#manifesting a good ending with everybody in the party happy and alive

[lostworldss]

Anyone else anxious about the Blades VIP chapter tomorrow? I’m going to assume it’s the series finale unless they say otherwise so I don’t get my hopes up. (Although it IS weird that they didn’t mention anything about it in their social media posts considering it would be the series finale for one of their most popular series…)

Tbh the thought of Blades ending tomorrow makes me sick and emotional thinking about it and so far I’ve been coping by pushing the thought from my mind.

[touchmycoat]

on Promising Young Woman

i was hesitant to watch bc i knew a spoiler, but @trixree convinced me to watch it and i’m very glad i did. all things aside, it’s just damn well-written—pacing’s top-notch, every act shift was action-driven with a female lead, and it balanced the pleasure of a revenge fantasy against the soul of the story SO well.

thoughts & spoilers below

elephant in the room: yeah I hesitated to watch the movie because I know Cassie gets murdered in the end. After watching the scenes that followed, I...have a better understanding of why that was the choice. I still hated that it happened, period. I literally said “fuck you” out loud to the morning after shot, with the sunlight pouring down on her in the white outfit and she had her arms outstretched—yes, she’s a martyr, yes, she’s the “morning angel,” but fuck that, I didn’t need her to be a martyr. I so desperately wanted the movie to give her more than that.

Like Jenna and Wesley said, it was a superhero movie. That lasted until the choice to kill her.

Thoughts on why they did it: for the ironic morning after, where the audience sees not-Zac Efron sob and whine about how he’s going to lose his marriage and family and job after he just knowingly murdered a woman. Where we get to see Schmidt (fnjdnfjdnf what a casting choice, i lost my mind) say the words to Al Monroe that women like Nina needed to hear—it’s not your fault. None of it was your fault. We get to see the violent and continuous forgiveness of men that dead girls have and continue to pay for.

But my question is, what part of the movie managed to give the audience comfort that legal authority is the solution to this problem? The ending felt squeaky clean wrapped-up, yes, but the anxiety that ran deepest for me throughout this entire film was the fact that Cassie was leaving these men alive. All the men she’s found in the clubs, the man whose car she smashed, the entire law firm that specializes in burying rape cases—to me, every man she left alive was one more factor that could come back and bite her. That was my concern, and it was by no means alleviated by the scene with Bo Burnham and the detective right before the wedding.

I guess that circles back to the question of what the film is trying to be, though. It’s a different take on a revenge thriller. It isn’t meant to deliver a smash-burn-kill catharsis. Rather, it operates on a realer level. Which I love, actually! When she told the fedora guy that she’s not the only one who does it, it felt like a very enticing call-to-action lmao, and like a moment that ought to haunt the “good guys” that watch this film. The movie did so well to manifest and deliver the “enough is fucking enough” attitude that everybody ought to have about sexual assault under the influence.

More on why they killed Cassie: to really lean into the specter of Nina who has so haunted the entire narrative. Even handcuffed to the bed, Al Monroe never said the word “rape.” Nobody wants to, they keep skirting around it and refusing to acknowledge it for what it is. That’s why the movie does it for us, the audience. Instead of saying it, the movie gives its thesis on what rape actually is—a murder. A squeezing-out of a woman’s existence. Al Monroe rapes and kills Nina Fisher before the start of the movie, and the movie ends with Al Monroe killing Cassie. It ends with the violent burning of Cassie’s body, and fucking Schmidt kicking her hand with the childishly painted nails back into the bonfire. The parallel destruction of women is evident.

Did the ending feel like enough of a resurrection?

On a fandom level, I am happy to do the work of seeing the Romance in it. Cassie evidently anticipated her own death, perhaps even sought it—it’s easy to picture a fic focused on Cassie’s thoughts pre-bachelor party, where she’s just so happy to finally be joining Nina again. Where she gets to sign a text Love, Cassie & Nina. I fucking adore how much of an agent she was in the action throughout the entire movie, and the ending definitely did some work in resurrecting that agency.

On a real life level though, I’m so, so fucking sad she essentially had to commit suicide to get the justice she sought. She really is a martyr, but no part of the story indicated she was happy to be. There’s no relief in what she chose—it was simply what had to be done, because nobody else would do a goddamn thing.

Oh boy, the movie did so well to play Ryan as a good guy up until the very end. When time came for him to own up to his mistakes, he flipped like a fucking dime. Suck it #NotAllMen.

The evocations of childhood were interesting. We have the notebook, the scrunchie, the pink bedroom, the childhood photos, the juice box, the friendship necklaces, the painted nails. What is that doing?

- It’s a visual touch point for the arc words “we were just kids!” used as a protestation by rapists and assaulters to excuse their actions. Men get to be “kids” who made mistakes, women get repeated insistence that their actions have consequences, that they shouldn’t have gotten that drunk.

- It signifies Cassie’s vulnerability, her childhood best friend that she’s never been able to move on from. Functionally, I thought it was a brilliant way of grounding how tender the center of her story is, that she’s actually operating from a very simplistic point of pain and loss, considering how cool and violent she gets to be throughout most of the movie.

- It becomes a symbol for destroyed innocence when it’s the last bit of Cassie we see before her body’s burned. The movie re-positioned the meaning of this word “innocence,” I think. It’s not about women being ruined after rape, it’s about these women being people. Cassie’s last monologue about Nina does so much work to hammer that home—Nina’s value was never about innocence before or after her assault, it was never diminished. She was loved because of who she was as a person, but Al Monroe squeezed the life out of her anyways. Childhood and innocence become about the happiness that existed before men attacked, and the men get to symbolically destroy it one more time with a kick into the pyre. But then comes the resurrection, and in a way, the movie returns Cassie to that happiness with the last texts she got to sign with her best friend and a winky face.

The penitent lawyer was a hell of a narrative choice. I did accept it, and I like it mainly for what it showed of Cassie—that she is capable of forgiveness. By putting the scene with Nina’s mother right after, it transitions Cassie into a spot of hope pretty damn effectively. I also like that it didn’t take Cassie’s emotional labor to get the lawyer to that place, and that he was already self-flagellating (the dead plants behind Cassie in that apartment were a great touch) before she got there. I like the possibility that Cassie could have forgiven herself for not being there for Nina.

That’s why I’m so damn mad she’s dead!!!! She recognized how destructive her pattern of behavior is, and put an effort to stop that for herself and for her relationship with people she cares about. Yeah, Ryan proved an asshole, but it wasn’t even about him!! She laid it clean out for that guy!! No forgiveness. He was not an innocent bystander. He does not get to get away with anything, and all the ways he chose to behave after the fact just further proves it!

Cassie was stunning, and dangerous, and incredible. Narratively, she really could have gotten away with it. I don’t want to buy this finale, that it takes the destruction of another woman to bring justice to the first. I don’t care how neatly framed it was, that was not a happy ending.

[violet-t-9]

Checking in on my (not very realistic) wish list for episode 133

1. Continued dungeon crawl starting with a relatively easy victory against the frost salamander thingy.

Fjord you battle genius! That was pretty easy I totally knew it-oh never mind lol there is another one. Also, Capeleb my beloved. Still pretty easy first combat though considering they took both salamanders out in 2 rounds.

2. They discover more about the nature of the “coldness” they experience in the ruins that keeps making them do constitution checks (is it just the brown mold? I don’t trust it).

I mean, seems like regular brown mold to me at this point! We got a full explanation of their effects as well! (Still don’t trust it though.)

3. Maybe they can discover some more cool relics/clues to what happened to Aeor, the nine eyes, its history or arcane and this mysterious ward.

They found the city proper! Cool stuff. They also found mummified bodies and pretty architecture. A weird body with metallic features and runes! A smooth orb power core? Weird blue and teal lights and dome. Who is that woman?

4. Confirm (via commune perhaps, let’s go team clerics) that the TT are in fact still gathering their crests/just got them so M9 still have some time to relax/plan.

Yay Jester! Go Jester! Shoot they are less than a day away though... but they still got some time to rest/plan. At least Trent and Co. are not pursuing close. Ah never mind they are actually here-

5. Seeing more of Essek’s cool dunamancy spells in combat and for other things (Matt please give me more of that delicious dunamantic flavour yum), also seeing his other fancy magical items.

Magnify Gravity hype! Magic missile description was also cool (love the colour scheme)! Sending stones made an appearance again! (Rip those rangers)

6. I will continue waiting for the Essek and Caleb one-on-one conversation until it happens eventually (manifesting). (Bonus: Essek meets winter Frumpkin)

Yes! It happened! They talked, in private. Literally everything I have ever wanted for weeks now, thank you critical role.

7. More Essek realization moments as he gets more and more convinced that he is surrounded by super powerful idiots. (Bonus: Essek gets either super impressed by M9′s battle skills or joins in their fun afterwards)

I’m counting the Capeleb moments lol, low int Capeleb is low int. (Again, Capeleb my beloved.) Also Essek joined them in their heroes’ feast and expressed his love of beef stew so I’m going to assume he had fun.

8. Finding a place they see fit, coming up with and deciding on a tangible plan for ambushing the TT and actually setting up the traps. (Bonus: discover the place where the TT plans to use to go to the astral sea)

I love ambush planning! They actually set stuff up! Wonderful wonderful. Did not expect them to actually confront the TT so soon, but hey, 3 down 2 to go. The real problem is the bonus part. 

9. Widogast’s Nascent Nein-Sided Tower (with renovations) the next night (let Essek see it before fighting the TT, come on). (Bonus: water slide woooooo)

Ayyyy “impressive” indeed! Caleb even gave Essek a short tour. What fun that this episode just keeps delivering. Water slides even got an honorary mention (they are in the rooms of requirements).

10. Dome cuddle pile shenanigans on this night, maybe some more one-on-one conversations between people on watch. (Bonus: the couples cuddle)

I mean technically yeah there was the dome too! Essek and Fjord had a very intense one-on-one conversation that I loved... so I’m counting it.

11. No more red eyes on Beau and Caleb in their long rest (I’m still hoping that their amulets are helping with that, honestly though that’s unlikely).

Well they never got a long rest, but no red eyes I guess so l will take it.

12. Caleb (from casting polymorph) and Veth’s (from spider climb) wild magic rolls from last episode have their effects revealed. (Bonus: the effects turn out to be not horrible or harmful for them)

I mean, no news is good news! They have been using a lot of magic but are fine so far. Hope that they keep getting the casual “you are fine”.

13. Fjord and Jester having more powerful battle couple moments (since last episode they were being very cute and flirty). (Bonus: Jester heals or refuses to heal Fjord)

Fjord and Jester were such a battle couple this episode! All the fire damage from Fjord, spiritual weapon and toll the dead from Jester. It was really awesome to see. They also went in first against the TT!

14. Yasha and Beau having more cute and flirty moments (since last episode they were being a super powerful battle couple). (Bonus: they kiss)

“Come on babe this is the hottest you have been” lol it worked! The strength check worked guys! It’s the power of love. Beau also gave Yasha a little kiss! 

15. Cad and Veth each gets at least one nice RP moment or battle moment (would love to see them interact more honestly, they have an interesting dynamic).

Cad got to fly around Aeorian town as a stealth agent, fun! Veth had a little moment with Caleb when they were doming up. Also, she got to kill Otis, so I’m sure she is pretty happy right about now.

16. At least one of the party members gets tempted by a strange, powerful or magical item/location/opportunity etc. and attempts to push the button.

I mean, Fjord was really tempted by exploring the rest of the Aeorian cityscape. Who could blame him though.

17. Everybody stays relatively happy and very much alive by the end of this episode (probably will end on a terrifying cliffhanger, AGAIN).

Hey, I will take that as a win! The cat-and-mouse game starts again, except this time they are the ones on the offensive! Most impressive.

Score: 14/17 fulfilled, this episode fulfilled almost everything on my wish list and delivered even more excitement! Wow, what an episode. I’m so excited for how this is going to turn out!

[vesuvian-american]

Part 2 of Abandoned in the End

Chapter 2: Spider Lily

Here’s part two, I didn’t like it at first but after a bit of tweaking i’m fairly pleased with myself! I hope you all enjoy! Enjoy it on AO3 too!<3333

Words: 2,010

You weren’t sure how much time had passed since you last saw them in person. You could still feel them though, alive, far away in the other world. Moving on with their lives. You used your magic to check in on them, to watch them. However, each time you did you noticed they changed. They sensed you there, lurking, unwilling to leave them be. Their smiling faces would fall, shivers creeped up their spines, eyes darting around the room to catch a glimpse of you. Not because they missed you, not because they wanted to see you, but because they wished to avoid you at all costs. Turn the other way and run.

Asra’s deck would scream at him to keep his guard up, immediately pulling his attention from whatever he was doing, whether it be spending time with Julian or tending to a customer. A part of you liked seeing him so spooked, another part, a repressed part, ached. It yearned to reach out and comfort Asra, your lifelong friend. He doubled and tripled his protection spells, trying in vain to keep you at bay. You’d bring him back to you eventually, whether it be this life or the next.

Nadia’s headaches returned with your presence, her sixth sense sniffing you out immediately. She was uneasy but she always asked you to leave. She was annoyed, she hated you now and that hurt. If she wasn’t too preoccupied, she’d leave you to walk off somewhere else and distract herself with a task, you’d follow. You never gave her a moments rest, always keeping the beloved Countess on her toes. She was strong though, the new Vesuvia she made was beautiful, you hated not being a part of it.

As much as Julian lacked sleep before, you made it even harder for him now, every time he slept, he remembered you, he cried for you, even yearned for you but he knew better than to get too caught up. You weren’t the same, and he wasn’t going to try and love the new you. He deserved better than that, so he fought. He drowned himself in coffee to avoid thinking about you, running himself into the ground to escape you. Hyperactive, because if even for a second he relaxed, he’d fall asleep and be tormented by your memory.

Muriel, well, he was tricky to get to. He didn’t give you any attention, you knew he could sense you there, watching, but he was good at hiding from his feelings. That is until you started to manifest physically in his presence for a reaction. Using your magic to create doppelgangers of yourself. Hard to ignore seeing the person that saved you from you demons sitting at the foot of your bed at night, looking like how you did in life. He broke down at that, but you didn’t let up. You chased him, always showing up just out of the corner of his sight. You got your reaction, and now the Devil inside craved more.

It was hard for Portia to get back to normal. She missed you, and you missed her too. She was like a warm ray of sunshine after the coldest winter, refreshing. She thought about you constantly, brought you up in conversations, but when she started to notice those around her hated your name being spoken, she stopped. A part of you broke, you thought at least you’d have someone in your corner, even if she was the most afraid of you. Portia bringing up your memory was only a way for her to avoid and ignore the crippling fear she felt thinking about the new you... the better you. She left Vesuvia for a spell another way to hide from the current you, but you still found her. She visited the other princesses of Prakra and you followed. Like a storm on the horizon, ever present doom followed poor Portia. “You can’t forget me” you’d whisper to her.

Now Lucio, he was back to his old ways. Throwing parties and drinking to ignore his pain. He wasn’t Count anymore but he still held a bit of status. You envied him. You wanted to ruin him. You pursued him constantly, scaring him, keeping him in a constant state of fear. Every time he was too drunk to stand properly, you’d lure him to his old ashen wing of the palace, and their you’d lurk. An ever-constant reminder of his failures and treachery. You reveled in the power. You felt strong.

No. You felt weak. They still weren’t here! They were free! Living their lives, not stuck, trapped bound to the Devil. Watching enviously from the sidelines. You hated this new form.

Actually, no. You loved this new form, truly. You’ll bring them back eventually. They won’t ever leave again. It was time to stop fighting. To let the Devil have his way. You may be stuck in this realm but that doesn’t mean they can’t be here stuck with you, you thought. A devilish grin cracked across your face; your crimson eyes glowed.

For this to work you’ll have to back off for a few years. Allow them to live in peace, and think all of this is of the past. What a rude awakening they’ll have coming for them. For the next years you’ll be growing stronger, preserving your strength for the night you’ll drag the back home to hell.

20 years passed, though it felt like no more than a few months for you, you looked the same of course. You took a little peak at them, they couldn’t feel you, this time. You watched them fall in love, grow, heal. Even with all of these changes they were still the same as always. Asra, so outgoing, holding everybody together. Nadia, strong and elegant. Julian, smart as ever, and still so funny. Muriel, quiet but ever kind and gentle. Portia, happy and mischievous, and fun-loving. Lucio, charming and transparent, and still a heavy drinker. You loved it. You loved seeing them like this, thinking they were safe and free, all the better for when you destroy them.

It happened one night. They all slept soundly, safe and cozy in their beds. Except they woke up in the Devil’s realm. Right at your feet, the throne room was unrecognizable. You had destroyed it after they left the last time you saw them decades ago. Burning it to the ground with your thoughts alone.

“Rise and shine my pretties.” You hissed, such glee dancing in your crimson eyes. Muriel was the first to wake, just a split second before the rest. You laughed hysterically as they realized their new circumstances. They were trapped. All of you together forever in the throne room of the Devil’s realm. You couldn’t control yourself, your laughs coming out in bursts and wheezes, they could hear the true Devil’s voice laced behind your own.

“Y/N... What have you done?” Asra asks, sounding so pathetic. Your old friends all cowered close together, trembling with fear, utterly confused.

“Oh Asra, you don’t look so good. I thought you’d age better than this.” You sneered, it was a lie though, of course he was still beautiful and full of life. “If you haven’t all figured it out yet, you’re going to be spending the rest of your days here with me.” You grinned, the smile was unnaturally wide on your face, a wicked grin. Silence ensued but you could hear their hearts races, the sound alone made you tremble, aroused by their fear.

“Don’t all cheer at once, I know how happy you all must be, right?” You joked, snorting out another short laugh before continuing. “So, get as comfortable as you can get here, it’ll be a while.”

“Whatever do you think to accomplish with all of this, Devil?” Nadia spoke, her voice projecting throughout the room. You rolled your eyes dramatically.

“First of all, you know my name Nadia, dear. Secondly, I’ve missed you all, haunting you for those first few months was getting so boring.” You whined, “I need the real you here, with me, to make up for lost time!” You were still suspended a few feet off of the ground by the rope they bound you with, you tried to wiggle free. “So as you can see, I’m still bound to this hell and couldn’t come visit.”

“...That never stopped you from showing yourself.” Muriel spoke in a hush tone, making a point to avoid your fiery gaze.

“Well, love, if you weren’t being so proactive in ignoring me, I wouldn’t have to have worked myself up, stretching my magic all the way to you like that. Don’t blame me.” You stared at him intensely, watching him shrink in on himself as much as he could. Even as Asra spoke you still were persistent in staring at the gentle giant, seeing the fear settle deep into his bones brought you happiness, you waited so long to see him in person again.

“This isn’t you Y/N! Let us go!” Asra shouted, rushing over to Muriel’s side to hold him.

“I know this isn’t me Asra, isn’t that what I was trying to convince you all of 20 years ago? Hm? Was it not!?” You shouted, fine cracks stretching up the walls. “I begged you all to let me go, I begged for you to see past this hideous form and to the real me! So, if I’m stuck here forever, you all will be too! This is your fault.” You struggled against your ropes, but they only tightened.

“Ugh honestly! What did you do to me? These ropes are really starting to work my nerves.” You carried on as if this were just normal conversation, before Julian finally spoke.

“We’ll be here f-forever?” He asked, stuttering his words.

“Yes, beloved, forever. I won’t harm you all, I love you too much. Though, you all should really consider setting me free so that it can truly feel like old times.” You cooed.

“IT CAN’T BE LIKE OLD TIMES!” Lucio shrieked, shoving a golden clawed finger in your direction. He had the nerve to talk to you like that, after all he's done.

“How dare you speak! How dare you speak like that to me!” You voice made the entire temple vibrate, threatening a collapse. The rest of the group shrunk back; Portia started to cry.

You sighed, the magic you expelled was taking a toll on your patience. “Don’t cry Portia, I’m sorry for Lucio’s foul behavior, you know how he gets.” You tried to sound as sincere as you could, but something in you wanted to laugh in their faces again.

The face she makes in response tells you all you need to know. Talk won’t help. “Okay, okay! I’m only kidding. But I assure you, I’m still me, I’m just a little bitter for the last two decades in solitude. You all moved on and fell in love. While I’m here alone watching from the sidelines.” Your head hung low, the anger your felt years ago was back at a boiling point. Honestly, you had to spell it out for them again?

“Lucio caused this whole mess but even he’s free, I saved the world and I’m here. That hardly seems fair. But, I’m willing to let bygones be bygones if you set me free from these ropes and allow me to move on with you all!” You give them a winning grin, and wiggle your fingertips and feet. That’s all the movement you can manage given your circumstances.

You give your word that won’t harm them and you remind them that you can’t lie as an Arcana. Over time, you promise them more freedoms, things do start to become a new normal. Not long after that, do they forget their days of freedom, they forget why you’re even tied up to begin with. You’re free. Free with your friends, whom you’ve granted immortality to, so long as they’re in the Arcana realms.

You’re all together again, forever. Forever together.

[rattmemes]

Beetlejuice: the Musical OBCR Starters! ACT 1

((>>act 2<<))

all changeable titles/pronouns will be in [italics and bracket!]

PROLOGUE: INVISIBLE

“ in times like these, we have no words, we only have each other ” “ we only have each other ” “ today we come together to mourn ” “ scripture tells us: “sorrow not, for we do not walk alone” ” “ sorrow not, for we do not walk alone ” “ you’re invisible when you’re sad ” “ clocks tick and phones still ring ” “ the world carries on like mad ” “ the world carries on like mad, but nobody sees a thing ” “ nobody sees a thing ” “ whispering behind their hands, lost for kind words to say ” “ nobody understands, and everyone goes away ” “ nobody understands ” “ everyone goes away ” “ grownups wanna fix things, when they can’t it only fills them shame ” “ they just look away ” “ is it being greedy to need somebody to see me and say my name? ” “ seems when you lose your [mom], no one turns off the sun ” “ folks carry on, that’s that ” “ holy crap, a ballad already? ” “ such a bold departure from the original source material! ”

THE WHOLE BEING DEAD THING

“ hey folks! begging your pardon! ” “ hey folks! ” “ begging your pardon! ” “ ‘scuse me! sorry to barge in! ” “ ‘scuse me! ” “ sorry to barge in! ” “ let’s skip the tears ” “ let’s skip the tears and start on the whole, y’know, being dead thing ” “ you’re doomed! ” “ you’re doomed! enjoy the singing ” “ the sword of Damocles is swinging ” “ if i hear your cell-phone ringing, i’ll kill you myself ” “ the whole being dead thing! ” “ death can get a person stressed ” “ we should have carpe’d way more diems, now we’re never gonna see ‘em ” “ we should have carpe’d way more diems ” “ i can show you what comes next ” “ don’t be freaked ” “ stay in your seats ” “ don’t be freaked, stay in your seats ” “ i do this bullshit like eight times a week ” “ so just relax, you’ll be fine ” “ drink your fifty-dollar wine and take a breath ” “ welcome to a show about death! ” “ you’re gonna be fine on the other side ” “ DIE! YOU’RE ALL GONNA DIE! YOU’RE ALL GONNA DIE! ” “ i’ll be your guide to the other side ” “ oh, and full disclosure: it’s a show about death! ” “ everybody gets on fine here ” “ everybody gets on fine here, like Rodgers, Hart, and Hammerstein here ” “ the women’s bathroom has no line here ” “ just... pee where you want! ” “ you’re just gonna love the folks here ” “ yes, i know you’re woke, but you can take a joke here ” “ i do, like, a TON of coke here ” “ nobody is bullet-proof ” “ “i work out! i eat clean!” jesus, pass the Dramamine ” “ jesus, pass the Dramamine ” “ time to face the brutal truth ” “ we’re all on a hitlist ” “ might not live ‘till christmas ” “ choke to death on Triscuits ” “ hey, that’s just statistics ” “ take a little break here ” “ kinda like a wake here ” “ the scenery is fake here ” “ there’s a giant snake here! ” “ how you doin’? not good! ” “ seriously though, this is a show about death ” “ death is taboo, but it’s hardly something new ” “ there’s nothing medical professionals could do, ‘cept maybe just bill you ” “ if you die while listening to this album, it’s still gonna keep playing ” “ there’s no destiny or fate, just a terrifying wait filled with people that you hate, and on a certain date, the universe kills you ” “ that’s the thing with life: no one makes it out alive ” “ toss that body in the pit ” “ gosh, it’s awful, ain’t it tragic? ” “ blah blah bible jesus magic ” “ when you’re dead, who gives a shit? ” “ pilates, no more yoga ” “ namaste, you fuckin’ posers! ” “ from the cradle to cremation, death just needs a little conversation ” “ i have mastered the art of tearing convention apart ” “ how about we all make a start on the whole being dead thing ” “ god, i hope you’re ready for a show about death! ”

READY, SET, NOT YET

“ look at this crib ” “ look at this crib, in all of it’s glorious antiquary ” “ every curve and surface speaks to me, saying pamper and spoil me, sand me and oil me; come on ” “ i know to the untrained eye it’s boring ” “ nothing’s a chore when you’re restoring ” “ apart from frustration, pain, and financial drain, it’s fun! ” “ why do you polish your crib when you don’t have a kid? ” “ even if you did have a kid, this crib is too precious for placing a baby inside it ” “ it simply exists to remind you your sense of perfection is just a reflection that you are not mentally prepared to make room for a kid ” “ why don’t you live? ” “ just make a start ” “ are you willing to take the next step? ” “ ready, set - ” “ look at these jugs! ” “ amazingly glazed and terracotta-ery ” “ i took some clay and made you pottery ” “ the world will never wreck you, i’ll protect you in a mother’s embrace ” “ why can’t you see that ceramics is simply a manifestation of [motherly] panic; by making a baby that’s breakable aren’t you creating a way of translating the terror of making [maternal] mistakes into clay, hiding away so you don’t have to face being a bad [mom]? ” “ that’s what you’ve done, ___ ” “ here we stand at the end of a 10-year plan ” “ a house, a yard, a minivan, a baby should be next ” “ together let’s leap off the cliff, fall forever, then smash to bits ” “ trapped in a terrifying viper pit ” “ trapped in a terrifying viper pit of diapers and regret ” “ are we willing to take the next step? ” “ ready, set - not yet ” “ why rush? ” “ soon enough our hopes and our dreams will be crushed ” “ but not yet ” “ not now ” “ we can’t start a family in a house with creaky floorboards ” “ you are absolutely right, let’s add it to the list ” “ with the cracks in the plaster ” “ the wi-fi should be faster ” “ this sofa needs a castor ” “ the bathroom’s a disaster! ” “ what about global poverty? ” “ what about world peace? ” “ then there’s the whole darn economy ” “ the whole middle east ” “ we should learn mandarin ” “ yeah! or spanish at least ” “ no habla espanol, dos cervezas por favor ” “ and that’s all we got, and that’s not a lot ” “ do we want a bilingual household or not? ” “ so let’s go slow, no breaking a sweat ” “ what’s the point of having children if we’re drowning in debt? ” “ see, i wasn’t kidding, it’s a show about death! ”

THE WHOLE BEING DEAD THING PT. 2

“ ready? okay! ” “ hi! i’ll be your guide! i’ll be your G-U-I-D-E to the other side! ” “ don’t go to the netherworld ” “ netherworld? ” “ did i say netherworld? never mind ” “ jesus, i can’t spell ” “ he’ll be your guide! ” “ let’s all get naked! ” “ let’s all get naked! eh, worth a try ” “ what is happening?! ” “ i understand that it’s a lot to process ” “ the good news is you and our spouse died in your own house ” “ that gives you clout ” “ that means the two of you should stick around ” “ lucky for you i dropped by ” “ yeah, you seem like nice guys ” “ a little on the pottery barn and dry white wine side ” “ as for me, i’ve been scaring for millennia ” “ i’m the bio-exorcist giving houses enemas ” “ push out all the breathers so you can breathe easy ” “ just stick with me ” “ i’m like a ghost zombie jesus ” “ ghost zombie jesus! ” “ i do it for the love of it. money? ah, who gives a shit ” “ i think we’re a perfect fit, c’mon let’s make out a bit ” “ it’s the perfect day to die ” “ it’s the perfect day to die, ‘cause this guy happened to be passing by ” “ to give you control of your soul ” “ to give you control of your soul for the whole being dead thing ”

DEAD MOM

“ hey [mom], dead [mom] ” “ hey [mom] ” “ i need a little help here ” “ i’m probably talking to myself here ” “ i gotta ask, are you really in the ground? ” “ i feel you all around me ” “ are you here? ” “ i’m tired of trying to iron out my creases ” “ i’m a bunch of broken pieces, it was you who made me whole ” “ i’m a bunch of broken pieces ” “ it was you who made me whole ” “ every day [dad’s] staring at me, like all “hurry up, get happy” ” “ move along ” “ forget about your [mom] ” “ [daddy’s] in denial, [daddy] doesn’t wanna feel ” “ [he] wants me to smile and clap like a performing seal ” “ ignored it for a whole, but [daddy’s] lost [his] mind for real ” “ you don’t believe the mess that we’ve become ” “ you’re my home, my destination ” “ i’m your clone, your strange creation ” “ you held my hand, and life came easy ” “ now jokes don’t land ” “ no one sees me ” “ nothing seems to fit ” “ are you receiving? ” “ i want something to believe in ” “ take me where my soul can run ” “ i’ll be in my bedroom, wake me when i’m twenty one ” “ won’t you send a sign? ” “ i’m running out of hope and time ” “ a plague of mice, a lightning strike, or drop a nuclear bomb ” “ no more playing [daddy’s] games ” “ i’ll go insane if things don’t change ” “ whatever it takes to make [him] say your name ”

FRIGHT OF THEIR LIVES

“ okay, listen up, i’m not gonna lie; right now you couldn’t frighten a fly ” “ you ever stop to ask yourselves why? ” “ both of you are super polite, middle class, suburban, and white ” “ well, all of that is finished tonight ” “ take your places ” “ i want scary faces, now go! ” “ bigger! ” “ further! ” “ harder! ” “ not bad! ” “ i want scary faces, now go! bigger! further! harder! -- not bad! ” “ sever a head, preferably someone you know ” “ look at me, i’m so scary! ” “ don’t be so vanilla, would a little anger kill ya? ” “ c’mon drop your panties i’m trying to fill you -- with wisdom and skill ” “ and the instinct to kill ” “ again, we do not want to kill anyone! ” “ fine, but somehow, someway, you gotta make ‘em see ya ” “ i’m talkin’ jumpscares, the jerky japanese ghost-walk ” “ learn how to throw your voice! -- fool your friends! -- fun at parties! ” “ now THAT is cool! i wanna do THAT! ” “ whatever it takes to make ‘em go crazy ” “ raising the stakes by punching a baby ” “ scare ‘em away till they break ” “ they’ll be quaking in fright ” “ you’ve got some evil deep down inside you ” “ put all the farmer’s markets behind you ” “ you’ve gotta work, gotta haunt till it hurts through the night ” “ give those guys the fright of their lives! ” “ let’s start with things that you hate ” “ hate’s a very strong word ” “ perhaps when people are late ” “ or getting pooped on by birds ” “ no, what fills you with rage? ” “ what fills you with rage? ” “ being mean to a pet ” “ chefs who use too much sage when they make beurre noisette ” “ over-glutinous food ” “ when kids call me dude ” “ oh, i find that so rude! ” “ well, there’s lots there to use ” “ take a deep death and give me your best primal scream ” “ [weak, lame scream] ” “ that was brilliant! ” “ try it again, maybe this time pretend like you mean it ” “ [lame scream but deeper] ” “ that was even better! ” “ i want freedom ” “ to get my freedom i need to get a living person to say my name ” “ i know that beggars can’t be choosers, but do they have to be such losers? ” “ both of them are deathly dull and lame ” “ why God slash Satan did you send these bed wetters? ” “ even, like, a tax attorney would’ve been better ” “ somebody with gravitas, somebody to fear ” “ excuse me, ___, we can kinda hear you ” “ yeah? well that was a soliloquy, so you’re the one who’s being rude ” “ turn all the lights on ” “ dress like a baby ” “ ___, i don’t even -- no. ” “ get your heads in the game ” “ let’s hide their phones! ” “ screw their phones! ” “ ugh, these dopes are hopeless ” “ how will i ever survive? ” “ unless they get the fright of their lives ” “ yes, we’re feelin’ it! ” “ they gotta get the right of their lives ” “ we’re scary, very very scary! ” “ they’ll never get the fright of their lives ”

READY, SET (REPRISE)

“ that needy pervert was right ” “ if we want our house back, we have to fight for it ” “ how? no one can see us! ” “ we’re ghosts, damn it! let’s haunt this bitch! ” “ oblivion calls ” “ we might as well walk through some walls ” “ i’m sure we can haunt our own halls ” “ we’re ready as we’ll ever get ” “ i gotta get right outside my comfort zone ” “ we’ll rattle chains and, i don’t know, just wail and moan until they go ” “ ready, set let’s oooOOOoOooOooOo [ghost noises] ”

NO REASON

“ the universe is more than just space with no end ” [sung] “ la-la-la-la-la! ” “ just think of the universe as a female best friend ” “ hey, universe, what’s happening girl? ” “ oh nothing. just running the world ” “ you’re on the right track, [girl], i got your back, [girl] ” “ i’m helping you grow ” “ think positive, act positive, you are a child of the Earth! ” “ life coaching! nailing it! ” “ time to take command you dictate the hand the universe deals ” “ look, science makes no sense; who needs evidence? ” “ go with yours feels ” “ i’m like a radio tuned to the stars ” “ i found my frequency, crystals speak to me ” “ what are they saying? ” “ buy more crystals ” “ everything, EVERYTHING, happens for a reason ” “ be a beacon of light in the world, put a little alright in the world ” “ there are spiritual guides above, look up and see ‘em ” “ perception is reality ” “ just listen to the melody the universe sings ” “ everything happens for a reason ” “ gee, i hate to break it to you: the universe is just the contents of time, matter and space ” “ ninety-one billion light-years across and the Earth’s a small place ” “ good people die in famine and wars ” “ the pacific islands are sinking, but negative thinking is hardly the cause ” “ you think life is all unicorns and rainbows ‘cause you’re bored ” “ positivity is a luxury that few can afford ” “ we’re gonna die, yes you and I, in meaningless and alone ” “ no no no! no! ” “ one day you may wake up alone ” “ your husband and his boyfriend bought a boat and then they sailed away to Rome ” “ that’s specific ” “ so you cry yourself to sleep in deep despair, talking to the walls ‘cause there’s no one there, and you have to buy a cat ‘cause that’s your last chance to have a family ” “ take it from me, your aging ass will have to believe that everything happens for a reason ” “ put some more fun in the world, a little “I AM STILL YOUNG” in the world ” “ be prepared to take your eggs and freeze ‘em ” “ is this still about me? ” “ sounds like terrible things can happen ” “ because the universe is random ” “ yes, but, random for a reason ” “ no reason ”

INVISIBLE (REPRISE)/ON THE ROOF

“ you’re invisible when you’re me ” “ there’s no one to see my truth ” “ if they could look up they’d see: hey! somebody’s on the roof! ” “ god, it’s mortifying, what’s the point of even trying? ” “ now i’m trapped with no escape ” “ banished! disavowed! i vanished like a cloud of dirty hipster vape ” “ i vanished like a cloud of dirty hipster vape ” “ nobody said life’s fair ” “ guess they will never see the demon who isn’t there ” “ whoa, what have we got here? ” “ by the time you read this, I, ___, will be gone ” “ there’s nothing for me here ” “ i’m alone, forsaken, invisible ” “ that makes two of us ” “ who the hell are you? ” “ can you... see me? ” “ yeah...? ” “ you can SEE me! ” “ I’M GONNA HAVE A NEW BEST FRIIIIIIEEEENND! ”

SAY MY NAME

“ you could use a buddy ” “ don’t you want a pal? ” “ yes i do! yes i do! ” “ the way i see, your [daddy] should be leaving and you should stick around! ” “ and kill him! ” “ ... what? ” “ nothing! ” “ don’t end yourself, defend yourself ” “ [daddy] is the one you should maim ” “ together we’ll exterminate, assassinate! ” “ the finer points can wait ” “ first you gotta say my name! ” “ go ahead and jump but that won’t stop [him] ” “ here you got a solid plan B option ” “ i can bring your [daddy] so much pain ” “ all you gotta do is say my name ” “ just say it three times in a row ” “ you won’t believe how far i’ll go ” “ i’m in the bench, but coah, just put me in the game! ” “ i don’t know your name ” “ well, i can’t SAY it ” “ how ‘bout a game of charades? ” “ yes, let’s play it! ” “ close, but no ” “ wow, i’m impressed ” “ all you gotta do is say my name three times ” “ three times in a row it must be spoken, unbroken ” “ you’re so smart, a stand-up bro ” “ i’ll think about your offer, let you know ” “ i prefer my chances down below ” “ being young and [female] doesn’t mean that i’m an easy mark ” “ i’ve been swimming with piranhas, i don’t need a shark ” “ yes, life sucks, but not that much ” “ be a doll and spare the lecture ” “ i’m offering you a full-time specter! ” “ are you any good? ” “ you bet’cha! trust me, baby! ” “ really, it’s a flattering offer ” “ don’t you wanna see [dad] suffer? ” “ i think i’d rather just jump off ” “ i may be suicidal but ___, it’s not as if i’ve lost my mind ” “ so, playing hardball, huh? you are tougher than you look ” “ just wanna make sure i know who i’m working with. go any references? ” “ ___, there you are! ” “ get away from [her] ! ” “ this is a dangerously unstable individual ” “ ___ is sexy! ” “ ___ is smart! ” “ ___ is a graduate of Julliard! ” “ [he] can help, we found [him] on yelp ” “ our troubles all ended on the day that we befriended ” “ every word is the truth ” “ what the heck was that? ” “ so violating! ” “ there you go, kid, couple of five-star reviews ” “ that was possession ” “ any ghost can do that in less than one lesson ” “ pretty much any ghost’ll do, sure ” “ then, ___, what do i need you for? ” “ woah, woah, woah woah woah! hold up! ” “ hold up! i’m your pal! ” “ they’re sweet, but i’m a demon straight from hell ” “ i know, i went a little hard on the sell ” “ we’re BF-F-F-F’s forever! ” “ what? he was already dead ” “ we don’t need that demon ” “ together we can make a grown man weep ” “ we got a dinner date to keep ” “ okay, so what’s the plan? ” “ [he’s] gonna freak when we possess him ” “ i’ll lead that lamb to slaughter ” “ yeah, i got game! ” “ i’m gonna make [him] say my name ” “ not running away ”

DAY-O (THE BANANA BOAT SONG)/ACT I FINALE

“ what’s going on ___? are you alright? ” “ i don’t -- i dont know what just happened ” “ ___? do you need to lie down? ” “ what is happening to me? ” “ work all night on a drink of rum ” “ daylight come and me wanna go home ” “ stack banana till the morning come ” “ wait, why aren’t you dancing? ” “ it’s like i told you, ___, this house is haunted, and the ghosts who live here want you OUT ” “ who wants bacon? ” “ no! no! i’m a vegan! ” “ shut up, you moron! don’t apologize, we’re gonna be RICH! ” “ a genuine haunted house? it’s a goldmine! ” “ these ghosts are gonna make us a fortune! ” “ no! you’re supposed to be scared! ” “ there’s one thing that can still stop [him] ” “ ___, no! you don’t know what’ll happen! ” “ i can’t keep living like this! ” “ oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! i’m so glad you changed your mind! ” “ you are never gonna regret this! ” “ we are gonna make such a great team! ” “ give me just... one... more... ” “ it’s SHOWTIME! ” “ it’s our house now, kid! ” “ looks like we’re not invisible anymore! ”

[amethyst-noir]

Oh, I always imagined Stephen as the one making the bouquets, but Tony works so well, too! It's just such a soft image, thank you.

Outside hissorcerer persona I can’t see Stephen as anything but a doctor, actually. ButTony? Oh, he’s a modern renaissance man and I can see him in a lot ofprofessions. So, yeah, Tony has the flowershop, Stephen, weary and beaten downby life, comes to him for a bouquet, falls for him, and Tony makes his way intoStephen’s heart with beautiful flower arrangements, snark and lots of flirtybanter. 💞

And nowyou’re giving me drpepperony; how nice of you! Thank you! 🥰 It’s so wonderful that this OT3 gets so much love!

That would be another novel of epic proportions which I’m nevergoing to write but it would go like this (1.5k of detailed outline ahead!):

Pepper meetsStephen a few months before Tony goes missing in Afghanistan. She likes herboss, yes, but is lightyears away from having romantic feelings for him.Stephen, who is just at the beginning of his career, meets her at an fundraiserfor his hospital where Tony and Pepper are in attendance. Stephen notices Tony- of course he does, he’s not fucking blind and Tony is pretty much themanifestation of Stephen’s preferences in men - but the one he actually talksto at the bar is Pepper.

Pepper isexactly what he likes in women. Smart, witty, gorgeous in mind and body.

Stephen isexactly what Pepper likes in men. He’s hot as hell, he’s intelligent andsarcastic but with a hidden sweetness. They meet at the bar and hit off enoughto exchange numbers while Tony is busy drinking himself into a one-night standhe forgets the before it even happened.

Stephen andPepper don’t sleep with each other on that first meeting but they talk. It’sactually Stephen who calls her a couple of days later and invites her to a galaas his plus one. Since he’s a no-one and Pepper is just the assistant of TonyStark, who overshadows everyone else in his live, nobody notices them and theyhave the time of their lives.

Pepper doesn’treally talk about her private life with Tony but continues her light flirtingwith her boss since this is just the way he is. She knows that, if things weredifferent, there could be something between them. She likes him, damn it, butshe also likes Stephen and Stephen is the one who calls her and spends timewith her.

It’s notquite love but it’s affection and tenderness and mutual understanding.

Then Tonygets taken captive in Afghanistan and Pepper’s world shatters. She seeks refugewith Stephen and spends more and more time with him. Affection becomes love.She tells Stephen about Tony and Stephen almost mourns a man he has never met.

Then Tonyreturns and becomes Iron Man. Pepper’s more involved than ever in his life andTony begins to appreciate her more than ever before but he knows that she’swith someone else and doesn’t pursue her. Instead he indulges in a bittersweet“what if”…

… but he’sdying (from Palladium poisoning) anyway so it doesn’t matter. It’s nice to knowthat she has someone to lean on. He even meets Stephen briefly on his disastrousbirthday party. Stephen, the doctor, notices immediately that there’s somethingwrong with Tony tries to get Tony alone to check him out but he gets rebuffedwith a cold “you’re hot, maybe another time, but not tonight, beautiful”.

By the timehe alerts Pepper it’s too late and Tony has already staged the incident so thatRhodey can take off with the War Machine armor.

Tony andStephen continue to pass like ships in the night while Pepper and Stephen growcloser and closer. Stephen even begins to think about proposing to her butthen…

… thecrash happens.

Stephenshies back from every sort of comfort and pushes Pepper away, aware that he’sbroken and can’t be fixed. She deserves better, he deserves nothing. Pepper,used to self-destructive behavior like that, pushes back. Hardcore.

Stephen goesthrough his various surgeries and he suffers. Pain, humiliation, self-hate andmassive depression.

Pepper, atthe end of her rope, finally drags Tony - who by this point is a good friend -to the hospital in the hope that he, with his somewhat similar history, can getthrough to Stephen.

Tony tries,he really does, because he knows Stephen from Peppers tales and the broken manlooking up at him from that hospital bed is not even a shadow of that and ithurts. Tony just wants to help but Stephen’s in not place to accept that help.

But he andPepper don’t give up. They are a great team and friends who have - in Pepper’scase - or would - in Tony’s - go through hell for each other. They open up awhole new field of medical research for SI in an desperate attempt to helpStephen regain the use of his hands.

Peppermanages to stop her man in ruining himself even more with futile surgeries.Instead she’s by his side during rehab and helps him regain his independence.She’s the one who proposes to him during their first dinner out when he’s noteaten alive by self-doubt anymore.

Stephenaccepts and their first kiss after their engagement tastes like tears. It’s thebest moment of their lives and for the first time since his accident Stephen can’tfeel in the pain in his hands for a moment.

Pepper continuesto work for Tony; Stephen becomes a consultant at the hospital. He’s stillbitter that he can’t operate himself anymore but he’s also working closely withSI a knows that he can and will leave his mark on the medical world. His handsget a little bit better and the pain is tolerable. There are days where hedoesn’t even need painkillers.

Little bylittle he becomes Tony’s personal doctor and friend. He helps with the planningof the surgery and he’s there when the arc reactor gets removed from Tony’schest. He has helped design the implants that go into Tony instead. He andPepper, along with Rhodey of course, help Tony through the grueling and painfulrecovery process.

A few monthsafter Extremis they get married. It’s a small affair with close friends only -Tony, Rhodey, Christine, Happy and a few others.

It’s perfect.Tony even manages to stay sober and wish them all the best and he’s laughingwhen they excuse themselves into their honeymoon.

Whilethey’re away Ultron happens and when they come back Tony is a broken shell,almost destroyed by the horrific visions Wanda has put into his head and allthe guilt over Sokovia he carries.

Pepper andStephen take one look at each other and get to work. Stephen repays thekindness Tony has shown him after his accident and Pepper is… well… Pepper.AKA the best. She deals with the company, she deals with the press, she holdsTony when he breaks down. She and Stephen begin to spend the night with Tony, alternatingwith Rhodey, too afraid that he might hurt himself or seek comfort in not onlyalcohol but drugs.

They keephim safe; they keep him grounded, they tell him over and over again that it’snot his fault and that they’re not lying dead on the ground.

It’s duringthose dark days that they realize that Tony is an integral part of their lives.Stephen remembers how Tony once told him that he’s hot and beautiful. Peppersremembers their flirting from ages ago (Tony stopped, apart from a few teasingcomments which are just in his nature, the moment he learned that Pepper is ina serious relationship). They realize that Tony did not only have not a singlerelationship since Pepper knows him but also that his last affair with a womanor a man was years ago.

Tony has beendrowning in a sea of loneliness and despair for years and they haven’t noticed.

They vow todo better. Stephen, after one particular brutal nightmare, takes Tony into hisarms and by instinct kisses him on the temple. Tony doesn’t notice, too out ofit, but Stephen looks at the man in his arms and wants. So much. Thankfullyhis wife has the biggest heart in the known universe and has loved Tony foryears.

They talkabout it between the two of them and decide to just see what happens when they tryto include Tony fully into their life. Pepper already has been more or lessrunning Tony’s life outside of the Avengers for years now and since Stephen hasbeen right by her side for pretty much all of it they know all there is to knowabout Tony. The good and the bad and the ugly.

They’recareful and wait until Tony is as well as he can be again before they seducehim. Tony isn’t unwilling but deathly afraid of being hurt and cast out again.It takes them a while to get him to accept that he’s the missing puzzle piecein their relationship and he stays insecure for a long while before he finallyunderstands that there is nothing that will make Pepper and Stephenleave.

The twomight not be superheroes but they stand on Tony’s side when the fight over theAccords breaks out. Pepper manages to calm everybody down enough to listenwhile Stephen, as a trained doctor, can see what has happened with Bucky. Zemohas no chance.

The Avengersdon’t break apart, the Ancient One deals with Kaecilius and his zealots and losesher life, and the next Sorcerer Supreme, called Wong, makes sure that the Eyeof Agamotto stays safely hidden in a pocket dimension in Kamar-Taj and whenThanos arrives there is no Time Stone for him but a united front of superheroesand their family and friends.

Nebula literallydances on his grave. After she spits on it.

✨

Sorry, Stephen, that I take the magic away from you in this. But you’ll have a wonderful and fullfilled life on the side of the two people you love and who love you back.

(There is not even one picture with the three of them together. That’s so sad. 💔)

[ayearofpike]

Final Friends, Book 3: The Graduation

Pocket Books, 1989 238 pages, 25 chapters + epilogue, 10-page introduction ISBN 0-671-73680-9 LOC: CPB Box no. 1779 vol. 23 OCLC: 670303406 Released December 10, 1988 (per B&N)

When we last left our friends, they were all going their separate ways in the wake of the tragic accident that paralyzed the homecoming queen. Now, six months later, they’re brought back together for Tabb High’s graduation ceremony, and the after-party cruise to Catalina. It creates a deadline by which the kids need to find Alice’s killer before they’re apart for good. This last party is the end of all possibility – an end made more pressing by someone’s goal to make sure the ship never reaches the island.

I think I was more confused by this than was actually warranted when I read it at 13 or whatever I was, because the very idea of familial death, the anxiety and personal blame that someone might go through in the wake of it, and treatment by electroshock and its effects were just not something I could relate to or even try to empathize with. Because – 

Well, let’s just tell the damn story in reverse: it was Polly. She accidentally distracted Alice into falling off a ladder at the party, and the blow to the head killed her. But Polly had shocked herself trying to change a light bulb earlier, and presumably the shock manifested some of the guilt over the death of her parents that her previous ECT had helped her suppress. Yes, Polly was in the car that went off the cliff, and was distracting her father right before the accident! So to keep herself from being blamed for Alice’s death (maybe more to herself than to anyone else) she staged a suicide: posed her sister with the gun in her mouth, muffled the gunshot so that it would look real, then went outside and fired a shotgun blast near the bedroom window so the final revelers would hear it and think it was Alice.

What about Maria’s fall from the parade float? That was Polly too. See, she expected Jessica to win homecoming queen, but also subconsciously blamed her for the party happening in the first place and thereby Alice’s death. So she compromised the queen’s platform, expecting Jessica to climb up there, break it, and break herself. Because Maria was so much smaller, it took a second ascension for the boards to finally give. She also stole Sara’s homecoming dance money to keep it safe, because she was worried Sara would do just what she did and leave her purse somewhere and lose it. Oh, and she chopped down the varsity tree, maybe because Russ wanted to but also because she wanted to punish Bill and Clair and The Rock and the other pretty people who’d started the fight at the party that preceded Alice’s death.

The thing is, she wasn’t even fully aware she was doing these things. Just before something terrible happened, Polly would see Clark, who would offer hints and threats against her classmates. We slowly learn that she’s been imagining him: his strangeness and his closeness to her pushed him into the role, in her mind, of her angry avenging side, one that she didn’t always have total control over. She tells Michael and Jessica both that Clark is somehow responsible for these things, even though they know on some level that he can’t be. Like, here Polly swears up and down that Clark is on the boat, but a) Michael went to his house right before coming on board and didn’t encounter Clark on the way, and b) Jessica was one of the first three people on the ship, with Polly being another, and she knows that Polly came aboard alone. Plus, there aren’t many places for this weirdo to hide; all the staterooms save three (for the first three girls) are locked, and Michael inspects the whole rest of the ship to no avail.

He starts to suspect that Polly isn’t telling the whole truth (actually, while he’s at Clark’s house), but doesn’t confront her with it until the whole group is gathered below decks in the engine room to try to smoke out the real killer. Maria’s on board with this too. She’s been in a rehab facility since her accident – lots of time to think about Michael’s perspective and realize that if Alice was killed, it was probably the same person who tampered with the float and left her paralyzed from the waist down. So she pretty much uses Nick to scare everyone into showing up for the gathering.

Now, I understood a lot more about how the Final Friends got to this point on this reread, but that doesn’t mean that I necessarily agreed with how it went down. Like, Michael pretty much stern-voiced the mental illness out of Polly. He barked at her about what he suspected had happened and how she was making Clark up in her mind, and that “his” malicious anger at the group was coming from somewhere inside Polly. And, ta-da, she suddenly remembered everything and had clarity. Which, like ... that’s not how it works. I feel like we’re all aware in 2018 that you can’t just decide to not be crazy, to say nothing of whether someone else can do it in seconds. And, sure, the ECT she underwent as a child might have contributed to this mental state in some way, but the procedure typically stems from the fact that mental issues are there in the first place. (See also Carrie Fisher’s defense of her own experience with it.)

It doesn’t really matter, though. Not only does Polly remember doing this stuff, she takes ownership of it and is prepared to follow through. So the bomb “Clark” planted in a locker against the hull? Yeah, literally a bomb! Well, construction explosive from Polly’s company, set to blow at 2 am when everyone was asleep and maximize casualties on the sinking ship. She protects it with the shotgun that “Clark” strategically planted for her to find. So it blows up and the ship starts sinking, but the friends get off the boat and into a lifeboat. But then Polly produces another bomb from her jacket! She’s already gone from blaming the others to blaming herself, and she’s ready to put an end to it. So everyone bails. Except Jessica.

Sure, this is partly because Jessica can’t swim and has a broken arm besides and there are no life vests left. But, realistically, if she’d said so, someone else would have given theirs up. The truth is Jessica knows, somewhere deep down, that she’s the only one who can help Polly right now. Michael’s just yelling and unsympathetic; Jessica’s known Polly her whole life, and she knows Polly didn’t try to kill her parents, and she knows Polly didn’t try to kill Alice. Polly also knows Jessica can’t swim (which was part of the rationale behind “Clark” sinking the ship), but as they talk Polly starts to realize that someone does care about her, and that she’s not beyond help. So at the last second she throws the bomb overboard.

So everybody’s alive! And has a happy ending? Let’s wrap up the loose ends.

Did Michael and Jessica end up together? Yes, finally. But not before Jessica all but gave up on him and tried to seduce Bill, who ran away and called her a slut. Apparently, he did the same thing to Clair at the party, and that plus his defense of The Rock and his attempts to hang with Michael outside of school lead them to draw the conclusion that Bill is gay. I mean, there are more explanations for what happened, and I’m not totally sure Pike did justice to homosexuality in this book, but remember, 1989. We can build more nuance into our understanding because we’re more empathetic to this stuff now.

What about Clair? Did she really have an abortion? She did, in fact. But wait! If she didn’t fuck Bill, whose was it? No surprise, if you were paying attention: it was Bubba, somehow. Yeah, the repulsive little troll managed to weasel his way into her panties, and when trouble arose he took care of it – and pretty much instantly regretted it. So the experience brought him and Clair closer together, and when they get back to the mainland they’re going to drive to Vegas and get married. WHAT. Just one more example in fiction of gross-ass weirdos getting girls way beyond their means.

Did Nick and The Rock ever bury the hatchet? That actually happened in Book 2. Nick realized that The Rock had mistaken him for a dealer in his old hood, took him to meet the dude, then saved his life when The Rock tried to flex and almost got got. The experience taught The Rock to know his role and shut his mouth, otherwise someone might lay the smack down on his roody-poo candy ass.

But Maria’s stuck paralyzed, right? No, actually. She’s been in the rehab facility learning to walk again. But she didn’t tell anybody because her plan was to gather the gang together, stand up and walk across the room, and see who looked most guilty or upset to figure out who’d sabotaged the float. Turned out that she was at least able to get the gun from Polly, but by then her plan was already tits-up. Also: she’s going to marry Nick at the same time Bubba and Clair get married, so she doesn’t get deported! Yay immigration laws!

What about Sara and Russ? They’re working through their bullshit. It seems that even though Sara is totally head over heels for this dude, she can’t ever just say so, and takes it for granted that he wants her too and understands her snark. Which he doesn’t! I mean, he does want her, but when she’s jokingly mean to him he takes it at face value and assumes he’s off her short list. They finally manage to have a conversation about it, but us adults know we can’t magically fix everything by talking once.

Was anybody actually hurt by the bomb? Well, Jessica broke her arm in the explosion, and The Rock was trapped in the engine room but managed to swim out the hole and get to safety. Otherwise, everyone was fine, thanks to (get this) Kats. This wasn’t entirely altruistic, though; he was going to prank everyone into the lifeboats by setting smoke bombs and making them think the ship was going down. Fortunately (?), this happened just before Polly’s big badaboom, so Kats comes out a hero.

Wait a sec – if Sara lost the money in Book 2, how did they pay for all this shit? Gambling! Bubba is a lifelong Lakers fan, and the night of the party is also Game 7 of the NBA finals. He put a bet on the game that would be big enough to cover the student government’s debts for the entire year, including this cruise. Alas, the Lakers lose on a desperation 3-pointer that clangs off the rim. It’s a good thing Bubba bet on the Celtics.

And with that, we’re through Pike’s first multi-book series. Confusing? Convoluted? Not really – more like a soap opera where you have to keep track of multiple storylines to get the whole picture. It’s got its problems, but it continues to do that Pike thing of reaching for something more than most teen books gave us at the time, and so I’m going to keep on reading.

[archeolatry]

Faith

"Right now three things remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love." -- 1 Corinthians 13:13

Words: 2,535 (Part 1 of 3)

Mt. Zion, Kansas

It was more than a case. It was a trial. An epic. A test of heroes.

In the end, it was Sam who found the words. It was Dean who held the Rod of Aaron; whom the angels spoke through, begging permission to be set amongst mankind. And it was through the grace of Chuck that they fell, like flaming comets against a darkened sky, across the four corners of the earth. It was also no coincidence that Castiel was willed to the very spot where the rod was planted, now a new, green almond tree rooted in the soil. The only tree in a ruined field of wheat.

His manifestation surprised the brothers. Sam blinked his amazement with his name upon his lips. “Cas?”

Dean--breathless but alive--only stared at Castiel under his eyelashes.

The wind blew gently, rippling through the remaining wheat.

“I suppose I have you to thank for this.”

Castiel whirled around to see Chuck, his arms folded over his chest, resplendent in his divine hoodie and holey jeans.

He had no word for this man--this manifestation. When in this form he could not bring himself to call him Chuck; yet he could not find the devotion in his heart to call him Father. Instead, he merely offered his honest answer.

“No. Those angels made their own choice.” His tongue was thick in his mouth, now that he was on the mortal plane. “They exercised their free will.”

“And is that what you taught them, when you returned to Heaven?”

“No,” Castiel shook his head. “I did not force any idea upon them that they themselves did not harbor. I provided counsel, and each made their decision on their own.” He met eyes with Chuck. “They did not need to be told, only shown the way.”

“They did not need to be told,” Chuck parroted, “only shown the way.” A laugh rippled through his slim frame. “Oh, Castiel...”

The blithe, carefree look on Chuck’s face clenched all their stomachs; they braced for divine wrath.

“They did not need to be told, only shown the way,” Chuck repeated, ruminating on the words. “That’s... You know, if I tried to boil down the reason I left into one sentence, that would be it?” He smacked his palm to his forehead. “Man, I wrote how many of those me-damn Supernatural books and I couldn’t come up with one good theme for the whole of my creation? And it just falls out of your mouth.” Chuck stroked his beard. “Do you mind if I use that line?”

A shared, incredulous look glanced from brother to brother, to angel, and back again. Castiel shook his head No.

“I knew there was a reason you were my favorite.” Castiel’s heart fell into his gut. “You get it.”

Castiel’s mouth was suddenly stuffed with cotton, with a brain to match. “Excuse me?”

“Humanity. You get it. The double-edged sword of love. That all the really delicious food is terrible for you. The irony of free will--the apple, the garden, the whole thing.” Chuck huffed softly. “So many incorrect interpretations...Raphael, Naomi, Metatron... Man, if I had just given you the reins I could have saved myself a lot of hassle.”

“You’re a dick, you know that?” Dean growled. Cas and Sam’s eyebrows shot up in tandem.

“Yeah, I know,” Chuck sighed. “But I’m here to make amends.” He stepped forward, his Converse crunching on the stalks of fallen wheat underneath. “Castiel. You are, without doubt, one of my finest creations. You have learned from every mistake. You...” he searched for the words, “have grown a capacity for forgiveness that astounds even me. And yet I see in your heart that you are humble.” He reached out to touch Castiel’s left shoulder. “Come back with me. Be my second in command, as Raphael was before you.”

“An archangel?” he whispered.

A small, mewling sound came from Dean. “Cas?”

Chuck ignored him. “I could use someone like you, Castiel. Someone who has seen the world I’ve made from every angle. Someone who loves humanity as I do.”

“You’ve got a funny way of showing it,” Sam muttered under his breath.

Castiel gazed at Chuck, eyes squinted, mouth agape. “But what would I do?”

“Answer prayers. Perform miracles. Heck, you can pop up on burnt tortillas and tree stumps if that’s your thing.” He shrugged a divine shrug. “I realize that I haven’t been the Father I could have--should have been. I’d like to fix that.” Chuck clapped Castiel on the forearm. “Think of it as our family business.”

An petulant little groan came from Dean’s direction.

Castiel cocked an eyebrow; tilted his head. “So...together we’ll rule the galaxy as Father and son?”

Sam huffed his amusement. Castiel making an Empire Strikes Back reference. He was more human than he gave himself credit for.

“Exactly. But with no lightsabers. The world isn’t ready for those yet.”

Castiel glanced at Sam, but stared at Dean, whose bright green eyes were wide and wet.

He turned to face Chuck again. “In a case like this, I believe, I am supposed to express my thanks, and to acknowledge that I serve at your pleasure.” He hung his head defeatedly, eyes clenched, choking back his urge to weep. “Use me but as your instrument. I will oblige.”

From behind him, Castiel could feel Dean’s heart shattering. Sam was biting hard at the inside of his cheek.

“Or...” Chuck began again.

All three heads shot up to face Him.

“Or?” Dean whimpered.

“Or you could go home,” Chuck said indifferently. “Go back to your chosen family. To the man you love. Maybe go see the Grand Canyon.” His eyes lit up. “Oh, and have some deep-fried Oreos! Those things are amazing. You humans...” He laughed in the direction of Sam and Dean, who failed to see any humor. “I give you fire and you use it to deep fry everything. Oh, Me...”

Castiel dragged Chuck back to the conversation. “You’re offering me humanity?”

“That’s right. The chance to live a normal, happy, mortal life, if you so choose. I’ll even throw in a human soul.” He looked down his nose at Castiel. “But if you choose humanity, you will never again be welcomed into the Host of Heaven.”

Cas’ eyes grew wide.

“The irony of Free Will, Castiel,” he said with a half-shrug. “Everything comes at a price.”

He cast his gaze again to Dean, whose heart he could hear from six feet away; it was beating a steady tattoo inside his chest. The tears were now spilling from his eyes. Dean had forgotten how to breathe.

Cas turned to face Chuck. “Would...would I be fallen, like Lucifer?”

“Naah,” Chuck replied. “Think of it as an Honorable Discharge after millennia of service. Although,” he added, with a jaunt of his eyebrows, “you’ll have to turn in your badge and gun.”

Cas palmed the heft of the angel blade up his sleeve. Surrendering the blade itself was easy, but the loss of that power--that purpose...

He had been, at times, a ‘good’ angel. Did as he was told, answered prayers when he could. But with no grace, no angel radio, no ‘mojo’ (as Dean called it)...could he be a good human? Would he know how?

“Is there any guarantee I’ll be sent to Heaven” --the words sounded strange in his mouth even as he said them-- “when I die?”

Chuck shook his head. “I can’t tell you that, Castiel. Part of being human not knowing how the story ends.” A coy smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “All I can do is put in a good word with Saint Peter.”

A sigh racked Castiel’s entire body. He looked at Chuck. God. He Who Must Be Obeyed. The distant father he’d never known made flesh and blood before him. He who had put his pieces back together so many times he couldn’t tell if it was reward or punishment.

And Dean. Dean, whose tears were now rolling down his cheeks. Dean, whose raw humanity made him care more about mankind than he had in thousands and thousands of years. The Great Wall of China, the Magna Carta, sending men to the moon...? All party tricks in comparison to Dean Winchester.

Could he survive as a human again? What if he put himself in harm’s way and Dean could not protect him? What if his own mortal body was lost? To cancer, or in a car wreck? He had brought so much toil and travail upon Dean already... But which would hurt more: to risk loving Dean and losing him, or to lose him for all time?

Chuck’s voice cut through his reverie. “Castiel...?”

He pointed at Dean, his hand trembling.“Him.” Cas’ own eyes were watering. “I choose him.”

A deep, pained breath shuddered through Dean. He scrambled foot over foot to close the space between them. And before Cas could speak a single word, Dean cupped his face in both hands and kissed him.

It was gentler than Cas would have thought; so strong was the longing in Dean’s heart that he was half-expecting to be knocked over. It was striking only in the purity of its joy. Castiel found himself reciprocating: pushing back against Dean’s mouth, prying it open, meeting tongue to tongue in an unabashed display of need. Every movement, every touch, was holy.

When they Dean pulled away for air, Castiel had found that his hands had migrated to Dean’s waist. They rested on his hipbones comfortably. Dean’s hand had found the nape of Cas’ neck, stroking the soft, fine hairs there. Foreheads pressed together, they exchanged heavy breaths.

“I will age, Dean. I--”

“I don’t care.”

“I will have no celestial power. I can’t help you or heal you.”

“I don’t care,” he repeated, his voice thin and quaking. “Just as long as you never leave me again.” His lips brushed Cas’ softly. Chastely.

‘In front of God and everybody,’ Cas mused.

He glanced over his shoulder at Sam, whose mouth was parted in awe, but whose eyes were bright with gladness; whose soul was brimming with contentment. And at Chuck, who was smiling beatifically.

“I’ve known all along, Castiel,” he said wistfully. “I just needed to hear you say it.” He nodded at Dean, whose tears rolled hotly down his cheeks. “I think he did, too.”

Chuck raised a hand, and, with an air of finality, snapped his fingers. Castiel crumpled in Dean’s arms.

Dean struggled to support the sudden dead weight, helping Castiel onto his knees as their legs gave out. “Cas!?” He glared at Chuck with daggers in his eyes. “You son of a...”

Dean was set to rush Chuck when Castiel let out a sudden cry. A set of wings sprouted from Castiel’s back, tearing the trench coat to ribbons. They unfurled themselves as if they were living things, independent of the being beneath them.

Dean had expected Cas’ wings to be white, like an angel’s wings were ‘supposed’ to be. Instead, the wings that spread grandly away from him were raven black. Each must have been ten feet from end to end. Dean felt the cool of the tears on his cheek as they flapped, making the familiar whup-whuff sound he had heard a thousand times.

Castiel’s head head shot back violently enough to cause whiplash. Dean stumbled backward in fear and confusion--white light radiated from Cas’ eyes and mouth. A fresh set of tears burst forth, and from the depths of his soul came a howl of anguish: “CAS!”

A long column of light descended from the sky, as if reaching down to join Castiel’s own. His body began to drift off the ground, like a balloon pulling at its tether in a wind. He was otherwise motionless, his hands spread to his sides, his mouth still gaping--still emanating that white light.

(Dean would later describe the whole ordeal as ‘some real X-Files shit’. At that moment, he was too overwhelmed to think.)

Though it was blinding, Dean could not look away from the light. Cas’ wings shone now--not merely black, but swirling with color like oil slick, limned in deep jewel shades of sapphire, amethyst, and emerald. Then, almost as swiftly as they appeared, they began to fade; to become one with the light. To simply scatter in the updraft like a million dandelion seeds, until there was nothing left.

It was then that Cas started to glow.

Ice-blue tendrils of light could be seen winding through his arteries, making him luminescent beneath his clothes. Each fingertip was a beacon, each vein a long highway seen from the air. He was light, through and through.

It snaked through him, following the pulmonary paths and settling into Castiel’s chest--no, his heart--which beat visibly under his flesh. One beat, two beats, three beats before fading. Settling.

The light--the all-knowing, benevolent light--dimmed until it was little more than a street lamp. But the light set Castiel down gently on his feet, leaving him to teeter back into Dean’s arms.

Dean gathered him close, loose limbs and rumpled coat and all. It wasn’t until the fabric brushed his face that he realized how ugly and snottily he had cried; it stuck to his face as he buried it in Cas’ neck. Cas was no longer dead weight, but he was silent and still. The light was gone.

He wound an arm around Cas’ back, bracing him underneath his shoulders. Shifting the coat away from his Castiel’s chest, Dean placed a hand over the former angel’s heart, right where he had seen the glow. At first, there was nothing under his fingertips. He mashed his palm to the spot, hoping to feel something--anything.

There. Under his palm, he felt it. Weak, yes, but unmistakably there. Dean trembled in relief.

It grew palpably stronger under his touch.

Dean gathered Castiel’s shirt in a handful, pressing him closer, until Castiel’s head fell against his shoulder. And, in what was no small miracle, Dean felt the gentle fall of Castiel’s breath on his neck.

Castiel stumbled to gain footing, as if he had woken from a standing sleep.

“I got you, Cas.” Dean’s voice was sandpaper. “I got you.”

Castiel’s legs were his own again, and his arms found their strength once more. His hands curled around the length of Dean’s forearm. With his joints only more solid than gelatin, Castiel took a half-step back.

Castiel looked older, somehow, than he did just moments before. There were bags under his eyes, and his usual five-’o-clock-shadow had taken on a tinge of grey. But he was still real; still in Dean’s arms.

Cas could remember the first time he saw Dean’s face. Not his soul, but his true face--freckles, stubble, scars. There were crow’s feet now, and laugh lines. But Cas could still see into his soul, simply by looking deep into those green eyes.

“Hello, Dean.”

Dean smiled wanly, trying his best to not cry again. He held out his hands, pressing Castiel’s into his, interlocking their fingers together.

“Let’s go home.”

[grenade-maid]

Life is Strange Fic Recs - Read These Instead of Playing Before the Storm

ABSOLUTELY TOP TIER

The Girls Who Broke The World Imagine a sequel to Life is Strange if it was written by Raymond Chandler. Everything you wanted and much much more from the story, starring Chloe as a private eye trying to put her life back together and solve some of the lingering mysteries of Arcadia Bay. Answers and explores some of the juiciest plot threads that the writers didn’t care enough to execute on, in a real rollercoaster ride of a story. Read it right this second. http://archiveofourown.org/series/418537

I’m Trying Not to Let it Show (That I Don’t Want to Let it Go) I’m not entirely sure I have words to describe this one. While drugged, Max meets the cosmic ideal of Chloe. Heartbreakingly beautiful. http://archiveofourown.org/works/4813649

Eternal Return Half an exploration of the existential implications of time travel on the psyche, half a vision of the life Max and Chloe may have built together in the aftermath of the storm. One of the few works I would describe as ‘Epic’, the quality of its writing is compelling in a way beyond describing in this short space. http://archiveofourown.org/works/5512940/chapters/12730901

Postcards From Your Ghost After sacrificing Chloe, Max writes a postcard to her on the advice of her therapist. Surprisingly, she gets a response. The last line makes me cry every time. http://archiveofourown.org/works/5467724/chapters/12638369

Turn This Way Now Or Partial AU where Max has any kind of agency. She’s been rewinding the last few weeks over and over again to see all that she can see, do all that she can do. Explores the limits of what can be altered in the people around you, even with infinite knowledge and attempts. So grounded it’s practically buried in a shallow grave (but in a good way) archiveofourown.org/works/4598970/chapters/10479576

This is All Yours Chloe is happy to be alive and in love with Max. Happy little snapshots of their time together in an AU where the storm apparently didn’t come. Very cute, grounded, true to life. A lot of it deals with Chloe wanting to do the do but not really knowing when or how would be appropriate. Most of it is them making out, final chapter is basically all lovely awkward first-time sex.

ONESHOTS

* Let’s Love Now 'Cause Soon Enough We’ll Die Part 1 of a series which details the experiences of the copies of Max that were left behind every time she made a major time jump. This one covers the night of the Vortex Club party, right after Max jumps through Warren’s photo to warn Chloe not to go in. Existentially sad and a little scary, but thoughtful and affectionate. http://archiveofourown.org/works/6085371

Ideals are Peaceful, History is Violent Driving to Seattle and staying with Max’s parents after the storm, Max and Chloe reflect on their lives together so far. Lands with impressive weight. http://archiveofourown.org/works/6102553/chapters/13988383

Road to Home While Max travels without Chloe for the first time since they reunited, Chloe visits her mom back home to talk about how things have been going. http://archiveofourown.org/works/4828391

Shapeshifters Kate and Chloe talk for the first time about how they feel about both of them dating Max. http://archiveofourown.org/works/6042274

After the Storm, the Silence Max and Chloe drive away from the wreck of the Bay. I honestly don’t remember much of the content, but I do remember the writing being enormously impactful. http://archiveofourown.org/works/5933635

(Like) I Don’t Need to Think Hard Taylor is drunk and gay http://archiveofourown.org/works/5981722

Dream Blue Haze Chloe and Max pass the time on a rainy day http://archiveofourown.org/works/4176228

Conflict of Interest Max and Kate address the ways they feel like they don’t quite cut muster as partners to one another. Very sweet, relatable. http://archiveofourown.org/works/3757387

Falling Short Taylor and Victoria lean on one another in the wake of realizing what they’ve done to provoke Kate’s attempted suicide. http://archiveofourown.org/works/4914304

Confessions of Clocks Kate is going through some angsty turmoil as she considers her crush on Max. Max reveals her time-travel power to her, which doesn’t make things less complicated. http://archiveofourown.org/works/4672586/chapters/10663667

Honeypot Everyone in Max’s dorm is curious about why she’s been acting so weird. Victoria and Kate are pressed into seducing Chloe and Max to find out what’s up. http://archiveofourown.org/works/5947356

Artist’s Rendering Chloe and Max paint on each other http://archiveofourown.org/works/5806189

How Can I Protect You? A year after the ending, Chloe gets in a fistfight after someone is rude to her. Chloe worries about violence, and expresses a desire to protect Max after all she’s done for her, even if that isn’t always realistic. Sweet, but a little heavy. http://archiveofourown.org/works/5282258

White Casts and Dried Bones Immediately post Bae>Bay ending, Chloe and Max drive away while trying to process what just happened http://archiveofourown.org/works/5126270

The Problems Kisses Cause Kate has noticed Max checking her out, and finally asks her if she has a crush on her. In the course of this, reveals she’s crushing back. Neither know what to do with this, but they eventually kiss it out. http://archiveofourown.org/works/4285500

* After Shock Chloe hooks Kate up with a bowl and they talk about stress, then have a sloppy make out and bang. Not explicit, very grounded but not quite angsty. http://archiveofourown.org/works/4703618

* Everybody Needs a Fence to Lean on Chloe has insomnia, gets drunk, sneaks into Max’s dorm to sleep in her bed. Sweet, vulnerable. http://archiveofourown.org/works/3782632

SERIES

* Cake Ten years after the ending of the game, Max and Chloe are married, living in a small town in Ontario. Things between them are rocky, though, with money tight and their affection for one another fading. Only chapter 1 so far, but it looks like it’s going somewhere very interesting and well grounded in adult realities. http://archiveofourown.org/works/6096510/chapters/13974534

* Begin to Feel Chloe talks to Kate while she’s in the hospital, which sparks a growing mutual crush. Explores Kate wanting to do what she wants, damn what her parents might think, as well as some further insight into Chloe’s emotional landscape http://archiveofourown.org/works/4068130/chapters/9157366

Beyond Destiny Set post Bae>Bay ending, Chloe and Max drive to Seattle to stay with Max’s parents. Very sweet slow boil relationship/ slice of life fic http://archiveofourown.org/works/5121023/chapters/11781206

Holy Matrimony, Batman! Chloe and Max wake up in Vegas, discovering they’ve been wed. Max travels through the selfies she took through the night before to try and figure out what happened. http://archiveofourown.org/works/5576062/chapters/12852640

Calm after the Storm Post-ending AU where the storm never came. Sappy sweet relationship, emotions, and self-reflection fic http://archiveofourown.org/works/5112446/chapters/11761907

Time to Deal Kate helps Max cope after sacrificing Chloe. http://archiveofourown.org/works/5700595/chapters/13132300

Five Times Someone Hit on Kate Marsh What is says on the tin. Fluffy, funny little snapshots. http://archiveofourown.org/works/4995823/chapters/11477230

Sleepless Nights Neither Max nor Kate can sleep at all following the events of The Week. Eventually they find they can lean on one another, and help each other rest. http://archiveofourown.org/works/5989279/chapters/13762588

Shelter Post Bae>Bay ending, Chloe and Max are driving up to Seattle after the storm, and stop in a little motel. Max is filled with determination, Chloe has some doubt, both are full of confusing teenage affection for one another. Slow, thoughtful, very sweet but in a measured, grounded way. http://archiveofourown.org/works/5347055/chapters/12347123

* Life is Hard (And No-One Understands) 20 years after Bay>Bae ending, Victoria is the head of a gallery in Portland, and Max is a photographer who has become famous for reasons she hates. While Max is trying to get some downtime working at a coffee shop, they run into each other. Partially an exploration of where their lives would have gone in that amount of time, half an indulgent fluffy fic where they finally hook up after all those years. http://archiveofourown.org/works/5275565/chapters/12174383

We’ll Make it on the Run Post Bae>Bay ending, Chloe and Max have nowhere to go, so they just drive, and drive, and drive across the US. Angsty slow boil road trip and survival fic http://archiveofourown.org/works/5049520/chapters/11611663

AU

* Nightlife While driving home for winter break, Max’s car breaks down in some nowhere town. The only place open that she can take shelter is a porn shop. Very sweet, surprisingly not dirty. http://archiveofourown.org/works/4516242/chapters/10272558

Wandering Far Max’s powers manifested when she was very young, prompting the military to spirit her away to a research facility where she has been kept under constant scrutiny. At the age of 18, she escapes with the help of Nathan Prescott, and bums a ride with a blue-haired punk across the country away from danger. http://archiveofourown.org/works/5633005/chapters/12973666

The World is Not Enough Chloe is James Bond http://archiveofourown.org/works/5455145/chapters/12610847

Creep Max comes to Arcadia Bay looking for a friend that ran away from home. During her search, she meets the vocalist to a local punk singer http://archiveofourown.org/works/5142662/chapters/11836430

SMUT

The Kissing Game Victoria starts macking on Max, who, true to form, panics and goes along with it. http://archiveofourown.org/works/4409450/chapters/10014434

Soft Skin and Love Bites Chloe catches Max having a cheeky playaround with her downstairs during a sleepover. http://archiveofourown.org/works/4425560

All Talk A look at Victoria’s feelings of unfulfilled isolation, explored through her having a lot of sex with Chloe. Set before the game begins. http://archiveofourown.org/works/4509732/chapters/10256748

* My Saving Grace Kate is starting to wonder if she never should have come to Blackwell, but Max pulls her through every time. Eventually Max admits to having feelings for Kate, who is surprised to find that maybe she has some for Max, too. Pretty angsty, but well written and hot. http://archiveofourown.org/works/3972262

Once More With Feeling Two years post-game, set in Seattle. Victoria and Chloe cross paths a few times, clash, ultimately get to be friends and then start awkwardly crushing on each other. Cute, kinda funny, pretty hot. http://archiveofourown.org/works/4679285

Strange Love Chloe and Max do a lot of The Sex http://archiveofourown.org/works/5569477/chapters/12840151

Hymnals Chloe eats out Max in an old empty church http://archiveofourown.org/works/5288630

I Owe You Dinner Juliet and Dana talk about their relationship, bang http://archiveofourown.org/works/3276116/chapters/7145981

Eavesdrop Chloe eats out Max while somebody knocks on her dorm-room door http://archiveofourown.org/works/4549986

Drifting Spirits Max thinks about Chloe http://archiveofourown.org/works/3270350

Welcome Home Max wants to fuck her best friend, but doesn’t know how to bring it up. http://archiveofourown.org/works/5324435

Tear you Apart Chloe does some biting all up on Max, who ends up liking it http://archiveofourown.org/works/4802249

Je Garde de Vous Chloe and Max do it for the first time, and it’s awkward but very sweet and enjoyable http://archiveofourown.org/works/4642455

[27hands]

When I pretended.

Black coffee; spin it gentle, cue cream heaven algorithm, skinny dipping dollar store manicure, brewing tight curls, hubble in a cup. My little double shot whirl-pool, where's my double hot whirl-pool? I hate this, I want to die. Bossy with the world cuz I'm a bad bitch. Broke my heel, he stained my world, they stained my world, I stain peoples worlds everyday, what does this mean? I don't know. Does it matter? Always and forever, yeah, I'll add in beeper codes, it'll be cryptic and 90. Not 90's, or the 1990's, or Portland, or MC Hammer. I'll buy my neighborhood. I'll buy the houses and I'll buy the dogs and cats. Army of dogs and cats complete with barracks and oppressed natives. Heed my words, crumbs of potato chips at the bottom of the bag, the sticky in the cup holder of the Corolla, hair creatures plugging up my brain. I want warm apple pie and french vanilla ice cream. I want vanilla pie and warm apple cream. "I want nothing" is a zero. To "want" is something. I changed my mind. Warm Vanilla cream, slowly focusing eyes, Tibetan prose sublimation event; words transcend to light. $67.36 for a plastic bag, the morning after pill, and a coke. He bought me a scratch off to cheer a girl up. Black coffee, a girls only friend. Smoke it like you're french god damn, "god damn" he said. Sleep me away Romeo. Buy me a small dog and pay my car insurance. You're ok, you're kind of old, kind of Indian, and I'm terrified of what might lie behind the thickness of your beard. You buy me drinks honey... I love you. What does Tabitha want to be when she grows up? I'm a bank robber. Your house is burning. The house, it's on fire, there's still time, go, go! Bubble baths, fresh Clementines, I smell of fire, the radio is personal and the antenna speaks italian. It feels like 22 years of falling asleep. Nightmares. Electric ab stimulators for fat hearts and big eyes. Through squinted eyes, television three after midnight. Silk slip. Glass of white, free box, basic. Magic lamp, three wishes, cute drunk boy, bag of Andy Capp's hot fries, and something numb, a housewife special, I'll never be, so it's obvious what I need. "No Ammonia." in bad english say's Penelope; Revlon. "I'll put you to bed early!" my response to him saying that he's been going to bed progressively earlier since we started dating. It's only been two months, I think. Do not disturb, I am writing! Do not disturb the bee hive, I am the soul eater. Killer Queen Bee. "Plato, just some old white guy." "Well he's dead now." "Ding dong the bitch is dead.". Hmm, I sometimes wonder...Is the gas station clerk an alien, like a real alien, with purple skin. Tiny alien inside giant Arabic model mechanical human giving me change for cigarettes. Or is it possible that Oprah Winfrey is over six hundred years old? Why does the thought of washing other peoples hands bring me closer to my soul? Tiger print booty shorts and Margaritas in plastic cups! I sculpt Alabaster stone with my eyes. Get what you want before somebody else eats it all up. Jelly donuts haunting me. My fingers smell like cigarettes. I woke up mean and aiming a hand gun at the piano. HE woke up, taunted the cats, something about the yawning claw cat club, stole a book on Tibet from my roommate, rambled about how he needed to "escape" for coffee and sustenance, I would have struck him dead if it wasn't for his dashing good looks. I pointed my gun at his piano playing while he gathered free drugs on the porch and danced around like an asshole. Floating raft of kerosene and red pumps. Flaming arrow by Chanel plucked from Paris. Rose petals are contagious. It's no coincidence that the dark chocolate's, like the dark arts, across the aisle from lipstick and glitter nail polish. I reek of fire. I reek of fire. I reek of fire. I wish I had a time machine so I could go back and see that one movie for the first time in that one theatre that one time when I was somewhere around the age of you know... eleven. I need a big bow on my head that reads "NO". Maybe I can get Herpes and join one of those dating sites where everyone has Herpes. Live in a circus tent with a clown named Bongo sipping Mai thais under the flaming hoop, slap a tiger in the face, let'em keep his clown shoes on when we... start a nice little Herpa-A-Derp Partridge family. Tiffany lamps, Empty one-gallon gas cans, Full one-gallon ice cream cans, handful of stamps, rested writing hand, corded telephones stretching from room to room. The Operator is a spider. You'll trip your sister with the web you weave. Woopie, Wazooooo, I'm goin' to Vegas. Bank robber turned show girl, tonights news at eight. It's 4:14 AM the sun won't come up today. If dissatisfaction manifested physically, it would fill the air with grey and blinding ambient poison. If I had the power to manifest my emotions physically be warned for ye shall suffer one thousand years of blood shed and plague. I am Sludge, I have no remorse. A kitten today at Willard and Reynolds pet emporium lost 3 of it's 9 lives. Scientists believe that the clock is actually an ancient life form in a state of willful hibernation. If Sandra believes that I'll actually let her crash on my couch for "a little bit until I get my head straight"... "Mmmm yesss can I help you?" Black leather and red lanolin. Dead Cow, dead whale, inspirational. Dead bitch, white bitch, move bitch I'm next! I want this, I want that, I want THAT now! Trash, leave. Brief pause... I'm a dreamy whimsical sober and a Terminator II level drunk. Let's rock. Patience otherwise known as long suffering. I'm the girl in the corner playing madlib in my head with the cable TV trying to blend in. Surrounded by numb & weakened moths worshipping the dim & easy to reach lights. Getting weirder by the second. Can I come to your party and not have to talk? I'll smoke your cigarettes. Purple lightning Jeggings and Winnie the Pooh socks from the Party store bring happiness. Gas station chicken tenders and apple pies while the water soaks in. My elegant black gloves have never touched a steering wheel nor dare they dream of such sorted affair! Dare they dream! I dare them to dream. See where they'll end up? With the rats. Gold dipped Cheetos. Never-ending Po' boy. World wide oceanic light rail. Elevator to heaven for glass floor tours of earth. Oh I love my ugly boys. Two woman stand gossiping in the coffee room of Webber Electronics. One woman notices an itch near her wedding ring. Suddenly the woman, the room, the building, the streets and the piss, the hotdog hot air rising up from the sewers, the monarch butterfly in the dogs mouth, the America's funniest home videos over broccoli & cheese with the pork chops and the family they belong to, Poof. Cotton Candy. Big pink plumes firing like geysers from apocalyptic sink holes. Sky turns blood pink. Cotton candy fungus swallowing people alive. Everybody dead. I mean, nobodies really dead but these people looked really dead. Like really really really dead. Like "Fuck I'm dead." dead. I am a pit-bull terrier and you're fucking with the ultimate.  

[gongorawork]

Endings, in search of happy endings

Endings 

In search of Happy Endings

By Anthony Gongora

How do we find the end?

More specifically the end of systemic dysfunctions?

Dysfunctions, which manifest in every form of oppression. 

When we look at racism, poverty, gender inequality, LGBTQ discrimination, corporate greed, political corruption, cradle to prison pipeline, global warming, white supremacy, hunger, the decimation of the rain forest, addiction, false information, testing regimens in early education, which only measures the excellence of people who are good test-takers, or the huge debt incurred pursuing higher education, religious dogma, and war we can measure oppression. 

Each of the above systemic forms of oppression was started by men which means that they can all be ended. 

But how?

How do we end societal structures that no longer serve humanity in terms of becoming our best possible example of what human life can be?

How do we find and create endings?

Looking at life as an example for endings there is a clear cycle of - birth to death. Every single living entity on this earth, irrelevant of the span-of-time, lives then dies. And so too, everything that humans make, we can unmake. Nothing is permanent. Nothing.

If something appears as fixed and unalterable, question it, and remember that a human-made the illusion of its permanence, which thankfully can be undone.

A symptom of systemic dysfunction is choosing consciously or unconsciously to forget.

For myself, forgetting comes from sheer exhaustion. I’m guessing that this could be true for others too. 

Being active and present to fight the good fight requires a lot of energy, which after working 60 - 80 hours a week is hard to come by. 

By the way, nobody that I know works the mythical 40 hours a week. 

American culture has reduced the human experience to work, eat, sleep, and consume. 

We are being worked to death physically and psychologically. 

This is not accidental.

Being forced to stay in a nearly constant state of mental and physical fatigue builds a society that is numb. A passive society makes it possible for the people in power to keep power. 

The gatekeepers - the ultra-rich, create and cultivate a culture that demands that people work constantly.

The few people at the top live for life. While everybody else works for life.

I'd like to share my life as a worker as an example. As an Artist/Educator and someone who was raised in poverty and within the welfare system, I have always lived in what I have labeled as “survival mode,” which means living from paycheck to paycheck with nothing extra. No savings and no emergency funds or family monies or inheritance. I have, from the age of 10 years old, always had multiple jobs at once. 

As a child, I sorted returned soda bottles at the convenience store and I also worked on an Ice cream truck. I was paid with products, not money. When I shared my candy rewards with my mom, she said, “next time get milk or bread”. I did. 

As an adult with a terminal degree, and as a full-time professor, to make ends meet, I had to supplement my income teaching adjunct at another university. I worked constantly. Though I have done everything prescribed by our society to get ahead, and I have done it well, I still have not achieved financial security. At 54, I still live hand to mouth in survival mode. 

Something is broken and it is not me.

The myth that if you work really hard you will get ahead is not true. 

The myth is kept alive because if the workers don’t go to work the ultra-rich can’t stay rich.

Myths that cause dysfunction need to end.  

Do you ever wonder why the accumulation of wealth is the dominant measure of “success” and why are we all encourage to pursue that singular end? 

My thinking goes like this, if we make money, a lot or a little, we tend to spend what we have to buy the newest object, which we believe will make our lives better. To reinforce this nearly every surface that we glance is selling us something. Through savvy marketing - pretty pictures, alluring words, and now algorithms that convince us that we have to have the object of our affection, we spend our money.

We spend our hard-earned cash to get the things that we don’t necessarily need. 

Why?

Because we have been manipulated. 

In the end, we are left cash-poor all the while making the rich richer - it is that simple.

In our minds, the thought of making more and more money is a constant tick. 

Do you ever wonder who placed that tick in your mind? 

The kooky part is that we make the money and then we give it right back. We temporarily feel successful and fulfilled because we own the object. However, now that our cash is gone we have to do more work to get more money to buy things that we don’t necessarily need. 

Truth be told at the end of the day, having been overworked, and underpaid most are too exhausted to deeply question anything. 

And if we find ourselves questioning our present state of being we quickly defend our status, answering ourselves back with, “I’m doing fine, I have a roof over my head and food on my table.”

FYI, African slaves had the same provided by their enslavers. I’m just saying. 

Advertisers are paid a lot of money to get us to spend our cash and their work works.

Is that power?

What is power?

Artist, Lauren Hill killed it when she penned the lyrics “If you can get the money you can get the power.” Truth. But, who has the power, truthfully, our politicians and government leader?

No. It is the ultra-rich who uses extreme wealth to influence and manipulate politicians to move and act in ways that favor their potential to accumulation more wealth. 

Excessive wealth is Power.

Ultra Rich’s point of access to power is in the wallets and purses of our politicians and government leaders. Why else do you think the super-rich give huge sums of money to specific politicians as they run for office. 

Believe you me it’s not out of the generosity of their hearts. It is to be able to pull the strings of their puppets and to wield their power. Otherwise, they’d give equally to each party.

This practice of giving is called being a donor, which seems to make it okay. 

It is not.

Whenever an ultra-rich person gives a donation to a politician in order to tip the scales in their favor, specifically to accumulate more wealth, corruption is happening. 

Why does and should this matter to every American?

Because, if the ultra-rich are manipulating our elected officials to represent their causes then nobody is there to represent the rest of us.

I’d like this to end. 

I’d like the corruption of our politicians to end.

I want my elected officials to represent all Americans not just the Ultra-Rich. 

Do you ever wonder why the collective cultural and possible global mantra, for all, starting from childhood is, “get a job?” 

Remember, as a child, being asked over and over again, “What are you going to be when you grow up?”

Are you making the connections? 

If not, here is how it goes. From day one we are being programmed to be workers. 

Look at the trajectory of life that we all prescribe to, first-day care, then preschool, elementary school, high school, then pay a lot of money to learn a trade or go to college - start your adult life in major debt. Get a job. Make money. Spend everything to fulfill your dreams (does this ever happen?). Teach your children to do the same. Die. The End. 

All of the above my friends is systemic cooperate greed realized through

our bodies, our labor, our spending/consuming. We are the fuel that keeps corporate greed running.

Whether we intend to be or not we are complicit. What makes us complicit is that we do not collectively make it end.

Cooperate greed is a byproduct of Capitalism, which we know is the pursuit of constant growth, which we know is an impossible reality to continue to strive towards. 

And why would we want to? 

What “growth” means - really means is the accumulation of more wealth for the already ultra-rich. 

You can not have a constant growth of anything forever especially when all of life is contained on one planet and that planet is not limitless in its resources. There is x amount of atmosphere, x amount of landmasses, and x amount of sea. There are fluctuations but for the most part, what we have is what we got.

We have to learn to see the earth not as limitless in its potential to serve our desire for more-more-more. But rather as a miraculous grouping of ecological systems that balance off of one another. The balancing mechanisms may not be invisible to our eyes but they are there non the less. When we level mountaintops for coal, or clear-cut forests, or pollute the seas with plastic, or cause catastrophic oil leaks - we the humane race are tipping the balance.  

COVID-19 is a perfect example, somehow, somewhere the balance tipped and something stable became unstable. More than likely the destabilization was caused by man.

If we do not change our mindless and greedy treatment of this planet it is not the planet that will suffer it will be us. The Earth does not need humans to survive. Humans need the Earth to survive. If we continue to unconsciously pollute and deplete the earth's natural resources we will end. The earth will still be here but we will not.

Governments are, in part, formed to help manage the complexities of life here on Earth. Our current government's miss-management of COVID-19 is the perfect example and evidence of a government that is not doing its job. 

In a time when our elected government leaders should be focused on protecting all life, they instead choose to keep the cash flowing to the rich.

This is how it's going down:

First, the economy crashed. And, in only three months. Due to shelter in place orders from the top. The ultra-rich stopped making their vast amounts of money. For them, that was not acceptable. The economy had to be reopened. Our top government leaders, specifically the one at the tip-top, who also happens to be one of the ultra-rich, then passed the buck, laying the responsibility and discission making upon local governments. 

Mind You, all of this is being done while trying to navigate the deep and murky waters of an unprecedented GLOBAL Pandemic. 

local governments are now tasked with the dilemma of prioritizing life or money. And it is not money for me and you. It is money for the ultra-rich. Workers are putting their life at risk, but it is ok according to our current leaders because our life is less important than their continued accumulation of wealth. The wealth that they use to hold power. If you are not in the 1% club your life is disposable. This is where our present-day democracy has arrived - Money versus Life. 

All of which, by the way, is a horrific loop back to our beginnings. Starting with the genocide of America's First People and then the enslavement of Africans. So in a tragic way we are back to where we started. The sacrifice of life for the profit of the white man.

I don’t know about you but I would like to END this version of reality.

Remember as a child questioning everything? It is from that state of mind that a new form of society can be born. There are other ways of being and it is up to us to create them.

Pause here and think about this - a Pandemic stoped a huge portion of the “working” world. People were able to step off the hamster wheel of life. Many had the time and space to relax. We could do this because we were not being worked to death. Then within that same time frame, a single action, the brutal murder of George Floyd, by a police officer - ignited a collective global reaction. 

The Black Lives Matter movement awoke the globe. Let this sink in, because of the pandemic, most people were out of work and because of this, we all had the internal space and time to process and question the status quo. 

We can at any time and in any place begin to compose endings. And, orchestrate new beginnings. We do this by constantly questioning and adjusting and updating our understanding of reality. Present-day reality is not fixed. Nothing is permanent.

Just think, inside the brains of some amazing beautiful humans is the design for change. Change that supports all life - all life meaning the planet and its oceans, nature, wildlife, and humans alike. 

Don’t be fooled by those that say change takes time. Change can happen instantly. Think of 911 and Hiroshima. Change does not have to take hundreds of years to fulfill itself. Change can happen instantly. Sadly, these two examples are violent ones. However, on the other end of the spectrum, there is non-violence. Change through non-violence can happen quickly too. 

Systemic Racism, Capitalism, corporate greed, and all the above-mentioned inequalities, which perpetuate oppression can be changed for the betterment of all of humanity and the planet. 

How?

By holding our elected officials accountable. 

By being sure that democracy is working for all people, not just the minority - the ultra-rich.

As a gentle reminder to all, Democracy is defined as government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system. 

“Supreme power is vested in the people,” say that again to your self ten-time and see if it feels like the democracy that you are living in now or ever.

This is why it is so very important to be informed and to vote. When you vote you are exercising your supreme power. 

Democracy only works when every citizen participates.

Another reason why our democracy is challenged is that we have not stood in the truth of our inception and then worked rigorously to make right the wrongs that we have done, we remain trapped within a 240 - something-year-old self-deception loop. Stuck repeating ourselves over and over and over again. Which we will continue to do until we make our wrongs right, which is a holistic way to end things that need to end. 

As we think about endings can we please add war to the list of things that desperately need to end.

The United States of America was formed out of a War and we have perpetuated war ever since. We claim to be making peace but war can never bring about peace. Never not ever. Because war is peace’s opposite and the two exist as a polarity. It’s like asking night and day to flip flop. They can’t. 

As long as we perpetuate the illusions that war makes peace, reality can not be altered. If we want to live on this planet in harmony as a peaceful nation we have to discover new ways to solve war-like issues without going to war.  

Come on people, honestly, at this stage of the game why is anybody still at war. Nobody wins everybody loses. 

Whose bodies are sacrificed in war? 

I’ll give you a hint it is not the rich.

Believe it or not our brains hold alternative ways to solve global crises. 

How about using our minds to solve war generating problems rather than spending billions of dollars to perpetuate senseless death and the illusion of being peacemakers. 

Food for thought - our government spends billions of dollars teaching people in our military to kill. 

Funny. But not, we charge college students hundreds of thousands of dollars to learn a profession that serves the betterment of humanity. 

If you want to be a medical doctor (save lives) it cost about three hundred thousand dollars.

Let this sink in. Really sink in.

Human life should not be disposable especially when it comes to financing someones’ helicopter or yacht purchase, their fourth home, tenth car. Do you get it? We stay at war because it is a billion-dollar industry that lines the pockets of the ultra-rich.

How do we end such a long split tong tale?

By being inquisitive again. Re-Awaken your child-like mind and ask why. And then ask why again until some depth of understanding is ignited and your curiosity guides you to new and different realizations. The place where your knowledge exists within your being derived from a place of deep contemplation and consideration, which is the opposite of being told what to believe. The full comprehension of any given idea not only expands your mind it opens your heart. And nobody can do this for you. We are each one of us responsible for expanding and opening our minds. 

While we are at it can we stop teaching our children a one-sided history? The history we presently teach needs to be updated. History needs to be holistic and inclusive, including the ugly shameful parts. We can only repair what we know. It’s the bad parts that keep us stuck and spinning. Repeating. 

In the vacuum caused by a one-sided history, nonsensical conspiracy theories rise to fill in the void. 

Why do Conspiracy theories easily replace reality or trump history? 

Because following and attaching to conspiracy theories entertain. One gets to weave their own possible outcomes, which is far more fun then dealing with a past wrought with anguish and suffering.

No work is required to be entertained. To be entertained is to have something done too and for you, one has to simply receive entertainment.

To untangle and make transparent a history that has erased the history of others who coexist within that same history is hard work. And, with so much time stretched out between the tale

telling, forgetting feels easier than remembering. One might hear their internal voice say “I’m not responsible for what others did so lone ago.” 

When one attaches their thoughts to the phrase, “I’m not responsible…,” a profound intellectual disconnect occurs. The potential of participating in making what is wrong - right, ends. By disassociating one takes the passenger seat on a motorcycle side-car zipping along the stream of interconnectedness. It is irrelevant if one chooses to tag along, rather than jump in the mud, because life is going to do what life does, with or without us.  

All of life - everything on this planet is connected. We do not choose to participate in interconnectedness - or not. The planet Earth, by its nature, connects every element of existence. It is that simple. Interconnectedness happens with or without our participation. 

Remember nothing is fixed or permanent all of like is in flux.

COVID 19 and The Black Lives Matter movement might be the forces needed to realize the beginning of the end of oppression. And if not, at the very least, we are witnessing, participating, and hopefully learning what creating endings looks like. 

Inevitably. Everything on this earth man-made or otherwise does eventually end.

Let’s make endings by our design and not leave it up to chance.

[networkingdefinition]

Christmas Quotes

Official Website: Christmas Quotes

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• A Christmas gambol oft could cheer The poor man’s heart through half the year. – Walter Scott • A good conscience is a continual Christmas. – Benjamin Franklin • A little smile, a word of cheer, A bit of love from someone near, A little gift from one held dear, Best wishes for the coming year. These make a merry christmas! – John Greenleaf Whittier • A lovely thing about Christmas is that it’s compulsory, like a thunderstorm, and we all go through it together. – Garrison Keillor • A merry Christmas to everybody! A happy New Year to all the world! – Charles Dickens • A song was heard at Christmas To wake the midnight sky: A saviour’s birth, and peace on earth, And praise to God on high. The angels sang at Christmas With all the hosts above, And still we sing the newborn King His glory and his love. – Timothy Dudley-Smith • A very Merry Christmas And a happy New Year Let’s hope it’s a good one Without any fear. – John Lennon • And it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One! – Charles Dickens • And So This Is Christmas; And What Have We Done? Another Year Over; A New One Just Begun; And So Happy Christmas; I Hope You Have Fun; The Near And The Dear Ones; The Old And The Young. – John Lennon • And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled ’till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more. – Dr. Seuss • And when we give each other Christmas gifts in His name, let us remember that He has given us the sun and the moon and the stars, and the earth with its forests and mountains and oceans–and all that lives and move upon them. He has given us all green things and everything that blossoms and bears fruit and all that we quarrel about and all that we have misused–and to save us from our foolishness, from all our sins, He came down to earth and gave us Himself. – Sigrid Undset • Are you willing to forget what you have done for other people, and to remember what other people have done for you … to remember the weakness and loneliness of people who are growing old … Are you willing to believe that love is the strongest ting in the world … stronger than hate, stronger than evil, stronger than death… Then you can keep Christmas! But you can never keep it alone. – Henry Van Dyke • Aren’t we forgeting the true meaning of Christmas? You know, the birth of Santa. – Matt Groening • At Christmas A man is at his finest towards the finish of the year; He is almost what he should be when the Christmas season’s here; Then he’s thinking more of others than he’s thought the months before, And the laughter of his children is a joy worth toiling for. He is less a selfish creature than at any other time; When the Christmas spirit rules him he comes close to the sublime. – Edgar Guest • At Christmas I no more desire a rose Than wish a snow in May’s new-fangled mirth; But like of each thing that in season grows. – William Shakespeare • At Christmas play and make good cheer, for Christmas comes but once a year. – Thomas Tusser • At Christmas, I no more desire a rose. – William Shakespeare

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'Christmas', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '68', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_christmas').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_christmas img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); ); • Be merry all, be merry all, With holly dress the festive hall; Prepare the song, the feast, the ball, To welcome merry Christmas. – William Spencer • Best of all, Christmas means a spirit of love, a time when the love of God and the love of our fellow men should prevail over all hatred and bitterness, a time when our thoughts and deeds and the spirit of our lives manifest the presence of God. – George McDougall • Bless us Lord, this Christmas, with quietness of mind; Teach us to be patient and always to be kind. – Helen Steiner Rice • Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love. It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air. – William Thomas Ellis • Bloody Christmas, here again, let us raise a loving cup, peace on earth, goodwill to men, and make them do the washing up. – Wendy Cope • But I am sure that I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round…as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely. – Charles Dickens

[clickbank-storefront-bestselling] • Call a truce, then, to our labors – let us feast with friends and neighbors, and be merry as the custom of our caste; for if ”faint and forced the laughter,” and if sadness follow after, we are richer by one mocking Christmas past. – Rudyard Kipling • Christmas began in the heart of God. It is complete only when it reaches the heart of man.Why wait for a call when you have a command? – Robert Hughes • Christmas begins about the first of December with an office party and ends when you finally realize what you spent, around April fifteenth of the next year. – P. J. O’Rourke • Christmas can be celebrated in the school room with pine trees, tinsel and reindeers, but there must be no mention of the man whose birthday is being celebrated. One wonders how a teacher would answer if a student asked why it was called Christmas. – Ronald Reagan • Christmas day is a day of joy and charity. May God make you very rich in both. – Phillips Brooks • Christmas Eve was a night of song that wrapped itself about you like a shawl. But it warmed more than your body. It warmed your heart…filled it, too, with melody that would last forever. – Bess Streeter Aldrich • Christmas gift suggestions: To your enemy, forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. – Oren Arnold • Christmas gives us the opportunity to pause and reflect on the important things around us – a time when we can look back on the year that has passed and prepare for the year ahead. – David Cameron • Christmas hath a beauty … lovelier than the world can show. – Christina Rossetti • Christmas is … a time to mark our progress through this earthly journey. Every December we can look back and marvel at the designs of God and realize how very little we are in control of the events that shaped the past year. Then, with hearts full, look to the celebration of that silent, holy night, and all its certainty. Because of Christmas, this we know: Christ was born for us. He is love, and the plans he has for us always surpass those of our own. – Karen Kingsbury • Christmas is a bridge. We need bridges as the river of time flows past. Today’s Christmas should mean creating happy hours for tomorrow and reliving those of yesterday. – Gladys Taber • Christmas is a day of meaning and traditions, a special day spent in the warm circle of family and friends.” ~ (1925- ), English political leader. – Margaret Thatcher • Christmas is a necessity. There has to be at least one day of the year to remind us that we’re here for something else besides ourselves. – Eric Sevareid • Christmas is a season for kindling the fire for hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart. – Washington Irving • Christmas is a season not only of rejoicing but of reflection. – Winston Churchill • Christmas is a time in which, of all times in the year, the memory of every remediable sorrow, wrong, and trouble in the world around us, should be active with us, not less than our own experiences, for all good. – Charles Dickens • Christmas is a time when everybody wants his past forgotten and his present remembered. – Phyllis Diller • Christmas is based on an exchange of gifts, the gift of God to man – His unspeakable gift of His Son, and the gift of man to God – when we present our bodies a living sacrifice. – Vance Havner • Christmas is built upon a beautiful and intentional paradox; that the birth of the homeless should be celebrated in every home. – Gilbert K. Chesterton • Christmas is doing a little something extra for someone. – Charles M. Schulz • Christmas is for children. But it is for grownups too. Even if it is a headache, a chore, and nightmare, it is a period of necessary defrosting of chill and hide bound hearts. – Lenora Mattingly Weber • Christmas is God lighting a candle; and you don’t light a candle in a room that’s already full of sunlight. You light a candle in a room that’s so murky that the candle, when lit, reveals just how bad things really are. – N. T. Wright • Christmas is more than a time of music, merriment and mirth; it is a season of meditation, mangers and miracles. Christmas is more than a time of carols, cards and candy; it is a season of dedication and decision. – William Arthur Ward • Christmas is most truly Christmas when we celebrate it by giving the light of love to those who need it most. – Ruth Carter Stapleton • Christmas is not a date. It is a state of mind. – Mary Ellen Chase • Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas. – Calvin Coolidge • Christmas is not a time or a season but a state of mind. – Calvin Coolidge • Christmas is not in tinsel and lights and outward show. The secret lies in an inner glow. It’s lighting a fire inside the heart. Good will and joy a vital part. It’s higher thought and a greater plan. It’s glorious dream in the soul of man. – Wilferd Peterson • Christmas is not just a day, an event to be observed and speedily forgotten. It is a spirit which should permeate every part of our lives. – William Parks • Christmas is sights, especially the sights of Christmas reflected in the eyes of a child. – William Saroyan • Christmas is taken very seriously in this household. I believe in Father Christmas and there’s no way I’d do anything to undermine that belief. – Carol Ann Duffy • Christmas is telling you that you could never get to heaven on your own. God had to come to you. – Timothy Keller • Christmas is the day that holds all time together. – Alexander Smith • Christmas is the season of joy, of holiday greetings exchanged, of gift-giving,and of families united. – Norman Vincent Peale • Christmas is the season when people run out of money before they run out of friends. – Larry Wilde • Christmas is the time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it. Deficits are when adults tell government what they want and their kids pay for it. – Richard Lamm • Christmas isn’t a season. It’s a feeling.- Edna Ferber • Christmas my child, is love in action…When you love someone, you give to them, as God gives to us. The greatest gift He ever gave was the Person of His Son, sent to us in human form so that we might know what God the Father is really like! Every time we love, every time we give, it’s Christmas. – Dale Evans • Christmas reminds us we are not alone. We are not unrelated atoms, jouncing and ricocheting amid aliens, but are a part of something, which holds and sustains us. As we struggle with shopping lists and invitations, compounded by December’s bad weather, it is good to be reminded that there are people in our lives who are worth this aggravation, and people to whom we are worth the same. Christmas shows us the ties that bind us together, threads of love and caring, woven in the simplest and strongest way within the family. – Donald E. Westlake • Christmas to a child is the first terrible proof that to travel hopefully is better than to arrive. – Stephen Fry • Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful. – Norman Vincent Peale • Christmas will always be as long as we stand heart to heart and hand in hand. – Dr. Seuss • Christmas works like glue, it keeps us all sticking together. – Rosie Thomas • Christmas, my child, is love in action. Every time we love, every time we give, it’s Christmas. – Dale Evans • Christmas… is not an external event at all, but a piece of one’s home that one carries in one’s heart. – Freya Stark • Christmas: the Son of God expressing the love of God to save us from the wrath of God so we could enjoy the presence of God. – John Piper • Did you ever notice that life seems to follow certain patterns? Like I noticed that every year around this time, I hear Christmas music. – Tom Sims • Don’t let the past steal your present. This is the message of Christmas: We are never alone. – Taylor Caldwell • England was merry England, when Old Christmas brought his sports again. ‘Twas Christmas broach’d the mightiest ale; ‘Twas Christmas told the merriest tale; A Christmas gambol oft could cheer The poor man’s heart through half the year. – Walter Scott • For centuries men have kept an appointment with Christmas. Christmas means fellowship, feasting, giving and receiving, a time of good cheer, home. – William Jewett Tucker • For it is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child Himself. – Charles Dickens • For many of us, sadly, the spirit of Christmas is “hurry”. And yet, eventually, the hour comes when the rushing ends and the race against the calendar mercifully comes to a close. It is only now perhaps that we truly recognize the spirit of Christmas. (…) With all its temporal confusion, it may just help us to see that by contrast, Christmas itself is eternal. – Burton Hill • Freshly cut Christmas trees smelling of stars and snow and pine resin – inhale deeply and fill your soul with wintry night. – John J. Geddes • From a commercial point of view, if Christmas did not exist it would be necessary to invent it. – Katharine Whitehorn • Gifts of time and love are surely the basic ingredients of a truly merry Christmas. – Peg Bracken • Happy Day After Christmas, Merry Rest of the Year, even when Christmas is over, The Light of the World is Still Here! – Matthew West • Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childhood days, recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth, and transport the traveler back to his own fireside and quiet home! – Charles Dickens • Have you any old grudges you would like to pay, Any wrongs laid up from a bygone day? -Gather them now and lay them away When Christmas comes. Hard thoughts are heavy to carry, my friend, And life is short from beginning to end; Be kind to yourself, leave nothing to mend When Christmas comes. – William Haines Lytle • Heap on more wood! – the wind is chill; But let it whistle as it will, We’ll keep our Christmas merry still. – Walter Scott • I am not alone at all, I thought. I was never alone at all. And that, of course, is the message of Christmas. We are never alone. Not when the night is darkest, the wind coldest, the world seemingly most indifferent. For this is still the time God chooses. – Taylor Caldwell • I bought my brother some gift-wrap for Christmas. I took it to the gift wrap department and told them to wrap it, but in a different print so he would know when to stop unwrapping. – Steven Wright • I can understand people simply fleeing the mountainous effort Christmas has become… but there are always a few saving graces and finally they make up for all the bother and distress. – May Sarton • I do hope your Christmas has had a little touch of Eternity in among the rush and pitter patter and all. It always seems such a mixing of this world and the next – but that after all is the idea! – Evelyn Underhill • I do like Christmas on the whole…. In its clumsy way, it does approach Peace and Goodwill. But it is clumsier every year. – E. M. Forster • I don’t think Christmas is necessarily about things. It’s about being good to one another, it’s about the Christian ethic, it’s about kindness. – Carrie Fisher • I grew up with a Christmas tree, I’m going to stay with a Christmas tree. – Thomas Menino • I have always thought of Christmas time… as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time. – Charles Dickens • I hear that in many places something has happened to Christmas; that it is changing from a time of merriment and carefree gaiety to a holiday which is filled with tedium; that many people dread the day and the obligation to give Christmas presents is a nightmare to weary, bored souls; that the children of enlightened parents no longer believe in Santa Claus; that all in all, the effort to be happy and have pleasure makes many honest hearts grow dark with despair instead of beaming with good will and cheerfulness. – Julia Peterkin • I heard the bells on Christmas Day Their old, familiar carols play, And wild and sweet The words repeat Of peace on earth, good-will to men! – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow • I love the Christmas-tide, and yet, I notice this, each year I live; I always like the gifts I get, But how I love the gifts I give! – Carolyn Wells • I once bought my kids a set of batteries for Christmas with a note on it saying, toys not included. – Bernard Manning • I sometimes think we expect too much of Christmas Day. We try to crowd into it the long arrears of kindliness and humanity of the whole year. As for me, I like to take my Christmas a little at a time, all through the year. – Ray Stannard Baker • I think commercialism helps Christmas and I think that the more capitalism we can inject into the Christmas holiday the more spiritual I feel about it – Craig Ferguson • I truly believe that if we keep telling the Christmas story, singing the Christmas songs, and living the Christmas spirit, we can bring joy and happiness and peace to this world. – Norman Vincent Peale • I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. – Charles Dickens • I wrapped my Christmas presents early this year, but I used the wrong paper. See, the paper I used said ‘Happy Birthday’ on it. I didn’t want to waste it so I just wrote ‘Jesus’ on it. – Demetri Martin • If you desire to find the true spirit of Christmas and partake of the sweetness of it, let me make this suggestion to you. During the hurry of the festive occasion of this Christmas season, find time to turn your heart to God. Perhaps in the quiet hours, and in a quiet place, and on your knees-alone or with loved ones-give thanks for the good things that have come to you, and ask that His Spirit might dwell in you as you earnestly strive to serve Him and keep His commandments. He will take you by the hand and His promises will be kept. – Howard W. Hunter • I’m dreaming of a white Christmas With every Christmas card I write May your days be merry and bright And may all your Christmases be white. – Irving Berlin • I’m dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the ones I used to know. – Irving Berlin • I’m dreaming of a white Christmas, Just like the ones I used to know, Where the tree tops glisten And children listen To hear sleigh bells in the snow. – Irving Berlin • In the old days, it was not called the Holiday Season; the Christians called it “Christmas” and went to church; the Jews called it “Hanukka” and went to synagogue; the atheists went to parties and drank. People passing each other on the street would say “Merry Christmas!” or “Happy Hanukka!” or (to the atheists) “Look out for the wall!” – Dave Barry • It is Christmas every time you let God love others through you. – Mother Teresa • It is Christmas every time you let God love others through you…yes, it is Christmas every time you smile at your brother and offer him your hand. – Mother Teresa • It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air. – William Thomas Ellis • It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas; Soon the bells will start, And the thing that will make them ring Is the carol that you sing Right within your heart. – Meredith Willson • Its Christmas Eve! Its the one night of the year when we all act a little nicer, we smile a little easier, we cheer a little more. For a couple of hours out of the whole year, we are the people that we always hoped we would be. – Bill Murray • It’s true, Christmas can feel like a lot of work, particularly for mothers. But when you look back on all the Christmases in your life, you’ll find you’ve created family traditions and lasting memories. Those memories, good and bad, are really what help to keep a family together over the long haul. – Caroline Kennedy • Let the children have their night of fun and laughter, let the gifts of Father Christmas delight their play. Let us grown-ups share to the full in their unstinted pleasures. – Winston Churchill • Let the children have their night of fun and laughter. Let the gifts of Father Christmas delight their play. Let us grown-ups share to the full in their unstinted pleasures before we turn again to the stern task and the formidable years that lie before us, resolved that, by our sacrifice and daring, these same children shall not be robbed of their inheritance or denied their right to live in a free and decent world.” Winston Churchill Christmas Eve Message, 1941 as printed in “In the Dark Streets Shineth. – David McCullough • Let us keep Christmas still a shining thing. – Grace Noll Crowell • Let us remember that the Christmas heart is a giving heart, a wide open heart that thinks of others first. The birth of the baby Jesus stands as the most significant event in all history, because it has meant the pouring into a sick world of the healing medicine of love which has transformed all manner of hearts for almost two thousand years… Underneath all the bulging bundles is this beating Christmas heart. – George Matthew Adams • Let us remember that the Christmas heart is a giving heart, a wide open heart that thinks of others first. – George Matthew Adams • Love came down at Christmas, Love all lovely, Love Divine; Love was born at Christmas; Star and angels gave the sign. – Christina Rossetti • Mail your packages early so the post office can lose them in time for Christmas. – Johnny Carson • Mankind is a great, an immense family… This is proved by what we feel in our hearts at Christmas. – Pope John XXIII • Maybe Christmas, the Grinch thought, doesn’t come from a store. – Dr. Seuss • Memories and magic is what Christmas is all about. – Lynn Johnston • My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others. Come to think of it, why do we have to wait for Christmas to do that? – Bob Hope • Next to a circus there ain’t nothing that packs up and tears out faster than the Christmas spirit. – Kin Hubbard • Nothing’s as mean as giving a little child something useful for Christmas. – Kin Hubbard • O Christmas Sun! What holy task is thine! To fold a world in the embrace of God! – Guy Wetmore Carryl • O come all ye faithful, Joyful and triumphant, O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem. – Frederick Oakeley • Oh look, yet another Christmas TV special! How touching to have the meaning of Christmas brought to us by cola, fast food, and beer… Who’d have ever guessed that product consumption, popular entertainment, and spirituality would mix so harmoniously? – Bill Watterson • On Christmas day you can’t get sore, your fellow man you must adore. There’s time to cheat him all the more the other three hundred and sixty-four – Tom Lehrer • One can never have enough socks,” said Dumbledore. “Another Christmas has come and gone and I didn’t get a single pair. People will insist on giving me books. – J. K. Rowling • One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day. Don’t clean it up too quickly.” ~ (1919-), American writer, producer, humorist. – Andy Rooney • Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time. – Laura Ingalls Wilder • Peace on earth will come to stay, When we live Christmas every day. – Helen Steiner Rice • Remembrance, like a candle, burns brightest at Christmastime. – Charles Dickens • Roses are reddish Violets are bluish If it weren’t for Christmas We’d all be Jewish. – Benny Hill • Selfishness makes Christmas a burden; Love makes it a delight. The joy of brightening a child’s heart creates the magic of Christmas. – William Carey Jones • So every year when Christmas comes, I realize a new, the best gift life can offer is having friends like you. – Helen Steiner Rice • So if a Christian is touched only once a year, the touching is still worth it, and maybe on some given Christmas, some quiet morning, the touch will take. – Harry Reasoner • That’s the true spirit of Christmas; people being helped by people other than me. – Jerry Seinfeld • The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other. – Bill Vaughan • The charming aspect of Christmas is the fact that it expresses good will in a cheerful, happy, benevolent, non-sacrificial way. One says: “Merry Christmas”-not “Weep and Repent.” And the good will is expressed in a material, earthly form-by giving presents to one’s friends, or by sending them cards in token of remembrance . . . . – Ayn Rand • The Christmas story is as simple as was the Man himself and His teaching. SA simple as the Sermon on the Mount which still remains as the ultimate basis … of the belief of free men of good will everywhere. – Hal Borland • The Church does not superstitiously observe days, merely as days, but as memorials of important facts. Christmas might be kept as well upon one day of the year as another; but there should be a stated day for commemorating the birth of our Saviour, because there is danger that what may be done on any day, will be neglected. – Samuel Johnson • The earth has grown old with its burden of care, But at Christmas it always is young. – Phillips Brooks • The earth has grown old with its burden of care, but at Christmas it always is young, the heart of the jewel burns lustrous and fair, and its soul full of music breaks the air, when the song of angels is sung. – Phillips Brooks • The joy of brightening other lives, bearing each others’ burdens, easing other’s loads and supplanting empty hearts and lives with generous gifts becomes for us the magic of Christmas. – William Carey Jones • The magi, as you know, were wise men wonderfully wise men who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. – O. Henry • The mystery of the Holy Night, which historically happened two thousand years ago, must be lived as a spiritual event in the ‘today’ of the Liturgy,” the Pope clarified. “The Word who found a dwelling in Mary’s womb comes to knock on the heart of every person with singular intensity this Christmas. – Pope John Paul II • The only real blind person at Christmas time is he who has not Christmas in his heart. – Helen Keller • The rooms were very still while the pages were softly turned and the winter sunshine crept in to touch the bright heads and serious faces with a Christmas greeting. – Louisa May Alcott • The time draws near the birth of Christ; The moon is hid; the night is still; The Christmas bells from hill to hill Answer each other in the mist. – Alfred Lord Tennyson • The two most joyous times of the year are Christmas morning and the end of school. – Alice Cooper • The very purpose of Christ’s coming into the world was that He might offer up His life as a sacrifice for the sins of men. He came to die. This is the heart of Christmas. – Billy Graham • The way you spend Christmas is far more important than how much. – Henry David Thoreau • The world can’t save itself. That’s the message of Christmas. – Timothy Keller • There are some people who want to throw their arms round you simply because it is Christmas; there are other people who want to strangle you simply because it is Christmas. – Robert Staughton Lynd • There is a better thing than the observance of Christmas day, and that is, keeping Christmas. – Henry Van Dyke • There is no ideal Christmas; only the one Christmas you decide to make as a reflection of your values, desires, affections, traditions. – Bill McKibben • There seems a magic in the very name of Christmas. – Charles Dickens • There’ll always be Christmas as long as a light Glows in the window to guide folks at night, As long as a star in the heavens above, Keeps shining down… there’ll be Christmas and love. – Edna Jaques • There’s nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child. – Erma Bombeck • This is Christmas – the season of perpetual hope. – Catherine O’Hara • This is my wish for you: peace of mind, prosperity through the year, happiness that multiplies, health for you and yours, fun around every corner, energy to chase your dreams, joy to fill your holidays! – David Dellinger • Time always seems long to the child who is waiting – for Christmas, for next summer, for becoming a grownup: long also when he surrenders his whole soul to each moment of a happy day. – Dag Hammarskjold • Time was with most of us, when Christmas Day, encircling all our limited world like a magic ring, left nothing out for us to miss or seek; bound together all our home enjoyments, affections, and hopes; grouped everything and everyone round the Christmas fire, and make the little picture shining in our bright young eyes, complete. – Charles Dickens • To celebrate the heart of Christmas is to forget ourselves in the service of others. – Henry C. Link • To perceive Christmas through its wrappings becomes more difficult with every year. – E. B. White • To the American People: Christmas is not a time or a season but a state of mind. To cherish peace and good will, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas. If we think on these things, there will be born in us a Savior and over us will shine a star sending its gleam of hope to the world.” ~ Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933), American president. Presidential message (December 25, 1927). – Calvin Coolidge • T’was the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. – Clement Clarke Moore • Unless we make Christmas an occasion to share our blessings, all the snow in Alaska won’t make it ‘white’. – Bing Crosby • We consider Christmas as the encounter, the great encounter, the historical encounter, the decisive encounter, between God and mankind. He who has faith knows this truly; let him rejoice. – Pope Paul VI • We should try to hold on to the Christmas spirit, not just one day a year, but all 365. – Mary Martin • Were I a philosopher, I should write a philosophy of toys, showing that nothing else in life need to be taken seriously, and that Christmas Day in the company of children is one of the few occasions on which men become entirely alive. – Robert Wilson Lynd • What I don’t like about office Christmas parties is looking for a job the next day. – Phyllis Diller • What kind of Christmas present would Jesus ask Santa for? – Salman Rushdie • Whatever else be lost among the years, Let us keep Christmas still a shining thing: Whatever doubts assail us, or what fears, Let us hold close one day, remembering Its poignant meaning for the hearts of men. Let us get back our childlike faith again. – Grace Noll Crowell • When the song of the angels is stilled, When the star in the sky is gone, When the kings and princes are home, When the shepherds are back with their flock, The work of Christmas begins: …To find the lost, To heal the broken, To feed the hungry, To release the prisoner, To rebuild the nations, To bring peace among brothers, To make music in the heart. – Howard Thurman • When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at Christmas time. Why are we not grateful to God for filling our stockings with legs? – Gilbert K. Chesterton • When you give up yourself, that’s when you will feel the true spirit of Christmas. And that’s giving that’s serving others and that’s when you feel fulfilled. – Joel Osteen • Who can add to Christmas? The perfect motive is that God so loved the world. The perfect gift is that He gave His only Son. The only requirement is to believe in Him. The reward of faith is that you shall have everlasting life. – Corrie Ten Boom • Xmas Trivia: Before it became a major shopping holiday, Christmas is believed to have had a “religious” meaning. – Andy Borowitz • You can never truly enjoy Christmas until you can look up into the Father’s face and tell him you have received his Christmas gift. – John R. Rice

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[violet-t-9]

Checking on my (not very realistic) wish list for episode 131

1. Jester remembers to message Wensforth before bed and finds out that Yussa’s body is fine in the tower.

(Jester remembered!! Go Jester! Wensforth totally had his mind messed with but at least they are safe physically and Trent didn’t stay long)

2. Maybe telling Allura about the Yussa astral projection situation if needed? She may not be able to help, but at least she may want to know.

(Well to be fair this one would be more urgent if something actually happened with Yussa’s body or Wensforth, now it’s fine)

3. A good night’s rest with no extra red eyes.

(WOW that actually happened! They got a good long rest and a hot spring soak! I’m good at these predictions! The next night had no eyes either)

4. Cad gets to have a very touching moment with his family before they leave.

(Calliope gave them opal! They did get to have a nice/warm goodbye moment!)

5. They teleport to Eiselcross very soon without further delay and without too much issue (i.e. don’t have to travel an extra day to get back to the outpost).

(So glad that they actually went straight back to Eiselcross! Teleportation success without being fused with a mountain! Welp, the traveling is troublesome but it is what it is)

6. Essek is doing fine, and gets his amulet (and probably another panic attack when they inform him about the last few episodes).

(Yep Essek got the panic attack from the first message lol dropped his coffee and all. Also got the amulet yay.)

7. Essek and Caleb have a one-on-one conversation (they need it).

(Nope, still hoping this will happen next episode)

8. Cad uses commune and finds out that the TT are in fact, still in the process of getting their threshold crest and not at the secret entrance yet.

(Nope, I guess we will not need to find out anyways)

9. Dungeon crawl! Dungeon crawl! Dungeon crawl in Aeorian ruins with friends!

(Well we know this will happen next episode! Yay)

10. If there is combat Essek using dunamancy would be so cool to see

(We will probably see it soon, also yay for Essek mini)

11. Widogast’s Nascent Nein-Sided Tower (with renovations)?

(Manifesting for the next episode)

12. Beau and Yasha get more private date time together (or just flirt more, either works).

(Aww the cuddle was so cute!)

13. Fjord gets to do some really cool stuff that impresses everybody (also like maybe we can try removing his bloodhunter mark thingy maybe).

(I mean... define cool stuff. And the mark is forgotten, maybe the amulet protects against that as well? Not too familiar with the mechanics)

14. Jester and Fjord being adorable together.

(Jester tried really hard to find Vandran so that was adorable. They also had a good hot spring conversation so I’m counting this fulfilled)

15. The party adores white-coat Frumpkin and gives him all the love.

(Hey Beau got to play with Frumpkin so I’m counting it, also sound of purring in the dome! Purring for everybody)

16. Everybody remains happy and alive by the end of the episode (who am I kidding it’s going to end on a terrifying cliffhanger isn’t it).

(Hey! It’s good to be optimistic sometimes!)

17. Yasha becomes a champion of the storm lord! (Don’t really know the exact mechanisms, but go Yasha!)

(Yay Yasha! Wooooo! Level 14 Zealot Barbarian let’s go! THAT was EPIC)

Wow that episode had a lot of travel, but at least the final preparations have been complete! Looking forward to the next episodes so much now, literally cannot wait. Love the story as always.

[equitiesstocks]

Christmas Quotes

Official Website: Christmas Quotes

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• A Christmas gambol oft could cheer The poor man’s heart through half the year. – Walter Scott • A good conscience is a continual Christmas. – Benjamin Franklin • A little smile, a word of cheer, A bit of love from someone near, A little gift from one held dear, Best wishes for the coming year. These make a merry christmas! – John Greenleaf Whittier • A lovely thing about Christmas is that it’s compulsory, like a thunderstorm, and we all go through it together. – Garrison Keillor • A merry Christmas to everybody! A happy New Year to all the world! – Charles Dickens • A song was heard at Christmas To wake the midnight sky: A saviour’s birth, and peace on earth, And praise to God on high. The angels sang at Christmas With all the hosts above, And still we sing the newborn King His glory and his love. – Timothy Dudley-Smith • A very Merry Christmas And a happy New Year Let’s hope it’s a good one Without any fear. – John Lennon • And it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One! – Charles Dickens • And So This Is Christmas; And What Have We Done? Another Year Over; A New One Just Begun; And So Happy Christmas; I Hope You Have Fun; The Near And The Dear Ones; The Old And The Young. – John Lennon • And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled ’till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more. – Dr. Seuss • And when we give each other Christmas gifts in His name, let us remember that He has given us the sun and the moon and the stars, and the earth with its forests and mountains and oceans–and all that lives and move upon them. He has given us all green things and everything that blossoms and bears fruit and all that we quarrel about and all that we have misused–and to save us from our foolishness, from all our sins, He came down to earth and gave us Himself. – Sigrid Undset • Are you willing to forget what you have done for other people, and to remember what other people have done for you … to remember the weakness and loneliness of people who are growing old … Are you willing to believe that love is the strongest ting in the world … stronger than hate, stronger than evil, stronger than death… Then you can keep Christmas! But you can never keep it alone. – Henry Van Dyke • Aren’t we forgeting the true meaning of Christmas? You know, the birth of Santa. – Matt Groening • At Christmas A man is at his finest towards the finish of the year; He is almost what he should be when the Christmas season’s here; Then he’s thinking more of others than he’s thought the months before, And the laughter of his children is a joy worth toiling for. He is less a selfish creature than at any other time; When the Christmas spirit rules him he comes close to the sublime. – Edgar Guest • At Christmas I no more desire a rose Than wish a snow in May’s new-fangled mirth; But like of each thing that in season grows. – William Shakespeare • At Christmas play and make good cheer, for Christmas comes but once a year. – Thomas Tusser • At Christmas, I no more desire a rose. – William Shakespeare

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'Christmas', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '68', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_christmas').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_christmas img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); ); • Be merry all, be merry all, With holly dress the festive hall; Prepare the song, the feast, the ball, To welcome merry Christmas. – William Spencer • Best of all, Christmas means a spirit of love, a time when the love of God and the love of our fellow men should prevail over all hatred and bitterness, a time when our thoughts and deeds and the spirit of our lives manifest the presence of God. – George McDougall • Bless us Lord, this Christmas, with quietness of mind; Teach us to be patient and always to be kind. – Helen Steiner Rice • Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love. It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air. – William Thomas Ellis • Bloody Christmas, here again, let us raise a loving cup, peace on earth, goodwill to men, and make them do the washing up. – Wendy Cope • But I am sure that I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round…as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely. – Charles Dickens

[clickbank-storefront-bestselling] • Call a truce, then, to our labors – let us feast with friends and neighbors, and be merry as the custom of our caste; for if ”faint and forced the laughter,” and if sadness follow after, we are richer by one mocking Christmas past. – Rudyard Kipling • Christmas began in the heart of God. It is complete only when it reaches the heart of man.Why wait for a call when you have a command? – Robert Hughes • Christmas begins about the first of December with an office party and ends when you finally realize what you spent, around April fifteenth of the next year. – P. J. O’Rourke • Christmas can be celebrated in the school room with pine trees, tinsel and reindeers, but there must be no mention of the man whose birthday is being celebrated. One wonders how a teacher would answer if a student asked why it was called Christmas. – Ronald Reagan • Christmas day is a day of joy and charity. May God make you very rich in both. – Phillips Brooks • Christmas Eve was a night of song that wrapped itself about you like a shawl. But it warmed more than your body. It warmed your heart…filled it, too, with melody that would last forever. – Bess Streeter Aldrich • Christmas gift suggestions: To your enemy, forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. – Oren Arnold • Christmas gives us the opportunity to pause and reflect on the important things around us – a time when we can look back on the year that has passed and prepare for the year ahead. – David Cameron • Christmas hath a beauty … lovelier than the world can show. – Christina Rossetti • Christmas is … a time to mark our progress through this earthly journey. Every December we can look back and marvel at the designs of God and realize how very little we are in control of the events that shaped the past year. Then, with hearts full, look to the celebration of that silent, holy night, and all its certainty. Because of Christmas, this we know: Christ was born for us. He is love, and the plans he has for us always surpass those of our own. – Karen Kingsbury • Christmas is a bridge. We need bridges as the river of time flows past. Today’s Christmas should mean creating happy hours for tomorrow and reliving those of yesterday. – Gladys Taber • Christmas is a day of meaning and traditions, a special day spent in the warm circle of family and friends.” ~ (1925- ), English political leader. – Margaret Thatcher • Christmas is a necessity. There has to be at least one day of the year to remind us that we’re here for something else besides ourselves. – Eric Sevareid • Christmas is a season for kindling the fire for hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart. – Washington Irving • Christmas is a season not only of rejoicing but of reflection. – Winston Churchill • Christmas is a time in which, of all times in the year, the memory of every remediable sorrow, wrong, and trouble in the world around us, should be active with us, not less than our own experiences, for all good. – Charles Dickens • Christmas is a time when everybody wants his past forgotten and his present remembered. – Phyllis Diller • Christmas is based on an exchange of gifts, the gift of God to man – His unspeakable gift of His Son, and the gift of man to God – when we present our bodies a living sacrifice. – Vance Havner • Christmas is built upon a beautiful and intentional paradox; that the birth of the homeless should be celebrated in every home. – Gilbert K. Chesterton • Christmas is doing a little something extra for someone. – Charles M. Schulz • Christmas is for children. But it is for grownups too. Even if it is a headache, a chore, and nightmare, it is a period of necessary defrosting of chill and hide bound hearts. – Lenora Mattingly Weber • Christmas is God lighting a candle; and you don’t light a candle in a room that’s already full of sunlight. You light a candle in a room that’s so murky that the candle, when lit, reveals just how bad things really are. – N. T. Wright • Christmas is more than a time of music, merriment and mirth; it is a season of meditation, mangers and miracles. Christmas is more than a time of carols, cards and candy; it is a season of dedication and decision. – William Arthur Ward • Christmas is most truly Christmas when we celebrate it by giving the light of love to those who need it most. – Ruth Carter Stapleton • Christmas is not a date. It is a state of mind. – Mary Ellen Chase • Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas. – Calvin Coolidge • Christmas is not a time or a season but a state of mind. – Calvin Coolidge • Christmas is not in tinsel and lights and outward show. The secret lies in an inner glow. It’s lighting a fire inside the heart. Good will and joy a vital part. It’s higher thought and a greater plan. It’s glorious dream in the soul of man. – Wilferd Peterson • Christmas is not just a day, an event to be observed and speedily forgotten. It is a spirit which should permeate every part of our lives. – William Parks • Christmas is sights, especially the sights of Christmas reflected in the eyes of a child. – William Saroyan • Christmas is taken very seriously in this household. I believe in Father Christmas and there’s no way I’d do anything to undermine that belief. – Carol Ann Duffy • Christmas is telling you that you could never get to heaven on your own. God had to come to you. – Timothy Keller • Christmas is the day that holds all time together. – Alexander Smith • Christmas is the season of joy, of holiday greetings exchanged, of gift-giving,and of families united. – Norman Vincent Peale • Christmas is the season when people run out of money before they run out of friends. – Larry Wilde • Christmas is the time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it. Deficits are when adults tell government what they want and their kids pay for it. – Richard Lamm • Christmas isn’t a season. It’s a feeling.- Edna Ferber • Christmas my child, is love in action…When you love someone, you give to them, as God gives to us. The greatest gift He ever gave was the Person of His Son, sent to us in human form so that we might know what God the Father is really like! Every time we love, every time we give, it’s Christmas. – Dale Evans • Christmas reminds us we are not alone. We are not unrelated atoms, jouncing and ricocheting amid aliens, but are a part of something, which holds and sustains us. As we struggle with shopping lists and invitations, compounded by December’s bad weather, it is good to be reminded that there are people in our lives who are worth this aggravation, and people to whom we are worth the same. Christmas shows us the ties that bind us together, threads of love and caring, woven in the simplest and strongest way within the family. – Donald E. Westlake • Christmas to a child is the first terrible proof that to travel hopefully is better than to arrive. – Stephen Fry • Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful. – Norman Vincent Peale • Christmas will always be as long as we stand heart to heart and hand in hand. – Dr. Seuss • Christmas works like glue, it keeps us all sticking together. – Rosie Thomas • Christmas, my child, is love in action. Every time we love, every time we give, it’s Christmas. – Dale Evans • Christmas… is not an external event at all, but a piece of one’s home that one carries in one’s heart. – Freya Stark • Christmas: the Son of God expressing the love of God to save us from the wrath of God so we could enjoy the presence of God. – John Piper • Did you ever notice that life seems to follow certain patterns? Like I noticed that every year around this time, I hear Christmas music. – Tom Sims • Don’t let the past steal your present. This is the message of Christmas: We are never alone. – Taylor Caldwell • England was merry England, when Old Christmas brought his sports again. ‘Twas Christmas broach’d the mightiest ale; ‘Twas Christmas told the merriest tale; A Christmas gambol oft could cheer The poor man’s heart through half the year. – Walter Scott • For centuries men have kept an appointment with Christmas. Christmas means fellowship, feasting, giving and receiving, a time of good cheer, home. – William Jewett Tucker • For it is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child Himself. – Charles Dickens • For many of us, sadly, the spirit of Christmas is “hurry”. And yet, eventually, the hour comes when the rushing ends and the race against the calendar mercifully comes to a close. It is only now perhaps that we truly recognize the spirit of Christmas. (…) With all its temporal confusion, it may just help us to see that by contrast, Christmas itself is eternal. – Burton Hill • Freshly cut Christmas trees smelling of stars and snow and pine resin – inhale deeply and fill your soul with wintry night. – John J. Geddes • From a commercial point of view, if Christmas did not exist it would be necessary to invent it. – Katharine Whitehorn • Gifts of time and love are surely the basic ingredients of a truly merry Christmas. – Peg Bracken • Happy Day After Christmas, Merry Rest of the Year, even when Christmas is over, The Light of the World is Still Here! – Matthew West • Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childhood days, recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth, and transport the traveler back to his own fireside and quiet home! – Charles Dickens • Have you any old grudges you would like to pay, Any wrongs laid up from a bygone day? -Gather them now and lay them away When Christmas comes. Hard thoughts are heavy to carry, my friend, And life is short from beginning to end; Be kind to yourself, leave nothing to mend When Christmas comes. – William Haines Lytle • Heap on more wood! – the wind is chill; But let it whistle as it will, We’ll keep our Christmas merry still. – Walter Scott • I am not alone at all, I thought. I was never alone at all. And that, of course, is the message of Christmas. We are never alone. Not when the night is darkest, the wind coldest, the world seemingly most indifferent. For this is still the time God chooses. – Taylor Caldwell • I bought my brother some gift-wrap for Christmas. I took it to the gift wrap department and told them to wrap it, but in a different print so he would know when to stop unwrapping. – Steven Wright • I can understand people simply fleeing the mountainous effort Christmas has become… but there are always a few saving graces and finally they make up for all the bother and distress. – May Sarton • I do hope your Christmas has had a little touch of Eternity in among the rush and pitter patter and all. It always seems such a mixing of this world and the next – but that after all is the idea! – Evelyn Underhill • I do like Christmas on the whole…. In its clumsy way, it does approach Peace and Goodwill. But it is clumsier every year. – E. M. Forster • I don’t think Christmas is necessarily about things. It’s about being good to one another, it’s about the Christian ethic, it’s about kindness. – Carrie Fisher • I grew up with a Christmas tree, I’m going to stay with a Christmas tree. – Thomas Menino • I have always thought of Christmas time… as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time. – Charles Dickens • I hear that in many places something has happened to Christmas; that it is changing from a time of merriment and carefree gaiety to a holiday which is filled with tedium; that many people dread the day and the obligation to give Christmas presents is a nightmare to weary, bored souls; that the children of enlightened parents no longer believe in Santa Claus; that all in all, the effort to be happy and have pleasure makes many honest hearts grow dark with despair instead of beaming with good will and cheerfulness. – Julia Peterkin • I heard the bells on Christmas Day Their old, familiar carols play, And wild and sweet The words repeat Of peace on earth, good-will to men! – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow • I love the Christmas-tide, and yet, I notice this, each year I live; I always like the gifts I get, But how I love the gifts I give! – Carolyn Wells • I once bought my kids a set of batteries for Christmas with a note on it saying, toys not included. – Bernard Manning • I sometimes think we expect too much of Christmas Day. We try to crowd into it the long arrears of kindliness and humanity of the whole year. As for me, I like to take my Christmas a little at a time, all through the year. – Ray Stannard Baker • I think commercialism helps Christmas and I think that the more capitalism we can inject into the Christmas holiday the more spiritual I feel about it – Craig Ferguson • I truly believe that if we keep telling the Christmas story, singing the Christmas songs, and living the Christmas spirit, we can bring joy and happiness and peace to this world. – Norman Vincent Peale • I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. – Charles Dickens • I wrapped my Christmas presents early this year, but I used the wrong paper. See, the paper I used said ‘Happy Birthday’ on it. I didn’t want to waste it so I just wrote ‘Jesus’ on it. – Demetri Martin • If you desire to find the true spirit of Christmas and partake of the sweetness of it, let me make this suggestion to you. During the hurry of the festive occasion of this Christmas season, find time to turn your heart to God. Perhaps in the quiet hours, and in a quiet place, and on your knees-alone or with loved ones-give thanks for the good things that have come to you, and ask that His Spirit might dwell in you as you earnestly strive to serve Him and keep His commandments. He will take you by the hand and His promises will be kept. – Howard W. Hunter • I’m dreaming of a white Christmas With every Christmas card I write May your days be merry and bright And may all your Christmases be white. – Irving Berlin • I’m dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the ones I used to know. – Irving Berlin • I’m dreaming of a white Christmas, Just like the ones I used to know, Where the tree tops glisten And children listen To hear sleigh bells in the snow. – Irving Berlin • In the old days, it was not called the Holiday Season; the Christians called it “Christmas” and went to church; the Jews called it “Hanukka” and went to synagogue; the atheists went to parties and drank. People passing each other on the street would say “Merry Christmas!” or “Happy Hanukka!” or (to the atheists) “Look out for the wall!” – Dave Barry • It is Christmas every time you let God love others through you. – Mother Teresa • It is Christmas every time you let God love others through you…yes, it is Christmas every time you smile at your brother and offer him your hand. – Mother Teresa • It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air. – William Thomas Ellis • It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas; Soon the bells will start, And the thing that will make them ring Is the carol that you sing Right within your heart. – Meredith Willson • Its Christmas Eve! Its the one night of the year when we all act a little nicer, we smile a little easier, we cheer a little more. For a couple of hours out of the whole year, we are the people that we always hoped we would be. – Bill Murray • It’s true, Christmas can feel like a lot of work, particularly for mothers. But when you look back on all the Christmases in your life, you’ll find you’ve created family traditions and lasting memories. Those memories, good and bad, are really what help to keep a family together over the long haul. – Caroline Kennedy • Let the children have their night of fun and laughter, let the gifts of Father Christmas delight their play. Let us grown-ups share to the full in their unstinted pleasures. – Winston Churchill • Let the children have their night of fun and laughter. Let the gifts of Father Christmas delight their play. Let us grown-ups share to the full in their unstinted pleasures before we turn again to the stern task and the formidable years that lie before us, resolved that, by our sacrifice and daring, these same children shall not be robbed of their inheritance or denied their right to live in a free and decent world.” Winston Churchill Christmas Eve Message, 1941 as printed in “In the Dark Streets Shineth. – David McCullough • Let us keep Christmas still a shining thing. – Grace Noll Crowell • Let us remember that the Christmas heart is a giving heart, a wide open heart that thinks of others first. The birth of the baby Jesus stands as the most significant event in all history, because it has meant the pouring into a sick world of the healing medicine of love which has transformed all manner of hearts for almost two thousand years… Underneath all the bulging bundles is this beating Christmas heart. – George Matthew Adams • Let us remember that the Christmas heart is a giving heart, a wide open heart that thinks of others first. – George Matthew Adams • Love came down at Christmas, Love all lovely, Love Divine; Love was born at Christmas; Star and angels gave the sign. – Christina Rossetti • Mail your packages early so the post office can lose them in time for Christmas. – Johnny Carson • Mankind is a great, an immense family… This is proved by what we feel in our hearts at Christmas. – Pope John XXIII • Maybe Christmas, the Grinch thought, doesn’t come from a store. – Dr. Seuss • Memories and magic is what Christmas is all about. – Lynn Johnston • My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others. Come to think of it, why do we have to wait for Christmas to do that? – Bob Hope • Next to a circus there ain’t nothing that packs up and tears out faster than the Christmas spirit. – Kin Hubbard • Nothing’s as mean as giving a little child something useful for Christmas. – Kin Hubbard • O Christmas Sun! What holy task is thine! To fold a world in the embrace of God! – Guy Wetmore Carryl • O come all ye faithful, Joyful and triumphant, O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem. – Frederick Oakeley • Oh look, yet another Christmas TV special! How touching to have the meaning of Christmas brought to us by cola, fast food, and beer… Who’d have ever guessed that product consumption, popular entertainment, and spirituality would mix so harmoniously? – Bill Watterson • On Christmas day you can’t get sore, your fellow man you must adore. There’s time to cheat him all the more the other three hundred and sixty-four – Tom Lehrer • One can never have enough socks,” said Dumbledore. “Another Christmas has come and gone and I didn’t get a single pair. People will insist on giving me books. – J. K. Rowling • One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day. Don’t clean it up too quickly.” ~ (1919-), American writer, producer, humorist. – Andy Rooney • Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time. – Laura Ingalls Wilder • Peace on earth will come to stay, When we live Christmas every day. – Helen Steiner Rice • Remembrance, like a candle, burns brightest at Christmastime. – Charles Dickens • Roses are reddish Violets are bluish If it weren’t for Christmas We’d all be Jewish. – Benny Hill • Selfishness makes Christmas a burden; Love makes it a delight. The joy of brightening a child’s heart creates the magic of Christmas. – William Carey Jones • So every year when Christmas comes, I realize a new, the best gift life can offer is having friends like you. – Helen Steiner Rice • So if a Christian is touched only once a year, the touching is still worth it, and maybe on some given Christmas, some quiet morning, the touch will take. – Harry Reasoner • That’s the true spirit of Christmas; people being helped by people other than me. – Jerry Seinfeld • The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other. – Bill Vaughan • The charming aspect of Christmas is the fact that it expresses good will in a cheerful, happy, benevolent, non-sacrificial way. One says: “Merry Christmas”-not “Weep and Repent.” And the good will is expressed in a material, earthly form-by giving presents to one’s friends, or by sending them cards in token of remembrance . . . . – Ayn Rand • The Christmas story is as simple as was the Man himself and His teaching. SA simple as the Sermon on the Mount which still remains as the ultimate basis … of the belief of free men of good will everywhere. – Hal Borland • The Church does not superstitiously observe days, merely as days, but as memorials of important facts. Christmas might be kept as well upon one day of the year as another; but there should be a stated day for commemorating the birth of our Saviour, because there is danger that what may be done on any day, will be neglected. – Samuel Johnson • The earth has grown old with its burden of care, But at Christmas it always is young. – Phillips Brooks • The earth has grown old with its burden of care, but at Christmas it always is young, the heart of the jewel burns lustrous and fair, and its soul full of music breaks the air, when the song of angels is sung. – Phillips Brooks • The joy of brightening other lives, bearing each others’ burdens, easing other’s loads and supplanting empty hearts and lives with generous gifts becomes for us the magic of Christmas. – William Carey Jones • The magi, as you know, were wise men wonderfully wise men who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. – O. Henry • The mystery of the Holy Night, which historically happened two thousand years ago, must be lived as a spiritual event in the ‘today’ of the Liturgy,” the Pope clarified. “The Word who found a dwelling in Mary’s womb comes to knock on the heart of every person with singular intensity this Christmas. – Pope John Paul II • The only real blind person at Christmas time is he who has not Christmas in his heart. – Helen Keller • The rooms were very still while the pages were softly turned and the winter sunshine crept in to touch the bright heads and serious faces with a Christmas greeting. – Louisa May Alcott • The time draws near the birth of Christ; The moon is hid; the night is still; The Christmas bells from hill to hill Answer each other in the mist. – Alfred Lord Tennyson • The two most joyous times of the year are Christmas morning and the end of school. – Alice Cooper • The very purpose of Christ’s coming into the world was that He might offer up His life as a sacrifice for the sins of men. He came to die. This is the heart of Christmas. – Billy Graham • The way you spend Christmas is far more important than how much. – Henry David Thoreau • The world can’t save itself. That’s the message of Christmas. – Timothy Keller • There are some people who want to throw their arms round you simply because it is Christmas; there are other people who want to strangle you simply because it is Christmas. – Robert Staughton Lynd • There is a better thing than the observance of Christmas day, and that is, keeping Christmas. – Henry Van Dyke • There is no ideal Christmas; only the one Christmas you decide to make as a reflection of your values, desires, affections, traditions. – Bill McKibben • There seems a magic in the very name of Christmas. – Charles Dickens • There’ll always be Christmas as long as a light Glows in the window to guide folks at night, As long as a star in the heavens above, Keeps shining down… there’ll be Christmas and love. – Edna Jaques • There’s nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child. – Erma Bombeck • This is Christmas – the season of perpetual hope. – Catherine O’Hara • This is my wish for you: peace of mind, prosperity through the year, happiness that multiplies, health for you and yours, fun around every corner, energy to chase your dreams, joy to fill your holidays! – David Dellinger • Time always seems long to the child who is waiting – for Christmas, for next summer, for becoming a grownup: long also when he surrenders his whole soul to each moment of a happy day. – Dag Hammarskjold • Time was with most of us, when Christmas Day, encircling all our limited world like a magic ring, left nothing out for us to miss or seek; bound together all our home enjoyments, affections, and hopes; grouped everything and everyone round the Christmas fire, and make the little picture shining in our bright young eyes, complete. – Charles Dickens • To celebrate the heart of Christmas is to forget ourselves in the service of others. – Henry C. Link • To perceive Christmas through its wrappings becomes more difficult with every year. – E. B. White • To the American People: Christmas is not a time or a season but a state of mind. To cherish peace and good will, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas. If we think on these things, there will be born in us a Savior and over us will shine a star sending its gleam of hope to the world.” ~ Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933), American president. Presidential message (December 25, 1927). – Calvin Coolidge • T’was the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. – Clement Clarke Moore • Unless we make Christmas an occasion to share our blessings, all the snow in Alaska won’t make it ‘white’. – Bing Crosby • We consider Christmas as the encounter, the great encounter, the historical encounter, the decisive encounter, between God and mankind. He who has faith knows this truly; let him rejoice. – Pope Paul VI • We should try to hold on to the Christmas spirit, not just one day a year, but all 365. – Mary Martin • Were I a philosopher, I should write a philosophy of toys, showing that nothing else in life need to be taken seriously, and that Christmas Day in the company of children is one of the few occasions on which men become entirely alive. – Robert Wilson Lynd • What I don’t like about office Christmas parties is looking for a job the next day. – Phyllis Diller • What kind of Christmas present would Jesus ask Santa for? – Salman Rushdie • Whatever else be lost among the years, Let us keep Christmas still a shining thing: Whatever doubts assail us, or what fears, Let us hold close one day, remembering Its poignant meaning for the hearts of men. Let us get back our childlike faith again. – Grace Noll Crowell • When the song of the angels is stilled, When the star in the sky is gone, When the kings and princes are home, When the shepherds are back with their flock, The work of Christmas begins: …To find the lost, To heal the broken, To feed the hungry, To release the prisoner, To rebuild the nations, To bring peace among brothers, To make music in the heart. – Howard Thurman • When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at Christmas time. Why are we not grateful to God for filling our stockings with legs? – Gilbert K. Chesterton • When you give up yourself, that’s when you will feel the true spirit of Christmas. And that’s giving that’s serving others and that’s when you feel fulfilled. – Joel Osteen • Who can add to Christmas? The perfect motive is that God so loved the world. The perfect gift is that He gave His only Son. The only requirement is to believe in Him. The reward of faith is that you shall have everlasting life. – Corrie Ten Boom • Xmas Trivia: Before it became a major shopping holiday, Christmas is believed to have had a “religious” meaning. – Andy Borowitz • You can never truly enjoy Christmas until you can look up into the Father’s face and tell him you have received his Christmas gift. – John R. Rice

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[celticrosearts]

There are few cyborgs in the world at least when compared to the total population. However, that number is growing more and more every hour of every day as those who would die are saved and those whose bodies cannot function are given new life. When they were first revealed, the cybernetic augmentations were hailed as the cutting edge new technology that everybody needed. Left and right ‘miracles’ were being performed with these wondrous enhancements. Now we could be on the same level as the best athletes and supermodels. Want to be the strongest guy at the club? You can do that! Want to run like Usain Bolt? You can do that too! Want the vision of a hawk and the hearing of a bat? It’s yours! BioTech, the company who invented the “Upgrades,” were hailed almost as gods as they allowed the lame to walk and the blind to see.

Of course, no good thing ever comes without a fight.

Almost as soon as the Upgrades were announced there were decriers from all sides condemning the proposed technology. Of course the whole thing really caught fire after a popular social media campaign broke out. The tag #allhuman was circulated so many times that it was the number one trending tag for three weeks. Hundreds of protests were organized within a few days. Everyone, celebrities, ‘concerned’ parents, everyone came out to protest. Narratives about the loss of humanity and the way that this would only make government surveillance even easier were fed to public all too willing to demonize the new wave of technology.

The protests eventually got so bad the government was forced to step in. This wasn’t the first time that this happened. Heck, this wasn’t even the first time it happened to BioTech. About twenty years earlier a similar fiasco happened after they unveiled their first line of ‘sentient’ robots. The protests for that really kicked off when one of the bots managed to beat a world-renowned chess player and everyone started becoming doomsday prophets. The Supreme Court hearing for that took over a decade and hundreds of regulations about the jobs that robots could and could not do were rolled out. Robots became relegated to the back end of production. Out of sight out of mind kind of thing. Honestly, BioTech was lucky the court proceedings for this took much less time.

Five years of court, scientific studies, debates, bribes, blackmail, and the invention of two whole new political parties, the Humans Only Party and the Future First Party, were went through before a decision was finally made. I was 10 when the news finally came. Cyborgs were only allowed to be created if there is no other medically viable option available. Upgrades were limited to the sick and dying. The HOPs might not have gotten us erased completely but they came close. To close for my comfort.

My name is Arien. I am a cyborg. After I got into a car accident at age thirteen most of my upper body including my arms had to be replaced and my eyes and hearing had to be fixed due to head trauma. My parents were not happy being a part of the HOP but I was just happy to be alive. After the news dropped most of the surgeries that had to be put on hold were completed and the number of cyborgs jumped by thousands overnight. I am certainly not alone but I am not wanted and I know it. Laws were passed so we could not be discriminated against. Doesn’t mean that it doesn’t happen though.

I tend to stay away from the main streets just to avoid the stares, the looks, the assault of advertisements all pushing the HOP and FFP messages for the upcoming election. At least in the back alleys I could avoid all the judgements, even if that meant staying away from social media and all the popular new memes touting the evils of being anything less than 100% machine free. What was even worse than the machine haters were the FF campaign managers though. When the ban went up the FFP and BioTech were not happy, not in the slightest. This manifested itself as counter protests featuring hundreds of cyborgs being brought onstage as puppets to share their life stories and sing the praises of the augmentations in the hopes of getting the restrictions removed. Ever since my own augmentation I got hundreds of invitations to these events and I deleted all of them. I didn’t need a bigger target on my back the one I had was too large already. So back alleys are where I stay.

I was wandering around these back alleys avoiding going home when I saw something different. I was walking past a small shop when out of the corner of my eye I saw the digital window display go blank. This isn’t unusual in the back alleys where the power lines are cut more often than they’re whole and I would’ve paid it no mind if it hadn’t started up again. This time the display showed two small robotic figures. One of them cocked its head while looking out at the alley. It felt like it was staring right at me. Neither had mouths but both seemed to be smiling. Then the other robot pointed towards the entrance of another alleyway then up at a security camera. Looking up at the camera I noticed it watching me no matter where I walked. I turned back to the display but it had gone blank again. The camera was still watching my every move. We stared at each other for a while before the camera turned to look at the alley then back at me. It did this a few more times. I understood what it wanted.

This was a bad idea. A terrible idea. One of the worst ideas I think I could ever have. But curiosity seemed to be a weakness of mine because I started walking down the alley. It was long and winding and split in quite a few places. Whenever I would come to a split either another display or security camera would point me in the right direction. Did I mention this was a bad idea? Because it was. I had no idea who was controlling the cameras or what would be waiting for me at the end of this maze and I sure wasn’t keeping track of where I came from so getting back out was going to be impossible. I was surprised to find I didn’t care much. I wondered if anyone would care for me.

Weaving into the maze of walls I finally came to a dead end. I stared at the wall in front of me in disbelief. Was this a prank? I glanced over my shoulder back towards where I came. How long would it take me to get out? How could I get out? I had been following the trail for a while now. Maybe this was the point. To get me so lost I couldn’t ever find my way back to bother anyone with my presence again. The HOP had been known to do worse things no matter how much they denied it. I turned back to the wall. There had to be something, I thought desperately. This couldn’t be it. Then I noticed the corner where two of the walls didn’t quite meet. Through the small crack, I could see a light. It was dim, barely there, but it was there. I poked around the crack and managed to wedge my fingers into it. Pulling hard I felt it give way just a little. The light became stronger and I could feel a light breeze coming out. Hope surged through my veins, real and artificial.

Using all of my strength I pulled at the wall. Slowly it opened more and more revealing a small hallway behind it. I stepped through cautiously and edged my way down the passage, keeping an eye on the door behind me. About three quarters of the way down the hall I heard gears begin to grind and looked back just in time to see the wall moving back into place. Only this time I heard it meet the other wall and a lock engage. There was no going back.

Continuing down the hall I came to a regular looking door, similar to one you would find in a house with a handle and everything. There was something behind it. I could hear a faint sound from inside. It was unlocked so I pushed it open and stepped inside the new area.

And froze.

I found myself in the largest room I have ever seen. I looked like the pictures of the Globed Theater I studied in school. It was round with sloping seats leading down to a large stage in the center. The entire room was packed and looking around I could see every kind of worker bot large and small crammed into the seats, floor, and even walls. Even more surprising was the number of cyborgs I saw sitting among the robots. While the room was poorly lit so I couldn’t make out any faces I could see the human shapes among the sharp lines of the pure machines.

But even that was not what caught my attention the most. No that went to center stage where a computer took up the whole of the platform. The entire room was silent save for the whirs, clicks, and beeps coming from the computer. The entire room was enraptured by this display and as I listened I could hear the noises I at first thought to be randomly generated nonsense began to form a melody.

It’s singing. It’s singing for us.

I don’t know how long I stayed there just listening, feeling accepted for the first time in a long time, but eventually the great computer stopped. The room was silent for about thirty seconds before it started up again but this time it was different. This time it only sang one low note. Slowly the crowd around me began to sing as well. One by one new notes were added to the song. I could not resist joining in, a more human note to the machine ones.

As the song went on we only grew louder and as it ended we all raised our voices in chorus.