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dank-meme-legend · 1 year

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Climbing To The Top (To Throw Myself Off)

Word Count: 2,150

(Trigger warnings for suicidal idealization, general talks of death and suicide. Please do not read if those topics are triggering to you.)

Alice wants nothing to do with him, James and Khai Zhi pity him and his daily drunken stumble back to the dorm room.

Payton is pitied and hated by the people who once would do anything for him, who once had every bit of faith invested in him and his dream of presidency.

But now, they've gone off to do better things, to work towards dreams of their own.

To be with people who are better for them.

Alice is better off with Thad, Payton knows it and he desperately wants to deny it.

Though, he knows in his heart that she once did love him.

He also knows that the way she looked at Thad, smiled at him with so much joy in her eyes, was a look that Payton wouldn't ever see again, at least not genuinely.

Alice could fake things when needed, that's what politics is, after all, but she couldn't fake loving Payton for the sake of his dream.

She deserves better and Thad is miles better than an man who drowns his sorrows in rum and self-pity.

So, up the stairs Payton goes.

The dormitory of NYU has a lot more floors than Payton remembers.

He's only ever gone to his floor, never this high up.

Never to the top floor and out the exit.

The bitter wind bites him, but that's winter in New York, cold and unforgiving.

When he first moved here, wintertime in New York was still cold but a lot less bitter.

He had enjoyed seeing the Rockefeller Christmas tree, tall and bright, bringing joy to anyone who saw it, tourists and native New Yorkers alike.

He sure had felt the joy, a simple spectacle that brought swelling joy to his heart.

His life wasn't the best and he was still trying to shake off his reputation from high school, but he felt joy in the simpler things.

But now, without Alice, without a dream and without anyone who believes in him, the simple things don't matter.

Christmas tree lights or a cheap cup of coffee from the cafe near NYU's campus or singing his heart out at the bar doesn't matter.

Payton looks down at the ground below him, bustling and lively.

People speed-walking from place to place, a million voices all chattering about a million separate things.

He is one person amongst all the other New Yorkers, one person amongst everyone in this state, in this country, in this world.

One person who wanted to do so much good for the world, but now has lost all hope.

Payton continues to look down and, for a moment, he expects to hear the one voice he can always depend on.

But now, he can't even conjure River.

If he did, it would be ironic and cruel.

Something in him hopes that River would yell at him, just to hold a mirror up to him.

To show him that he really is a piece of shit, that he is the reason Alice hates him, that everyone else hates him.

He's a huge piece of shit, only recently able to feel things, but he hasn't done anything useful with that.

All he does is halfheartedly get himself through school and have Skye or Infinity or James walk his pathetic self home in the middle of the night to tuck him into bed, only to hear him whine about a hangover every morning that follows.

It's all pathetic, he's pathetic and alone.

River is gone, Alice is gone, his friends are all better off without him, what does he have to live for?

Nothing, that is why he is here right now, standing on the edge of a building.

He looks around for one final moment, searching for a friend he doesn't have, for the ghost of his former lover to talk him out of it.

But no one is heard or seen.

So, off the building Payton goes.

He lands hard against the ground and shudders violently, his body jerking.

His eyes open and he's in his dorm, on the floor, with his comforter tangled around his legs.

He'd fallen off his bed, it wasn't real.

He's alive.

A dream was all it was, a vivid, lucid dream.

"You okay?" James asks him, sitting up in bed, "You've been tossing and turning all night."

Payton, confused and terrified and dreary, looks up at the clock on the wall.

2:38AM

He looks from the clock back to James, his mind scrambling for words.

Is he okay? No, fuck no.

But he can't- won't tell James that.

So, he gets himself up off the floor and shoves his comforter back onto his bed.

"I'm fine, James."

And they leave it at that.

Payton spends his day in school, working, working, working, so he doesn't have to think about the looming thought in his mind.

The looming thought that he tried to end his own life, even in his subconscious, the looming thought that he is at that type of rock bottom.

Rock bottom of being alone and desperate, which pushes people away.

He's been without Alice for years now, but he still had James and McAfee to keep him company.

They're better off without him the same as Alice is.

Infinity, one of the most compassionate and loving people he knows, has even started to drift away from him.

She has offered him help, sent him website links and phone numbers for an intervention.

Every time, Payton denied help, told her and everyone that he's fine.

But he isn't fine, the thought looms in his mind until his classes are done with and the sun has set.

So, down to the bar he goes.

He doesn't sing, he doesn't have it in him tonight.

He hasn't had it in him for a while now.

There aren't any songs in his mind that he wants to sing, happy songs or love songs, both of which he no longer resonates with.

Payton sits at a bar stool and he drinks and he drinks and he drinks, until his stomach is churning and his mind is fuzzy and his eyes are watering and he continues to drink until he can't feel anything at all.

The bartender cuts him off and even kicks him out tonight.

He's gotten drunk plenty of times before, but never to this extent.

His phone falls out of his back pocket and so does his wallet, by accident, he tells himself.

The bartender and then a bar patron try to give Payton his belongings back.

He walks out of the bar and doesn't look back.

"What the hell is wrong with him?" Someone mumbles to their friend, confused as all hell, just barely out of Payton’s earshot.

A lot is wrong with him, a lot.

Payton's eyes water and burn and he picks up his walking pace, stumbling back to the dormitory.

And up a long flight of stairs.

In his dream, it had been broad daylight.

Now, it's a starry night with light rain, sprinkling down onto his head.

The toes of his shoes are off of the building, as he wobbles unsteadily, on the cusp of jumping himself and blatantly falling due to his drunken state.

He's crying, crying a lot, sickness from all the alcohol and from his mind burning inside of him.

He leans a little forward, the drop is long, but it'll be quick-

"You don't have to do this." A voice tells him.

Payton startles and almost falls right then and there, but the voice, River, is quick and strong enough to pull him away from the edge.

River holds him steady, as steady as he can when Payton is fighting him, trying to get out of his grasp, crying and asking to be let go.

"You don't have to do this," River repeats, "This isn't how you solve your problems. I would know."

Payton gives one more jerk and kick, but, "I would know" makes him stop.

He sobs loudly at those words and he's brought back to that day in River's house.

Where River said a final goodbye and left Payton with a whistling hole in his heart.

River is being too kind to him. Payton, even while intoxicated, still believes that River should yell at him or punch him in the face.

He's got strong arms, it would hurt like hell.

Payton hurts like hell, it would be what he deserves.

If he is gone, people won't have to deal with his shit, his politics and alcoholism and his whining when things don't go his way.

"For me... it is." Payton retorts, "You can't talk- you can't talk me out of..."

He trails off, the alcohol stirring up his words. "You're gone and I'm alone!"

The words, slurred but clear to River, come out suddenly loud.

River holds onto him tighter, pulling him farther away from the edge of the building.

River looks at him, his face calm but concerned, he has to be calm, steady.

Payton's face is drenched in his own tears, he shuffles through an expression of sadness, then anger, them despair and hopelessness.

He collapses onto the cold concrete of the top of the dormitory, collapsing into River and crying and crying and crying.

It's only when he holds onto River that the truths comes out in a sob,

"I don't want to be alone." His voice shakes and he shivers, "I don't have you, Alice hates me, everyone hates me, because all I do is ruin lives. Infinity could've died because of my selfishness, you... you did die-"

River holds Payton's cheek in his hand, holding onto him firmly with the other, he is not letting him go.

"I didn't do it because of you, I told you that before, in your coma."

"I don't believe you." Payton replies darkly, his voice deep and gruff, "If I had to deal with someone like me, I'd kill myself, too."

Payton turns to look at the ledge, River understands and pulls him close to his chest.

He won't let him go, he won't let Payton go.

Even without politics, he can change the world, River has full faith in him.

There's silence between them and Payton's mind spins and spins.

Though he isn't real, River is warm, warm and safe and here for him.

He isn't alone.

Tonight, he isn't alone.

Tomorrow, he can make himself not alone.

He has the power to do so.

For months now, Payton has been pushing people away, denying help and burrowing himself further into his sorrows that he pretends aren't there, the deep, empty holes in his heart.

But the pain is real. It's real and it hurts.

Even though they pity him, he has people who care.

His pain blinded him from the people who care, all he saw was pity, but behind the pity was concern and love.

He has to stop pushing them away, that is a part of the problem, a part of the solution.

For a moment longer, Payton holds onto River, the last few bursts of tears coming out of him.

Tears of sadness, but also of a revelation.

He holds onto River and shuts his eyes, taking deep breaths like he's always been taught.

One... two... three... four...

When he opens them, River is gone.

He is alone on the wet concrete, the rain is pouring down harder now, soaking him thoroughly.

He rubs his eyes, then looks out at the vast New York City skyline, buildings and lights and people of all walks of life, all with their own dreams and hopes and sorrows and troubles.

He's one of those people, one who's troubles need help resolving.

So, down the stairs Payton goes.

Into his bed, to sleep for a long time.

James wakes him up the following morning for the first time ever, he's never had to be woken up by him before.

When asked if he's okay, Payton tells the truth and he sees James cry for the first time since they were children.

James is stoic, the way Payton used to be.

Hearing of last night, of Payton's attempt and the reason he left his phone and wallet behind, and the revelation of needing help... makes James' eyes water.

Payton gets help, little by little.

He goes through his phone to find the number for intervention and he calls it, going everyday after school.

His life has unfolded into many troubles and traumas, which brings him to see a therapist, who he lays everything out for, and cries and cries and cries.

He reaches out to his friends, slowly pulling them towards him again, they're all proud of him for getting help.

He finds joy again, in simple things, in the fact that he's alive and surrounded by people who love him.

The trip up the stairs isn't taken again.

#the politican #the politician netflix #the politician fics #payton and river #hobarkley #payton x river #angst #ANGST I REPEAT ANGST #It has a happy ending but it’s a trip to get there

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marybethsjournal · 3 years

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Flaco’s Rules (Flaco x virgin f! reader)

Summary: You come back from a long journey without telling Flaco beforehand and he teaches you a lesson.

Word Count: 2624

Warning: smut (also the first time I’ve written smut so lmk if I should write more or not lol

Here is the story link if you prefer ao3 https://archiveofourown.org/works/29768013

It had been about a year since you and your brother had unofficially joined the Del Lobos. That was quite a long time to y’all, seeing as the two of you didn’t like to commit to other people, y’all had always rode alone. It wasn’t so hard to be an affiliate of the gang, however. You and Billy could go wherever you pleased and not communicate with the gang for weeks on end, as long as you brought money back to the gang and spoke to Flaco when you returned to the Grizzlies. The two of you weren’t exactly the typical Del Lobos affiliates, but you were quick and accurate with a gun and had never snitched before, so Flaco welcomed you and Billy into the gang rather kindly.

This time, you and Billy had been gone for at least a month. You hadn’t intended on staying out that long, but a heist led you to France and it had taken forever to travel there. Upon your return, Flaco demanded to speak to you and Billy. Flaco always wanted to hear from you after your trips but when the Del Lobos told you that Flaco needed to speak to you, they passed along that he was much more tense, almost angry, than usual. Not much scared you in this cruel world, but an angry Flaco did.

You and Billy immediately set off to speak to Flaco in his cabin. It was a very short walk from the rest of the cabins, but the fear in the pit of your stomach made you walk much slower than normal. Billy seemed to have the same feeling.

“What do you think he’s going to say?” Billy asked you.

“He’s probably mad we stayed out this long? What else does he have to talk about? Surely he’s not calling us in to have tea, Billy.” you replied with a shakiness in your voice.

This apparently made your brother quite angry. His face went from fearful to enraged in half a second.

“He doesn’t control us. He can’t tell us what to do. We will never be his workmen. We forge our own path.”

“I agree, but we accepted his offer of protection in the Grizzlies and he expects us to follow his rules, I suppose. Just try not to make a scene. I know how you are.”

“Fuck you, I’ll make a Hell of a scene. Just watch.”

“Billy, stop”

It was too late. The two of you had reached the door to Flaco’s cabin and instead of listening to you, your twin had bust through the door without warning. He always had been hellbent on destroying authority.

“Mr Hernandez, we do not have to answer to you! You think you are better than us but old man, you are far past your prime. In fact, my sister and I have racked up bigger bounties than you already. This superiority complex has to stop or else you will find a bullet between your eyes.” Billy word vomited at Flaco.

You had looked at Billy in confusion the moment he started talking. Superiority complex? Bullet between his eyes? What was this man talking about? Flaco eyes grew dark at the rude words and you cowered in fear, planning on what to do if Flaco tried to kill him.

To your surprise, Flaco began laughing. “Oh, the little boy think he can talk big to Flaco? He think he can scare me, huh? Puffing out your chest, thinking he is a man. You are pathetic. Leave before I shoot you, I will talk with the girl. She is more reasonable than you.”

Billy scoffed. “Who do you think you’re talking to, old man?”

“Billy, go. You have disrespected him.” you said softly.

Billy huffed and puffed but he still ended up leaving.

“Now, what do you want, Flaco?” You asked. Your brother insisted on calling him Mr. Hernandez as a way of “keeping his distance”, whatever that meant, But you, well you had a sort of friendship with Flaco. You definitely had a soft spot for him. You didn’t feel anything but disdain for most men, but you liked Flaco. Maybe more than you would like to admit.

“You were gone for a long time.” he informed you, like you didn’t already know.

“I know, we didn’t mean to. We made our way to France for an art heist and we sure made you a lot of money. Would-”

“I was worried,” Flaco said softly, cutting you off. “I do not care about the money. Your cabron brother is right. You have big bounties on your head.”

You laughed lightly, not showing that you were taking his care for you to heart.

“We can take care of ourselves. Been taking care of ourselves for well over a decade, since we were very little.” you told him, looking at your shoes. You didn’t like to open up to people

“You will have to tell me about that someday. When you are ready. Anyway, don’t care much for the jackass. But you, I care for you. How did your trip go?”

“Fine, made out with a lot of money. Billy’s cockiness got us a bounty over there. That’s a first for us, being wanted in multiple countries.” “Sounds like him.” Flaco chuckled warmly.

“It was good besides that. Ate a lot of the native foods and saw beautiful buildings. I liked it there.”

“Did you find a French lover? That is what they’re known for, eh? Love?”

You laughed at him. “I think that is just a stereotype. I was too busy anyhow.”

“Too busy for love? You have a lot to learn, but you are young and Flaco is old, so it makes sense you are not as wise. Surely you had boys following you around, though? You are very beautiful.”

“I guess so.” you responded awkwardly. Truthfully, several men had followed you around during your time there, yelling things at you that you were glad you couldn’t understand. You assumed they were lewd. It all made you so uncomfortable.

Flaco sensed something was wrong and, not knowing how to comfort you, changed the subject, although not one you particularly wanted to talk about either.

“You did disobey your part of the deal, though. You understand that, yes?”

“The deal?” You asked. You had no idea what he was talking about.

“The deal we made when you joined Del Lobos. When we gave you our protection.”

Oh, that. You didn’t remember there being any specified deal, much less that you couldn’t leave for an extended amount of time, but Flaco looked angry so you decided not to question him further.

“Oh yes, I do. I’m sorry we broke the rules, Flaco.”

“Do not call me that right now. We are not friends. I am your boss. You address me as such. This is a serious thing you have gone and done.”

“I’m sorry, sir?” the term felt foreign on your tongue. You didn’t answer to anybody like this.

“Yes yes. Good. You two need to learn. Your brother, I’m afraid, I can not reprimand because he will make me angry and I will kill him. Poof, no more Billy. But you, I think I can handle you.”

Handle you? What was that supposed to mean?

“I’m not sure I understand. I really am sorry.”

“Sorry is not good enough. I have leniency because you are young and stupid. Any of my men who would do what you did? I shoot them. But you are grown, yes? Old enough to know better?”

You and your brother didn’t explicitly tell people your age for security reasons, so it was a valid question on his part, although you felt you definitely looked old enough for that generally to not be a question. But you were pretty young and you looked it.

“Yes, of course. I wouldn’t be so friendly with you if I was just a kid. That wouldn’t be exactly safe.” You tried to laugh but Flaco’s eyes were narrow and so unkind in that moment that you decided against it.

“Good, then you won’t have a problem taking your punishment.” He smiled wickedly.

“What punishment,?” you asked. Flaco furrowed his eyebrows. “sir?” you added.

He smiled once again, but didn’t let his stern exterior go. He sat down on his cot.

“Lay here.” he patted his lap.

“Oh I don’t think so” you backed yourself into his door. Flaco stayed where he was and looked at you patiently. He wasn’t stopping you from leaving. This was entirely up to you. The two of you stared at each other for a few moments. You could feel the immense tension between you and Flaco. Finally, you walked over and bent over his knee.

“Fine. I guess this makes sense. I did break the rules.” You were mostly reasoning with yourself, not Flaco.

“No, chica. Pull up your dress. You can leave your drawers on.” The request probably should have offended you, but you felt heat in your core at the thought. You tried not to show this on your face, however, and pulled your dress up before laying back down on Flaco’s lap.

“Such a good listener, you are. Wish you would have listened to my rules the first time.” his hand rubbed your ass through your bloomers before striking it abruptly. You yelped in surprise. What was more surprising was that it felt good. You’d never been spanked before, this was all new to you.

“Flaco-” you started.

“Shhh” he brought his hand down again, hard. If he kept spanking you this hard, your ass would be stinging for days.

Yet he didn’t relent. He spanked you seven or eight times, each one harder than the one before. Despite your best efforts, you involuntarily started to let out strangled moans. You cursed yourself after each one. You were in trouble with Flaco, not having sex with him.

Flaco finally stopped and you assumed he was done. However, when you got up, Flaco pulled you back down by your hair. Ugh, why did that feel good too?

“You are not learning your lesson.” Flaco hissed, obviously frustrated, but at the same time it didn’t quite feel like he was frustrated with you.

“No I promise, Flaco.” he smacked your ass once more. “Sorry, sir.”

“I need you to pull your bloomers down.” he told you sternly.

“What? No.” You may be an outlaw, but you were still a lady.

He grabbed you by the chin and forced you to look at him.

“Y/n, I’m not gonna make you but-” you nodded at him, signifying that you were okay with it. You never thought you’d be doing this but for some reason, you trusted Flaco. Besides, you secretly wanted him to keep going.

Flaco was visibly confused as to why you had nodded but had made no move to pull down your bloomers. After a few moments, he took the hint and pulled them down himself. You immediately clenched your thighs together, praying that he couldn’t see how wet you were. That however, was a massive failure.

“I think you need to explain something, mi novia.” he said, in the meantime giving you two hard slaps on the ass.

“I don’t know what that means, sorry sir.”

“It means my girl.” he told you in a soft, husky voice.

You shivered at the words. You wanted to be his girl. You wanted it badly. And he seemed to be on the same page as you. He hadn’t done this because you did something wrong and he felt it strongly needed to be corrected. No, he wanted you just as badly as you wanted him.

“I- well I liked it when you spanked me. I didn’t know I would, I’ve never been spanked before.”

“You’re inexperienced, huh?” Flaco asked, moving his hands from your ass to feel the wetness between your folds.

“Flaco!” you gasped.

“And expressive. I like that.”

“I’m just, oh! I haven’t done any of this before.”

Flaco pulled his hand back abruptly. He was silent and you, sure that you had done something wrong, sat up and looked up at him.

“You aren’t a virgin, are you?” he asked in disbelief.

“Ummm, yeah I am. I’m sorry, I suppose.” you got up from his lap and picked your bloomers off the floor, absolutely mortified.

“Wait, mi angel.” Flaco grabbed your arm. “It’s not a bad thing, not at all. I was surprised, is all. You’re a rough and tumble girl.” he laughed, but it was clear there was meaning behind his words. “Come back here, let ol’ Flaco make you feel good.”

You smiled and laid over him again, this time both of your intentions being clear.

“How about you sit on my lap while I help you? So I can see your face? That should be sufficient payment for the pleasure I will give you, yes.”

You would have jumped over the moon if Flaco had asked you to at that moment, so of course you did what he said and sat in his lap with your legs spread.

You never thought you’d be here, Flaco fucking you with his fingers in his cold cabin (although you felt anything but cold at the moment). You had dreamed of it, sure, but this was real life. You had never considered that Flaco had been attracted to you, but now as you felt his dick strain against his pants, there was no denying it.

Flaco fingered you at different paces depending on what he felt you needed based on your expressions. The higher and more frequent your moans came, the faster he went. When he felt it was becoming too much for you, he slowed down a bit, never losing his rhythm. He didn’t want to overstimulate you, at least this time. Flaco was good at this, surely very experienced, but you tried not to think about that. You focused on the feeling in the pit of your stomach and Flaco’s eyes, which were looking directly into yours. It was a bit intense, but it only added to the experience for you. He seemed to love it, biting down on his lip when you moaned particularly loud. At this point, his fingers were completely slick and you were fucking yourself back and forth on his fingers. The heat in your core was getting more intense and you were becoming desperate. You begged over and over for him to fuck you but he refused.

“No, angel, that is too fast. I have to come up with a way for it to be special.” More special than this? You wanted to protest but he kept fingering you the whole time, bringing you closer to your orgasm the whole time, and you couldn’t find it within yourself to argue back. Besides, a promise to get with Flaco again another time wasn’t so bad.

It didn’t take much longer for you to come undone. Between feeling Flaco’s dick strain against you through his pants and the swift rhythm of his fingers, it wasn’t longer before you threw your head back, moaning his name, and came onto his fingers. He smirked at the scene and kissed you quickly before removing his fingers.

“You were so good mi novia,” Flaco praised you, before adding, “Now put your clothes back on before you catch a cold. You need to stay warm.”

“We can- we’re gonna do this, again, right?” you asked Flaco after you put your skirt and underwear back on and started to walk out the door into the cold.

“Like I could go through this life without having you again. Silly girl.” Flaco told you before picking up a piece of wood off his table and starting to whittle as if nothing had happened.

#Red Dead Redemption #red dead redemption 2 #rdr2 #rdr #flaco hernández #flaco hernandez x reader #f reader #flachoes

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anthropwashere · 3 years

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All That Describes a Joyful Heart

At last I can finally share this! \o/

This Trisha/Hohenheim fic was written for @fmacookbookzine which you should absolutely go follow because they’ll be announcing leftover sales soon! It’s perhaps the best quality physical zine I’ve ever gotten my hands on AND it comes with oodles of lovely art, oodles of lovely recipes, and three other fics besides mine!

Me being me I have research hole notes to share but I’ll stick them all at the end of the fic. I hope you enjoy!

Night fell hours ago, and with it came a cruel December wind that rattles the windows mercilessly in their painted frames. The old tree out front complains loudly, creaking and groaning its protests as it rakes its naked branches across the roof. But Hohenheim isn't worried. That tree had already been a proud specimen the year he bought the land he eventually built this house on. Its roots grow deep. It'll take a far more furious storm to bring it down than the one that threatens them on this, the longest night of the year.

There's still a part of him that falters over how the years are measured here in the West. Many, many parts of him, to be more accurate; many thousands of his friends who grew accustomed to how a year is measured in far-off Xing, while so many more still cling to the lost ways of Xerxes. Before, long decades ago now, he had no home to call his own. He'd slunk away from the unwanted fame and fortune at the then-Emperor's heel in order to find some semblance of peace amidst the ever-shifting sand dunes, and when that had only brought him renewed grief he'd traveled farther west, and farther still, all the while chasing....

Chasing dreams, he supposes. Dreams of peace and quiet, where half a million souls don't natter at him endlessly. Dreams where he's still human, still susceptible to the ravages of time as any other man. Bittersweet what-ifs and if-onlys.

But those dreams fell to dust, and less than dust, and eventually he came to a soot-blackened city of industry where people limped in on crutches and, after a time, strode out again on gleaming, impossible prosthetics. He met Pinako there in Rush Valley, some thirty-odd years ago now. Her raucous laughter and bawdy humor burrowed past all the walls he'd built around himself, and in the blink of an eye she'd grown dangerously dear to him. It came to pass that whatever she asked of him, he would do without question. It was in this way that she coaxed him time and time again to Resembool. For a funeral, for a wedding, for a birth, and once more to stay.

Well. He'd had no interest in returning to Xing, where they insisted on building ever-grander statues of him whenever he demonstrated an ounce of common sense. So why not buy a bit of land in the hometown of his friend, this mad inventor who dragged him over for a good meal and better drinks whenever she thought he'd been left to mope on his own for too long? Why not build a house there? Why not fill it with books, and shelves to organize them on? And even a monster like him would be wise to take care of himself, so why not fill the cupboards and pantry too while he was at it?

He'd never told Pinako the truth of himself. What he is, where he's really from. Any of it. It's not that he's ever thought such truths to be too heavy a burden for her; rather that he's always considered her a safe harbor away from such burdens. The Homunculus is out there, somewhere, and he's certain it has terrible plans for Amestris, but here in Resembool he can laugh loudly at the dark and feel brave for a few moments of his long, long life.

"Cenz for your thoughts?"

Hohenheim blinks, and finds himself stood stupidly in the middle of his kitchen. His friends titter and tease, directing his attention to the dining table where there sits nothing short of a miracle; a young woman of incomparable kindness, cleverness, and beauty. Stubbornness too, for all that she hides it behind a soft voice and bright eyes. She's refused time and again all his efforts to turn her away, to convince her to love anyone else but him. She's too stubborn by half, twice as determined as that in her efforts to know and understand him for all his faults, and forgive him for them too.

There's no other woman in the world like Trisha Elric. Of that, he's certain.

He meets her wry smile head on, feeling his heart melt anew. "Trisha," he says, enchanted by her very name. "I'm sorry—"

"How may times do I have to tell you to stop that?" She pats the table, drawing him over. "What are they saying?"

He's drawn to her helplessly, like iron filings to a magnet. Many of his friends suggest how he could tell her again all the ways he loves her; chastely, reverently, lustfully, and everything in-between. Many others scoff at him for being so besotted over a country girl without learning, reputation, or skill. He ignores all of them in favor of the few that tell him to mind the stockpot simmering gently on the stove. He prefers practicality to insults. It hasn't been long since he last stirred the pot, however; he can join Trisha at the table, for a little while.

He returns to the chair he'd been sitting in before he'd gone to check the stove and ended up lost in his thoughts. He reaches out to take her hand in his, and is charmed momentarily speechless when she reaches for him just as readily. The tangle of their fingers is a miracle he would never have dreamed of praying for.

"They're happy I'm doing this," he says, then hastily corrects himself. "That we are doing this."

Her smile gains a soft delight to its edges, her green eyes crinkling. "Me too. You were telling me about how tonight was practiced in Xerxes. Shab-e Chelleh?"

He has to pause in the wake of so many of his friends cheering to hear his native tongue spoken aloud by another. "شب چله," he corrects.

She pulls her hand from his long enough to pluck another almond from the bowl of mixed nuts on the table, unwilling to move her other hand from the full swell of her belly. "Well? Go on."

Hohenheim is certain he would have died of shock—if he were still capable of dying—the day she told him they were going to have a baby. A part of him—one all his own, and one that his friends all laugh readily at—can't help but think this is all a wonderful dream he's sure to wake from at any moment.

His friends clamor at him eagerly, shouting to be heard over each other, over suggestions of what he ought to say. Traditions kept, stories told, favorite dishes, and on, and on. He hums and chooses his own words. "We feared the darkness of winter, but we wanted to be stronger than it. So we came together on the last day of every autumn, most often in the homes of our elders. We stayed awake through the night, chasing away the dark and all its evils with fire and music, stories and laughter. We would eat the last of the summer fruits, though we prized watermelon and pomegranate most for the benefits we ascribed them. We knew the winter would be a little easier for our efforts."

"Watermelon? Pomegranate?"

It's still strange for him, to have someone wanting to learn his native tongue. But Trisha is an eager student, demanding translations at every turn. "Ah—هندوانه و انار."

She mouths the words carefully, testing their weight on her tongue with a sweet furrow to her brow. "Hendevâne? Anâr?"

"Yes. Well done."

"That's beautiful," she says. Sarcasm is a slippery thing, even harder to catch hold of in Amestrian. The loveliest thing about her is that he can trust her to mean exactly what she says. "And you?"

"Me?"

"How did you celebrate?"

He blinks. "Oh. Well. The royal family always held a grand feat, with attendees from as far east as—"

"Not the royal family," she interrupts. "Or the courtiers, or the foreign visitors. Not any of them. What did you do, Van?"

Not for the first time, he marvels to hear her call him that. Van, and only Van. Not even his friends address him so. It's still part of the name the Homunculus gave him, yes, but when she says it—with mischief in her eyes and an infectious smile on her lips—he likes it again. She makes his name sound like the gift it had been, so long ago.

"Ah," he says, stalling.

Memories are... difficult, sometimes, for him. The sheer number of years between Xerxes and here are daunting enough, but add to that all the stories his friends have shared with him of their own lives and he grows... confused. Easily so. It takes him a few moments to drum up a dusty etching of his youth to share with her.

"When I was a slave," he begins slowly, swallowing the natural flinch twined to those words. "Those of us who weren't needed would gather in the kitchens for our own celebration. I remember offering to help the cooks prepare ingredients so I could steal samples from the dishes on their way out to the feast."

"Naughty," she teases.

"Only if I'd been caught," he counters. He's had just enough wine—"You're drinking for two, after all," Trisha had joked earlier—to be brave enough to catch her hand as she reaches for another almond. He presses a triumphant kiss to the soft skin of her pale wrist. "And I was very quick."

Her laughter is a bright thing, warming him straight through.

He continues after that, telling her stories of the cusp of winter in long-ago Xerxes. He tells her all the patently untrue deeds he'd boasted of, his plans for mischief, his ploys to avoid work, his hopes a fine dish would turn out too ruined for the King's table so he could feast like a king instead. He tells her of the bards who would deign to sup with slaves, roughly translating their songs with help from his friends. He tells her some of the old superstitions; in believing that the natural coolness of a watermelon would preserve him from heatstroke all through the following summer, in going out to the stables to whisper a secret into a donkey's ear.

There are pauses in the telling, of course, to attend to the stove. His friends insist he do this right, or as right as he can in so small a village as Resembool. Half the needed ingredients are beyond his reach, so he had to get creative. Trisha's begun asking he cook the meals he'd enjoyed before coming to Amestris, and to teach her how to cook them in turn. There's a small but growing collection of recipe cards written in her neat hand, transliterated from Xerxesian, Xingese, and a half-dozen other languages as best as they can guess.

The centerpiece of tonight's meal is a hearty stew made with ground walnuts and pomegranate paste, accompanied by scorched rice flavored with sour cherries. Traditionally it was most commonly made with duck, but he can recall times when chicken or lamb were substituted well. But tonight is about tradition. Tradition, and memory. Only the good memories, if he has any say in it. Trisha only deserves to hear the good, now that she knows the very worst of him.

“How do you pronounce it again?” She asks. “Fesenjān?”

“فسنجون,” he corrects, and more slowly, “Fesenjoon. And the rice, prepared this way, is called ته دیگ.”

“Tahdig,” she echoes. “You’ve made that before, haven’t you? To go with the kabab koobideh you made for the fall sheep festival?”

He hums, thinking back. “Ah, so I did.”

“Good. I’m excited to have it again.” She eats another almond, covering her mouth as she chews. “If there’s any left we’ll have to bring it over to the Rockbells tomorrow. I think Yuriy just about cried, he liked it so much.”

“I’m not sure those were happy tears.”

“Oh, hush. No self-deprecating jokes in the house, remember?”

One of her many rules, enforced through rolled eyes and pointedly aggressive hugs. A lifeline cast across the chasm between then and now. Sometimes he forgets himself, but she is always there to coax him home again.

“Go on, then. I want to hear more.”

He stays by the stove, leaning against the counter with one eye on the simmering pot, as he continues his history. The scant collection of years after the Homunculus gave him the means and the tools to earn his freedom, when he was no longer a slave of the palace but an alchemist of the court. How each dish he had once seen crafted firsthand tasted all the richer for having earned his place at the table. How he'd marveled, quietly astonished, over how the nobles he had once envied could act as much the fool as any slave when they'd had too much to drink. How so much changed, yet how so much more remained the same.

He tells her of his very first شب چله as a free man, rubbing elbows with a merchant from Xing and an alchemist from Samskara. They'd both spoken Xerxesian atrociously, and only considered him their equal because he didn't share his past with them. One had spat at the eunuch boys serving at the King's table, while the other had leered hungrily at the slave girls as they'd danced. He remembers biting his tongue, afraid to cause upset, afraid his former master would change his mind if he caused a scene.

He sums up nearly 20 years in the time it takes to finish cooking, doling out two generous helpings of فسنجون و ته دیگ just as the clock on the mantel strikes eleven. 20 years. The same age Trisha is now. A mere slip of a woman with her whole life ahead of her. 20 years had been almost half his human lifetime, but it feels hardly more than a footnote compared to the centuries he's lived since. They don't have a thing in common, not really, but she's chosen him anyway.

As he rejoins her at the table, bowls in hand, he finds himself struck speechless for a second time tonight by the mere sight of her. He loves her. He loves her so much. He has cared for so many people in his life, but she is the first he has loved completely.

He has stood over so many graves. He doesn't want to outlive her too.

Her eyes light up with the first bite. It's the greatest compliment, the greatest achievement, to do something that makes her happy.

“Oh!” She exclaims, free hand jumping to her belly with a laugh. “I think he likes it too.”

He eyes the swell of her as if he might see the baby kicking from here. A father, he thinks wildly. He's going to be a father. His friends will never stop laughing at his first-time parenting jitters. Traitors, the lot of them.

“You’re sure it’s going to be a boy?” He asks, trying not to show his nervousness.

“I’m not certain,” she admits. “But it feels right. Does that make sense?”

He smiles helplessly. “Not at all. But I believe you.”

She'd said the same thing after he'd told her the truth of him. It feels right to say it to her in turn now.

"Are you sure you don't want to help pick a name?" She asks.

He shakes his head, adamant. “You’re the one doing all the work. It’s only right you get to choose.”

She hums, thoughtful.

Moments pass in that particular quality of silence found only in the wake of a good meal. He tries not to preen. It helps that a number of his friends are critiquing his cooking even as he tries to enjoy it. He should have added onions. He should have tried harder to find saffron. The rice isn't as caramelized as it could be. The duck is too tough. He didn't grind the walnuts fine enough. And on, and on.

Trisha's hand touches his wrist. He blinks at her, enamored and baffled equally. She smiles at him, enamored and exasperated equally.

“I asked what you were thinking,” she says.

It's not even midnight yet. Dawn is a long way off. For all that he's learned so much since he was a nameless slave, for all the centuries he's endured, there's still a part of him that doubts the sun will rise tomorrow. There's still a part of him, however small and smothered by his friends, that is the angry, empty-headed fool who willingly held out his arm when his master demanded he give up his blood. There is still a part of him that wishes desperately he recoiled from the knife, and in doing so saved his people. But there's no sense in wishing for what he cannot change.

“I’m thinking that I’m glad I’m here,” is what he tells her. “And that I love you.”

Outside the wind rages, surely full of devils with cruel fangs and crueler deeds in mind, but here in his home Hohenheim knows he's safe. Better still, the most wonderful woman in the world has chosen to take refuge with him here. More than that. She's chosen to forge a life with him here, to make and raise a family with him here. Out there, somewhere, the Homunculus is surely scheming. Inside him, over half a million souls roil restless, ceaselessly, and perhaps—God help him—even eternally.

But tonight? On this, the longest night of the year? Hohenheim chases jewel-bright pomegranate seeds with his spoon, warmed by just a hair too much wine, hand-in-hand with the love of his long, long life. Tonight, at least, Hohenheim finds himself content.

And that’s the fic! I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope you also enjoy me vomiting some THOUGHTS at you too.

I am in a constant state of being emotionally overwrought about my favorite square anime dad, so I was delighted to have a chance to write something truly syrupy sweet about him and Trisha and have the ready-made excuse to get lost down a research hole. Xerxes is secretly my FAVORITE research hole to get lost down because I actually studied Persian Farsi for a year once upon a forever ago. While I never got any kind of fluent in it, that time of fervent study certainly got me hooked on learning about Iran's rich and fascinating history. This fic is centered around a loose approximation of Yaldā Night, Iran's winter solstice festival, and Hohenheim sharing some of the traditions Xerxes once held with Trisha. I was intentionally vague and/or handwave-y in some parts, but if anything seems too egregiously inaccurate please let me know!

I called it Chelleh within the fic as, per my understanding at least, Yaldā was borrowed from Syriac-speaking Christians, and since Christianity doesn't exist in mangahood it seemed the "more accurate" thing to do.

A common tradition at Yaldā and Nowruz (the Persian New Year) is to read excerpts from the Divān of Hafez, perhaps the most famous of Iran's poets. The title of this fic comes from (per my copy of Elizabeth T. Gray Jr.'s collected translations, Wine & Prayer) ghazal 35. I'd share the full thing with y'all, but she only has the original Persian on her website and my copy of her book is in storage atm. :(

Fesenjoon/fesenjān, the dish they're making, is incredible and I highly recommend it. Tahdig, or scorched rice, is also fantastic.

Thank you again for reading! <3

#fma #fmab #fullmetal alchemist #fullmetal alchemist brotherhood #my writing

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thelordstears · 3 years

Text

I think it’s time to show some lines and how much I’ve improved eh?

“ You see, we're all living our lives confined in this little, locked room, we store our thoughts here, our dreams, our doubts, our darkest confessions. But the right people come along with a key and find the real us quivering in a corner of ourselves we fear with all our fuckin' might. All of humanity fears. And so in the span of a blink life created death to separate what is bad, and what is good. “ - Shawn Werdelstein

“ I look deep into my eyes and I swear I can see her darkness flickering in my damn eyes, she took my heart in her murderous stride, flaying me of all my salvation, tellin' me I was nothin' more then livestock on her farm of delicacies and delights. “ - Lupin Rinderez

“In the end I was never really human in the eyes of those who hate me, was I? I was always a toy to those more wicked then I, and so I have rotted in a chest of forgotten dolls and stitched together souls lost to time." - Ingretta Shazowlla

“ Some men are born for prison. They're raised in a cell, and told this is all you can ever be, and when they finally scratch their way out of that prison, they start to get homesick, so they find themselves a new cell, a new Hell, a new home away from home. Chaos is peace ta the broken man. “ - Francis Killvawhile

“ Karma doesn't care about how small the sin was, she just reaps. “ - Scarla Scottaine

“ There's something foreign about an empty bed, something unfamiliar about holding my own hand, it's like love is a language we speak, and when it leaves us we can no longer speak the language of the loveless, because we're already native in the country of love. “ - Finn Desandra

“ The darkness of my past caught up to me and killed the kind pure hearted man I thought I'd forever be, I was always doomed to become a reflection of my father. But with these bloodied and cracked pieces of me I'll bleed him with broken pieces of his reflection. “ - Alviro Conritz

“Isn't it funny? How men and women alike will pull a trigger on another when faced with a gun at their own heart, held steady in the hand of a man who never misses?” - Remington Burlwitz

“ I am Eve luring Adam to his fate.” - Belle Nalroma

“ I am a grave of fireflies and ravens whom head out to war, a wolf of death and anguish that drove me to madness. Don't you call me a freak, I'm just a little bit different, my mind is an eternal state of flickering emotion and madness that has never left me be. In truth the firing of this rifle is the only thing that keeps me alive, it is the beating of my heart and the howl in my soul, so dare you fire back with pieces of your heart shattered in the bullets? “ - Luther Woolhaun

“ I feel like a blank slate that's always re-written. “ - Wendell Ace

"I look at who I am with judgmental eyes.” - Earl Mumford

“ Believe the tales of dead men, they have a perspective like no other. “ - Earl Mumford

“ Stepping up to me ain't a fucking war, it's an execution disguised as such. “ - Saul Northutt

“ Decaying and gentle I shall be lain to rest as the Devil the world mourned. “ - Jonkiv Kramteil

“ Look, the truth is a hard pill to swallow, but swallow it you will. “ - Simon Rossburg

“ I'm a killer and a cheat, if my dagger is unstained remember, there's etches of lives lost on the handle, do you really wanna become another scar on the wood of my blade? “ - Killgrove Butcher

“ Mercy is a surefire way to meet God, so I sling an old club wrapped in barbed wire over my shoulder and watch the river spill crimson. “ - Olivia Juarez

"They call kindness weakness, so I must be the strongest bitch in town.” - Olivia Juarez

“ My wrath comes down like a cold rain of daggers when faced with the wicked, if they ain't ready to die then they best fucking prepare for it, cause those who use the powerless as a simple stepping stone to Heaven don't deserve the breath in their damn lungs. “ - Lucille Ramaswami

“ That man, that wicked fuckin' man, 'e's an old vulture sittin' atop the Church waitin' for the holy ta fall down the steeple, 'e swoops down and picks their bones 'a love, 'a holiness, 'a morality. And den, the holy become the damned. “ - Maxwell Soderstrom

“ The Devils and snakes in the grass should fear the gardener with his shovel ready to bury the pests." - Guarva Plucker

“ Don't call me your hero, cause heroes don't kill good men." - Al Hunderson

"Brother, there's somethin' sinister brewin' in the bones of humanity, has been since the Neanderthals huddled in caves, lighting fires underneath the murky walls of a place they could call home. I'm afraid you're gonna have to be a little more specific." - Roman Hemlock "Ya can always spot the little, tinges of darkness in the bad man's eye, the little seams of pain that follows 'em." - Sandro Colorfeid

"I slither and slide into the darkness, a basilisk hiding in shadow and sin, biting into the forbidden fruit of Eden with glee and cruelty flickering in my snake likes eyes." - Vexine Hatchet

"I stood with blood on my hands and a snarl on my lip. It was from that moment on, Nico no longer were." - Nico Litchenfels

“ I'm a cutthroat fucker with his heart bared open and cruel on his trench jacket's sleeve. “ - Nico Litchenfels

"I stood like a question never asked, and then before I had the chance to give myself an answer in the echoes of my insanity, she smiled and asked who I was." - Zachariah Rinderez

"I have died a thousand times, Minerva. But you make me want to live again." - Simon Drogace

"I'm not lucky enough to be me." - Simon Drogace

“Do you ever feel like, your mind is a hammer?” - Simon Drogace

"He stood there, like a wicked omen of what never should've been, a testament to all humanity tried to kill." - Neal Marrows

"Losing yourself is a game no one can win." - Neal Marrows

"You know me, just a grave of who I was, grasping the soil wondering why it always slips between my fingers." - Sam Dellwotfire

"Someone once asked me what life before war was like, and truthfully, I've never known." - Hunter Creasey

"You spend your whole life under the shadow of death it starts to become you, and as you let the light it in, as you let your heart burst in seams of color and little figments of love and joy, that's when the shadow casts itself over you the longest. As soon as you start to live, death comes on by to greet you as if she were an old friend, and as I live through the essence of love and peace, I can see a smile filled with the lost lives of all whom ever walked greeting me on a road all too familiar." - Hunter Creasey

"I'm the mad man's greatest friend, but in the eyes of the sane, in the eyes of all whom stand against cruelty, I'm a weapon, an atomic bomb that'll level the city of peace to dust." - Moores Thomas

"It is in madness and grief we find who we really are. So who's to say humanity was supposed to live in peace? After all, even our mind tells us things we could never dream of with intrusive thoughts, and in the end some of us succumb to the darkness every single mind brews." - Moores Thomas

"You see, madness starts with a small seed the human race calls trouble, it comes in many different variants, some get in very small dosages all their lives. But mad men get a taste of trouble long before they know what the word means." - Moores Thomas

"The way I see love, it's an interesting sort of medicine. One moment it stitches together the loose threads of your heart, and in the very next it unravels you like a spool of thread." - Cornelius Combs

"I walked into the Church only to be spat out, falling down the sinner's steeple coughing up bloodied pieces of my faith." - Takizen Fruivein

"Challenging what I've become is a fools game, and my friend, I am no fool." - Allinza Harzvi

"Humanity is not inherently kind, everything we've seen, and everything we are, is proof of that testament." - Allinza Harzvi

"We are never in the same boat, we are in the same storm, facing life's darkness with different privilege's." - Caldvain Lucelo

"You know, someone once told me you have control over your own mind, but as it drifts away from me as smoke in the dying embers of a midnight wildfire, does that statement still hold true?" - Harvin Scoviney

"God does not help. He observes." - Victor Da Ville

“ You can't explain what evil means without mentioning the feared name of Cassidy Vanderberg. “ - Cassidy Vanderberg

“ I'm a hero, and I know, it's a heroes curse to go down in history, shooting her glory through the chamber of a revolver, leaving the world with the gunfire smoke of her gun, but so be it man, so fucking be it. “ - Miella Fang

“ Tragedy runs through my veins like the blood I bleed.” - Harkman Burtrow

“ You can run your hands through these cracked and yellowed pages, wondering when I lost my mind, but you won't find any answers in my chapters. “ - Mortelo Vonenwoft

“ ”You ever feel there’s jus’ this empty box where your heart’s supposed ta be? I've shoved all my monsters in this box, my addictions, my anxiety, the thoughts that don't go away. But sometimes, the box starts ta open, and I can't even push the door back, cause I'm too busy with this ghost followin' me like a yappin' chihuahua. “ - Isadore Rast

“ Everyone is always sayin' you're strong, for fightin' past that hurt, but am I? I didn't fight, I fuckin' stumbled, I fell, it wasn't just a battle, it was a god damn war I still wage. The gunfire echoes and cocaine ghosts will never leave me be, cause I made the mistake of losin' myself ta the bad side of life, and I just can't forgive myself for that kinda shit. “ - Isadore Rast

“ I'm not a recoverin' addict, I'm just a fuckin' ghost. “ - Carrigan Hopva

“ I met myself on a dead end street, she looked distraught, with chunks of hair missing, cigarette on her lip, trying to light a match in the rain, eyes troubled with memories of what would be. She told me to keep my enemies close, cause god damn, they were everywhere, but she never told me I'd be standin' in a house of mirrors. “ - Rain Morvosina

“ I tell myself, I could've done better, I could've saved the circus, but truthfully, not a single man can stop fate in its tracks, he would become another splatter on her railroad within a series of seconds and terrible events. “ - Bortosley Velltwo

“ I'm guilty ‘a first degree, of lil ol' me." - Howard Wraith

“ Oh mum if ya could see me now, sinnin' on the other side 'a paradise lookin' for reasons ta stain me teeth the color of me jacket. “ - Davy Blight

“ I ain't the poor lil' boy who shot at 'is brother with orange capped revolvers and plastic swords, mate, I'm the real fuckin' deal. This venom 'a trouble and sin flows like blood in me veins, corruptin' the essence 'a who I fuckin' was. “ - Davy Blight

“ I'm the darkness your mother says ta stray away from, the boogeyman ya're mum tells ya snatches away naughty boys and girls in the dead 'a night, and worst of all mate, I'm Lind fuckin' Blight, bastard son of the seas. “ - Lind Blight

“ I'm just old honey whiskey sitting on the shelf gathering dust and mildew, locked in this little cabin of darkness and decay, wondering why no one cares to pop open my cork and let this darkness and mold spill to the soil of a freshly dug grave. “ - Roxane Vanderberg

“ I met her in a garden 'a roses, and there she stood as the only thorn. “ - Kayella Wisp

“ I've gunned bad men down on the streets, cackling and sinful they died, cruel and wicked they lived. “ - Hoshino Akinori

“ I once went into an old confession booth, sins sat heavy at my shoulder, salvation far off as it always seemed to be, and as that preacher listened to my darkest secrets I was sure he would damn me. But he told me salvation is for all, and that God loves whosoever follows the path of the righteous. “ - Erika Vans

“ I used ta live with one foot in the grave, wondering when the hell I'd become my last name, but then I met a wise man in the woods and found myself once again. Sometimes, we're lost, and we don't even know it. So I think destiny sends us a Messiah to lead the way ta who we are, and as Pennington took my hand in the darkness, I knew I'd found who I am past all this trouble. “ - Alonzo Graves

“ I traverse this labyrinth of my heart and soul, trying to find myself in the midst of all this trouble, but these mirrors are starting to look like enemies, and this maze is starting to become a prison cell. “ - Andre Jollows

“ Deep in my soul is the sound of war calling me home, and death whispers in my bones that she wishes to hold me close as I fade gently into the stars, but I sigh strapping my boots on in the morning, putting this old gas mask on my face and facing another venomous day. For I am a curse, wondering where my blessings went." - Max Caldiph

“ If my heart were a painting, it would be a starless night sky, the trees wilted, stripped of their leaves standing as threadbare omens of the bones etched in darkness that hold me up and the roses would be black, decaying with some dead scent of mercy burning whosoever walks into this garden of death's nose. “ - Apollos Quinn

“ Who I am ain't even me, he's just someone I've been for too long.” - Drew Dreadful

“ I died halfway to Heaven and too close ta Hell. “ - Dylan Huffers

“ I was living a life of trouble and cigarette smoke, chasing lies as if I were just a harmless little kitten, batting my hands at another yarn ball, always wondering why it ran away from me, but as my mother held me in a gentle embrace and showed me the way to paradise, I found out that it's better to be you then somebody else. “ - Scottie Bloodvallo

“ My mama once told me sometimes you gotta fall and stumble to learn who you are, because it's as trouble and peace wage war that we discover who's side we're on, and as those old foes grabbed their rifles and loaded their cannons, I came to realize I never wanted trouble to become who I am. So I picked up my guns and fired a couple rounds of peace into my head. “ - Marty Thievekit

“ You wanna run with the wolves, but brother you're sparrin' with chihuahuas, ya wanna play with the big boys, but you're frolicking in a garden full of gnomes and fairies, you wanna go knuckle to knuckle with your demons, but brother you surround yourself in angels. Do you really expect to kill a man while you're swingin' plastic blades and firin' bullets from a cap gun? “ - Walton Burke

"The truth will always sound like a lie to he who doesn't want to admit he's wrong. “ - Stewart Astoria

“ I'm tied up and tangled in the webs of madness, cackling at the midnight sky as these bastards try to fire bullets of sanity my way. But god damn baby, I'm bullet proof. I take what I want when I want it, so as I slam these bullets of madness into the echoed chamber of my revolver and put a few holes in my mind do you think it'll be me seepin' through the corners of this old mental ward, or will the ground pool crimson with my sanity? Guess there's no way of knowin' til I pull this trigger, sanity and purity spilling like crimson ink in my mind. “ - Ares Malstone

“ Forevermore I shall stand as a threadbare omen of the unholiest parts of mankind, drifting away from myself like the wildfire smoke of a dying confession.” - Alastair Sambridge

“ My mother once stared me dead in the eye and said I was not so holy, one day I would sputter up all the pieces of me and succumb to the Devil inside, and I must say, the old wicked witch was right. My father told me I was just a sin, drifting forevermore into the midnight sky, and as I pulled the trigger upon a battlefield I came to realize fate vows for promises made by wicked people. So by God, I vow to die, I vow to choke on these holy pieces of me and sputter up my dying breath. “ - Alastair Sambridge

“ Who I am is such a far cry from who I was, if you looked at a photograph of me at ten years old you wouldn't recognize the eyes that smile, for as you look into the cracked lenses and into my eyes, it is not me you find. But rather, it is the insanity that swam in Calzell's eyes when I met him." - Ackilzo Thyme

“ My mother once told me that rage whispers into the ears of the broken that they deserve nothing more then this unsteady heart beat of broken bottles and cracked knuckles, but it's the ever smiling lip of peace that brings the sorrowed man back to himself. So I oughta wonder why peace keeps on scowlin' at me. “ - Varvaina Escobar

“ It seems it is the nature of humanity to point blame at those who are howling with regret, love beating empty in an open chest. “ - Sarkelus Johnson

“ Sometimes, life just fades before your eyes and ya don't have enough time to catch it, so you slowly drift away from it yearning for the gentle touch of death. But you know what? We all need a hero every once and awhile, and as Barbara lays her head against my chest, dancing her fingers across my shoulders and cheek, I think I damn well found my hero. “ -Rob Percstand

“ I don't wanna die with dreams, I wanna die with memories, man. “ - Revie Scollinew

"In the outback of Montana my tale began in crimson stained history. I look to my aunts and uncles and see murder deep inside of their hearts, but they should've thought twice before taking my heart in their rough hands, for there is something dark that's brewing inside of me, and if I were them, I would start looking underneath the bed for monsters." - Enoch Avoxin

"There's a certain truth, to madness." - Zachariah Rinderez

"Hold honor close to your heart and you'll end its beat." - McKormick McReavey

"You know, everybody says, this won't happen to me, I'm just your average everyday person, collecting my paycheck, paying my bills, living my day to day life just like everybody else. But what we seem to forget is that we're all normal people, we're all just a little bit average enough to stand out. And when these tragic things do happen to us, we stand in a stunned silence our whole world falling apart, and all we can utter is, "This can't be happening to me." - Ray Burzfoll

"If I could strip the emotion from my mind I fear I would do so in a heart beat." - Wyatt Demouchett

"Love comes and goes but power drifts on by and stays." - Dastallio Sanchez

"Darkness has intertwined itself within my heart sputtering the light from out my throat." - Cornelius Shmackelstein

“I am not myself, so what the fuck am I?" - Coraiza Scotchfuel

"Living in reality is the most cruel form of torture for a mad man." - Draven Scotchfuel

"It is as if she makes my black and white heart burst with some form of color it's never seen." - Armello Vanrick

"Perhaps it was always a mirror hiding inside of my closet." - Julie Forkroad

"The world went dark before it fell, we were just playing a waiting game." - Brooke Bergmeir

"I've got more fighting days left than you have years." - Maximo Guanch

"If everything exists, nothing does, really." - Arthur Wellburn

#writing #characters #dialogue #characterdevelopment #oneliners #books #writer #characterwriting

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marvelvsmarvel · 3 years

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Writing the Mandarin for Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

It’s become a trend to write sympathetic villains or to at least try to get the audience to understand their perspective. Marvel has attempted to do this most notably through Loki, Killmonger, and even Thanos whether the audience chose to sympathize or agree with them or not. I expect nothing less for the treatment of Tony Leung’s The Mandarin Wenwu and yet there is an opportunity to write him in a very real and very relevant light.

The Mandarin as it stands as a title is still very derogatory while maintaining the comic history. That part can be remain by most fans since the character’s original “debut” in Iron Man 3 was such a disgrace to the comic counterpart and Marvel fans in general. Tony Leung is a literal icon in China held to the highest regard as an actor and he is being portrayed as a villain. Marvel Studios has a strong business relationship with China through film and would not want to simply paint one of their darlings as a stereotypic “Fu Manchu kung fu villain from the East”. On top of this the Mandarin as suggested for the MCU is the leader of an established terrorist group of called the Ten Rings and is said to be ancient. While part of his individual power stems from these literal Ten Rings (one for each finger, each ring possessing different powers) in the comics his power is also rooted in history, technology, and triumph in which the important one of these is technology. Now consider the context of that. If the original Eastern villain image was not bad enough the “technological threat from the East” gives the Mandarin a real modern twist. So how could Marvel write this delicately to not make these overly specific, to not offend any fans foreign or domestic, and to get fans to either sympathize with him or see his perspective?

Not Overly Specific: It’s all in the history. We definitely know he’ll be getting an origin story that if sticking to the comics will date him back to pre-communist China. Expand his cultural outlook to make him a man of the people. The Ten Rings have been depicted in the MCU by the middle eastern group that abducted Tony Stark, a white man who abducted the imposter Mandarin Trevor Slattery in the Marvel One-Shot: All Hail the King, or one of the groups that tried to buy the Darren Cross replicated Pym Particle (suggested as workers for Hydra). So his influence is suggested as international already but it can now be supported through history. Have him and his followers help to end certain wars or stop historic terrorists groups or simply gifted countries in different manners of technology or culture like through the arts or simple humanity like aid through philanthropy. Maybe the Ten Rings never used to even be a terrorist group until Aldrich Killian painted them as one by using their name and Wenwu’s image to hide his acts of terror. You can compare the legacy left behind like in a guy like Tony Stark, not to smear Tony’s story but perhaps the Mandarin could have mass produced helpful technologies used all around the world that he gave to the public... freely?

Not to Offend: Embrace the culture. There’s going to be stereotypes but don’t make them the butts of jokes. Make them proud. The Mandarin may have helped to spread the knowledge of martial arts around the world. Maybe he helped create trade through China in the modern world by his efforts and not just because of imperialism. Use food! A quality tool to use in film but also a very real point that a version of Chinese cuisine is extremely international and maybe that was a gift from the Mandarin and his travels. With the recent success of Crazy Rich Asians give us a look into the Mandarin that is intimate. Give a look at Wenwu as a person in his culture that is rich and historic and beautiful. This touches back on the fact that stereotypes are unavoidable as in a primarily asian cast doing a martial arts film but that beats Cobra Kai anyday! Own it! And show the world how important it is to take pride in native culture and how brilliant it all is.

To Sympathize or See Perspective: History is told by those who write it. This is a concept expressed by the villain Whiplash Ivan Vanko played by Mickey Rourke in Iron Man 2 about the slant on his father’s technology as well as the villain Ghost Ava played by Hannah John-Kamen in Ant Man and The Wasp for the same exact reason. In the MCU we have Cap in the 1940s as the farthest back we go. Within that film there’s a quick scene where the Cap is freeing POWs, one being Dum Dum Dugan played by Neal McDonough and he asks Cap while looking at one of his future Howlin Commando brothers Jim Morita played by Kenneth Choi, “What? Are we bringing everybody?” to which Morita replies “I’m from Fresno, Ace.” It’s a very real scene used for comic relief but for those who don’t know Morita is said to have been created inspired by The Karate Kid’s Mr. Miyagi Pat Morita who did serve in WW2 (speaking of Cobra Kai). So this film Shang-Chi has a real opportunity to share some Asian-American history. Maybe the Mandarin was a cowboy on the Western front. Maybe he struck gold and became a landowner. Maybe the gold and some of the land was taken from him but he still held some of it at a cost. You can compare a legacy of great patriotism like Steve Rogers, not to smear Steve’s story but perhaps the Mandarin was forced to fight in the war or else he and is family would be sent back to China and even while fighting in the war his family was still either deported or held in an internment camp. Then even when returning to home a decorated soldier maybe he had nothing to his own to come back to and his family needed to start over cooking or cleaning to build themselves up in America.

So now how does such a person become a villain? After a lifetime of not only being a great man but a giving man and to never want anything in return but to spread knowledge and culture all of it is taken because some guy painted Wenwu and his followers as terrorists. For the last time many of the things he legitimately claimed and then cultivated from the ground up are being seized and taken by “governing bodies” because they perceived him in a certain way. The MCU history books have already written the Mandarin and the Ten Rings as villains. After a lifetime of seeing the rise and fall of cruel men around the world and failed government structures, but also the rise of heroes, aliens descending from the sky, and the near destruction of Earth, maybe the Mandarin wants to make a change. Unlike Loki who wanted to conquer or Hydra who wanted to control maybe all the Mandarin wants to do is what he’s always done. Be a man of the people: take out those parties that write history the way they see it, fight against evil and for what is right, and give through knowledge and culture and if necessary... the art of war. From a glance this could read like a terrorist motive but from another perspective it could be Captain America. Project Oversight seemed ethically wrong having carriers with such firepower in the sky but the E.D.I.T.H. Satellite seems perfectly fine so long as Peter Parker can be responsible enough to use it. The true villain of the story would be the narration of history, the propaganda of media, and failure to seek knowledge. There is an valuable opportunity to write the Mandarin Wenwu in a very real and very relevant light for this film.

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ranmanjuu · 4 years

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Hello! I really enjoy you Gen Z MC headcanons a lot! Can you make headcanons for Non-Native/American MC? Like, Japanese isn’t her first language and while she got some words and phrases down, she still struggles a lot. Especially with saying names correctly. So, she give our warlords silly nicknames or just completely pronounces it word. Just with the Oda Forces right now. Thank you!

thanks for the request! as someone who's bilingual and Fluent in None, i'll try my best lol. and iirc sengoku japan has some differences in their writing than modern japan, but i'm Not sure to what extent because i'm no Expert™. and this is from my personal experience, so not everything may apply (aha i'm no american)

—oda forces with non-native/american mc

—nobunaga:

consider him intrigued! he’s met a few portugese men and a few other nationalities from the west trading, but he didn’t expect his fireball to be one!

pre-learning you came from the future, he was a bit confused on why some of your words sound different than what the others were speaking. it’s still japanese, he knows that for a fact, but it’s slightly different.

your responses in conversation come slowly, and sometimes not even correctly. he sees the way you kind of falter each time someone corrects you, then steel your eyes in resolve in speaking correctly. he’ll wait for them patiently all the same.

if you’re ever to use a phrase wrong or say a word you didn’t mea nto say, he’ll let out a loud guffaw. he doesn’t correct you (most times), it’s a bit entertaining how a sentence can sound funny to him while you remain clueless.

if it’s of any need, or perhaps you asked for it (because japanese was already hard, the fact that it has differences from the one you were learning adds to the weigh), he will order to have someone tutor you.

as time passes, you become more and more fluent. and by then, nobunaga will invite you to his tenshu on sleepless nights, and demands that you tell him how your country is. it’s land, the culture, anything and everything. and he’ll listen in very carefully—he really is interested.

when the two of you are alone, he often encourages you to “do it how you do in your land.” it’s a way of learning more outside japan, and learning more about you! in a time when you’re stressed with all the shocks, he wants his fireball to be comfortable at least.

sometimes he goes above and beyond once you’re in a relationship. you can’t use chopsticks and prefer to use cutlery? well, the portugese had a supply, so he got ‘em. you want a specific fabric that isn’t available in the market and maybe even the country in general? trades, baby!

he’s a bit interested in some of your words, even if he can’t exactly use them in japanese. (we talkin things like “y’all”, etc.)

you call him “naga”, mostly due to the “nobu” part heavily influenced by your accent. you’re the only one who he’ll allow to call him that.

and if anyone, even another daimyo, comments about your foreignity, they’ll have to face with him personally.

—hideyoshi:

as any other time, he still suspects you. hideyoshi doesn’t doubt that you’re a foreigner—the clothes you wore and lack of knowledge of most things seems to prove it. but that doesn’t mean you’re not dangerous.

so, for the first few days, he tailed you everywhere. and he got to be a witness of your struggles in mostly language. even talking to the maids become a challenge as you stumble across your sentences and still make mistakes. he saw how, when you don’t manage to get what you want to say across, you just shook your head dejectedly with a small, “sorry, nevermind.”

his suspicion picked away slowly from that point. but it wasn’t gone; he just felt immensely guilty for tailing you now.

until, one day, you walked into a soldier harshly scolding a maid. what’s the matter? something about...sword training...’not supposed to do that, you’re a woman’...? the longer you listen and try to decipher it, the more you hear some sexist bullshit. and you were not tolerating.

“hey, stop that!” the two looked at you now, and only after you said that did you realize you’re gonna have to make your argument in japanese,”what if she want to.. sword... practice...”

as you went on, your voice died and your grasp of the language seems to fade away. the soldier took advantage, and swept in like an eagle, “hah, what do you know about fighting, huh?! much less speaking japanese!”

you stopped right there, your heart stung and twisting. the air became suffocating, shrinking down your body and blurring the world. thankfully, hideyoshi, who’s seen everything, stepped in. your vision only regained once the soldier and maid were gone, with hide speaking as soft as he’s ever been, “are you okay?”

with reassurance from you, he apologizes, and so comes to an agreement to start over. from then on, he became the overbearing mother he is.

he’s always looking after you whenever he can. aiding you in speaking, teaching you some basic customs, all that jazz. worry plagues him 24/7 about you, what if you got kidnapped, or what if a ronin attacked you because of accidental provoking?!

you had to spend a long, long time convinving him you were fine.

he always reinforces the, “say the t word instead of sorry” principle if you apologize because of your lack of knowledge.

you often call him “yoshi” now (same pronounciation as yoshi from mario lol) since you spent,, so long calling the ‘hide” part like hide in hide n’ seek.

and while he doesn’t tolerate people who make any bad remarks about you, if it’s someone like a daimyo, he’ll hold it in and curse them to hell afterwards.

—mitsuhide:

a little mouse from another land, hm? this’ll be interesting.

he often teases you at first. it’s a bit inviting, how you keep mixing up words and he could make you think it’s correct, delivering a message that was misspelled, and even telling you to write something (the japanese writing system,,,, shudders)

but if it genuinely upsets you, he will tone it down.

ntb cruel, but he finds it a bit charming of how helpless you are at times. a jittery little mouse, walking around the castle.

he’s quite baffled at the lack of knowledge you have. he understands it a bit, but even so, the teasings don’t stop. “my my, we have a long way to go ahead, don’t we little mouse?”

the princess lessons he gives include learning japanese, the customs (using chopsticks, bowing, etc.), and everything you should at least know. it’s often very taxing, and mitsuhide is a very strict teacher, but sometimes you wouldn’t change it for the world.

when he congratulates you at something, it feels weirdly fulfilling. he doesn’t give them often, only if you’ve done a wonderful job, but his words make your heart flutter and encourage you to do better.

man would definitely know what you’re talking about if you speak your language. he’s the mvp spy for the oda, i’d wager he knows some other languages. so if you’re muttering to yourself, be prepared to have a mitsuhide appear out of thin air and make a comment about it

and he doesn’t,, really help you at times. like when you know a word in your mother tongue, but you just can’t think about what the japanese is—all the he says is, “my, i wonder what it is.”

you just glare at him half-heartedly.

that being said, secret conversations that (most of the time) only you two know about happens here and there. maybe during a mission, he’ll whisper something into your ear with your mother language (mitsuhide is totally the type to pretend to be shit talking someone while he’s actually having a normal conversation, so)

as you two become closer, he becomes painfully aware of how vulnerable you can be, especially with someone in his position. if you were kidnapped or anything of the sorts, you can have more trouble with your captors,,

in short, he’s often very Protective of you if he needs to.

if anyone scrutinizes you in any way because of the whole foreign thing? well,, they won’t be seen ever again :)

you pronounce hide the same way like in hideyoshi’s. you called him like that,, for the longest time,,, and he still hasn’t lived it down.

despite there being two mitsus, you call mitsuhide “mitsu” (sometimes as ‘mizu’ if your tongue slips)

—ieyasu:

he’s very ice cold (as anytime at first) to you, the whole “useless waif” thing multiplying in his salt.

you did bear with it during the first few days, but if it starts getting to you and making you visibly upset, ieyasu will slowly notice. he feels a bit bad, and the ‘avoiding people’ part of him told him to just leave it be and avoid you. but after seeing some instances of you trying your absolute best and looking so crestfallen if you’ve done the slightest bit wrong, his hearts feels obligated to apologize.

well,, apologize in his term. in his own roundabout way, he invited you to feed wasabi. most of the time it was silence, but somehow, it felt nice. comfortable.

in the end, both of you finally said something, and at the same time. “uhm, ’yasu—” / “look—”

you two paused, and ieyasu looked away while you held back a chuckle. “i really enjoy this. thank you.”

your enunciation was still slipping, but the smile you sent left him almost speechless. only after you tilt your head in confusion did he go back to reality, scoffing to the side, “whatever. i don’t care what you think about this.”

it’s a bit maddening at times; you were like another mitsunari, but instead of misprocessing what he said, you often just didn’t understand. all the insults flew over your head because you didn’t know any of them. it’s like, a part of the reason why you’re so hard-headed to spend time with him.

if he were honest, he felt a bit bad seeing your state. as someone who spent time being vulnerable and having to force the world to give him a space of his own, seeing you reminded him or himself. maybe that’s part of the reason he agreed to teach you some medicine,, he wanted to give you a place. even if that place was him.

he’s very often protective of you, in his own, indirect way. he walks with you to the market even if you insist you can do it yourself, he jumps in each time you look like you need help with language—it’s a bit adorable.

you call him “yasu” or “yass” (more often the latter). the “ie” part really confused you, and while the warlord himself couldn’t care less of what you call him, you’re the only one who can nickname him like that.

—masamune:

just like mitsuhide, the man’s quite excited to see what would come from you. while you couldn’t really tell anyone off in japanese, you definitely did that in your language. and while masamune didn’t know what you said, but by the expressions you made, it was enough.

ngl, that part of you made him take you less seriously.

i’d imagine it’d be quite hard for you to keep up with him, even in just a normal conversation

he doesn’t mind the slip-ups (which can make your sentences range from bizzare to just absolute rude) and it actually fishes out a loud laugh from him. but if you happen to talk to anyone from his clan like that, even unintentionally, you’ll be in a lot of a pickle.

and by pickle i mean near death experience.

first time he saw you fumble around with your chopsticks cluelessly (and using them in less efficient ways), he didn’t understand at first, but was quick to teach you. how else were you supposed to eat and savor the flavor?

speaking of that,, since you aren’t really familiar with japanese food, you kinda dined blindly without knowing which part of the food tastes like what. masamune thought he was facing another mitsu and almost had a heart attack.

he’d gladly tell you what tastes good with what, how you should eat it, etc. etc. man would definitely feed it to you and tease you heavily while he’s at it

you’d often ask him what some foods were, even the most common. masamune gaped at you when you innocently asked him what a ‘dango’ is. and most times, you’d find the same thing on the dinner table later.

still on the topic of food, you can absolutely tell him the food from your country! actually, given the ingredients and basic instructions, he’ll absolutely make it for you if you feel homesick.

you call him “moon”, coming from how you said the “mune” part like you would in english rules (like in commune, etc.) he really liked the nickname, and it eventually stuck.

(irrelevant but you also said “date” like,, y’know, the english words date.)

(^ some puns came from that)

—mitsunari:

the first time you came to the senoku era, you were confused, but most of all, panicked. when mitsunari raised the hypothesis that you were a foreigner, you managed to catch on that one word. in a response, you pointed at him and just nodded, hoping the others would get what you were saying.

from then on, he was the first to start talking to you slowly and use basic words he’d hope you understood. in discussions where you were left in the dark, mitsunari would take the time to turn to you and explain it slowly.

you felt absolutely grateful and indebted to him. as such, no objections were raised as you were appointed as his caretaker.

through the,, trial and tribulations (him mistaking you for kitty, the almost impossible reading-trance he had), you kept patience over it all. he made you feel the most welcome, this was a way to repay him.

mitsunari himself saw you as a saint; you didn’t have to be so nice to him. he knows how unbearable he can be in terms of taking care of, it’d be way easier for you to just get it done in the fastest way possible. you absolutely objected to that, he helped you, you’d help him now.

his admiration just grew. he saw you as so, so strong and brave, held in a castle with a language you didn’t know much with customs you were a stranger to. on top of that, you were so kind and patient with those who needed help, despite your own troubles. it wasn’t love yet, but a deep-seeded admiration.

i’d like to think he knows enough of your language to hold a normal conversation in it, maybe from the books shipped from the portugese and the likes. other than sasuke, he was the one who you could just let go the worries and stress of language in talking.

to repay your repayment (which is,,,,.. nvm) he offered to help you learn japanese and the common customs. the tiny “really...?” you said, along with the slightly widened eyes littered with stars; it was something mitsunari’d never forget.

he’d always be supportive and understanding, explaining things over and over again until you understood. he’s the best teacher you could ask for.

when he started avoiding you so he could focus on work (and figure out why he feels so weird around you,,), you felt the most devastated you’ve been through your stay. he felt like the someone who you could feel the most close and safe with.

even as some people started secretly scrutinizing you as a foreigner princess, dear oblivious mitsunari kept respecting your appointed title. if someone made a rude comment about it, he’d strictly (which to him is just say it with a straight face and serious tone) remind that you rightly held the position.

you call him “navi”. at first, it was “nari” but the dull R slipped into a v somehow, and the nickname sounded pleasant to you and him. and so it stuck

—ranmaru:

the first time you met him, it was when he hid behind you to avoid being killed. you gained just enough knowledge to understand what the guard was saying, and without much thought, jumped in. in a moment of panic from the thought of ‘this man’s life is kind of in my hands’, the stuttering and incorrect japanese switched into your fluent mother language. your mind flowed clearly by using words you were familiar with.

and while the guards didn’t understand (or anything, really), someone stepped in and deescalated the situation.

next time you saw him, you were glad to know that he was alive. he dismissed your apology of a poor defense for him considering it was in a foreign language with a gigantic hug, to which you just melted and laughed for the first time since coming.

he quickly understood that you had trouble understanding japanese, and tried to speak slower and clearer. tried. in moments of excitement, his speech would become faster and faster—to which you’d have to stop and ask him to repeat.

as your knowledge of japanese grew and grew, your conversations turned more and more fun. while you had small slip-ups, both of you would often stay in your room discussing whatever topic came to mind.

i think ranmaru would be interested in your country—what’s it like, how’s the food? are they delicious? you just laughed at his fascination and explained (more of you ranting on) many things. you missed the place, you very much do. seeing your slightly nostalgic face, ranmaru pulled you in a hug. stunned silence, your voice only came back as a weak chuckle.

“your country sounds great, my lady! i wish we can visit it someday!” he’d then say. and despite how different it’d be now than modern day, you still humored it together. “i promise.”

he’d also be gaping at how you don’t know some foods—but as opposed to masamune, he’d drag you out to town and dine at a teahouse. you’re working? it can be done later, come on!

he introduced you to many things, and you were immensely grateful for it. you couldn’t ask for a better, hyperactive friend.

due to your tongue used to the dull R, rather than a sharp R, you often just,, slurred his name into unintelligible mumbles. but now, from his own suggestion, you call him an-kun. (though more an-chan. it sounds cuter is all)

as the reveal of him being a traitor eventually came, you didn’t know what to do. you’ve known for a while; but never how to approach it. ranmaru was already prepared to take out his own life, but never in your life can you accept it.

“an-chan, weren’t we going to visit my country together,,?!” the begging, desperate voice from you made him stop in his tracks, spilling the tears from his wide eyes. they scrunch up; softer than ever.

“.... yeah. our promise, wasn’t it?” after some thought, he steeled himself up and looked you in the eyes with a new resolve, “... i’ll make sure it can be fulfilled, my lady. just—please wait for me, alright?”

#ikemen sengoku #cyikemen #ikesen #ikesen nobunaga #ikesen hideyoshi #ikesen mitsuhide #ikesen ieyasu #ikesen masamune #ikesen mitsunari #ikesen ranmaru #ikesen oda forces #oda forces #*writing #*request #haslghsag i'm so sorry this was late #was an absolute clown and lost half progress... and took longer than i thought to rewrite it #river-ride

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a-long-walk-in-the-forest · 3 years

Text

Degrees of Taurus and Naruto characters (namely Sasuke, Itachi and Naruto)

I’ve recently started reading about the meaning and significants of each degree in the birth chart and have decided to utilize my new found knowledge for the purpose of drawing a more accurate chart for Naruto characters.

In this part I’ve focused on the third decan of taurus. I’ve mentioned before that I’m certain Naruto has something in Taurus and Itachi apparently has more than one planet in taurus. We’ve also established that Sasuke has his moon in taurus.

I’ve got these descriptions from the first document that pops up in google when you search taurus degrees meaning.

I’ve only guessed two of Itachi’s taurus degrees, the other probably isn’t in the third decan. Also I have 2 guesses for Sasuke and I’m not sure which one is more accurate.

If you happen to have the same placement as the one I guessed for Itachi (28-29 degrees taurus) don’t take this to heart.

20-21: maybe Itachi

related to poison

It indicates a silent, watchful disposition, inclined to caution, method, and thrift, but liable to assaults from unexpected sources, which will overthrow many carefully designed plans. It is a degree of ANTICIPATION.

A frugal, cautious, watchful, silent and close character bearing the hallmark of individuality, a deep mind, a pitiless logic, a precise and methodic intelligence, more suited for analysis than synthesis. The native will rely but on himself, yet destiny will baffle him with gleeful spite and take a cruel delight in hitting him just where rational logic would rule out failure or even danger. The collapse of his most accurately prearranged plans will tell on the native’s temper, whose guardedness may drift into suspiciousness, and misanthropy into wickedness.

Strategic, self-directed but perhaps egotistical Aries-Scorpio degree - certainly never content to sit, always having a plan, project or alternative waiting in the wings. Can build great accomplishments and find success if temper and lusts are kept under control, and if it can avoid “yes men” and opportunists. Desired to be admired. Sexual attractions often include great sacrifices. Infighter or revolutionary - anarchistic and opinionated. Must develop Libran traits.

A very resourceful sportsman. One whose judgment can be relied upon in estimating values.

Witnessing dispassionately the flow of time. Standing outside of all linear progression and knowing what is likely to happen here. Supremely disengaged from surface affairs, even lightly dismissive of all secondary considerations, but tuned right in to the thread of prophecy and inner vision. Granted a certain grace to follow the inner track. And serving a larger function as part shaman, part seer, and part commonsensical advisor. Salty wit, earthy and pithy, no nonsense. You know where the bones are buried. Penetrating insight. A throwback to simpler worlds. One who warns of dangers ahead, and is not amused by factions and fragments and phantoms of common assumption.

Highly intelligent. Quick, analytical, objective mind. Clear thinking. Strives to understand the larger context, philosophical view, and underlying assumptions of any idea or concept. Interested in economics

Silent, methodical, and clear-sighted character. Sly enemies abound and conceal their real nature while waiting for the moment when they can successfully grab what does not belong to them, be it money or an already married person. Fortunately enough, one displays vigilance and providence, and therefore one is able to avoid the most dangerous traps. If in the natal chart, Saturn is powerful, prudence and concentration capacities are strengthened. With Mars, energy is increased, and with a Venus, kindness is enhanced. In some cases, this degree indicates gifts for occultism or, at least, above-average perceptiveness.

22-23: Sasuke (I personally think this is more likely than the other one)

can lead and inspire but can fail

It signifies one who will suffer misfortune in the height of his career and whose fall will be dangerous in proportion to the height he has attained. The native will be too apt to depend on his own powers and will essay feats which will be beyond his natural powers. Ambition will lead him into dangerous positions, and at a weak moment he will fall. Let this be taken as equally affecting his physical, moral, and social welfare. It is a degree of COLLAPSE.

A great spiritual force, a generous, passionate character whose mind, compared to a large heart, may appear limited. Faith in one’s power is excessive, hence a tendency to overreach oneself by a display of arrogance, weakness, light-headedness and foolhardiness which may head the native for a dangerous fall. This may be taken in the literal sense of bodily falls, as well as in the metaphorical one (financial, social, moral, or spiritual).

Imaginative, irascible: a symbol of individual freedom in motion - Sagittarian wanderings brought down to earth long enough to establish turf and be noticed. Master of human and animal nature. Desire for self-expression and talent to do so. Humorous, optimistic, spiritual, passionate character, which might lead to light mindedness and dangerous risks at times. May make bad choice of partners, but generally fortunate in career.

Great strength of will and if character is also indicated by other testimonies in the chart, one capable of great works. Cruelty in undeveloped types.

Nothing to say, everything to do. The self cannot be articulated because it is far too busily pressed out into emergency mobilization twenty-four hours a day. No personal life, no personal world, no personal self. Just fantastic availability to the call, the collective vigil, entered upon willingly and selflessly. The demands and rigors of this position and stance are punishing and extreme. You are so hard-pressed, so rabidly attentive that nothing else exists. The assignment is clear, brutally so. Be on the spot at every level, maintain order, keep everything going and stay tuned to everything unusual and strange. Follow it out, keep it in your sights and make absolutely sure that you stay sober, integrity sworn and minutely diligent to hold the center and uphold the law with a steadfastness that is beyond belief, and simply true.

first half : A deep sense of his own individuality and nobility. Devoted to family. Searches for a mature, objective, broad understanding of life.

second half: A deep sense of his own individuality and nobility. Vital and energetic, perhaps a reforming or revolutionary spirit. Innovative.

This degree describes a reversal of fortune at the pinnacle of the career. The fall is commensurate with the social status and indicates a risk of dishonour and all kinds of losses. One relies too blindly on one's own strength and undertakes projects without having carefully assessed its assets and weaknesses. The danger of fall also applies to physical accidents, as well as moral and social matters.

23-24: Sasuke

A man, yet one greater than a man! His mission is a world mission, but present conditions will scarcely admit of such a development.

It signifies one who will take his course through useless tracks, and by too much trust in others will suffer depletion. Yea, though all has life long he may minister to the wants of others, yet, in his advancing years, he will be abandoned to the mercy of wayfaring and deceitful men. This illustrates virtue misapplied. It as a degree of DECLINE.

Assuming as we did that no degree of the zodiac can convey any meaning if not looked at in the light of the horoscope as a whole, this rule does not fit any degree so thoroughly as this fifty-fourth degree which has something mysterious, or transcendent, in itself. Should the rest of the pattern be of a spiritual nature, an intense but hidden inner life would be the result. If the other features concur into a majestic picture, the native may have been assigned a mission reaching beyond his country and his age. “At the limit,” to borrow a mathematical expression; that is, in such a cosmically vast and sublime horoscope as can be drawn in the heavens only once in mankind’s history, this degree becomes one among many other components from which, written in star characters; the announcement of the Redemptor’s birth was given.

Daring Leo degree may have a mission from God, or a self-appointed one - or some karmic feeling it must follow. Guilt or ecclesiastical upbringing may create humility or piety, appearing naive, but faithful and a Samaritan - and not likely to do much to insure its own protection or growth. Self- conscious, nervous, superstitious, but goodhearted and blissful-usually. Dedicated and warm, but must not be over-loving ruthless or over-protective.

One who serves and is inclined to be servile. A patient worker who should free himself from the thralldom of others and develop his latent ability.

Thematic worlds coming round again just as before, just like always. The highest and the best, maintained and sustained beautifully, impeccably, superlatively. Knowing inside that what counts, what is essential, is to abide, to be. You are a vast world unto yourself, an extraordinary network of intersecting dynamics. But the witness consciousness is blissfully sitting back in a restful perch, letting everything go by. And in the very center of this dispassion and wakeful scrutinizing, one indwells a Buddha realization attained by hard work in many lives and now being your innermost identity in an identity less way.

Very particular and precise. May be easily irritated when things are not just right. Creative intelligence, capable of original ideas and novel projects.

Generous, helpful, and gullible character. Misplaced confidence results in sufferings and disappointments. One generously shares everything one possesses with less fortunate people. However, on must spare enough resources for oneself, otherwise, one is in danger of falling into the dire poverty which one has helped other people out of. In such a case, no one will come up to lend a helping hand. This degree indicates ingratitude and unrewarded qualities. There may also be eye problems.

24-25: Naruto

This denotes a very mysterious character. Whilst living among men, a stranger to men. He has a life of his own, a world of his own, he is content to live and die unknown (never showing his true self).

It indicates a powerful and haughty nature; one who is disposed to justify himself by force of arms rather than by intrinsic merit. Such a person will make many his servants but few his friends and in the end his state will be a pitiable as that of a dying lion. It is a degree of PRIDE.

The subject’s inner world will stay closed and unknown to all. Yet this is no cowardly nature, rather an arrogant one; the native is innerly proud, haughty, overbearing, but not vain. As he is spiritually isolated among his fellow beings, he will have justice done to himself, if necessary, by having recourse to arms. As he is misunderstood, he will endeavor to have his own way even by resorting to violence; as long as his strength does not fail him, he will see subdued servants around himself, never friends.

Stately Leo and serious-natured Capricorn furnish this degree with cold spirituality, pride, perhaps haughtiness. Arrogant, but with a firm desire to achieve goals and dominate its sphere, hopefully with justice and mercy. Helped by earthly features and mannerisms. Bound by family ties and genealogy; may take up arms of face violence, or may be mean and cruel. Religious dogma- dictatorial. Should be aware of the practical welfare of all people.

One with great mental strength but whose power and ability will be acknowledged only by few. Too advanced for popular acceptance.

The inward image and the outward reflection are worlds apart. Building up inside to a state of being that carries immense challenges. You see your own personal nature as an objective universal force to be reckoned with, and persist in seeing egocentrically. Preferring massively your own company, contained within yourself, imaginatively self-enchanted. Yet also capable of radical turnabouts and rebirths. Awakenings false and true, great and small. Knowing yourself to be somebody special. Self-consciousness enshrined. A dead-end or a path, oblivious or realizing the way of things, getting out of the way or being squarely in the way. Self-importance and its overcoming.

Good sense of balance, tact, sophistication, and harmony in his work and life generally. Progressive, enterprising, active. A good worker in any business or organization.

Assertive, combative, and haughty character endowed with leadership abilities. One prefers forceful means to dialogue and arouses much hatred. One makes the difference between one's few genuine friends and all the numerous flatterers. This degree indicates a risk of violent death or suicide, especially if in the natal chart, it is in conjunction with the Ascendant, the Sun or the Moon, or the ruler of the 8th House. In conjunction with the Part of Fortune, there may be seizure or confiscation of assets."

28-29: Itachi

associated with eye problems

It signifies a tyrant, who takes delight in power apart from its uses, and whose opinions are bigoted and selfish. To rule, without regard to qualifications, is the passing ambition of one born under this degree. Death, which frees the slave, will bind the hands of a tyrant in irons forged from his own heart. It is a degree of DESPOTISM.

Commercial, Venusian, fashion and possession flaunting degree due to Libra here better for females - causes grief for males. Gifted with beauty, believed more than it should - can pick and choose partners and mate who are subjects and followers. Always “right” in its own world, and therefore an unconscious danger to others, apt to take them down paths best left for the foolish, Danger of addictions, Magnetic and proud; good organizer and able administrator.

Too many divergent interest brings a life of confusion. The development of the will is necessary and will bring success in property ownership and development.

Tyrannical, selfish, and fanatic character. There is a strong propensity for debauchery and sexual perversions. One imposes one's narrow-minded ideas to members of the family, friends, and employees, which arouses much hatred. Sooner or later, slaves are freed, and the despot is overthrown. If in the natal chart, the Moon is waxing and in conjunction with this degree, the constellation of the Pleiades promises high social status, fame, and honours, but it also warns against accidents affecting the face, impaired sight, or violent death.

Crystallized imagination. The inside of the inside remembered and evoked whimsically. There is no form, no pattern, no binding reality. Dreaming the world into being from a greatly bemused stance-- other. Twinkling observer-witness consciousness. Off on tangents that call, a life, a cycle, a realm set aside for inventive play without boundaries. You feel exultant in the freedom. Swept away beautifully. Answerable to nobody and nothing except the muse.

Intelligent, original, energetic, self-reliant. Honest and straightforward, sometimes tactless and blunt.

#sasuke #sasuke uchiha #naruto #itachi #naruto astrology #degree exploration #n-astro

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kaidemir · 3 years

Note

6-15

((TW: DEATH, BLOOD, VIOLENCE))

Does your character have recurring themes in their dreams?

Oceans and sunlight appear often. Both things are calming for him. He tends to dream of himself on a ship again, the ocean in the background and the sun warming his skin while his mother sings and cleans fish. Bashiano appears frequently, mostly when they are away from each other and especially when he's been trying not to think of him. The subconscious is a cruel thing.

Does your character have recurring themes in their nightmares?

Death and loss. He has a very protective instinct over people he connects with and it is something he carried with him from his human years. Many of his nightmares are reproductions of the loss of those people or those people getting hurt. Some are of those he cares about leaving him. Others are manifestations of losing the people he has left. The worst ones are those in which he is just alone, trapped in the darkness.

Has your character ever fired a gun? If so, what was their first target?

Kai has fired many guns. He has a long history of getting paid to work alongside the military from many different countries and territories. He even joined some wars and conflicts on his own merit. The first time he shot a gun was when he was still human. He used an Arquebus, by the request of a commander to see if he would make a good artillery man. The target was a hay stuffed canvas sack and the recoil sent Kai flat on his ass. Needless to say he did not hit his target and became regular infantry. He was perfectly okay with that, he's always preferred a saber anyways.

Is your character’s current socioeconomic status different than it was when they were growing up?

Much different. Growing up Kai spent most of his time on a Barbary pirate ship. All loot they were able to seize was either split among the ranks of the crew, kept for ransom, or sold. They were not poor, but certainly not as wealthy as some. It also fluctuated depending on if they were successful in their attack and had to be sure they were not attacked by another crew in return. This and a few other reasons, prompted Kai to leave that life and join the military. Later he became a freelance soldier and assassin who would do work for anyone if the price was right. In the 20th century, he took courses for journalism and began freelance work around the world. It coincided well with his other work and he already was keen about documenting his travels and thoughts. From this he’s managed to surmount more money than he has ever needed, though without roots no one would be able to tell. He uses what he needs to for himself, saves a large portion, and uses the rest to spread aid to those who need it more than him.

Does your character feel more comfortable with more clothing, or with less clothing?

If he is not in a situation where he needs a certain amount of clothing for protection, he’d much rather wear less of it.

In what situation was your character the most afraid they’ve ever been?

When he was a young adolescent, the ship they were on was attacked by a Spanish Navy ship and it was gruesome. He had to hide in the hold among their supplies with his younger siblings while a battle raged above him. Holes were blown into the ship and they were forced to escape the lower decks. This was why children should not be out to see, but they weren’t so careful back then and his father refused to stay on land long. Kai moved with his siblings, holding his younger brother Piri’s hand so they did not get separated. When they reached the deck, it was chaos, he searched for a place for him and the others to hide. Piri was knocked and nearly toppled off the boat, save his grip on Kai’s hand. Kai tried to pull him back overboard but between the vibrations of the attack and the chaos, Piri was swept away into the ocean. Kai still carries this fear and it fueled his anger against Spain for many years after.

In what situation was your character the most calm they’ve ever been?

It was 1775, the British colonies were split in uprisal against the King. Kai, recently changed from Nikolai, had been in the Southern parts of North America, trying to prevent Spanish control unsuccessfully. He’d gotten to know the natives of the Americas and bonded with several of the tribes. They had welcomed him into their communities and he was forever grateful. When the British loyalists approached the Natives to help them tame the revolutionaries, Kai agreed to join as well. After all, who was he to no to war and he already knew Spain was fighting against the British, so as long as he wasn’t on their side he was happy. Amidst one of the battles, he spotted him on the opposite side. A companion he had met after he was turned, a lover and a friend. They had split ways when Kai went to fight in the Ottoman-Persian war. They were not on the same path, but did not leave with animosity. Some thirty years later, there he was again and once again, Kai felt the urge to gravitate towards him. He resisted and instead they met when the battlefield had cleared and most had retired to their camps for the night. Kai met Bash under the shadows and privacy of the nearby forest and they did not waste that moment talking about the battle or what side they were on. Instead, they threw down their weapons and fell into each other for that night. That night was only about them and not the war they fought for others, nor the reasons they’d been apart up until then. It was only peace, their peace consumed in each other. Kai has never felt such an exhilarating switch from rage to peace as he did that night. The calm of that night, as they lulled to sleep in each other’s arms and parted before daylight came was one of the most calming moments of his entire life.

Is your character bothered by the sight of blood? If so, in what way?

The only thing that bothers Kai about the sight of blood is it can sometimes make him hungry, just as the sight or smell of a well cooked meal can make a human hungry. Other than that, he is unbothered by it.

Does your character remember names or faces easier?

Definitely faces, it’s one of the reasons he journals about the people he meets and encounters that he wants to remember. Occasionally he will accompany the passage with a sketch, but mostly he puts it down on paper so he can remember the name and how he met them.

Is your character preoccupied with money or material possession? Why or why not?

No, he’s never had reason to own more than what he could carry on his person in a bag. There are things he’s kept that were sentimental to him in one way or another. Along with his journals, he has kept them in safety deposit boxes in different locations around the world and the rest are usually small enough to travel with him. Otherwise, things mean little to him and money is irrelevant after three and a half centuries.

#; with shortness of breath i’ll explain the infinite | inbox #death tw #blood tw #violence tw #ft. bashiano fonte #; don’t look too closely | headcanons

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shansen21ahsgov · 4 years

Text

Blog Post #3: Political Party Action

Republican

The greatest asset of the American economy is the American worker. Legal immigrants are making vital contributions to every aspect of national life. They are committed to American values and they strengthen, enrich our culture, and enable us to better compete with the rest of the world. They are specifically grateful for the thousands of new legal immigrants, many of them not yet citizens, who are serving in the Armed Forces. They agree that American’s immigration policy must serve the national interest of the United States. Illegal immigrants endangers everyone, exploits taxpayers, and insults all who aspire to be an American legally. Our highest priority must be to secure our borders and all ports of entry and to enforce our immigration laws. This is why we support building a wall along our southern border. They endorse the SAVE program in which it ensures that public funds are not given to illegal persons in the country. The Republicans believe that sanctuary cities violate federal law which is why they should not be eligible for federal funding. States have the constitutional authority to take steps to reduce illegal immigration. They condemn the Obama Administration’s lawsuits against states that are seeking to enforce federal law. From the beginning, our country has been a haven of refuge and asylum. This should continue but with major changes. Asylum should be limited to cases of political, ethnic or religious persecution. To ensure our national security, refugees who cannot be carefully vetted cannot be admitted to the country, especially those whose homelands have been the breeding grounds for terrorism. I agree with wanting to strengthen our border and protect the citizens of the U.S. I also agree that public funds should not be going to undocumented immigrants and instead to people who are actually citizens. I agree that illegal immigrants endanger parts of society, exploits tax money and insult all who aspire to come to America, legally.

Democratic

The bedrock American idea, that we are one, has been a part of our country from its earliest days. The Trump administration has repudiated the idea and abandoned our values as a diverse, compassionate and welcoming country. They say the Trump administration has been cruel in the extreme. The Democrats say that Trump has been forcibly separating families, putting children in cages, endangering lives by denying Covid-19 tests and banning people from travelling to the U.S. based on their country of origin. Democrats believe “America can do better.” Democrats will reinstate protections for Dreamers and the parents of American citizen children. Democrats believe that the fight to end systemic and structural cruel racism in our country extends to our immigration system. Democrats believe they should rovide a path to citizenship for all illegal immigration in our county. They want to promote workers right because they know that abusive employers make all workers suffer, most importantly immigrants. Democrats will address the root causes of immigration which are violence and security, poverty and corruption, lack of education and economic opportunity. They want to renew American diplomacy as our tool of “first resort” and rebuild our partnerships and alliances. I agree and disagree with these policies. I do not agree with the things they have been saying about the Trump administration and I feel like they are very bias in their writing. All the other platforms did not mention another party except this one.

Green

Immigration and the large number of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. has become a ot political issue. The Green party thinks that if it were economically possible to provide for their families, many would choose to remain in their native countries. Any immigration policy should be seen as a way to address all people humanitarian needs. The Green party stands for social justice for all those living in this country regardless of their immigration status. Above all, policy and law must be humane. The party accepts as a goal a world in which persons can freely choose to live in and work in any country he or she desires. Although they believe countries do have the right to know the identity of the person seeking to enter and also the right to limit who can come in to protect public safety. They think there cannot be any true solutions to the conflicts created by immigration until we are able to organize globally the campaign to drive down workers living standards everywhere. They will work toward the goal of curbing the power of multinationals. I agree that if it were economically possible people would probably want to stay in their native country. I do not agree that undocumented immigrants should be receiving the same economic and political justice and people who actually are citizens.

Libertarian

The Libertarian party does not mention immigration on their platform. Their preamble identifies that they “seek a world of liberty: a world in which all individuals are sovereign over their own lives and are not forced to sacrifice their values for the benefit of others.” They defend each person's right to engage in activity that is peaceful and honest and they welcome the diversity that freedom brings. The world they seek to build is one where “individuals are free to follow their dreams in their own ways, without interference from government.” Their ultimate goal is “a world set free in our lifetime.” It is confusing to me why this party does not identify immigration because one of their main goals is to allow freedom for all, and I am confused whether they are talking about worldly or just in the states. They promote diversity and they say that freedom also promotes a diverse culture, so I can infer they are promoting immigration in order to continue that diversity.

Peace and Freedom

The Peace and Freedom Party calls themselevs “Californias feminist socialist party.” This party was born from the civil rights and anti-war movements of the 1960s and is committed to socialism, democracy, ecology, feminism, racial equality and internationalism. They say they represent the working class and those without capital in a capitalist society. Their goal is to organize toward a world where cooperation replaces competition and a world where all people are fed, clothed and used. They want all women and men to have equal status and all individuals may freely do what they desire. They want a world of freedom and peace where every community retains cultural integrity and lives in harmony with others. On the topic of immigration, they say that immigrant workers are hounded by government authorities, worked and housed in substandard conditions and blamed my Republicans and Democrats for society's problems. They call for open borders, they demand an end to deportation of immigrants, and full political, social and economic rights for resident non-citizens.

Which party position do you identify with the most? Is that surprising?

I identify most with the Republican party position. It is not surprising to me, I have always been very interested in immigration and have always found myself connecting most with the policies of the Republican party. I like how they state that the foundation of the American society is the American worker. A lot of people pin Republicans as people who do not like immigrants and immigration but in the platform it literally states that “immigrants are making vital contributions to our way of life.” I agree with this and I connect with their stance on immigration and what to do about undocumented immigrants.

Would you vote for their presidential candidate?

I would vote for the Republican presidential candidate because I think we as a country should vote based on policies the candidate has provided over personal emotions. I think this plays a major part in the large split between the two parties. As well, I think the Trump administration has taken strides to secure America and better the American citizens through their immigration policies.

Was your civic action issue a topic during the debate?

Unfortunately, immigration was not brought up in the presidential debate.

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mrssarablack · 4 years

Text

I’ve been quiet.

I realize this. I’ve become painfully aware of my lack of voice in regards to activism or hot takes on the news. For the duration of June I stuck to activists posts and news, which has never been a thing I’m super vocal about on this page. I just happened to move my content over at either the exact right time to facilitate the shift of content, or the exact wrong time to keep to my regular scheduled programming running. Either way, I’m not sorry. Nor do I expect I’ll be able to keep my mouth (or rather my keyboard) shut long when things feel overwhelmingly outrageous in the real world.

My intent going into the month was to back off a little on the political posts and take back the “safe space” I have here for cultivated fun in what is usually a very chaotic day to day life. I would continue the activism but perhaps less so on here. That’s not to say I wouldn’t actively be doing other things. I’m not yielding my support by any means. I had intended to take this month to mostly focus my support of the BLM community through prioritizing putting my money where my mouth was failing to find words. Shifting from broad political posts about the injustices to instead turning it towards better educating myself, actually getting through the large stack of books I intend to get through, prioritizing purchasing items from black owned businesses where it makes sense to, donating to the charities and organizations that I can. This is the quiet work that is also necessary for good allyship. But then I found myself wrestling with the growing feeling that quiet can lead to appearance that whatever I was presenting in June was instead a performative allyship.

That’s hardly the case at all.

At the end of June I made a joke about trying to mentally prepare myself for whatever July 2020 had in store for us. I was not prepared.

I met the reality of July 2020 four days later, like so many of us, and I was not even close to prepared for what was coming and I froze in the wake of it. I was not prepared to watch snippets of the Orange Man’s speech at Rushmore. The speech, that without even dicing his words was a hate speech. It was a proclamation, of sorts, against the citizens who were, and are still are, actively protesting for the BLM movement throughout the country. It was a formal declaration of “us vs them” in a way he has not actually done before. The intent is always there, his supporters will forever deny it, but it is. His own history shows he has always been a racist. That this man cares more for tributes, than the people he is meant to govern. Meanwhile, Native protesters were yelled at, by Trump supporters, to “go back to where they came from.” In the wake of this speech and the juxtaposition of it being given on stolen lands while the people who see them as sacred were accosted... I found very little to be proud of on July 4th.

By the time I processed that moment, we had sped straight into ICE declaring that they would not extend the rule allowing foreign students to continue their education here because of the mandate against online learning. This rule makes sense, if we weren’t in the middle of a pandemic. But we are.

Everything about this decision was cruel and xenophobic. It didn’t make sense economically, considering how much money Universities get in tuition from their foreign students. It didn’t make sense logistically, when so many students wouldn’t be able to get back home. Our immigration centers are already a fucking mess, but that’s a deep dive for another time. All it was, was an attempt to strong arm schools into accepting the administration's stance that Covid-19 is fully under control and that everything should go back to normal. It is the same reason they are threatening to cut funding for public educational institutions if they do not open completely in the fall. Yeah, kids at school is a far more ideal scenario than online classes, but not at the risk of their or their teachers' lives. The schools see that. The administration doesn’t. They don’t care. They simply want to force their narrative in whatever way they can.

Upon a lawsuit, they walked back their proclamation of denying foreign students their education but, from what I have seen, there are still a lot of things up in the air. From accounts I’ve read on reddit the administration may choose to apply the former ruling to first year students who may have invested in a future they now won’t get. They may deny foreigners the right to apply to after graduation work programs that formerly they were allowed to be in provided they had the right visas. If they did this they will claim it is to provide american’s the best chance at new work first. America first is ringing through this whole thing, and millions are left wondering how this is all going to actually pan out.

Let me reiterate now the fact that we are still in the middle of a pandemic. This is a fact. A fact that the administration wants to deny till every last one of us has encountered this illness personally. The Orange Man is actively swatting Fauci away like he is nothing more than an annoying fly. He doesn’t like the “doom and gloom” truth of this virus so he denies it. He is actively pushing to block new money for further testing and tracing for the CDC because he doesn’t “like the numbers”. The CDC no longer has control of collecting patient data to help track covid-19. Something that has been used so that people in authoritative positions can make adequate decisions in regards to the virus. Less information will lead to more spread. Florida is now the new epicenter and the sunbelt, as a whole, looks bad. Things are not good and we’re still fighting with fellow citizens who don’t want to wear a mask. A simple act to help protect others is a political stance. I don’t understand it, and I’m not going to pretend or even try to. It’s not a hoax. The virus is real and it is deadly. Even those that recover from it have had lasting damage to their lungs among other side effects.

But I digress, instead I will now get to the reason that brought me to this very long political monologue: in Portland, Federal agents fired tear gas on protesters after declaring it a riot. This is not the first time this has happened and it won’t be the last. Allegedly, these federal agents are part of the customs and border protection agency, and they also took protesters up into unmarked vans and detained them. Citizens who are executing their right to protest were kidnapped by federal agents. Think about that. This is why the declaration of ANTIFA being a terrorist group was a bad omen. They are not a membership based organization, they don’t have meetings, they just kind of are... and that fact alone can be exploited. Anyone can potentially be dubbed ANTIFA if a federal agent deems them acting radically in the eyes of this administration.

This is the roots of fascism in America. It is masquerading as nationalism and to some degree that's legitimate but the effects of those beliefs are becoming a thin facade for the other.

It’s almost undeniable at this point. This is the reason I started with the beginning of this month because between the hate speech, the stances that support racism, the xenophobic decisions, the active statement that there is no problem with the virus, and now kidnapping citizens are all part of a fascist playbook. Speaking out against a dictatorship is a death sentence. But a dictatorship is anti-American. If you believe in the idyllic America we were taught exists. I am not sure that America has ever fully existed.... but maybe somewhere she does, but, oh, is she flawed… but that’s okay because admitting to those flaws can lead to growth. Owning all of our past will lead to growth. But denial, denial leads us down a path to losing ourselves.

My boyfriend is right, I’m a fighter. I will get up and I will fight even if there are tears in my eyes. But that doesn’t mean I am not tired. I find myself so heartbroken over the events of the last two months that I fail to have words to express the effect of keeping my eyes open to the world actually has on me. One thing I have figured out is despite what the president says, I don’t hate my country. I am part of the left, yes, but I love it. I can say that because I wouldn’t be so upset about all that is going on if I didn’t. I realize there are fellow citizens who wholeheartedly disagree with me, and they would also claim they love the country, but to me their fear of change says more about them than they realize. They don’t want to accept ugly truths and grow. It’s an oversimplification but here we are. Everything is so polarized. We are divided. I’ve said this before but I’m not sure something isn’t going to break spectacularly before November, during, or shortly after. Regardless, a new normal is being forged and I do not accept it. I will not accept it. I will fight it, and I hope whoever takes the time to read this ridiculously long post will too.

#politics #activism #july 2020 #trump #blm #protests #portland #ice #4th of july #democracy #hot take news #fascism #autocracy #democracy failing

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jomanuworld · 4 years

Video

youtube

How the Specter of Communism is Ruling Our World | Eps.2 | CCP | China |...

UNFORTUNATELY, SOCIALISM AND COMMUNISM WILL REMAIN IN FORCE AND ALIVE IN OUR PLANET FOR A LONG TIME BECAUSE CORPORATE GREED AND INFLATION IS OUT OF CONTROL IN AMERICA AND THE FREE WORLD. STRUGGLING POOR PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD THINK THAT BY DESTROYING AND REPLACING CAPITALISM THEIR SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS WILL BE SOLVED BUT AS OF TODAY COMMUNISTS IN CUBA, KOREA, VIETNAM, RUSSIA, NICARAGUA, AND VENEZUELA REMAIN TRAPPED IN AN ECONOMIC STAGNATION AND NIGHTMARE. THE JEWISH COMMUNIST EXPERIMENT CREATED BY VLADIMIR LENIN (1917 - 1923) IN ORDER TO ABOLISH THE RUSSIAN MONARCHY HAS NOT SOLVED THEIR ECONOMIC PROBLEMS AND THE LEVEL OF POVERTY AND GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION REMAIN IN RUSSIA, CUBA, CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA IN ORDER TO CONTROL AND MANIPULATE THEIR RESPECTIVE GROWING POPULATION.

Former US Ambassador to Cuba, Earl T. Smith is interviewed and reveals the State Department's involvement in the violation of neutrality laws, supporting a known Communist with a documented history of violent criminal behavior, and committing high treason by deliberately aiding an enemy of the United States and concealing a clear and imminent threat to our national security. This conspiracy against the citizens of Cuba has cost thousands of lives, devastated families, and has left the dispossessed Cubans stateless and destitute. It is a deliberate case of economic and cultural genocide that merits investigation and restitution. He added "I am convinced that my experience as the United States Ambassador to Cuba was unusual in the sense that I lived through the Castro Communist Revolution, and I feel that I owe it to the American people to try to establish the fact that the Castro Communist Revolution need never have occurred. From this experience, I learned not only that our techniques of relations with Cuba were faulty but that the modus operandi for the determination of policy is not only inadequate but dangerous to the defense of our country"

SOCIALISTS, COMMUNISTS, AS WELL AS CAPITALISTS LEADERS HAVE CREATED ECONOMIC STAGNATION, UNEMPLOYMENT AND INFLATION AROUND THE WORLD IN ORDER TO CONTROL THE FLOW OF MIGRATION AS WELL AS CONSUMERS’ BUYING POWER AND AS A RESULT, AMERICA HAS BECOME THE ECONOMIC TARGET FOR PROSPERITY BUT NEW IMMIGRANTS COMING TO AMERICA DO NOT WANT TO RECOGNIZE THAT AMERICA'S CAPITALISM IS BROKEN WITH INFLATION, PERSONAL AND CORPORATE DEBTS, UNEMPLOYMENT, AND MORE ILLEGAL CHAIN MIGRATION. ALL THESE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL OBSTACLES HAVE BEEN CREATED BY GOVERNMENTS ACROSS THE PLANET IN ORDER TO SLOW DOWN THE TOTAL GLOBAL POPULATION GROWTH BUT WE HUMAN TROGLODYTES KEEP ON POPULATING THE PLANET AND REPRODUCING LIKE GUINEA PIGS. THE AMERICAN DEMOCRATS, REPUBLICANS, AND GREEDY CORPORATE AMERICA THINK THAT BY ASPHYXIATING AND STRANGULATING CONSUMERS WITH MORE INFLATED PRICES AND REDUCED WAGES THEY ARE GOING TO FIX THE ALREADY BROKEN, INFLATED AND DYSFUNCTIONAL US ECONOMY.

UNFORTUNATELY, SOCIALISM, COMMUNISM, AND TERRORISM WILL NOT BE ABLE TO BE ERADICATED FROM THIS PLANET. THE DYSFUNCTIONAL GLOBAL ECONOMY CREATED AND MANIPULATED BY CAPITALISTS AND COMMUNISTS ALIKE IN ORDER TO CREATE MORE REVENUE IN THE LAST 200 YEARS HAVE BEEN BUILDING AND EXTRAPOLATING GLOBAL INFLATION PRESSURE IN ORDER TO CONTROL OVERPOPULATION ISSUES BUT HUMAN TROGLODYTES KEEP ON REPRODUCING AND SPREADING ALL OVER THE PLANET LIKE GUINEA PIGS AND WILD RATS. KARL MARX SPOOKY SPIRIT STILL MEANDERING IN THIS PLANET AS WELL AS GREEDY CAPITALISTS WHO WILL CONTINUE FABRICATING LIES ABOUT THE GLOBAL ECONOMY STATUS AND USE INFLATION AS A BUSINESS TOOL TO KEEP ON INFLATING THE PRICES OF GOODS AND SERVICES IN ORDER TO GENERATE MORE REVENUE. NO WONDER SOME PEOPLE DO NOT HAVE MONEY TO PAY FOR SUPER INFLATED RENTALS AND CAN'T AFFORD HEALTH INSURANCE NOR OBAMACARE IN THE US.

Anonymous2708 __4 years ago

“I am 35 years old. single, and working 3 jobs as I finish my doctoral degree. I have done all of the things that they say you should do. I have always worked hard. I have worked full time since I was 16. I have spent my entire adult life getting an education. It is the most frustrating thing in the world to know how different things were for my parents. There is a major disconnect in America. My parents' generation and older just don't understand that the country is a very different place economically. The opportunities just aren't there. To this day, I am still lectured by my parents for not having all that they had when they were my age. I need to just work harder apparently. To be honest, I find the future to be incredibly depressing if there is not a fundamental shift in the entire economic system of America. The American Dream died decades ago. Is there any reason to be optimistic anymore? All we can do is hope for a political and economic revolution I guess.”

The discovery is that the vast bulk of recent job growth has gone to immigrants, including illegal immigrants who have little power to ask for raises. Specifically, since the start of the 2007 Great Recession “the US has added 2.3 million “foreign-born” workers”, but only 727,000 “native-born.” (This is according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ own survey.) IT'S TIME TO STOP BOTH LEGAL AND ILLEGAL CHAIN MIGRATION!!!! NO MORE DACA, DAPA, CUBAN MIGRATION ACT, NACARA, AND EXECUTIVE AMNESTIES!!

YES, THE PRESIDENT SHOULD BAN ILLEGAL CHAIN MIGRATION IN ALL STATES AND CUTDOWN LEGAL CHAIN MIGRATION BY 90%. WORK VISAS SHOULD BE CUTDOWN BY 95%. GREEN CARDS APPLICATIONS SHOULD ALSO BE REJECTED DUE TO HEAVY TRAFFIC CONGESTION AND LOCAL OVERPOPULATION ISSUES.

TO CONCLUDE, IMPORTING GOODS INTO THE US TO HELP OTHER COUNTRIES ECONOMIES IS NOT WORKING, INCLUDING MEXICO. THEY ARE DUMPING A LOT OF EXPENSIVE JUNK, POOR QUALITY BEEF INTO AMERICA AND ON TOP OF THAT THEY WANT OPEN BORDER 24, 7, 365 DAYS TO CLEAN UP THEIR COUNTRY OF UNEMPLOYED CRIMINALS, PROSTITUTES, PIMPS AND LAZY BUMS CREATED BY THEIR OWN SOCIALIST AND STAGNATED ECONOMY. IT IS TIME TO BAN ILLEGAL CHAIN MIGRATION TO AMERICA AND CUT LEGAL CHAIN MIGRATION BY 90%.

YES, THE TIME WILL COME WHEN CIVILIZATION WILL NO LONGER BE PAYING ATTENTION TO SOCIALISTS NOR COMMUNISTS OUTCRIES BUT IN THE MEANTIME GREEDY CAPITALISTS WILL CONTINUE INFLATING THE PRICES OF GOODS AND SERVICES TO COPE WITH MORE PERSONAL AND CORPORATE DEBTS AND ULTIMATELY MORE REVENUE AND ONLY THEN WE WILL EXPERIENCE OUR NEW AND IMPROVED UNIVERSAL RELIGION CALLED "ANARCHISM." THE WORLD WILL BECOME SO OVERPOPULATED, FRAGMENTED, AND BROKEN THAT THE NEW GENERATION OF HUMAN TROGLODYTES WILL END UP LIKE IN CHARLTON HESTON MOVIE, SOYLENT GREEN. YES, LIVING IN AN OVERPOPULATED WORLD WITH NO LAND AVAILABLE FOR FARMING AND THE ENTIRE ANIMAL POPULATION DESTROYED OR CONSUMED BY HUMANS ACTING AS PLANET EARTH GODS. A SOCIALIST - ANARCHIST CRUEL WORLD. YES, WE WILL EAT EACH OTHER FOR BREAKFAST, LUNCH, AND DINNER WORSE THAN IN THE BIBLE STORIES. NO COWS, NO CHOCOLATE, NO MILK, NO MORE CREAMY ESPRESSO, NO MEAT, CONTROLLED WATER SUPPLY, A 4 OZ JAR OF STRAWBERRY JAM WILL COST $150.00 (IF YOU HAVE THE MONEY) BUT YOU WILL BE ABLE TO EAT SOYLENT GREEN CRACKERS MADE OUT OF PROCESSED HUMAN CADAVERS. AND FINALLY, LIKE IN ALL SOCIALISTS AND COMMUNISTS COUNTRIES, THE SOYLENT GREEN CRACKERS WILL BE RATIONALIZED LIKE IN THE FORMER SOVIET UNION AND OTHER COMMUNISTS COUNTRIES. AMEN!!!

ONLY TIME WILL TELL! THE ONLY THING THAT GOVERNMENTS WILL HAVE TO DO IS TO SLOW DOWN THE OVERPOPULATION PROBLEMS, BAN ILLEGAL CHAIN MIGRATION AROUND THE PLANET AND CUT DOWN THE LEGAL CHAIN MIGRATION BUSINESS BY 90%.

BIRTH CONTROL, AS WELL AS POPULATION CONTROL, WILL ALSO BECOME A POLITICAL ISSUE IN THE U.S WERE THOUSANDS OF LIBERATED WOMEN ARE USING SEX AS AN ECONOMIC TOOL TO OBTAIN LEGAL STATUS, WELFARE, AND FREE MONEY. U.S AUTOMATIC BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP SHOULD BE BANNED ASAP IN ORDER TO HALT THE POPULATION GROWTH.

IT’S TIME TO SAY NO TO MORE FUNDS FOR ILLEGALS!!! USING FEDERAL TAX MONEY TO BRING IN MORE ILLEGALS IS ILLEGAL WHILE UNEMPLOYMENT AND WAGES DEPRECIATION FOR AMERICANS ARE UNDERMINING THE LABOR AND WELFARE SYSTEM DESIGNED AND CREATED FOR US CITIZENS IN DISTRESS NOT ILLEGALS.

Make no mistake...this is all calculated, by design, to “collapse the system”. To overwhelm the border with utter chaos, and then come in and present “immigration reform” as the only solution.

It is classic Cloward-Piven, and it will only get worse unless the Congress, or Southwestern states, put a stop to it.

Time to stop the chain migration game into the US. No more DACA, NACARA, VISAS TO WORK, DREAMERS, DAPA, MATERNITY TOURISM, ILLEGALS, and THE CUBAN MIGRATION ACT because wages depreciation/stagnation and both Republicans and Democrats, as well as Corporate America, are Manipulating the laws to push out American Workers in order to create jobs for Illegals and new refugees. THE OBAMA'S ECONOMIC RECOVERY IS JUST AN ILLUSION. THE ONLY ECONOMIC RECOVERY FORECAST FOR THE FUTURE IS INFLATION, INFLATION, AND MORE INFLATED PRICES OF GOODS AND SERVICES IN ORDER TO GENERATE MORE REVENUE.

I DO NOT LIKE OBAMACARE NOR TRUMPCARE. YOU POLITICIANS CAN NOT INCORPORATE ILLEGALS AND NEW POOR REFUGEES IN THIS INSURANCE PACKAGE. OBAMA-TRUMPCARE SHOULD BE FOR AMERICANS CITIZENS AND UNEMPLOYED US CITIZENS. FLORIDA AND THE US SHOULD STOP THE MASSIVE CHAIN MIGRATION GAME BECAUSE ILLEGAL FEMALES WILL CONTINUE BRINGING THEIR BABIES TO OBTAIN FREE MEDICAID. I AM NOT GOING TO PAY FOR ANCHOR BABIES HEALTH INSURANCE. THIS IS A GOOD TIME FOR YOU POLITICIANS TO PUT AN END TO ILLEGAL AND LEGAL CHAIN MIGRATION BECAUSE FLORIDA'S BUSINESSES ARE HIRING AND FIRING FLORIDIANS IN ORDER TO CREATE AN ILLUSION OF FRESH JOBS CREATION. OBAMA-TRUMPCARE IS A FEDERAL STICK UP DESIGNED BY HEALTH INSURANCE UNDERWRITERS TO GENERATE MORE REVENUE. INFLATION, INFLATION, AND MORE INFLATED PRICES OF GOODS AND SERVICES IN THE NAME OF PROFITS.

CONSEQUENTLY, THE GRANDIOSE, ENIGMATIC AND UNIVERSAL QUESTION REMAINS IN FORCE. ARE WE, THE HUMAN TROGLODYTES SPECIMEN POPPETS OF GODS OR WE REALLY PRETENDING TO BE GODS’ OF PLANET EARTH BY EXTERMINATING THE ANIMAL KINGDOM AND FAUNA IN ORDER TO MAKE MORE MONEY IN REAL ESTATE? IT’S TIME FOR AMERICA TO BAN ILLEGAL CHAIN MIGRATION, CUT LEGAL CHAIN MIGRATION BY 90%, AND HALT THE ISSUING OF GREEN CARDS IN ALL STATES BECAUSE AMERICA IS SICK AND BROKEN WITH UNEMPLOYMENT, MASSIVE CHAIN MIGRATION FROM SOCIALIST AND COMMUNIST COUNTRIES, CORPORATE AND PERSONAL DEBTS, TRAFFIC CONGESTION, WAGES DEPRECIATION, AND OVERPOPULATED STATES.

CAPITALISTS, SOCIALISTS, AND COMMUNISTS WILL NEVER FIX/CORRECT THEMSELVES BECAUSE THERE ARE TOO PREOCCUPIED IN CONDENSATING AND CONTROLLING MORE POWER/WEALTH IN ORDER TO GENERATE MORE REVENUE AND PROFITS WITH POOR/LESS EDUCATED SOCIALISTS AND CAPITALISTS. IT IS HAPPENING NOW IN AMERICA, WITH THE REPLACEMENT OF AMERICAN WORKERS WITH MORE ILLEGALS NATIONAL EXPERIMENT FOR CHEAPER LABOR COST WITH NO BENEFITS PACKAGE AND MORE INFLATION TO STRANGLE THE MONEY SICK US ECONOMY. A NEW FORM OF SOPHISTICATED SLAVERY IN ORDER TO KEEP THE GLOBAL POPULATION SUBJUGATED UNDER MORE INFLATION, INFLATION AND MORE INFLATED PRICES OF GOODS AND SERVICES IN ORDER TO ASPHYXIATE THE NEVER ENDING GLOBAL DEMAND FOR MORE MONEY CONTROL IN ORDER TO CREATE MORE POVERTY AND SLAVERY. THE SOYLENT GREEN EFFECT IS BUILDING UP AROUND THE PLANET BUT BLINDED GREEDY CAPITALISTS, AS WELL AS SLAVES SOCIALISTS, ARE TOO BUSY MAKING MORE MONEY TO COPE WITH MORE INFLATION. THE COLLAPSE OF PLANET EARTH ECOSYSTEM WILL BRING DOWN THE HUMAN TROGLODYTE SPECIMEN TO THEIR KNEES AND TO A TOTAL COLLAPSE OF CIVILIZATION IF WE DO NOT STOP REPRODUCING AND POPULATING/INFECTING PLANET EARTH LIKE WILD GUINEA PIGS/RATS PLAGUE.

”WHAT GOES AROUND, COMES AROUND!!!

“Let all the poisons that lurk in the mud hatch out!”

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drearytweddiafawnx · 4 years

Text

A letter to myself from 2030.

Hey Rim ! Wanna hug ?

It's me ......actually it's you from 2030.l know you've been dreaming of me . So i thought i should write you a letter. I was reading through all my old letters and braindump journals .It made me rethink about my past thoughts and write to you about them

The time you are in and the time I'm writing to you are both important moments of our life .

The year 2030 is the time when we are leading the world and 2020 is the time when we just started our journey. After the covid crisis days were not so good as you've already imagined. But your 'silly "plans helped the people who needed help . Heres a note from one of your writings.

10.06.20

To all the teens who'll be leading the world in upcoming days .look at our future main concerns

*stoping global warming

*giving freedom toall (everyone who has a life ,freedom of speech, lifestyle and everything )

*completing the necessary needs

*fighting future disasters sensebly

*solving problems unitedly .

*empowering huminity and human knowledge

*being a good global citizen .

We have to be the hero of the next

generation.

Our ideas are the root of our life . Trying to understand the future problems and living in your future is

not bad . You like to do things keeping their future in mind . You wanted to build an education system where you create open minded people .

I would love to talk about your ideas

during the covid crisis like street farming ,street education and practical learning . I hope you remember this journal pages ....

16.04.20

Practical learning - giving assignments and research topics during the covid crisis and after the crisis showing the research and assessments .Exams will be taken through activities and practicaly while kids learn something new while giving exams .

And this will be area based .

Like to a remote village maybe clean water is a big issue .

Childrens from that village will work on it .

8.05.20

Street education - using street billboards and ad boards to teach street children and passerby .

Using fun animation and video we can teach them general knowledge and make people aware of certain topics like childmarriege and dowry .

11.06.20

Street farming - using the footover bridges and street dividers to produce free and safe food for the poor ,begger and street people .

So that they can freely eat and cook .

It will also be beneficial for all the natives living there .

Most of your ideas were based on underdeveloped coutries . And I'm really looking forward to your both websites that you are working on . learning and asking questions about anything in their mother tongue gives kids an opportunity to write and ask with freedom and you wanted to make begging a respectful profession .giving a home and shelter . While volunteers will help them and take care of them.

People will be able to donate to their personal account using your website .

Some can get employed too. Nice ideas Rim .

I know its the first pride month you are celebrating and currently you are saving money for building an free open school for poor ,street children and everyone who is curious to learn

But the best thing you learned these days was respecting everyone and trying to keep your feet on their shoes to understand their pain and sufferings .

But the thing you were thinking about on those days was global warming . All of my life I wanted freedom and you wanted to free all animals giving all plants a chance to grow freely even if they were not helpful . Humans are soo selfish that they only spare those lives which benefit them somehow .

To you the new normal was not mask, gloves and social distancing ,you wanted the new normal to let everyone live ,everyone who has a life , give mother nature a chance to heal herself .

One day you wrote that "The covid crisis has taught all of us equally at a time that how we all are connected even if we are separated and how we depend on each other and we should

admire everyone and everything.

If nature is infected nature will cure herself too. Everything is important and being here to teach us something . Even the poisons from the earth has a healing power to save lifes .

Mother nature is teaching us to be humble , respectful to every element of the earth and give equal importance as we have over here .

Just give them the chance to be , to live , breath freely , to learn and seek and teach us . I don't think humans has the right to make laws and specialy making their own " natures law ".

So many wonders got lost before finding them and will never return only because of our foolishness .

Only because they are not helpful they should die , who are we to set this cruel rule ?

Even humans are cruel to other humans . We are treating like enemies more than mother natures childrens . because we are unaware and selfish. Peoples are different because their mindsets and that's the beauty of our nature .There is no one like us and everyone is unique and connecting different perspectives can bring us a change . Physical boundries will be nothing in front of our inner connection . We should build huminity towards humans and all living matters and let everyone bloom in their own light , energy and power to prove everyones inner beauty is in their heart .Knowledge is our power the future is in our hand and we will surely make a change !"

Well dear Rim ,

In your imaginary world you knew that one day the earth will be healed and mother earth didnt let you go. Our c mkther earth is niow healed and healing herself everyday .

On 2030 some fun things happened like reuseable straws and paper clothes became trend people were buying them . We don't cut trees to make furnitures . We are doing upcycling and using alternative options .All animals are freed now only reliable universities has the right to research on animals without keeping them caged.There are some animals getting internet famouse everyday . We have equality and balance in our education any one can learn from anywhere anytime. Education is costfree now and age is just a number . All cuntries are united. There is no fight or war .No one breaks the rule ordoes crime intentionally.

Everyone is respected here no matter what their gender ,age or status is .We are building sustainable houses for everyone using alternative ways and on this process nature is not pollouted. Everyone is earning and

no one is staying unemployed. All professions are equally admired .Self employed people are increasing day by day . Over here we don't have bad people and they are being actually educated . Teaching us life skills while making our minds open and creative . Education is costfree and we are learning to get mastery on them.

In some countries overpopulation was a massive problem but now its not and we also controling our population by supporting one child . What ever that child might be , a life is always special. We have wonderful botanical gardens and reserved seed banks which has so many rare seeds . Internet is now the most safe place and resourcefull place

All the waste is recycled and used as energy .

Spacewaste and e waste are sorted too.

Big countries are helping small countries and now we all are equal and same no big or small.

Mills and factories use green energy to produce theur work and they dont throw waste in the water or soil .

All professions are equally admired and learning and education is free

Now we have a no meat day in every month of the year and it is celebrated the whole world wide.

People now do their chores by themselves and donate their belongings which they no longer need ,no one extra stuff to clutter their home .

Everyone has a place to live a sweet home and a shelter and we dont need fill rivers or cut mountains or clean

forests to build home . Refugees are loved and cared too ,many countries are helping them to survive .

We all truely have a home to live.

There is no cage no zoo but we have virtual zoo and world tour .

Many aninals got mentally sick staying in cage for a long time ,now they allare under good treatment .

keeping pets in cage is also agnist law .You will see " No entry" billboaard in front of many forests and importaant places. Government is helping people when they need . The quantity of doing crime is very less now

There is no injustice . laws are very strict and mandatory. We have reliable snd trustworthy judiciary. I should say there is very less pending cases .

Everyone is working hard to spread positivity .

Government is really concerned about the happinesss of their citizens . People give mental health a big priority. Government encourages to take selftime and selfcare .

We can get safe and healthy food in a very cheap price .

We understand others feelings and respect them .

We use green energies now .

Other energy sources which we used before is now where they belong ,

to the nature . We are researching very hard on various topics nowdays to seek in the beauty and mystery of mother nature .

Our biodiversity is now very increased .

Our homes can now deal with earthquakes and other disasters .

We've build durable dams to stop getting fload and bush fires are also controlled.

We no more make cigarettes or tobacco products.

No one smokes not even vehicles ,mills and factories. No human trafficking and less fishing .

Our youth is so positive nowdays . Youth exchange programmes are increased too . We understand how important staying globally connected is .

Each of the countries has a special bugdet and plan to deal with future diseases and disasters .

We are now shareing our love .working hand in hand .

There us no negetivity and no hatred agnist anyone .

Everyone gets to drink clean water and eat fresh safe food.

We don't

have sewage problems nowdays .

Everything is by design and mother natures order . We dont want to harm our nature and so do our mother nature .

Earth has now chaged a lot we have wonderful seasons and climate .

Whereever I look I see greenery and beauty ,love and peace .

Everyone is working hard to make our world a better place .

We only have one earth and we love her so much , we don't want to leave her or make her unhappy or sick .

We are working thinking about our future and having a sustainable world

You would not believe ! my eyes are now filled with soothing greenery

Pond with ducks ,plants, butterflies bees ,dragonflies , grasshoppers everywhere with farmers and villegers .

And there is no pollution , no dirt

literally zero waste . Everything is recycled reuse reduced and upcycled .

We have mighty leaders reliable law and trustworthy government .

At this time the world is so beautiful , everyones heart is so beautiful .its the happiest world ever .

I know its still like a dream to you .

But if i say its true you would ask me who did it ? And my answers is us , all of us everyone unitedly . One by one from various countries bright minds and leaders came up and worked for the change .

You everything you wanted to be. I'm nothing different from you .

I am you and you are still in me.

On this world of 2030 .

Im compltetinng all the dreams that a teenager saw on her 16's. Teacher and connecting with hearts through internet .helping the poor and helpless ,working with the UN , studying in Japan and doing a research .

While your reading even if

you believe in my words the law of attraction will make it true because youve already started working on it .

I wrote this letter for a competition but never end up giving it to someone or somewhere because it became special.

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hozierandco · 4 years

Text

Imagine Hozier x Reader: The Trench

[A/N]: Set during WWI, this AU imagine presents Hozier as a soldier during the First World War. Irish, he serves for the British armies and while on leave meets a woman that could possibly change his life for good.

Andrew Hozier-Byrne was a brave soldier, had been from the very first day he signed up a paper making official the decision he put his mind through: he was to serve for Britain. Not that he particularly appreciated the country that had repeatedly humiliated his native soil nor did he particularly like bellicose times but in Ireland, he was an idle young fella since no work was given to him. In fact, Ireland shared a common point with the United Kingdom it so harshly tried to take distances from: both countries were elitist, assigning the proper jobs to always the same people, the better born, the most likely to get a job. For other men, war felt like a relief, an opportunity for them to prove their value to the world, no matter what the cost of that sacrifice could be.

When he was given a number to which he must reply by now, Private Hozier-Byrne realized the whole process of making canon fodder out of the loud host on its way to fight because one archduke had not been lucky and got killed. The talion law had never been that cruel before. All those men willing to die to have their corpse being prayed upon by all those politicians who would never take one tenth of the risks taken just to keep on living. Naturally, almost organically, Andrew started scribbling words that soon became sentences, sentences becoming journal entries day after day. Those notes were supposed to give a face and a name to the men he would meet, those he would fear, those who would give him absurd orders and those he was supposed to hate.

In order not to drive insane with the unhealthy humidity that brought the days of November and the unidentifiable insects milling about in the trenches, Andrew wrote verses that were seemingly only written by his zeal for living, verses that could have easily made his superiors die of the sorrow caused. Ignoring that many other men, such as Private Wilfred Owen followed the same destiny, Andrew could not help but to write, sometimes wasting the rare sleep he was given the permission to get. That exhausting process was here to fill something he could possibly not have, something that scarce crumbs of stale bread cannot replace: the company of someone that was, like him on the lookout for the next assault against the Germans. He was craving for an ear he could talk about the tough hours of waiting for something, even a wee thing, to happen. About the tears he would shed when the twilight would eventually fall over the cliffs, leaving him thinking of the sweet coast of Ireland he had left behind. Simply about life and death being so close from one another and the harsh fight to keep away from the latter. The weight of his riffle against his thorax, he would dream of the armistice and of a brighter future for him in Ireland, if he was ever to return.

By chance, his name was to serve him once. His surname being Hozier, it soon captured his sergeant's attention. Indeed, not less than Clementine Hozier who by marrying Winston Churchill - a promising politician who, in despite of some men who saw in him an opportunist, had already showed to the world his temper a few years before - had become a socialite and thus, an important woman in the British society. Sergeant Mooney, a fierce Irishman proudly wearing medals he had gained by the past on a grim green outfit strongly believed that amongst his men was a relative to Clementine Churchill, a nephew perhaps. If it was not even remotely true, as far as Andrew was aware, if he kept mum, he could possibly leave for a while the dire fields of blood. Which he did on February of 1915 when some respite was offered to the soldiers who were for some fighting since September on end.

Through the cold streets from the North of France, Andrew ended the short period of his leave in a distillery in the region of Lille. Very early in the morning, he was to take a carriage that would inevitably put him back to the front. He had had three days that he spent getting drunk, trying to forget that he was a soldier now. He had had three days that he spent writing hollow letters that he could resolve to send to his parents and to his brother who had remained in Ireland. Although the French government tried hard to stop the spreading and the sale of the Green Fairy, many bars were still offering that poisonous comfort for broken men, prone to despair and nihilism. It is in that context that Private Hozir-Byrne had discovered the holy beverage. He was about to order another glass when all of a sudden, he heard, from behind him a sweet voice he thought to be belonging to his imagination:

"That thing's gonna kill you", a woman it was. She had such a tenderness in her features. Her age was difficult to guess, she could have been fifteen or forty. If Andrew could not tell what her age was, he could tell that a woman was a beautiful one. He put the glass back on the counter and introduced him, his hand reaching out for the woman's.

"I'm Andrew, dead man walking", those three last words had escaped as an Austrian psychanalyst had written ten years earlier as the expression of his repression. If Sigmund Freud had studied his case he would have drawn the conclusion that Andrew Hozier-Byrne, so zealous to live a few months ago was now wishing that he was dead. Now that he had someone to talk to, even for just a couple of hours, would he change his behaviour?

"I'm Y/N, sutler for the soldiers in Neuve Chapelle", the woman replied with a candid voice that made Andrew's face white.

"Nice to meet you!", Andrew replied to that sordid encounter. Y/N nodded as to say that she too was glad to have met the man at that time of her life. Volunteer like Andrew, Y/N had no skills enough to be a nurse but was to get involved in the Great War, one way or another. Her father had been a soldier too, she could understand more than anyone what it means to fight for one's country, but above all for freedom. She had become a sutler on September of 1914, giving a hand to more than one soldier in the villages of the Marne and now in the North of France, since the dreadful battle of Arras and then Ypres, in Belgium. She had seen bodies scattered, plundered from their weapons, making them appear to be gawkers when they had been brave, making them look sad when they died happy, happy to have been part of that humongous fight.

That meeting was doomed to no outcome, which made it even more intimate. Knowing that they would not see each other after that night, they could talk about everything with no fear. That is how they started talking about the war freely, the lost hopes, the victory that was so difficult to imagine once amid the stifling dust and the mice. If Y/N had been a spy or if any malevolent soul had listened to the conversation, Andrew would have easily been charged for treason against his country, or at least the country he served under the flag for. But even then, Andrew would not mind. If he was to be hung, at least he would have been honest doing so. His neck attached to a noose could not be as revolting as what he had been witnessing for months.

After a whole hour of a heated discussion about silly orders men were told to follow and about the beauty of the Irish coast, Y/N was called by the owner from the other side of the bar. "And now, may I introduce you to the gorgeous Y/N", he said in a strong French accent. Andrew looked at her as an improvised stage was now floodlit. Y/N advanced on the minuscule promontory and began a little speech that she concluded by: "To all the Irish soldiers, that song dedicated" and on that looked at the distraught man. With eyes closed and the voices dumb around her, Y/N sang heartily The Wind that Shakes the Barley, thus echoing to the morbid taste Andrew was given in as well as his melancholy towards his country.

Tears were forming on Andrew's canthus as the words were so precisely describing his feelings. Between the moment Y/N had started singing and the moment she sat back next to Andrew, the latter knew that singing was his own destiny. If he was to come back from the war, he would be a singer. He congratulated Y/N when she sat back. The two of them spent the night together, aware that the world was coming to an end, trying their best to delay the deadline.

By seven in the morning, Y/N woke up in an empty bed, hers that an angel had blessed during the night. During the rest of the fight that had torn apart Europe, Y/N did her best to get informed on Andrew's fate. Has he survived? She hated herself for she had not asked his surname, which would have helped far more than to look for every single Andrew fighting in the trenches.

She had no information when the armistice was signed and started losing hope as to see him again. She was still living in the North of France, thinking that if Andrew wanted to see her again, he would seek in the region, making things easier for their reunion. Which was a great option since that happy day happened.

By December of 1918, almost a month after the war had ended in Europe, Andrew wished to go back to Ireland. He still had some papers to sign to make official his departure from the army. In Ireland, a new fever impregnated; men who fought during the war now wanted their young wives and their future children to be called Irish, and not British anymore. Andrew wanted to take part in that fight too, with the same strength that he put into the Great War. From the fields to Ireland, Andrew had to cross the region in which he had met Y/N. He prayed that she was still there. When the two gathered, it felt just like they had never stopped seeing each other.

Three months later, the two moved in together in the venerate Ireland that only a year later became independant, far from the mud of the war.

#hozier firstworldwar hozierxreader alternateuniverse

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loveistheonlyway · 4 years

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Today

Today I was assaulted.

Today I was cruelly reminded how cruel, bigoted, and racist people can be.

Today, I was assaulted verbally, and almost physically. My friend and I (who I'll refer to as Derek for privacy reasons, with the assaulter being referred to as Jake again for privacy), were having a conversation about history. Derek is a history major at my college, and often likes to ask me what he can about my culture and ancestory (I am American Native, Cherokee and Choctaw to be specific). My boyfriend was nearby but had his headphones in while he worked on homework.

Today, our conversation went down multiple rabbit holes as it always does, ranging from Norse culture (Derek is Norse and Dannish, but mostly a proud German), to our own artistic endeavors. Finally, the talk turned to Andrew Jackson, a man whom most people in my family hate with a passion due to his affect on us during the Trail of Tears (more on that later).

Today, as a joke, Derek and I were talking of how "no one liked him" for all he did, and how even then, his treatment of my people was seen as unorthadox. Almost immediately, the cafe busboy, Jake piped in uninvited saying that Jackson had "done nothing wrong", and was actually "a good guy".

Today Derek, on my behalf, halfheartedly mentioned the Trail of Tears and all those affected, but Jake wasn't having it. He continued on to say that the Trail of Tears wasn't that bad, that it's just propaganda spread in schools. I, being extremely offended and hurt by this, told him no, that it was that bad. That it still affects my people to this day.

He got all huffy, but Derek told him to leave me be, and he did. But, not five minutes later, he came back to continue to harass us. He told us the Trail of Tears was an act of war, that to take over a land the people of that land have to go somewhere. He referenced the Holocaust as an example, stating both were just "acts of war", and "what you do when you win a war" (ignoring the fact that the Trail of Tears was not a war, but an official Act of the government). Derek and I were immediately offended and growing increasingly upset. I, being the more short tempered of us two, told him he couldn't just say that, that it's offensive and anti-semetic. Jake didn't care, he continued to say both are "blown out of proportion", and "not as bad as people claim". At this point, I'm extremely upset by what he's saying, and rise from my seat to try to get away (which is what I do when I'm upset). He tried to block me, not letting me through while continuing to harass us. At this point I'm on the verge of tears, and am screaming at him to leave me be (while trying to get someone else's attention, particularly another worker). I tell him that the Trail of Tears affected my family and I personally, due to my great-great grandmother's family having been murdered while she was stolen and adopted by a white family, her culture being erased in the process. I tell him that because of that, we have had to search years to even find out her real name. All we have is the word of our ancestors, because they burned her documents. All we have of her is photos, because they burned everything else.

He denied she had ever existed. He also denied my personal experiences.

I told him he needed to leave, that I do not tolerate facism or racism in my circle. I also told him not to deny my experiences when he has no part in them.

At this point his is all red-faced and huffy, and he keeps trying to pin me into the corner. Derek has remained silent, but watches him as he raises his fist to hit me but stops himself. He then says, "shut the fuck up, and sit the fuck down, you woman". Loudly, where even the cashiers in the cafe look over the counter.

I tell him to get out of my face as Derek puts a hand in front of me, prepared to protect me. He tells Jake that he needs to leave, or he will call the campus police (we were on college campus). Jake huffs off, but leaves.

I sit down, trying not to cry and trying to process what happened. Derek sits with me to make sure he doesn't return, and my boyfriend having noticed the commotion keeps a close eye on Jake as well. Eventually Derek has to leave for work in the college cafeteria, and as he's leaving Jake approaches him, and they talk. Derek's tone is very harsh, but I didn't hear what they said. Derek turns around, risking being late, and tells me that Jake is upset at us, because it sounded as though we were being "racist against white people", and "hating white people". Of course, we're both shocked by this accusation, particularly because of how he handled it (choosing to deny history, in support of one racist man, just because he thinks we're hating an entire race).

Derek and I have since reported him to one of his bosses, and while she believes us, and has apologized multiple times for his treatment and harassment, the other boss seems to believe him. They are going to pull the tapes to show his aggression against us, proving that he tried to hit me, and him blocking my escape attempts.

I have heard from others in my circle that he has harassed other people too, including attacking my Jewish friends due to their relatives and (appropriate, of course) upset at the Holocaust. He has also harassed other women, and has made many people leave the cafe and never return due to his forceful and aggressive behavior. None of those incidents were reported, however.

I've been thinking about it a lot since it happened, and it upsets me a lot that it did happen. That in this day and age we still have apologists, facists, and racists in this country. I have always been proud where my family came from, and I don't regret defending it. I don't regret it because if I do, then I disgrace the millions of us who didn't have the chance. I disgrace the millions of us that don't have the chance.

So yes, today I was assaulted.

Today, the world was cruel.

And today, I fought back.

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quality-street-rat · 5 years

Text

The Clown!

How Clowns Have Become Scary

Matthew Burgess

Part One

Clowns, jesters, fools, and other such figures have existed since the days of ancient Egypt. Rome had figures known as Stupidus, and fifth-dynasty Egypt had pygmy clowns. Through the centuries, all clowns had and have one powerful connection; that of misrule, excess, and the unpredictable. They mimic and ridicule, they riddle and tease. They perform over-the-top, crazy antics. They cause mayhem and enjoy it, usurping law and order with unhinged slapstick. However, clowns are just one historical monster that can bring terror to people. Studying monsters brings understanding of the past and the present and shows a great deal of human nature.

Part Two

The word monster has roots in Latin, and the root words mean to warn. Stone Age humans had monsters of their own, and massive biblical monsters haunted other early humans. The idea of the Devil breaks off into other concepts such as demonic possession, witches, and the Antichrist. Jeffery Jerome Cohen posits that “The Monster Always Escapes.” What he means by this is that no monster is ever really killed or gotten rid of. The death or disappearance of one monster either makes room for a new one or provides an opportunity for the original monster to return with a new face. However, every time the monster returns, its meaning will change based on what is happening in society at that time. No monster ever really dies.

A monster might be new to some people. For example, if Pennywise the Clown only appears every twenty-seven years, then he is new to the people who are children when he comes back. If an urban legend is forgotten because it is no longer relevant, then when the situation is the same in the future, the urban legend will re-surface. As Poole says in Monsters in America, (page 22) “History is horror.” This also refers to the situation out of which a monster is born. Before the Salem Witch Trials, people were less concerned with piety. Some social switch flipped, and suddenly everyone was obsessed with finding the evil and unworthy in their society.

There are several other theories that help understand monsters through history and are key concepts that aid in studying them. A few that stand out are integral to monster culture. The monster is never just what it appears to be. It is a representation of some fear or desire that people experience. The monster defies classification, which also means that they clash with the concept of binaries and logic. Monsters in general are made of things that are distinctly “other,” or outliers to the idea of “normal.” They invite the removal of moral dimensions and make excuses for eradication of the “other.” Monsters are warnings, are representations of both fear and desire, are harbingers of the transitional future. These all tell the story of history and, more specifically, American history. Poole says “The American past...is a haunted house. Ghosts rattle their chains throughout its corridors, under its furniture, and in its small attic places. The historian must resurrect monsters in order to pull history’s victims out of...’the mud of oblivion.’ The historian’s task is necromancy, and it gives us nightmares.” (Monsters in America, Page 24)

Part 3

When my mother was eleven years old, her parents sat her down to watch the original IT movie. She tells me that she had nightmares and trouble sleeping for at least a month afterwards. When I was growing up, clowns were not mentioned. My siblings and I knew that clowns existed because there was a friendly clown named Pooky that we saw once a year at my father’s annual work party. Until I was twelve or thirteen Pooky was the only reference for the word “clown” that I had. After that, I started learning world history and learned about clowns in the context of circuses. To me they were silly people who wore polka dots and colorful wigs, and who painted their faces with the intention to entertain. The concept of the scary clown wasn’t even a shred of an idea to me until later.

When I was fifteen I started going to school for the first time. I suddenly had access to the internet and began absorbing every piece of pop culture that I could possibly handle. The trailers for the new IT movie were just starting to come out, and people were reporting scary clown sightings all over the country. I personally was not then and am not now scared of clowns. However, I could see that people were terrified of them and that fascinated me. I was more interested in the intentions of the people behind the masks than the unexpected presence of them. Fast forward to 2018, and I started watching American Horror Story. Seasons four and six heavily featured clowns as something scary. There was Twisty the Clown with his terrifying blown off mouth and tendency to kidnap children and attempt to entertain them, and there was the cult who wore clown masks and intimidated Sarah Paulson’s character. The cult was more effective than not because of the character’s coulrophobia, or fear of clowns. 1 Around the same time I watched the movie Suicide Squad, and became similarly fascinated with the character of the Joker. I started doing research and found that Jared Leto’s Joker was not the first one. There was a theory that proposed that there were three different Jokers, regardless of actor or illustrator. One, the thief and killer. Two, the silly one who had no real reason to perform any of his evil deeds, known as the “Clown Prince of Crime.” Third, the homicidal maniac.

As I’ve said, I am not afraid of clowns. But the reason why people are afraid of them enthrall me. Firstly, clowns are allowed to say things that the rest of us can’t. They dress up their words as jokes, but they can say the most shocking and inappropriate things. They can challenge those in power with no consequences. Second, humans inherit fear. Studies done in Georgia and Canada show that fear of a thing can be passed down through a family line. For example, if a parent was mauled by a tiger, and then had a child and disappeared, the child would be frightened if they saw a tiger. Also, the face paint of a clown elicits the same response as the uncanny valley. Clowns were first thought to be scary in the late 1940’s and 1950’s. Clowns worked very closely with children. Adults began to get paranoid about these clowns, grown men, abusing their children. Maybe some were, but the majority merely wanted to make the children laugh and smile. The adults started to tell their children to avoid the clowns. Later in the 80’s, slasher films were on the rise. Moviemakers were making anything into killers. Audrey the plant, cute little gremlins, worms, blobs, and clowns. Stephen King’s IT was written and released during this time. Since then, many scary clowns have existed. The Joker, Harley Quinn the Harlequin, Pennywise, Twisty, the Jigsaw puppet, the Terrifier. These all serve as a cultural lens to help explain social changes.

Part 4

The monster of the clown resonates with me because the idea of the scary clown is so wide-spread and can now be passed off as an “everyone knows that” statement. The why fascinates me. Clowns represent the both the fear of truth and the fear of lies. Clowns can say the unsayable and topple those in power with the truth. On the other hand, their fixed grins and otherwise blank faces are the embodiment of a lie, because you can’t tell who they are behind the mask.

From the earliest days of human history, there was some form of a clown. The clowns always had something to represent, and they always came back. To look at another point of view, most clowns were simple entertainers turned into frighteners by people who wanted to dispose of them. However, the clowns that were actually scary (Pennywise, Jigsaw, etc.) were warnings of what might happen if you mess with the truth. Pennywise changes form; he is the embodiment of lies. Jigsaw is transparent about his intentions; he is the cold, hard, bitter truth.

The sometimes-maudlin behavior of clowns invites sympathy. It suggests that maybe they are simply misunderstood, that maybe they deserve to be loved. However, they always snap back with something unexpected. It is a general consensus in the monster-f**ker community that clown-f**kers are the lowest of the low. However, if I may loosely quote one of my online followers on the subject: “...Sir Pennywise is a shnack.” Unfortunately, the spelling is a direct quote. I cannot pretend to know why people are attracted to clowns, Pennywise especially, but they are and there’s unfortunately nothing to be done about it.

Putting aside peoples’ attraction to clowns, to close this thought I’d like to quote Derek Kilmer in saying “the stories we tell say something about us.” Clowns may not be everyone’s fear. However, the culture we as people created also created clowns and the fear of them.

Part 5

Studying monsters can be a useful endeavor. History of America is the history of monsters. Therefore, if you study monsters, you study America. From the dehumanization of Native Americans by the Pilgrims to the fascination with aliens today, monsters have shaped America and been shaped by American society. This theory is called Reciprocal Determination. Instead of one thing causing another, two things cause each other. America’s society has been shaped by witches, by vampires, by zombies, by clowns. And society has, in return, created the monsters it claims to hate so much. People care about monsters. We created them, as they create us.

Clowns represent America’s relationship with truth. Depending on the kind of clown and when it appears, we can determine how Americans deal with lies. Early in the century, clowns were more jovial and friendly. People were complacent with letting bad things get swept under the rug. Harsh truths and cruel facts were ignored and glossed over. Abused spouses and homosexual relationships along with literal genocide and corrupt leadership had people looking the other way, because they were more concerned with image than anything else. But as time went on, people became less concerned with image and more concerned with truth. There are of course those who still value image over truth, but they are the minority. Corrupt leaders cannot hide anymore. LGBT+ folk can finally openly live their truth. Abuse is not tolerated. But at the same time, the clowns are getting scarier. Some people might say that this is simply correlation and not causation, and that is also a valid view, but I believe that it is, without a doubt, causation.

Monsters teach us not only our history, but who we are. They tell us the truth behind our lies. They challenge the master narrative and demonstrate impermanent borders between morality, truth, fear, and desire.

Footnotes

1 This phobia was also featured in the long-running show Supernatural, however in that show it’s played for humor.

#clowns #essay #monster paper #history

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