#what does a major tune up consist of

[philsservice]

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[expertcarcare]

Are you wondering what happens when your car needs a tune up? Ask your mechanic at Expert Car Care Inc. for more information about auto tune up.

[s0me-rand0m-d0rk]

Ok. So, you know that TV show Ghost Adventures? Let's make it Danny phantom.

Danny, Sam, and Tucker are college age. Danny's studying astrophysics and astronomy. Tucker's studying engineering. And Sam's double majoring in occult studies and parapsychology. They're not in Amity Park, I don't know where they'd be but it would probably be a really haunted city/town. They need some extra money so they start a paranormal investigation group kinda like what Ghost Adventures is, but local. They post their findings on YouTube. They basically blow up overnight and get monetized after they get a few videos out there.

Danny is the "medium". (He's not a medium. He just has ghost powers.)

Tucker's the tech specialist.

Sam's the occult specialist.

But instead of provoking the ghosts and being rowdy and screaming all the time (don't get me wrong, the show is funny and I do enjoy watching it, but we all know they're not always respectful of the spirits.), they're actually trying to solve the problem the ghost is posing. They try to compromise with them and help them pass on.

Sam sends Danny into creepy basements by himself just like Zak does with Aaron. She also pulls the most obscure and random occult facts out of her ass. One time, she told the audience that it was possible to exorcise ghosts using music. She proceeded to play Riptide on a ukulele for the spirit of a pre-teen girl and it worked. After the episode is over, people go to look it up, and low and behold, there it is.

Tucker makes progressively more insane and less believable gadgets to contact and interact with ghosts. Their audience tunes in every week wonder what he'll have next. The last episode, it was some sort of ghostly etch-a-sketch. AND THE GHOSTS ACTUALLY USED IT. Did one of them draw a dick on it like a smart ass? Probably.

Sometimes Danny has full on conversations with no one on camera. He waves when there's no one else in the room. He scolded a poltergeist that tried to push him down the stairs. He consistently says that most ghosts just need a hug. Dark spirit? Hug it. Violent poltergeist? They need a hug. Ghostly child? HUG. The audience notices his eyes glowing in the dark. Is it special effects? No one knows.

No one can tell if they're serious or not. They had a literal gun that shoots ghosts. They play music for ghosts. They have ghostly etch-a-sketches. Unless you're from Amity Park, there's no way you're believing that.

But, people who have their properties investigated often say that the activity stops or de-intensifies or changes all together. People may have to change things, like hanging up a photo of the deceased, holding a memorial service, or stopping/changing renovations. But they make the ghost happy or even pass on. That way they stop throwing the good china out of the cabinets.

[loveinhawkins]

Eddie is writing new song lyrics. Dustin discovers them on a random Saturday when they’re having pizza at Steve’s; Eddie asks Dustin to get one of his old campaign notes, and Dustin reaches for the wrong journal.

“Oh, not that one,” Eddie says with a shrug, but his eyes go a little thoughtful at the sight of it in Dustin’s hands. For some reason he pauses, and then he says, “You can still read it if you want, man.”

And Dustin stares at him, certain it’s a trick, because Eddie is notorious for ensuring that any potential Hellfire spoilers are kept under lock and key. But then he opens the book and reads.

And he gets it.

The lyrics are clever, because they hide under metaphor, apocalyptic imagery and all that stuff, but it clicks when Dustin gets to a verse about a tune echoing through a mall, ‘and it’s a song you know, you’ve known it all your life,’ and he’s suddenly thrown back to when he explained how Steve worked out the location of the Russian code, and Eddie was taking it all in, eyes as round as pennies.

Dustin sets down the notebook and says, “It’s about us.” It’s not a question.

Eddie nods. “Yeah.”

“You make it sound a lot more poetic than it actually was,” Dustin says.

But Eddie doesn’t tease back, just gives a contemplative little smile and says, “Really? I don’t think so.”

And that’s as far as they get in talking about it, because Eddie suddenly glances away, and his smile changes ever so slightly, gets softer around the edges. He turns back to Dustin and mouths, Look.

Dustin does. Steve has fallen asleep, curled up in the corner of the couch. His head is just barely resting in his hand, nodding forwards precariously every so often.

Dustin hears Eddie give an almost silent tsk, which is funny; he must have picked it up from Steve. He quietly goes over and moves Steve with a gentle touch until Steve’s head is resting comfortably against the cushions.

Steve murmurs wordlessly, eyes closed, then settles back into sleep.

Eddie catches Dustin’s eye; he mimes, Shh with a wink.

And something in the back of Dustin’s mind falls into place. …Huh.

There are days when Eddie has the journal and days when he doesn’t—he cycles through notebooks constantly, most of them having been started with a specific purpose before devolving into chaotic scribbles for anything and everything.

But this one stays consistent.

And whenever he does have the journal, he lets Dustin open it to any random page and read for as long as he likes.

It doesn’t exactly take Sherlock Holmes to figure out that a verse waxing lyrical about a protective soldier finally laying down his armour and resting is about… someone in particular.

And that makes Dustin wonder whether ‘and it’s a song you know, you’ve known it all your life’ isn’t just about a mechanical horse playing Daisy, Daisy. In fact, maybe it’s not about that at all.

He doesn’t mention anything, just says that Eddie’s writing is good when he hands the journal back over. It’s hardly a major compliment, except every time, Eddie says, “Thanks,” in an almost uncertain tone Dustin’s never heard before, like just hearing that’s really touched him.

And then one day Eddie loses the journal. Dustin doesn’t realise what’s wrong at first, just knows that Eddie is agitated, rooting around in the back of the van when Dustin sidles in for a ride home after school.

Dustin sees movement outside, and he looks up to see one of the substitute teachers who’s always got a stick up her ass standing at the school entrance. She’s holding Eddie’s journal.

“Uh, Eddie?”

“What?” Eddie snaps. Then he follows where Dustin is looking. “Oh Jesus fucking Christ.”

But he doesn’t let any of his irritation show when he hops out of the van and heads for the teacher.

Dustin knows Eddie talks a good game when it comes to sticking it to authority, all I’ll flip him the bird and so on, but there’s none of that arrogance now. Dustin can’t hear what they’re saying, but he can read the body language, the teacher’s tight-lipped smile, the way Eddie has crossed an arm over his chest self-defensively; he looks suddenly very young and unsure of himself.

The confrontation ends with the teacher handing Eddie the journal—more shoving it at him, really. Eddie gives her a curt nod before he heads back to the van, slamming the door shut as he gets inside.

He throws the journal in the back, and Dustin, who has carelessly destroyed countless textbooks, somehow finds himself saying, “Watch it, dude! You’ll rip it.”

Eddie doesn’t reply. He reverses out the parking lot and makes a turning for Dustin’s house, grinding his teeth.

The silence goes on until it’s unbearable, and Dustin tentatively asks, “What did she want?”

Eddie laughs, a nasty, thoroughly unconvincing sound. “Oh, ya know. Just returning lost property. Good fucking Samaritan.”

When he gets home, Dustin finds a note from his mom, that she’s over at his aunt’s and there’s some leftover pasta in the fridge. Dustin checks, and there’s easily enough for two.

He runs outside thankfully before Eddie has gone.

“You can’t expect me to be left in the kitchen unsupervised,” Dustin says. “I might burn it down.”

Eddie snorts. “From sticking pasta in the microwave?” Then he seems to hear himself and adds, “Yeah, somehow wouldn’t put it past you, Henderson.”

So they end up eating lasagne straight out of the dish together, playfully battling for the last slice like their forks are swords.

“What did she really want?” Dustin asks eventually. He can’t help but notice that Eddie had brought the journal in with him, keeps tapping his finger on the cover uneasily.

Eddie sighs, rubs a hand down his face. He nods down at the journal. “I’d left it in a classroom that some middle schoolers use for Drama Club. Apparently there’s some concerns about the appropriateness of—”

“That’s bullshit!” Dustin says. “Why would she even—”

“Dustin,” Eddie says very quietly. He closes his eyes. “You know why.”

And Dustin does. That’s why he’s so damn angry.

Because some of the lyrics (not all, but some), are love songs. And a good number of those are unambiguously from the point of view of a boy, speaking to another boy.

Eddie sighs again, presses a thumb into the inner corner of one eye. It looks like he’s warding off a headache. Dustin knows that he isn’t.

He could say I don’t care that you’re gay, but that doesn’t sound quite right; it isn’t about not caring, it’s about…

“You know I like you, right?” Dustin says.

Eddie gives a choked little laugh. He drops his hand, opens his eyes and says, with a faint smile, “No shit? I guessed you wouldn’t share lasagne with your mortal enemy.”

“True,” Dustin concedes. He presses on. “But I meant, like…” He bats Eddie’s hand away from the journal so he can tap it instead. “Like this. It’s all a part of you, and you’re really cool, so that means—like, it’s all cool. It makes you, you. You know?”

For a long moment, Eddie just stares at him. “You said you so many times, I don’t think it’s a word anymore,” he says, but he’s blinking a lot, and Dustin sees his lips quiver. “Um. Thanks.”

He still sounds sad which absolutely will not stand. Dustin gives him a few seconds of reprieve, before he launches at him with a karate style chopping motion.

Eddie chuckles. “You little shit!”

And they tussle until, breathlessly laughing, they’re both stretched out on the couch on their backs, side-by-side.

“You should let Steve read some,” Dustin suggests.

Eddie’s laughter trails off. “Mm,” he says, non-committal.

“I mean it!” Dustin recalls a verse he’d read only a couple of days ago, one that wasn’t dressed up in symbolism.

And you want to tell him you’re enough just like this darling, you always have been

“I don’t know,” Eddie says. “So far that stuff’s had an audience of one, and I think he might be a bit,” Eddie gestures with his thumb and forefinger, “biased. Being family and all.”

Dustin smiles, feels a proud little glow in his chest. “I don’t know how to tell you this, but I’ve seen Steve hiding love poetry books. Like he underlines that shit. It’s embarrassing.”

Eddie cackles. “Well. Some of my shit’s embarrassing so…”

Dustin claps his shoulder gravely. “I mean, I wasn’t gonna be the one to say it.”

Eddie pushes him nearly right off the couch; he pulls him back before he can fall. “Oh, fuck you.”

They’re quiet for a bit, and then Dustin suggests a movie, and when he’s putting the VHS in, he catches Eddie watching him with shiny eyes.

“Hey,” Eddie says. He smiles. “I love you.”

And God, it’s so much better hearing those words like this, with Eddie in front of him, safe and whole.

And Dustin doesn’t need to rush his reply this time. He picks up the journal and passes it to Eddie, careful of the binding.

“I love you, too,” he says, and the proud glow in his chest feels even stronger. “Now get writing, Shakespeare.”

[sirfrogsworth]

I keep wanting to write the ultimate post on autotune but I just never quite finish. I think there are 3 versions of almost-done autotune posts in my drafts.

So I'm going to leave out the technical and try to simplify my points.

Autotune is not the devil.

It is not good or bad.

It is just a tool.

It can be used well.

It can be used poorly.

And most importantly...

Autotune cannot make you sound good.

In fact, reverb and EQ can do more to make a bad singer sound okay than autotune.

All autotune does is correct pitch.

Singer sings the wrong note.

Autotune shifts that note.

Nothing about that makes you a better-sounding singer. It doesn't change your tone. It doesn't give you more range. It doesn't give you more power or dynamics. It doesn't give you vibrato.

It just makes you... in tune.

I have never heard anyone say of a great singer, "Wow, they are so in tune!" No one cries over a beautiful performance because the singer hit all the right notes.

And I guess if you are wildly out of tune, people might say you are a bad singer, but I would actually say that makes you an *inexperienced* singer. And whether you are good or bad cannot really be determined until the tuning issues are addressed. (Which most of the time is just a matter of training and practice.)

Good singers can sing the wrong note. It happens quite a lot, actually. Especially with material they aren't familiar with yet. In fact, every singer hits wrong notes. Even people with perfect pitch hit the wrong note. They just know immediately when it happens. This is because singing a note is a physical action and if your vocal mechanisms are not warmed up or you have a cold or the temperature is hot or cold, it is impossible to know if you are going to hit the perfect pitch at any given time.

This is why people warm up and rehearse and do scales before actually singing anything.

Autotune's main use is to fix good takes that have a few sour notes. That is what it is used for 95% of the time. Otherwise you are burning through expensive studio time doing take after take until you hit every single note at the perfect pitch. Sometimes a singer will do an AMAZEBALLS version of a take and they hit one sour note and instead of trying to create that lightning-in-a-bottle moment again, they just nudge the one note and save the performance.

You do not notice autotune the vast majority of the time. If it is used properly, autotune artifacts are completely inaudible.

In fact, I would argue that autotune makes inexperienced singers sound worse. That robotic sound you sometimes hear means the singers were very out of tune. The more out of tune you are, the worse autotune sounds. The more in tune you are, the more invisible it is.

There are very few people who are actually tone deaf. Which means everyone can be taught to sing in tune with decent consistency. And so if there is an instance where someone uses a lot of very obvious sounding autotune, it means they weren't interested in practicing. Or that they got tired of doing multiple takes and had better things to do.

And it isn't that they are a *bad* singer necessarily, but they are probably a lazy one.

Now, there is a different discussion about using autotune to "fix" notes that probably don't need to be fixed. Some variation in pitch can be a good thing. It can show emotion and give notes some spicy flavor. Sometimes singers will start out of tune and shift up to the right note. Like a vocal guitar bend. Being perfectly in tune can sound sterile. And sometimes overzealous producers will let their perfectionism get the better of them and make sure every single note is accurate to the cent and it brings a lifeless feel to the song.

When musicians complain about autotune, this is usually what they are talking about. Not some nepo baby with a record deal who couldn't be bothered to practice their song enough to get it mostly in tune when they sing it.

You should only use autotune to fix pitch when a note truly feels wrong. Like, it is so out of tune that it breaks your immersion.

Otherwise, leave it spicy.

[slaymitchabernathy]

Field Mouse

District Twelve is filled with rats. Vermin. Infested in fact. That's the first thing Coriolanus Snow learns when he gets off the train at the station. At night he tries to soothe himself to sleep by telling himself that by all technicality, he's sleeping in the cleanest place there is in this sad excuse for a District.

Not that the Peacekeeper base is top tier. Because it's not.

His penthouse on the Corso is top-tier. But here he was, sweating as he loaded crates and barrels onto trucks in the sweltering heat of June. "Got here right in time Gent," his bunkmate Smiley jokes.

Coriolanus has to withstand the urge to roll his eyes at his friend's playful jest. There is nothing right about him being here. There is nothing good about District Twelve. There is nothing worth visiting District Twelve for and...oh.

Well, what does he have here?

Coriolanus had almost forgotten that women inhabited this part of Panem. It doesn't mean they're pretty, but they all share that one special thing between their legs and that's good enough for him.

His other bunkmate Beanpole takes notice of the change in Coriolanus's demeanor and nudges him, "We're going down to the Hob tomorrow night. You should come, meet the locals." He wiggles his eyebrows as he says the last part and Coriolanus grins. "Sounds like a plan."

If he were in the Capitol, he would've put a lot of time and effort into his appearance. He would've made sure his shirt was free of any wrinkles, that his shoes weren't scuffed, that his curls were styled just the right way.

But he's not in the Capitol. His shirt consists of the uniform every Peacekeeper is given when they arrive at the base. His shoes are heavy-duty boots, and he gets yelled at if his laces are undone. And his golden, precious curls are gone. Shaved off before he even left the Capitol.

He runs a hand through his buzzed hair as they all step into the Hob. According to Smiley, it's some sort of black-market the locals have put together. The Peacekeepers normally turn a blind eye since it's one of the only places you can get alcohol for a decent price, along with a good time with a girl.

Coriolanus surveys the room for a moment, locating all the exits and entry points. It seems there's one way in and one way out. A major fire hazard but who cares? "Let's get some drinks," Smiley shouts into his ear. It's loud in here, and it smells a little but Coriolanus nods, everything's more tolerable when you're drunk.

They get some drinks from a vendor who's running the bar who eyes them wearily until Smiley produces some coins. Then they're welcomed customers. "Folks around here are a bit scared off by us," he explains to Coriolanus, tugging on his blue shirt, "they can spot the uniform from a mile away."

Coriolanus was always able to identify the Peacekeepers in the Capitol, but he doesn't tell Smiley that. Peacekeepers were a beacon of security and safety to Capitol citizens. Here, they're practically terrorists.

It's like a sudden silence falls over the room before a girl comes scampering out onto the makeshift stage they have set up in the Hob, and she's hollering about all sorts of things. Coriolanus doesn't really pay her any mind, or the other's that join her and strike up a tune. Live music is always appreciated so he keeps on talking to Smiley about when he thinks Hoff might stop making them carry hundreds of crates back and forth from the base.

Coriolanus has always been perceptive, and that's how he spots a small disturbance in the crowd. It's between a girl and a guy and the two are arguing about something with such passion. Well, the guy is at least. The girl won't seem to give him the time of day as she pushes her way through the crowd that seems to make way for her, but not for him.

It's hard to make out her face in the dim lighting, but she looks pretty. Well, pretty for a girl in the Districts. She's making her way towards him. Towards the bar most likely. As they get closer Coriolanus can make out more of what the guy is saying.

"...didn't mean it! You know I would never get with her, you're the one for me Soarynn."

Soarynn. What a pretty name. And the closer she gets he can see that she's very pretty. Coriolanus decides that he'd be chasing her too if she was running away from him.

She finally reaches the bar, not sparing any Peacekeepers a glance as she goes to order. She doesn't get far before the guy grabs her arm and pulls her back. Coriolanus tightens his grip on his drink. He hates District people all the same, even if they're pretty girls. But there's just something about a guy bothering a girl that he hates.

"I didn't cheat so stop walkin' away from me!" He cries, frustration written all over his grimy face. Soarynn pulls her arm from his grasp, "I don't care what you did or didn't do, we're over Billy Taupe. Go find some new girl to follow around." She tries to step back but this Billy Taupe is relentless and clearly drunk because he goes to grab her waist. Soarynn doesn't hesitate to slap him across the face and several people let out low whistles at the public fight.

Coriolanus shakes his head and focuses back on Smiley, figuring the argument is over now that she's shown him a thing or two. So when he watches from the corner of his eye as Billy Taupe grabs her by the hair and starts screaming bloody murder, he's the first to react and leap to action.

She looks so scared in his grasp, trying to get away and Coriolanus doesn't hesitate to grab the drunk by the shoulders and pull him back. Soarynn manages to get out of Billy Taupe's grasp and watches wide-eyed as Coriolanus turns him around and socks him across the face.

Now it's a fight.

There's yelling from both sides, miners and Peacekeepers alike as Coriolanus punches Billy Taupe again. He tries to fight back and manages to snag him in his lip, but he's no match for Coriolanus who's much taller and more sober. Coriolanus lands one more punch, watching as blood gushes from Billy Taupe's nose.

The Hob is buzzing with noise now, people are screaming and arguing while the two boys are now on the floor. Even though he can barely hear himself think, he grabs Billy Taupe by the collar, pulling him off the ground, "Don't ever touch her again," he spits out before letting go of that sorry excuse of a person.

It's Beanpole who's pulling him off the ground, saying how they need to leave before backup gets here. The crowd makes it hard to move in any direction but they don't seem to be too mad at him. He gets some dirty looks but that's about it. Coriolanus only glances behind him once to see Soarynn looking right at him, her eyes wide and watching as he leaves.

The boys clap him on the back as they walk back to the base, "You sure-handed his ass to him," Beanpole laughs, "thought we'd never get you off of him."

Coriolanus shrugged, his lip had a small cut on it, which meant bruise, swelling, the whole nine yards really.

"I was just doing my job."

꧁ ꧂

He's felt someone's eyes on him since they pulled into the town square. But Coriolanus can't seem to find who's watching him. They're loading crates, again. It seems that the newer Peacekeepers are tasked with all the grunt work no one wants to be bothered with.

"Take a break!" The commanding officer yells, wiping sweat off his own brow before walking into the nearest establishment for reprieve which just so happens to be the bakery. Coriolanus watches him for a moment, his eyes scanning the bakery windows and then he sees her.

Sees those eyes.

Soarynn's eyes widen momentarily before a small smile spreads across her lips and she walks away from the window. Coriolanus looks around to see if anyone else notices her but everyone's too caught up in their misery with the heat to even look at him. Beanpole and Smiley are leaning up against the truck so he decides to stray from the group, do some recon if you will.

He can't go into the bakery, not with the officer still inside. But he can peek in, try and see her. He's walking by the alley when he hears a whistle. His head snaps towards the narrow road in between the barkey and another establishment but he sees nothing. In the movies he's seen this is the part where you run in the other direction.

He goes into the alley.

He walks further and further, passing by a small gate when a hand reaches out and grabs him. Coriolanus nearly jumps out of his skin when he's pulled to the side, his hand immediately going for his gun when he looks down and sees that it's her.

It's Soarynn.

She smiles up at him, her hand still on his arm, "Hi."

Coriolanus raises his eyebrows before replying, "Hello. Is there a reason as to why you lured me into this alley?"

Soarynn laughs and it sounds so sweet, sweet like honey. "I wanted to thank you for the other night. You were real noble saving me from the likes of Billy Taupe."

"Is he your boyfriend?" Coriolanus blurts out, watching her face slightly falter as if she's deciding whether or not to tell him the truth. "He was," she says slowly, swaying back and forth on her heels, taking her hand off his arm, "then I caught him cheatin' on me."

Coriolanus can't help the look of surprise on his face, out of all the women he's seen in District Twelve, Soarynn is by far the prettiest. "Why would he cheat on you?" He asks, "Doesn't make sense to cheat on a sweet girl like you."

Soarynn grins, tilting her head, "Boys will drop a shiny coin to pick up a pebble sweetheart, just the way it is." She looks him up and down then, taking in his current state, hot and sweaty. He must look very handsome right now. "They got y'all workin' hard with those crates. Been watchin' you all morning."

Coriolanus isn't used to this, how forward this girl is with him. In the Capitol, it's all about soft giggles and practiced glances. But this girl is putting it all out there so he might as well too. "You like looking at me?" He asks her, taking a step towards her. She doesn't back up. "Mhm. I like lookin' at pretty boys like you," she purrs, her fingers coming up to touch his dog tags, "especially pretty boys who come to my rescue." She grabs his tags, yanking him down until he's at eye level with her, she turns his tags in her fingers, not even looking at him.

For some reason, he finds that attractive. How she won't give him the time of day right now even though she's the whole reason he's in this alley.

She reads his dog tags, "Coriolanus Snow," she says, finally looking him in the eye and she looks rather impressed. "Eighteen years old, six-foot-two, Capitol born," she smirks at the last part. "I've never met a Capitol boy like you before. You miss home?" He doesn't miss a beat, "Yes." Soarynn laughs and nods her head, "I would too, especially if I ended up here."

She lets go of his tags but he doesn't rise to his full height, he stays down there with her. "Do you have a job?" She shrugs, "Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. Depends which way the wind blows I guess." Coriolanus bites his lip, his bruised lip and she notices, reaches out, and touches it without even asking, "Sorry about your lip. Billy Taupe can throw a nasty punch when he's angry."

Suddenly his stomach is in knots thinking about how she knows what it feels like to be punched by Billy Taupe. "He ever hit you?"

That seems to be the question that scares her off the most, he can almost see her putting her walls back up, "I'm not with him anymore. Don't need to worry about who he's punchin' or kissin' for that matter."

So he's hit her before. That's fine. Perfectly fine.

A sharp whistle pulls the two out of their tense little world and Coriolanus straightens back up, leaning out to see they're finally packing up and heading back to the base. "I'd like to see you again," he says, looking down at her. Her hair is parted down the middle, it's blonde and it looks so soft. Her tan skin is fairly clean and she's got these eyes he can't look away from. They're blue with a hint of gray. Freckles cover her face and her pink lips curl up into a smile, "You wanna see little old me again? After all the trouble I've caused you?" She asks, feigning surprise.

Coriolanus rolls his eyes and nods, "I'll take my chances." Soarynn hums, bouncing on her toes, "I'll be at the Hob this Friday. 'Course you can always come see me in the Seam." He furrows his brows, the Seam?

Soarynn giggles, "Oh so you're really new to District Twelve huh? I'll see you on Friday then. Coriolanus Snow." She slips something in his hand before she spins around, walking up two stairs and opening a door. He has no clue where it leads or where she's going but he's nodding and watching her leave.

It's only when he's sitting in the back of the truck that he looks to see what she gave him. It's a ribbon. Pink, silky, probably cost her a small fortune. Smiley looks over and his eyebrows raise, "Where'd you get that?" Coriolanus finds it incredibly rude of Smiley to insert himself somewhere he has no business being, but perhaps sharing this little secret will pay off in the end. After all, Smiley is much more knowledgeable about this place than he is at the moment. "That girl from the Hob," he says, his voice hushed, his fist curling around the ribbon.

Smiley grins, "Looks like she's being sweet on you if she gave you that. Must make you her hero or something since you saved her from that guy."

Coriolanus frowns because it makes perfect sense why Soarynn would like him and be so sweet to him. He protected her. He saved her. But he's a Peacekeeper. He's seen the way people look at him, at his friends, his bosses. All they see is Capitol dogs.

"But I'm a Peacekeeper," he points out, "she should hate me for what I do."

The truck jostles and Coriolanus knows they're back on base, and watches the gates close behind them. Home sweet home.

Smiley chuckles, "Sounds like she's one of those girls who has a thing for Peacekeepers. Some women love men with authority so we're the perfect fit for them, makes them feel like they're special."

Well, this was news to Coriolanus. He'd grown up hating District people and always assumed that they did the same. Which meant something must be really wrong with this girl.

The truck finally came to a stop and they hopped out, the ribbon still clutched in his hand. It was pretty, like her. And he didn't get a whole lot of pretty out here in Twelve, surrounded by sweaty, grumbling men.

Smiley bumped his shoulder with him, "They're like bees to honey with us, can't get enough.”

Everyone begins walking towards the mess hall. Cookie made something fried tonight from what he can smell and everyone wants a bite, but Coriolanus lingers behind.

Looking at that pink ribbon. It’s soft, it sure would look pretty in her hair.

“…like bees to honey…”

Those words play over and over in his head for the rest of the day, rest of the night. Surely he hasn’t misread the situation, her actions. She gave him that ribbon to remember her, so he’d think about her until they saw each other again. She even told him where she lived! Kind of. Sort of. Maybe.

“Hey Beanpole,” he says, not moving from his position on his bunk. They have an hour of free time before its lights out and Coriolanus has been using it to mull over his possibilities with Soarynn.

“Yeah, Gent?”

Coriolanus debates how much he should ask, how much he should tell. Because at the end of the day, he’s here to work, to suffer, to serve. Hoff hasn’t directly said they couldn’t be in relationships but he has a feeling that they’re rather frowned upon. Especially with new recruits. Especially with District girls.

“Where’s the Seam?”

The laugh he gets from Beanpole makes him wonder if it’s so obvious. Clearly, there aren’t big signs in town pointing in every which direction but still, it seems to be a valid question.

“The Seam is the south side of nowhere my friend. It’s rock bottom.”

Oh, so she’s poor.

Or her family is poor at least which makes her poor. If only he could take her back with him to the Capitol, show her true wealth.

“I’ll point you in the right direction when we stop by town tomorrow,” his bunkmate offers. Coriolanus thanks him before rolling over in his bunk, staring at the wall. This is a bad idea, he thinks. But what’s the worst that can happen? A little heartbreak never killed anybody.

Right?

꧁ ꧂

“Just keep walking down that road and you’ll reach the Seam,” Beanpole said, giving Coriolanus a pat on the back like he’d need it.

Coriolanus nodded and soldiered on towards the Seam, a bag of ice clutched in his hand. It took some convincing from Cookie, but he managed a decent-sized bag, figuring Soarynn might enjoy some ice. The further he walks the more he realizes why Beanpole wished him luck. The Seam is where poor, poor, poor people live.

The houses can barely hold themselves together, the roofs are sagging, the grass is dead, the fences are leaning and Coriolanus is about to start running.

But he can’t.

He needs to be a man, a better man. At least a better man than Billy Taupe which shouldn’t be hard since he hits his girlfriend.

Ex-girlfriend, Coriolanus reminds himself as he comes across a man working on his front fence. The man looks normal enough until Coriolanus asks him for directions and he realizes the man is missing his two front teeth.

“I’m looking for a girl,” he starts and the man lets out a wheeze, slapping his knee. “Aren’t we all?” He asks, throwing his head back. Coriolanus sighs, leave it to him to ask this absolute nut job for directions. “Her name is Soarynn,” he continues, “she said she lives in the Seam.” That seems to sober the man up long enough to think, “Oh the blonde girl,” he snaps his fingers, “she lives at the end of the road.”

Of course, she does.

Coriolanus thanks the man before continuing his trek to her house. It’s positively sweltering and he’s glad he had forgone the long-sleeved part of his Peacekeeper uniform. Today it’s the pants and the white shirt. Simple. He’s hoping for handsome but his sweat isn’t helping.

When he finally reaches her house he’s passed a number of people on the street, all looking at him strangely as if he’s the odd one out. Shouldn’t these people be working? No wonder this country was such a mess.

Soarynn’s house is gray but that seems to be a recurring theme in the Seam. It looks to be about two stories although he wouldn’t try the second floor if he was smart. There’s a rickety porch and he cautiously makes his way up the steps and knocks on the door.

There’s the chance that no one’s home. With his luck, her dad will answer the door.

When the door opens he almost wishes it was her dad answering. It’s a boy. His age, brown hair, tan skin, shirtless. They’re about the same height and they immediately size each other up because what else do teenage boys do?

Finally, the brown-haired boy smirks and looks over his shoulder, “Your pretty boy is here Soarynn.”

His heart beats a little faster at the nickname. One, because it’s a nickname and Coriolanus only has two other nicknames, Gent and Coryo. Both reserved for very different people. Two, because it means she’s talked about him since they last saw each other. It’s only been two days but still.

He can hear a bit of scuffling before Soarynn pushes her way to the front door, shoving the other boy back into the house, “Don’t make me get my earplugs,” the boy says to her. Soarynn looks up and shoots him a nasty look before jabbing him in the ribs with her elbow, “Go fishin’ Jett, and don’t tell no one either.”

Jett, it seems, simply holds his hands up before shooting Coriolanus one more look and disappearing into the house.

Coriolanus can feel his bottom lip twitching. Who was that? At first he feared the worst, that she might already be with someone else, but their dynamic doesn’t seem that way.

“My cousin,” Soarynn says as if reading his mind.

Coriolanus finally looks down at her and isn’t she just something? Her hair’s been thrown up in a messy bun, a few pieces falling out here and there. She’s wearing a dress with thin straps, it’s light blue and it looks like it’s been worn to death. He isn’t even trying to notice but she’s got no bra on and she doesn’t seem to care that he’s seeing her this way, so exposed right now.

“I thought I might never find this place,” he says, not wanting to expand on her cousin anymore if he can help it. Soarynn gives him a small smile and leans against the doorframe as if the house won’t fall over from her small amount of weight. “But you found me,” she tells him, some pride in her tone.

Coriolanus swallows, “I did.” He looks into the house to see if he can find anyone else but it seems to be empty. Soarynn catches him looking because she seems to notice everything and straightens back up, “Why don’t we go to the meadow?”

The meadow? A possibly desirable place in this wasteland?

“Sounds good to me.”

꧁ ꧂

Soarynn doesn’t wear any shoes when they go to the meadow. It’s quite literally right behind her house which makes it easier, but still. What if she stepped on something or got bit? She doesn’t seem to care.

She leads him to a large oak tree where there’s a rock under it, the perfect size for the both of them to perch on. At least that’s what she tells him.

“I come bearing gifts,” he says, settling down on the rock.

Soarynn tilts her head and pulls her knees up to her chest, “You don't say.”

Even though he’s sure she already saw it he makes a big show of producing the ice. It’s not even the satisfaction of knowing he provided for her that makes him happy, it’s the big smile that spreads across her face when she sees the bag.

“Well this is a gift good as any,” she says with a laugh, grabbing the bottom of the bag to feel how cold it is. “Y’all got ice on that Peacekeeper base?”

Coriolanus nods while untying the bag, offering her a cube. Soarynn simply opens her mouth and he doesn’t falter to drop the cube into her mouth, watching her work on it for a minute. “Thank you for the ribbon by the way. You didn’t have to give me a gift.”

Soarynn raises her eyebrows and looks out into the meadow, “Wasn’t much of a gift as it was a token. A token of my affection,” she states matter of factly.

Coriolanus grins, “Does that mean you might show me some affection today?”

Soarynn shoots him a flirtatious look, “Might show you somethin’ more if you keep it up pretty boy.”

That’s what he likes most about her he thinks, how she can dish as well as she can take it.

He wonders what else she can take.

“Have you ever been with a Peacekeeper before?” He asks, curious to see if Smiley is right and if he’s her third victim of the month. He’s sure there are girls like that, finding some new boy the second their old one gets shipped off to some new District.

Soarynn bites her lip, “Been with a Peacekeeper in what way? Sexually?”

Well, he hadn’t meant that but there’s no going back now he supposes, “In any way shape, or form,” he decides, popping two ice cubes into his own mouth. He doesn’t suck on them like Soarynn does like she’s trying to savor them because she doesn’t know the next time she’ll get ice. He can get as much ice as he damn well pleases back at the base.

“Nope, y’all aren’t really my type,” she says with a smile, gigging when Coriolanus gasps as if offended. “But you’re here with me,” he points out, “and why aren’t we your type?”

Soarynn pretends to think for a second before answering, “I like boys with longer hair.”

Oh, that hurts. If only he could show her how long his curls used to be. She’d be on him in seconds if she knew.

“Well, I didn’t get much say in the matter. Have you ever cut your hair?”

Soarynn shakes her head, her nose slightly wrinkling as if the very thought of it is repulsive. “Never cut it. Some women are superstitious about cuttin’ their hair, I just never had the urge to do it. Plus if I ever did have to cut it to sell it, I’d like to get my money's worth.”

Is this what it’s come to in the Districts? Cutting hair to sell it? Who wants to buy hair?

Coriolanus takes another good look at Soarynn. It’s hard to imagine her hair chopped to her shoulders but he thinks she’d look pretty still. She’s got the right face shape for it and her jaw juts out in just the right way. His eyes wander down her small, slender frame. If she was naked he’s sure she’d be all skin and bones, you can probably see how many ribs she has.

He remembers what that was like. Being poor and hungry. The worst two feelings in the world. But she seems happy as she gazes out into the meadow. Can’t miss what you never had he decides.

“You know, if you ever need money…I could help you out. Of help with whatever you need,” he says, already feeling like more of a hero to her.

Soarynn snorts and he frowns, what’s so funny? When she sees his expression she laughs even harder and shakes her head, “You don’t need to be my hero sweetheart. I really appreciate it but I don’t want your money.”

Well, then what does she want?

Coriolanus scratches the back of his neck, “Is there anything you from me then?”

He’d sure hope so. Here he was with this girl out in the middle of nowhere when he could be back on base with cool air blowing all around him.

Soarynn peered up at him through her long eyelashes, “I can think of a few things,” she mumbles with a grin.

At least they’re somewhat on the same page now.

Coriolanus doesn’t hesitate to lean in, his hand cupping her face as his lips press against hers. Her lips taste like sweet syrup and she smells like vanilla. Soarynn’s hands rest on his biceps, slightly squeezing them. His training has given him muscles he’s never seen before and he’s not complaining.

He drops the bag of ice to grab her waist with his other hand, his palm pressing into the back of her spine through her dress. Soarynn sighs into the kiss, one of her hands coming up into his hair, carding her fingers through it. She smiles against his lips, “Might just make an exception for you and your buzzed hair,” she mumbles. He pulls her in closer, wishing he could crawl into her skin and never let her go.

Soarynn isn’t the first girl he’s kissed and he doubts she’ll be the last. But right now she’s the only one who matters, the only person that matters here in District Twelve. Besides him of course.

He gets her to lie down on the rock, propping himself over her while they explore each other’s mouths. She’s so soft and sweet, and small, he likes how much bigger he is compared to her. How he could break her in half if he really wanted to.

They��re much more handsy once she’s lying down. Her hands slip under his white shirt, her fingertips tracing over his sculpted abdomen sending shivers down his back. Coriolanus presses one more kiss to her lips before kissing down her jaw, peppering her neck with kisses while his hand slips onto her thigh. He should probably ask if she’s okay with this, if she wants more, wants less. If she’s a virgin.

Probably not.

A girl like her knows a thing or two about men and their sexual urges.

His hand slips under her dress and he can feel the fabric of her panties. They’re probably old, well-worn, maybe the only pair she owns. Who knows what they can afford out here in Twelve.

Just as his hand is slipping under the fabric of her panties, a hissing sound pulls Coriolanus from his lustful haze. He glances to the right and nearly jumps out of his skin when he sees a snake has slithered its way onto the rock.

“Shit,” he swears, getting off of her so they can both run. Soarynn’s eyes fly open, most likely confused as to why he’s stopped kissing her and she looks over to see the reptile currently threatening their lives. “Oh, hey there little fella.”

Coriolanus is on his feet within seconds, breathing heavily as he eyes the snake. Maybe he could shoot it, but he’d feel kind of bad killing an animal in front of Soarynn.

And Soarynn isn’t making any sudden moves to get off the snake rock. In fact, she grabs the snake. It slithers through her fingers and around her arms as if it’s her domesticated pet. She doesn’t even seem frightened by it. She looks up at him and gives him a small smile, “Don't need to run pretty boy, this here's a corn snake, all bark and no bite."

Coriolanus highly doubts that thing doesn't bite, nor does it bark but he relaxes slightly when he sees how calm the reptile is in her hands.

"Are there a lot of snakes out here?" He asks, suddenly feeling very exposed out here in this meadow with the tall grass, giving any other animals the perfect chance to attack him without him seeing them. Soarynn shrugs, "I guess. They're good for the rats though," she gives him a knowing look, "makes me real sad when they get the little field mice though. They don't cause no one trouble."

A field mouse he could deal with. He's dealing with one right now it seems.

Soarynn reminds him of a mouse. Small, harmless, easy to crush if need be. At the end of the day, they're still vermin no matter how cute they may seem.

Soarynn finally puts the snake back in the grass and watches it slither away before she slips off the rock and joins him, lacing her fingers with his, "Thanks for protectin' me," she jokes, standing on her tiptoes to press a kiss to his cheek.

Coriolanus manages to give her a sheepish look. It's not like he intended to abandon her, but she moved so slowly and she clearly didn't seem to have a problem with the snake. "Sometimes you've gotta let your girl handle her own battles," he responds cooly, giving her hand a squeeze.

Her eyes slightly widen before creasing upwards in a smile, "So I'm your girl then? Just like that?"

Had he already called her his girl? He hadn't meant to move so fast or really attach himself to her like this but she seemed alright and it never hurt to know some of the locals, have a spot where he could relax from his Peacekeeping duties.

And Soarynn was pretty. Very pretty. He hadn't gotten a good look at her under that dress but he was planning to and that meant keeping her around for a little longer. Besides, he wouldn't be in District Twelve forever. No. He planned on getting back to the Capitol one way or another to finish what he started. He'd have some fun for now and then get the hell out of here.

"Yep," he replies, "unless you're stringing along some other guy."

Nows her chance to come clean, to tell him if Billy Taupe isn't the only person he has to worry about because he'll be damned if he's being played.

Soarynn shakes her head, "Just you and me sweetheart."

| Part 1. |

| tumblr oneshot/drabble |

[umlewis]

lewis hamilton, p3, during the post-race press conference, spain - june 23, 2024 (transcript under the cut)

Interviewer: "Lewis, coming to you now. Many congratulations. Great to see you back on the podium for the first time this year. How much of a boost is this result for you and for the team?" Lewis: "Yeah, it's a big boost to finally get a good result. It's been a minute since I've been up here in the race, so a huge, huge thank you to the team, who have done an amazing job just with all the processes through the race weekend, but particularly everyone back at the factory for working so hard; the extra long hours to bring components to the car. And we're slowly, slowly getting closer. I mean, last year we were very fast here, so you have to take it with a pinch of salt, but obviously the last couple of races we've also been relatively competitive. So I think we have closed the gap a little bit, but we still have a good couple of tenths to try and find, so we just got to have all hands on deck and keep pushing." Interviewer: "Are you still fine-tuning this new package, or do you need more upgrades to close the gap to these two guys?" Lewis: "No. I think that's the maximum it's got, at the moment, and so… But, I mean, we're always fine-tuning it with subtle changes that we make, so we are always fine-tuning it when we continue to tune it through the year. But we need to bolt some stuff on, some extra bits to be able to compete with these guys." Interviewer: "Now, you had to overtake Carlos Sainz twice today. He was unhappy about the first of those moves, saying that you should have given the place back. Can we just get your take on what happened at turn one, there?" Lewis: "I mean, look, it's not a good feeling when you do get overtaken, and I think we had a nice, tight battle into turn one. I left him some room, so I think he was still on the track. But ultimately he left the door open on the inside, didn't fully close it, and so I went for the inside and tried to make the corner. I think he came around. I think we touched wheels equally and nothing major. It was like a small scrub. Gave him some room on the exit, and yeah…" [laughs] Interviewer: "Alright. Let's throw it forward now. Do you feel Mercedes are building some momentum now?" Lewis: "We definitely are. We definitely are. We're definitely getting more consistent, and if I can just get my qualifying to be like this weekend then it makes the Sunday so much easier. Also if you get a good start, but my Saturdays have been so bad for the last, like, fifteen races, so it's good to have a clean weekend, and hopefully this puts us in a good position to challenge in the next few races." Interviewer: "Thank you, Lewis. Thanks to all three of you. Let's open this to the floor. Name and publication, please."

[time jump] NOT SHOWN: Journalist: "Kevin Scheuren, Motorsport-Total.com. A question is to Lewis and Lando: Of course, I don't want to discredit you becoming driver of the day today, but Max is bringing in victory after victory, and there were slight boos at the podium, as well. So would you say that there is a lack of appreciation for the accomplishments that Max has in the general public from time to time?" Lewis: "Well, I mean, honestly, I'm not really a lot on social media or reading the news, so in terms of being, like… [phone pings, journalists laugh, Lewis laughs] Yeah. I don't really… I'm not tapped into that to know, exactly, but on the race weekends, he always has a huge crowd, always, so he's always got amazing support and, at the end of the day, he does a fantastic job. Every weekend he delivers, and he's got a great team and obviously a great car, but you can't fault him."

[time jump] Journalist: "Phil Duncan, PA. Lewis, you've obviously said that Mercedes are building a bit of momentum. Do you think that that victory is on the horizon, and how important is it to you to sign off your Mercedes career with a win before the year's out?" Lewis: "I mean, it's not the… It'd be /nice/, but I think, considering where we've come from, I think… Yeah, I think just having consistency and seeing if we can put the team further up in the points, I think it's got to be the target, but I think right now let's just try and have more consistent weekends like this and then we'll see. But we aren't yet currently in a position to be able to fight them for wins. You would say that maybe Montreal… I mean, George probably should have won that one, but if I'd qualified where I feel I should have, there was potential also there, too. So we'll see in the next few races. I think we've got these high-speed circuits. You know, the McLaren's always been quick and the Red Bull has been quick in A1 Ring. Silverstone… They'll also be very fast there, but I'm hoping that we are able to eek a little bit closer to them and give them a bit more trouble in the next four or five races. And then we’ve just got to keep bringing upgrades. We've got to keep improving the car. There's a clear improvement and there's just clear areas where we need to bolt on performance so that we can be in the fight with them."

Interviewer: "Thank you. Yep! Another one." Journalist: "Don Kennedy, HB Today, New Zealand Herald. Question for Lewis: Great drive today. Obviously you'll be pleased Mercedes is moving closer to the front, but how does that sit with you in terms of your decision to move to Ferrari next year, and does that give you some second thoughts, given that Ferrari now seems to be falling behind the car you're currently driving?" Lewis: "No, not at all. I mean, firstly, I love Mercedes. I've been with Mercedes since I was thirteen and I'll always be a fan and supporter of Mercedes, and my job this year, right now, is to work as hard as I can with the crew that I have, with the people back at the factory, to try and move and develop the car in the right direction. And so ultimately, whatever course and trajectory the team is on… For next year, for example, there are things that I've hopefully been a part of and be proud of being a part of. My job will start next year at the other team, who I think are doing a great job. I think they've had a couple of difficult races, but let's not forget they had a race win in Monaco. I can't tell you what is wrong with their car and why they are in the position they're in today, but they did bring an upgrade here and I think they are definitely progressing, so yeah… But it doesn't make me second-guess my decision at all."

Interviewer: "Thank you. Yes, more, more questions." Journalist: "Pilar from Paddock Magazine. Question for Lewis: You have mentioned that you are struggling a little bit on qualifying. Where do you think is the key to start improving the results? Is because of the set-up, or more about the pace of the car?" Lewis: "I mean, our pace is where we were, basically-third and fourth to this weekend-but I think our car has generally been very… It's quite peaky, and that means that it's often out of balance. It's very rarely that it's in balance and it's nice and smooth through a corner, and so set-up has been… I've obviously experimented a lot with the set-up over the last couple of years, but the car doesn't really like any of the set-ups but one, and it's slowly starting to just become nicer to drive. And then, ultimately, tires. Tires have been a huge issue for me, so I think we got it half-decent this weekend. If I can make some improvements over the course of the next races, I think there's more performance there."

[qoqurt]

° ᡣ𐭩 . ° . AHNTOPIA .ᐟ

daisy + her relationship with her siblings .ᐟ

read about daisy here | au masterlist

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ JIHOON AHN .ᐟ

born on may 4, 1998 — making him the oldest of the ahn siblings at 25

took on a father figure role after daisy and david were born, due to the fact that their parents were oftentimes busy with work

but because of this, all the ahn siblings are incredibly close

a taekwondo instructor — has been doing it since 2018, but has been taking classes himself since he was a kid

has taught daisy most of what she knows

she looks up to him a lot, and often goes to him for advice

theres a recurring gag / bit going on in which a vast majority of daisy’s friends find jihoon attractive or have had a crush on him — which peeves her to no end (affectionately)

was most likely the one to teach daisy how to drive

he reminds daisy of tadashi hamada from big hero 6

daisy inherits the Hopeless Romantic trait from him

currently residing in toronto for work

has bought flowers for their mom, daisy and yujin for valentines since daisy was 12 and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future

will just show up at daisy’s place to visit (with david)

tunes into ahn on the air every chance he gets. oftentimes texts daisy after broadcasting with his opinions on that day’s ‘sing you to sleep’ segment

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ YUJIN AHN .ᐟ

daisy’s oldest sister! born june 19, 2001 — making her oldest after jihoon at 22 years old

lives probably the farthest out of all of her siblings, currently living in seoul

daisy stays with her when she travels there

a popular twitch streamer in korea, often plays games like valorant and league

will have daisy on stream when she does val sometimes

definitely dotes on daisy a little more than jihoon does, but it’s because daisy’s a little more reliant on yujin

formula 1 junkie — she and daisy often talk about the races together

was the one who gifted daisy her first and only guitar — which daisy lovingly named ‘jin’ after her older sister

a lot of daisy’s clothes are yujin’s handmedowns

is the more introverted of the ahn siblings

both she and jihoon were forced to become camp counsellors at the same camp david and daisy attended — much to yujin’s chagrin

most of daisy and yujin’s hangouts consist of them staying home and watching movies or cooking together — or going shopping

they’re pen pals, often writing each other cute letters despite being able to text each other

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ DOYUN ‘DAVID’ AHN .ᐟ

daisy’s twin! both february babies (february 26th, 2003)

they’re definitely the closest out of all the siblings, but that’s a given considering the fact that they’re twins

they’re 100% each other’s person

because david got into hockey, daisy was quick to follow his footsteps by taking figure skating

have only really been apart for small increments of time (ie : when daisy visits stella and the hughes family, trips to korea, etc)

dealt with their first big separation when daisy moved to michigan for university, while david hung back and went to ubc

people often describe daisy and david as “one in the same,” having similar personalities but completely different interests

text and call very often

david has been playing hockey since he was a kid — even playing against luke and jack’s team once as children

he still plays hockey in university, but only recreationally now

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ GENERAL FACTS .ᐟ

their sibling group chat is called “ahn clan 🫶🏻” — and it’s used pretty frequently. they regularly keep in touch with one another

they regularly try to be there for each others functions when it’s possible

they try to at least have one family trip together every year

huge fights are incredibly rare, but they’ll have their petty squabbles more often than not (typically it’s david and yujin)

note from mei ꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱ finally posted this bad boy!! i hope u like her siblings just as much as u like her 💔 they’re so dear and precious to me…

pookie tags ( ask to be added ! ) : @wintfleur @lovings4turn @iceflwers

[oddygaul]

Chain Gang All-Stars

Great book.

I sort of hope Chain Gang All-Stars is never adapted into a show or movie. It’s certainly possible that it could be done with proper deference to the tone and message of the book, but I think it’s far more likely that it would end up essentially being what Chain Gang is in the story itself - a hyper-violent spectacle that people tune into because they think it’s cool and action-packed. I think Chain Gang All-Stars is very successful at walking the tightrope line of drawing the reader into the story and letting them flirt with what it must feel like to be a viewer of the program, while presenting enough reminders of its grim reality to prevent you from being totally sucked in. While there were times during the LinkLyfe segments where I was drawn in the way a viewer absorbed in a reality show would be, the battles themselves never give in to ‘just’ being badass. They were tense, certainly, and I was on pins & needles reading them, worried about the characters, but there’s a certain utilitarian brutality to the writing in those sections that keeps them grounded. I’d be worried any adaptation would make everything too stylish and exciting, thoroughly missing the point*.

*To say nothing of any potential dilution of the politics to appeal to a wider audience.

— “All other sport was just a metaphor for this.” —

Chain Gang All-Stars is incredibly good at giving every single character a depth and fullness, even ‘antagonists’, so that even the characters who infuriate us, we understand to a degree. The book doesn't justify evil deeds - there’s no excusing Wil’s dumb ass self - but it shows how easy it is for someone to placate themselves, to keep themselves on a surface level and not dig too deep into their own morality, to convince themselves that they’ve done what they could and that all those who have wrong done to them deserve what they get. The fluid perspective switches it accomplishes this with are fascinating, too. We get chapters dedicated to different characters, of course, be it our leads, our deuteragonists, and plenty of one-off side stories - standard stuff. But Adjei-Brenyah also rapidly switches between multiple perspectives within the same page, hell, the same paragraph at times, which gives us insight into a much wider breadth of viewpoints than we normally would.

By getting to see into the inner thoughts of quite a few Links, we get to see how, while their individual experiences are different, their imprisonment has broken them all in tragically similar ways. From Bishop to Sunset to Thurwar to Staxxx, we see a consistent, crippling lack of self-worth. The A-Hamm chain is unique in preaching a vision of solidarity, accepting one’s past mistakes, and focusing on how they’ve grown and changed as people. Despite this, at their core, none of them can truly find it in themselves to be forgiven, because Chain Gang grinds their lack of perceived value into them unceasingly - ultimately resulting in what is essentially suicide. The carceral system does not allow for or encourage rehabilitation, only suffering and self-hatred.

I thought it was a compelling decision to make the majority of the imprisoned characters we follow legitimate violent offenders. A lot of the abolitionist / prison-critical literature I’ve read often focuses on, or at least begins with, incarceration that is plainly, nakedly unjust, like long-serving non-violent offenders and mandatory minimum sentencing. Conversations about the treatment of murderers, rapists, etc., are naturally more fraught - it’s harder to get someone to imagine an entirely different system, rather than just adjustments to the current system.

Chain Gang All-Stars does not shy away from it one bit. We get self-reflection from multiple different Links, both those who regret what they’ve done and those who don’t; we get conflicted thoughts from family members who recognize that their lives have been fundamentally changed by the imprisonment of their kin, but are still ambivalent about forgiveness; and we get, of course, the fearmongering and appeals to pathos used by government and the media to try and stop any ideas of abolition from even beginning to take root in the minds of the public. The book understands that there’s no easy answers, and instead brings all of these perspectives to the reader, demanding they grapple with the issues themselves.

It does, however, make clear the absurdity of pretending that taking someone whose life has been indelibly touched by violence and putting them into a system that encourages and requires additional violence, by the state, by their peers, is somehow rehabilitation. It’s brought to an extreme in the novel, of course - Thurwar’s overriding instinct that every problem can potentially be solved by violence due to the constant killing she’s done is more reminiscent of a soldier returning to peacetime than anything else - but the message stands.

Some of the most powerful parallels shine through as-is, though. Even when you put aside the horror the Links are put through on a daily basis and the rampant normalization of state-sanctioned violence, the base lack of freedom and personal autonomy is what breaks people. Both during Chain Gang and our looks at other prisons, the regimented days, planned schedule, and inability to spend time or talk with the people they care about are basic human rights that are removed from prisoners every day. Hendrix’s silent prison (an idea I was horrified to find has been enacted before) shows this in one extreme - after being robbed of something as simple as his own voice for so long, Hendrix is willing to risk everything just to be able to reclaim that part of himself. Most heartbreakingly, the morning of the final doubles match, Thurwar’s only desire is to stay in bed longer with Staxxx. Leisure time with your loved ones, one of the most basic luxuries a person ought to have, seen as an unobtainable prize. Don’t need a dystopian near-future novel to see that happening.

Speaking of Hendrix Young, the voice Adjei-Brenyah uses for his sections was absolutely beautiful and oozing with character and I loved it. The way he speaks is simultaneously poetic yet so pragmatic - there’s an idiosyncratic turn of phrase in nearly every paragraph, and his love for the world and its beauty is never eclipsed by his cynicism and the horrible things happening around him. His sections were handily my favorites, despite the looming dramatic irony that overshadows them all.

— “I thought of how the world can be anything and how sad it is that it’s this.” —

As a literary device, the interspersing of worldbuilding notes and Actual Fucked-Up Prison Facts was a genius touch. By priming your brain to expect something more fantastical, the more grounded notes become something of a sucker punch. The first few are all in-universe lore explanations - they’re not entirely necessary, you could’ve pretty much got the gist through context, but the thorough explanation written almost as an ad read pulls you into the mentality of this world… so then, when it drops, say, the net worth and founding members of the Corrections Corporation of America and you get the inkling that this tidbit feels a little too specific to be made up, the lines between the book’s world and our own start to blur.

In addition to the unique cognitive dissonance it invokes, I think it’s a pretty effective strategy to convince or teach a reader who perhaps hasn’t done as much digging about the nightmare that is the American prison-industrial complex. Especially given that the main conceit of the book is a little outlandish, it’s very easy for me to imagine such a reader enjoying the story for its plot, but deflecting or doubting the themes with the classic “Oh, but this is an exaggeration - it would never happen like this! It would never be that sadistic”. In some way, the footnotes feel like the author directly responding with a “Yes, it would, and in fact has already happened this way previously”.

I do wish the footnotes stayed as dense throughout the entire book as they were at the start. In the beginning, they come hard and fast, blending the real and the fictional, keeping the reader on their toes. About a third of the way through, though, they slow to a trickle, becoming a rarity. Adjei-Brenyah keeps experimenting with what the footnotes can convey (“Don’t look down. Help me.” was particularly chilling), but the infrequency starts to make them feel like an afterthought.

— “Just jump.” —

The closer I got to the end of Chain Gang All-Stars, as fewer and fewer pages remained, I was increasingly desperate for something to break. Even as the story continued towards the inevitable, even as it showed me there could be no other way for things to go, I hoped for something else. Anything but what happened.

And yet… the ending gives this book’s message a lot of its power. It’s not a story where things always work out and the good guys always win - it’s a reflection of real problems, and those real problems don’t have such a simple solution. Chain Gang All-Stars is about people living in an unfair world, working within a cruel, unjust, system, and still finding the strength and conviction to believe that there can be positive change. It’s about knowing that progress can be slow, and that the system can feel daunting, and feeling powerless to enact change, and still imagining and pushing for the world to be better anyway. And somehow, that it faces that hopelessness head-on makes it more uplifting than a safer story with an easier ending.

[athensandspartaadventures]

[ Chapter 1 ] [ table of contents ] [ recap ] [ Chapter 9 ] [uquiz!]

Welcome to Athens and Sparta Adventures!

Reference map for Chapter 9 of Athens and Sparta Adventures. Characters may be added as they appear or are mentioned in the chapter. Updates on Saturdays, stay tuned!

This chapter has three concurrent storylines: one takes place in Corinth, one in Miletus, and one in Sardis.

New Readers: please note that this comic is not as mobile friendly as some other comics out there. Some directory links such as the table of contents only work on desktop, though mobile users should still be able to navigate using the bolded links above. I started writing this comic back in 2011 and reuploaded it to tumblr around 2018, which is why there’s significant gaps in both my consistency as a creator and in the changes in usability on this hellsite.

See below for brief Character Bios

Characters of Note

MAJOR CHARACTERS

Athens  - The arrogant, egotistical and hubristic almost-capital of Greece. Athens’ more legitimate claims to hegemony are primarily his large navy and alliance of islands and city-states throughout the Aegean that purports to defend Greece from future Persian incursions. Although he is entering what we know as the “Golden Age” while the Parthenon and other such major renovations are nearing completion, Athens seems somewhat preoccupied with his vacation in Miletus...

Sparta - Known as Greece’s greatest warrior despite rarely finding reason to leave home on time, Sparta is uneasily resting after emerging somewhat victorious from the First Peloponnesian War. Although accepting a thirty year period of peace with rival Athens, Sparta finds the upstart city-state’s obsession with ‘democracy’ and the growing excuses to coerce new alliances increasingly worrisome. Curiously, he seems to have turned up in Sardis...

Corinth - The rich merchant city-state of Corinth has a vested interest in decreasing Athens’ power. Despite recently recovering her daughter-city of Megara, Corinth still finds others’ loyalties to her being tested. Frustrated by Sparta’s unwillingness to act on her warnings, Corinth suspects that a thirty years peace will do even less to stave off war in Greece. Recently however, she has been receiving disturbing omens...

Megara - Corinth's daughter city, formerly allied with Athens in the previous war to strategically block the path from the Peloponnese. After being herded back in league with the Peloponnesians, Megara is contemplating her divided allegiances and trying to adjust to living with her mother city again. Perhaps she can reach out to someone who might shed some insight on these troubles...

Miletus (Ionia) - Athens’ niece, recently recovered from Persia’s possession after nearly a century after the Peace of Callias. Having spent some time living with her uncle again, Miletus is concerned that Athens’ execution of power are more and more resembling the systems employed by Persia. With her uncle visiting, Miletus looks for distraction in correspondence with an old friend...

Persia - Currently the greatest power in Asia with territory stretching from Egypt to India, Persia has tentatively given up a direct assault on mainland Greece after wasting a lot of time and resources that seems to have accidentally united the disparate city-states against him. Instead, Persia has taken a back seat in his political interference, now preferring words and funds as weapons of choice. The great empire does not make "alliances", but is open and willing to entertain a favourable relationship...

Greece - Known to the others as Hellas, this strange girl shows up to witness foreign invasion and internal strife alike. What has become of her in peacetime?

MINOR CHARACTERS

Argos - An ancient centre of myth and legend, Argos was very quiet throughout the Persian invasions. Argos' sole interest in his current alliance with Athens is a chance to gain vengeance on Sparta for usurping his hegemony of Greece. He's been feeling rather put out by Athens' hasty agreement to peace...

Sardis (Lydia) - A wealthy city-state in Asia Minor, formerly the capital of the kingdom of Lydia which was conquered by Persia’s first king Cyrus over a century prior. Now, Sardis is the administrative centre for that region of the empire and the terminus of the Persian Royal Road from Susa. Despite this, Sardis demonstrates some concern for his rival-turned-friend Miletus in the decade after her exit from the empire.

Corcyra - Another of Corinth's daughter cities. Currently in a dispute with her mother about the upbringing of her own child, Epidamnus.

Syracuse - Another child of Corinth, Syracuse rules over Sicily (and the rest of Magna Graecia) with an ostentatiously decorated fist.

[brynnterpretations]

Bowers gang favorite school subject/extra curriculars, if they attend any (they're all slackers buuuut...)

BOWERS GANG'S FAVORITE SUBJECTS ☻

Belch Huggins

History. At first, I was inclined to say workshop, but I'd say that as much as Belch likes hands-on activities, he does enough of it at home (particularly because of how little his father contributes to the house) to enjoy the zoning-out that history classes offer. Belch is someone who cares a lot about the past — it's one of the reasons he's stayed with Bowers for so long — and he also is interested in the things typically taught in high-school history courses like wars and evolving technology. Many of Belch's peers assume him to be a knucklehead, but Belch can easily (and happily) hold his own in history-based conversations and debates. Do not expect to win any Revolutionary History trivia against our boy Reggie.

Henry Bowers

Workshop. Working with his hands is something very soothing for Henry that, when he does it, is associated with positive moments, whether it be fixing the sink while his dad is gone or Victor and Belch casually talking across from him while he give one of the tractors a tune-up (the Bowers Gang equivalent of parallel play). Henry is naturally very skilled at figuring out where things are meant to go and what exactly is wrong with a broken item — if you ever need something fixed and you're very, very close to him, he's got you as long as you don't mention it — and he gets along extremely well with Mr. Worth, the closest person to a father figure Henry has had. It's the only class he's gotten an A in.

Patrick Hockstetter

Hands-on science courses, AKA the classes you get to fuck around with the most. Patrick has gotten into major trouble in these courses, from replacing dead frogs with real frogs in 9th-grade biology to almost setting fire to Mr. Wallace's classroom as well as burning the tip of his partner's finger in the "flame test" (in which you see which color a flame lights to detect the amount of metal ions in a sample). Patrick, despite being intelligent, typically scores awful grades in his courses due to A) fucking around and B) just not caring for academia, but has consistently scored high marks, even with his shenanigans, due to his natural talent with the course material.

Victor Criss

English. Victor is extremely talented at writing and reading in-between the lines — the essay that got him a full-tuition scholarship was breaking down To Kill a Mockingbird in a way that applied to his life beautifully. Writing is something that can both energize and relax him, and Victor spends most of his spare time reading books, with a special fondness for beatnik authors like Ginsberg and especially Bukowski. I also imagine he has a knack for editing. He gets along extremely well with all of his English teachers, too, and this class is what I imagine would send him on the career path I headcanon for him (becoming an editor-in-chief).

[philsservice]

Do you really know how often should you get a car tune up? Ask the auto professionals at Phil's Service what a tune up car includes.

[expertcarcare]

Is it time for an auto tune up? Call the professionals at Expert car care Inc to ask what does a major tune up include?

[chirpsythismorning]

I'm not going to say we should take every single thing official Netflix accounts post as gospel, because obviously they are not run by the Duffer Brothers themselves.

But to be clear, these people are hired by Netflix and there's more to it than just random interns scheduling posts. The people running these accounts are not the same people designing the posts made there, just like the people designing those posts have higher ups telling them what to do/not do in terms of the content they are creating. And there are plenty more levels that go beyond that, which eventually does lead to the Duffers and producers of the show, who do have a stake in how the show is promoted on a basic level to best align with their intentions and all the revelations still to come.

It is common knowledge that the Duffers work with Netflix marketing directly on a consistent basis to get their vision across, and that carries out in promotion with posters, merchandise, social media, etc., because it's really important in ST case (with it being a show made by nerds that love easter eggs), that they foreshadow what is still to come outside of the show itself.

When it comes to social media, the core purpose of those accounts is to encourage engagement for Netflix's user base, ideally ensuring they tune in to whatever is being promoted (and more), but it’s also more than that, in that it’s even more based on data and other factors.

What this leads to is the people in those less major decision-making roles, like graphic designers, simply being advised what to create, based on the information and content they are given to work with.

And so these accounts going from promoting byler subtly for years, to blatantly posting about it post-s5, is actually very, very intentional, going beyond a simple Netflix intern. It’s orchestrated by those in management positions, being advised by those in the ST production to do things a certain way, so that when all is said and done, we are able to look back and find tiny little things that point to it.

Byler can't be something they NEVER talked about even once on social media, only to have them end up being endgame with them posting about it forever afterwards when it's all said and done. It doesn't work like that, at least not in ST case. We're talking about a production that costs hundreds of millions to make, as well as being the most talked about mainstream series of our generation.

They have an obligation to make their story feel not only satisfying on its own, but to also promote the show in a way that makes the viewer feel this whole well-rounded experience, outside of the show itself as well.

And so when ST came out in summer 2022 and Netflix Geeked was making posts about it non-stop, that wasn't a rogue, low-paid Netflix intern doing whatever they wanted. That was multiple people with a job given a task and following through with it at their advisers discretion. Regardless of where it ended up, it started at the top with the Duffers informing higher ups in marketing that Byler is something that will happen, along with other revelations that they want to inform marketing about, so they can take the steps to plan ahead and create content that matches the Duffer's vision, most often to act as a foreshadowing device for the story still unraveling.

Remember when Netflix Geeked made a post acknowledging that Will the Wise drawing in El's room back in s3?? A very well known byler easter egg that only we know about??? That wasn't some ga intern watching the show once and them spontaneously coming up with content to create related to that drawing and posting about it themselves. That was very likely someone associated with the show giving suggestions to marketing, with a few of them being very incriminating in relation to byler, but with most being casual in relation to the show overall.

Just like I said in this post about how Noah didn't tweet about byler or mention it multiple times at cons unprompted bc he was feeling quirky. He was being advised to...

And look what Netflix did to that tweet Noah posted that was clearly a stunt in an of itself.? They broadcasted it and made a cheesy ass edit out of it... And it's bc several people behind the scenes were advised to make content like that specifically.

I mean, if you actually look at how social media promotes byler (if and when it does), it's arguably in the exact way that the Duffers want it to be promoted?. Just enough. Not too little. Not too much. I would argue if the Duffers had no say whatsoever in how the show was promoted, then we'd either be seeing byler constantly or we wouldn't see them at all, instead we see social media sort of dance around it, which tells me they are following the exact approach the Duffers themselves follow... because they were obviously given the instruction to.

And so seeing an account like UK Netflix, an account that as of recent has really went all out with posting Queer content since Heartstopper released, has also notably made really incriminating posts about byler over the years, but especially as of recent. And that's in large part because of what I've stated, but also based on data.

If higher ups in marketing at Netflix know about byler, then they are very likely pushing people lower on the payroll, doing more simple tasks like graphic design and social media management, to make connections to ST with other shows like Heartstopper, Sex Education, Young Royals, etc. And this is because if byler IS going to end up being this huge Queer love story, data is telling them to make these connections sooner than later, so that the eventual revelation will be a smooth transition amongst other content just like it. This works in Netflix's favor at the end of the day, which is the whole point of all of this.

Not saying you should take the most casual of Netflix posts as byler endgame proof if that's what you're asking. But to say that these accounts have NO association with the Duffer's and ST directly, therefore we shouldn’t even appreciate anything they post if it points to byler, is sort of over-simplifying things.

It's not like s5 is gonna drop and all of these interns are going to be like OHHH okay now i'm a byler so i'll post about it... Going into s5 they're going to be making some very side eye posts and it isn't going to have anything to do with them being an intern without any say in things, its gonna be about them getting a task list and following through with it bc it's their job.

[sadderbutwisergirrl]

Jim Hightower is an old pro at populist grass roots mobilization. We need to listen to this political elder!

“We’re collecting actions that grassroots people can take, and are collaborating with longtime friends and allies to light a fire under the butts of Democratic Party leaders. We’ll keep you updated on those efforts, but to start, here are two groups to join up with.

Demand Justice has been advocating for the Judiciary Act, which would expand the court by four seats. They’re asking people to call their representatives, and to join their rapid response team. https://demandjustice.org/

We’ve long been a fan of Lisa Graves (you can watch our 2022 Chat ‘n’ Chew episode with her here), and she’s teamed up with the folks at Court Accountability for a new round of intense actions called Justice Can’t Wait.

They’ve shared with us a list of things you can do:

Share the Justice Can’t Wait updated website. https://justicecantwait.org/#

Raise awareness of the seeds being planted by Trump and his allies to deny the results of the 2024 election if it doesn’t go their way. Trump has refused to commit to accepting legitimate election results if he does not win, and his allies are laying the groundwork for election denial through lawsuits and false claims about election fraud.

Urge Congress to pass reforms clarifying the Insurrection Act, which Trump plans to invoke to deploy the military against the American people, on his first day in office. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/trumps-insurrection-act-threat

Share Stand Up America’s Supreme Court Voter website, which aims to educate and mobilize voters on the impact the next president will have on the future of the U.S. Supreme Court. https://www.courtvoter.com/

Educate Americans on the economic threats that the extremist Project 2025 poses. Economic concerns “consistently rank as top issues among likely voters,” and people need to understand the likely consequences and chaos for our economy and American families if Project 2025 affiliates are able to carry out their dangerous agenda. (The NYT article was behind a paywall so I replaced it with this link) https://www.democracydocket.com/analysis/what-is-project-2025-and-why-is-it-alarming/

Join United for Democracy in calling on Congress to rein in the out-of-control Supreme Court. https://unitedfordemocracy.us/get-involved/

Drive home that this is Trump’s Supreme Court. Trump installed the corporatist majority that has taken away women’s fundamental freedoms and stripped away protections for Americans’ health and safety. Even after Trump led an insurrection, the Court that Trump built is now tipping the scales to help him win again in November and protect him from accountability for his actions.

From the Hightower staff: And let’s not forget how the Supremes view actual bribery: as nothing more than a tip or a token of thanks for a job well done. They’re basically creating loopholes to legalize their own corruption!

Stay tuned for more, and let us know what other concrete actions and organizations you’re hearing about—the comments on this post are open to all subscribers. Let’s do this!”

[dailyanarchistposts]

Three modes of attunement

We think people’s militancy and autonomy—their capacity to grapple with oppression, to break from comfort and certainty in favor of risk, to maintain forms of life that do not reproduce the state and capitalism—depend on participation in transformative struggles. With this in mind, we are interested in capacities to tune into transformative potential.

One mode of attunement involves increasing sensitivity and inhabiting situations more fully. It is in this sense that Amador Fernandez-Savater suggests that the revolutionary alternative to control consists in “learning to fully inhabit, instead of governing, a process of change. Letting yourself be affected by reality, to be able to affect it in turn. Taking time to grasp the possibles that open up in this or that moment.” What if the capacity to be really present is revolutionary? What potentials can be unleashed by connecting with the immediate, in a world that encourages constant distraction, deferral, and numbness?

Crucially, this attunement is not a new form of optimism, or a newfound faith that things will get better, but something open-ended and dangerous. This capacity to be present, what adrienne maree brown called “being awake inside your life in real time,” includes more of the messy multiplicities that we are: trauma, triggers, and brilliance. Joy is not the same as optimism. It is not happy, nor does it promise a future revolution. In fact, being present might be a way of tuning into the cruelty and self-destruction of certain optimistic attachments.[177]

A second form of attunement comes through the capacity to connect with legacies of resistance, rebellion, and the struggles of the past. As Silvia Federici explained when we interview her, this is a pushing-back against the social amnesia imposed by Empire:

What most matters is discovering and recreating the collective memory of past struggles. In the US there is a systematic attempt to destroy this memory and now this is extending across the world, with the destruction of the main historical centers of the Middle East—a form of dispossession that has major consequences and yet is rarely discussed. Reviving the memory of the struggles of the past makes us feel part of something larger than our individual lives and in this way it gives a new meaning to what we are doing and gives us courage, because it makes us less afraid of what can happen to us individually.[178]

Reviving legacies of struggle can be a source of dignity and inspiration amidst forces that seem implacable. In this sense, transformation is not about the modern vision of shucking off traditions and escaping the past. History can also help us tune into the ongoingness of antagonisms that Empire has attempted to relegate to the past. It can help us see and feel the ways that Empire’s institutions have been resisted since their inception.

As cis-gendered white folks, we have a lot to learn from Black folks, Indigenous people, people of color, and queer and trans folks who have long resisted Empire’s violence while nurturing alternatives. There is also a lot to be learned from others whose knowledge and capacities continue to be devalued, and whose existence entails resistance; for us that often means looking to the kids in our lives and community for guidance and inspiration. We have suggested that we all have the capacity to recover our own traditions and engage in our own struggles (rather than appropriating others’) and to explore affinities between them, in ways that challenge and undo the interconnected violences of Empire.

A final mode of attunement to potential is gratitude and celebration. Especially among white, secular radicals, gratitude is often seen as a “hippie” value: something associated with New Age gurus and self-help manuals that insist that positive thinking can overcome any obstacle. Gratitude and celebration are often seen as superfluous, or even counterproductive, as if feeling grateful requires turning away from the horrors of Empire or losing the desire for change. But as Walidah Imarisha suggested, celebration or gratitude can mean holding wins attached to losses, and letting them breathe together. Grief can be attached to gratitude, pleasure to pain, and celebration to determination. Similarly, Zainab Amadahy emphasizes the power of gratitude to renew our connection to the forces that sustain life, among human and non-human relationships:

You can be thankful and still want the world to be better; want your life to be better. At the same time, I don’t think it’s healthy to be grateful in every moment. Sometimes grief, sadness, or fear is the appropriate and healthy response. But when the crisis has passed or it’s a chronic situation, focusing one’s attention on what there is to be grateful for literally eases the pain—physical, mental, and emotional.[179]

Throughout this project we have tried to center relationships in a process of walking with questions. The book has morphed and changed in significant ways as we listened and were challenged by friends and each other. Leaving space for emergence and uncertainty was frustrating, inspiring, difficult, and ultimately generative of a messy, joyful process.

With this in mind, we want to share our gratitude to all those who are resisting and undoing Empire starting from their own situations. Thank you to those who are leaning into the uncertain work of transformation. Thank you to those who are fiercely defending the people and places they love. Thank you to those who are keeping their own traditions and forms of life alive and dangerous amid forces seeking to annihilate and absorb them.

Thank you to everyone who is part of this book. Thank you to those we interviewed, who encouraged us and challenged us to think in new ways. Thank you to everyone who has been part of this conversation informally, and supported us and offered insights and care. Thank you to our readers for your curiosity, your critical engagement, and your capacity to cultivate joy.