#small ontario towns man....

[cybercanadian]

I need a hot bf

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

“GIVEN FOUR YEARS,” Grand Valley Star & Vidette. July 2nd, 1931, Page 1. ----- Robert John Foster, who hails from the east side of Mulmur township, in the neighborhood of Everett, was tried by His Honor Judge Innes in the County Court without a jury on Tuesday on a charge of attempted robbery while armed. Foster, the evidence went to show, entered a garage and service station on provincial highway No.10 about one mile east of Shelburne about 11 o'clock on the night of May 13th last and attempted to rob Gordon Wrigglesworth. Wrigglesworth swore that Foster accosted him with the words: "Have you got any dough?" "What do you mean by that," Wrigghesworth countered. "Money," answered Foster.

Wrigglesworth answered in the negative, whereupon Foster pulled a revolver from his right hip pocket and aimed it at the garage man. Wrigglesworth leaped forward and grappled with the gunman and after a sharp struggle managed to wrest the weapon form his grasp. Foster escaped from the building but was arrested later. When examined the revolver contained on loaded shell. Six witnesses were examined for the prosecution, which was conducted by Crown Attorney R. D. Evans. Foster, who was not represented by council took the witness box in his own defense and proved an evasive and cunning witness. Judge Innes found the accused guilty of the charge and sentenced him to four years imprisonment in Kingston penitentiary. Foster is about 25 years of age and unmarried and lived with his mother near Everett. He has a previous conviction against him for theft.—Orangeville Banner.

[AL: Foster was actually 22, from Glencairn, Ontario, and a farmer. He was convict #2241 at Kingston Penitentiary, worked on the farm, and in October 1932 he was transferred to Collin’s Bay minimum security camp. He was convict #453 there, but was paroled March 1934. He would be back to KP on another sentence by 1937.]

[pangur-and-grim]

omg apparently I was getting dirty looks last weekend? I was walking around a small town in Ontario eating a rum & raisin icecream, and when my friend told afterward I was like “wait why 😭😭😭”, but then she reminded me that I’m 6’2 with a Mohawk and that I’d said in too loud a voice “I just think it’s really progressive how he fucked that old man”, so now I’m like yeah that’s reasonable, I apologize.

[lovelytsunoda]

sleigh ride // lance stroll

summary: christmas has never been his holiday. but she adores it, and he wants to make this christmas one that she won't forget.

pairing: lance stroll x fiancee!reader

warnings: marriage proposals, fluffy lance, it's super duper cheesy, lance quotes emily henry's "beach read", where can i get a lance

the snow fell down on niagara falls in scattered flurries, the waterfalls the town used as their namesake almost frozen solid in motion as they spilled into lake ontario. the sun was setting, with niagara-on-the-lake doused in an orange-pink glow as the couple ran out of the b'n'b, giggling hand in hand.

"lance, where are we going?" she giggled, mitten-clad hand clutched in her boyfriend's as he pulled her along the snowy sidewalk.

"just trust me, but you'll need to close your eyes." lance stroll insisted, turning to face her, pressing his warm lips to her rapidly cooling forehead. "we're almost there."

"if you say so." she chortled, closing her eyes and following lance as he guided her, gentle flakes falling against her knitted hat.

the breeze was cold, cutting through the many layers that they both wore as lance urged her forwards. her mind was swimming with all the possibilities lance could have come up with, but she couldn't settle on any.

christmas had never been his thing. he was raised jewish, and she had celebrated hannukah with his family before, so why would he celebrate christmas anyways? the answer was simple: because she enjoyed it. he could convince himself to embrace a little more of the christmas spirit than normal when she was around, when she insisted on putting that stunning tree in their living room, or buying elf ears for their dog.

"okay, you can open your eyes now."

she opened her eyes, instantly covering her mouth to stop the delighted scream from coming out and scaring the horses. sitting in front of her were two stunning black mares, towing a snow-white sleigh, decorated with white glitter and snowflakes, a plush throw blanket thrown over the bench in the back.

"lance, this is incredible!"

lance beamed, glowing under the streetlamps as he pulled open the metal gate door. "milady." he giggled, reaching for her gloved hand to help her into the sleigh.

she curled into him on the bench, lance fluffing the blanket out behind and over their bodies before the well-dressed man sat in the driver's seat of the sleigh flashed them a smile, and the horses began their slow trot down the cobblestones.

she slipped her gloves off, taking lance's cold hand in hers as she played with his fingers, head resting comfortably on his shoulder. her breath crystallized in the air, snowflakes falling into the sleigh and promptly melting on the winter mats on the ground.

lance himself was fidgety, the tiffany and co. box burning a hole in the pocket of his parka. he was so anxious about asking that he'd almost done it that morning, over coffee and croissants at breakfast.

but she deserved more than that. she deserved something meaningful, something special (not that there was anything wrong with a little bit of privacy and keeping it lowkey, he just wanted to have a great proposal story to pass down to their kids. after y/n told him that her father proposed to her mother by saying 'we need to talk', he vowed that his proposal would be special).

she turned her head, pressing a frosty kiss to his warm skin. "i love you, lance."

he smiled, burying his nose in the top of her knitted hat. " i love you more, pretty girl. i've got another surprise for you, if you're up for it."

she looked up at him, hair falling in front of her face, skin pink from the cold as she smiled back at him. "what kind of surprise?"

"you'll see. it's just around this corner, love."

the sleigh pulled up to a small gazebo, cords of string lights wrapped around the weathered wooden beams to light up the small space, now that the sun was behind the clouds, the last dregs of daylight hovering in the space between night and day.

lance got to his feet, opening the sleigh gate before the driver could even get down from his perch. with her long fleece scarf hanging down to her knees, she daintily descended from the sleigh, hand in hand with her boyfriend as he led her towards the gazebo.

the snow beneath their feet was dusted with deep purple rose petals, some small tea light candles on the steps. as they got closer to the gazebo, she could see the small lightbox letters, lit up in a warm, soft yellow as they got closer, spelling out two words.

marry me.

"oh, lance." she breathed, at a loss for words as she anxiously wringed her hands.

she could hear the wooden boards creaking behind her as lance sunk down to one knee, reaching into his pocket for the turquoise box. he rested the box on his knee, frozen hands shaking as he pulled it open.

"i really should have thought this through a little better. i'm cold as shit." he giggled nervously. "but i know christmas means a lot to you, and i wanted to make this as special as i could."

she gasped, hands coming up to cover her mouth as she saw the ring: a single princess-cut diamond resting on a silver band, two small pink gemstones holding the center gem in place.

"y/n, i'm head over heels for you, and i always have been. every morning i wake up next to you, and i think, this could all go away. the racing, the money, the fame, all of it. but as long as i had you by my side, i wouldn't care. as long as i had you, i'd be happy. because you make me so happy, y/n. you remind me of all the good in the world, all the reasons to keep going. in the words of emily henry, yes, i've read your romance books, 'when i watch you sleep, i feel overwhelmed that you exist'. man, she got that right. i feel overwhelmed with love, and with care. and some days, i wonder why you chose me when you could have had any man you wanted. y/n y/'l/n. pretty girl. love of my life." lance sniffled, wiping at the tear that was threatening to fall into his stubble. "will you marry me?"

"yes!" she shouted, her voice echoing across the clearing as she started to giggle. "yes, of course i'll marry you." her eyes started to sting, tears pricking the corners of her vision, so overcome with love for man on his knees in front of her.

she sunk to her knees as well, the frost on the gazebo cold against the knees on her jeans. she clasped lance's hands in her own, pulling him in for a gentle kiss before he slipped the ring onto her finger, foreheads resting against each other.

"thank you so much for saying yes. i can't think of a day in the foreseeable future that i don't want to spend with you by my side."

"oh, lance." she laughed through her tears of joy. "don't make me cry."

"i'm not trying to, my love." he laughed, tears pricking at his eyes. "god, i just love you so much."

"i love you more." she laughed, tucking her arms around him, pulling him in for a hug before glancing down at the sterling silver on her finger.

lance kissed her hairline, holding her close and breathing in her scent.

if this was every day for the rest of his life, then he was wondering why he'd waited so long to ask.

TAGS:

@libraryofloveletters @magnummagnussen @lorarri @httpiastri @cartierre @sidcrosbyspuck @scuderiamh @oconso @thatsdemko @silversainz

[sydsaint]

Summary: Bron finds himself out a hotel room after a late-night mix-up with the receptionist. Luckily for him, the reader is an old friend who is also getting into town late.

It's well past midnight when Bron's Uber from the airport finally pulls into the hotel parking lot. "Thanks, man." Bron mumbles a quick thanks to his driver before collecting his bags and heading inside the lobby.

Dragging his bags behind him, Bron heads for the check-in desk where there is a blonde woman watching something on her phone to occupy her time.

"Evening, sir." The woman perks up when Bron approaches the desk. "What can I do for you?" She asks him with a polite smile.

"Yeah, room reserved for Bronson Steiner?" Bron answers the blonde.

The blonde nods and starts typing at the keyboard in front of her. Bron watches her eyebrows furrow in confusion for a brief moment before goes back to her keyboard.

"Is there a problem?" Bron speaks up after a few moment of silence.

"Yes, I'm afraid so." The blonde frowns and mumbles something under her breath. "Mr. Steiner, I'm afraid that there was an issue with our booking system. We gave your room away earlier today." She bites the inside of her cheek, embarrassed by the mix-up.

Bron frowns but tries not to take his frustration out on the poor receptionist in front of him. "Are there any other rooms available? Even just for the night?" He asks her.

"No, I'm sorry." The blonde shakes her head sheepishly. "We're booked up fully for that Wrestling show going on in the arena across the way." She explains.

"Damn." Bron grits his teeth. "Okay, do you know if anyone else around has a room available?" He tries his best to remain calm and civil about the whole situation.

The receptionist clicks her mouse a few times in silence and Bron watches her in silence.

Out in the parking lot, you finally arrive at the hotel after a painstaking flight. You collect your bags from the back of your Uber and thank him before heading inside. When you step into the quiet hotel lobby, you spot Bron talking with the receptionist at the front desk.

"Bron!" You walk over to Breakker with a smile.

The two of you knew each other in NXT and were friends. You got moved up to Smackdown about a year ago and lost touch with Bron due to always being on the road. But recently Bron has joined the Smackdown roster. So the two of you have been catching up.

"I thought I was the only one crazy enough to be getting in this late." You joke with a laugh and walk over to Bron at the front desk.

"YN, hey." Bron turns toward you with a surprised but friendly smile. But you can tell something is bothering him.

You glance at the receptionist who is feverishly clicking away at her computer then turn back to Bron. "What's going on? Sign in not working or something?" You ask Bron.

"They accidently gave my room away earlier today." Bron explains. "And now they're all booked up for the show. So she's trying to find me a new hotel." He gestures to the receptionist.

"Oh, I hate when that happens." You frown. "When the show was in Ontario a few months ago they accidently gave my room away. I ended up having to share a room with Waller since we had that storyline going." You explain. "And my god can that man snore. Ugh, it was hell."

The receptionist continues trying to fix Bron's problem when an idea pops into your head. You turn toward her with a friendly smile. "Miss? Can I get checked in real fast?" You ask her. "It's a room for YN LN?"

The receptionist nods and quickly checks you in with no problems. You take your keycard and turn toward Bron. "You can bunk with me for the night, Bron." You offer. "Then you can see about getting a different room tomorrow when it's not like 2am and more places are open." You suggest.

"Oh, I don't want to intrude, YN." Bron shakes his head.

"You aren't!" You insist. "Come on. I've got a room with a king bed, Plenty of room for you and those broad shoulders for the night." You tease with a small laugh. "Really, it's no trouble."

Bron reluctantly nods and you ask the receptionist for a spare keycard. She hands one over to Bron and the two of you head up to your room.

You reach your floor and head for your room. You unlock the door and head inside. The room is nothing special. Just a standard room with a tv, table, two chairs, and a king bed.

"Alright, well I'm going to grab a shower before I head to sleep." You set your bags down and dig around for your sleep-wear. "Make yourself at home."

Bron nods and watches you disappear into the bathroom. He sits down at the edge of the bed and sets his head in his hands followed by a deep sigh.

"What the hell am I doing?" Bron groans to himself once he hears the shower turn on in the bathroom.

A little over a month ago when Bron joined Smackdown you were the first person to congratulate him on his promotion. It had been almost a year since you and Bron had last seen each other, but you acted like no time had passed. And that exact moment was when Bron realized that he doesn't just want to be your friend anymore. No. The man has a hopeless crush on you. And now he's about to sleep in the same bed as you.

Around half and hour later you emerge from the bathroom dressed in nothing but a t-shirt and underwear while toweling your hair off. Bron chokes on air from his spot on the edge of the bed as you approach him.

"That the side you want, Bron?" You ask absentmindedly and walk around to the other side of the bed.

"Y-yeah." Bron nods, gaze following you all the way around the bed.

You toss your damp towel toward the bathroom door and hop up onto the bed. "Cool with me." You settle into the mattress and reach for your phone to plug it in. "I'll see you in the morning, Bron." You switch your side-table lamp off and snuggle into your pillow.

Bron remains in a sitting position for a while, his nerves paralyzing him. But after a while he finally calms himself enough to strip his shirt off and lay down.

You lay on the other side of the bed fast asleep on your back with your head turned toward Bron. Breakker lays in silence and watches the rise and fall of your chest, silently scoffing at the Tony D'Angelo shirt you're wearing.

Eventually Breakker does manage to fall asleep for a while. He's woken up a couple hours later when he suddenly feels a weight shift in the bed followed by a warm body right up against him. Bron's eyes shoot open and he finds you snuggled up into his side and still sleeping like a baby.

"Shit." Bron mumbles to himself as he stares down at your sleeping form.

Light is starting to stream in through the window, so it's got to be at least six by now. A part of Bron wants to flee back down to the lobby and get his room situation figured out. And he probably would if you weren't using him as a body pillow right now.

Bron's heart thumps in his chest and the noise is enough to make you stir in your sleep. "God you're warm." You sigh half-asleep and adjust your body a bit before snuggling back into Bron. "And cuddly, Bron." You add with a yawn.

Bron lays awake for around another hour before you eventually roll off of him and fully wake up for the morning.

"Morning, Bron." You yawn and sit up in bed.

"Morning." Bron replies and does the same.

You take a moment to stretch your arms over your head before you let yourself fall back down into bed. "Sleep well?" You ask Bron.

"Yeah, fine." Bron nods.

"Liar." You reply with a sly grin. "You slept for like two hours max last night." You laugh. "You were to busy having a crisis over being in the same bed as me, dork." You giggle and poke Bron in the back.

Your claim makes Bron turn around to face you. "How'd you know that?" He asks you.

"I'm a pretty light sleeper." You shrug. "Plus when I rolled over to your side of the bed I could her your heart about to burst out of your chest." You giggle and poke Bron's bare chest. "So. How long were you planning on pining over me like a lost puppy?" You ask him.

"I-I-I was not pining." Bron huffs in embarrassment.

You smirk and rise into a sitting position again. "Sure you weren't." You tease him. "That's why you're blushing right now. Because you aren't dying to see me naked." You wink at Bron.

Bron runs a frustrated hand over his face and you giggle at him. "What's so funny?" Bron asks you, clearly about to die from embarrassment.

"You are." You continue with your fit of giggles and sit back up in bed. "And criminally adorable when you're all flustered and embarrassed." You add. "So. Whadduya say, Bronson? You ready to admit you've got a thing for me? Or do I have to go shower alone?"

You watch Bron's eyes widen in surprise and you can't help but laugh again at his flustered expression. "So adorable." You tease. "Come on, big boy. Don't get all choir-boy-eques on me now." You scoot to the edge of the bed and grab Bron's hand.

"Well I'd be stupid to say no." Bron finally replies after a few seconds of contemplation.

"Atta boy!" You grin and continue on your journey to the bathroom, Bron trailing close behind you.

You are going to eat this poor awkward man alive. And you can't wait to see what he's got in store for you.

[ladycharles]

Oh Boy track by track part 2 - Hands (Hamlet context dump incoming)

"Oh Boy" the play is a twisted disco version of Hamlet that unfolds in small town Ontario, and so "Hands" is a track that is about my impression of Claudius, in this case renamed Colonel Uncle Arvin by Kosta, the playwright.

Arvin/Claudius is portrayed as a military man, his kingdom a disco bar (Colonel Uncle Arvin's Family Style Restaurant and Dancehall) in small town Ontario rather than all of Denmark. He is deeply inhibited, brutish, scheming, and prone to emotional outbursts that he barely masks with a deep cynicism.

This song was composed for his entrance - a dance solo. He is a limbering, awkwardly masculine dancer and so I wanted the track to feature an uneven rhythm despite the rigid 4/4 of disco - hence the chorus bassline actually comes in before the drums instead of being locked in, creating a sense of pulling against the beat as if to wrest control of the rhythm like the feelings of anger and anxiety driving him.

And so the lyrics too follow the theme of his internal conflict. I know anxiety and panic, and the song recounts the feelings of being controlled by anxiety, the "commotion" being the loss of control of a meltdown or panic attack.

Men like Arvin do not wear their emotions on their sleeve, so I couldn't make it direct. Instead I tried to write as the older, more inhibited generations do - using poetic language to obscure the meaning. This is the realm of "feeling like a shadow/drifting like a leaf*" not "I spend my waking hours haunting my own life/I made the one I love start crying tonight**"

The track was mixed and edited by Mark Plati, who produced David Bowie's Earthling and Toy albums and who I actually saw play guitar for him when I was 13 and had the luck of seeing Bowie in Toronto. He is an incredibly talented musical mind and much like Erin Tonkon did to my other tracks he worked some magic to where it really came alive compares to my rough mix. It's amazing being able to have these experienced and brilliant hands on deck, and I learned a lot from both of them.

An example of Plati's work with Bowie - check out the explosion of the chorus, what a dynamic track. Loved this one in my youth.

*Move On - Bowie

**Spiteful Intervention - of Montreal

[ichorstained]

˗ˏˋ 𓂃 (  sienna  miller.  cis  woman.  she/her ).  meet  winter  sutton,  a  44  year  old,  who  has  been  in  cloyne  for  32  years.  they  are  a  physiotherapist,  known  for  being  adaptable  and  blunt.  they  are  often  heard  humming  along  to  ego  by  halsey.  residents  have  labeled  them  the  black widow. 

tw for poverty, mental illness, absent parents, teen pregnancy, heart condition, death, narcissistic mothers

winter  was  born  to  an  absent  father  and  a  narcissistic  mother  in  toronto,  ontario.  growing  up,  winter’s  relationship  with  her  mom  was  quite  strained.  winter’s  mom  could  never  hold  down  a  job  or  relationship  and  was  constantly  moving.  winter  was  the  result  of  a  teen  pregnancy  and  her  mother  often  blamed  her  for  her  father  leaving  and  for  her  life  ending  up  shitty.

when  winter  was  12  her  mother  remarried.  the  man  she  married  was  rich  and  a  prominent  member  of  society  in  cloyne.  of  course,  that  meant  winter  and  her  mother  would  be  moving  there.  the  first  few  weeks  in  cloyne  were  tough  for  winter.  it’s  a  small  town  and  most  people  had  been  friends  since  diapers.  eventually,  winter  started  to  make  friends  and  cloyne  would  become  the  first  place  that  felt  like  home.  unsurprisingly,  her  mother  had  to  go  and  ruin  it.

her  mother  got  pregnant  and  had  a  beautiful  baby  that  she  adored  in  a  way  she  never  did  winter.  winter  herself  was  often  ignored  and  ended  up  spending  less  and  less  time  at  home.

her  mother  and  step-father  had  a  second  child,  winter  became  a  teenager  and  more  independent  than  ever.  she  didn’t  bond  with  her  siblings,  with  was  hard  with  a  12-14  year  age  gap.  she  sometimes  babysat  them  if  her  parents  offered  to  pay  but  winter  would  soon  leave  for  college  and  not  return  to  see  them  grow  up.

winter  went  to  school  in  ottawa  for  physiotherapy.  it  was  there  she  met  her  first  husband  and  the  father  of  her  children,  holden  sutton.  she  got  pregnant  at  twenty  and  dropped  out  of  college  to  care  for  her  child.  the  three  of  them  lived  in  ottawa  until  holden  finished  his  studies.  at  that  point,  they  moved  to  cloyne  for  good  and  had  two  more  children.

they  had  ten  great  years  together  before  holden  passed  away.  his  cause  of  death  was  determined  to  be  due  to  an  heart  condition  they  didn’t  end  up  catching  until  it  was  too  late.

seven  years  later  winter  remarried  to  a  new  face  in  town,  a  casper  mayfair.  she  wanted  to  give  her  children  a  father  and  he  was  the  man  willing  to  do  it.  their  relationship  had  it’s  ups  and  downs,  with  rumours  of  casper  cheating  of  her.  at  the  same  time  winter  was  traveling  an  hour  and  a  half  every  day  to  ottawa,  finishing  her  physiotherapy  degree.

she  finished  her  degree  and  decided  to  open  her  own  physiotherapy  practice.  this  was  rumored  to  cause  an  argument  between  casper  and  winter,  him  allegedly  disapproving  of  her  going  back  to  work.

one  night  two  years  ago  when  winter  and  her  kids  were  away  from  the  house,  there  was  a  carbon  monoxide  leak.  the  only  causality  was  casper.  with  two  dead  husbands,  winter  became  the  town’s  black  widow.  she  was,  however,  investigated  and  proven  innocent.

[bittenmoths]

CLOYNE FILES — RAFAEL VELAZQUEZ.

˗ˏˋ 𓂃 ( danny ramirez. cis man. he/him ). meet rafael velazquez, a 30 year old, who has been in cloyne for his whole life. they are a tattooist / owner at blackest ink, known for being equanimous and woolgathering. they are often heard humming along to everything in its right place by radiohead. residents would describe them as the quixotic. ( james, 25, they/them, est )

content warnings for... drunk driving, car accident, familial death, grief, traumatic brain injury, anxiety, dissociation.

profile.

full name — rafael amaya velaquez.

nickname(s) — raf, rafa, velaquez.

place of birth — cloyne, ontario, canada.

date of birth & age — july 15th, 1994. thirty.

gender / pronouns — cis man, he/him.

sexuality — bisexual.

occupation — owner and tattoo artist at blackest ink.

astrology — cancer sun, libra moon, scorpio rising.

residence — a small apartment on the west - end of town; all brick walls and busted heaters; dozen of knitted blankets and coffee wafting through the air, clinging to the fabric. comfortably cluttered and warm - toned, it feels like a proper home.

interests — ink drawings and paint markers; poorly made ceramics. the smell of a sterile work station; mindless sketches. stretching, sometimes just to show off faded but well - loved ink. dungeons and dragons; mysticism as a concept. high fantasy, comfort in a well - crafted world. reading, though he wishes he did it more often. huddling beneath a pile of blankets in the middle of winter; star - gazing. herbal teas with just a touch of honey. the scent of fresh laundry, cloves, roses. helping others where he can. cooking, but especially for others; and especially old family recipes. journaling, keeping notes; trying to regain a sense of purpose - feeling normal. ice cold beer and a pack of cigarettes, the occasional joint. loud music; the riff of a guitar. the feeling of one in his hands. love, found in the faces of everyone he's ever known. love, as a concept. love, as something unreachable.

aversions — mentions of his brother; a wound still so fresh, so red, a mark upon his entire being. acknowledging the lingering stares of his parents, and wondering if they wish he were someone else. excessive selfishness, when survival means only sacrifice. empty gestures and meaningless words; promises he can't keep. lying, though he can't help it. grinding his teeth together ( wears a night guard to bed ). laying awake for hours at a time, just staring at the ceiling; no thoughts, but sleep too far in the distance. thinking about only himself. being a burden. geese, god help him. replacing old clothes that reek of nostalgia; forever condemned to a lifetime of sewing buttons back onto sleeves, patchwork over holes. .

quirks — rolls his knuckles over a flat surface in order to crack them. nails bitten raw and short. frequently caught staring at the sky, entranced by the clouds - wishing he could touch them. notes app full of the things the people he cares about enjoy, or dislike; so he never gets it wrong. gives too much of himself, even when it hurts. never knows when to say no.

most played — everything in its right place by radiohead.

notable features — an old, cracking leather jacket he refuses to part ways with and a mess of curls well - cared for. an expanse of tan, tattooed flesh that stretches over bone and muscle; always peaking beneath hemlines.

general disposition — a bright, well - lit smile and shoulders that seem only sometimes heavy. dim - lit eyes, and a small sigh of relief whenever eyes turn away from him.

character study — ponyboy curtis ( the outsiders ) & james wilson ( house m.d. ).

public records.

the velazquez' have lived in cloyne for generations, rafael and his family no exception to that. his parents are both teachers, high school and elementary, and their family was as nuclear as it came. two parents, two kids, a dog; a white picket fence ( or damn well near enough ).

they're good people, well - respected in town. rafael and his twin brother, joaquin get into trouble from time to time; but only minor things, nonconsequential. kids being kids. they're close, growing up, as close as they can be. it's an ordinary childhood; but one filled with warmth and light, and life.

the only notable dispute that rafael and joaquin ever had were their positions in life; rafael's smart, but he's always been more practical, more artistically inclined. joaquin was valedictorian - there's a craving deep inside him for a life outside the one they know in cloyne. he wants to leave, rafael wants to stay; he can't imagine a life without his brother, but he can't imagine a life where he leaves cloyne either.

joaquin moves soon after; away from cloyne, and away from rafael. it's a loneliness that he's never felt before; one that eats at him. it's not long before he's visiting joaquin at college every other month. it's a long drive - but it's worth it. he's his twin; it would always be worth it.

drunk driving / car accident / familial death; one weekend away, one visit to joaquin's college nearing his graduation, and they're driving home too late, too drunk from the party they've just left. rafael knows they should call an uber, a taxi, a friend, anybody, but joaquin insists - it's fine; they've driven the same length of road so many times before. it's fine. it's fine, he says. rafael sees the other car before he does - joaquin doesn't see anything at all. he dies on impact.

grief; it's weird, mourning someone you've known all your life. grown up next to. their parents are beside themselves - blame themselves for joaquin's death more than they blame rafael. their relationship's never the same - but cloyne is home, where else would he go? the grief is heavy, all - consuming; rafael breaks up with his long - term partner at the time, and for a while there - it's like he's nothing more but a ghost.

he doesn't think time can ever heal the wound he feels, so viscerally - but little by little, time does pass. it does move - his parents warm up to him again, and he can breathe a little easier. he rebuilds his life - comes into ownership of the local tattoo shop; and it's been peace since - until lorelai walsh.

disposition & details.

a lover by all means; loves his friends and his family deeply, and when he does fall, he falls hard. quiet, but charming; kind. the boy next door, all grown up. he would do anything to protect the people he loves.

will always go out of his way to help someone in need; whether it's a ride home after they've drank too much, or they need somewhere to stay - or they just want someone to accompany them on errands - rafael's the first one to the door, the first one to call. never asks anything in return - never asks much for himself. a lifetime of brotherhood's left him more than willing to share what he has of his own.

grief; he knows he's not at fault for the accident that claimed his brother's life; but there's guilt in the survival of it all. he would turn back time just to switch their roles, just so joaquin could have the life he wanted. it's made him quieter, less enthused than he used to be - and it's not for lack of trying. years ago, he was angry; now he's defeated - stuck knowing that nothing could bring his twin back.

traumatic brain injury; the accident left rafael with a significant brain injury that effects his ability to hold and process memories; over the course of the years, his ability to retain past information has improved - but there's a constant struggle to remember the new. it's overwhelming, overpowering; it's terrifying.

anxiety / dissociation; appears naturally laidback - a quiet confidence; but anxiety lingers beneath his skin. he doesn't talk about his mental health often, or the things that consume him, the dissociative state he finds himself in more often than not. it's better this way, he thinks. ultimately self - sacrificing; by putting others at a constant first, he's only hurting himself.

not someone who beats around the bush; but he's gentle all the same. it's not tough love, just - love. despite any worries - he's never afraid to speak up, speak out; voice his concerns for others. stubborn, sometimes; he doesn't drop topics, even when they make him sick with worry, with fear, with anxiety. is someone who has to talk it through to the end, or else he can't sleep, can't function. can't live.

a better person to sit in silence with in quiet comfort than be offered advice; he falters, sometimes, because how can he give advice that he himself doesn't follow? tries nonetheless, but he's never been much of a motivational speaker.

cares deeply about his profession, his craft - the work he does. doesn't tattoo as often as he used to, before becoming the owner of blackest ink; but he'll make time for others, when they ask. his work is still precise, near methodical; laced with years - long practice and love. it's just that he's also handling the business side of things, the finances. he's constantly sinking under, but trying to remain afloat.

wanted.

the long term ex — it's been maybe six years now since they've broken up, with little to no warning or explanation on rafael's side. loose ends, and unanswered questions - things he still avoids to this day. why?

childhood friends — without them, he'd be lost; he needs people to anchor onto, to keep him from floating away. they've known him, his family, all their lives.

something more — he's always so hesitant, so afraid of messing something up; they're not sure where they stand, or what exactly they mean to each other. but it's - something, right?

clients, neighbors - people he's grown up around, but aren't necessarily his closest friends. family friends. enemies from youth; unresolved conflicts. exes, friends of joaquin's.

[liminalmemories21]

9 Books To Read in 2024

tagged by @jesuisici33. Thank you!

In release date order:

1- Holly Black - The Prisoner's Throne

After the shocking events of The Stolen Heir, Prince Oak is in deeper trouble than ever before. As his situation grows more precarious, Oak is desperate to find a way out, before all of Elfhame is caught in the coming storm.

I love pretty much anything Holly Black writes, but I particularly love the Folk of the Air series. I'm a sucker for a good dark faerie court drama.

2 - K Ancrum - Icarus

Icarus Gallagher is a thief. He steals priceless art and replaces it with his father’s impeccable forgeries. For years, one man—the wealthy Mr. Black—has been their target in revenge for his role in the death of Icarus’s mother. To keep their secret, Icarus adheres to his own strict rules to keep people, and feelings, at bay: Don’t let anyone close. Don’t let anyone touch you. And, above all, don’t get caught.

Hi yes, I am predictable.

3 - EK Johnston - Pretty Furious

In the small town of Eganston, Ontario, five good girls have had enough. They’ve experienced the best of what their community has to offer, but they’ve seen the darker side too. Together, they’ve decided that it’s time for a reckoning and that justice is their privilege to give.

If you have not read her earlier novel Exit Pursued by a Bear, go read it. It is so angry, but also so beautifully about healing and friendship.

4 - Leigh Bardugo - The Familiar

Set in the Spanish Golden Age, during a time of high‑stakes political intrigue and glittering wealth, The Familiar follows Luzia, a servant in the household of an impoverished Spanish nobleman who reveals a talent for little miracles. Her social‑climbing mistress demands Luzia use her gifts to win over Madrid’s most powerful players but what begins as simple amusement takes a dangerous turn. Luzia will need to use every bit of her wit and will to survive—even the help of Guillén Santángel, an immortal familiar whose own secrets could prove deadly for them both.

I like most things Leigh Bardugo writes, so curious about this.

5 - Tess Sharpe - The Girl in Question

Four teens. Three henchmen. Two thousand acres of remote forest. One very bad man. And a whole lot of new secrets to unearth. The unmissable, thrilling follow-up to The Girls I've Been.

First go read The Girls I've Been. Then Five Times We Almost Kissed. Then Barb Wire Heart. Tess Sharpe is such a fantastic writer - and the heart of her books is always people making the best choices they can when none of the choices are good or easy. Also, Barb Wire Heart is kind of like if S2 of Justified had been about the women.

6 - Anna-Marie McLemore - Flawless Girls

The Soler sisters are infamous in polite society—brazen, rebellious, and raised by their fashionable grandmother who couldn’t care less about which fork goes where. But their grandmother also knows the standards that two Latina young ladies will be held to, so she secures them two coveted places at the Alarie House, a prominent finishing school that turns out first ladies, princesses, and socialites.

Younger sister Isla is back home within a day. She refuses to become one of the eerily sweet Alarie girls in their prim white dresses. Older sister Renata stays. When she returns months later, she’s unfailingly pleasant, unnervingly polite, and, Isla discovers, possibly murderous. And the same night she returns home, she vanishes.

I will read anything they write. No questions asked. They're books are always so gorgeous and lush.

7 - Kristin Cashore - There is a Door in This Darkness

Wilhelmina Hart is part of the infamous class of 2020. Her high school years began with the election of Donald Trump and they ended with COVID. Now Wilhelmina, like so many of her peers, is in limbo, having deferred college because of the pandemic. Compounding the national trauma of 2016 to 2020, Wilhelmina has wrestled with the devastating loss of one of her three beloved aunts shortly after the 2016 election. This is a loss she felt so keenly that she’s spent the last years deep in her personal depression, only obscured by the seemingly endless waves of national trauma. Now on the cusp on the most consequential election in living memory, Wilhelmina may have found a door in her darkness and perhaps the courage to pass through it, if she can decipher the bizarre messages that keep appearing in her life.

I love Kristin Cashore's Graceling novels, so I'm curious about this.

8 - Jennifer Lynn Barnes - The Grandest Game

Seven tickets. An island of dreams. The chance of a lifetime.

Welcome to the Grandest Game, an annual competition run by billionaire Avery Grambs and the four infamous Hawthorne brothers, whose family fortune she inherited. Designed to give anyone a shot at fame and fortune, this year's game requires one of seven golden tickets to enter. With millions on the line, those seven players will do whatever it takes to win.

Is this series a little silly? Sure. Is it a lot of fun. Yes. Kind of like a grown up Westing Game.

9 - Margaret Owen - Holy Terrors

third book in the Little Thieves series - which on the surface is a heist story about what if the protagonist of the Goose Girl was the servant not the princess. And at it's heart is about recovering from trauma and loss, and learning how to let yourself be someone different. 

tagging @lemonlyman-dotcom, @ladytessa74, and @strandnreyes

[justforbooks]

The director and producer Norman Jewison, who has died aged 97, had a career dedicated for the most part to making films that, while entertaining, included socio-political content. His visual flair, especially in the use of colour, spot-on casting and intelligent use of music, enabled him to raise sometimes thin stories into highly watchable films.

He hit the high spot critically and commercially with In the Heat of the Night (1967), which starred Sidney Poitier as a northern US city police detective temporarily held up in a small southern town and Rod Steiger as the local sheriff confronted with the murder of a wealthy industrialist. The detective mystery plot was perhaps mainly the vehicle for an enactment of racial prejudices and hostilities culminating in a grudging respect on both sides, but it worked well. The final scene, much of it improvised, in which the two men indulge in something approaching a personal conversation, was both moving and revealing.

The film won five Academy awards – for best picture, best adapted screenplay, best editing, best sound and, for Steiger, best actor – and gave Jewison the first of his three best director nominations; the others were for Fiddler on the Roof, his 1971 adaptation of the Broadway musical, and the romantic comedy Moonstruck (1987). In 1999 Jewison was the winner of the Irving G Thalberg memorial award from the academy for “a consistently high quality of motion picture production”.

The son of Dorothy (nee Weaver) and Percy Jewison, he was born and brought up in Toronto, Ontario, where his father ran a shop and post office. Educated at the Malvern Collegiate Institute, a Toronto high school, Jewison studied the piano and music theory at the Royal Conservatory in the city, and served in the Canadian navy during the second world war. On discharge, he went to the University of Toronto, paying his way by working at a variety of jobs, including driving a taxi and occasional acting.

After graduating with a bachelor of arts degree, in 1950 he set off with $140 on a tramp steamer to the UK, where he landed a job with the BBC, acting and writing scripts. On his return to Canada two years later, he joined the rapidly expanding television industry, producing and directing variety shows for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Jewison was spotted by the William Morris talent agency and invited to New York, where he signed with CBS and was given the unenviable task of rescuing the once successful show Your Hit Parade, which was by then displaying signs of terminal decline. He revamped the entire production and took it back to the top of the ratings. He directed episodes of the variety show Big Party and The Andy Williams Show, and specials for Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Harry Belafonte, Jackie Gleason and Danny Kaye.

On the Belafonte special, Jewison had white chains dangling above the stage, an image that displeased many southern TV stations, which refused to screen the show. This was the first indication of his stance on racism.

Success brought him to the notice of Tony Curtis, who had his own production company at Universal, and Jewison began a three-year contract with 40 Pounds of Trouble (1962), starring Curtis. This was followed by the likable but light Doris Day comedies The Thrill of It All (1963), Send Me No Flowers (1964) and The Art of Love (1965).

In 1965 he got out of his contract to make the first film of his choice, MGM’s The Cincinnati Kid, starring Steve McQueen (the Kid) and Edward G Robinson (the Man) and centring on a professional poker game between the old master and the young challenger. He took over the project from Sam Peckinpah, tore up the original script by Paddy Chayefsky and Ring Lardner, and commissioned Terry Southern, the result getting him noticed as a more than competent studio director.

In 1966 he made the beguiling but commercially unsuccessful comedy The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming, about a Russian submarine stranded off the coast of Cape Cod. This was at the height of the cold war and gained him a reputation for being a “Canadian pinko”, although it was nominated for a best picture Oscar.

In the Heat of the Night was followed by The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) in which McQueen and Faye Dunaway played thief and insurance investigator respectively and engaged in a chess game that evolved into one of the longest onscreen kisses, as the camera swirls around and around above their heads. The theme song, The Windmills of Your Mind, was a hit and the film a success.

Fiddler on the Roof, with a silk stocking placed by Jewison across the camera lens to provide an earth-toned quality, won Oscars for cinematography, music and sound, and a nomination for Chaim Topol in his signature role of Tevye.

Jesus Christ Superstar (1973), his adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s rock opera, and Rollerball (1975), starring James Caan, were followed by F.I.S.T. (1978), a tale of union corruption starring Sylvester Stallone as an idealistic young organiser who sells out, and And Justice for All (1979), starring Al Pacino, a deeply ironic portrayal of the legal world.

A Soldier’s Story (1985), based on the Pulitzer prize-winning play and including an early performance from Denzel Washington, dealt with black soldiers who risked their lives “in defence of a republic which didn’t even guarantee them their rights”, and some of whom had internalised the white man’s vision of them.

Moonstruck, a somewhat daft love story but a tremendous box office success and for the most part a critical one, won the Silver Bear and best director for Jewison at the Berlin film festival and was nominated for six Oscars, winning for best screenplay, best actress for Cher and best supporting actress for Olympia Dukakis.

Then came Other People’s Money (1991), a caustic and amusing comedy on the new world of corporate finance and takeovers, in which Danny DeVito played a money hungry vulture, made largely in response to Reagan’s era of deregulation, and The Hurricane (1999) in which Jewison again worked with Washington, who played the real life boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, falsely convicted of a triple murder and imprisoned for years before the conviction was quashed. The latter film aroused controversy over its alleged manipulation of some facts and, despite its undoubted qualities, this fracas probably contributed to it being commercially disappointing.

In the early 1990s, Jewison had begun preparations for a film on the life of Malcolm X, and had secured Washington to play the title role, when Spike Lee gave his strongly expressed opinion that only a black film-maker could make this story. The two met, and Jewison handed over the film to Lee.

Jewison’s last film, The Statement (2003), starred Michael Caine as a Nazi war criminal on the run. He was also producer for films including The Landlord (1970), The Dogs of War (1980), Iceman (1984) and The January Man (1989).

He had returned to Canada in 1978, living on a ranch north of Toronto with his wife Dixie, whom he had married in 1953. There he reared Hereford cattle, grew tulips and produced his own-label maple syrup. In 1988 he founded the Canadian Centre for Advanced Film Studies, now known as the Canadian Film Centre, in Toronto.

He was a confirmed liberal, a man of integrity who turned in his coveted green card in protest at the Vietnam war and saw film not only as entertainment but also as a conduit for raising serious issues.

Dixie (Margaret Dixon) died in 2004. In 2010 he married Lynne St David, who survives him, as do two sons, Kevin and Michael, and a daughter, Jennifer, from his first marriage.

🔔 Norman Frederick Jewison, film director, producer and screenwriter, born 21 July 1926; died 20 January 2024

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[goldenbloodytears]

I would really like to know more about Sam, without spoiling the plot of future projects what can you say about her and Danny in the asks 2, 3, 9, 10, 14 and 15?

Also if Sam was a character of the scream franchise which one would she be?

Send by Mx. 👍

2. How do they treat themselves when they're feeling sad?

Sam's go to is to put on Elton John (most likely Honky Chateau—I can probably write a small piece on how Rocket Man can be seen as a metaphor for gay alienation) and then probably get a big tub of ice cream going. She’s not a stranger to depressive spirals, but sad and depressed are not quite the same thing—she deals with sad a lot better than depressed I would say.

With Danny… I think he tends to bypass sad and go straight to irritated. I’m a big believer in old man Johnson toxic masculinity indoctrination, so Danny probably lowkey thinks crying is for weaklings (and women). I think he might result to trying to calm himself with a couple drinks if for some reason he can’t immediately fix the problem that is causing him to be sad/irritated… however, said combo is more likely to lower his inhibition… and that’s when you’re probably more likely to get an impromptu murder (in comparison to his more planned stories).

3. What parts of themselves do they tend to hide?

Sam tends to hide her sexuality. Or at least attempt to. She lives in a small town, and the gossip mill would surely have a field day with the local English lady reporter turning out to be a “lesbian” (because bisexuals don’t exist in 1994 /sarcasm). The result is where she’s inoffensive enough to not cause outright homophobic drama, but she’s not exactly living the best life she could be either… especially when she’s partly trying to play nice for a family that aren’t nearly as accepting as they could be.

Danny hides himself. To be clearer, I’ve been considering whether his usage of personas happen to allow him to connect with an element of himself that has long been suppressed by his old man’s teachings. This is kind of a half-baked thought that I need to think about more. It’s a bit like being a method actor, an inherent element of performance. Think about how many seemingly outgoing and over confident performers are actually rather introverted (and not just because of paparazzi hounds)… also consider how people tend to act more freely when anonymous, for good or ill. Danny hides a lot of himself, he hides his literal self as Danny, but also other elements. His sexuality just like Sam, since being a bisexual man in the 90s is just… asking for trouble. However, he’s so strongly manifested in his expected gender roles as a masculine military brat that you wouldn’t even guess he might be queer unless you went for some crazy extreme like the fact he tends to dress well on average. I don’t think his personas suddenly act flaming (just to be clear) but he’s a little bit nicer, way more talkative, a little bit goofier/nerdier and I don’t think it’s entirely an act (although he believes it is and will tell you so).

9. What are their insecurities?

Sam is insecure about many things at the start of the story. This isn’t really a plot spoiler. She’s insecure about the fact both her brothers are married with kids, she’s insecure about the fact she’s queer, she’s insecure about her relationship with her girlfriend. She’s insecure about her future in the province she was born in—quick history lesson, in 1994 Quebec proposed a provincial referendum to decide whether the citizens of Quebec largely supported the idea of Quebec becoming its own sovereign country to be voted on in 1995. There was a major divide along language lines with English speaking Quebecers largely supporting the federalist Canadian position (No) while the French-speaking Québécois generally supported the sovreignist Yes side. There was a large exodus of English speaking Quebecers from the province around this time, settling in Ontario and Alberta primarily. You had small towns with flourishing English populations suddenly lose multiple families which had lived there for generations only for the towns to become much more French. This is the situation Sam finds herself facing, working as a local English newspaper which is now struggling as a result of less readership… so honestly she’s even kinda insecure about the future of her job too, period, lol.

I think Danny’s insecurities would require a whole post of their own, however, I’ve briefly touched on one of them in question 15.

10. What are their emotional triggers?

For Sam: curiosity, fear, frustration.

For Danny: boredom, frustration, praise.

I’m not entirely sure what this question is asking so I’ve kinda listed the emotions that I think are most likely to motivate them to do something for good or worse.

14. What kind of people do they tend to gravitate towards?

Sam tends to gravitate towards people with big personalities. She’s a much more subdued person and kinda lives vicariously through them. She’s intrigued by the promise of life outside small town Quebec, so it’s very easy to get her attention with stories of travel. She has a major obsession with this random cold case that happened when she was a teenager, to the point that everyone thinks she’s a little bit weird for it, and in this way she’s also drawn to people that will put up with this particular quirk. I think you can already see where I’m going with this.

Danny, like a true confidence trickster, is drawn to people most likely to believe his bullshit. This doesn’t mean he looks for idiots, he’s still a bit of a wannabe academic blowhard in spirit and as such I think he’s still drawn to people who profess at least a bit of a braincell…. But it’s the trust element. He’s looking for people who want to believe what he says. He’s also looking for people who think he’s cool. Even if he’s Jed or persona #632.

So when taking these tendencies together, you can already kind of start to see how Danny and Sam compliment each other in terms of the people they are seeking. They’re both looking for somebody who’s going to gas them up—feed their egos and hope for the future.

15. What do they like/dislike about themselves?

Sam likes her skills as a journalist, she feels like her stubbornness is a useful trait. She wishes she was better at being more traditionally feminine. She dislikes her height, at 5’10” she towers over a lot of guys and it’s worse if she wears heels.

I feel like we all have a rough idea of what Danny “likes” about himself, so I’ll focus on what he dislikes. His emotionality. He knows he can be impulsive, and he thinks feelings like fear, anger, and sadness are not particularly useful for himself when he’s supposed to be this killer who goes around murdering in the night. If he could be a mindless killer, I’m sure he would do so.

Bonus: What character in Scream would Sam be?

Hmmm, that’s a very good question. I think I would need to do a complete series rewatch to really pin it down but I think she would kinda be a weird proxy if you were to mix Gail and Dewey together (she’s their forbidden baby). She has a lot of Gail’s tenacious journalism qualities but she’s a lot nicer, similar to Dewey. Her brother Chris is also a cop, so she’s a little bit functional to Tatum in a way.

[puddlexdeep]

walking through the picturesque streets of cardinal hill, you find ( clover fields ), the ( 27 ) year old ( hustler & drug dealer ) originally from ( ontario, canada ). living alongside them in such a small town, you know that they're ( driven ) and ( impulsive ), but what you might not know is that they are a ( human? ), and that they’re hiding something…

quick facts

name: clover fields age: 27 gender: trans man sexuality: homoflexible (attracted to men, but a dollar's a dollar) occupation: hustler & drug dealer height: 5'7" weight: 140 pounds hair: brown, curly, kept shaggy eyes: blue languages: english time in cardinal hill: 3 months

bio

triggers: child abandonment, transphobia, sex work, drug use

if anyone ever wonders why clover is the way that he is, they need only look at the life he was born into. dropped at a fire station at only one week old, already malnourished and dirty. the only thing he'd been given was a name, lovingly embroidered on the baby blanket he was wrapped in: clover.

at the time, there was hope that his mother would be found. he was placed in a foster home while police searched. she was not, and when he was just over a year old he was moved to another foster home. his first foster parents hadn't expected a child to be with them for so long, and the needs of an infant proved too taxing for them. his second foster family was more prepared for him, but less affectionate for sure.

two years there, then that couple got pregnant. they moved their foster kids along to make space for the new baby, and clover was again put in a new place, with new foster parents and foster siblings. and at only four years old, it was determined that clover had a 'mean streak'. he didn't get along with other kids, he got violent in a way that scared his foster parents, and so he was moved along again. this time to a foster family who often handled the rougher kids. this could have been a good fit, had clover been older. as it was, he was too young for the repercussions this foster family imposed on him for his behaviors. he was there for three years, his longest stay yet, before breaking down to a teacher at school about the abuse he was suffering at home. that foster family faced serious consequences, and clover was shuffled along yet again.

by this time, he was tough as nails and fairly self-sufficient. he kept his bad attitude, wearing it as armor that nobody was really able to penetrate.

when he was eleven, he chopped off all of his hair and fought a school uniform issue. his fight actually made the news, though it didn't seem like many people were on his side. the thrilling conclusion of the fight at his school was that boys and girls could all choose to wear pants, girls would no longer be forced to wear skirts every day. and while it wasn't exactly what clover had been fighting for, it was still definitely a win. a bigger win than he'd even expected. all he'd really wanted was for the principal to acknowledge that he was a boy, and therefore he should be able to wear pants. what he got was equality between the genders at his school, more or less. his foster family was confused about him, didn't know how to handle him, but they hugged him good-bye when the dcfs agent came to pick him up.

at thirteen, he was beaten up in the boy's bathroom. for the most part, he'd avoided public bathrooms entirely. on this day it had been an emergency, and he'd panicked when faced with the choice of boys or girls room. thinking it would be empty anyway, he'd thrown open the boys room door and locked himself in a stall. by the time he was finished cleaning himself up, there were feet outside of the stall waiting for him. to this day, clover doesn't remember the bully's name. he just remembers the look on the bigger kid's face before the pipe fell from the ceiling and knocked him out. weird coincidence, and if clover believed in a higher power he would've thought he had some sort of guardian angel. when he'd staggered out of the bathroom, bleeding and sniffling, he'd gone straight home without telling anyone about the bully unconscious in a flooding bathroom (but the guy was fine, so it ended up not mattering).

that night he got in trouble for 'getting in a fight at school'. clover's foster father wouldn't accept that clover hadn't tried to get into a fight. he yelled at clover until clover cried, cowering in his dining table chair and running from the table when it was all said and done without even touching his plate. the fire that started next to his foster father's head, likely faulty wiring in the lamp on his bedside table, was also just coincidence. but clover was taken from that foster home again, anyway.

accidents like this seemed to follow him. kids that mocked him ended up injured or ill without explanation, though nobody could say that clover had ever laid a finger on them. foster parents that yelled or hit would be struck with inconvenience after inconvenience for the next day or two, sometimes getting them fired or arrested or in one case, divorced. and clover was bounced around between foster homes quicker than ever before.

by the time he was fifteen, he decided he was just unlucky.

one cool thing that happened, though, was he started hormone therapy, and at some point while switching schools he started being recognized as a boy. clover remembers the first school he went to where the first day nobody even questioned his gender, it was possibly the best day of his life. and weirdly enough, on his way home he found a twenty dollar bill on the ground.

at sixteen, he started smoking weed. then he was experimenting with whatever else was offered, having a grand time. he didn't think it mattered too much, it wasn't like he had some bright future ahead of him.

and like a self-fulfilling prophecy, at eighteen years old he was on his own. he didn't finish high school, only a few months short of graduating (if he could've even passed his classes). suddenly he was on his own in the world, dropped by any agency there to protect children because he was no longer a child, and he hadn't really been a priority even when he was. just another teen damaged by a system that couldn't take the time to give him what he needed. hell, most of the adults he'd dealt with more than once were downright afraid of him and the accidents that followed him.

clover sort of fell into sex work. it was easy. he knew what people liked, and while he didn't love how they fetishized the body he didn't even want to have, it made him the money he needed to support other habits. oh, and also to occasionally put a roof over his head, or have a bathroom with a tub he could fully submerse himself in.

most of the time he could zone out, let whatever was happening just happen, and make his buck. but sometimes it wasn't so easy. some of the clients made it hard to zone out. and in those cases, clover could either leave his body, or close his eyes and count to three hundred.

[redacted]

he fell into the drug dealing, too. too many ious to the wrong dealer, and suddenly clover was working for the guy. a sale here, a sale there, and more money going to his own dealer than was the usual split between a dealer and his middle man, but clover didn't care too much about it. he had his sex work, he had a little bit of cash from the dealing, and he had his own drugs to keep him warm at night. it's not a great life, but it's his life and he's learned to deal with it.

three months ago, clover found himself in cardinal hill. something about the place just sort of spoke to him. and since he's in the process of discovering himself, he figured he'd better listen. he doesn't really know what he's looking for, but he's looking for something.

personality:

clover is kind of an asshat, but he's kind of the lovable sort of asshat.

his sarcasm and snarky attitude is all just a defense mechanism. if he lets people get close, then he's learned he only gets disappointed when they end up abandoning him. and everyone eventually abandons him.

if he does let someone get close to him, he is as loyal as they come. he'll bite someone's head off for a friend.

you wanna party? hell yeah, he's down. he'll be your bestie for the night, no problem. you wanna sit down and have a serious conversation for once with him? absolutely not, get outta here.

more to come i'm sure!

[jumpscaregoose]

briefly turning into a travel blog to talk about seeing the eclipse today because it was fucking awesome alright

this is my new favourite picture I've ever taken, this is my iphone's approximation of what totality looked like where I watched it

I was lucky enough to live within a few hour's drive of totality so my family and I drove out to waterford, ontario to see it (might as well say where I was because I'm posting very identifiable landscapes and am not there anymore. highly recommend going there if you're in the area). we literally only chose to go there because my mom picked it randomly from a map. thank you mom that was a great choice

it was cloudy as shit when we first arrived so we were a bit worried. and then while wandering around on a bridge we met the most stereotypical small town canadian old man ever shoutout to him he was awesome.

waterford also has a 10/10 banger small museum in a FORMER PICKLE FACTORY of all places and that would have been worth going by itself. today they had an exhibit of locally created skateboard art pieces (painted and decorated skateboards) in addition to their regular agricultural stuff and MASTODON LEG!!!!!!!

there's also an old railway bridge within walking distance of downtown and I love trains AND bridges so off course I had to go see that. except the trails from the museum don't connect to the bridge. however! the youth of waterford served me well because right off the trail there was a worn-down path between the brush that led up under the bridge and around on top. I would have climbed through the brush if I had to though I was Committed to this bridge.

like look at this view. fucking gorgeous

even stumbled across some familiar faces making a nest on the bridge... these guys were really chill and I was above them behind a railing so I didn't worry about getting mauled

and as is obvious from these photos the cloud cover had totally cleared up by this point (and the eclipse had started)

here's an attempted cellphone-plus-eclipse-glasses photo that didn't really work. you can see the missing part of the sun though

we sat in a park with around 200 other people to watch the eclipse and totality here was around 3:18 pm

and oh my god totality. so worth it. everything was weirdly dim for 15 minutes before and after and they do not lie about it getting colder. I had to put my jacket on so I didn't freeze. birds were chirping like crazy and the street lights came on. I watched most of the eclipse entering totality through my glasses but took them off a biiiiiiiiiitttt too early and saw the diamond ring effect, which was also gorgeous.

totality was really dark, way more than in my photos, and it looked like there was a sunrise 360 degrees around on the horizon.

here's a worse photo because you can scroll up to see the good one

the sun looks like a donut in all my pictures but in real life it was just like in all the, well, better pictures

and then totality ended and we skedaddled out of there before traffic got crazy. and then we got stuck in a bit of traffic because the traffic lights had not been reconfigured for the massive amount of people.

[trashyswitch]

ILL MISS CHARLES!! 😭

I have a story to tell you about Charles Martinet, Mario and a certain girl going through a tough time:

2008, in a small town in Ontario, Canada...A little girl had her things packed up in a car driven by the only people she ever knew at that point: Her foster parents. They were the people that raised her thus far, and saved her life countless times when no one else could do so. They were devoted to her, and treated her like a grandchild.

The car rolled up to a big house in this tiny town. They parked, got out of the car, and helped the little girl get moved into the house. The little girl had only just turned 5 years old...She had been adopted a couple months earlier, and now she was taking the last step of making it official: she was being moved into her new forever home. Her new parents greeted her at the door, and gave her a welcome home present: A baby doll in a bikini and a bed/bathing bunk bed set. She absolutely loved it!

Her new brother raced her upstairs, to see her new bedroom. This would be the first time that the little girl had a bedroom. Up until then, she had never grown accustomed to sleeping alone, and always had to sleep in the same room as her foster parents because that felt the most safe. She jumped on the bed, squealing loudly in excitement. It was a beautiful bedroom! This ended up being the day that would vividly stick in her head for decades to come.

But not all was sunshine and rainbows. For the little girl didn't understand that she won't see her foster parents as often anymore. And she was now in a brand new home, with no friends and no full understanding of what being a daughter to new parents meant. She quickly developed anxiety from all the new rules, all the new things she had to go to, and the new disciplinary actions that scared her into believing she was a terrible daughter and therefore, wasn't worth being adopted.

But one thing kept her calm throughout that time...

Her brother had shown her a game called Super Mario Bros 3 for the Gameboy. She was allowed to play it whenever she asked, and spent many minutes on the game. That was the first introduction. She grew to recognize this red character they called Mario, and this green character they called Luigi. It was fun for her, and she loved their silly voices. Her new brother imitated their voices all the time, which made it even more hilarious! And Charles Martinet's Italian impression was always the voice she recognized to be Mario. And Luigi had a recognizable voice too! She didn't know, but Charles Martinet voiced both Mario and Luigi!

It didn't take long for the little girl to start using her imagination. Mario would show up in her room and take her on adventures too. Mario distracted her from the fears of this new world, and helped her push through. Mario was her right-hand man when she went to school. Mario kept her company when the little girl was on a timeout. Unlike her parents, Mario never left her alone. He knew how stressed the little girl was. And he watched as the stress slowly became her normal. She never spoke a word to her new parents because she felt terrible for feeling this way about something good. But Mario always understood. Mario read her mind effortlessly and comforted her through it all.

15 years later...the original voice actor of Mario and Luigi, would retire. By now, that little girl was all grown up. She developed other tools to help her anxiety, and she went by the nickname 'Pocket' online. And the night that girl found out about his retirement...she cried into her pillow. The voice behind the imaginary friend she had loved as a child, was retiring and moving onto other things. She...was bittersweet about it. Because as much as she wanted Charles to do other things with his life...He was the go-to voice she would emulate in her head when her life-saving imaginary friend would come around. Super Mario was her first ever tool for anxiety. And if she ever came across him or had enough money to fly to see him...she wanted to give him a big hug and thank him for indirectly helping her through one of the hardest transitions of her life.

Thank you, Mr. Martinet. Thank you for all you did for Mario, and every generation that Mario inspired. He would never have come alive nearly as well without your help. You are one of the most underappreciated humans known to mankind. And in my opinion, you deserve to be placed beside Bob Ross as a legend.

[yatescountyhistorycenter]

A literal whistle-stop tour of Penn Yan

By Jonathan Monfiletto

Nowadays, presidents and presidential candidates don't often make their way to New York State, let alone Yates County or the Finger Lakes region. But there was a time when they did, and several presidents and presidential candidates have visited the area over the years.

And presidents and presidential candidates from both major parties have made their way to New York State during their campaigns, even setting foot in Yates County and the Finger Lakes region. One of those candidates – more than 130 years ago – was the sitting President of the United States, Benjamin Harrison, who came to Penn Yan on a literal whistle-stop tour in 1892.

A whistle-stop tour is defined as a form of political campaigning in which the candidate for office makes a series of brief appearances at a number of small towns over a short period of time, generally from the open platform of a railroad car. And that seems to be exactly what Harrison did as he sought a second term that year. In fact, at the time of his tour, he hadn’t even been officially re-nominated by the Republican Party; that selection – then in the style of closed-door, back-room conventions rather than elections open to eligible voters – came a couple of weeks later.

Harrison seems to have visited Penn Yan on Saturday, May 28, 1892. Interestingly, while there is a plethora of newspaper articles in our digitized database covering national news from Harrison’s election in 1888 through his single term in the presidency from 1889 to 1893, I could find just a single local news article covering Harrison’s visit to Penn Yan, from the Yates County Chronicle of June 1, 1892. I first became interested in Harrison’s stop in Yates County when I came across a photograph of Harrison greeting a humongous crowd from the platform of a train car, labeled as taking place in Penn Yan. So, the presence of just one newspaper article capturing the moment was, needless to say, disappointing.

That article didn’t even mention the specific date or specific location of the president’s visit. “An hour before the schedule (sic) time for the special train to arrive Saturday afternoon, which brought the President and his party, people began to gather at the station,” begins the Chronicle’s article, headlined “The President’s Visit” in rather small lettering. “At five o’clock as the train pulled in the station at least 4000 people were assembled and every available point of vantage was occupied by those anxiously waiting to see Benjamin Harrison and to hear what he had to say.” Every vantage point indeed, as the photograph shows at least one person climbing a pole to get a better view and a group of people standing on the depot roof to see the president. And the population of the village of Penn Yan in 1890 stood at a little more than 4,200 people, so this turnout means either every single person in the village came out to see the president or people came from far and wide in hopes of catching a glimpse of the man.

The remainder of the Chronicle article describes the physical amenities of the president’s train and lists Harrison’s entourage, which included a slate of Congressional representatives and their wives or daughters – including John Raines, Yates County’s local Congressman – as well as several military officials and Cabinet members. Then, the Chronicle states Raines introduced Harrison to Hanford Struble, then the County Judge after serving in several other positions, Postmaster John T. Andrews, and County Treasurer John Henry Smith. After the greetings, Struble introduced the president to the crowd, and Harrison went into his remarks as recorded by the Chronicle.

Still, for all the pomp and circumstance the newspaper seems to capture, it didn’t capture the date and location of the event. The Ontario County Times of May 25, 1892 previews the president’s arrival in an article headlined “The President in Canandaigua!” (all in caps, and the original did contain the exclamation point). According to this article, the president was to “pass through Canandaigua on Saturday of this week” (May 28, by my calculation) “on his way from Washington to Rochester, where he is to take part in the ceremonies attending the unveiling of the soldiers’ monument the following Monday.” The president and his entourage were to travel “by special train” over the Northern Central Railroad, departing Washington, D.C. at 7 in the morning and arriving in Rochester around 7 in the evening. Harrison and his party were to reach Canandaigua around 6 p.m., and “as an observation car is to be attached to the train, it is hoped that the President may be prevailed upon to show himself and make one of the short speeches in which he is so felicitous and eloquent.”

From this description, I can deduce more about Harrison’s visit to Penn Yan. Since Harrison arrived in Penn Yan at 5 p.m. on Saturday, May 28 and was expected to reach Canandaigua by 6 p.m., then it is clear he traveled from Penn Yan and through Canandaigua on his way to Rochester. Since Harrison’s train traveled the Northern Central Railroad, then the Penn Yan station of his visit was likely the Northern Central Railroad depot on Hamilton Street, near that street’s intersection with what was then named Jacob Street. This is the present-day site of Morgan’s Grocery in the same building.

While Harrison’s purpose in visiting Penn Yan may have been to eventually reach Rochester and taking part in the dedication of that city’s Soldiers & Sailors Monument, he certainly took the opportunity to campaign and make his case for a second term in the White House. Harrison’s presidency is credited as a period of prosperity and equality for average American citizens.

“I know that we have not been able to attain, if that were desirable, an absolute equality of success in life. But I also know that we have secured in this country absolute equality of civil opportunities,” Harrison told the crowd gathered in Penn Yan, according to the Chronicle. “There is no caste or limitation upon the successes of men. God’s providence, our own courage and the right exercise of the faculties he has given us alone put limitations upon what an American youth may attain. This is all we can ask of a Government. This we do ask and will insist upon, that everywhere in this land where the flag floats the law shall be the rule of conduct for all men, not prejudice or passion, not the convenience of the rich or powerful, but the law as we have made it shall be the rule of conduct for all men in their relations to all other men.”

[shaedsofdeianeira]

What happens in your novel?

First of all, sorry if you asked this a while ago!! I never get asks, so I rarely check the ask box.

I am writing a fantasy novel called The Truth About Brazings. It’s the first book in a planned four part series.

In short, it's about a girl who's trying to find out why her town's history is so strange, but ends up getting dragged into a war between two groups of fey living in the forest.

The story begins with a girl named Alvie Willynde who lives in a small town in Ontario called Brazings. Brazings has a local folklore tradition that's uncommon for Canadian towns. Stories tell of settlers seeing and interacting with moving plants, talking animals, and strange, inhuman people. When Alvie was a child, she started taking notes and researching all these stories, intending to find out the truth behind them. Were they real? If so, who were these people? Are they still around?

At the beginning of the book, Alvie befriends the new kid in her class, a boy named Kearney Lakeside. Kearney’s family is actually one of the families that founded Brazings, and they figure in a few of these legends. They’re always protectors guarding Brazings against any threat from the strange people and things hiding in the trees.

Unbeknownst to Alvie, there is a strange masked man named Cerin watching her. He seems to be under orders to take her to his master, a mysterious man named Dwyer. Cerin doesn’t know why Dwyer is interested in her and it perplexes him.

That's basically the first two chapters. Most of the book is dedicated to introducing the characters, Brazings, and the world hidden in the forest. As I mentioned earlier, Brazings' big secret is that there are fey in the woods, and the series revolves around exploring their world, what they want with Alvie, and exactly who Cerin is.

Some drawings of Alvie! She always carries a notebook. She also doesn't like skirts, but I love drawing her in dresses anyway.

And here's Cerin! He wears a mask pretty much all the time, but his face is my worst-kept secret.

And here is their first real interaction. It was unpleasant for both of them.

And here's Kearney, one of the only characters I'd trust to babysit.

And here's Cerin’s master, Dwyer, and the other fey leader, Nimue. These two represent opposing forces and have been rivals for centuries. Both want Alvie for their own purposes, but Nimue also wants to keep her safe and allow her to be a child as much as possible.

So...that's a general description of my book. I didn't want to include any major spoilers, but there is a lot more going on. There's way more on my Instagram: