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sgkophie · 2 years

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I Am A Lion - Man's World One Shot (Part 1 of 2)

Pairing: Carlos Sainz x Reader, Carlos Sainz x You, Carlos Sainz x OFC

Warnings: language, angst, fluff

AN: Doubles as a Hate To Love You prologue. Hate To Love You (spin off series) Synopsis is officially HERE! Next up is Chapter 1 of that series... So excited!

Part 2 of this one-shot will come out in November and will be a little Christmas special... because who doesn’t want some domestic, smutty Carlos/Georgia content?

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Word Count: 4800

Check out the full intro synopsis + full story master list here!

Carlos POV – 2024 Racing Season, Summer Break

“Morning, Carlos!” Lorenzo called out from his kitchen. “Take a seat in the living room, the rest of the family is already here.”

I asked Lorenzo a few weeks ago if he could help me organize a Leclerc family meeting – without Georgia – so I could discuss something important with them. I had no doubt that they all had a good guess on what I wanted to tell them, but still, I wanted to inform them of my plan before I went to Georgia and asked her the most important question of my life. After several years of dating, there was no doubt in my mind – Georgia Leclerc was the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.

I quickly took my seat in the living room, accepting a cup of tea from Pascale before sitting on the couch next to her. Charles had a sly grin on his face, like a cat who knew it was about to catch its prey, but he said nothing as I sat down, the nerves of what I was going to tell them clearly apparent on my face. As Lorenzo took his seat next to Arthur, he motioned for me to begin.

“So… I think you know why I have called you all here,” I began, trying to not let the nervousness in my voice show.

“You’re going to break up with our sister, aren’t you?” Arthur butted in, a sly grin on his face. Before I could respond, the three brothers started to laugh at Arthur’s joke, clearly enjoying prolonging my nervousness.

I rolled my eyes at Georgia’s three brothers, deciding to ignore that comment and continued on. “I am going to ask Georgia to marry me.” At first no one said anything, causing my heart to drop a little. I thought they would all be happy – ecstatic even –, but after seeing their faces, a feeling of uneasiness washed over me.

“Really?” Lorenzo said. “Just like that… without even asking us permission?”

I looked a little taken aback at Lorenzo’s comment. Is that why they were being off? Because I hadn’t asked for permission? I knew the Leclercs were somewhat of a traditional family, but I figured if Georgia had gotten wind that I’d asked her brothers permission to marry her, she’d say no out of spite for the old patriarchal tradition.

“Well… I… Uh…” I stuttered, not entirely sure what to say to that. All of a sudden, a huge grin crossed Lorenzo’s face and the three brothers and Pascale started to laugh, clearly at my expense.

“I’m just messing with you, Carlos!” Lorenzo stood up and walked over to me, dragging me into a hug. “We’ve been wondering how long it would take you to get the guts to ask her!” I let out a huge sigh of relief, shaking my head as each of the Leclercs come over to me, offering me a familial hug.

After a round of congratulations, Charles popped open a champagne bottle he had brought, expecting this to be the reason that I had called them together. I took out the ring and showed them; Pascale gasped when she saw it, her eyes going wide at the beautiful diamond sitting on a simple rose gold band.

“Oh, Carlos… she’s going to love this.” I smiled at that, pulling my future mother-in-law in for another hug.

“So, what’s the plan?” Lorenzo asked, refilling his glass with more champagne.

“Yeah, you better not fuck up my sister’s proposal.” The three Leclerc brothers nodded in agreement to Arthur’s statement, all of them staring at me, clearly expecting me to outlay my plans so they could critically revise them.

“Ok, we have another 10 races left after summer break. My hope is that there’s race where Georgia, Charles and I are on the podium together. If that’s the case, then I plan to propose to her on the podium.”

Pascale clapped her hands together, clearly approving of my plan. “Oh Carlos, how lovely!”

“Only problem is you probably need to do it at a race she wins at, and I don’t plan on letting her win any more races,” Charles joked, earning a sarcastic laugh from both Lorenzo and Arthur, much to Charles’ annoyance.

“How about we re-evaluate after Austin, hmm?” I joked back at Charles, who nodded slightly, still not conceding that he was going to let Georgia win any more races. He, Lily and Georgia were in a blood bath for points, with Georgia being far enough ahead where she probably would clinch it by Austin, but Charles and Lily were even on points.

“Welcome to the family, Carlos – can’t wait to see what is in store for the two of you,” Pascale announced, holding up her glass in another toast.

Austin 2024 - Georgia’s POV

“AND THERE WE HAVE IT, GEORGIA LECLERC IS A WORLD CHAMPION FOR THE THIRD TIME!”

As I crossed the line, I knew I had clinched it – I had officially won my third World Drivers Championship. Back in the 2021 season, I had promised Isabelle that we had 9 championships to win, and here we were with our third championship in four years.

“Only six more to go, Isabelle!” I yelled into the radio. I knew no one else would get the joke, but Isabelle knew what I meant, what I had promised her all those years ago.

“Congrats, Georgie… so well deserved! That’s Carlos in P2 and Charles in P3… Lily in P4 but with fastest lap. A great result for the team, especially after that tyre issue!” Isabelle yelled into the team radio. I could hear the rest of the Bugatti garage screaming behind her, Mel included.

“Thanks to Lily for taking that fastest lap…! WHOOOO! Feeling amazing!” I did my cooldown lap and then drove into the P1 spot that had been reserved for the winning car in the pitlane after the race. As soon as I hopped out of the car, Carlos was already on me, dragging me out of the car and spinning me around. His helmet was still on, but I knew he had a huge grin on his face as we spun around in circles, hugging each other.

As soon as he set me down, Charles ran over to me, pulling off my helmet and giving me a huge hug, congratulating me on the win. I knew he was bummed that he hadn’t taken his second WDC, but the Ferrari’s pace this year just wasn’t quite as good as ours, and now Lily was even beating him in the World Drivers Championship standings, with Charles in 3rd and Carlos in 4th.

“I’m so proud of you, Peaches… so proud. I have a feeling you’re going to remember today forever.” I gave my brother a questioning look at his comment as he winked at me, ignoring my look as he walked away towards the cooldown room to get weighed.

After running over to the team and Lily to celebrate, I made my way to the cooldown room where Carlos and Charles were waiting for me. As soon as I walked in, they hushed their speaking, both of them taking their seats. There seem to be something between them, but I ignored the weird air that had settled in the room as I sat down, taking my water from Lizzie as she started to prep me for some of the interviews.

As soon as the podium was ready, the three of us were ushered onto the podium. It felt incredible to be there with my boyfriend and brother – we hadn’t had a podium together since Monaco, so this felt incredibly special to stand there on the top step with two of my favorite people surrounding me.

As soon as the Monaco National Anthem finished, I went to pick up my champagne bottle to spray it on the boys, but as I picked up my magnum bottle, I noticed that neither Carlos, Charles, nor Mel, who had joined us on the podium as the Bugatti constructor’s representee, had picked up their bottles of champagne. I gave the three of them a questioning look, about to shake my bottle of champagne, before I saw Carlos turn to me, that famous Cheshire cat grin on his face, as he got down on one knee.

I stood there, bottle of champagne in hand, feeling absolutely frozen as all of a sudden the crowd in front of us went wild, the noise becoming so deafening as it finally hit me what was going on. I looked down at Carlos and in his hand was a beautiful velvet box, a box I recognized from many years ago, except during the 2021 Netflix interview it held a bunch of coffee beans. Now it held something incredibly different, something incredibly beautiful. Carlos opened the box and there, staring back at me, was a beautiful diamond on a rose gold band.

The crowd was still going wild, making it almost impossible to hear Carlos. “Georgia Leclerc… you’re not only a Formula 1 champion, but you’ve been a champion of my heart ever since I’ve the day I met you. I can’t imagine my life without you. Will you marry me?”

I turned to look at Charles, who took the bottle of champagne from my hands, setting it down on my podium, leaving me still completely speechless.

Charles leaned over to me, a huge grin on his face, “You going to answer the poor man, Peaches?”

“I – uh –“ I stared at my boyfriend as he looked up at me, so much hope and love in his eyes. Never in a million years did I think I would get this lucky, lucky enough to have someone as incredibly kind as Carlos loving me. I reached down and touched the ring and Carlos took it out of the box, holding it up.

“Of course I’ll marry you… took you long enough to ask!” A huge smile spread across Carlos face as he got up, grabbing me and picking me up into a huge hug, to the applause of thousands of people across the paddock and grandstands. Carlos set me down and put the ring on my finger, giving me another huge kiss. At that moment both Mel and Charles picked up their bottles of champagne, spraying the two of us as Carlos continued to kiss me, not letting me go.

“I love you, Georgia Leclerc. Forever and always.”

The Austin GP officials soon escorted us down and off of the podium – we’d clearly overstayed our welcome on the podium, even if this would likely make them one of the most watched GPs of the season. As I hopped down off of the last step, my mother met me there, giving me a huge hug and kiss.

“So proud of you, my love… so proud!” She exclaimed as she grabbed my ring finger, observing the ring that I knew she had already seen.

After another round of congratulations for both my WDC and engagement, Carlos and I finally made it back to our hotel. As I let my back hit the bed, I held up my left hand in the air, observing the diamond on my finger, letting it sparkle in the hotel room light. I looked over to my boyfriend fiancé and smiled at him as he leaned against the door frame, observing me as if I was an animal in a zoo.

“Can I help you?” I giggled, watching Carlos walk over to me, like a lion stalking his prey.

“Oh, don’t worry my love, you’ll be helping me soon enough.”

Abu Dhabi GP, 2024 – Georgia’s POV

I sat on the floor of my driver’s room bathroom, head over the toilet. Ever since I had arrived in Abu Dhabi, my stomach had been nothing but trouble. It was as if this stomach bug came in waves, sometimes I felt incredible and then not even an hour later, I would feel as though I was on a boat, throwing up from sea sickness. Isabelle had the Bugatti team doctor come to Carlos and I’s hotel room Thursday morning, but after a round of exams and a few tests, she said that my system seemed completely fine.

Saturday evening Lando and Lily offered to come to our hotel room to get room service and chat since I was too scared to head out to a restaurant. Although I was feeling better, I didn’t want to risk heading out into the city to get food.

“Come in!” I heard Carlos yell over to Lando and Lily. As soon as the duo walked in, I walked out of the bathroom, giving both my friends a hug before they sat down on the couch across from Carlos and I, laying the room service out onto the coffee table.

“So, Georgie, what’s been going on with this morning sickness you have?” Lando asked, a sparkle of mischief in his eyes.

“It’s not morning sickness, Lando… and I swear to God if you spread that rumor again, I will have you thrown out of the paddock.” Although I knew the Lando was joking, part of me felt uneasy with the joke. Carlos and I had made sure to always use protection, but still, sometimes I knew were definitely more careless than we should be.

Clearly Lando wasn’t the only person considering my vomiting as morning sickness, because not even a few minutes after Lily left I saw a text appear on my phone.

Lily: Left you a pregnancy test in your bathroom, FYI… brown bag

Georgia: I’m not pregnant, Lil

Lily: Only one way to find out…

****

Sunday morning rolled around, and I was feeling much better. Carlos made me a cup of tea and a small breakfast before heading downstairs to meet with Rupert for some pre-race talk. Once Carlos had left the room, I took the pregnancy test that Lily had snuck into my bathroom out of the bag – letting my eyes gaze over the pink box.

Was Lando right… was I pregnant?

I knew kids were in Carlos and I’s future, but was he ready to be a father? Was I ready to be a mother? Somehow at twenty-nine, being a mother… it felt so far out of reach. As I sat on the couch staring at the pregnancy test, I heard a knock on the door.

“Georgie, it’s me Lily!”

I opened the door for my teammate, moving out of the way as she shuffled into the room with all of her stuff. We had agreed to meet downstairs at 8:30am, but apparently Lily had decided to move that time slot up to 8am.

“Little early, Lily,” I said sarcastically. “Feeling eager to start your last race as a Bugatti driver”

Lily gave me a sly smile, wiggling her eyebrows as she sat down on my couch, taking a sip from her cup of coffee. “Well, if I’d known you were going to get pregnant this season, maybe I would have stayed at Bugatti,” she quipped. I rolled my eyes at her, shaking my head as I my gaze settled on the pregnancy test in front of the two of us.

“You gonna take that…?”

“I’m not pregnant.”

“And you know this because…”

I sighed at Lily’s insistence, avoiding her gaze as the Brit stared right at me, a look of determination on her face. “Why are you scared to take the test?”

“I’m not sca-“

“Don’t lie to me, Georgia,” Lily interrupted, a tone of annoyance in her voice. After the prank I had played on Lando all those years ago, I had learned my lesson about lying to Lily – it never went well.

“I jus… what if I am pregnant?”

“Do you want to be pregnant?” When Lily asked the question, I immediately knew the answer.

I did, but she was right – I was scared. Scared of losing everything I’d worked for. I wanted a family, but I still wanted my career. Could I have both?

“What if it’s the end of my F1 career?” Lily let out a loud laugh as I said the words, as if what I had said was possibly the silliest thing she had ever heard.

“Isabelle will keep you on until you are old and grey if that’s what you want,” Lily assured me. “You’re a world champion….so you take a year off and then come back and do something no one has ever done – win a world championship post pregnancy… assuming I let you, of course,” she threw in with a smile. I stood up from the couch and took the pregnancy test in hand, making my way to the bathroom.

Lily was right, I needed to know.

As soon as I was done peeing on the stick, I put the test on the bathroom counter and walked back into the living room. Lily already had a timer out and she set it to two minutes – the longest two minutes of my life. When the timer went off, Lily looked at me.

“Hey – whatever happens Georgie… I got your back. You know I could use a Coach for next year at Mercedes.” I let out a chuckle at Lily’s comment before turning back around, heading to the bathroom. I closed my eyes and grabbed the stick, walking back into the living room.

Not pregnant.

Before I could stop myself, a tear escaped my eye, causing Lily to rush over to me, engulfing me in a huge hug. The two of us stood there for a while, neither of us knowing what to say. Finally, she broke the silence, taking the stick and putting it back in the bag before throwing it away.

“Your time will come, Georgie,” she assured me and I nodded in response, still unable to utter the words of disappointment. “I mean, you and Carlos haven’t been trying… have you?”

I shook my head no; she was right, we hadn’t been trying so it felt silly to expect myself to be pregnant. We hadn’t picked a time yet, but it was on my list of things to discuss with Carlos after the wedding. We had both agreed we wanted kids, but last time we discussed it we said we’d wait until after the wedding, wanting to have a little time to ourselves before we had a pod of mini racers to shuffle around.

“Alrighty then – why don’t we head to the track, hmm?” I nodded, collecting my gear as we made it downstairs. Fortunately, it was Lily’s turn to drive us both to the track, so I took out my cellphone and shot Carlos a text.

Georgia: I just wanted you to know… I took a pregnancy test today & it was negative

I saw the three dots pop up on my iPhone, disappear, and then pop up again before a response finally came through.

Carlos: I’m sorry, mi amor… you know I love you no matter what, right?

Georgia: Love you too… see you on the podium?

Carlos: Always xoxo

****

Unfortunately before the race, I had one more round of throwing up. The doctor gave me a quick shot of antinausea medication before re-confirming that I actually wanted to get into the car. Isabelle had made it clear that it was up to me. Bugatti had won the constructor’s championship in Brazil and I had won the drivers championship in Austin, so there was no need for me to race if I didn’t want to.

But I wanted to. Racing was my passion, and I never gave up an opportunity to race.

I hopped into the car and completed my radio check with Mel before the formation lap. I had come in P4 in yesterday’s qualifying session, which while annoying, still gave me an excellent opportunity to win the race. As Isabelle reminded me, we’d won from much further back in Toronto this year when I had to take an engine penalty.

As soon as the five lights went out, I took off in the car, immediately passing Max who had qualified ahead of me. As lap 30 came around, I heard Mel come onto the radio. I was still in P3, with Charles and Lily ahead of me, a little too far for me to catch up during this lap.

“Hey… umm.. GG, you doing alright out there?” Her voice sounded unsure, different than usual. Mel was typically the definition of a calm racing engineer. No matter the scenario, her voice was always level and prepared, but this time it sounded a little off.

“Yeah what’s up?”

“Just checking to see if you’re feeling alright.”

“Best I’ve felt all weekend,” I said with a small chuckle, trying to lighten the mood that had seemingly darked over the radio. After a few more laps, I heard Mel come back onto the radio.

“Box this lap.” After a quick 2.3 second pit stop, I was back out onto the track, coming out in between the two Alpines who I knew would be a little more tough to pass, but doable.

As soon as Ocon and I got into a corner, I felt the dreaded contact of our two cars. Esteban had hit me while trying to defend, even though I had overtaken him on the racing line that he left, fair and square. As soon as the contact was made, I felt the car go flying. Bump after bump, the car spun, heading down the city track as my car hit the barrier, my halo now facing the wall, trapping me inside of the car.

My entire body felt like a ton of bricks had hit it. In my ear I could hear Mel shouting, but the sound was blurry, being overtaken by a ringing in my eardrum. Was that Isabelle in the background? What was she saying?

All I could make out was panic in Isabelle’s voice and one word – pregnant.

Carlos POV

As soon as I saw Georgia crash, my heart completely sank, dread replacing the adrenaline that had filled my body. As my car drove by the crash, I immediately saw the red light come onto the steering wheel, forcing us to go back into the pits. I wanted nothing more than to run over to Georgia, but I knew that would not only disqualify me from the race, but put the two of us in danger. The moment I parked the car back in the Ferrari garage, I hopped out and ran over to Coco, grabbing my cousin, a look of panic in my eyes.

“There’s no news, Carlos…” But as he said the words, I looked up at the Sky Sports coverage and heard Isabelle yelling at the medical crew, her words clear as day. Behind Mel asking Georgia if she was okay was Isabelle, yelling at the medical crew to be extra careful because Georgia was pregnant.

Why had she told me this morning that the test had come back negative? Before Coco could finish the sentence, my feet were off towards the Bugatti garage; Charles was only a few steps behind me, a look of panic on my future brother-in-law’s face as we both made our way to the Bugatti garage. As soon as I got there, Isabelle held up her hand, signaling for us to stay put.

“Hold it, boys,” Isabelle demanded. She picked up her pit wall phone again and placed it back over her ear, clearly listening to someone on the other line. As soon as Isabelle set the phone down, I went to ask the question on everyone’s mind, but it was Charles who beat me to it.

“Is she pregnant?”

Isabelle looked at the two of us and motioned for us to come into her office, away from the prying eyes and cameras. As soon as we stepped into the office, Isabelle told us both to sit down, a grave look on her face.

“Georgia told me this morning that her test had come back negative.” Charles looked over to me, clearly not aware that his sister had even taken a pregnancy test.

“Blood test came in during the race. I asked Mel to check in on Georgia during the race, but she said she felt fine, but as soon as I saw the accident I knew I had to tell the medical staff.” Isabelle turned to me and offered me a small smile. “I’m sorry you had to find out this way, Carlos.”

I looked over to Charles, a tear falling from my eyes as I turned back to Isabelle, not sure what to say. Charles stood up and put his hand on my shoulder, motioning for us to leave.

“Thanks, Isabelle… keep us posted.”

“The moment I hear something, you’re the first person I’ll call.”

Fortunately for Charles and I, we didn’t have to wait long. As we stepped out of Isabelle’s office, the Bugatti pit wall phone rang with news. The marshals had recovered Georgia, she was breathing and conscious, answering questions without issue, although the marshal said the medical crews had determined they would take her straight to the hospital. As Isabelle hung up the phone, Charles and I were both looking at the Bugatti team principal with eagerness that could describe a child on Christmas day.

“Georgia is out of the car and on the way to the hospital.”

“I’m going to go to her-“ Before I could finish my sentence, Isabelle shook her head, a sly grin sneaking onto her face.

“I have it on good authority that, and I quote, ‘any driver coming to see me before they finish the race will be kicked out of my hospital room…. fiancé’s included.’” Isabelle said the words with a smile and a chuckle, clearly enjoying Georgia’s antics a little too much.

God, I loved that woman but sometimes she was as infuriating as her brother.

***

As soon as the Abu Dhabi race was over, I hopped into my Ferrari and head straight to the hospital. Due to the circumstances, the FIA had excused me from media duties. Lorenzo and Pascale were at the hospital already, but the moment they saw me they both got up from the room, excusing themselves, huge smiles on their faces.

“Georgia-“ I began, but she cut me off, pulling me in for a kiss.

“I’m sorry… I can only imagine how scary that was,” she said, leaning her face on mine as we both sat there, letting the comforting silence take over. I took a seat next to her, still holding her hands as Georgia started to look around the room, clearly nervous about something.

“So… umm…” she began again, fumbling for her words. I looked over at her, a letting a huge smile form on my face.

“So, what do you think we should name our baby?” Georgia looked up at me, shock coating her expression.

“You… you know?”

“I think, mi amor, the entire paddock sort of knows now… Sky Sports accidentally caught footage of Isabelle yelling at the medical crew.” Georgia continued to fiddle with her hands. She had was always been the epitome of strength and determination to me, and I hated seeing the uneasiness on her face.

“I meant what I said in Abu Dhabi back in 2021, Georgia. I want a family with you. I want to go pumpkin carving, and Christmas tree shopping, and karting with our kids. I want it all, and I want it with you. I know we said we’d wait another year, but if you want this now… I’m ready.”

Georgia looked up at me and I could see tears forming in her eyes. I looked at her gently, trying to read her expression. Was she as happy as I was?

“I think… I think I’m ready too. I want a family with you, and I know we didn’t plan this, but sometimes the universe has other plans.” I let out a laugh, nodding at my fiancé. That seemed to be the definition of our relationship over the last four years.

“Okay… then its settled, we’re doing this.”

We sat there for a moment, taking in each other’s Prescence, before a noise in the paddock disturbed the two of us.

“Another Leclerc-Sainz running around the paddock? God help us all.” I turned to see Charles and Lily standing there, a smirk on each of their faces.

“Looks like it’ll be me vs you next year, Wilson. Maybe the best driver win.”

****

Second part of this will be a Christmas special which will I promise will feature some smutty, domestic Carlos/Georgia content.... and of course a prank.

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“Hate To Love You” Synopsis out now!

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athenswrites · 3 months

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Establishment of the September Constitution

a/n I’m going to say this now, but if I ever contradict myself about the contents of the September Constitution or the history of Georgia’s monarchs, just ignore it. I’ll fix it once I’m actually editing NYTF and the like.

When we left off last time, Daley Miller’s tyranny had been brought to an end during the September Revolution of 2097, led by three notable figures:

James Hall, former General of the Georgia Defense Guard, who led the actual military resistance against Miller and his French Squadron.

Kylar Killian, a revolutionary writer, who wrote several notable pamphlets and pieces speaking out against both the Board of Trustees and Daley Miller.

Jacey Olson, French Squadron Leader, who defected, joining James Hall and helping turn a majority of the FS against Daley Miller.

However, before we actually talk about the contents September Constitution and the current government, it’s important that we backtrack to talk about the exact roles these three played in the September Massacre, Revolution, and Constitution.

The “Founding Fathers”

James Dylan Hall, born in 2060, is the patriarch and founder of the Royal Family. His father was a high ranking government official during the Board of Trustees era of government. At 18, James joined the Georgia Defense Guard, loving the adventure and the feeling that he was doing something. He quickly climbed through the (short) ranks of the Georgia Defense Guard, thanks to his quick wits and the high turnover of military officers. By the age of 34 (2094), James was the General of the GDG.

Kylar Killian was born in 2075 as Kyla Killian, to a school teacher and a clothing store owner. Kylar’s father died from an IR infection when Kylar was only 3, and his mother’s income was rarely enough to support him, her, and his twin younger brothers. Kylar took on odd jobs starting in his early teenage years, in order to help support his family. In his little free time, he found himself writing, criticizing the Board of Trustees’ government everything from their spending to their lack of care in contact tracing and containing IR victims. When he was 18 (2093), Kylar began spending what scant money he had (in an extremely volatile economy) to publish his works. By the time he was 20 (2095), Kylar had grown more popular than he had been expecting and garnered the attention of the Board of Trustees. He was put under house arrest in late 2095, and forbidden from publishing.

Still, he continued under a new pseudonym. The Board of Trustees, after realizing this, sent General James Hall of the GDG to interrogate Kylar Killian. At 10:30am on the morning September 2nd, 2096, James Hall arrived at the residence of Kylar Killian.

Ten minutes later, the September Massacre of 2096 would begin. Daley Miller and his militia, inspired partially by Kylar’s writing, stormed the Board of Trustees building, quickly overtaking the Board of Trustees' government and establishing his own. James would take shelter at Kylar’s residence, much to the amusement of Kylar.

As Miller's government began, Kylar was invited to help organize it. Miller found him quite annoying within days. However, he knew that killing Kylar would look bad on his own government, so he put Kylar under house arrest, for a second time. Kylar, in response, started publishing under a pseudonym once again, criticizing Miller’s dictatorship, but unlike with the Board of Trustees, Miller was never able to identify him.

The entire time while MIller was in charge, James continued to take shelter at Kylar’s residence. Shaky understanding of one another soon turned into a friendship, which soon turned into something more. Despite his initial dislike for Kylar, James found himself admiring Kylar’s willingness to stay true to his values and his intelligence. Kylar, with a normally abrasive nature, softened, as he realized James was just a normal person who had been led astray by his ambition and achievements.

As the anniversary of Miller’s takeover got closer and closer, James and Kylar both realized that something had to be done, and someone had to stand up against the grant. Using James’ military experience and Kylar’s writing ability, they were able to rally a force, and at 7am on September 18th, stormed Miller’s government building.

Jacey Olson, born 2064, was the leader of the French Squadron throughout Miller’s reign. He had grown disillusioned with Miller’s government, but feared retribution if he left or spoke out. As James led his forces into Miller’s building, Jacey denounced Miller’s government in front of a large portion of the French Squadron. Roughly half, including Jacey, defected, joining James’ forces and overtaking the remaining Squadron members and killing Miller.

Establishment of the September Constitution and the Hall Royal Family

During his second house arrest, Kylar had privately begun drafting a new constitution, one he imagined could be put into place if Miller’s government was overthrown. Soon after James and Jacey’s success, Kylar presented his constitution concept to them in private, which earned approval from both. Kylar then publicly shared his constitution with the people of Atlanta and called for their approval to create a stable government which could help the people. It was overall accepted, and was called into temporary effect on September 19th, 2097.

Kylar then reached out to the governments of Savannah and Macon, who had been observing the chaos from a distance, and asked them to join the State of Georgia, as the government was called then. Although they were initially skeptical, they both joined officially on September 20th, 2097.

Atlanta, Savannah, and Macon would officially be the founders of the State of Georgia.

In the first year, James and Kylar would serve as co-leaders, putting Jacey Olson in charge of their armed forces, then called the “Georgia Guard”. (After the establishment of James and Kylar as kings, this would be changed to the “Royal Guard”, as they felt the name Georgia Guard was too similar to the GDG’s name.) Kylar would do most of the technical work, creating guidelines for departments, and organizing what they had. James would do most of the networking part of creating a new government, hiring people, and becoming the lovable face of the new government. Over time, the constitution was fleshed out, and the citizens of Georgia were updated every step of the way, until a finalized draft was completed on June 1st, 2098.

On May 2nd, 2098, James and Kylar would get married in a relatively small ceremony, and their only child, Ciara Kyla Hall, would be born on August 25th, 2098, only weeks before the vote on the Constitution. Days later, Jacey Olson would propose an amendment, naming James and Kylar as kings and changing what was supposed to be a Council and President into a Council and Monarch. His petition earned thousands of signatures, and garnered enough attention to put the amendment on the ballot.

The day of the vote, September 18th, 2098, eventually arrived. James, Kylar, and Jacey did their best to make voting as accessible and secure as possible, throughout all three zones at the time. By the end of the day, the September Constitution was passed with 76% of the vote. The Monarchy Amendment of 2098 would only pass with 58% of the vote, but still over the required 51% margin.

James and Kylar Hall were made monarchs until their abdication or death, and the Hall Royal Family was established.

NYTF WIP PAGE

Tag List: @author-a-holmes @soul-write @flowerprose @ceph-the-ghost-writer @theglitchywriterboi @when-wax-wings-melt @thechaoticflowergarden @lyralit @penspiration-writing @samatedeansbroccoli @charlesjosephwrites @italiangothicwriteblr @thetruearchmagos @pineapple-lover-boy @unilightwrites @sanguine-arena @bardic-tales @joshuaorrizonte @blind-the-winds @circa-specturgia @hymnonlips @aloeverawrites @the-stray-storyteller @writeblrsupport @dreaming-by-starlight @kyuponstories @guessillcallitart @magic-is-something-we-create @talesofsorrowandofruin @writingonmymind @worldsfromhoney

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thistlecatfics · 4 months

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I kept trying to find a soulmate fic I liked enough to rec, and I just couldn't manage. BUT since Remus and Sirius are soulmates in every universe and my forever OTP, here's a wolfstar rec list featuring one canon-compliant fic, one canon-divergent fic, and a variety of AUs.

Map of the Problematique (D.M.L.E. Evidentiary File 142-3b.) by SullenSiren (lorax) (15k, E)

"He's going to make it a RULE." Before they went their separate ways, Moony, Padfoot, Prongs, and Wormtail shared a flat. The flat had rules. This is how it went.

Buy the Stars by wilteddaisy (taotu) (23k, E)

Sirius Black, respectable pureblood patriarch and heir to the Black family fortune, has a wife and three children at Hogwarts. Defence Against the Dark Arts professor Remus Lupin wrestles with the aging wolf inside of him. When Black offers him a hand, Remus reluctantly takes it.

Recto Verso by zambla (8k, M)

Love in the time of the 1984-5 coal miners' strike. Remus is a geologist working for an independent assessment of a disputed coal mine in his hometown in south Yorkshire during the strike. He meets a communist agitator.

under the blood moon by iamsiriuslyriddikulus @fvckyouimaprophet (40k, E)

A Wizarding War has been raging for several years with no end in sight. When Lily learns how to infuse Dark Magic into her music, Remus and Lily work together to take justice into their own hands.

White Sheets, in the Closet (or: the earth from a great distance is perfect and whole) by tahtahfornow (12k, M)

Remus says: You ever seen the inside of a loony bin. (South Georgia, 1961-1962. Hurried kisses in hostile climates.)

57th Street On Fire by Suchsmallhands (30k, M)

It's the 90's and springtime in New York. Remus is dealing cocaine, Sirius is looking to get high. He felt a twinge of paranoia. He thought, This is a junkie. One way or another. You don’t take walks with people you sell cocaine to. And he might be rich. Do not say yes. He’d never seen grey eyes quite like that before.

The Barking of Dogs by houseofhebrideanblacks (14k, E)

Sirius Black leaves the hospital with a leaflet for NarcAnon. Remus Lupin isn't an alcoholic. They meet at a methodist church in South London, Thursday, 9 pm.

A Dark and Silent Overture by eyra (10k, M)

He was smiling to himself, eyes still closed, and Sirius hadn't known at the time - but by Fifth Year would realise well enough - where this Remus had come from. He was always a little wild, somehow both impossibly distant and blindingly, achingly present, all at once, and in the beginning Sirius had ascribed it entirely to Remus's own innate nature or some sort of slight chemical neurodivergence that made him just a little bit more than the rest of them; a little bit magic, a little bit mad. Freer than the others. A tempest in an otherwise still ocean. The boys at boarding school, told in libraries and cloisters and too much alcohol and the way Remus thinks none of it matters, anyway.

No Bright Line by lady_grey (106k, E)

In which Sirius is a famous actor who has stopped believing in authenticity, Remus is a historian with a complex relationship to memory, and Lily is the brilliant filmmaker who brings them together. James and Harry are there too, although they mostly just want to enjoy the beach.

My other recs for @hprecfest here

(For the lovely folks at @hprecfest, no pressure to reblog this one because I know I'm cheating!)

#thistlecat fic recs #hprecfest2023 #wolfstar #remus lupin #sirius black #marauders

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sleepytimemoga-p2 · 9 months

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Naomi Moss vs. Naomi Lombardo

Recently I’ve kinda been doing a deep dive into my oc and decided to analyze her as a character regarding her two canons.

Naomi Moss was originally a character made for the Mafia series, specifically Mafia 3. In this story she’s a childhood friend of Lincoln Clay and the last time he ever saw her, she cried in his arms because she was afraid of losing a friend she had forever. When he returned to The Hollow, he learned that she was the host of “Blue Belle Radio” which is a radio show that plays psychedelic music and touch on social and legal issues. Naomi’s role in Lincoln’s story is minimal in my opinion, she can serve as a love interest depending on player choice but in the end Naomi can easily become an old friend Lincoln can save from a bad situation regarding her family that turned toxic after her father died. Her brothers Hudson and Anthony decided to take on patriarch positions and ultimately try to control Naomi who is seen as rebellious in their eyes; A mission involving them includes Naomi being kidnapped by them on air and Clay having to rescue her without killing her brothers in the process. She becomes a great lawyer after she graduates and with a place like New Bordeaux, being a criminal lawyer keeps her busy.

Naomi Lombardo is actively a work in progress but this Naomi comes from an AU where Paulie Lombardo survives the events of Mafia: Definitive Edition and ends up going to Georgia to open that pizzeria he wanted and settling with his wife Ruth Moss (another oc). Since he’s her grandfather, he invites her and her brother Frankie (and her cousins) to work in the restaurant during the holidays and summer for extra money. Usually, she is studying when she’s not taking orders and pretending not to hear the comments of the men she’s serving. Her and her cousin after a night of drinking are stuck working, they decide to pickpocket a particularly annoying customer to feel better (She makes it a principal only to swipe from people being assholes.) and ends up meeting Samuel “Ace” Rothstein and his friend Nicky Santoro (who they stole a watch off of). It was a short encounter with lasting consequences because Ace ended up making it a point talking to her the entire time they’re in Georgia and ended up taking her number. The two are immediately smitten with each other and end up talking during their downtime. Eventually, Ace decided that enough was enough, and he offered to pay for the remainder of her education if he moved to Nevada with him in an apartment he rented out for her. She still becomes a criminal defense lawyer and married Ace, but she’s also now in the news as Ace’s wife and possible legal council.

Naomi and Lincoln are childhood friends and personally I just think without that connection, they wouldn’t exactly cross paths the way they did in their canon. Both of them have a shared fear of each other’s actions with Naomi trying to stay brave when things go wrong while Lincoln actively seeks out dangerous scenarios. I also see Lincoln as a bit too overprotective of Naomi because he’s lost so much from his past that he doesn’t want to lose another thing important to him and Naomi can feel a bit smothered by it at times but understands it. Naomi also feels a sort of gratitude to him for getting her out of her family situation and wants to repay him by providing love. When they do enter a relationship they become a team. Compatibility rating: 5.5/10 They’re alright.

Naomi and Ace are a whole different energy in comparison with Ace being sure about Naomi after talking to her, he sees Naomi for the smart woman that she is and that her potential was going to be useful in the long run. He later realizes that he just genuinely loves her and every part of her. Naomi originally thought that he wanted to pay her to pay attention to him but ultimately realized that their attraction was beyond financial compensation. Naomi found herself spending the free time they both had together just talking about anything, doing anything. Ace married her as soon as he could get the ring on her. Compatibility rating: 9/10 They’re living their Lana Del Rey fantasy

Edit: Both their stories contain themes of racism and redefining oneself, but their paths getting there are vastly different.

#my art #mafia trilogy #marmalade #ace of hearts #oc #oc x canon #fanart #mafia 3 #mafia iii #lincoln clay #sam ace rothstein #ace rothstein #casino 1995 #casino #my writing #Naomi Lombardo #naomi moss

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beardedmrbean · 3 months

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The Georgian Orthodox Church has called for changes to an icon depicting Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin hung in a cathedral in the capital, Tbilisi.

The icon depicts scenes from the life of St Matrona of Moscow, a 20th Century Russian visionary and healer.

In one, the Russian Orthodox saint can be seen blessing Stalin.

The Patriarchate of Georgia said there was "insufficient evidence" the saint and Stalin ever met and that changes therefore needed to be made.

"The donors of the icon are called upon to make the appropriate changes to the image themselves - or we can do it ourselves," the statement said.

The Alliance of Patriots, a pro-Russian political party, said it gifted the icon to the cathedral several months ago.

But it only came to prominence this year, after an opposition former politician Giorgi Kandelaki highlighted its presence in protest at what he said was an attempt to present "one of the biggest mass murderers in history" in a "positive light".

The icon has been courting controversy since Mr Kandelaki drew attention to it. Earlier this week, an activist sprayed it with paint in protest.

Nata Peradze published a video of her throwing paint on the icon and said she was protesting against what she saw as the glorification of a tyrant.

"Stalin killed my whole family, he instilled terror and fear, he was not a hero," she told Politico, adding that she has been receiving death threats since posting the video on Facebook.

She also said her house has been targeted by mobs since the incident.

In its statement, the Patriarchate of Georgia said that an icon could depict "real stories related to the life of the saint, including rulers and ordinary people, heretics and persecutors of the Christian faith".

"However," it added, "this does not mean at all that the image glorifies these figures or attributes any dignity to them."

Stalin has a complex legacy in Georgia.

He was born Iosif Dzhugashvili in the town of Gori, in the east of the country, in 1878. A key figure in the Russian revolution which brought the Bolsheviks to power, he ruled the USSR from 1924 until his death in 1953.

Millions died as Stalin imposed iron discipline and state terror to root out "enemies of the people" and build a communist state.

Many people in the small South Caucasian country reject the legacy of the Soviet Union.

But some still view Stalin with some pride because he emerged from a humble background in Georgia to rule a superpower and defeat Nazi Germany.

#nunyas news

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mitchipedia · 2 years

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Roe v Wade v Sanity

Charlie Stross:

The opinion apparently overturns Roe v. Wade by junking the implied constitutional right to privacy that it created. However, a bunch of other US legal precedents rely on the right to privacy.

These include Lawrence v. Texas, which determined it's unconstitutional to punish people for "sodomy." Overturning Lawrence v. Texas would make it legal for states to ban homosexuality and extramarital sex.

Griswold v. Connecticut, which protects the ability of married couples to buy contraceptives.

Loving v. Virginia, which allowed interracial marriage.

Stanley v. Georgia, which protects the personal possession of pornography.

Obergefell v. Hodges, which protects the legality of same-sex marriage.

Meyer v. Nebraska, which protects the rights of families to speak languages other than English at home.

Skinner v. Oklahoma, which found it unconstitutional to forcibly sterilize people.

Alito's leaked ruling, if adopted by the US Supreme Court, would turn the legal clock back to the 19th Century, Stross says.

Another point: it is unwise to underestimate the degree to which extreme white supremacism in the USA is enmeshed with a panic about "white" people being "out-bred" by other races: this also meshes in with extreme authoritarian patriarchal values, the weird folk religion that names itself "Christianity" and takes pride in its guns and hatred of others, homophobia, transphobia, an unhealthy obsession with eugenics (and a low-key desire to eliminate the disabled which plays into COVID19 denialism, anti-vaxx, and anti-mask sentiment), misogyny, incel culture, QAnon, classic anti-semitic Blood Libel, and Christian Dominionism (which latter holds that the USA is a Christian nation—and by Christian they mean that aforementioned weird folk religion derived from protestantism I mentioned earlier—and their religious beliefs must be enshrined in law).

I'm no Christian myself, but from what I've learned, Christianity is about peace, love, humility, and poverty. The Republican Party cult calling itself "Christianity" is about hate, violence, guns, hubris, and greed.

#Samuel Alito #supreme court #law #US politics #abortion #reproductive freedom #Republicans #roe v. wade

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orthodoxadventure · 5 months

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O, all-praised Father Gabriel, confessor and Fool-for-Christ! The adornment of monks, crown of priests and friend of angels, chosen warrior of the God-protected Georgian land and indestructible defender from trials and tribulations to those who pray to thee, bold advocate before God on behalf of those who are hopeless and come to thee faithfully, shelter for the doomed and benefactor of the weak!

O thou who standest amongst the ranks of confessors and Fools-for-Christ, all-miraculous Father Gabriel! Having from youth chosen the angelic life, thou wast clothed in the monastic schema in a time when iniquity triumphed, and now by thine aid thou hast given us wisdom, and fortitude, and invincible power to protect our faith and homeland, for now countless enemies of the Truth have set upon Holy Orthodoxy and, as before, are cunningly trying to do evil, acting craftily and by the power of the evil one, to corrupt God’s people and turn them into servants of darkness. For we, dwelling in sinful darkness, have not the strength to oppose them, but by thine intercession, holy father, beseech Christ God to grant us the fulfillment of thy prophecies and reveal to us a king, anointed by God to rule the kingdom as a valiant ruler and leader. That He reveal one, as King David wast revealed to Israel, who shall rule in faith, kindness and by the truth, and live to care for our people, the people of the chosen lot of the Mother of God, that he may bear the Cross of Christ, unwaveringly following Him in the Orthodox Faith, that he may raise Georgia to its former honor and strength, so that countless demons with their unholy deeds may not blaspheme Christ God and the Holy Faith within her borders. By thine all-powerful and warm prayer, protect and strengthen the Most Holy and Blessed Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, the Archbishop of Mtskheta-Tbilisi and Metropolitan of Pitsunda and Tskhum Abkhazia, our father Ilia II, all patriarchs of the Holy Orthodox Church, and all clergy thereof: metropolitans, archbishops and bishops, and all the priestly and monastic order, and all who pray and toil in the Holy Orthodox Church, and all Orthodox Christians!

O Holy Father Gabriel! According to thy works before God, similar to the apostles’ struggles, and knowing thy great mercy, according to thy will we humbly pray that thou wilt deliver the icon of our Savior Not Made with Hands from museum imprisonment and establish it in the Catholic Church for His holy name’s sake, in anticipation of the appearance of the Atskur Not Made With Hands icon of the Most Pure Virgin and glorious return to the land of Georgia of the Portaitissa, Gate-Keeper, “the greatest deliverer from the satanic traps and temptations of the Antichrist,” according to the prophecies of our holy fathers, for as a sign of the onset of the last times this icon shall depart Mount of Athos and again illumine Iberia, her chosen lot. But ungodliness instigated by the devil is still rampant in the lot of Mother of God, and our people are ensnared in sin and the evil traps of this world, and we, overcome with laziness, fearfully await the great and terrible Second Coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ. Wherefore we beseech thee, holy Father Gabriel, to deliver us from God’s dread punishment for our faithlessness and iniquities, and by thy mercy pray to Christ, the All-Merciful God, to have mercy on our souls and enlighten our hearts with Orthodoxy and piety, that in us virtue may be increased, that upon our repose we may be enjoined to the Heavenly Kingdom and be numbered among the angelic hosts who always sing to the Lord our God, in the bright abodes of His eternal being, together with our saints, and with thee, ceaselessly glorifying His all-holy name, together with His unoriginate Father and All-Holy and Good and Life-Giving Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen!

#Saint Gabriel of Samtavro #Christianity #Orthodox Christianity #Prayer #Christian

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monasteryicons · 2 days

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Who Was Saint George?

Venerated as a beloved protector of Christians since ancient times, Saint George is the patron saint of England, Greece, Russia, Portugal, and Palestine, and of course Georgia. His miraculous and prompt responses to the prayers of Christians in need earned him the title "the Quick to Hear" among Orthodox Christians, and, more simply, "the Great." There are over 200 churches in Egypt named after him. His feast day is April 23rd. Other than his legendary battle with the dragon, few Christians know much about his life and heroic testimony for the Christian faith. Born of Christian parents in Cappadocia (present-day Turkey) in the third century, he rose to the rank of tribune in the Roman army. When the Emperor Diocletian issued his edict expelling all Christian soldiers from the army and forcing all Roman soldiers to make sacrifice to the pagan gods, Saint George denounced the edict in front of his fellow soldiers and tore it up. He liberated his slaves, distributed his wealth and prepared for martyrdom. Unable to persuade the saint by promises of wealth and land, the Emperor had him imprisoned and tortured, and then dragged through the streets to be beheaded. His example so inspired the Emperor's wife that she too professed Christ and traded her earthly crown for the crown of martyrdom. What about the dragon? The story of Saint George and the dragon was first popularized by the Crusaders, who heard it from Orthodox Christians during their travels in the Middle East. Passing by the city of Silene in Libya, Saint George learned about a dragon, described as a winged crocodile, that was harming the city. To protect themselves from harm the townspeople fed the dragon with a daily offering of two sheep. The existence of such a beast is not necessarily the stuff of myth and Tolkien. The Latin and Greek words from which we get "dragon" refer to any great serpent. And even in our own times humans have been threatened and even eaten by large serpents or crocodiles. When the dragon's appetite was not satiated, the people of the city began sacrificing human beings to it, chosen by lot. At the time of Saint George's visit the lot had fallen to a local princess. Invoking the aid of Christ, Saint George vanquished the beast and freed the princess. His conquest of the dragon stands as an archetype for courage and victory in the battle against evil. Saint George willed his estate to the Church in Jerusalem. In our own times, the wine used by the patriarch of Jerusalem is made exclusively from the grapes of Saint George's vineyard. Pilgrims in the Holy Land can visit the Church of Saint George at Lydda in Palestine, which houses the saint's relics and the chains with which he was bound, which are said to free afflicted souls from demonic possession. Our icon of Saint George is available as plaques and prints in sizes from 4 inches to 5 feet tall.

#saintgeorge #saints #christian #iconography #icons #catholic #church #orthodox #saint #art

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brookstonalmanac · 2 months

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Holidays 2.25

Holidays

Armed Forces Day (Dominican Republic)

Big Bang Theory Day

Choiseul Province Day (Solomon Islands)

Colt Revolver Day

Commedia dell’Arte Day

Coronado Day (Mexico)

Cuddle Day

Dag van de Revolutie (Day of Liberation and Innovation; Suriname)

Dance of the Secret Places

Day of Liberation and Innovation (Suriname)

Deinonychus Day

DNA Discovery Day

EDSA Revolution Day (Philippines)

Februaristaking (Netherlands)

Flag Day (Bangladesh)

George Harrison Day

Gray Day (Scotland)

High Five Day

Imam Ali Day (Iran)

International Cochlear Implant Day

Ireland Reads Day (Ireland)

Italian Buckthorn Day (French Republic)

Meher Baba Day

Memorial Day for the Victims of the Communist Dictatorships (Hungary)

National Billy Day

National Day (Kuwait)

National Don't Utter a Word Day

National Jessica Day

National Kathy Day

National Masturbation Day (Poland)

National Nicholas Day

National radio Day (Thailand)

National Reparations Awareness Day

Peace Memorial Holiday (Taiwan)

People Power Day (Anniversary of EDSA Revolution; Philippines)

Pistol Patent Day

Revolution Day (Suriname)

Russian Warship GFY Day

Quiet Day

Sister Wendy Day

Soviet Occupation Day (Georgia)

Time of the Old Woman begins (until March 4)

Tristan da Cunha (a.k.a. Queen’s Day, Saint Helena)

Women’s Day (Iceland)

World Bookmark Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Chocolate-Covered Peanuts Day

Let's All Eat Right Day

National Chocolate-Covered Nuts Day

National Chocolate-Covered Peanuts Day

National Clam Chowder Day

National Muffin Day

Tastykake Day

4th & Last Sunday in February

College Goal Sunday [Last Sunday]

Freedom Sunday [Last Sunday]

National Woman’s Day (original date; 1909) [Last Sunday]

Weekly Holidays beginning February 25 (4th Week)

Peace Corp Week [thru 3.2]

Telecommuter Appreciation Week [thru 3.2]

Independence & Related Days

Choiseul Province Day (Solomon Islands)

Kuwait (from UK, 1961)

Pigeon Island (Declared; 2022) [unrecognized]

Texas Independence Day Celebration, Day 1 (of 2; Texas)

Festivals Beginning February 25, 2024

Popsicle Bridge Contest (Richmond, Virginia)

Tampa Bay Jewish Food Festival (Tampa Bay, Florida)

Feast Days

Æthelberht of Kent (1st Christian Anglo-Saxon King) [current date]

Anthony Burgess (Writerism)

Bd Robert of Arbrissel (Christian; Saint)

Burke Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Caesarius, Physician of Constantinople (Christian; Saint)

Ciriaco María Sancha y Hervás (Positivist; Blessed)

Dance of the Secret Places (Shamanism)

Day of Mut (Mother Goddess; Ancient Egypt)

Elizabeth Fedde (Lutheran Church)

Ethelbert of Kent (Christian; Saint)

Feast of Fflur (Celtic Book of Days)

Feast of the Blessed Regina Marriam of Vattalil (India)

Feast of Montu (Egyptian Falcon-Headed War God; Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Feast of the Stinky Butts

Festival of Ptah (Ancient Egypt)

Gerland of Agrigento (Christian; Saint)

Giuseppe De Nittis (Artology)

Hare Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Hermie (Muppetism)

Jacques Philippe Caresme (Artology)

John Roberts, writer and missionary (Christian; Saint)

Kitano Baika-sai (Plum Blossom Festival; Kyoto, Japan; Shinto)

Maria Adeodata Pisani (Positivist; Blessed)

Media Hiems I (Pagan)

Octopus Enjoyment Day (Pastafarian)

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (Artology)

2nd Sunday in Lent (a.k.a. ...

Reminiscere Sunday

The Transfiguration

Tarasius, Patriarch of Constantinople (Christian; Saint)

Victornius and six companions (Christian; Martyrs)

Virgil (Positivist; Saint)

Walpurga (Christian; Saint; she was canonised on 5.1 c. 870 and Walpurgis Night is celebrated 4.30) [Crops]

Wendy Beckett (Christian; Sister) [Art]

Wenchang Wang Day (Chinese God of Literature)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Butsumetsu (仏滅 Japan) [Unlucky all day.]

Fortunate Day (Pagan) [9 of 53]

Premieres

Belle Epoque (Film; 1994)

Boat Builders (Disney Cartoon; 1938)

Boom at the Top or Bullwinkle Loses His Head (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S5, Ep. 259; 1964)

Boris Talks to Himself or Mockingbird Heel (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S5, Ep. 260; 1964)

Born to Peck (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1952)

The Bourne Ultimatum, by Robert Ludlum (Novel; 1990)

Broom-Stick Bunny (WB LT Cartoon; 1956)

Camelot (TV Series; 2011)

The Carnival of the Animals, by Camille Saint-Saëns (Musical Suite; 1922)

The Cat Above and the Mouse Below (Tom & Jerry Cartoon; 1964)

Count Screwloose and J.R. the Wonder Dog (MGM Cartoon; 1939)

DC Showcase: The Phantom Stranger (WB MM Cartoon; 2020)

Drive Angry (Film; 2011)

Gold Rush Daze (WB MM Cartoon; 1939)

Hall Pass (Film; 2011)

Henry IV, Part 1, by William Shakespeare (Play; 1598)

In the Name of the Father (Film; 1993)

The Lady Eve (Film; 1941)

Little Earthquakes, by Tori Amos (Album; 1992)

Modern Times (Film; 1936)

The Mouse on 57th Street (WB MM Cartoon; 1961)

On the Beach, by Nevil Shute (Novel; 1957)

Ooooooohhh… On the TLC Tip, by TLC (Album; 1992)

The Passion of the Christ (Film; 2004)

Phoney Booths, Parts 1 & 2 (Underdog Cartoon, S3, Eps. 37 & 38; 1967)

Please Please Me, by The Beatles (US Song; 1963)

Reindeer Games (Film; 2000)

Rubber Duckie, sung by Ernie (Song; 1970)

Slap Shot (Film; 1977)

Soldiers' Pay, by William Faulkner (Novel; 1926)

Songs from the Big Chair, by Tears for Fears (Album; 1985)

Superman: Red Son (WB Animated Film; 2020)

Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle, by Carl Jung (Science Book; 1952)

Ten Summoner’s Tales, by Sting (Album; 1993)

Terror Island (Animated TV Show;Jonny Quest #24; 1965)

That’ll Be the Day, recorded by Buddy Holly (Song; 1957)

Vikings: Valhalla (TV Series; 2022)

Wonder Boys (Film; 2000)

Yes Minister (UK TV Series; 1980)

Your Show of Shows (TV Series; 1950)

Today’s Name Days

Walburga (Austria)

Berislav, Hrvoje, Nestorije (Croatia)

Liliana (Czech Republic)

Victorinus (Denmark)

Tormi, Tuule, Tuuli, Tuulike (Estonia)

Tuija, Tuire, Vanessa (Finland)

Roméo (France)

Edeltraud, Walburga (Germany)

Riginos, Tarasios, Tarsi (Greece)

Mátyás (Hungary)

Cesario, Costanza, Vittorino (Italy)

Alma, Grants, Zalga (Latvia)

Margiris, Rasa, Regimantas, Viktoras (Lithuania)

Viktor, Viktoria (Norway)

Bolebor, Cezary, Konstancjusz, Maciej, Małgorzata, Modest, Nicefor (Poland)

Tarasie (Romania)

Frederik (Slovakia)

Donato, Valerio (Spain)

Sigvard, Sivert (Sweden)

Artema, Artemis, Welden, Weldon (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 56 of 2024; 310 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 7 of week 8 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Nuin (Ash) [Day 8 of 28]

Chinese: Month 1 (Bing-Yin), Day 16 (Ji-Wei)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025)

Hebrew: 16 Adair I 5784

Islamic: 15 Sha’ban 1445

J Cal: 26 Grey; Fryday [26 of 30]

Julian: 11 February 2024

Moon: 98%: Waning Gibbous

Positivist: 28 Homer (2nd Month) [Virgil]

Runic Half Month: Tyr (Cosmic Pillar) [Day 2 of 15]

Season: Winter (Day 67 of 89)

Week: 4th Week of February

Zodiac: Pisces (Day 7 of 30)

#Holidays

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notasapleasure · 7 months

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Brief considerations on finishing The Great:

The conspiracy theory hill I'm dying on that it was cancelled because execs mistakenly believed Nicholas Hoult was the star, when really he was just as excellent at scene-stealing as his character needed him to be.

I'll not forgive them for Orlo's arc. How did our ace king get sidelined into a relationship and then killed off without any attempt to give him the growth given to all the others? (I say growth, though really it's just as often regression that I mean. Anyway Archie, Grigor, Marial, even George to a degree! etc etc all change while still being themselves and still finding a place in the story. I don't know why that couldn't be done for Orlo). I'm not doing a headcount, but it does feel like the main cast and surrounding recurring characters were notably less diverse by the end of S3 - and now we don't even get to see whether Arkady gets a chance to grow from his brief flirtation with power.

NEVERTHELESS though that primed me to hate season 3 it was amazing. Holy SHIT the script on this baby. Utterly florid and absurd and vulgar and punching you in the solar plexus repeatedly about grief and love and loyalty and being human!!! Every time Elizabeth in particular opens her mouth I'm like 'this is bonkers but it's beautiful and it works so well!' Jenny-Slate-screaming-meme.png

Marial never did anything wrong ever. No this has nothing to do with Phoebe Fox's big brown eyes and sarcastic little smirk and stonking cleavage. (I am In Love).

ACTING. The whole cast is incredible, but Elle Fanning, babe, take it away! The range, darling! The emotion in an eye twitch, the scale of grief and depression measured in the angle of her pout, the mix of love and frustration that you wholly believe in, and her stompy, resolutely unladylike walk. And that dance to AC/DC right at the end. ;_;

Not to Marial stan on main again, but she was RIGHT, finally we were going to see an independent Catherine and those fuckers cancelled it!!

Everyone. I love everyone in this bar. They're all awful scheming fuckheads and I love them all.

Every time Grigor has an emotional breakdown it gives me life.

So many different women with sometimes complex, sometimes excruciatingly simple and/or dumb reasons for doing what they do, even the ones that hate each other find connection in surprising moments and then go back to hating each other, finding so many ways to be political and sexual and clever and so fucking stupid. Did I mention that I love them all especially Marial?

I still think it would be funny if I became a Bond villain billionaire and bought the rights to all of Georgia's TV channels and just constantly broadcast Archie's scenes without context. Hypocritical fucked up horny patriarch is here to help you re-evaluate your morals!

Small things like how Catherine doesn't really care about Paul <333 like yes ok she's wracked by grief for a bunch of the season, but even before, it's not like she's going round having a crisis about how to spend time with her child while ruling the country. The country is her priority.

I for one am glad Velementov isn't dying, and it's tragic that we won't get to see the arc where he sobers up and gives Agnes the ride of her life.

Watching this show is actually hugely frustrating a lot of the time and you might find yourself getting impatient with some of the characters when they're dithering about what to do. This is Good, Actually, because it gives room for that incredible script to breathe, and it reinforces the frustration and slow progress inherent to what the character of Catherine is trying to achieve.

I don't care about the 'occasionally true' bits of the story, as a vehicle for exploring what it's like to be a woman in power, as a way of looking at contemporary issues through a sumptuous, over-the-top pseudo-historical setting, it's an absolute banger.

---

ETA: I was right to post this before tag-diving!! Absolutely screaming at the hate for my bb girl who did nothing wrong ever. Honestly so glad I have no desire to get into fandom for this show at all.

#i meant to do this when i finished some of the others shows i watched this year like mrs maisel #but made the mistake of tag-diving first and getting dismayed at what i found #so i'm just plonking this here #because i found this show a slog and i don't know that i would rewatch it #but i am SO glad i did watch it and fucking angrier than ever about the cancellation #idk what the fandom is like on here and i'm not really making this post for the fandom so not tagging #and not making rebloggable #but for posterity: i enjoyed this tv show and i am saying so on my blog. so there.#jo enthusiing about media #the great spoilers #the great season 3 spoilers

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orthodoxydaily · 3 months

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Saints&reading: Saturday, January 27, 2024

january 14 _january 27

HOLY EQUAL-TO-THE-APOSTLES NINA, ENLIGHTENER OF GRUZIA (Georgia_335)

Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Nina, Enlightener of Gruzia (Georgia), was born in about the year 280 in the city of Kolastra in Cappadocia, where many of the Gruzian people had gathered. Her father Zabulon happened to be a kinsman to the holy GreatMartyr George (Comm. 23 April). He was descended of illustrious lineage and of pious parentage, and he stood in good favour with the emperor, Maximian (284-305). Zabulon, a Christian, served in the military under the emperor, and he took part in the setting free of Christian captives from Gaul (modern France). Saint Nina's mother, Susanna, was a sister of the Jerusalem Patriarch (some suggest named Juvenalios).

[trans. addendum: in 1996 the parents of Saint Nina were enumerated to the ranks of the Saints; the commemoration of Saints Zabulon and Susanna is 20 May]. At twelve years of age Saint Nina went to Jerusalem together with her parents, who had but only this one daughter. By their mutual consent and with the blessing of the Jerusalem Patriarch, Zabulon devoted his life to the service of God at the Jordan, and Susanna was made deaconness in the church of the Sepulchre of the Lord. The upbringing of Saint Nina was entrusted to the pious woman-elder, Nianphora. Saint Nina displayed diligence and obedience over the space of two years: with the help of the grace of God, she got into the firm habit of fulfilling the rule of faith and she read the Holy Scripture zealously.

One time, while in tears reliving the experience of the Gospel passages describing the Crucifixion of Christ the Saviour, the thought would not leave her mind over the fate of the Chiton (Tunic) of the Lord (Jn. 19: 23-24). To the questioning of Saint Nina as to where the Chiton (Tunic) of the Lord had gone (the account about it may be found under 1 October), the woman-elder Nianphora declared that the undecayed Chiton (Tunic) of the Lord, by tradition, had been carried off by the Mtskheta rabbi Eleazar and taken with him back to a place named Iveria (Gruzia or Georgia), and called the Appanage (i.e. the "allotted portion") of the Mother of God. The All-Pure Virgin Herself during Her earthly lifetime had received the Apostolic allotment for the enlightening of Gruzia, but an Angel of the Lord in appearing to Her foretold, that Gruzia would become Her earthly appanage only afterwards upon Her Repose, and that the Providence of God had prepared for Her Apostolic service too at Athos (likewise called the Appanage of the Mother of God). And learning further from the woman-elder Nianphora, that Gruzia had not then yet been enlightened by the light of Christianity, Saint Nina both day and night in prayer besought the Most Holy Mother of God, that She might grant her to see Gruzia converted to Christ, and indeed too might enable her to find the Chiton (Tunic) of the Lord.

The Queen of Heaven heard the prayer of the young righteous one. One time, when Saint Nina was taking rest after long prayer, the All-Pure Virgin appeared to her in a dream, and entrusting her a cross plaited together of vineyard sprigs, She said: "Take thou this cross, for it wilt be for thee a shield and protection against all enemies both visible and invisible. Go thou to the land of Iveria, proclaim there the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and spread forth His grace: and I wilt be thine Protectress". Awakening, Saint Nina saw in her hand the cross (now preserved in a special reliquary in the Tbilisi Zion cathedral church). Rejoicing in spirit, she went to her uncle, the Jerusalem Patriarch, and told him about her vision. The Jerusalem Patriarch thereupon blessed the young virgin in her deed of Apostolic service.

On the way to Gruzia, Saint Nina in miraculous manner escaped a martyr's death under the Armenian emperor Tiridates, which however befell her companions – the emperor's daughter Ripsimia, her guide Gaiania and 35 virgins (Comm. 30 September), who had fled to Armenia from Rome to escape persecution under the emperor Diocletian (284-305). Bolstered in spirit by visions of an Angel of the Lord, appearing the first time holding a incenser, and the second time a scroll in hand, Saint Nina continued on her way and appeared in Gruzia in the year 319. News about her soon spread through the surroundings of Mtskheta, where she asceticised, with numerous signs accompanying her preaching. Thus on the day of the MostGlorious Transfiguration of the Lord, during the time of a pagan sacrificial offering made by pagan priests in the presence of the emperor Mirian and a multitude of the people, through the prayers of Saint Nina were toppled down from an high mountain the idols – Armaz, Gatsi and Gaim. This apparition was accompanied by a strong storm. Having entered Mtskheta, the ancient capital of Gruzia, Saint Nina found shelter in the household of a childless imperial official, the wife of whom – Anastasia, was delivered from her infertility through the prayers of Saint Nina, and she came to believe in Christ.

Saint Nina healed from grievous infirmity the Gruzinian empress Nana, who upon accepting holy Baptism, ceased with her idol-worship and became instead a zealous Christian (Comm. 1 October). In spite of the miraculous healing of his wife, the emperor Mirian (265-342), in heeding the complaints of the pagans, made ready to subject Saint Nina to fierce tortures. "At that very moment, when they did contrive execution for the holy righteous one, the sun darkened and an impenetrable mist covered the place where the emperor was". The emperor suddenly fell blind, and seized by terror his retainers began to beseech their pagan idols for a return of the light of day. "But Armaz, Gaim and Gatsi were deaf, and the darkness did intensify. Then with one voice the terrified cried out to God, Whom Nina did preach. Instantly the darkness dissipated, and the sun shone in all its radiance". This event occurred on 6 May in the year 319.

Emperor Mirian, healed from his blindness by Saint Nina, accepted holy Baptism together with all his retainers. Over the course of several years, by 324 Christianity had ultimately consolidated itself in Gruzia. The chronicles relate, that through her prayers it was revealed to Saint Nina, where the Chiton (Tunic) of the Lord was hid. And at this place was built the first Christian temple in Gruzia (at first a wooden church, but now the stone cathedral, in honour of the Twelve Holy Apostles, the "Svetitskhoveli").

During this period at the request of the emperor Mirian, with the assist of the Byzantine emperor Saint Constantine (306-337), there was dispatched to Gruzia the Antioch bishop Eustathios, with two priests and three deacons. Christianity took an definite hold upon the land. The mountain regions of Gruzia however remained without enlightenment. In the company of the presbyter James and one of the deacons, Saint Nina set off to the upper regions of the Aragva and Iori Rivers, where she preached the Gospel to the pagan hill-people. Many of them came to believe in Christ and accepted holy Baptism. From thence Saint Nina proceeded to Kakhetia (Eastern Gruzia) and settled in the village of Bodbe, in a small tent aside a mountain. Here she led an ascetic life, dwelling in constant prayer, and converting to Christ the surrounding inhabitants. Amidst all these was the empress of Kakhetia, named Sodzha (Sophia), who accepted Baptism with all her court and a multitude of the people.

Having completed her Apostolic service in Gruzia, Saint Nina perceived from above about her impending end. In a letter to the emperor Mirian, she requested him to send bishop John, so that he might prepare her for her final journey. But it was not only bishop John that came, but also the emperor together with all the clergy set off to Bodbe, where at the deathbed of Saint Nina were occurrences of many an healing. For the edification of the people that had come, and at the request of her students, Saint Nina told about her origin and life. This narration, written down by Solomia of Udzharm, has served as the basis of the Vita of Saint Nina. Reverently having communed the Holy Mysteries, Saint Nina gave final instructions that her body be buried at Bodbe, and then she peacefully expired to the Lord in the year 335 (according to other sources, it was in the year 347, at 67 years of age, after 35 years of Apostolic works).

The emperor, together with the clergy and the people – grieving over the death of Saint Nina, wanted to transfer her remains to the Mtskheta cathedral church, but they were not able to remove the coffin of the ascetic from her chosen place of rest. And on this place in the year 342 emperor Mirian started with the foundations, and his son the emperor Bakur (342-364) completed and dedicated the church in the name of Saint Nina's kinsman, the holy GreatMartyr George. Later on at this place was founded a women's monastery in the name of Saint Nina. The relics of the saint, at her command concealed beneathe a crypt, were glorified by many miracles and healings. The Gruzian (Georgian) Orthodox Church, with the assent of the Antioch Patriarchate, designated Saint Nina the Enlightener of Gruzia as in rank Equal-to-the-Apostles, and having enumerated her to the rank of the Saints, established her memory under 14 January, on the day of her blessed end.

Venerable Stephen, abbot of Chenolakkos Monastery near Chalcedon (716)

VENERABLE STEPHEN ABBOT OF CHENOLAKKOS MONASTERY NEAR CHALCEDON (716)

Saint Stephen lived during the eighth century, and was born into a family in Cappadocia, who raised him in great piety. As he reached maturity, he was greatly impressed by reading the lives of the holy ascetics, and so he visited many monasteries in Palestine in order to observe their way of life. In the wilderness he visited the monasteries of Saints Euthymios the Great (January 20), Savva the Sanctified (December 5) and Theodosios the Great (January 11), studying the Rule (Typikon) of each monastery.

Later, during the reign of the iconoclast Emperor Leo the Isaurian (717-741), he visited Constantinople. The holy Patriarch Germanos (May 12) had a high regard for Stephen, and aided him in building a monastery in Bithynia in which he could establish a monastic Rule based on the great lessons that he had learned in the course of his many years of experience. Saint Stephen founded the Monastery of Khenolakkos [“by the goose-pond”], which was northeast of Triglia (near Moudania in Asia Minor). Many monks were drawn there by reports of his virtue.

Saint Stephen was distinguished for his paternal administration of the monastery, and for his moral influence on the monks. After many years as the Superior of the monastery, the holy ascetic foresaw his own death. When he fell asleep in the Lord, some of the brethren were found worthy to behold the glorious departure of his soul into Heaven, escorted by angels.

EPHESIANS 5:1-8

1 Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. 3 But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; 4 neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. 5 For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not be partakers with them. 8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.

MATTHEW 25:1-13

1 Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 3 Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 5 But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. 6 And at midnight a cry was heard: 'Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!' 7 Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' 9 But the wise answered, saying, 'No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.' 10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. 11 Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open to us!' 12 But he answered and said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.' 13 Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.

#orthodoxy #orthodoxchristianity #easternorthodoxchurch #originofchristianity #spirituality #holyscriptures #gospel #bible #wisdom #saints

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thenuclearmallard · 1 year

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I fled Putin’s Russia for Canada. It opened my eyes.

Canada showed me the importance of Indigenous rights. Now I want the same for Indigenous people in Russia.

Nikolay ZyuzevJanuary 3, 2023

Inspired by Canada's reckoning with its colonial past, Nikola Zyuzev is developing projects to support Russia's Indigenous communities targeted by the Putin regime (Photo courtesy semnasem.org)

I decided to leave Vladimir Putin’s Russia—the first time—in 2006. And though it’s almost impossible to imagine now, people at home and around the world that year were applauding the Russian president’s successes. Russia had just hosted a G8 summit and signed a deal with the U.S. which eventually allowed it to join the World Trade Organization. Oil and gas profits were up, the economy was booming and Russians were enjoying middle-class luxuries—cafés, restaurants, vacations—that people in the West take for granted.

But as a social and political philosopher, it’s my job to look beyond the glittery surface, and it wasn’t hard to see signs of rot. Russia’s state-controlled gas monopoly, Gazprom, had cut off supplies to Ukraine over price disagreements, demonstrating the Kremlin’s willingness to use energy as a geopolitical weapon. Tensions with Georgia were rising as the former Soviet Republic butted heads with Putin by developing closer ties with the West.

And Putin and his supporters were growing bolder and less tolerant of dissent at home. In October, the brutal assassination of journalist Anna Politkovskaya was a chilling warning to whose who dared to criticize the regime. Politkovskaya had become famous for criticism of Putin, and for her sympathetic reporting from Chechnya, which during the Soviet era had existed as an autonomous ethnic republic within the Soviet Union. After the fall of the USSR, Chechens demanded their freedom, sparking years of brutal conflict with Russia.

Politkovskaya’s murder was a warning to dissidents, and the crushing of the Chechen uprising was a warning to members of Russia’s Indigenous and ethnic minorities. I was both. I’m from the Komi minority, a Finno-Ugric people whose own republic, with a population of nearly one million, lies 1,000 kilometres northwest of Moscow. The Komi people have a distinct language and culture dating back at least two millennia, but under Putin’s rule, we face cultural and linguistic extinction. Like all of Russia’s nearly two dozen republics and four autonomous districts, the Komi Republic is supposed to have some degree of autonomy; in practice, it has none.

I didn’t want to live in a nation tumbling headlong toward fascism—and I definitely didn’t want my daughter growing up in one. I applied to Canada for permanent residency, and in July 2009, I left for Toronto. In 2015, I became a Canadian citizen.

During those years, I watched from a distance as all my worst fears about my homeland materialized. Just months before I left Russia, a radical priest named Kirill—a Putin ally—became patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church. Likely under Putin’s orders, he began delivering sermons glorifying the “Russian World,” an idealized ethnic Russian homeland populated by true Christians fighting an onslaught of Western decadence. It goes without saying that this worldview left no room for communities like mine to exist with any degree of self-determination—instead, they were to be assimilated into Putin’s monolithic vision of Russia.

In Canada, these developments hit unusually close to my new home. When I arrived, Canada was struggling with its own relationship to its colonial past, and the crimes committed against Indigenous people in this country. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was hard at work investigating the residential school system, which bore striking similarities to an attempt in Russia to erase the Nenets people in the country’s far north between the 1950s and 1970s: children were forcibly removed from their families to be “re-educated” in Soviet schools, where they were abused and many died. Russians don’t talk about that past anymore—any mention of it would almost certainly mean imprisonment. Canada, by contrast, had struck up a national conversation about redressing these evils, and I was amazed by the willingness of so many Canadians to confront this dark past with honesty.

My experiences in Canada planted a seed. Would it be possible for ethnic Russians to wake up to their imperialist past and own up to the damage done to Indigenous peoples who lived on the lands they now occupied? Was reconciliation possible within the so-called Russian World? It if was, could I help make it happen?

In 2015, I was asked to lead a new research centreat the Pitirim Sorokin Syktyvkar State University—right in my hometown of Syktyvkar, the capital of the Komi Republic.

How could I say no? My daughter had grown into a remarkable teenager who excelled in her new Canadian life, but my marriage had unravelled, and I was having no luck breaking into Canada’s tough academic job market. Despite my reservations about what was happening in Russia, I couldn’t pass up a chance get back into the classroom with students and reinvigorate my scholarly career. The research centre’s mandate involved forging new relationships with scholars in Europe, North America and elsewhere. It felt like a way to push back against Putin’s parochial vision of Russia’s future.

But soon after arriving back in Russia in July 2015I realized just how unbearable things had become—and it was the attitude to Indigenous and other ethnic communities that was most disturbing. Rather than moving closer to the Canadian model of engagement and conversation that had inspired such optimism in me, things had gone in the opposite direction. People accepted official propaganda almost unquestioningly. Most cheered on Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, in southern Ukraine, as a legitimate exercise of power, to bring back to Russia what belonged to it. And animosity toward the Western world had grown—increasingly, people were convinced that the West wanted to destroy Russia. It was impossible to debate any of these claims; even university colleagues would simply claim I’d been “fooled” by American propaganda.

The idea of making an impact as a scholar looked remote. I still found solace in the classroom—most of my students were immune to official propaganda and interested in my firsthand experience in the west. They were my main moral support throughout that seven-year stint in Syktyvkar. But the oppressive weight of Putin’s Potemkin nation eventually became too much to bear.

So in the fall of 2021, I approached two friends—one a sociologist and retired politician, the other a linguist studying the Komi language—and brought to them a radical new idea: to establish an online Finno-Ugric University. It would offer high-quality social sciences education to Komi youth, help them think more critically and, importantly, raise awareness about the injustices suffered by the Komi people.

Courtesy semnasem.org

While we were trying to find funding, Leonid Zilberg, a Jewish businessman and advocate of minority rights in Russia, suggested that we collaborate with his online magazine, 7×7, and expand the project to include all of Russia’s minority groups. Zilberg had fought against rising antisemitism for years in Russia, and he founded 7×7in 2010 to tell the stories of Russia’s minorities.

Our project got an extra boost of urgency after the invasion of Ukraine last year. Leonid and his staff at 7×7were forced to relocate to Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital, after Putin announced a new law punishing anyone who questioned the war with up to 15 years in jail. It was already obvious to me and my colleagues that launching the project inside Russia was impossible—we’d never get a licence for it, and if by some miracle we did, we would instantly be labelled a “separatist” organization and jailed.

Putin’s newest crackdowns made it even more obvious that self-imposed exile was the only option, so in May of 2022, I boarded a flight to Istanbul, one of the few cities still accepting air travel from Russia. From there I headed to Vilnius, joining Leonid and his team.

Since then, Leonid and I have been travelling throughout Europe raising awareness—and money—for what we’re tentatively calling the Indigenous Russia Information and Education Center. We sense an opportunity in the aftermath of Putin’s disastrous invasion of Ukraine: Indigenous peoples have been disproportionately affected by the war, both on the battlefield and as conscripts to Russia’s army. Minority groups in the republics are waking anew to the threat the Kremlin poses. Our hope is that demands for decolonization will become stronger, and the Kremlin will lose its grip on the republics. There may be a rare window of opportunity now to change the conversation in Russia—one we can’t waste.

I know that in Canada, the fight for Indigenous rights is far from over, and abuses and racism are still part of daily life for many Indigenous people. But the scope of legal rights Indigenous peoples have achieved—governing their ancestral lands, compensation for natural resources, financial support from the government, official apologies for past injustices—is simply unthinkable in Russia. I look at the resurgence of Indigenous peoples in Canada and wonder what might be possible at home. And I look at my daughter, who has completed a master’s degree and now works for the Canada Revenue Agency. What would her life be if we hadn’t left?

She was lucky, and so was I. But millions of people belonging to ethnic and Indigenous groups in my homeland are suffering. Their languages and cultures are being wiped out by a regime that believes diversity is a threat, that it must absorb and assimilate anything that’s different. In less than two decades I’ve watched my country throw away a seemingly bright future to become a warmongering global pariah. The only way to course-correct now is to repudiate Putin’s vision, and to embrace the diversity and vitality of its many peoples.

—As told to Adnan Khan

#indigenous #culture #indigenous russia #indigenous russian #russia #important #colonization #fypシ #fypage #landback #indigenous rights #indigenous people #russia ukraine war #ukraine russia war #russia war #no to genocide #no to war #important read

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