#history explained by mean girls quotes

[wring-wraith]

little reminder that the Treaty of Versailles is "You can't sit with us." And The Warsaw Pact is "Get in loser, we're going shopping!" hope this helps x

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

This is probably small in the grand scheme of things, but how did Emilie being noble play any impact in the story at all?

I mean, I'd get it if it was just a small detail to help deepen Emilie's character, but why nobility of all things? I don't know, from what I'm seeing so far, the whole "Emilie renounced her noble title" shtick just feels worthless if it's not going to impact the story or add depth to Emilie's character (like maybe upbringing or personal values?).

I don't know. Like everything else, the noble part just feels shallow and means nothing to the story, especially for a character like Emilie, who is the plot device for the whole show. Any detail about her, like her personality and life story, is supposed to influence the story and characters one way or another, namely Hawkmoth since she's his driving force.

So what was the point?

For context, this ask is about Félix's play which says that Emilie gave up her title to be with Gabriel. I'm gonna give a slightly larger section of the transcript of the play for full context, but the relevant but is at the end of the last paragraph:

Félix: The king and queen's twins grew up, each day as different in heart as they were similar in body. The firstborn, curious and brazen, despised life at court and escaped at every opportunity. The younger daughter, well-behaved and respectful, did everything she could to please her parents, and stayed quietly in the castle. Félix: (as Mr. Graham de Vanily) Oh, my queen. Did we entrust our legacy to the right princess? Kagami: (as Mrs. Graham de Vanily) She will fall in line, eventually. Félix: Confident that she would settle down as she matured, the king and queen allowed the curious princess to leave to study beyond the sea in another kingdom. There, she immediately found true love in a humble tailor. Félix: The tailor was making clothes so magnificent that they revealed the beauty of the soul of anyone who wore them. Although it made her parents furious, the curious princess gave up her rank, her wealth and her kingdom to live a bohemian life with the tailor.

Story wise, I have no idea why any of this was added since it adds nothing to canon. It's not like this finally explains why Gabriel and Emilie are poor while Amelie is wealthy. Along similar lines, it's not like Amelie's title has ever mattered. Prior to this play, I don't think that we even knew that she had a title or that she was the younger sister. The play is all about explaining things that we never had reasons to question in the first place.

My best guess as to why the writers wrote this pointless backstory is that they wanted to make Emilie seem even more pure and perfect so they went with the tired old trope of a rich girl giving up material things for the sake of love and art because good pure women don't care about material things! Only nasty, shallow women care about money. (Way to play into sexist tropes, guys.)

There may also be cultural elements at play here given that France doesn't have the greatest history with nobility, so giving up a noble title may be seen as good and pure to a French writer, but I don't know enough about French culture to say that with any certainty. If anyone who reads this blog is French and would like to chime in, then feel free!

While we're on the topic of the play, I wanted to point out that the above quoted passage is why I say that the Graham de Vanily parents can be as kind or as abusive as you'd like to make them. It's incredibly vague and you can read into it whatever you want to read into it. Were they good loving parents who were just upset about their daughter living in poverty or were they miserable controlling classist who Emilie fled England to get away from? It's up to you because you can get both reads from this. The play commits to almost nothing of value. Politicians could take lessons from this impressive level of noncommittal writing.

A better version of the play would have focused on things that actually matter to canon like the details of finding the miraculous and/or Emilie learning she's sick, but you could only have those details if they were coming from Nathalie or Gabriel. Félix is a terrible choice for a character to tell us the show's backstory because he knows so little of it, thus the play focusing on his largely pointless backstory.

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

So I've talked about this, I think at live shows. I don't know if I've ever talked about it on the podcast, but, you know, Ben's humor is so based on audio and like, and quality of words and the sounds and and sound effects and like, sort of how people say things. And, and he would get locked into in jokes. He would always have in jokes with literally every single person, every crew member, every cast. He would have one word that he would say that the way he said it would make you lose it. And it was always just one of the funniest things. And Ben and I, over the years, built up a pantheon of these references and repertoire. Oh my God. And this was one of the most legendary. So, and now I see why it's so great, because this what we real, so what he's doing here, and he doesn't actually do it, but what he had been doing all week, he barely does it. But what he had been doing all week was he, Ben used to take the tonal interpretation of lines in movies that we knew and insert the reading into a different line that we actually had to say on the script. So let me explain what I mean. So in the movie, Teen Wolf we talk, and the reason we were doing Teen Wolf was because Jerry. So we had been obviously talking Teen Wolf nonstop. And so there's a character in Teen Wolf is a coach, or the, the drama teacher. And the drama teacher has this amazing line where Michael J. Fox walks on. He's refusing to be the werewolf near the end of the movie when he is decided to embrace his humanity. And the, the, the, the drama teacher is gonna kick him outta the show. And he goes, how do I put this? No, no, no wolf. No wolf. No wolf, no part. And we always just thought it was so brilliant because the guy, he swallows it. And the way he sort of like, you know, 'cause the way it's written is like no wolf, no part kid. And he decides to like, make it this like very, and Ben and I would quote it and thought it was hysterical. So then Ben started saying, whatever this line is, I, God, I should have written it down. -Rider

In this recurring dream. What happens next? Shawn recalls, I'm left alone with this beautiful sorority girl who just got dumped, who just got dumped by her boyfriend. She's not too fond of men at the moment. So she wreaks havoc on me emotionally and physically. -Danielle

And then what does Ben's, what does Cory say then? -Rider

Cory, tell Shawn there's something that's not quite meshing with. -Danielle

That's, it was mesh. It was mesh. Mesh. Mesh. So he all week long would say, Shawn, Shawn, there's something that's not quite um mesh. Meshing. Meshing. And he would, so he inserted and it was something he would do at run throughs. He would do it in front. And nobody knew what he was doing. But he's signaling to me. Except for me. So I would be losing. So you can see in anticipation of this moment coming, and I'm sitting here basically daring him. You're not gonna do it while the cameras are rolling. I know. He already had, which is why I was already losing it. 'cause this is probably take two. So yes, this is the brinksmanship of me and Ben trying to make each other laugh. And they left it, they left. 'Cause there probably wasn't a take where we are not losing it. So yes, this is Ben Savage doing his Teen Wolf tone line insertion on our dialogue to just mesh. make each other laugh. And they left it, they left. 'cause there probably wasn't a take where we are not losing it. So yes, this is Ben Savage doing his teen wolf tone line insertion on our diet dialogue to just mesh. Mesh. Meh. Oh, there's so many instances of this throughout our history. But this was like the, I mean, yeah, I'll never forget it. And when I saw me start to laugh, that's all I remembered about this episode. That's all I remembered. Man, that makes me miss it so much. -Rider 

[luminouslywriting]

I'm so sorry to hear that you have to undergo surgery. As a fellow chronic illness girl, I know how that can be, and I'm sorry you're going through that. If you're still looking for things to keep your mind off it, I'd love to hear any general headcanons for the guys' interests? Just random things you think they might like that weren't specified in the show? I headcanon Buck and Brady as great cooks, for example. 😊

Nonny, thank you for your sweet message :) I so appreciate the love you're sending me! I would love to answer this ask, so more below the cut haha!! And as always, my requests are open and I love getting asks and requests from you all! Please note that this was cut for length and I kept it centered on Bucky, Buck, Rosie, and Brady!

Bucky Egan:

-This will come as no surprise to anyone, but I think he has an extensive collection of baseball cards that start from the time he was five onwards.

-I also think he really enjoys reading, specifically American Literature such as Rip Van Winkle or Tom Sawyer. He does really enjoy learning about New York as well, so he definitely has some New York memorabilia somehow.

-Board game KING. Actually, most games. He's down to play football in the dirt with his friends and he's down to play a game of checkers when the occasion calls for it.

-He strikes me as an animal person, for obvious reasons—so I think he must've had a dog back home or growing up. He definitely thought about going into some form of animal medicine before going into the military.

Buck Cleven:

-Stargazing or cloud-watching. I can't explain it, but I just know that this man has a fascination with the stars and clouds. It's a relaxing way to pass the time and it helps him center his thoughts.

-Plants?? He strikes me as a boy-scout sorta guy, so I picture he got his poisonous plant identification certification or something. He also has some favorite flowers that he likes gathering now and then.

-Science experiments. Again—this one is heavily based on the stuff we see in the show, but he collects the most RANDOM things and spare parts and will just casually build things or try to make things fit together because he likes to know how things work.

-COOKING, babe you're so right. He's a GREAT cook! Put him in front of a slab of meat though and he kinda panics. Breads? He can do it and make a recipe better than the original.

Rosie Rosenthal:

-Music history and theory; this NERD absolutely adores looking into the history of music. He knows about Brahms and Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Handel, and is able to easily memorize music and tunes.

-MOVIE BUFF. I can't explain it, but I just know that he can quote movies like there's no tomorrow and half of the time, no one even gets the reference.

-Oddly really likes reading the ads in the newspaper? He likes to see what's going on and what kind of help is needed.

-History boi with a niche for weird specific things. Like, he'd be in the middle of a conversation and he'd be like, "this reminds of when the Ottoman Empire...." or "Did you know that the Crusades were actually...."

John Brady:

-Poetry?? He really enjoys reading it, really enjoys writing it?? He strikes me as the type of man to enjoy Tennyson, Keats, or Byron

-Running; it's a really easy way for him to clear his head and he can go for miles before actually realizing that he's run that far.

-HE BUILDS MUSIC BOXES; listen, I have no context for this one, but he just starts tinkering around and this musical KING can just put things together super easily.

-Writes his own sheet music when he's got a lot of feelings....that doesn't mean anyone has ever actually heard said music, but it's definitely a way for him to channel his emotions into something constructive.

[stephensmithuk]

The Hound of the Baskervilles: The Curse of the Baskervilles

CW for discussion of crimes against humanity.

Devonshire is a historical alternative name for the county of Devon, these days not seeing that much use. Devon and next-door Cornwall have a friendly rivalry going over various things, including the order in which you put cream and jam on a scone. Cornwall does jam first, Devon cream. Getting it the wrong round in the relevant county can attract disapproving looks.

Mainstream Christianity believes that the only sin that cannot be forgiven by God is "blaspheming against the Holy Spirit", which is a continuous and arrogant rejection of it. It is generally deemed impossible for a Christian to actually do because if you worried that you've done it, you're not rejecting the Holy Spirit.

The Great Rebellion is the then standard name for what is commonly called the English Civil War or less commonly, but more correctly the War of the Three Kingdoms - England, Scotland and Ireland all being their own kingdoms under a single monarch, Wales is a principality. Lasting from 1639 to 1653 and including a whole bunch of conflicts, including two English Civil Wars. Various videos explaining the whole rather complex affair with varying degrees of comedy can be found on YouTube, but the popular version is that a bunch of republicans (Roundheads) with short hair fought a bunch of monarchists with long hair (Cavaliers). To quote Arnold Rimmer, it ended "1-0 to the pudding-basins" and King Charles I ended up losing his head in public.

Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, a key member of the governments of Charles I and Charles II wrote some memoirs of the whole period. Initially written between 1646 and 1648 as a defence of the former, his fall from power and exile in 1667 (he was made to carry the can for the English defeat against the Netherlands in the Second Anglo-Dutch War despite having little involvement) resulted in a massive expansion and re-write of The History of the Rebellion, which generally runs to no less than six volumes. One can compare it to Winston Churchill's The Second World War it seems - interesting, but watch for bias.

A yeoman in this context was a commoner who owned the land that he farmed, as opposed to being merely a tenant. Indeed a third of all farmland remains run by tenanted farmers; including much of Dartmoor, which is owned by the Duchy of Cornwall, the land holdings of a (male only) heir to the throne.

A maiden is traditionally an unmarried girl or young woman, with a strong implication of virginity to boot.

Michaelmas is a Christian festival held on 29 September in honour Saint Michael and all the other angels. It was traditionally associated with the end of harvest and a bunch of other stuff, including the legal calendar. The Lord Mayor of London (not to be confused with the Mayor of London) is elected on this. Traditionally the meal eaten here included goose, but it has very much fallen out of fashion in modern Britain.

A carouse (also a verb) is basically a long drinking and dancing event; "Carouse" turns up as a skill in some RPG systems i.e. the ability to do this effectively without ending up on the floor next to your vomit.

"Terrible oaths" here mean foul language.

A league is three statute miles, so she's got to get nine miles or 14.9 kilometres. That's a rather long way to go, especially in the dark.

A flagon is a large vessel for containing drink, about 2 imperial pints or 1.1 litres in capacity. You can either use it for pouring (in which case it will have a spout) or drinking from directly.

Trenchers were flat wood or metal plates used for serving food. In medieval times, they would be made of stale bread. After the meal, these and the juices, leftovers etc. would be generally given to the poor. Eating the trencher yourself was considered rather vulgar.

"Wench" has had various meanings over the years. In Shakespeare's time, it was a neutral or even endearing term for a young woman. It then evolved into a female server, particularly at a tavern (with the associated sexy costume, although I am not sure when that became a thing) and from there to being a term for a prostitute, with "wenching" becoming a verb to mean using the services of them. With an associated meaning of a promiscuous woman. It is not clear whether the writer is using the term or Hugo is here. I can see the latter using it in a rather venomous way.

A kerchief is another name for a bandana.

The pistols of the period were single-shot weapons requiring reloading with powder, wadding and shot. Even with regular practice like in an army (where this was a major part of drill), you'd be looking at a 15 to 20 second reloading time. It was commonplace to carry two pistols (a brace) as a result, at which point the fight was either over, or it was time to get your sword out. Some went still further - Blackbeard, who was going progressively crazy with syphilis, is recorded as carrying six loaded pistols on him.

There were 16 fatal dog on human attacks in the UK from January to September 2023; a sharp rise blamed on the American XL Bully breed, which was promptly banned in England and Wales as a result.

Providence means God's intervention in the universe.

"Which would not forever punish the innocent beyond that third or fourth generation which is threatened in Holy Writ" is a reference to the Commandment about not creating graven images or idols, either the Second Commandment or part of the First depending on your denomination; Anglicans put it as the Second.

"The probable Liberal candidate for Mid-Devon" is going to form part of a post discussing late Victorian elections, because I could go on all days about those. Central Devon was a narrow Conservative hold in 2024, by the way.

Nouveaux riches is French for "new rich", commonly rendered as "new money". The "aristocracy" on both sides of the Atlantic (see The Gilded Age) looked down on the new millionaires who were being created by the Industrial Revolution, such as railway tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt.

The discovery of diamonds at Kimberley in 1867, followed by gold at Witwatersrand in 1886, led to a vast boom that turned what would become South Africa from an agricultural economy to a wealthy industrial one... most of that wealth ending in the hands of white people, of course. Indeed, it led to the actual creation of South Africa in the first place.

Inquests are held in England and Wales after any death that is violent, unnatural, a possible suicide or in custody. These were at the time conducted with a jury, but this has become much rarer since 1927, when a coroner can do it on their own in many cases. In the case of a murder, an inquest will be opened and adjourned to allow the police to investigate. This process can take quite a while; after the Manchester Arena bombing of 2017, a full public inquiry into the event was held and following the end of that in 2003, the same judge then conducted an inquest into the death of the bomber himself, as was legally required. No public hearings were held in this case to avoid attention and save public money. The conclusion was officially logged as "suicide while undertaking a terror attack that murdered 22 innocent victims and injured many others", Sir John Saunders clearly that merely putting "suicide" was insufficient.

The Gypsy and Traveller community have long been associated with horses, with the Appleby Horse Fair being held every June in Cumbria. The RSPCA have a large presence at the event to deal with any animal welfare issues, issuing warnings and will take animals away or prosecute people if required. The 2024 event saw two horses worked to death, the official website posting the RSPCA's request for information on those responsible.

I've discussed Bushmen/San in one of my posts on The Sign of Four.

"Hottentot" is a now-offensive term for the Khoekhoe nomadic pastoralists of Southern Africa, often grouped with the San. Its use in the 1964 Mary Poppins film has seen that movie reclassified in the UK from a U (universal) to a PG.

They are split into the Northern Khoekhoe or Nama, located in Namibia and Botswana, and the Southern Khoekhoe or Cape Khoe found in the SW coastal regions of South Africa. At the time this book was set, these were, respectively:

German South West Africa

Bechaunaland Protectorate (de facto independent until 1891 when the British took active control)

The Cape Colony

Two years after publication, separate Nama and Herero rebellions in the former against colonial rule (the German aim being ethnic cleansing) were brutally defeated, with the peoples either shot dead, driven into the desert or placed into concentration camps. They were subjected to medical experiments, skulls being taken to Germany for use as demonstration of "racial inferiority". The similarities between this genocide and the Holocaust are clear, although the precise connections are debated by historians.

It is estimated that up to 80% of the indigenous population died as a result.

Germany has in the last decade offically recognised this as a genocide, agreed to pay €1.1 billion to the affected communities and has returned the human remains held in German universities or teaching hospitals.

On a final note, Mortimer failing to mention the footprints around the body might be considered perjury.

[lucyav13]

Nastasia

(Credits of the art to @starlitwishes-art all of their art is great! <3 )

Nastasia's past is explained by Carson in one of his histories:

'Once upon a time, a man went to look for the girl he loved, who was missing. As he passed through a forest, he found a bat stuck in a trap. He set the bat free. It promptly thanked him and disappeared.

As he lay down to camp that night, he heard a voice and looked about. He noticed the sky was filled with a huge, round moon. There stood before him a woman he had never seen. The bat had transformed into the species of the one she had fallen for.' Now, I don't know if that's true or not...

The last part of the story was... 'The bat pledged eternal loyalty to the man out of love on that night.' ...

Obviously, we can suppose that the man in the story is Blumiere (before he turns into Count Bleck), the girl who he was looking for is Timpani and the bat who then turns into a woman is Nastasia.

Her name is Greek for "She who shall rise up again", possibly a reference to her only falling unconscious from a deadly attack or the story with the bat and the man Carson tells titled "Of Bats and Men". It is also a portmanteau of "nasty" and "Anastasia".

In the English version, she speaks in a casual manner, using words like "'K" and "gonna" often, although in the Japanese version she speaks much more professionally.

Her abilities enables her to control several people at once and command them to do tasks they would never consider doing in their right mind, such as forcing Luigi to attack his friends. However, her hypnosis is at least possible to resist, as shown by Peach during her wedding with Bowser. Nastasia seems to use her power by lifting her glasses, upon which a white glow flashes and her target is surrounded in square lasers, which puts the victim under Nastasia's (and by extension, Count Bleck's) control. Notably, the hypnosis she uses may sometimes cause physical changes in the victim, such as hypnotized Koopa Troopas donning dark glasses and spikes. (And perhaps that would explain the drastic change in Mr. L outfit)

Another fun fact is that, in the post-game, there's a boy on Flopside who was in love with Nastasia, but she comments to us her feelings for the Count, and decides that even if she could learn to love again, she probably never could have measured up to Timpani anyway.

Card type: Rare

Card Description: Nastasia is Count Bleck's executive assistant. She's in charge of scheduling, organizing, and brain-control. Word is, she's got a secret crush on her boss.

Trivia: Before the game's initial release, artwork of Nastasia and Tiptron together was released despite the fact that the two never interact in the game.

Tippi originally had a tattle for Nastasia in the postgame, though since Tippi would have already been gone by this point, it went unused and remains in the game's files. The tattle reads, "That's Nastasia, the count's executive assistant. She has served him the longest... Without him, she is quite lonely, but she manages to go on in her new life... It is hard for me to see her like this... I think I know exactly how she feels..."

Quotes:

"Yeah, I'll fire off a memo on that...but for now, we have another item on the agenda..."

"Yeah, so some minions in the Bowser organization are still resisting assimilation. So I'm heading out to squash the resistance..."

"So I guess you finished up that report on your own inadequacy that I needed?"

"Um, no, my count. I won't be doing that. My life is already sworn to you."

"If only I could have, y'know, been that girl... Things would have been different..."

"Yeah, I'm afraid your orders mean nothing anymore."

The above text is from the Super Mario Wiki and is available under a Creative Commons license. Attribution must be provided through a list of authors or a link back to the original article. Source: https://www.mariowiki.com/Carson

[biblicallyaccurateslut]

I just read a re-post of one of my post from a non-gaylor, and I would like to say it was a really good, respectful answer that explained their point of view perfectly and, by any means, this post is an attemp to start beef or anything.

Being said that, one of the points that really standed out to me was how some fans would "force a queer identity on her" (not quoting them, just summarizing) and how twisting lyrics to hold a narrative or using certain interpretation of a song, was not healthy, in reference to the connection I made to the album midnights and Taylors queerness.

Now, I would like to ask, isnt twisting a lyric to fit a narrative how people started saying that Taylor was the "argumentative antithetical dream girl" she refers to in hits different, when is crearly (and is a question of grammar and basic language comprension) refering to the muse of the song?

Bet I could still melt your world, argumentative antithetical dream girl. Are you kidding me?? How could you posible say this makes sense if she was refering to herself???

Then, the paternity test constantly done by swifties to look for the muse of a song is nothing more than a certain interpretation of the lyric to fit the narrative. So that is not a thing exclusive to gaylors, almost every swiftie does it.

Now, that is what I like to call a double standard. I am not shaming the original autor of the post that have inspired this text, but pointing out a more societal problem. Very often, speculation and shipping and reading into things, if done in a hetero way is okay but do not dare to do it in a way that relates to queerness.

About the "forcing a queer identity on her", there is a thing, done through history called flagging. Safo was doing it in ancient Grecee, so did Oscar Wilde and more recently Elton John or James Dean. There are signals of the queer community to signal discretely to other lgbtq+ that they are one of them.

Taylor is not subtle about her flagging. She went out in a bi pride colored jacket to sing "and you can want who you want, boys and boys and girls and girls". She did sing about wearing someone like a necklace. She did spray paint her paint the bi colors to her gay pride music video. Use the lyric hair pin drop more than once. She puts lesbian flag colors as the main lighting in her world wide tour. And much much more. Is obvious, really out there for the people who want to see it to see.

Once you see that, you have no option but to hope she is queer; because if she was not, she would only be a straight girl that harmed the queer comunity by taking all the simbolisim that lgbtq+ people have built througt the ages and making it hetero to the mainstream, erasing the very little history the comunity has managed to create in the opressed world that it had have to endure.

So, even if I think that the answer to my previous post was really well written and respectful, I do not think it is a really nuance take.

PD: To the person behind the original blog that posted the answer, if you have read this and recognised yourself on it, just know this is not a personal attack and I apologize before hand if that felt like that to you.

[papapascal]

Classroom Crush (Pedro Pascal)

The strap of my bag is practically creating an imprint on my shoulder from how tight I was pulling on it, but also because it’s holding two textbooks, a laptop, and a few folders for my classes today. One of my scheduled classes always gets me feeling giddy and nervous all at the same time. Every Tuesday and Friday I attend the same classroom for two different courses, both of them obviously taught by the same Professor.

Today is Friday, and that means I’ll be there for my Feminist Theory class. History has become my passion, but even more now since the man who teaches them is pretty easy on the eyes. There’s nothing more attractive than a man teaching a women’s history class and knows exactly what he’s talking about. Our class is mostly made up of women, and a few men sprinkled about. Let’s just say this Professor has our undivided attention. Half is looks, half is his exuberant personality, which just makes information absorption a lot easier.

“Are you ready for class?” My best friend appears beside me as I’m in route to class, and the smirk on her face was evident that she was teasing me. She knows I have a crush. “You’ve got this little pep in your step. It’s actually quite adorable. Professor Pascal would be flattered to know how excited you are for his class.” She then gives out a laugh at the way I tensed up and focused on how I was walking so I wouldn’t have that ‘pep’ in my step.

Great, now I’m going to be hyper aware of how I’m walking to his class from now on.

“Oh, shut up!” I grumble.

We turn the corner to head down a hallway when we hear music. It gets louder the closer we get to his classroom.

“Is that—“ F/N begins but pauses to listen closer. “Is that Beyoncé?”

We step into the classroom, following behind other students. They start laughing, and I couldn’t figure out why because they were blocking my view, but when they disperse to head up the stairs to their seat, I see it. Our Professor is dancing. Terribly. And every time Beyoncé asks ‘Who runs the world?’ he’d shout ‘GIRLS’.

F/N began to laugh. I cracked an amused grin.

“What is happening!?” F/N asks loud enough so she can be heard over the music.

“Good afternoon, ladies!” Professor Pascal greets us, ignoring F/N’s question and slightly out of breath.

Behind him is a large screen that has a quote pulled up: There is no limit to what we, as women, can accomplish - Michelle Obama.

Once everyone is seated he uses a small black remote that turns the music off. He perches himself on his stool. He looks very sophisticated for someone who was just dancing to a Beyoncé track—a brown cardigan, a white t-shirt underneath, green, baggy pants, and black, shiny shoes. He’s also wearing a pair of black, bulky glasses on his face. His hair looked groomed but also like he just crawled out of bed. It’s hard to explain, but it looked perfect on him.

“Wow, I’m going to be feeling this in the morning,” he jokes before taking a deep breath. “Don’t question it if I end up laying on the floor in the middle of class.”

Everyone gives out a laugh in unison.

“You’re getting too old, Mr. Pascal,” one of the men in the front says.

Professor Pascal shoots him a glare as his hand reaches back and rubs his lower back. “Fuck you.”

We all laugh again.

“Good afternoon, class! Today is March first, which means for the next thirty days we will be celebrating Women’s History Month, although, we should be celebrating our women and appreciating our women everyday!”

Simultaneously, we’re all clapping.

“Lucky for us though, we get to do just that, even when it isn’t March. There’s people in this world that don’t understand why we devote an entire month to women. I would simply ask them, why not? One day isn’t enough to teach the countless accomplishments women have made that have greatly impacted our history…our lives…our world…and as individuals.”

I’m mesmerized by the way the words flow through his mouth without a slideshow. He knows what he’s talking about. He’s a proud man who is proud to celebrate women. He recognizes women. There’s nothing better a man can do.

He goes on to tie in the quote on the screen before he jumps into the curriculum. He keeps his voice loud and clear so nothing is unheard or misunderstood. He’s confident in his education. He loves women in a way it’s harder for other men to do the same. And how do you not form a crush on someone like that? He keeps my faith in humanity alive.

I enjoy the brief moments he lays his beautiful brown eyes on me.

“I’m going to throw another quote at you, because we like quotes in this class. G.D Anderson—feminism isn’t about making women strong…women are already strong.”

There’s a ‘WHOO’ from the back of the classroom.

“It’s about changing the way the world perceives that strength,” he finishes. He’s quiet for a second to allow us to soak in the words before proceeding. “And you know what, I’ll throw another one at you. Melinda Gates—a woman with a voice is, by definition, a strong woman.”

Clapping fills the room.

“We’re going to name off some strong, impactful women. Just throw them at me.”

“Frida Kahlo.”

“Harriet Tubman.”

“Wilma Rudolph.”

“Clara Barton.”

“My mom.”

“Love that answer!” Professor Pascal exclaims, pointing a finger in the direction of a man who said his mom.

“Me!” I answer loud enough.

He claps his hands together. “Yes!” His eyes are wide and practically sparkling. I couldn’t tell if it was just me but he always lights up when I participate. “If I was capable of doing a cartwheel I fucking would!”

“Give it a try,” one of the students call out.

“Alright!” He raises up from the stool, holds his arms up high above his head, and jerks his body to one side, making it seem as if he was actually going to attempt a cartwheel but not. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding!” He chuckles and slides back onto the stool.

“No, try it!” Another student exclaims.

“I think I’ll have bigger issues than a sore back if I attempt it. Knowing me I’d tumble off the stoop here,” he says, hand pointing down to the single stair that creates a step up to the stage-like platform he’s set up on. “I bet you guys would like that, that’s why you want me to do it.”

“Psh, no,” the same guy he cursed out earlier says.

“I’m too old, right, Randy?” Professor Pascal shoots.

I always forget the guy’s name even though him and our Professor always banter during class. They have a great, playful student-teacher relationship. They’re always amusing the rest of the class. Something inside me envies that…

“I mean, you can prove me wrong right now,” Randy says, shrugging.

“There’s nothing wrong with being old, Randy, but if you keep it up you better have quick hands to catch a flying stool. Anyways!” He flashes us a pearly white smile while we all laugh. “We are surrounded by women who are impactful that you forget that you, as an individual and a woman, leave an impact as well. Your actions and voice are just as strong and important.”

He claps his hands together. “Alright, that’s all I’ve got for you guys today! Enjoy your weekend, stay safe, and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

“Is there anything you wouldn’t do?” Randy asks.

“Exactly. Go have fun!” Professor Pascal exclaims.

Everyone begins gathering their belongings and filing out of the classroom while he turns the music back on. He’s back to dancing, even a few students joining him while they’re leaving. I giggle while still packing my things, shoving my textbook and unit folder back down into my bag. F/N gives me a little wave as she leaves without me.

All of the seats are empty except where I’m sitting, eventually standing up and slinging my bag over my shoulder.

“I enjoyed your participation today, Y/N.”

I look over to find Professor Pascal approaching me, hands stuffed in his pants and a thoughtful smile on his face to match his kind eyes.

“Oh, yeah, it’s a good class to participate in,” I say, and it’s the truth.

“Gotta keep it lively in here, you know? People should be excited to learn about women. It can’t just be another history class.”

I pull the strap of my bag tight on my shoulder. “You’re doing a great job at it. Probably one of the best classes I’m taking. And really, it all depends on the teacher when it comes to how we absorb the information. You keep it real and exciting,” I say.

He chuckles, and I notice the dimples in his cheeks. They make him appear younger—child-like.

“Well, I don’t want to hold you up any longer. I’m sure you’d like to begin your weekend,” he says.

My brain immediately flipped through anything and everything I could possibly say to get me to stick around a little longer. I’m not quick with thinking when I’m in the presence of someone I believe is attractive—man or woman—but today it’s going at full speed. “Wait, could you maybe help me out with the paper that is due on Monday? I’m almost finished with it, but just need help with a few info pieces.”

“Absolutely!” He perks up and pulls his hands out of his pockets while I scramble to throw my stuff back down into the seat. “What ya got for me?”

I flip the top open on my computer and my paper immediately pops up on the screen since I was working on it earlier during class while he was discussing a topic I’m writing about. “I just need a few more things to back my thesis. Like, I have an idea of something but I don’t know how to incorporate it.”

Professor Pascal sits beside me.

“I wrote down a few potential pieces to add though,” I say as I whip out my unit folder and pull out a loose-leaf piece of paper that had my written ideas and citations scribbled down on it.

He reviewed what I had written down, nodding his head as he read, and I’m assuming liking what I had written. He points out the best ones to back my thesis, and then he’s rattling off more from the top of his head that could strengthen my argument further.

I enjoy being in his presence, especially this close to him. The aroma of his cologne lingers off of him and fills my nose. He smells just as good as he looks. He’s then pointing to something on the screen, but I’m too busy watching his hand to listen to anything he’s saying. There’s a tattoo between the space that separates his thumb and index finger. It looks like a bullseye. Simple, but makes me wonder what the meaning is behind it.

“You still with me, Y/N?”

I snap out of my thoughts the second I hear my name. “Huh?”

He begins laughing at me, eyes scrunched up to reveal crows feet, and his face looking absolutely squish-able. Who knew men could be adorable? “I asked if you were still with me, but I think that ‘huh’ just answered my question!”

“Oh!” My cheeks fill up with heat, so I know they’re tomato red. “I’m sorry, I think I just spaced out a little. Sorry.”

“Here.” His large hand slides the paper in front of him. “Got a pen?”

I reach down into my bag, and my fingertips touch a familiar plastic, and I fish out a pen, handing it to him. He gently takes it from me and begins to scribble down I guess the information I missed. “Apply this to your fifth paragraph.” He writes the number ‘5’ next to what he wrote. “And then this…” he jots down more words, “for your conclusion.” He writes ‘conclusion’ next to that one. “But your paper is phenomenal so far. How you transition between each argument and topic is beautiful.”

I could kiss him right now. I could press my palms against his scruffy cheeks and press my lips against his and just experience the warmth of him, or even his hand against my neck. For someone who is a very proud woman, I’d risk anything to have a chance with him. He’s too professional to sneak around and create a romantic connection with a student like me. He’s older. Way older. It’s unforeseeable to believe he would pursue someone as young as me.

He’s sliding the paper back in front of me. “I enjoy having you in my class,” he says.

We connect eyes, and for a brief moment his eyes flick down to my lips and then back up to my eyes. It could also just be my imagination. I’d be delusional to think he’s attracted to one of his students. It was my imagination.

“Just finish this up on Monday. You can turn it in late, even. A lot of work has gone into this paper, I can tell. Just go enjoy your weekend, okay?” He smiles softly before getting up from the seat.

I close my laptop and slide it into my bag, along with my unit folder that I slid the loose leaf paper into. “So I get special privileges?”

“If you tell anyone I just might have to kill you,” he jokes. “Now get out. You’ve already wasted thirty minutes of your weekend sitting in my classroom.”

“Alright, alright, I’m getting out!” I pull my bag over my shoulder.

“Git! Git!” He’s waving me out like an old man trying to chase me off his lawn. “Don’t touch that paper until Monday, you hear!?”

I give him a thumbs up while I’m scampering out of his classroom.

[aubyrei]

okay so. drdt ep 8 spoilers under the cut, also please check the tags for tws - a lot of the motives are quite sensitive so please beware!!

last night after the ep, my friend (hi @sentinel-kinjo) and i tried to see if we could connect the motives to the characters. ill explain the reasoning for down below. those that don't have a character next to them means i don't have enough info to be able to pinpoint on who that motive belongs to, even using process of elimination

ace - your body is falling apart but you still refuse to eat

there is a lot of evidence to support this. ace has a low bmi, didn't eat the cake in chapter 1 and has been said to like low-calorie foods in QnAs. ive seen some people throw around arturo due to his body image standards, but he doesn't seem to care much about himself specifically appealing to beauty standards, and was also one of the people who ate the cake in chapter 1.

??? - ever since you kissed her, you were afraid your sexuality would ruin your friendships

im not sure about this one at all- but using process of elimination, and the context, it is definitely one of the girls. the ones i didn't put anywhere are min, hu and eden, so it's probably one of them? i honestly don't really have any basis for pin pointing any of them as this one. maybe we should all collectively comb over ch1 to see who the biggest girl kisser is

j and arei's motives are canon, so i won't go over those

xander - you're constantly blaming yourself for the death of your parents and siblings, it doesn't matter that it's not your fault, just that you didn't go with them

pretty self explanatory, honestly.. we have many examples in the story of xander suffering from survivors guilt. his secret quote also speaks of survivors guilt. i feel like this is the only one that could fit him.

whit - your mother is dead, you always omit that truth

whit speaks highly of his mother, even having dyed his hair because of her. he does omit the truth also when trying to guess what his secret is during ch2, he doesn't speak about his mother being dead at all. his secret quote is also "we tend to idolize the dead" which goes hand in hand with both his motive and the very strong admiration he has for his mom.

charles' is canon, so skip

veronika - you only took on your talent to distract yourself for the incessant need to harm yourself for fun

i won't speak very much on this one, but she fits. the thing she dislikes the most is boredom. she seeks thrill in horror and dark media. it's possible that her talent has helped her heal from these tendencies.

david - you were quite the hopeless child. dying once wasn't enough, so you attempted suicide three times.

ive seen many different guesses on this one, but david is honestly the only one that i feel works completely. his secret is "i hate you, i hate you, i hate you, i wish you'd just die." i hate you is notably repeated three times. this might seem like a reach but i think its also worth noting that when David mentioned that his secret was a family history about depression, nobody corrected him. i feel like if he had lied, or if his secret was something completely disconnected from said depression, the person who had his motive would've stood up and called out his bullshit. but three suicide attempts and depression are not unrelated. i think he was vague about the details of his depression due to his own discomfort talking about these subjects.

rose and nico are canon, so skip

teruko - how could i even select what secret to be your motive? just about everything you've done in your life is worth killing for. the killing game is your fault.

pretty self explanatory. teruko herself says she has too many secrets and doesn't know what they could possibly use against her. don't think anything but this fits

so the remaining ones are levi, arturo, hu, eden, and min. i can't seem to pinpoint these three anywhere due to lack of info... if you guys have any guesses pls let me know :> i love theorizing!!

[triplexdoublex]

It's obvious that some of y'all joined the fandom only recently (and that's okay, just don't rewrite 'history' to fit a PR 'fake love' narrative).

Just because this playlist was made public one day before her bday, It does not proof it's a gift.

(And why the hell would he be so inspired to do such a beautiful gesture for her bday after the ALLEGED video of bday wishes she might have sent him while being on somebody else's ... If you don't know what I'm talking about, just go read blind items. NASTY, yuck).

Let's take a look at "Taurus sun" playlist. -'Ocean eyes' is of course about his daughter. -Lana del Rey is an artist whom Megan have had actual LITERAL beef with, but Megan been using lately as an IG caption to garner his attention. Kells actually has an unreleased colab song from 2018 with her (watch them say 'Bad for you/Mad for you' is about her too...). There is no actual proof of what I'm about to say but it seems she is an artist he was first SUPPOSEDLY introduced to by his ex (he sampled 'video games' more than a decade ago in an old French Montana collab). -'I'm lost without you' by Blink is the song of him and *HIS* ex (the proof of this Is in the lyrics of "her song", the pt. 1 to "in these walls"). These two must have met indeed at Blink 182's concert. -I have my PERSONAL theory about the song 'I rather go blind'. Let's just say Colson looked incredibly hurt during 2014/2015 and I PERSONALLY think this song could explain why. .-'The funeral' is a Song he was quoted listening to during the 2018 Galore interview (he made for that occasion a Photoshoot inspired by Romeo+Juliet movie... take a look at it, it's very beautiful, I'm sure you'll like it). .-Idk about the other songs (maybe I give her Tennesse since it is Megan's birth state).

Also I'm sure more than one woman has inspired him. He has been with countless women before Megan (COUNTLESS, funny how Megan says he's akward with girls) and actually have had TWO meaningful main (somehow toxic too) situationships/relationships

.And let's say I was wrong and all the playlist was done FOR her and only her. It does not mean it's about her.Just like the songs he makes. They could be dedicated to her but this does not mean they are FOR or ABOUT her (and she must know that because so many time in the past she felt the Need to stress the opposite).

Having said so, sorry for any typos and Imma go listen to "fake love". bye.

I’ve just learned of this playlists existence today in that ask. My reply was my first thoughts upon seeing those songs. However you are correct, I had forgotten he’s mention “lost without you” in that song about his ex looong before him and Megan were together. Perhaps it’s just a playlist of meaningful songs to him, I dunno and I don’t claim to.

But he fr needs to drop that song with Lana , I was so obsessed with it when we got that little teaser it seems like such a sexy song.

[alwaysmicado]

https://www.tumblr.com/free-my-mindd/746081775532605440/chris-mc-geown?source=share <- this is the link i supposed to add in previous ask but dunno why disappeared (i still can't figure out how to add a link in the ask 🤦🏻‍♀️)

read the latest part. my logical side told me that torturing joel somehow means torturing our baby reader, HOWEVER, my rage keep screaming that DON'T LET THAT FUCKER EXIT SO EASILY PLSSS. (of coz i well believe you will keep developing about reader's mind tht this chapter's ending doesn't mean the cloud is cleared or joel is forgiven.) he definitely has not sufferedorry enough. (or will there be a joel's POV chapter to let that fucker explain himself?)

what can i say about tommy? i thought their relationship is so unbelievable (in good way). where would the world got a married guy that still care a girl enough that pick up drunk/cry-call in the middle of night and not hang up? (or my friends are just too shitty 🤦🏻‍♀️) hope i didn't get it wrong from this chapter, besides the common ground from their traumatic history, tommy is just an extremely sweet guy? stupid question here - they seems cleared the prospect of romantic involvement but still able to keep a close relationship. <- i should get this from this chapter or that will be further flashback about this?

thanks so much for your great work and patience to read my rambling 💛

Hi Rachel 😍 Oh yeah, this quote fits reader perfectly:

there were two reasons I was scared to let people in; the damage they could do, and the damage they could find.

After Sunshine, @witchofthedeepwoods was also saying that Angels Like You by Miley Cyrus reminded her of reader and I couldn't agree more!

It's not your fault I ruin everything And it's not your fault I can't be what you need Baby, angels like you can't fly down hell with me I'm everything they said I would be

About Sink or swim:

he definitely has not sufferedorry enough. (or will there be a joel's POV chapter to let that fucker explain himself?)

First of all, you calling Joel a fucker is so damn funny to me, I dunno why 😂😂😂

Second of all, YES! The ending doesn't mean it's all resolved. Not at all. It just means that she's finally ready to be honest with herself, with Joel, and also with Tommy (since he knows now anyway). I guess we'll have to see if Joel makes the right call in the next part and is able to reassure reader somehow that he really is serious about her 😌. What I have planned for sure is to write out the confrontation between Joel and Tommy. I dunno yet if I'll post it separately or within the next part, but it's coming.

hope i didn't get it wrong from this chapter, besides the common ground from their traumatic history, tommy is just an extremely sweet guy? stupid question here - they seems cleared the prospect of romantic involvement but still able to keep a close relationship. <- i should get this from this chapter or that will be further flashback about this?

I think Tommy sees a lot of himself in reader and that's why he understands her so well. And she is comfortable with him 'cause she really feels like he does understand her without judging her. Plus, he's proven over time that he won't abandon her, and that's also huge for her.

At this point, their relationship is platonic and they both appreciate it for what it is. I'm not gonna tell you if that was always the case or if they had more going on after their first night (or even what happened there exactly). Maybe I will some day, but for now, you're free to imagine whatever you like 😋.

I could imagine that Joel's got his own thoughts/questions about their relationship though hehe. But, as @pattwtf and I discussed, I'm positive that Joel honestly wouldn't care either way.

Thank you for reading my story and taking the time to share your thoughts!! It's so much fun and I appreciate it a lot! 😍 Have a wonderful day! 🤍

[miyuhpapayuh]

18. it was all a dream.

Stepping onto the brick red welcome mat, Rod raps on the front door, further annoying an already agitated Stevie, inside the house.

"Come on, Stevie." He clutches the pink roses in his hand and continues to knock. "Can we please talk?"

"No!" she yells, walking towards the door, beginning to mimic his knocking. "Quit bangin' on my door."

"I wouldn't have to bang on it, if you'd just open up."

"We don't have anything to talk about, Roderick. Go play with Tara and leave me alone."

"Quit talkin' crazy and open this door, Vie. I don't want any parts of that girl." She scoffs, rubbing her temples.

"That's not what it looked like, to me. Plus, why can't you just let me be mad at you?" She starts talking with her hands as if he could see her.

"I know what it looked like and I told you what it was. I don't want you being mad at me, babygirl. It's been a day and I'm losing my mind out here— I'm talking to you through a goddamn door, man!" She rolls her eyes and unlocks the door, cracking it open.

"I'm only gonna let you in, cause you're getting rowdy and my neighbors are nosy, sometimes." She grabs his collar and pulls him inside, closes the door and walks away.

"Trying to win me over with roses isn't gonna work." She heads back into the kitchen and resumes cutting up fruit for her smoothie.

He sits them on the counter and sighs. "Why you bein' so feisty towards me? I told you that I was sorry."

"Do you mean it or are you just tryna get back in my good graces?" She raises an eyebrow and sits her knife down on the cutting board.

"I mean it. You're obviously set on being mad at me, right now—"

"As I should be!" She cuts him off. "I kept up my end of the bargain, but where were you? Oh, that's right. You were letting bitches play in my face." The irritation drips off her every word.

"Stevie," he rounds the island and she picks her knife back up, making him stop in his tracks.

"Don't." She points it at him, but he's unfazed. He even chuckles.

"You're really gonna cut me?"

"Walk a little closer and we'll see, cause I don't know what's so fuckin' funny."

"You are," he grips her wrist and starts prying the knife out of her tight grip. "Gimme this shit, man."

"No," she yanks her arm back, accidentally nicking his thumb, causing it to bleed a little. He huffs, bringing it up to his mouth and glaring at her something awful.

"I told you not to come any closer, now look what you did," she bumps past him and grabs a bandaid out of the top drawer by her coffee maker.

"Gimme your hand.”

He snatches the bandaid from her and turns in the opposite direction, mumbling underneath his breath.

"Fuck you too, then!" She mushes him in the back of the head, placing the knife in the sink. "Can't even continue cutting my fruit, cause you wanna be stupid."

"Seriously, where's all this aggression coming from? I made you that mad, that you gotta cuss me out and slice me open?" He asks, walking back towards her, getting closer since she has no weapon.

"Yes, you pissed me the fuck off. I don't care what type of history y'all got, you sat in my face and told me, and I quote— I'm wit whatever you wit— just for you to not be with it. At all."

After fidgeting with the bandaid for more than a second, Stevie grows frustrated and grabs his hand, placing the adhesive strip over the cut, smacking it to be aggravating.

"I'm sorry," he winces.

"You are." He cuts his eyes at her as she rolls her own, dropping his hand as if it was dead weight.

"Can you stop for like five seconds?"

"Fine." She crosses her arms over her chest and stares at him with a fire in her eyes that makes him twitch behind his black sweats. He knows it's not the time.

"I did tell you that I was down for whatever and I am. I just thought she was really turning over a new leaf and trying to patch shit up," he explains, while she blinks, "but, you were right and I'm a dumb ass. I just want you to stop looking at me, like you wanna kill me."

She turns around and grabs the cutting board, sliding the fruit into the blender. He sucks his teeth and walks up behind her, making her sit the board down.

"That's not what I meant and you know that." She backs up into him to push him away, but he only wraps his long arms around her waist.

"Get off me." She whines, while grabbing the lid for the blender and turning it on, filling the semi-quiet kitchen with the loud, buzzing noise.

"I'm sorry," he whispers into her ear, before kissing her lobe. "Can you forgive me?"

Stevie shrugs, before turning the blender off and nudging for him to release her. He reluctantly does so as she reaches into her cabinet for a cup, pouring the strawberry, mango and orange juice based mixture into it.

Taking a sip of it, she glances at him and walks away, heading upstairs. He watches her walk up each step with an extra switch, than usual.

He heads up behind her, watching as she sits down on her bed, tucking her knees into her chest, staring up at the tv.

"Vie—"

"Shh, I'm watching tv."

"Man." He grabs the remote and cuts it off, tossing it on the bed. "I'm not doing this with you, aight? Cut the attitude or I'll cut it for you."

"You're not my daddy." She stands up, poking him in the center of his chest.

"That's funny, cause I definitely had that ass singin' a different tune, a couple weeks back." He smirks, watching her nose crinkle up.

"Fuck you."

"If that's what you wanted, that's all you had to say, babygirl." He strokes her cheek. She pushes him, only for him to do the same to her, making her fall back into her mattress.

"You're being so annoying, right now."

"That's how I'm feelin' bout this attitude you got goin' on." He smacks her thigh.

"Tell me the truth. You still mad at me, for real?"

"A little! That shit still pissed me off and I need you to understand that. I'm talkin' shit, but that's literally how I feel, right now."

He kneels down in front of her. "I'm sorry."

"Quit saying that. I got it."

"Can I make it up to you?"

"I know exactly how you're trying to make it up to me, Rod." She rolls her eyes.

"The ball's in your court, babygirl."

"I just don't wanna seem weak for forgiving you, this soon."

"Who thinks you're weak? You wanna be mad at me, forever? I want us to make it past this. It killed me, watching you walk away from me. I respected the fact that you were upset and I stayed away for as long as I could handle, but I can't do this. I can't be without you for another day. I know I messed up and I'm so sorry."

She sighs, sliding her hands in his. "I still wanna fight you, but I did miss you. You just gotta stop being stupid."

"I promise. You have my word."

"Hm... okay, I forgive you." He leans forward to kiss her lips, watching the smirk creep across them as he pulls away.

"How'd you sleep last night?"

"Terrible. The nightmares are getting more vivid. I just want them to go away. I want him to go away."

"You know better than anybody that I'll handle it."

"I know," she says softly, playing with his fingers. "It's not bad when you're around. Can you stay here tonight?"

"You don't ever gotta ask, baby." He kisses the top of her head as she visibly relaxes.

She gets comfortable, pretzeling her legs around one of his, her hand finding a spot on his abs underneath his shirt. They half-pay attention to whatever's on the screen as he lazily drags his fingertips up and down her clothed back, taking turns sipping on her fruity concoction.

The signature Nokia jingle rang throughout her room, alerting Rod that someone was calling. He was going to let it ring until whomever called again.

"Babe it might be important, pick it up."

He swipes his phone from her nightstand, and sure enough it's his mother complaining about how something else is broken and she needs Rod and his expertise to fix it. Not one to tell his mom no, he lets her know he'll be there shortly. He hangs up, a slightly irritated sigh blowing past his lips.

"It's okay. Go work your magic, babe. I'll be waiting up for you," she says with a slight chuckle. Kissing her sweetly, he grabs his things and is off to see what his mom broke this time.

Left by her lonesome again, she decides to call her own mother to see how she is and possibly get together for dinner. She doesn't really want to be alone now.

Thankfully, she's free and more than happy to see her daughter.

Stevie's not in the mood to make a production out of getting dressed that she usually does when she meets with her mom, opting for jeans and a cropped olive sweater with camel colored ankle boots. Her mom would have to deal.

Surprisingly she too, is dressed down, for her at least, when they meet.

Also surprising, yet welcome, was the easy, pleasant conversation they fell into as they ate. No mentions of possible pregnancies or rehashing of past indiscretions.

Just smiles, laughter, and a genuinely good time. At one point she discreetly pinched herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming.

After making plans to see each other again, they're off to their respective homes.

Just as she's about to call Rod, as she hasn't heard from him in a couple of hours, a series of texts comes through on her pager, describing how a simple repair job turned into being "conned" into helping Viv rearrange her entire bedroom. Her infamous New York-style cheesecake was up for grabs so he just had to.

The only thing that saves him from her ire is promising her an entire half to herself.

Throwing on some old track shorts and tying her glossy curls into a pineapple, she plops onto her bed face first. She found herself falling asleep to the tune of old Comic View reruns.

It's an overcast, chilly afternoon, and Stevie's watching her Doc Martens hit the ground one after another.

She's suddenly overtaken with the smell of smoke.

She looks up and her feet have led her to the front porch of a shoddy, single story brick house with its front door wide open, the burning scent only getting stronger.

Stepping in further, she's compelled to investigate. The house looks utterly lived in by at least several men. From the dark, minimalist furniture to its unadorned walls. Magazines and rolling papers litter the coffee table.

The deeper into the house she went, still no source of the scent makes itself present.

Her stomach turns as the smell morphs into rotted...flesh? Dread weaves itself through her veins.

She puts her hand over her mouth and dry heaves making a turn to leave when a voice stops her in her tracks.

"Look at you. Sticking your nose where it doesn't belong," he tsk’s in mock disapproval. Her eyes shoot around the room, but he's nowhere to be found. Her feet feel as if they've been cemented to the floor.

"Don't you know a pretty girl like you can get hurt like that, Stevie Wonder?"

He steps from a shadowy corner, and as always her eyes take in the tattoos that cover his knuckles and arms, moving up to the red ink that took up half his neck.

Why did he look so bloated??

His face, though. His face makes all the color leave her own.

Charred, but the devilish smirk it held was unmistakable.

John.

Jolting up from another nightmare, this one far more intense and telling, she grabs her phone off her nightstand and begins to call Rod.

But by the time it starts ringing on his end, the line cuts out, along with everything else in the house. 

A jolt rushes through her as the air stills, giving the house an eerie feeling.

Moving from her bed, she pulls the curtain back to see the streetlights and her neighbors houses still have power, sending her for a loop.

"What the.." she turns around and heads out of her room, making her way downstairs and into the living room.

She reaches into her drawer for the flashlight. Impatiently rummaging through it, she grabs it and quickly turns it on, flashing it on random parts of her dark living room, sighing as she comes up empty handed.

"Why is the power off? I paid the damn electric bill." She grumbles and heads into the kitchen, digging in different drawers to find her pocket knife.

A noise sounds to the left of her, causing her to quickly shine her light in that direction, still not finding anything.... or anyone.

"Is somebody playin' with me?! Rod, is that you?" The fear in her voice doubles as she hears footsteps. She continues searching for her knife in a panic.

"Looking for this?" Her stomach drops to the floor as that same slimy voice from too many times before, fills her ears.

She stares at his masked face as his tattooed knuckles twirl her pink, Swiss Army knife around by the keychain loop.

"It's you."

"And, it's you." He chuckles and claps his hands in faux celebratory fashion. "I gotta hand it to you— it definitely took you long enough."

"Why?" She asks, beginning to back up as he starts walking towards her.

"My brother is dead, babygirl. His blood is on your hands and you gotta pay for what you did."

"I— I didn't kill your brother."

"Oh, I know your boyfriend did it, but it's so much more satisfying to blame it on you, cause it's ultimately your fault."

"Excuse me? How is it my fault?" He narrows his eyes at her.

"No more talking." He lunges at her, instantly getting clocked in his right temple with the the flashlight she's gripping for dear life, falling to the floor with a grunt.

She jumps over him and grabs the knife off the floor, running out of the kitchen and into the living room, where she's yanked back and tossed onto the carpet. The knife cuts her cheek from the abrupt movement, but she keeps it in her clutch.

"Fuck," she reaches out and cuts his leg, through his pants. He yanks her up by her hair, causing a shrill scream to sound through the air.

"Shut the fuck up!" His fist connects to her jaw, knocking her out cold. He whistles through her opened front door, and two men come in and carry her limp body outside.

The sound of a ringing phone catches his attention, sending him upstairs to retrieve it off of her bed. He stuffs it inside his jacket pocket and heads out.

Will you come find me...

When I'm out of reach from everything...

When my surroundings are no longer familiar.

I'm screaming out,

Yet, you can't hear me....

I'm bleeding out,

Yet, you can't feel me...

I'm afraid that you won't be able to save me,

This time.

I'm afraid that I won't be alive....

Will you come find me?

"Wrap this shit up, man." A voice to the left of Stevie is heard, as she slowly comes to, immediately rubbing her jaw and groaning.

"What the fuck," her eyes dart up to the same nameless man and a couple of new faces, equally as scary as his.

"Glad you could join us, dear." He speaks, sarcastically.

Usually, whatever was on the tip of her tongue, she'd let fly out of her mouth, but in this moment, she feared for her safety.

"Where am I?" She asks, internally cringing at how dry her throat is.

"Now, why would I tell you that?"

She blows out a frustrated breath and stares down at the blue carpet she's sitting on.

"Don't look so sad, princess. Your knight in shining armor should be on his way, shortly." He jokes, causing the others to chuckle.

She looks back up at him and narrows her eyes, "you're all a bunch of bitches. You know that?"

"You know what I know?," he quickly kneels in front of her, gripping her chin up. "I know that bitches like you cause problems. You know how many problems you've caused, Stevie?? Too fucking many." He lets her face go, roughly.

She breathes through her nose and stares back at him, not even giving it a second thought as she spits right in his eye. "Fuck you."

He laughs in response, before moving away from her and wiping her DNA out of his cornea. "Yeah, you just stay put."

"What makes you think I won't try and run away?" She asks.

"If you want your boyfriend to stay alive, you won't be running off too far." He winks at her, before leaving out of the room, along with his two, very dumb, cahoots-men.

Just so, Rod gets out of his Jeep with her promised half of cheesecake in hand. Moving up the sidewalk, the flicker from the flashlight catches his eye, causing his steps to quicken and push the unlocked door all the way open.

"Stevie?," he grabs the flashlight off the ground, sits the dessert on the counter and shines it around the dark kitchen, finding the drawers open and items strewed about.

Walking further into the living room, a spot of blood catches his eye, causing his heart to drop. He kneels down and stares at it, before reaching into his pocket for his phone.

Placing the phone up to his ear, he listens for her voice, but comes up short. Tightening his hand on the gun in his waistband, he heads upstairs, again not finding her anywhere.

His heart sinks further as he makes way back outside.

Crossing over the tiny garden of wilting roses in between the houses, he sends a couple of firm knocks on the bejeweled screen door.

The door cracks open as an olive teenaged boy pokes his head out, nodding at Rod. "What's up, my man?"

"Hey, uh... this is gonna sound weird, but I think my girlfriend is missing. She's not in the house and I'm extremely worried.... did you maybe see anything or hear something?"

"Now that you mention it," he opens the door a little further and steps out, closing it behind himself. "I did hear some commotion and my nana made me come check it out."

"What did you see?"

"It was suspicious ass dark van parked right there, for the longest time.," he points at the end of Stevie's driveway. "I'd never seen it, before."

Rod's blood starts to boil. "Did you happen to catch the license plate?"

"I did, actually. It's 2E14859. It was extra odd to me, cause it's not a New York tag, it's a California tag."

"Thank you, man. I appreciate it."

"No problem, let me know if I can do anything else." He pats his shoulder and heads back inside.

Rod heads back to his car and just sits there, putting all the pieces together in his head. Everything that's happened, slowly starts making a helluva lot of sense.

"Oh shit.," he pulls his phone back out and calls Josh.

"Hey.... we got a problem."

@blackerthings @sheabuttahwrites @twistedcharismaaa @thegifstories @blowmymbackout @chaneajoyyy @ghostfacekill-monger @nahimjustfeelingit-writes @nayaxwrites @cecereads209 @abeautifulmindexposed @harmshake

[dragimal]

sometimes I forget my dept manager is really bigoted, until she says something completely out of left field without any prompting.

just now, she saw I was still wearing a pride flag on my name tag and was like, "y'know, I don't care abt gay ppl, they can do whatever makes them happy, but why do they get a whole month for pride?"

which is rly funny of her to say to someone wearing a pride flag, when most 'allies' in my area would not feel comfortable showing any visible support for queer ppl, so I feel like wearing one should be like. obvious. also she's seen my beard before, she knows I'm not a 'typical' chick, lmao.

but anyways, I was just gonna roll my eyes and nod along until she stopped, but then she continued like, "I mean, Blacks [quoting her, bear with me] went through hell, but where's their month, or one for any other races??"

and I just had to stop and stare at her like. did I hear that right? I would've just let her peter out on her own, but I had to stop her and let her know that there is, in fact, a Black history month. and a Spanish heritage month. and an Asian American heritage month. etc. and she was so shocked like, "what, there is??"

and like, I know that other race issues unfortunately don't get as much publicity (good or bad) as Black social issues, but I've known abt Black history month since I was a child? there were ad bumpers on popular kid's channels, there were notices at my school, etc etc. and this girl's younger than me, has she been living under a rock???

but even once I told her that, she continued like, "well, it still feels like you only get to celebrate yourself if you're gay or lesbian," and ended her spiel there.

and y'know, there's def a conversation to be had abt corporate focus on certain events, and I even explained to her that Kroger prolly (unfortunately) thinks that those other pride/history months wouldn't be profitable. tho if the only reason she didn't know abt those racial history months is bc fucking Kroger didn't sell products abt them... she's got bigger issues, lmao. and there's an even deeper conversation to be had abt white prioritization in basically any social issue, including queer pride, and how that prolly contributes to the greater focus on queer pride as something that can be white-washed and sold back to a white audience. hell, this month's disability pride, and I don't see Kroger doing shit for that.

but she framed her argument as if she really wanted to ask why there isn't a straight pride month, but recognized that admitting that is no longer considered PC, so she used racial pride months as a scapegoat. like, forgive me for not trusting my fellow white coworker's sudden 'concern' for race issues, when she didn't even know abt Black history month to begin with. and if she did, I have the sneaking suspicion she would've complained abt that too.

[pancakeke]

not vague post, every readmore I use is to shorten work rants lol

one of these items appeared on my team's buy list on Friday so I was asked if I could find any details related to them, but couldn't. so my coworker asked the sales adjacent person since she's the only person in the item's edit history. she responded with "this is not a real part" and did nothing to correct the bad attributes. this part remained on our buy list.

sales adjacent person created and approved a bunch of fucked up part numbers that have the attributes for both physical inventory items and non-physical non-inventory items (think like, computer components vs labor fees). plus for some reason over 200 were manually added to stock despite that they lacked the "stocked" attribute. There weren't descriptions, comments, file attachments, or emails to explain what the hell the PNs were supposed to be.

Today this bad part also appeared on a report I needed to send accounting for a salesperson. I emailed the sales adjacent person and this salesperson stating that the item doesn't appear to be real yet we had 200 on hand and asked:

"Do either of you know what this item is

and how we stock more units?"

"Can you confirm if the attributes are correct?"

"Is there additional info you can provide on the other items approved with this one that have identical attributes?"

the sales adjacent person responded, direct quote with name redacted: "[Coworker] already asked me about this. This is not a real part. What else do you need to know?"

(she typically responds to me saying stuff like why are you asking me, that wasn't me (despite logs showing the contrary), that's not my responsibility, why does that matter, etc without mincing words so it's possible that "what else do you need to know" used here means "that's all you need to know".)

i WANTED to respond "the answers to all of the questions I already asked since you still haven't fixed the PN" but what i DID respond was "Are the attributes for these items correct?"

her response, again direct quote: "If its (sic) not a real part, then I would say no."

girl you made the part numbers. quit with this passive cop voice and give me the details to correct your dumb shit. I responded again asking what they're supposed to be and also emphasized that I was unable to find anything about these items and need her to tell me or I cant fix them.

though she might not reply anymore cause she gets mad and stops talking to me a lot... since she has a weird role I only really interact with her when she's fucking up inventory or creating bad data in our system so she's always on the defensive with me.

i wouldn't even fucking care if she would just communicate and actually help resolve issues when they arise. there are plenty of people who I never mention even though they sometimes make mistakes because they act normal about it.

[arkham-outskirts]

PAPER CHASE

! SPOILERS for the scenario contained within the Call of Cthulhu: Starter Kit, Paper Chase !

Below the cut will be various out of context quotes, summaries and art relating to our very first gaming session/scenario!

Also, I will warn: There's a bit more suggestive humor in this campaign then Alone Against the Flames...

GM/Keeper: @jackgiggles Player 1, Nadine Greenwald: @thevioletscout Player 2, Louis Milch: @atorchzagreusandtris

Pre-Game Stuff

Jack: I cannot wait to show you guys, each others characters *laughing in "what we have done"*

(Talking about the fact we didn't know what Louis looked like yet, compared to knowing TOO MUCH about Pepper) Scout: I got something, Very out of pocket. Scout: Tri, are you okay with this? Tri: Yes. Scout: It's not like I've seen, with my own eyes, Jack gave Pepper a big dick.

Jack, putting Pepper's ref in chat: This is the boy. Tri: Oh he's nice! Jack: Yea, he's nice ^^ Tri: Nice with uhh, a big ding dong. Jack: -whEEZE-

---

Jack: So Tri, do you want to explain to Scout, who your character is? Tri: I'll take a hard boiled egg, why not. Uhhhh *laughing* Tri: SO! This all kinda started as a joke, because the first thing I came up with; Is my character was going to be a Milkman. Scout: .... Alright. Tri: BUT- But it gets *can't stop laughing* Jack and Tri: *dying, can't speak* Tri: His entire thing, revolves around M i l k. His last name is Milch, Jack: German for Milk Tri: -yeah, and his name, Louis, comes from the guy who invented pasteurized milk.

Tri: BUT THE COMPANY- what did we call it?? Mommy milk-? Jack, dying: MILLA or something?? -My dogs are barking in the background- Jack and Tri: MOMMY MILLA MILK COMPANY

Tri: And his dad disappeared to go get milk, and that's why he chose his profession! Jack: I'm getting the meme I made of him.

Scout, realizing what the fuck we did: WHAT THE HELL??? WHAT DOES THAT MEAN??

---

And Louis is also apart of underground fighting rings, alike boxing, for extra money on the side.

Scout: Alright.............. I think I heard enough.

---

Scout, introducing her character: My character is Nadine Greenwald, she's a dancer at a Speakeasy. And uh, small town girl trying to make it big in the city! Tri: Oh, sweet! Scout: She likes to believe ignorance is bliss, but can't ignore when someone needs help.

---

Nice and calm introduction.

---

Jack: So Scout has the serious character, and Tri is bringing the memes. And we love it. Tri: THIS ALWAYS HAPPENS!!

---

Now Starting... The Actual Campaign

---

It is 1929, July when Nadine Greenwald and Louis Milch are contacted by Thomas Kimball, a resident in a small, overgrown town down south from Arkham City called Windleigh. He deemed them the most trustworthy individuals to handle a case due to a quiet town having a lazy sheriff who was no help for a strange theft.

---

GM(Jack): Tri- or Louis, you are very well familiar with the place because it's on your track to... deliver your milk. Louis(Tri): *laugh* GM: You're familiar with the neighborhood, and recognize the new face of Thomas who moved in recently after the passing of his uncle, Douglas Kimball.

---

The town is very overgrown and clearly, it's dying out with the passing years. Most residents are elderly. The Kimball Residence is pretty rundown, and full of moving boxes and such messes expected from such a move.

Thomas goes on to invite them in, and explain what had happened.

"You see, I went into my uncle's study this morning and saw that the window was opened, and some books were clearly missing. History textbooks, some novels- I don't know what specifically, since the library isn't all that well organized. But the sheriff was no help, and while there were footprints they were so muddled in the investigation from sloppy work they're of no use.

"And, they wound up causing more trouble then what was worth calling them for, as they broke one of my statues..."

---

Nadine (Scout), ooc: This is a weird question, but does he still have the statue? Thomas, (GM): I put it in a box, I think I can get it fixed. It's just one of my own...... cat states. It- it was my grandmothers, you see? Nadine, trying to see if it was lore related: O h

---

Thomas asks them to find clues as to who taken them, and for what purpose. Then, he tacts on basically an optional mission for questions he never really had the chance to be answered.

---

Thomas: It's perhaps foolish, but- if you could find anything of my uncle, it would be appreciated.

Nadine: Do you have any ideas of suspects? Thomas: Hmm... I'm not quite sure. I've only been here for a month, and the only one to cross me was that damn Sheriff. Everyone else, was pleasant... from what I've seen.

---

Thomas lends rooming for the two while they stay and investigate around Windleigh, since he wasn't going to force the two to pay for housing doing a job for him!

---

GM: You can tell Thomas is more of a secluded, artsy kinda person. Not great with social interactions... GM: This is also me being very awkward about roleplaying someone! *laughter* GM: I have also joked that this is Thomas eyeing the man. Louis, ooc: OH okay! I get it!

---

Nadine: She like, offers a comforting hand on his shoulder. Louis: Louis- he offers the man a bottle of milk. Thomas: UH no- no thanks, I am rather lactose intolerant! Louis, ooc: He mistook the eyeing as "He wants some milk!" GM: Oh a himbo, Thomas has his work cut out for him! Nadine, ooc: *head in hands* Oh god, it's Pepper and Jo all over again.

---

Nadine, to the rescue: SO could you tell us more about the missing books? Thomas, ooc: Thomas is VERY glad for the change of topic, and goes on to explain what is in the library!

---

Nadine and Louis first start investigating the library-study, mostly full of historical documents, texts and random novels. However, they do see a few more... unusual books, with strange covers. They are occult, as Douglas was a man who taught at Miskatonic University.

Unfortunately, neither recognize any of the tomes. However, due to Nadine's work in Arkham, she knew there were odd subjects and ideas circling the cities University, so it wasn't too unusual for a professor to have such texts.

Louis goes to investigate the window, of which is cracked open. Dust was unsettled, showing it wasn't opened often. Thus being the point of entry. And- dried mud or dirt around the windowsill. Like someone climbed in.

Upon a spot hidden, they search around and discover a handwritten dairy. It was very cursive handwriting, obviously belonging to Douglas Kimball. As they flip through it, they take notice of the fact the quality of the handwriting and grammar dramatically decreasing as it goes on. Such a thing being concerning, for a retired professor.

---

Scout: I'm gonna go turn my light on, it's getting dark out Jack, reading notes: Hehe ~Spooky~

---

Douglas' journal mentions something about "making a decision", "joining my friends below" and something about a "creature".

---

Louis: Probably a possum or somethin' -laughter- Nadine, ooc: I'm curious, what is his Intelligence stat? Louis, ooc: .... GM: I will say, you made him strong and charming, but he's not the sharpest tool in the shed. Louis, ooc: His Intelligence is 50 and 40 Education. Nadine, ooc: Nadine's not much better, she has 55 in both. Very pretty, but not very bright. GM: Himbo and bimbo.

---

Louis: I don't think it could be an older person that climbed through a window. Nadine: You'd be surprise, but I'm not pinning suspects yet.

---

They ask around Windleigh, and run across an elderly man who kinda fills in about Douglas and the Kimball family. He explains Douglas was more of a reclusive person in town, always reading. So nobody really knew the Kimballs, but the kid...

Small Girl: He's just really weird! He gave me a bad feeling, especially recently... Nadine: .... What do you mean by that? Small girl: I don't know, he's just weird! He's always on his own, at the graveyard! Who does that?? Louis: Uhh yeah-

The old man patted the girl on the head, and kinda shrugged it off while slightly scolding the girl, "Abigail, that is rude, you can't just call people weird." and excuses himself.

---

GM: If you would like to talk to the older, glamorous lady, make a Appearance or Credit Rating roll. Nadine, ooc: Nadine has a... 60 in appearance. Louis, ooc: Mine's a 70! GM: Alright, roll!

Louis, ooc: 90 Nadine, ooc: 75, I'm over. GM: R i g h t, so the lady- Lady O’Dell, does not want to hear what you have to say. And kinda- uses her parasol to kinda shy away from you and block sight like "Ohhh no, please go!" Louis, ooc: -whEEZE- Alright, to the graveyard then!

---

Lady O'Dell smelled the poor on them.

---

GM: The graveyard is behind the Kimball home, and kinda uphill with a lot of overgrown roots along the cobblestone. Nadine, ooc: Nadine is wearing h e e l s GM: oof, yeah good luck Nadine Louis, ooc: And Louis is carrying his- bucket of milk. Nadine: Not gonna help a lady, got it!

GM: and there are a bunch of... uhhh. What are those buildings that hold like, urns n stuff? Louis, ooc: Uhh I wanna say mausoleums-?? Or- GM: Mausoleums! Louis: Ah, yeah!

---

The gaveyard is very old, with stone overgrown and worn down. There didn't seem to be much room left for anyone else to be buried.

There is the graveyard keeper, a very old and grouchy old man. His hair was once red, but now greyed at his temples and roots. He was very haggard.

---

GM: Roll for Charm, or which ever is highest. Cause he's grouchy. Nadine, ooc: I got 91, I'm shit outta luck.

---

Louis however passes his charm roll, so he walks up to the caretaker, Jefferson. Louis being his usual charming milkman self, manages to bring out the better parts of Jefferson to ask about what he might know about the Kimball House. Jefferson appears as if he's familiar with the place.

And it's shown, he's actually quite friendly with Douglas. Probably kindred spirits in a way, being a grouchy groundskeeper and a reclusive bookworm.

---

Jefferson (GM): It's unfortunate, the house is- has been gone off- in a- for an- in- *sputters* GM: I'm having a stroke.

---

Jefferson divulges in the fact they enjoyed each other presence, and talked very casually. A nice, calm friendship between two old guys. Plants, the weather, all those sorts of things.

---

Jefferson: And it's strange, Douglas always had this strange... fascination, or draw, with this one tombstone. Nadine and Louis: Hmmm... Jefferson: He'd always go there to read.

Nadine: Where is this tombstone? Jefferson: Oh, its one of the oldest ones nearby the mausoleum, the first one. Actually pretty close to the Kimball House.

---

Louis thanks Jefferson for the information, though it's noted that Jefferson seems to grow more anxious- and glancing towards the shadows, edging away from them.

---

Nadine, occ: I got 25, and my spot hidden is 35. Perspective gal! ... So far.

---

Nadine eventually notices that while Jefferson is trying to edge out of the conversation, being kinda twitchy, she notices there's an odd shape in his coat. Looking at his pocket, she could see the glimmer of a brown bottle. (Booze)

---

Nadine, ooc: I guess he's drinking...? GM: Note, prohibition is still in effect. Nadine, ooc: Nadine could give Less of a shit, she works in a speakeasy!

---

Nadine doesn't mention it, given the fact they had some sort of lead.

---

Louis, ooc: Of course, because it's customary for Louis, he offers Jefferson a bottle of milk. GM: -wheezing- Jefferson waves him away, "No, no- we got some already- thanks"

---

GM: I will say- you should continue with graveyard later. Because there's plenty of stuff to see Before then. GM: I learned this with my parents, who finished this EARLY.

---

Nadine, ooc: That tombstone ain't goin' anywhere. Louis, ooc: Watch us be Wrong. -laughter-

---

*they agree to go to the library next* Louis, ooc: Time to go read books!

GM: Also I will shoehorn you into every location, cause I am proud of them.

---

Louis is rather familiar with Windleigh, and it's a very small town so they find the Library easily. The library is quite small, one story and perhaps just 3 rooms maximum. It's ran by one person at the moment, a petite blonde woman, who's hair is actually white is so blonde.

---

Louis: We're looking for some recently donated books? Librarian [GM]: Ohh, we hadn't had anything new. We've been told from Thomas we might receive some of of his uncle's old collection, but nothing yet, I'm afraid.

Nadine, ooc: I got a 42- Nadine doesn't go to the library often. GM: Nope, apparently not. Louis, ooc: 20 percent... and I rolled a 6. GM: A 6?? Damn-

---

Either by shear luck or divine intervention, Louis finds an old newspaper article, badly damaged and from roughly 10 years ago. Very odd for it's condition- faded and hard to read.

(Here's to my first handmade handout.)

---

GM: You can't really tell much else, besides that it was printed by the Arkham Gazette.

---

Nadine, ooc: Maybe I'm- peeking over his Very broad shoulders. -laughter-

Louis, ooc: He's like- average height? GM: Like, 5'10. But he's very broad. Louis, ooc: He's VERY Broad. GM: A broad, if you will.

---

The librarian kinda freaks out when they picked it up, saying that the place was just very unkempt by the previous owner for whatever reason, and it was very delicate. She then informs them that, as she takes it away, if they're looking for a more intact copy there might be one at the Arkham Gazette.

Librarian: I have a cousin who works there, he'd be most glad to let you look around. Nadine, ooc, realizing: Ohhhh I know who this woman is. GM: heh, snow white hair?

Debra: I'm Debra Snow, if you give a man "Jo Winters" my name, I'm sure he'll let you investigate. 'cause he's more nosy then he should be about this kind of stuff.

---

Nadine tried rolling for Psychology to see if she could trust her, and upon failing decided to just go for it and explained why they were looking into things, about the break-in and the books.

Debra is surprised, and mentions she's met the man once since moving to Windleigh. That Douglas was only announced dead because there was zero trace.

---

Nadine: That's certainly unfortunate... Louis: Yes, indeed......... Would you like some milk?? -LAUGHTER- GM: Debra is taken aback, and goes ".... UHH. SURE??"

Nadine, ooc: She likes gets behind him, and mouths to her "sorry, he does this all the time"

---

Quick intermission, but there was discussion of how Louis and Nadine knew each other, since they really easily slipped into a dynamic like casual friendship. Likely just Louis delivering and they talked enough to have bonded.

---

Nadine: I guess uh- I'm kinda interested in going back to Arkham to check out the Gazette. Louis: I would sugge- *discord cuts out on Scout's end* Nadine, ooc: .... Tri where'd you go??

---

Louis, ooc: Hop into my milk van!

---

GM: Every time I say Arkham, I just think- Batman. Louis, ooc: SAME-

---

Part 2: [LINK]

[quibliography]

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah 🎣

Synopsis:  This novel is a memoir about the life of Trevor Noah growing up in a post-apartheid South Africa. He was born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother during a time when it was forbidden for these two people to so much as interact with each other. But even with the end of apartheid, Trevor Noah still had to learn how to live in a fractured world, navigating the differences between being white, being black, being colored, being many of these things, and being none of them.

My Quibs: I already adore Trevor Noah, as a comedian and a storyteller. Seriously, even a short clip of an episode of his run as host of the Daily Show or his podcast What Now, it's so clear how well spoken he is. So obviously, a whole book of it? Sign me up! But I would also recommend listening to it (even maybe reading along as you listen) because 1) the presentation of his words makes the story so much more impactful but 2) I couldn't even imagine how to pronounce the various African languages and names he uses. I think I've learned how to pronounce Xhosa by now though🤞. So just to preface, I came into this memoir with a hint of what to expect and an undying love for the author.

I really believe everyone should read this book. There are so many points that initially is about apartheid and South African history/culture, but actually has a larger message about race relations and how we connect to each other as humans. He tells a story about how his school playground was divided in groups by white/black/colored/other. And how even among the black kids, because Africa of course has its own diversity, there was division by spoken language. And it's not an uncommon experience, considering how America can do that as well. I mean, just as a stupid example, the Mean Girls cafeteria scene when the "cliques" are explained to her. In reality we also divide social lines by what we see and what we hear. It's a universal experience. But his message was how to cross those lines. Trevor Noah is good with languages and uses communication as a means to connect across these divides. He quotes Nelson Mandela saying "If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart."

But because Trevor Noah is also a comedian, he balances out the seriousness with outrageous stories of the hijinks he got up to. From having to covertly poop in front of his blind grandmother to his "Long, Awkward, Occasionally Tragic, and Frequently Humiliating Education in Affairs of the Heart" (in three parts). Everything he writes is so endearing and feels so relatable despite it being an entirely different life experience than I know. And I've heard many people say now that it's a gateway to wanting to learn more about that part of the world. Americans, at least, have so little education about international history and Trevor Noah provides a great sample of a world that we should be more aware of.

Should you read it? Yes. No conditionals. Just yes. Can't read? Listen to it. Actually, if you can read, listen to it too.

Similar reads? I don't read many memoirs so it's hard to compare. Any one that I have read is distinct in their voice and personality. But if you already like watching him on the Daily Show or on his podcast What Now, I guarantee you'll like this book.

(Spoiler Alert!) He's alluded to his mother being shot in the head when he talks to the audience or his guest on the Daily Show, off air. So I was aware this was not only an event in his life, but obviously a very significant one. So the entire time I was waiting for the full story. To those who didn't know what was coming, apparently it was such an intense ending. (Someone literally had to pause it while they were driving because they wanted to devote their whole attention to this last chapter.) For me whom it was a long time coming, it was still pretty gripping. And dammit, it made me want to keep reading. I need a sequel, Trevor!! Please! Or can his mother write a book about what it was like raising Trevor? I'll take that too, thank you!

What did you think of Born A Crime?