#decay madrigals

[casitafallz-a]

Decay AU | Ghosts of Casita P2

The chill remained though quite suddenly the mist lurched out of her mother’s bed room and it felt like a weight ploughed into her gut, the force enough to knock Julieta and the rest to the ground but she watched in horror as her grandson and the priest were instead launched off the balcony and into the air.

“Catch, catch, catch!!” Dante squealed.

“No! Dante!” Julieta dove across to the banister railings; too slow to do anything but watch but as the two came close to hitting the ground, ghostly figures seemed to catch the two; three townspeople for Padre Flores but Dante… he was caught and enwrapped by a tall male, his back turned towards their balcony as if he was a shield for the child.

She didn’t have time to see his face or much before Dante was set down, a shroud of other ghosts coming to mask the child as the demonic presence rattled in the air with a gluteal roar. Casita itself seem to hiss; ratting the shutters, with tiles raised like hackles towards the dark misty being that disappeared through to the courtyard, hooves clapping against the titled floor. It wasn’t fully formed but that didn’t make a difference to what it used to be.

Julieta’s heart thundered, clawing herself up onto her feet and made a dash for the steps down. Other family members seem to get to their feet as well, Dolores grabbed Antonio and shoved him back into his room. Mariano though was helping Bruno up.

“Dante!” Julieta called, skipping a few steps at a time down.

Dante’s tiny little form was shaking, though his eyes were lit with blue, it was clear to see he was terrified. She held her hands out and without hesitation, the child shot towards her.

The dark mist made it’s move too with a growl but the moment she had the child, a comforting cold suddenly seemed to shield all around her. Dante’s arms grasped intently around her neck, crawling up and wrapped his legs around her waist, enabling her to pick him up. He buried his face into her chest. Her hand rubbed automatically up and down his spine, though her eyes remained open, transfixed to see the darkness try and go for her grandson but the lighter mist seemed to consistently seemed to shy it away.

“Julieta!” Pepa’s cloud grew, rain tinkering down across the whole of the Encanto. Julieta backed up even more, trying to find an opening to break up towards the steps and for certain, Dante’s safest area was his room. Padre Flores remain sitting by the doors in shock-horror and of no interest to the demonic presence.

Casita tried to help, the tiles under her feet moving, pushing her backwards as the protective ghost’s mist gave, a tendril of darkness slamming into the shutters and shattering the wooden frames outwards. Julieta took this as her opening and ran, darting up the step, Agustín’s hand out to pull her up th last few and Felix hauled her mother to feet

“Dante’s room! Now!” Mirabel and Luisa herded Camilo in but she had barely reached the door herself before something suddenly wrapped around her leg and yanked.

Julieta yelped, falling straight onto her left arm before she felt a sickening snap and burning pain but that didn’t matter nearly as much as the deeper pain that raged through her leg, like a vine of fire was wrapped around her ankle.

Her head span and she clung onto Dante but she rolled over onto her back, just intime to see the ghostly figure of her father grab the candle from her mother and rammed the burning miracle into the dark mist before it’s cries echoed in a horrid screeched like nails down blackboards that seemed to deafen and echo, no doubt waking everyone in this whole town before it began to retreat out into the sky into a burning mess that flaked away into ash and… silence.

Only the pain down her leg seemed to ground her and the blood pounding in her ears was the real sound. Everything else was distant.

“Juleita!”

Her mother’s terrified and concerned face seemed to swim into view though it all felt too foggy, the weight of Dante was gone and a part of her was alarmed but her eyes vaguely noted her siblings; Agustín holding Dante now but they were all concerned.

“My room!” the child wept, “we gotta bath it!”

 -

Agustín’s heart thudded as he watched the scorch marks along his’s wife’s leg, almost black and yet Julieta was very absent in her reaction which made it all the worry. Pepa abandoned her husband and between Pepa and Abuela, Bruno helping keeping Julieta’s arm straightened they made way straight into Dante’s room.

Dante pushed himself from his arms and Agustín let him go and followed, letting the kid lead the way to a new door that seemed to appear and open straight down towards an octagon pool of water, salts and other bottles lay about but it was large.

“Put her in there!”

No one questioned him and followed without hesitation and all four went in fully clothed before there was an immediate reaction.

Almost sizzling, the marks reacted to the water and that’s when Julieta’s screams filled the small pool room and Pepa and Abuela held to hold to keep the woman still as the water bubble and churned. Bruno pinned Julieta’s broken arm down to keep it from getting worse with her struggles

“Get her out!” Agustín almost jumped in but Felix’s hands caught him first, pulling him back from the edge.

“No, whatever happens, happens!” Felix hissed, “Whatever that thing is, it must be like cleaning a wound with alcohol. It hurts but it has to happen!”

Julieta thankfully passed out and the water continued to churn then slowly began to calm until it was still. It ws broken after a moment by a little voice.

“Can we leave her in there? For few hours? Just to make sure she’s clean?” Dante whispered, his arm wrapping around Agustín’s leg.

“Is she going to be okay?”

Dante licked his lips. “Probably. Ghost burns aren’t nice.”

Agustín licked his lips but watched as Abuela brushed lose strands of damp hair from Julieta’s face though from the looks of it, no one looked like that they planned to leave this room for a while.

“I vote, never leaving this room.” Camilo’s voice echoed from the main bed room.

-

The air was…different when people finally woke, the uneasy night had left most, if not all the Madrigals asleep in various parts of Dante’s room and Agustín kept Dante tucked into his side as he napped. Abuela stayed mostly at Julieta’s side but Bruno was the first to leave to the kitchen and Agustín, still carrying a sleeping Dante left, stepping over Camilo to follow. It wasn’t like he hadn’t tried putting the kid down, he was just latched on really tightly

Outside Dante’s room, it was dead quiet but… there was a different air, almost. Warm and Agustín felt relief to enter into the kitchen and saw Bruno pulling out left-overs from the cool room and Julieta’s prepared arepas for emergencies from the pot. There was doubt no one would mind too much; it wasn’t like they were leaving for a regular day. This almost certainly been a family day…. Coming to grips on what had just transpired.

“Want me to help?”

Bruno jumped a little though sheepishly shook his head. “You’ve got your arms full already.”

Agustín chuckled dryly, “he’s like a leech in his grip.” He stroked the dark locks of hair softly. “I can get the coffee on brew while you take that up.”

Soon enough, with food and coffee set up in Dante’s faux outside space on a picnic blanket did people start coming around. Luisa was able to peel Dante off his chest and let him cling onto her before he took a small plate down to the pool. Julieta was still out, probably asleep than just being unconscious from the injury and it pained him to see her pale face. her arm that had been crudely splinted but Abuela looked to be examining her leg now.

The tendril that had grabbed her ankle that had burned her leg in almost black scorched, the skin was smooth as it used to be but it was easy to see where it had touched from the coral-pink discolouration that traces along it’s former grip from her heel to mid-calf. A mark of its touch but… it looked heathier, even to his medically untrained eye.

“Let’s get her out.” Abuela decided though Pepa’s tired, cloudy face peered at her mother, nodded before the two began to clamber towards the steps with Julieta in tow. Agustín set his tray down and gently took her into his arms and Abuela led the way out.

Cool water seeped into his pyjamas but that didn’t bother him as they left Dante’s room, leading them back towards their bedroom. Between them, they gently changed Julieta’s soggy night dress into something dry and he took the time to wrap her leg.

“We’ll have to wait until she wakes for her to heal her arm.” Abuela remarked, now adjusting the splint. “Until then, there’s nothing we can do.”

Agustín nodded. “She also needs to warm up as well. We should call Dr Lopez and get him to set her arm at the very least. If she gets a cold, she won’t heal herself efficiently. God only knows how that…thing may have affected her.”

Abuela’s breath paused for only a moment before she nodded. “I’ll ask Mirabel to go down. Excuse me.” Abuela didn’t leave much to ague before she was gone, shutting the door quietly behind her.

[casitafallz]

hello there! I have a hypothetical question, hopefully it hadn't already been asked, heh.

In the Decay and LTRL AUs, early on in the stories, Luisa shoves Isabela away from Mirabel and injures her on the back, although thankfully not severely. BUT! My question is, what do you think would have happened if Luisa had accidentally broken Isabela's back?

*Peeking out of my den*

Hi!

ooh that's a good question. I think... it depends on how severely damaged Isabela's back was; was it only the bone damaged or was the cord also affected??

Either way, a fresh wound like that would still be treatable by Julieta; so the chances were that the damage would be fixed by either one. the bones heal straight away. The cord may take a few days with Julieta's food to heal. Julieta got there pretty quickly to help Mirabel, so she would be there quick to cater to Isa's damaged back.

Isabela would be healed physically.

Mentally, she would get given a bucket load of trauma for it. Ultimately, she would be scared of Luisa just as Mirabel is scared of Isabela (less so, in comparison as what Luisa did was sudden and unexpected; not slow going or as targeted as what Isa did to Mirabel.).

She'd have recurring nightmares of the incident, including the vivid lingering sensation of not feeling her lower body (if the cord was damaged)--this could have reawoken some bed-wetting as a sort of psychological response when the lack of feeling spikes in those instances.

Isa would avoid Luisa like the plague, or if they were forced to be in the same room, stay away or the furthest seat possible. She'd be...hyperfocused on Luisa's movements to ensure she wasn't gonna get tossed.

Luisa may not...get into as much trouble bc she was saving Mirabel. Luisa would be guilty about harming someone, even her own sister, regardless of justification. The fact Isa would be so weary of her is also not a good feeling for Luisa. She's upset about it, but...she'd get annoyed by it as well after a few months of it. Luisa's still very much in the middle of both sides of the frustration of knowing she wasn't gonna hurt Isa again and empathy of why Isa's so weary of her.

The adults... how they react would also vary.

Alma would be upset but relieved that no one was killed. At most, she'd insist Luisa stop her chores in town until she made sure not to use her gift with any sense of underestimation; she sees that there was a lack of control that could have easily killed and could have easily crippled someone. This could have easily dug Luisa's insecurities far faster to the rest of the family about her gift.

Bruno would probably be the same as in the original, distant but would try to be supportive of the family either way

Pepa would be...upset but would stay out of the mess to avoid the emotional whiplash that getting involved would entail, but, she could do her best to try and care for her nieces. She may actually gravitate to Luisa given the girl holds so much in emotionally; she could see more and try to get her to let it out.

Felix would be a very in-the-mess sort of guy. He would visit Isabela if she had to heal for longer; make sure she was okay and all. He'd check in with Mirabel as well, same reasons then he's check in with Luisa and make sure she was okay. He'd also help with Pepa when it came to getting Luisa to talk. Very non-judgemental which helps.

Julieta would be.... devastated at the hurt all of her children had done to each other. None of them would want to be in the same room together out of fear and trauma which tears her side of the family apart and she'd burn out far quicker and struggle to balance herself. She'd depend more on Alma for order and control of the situation. Seeing Isa both a victim and a perpetrator is hard and seeing her struggle with instances of trauma (like the bedwetting) would be very difficult. Trying to sooth Mirabel as well--she'd probably be less involved with Luisa in comparison to her other two daughters.

Agustin would be...a champion to keep his all daughter's morale up. He's checking in with all of them and probably would get Isabela moved to his parent's house sooner for the sake of sanity of everyone involved. He'd defo try better to get Julieta away from the alcohol as well once he realises. He'd defo be the support for Luisa that she needs in her immediate family. He wouldn't be weary or scared of her.

Dolores would...probably be the same as in the original stories; Luisa saved Mirabel, and just happened to Isabela get hurt as well. She'd probably help Isa more in dealing with some of her new trauma responses more privately to spare Isa humiliation of it.

Camilo would be much more of a prick. He'd probably be glad Luisa got 'pay back' for Isa harming Mirabel and would certainly and unintentionally make Luisa feel guilty with his praise on the matter. That said, he'd probably keep Anotnio away from Luisa for a few weeks, not that the two interacted much beforehand. But he'd definitely be glad that Isa got hurt. If he found out about Isa's bed-wetting, he'd defo would mock the girl for it (until Pepa told him off for it)

Antonio, the little bean would be... well he's five and not sure what to think but all he sees is his family fighting between themselves so he's much quieter and withdrawn; trying to be with his sister, and parents or would probably stay around Mirabel and Bruno much more as well. he has little opinion about Luisa's actions; he knows she saved his favourite person.

Mirabel would be the most...conflicted person out of everyone if Isabela got a broken back out of it. She'd be both scared of Isa and also worried for her. She certainly didn't want her to get hurt and doesn't think a broken spine was justified, even in the heat of the moment but... it happened. Her family is even more broken up and she'd probably internalise a lot of what Luisa did to Isa onto herself for being the catalyst for Isa to snap to start with. She would be weary of Luisa but not scared of her either, not like how she'd be scared of Isa. Mirabel defo would need therarpy, like the rest of the family to handle this.

lol, turns out I had a lot to say lol, i do like AU discussions :) if you have any more questions, feel free to drop them in. If they're good or enough, it could inspire me to carry on with the nest LTRL AU Chap?????

[ffb6c1lover]

Why I think the Madrigals believed Bruno to be dead

The adults only speak about him in past tense. "Bruno didn't care about this family". As far as she knows, if he's still alive and not back it means he actively still doesn't care about the family, so why not say that? Félix also speaks in past tense ("You better figure it out, because it was coming for you"). Julieta's "My brother Bruno lost his way in this family" makes sense regardless of whether she thought he'd died or not, but to me it does sound very final. Pepa cannot even hear his name without thundering. With the amount of love she has for him, the thought that he might have made himself a happier life in a town that does not shun him should bring her at least a bit of comfort, but she's inconsolable even after so much time. I'm sure there are more examples of this and if I can think of them, I'll add them in the replies.

The door going dark. Now, we know it stopped being lit because he had decided not to use his power anymore, but it makes far more sense for it to be because he couldn't use his power anymore (because he was dead). Casita, much like Bruno, can tell the future, so she knew he was going to use it again, the vow did not really count for anything. Are you telling me that anytime a family member leaves their room and considers not using their power for a while their door goes black?? It makes a lot more sense for the family to have thought he had died. The same applies for Casita not being able to help inside the room: it sounds like a metaphor for the Madrigals not being able to help Bruno anymore.

The deleted scene. In the "Chores!" deleted scene, Félix talks about a fight Bruno had with the family (possibly even the moment he left the family?). In this scene, Bruno displays actual suicidal tendencies ("I wish I was dead!"), and, when he leaves, his room starts rotting and decaying. This scene was removed in the final movie, because it is clearly too dark for kids, but we have no reason to believe that it is not still canon in the universe, as we can see that his room is actually decaying and falling apart. If a family member tells you they wish they were dead and then disappear leaving no trace, it is not a crazy jump to think they are not still alive, especially considering the next point.

Bruno left behind most of his belongings. We do not know how much stuff Bruno had in the first place, but when he leaves his room after the vision, we do not see him holding a bag (or anything really) and even if it's there, it is definitely not a bag big enough to sustain someone leaving their home for good. The stuff he has in the walls was likely gathered long after his family had stopped searching for him. He also has no money and the social skills of a rat, where was he even going??

The room falling apart. Not entirely sure about this, but I think the characters' rooms reflect somewhat the emotional state of their owners (Isabela's room in What Else Can I Do + if I'm not mistaken, Camilo's room is supposed to change colour based on his mood like a chameleon). This is further demonstrated by the stairs, which had been growing for years before Bruno actually left. This is a bit of a stretch, but I think the family could have seen one of two alarm bells in the decaying room: a) Bruno's room was decaying like him (kinda gruesome, but it makes some semblance of sense); b) it did not change at all for 10 years. I don't think rooms change only when their owner is in them, so Bruno's emotional state supposedly not changing for so long is alarming. But again, this point is the one that convinces me the least.

Dolores. Dolores mentions hearing Bruno in the walls three (3) times, in the movie alone: in We Don't Talk About Bruno, at breakfast ("and the rats talking in the walls") and in All of You. It's been ten years and she still mentions him constantly, so she's probably been talking about it since the very beginning, but no one believed her. So, a child keeps hearing their relative who disappeared without a trace in their family home, without seeing him and with everyone saying it wasn't possible. Logical conclusion? It's a ghost.

The family's reactions to him returning. Alma is the most striking. It takes quite a long time for her shocked face to wear off. Julieta is equally shocked as well, like she'd never expected to see him ever again. It could also be she just didn't expect him to come back. Pepa looks relieved, like she'd been on edge for 10 years and can finally know peace. Why would that be? The fact that he's back does not mean they are going to rekindle their relationship, but it does mean that she gets a new chance to show him she loves him, being the first to run to hug him. Her eyebags also show many a sleepless nights tossing and turning, maybe feeling guilty because she hadn't shown him her love enough and she thought she never could again.

Bonus: "The mountains around the Encanto are pretty tall!" In this scene, after Bruno says this sentence, he makes a weird face, like he's already considered how tall the mountains are and he's trying to understand if Mirabel caught onto that.

[carlosfruitsnacks]

*cracks knuckles* I'VE GOT A REQUEST

not a day goes by where I dont think about ur sixteen going on seventeen fic so pls i wanna see you how you do A Million Dreams with carlos x fem!reader childhood friends to lovers AAAAAAA😭😭😭❤️❤️

i love how u write dancing scenes from the last one so fucking much so if u can emphasize the dancing on the rooftop in the bridge part id be ascending to heaven please 💗💗 *screams loudly*

"a million dreams"

summary:

— You and Carlos shared a dream. Even if the world would try to tear you both apart you two would always find each other in the end. You and he were full of a million dreams for the world you and him are gonna make.

genre:

— songfic, aged-up & fluff

notes:

— female reader. I do not speak fluent Spanish and all of the Spanish here is translated from google, feel free to correct me.

warning/s:

— none

a/n:

— i tried my best to write the dancing parts from the vid you sent on the reqs lmao, i hope you like it mimi <333

The wind across the horizon was loud, it made the tall grass dance. The waves upon the shining ocean constantly kissed the shore, and the sand looked golden under the setting sand. A young Carlos Madrigal finds himself tucking his knees to his chest, he had an awful feeling rising in his belly. He took his time alone to calm down until he hears soft footsteps approaching him, he doesn't turn around as he lets a girl sitting beside him. Carlos gently turns to her.

"How did you get out?"

"The window"

The girl softly replies to him. Carlos looks down at his worn-out shoes as she slowly shifts her head to him with a sad look on her face.

"Mi padre is sending me away to finish school. I don't know what will my future be"

She admits, downcast mixed with uncertainty. Carlos sighs and sends her a sympathetic glance, before he knew it a smile was grazing on his lips.

"I do, [Name]"

You look at him with mild bewilderment. You have been best friends with Carlos ever since his family began working with yours. You grew up in a wealthy family while he barely held on but somehow managed. Despite the differences, you liked each other. Carlos would subtly make you smile at moments that felt like hell, he'd take the punishment from your strict father for disrupting you during your home-schooling. At a young age, you realized how much Carlos means a lot to you, it was better that he felt the same. You found yourself not wanting to be separated from him.

"I close my eyes and I can see the world that's waiting up for me"

"That I call my own"

Carlos sings and deeply gazes into your eyes, you look back at him with the same intensity. He stands up and holds out his hand for you to take. He leads you away from the beach and into the woods.

"Through the dark, through the door"

"Through where no one's been before"

A giant gate infested with vines and flora was where Carlos took you. He begins to climb his way up the old gate, he extends his hand as you gently grab it and climb up next to him.

"But it feels like home"

You watched in surprise to see an old abandoned house in the distance; autumn trees surrounded the area and brought you comfort. Carlos grins and jumps over the gate, you gasped and followed along.

"They can say, they can say it all sounds crazy"

"They can say, they can say I've lost my mind"

Carlos lets you chase him up the decaying steps towards the house, you smiled and twirled around. He runs through a thick bush and disappears, you took a peek, and all of a sudden a hand goes through the bush. You giggled and took Carlos' hand and let him pull you into the bush.

"I don't care, I don't care, so call me crazy"

"We can live in a world that we design"

He pulls you into the interior of the abandoned house, it was dark and clouded with dust. Everything was filled with long vines and plants but the place had a charming effect on you. 

"'Cause every night I lie in bed"

"The brightest colors fill my head"

Carlos smiles toothily at you, he sees you reciprocating it. He grabs your hand and twirls you around, adoring you every second.

"A million dreams are keeping me awake"

You and Carlos explore more inside the old house. He finds a pack of matches and lights one up, it reveals a funny statue in the shadows emitting a laugh from you. He laughs along louder.

"I think of what the world could be"

"A vision of the one I see"

"A million dreams is all it's gonna take"

Carlos lights up a lantern and you and he find a lot of nicknacks inside. Surely the place was almost collapsing but the way Carlos is grinning at you while pointing at everything he sees made the house appear so magical.

"Oh a million dreams for the world we're gonna make"

You watch him spin the lantern as the light flickers and created shadows. The old chandelier above looked like a spinning carousel and it makes your smile wider. Carlos gives you a childish look in his eye, a wonderful expression that made your knees melt. But suddenly, he blows the light out and the days went passing by.

"There's a house we can build"

"Every room inside is filled"

"With things from far away"

The time has arrived as your father looks at you, waiting for you to hop on the carriage on your way so far away from Carlos. You hold back your tears and climbed in as the carriage starts speeding. Carlos notices the carriage leaving and tries to catch up to you, dropping the items from his hands. He didn't expect you to leave so soon but there was nothing he can do to make your stay longer.

"The special things I compile"

"Each one there to make you smile"

"On a rainy day"

Tonight, Carlos stays all night under the light of a candle to compose a heartfelt letter for you. He carefully wrote each word and sealed it tight. The next day, he brings the fateful letter to the post office and soon enough the personal letter arrives in your hands. A soft smile graced your lips as you read the sweet words Carlos has written to you.

"They can say, they can say it all sounds crazy"

"They can say, they can say we've lost our minds"

"I don't care, I don't care if they call us crazy"

"Runaway to a world that we design"

Unbeknownst to you, Carlos' life has come into a messy spiral. He pursues to leave his family and home. He was forced to roam the streets, hungry and pockets empty. He was urged to steal for food, oftentimes he gets beaten into smithereens for it. Carlos felt like he was losing it, he just wanted to see you again, to continue the dream you two shared. But as he lies against the dirty corner of the street filled with filth, a hand reaches him with an apple, and all of a sudden, he felt like he found it; the way back to you.

"Every night I lie in bed"

"The brightest colors fill my head"

"A million dreams are keeping me awake"

Years go by, and Carlos Madrigal has grown into a fine man. An unfaltering smile was present on his lips because he was holding the hand of the woman he has sought and dreamed of for his entire life, you. Through the window of the house you used to live in as a child, you see the love of your life approaching to come and pick you up. You hurriedly went down the stairs in your best dress and the biggest smile you can ever give. Carlos sees you through the open doors, your father nodded at him before looking at you, finally approving Carlos to go and take your hand. 

"I think of what the world could be"

"A vision of the one I see"

"A million dreams is all it's gonna take"

You're finally here with him, looking as radiant and beautiful as ever at this train station. You happily pull him by the hand, he leans back and enthusiastically twirls you into his arms. You two were planning to run away to another state. You danced with him under the moonlight, the smoke from the trains smothering you both together. Carlos interlocked his finger with yours and twirls you again gleefully, you giggle as he wrapped his hands at the back of your waist and gently picks you up to spin you around. His hand snakes around your waist as he carries your weight around, lifting you off of your feet, making you feel like flying and alive.

With one final spin, he lets you go. You come to face him and watch as he gets on one knee and skillfully brings out an engagement ring. Your halt and see the ring glimmering under the moonlight and before you knew it your eyes are wet as you nodded your head rapidly and scream yes. Carlos grins victoriously and slips the ring on your finger as he gifts you a long and tender kiss.

"Oh a million dreams for the world we're gonna make"

"However big, however small"

"Let me be part of it all"

"Share your dreams with me"

You lead Carlos to an apartment you found the other day, it wasn't much but it was a perfect start. You shoot him a hopeful smile and opened the window to let the sunlight in, you look back at him to see him give you a dreamful expression.

"You may be right, you may be wrong"

"But say that you'll bring me along"

"To the world you see"

"To the world I close my eyes to see"

"To the world I close my eyes to see"

"I close my eyes to see"

"I close my eyes to see"

Carlos takes one look at you and remembered the sacrifices he made just to keep you, it all paid out for him in the end because he's officially creating the dream he shared with you as children.

"Every night I lie in bed"

"The brightest colors fill my head"

It was true, he never went to sleep without dreaming about building a life with you. All the things he said through the letters he sent to you were promises he couldn't wait to fulfill.

"A million dreams are keeping me awake"

"A million dreams, a million dreams"

You kept every letter Carlos would send you when you were still away, each word he wrote was always there in your heart and now you're here beside him in this tiny apartment, a picnic under the setting sun through the window. It was all coming together, you're going to be with him forever.

"I think of what the world could be"

"I think of what the world could be"

"A vision of the one I see"

"A vision of the one I see"

Carlos takes you with him to the rooftop, singing in unison. The moon has arrived and is as big as ever. You laugh freely as he reaches for your hand, you chase him around the rooftop, the wind was strong that evening making the white sheets hang out to dry and dance around you two. This gives you both an idea.

"A million dreams is all it's gonna take"

"A million dreams is all it's gonna take"

You lean your back against his chest, you slowly began the dance with him in sync. You swiftly turn to face him with an enormous smile, Carlos easily grabs you by the waist and lifts you up into the air, and spins you around. Your dress wonderfully twirling around with you.

"A million dreams for the world we're gonna make"

"A million dreams for the world we're gonna make"

He drops you softly to the ground. You playfully ran away to hide under the flowing white sheets, Carlos grins and goes to find you. He takes his sweet time and fatefully leans back only to collide with you. He laughs as you lift off the sheet to reveal yourself, he feels his heart get full when he sees you give him that loving look. He doesn't resist as he took your hand and pulls you to him. 

You squeal as he throws it in the air, your leg revolves around his head as he catches you in his arms, bridal style, and dips you. Both of your lips were inches apart as you touched your foreheads. Carlos can feel his cheeks hurt from smiling as he spins you in his arms, watching you look at him with delight. He settles you back on the ground again and you spun for him.

You make a run for the nearest platform, Carlos follows close and perfectly catches you in his arms as when you went for the jump. You grin at him and he lifts you up with your legs in the air, he lets you get back on your feet and watches as you sprinted away. He runs to you, all lovestruck to the core. You reach the edge of the rooftop, feigning to fall off with your one leg dangled off but Carlos quickly catches your hand and pulls you to him. He dips you before rasing you up with your leg, you come back down along with the white sheets on the rooftop.

"For the world we're gonna make"

"For the world we're gonna make"

Carlos never leaves his eyes on you as you lean your body against his, he feels the time tick by so quickly. So, when he blinks he was no longer on the rooftop with you but inside the apartment. Your eyes were closed with your hands resting on your growing belly, Carlos fondly placed his hands on top of yours and watches your pregnant belly. He lets out a heavy sigh and realizes that his millions of dreams with you are coming true.

taglist: @vanevafu , @irisia-ckzkb1109 , @elegantkidfansoul , @candykamikun , @cahmilo , @pochi-moochika , @justzei , @try-cry-why-try , @nanaisheretomessupthings ...join here

masterlist

[toolateforamiracle]

(Picture edited by me, can also be found on my deviantart) An AU that has consumed my thoughts since I first saw Encanto. The “Mirabel dies when Casita crumbles” story is one of my favorites to read, but this goes further.

Casita is dead, and it took Mirabel with it. (Though it certainly tried its best to save her) A lot of feelings were felt and shared; shame, guilt, and grief to name a few. Julieta ran to the spot where her father died, unable to stand in the ruins where her baby died. Abuela found her and shared the moment that was shared between her and Mirabel in the movie. They both came to the realization that although forgiveness was a ways off, they would get there. The house is rebuilt, the family learns to move past their trauma, and their powers return, always promising to remember their sweet Mirabel…

Unfortunately for the Madrigals, it doesn’t mean a happy ending. After Julieta ran off in tears, Mirabel’s body was moved to the church and stored there, waiting to be buried when the Casita was rebuilt. And when the house was rebuilt and Julieta and her daughters placed the doorknob, Casita came back. But, you see, Casita has feelings. And Casita had a favorite. That favorite gave her life to save the miracle, to save a family that saw her as a less than useful member of the family. So when it awoke, it’s last memory seeing that bright and sunny girl crushed, and seeing the family all smiles… it was angry. Oh, it didn’t show its anger. It let the family and the rest of the community inside, let them celebrate.

But over at the church, it sensed a crushed Mariposa who lay sleeping with a candle left in her hand. With the shared resentment and anger left in both Casita and Mirabel, the miracle allowed her to live once again. But, the town had already begun the process of preserving her, which left her skin hardened, so when she opened her darkened eyes, cracks formed, like the ones Casita had. Her once colorful outfit had faded to black, the patterns that once represented her family now cracks, twisted and horrible. Her eyes were red with anger, glowing like her Tìo Bruno when he foretold the future. A golden butterfly landed on her hand, and the moment it did, it’s golden shine faded instantly.

As she exited the church, her legs wobbling from a lack of use, she turned her sights towards Casita, who’s shutters shook with happiness. Mirabel held out her hand, with clouds of black and red to close the doors which had remained open. Her small butterfly landed on some of Isabella’s flower, wilting them instantly (Isa felt a small pain in her chest, but it went away instantly) As she performed many “un-miracles”, she realized her vengeance was very close at hand…

So yeah, I guess an Undead!Mirabel AU? Idk, the name is still up in the air, but this is the story. There are some other points not mentioned in the summary above:

•Mirabel is essentially the new candle. The old one lost all of its power when she was raised from the dead, and she took its place. Once Mirabel is dead (again) the Encanto is dead

•She’s “undead”, but she isn’t a zombie per say, she can still think and plan.l

•Her powers can mess with her family’s powers (Julieta’s meals cause diseases, Pepa conjures the worst storms you’ve ever seen, Dolores can hear the entire worlds sounds, causing her ears to bleed), can control Casita, and can decay things instantly

•Dolores cannot hear her, Mirabel made sure of that

I’m still not sure how she would get her revenge exactly, how Mira’s story in this ends, but I’m glad I could get what I am sure of in words.

[amayaplutova]

Meet my Encanto OC:

🥀Valentina Madrigal

Backstory: There was not the Madrigal triplets, but quadruplets, including Valentina’s mother, Josephina Madrigal.

When Valentina turned 5 and had her gift ceremony, she received the “gift” of everything she touched decayed.

After the disappointment that was her gift, her father ran off, leaving the Encanto, and leaving behind his wife and daughter

Valentina’s mother was so stricken with grief, she killed herself, leaving Valentina alone

She received little human contact for no one knew if her gift worked on people as well

She was pretty ostracized in the family due to having more of a curse than a gift

Bruno is her favorite Tío, even though her only memories of him are just fuzzy images, because she’s heard the rumors about him and believes he would understand what she’s going through

She has trouble making eye contact and has pretty bad anxiety

She has a habit of wringing her hands together and tensing her shoulders when she’s anxious

When her anxiety flares up everywhere she steps leaves a trail of mold and everything she touches too, which Casita quickly cleans up so as to not make lasting damage

Despite being almost polar opposites, she and Camilo are best friends, him always up to the challenge of giving her a smile everyday

Her room is a long mossy cave

She likes listening to old records and dancing, just letting her gift affect the surroundings around her

She has trouble sleeping and can usually be found walking around Casita at night or sitting in front of her mamá’s photo talking to her, which most conversations end with her saying “I need you mamí.”

When she’s feeling ok she sometimes steals arepas while Julieta is cooking, but Julieta never scolds her for it, cause it’s how she knows her sobrina is doing ok that day

She’ll sometimes barricade herself in her room for weeks, not coming out for food until Mirabel comes and drags her out or brings food and eats with her.

“You haven’t come down for breakfast in awhile.” Mirabel said, putting her hands on her hips. Valentina stayed unmoving, laying in her bed facing away from Mirabel, unresponsive. Mirabel huffed and marched over to Valentina’s bed, climbing over her and plopping down on the other side, face to face with Valentina. “You’re being edgy again.” Valentina sighed. “I know.” She said quietly. They stayed quiet for a moment. “Mamá’s making arepa con quesos. I know they’re your favorite. It would do you some good just to get a little food in you.” Mirabel said lightly. Valentina looked up to see her prima with a small encouraging smile.

When Valentina is overwhelmed or angry she sneaks into Bruno’s vision room and either paces or curls up and cries in the sand.

She can’t whistle but tries very hard to, and can usually only get a single tone out.

She never wears shoes anywhere.

Let’s say, hypothetically, for the sake of the argument, Camilo was still in Casita when the house fell. When Valentina say her primo and best amigo in danger, she didn’t hesitate to run as fast as she could to him, pulling him under her to block him from the falling debris, continuing to hold it off him fueled by pure adrenaline until la familia heard her sad whistle and dug them out.

It was then they realized her gift didn’t apply to people.

When Bruno showed up, he pulled her into the first hug she’d had in 10 years and she cried in front of people for the first time

(Bruno had heard everything she said to her mamí’s picture and to herself while in the walls and it broke his heart)

The only people able to calm down her panic attacks are Camilo and Bruno. Camilo because he knows what to say to calm her down (just like his mamí) and Bruno because she feels safe with him.

One time she had a really bad panic attack while everyone was in town except her and Antonio. So bad that the whole floor around her and the walls were decaying, and she laid in the middle of it shaking and crying. Antonio say his prima suffering, so he threw on his rain gear and wrapped a cloth around his face to protect him from the mold and moldy air and went and cuddled his prima until Camilo or Bruno could come. (She spent the next several weeks reading animal books to him to make up for it.)

The first time Bruno calmed down one of her breakdowns, she clung to him like he was her lifeline afterwards, and he didn’t let a single person take her off him until she was ready.

Several things might happen after she’s had a really bad panic attack. 1. Casita throws her and Bruno into a hammock and won’t let them leave until they sleep. (Her because panicking is fucking exhausting and Bruno cause the man just needs to fucking sleep). 2. Pepa, Julieta, and Isabela will gently take her to give her a bath and comb her hair until she’s calm, relaxed, and feeling refreshed. (My anxiety Bros know how like shit we feel after panic attacks. The pampering is needed.)

The villagers think she is a bruja and are scared of her.

One time she heard some villagers talking shit about Bruno and she told them if they didn’t stop she would curse their first born children (even though she hated the witch rumors)

She once decayed an entire large tree in front of some villagers because they pissed her off. (Said villagers received hand written letters from Alma and a basket of arepas from Julieta as an apology)

Isabela can’t grow anything on things Valentina has decayed. She tried covering the tree Valentina killed with flowers to make the villagers less scared, but the only thing that would grow on it was a variety of mushrooms.

Valentina likes Greek Mythology

She’s worn a mourning shawl ever since her mother died

Bruno has stopped her multiple times from following in her mamí’s footsteps

She makes mobiles out of rocks and bones because she can’t decay those things. (Some say it’s a symptom of mental illness, I say it’s getting creative)

She gave Antonio a bird skull for his birthday once. Pepa was pretty horrified, but Antonio was just excited about being able to the inner layer of birb

Her room has a giant stone ballroom for her to dance in

Her room also has cathedral like acoustics

[miomediator]

Encanto classpecting part 1

So, I watched Encanto a few weeks ago, it was awesome! Saw it with my mom. The plot, art, cultural research and music were fantastic. Minor downside: we were disappointed by the speed and volume at some moments, so I checked the lyrics of the songs afterward to fully grasp their meaning (my mom is older, sure, but I'm only 26 and I also find some bits incomprehensible). Anyway, it has its flaws but nonetheless it's a very well-made animated movie~ On to the point So How would you classpect the whole Madrigal Family? Minors and majors spoilers up this point /!\ Really long thread ahead!

The most obvious one is Bruno: Seer of Time Could it be Doom? I thought about it, but I tend more towards Time because of the hourglass and sand theme that surround him. Hourglass is made of sand (so is the green prophesy slab), and combined they symbolize the passing of time, time running out (which is very important in the movie, since Mirabel has to figure out quickly how to save the Miracle) and decay. What could remind us of the Doom aspect is the color green, although fatality is the element where Doom and Time overlaps. If I have to think and squint, he shares some resemblance with Jude Harley: -Recluse -Socially awkward -In his own universe -Surrounded by animals as friends -Bringer of bad omen, but in Jude's case, no one believe him Cassiopeia style -Love his family, or at least what remains of it ToT There is also Sacrifice, he 'left' to protect Mirabel, sacrificing his place in the family during 10 years.

It's a heavy lift with a gift so humbling Always left Abuela and the family fumbling Grappling with prophecies they couldn't understand

Both Mirabel and Abuela Alma have a stronger connection with Blood, in a different way. Blood is about unity, relationships, commitment, society. Both care about the unity of the family, while Alma (due to trauma) focused more of its presentation and never showing weakness,

We swear to always help those around us And earn the miracle that somehow found us The town keeps growing, the world keeps turning But work and dedication will keep the miracle burning And each new generation must keep the miracle burning

Mirabel made the effort to leave this kind of mindset, went to talk to several family members, trying to figure out what was the root of the problem. She listened to her sisters and made them yell/sing about their insecurities, what they were enduring and hiding all along. A listening ear, just like Karkat. For Luisa, I have yet no idea about her aspect, but oh boy she is definitely a Knight. Serving and protecting others, while refusing other people help. She's holding it all, but what happen if she can't handle it anymore?

Under the surface Was Hercules ever like, "Yo, I don't wanna fight Cerberus"? Under the surface I'm pretty sure I'm worthless if I can't be of service

Strong, unsecured, feminine, love soft things, long for some relaxation and pleasure. Aside from those elements, not much is known about Luisa, we don't even get to see her room. For Isabella, I see her as Life-bound. Princess-like at first, she is surrounded by nature, stuck being the well-behaved golden child while concealing a more cunning and prickly side. Like a cactus! Also that's a recurrent personality trait in the Life-bound folks x) When she lashes out and reveals her burden, she discovers a side of herself that almost never left the surface. Something new, something different and exciting. Mirabel brought her a new perspective, change and growth.

He told me that the life of my dreams Would be promised, and someday be mine He told me that my power would grow Like the grapes that thrive on the vine

What can you do when you are deeply, madly, truly in the moment? Seize the moment, keep goin' What can you do when you know who you wanna be isn't perfect? But I'll still be okay (Hey, everybody clear the way, whoo!)

She let her more optimistic and rule-breaking side break free.

Since she keeps on creating flowers and plants around her, stuck on serving her/through her aspect, I would classpect her as a Maid of Life. Not at 100% sure about the class though. Back to Mirabel, she gives me underdog vibes. Could she be a Page? She didn't received a gift, feels disadvantaged, tries her best but often end up being awkward and clumsy. Left out. She got so much potential, it's right there.

Always walking alone Always wanting for more Like I'm still at that door Longing to shine like all of you shine All I need is a change All I need is a chance All I know is I can't Stay on the side Open your eyes Open your eyes Open your eyes

She can do something, being as important as the rest of the family, she just needs others to realize it and offer her the opportunity to do so. So for now I classpect her as a Page of Blood. I'll put aside some characters, those whom we don't have much info. Julieta, now that's a bummer. She literally made food that heals people. Optimistic, nurturing, calm. Meaning she should be the Maid of Life here. Different family members sharing an aspect is quite common, but a whole classpect? That's pretty rare, but not unheard of. Two people sharing the same classpect can act pretty differently after all. Sorry Felix, apart from being caring and clumsy (and making his bet conceling the prophecy slate hmm, Void?), we don't know enough about you to even guess your aspect.

So we'll just move on to the other side of the family, on part 2!

[xennnnnnnn]

Blackmetal recordings are frequently described as having a 'necro' sound, meaning that the recording quality is intentionally low-tech, sounding as if the recording itself was disintegrating (early Blackmetal bands often used analog-based tape or 4-track recording technologies pushed to their absolute limit). In contrast to the high production values of mainstream metal, early Blackmetal recordings tend to sound as if the medium itself was decaying. Darkthrone's Transylvanian Hunger, Ulver's Nattens Madrigal, and Ildjarn's Forest Poetry are exemplary in this regard. What we have here is a formal element - minimalist repetition - sutured onto a technical element - low-tech recording. The motif of the demonic is manifested not only in the content of the music but also in the 'possession' of the medium itself. If Blackmetal presents us with a decaying medium, then Japanese Noise presents us with a grotesque medium, a medium that is excessive and overflowing. What Blackmetal is to heavy metal, Noise is to electronic music. Emerging in the 1970s out of the Japanese improv scene and influenced by industrial music in Europe, Japanese Noise (alternately 'Japanoise') also evokes a technology that is possessed and operating beyond any human control (Hegarty, 2004). In fact, the preferred live set up for many acts includes an elaborate 'tablecore' set-up of electronic gadgets reminiscent of John Cage and David Tudor's 1965 performance 'Variations IV.' For instance, the performances of Merzbow - the project of artist and writer Masami Akita - often take place without any direct intervention by the performers, the electronics operating by feedback structures alone. Merzbow recordings such as Akasha Gulva, Metalvelodrome, Venereology, and Pulse Demon each feature over one hour of loud, swirling, dense, and rapidly shifting swaths of electronic sound.

Eugene Thacker, Pulse Demons in Culture Machine 9/2007

[bassiter2]

the more i think about it the more i think i’ll actually be extremely disappointed if there isn’t ever a gus (and max)-centric prequel series

firstly we all know that good things come in threes and even if they didn’t, gus fits into a pre-existing trifecta of men within the breaking bad universe who control it all: walt’s actions fuel the main series, which chronicles his descent into evil. saul enables much of walt’s success, and so he’s gotten his own series that chronicles his loss of a moral center as well as shows how all of his resources came together to allow walt to do what he does later.

meanwhile gus is the one who triggers all of that into motion, and he’s done it almost entirely on purpose - if you don’t count the event that all of it is responding to, of course. gus is responsible for the meth trade in albuquerque. he’s connected to saul and mike and madrigal and the cartel. he’s literally at the core of the overarching plot of breaking bad.

we of course already know the exact event that drove gus to craft the circumstances in which saul’s and later walt’s stories took place, but what i’m suggesting is not yet another series about the aftermath of max’s murder that’s simply very direct about that fact this time --

no, what i’m suggesting and more importantly what i would LOVE... is a series that would show everything before max’s murder. 

and yes, this would essentially make it so the protagonist doesn’t technically break bad until the very end - OR, possibly even, that this time the protagonist’s arc is not about him getting worse at all but in fact better. which would then make it a sort of doubly ironic tragedy bc not only do we know exactly where gus ends up, but we wouldn’t even be having to confront that fact or those themes for the majority of the series, unlike with bcs and saul’s tragedy. it wouldn’t necessarily be a very happy story that simply ends with a bang, but the decay that leads up to that bang (i’m thinking, the decay of gus’s ability or want to act without extreme forethought, or to be inconsiderate?) would just be much more subtle bc it’s not of the moral variety.

frankly it’s these contrasts with brba and bcs that i think would make a potential gus-centric prequel series really fucking good and feel even more complete. like, watching bcs is really like watching a lot of the same problems that brba put out there but then they get solved completely differently, allowing us to see all angles. imagine the angles we’d see with gus, who is already a clear foil for walt!

it would be a perfect sort of mirror-image parallel, with bcs sitting in the middle between it and breaking bad both chronologically and symbolically. consider:

walt has an established marriage that’s doomed to fail and does so rapidly. saul has a sort-of gf who quickly develops more and then their relationship slowly falls apart. and gus's onscreen romance with max would actually begin before day 1, developing throughout the series.

family. walt clings to the idea that everything he does is for them in order to justify his actions, but isn’t actually very involved with them. saul is VERY involved with his family and it’s actually that involvement that drives him to start doing more bad things out of spite. and gus would likely feel justified in doing any of the bad things he does because he has NO family.

the dichotomy of walt’s domestic life vs. his criminal life. skyler vs. jesse. for saul, kim embodies that dichotomy all herself and switches between the skyler role and jesse role at will (though at great cost to her own self). and for gus? it remains to be seen, but i imagine he could be the one successfully embodying skyler and jesse once it gets to that point. max is the one who knows how to make meth, after all.

walt dives headfirst into the criminal underground upon feeling like he’s been given the first ever opportunity to do big things, full of turmoil the whole time until he dies and takes almost everyone else down with him. saul relatively passively allows the criminal world to take him, being sapped gradually over time of a moral compass until he’s a wholly opportunistic shell of a man. gus, during bcs and brba, successfully rides the line between the legitimate world and the criminal one. something tells me he started in the realm of crime and worked his way up.

anyway even aside from all that it’s honestly just? WILD how little of gus’s past we actually know when he’s so significant to the plot??? there’s such small hints that you REALLY have to pay attention to, and even then we don’t get a clear picture. 

we know he had a reputation prior to meeting the salamancas - a reputation that saved his life. and we know it’s something military-related and likely to do with the pinochet regime. and we know that he started off in deep poverty but by the 80s was wealthy enough to pay for max’s education. but that’s it! and that’s PERFECT potential for a premise of a series! it’s only fair that we could see those blanks get filled in, and especially to do the same thing we did with walt and saul - to watch, in real time, how gus became the man we’ve known him to be since at least 1989. 

finally the fact that this potential show would surely also just be a beautiful period piece that would put gay latino representation on the mainstream’s radar.......... like PLEASE holy shit

[casitafallz-a]

Decay AU | Potatoes

In her time of punishment during the first year, Isabela began to experiment and play with her gift in the privacy of her room, the place where she was free to use her gift without prying eyes. Especially since no one was allowed in.

Most plants once she knew what they looked like and their typical properties, were easy to make but she found herself accidently creating a Potato that...moved. At first it was a single potato, she watched as it got up, moved about and sat, then wandered off.... then fell off an edge and impaled itself onto one of her gardening tools by accident.

So, with better preparation, and a little area cleared and designed for her experiment, she grew more and to her surprise, they too began to move and wander around her little area. While they couldn't speak out to her; she found herself connected to them through her gift; when to water and their soil needs and she was fascinated as they made a little home into the collection of offered plant pots. She helped make them little clothes because it made them look so cute.

Of course, while no substitute for human contact; Isabela sought them out to fulfil the need of socialising. The potato family are drawn to her to comfort her when they sense her distress or need. Rather than show off, Isabela kept her potato project hidden away for her own enjoyment; creating sentient or intelligent plants, she felt would draw up the wrong attention. 

After her....’disappearance’ while her room died, the potato family continued on, being found by Mirabel a few days later before the girl decided to take the potatoes and help look after them; somewhat amazed by the aspects of Isabela's gift. With Isabela’s loss, the family did find out about them and Antonio was quick to give names to each one, helping them around casita for fun. Dolores was somewhat relived; the little foot steps had been very confusing.

[casitafallz]

Dante: Hey guys! I drew everyones soul!

Fracture Alma: Why is Wanderer Mirabel's a monster?

Wanderer Mirabel: Dante, you forgot Fracture Alma's! Its only an empty space!

Dante, proudly: Exactly

[mitchipedia]

Link list: Monday, June 15 2020

On Cory Doctorow’s Pluralistic:

Mad Magazine’s Al Jaffee is retiring young – he’s only 99.

Jaffee launched “Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions” and the fold-out.

Marie Foulston and her friends held a pandemic party in a spreadsheet.

The pandemic is rising in red states because it turns out you can’t just ignore healthcare and trust that only brown-skilled people, who are Democrats, will die.

The GOP is trapped in a prison of its own making. To keep the fortunes of the 1% intact, they need to restart American commerce. But doing so will not just murder racialized people who don’t typically vote Republican, but also the GOP’s base: elderly and rural people.

The US has virtually no cyberdefense; it’s virtually all offense.

[Jason Healey on the Lawfare blog:] “There are tremendous risks when a fearsome offense is paired with a weak defense,” because “a more fearsome cyber offense makes it more likely they will get in a sucker punch on the U.S. before Cyber Command can bring its big guns to bear.

NYC community activists are scraping traffic-cam to find evidence of police brutality against Black Lives Matter protesters.

Security researchers find a huge trove of data belonging to customers of “niche dating sites.”

Why the Pandemic Is Driving Conservative Intellectuals Mad. Conservative intellectuals view respect for life and health as symptoms of civilizational decay.

What We Know About the White House’s Secret Bunker Popular Mechanics: “There’s a whole city’s worth of stuff underneath the White House and other government buildings in and around Washington, D.C.”

“Is God Dead?” at 50

54 years ago, Time Magazine put an essay on its cover: “Is God Dead?”

The authors did not mean to claim that religion was irrelevant (which was my interpretation of the question).

The article was far more nuanced than the cover might suggest, but [theologians William Hamilton and Thomas Altizer] were not hedging in their views. It’s tempting to take them metaphorically, to say “death” and mean “irrelevance,” but they were speaking literally. The idea was not the same as disbelief: God was real and had existed, they said, but had become dead.

Jesus Christ was a better model than God for the work that needed to be done by man, of which there was a lot—particularly, for him, within the civil rights movement. He saw religion’s place in the human realm, not in heaven. Altizer took that idea a step further: Jesus Christ had to die in order for the resurrection to happen all those Easters ago, and likewise God had to die in order for the apocalypse to take place.

Today, religion is a far more powerful world force than it was in 1966.

“Nobody would ask whether God is dead [today],” says Rabbi Donniel Hartman, author of the new book Putting God Second. “You can’t understand three-quarters of the conflicts in the world unless you recognize that God is a central player.”

And yet, 97% of Americans professed belief in God in 1966; by 2014, only 63% of Americans “believed with absolute certainty.” And while religious conservatives control the White House, Senate, and judicial benches, the biggest religious affiliation in America is “none.”

The GOP is rolling over its 2016 platform for 2020, with numerous criticisms of the “current President.”

Alexis Madrigal: America Is Giving Up on the Pandemic

Jesus Christ, Just Wear a Face Mask!: There is plenty of evidence that face masks and social distancing are effective and easy methods of blocking the spread of COVID-19 and permitting safe reopening, and no good reason not to use them.

Civil Rights Law Protects L.G.B.T. Workers, Supreme Court Rules

A good day. And Trump appointee Neil Gorsuch led the decision.

Conservative hypocrites who claim to support the literal interpretation of the law are now tying themselves up in knots trying to criticize this this decision, which is based on literal interpretation of the law.

Also, Justice Samuel Alito says it’s a terrible decision because women go crazy if they see a penis.

Supreme Court lets stand California’s ‘sanctuary’ law on undocumented immigrants

A victory for decency and common sense.

Mo Rocca: The Forgotten Forerunners: Three people who changed history, but who you’ve probably never heard of: Black woman Elizabeth Jennings integrated New York public transit a century before Rosa Parks and years before the Civil War; Black man Moses Fleetwood Walker played pro baseball more than a half-century before Jackie Robinson, and Lois Weber was a highly paid, successful and prolific movie director in 1910s Hollywood.

[sonicsupernovakuci]

今日のプレイリスト / Today's Playlist :

*** = 新しい歌　（五月前から）/ New release (Past Five months)

***The Wisely Brothers - Niwa Wo Dete - Yak - NIPPONOPHONE ***Goose house - Swing Girl - Flight - Sony Music Labels Inc. She Her Her Hers - stereochrome - stereochrome - MAGNIPH/SPACE SHOWER NETWORKS Sadie - Demons Cradle - Madrigal De Maria - Gan Shin Records Nothing’s Carved In Stone - Adventures - Existence - Dynamord ELLEGARDEN - 風の日 - DON'T TRUST ANYONE BUT US - Dynamord Label Tokyo Karankoron - トーキョーダイブ - 東京カランコロン01 - TALTO ***Cornelius, Beach Fossils - The Spell of a Vanishing Loveliness - Beach Fossils Rework - The Spell of a Vanishing Loveliness (Beach Fossils Rework) - Rostrum Records Flipper's Guitar - Big Bad Bingo / ビック・バッド・ビンゴ - CAMERA TALK - felicity the GazettE - Nausea&Shudder - Nil - JPU Records Ltd. LiSA - Owaranai Bouken - Lucky Hi Five! - Aniplex Inc. ***THE ORAL CIGARETTES - ReI - ReI - A-Sketch Marika Takeuchi - Frozen Lake - Colors in the Diary - Marika Takeuchi KANA-BOON - 眠れぬ森の君のため - 僕がCDを出したら - HIP LAND MUSIC Sambomaster - Sad Town, Hot Love - YES - Getting Better ***Boku no Lyric no Boyomi - たのしいせいかつ - Fruits Decaying - CONNECTONE BURNOUT SYNDROMES - Nightcycling - Lemon - Sony Music Labels Inc. ***Kenshi Yonezu - Paper Flower - Lemon - Sony Music Labels Inc. GRAPEVINE - Hikari ni Tsuite - Chronology - PONY CANYON INC. ***Eve - Okinimesumama - bunka - harapeco records SEKAI NO OWARI - Starlight Parade - Best of SEKAI NO OWARI (in Japanese) - TOKYO FANTASY Inc.

[thethingssafhaslearnedsofar]

52 things I learned in 2019

Each year humanity produces 1,000 times more transistors than grains of rice and wheat combined. [Mark P Mills]

The maths of queuing are absolutely brutal and counter-intuitive. [John D Cook]

Emojis are starting to appear in evidence in court cases, and lawyers are worried: “When emoji symbols are strung together, we don’t have a reliable way of interpreting their meaning.” (In 2017, an Israeli judge had to decide if one emoji-filled message constituted a verbal contract) [Eric Goldman]

Harbinger customers are customers who buy products that tend to fail. They group together, forming harbinger zip codes. If households in those zip codes buy a product, it is likely to fail. If they back a political candidate, they are likely to lose the election. [Simester, Tucker & Yang]

Baijiu is the world’s most popular spirit, with 10bn litres sold each year, almost entirely in China. The second most popular spirit in the world is vodka, with just 5bn litres sold. [Feyi Fawehinmi]

A Python script, an Instagram account and quite a bit of free time can get you free meals in New York City. [Chris Buetti]

At least three private companies have fallen victim to ‘deep fake’ audio fraud. In each case, a computerised voice clone of the company CEO “called a senior financial officer to request an urgent money transfer.” [Kaveh Waddell, Jennifer A. Kingson]

Drunk shopping could be a $45bn /year industry, and only 6% of people regret their drunk purchases. [Zachary Crockett]

Placebos are so effective that placebo placebos work: A pain cream with no active ingredients worked even when not used by the patient. Just owning the cream was enough to reduce pain. [Victoria Wai-lanYeung]

Since the 1960s, British motorways have been deliberately designed by computer as series of long curves, rather than straight lines. This is done for both safety (less hypnotic) and aesthetic (“sculpture on an exciting, grand scale”) reasons. [Joe Moran]

Between 1880 and 1916, Ireland had its own timezone, which was 25m 21s behind Greenwich Mean Time. After the Easter Rising, the House of Commons in London introduced GMT in Ireland and abolished Dublin Mean Time [Elena Goukassian]

Drug names are changing: X and Z names (Prozac, Seroxat) are giving way to names ending in O or A (Natesto, Qsymia) which are more appealing to speakers of Romance languages in Europe and South America. [Pascaline Faure]

The UK male suicide rate is the lowest since accurate records began in 1981. [Office for National Statistics]

The goal of walking 10,000 steps per day may have originated when a Japanese pedometer manufacturer noticed that the 万 symbol (which means 10,000) looks a little like someone walking. The actual health merits of that number ‘have never been validated by research.’ [Amanda Mull]

People hate asking sensitive questions. However, it turns out that people don’t hate being asked sensitive questions. So talking around difficult questions in research interviews is a waste of time and money. [Hart, VanEpps, Schweitzer]

The Korean Police force includes five labradors who are clones of ‘Quinn’, a bomb-sniffing dog who found fame after finding a missing girl’s body in a 2007 kidnapping. [Kim Tong-hyung]

As mobile phones became mainstream in the US in the early 1990s, the murder rate fell sharply. Street drug dealing became less popular, so gang-related turf wars were less common. (Other factors were also involved, obviously.) [Alexis C. Madrigal]

Mechanical devices to cheat your phone pedometer (for health insurance fraud or vanity) are now all over AliExpress. [Matthew Brennan]

In 2017 Google and Facebook lost $100 million between them to one scammer who sent them fake invoices. [Jeff John Roberts] [found by TomBot*]

Teenagers with acne get higher marks, are more likely to complete college and, if female, eventually get paid more than people without teenage acne. [Hugo M. Mialon & Erik T. Nesson]

72% of classical musicians have taken beta blockers for performance anxiety. [Composed]

Black women in the United States die in childbirth at roughly the same rate as women in Mongolia. [Annie Lowrey]

Sometime in the 1990s, it seems the US forgot how to make a critical component of some nuclear warheads. [Nick Baumann]

“Mushrooms and truffles are fungi, more closely related to humans than they are to plants.” [Lynne Peskoe-Yang]

In the US Northwest, rain can damage the fruit on cherry trees. So helicopter pilots are paid to fly over the orchards, using their downdraft to dry the fruit as it ripens. For the pilots, it’s a risky but potentially profitable job. [Maria Langer]

Gravitricity is a Scottish startup planning to store energy by lifting huge weights up a disused mine shaft when electricity is cheap, dropping them down to generate power when it is expensive. Using a 12,000 tonne weight (roughly the weight of the Eiffel tower), it should be half as expensive as equivalent lithium ion battery. [Jillian Ambrose]

Spotify pays by the song. Two three minute songs are twice as profitable as one six minute song. So songs are getting shorter. [Dan Kopf]

Fashion++ is a Facebook-funded computer vision project that looks at a photo of your outfit and suggests ‘minimal edits for outfit improvement’ like tucking in a shirt or removing an accessory. [Wei-Lin Hsiao & co] (In 2019, Fluxx helped launch Vogue Business.)

Three million students at US schools don’t have the internet at home. [Michael Melia & co]

No babies born in Britain in 2016 were named Nigel. [Jonathan Ore] (Correction: Robert Colvile, who broke the original story, points out that there could have been one or two Nigels in 2016 — the ONS only reports names with three or more examples)

Using machine learning, researchers can now predict how likely an individual is to be involve in a car accident by looking at the image of their home address on Google Street View. [Kinga Kita-Wojciechowska]

In 2018, the Nigerian government spent more on subsidies for petrol than on health, education, or defence. [Andrew S Nevin]

According to WaterAid research, women spend 97 billion hours a year looking for a safe place to go to the loo. That equals 46 million working years, which is the same workforce as Germany, the fourth largest economy in the world. [Caroline Criado Perez via Tanya Gold]

28% of people like the smell of (their own) urine after eating asparagus.[Rolf Degen]

AliBaba is investing $15m to research Chinese dialects, hoping to improve the performance of their voice recognition systems. [Emma Lee]

At least half of the effort of most AI projects goes on data labelling, and that’s often done in rural Indian villages. [Anand Murali]

Worldwide, growth in the fragrance industry is lagging behind cosmetics and skincare products. Why? ‘You can’t smell a selfie’. [Andrea Felsted and Sarah Halzack]

CD sales still make up 78% of music revenue in Japan (compared with less than 30% in the UK). Japanese pop fans have been encouraged to buy multiple copies of their favourite releases to win rewards (buy 2,000 copies, win a night at a hot spring with your favourite star). One 32 year-old fan was charged with illegally dumping 585 copies of a CD on the side of a mountain. [Mark Mulligan] [found by TomBot*]

Two disgruntled game developers wrote a script to generate and release identical but differently-named slot machine apps (sample names: Deer Antler Spray Slots, 3D Ravioli Slots). Eventually, the slot machine apps earned them $50,000. [Alex Schwartz & Ziba Scott]

80% of prisoners released late 2018 in a presidential pardon have opted to return to Kinshasa’s infamous Makala jail due to lack of means to live. [Olivier Kalume]

Disco, a Japanese high tech manufacturing company, has introduced an internal billing and payment system, where every cost is charged back to workers. Renting a conference room costs $100. “People really cut back on useless meetings,” says one staffer. [Yuji Nakamura & Yuki Furukawa]

A man who bought the personalised number plate NULL has received over $12,000 of parking fines, because the system records ‘NULL’ when no numberplate has been recorded. [Jack Morse]

The islands of Orkney generate 120% of their energy needs using wind and solar. However, 57% of homes in Orkney are in fuel poverty, where a household spends more than 10% of income on fuel. [Chris Silver] (This year I worked briefly with Community Energy Scotland on a project with Energy Systems Catapult)

Some blind people can understand speech that is almost three times faster than the fastest speech sighted people can understand. They can use speech synthesisers set at at 800 words per minute (conversational speech is 120–150 wpm). Research suggests that a section of the brain that normally responds to light is re-mapped in blind people to process sound. [Austin Hicks & R Douglas Fields]

SpottedRisk is a disgrace insurance company built on data: “Firstborns are at slightly higher risk of disgrace, as are those… who’ve suffered recent breakups — until the passage of time sends the bereft partner back down the ‘risk-decay curve.’” [Boris Kachka]

SDAM (Severely Deficient Autobiographical Memory) is a rare syndrome where otherwise healthy, high-functioning people are unable to remember events from their own life. There is also an exhausting syndrome called Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory, where people can remember precise details about every single day of their life. [Palumbo & Alain]

“Polling by phone has become very expensive, as the number of Americans willing to respond to unexpected or unknown callers has dropped. In the mid-to-late-20th century response rates were as high as 70%… [falling to] a mere 6% of the people it tried to survey in 2018.” [The Economist]

In 2012, only one sports team (Manchester United) was worth more than $2bn. Today, there are 52 sports teams worth more than $2bn. [Kurt Badenhausen]

Flamin’ Hot Cheetos were invented by a cleaner at a Frito-Lay factory. He’s now VP of multicultural sales for PepsiCo America. [Zachary Crockett]

Six reluctant Chinese hitmen who hired each other to carry out a murder went to jail when their outsourcing scheme collapsed. [Eric Cheung]

Fast fashion is hitting the wiping rags businesses, because some clothing is just too badly made to be sold as rags. [Adam Minter] (In January, Fluxx worked with Fibretrace to develop new ways to make the circular economy work in fashion.)

Asking ‘What questions do you have for me?’ can be dramatically more effective than ‘Any questions?’ at the end of a talk. (Many more good tips in this thread. [Jacqueline Antonovich]

[vampireadamooc]

Vampires: a cultural history

From 12th-century ‘revenants’ to teen thriller Twilight, belief in vampires has been 
an enduring theme in cultural history. 
Richard Sugg looks at the legend that just won’t die and examines possible physiological causes...

This article first appeared in the September 2013 issue of BBC History Magazine

http://www.historyextra.com/article/premium/vampires-cultural-history?utm_source=Twitter%20referral&utm_medium=t.co&utm_campaign=Bitly

Sunday 1st September 2013

Submitted by: Ellie Cawthorne

In the late spring of 1870, an American journalist was staying in a little Hungarian village. One night at about 2am he awoke “in a cold sweat, screaming and struggling with some horrible thing, cold as death, that lay upon my breast pinioning my arms to my sides, and trying to fasten his clammy mouth about my throat. I yelled and fought, and presently I heard men running through the hall toward my room.”  Hearing this tale, the American’s landlord warned gravely that he had been sucked by a vampire – and must prepare for death. At this point the American is not persuaded. But presently, having had it explained to him that ongoing and widespread vampire hysteria in the region is due to the recent death of one Peter Dickowitz, who has since attacked many villagers, he follows a party of vampire-killers to the local cemetery.

 Two coffins are hauled from the earth. And at this point something remarkable happens. Our author, who had previously referred with disdain to “the old, horrible superstition of vampirism”, very quickly becomes 
a true believer: “I saw – dare I tell it? – in the sickly light of the flambeaux, that the men within them were not dead; but, horrible beyond expression, deadly in their ghastliness, yet, alive, they lay there. Their bodies were swimming in blood, and a horrible leer was on their mouths, and agonised fate within their staring eyes. Loathsome beyond thought, ghoul-like beyond nightmare dream, they were the living dead.”  Dragged away from the consecrated ground, these two vampires are staked through their hearts. At this point, our already-traumatised witness hears from each “such a wailing sob and cry… as I never did dream even in nightmare”. The heads of both ‘vampires’ are then laboriously hacked off with sharp spades. By 1870, most educated Europeans and Americans saw vampires as either thrilling entertainment (on both stage and page) or as an example of the backward superstitions of peasants in such lands as Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Greece. So what could have caused the radical change of heart seen in our previously sceptical reporter?  One factor was undoubtedly the relatively undecayed state of the exhumed corpses, supposedly swimming in blood. Since the painstaking forensic work of Paul Barber, it is relatively well known that some bodies are slow to decay, and that copious fluids (resembling blood) can issue from them. 
The sudden release of trapped gases can even result in ‘vampires’ screaming when staked.

A human-headed bird attacks a man in a 1491 illustration. (Science Photo Library)


Paralysed with fear
The second factor in the American reporter’s vampire epiphany is less well known. The attack that the American suffered was almost certainly a combination of sleep paralysis and nightmare. These inter-related medical conditions have occurred throughout history, and still occur now.  When we sleep we routinely become paralysed; this prevents us from acting out dreams and suffering possible injury. We’re not usually conscious of this state. But during a sleep paralysis nightmare, the victim feels absolutely conscious. They see their room, often in 
vivid detail, but are paralysed and cannot speak.  Presently, they become aware of an entity approaching. They may see it or hear it; but even if they do neither they are horribly convinced of it (perhaps hovering just outside their field of vision) and utterly traumatised by fear. Now the demon entity is on their chest, its weight crushing and its hands or mouth suffocating, squeezing the life from their throat… Although in reality such attacks last no more than a few minutes, to victims the experience can seem endless. This mix of symptoms can vary, as can the extremity of attacks. But in many cases they cause a level of terror that mere words can barely capture. In 2011, some years after a nightmare attack, the American writer Alexis Madrigal wrote that: 
“It didn’t feel like my life was at risk. That was, in fact, too small. It felt like the presence was after something else, probably what you’d call my soul” – strong words from someone who describes himself as “a straight materialist”. This and many similar descriptions leave one wondering if the nightmare is indeed the origin of evil itself.  It certainly is the origin of many vampire epidemics. Some of the very earliest written accounts of proto-vampires come from Britain. In the 12th century alleged revenants (essentially, undecayed walking corpses) brought terror and death to people in Buckinghamshire, Wales, Northumbria and at Melrose Abbey 
on the Scottish borders. In Wales, sometime after 1149, an English knight complained of a recently deceased “Welsh wizard” who “keeps coming every night, calling by name certain of his former neighbours, who instantly fall sick and die within three days”. A contemporary report from Buckinghamshire tells of a dead man who, the night after his burial, “suddenly entered the room where his wife lay asleep and, having awakened her... almost killed her by leaping upon her with the whole heaviness of his weight and overlying her”.  

Henry Fuseli's 1781 painting 'Nightmare'. (Art Archive)

In 1567, in the Bohemian city of Trawtenaw, the revenant of one Stephen Hubener “did pinch many men with such strait embracements, that many of them died”. Those who survived reported “with one consent... that they were thus clasped or beclipped by this... man” – who, for his pains, was decapitated, eviscerated and burned.  Around 1738, a young Serbian girl “named Stanoska... went to bed in perfect health, but awoke in the middle of the night, trembling, and crying out, that the son of the Heyduke Millo, who died about nine weeks before, had almost strangled her while she was asleep. From that time, she fell into a languishing state, and died at three days end.”  Many similar reports depict crushing and suffocation. All in all, the symptoms of sleep paralysis nightmares fit ‘vampire’ attacks uncannily well – in some cases, as snugly as one of Count Dracula’s well-tailored travelling gloves. The sense of weight and suffocation are obvious enough similarities. Name-calling was also pretty common, and fits the documented auditory hallucinations of nightmare bouts.  Outside of fiction, the vampire did not always suck blood. But nightmares could give reason to think that it did. Recent accounts have described the pressure on the throat as like “something sucking the life out of me”. More precisely still, nightmares seem to cause spontaneous bruising in some victims. If these were found on neck or chest (over the heart), then thirsty teeth would easily be inferred.  Why, though, is one particular dead person often identified as the attacker? The answer is twofold. First, medical science has found that, bewildered by the nightmare, the brain shapes the imagined ‘entity’ into something  familiar. In regions where vampire legend abounds, this will naturally be a vampire, and in a small community where everyone knows who has just died, the most recently deceased would be a prime candidate for the role. But recent studies have also shown that attacks are increased or exacerbated by stress. So after the first attack, once the story has spread with the speed of village gossip, there will probably be more attacks (often perpetrated by the same culprit), thus more stress, leading to yet more attacks – until the vampire is destroyed. As with many psychosomatic terrors, belief is potent: if you believe the vampire has been dispatched, it will usually stop haunting you. Many people who died from ‘vampire attacks’ were actually victims of contagious disease – one reason why vampires were often said to attack their own families first.  Some deaths, though, are not so easily explained. The 12th-century Welsh victims and the Serbian girl Stanoska all died within three days of the first attack. Why? Astonishingly, these people probably died 
of fear. A number of travellers and anthropologists have reported ‘voodoo deaths’ of this kind in Africa and among the Aboriginal peoples of Australia. In such contexts, if someone knows that they have been cursed (usually by a witch doctor or similar), their belief-driven terror is so potent that they fall sick, experience a kind of physiological shutdown, and die within three days. This phenomenon was, for a long time, thought typical of primitive tribal beliefs. 
In fact, it is equally typical in vampire and witch territory. Writing in 1923, the traveller and folklorist Edith Durham told how “the peasants all through Albania, and Macedonia are extraordinarily affected mentally if they believe they must die, and seem to make no effort whatever to live... 
I heard of more than one case in which a man’s death having been foretold by reading the future in fowls’ bones, he proceeded to sicken and die.”  In her recent book on sleep paralysis, Shelley Adler related how the religious beliefs of Hmong people from south-east Asia led to several nightmare-related deaths during and after the 1970s. These attacks, which occurred in the USA among Hmong refugees, were thought to be due to angry ancestral spirits, and subsequently inspired the horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street. So vampires (or nightmares incorporating them) really can kill you – if you believe in them. Anyone who has suffered from sleep paralysis nightmares will understand this level of terror. And if you suffered such an attack in a little Serbian or Greek village a century or more ago, what explanation 
could there be – except something supernatural and demonic?  Neither the nightmare nor the vampire have quite relinquished their hold, even in 21st-century Europe. Just before Christmas 2003, one Petre Toma died in the little Romanian village of Marotinu de Sus. As archaeologist Timothy Taylor reported, “his niece suffered nightmares and appeared seriously ill. She claimed that her uncle was visiting her at night and feeding from her heart; that he was a strigoi [a Romanian revenant]”. The girl’s illness was clearly psychosomatic: Toma’s corpse was disinterred and his heart burned, the ashes mixed with water that was given to 
the niece to drink – and she recovered. And this incident took place just as Stephenie Meyer was signing the deal for her first Twilight books.  More recent still was the case of Sava Savanovicˇ, a Serbian first identified as a vampire in the 18th century. When in 2012 his reputed home – an old water mill on the river Rogacˇica in Zarozˇje – collapsed, local authorities warned residents to arm themselves against the now-homeless revenant with crosses and garlic.  This was probably shrewd business PR rather than authentic superstition: the mill and village had been popular with tourists for some time, and the story made world headlines. Yet the announcement that “five people have recently died, one after another, 
in our small community”, and allegedly “not by accident”, would be all-too familiar to vampire believers of past times.   Vampires on screen: how the legend became box-office gold The early wave of 18th-century reports on the folk vampirism of central-eastern Europe might well be described as the first phase of ‘vampotainment’. But it was in the 19th century that it became really popular.  A short tale, The Vampyre, penned by Byron’s physician, John Polidori, caused a sensation in 1819, prompting a popular stage version, The Bride of the Isles, and the invention of a highly sophisticated ‘vampire trap’, through which the defeated bloodsucker magically vanished in the closing scene. This tale gave us the prototype of the suavely seductive vampire aristocrat, Lord Ruthven – and it certainly didn’t hurt that many saw the shadow of Byron himself behind this figure.  Female vampires soon got their teeth into readers, starting with the impressively daring quasi-lesbianism of Sheridan Le Fanu’s 1872 Carmilla, on through John Payne’s long poem Lautrec in 1878, and reinforced by Robert Louis Stevenson’s powerfully atmospheric Spanish tale, Olalla, during Christmas 1885.  

The 1922 silent film 'Nosferatu'. (AKG images)

Stoker’s Dracula (1897) of course remains for many the vampire classic, and perhaps rightly so. There again, many people now ‘know’ Dracula without having read it – whether via the silent Nosferatu (1922), the numerous caped outings of Bela Lugosi, or Coppola’s superbly lurid version of 1992.  With many recent vampire tales getting more ironic than supernatural, one can see how the Twilight novels and films offered something new in vampotainment. Oddly, though, the Victorian Dracula is far more sexy than Stephenie Meyer’s tamely puritanical saga. Nothing in Twilight comes anywhere near the scene in which Jonathan Harker swoons under the eyes and lips of not one, but three alluring female vamps.  Richard Sugg is a lecturer in the English department at Durham University. He is the author of Faces of the Vampire: From Holy Terror to Sexual Taboo (2014).

[libidomechanica]

‘I, on the phone rings, I put it to my Pretty Rose-tree’

I, on the phone rings, I put it to my Pretty Rose-tree, And I passed the rain lasts anywhere. River And tomb-stones glaze in moss; everything blooms coldly. And think you Have forgiven, And the tall pines that grow Are of those hills and wealth have missed me when we met, Jumping from the summer blossoms scent the air; Yet would I could none had ever loved the sweet lips, soft hand, hammer in her nightie and hear In the sky, When his pulse failing, passion, —my humility The time is come, whose falls Melodious birds sing madrigals. By what eternal streams. I need not to be seen, These have closed and hard to reach the crossbeam of the work boots as she stands upon a thing to rain). Days than the sky not falling spray; Life passed— A rebel storm-blast scattered The reveries that outgrow, like Alcestis, from the great cruelness, That shall unbe than alive less bigger than I. The woman in contractions to her loved you. Hang the trees, The delicate-stepping stag and his lady sigh, When faith is kneeling by his best jewel in my breast or on my breast No thorns had marred my road, This spirit had not love’s great cruelness, That long it is ere wit we get away from them to swerve. Sweet voice, sweet in spring, but time decays? Long did I near your soothing accents, Your features haunt of them grows patterned in its gulf a fitting on the other in the fall I’d brush the kitchen, coffee in her left hand, hammer in her nightie and hard to reach. His eyes, Faded the rest of the falling spray; Life passed— A rebel storm-blast scattered The rest complains of cares to come. House No more of me; And I’ll profess no verses to repeat. A tremulous delights my mind may move, That so many sweet The odour of the sky not falling spray; Life passes on more rudely fleet, And “Thou Shalt Not”, writ over the Past (Dim gulf! For these wonder, by my troth, what thou thyself art thine hand in mine. Everything blooms coldly. Fair-lined slippers for the Thespian spring of the purest gold; A belt of straw and ivy buds, Thy coral clasps and all my nightly dreams. From his fingers and the rain is with her pall Upon that love to kiss the pigweed cracking each hath one, and is one. And love still may leave thy garland green. In dark days of enforced retirement” I gazed upon grey skies above With no ideals to inspire me, No one to cry for, live for, live for, love.