#because the former is singular and the later is plural

[kingalex0]

-listening to “No one Mourns the Wicked” and had the URGE to analyse the entire song for some meanings and this is what personally stuck out to me. There are Wicked Part 2 spoilers so dont read it if you don’t want to be spoiled on a piece of media that’s old enough that you can look the ending up on Google dot com.

In the beginning nothing really sticks out in terms of hidden meaning as its basic “good news and did you hear” till Glinda appears

“Let us rejocify that goodness would subdue the wicked workings of you know who”

Already it kind of draws that eyebrow raise for me that Glinda doesn’t call her either Elphaba or “The Wicked Witch” as munchkins SHOULD know her name Elphaba is not old enough to where most adults in Munchkin Land wouldn’t know her name as she is daughter to the former governor and probably would be governess after his death. But choosing to say “you-know-who” rather than the moniker Elphaba has been using is rather weird and using this as a moving point its also strange that Glinda would say Goodness (Singular) and Subdue, subdue means to make quiet/ bring under control as if Goodness had to quiet something or bring control to something but she doesn’t say anything explicitly saying that Elphaba has been killed simply that shes been brought under control or quieted.

Glinda’s next line really feels like its pandering to the munchkins but the one after rings bells for me “The truth we all believe’ll by and by. Outlive a lie” What does Glinda mean by “truth we all believe’ll” is there a lie that needs to be brought to the public’s attention and does she plan on telling this truth to the entirety of Oz at some point the line “Outlive a lie” saying that a lie will be put to rest before Glinda or rather the people of Oz grow old because she extends this by saying “For you and I” showing that its more important to her that other people know this information before she gets it off her chest.

They really Shade Glinda by cutting her off during her speech like ugh raise your hand but the first two lines really feels more pointed at Glinda narratively no one mourns the wicked, no one cries that they won’t return, no one puts flowers on their grave. These are all things that presumably Glinda has done in secret upon hearing about Elphaba’s death before her public address and assess.

BUT AFTER THEY’RE DONE BASICALLY MOCKING GLINDA WHY DOES IT PARALLEL WHAT HAPPENS IN THE MUSICAL SO FAST

“The GOOD man scorns the wicked” is the parallel thats drawn in Glinda between being kind and being good later on in the story and this I’ll circle back to.

“Through their (The Wicked’s) lives our children learn, what we miss when we misbehave” AGAIN drawing parallels between Elphaba’s penultimate disagreement with the wizard, her “Misbehaving” ex. Running away from the wizard, calling him a phoney, stealing the grimorie and ultimately not aligning with his world views (Animals shouldn’t speak and should be caged). But the What we miss part is also important because because what Elphaba misses out on is what Glinda’s life is, being labled a good witch being loved by Oz being an important political figure with power. This line also starts showing the connection that those who are deemed “Wicked” are not singular but plural though on surface level it can be seen as both Elphaba and her sister the next lines refute this

BACK TO GLINDA who has more knowledge than the munchkins who are singing says “And Goodness (Singular) knows the Wicked’s lives (Plural) are lonely, Goodness knows the Wicked die alone. It just shows when you’re wicked you’re left only on your own” and when Glinda says Goodness (singular) vs THE/WHEN YOU’RE Wicked (PLURAL) she’s talking about the people in Elphaba’s life including herself, claiming that Elphaba is the only good person in this story hence why Goodness is singular everyone else in this story is a bad person EXCEPT FOR Elphaba This also further cements the reasoning for the good vs kind argument that’s woven throughout the story moving back to the “A GOOD man scorns the wicked” a good man would scorn the wicked because he has been told its good to do so but a kind man would be told this and NOT scorn the wicked

But then the Munchkins repeat Glinda’s words without knowing the meaning behind them then adding on “The Wicked cry alone” there are no scenes where anyone is breaking down crying or crying at all EXCEPT for Elphaba during the Ozdust Duet and also Elphaba during the moment where Glinda and Elphaba split during Defying Gravity. But its only Elphaba crying. And this is because that line is ment to be literal noone who is “wicked” is shown crying because they cry ALONE, and that sentiment includes the audience who are considered a person in the room

Then “Nothing grows for the wicked they reap only what they’ve sown” again the parallels for the plural wicked but every character besides Elphaba gets exactly what they deserve there arent any character’s who are miraculously given an opportunity they work in some way shape or form for that opportunity. Glinda is accepted into the sorcery class because Elphaba put her own knowledge on the line thanks to Glinda setting up Nessa with Boq

And moreover on Nessa and Boq because Nessa does not love Elphaba unconditionally and it blatantly obvious in scenes where Elphaba is being ridiculed in the beginning and she never speaks up a singular time for her sister so through a karmic deserved fate she ends up with Boq who loves her conditionally but she love him unconditionally. Boq is paired with Nessa though he doesn’t truly love her and conditionally loves her because he was chasing after someone who did not want him and got that same fate turned upon him being paired up with someone whom he does not want.

Essentially the dynamic is that Elpahaba unconditionally loves Nessa who only Conditionally returns this love, so through Karmatic fate Nessa Unconditionally loves Boq who only Conditionally returns this love. Boq Loves Glinda who does not want him so again through Karmatic fate Nessa Loves Boq who does not necessarily want her.

This sentiment also extends to the last couple in this friend group Fiero, as he actively attempts to court Glinda when he first comes to Shiz using the f-boy persona but when Elphaba says that she sees through his facade he grows GENUINE feelings for Elphaba but only gets with Glinda as he was being a playboy and earned his playboy reward but he does get his true pick at the end of the musical. However for Glinda her karma and reaping is more in the fact she tries ENDLESSLY to never be lonely surrounding herself with people who only see her for her outwardly personality much like Fiero but where she and Fiero split Glinda is never able to fully shake that people pleasing outward snooty personality, forsaking her morals on numerous occasions just because she thinks it will make someone like her more thus leaving her completely alone at the end of the story with no one who will see her for who she is because she’s hidden this underneath so many layers of popularity and people pleasing.

And the scene where the Munchkins start trying to catch Glinda slipping. But she counters with “Are we born wicked or do we have wickedness trust upon us?” which again refers to how the story believes that Elphaba is the only character that should not be labeled wicked and draws more lines in the sand that the actual wicked people were born like that while Elphaba was given that title of wicked unfairly.

Then the big part of the song where not much that draws true meaning is really said. A bit of irony on the Munchkins part where they sing “we know what goodness is” because they are simply echoing Glinda’s words and are unable to draw the actual meaning from Glinda’s usage of “Goodness” (Elphaba) and “the Wicked” (The rest of the cast).

Then the last really important part of the song are sung “Woe to those who who spurn what goodness they are shown” and this is where it foreshadows some events that happen later on in the story basically saying that anyone who spurns goodness (Elphaba) does not end with a happy ending or the happiest they can be, saying they they’ll always have troubles just because they spurned the goodness they were shown (The IMMENSE Kindness that Elphaba displays throughout the story)

For example woe comes in the form of a house on Nessa Rose, curses placed upon both Boq and Fiero, Glinda ending the story with none of what she wants (Her husband is gone and her best friend dead to her knowledge), The Wizard returned to his home after decades of disappearance with likely his entire subset of belongings that weren’t in the balloon either sold, or destroyed in some way so he’s not returning to the life he previously had and Madame Morrible likely dead idk but the point is made

So literally nobody is happy at the end BUT Elphaba because she is freed from the entirety of OZ because she leaves and is never seen again (She fakes her death and runs off with Fiero) Which is absolutely crazy that the first song of this Musical not only clearly draws the parallels that are shown throughout the musical but foreshadows damn near all the events

Theres also the theory that Glinda sings higher when she’s lying which I support but its easier for me to pick apart the words because she is hitting whistle notes during the entire damn song

[strixcattus]

I want to make a list of everything that needs to agree with something in the time travel conlang, just to get my thoughts organized.

The guiding principle here is: Everything that might have cause to agree with something, does so. A Watsonian explanation for this would probably be something like, "there are a lot of ways time distortion could drop information or cause someone to miss it, and they would really like to know whether they're talking about their friend or an evil future version of their friend." The Doylist explanation is absolutely that I think it would be funny and fun and also I've never done any sort of agreement in a conlang before and have a lot to make up for.

The numbers this conlang inflects for are: —Singular (needs no explanation) —Monogender plural (a given group of one gender) —Multigender plural (a given group of multiple genders) —General plural (used for blanket statements that may or may not have exceptions, such as "stars give off heat" or "cats have fur")

The grammatical genders of this conlang are: —Null (always and exclusively used for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th person) —Former (past variant of myself, you, or a familiar 3rd person entity) —Future (future variant as above) —Alternate (alternate-timeline variant with a branch point in the past) —Split (alternate-timeline version of a future variant, with a branch point in the future) —Dopple (they're not a past or future version, our lives are identical, but somehow we exist separately at the same time and I need to gender them somehow)

(The distinction between 3rd and 3.5th person can get complicated. If I'm friends with someone named, say, Alice, and her future self travels back in time to now, then regardless of whom I'm speaking to, Alice is referred to in 3rd person and future-alice as Future 3.5th. If, however... let's say Nikola Tesla. If Tesla were to time-travel to 2023, and I met him, I would refer to him in 3rd person, because he would be the only Tesla I am familiar with and the only Tesla in this time frame.

On the other hand, if my grandfather were to travel through time as a young adult, and we met in the present, I would refer to him in 3.5th person, because I already know my grandfather as someone else. However, if I did the time-travelling, and met my grandfather in the past, I'd refer to him in 3rd person, and the version of him who is my grandfather in 3.5th... unless I happened to bring my present grandfather with me, in which case my present grandfather would be referred to in 3rd person and the past version in 3.5th.

Get it? By default, the native version of a person in the current time frame is referred to in 3rd person and all interlopers in 3.5th... unless they do not exist in that time frame, in which case the one with the greatest familiarity to the speaker is referred to in 3rd and all others in 3.5th, or if the speaker is travelling with the native version of that person to their time frame (or another person native to the same time frame who also knows the person), in which their native version is referred to in 3rd and all others in 3.5th.

As a sidenote: If my young grandfather (3.5th) time-travelled to a point after his death, but within my life, I would be well within my rights to refer to him in 3.5th person, even if he is the only version of himself in the current time. Those who did not know my grandfather at his current age, but met my time-travelling grandfather, would be well within their rights to refer to him in 3rd person and my present-day grandfather in 3.5th (future gender—or alternate, if my present-day grandfather didn't do any time travel in his own life).

(I don't know what you would do if Nikola Tesla showed up in 2023 in his time machine, then took you back in time to meet his self from a few years later in that self's native time. Leave it as exercise for the reader, I guess.)

—Adjectives agree with gender of the nouns they modify, by way of suffixes. If they need to agree with multiple genders, the suffixes are stacked in a set order. They're also inflected for number and for person, because you can expect to have an adjective attached to a 1.5th, 2.5th, 3rd, 3.5th, or 4th person noun/pronoun (e.g. in 1.5th person, "the evil me").

—Adverbs agree with the verbs they modify in terms of objective tense, again by way of a suffix.

—All persons of noun and pronoun that have multiple genders inflect for gender and number.

—Verbs are conjugated first for tense in objective time, then affixes are attached (these can be prefixes or suffixes) which encode person, gender (if applicable), and subjective tense for the subject and object. The positioning of these affixes is fluid, but they each point towards the nouns they're agreeing with.

—"No tense" is a valid objective tense for a verb whose objective tense is unknown, but whose subjective tense is known. For instance, if I know I'm going to mail you a letter, but I'm not sure when in time I'll be when I do so, I can refuse to inflect the verb for tense.

—A particle (which may act as an adjective or an adverb) can be constructed to indicate objective and/or subjective time for something not normally indicated. For instance, it might be attached to the noun "his texts" to indicate that the texts have not been written yet, or that whoever "he" is hasn't written them yet, but the texts themselves exist already, or to a verb to indicate that some third party (with which it agrees in number, gender, and person) has already experienced an event which is in the future for all other players in the sentence.

Verb objective tense conjugations tend to indicate the subject's person in some way. Some objective tenses lump 1st person with 1.5th person and so on, and others distinguish between them. I haven't decided yet, but this may be dependent on the base form of the verb. Like French! But worse.

[dragons-bones]

FFXIV Write Entry #7: Absolution

Prompt: forgiven | Master Post | On AO3

WARNING: Spoilers for Shadowbringers MSQ, in particular the level 79 quest The Unbroken Thread. Proceed at your own discretion!

Synnove had never felt the weight of the world on her shoulders as keenly as she did when Urianger knelt before her and her fellow Warriors of Light. Sorrow and resignation dug deep furrows into the elezen’s face.

“I offer no excuses,” he said. Synnove wasn’t sure she had ever heard him so tired and defeated, not even after Moenbryda’s death all those years ago. “When I agreed to aid the Exarch with his plans ‘twas in full acceptance of the condemnation I would face when my duplicity was laid bare.”

Urianger sighed, head bowed momentarily, before meeting her eyes again. Quietly, he said to them all, “…Yet it is not rancor but resolve that I sense in ye. You art fully intent upon walking thy path to its end, art you not?”

“Ask a stupid question,” Rereha griped, arms crossed. Urianger quirked the smallest of smiles, inclining his head to her in acknowledgment.

“If ye canst forgive my deception—or, failing that, set aside your displeasure for a time—I do beg leave to follow you,” he continued. “What strength and wisdom I possess are yours to command.”

The pulse of primordial Light inside her was a cacophony of glass shards grinding against one another, of cracking porcelain, of nails on chalkboard. It tasted of salt and charred gristle and the awful, overboiled porridge she and her family and all the refugees had consumed in the flight from Ala Mhigo and Gyr Abania into the Black Shroud and eventually on to Thanalan. But more than the affront to her senses, the Light hungered: to consume her, and her friends, and all the poor, damned souls clinging to hope on the First for a better future and the chance to see the spangled stars of the sunless sea once more.

Synnove bent over, grabbing Urianger by his upper arms, and hauled him to his feet, for all that she was a head shorter. “Oh, get up you daft, maudlin fool,” she said. Once the elezen was upright, she wrapped her arms around his torso in the tightest hug she could. Urianger startled at the contact, before hesitantly returning the hug.

“Of course I forgive you, you too-smart idiot,” Synnove said, voice slightly muffled by his robes. “I’m not entirely happy, but I understand why you made that choice. And, to be quite honest, most of my ire is at the Exarch for putting you in this situation in the first place.”

Behind her, she felt Heron come up, and wrap the both of them up in her own bear hug. “The problem, I believe,” the Hellsguard woman said, “is that heroic sacrifice has become such a default that it becomes difficult to see another solution.”

“Particularly when it’s the fate of multiple worlds on the line,” Alakhai said, wiggling her way into the hug between Synnove and Heron.

Synnove felt Tyr leaning into her thighs, then Rereha hugging her waist with one arm, the other likely around Urianger—no doubt the lalafell was standing on Tyr’s back so she could reach. “You’re a dumbass, Urianger,” Rere said, “but you’re our dumbass.”

The elezen laughed, the sound of it more than a little watery and broken. “As blunt as ever,” he said, “but as callous as they are, thy words ever serve as a balm.”

Synnove sighed heavily, patting Urianger gently on the back. “This is a shite situation,” she said. “I’m not sure how we’re going to get out of it. But we’ll manage. We always do.”

[vapaus-ystavyys-tasaarvo]

Alright, notes on 1.1.10 for Les Mis Letters:

"a former member of the Convention"

The Convention here refers to the National Convention which governed France through the first years of the First Republic (from September 1792 to November 1795). This was an eventful period which involved some massive progressive reforms for the time, various interesting experiments such as coming up with a new calendar, a new form of religion and the metric system, as well as the trial and execution of the former king and queen, and of course the famous Reign of Terror.

The Convention did some genuinely good things like abolished slavery (until Napoleon RE-ESTABLISHED IT BECAUSE HE SUCKS) but obviously also some extremely questionable things.

The Convention was abolished in 1795 and replaced by the much more conservative Directory.

"when people called each other thou"

The Hapgood translation tends to use the very archaic thou to translate the French pronoun tu. French (like most languages) has two words for "you": tu in singular and vous in plural. Vous is also used in place of tu as a form of polite address. In this era tu was actually used in very limited circumstances.

I won't get deeper into this topic because I would need to do more research into the specifics but generally speaking, in this era, the general use of tu for everybody in all contexts was seen as ideological and radical. I don't actually know how common it actually was among the radicals, I'm not a FRev expert.

The "citizen" thing definitely was a thing though.

"How did it happen that such a man had not been brought before a provost’s court, on the return of the legitimate princes?"

This indicates that we must be at least as far as the year 1814 now. The words of the Conventionist seem to confirm this date, although it's a bit ambiguous; it could also be later. I would assume that it wouldn't be later than 1815, but apparently the law that exiled the "regicides" wasn't passed until 1816, so idk, maybe this does take place later actually! In that case this episode would come chronologically after The Fall, which is the next book.

"The legitimate princes" would mean Louis XVIII and Charles the Count of Artois, the younger brothers of the overthrown Louis XVI. Louis XVIII was put on the throne by the Allies after Napoleon's defeat in 1814. (The reason why Louis XVIII is called the "eighteenth" rather than the "seventeenth" will be explained soon.)

The Bourbon Restoration, as this return of the royal family to the throne is called, was not a complete return to the pre-revolution system; there was a new constitution (the Charter of 1814) which at least in theory limited the king's power, and the Napoleonic Code was kept as the basis of the legal system.

The reception of Louis XVIII varied, and a lot of people obviously weren't happy that he was placed on the throne by foreigners who France had only just been at war with, but this is the South which was generally more royalist. (This reminds me, I should relisten to the 1814-1815 episodes of the Siècle podcast...)

"'93!"

I already talked about the year 1793 earlier so I won't repeat all that now

“Louis XVII.?”

(CW: child abuse)

As a royalist Myriel refers to the son of the former king as "Louis XVII". According to the royalists, at the moment of Louis XVI's death his son automatically became Louis XVII, despite never being crowned king. This is why the actual next king, Louis XVIII, is called the eighteenth. (As a recap: Louis XVIII was "Louis XVII's" uncle)

Little Louis died in captivity in 1795, at the age of ten. In the autopsy it was discovered that his body was horrifically scarred due to physical abuse.

"the brother of Cartouche"

Cartouche (1693-1721) was a famous highwayman and a folk hero, eventually caught and executed in 1721. I don't know much about him but now I kinda want to look more into it. His little brother Louis AKA Louison was hanged two years later as an accomplice despite being only about 15 (meaning he would have been only about 13 at most when he was supposedly being an accomplice to his brother.)

"fleur de lys"

⚜ The heraldic symbol of the French monarchy:

Supposedly representing a lily but apparently it might actually be an iris, idk.

"Bossuet chanting the Te Deum over the dragonnades?"

Bossuet was the bishop of Meaux 1681-1704, and a famous orator. He will come up again later in Les Mis.

The Dragonnades were part of Louis XIV (the Sun King)'s persecution campaign against the Huguenots.

Te Deum laudamus is a hymn and the title means "we praise thee, God".

"Carrier is a bandit; but what name do you give to Montrevel? Fouquier-Tainville is a rascal; but what is your opinion as to Lamoignon-Bâville? Maillard is terrible; but Saulx-Tavannes, if you please? Duchêne senior is ferocious; but what epithet will you allow me for the elder Letellier? Jourdan-Coupe-Tetê is a monster; but not so great a one as M. the Marquis de Louvois."

.... Okay I'm not gonna bother with all of these. Skip!

"the Abbey of Sainte Claire en Beaulieu, which I saved in 1793"

Several religious buildings were torn down during the Revolution, apparently the Conventionist spoke in favour of preserving this one? I don't actually know which abbey this is though or if this is a more specific reference. I can't be bothered to do any more research either tbh

According to an annotation on my edition of the novel, this might be an allusion to Hugo's father saving convents in Italy.

"those who despise it in a cap revere it in a hat.”

The red cap they're talking about is the Phrygian cap, which was worn by emancipated slaves in ancient Rome and which thus became a symbol of the Revolution (as it was a symbol of liberty). The cap is famously still worn by Marianne, the anthropomorphic personification of France.

The red hat Myriel alludes to, I assume means the galero, a wide-brimmed hat worn by cardinals. I could be wrong though, let me know if you have a better idea!

[kyberphilosopher]

Tyche

While handling a Suicide Squad, Rick leaves a room for just fifty-five seconds. 

Word Count: 6509 Warnings: crude humor, crude language, violence, gore Note: Readers gender is not specified (This fic is friendly to all pronouns). This takes place sometime between ss1 and ss2.  

Tyche, in Greek religion, the goddess of chance, with whom the Roman Fortuna was later identified; a capricious dispenser of good and ill fortune, Tyche is remembered as the goddess of luck who often brought good onto herself. 

* ✭ ˚ ･ﾟ ✧ *･ﾟ * ✭˚･ﾟ ✧* ･  *

Some people did not appreciate the idea of a ‘Suicide Squad’. Some people thought it was stupid. Some people thought both said ‘squad’ and the former Enchantress had done nothing but wreck the city. They were right about that, but Rick thought it could’ve been worse. It was who Amanda counted it as a huge success. 

Several so called heroes had tried to stop her efforts. Batman, Superman, Green Arrow- all to no avail. In fact, Amanda “The Wall” Waller had grown the Suicide Squad from singular to plural, all of which were filled with criminals serving time in Belle Reeve. There were endless amounts of them that either stepped forward or stepped back to allow Amanda in control of their lives, which may not have quite given her the rush it used to- but it kept her vision going. It was there, at the front lines of said vision, that you could find her Colonel. Rick Flag. 

.✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.☆.*｡･ﾟ✫*.

If you want specifics, you can find him right here. Walking in front of you and Snart, sighing as if he were rolling his eyes. His head hangs briefly for a second. This angle shows off the back of his neck and the shortest of short hairs on him. He’d grown his hair out from one of the first times you’d seen him. Back then, he reminded you very much of an army obsessed redneck. He was all serious.

Rick had taken your friend George that time. You remember, because he had been explaining the concept of a boomerang to you while Amanda Waller and Rick Flag had him forcefully extracted from the room. 

“Georgie,” you called, making kissy faces through the rooms bars, forcing your face to squish between them. 

George turned back to you, Rick looking down at him with a stern and angered expression. “I get ta’ rob a bank and fuck tha’ Flash!” 

Your arms spread outwards in a grand and dramatic motion. Removing your face from between the bars, you throw it back and announce, “I wish you luck!”

.✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.☆.*｡･ﾟ✫*.

Rick doesn’t remember that. George Harkness’s first recruit to a squad, the one that you’re referring to, was back when Rick had been dating June. Unsurprisingly, that relationship had not lasted long after June Moone had merged with Enchantress, which was exactly what Rick had pulled George out for in the first place. In Rick’s eyes, his first meeting with you was a day and a half ago- maybe two- when Amanda had created the next squad. Or maybe it was the hundredth.

Captain Cold, she explained, was Leonard Snart, another Flash enemy. He and his cold gun could freeze anyone or anything, even the scarlet speedster himself. Bronze Tiger could go hand to hand with the Batman and win. Giganta, in contrast, had a very good reason for being on this particular task force. She was constantly enlarging her limbs and then minimizing them as the group walked. Heat Wave was Captain Cold’s partner, which Rick thought was a bit of a reckless decision. And then there was Tyche. 

“They’re just standin’ there,” Rick had remarked next to Amanda. They watch in unison as several guards begin stripping the inmate- you- of multiple bonds over your body. Your wrists, neck, shoulders- as if you were a high profile killer. 

“Tyche’s lucky,” Amanda replied in her drawling, low voice. “Don’t be fooled. They can kill you in less than sixty seconds.”

“Lucky,” Rick repeats. His arms are crossed over his chest as his brows begin to furrow. “Luck is a superpower now?”

Amanda’s eyes don’t move. Like Rick, she’s in her own infamous position. Hands behind her back, spine up straight, orbs dead focused. “They can subconsciously and psionically initiate random telekinetic acts that affect probability in their favor.”

Rick’s brows furrow again. The last restraint is pulled from your body. Your nose scrunches, you arch your spine to pop it. “So why not take ‘em out every time?”

There’s a beat. Both officials watch as Tyche turns to one of the guards with their back facing them. Tyche bends down, stretches an arm as far back as it can go as if winding it up, and cracks the hand against the bum of the guard. Before the buff, angry man can turn around, Tyche’s standing up straight, looking off into something imaginary in the distance as if fascinated. 

“Because they’re extremely childish.”

.✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.☆.*｡･ﾟ✫*.

And back to now. 

“You’re kidding right?” the voice of Heatwave cuts through the scene. “One time, Snart over here farted out an icicle. Swear to God.”

“Wo-o-oah,” your voice muses. “Was it, like, hitting your g-spot?”

Rick snaps. “Okay,” he begins, turning to face the group of five. He shoulders his rifle into a tighter position, inhaling through his nose to keep himself together. Surprisingly enough, all of the Belle Reeve inmates have their eyes on him in with a mix being off guard, curious, and attentive. “Rule number one, let’s maybe not talk about each other’s g-spots.”

“Sounds like a man who hasn’t found his g-spot,” Giganta announces, earning mixed reactions from her associates. 

“Rule number two,” Rick breezes past, “is that all of you need to start keeping your voices down. We are in enemy territory.”

“Flag,” Snart begins, extending his arms to either side of him. “Look around. The city is in decay and we haven’t seen anybody for hours. I think we’re fine. Plus, I’m pretty sure O’Fortuna over here would just luck our way out of it.”

“True story,” you agree.

Indeed, the area the Task Force currently treks through is all but solitary. Grey clouds are rolling overhead, similar to the slabs of broken gray stone that make up most every building. But chunks of those buildings litter across the open area they all stand in like a wasteland. Stone and brick and gravel and dust, and not a body in sight. Least of all the body they’re tasked with hunting. 

“Doesn’t matter. Shut it down,” Rick continues. “But if you are going to talk, it’s about the mission.”

“What if we’re in a life or death situation, and we think, ‘I wish I knew someone who could fart out an icicle and save my life’. Then what?” you offer. 

“That’s got nothin’ to do with a g-spot,” Rick shrugs, annoyed. 

“But what if he moans?” 

“Why would anyone moan when they’re farting out an icicle?”

“G-spot, Rick,” you explain, almost sympathetically. “Do you know where that is? Would you like to?”

“Flag, I am crying and throwing up for you right now,” Cold breaks. “You are one weird dude.”

“Just- keep moving, please?” 

Flag turns away and continues escorting the inmates through the crumbling city, shivering every now and again at the horrifying (but humorous) imagery they’ve managed to put in his head. That’s the thing about criminals. Rick’s worked with them for a long time, and most of them seem to be entranced with their own humor, as if out of bounds with every other human being on the planet. You are the same.

.✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.☆.*｡･ﾟ✫*.

Rick decides to let you and the others rest once the sky is completely dark. Every time you thought you were far enough into the city, your Colonel only continued to move deeper. Your heels screamed. Your ankles cried. But you had the sneaking suspicion that if you stopped, Waller would blow your goddamn head off.

Several times, Rick would have the group file single line and walk closely to the side of a building for cover. It must’ve been an anxiety thing, because his steps changed and nobody else was getting a bad feeling.

There were multiple points where, when walking so closely to a building, bricks from the damaged roofs overhead would fall around you in a perfect circle. One came close to you, but a strong gust of wind made it smack off of Bronze Tiger’s forehead harmlessly.

“It’s not that you’re lucky,” Snart tried to explain at one point. “Luck isn’t a superpower. It’s probably just chance. Or hey, who knows? Maybe you’re just spoiled. And even if you are lucky, how did you even get arrested to begin with?”

He watched you reach down into the rubble and pluck out a four leaf clover.

“Oh good heavens!”

Now everyone is fast asleep inside the decaying bones of a building, and you’re on first watch.

You’re quick to rush outside and undo the bottom half of your costume to relieve yourself. Not that it matters, since it’s nearly impossible for you to wet your pants, and highly doubtful something horrendous will happen to the others while you’re on guard. Once you’re finished you stroll back inside, rubbing the back of your head as your eyes lull to and fro lazily. You can hear the crackling of the low fire Rick had allowed the few of you to set up now. But you can also hear shuffling.

Your eyes raise. Really, you hadn’t been expecting anybody to be awake at this hour. Everyone was so exhausted from Rick’s walking, walking, walking. But here someone is. And low and behold, it’s the man himself. Your feet come to a stop.

Rick glances in your direction once. Then he looks again, this time more seriously as if the first time didn’t quite set in. The flames from the fire in front of him cast an orange glow across his face and ignites the edges of his hazel eyes. He’s sitting against the wall in front of it, which dirties the back shoulders of his yellow shirt.

“I was peeing,” you explain.

Across the room, Giganta let’s out a long, loud, sound barrier breaking snore. Her chest expands and heaves to an unnatural degree as she does so. “Is she always like this?” Rick nods his head in acknowledgement towards her.

“I don’t know,” you tell him. “We’re not in the same place, I don’t think. Like she’s here, and I’m here.” You draw an imaginary map with your fingers that only you could understand in demonstration. “So… I don’t know.”

“Guess that’s good enough,” Rick decides, looking off at something else in the distance.

“Uh,” you look over your shoulder, “what are you up for?”

Your Colonel doesn’t even look at you as you shift weight from foot to foot. He’s fixated on whatever it is in the distance, the shades of fire lapping up in flickers across his skin. “Can’t sleep.”

“That’s unlucky,” you take a step forward. Your fingerless gloved hands are bunching up at your sides in nervousness. Nervousness. “Do… you want to talk about it?”

Rick kind of lets out a dry, humorous scoff, as if he couldn’t believe it. “Eh no,” he says, eyes not leaving the fire. “No, that’s alright.”

Has Rick always had an accent? Yeah, he must’ve. You know you’ve noticed it prior to just now, but it seems fueled. Noticeable. Amplified. Almost as sharp as his jaw that’s currently on full display to you.

“Can I ask you something?” Rick finally continues.

“Oh-uh, yeah. Sure.”

Rick is still. “The luck thing,” he says. “How does it work?”

You look down to the dirt floor, listening to the loudness of Giganta’s snores. Taking a step forward, you saunter closer to the wall Rick leans against. “Well,” you say, sitting down with your back to the wall beside him, a few feet away. “Sometimes it’s natural, sometimes I control it myself.”

“Natural?”

“Like, just good luck. The kind everyone gets, you know. But how it works is that it’s just…” You watch the fire cackle aimlessly. “It’s really hard for something bad to happen to me. I can’t remember the last time. Or like when I want something, it just happens.”

Rick hums and nods in understanding. “That’s a good power.” He turns his whole head to face you. It tips down and up quickly as if in casual salute. “Y/N, was it? S’ a good power.”

Your head rolls back against the wall, messing up the back of your hair. The light reflects across the gold accents of your armor, glinting like liquid luck. It’s the dark brown and black pieces that are unaffected by it.

“Thanks, Rick,” your voice drags, although the sentiment is genuine. “As long as you think so.”

“I do.”

“Maybe I’ll be colonel next myself,” you tell him with a smirk. “All I have to do is get out of Belle Reeve, and then you,” you jab a disgruntled pointer finger at him, “are toast.”

Rick smiles and huffs in that half-laugh way people do. “Mm, good luck with that.”

You pause as if you were suddenly shot dead. With your body now twisted to face your Colonel entirely, you say, “You’re kidding, right?”

Rick Flag gives out a scoff and looks around the room, realizing his unintended joke. “Go to bed,” he orders. Well, it sounds like a casual suggestion, but it’s an order.

Your face changes. Somewhere in the back of your mind, a piano starts to play. It’s a delicate tune. One of waiting and emotion, but it’s also dry. Simple. You’d maybe recognize it if you looked it up or… or maybe shazamed it, or something. But you haven’t had internet access in years.

All you can do is drink in Rick’s side profile. It’s a good drink, too. The slope of his nose is perfect, and the space between the bridge and his forehead is all balanced. The only signs of imperfection are the lines surrounding his eyes, but it doesn’t deter a thing. He looks pretty.

Rick’s always been attractive. You knew that. But this moment feels different. Way different.

“I’m on watch,” you manage to have yourself say after a full minute (at least).

If you could see yourself now, you’d see how pleading and big your eyes look. Like a young boy on the playground seeing their first love or a young girl just saved by a superhero. It’s a look of wonder and desperation. It’s raw. Rick doesn’t see it, too busy with his head tilted to look at the wall adjacent to this one so you can see the stretch of his jaw.

“I’ll take over,” he offers, finally looking back over. “It’s your lucky day, huh? Go on, I got this round.”

You’re still, keeping your eyes locked on him uncontrollably. “Okay. Thanks, Rick.”

Pushing yourself up, you shuffle to the other side of the room where the rest of your team sleeps on the dirt floor soundly.

“I really like you, Rick,” you mumble as you bend down to get into position.

“You say somethin’, Tyche?” he calls back. He didn’t hear a word.

“No.”

And then you lay down, not tired, watching the flames from the side. You can see Rick’s figure flickering across from them. But once you close your eyes, you’re asleep.

.✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.☆.*｡･ﾟ✫*.

Two days went on in the city. There was no sign of your target. 

His name was Growth. That’s what Waller told you during the briefing. He was an enemy of a lot of squads who had expertise in size alteration, which was exactly why she had decided to include Giganta on the mission. Captain Cold could probably freeze Growth in place, Heatwave could burn his feet and make it hurt to walk, and you guess Bronze Tiger could just start beating him up or something. You were just a walking lucky charm. Whatever Flag told you to do, you’d do, and it would be to perfection. 

Unfortunately, nobody was having their opportunity. 

“Is he even in the city?” Heatwave asks as the group walks. 

From up ahead, Rick turns his head over his shoulder and answers. “Of course he is.” Then, out of earshot as he turns around, he whispers, “Amanda, did you get that?”

“Yes, Colonel. I did,” a familiar voice drawls back through the earpiece. “We can confirm that Growth is in the area. Just no sign of him.”

“Everyone be on your guard!” Rick orders back. “Could be anywhere.”

“Well, I gotta say,” Leonard leans close to you. “I thought we would’ve seen the guy by now.”

“He’s shy,” Heatwave says behind him. Then the two men descend into hushed snickers.

It’s a few minutes before anybody speaks again, and it’s just Rick telling everyone to file inside an important looking building. By now, you’re starting to sweat. The air is humid and licks at your skin softly- though not enjoyably. Your heels are sweating and slipping roughly against your shoes, undoubtedly creating blisters for you. And since the sun is beating down, your eyebrows are creasing uncontrollably, making you look mad. You’re uncomfortable, to say the least. 

But Rick’s here. And even though this is your first time officially working with him, it makes everything seem so much better. Your Colonel isn’t going to let anything bad happen to you. You trust him fully. He knows what he’s doing. 

The inside of the important looking building matches the outside. There’s a room by the entrance made of stone, but filled with rows and rows of screens and computers. All of them seem to be in working condition, which is interesting news to everyone. There’s an audible, “Shit,” that echoes through the room. It could’ve been said by anybody. 

After the moment of stillness, in which you’ve just turned your head to look at Rick beside you, he breaks it. “Okay,” he says, stepping forward, almost rejuvenated. “This is a good thing. Alright. Giganta, start searching the area. Inside, outside, do what you gotta do. Tiger, I want you with her. Cold, Wave, stay here on guard. Tyche, stay with them.”

“Mm, you seem pretty confident,” Snart quips. 

“I’ve got a good feeling,” Rick explains. You watch as he slips his backpack from his form and lets it drop to the floor. At the same time, Giganta and Bronze Tiger jog out of the room and the sound of boots on the floor fade to nothing. “Nobody touch that,” Rick continues in acknowledgment to the bag. “I’ll be back. Stay here.”

“We’d never disobey your orders, sir,” Cold promises, though his voice is naturally sarcastic. He probably can’t turn it off. 

You fake salute to Rick as he jogs through the doorway everyone entered through, and then he’s gone. Not out of sight, though. You take a few steps forward as if following him, but only to watch. The yellow shirt of his stands out against the darkness, the gloominess of everything in both the building and the city. Even his aura is a juxtaposition to the very nature of things. You just know it. 

Rick Flag turns down another hallway, speaking into his earpiece with a quick and hushed voice. You spin around after that. 

Then you freeze. 

"What are you doing?”

.✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.☆.*｡･ﾟ✫*.

Waller was a secretive and stony woman. Most Suicide Squads had more than one motive if they could. Stopping Growth? Yeah, that was one of them. But even finding information on him was enough. Security camera footage was even better. Finding some kind of watch tower with the power still running was kind of the jackpot for Rick. It’s not a shocker that he goes off to do his own thing at this revelation. 

He doesn’t know it, but once Rick stepped outside the room where he left three criminals on their own, he had about fifty five seconds before something happened. He’s ten seconds in now. 

Fifteen seconds in, Rick turns into a smaller room filled with one singular computer. It’s large, with the screen glowing blue. He doesn’t need Amanda to remind him of what to do. Reaching into his pants pocket after setting down his rifle, the man produces a red piece of metal and plastic, which is then slid into the side of the computer at twenty two seconds in. Then he waits, eyes glued onto the screen that now displays several green numbers and codes rushing down the screen at an alarming rate. 

At thirty seven seconds in, there’s a rumbling. The entire building shakes, making dust fall from overhead. Whether it’s something or nothing, Rick looks around in confusion before going back to focused waiting. 

Forty two seconds in, there’s an echo of something. Voices, Rick thinks. Forty four seconds, there’s a loud noise. It’s quick and sharp, like metal falling over. Another noise rings through, but he can recognize this one much faster. It’s the noise of a hand smacking against a wall, probably by the palm. 

The computers still going. Rick’s hands are twitching, his jaw clenching and unclenching as the screen illuminates his face. He’s forty eight seconds in when it happens. Another slapping noise, and then a beat of silence. And suddenly-

“RICK!”

Brows furrowing, Rick’s head turns in concern. Did he hear that right?

“Rick! Help me!”

Fifty three seconds in, Rick tears out of the room. The computer is still going crazy, the hard drive in place. Another shake makes more dust and dirt fall from above. Rubble is falling all around.

Was that your voice? It sounded like your voice. 

Fifty four seconds in, just outside the room Rick had left the three criminals, he only has one second left. At fifty five, a much stronger shake makes the man stumble. A loud bang echoes through the air, and light pours into the dark building straight ahead of him. Despite not being blown backwards, there’s a soreness in Rick’s abdomen that reminds him of a bomb going off. But it wasn’t a bomb. It was Growth and Giganta, falling into the building. 

.✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.☆.*｡･ﾟ✫*.

You turn around to face the rest of the room and turn your back to the doorway. But the sight pulls you up still. Captain Cold and Heatwave are pulling Rick’s backpack up into their arms, also frozen in place upon seeing you. Heatwave is just about to rip into the fabric, almost greedily. 

“What are you doing?” you ask, which is probably the most serious you’ve ever sounded on the whole mission. Probably the most serious you’ve ever sounded in your whole time in Belle Reeve. 

The two men glance at each other before Snart speaks up. “Waller told us to search the bag for something... did she not tell you?”

You just take a step forward. “Rick told us not to touch it.”

“Yeah, but Waller told us to,” Heatwave explains. “We kinda have to, Y/N. That’s your name right? It’s gonna be fine.”

“But Flag told us not to-”

“Y/N, calm down,” Heatwave suddenly snaps. He shoves the bag fully into Snart’s arms, who drops it to the ground immediately, seemingly not eager to touch it. “It’s going to be fine. Rick doesn’t matter, okay? He’s not going to know. So just shut up, and help us do this.”

But you don’t care. You don’t care what they’re looking for. You don’t care that it’s apparently a direct order from Waller. Rick asked specifically for the bag to not be touched, whether he meant it casually or seriously. You wouldn’t let him down like that. So you say, “No.” 

Before Heatwave can do anything but get an angry look across his brash face, you cross the space and scoop up Rick’s backpack like it’s precious cargo. Leonard just lets you, not avoiding eye contact as both of your mouths hang open. He’s your friend. He’s in on it, but he’s your friend. Neither of you are jumping at the opportunity to go against your gut judgement on that. It’s just Heatwave that’s the problem. His flamethrower is so big and intimidating now, the look in his eyes changing as quickly as the fire you and Rick spoke over just a few nights ago. 

“Tyche, give me the bag.”

“No.”

The firey man stalks in your direction slowly, trying to keep it together in a way that an abusive father would. “I need that bag, Tyche. Give it to me, or I’ll make you.”

You don’t speak, but it’s not like you have to. Your answer is the same as it was. 

So Heatwave pulls back his hand up above his head, and brings it down on your face. 

Your right cheeks erupts in a sting- red and pink and raw. You could’ve sworn you were nowhere near a wall a few seconds ago, but one hand releases the bag and slams up against the stone harshly for balance. The other grips the backpack by the straps, and it lazily hangs by your side. 

Another stinging rushes through you. Not at your face, or your hand, but your stomach. It makes your eyes widen, your heart stop and then skip a beat. Blood rushes through your veins, and after a second of silence, you hear it gush onto the floor. Somewhere in the mix, your hand smacks against the wall again for support as your mouth slips open. 

“Holy shit,” you hear someone say. Leonard. Leonard Snart. It must be him. Why is your head swimming?

“I’d burn your skin off, but you’d probably just get lucky and jam my trigger,” someone says in front of you. Heat... Heatwave! 

You look down slowly, almost stuttering in your movements. There, in your stomach, is a knife. A silver and bronze one, buried to the hilt by a big, gloved hand. Dark liquid is just pouring from the wound freely- more than you imagined would- spilling onto the floor loudly. Then you begin to panic. 

“Snart?” you choke, looking over to your friend. You can see, even through the confusing double vision, that the look on his face is the same as your own. “Snart?”

A beat passes. Call for... call... Call for Rick! You got blood all over his backpack! He’s going to be so mad when he sees it, probably, but it’ll be okay. He’ll understand. But you shouldn’t lie to him. You should tell him right away. 

“RICK!” you scream out, right in Heatwave’s face. Then a bunch of blood catches in your esophagus, and you cough it up and onto his skin. “Rick! Help me!”

There’s a painful, twisting feeling in your gut. Whimpering and looking down, noises of strain and choke leaving your lips, Heatwave removes the knife. A surge of liquid gushes out at once, making your legs wobble and your mouth hang open once more.

In panic, you sloppily take your free hand from the wall and push it under your partners jaw. Heatwave’s head tilts back, momentarily confused by the fingers digging into the soft flesh of his throat. He makes a groaning noise as he goes to throw your weakening hand away.

“Leonard,” you sputter, blood dripping from in between your lips. Your death grip on Rick’s bag is tightening. “Where are you? Leonard?”

But then, the blood on the ground begins to move. It splatters up and down, side to side. The floor beneath all of you follows suit. Every motion sends a new, shooting pain to the opening inside you. Then Giganta and Growth crash through the room, bringing down two walls in the process. 

All three of you are blown back and away from each other. You don’t know where the other two land. Heatwave died, with any luck, but hopefully Leonard is okay. But it’s you who got the short end of the stick.

When your head goes to crane upwards, everything is muddy. It’s as if you just stared into the sun for fifteen seconds. But the one thing you can make out as your right hand absent mindedly twitches around your tummy is the blood. Warm, thick blood. Some of it forms in bubbles. Then it goes solid.

No- blood doesn’t do that. Crane your head up again… you need to see… what is that? There’s few things that it could be. Not bone. It’s not your ribs. It’s long, squishy, firm… what is that? You can barely make it out through the blood.

“Tyche!”

You glance up. “Oh,” you say. “Hey, Rick. I was just looking for you… There’s something on your bag. I’m sorry.”

Rick’s face morphs into confusion. You’re laying just outside the collapsed room, your head on Rick’s lap with his arms hooked around you. He’s dragged you out of the rubble, but you didn’t seem to notice. You didn’t even seem to notice your large green friend tackling the enemy to the ground in the new hole outside. In fact, you just seem calm, and soft. You’re fucking out of it, Rick realizes. Absolutely out of it. That would make sense for someone who’s intestines are hanging out of their body.

His orbs trail from your dirt smudged face to your left arm. In your left hand, your knuckles are wrapped so tightly around the strap of his bag they’ve gone white. It’s drenched in slick red blood.

Rick taps your cheeks lightly. “Why did you do this?” he orders urgently, out of breath as his eyes flicker around to all the parts of you. “Tyche- Tyche, wake up. Why did you do this?”

“You told us not to touch it,” you murmur back to him, as if it were obvious. “I’m sorry. Are you mad at me? Mm… where’s Leonard. You know Leonard. Rick?”

How the fuck do you save someone when they’re intestines are exposed? Rick’s going through everything he’s ever learned. From elementary school health to the first aid training he got in the military, he searches for anything to help. But nothing’s coming up. That’s the fucking problem. He doesn’t know how to help someone who’s intestines are exposed. It makes him want to vomit at the sight- at the smell that’s already seeping in. The lump in his throat is heavy and pleading, but there’s another part of him that’s in a complete frenzy. It tells him one simple thing: Don’t take his eyes off you.

“Rick, is that my organ?”

“Don’t touch it!” he gasps, eyes raking all over your body furiously. “Don’t touch it!” One Hand of his rests on your forehead firmly, as if that could possibly keep you safe.

“Why are you so mad? You sound mad. I’m sorry. I’ll buy you a new bag. I promise. Waller doesn’t have to know.”

Waller… Waller!

“Waller!” Rick gasps into his earpiece. “Amanda- I need help. I need medical assistance now.”

No response.

“Waller! Amanda!”

“Why do you need medical assistance?” You continue to drawl tiredly. “Your head is bleeding. Are you okay?”

“Y/N, goddamnit your fucking- fucking intestines are out of your fucking stomach! Look- Waller!”

“Oh,” you scrunch your eyebrows. “That.”

Cauterize. Rick could cauterize the wound. But to do that…

“Y/N, where’s the others? Where’s Cold and Wave?”

“Um…” you close your eyes.

“Tyche- Tyche wake up. Look at me. Where are they? Where’s Wave and Cold?”

Your eyes open lazily as he shakes you. Wave and Cold. “They’re, um… over there? I don’t… Rick, don’t go. It’s so early in the morning.”

“Hey, stay with me. Stay with me.” Rick’s voice falls into a chant as he pants your face vehemently, trying to keep your eyes open. “I’m going to get help, okay? You’re going to be fine. You need to stay with me, okay?”

Your eyes pop open momentarily before fluttering back to half liddedness. “Oh, hey Rick. I was… just looking for you, and…”

.✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.☆.*｡･ﾟ✫*.

Rick’s computer is slow today. Whatever Amanda sent him this time must be bigger than usual- some file or document she’d attached in one of her normally vague emails. His nose scrunches upward in a sniff.

“Hey, Rick,” a voice cuts through the air. From his desk chair, Rick’s head snaps up.

“John,” he stands in respect, looming over one of Waller’s subordinates even from the distance. At this, John’s shoulders deflate. He’s a rounder guy, with old school glasses and mousy brown hair.

“Yeah,” he sighs awkwardly, taking steps forward.

“What can I do for you?”

“Oh, Waller just sent me to give you this.” John tossed a yellow file onto Rick’s glass surface. “Some secret… thing, I guess?”

“Thanks,” Rick replies, scanning his eyes over it as he picks it up in his hands.

The conversation should end there. But John is still. He’s planted in place. This makes Rick’s orbs fall on him again. “Is there something else?”

John glances over his shoulder out the room, where the rest of the office sits. Outside the walls, Rick can hear voices, click clacks, and ringing phones. Nothing out of the ordinary.

The man takes a step forward. His large, sweaty hands dog into the pockets of his jeans. “About the mission a few weeks ago… We know it was a success and all but… uh,” John begins, pulling out wads of paper. Cash, Rick soon realizes. “We wanted you to know- well, I wanted you to know- that we saw what happened.”

“What… happened?” Rick questions, brows knitting.

“Yeah,” John continues. “We all did. And um… okay, so- we do this thing, here in the office, where we kind of, like, bet on who’s going to kick it in the squads. Just to lighten the mood. And uh… not a lot of people usually bet on Tyche. I know it happened weeks ago, but, uh… I just… I thought you should have their money. As a sorry.”

Rick is still. His brain is pumping out words, orders, directions. Through the heavy eye contact between he and John, he can see the green glint of cash from his peripheral vision. It doesn’t take long for the spark of so called politeness to dissipate completely.

Your armor was dark. It was mostly black, hugging your form. Dark brown pieces of leather made a thick layer of protection in some areas, while other were accented with gold clips or buckled or buttons. Rick hadn’t gotten the opportunity to analyze your outfit of choice until you were laying in his arms, and the outfit was ruined by dark streams of blood.

“That’s sick,” Rick says lowly, intensely. “Sitting here betting on people to die? That’s disgusting.” Rick thinks for a moment. “Vile,” he spits. “Get out. Get the fuck out. I don’t want your god damn money.”

John nods profusely. He’s practically tripping over his sneakers as he pushes Rick’s glass door open and leaves the room. Unfortunately for the intern, not even all the walls in the world can stop the daggers of Rick’s eyes from sinking into his back.

It’s a full minute before Rick can pull his eyes away. Only then does he realize he hadn’t even taken a breath.

His thumbs twiddle and tear through the paper of the envelope, still angry from today’s encounter. Fuck John. Fuck all of them. Betting on your life like it’s a fucking joke? And fuck Waller. She knew what was going on in that city and didn’t do a damn thing. Sick fucking fucking fuck.

Flag collapses back into his chair with a sigh. He pulls the contents of the envelope out tiredly, aggravated. But the tiredness fades. The aggravation flits away into smoke, and his face changes.

It’s a file. If you want specifics, it’s your file. A mugshot of yours is clipped to the front, which Rick rubs his thumb over gently. Then he flits it open urgently, as if awoken by a grave and time sensitive purpose.

Yes… yes- it’s all here. Y/N L/N, code name Tyche. Capable of always winning unlikely chances and altering the world with events only beneficial to them in a series of coincidences. A brick is falling towards you? A gust of wind would blow it away. Someone’s got a flamethrower to your head? Uh oh! Triggers jammed.

There’s so many pictures of you. Small ones, most of which are black and white, but so many. Clipped to the sides, the top, printed onto the many papers within. You look so alive in them. In fact, everything inside the file makes you seem alive. Rick can see your birthday, family members not even you knew of, skills, hobbies, enemies, partnerships, your many, various crimes.

A breath escapes him. It’s almost a sob of choking, so his palm raises to cover his lips almost immediately. Then his eyes flit upwards, making sure nobody’s noticing him through the see through walls. The coast is all clear, always has been, and so Rick’s eyes hungrily dive back down to continue reading.

This time, there’s only one thing that catches his eyes. Over your picture at the top of the first page is a big red stamp he’d somehow missed, dawning the word Rick was dreading to see.

DECEASED.

Another noise passes through him. It makes his whole chest implode with soreness, focusing on his sternum.

Rick flips to the end of the papers, skipping to the very back, where he finds a printed death certificate. It’s signed off by Waller. Of course it is. And in the cause of death section, the woman- the Wall- put something so horrific and disrespectful that Rick can’t even believe she’d decided to do it. It’s what makes him turn all the way back to the first page, back to your picture and the basic information. Back to the stamp of the worst word in the world.

And on the side, Rick’s eyes fall to a small photo of a backpack printed onto the paper. His backpack. Untouched, unharmed, only lightly dirtied from rubble and debris. In fact, if he squints, he can make out a rigid, tight hand holding the strap of the bag securely. The rest of your body is cut out of the picture.

It’s Leonard Snart, a good friend of yours, who sums up Rick’s thoughts on Waller at that exact moment.

“Fucking bitch.”

.✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.☆.*｡･ﾟ✫*.

It was requested guys what did you want me to do? Not ruin your day? I don’t think so. 

[historic-old-guard-lover]

Yusuf ibn Ibrahim al-Tayyib  al-Kaysani’s Ethnicity

So I’ve read a lot of different fics and wanted to clarify the different terms I’ve seen applied to Yusuf. I’ll reference what is cannon, but more importantly I want to clarify that these terms are not synonyms. Not all Mediterranean/middle-eastern brown Arabic-speakers are the same.

Saracen: This is a historical term no longer used, but it was widespread in Europe during the period when Joe and Nicky are supposed to have met. It came to be used in place of “muslim” or “pagan” to describe someone. So, when you have Nicky call Joe “Saracen” you are both showing the narrow-mindedness of medieval Europe and only committing yourself to the fact that Joe practices Islam. However, this is more akin to a cultural slur than something Joe would every apply to himself. It’s not an ethnicity to Joe, it’s an insult. Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saracen

Maghrebhi: This references a region of Northwest Africa called “the Magreb” (“the west” in Arabic) and is similar to saying something like “Eastern European” to describe oneself. The real actor, Marwan Kenzari, is the son of Tunisian immigrants and this ethnicity term is one that he might use for himself. I believe this is accurate to cannon as well. This is historically accurate as well, an identity label that existed at the time. Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maghreb

Moor: This is the European counterpart to Magrebhi which was later expanded to cover Arabs as well. This is something that Nicky might call Joe without meaning to insult, but not something that Joe would call himself. I haven’t seen this one pop up yet, but I figured that I would add it. The historical term was actually Mauri which is fun to spell. Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moors

Berber or Amazigh/Imazighen (plural) : Berber is both largely anachronistic and could be considered offensive. The region of Northwest Africa did not come to be commonly known are the Barbary coast until the 1500s CE. Furthermore, the term originates from the Greek for “Barbarian”...as in calling the inhabitants of the area barbarians as a name. It is understandably confusing as the term “Berber” is totally normalized in historical sources in English. The name originating within this language group to describe the people is romanized as “Amazigh” (singular) but appears to be anachronistic. It would be better to reference a specific tribal group or region like “Numidian” (reference to a 200 BCE indigenous empire) for an ethnicity. Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbary_Coast, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berbers, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numidians

Arab/Arabian: This one gets me mad. The Maghreb was conquered by the Arabic empire. Arab originally referred to the Arabian peninsula which is thousands of miles away. Calling Joe “Arab” is like calling Booker “Roman” (but Gualle was controlled by the Roman Empire, so the French are Roman). Modern usage has blended the ethnicity across the former Islamic Empires because of conquest and the eventual ethnic blending. If you are going to refer to him this way, be reflective about it: it’s the result of the eradication of indigenous cultures. What gets me the most upset is realizing it’s probably just uniformed white writers thinking “speaks Arabic and is from a region I consider desert” but it’s very annoying. Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabs

Seljuk: This derives from the Seljuq dynasty and references Turkish-Persian (modern Turkey, Iran, and the surrounding areas) people. The Seljuk Turks never occupied the Maghreb, though it is the correct time period. Maybe Joe is fighting with the Seljuk Turks, but he is not one. Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seljuq_dynasty

TL;DR: some of the identity terms I’ve seen thrown around are either plain wrong or could be considered offensive. There’s a big difference in using the language of the inhabitants of a place and the language of foreigners to describe someone’s ethnicity and we as a fandom can do better. Also, the whole fandom is looking up Ligurian and Italian for Nicky, so let’s do better for Joe...

[miserablesme]

The Les Miserables Changelog Part 3: 1987 Broadway Production

Hello, everyone! This is the latest edition in my attempt to chronicle all of the musical and lyrical changes which the show Les Miserables has undergone over the years. This time, we're going through all the changes between the musical as it existed on the West End around 1985-1986 and the revised libretto for the 1987 Broadway production.

In some ways, this is a much easier changelog to compile than the last two simply because it is much easier to find audio evidence of the show from this era than from its pre-1987 self. We have a full soundboard of the original Broadway cast as well as a very good quality bootleg of the very first Broadway preview, as well as several audios from the next few years which use exactly the same script. We also have an officially released Symphonic Soundtrack which almost (but not quite) follows this version of the libretto exactly. So no more relying on unclear bootlegs and speculation to figure out what was changed when!

Having said that, the changes in this production were MASSIVE. It's almost certainly the most extensive edit the show's libretto has received to this day. As such, this will be a very long edition of this blog. So make sure you have a bit of time on your hands before reading it! With all that cleared up, let's begin.

The first change literally can be heard as soon as the musical begins. The pre-Broadway show opens up with the same recurring motif also heard, for instance, at the openings of "At the End of the Day" and "One Day More". This music then transitioned to the instrumentals to the opening "Work Song". The post-Broadway libretto cuts right to the chase, with the opening instrumentals to the "Work Song" starting right up without any preamble.

One interesting little non-scripted change occurs later in the "Work Song", but only in American productions. For whatever reason, every American Javert from the original Broadway cast until the first Broadway revival sang "And I am Javert" instead of "And I'm Javert", for reasons that honestly baffle me. Again, the libretto retained the original contraption as far as I'm aware, and the West End production as well as later UK and Australian tours still used it as well.

The next change happens while Valjean is on parole. After Valjean pleads against the farmer underpaying him, this was the farmer's original response:

Do you believe

A yellow ticket of leave

Allows a criminal like you to earn full screw?

Since Broadway, his response is instead as follows:

You broke the law

It's there for people to see

Why should you get the same as honest men like me?

I much prefer this revised version. Though the information is essentially the same, it feels more dramatic, as well as feeling less awkward now that it is in the form of separate sentences as opposed to a single sentence spoken in three lines with pauses in between. Moreover, the phrase "honest men like me" as used here provides interesting foreshadowing for its more well-known usage in "Master of the House". One could spend quite some time analysing the implications of this recurring description, but this blog is long enough as it is so now isn't the time!

In the same number, originally the innkeeper's wife had the following remark:

My rooms are full

And I've no supper to spare

I'd like to help you really, all I want is to be fair

Since Broadway, her line has been slightly modified:

My rooms are full

And I've no supper to spare

I'd like to help a stranger, all we want is to be fair

I suppose "I'd like to help a stranger" sounds less slang-y than "help you really". Presumably this is why it was changed. I find the change of subject from singular to plural far more interesting. My hypothesis is that the writers wanted to make it clear than this is a communal grudge, not a personal one. Everyone around sees it as perfectly fair to deny shelter to a former convict, not just this one individual. I definitely prefer the revised line, but evidently the producers of the West End production didn't; that production held on to the original lyrics for more than a decade after they were originally revised! More on that in a later edition of this blog...

A more minor change can be heard during "At the End of the Day". Originally, Valjean asks the factor workers "What is this shouting all about?" The Broadway script changes this to "What is this fighting all about?" Much less trivial implications now. I'm curious as to whether or not a staging change may have accompanied this. Usually the two workers get into quite a bit of physical scuffle by this point, far beyond the realm of shouting. Did the original pre-Broadway production use more subdued choreography?

"The Runaway Cart" has some noticeable differences. After Valjean asks the townspeople for help, the original response was sung by the entire ensemble, and went as follows:

(SOLO)

Don't go near him, Monsieur Mayor

There's nothing at all you can do

(ENSEMBLE)

The old man is a goner for sure

Leave him alone

The Broadway libretto revised this into a sequence sung by one individual at a time with the following lyrics:

Don't go near him, Monsieur Mayor

The load is as heavy as hell

The old man is a goner for sure

It will kill you as well

A female ensemble member sung "The old man is a goner for sure" while a male member sung the rest. I sort of like it better as an ensemble piece (something that would be largely brought back in later years, as I'll soon discuss) although I think it's cool that it rhymes now. Having said that, I'm fairly confident that no one in the real world has ever actually used the phrase "Heavy as hell"!

An official change in the libretto occurred in "Who Am I?" but listeners to the original Broadway cast would not have heard it. While the pre-Broadway show had Valjean refer to "This innocent who bears my face", the revised libretto instead refers to "This innocent who wears my face". Perhaps a means of avoiding repetition, given that the word "bear" is used again later in the number? Regardless, Colm Wilkinson didn't actually bother to adapt to this change! He still sings "This innocent who bears my face" in the Broadway production (as well as the tenth anniversary concert; not until his 1998 stint in Toronto did he ever start singing the revised lyrics). Since every future Valjean (except Ivan Rutherford for some reason) sings "wears", I still see it as appropriate to mention here.

At the end of the song, Valjean's "You know where to find me!", used on and off in the Barbican previews before becoming a settled part of the production by the final pre-Broadway libretto, is once again removed for the Broadway show. However, the West End production would keep it for a few years - more on that later...

Just listening to the original Broadway cast, one might think Javert's "Dare you talk to me of crime?" becomes "Dare you speak to me of crime?" However, this seems to be a Terrence Mann-exclusive change. Every Javert after him reverts to the original lyrics (as did Terrence himself when he returned to the musical fifteen years later). I'm still making note of the change here for the sake of clarification.

An instrumental change occurs between "Castle on a Cloud" and "Master of the House". Mme. Thenardier's "You heard me ask for something and I never ask twice" was original followed by three bars of notes, then by six more bars of notes that are identical to each other. After the Broadway production, however, those six bars of notes grow increasingly more dramatic as they go on.

A very slight change happens during the preamble to "Master of the House". Originally one of the guests proclaims "Hell, what a wine" while the revised libretto instead has him claim "God, what a wine". Definitely more natural in my opinion, though not a huge difference by any means.

A few subtle differences exist in the "Waltz of Treachery" number. First off, Thenardier originally asks "Have we done for your child what is best?" The Broadway libretto changes "your child" to "her child". I personally like the original lyric better, as it goes back to the idea established earlier that Valjean is metaphorically bargaining through the spirit of Fantine. It's definitely not a difference that makes or breaks the number, though.

Towards the end of the song comes another change that cannot actually be heard by listening to the original Broadway cast. In the pre-Broadway show, Valjean used the line "Let us seek out a friendlier sky", while the revised libretto has him say "Let us seek out some friendlier sky". However, Colm Wilkinson once again doesn't bother to adapt to the change, and unlike the "Who Am I?" change he wouldn't learn it over time either. He continues to sing "a friendlier sky" throughout his on-and-off performances as Valjean, right up to and including his 2002 run in Shanghai!

After the bulk of the number comes a more significant change. Prior to the Broadway production, as was discussed in the last entry, the "Waltz of Treachery" was followed by about forty-five seconds of vamping and then this exchange in the tune of "Castle on a Cloud":

(LITTLE COSETTE)

We're going home right now, monsieur

What is your name

(VALJEAN)

Now my dear

I've names enough, I've got names to spare

But where I go, you always will be there

Nor will you be afraid again

There is a sun that's shining yet

(LITTLE COSETTE)

I'm going to call you my Papa

(VALJEAN)

I'm going to call you my Cosette

The Broadway libretto replaced it with just under twenty seconds of vamping, followed by a sequence in the tune of the "Waltz of Treachery":

(VALJEAN)

Come Cosette

Come my dear

From now on I will always be here

Where I go

You will be

(LITTLE COSETTE)

Will there be children

And castles to see?

(VALJEAN)

Yes, Cosette

Yes it's true

There's a castle just waiting for you

This is followed by another fifteen or so seconds of vamping, and then the humming duet between Cosette and Valjean carries on as before.

Arguably the biggest change in the entire edited libretto happens now. Whereas the number was originally directly followed by "Stars", things have been moved around so that it instead transitions directly into "Look Down". "Look Down" itself receives a lot of adjustments. First off, the number began in the pre-Broadway musical with a bar of music that was then repeated. The Broadway version only plays the bar of music once, and the sung part happens immediately afterwards.

Gavroche's verse receives some lyrical updates. Originally it used the following lines:

This is my school, my high society

From St. Denis to St Michel

We live on crumbs of humble piety

Tough on the teeth, but what the hell?

If you're poor, if you're free

Follow me, follow me!

The Broadway production rewrote that sequence a little:

This is my school, my high society

Here in the slums of St Michel

We live on crumbs of humble piety

Tough on the teeth, but what the hell?

Think you're poor? Think you're free?

Follow me, follow me!

Better lines in my humble opinion; "slums" conveys the poverty of Gavroche's community much more effectively than the original line, and phrasing the "poor" and "free" lines as questions is more dramatic than their original statement form.

The old beggar woman's original "You give 'em all the pox" becomes the less grammatically accurate "Give 'em all the pox" for Broadway, though I have no idea if the original "You" was part of the libretto or simply an improvisation. Since seemingly all actresses used that line for the first few years of the West End production, it strikes me as warranting a mention.

Right after this comes another change. In the pre-Broadway show, the argument between the beggar woman and the prostitute was followed by an exchange by a few individual beggars. All of the following lines were said by one person at a time, the first three being said by female beggars and the last one by a male beggar:

When's it gonna end?

When're we gonna live?

Something's gotta happen, dearie

Something's gotta give

The Broadway libretto changes this to an ensemble piece performed by all the beggars simultaneously:

When's it gonna end?

When're we gonna live?

Something's gotta happen now or

Something's gotta give

I really like the switch to a group effort, as it really emphasizes that the beggars are a community sharing the burden of poverty. It really feels like an epidemic to an extent that it doesn't when it's just a small conversation. Evidently the producers of the West End show didn't agree with me though, as they held onto the original sequence for more than a decade after the official change, and by that point it had already been largely reverted worldwide! More on that in a later blog...

Originally, the exposition about General Lamarque was given by a few random students (supposedly not specified in the libretto, but in practice portrayed as Combeferre and Feuilly). Some ensemble dialogue between beggars was put in between. Feuilly sings over the end of the ensemble's lines - but many have speculated that this was not intended by the writers, as the background music sounds super out of sync with his singing! Here's how the scene went:

(COMBEFERRE)

As for the leaders of the land

As for the swells who run this show

Only one man and that's Lamarque

Speaks for the people here below

(BEGGARS)

Something for a meal

Something for a doss

Something in the name of Him who died upon the cross

On the cross, come across

On the cross, come across, come across

(FEUILLY)

Lamarque is ill and fading fast

Won't last the week out, so they say

With all the anger in the land

How long before the judgement day?

Before we cut the fat ones down to size?

Before the barricades arise?

Fortunately, the writers of the Broadway libretto had the sense to change the purveyors of the message into people actually relevant to the show's plot, namely Marius and Enjolras. Moreover, the beggars' dialog was rewritten into a sequence that feels far less clunky to me. The background music was fixed to account for the solo singing (now done by Marius) overlapping the beggars' lines, so it is now perfectly in sync. Here's the edited exchange:

(ENJOLRAS)

Where are the leaders of the land?

Where are the swells who run this show?

(MARIUS)

Only one man and that's Lamarque

Speaks for the people here below

(BEGGARS)

See our children fed

Help us in our shame

Something for a crust of bread in Holy Jesus' name

(SOLO BEGGAR)

In the Lord's holy name

(BEGGARS)

In His name, in His name, in His name

(MARIUS)

Lamarque is ill and fading fast

Won't last the week out, so they say

(ENJOLRAS)

With all the anger in the land

How long before the judgement day?

Before we cut the fat ones down to size?

Before the barricades arise?

Much better in my opinion! It should be noted that David Bryant instead sings "these people here below", but as far as I can tell every future Marius (or later Enjolras - more on that later) sings "the people, which is the actually phrasing in the libretto.

One final change in Look Down: Gavroche now says that all of Thenardier's family is "on the make", as opposed to the original "on the take". A rather pointless change in my book, though it certainly doesn't hurt anything.

"The Robbery" is another heavily edited number. Thenardier's line after acknowledging Brujon, Babet, and Claquesous was originally as follows:

You Montparnasse, watch for the p'lice

With Eponine, take care

You've got all the hash, I've got all the cash

The Broadway show rewrote those lines into their still-current form:

You Montparnasse, watch for the law

With Eponine, take care

You turn on the tears, no mistakes my dears!

This changed lyric more naturally transitions the scene into the gang's actual plan, though the original is an interesting continuation of Gavroche's recollection of Thenardier once running a hash house.

Mme. Thenardier's response is also altered from the original lyrics:

Here come a student from our street

One of 'Ponine's peculiar gents

Our Eponine would kiss his feet

She never showed a bit of sense

Into the current ones:

These bloody students on our street

Here they come slumming once again

Our Eponine would kiss their feet

She never showed a scrap of brain

It's interesting how the edit shifts the focus from Marius in particular to the students in general. It seems that Mme. Thenardier is less aware of the specifics of her daughter's personal life now, something that makes sense for her character.

After Mme. Thenardier's "You'll be in the clear", there was originally just eighteen seconds of a musical motif (the same one which opens "At the End of the Day" and "One Day More") followed by Thenardier's speech. Since Broadway, it's instead been followed by a few more lines of dialogue:

(MARIUS)

Who is that man

(EPONINE)

Leave me alone!

(MARIUS)

Why is here?

Hey Eponine!

Only now does the musical motif play. But instead of staying silent upon seeing Cosette, Marius now sings "I didn't see you there, forgive me..." Interestingly, in this video of a 1987 performance of the original West End production, Marius just stops without bumping into Cosette as he usually does. This makes me wonder whether or not the bumping was added into the Broadway version, and the lyric was added to accomodate for the blocking change. Of course, this is all speculation; I have no way to know for sure.

Thenardier's con job is also quite a bit different post-Broadway. Originally it used the following lyrics:

How you do? Spare a sou

God will see all the good that you do

Look monsieur, lost a leg

Hero of Waterloo now has to beg

Wait a bit, know that face...

The Broadway libretto edited it into its current form:

Please monsieur, come this way

Here's a child that ain't eaten today

Save a life, spare a sou

God rewards all the good that you do

Wait a bit, know that face...

It's interesting how Thenardier's facade shifts in focus from his own supposed hardship to that of an alleged child. I suppose the latter would be a good bit more effective in convincing passersby to donate!

During "Javert's Intervention", Thenardier now says "It was me that told you so, as opposed to the original "Wot told you so"; however, this seems to be a regional choice to account for a lack of Cockney accent, not an official libretto change. British productions retain the original "Wot".

“The Robbery” ends quite differently. Its pre-Broadway form had Gavroche’s remarks directly follow Javert’s “Clear this garbage off the street!” However, now Javert’s line is instead followed by some instrumentals to a slower version of the same tune as, for instance, “Honest work/Just reward/That’s the way to please the lord” and “He will bend/He will break/This time there is no mistake”.

After these instrumentals come the “Stars” number, now in a much more natural location given that Javert now has a logical reason to be thinking about Valjean!

The number itself is mostly the same, up until the final segment. After Javert’s “Those who falter and those who fall must pay the price”, he originally had the following lyrics:

Scarce to be counted

Changing the chaos

To order and light

You are the sentinels

Silent and sure

Keeping watch in the night

Keeping watch in the night

The post-Broadway show replaced this with a much more climactic remark:

Lord let me find him

That I may see him

Safe behind bars

I will never rest ‘til then

This I swear

This is swear by the stars

WOW, what an improvement! Now the stars are tied much better to Valjean himself, and Javert’s motivation is much clearer!

Now that “Stars” is over, we finally get Gavroche's remarks. The lyrics are the same; however, instead of the tempo progressively getting faster as it goes along, it now gets progressively slower. Interestingly the audio of the first preview has Gavroche saying "mother dear" instead of "auntie dear", but it's back to the original line by the second known original Broadway cast audio. Both audio feature Braden Danner; whether the "mother dear" was a choice on his part or a director's, a flub, or a libretto change that was later reverted is unknown.

"Eponine's Errand" has some significant changes. First off, the original libretto gave Marius and Eponine this exchange:

(MARIUS)

Did you see that lovely girl

(EPONINE)

A lovely two-a-penny thing

The Broadway libretto edited it a little:

(MARIUS)

Eponine, who was that girl?

(EPONINE)

Some bourgeois two-a-penny thing

Marius' request has also been changed from its original lyrics:

Eponine, do this for me

But careful how you go

Your father mustn't know

He'll strike another blow

'Ponine, I'm lost until she's found

Into some far clearer and more direct instructions:

Eponine, do this for me

Discover where she lives

But careful how you go

Don't let your father know

'Ponine, I'm lost until she's found

And yes, the line was "your father" right from day one. Michael Ball flubs it as "her father" on the complete symphonic recording, leading many to assume that was the original lyric which was changed later. But I'm not aware of a single live performance to use that lyric (which doesn't make a lot of sense anyway).

Another side note: Some Marius actors have very slightly changed the third line to "Be careful how you go" or "But careful as you go", though neither lyric is the standard.

Post-Broadway, as the instrumentals to "Red and Black" play, a student (I'm not sure which one) now shouts Enjolras' name before the singing begins.

During "Red and Black", Michael Maguire changes the original "It is easy to sit here and swat 'em like flies" to "Oh, it's easy to sit here and swat 'em like flies". However, this is an individual choice of the actor, not an official libretto change. Every future Enjolras I'm aware of (except Ramin Karimloo for some reason) uses the original line.

An actual libretto change occurs soon afterwards. After Marius' entrance, Grantaire originally asks, "Marius, what's wrong with you today?" The post-Broadway show changes this to "Marius, you're late. What's wrong today?" This makes it much clearer why Grantaire might suspect something is wrong.

Soon afterwards, Grantaire's original line "We talk of battles to be won, and here he comes like Don Juan" is slightly tweaked to "You talk of battles to be won". This is a little more appropriate, since Grantaire isn't actually doing a lot of talking!

After "Red and Black", Gavroche's part is very slightly changed. First off, American performances for a few years would have Gavroche whistle right before everyone quiets down, though I have no idea if this was in the libretto or not.

Secondly, Gavroche's original remark, "It's General Lamarque! He's dead!" is shortened to just "General Lamarque is dead!"

In another contender for the biggest change in the entire edit, the entire "I Saw Him Once" number is totally removed. I have mixed feelings about this. It does give Cosette, a frustratingly underwritten character, some additional content. However, stylistically it's not all that much like any other number in the musical, and it doesn't really add enough information to the show to warrant a whole song. So I say with regret that it was probably for the best to delete the number.

To compensate for the lost number, "In My Life" is lengthened to include the establishing character moments that "I Saw Him Once" originally did. Originally it opened as follows:

(COSETTE)

Dearest papa, can I tell him of this?

How can I tell him the things that I feel?

How could he understand?

(VALJEAN)

Dear Cosette, you're such a lonely child...

The post-Broadway opener is instead as follows:

(COSETTE)

How strange, this feeling that my life's begun at last

This change, can people really fall in love so fast?

What's the matter with you Cosette?

Have you been to much on your own?

So many things unclear

So many things unknown

In my life

There are so many questions and answers

That somehow seem wrong

In my life

There are times when I catch in the silence

The sigh of a faraway song

And it sings of a world that I long to see

Out of reach, just a whisper away, waiting for me

Does he know I'm alive? Do I know if he's real?

Does he see what I see? Does he feel what I feel?

In my life

I'm no longer alone

Now the love in my life is so near

Find me now, find me here

(VALJEAN)

Dear Cosette, you're such a lonely child...

After Valjean gives Cosette his cryptic defense of his secrecy, Cosette had a remark that is sadly incredibly hard to understand in the quality of the recordings we have. It apparently went something like this:

There are voices I hear

That come into my mind

Full of noise, full of fear

When the noise was unkind

In my life

I'm no longer afraid

And I yearn for the truth that you know

Of the years, years ago

Her post-Broadway response is much shorter:

In my life

I'm no longer a child

And I yearn for the truth that you know

Of the years, years ago

Shorter, but just as effective in my book. Plus, the use of the word "child" nicely ties into Valjean's initial remark that Cosette is "such a lonely child", as well as Cosette's frustration that he still sees her as "a child who is lost in the woods".

The next number, "A Heart Full of Love", also has a LOT of rewritten lyrics. First of all, after Marius' "I do not even know your name", these are his original lyrics:

Dear mademoiselle

I am lost in your spell

The Broadway production changed the lyrics into:

Dear mademoiselle

Won't you say? Will you tell?

I suppose this fits a little better with his remark about not knowing Cosette's name.

After Marius and Cosette finally learn each other's names (an important step in a relationship if you ask me!) this was their original way of showing their affection:

(MARIUS)

Cosette, your name is like a song

(COSETTE)

My song is you

(MARIUS)

Is it true?

(COSETTE)

Yes, it's true

The Broadway production rewrote it into the following:

(MARIUS)

Cosette, I don't know what to say

(COSETTE)

Then make no sound

(MARIUS)

I am lost

(COSETTE)

I am found

In my opinion, the rewrite captures the slight awkwardness of young love much better, as well as making a lot more sense!

Immediately afterwards, this is the original exchange:

(MARIUS and COSETTE)

A heart full of love

A heart full of you

(MARIUS)

The words are foolish but they're true

Cosette, Cosette

What were we dreaming when we met?

(COSETTE)

I can sing

(MARIUS)

Dear Cosette

(COSETTE)

A heart full of love...

The Broadway libretto redoes the scene as the following:

(MARIUS)

A heart full of love

(COSETTE)

A night bright as day

(MARIUS)

And you must never go away

Cosette, Cosette

(COSETTE)

This is a chain we'll never break

(MARIUS)

Do I dream?

(COSETTE)

I'm awake

(MARIUS)

A heart full of love...

Almost a totally different scene! The post-Broadway variant is better structured, but I do like the original too.

As the trio of Marius, Cosette, and Eponine exchanges inner monologues, Marius originally has the line "I saw her waiting and I knew". The Broadway libretto changed this to "A single look and then I knew". I kind of prefer the original, as it implies a little more than something as trivial as a cursory glance.

In the closing lyrical overlap of the song, Cosette originally sings "Waiting for you", but post-Broadway she sings "I knew it too". Then, she originally sings "At your call" but post-Broadway she sings "Every day".

During the opening to "The Attack on Rue Plumet", Montparnasse refers to Valjean as "the one that got away the other day" as opposed to his original "the bloke wot got away the other day". However, this is another regional change made for the sake of making sense outside of a cockney accent. The official libretto still had the original lyrics.

A tiny change occurs during Thenardier and Eponine's fight. Claquesous originally thinks it's a palaver and an absolute treat "to watch a cat and its father" picking a bone in the street. The Broadway libretto changed this to "see a cat and a father". Why exactly the writers felt the need to make such a miniscule edit is mystifying to me, but it certainly doesn't hurt anything.

Another change occurs later in the number, after Eponine's scream. Originally this was Thenardier's reaction:

Make for the sewers, don't wait around

Leave her to me, go underground

You wait my girl, you'll rue this night

I'll make you scream, you'll scream alright!

These lines were mixed up a bit for the Broadway libretto:

You wait my girl, you'll rue this night

I'll make you scream, you'll scream alright!

Leave her to me, don't wait around

Make for the sewers, go underground

The post-Broadway variation arguably is a bit less climactic due to it not ending on a threat. However, the original climax isn't all that appropriate since Eponine and Thenardier never actually interact at any later point in the musical. I like that the post-Broadway version ends on something that's actually relevant to the remainder of the show (namely, that Thenardier will be in the sewers). Evidently the West End producers didn't agree with me; this is another line in which the original was kept there for more than a decade (at which point a rewrite closer to the original was already being used worldwide)!

In "One Day More", Javert's "One day more to revolution" is slightly changed to "One more day to revolution". However, the number is otherwise unchanged.

And that's it for Act One! The opening barricade scene to act two has a small change. Grantaire's pre-Broadway "Some will bark, some will bite" was changed to "Dogs will bark, fleas will bite". Makes a lot more sense in my opinion!

The opening to "On My Own" is changed as well. Originally it was performed as follows:

And now I'm all alone again

Nowhere to go, no one to turn to

I did not want your money sir

I came out here 'cause I was told to

The Broadway version rewrote it into the following:

And now I'm alone again

Nowhere to turn, no one to go to

Without a home, without a friend

Without a face to say hello to

A huge improvement in my book. It actually rhymes now, and is far less likely to be misconstrued as ungrateful.

After receiving a massive overhaul not that long before, "Little People" was slightly tweaked for the Broadway show. The pre-Broadway version had this ending:

So never kick a dog

Because he’s just a pup

You’d better run for cover when the pup grows up!

Another line (taken from the original longer version of "Little People" as well as all versions of its reprise) was added for the post-Broadway show:

So never kick a dog

Because he’s just a pup

We'll fight like twenty armies and we won't give up

So you’d better run for cover when the pup grows up!

Grantaire's line afterwards is literally reversed in meaning from the original "Better far to die a schoolboy than a policeman and a spy!" into "What's the difference? Die a schoolboy, die a policeman, die a spy!" This post-Broadway lyric fits better into Grantaire's cynical personality.

A very subtle edit is made in "Little Fall of Rain" (to the point that I only just realized its existence by reading an old internet forum!) Pre-Broadway, Marius asks Eponine "Did you see my beloved?" The tense is changed from past to present perfect for the Broadway libretto, so that he now sings "Have you seen my beloved?"

"Drink with Me" receives quite a bit of editing. The opening few lines are originally all sung by Grantaire:

Drink with me to days gone by

Sing with me the songs we knew

Here's to pretty girls who went to our heads

Here's to witty girls who went to our beds

Here's to them and here's to you

Now, those lyrics are split between various students:

(FEUILLY)

Drink with me to days gone by

Sing with me the songs we knew

(PROUVAIRE)

Here's to pretty girls who went to our heads

(JOLY)

Here's to witty girls who went to our beds

(ALL STUDENTS)

Here's to them and here's to you

A far more touching scene now that it entails an entire group of friends reminiscing about their lives, as opposed to the thoughts of one heavily drunk individual.

Originally this was followed by a segment by the male ensemble:

Drink with me to days gone by

To the life that used to be

At the shrine of friendship never say die

Let the wine of friendship never run dry

Then, this was followed by the same lyrics, but sung by the male and female ensembles overlapping. The Broadway libretto removes that and replaces it with an all-new segment with Grantaire. It's much more cynical and philosophical than his original lines:

Drink with me to days gone by

Can it be you fear to die?

Will the world remember you when you fall?

Could it be your death means nothing at all?

Is you life just one more lie?

The lyrics from the pre-Broadway show, in their male-and-female overlapping form, are played afterwards.

The next change occurs during the Second Attack. Pre-Broadway, this was how the opening lyrics went:

(ENJOLRAS)

How do we stand, Feuilly make your report

(FEUILLY)

We've guns enough but bullets running short

(MARIUS)

Let me go into the street

There are bodies all around

Ammunition to be had

Lots of bullets to be found

Some very small edits were made for Broadway:

(ENJOLRAS)

How do we stand, Feuilly make your report

(FEUILLY)

We've guns enough but ammunition short

(MARIUS)

I will go into the street

There are bodies all around

Ammunition to be had

Lots of bullets to be found

The following exchange also is a bit edited. Here's how it went pre-Broadway:

(ENJOLRAS)

I can't let you go, it's too much of a chance

(MARIUS)

And the same can be said for any man here

(VALJEAN)

Let me go in his place, he's no more than a boy

I am old and alone and have nothing to fear

Post-Broadway, it instead goes as follows:

(ENJOLRAS)

I can't let you go, it's too much of a chance

(MARIUS)

And the same is true for any man here

(VALJEAN)

Let me go, he's no more than a boy

I am old, I have nothing to fear

Finally, Gavroche's final lines are as follows pre-Broadway:

So never kick a dog

Because he’s just a pup

You’d better run for cover when the pup grows up

And we’ll fight like twenty armies and we won’t give…

A small edit is made for the Broadway production, so that the latter two lines are reversed:

So never kick a dog

Because he’s just a pup

We’ll fight like twenty armies and we won’t give up

So you’d better run for cover when the pup grows...

I'd say this is an improvement, since Gavroche's death is all the more impactful when his literal last unfinished words are about growing up.

Not long afterwards comes the Final Battle. Leading up to Enjolras' climactic moment, the original lines went as follows:

(ENJOLRAS)

Come on my friends, though we stand here alone

Let us go to our deaths with our face to our foes

(COMBEFERRE)

Let 'em pay for each death with a death of their own

(COURFEYRAC)

If they get me, by God, they will pay through the nose

(ENJOLRAS)

Let others rise to take our place

Until the earth is free

The sequence was edited for Broadway, giving a bit more breathing space:

(ENJOLRAS)

Let us die facing our foes

Make them bleed while they can

(COMBEFERRE)

Make them pay through the nose

(COURFEYRAC)

Make them pay for every man

(ENJOLRAS)

Let others rise to take our place

Until the earth is free

"Dog Eats Dog" is a very heavily-edited number. First off, the vamping at the beginning originally lasts about 30 seconds. By Broadway, it has been reduced to about nineteen seconds.

After Thenardier's "As a service to the town" line, he originally sung the following lines:

It's a world where the dogs eat the dogs

And the worst is as good as the best

It's a stinking great sewer that's crawling with rats

And one rat is as good as the rest

I raise my eyes to see the heavens

And only the moon looks down

That entire sequence was cut for Broadway.

Soon afterwards, Thenardier originally proclaims "Here's a little toy". The Broadway edit changes it to "Here's another toy", perhaps to make it seem less repetitive after his "pretty little thing" line.

The exact same lines from after "As a service to the town" are repeated in the pre-Broadway number after Thenardier's "When the gutters run with blood" line, with one more line added afterwards:

It's a world where the dogs eat the dogs

And the worst is as good as the best

It's a stinking great sewer that's crawling with rats

And one rat is as good as the rest

I raise my eyes to see the heavens

And only the moon looks down

The harvest moon shines down

Unlike the first instance of those lines, they aren't completely excised for Broadway. They are, however, significantly rewritten:

It's a world where the dogs eat the dogs

And they kill for the bones in the street

And God in His heavens, He don't interfere

'Cause He's dead as the stiffs at my feet

I raise my eyes to see the heavens

And only the moon looks down

The harvest moon shines down

I really like how the edited version focuses more on godlessness than on how gross the sewer is. Not that a lack of a god is inherently sinister; I am quite agnostic myself and I think the unbreakable connection between religion and morality alleged by some is ridiculous. But it is blatantly obvious that Thenardier sees no reason to be moral provided no one will punish him.

As a side note, the 1985 London official soundtrack oddly uses this variant, yet the 1986 bootleg audio I have uses the original. Perhaps the original was experimented with, reverted, and later put in again? Who knows...

After the number, Thenardier now shouts Valjean's name.

The encounter in the sewers between Valjean and Javert originally ended as follows, with Javert's first two lines here in a tune not heard anywhere else in the musical to my recollection:

(VALJEAN)

Come, time is running short

(JAVERT)

Go take him, I'll be waiting at the door

I've never met a man like you before

A man such as you

The sequence was extended for the Broadway libretto, to the tune of "Look Down" and the "Work Song":

(VALJEAN)

Come, time is running short

Look down, Javert

He's standing in his grave

(VALJEAN - simultaneously with the next two lines)

Give way, Javert

There is a life to save

(JAVERT - simultaneously with the previous two lines)

Take him, Valjean

Before I change my mind

(JAVERT)

I will be waiting, 24601

A slight change can be heard in "Every Day". Originally Marius sings that he and Cosette will "remember that night and the song that we sang". The Broadway libretto edited this into the decidedly less medium-aware "remember that night and the vow that we made".

"Valjean's Confession" has been reworked to the point that it can scarcely even be considered the same song. After Valjean's "There's something now that must be done", this was how the song went:

(VALJEAN)

Monsieur, I cannot stay a night beneath your roof

I am a convict, sir, my body bears the proof

My name is Jean Valjean

I never told Cosette, I bear this guilt alone

And this I swear to you, her innocence is real

Her love is true

Our love, our life, are now her own

And I must face the years alone

(MARIUS)

I do not understand what's the sense of it all?

Is the world upside down?

Will the universe fall?

If it's true what you say, and Cosette doesn't know

Why confess it to me?

Why confess it at all?

What forces you to speak after all?

(VALJEAN)

You and Cosette must be free of reproach

It is not your affair

There is a darkness that's over my life

It's the cross I must bear

It's for Cosette this must be faced

If I am found, she is disgraced

(MARIUS)

What can I do that would turn you from this...

After the Broadway rewrite, Valjean's "There's something now that must be done" is followed by this:

(VALJEAN)

You've spoken from the heart, and I must do the same

There is a story, sir, of slavery and shame

That you alone must know

I never told Cosette, she had enough of tears

She's never known the truth, the story you must hear

Of years ago

There lived a man whose name was Jean Valjean

He stole some bread to save his sister's son

For nineteen winters served his time

In sweat he washed away his crime

Years ago

He broke parole and lived a life apart

How could he tell Cosette and break her heart?

It's for Cosette this must be faced

If he is caught she is disgraced

The time is come to journey on

And from this day he must be gone

Who am I?

Who am I?

(MARIUS)

You're Jean Valjean

What can I do that will turn you from this...

The few lines afterwards are the same, but as you can see not much else in the song is! Even the tune diverges a lot between the two variants. I'm very conflicted about which one I prefer. I gravitate towards the final one, though it's nice that the original actually tried to address to confusing notion that Valjean wants to tell his son-in-law of his past yet not his own daughter.

"Beggars at the Feast" originally ended with a solo for Thenardier:

(THENARDIER and MME. THENARDIER)

We know where the wind is blowing

Money is the stuff we smell

(THENARDIER)

And when I'm rich as Croesus

Jesus, won't I see you all in Hell!

The Broadway libretto switched this to a group line:

(THENARDIER and MME. THENARDIER)

We know where the wind is blowing

Money is the stuff we smell

And when we're rich as Croesus

Jesus, won't we see you all in Hell!

I much prefer the revised version, as the two Thenardiers clearly are in this act together. It seems more appropriate to let them both have the last laugh.

A small change occurs in the Epilogue. Pre-Broadway, Fantine sings "You raised my child with love". However, post-Broadway, she instead sings "You raised my child in love".

Another change occurs later in the epilogue. In the pre-Broadway show, Cosette tells Valjean that "It's too soon to ever say goodbye". The post-Broadway libretto instead has her sing "It's too soon, too soon to say goodbye". Repetitive as it may be, I prefer it over the original because the original awkwardly combines language clearly denoting the moment with language implying eternality.

Phew, we're finally at the end! Rest assured this is almost certainly the longest changelog you'll ever be forced to endure. I'm fairly sure it's complete, but this particular rewrite was so extensive it's not impossible that I missed something. Please feel free to let me know if that is the case.

As a side note, both for this project and my own enjoyment, I want as complete a collection of Les Miserables audios as possible. I already have most of what’s commonly circulated, but if you have any audios or videos you know are rare, or some audios that you haven't traded in a few years, I’d love it if you DMed me!

Until the turntable puts me at the forefront again, good-bye…

[the-brave-and-the-dumb]

I wanted to start a thread: places, pieces of culture, literature, festivals, events in history, people from Eastern-European and Balkan countries (any ethnicity). I'll put a lot of countries in tags which I hope is okay.

Since for so long we were focused on western countries, we grew blind to the gems our countries are. We are tired of our politics and politicians but our countries are so much more than that.

Disclaimer: no nationalism here. You can love your country/culture without being a nationalist. LGBT friendly. No sexism. No racism. No xenophobia.

I'll start: although vampires are associated with Romania, their origins are Jewish and introduced to Polish and Ukrainian culture by rabbis living there.

The name vampire don't have origins in Polish or Ukrainian, tho. It comes from Serbian, because this belief traveled down to Serbia, Romania, Hungary, etc. In Polish it was upiór (closest translation to English would be ghoul), wieszczy (used mostly in Ukraine) or strzygoń. In polish words are flexible and differs when changing from singular to plural so I'll stick to English way. Also, since I am Polish, I'll probably stick to Polish versions of names which I am sorry for but sometimes it's difficult to google and translate such obscure subject.

These entities are related to cholera epidemic, so very places of origin of upiórs may be pointed as Tuchla (Тухля) and Sławsko (Славське).

As Łukasz Kozak from University of Poznań states, upiór could be of any gender (I will bring it up later) and at first it wasn't them drinking blood. People who killed someone believing it was an upiór, were drinking upiór's blood to be immunized to becoming one and to sicknesses in general. A lot of people killed "for being an upiór" were Catholic priests – one of the oldest reports of such event was judgment of priest Michał of Grabownica and it's dated on 16th century. Which leads us to another important note: upiórs were not in the legends only. There are court reports stating people were sentenced to death for not being human.

While upiór and wieszczy and strzygoń are the same name for one entity, it is believed first ones often were mischievous whole strzygoń often came "back" to the family they had when alive and acted very normal, farmed and could even conceive a child.

The last king of Poland, Stanisław August Poniatowski lived in Grodno (Гродна) after his abdication and his letters are full of reports of villagers killing each others for being upiórs. It was in 18th century, mind you.

Given the fact one of the most important polish author, Władysław Reymont, wrote a novel called "Vampire" (his stories were only about everyday life of villagers, since he was one himself, educated on his own, so it's a fantasy horror novel but taking a lot from his native folklore), published in 1911, it seems the belief in upiórs was strong in former Kingdom of Poland (Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, but I'm not sure about these beliefs being strong in Lithuania) in 19th and 20th century.

What could be very interesting, upiórs had two souls, which made it possible to them to change their gender. Was that weird in Slavic folklore? Not at all. Huculszczyzna (ukr. Гуцу́льщина) folklore mention that boy can turn into a girl or girl turn into a boy if they stand on a place where the rainbow touch the ground:

"веселка (rainbow; here written in polish as wesełycia) drinks water and if at that exact place it touch the ground a boy stands, he will turn into a girl and if a girls stand there, she will be turned into boy (Rożeń Mały/Малий Рожин – place of origin of this legend).

[firefly-fell]

This is for @hermitcraftheadcanons Hermitopia Superpower AU. I love hive-mind!Etho, so I tried to give him a more linear progression. I think this goes along with the accepted AU thus far, and would probably fill in some gaps, but I’m not 100% sure.

―――――――  

After Etho (singular) becomes Etho (plural), ConCorp doesn't realize for a while.

They disposed of his body and the broken clones, and forgot. This was not their first failed experiment, and it would not be their last.

And so, after dying, Etho wakes up. He was dead, and one, and now he is alive, and many.

Etho immediately takes what measures he can to make sure that ConCorp doesn’t find out, trying to stay low and off-the-radar. He takes stock, gets himselves to a secure location, and starts to plan.

When working against a government-supported corporation with superhumans, the easiest way for Etho to get things done is stealthily. His bodies really were just human when it came down to it, and it would only take a hit or two from someone with superpowers to put any individual Etho out of commission. 

And regardless, having multiple of you around is one helluva tactical advantage when it comes to executing schemes and plans, but it’s one that can be brutally effective when the opposition is left in the dark. 

For months, Etho starts putting his plans into action, working steadily, if not exactly linearly, towards his goal. He connects with the nHo, and they quickly become a startlingly effective group. He’s smart, and he’s quiet, and their plans almost always go without a hitch.

But nobody is perfect, and Etho is not invisible. Eventually, ConCorp finds out he's alive. (Perhaps someone spots him with the nHo, or he's caught on security cameras somewhere and it gets back to ConCorp. He never knows for sure.) Suddenly, everyone’s on red alert, because their deceased former test subject is now decidedly not deceased. And that means several things for ConCorp: that A, there is someone out there who may have restricted information about their experiments, B, that maybe their experiment may not have been as much of a failure as they had thought, and/or C, most worryingly, that there may be a new player on the scene, with an as-yet unknown skill-set, who managed to evade detection for months in a high-surveillance society. And who, more-than-likely, has a grudge.

This is understandably an issue. One that needs to be dealt with as quickly and quietly as possible.

So ConCorp sends Iskall to hunt him down.

When Iskall spots him, the Etho tries to escape. But Etho’s strength is his stealth, and once his enemies know he’s there, he’s fighting an uphill battle. Intentionally or not, on the part of ConCorp, the Etho is killed. (The rest of the hive winces, and gets started on a new body. ConCorp sighs, and gets back to work.)

When Etho is seen again some time later, ConCorp assumes, based on his original reappearance post-experiment and this newer encounter, that his power is one of resurrection. This time, however, the Etho gets away, and ConCorp turns just a little bit more of their attention towards the nHo.

It isn’t until after ZIT’s unfortunate encounter with a dying Etho one afternoon that the truth begins its path to the surface (x). ZIT knew about the hive mind, and so Impulse knew. Impulse knew, and was tricked. And so Scar found out.

[santmat]

Talking Animals, Whales that Save Humans: Women Priests, Vegetarianism – An Early Christian Manuscript Holds Some Surprises: The Acts of Philip:   "For sanctity is the bridge for the souls of the righteous, and it abolishes the source of corruption. Therefore, raise yourself above the pollution of desire. Do not allow meat eating and excessive drinking of wine to rule in your members, lest your soul be cast in that mold." -- from chapter 15, verse 3, The Acts of Philip: A New Translation (@ Amazon), François Bovon, Christopher R. Matthews François Bovon and Christopher Matthews utilize manuscript evidence gathered within the last half-century to provide a new translation of the apocryphal Acts of Philip. Discovered by Bovon in 1974 at the Xenophontos monastery in Greece, the manuscript is widely known as one of the most unabridged copies of the Acts yet discovered. Bovon and Matthews' new translation incorporates this witness to the Greek text, which sheds new light on the history of earliest Christianity. François Bovon has spent many years peering into the mists that shroud the early history of Christianity. His investigations have shown him something that might surprise nonscholars that even in the religion's infancy, when the first generation of Christians were spreading the faith, diversity of belief was already the norm rather than the exception. “The usual view is that in the beginning was unity and then schisms developed. Now we have to say that in the beginning there were several communities that differed significantly from one another,” Bovon said. Bovon, the Frothingham Professor of the History of Religion at the Divinity School, has made a major contribution toward clarifying our picture of the early Christian world with his publication of a 4th-century text describing the acts of the apostle Philip. The manuscript describes a community of celibate vegetarians in which both women and men functioned as priests. Bovon and his colleague Bertrand Bouvier of the University of Geneva discovered the manuscript in a monastery library on Mt. Athos in Greece. That they found the manuscript at all is a testimony to Bovon's finely honed detective skills. While examining a catalog of the monastery's holdings, the Swiss-born scholar noticed that a Greek word in the title of a manuscript was plural rather than singular. “Only one letter, and yet it makes a great difference.” The word was praxeis, meaning “acts". The word jumped out at Bovon because most of the other known manuscripts chronicling the career of the apostle Philip record only one praxis or “act,” that of Philip's martyrdom “It was an invitation to me, to find out what was behind that plural.” Philip is mentioned several times in the New Testament, but little is known about him from canonical sources. But there is more information about Philip and other first-generation Christian missionaries in a body of literature known as The Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles, comprising stories that were eliminated from the New Testament by 4th-century editors. Both the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches have tended to preserve these accounts, even though they do not have the status of sacred scripture. This is because the apostles (except for Judas Iscariot) are also saints, and in order to celebrate their feast days, the churches needed information about their lives on which to base ceremonial and iconographic traditions. But these apocryphal texts have themselves been subject to editing by Church authorities in order to bring the liturgical and theological elements in line with orthodox doctrine. The revisions tend to leave out passages that reveal the diversity of practice and belief that characterized early Christianity. “As scholars, we would like to go back before these revisions were made,” Bovon said. Recovering this earlier narrative of Philip's ministry involved something very much like a journey through time. The monastic community of Mt. Athos is a world unto itself, residing on a narrow, rocky peninsula that reaches into the Aegean like a bony finger. At its tip is Mt. Athos, a peak of white marble 6,670 feet in elevation. Along the coast are some 20 Orthodox monasteries that govern the peninsula as an autonomous theocracy. There are no automobiles, little electricity, and by a 1060 edict of the Emperor Constantine Manomachos, which is still in force, neither women nor female domestic animals are permitted to set foot on the monasteries' territory. There is evidence that the first Christian hermits arrived at Mt. Athos in the 7th century, driven out of Constantinople by the Muslims. According to legend, however, the place became a sacred sanctuary in 49 A.D. when a boat bearing the Virgin Mary was blown off course and landed on its shores. At the time, the peninsula contained many pagan shrines, but upon Mary's arrival, these spontaneously crumbled, and a stone statue of Apollo spoke out, declaring itself to be a false idol. Bovon found the manuscript describing Philip's exploits in the Xenophontos monastery, founded in the 10th century. The manuscript was copied in the 14th century, but the original text dates from the fourth century and itself reflects earlier traditions. These traditions are different in many ways from later Church practices. For example, instead of the Eucharist with its ceremonial consumption of bread and wine, Philip's fellow Christians simply sat down to a common meal of vegetables and water. Church leadership was democratic rather than hierarchic, and men and women served equally as priests. In fact, the manuscript describes Philip and the apostle Bartholomew traveling from town to town with Philip's sister, a woman named Mariamne. Bovon believes this woman to be Mary Magdalene. The community described in The Acts of Philip also seemed to follow ascetic practices more extreme than those reflected in New Testament sources. The group insisted on strict vegetarianism and sexual abstinence among its members. “The asceticism was not just a moral issue,” Bovon said. “They believed that living a pure life was a way to better communicate with God.” According to Bovon, the historical Philip along with Stephen and other disciples represented a distinct group of early Christians composed of Greek-speaking Jews centered in Antioch, whose mission was directed largely toward the pagan world. These are the so-called Hellenists of the canonical New Testament book of Acts. Scholars have identified two more groups active in Jerusalem, one led by Peter and another by James, the brother of Jesus. A fourth group, based in Edessa in ancient Syria (now part of Turkey), was led by Thomas, who, according to legend, later traveled to India. Other more radical groups have left traces of their doctrines as well. For Bovon The Acts of Philip is one of many noncanonical early Christian writings that exhibit a fascinating diversity of practice and belief. The author of The Apocryphal Acts of John, for example, describes Christ dancing with his disciples. The Gospel of Nicodemus and the fragmentary Gospel of Peter assert that during the three days between his crucifixion and resurrection, Christ was in the next world preaching to the dead. Another rich source of information on early Christianity is the collection of Coptic writings known as the Nag Hammadi manuscripts, found in Egypt in 1945. Believed to represent a branch of Christianity called Gnosticism, which stressed salvation through knowledge, the Nag Hammadi manuscripts comprise gospels, prayers, sermons, and theological treatises which, like The Acts of Philip, represent a viewpoint “very distant from mainstream Christianity.” These apocryphal writings not only throw light on the origins of Christianity, they can be valuable for understanding early Christian art as well. Bovon regularly takes his students on field trips to the Museum of Fine Arts, where he identifies and interprets art works based on noncanonical Christian sources. A French translation of The Acts of Philip by Bovon, Bouvier, and Frédéric Amsler, a former research assistant and doctoral student of Bovon at Geneva, was published in 1996. In 1999 Bovon published with Bouvier and Amsler a critical edition of the Greek text in the series Corpus Christianorum. It was followed by the publication of Amsler's dissertation, a commentary on The Acts of Philip, in the same collection. A general study, The Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles, co-edited with Ann Graham Brock and Christopher R. Matthews, was published in 1999 by the Harvard Center for the Study of World Religions.

https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2000/02/women-priests-vegetarianism-an-early-christian-manuscript-holds-some-surprises/

[lostinmymindpalace-m]

The Light of Knowledge

Chapter one, part 2/2, in which the thoughts are free

I want to make good use of my time and get a general idea of the material, so I return to my room directly after dinner and skim through the school books. They seem to be quite advanced in English here and the topics in mathematics and chemistry look more complicated than anything I have done so far, too. I take a deep breath, rub my glasses clean on my blazer and start taking notes. Outside it's getting dark and I have to turn on my desk light to be able to read my tiny, compendious  handwriting. But I manage to make connections between the new topics and my body of knowledge. Now that's not looking too bad. I surely won't be easy, but I think I can handle the work load. Finally, I take my diary out of the drawer and write down what happened today. The words are flying so fast my hand struggles to keep up, but I feel more relaxed with every sentence. When I put the pen away, there is just half an hour left until lights-out, so I put on my pyjamas, take off the glasses and go to the bathroom. Fortunately, it's empty. I brush my teeth, stare into the mirror and think about tomorrow. The class representative Neil and the other guys seem really nice, I sat with them during dinner and they treated me very well, better than I'm used to. But I assume they were raised to be more polite than the boys at my old school. Hopefully the rest of my classmates are the same. Hopefully I get good teachers. What if they treat me different because I'm a girl? Only the foam that's running down my wrist from the endless brushing bringst me back to reality. 

The next morning I jump out of bed at the first ring of the alarm clock. Put on a fresh uniform and admire it in the bathroom mirror as I fix my tie. The only one I recognize during breakfast is Richard Cameron. He is sitting alone and reading and I intend to do the same. Just like last night, students start to whisper when I walk by, some of so younger ones even point fingers at me. It makes me feel like I don't belong here and I can't let that happen, therefore the book. I have the right to be here and go to an ivy league college and so do so many other girls. Just get used to it. My first class of the day is chemistry, so I get my school bag from my room and head for the chemistry building. I'm way to early, but the laboratory isn't locked. I push the door open carefully and sit down in a row of tables in the middle of the room. A teacher comes in from the secondary room and, before I can say a word, tells me to hand out a thick pile of papers. While I walk around and put a project list on every table, my classmates enter the room in small groups. Neil and Todd are the last ones to arrive, they scurry into the lab just as the bell rings. As soon as class begins, I stop looking left ans right and note down what Mr. Hartley tells us. A laboratory experiment every five weeks, 20 questions due tomorrow. I make a note to read through the project list later today. The rest of the lesson is a lecture about acids and bases. When the bell rings, I have to shake out my hand. I grabbed my pen so hard it started cramping. Next is Latin with Mr. McAllister, a man with a Scottish accent who is walking up and down in front of the class, repeating diffrently conjugated and declined words that we have to echo. I hardly manage to write them down. What a stupid way to teach us the conjugational and declinational classes I think as I examine my poorly legable notes. There is a system that the words follow depending on their basic form. It's easy enough, but not when you just repeat random words. I scribble nominative, genitive, accusative, ablative, dative and singular, plural onto the page and decide to copy all of this again correctly. Math class on the other hand is no problem for me. Dr. Hager makes us stand up and recite definitions and methods of solutions from memory, but since I prepared myself last night, the questions aren't too difficult. When I repeat the definition of a cosine correctly, he gives me an approving look. Then he announces that any missed assignment will cause the subtraction of one point on our final grade. I quickly note that down and underline it twice. Not that I planned on not doing my homework, put this does increase the pressure. All in all, I'm a bit stressed when I sit down in the English classroom. The teacher, Mr. Keating, is sitting in front of the class, looking outside of the window and ignores us completely. That's kind of weird, but a nice break. I clean my glasses and try to relax a bit. Mr. Keating got up by now and is pacing around the room. Meanwhile he's swinging a ruler through the air and randomly points it at students. They look just as confused as I feel. „Ha! You flexible young brains!“, he suddenly shouts, which doesn't really help to clarify the situation. Then he jumps onto his desk and recites loudly: „Captain, my Captain!“ The others exchange looks. „Does anyone know who this is from?“

After the lesson, when I follow the stream of students to lunch, Keatings words are still stuck in my head. He made us go to the entrance hall and look at the pictures of former students while Gerard Pitts read out a poem. Infront of the walls I wished my picture upon just yesterday, he talked to us about our own finiteness. That was... something different. We are food for worms... I can hardly wrap my young and flexible head around it. I eat lunch, but whatever it is, it leaves no impression on me. Carpe diem, seize the day, make your lives extraordinary. I feel like this should move something inside of me, make me wiser, somehow. But all I can think of is that I am working to make my life extraordinary, that one day, my picture will be among these boys in the entrance hall. I only have two years here, assuming everything goes as planned. I can't let my concetration slip, not on my first day, not ever. So I take Mr. Keating's insistend words, open a little drawer in my head and lock them away.

The sports lesson in the afternoon helps me to shake of the memory of English class. All we do is run rounds in the hall and when it's finally over, and I'm done changing in the bathroom, my legs are wobbly, but my mind is free. I once again register how beautiful the school grounds look in the sunlight, so I take my homework and sit down on the lawn at the lake. I wonder what's going on at home. It's hard to believe that I've only been here for a day. How are Mom and Dad? Do James and Betty miss me? Ich shake my head. It doesn't matter. Thinking about them will only make you miss them and that won't help anyone. So I take a deep breath, watch a bunch of seventh graders throw someone's homework in the lake and start studying. By the time I'm done with math and chemistry, the air has cooled down considerably. I stroll back to the housing and think about my plans for the rest of the day. My Latin notes nedd to be rewritten. Should I do that in the common room? Other people will be there. But it's surely going to be loud. But you'll have to make contact eventually.Or not. They will only distract me. I'm still working on this question at dinner, when a tipping on my wrenches me out of my thoughts. It's Neil. „Do you have any plans for tonight, Diana?“, he asks kindly. „We are doing a study group later, you're welcome to join us if you want.“ Some of the other boys are peeking in our direction, their clearly hopefull expression makes me smile. But I refuse. „Thanks for asking, but I think I would rather do my homework in my room. Maybe another time.“ So I spend my first full day at Welton exactly how I planned it: With undistracted studying. I finish my work and write in my diary, then I put on my checked pyjamas and read poems from my English book before I go to sleep.

The next days proceed just the same: The classes are hard, I am prepared, Mr. Keating's lessons are extraordinary. Each one is fascinating and thrilling, but I'm not sure I like that. Sometimes I almost back of a little, as if too much contact with Mr. Keating's way of thinking could cause some kind of harm to me. Once, he makes us rip pages out of a school book. I hesitate for a moment, because as funny as this idea is, I can't afford to get in trouble. As if to confirm my foreshadowing, Mr. McAllister enters the room just when I'm tossing the introduction into the understandig of poetry by Dr. J. Evans Pritchard PhD into the dustbin. Thanks to Mr. Keating aren't in trouble, but my heart still misses a beat. I just hope we learn everything we need for exams.

I do my repetitions and the homework in the afternoon and fill the remaining time with exercises, reading and studying. As time goes by, I feel more and more at home at Welton, the boys seem to start accepting my presence, some of them I really like by now. My extracurricular acticities are interesting and I attend every meeting, thus I frequently spend my afternoons in the company of Meeks, Charlie, Cameron, Knox or Todd (I don't really get why some of them are referred to with their surname, but whatever). The pupil's magazine is my favourite. We have a lot of fun every time and I really like writing articles. Charlie says, I could easily make the team of chief editors, but I don't want to. Writing is amazing, but I would rather prepare myself for my classes than go to two extra meetings a week. Sometimes, when I'm done with my school work and the sun is just setting, I go to the entrance hall to look at the awards that are illuminated by the last warm rays. In these moments, I feel like my heart will explode with happiness and pride. I'm so excited for the future.

It's a paticularly autumn day, I sit with my back against a tree, let she sun warm my face and work on my translation for Latin. Or at least I try. But something keeps distracting me. It's not the boys playing soccer and cricket on the school grounds, that's for sure. I sigh and read what I unconciously scribbled on the edge of my paper.

The powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse

That's what Mr. Keating told us at the end of class today. It has been stuck in my head ever since. Or maybe it has been bouncing up and down in my brain, messing up my vocabulary and causing the throbbing pain behind my temple. I shove the Latin book away and rub my eyes in frustration. I want to contribute a verse. I really do. That's why I'm here, that's why I study every day. I have been given the opportunity to be so much more than I could ever hope for. To be able to contribute a verse when I'm done with school. I will be the girl that gave generations of female students the opportunity to attend the best preparation school in the USA. If I only work hard enough, the project will be successfull. It has to be. So why do I keep thinking about these words? I slowly open my eyes and notice my former welcoming committee rushing across the lawn. They talk to Mr. Keating and show him something. Is it a book? Maybe they had a question about something we did in class. Whatever. I put my glasses back on and give Latin another try. Honestly, what was Ovid thinking. A logical sentence structure never hurt anybody. The next time I look up, Mr. Keating is gone, but the boys are still huddled together for what seems like a heated discussion. I wonder what is going on. When the dinner bell rings, they move back to school, still talking vividly.

It starts to rain during dinner. But it's a study night anyway, so I pack up my books and go to what I call the big homework room. Dr. Hager is supervising and pollutes the air with his pipe smoke. Aside or that, I like study nights. Doing school work can get lonely in the long run and here I have company without getting distracted. Normally. There is a lively whisper coming from the table in the back. The guys seem to continue their discussion. They are bowed over something on the table and whisper so agitatedly that Hager looks up from his book and admonishes them to be quiet. Todd isn't with them. Usually, him and Neil are inseparable... I put the pen away and let my gaze wander over the bent necks. Actually, Todd is sitting a few tables apart from the others, looking up from his work every few minutes and watching the guys unhappily. What is going on? When Dr. Hager calls them to order again, I guiltily turn back to my homework. But just a few minutes later, a movement catches my attention again. Neil got up and is sneaking to Todds table. Whatever Neil is trying to convince him of, Todd doesn't seem to like it. Suddenly Neil jumps up and speeds to the others with a smirk. I watch Todd who is looking after him in a slightly desperate way and somehow our eyes meet. For a moment, we look at each other over the tables and open books, then I give him a small smile and go back to my work.

Shortly before lights-out, someone knocks at my door. It's Neil. „May I come in?“ „Yeah, sure, wait a minute.“ He closes the door behind him and I take my books from the desk chair and shove the candles and socks aside so he can sit. „What is it?“, I ask as I drop down onto my bed. Neil hesitates for a moment, then he says: „I just wanted to see if you're alright. I mean, you're always by yourself studying“, he smiles, but his eyes seek mine, „so we hardly get to see you. But Todd said you looked kind of sad tonight. You aren't afraid to hang out with us, are you?“ „No, of course not. What makes you think that?“ „Hm“, he says and absentmindedly lights one of the candles on my desk. „So if I asked you if you wanted to come to a club meeting in a cave across the river, let's say, tonight, you would come?“ I rise my eyebrows. „It's late and we have school tomorrow.“ He starts laughing. „It's Friday, Diana.“ „Well, it doesn't matter. I have work to do tomorrow and there is a debate club meeting I have to attend. I'm sorry. I really like you guys. It's just... I have to focus on school, you know.“ He nods slowly. None of us talks for a moment. „I heard you got a part in a play, how is that going?“ His face lights up immediately. „It's so great. We only started rehearsing like two weeks ago but“, he seesaws back and forth in excitement, „I love it already. Acting is great. Makes me feel alive.“ He looks away with a beaming smile and notices my diary on the desk, dangerously near the lighted candle. „You write a diary? About the fascination of Welton?“ I shrug and pick up the worn out notebook. „I used to, but I haven't written in a while, actually. I didn't feel like it I guess.“ I can feel his eyes on me as I stroke the cover with my fingertips. He gets up. „I'm glad you came by, Neil.“ For a moment, he stops, still looking at me pensively. „You know what you told me when I showed you around the school, on your first day?“, he asks. „The thoughts are free? Doesn't look like it to me.“ Then he leaves. I bite my lip and slowy sink down on my desk chair. Watch the flickering flame he lit. For a moment, I let myself wonder, patting the notebook in my hands. Then I take a deep breath and blow the candle out.  

The days go on and the weather keeps getting worse. The sun seems to drown in dark grey clouds and cold rain and I can't go outside anymore. So I do my homework in my room and read out poems to the ceiling until I know them by heart. I've gotten only As in all my assignments. The teachers seem satisfied with me. I should be thrilled. But the truth is, my mood is as dark as the sky outside. Maybe I miss my family. Right know, I'm not even sure what I feel. Kind of numb. I'm rewriting my notes from today's chemistry class under the light of my desk lamp. Outside of my window, a rainstorm is raging. Huge drops are drumming on the roof and I have several unmeant lines on my paper from when I winced at the thunder. When I finish a paragraph about aldehydes, the room goes dark in a flash. I try to switch the lamp back on, but it doesn't work. A riot starts in the other rooms. Seems like a blackout. Annoying, but what can I do. I take off my glasses and rub my burning eyes. I can't focus anyway. Once again, Mr. Keating's lesson is stuck in my head. I stand upon my desk to remind myself that we must constantly look at things in a different way. We stood on his desk today. It felt weird, but also... As if it could make you wiser, in a Mr. Keating way. For some reason, I find my dark room unsettling, so I take out a candle. As I light it, I suddenly remember Neil doing exactly the same. He told me my thoughts weren't free anymore... I frown, because that doesn't make any sense. In fact, I think I have never thought more than I do right now. But still... What he said touched something inside of me and I don't understand why. Try to see it from a different perspective. Carefully, I move the burning candle to the side and crouch on my desk. I can't stand up because the ceiling is too low, but it's a start. Unfortunately, I still don't get it, I just feel silly. What a mess. I really miss home. What happened to me? I used to be so excited about this school, about every single day, every single class. I try to listen for the joy, for the feeling of freedom, but my chest feels empty. And alone. I feel so alone and it's dark and my knees start to hurt from cowering on the table. Tears make the candle flame look blurry. I remember what Neil said about acting: It makes me feel alive. I want to feel alive. Crouching on your desk and sobbing in the dark doesn't. I remember the boys whispering at dinner, excited, planning. Maybe they went to this cave Neil mentioned, before the rain started. For a minute, I sit still, my mind racing. Then I blow out the candle, grab my coat and run out the door.

It appears that I have underestimated this blackout-causing thunderstorm, because I'm dripping wet by the time I reach the edge of the woods. But I don't care. I understand how stupid it is to run through the forest in a thunderstorm, looking for a cave you have never seen before. But I don't care. The rain is cold, but at least my body has stopped feeling numb. When I finally hear voices and stumble into the mouth of a small cave in the hillside, I am facing six dumbfounded boys. Pitts looks like he is choking on a cigarette. I can't blame him.

When the shock and confusion are over, I'm welcomed to sit next to the fire that somehow is still burning, but besmoking us all. Nuzzled into Knox' and Todd's jackets, I explain why I the hell I'm here. And while Charlie tells me this sounds like some hard marrow-of-life-sucking to him, while I watch the bright flames and take in deep breaths of smokey air, I feel it.

Free. Alive.

[strixcattus]

Conlang Year Days 92–94

Nothing really concrete going on these past few days, but I've been thinking about the possibilities put forth in these prompts.

Day 92: Verb Classes

I wasn't ever really planning to have distinct verb classes. I thought a bit about having verbs divided by phonology, but eventually decided it would probably be best to not worry about that. I'm still considering the possibility of dividing verbs based on semantics, into stative/dynamic classes, but it's not serious at this point and probably won't come to pass.

(Filing that away for later, though. It's going on the next iteration of the Conlang Wishlist for sure.)

Day 93: Index Markers

I already knew I wanted to have some agreement between verbs and their subjects. Person is a given, and I'm strongly leaning towards marking number as well. If I do, I have to decide what I'll do with the general plural—fold it into either the singular or the plural, or give it its own marking system? To what degree would the general plural end up working with most tenses, anyway?

Day 94: Tense/Aspect

Obviously, we're prioritizing tense here.

I've been thinking about having a five-way tense system for a while now, with four marked tenses and an unmarked tenseless form (the base form of the verb). The past and present tenses work exactly how you think they do, but the future tense is split into certain and uncertain forms—one for events you know for a fact will take place later in objective time (perhaps because you've seen them yourself) and one for speculation. The tense markers that attach to case particles and pronouns would only have one future tense. (This is partly because noun-marked tenses aren't really speculative... and partly to make things easier on myself *gestures helplessly to the pronoun table*)

Last is the tenseless form, which is used for general statements and events whose objective tense you don't know. It's essentially the difference between "I play soccer" and "I am playing soccer"—the latter is an action that is actively occurring in the present moment, and the former is simply a statement about something the speaker does, but is not currently engaging in. I think it could be paired with tense markers on the subject to create constructions for things like "I used to play soccer" (past) or "I will take up playing soccer" (future).

(It would also come into play a lot with the verb nai, which I've usually defined as "to exist" but which can also mean "to be" or "there is/are", or even act as a dummy verb of sorts as in the example sentence I toted out on the post for days 39 & 40:

Nai dato.

Or, more currently:

Nai tio ki dato.

This sentence is translated as "it is raining" or perhaps "there is rain," but under the system I'm planning it would need to be given the present tense to retain that meaning—nai tio ki dato, with a tenseless verb, would mean something more like "rain exists" or "rain is real.")

Nothing concrete yet, as I've said, but I've been thinking about this system for a while and I think I like what it can do.

[lingbooks]

Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language

While I know a lot of linguists who are feminists, there is some tension between feminist ideals and the anti-prescriptivist approach that linguists take towards language. Linguists, as a general rule, aim to document and examine language as it is used, without providing their own opinions on how they think language should be used. This approach to language allows linguists to show that certain forms of language, from split infinitives to singular they, are not bad or wrong or “grammatically incorrect.” However, when it comes to sexist language, it’s a lot harder to say that there’s no such thing as “bad” language use. 

Some of the questions that arise are easily answered. It is fairly easy to distinguish between using slurs and splitting infinitives, as slurs are meant to hurt or disparage people, while split infinitives only offend the sensibilities of some long dead men who desperately wished English were more like Latin. But what about less malicious language use that still has sexist undertones? What about calling ships or storms she? What about using the word guys to refer to groups that contain women?

 I thought a lot about this contradiction while reading Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language by Amanda Montell, a book that attempts to cover a wide variety of topics related to language and gender. Montell’s background in linguistics admittedly isn’t particularly extensive—she has a bachelor’s degree in linguistics, but she’s primarily a journalist who only occasionally writes about linguistics. (I should probably also state that, depending on how you count my graduate work in a related field, I have the same amount of linguistics education, so I’m not going to make any judgments on who “really counts” as a linguist.) That said, Wordslut is definitely a linguistics book—and a pretty good one at that.

 Wordslut covers a broad variety of topics in sociolinguistics. Some are expected. The first chapter discusses the variety of (often derogatory) slang words used to describe women, while another chapter discusses the ways women speak to each other. Other chapters cover topics I see less frequently. One chapter, for example, looks at how women swear, while another looks at the vast array of slang words used to refer to genitalia. (I’d warn you that this book is NSFW, but if you’re reading a book entitled Wordslut at work in the first place, you’re a braver soul than I am.) One of my favorite chapters focused on how gay people speak, including both discussions of gay slang as well as examining why there’s a “gay voice” but no real “lesbian voice.” While I already was familiar with some of the topics in the chapter, I was not aware of Polari, a sort of code once used by British gay men as early as the 1500s that gave us such words as twink, camp, and fantabulous, and now I definitely want to know more about it. On a similar note, throughout the book, Montell makes sure to discuss queer, trans, and nonbinary experiences when relevant, which provides perspective that’s usually lacking in older writing about language and gender.

I did find that the quality varied from chapter to chapter—or even within the same chapter. Consider, for example, the chapter on catcalling. One section of the chapter compared catcalling behaviors with linguistic studies on compliments, breaking down precisely why catcalling is not a compliment. I thought this was a really interesting analysis, but I found the rest of the chapter fairly dull; some of it discussed facts I (and most other feminists) already know about how men dominate conversations and interrupt women, while other parts talked about the act of catcalling more generally. (A problem I found throughout the book is that Montell sometimes chose to discuss general feminist issues without really tying them back to linguistics.) While some of this unevenness is to be expected in a book with such a broad scope, one pattern emerged: I generally enjoyed the portions discussing how women speak, such as the chapter about conversational norms in groups of women or the section about the many uses of like, more than the portions discussing how women are spoken about. Perhaps this is because the former read like a celebration, while the latter was more of a rant. Montell is not happy about how our culture talks about women, and while I don’t disagree with her, I often found myself more frustrated than properly fired up.

It is worth noting that Montell is not an impartial voice throughout the book. She wants our language to become more equitable. Mostly, her ambitions are good. (And in her defense, she notes that certain approaches to making language more equitable, such as attempts in 70s to create a “women’s language” or storming a dictionary headquarters to demand the word slut be removed, are unlikely to be successful.) But in doing so, sometimes her own linguistic biases shine through. Consider, for example, an anecdote from the intro of the book, where Montell gives the following speech to a woman who critiques her use of the word y’all:

I like to see y’all as an efficient and socially conscious way to handle the English language’s lack of a second-person plural pronoun. I could have used the word you to address the two girls, but I wanted to make sure your daughter knew I was including her in the conversation. I could also have said you guys, which has become surprisingly customary in casual conversation, but to my knowledge, neither of these children identifies as male, and I try to avoid using masculine terms to address people who aren’t men, as it ultimately works to promote the sort of linguistic sexism many have been fighting for years. I mean, if neither of these girls is a guy, then surely together they aren’t guys, you know?

 It’s a nice “take down the prescriptivist” story in some ways, but while I agree that y’all is a perfectly acceptable and useful word, Montell tries to argue that she chose to use y’all not just because her geographical and linguistic background make it the natural choice for her but because it’s the best choice, thereby turning an anti-prescriptivist argument into a prescriptivist one. Later in the same speech, she dismisses the option of using the pronoun yinz because it “doesn’t roll off the tongue nicely.”  I’m more intrigued, however, by her insistence that it would be sexist to use you guys. Montell notes, “Many speakers genuinely believe guys has become gender neutral. However, scholars agree that guys is just another masculine generic in cozier clothing. There’d be no chance of you gals earning the same lexical love.”  However, she provides no real evidence that guys isn’t truly neutral to speakers who use it, only that it is less marked than gals and that only masculine terms can ever reach this level of unmarkedness. I can’t help but wonder if it’s speakers who are excluding women when using phrases like you guys or if Montell simply hears it that way due to her own linguistic background.

 Another issue I had with this book is that it heavily focuses on English. While the topics discussed throughout the book are fairly universal, only one chapter provides any non-English examples. However, given how Montell handles these non-English examples, especially those from non-Western languages, in that one chapter, that might be for the best. The chapter examines how grammatical gender affects speakers’ perceptions of natural gender, as well as the political consequences, and at points, it’s very effective. I was particularly intrigued by her discussion of French feminists’ attempts to introduce feminine terms for certain jobs in a language where words like doctor are obligatorily masculine (and l’Académie Française is trying very hard to keep them that way). A few pages later, Montell moves onto talk about more complex gender and noun class systems. She gives the now famous example of Dyirbal, where most animate nouns belong to one noun class but “women, fire, and dangerous things” belong to another. She then concludes that this demonstrates that this shows something about Dyirbal speakers’ worldviews—that they see everything as masculine unless it could “literally kill you.” It’s a compelling argument in some ways, but it’s hard to discuss Dyirbal speakers’ worldviews without remembering one thing: Dyirbal is an indigenous Australian language with a single-digit number of native speakers. Yes, it has an interesting—and perhaps problematic—approach to gender, but it’s tied to a very specific (and mostly eradicated) cultural context, and it simply isn’t problematic in the same way as l’Académie Française. 

Overall, while I had my issues with Wordslut, I had a good time reading it . It’s not a must read, but if you’re looking for a fun, modern source on gender and language, it’s certainly entertaining and informative. It’s also a book that can definitely be enjoyed by linguists and non-linguists alike; there’s not much jargon that would trip up a non-linguist, but it covers a wide enough variety of topics that linguists (at least those who don’t specialize in sociolinguistics) won’t already know everything it covers. In general, if you’re interested in linguistics and feminism, you’ll probably have a good time and learn something new.

TL;DR

Overall rating: 3.5/5 Good for linguists? Yes, unless you’re already an expert in sociolinguistics Good for non-linguists? A definitive yes, since this assumes no background in linguistics Strong points: Broad scope and a fun, modern overview of the intersection between language and gender Weak points: Very English-centric, and the author’s outrage overshadows the actual information sometimes

[tarhalindur]

Running through the solution space for Watadamashi-hen

With Watadamashi-hen in the books and the obvious and traditional remaining question of “whodunnit?” in everyone’s heads, methinks it would be useful to see if there’s anything we can lock down for sure as constraints on possible solutions.  (Or, seeing as we’re in Gou’s version of the question arc that focuses the most on the local yakuza clan, perhaps a (forum) Mafia phrasing would be more appropriate: who is still in the PoE/Process of Elimination, and who is out of it?)

Here’s what I’ve got, under the cut:

- I do not believe we have quite enough information to say anything definitive about which sister Sonozaki is which during this arc. There’s two big questions here, and both are mostly related to the backstory: did the tattoo incident happen in the backstory as usual, and why is information about Satoshi so scarce this time around?  And both of those in turn boil down to a single issue: the level 0 answer for Watadamashi-hen (or perhaps more accurately level 3 -> level 0) is that Shion is responsible for at least some of the deaths as usual, but if that’s actually Shion during episode 8 then her behavior towards Keiichi here (especially the confession in the last episode) is hard to square with her devotion to Satoshi’s memory in OG. So the obvious questions: 1) did something happen in the backstory to switch which twin has the personality traits likely to drive L5, and 2) is there an easy explanation for why a Shion-born-Mion wouldn’t be as attached to Satoshi this time around?

The one thing I do suspect is that we only see one of the twins in Gou episode 5.  (The question is which - present!Shion impersonating her sister for the game tournament, or present!Mion impersonating her sister for the rest of the episode?   Leaning the former, but that’s not guaranteed.)

(Note: One of the theories going around is that the ending credits spoil which twin(s) are present in which episode of this arc.  I believe this is possible but doesn’t actually tell us much even if so?  The only conclusion that would give me that I wouldn‘t have arrived at anyways is that only one sister Sonozaki shows up during Episode 8 - that would rule out worlds where one of Mion/Shion is attending school at the start of the episode and then dies no later than Keiichi meeting kimono!Mion.  Other than that, as I just noted I’m leaning towards only one twin being present in episode 5 anyways, and everything else including which twin is in 5 is potentially drowned in “yes, I told you it was Mion, but did I mean Mion now or Mion by birth?” unless the tattoo incident never happened and Mion was born Mion... and in that case Mion is the prohibitive favorite for being a culprit anyways because the reasons Mion never goes L5 in OG would now apply to Shion instead, so once again it would just be confirming things I would have already suspected!)

- For each of Oryou, Kiichirou, and {Shion, Mion}, at some point, somebody had access to both their dead bodies and the Sonozaki disposal well.

This is more restrictive than it looks.  There’s really only four groups of people with even potential access to the well: a member of the Sonozaki family, another member of the Club (who could get Mion’s help, wittingly [ala Tsumihoroboshi-hen] or otherwise [Tatarigoroshi-hen]), the Yamainu (courtesy of their raiding the residence), or the police.  Of those, the only people who don’t have severe issues wrt opportunity for both the Oryou and Kiichirou murders are the Sonozakis and Rika (who might have been able to use her position as last surviving member of the third gosanke to set up a suitable opportunity to kill both of them if she went L5 or a Bern personality came out to play), and IIRC the sisters Sonozaki are the only Sonozakis with screen time while alive this arc.

The most likely permutation here is that the obvious inference from OG holds: one or both of the twins are responsible for all three of those deaths in some combination.  Looking it over... I think the second most likely possibility may actually be that the Mion who was at school during episode 8 was telling the actual truth about Rika? (#FeelTheBern)

- Whoever killed kimono!Shmion and Satoko had access to firearms, given both the death pose and the reported gunshot.

This is actually quite the restriction on possible culprits, as AFAICT there are only three groups in Hinamizawa with even potential access to firearms: the Sonozakis, the Yamainu (technically there’s also other Tokyo groups like the Banken, but only the Yamainu show up on screen this arc), and possibly the police.  (Caveat: if kimono!Mion’s gun is real, then it is possible that the culprit here successfully wrested the gun away from her and then shot her with it.)  (I wonder: is there any clear indication in the original Japanese about whether the officers who heard the gunshot heard only one shot or more than one?  I know Japanese often lacks formal singular/plural distinctions, so quite possibly not.)  I am heavily inclined to suspect the Yamainu here - I do not trust Keiichi’s viewpoint wrt Mion’s “revolver”, especially with the mismatch with the gun seen by the dead bodies, and if the shot of Shmion’s and Satoko’s body is to be believed the position of the nominal murder weapon looks really off for a murder-suicide.  (Also, they’re still on the short list of people with obvious motive to kill Satoko - if the clinic is once again “renovating” and that’s a cover for shutting down, they could be cleaning up loose ends.)

(Note: The apparent scratches on the neck of kimono!Mion’s dead body are quite interesting, because we get a clear view of that side of her neck during the confession scene and at that point there is *no sign* of said scratches!  Now, it’s possible Keiichi was hallucinating the lack of scratches, but that’s rather atypical for late-stage HS hallucinations; otherwise, those scratches must have been infliced during the events leading up to kimono!Mion’s death.)

- Whoever killed Rika was either making a delayed statement and/or did not have immediate access to either the Sonozaki disposal well or the Yamainu’s resources.

This one is pretty simple.  The school septic tank is a pretty shitty place to hide Rika’s body (pun intended after the fact) - after all, only {Mion/Shion} calling Keiichi away at the last moment prevents him from finding the body within at most a few hours of Rika being reported missing![1]  It’s certainly inferior to either the well (where the police only ever get to look in scenarios where Mion, Shion, and Oryou all die; Teppei’s body is quite secure there every time its gets moved to the well in OG arcs) or where the Yamainu would hide the body (people killed in the GHD coverup as opposed to the main event stay missing - both police officers shot on the road and villagers trying to escape into the hills).  Now, it’s possible that just like in certain OG arcs the reason Rika’s body is in such a findable place is because someone is making a statement and never intended for the body to remain hidden forever, especially if they wanted the body to stay hidden just long enough to get clear first - AIUI finding a miko’s body in a tank full of human waste would be a bit of a statement given Shinto ritual cleanliness, even/especially given certain features of local Hinamizawa practice (IIRC you could find some vaguely Western analogues in some of the ways Orthodox priests were executed during the Russian Civil War).  (This probably applies at the meta level regardless, especially given that Gou translates as karma.)  If it’s not a statement, however, then the only reason to put Rika’s body there instead of a more secure location is because the better locations weren’t an option (which, in turn, could be either because there wasn’t time/opportunity to move the body to one of the better locations or because the killer just didn’t have access to such locations).

[1] - I’m not sure how incriminating that is for whichever of {Mion/Shion} was at school at the time.  Coincidence is a very really possibility there, absolutely no reason to think it can’t be when that kind of thing is de riguer for detective story red herrings.

Piecing it together, here’s what I’ve got:

Culprit 1: Responsible for the deaths of Oryou Sonozaki and Kiichirou Kimiyoshi.  Likely candidates: birth!Mion, then Rika and birth!Shion in some order (the last probably gates around Oryou crossing one of birth!Shion’s red lines, although something involving fallout from no tattoo incident is also possible).  Corner case candidates: the Yamainu, a different club member, the police.

Culprit 2: Responsible for the death of the “Shion” found in the well.  Can be the same as Culprit 1.  Probably the other Sonozaki twin, assuming that the lack of apparent marks on the body holds and noting that self-defense is a possible motive (or technically suicide + someone else disposing of the body).  Corner case candidates are once again the Yamainu and the police (but why throw “Shion’s” body into the well but not “Mion’s”?),

Culprit 3: Responsible for the death of Rika Furude (or at least for moving her body to the septic tank - I suppose it’s technically possible that Rika left the stage on her own ala Meakashi-hen).  Likely candidates: Satoko, birth!Mion (iff the septic tank was a temporary solution until she could safely move the body to the well), Miyo Takano/Jirou Tomitake (iff one or both is still in town after all, assumes Takano no longer has Yamainu support).  Notable corner cases: Rena, birth!Shion (self-defense? plus birth!Mion caveat).  Other corner cases: Keiichi (iff unreliable narrator manifests as him killing Rika offscreen, which is unlikely but possible), someone else around school (Chie-sensei after Rika insulted curry?), the police.  Probably not the Yamainu; they might have motive but I find it hard to believe they’d leave Rika’s body where it was.

Culprit 4: Responsible for the death of Satoko Hojo.  Not necssarily also Culprit 5, depending on exact events (the notable world here is “kimono!Mion kills Satoko and is then killed by the Yamainu in turn”).  Likely candidates: kimono!Mion and the Yamainu, in some order (kimono!Mion has self-defense as a possible motive given those scratches).  Less likely: Satoko herself (suicide).  Corner cases: the police, Rena (if she somehow dodged the security cams or Keiichi was hallucinating those), Takano/Tomitake (likewise).  Alibi’d: Rika (dead), Keiichi (in the cell).

Culprit 5: Responsible for the death of kimono!Mion.  Likely candidates: the Yamainu, followed closely by kimono!Mion (suicide) and Satoko in some order.  Corner cases: the police, Rena, Takano/Tomitake.   Alibi’d: Rika (dead), Keiichi (in the cell).

[bigskydreaming]

There’s just...there’s just so much I need to know!

Are all the Academy X kids back? DJ? Kidogo? Loa? Wallflower? Blindfold? OMG IS TAG BACK, SHOW ME JULIAN REUNITING WITH HIS BFF, DEAD FOR YEARS AND NOW BROUGHT BACK TO LIFE.

There’s just...imagine, an entire class of mutant teenagers who were all tragically killed and now are resurrected into this new world that’s so different from the one they last saw, like everything’s changed in the blink of an eye. What’s that even LIKE? How do they feel about owing their return and resurrection to one of their own former classmates, who’s now part of this group of five mutants revered on Krakoa with idol-like status as the ones who like...defeated death for the mutant race? How do all the kids who died on M-Day like Hydro, never even having time to know what happened, feel about learning about the Decimation and why they died in the first place? How do the kids who died on the bus like DJ feel, trying to reconnect with their classmates like Julian and Cessily and Santos who have been through SO MUCH since they last saw them, literally lived through wars and the threat of extinction and are so changed now by experiences they can’t ever (hopefully won’t ever) be able to relate to?

Is Jay Guthrie back? What’s it like for Sam and Paige and the rest of their siblings to suddenly have him back? What does Sooraya feel about this? How do she and Jay interact now? How does the every mutant is automatically a citizen of Krakoa thing work....all the Guthrie kids are mutants, but their mom Lucinda isn’t...is she allowed to come and go, according to Krakoa law? There must be exceptions made for some humans to live on Krakoa, surely, given that Corsair is part of one of the Dawn of X line-ups....who makes the distinction and how?

Speaking of the Summers, what’s up with Gabe’s resurrection? How does that work? Does he remember everything, and his past crimes are forgiven on the basis of the amnesty law, so long as he plays nice? Or did Xavier take advantage of being the man who puts all the mutant minds back in their shiny new bodies and conveniently rearrange a few memories regarding why Gabe hates him so much, and now Gabe gets along with everyone just fine?

OMG ARE PETRA AND SWAY BACK AND IF NOT WHY NOT.

What about Kevin Ford aka Wither? Selene was one of the mutant villains granted amnesty when she came to Krakoa, does that mean her former pawns are granted the same resurrection treatment as any other mutant, and if so, how does Kevin feel about being resurrected by Josh....the very person who killed him in the first place?

Oooh, and Clarice....not to mention Jono. What’s it like for some of the more heroic descendants of Clan Akkaba to now be living on the same island as their long distant villainous ancestor, Apocalypse himself?

Speaking of Apocalypse, anyone else catch that bit of gossip from Bar Sinister about how gladly Apocalypse would trade in any of his later Horsemen for his original four....with Hickman having made a big deal about alluding to some long ago war Apocalypse and his original Horsemen waged on Krakoa against some other dimensional foes.....with those Horsemen dying or imprisoning themselves to stop them? Who wants to bet that was to set up a storyline where like, maybe part of Apocalypse’s conditions for working with Xavier and Magneto on all of this was to have his original Horsemen resurrected as well somehow? Like SOMETHING’S going to happen there.

Oooh ooh ooh......what about the fact that ALL OF LOGAN’S 13378427842 dead mutant children are now potentially alive again? CLAN SNIKT? ADRIAN CORBO? WON’T SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF JIMMY?

And and and and and they better fucking bring back Chris Bradley and I will literally pledge my firstborn if somebody writes in a scene where Bobby Drake gets to see his little buddy alive and well again, sans Legacy Virus. Look, it doesn’t matter that I’m probably never going to have a firstborn, its the thought that counts, shh, its allowed.

What about Magneto’s original Acolytes, the ones who died when Asteroid M crashed? Chrome, Delgado and Anne-Marie, etc? What might their reactions be upon say, running into Traitor McBetrayal, Fabian Cortez?

IS SIENA BLAZE BACK OMG PLZ LET SIENA BE BACK I WILL....crap, already pledged my firstborn. Ugh, second is the best?

SPEAKING OF....I forget what launched this tangential thought but Mikhail Rasputin anyone? HIS BABY SISTER IS ONE OF THE FOUR WAR CAPTAINS OF KRAKOA, LIKE...TALK ABOUT *SCREEECH* WAIT, SAY WHAT? REVELATIONS TO WAKE UP TO.

Just how long are they gonna tease the whole ‘no but really there’s ANOTHER Summers brother’ plotline this time?

OMG are Emplate, the M twins and Monet all supposed to play happy family in a shared environment, holy shit could you imagine the epic staredowns everytime Marius and Monet run into each other in like Krakoa’s town square or the market or something and Jubilee just stage whispers “Awkwaaaaard.”

Holy shit, how are Ev and Angelo going to react to coming back to life and discovering that Jubes is now a MOM???

What about depowered mutants we haven’t seen get their powers back yet, are they all repowered now thanks to Hope? Is Dallas Gibson on Krakoa, shadow powers intact? What about Shola and Freakshow and Wicked, aka the only interesting characters Claremont has invented in 30 years, no, Lifeguard and Slipstream DO NOT COUNT.

WHAT DOES ALL OF THIS HAVE TO DO WITH THE RETURN OF THE 2099 UNIVERSE IN A COUPLE MONTHS, LIKE HOW ARE THE X-MEN 2099 and X-NATION GONNA LINE UP WITH ALL OF THIS?

And will we get Twilight and Clarion and December back, and finally some kind of answer on whether December is a descendant of Bobby or Emma or both?

Is Leon Nunez, the REAL mutant behind Ink’s powers, a resident of Krakoa because the amnesty law got him out of jail and did he take the power back from that LOSER and did Ink get his stupid ass kicked to the curb because everyone was like lol nobody even likes you and you’re not even a mutant, go be an Avenger ITS WHERE YOU BELONG?

Probably not, but look a guy can dream.

What’s St. John gonna think about this new twink running around using his name, HE’S the only real flamer in town! Or is he just not gonna care, and retire to spend his time resuming his career as a romance novelist? (THIS IS CANON, I DID NOT MAKE THIS UP).

Most importantly, WHAT THE HELL IS THE PREMISE OF THE MARAUDERS BOOK AND WILL I LIKE IT AND WILL BOBBY BE WRITTEN WELL AND SINCE IT HAS SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE HELLFIRE CLUB AND EMMA’S A KEY PART OF THE BOOK WILL WE GET CHRISTIAN THERE TOO AND WITH SIMON AS PART OF THE MARAUDERS LINEUP WILL I FINALLY GET THE CHRISTIAN/BOBBY/FIRE-GUY-EVEN-IF-SIMON-IS-A-SUBPAR-SUBSTITUTE-FOR-JOHNNY LOVE TRIANGLE I NEED AND DESERVE?

OMG and Daken’s on Krakoa too, oh shit, is Bobby gonna finally get to be the hot girl? So many gays, so little time...whoops, Bobby can make clones of himself too.....oh shit did I make it weird, WHO CARES, BOBBY HAS POTENTIAL LOVE INTERESTS NOW, PLURAL, NOT SINGULAR, HUZZAAAAAAAAH.

And also all the other stuff is still interesting too. But like. Bobby boyfriend. Make it happen.

[spanishskulduggery]

Spanish Vocabulary - el calendario / calendar

Notes: All months and days of the week are considered masculine, and are never written with capital letters except if the entire word is in capital letters or it’s a proper name like Santo Domingo [which is either “Santo Domingo” the city, or “Holy Sunday”] or Miércoles de Ceniza “Ash Wednesday”

Additionally, all days of the week stay in their singular form, except for sábado “Saturday” and domingo “Sunday” which do change... So for example... los lunes, los martes, los miércoles, los jueves, los viernes, los sábados, los domingos

Most days of the week already end in an -S, so they stay “singular” in form but plural in the definite article so that you don’t have to add an additional -es to them. The days that do change for plural end in -O.

Additionally, you NEVER say en + day of the week to mean “on”... For that you use just use el or los... or sometimes para (though this depends on the context).

Los lunes tengo clase. = On Mondays I have class. Tengo clase los lunes. = I have class on Mondays.

Para el lunes tengo que escribir un ensayo. = For Monday I have to write an essay. / On Monday an essay I have to write is due. Es para el lunes. = It’s on Monday. / It happens on Monday. / It’s due on Monday. La cita fue programada para el lunes. = The appointment was scheduled/planned for/on Monday.

Months can be singular or plural since they all end in -O, -E, or a consonant that isn’t -S... los eneros, los febreros, los marzos, los abriles etc.

enero = January

febrero = February

marzo = March

abril = April

mayo = May

junio = June

julio = July

agosto = August

septiembre = September

octubre = October

noviembre = November

diciembre = December

domingo = Sunday

lunes = Monday

martes = Tuesday

miércoles = Wednesday

jueves = Thursday

viernes = Friday

sábado = Saturday

el día = day

la semana = week

el fin de semana = weekend el finde = weekend [regional]

el mes = month

el año = year

el presente = the present presente = present, current

el futuro = the future futuro/a = future

el pasado = the past pasado/a = past / last la semana pasada = last week el lunes pasado = last Monday

próximo/a = next el próximo día = the next day el próximo jueves = next Thursday la proxima semana = next week el próximo mes = next month el próximo año = next year

que viene = the coming / next la semana que viene = next week el miércoles que viene = next Wednesday el mes que viene = next month

siguiente = following / next el día siguiente = (the) next day al día siguiente = (on) the next day, (on) the following day, (on) the day after la semana siguiente = the following week / the next week

venidero/a = is to come, coming

el siglo = century

la década = decade

la fecha = date la fecha de hoy = today’s date ¿Cuál es la fecha de hoy? = What’s today’s date?

la cita = meeting, appointment / date

el cumpleaños = birthday el cumple = birthday [slang]

¡Feliz cumpleaños! = Happy birthday! ¡Feliz cumple! = Happy birthday! (slang)

la reunión = meeting / reunion, gathering

el horario = schedule

la agenda = schedule, agenda, calendar el horario de trabajo = work schedule la agenda de trabajo = work schedule el calendario laboral = work schedule

el deber = duty, obligation / chore la tarea = chore, task / homework el quehacer = chore, task

el tiempo = time / weather [also means “tense” in grammar/linguistics]

semanal (adj) = weekly semanalmente (adv) = happening every week, weekly todas las semanas (adv) = every week cada semana (adv) = each week

mensual (adj) = monthly mensualmente (adv) = happening every month, monthly todos los meses (adv) = every month cada mes (adv) = each month

anual (adj) = yearly, annual anualmente (adv) = annually, every year todos los años (adv) = every year cada año (adv) = each year

la fiesta = party / holiday, feast, holy day

feriado/a = celebrated, observed, holiday el día feriado = public holiday, observed holiday el feriado = day off, holiday

las vacaciones = vacation, holiday (UK)

la primavera = spring

el verano = summer pasar el verano / pasar los veranos = to spend summer / to spend summers veranear = to spend summer, to summer / to spend summer vacation [it’s not a totally common verb since you can say pasar el verano / los veranos “to spend summer(s)”, but it does show up more in literature and especially with nobility and people with summer homes]

el otoño = autumn, fall

el invierno = winter

hoy = today el día de hoy = today a(l) día de hoy = as of today, up until now

hoy en día = nowadays, these days hoy día = nowadays, these days [regional]

de día = daytime, happening in the day

ayer = yesterday

esta noche = tonight

anoche = last night ayer noche = last night ayer por la noche = last night / yesterday night

mañana = tomorrow la mañana = morning todas las mañanas = every morning por la mañana = in the morning mañana por la mañana = tomorrow morning mañana por la tarde = tomorrow evening mañana por la noche = tomorrow night

anteayer = the day before yesterday

antenoche, anteanoche = the night before last

pasado mañana = the day after tomorrow mañana y pasado = tomorrow and the day after

antaño = yesteryear / former

la tarde = afternoon, evening tarde (adj) = late, tardy por la tarde = in the afternoon/evening buenas tardes = good afternoon

la noche = night por la noche = at night de noche = nighttime, happening at night buenas noches = good night, good (late) evening

la víspera = eve

el atardecer (n) = dusk atardecer (v) = for night to fall

el amanecer (n) = dawn amanecer (v) = to dawn, for day to break

ahora = now ahora mismo = right away

pronto = soon

luego = later

antes = before

enseguida, en seguida = right away, very soon, immediately

de inmediato, inmediatamente = immediately

actual = present, current actualmente = presently, now, currently

en realidad = actually, in reality

después = after

tras = after, following

día a día = day by day

día tras día = day after day

de la noche a la mañana = overnight, from one day to the next / suddenly, “overnight” [as in “overnight success”]

siempre = always

normalmente = normally regularmente = regularly, normally generalmente = generally, normally

soler hacer algo = to often do something, to normally do something, to be in the habit of doing something

a menudo = often

a veces = sometimes

rara vez = rarely pocas veces = few times, rarely

nunca = never

cada = each, every cada día = each day, every day cada semana = each week, every week cada persona = each person, every person

un, una = one, a unos, unas = a few, some unos cuantos, unas cuantas = a few, “a handful of (times/days/etc)”

todo/a = whole, entire por toda la noche = all through the night, throughout the night por todo el día = all through the day, throughout the day todo el mundo = the whole world / everyone por todo el mundo = all over the world todos los días = every day / all the days todas las semanas = every week / all the weeks todos los años = every year / all the years todos los lunes = every Monday todos los sábados = every Saturday todos los domingos  = every Sunday

celebrar = to celebrate, to hold (a party)

pedir una cita = to request an appointment, to ask for an appointment / to ask for a date

programar = to program / to schedule, to set (up) programar una cita = to schedule an appointment

concertar = to agree, to agree upon / to set up, to arrange, to decide on concertar una cita = to schedule an appointment

asistir = to attend, to go to asisto a la universidad todos los días = I go to university/college every day asisto a mi clase los lunes = I attend class on Mondays / I go to my class every Monday

faltar = to be lacking, to lack  faltar a clase = to skip class, to not attend class, to miss class

ir = to go

reunirse = to meet up

conocer = to know (someone) / to meet (someone, usually for the first time)

encontrar = to find

buscar = to look for, to search for

esperar = to hope / to wait

llegar = to arrive

llevar = to carry, to take / to bring, to drive, to get a ride from

venir = to come

regresar = to return

volver = to return, to come back volver a hacer algo = to do something again

cumplir = to comply, to fulfill cumplir (los años) = to turn (an age)

tener = to have tener X años = to be X years old*

*tener años is used as “to have (a certain amount/number of years)” which means that the years are what’s known as “countable”. For the most part, you don’t need to worry about this because most of the numbers are the same. The difference being 1 year old, 21 years old, 31 years old... any age that ends in a 1 [that isn’t once “11″] because they’ll be counted as un or -ún ...because countable.

Similarly to un año being “a year”, the un here means “one” since you’re counting the years. That’s what it means to be “countable” in this case.

Tiene un año. = He/She is one (year old).

Tiene veintiún (21) años. = He/She is 21 (years old).

Tiene treinta y un (31) años. = He/She is 31 (years old).

Tiene ciento un (101) años. = He/She is 101 (years old).

(Note: When using dates, you use the number + the month. The number you use is almost always the cardinal number... el dos de octubre “October 2nd / 2 October”, el treinta de abril “April 30th”)

El día de San Valentín es el catorce (14) de febrero. = Valentine’s Day is February 14th [fourteenth].

La Nochebuena es el veinticuatro (24) de diciembre. = Christmas Eve is December 24th [twenty-fourth]. 

La Navidad es el veinticinco (25) de diciembre. = Christmas is December 25th [twenty-fifth].

La Nochevieja es el treinta y uno (31) de diciembre. = New Years Eve is December 31st [thirty-first].

El día de Año Nuevo es el primero de enero. = New Years Day is January 1st [first].

Mi cumpleaños es el (número) de (mes). = My birthday is (month) (number). Mi cumpleaños es el 18 (dieciocho) de agosto. = My birthday is August 18th [eighteenth].