#seattles white knight

[ftwkcomic]

Alexander Blazer #1 2024

The OG outfit returns, after 7 years. Alexander Blazer rocking the old look once again. Portfolio: https://ftwkcomicbooks.myportfolio.com Discord: https://discord.gg/TQUA26Naj8

Socials and comms info https://ftwkcomic.carrd.co/

[goalhofer]

Welcome to Boston, Romy González.

[chukys-mouthguard]

Masterlist

welcome to my masterlist, where i try my absolute best to keep things updated for you all ✨

✨ requests are currently open!

current works in progress/requests ✨

✨ list of players i write for

❤️‍🔥 = smut ☁️ = fluff 💧= angst

A Shot at Love: an nhl dating show au

meet the 12 eligible bachelors

welcome to the mansion

the first rose

your journey ends here

Current Mood: an NHL moodboard series

Short n’ Sweet

What Are the Odds (Matt Rempe) pt. 1, pt. 2, pt. 3, pt. 4, pt. 5

Anaheim Ducks

Trevor Zegras

Blurbs: 1☁️

Dallas Stars

Wyatt Johnston

Birds of a Feather ☁️

Florida Panthers

Matthew Tkachuk

The Hills❤️‍🔥

White Ferrari 💧

Done Dreaming ☁️

Stanley Cup Champ (social media au!)

Blame’s on Me 💧

Las Vegas Golden Knights

Jack Eichel

Fading perfection 💧☁️

Montreal Canadiens

Cole Caufield

social media au series -> Fourth of July , Back to Work, From Italy with Love, A Day at the Track

To Have and To Hold ❤️‍🔥

Arber Xhekaj

look but don’t touch

New Jersey Devils

Luke Hughes

Blurbs: 1☁️

Seeing Double☁️

My Muse ☁️

Rubberband

Jack Hughes

Blurbs: 1

Nico Hischier

Blurbs: 1

Oasis ❤️‍🔥

Nice to Meet Ya ☁️

New York Islanders

Mat Barzal

Blurbs 1 ❤️‍🔥, 2☁️, 3💧☁️, 4💧, 5☁️

Kinda Tempting | pt 2❤️‍🔥, pt 3, pt 4, pt 5

Broken Memories (sequel to kinda tempting) -> 2, 3, 4

Almost something 💧☁️

New York Rangers

Matt Rempe

Social media au: birthday boy

Blurbs: 1💧, 2☁️, 3❤️‍🔥, 4☁️, 5, 6

What if?☁️

Kinda Tempting | pt 2❤️‍🔥, pt 3 , pt 4, pt 5

Broken Memories (sequel to kinda tempting) -> 2, 3, 4

Party’s Over 💧☁️

Kiss me, I dare you

Step Right Up ☁️

Philadelphia Flyers

Jamie Drysdale

Blurbs: 1

Why Not Both? ❤️‍🔥 (ft Cam York)

Social Media AU: spicy summertime

Sundazed ❤️‍🔥

Cam York

Why Not Both? ❤️‍🔥 (ft Jamie Drysdale)

Sex Rx ❤️‍🔥

Seattle Kraken

Vince Dunn (no longer accepting requests for Vince)

Blurbs: 1❤️‍🔥

What is, what isn’t 💧

Pleaseher ❤️‍🔥

Never Not

Toronto Maple Leafs

Auston Matthews

Fight Night

Nights Like This ☁️

William Nylander

Aperol Spritz ❤️‍🔥

Joseph Woll

Blurbs: 1☁️

Vancouver Canucks

Quinn Hughes

Blurbs: 1💧☁️, 2 💧☁️

Nice to Meet Ya ☁️

[unlawfulgames]

So I just noticed that I am not seeing anyone mention The Book of Gaub on this website, which is a crying shame.

Being straightforward with you, I’m one of the authors—but even so it’s one of my favorite ttrpg supplements ever. Not just in the quality of the writing and art within but the quality of the book itself as an object. I mean look at this!

That embossed cover, that duo-tone book cloth that is just the right amount of rough on the fingers, and that beautiful seven fingered hand by Charles Ferguson-Avery.

Within we have the lovely dark writing of seven different and equally talented authors fused together by the expert editing of Paolo Greco of Lost Pages.

A finger trails the letters across a dusty tome. A finger points the way down a dark haunted alley. A finger feels for the pulse of life on a long decayed corpse. A finger scratches the floorboards beneath your feet. A finger chewed down to a white bone. A finger that is not there. A finger catches a shed tear and slides it into a bottle. These are the Seven Fingers of the Hand of Gaub.

Seven Fingers which lay out the theme for forty nine hideous spells and associated horror mini-fiction, forty nine disturbing magical paraphernalia, one hundred calamities, twenty monsters (and how to twist them to your usage) and twenty hooks for if you’ve not already found a tale to put fear into your players.

And the art—oh the art. By author-artists Charles and Rowan, Enoch Duncan, Trevor Henderson and Jonathan Newell.

Did I mention it has a soundtrack? It has a soundtrack, a deep chilling ambience for your table made by the talented Ethereal Girl

And if you don't trust me, how about a couple reviews?

Oh and of course! Where do I buy this most delicious of horrors? Well you can get it straight from Lost Pages but it is also carried by multiple indie distributors such as Spear Witch, Peregrine Post, Exalted Funeral, Noble Knight Games, Soul Muppet and more!

[yikesola]

Phriendship Bracelets ✨

I’ve finished 85 bracelets in time for my Seattle tit show :’) the last two are for dnp specifically at the m&g but I’m very exited to hand out the rest!

listed under cut

Snokoplasm

Sadness Slime

Pom Bear Massacre 

Dil 🖤 Tabitha

Dan 🖤 Evan

Emo Pan Poly Dalien 

sexy end screen dance

draw phil naked 

RIP Norman 🖤

Heart Eyes Howell

Love Eyes Lester

🖤editing tips🖤

The Hand

The Urge

all the dips

big brown doe eyes

big blind blue eyes

Hi my name is ◻️Dan◻️

IKEA duvet (white and black)

IKEA duvet (blue and green) 

Phlonde

🖤Dannie🖤

🖤Phillie🖤

cat and bear

hay null fish ding

pour bot hem

🖤tits out🖤

Basically I’m Gay

Coming Out To You

Here Queer Existential Fear

The cat whiskers come from within 

Cat whiskers 

Rainbows do not represent me 

cock shame

pussy facing the world

🖤phemininomenon🖤

TATINOF

Interactive Introverts

WAD

Terrible Influence

TIT tour

PINOF

embrace the void

courage to exist

the future is bright

 Dan and Phil Games

Dan VS Phil

All or Nothing

Dan and Phil Beats

Dystopia Daily 

Don’t Cry Craft

A Day in the Life

Legalize Catboys

Dan and Phil Made Me Gay

Lost Vegas Video

Secret Vegas Wedding

Japhan Proposal

Army of Lesbians

King of Lesbian

Phey Phem Pheal

Shrek Slut

Mince Pie Codex

Daniel Lester Good Suggestion

Golden Pig

Steve 🖤 Scraggy 

🖤Lion🖤

Phan Porn Addiction

Lunar Fusion 🖤Spike◻️Oz🖤

RPF is Fine

DDR Champ

Muckbang Phuckbang 

Naked Booths

more than just romantic

🖤that’s the plan🖤

🖤Knight of Wands🖤

Silver Hoop

Piss Kink

Dyed Everything Green

Formless Blob

Soulmates

Japhan

Precious Baby Angel

Halloween Jumper 

sad but so brave about it

dizzy but so brave about it

[foreverlogical]

GOLD BAR, Wash. — In Snohomish County, some residents told KIRO 7 they feel unsafe going to their local grocery store. Over the weekend, controversial photos of a cashier at Gold Bar Family Grocer appeared on social media. The photos show a man with a KKK shirt and a loaded holster checking out customers.

The shirt bears the words “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas. Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.”

“The world’s a scary place right now. And Gold Bar should be a safe haven for those of us who live here,” said Gold Bar resident Lynne Kelly. “That’s crossing a line. That’s not okay.”

She believes the grocery store needs to take action.

Meanwhile, fellow resident Jessica believes the man should be allowed to wear what he wants.

“Freedom of speech,” said Jessica. “Didn’t everyone fight for our freedoms for free speech so we could do what we want here? If the company’s not against it, the company’s not against it.”

We spoke with an expert on hate speech. Caitlin Carlson is a professor of communications at Seattle University and has published a book called ‘Hate Speech’.

“The KKK is a hate group,” said Carlson. “And so this messaging is very much hate speech, but it is allowed under the First Amendment.”

But she adds that employers do have a right to intervene.

“If the employer wanted to tell the employee not to wear that, again, to wear a particular uniform, not to engage in potentially open carry, right, they would they would be well within their rights to do that,” said Carlson. “I would definitely be asking the employer, why it is there allowing this person to come to work and potentially offend or upset customers with this this attire?”

We spoke with the manager at Family Grocer who told us repeatedly “no comment.” They did add that they do not condone their employee’s actions.

[hazellvsq]

trc au - drive

Leo leaned his forehead against the door. Remembered the vision of Frank. Frank as a ghost, bathed in ethereal flames. Burning forever. 

If you kiss your true love, he will die.

Leo picked up the phone, dialed without trying to think too hard. Frank answered. “Valdez?”

“Frank. Can you pick me up?”

“Yes! Yeah.” He sounded worried. “Are you okay?”

No, Leo wanted to say, but he wasn’t hurt or anything and he didn’t want to worry Frank. He settled on something simple, keeping his head against the wood of the door. “I just...I can’t be home right now. If you’re not doing anything-” He let the words hang.

“I’ll come by, I’m not busy.” Leo heard muffled movement from Frank’s end. “Did you see Hazel this afternoon?”

Silence. Only the crackling of the line. Then Leo said, “Can we talk about something else?”

A month and a half ago he would have said nothing, because Frank very clearly had feelings for Hazel and very clearly thought Leo was a shithead. Four weeks ago he would have said nothing because Frank was mad at Hazel and trying to hide it, and Leo wanted to be nowhere near the inevitable eruption. Three weeks ago Leo wasn’t sure if he and Frank were even really friends. Two weeks ago even, they were, but Hazel was still Frank’s older friend, the one who was there first, the one who would win the friend group when she and Leo’s whatever had imploded.

Now Leo didn’t know if Frank and Hazel were still friends at all. And after this afternoon, he didn’t know if Hazel would ever speak to him again.

The quiet static hissed for another long moment. Frank said, “I’ll be there in five.”

Leo waited on the curb, knees hunched towards his chest, trying to think of nothing at all. The air was humid, breezeless, almost oppressively tense. Mosquitos hummed and whined. Frank made it in four, a knight in shining Volvo. He pushed open the door and tossed the keys at Leo.

“Yeah?” he asked, surprised.

“You need it,” Frank said seriously. 

Both Frank and Leo struggled with carsickness, but Leo could typically withstand Frank’s cautious driving. Frank would also give Leo shotgun recently, despite Leo having way shorter legs than Reyna. This had made Reyna like Leo even less, if possible. Oh well. 

Leo took it easy on the way out of Jo and Emmie’s neighborhood, kept the speed of the road past the residential areas, but the second the empty streets straightened out he hit the gas and held it. Instead of grimacing, which Leo was watching for, Frank rolled down his window and held on. Under the streetlights over head, appearing in flashes and bursts, Frank’s white T-shirt practically glowed. Looking ahead at the road, eyes narrowed against the wind, he held none of his normal awkwardness. He had all the solidity of a tree trunk, a thousand year old boulder.

Frank reached forwards toward the radio, turning it on and skipping past the dad rock station Leo had laughed at him for liking. Settled on something more interesting, with a heavy bassline that matched the rumble of the center strip beneath Leo’s feet. 

“How was Canada?” Leo asked. Neither he nor Reyna had been invited. He was annoyed about it deep down, so he was sure Reyna was madder. Neither of them had voiced it, to his knowledge. He kept the annoyance tamped down, tough - he’d already used all his words on the topic on Hazel earlier. Now he was just curious about Frank’s family home.

Frank frowned in the corner of Leo’s eye. “I thought you didn’t want to talk about Hazel.”

“I don’t,” Leo said. “I’ve just never been to Canada. Or met your family. How was it?”

Frank told him about the coniferous forests around his house, the national park he lived in the backyard of, and grizzly bears and little red foxes that roamed nearby. Then he talked about downtown Vancouver, the places he’d hang out as a kid. Seafood by the harbor and a trip to Seattle, once. He talked about his grandma conscripting him into kitchen duty, described how homesick the food made him.

Leo listened. Before Jo and Emmie, he’d been a foster kid for six years. Before that, he lived in a crappy part of one of the hottest cities in the country, but he missed his mom’s apartment there with an intensity that made his heart feel like it was withering away to ashes. 

Whatever was replacing it was steelier, harder. 

The tiny glow of the stereo lit Frank’s knees, the thick muscle in his calves, the sparse hair on his legs. The furrow of his brow, the finally-relaxed set to his shoulders. Leo stopped looking, checked back at the road. Then looked back at Frank.

“It sounds nice.” They had reached the mountains. Leo slowed down a little to drive uphill. “I mean it. I’m glad you went.”

He was, now. He had been mad that Frank left, but he wanted him to be happy.

“What did you get up to?” Frank asked.

“Oh, you know. Worked on the truck. Kissed Nico. I saw Reyna across the street and waved at her.”

“Liar.”

Leo was lying. About Reyna, who he hadn’t seen once.

“Me and Hazel are done, I think.” He hadn’t meant to say that. Not now?

Frank didn’t look at him, kept his voice neutral as he stared out the window. “I was never sure if you two actually got together or not.”

Do you still like her? Leo wanted to ask. He couldn’t. Everything was too loaded.

“I don’t know what we were doing. But we’re not anything now.”

He couldn’t say who had dumped who. The fight had gotten too heated for specifics. 

Suddenly, Leo couldn’t stand it. He pulled the car over, and the lights of the city spread out before them. He slammed it into park.

“Well,” Frank said. “You got out of the house.”

Leo huffed a half-laugh. Drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “Yeah. Thanks.”

Both of them stared out at the city. Leo reclined his seat a little, then realized that that action, in this context, felt more than a little illicit. Because Frank, still sitting up, was now above him, and staring down at him.

Leo stared back, now very self-conscious about being half-leaned back. He felt like he’d just ripped off his shirt. He wanted Frank to recline his own seat and rescue Leo from this feeling. He wanted to crawl out of his skin.

Frank swallowed. Leo still didn’t move, just looked back up at him.

Then Frank grimaced and shook his head, turning his head away. His ears were red. Now he was awkward. “Sorry. I’m sorry, I don’t...”

“It’s cool,” Leo said. He had absolutely no clue if it was cool. He thought it might not have been, actually. He rolled sideways to face Frank so that he wasn’t feeling quite so vulnerable. 

Frank swallowed again, then sniffled. “I don’t know if we’re still gonna be friends.” He wasn’t talking about Leo. “I’m scared she hates me right now.”

“She doesn’t, man.” Leo might have been lying, and he was fairly sure that Hazel hated him right now. But Hazel and Frank were different. “She thinks you’re hot shit. A fight won’t change that.”

Frank’s voice was small. Defeated. “This thing is...it’s so much bigger than us, and she wants to take it on by herself. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to fix it.”

Leo couldn’t answer that. He’d gone out with Hazel to avoid his prophetically-ordained male true love. He probably shouldn’t give others advice. He’d been wrong about Hazel, wrong about Frank.

Frank had seemed so bumbling and insecure at first. Leo thought it was nearly unforgivable for someone to have access to all that money and strength and potential and still not know what to do with themselves. He had been mean to Frank in a way that made him squirm now. Then again, Frank had been nasty right back. So Leo had allied himself firmly with Hazel.

Before Hazel had made a deal with a creepy primordial entity that would sometimes seize her mind and soul.

“I don’t know either,” Leo said to Frank. He exhaled. “All this stuff she was seeing was scaring me.” Hazel had scared him. And the way she buttoned up every single thing - her silence didn’t scare Leo, no matter how ominous it became. It just worried him, but Hazel had made it very, very clear that he should keep that to himself.

Frank hunched forward. “I just want her to be okay,” he muttered. “I can’t stand it when she’s hurting.”

Leo watched his profile. If he reached- 

No.

There was no way to go through here without wounding somebody. Hazel was hurting. Leo was hurting. Frank was hurting.

If he did what he wanted to do, here, now, would Frank survive it?

No.

Leo checked the backseat in the mirror, wondering for a second if some spectral Hazel would be there, if she could materialize like Nico did. He did not want the presence of her here. He wanted to be able to be her friend, or her boyfriend, in something that wasn’t going to blow up. Something that wouldn’t be ruined.

Or, as he watched Frank, something that wouldn’t be a betrayal. Destroy three friendships for the price of one.

He wondered if Hazel and Frank had actually hooked up last year. If he’d been crushing on not just Hazel’s best friend but her ex boyfriend, or at least ex something. Nico didn’t even know, because he’d made a face when Leo had asked and said he made a point of not finding out. 

Frank scrubbed a hand over his face. “God. This is miserable.”

“And you’re usually such a ray of sunshine,” Leo said, ducking away when Frank swiped a hand at him.

“I wish we could just...” Leo flapped both hands at the windshield. “Get a redo. Through this car.” The city kept glowing beneath them. Leo would forgive any billionaire all their crimes if one invented a flying car that he could have. 

“Did I get one with you?” Frank asked. 

Leo snorted. “You know I actually wasn’t mad at you, right? I was messing with you.”

“You got me.” Frank smiled for the first time all night. “Easy target, though.”

“Very.” Leo smiled too, almost helplessly. For once, he wasn’t fidgeting, wasn’t wandering off.

Frank looked at Leo’s mouth.

Never, thought Leo. Never. He couldn’t know if Frank was his true love or if he’d wake up tomorrow feeling nothing towards him. So he couldn’t kiss him.

A ghost on fire, a boy built like a man, his face obscured by the flame.

Who are you? Fai.

Burning, burning.

Frank reached forward. Touched Leo on the cheek.

Leo stopped breathing. Imagined that his face was combusting with heat.

His other hand. His other cheek. Frank was looking right at him. Leo could nearly hear his own blood sloshing through his heart, quickening, hurting his chest.

He wanted to push Frank away. He wanted to pull Frank on top of him. He reached up and wrapped his hand around Frank’s wrist, not tugging or shoving, just leaving it there. 

Frank leaned towards him, and Leo finally flinched. “You can’t.”

“I won’t.” Frank was still looking at him. “Trust me, I won’t.”

Leo hesitated, then nodded. Frank leaned in until they were chest to chest, cheek to cheek - Frank was as red as Leo imagined he was himself, which was a little vindicating. Leo reached up, touched his neck, then moved his arms up behind it, around Frank’s shoulders. Breathed out slowly. Their chests were touching, moving together. He could feel Frank close his eyes, feel his lashes brush against Leo’s temple. Leo’s next breath in was a little shakier.

A car passed by, headlights briefly flicking into the Volvo. Both of them tensed. Frank hung on a moment longer to Leo, then pulled back, taking his hands off, returning to his seat. Leo sat up and followed him over, reaching out and covering Frank’s mouth with his hand. Kissproof.

“I’m going to start having to do this,” he said. “If you’re gonna go around doing stuff like that.” 

He could feel Frank’s smile underneath his palm. He wanted to pull it off and keep it with him, in his pocket so he could pull it out whenever he needed it. They had to go back to real life in a moment, a real life where they couldn’t blow up their friend group or kill each other, and having that smile with him would make everything easier. Make anything more possible.

He pulled his hand away. “Let’s go home.”

[lboogie1906]

Corporal Clayton Pitre (June 30, 1924 - December 31, 2020) was an activist, former Chief Housing Developer for the Central Area Motivation Project, and a retired Montford Point Marine.

Born to Gilbert Pitre and Eugenie Lemelle, he was the fourth child of seven siblings. He was born and raised in Opelousas, Louisiana. He attended Catholic schools until the ninth grade when he gave up his education to work in various defense plants in early WWII Texas.

He was drafted into the military in 1943. He signed up to become one of the first African Americans to join the US Marine Corps and was trained at Camp Montford Point. In December 1943, he was sent to Saipan. His unit was sent to Okinawa as a decoy for the other forces that invaded the south end of the island. He was an infantryman in the 1st Marine Ammunition Company sending ammunition to the front lines. He had earned his corporal stripes.

He was sent to China to oversee the evacuation of the Japanese Army. He was honorably discharged on February 8, 1946. He was persuaded to join one of his brothers in Seattle, where he got a job at Fort Lawton. He enrolled at Seattle’s Broadway Edison Technical School in a program specifically for military veterans who had not earned a high school diploma. He passed his vocational tests.

He married Gloria Tony (1958), a Seattle language teacher. The couple had three children. He graduated from Seattle University with a BS in accounting. He worked as a postal clerk and was active in the Seattle chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity. He worked with the First AME Church and the Urban League to help fund and build low-income housing across the city.

He joined the Veterans Administration. He continued his community involvement with the Knights of Columbus and the African American Dollars for Scholars program.

He was among 400 Black Marines honored by President Barack Obama at a White House ceremony where each received a Congressional Gold Medal. They are the survivors of the nearly 20,000 Black Marines who trained at Montford Point (1942-49). #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #kappaalphapsi

[public-transportation-tournament]

Round 1!

The TCAT, Tompkins County, NY, USA vs Seattle Center Monorail, Seattle, WA, USA

M1 (or Millennium Underground Railway, but also known as "the small underground" by locals), Budapest, Hungary vs Grande Recife, Recife, Brazil

London Underground, Greater London, England vs Rotterdam Metro, Rotterdam, Netherlands

Beamish Tramway, Beamish Museum, Beamish, England vs Catbus/Nekobus, Sayama Hills, Saitama Prefecture, Japan (My Neighbor Totoro)

The New York City Subway system, New York City, NY, USA vs Corviknight Flying Taxi, Galar (Pokémon Sword and Shield)

Buenos Aires Underground (Subte), Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, Argentina vs Monte Toboggan, Funchal, Madeira, Portugal

The Stargate Network, throughout the Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxies (the Stargate franchise) vs the Deepsea Metro, Inkopolis Bay (Splatoon)

CAT, Perth, Western Australia vs SkyTrain, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Brolly Rail, Nevermoor (Nevermoor by Jessica Townsend) vs Métro Ligne 4, Paris, France

Tyne and Wear Metro, Tyne and Wear, United Kingdom vs the REM, Montreal, Quebec, Canada (upcoming)

Jeepney, the Philippines vs Sea Train, Water 7, connecting it with St. Poplar, San Faldo, and Pucci, as well as the Judicial Island Enies Lobby (One Piece)

The MTR, Hong Kong, PRC vs the Omnibus, New York, NY, USA (1832)

SeaBus, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada vs Wuppertaler Schwebebahn, Wuppertal, Germany

Ice Highway, the Nether Roof (Minecraft) vs Battle Subway, Unova (Pokémon Black and White)

WY Metro, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom vs Tunnelbana, Stockholm, Sweden

MRT (Moda Raya Terpadu/Mass Rapid Transit), Jakarta, Indonesia vs An Luas, Dublin, Ireland

RIPTA (Rhode Island public transit authority) (it’s buses), Rhode Island, USA vs Bakerloo Line, London Underground, London, England

Mount Vesuvius Funicular Railway, Mount Vesuvius, Italy (opened in 1880, destroyed by volcanic eruption in 1944) vs AquaBus, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Yarra Trams, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia vs SEPTA (southeast pennsylvania transportation authority), Pennsylvania, United States

Cable Cars, San Francisco, California, United States vs MAX Light Rail system, Portland, Oregon, United States

Amtrak, United States vs Fenelon Place Elevator, Dubuque, Iowa, United States

Ninky Nonk, Night Garden (In The Night Garden) vs Prague Metro, Prague, Czech Republic

Polar Bear Express, between Cochrane and Moosonee, Ontario, Canada vs the Crosstown Express, Robot City (Robots (2005))

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (the T), Greater Boston, Massachusetts, United States vs Worcester Regional Transit Authority, Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States

Kakola Funicular, Turku, Finland vs Angkutan Kota (Angkot), Indonesia

Galaxy Railways, the Milky Way (The Galaxy Railways (銀河鉄道物語, Ginga Tetsudō Monogatari)) vs The Ride, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States

MST Trolley, Monterey, California, United States vs People Mover, Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World, Florida, United States

Public Transit Victoria, Victoria, Australia vs Carmelit, Haifa, Israel

The L, Chicago, Illinois, United States vs Leadhills and Wanlockhead Railway, South Lanarkshire, Scotland

Personal Rapid Transit (PRT), Morgantown, West Virginia vs Helsingin seudun liikenne/Helsingforsregionens trafik/Helsinki Regional Transport, Helsinki, Finland

Gondolas, Venice, Italy vs the Trolley from the Trolley Problem (Philippa Foot came up with it originally, but in media it was also presented in "the good place")

Zahnradbahn Stuttgart (die Zacke), Stuttgart (Marienplatz to Degerloch), Baden-Württemberg, Germany vs Detroit People Mover, Detroit, Michigan, United States

Warp Pipes (Super Mario Bros.) vs SCMaglev, Yamanashi, Japan

Transport Canberra Bus Network, Canberra, Australia vs Stagways, Hallownest (Hollow Knight)

Roosevelt Island Tram, Roosevelt Island, New York, NY, United States vs NJ Transit (Northeast Corridor), New Jersey, United States

Sunrail, Orlando, Florida, United States vs Bay Area Rapid Transit, Bay Area, California, United States

Purple Route (Charm City Circulator), Baltimore, Maryland, United States vs Alderney Ferry (Halifax Transit), Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Millennium Line, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada vs MARTA, Atlanta, Georgia, United States

Dual Mode Vehicle (DMV), Asa Coast Railway, Shikoku, Japan vs Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway, Lynmouth, England, UK

Hovercraft, Portsmouth - Ryde, UK vs Funiculars, the Questionable Area (Psychonauts 2)

WildNorWester, Sodor (The Railway Series) vs Shinkansen, Japan

Métro de Paris, Paris, France vs Metro do Porto, Porto, Portugal

Deutsche Bahn, Germany vs UC Davis Unitrans Bus System, Davis, California

Vaporetti, Venice, Italy vs Harbour Bus, Copenhagen, Denmark

[ftwkcomic]

Frostbite saves Evelynn Arashii

A little reunion between Frostbite and Evelynn. Frostbite intercepted an illegal arms deal, and Evelynn happened to step in at a curious time. Patreon reward for QueenEvelynnDL Hope you guys enjoy. c: Portfolio: https://ftwkcomicbooks.myportfolio.com

Socials and comms info https://ftwkcomic.carrd.co/

Posted using PostyBirb

[petermorwood]

Something else the editor mentioned - this may have changed now, our conversation was 20+ years ago - was that once a book got over a certain thickness (I'm pretty sure he said "thickness" not "page count"), its cover price shifted to the next bracket up.

This was OK for Stephen King, Tom Clancy etc., whose Thick Books would sell at that higher price anyway, but for less-guaranteed-sales authors, one way to keep their books in the lower price bracket was to use thinner paper.

There's a high quality thin paper, "Bible paper or "India paper", which is used for Bibles (surprise!) dictionaries and, memorably, the first deluxe single-volume "Lord of the Rings", which made it less than half as thick as the single-volume paperback.

That's not the kind of paper used for price-bracket control.

*****

Speaking of which, when DD mentioned "write the publisher a letter on paper", it's because (a) that's very unusual nowadays, and demonstrates a commitment to getting your views across in a more solid form than email.

Also (b) the reckoning used to be that for every letter received there were 50 people thinking the same who didn't send one, a reckoning figure which has - see (a) for why - probably more than doubled now.

Stay polite, and as DD say, more sorrowful than angry. "Unhappy about..." catches more wasps than "Bloody furious about..." no matter how satisfying the thought of squashing those wasps might be.

*****

Re. cover art: even best-selling writers often get hit with (TV Trope) "Covers Always Lie" - for instance, most of Jim Butcher's "Dresden Files" covers show Harry Dresden wearing a fedora. There are 17 novels, and apparently Harry has never worn a hat in any of them...

*****

@scotchfairy mentioned that filk song "There's a Bimbo on the Cover of My Book". The springboard which got the protagonists of Sharyn McCrumb's murder mystery "Bimbos of the Death Sun" to the SF Con where the action unfolds is a cover (and matching title) Just Like That.

As for the filk, its lyrics are under the cut, sung - preferably with friends so you can do harmony on the last line of each verse - to the tune of "She'll be Coming Round the Mountain".

There’s a bimbo on the cover of my book There’s a bimbo on the cover of my book She is blonde and she is sexy She is nowhere in the text, she Is the bimbo on the cover of my book

There’s black leather on the bimbo on my book There’s black leather on the bimbo on my book While I’m sure she’s lots of fun My heroine’s a nun Who wears black leather on the cover of my book

There’s a white male on the cover of my book There’s a white male on the cover of my book Though the heroine is black With art that cuts no slack So there’s a white male on the cover of my book

There’s a dragon on the cover of my book There’s a dragon on the cover of my book He is long and green and scaly But he’s nowhere in the tale, he Is the dragon on the cover of my book

There’s a rocket on the cover of my book There’s a rocket on the cover of my book It’s a phallic and a stout one Though the story is without one There’s a rocket on the cover of my book

There’s a castle on the cover of my book There’s a castle on the cover of my book Every knight is fit for battle But the action’s in Seattle There’s a castle on the cover of my book

There’s a monster on the cover of my book There’s a monster on the cover of my book He is mean and he is hairy Though the stories aren’t that scary There’s a monster on the cover of my book

There are death rays on the cover of my book There are death rays on the cover of my book It’s a philosophical story But the cover must be gory There are death rays on the cover of my book

There are spaceships on the cover of my book There are spaceships on the cover of my book The connection’s rather iffy But if the story’s “sci-fi” * There’ll be spaceships on the cover of my book

(* Pronounced "skiffy" for rhyme and extra scorn.)

There’s a blurb on the backside of the book There’s a blurb on the backside of the book There’s one story on the cover Inside the book’s another There’s a blurb on the backside of the book

My name is on the cover of my book My name is on the cover of my book Although I hate to tell it The publisher misspelled it But my name is on the cover of my book

They reviewed my book in Locus magazine. They reviewed my book in Locus magazine. The way Mark Kelly synopsized it, I barely recognized it, But they reviewed my book in Locus magazine.

Well, my book won the Nebula award. Yes, my book won the Nebula award. Still it ended in remainders, Ripped and torn by perfect strangers, But my book won the Nebula award.

So put that bimbo on the cover of my book. Put a bimbo on the cover of my book. I don’t care what gets drawn If you’ll just leave the cover on. (DON’T REMAINDER ME!) So put that bimbo, dragon, castle, rocket, Vampire, elf, or magic locket- Please put a bimbo on the cover of my book!

I just received a copy of a book I've been very much looking forward to by a favorite author, but the quality of the book itself is... not great. Cheap paper, weak binding, even a weird illustration of the main character on the cover that I'm having trouble believing the author approved. Obviously, I don't want to leave a bad review on Amazon or GoodReads or anywhere, as I'm 100% certain the content is as excellent as her other work. But how can I best let the publisher (Baen) know I'm disappointed without threatening to never buy her books again? Because, well, if this is the only option, I'm gonna keep buying them even in my disappointment.

Well, the first thing I thought when I read this was "Wow, I'm really glad I don't have anything in print from Baen at the moment except a couple of anthologized short stories." :)

As for the rest of it, let's take it point by point.

Adding a cut here, because this will run a bit long. Caution: contains auctorial bitching and moaning, painful illustrations of cases in point, and brief advice on how to complain most effectively. (Also links to paintings of cats.)

Cheap paper: This has been an accurate complaint since well before COVID—and it's often been worse since, with supply chain issues also being involved. That said: one way publishers routinely save money on printing books, especially the bigger ones, is by going for thinner/cheaper paper. I remember one of our UK editors going on at great length and with huge annoyance—during one of those late-night convention-bar bitch sessions—over how the only way they could get some really good books published (because Upstairs insisted on reducing the per-copy production costs) was by reducing the paper quality to the point where you could nearly read through it. Sacrificing decent text size(s) also became part of this. Nobody in editorial was happy about the result: but there wasn't much they could do.

Bad bindings: Similar problem. Sewn bindings used to be a thing in paperbacks... but not any more: not for a good while, now. These days, it's all glue. Even hardcovers are showing up glued rather than sewn. Don't get me started. :/ (This is why I so treasure some of the oldest paperbacks I've acquired, which are actually sewn.)

Crap covers: I've had my share of these—though my share of some really good ones, too. And one of the endless frustrations of traditional publishing is that the writer routinely has little or even no influence over what the cover will look like... let alone how much will be spent on it, or (an often-related issue) how good the execution will be.

There are of course exceptions. If you're working at the, well, @neil-gaiman level or similar in publishing, a lot more attention is going to be paid to your thoughts. You may even be able to get "cover veto" written into your contracts, so that if you disapprove, changes will get made. But without actual contractual stipulations, the writer has zero legal recourse or way to withhold approval. (And I bet even Neil has some horror stories.)

The normal workflow looks like this. After a book's purchased, its editor and the art director discuss what it's about and what the cover should look like. The art director then hires an artist and tells them what to do. After that, the artist executes their vision and gets paid. It is incredibly rare for a writer to have any significant input into this process. And as to whether or not they approve of the final result, well... the publisher mostly just shrugs and goes back to eyeing the bottom line, muttering "Who told them they get a vote?"

Now, I've been seriously lucky to occasionally be an exception in this regard. In particular, my editors at Harcourt (when Jane Yolen and Michael Stearns were editing Harcourt's Magic Carpet YA imprint) would ask me what I thought would be a good idea for the next Young Wizards cover, and I'd think about it a bit and send them back a paragraph or so about some core scene. They'd then talk to their art director, and after that send their notes and mine to Cliff Nielsen (who started doing the covers for the hardcover and mass-market paperback editions of the series in the mid-90s) or to Greg Swearingen (who was the artist on the digest-format editions). And the results, by and large, were pretty good. ...I also think affectionately of the UK artist Mick Posen, who insisted on seeing pictures of our cats before painting the covers for the Hodder editions of The Book of Night with Moon and On Her Majesty's Wizardly Service (the UK title for To Visit The Queen).

But this kind of treatment is a courtesy—not even vaguely suggested in the books' contracts, and very much the exception to the rule. And for every writer who's midlist, there are times when the luck runs out. For example: one time I wrote a book that was an AU-Earth-near-future fantasy police procedural, thematically pretty dark—dealing with issues of abuse of megacorporate power, institutionalized bigotry, and (explicitly) attempted genocide. And the cover, done by an artist who's a good friend and some of whose fabulous art hangs in our house, came out looking like this. It was... let's just say "not ideally representative."

So I was glad, when my local workflow allowed it, to recover the current, revised version of the book with something at least a little more apropos. But the original cover's not the artist's fault. He did what the art director told him... as a cover artist must do to get paid, and (ideally) to get hired again. At present, that's how the system works.

...So. You've got a badly-built and -presented book on your hands. How best to make your feelings known in some way that might make a difference down the line? (As you make it plain that you'll keep buying this author's books this way if you must.)

First of all: when (as part of my psych nursing training) we were taught how to complain most effectively, we were told that the first and most basic rule of the art is this:

Only Complain To Someone Who Can Actually Do Something About Your Problem

So I salute your desire not to waste your time taking the issue to the reviews on Amazon, or the pages of Goodreads... because they can't do anything. The odds that anyone from production at Baen is reading the comments there strike me as... well, not infinitesimally small, not being hit-by-a-meteorite-while-in-the-shopping-center-parking-lot small... but really low.

So: write to corporate.

In your place I would go online and rummage around a bit to find out who's on record as the publisher at Baen. I would then write them a letter on paper. And I would lay out the problem pretty much as you laid it out up at the top.

The tone I think I'd choose would be the more-in-sorrow-than-in-anger approach. I'd say, "I write to comment about your recently published book by [X Writer], whose work I love. I have to say, though, that I don't think the cover on [X Book] is terribly representative of the quality of the prose inside. And also, the construction and production quality of the book itself was a disappointment to me because [here spell out why].

"I'd really like to see [X. Writer's] books succeed with you, and I'd like to buy more of them without wondering whether I was going to be disappointed again. But if this is typical of how they're being produced, I'd also be concerned that the state of these books is setting up a situation in which the author's sales will be damaged, and you would stop publishing them... which would really be a shame. Whereas on the other hand, better production quality could keep previous purchasers coming back and buying, not only more books by this author, but books by others whom you publish."

This phrasing, as you'll have seen, walks a bit wide around the issue of your further purchases, while directing attention toward the bottom line... which will routinely be what the publisher's looking at from day to day. And—being, one has to hope, in possession of the wider picture as regards what's going on with their production costs—maybe they can actually do something about it.

Anyway, nothing ventured, nothing gained, yeah? It's worth a try. All you can do is hope for the best.

And finally: please know that I admire your commitment to the author: whoever she is, she's lucky to have you. It's a terrific thing to have readers who'll willing to spend the time to hunt you down, and who're willing not to judge a book by its cover. :)

[theebeginningofwater]

omw home

Huiuudeeeey whooooooo honey breeze beeeeeeeeeeee baaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy be!

My rain fall and moon. Rises. You know something? My brother Amir raise my I and my eyes to the light with a brilliant laughter. I don't know. He started praying like a Muslim after we had haseesh sessions with many kings and whites and gafitti writers and queens and derelict and some straight up No Good bastards. Hi. Ha. Heeeeey. So yah. 300 years passed and I asked Amir appeared in one of my dreams holding his hands like a Christian asking, ayoooo Cas! How does a Muslim pray? I returned the favor with a question of my own. I haven't formed the words, tones or vocabulary around it quite yet though, habibi.

But yeah my brother Amir used to the highest heaven on Broadway (a few years after Sir Mix A Lot paved every Broadway from Seattle to the 7th and walla yonder every heaven with gold you know? Wow so yah. My brother Amir used to scream ecstatic pure intelligent Black and YIN and Yang Joy To The World when we'd see each other. You we stopped carrying guns in kne another's presence and talked Quran and basic instructions and Wu Tang and Crooked eyes and blunts and good ghood shit like Arabian Knights and money unfoldable or if I've never known brotherhood before Amir (I have. Abundance. But bay and be yadda I can be a liar momentarily?) If I've never known brotherhood before meeting my dude Amir walla he told me that in his home country they never give thanks and nobody smiles and the only greeting they know over there is HUIUUUUDDDEEEEY. Anyhow my love. He also told me that's what say when they see a cop? And I'm all like....yo, how many cops do you see on the daily? He's says, everyone is a cop in my country. So naturally I cried 10000 corpses and leapt to the tree tops and I gues I don't ever want to go to Amir'a home country and I never asked where his home is. It sounds so terrible that I cannot say tonight's sky is my heart I hope to kiss your fingers before dreaming every day nahhhhh every night that I live.

Yooo yo yo! Ok baby baby. I am high on a plane, nearly landing back home. Because yaknow. Im about to break my first 4 day fast. It's actually pretty thouh. Nahhh! Actually. The fast is slow ha ha ha. The hard become soft. Paws. Not trying to bring no alley stray cats or fists to this mix. Yah pause, tonight i break fast forbthe first time in 800 epochs my live. Ah. Yah, yadda the boat floats. The same boat and millions souls and millions more to come. Ehos. Whoa.....

So, check this out. Before I throw this mask from the left wing of this ship, vessel, aerodynamic ginger root. Whatever. I met a pirate on a spacecraft before boarding this vessel. She wore a black bandana and talked with a Austrailian? OK okay Ima break fast. Soon. But first! Did I ever tell you just met my brother who was a chinaman, in the 3rd grade. The question was brought to our attention: what is your favorite color. My bro the man from China said Black. I said Red. Anyhow, I realized on 27th Avenue that red is no longer my favorite color? What is your favorite color my queen? May it be! Fuck it I don't even care what day week or month we are without knowing your favorite color.

So yah. My favorite color is Black. I saw a rainbow in the sky maybe 3 weeks ago, and somehow just rememberjng kissing you as a butterfly in the 8th grade. We so cool baby ooh I did not forget. How could i?

Yah because when you add up every color ofvyhe rainbow, we are Black. And Black cannot be divided.

But any how, any way. Many ways yuppa! I don't know accents, habibi. So yeah I didn't ask you what your favorite flower is and ummmmmmohhhhhmmm yah kk but I did exchange my arms and legs for a dream of me and you, i and I, raven and hawk eyeing very multitudes of unsuoerstitious mountains. Yah, yesterday i touched a scarab and a beautiful roach brown as my dream of the Saharan desert brought me a bar of soap and tooth brush. What does it all mean my love?

Yo. I'm seeing you everywhere. Check this out! This might be all lies. Okay I don't know how. But yo the last line is true. Fr....

I didn't ever purchase an orchid for an empty house. Felt redundant. So yah. On my flight back home from a circle creating eyeshadow for 100000 years, I bought an orchid on my namez with your lips on my eye. I mean. Pardon me. With your eyes on my lips. Our children refuse to be made of stone habibi. So i ealized when I got to this blue sky with four wheels and forced air conditioning (ha, "air conditioning (!¡))

I see us kissing but I also realized I couldn't see us kissing before I earned how to drive a German made car through my own shadow lives and love along the way to empty house. So what I did was, I seen a giant o plastic jar of mayonnaise flail it's arms in the driver side windows and when it hit the ground it was asking me for something in a vocal tone like it was giving a command. Wasn't until I said No once that he spilled his guts. My second No this time threatened him with wind and rain. And yah my love, what is if a out men of a certain age can't stand the sound of our sacred glyohs together? And when I'm with my brothers, i do not want any broken hearts. At all. So instesd of saying No...I be teaching (learning) brotherly love by saying Nahhhhhhhhh (with as many H sounds as possible, you know? hhhhhhhhhhhhhĥaaaaaabibi!) ...what I meant to do on the way back from Chile is, I don't know. So what I'ma do instead? I let the orchid tell me what to do. She asked to sit in a pot ( ha ha, i tried to say no habibi ha ha) on my east side. Yah. By the time we got to 16th street on my block everything turned right, I turned off the clock and will not refuse to follow my dreams. I will not refuse to follow your dreams too. So what i did was, instead of pulling the "seat belt" around the orchid, i recited the entire Quran, New Testatment and Lankavatara Sutra out liud to myself, with nobody at all as my witness. And you know what this sweet orchid did? We did! Nah. Na naggin. No more bags. Hah. Yah. Why this sweet orchid suggested with a smile that i make a peace sign with the entire strength of my soul is and just hold the wheel with one hand and hold yhe pot (ha ha ha) with the orchid with these unsplicited two hands of prayer. Ah. Now everythjng is easy. Just your heart, just my heart. Ah.

Habibi. I love you

[gristlegrinder]

late night ttrpg gming thoughts about stuff i want to do (whining like a sad little dog)

Like, okay. It’s been way too long since I’ve played or run a game in the Chronicles system and I keep thinking about it. I have so many ideas (for both characters and campaigns) that I’ve been holding onto for years and I want to finally actualize some of them. It’s just, like— so games-wise, if I ever got over my nerves and started running stuff again:

1. The campaign I’ve come the closest to actually GMing but keep kicking my feet on is a Changeling chronicle— Changeling being a dark fantasy game about people reclaiming their trauma narrative from the faerie kingdom they were trapped in— with kind of a southern gothic spin. You know, that kind of folklore vibe, but set in the Blue Ridge Mountains and playing with family and place and being queer in a rural small town. This one’s near and dear to my heart, and I already have some people who’ve called dibs on being in it if I ever get my shit together, but I keep stalling out trying to connect some of the dots in my brain.

2. Likewise, my other big Changeling dream campaign is something that plays with the Briarnet lore— the Briarnet being a variant of the liminal faerie borderlands that takes a cyberpunk edge, quite literally being a web of unreality existing in the Internet itself. I don’t know how else to describe it. It rules. Do I have a specific campaign in mind? No! Do I want some y2k-flavored technofaerie bullshit occupying my brainspace more than it already does? Absolutely! And I think it would be a fun crossover with the Hunter books, as your local advocate for Network Zero (the forum guys) being the best monster hunter conspiracy. (Sorry, Knights of St. Adrian, you’re a close second in my heart).

3. Then there’s the Vampire game I’ve been sitting on. Vampires are probably the most self-explanatory of the group, and Requiem has less internal worldbuilding to introduce than Masquerade IMO, making it a decent introductory point for new players, but vampires are also vampires. My dream Vampire game, for years now, has been a murder mystery noir inspired by fuzzy 1970s giallo film aesthetics, where you and the rest of the group are trying to prove your innocence against the murder and diablerie of a prominent elder amongst the kindred. In a perfect world, I’d want this to have enough players where one PC would actually be the true killer, working against everybody else and gradually killing other characters the longer they’re left alive, but PvP campaigns are fairly difficult and prone to more emotional bleed (especially when Vampire is a game with a lot of direct mental manipulation skills) and I haven’t fully worked out how I’d manage it safely. But I want it so bad.

4. And Demon is the game I used to run for ~4 years, and I miss it so so much. It might be my favorite of the games? It’s an espionage thriller that puts angels and demons in sort of a dystopian Matrix conflict, with the God Machine and Its agents being operatives enforcing systems of reality and demons fighting for their independence and free will. The main issue is that I made the rookie mistake of using most of my good ideas for the first campaign, plus the most established canon setting (kisses Splintered City: Seattle on the cheek), so I’ve been struggling to think of what I want to do next.

I think a series of smaller, serialized-crime-show heists would be fun, focused on destabilizing infrastructure and completing one objective. Not my usual style, which leans more politicking and social deduction, but I feel good enough within the system to not be intimidated by a more action-heavy setup, and organized heists are REALLY fun to plan around.

Setting is the hardest part of this one, since I can’t default to Seattle again, but I’ve been considering something drenched in midcentury Cold War aesthetics, playing up those spy thriller angles— whether that’s white-picket suburban American hell or urban Eastern Europe on the edge of collapse. Knowing me, it’d be something grungy and Soviet, but it could go either way.

5. Wild card option— Beast is really unpopular as a gameline for various reasons but I can fix her. I like to advertise her as The Magnus Archives before there were The Magnus Archives: it’s a game about people who are possessed by archetypal embodiments of carnal fears, who are really also just themselves reflected in darkness, which then drive them to hunger. It’s kind of just a media match made in heaven, besides the families not really lining up right. This was actually the first chronicles game I played in, even if I’ve never run it, so I have a soft spot for it and I think it could be fun to do stylish supernatural horror set in 1920s Weimar Germany. Play up the Primordial Dream as a kind of Expressionistic landscape of growing social anxieties. I didn’t take multiple seminars studying German Expressionism and Fritz Lang in college for nothing, and this lets me recycle some, clears throat, unused concepts I was waiting to show off in my old Demon game.

6. And then finally. Sighs loudly. A Victorian-era gothic comedy(?) with Geist also speaks to me, with Geist being a game about should-be-dead people who bargain with Death for more time among the living, have buddy comedy shenanigans with the death spirit keeping their corpse functioning, and ideally do some kind of ghost socialism (I am not joking). This one ranks the lowest because I have absolutely no vision for the plot, just vibes. This is a really bad way of advertising Geist and I promise it’s cool and atmospheric and haunting but sometimes you just want gay dandies having seances and trying to dance around all of their zombie problems to maintain some social decorum.

And like those aren't all of my dreams (Mummy lives rent free in my brain thematically but plotting for Mummy is scary and intimidating; I’ve wanted to do a fucked up splattery survival horror for a while but don’t have a good system in mind; my more unweildy Geist vision is an Underworld campaign traveling to the Ocean of Fragments to find the end of the end; Oops! Aliens, Somehow! despite there not being solid or consistent alien rules), but they’re the ones I go back to most frequently. I really like doing tabletop stuff! I consider myself a solid GM for this system and have a lot of fun playing with it! I want to do it!

But arrrrrRRRGHGGHHHHHhhhhhhhhh manifestation is HARD and my untreated brain stuff has been destroying my wretched being and part of me keeps telling myself i should probably focus more on Curseborne once that all starts coming out for realsies and—

[worldwidedino]

Anyone remember the mystery of Harris Burdick? It’s this book by the author of Jimanji and the Polar Express where he came across 14 illustrations from a publishing friend with that was sent in from this guy named Harris Burdick along with a one sentence description for each and was never heard from again afterwards.

The whole backstory ended up being fake, but the whole legend lives on in schools. I had to do two different writing assignments based on these in school, one in 6th grade and one in 8th grade.

In 6th grade, I chose The Harp, and from what I remember, I made it about a peasant who got chosen to go on an adventure with King Arthur and his knights to find a mystical harp. I can’t find it anywhere in my old school accounts google docs, so I’m assuming it was a paper assignment. Either way, I remember not really liking it after I wrote it and reading it out to the class like everyone else did. I also vaguely remembered being embarrassed by it so maybe it’s a good thing I can’t find it? Anyways, in 8th grade, I ended up choosing Oscar and Alphonse. I could actually find this one in my school account and I recently read through it and still enjoyed the concept and might expand on it one day. The basic concept is that it takes place in an alternate universe where animals can communicate with certain humans without the use of speech. The two examples I brought up are birds chirping in Morse Code and caterpillars wriggling around to form letters(the one more important to the story).

Moral of the story: I am cursed to always gravitate towards characters named Alphonse.

Posting it under the cut because this post is already long.

So here it is. I checked the word count and it’s actually about the length of a full length fic from me. I apologize for all the possible cringe, again I was in 8th grade when I wrote this.

Oscar and Alphonse

She knew it was time to let them back. The caterpillars softly wriggled in her hand, spelling out “goodbye”.

~~~

Seattle, Washington; Centri 2.03a

Two caterpillars were in the forest and were minding their own business when a Black-throated Sparrow swooped down and grabbed the smaller of the two. The other, bigger one, wriggled as fast as it could to a Northern Mockingbird and wriggled out the word “help” with its body.

Using Morse Code the bird chirped “what’s wrong?”

The caterpillar explained that his friend has been taken by a robin and needed help. The bird decided to help the caterpillar save his friend.

The bird chirped out, “Who's your friend?”

“Alphonse, Alphonse Sequoia” the caterpillar wriggled frantically.

“OK, and you are,” The bird chirped.

“Oscar Wilde,” the caterpillar answered quickly.

“Calm down, we’ll find him, Oscar,” said the bird trying to calm down the frantic Oscar.

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

Gladly, Alphonse was found and could live to see another day with his friend.

Nicole Juliet Arbour thought her family would have a normal life in Seattle, Washington. It looked like a major U.S. city, grey and white skyscrapers looking like they were touching the sky, people were going place to place like it’s their last day on the planet Earth, the smell of car and bus exhaust probably consumed every square inch of the place, and there was always construction every other block. There were many differences between Seattle and Nicole’s old home in Salmon Arm, British Columbia. Most importantly were the country, the people, and the world-famous Sky Needle.

“America doesn’t feel any different,” Nicole complained.

“Sweety it isn’t going to feel different. We aren't going to Africa or the North Pole or anything,” her mother, Elizabeth Arbour, said jokingly.

“Why are we even going to Seattle in the first place?” Nicole asked

“I found a job where I wanted, Nicole,” Anthony Arbour, her father, answered reluctantly.

“Why is it taking so long to get there? I thought we lived not even a day away from Seattle.” Nicole wined.

“Your mother decided to take the long way from Montana to get there. Please stop complaining, it’s getting annoying. You’ll love it there,” Her father begged.

“Why does-”

“No more questions, please, Nicole?” her mother interrupted.

“Fine.”

Anthony was a biologist. There was a secret society of sorts in the biology community that Anthony just happened to be in. These people knew something the rest of the world didn’t, animals could talk in their own way to humans, caterpillars contorted their body into letters, birds chirped in Morse Code. However, with most humans, they acted normally.

The Arbours got to their new home later that day. It was about two months before school started in the area, so Nicole used the time to explore and talk to the kids that would be in her grade when the school did start.

Nicole was 15, smart, and quite beautiful. She had straight, chocolate brown hair that she pinned up to be her shoulders, emerald green eyes, and was surprisingly short for 15. While her future classmates were already 5”6’, Nicole was only pushing 5”1’. She looked like her mother, but she acted like her father. Nicole read a lot and loved being outside.

When Nicole was walking to school on the first day, a bird flew in front of her and started tweeting at her in a strange way. She brushed it off, this kind of thing usually happened to her and she had gotten used to it. At the time, Nicole thought the birds were confessing love or something like that.

After that, Nicole’s day went pretty normal. She met all her teachers, did the obligatory introduction work in class, and signed up for all the clubs that would start in the fall. When the club sign-ups were available, Nicole signed up for multiple, but the one she was most excited for was the Wildlife Club that would start next week.

As she was walking home that day, Nicole saw a bird that looked quite similar to the one before trying to peck and pull at her hair. It was trying to get it to follow her because a little pill pug got flipped over and the bird, a LeConte’s Sparrow, wanted Nicole to help. Nicole didn’t know this, of course, or she would’ve helped it get back on its feet.

When she got home, Nicole told her dad about the sparrow at school.

“Dad!” Nicole called,” there was a sparrow chirping at me and tugging at my ear! I think it was trying to tell me something!”

“It was dear, I think it was trying to get you to follow it.” her father answered.

“But why?”

“I don’t know, I may be a biologist, but I don’t know everything that goes through animal’s tiny brains!” Anthony said laughing

“Don’t make fun of the animals, what did they do did to you?”

“Not my point, now you’re just getting off-topic”

“Stop the conversation?”

“Ya, let’s stop this conversation before we start talking about talking weird.”

The Wilderness Club’s first trip was the Sequoia National Forest. The trees were as tall as The skyscrapers back in Seattle, possibly even taller. The trunks looked like tall, red-stained barrels. The leaves were different shades of green, yellow, orange, and red. When they fell, it felt like an eternity until they hit the ground. It was Nicole’s first time here, but she found herself ahead of the others. She was leaning against one of the titan trees by the path when she felt something on her shoulder. It was a striped caterpillar. The stripes went yellow-green, black, white, black, yellow-green in that repeating pattern.

‘A monarch caterpillar’, Nicole thought.

It wriggled onto her hand and spelled out “hello”

“Why hello to you too, little guy,” Nicole said.

“You can understand me?” the caterpillar wriggled

“Ya, why are you so surprised?”

“I’ve tried talking to many people and you're the first one to understand me.”

“I’m special then aren't I?”

“I didn’t expect you to be so calm about it.”

“Hey, Nicole!” someone from the group called.

“I have to go now,” Nicole said,” what’s your name if I come back?”

“Oscar,” the caterpillar responded

“See you later Oscar, I hope,” Nicole said

Once Nicole got home, she told her dad about Oscar.

“I guess we should go back later,” he said

They did, and when Nicole showed her father where she met Oscar she found a little surprise on the tree. Oscar was there, along with a little Two-Tailed Swallowtail caterpillar.

“Looks like Oscar has a friend,” Anthony said.

“Looks like he does, Dad, looks like he does,” his daughter answered.

Nicole picked the two caterpillars from the tree and made sure it was Oscar.

“Oscar?”

“Ya, what do you want?”

“It’s me, Nicole.”

“Oh, hey Nicole, this is my friend, Alphonse.”

“Hey, I exist too!” Anthony said.

“Oh, hello, I’m Oscar.”

“So I’ve heard.”

Nicole introduced the caterpillars to her dad. Then, the two little creatures explained why special humans like them were so special. All humans like them were destined to work with animals in some way or another. They also explained how domestic animals can talk to everyone, but wild animals can’t.

“Oh, that’s horrible!” Nicole exclaimed.

“I know,” her father said,” that’s why I don’t let you have cats and dogs.”

“I’m getting tired,” Nicole wined.

“It’s time to go anyway,” Anthony said,” Let’s go Nichole.”

She knew it was time to let them back. The caterpillars softly wriggled in her hand, spelling out “goodbye”.

“See you soon guys, stay safe.”

[brandonwayneb]

THE COMPLETE WAR ON WHITE TERRORISM STORY

BRANDONS ACTIVE DUTY REPORTS

Respects Russian

Respects Arabia

Respects Nazi A+

Arabia Arabia

Shiva Shiva

Levitate Levitate

🌹 RoseMary

🌹 RoseMary

🌹 RoseMary

🌹 RoseMary

🌹 RoseMary

🌹 RoseMary

🌹 RoseMary

❤️ This is all I ever say

❤️ This is all I ever live

3 fingers Right hand "Leaf"

2 fingers Left hand "Feather"

4415 Daisy Meadow Dr

Katy Texas 77449

Brandon Wayne Burdett

Bee’s Moon’s Bird’s

bbw bwb wb Warner Brothers

206-209-9841

https://linktr.ee/brandonwayneb (https://linktr.ee/brandonwayneb)

(https://linktr.ee/brandonwayneb) (https://linktr.ee/brandonwayneb))

Flawless Spelling

Sing and Dance 'sid'

the words 'smids' and 'smades' to uncover liars

Young Guys: Satan Submissive

Young Guys: Satan Submission

Old Guys: Devil Dominance

No: J

No: G

No: B

No: L

No: T

No: H

Yes: A: Ass Assets

Yes: SS: Spiritual Supports

Yes: D: Seed Dick Deep Frederic

Yes: P: Penis or Pussy

Yes: F: Free and Fuck

Yes: M: Ma, Mom, Manners

Yes: V: Virtue Revival Achievements

Yes: W: Wraith War Water

Yes: ii: Eye Eye

Yes: R: Roar Rabbit

Yes: N: No

Yes: Y: Yes

Yes: O: Create w

Yes: K: Knight

Yes: E: Equals Español

Yes: X: Mark Special Spots

Yes: Q: Questions Quest Ons!

Yes: C: See Cup Cupids Chest

Yes: U: Ur Ours Yours Us Ourselves

Yes: Z: Symbolic of Last Resorts

ss RoseMary

ss Elvis

ss Wendy's

ss Russia

ss Soviet Union

ss Valor

ss Vladimir

ss Shiva

ss Hindu

ss Levitate

ss Birds

ss Bats

ss Cats

ss Snakes

ss Kylé

ss Stylé

ss Kim

ss Kay

ss Cvs

ss Rite Aid

ss Adam

ss Amish

ss Lizard Tail

ss Eye of Newt

ss Cameron

ss Karma

ss Caméléon

ss Camel

ss Raspberry

ss Ketchup

ss Amy Wine House

ss Velveeta

ss Chubby Chasers

ss BBW

ss LGBTQ

ss Alaska Husky

ss Ali Ali Ali

ss Allah Allah Allah

ss Always Always Always

ss Aladdin

ss Hercules

ss Pegasus

ss Lord Ganesh

ss Lord Vishnu

ss Tom

ss Jerry

ss Onyx

ss Mew

ss MewTwo

ss I dream of Jeanie

ss Bewitched

ss Daren

ss Samantha

ss Switzerland

ss Arabia

ss Adam’s Family

ss Tim Burden

ss Nightmare Before Christmas

ss Fay

ss May

ss Oxford

ss Corpse Bride

ss Jack Skellington

ss Sally

ss Xfiles

ss Dana Scully

ss Fox Mulder

ss RugRats

ss Dexter Laboratory

ss Dexter

ss DeeDee

ss Chris Angel

ss MeerKat Manner

ss Power Puff Girls

ss Teen Titans

ss Batman Robin

ss Cat Woman

ss Ivy

ss Drew Barrymore

ss Twilight Zone

ss E.T.

ss Barbie

ss Ken

ss Seer

ss Rainbow

ss Arron

ss Gary

ss Garret

ss Valentines

ss Romeo

ss Juliet

ss Selina

ss Gomez

ss 101 dalmatians

ss Roger Rabbit

ss Bugs Bunny

ss Loony Tunes

ss Hermaphroditus

ss Hermaphrodite

ss Ritual

ss Spiritual

ss Twister

ss Scrabble

ss Hey Arnold…!

ss Clueless

ss Reese Witherspoon

ss Legally Blonde

ss Coffee

ss Java

ss Joe Joe

ss Jehovah

ss Judah

ss Buddha

ss Japan

ss Jasper

ss Jason

ss Poltergeists

ss Wrath

ss Ghost

ss Hub

ss Alaska Husky

ss Nazi Swat Team

ss Russian Swat Team

ss North Storm Swat Team

ss Rainbow Scissors

ss War Elephants

Not Deli

Not delMA

Not belMA

Not velMA

“toe shoulders”

“chest thighs”

mckinney tx

princeton tx

dallas tx

seattle wa

tacoma wa

lakewood wa

War Sights

“tacoma wa” taco cat

“lakewood wa” blaire witch “claire donut”

“seattle wa” “caddie saddle” “sad duel”

“space needle” “ironic man”

“dallas tx” “shower dial ass” “day licenses”

“mckinney tx” “Macdonald kidney stones”

“princeton tx” “depraved dolls” “cell pre”

“Gideon” “Neo” “Geo” “Galaxy” “Guy Op”

“Soul Matron” “Arron”

100% Brandon

100% Bradley

99% Rainbow

1% Anti illuminati

Anti indoctrination

Anti inflammatory

Anti castrations

Anti assassinations

Anti Youth Thin Eye Z Nations

Anti Lab Bot Tony

Brandon Wayne

Bradley nickname

Sarah Johnny Kaye Burdett Leeper Rivera

Brandon Wayne Burdett

Bird’s Moon’s Bee’s

bwb bbw wb Warner Brothers

Jessica Ray Rivera

Jacob Gabriel Rivera

Justin Rivera

Kevin Rivera

Cara Autumn Burns

Cody Burns

Chad Burns

Clete Burns

Martha Burns

Morgan Burns

Pamela Burns

“4415 Daisy Meadow Dr”

“Katy Texas”

“77449”

Rainbow Peace and Power Taco Cat

Rainbow Peace and Power Ali Ali

Rainbow Peace and Power Allah Allah

Rainbow Peace and Power Always Always

Rainbow Peace and Power RoseMary

Rainbow Peace and Power Valor

Rainbow Peace and Power Vladimir

Brandon Wayne Burdett

BrandonwayNEB

Saint Binard

Catholic Vatican

Hindu India

San Francisco

Frankincense oil

Salam Islam

Barbie and Ken go to Jerusalem

Barbie and Ken go to San Francisco

Barbie and Ken go to Kentucky

Barbie and Ken go to Jupiter

Barbie and Ken go to Venus

Barbie and Ken go to King Author

Barbie and Ken go to Barnes & Noble

Barbie and Ken go to Ben & Jerry’s

Barbie and Ken go to Bed Bath and Beyond

Barbie and Ken go to Tel Aviv

Barbie and Ken go to El Salvador

Barbie and Ken go to Quebec

Joke: What Happens if Flamingos get Flees

Joke: Pinky and The Brain

“Lizzy Hebrew”

“Young Guys Satan Submissive”

“Old Guys Devil Dominance”

Varsity Volleyball

Valor RoseMary Hitler

Valor RoseMary Vladimir

file:///var/tmp/com.apple.messages/com.apple.MobileSMS/LinkedFiles/0FA18A07-5885-4E7B-BECD-CF251CA2952D/B94936DE-239B-4315-BAC5-F95FC878FC65_IMG_5627.jpeg

[laresearchette]

Monday, May 29, 2023 Canadian TV Listings (Times Eastern)

WHERE CAN I FIND THOSE PREMIERES?: HOARDERS (A&E Canada) 9:00pm REALITY (HBO Canada) 10:00pm

WHAT IS NOT PREMIERING IN CANADA TONIGHT?: BARONS (CW Feed) THE RISING (CW Feed) MOTEL RESCUE (Premiering on June 5 on Magnolia Canada at 9:00pm) AMERICA’S HIDDEN STORIES (TBD - Smithsonian) THE CURIOUS CASE OF NATALIA GRACE (TBD - Investigation Discovery) FDR (TBD - History Canada) THE LOVE CLUB: TARA'S TUNE (TBD)

NEW TO AMAZON PRIME CANADA/CBC GEM/CRAVE TV/DISNEY + STAR/NETFLIX CANADA:

CBC GEM digi-ART

CRAVE TV REALITY

MLB BASEBALL (SN Now) 1:00pm: Guardians vs. Orioles (SN1) 2:00pm: Rays vs. Cubs (TSN5) 8:00pm: Angels vs. White Sox (SN1) 9:30pm: Yankees vs. Mariners

NLL LACROSSE (TSN3) 4:00pm: Bandits vs. Mammoth - Game #2

NHL HOCKEY (CBC/SN) 8:00pm: Knights vs. Stars - Game #6

FAMILY LAW (Global) 8:00pm: Abby and Daniel represent a trans teenager whose grandfather is blocking her access to hormone replacement therapy.

BACHELOR IN PARADISE CANADA (City) 8:00pm

NBA BASKETBALL (TSN4/TSN3) 8:30pm: Heat vs. Celtics - Game #7

MEMORIAL CUP (TSN) 9:00pm: Seattle Thunderbirds vs. Quebec Remparts

EVERYONE ELSE BURNS (W Network) 9:00pm (SERIES PREMIERE): Following a strictly religious Manchester family who believe the world is about to end.

SPOOKED SCOTLAND (DTour) 9:00pm (SERIES PREMIERE): The Isle of Arran is known to have a blood-soaked history of murder, betrayal and disease; the crew makes their way to Brodick Castle, where they are faced with the wrath of fairies.

THUNDER BAY (CTV) 10:00pm (SEASON FINALE): Ryan learns that the Thunder Bay Police Service is on the verge of collapse; Indigenous police board member Georjann Morriseau reveals that Police Chief Hauth has opened a criminal investigation into her to force her into silence.