#norte the end of story

[erodasfishtacos]

A Touchdown & Tears (NFL!YN x Sports Photographer!YN)

prompt: a chipped tooth, bloody nose, and a whole lot of feelings for a young couple who couldn’t make it last.

word count: 4k

warnings: blood, angst, breakups

author's note:

I upload a piece of writing every 1-3 days.

I recently started a second tier called The OG Tier where 2-3 one shots (1-4kish) are posted a week.

There are currently 350 + pieces available to read

Tier I - $3 USD where you get access to main stories, everything except the mini one shots.

Tier II - $5 USD where you get access to every piece of writing!

you can check it out here!

--

Harry doesn’t think the first time that he would bump into his first girlfriend from high school would be when he’s given her a bloody nose and a chipped front tooth.

Hear him out.

It was playoffs, Harry was playing like a beast and at the rate he was going, he was leading his team to the Super Bowl.

Towards the end, the opposing team, The Steelers, were coming up to tie the game because their defense had been lacking this whole time.

There were only six seconds left in the game when Harry did a sneak move where he faked throwing the ball but ran it to the end zone instead to score another touchdown.

With the momentum that he was running, he was running right towards the line of photographers, cheerleaders, other staff that lined the field.

He was just about to dig his cleats in to the turf to stop himself but an angry player of the opposing team hits him hard from behind.

It was unexpected and it sends him flying forwards into the line of staff, he winces when he falls directly on someone, and he unfortunately hears his helmet hit their un-helmeted head.

A yelp of pain is emitted from the person below him, he quickly pushes himself up, and onto his knees beside the staff member.

And he’s startled for a myriad of reasons.

The blood.

The tears.

The fact that he was staring at his first love.

YN.

Harry’s first girlfriend, first love, and honestly he thought that she might be his one true love, soulmate.

They’d been broken up for three years.

Three long years.

But Harry thought about her nearly everyday, wondering what she was doing, where she lived, and when he was feeling down - who’s bed she was in at night.

YN had blocked him, on every platform, and never unblocked from Harry’s checking - only able to creep from a finsta account.

Harry was down bad for YN, always had been.

They started dating in eighth grade, freshly fifteen, and so in love that it was stupid.

Nobody thought they would last, who would?

It was puppy love.

But time went on and they’d never broken up.

They decided on the same school, Norte Dame where Harry would go on to excel in football as she would in creative arts and photography.

Harry would have to rush home from away football games to come to her art galleries, typically making the whole team come with him.

They were fine until middle of senior year.

The stress was at an all-time high.

Harry was up for the Heisman Trophy (which he won) and was being scouted by the NFL, all while leading headlines on ESPN.

YN was a sure thing in his mind, the most stable and unwavering aspect which meant that he put their relationship on the backburner.

Like it would always be there.

He was loyal to YN, never once even remotely came close to cheating, that’s not what he means by neglecting their relationship.

Harry stopped randomly showing up to the media room after practice, instead choosing to go right to his frat to sleep.

Harry didn’t want to ever stay at her dorm anymore because he was always achey and her bed sucked which meant unless she agreed to sleep at a rowdy frat, she slept alone.

YN tried to keep the spark alive but she felt it slipping through her fingertips as Harry forgot to even mention that he got a sponsorship for Under Armor.

Harry was disconnected from everything but football.

He expected YN to deal with it, until it settled, and he got a spot in the NFL, then they could be perfect again.

He was stupid, greedy, and unfair to the person he loved most on this earth.

It came to a head when Harry was laying in his bed, a container of meal prepped chicken and rice on his stomach that he ate while watching a new Netflix series.

He hadn’t checked his phone, it had been on silent all day, and he didn’t have the energy to look at the damn thing.

Until his bedroom door comes swinging open and his girlfriend comes barging into the room with tear tracks down her cheeks.

She was dressed beautifully in a tailored suit with a structured bodysuit underneath.

Her makeup was smeared around her eyes but he was sure it looked impeccable before the tears had started.

“What the fuck?” Harry sits up instantly, going completely protective when he demands, “What happened? Who made you cry?”

YN doesn’t run into his arms like he expected when he opened them fo her.

No, instead she crosses them over her chest.

“You, you fucking did,” YN’s voice cracked on the last syllable, “I’ve been there for every important event for you. Even the less important ones, Harry. Since we were fifteen. You-you couldn’t even be bothered to care about the most important night of my college career.”

Harry feels a heart-stopping chill wash over him, like someone had just poured a gallon of ice on his body.

“Fuck, baby,” Harry starts to apologize, sitting up and uncaring when his dinner topples onto the floor and spills, “I can’t believe-“

It was her final presentation.

YN has been chosen to present her photographs in a gallery in the city, only two student got chosen, and she was one of them.

She’d been working on this project since the start of the year, it was her baby, and she had put her blood, sweat, and tears into it.

Harry hadn’t shown.

“I tried calling, texting, and you were just sitting in your bed? Carefree as fuck, huh?” YN laughs but neither of them think this is any part comical.

To hear the curse words leaving her mouth was odd.

Harry was the one in the relationship to have the mouth of a sailor, hearing it from YN in this context was almost…scary.

“No, baby. S’not like that,” Harry feels his throat tightening because he knows he’s fucked up, for the last few months, and this…this was bad.

“I can’t anymore, Harry,” YN sniffles as she blinks up at the ceiling, willing her tears to stop, “You haven’t been my Harry for the last eight months. I’ve been trying to be understanding but I don’t think you realize how poorly you’ve been treating me.”

“I can make it up to you, nut,” Harry tries desperately, standing up but hesitating when she takes a step back.

Nut- her nickname since they were in grade school.

YN bites her lip, the tears were uncontrollable, “This time, I don’t think you can. Harry, you haven’t come to one of my exhibits this year, you forgot our anniversary until the middle of that day, and haven’t once made plans for us. It’s always me now.”

Harry has a disgusting, sinking feeling because he knew that she was absolutely right.

“If you had fallen out of love with me, wh-why did you string me along?” YN asks quietly, he’d never heard her sound so broken, so tired, and hopeless.

“Don’t,” Harry gets louder, “Don’t you dare fuckin’ say that. I am so in love with you. Everyday it’s more and more.”

YN swallows down a sob, “I don’t want to be in a relationship where this is how someone shows me they love me. You’ve changed. You promised me football wouldn’t change you. You fucking promised me!”

“It’s hasn’t!” Harry defends sharply but he knows she’s right and he’s so disappointed in himself at this.

YN dabs her eyes with the heel of her hand, “I’m done, Harry. I love you. I imagined marriage, kids, my entire future with you. I…I can’t be with someone who goes out to a bar with their teammates while I’m begging you for attention and end up sitting in my dorm all alone.”

Harry shakes his head, “No! You’re not breaking up with me! You’re not fucking throwing away our relationship! It’s been fucking eight years!”

“I didn’t throw it away,” YN argues softly, her gentle tone makes it ten times worse because he knows she’s being rational, not emotionally driven, “You threw it away over and over again while I tried to pick up the pieces.”

“YN, this isn’t over,” Harry is yelling at this point, his heart was feeling like it was about to explode and there were fat tears streaming down his face, “Im not letting you fucking do this! To us!”

Harry isn’t thinking when he steps in front of the door, panicked and desperate to just have her listening, “We’re working it out.”

A knock and the door jolts open, a few of his teammates who had clearly been listening give their captain a serious look.

“H, you have to let her leave,” Niall says in a unsually subdued tone.

“Fuck off and mind your own god damn business,” Harry growls at him, his anger was uncharacteristic and frightening for the normally happy-go-lucky man.

“C’mon, YN,” Liam waves her over, giving Harey a firm look as he escorts her out of his room, “I’ll give you a lift home.”

-

Harry doesn’t sleep.

Harry destroys his room.

He breaks his most prized trophy.

His frat brothers throw him a party to cheer him up.

Harry gets so drunk that he sees double of everything.

He doesn’t know what’s going on as a girl shuts his bedroom door, giggling, and sloppily kissing at his neck.

He doesn’t like it.

It’s not YN.

He is about to tell her that when the door opens again to YN standing there with the most heart-shattering expression on he face.

“It’s been less than a day, Harry,” YN can’t stop the tears, devastated as she looks between the two of them, “I should have known I made the right choice. I don’t even know who you are anymore.”

Harry pushes the girl off but YN already disappeared and he can’t find her anywhere in house.

He stumbles back upstairs and passes out, never feeling so low in his entire life.

-

Harry has a massive bouquet of flowers as he knocks on her dorm room door.

When YN opens it, she looks awful with dark circles from lack of sleep, bloodshot eyes, and greasy hair from lack of shower.

“Baby, please please please,” Harry begs as he presents the flowers, “I know I’ve been fucking up but I can’t lose you.”

YN doesn’t react to the flowers, “You’re six months too late, Harry. This gesture would have meant something then. I was considering my decision and then I saw you with that girl last night.”

“I was drunk and we didn’t-“

“Did you cheat on me? During our relationship?” YN’s voice shakes and he fucking hates that she’s even questioning him on that.

“What? Never. Not even close. When would I have had time? I was trying to get it in with you every second I got,” Harry tells her, it was true, he was obsessed with her, her body, her personality.

YN doesn’t look like she believes him and that feels like a dagger through the center of his heart and twisting it.

“I wish you the best, H.”

“No,” Harry nearly whimpers, he steps forward, dropping the flowers and gripping her jaw, searing their lips together.

Surprisingly, YN doesn’t pull away, just grips his biceps and digs her fingertips in enough that it stings.

“Please, I can never love someone like I love you,” Harry whispers against her lips, tasting her tears as they fall.

“Then you’ll have to learn,” YN replies simply, stepping out of his grip and shutting the door on him.

++

That was three years ago.

Since then Harry had some hookups, two very casual relationships, and despite how much he tried to love someone like he loved YN it had never happened.

So as he kneels in front of her, he falls right into familiarity and actions, moving into her space and putting his hands on her shoulders, “Tilt your head back, nut.”

The nickname just naturally rolled off his tongue.

YN listens, she felt like she was about to have a panic attack from the pain radiating through the center of her face.

“Hu-hurts,” YN gasps as Harry helps her tilt her head, he’s pulling off his jersey with his free hand, struggling a bit but he’s trying to wipe the blood off of her face and neck.

“I know, just hold on. The medics are coming,” Harry soothes as he thumbs over her jaw.

Everything felt a bit surreal.

If he ever doubted that YN was the love of his life, it was reaffirmed as he got coated in her blood, her nose absolutely gushing.

“Is this payback for me breaking up with you?” YN manages to crack a joke even though she’s in pain, that’s his fucking girl.

Harry lets an embarrassingly honking laugh as he shakes his head, “Never in a million years. I can’t -“

“Move please,” One medic orders but soon enough, Harry is being shuffled out of the way and his coaches are dragging him back to the team sideline.

The game was over, YN was carted away on one of the little trucks, and Harry had never been so inattentive in a post-game meeting.

None of the compliments, kudos, praise about his game-winning touchdown even registered because he was freaking out about YN.

Harry cancels his plans to attend the after party.

Then he bribes the one medic with season passes to tell him which hospital they sent YN to.

Harry doesn’t think anything through.

He speeds to the hospital, parks without paying, and rushing into the emergency department to the front desk.

The very very old receptionist has absolutely no clue who he is which is perfect.

“I’m here, looking for YN LN,” Harry drums his fingertips against the counter anxiously.

“You have to be on her visitor list to be able to go back and see her,” The woman, Ronda from her name tag, mutters robotically.

Fuck.

He didn’t even think about that.

There’s no chance.

Ronda clicks her mouse a few times, “Only one name on her list.”

Harry knows it’s going to be her mom or dad.

“Are you…” Ronda squints, taking her glasses off to look, “Uh, Harold?”

Harry has to bite his lip because of course that’s what she put his name in as.

Just like she did at every restraunt that had a waitlist or every time he went into pick up their takeout at a cafe.

“Yes,” Harry coughs to disguise his laugh, pulling out his drivers license to show as proof.

++

Harry was holding his breath, wondering why she put his name on the list, was this going to break his heart even further?

Harry knocks of the doorframe before stepping in, YN was sat up in the hospital bed, and watching a trashy reality television show.

“Surprised my name was on the list,” Harry starts quietly, shutting the door behind him and loitering near it.

“I…I didn’t know if you would come,” YN looks down at her hands, shrugging sheepishly, embarassed, “But I was hoping. I don’t know, it was stupid of me. You’re this big ole’ famous star and -“

“And I will always have time for you. I’d never make that mistake twice,” Harry interrupts her, only taking a few more steps in.

“I…it hurts to see you,” YN admits as she swallows harshly, a telltale sign that tears would be coming.

Harry bites his lip, he felt just as choked up, “I can’t even tell you what it’s like to see you again. God, I’ve just never seen anybody as beautiful as you.”

YN rolls her eyes, “You were dating a Victoria’s Secret model.”

“No, I went on one date with her. That’s it and it was for publicity anyways,” Harry corrects her and it was the truth, “What did the doctor say?”

“I have to go see an oral surgeon about my tooth. He said my nose was severely bruised but no broken bones. I’m just waiting to see about my concussion test. I’ll be discharged tomorrow morning.”

“I am so sorry, nut," Harry sighs, rubbing the bridge of his nose in sympathy.

“I don’t know what tomorrow will bring. Hell, I don’t even know if you’re dating anyone but I have one thing to ask,” YN sits up a bit straighter, he could tell she was nervous.

“Anything,” Harry agrees breathlessly, his hands clenching at his side.

“Lay with me. Hold me tonight, please,” YN begins to tear up, wiping at her eyes, “I miss you everyday. I know it’s a lot to ask or if you have places to be-“

“I canceled everything for tomorrow already,” Harry confesses as he moves forward, “Even if I didn’t. I would drop everything to stay here with you. I’ll hold you for as long as you’ll let me.”

YN squirms over as much as possible to give Harry room, he kicks off his tennis shoes, and crawls onto the bed until he’s on his back.

YN turns on her side, facing towards him, hand resting over his heart, and nuzzling her face delicately to be mindful of her nose in his neck.

He feels hot tears drop from her face onto his skin and all he can do is hold her, slipping a hand under her shirt and rubbing at the warm skin of back.

“M’here, I’m right here,” Harry murmurs shakily, overwhelmed as he buries his own face in her hair and begins to tear up.

God, he fucking missed her.

And more importantly, the scariest thing was confirmed for him.

He’s never, even for a moment, fallen out of love with her.

++

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Madeline Ashby’s ‘Glass Houses’

I'm coming to BURNING MAN! On TUESDAY (Aug 27) at 1PM, I'm giving a talk called "DISENSHITTIFY OR DIE!" at PALENQUE NORTE (7&E). On WEDNESDAY (Aug 28) at NOON, I'm doing a "Talking Caterpillar" Q&A at LIMINAL LABS (830&C).

Glass Houses – published today by Tor Books – is Madeline Ashby's terrifying technothriller: it's an internet-of-things haunted house story that perfectly captures (and skewers) toxic tech culture while also running a savage whodunnit plot that'll keep you guessing to the end:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780765382924/glasshouses

Kristen is the "Chief Emotional Manager" for Wuv, a hot startup that has defined the new field of "affective computing," which is when a computer tells you what everyone else around you is really feeling, based on the unsuppressible tells emitted by their bodies, voices and gadgets.

"Chief Emotional Manager" is just a cutesy tech euphemism for "chief of staff." The only person whose emotions Kristen really manages is Sumter William, the boyish billionaire CEO and founder of Wuv. Sumter hired Kirsten because they share a key developmental trait: both were orphaned at an early age and had to raise themselves in a media spotlight.

Both Sumter and Kristen had been in the spotlight even before their parents' death, though. Sumter was the focus of the intense attention that the children of celebrity billionaires always come in for. Kristen, though, was thrust into the spotlight by her parents: her prepper cryptocurrency hustling father, and her tradwife mother, whose livestreams of Kristen's childhoods involved letting the audience vote everything from whether she'd get dessert after dinner to whether her mother should give her bangs.

Kristen's parents died the most Extremely Online death imaginable: a cryptocurrency price-spike sent her father's mining rigs into overdrive, and when they burst into flame, the IoT house system failed to alert him until it was too late. The fire left Kristen both alone and horribly burned, with scars over much of her body.

Managing Sumter through Wuv's tumultuous launch is hard work for Kristen, but at last, it's paid off. The company has been acquired, making Kristen – and all her coworkers on the founding core team – into instant millionaires. They're flying to a lavish celebration in an autonomous plane that Sumter chartered when the action begins: the plane has a malfunction and crashes into a desert island, killing all but ten of the Wuvvies.

As the survivors explore the island, they discover only one sign of human habitation: a huge, brutalist, featureless black glass house, which initially rebuffs all their efforts to enter it. But once they gain entry, they discover that the house is even harder to leave.

This is the setup for a haunted house story where the house seems to be an unknown billionaire prepper's IoT house of horrors. As the survivors of the crash suffer horrible injuries and deaths on the island, the remaining Wuvvies bolt themselves inside, setting up a locked-room whodunnit that runs in parallel.

This is a fantastic dramatic engine for Ashby's specialty: extremely pointed techno-criticism. The ensuing chapters, which flip back and forth between the story of Wuv's rise and rise to a top tech company, and the company's surviving staff being terrorized on a paradisaical tropical aisle, flesh out Ashby's speculation and the critique it embodies.

For example, there's the political culture of Ashby's future America. Wuv are a Canadian company, headquartered in Toronto, and we gradually come to understand that Canada is the beneficiary of an exodus of tech companies from the US following a kind of soft Christian Dominionist takeover (Kristen and Sumter often have to wrangle rules about whether women are allowed to enter the USA in the company of men they aren't married to and who aren't their brothers or fathers).

The flashbacks to this America are beautifully and subtly drawn, especially the scenes in Vegas, which manages to still be Vegas, even amidst a kind national, legally mandated Handmaid's Tale LARP. Ashby uses her futuristic speculation to illuminate the present, that standing wave where the past is becoming the future. Like everything in the shadows of a haunted house tale, this stuff will make the hair on the back of your neck stand on end.

I'm a big Madeline Ashby fan. I have the honor of having published her first story, when I was co-editing one of the Tesseracts anthologies of Canadian SF. I've read and really enjoyed every one of her books, but this one feels like a step-change in Ashby's career, a leveling up to something even more haunting and brilliant than her impressive back-catalog.

Madeline and I will be live at Chevalier's Books in LA on Aug 16 as part of her Glass Houses tour:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/book-talk-madeline-ashbys-glass-houses-tickets-965286486867

Community voting for SXSW is live! If you wanna hear RIDA QADRI and me talk about how GIG WORKERS can DISENSHITTIFY their jobs with INTEROPERABILITY, VOTE FOR THIS ONE!

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

https://pluralistic.net/2024/08/13/influencers/#affective-computing

[ms-lirio]

"You hurted yourself. Again."

"I guess I should say: I am deeply sorry."

"Do not act so reckless, Alfred."

"—Promise. And you should take a rest, you look tired."

"I am fine. Do not worry about me."

I have MANY pending books to read, whether diaries, reports, story books, Brazilian Pracinhas and Nurses and much more.  But to save time, I decided to just read a few quick articles to prepare this post.

All pointed here is in a historical view.

Brazil was officially the only South American country to send troops to the conflict under its flag.

Historically, Brazil's actions prevailed in Italy.  It was where Brazil sent its troops, and its participation in the war was delayed as Brazil wanted to maintain its relations with both sides and remain neutral throughout the conflict.  After German and Italian attacks suffered by Brazilian ships, Brazil gave up its neutrality, siding with the Allies.

American military bases were built in the Northeast region of Brazil and Brazilian troops received American training.

"In 1939, with the beginning of the Second World War, Brazil remained neutral, in continuation of President Getúlio Vargas' policy of not defining itself by any of the great powers, only trying to take advantage of the advantages offered by them. Such "pragmatism " was interrupted at the beginning of 1942, when the United States and the Brazilian government agreed to transfer air bases on the island of Fernando de Noronha and along the north-northeast Brazilian coast to receive American military bases (if negotiations had not result, with Vargas and the military insisting on maintaining neutrality, the US had plans to invade the Brazilian northeast, codenamed Plan Rubber).”  (WIKIPEDIA)

"Natal, the capital of the state of Rio Grande do Norte, in northeastern Brazil, has a very important strategic global geographic position. This fact made the city host the two main American military bases during the Second World War: the Naval Base and Parnamirim Field – at the time it was the largest US Air Force base on foreign territory.”  (WIKIPEDIA)

// Getúlio Vargas flirted with the Fascist ideology even tho, he went to ALLIES' side. 💀

HCs: (don't take them too seriously)

⚠️ Remembering the following content: we are still talking about Hetalia, so my HCs and lore are not absolute truth, but my perception of my oc's participation during the conflict.  Even though it has a historical basis behind it.  And also, this is historical fiction (ofc, it's hetalia).  WWII is an extremely sensitive topic to many. I ask for caution, I will be careful with what I have to say.

— Alfred used his charm and charisma to make Mayara fight alongside him (Good Neighbor Policy). What worked and they formed an alliance based on a mutual exchange of interests.

— Mayara had developed a strange feeling that intensified for Alfred (something between admiration and wanting to be like him, a complex feeling, which perhaps was confused with platonic love and which sought certain privileges in that alliance), even if she was reluctant to give end her neutral stance towards the conflict (something similar to what happened in WWI).  She would later do this after torpedoing of vessels by German and Italian submarines, retaliation due to Brazil's accession to the Atlantic Charter;  thus, she broke ties with the AXIS and declared war on Italy and Germany.

— In my universe, Mayara also served as a nurse, and spent most of her time with Alfred, often tending to his wounds.  Sometimes just chitchatting together or learning about militarism and things like that. He trained her. He was the one who supported her.

— I changed my conception of another topic, which was May's direct participation on the battlefield.  I think that Mayara, in addition to serving as a nurse, also fought on the front line when necessary (due to the fact that she was the representative of Brazil) and needed to be on the front line.  In my former HC she didn't go to the front. (I disagree with the 2021 me xd).

—  I don't believe that Alfred reciprocated any kind of feelings for May. She was an important piece for him, and so he courted her, to secure a new ally.  It was a benefits relationship.

— Besides Alfred.  There were FEW times where dialogues with England took place, this was due to the participation of Anglo-Brazilians on the English side (if I'm not wrong, in the area of ​​aviation, but I need to delve deeper into the topic).  An almost tiny interaction compared to the prevalence of Alfred's actions, which was immensely greater and also generated impacts.

PS: I don't ship BrAme/AmeBra, they are just friends.  However, Mayara, as I said, had strange feelings for him at some moments in history (I was reading an article about diplomacy 🇧🇷-🇺🇸, I realized that Brazil had a greater interest in getting closer to the USA for economic and regional power, that is, an admiration that aimed for benefits/just as the US aimed for strategic support/Mayara would support Alfred in anything, as she thought she would get support in return).

I used the word "courtship" as it was stated in this old History book (which I no longer have).  Alfred... used his charm against May. Lol.

Evidence of a strange obsession with Alfred:

Meet the United States of Brazil:

(I showed this damn flag to my dad he got disgusted lmfao)

[wawamouse]

Oz Rewatch 3: S6E06: A Day in the Death…

Storylines:

Dino guest narrates

Beecher is back in Oz and angry with Keller; Schillinger offers to befriend Keller now that they’re both at odds with Beecher

Rebadow tries to talk to Stella about cold shouldering her but she wants distance

Idzik is transferred to Em City; Omar is made Idzik’s sponsor

Glynn continues the investigation into Adrian Johnson; Willy Brandt turns up dead;

Robson meets with Sister Pete; Robson joins group therapy

Chico and Miguel talks about Morales and the future of El Norte; Cathy Jo Cutler visits Miguel; Morales’s funeral; McManus offers to set up a meeting between Miguel and Ruiz

Martinez’s autopsy shows he was murdered; Carol Grace is interrogated and arrested

Telemarketing continues to suffer; Burr tries to recruit prisoners; Arif is struggling with finances; Poet and Rawls try to get back into the tits trade; Samuel Gouegeon crime flashback; Burr is sent to destroy the printing press;

Gloria proposes Cyril be executed by electric chair rather than lethal injection; Cyril gets a haircut in preparation of the execution; Jahfree Neema organises a demonstration of solidarity by the Em City inmates during the time of Cyril’s execution; Cyril gets a stay on his execution

Sister: Have we met this guy before? Me: Yeah, that’s Dino. Guy who died in the very first episode? Sister: Uhm….. Me: He was set up like a main character and then he was set on fire at the end of the episode? Sister: I don’t remember that. I only remember um… Jefferson.

Sister: And that’s why he decided to kill someone?

Sister: hey trying to shove a romance in here last second? With the nazi wife?

Sister: I don’t get it. He could just tell and get the insurance anyway, couldn’t he? It’s not like he conspired to burn down the machinery. (Sigh) This is why he’s in prison.

Sister: How did he get everyone to do what he says she he’s been nothing but rude to them?

Sister: They have to wet his head? For conduction? Me: Yeah. Haven’t you seen the Green Mile? Sister: Nope. Me: What? The Green Mile? Yes you have. Pretty sure we watched it together. Sister: Nope. The black guy? Me: With Tom Hanks? Sister: Nope. What's the one where the dude threatens the guards and they get coke? Me: Shawshank Redemption?! Sister: Yeah, I haven't seen that one either. Or Saving Private Ryan. And I'm pretty sure we had Saving Private Ryan at home. Me: We have the Green Mile, too!

Sister: Wawa lied to me… Me: How did I lie? Sister: You made it sound like he died.

Me: Must suck to be Li Chen’s parents sitting there and everyone including the staff is really happy the guy who killed your son won’t be executed. Like, if you believe in the death penalty. Sister: Yeah, they're like screw them, LOL.

Sister’s Predictions for the final two episode/what she would like to happen:

Tobias isn’t getting released unless he gets more family members killed, but he ain’t got that many left.

Cyril will get sent to the mental institute and Ryan will probably mellow out if he’s smart and learns to reflect and be grateful. Or he’ll just keep being a dick. Or maybe O’Reily will stop showing up now that his storyline is done and then we can finally have time to focus on other people’s stories. I mean, what do we have left? Two hours? We got a lot to get done. But I feel like he’s a fan favorite because they do so much crap with him, there’s no way they’re going to just shove him aside. Even if he’s in the background, he’s gonna be, like, standing there. And there’s the stuff with his mom and the other dude. He’s probably going to bless their relationship or whatever and say he understands now.

Redding’s probably going to die because he’s not doing anything else so far. But if the show wants to end with a sense of calm, then Redding’s probably going to survive, or Poet and the other guy will die because they’re already getting messed with.

Miguel will become leader… Or maybe Chico will become leader, if he finds the leadership balls. Someone will come up to him and be like “who’s leader” and he’ll be like “oh, let me go ask Miguel”, which is like HUH? But if he had the leadership balls, he would just be like “Oh, I am!” …There’s only two options with the Latinos. Some random person? I don’t think so.

Keller will die if the show wants to end things on a calm note, but if they want to end things chaotically, he will kill someone and become leader of the white supremacists maybe.

Depending on how much time is allotted to other stories, Idzik will die as a casualty by someone else’s hand and he’ll die as he wanted, and Mr Dinosaur (Omar) won’t get in trouble.

The Muslims need to find a strong leader… The current guy isn’t leadership material so he’ll probably get overthrown.

Lord of the Rings type ending after the ending in the last episode where we do a tour of all the groups and staff with like Mukada and Sister Pete where it seemingly never finishes. The old people (Rebadow and Stella) are probably going to be part of the Lord of the Rings ending. Maybe they’ll do a little wink and wave with the Gays, if they’re really wanting to hit all the groups and give some representation before the show ends. Each group has about…. [some strange Sister math later] 10 minutes and 54 seconds of screen time in the next two episodes.

Next episode will be the action finale and then episode 8 will be a bunch of fall out and resolution so they can give the show a nice ending. Unless they really didn’t know the show would end.

[amurderandconspiracy]

Anam Cara: Chapter 1

(Already posted the AO3 link as a post but posting chapters separately here as well.)

This fic is set two years after the final scenes shown in Dragon Age: The Veilguard (video game), Lucanis is working himself to exhaustion and taking risks to separate he and Spite, heedless of the toll it is taking or caring about the results. Rook is lonely and in mental/emotional anguish and trying to self-destruct by running headlong and recklessly into combat because the pain is too much to face. With the found-family and friendship created during the course of the mission against the gods, what happens when time progresses beyond the end-goal and your family/friends need to deal with their trauma and hurt.  Everyone dealt with immense loss, pain, rejection, and torture, during the course of Veilguard's events and somewhere along the line there are going to be breaks and cracks in the walls one erects around themselves. Lucanis remains locked in an internal struggle and cycle of self-torture, Spite and he are still not separated, and the traumas Rook faced before, during, and after the Veilguard story have never been healed. Through intervention and care, can the connection between Lucanis and Rook and the connection between the Veilguard companions be healed, and can friend-love and soul-bond-love be a key to that healing.

**** Neve ****

Neve came charging through the door of the Lighthouse’s eluvian room, up the stairs, and along the ramp to the upper meeting room, her prosthetic clicking on the seams between the stones of the floor, causing a slight variation in her step as the metal of her foot settled. She emerged from the hallway with purpose and only seemed to slow when she realized that she did not know exactly where Rook might find themself these days.

Over two years had passed since the Veilguard had prevailed and managed to defeat the risen elven gods, everyone had stayed in the Lighthouse for a time working together and continuing their vigil. It did not take long for each companion to break away and return to their lives and homes, or what remained thereof. Rook had chosen, instead, to remain in this haven in the Fade, foregoing a return to the waking world of Thedas. They continued their vigil over the lands and peoples that needed their help, using the Vi’Revas and Crossroads as the means to be wherever they were needed at a moment's notice, able to mobilize whatever factions of Northern Thedas were needed. All of the company were on call and answered if ever Rook needed them, their mission now extending to rooting out the rot in the lands and fighting the leftover threats. Every major power knew how to leave missives through the Veilguard’s ally network to get the attention and assistance of its leader. Rook had worked at a relentless and punishing pace, never seeming to rest or let themself stop, even for a moment. It wasn't until recently that Neve had received reports from her networks that a concerted rebuilding effort had started throughout the North as events seemed to settle and the remnants of the various god-allied groups had fallen back into shadow to lick their wounds, meaning Rook was called on less frequently or only when a major issue arose and needed their special attention. This lull ended only in the North, however, as a new mission arose for the battle-tested leader. During the rise of the gods, the Inquisition in the South had resumed their duties to the Divine in a more visible and active role that mirrored their old standing as a force for good and change. And after the departure of the Inquisitor when the gods were vanquished, Divine Victoria turned once again on her inner circle of trusted advisors and the people of the rank and file of the Inquisition to actively engage in bringing order back to Southern Thedas where power vacuums created chaos.

Neve had kept in regular contact with Harding and Taash regarding trade agreements and arrangement of goods shipments between the North and South, as they had spared no time after the victory in Minrathous and had gone directly to Skyhold from the Lighthouse, taking up residence there to help with the efforts. Harding immediately returned to her role and easily added Taash’s much needed skills to the fight. Harding was focused and willing to use the ties she had, not infrequently calling on the ever-ready presence of Rook to help coordinate or fight when the need arose. The unconventional methods and alliances of the Veilguard were a needed asset for the Inquisition and Rook was one of their greatest weapons.

It was well known among the Shadow Dragons and Crows, that when not aiding the Inquisition in the South, Rook was present in Minrathous and Treviso, exhausting themself and sparing no expense or resource for the cities and their people. Rook, however, never stayed long nor made themself available socially when all was said and done. Even their close and affectionate connection with Teia seemed to have been relegated to a muted version of its former status, even making Viago uneasy with having lost a major competitor for her attention without much confrontation. Rook had been in the same location with Neve and Lucanis several times in the last two years and during a particularly difficult hunt for rogue Venatori cultists acting in the catacombs of Minrathous, they saw Rook and tried to engage them to catch up but when the dust settled, they were nowhere to be found. When they returned to the Lighthouse to perhaps spend some time with Rook and discuss the goings-on of the world, they were unable to be found and the Caretaker had not known their current location, or had not shared it with them. Neve had even taken it upon herself to go to Nevarra and the Grand Necropolis, seeking out Myrnah and Vorgoth for information. Rook’s parental figures, of a sort, had not known their location but mentioned their concern at the last time their charge had returned looking like one of the risen dead rather than a member of the living. Neve had left a message for Emmrich to notify her if Rook found their way to him, but he wrote often and made sure to note the lack of contact from Rook.

Neve thought back to nearly a year ago in Minrathous, remembering the haggard appearance of her friend. During the fight they had been wrapped in leathers and armor that covered the majority of their body and appearance, leaving very little of their face exposed, however Neve’s observation skills were second to none and she clocked the details that others would have ignored. Rook’s skin had always seemed near translucent and as substantial as gossamer but Neve remembered seeing troubling color with layers of bruising clearly decorating the skin that was visible. Throughout various stages of the fight and for the brief time in which Rook had returned to the makeshift headquarters for the Shadow Dragons and allies, Neve had been able to see a few more details, noticing that the bruises they had earlier noted were more pervasive and seemed to be across their entire body, all in differing stages of healing and looking like a patchwork of self-abuse and neglect. Rook’s face was haunted and gaunt, their usually striking red-amber eyes looked dull and without the brilliant light of mirth or barely-disguised sarcasm that always illuminated their countenance before. Their once careful application of their Mourn Watcher’s makeup had become faded, the drag of rouge from their lips and smear of the kohl around their eyes suggested that they were not regularly removing their makeup and reapplying it with the ritualistic care that had been a constant during the mission against the gods. All semblance of the collected and careful leader who had been the cornerstone of the Veilguard was gone, leaving a haunted husk of a person Neve had once known.

She knew this look well, Lucanis had worn that look after the Treviso decision, as he called it at the time. Lucanis became cold and distant, a hardened mask affixed itself to him, becoming his armor against the world. For a time, during the course of their mission against the gods, Rook had managed to return some of Lucanis’ life and spark, though they were never how they had been, never as close and Lucanis lived with a ghost of regret that haunted him from the event and the resulting loss of trust and friendship. If Neve thought hard about it, she had almost forgotten the steady shift that had occurred after losing Rook to the Fade, and Lucanis’ mask had settled more firmly then, relaxing only for a moment before the fight against Elgar’nan. When Rook withdrew, Lucanis had seemed to lose himself in a cycle of dark thinking, weighing how he might pick up his life and the new mantle of First Talon after everything they had all endured.

Neve looked up and around the room, wondering how Rook stayed here in this large place all alone with only their thoughts to keep them company. Just this time waiting was making them over contemplative and ruminating on the course of the last two years. Bellara had stayed the longest here but had said she was too lonely here and split her time between Arlathan and Minrathous, spending any spare time she had with Neve and Lucanis; when he had time to join them. Bellara had often confided in Neve that she was worried about Rook, who seemed to exist in some kind of suspended life. Neve had returned the confidence by expressing her worries about Lucanis and how he was also barely existing. Each time, after these confidences were shared, she went to her weekly coffee date at Cafe Pietra, she shared her worries about Rook with Lucanis, adding those of Bellara to the testimony, and he confirmed that he had noted the same in their appearance over the last few times and shared their concern. At first, Neve had shared this information as a way to handle two issues at once and possibly get him to open up and spur him to help their friend. In fact, his first instinct had been to drop everything and run to their aid, offer anything in his power to give, and had agonized over what he could do for the friend who was so vital to him. However life was as inopportune and poorly timed as ever, and the attentions of his duties called then and hindered his efforts. As a result of his worries and split allegiances, he warred with himself and he suffered several nights of terrors, ones that even seemed to trap Spite in their illusion. Something deeply alarming to them all.

So, he resolved that his accumulated traumas would only distract his friend from themself and their needs, and he could not allow himself to be the cause of more strain. He had not reached out to the friend that had once been his lifeline, he went cold again and focused on his immediate tasks as to not burden those he now was responsible for, though he asked Neve to look in on Rook to make sure they were ok.

Neve had done what Lucanis asked, how could she decline a task when someone she loved had asked her, how could she not want to help her dearest and loved friend. She wanted to pay Rook back for everything they had done for her and Minrathous, for all of Tevinter and Thedas. So she had split some of her time between the Lighthouse, Treviso, and Minrathous, trying at any chance to speak with Rook. She had tried for a whole year, but she had only been able to find Rook a total of six times in the entire year and her duties to Minrathous and then helping in Treviso had pulled her away just when it seemed like Rook’s defenses might lower long enough for them to talk. Neve was used to stubbornness, she was herself quite skilled in the manner, she had endured an entire year of attempting to get Lucanis to actually connect beyond the practiced and safe surface of their affections, but Rook, Rook was a masterclass in pig-headedness. If Neve hadn’t been so frustrated by this continuing obstacle between herself and her partner and best friend maybe she would not have conceded defeat so easily. Perhaps she wouldn’t now be so worried about her friend and their ability to rescue Lucanis after so long witnessing their diminishing.

Neve grew annoyed with her own thoughts and cyclical worries and turned from the main hall to the Caretaker’s station, thinking it easier to inquire about Rook’s whereabouts than to chase all over the complex for them.

”Greetings dweller, how might I be of assistance?” The Caretaker materialized and reconstructed themself from the collected Fade energies here.

“Hello again. Do you know where Rook has gone?” Neve asked, trying not to sound rushed.

”That dweller went to the Treviso eluvian a day hence.” The Caretaker responded airily.

”Oh, well, Rook should return shortly then, I will wait. I cannot chance missing them.” Neve said as she nodded a farewell to the Caretaker and walked back into the main tower of the Lighthouse to wait. She selected a well worn book from the bookshelf in the main sitting area and sat down on the couch to read and hope that Rook would return sooner rather than later.

[rosie-kairi]

Hello I heard an excuse to ask about Rosemary and the seedlings

Who proposed, Rosemary or Ephemer? How long were they dating? How long were they married before they decided to have kids?

Which of the kids are keyblade wielders? Who takes the brunt of the social obligations as a famous family? Who spends the most time with each parent? Which kids end up having kids themselves?

What position do you envision Rosemary having in the rebuilding of Scala? How does she feel knowing that Lauriam is lost somewhere in time and will likely outlive her? How does she honor Strelitzia's memory? Does she know the full truth of the situation, that the public wouldn't? Does she forgive Ventus for his part in it?

Rosemary and Ephemer get married around their early to mid 20's, I think. Rosemary is about 1-2 years older than Ephemer, so I'm thinking maybe 22 + 24? Ephemer being around 16 at the end of khux and her being 17-going-on-18 sounds about right. Probably don't start dating until at least a year of knowing each other. (Ephemer not wanting to jump right into a close relationship out of fear of losing her/feeling like he's using her to soothe his guilt due to her similarities with Lauriam). Idk.

Anyway, the story of their marriage is a very funny one that can be summed up thusly:

Ephemer proposes to her pretty much on the spot after this. I imagine it would be mostly due to a lot of the public probably having more.. traditional values? Basically, Ephemer doesn't need people judging him for having children born out of wedlock when he's trying to build a society from the ground up. But it's also something he had been wanting to do but didn't know the right time for. So they get married soon after, and if the kids are born only a handful of months after the wedding instead of at least 9, who's to say?

As for the kids, I think they'd all wind up with keyblades at one point or another. I don't think Nico is much of a fighter, though, so he doesn't see reason to use it unless absolutely necessary. Reggie, as the oldest, takes on most of Ephemer's responsibilities once she's old enough. The other two help out as well, but they're also busy running around the various worlds trying to gauge the extent of the damage the keyblade war caused, for science and for funsies.

June is very much a daddy's girl, and Nico's a momma's boy. Reggie has no real "favorite" parent, but if asked she'd probably say Rosemary as well. They all love each other equally, but it's clear who took after who on the family tree lol. As for their kids, I think all three of them have at least one. June carries the Belrose family name which eventually leads to Sigrun in DR, and Nicolai somehow leads to the creation of good ol' Nort.

Rosemary's role in the rebuilding of Scala is being the person doing all of the talking. Growing up in a well-respected southern family has taught Rosemary her fair share of conversational tactics to get someone to agree to exactly what you want them to. Call it manipulative, but she does it mostly through being very very polite. You just can't say no to a face like hers, and she's asking you so so nicely. Ephemer eventually finds his footing as leader, but everyone always listens to Rosemary.

With regards to her cousins, Rosemary probably doesn't know all of the details. Ephemer tells her most things but leaves out some of the stuff that he'd think would really wreck her emotionally. So, as far as she is concerned, Lauriam and Strelitzia are dead dead. No Coming back, she can only hope to see them in whatever afterlife exists in KH. She honors them by creating multiple gardens in their names and treats them with the utmost care. Her and Ephy probably have statues of them put up in the gardens, or maybe something meant to represent them.

As for Ventus, I think Ephemer would explain it to her in the best terms a non-wielder could understand. There was this kid, he was lonely, Lauriam embraced him as a brother in the absence of Strelitzia, but then it came out that the kid had accidentally caused Strelitzia's death. They're probably the only two that know that last bit, as Ephemer saw no reason to stain the poor kid's legacy with that, knowing that'd it would probably be twisted over the years and lose the "unintentional" part. So, I think Rosemary understands that Ventus didn't want Strelitzia to die. I think Rosemary would wish she could've been there for him, at least a little bit. Roads not taken, and all that.

[respectthepetty]

15 Questions

Tagged by @italianpersonwithashippersheart and @pandasmagorica

1. are you named after anyone?

Yes. First name is after my cousin's imaginary friend because my parents were wild. Middle name is after the song I was conceived to because my parents were really wild.

2. when was the last time you cried?

Externally? I joke that I haven't cried since 2009, but I really think that is the last time I cried. Internally? Every single fucking day.

3. do you have kids?

Oh, Lord, no.

4. what sports do you play/have you played?

Basketball, volleyball (horrible at it), fast-pitch softball, but I love watching all live sports.

5. do you use sarcasm?

Strange story, but many educators have to get "empathy training" because we do not understand declarations of self-harm to be serious. We think they are sarcastic comments. I think as an aging millennial, sarcasm is all we have, so we do not recognize when someone else is being serious. So . . . yes, I use sarcasm.

6. what’s the first thing you notice about people?

Vibes. I travel alone, so if the vibe ain't right, I'm out.

7. what’s your eye color?

Very dark brown

8. scary movies or happy endings?

Happy Endings. Both kind. *wink*

9. any talents?

Navigation and directions. Stick me anywhere, and I will find my way to where I need to go. Metro, bus, interstate, walking. Doesn't matter. I will figure it out. Also driving. I can drive loooong distances and any vehicle is my friend, which is why I got a ticket on the autobahn because I was just vibin' in the Audi at 150 km.

10. where were you born?

Japan

11. what are your hobbies

Traveling, especially for live music. I've seen hundreds of artists individually and have been to almost fifty music festivals. Some of my favorites are Austin City Limits (Austin), Electric Daisy Carnival (Las Vegas), Lollapalooza (Chicago), Country Music Awards Fest (Nashville), Osheaga (Montreal), Ultra (Miami), Primavera (Barcelona), Mad Cool (Madrid), and Pa'l Norte (Monterrey, México). Some of my favorite venues are Meow Wolf (Santa Fe), Red Rocks (Denver), and Fenway Park (Boston), and I had a ticket to see a concert at the Palace of Versailles in France for May 2020, then everything went to hell in a hand basket. But strangely, I saw Bad Bunny, Big Freedia, and French DJ Gesaffelstein in 2020.

I could talk for hours about music, but I'll stop with this picture (not mine because none I took came out good) of Gesaffelstein who dresses like this for his shows with an all black background and all black equipment. Ah-maze-zing.

12. do you have any pets?

Oh, God, no. I'm a Disney villain. I don't mess with animals. Or plants.

13. how tall are you?

5'9" (This is a good country song too)

14. favorite subject in school?

Languages & Literature, which is why I teach English now.

15. dream job

What I'm doing now. Teaching. Except I would like to grade less than ~150 essays every month, but education is a mess right now, so y'all be nice to your professors.

[juniperfoxxy]

When first watching Princess tutu it can feel confusing and upsetting that Mytho got with rue instead of duck, but honestly I’m kinda glad that it happened. My feelings on rue and Mytho are complicated, but I’m just glad Mytho didn’t get with duck. A lot of times in stories there’s this idea that a hero of the story like duck *deserves* the love of their crush for saving them but that’s not how love works. A different example would be the hung back of Norte dame movie, instead of Quasimoto ending up with Esmeralda she ends up with the knight because that is who she loves. That part of the reason I love the song heavens light and hell fire because of how they contrast real love and lust from each other. Quasimodo loves Elsmerelda enough to let her go and isn’t “rewarded” her because he saved the day. This is how I feel about duck and Mytho, rue and him could have been written better and shown that they loved each other more but it makes sense that at the beginning Mytho struggle to figure out his emotions to rue considering that he didn’t have the emotion of love back yet. Sure, you could see it as sad for duck because of how much she did for everyone with nothing in return (I am upset that she remained as a duck in the end) but I don’t think she ever truly loved Mytho.

This is a long winded way of saying, I like that Mytho wasn’t treated as a reward and given to Duck at the end and instead went with someone he loves.

[oliviarusso2]

For my project this week, I thought it would be fun to make a girl that would typically live in the city. As the girls aesthetic is bold reds and blacks the background I choose is the complete opposite. It is colorful and full of life just like how a bustling city filled with opportunity is in real life.

Attendance:

1. Beret: the beret hat originates from the Basque region, which spans the French and Spanish border. Traditionally, the Basque berets were made from wool that would felt when exposed to rain, creating a snug cap. Felted wool is very practice due to its warmth and water resistance. https://pieceworkmagazine.com/history-of-the-beret/#:~:text=The%20beret%2Dstyle%20hat%20has,warm%20but%20also%20water%20resistant

2. Kiwi: I learned that the kiwi fruit originated in Yangtze Valley in central China. Historically, they were valued for their nutritional and medicinal properties and remain a local delicacy.

3. Pear: in the article I read I found this specifically to be interesting. In the Odyssey, the Greek poet praises pears as a gift from the gods. In Roman mythology, Pomona, the goddess of fruit, held a revered place in the pantheon, and Roman farmers recorded advanced techniques for pear cultivating and grafting.

4. Red lipstick: over 5,000 years ago in Mesopotamia, red lipsticks were made from crushed gemstones. Later, ingredients like red algae and fish scales were used. The first molded lipsticks, similar to today’s were invented by Abu Al-Qasim Al-Zahrawi during the Islamic Golden Age.

5. Shopping bags: in 1871, Margaret E. Knight invented a machine for flats bottomed paper bags, improving capacity. In 1883, Charles Stilwell’s machine added pleated sides for easier folding and storage.

6. Perfume: perfumes date back thousands of years, used in ancient Egypt, Rome, Mesopotamia, and Persia for hygiene, ceremonies, and as symbols nobility.

7. Starbucks: Starbucks began in 1971 in Seattle’s Pike Place Market offering roasted coffees and teas. The shop quickly became a global sensation.

8. Bag charms: I learned that in the Neolithic Era leather bracelets were decorated with bone, shell, wood, and other materials as early forms of personal style. In ancient Egypt, these charms evolved into symbols of protection and good luck. Today they are still used to show off personal style.

[colinodonoghuebrasil]

TRADUÇÃO: Entrevista Independent Irish

Em entrevista com Barry Egan, para o site Independent Irish, Colin O'Donoghue conversou sobre a peça 2:22 - A Ghost Story, atuação, exorcismos na vida real e trabalho com Anthony Hopkins.

O rapaz de Louth fala sobre sua empolgação em voltar aos palcos em 2:22 - A Ghost Story e sobre os esforços que ele faz para conseguir um papel, incluindo participar de um exorcismo para o papel principal ao lado de Anthony Hopkins em The Rite.

A entrevista original pode ser encontrada CLICANDO AQUI, ou continue lendo para conferir a tradução do COBR:

Colin O'Donoghue é um osso duro de roer. A maioria das pessoas no mundo das artes é assim. Um homem adorável e compreensível, é claro, mas estoico, introspectivo e difícil de ser revelado. “Não gosto de revelar muito de mim”, ele confirma. “Gosto de me guardar para mim mesmo. Não sou um vendedor ambulante em entrevistas. Algumas pessoas são brilhantes nisso. Não que haja algo de errado nisso, mas eu não sou uma dessas pessoas”.

Quase no final de uma conversa de 45 minutos, eu disse que estava curioso para saber se, por ter nascido em 1981 e ter sido criado perto da fronteira no Condado de Louth, ele estava mais livre da bagagem psicológica dos problemas do que os atores da geração mais velha.

“Não sei se isso me tornou mais livre como ator”, diz ele. “Tenho 43 anos. Cresci na fronteira, em Ravensdale. Ainda havia uma ressaca desse tipo de mundo. Me lembro perfeitamente dos postos de controle ali mesmo na fronteira. Me lembro de nosso carro sendo parado por soldados, indo para o Norte. E havia os helicópteros e todo esse tipo de coisa. Eu era jovem. Eu não definiria um tempo específico para isso. A propósito, isso aconteceu com todo mundo”.

“Eu costumava pegar o trem para Dundalk para ir à escola todos os dias”, continua ele. “Era bastante comum ter medo de bombas no trem. Você meio que cresce com isso, não é? Isso era normal. Esse era o mundo em que crescemos.”

Quando perguntado sobre como isso afetou seu trabalho no cinema e na TV mais tarde, ele disse: “Você usa tudo o que pode emocionalmente para se conectar com algo como ator. Portanto, seja qual for a época em que você cresceu, acho que você ainda está tentando se conectar a algo. Você usa tudo o que tem dentro de você para tentar fazer funcionar”.

Elaborando sobre sua vida interior, ele diz: “Acho que, naturalmente, como pessoa, eu seria bastante quieto. Sempre gostei de observar as coisas e as pessoas ao meu redor e sentir o mundo. Eu simplesmente gosto de observar, e sempre gostei”.

Como ele [Colin] era quando estava crescendo? “Não posso lhe dizer isso. Eu não sei. Sinceramente, não sei. Passei por momentos difíceis na escola algumas vezes, com bullying, quando era um pouco mais jovem. Então, acho que isso me fechou um pouco. Por isso, gosto de me manter um pouco mais reservado”.

Pergunto sobre as lembranças mais antigas da infância. Ele diz que não tem muitas. “Me lembro de jogar futebol com os amigos no gramado quando eu era criança. Minha mãe costumava me levar em viagens para visitar castelos antigos ou visitar meus avós maternos na fazenda deles. Eu estava dizendo a alguém outro dia que não lembro de muita coisa da minha infância porque, talvez, eu tenha apagado minha memória por estar sempre decorando falas”, ele ri. “Eu era um adolescente bastante calmo, e meio que caí na atuação, na verdade”.

Ele descreve o homem que é hoje em dia como “mais aberto e, eu acho, mais gregário do que costumava ser”. Certamente, quando se trata de seu trabalho, ele tem muito a dizer. Nós nos encontramos para discutir 2:22 - A Ghost Story, no qual O'Donoghue está estrelando ao lado da atriz Shona McGarty (de EastEnders), Jay McGuiness (da boyband The Wanted), e nossa própria Laura Whitmore.

Um sucesso do West End, o espetáculo estreia no teatro 3Olympia em Dublin amanhã (20 de Junho) e fica em cartaz até agosto. O jornal The Guardian a descreveu como “uma peça de teatro inteligente, arrepiante e divertida”.

“Esta é minha primeira peça depois de 15 anos”, diz O'Donoghue. “Ela está em cartaz há vários anos. Há diferentes iterações dela. Acho que foi apresentada nos Estados Unidos, na Austrália e em vários outros lugares, mas esta é a primeira vez que está sendo apresentada em Dublin. É emocionante poder participar”.

“Eu interpreto um personagem, Sam, cuja esposa está em casa e ele está em uma viagem de trabalho para uma ilha. Ela começa a perceber algumas atividades assustadoras na casa. Laura e Jay interpretam Lauren e Ben, que são a melhor amiga do meu personagem na faculdade e o namorado dela, e eles vêm visitar essa nova casa. Sam é muito cético. Ele não acredita em fantasmas ou qualquer outro tipo de coisa. Ele é a voz da razão na peça. Isso é o máximo que posso lhe dizer sem estragar nada.”

Em termos de sua própria crença no paranormal, ele diz que está “aberto a praticamente tudo. Não tenho a pretensão de ter respostas definitivas para nada”. Ele tem alguma experiência com assuntos assustadores - até mesmo satânicos. Em 2011, ele foi o protagonista do filme de terror sobrenatural The Rite. “Era um filme de exorcismo e eu tive que ir a alguns exorcismos reais em Roma”, diz O'Donoghue sobre o filme, vagamente baseado em uma história real de um seminarista da vida real enviado para estudar exorcismo pela Igreja Católica.

Como foi isso [essa experiência com exorcismos]? “Foi intenso”, diz ele com uma risada. “Tinha uma garota que me deixava apavorado. Foi muito parecido com uma sessão de terapia. Era em uma sala pequena. Não vou dizer qual igreja, embora a maioria das igrejas famosas de Roma tenha uma sala de exorcismo, que você não conhece. Algumas pessoas podem estar indo há anos e anos, e você tem seu exorcismo de uma hora ou meia hora e vai embora. Então, é quase como uma terapia. Havia pessoas fazendo fila para entrar e ver um padre”.

O'Donoghue estrelou o filme ao lado de Anthony Hopkins e Ciarán Hinds. “The Rite foi meu primeiro filme. Anthony Hopkins estava ciente do fato de que eu estava em praticamente todas as cenas. Ele sabia que eu estava me esforçando muito e me deu muito apoio. Foi incrível trabalhar com ele, um dos maiores atores vivos. E [foi incrível] aprender com alguém como ele. Ele me falou sobre seu processo de atuação.”

Quanto ao seu próprio processo de atuação, Colin diz: “Tento saber o máximo possível sobre um assunto. Quando fiz The Rite, senti que era muito importante ir a exorcismos e pesquisar, aprender sobre o latim e o rito dos exorcismos. Todo esse tipo de coisa. Isso ajuda a informar minha atuação. Minha ideia é não querer que alguém veja algo e diga: "Não, não foi assim que aconteceu comigo". Na maioria das vezes, você tenta se conectar com algo dentro de você e tenta encontrar, acho, uma emoção ligada a isso. É um processo tão pessoal para cada um que é difícil de explicar.”

O'Donoghue precisa se identificar com o personagem para que ele faça essa conexão? “Sim e não”, diz ele. “Eu fiz seis anos de um programa de TV de sucesso nos Estados Unidos, no qual interpretei o Capitão Gancho, que era um pirata de 200 anos”, diz ele, referindo-se à sua interpretação do Capitão Killian 'Gancho' Jones no drama de fantasia Once Upon a Time.

“Há muito pouco com o que eu possa me identificar lá. Às vezes, é importante encontrar algo que te force um pouco e tire de sua zona de conforto, e que te teste”, diz ele, antes de citar exemplos de onde ele se testou: o já mencionado The Rite e The Right Stuff, a série da Disney+, de 2020, sobre os primeiros astronautas americanos, com produção executiva de Leonardo DiCaprio. Nela, O'Donoghue interpreta Gordon Cooper, o primeiro americano a passar um dia no espaço quando, em 1963, pilotou o mais longo e último voo espacial da Mercury, o Mercury Atlas 9. “Para assumir o papel, tive apenas alguns dias antes de começarmos a filmar. É um grande teste assumir um ícone americano. Fui colocado fora de minha zona de conforto, mas também foi uma oportunidade incrível interpretar alguém como ele”.

Enquanto muitas crianças sonhavam em se tornar astronautas, interpretar um deles é uma realização mais precisa das ambições da infância de O'Donoghue. Ele diz que sua juventude foi marcada por uma “obsessão” por filmes. Aos 10 anos, ele assistiu a 12 Angry Men - a obra-prima em preto e branco de 1957 sobre um julgamento, com Henry Fonda. Esse continua sendo o filme favorito de O'Donoghue até hoje. Aos 11 anos, ele assistiu a Ghostbusters II no Abbey Cinema, em Drogheda, com seu pai. Ele adorou o filme. Da mesma forma, foi cativado por E.T. e Star Wars.

“Eu adorava a ideia de fazer filmes em geral e de poder viajar por duas horas e escapar por [essas] duas horas. Eu adorava o cinema em Drogheda”, diz ele sobre a cidade onde ainda vive com sua esposa, Helen, e seus dois filhos.

Aos 15 anos, ele entrou para o Youth Theatre em Drogheda. “Em 1998, tivemos a sorte de fazer uma peça no National Theatre em Londres, [chamada] Eclipse, de Simon Armitage, que foi o Poeta do Milênio na Inglaterra. Era sobre um grupo de crianças que vão à Cornualha para assistir ao eclipse lunar em 1999 e uma delas desaparece. Eu interpretei um farejador de cola chamado Glue Boy. Aprendi que você poderia assumir a pele de um personagem e não precisaria ser você por um tempo. Não que haja algo de errado comigo, mas você pode fingir ser outra pessoa. Foi muito libertador. Foi por isso que me apaixonei pela atuação”. A reação da plateia também foi atraente. “Era uma noite com ingressos esgotados e fomos aplaudidos de pé, e então me dei conta: 'Ah, isso é legal'”.

Ao sair da escola, em vez de ir para a universidade, ele foi estudar na Gaiety School of Acting, em Dublin. “Treinei lá por alguns anos e fiz peças na Irlanda, às vezes para menos pessoas do que havia no elenco. Fiz uma temporada em Fair City [como Emmett Fitzgerald]”.

Ele também participou de The Clinic, drama da RTÉ. Sua mãe, Mary, é psicoterapeuta, o que, segundo ele, foi “útil” para sua interpretação do problemático Conor, que certa vez ateou fogo em si mesmo no consultório de sua terapeuta. “Meu personagem era bipolar. Então, conversei com ela e ela me colocou em contato com pessoas que realmente entendiam do assunto. Eu queria ser sensível ao fato de que havia pessoas lidando com isso no dia a dia. Coisas como essas realmente ajudam”.

Sua grande chance veio por meio de um de seus papéis menores. Em 2009, ele interpretou o Duque Philip da Bavária em The Tudors. Ele é modesto o suficiente para admitir que esteve apenas “em um episódio de The Tudors. Fiquei nele por talvez 10 minutos”. No entanto, ele foi bom o suficiente naqueles 10 minutos para que um diretor de elenco entrasse em contato para saber se ele tinha representação em Los Angeles.

“Eu disse que não tinha”, lembra ele. Isso diz muito sobre O'Donoghue, pelo simples fato de ele não ter ludibriado o diretor de elenco na terra da ludibriação que é Los Angeles.

“Eles disseram que, se eu quisesse ir, marcariam algumas reuniões com agentes. Eu estava me casando no mês seguinte e disse à minha (agora) esposa: 'Acho que essa pode ser… não a minha chance… mas se eu não for agora, acho que nunca mais irei'. Então, fui até lá e consegui assinar com uma agência alguns meses depois. E seis meses depois disso, eu estava sentado em um set de filmagem em Roma com Anthony Hopkins. Tudo mudou depois disso”.

2:22 - A Ghost Story fica em cartaz no 3Olympia Theatre de 20 de junho a 11 de agosto. Para reservar, acesse ticketmaster.ie

[claudeleine]

what would you say your favorite books are from this year? and you would recommend?

ooooo! i think i've read about 24 books this year, and rn i'm reading the vampire armand and the only good indians by stephen graham jones<3 liking both so far!

the hacienda by isabel canas - if you liked mexican gothic, this is a similar haunted house type story, and tbh i liked it more. also the author is a pnw local so <3 i also liked her book vampires of el norte, but i zoomedddd thru this one

the adventures of amina al-sirafi by shannon chakraborty - specifically the audio book though, there are a lot of asides where the narrators are speaking to ppl in the room with them, so it works better if it's like they're telling u the story rather than u reading what they wrote down if that makes sense. the narrators are also just phenomenal

martyr! by kaveh akbar - this book was just beautiful

near to the wild heart by clarice lispector - another beautiful book, i just love her writing style

legendborn and bloodmarked by tracy deonn - a phenomenal low fantasy book, and honestly if the publishing industry wasn't terrible to black women, especially in the fantasy genre, this could easily have been adjusted to be adult fiction/fantasy

starve acre by andrew michael hurley - we love gothic folk horror, it was like the prologue to a horror story but falls just between the chaos. it's a quick read, u could knock it out in a day probably

silver nitrate by silvia moreno-garcia - it takes a bit for the action to get going, but i really liked how well u get to know the two mcs and it really strengthened the story when shit starts hitting the fan. this is the 2nd or 3rd book i've read by this author and i'm not totally sure how i feel about her endings, but i did like this ending more than mexican gothic, which fully knocked that book down from 5 stars to 4 for me lol

carmilla by j. sheridan le fanu - but specifically only the version annotated by carmen maria machado

[captainbobbin]

Thoughts on Saix/Isa and Guardian?

so this was asked, I am sure, in response to my tags of 'ask me about my Saïx/Guardian thoughts, I dare you' on this art hahaha

Allow me to begin this with somewhat of a tangent. Back in the day, Kingdom Hearts 1 came out; and we see the Guardian Heartless at the end. He is seemingly a part of Ansem, with no real agency of his own, but is separate enough that we hear Ansem address it and give it commands and use it as a tool, an ally in combat. It is essentially his backup, his right hand, you know what I mean? He relies on him in hand-to-hand combat because Ansem doesn't like getting his own hands dirty, he’s a magic user, Guardian is his. Well. Guardian. His defense, something he controls to use as a shield to hide behind. This great heaving beast of fangs and yellow eyes and hollowed-out chest, doing as he is told with what appears to be little ability to defy Ansem, he is just. There. This looming X-faced thing that antagonises and keeps you away from the big bad of the game, entirely physical and, as far as we knew, mindless.

Then came Kingdom Hearts 2. Bear in mind that at this point, when KH2 released, that was the only other game in the series - no CoM, no BBS, no nothing, just KH1 and 2.  We’re introduced to the Organization, to Xemnas, to Saïx. And with having no knowledge at all of the background lore of the Organization - no knowledge of the Nort plot, no knowledge of Saïx’s hatred and desire to destroy the Org, no knowledge of Terra - we are lead to believe that Saïx is how he portrays himself on the surface. Loyal. Meticulous and cold and unfeeling. Just logic and plans and devious wiles, yknow? Saïx taunts Sora throughout the game, actually has more of a personal beef with him than Xemnas at all, is more of a direct antagonist. But he’s a Nobody, he does all this through manipulative words and cruel ideas and just generally being a taunting prick. Every time we meet him in game however, there is this real sense of control. Saïx is so very overtly in charge of things - we see him ‘chase off ‘ Axel who flees on sight of him, and Saïx says that ‘we will ensure that he receives the maximum punishment’ - we, not Xemnas, not I, but we. Saïx establishes himself as the hands of the Organization in that one sentence. He doesn’t act on behalf of himself, he acts on behalf of what needs to be done. Saïx is calculated, all front and icy projectiion, careful words used specifically to twist Sora - and the audience. We do not need to be told through the journal that he is the second-in-command, we believe it. He is consistently there, and in the base game I believe that he is the only Org member we see interact with Xemnas directly one-on-one, and so casually. Xemnas too appears to not want to get his hands dirty. He vanishes as soon as Sora and the others get close at Hollow Bastion, he only gets involved with Sora at The World That Never Was once everyone else is dead, Xemnas is the world's most passive and uninvolved boss while Saïx is constantly and consistently making things happen and is taking an active role in the story, pushing Sora to do things in certain ways, influencing the Org behind the scenes. (Sora actually speaks more to Ansem in the first cutscene with him in the Destiny Islands in kh1 than he speaks to Xemnas in 2 in totality!)

There was a time after 2 came out that theories were abound. The only Nobodies we meet that have confirmed heartless/somebodies were Roxas and Xemnas. And Xemnas’ heartless had this big hulking beast with an x across its face, acting on instinct and command to protect and fight for Ansem (and Kingdom Hearts), the one Ansem relied on, the one who was with him until the end, the one was a shadow behind the main villain. And there was Saïx, with the x scar, acting seemingly through loyalty and his own incentive to be the last one standing to protect Xemnas (and Kingdom Hearts), the driving force that stood behind the final antagonist and shaped the plot around him. There was a very potent theory between myself and a few others (primarily us that always like Xemnas and Saïx together as a pairing) that Guardian was in fact Saïx’s heartless. As I said, at the time there was no Terra, so other lore or background to go off of (secret ending and confusing journal entries and unexplained plot points like Sora in the pod notwithstanding). So it felt like a pretty logical connection to try and make, especially when you consider the angle that like. Even Xemnas emotes more than him, right. Noticably, Xemnas is shockingly more human and emotive and instinctual than Saïx. Saïx is constantly very calm and removed and pious, very above it all, calling heartless mindless canonically and seeming to have a mix of disdain and almost wistfulness about them - and then as soon as its finally time to fight, he just absolutely goes apeshit and devolves into Berserk. The fact that this very levelheaded and apathetic and The most Nobody Of All Nobodies finds himself backed into a corner and then taps into the most explosive show of what appears to be feeling that we’ve seen from any Nobody thus far - Guardian is this big monstrous thing, all fangs and muscle and power, and Saïx had been all brain and strategy; one of the main memories I have of my first playthrough of KH2 is the sheer deception of Saïx. And I don't mean that as ‘oh this guy is a liar who is planning things behind the scenes’ because there was no way of knowing that at the time. What I mean is that every time we saw Saïx, he was flanked by underlings. Every time Sora interacted with Saïx, Saïx would summon lesser Nobodies and heartless to back him up. He had no sense of imposition, he wasn’t like Xaldin where just by appearance it was like oh this guy is huge and is gonna be a very physical fight and he wasn't crafty in the way of like Demyx or Xigbar where your impression was oh this is gonna be flighty and fast-paced. Saïx really had this impression of someone who was going to rely on others in his fight, this was the middle-management second-in-command guy who kept getting lackies to act around him. I went into his fight expecting a summoning fight, that we were gonna have to fight waves of smaller threats to get to him. So the fact that this bitch faces you by himself, lifts an enormous fucking sword bigger than himself like its nothing and then erupts is so memorable to me. At the first opportunity - or perhaps as his last chance - he devolves into a thoughtless, instinctual, hateful monster. For the longest time I thought Guardian was Saïx’s heartless due to their parallels of being chained to Ansem/Xemnas, calm vs destruction, the x’s on their face, the pacing in which they appeared and died in the story.

I just really vibed with the theory - I loved Xemnas/Saïx as a pairing (still do, obviously, lmao) so the idea that they had counterparts that were linked together really just kinda gelled well with my view of them. But! Then BBS came out, and DDD, and so on. In my country we didn’t actually get CoM or any of the collections until quite recently, so I actually missed out on a bit of context of the series. But I played BBS to death when it came out and I fell in love with Terra hardcore.

In DDD (which again I did not get to play right away due to delays), Guardian was directly hinted at being Terra, and then in 3 it was fully revealed.

So like ofc I view a lot of the Terra/Isa relationship through a XemSai gaze - I love Xemnas and Saïx together in any kind of context; theyre dependant on each other, they love each other, they hate each other, theyre using each other, they want each other dead and gone, they cant imagine life or unlife without the other, theyre married theyre divorced theyre each others first theyre each others lasts they cant wait to see the other fail they only want the best for each other they are studying one another like insects trapped in jars theyve hurt each other theyve fixed each other etc etc etc. But my thing with XemSai (that I hope is very prevalent in my writing and to an extent my art as well) is that it is straight-up doomed. That all stuff set during the canonical events of the series is leading to their inevitable and impending destruction and therefore separation. It can’t last. None of it can last. Whether they want it to last or they want it to be over, or they think they want it to be over, it ends. Life goes on or maybe it doesn’t. Whatever the outcome, whether conscious or willing or malicious or not, Xemnas had been manipulated from the start and Saïx began and ended his nonexistence wanting Xemnas out of the picture. I love love love Xemnas and Saïx being open in the same and yet horrible corrosive opposites to each other. I love Saïx being desperate to feel, latching onto whoever and whatever he can, and Xemnas being at the right place at the right time, usable, going along with it all, because why not? It will all end eventually in any case, they may as well enjoy what limited time they have… they don't feel anything, so they can’t feel hurt, can’t feel betrayed, can't feel heartbroken when deception is made evident and knives are in each other's backs.

But then it ends. The plan succeeds and Saïx becomes Isa again and hes human, he’s real, he got what he always wanted and worked for an hes a human again. But he retains all of those memories, those ghosts of feelings. Does he miss Xemnas? Does he hate him? Is he glad hes dead? Does he regret what happened? And then along comes Terra, the body of the man he had been beside for a decade, new and fresh but familiar and real. I absolutely adore Terra and Isa kind of muddling through their new lives together after such a long time of being incomplete - as you can surely tell by the fuckin bible that is this series lmao

However you are asking my thoughts on Saïx with Guardian. Not XemSai and not moonrocks lmao. But I hope its understandable that they all feed into each other, its a big three-ring venn diagram to me. They would find each other in every lifetime, in every form, they are always destined to be together - (despite of course Terra and Xemnas being two very separate people, and there is an argument for another day that is a hill I’ll fight on which is that Saïx and Isa to an extent are separate people, naturally). 

Just. Mad as hell betrayed vengeful Saïx being trapped, bound to serve, ready to lash out and backstab all he can and beg borrow cheat steal and murder his way out of the pit that is The Organization, Berserk festering under his skin, made unnatural, made wrong, wronged, at his wits end and unable to escape, plotting and feral and cold. Finding solace in this enormous beast that is just like him, this looming silent shadow that remembers only the faintest concept of promises, or love, of family and protecting those that matter. Saïx on the move in The Real Organization, flanked by puppets he helped create filled with hearts that he hurt, and behind him trails this behemoth that recognises him, somehow, and even though their loyalties are forced to be elsewhere, their arms twisted behind their banks, they’re connected, they have a thread weaving them together. Saïx using Guardian as a mirror, recognising aspects of himself in this haunting creature, silently hurt because this is a heart, this is a human heart that has attached itself to him, and it isn't his but maybe in some ways it is but none of this is right and he just wants things to be right again.

And also, like. On a slightly more nsfw note. I am a huge huge HUGE slut for size difference, monsterloving, and Saïx screwing his way into feeling almost like a person again lmao. You can’t tell me that his ego would burst into flames at having this huge doting creature give his body all that it craves, able to command it so readily and it does whatever it is told because it sees him as powerful, in charge of it, and Guardian is so willing, so taken, so able to hold him like hes something precious, god Saïx just wants to be treasured, kept, cared for, and at his beck and call is this captive beast that looks at him like he’s special, like he's his salvation, and theyre both monsters that keep failing, slipping into feral and violent ways, but they can take it. No one can handle the other like they can.

I’ve written a (sfw) Saïx/Guardian fic before as part of my one-fic-a-day challenge in February and, don't worry, I have plenty more to come lmao. There is also hints at Guardian flickering in with LFOTR, but you’ll have to wait and see how it all plays out heehoo. I’ve also drawn several Saïx/Guardian things before, but they must remain on my ‘reon due to the uh ahem nature of those types of drawings haha :p (see the paragraph prior lmao)

Anyway this is getting very long and I could keep going but I have probably rambled enough for one morning lmaooooo

I absolutely love the dynamic of Terra and Isa and I love the perversion of it by the two of them being twisted by their other lives. They are rife for angst and healing and destructive patterns and growth and that is my game, baybeeee 

Thank you so much for poking my brain with a stick I love it so so so much I am being so deadass genuine I love talking about my blorbos I will sit here now thinking of these two even harder. also I'm sorry I take so long to respond to asks I just have so many words in my brain that I need to squeegee them out into a cup ghkjhk;

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Nalo Hopkinson’s “Blackheart Man”

I'm OFFLINE UNTIL MID-SEPTEMBER, but you can catch me in person at BURNING MAN! On TUESDAY (Aug 27) at 1PM, I'm giving a talk called "DISENSHITTIFY OR DIE!" at PALENQUE NORTE (7&E). On WEDNESDAY (Aug 28) at NOON, I'm doing a "Talking Caterpillar" Q&A at LIMINAL LABS (830&C).

In Blackheart Man, the new Nalo Hopkinson novel out today from Simon & Schuster, we get a tour-de-force from an author in full control of her prodigious powers: a story that will make you drunk on language, on worldbuilding, and on its roaring, relentless plot:

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Blackheart-Man/Nalo-Hopkinson/9781668005101

The action is set on Chynchin, a fantastic Caribbean island(or maybe Caribbeanesque – it's never clear whether this is some magical, imaginary world, or some distant future of our own). Chynchin is a multiracial, creole land with a richly realized gift economy that Hopkinson deftly rounds out with a cuisine, languages, and familial arrangements. Blackheart Man boasts some of the finest "in-cluing" (Jo Walton's marvelous term for the way that sf/f writers can assemble a world in their readers' minds with subtle clues that act as a made-to-be-solved puzzle the reader delights in assembling) you could ask for, and before you know it, you've completely internalized this world, with its racial politics, its cultural institutions (like the colloquium, where every scholar is also a musician and getting your doctorate requires scoring a book to be sung – and thus memorized and preserved by a choir of your fellow students), and its relationships (the stable configuration is a thruple, with most women married to two co-husbands).

Chynchin was founded through a slave rebellion, in which the press-ganged soldiers of the iron-fisted Ymisen empire were defeated by three witches who caused them to be engulfed in tar that they magicked into a liquid state just long enough to entomb them, then magicked back into solidity. For generations, the Ymisen have tolerated Chynchin's self-rule, but as the story opens, a Ymisen armada sails into Chynchin's port and a "trade envoy" announces that it's time for the Chynchin to "voluntarily" re-establish trade with the Ymisen.

The story that unfolds is a staple of sf and fantasy: the scrappy resistance mounted against the evil empire, and this familiar backdrop is a sturdy scaffold to support Hopkinson's dizzying, phantasmagoric tale of psychedelic magic, possessed children, military intrigue, musicianship and sexual entanglements.

Hopkinson's protagonist Veycosi is the kind of flawed hero whom you want to give a hug to half the time, and whose neck you want to wring. An aspiring scholar, Veycosi has the brash certainty of youth, convinced that he's the smartest (and sexiest) man in any room, and he's right just often enough to encourage him in a series of self-inflicted catastrophes that build to a terrible crescendo that sets up one of the most satisfying endings you could ask for.

Hopkinson – a SFWA Grand Master and Macarthur Genius Grant awardee – is justly famed as one of the field's great afrofuturist pioneers. Her prodigious talent has been obvious since her debut novel, Brown Girl In the Ring, and her career is an unbroken string of literary feats that went from strength to strength. I've known her since we were both teenagers working at the same library in suburban Toronto, and I never cease to be dazzled by her talent, her wit, and her warmth. But even by those high standards, Blackheart Man is a triumph.

On SEPTEMBER 24th, I'll be speaking IN PERSON at the BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY!!

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

https://pluralistic.net/2024/08/20/piche/#cynchin

[mintytealfox]

So we have Survivor Nort Decucts... And now we have Hunter Nort deducts... Put them together and what do we get?

You get a hella tragic story oh my GOSHHHH 😭😭😭😭

The set up will be: 1-Surv!Norton 1-Hunt!Norton -Then my thoughts 😏

1-Kindness: Is that an Olive Branch you just threw or... (A Good Deed: Norton, a Miner, Always visited the hospice and cared for all of the homeless old miners) 1-Shrewd 'Each step requires long-term planning' (Shrewd: An old, folded letter: Yellow and brittle. It was once abandoned in a dust corner. Signed, Benny.) -This is interesting 👀 These are both the first which automatically makes me think they are connected. I wonder if the Olive Branch thrown is from Benny? Or if its from Norton with the helping out with the people around Benny? Either way Benny ends up sending a letter to Norton. Maybe it saying something like 'want to meet up? I have stuff that might interest you' or something. Which adds to my -squinting- at Benny. Sounds like Norton was alone even though Benny was around all that time? hmmm

2-Diligence: The more effort, the more rewards? (Work Record: Norton Campbell is always the first to go down into the mines and the last to leave it.) 2-Lonely: 'The loneliness of separation must be endured on the climb up' (A coin: Stained by ash, footprints, tears, and dirt from the slums.) -Brings up the whole 'he had nobody' not even Benny vibe again -squints- Where was Benny during all of this? Seems like Norton would work and work and work so he couldn't feel or notice how alone he is. Like work was his only constant and 'friend' to keep himself from going nutty, but in the hours where work couldn't be used as a distraction he was miserable 😿Crying as he clings to what little he has...my gosh. That coin was so important to him man, I wonder if it was the last thing he got from his dad or something, cause he takes it everywhere and it pops up all the time in the trailer orz which means he never spent it just held onto it enough where you see TEAR STAINS ON IT! I CANNOT-- 😭😭😭😭

3-Efficiency: We need more trials. (A stack of Recommendation Letters: It can be seen that every one of Norton's previous employers appreciated his hard work and expressed their regret at being unable to keep him for long.) 3-Sophisticated 'wear a mask for the sake of survival' (A note on the back: What a detestable Person! Wagging his tail like a dog in front of the overseer!) -This one I can’t quite grasp yet -squints- is this referring to the back of the letter from Benny? Why write that there? Is Benny talking smack about Norton being so good at wearing a mask and pleasing the employers? Or is Norton talking smack about himself? Or is Norton pissed about others doing what he is doing? Wearing a mask to just survive or what the heck? 🤣 This one is still baffling me fr fr Oh wait a min....Seems like he had to jump job from job cause employers kept needing to fire workers, unable to keep him on as an employee. Likely becoming more jaded that him working hard and being good isn't working much for him since he keeps getting let go. Then seeing some fresh faced bushy tailed worker beside him would likely piss him off lol 'Why are you acting like that we are all getting fired anyways' Yea I super don't know with this one, I am juggling so many possibilities for this one.

4-Persistence: People won't be unlucky forever, right? (1-Page Note: There are 13 items listed. The first 12 appear to be names of places, and the last one is crossed out.) 4-Willful 'Those who persist will encounter more opportunities' (A page from a diary: I found that old man's notes. Now, it belongs to the one who lives long.) -He doesn’t sound all that fond of Benny pff like there is a hint of a dig there and/or him trying to convince himself that he is going to break out of here and live. Did he decide to set a plan in motion after getting the letter from Benny? Or was it after meeting with Benny?

5-Patience: Next time... (Diary: Tomorrow, I will go to the last place recorded by the old man. If there's still nothing, then I hope he...) 5-Gloomy 'The other side of Kindness and affability' (Abandoned junk: A tattered quilt, a chisel, an unsent letter, and a small piece of wrapped and hardened white bread) -This one I don't see much of a connection other than reference to old man and then there is that QUILT that could have possibly been the one Benny had made for Norton when the Dad was still alive. 'Then I hope he...' sounds hella ominous now lol -squints- Then Is this stuff found with Benny or was it found where Norton abandoned everything? Did Norton not send a letter? Maybe he meant to go back to get his things but never got to cause of the damage the explosion deed had on his mind ah. This one also gives me more questions than answers lol

6-Courage: The more dangers, the more opportunities. (A Geological Report: Part of the tunnel had been blocked by an unidentified object. One small mistake could cause the inner structure of the mine to collapse.) 6-Greedy 'Merely retaking what the heavens owe' (A map: Several crossed-out mines and a red circle.) -I am thinking Greedy and Gloomy should switch here cause Greedy goes well with the Patience with reference to 'go to the last place recorded' BUT what the frig is that 'unidentified object' -squints- Did Norton set that up?? Was that in the red circled mine? Was the place just found like that and Norton was like -cough cough- "whatever nothing is stopping me". Is this all just setting up how Norton was willing to go anywhere to find what he is looking for? hmmmm Willing to go where no man has gone before. Smash Greed and Courage together and ya thats what you get lol A desperate dude that has nothing to loose and only to gain if this all goes right. aahh

7-Alert: You need to be more cautious. (News: Due to the use of gunpowder and detonators, the era of simple rock drilling is coming to an end. 7-Arrogant 'Only by being bolder can you challenge destiny' (Torn paper: Record the blasting's depth, distance between holes… and the amount of explosives used.) -He uhhhhh, yea he definitely ends up using explosives lol. And its interesting that he made sure that everything was measured and counted in every way. Bro knew what he was doing 1000%. He had it all down to the second, the inch! He was careful alright, careful to make sure this goes perfect AH

8-Share: You need more helpers. (Mining Precautions: Theft of explosives is illegal and will be reported to the police once discovered.) 8-Hypocrite 'Important moments must be witnessed by companions' (A memo: Two bottles of the cheapest whine for those drunkards to wet their throats. And toss some fatty meat to the guard dog.) -BRO STOLE THE HELL OUTTA THEM EXPLOSIVES LOOOOOOOL AND HE DID IT IN THE MOST CLICHE WAY EVER AND IT WORKED IIMMMMM--LOOOOOOOOOOOOOL Like How many laws did he end up breaking by the end of all this?? LIKE GEEZZ And people are so used to him being kind and caring, none were the wiser! This Duddddeeeee!! He played the LONG GAME GOLLY

9-Wisdom: Smart people know when to hold on and when to let go. (An Accident Report: An explosion collapsed a mine on the outskirts of the city. It's suspected that the miners had mishandled the explosives, and the police expressed that there's little chance for anyone to survive) 9-Ruthless 'Exploding from deep within like an ignited explosive' (A page from a diary: Those journalists and policemen are gone. So it's just that simple?) -Bro played everything! The people, the system, the science, the math?? LIKE DUDE! If it was an accident, he wouldn't have survived. Norton had this planned to the T! Every 'i' was dotted and ever 't' was crossed, he knew he was surviving that explosion if everything went perfect like he was planning for OH MY GOSH. Bro playing chess while everyone else was LEARNING CHECKERS

10-Luck: That's only because the rest are just unlucky. (1-Page Case: Moderate burns to the face. Suspected to have been caused by direct exposure to excessive temperatures) 10-Numb 'Forget them and stay away from the dark underground' (A magnet: "Maybe it can keep me away from misfortune and darkness.") -He really didn't get much out of this did he. Like, all he got was trauma, burnt up, and a magnet. And boi is he clinging to that magnet with is all. His new coin; his new thing to cling to orz He really lies to himself a lot 😿He keeps finding out far too late that what he thought would change everything just made everything worse 🙃like yes everything changed, but changed for the worst. That tunnel vision hitting him so hard he never stops to go 'huh, this is a horrible idea, how would this possibly change my fate??' Its like he is trying so hard to convince himself that it was all worth it cause he got this crazy magnet orz gooooossshhhhhhhhhhhh Instead of using this as a wake up call it seems he is pressing on that sigma grind. Nothing like a plague doctor bird man monster to set things right LOOOOL

[ultravioletqueen]

It seems like I'm in my Hazbin Hotel era because I can think of ideas for ocs and stories for this series despite my love-hate relationship that I have with this series, I will probably use these characters as ocs for the prequel to my original project (bloody reverie ) bloody eden(wich i explore in instagram in my stories)but I like the idea of ​​this couple as ocs from hazbin hotel with biblical inspiration (removing the incest obviously, this is not alabama or northern mexico/argentina), now without further ado I introduce them:

Abel is the first human soul to go to heaven, we all know the story of Abel and his brother Cain, let's say I was inspired by the Abel of @s_affiro(has instagram,twitter and youtube channel, i love her swap au) and @wabbyhazzy to create mine by mixing my own ideas.

Abel is a warrior of heaven who has the job of protecting heaven from threats (Lofcraftian monsters, demons like Lucifer and Lilith, etc.) and unlike what it would seem from his carefree attitude, he takes his job VERY SERIOUSLY and sees it as divine duty which unconsciously makes him act proud at times, he is not at the level of Lucifer or Adam but he has a lot of pride.

His personality, as I said, is that of someone carefree but not irresponsible. He also really enjoys the simple things in life and is a very enthusiastic animal lover. He is a first-class empath and knows how to read others very well. He is also loud and outgoing.

He is married to Luluwa, his bride in life, they knew each other since they were children and from a very young age they showed interest in getting married, however Abel's death caused Luluwa to die of grief shortly after, so they ended up getting married in heaven(thats why luluwa's style has bride characteristics).

Luluwa, unlike her husband, is someone who is quiet, sensitive and gentle. She is a very wise person but usually prefers to stay away from the spotlight as much as possible (that's why she hid her heterochromia), however she likes to help others and because of this She is a matchmaker, she likes helping people find love.

The dynamic of these two is sunshine(luluwa) and sunshine protector(abel), they are both very devoted to each other(they are gomez and morticia if they were angels or pepa and felix madrigal).

(Español)

Parece que estoy en mi era hazbin hotel porque se me ocurren ideas para ocs e historias de esta serie pese a mi relación amor-odio que tengo con esta misma, estos personajes probablemente los use como ocs para la precuela de mi proyecto original (bloody reverie) bloody eden pero me gusta la idea de esta pareja como ocs de hazbin hotel con inspiración biblica(quitando el incesto obviamente, esto no es alabama ni méxico/argentina del norte), ahora sin más que agregar los introduzco:

Abel es la primera alma humana en ir al cielo, todos sabemos la historia de abel y su hermano cain, digamos que me inspire en los abel de @s_affiro(tiene instagram,Twitter y canal de YouTube,me encanta su swap au)y @wabbyhazzy para crear al mio mezclando mis propias ideas.

Abel es un guerrero del cielo que tiene el trabajo de proteger al cielo de amenazas(monstruos lofcraftianos, demonios como lucifer y lilith, etc) y a diferencia de lo que parecería por su actitud despreocupada el se toma MUY EN SERIO su trabajo y lo ve como deber divino lo que de forma inconsciente lo hace actuar como alguien orgulloso a veces,no está al nivel de lucifer o adan pero tiene mucho orgullo.

Su personalidad como dije es de alguien despreocupado pero no por eso alguien irresponsable,el también disfruta mucho de cosas sencillas de la vida y es un amante de los animales muy entusiasta,el es un empatico de primera y sabe leer muy bien a los demás,también es ruidoso y extrovertido.

El esta casado con luluwa, su prometida en vida, se conocieron desde niños y desde muy jóvenes mostraron interes en casarse, sin embargo la muerte de abel hizo que luluwa muriera de pena poco después, por lo que se terminaron casando en el cielo.

Luluwa a diferencia de su esposo es alguien callada, sensible y gentil, ella es una persona muy culta pero suele preferir alejarse del reflector lo máximo posible(por eso ocultaba su heterocronomia),sin embargo ella le gusta ayudar a los demás y debido a esto es casamentera, le gusta ayudar a las personas a encontrar el amor.

La dinámica de estos dos es sunshine(luluwa) y sunshine protector(abel), ambos son muy devotos el uno con el otro(son gomez y morticia ángeles o pepa y felix madrigal).

[ash-and-books]

Rating: 2/5

Book Blurb:

"There is no doubt in my mind that Kerstin Hall is one of the great imaginative minds writing fantasy today."—Isabel Cañas, USA Today Bestselling author of Vampires of El Norte Sabriel meets Witch King in Nommo Award finalist Kerstin Hall's beguiling new novel. A LitHub most anticipated book of 2024.

We choose our own gods here.

Karys Eska is a deathspeaker, locked into an irrevocable compact with Sabaster, a terrifying eldritch being—three-faced, hundred-winged, unforgiving—who has granted her the ability to communicate with the newly departed. She pays the rent by using her abilities to investigate suspicious deaths around the troubled city she calls home. When a job goes sideways and connects her to a dying stranger with some very dangerous secrets, her entire world is upended.

Ferain is willing to pay a ludicrous sum of money for her help. To save him, Karys inadvertently binds him to her shadow, an act that may doom them both. If they want to survive, they will need to learn to trust one another. Together, they must journey to the heart of a faded empire, all the while haunted by arcane horrors, and the unquiet ghosts of their pasts.

And all too soon, Karys knows her debts will come due.

Review:

Cosmic horror, investigations, body snatchers and a touch of incorporeal romance! The story follows Karys, a girl who sold her soul to an eldritch being when she was a teen and in exchange now has the ability of a Deathspeaker. As a Deathspeaker she can talk to the newly departed and uses her abilities to investigate suspicious deaths.... yet on her latest job things go terribly wrong. So wrong in fact that Karys noow has a dying man attached to her shadow. Karys and Ferain must now work together to travel the empire and find a way to separate each other from themselves. The story starts off by dropping you off in the middle of an investigation and then you feel as if you are catching up throughout the rest of the book. I'm going to be honest, this book felt way too long for what it was. It's an extremely slow build and the novel feels episodic with the entire arc feeling like its made up of side quests. The ending didn't vibe with me all that much either, I've found that Kerstin's books are either hit or miss with me and this one just did not work for me at all. It had all the components to be a book I would love but the actual execution just fell flat altogether. I didn't really find myself invested or engaged with the characters despite wanting to be. The story felt like a drag for most of the time and I found myself picking up and putting down this book multiple times when normally I would be able to read this in one sitting. While this isn't for me, I do think if you like slow side quest fantasy stories and a bit of cosmic horror or DND then this would be a book you should definitely pick up.

Release Date: August 20,2024

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and Tor Publishing Group | Tordotcom for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*