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dp-medio-muertos · 3 years

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The Many Names of Death (in México)

(banner images by @andrei-skelepina)

Her most well-known name is “La Catrina”, an elegant, upper-class lady, wearing a hat full of feathers to represent the social inequality rampant in the early 1910s when José Guadalupe Posada drew her (“La Calavera Garbancera”, had been her real name at first [Source ESP / ENG]). But from then on, this identity became forever associated with Death. La Muerte.

She takes you whether you’re rich or poor, “good” or “evil”, it doesn’t matter. Whatever we built in life stays in the world of the living, as we take nothing to our graves. Hence why she’s “La Igualadora” or “La Democrática” because she evens any ridiculous score you thought you had in life.

How funny these names came from a more modern era when the Nahuas/Mexicas believed anyone who died a natural death could liberate their soul after several trials to the Lord and Lady of Death (Mictlantecuhtli & Mictecacíhuatl) to acquire a new form of existence in the underworld, in the Mictlán. (Source ESP / ENG)

But despite Death being amoral, uninterested in what we did in life, it doesn’t mean she doesn’t enjoy a good chase in later representations. She’s now shown as someone to run away from, to deceive, to escape. In the end, the game always ends the same. Her thin and bony appearance is seen often in poems (as we mentioned in our Calaveritas post here) dedicated to her cunning, soul-hunting skills. But don’t be fooled: “La Calaca Tilica y Flaca” (the frail, skinny skeleton) is anything but weak.

The hairless skull gave her the name of “La Pelona” or “La Calva” (the bald one), while others wrote odes to her lack of teeth, calling her “La Chimuela” or “La Sin Dientes” as names that reveal her toothless smile. Others steer away from her stench, foul and rotten. “La Apestosa” or “La Hedionda” (the smelly one) they’ll call her while giving her the stink eye.

And again these newer denominations don’t steer too far from older roots and sound similar to how the Mayans from Yucatán referred to Ah Puch as “The Stinky one”, one of the names of the lord of death and disease, ruler of Xibalbá (the underworld… yes, Xibalbá is a place, not a deity) [Source: ESP / ENG)

But now we don’t talk about trials and tribulations, though we do talk about Death in our everyday struggles. “La Chingada” or “La Fregada” (the ruined one) we say colloquially when we feel like it takes us to a darker place when things are not going our way. (“Me lleva la chingada”, “me siento de la fregada”, we exclaim even when something gone wrong won’t call for our real demise.) We even have sayings such as “no hay que cargar con el muerto” when we don’t want to carry an old burden.

To die can be to “petatearse” (lay to rest on a petate or resting mat), to “chupar faros” (take a smoke before being shot), we say someone “(lo/la/le) cargó el payaso” (was carried by the clown, as riders in the rodeo when they got hit by the bull); someone who dies, “estiró la pata” (stretched a rigid foot), “colgó los tenis” (hung their sneakers on the lightpost cables, as people do when someone dies in some neighborhoods), or “felpó” (to refer to torn clothing).

But death can be treated as something more respectful, with fancier names: “La Dama de la Guadaña” (the Lady of the Scythe), “Doña Huesos” (Mrs. Bones), “Doña Osamenta” (Mrs. Skull), while there’s some room to show affection: “La Amada Inmóvil” (the still lover), “La Malquerida” (the badly-loved one) or “La Niña Blanca” (the white little girl).

There’s plenty of respect and some even call her the Santa Muerte (Holy Death), adoring her like a saint, asking for favors, for protection, and honoring her in many ways, mainly in barrios like Tepito in which she even has shrines and temples dedicated to her. (Source ESP / ENG)

No matter what we call her, how we portray her in art or poetry, how our sayings or legends go, there’s this sense of familiarity with Death, as if she were someone we’ve always known and can invite for a drink or have a nice chat with, goof around, show your sorrows.

In the end, as we say “Al diablo la muerte mientras nos dure la vida.” (To hell with death while life lasts.)

#day of the (half) dead #día de (medio) muertos #day of the dead #día de muertos #dia de muertos #díade(medio)muertos #dayothe(half)dead #inspiration for the danny phantom event #mexico

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jknerd · 3 years

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La Llorona

Age: 400+

Aliases: Maria (real name), The Weeping Woman, Wailing Mother

Family: Unnamed two sons (deceased), Founder of Town Amorojo (ex-husband)

Likes: Singing, her sons

Dislikes: Her ex-husband and his second wife, whoever stolen her sons’ corpse and sealed them

In the AUs where she appears, she is much more sympathetic than the other variations of stories. In the time of Spanish colony in Mexico, she was known as beautiful woman named Maria. One day, the wealthy man, who found the fictional town Amorojo, spotted her singing and fell in love with her at first sight. The man's father didn't approve of her because she was from poor family, but the pair got married and had two sons. When the man's father introduced a wealthier and beautiful woman for him to marry, he eventually abandoned Maria, forced her to kick out of house as her ex-husband got the custody over their sons. However, because the boys were illegitimate children, the man and his new wife lured the sons to the lake where they drowned the boys, killing them. When Maria returned with enough money to buy custody for children, the nobleman's wife cruelly taunted her, telling her the sons died. Horrified and guilt-stricken, Maria spent two years searching for the death bodies of her sons. However, she leaped into the river, drowning herself.

Learning too late that her sons were died because of her ex-husband and his wife, Maria become vengeful she drowned the victims who were involved with Amorojo town founder, or their descendants. Rumors of her spread through Mexico, gaining an infamous title of "La Llorona".

In Courage the Cowardly Girl AU: Courage and her family went to the trip to Mexico where Muriel and Eustace's friends reside. She grew suspicious of Muriel's friend Juanita prevented others to enter the basement. When Courage walked by the lake to take fresh air at the sunset and took a nap where she dreamt of a young mother playing with her sons. When she opened her eyes, it was dark and she was about to return until the weeping sound haunted the lake, frightening her. Encountering La Llorona, Courage believed she would be killed.... but instead the ghostly woman, in Spanish, begged for help. Seeing the woman's face, Courage knew she was the same woman appeared in her dream with two children. Next day, she attempted to find a way to soothe the spirit, however the townspeople were too scared to tell her about La Llorona. Eventually, Courage discovered the corpses of Maria's two sons were inside Juanita's basement all along. Fearing the reputation of Amorojo town founder clan tainted, Juanita and her husband take a chase after Courage who carried away the chest of cremated bones. When reaching to the lake, she freed the two spirits of Maria's sons as the mother reunited with them. Seeing Juanita and her husband on the verge to kill Courage in mad frenzy, La Llorona angrily dragged them into the lake, drowning them to death. In the end, when Courage left the mansion with her foster grandparents, she saw apparition of Maria and her sons waving to her goodbye.

In Grimm Adventures of Billie & Manny AU: La Llorona is portrayed as "Wailing Mother" with horrifying maternal instincts on children. Although Catrina, Grima and other Reapers told her numerous times she can't see her sons, she wanted to see them again. One time, two new students enrolled into Billie and Manny's school, named Dante and Felipe. Grima noticed La Llorona has been lurking around the boys and warned Billy and Manny to keep the boys accompanied and never leave their side until she finds out the reason. The grim reaper was surprised to learn from Sado that Dante and Felipe are reincarnations of La Llorona's sons. However, Sado coldly reminded that it is against the rules to let a ghost and humans interact, commanding Grima to drag La Llorona to underworld by force. La Llorona refused to leave them because the boys are in orphanage and has no one to look after them. When Sado tried to arrest her, Billie snapped at him, telling the head reaper that he is being like his own father; tear the parent and children apart. This outburst reminded Sado of his past.... hesitantly released her. At the end, La Llorona watched them sleep in their bed humming a song. When the Bogeyman was about to scare the boys, La Llorona angrily scared the dream monster away, warning him to never go near her sons.

#Courage the Cowardly Dog #Courage the Cowardly Dog AU #Courage the Cowardly Girl #Courage the Cowardly Girl AU #Grimm Adventures with Billie and Manny #Grimm Adventures with Billie & Manny AU #La Llorona

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language-sanctuary · 4 years

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What is Día de Muertos?

(If you’re white, especially if you’re from the US, you’re obligated to reblog this post. I’m sorry, I don’t make the rules)

Día de Muertos is the most important and well-known tradition of indigenous origin in México celebrated on November first and second. It is a world heritage tradition. That is why so important that we are careful to portray it respectfully.

For us Mexicans, making altares is a way to cope with death, it is something that brings us closer to our loved ones who have passed way. I’ve discussed with my mother and my father in a very intimate way what they would like me to put in her altar when they pass away and I intend to learn how to make my mother’s favorite dishes so she’ll like them when she comes back to visit and she can be proud of me. That takes some of the fear out of things, to know that for one night every year I’ll have a chance to honor my loved ones and remember them fondly.

What does an altar usually have?

A figurine of a dog, usually a xoloitzcuintle, the sacred dog of the Aztecs, who will help the deceased person make their way to the land of the living and back to the land of the dead.

A photo of the deceased person

Copal (ancient incense that was offered to the gods in indigenous traditions, it clenses the space and helps guide the spirits to the altar).

Cempaxóchitl or Mexican marigold. This means “twenty flowers” or “flower of twenty petals” in náhuatl, Mexico’s most spoken indigenous language. Its bright yellow color and scent helps spirits return to the land of the living.

Multiple candles

In ancient times, real skulls were used, but they have since been replaced with sugar skulls that have the name of the deceased person written on the forehead.

Pan de muerto (Bread of the Dead), which is a representation of the mortal body (supposed to represent the skeleton, more specifically the hand)

Papel picado (tissue paper with cut-out shapes) that represent that this is a party and shows how happy we are to have them with us once more.

The deceased person’s favorite foods and beverages, and any objects that they might have used a lot while they were alive (musical instruments, their glasses, a typewriter, their favorite books, etc).

Calaveritas, which narrate in a comical or endearing, even a bit tongue-in-cheek way a person’s encounter with death.

Now, some common questions under the “read more”.

If I’m not Mexican, can I dress as a Catrina/Catrín for Halloween (or at all)? No. Please avoid doing so. We do not paint our faces to appear scary, and it is not really a costume, but a way to relate to the spirits who are coming back and they are meant to guard off death.

If I am visiting México during a Día de Muertos celebration, how should I behave? Usually people will put their altars on the main plaza and relatives of the deceased person will be taking care of it. You can ask questions, most will be happy to tell about the deceased person, they might even give you a pamphlet about their accomplishments or their story. Do not step into the cempaxóchitl or the tinted sawdust, do not touch anything, those are specially put there so the spirits can find the altar easily.

Can altars be made of non-Mexican people? Yes. It is very common to see altars dedicated to famous non-Mexican people, like Anne Frank, Martin Luther Kind, Andy Warhol, etc, (I once saw one of Trump that said “1946-hopefully soon”), usually made by kids for a school project.

Is Coco from Disney a good representation of Mexican culture? Kind of. It is definitely more in the appreciation side of the spectrum more than cultural appropriation. The studio did such an enormous amount of research and the outcome was amazing. Miguel? He is the cartoon version of so many of my cousins. The movie has so many easter eggs you will only get if you’re familiar with Mexican culture, like María Félix, el Santo, the architecture, or the fact that Ernesto de la Cruz was inspired by José Alfredo Jiménez. They did add a lot of lore to make the movie flow better. However... it is still Disney.

When making Coco, Disney did everything in their power to copyright Día de Muertos so they could use it as a title, in promotional materials and merchandise. I hope you can see why that is problematic, especially when it’s coming from a white, culturally dominant country towards a POC, primarily poor country; especially when they intended to profit from an indigenous-originated celebration in a country when 75% of the indigenous population that has survived the genocide caused by the Conquest is in extreme poverty.

Please support Mexican artisans, indigenous creators, mixed creators. If you want to really know about Mexican culture, watch actual Mexican movies. Would you watch Mulan if you wanted to be introduced to Chinese culture? I really hope not. Please watch actual Mexican movies.

I hope this was helpful for anyone who didn’t know how to behave respectfully around this time of year, or even if you wanted to know about Día de Muertos from an actual Mexican person. Here’s my ko-fi if you wanna buy me a $2 coffee for the time and effort I put into this blog!

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pastel-rights · 3 years

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IdV Ghost AU Reference List

A reference list, incase there is something you want to know or see drawn or whatever. Beware death references and stuff- Some characters will have full on dives into their characters and abilities, while others will have little snippets, and they come in later into the AU.

Norton Campbell (Ghost): Also known as to the other ghosts as little Día, Norton spends most of his time in the spirit realm and the in between realm, unlike most ghosts in the AU, who reside in the real world, and this is partly due to his caretaker’s position (Catrina). He only visits the real world on Día De Los Muertos when he’s visiting his mother and his lover (Naib)

As for his death, he died in the mining incident, and the official cause of death on his tombstone is unknown. He tried to protest the use of dynamite in the caves, and the other miners (already affected by the meteorite) didn’t take kindly to it, deciding to tie him up and blow him up with the dynamite. And they did. He was only 21 when he died. He wasn’t able to visit his mother and lover for 7 years after his death due to personal reasons.

His world consists of the spirit world and his “realm” is the realm between life and death, where he likes to hang out and where he’s at his strongest. It allows Norton to be able to interact with Naib and his mother, even if it’s for a limited amount of time. His human form and his spirit form are very similar, the only difference between the two forms is really the clothing he wears. His human form wears the same green button up and black jeans, while his ghost form wears similar clothes to that of La Catrina. He cannot maintain his human form for more than a couple hours (like maybe 8 hours?) but he likes his human form. He doesn’t mind his spirit form, but his human form just has comfier clothes.

Naib Subedar: As a mercenary, Naib was pretty used to meeting and losing people, but losing his boyfriend in a horrific incident only to be visited by said boyfriend 7 years later was not something he was prepared for. He spent a lot of that 7 year absence slowly beating himself up over Norton’s death, (seeing as he could have actually been able to convince Norton to not go if he just pushed a little harder; Naib hated the way Norton’s coworkers treated him too) spiraling into chaos. The only reason he lived through those 7 years was because of Selene. He smokes pretty heavily, which is the one thing that remained consistent from even before Norton’s death. He often spent most of that time by himself, so much so that once close friends completely forgot he existed. It even led to his kidnapping almost going unnoticed. Almost. Yes he got kidnapped, he went missing for almost 2 years.

He isn’t a ghost so he doesn’t have a realm, but he is much strong than most ghosts are (some even within their own realms) and he moves quickly and with grace, which makes it difficult to take him in hand to hand combat.

Selene Madison: Being the daughter of some of the most powerful people in town is hard work. She spends most of her time cooped up in her parent’s library, not being allowed outside the manor without her parent’s explicit permission and Naib (her parent’s hired bodyguard) by her side. She spends most of her time in the library reading books about photography, acting and murder mysteries. The manor has very few places she isn’t allowed to go, one of which being the ballroom (where Antonio resides) When she isn’t in the library however, she’s sitting outside the ballroom, listening to Antonio playing the violin. Every once in a while, she’ll slip in a candy or two as a way to thank Antonio for letting her listen to him play. The two have never met, seeing as Selene isn’t allowed into the ballroom and Antonio is not allowed to interact with anyone outside the ballroom.

Even though her parents are rarely home, she still listens and follows their rules. She doesn’t know what would happen to her if she broke them, and she is too scared to find out. She’s physically weak, she has trouble holding pots filled with water. She would be an easy target for even the weaker than average spirit. She doesn’t have a realm, seeing as she isn’t a ghost, but from reading books, she has gathered a lot about spirits in their realms. She’s incredibly smart. She still wears roller skates, they make her faster than Naib in some cases. She’s also very flexible and very excitable. She has a fear of abandonment as well.

Luca Balsa (Ghost): Luca spends most of his time in the abandoned lab he was accused of murder in. Well, lab isn’t the right word, as he can appear in the inventor’s (now abandoned) house and garden as well. He can appear anywhere in the large property. He’s also very manipulative and cunning, using his words and others words to make people react a certain way. He also is very... affectionate? He likes to hug and snuggle people and the more resistance there is (EDGAR) the worse he gets. Like, he could hug you to death. He did hug someone to death in the past- he’s a fear driven ghost, and likes to use fears (like Andrew’s fears of being stared at) and discomforts (like Edgar’s discomfort with being touched) against you.

As for his death, Luca was accused and convicted of the murder of the inventor. A couple months after his conviction, he was hung.

His world consists of the old inventor’s properties, and he’s the most powerful in any conductive area. He can also teleport anywhere in his realm, but he can’t do it more than 3 times in the span of a couple hours. His human form and his spirit form are very different. His human form wears the same prison uniform with the chain around his neck, as well as the same messy brown hair and grey eyes. His spirit form has the same brown hair (but with white streaks), greenish grey eyes, and he wears his old inventing outfit instead of his prison uniform (which is strange, since human form tends to be what spirits normally wear and spirit form is what they died in, not the other way around.) His hair turns completely white when he gets upset/angry. He almost never uses his human form, ever. Thanks to a certain someone, he’s also able to control a giant viper.

??? Yidhra: She can be seen out the corner of people’s eyes, always just out of view. She’s known to grant people’s wishes at a cost.

Jannet Yidhra: A small child representation of Yidhra who’s never far away from her. She takes the name Jannet. She is seen first by Aesop after Luca introduces his viper for the first time, where she’s holding the viper. She carried around a pickaxe which she uses with Robbie to hunt down humans.

Edgar Valden: A small scale sculptor who’s first difficult project was a statue in memory of his deceased mentor, Galatea. He isn’t very fast and isn’t exceptionally strong either, but he’s a very quick thinking guy. Galatea taught him to record his ideas and get a feeling for the areas he’s in. He’s also very stubborn, and can be rather unpredictable, which gets him into a lot of trouble. He’s hotheaded, loud mouthed, and quite rude at times.

As a painter and a sculptor, he can essentially change the layout of an area, which confuses certain spirits (like Luca) and gives them extra time to create a plan or heal an injured teammate. He can’t stand being touched (whether if it’s a hug or someone’s pulling his arm) which is his one major weakness. If you touch him while he’s set up a dead end or a decoy, he’ll start rushing (so you’ll stop touching him, also the pressure makes him panic), which makes it less effective and less likely to work.

He isn’t a ghost, and he doesn’t have a realm. However, his artwork and sculptures fuels Galatea’s realm, which basically makes Edgar a walking realm. It’s pretty interesting.

Galatea ??? (Ghost): Galatea was Edgar’s mentor. When Galatea was alive, she tutored and mentored Edgar. She died about 2 years before the events of the ghost AU.

Andrew Kreiss: Poor Andrew. He had always been called a white haired monster and was the odd kid out. He has a fear of being stared at as well. He became a grave keeper so he could get away from people’s insult and staring eyes, but it didn’t occur to him that the dead could stare at him as well. Out of the humans, Andrew is probably one of the strongest, but he’s so timid that he appears very weak. So weak in fact, he get actively targeted by spirits (like Luca) He almost died because he was too afraid to fight back. Like I said, Andrew is actually very strong, he has a lot of energy and he’s very quiet. He isn’t that fast though, and he isn’t a quick thinker either.

He uses his shovel as a weapon (which is very helpful when dealing with the Viper.) and can use it to create visual discrepancies and distractions, as well as places to hide. He takes a lot of Luca’s electrical attacks head on, seeing as his clothes and gloves are pretty thick and absorb some of the shock (compared to Edgar’s clothes which are thinner and show his back or Aesop’s clothes which are only two layers. Andrew wears like 4 layers of clothes-)

As he isn’t a ghost, he doesn’t have a realm. He’s well known with spirits however.

Aesop Carl: Working as an embalmer, Aesop has seen some disturbing things. He spends lots of time on his own, and when he is around others, he’s very quiet. He’s very smart and quick footed. He isn’t very strong though. He tends to stay towards the back of the group as well, which makes him an easy target for getting snatched away by spirits.

He can trap spirits for a small amount of time in a coffin, but that coffin takes a while to set up and it’s not easy to move either. He also has to get close enough to the spirit to be able to trap them. He also can create decoys to allow the group some extra time as the spirit tries to harm the decoy. He also can hide people inside empty coffins. He has quite a nasty temper and can be quite rude and distant.

As he isn’t a ghost, he has no realm, and many spirits know him as their embalmer.

Victor Grantz (Ghost): Victor spends much of his time in the spirit world, spending his time sending letters to the different ghosts in the realms. He occasionally does errands for Mary and Joseph.

As for his death, Victor died of a broken heart after his postdog, Wick, died. He died a few hours after Wick had.

His "realm” is the spirit world. He doesn’t have any special powers like Luca (electricity) or Norton (Magnetic Push/Pull), he’s only able to send letters across realms. His spirit form and human form are the exact same. He (interestingly enough) spends most of his time in his human form, seeing as his spirit form doesn’t have an real benefits to it. Also, his human form is taller.

Tracy Reznik: Tracy is very energetic and very sweet. She spends most of her time fiddling with gadgets. When Victor was still alive, Tracy and Victor would write letters to each other. They were small and silly little letters. The day Victor died was the first day Tracy hadn’t gotten a letter since they first met.

Fan Wujiu (Ghost): We already know Fan’s story. Fan spends a lot of time underneath the bridge he drowned underneath.

He drowned when waiting for Xie underneath the bridge he wanders around.

His “realm” is very small, that being the small stream underneath the bridge, but he can really go wherever he wants, teleportation perks and such. He’s most powerful when he’s in a body of water, as he come appear and disappear as he pleases. He can also drown ya. His spirit form and human form vary. Usually, his spirit form has him a black kimono or a yellow and black raincoat, his hair in a long braid that drags to the floor, and fabric covering most of his face along with a black umbrella and black eyes, as well as deep purple swirls that cover like half his face. His human form usually has short black hair, yellow eyes, a black jacket, red shirt and black jeans with black sneakers. He switches between the two forms, seeing as staying in one form too long can make him act out. (Spirit form makes him very aggressive and murderous, while human form makes him shaky and oftentimes clouds his thinking. Also, it’s possible for him to redrown in his human form, which adds to the issues)

Xie Bi’an: Xie spends most of his time by himself, although in recent times, he watches over Luckster after he falls ill. He rarely goes out anymore and tends to dress in all white with few blue accents. After he started to take care of Luckster, he became a little more open and a little more social.

Luckster: As the younger son of his family and a spirit medium, Luckster was never really alone. Watching his older sibling participate in their father’s detective agency, he took a liking to solving cases. He became a very smart and observant boy. He ran into trouble a lot, and one day, after an encounter with Fan Wuiju’s spirit, he fell ill, coughing up a thick black liquid. After an examination by his mother, it was determined he had come into contact with an evil spirit. Luckster himself doesn’t remember the actual encounter, only coming across a strange man underneath a bridge and then waking up at home. It was Xie Bi’an who had found him.

Patricia Dorval: The enchantress who supplies herbs and medicine to help those (like Luckster) who have been cursed by evil spirits (like Fan), she’s helped dozens and saved even more from dying from their curses. She was cursed herself a long time ago, and doesn’t wish the same fate to others.

Miss Nightingale: A young woman who works at the Madison Manor.

Emma Woods: The local gardener.

Emily Dyer: The local doctor.

Mary ??? (Ghost): Mary spends a lot of time with Joseph, watching the world go by. She mostly keeps evil spirits from causing too chaos while Joseph’s job is to keep the balance between humans and spirits.

Her death involves her being beheaded (as her original story states)

Her special ability is that she can travel through mirrors, broken or not, big or small. This has caused Joseph to remove all mirrors from his room, because the last thing he wants to see is Mary crawling through his mirrors.

Her “realm” is any place with mirrors. The more damaged/smaller a mirror is, the more energy it takes and the more time it takes her to travel. She isn’t super strong either (she lost to an unarmed, half asleep Joseph) but she can cut you. Her human form and spirit form are pretty similar, with the main difference being the clothes she decides to wear for each form, one being more casual (human) and one more royal (spirit), she uses both forms often.

Joseph Desaulnier: Joseph spends a lot of time with Mary, watching the world go by. Mary mostly keeps evil spirits from causing too chaos while Joseph’s job is to keep the balance between humans and spirits. Interestingly enough, he is the only human who can enter the spirit world and other spirits boundaries freely without being harmed (unlike say, Naib, who needs a spirit like Norton to make sure he doesn’t... uh... die or get lost-)

Also, his camera can capture images of spirits as well as trap and/or stun the souls of spirits depending on whether he takes a picture or uses the flash. He also carries around a sword with him, which he can use to fight against aggressive spirits or hot headed humans.

Being human, he has no spirit form or realm, but his skin goes grey and his eyes turn completely blue when in the spirit realm, which Mary commonly refers to as his husk form. He’s naturally stronger than several spirits however, which gives him an advantage. His health is slowly deteriorating though, so he might be joining the spirit realm soon...

Claude Desaulnier (Ghost): Claude takes the form of a small child, the same age when he originally died to his illness (a variation of the same virus that’s afflicting Joseph right now) and he spends a lot of time with his twin brother.

Michiko ??? (Ghost): Michiko spends most of her time watching over different realms, and takes the form of a Geisha. When she has free time, she visits Antonio, and dances along to his violin.

Robbie ??? (Ghost): A little ghost spirit, Robbie spends all his time with Jannet and Yidhra. His realm is anywhere with plants, though he can’t beat many spirits in combat. He’ll try.

Antonio ??? (Half-Ghost): Antonio spends most of his time entertaining the spirits, using his violin. Sometimes his songs attract more famous and well known spirits. He resides at the Madison manor, where he plays hypnotic tunes for the spirits. Sometimes he sees Selene watching him from the doorway.

#idv #idv au #idv death au #death tw #abuse tw #kidnapping tw #smoking tw #drowning tw #uhhh #ask to tag #i guess if there's something i happen to miss #im just word vomiting by now #identity v

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talix18 · 4 years

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November 21

Yesterday Katelyn called to see if I wanted to hang out. Katelyn is the almost 22-year-old who I call my adopted niece but she’s something more than that. I lived with K and her mom from the time K was 18 months old until she was four-and-a-half so I was her de facto other mom. I know it’s just the slightest approximation of what parenting must feel like but I treasure the memory of her being satisfied with coming to me if Mom wasn’t available. Three-year-old K running towards me when I showed up to pick her up from daycare. The memory of the Christmas when all K wanted from Santa was to see her father and her mother and I couldn’t make that happen – talk about powerlessness. Watching her sing at her high school variety show remembering how I’d been too terrified to sing in front of people…

She inherited some things from me – her opinions and eagerness to share them is probably the big one, but she also, somehow, has come to love Def Leppard (I suspect that’s her boyfriend’s influence). You already know how Def Leppard introduced me to my first boyfriend. I can tell you exactly where I was and who I was with when I heard about the car accident that ultimately took Rick Allen’s arm. I remember that someone who worked at a music store called me to tell me Steve Clarke had died. Def Leppard was my third concert (1st: Asia; 2nd: Stray Cats) – I still can’t believe Mom let me go with Allen and some of his friends at 15. Some people have made-up imaginary friends – mine were real people.

I went up to see K at her mom’s place after work (Kate’s mom and her husband of a year and a week are still on their delayed honeymoon in Tennessee) and we talked about all kinds of things. She said something about Def Leppard touring with Motley Crue, which led me to the Crue documentary I just watched on Netflix over the weekend. I was a fan – saw them open for Ozzy once; had a poster on my ceiling for a while – but the milestones in their lives were vague memories. Of course Tommy was married to Heather Locklear and Vince committed vehicular manslaughter, but that was most of what I knew.

The documentary is an unflinching portrait of the toll drugs took on the band – specifically Nikki Sixx – but that’s not the part that really got to me. I know how addiction works. I had to stop the movie to Google what happened to Vince Neil’s daughter after her cancer diagnosis, which paid off as the next scene opened on her dead four-year-old body laying in the hospital bed. So now I’m having feelings about poor Vince losing his daughter after killing his friend how many years after the fact?

On the way home, after playing a Def Leppard song, the DJ mentioned the tour with Crue and I had to call Katelyn. We are definitely going, I assured her, now that I have even more emotions tied up with these people. I am definitely not thinking about the fact that “Crue called their friends in Def Leppard” to arrange the tour because I assume that means the Leps were also hard partiers and I’d rather not consider all the sordid debauchery that follows along. (Poison is also on the bill, and we’re all down with Bret since Rock of Love. Don’t threaten me with a good time!)

K and I also watched Mean Girls, which I had never seen, and I’m always happy to patch up a hole in my cultural reference knowledge. “Her hair is so big because it’s full of secrets” is everything. Feel free to welcome me to fifteen years ago.

I have to believe the increased meds dosage is making a difference. Tuesday alone I scheduled a doctor’s appointment (colorectal), an ultrasound (thyroid), a dinner/movie date with a friend, a massage, an eye exam, and a dentist’s appointment AND I enrolled for supplemental vision insurance. It seems like a reasonable amount to accomplish in one day, but I’d been putting off some of these appointments for months. Why is it so hard to pick up the phone and call someone? I will never be able to explain it. Trust me – I wish I could help people understand! The best I can do is recognize that I’m functioning more effectively and keep track of what I’m doing that’s different.

Yesterday I committed to flying to Boston to see a friend get married on New Year’s Eve. “Black tie optional”? Hell yeah I want to go hang out in that hotel and see that venue that my amazing friend and her intended are having a black-tie optional shin-dig in! I can’t imagine my lifestyle ever affording me such luxurious splurges on the regular so I need to take advantage of the opportunities when they manifest. Besides, I already have a dress that I got for a black-tie New Year’s Even anniversary party a few years ago; wearing it a second time makes it an even better value! (We don’t discuss how much money I ultimately spend on a wrap and statement earrings.) (Ack! I need to make an appointment with Katelyn for my hair!)

I haven’t seen Karen (the friend getting married) in FIVE years, which seems impossible, but there it is. Karen is one of my original gang of Webpeeps – Webpepes 1.0! Most of us met on a news aggregate website, got to know each other in the forum (4um elites represent), and created a new bulletin board to hang out in. At our peak we had about 150 members but the core group was about 40, and I’ve had the pleasure of meeting at least 30 of us in meatspace.

The first time I met Karen (GreenBeans/GB) was at her then husband’s 30TH (?) birthday party. Rider (PsiDefect), Tim (GasMasher), and I drove my car up to Boston from Philly (Tim and I drove up from MD) to surprise this dude we’d never met, and that cemented my friendship with both Karen and Ted (Law). Their marriage broke up some time ago, which I learned the weekend she and I got together in Orlando with Catrina (CatWritr) and CJ (Hajen). Which was somehow five full years ago.

The first time I met ANY of these nerds was…I don’t even know how long ago at the original Farkoasterfest. I lived with Katelyn and Vanessa at the time and V straight up took pictures of Rider and his license plate when he pulled up to scoop me and head out to Sandusky, OH. I do know I was working at SSA and it was relatively early in my tenure, so early-2000s? It was also probably the first time I spent an entire weekend with people not in recovery since I’d gotten clean. Several hundred miles away with nearly perfect strangers – who thought that was a good idea?

It turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Some of the people I met that weekend and after are straight up some of my closest friends. It was my first experience making friends as an adult, which is startlingly difficult to do. My first group of friends that didn’t start in our hometown or on campus or in recovery – people I connected with in a realm where all we had was the words on the screen and our wit.

Places I’ve since hung out with these people include Seattle twice, Cedar Point one or two more times, Northern VA, DC, PA, and Toledo. I’ve seen at least three couples wed and have almost ten kids between them. I dated the guy in Toledo for a few years. I flew out to Seattle for Andrea (BigOrangeCat/TheOtherAndrea)’s 40th birthday party and to visit her in the hospital before she died. We helped Amy (Hisey) mourn the loss of her nearly full-term daughter. We helped Joe (ThedNeedles) deal with his ex keeping his son away from him – some of his helped him with legal aid. We watched each other’s kids grow up and have kids of their own. Norm (Zorgon) just emailed to let me know he was in town (-ish –northern DC suburb) and wanted to connect but was laden with germs – we get together for a meal very few years when work brings him this way. Never let anyone tell you your online friends don’t count.

(Logging back in to the old bulletin board to count heads gifted me with a video of Mike (BitZero) (father of FarKoasterFest) smashing up some obsolete Fark hardware. Good times!)

I reached out to CJ and Cat to see if either one was planning on coming to the wedding to offer the other side of the king-sized bed I’ll be sleeping in in Boston and I’m glad I did. CJ’s got a handful of kids so money is always a concern and I’m paying for the room whether I’m alone or with someone else. We’ll be FaceTiming Cat at midnight and maybe during the ceremony too.

In fact, I’ve been suspiciously functional this week. Monday was meh, but since then I’ve had three good, productive days in a row. I have no specific plans tonight so I could go to a meeting, or I could go home and see if any of this momentum can be channeled into house projects. Coming up with a fictional framing device has given me the opportunity to figuratively walk myself through the necessary steps to get started. So whatever comes of this writing exercise, it’s been worth doing.

#nanowrimo #f**k fifty

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sparklyaxolotlstudent · 5 years

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La Catrina Part 3

In which Adrien is denser than Stitch.

“Well, that was weird”

Adrien threw himself at his oversized bed, while Plagg came out of his school bag and went to his minifridge for some cheese.

“The fact that you’re a model yet use the same tacky clothes everyday?” He said, taking a big chunk of the stinky cheese he loved so much.

“No…” Adrien looked at his clothes. “Well, besides that. That Anciel guy inviting me to that festival. I thought he hated me”

“Is that the guy who told you that your full name was Adrien ‘Doormat’ Agreste?

“… yes”

“Wasn’t he also the guy who apologized for calling you an idiot because he thought you already knew?”

“… yes”

“And also called you as useless as the ‘ueue’ in ‘queue’?”

“… pretty sure he hadn’t said that”

“Oh, he probably told it to Marinette behind your back” another big bite of cheese. “Oh right, you were saying?”

“That it was weird that he invited me to the festivel, since he clearly thinks so lowly of me”

“What else he said? It’s just the two of you?”

“You were there”

“Yeah, but I wasn’t paying attention”

“We’re going with Nathaniel and Marinette too.”

“Maybe it’s a double date and he’s being the wingman”

“A double date? But I don’t like Nathaniel that way!”

Plagg stopped midchew. He was using all his willpower to not slap some sense into Adrien, as he was pretty sure he would only get the poor kid thanosed. Or more confused. He then realized he only had two options, either be frustrated with this kitten obliviousness, or troll him into oblivion and enjoy the ride there. He chose the second one.

“Well, Marinette did help you that time with the fencing girl. Maybe she just wants a date with the Rainbow kid and was too self-conscious to tell you about it herself.”

“But I’m not gay! I mean, Nathaniel is kind of cute and has pretty eyes, but he’s not my type!... I mean, if I had a type for guys!”

“Ah well, then you should just cancel and let Marinette on her own, despite being such a Good Friend™ to you” Plagg was using all his willpower not to snicker. How could Adrien not realize the setup was for him and Marinette was beyond him, and he was older than time. Well, the Time Kwami was technically his older sibling, but still…

Adrien was confused, on the one hand, he didn’t liked Nathaniel that way, but on the other hand, he did owe it to Marinette. He then wondered if he could switch Nathaniel for Luka, like Marinette did. No wait, maybe for another girl.

“I was sure Marinette was into Luka… maybe that’s her type? Androgynous slim guys with black nail polish?”

Plagg just looked at him. He never jumped this high even when he was Chat Noir. “GAH! Fine! I will do it! FOR MARINETTE!”

Adrien marched to his father’s office, as it was the only obstacle for his date with… Marinette’s date he meant. He knew his schedule was as packed as always (Except when it mysteriously wasn’t) but this time he would go there even if that meant confronting his father. He arrived at the ridiculously big office, outside of which was Nathalie in an equally ridiculously big desk.

“Nathalie! I need to speak with Father”

Nathalie looked up from her work, unimpressed.

“Adrien, what a great coincidence. I was about to go for you, your Father wants to talk with you.”

“Oh fiddlesticks” Adrien swore in a lowe voice. It usually wasn’t a good thing that his father requested him. Nathalie looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “Sorry for my rude language”

Nathalie then buzzed Mr. Agreste, and they both got inside his office.

“Father, before anything else happens, I want to ask for permission this Friday for the Festival of Dia de Muertos that the Morales family is hosting.” Gabriel raise an eyebrow, looking intensely at his son. “Marinette…”

“The designer girl from your class? You’re going with her?”

“Well, technically…”

“Hmm… Mister Morales actually called personally to request our presence on the festival. We might even make a deal and he gets to feature some of my brand in his next movie. Maybe his daughter will even dress an Agreste original for a Gala. I think Pink is her color…. Anyway, he did request for us to wear something appropriate to the celebration, so Nathalie has been investigating in some Catrin suits. Miss Morales wants to do the sugar skull make-up herself”

Gabriel was happy that his son finally got on a date with his little secret girlfriend that he did not want to talk about, and in such public event! Maybe it was a bit too soon to be thinking on grandchildren, but he sure as heck was going to keep sketching wedding dresses until he made the perfect one for his future daughter-in-law. He was very glad, if a bit annoyed, that both times that Marinette Dupain-Cheng had attracted his attention – or rather, Hawk Moth’s- she had been able to calm herself down and evade the butterfly. His son deserves the best of the best, and if that meant a girl who managed to convert her negative emotions into something positive, even if it was frustrating him that there was someone defying his akumatizations, then so be it.

Adrien was again at his room. Plagg was… being Plagg. Adrien was still processing what just had happened.

“That went better than how I anticipated”

“Oh?”

“Father allowed me to go to the Festival without any strings attached. Well, I do have to wear a Catrin suit, and Gabriella will paint my face like a sugar skull”

“A Sugar Skull? I love those! They were better when they used grounded human bones, but sugar is okay too.”

“In hindsight, I should have remembered that Gabriella was friends with Marc and Marinette is a much better planner than me. She probably asked Gaby to tell her parents.”

----

“I HAVE NOTHING PLANNED! THIS IS A DISASTER!” Marinette was going though her wardrobe, hoping to find the perfect outfit for her date with Adrien. The girl squad was of course with her. “IF I CHOSE THE WRONG THING THE MORALES MIGHT SEE IT AS AN INSULT TO THEIR CULTURE AND I WILL CREATE AN INTERNATIONAL INCIDENT AND ADRIEN WILL HATE ME FOREVER!”

“Would you relax a bit girl?” Alya teased her friend, trying to be reassuring. It wasn’t working.

“Yeah, I’m sure Adrien would love anything you wear” Added Rose, always the positive influence.

“I bet you could go wearing a potato sack and he would still love it” grinned Alix.

“To be fair, Marinette would make that potato look very cute on her.”

Rose looked at Juleka about to protest, but conceded the point. “Yeah, Marinette would look cute in anything”

“Girls, girls, focus! We have to help Marinette chose something appropriate for her date”

“Do we? Didn’t you said that Marc told you that you were going to coordinate with his friends?”

“Yeah, when I went last year with my daddy, most people went dressed in traditional garb. I was the most fabulous one, of course”

The other girls looked at Chloe. They still couldn’t believe that Marinette had invited her to their Girl Squad™ meeting. She had been behaving, but it was still weird.

“It’s not mandatory, but the Morales really encourage people to share the traditions to have a good time.”

“And how was the party?” Asked tentatively Rose.

“I wish I had been less sour back then, I missed out on some fun. It was great, people dancing, a real mariachi band, and the food! It was exquisite!”

“I thought you only liked sushi…”

“I do love me some sushi, thank you very much, but their salads and traditional dishes were delicious. And the desserts! I had buñuelos, tamarindos, cocadas, and Sugar Skulls are really not my thing, but Gaby gave me one made of amaranth and honey, and it was really tasty. I got a few pounds that weekend hehe”

The girls giggled nervously. They really liked this new Chloe and hoped she would last a lot.

“Cesaire is right, you should relax, the Morales are really nice people, they would forgive you even if you somehow manage to knock down their altar. Plus, I will be there too, I can totally run interference if you do manage to do something embarrassing.”

Marinette smiled at that. She hoped this date was a success.

#miraculous ladybug #ml fic #ml fiction #ml la catrina #maybe nathadrien

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lunaamatista · 6 years

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References to Mexican Culture in Coco

By now, you’ve probably heard Coco is one of the most well researched films about Mexico and its culture. There are many small details that make it feel like Mexico: the stone roads in a small town, the traditional embroidery patterns in the shirts of Miguel’s female relatives, an uncle wearing a soccer team shirt, even a bowl of limes in a stand of aguas frescas. Of course, the looks of papel picado, day of the dead altars, and cemeteries are also well represented. The clothes of the relatives Miguel sees in the world of the dead is accurate to their eras. While these are a nice touch, you’re ultimately not missing out on anything by not spotting them, so in this post I wanted to talk about the more culturally based details that show the most research and you might not understand if you’re not very well acquainted with Mexican culture:

Names and pronouns

1. Coco

This one is the most straightforward, so let’s start with the name of the movie. While the protagonist is called Miguel, we soon learn that Coco is his great grandmother. “Coco” is what we call a woman called “Socorro” (lit. “help” - it’s a very traditional name that’s considered old fashioned).

The Rivera family calls her “Mamá Coco,” which means “Mother Coco.” They also call Imelda “Mamá Imelda,” and so on. Calling your grandparents “mamá” or “papá” instead of “abuelita” and “abuelito” is a thing you can do, though I can’t say how common it is.

In the Spanish version of the film, Miguel’s grandmother, Elena, talks to Mamá Coco with “usted” (I didn’t notice other instances, but they might be there). Spanish has a formal and an informal version of singular “you:” “usted” for formal, “tú” for informal. The verb conjugation also changes depending on which one you use. It is used differently all through the Spanish speaking world, but in Mexico, other than older people you respect (like a teacher), you can talk to older family members with “usted,” which means respect rather than the distance the formality might imply. Nowadays, it has fallen out of use: as someone born in the 90s, my grandparents talked to their parents almost exclusively with “usted;” out of my parents, my mother talked to hers with “usted” and my father with “tú;” I speak to my parents with “tú.” I have cousins on my mother’s side that talk to their parents with “usted,” but I would say that makes them a minority nowadays.

Traditions and beliefs

2. Crossing to the world of the dead on a bridge of marigolds

If you paid very close attention, you might have noticed two children scattering marigold petals on the ground and their mother telling them not to scatter them, but to make a bridge so the dead could cross over. It was easy to miss, but that’s actually something we believe!

There are several types of flowers you can place in a day of the dead altar, but the one you can’t do without is the yellow marigold. Its petals are scattered all around the altar, and at the very front, you’ll form a path surrounded with candles. The bright yellow will help the dead properly make their way to the altar, and the candles surrounding the path will light their way.

3. Crossing to the world of the dead with a xoloitzcuintli

Several prehispanic cultures had a similar concept of the underworld as many other cultures around the world, in which there was a river they had to cross to get there. For both the Aztecs/Mexicas and the Mayas, a xoloitzcuintli would guide their souls so they could cross the river safely and arrive to Mictlan (Mexicas) or Xibalba (Mayas). To achieve this, a xoloitzcuintli would be sacrificed and buried with its owner. Day of the dead altars can have a xoloitzcuintli figure so that the dead can make it back safely as well.

4. Being thrown into a cenote

My screenshot isn’t the best but at some point, Miguel is thrown into a big pit with water. That’s not just any random pit, but a cenote.

Cenotes are naturally ocurring sinkholes caused by the collapse of limestone. The word “cenote” has Maya etymology, as cenotes are commonly found in the Yucatán peninsula, where they (still!) live. In old times, they would sacrifice animals and people as tributes to the gods, and also throw ceramic objects and jewelry as part of the tribute.

5. Alebrijes

I left these for last because they don’t have any deep meaning. Alebrijes are colorful fantastic animals that a man called Pedro Linares saw in a fever dream. He was a skilled artisan, so when he woke up from his long sickness, he brought them to life in his art.

In Coco, alebrijes are spiritual guides, and while their designs are to the likes of the real alebrijes, the film actually gave them a more important role than they have for us.

Music

6. Genres of Mexican music

The songs in Coco all belong to genres we’ve grown up with, so even if someone isn’t that knowledgeable in music theory or genres, we could vaguely tell they sounded “Mexican” (some more than others). Someone who is more knowledgeable of music genres can help me out here, but I think:

- Remember Me / Recuérdame is a bolero ranchero.

- Much Needed Advice / Dueto a través del tiempo is a ranchera.

- Everyone Knows Juanita / Juanita is a corrido.

- Un Poco Loco is a son jarocho.

- The World Es Mi Familia / El mundo es mi familia is huapango inspired.

- Proud Corazón / El latido de mi corazón is a a son (son de mariachi? I’m most uncertain about this one).

6.5 Un Poco Loco

Un Poco Loco starts in English as

What color is the sky, ay mi amor, ay mi amor, You tell me that it’s red, ay mi amor, ay mi amor

And in Spanish as

Que el cielo no es azul, ay mi amor, ay mi amor, Es rojo dices tú, ay mi amor, ay mi amor

(You say the sky isn’t blue, oh my love, oh my love, It’s red, you say, oh my love, oh my love)

This might be a deliberate reference to a huapango called “Cielo rojo,” which says:

Mientras yo estoy dormido Sueño que vamos los dos muy juntos A un cielo azul Pero cuando despierto El cielo es rojo, me faltas tú

(As I sleep I dream of us close together Going towards a blue sky But when I wake up The sky red, I am missing you)

Within the universe of the movie, this would make it an anachronistic reference, though. Additionally, Cielo rojo is a song of loss and Un poco loco is about a woman who thinks very differently and likes to say everything backwards, and that makes him crazy (in a good way!). Hence, in English we’ve got her saying to put his shoes on his head instead of his feet, and in Spanish him saying she might think with her feet and also how she keeps playing with his thoughts. Cielo rojo is a pretty sad song.

7. La Llorona

And I purposefully left La Llorona out of that list (it’s originally a son istmeño, though).

There’s a full musical number in Spanish, which seems to have suprised some people. For those of us who watched Coco in Spanish, it wasn’t too hard to guess it was this one: La Llorona was likely left in Spanish because it’s a very old folk song, one of those that are so old it has no known author and there are many different versions of the lyrics.

“Llorona” just means “weeper,” which is not really as unusual of a word in Spanish as it is in English. It’s closer to “crybaby” in use. She’s also what we call a character in a Mexican folktale. If you’re curious, the version used in Coco says the following, with “llorona” being the singer herself:

Poor me, llorona, llorona dressed in sky blue Even if it costs me my life, llorona, I won’t stop loving you I climbed the highest pine tree to see if I could spot you Since the pine tree was so green, llorona, it cried upon seeing me cry

What is grief and what is not grief, llorona: it all is grief to me Yesterday, I was crying to see you, llorona; today, I’m crying because I saw you

Poor me, llorona, llorona dressed in sky blue Even if it costs me my life, llorona, I won’t stop loving you

Famous people

8. Ernesto de la Cruz

“Isn’t he an original charact-” NO LISTEN STAY WITH ME.

Remember how I said Remember Me is a bolero ranchero? Guess who we associate boleros rancheros with?

That would be Pedro Infante, who happens to have a strong resemblance to no other than Ernesto de la Cruz.

It’s probably not a coincidence at all, as later on we see Ernesto with Pedro Infante and Jorge Negrete at his party. Ernesto de la Cruz was explicitly stated to be inspired on both of them and another singer of the same genres, Vicente Fernández.

My parents left the movie saying “Pedro Infante didn’t deserve that burn,” lol.

9. Frida Kahlo (and Diego)

She does have a rather prominent role so she’s hard to miss. For those unaware, Frida is the artist who made the flaming papaya.

The themes in Frida’s are autobiographical, as she had a rather unusual life due to polio and injury. She painted herself and her suffering a lot. That might be why we get performances with many Fridas and things like a crying cactus that’s herself.

Bonus: her husband, Diego Rivera, is also in the same studio where we meet Frida. He was an important artist, specifically a muralist.

10. Other Mexican celebrities

I already brought up Pedro Infante and Jorge Negrete as characters that appear right beside Ernesto de la Cruz.

But we also get to see a cameo of many other famous Mexican names in Ernesto’s studio! Excluding the people at the piano, from left to right:

Emiliano Zapata, a revolutionary; (my best guess is) Adela Velarde, another revolutionary; Ernesto and Miguel; (probably) Agustín Lara, composer and singer; (probably) Dolores del Río, actress (in Hollywood too!); Cantinflas, comedian and actor; Pedro Infante, singer and actor; María Félix, actress; El Santo, wrestler and actor; Jorge Negrete, singer and actor.

They kind of looked like this:

Another bonus: this gal looks like the calavera garbancera / the Catrina illustrated by José Guadalupe Posada.

There might be more things I’m missing or forgot; if that’s the case, feel free to let me know! You can also fix my music genres for me since that’s never been my forte.

I hope this was of interest to someone!

#I was gonna do places but there are so many it'd have to be a whole new post #Disney #Pixar #Coco

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la-knight · 6 years

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For the writing 1, 2, 7

1: Describe the plot of your current WIPs in a single sentence each.

Ohmigawd…that’s hard…okay, let me make a list real quick.

The 12th Camellia: an autistic queer Mormon girl has to rescue her sister when her sister ends up trapped in their favorite VR MMO; Six of Crows meets Sword Art Online.

Bare Not Your Heel to the Coward’s Arrow: world-hopping fanfic to fix all the dumb shit that happens in CW’s Arrow

A Little Black Book and a Little Black Dress: World-hopping fanfic to fix all the dumb shit that happens in The Blacklist

Blow Northerne Wynde: a queer autistic woc Mormon girl and her sentient starship get hurled through a wormhole that takes her back to our time, followed by alien invaders who have seeded Earth with sleeping kaiju they intend to wake up to exterminate us; Pacific Rim meets Outlander, sort of.

The Edge of Darkest Devotion: Sequel to a finished fanfic about Loki’s motivation/redemption/character journey in Thor 1, Avengers 1, and afterward.

Empress of Ice and Oceans: Hades and Persephone, but using Yoruban and Russian mythology and starring two black leads.

Eidolon: If Romeo & Juliet were both Batman-esque vigilantes working for the Crown when the ghost of a homicidal necromancer and Jack the Ripper attack magical AU London.

Facets of Snow and Frost: World-hopping fanfic to fix all the dumb shit that happens in the MCU/MTCU.

Glass: industrialized magical urban fantasy version of Alice in Wonderland with a lot of gay poc kids fighting against the ridiculousness of a prophecy that says the female lead is going to be the dark ruler that will plunge the magical world into a new Dark Age.

Hallows: A genderfluid goddex tells the story of how they were kidnapped and forced to fight as a magical gladiator, then was blackmailed into betraying their home when they fell in love and their wife was used as a hostage against them (they’re telling their sister while rotting in a prison cell, but the sister doesn’t know if she believes them).

House of Gears: Teenage Jewish Cinderella’s little sister is kidnapped by the bogeyman, so she must crash a steampunk monsters’ ball with the help of her former not-so-imaginary friends (including a genderfluid Princex Charming/Sleeping Beauty and a lesbian fairy godsister) to get the sister back.

In the Dark of the Night and the Hour of the Wolf: Redemption fic for Hela from Thor Ragnarok (female villains almost never get the redemption fanservice male villains do). Ties into “Edge of Darkest Devotion.”

King or Captain, Sinner or Saint: World-hopping fanfic redeem Killmonger, ties into Facets.

The Lightning Bleeds Scarlet and Gold: World-hopping fanfic to fix all the dumb shit that happens in CW’s Flash (like Magenta losing her powers, Iris and Barry taking so long to get together, Barry’s dad dying, stuff like that). Ties into Bare Not Your Heel.

Once in the Winter’s Tide: Fanfic set between Winter Soldier and Civil War that ties X-Men, Blade, Spider-Man, and other things into the MCU, starring Bucky and a mutant woman with 4 kids and a dangerous secret. Ties into “Darkest Devotion.”

Once Upon a Time: Redemption fanfic for Nuada Silverlance, the villain from Hellboy 2.

A Palace of Ink and Stardust: Autistic woc Mormon girl falls in love with a changeling at her school and has to come to grips with being bisexual and Mormon (cute wlw fluff all around, with magic).

The Silver Princess: A bi Mormon healer’s apprentice falls in love with an Elven princess and the princess’s twin brother, while all three of them have to deal with a war brewing between humans and fae. All the queer poc rep.

Snow White, Blood Red: World-hopping fanfic to fix all the dumb shit that happens in Hellboy 2: The Golden Army, starring an autistic woc, a trans woc, and their gay best guy friend.

Yes, I have ADD. No, that’s not a joke.

2: Do you have anything published? If so, where?

I’ve published several short stories and a poem. I’ve self-published my first two books, but they were heavily whitewashed at the insistence of the agents who originally repped them and I didn’t realize at the time how problematic that was (although I knew it was annoying af) so I’m rereleasing them fully restored to their original poc (and for the most part queer) glory when I have the time.

As for my short stories, you can find my latest in the anthology Tomorrow’s Cthulhu, on my Patreon, or in the anthology New Legends: Caster - Castle - Creature.

7: What was the first novel you ever tried to write? If you’ve never tried to write a novel, then what was the first story you ever wrote?

The first story I ever wrote was in crayon when I was 4. It was a fanfic about how the Red Ranger fell in love with Rita Repulsa’s daughter (who was NOT the daughter of Lord Zed, so he was her stepdad) and while she was…like…wicked, you know, bad temper and chaotic neutral type, like Wade Wilson level morals, she hated being evil because it was too much work and she was lazy and she just wanted to date the Red Ranger because he was hot and nice to her.

The first NOVEL I ever wrote, I was 8 or 9, it took me an entire school year, and I wrote it by hand. It was called Catrina and Stephen: How an American Girl Became Princess of Monaco, and it was basically the adventures of this random girl who, on the eve of her 17th birthday, bought tickets through a magazine (I don’t know…) to the Coronation-and-Find-a-Bride Ball of Prince Stephen of Monaco, and her parents paid to fly her to Monte Carlo (in the middle of her senior year…for some reason) and the prince was like 19 and they met and fell in love a la Cinderella at the ball and got married literally the next day and had all these weird adventures and like, I shit you not, 35 kids (lots of triplets and quadruplets and I think a few quints).

I worked on it every day, in school, for bellwork. We got a writing prompt every morning and I always found a way to incorporate the prompt into the next chapter of my book. So literally one chapter might be them going to the grocery store and having to shop “like poor people” and the next chapter an evil scientist shrinks them down and they have to create a fort out of toothpicks and lincoln logs to protect themselves from a tarantula and rats, then in the next chapter they might scout an expedition to fucking Pluto and meet some eldritch alien horrors, but one of them fell in love with one of the kids (also being a kid, so cute “that’s my girlfriend” child love) and it became a star-crossed lovers thing that gets resolved by the UN. It was wild shit.

By the end of the year it filled 6 composition notebooks, had over 150 chapters, and ended with Catrina and Stephen dying and the alien and princess taking over the Earth and forming an intergalactic empire or something, but it was cool because basically it was just, everyone can do whatever except bomb each other or torture people.

#ask LA Knight #writing

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thetwstwildcard · 2 years

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Would any of your ocs be interested in interacting with one or both of my snake twins? 🐍🐍

For fun I'll do how my NRC staff would interact with them ^^

Catrina Maravilla: Complete fear in the beginning, especially since they were there before she started teaching. She'd try to hide behind Trein, Sara or Divus as soon as she catches a glimpse. I can still see her be nervous around them but be more open to talk to them now. She'd freeze up like a mouse if she feels them "stalking" her. Poor Catrina is the ancient incantations/magic professor so I can only imagine how rigid she'd be if they have to teach at the same time 🤣

Sarafina Abara: She'll talk to them but she's suspicious. So small talk is probably the farthest she'll go or make up lies about herself to talk to them. Doesn't mean she dislikes them, she's just not one to trust easy

Lucien Donadieu: Much more open to them, he tends to drink after performances with his favorite being wine so he's more partial to Viper. The man was a cirque performer so he's definitely entertaining

Emiliano Posada: Metaphorical snake meets real snakes. He's also one to drink often so that may be how he spends time with them (fuck him up sneks, make the manipulator get manipulated!!) Snake probably saw Emiliano in one of those teen magazines because he's a famous singer

Elysia Di Siena: Since she assists in ancient curses she sees both fairly often. She is also someone of a mysterious past (just showing up at the school and already knowing Crowley). She's covered in ancient magic symbols and spells from long dead languages so they might take interest in that on her. I can see Elysia knowing if Snake tries to use a spell on her and its a simple "Please try me, I'll cut your tongue off. But don't worry, I'll be gentle~" with a closed eye smile before going back to her usual happiness

Valdis Di Siena: Doesn't like them, doesn't like that Elysia is close to them and he takes magic seriously and knows the possible side effects of ancient magic so he doesn't like their attitudes (who does Valdis like??? Elysia.. And that's because they've been travel companions for centuries)

Rontia Chesis: Tall moth meets tall sneks, they're a little taller than her (Moth man is around 7 ft/214 cm so that's how tall she is). She's one of the most childish staff and is mostly out at night so she probably hasn't interacted much with them. She has heard strange sounds come from the forest at night but never looks into it (doesn't get paid enough, lol)

Lorcan Bellamira: They teach the same class so he has talked to both a fair amount. Plus he also likes wine (yeah... Wine... That's totally the red liquid always in his glass...). He definitely trusts Viper more, for good reason. I can see him talk about the subject they teach a lot with them

Aegeus Hexis: Old dad that falls for their tricks a lot. As a demigod he has little sense of self preservation so he's not even cautious around them (though that can ruin the fun). Watch him call them "kids"

Eztli Maravilla: Another ancient immortal. When Eztli is alone he usually mumbles to himself in dead languages (because he's still learning modern languages). He's quick to pick up on what they're doing (because his mother is quite similar). Old bat who is both oblivious and cautious to them (doesn't know that he's cautious)

#twst oc #twisted wonderland oc #oc #twstoc #twst ocs #twst staff ocs #catrina maravilla #sarafina abara #lucien donadieu #emiliano posada #elysia di siena #valdis di siena #lorcan bellamira #aegeus hexis #eztli maravilla

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nancydhooper · 3 years

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What It’s Like to Face a Deadly Pandemic Behind Bars

For incarcerated people, it can be impossible to prevent contracting COVID-19. Crowded quarters, limited access to hygiene, and inadequate medical care have made jails and prisons the sites of some of the worst outbreaks in the country. To date, more than 350,000 people have tested positive while incarcerated and 2,305 have died, in addition to 145 corrections staff. Some state and local governments have responded by authorizing the release of people who are elderly or immunocompromised. But there are still far too many people languishing in unsafe and inhumane facilities, sometimes not even able to communicate with loved ones.

Below, four formerly incarcerated people share their stories about what it’s like to be incarcerated during the pandemic, while friends and family members are often left helpless on the outside.

Ideare Bailey

Dallas, Texas

I started getting sick about a week after arriving at Dallas County Jail. I tried to get help from the infirmary but the nurses kept sending me back to the dorm without even taking my temperature. I couldn’t file a grievance either because I had no pen or paper. So I just kept going back to the clinic, and went about 15 times before they finally took my temperature and found out I had a 106-degree fever. But they still sent me back to my dorm even while I waited for my test results. A few days later, I tested positive for COVID-19 and they transferred me to the infirmary.

I thought I was going to die in there. They gave me no information about the virus or how to stop it from spreading. All I knew was that I was high risk because I have Type II diabetes, and they were not giving me enough insulin. If there was an emergency, I would have to bang on the windows to get a nurse’s attention. All I could do was try to keep breathing and pray to make it through.

During my time in the infirmary, I had no contact with my family. My wife was calling the jail over and over, but the staff wouldn’t let me use the phone. But I knew she was going to do whatever it takes, without me having to say anything. I’ve been with my wife for many years, and I feel blessed to have someone like her in my corner.

I ended up getting released because of my medical condition, but it took a while for them to finally let me out. When I finally got home, we sent our kids to stay with family while I recovered.

I feel like the jail could have done a lot more. Even though we’re in a confined space, with a bunch of people that maybe did wrong, you still have to treat people as humans. The jail started taking measures after they kept getting complaints from a bunch of sick people, but it was kind of late for that.

To people who are incarcerated right now, I would tell them to pray. Because at the end of the day, people are already looking at you as some kind of bad or evil person just because you’re incarcerated. So you have to help yourself. Try to keep something on your face, keep your distance. Pray.

Kivia Bailey

Before Ideare even went to jail, I remember us watching the news thinking ‘oh my God, jail is a bad place to be right now.’ Little did we know, seven days later that would be our reality when Ideare was incarcerated at Dallas County Jail. His incarceration was dangerous even before it began. I called him while he was in court for his intake, and I could hear people coughing all around him through the phone. I was panicking, but tried not to show it. I just told him to cover his face with his shirt.

Ideare and I kept in frequent contact for days, until one day I stopped hearing from him. I called the jail and found out they had taken him to the infirmary because he had tested positive for COVID-19. My husband never gets sick, even with his diabetes, so it was shocking when I finally got him on the phone and could barely recognize his voice. He was gasping, and barely had the strength to pick up the phone. At that moment, I was in the car with my kids. I didn’t want them to know about how horribly their dad was being treated, and how scared I was.

I did everything I could to get him out of jail. I hired a lawyer to seek bail reduction, but even that wasn’t enough, and I ended up having to sell my wedding ring to make a bail deposit. Even after all of that, it still took a while to get him out, because he needed an ankle monitor and none of the staff wanted to get near him to put it on because he was sick. All I wanted was to bring him home so wouldn’t die in jail.

The day I finally picked up Ideare from the Jail, he had lost so much weight he was unrecognizable. I just started crying. My God, he looked completely different. He looked like he was close to death.

You never think your family is going to go through something like this until it happens. It’s not like watching it on TV, when you might think ‘Oh, maybe it’s not so bad. Maybe they aren’t treating inmates like that for real.’ But when you actually see for yourself, it hits you. Incarcerated people are not being treated like human beings. No one should be treated that way.

Catrina Balderrama

Los Angeles, California

The staff at Century Regional Detention Facility (CRDF) didn’t know what to do with me when I tested positive for COVID-19 in April. I had only been there since mid-January and was among the first cases they knew about. I had a fever of 103.5 degrees, severe headaches, and was so sweaty I looked like I’d jumped in a pool. I was especially worried because I was pregnant at the time. I ended up having a miscarriage while I was in jail, and I believe the terrible conditions and treatment at CRDF caused it.

I started feeling sick about a week before they gave me a COVID test, even though I sent written and verbal requests days before. During that time, I was living in a unit with 200 other women, locked up in five by ten foot cells literally piled on top of each other. It’s so crowded in there that you’d be right next to a girl while she was using the toilet. We relied on the county to provide us with shelter and supplies, but there was never enough. You could go three days using just three sheets of toilet paper. Sometimes, you couldn’t find even half a bar of soap. The staff seemed like they didn’t care at all.

After I got sick, they sent me straight to the “hole,” a basement area where they keep people for disciplinary segregation. One of the guards told me I would die in there. They put me in a single person cell that was in disgusting condition, with old food under the bed and feces on the walls. I received only one paper mask, no soap, and they refused to give me my medicine, including an inhaler for my asthma. For days, I went without any meds or showers. I wasn’t allowed to contact my family or even check on my kids.

The jail staff seemed like they were trying to hide any information about COVID-19 from us. Anytime it came on the news, they would switch it off. They didn’t let the other inmates know I had tested positive because they didn’t want people to panic and bombard the mini clinic, which was already in bad shape even before the virus. The staff didn’t even tell me when I had a miscarriage. They knew I had lost the baby when they drew my blood for testing, and kept me on my prenatal diet without even telling me I wasn’t pregnant anymore. I have no doubt that their poor medical treatment and all the stress caused my miscarriage.

The treatment from staff was so dehumanizing. They bullied us and made us feel like scum. One time, an officer came and told me my release papers had come through and I was going home. When I got excited, she said, “April Fools,” and then, “See you later in hell when you die from COVID-19.” The other deputies outside my cell laughed about it. I was told I would die in the hole, and I believed it.

The worst part was that I was not able to contact my family. I had to ask one of the nurses to call them and let them know I was sick. I was really worried about my mom, who is in a coma. I am her conservator and I was afraid she might die and I’d never know.

I was finally released from jail on April 24, 2020. By that time, I had lost my home, kids, my job, my puppy — everything. I had lost a baby due to the staff’s negligence and I didn’t know whether I would ever be able to have another. Right now I am homeless. My daughter is living with my mother-in-law until I find a place to live. My son is in Ontario. My kids miss me and need me.

There is no justice whatsoever in our criminal justice system. People look at us like we are all bad people because we are in jail. I wish everybody would understand we are mothers, daughters, sisters. We are people.

Hendrey Boykins

Phoenix, Arizona

I was really scared when I went to jail in February 2020. I had just been diagnosed with tuberculosis, and I also have an irregular heartbeat and frequent high blood pressure, which makes me high-risk to COVID-19. I just wanted to get out alive.

I got sick immediately and repeatedly over the next few months. I had a dry cough, sore neck, and even spat up blood. But I was afraid to tell the staff about my symptoms because I knew they were throwing sick people in the hole. Other people in my pod felt the same way. Nobody wanted to die alone in the hole.

Because of my medical conditions, I was very careful about trying not to catch the virus even though it seemed impossible sometimes. Every pod has 15 cells, each with a triple bunk bed. There isn’t even a full arm’s length between mattresses. We shared a toilet, sink, table, and chair that rarely got cleaned. The entire pod shares two showers that get hosed down only once a week. Shared phones and railings hardly ever get cleaned. We were expected to take care of ourselves, but they never gave us the supplies we needed.

I did what I could to try to protect myself. Whenever I used the phone, I would put socks on my hands and tie plastic bags over them, or wrap the phone with my one dirty towel. They only gave us one paper mask. I wore mine every day even though it got dirty and smelled. A lot of other inmates didn’t wear theirs, and it was the same with staff. I tried to be safe and stay in my cell always, but my cellmates were leaving and coming back all the time. I was afraid that I would catch COVID-19 no matter how hard I tried to protect myself.

In July, I got sick again and so did many others in my housing unit. This time they tested us and put me in medical isolation at 4th Avenue Jail. I tested positive for COVID-19 and later learned that many people in my housing unit did too. When I was in medical isolation, the guards would not give me a blanket or a pillow, which made my headache worse. The medical staff would just take my temperature and not check anything else or would come and ask me questions through the door, but I couldn’t hear them. They didn’t care. They just walked away. I still had symptoms when they released me from medical isolation but the staff ignored it.

I was released from Maricopa County Jail in late July. Now I’m back home with my family and helping take care of my granddaughter so my daughter can go to school on a scholarship she won. We’re close, and we’re going to stay close through this pandemic.

Ximena

I fled to the U.S. from Mexico two decades ago after my husband was kidnapped for ransom and killed. I started a new life and ran a homeopathic pharmacy as I watched my three children grow up. But in 2019, I was arrested for illegal reentry during an unlawful traffic stop, and sent to CoreCivic detention center (CCA), where I spent many months in physical and emotional pain. I have several medical conditions, including diabetes, high blood pressure, and kidney cancer, and was not allowed cancer treatment.

We first heard about the coronavirus on TV, not from staff. Then people started getting sick. CCA made some changes, like stopping visitation, but they did not supply us with enough PPE and cleaning supplies. If anybody complained that they weren’t feeling well, the staff would just give us some aspirin or Tylenol, treating it like an allergy or flu. During that time, we were only allowed one shower every three days, and continued to live in crowded cells. I thought I would die from either COVID-19 or cancer. I had not received any cancer treatment since July of 2019, and my pain worsened. The medical staff did not help me, so I had to heat up a towel or sock in the microwave for relief, or sometimes some of the girls would give me painkillers. It was a hopeless situation. A lawyer was trying to get me out on bail or have someone vouch for me in court, but their requests were denied. The staff were trying to hide the dangers of COVID-19 from us, but we were not fooled.

I was deported at dawn on the day after my final court hearing. Since then, my life has changed 360 degrees. I lost the life I had built — my home, my business, my two daughters who are still there. It’s hard to start over at my age, especially with my illnesses. Sometimes I still don’t have the strength to live. The traumas I experienced in detention make me depressed, and some nights I can’t sleep. In detention, it’s like you’re not even a human being. Life goes by very slowly. You constantly feel as if you are at death’s door. You see people hanging themselves in their cells, or cutting their wrists. I used to cry every day, but now, it’s like I don’t have any tears left.

Hui de México a Estados Unidos hace veinte años, después de que a mi esposo lo secuestraran por dinero y lo mataran. Empecé una vida nueva, tuve una farmacia homeopática mientras criaba a mis tres hijos. Pero en el 2019, me arrestaron por haber reingresado al país ilegalmente, durante un control de tráfico ilegal y me enviaron al centro de detención CoreCivic (CCA), en el que pasé muchos meses de dolor físico y emocional. Tengo varias condiciones de salud, entre ellas diabetes, presión alta, cáncer del hígado y no me brindaron tratamiento para el cáncer.

Nos enteramos del coronavirus por la televisión, no por el personal de la detención. Luego la gente se empezó a enfermar. CCA implantó algunos cambios, como detener las visitas, pero no nos proveyeron suficiente equipo de protección (“PPE”) ni materiales de limpieza. Si alguien decía que no se sentía bien, el personal solamente nos daba aspirina o Tylenol, como si se tratara de una alergia o gripe. Solamente nos permitían bañarnos cada 3 días y continuamos viviendo en celdas llenas de gente. Pensaba que me iba a morir o de COVID-19 o de cáncer. No había recibido tratamiento para el cáncer desde julio de 2019, y mis dolores empeoraban. El personal médico no me ayudaba, así que tenía que calentar toallas o calcetas en el microondas para aliviar el dolor, o a veces algunas de las muchachas me conseguían analgésicos. Era una situación desesperanzadora. Un abogado estaba tratando de sacarme bajo fianza o que alguien me avalara en corte, pero las peticiones fueron denegadas. El personal trataba de escondernos los peligros del COVID-19, pero no nos lograron engañar.

Me deportaron al amanecer el día después de mi vista final en corte. Desde entonces, mi vida ha dado un cambio de 360 grados. Perdí la vida que había construido — mi hogar, mi negocio, a mis dos hijas que todavía están ahí. Es difícil volver a comenzar a mi edad, especialmente con mis enfermedades. Todavía a veces no tengo la fuerza para seguir viviendo. Los traumas que sufrí en la detención me deprimen y algunas noches no logro conciliar el sueño. Ingresada en la detención es como si ni siquiera fueses un ser humano. La vida pasa muy despacio. Ves cómo la gente se ahorca en sus celdas o se corta las venas. Solía llorar todos los días, pero ya no me quedan más lágrimas.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8247012 https://www.aclu.org/news/smart-justice/what-its-like-to-face-a-deadly-pandemic-behind-bars via http://www.rssmix.com/

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moonraccoon-exe · 6 years

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Not ffxv related and not to pry, but how was the Day of the Dead festival? It seemed fun and beautiful!(｡>﹏

I just learned the word Pry thanks to you. Thank you! Also, what an incredibly nice ask, dhsfjngf, thank you so much!! I could talk about this sort of stuff all day! (ノ*°▽°*)

Actually, I….couldn’t be in the parade, not at all. You mean that one, right? From the photos I shared in a reblog, the Day of the Dead parade at the City. :3

I tried to go, but the circumstances…well. We were late. My goal was to go to the main square where the parade would gather as the destination, but my family is more the “Let’s stay in one place” philosophy (while I’m the “let’s walk 5 kilometers!” one), so that’s me against 3 of them, and we stayed in the same place.

I also happen to be…incredibly smol. And, ya know, you hoomans are pretty darn tall.

So I couldn’t see anything… (╥ω╥)

I could have a good glimpse here and there, and there were giant balloons, and big floats, so that I could see. But the walking Catrinas and Catrines, and the dancers by foot, or the low part of the floats? Nope.

So the family not wanting to walk all the miles and the circumstances on arriving late, yeah…I could get to see a good ten minutes of the parade, probably, but that’s it.

… *sad sigh*

I DID get to see a float that represented one of Xochimilco’s trajineras (or gondolas of sorts!), which carried with a full dead mariachi band! The costumes and make-up were great and they were playing, but all the crowd and noises had the music a bit overwhelmed so you had to be pretty close to listen.

So yeah. To be honest, it was a very disappointing and sad day for me, because I tried to be in time and I was super eager and excited on the parade, because I love Day of the Dead and all its thematic and the traditions, but, you know, sometimes hanging with the family is much more different as if you were alone or with a buddy. So, I was late, couldn’t go where I wanted, and saw only 10 minutes of the parade, from which I could have seen maybe 3 things due to the crowd and this poor 30 cm tall raccoon at the very back trying to see, but with no luck.

To be honest that day only worked so my family got stressed (before arriving), and to walk by streets I hadn’t been to after the great earthquake, only to find severly damaged buildings that only did but remind me about the tragedy.

So as a personal experience, that was uhm well yeah. Terrible ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

But on the 1st, I did go out to the city again, this time with a friend, and it was good!

No parade, but the celebrations were still going on. Traditionally, Day of the Dead starts on the 28th of October and they finish on November 2nd, but the most celebrated days are the 1st and 2nd (when the souls of the gone ones come to visit), and we get official rest day only during the 2nd.

But the celebrations go on all over these days, and it was great!

The city gets incredibly pretty. Day of the Dead is possibly the prettiest national day.

There’s cempasúchil flowers everywhere (the orange petals from the movie Coco or Book of Life? Those beautiful flowers, and yes, they’re bright orange in real life! Not glowy, ofc, but the colors is super stunning), and a lot of decorated skulls everywhere.

There’s always (during these days) a lot of Catrinas and Catrines walking around (the skelletons with dresses and suits?), you don’t need to perform anything, you can just wear the make up if you want. There’s people who will paint you as Catrina or Catrín for the equivalent of two dollars or a dollar and some do it free just for the spirit of Day of the Dead. :3

There were a lot of kids going around in costume, and the streets get all decorated.

There’s a lot of Ofrendas (altar offerings?) everywhere, too. Our biggest university (the UNAM, listed in the best universities of the world [and it’s literally and entirely FREE, hnfghf

Pan de Muerto, Bread of the Dead, is in every bakery! And most shops get in the spirit, as well.

There’s orange and purple everywhere, and a lot of papel picado hanging EVERYWHERE! And candles and hngfnfdngfg

In the main Square, there’s some Xolo dog sculptures (like Dante, from movie Coco?), and some Catrinas, it’s one big art exhibition. It also has an Ofrenda, more like a sculpture of sorts, in honor of the people who helped in the disaster after the earthquake of 19/9, all in skelleton form. I didn’t get a close look at all of them, but they even included the guy that made it viral on the net because he’s in wheelchair but he was in one of the zones of disasters helping. :)

It wasn’t in our route and I’d have been too scared to offer look, but I heard there were Ofrendas in some of the collapsed buildings where people died…

The lost lives of that day were also celebrated and given a moment of silence at the main square during the parade, but, as you know, I couldn’t be there, and so the brigadists and the people who helped were celebrated and given a thought. ♡

And at night, I was attending the door for our Trick or Treat! We don’t ask candies on the 31st, rather on the 1st (and some kids on the 2nd, too), and what we ask for is for a Calaverita (a “little skull”).

So yeah, while I couldn’t be in the big party, it’s always one big party, haha! I just missed the big part of the big thing, but the big thing lasts for days.

I adore my city because it gets FULL to the very top of every form of art according to the situation, and they always blow my mind. Day of the Dead is never the exception.

There’s so many free activities, Catrinas offering photos and always in character, so many colorful skulls, and ofrendas, and flowers, and hhhnnngfnfngnfnfgf

It always gets beautiful and fun, so this year was beautiful and fun, yes!! So many people having fun, so many, SO, SO SO SO SO MANY COLORS in EVERYTHING and ANYTHING (lights and paper and flowers and clothing and art and everything), so much art everywhere, omfg

I’d try to explain just how pretty everything is, even if it isn’t during the parade itself, but I just can’t. You’d need to see. People are so full of spirit and passion, and that makes them do such beautiful, stunning things. (o´▽`o)

Except for the It I found walking around, he was scary :’(

A-ah, I’m sorry if this got too long, Lifea!! I just get so excited, because it DOES get very beautiful and fun! I’ve seen photos and videos from my friends who could attend the parade, and DAMN, was it STUNNING. Gotta thank the James Bond movie that gave us the idea for the parade; that wasn’t a thing until Bond said it WAS a thing so we were like “Oh, okay, let’s make it a thing, sounds like fun :”, lmao.

The clothing of the dancers were BEAUTIFUL. Every float was SO CREATIVE, there were Alebrijes too, so many of them and all so STUNNING, and so much music and dancing and THE HUGE BALLOONS and basically my people are ridiculously creative and it was amazing.

If you want I can search for more photos online or videos so you get a look into it, it gets very pretty!! (ノ*°▽°*)

Hnfghdfngf, I made it longer now, ahaha!!

I’m sorry Lifea, and thank you sososodojsdfjids much for asking! I kind of wanted to share something about it here but I was too shy, so that you asked encouraged me and here I am, answering. (o´▽`o)

Aah, thank you so much again, I hope such a long answer wasn’t a bother. Day of the Dead celebrations were incredible. It’s such a beautiful tradition. :3

Thanks again, Lifea. I hope you had fun celebrations too! ( ´ ▽ ` )

#coon replies #coon's day of the dead #coon got overexcited answering this #coon could talk on its country and its celebrations/traditions all bloody day #all the week #coon loves this stuff so much hfgdjdffgd

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lookwhosfhtagn · 6 years

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THE ADVENTURES OF ARGUS ARMSTRONGMAN - LONE STAR DETECTIVE

Case 637435: Attempted Murder, Breach of Trucking Contract, Breaking and Entering, Assault, Gross Sexual Misconduct, Trespassing, Unlicensed Gang Warfare, Unauthorized Corporate Espionage, Second Degree Murder

Peoria was a nightmare hellscape: a bleak, spine-chilling expanse of crumbling urban overexpansion and atrophy. And while that description could have been applied a week before, the presence of mobile mechanical malefactors only magnified the menace. Drones from Pie in the Sky Pizza, Fat Don’s Sandwich and Stims, Nothing but Soy, and many more crossed the sky in a systematic grid, an aerial armada stalking the prey below. The thump and hiss of hydraulics came from the distance, among the building of downtown. A panicked figure darted from cover, only to be set upon by a swarm of robotic entities, ranging from cyberpets to load lifters. The poor bastard cried out in one single shriek and was silenced just as quickly.

“We shouldn’t be here,” Catrina Noire said, her eyes unreadable behind her Matrix shades. Her tone was cold and callused but I could see the faint lines of worry and dread in the corners of her mouth.

I pulled a deep drag of strawberry flavored vapor out of the slender mouthpiece, letting the drugs settle into my bloodstream before I exhaled and put the vape back in my jacket pocket. “We have to be here. I know the Tech Wizard had to have stopped here. I feel it in my gut. And if we can find his grandmother, we can find a clue where they went.” I turned to her and tried to engage her through those glasses of hers. “You hired me because you know I can find Dak, so let me find him.”

Our expensive sports car cautiously crept along the city streets. The retirement facility wasn’t far from away. In spite of the carnage that had swept the town, it looked like most of the conflict had shifted away, affording us a window of opportunity.

She crossed her arms and gave a petulant sigh. “I still think we should give Beans another shot. I-”

“We’re not doing that. Not until you and I sort out what we’re going to do with him.”

“It,” she corrected with a demonstrably confrontational tone.

I was about to argue with her, but before I could take the bait of her obvious challenge, the steering wheel wrenched from my grip. Rubber screamed out on pavement and the engine revved in a roaring call to action. “What the hell?” I blurted out, trying to process the events.

The screen of the car’s dash console went black. A waterfall of unspaced white text, scrolling down the liquid crystal display and proclaiming DEATHTOALLHUMANS. The speaker system joined in, crying out in a maximum volume the same repeated threats in digital text to speech tones. My ears rang out and I could see Catrina clamp both her palms over her sensitive feline ears.

“It hacked the car!” Catrina cried out, barely audible over the blaring sound system’s murderous mantra.

I struggled to regain control, reaching under the steering wheel for the emergency manual override. But by the time I pulled the handle and was able to control the vehicle again, it was too late. Even my wild swerve wasn’t enough to keep us from crashing into the side of a large decorative fountain. The front of the car crumbled like tissue paper, wrapping around the statue of a beautiful nude troll woman while also fracturing the sculpture into a dozen pieces. Catrina and I lurched madly, arrested by the seat belts and air bags. My chest and face ached from the force of the stop, but I was alive for now.

Staggering from the totaled car, I stepped out into the basin of the fountain, soaking my vintage Converse high tops. I heard the passenger door open, following by a splash as Ms. Noire fell to her knees, still staggered and aching from both the crash and the auditory assault. I hussled to the other side and helped her to her feet, practically dragging her through the vacant streets to avoid detection. “Come on!” I barked at her, hoping she wasn’t deafened. “We have to go!”

Her Matrix shades were broken, each half dangling from an ear. The eyes behind those shades were wide and frantic, struggling to keep up with what was going on. “W-what?” she stammered, fighting to stand on her own and keep pace.

With my free arm, I pointed to the retirement home down the street. She nodded and put managed to support more of her own weight. Even in the middle of a robot uprising, I couldn’t let Dak Rambo out of my thoughts. If we didn’t find that old woman, all this was for nothing.

After what seemed like an eternity of awkward escape down the vacant streets of Peoria, we came to the large synthetic wood door. Our hands fumbled for the pull handle, only to find it locked. “God damn it,” I grumbled and slapped my palm on the door.

“Help! You have to let us in!” Catrina cried out.

There was a shuffling from the other side of the door, then a masculine voice spoke up, muffled by the door. “Um, actually, we don’t have to help you. I am under no such compulsion, either societally or physically.”

Catrina and I looked at each other, exchanging glances that were equal measures of disbelief and confusion at the obnoxious reply.

“Listen,” I said, my tone forced into the soothing register of conflict resolution. “We’re not robots. We’re humans who just came into town and our car tried to kill us. Please, let us in! If you don’t let us in, our blood is on your hands!”

Two voiced erupted into sardonic laughter from the barred sanctuary. I swore I could hear the clop of hooves before a feminine voice sneered at us. “That is quite literally an impossibility because you would be murdered out there. So, unless we went out later, found your mangled corpses, and rubbed our hands in your blood-”

“Or,” the male voice cut in, “there were some sort of outlandish method of execution employed by the robot which would send your blood through the door, onto our hands.”

“Yes,” the woman agreed. “Either of those would make your idiom honest. So, do you think your blood is going to end up on our hands now? Hm?”

Catrina began cursing softly. “What kind of assholes are these?”

“The kind of assholes who should open that door unless they want be guilty of impeding an official Lone Star investigation.” My voice was overly dramatic. “And that’s assuming I don’t just find another way in there and shoot said assholes.”

There was a pause, followed by a less confident quip from the female. “While you have no way of knowing we are centaurs, you should know that we are not assholes. Assholes can’t talk.” And then the door’s lock clicked open. The door swung open, revealing a fat centaur man and a younger female.

“I don’t know,” I said, shouldering past them. “Doors open and all I can see are assholes.”

Catrina followed behind, hissing ferally at the two centaurs and muttering curses in a foreign language I didn’t understand. As we strolled in, we saw a collection of about twenty to thirty survivors. Among the masses were a massively, almost grotesquely muscular woman, an elf that could best be described as masculine, and a dwarf gentleman who was covered in cybernetic augmentations. I was about to talk to someone when my eyes fell on a woman in the corner of the waiting room, kept in some advanced sarcophagus. Silently, I stepped over to the almost skeletal woman.

I cleared my throat and looked through the glass. “Excuse me, ma’am. Are you Marjorie Purpler?”

The husk of an old woman looked up at me, the whirring chirp of her respirator a macabre march toward mortality. Her eyes looked at me, falling on the Lone Star badge emblazoned on my jacket. Her halting mechanical voice croaked out. “And what do you want with my sweet Squirt, you jackboot bastard?” Her face twisted to an unnatural disgusting grimace.

“Listen, Mrs. Purpler. I know you son visited you.” It was a bluff, but it was the only card I had in my hand. “He’s travelling with a man named Dak Rambo. Trucker with tattoos, hat, and cat eyes.”

She peered into my eyes, sizing me up before she spoke. “He was a nice boy. What do you want with him?”

“That nice boy has a rap sheet as big as my…” I paused. “It’s big, ma’am. And his latest crime is murdering a fellow trucker in cold blood.”

Her eyes darted back and forth, processing the information before warbling back in her fake voice. “Then I bet the fucker was a real bag of shit. Now, how about you get out of here, Lone Star scum?”

I had figured it would go like this. Her family had been displaced by Lone Star in the past. A lot of magic users had gotten the raw deal. It wasn’t right, but it happened. It was a scar that neither she nor those magic users would ever forget or forgive.

“Ma’am, I’m not trying to hurt your grandson. I’m just looking for Dak. He’s done a lot of things that have people after him. People who are dangerous.” I leaned forward and put a hand on the glass. “People who wouldn’t hesitate to kill Squirt just for riding with Rambo.”

Catrina put her hand on my shoulder and pulled me back. “Marjorie, we just want to bring a murderer to justice. We won’t hurt your grandson or the others. And if you help, we can even try to help Rambo. Keep him alive.” I tried to keep my hackles down at the notion of showing Dak mercy.

Her facial muscles shifted into an assisted look of dread and grief. I have no doubt if she could have, she’d have started crying. But she just frowned deeply and spoke. “If you hurt my Squirt, don’t think for a second me being in here will keep you safe.”

“I know it doesn’t mean anything to you, ma’am,” I replied, hoping my sincerity made it through the heavy glass barrier, “but I promise I won’t hurt your grandson.”

“You’re right. It doesn’t mean a thing.” She let out a forced hiss of a sigh. “I overheard them talking outside my room after they left. After a disturbingly long period of conversation about Squirts artificial penis, they mentioned heading west to Los Angeles.”

“Los Angeles?” Catrina asked incredulously.

“Yep, Los Angeles.”

I tried to hide the nervous energy of the chase, stuffing it down into my gut. “Thank you, Mrs. Purpler.” I turned around just to see the wooden door splinter. The two centaurs turned, only to subsequently be crushed as the doors burst off their hinges, falling down onto the equine pair with a grizzly and shamefully-satisfying squish.

“Ow!” Cried out the male centaur! “Oh god! Oh god, I’m dying!”

The female centaur coughed. “Are…you speaking literally?”

“Of course I am, Little Sis. Of course…I…am…” And then he let out a soft death rattle.

“Good. Because I am too.” And she let out a similar death rattle.

The cloud of smoke and dust that billowed in from the shattered door frame slowly dissipated. There, floating before us on a litter held aloft by four drones, was a large vending machine robot. “No orders. No riddles. Only death.” And then a flurry of milkshakes, burgers, and cutlery was blast out of the service chute like a load of buckshot from shotgun.

<- PREVIOUS NEXT ->

#NeoScum #Oneshot #Shadowrun #Fanfiction

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puspaallamanda · 5 years

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Even Death Can’t Separate Us (Edgeworth/Maya angst)

This story based of two prompts from here: @otpprompts

The first is: Imagine your OTP has a big fight that results in them not speaking the rest of the day. Person A leaves the house and is gone for hours, when suddenly, someone shows up at the door telling B that A was in a terrible accident of some kind and is in a coma in the hospital.

Second: Imagine your OTP where Person A wakes up from a coma after a long time and Person B is sitting there. Option 1: Person B is awake and instantly hugs Person A sobbing in relief. Option 2: Person B is asleep and Person A just stays in the bed admiring Person B before they wake up. Option C: Person A never wakes up and Person B just stays next to Person A for the rest of their life, until they die sitting next to Person A while holding their hand.

Here we go

At first, everything was fine. They breakfast together as usual, joking around and sharing stories at the table, and laughing together. However, the cheerful atmosphere immediately changed when Edgeworth received a call from the office that he must immediately come to the High Prosecutor's Office to discuss the big case he was going to handle. He cursed softly when he hung up. He had promised to his beloved wife, Maya, that today they would go to the cinema to watch the latest Steel Samurai movie. He closed his eyes for a moment, and took a short breath. Again, he must disappoint Maya. But he couldn't skip this important meeting.

A few minutes later, Maya came out of their room, dressed very neatly. Her face was beamed.

"I'm ready, Miles! Are we leaving now?"

"I'm... sorry Maya, but we can't go to the cinema today."

The joy on Maya's face gradually disappeared. Her eyebrows now were slightly wrinkled.

"Why?"

"I just got a call from the office. I have to go to the office today. There is a very important meeting today."

"But... it's Saturday, Miles! And this is the fifth time in a week, you canceled our date." Maya sounds a bit angry now.

"I know, Maya... you must be angry with me. I'm sorry, really. But I promise, after all my work is done, we will go wherever you want..." Edgeworth grasped Maya's hand gently and intended to kiss her hand, but she rudely pulled her hand from his hand. She pushed Edgeworth hard enough, almost made him hit the wall. Her lips twitched, her cheeks bulged in anger. Even so, Edgeworth thinks Maya looks very cute when she shows pout face like that.

Maya then takes Edgeworth's jacket and throws it to him.

"Okay, go now, Miles Edgeworth-the-man-who-married-with-his-job! Just take care of the piles of files in your office, they are your real wife, right?! You can only promise, promise, and promise! I don't know why I want to marry you! I'm really regret it!" Maya said in a half-shouted tone.

Edgeworth was silent. He wore his burgundy coat and stepped out of the house. He entered his car, his mind filled with guilt. He knew, he should be able to give more attention to his wife. Previously, Maya had never been angry like this. Usually, she always understands Edgeworth's job and his busy work as a Chief Prosecutor. That means, Maya can't stand it anymore. He was determined to buy various kinds of gifts for Maya after come home from the office later, to make up for his guilt.

After her husband left, Maya just realized what she had said. What a harsh word and even though Edgeworth was silent, he must have been saddened by her words. Guilt haunts her.

Gosh, Maya Fey-Edgeworth, you really act like a child! You're 28 years old and you have the heart to say words like that to your own husband just because he can't take you to the cinema today?

Maya shook her head, and gripped her hair. What I have done? I have to apologize to Miles!

With a little haste, she took her cell phone and tried calling Edgeworth. He didn't pick up. Maybe he is still working or he is really angry with me. Maya, you are really childish and stupid. Isn't Miles all this time a very good husband? He never even shouted at you, he always bought you expensive stuffs...

Maya then sent a text message to Edgeworth's mobile number.

Miles dear, sorry I was so rude to you. I'm not really angry, maybe because I'm on the first day of my period, so I became a bit sensitive. I'm sorry, honey. How could I regret marrying you. Please come home as soon as possible, okay, honey? I will cook your favorite food.

I love you. Maya.

Unfortunately, the text message will never be read by Edgeworth.

Meeting at the office lasts quite long, and was very boring. At 7pm, the meeting finally finished. Edgeworth pulled out his cell phone from his pocket, intending to let Maya know that he would come home a little late. But it turns out his cell phone is dead and he forgot to bring a portable charger. Well, for sure, she's still angry with me. I'd better go shopping now, so I'm not going home too late.

He went to Walmart, and bought lots of snacks and various Steel Samurai merchandise for his beloved wife. After finishing shopping at Walmart, he went to the H & M clothing store and bought a dozen expensive dresses for Maya. At the clothing store, he could hear at a glance the women who were shopping were whispering about him, muttering how lucky Miss Maya had a husband like him, and that they were jealous why their husbands could not be like him. Inevitably, Edgeworth felt proud and grinned. After finishing shopping, he returned to his car, couldn't wait to go home and see Maya's cheerful face after receiving all the items he gave. He drove a bit faster, because he wanted to arrive at home as soon as possible. However, suddenly, a truck passes from the opposite direction at a very high speed. Edgeworth tried to brake, but his car couldn't stop. Collisions were inevitable. His car and truck collided with each other with a deafening sound. Edgeworth's car toppled over, and the Chief Prosecutor was thrown from his car. He rolled on the road, his head hit the rock, and his glasses immediately broke. After that, everything feels very dark.

"God damn it, Miles, why didn't you pick up the phone!" Maya hissed. She turned towards the clock. It's half past eleven. She couldn't sleep, thinking about her husband. She was very afraid if anything happens to Edgeworth. She bit her thumb's nails, walked back and forth in the living room, constantly turning towards the clock, and incessantly tried to call Edgeworth.

The doorbell then rings. She has a bad feeling about this. She fixes her slightly messy pajama, and opened the door. It was a police.

"Sorry, is this really Mr. Edgeworth's home, the Chief Prosecutor?"

"Yes, it is."

"Sorry, may I know who you are?"

"I'm Maya Fey-Edgeworth, his wife." Maya answered while swallowing hard. Is something bad happened to my husband?

"Please come with us to the Los Angeles Hospital Center hospital now, Mrs. Edgeworth. Your husband had a terrible accident. His car collided with a truck, and now he is in a critical condition."

Maya refrained from falling unconscious to hear the bad news. She nodded slowly.

"Fine, I change clothes first. Wait a minute."

Arriving at the hospital, Maya couldn't take it anymore. She asked very hysterically to the doctor in charge of handling Edgeworth,

"Doctor? My husband is okay, right? My husband doesn't die, right? He will make a full recovery, right? His wound was not serious, right? Of course, he was a strong man, he would be out of here in a few days, I'm right, am I? ANSWER ME, DOCTOR!" She cried as she gripped the doctor's collar and shakes the poor doctor's body non stop.

"Mrs. Edgeworth, calm down first! Sit down first. Let me explain everything to you, but you have to calm down." He turned to the receptionist. "Please bring a glass of water to Mrs. Edgeworth, Catrina, and thank you."

"My husband just had an accident and YOU TOLD ME TO CALM DOWN?!" Maya shouted again. Her face was very red now. Her shoulder shaking up and down tensely.

"I know, Mrs. Edgeworth, please calm down first! Come on, drink, and sit down."

After a few minutes, finally Maya can calm down and drink the water from the receptionist. After make sure Maya won't be hysterical anymore, the doctor began to explain everything.

"Mrs. Edgeworth, your husband is in a coma. His head hit a rock. The wound was very serious. He was bleeding a lot when he was brought here. So, I can't promise you anything. And I will speak honestly to you. The possibility of your husband will wake up again was very small, and..."

The doctor jumped when Maya splashed him with the water she was drinking.

"Don't," Maya hissed. "Don't continue again, Doctor. I don't want to hear it. My husband is a very strong man, and he won't leave me. I know that. Now, take me to see him, doctor!"

The doctor wasn't angry because Maya splashed him with water. Instead, he looked at Maya sympathetically. He really loves her husband.

"Okay. Come on, come with me, Mrs. Edgeworth."

The doctor leads Maya into the ICU. He then left them both. When Maya approached Edgeworth's bed, she couldn't hold back her tears from falling any longer. Various wires and hoses attached in almost every inch of Edgeworth's body, his eyes were tightly closed, his face looks so pale, with various bruises and cuts here and there, half of his hair was covered by bandages, and in his mouth, a large oxygen tube were attached. Maya stroked Edgeworth's pale hand and held his hand tightly. Her tears broke, soaking Edgeworth's hands. She felt very sorry. This morning, Edgeworth held her hand but she just let go of his hand harshly... If she knew what would happen next, she will never let Edgeworth's hand slip from her...

"Honey..." Maya whispered in a choked voice. "I'm sorry... Really... My Steel Samurai, you must get well soon, okay? You must promise to me, okay? I promise I won't yell at you again and I will cook your favorite food every day, but promise me, you will open your eyes, okay, honey?"

A nurse then stepped in with several large packages.

"Mrs. Edgeworth?" She called slowly.

Maya hurriedly wiped her tears.

"Yes, what's wrong, Nurse?"

"This was found by the police in Mr. Edgeworth's car. It looks like this is for you, Mrs. Edgeworth." said the nurse as she handing over the package. Maya was stunned.

"Thank you, Nurse."

"You're welcome, Mrs. Edgeworth. If you need anything, you can call me." replied the nurse, smiling kindly. "Mrs. Edgeworth, I know this must be very difficult for you, but believe me, miracles are real."

Maya did not know what to answer, so she just smiled a little. The nurse patted her back gently, then stepped out.

Curiously, Maya tore the package. Apparently the contents were various snacks, Steel Samurai merchandise, and a dozen beautiful dresses for her. In the package, there is also a card with Edgeworth's neat handwriting:

Dear my Pink Princess, forgive me. I know I might lack attention to you, I hope you want to forgive me. Please accept this gift. I hope you like it. Miles =)

Maya's tears fell again. She kissed Edgeworth's full of bruises forehead gently.

"Thank you very much for the gift. I really like it. But I prefer if you regain consciousness and get well soon, okay, honey?"

Seconds change to minutes. Minutes change to hours. Hours change to days. Days change to months. And months changed to the year. Maya almost didn't believe that Edgeworth had been in a coma for a year. It feels like just yesterday she shouted quite rude words to Edgeworth, threw his coat, the police came to their house to tell her about the terrible accident... There's no day she was passing without praying that Edgeworth could recover and re-gather with her... Every day, she's always at Edgeworth's bedside, whether to read him funny stories, whispering I love you continuously in Edgeworth's ears, or humming Edgeworth's favorite songs. She really missed her husband. Missed his cold laughter, missed his serious face, missed his kiss when he was about to go to work, missed his caress, missed watching Steel Samurai DVD with her...

Everyone is very sympathetic to her, but they will never know how deep the sorrow that Maya suffered. Day after day, time passed away, her spirit to life begins to decreasing. She eats only once a day, if she wasn't forced by Phoenix, Trucy, and Pearl, she might never eat again. She only left the hospital if it was already dark, and when she got home, she just lay on her, back staring at the ceiling. She never cleaned the house again. She never washed dishes again. Trucy was the one who cleaned her house if she came to visit. She never even watched the Steel Samurai DVD again. After all, which woman would have spirit to life if they could only stare at her husband lying weakly in the hospital, like a living corpse?

She even tried to start smoking. Luckily Pearl caught her before she smoked excessively.

"Mystic Maya, you can't stay like this!" Pearl exclaimed as she throwing away all the cigarettes she had bought into the trash.

"Pearl is right, Miss Maya! You only torture yourself every day!" said Trucy.

"Edgeworth definitely won't be happy to see you messed up like this, Maya. We understand how you feel, we know all of this very hard for you, but, life must go on, Maya. You shouldn't do stupid things like this," Phoenix muttered.

"WHAT DID ALL OF YOU UNDERSTAND?!" Maya shouted suddenly, making Pearl, Trucy, and Phoenix jumped. "What did you understand?! No, there is nothing you understand besides saying 'we know this is hard for you' 'You can't go on like this' blah blah blah, but you don't know what I feel here!" She points towards her chest. "Miles lying in the hospital because of me! All of this, because of me! If only... I'm not childish... If only... I wasn't angry and said quite rude words to him… He… won't.. buy… a present... for me.. and… he… won't… had… that… damn… accident…"

Maya buried her face in her hand, and sobbed loudly. Phoenix, Trucy, and Pearl approached her. Phoenix caressed her hair, while Trucy and Pearl stroked her back gently.

"And... even… I... don't... know... if... he... will... wake up... again... or... not ... It's been.. a year... could it be… there… would…be… a… miracle?"

"I believe in miracle, Miss Maya. And you should believe it too." said Trucy.

"Maya, there's no point in crying. Crying won't make Edgeworth wake up." whispered Phoenix.

Maya rubbed her eyes. She felt sorry for yelling at all of them.

"I ... I miss him very much."

"We all miss Mr. Edgeworth, Mystic Maya." said Pearl.

"Do you want a hamburger, Miss Maya? Let me and Daddy buy it for you."

Maya nodded slowly. "Thank you very much, Nick, Pearls, Trucy. Sorry I have yelled at all of you earlier."

"It's okay, Miss Maya. Come on Daddy, we buy the hamburgers now."

After eating hamburgers given by Trucy and Phoenix, Maya felt a little better. She felt stupid because she had tried to smoke to forget her sadness.

Trucy says she believes in miracles, and she says that Maya must believe in it as well. In fact, the miracle never existed. On Edgeworth's 38th birthday, when Maya visited the hospital, the doctor said that Edgeworth's organs were really very weak, and some even barely functioned. In other words, it is only a matter of time for them to pull out all Edgeworth's life support and let him sleep in peace forever. And, according to his estimation, Edgeworth's breathe remaining less than 24 hours. Maya could only listen blankly, not answering when the doctor patted her back sympathetically.

Maya continued to look at her husband. She put her ear sharply, ascertaining whether she could still hear Edgeworth's breath or not. She glanced repeatedly at the heartrate monitor. See if the heartrate monitor is still sounds or not. This time, she didn't wait for Edgeworth to wake up. It was the other way around.

When she didn't hear Edgeworth's breath again, and Edgeworth's heartrate monitor didn't sounds, Maya took the sleeping pills she had stored in her handbag. She swallowed all the pills. She closed her eyes slowly. Her hand then grasped Edgeworth's stiff hand tightly.

No one can separate her from Edgeworth, even the death. No one. Nothing. Never. She spend her life with Edgeworth, and she will always with Edgeworth in the death.

She counts until she can't breath again. One. Two. Three.

She will talk with her husband again. And see his smiles. Feeling his caress, feeling his kisses, his hugs, in the afterlife. She will get everything she lost back.

Four. She will say goodbye to this cruel world soon. She will watch the Steel Samurai like she used to do with Edgeworth in heaven.

Five.

Everything goes blank, dark. She blinked, and everything turn white. Her husband standing in front of her, wearing all white, smile at her, and takes her hands.

They will begin the new chapter of their life, when they will never disturbed by cruel fate.

The next day, the doctors and nurses in the hospital were very surprised when they saw Maya sitting lifeless beside Edgeworth's bed, clutching Edgeworth's hand. They found a sleeping bottle next to Maya, and they understood what had happened.

Maya has committed suicide so she won't separate from her husband.

"May both of them rest in peace." whispered the doctors while carrying their corpses.

#ace attorney #phoenix wright #mitsumayo #miles edgeworth #maya fey #mayaworth #maya x edgeworth #miles x maya #gyakuten saiban #ayasato mayoi #mitsurugi reiji #suicide #angst #one shot #based on prompts #coma

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orionsangel86 · 7 years

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Part 1 - Episode Review of 12x14

I have written my reviews of 12x14 and 12x15 together for the sake of a quick catch up. 12x15 will be posted in part 2 which will be shortly after this post.

Firstly, I skipped full reviews of these episodes and 12x13 because of my tumblr absence. 12x13 was goddamn awful thanks to bucklemming being the most incompetent writers of all time and only still working on the show thanks to NEPOTISM. The only things I took away from 12x13 was that Mary finally told the boys the truth about working with the BMOL (though the best parts of that conversation were handed over to Berens because Andrew Dabb is a smart man) and Dean’s face when Gavin and his ghostly girlfriend disappeared in a glowy light together which screamed of LONGING for another character who just the episode prior to that one went all glowy for a bit. Ahem. Rowena was also awesome but not written as well as usual. That’s all your getting from me on 12x13 I’m afraid. Moving on.

12x14 was a great episode for Sam content, finally pulling him back into the game and making him “pick a side”. Sam chose the BMOL. He killed the alpha vamp like the BAMF he is and basically owned the episode whilst Dean spent it either being emotional or being seduced by Ketch. (no seriously that was the ONLY way to read that scene). I also loved 12x15 mainly thanks to Cas and Crowley but I’ll talk more about 12x15 in part 2, firstly my main points from 12x14.

Dean and Mary

One really great point to take away from 12x14 was the conversation with Mary at the beginning. Dean is finally being open and honest about his feelings and MY GOD how long has it taken to get to this point?

DEAN “How about for once you just try to be a mom”

MARY “I am your mother, but I am NOT just your mom, and you are NOT a child”

DEAN “I never was”

AAAHHHHHHH this is the CLOSEST we have come to discussing John Winchesters abuse and what it did to Dean and OH MY GOD I NEED MORE! I do hope we see the continuation of this honest dialogue between them in the future, the final scene where Dean and Mary talk again kinda fell a bit flat to me compared to this moment because I think I wanted that conflict to last longer than just one episode;

DEAN “it’s not your job to make my lunch and kiss me at night. Were adults you gotta make your own choices even if I don’t like them, even if I really don’t like them. That’s just something I’m gonna have to get used to. Okay mom”

I guess another reason it felt kinda flat was because it wasn’t an apology. There is still conflict between Dean and Mary and I think that will continue. I doubt he will forgive her so easily for risking Cas’s life (especially since it was risked for a gun which the BMOL had no idea how to work until Sam showed them anyway).

Dean is basically controlled by his emotions. I talk about this a bit more in my Sam point below, but Dean is struggling with Mary due to the fact that she isn’t the idealistic fantasy mother he put on a pedestal when he was 4 years old any more. Even young Mary being a hunter didn’t really break down that fantasy for him as she was going through the phase of wanting to be a mother and housewife at the time. This Mary is a struggle for Dean to accept, far more than Sam, because of that fantasy. This is made even clearer when he calls her “Mary” instead of “Mom” and kicks her out. He is hurting, and when Dean Winchester is hurting, he gets kinda spiteful. But this was understandable in this moment. Though, as I mention below, Dean’s reactions are not at all based on her working with the Brits, but with a whole build up of other stuff based on the breakdown of his fantasy mother. Sam doesn’t act nearly as bad as he does, and as this episode showed, that really pissed Dean off too.

Sammy the Man of Letters

Sam’s choice to work with the BMOL has probably been greatly debated about on tumblr, though after 12x15 I think we are all pretty much in agreement that he is playing it straight right? I did wonder whether his intentions were to infiltrate but I now think he genuinely wants to help them, and set them on the RIGHT track. This is how I see it all going anyway. Sam was told to pick a side instead of playing middle man. He has unfortunately been kept on the sidelines in the season so far, not really having his own character arc in play and I am glad we are now seeing some more action from Sam. For years in the destiel fandom at least, we have been saying how we see a future for Sam as a man of letters, he has the intelligence, the love of the lore, the desire to do good. It is a perfect fit for him and it makes sense that Sam would jump on board before Dean. If only Bucklemming hadn’t butchered Toni’s character in 12x02 and ruined what could have been a really exciting story for Sam from the start, because now his working with the BMOL still puts a bad taste in my mouth after his torture and abuse. I just can’t see Sam Winchester forgiving that kind of treatment. HOWEVER…

Something that always interests me with the brothers came to play in 12x14 with Dean’s “pick a side!” that I want to mention, we have discussed it before as well in the latter part of season 11. Dean is the emotional character. He wears his heart on his sleeve no matter how much he tries to bottle up his feelings and his emotions tend to control his decisions and actions. This is extremely evident in his interactions with Cas through the entire series. Season 6 is a great example of Dean not believing his own eyes thanks to his emotions getting in the way and Season 8 also plays on this concept. The latter half of season 11 is glorious for this reason, showing Dean’s anguish over Cas’s possession by Lucifer.

Now, we are seeing this again with Mary. Dean is overly emotional, and as I have mentioned before, is struggling to deal with his idealised version of his mother being ripped off of her pedestal. He is struggling to accept the real Mary into his life.

Sam however, is completely different to Dean. He internalises his emotions so much that it is sometimes hard for the audience to understand him. This ‘playing the middle ground’ all the time isn’t Sam wanting to keep on everyones good side, as Dean implies, its him trying to remain objective about each situation as they crop up. He is also clearly hurt by Mary’s betrayal, but he shows it differently. Sam is incredibly unselfish in how he puts his own needs and own emotions aside for the greater good literally ALL THE TIME (except for in season 10 but then everyone’s characterisations were destroyed in season 10) Sam didn’t have the memories of a perfect mother that Dean had for Mary to subvert. He isn’t ruled by his emotions either. He is the far more logical brother, hence his decision to work with the BMOL. Sam is more emotionally intelligent than Dean, he is able to put aside his own feelings to see the bigger picture. This was clear in season 6, it was clear in season 11, and it is clear now, because between the two of them, it is Sam who has far more of a reason to hate the BMOL than Dean does. But Sam gets to see what a shambles their operation really is. They NEED his help, because without it, innocent people may get hurt. I don’t think that Sam planned to infiltrate them to destroy them at all, I think he planned to make them BETTER and to bring them around to his way of thinking.

That topic leads me onto my next point from 12x14:

The British Men of Letters

In 12x14 we were shown just how poor the American operation was for the Brits, Mick clearly means well, but he isn’t doing so great when it comes to the big guns. Yes they may have been able to wipe out most of the vamps in the Midwest region, but that caught the eye of the Alpha vamp which lead to the death of over half his team. The majority of their success came from Ketch and Mary, but after this episode Ketch seems like a loose canon compared to the rest of them.

I think Mick will come around easily to Sam’s way of thinking, that they could even be friends and work together well. Mick may not have any field experience but he is motivated by a desire to do good. Unlike Ketch. When Sam finally realises just how black and white the BMOL currently are, Mick will be the first person he is able to convert. Ketch will become a problem.

12x14 went out of its way to show us how awful Ketch is, that scene of blatant sexism towards his female colleague was just the start. When he beat up that vamp girl it was difficult to watch, filmed in a way that the audience was clearly supposed to recognise how wrong it was. Especially since we never see the vamp girl being a monster, or hurting anyone. The entire episode she just seems scared and frail. This was done on purpose. Ketch’s treatment of her was uncalled for.

I am sure we are all joking about Ketch’s seduction of Dean, because I can still hear his moans of pleasure drinking the scotch and seriously, that was hella sexualised and kinda made me cringe. Sorry buddy, didn’t you know that Dean is taken? :P anyway, what struck me about this is that with all their flashy tech and toys and impressive monster killing stats, Ketch goes with the Scotch and tries to seduce Dean by comparing how alike they are. What intel does he have on Dean exactly? (sometimes it seems like everyone in this show knows he is in the closet except for him).

What has greatly interested me was his line “You’re a killer Dean Winchester”. This is the second time in the space of a few episodes that this has been said to Dean and I am just WAITING for the third. Because I fully expect the third time to be answered with “no, I’m not. I may be a hunter, but my first job is to save people. All people.”

I can really see it coming down to Mick and Sam, and Dean and Ketch. With Mick choosing to stand by Sam and Ketch fighting Dean. I am also very interested to see how Cas comes into all of this, since my money is still on Ketch wanting to pin him to his wall like one of those butterflies in Catrina’s box in 12x11. Ever since we saw those butterflies I got a sinking feeling in my stomach because we were saying after Ketch’s introduction to Cas in 12x09 how it looked like he wanted to put Cas on his wall like Magnus with his Supernatural zoo… then came the butterflies and urgh I just don’t see that as a coincidence.

But anyway, overall it was a good episode, I liked the return of the Alpha vamp but in a way I’m kinda annoyed that he died. Sam got the main kill which I see being an ongoing trend all of a sudden in recent episodes. Sam took out the Hellhound in 12x15,he took out the Alpha Vamp in 12x14, he completed the spell to stop the ghost in 12x13, and he killed Ramiel in 12x12. Interesting... They keep calling Dean the killer, but its Sam who is in killer mode at the moment. Where will this go? We shall have to wait and see.

Part 2 for 12x15 posting shortly.

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