#when world history classes cover 2021 this has got to be in there

[brick-a-doodle-do]

Brick gorgeous you want asks? Lemme give you asks!

Ok school floor board Au questions because that’s def one of my personal fav aus of yours.

So during the holidays and stuff, what does Ranboo do? Because surely he doesn’t stay at the school for 6 weeks summer vacation?

And I was re-reading a different ask about how Ranboos clothes shrink and grow with him and I had a thought. If this applies to everything he touches, then technically can Ranboo take a say real diamond or something of high value that’s tiny and grow it? Because money making scheme would be huge right here.

What would happen to Ranboo after he says Graduates? Would he continue to live at the school or look at going to College and live there?

Why does Ranboo choose to live at the school?

And last one, are there any other sizeshifters or unknown tinies in this world that Ranboo has met or has yet to meet👀 (also I feel like that question may of been asked already but no idea :D)

Okie thanks for answering and have some lollipops 🍭🍭🍭🍭

!!!! when do i not want asks lol

MMMM school floors beloved!! is it really your favorite? :0 you have NO idea how old this au is. i came up with it at LEAST in late 2021 MAYBE early 2022,,, there is so much doodles that have been deleted and buried too- i actually DREW for this au- SHSJSN (i did for crashed au too!

ANYWAYS

before he met beeduo, ranboo did usually just hang around the school. sometimes he'd go out in the sun if it was summer break or go out and see the city decorated if it was winter holidays, but ultimately he has a lot of fun alone. he's got a phone he sizes up to look like a big tv screen, he can go adventuring with the alley cat he befriended (there's also a dog be befriended :D and a mouse too. AHSJA he's making friends with all the animals that roam the/around the school). but there have been some summers where he just gets a job and randomly works for a bit to pass the time.

but, now that he's met tubbo and tommy, he'll hang out with them! he likes tubbo's house because there's less people, but his dad can be snoopy, so tommy's is pretty much equal— but over holidays he stays with tommy (tubbo is there like 24/7 anyways) and they usually hang out as humans and roam the city, they may even go wayyyy out in the forest to test his abilities (spoiler alert that entails a shit ton of tiny clingy)

(also you didn't hear this from me but tommy and tubbo's definitely have ranboo shoplift for them LMFAO)

2 ppl have said they reread asks and i am JAJAKKSKFNE about that like AAAAH it makes me so happy :DDDDDD

yep he can do that! when clingy finds out he can do that they do it to a LOT of things. they also get him to size up food just for the hell of it. but with more valuable things it's actually really helpful and he could totally do that to get money! i think i may make that his official way of getting money— he just pawns random portions of gems and jewels he sizes up SNDJS

his plan was to just find a place on a college campus, and that did not change! he goes to the same college as tubbo and tommy and just finds another floorboard in the library. their shenanigans still ensue! and when college is over the them of them get an apartment together :) but we don't talk bout the future AJSJ

ranboo ORIGINALLY started living there because it was easier than getting a job and he really just wanted to move out from his parents house at a young-ish age, sooo he KINDA ran away to...his high school! and after he started that pawning thing he just continued living there because a. it was convenient and b. he didn't want to pack ALL of it up and leave,,, plus he couldn't leave his pets

nope! not as of right now. sizeshifters are just as rare (or rarer) than they are in two way secrets au, so he's just a loner as of now :D

also i had a thought of tommy and tubbo just eyeing him in a class if they ever cover/talk about the history of sizeshifters/shifters in general,,,, >:)

if that has been answered before i don't remember answering it so let's just say that until that ever comes to the surface this reply is canon :D

you're making me want to doodle for this au againnn 👀

thank you for the lovely questions!!! mmmh ty for the lollipop :D for an equivalent exchange have a brick! 🧱

[chrisryanspeaks]

HEAR: Cat Power and Iggy Pop - “Working Class Hero”

Cat Power + Iggy Pop is a dream come true for post-punk fans. Cat Power’s love letter to Marianne Faithful is a poignant and beautiful take on” Working Class Hero”. Read more and check out the song below: In The Q Records & BANDBOX, along with the Women of Rock Oral History Project recently announced the release of a new benefit album, The Faithful: A Tribute to Marianne Faithfull featuring 19 cover songs from artists including Shirley Manson, Peaches, Lydia Lunch, Tanya Donelly, Cat Power, Iggy Pop, Bush Tetras, Donita Sparks and more! The full album will be available on streaming platforms Dec. 8and special edition vinyl variants can be pre-ordered now via IN THE Q RECORDS and BANDBOX. The double LP features original artwork by Jill Emery (Hole, Mazzy Star). Check out “Working Class Hero” below: The Faithful is a massive love letter to Marianne Faithfull. Everyone involved with this tribute album has graciously and enthusiastically donated their talent, time, and energy so that all profits can go directly to assist Marianne as she recovers from Long COVID. "Marianne has lived a life!! She is a queen to all who know her, and all who adore her! Her framework of contributions to the world of music is unmistakable! Every time I hear her gorgeous vocal sway, I am moved, I am closer to permanence. In a world of dizzying, new fizzling arrows of song and voices, Marianne has always struck the bullseye of my heart and soul. I adore her like no other. A true Dame, beyond words. Royalty forever." — Chan Marshall "I published a book, that was more of a love letter, about Marianne Faithfull in 2021. The depth of my gratitude and devotion can be found in that 40,000 word document, but that was before I got to know the woman behind the icon--or 'the muse', as the boys say. Marianne is funny, smart, intensely creative, an avid reader, and a normal human being who has been through some shit--haven't we all? To me, the fact that Marianne is a regular-ass person who has struggled, overcome addiction, health problems, has experienced love and loss, and continued to amass a musical catalogue as expansive as hers is a testament to her genius. When she lost her voice after contracting Covid, she recorded a spoken word poetry album with Warren Ellis (She Walks in Beauty). The thing about being an icon or a muse is that it doesn't pay the bills--even if you have over 50 records under your belt. Even if you were the It Girl of the swinging sixties. Even if you're Marianne Faithfull. Marianne built a career as a counter-cultural artist, exploring a multitude of genres and styles. She's worked with countless collaborators, musicians, and producers. As a result, her catalog, and career, can't be easily categorized which basically means she never had a chance of reaching the kind of widespread commercial recognition she deserved. My hope with this record is that Marianne sees how loved, respected, and appreciated she is by her successors. I hope that these versions of her songs introduce a new audience to Marianne Faithfull and inspire them to buy her records. I hope that Marianne Faithfull gets the respect she deserves; preferably in this lifetime." - Tanya Pearson, Founder, Women Of Rock Oral History Project Read the full article

[audiofuzz]

HEAR: Cat Power and Iggy Pop - “Working Class Hero”

Cat Power + Iggy Pop is a dream come true for post-punk fans. Cat Power’s love letter to Marianne Faithful is a poignant and beautiful take on” Working Class Hero”. Read more and check out the song below: In The Q Records & BANDBOX, along with the Women of Rock Oral History Project recently announced the release of a new benefit album, The Faithful: A Tribute to Marianne Faithfull featuring 19 cover songs from artists including Shirley Manson, Peaches, Lydia Lunch, Tanya Donelly, Cat Power, Iggy Pop, Bush Tetras, Donita Sparks and more! The full album will be available on streaming platforms Dec. 8and special edition vinyl variants can be pre-ordered now via IN THE Q RECORDS and BANDBOX. The double LP features original artwork by Jill Emery (Hole, Mazzy Star). Check out “Working Class Hero” below: The Faithful is a massive love letter to Marianne Faithfull. Everyone involved with this tribute album has graciously and enthusiastically donated their talent, time, and energy so that all profits can go directly to assist Marianne as she recovers from Long COVID. "Marianne has lived a life!! She is a queen to all who know her, and all who adore her! Her framework of contributions to the world of music is unmistakable! Every time I hear her gorgeous vocal sway, I am moved, I am closer to permanence. In a world of dizzying, new fizzling arrows of song and voices, Marianne has always struck the bullseye of my heart and soul. I adore her like no other. A true Dame, beyond words. Royalty forever." — Chan Marshall "I published a book, that was more of a love letter, about Marianne Faithfull in 2021. The depth of my gratitude and devotion can be found in that 40,000 word document, but that was before I got to know the woman behind the icon--or 'the muse', as the boys say. Marianne is funny, smart, intensely creative, an avid reader, and a normal human being who has been through some shit--haven't we all? To me, the fact that Marianne is a regular-ass person who has struggled, overcome addiction, health problems, has experienced love and loss, and continued to amass a musical catalogue as expansive as hers is a testament to her genius. When she lost her voice after contracting Covid, she recorded a spoken word poetry album with Warren Ellis (She Walks in Beauty). The thing about being an icon or a muse is that it doesn't pay the bills--even if you have over 50 records under your belt. Even if you were the It Girl of the swinging sixties. Even if you're Marianne Faithfull. Marianne built a career as a counter-cultural artist, exploring a multitude of genres and styles. She's worked with countless collaborators, musicians, and producers. As a result, her catalog, and career, can't be easily categorized which basically means she never had a chance of reaching the kind of widespread commercial recognition she deserved. My hope with this record is that Marianne sees how loved, respected, and appreciated she is by her successors. I hope that these versions of her songs introduce a new audience to Marianne Faithfull and inspire them to buy her records. I hope that Marianne Faithfull gets the respect she deserves; preferably in this lifetime." - Tanya Pearson, Founder, Women Of Rock Oral History Project Read the full article

[shoplifting]

[Image description: Around 30 headlines from various news sites ranging from October 20, 2020, to July 20, 2021, with a majority of headlines being from July. They are in approximate chronological order and read as follows:

Women’s 400 meter world champ Salwa Eid Naser avoids doping ban on technicality

Protests and demonstrations banned at 2020 Tokyo Olympics as Rule 50 upheld

Olympics bans ‘Black Lives Matter’ apparel, could punish athletes for social protests

Japanese Doctors Warn Of Possible ‘Olympic Strain’ Of Coronavirus If Tokyo Games Go Forward

Japanese scientists warn that Tokyo Olympics could help spread COVID-19

Transgender runner Cece Telfer is ruled ineligible to compete in US Olympic trials

Ahead of Tokyo Olympics, Japan vaccination rate far from the mark

Salwa Eid Naser, world 400m champion, to miss Olympics with ban. Opening line reads “Salwa Eid Naser, the world 400m champion from Bahrain, is banned through the Tokyo Olympics and for two years total over a case of missed drug tests in 2019.”

World 200m medalist provisionally suspended as Olympics near. Opening line reads “Alex Quinonez, the world 200m bronze medalist from Ecuador, was provisionally suspended for whereabouts failures less than a month before the Tokyo Olympics.”

Top 400m sprinters ruled ineligible due to testosterone rule, officials say

Swimming caps for natural black hair ruled out of Olympic Games: International Swimming Federation rejects use of Soul Cap, saying it does not 'fit the natural form of the head'

IOC gives athletes more scope for protest at Tokyo Olympics. An Excerpt of the article reads “The latest guidance appears to let athletes copy the iconic Black Power raised fist gestures of American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. However, they should be allowed in Tokyo only "prior to the start of the competition" and not on the podium at medal ceremonies as Smith and Carlos did. The American 200-meter medalists were expelled from the Olympics. Gestures will now be allowed in Tokyo by athletes "after leaving the 'call room' (or similar area) or during the introduction of the individual athlete or team," the IOC said. This should include at the starting blocks or starting line. Athletes still face disciplinary action if their gesture is "targeted, directly or indirectly, against people, countries, organizations," or is disruptive, the IOC said. Disruption could include disturbing an opponent's concentration or preparation, by unfurling a banner or a gesture during a national anthem.” End excerpt.

2021 Olympics: Brianna McNeal, U.S. hurdles champion, will not compete in Games after five-year ban is upheld

The Olympics Don’t Want Black Women To Win: Sha’Carri Richardson, Christine Mboma, Beatrice Masilingi and others have been disqualified in the 2021 Olympics because of policies that are racist and unjust.

Tokyo Olympics 2020: Keep politics out of the Games, says Thomas Bach. Opening line reads “The Olympic movement needs to be kept neutral and cannot be expected to solve civil liberties issues that politics had failed to fix, Bach said in a video message to the UN Human Rights Council.”

IOC’s Bach slips up and refers to Japanese as ‘Chinese’

Anti-Asian Racism and the 2020 Olympic Games. Opening two lines read “How can IOC President Thomas Bach force through these games against the will of 80 percent of the population? It helps if you don’t even know who they are.”

Why some athletes at the Tokyo Olympics won’t be vaccinated

Olympic Games: Germany walk off pitch after Jordan Torunarigha allegedly racially abused

Handball team forced to wear bikini bottoms instead of boy shorts

Athletes to sleep on ‘anti-sex’ cardboard beds at Olympic Games amid COVID

Tennis star Coco Gauff pulls out of Tokyo Olympics after testing positive for COVID-19

Deaf-blind Paralympian quits Team USA when told she can’t bring assistant to Tokyo

Paralympian says officials at England track championships said her shorts were too short, ‘innapropriate’

Czech athlete becomes third in Olympic village to test positive for Covid-19

Olympic Village COVID-19 infection bubble already 'broken' - health expert

US gymnast Kara Eaker and basketball player Katie Lou Samuelson test positive for Covid-19 ahead of Olympics

Tokyo Olympics: U.S. women’s gymnastics alternate tests positive for COVID-19 in Japan

Just Cancel the Damn Olympics Already. Opening line reads “Add “extreme heat” to the growing list of plagues facing this year’s Summer Olympics, an event I’m starting to suspect I would very much not enjoy participating in, even if they asked nicely.”

6 Polish swimmers sent back home from Tokyo following admin error

67 COVID-19 cases now tied to Tokyo Olympics as experts warn of ‘worrying’ situation on the ground: Infections rising while roughly 15 per cent of those staying on site are likely unvaccinated. End description.]

Stellar fucking job guys

[acergi]

I posted 2,452 times in 2022

That's 2,452 more posts than 2021!

278 posts created (11%)

2,174 posts reblogged (89%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@fandomsnfrogs

@spinaroos-47

@sergeantsporks

@gayfrogcoven

@icedmochasi

I tagged 1,914 of my posts in 2022

Only 22% of my posts had no tags

#toh - 1,317 posts

#toh hunter - 591 posts

#luz noceda - 218 posts

#fav - 135 posts

#toh spoilers - 126 posts

#caleb wittebane - 115 posts

#amity blight - 107 posts

#toh s3 - 104 posts

#philip wittebane - 93 posts

#the owl house - 92 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#brought to you by someone who greatly wants to study political theory but has never taken a class about government systems outside of histor

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

See the full post

258 notes - Posted May 21, 2022

#4

I feel like the titles for the specials are really interesting. “Thanks to them” sounds like an acknowledgment of how people have impacted the hexsquad and the BI as a whole. But that has a double meaning. On the one hand, it could refer to the hexsquad, especially Luz thinking and talking about how the people they left behind on the boiling isles cared about them and tried to keep them safe, and did to some extent. It’s about the family they left behind, and the rebels who tried to save them, and especially about King, who is the reason they are all alive.

On the other hand, it could be a sarcastic ‘thanks’ to the the people who impacted them in a negative way, namely the Wittebane brothers. Caleb who didn’t know how to deal with his problems, so he ran away from them, pushing Philip away. Philip who killed his brother and terrorized the BI for hundreds of years. Phillip, who made Hunter and the grimwalkers. And of course, a thanks to Caleb, the start of this whole tragedy and the reason for Hunter’s existence. A thanks to them, for this miserable existence.

And so I think this episode will cover grief over loved ones lost and a bit about the history of how this whole thing started. I mean, the poster is in a cemetery, and those are all about the past.

260 notes - Posted September 14, 2022

#3

Okay but all of the Hex Squad’s complex feelings towards the human realm?

Hunter, who heard all these stories from his uncle that he was fascinated by, who is a clone of a human (a statue of whom is literally in the town), who loves learning new things and has probably been talking to Gus. Bus instead he just saw his uncle get killed by a kid in front of him (which on its own is a lot to deal with), and then ran to the human realm, where it pretty much all started. Where he will find out how intertwined his history is with the town’s. Where he will have a near constant reminder of the town seal, the Golden Guard sigil, and the weight of that legacy. Plus the fact that Belos is probably in the human realm too, and will go after him if possible.

Gus, who spent years learning all he could about the human realm, who has a collection of human items in his room. Gus who wanted to be an ambassador to the human realm and so wanted to experience the rain. And he did, after losing everything and everyone but the hex squad. Gus who in what should have been an amazing moment playing in the rain, fell to the ground sobbing. And, he saw Belos’ memories of him killing his brother, which is traumatizing on his own, especially since he looks exactly like Hunter, which Gus is more than smart enough to figure out. And he may not know who he can talk to about it. And seeing that statue every time they go into town won’t help. Gus who every time they turn on the news, gets a reminder of his dad, who he has no idea whether he is okay or not, or when he can see him again.

Willow, who heard all about the human realm from Gus. Who probably got a bit excited about it. Who’s best friend is a human. And her entire world got turned upside down, with no idea what happened to her dads or everyone else on the isles. It was her idea to go to the human realm, and now they are stuck for who knows how long.

Amity, who’s girlfriend is a human, who gets to meet her girlfriend’s mom, and is probably nervous about it and wants to make a good impression and seem perfectly okay. Even though within two days her family fell apart, she had to leave her dying dad behind, she tried to stop the literal emperor, failed, and had to run for her life to the human realm, with no knowledge of what happened to her family or if the twins were okay since they were left behind with Odalia?. Who has no idea when she her family again, or what it will be like when she does.

And Luz. Luz who is a human, but never fit in. She was probably bullied and has no friends in the realm besides the ones she brought with her. Liz who ran away from the human realm to escape her life there. Luz who tried to stay behind with her family, but King pushed into the portal, which immediately closed behind her. Luz who promised to never go back to the only place she’s ever been happy, and thought she had much more time before she had to go back. Luz who now that she promised to stay may never see her found family again, and while she loves Camila so much and is glad to see her mom again, she misses her mom on the boiling isles, who supported her in a way Camila couldn’t. Luz who has no idea what is happening on the BI but thinks it is her fault.

I really hope they have the time in season 3 to go into this because there is so much there to unpack.

273 notes - Posted July 9, 2022

#2

See the full post

300 notes - Posted May 21, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

I want to see “golden child” Caleb who was a bit weird but maybe decently liked by the towns people. A Caleb that maybe had a messed up home, whether that was because of witch hunts or something else. Caleb who could get away with things Philip couldn’t because everyone thought he was a golden child, and Philip was the scapegoat, which was the beginning of the problem in their relationship. Caleb who had a bit of a dark sense of humor, but could hide it under his “normal” sweet self. Caleb who saw terrible things and tried his best to look out for Philip, who wasn’t well liked in town. Caleb who didn’t quite agree with the witch hunts, but went along with it or even partially participated in it, at first because he thought it was right, and then for his survival. Caleb who got so terrified he ran to a different realm to escape his problems, making Philip feel betrayed, abandoned, or drove a wedge in their relationship. Caleb who thought he finally found a life he was happy in and finally started to heal, only to be murdered by his brother for moving on.

I want a Caleb who wasn’t a perfect sweetheart, but who closed off from the world because of all the shit he’d seen and then had to learn that it was okay to be open and kind, and unteach himself some of his coping mechanisms that didn’t help him anymore. I want a Caleb who ran from all his problems, just like Eda and Luz.

395 notes - Posted July 15, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[ixalit]

Do you have any queer book recs? Fiction, nonfiction, poetry... I’ll take anything really 😅

I do!

I’ll put my queer fiction/fantasy, nonfiction, and poetry recs below the cut. 

Fiction/Fantasy

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

One of my all-time favorite books. Ever. Seriously, I’ve read it so many times I could probably quote parts back to you. It reads like poetry with a beautiful story and happy ending. It’s about two teenage boys in El Paso, Texas who become friends and eventually more. The author himself is also gay. 

There’s also a sequel, Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World, coming later in 2021

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

I think one of the reasons I like this book (and series) is because it reads like fanfiction. That’s probably because it... kind of is! It’s a similar universe to Harry Potter, with a magical boarding school and a “chosen one” who needs to defeat an antagonist. But there’s also a lot more narrators, funny snark, and gay makeouts.

This is part of a series. Wayward Son is the second book, and the third book, Any Way the Wind Blows, is coming in July 2021. 

Captive Prince by C.S. Pacat

Again, I think one of the reasons I love this series so much is because it reads like fanfiction. And that’s probably because it was originally posted on LiveJournal!

It’s official summary is: “Damen is the true heir to the throne, but when his half brother seizes power, Damen is captured, stripped of his identity and sent to serve the Prince of a rival nation as a pleasure slave.” But IMO it’s so much more than this. This series is fascinating and intriguing and I couldn’t put it down. 

Warnings for a shitton of unresolved sexual tension and several explicit scenes, including noncon. 

This is part of a trilogy. Here is the second book, The Prince’s Gambit, and the third is Kings Rising.

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong 

This book is a letter from a son in his late 20s to a mother who can’t read. It’s beautifully written and heartbreaking and a wonderfully brutal look at race, class, masculinity, and family.

Ocean Vuong is also a poet, and it definitely shows in his writing in the best way. 

Nonfiction

When Brooklyn Was Queer by Hugh Ryan

I bought this as a Stucky fan to help my own fic writing, but came to love it for so many other reasons too. It’s an amazingly researched look into the queer history of Brooklyn, New York spanning the 1850s through the late 1900s. It’s full of just as many funny stories as heartbreaking ones, and was riveting the whole way through (as well as giving me a much-needed education for my writing). 

This Book Is Gay and What’s The T? by Juno Dawson

I got these books when I was starting to exploring my gender and sexuality. They’re very informative and easy to read, and were a wonderful resource for my parents to learn about the lgbt+ community after I came out. Since then, I’ve used them in my sex-ed classes and recommended them to many queer teen and parent groups I’ve been asked to speak at. 

To give you a taste, some of the chapters in This Book Is Gay are “Where to Meet People Like You”, “The Ins and Outs of Gay Sex”, and “Stereotypes Are Poo.” The author herself is also trans. 

Poetry

Crush and War of The Foxes by Richard Siken ( @richardsiken-poet )

If you are gay, on tumblr, or in fandom, there’s probably a 99% chance you’ve heard of or read something by Richard Siken. Both of these books are full of impactful words and beautiful (and sometimes horrible but still beautiful) imagery. I have yet to find any other poet that comes close to his unique brand of poetry. 

Please, The Tradition, and The New Testament by Jericho Brown

Please focuses on love and violence, and has become one of my favorite books of poetry. 

The Tradition deals with how we’ve become accustomed to fear and terror in all aspects of life - bedroom, classroom, workplace, the movie theater... His poems discuss everything from mass shootings, rape, police brutality, and homophobia, and it’s a beautiful book. 

The New Testament is more about examining race, masculinity, and sexuality in the context of religion. It’s a wonderful look at life, death, rituals, good and bad, shame, and culture. 

The Anchorage and Voluntary Servitude by Mark Wunderlich

The Anchorage is a beautiful collection of poems that all seem to relate to each other in a web of repeated details and voice. It’s split into four sections and takes you on a journey when you read it altogether. 

Voluntary Servitude is largely about love, sex, betrayal, family, and heartbreak. It’s full of strong imagery and beautiful words. I would put this, Crush by Richard Siken, and Please by Jericho Brown into the same category. I absolutely love them all. 

Collected Poems by Thom Gunn

This is a big book of most of Thom Gunn’s poetry and includes his books Fighting Terms, My Sad Captains, Jack Straw’s Castle, Touch, The Man With Night Sweats, and more. It covers many subjects throughout his life and career including HIV/AIDS. He’s heavy on and more formal with meter than some other poets, so if you like that, give it a try!

Night Sky with Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong

Another from Ocean Vuong! This one is a poetry collection that looks at everything from love, romance, and family to memory, grief, and war. It’s also beautifully gentle, and I’m always left stunned by his words. 

[lavenderhazed]

I made Valedictorian this year and thought I would share my speech. When I was writing it, the speeches people posted on here really helped, so maybe this can help someone else too.

I've been to a few graduations, heard a few speeches, although I only payed attention to one, and naturally I tried very hard to make my speech better than my brother's, so here goes:

Fellow graduates, we did it, we made it, we graduated, and some of us will probably never speak to each other again. Nevertheless, we’ve been through a lot together

 I’ve spent a lot of time in the last week reflecting over not only our four years here, but over the past thirteen years we’ve been in school together, the stuff we learned, the fun we had. 

Remember

In kindergarten, when we all put our hand prints on the wall

In sixth grade when we went to outdoor school, and Ginko wore those awful tights

Or at the end of eighth grade when we went to Tree to Tree, to celebrate our achievements

Even, the ONE time Mrs. Butt wasn’t at school, and someone in the back of the class ate an onion covered in toothpaste, which really explains why food wasn’t allowed in her class

Or all the time spent decorating the hallways for homecoming

Or when we got an “extended spring break” that lasted till the end of the school year

And now, were graduating after a year of distance learning

We made a lot of memories together. Although, I’m pretty sure as kids we all expected quicksand and the Bermuda Triangle to have a much bigger impact on our lives than it actually did.

We’ve learned a lot in the past years. I can’t say how much we’re going to remember, but thankfully someone taught us the Pythagorean theorem, although learning how to function in the real world might have been just a touch more useful. At least we will remember that the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell.

My mom told me speeches should be inspirational, and have a message, a meaning, something important. I searched and scoured my shelves to find a book with the perfect inspirational and meaningful message. Believe it or not, it was in Harry Potter, “Every great wizard in history has started out as nothing more than what we are now: students. If they can do it, why not us?” - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, J.K. Rowling

When I set out to write this speech, I did a lot of research, I read hundreds of speeches on the internet, all while procrastinating that last bit of homework. There were a lot of places saying to avoid clichés, especially the cliché in every speech, “It’s not the end, just a new beginning.” I’ll admit, it is an overused cliché, but that could be because it's accurate. No one likes an ending, whether it be the end of a book, movie, or even the end of high school. This isn’t the end of our story, just the end of a chapter. From here on out, we’re the writers, we’re writing our own stories now, and there’s something we all need to say:

To the teachers that stayed late everyday to help with homework

To the teachers that went out of their way to make sure we succeeded

To the teachers that kept snacks in their desks, and made sure everyone ate something

To (Teacher) and (Teacher) for teaching us how to get a thr ee day paid vacation, although there are probably better ways of doing so

To (Teacher) and (Teacher), for making sure that everyone knew that they belonged

To the other teachers that I didn’t list, who will probably be butt hurt

And finally, to the friends, siblings, and parents of everyone here,

Thank you, you have had a huge impact on all of us, and we probably wouldn’t be here without you. Remember to take the time to personally thank them soon.

And now, classmates, we spent all of elementary school looking forward to middle school, all of middle school looking forward to high school, and all of high school looking forward to graduation, and now it’s here, we did it.

To those who are outgoing, that tried to make everyone smile

To the people with funny laughs that disrupted every class

To those that always showed up late, because they had to have coffee

To those that read through class, and those that slept through class

To the athletes, the artists, the band kids, the geeks, and the nerds

To the future farmers, scientists, lawyers, and doctors

To those whose first year here was also their last

To the ones we grew up with, even those that are graduating elsewhere

To us, the class of 2021, congratulations.

[gay-otlc]

Keepers of the Chaos (Chapter 2)

Summary: Tam, Linh, Keefe, Biana, and Fitz are part of the tiny fandom for Keeper of the Chaos, and Tam and Linh's podcast convinces some of their other friends to watch it as well. The group finds themselves strangely invested in this show, where students at Tumblr High School who work together to write about an elf named Sophia, cause incomprehensible chaos, and fight their rival Pinterest High School.

Content warnings: Cursing, food, L*ura

Word count: 2005

Notes: Check out the beautiful theme song here!

(Read on AO3)

Sophie rolls her eyes as she opens the link her girlfriend sent her and puts in her earbuds. Biana has been incessantly pestering her to watch Keepers of the Chaos for so long that Sophie half wants to watch it just to shut her up, but she's always tired, or busy, and she doesn't really like watching new things. Still, Biana asked her very nicely to listen to this one podcast, and she looked very pretty when she asked, so Sophie's dumb omni ass couldn't refuse.

"Welcome to the Twins of the Chaos podcast," it begins after loading for an obnoxiously long time. The girl speaking has a pretty voice, Sophie has to admit- sweet and melodic and vaguely amused.

Maybe listening to this podcast won't be so bad if she can listen to that girl's voice the whole time.

But another person speaks, adding "Where some chaotic twins discuss our favorite show, Keepers of the Chaos," and his voice is not as pretty. She continues listening anyway, since Biana may or may not murder her if she stops.

The two voices- whose names are Linh and Tam, apparently- start talking about Keepers of the Chaos some more, giving Sophie a summary she's heard tons of times from Biana and Fitz- though the twins explain it slightly more coherently and with less... whatever the verbal equivalent of keyboard smashing is. Biana usually starts rambling about her favorite characters, like Lynn- not "Lynn the fandom mom," but the other Lynn- and Avery, or sometimes Nora and Darwin. Sophie doesn't understand any of those names and loses track of the conversation as soon as it involves too many unfamiliar names.

But Tam and Linh are making more sense, at least for the most part, until they start mentioning specific couples. The conversation gets again comprehensive soon enough, though, and Sophie does smile at the name "The Dark Duck."

By the end, when Tam says "half of them wearing sleeping masks with teal eyes painted on and the other half watching the chaos with mild amusement," Sophie is curious enough to be mildly intrigued. She listens to their outro music, and before she can regret it, types out a text message to Biana.

Sophie: fine

Sophie: ill watch it

Biana responds instantly with an array of heart emojis. Sophie blushes.

Biana: can i come over and watch with u?

Sophie: ok!

Sophie: moms making mallowmelt

Sophie: but u cant have any

Biana: >:(

Biana: hope u like being single then

Sophie: fine u can have some mallowmelt

Biana: yayyyy!

Biana: ily

Sophie: ilyt

Sophie: now lets watch ur stupid show

Biana: on my way!!!

Sophie smiles, shaking her head. She's a little annoyed, but fine, it sounds interesting enough from the podcast. And what else would she be doing? Studying? Having US history as an alternative would make even the most horrible of shows seem good. She stuffs her textbooks into her backpack and shoves some things out of the way so her room looks a bit neater before rushing downstairs. The mallowmelt smells good enough to make her mouth water.

"Mmm..." she sighs, barely taking time to let it cool off before taking a large bite. "That's so good. Thanks, Mom."

Edaline  smiles. "You're welcome. Just save some for your father and I."

"Fine, fine. I have to share with Biana, anyway." Sophie huffs and takes another bite. "She's coming over, is that alright? We're going to watch a show together."

"Sure, just make sure to get your homework done."

Sophie rolls her eyes. "Fine."

"And keep the door open!" Grady calls. Edaline laughs as Sophie's face flames.

"I'm going back to my room," she grumbles, taking a plate of mallowmelt with her and walking up the stairs. She manages not to trip over her own feet and drop the mallowmelt, thankfully, as she grabs her laptop and opens Netflix. Sighing, she searches for Keepers of the Chaos and clicks on the show that comes up before waiting for Biana to arrive.

The doorbell rings soon, and Sophie carefully sets down her laptop and her plate on her bed before rushing down the stairs. Panting slightly, she opens the door for her girlfriend. Biana's wearing a t-shirt with the Amsterdam flag on it. Sophie has no idea why. Maybe Biana likes the country? Her girlfriend is pretty weird. "Come on in," she says, realizing she's been staring. In her defense, Biana is pretty and Sophie is very omni.

"Ready to go watch Keepers of the Chaos?" Biana asks. She bounces on her toes slightly.

"Alright," says Sophie. "I set it up on my laptop in my room."

"Awesome! You'll love it."

Sophie follows Biana up the stairs and into her room. They sit on the bed together, Sophie leaning against the wall and Biana leaning against Sophie, and Biana presses play. Somber kazoos begin playing in the background as the theme song starts.

We're on the edge of chaos

No one is straight

We're making fanart

Because L*ura we hate

And we're gonna have teal eyes in the end!

We must be weird, and we must be gay

(We must be gay!)

We will find every bit of sanity that we have

And give it all to Lynn

Ohhhh

We must be gay!

Biana dances a little along with the song, and Sophie can't help but smile. A curvy, round-faced person with short dark hair and colorful earrings plays a few notes on the piano, and then a KEEPERS OF THE CHAOS logo flashes across the screen. Then, a group of students sit in a classroom.

"Shai! Tater! Lynn! You three finally got together?" says the same person who just played piano, gesturing to a redhaed wearing a Sappho lesbian flag cape. She's holding the fingerless-gloved hand of a lanky person with brightly colored hair, and they're holding hands with a tall girl who has chin length brown hair. The rest of the class applauds the fiancees before returning to their own conversations.

"Yep! Thanks, Ink," says Tater.

Ink smiles at them and turns to a person with light brown skin and golden hoop earrings partially covered by long dark hair. "Hi, Kiri, how was your break?"

"Good! Here's to a good 2021?" Kiri turns to the person next to them. "How about you, Ref?"

Ref has short brown hair and red glasses. "Yeah, my break was dOPE," she says, leaving everyone to wonder how he did that with their voice. "oH, and happy belated Hanukkah to Shai!"

"Thanks, you too. And guess what! I didn't set my hair on fire this year!"

A short guy with strawberry blonde hair looks concerned. "Um. Congratulations?"

"Thanks, Sam!"

Sophie looks away from the screen and at Biana. "There are a lot of characters..." she mutters.

"Yeah, but you get to know them well enough eventually," says Biana. "Now shh, let's keep watching!"

A lot of other characters are introduced in various conversations, and Sophie's brain has a hard time keeping track of them all. She does remember Tara, a curvy, bored-looking girl with long sideswept bangs, and Blue, a bisexual who may or may not be an arsonist. She doesn't know either of their personalities very well yet, but she likes them so far. Lucat, a pale, blue haired asexual, who later joins the Hanukkah conversation, also seems cool.

Once quite a bit of introductions are done- Sophie lost count at around twenty something- are over, an announcement comes over the school's loudspeakers.

"Welcome back, Tumblr High School!" announces a voice. "I hope you all had a good break. Now, the Tumblr staff have an important announcement for you all. High schools in this county, like ours, Pinterest High School, and Instagram High School, will be holding a competition. All members of the winning team will receive a scholarship to AO3 college. If you are interested, meet in room 69 after school. Now, onto other announcements..."

Somber kazoos play again as the principal's droning voice fades into the background. A montage of the previously introduced characters wishing they could go to AO3 college moves across the screen. After a few minutes of them zooming through school and talking about how fucking boring it is, all of them gather in the room (some of them with more jokes than others) to discuss the competition.

A blonde woman welcomes them into the room. They wait a while to make sure no one else will arrive, but once everyone is there, the woman clears her throat. "Hello, everyone! I'm glad you're interested in joining the competition. My name is Shannon Messenger, and I'm in charge of admissions at AO3 College. My coworker L*ura and I designed this competition."

Sophie gasps and looks at Biana. "L*ura? But isn't that the person they hate? They said that in the intro!" Biana smiles at her, and she blushes as she realizes that she's kind of... maybe... invested in the show now. She decides she'll endure the "I told you so"s later and looks back at the show, trying to telepathically tell the characters not to trust this L*ura person... and perhaps not Shannon either. It's too early to tell whether Shannon will be an antagonist or not.

"All of you will be working as a team to write a story together. The main premise is that a twelve year old girl named Sophia is a telepath, but she can't tell anyone her secret. Then, she meets a teal-eyed boy named Finn, and he tells her that she's an elf. She travels back to the elf world with him, where she struggles a bit at the elf school Firefox, makes friends with some other elves, learns that she is an illegal creation of a rebel group called the Dark Duck, and another rebel group- the Rarelynoticed- tries to kidnap and kill Sophia and her friend Deck. There are other details to be included into the story, which will be given out to the participants as a packet. The object of this competition is not to determine your ability at coming up with story ideas, but your ability to work in groups and execute well developed ideas. Does anyone have any questions?"

Someone raises their hand- a short, tanned girl. "Lynn?" prompts the principal.

"Did you say the rebel group was named the Dark Duck?"

"And the Rarelynoticed?" adds another person, with rectangular glasses and a red bracelet.

"Raise your hand before speaking, Auran," scolds the principal. "But yes, those are the names."

"Alright then," Auran mutters.

"Unless anyone else has questions, we'll be sending out sign up forms for everyone interested, and then we will distribute the information packets about your story. You can talk to each other and start planning."

No one else has questions, so once they've all filled out the sign up form, they gather in small groups and flip through the packets, making sarcastic comments or mocking names ("'Rarelynoticed' though-" a stylish hijabi named Raiin sighs as they come across a page of information about the group) as they try to form some semblance of a plan. Once they all agree that they've made a lot of progress, they make plans to meet up again soon and walk back home.

Unbeknownst  to them, a pair of ominous teal eyes watch from above.

Somber kazoos play once again, and the credits roll.

"So, what'd you think?" Biana asks as Sophie closes her laptop.

Rather inaudibly, Sophie mumbles "It was good."

"What was that?"

"It was good! I liked it!"

Biana grins. "I told you so." She leans over and kisses Sophie on the cheek. "Thanks for watching it. I have to go do some homework, awesome seeing you!" As she walks out, Sophie hears her singing under her breath. "We must be gay..."

[ingek73]

Why Meghan Markle Is a Champion for All Women

By Brittany Alexandra Sulc, updated on May 1, 2021

March is women’s history month, and the women of decades past deserve our celebration. Without them, we wouldn’t have the right to vote, own property or have a say in our own reproductive rights. The thing is, if that’s our bar for women’s liberation, it’s really low. The life of Meghan Markle is a perfect example.

This woman, who’s as close to a real-life, modern-day princess as a person can get, has been harassed, scrutinized and picked apart by the media and the royal family alike. In celebration of International Women’s Day, Meghan Markle’s bold moves are proof of how far we’ve come. Our treatment of her is proof of how far we have to go.

Meghan Markle is a new kind of royal, and not everyone’s a fan.

Let’s roll the tapes, shall we? Meghan Markle was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, and identifies as mixed-race. At age 11, Meghan confronted Procter & Gamble about a national dish soap campaign that she believed was sexist. A few months later, the company changed its ads.

She excelled in school, graduating from Northwestern in 2003 with a double major in theater and international studies. She went on to become an actress but met initial resistance because of her "ethnically ambiguous" looks. While she waited for her acting career to take off, she supported herself by teaching bookbinding and working as a freelance calligrapher. In 2011, she landed a lead role in USA’s "Suits," which she continued for several seasons through 2017.

She met Prince Harry in 2016, and the couple hit it off instantly. Less than two years later, they were married, and the following year, they welcomed their first child. At first glance, that sounds like every American girl’s dream. After growing up with Disney, "Princess Diaries" and the "Prince and Me," we all secretly loved the idea of being a princess. Meghan Markle lived out our dreams, but as it turns out, they weren’t as idyllic as we imagined.

In the five years since Meghan Markle met her prince, she has:

Struggled to gain acceptance from the royal family.

Been the target of harsh criticism and constant rumors from the British press and numerous tabloids. It got so bad that Prince Harry filed a defamation suit against one of them, which he recently won.

Had every detail of her past and personal life examined under a magnifying glass and exploited.

Faced significant backlash over her supposed choice to break with royal tradition.

Essentially, she dared to be American, middle-class, mixed-race, feminist and human. And she was punished for it.

Meghan Markle’s split from royal life was a symptom of a society stuck in the past. During Meghan’s time as an active member of the royal family, she faced a markedly different response from the media than her sister-in-law Kate Middleton. Meghan Markle’s previous divorce was picked apart, despite the fact that it happened years earlier. Something as innocuous as rubbing her pregnant belly, a pretty universal expecting-mom habit, was called "vain," while Kate was praised for doing the exact same thing.

Tabloids constantly portrayed Meghan as a rebellious villain set on breaking from tradition. In an 84-minute interview with Oprah, which was a scandal in and of itself, Meghan insists that couldn’t be further from the truth. She did her best to support the royal family, but they failed to return the favor.

When they had the opportunity to go on public record and deny slanderous rumors about her, they declined. In the interview, Meghan Markle stated, "They were willing to lie to protect other members of the family, but they weren’t willing to tell the truth to protect me and my husband."

When she appeared on the cover of almost every British tabloid, the royal institution asked her to lay low, despite the fact that she had left the house only twice in the previous months. It was all about appearances. Speaking of appearances, there was also a discussion about how her son would look when he was born. Specifically, whether his skin would be dark. Between blatant racist and sexist remarks to controlling isolation and a lack of support from "the firm," Meghan Markle’s mental health suffered. Whose wouldn’t?

In the 21st century, we’re still prioritizing appearances over mental health and human welfare. It needs to stop.

Meghan Markle endured all of this while pregnant, breastfeeding and adapting to motherhood. She went on to experience a miscarriage as well. Miscarriages are quite common, and they often happen without any apparent cause. Still, pregnancy is a physically taxing feat, and it’s possible for stress to impact a woman’s ability to sustain a healthy pregnancy. It’s insane that in 2021 we have cause to wonder whether the world stressed a so-called princess into a miscarriage.

How we treat people has a profound effect on their well-being. A modern-day "princess" felt so alone, so mistreated, that she didn’t want to be alive anymore. This is in her own words. She was so miserable that she didn’t feel like herself, experiencing terrifying, concrete thoughts about ending her own life. She felt trapped in a very similar way many of us felt during 2020’s lockdown, isolated and out of options. She sought help and was told no repeatedly because of how it might look, even when her life was at risk.

She attended an event in a beautiful, sparkling blue gown, because she did not trust herself to stay home alone. Harry clung to his wife’s hands in love and fear, while she cried every time the cameras turned away. The pictures show only her smiles.

Meghan Markle is the kind of princess we should all support.

To say that the situation was unacceptable was an understatement. It could easily be said that it was abusive. The dark, controlling nature of royal life was thick with racist overtones. The accusation that the couple abruptly left the royal family was, according to their interview with Oprah, entirely false. And we believe them. They left because, after two years of asking for help, they received none. Harry feared that he would lose his wife due to the toxic treatment by Britain’s oldest institution — much as he lost his mother Diana. The institution was more afraid of losing the favor of the tabloids than of losing the first person of color in their family to depression.

When the couple relocated to Canada, protections for them and their son Archie were cut off. Their location was already public knowledge, so they relied on Tyler Perry’s generous support to stay safe. When death threats are a common occurrence, safety is a pretty big consideration. They later moved to California, where they’ve spent the last year restarting their lives almost from scratch.

Meghan Markle entered the royal family with the intention of being a devoted part of it. There was no sinister plan to steal a prince from his royal lifestyle. Meghan and Harry left out of necessity. In many ways, it was an escape. Leaving simply wasn’t done, but they bravely did it anyway.

Love her or hate her, Meghan Markle deserves your respect.

She had no obligation to live the life Queen Elizabeth, the media, or anyone else expected of her.

In Markle's interview, she stated that during the wedding, her wedding, it didn’t feel like her day. It was a day for the world. The expectation was that she married a centuries-long institution, but she chose to, very simply, marry the man she loved instead. She’s now raising a beautiful family with him, passing on values they truly believe in. That’s a happily ever after we should support.

Whether or not Meghan Markle is a perfectly poised picture of royalty is irrelevant. She’s human, and it’s time we treat her like it. She elected to do what was right for her and her family despite scrutiny from the media and the royal family. Despite opposition from the literal queen.

It should not need to be said in 2021 that all women deserve respect, but apparently, it does. All women deserve respect, especially women like Meghan Markle. Meghan Markle represents us all. She represents the woman who wants privacy in the days after giving birth to her first child. The woman who gets upset with her sister-in-law, then has to defend herself against a twisted version of the story making national news. She represents the women whose health and happiness came second because of damaging stigmas. She represents the woman of color who doesn’t ever get a fair shot, no matter how hard they try to do everything "right."

Like her or not, every woman can see a part of herself in Meghan Markle. That’s why it’s so important to support each other. While the royal family didn’t speak out in support of Meghan Markle, 72 female members of British parliament did. We can only hope that the next time a beautiful, strong, intelligent woman of color joins Britain’s royal family, they think twice about how they treat her. Then, they treat her right.

[deltas-writing-corner]

Courtship: Respect

Fandom: Twisted Wonderland (Malleus x GN!reader)

Warnings:  Mentions and depictions of smoking/tobacco usage

Next chapter | AO3 version

Slight revisions and full version posted on: 5/4/2021

The alarm clock on your phone is loud and annoying, but it’s the only sound that will wake you up without fail so you can get a head start on your more demanding days, like today.

Groggy and neck a bit strained, a sign that you’ve slept on it wrong, you carefully push yourself up and off your bed. You come across your first hurdle of the day. A few wolf cubs had settled on your chest and your sides during the night. You try carefully to move them off of you and to the side of their mother, who has settled near your feet and isn’t afraid to growl or snap her jaw should you even think of shifting or moving away from her. Unfortunately, the pups seem determined to stick by your side despite your efforts. Luckily the pack’s alpha, Gunter, is settled right behind your head and acted as your pillow for the night. He must be why your neck feels stiff as hell.

You reach back and start petting behind his ear, rubbing into the bunch of dotted scars beneath his coarse hair. You feel his body stretch and shake as he wakes up as well. A small whine comes out of him as he gives out an enormous yawn. It makes you yawn as well.

“Ready to start the day?” you whisper to him.

He huffs with a bit of attitude as if to say, “Not really, but what choice do I have?”

You redirect his attention to his pups, preventing you from sitting up without disturbing everyone else. With silent understanding, he removes himself from underneath your head and carefully steps over one of his brothers, who has graciously allowed you to use him as an armrest somewhere during the night. After another good morning stretch, Gunter begins the slow and steady process of picking the pups up from the scruffs off their necks and setting them elsewhere on your bed.

While he does this, you grab your phone and do a quick sweep of all your notifications. You have a few emails, one a weekly newsletter about current and future school events, most of it spam. You have a couple of dozen messages from Ace and Deuce detailing an argument over whether the former ate the latter’s piece of strawberry shortcake they were saving for after dinner. Apparently, they thought to ask you to be their mediator since it was clear they weren’t going anywhere arguing and pointing fingers back and forth at each other.

Unfortunately for them, they messaged you right after you conked out. You were exhausted yesterday, having to deal with an especially rambunctious and mischievous Grim. You were also scrambling to gather the reading materials needed for one of your classes before the other students can snag them. The most recent and urgent incident is figuring out what to do now that the only generator that powers up all of Ramshackle is going out or outright failing to even start up at all. You also have a decently sized garden to tend to, and the next large harvest is today. Once everything has been properly collected, washed, and either stored away in your pantry or given to Sam so he can sell and make a profit on your behalf and his own (it’s a 60/40 split and you had to fight tooth and nail for that 60), you have to replant everything once again after you’ve tilled the soil…

To say that there’s a lot on your plate is an understatement.

Free from your furry prison, you’re finally able to sit up and move your limbs freely. Something slightly damp presses against your bare shoulder, calling for your attention. Gunter, still clearly tired (expected of anyone, human or wolf, having to wake up at six o’clock in the morning), is now awaiting proper payment for his services.

“I got some dried venison in the kitchen,” you offer. The way his one good eye pops wide open and his tail begins to rapidly wag, the deer jerky will suffice.

You give the top of his head one last rub before standing up and heading straight for your bathroom to take a quick shower. Since the availability of electricity has been scarce lately, so is the availability of heating throughout the dorm. Unlike the ghosts, who can’t differentiate between hot and cold (unless it’s magically sourced), you can. Unlike the ghosts who are already dead, you will die in this late winter cold. Grim has better control of his blue flames compared to when you first met him, so he can now essentially be his own heater. He seemed a bit too comfortable keeping himself warm and letting you freeze to death, considering you’re the only reason he’s enrolled in this school.

You make do with what you have and your situation. Even when you gathered all the untorn and clean blankets and piled them on top of you last night, the cold still found its way underneath your cocoon. Gunter, the leader of a small bunch of wolves you had been taking care of during your first few weeks in Twisted Wonderland, must have seen you struggling to stave off the cold and settled himself next to you during the night followed by his brother, his sister, and finally Gunter’s mate and their pups.

Of course, with three full-grown wolves and four chubby wolf babies as your immediate heat sources, you overheated in no time and had to throw off all your covers and strip down to your underclothes in the middle of the night since your pajamas had quickly gotten soaked in sweat (and most definitely covered in their thick fur). A cold shower is just what you need to clean up after a long night drenched in sweat.

You also need to clean your sheets, but without electricity, your washer and dryer are out of order for the time being…

Dammit.

Cold showers suck, but once the ice-cold water hits your back, it woke you the hell up. You probably spent only five minutes in there before you quickly rinsed off and got out because of how unbearable the ice water was.

Once you’re properly toweled dried, you head to your closet and change. You put on clothes you don’t mind getting covered in dirt and sweat; a simple wool sweatshirt and some overalls lined with thick fleece. You also put on a pair of knitted crew socks and secure them to your leg with a pair of garters.

Right as you snap the final metal clasp on the knotted fabric, you feel a familiar bump on your shoulder. Gunter is giving you his best pleading face he can manage. Most people likely wouldn’t fall for it, what with the many scars littering across his body and face, making him look scary rather than cute. You feel a little tug in your heart. Luckily, you’re all dressed up and ready to start your day, so you quickly straighten up and usher him downstairs to give him his well-deserved treat. You grab your phone before you exit your room so you can peruse it on your way.

As you read over old texts and useless emails, a new notification comes in. It’s another message. As surprised as you are to receive a message so early in the morning (Ace and Deuce are likely still snoring and drooling into their pillows at this hour), it is the sender of the text that makes your slowed strides halt completely.

Good morning. I hope you had a pleasant and well-deserved night of rest. I’m currently getting ready to head over to the Ramshackle dorm to help you with your harvesting, as I promised. The coat you’ve made and gifted me during the holidays also fits perfectly and is by far the most comfortable piece of clothing I now own.

Thank you again for your most generous gift. I will inform you when I have arrived.

Yours truly,

Malleus Draconia

You can’t help but smack your palm on your forehead. You’re not annoyed or exasperated, it’s quite the opposite, actually. You’re happy that Malleus’s charm can somehow manifest even within a text message. In fact, this isn’t the first time he’s sent you a message formatted and written like a formal letter. If someone were to look at the small messaging history between you two, they’d see that a great majority of it is just Malleus sending you these long strings of text. They would also find your messages, or rather, your poor and embarrassing attempts at mimicking his language and style (he says he gets a laugh out of them, so maybe they’re as bad as you think). There’s also always a follow-up message, gently reminding and encouraging him to relax and not worry about offending you for speaking casually for you.

His response is always the same, and it makes your stomach feel strangely fuzzy.

You have earned my respect, now I must strive to earn yours.

It’s only been a little over a month since he dropped the bombshell that was his desire for your friendship to evolve into a proper, romantic relationship. To say it surprised you is another understatement. You were thoroughly flabbergasted once your mind finally registered his words as genuine. To hear him say “I love you” and direct such a powerful statement towards you was truly the last thing you expected since arriving in this strange world.

But through all the outer uncertainties there was one thing you were certain of, your inner uncertainties. Malleus is a dear friend of yours. Even amongst Ace or Deuce, two individuals who have been with you since the beginning and nearly every overblot incident that has come your way, Malleus holds a special place in your heart as your dearest friend.

But a friend is all he’s ever been in your mind. There was truly never an instance where you pondered or even held some amount of desire or expectation that your friendship could evolve into something more. You felt like a total prick during the end of his confession, asking him if you could sit on his words for a while and come back to him when you have a more certain and final answer to give. Watching the hope and nervousness in his eyes turn into one of pure and utter sadness and even embarrassment, yet he willed himself to conceal his heartbroken emotions back for your sake. It hurt like hell. What was supposed to be an exciting and relaxing end-of-winter-break party in Scarabia’s dorm (and an apology party for Jamil’s actions against you), turned awkward. Neither of you stayed any longer once you went your separate ways.

Despite what had happened, when you received a proper smartphone (and a proper phone plan to boot) as a gift for Christmas, one of the first things you did was transfer all your old contacts into the new device. The first person you messaged was Malleus, wanting to check in on him after your last encounter and to wish him a happy holiday. He answered back in a matter of minutes, much to your surprise. While he’s not the most tech-savvy, your major concern was whether he was holding up well after what happened and if you guys were going to remain as friends. You went on a whole tangent, trying your best to not sound so desperate and ensure that your response is in no way his fault because it most certainly is not. If there’s anyone to blame, it’s you.

Gunter suddenly tenses up. His fur instinctually puffs out, trying to appear bigger in anticipation of whatever threat he’s detected in the kitchen. Metallic clanking and clashing come from underneath the kitchen island where you store all the pots, pans, and heavy-duty appliances. A loud and harsh crash riles up Gunter enough that he feels the need to growl at whatever is underneath the cupboard.

You quietly move past him and wave your arm, signaling him to move back a bit. He listens to your orders and takes a few slow steps back. You position yourself on the side of the cabinet, fingertips pressing onto the top of the door to prepare to open.

“On my mark,” you whisper to Gunter. “One... Two…Three!”

You yank the door open, and Gunter quickly launches himself towards the potential threat. Though, not a second passes before he’s suddenly skidding across the floor, trying to immediately halt himself. He barely avoids hitting his head against the wood and giving himself a nasty bruise. When you ask him what’s wrong, he sticks his head into the cabinet and pulls out the apparent intruder.

It’s Blossom, a young fawn you rescued from the rose gardens of the Heartslaybul dorm. It was during the preparation of the unbirthday party near the start of the school year that subsequently led to dorm leader Riddle’s overblot. Cater assigned Grimm, Ace, Deuce, and yourself to paint the roses red with him. On top of rose painting duty, Cater was also on the lookout for a supposed ‘rose thief’ who had been snagging some roses from their garden right from under their noses. The scoundrel they were looking for was the fawn before you. From the way he still wobbled on his feet, he wasn’t even a month old when you initially rescued him. He’s lucky you found him when you did. His front leg was caught in a rusted and dull, but full-sized bear trap they set up in case the thief was a wild animal.

“What are you doing in there?” you ask the little troublemaker. “Probably trying to find a snack to chew on, huh?”

Blossom thrashes, trying to break free from Gunter’s hold on his scruff. He of course fails, but not without giving out a distressed scream and trying to plead for forgiveness by giving you his best innocent look. You shake your head before looking up at the small clock hung up on the wall above the refrigerator. It runs on battery so you have to worry about the time no longer being correct when the house lacks power.

It’s 6:15, still way too early. You tell Gunter to let go of Blossom and he does it without argument. Blossom quickly runs up to you, using your own body as a foothold to jump up into your arms. Once you have a hold of him, he bombards your face with little licks and nuzzles of his snout. While this action is normal and you would gladly accept it, you know better than to think it’s not the fawn’s attempts at trying to distract you from his misdeed.

“If you’re looking for the sugared flower petals, you won’t have any luck down there,” you tell him. He immediately stops his loving ministrations and gives out a disappointingly snort before relaxing in your arms.

You chuckle and give him a few apologetic pets on the head as you walk over to one of the upper cupboards and rummage around the various jars, trying to locate the dried venison for Gunter. You also grab a jar placed far in the back with the aforementioned candied rose petals Blossom was most definitely looking for. The moment you open the jar and the heavy scent of sweetness and floral whiffs in the air, Blossom begins to excitedly thrash about in your arms and tries to stick his head into the container. Luckily, the small nubs on his head, his newly budding antlers, stop him from reaching too deep.

You spend the next few minutes feeding your companions their early morning treat. The doorbell rings as you let Blossom lick the last specks of sugar off of your now damp palm. After rinsing your hands off and drying them, you head to the door. You open it and take in the sight of a newly arrived Malleus, dressed in a simple black dress shirt and a pair of loose-fitting linen pants you made for him when he expressed discomfort over his PE uniform the last time he helped you in your garden.

“Good morning!” you greet him as brightly as you can without being too loud.

“A good morning to you as well,” he greets back. Unlike you, who is still groggy and slow, he seems properly energized despite the time. You’re jealous. You’ve been waking up at the crack of dawn for years, at least a decade now, yet your body isn’t used to the early routine. Though compared to the hundreds of years Malleus has on you, you probably won’t show any sign of improvement until your hairs are gray.

“Have you eaten yet?” Malleus asks.

You shake your head. “The electricity is out, so I can’t use the stove or open the fridge too often.”

“Crowley still hasn’t replaced your generator?”

“No,” you frown. “Every time I try to bring it up he either gives an outlandish excuse or just flat out tells me I don’t need a new one.”

His eyebrows pressed together, clearly upset as you are at the headmaster’s failure as your caretaker. You reassure him it’s fine. Everyone in the dorm has been saving money for emergencies like this, and it just so happens that the money you’ll make for selling the produce you collect today will bring in just enough to buy a brand new generator. You’ll be out of electricity for another week, two at most, but have enough firewood and nonperishable foods to last until then.

“You should at least make yourself some coffee,” Malleus urges. “It’s bad to work on an empty stomach. You've said so yourself.”

“I will once Grim and the ghosts wake up,” you reassure. “For now, let’s head to the back and get started. There’s a lot to harvest, so the sooner we start, the sooner we’ll finish up.”

He’s clearly unhappy at your dismal of his concerns. You know that being so nonchalant towards a fae is rude, but you don’t want to worry him with your own issues. You also have no desire to eat or drink, not this early in the morning at least. If you tell him as much, he’ll probably freak out like he did last time, thinking you were unwell and forcing you to lie in bed for the rest of the day.

Yes, you could have pushed back and argued that you were fine, but it’s very hard to tell him “no” when his intentions are purely out of concern for your well-being. Better to let him hover over you and see that you’re fine than to leave him stewing in his anxieties in silence.

“What have you been growing this season?” Malleus asks as he tugs on the loaned gardening gloves you handed him.

“The usual spread. Some potatoes, cabbage, and carrots. The only fresh additions I planted are some peas and kale. Oh, and broccoli!”

“Did the crops hold well when you were gone?”

“They did thanks to the ghosts. The heat from the fire faeries around the campus also made them easier to protect from the cold,” you explain. “I should probably give them some type of exotic wood as a little thank you gift.”

“You can never go wrong with a bit of mahogany,” Malleus says as he ties back his hair.

You hand him a straw hat, one that you weaved to accommodate for his black horns. “I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you.”

“Your welcome,” he smiles at you before turning back to your garden. “So where shall we start first?”

“I’ll work on picking the cabbage heads. You can cut off the pea pods and we’ll go from there.”

“Very well. I’ll follow your lead.”

It’s 8 a.m. You know this because Ace and Deuce are woken up at this hour by Riddle and one of the first things they do is bombard you with text messages which usually forces you to turn your phone on silent mode. Despite it being late winter, you’re already working up a sweat from the repetitive and demanding motions of picking and carrying around baskets full of vegetables and cleaning them. Malleus is no better, hand continuously raising to his face to wipe away the constant wetness clinging to his forehead. You know he’s not used to manual labor like you are, so you try to bring him a pail of water every so often so he can stay properly hydrated.

“Oh my, you’re already up?”

You turn around to see who’s speaking to you and see one of the ghosts that live with you and Grim in Ramshackle floating towards you.

“Good morning!” you greet him. “Did you need something?”

“No no,” he shakes his head. “I just came to check up on my bees and saw you already hard at work.”

The ghost (Franklin is his name, but you all call him Frankie for short by his insistence), affectionately ruffles your hair with his large white palm. He’s one of the tamer ghosts, but he’s still capable of pulling a prank on you or his fellow housemates now and then. You and he have been cultivating and maintaining a small beehive since October, but he does most of the work and maintenance since he has more experience in the ways of beekeeping than you from when he was alive.

Frankie does a quick once over of the garden, his scanning gaze doubling back at seeing Malleus carefully rinse a couple of heads of broccoli.

“How long has he been here?”

“Since 6:30,” you answer back. “Why?”

“No one gets up that early unless it’s for someone they fancy,” he says rather nonchalantly, but the way he quickly side-eyes you show that he’s clearly talking about you. You try your best to appear unaffected and give a “Is that right?” type of hum, but your efforts are in vain since he just laughs at you.

“If even you know, that means he’s got it bad.”

You say nothing back because you honestly don’t know what to say, or if you should. You’re content to just go back to plucking potatoes out from the ground, but Frankie doesn’t seem to want to leave you alone just yet. He asks you to come with him to the greenhouse where the hive is being kept. The small glass enclosure also houses some flowers and herbs you use for cooking or medicine.

You quickly close the door behind you once you enter, reveling in the warmer air that hits your face. While Frankie lights his cigar and gets a heavy cloud of smoke going (his personal method of keeping the bees calm), he has you open the top and carefully pull out the panels one by one while he checks for any signs of a decaying hive and ensures the queen is alive and healthy. One of your initial worries about beekeeping was getting stung, but Frankie reassured you it’ll only happen if you purposely upset the bees or fail to care for the hives consistently. Now, you gladly let the buzzing honeybees wander around your bare skin.

As Frankie pulls out his cigar from between his lips and taps off the ashes into the respective ashtray, he looks over at you and asks, “Is everything ok?”

You give him a confused expression as you snap the cover for the hive back into place. “I’m fine?”

“You sure? Because if you ask me, you don’t seem like it.”

“I mean, I already have a pile of schoolwork I need to finish and a rundown dorm to take care of. I’m as ok as anyone in my position can be-“

“I’m not talking about any of that,” he interrupts. “I’m talking about you. Forget about Grim and your studies. How are you doing?”

“I’m fine,” you answer again.

“Are you sure?”

Well, when he puts it that way, even he must be able to see that you’re clearly not doing alright. In fact, you haven’t been alright since you were literally kidnapped and held against your will in the Scarabia dorm. Luckily everything worked out fine for everyone else, but not so much for you. You’ve noticed that your appetite is waning and you wake up multiple times during the night because you don’t feel safe, even in your own room.

Malleus’s confession unfortunately was another wrench being thrown at you. With your hands already so full of this and that, you’re struggling to figure out what needs a priority and which issues you need to either drop entirely or find someone trustworthy to take care of it in your stead. It’s hard to ask people for help when they either find a convenient reason to say no or you feel as if you can’t trust them to do something as simple as watering your plants. The only person you feel you can trust and ask for help is Malleus, and things aren’t exactly as they were between the two of you.

“Talk to me kiddo,” Frankie prods. “What’s been eating at you?”

He lifts his ashtray and makes to snuff out his cigar so he can focus on speaking to you, but you hastily reach over and stop him. You take the smoke from him and bring it up to your lips and puff a few grey clouds. Strangely enough, it tastes rather pleasant, floral, and creamy. You didn’t expect to taste like this because of the way it smells, like soil that was just freshly rained on.

“Sorry,” you hand it back to him. “I haven’t eaten and I’m practically running on fumes.”

“That’s alright,” he says, handing it back to you. “You look like you need it more than me.”

Malleus carefully blows small bits of green fire onto his freezing fingertips, trying to warm them up after being drenched in the icy water from the water pump. He looks over his shoulder, over the stalks of peas, towards you. You’re still in the greenhouse and frantically moving your lips. He can see your eyes are glistening with a fresh layer of… tears? You don’t allow a single drop to get past your lids, wiping them just at the last second before they can pass over the threshold.

He’s only ever seen you cry one other time, when he came to your rescue in Scarabia over the break. He initially thought he frightened you with his aggressive display of magic. Once the dust settled and the blot on Jamil was expunged, no one was more shocked than he was when you boldly ran straight towards him and jumped into his arms. It was all he ever wanted, what his mind dreamed of every single time he closed his eyes. He could no longer brush off the fluttering in his stomach as the mere excitement of making and spending time with his first genuine friend. He was determined to keep his newfound affections for you with him under lock and key, not willing to risk ruining your close-knit friendship with his selfish and potentially one-sided desires.

Your desperate embrace, your toughie exterior lowering to that of a sniveling and shaking human, gave Malleus the impression that the only reason you would display such vulnerability before him was that you reciprocated his sentiments. It gave him a sense of confidence he never knew he was lacking, usually so sure of himself most other times. It made his chest burn with an aching desire to say “to hell with it all” and spill his heart right then and there.

When you extended the invitation you received from Kalim to him, he saw it as his proper opportunity to let his affections be known. He was upset (according to Lilia, more than usual) that he had to take Sebek and Silver along with him for the usual security, but he was determined to get them distracted long enough so he can pull you aside and confess to you without fear of interruption or letting his personal affairs be known to anyone else, at least, for as long as he can keep something so monumental under wraps.

As a prince, he has been taught to look at the long term for each of his decisions, as they carry substantial weight. The long term of pursuing a relationship with you meant having to deal with the prejudices and stigma against humans that still live within the hearts of his people. For once in his life, he didn’t want to think like an heir. As he watches you continue to talk to one of Ramshackle’s ghosts with increasing frustration, he realizes his love utterly blinded him back then. The only long-term his rose-tinted mind could comprehend was of the happy moments he had long conjured in his head becoming a reality.

You didn’t explicitly reject him, however; he knows your behavior well enough to know that once his feelings were laid bare before you, you would not take them into your arms and hand yours over in return. Arms crossed and avoidance of eye contact, you do this when you’re nervous or unsure, sometimes both. He held onto the self-indulgent hope that you’d show him what you look like when flustered. Perhaps you’d stutter?

You did stutter when you spoke up, but they were not the words that he wanted, that he thought he was, going to hear.

“Malleus...I’m so sorry…”

“Ah, you’re here early!”

“It’s just that…I don’t think I can…”

“Hey! Are you listening to me? You better not be ignoring me on purpose!”

“It’s not that I’m telling you I don’t feel the same way, but I can’t exactly say that I do. It’s just... I’ve never- “

“Tsu-no-ta-rou!” Grim’s shrill voice, still a bit riddled with drowsiness, still pierce Malleus’s eardrums and nearly causes him to drop the vegetable in his hand. “Pay attention to me when I’m speaking!”

“Quiet,” he growls at the monster. “If you need your master, they’re in the greenhouse. Though, you might want to come back another time.”

“Huh? Why’s that?”

Malleus lifts Grim from the back of his fuzzy robe (you must have made it and gifted it to him during the holidays) and points to you. Frankie has one of his translucent hands on your shoulder, squeezing it comfortingly now and then while he speaks. You were no longer wiping your face so furiously, allowing your tears to fall and drip off of your jaw and wet your shirt as you listened to your fellow dorm resident.

“What happened? Did you smash all the tomatoes again?” Grim cranes his neck to look at Malleus accusingly.

“No, I didn’t. Those are out of season.”

“Maybe it’s about what happened at Scarabia,” Grim muses. “They haven’t been sleepin’ too good since we came back, y’know?”

Malleus nearly drops the cat. “They haven’t?”

“Nah,” the cat answers, far too casually and dismissively for the fae’s liking.

“This is news to me,” Malleus says, almost whispering to himself. He’s sad, almost offended, at the fact that you haven’t told him you’ve been having some difficulties this whole time. You normally keep him up to date with your personal life. He’s even more offended once he realizes that you’ve been worrying and reassuring him that your friendship with him isn’t ruined after what’s happened.

There’s a small voice in the back of his mind, conniving and twisted, that feeds into his already prevalent belief that your unwillingness to share with him your personal problems anymore is a sign that he hasn’t earned your respect. It’s a ridiculous explanation, but no amount of reassuring from either you or himself is going to stop his Mind from asking such a multi-sided question. Surely, if you thought admirably of him, you’d continue to allow him to bear witness to your moments of weakness and vulnerability. He feels close to you, connected to you in a way he’s never felt. He can be slow and downright miss some references to your jokes and behavior. You always put on a face of understanding, but is he so lost that your patience has worn paper-thin?

Are his feelings for you truly one-sided? Is he still jumping to conclusions too soon and just needs to give you more time and space? Did he just set a course for a ruined friendship or could his hastiness have been a fruitful gamble?

If it’s not iron that kills him, it’s the uncertainty within his heart and mind.

A shrill whistle pierces through the air and Malleus’s eardrums. Grim hisses at the sudden noise and the hairs on his neck stand up. Even Frankie and you can hear and turn your heads towards the source despite still being in the middle of a conversation. The one who whistled was another one of the ghosts who live in Ramshackle. Johnathan is his name, usually shortened to Johnny. His sunken cheekbones make him look unassuming, but you’ve rightly warned Malleus never to turn your back on that one for too long. It’s a miracle that you can keep up with all their shenanigans.

“I got the generator to start up and made some coffee!” Johnny happily announces. “Come get it while it and the dorm are nice and warm!”

“I’ll have a cup or two, so long as there’s a ton of cream and sugar!” Grim says whilst smiling. “And I ain’t skimping this time on the sugar!”

“You better if you know what’s good for you,” you sternly say, now out of the greenhouse along with Frankie. “We’re short on sugar and I’m not stocking up till next weekend.”

“Whaaaat?!” Grim exclaims, his lower jaw almost reaching the floor. “Since when did you become such a cheapskate?”

Everyone, including Malleus, did a sharp intake of breath as soon as the words passed the cat’s mouth. Everyone turns their head towards you, awaiting your reaction to Grim’s comment. This isn’t the first time Grim has gotten lippy with you and, given his nature as a mischievous little monster (a common trait between Ramshackle’s residents, Malleus is now noticing), it won’t be his last no matter how badly you scare or pull a fast one under his clawed feet. Even when your face is all puffy and wet with semi-dried tears, the look of “oh you’re in it now” is still so panic-inducing to everyone, ghosts, and feline alike. To the sole Fae present, he thinks of you as nothing short of adorable and wants nothing more than to wipe your messy face clean.

“Well, if you want more sugar there is one way you can get some more.”

“W-W-What is it?” Grim says, pudgy body shaking and sinking into the comfort and small safety of his fuzzy robe.

You approach him and bend down to grab him by the back of his neck, lifting him so he’s at your eye level before deadpanning, “Get a job, Make some money, and then buy your own.”

Once you set Grim down, he scrambles back into the home with an almost comical amount of fear in his eyes. He screams about how he’s never getting a job even if it kills him and his continued determination to find the small money vault you have hidden around the dorm and spend it all on canned tuna. Johnny, Frankie, and you all give a unison chant of good luck to him before he disappears completely.

“Has he made any progress in his search?” Malleus asks.

“Our money vault isn’t even in the house, so no,” Johnny answers, resulting in you and Frankie cackling and high-five one another.

With the power back on, you announce that it was time for a well-deserved break. It’s your turn to make breakfast and you immediately begin to ask everyone for their preferences. Frankie cuts you off and insists he take over your duties for the day. You normally would protest and insist to whoever was offering to cover for you it wasn’t a problem for you at all. “I enjoy doing [insert chore], so it’s fine!” is your usual go-to reasoning, but not this time.

Malleus notices the way you make to protest as usual, but you quickly back down and just let Frankie go ahead inside to take over for you. In normal Ramshackle fashion, Frankie mentions the cigar you were puffing and waving around earlier and says that you owe him another one, particularly an artisanal one that he’s recently read about in the local newspaper and has been aching to try.

“You got any more highly specific goods you want me to fight tooth and nail for?” you sneer.

“No, just the cigar will do,” he says before turning around to head back inside. Before he can close the door behind him all the way he pulls it back and says, “If you get it sometime this week I’ll buy a new bag of sugar.”

You whisper an impressive string of curses under your breath. Malleus has to restrain the urge to laugh at your colorful vocabulary.

“In that case, I hope your schedule is free tomorrow night. I’ll have it by then.”

Frankie gives you a thumbs up before heading back inside. Once the door behind him clicks shut, you turn towards Malleus and he physically feels his body shift from somewhat relaxed to stiff and proper. You notice this and crinkle your nose a bit, something to do when you find something endearing or as a way of silently giggling. Malleus watches with such an unnecessary amount of focus as you reach up to adjust his straw hat and wipe a bit of dirt off the collar of his shirt.

“I’m sorry for leaving you hanging back there,” you say as you pick off a stray leaf that somehow got tangled in his dark locks. “I’m also sorry you had to see me crying like that. I’ve just been so tired lately.”

There it is again. That damn twisting ache right in his heart.

“It’s fine,” he reassures you. “But if it isn’t too rude of me to ask, is your lack of sleep really all that’s wrong with you?”

You give out a long sigh. “I’m guessing Grim told you a bit of what’s been happening since winter break?”

“He has.”

Your arms cross and the ground suddenly becomes more interesting. You’re unsure, but the way your eyebrows press together is a sign that you’re conflicted. Malleus feels his frostbitten hands accumulate a layer of sweat as you silently mull over your thoughts. Despite the pain and hesitance in his heart, he wills himself to grasp you by the arm and pull you into an awkward hug. He knows it’s not exactly what you might need at the moment, and he was fully preparing you to push him away. He’s relieved when you bring your arms around his torso and reciprocate the embrace.

“I’m tired,” you sigh

“You haven’t been resting well, so it makes sense.“

“No,” you shake your head, the tips of your hair tickling Malleus’s neck. “It’s not just a lack of sleep that’s making me feel exhausted. After what happened with Scarabia, especially with Jamil, I don’t feel safe anymore.”

“Are you afraid?” he asks. To think of you as fearful is an entirely foreign concept for him when you’ve only ever been confident and certain of yourself since the first time he met you.

“Yeah, I am,” you admit without skipping a beat.

Considering what you told him, Malleus thinks your fear is justified. You have no defense against magic…

He fills a strain in his neck as his entire body suddenly seized up. You notice this and pull away to ask him what’s wrong. “Nothing,” he quickly dismisses, but you don’t let him go silent on you.

“If,” he hesitates. He’s thinking too rashly already, yet he’s still so compelled to act upon his thoughts. “Should anyone attempt to do you harm, I swear upon my name and title that I will do whatever it takes to protect you.”

He means every word, but you seem to take it far too casually than he would have liked. You press your face against his shoulder and laugh against his skin, your breath bringing him some much-needed temporary warmth. Such an ordinary action, yet it causes another pang within his heart. It settles next to the one that arose before, but he bites his tongue and endures it for your sake.

“Maybe you could play that electric violin for whoever comes after me,” you jest.

As embarrassing as it is to hear that you know about that incident (he’ll have to reprimand Lilia for telling you about that), he can’t help but laugh along with you. If making a bunch of teenagers’ foam from the mouth amuses you, then so be it.

“Thank you for offering to get your hands dirty for my sake,” you say. “That’s one thing I respect about you. You take care of the people you care for.”

His body goes still once again. “Is that right?” is all his mind can wrap around and say.

“Yes, oh Wise and Great Lord Malleus. I do, in fact, respect you.”

He cringes at that title. It’s something he has heard Sebek try to enforce you to refer to Malleus as, which you never do purely so you can get a rise out of his loyal guard. Before he can ask you to never call him that again, a bunch of howl’s ring out, and the two of you pull away from each other. The wolf’s howling is usually a sign that food is ready, which you seem rather eager to get to as you interlock your arm with his and drag him inside with you.

He looks back at his basket of still dirty vegetables. “What about-“

“It’s alright! I’m not throwing a fuss over a few broccoli heads!”

Crispy bacon, over easy and scrambled eggs, and a mountain of sizzling hash browns. Once everyone grabs a plate and sits down at the dining table (Malleus sticks close to you, hoping he can sit next to you), they grab whatever pieces of food they want in whichever quantity. Somewhere in the next room over, a faint melody plays through the speaker of an old record player. The vintage singer has a rather cheeky attitude in her vocals but with the accompanying music, it all comes together harmoniously. It’s perfect for a rather excitable breakfast.

It seems you never told the ghosts too many details about your sudden disappearance during the break. You downplay the true extent of your dilemma as you willingly giving your time and effort to help a desperate Jamil figure out what was causing his normally kind dorm leader to have a sudden personality switch. The ghosts listen carefully, and as you gradually get to the big climax that is Jamil’s betrayal and overblot, followed by Malleus’s sudden appearance, they’re all practically hanging on the edge of their seats. Your tale even intrigues the wolves and Blossom. They gather and settle near the legs of your chair, ushering you to continue your story by whining and scratching your ankle.

You don’t exaggerate Malleus’s part in your tale, something he greatly appreciates. You tell them how things happened just as they did: Grey clouds suddenly covering the sky and the occasional peak of lightning through their fogginess. Just when it seems like Jamil has the upper hand and is going to put an end to Grim and you, as well as Jade, Floyd, and Azul of Octavinelle, Malleus appears out of nowhere and effortlessly zaps the blot right out of the vice dorm leader of Scarabia.

“That deserves some praise,” Benjamin, the third of your ghostly residents, raises his half-filled mug of coffee and extends it towards the middle of the table. “To Malleus!”

Everyone, including you and Grim, raises your glasses and repeats his chant. “To Malleus!”

“To me, I suppose,” Malleus half-heartedly raises his own cup. “It really wasn’t much effort, or any praise really.”

He catches you looking at him in his peripheral and he feels a lump form in this throat that he immediately swallows. “I simply did what I believed you would have done for me if our positions were reversed.”

“Well, you’re not wrong there,” you say after swallowing a hefty mouthful of scrambled eggs. “But it’s nice knowing you have my back. It makes me feel safe.”

“Safe?” Malleus is surprised to hear you say this, considering what you told him earlier. “I make you feel safe?”

Now it’s your turn to be surprised. “Y-Yeah. I guess you do.”

“You guess?”

“You do,” you say, more definitively this time. “I promise. If you didn’t you’d know.”

He can’t help but laugh. “I can only imagine what interacting with you would be like then.”

“Probably not that good, or not at all. I steer clear of people I don’t particularly like.”

His eyebrows raise in intrigue as he sips his now lukewarm coffee. “What makes you dislike someone?”

“I dislike people I have no respect for,” you say casually. Malleus thinks you might be joking or poking fun at him, but how you take the time to look up to him while you busy yourself with feeding Gunter a few bits of bacon clearly means you’re trying to tell him something secretly. It’s definitely something along the lines of, “I don’t know where this mindset of me not respecting you came from, but it’s a load of bullshit and you need to get that thought out of your head.”

Even within his head, your language is still so vulgar and blunt. Only you would talk to him in such a rude manner.

But he respects that part about you.

[twstarchives]

Ruggie Bucchi・Voice Lines

Additional Voice Lines: Gala Couture Event Card

School Uniform - R

Unlock Card “The secret to feeling good is eating! As long as you eat, everything’ll be OK!”

Groovy “My studies, huh...? This is what’s gonna put food on my table, so I’m taking them seriously.”

Home Setting “They say there’s no such thing as a free lunch, you know?”

Home Transitions “I’m busy cleaning up Leona’s room right now. What? You wanna help? Man, thanks a bunch!”

“Mages who grew up in the slums like me are pretty rare.”

“Are you sure you should be spacing out like that? Time is money, you know.”

Home Transition (Login Greeting) “Do you need somethin’ from me? I’ll listen if you say you’ll treat me to something.”

Home Taps “My uniform? It’s a hand-me-down from Leona. It’s a little big, but I can still wear it so it’s fine.”

“I wouldn’t mind looking after Grim if you ever need me to. How does 1000 madols an hour sound?”

“You’re hungry? If you get some ingredients together, I can whip something up for you.”

“I gotta think about what I’m going to do after I graduate and start working towards that. ‘Cause life is really long.”

“Hm, what’s up? Does Leona want something——Oh, he doesn’t? You scared me for a sec...”

PE Uniform - R

Unlock Card “I’m really good at sports. At least, better than you.”

Groovy “Alright! I think I should show my cool side to the lower grades every once in a while~”

Home Setting “Getting to run around so nimbly really is the best.”

Home Transitions “Move it, move it! We’re in the middle of cleaning out the whole dorm! ‘Cause Leona never cleans this place up himself...”

“I’m considered pretty small in my dorm. But that just means I’ve got a lot of advantages in magift.”

“I’m really confident in my endurance. If I got my eyes on my prey, it’s not gonna escape me!”

Home Transition (Login Greeting) “Magift has a completely different feel when you see it live. Wanna come watch our practice sometime?”

Home Taps “Ahh, I’m hungry. I’m feeling like a whole pile of sugary donuts to dip in some milk.”

“I really respect Jack for how much physical strength he’s got. But he still has a selfish playing style.”

“Building up your strength is really important to survive a brutal environment.”

“Coach Vargas got angry today? Just compliment him on his muscles and that’ll put him right back in a good mood.”

“Now’s your last chance to enjoy yourself. Let’s hope you don’t lose all hope in everything when Coach Vargas goes and pushes you to your limit though. Shishishi!”

Lab Coat - SR

Unlock Card “I don’t care that much about looking professional, but I kinda like these snazzy lab coats.”

Groovy “You’re really clumsy. Here, hand that to me.”

Home Setting “Dirt would really stand out on this kind of white.”

Home Transitions “You should probably stay away from the Botanical Garden. If you irritate Leona during his naptime... Oo, it gives me chills.”

“Ahh, you’re using up so much good lab materials! Man, what a waste...”

“I love alchemy. But I tend to make lots of mistakes if I get too greedy. Hehe.”

Home Transition (Login Greeting) “Aah? I wouldn’t be able to help you with that work even if you asked me.”

Home Transition (Groovy) “You can still eat weeds if you cook them right. Huh, you actually wanna try ‘em? ...You’ve got weird taste.”

Home Taps “Jack grows a lot of cacti in his room. Maybe they could be emergency rations.”

“I can only throw together a meal with what I’ve got to work with, but I guess it’s fine as long as Leona eats it.”

“A lot of the plants they grow in the Botanical Garden could sell for really high prices. ...I don’t mean anything by that; I’m just sayin’. Shishishi!”

“I don’t really get how Riddle just dumps in spoonfuls thinking it’s ‘the right amount’ he needs.”

“Don’t touch me when your hands reek of chemicals! You’re gonna get the smell on me!”

Home Tap (Groovy) “Want me to tell you what was covered on my tests last year? I’d even give you a special friend discount.”

Ceremony Robes - SR

Unlock Card “These robes are so fancy. They really do have the feel of this school.”

Groovy “Even I look the part when I’m wearing these, don’t I?”

Home Setting “So? These actually look pretty nice on me, huh?”

Home Transitions “You’re a student at this academy but you don’t even know the history behind it? Gathering intel should always be a priority.”

“Want a keepsake photo of you in your ceremony robes? Just 1000 madols a pic! It’s a great deal!”

“Hah, I’m tired... I can’t help feeling stiff in clothes I’m not used to. How are you doin’ in them?”

Home Transition (Login Greeting) “This high-quality fabric with gold embroidering, plus these decorations... How much would they all sell for?”

Home Transition (Groovy) “The ceremony today is gonna be in the Mirror Chamber. Shishishi! You look nervous. It’s cute; it’s fitting for a first-year.”

Home Taps “I’m not rich, but I’ll always like this better than being a spoiled brat who doesn’t have a problem in the world.”

“The chance of Leona coming to a ceremony is... about 50/50. But he’ll still come to the entrance and graduation ones.”

“The Headmaster takes really good care of the apple trees that grow on campus. Those apples all look so good.”

“Mages were pretty rare where I grew up. I bet they’d all wanna see what I look like now.”

“You don’t need to rush; we’ve got plenty of time before the ceremony. You’re so impatient.”

Home Tap (Groovy) “Your makeup’s all smudged. Alright, guess I’ll fix it for you. ...It’s fine, I’ve done this as a job before.”

Dorm Uniform - SSR

Unlock Card “Who stepped into my territory?”

“Oh, wow, what a cute little kitten. Did you come here to be our prey? Shishishi!”

Groovy “I could tell you how to survive at this school if you want.”

Home Setting “I feel like somethin’ fun’s gonna happen today.”

Home Transitions “The deserted feel of the Ramshackle Dorm is kinda nice, but... Savanaclaw is still my favorite.”

“The dorm uniforms really are so easy to move in. They’re not too fancy either; it’s perfect for me.”

“We’re about to have a dorm meeting right now. What, you wanna come check it out? I mean, Leona’s kind of... It depends on how you ask him.”

Home Transition (Login Greeting) “I’m heading to the cafeteria with Leona. Wanna come too? Having more people to run errands saves me some.”

Home Transition (Groovy) “Sure, I came to this school without a madol in my pocket... but you can always find a way to handle anything as long as you’re alive!”

Home Taps “The strong and the smart are the ones who rise to power in Savanaclaw. I like how it’s an obvious system.”

“This necklace is supposed to represent different parts of nature. Red for the sun, blue for the sky, green for the land... It reminds me of my hometown.”

“It’s important to not let your guard down in the savannah. If you’re not careful... bam! You get killed.”

“Leona works me hard, but I’m always paid the appropriate amount. It’s a give-and-take.”

“You’re really just like a puppy with how playful you are.”

Home Tap (Groovy) “There’s still so much you could do even if you can’t use magic. Want me to give you a lecture on them?”

Duo Magic Ruggie: “Use your head, Jack!” Jack: “Right! Ruggie!”

Birthday Celebration Outfit - SSR

This card was only obtainable during Ruggie’s birthday event (Apr 16 - Apr 22, 2021).

Login on Birthday “Today’s my long-awaited birthday! Course that means you’ve got a present ready for me, right? ...Wait, huh? You actually do? ...Hmm, you were so straightforward, it kinda threw me off... Well, thanks! Hehe.”

Unlock Card “I’m the king today! Is the celebration all ready to go?”

“There’s really no one worth giving presents to as much as me. I’ll be happy with anything I get!”

Groovy “Thanks for celebrating! Can I expect another fancy party next year?”

Home Setting “I’m going to make it loud and clear I’m the star today.”

Home Transitions “Jack was so annoying telling me ‘The birthday boy needs to just kick back and relax!’ It was hard shaking him off.”

“Cake tastes so good and sweet~ But as long as it keeps me filled, I don’t really have anything else to say about it.”

“I can’t believe Silver was so quick to buy me that premium pudding when I asked him for it... I’ll go crying to him next time I’m short on food money.”

Home Transition (Login Greeting) “The birthday parties at this school are the best! I mean, there’s so much fancy food! I’m going to stuff myself like mad.”

Home Taps “The neighborhood kids always come to visit on my birthday. ...No, not to celebrate; they’re after the food.”

“Jade gave me a high-quality towel that’s so soft to touch... I might change my mind about being okay using it.”

“Lucius showed me somewhere where lots of dandelions grow. He’s a thoughtful cat!”

“This donut pin looks so yummy. But I wish they would’ve gotten some actual ones ready.”

“Hey, I know you just pulled my tail! You’re wrong if you think I’m going to allow that just ‘cause it’s my birthday.”

Home Tap (Groovy) “Some people don’t like getting older, but I’m happy about it. Don’t take your birthdays for granted.”

Duo Magic Ruggie: “Sebek, let's hear ya shout it out!” Sebek: “HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RUGGIE!!!”

Tutorial “Delays never bring you anything good. Let’s go.”

Lv Up “Shishishi! This is good.”

“You’re kinda weird, trying to take care of me.”

“I think I’ve gotten stronger!”

Max Lv Up “I feel like I could do anything now. Trying hard every once in a while actually might not be that bad. Hehe.”

Episode Lv Up “You really are such a softie. You might get scammed someday, you know? Well, come talk to me if that happens and I might help you out.”

Magic Lv Up “I always thought my magic would stay sucky my whole life, but... it’s kinda turned out.”

Limit Break “I think my progress is still far from over. Guess I gotta stay around you a little while longer.”

Groovy “See? The skilled ones always survive in this world. You’ve got nothing to lose being around me.”

Select Lesson “There aren’t classes on haggling or anything? This place really is a prestigious mage-training school.”

“You don’t have to get so stressed about it. You take things so seriously.”

“Which one are you gonna do? If it were me I’d pick one that’d be useful for survival.”

Lesson Start “Alright, studytime, studytime!”

Lesson End “Hah... I gotta stay caught up.”

Battle Start “This is my territory!”

Battle End “Looks like I got myself some mouth-watering prey.”

Other

Profile Quote “This world is a survival of the fittest. If you don’t eat when you can, you’re not gonna survive.”

January 2020 Trailer “Even a hyena can become king at this school.”

Countdown Poster “You’ve got some nerve stepping into our territory. Shishishi!”

Login Bonus Greeting “Oh, you made some money! Shishishi! Getting this just by coming to school everyday really is the best, huh? Make sure you don’t forget to come tomorrow either.”

Player Birthday Wish “You’re eating good food, getting all these presents, and everyone’s being so nice to you today. So you don’t really need me to send you birthday wishes on top of that, right? Kidding. Shishishi! I swear! Happy birthday!”

[revolution-must-happen]

Holi: The cruel darkness behind the festival of colors?

“Holi Festival” Why do we celebrate? Whose success is the Holi festival a symbol of?

Background:

*Gurukulam: Traditional School

*Mulnivasi: the farmers, artisans and locals settled in Indian subcontinent before 5000BC during Indus-valley-civilization (IVC), until the invasion of Aryans happened(2500BC-1700BC), who were completely erased off their culture. Today they form about 80% of Indian Population. Scheduled classes(22%) Scheduled Tribes(7%) Backward Classes(52%), together they are also referred to as Bahujans.

**Brahmans: They performed priestly acts, and count about 2% of Indian population. They performed rituals of sacrifice and induced belief and fear in people, making them controllers of God. Vedas were their holy scriptures, where they wrote: “adhyapanam, adhyayanam cha yejanam, yaajanam, thatha daanam prathigrahachaivaha, brahmana nama kalpayeth” “Learning and Teaching are sole-rights of Brahmans exclusively. To offer prayers to God, to Seek prayers from God, to give or take Offerings/Donations are all exclusively reserved for them.” “Samastha lokam Daivadeenaam, Daivadeenamtu Mantraadeenam, Tan Mantram Brahmanadeenam, Brahmano mama Daivatah” “The whole universe is under the control of God, God is under the control of Mantras, These Mantras are under the control of Brahmans, hence, Brahmans are ultimate Gods.” They created fear in people about their well-being, and suggest to perform a ritual, which costs them anything from a Chicken, to a lamb to a Cow.. up-to their own Wife or Daughter.. They convince the Mulnivasis “No pain - No gain” and the poor man is left with “Pain” while the Priest is left with “Gain”. So they used to earn their living, not by hard-work, but by squeezing the sweat out of the Mulnivasis. They graded people into different classes or Varnas, 20% (Priestly, Warrior, Businessmen) and Laborers (80%). Four things to be noted here: 1. Ritual Sacrifices of Animals, Livestock, Grain, fruits of Labor, etc. 2. Women sacrifices, they abused their power to sexually exploit Women. 3. Alcohol was highly praised, and it is glorified throughout Vedas 4. Lies and Theft. (Astrology, Rituals from Birth to Death thereby forcefully squeezing benefits in the name of Offerings) Even the history of Buddha was distorted by the Brahmans, but the main reason Buddha came to existence is due to the injustice happening to common man in terms of exploitation. He was the first revolutionary in the world, who reformed the society spiritually, communally, socially, with equality and fraternity on the basis of the following core principles: Do not Lie, Do not Steal, Do not kill Animals, Do not allow prostitution. Buddha since childhood was against injustice and wanted equality, by the time of Buddha, the Indus Valley Civilization which was matriarchal and based on humanity, was completely destroyed and became Male-dominated society of the Aryans. Due to Buddhism(600BC), the Brahmanism was completely wiped out till south-east Asia. But their minds did not change, and poisoned Buddha at the age of 85 to kill him. Slowly they regained their power, and destroyed all the Buddhist Monasteries (Aramas) and established Vedic religion until 300BC. Then came the “King Ashoka the Great” who established Buddhism big-time and spread it much further. This was the only “Golden Era of India” during which the GDP of his dynasty was about 1/3rd of the whole world. Until his 10th grandson “Brihadratha” who was killed by his own Brahman-General(Pushya Mitra Shunga) by deceit. Again the Brahmanism regained its glory with Shungas. The Monasteries meant for gaining knowledge and donations for the well-being of the society, was occupied by Brahmans, who made reforms at a very slow rate. These were slowly converted to Temples and centers of belief, fear, exploitation, and idol worship. Between 200BC and 200AD was the Constitution of Brahmanism created by “Manu” which is called “Manusmriti”. This document divided people into 4 Varnas, and created a rigid form of hierarchical-discriminatory society, where intermixing of Blood was banned ever-since, even until today for over 2000 years.

***Vishnu: This guy has taken every possible Avatar. Rama, Krishna, Vemana, Hari,.. and so on. By this you must understand, how important this guy is, that’s why he sits in the Richest temple of the World “Tirumala-Tirupati”. Not only that, they got to the extent of including Buddha as an Avatar of Vishnu. Why? They decorated a Buddha statue with ornaments and lady Goddesses beside him, then obviously to cover up, they need to create stories, right? So Buddha according to them, took the 10th avatar of Vishnu. They owned Buddha here. They owned the Buddhist non-violent way of life. They gave up Beef eating. They became Vegetarians.

But Buddha out-rightly rejected afterlife, soul and rebirth. How then, can they claim Buddha to be an avatar of Vishnu? Rather, take all his credit, and render him useless, that's what they did, that's what corrupt politicians do these days, i guess they learnt it long ago with Brahmanism. Exactly, even today, over 70% of all top positions in India in 2021 are held by this 2% community.

The versions of stories:

Ever since the Buddhism has been erased off the face of India by the Vedic religions(Aryans), the actual history has been patched-up with so called Neo-hinduistic(Brahmanism) religion, and several distorted stories have been built-up to make the innocent uneducated, as well as educated Indians their slaves. Several stories have been published and popularized behind the reason for Holi celebration: 1. Holika: A demoness who was threatening the village during night, to avoid her, burn huge fire at night and get rid of her. 2. Hiranyakashyapa: A king who did several hundreds of years of Penance, receives impossible powers from God Brahma to conquer death. He can not die on earth or sky, from human or animal, and many impossible fantasies. Having gained such great powers, he wants to prove his authority as God himself, and tortures the people of all the 14 worlds(Only god knows 14 worlds, I know only this planet Earth!). To suppress his Nonsense, his son Prahlada took avatar of Vishnu(another God also known as Hari) and he successfully kills his father performing various tricks, ultimately as Narasimha(Half lion-half human) avatar. 3. Prahlada: He was tortured by his father(Hiranyakashyapa) in several ways, with snakes, burnt him, etc.. But Holika, the sisterof Hiranyakashyapa had special power of protection from not burning by a special Shawl. Obedient Prahalada was ordered by his father to jump into the fire in the hands of Holika. So he took the order and Jumped. At the moment of entering the flame, he prayed to Vishnu, so Vishnu vanished the shawl from Holika and replaced it on Hiranyakashyapa, meanwhile Holika got burnt in her own fire. So to pay respect to Holika, holi is celebrated! Hope it makes any sense/ logic, but this is what the story says! 4. Banasura/Mahabali: Vamana(Dwarf Avatar of Vishnu) came to Mahabali (a benevolent king who has special powers against death) and requested to place his three steps on land. The Dwarf Vamana placed one step on earth, one step on heaven, and Mahabali offered his head for third step. (Don’t ask the logic behind 3 steps, and how! lol) Then Vishnu unveils his real Giant avatar after stepping on Mahabali’s head. His son Banasura, insulted by Vishnu’ foot stamping on his father’s head, Banasura chased Vamana to death and killed him by starvation! Succesors of Vamana: Brahmadi Upadyaya performed a death ritual known as “Dahanam” 5. Kama Dahanam: One crazy story! Shiva and his wife Shakti/Parvati were in deep Meditation (due to their own personal reasons), life sustenance in the world was in trouble due to Yoga of Shakti and Shiva, while the Demons wreaked havoc on the other Devas(Gods). These demons could only be killed by son of Shiva+Parvati. No to disturb their meditation, the Devas decide to approach god of love Kamadeva, to generate Lust between Shiva and Shakti. Devas threatened to curse him if he doesn’t oblige, so better to die in eyes of Shiva than this cheap bargain, Kamadeva decided to shoot arrow of Love on Shiva. And Shiva opens his third-eye, Kamadeva is burnt to ash! Upon request of all Gods, Shiva forgave Kamadeva and offers his life back, but he can be seen by none other that his wife Rathidevi. Kamadeva also referred as Ananga(one without his part), or you might’ve guessed right?

6. Buddhist Literature: Celebrate festival with five colors. Five colors depict Pancha-sheela( five-qualities). This day is also celebrated as the day when Buddha visited to his place of Birth. In Magadhi language during King Ashoka’s times, Dholi/Tholi which means “cradle” or “swinging” is found on inscriptions as a significant day of celebration. “Dahanam” means burning. In Buddhism, the following three things to be burnt: i. “Burning the Body” means Abandoning the body/bodily desires ii. Immoral/Negative Emotions iii. Immoral/Negative Thoughts Buddha achieved all the three. Kollata/Dandiya: Playing/Dancing two sticks. Each person holds two small sticks and according to music, the make moves and clap their sticks. A group dance, the history which can be found way back from a skit of 700AD which describes Ashoka times. Narasimha suktam: which was written by Buddha’s wife and people of his time, mentions several things during this Period of the year. A period of 15 days during Spring-Summer, when family gatherings happened, a beautiful period when couples were left to know each other. Joyful and playful times. Meanwhile, the Monks could get busy with burning the evil within them.

Coming back to the Main Story:

Asura: one who doesn’t consume Sura/wine Sura: one who consumes Sura/alcohol All the kings of Mulnivasis were named Asuras. All Asuras were depicted as Demons. All those who went against the Brahman supremacy of Education to the Privileged few, were labelled as Demons. All these Demons somehow, illogically, according to their own stories, caused disruption to the Devas/Suras/Gods. The Brahmans/Gods punished them, killed them, eliminated them by hook or crook. They then created distorted stories. The forbid learning/reading/hearing/speaking of Vedas, Puranas, and their holy Texts, for one reason. Uneducated, and illiterate are bound to believe what is told to them. But the distorted, illogical stories make sense as long as you are illiterate, or blinded by belief. There is no rationality involved. There is no questioning allowed.

To speak bullshit and to not confronting questions, the best way to achieve this? BAN READING, WRITING, LEARNING! So intelligent they were in sketching such a plan, but so unintelligent that they created such stupid stories, which, if you ask more than 2 questions, they need to disappear, or you need to disappear. Coz there's no logic, there's no connection, there's no sense, or just that it’s nonsense.

Unaware of this, the indigenous Bahujans of India (mulnivasis), on the occasion of the “Holi festival”, some of the Brahman and Marwari communities burn a picture of Ravanasura (This guy is totally irrelevant here, but again, a famous Demon, celebrated for his death on every occasion possible: Dussera, Diwali and so on) under the name of “Kama Dahanam” at night. The festival is celebrated by burning the Effigy overnight and sprinkling with colors during the day.

The reason is the tragedy of the murder of “Holika”, the native daughter of this country. Ignorant and misinformed indigenous people who do not know the history, sing “Anandakeli Rangeli” while begging, as a tradition they keep doing this. And for some who wait the whole year for Holi to come, so they can beg and earn their living for the rest of the year.. Was it a tradition of hardcore Holi-fanaticism, to wait all year for begging on this special day? Or was it a punishment imposed, on some sections and Communities, to hide the truth?

Today, we sprinkle colors, drink alcohol, eat meat and go to sleep.

The king of these natives (mulnivasi), Hiranyakashipu with his son Prahlada would recite Harinama in Gurukulam, the Aryans conspired to teach Haribhakti(devotion to Hari). Hiranyakashipu introduces in Gurukuls, education with a different idea than Aryan education in his kingdom, completely revolutionary and against the Aryan way of education.

The Aryans, who cannot tolerate this, try to provoke the father and son into a fight. Blinded by belief of the words of enemy “Hari”, Hiranyakashipu’s younger sister “Holika” tries to please her son-in-law Prahlada that he must obey his father. Seeing this, the Aryan king Vishnu pushes Holika into fire, kills her to death, in order to thwart Holika’s attempt to pacify Father and Son. The day of the most brutal murder of a woman in our history is celebrated in the name of a festival.

The time has come to unravel the wounds from the bottom-pit of history, the conspiracies of the descendants of Manusmriti who are burying themselves with us, by lying concocted and irrelevant, nonsensical stories. Children of Manu, are scared and confused and shivering, in hope that their fake reason-less, proof-less stories, do have an end!

Long Live “Holika” Long Live indigenous Martyrs..! Mahatma Phule, Savitri Bai, Babasaheb Ambedkar, Pulan Devi, Rohit Vemula are rewriting history. As we see that the heritage is expanding all over this country, so is the demystification, decrypting the Parasite brain of Manu and his successors. The oncoming scene is clear.

They will hide as many facts, they will recruit as many Babas and Gurus. They will create as many gods, they will create as many festivals, but the truth still remains! To patch up a lie, a new lie is to be told, to cover up the death, a new god is created… They keep lying, and we keep uncovering their lies…

Jai Bhim! Jai Insaan!

[astonishinglegends]

Ep 205: Terry Carnation's "Dark Air" and Rich Hatem

“Imagine the universe, compressed on the head of a pin…”

– Scott’s remembrance of a Carl Sagan quote, which, turns out, probably originates from a parody impression of Carl Sagan

Description:

We have a very special guest joining us tonight, metaphysical "astralnaut," philosopher of the liminal, "Pope of the Paranormal," and host of the AM Radio talk show Dark Air, Terry Carnation. Terry first got his start in the paranormal radio genre when unexpectedly thrust into taking over for another show. While working as a late-night rock n' roll Disc Jockey for an FM station in Buffalo, NY, in 1992, Reginald Wilcox, the host of the paranormal call-in show that aired after Terry's slot was mysteriously murdered while Terry was in the bathroom... or so he claims. In his unflappable sense of duty, apparently stronger than his sense of legal obligation, Terry immediately took over the role of consigliere for listeners stupefied by the supernatural. And in Terry's words, "that's how a legend was created." Now, after a three-year hiatus, Terry Carnation returns with a new podcast, also called Dark Air, available starting April 1, 2021, wherever podcasts are given away for free. While you may not have heard of him, there will be something uneasily familiar about his voice and visage. And the audience will come to know his strange power for tearing off the head of disbelief and reaching down deep into our souls to yank out the viscera of our darkest fears and mysteries. Wrapped around our interview with Terry, our good buddy Rich Hatem joins us once again to discuss his latest adventures and projects. We'll also con him into playing our version of a game show, in the spirit of America's NPR radio program Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! and Britain's Would I Lie to You? We'll tell Rich three outrageous paranormal stories, and he has to guess which one is fake. Please join us for an episode of inscrutable levity.

Reference Links:

Terry Carnation’s website, TerryCarnation.com

Terry Carnation and Dark Air on Audioboom, where you can subscribe to the platform of your choice

Dark Air with Terry Carnation on Apple Podcasts

Follow Terry Carnation on Instagram

Follow Terry Carnation on Twitter

Terry Carnation on Facebook

Where to stream DC Titans

“TERRIBLE FLYING JELLY BAGS aka DOMSTEN BLOBS: (SWEDEN)” by Rob Morphy on cryptopia.us

National Public Radio’s Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!

The BBC One panel show involving true and false tales, Would I Lie To You?

“The Story Behind The Haunted Donkey Lady Bridge In Texas Will Send Chills Down Your Spine” from OnlyInYourState.com

“South Texas Haunted Folklore: The Tale of the Converse Werewolf” from KSAT.com

On a totally unrelated subject…

Rainn Wilson is best known for playing the role of Dwight Schrute on NBC's The Office. Additional film and television credits include Galaxy Quest, Almost Famous, The Rocker, Super, Six Feet Under, Juno, Backstrom, Star Trek Discovery, Thom Pain, The Meg, Mom, Don't Tell a Soul and Utopia.  He will also be appearing in the forthcoming podcast Dark Air with Terry Carnation. Wilson co-founded SoulPancake, a digital media company, and the Lide Foundation, an educational initiative in rural Haiti that empowers at-risk women and girls through the arts.

Dark Air with Terry Carnation was created by Rainn Wilson and Aaron Lee and is produced by Thom Harp and Chris Kelly. Dark Air with Terry Carnation is a production of Imperial Mammoth, Audioboom and Kelly&Kelly. Theme music by Marcos Moscat

This episode features the voice talents of Jinous Khjadivian and Dana Davis as the two audience callers.

Please help out our good friend Stan Gordon, by purchasing his books on Amazon and Barnes & Noble – you’re gonna love ‘em!

At Barnes & Noble:

Silent Invasion: The Pennsylvania UFO-Bigfoot Casebook

Astonishing Encounters: Pennsylvania’s Unknown Creatures, Casebook 3

Really Mysterious Pennsylvania: UFOs, Bigfoot, and Other Weird Encounters, Casebook 1

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Credits:

Episode 205: Terry Carnation’s “Dark Air“ and Rich Hatem. Produced by Scott Philbrook & Forrest Burgess; Audio Editing by Sarah Vorhees Wendel. Sound Design by Ryan McCullough; Tess Pfeifle, Producer, and Lead Researcher; Research Support from the astonishing League of Astonishing Researchers, a.k.a. The Astonishing Research Corps, or "A.R.C." for short. Copyright 2021 Astonishing Legends Productions, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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Article: Lydia Abarca Mitchell, Arthur Mitchell's First Ballerina, Builds On Her Mentor's Legacy in Atlanta

Date: January 13, 2021

By: Cynthia Bond Perry For Dance Teacher

It is the urgency of going in a week or two before opening night that Lydia Abarca Mitchell loves most about coaching. But in her role as Ballethnic Dance Company's rehearsal director, she's not just getting the troupe ready for the stage. Abarca Mitchell—no relation to Arthur Mitchell—was Mitchell's first prima ballerina when he founded Dance Theatre of Harlem with Karel Shook; through her coaching, Abarca Mitchell works to pass her mentor's legacy to the next generation.

"She has the same sensibility" as Arthur Mitchell, says Ballethnic co-artistic director Nena Gilreath. "She's very direct, all about the mission and the excellence, but very caring."

Ballethnic is based in East Point, a suburban city bordering Atlanta. In a metropolitan area with a history of racism and where funding is hard-won, it is crucial for the Black-led ballet company to present polished, professional productions. "Ms. Lydia" provides the "hard last eye" before the curtain opens in front of an audience.

For more than 25 years, coaching at Ballethnic has been a lifeline back to Abarca Mitchell's days with DTH. She had a stellar career, both with the company and beyond, but left the stage at age 30 after an injury sustained performing in Dancin' on Broadway. Her husband's job transferred them to Atlanta, where she transitioned to a full-time job as a medical transcriptionist while raising a family. Now retired from her second career, Abarca Mitchell continues to forward Arthur Mitchell's legacy, not only through coaching but also by building community among DTH alumni and writing her memoirs—a fairy-tale story of a child who came from the Harlem public-housing projects and became a trailblazing Black ballerina.

Abarca Mitchell grew up during the 1950s and '60s, the oldest of seven in a tight-knit family. She always danced, taking cues from Hollywood figures until a fourth-grade teacher saw her talent and encouraged her to seek formal training. The family couldn't afford ballet lessons, but Abarca Mitchell earned a scholarship to attend The Juilliard School's Saturday youth program, and later the Harkness Ballet's professional training program. But for all of those ballet classes, Abarca Mitchell never had the opportunity to see or perform in a ballet production. She didn't understand the purpose behind ballet's tedious class exercises.

When the fast-growing Harkness Ballet moved its scholarship students to the June Taylor Studio on Broadway, Abarca Mitchell remembers hearing live drumming, clapping and laughter coming from the studio across the hall. It was a jazz class taught by Jaime Rogers, who'd played Loco in the West Side Story movie. Abarca Mitchell started sneaking into Rogers' classes.

When Harkness informed her that her scholarship was exclusively for ballet, Abarca Mitchell left the program. She saw no future for herself in the white-dominated ballet world, and focused on academics during her last two years of high school.

At 17, Abarca Mitchell met Arthur Mitchell. He had made history as the first Black principal dancer with New York City Ballet, which he had joined in 1955, and had just begun to shape what would become Dance Theatre of Harlem when he hired Abarca Mitchell in 1968. Within a month, she was back on pointe. Within two months, she was performing in Arthur Mitchell's Tones. "I didn't even know what ballet was until I was onstage," Abarca Mitchell says. "All of a sudden, it was my heart and soul."

Arthur Mitchell made sure his dancers saw NYCB perform, and subsequently brought Balanchine's Agon, Concerto Barocco and other NYCB works into the DTH repertoire. "Physically and emotionally, I felt the connection of jazz in Balanchine's choreography," Abarca Mitchell says. "His neoclassical style was just funky to me. I could totally relate."

For the first time, Abarca Mitchell danced with people who looked like her and shared the same aspirations, she says, with a leader who "saw us through his eyes of love and achievement."

In Abarca Mitchell's 30s, after a performing career that took her from DTH to the film version of The Wiz to Bob Fosse's Dancin' and beyond, her husband's job took their family to Atlanta. She soon connected with Gilreath and Waverly Lucas. The couple, also DTH alumni, were influenced by Arthur Mitchell's model when they founded Ballethnic, seeking to create access for dancers of all backgrounds to develop as classical dancers and perform a repertoire that represents the company's culturally diverse home city. Over time, Abarca Mitchell became a trusted advisor.

Abarca Mitchell goes in at least twice a year to coach Ballethnic's productions—such as Urban Nutcracker, set in Atlanta's historically Black Sweet Auburn neighborhood, and The Leopard Tale, which features the company's signature blend of classical pointe work with polyrhythmic dance forms of the African diaspora. These final rehearsals give Abarca Mitchell a way to fast-track the transfer of her mentor's values.

She recalls that Arthur Mitchell taught his dancers to present themselves at their finest—to enter a room with their heads held high and shoulders back—and to dress, speak and walk with dignity and self-respect. He reminded them that they were pioneers and ambassadors for Blacks in ballet. As the company gained international stature—Abarca Mitchell was the first Black female ballerina to appear on the cover of Dance Magazine, in 1975—he insisted the dancers remain humble and in service to the greater mission. But he was also a taskmaster. "No nonsense, no excuses," Abarca Mitchell says. "There was no slack. If he was rehearsing something that you're not in, you'd better be on the side learning it."

"He didn't throw compliments around at all. You had to really kill yourself to get a smile from him." After a run-through, she says, "you didn't want to be singled out."

Abarca Mitchell takes a slightly different approach, though she doesn't compromise on the values her mentor instilled. When coaching large casts of all ages and different levels for Ballethnic, she has found ways to inspire people without tearing them down. She calls it a "tough love" approach.

"I've got to make them want to do it. I don't want to beat them into doing it," Abarca Mitchell says. "I tell them, 'You're here because you want to be, and because you auditioned and were accepted. Now, show me why I should keep you here.'"

"I tell them, 'I'm here to make sure you'll look good—you know: 'That looks fake. Let's make it look real. Think about what you're doing, so that it's not just a gesture.'"

Arthur Mitchell instilled this level of emotional honesty in his dancers, and it was key to the company's quick success. "We were bringing a thought forward," says Abarca Mitchell. "We were bringing a feeling forward, so that the audience could connect with us."

In addition to her position as rehearsal director for Ballethnic, Abarca Mitchell is today part of 152nd Street Black Ballet Legacy, a group of DTH alumni who seek to give voice to people responsible for the company's success in its early years. "It's incredible," she says, "how many people took something from DTH and applied it to their lives."

As Ballethnic prepares to co-host the International Association of Blacks in Dance Conference and Festival in January 2022, Abarca Mitchell hopes to help strengthen the network of dance companies associated with Ballethnic, such as Memphis' Collage Dance Collective. "The dream is for all of us to collaborate with each other," she says, "so that it becomes more normal to see a Black ballerina, so it's not just a token appearance."

Today's young dancers face different challenges from what Abarca Mitchell faced. She finds that they're more easily distracted, and sometimes act entitled, because they don't know or appreciate how hard earlier Black ballerinas like herself worked to clear a path for them. But what she's passing on will benefit them, whether they choose to pursue dance careers or become doctors, lawyers, professors or something else entirely. "The principles are the same," she says. "Work for what you want, and you will achieve it."

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January's New Releases

2021 told 2020 to hold it's beer and what a month January has been! Publishing YA also came out swinging with a slew of new books (many already bestsellers) in what we hope will be another banner year for BIPOC stories. Click below to find books for your TBR list. 

Week of January 5th

The Life I’m In by Sharon G. Flake Scholastic Inc

My feet are heavy as stones when I walk up the block wondering why I can’t find my old self.

In The Skin I’m In, readers saw into the life of Maleeka Madison, a teen who suffered from the ridicule she received because of her dark skin color. For decades fans have wanted to know the fate of the bully who made Maleeka’s life miserable, Char.

Now in Sharon Flake’s latest and unflinching novel, The Life I’m In, we follow Charlese Jones, who, with her raw, blistering voice speaks the truths many girls face, offering insight to some of the causes and conditions that make a bully. Turned out of the only home she has known, Char boards a bus to nowhere where she is lured into the dangerous web of human trafficking. Much is revealed behind the complex system of men who take advantage of vulnerable teens in the underbelly of society. While Char might be frightened, she remains strong and determined to bring herself and her fellow victims out of the dark and back into the light, reminding us why compassion is a powerful cure to the ills of the world.

Sharon Flake’s bestselling, Coretta Scott King Award-winning novel The Skin I’m In was a game changer when it was first published more than twenty years ago. It redefined young adult literature by presenting characters, voices, and real-world experiences that had not been fully seen. Now Flake offers readers another timely and radical story of a girl on the brink and how her choices will lead her to either fall, or fly. — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

Happily Ever Afters by Elise Bryant Balzer + Bray

Sixteen-year-old Tessa Johnson has never felt like the protagonist in her own life. She’s rarely seen herself reflected in the pages of the romance novels she loves. The only place she’s a true leading lady is in her own writing—in the swoony love stories she shares only with Caroline, her best friend and #1 devoted reader.

When Tessa is accepted into the creative writing program of a prestigious art school, she’s excited to finally let her stories shine. But when she goes to her first workshop, the words are just…gone. Fortunately, Caroline has a solution: Tessa just needs to find some inspiration in a real-life love story of her own. And she’s ready with a list of romance novel-inspired steps to a happily ever after. Nico, the brooding artist who looks like he walked out of one of Tessa’s stories, is cast as the perfect Prince Charming.

But as Tessa checks each item off Caroline’s list, she gets further and further away from herself. She risks losing everything she cares about—including the surprising bond she develops with sweet Sam, who lives across the street. She’s well on her way to having her own real-life love story, but is it the one she wants, after all?

One of the Good Ones by Maika Moulite and Maritza Moulite Inkyard Press

ISN’T BEING HUMAN ENOUGH? When teen social activist and history buff Kezi Smith is killed under mysterious circumstances after attending a social justice rally, her devastated sister Happi and their family are left reeling in the aftermath. As Kezi becomes another immortalized victim in the fight against police brutality, Happi begins to question the idealized way her sister is remembered. Perfect. Angelic.

One of the good ones.

Even as the phrase rings wrong in her mind–why are only certain people deemed worthy to be missed?–Happi and her sister Genny embark on a journey to honor Kezi in their own way, using an heirloom copy of The Negro Motorist Green Book as their guide. But there’s a twist to Kezi’s story that no one could’ve ever expected–one that will change everything all over again.

Roman and Jewel by Dana L. Davis Inkyard Press

If Romeo and Juliet got the Hamilton treatment…who would play the leads? This vividly funny, honest, and charming romantic novel by Dana L. Davis is the story of a girl who thinks she has what it takes…and the world thinks so, too.

Jerzie Jhames will do anything to land the lead role in Broadway’s hottest new show, Roman and Jewel, a Romeo and Juliet inspired hip-hopera featuring a diverse cast and modern twists on the play. But her hopes are crushed when she learns mega-star Cinny won the lead…and Jerzie is her understudy.

Falling for male lead Zeppelin Reid is a terrible idea–especially once Jerzie learns Cinny wants him for herself. Star-crossed love always ends badly. But when a video of Jerzie and Zepp practicing goes viral and the entire world weighs in on who should play Jewel, Jerzie learns that while the price of fame is high, friendship, family, and love are priceless.

The Awakening of Malcom X by Ilyasah Shabazz & Tiffany D. Jackson Farrar, Straus and Giroux (Byr)

In Charlestown Prison, Malcolm Little struggles with the weight of his past. Plagued by nightmares, Malcolm drifts through days unsure of his future. Slowly, he befriends other prisoners and writes to his family. He reads all the books in the prison library, joins the debate team and the Nation of Islam. Malcolm grapples with race, politics, religion, and justice in the 1940s. And as his time in jail comes to an end, he begins to awaken — emerging from prison more than just Malcolm Little: Now, he is Malcolm X.

Here is an intimate look at Malcolm X’s young adult years. While this book chronologically follows X: A Novel, it can be read as a stand-alone historical novel that invites larger discussions on black power, prison reform, and civil rights.

When You Look Like Us by Pamela N. Harris HarperCollins

When you look like us—brown skin, brown eyes, black braids or fades—people think you’re trouble. No one looks twice at a missing black girl from the projects because she must’ve brought whatever happened to her upon herself. I, Jay Murphy, can admit that, for a minute, I thought my sister, Nicole, got too caught up with her boyfriend—a drug dealer—and his friends.

But she’s been gone too long now.

If I hadn’t hung up on her that night, she’d be spending time with our grandma. If I was a better brother, she’d be finishing senior year instead of being another name on a missing persons list. It’s time to step up and do what the Newport News police department won’t.

Week of January 12th

Chlorine Sky by Mahogany L. Browne Crown Books for Young Readers

She looks me hard in my eyes & my knees lock into tree trunks My eyes don’t dance like my heartbeat racing They stare straight back hot daggers. I remember things will never be the same. I remember things.

With gritty and heartbreaking honesty, Mahogany L. Browne delivers a novel-in-verse about broken promises, fast rumors, and when growing up means growing apart from your best friend.

The Meet-Cute Project by Rhiannon Richardson Simon & Schuster

Mia’s friends love rom-coms. Mia hates them. They’re silly, contrived, and not at all realistic. Besides, there are more important things to worry about—like how to handle living with her bridezilla sister, Sam, who’s never appreciated Mia, and surviving junior year juggling every school club offered and acing all of her classes.

So when Mia is tasked with finding a date to her sister’s wedding, her options are practically nonexistent.

Mia’s friends, however, have an idea. It’s a little crazy, a little out there, and a lot inspired by the movies they love that Mia begrudgingly watches too.

Mia just needs a meet-cute.

Concrete Rose (The Hate U Give, #0) by Angie Thomas Balzer + Bray

If there’s one thing seventeen-year-old Maverick Carter knows, it’s that a real man takes care of his family. As the son of a former gang legend, Mav does that the only way he knows how: dealing for the King Lords. With this money he can help his mom, who works two jobs while his dad’s in prison.

Life’s not perfect, but with a fly girlfriend and a cousin who always has his back, Mav’s got everything under control.

Until, that is, Maverick finds out he’s a father.

Suddenly he has a baby, Seven, who depends on him for everything. But it’s not so easy to sling dope, finish school, and raise a child. So when he’s offered the chance to go straight, he takes it. In a world where he’s expected to amount to nothing, maybe Mav can prove he’s different.

When King Lord blood runs through your veins, though, you can’t just walk away. Loyalty, revenge, and responsibility threaten to tear Mav apart, especially after the brutal murder of a loved one. He’ll have to figure out for himself what it really means to be a man.

Angel of Greenwood by Randi Pink Feiwel and Friends

Seventeen-year-old Isaiah Wilson is, on the surface, a town troublemaker, but is hiding that he is an avid reader and secret poet, never leaving home without his journal. A passionate follower of WEB. Du Bois, he believes that black people should rise up to claim their place as equals.

Sixteen-year-old Angel Hill is a loner, mostly disregarded by her peers as a goody-goody. Her father is dying, and her family’s financial situation is in turmoil. Also, as a loyal follower of Booker T. Washington, she believes, through education and tolerance, that black people should rise slowly and without forced conflict.

Though they’ve attended the same schools, Isaiah never noticed Angel as anything but a dorky, Bible toting church girl. Then their English teacher offers them a job on her mobile library, a three-wheel, two-seater bike. Angel can’t turn down the money and Isaiah is soon eager to be in such close quarters with Angel every afternoon.

But life changes on May 31, 1921 when a vicious white mob storms the community of Greenwood, leaving the town destroyed and thousands of residents displaced. Only then, Isaiah, Angel, and their peers realize who their real enemies are.

Week of January 19th

Thirty Talks Weird Love by Alessandra Narváez Varela Cinco Puntos Press

Out of nowhere, a lady comes up to Anamaría and says she’s her, from the future. But Anamaría’s thirteen, she knows better than to talk to some weirdo stranger. Girls need to be careful, especially in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico—it’s the 90’s and fear is overtaking her beloved city as cases of kidnapped girls and women become alarmingly common. This thirty-year-old “future” lady doesn’t seem to be dangerous but she won’t stop bothering her, switching between cheesy Hallmark advice about being kind to yourself, and some mysterious talk about saving a girl.

Anamaría definitely doesn’t need any saving, she’s doing just fine. She works hard at her strict, grade-obsessed middle school—so hard that she hardly gets any sleep; so hard that the stress makes her snap not just at mean girls but even her own (few) friends; so hard that when she does sleep she dreams about dying—but she just wants to do the best she can so she can grow up to be successful. Maybe Thirty’s right, maybe she’s not supposed to be so exhausted with her life, but how can she ask for help when her city is mourning the much bigger tragedy of its stolen girls?

This thought-provoking, moving verse novel will lead adult and young adult readers alike to vital discussions on important topics—like dealing with depression and how to recognize this in yourself and others—through the accessible voice of a thirteen-year-old girl.

Your Corner Dark by Desmond Hall Atheneum/Dlouhy

Things can change in a second:

The second Frankie Green gets that scholarship letter, he has his ticket out of Jamaica.

The second his longtime crush, Leah, asks him on a date, he’s in trouble.

The second his father gets shot, suddenly nothing else matters.

And the second Frankie joins his uncle’s gang in exchange for paying for his father’s medical bills, there’s no going back…or is there?

As Frankie does things he never thought he’d be capable of, he’s forced to confront the truth of the family and future he was born into—and the ones he wants to build for himself.

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo Dutton Books for Young Readers

“That book. It was about two women, and they fell in love with each other.” And then Lily asked the question that had taken root in her, that was even now unfurling its leaves and demanding to be shown the sun: “Have you ever heard of such a thing?”

Seventeen-year-old Lily Hu can’t remember exactly when the question took root, but the answer was in full bloom the moment she and Kathleen Miller walked under the flashing neon sign of a lesbian bar called the Telegraph Club.

America in 1954 is not a safe place for two girls to fall in love, especially not in Chinatown. Red-Scare paranoia threatens everyone, including Chinese Americans like Lily. With deportation looming over her father—despite his hard-won citizenship—Lily and Kath risk everything to let their love see the light of day.

If I Tell You the Truth by Jasmin Kaur HarperCollins

Told in prose, poetry, and illustration, this heartrending story weaves Kiran’s and Sahaara’s timelines together, showing a teenage Kiran and, later, her high school–aged daughter, Sahaara.

Kiran is a young Punjabi Sikh woman who becomes pregnant after being sexually assaulted by her fiancé’s brother. When her fiancé and family don’t believe her, she flees her home in India to Canada, where she plans to raise the child as a single mother. For Kiran, living undocumented means constant anxiety over finances, work, safety, and whether she’ll be deported back to the dangers that await her in Punjab.

Eighteen years later, Kiran’s daughter, Sahaara, is desperate to help her mother, who has been arrested and is facing deportation. In the aftermath, Kiran reveals the truth about Sahaara’s conception. Horrified, Sahaara encourages Kiran to speak out against the man who raped her—who’s now a popular political figure in Punjab. Sahaara must find the best way to support her mother while also dealing with the revelation about her parents.

We Free the Stars (Sands of Arawiya #2) by Hafsah Faizal Farrar, Straus and Giroux

The battle on Sharr is over. The dark forest has fallen. Altair may be captive, but Zafira, Nasir, and Kifah are bound for Sultan’s Keep, determined to finish the plan he set in motion: restoring the hearts of the Sisters of Old to the minarets of each caliphate, and finally returning magic to all of Arawiya. But they are low on resources and allies alike, and the kingdom teems with fear of the Lion of the Night’s return.

As the zumra plots to overthrow the kingdom’s darkest threat, Nasir fights to command the magic in his blood. He must learn to hone his power into a weapon, to wield not only against the Lion but against his father, trapped under the Lion’s control. Zafira battles a very different darkness festering in her through her bond with the Jawarat—a darkness that hums with voices, pushing her to the brink of her sanity and to the edge of a chaos she dare not unleash. In spite of the darkness enclosing ever faster, Nasir and Zafira find themselves falling into a love they can’t stand to lose…but time is running out to achieve their ends, and if order is to be restored, drastic sacrifices will have to be made.

Lush and striking, hopeful and devastating, We Free the Stars is the masterful conclusion to the Sands of Arawiya duology by New York Times–bestselling author Hafsah Faizal.

Week of January 26th

Written in Starlight (Woven in Moonlight #2) by Isabel Ibañez Page Street Kids

If the jungle wants you, it will have you…

Catalina Quiroga is a Condesa without a country. She’s lost the Inkasisa throne, the loyalty of her people, and her best friend. Banished to the perilous Yanu Jungle, Catalina knows her chances of survival are slim, but that won’t stop her from trying to escape. It’s her duty to reclaim the throne.

When Manuel, the son of her former general, rescues Catalina from a jaguar, a plan forms. Deep in the jungle, the city of gold is hidden, home to the fierce Illari people, who she could strike an alliance with.

But the elusive Illari are fighting a battle of their own—a mysterious blight is corrupting the jungle, laying waste to everything they hold dear. As a seer, Catalina should be able to help, but her ability to read the future in the stars is as feeble as her survival instincts. While searching for the Illari, Catalina must reckon with her duty and her heart to find her true calling, which could be the key to stopping the corruption before it destroys the jungle completely.

The Knockout by Sajni Patel Flux

If seventeen-year-old Kareena Thakkar is going to alienate herself from the entire Indian community, she might as well do it gloriously. She’s landed the chance of a lifetime, an invitation to the US Muay Thai Open, which could lead to a spot on the first-ever Olympic team. If only her sport wasn’t seen as something too rough for girls, something she’s afraid to share with anyone outside of her family. Despite pleasing her parents, exceling at school, and making plans to get her family out of debt, Kareena’s never felt quite Indian enough, and her training is only making it worse.

Which is inconvenient, since she’s starting to fall for Amit Patel, who just might be the world’s most perfect Indian. Admitting her feelings for Amit will cost Kareena more than just her pride–she’ll have to face his parents’ disapproval, battle her own insecurities, and remain focused for the big fight. Kareena’s bid for the Olympics could very well make history–if she has the courage to go for it.

Wings of Ebony (Wings of Ebony #1) by J. Elle Denene Millner Books/Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers

“Make a way out of no way” is just the way of life for Rue. But when her mother is shot dead on her doorstep, life for her and her younger sister changes forever. Rue’s taken from her neighborhood by the father she never knew, forced to leave her little sister behind, and whisked away to Ghizon—a hidden island of magic wielders.

Rue is the only half-god, half-human there, where leaders protect their magical powers at all costs and thrive on human suffering. Miserable and desperate to see her sister on the anniversary of their mother’s death, Rue breaks Ghizon’s sacred Do Not Leave Law and returns to Houston, only to discover that Black kids are being forced into crime and violence. And her sister, Tasha, is in danger of falling sway to the very forces that claimed their mother’s life.

Worse still, evidence mounts that the evil plaguing East Row is the same one that lurks in Ghizon—an evil that will stop at nothing until it has stolen everything from her and everyone she loves. Rue must embrace her true identity and wield the full magnitude of her ancestors’ power to save her neighborhood before the gods burn it to the ground.

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How Tina Turner and Frank Zappa Whipped Up Some Dirty Love

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Tina Turner joins the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2021 in Cleveland this October, along with Jay-Z, Gil Scott-Heron, Todd Rundgren, Carole King, Foo Fighters, and The Go-Gos. Tina is already an honoree as a member of Ike and Tina Turner, and she is also once again distinguishing herself from the group. Even before she went solo, Turner had star billing, such as her turn as the Acid Queen in Ken Russell’s film adaptation of The Who’s Tommy.  But Tina had to skip the credits for her work with Frank Zappa, who was posthumously inducted into the Rock Hall in 1995.

Turner recently made a gracious exit from the stage in HBO’s feature documentary Tina. She is also highlighted in Apple TV+’s upcoming 1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything. This was the year Ike and Tina’s cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Proud Mary” hit No. 4 on Billboard’s Hot 100, becoming their biggest hit. Tina had already established herself as the draw of the musical couple when they signed to Phil Spector’s Philles label. The legendary producer paid extra to highlight Tina’s dynamic range on the single “River Deep – Mountain High,” which was released in May 1966.

Both documentaries skip one of Tina’s artistic highlights. 

Ike and Tina Turner opened the Bolic Sound studios complex at 1310 N La Brea Avenue in Inglewood, California, in 1970. It boasted incomparable state-of-the-art audio equipment for the time. “Bolic was one of the greatest studios I’ve ever seen,” Little Richard wrote in his introduction to Ike Turner’s 1999 autobiography Takin’ Back My Name. “He had everything in this studio. He had his own booking agency, and he was showing people how to produce.” Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Duane Allman recorded at Bolic Sound.

Frank Zappa recorded and produced two of his most recognizable albums at the studio: his ironically titled 17th album Over-Nite Sensation, which came out in 1973, and Apostrophe from 1974. Zappa was at the forefront of the avant-garde musical movement at the time. During his sessions, Ike and Tina Turner and the Ikettes were recording in the same studio complex. Zappa took advantage of the proximity to expand on his sonic landscape.

“I wanted to put some back-up singers on the thing, and the road manager who was with us at the time checked into it and said, ‘well, why don’t you just use the Ikettes?’ I said, ‘I can get the Ikettes?’ and he said ‘Sure,’” Zappa is quoted as saying in Barry Miles’ 1993 book, Zappa: A Biography.

The vocal trio The Ikettes were already iconic. They were one of the first recognized “Girl Groups” in rock and roll history. The ensemble was formed as the backing group of Art Lassiter and were originally called The Artettes. Ike saw the success Ray Charles had with his backing vocal trio The Raelettes. The original Ikettes included Robbie Montgomery, Venetta Fields and Jessie Smith. They became the Ikettes after Ike and Tina Turner’s first single “Fool In Love” became a hit in 1960, and the Ike and Tina Turner Revue wanted to play it live. Onstage, The Ikettes pushed soul music dance choreography into the stratosphere.

For Over-Nite Sensation, Tina Turner, Linda Sims, and Debbie Wilson appear on the songs “I’m The Slime,” “Dirty Love,” “Zomby Woof,” “Dinah-Moe Humm,” and “Montana.” You can hear them on Apostrophe on the songs “Cosmik Debris” and “Uncle Remus.”

Ike agreed to rent out his signature sounding vocal stylists while still stamping the project with his authority. “But you know what the gimmick was? We had to agree, Ike Turner insisted, that we pay these girls no more than $25 per song, because that’s what he paid them,” Frank says in Miles’ book. “And no matter how many hours it took, I could not pay them any more than $25 per song per girl, including Tina.”

That turns out to be a bit of an exaggeration. The singers were actually paid $25 per hour, according to the session’s invoice, which shows they got $187.50 each for 7 1/2 hours of service. But the singers worked for that money. The song “Montana” not only has constantly evolving time signatures, but also passages which change of speeds. The middle section is especially challenging. Besides the time changes, the harmonic progressions and the way they play against the bass counterpoint is unusual for rock, and challenging to perform.

“It was so difficult, that one part in the middle of the song ‘Montana,’ that the three girls rehearsed it for a couple of days,” Zappa recounted. “Just that one section. You know the part that goes ‘I’m pluckin’ the ol’ dennil floss’? Right in the middle there. I can’t remember her name, but one of the harmony singers, she got it first. She came out and sang her part and the other girls had to follow her track. Tina was so pleased that she was able to sing this thing that she went into the next studio where Ike was working and dragged him into the studio to hear the result of her labor. He listened to the tape and he goes, ‘What is this shit?’ and walked out.”

After hearing some of the recordings, Ike Turner insisted the Ikettes not be credited on the released albums. According to CD reissues, it appears he did not approve of the content. “Dirty Love” and “Dinah-Moe Humm” were among the most overtly sexual songs in Zappa’s catalog. These two songs may be the reason Ike wouldn’t sign off on letting his singing stable put their name on the record sleeves.

Of the other songs, “Zomby Woof” takes a bite out of lycanthropic fare, while “Cosmic Debris” turns the tables on a spiritual guru. “I’m The Slime” is about the brainwashing of everyday television. “Uncle Remus,” which takes its name from Joel Chandler Harris’ Br’er Rabbit stories, is an indictment on the then-current state of the civil rights movement compared with the time of Zappa’s 1966 song “Trouble Every Day.” That song looked at the Watts riots when Black folks were burning down buildings as well as the old status quo. In “Uncle Remus,” the most damage being done is “knocking the little jockeys off the rich people’s lawns.”

Ikettes Linda Sims and Debbie Wilson also recorded “Cheepnis,” Zappa’s classic ode to B-movies at Bolic Sound studio on December 12, 1973. This song was the “elsewhere” on the otherwise live album Roxy & Elsewhere (1974). The rest of the album was recorded at The Roxy Theatre.

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You can see that exceedingly fun footage here at The World of Ike & Tina YouTube Channel:

Both the Tina documentary and 1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything include segments covering the wounds Turner suffered as an artist, married to her boss, at the dawn of any kind of gender equality. The oppression she suffered under Ike’s tyrannical reign did not escape Zappa’s eye.

“I don’t know how she managed to stick with that guy for so long,” Zappa said in the Miles book. “He treated her terribly and she’s a really nice lady. We were recording down there on a Sunday. She wasn’t involved with the session, but she came in on Sunday with a whole pot of stew that she brought for everyone working in the studio. Like out of nowhere, here’s Tina Turner coming in with a rag on her head bringing a pot of stew. It was really nice.”

1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything premieres May 21 on Apple TV+.

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