"Don't fash you little head about the inscrutable problems of fiends. It will only give you a headache."

Tav only winces a little, when Raphael's hand descends between their shoulder blades to lead them away. "I will take better care in the future, I promise."

"You, I will forgive," the devil growls, "but Haarlep knows better. The war has many fiends on edge and there is a very easy way to smooth things with them. What are the needs they alluded to?"

Tav tilts their head but Raphael looks straight ahead. Still his presence is somewhat comforting in a boudoir brimming with fiends – some of them making their own entertainment, none of them wearing anything. "Companionship, I guess? I talk a lot when the day is long and every day here is long."

Raphael drops his hand from their back. "Is that so."

"I am not blaming you, as you said, war." Tav shrugs. "And-"

A devil prowls past without a care in the world, almost tripping into Tav. A protective wing snaps up around them, pushing the wayward fiend aside. Tav moves closer to Raphael. "Thank you." They didn't like the look on the other devil's face one bit and are glad to pass into the corridor.

Raphael doesn't leave them though. "To the library?" he asks, scanning the hall for more rowdy patrons.

"Yes, please." Unthinking Tav slips a hand into his. "They usually leave me alone. Maybe I should remember how heated tempers are next time I hog Haarlep."

"Nobody will dare touch you in my house," Raphael assures Tav. "If anybody oversteps their boundaries, you let me know. Immediately."

Tav nods. "I will. Thank you." They smile at the devil at their side, But Raphael still stares straight ahead. "I will see you later then?"

Raphael snaps out of whatever reverie he was caught up in and looks down at them. "Later, yes, as per usual."

"Great." Tav smiles. "Looking forward to it."

They catch themself just before rising on tiptoe to peck him on the cheek. A most inappropriate urge that only abates when they close the heavy door behind them. That was close. One day they will slip up and that will likely earn them a claw down the face. If Raphael feels lenient.

For days Tav has dropped little signs, like saying they look forward to seeing the devil again and he picked up on none. All he eve does is lay those black eyes on them with the weight of the universe behind the gaze.

With a sigh they sit down to read. But Tav's mind can't settle. Something is nagging at the back of their mind. After reading the same paragraph three times, Tav gives up. Maybe a nap will help. It's not as if there is anything to miss.

As soon s Tav stands the nagging feeling returns with a vengeance. The familiar ghost of a touch is more insistent than ever. Where at first it was but the memory of wind, the touch now hones in, seeps with practised ease under their skin and moves through their body with singular intent. Tav finds themself lurching as the feeling crests inside them.

For a moment they close their eyes to gather themself. Never before has the experience been so intense. They can almost make out fingers in the caress ghosting over their skin. And the feeling lingers, does not retreat as it used to but builds up again. Tav curls both hands around the backrest of the chair and tries to breathe deeply. They give up on the idea of walking anywhere, least of all out in public.

Aeons pass until the touch vanishes with a last deep impression. The lingering longing makes Tav's face burn. This is not tenable. It doesn't matter who wanted their shape for whatever reasons. It needed to stop if they are to function properly. It needed to stop, full stop.

It is something to bring up to Raphael later. The thought of that conversation keeps Tav's face from cooling down for a long time.

[mariacallous]

(JTA) – The Biden Administration’s new point person for combating book bans at school districts and public libraries across the country is a gay, Jewish progressive activist who has served as a government liaison to the Jewish and LGBTQ communities.

The appointment of Matt Nosanchuk comes as the thousands of book challenges nationwide have focused on books with LGBTQ as well as Jewish themes, in addition to works about race. Nosanchuk was named a deputy assistant secretary in the Department of Education’s civil rights office earlier this month. In that role, he will lead training sessions for schools and libraries on how to deal with book bans — and warn districts that the department believes book bans can violate civil rights laws.

An Education Department official recently told the 74, an education news site, that the bans “are a threat to students’ rights and freedoms.”

“I am excited to return to public service to work on behalf of the American people,” Nosanchuk posted to LinkedIn earlier this month. “There is a lot of important work to do!”

The Education Department declined to make Nosanchuk available for an interview. He has already taken heat from conservative outlets, which have pushed the narrative that the books being removed from schools and libraries are too sexually explicit for children. Kayleigh McEnany, the Fox News host who served as Donald Trump’s press secretary, called him a “porn enforcer” on-air.

But his appointment has been celebrated by librarians and book access activists. “This is a step forward for the Biden Administration, who has heard the concerns of parents and taken action, but it is just the beginning,” the National Parents Union, a progressive parental education activist group, said in a statement.

Nosanchuk’s career has largely focused on working with the LGBTQ and Jewish communities. In 2009, after serving in a number of roles in Washington, D.C., Nosanchuk was appointed as the Department of Justice’s liaison to the LGBTQ community — a position he held while Obama was still publicly opposed to same-sex marriage. He later worked on the Obama administration’s opposition to a law barring same-sex couples from receiving federal benefits.

He subsequently served as the White House liaison to the Jewish community during Obama’s second term, and in 2020 was the Democratic National Committee’s political organizer for Jewish outreach and LGBTQ engagement. That same year, he cofounded the New York Jewish Agenda, a progressive policy group that he led until earlier this year.

Nosanchuk’s first webinar in his new role was held Tuesday in partnership with the American Library Association, an organization with which a number of Republican-led states have recently cut ties. He begins his work after a year that has seen several school districts take aim at books focused on Jewish experiences or the Holocaust.

Two weeks ago, a Texas school district fired a middle school teacher reportedly for reading a passage from an illustrated adaptation of Anne Frank’s diary to eighth-grade students. Other schools’ removals of “The Fixer,” a Jodi Picoult novel about the Holocaust and other texts have been likened to Nazi and Stalinist book burnings —  comparisons that proponents of the book restrictions reject.

Democratic politicians, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, have accused Republicans of wanting “to ban books on the Holocaust.” A recent Senate hearing on book bans included testimony from Cameron Samuels, a Jewish advocate for access to books, along with numerous references to “Maus,” a graphic novel by Art Spiegelman about the Holocaust that was pulled from a Tennessee middle school curriculum last year.

PEN America, a literary free-speech advocacy group, welcomed Nosanchuk’s appointment.

“Book removals and restrictions continue apace across the country, as the tactics to silence certain voices and identities are sharpened,” the group said in a statement. “Empowering the coordinator to address this ongoing movement is critical.”

[thethirdromana]

My journey is all mapped out: a two-week Dracula tour of Europe

A fun fact about me is that I enjoy planning holidays that I have no intention of taking. So, if I had two free weeks and more money than I actually do, here's the Dracula-inspired journey around Europe that I might consider.

(Spoilers under the cut)

Days 1-3: Whitby

This is the opportunity to visit all the key Dracula locations, from a coastal walk to Robin Hood's Bay to gazing out over the village and the sea from Mina and Lucy's favourite spot in the graveyard of St Mary's.

In non-Dracula things, Whitby Goth Weekend happens twice a year in April and October. I recommend the Magpie Café for fish and chips.

Day 4: travel to London

Most of the long train journeys in this plan are delightful overnight sleeper services that will make you feel like you're right there with Jonathan and Mina rattling across Europe. Unfortunately, the journey from Whitby to London is not one of them.

Services are infrequent and the journey takes a solid 5 hours. But the start, where you go very very slowly through the beautiful North York Moors, isn't too bad.

Days 5-7: London

There's a whole heap of things to see in London on a theme by either Dracula or Bram Stoker:

The Lyceum Theatre, where Bram Stoker worked for 27 years

The various houses that Bram Stoker lived in

Golders Green Crematorium, where Bram Stoker's ashes can be visited by appointment

Assorted Dracula settings, such as those the Harkers visited on their London day trip

I'd also suggest a visit to Highgate Cemetery, which may have been part of the inspiration for Lucy's tomb (pop in on Karl Marx and Douglas Adams while you're there), and the British Library for general literary joy.

Exeter is a 2.5 hour train journey from London, so you could also go there, either overnight or for a speedy day-trip, if you're a completist. But personally I'd skip it and spend the time going to see the Lion King at the Lyceum or a Shakespeare play at the Globe instead.

Day 8: Paris

The characters in Dracula take a number of different routes to get across Europe, but I've gone with the route that the Crew of Light take as they go to hunt Dracula down in his home.

That means following the Man in Seat 61 guide for travelling from London to Romania by train, taking an early Eurostar to get yourself to Paris. You'll only have a few hours in Paris before the evening sleeper train, but it should be enough to visit Père Lachaise Cemetery, where Oscar Wilde is buried.

Day 9: Vienna

You'll arrive in Vienna around 10am, then have the day to spend there until another evening train. Personally, I'd spend the time visiting the Hofburg Palace and Sisi Museum; Empress Elisabeth (Sisi) of Austria was famous in the late 19th century and her tragic life story feels fitting for a Dracula tour.

Yes, this plan involves fast trains crossing multiple European countries without much of a breather. Just like they do in Dracula :)

Day 10: Cluj-Napoca

Note: I've visited all the other destinations in this guide, but never been to Romania, though I'd really like to go to Cluj in particular. So from this point on, this is based on googling, not first-hand knowledge.

Cluj, referred to by the German name of Klausenburg in Dracula, is the unofficial capital of Transylvania. Your sleeper train from Vienna should get there around 8.20am, in time to hop on a tram to the Old Town's cluster of breakfast places. I've been told that Cluj is a lively, student-y city with great nightlife and festivals.

Days 11-14: Romania

Time to explore Romania! At this point there's a decision to make. On the one hand, there's strict adherence to the settings of Dracula, in which case you'll want to head to Bistrița, or maybe even extend your journey on to Varna or Galați.

On the other hand, you could go more on vibes. In which case, hire a car to drive through the remoter parts of Transylvania, then turn south to Bran Castle, which has very little actual connection to Dracula but certainly looks the part.

-------

In the unlikely event that anyone actually does this journey off the back of this post, please let me know how it goes. I'd be so thrilled to hear about it!

[dkniade]

I was looking at Yun Jin’s and Furina’s TCG Chinese card captions

-

Yun Jin

“红毹婵娟，庄谐并举。”

(Hóng shū chánjuān, zhuāng xié bìngjǔ.)

“The (carpeted) stage’s beautiful actress, able to play both comic and tragic roles” (?)

…“Elegance on the carpeted stage, both comedic and tragic”?

Official English (alas): “Elegance on the stage, in decorous harmony.”

-

红毹 (hóng shū) —> (红 = red ) + 氍毹 (qú shū), type of patterned wool cloth/carpet, traditional Chinese theatre is often performed on carpets, thus 氍毹 or 红氍毹 often means “stage” (zdic)

Ohh!! I didn’t know that. Carpet on the stage…

“本义指古代西域进口的一种编织毯，后来引申为各种地毯挂毯床毯等，到了明朝，开始专指戏曲舞台。明朝是昆曲盛行的时代，演出时例必要在舞台铺上红地毯，是为“红氍毹”，渐渐地就成了戏曲舞台的代称。如此这个词儿基本不再用于口语，但是书面文章中仍然常见它的踪迹” (Guo Cui Jing Ju)—> basically, it originally referred to weaved carpet, then various carpets and tapestries. Until the Ming dynasty, where Kunqu opera gained popularity and there were always red carpets on the stage when performing, thus 红氍毹 became synonymous with theatric stage. (More literary than everyday usage though)

(Kind of similar to curtains associated with the western stage?)

婵娟 (chánjuān) —> literary term for a beautiful woman. Term appears in Su Shi’s 宋词 (Song ci, Song dynasty poetry) “水调歌头” (Shuǐ Diào Gē Tóu), “但愿人长久，千里共婵娟” but it likely refers to the moon in the line’s second half which talks about about sharing (the sight of?) a beautiful moon when miles apart

庄谐 (zhuāng xié) —> 庄 = serious; 谐 = humorous, lighthearted. Possibly comedy and tragedy?

并举 (bìngjǔ) —> develop simultaneously

-

Furina

“永世领唱，无尽圆舞。”

(Yǒngshì lǐngchàng, wújìn yuán wǔ.)

“Eternal lead singer, endless waltz”?

…“Perpetual prima donna, endless waltz”?

“Perpetual lead singer, endless waltz”?

Official English: “Perpetual muse of chansons and rondeaux.”

永世: “to/until [one’s] dying day” (Cambridge Dictionary)

“forever” (CollinsDictionary), eternal (Cambridge Dictionary)

领唱: the lead singer or soloist in a choir, or the act of leading a chorus (Baidu Baike)

but 领唱 also refers to cantor (in liturgical music and prayer, generally refers to the lead singer in a Jewish congregation but it also applies to Christian contexts too…? Feel free to correct me)

Oh, according to MyJewishLearning, “A cantor — hazzan (חזן) in Hebrew — is the person who chants worship services in the synagogue. Though the word is sometimes applied in a general way to anyone who leads services, it is more commonly used to denote someone who has completed professional musical training and been ordained as a cantor.”

Chinese term found in an English definition of cantor. (Cambridge Dictionary)

an English definition of cantor. (Merriam Webster)

Conversely, maybe 领唱 is HoYoverse’s way of saying “prima donna” which the Cambridge dictionary defines as “the most important female singer in an opera company” (a description fitting Furina)

prima donna is 首席女歌手 in Chinese (Cambridge) but its five characters wouldn’t fit the TCG’s eight-character restriction if the first part should only use four characters total…

chanson: “various eras of French song, from the monophonic chant of the Middle Ages to the polyphonic singing of the Renaissance. Modern chanson music connects nineteenth-century cabaret music in Paris to contemporary pop music” (MasterClass)

(In French “chanson” means song but as a borrowed word in English, the Chinese term for it is 香頌)(from Chinese article talking about French chanson on Gmw.cn)

rondeaux (plural), rondeau (singular): three-stanza poem of French origin, mainly octosyllabic, 10-15 lines (Poetry Foundation). (Chinese term: 回旋诗. From the online French-to Chinese dictionary frdic)

…where’s the 圆舞 part…? Why change the dance imagery to another poetic form when dance is one of Furina’s motifs?

圆舞曲: music written for a waltz and the dance itself

华尔兹: waltz, the music specifically. (Baidu Baike)

Meaning, the one in Furina’s card likely refers to a dance? (considering they took out the 曲 character which does mean “song”)

[psalm22-6]

The Washington D.C Evening Star, 28 September 1919 For reference the definition of "Doughboy": a US infantryman, especially one in World War I.

The man who lately made "Les Miserables" a best seller in Paris returned to the United States a few days ago on a converted cattle ship. He is Frank D. Lewis, an attorney of Everett, Wash., and probably the best press agent that Victor Hugo ever had.

Only an American would think this. Everyone knows Victor Hugo was the best press agent Victor Hugo ever had. Anyways...

His enthusiasm over the famous novel led some 4,000 doughboys on pleasure bent to make one afternoon of their three-day leave in Paris literary pilgrimage to the places mentioned in Jean Valjean's adventures, and 4,000 doughboys besieged the Parisian booksellers and libraries for copies of "Les Miserables" to re-read. The result was inevitable. The supply of English copies of the work soon was exhausted. The American Library Association sent out S.O.S. calls to London for "Les Miserables." London did its best, but it was not enough. Finally, New York had to be appealed to, and, although it would ordinarily be like carrying coals to Newcastle, America supplied France with the needed copies of the most popular novel of her greatest novelist. Mr. Lewis, before taking up law, was a teacher for twenty years, presiding over every sort of pedagogic institution from a one-room district school to a city school system, so it was natural, when he found himself in Paris as a Y. M. C. A. worker immediately after the signing of the armistice, that the educational opportunity Paris offered to the thousands of American boys should appeal to him. He organized the first Y. M. C. A. sightseeing trips to places of historic interest, trips that became so popular that transportation facilities were taxed to the utmost, steamboats were chartered, special trains operated and Army trucks pressed into service when the crowds became so great that the "rubber-neck" wagons of the French capital could no longer accommodate them. It was while visiting the tomb of Lafayette that Mr. Lewis felt he was treading well known ground. The convent in which he stood was strangely familiar. He has never been there before and at first could not account for the feeling. Suddenly he remembered that the building fitted the description of the convent in the Rue Petit Picpus where Little Cosette had been. He verified the location by reference to the story.

More like he confused the name of Picpus Cemetery with the Petit-Picpus convent as the two locations couldn't be confused with one another otherwise. Lots of Americans tourists have made the same mistake though.

"From that time on I found more and more places that Hugo had mentioned," said Mr. Lewis, "and I persuaded the Y. M. C. A. to let me have a bus for a trial trip to about twenty-five of these points. The nine men who took the trip with me were so enthusiastic that the "Y" made the tour a regular feature of its sight seeing program. It proved so popular that instead of making the trip twice a week we had to make it daily and to requisition additional busses for it." For the boy who had read the wonderful story, it was a rare treat to be guided by such an enthusiast as Mr. Lewis through the very places that the master novelist had described so vividly; to stop on the quail which looks across the Cours la Reine to the Port du Gros Cailou and the Seine just as it did on the June evening in 1832 when Jean Valjean emerged at the mouth of the sewer only to find his passage barred by the heavy iron grating of the gate; and to visit the house in the Rue Plumet where Jean Valjean took Cosette after she left the convent in the Little Picpus. Near the church is the Palace of the Luxembourg, in whose gardens Jean Valjean and Cosette were customed to walk during the long summer evenings. The statue of the Gladiator, under which Marius and Cosette used to meet, still stands in the garden, but the bench at its base has been moved away. The gardens even now afford a happy rendezvous for lovers, however, and the imaginative soldier had little difficulty in finding the needed characters to rebuild the scenes of the story among the many couples who wandered there. Not far from the gardens runs the Roman road, known as St. Jacques. It was to the Church of Haut Pas, in this street, that Jean took Cosette to attend mass, because it was far from home and less likely to attract the attention of the police. Here Eponine found Jean and delivered to him the note which enticed him to the Gerbeau [sic] tenement. In front of this church, too, Javert, disguised as a beggar, was recognized by Valjean. The trip ended with a visit to the home of Victor Hugo, No. 6 Place des Vosges, where the first chapters of "Les Miserables" were written and where Charles Dickens, who had written the story of the poor and oppressed of England, visited the man who was doing the same for France.

[sagemonsters]

@jasper-the-menace has a blind date with...

Trevan the Fairy

Trevan is of average human height, with the ruddy, patterned wings of an atlas moth and deeply tanned skin. He is a proud knight of the Seelie Court and walks with a magical glass rapier at his hip. He rarely visits the human world and is ordinarily very contemptuous of mortal affairs, but once he saw you through a magic mirror he couldn’t stay away.

Trevan is a master swordsman and fights with style, finesse, and clear joy. He loves to teach his chosen skill to other Seelie folk, and is eager to show off for you and talk about his pupils’ accomplishments. He is 100% willing to throw down the gauntlet and fight a duel for your honor, and is secretly a tiny bit disappointed that nobody has dared to take him up on that yet.

He isn’t much of a reader himself, but he has gone on many quests to recover bits of knowledge and find the answers to various riddles. He has a deep respect for your literary habits and is quick to come to you whenever he has a burning question about something regarding the mortal world.

Trevan sees video games and tabletop games as ways of training one’s mind and finding strategies for overcoming obstacles. He has a personal weakness for rhythm games, however, and can be entertained by them for hours. They help him discover new human music, which he is slowly coming to enjoy just as much as fairy music.

Trevan loves your feistiness and argumentativeness. He’s always down for a good debate over any subject he has even a passing knowledge of, and will give as good as he gets. He browses the wikis of your favorite games so that he can be informed about those topics (ironically, he knows less about IRL human history), although he doesn’t just mindlessly agree with your opinions.

“These crystals are very beautiful. I think you will find them useful in your craft,” a spritely voice said to the two young women eyeing the rose quartz display in the rock shop. You turned around and narrowed your eyes at the salesperson. For a second, out of the corner of your eye, you could have sworn that he had large moth wings. 

“Oh, we’re just making jewelry,” one of the women said. “Everyone loves the healing vibes of crystals these days.”

The salesperson smiled politely. “Indeed.” He looked down at the small bag of greenish stone with whorls of deeper color that the woman was holding. “Are you aware that malachite isn’t safe to handle when wet? That might not be a good choice for jewelry.”

The other woman snorted. “So? People will buy, which means we’re going to sell.”

“Are you sure?” the salesperson asked, and something about his voice seemed a little bit… off. For a moment, the eyes of the two women unfocused, and then they came back to themselves and blinked hard.

“You’ve got a point,” one said. “Maybe… maybe we should do some more research before we start selling crystal jewelry on Etsy—for poisoning liability if nothing else.” They returned the bag to the counter and left the shop.

You squinted at the salesperson, and once again got a glimpse of wings. He turned and smiled at you. “Can I help you?” he asked.

“Yeah,” you said. “Who are you really?”

The fairy knight snapped his fingers, dropping his glamor for your eyes alone, and struck an elegant bow in the center of the shop floor. “I am called Trevan by certain friends,” he said. “And who might you be, mortal?”

You knew better than to give your real name to a fairy, and told him a nickname instead. The fairy laughed, apparently delighted at your cunning. “Clever!” he said. “I think we will be good friends. Can you help me learn about the human world?”

“I’ll consider it,” you mused, “for a price.”

Trevan smiled. “You are refreshingly un-generous,” he said. “Let us talk of what services I might render you, and what knowledge you will give me in exchange.”

see here to get your own blind date with a monster!

[lboogie1906]

Richard Nathaniel Wright (September 4, 1908 – November 28, 1960) was an author of novels, short stories, poems, and non-fiction. Much of his literature concerns racial themes, especially related to the plight of African Americans during the late 19th to mid-20th centuries, who suffered discrimination and violence in the South and the North. Literary critics believe his work helped change race relations in the US in the mid-20th century.

He was born at Rucker’s Plantation, between the train town of Roxie and the larger river city of Natchez, Mississippi. He was the son of Nathan Wright who was a sharecropper and Ella, who was a schoolteacher. Both sets of his grandparents had been born into slavery and freed as a result of the war. Each of his grandfathers had taken part in the Civil War and gained freedom through service: his paternal grandfather Nathan Wright had served in the 28th United States Colored Troops; his maternal grandfather Richard Wilson escaped from slavery in the South to serve in the Navy as a Landsman.

He gained national attention for the collection of four short stories entitled Uncle Tom’s Children. He based some stories on lynchings in the Deep South. The publication and favorable reception of Uncle Tom’s Children improved his status with the Communist Party and enabled him to establish a reasonable degree of financial stability. He was appointed to the editorial board of New Masses. Excellent sales had provided him with enough money to move to Harlem, where he began writing the novel Native Son.

Based on his collected short stories, he applied for and was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Native Son was selected by the Book of the Month Club as its first book by an African American author.

His memoir Black Boy described his early life from Roxie up until his move to Chicago. American Hunger, which was published posthumously, was originally intended by him as the second volume of Black Boy.

With Ralph Ellison as best man, he married Dhimah Rose Meidman, a modern-dance teacher of Russian Jewish ancestry.

He married Ellen Poplar, a Communist organizer from Brooklyn. They had two daughters. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence